available by the bibliotheque nationale de france (bnf/gallica) at http://gallica.bnf.fr the life of hugo grotius with brief minutes of the civil, ecclesiastical, and literary history of the netherlands by charles butler, esq. of lincoln's-inn london: john murray, albemarle-street. m.dccc.xxvi. to his royal highness the duke of sussex, this biographical account of one of the most amiable and respectable defenders of the noble cause of civil and religious liberty, of which his royal highness has uniformly been a constant and powerful advocate, is (with his permission), most respectfully dedicated, by the author, great ormond street sept. contents in the following pages we shall attempt to present our readers, with a life of hugo grotius; and minutes of the civil, ecclesiastical, and literary history of the netherlands. in writing these pages, we principally consulted his life, written in the french language, by _m. de burigni_, member of the french royal academy of inscriptions and belles lettres; an english translation of it, was published in , in one volume, vo.; _hugonis grotii manes, ab iniquis obtrectationibus vindicati_; vols. vo. : the author of this work is said to be m. lehman; the article _grotius_, in _bayle's and chalmers's dictionaries_; and many of the letters in _hugonis grotii epistolæ_, published at amsterdam in , in one volume, folio; and many in the _præstantium et eruditorum virorum epistolæ ecclesiasticæ_, published at amsterdam in , in one volume, to. for what we have said on germany and the netherlands, we principally consulted, _schmidt's histoire des allemands_; _pfeffell's histoire abregé de l'allemagne_, vols. vo.; _mr. durnford's excellent translation, of professor pütter's historical developement, of the political history of the german empire_; vols. vo.; and _hugonis grotii annales, et historiæ de rebus belgicis_, one vol. vo. amsterdam, . in our account of the troubles on _arminianism_, and the synod of dort; we principally consulted, the french abridgment, in vols. vo. of _brand's history of the netherlands_, and _grotius's_ excellent _apology_: in every part of the work, we have consulted other publications;--three only of these we shall mention; the three _bibliothècques_ of le clerc; _the life of arminius_, and _calvinism and arminianism compared_, by mr. james nichols. from these materials the following pages have been composed: they may be found to contain,-- introductory chapter a.d. - . i. . _boundaries, and devolution of the empire of germany, during the carlovingian dynasty_ . _state of literature, in the time of charlemagne_ . _decline of literature, under the descendants of charlemagne_ a.d. - . ii. . _boundaries, and devolution of the empire of germany, during the saxon dynasty_ . _state of literature, during the saxon dynasty_ a.d. - . iii. . _boundaries, and state of germany, during the franconian dynasty_ . _state of german literature, during the franconian dynasty_ a.d. - . iv. . _state of germany, from the beginning of the suabian dynasty, until the accession of the emperor charles v._ . _state of german literature, during this period_ a.d. - . v. . _antient, and modern geography of the netherlands_ . _the formation, of the different provinces of the netherlands, into one state_ . _brief view, of the history of the netherlands, until the acknowledgment of the seven united provinces, by the spanish monarch_ . _their constitution, and principal officers_ chapter i. a.d. - . birth, and education of grotius chapter ii. a.d. - . grotius, embraces the profession of the law chapter iii. the early publications, of grotius chapter iv. historical minutes, of the united provinces, from their declaration of independence, till the arminian controversy chapter v. a.d. - . the feuds, in the united provinces, between the disciples of calvin, and the disciples of arminius, until the synod of dort chapter vi. a.d. . the synod of dort chapter vii. a.d. - . trial and imprisonment of grotius; his escape from prison chapter viii. a.d. james i. vorstius chapter ix. a.d. - . grotius, after his escape from prison, until his appointment of ambassador, from sweden, to the court of france chapter x. some of the principal works, of grotius . _new edition of stobæus_ . _his treatise de jure belli et pacis_ . ---- _de veritate religionis christianæ_ . ---- _de jure summarum potestatum circa sacra._--and _commentatio ad loca quædam novi testamenti, quæ de antichristo agunt, aut agere videntur_ . _his commentaries on the scriptures_ . _his other works_ chapter xi. a.d. - . grotius, as ambassador from the kingdom of sweden, to the court of france chapter xii. the religious sentiments of grotius; some other of his works, . _subsequent history of arminianism_ . _grotius's religious sentiments_ . _projects of religious pacification_ chapter xiii. the death of grotius chapter xiv. a.d. - . historical minutes of the revolutions of the government of the seven united provinces, from the death of william ii. till the establishment of the kingdom of the netherlands. . _william iii._ . _john william count of nassau dietz, - ; william iv._ - . _from the death of william iv. till the erection of the kingdom of the netherlands_ appendix i. _some account of the formularies, confessions of faith, or symbolic books, of the roman-catholic, greek, and principal protestant churches_ appendix ii. _on the reunion of christians_ footnotes introduction. succinct notice of the geography, principal political events, and literature, of the netherlands, before the birth of grotius. - . we propose to present to our readers, in this chapter, a succinct account, of the geography, devolution, and literature of the netherlands,--considering them, until they became subject to the princes of the house of burgundy, as a portion of the german empire, and included in its history:--and from that time, as forming a separate territory. [sidenote: - .] contemplating the netherlands in the first of these views,--we shall briefly mention the boundaries and government, of the german empire, and the state of learning in its territories, during the carlovingian, saxon, franconian and suabian dynasties, and the period, which intervened, between the last suabian emperor and the election of the emperor charles the fifth. from this time, we shall confine ourselves to the history of the netherlands. we shall then, therefore, endeavour to give a short view of the geography of these countries, and of the manner in which they were acquired by the princes of burgundy; then, shortly mention the successful revolt of the seven united provinces. in one of them, grotius, the subject of these pages, was born; the part which he took in the public events of his times, forms the most important portion of his biography. i. . _boundaries and devolution of the empire of germany during the carlovingian dynasty_. - . the ocean on the north, the danube on the south, the rhine on the west, and the sarmatian provinces on the east, are the boundaries assigned by tacitus to antient germany. it formed the most extensive portion of the territories of charlemagne; descended, at his decease, to his son, lewis the debonnaire; and, on the partition between his three sons, was allotted to lewis, his second son. all the territories of charlemagne were united in charles the fat; he was deposed by his subjects, and his empire divided. germany was assigned to his third son, charles the brave. on his decease, it was possessed by arnold, a natural son of carloman, the elder brother of charles: from him it descended to hedwiges, the wife of otho, duke of saxony, and she transmitted it to their son henry the fowler, the first emperor of that house. [sidenote: - .] from the skirts of germany and france two new kingdoms arose: the kingdom of lorraine, which comprised the countries between the rhine, the meuse, and the scheld; or the modern lorraine, the province of alsace, the palatinate, treves, cologne, juliers, liêge and the netherlands;--and the kingdom of burgundy: this was divided into the cis-juranan, or the part of it on the east, and the trans-juranan, or the part of it on the west of mount jura. the former comprised provençe, dauphiné, the lyonese, franche-comté, bresse, bugey, and a part of savoy; the latter comprised the countries between mount jura and the pennine alps, or the part of switzerland between the reus, the valais, and the rest of savoy. such was the geographical state of germany at the close of the carlovingian dynasty. i. . _state of literature in the time of charlemagne_. so far as literature depends upon the favour of the monarch, no æra in history promised more than the reign of charlemagne. his education had been neglected; but he had real taste for learning and the arts, was sensible of their beneficial influence both upon the public and the private welfare of a people; and possessed the amplest means of encouraging and diffusing them; his wisdom would suggest to him the properest means of doing it, and the energy of his mind would excite him to constant exertions. [sidenote: i. . state of literature in the time of charlemagne.] nothing that could be effected by a prince thus gifted and disposed, was left untried by charlemagne. he drew to him the celebrated alcuin, peter of pisa, paul warnefrid, and many other distinguished literary characters: he heaped favours upon them; and a marked distinction was always shewn them at his court. he formed them into a literary society, which had frequent meetings. their conversation was literary, he often bore a part in it; and, what was at least equally gratifying, he always listened with a polite and flattering attention while others spoke. to establish perfect equality among them, the monarch, and, after his example, the other members of this society, dropt their own and adopted other names. angelbert was called homer, from his partiality to that poet; riculphus, archbishop of mentz, chose the name of damétas, from an eclogue of virgil: another member took that of candidus; eginhard, the emperor's biographer, was called calliopus, from the muse calliope; alcuin received, from his country, the name of albinus; the archbishop theodulfe was called pindar; the abbot adelard was called augustine; charlemagne, as the man of god's own heart, was called david. [sidenote: - ] the emperor corresponded with men of learning, on subjects of literature; they generally related to religion. in one of his letters, he requires of alcuin an explanation of the words septuagesima, sexagesima, and quinquagesima, which denote the sundays which immediately precede, and the word quadragesima, which denotes the first sunday which occurs in lent. the denominations of those sundays give rise to two difficulties; one, that they seem to imply that each week consists of ten, not of seven days; the other, that the words sound as if septuagesima were the seventieth, when it is only the sixty-third day before easter sunday; sexagesima, as if it were the sixtieth, when it is only the fifty-sixth; quinquagesima, as if it were the fiftieth, when it is the forty-ninth; quadragesima, as if it were the fortieth, when it is the forty-second. alcuin's answer is more subtle than satisfactory. at the meals of charlemagne some person always read to him. his example was followed by many of his successors, particularly by francis i. of france, who, in an happier era for learning, imitated with happier effects, the example of the emperor. [sidenote: i. . state of literature in the time of charlemagne.] alcuin was general director of all the literary schemes of charlemagne. he was an englishman by birth; skilled both in the greek and latin language, and in many branches of philosophy. having taught, with great reputation and success, in his own country, he travelled to rome. in , charlemagne attracted him to his court. there, alcuin gave lectures, and published several treatises. in these, he began with orthography; then proceeded to grammar; afterwards to rhetoric, and dialectic. he composed his treatises in the form of dialogues; and, as charlemagne frequently attended them, alcuin made him one of his interlocutors. few scholars of alcuin were more attentive than his imperial pupil; he had learned grammar from peter of pisa; he was instructed in rhetoric, dialectic, and astronomy by alcuin. he also engaged in the study of divinity; and had the good sense to stop short of those subtleties, in which justinian, heraclius, and other princes, unfortunately both for themselves and their subjects, bewildered themselves. letters from giséla and richtrudis, the daughters of charlemagne, to alcuin, shew that they partook of their father's literary zeal: his favourite study was astronomy. [sidenote: - .] the number of persons in his court, who addicted themselves to pursuits of literature, was so great, and their application so regular, that their meetings acquired the appellation of "the school of charlemagne." their library was at aix-la-chapelle, the favourite residence of the monarch: but they accompanied him in many of his journies. antiquarians have tracked them at paris, thionville, wormes, ratisbon, wurtzburgh, mentz, and frankfort. charlemagne established schools in every part of his dominions. in , he addressed a circular letter to all the metropolitan prelates of his dominions, to be communicated by them to their suffragan bishops, and to the abbots within their provinces. he exhorted them to erect schools in every cathedral and monastery. schools were accordingly established throughout his vast dominions: they were divided into two classes; arithmetic, grammar, and music were taught in the lower, the liberal arts and theology in the higher. [sidenote: . . state of literature in the time of charlemagne.] in france, the abbeys of corbie, fontenelles, ferrieres, st. denis, st germain of paris, st. germain of auxerre, and st. benedict on the loire;--in germany, the abbeys of proom, fulda, and of st gall;--in italy, the abbey of mount casino, were celebrated for the excellence of their schools. one, for the express purpose of teaching the greek language, was founded by charlemagne at osnabruck. all were equally open to the children of the nobility and the children of peasants; all received the same treatment. it happened that, on a public examination of the children, the peasant boys were found to have made greater progress than the noble. the emperor remarked it to the latter, and declared with an oath, that "the bishopricks and abbeys should be given to the diligent poor." "you rely," he said to the patrician youths, "on the merit of your ancestors; these have already been rewarded. the state owes them nothing; those only are entitled to favour, who qualify themselves for serving and illustrating their country by their talents and their merits." [sidenote: - .] the civil law then consisted of the theodosian code, the salic, ripuarian, allemannic, bavarian, burgundian, and other _codes_; and of the _formularies_ of angesise and marculfus. to these charlemagne added his own _capitularies_. the whole collection, in opposition to the canon or ecclesiastical law, received the appellation of _lex mundana_, or _worldly law_. the canon law consisted of the code of canons which charlemagne brought with him from rome in ; a code of the canons of the church of france; the canons inserted in the collection of angelram, bishop of metz; the apostolic canons, published by st. martin, bishop of braga; the capitularies of theodulfus, of orleans; and the penitential canons, published in the spicilegium of d'acheri.[ ] to the study, both of the canon and civil law, schools were appropriated by charlemagne: few, except persons intended for the ecclesiastical state, frequented them. rabanus maurus,[ ] abbot of fulda, and afterwards archbishop of mentz, has left an interesting account of the studies of this period; it shews that all were referred to theology, and only considered to be useful so far as they could be made serviceable to sacred learning. such a plan of study could conduce but little to the advancement of general literature or science. still, it was productive of good, and led to improvement. [sidenote: i. . state of literature in the time of charlemagne.] it is observable that both antient and modern civilizers of nations, have called music to their aid; among these we may mention charlemagne. in his residence at rome, he was delighted with the gregorian chant. after his return to germany, he endeavoured to introduce it, both into his french and german dominions. the former had a chant of their own; they called it an improvement, but other nations considered it a corruption of the gregorian. greatly against the wish of charlemagne, his gallic subjects persisted in their attachment to their national music; the merit of it was gravely debated before the emperor; they vehemently urged the superiority of their own strains. "tell me," said the emperor, "which is purer, the fountain or the rivulet?" they answered, "the former." "return ye, then," (said the emperor) "to st. gregory: he is the fountain, the rivulets are evidently corrupted." the emperor was obeyed, and the gregorian chant was taught, both in france and germany, by italian choristers. the italian writers of the times describe the difficulties which they experienced in forming the rough and almost untuneable voices of their french and german pupils to the softness of the gregorian song. they appear to have succeeded better with the germans than the french. by these, their lessons were so soon and so completely forgotten, after the decease of charlemagne, that lewis the debonnaire, his son, was obliged to request pope gregory iv. to send him from rome, a new supply of singers to instruct the people. but music continued to prosper in germany; it abounded in songs. some were amatory, (_münnelier_); some were satirical, (_cantica in malitiam_); some heroic, (_cantica in honorem,_); some diabolical, (_cantica diabolica_.) these consisted of incantations, and of narratives of the feats of evil spirits. [sidenote: - .] vernacular poetry, and vernacular composition, of every kind, were almost wholly left to the vulgar; all, who aimed at literary eminence, wrote in the latin language. some discerning spirits became sensible that the german language was susceptible of great improvement, and excited their countrymen to its cultivation. among these was otfroid; he translated the gospel into german verse. he describes, in strong terms, the difficulties which he had to encounter: "the barbarousness of the german language is," he says, "so great, and its sounds are so incoherent and strange, that it is very difficult to subject them to the rules of grammar, to represent them by syllables, or to find in the alphabet letters which correspond to them." it is however remarkable, that, although he complains of the dissonance of the german language, he never accuses it of poverty. while france and germany continued subject to the same monarch, german was the language of the court, and generally used in every class of society. when the treaty of verdun divided the territories of charlemagne, the _romande_, or _romançe_ language, a corruption of the latin, superseded the german in every part of france: it was insensibly refined into the modern french, but the german continued to be the only language spoken in germany. great progress was made in architecture: the churches and palaces constructed by the direction of charlemagne at aix-la-chapelle, the basilisc at germani, the church of st. recquier at ponthieu, and many other monuments of great architectural skill and expense, belong to the age of charlemagne, and bear ample testimony to the well-directed exertions of the monarch, and of some of his descendants, and to their wise and splendid magnificence. i. . _decline of literature under the descendants of charlemagne._ [sidenote: - ] [sidenote: i. . decline of literature under the descendants of charlemagne.] that literature began to decline immediately after the decease of charlemagne, in every part of his extensive dominions, and that its decline was principally owing to the wars among his descendants, which devastated every portion of his empire, seems to be universally acknowledged; yet there are strong grounds for contending that it was not so great as generally represented. _abbé le beuf_,[ ] in an excellent dissertation on the state of the sciences in the gauls during the period which elapsed between the death of charlemagne and the reign of robert, king of france, attempts to prove the contrary; and the preliminary discourses of the authors of "l'histoire literaire de la france," on the state of learning during the ninth and tenth centuries, strongly confirm the abbé's representations. it is surprising how many works were written during these dark, and, as they are too harshly called, ignorant ages. it is more to be wondered, that while so much was written, so little was written well. the classical works of antiquity were not unknown in those times; the latin vulgate translation of the old and new testament was daily read by the clergy, and heard by the people. now, although the language of the vulgate be not classical, it is not destitute of elegance, and it possesses throughout the exquisite charms of clearness and simplicity. it is surprising that these circumstances did not lead the writers to a better style. they had no such effect; the general style of the time was hard, inflated and obscure. it should, however, be observed, that simonde de sismondi, as he is translated by mr. roscoe, justly observes, that "during the reign of charlemagne, and during the four centuries which immediately preceded it, there appeared, both in france and italy, some judicious historians, whose style possesses considerable vivacity, and who gave animated pictures of their times; some subtle philosophers, who astonished their contemporaries, rather by the fineness of their speculations than by the justness of their reasoning; some learned theologians, and some poets. the names of paul warnefrid, of alcuin, of luitprand, and eginhard, are even yet universally respected. they all, however, wrote in latin. they had all of them, by the strength of their intellect, and the happy circumstances in which they were placed, learned to appreciate the beauty of the models which antiquity had left them. they breathed the spirit of a former age, as they had adopted its language: we do not find them representatives of their contemporaries: it is impossible to recognize in their style the times in which they lived; it only betrays the relative industry and felicity with which they imitated the language and thoughts of a former age. they were the last monuments of civilized antiquity, the last of a noble race, which, after a long period of degeneracy, became extinct in them." ii. . _boundaries and devolution of the german empire during the saxon dynasty._ - . we have mentioned that, on the death of lewis, the son of arnhold, the empire descended to henry i. in the right of his mother. from him, it devolved through otho, surnamed the great, otho ii., and otho iii., to henry ii. the last emperor of the saxon line. in this period of the german history, the attention of the reader is particularly directed to two circumstances,--the principal states, of which germany was composed, the cradles, as they may be called, of the present electorates, and the erection of the principal cities and monasteries in germany. [sidenote: ii. . state of literature during the saxon dynasty.] a curious altercation between nicephorus phocas, the greek emperor, and luitprand bishop of cremona, ambassador from otho i. to the greek sovereign, shews the state of germany during this period. "your nation," said the empire to the ambassador, "does not know how to sit on horseback; or how to fight on foot: your large shields, massive armour, long swords, and heavy helmets, disable you for battle."--luitprand told the emperor that "he would, the first time they should meet in the field, feel the contrary." luitprand observed, that "germany was so little advanced in ecclesiastical worth; that no council had been held within its precincts:" the ambassador remarked, that "all heresies had originated in greece." the emperor asserted, that "the germans were gluttons and drunkards:" luitprand replied, that "the greeks were effeminate." all writers agree, that, in what each party to this conversation asserted, there was too much truth. we have noticed the advance towards civilization which henry i, made by the construction of towns; he effected another, by the introduction of tournaments and field sports, on a large, orderly and showy plan. speaking generally, society in germany during the saxon line of its princes, was always improving. ii. . _state of literature during the saxon dynasty_. [sidenote: - .] "in the school of paderborn," says the biographer of meinwert, as he is cited by schmidt, "there are famous musicians, dialecticians, orators, grammarians, mathematicians, astronomers and geometricians. horace, the great virgil, sallust, and statius, are highly esteemed. the monks amuse themselves with poetry, books and music. several are incessantly employed in transcribing and painting." a german translation of the psalms, by notker, a monk of the abbey of st. gall, shews that some attention was paid to the language of the country. the greek was cultivated; the writers of the times mention several persons skilled in it. notker, in a letter to one of his correspondents, informs him, that "his greek brothers salute him." [sidenote: ii. . state of literature during the saxon dynasty.] poetry was a favourite study: the celebrated _gerbert_, afterwards pope silvester ii, and _waldram_, bishop of strasburgh, were the best poets of their times. hroswith,[ ] a nun in the monastery of gardersheim, published comedies: "many catholics," she says, in her preface to them, "are guilty of a fault, from which i myself am not altogether free; they prefer profane works, on account of their style, to the holy scriptures. others have the scriptures always in their hands, and despise profane authors; yet they often read terence, and their attention to the beauties of his style does not prevent the objectionable passages in his writings from making an impression on them." to this age, the origin of romances is usually assigned: but these belong to the french; no specimen of them has been discovered in germany. music was much cultivated. hroswith introduced it into her comedies. it has been mentioned, that sallust was read in the school at paderborn. it is supposed that tacitus was known to wittikind or dittmar: both relate visions, and several puerile circumstances; but they write with precision, and shew, on many occasions, great good sense. the same cannot be said of the legend-writers; the account which the authors of "the literary history of france" give of them is very just. "the ancient legends," they say, "were lost, in consequence either of the plunder or the burning of the churches; it was considered necessary to replace them, as it was thought impossible to honour the memory, or to preserve the veneration of the saints, without some knowledge of their lives. it is to be remarked, that the saints, whose memories were thus sought to be honoured, had been long dead, or had lived in foreign countries, so that little was known of them except by oral tradition. from this it may be easily guessed, that those who employed themselves upon the legends, were deprived of necessary information, and upon that account could not produce exact and true histories. thus, to the general defects of the age in which they lived, they added uncertainty, confusion, and some falsehood. their pages abound with visions. in the place of the simple and natural, they substituted the wonderful and extraordinary. it even happened too frequently that they took leave to tell untruths. heriger, the abbot of st lupus, says, in direct terms, that they piously lied." [sidenote: - .] dialectic was in great favour: it was called philosophy; no work was more read than "the book of categories," erroneously ascribed to st. augustine; and a work, upon the same subject, imputed to porphyry. [sidenote: ii. . state of literature during the saxon dynasty.] the schools of the cathedrals and principal monasteries contributed essentially to the increase and diffusion of literature. among the monasteries, those of fulda, st. gall, corbie and kershaw, were particularly renowned. bishops and abbots exerted themselves to procure books, and to have copies of them made and circulated: they were often splendidly illuminated. henry i. caused a painting to be made, of a battle which he had gained over the hungarians. bernard, bishop of hildersheim, in imitation of what he had seen in italy, ornamented the churches of his diocese with mosaic paintings; he also introduced, among his countrymen, the art of fusing and working metals; he caused precious and highly ornamented vases to be made in imitation of the antients. large and small bells were cast; chalices, patines, incensories, images, and even altars of gold and silver, or ornamented with them, were fabricated. aventin relates, that at mauverkirchen, in bavaria, figures in plaster, hardened by fire, had, in , been made of a duke of bavaria and his general. [sidenote: - .] the establishment of schools, and the protection given to the arts and sciences, invited the whole body of the nation to the acquisition of useful and ornamental knowledge; but the invitation was not even generally accepted. there was much superstition in every order of the laity. an opinion prevailed among them, that the world was to end, and the day of judgment arrive, in the year . an universal panic spread itself over europe. strange to relate, the people sought to avoid the catastrophe, by hiding themselves in caverns and tombs. the existence of this ignorance cannot be denied: but, to the ecclesiastics, who strove against it, who erected and fostered so many schools to dispel it, and who exerted themselves in the manner we have mentioned, to establish another and a better order of things, a great share of praise and gratitude should never be denied. the mines of hartz were discovered in the time of otho i. and diffused so much wealth over saxony, and afterwards over all germany, as gave the reign of that emperor the appellation of "the age of gold." before this time, nicephorus phocas had called saxony, from the dress, or rather the coverings of its inhabitants, "the land of skins." but all the wealth of the country still continued to be concentrated among the great landowners. iii. . _boundaries and state of germany during the franconian dynasty._ - . under henry iii. the second prince of this line, the german empire had its greatest extent. it comprised germany, italy, burgundy and lorraine. poland, and other parts of the sclavonian territories, were subject to it. denmark and hungary acknowledged themselves its vassals. the emperors affected to consider all kingdoms as forming a royal republic, of which the emperor was chief. for their right to this splendid prerogative, they always found advocates in their own dominions: they reckon, among these, the illustrious leibniz. out of germany, nothing of the claim, beyond precedence in rank, has ever been allowed. this, no sovereign in europe has contested with the emperors: it is observable, that, as the french monarchs insisted on the carlovingian extraction of hugh capet, they affected to consider henry the fowler the first prince of the saxon dynasty, and all his successors in the empire as usurpers. lewis xiv. expresses himself in this manner in some memoirs recently attributed to him. iii. . _state of german literature during the franconian dynasty._ [sidenote: - .] throughout this period, commerce was always upon the increase; and literature, science and art, increased with it. the monuments of the antient grandeur of the eternal city, began about this time to engage the attention of the inhabitants of germany, and to attract to rome many literary pilgrims. they returned home impressed with admiration of what they had seen, and related the wonders to their countrymen. "the gods themselves (they told their hearers) behold their images in rome with admiration, and wish to resemble them. nature herself does not raise forms as beautiful as those, which the artist creates. one is tempted to say that they breathe; and to adore the skill of the artist rather than the inhabitant of olympus represented by his art." thus the uncultivated germans began to perceive the beauty of these relics of antiquity, and to feel the wish of imitation. this first appeared on the seals of the emperors and bishops; several of distinguished beauty have reached our times. the german artists soon began to engrave on precious stones, and to work in marble and bronze. four statues of emperors of the house of saxony, of the workmanship of these times, are still to be seen at spires; they are rudely fashioned, but are animated, and have distinct and expressive countenances. [sidenote: iii. . state of german literature during the franconian dynasty.] when the emperors or nobility travelled, they were frequently accompanied by artists. these sometimes made drawings of foreign churches and edifices, and on their return home, raised others in imitation of them. thus the cathedral at bremen was built on the model of that of benevento. the cathedral of strasburgh, and many other churches, were built about this time. music was considerably improved; the system of guido aretinus was no where understood better, or cultivated with greater ardour, than in germany. some improvement was made in poetry, but it chiefly appeared in the songs of the common people. a monk of togernsee, in bavaria, composed a collection of poems under the title of bucolics; they resemble those of virgil only in their title. lambert, of aschaffenburgh, published a history of his own times, inferior to none which have reached us from the middle ages. [sidenote: - ] dialectic, however, still continued the favourite study; and the art of disputation was never carried so far: the interest which the public took in these disputes was surprising. when it was announced that two celebrated dialecticians were to hold a public dispute, persons flocked from all parts to witness the conflict; they listened with avidity, and with all the feelings of partisans. this appears ridiculous; but, in the present times, is there no _fancy_ which deserves equal ridicule? iv. _the state of germany, from the beginning of the suabian dynasty, till the accession of the emperor charles v._ - . the principal events in the reigns of the latter princes of the franconian, and of all the princes of the suabian line, were produced or influenced by the contests between the popes and emperors, respecting investitures, or the right of nominating to vacant bishoprics;--by the pretensions of the popes to hold their antient territories independent of the emperors;--or by the new acquisitions of the popes in italy. - . these contests reduced the empire to a state of anarchy, which produced what is generally called, by the german writers, the great interregnum. while it continued, six princes successively claimed to be emperors of germany. - . the interregnum was determined by the election of rodolph, count of hapsburgh. from him, till the ultimate accession of the house of austria, in the person of albert the second, the empire was held by several princes of different noble families. - . albert was succeeded by frederick iii.; frederick, by maximilian i.; and maximilian, by charles v. to the period between the extinction of the suabian dynasty and the accession of the emperor albert, may be assigned the rise of the italian republics, particularly venice, genoa and florence; the elevations of the princes of savoy and milan, and the revolutions of naples, and the two sicilies. [sidenote: iv. . the state of germany, from the beginning of the suabian dynasty till the accession of the emperor charles v.] the boundaries of germany, during this period, were the eider and the sea, on the north; the scheld, the meuse, the saone and the rhone, on the west; the alps and the rhine, on the south; and the lech and vistula, on the east. they contained,-- . the duchy of burgundy; . the duchy of lorraine; . the principalities into which allemmania and franconia were divided; . the bavarian territories, which the franks had acquired in rhoetia, noricum, and pannonia; . saxony; . the sclavic territories between the oder and the vistula: these were possessed by the margraves of brandenburgh, and the dukes of poland and bohemia, and the princes dependent upon them in moravia, silesia and lusatia;-- . by the provinces of pomerania and prussia, on the east of saxony; . and the marchia orientalis, oostrich, or austria, on the east of bavaria. at first, the emperor was chosen by the people at large; the right of election was afterwards confined to the nobility and the principal officers of state: insensibly, it was engrossed by the five great officers,--the chancellor, the great marshal, the great chamberlain, the great butler, and the great master of the palace. but their exclusive pretensions were much questioned. at length, their right of election was settled; first, by the electoral union, in ; and finally, in the reign of the emperor charles iv. by the celebrated constitution, called, from the seal of gold appended to it, _the golden bull_. by this, the right of election was vested in three spiritual and four temporal electors: two temporal electors have since been added to their numbers. iv. . _state of german literature during this period_. [sidenote: - ] while the empire was possessed by the princes of the house of saxony, a copy of the pandects of justinian was discovered at amalfi. "the discovery of them," says sir william blackstone, in his introductory discourse to his commentaries, "soon brought the civil law into vogue all over the west of europe, where before it was quite laid aside, and in a manner wholly forgotten; though some traces of its authority remained in italy, and the eastern provinces of the empire.--the study of it was introduced into many universities abroad, particularly that of bologna, where exercises were performed, lectures read, and degrees conferred in this faculty, as in other branches of science; and many nations of the continent, just then beginning to recover from the convulsions consequent to the overthrow of the roman empire, and settling by degrees into peaceable forms of government, adopted the civil law (being the best written system then extant,) as the basis of their several constitutions; blending or interweaving in it their own feudal customs, in some places, with a more extensive, in others, a more confined authority." [sidenote: iv. . state of german literature, from the suabian dynasty to charles v.] this was a great step toward the civilization of germany, and of the other countries in which the institutions of the civil law were thus introduced. they certainly tended to animate the nations, by whom they were received, to the study of the history and literature of the people from the works of whose writers they had been compiled. they produced this effect in several countries of europe; but their influence in germany was very limited: the disposition to subtilize, which was at that time universal throughout the german empire, led those who cultivated literature rather to refine upon what was before them, than to new inquiries. the language of the pandects is of the silver age; it might therefore be expected, that it would have improved the general style of the times; but this improvement is seldom discernible. [sidenote: - ] [sidenote: iv. . state of german literature, from the suabian dynasty to charles v.] good or evil is seldom unmixed: civil contests and dissensions, generally produce both public and private misery; sometimes, however, they generate mental excitement. this is favourable to literature and science. its good effects appeared in the contests between the popes and the emperors. great were the public and the private calamities which they caused, both in church and state; but they promoted inquiry and intellectual exertions. these were often attended with happy results. irnerius, by birth a german, had studied justinian's law at constantinople. towards the year , he was appointed professor of civil law at bologna: the contests between the popes and the emperors produced a warfare of words among the disciples of irnerius. it has been mentioned that the german emperors pretended to succeed to the empire of the cæsars. the language and spirit of the justinianean code, being highly favourable to this claim, the emperors encouraged the civilians, and in return for it, had their pens at command. the decree of gratian was favourable to the pretensions of the popes; and on this account was encouraged by the canonists. hence, generally speaking, the civilians were partisans of the emperors, the canonists of the popes. from their adherence to the law of justinian, the former were called legistæ; from their adherence to the decree of gratian, the latter were called decretistæ. the controversy was carried on with great ardour and perseverance; the schools both of italy and germany resounded with the disputes, and in both, numerous tracts in support of the opposite claims, were circulated. the question necessarily carried the disputants to many incidental topics: these equally increased the powers and curiosity of the disputants, and stimulated them to better and more interesting studies. v. . _antient and modern geography of the netherlands._ we have thus brought down our historical deduction of the german empire to the accession of the emperor charles the fifth. about years before this event, that portion of the empire, to which its situation has given the appellation of the netherlands, began to have a separate history, and both a separate and important influence on the events of the times. to them we shall now direct our attention. these spacious territories are bounded on the north, by the german ocean; on the west, by the british sea and part of picardy; on the south, by champagne or lorraine; on the east, by the archbishoprics of triers and trêves, the dutchies of juliers and cléves, the bishopric of munster, and the county of embden or east friesland. [sidenote: v. . antient and modern geography of the netherlands.] when the romans invaded gaul, it was divided among three principal clans: the rhine then formed its western boundary. the left banks of this river were occupied by the belgians: this tract of land now comprises the catholic netherlands, and the territory of the united states; the right bank of the rhine was then filled by the frisians, and now comprises the modern gröningen, east and west friesland, a part of holland, gueldres, utrecht, and overyssell: the batavians inhabited the island which derives its name from them; it now comprises the upper part of holland, utrecht, gueldres, and overyssell, the modern cléves between the lech and the waal. in antient geography, the netherlands were separated into the cisrhenahan and transrhenahan divisions: the cisrhenahan lay on the western side of the rhine, and included the belgic gaul; it was bounded by the rhenus, the rhodanus, the sequana, the matrona, and the oceanus britannicus: the transrhenahan lay on the eastern side of the rhine; it was a part of lower germany, and bounded on the north by the eastern frisia, westphalia, the ager-colonensis, the juliacensis-ducatus, and the treveri. the classical reader will have no difficulty in assigning to these denominations, their actual names in the language of modern geography. the whole of these territories is called the netherlands by the english; and flanders by the italians, spaniards, and french. v. . _the formation of the different provinces of the netherlands into one state_. in , john the good, the king of france, gave to philip the bold, his third son, the dutchy of burgundy: it then comprised the county of burgundy, dauphiné, and a portion of switzerland. the monarch at the same time created his son duke of burgundy. thus philip, became the patriarch of the second line of that illustrious house. history does not produce an instance of a family, which has so greatly aggrandized itself by marriage, as the house of austria. the largest part by far of the netherlands was derived to it, st, from margaret of franche comtè; dly, from margaret of flanders; dly, from jane of brabant; thly, from mary of burgundy; thly, from jacqueline of holland; and thly, from elizabeth of luxemburgh. [sidenote: formation of the provinces of the netherlands into one state.] the possessions of the three first of these splendid heiresses, descended to margaret of flanders. she married phillip the bold, who, as we have just mentioned, was the first of the modern dukes of burgundy. by this marriage, he acquired, in right of his wife, the provinces of flanders, artois, mechlin, and rhetel; and transmitted them and his own dukedom of burgundy to his son charles the intrepid. from charles, they descended to his son philip the good. he purchased namur; and by a transaction with jacqueline of holland, acquired that province, zealand, hainault, and friesland. by other means, he obtained brabant, antwerp, luxemburgh, limburgh, gueldres, and zutphen. on the failure of issue male of philip the good, all these fourteen provinces descended to mary his only daughter. she married the emperor maximilian. he had two sons by her, the emperor charles v. and ferdinand. the former acquired, by purchase or force, utrecht, overyssell and gröningen. these territories formed what are generally called the seventeen provinces of the netherlands. in the language of the middle ages, they consisted of the dutchies of brabant, limburgh, luxemburgh, and gueldres; the earldoms of flanders, artois, hainault, holland, zealand, namur, zutphen, antwerp, (sometimes called the marquisate of the holy empire) and the lordships of friesland, mechlin, utrecht, overyssell, and gröningen. cambrai, the cambresis, and the county of burgundy, though a separate territory, were considered to be appendages, but not part of them. v. . _brief view of the history of the netherlands, till the acknowledgement of the independence of the seven united provinces by the spanish monarch._ the laws, the customs, and the government of all these provinces were nearly alike: each had its representative assembly of the three orders, of the clergy, nobility, and burghers: each had its courts of justice; and an appeal from the superior tribunal of each lay to the supreme court at mechlin. public and fiscal concerns of moment fell under the cognizance of the sovereign. the people enjoyed numerous and considerable privileges: the most important of them was the _droit de joyeuse entrée_, the right of not being taxed without the consent of the three estates. commerce, agriculture, and the arts, particularly music and painting, flourished among them. the people were honest, frugal, regular and just in their general habits; more steady than active; not easily roused; but, when once roused, not easily appeased. [sidenote: brief view of the history of the netherlands.] charles v. made over his hereditary territories in germany to his brother ferdinand; but retained the netherlands, and annexed them to the crown of spain. with that crown, they descended to philip the second, the only son of charles. unwise and unjust measures of that monarch drove the inhabitants into rebellion. on the th of april , a deputation of gentlemen, with lewis of nassau, a brother of the prince of orange, at their head, presented a petition to margaret of austria, the governor of the netherlands. from the coarseness of their dress, they acquired the name of _gueux_ or _beggars_, and retained it throughout the whole of the troubles which followed. [sidenote: brief view of the history of the netherlands.] calvinism had, before this time, made great progress in these countries, and gained over to it numbers of the discontented party. philip proceeded to the most violent measures, and sent the duke of alva, with an army of , men, into the netherlands. william, prince of orange, placed himself at the head of the malcontents, and raised an army. at an assembly of the states of holland and zealand in , he was declared stadtholder, or governor of holland, friesland, and utrecht: calvinism was declared to be the religion of the states. in , the three provinces were joined by those of gueldres, zutphen, overyssell, and gröningen. all signed, by their deputies, the treaty of union; it became the basis of their constitution: still, however, they acknowledged philip for their sovereign. but in , the deputies of the united states assembled at amsterdam, subscribed a solemn act, by which they formally renounced allegiance to philip and his successors, and asserted their independence. they declared in their manifesto, that "the prince is made for the people, not the people for the prince;" that "the prince, who treats his subjects as slaves, is a tyrant, whom his subjects have a right to dethrone, when they have no other means of preserving their liberty;" that "this right particularly belongs to the netherlands; their sovereign, being bound by his coronation oath to observe the laws, under pain of forfeiting his sovereignty." in , the prince of orange was assassinated by balthazar gerard, a catholic fanatic: the war was continued till , when it was suspended by a truce of twelve years. at the expiration of it, the war burst forth with fresh fury: it was finally terminated by the peace of munster, or westphalia, in , when the king of spain acknowledged, in the fullest manner, the independence of the seven united provinces, and of all their possessions in asia, africa, and america. v. . _their constitution and principal officers._ [sidenote: constitution of the netherlands.] thus the united provinces became a confederacy of seven independent principalities, called in the aggregate the states general. several years elapsed before their constitution was finally settled. then, the supreme sovereignty of the whole was considered to be vested in the people of every province represented by the states. these consisted of deputies appointed to them from the different provinces. each province might send to the assembly more than one deputy; but, whatever was the number of deputies sent by them, they had one vote only in the proceedings of the assembly. the government of each province was vested in its states: these were composed of two orders, the deputies from the towns, and those from the equestrian order. each province contained several independent republics. the states general could not make war or peace, or enter into alliances, or raise money, without the consent of all the seven provinces; nor did the decrees of any one of the states bind the constituent parts of it, without their consent. [sidenote: constitution of the netherlands.] the stadtholder was appointed by the states general, and held his office at their will. the offices of captain-general and admiral were united in him: thus he had the appointment of all military commands, both by sea and land; and had considerable influence and power in the nomination to civil offices. three officers,--the _treasurer, the conservator of the peace, and the grand pensionary,_ were appointed by the states general, and were immediately subject to their controul; they were wholly independent of the stadtholder. the grand pensionary was always supposed to be profoundly versed in civil, ecclesiastical, and consuetudinary law; and in foreign diplomacy. all transactions between subjects or foreigners with the states general, passed through his hands. he attended the deliberations of the states; he was not entitled to vote, but was expected to sum up the arguments on each side, and to deliver his opinion upon them. each province had its advocate, syndic or pensionary; a public officer who superintended their public concerns; and represented them, but only with a deliberative voice, in the assembly of the states. [sidenote: brief view of the history of the netherlands.] we now reach the æra, at which our intended biography commences. a literary history of the netherlands, from the time of their becoming subjects to the dukes of burgundy, till this æra, is much wanted. chapter i. the birth and education of hugo grotius. - . the life of erasmus, which we have offered to the public, presents to its readers, the interesting spectacle of a person, born under every, disadvantage for the acquisition of literature, surmounting them all by his genius and perseverance, and reaching, at an early age, the highest summit of literary eminence: the life of grotius, which we now attempt, exhibits the successful literary career of a person, born with every advantage, undeviatingly availing himself of them, and attaining equal eminence; with the addition of high reputation for great political wisdom and public integrity. [sidenote: his birth and education.] he was born at delft, on the th april . his parents were john de groote, and alida averschie. john was the second son of hugo de groote by elselinda heemskirke. hugo was the son of cornelius cornet by ermingarde, the daughter and sole heiress of diederic de groote. upon their marriage, diederic stipulated that cornet should adopt the surname of groote: it signifies _great_, and is said to have been given to diederic for some signal service, which he had rendered to his sovereign. all the males and females mentioned in the genealogy of grotius were of noble extraction. learning appears to have been hereditary in the family: john, the father of hugo, the subject of our biography, was both a lawyer in great practice, and a general scholar. the th of april, on which grotius was born, was easter sunday in that year: he always observed his birthday with religious solemnity. all the biographers of grotius assert, and their assertion will be easily believed, that he discovered, in his earliest years, great aptitude for the acquisition of learning, great taste, judgment and application, and a wonderful memory. he found, in his father, an excellent tutor: by him, grotius was instructed in the rudiments of the christian doctrine, and his infant mind impressed with sound principles of morality and honour; in this, he was aided by the mother of grotius. the youth corresponded with their cares. he has celebrated, in elegant verses, their pious attention to his early education. the mention of these verses will bring to the recollection of every english reader, the magnificent strains, in which, milton addressed _his_ father. [sidenote: chap. i. - .] as soon as grotius had passed his childhood, he was placed with utengobard, an arminian clergyman: we shall see that this circumstance had a decisive influence upon his future life. he retained a lasting regard for utengobard, and a grateful recollection of his obligations to him. at the age of twelve years, grotius was sent to the university of leyden, and committed to the care of francis junius. here, he distinguished himself so much by his diligence, his talents, and his modesty, as to obtain the notice and regard of several of the most famous scholars of the times. even joseph scaliger, equally distinguished by his learning and caustic arrogance, noticed him, and condescended to direct his studies. he was scarcely eleven years of age when douza, one of the princes of the republic of letters in those times, celebrated his praises in verse: he declared that "he could scarcely believe that erasmus promised so much as grotius at his age:" he announced that "grotius would soon excel all his contemporaries, and bear a comparison with the most leaned of the antients." grotius also gained the esteem of barneveldt, the grand pensionary, in whose fate he was afterward involved. in , the dutch sent count justin of nassau and barneveldt, at the head of an embassy, to henry iv. of france. barneveldt permitted grotius to accompany him. [sidenote: his birth and education.] grotius had been preceded by his reputation. he was known to m. de busenval, the monarch's ambassador in holland. busenval described him favourably to the monarch. henry gave grotius a gracious reception, and was so pleased with his conversation and demeanour, that he presented him with his picture and a golden chain. grotius gives an account of this embassy, in the seventh book of his annals: he abstains, with a praiseworthy modesty, from any mention of himself: but, in one of his poems, he dwells with complacency on his having seen the monarch, "who owed his kingdom only to his valour"-- " ... _le heros, qui regna sur la françe, et par droit de conquête et par droit de naissançe_." voltaire, _henriade_. grotius was so much pleased with his reception, and the present which he received from henry, that he caused a print of himself, adorned with the chain presented to him by henry, to be engraved. he was introduced to many of the most distinguished persons at paris: there was one, whom he particularly esteemed, but whom, from some unexplained circumstance, he missed seeing. [sidenote: chap. . - ] this was _the president de thou_, a name never to be mentioned without veneration. he had been employed by his sovereign on many delicate and important commissions, and had acquitted himself in all, with ability and honour. he had filled the office of _maitre des requétes_, and been advanced to that of _president a mortiér_. he was employed, at this time, upon his immortal history. in the account which it gives of the events, that took place in france, it is entitled to almost unqualified praise: in regard to what happened to other countries, he necessarily depended on the information which he received from them, and cannot therefore be equally relied upon. the prolixity, with which he is now reproached, was not felt at the time in which he wrote; every event, however small, was then thought to be important, and multitudes were personally interested in it. but the charm of his work is, that every page of it shews a true lover of his country, an impartial judgment, and an honourable mind. the memoirs, which he has left us of his own life, recently translated into english by mr. collinson, are interesting and entertaining. he collected a very large library, both of printed books and manuscripts, and had them splendidly bound. the whole was sold by auction in the reign of louis xiv, and scarcely produced half the sum which the binding of its volumes had cost: the same has been said of the harleian collection, sold in our times. [sidenote: his birth and education.] having remained a twelvemonth at paris, grotius returned to holland. immediately after his arrival, he addressed a letter to the president de thou, in which he expressed great mortification at not having seen him, and requested his acceptance of a book accompanying his letter, which he had dedicated to the prince of condé. the president de thou was highly pleased with this letter: a correspondence took place between them. grotius furnished the president with materials for that portion of his history which related to the troubles in the low countries. in the last letter of the president de thou, in this correspondence, he earnestly dissuades grotius from engaging in the religious disputes of the times. in reply to it, grotius respectfully intimates to the president, that "he found himself obliged to enter into them by his love of his country; his wish to serve his church, and the request of those to whom he owed obedience:" promising, at the same time, "to abstain from all disputes that were not necessary." after the death of the president, grotius celebrated his memory in a poem, which was considered by the bard's admirers to be one of his best performances. chapter ii. grotius embraces the profession of the law. his first promotions. - . in the ruin of the roman empire, her laws were lost in the general wreck. during the years, which followed the reign of constantine the great, europe was a scene of every calamity, which the inroads of barbarians could inflict, either on the countries through which they passed, or those in which they settled. about the sixth century, europe obtained some degree of tranquillity, in consequence of the introduction of feudalism; the most singular event in the annals of history. at first, it produced a general anarchy; but the system of subordination upon which it was grounded, contained in it the germ of regular government, and even, of jurisprudence. its effects were first visible in the _various codes of law_ which the barbarous nations promulgated. such are the salic, the ripuarian, the alemannic, the burgundian, the visigothic, and the lombard laws. [sidenote: feudal jurisprudence.] a complicated or refined system of jurisprudence is not to be looked for in them; but, if they are considered with due regard to the state of society for which they were calculated, they will be found to contain much that deserves praise. the _capitularies_, or short legislative provisions, propounded by the sovereign, and adopted by the public assemblies of the nation, were a further advance in legislation. by degrees, so much regularity prevailed in the judicial proceedings and legal transactions, that they were regulated by established _formularies_; and, in addition to those provisions, every nation contained a collection of unwritten usages or _customs_, which had the force of law. the natural tendency of these institutions to introduce order and peaceful habits into society was great; but it was so much counteracted by the turbulent spirit of every class of men, that it was not till the beginning of the thirteenth century that this effect of them became discernible. [sidenote: chap. ii. - ] from this time, the governments of europe sensibly improved. a better spirit of legislation shewed itself; the administration of justice became more regular; trade and husbandry were protected, several arts were encouraged; and a general wish for a better order of things prevailed in every part of europe. while the public mind was in this state of improvement, an event fortunately happened, which gave it a very salutary direction. this was, (what we have already noticed), the discovery of a complete copy of the _pandects of justinian_ at amalfi, a town in italy, near salerno. from amalfi, it found its way to pisa; and in , was carried to florence, where it has since remained. [sidenote: the civil law] few events in history can be mentioned which have conduced more to the welfare of europe than this discovery. the codes, the capitularies, the formularies, and the customs, by which, till that time, the feudal nations had been governed, fell very short of affording them the legal provisions, which society, in the improved state of civilization, to which it was then advancing, evidently required. unexpectedly, a system of law presented itself, which seemed to contain every thing that the most enlightened men of those times could have desired. the wisdom and justice of the system of law expressed in the pandects seem to have been universally felt. the study of it was immediately pursued with ardour. it was introduced into several universities; exercises were performed, lectures read, and degrees conferred in that, as in other branches of science; and most of the nations of the continent adopted it, if not as the basis, at least as an important portion of their civil jurisprudence. a regular _succession of civil_ lawyers followed. at first, they rather incumbered the text with their subtleties, than illustrated it by learning and discrimination. _andrew alciat_ was the first who united the study of polite learning with the study of the civil law: he was founder of a school called the _cujacian_, from _cujas_, the glory of civilians. of him, it may be truly said, that he found the civil law in wood and left it in marble. this school has subsisted until our time: it has never been without writers of the greatest taste, judgment and erudition; the names of cujacius, augustinus, the gothofredi, heineccius, voetius, vinnius, gravina and pothier, are as dear to the scholar as they are to the lawyer; an englishman however must reflect with pleasure, that the commentaries of his countryman, sir william blackstone, will not suffer in a comparison with any foreign work of jurisprudence. so far as the researches of the present writer extend, the only one that can be put into competition with them, is the _jus canonicum of van-espen_. [sidenote: chap. ii. - ] the judicial process of the nations on the continent differed considerably from that of england. trial by jury, and separate courts of equity, were unknown to them. some causes were heard and decided by all the magistrates of the courts; others were referred to one or more of their number. the king's advocate, or the advocate of the state, as he was termed in a republic, held a situation between the judges and the suitors: his province was to sum the facts and arguments of the cause, and to suggest his opinions upon them to the judges.--we trust our readers will excuse this summary view of foreign jurisprudence. grotius, by the advice of his father, addicted himself to the profession of the law. he was only in his seventeenth year, when he pleaded his first cause. he acquired by it, great reputation; and this was constantly upon the increase, through the whole of his professional career. he observed in his pleadings a rule, which he afterwards recommended to his son: "that you may not," he told him, "be embarrassed by the little order observed by the adversary counsel, attend to one thing, which i have found eminently useful: distribute all that can be said on both sides, under certain heads; imprint these strongly in your memory; and, whatever your adversary says, refer it not to his division, but to your own." [sidenote: grotius embraces the profession of the law.] the brilliant success of grotius at the bar soon procured him very considerable promotions. the place of advocate-general of the fisc of the provinces of holland and zealand becoming vacant, it was unanimously conferred on him. this situation was attended with great distinction and authority; the person invested with it, being charged with the preservation of the public peace, and the prosecution of public offenders. in , grotius was advanced to the situation of pensionary of rotterdam; and his high character authorized him to stipulate before he accepted it, that he should hold it during his life, and not, at will, its usual tenure. it immediately gave him a seat in the assembly of the states of holland; and, at a future time, a seat in the assembly of the states general. between the time of his appointment to the advocacy of the fisc of holland and zealand, and his being appointed pensionary of rotterdam, he married mary reygersburgh, of an illustrious family in zealand. it proved a marriage of happiness. the most perfect harmony subsisted between grotius and his consort: we shall find that she was an ornament to him in prosperity, his comfort and aid in adverse fortune. the marriage was solemnized in july , and celebrated by many a belgic bard. [sidenote: chap ii. - .] a dispute arising about this time between england and the states general, upon the exclusive right claimed by the former to fish in the northern seas, the states, with a view to an amicable adjustment of it, sent grotius to england. several meetings took place between him and commissioners appointed by james, the british sovereign. if we credit the account, given by grotius, of the point in dispute, and the negociation to which it gave rise, justice was decidedly on the side of the states general; and england only carried the point by the lion's right,--the _droit du plus fort_. [sidenote: grotius embraces the profession of the law.] grotius had every reason to be pleased with his reception by the english monarch and his court. between grotius and casaubon, who, at this time, resided in england, an intimacy had long subsisted. it was cemented by mutual esteem, similarity of studies, and the earnest wish of each for an amicable termination of religious differences: each respected the antient doctrines and discipline of the church; each thought that many of the points in controversy were disputes of words; that much might be gained by mutual concessions; and that the articles, upon which there was any substantial difference, were few. "i esteem grotius highly,"--casaubon writes in a letter to the president de thou, "on account of his other great qualities; but particularly because he judges of the modern subjects of religious controversy like a learned and good man. in his veneration for antiquity, he agrees with the wisest men." ... "i heartily pray god," says casaubon in a letter to grotius, "to; preserve you: as long as i shall live, i shall hold you in the highest esteem: so much am i taken with your piety, your probity, and your admirable learning."[ ] chapter iii. the early publications of grotius. there is not, perhaps, an instance of a person's acquiring at an age equally early, the reputation, which attended the first publication of grotius. it was an edition, with notes, of the work of "_martianus mineus felix capella_, on the marriage of mercury and philology, in two books; and of the same writer's seven treatises on the liberal arts." they had been often printed; but all the editions were faulty: a manuscript of them having been put into the hands of grotius by his father, he communicated it to scaliger, and by his advice undertook a new edition of them. the time, in which capella lived, and the place of his birth, are uncertain; the better opinion seems to be, that he flourished towards the third century, resided at rome, and attained the consular dignity. his works are written in prose, intermixed with poetry. his diction has some resemblance to that of tertullian, but is much more crabbed and obscure: none, but the ablest latin scholars, can understand him. the marriage of mercury and philology,--or of speech with learning, is not uninteresting. his other treatises contain nothing remarkable: that upon music, is hardly intelligible; it is printed separately in the collection of _meibomius_. with all his harshness and obscurity, capella seems to have been much studied in the middle ages,--some proof that there was more learning in them, than is generally supposed,--he is so often quoted by the writers of those times, that some persons have supposed that his work was then a text book in the schools. [sidenote: the early publications of grotius.] [sidenote: chap. iii. - .] when grotius undertook his edition of capella, he was only twelve years of age: he published it in his fourteenth year, and dedicated it to the prince of condé. the learning and critical discernment displayed by him in this publication excited astonishment, and obtained for him the applause of all the literary world. grotius himself gives the following account of his work: "we have collated capella with the several authors, who have investigated the same subjects. in the two first books, we have consulted those whose writings contain the sentiments of the antient philosophers, as apuleius, albericus and others, too tedious to name; on grammar, we have compared, capella with the antient grammarians; in what he has said on rhetoric, with cicero and aquila; on logic, with porphyry, aristotle, cassiodorus and apuleius; on geography, with strabo, mela, solinus, and ptolemy, but chiefly pliny; on arithmetic, with euclid; on astronomy, with hyginus, and others, who have treated on that subject; on music, with cleonides, vitruvius and boethius." in grotius's annotations all these writers are mentioned in a manner, which shews that he was thoroughly conversant with their works. grotius's edition is become, from its extreme scarcity, a typographical curiosity: all the other editions are scarce. the writer of these pages found, with great difficulty, a copy of it in the london market.[ ] that of bonhomme, published at lyons in , he procured by loan. the celebrated leibniz began to prepare an edition of capella _in usum delphini_; but his collections being purloined from him, he desisted from his project: it must be owned that the general learning of leibniz qualified him admirably for such a task.[ ] [sidenote: the early publications of grotius.] while yet in his fourteenth year, grotius published a translation of a work, published by simon steven in , upon navigation, and shewed by it a profound knowledge of mathematics:[ ] he dedicated it to the republic of venice. [sidenote: chap. iii. - .] in the following year, grotius published _the phenomena of aratus_, a poetical treatise of that author upon astronomy, with cicero's translation of it, so far as it has reached us. grotius supplied the vacancies. it is universally admitted that the parts supplied by him, are not inferior to those of cicero. the abbé d'olivet, the editor of cicero's works, and an enthusiastic admirer of his style, declares that "the muse of cicero[ ] did not throw the muse of grotius into the shade:" he therefore inserted the supplementary verses of grotius in his edition. grotius dedicated his work to the states of holland and west friseland; and promised them in his dedication something more considerable. he was complimented upon it by several of the greatest men of the age. the following simile, taken from cicero's translation of aratus, and voltaire's version of it, are greatly admired: sic jovis altisoni subito pennata satelles, arboris è trunco, serpentis saucia morsu; ipsa feris subigit transfigens unguibus anguem semianimum, et variâ graviter cervice micantem; quem se intorquentem laniens rostroque craentans, abjicit efflantem, et laceratum effundit in undas, seque obitu a solis nitidos convertit ad ortus. cicero. tel on voit cet oiseau, qui porte le tonnere, blessé par un serpent élancé de la terre; il s'envole, il entraine au sejour azuré l'ennemi tortueux dont il est entouré. le sang tombe des airs: il dechire, il devore le reptile acharné, qui le combat encore; il le perçe, il le tient sous ses ongles vainqeurs, par cent coups rédoublés il venge ses douleurs; le monstre en expirant, se debat, se replie; il exhale en poison le reste de sa vie; et l'aigle tout sanglant, fier et victorieux, le rejette en fureur, et plane au haut des cieux. voltaire. [sidenote: the early publications of grotius.] about the year , grotius published his celebrated work _mare liberum_, to assert in it against the english, the general freedom of the sea. the controversy arose upon the claim of great britain to enjoy the dominion of the british seas, in the most extensive sense of those words, both as to the right of navigating them, and the right of fishing within them. against this claim, grotius attempted to shew that the sea was, from its nature, insusceptible of exclusive right; and that, if it were susceptible of it, england did not prove her title to it. selden, in opposition to grotius, asserted the british claim, by his treatise _mare clausam_,--a noble exertion of a vigorous mind, fraught with profound and extensive erudition. it is pleasing to add, that he treats grotius with the respect due to his learning and character. selden's treatise was thought of so much importance to his cause, that a copy of it was directed to be deposited in the british admiralty. grotius was highly pleased with the respect, which was shewn to him by selden. on selden's _mare clausum_ he composed the following epigram:-- ipsum compedibus qui vinxerat ennegisæum, est grecâ xerxes multus in historia: lucullum latii xerxem dixere togatum; seldenus xerxes ecce britannus erit. [sidenote: chap. iii. - ] the states general were gratified by his work; but at that time it was so much their interest to preserve the strictest amity with england, that they discountenanced any further advocation of their claim.[ ] the year after his publication of his "treatise on the freedom of the sea," grotius printed his work on the "_antiquity of the batavian republic_." he gives in it an account of the antient _batavians;_ he professes to shew that they were the allies, not the subjects of the romans; that, after a period of anarchy, during which little is known of their history, they became subjects of the counts of holland; that these were not vassals of the empire, but independent princes; and, strictly speaking, elected by the people, although, in the election of them, great regard was always shewn to the hereditary line: that they were bound to conform to the laws of the state; and always required, before their election, to swear to the observance of the constitution; that the taxes were always imposed by the states, and that philip the second had occasioned the grand war, by repeated infractions of the public and private right of the people of the united provinces. [sidenote: the early publications of grotius.] the states of holland were highly pleased with this work; they voted thanks to its author, and accompanied them with a present. it is considered that his partiality to his country led him to advance some positions favourable to its antient independence, which his proofs did not justify. for the use of _du maurier_, the french ambassador to the states general, grotius published, about this time, his "directions for a course of general study," _de omni genere studiorum recte instituendo_. it was favourably received, both by the diplomatist for whose use it was composed, and the public at large; but, on account of the great extension of literature, since the time of grotius, it is now little read. mentioning the roman history, he shews that a knowledge of it is better acquired by reading its greek than by reading its latin historians; because foreigners give more attention to the public manners and customs of a country than natives. [sidenote: chap. iii. - .] all the works, which we have mentioned, were most favourably received in every part of the united provinces. it was now become evident that the exertions for their independence were on the eve of being crowned with complete success. all the european powers had deserted spain, so that she was left to her own single and unaided strength, to maintain the contest against the insurgent provinces. the glory, which they acquired by their successful resistance to her, determined them to make choice of an historian, who should transmit to future ages the signal exploits of their memorable struggle. with this view, they appointed grotius their historiographer. [sidenote: the poems of grotius.] it remains to mention the "_poems of grotius:_" throughout his life, he sacrificed to the muses. the _prosopopoeia,_ in which he introduces the city of ostend addressing the world, when, in the third year of her siege, the marquis spinola led the troops of spain against her, was greatly, admired. all the adjacent territory had been taken by the spaniards, so that nothing remained of it to the confederates, but the precinct within the walls of the city; and even much of this had been wrested from the besieged. all europe had its eye fixed on the operations of spinola. it is therefore, with great propriety of language, that grotius makes ostend thus address herself to the world, in the following lines:-- "area parva ducum, totus quam respicit orbis; celsior una malis, et quam damnare ruinae nunc quoque fata timent,--alieno in litore resto. tertius annus abit; toties mutavimus hostem: sævit hyems pelago, morbisque furentibus æstas; et minimum est quod fecit iber,--crudelior armis in nos orta lues,--nullum est sine funere funus. nec perimit mors una semel:--fortuna quid haeres? quâ mercede tenes mixtos in sanguine manes? quis tumulos moriens hos occupet hoste perempto? queritur,--et sterili tantum de pulvere pugna est." "a small area of chiefs, whom the whole world contemplates; alone loftier than my woes; i, whom the fates even yet, fear to condemn to ruin;--remain on a foreign shore. "the third year now passes away; thrice has my foe been changed: "the winter rages on the sea; the summer, by its furious heats. "the spaniard has been my least enemy;--more cruel than arms, a pestilence has risen among us; no funeral is without another; the dying never perish by a single death. "fortune! why do'st thou hesitate? by what reward do'st thou detain the manes mingled in blood? "who, dying, will, after the destruction of the enemy, occupy these tombs?--this is enquired.-- the contest is only for sterile dust." with the following poetical translation of these verses, the writer has been favoured by mr. sotheby, the elegant translator of "oberon." scant battle-field of chiefs, thro' earth renown'd, opprest, i loftier tow'r;--and, now, while fate dreads to destroy, in foreign soil i stand. thrice chang'd the year, thrice have we chang'd the foe. fierce winter chafes the deep, the summer burns with fell disease: less fell th' iberian sword. dire pestilence spreads;--on funerals funerals swell: nor does one death at once extirpate all. why, fortune! linger? why our souls detain with blood immingled? who, the foe extinct, who, dying, shall these sepulchres possess, and in this sterile dust the conflict close? w.s. march , . [sidenote: chap. iii. - .] these verses produced a great sensation in the literary world: they were ascribed by many to scaliger, as the best latin poet of the age; the only person considered to be capable of writing them. the celebrated peyresck hinted this to that learned man: scaliger answered, that "he was too old not to be the aversion of the virgins of helicon," and announced that the verses were written by grotius. they were translated into french by du vair, afterwards the keeper of the seals; by rapin, grand-provost of the constabulary of france; by stephen pasquier, and by malherbes: casaubon translated them into greek.[ ] [sidenote: the poems of grotius.] three generals had successively been entrusted with the siege of ostend; nine commanders had successively been entrusted with its defence: the siege had cost the besiegers and besieged , lives: all the historians of the times agree, that few important consequences were derived to either side by the success of the spaniards. the archduke and infanta, had the curiosity to view the city, after it was taken. they found in it nothing but heaps of ruins: little that shewed the former state of the town; its ditches were filled, its fortifications overthrown, its buildings, and the works of attack and defence, were levelled with the ground. spinola led them to the spots in which the most remarkable events had taken place; and, finally to that, in which the forces of the besieged had made their last stand; had, for want of space, found themselves unable to raise military works, and had, on that account, found themselves forced to surrender. the archduke and the infanta were moved to tears at the melancholy sight; and declared that such a victory was not worth its cost. [sidenote: chap. iii. - .] the success of the siege of ostend covered spinola with glory: his reply to a person, who asked him,--who, in his opinion was the greatest general of the age,--is generally known: "prince maurice," he said, "is the second."[ ] the principal poetical performances of grotius in the collection we have mentioned, are--_three tragedies_, "adam in banishment," "christ suffering," and "sophomphaneos," which signifies in the language of egypt, "the saviour of the world:" it exhibits the story of joseph. sandys translated it into english verse, and dedicated his translation to charles i. from the second of these tragedies, lauder transcribed many of the verses, upon which he founded the charge of plagiarism against milton. an eminent rank among modern latin poets, has always been assigned to grotius: his diction is always classical, his sentiments just. but those who are accustomed to the _wood notes_ of the bard of avon, will not admire the scenic compositions, however elegant or mellifluous, of the batavian bard. chapter iv. historical minutes of the united provinces, from their declaration of independence, till the arminian controversy. the present chapter will lead our readers to the public life of grotius: in a former page we succinctly mentioned the principal events in the history of the united provinces, from their first insurrection against philip ii. till their declaration of independence. on that event, they continued prince william of orange in the stadtholderate: he was entitled to it by his civil and military talents. application, activity, liberality, eloquence, intrepidity, enterprise and discretion, were united in him in an extraordinary degree: he could accommodate himself to all persons and occurrences, accelerate or retard events, as best served the interests of his cause, or his own designs. in the rare talent of governing popular assemblies, and procuring the co-operation of persons of opposite views, he has had few equals. he wanted no quality, which a chief of a party should possess, either to insure the success of the public object, or to further his private aims. [sidenote: chap. iv. - .] these had, for some time, been suspected: it was generally observed, that he affected the exercise of sovereign authority; that he endeavoured to attach the military to his own person; that he always sought to have the acts of the states issued in his own name; that, on many occasions, he avoided consulting the states, or doing any thing which could be considered an explicit recognition of their supremacy; and that in several instances, in which the constitution required the co-operation of the states, he acted independently of them. this gave rise to a party, which was jealous of his power, and on many occasions thwarted, what they thought the projects of his private ambition. from their attachment to the constitution, they were termed the republican party: barneveldt, the grand-pensionary of the states general, was their leader. [sidenote: assassination of william prince of orange.] whatever were the projects of the prince, there appeared to be great probability of their ultimate success. in , he had gained so for, that the states of holland, zealand and frizeland, had come to a resolution to confer upon him the sovereignty of their states, under the title of count. all the conditions were settled: on one hand, the rights of the prince, on the other, the rights of the people, were defined and recognised; a contravention of them by any of the people was declared to be treason; the infringement of them by the prince, was declared to be a forfeiture of his sovereignty. thus the prince seemed to be on the eve of receiving the fruit of all his exertions. but, as we have already mentioned, he was assassinated by balthazar gerard, a fanatic spaniard. the last words of the prince were, "lord! have mercy on my soul! have pity on my poor country!" in , prince maurice, the second son of william, was, chiefly by the influence of barneveldt, proclaimed stadtholder by the states general. they were not less jealous of his views, than they had been of his father's; but the misconduct of the earl of leicester had made it necessary for them to throw themselves into the prince's arms. the weakness of spain, and the troubles in france, now permitted the united provinces to enjoy some repose. they availed themselves of it, to settle the constitution: the towns were repaired, the fortifications completed, universities were founded or revived at utrecht, leyden and franker; and the arts of peace began to be cultivated. [sidenote: chap. iv. - .] maurice inherited all the civil talents of his father; he had greater military skill, and at least equal ambition. the art of war seems to consist, at the present time, in directing immense masses of men, by skilful evolutions and positions, to the destruction of the force opposed. in the wars of the netherlands, it was principally shewn by surprising strong-holds, besieging towns, regular assaults, advantageous encampments, and wasting the army of the enemy by skilful marches. the camp of maurice became a school, in which the nobility and gentry of the empire, france, and england, entered as volunteers, to learn the art of war. his taking of the city of breda, raised his reputation to the highest: from this time, the war, which, on the part of the united provinces, had till then, been a defensive war, became offensive, and their arms were attended with almost uninterrupted success: they equally triumphed on sea. in , the war between spain and france was terminated. philip ii. soon afterwards died: he was succeeded by philip iii. a weak monarch. then, began the naval glory of the united provinces; their attacks on the west indian and east indian colonies of the spaniards. in , prince maurice gained a decisive victory at nieuport near ostend: it was followed by other important successes. in , admiral heemskirk obtained a complete victory over the spanish fleet, though protected by the batteries of cadiz, and seized their ships and treasures. [sidenote: armistice between spain and the united provinces.] the war between spain and the united provinces had now continued forty years: the resources of spain were so exhausted, that she herself was forced to solicit an armistice. prince maurice objected to it, as the continuance of the war was essential to the furtherance of his own ambitious views. on this account, the truce was promoted by barneveldt and the republican party. they justly thought that the aggrandizement of the house of orange would be the extinction of the liberties of their country, so that the result of the war would only be, that the united provinces would change their masters. after a long negotiation, an armistice of twelve years was agreed upon in , and england and france guaranteed the execution of the treaty. chapter v. the feuds in the united provinces between the disciples of calvin and the disciples of arminius, until the synod at dort. - . it has generally happened, when a people have risen against their sovereign, that their first successes have been followed by divisions among themselves; and that these have endangered, and sometimes even ruined, their cause. such a division took place, in a remarkable manner, in the conflict between the united provinces and spain. no sooner did the arms of the former begin to prosper, and promise ultimate success, than the arminian controversy burst forth. at first, it was merely a religious dispute; but it soon mixed itself in the national politics; split the people into two very hostile parties, and produced contentions between them, which more than once brought their cause to the brink of destruction. grotius was unfortunately involved in them. this part of the history now claims our attention. [sidenote: calvinism.] the reformed church, in the largest import of the word, comprises all the religious communities, which have separated themselves from the church of rome. in this sense, the words are often used by english writers; but, having been adopted by the french calvinists to describe _their_ church, these words are most commonly used, on the continent, as a general appellation of all the churches who profess the doctrines of calvin. [sidenote: chap. v. - .] about the year , the church of geneva was placed by the magistrates of that city, under the direction of calvin. he immediately conceived one of the boldest projects, that ever entered into the mind of an obscure individual. he undertook to new model the religious creed of the reformed church; to give it strength and consistency, and to render the church of geneva the mother and mistress of all protestant churches. his learning, eloquence, and talents for business, soon attracted general notice; and, while the fervour of his zeal, the austerity of his manners, and the devotional cast of his writings, attracted the multitude, the elegance of his compositions, and his insinuating style, equally captivated the gentleman and the scholar. by degrees, his fame reached every part of europe. having prevailed upon the senate of geneva to found an academy, and place it under his superintendence, and having filled it with men eminent throughout europe for their learning and talent, it became the favourite resort of all persons, who leaned to the new principles, and sought religious or literary instruction. from germany, france, italy, england and scotland, numbers crowded to the new academy, and returned from it to their native countries, saturated with the doctrine of geneva, and burning with zeal to propagate its creed. calvin's peculiar doctrine on predestination and free-will soon attracted attention, and gave rise to _more than a civil war_[ ] of controversy,[ ] we feel that we are free: if we were not free, conscience could not exist; for, if a man had not freedom of action, conscience could not intimate to him either its approbation or its disapprobation of his actions. but--_how_ are we free? _how_ is free-will reconcileable, either with the influence of motive upon will? or with the order of the universe, prescribed by the deity? or, with his prescience? for that, which his infinite mind prescribes or foresees, must be fixed. [sidenote: disputes on the free-will of man.] this question soon engaged the attention of the greek philosophers: some advocated the free-will of man; others denied it, and ascribed his actions to fate or destiny; a being or energy, which they were never able to define or describe. among the jews, the sadducees embraced the former opinion; the pharisees, the latter. among the mahometans, a like division took place between the followers of omar, and those of ali. unfortunately, the christians engaged in these ungrateful speculations: their disputes chiefly turned upon the effect, which motive, suggested by grace, or the divine favour, has upon will. does it necessitate? then, there is no free-will,--no merit,--no demerit. does it not necessitate? then, in the choice of good, man acts by his own power, and thus achieves a good of which god is not the author. [sidenote: chap. v. - .] the dispute was brought to an issue by _pelagius_ and his disciples. they held, that man acts independently of divine grace, both in the choice and execution of good. this independence was denied by _st. augustin_, he asserted, that man co-operates with grace, yet, that grace begins, advances and brings to perfection every thing in man, which can be justly called good. _st. thomas of aquin_ new-modelled the system of st. augustin, and used new terms in describing it: his subtile distinctions, in the opinion of many, considerably improved it. _calvin_ aggravated the doctrine of st. augustin. he maintained,[ ] that the everlasting condition of mankind in the future world, was determined from all eternity, by the _unchangeable order_ of the deity; and that this _absolute_ determination of his will was the only source of _happiness or misery_ to individuals. thus calvin maintained, without any qualification, that god, from all eternity has doomed one part of mankind to everlasting happiness, the other to everlasting misery; and, was led to make this distinction, without regard to the merit or demerit of the object, and by no other reason or motive than his own pleasure. _luther_,[ ] in opposition to calvin, maintained, that the _divine decrees_ respecting the salvation or misery of men, are founded upon a previous knowledge of their sentiments and characters; or, in other words, that god, foreseeing from all eternity the faith and virtue of some, and the incredulity or wickedness of others, has reserved eternal happiness for the former, and eternal misery for the latter. [sidenote: disputes on the free-will of man.] these, and other doctrinal differences, separated the protestants into the adherents to the creed of luther, and the adherents to the creed of calvin. the united provinces were among the latter: the creed of calvin was, as we have mentioned, one of the fundamental laws of the union. the calvinistic doctrine, that god, from all eternity, consigns one portion of mankind, without any fault on their side, to everlasting torments, shocks our feelings, and is totally repugnant to the notions entertained by us of the goodness and justice of the deity: it is not therefore surprising that it should be called in question. from the first, several objected to it; but it was not till the successes of the united provinces appeared to afford them a near prospect of triumph, that the opposers of calvin's doctrine formed themselves into a party, and occasioned a public sensation. [sidenote: chap. v. - .] the celebrated james arminius[ ] was at their head. he was born in , at oudewater in holland, of respectable parents. he lost his father in his infancy, and was indebted, for the first rudiments of his education, to a clergyman, who had imbibed some opinions of the reformed religion. under his tuition, arminius studied, during some time, at utrecht. after the clergyman's decease, rudolphus snellius, a clergyman of eminence, took arminius under his protection, and, in , placed him at marpurgh. there, he heard of the taking of oudewater by the spaniards, and their massacre of its inhabitants. his mother, sister, and two brothers were among the victims. on the first intelligence of the calamity he repaired to oudewater, in hopes that the account of it might have been exaggerated. finding it true, he retired to leyden: there, his severe application to study, and the regularity of his morals, gained him universal esteem. in , he was sent to geneva, at the expense of the magistrates of amsterdam, to perfect his studies under the care of beza. unfortunately, by adopting the philosophical principles, of _ramus_, and unguardedly professing them, he displeased some leading men of the university, and was obliged to leave it: he then went to bâsle. there, his reputation having preceded him, he was received with great kindness: the faculty of divinity offered him a doctor's degree; but a general wish for his return being expressed at geneva, he declined the honour, and returned to that city. he then visited italy, and, during some months, studied under zabarella, a famous philosopher, who then lectured at padua. in , arminius was ordained minister at amsterdam. [sidenote: arminius.] some theologians of delft having attacked the sentiments of calvin and beza upon predestination, and given great offence by it, they defended themselves by a book, entitled; "an answer to certain arguments of beza and calvin, in the treatise concerning predestination; or upon the ninth chapter of the epistle to the romans." they transmitted their defence to martin lydius, a partisan of the divines whom it attacked; he sent it to arminius, with a request that he would answer it. arminius undertook the task, and attentively examined and weighed the arguments on each side; the result was, that he embraced the opinions which he had been called upon to confute, and even went further than the ministers of delft. upon this account, the friends of the rejected principles raised a great clamour against him; but were quieted by the intervention of the magistrates. the opinions, which arminius adopted, he endeavoured to propagate. they are contained in the remonstrance of his disciples, which we shall afterwards transcribe. [sidenote: chap. v. - .] as the language of arminius seemed to express notions, more consonant than those of calvin, to the sentiments entertained by rational christians, of the goodness and justice of the deity, it is not surprising that they found many advocates among the learned and moderate; but some ardent spirits were offended by them, and instilled their dislike of them into the populace. this, arminius was soon made to feel. in , he was appointed, on the death of francis junius, to a professorship of theology in the university of leyden: great efforts were made, first to prevent, and afterwards to procure a recision of his appointment. he was accused of having said in a sermon, that "god had not yet sent his letter of divorce to the church of rome;" but his friends produced a work of francis junius, his predecessor in the theological chair, in which that celebrated theologian had used the same expression. arminius was also accused by his adversaries, of elevating the action of reason in the choice of good, at the expense of grace. to this arminius replied, by accusing his adversaries of sacrificing reason entirely to grace. but the greater number of the enemies of arminius supported their charges against him, by making it a question of authority: "the states," they said, "had decided the question, by adopting calvin's doctrine at the union; so that the gainsayers of it were guilty of treason." the friends of arminius replied, that he did not deny calvin's doctrine, but merely explained it. [sidenote: arminius.] thus they disputed; "and found no end, in wandering mazes lost." milton. in fact, the subject,--as the writer has more than once observed,--is above human reason: the day will come, "when the almighty will be judged, and will overcome;"--when the secret of his councils will be unfolded, and their justice and goodness made manifest to all.[ ] the friends of arminius also observed, that he was by no means singular in his doctrine; that it was favoured by professors in gueldres, friesland, utrecht, and other parts of holland; and, that in all the provinces, it was patronized by the higher ranks of the laity. was it fitting, they asked, that the peace of the church, and the tranquillity of the state, should be disturbed by such a dispute? by a dispute which affected no essential article of christianity; no civil, no moral, no religious observation? [sidenote: chap. v. - .] the principal adversary of arminius was _gomarus_, also a professor of theology at leyden. when the election of arminius was proposed, gomarus announced suspicions of his orthodoxy; he afterwards raised his tone, and accused arminius of pelagianism, of secretly inclining to the church of rome, and holding principles which led to general scepticism and infidelity. arminius died on the th october . grotius made his eulogium in verse. he had hitherto applied little to these matters; he acknowledges, in a letter written in , his general ignorance of them. entering afterwards into the dispute, he became convinced that the idea, which we ought to have of the goodness and justice of god, and even the language of the scriptures and the early fathers of the church, favoured the system of arminius, and contradicted that of gomarus. the prejudices against the arminians increasing, they drew up a remonstrance, dated the th january , and addressed it to the states of holland. it begins by stating what they do not believe: it afterwards propounds their own sentiments in the five articles following:[ ] [sidenote: remonstrance.] . "that god, by an eternal and immutable decree in jesus christ his son, before the world was created, resolved to save in jesus christ, on account of jesus christ, and through jesus christ, those, from among mankind fallen in sin, who, by the grace of the holy spirit believe in his same son jesus; and through the same grace continue in the faith and obedience to the end; and, on the contrary, to leave under sin, and wrath, and to condemn the obstinate and unbelieving, as having no part in christ; according to what is said _st. john_ iii. . . "that accordingly, jesus christ the saviour of the world, died for all and every man; and by his death on the cross has merited for all, reconciliation with god, and remission of sin; in such manner nevertheless, that no one can partake of them but believers, according to the words of jesus, _st. john_ iii. ., _john_ ii. . . "that man hath not saving faith of himself, and by the strength of his own free will; since, while in a state of sin and apostasy, he cannot of himself think, desire, or do, that which is truly good, which is what is chiefly meant by saving faith; but it is necessary that god in jesus christ, and by the holy spirit, regenerate and renew him in his understanding and affections, or in his will and all his powers; that he may know the true good, meditate on it, desire, and do it. _st. john_ xv. . [sidenote: chap. v. - .] . "that to this grace of god is owing the beginning, the progression, and accomplishment of all good; in such manner, that even the regenerate, without this antecedent, or preventing, exciting, concomitant, and cooperating grace, cannot think that, which is good, desire or practise it; nor resist any temptation to evil; so that all the good works or actions he can conceive, spring from the grace of god; that as to what regards the manner of operation of this grace, it is not irresistible, since it is said of several, they resisted the holy spirit. see _acts_ vii. and other places. . "that those, who by a lively faith are engrafted into christ, and consequently made partakers of his quickening spirit, are furnished with sufficient strength to be able to combat, and even overcome satan, sin, the world, and their own lusts; and all this, as is carefully to be observed, by the assistance of the grace and the holy spirit; and that jesus christ succours them by his spirit in all temptations, reaches to them his hand, (provided they be willing to engage, ask his assistance, and are not wanting to themselves,) supports and strengthens them: so, that they cannot be led away by any wile or violence of satan, or snatched out of christ's hands, as he says himself, _st. john_ x. _my sheep shall no man pluck out of my hands_. for the rest, if it be asked whether these may not through negligence let go the confidence they had from the beginning, (heb. iii. .) cleave again to the present world, depart from the holy doctrine, which was delivered, make shipwreck of a good conscience? ( pet. i. ., jude iii., tim. i. ., heb. xii. .) this must be previously examined with more care, by the scriptures, to be able to teach it with full assurance to others." such is the confession of faith of the arminians: they gave it the name of _remonstrance_; and were styled from it remonstrants. it was drawn up by _utengobard_, minister at the hague, with the help, it is supposed, of grotius: it was signed by forty-six ministers. [sidenote: contra-remonstrance.] the gomarists opposed to it a _contra-remonstrance_; which gave them the name of the contra-remonstrants. it was about this time, that grotius was elected pensionary of rotterdam, and ordered to england: it has been suggested, that he had secret instructions from the arminians, to induce king james to favour their principles. [sidenote: chap. v. - .] we are informed, by mr. nichols, (_calvinism and arminianism compared_,)[ ] that the arminians sent to king james by grotius, a true state of their case; that grotius found an adversary in _archbishop abbott_, and friends in _bishops andrews_ and _overal_; and that by their advice the monarch addressed to the states general, a wise and conciliatory letter. the irritation of the public mind increasing, the states of holland, to restore tranquillity, published an edict of pacification, by which they strongly enjoined forbearance, toleration, and silence. this was favourable to the arminians, but it increased the violence of the _contra-remonstrants_. thus, it became a signal of war. the states of holland transmitted it to king james: his majesty, the archbishop of canterbury, and the other english prelates, allowed its doctrine to be orthodox. [sidenote: remonstrants--contra-remonstrants.] still, the troubles in holland augmented: riots took place and greater riots were apprehended. in an evil hour, barneveldt, the grand-pensionary, proposed to the states of holland, that the magistrates of the cities of that province should he empowered to raise troops for the suppression of the rioters. amsterdam, dort, and other towns, that favoured the gomarists, protested against this measure, styling it a declaration of war against the contra-remonstrants. yet, on the th august , barneveldt's proposition was agreed to, and promulgated. we have mentioned the enmity of prince maurice to barneveldt, on account of his having promoted the armistice of , and his favouring the republican party. the prince professed to consider the edict of pacification as derogatory of his authority, and forbade the soldiers to obey the states, if they should be ordered to act against the rioters. he publicly declared, that he favoured the gomarists; he assisted, at the divine service, in their churches only, and shewed them every other mark of public favour. exulting in this powerful support, the gomarists separated themselves, formally, from the arminians. [sidenote: chap. v. - .] to bring over amsterdam to their sentiments, the states of holland sent a deputation to the burgomasters of that city, and placed grotius at its head. on the day after their arrival in amsterdam, the burgomasters assembled to receive the deputies. grotius addressed them in an argumentative and eloquent speech. he urged the necessity and advantage of religious toleration, particularly upon theoretical points of doctrine. he observed to the assembly, that bullinger and melancthon had been tolerated by deza and calvin; that james, the king of great britain, had advanced, in his writings, that each of the two opposite opinions on predestination might be maintained without danger of reprobation; that gomarus himself had declared that arminius had not erred in any fundamental article of christian doctrine; that the contested articles were of a very abstruse nature; that the affirmative or negative of the doctrines expressed in them, had not been determined; and that toleration would restore tranquillity and union, and favour the assembling of a numerous and respectable synod, which might labour with success in restoring peace to the church. grotius delivered his speech in the dutch language; it was afterwards translated into latin; all, who heard, admired it; but it produced no effect on them. the deputies were uncivilly dismissed; and the oration of grotius, by an order of the states general, was suppressed.[ ] [sidenote: feuds of the remonstrants and contra-remonstrants.] he was much affected by the bad success of his mission: he was seized with a fever, which nearly proved fatal to him. many of his friends sought to persuade him to retire from the contest: he told them that he had taken his resolution after deep deliberation; that he was aware of his danger, and that he submitted the event to providence. the next effort of the states of holland to pacify the troubles, was to prepare a _formula_ of peace, which the ministers of the two parties should be obliged to sign. it contained nothing contrary to the doctrine of calvin; it referred the five articles to future examination, and prescribed, in the mean time, silence upon the parts in dispute. grotius drew up the formula; it was shewn to prince maurice, and rejected by him. [sidenote: chap. v. - .] matters now converged to a crisis:--we have more than once mentioned the opposite politics of prince maurice and barneveldt, the grand-pensionary; the former wishing to draw the whole sovereign power to himself; the latter endeavouring to preserve and stabilitate the the constitution of the provinces, as it had been settled by the act of union. we noticed that the gomarists sided with the prince; the arminians with the grand-pensionary. as the prince was aware that the states of holland were favourable to the arminians, that the states general were opposed to them, and that the clergy of each denomination partook of the civil and ecclesiastical opinions of their flocks, he convened a national synod of the clergy; and, that be might the more overawe his opponents and strengthen his own party, he appointed the synod to meet in holland. against this synod the provinces of holland, utretcht, and overyssell protested. barneveldt was so much affected by the disturbances, and a view of the evils with which they appeared to threaten his country, that he sought to resign his place of grand-pensionary; but the states of the province of holland, which needed more than ever the counsels of such an experienced minister, sent a deputation to him, beseeching him not to abandon them in times of so much difficulty. he thought it his duty to yield to their entreaty, and continued to exercise the functions of his office. [sidenote: imprisonment of barneveldt, grotius and hoogerbetz.] to frustrate the designs of prince maurice, several cities favourable to the arminians levied bodies of militia, and gave them the name of _attendant soldiers_. the states-general, at the instigation of prince maurice, enjoined the cities to disband them. the cities generally disobeyed these orders. in this they were justified by the established constitution: the prince, however, treated their conduct as rebellious; and, in concert with the states general, marched in person, at the head of his troops, against the refractory cities. wherever he came, he disarmed and disbanded the new levies; deposed the arminian magistrates, and expelled the ministers of their party. in the provinces of gueldres and overyssell, he met with no resistance; and little at arnheim: greater resistance was expected at utretcht: the states of holland sent grotius and hoogerbetz, the pensionary of leyden, to stimulate the inhabitants to resistance; but the fortune of the prince prevailed. in an extraordinary assembly, which consisted of eight persons only, yet assuming to act as the states general, the prince procured an ordonnance to be passed, which directed barneveldt, grotius, and hoogerbetz to be taken into immediate custody. they were accordingly arrested, and confined in the castle at the hague. [sidenote: chap. v. - .] thus the prince's party prevailed in every part of the united provinces. about this time, he succeeded, in consequence of the death of his elder brother, to the dignity of prince of orange. chapter vi. the synod of dort. . [sidenote: chap. vi. .] the states general determined that the synod[ ] should be composed of twenty-six divines of the united provinces, twenty-eight foreign divines, five professors of divinity, and sixteen laymen;--seventy-five members in the whole. the expence was calculated at , florins. the english divines were, dr. george carlton, bishop of llandaff; dr. joseph hall, dean of worcester; john davenant, professor of divinity, and master of queen's college, cambridge; samuel ward, archdeacon of taunton, and head of sidney college, cambridge. to these were added, walter balcanqual, a scottish theologian, as representative of the scottish churches. the ever-memorable john hales of eaton, as that learned and amiable person is justly termed by protestant writers, was permitted to attend the debates of the synod, but was not allowed to speak, or take any part in its proceedings. [sidenote: the synod of dort.] we have mentioned that arminius was converted to the opinions, which he defended afterwards so strenuously, by the perusal of a work in support of the opposite doctrine, which he had been desired to confute. in the same manner, the proceedings of the contra-remonstrants, at the synod of dort, made mr. hales a remonstrant. we are informed by his friend mr. faringdon, that, in his younger days, he was a calvinist; but that some explanations given by episcopius of the text in john iii. , induced him, as he himself said, to "bid john calvin, good night." his letters from dort to sir dudley carleton, the english ambassador at the hague, contain an interesting account of the proceedings of the assembly.[ ] [sidenote: chap. vi. .] dr. heylin says, in his "quinquarticular history," that the theologians sent by king james to dort, were inclined to condemn the remonstrants; but he intimates that the monarch acted from reasons of state; and that he was more hostile to their persons than their doctrines: brand makes the same remark upon prince maurice. it seems to be admitted, that, in the conference at hampton court, king james declared against absolute predestination.[ ] the english divines arrived at the hague on the th november : they were immediately presented to the states general, and most honourably received. [sidenote: the synod of dort.] the king of france had permitted two protestant theologians of his kingdom to attend the synod; but afterwards revoked the permission. the french protestant churches had deputed to it, the celebrated peter de moulin and andrew rivet; but the king prohibited their attending it, under severe penalties. after the election of the members was finally adjusted, the synod appeared to be composed of about seventy contra-remonstrants and fourteen arminians. it was opened on the th of november . two commissioners of the states placed themselves on the right side of the chimney of the room; the english divines were placed on the left; seats were kept vacant for the french; the third place was assigned to the deputies from the palatinate; the fourth, to those from hesse; the fifth, to the swiss; the sixth to the genevans; the seventh to the theologians from bremen; and the eighth to those from embden. the professors of theology were placed immediately after the commissioners; then, the ministers and elders of the country. by an arrangement, favoured by the states, thirty-six ministers and twenty elders were added to the five professors. of this the remonstrants complained, on the just ground, that it evidently gave their adversaries an undue preponderance. [sidenote: chap. vi. .] the commissioners nominated the celebrated daniel heinsius secretary. the remonstrants objected to him; they admitted his extensive acquaintance with polite literature, and his elegant taste; but asserted, that he possessed no theological learning, and was prejudiced against them. episcopius was always considered to be at the head of the remonstrants: he has seldom been excelled in learning, eloquence, or power of argumentation. no further business than arranging the forms of sitting and voting, was transacted at the _first session_ of the synod. _at the second_, the synod constituted john bogerman its president, and appointed two assessors and two secretaries: all five were distinguished for their known hostility to the remonstrants. the appointment of bogerman particularly offended them, as he openly avowed it to be his opinion that heretics should be punished by death; and had translated into the dutch language the celebrated treatise of beza, _de hæreticis a civili magistratu puniendis_, in which this doctrine is explicitly maintained in its fullest extent. [sidenote: the synod of dort.] _in the third session_,--the deputies from geneva produced their commission: it was expressed in terms decidedly hostile to the remonstrants. _in the fourth session_,--the grand preliminary question,--in what manner the remonstrants were to be summoned,--came under consideration. after much argument, it was settled, by a great majority of voices, that "episcopius and some other remonstrants should within a fortnight, appear before the synod, as the sovereign ecclesiastical tribunal of the united states." the remonstrants and the advocates of their cause protested against this proceeding: they called in question the authority of the synod to sit as judges upon them, or even to decide any point of doctrine definitively: they averred it contrary to the evangelical liberty professed and taught by the first reformers. every friend to the true principles of the reformation must admit the force of this objection. the _ th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th and th sessions_ of the intermediate fortnight, were consumed in debates upon a projected new translation of the scriptures; _the th, th, th, th, th, th, th_ and _ st sessions_ were employed in discussions, upon a new catechism, and other ecclesiastical arrangements. [sidenote: chap. vi. .] the _ d session_ was held on the _th_ of december. the remonstrants appeared before the synod, and requested further time for preparing their defence on the articles with which they were charged. their request was denied: and episcopius having said, that "they wished to enter into a conference with the synod," a resolution was passed, by which the synod declared, that "the remonstrants had not been cited to _confer_ with the synod; but to propound their opinions, and submit to its judgment." the remonstrants then paid their visits to the foreign theologians: these they found greatly prejudiced against them; they therefore published two short writings, explaining and justifying their sentiments. in _the d session_, episcopius made a long discourse. mr. john hales praised it highly, in a letter addressed by him to the english ambassador an oath was prescribed to the members, by which they promised, that, in the examination of the five articles, "or any other points of doctrine which should be discussed, they would confine themselves to the scriptures, and resort to no human authority." but, what was the synod itself more than human authority? the oath was not tendered to the remonstrants; it was declined by the swiss. [sidenote: the synod of dort.] the _ th session_ was consumed in debates: _on the th_, episcopius read a long document, and afterwards presented it to the synod. he protested in it against the authority of the synod, and asked the searching question, whether the calvinists would "submit to a synod of lutherans?" to this question, no answer was given: an angry discussion followed. it continued during _the th and th sessions_. on _the th_, the opinions of foreign divines were produced in favour of the authority of the synod: those of the english divines, and the divines of bremen, were expressed with more moderation than the others. the divines of geneva stated, that, "if a person obstinately refused to submit to the just decisions of the church, he might be proceeded against in two ways; the _magistrate_ might coerce him, and the _church_ might publicly excommunicate him as a violator of the law of god." the dispute was more violent in _the th session_. finally, the remonstrants agreed to propound their sentiments in writing; but with an express salvo, of their right to liberty of conscience, and to retain their objections to the authority of the synod. in _the st session_, the remonstrants presented to the synod a writing, containing their sentiments upon predestination,--the first and most important of the five articles. [sidenote: chap. vi. .] in _the th session_, they presented their sentiments upon the four other articles; and in _the th session_, upon the catechism of heidelberg. the synod had enjoined them to confine themselves to explanations of their own doctrine, and to abstain from controverting the doctrines of the calvinists. these debates carried the synod to its _ th session_. in that session, the resolution of the states general upon the proceedings of the synod was produced. they declared by it, that "the remonstrants were obliged to submit to the decrees of the synod,"--and that "if they persisted in their disobedience to them, both the censures of the church, and the penalties by which the states punished violators of public authority, should be inflicted upon them." the states ordered the remonstrants to remain, in the meantime, in the town. the remonstrants persisting in their refusal to acknowledge the authority of the synod, an assembly of it met on _the th session_, and formally expelled the remonstrants from the synod. episcopius exclaimed, "may god decide between the synod and us!" "i appeal," said niellius, "from the injustice of the synod, to the throne of jesus christ." all remained firm in their protestation. [sidenote: the synod of dort.] mr. hales and mr. balcanqual, in their letters to the english ambassador, blame the proceedings of the synod.[ ] the only question between the synod and the remonstrants was, whether the latter would submit to acknowledge the authority of the former. this, the remonstrants uniformly refused to do. in almost every synod there was a repetition of the same demand, and of the same answer. by every english reader, the demand of the synod will be thought exorbitant. [sidenote: chap vi. .] the synod relaxed afterwards so far, as to permit the remonstrants to deliver their sentiments in writing: they did it at great length. but they still persisted in objecting to the authority of the synod, and to be examined by it. the synod therefore proceeded against them in their absence; and ultimately, on the th of april , pronounced them guilty of pestilential errors, and corruptors of the true religion. the five articles were formally condemned; episcopius and the other ministers were deposed. [sidenote: the synod of dort.] "there are conclusions," says grotius,[ ] in a letter written by him in the same year, "in the canons of the synod of dort, of which, if good melancthon were again to make his appearance, he would express his disapprobation, and with which bullinger would be no less grieved; there are others, which alienate all the lutherans from the calvinists; although amity and concord are desirable between them and us at this juncture. there are some points in them, which forbid the greek churches from uniting with us, though they are very favourable to us; but there are others of the dort canons, which admit of no controversy.--it is possible that they may recall to mind my labours for unity. even those writings, which i published since my calamity, have not been diverted from the same peaceful object." if ever any protestant divines deserved the reproach cast by mr. gibbon,[ ] on the first reformers in general, "of being ambitious to succeed the tyrants whom they had dethroned," they were the members of the synod of dort. the synod was closed on the th of may. the sentence passed by it on the remonstrants was approved by the states general on the d july . on the same day, the arminian ministers, who had been detained at dort, were, by a sentence of the states general, banished or imprisoned, deprived of their employments, and the effects of some were confiscated. similar severities were exercised on the arminians in most of the territories subject to the states general. to avoid the persecution, some fled to antwerp, some to france, the greater part to holstein. there, under the wise protection of the reigning duke, they settled, and afterwards built a town, which from him they called friedericstadt. they continued to assert the irregularity of the synod: the bishop of meaux shrewdly observed, that "they employed against the authority of the synod, the same arguments as the protestants use against the authority of the council of trent." [sidenote: chap vi. .] [sidenote: the synod of dort.] for the publication of _acts of the council_, divines were chosen out of various districts of the united provinces: their edition of the acts was published at dort in the year , in folio, in the types of the elzevirs; and was soon afterwards republished with greater correctness, in the same year, at hanover, in quarto, with an addition of a copious index.--an epistle of their high mightinesses the states general, addressed to the monarchs, kings, princes, counts, cities and magistrates of the christian world, and vouching for the authority and authenticity of the acts,[ ] is prefixed to this edition. the remonstrants published an edition of the acts in , in to.: it is said,[ ] that from a fear of their adversaries, it was printed on ship-board. here, the history of the arminians, so far as it is connected with that part of the life of grotius to which our subject has hitherto led us, seems to close. we shall hereafter be called upon to resume it. chapter vii. trial and imprisonment of grotius. his escape from prison. - . while the synod of dort continued its sittings, prince maurice and his party were actively employed in increasing the popular ferment against barneveldt, grotius and hoogerbetz; in collecting evidence of the designs and practices of which they were accused, and in framing the legal proceedings against them in such a manner as was most likely both to procure their conviction, and to persuade the public of their guilt. we have mentioned that their confinement took place on the th of august , and that they were removed from the hague, the original place of their imprisonment, to the castle of louvestein. on the th november, the states general, at the instigation of prince maurice, nominated twenty-six commissioners for their trial. all the prisoners objected both to the jurisdiction of the commissioners, and to that of the states general; and asserted that the states of holland were their only competent judges. they observed, at the same time, that many of the judges were notoriously prejudiced against the arminians. [sidenote: trial and imprisonment of grotius.] the act of accusation contained many general charges, and many averments of particular facts, supposed to substantiate them. it was alleged against the prisoners, that they had disturbed the established religion of the united provinces; that, in direct contradiction of the articles of union, they had asserted the right of each province to decide for itself in matters of religion; that they had set up the authority and interests of the states of holland and west friesland against those of the states general; that they were the authors of the insurrection at utrecht; had levied, in opposition to the orders of government, the attendant soldiers; had raised jealousies between the prince and several of the provincial states, and between these and the states general; and that, by their habitual conduct, they had become public disturbers of the tranquillity of the republic, and councillors and practisers of schemes hostile to its welfare. [sidenote: chap. vii. - .] the commissioners proceeded to the trial of barneveldt. uniformly protesting against the competency of the tribunal, barneveldt defended himself with great firmness and ability. he controverted every article of the accusation, and concluded his defence, by a long and pathetic enumeration of the services, which he had rendered to the republic; and of the numerous actions, by which he had shewn his attachment to prince william and prince maurice:--he proved that it had been principally owing to him, that the stadtholderate had been conferred on the latter. he admitted that he had suspected the prince of designs hostile to the constitution of the united provinces, and had opposed the prince in every measure, which appeared to have such a tendency; but he asserted that he never had resorted to means which the laws or constitution of the provinces did not warrant. his arguments were unanswerable; but prince maurice was determined on his ruin; and the commissioners were wholly subservient to the prince's views: they accordingly passed unanimously a sentence of death upon barneveldt. [sidenote: trial and imprisonment of grotius.] many of the princes of europe expressed their dissatisfaction at these proceedings: none so much as the french monarch. to him, the great merit of barneveldt had been long known. he considered that the conduct of prince maurice was likely to involve the united provinces in troubles, of which spain might take advantages. from personal regard to barneveldt, and with a view of terminating the discord, the monarch sent an ambassador extraordinary to the united states, and ordered him to join du maurier, his ambassador in ordinary, in soliciting them in favour of the accused, and in labouring to restore the public tranquillity. the ambassadors executed their commission with the greatest zeal. they made many remonstrances, and had several audiences both with the states and the prince. the states, instigated by the prince, expressed great indignation at the proceedings of the ambassadors. all the accused were respectably allied, and had many friends: numerous applications were made in their favour. they undeviatingly demeaned themselves with the firmness and modest dignity of conscious innocence. they persisted in denying the guilt attributed to them, and in protesting against the competency of the tribunal. they made no degrading submission. at a subsequent time, a son of barneveldt having been condemned to death, his mother applied to prince maurice, for his pardon. the prince observed to her, that she had made no such application in behalf of her husband; "no," she replied, "i know my son is guilty, i therefore solicit his pardon; i knew my husband was innocent, i therefore solicited no pardon for him." [sidenote: chap. vii. -- .] on monday morning, may , , barneveldt was informed that he was to be executed upon that day. he received the notification of it with great firmness; he inquired whether grotius and hoogerbetz were to suffer: being answered in the negative, he expressed much satisfaction, observing that "they were of an age to be still able to serve the republic." "the scaffold for his execution," says burigni, "was erected in the court of the castle at the hague, facing the prince of orange's apartments. he made a short speech to the people, which is yet preserved in the _mercure françoise_. 'burghers!' he said, 'i have been always your faithful countryman; believe not that i die for treason: i die for maintaining the rights and liberties of my country!' after this speech, the executioner struck off his head at one blow. it is affirmed that the prince of orange, to feast himself with the cruel pleasure of seeing his enemy perish, beheld the execution with a glass; the people looked on it with other eyes: many came to gather the sand wet with his blood, to keep it carefully in phials; and the crowd of those, who had the same curiosity, continued next day, notwithstanding all they could do to hinder them. "thus fell that great minister, who did the united provinces as much service in the cabinet, as the prince of orange did in the field. it is highly probable that the melancholy end of this illustrious and unfortunate man was owing to his steadiness in opposing the design of making prince maurice dictator."[ ] [sidenote: trial and imprisonment of grotius.] the prince pursued his triumph. soon after the arrest of grotius, the states of holland presented a petition to the prince, representing the arrest as a breach of their constitutional rights; the prince referred it to the states general. to these, therefore, they presented a similar petition; praying at the same time, that grotius might be tried by the laws and usages of the provinces of holland: no regard was shewn to their petitions. [sidenote: chap. vii. -- .] grotius had an invaluable friend:--he was no sooner arrested, than his wife petitioned to share his confinement throughout the whole of his imprisonment: it was denied. grotius fell ill: she renewed the application: it was absolutely rejected: but neither his wife, nor any of the friends of grotius ever recommended to him an unworthy submission. he always denied the competency of the tribunal appointed to try him: his wife and brother uniformly recommended him to persist in his plea. much disregard of form took place, and many arbitrary acts were perpetrated, in the proceedings against grotius. on the th of may , the commissioners pronounced sentence against him. after enumerating all the charges, of which he was accused, and asserting that all were proved against him, the judges condemned him to perpetual imprisonment, and his estates to be confiscated. the same sentence was passed on hoogerbetz; but the house of the latter was assigned to him for his imprisonment. on the th of june, grotius was taken to louvestein. it lies near gorcum, in south holland, at the point of the island formed by the vaal and the meuse. twenty-four sous a day were allowed for his maintenance; but his wife undertook to support him, during his confinement, from her own estate. she was at length admitted into prison with him, on condition that she should remain in it, while his imprisonment lasted. [sidenote: trial and imprisonment of grotius.] at first, his confinement was very rigid: by degrees it was relaxed: his wife was allowed to leave the prison for a few hours, twice in every week. he was permitted to borrow books, and to correspond, except on politics, with his friends. he beguiled the tedious hours of confinement by study, relieving his mind by varying its objects. antient and modern literature equally engaged his attention: sundays he wholly dedicated to prayer and the study of theology. twenty months of imprisonment thus passed away. his wife now began to devise projects for his liberty. she had observed that he was not so strictly watched as at first; that the guards, who examined the chest used for the conveyance of his books and linen, being accustomed to see nothing in it but books and linen, began to examine them loosely: at length, they permitted the chest to pass without any examination. upon this, she formed her project for her husband's release. she began to carry it into execution by cultivating an intimacy with the wife of the commandant of gorcum. to her, she lamented grotius's immoderate application to study; she informed her that it had made him seriously ill; and that, in consequence of his illness, she had resolved to take all his books from him, and restore them to their owners. she circulated every where the account of his illness, and finally declared that it had confined him to his bed. [sidenote: chap. vii. -- .] in the mean time, the chest was accommodated to her purpose; and particularly, some holes were bored in it, to let in air. her maid and the valet of grotius were entrusted with the secret. the chest was conveyed to grotius's apartment. she then revealed her project to him, and, after much entreaty, prevailed on him to get into the chest, and leave her in the prison. the books, which grotius borrowed, were usually sent to gorcum; and the chest, which contained them, passed in a boat, from the prison at louvestein, to that town. [sidenote: his escape from prison.] big with the fate of grotius, the chest, as soon as he was enclosed in it, was moved into the boat. one of the soldiers, observing that it was uncommonly heavy, insisted on its being opened, and its contents examined; but, by the address of the maid, his scruples were removed, and the chest was lodged in the boat. the passage from louvestein to gorcum took a considerable time. the length of the chest did not exceed three feet and a half. at length, it reached gorcum: it was intended that it should be deposited at the house of david bazelaer, an arminian friend of grotius, who resided at gorcum. but, when the boat reached the shore, a difficulty arose, how the chest was to be conveyed from the spot, upon which it was to be landed, to bazelaer's house. this difficulty was removed by the maid's presence of mind; she told the bystanders, that the chest contained glass, and that it must be moved with particular care. two chairmen were soon found, and they carefully moved it on a horse-chair to the appointed place. bazelaer sent away his servants on different errands, opened the chest, and received his friend with open arms. grotius declared, that while he was in the chest, he had felt much anxiety, but had suffered no other inconvenience. having dressed himself as a mason, with a rule and trowel, he went, through the back door of bazelaer's house, accompanied by his maid, along the market-place, to a boat engaged for the purpose. it conveyed them to vervie in brabant: there, he was safe. his maid then left him, and, returning to his wife, communicated to her the agreeable information of the success of the enterprise. [sidenote: chap. vii. - .] as soon as grotius's wife ascertained that he was in perfect safety, she informed the guards of his escape: these communicated the intelligence to the governor. he put her into close confinement; but in a few days, an order of the states general set her at liberty, and permitted her to carry with her every thing at louvestein, which belonged to her. it is impossible to think without pleasure of the meeting of grotius and his heroic wife. from vervie he proceeded to antwerp; a few days after his arrival in that city, he addressed a letter to the states general: he assured them, that, in procuring his liberty, he had used neither violence nor corruption. he solemnly protested that his public conduct had been blameless, and that the persecution he had suffered would never lessen his attachment to his country. [sidenote: his escape from prison.] it was on the d march , that grotius obtained his liberty. in the same year, the truce, concluded for twelve years between spain and the united provinces expired: it was expected, that the war would be resumed with more fury than ever. but this did not happen; the war of thirty years, which we shall afterwards have occasion to mention, had mixed the contest between spain and the united provinces with the general military plans and operations of the parties engaged in it, and had carried much of the conflict from the low countries into germany. prince maurice still appeared at the head of the army of the united provinces; but he had lost, by his persecution of the arminians, and his selfish intrigues, the confidence of the people. conspiracies against his life were formed: fortune no longer favoured his arms. his attempts to compel the marquis spinola to raise the siege of bréda were unsuccessful. this reverse of fortune preyed upon his mind. he thought himself haunted by a spectre of barneveldt: he was frequently heard, during his last illness, to exclaim, "remove this head from me!" "this anecdote," says the author of the _resumé de l'histoire de la hollande_, "is related by all the republican historians of the united provinces; it is concealed by the flatterers of the house of orange.... to relate the remorse of princes for their crimes, is one of the most useful duties of historians." prince maurice died in . m. le clerc, in the d volume of the _bibliotheque choisée, art. _, shews, by unquestionable facts and irresistible arguments, that both prince william and prince maurice sought to obtain the independent sovereignty of the united provinces. it was the aim of all their successors: it has been effected in our times by means, which certainly were foreseen by none. chapter viii. vorstius,--james i. . we must now carry back our readers to events which preceded the synod of dort. we have mentioned the decease of arminius: soon after it, a circumstance took place, which, to the exquisite delight of the monarch, who, at that time filled the british throne, involved him in the theological disputes of the belgic theologians. not long after the commencement of the reformation, several bold inquirers began to deny the trinity of persons in the deity, the divine authority of the old and new testament, and the existence of mystery in the christian dispensation. both catholics and protestants united against them. to avoid their hostilities, the maintainers of these opinions fled to poland, and, forming themselves into a distinct congregation, published, in , their first catechism. they established congregations at cracow, lubin, pinczow, luck and smila: but their most flourishing settlement was at racow. [sidenote: vorstius--james i.] they spread their doctrines over each bank of the danube, and at length penetrated italy. there, they were adopted by loelius socinus. after many peregrinations in different parts of europe, he finally settled at zurich. faustus socinus, his nephew, inherited his sentiments; and, on this account, was obliged to quit zurich. after many wanderings, he fixed his residence at racow. there, he was received with open arms by the new communion, and completed their system of theology. from him, they derived their appellation of socinians. their doctrine is expressed in the racovian catechism, published, in the polish language, in . other editions of it have appeared. an english translation of the edition of , was published at amsterdam in : dr. toulmin, in his life of socinus, ascribes it, seemingly by conjecture, to mr. john biddle. in , mr. rees published a new translation of it, prefixing to it an interesting historical preface. [sidenote: chap. viii. .] among the disciples of arminius, was the celebrated conrade vorstius, born at cologne in , of parents in reduced circumstances: he was soon remarked for his diligence and irreproachable conduct; and was, in , appointed to a professor's chair at steinfurth. in , he quitted it, and was named to succeed arminius, in the chair of professor of theology, at leyden. "he was beloved and honoured," says mr. chalmers, "at steinfurth; there, he enjoyed the utmost tranquillity, and was in the highest reputation; he doubtless foresaw, that in the state in which the controversies of arminius and gomarus were at that time, he should meet with great opposition in holland. but he was tempted by the glory he should gain by supporting a party, which was weakened by arminius's death." [sidenote: vorstius--james i.] he had previously published his treatise "_de deo_." some passages in it were thought to favour the doctrine of arminius; some, to lead to socinianism; and some, to have an ulterior tendency. that arminius himself discovers these views in his writings, has been frequently asserted. doctor maclaine, the learned translator of mosheim's ecclesiastical history,[ ] observes it to be a common opinion, that "the disciples of arminius, and more especially episcopius, had boldly transgressed the bounds, that had been wisely prescribed by their master, and had gone ever to the pelagians, and even to the socinians." "such," continues dr. maclaine, "is the opinion commonly entertained upon this matter. but it appears on the contrary evident to me, that arminius himself had laid the plan of the theological system, that was, in after times embraced by his followers; that he had instilled the principles of it into the minds of his disciples; and that these latter did really no more than bring this plan to a greater degree of perfection, and propagate with more courage and perspicuity the doctrines it contains." to prove this assertion, the doctor cites a passage from the will of arminius, in which he declares, that "his view in all his theological and ministerial labours, was to unite in one community, cemented by the bonds of fraternal charity, all sects and denominations of christians, the papists excepted." "these words, on this account," continues dr. maclaine, "coincide perfectly with the modern system of arminianism, which extends the limits of the christian church, and relaxes the bonds of fraternal communion in such a manner, that christians of all sects and all denominations, whatever their sects and opinions may be, (papists excepted) may be formed into one religious body, and live together in brotherly love and concord." it is not surprising that in the state of religious effervescence, in which the minds of men were at the time of which we are now speaking, a suspicion that vorstius entertained the sentiments we have mentioned, or sentiments nearly approaching to them, should have rendered him a subject of jealousy. so greatly was this the case, that the contra-remonstrants appealed against his doctrines to several protestant states, and represented to them the doctrine of vorstius in the most odious light. our james i. accepted the appeal: by a royal proclamation, he caused vorstius's treatise _de deo_ to be burnt in london, and each of the english universities. he drew up a list, of the several heresies, which he had discovered in it, commanded his resident at the hague to notify them to the states; to express his horror of them, and his detestation of those, who should tolerate them. [sidenote: chap. viii. .] [sidenote: vorstius.--james i.] with some intimation of their independence, the states replied, that "the case was of _their_ cognizance;" that "they would examine it;" and that, "if it should appear that vorstius maintained the doctrines imputed to him, they would not suffer him to live among them." the monarch's orthodoxy was not satisfied with this answer. he repeated his suggestions, that the states should proceed against vorstius; and hinted, that if the doctrines should be proved against him, and if he should persist in them, burning might be a proper punishment for him. the monarch added that, if the states did not use their utmost endeavours to extirpate the rising heresy, he should publicly protest against their conduct; that, in quality of defender of the faith, he would exhort all protestant churches to join in one general resolution to extinguish the abomination, and would, as sovereign of his own dominions, prohibit his subjects to frequent so pestilential a place as the university of leyden. to his menaces he added the terrors of his pen, and published a "confutation of vorstius." by the advice of the states, vorstius replied to his royal adversary in a most respectful manner; still, the royal adversary was not satisfied. finally, the states condemned the obnoxious doctrines of vorstius, divested him of all his offices; and sentenced him to perpetual banishment. vorstius remained concealed during two years; then found an asylum in the dominions of the duke of holstein, who, as we have mentioned, took the remains of the arminians into his protection. vorstius died in . chapter ix. grotius after his escape from prison, till his appointment of ambassador from sweden to the court of france. - . soon after the escape of grotius from prison, he repaired to paris: in this, he followed the advice of du maurier, the french ambassador at the hague. his works had made him known in every part of europe, in which learning was cultivated: but persons properly qualified to appreciate their merit, existed no where in such abundance as at paris: he was personally esteemed and regarded by the monarch; and the principal officers of state were attached to him. paris was also recommended to him by its libraries, the easy access to them, and the habitual intercourse of the men of letters, who, during, at least, a great part of the year, made that city their place of residence. [sidenote: from the escape of grotius till his appointment of ambassador.] grotius arrived at paris on the th of april . he was immediately noticed by a multitude of persons of distinction and rank; but it was not till march , that he was presented to the king. his majesty received him graciously, and settled upon him a pension of , livres. the prince of condé, the chancellor, and the keeper of the seals, had exerted themselves to dispose the king in his favour. his majesty professed kindness towards those, who had been persecuted by the states; and issued an edict, dated the d april , by which he took them under his protection, in the same manner as if they were his own subjects; he even extended this benefit to their children. the celebrated president jeannin was one of the most active and useful of grotius's friends; but he died soon after grotius arrived at paris. grotius, during his stay in that city, attended frequently the courts of justice. he observed the wretched style of oratory, which at that time, prevailed in them. it was, in some measure, corrected by _patru_ and _le maitre_; but it did not reach its best state, till the end of the reign of lewis xiv. the rhetorical march and laboured amplifications allowed at the french bar, are offensive to english ears. has any nation produced a more perfect style of forensic or judicial eloquence, than that of _sir william grant_? the wisdom and justice of _lord stowell's_ decisions, and the admirable arguments by which he explains or illustrates them, are known and acknowledged by every court. [sidenote: chap. ix. -- ] grotius's love of his native country continued unabated; all his views, all his hopes, were directed thither. with these feelings he wrote his _apology_. he composed it in the dutch language, and translated it afterwards into latin: it was published in . he dedicated it to the people of holland and west friesland. it is divided into twenty chapters; in the first, he argues the important point, that each of the united provinces is sovereign and independent of the states general, and that the authority of these is confined to the defence of the provinces against their enemies. in the second chapter, he applies the position to ecclesiastical concerns; these, he says, are subject to the sovereign power of each state. in the following chapters, he descends into the particular charges against him; defending himself against all the crimes and irregularities of which he was accused, and shewing the informality of the judicial proceedings by which he and his companions in misfortune were tried and condemned. [sidenote: from the escape of grotius till his appointment of ambassador.] his answer was universally read and approved: it greatly incensed the states general: they proscribed it, and forbade all persons to have it in their possession, under pain of death; but no answer to it was published. the edict made grotius and his friends entertain apprehensions for his personal safety. on this account, he obtained from the french monarch letters of naturalization, dated the th february : by these, his majesty took him under his special protection. grotius retained many friends in every part of the united provinces: prince frederick henry, the brother of maurice, was among them. he had never entered into his brother's persecuting projects. "the count d'estrades has given us," says burigni, "some anecdotes on this subject, which we shall relate on his authority. he assures us, that, being one day _tête a tête_ with prince henry frederick in his coach, he heard him say, that he had much to do to keep well with his brother maurice, who suspected him of secretly favouring barneveldt and the arminians. he told me, (these were the count's own words), it was true that he kept a correspondence with them, to prevent their opposing his election, in case his brother should die; but that, as it imported him to be on good terms with his brother, and to efface the notion he had of his connection with the arminians, he made use of vandenuse, one of his particular friends, and barneveldt's son-in-law, to let the cabal know, that it was necessary for him to accommodate himself to his brother, that he might be better able to serve them,--which barneveldt approved of." [sidenote: chap. ix. -- .] in the meantime, the situation of grotius at paris, became very uncomfortable. his resources, and those of his wife, were small; and his pension was paid irregularly. cardinal de richelieu wished to attach grotius; but required from him an absolute and unqualified devotion to him, which was utterly irreconcileable with the slightest degree of honourable independence. grotius therefore declined the offers of the cardinal. from this time, the cardinal regarded him with an evil eye, and often made him feel the effects of his displeasure. this rendered grotius desirous of quitting france. trusting to some protestations of friendship, which he had received from prince frederick; to his numerous friends, to his claims upon the gratitude of the states of holland, to his feelings of innocence, and to the effect produced, as he flattered himself, by his _apology_, he ventured into holland in . but he met with no countenance: and in that year was banished a second time. upon this, he formally bade a final adieu to holland, and determined to seek his fortune elsewhere: he then fixed his residence at hamburgh. [sidenote: from the escape of grotius till his appointment of ambassador.] he sought to preserve his friends in france; but announced to them his intention to receive no more money from the french government. "i shall always," he said in a letter to the first president of the cour des monnoies, "be grateful for the king's liberality; but it is enough that i was chargeable to you, while i resided in france. i have never done you any service, though i made you an offer of myself. but it would not be proper that i should now live, like an hornet, on the goods of other men. i shall not, however, forget the kindness of so great a king, and the good offices of so many friends." [sidenote: chap. ix. - .] it may appear surprising that prince frederick of orange should pertinaciously exclude grotius from his native country. but ambition listens to nothing that conflicts with its own views. prince frederick inherited from his father and brother the wish of becoming the sovereign of the united provinces. to this, he knew he should always find a zealous and able opponent in grotius: hence, notwithstanding his great personal regard for grotius, he always kept him a banished man. grotius wished to be employed by the government of england, and archbishop laud was sounded upon this subject; but the application was coldly received[ ]. prince frederick sustained, both in military and civil concerns, the character of the former princes of his family. under his administration, the affairs of the republic prospered at sea and land. peter haim captured the spanish flotilla, estimated at twelve millions of florins. the prince took bois-le duc, maestricht, and breda, and reduced the dutchy of limburgh. under his auspices, the celebrated van tromp commenced his career of naval glory, by obtaining a complete victory over the spanish fleet, consisting of seventy men of war. prince frederick died in . from the close of his stadtholderate, we may date the origin of the jealousy entertained, by france and england, of the rising power of the united provinces. it is to be observed that prince frederick was stadtholder only of the provinces of holland, zealand, utrecht, gueldres and overyssell: count ernest casimir of nassau was stadtholder of the provinces of gröningen, frizeland, and the county of the drenta. in , their eldest sons were chosen, in the lifetime of their fathers, their successors in their respective stadtholderates. this was a great step towards making the stadtholderate hereditary in their families,--one of the leading objects of their ambitious views. chapter x. some of the principal works of grotius. . _his edition of stobæus_. . _his treatise de jure belli et pacis_. . _his treatise de veritate religionis christianæ_. . _his treatise de jure summarum potestatum circa sacra_. . _his commentary on the scriptures_. . _some other works of grotius_ [sidenote: chap. x. - ] that literature is an ornament in prosperity, and a comfort in adverse fortune, has been often said by the best and wisest men; but no one experienced the truth of this assertion in a higher degree than grotius, during his imprisonment at louvestein. in that wreck of his fortune and overthrow of all his hopes, books came to his aid, soothed his sorrows, and beguiled the wearisome hours of his gloomy solitude. his studies often stole him from himself, and from the sense of his misfortunes. in the exercise of his mental energies, he was sensible of their powers; and it was impossible that he should contemplate, without pleasure, the extent, the worth, or the splendour of his labours; the services, which he rendered by them to learning and religion, and the admiration and gratitude of the scholar, which he then enjoyed, and which would attend his memory to the latest posterity. he himself acknowledged that, in the ardour of his literary pursuits, he often forgot his calamities, and that the hours passed unheeded, if not in joy, at least without pain. x . _his edition of stobæus_. being ourselves unacquainted with this work, we cannot do better than present our readers with the account given of it by burigni. "the year after the publication of his _apology_, that is to say in , nicholas huon printed at paris, _grotius's improvements and additions to stobæus_. this author, as is well known, extracted what he thought most important in the ancient greek writers, and ranged it under different heads, comprehending the principal points of philosophy. his work is the more valuable, as it has preserved several fragments of the ancients, found no where else. grotius, when very young, purposed to extract from this author all the maxims of the poets; to translate them into latin verse, and to print the original with the translation. he began this, when a boy; he was employed in it at the time of his arrest; and continued it as an amusement, whilst he had the use of books, in his prison at the hague. he tells us that, when he was deprived of pen and ink, he was got to the forty-ninth title, which is an invective against tyranny, that had a great relation to what passed at that time in holland. on his removal to louvestein, he resumed this work, and finished it at paris. he made several happy corrections in the text of stobæus; some, from his own conjectures or those of his friends; others, on the authority of manuscripts in the king's library, which were politely lent him by the learned nicholas rigaut, librarian to his majesty. [sidenote: his edition of stobæus.] [sidenote: chap. x. - ] "prefixed to this book, are _prolegomena_, in which the author shews that the works of the ancient pagans are filled with maxims agreeable to the truths taught in holy writ. he intended to dedicate this book to the chancellor silleri: he had even writ the dedication, but his friends, to whom he shewed it, thought he expressed himself with too much warmth, against the censurers of his _apology_. they advised him therefore to suppress it; and he yielded to their opinion. it may be observed in reading the royal privilege, that the present title of the book is different from what it was to have had. to these extracts from the greek poets translated into latin verse, grotius annexed two pieces, one of plutarch, the other of st. basil, on the use of the poets; giving the greek text with a latin translation." the work was received with universal approbation. x. . _his treatise de jure belli et pacis_. grotius may be considered as the founder of the modern school of _the law of nature and of nations_. he was struck with the ruthless manner, in which wars were generally conducted; the slight pretences, upon which they were generally begun; and the barbarity and injustice, with which they were generally attended. he attributed these evils to the want of settled principles respecting the rights and duties of nations and individuals in a state of war. these, he observed, must depend on the previous rights and duties of mankind, in a state of peace: this led him to the preliminary inquiry into their rights and duties in a state of nature. thus, an ample field was opened to him. he brought to it, a vigorous discerning mind, and stupendous erudition. from antient and modern history, philosophy, oratory, and poetry, he collected facts and sayings, which appeared to him to establish a general agreement of all civilized nations upon certain principles. from these, he formed his system; applying them, as he proceeded in his work, to a vast multitude of circumstances. these are so numerous, that some persons have not scrupled to say, that no case or international law, either in war or in peace, can be stated, to which the work of grotius does not contain an applicable rule. [sidenote: x. . _the treatise de jure belli et pacis._] [sidenote: chap. x. - ] three important objections have been made to this celebrated work,--one, that the author defers in it, too little, to principle, too much, to authority;--another, that the work is written in a very desultory manner, with small attention to order, or classification;--a third, that his authorities are often feeble, and sometimes whimsical. "grotius," says condillac, "was able to think for himself; but he constantly labours to support his conclusions by the authority of others. upon many occasions; even in support of the most obvious and indisputable propositions, he introduces a long string of quotations from the mosaic law, from the gospels, from the fathers of the church, from the casuists, and not unfrequently, even in the very same paragraph, from ovid, and aristophanes." this strange mixture is subject of many witticisms of voltaire. but let us hear what is urged in the defence of grotius, by a gentleman, of whose praise the ablest of writers may be proud: "few writers," says sir james mackintosh, in his discourse on the study of the law of nature and nations, "were more celebrated than grotius in his own days, and in the age which succeeded. it has, however, been the fashion of the last half century to depreciate his work, as a shapeless compilation, in which reason lies buried under a mass of authorities and quotations. this fashion originated among french wits and declaimers, and it has been, i know not for what reason, adopted, though with far greater moderation and decency, by some respectable writers among ourselves. as to those, who first used this language, the most candid supposition that we can make with respect to them is, that they never read the work; for, if they had not been deterred from the perusal of it by such a formidable display of greek characters, they must soon have discovered that grotius never quotes, on any subject, till he has first appealed to some principles; and often, in my humble opinion, though, not always, to the soundest and most rational principles. [sidenote: his treatise de jure belli et pacis.] "but another sort of answer is due to some of those, who have criticised grotius; and that answer might be given in the words of grotius himself. he was not of such a stupid and servile cast of mind as to quote the opinions of poets or orators, of historians and philosophers, as those of judges, from whose decision there was no appeal. he quotes them, as he tells us himself, as witnesses, whose conspiring testimony, mightily strengthened and confirmed by their discordance on almost every other subject, is a conclusive proof of the unanimity of the whole human race on the great rules of duty, and the fundamental principles of morals. of such matters, poets and orators are the most unexceptionable of all witnesses; for they address themselves to the general feelings and sympathies of mankind; they are neither warped by system, nor perverted by sophistry; they can attain none of their objects; they can neither please nor persuade, if they dwell on moral sentiments not in unison with those of their readers. no system of moral philosophy can surely disregard the general feelings of human nature, and the according judgment of all ages and nations. but, where are these feelings and that judgment recorded and preserved? in those very writings which grotius is gravely blamed for having quoted. the usages and law of nations, the events of history, the opinions of philosophers, the sentiments of orators and poets, as well as the observation of common life, are, in truth, the materials out of which the science of morality is formed; and those who neglect them, are justly chargeable with a vain attempt to philosophise without regard to fact and experience, the sole foundation of all true philosophy. [sidenote: chap. x. - ] "if this were merely an objection of taste, i should be willing to allow, that grotius has indeed poured forth his learning with a profusion, that sometimes rather encumbers than adorns his work, and which is not always necessary to the illustration of his subject. yet, even in making, that concession, i should rather yield to the tastes of others, than speak from my own feelings. i own that such richness and splendour of literature have a powerful charm for me. they fill my mind with an endless variety of delightful recollections and associations. they relieve the understanding in its progress through a vast science, by calling up the memory of great men and of interesting events. by this means we see the truths of morality clothed with all the eloquence (not that could be produced by the powers of one man, but) that could be bestowed on them by the collective genius of the world. even virtue and wisdom themselves acquire new majesty in my eyes, when i thus see all the great masters of thinking and writing called together, as it were, from all times and countries, to do them homage and to appear in their train. [sidenote: x. . his treatise de jure belli et pacis] "but this is no piece for discussions of taste, and i am very ready to own, that mine may be corrupted. the work of grotius is liable to a more serious objection, though i do not recollect that it has ever been made. his method is inconvenient and unscientific. he has inverted the natural order. that natural order undoubtedly dictates, that we should first search for the original principles of the science, in human nature; then apply them to the regulation of the conduct of individuals; and lastly employ them for the decision of those difficult and complicated questions that arise with respect to the intercourse of nations. but grotius has chosen the reverse of this method. he begins with the consideration of the states of peace and war, and he examines original principles, only occasionally and incidentally, as they grow out of the questions, which he is called upon to decide. it is a necessary consequence of this disorderly method, which exhibits the elements of the science in the form of scattered digressions, that he seldom employs sufficient discussion on those fundamental truths, and never in the place where such a discussion would be most instructive to the reader. this defect in the plan of grotius was perceived, and supplied by puffendorf, who restored natural law to that superiority which belonged to it, and with great propriety, treated the law of nations as only one main branch of the parent stock." [sidenote: chap x. - ] whatever may be the merit of the work of which we are speaking, it must be admitted, that few, on their first appearance, and during a long subsequent period after publication, have received greater or warmer applause. the stores of erudition displayed in it, recommended it to the classical scholar, while the happy application of the author's reading to the affairs of human life, drew to it the attention of common readers. among those, whose approbation of it, deserved to be recorded, gustavus adolphus,--his prime minister the chancellor oxenstiern,--and the elector palatine charles lewis, deserve particular mention.[ ] as the trophies of miltiades are supposed to have kept themistocles awake, it has been said that the trophies of grotius drove sleep from selden, till be produced his celebrated treatise, "_de jure naturali et gentium secundum leges ebræorim_." this important work equals that of grotius in learning; but, from the partial and recondite nature of its subject, never equalled it in popularity. [sidenote: x. . his treatise de jure belli et pacis] the supposed want of general elementary principles in the work of grotius gave occasion to puffendorf's treatise _de jure naturae et gentium_; afterwards abridged by him into the small octavo volume _de officio hominis et civis_: an edition of it in octavo was published by professor garschen carmichael, of glasgow, in . the best edition of grotius's treatise _de jure belli et pacis_ was published at amsterdam in , by john barbeyrac. foreigners observe, that the study of the law of nature and nations is less cultivated in england than upon the continent. is it not, because englishmen are blessed with a free constitution; are admitted into a general participation of all its blessings; are thus personally interested in the national concerns; and have therefore a jurisprudence, which comes nearer to their bosoms? is it not also, because the law of nature and nations, with all its merit, is so loose, that its principles seldom admit of that practical application, which renders them really useful; and which an english mind always requires? x. . _de veritate religionis christianæ._ [sidenote: chap. x. - .] grotius, while a prisoner in the castle of louvestein, had written, in the dutch language, "a treatise on the truth of the christian religion." he afterwards enlarged it, and translated it, so enlarged, into latin. it was universally read and admired. french, german, english, modern greek, persic, and even turkish versions of it have been made: it was equally approved by catholics and protestants. [sidenote: de veritate religionis christianæ.] it was invidiously objected, that he did not attempt to prove, or even mention, the trinity, and some other gospel mysteries: he replied, satisfactorily in our opinion, that a discussion of any particular tenet of the christian religion did not fall within the scope of his work. in this respect, he was afterwards imitated by _abadie_ and _houteville_, two of the most eminent apologists of christianity. the latter expresses himself of the work of grotius in the following terms: "grotius's work is the first, in which we find the characteristics of just reasoning, accuracy, and strength: he is extremely concise; but even this brevity will please us, when we find his work comprehends so many things, without confounding them or lessening their evidence or force. it is no wonder that the book should be translated into so many languages." the best edition of it is that published by le clerc,[ ] in at amsterdam, in vo. to this edition, le clerc has added a curious _dissertation_ on _religious indifference_. he presumes that the supposed indifference is persuaded of the authenticity of the new testament:--he then (says le clerc) must ascertain,-- . which are the denominations of religionists which avow their belief of it: . which of these are most worthy of the name of christians: . and which profess the christian religion in most purity and with least extraneous alloy: . he will find, that all christians agree in the fundamental articles of faith: . that all these articles are clearly expressed in the new testament: . that no tenet should be believed to be of faith, unless the new testament contains it. . that the providence of god is admirable in the preservation of these tenets, amidst the confused multitude of religious opinions, which have prevailed in the world: . that this confusion was foreseen by god: . that he permitted it as a consequence of his gift of free-will to man: . that the inquirer should aggregate himself to that religious communion, which receives the new testament as its only rule of faith, and does not persecute others: . that episcopacy without tyranny is the most antient form of ecclesiastical government, and most to be desired; but that it is not essential to a christian church: . that these were the opinions of grotius: . finally, that it is greatly to be desired that a belief of no dogma, not explicitly propounded in the new testament, should be required. such is the religious system propounded by le clerc.--does any religious communion really profess it?--many protestant churches declare, that the bible, and the bible only, contains their creed: but, do they not all mean by this--the bible, as it is explained by the articles, the formulary, or the confession received by their church? x. . _grotius's treatise de jure summarum potestatum circa sacra_.--and, _commentatio ad loca quædam novi testamenti, quæ de antichristo agunt, aut agere putantur_. nothing in the life of grotius places him in a more amiable or respectable point of view, than his constant attempts to put catholics and protestants into good humour with each other, and to put both into good humour among themselves. [sidenote: x. . his treatise de jure summarum potestatum. &c.] we have mentioned the _pacific decree of the states of holland_, which ordered the contending communions to tolerate each other. grotius is supposed to have framed this wise decree. the contra-remonstrants attacked it: grotius reprinted it, with a collection of proofs and authorities. it gave rise to a controversy on the nice question, respecting the authority of the temporal power to interfere in the ecclesiastical concerns of the state. grotius adopted, upon this point, the sentiments of what is termed in england the low church: he seems to have pushed them to their utmost bearings. with these sentiments, he published his treatise _de imperio summarum potestatum circa sacra_. it was disliked by king james and his bishops: grotius, in their opinion, gave too much authority, in sacred things, to the secular power. on the work of grotius, respecting _anti-christ_, we prefer transcribing burigni's sentiments to delivering our own. "this deep study of the holy scriptures led grotius to examine a question, which made much noise at that time. some protestant synods had ventured to decide that _the pope was antichrist_; and this extravagance, gravely delivered by the ministers, was regarded by the zealous schismatics, as a fundamental truth. grotius undertook to overturn such an absurd opinion, that stirred up an irreconcileable enmity between the roman catholics and the protestants; and, of consequence, was a very great obstacle to their re-union, which was the sole object of his desires. he entered therefore upon the consideration of the passages of scripture relating to antichrist, and employed his sundays in it. [sidenote: chap. x. - .] "it was this work, that raised him up most enemies. we see by the letters he wrote to his brother, that his best friends were afraid lest they should be suspected of having some hand in the publication of the books, in which he treated of antichrist. 'if you are afraid of incurring ill will, (he writes thus to his brother), you may easily find people that are far from a factious spirit, who will take care of the impression. nothing has incensed princes against those, who separated from the church of rome, more than the injurious names, with which the protestants load their adversaries; and nothing is a greater hindrance to that re-union, which we are all obliged to labour after, in consequence of christ's precept and the profession we make of our faith in the creed. perhaps the turk, who threatens italy, will force us to it. in order to arrive at it, we must first remove whatever obstructs a mutual quiet hearing. i hope i shall find assistance in this pious design. i shall not cease to labour in it, and shall rejoice to die employed in so good a work.' [sidenote: his treatise de jure summarum potestatum, &c.] "reigersberg, blaeu, vossius himself, however much devoted to grotius, beheld with concern the printing of this book, because they did not doubt but it would increase the number of his enemies. grotius informs his brother, of the uneasiness which vossius gave him on this subject. 'among those, who wish this work destroyed,' says he, 'i am astonished and grieved to see vossius. whence could he have this idea? i imagine somebody has told him, that it would injure the fortune of his children, if he approved of such books; and that, on the contrary, he would find favour by hurting me. we must therefore have recourse to corcellius or corvinus.' he elsewhere complains of the too great timidity of this old friend, who at bottom approved of grotius's sentiments, but durst not own them publicly, because he was not so independent as grotius. [sidenote: chap. x. - .] "the treatise on anti-christ made much noise among all the declared enemies of the romish church. michael gettichius wrote to ruarus, that he had only glanced over grotius's book on antichrist; but as far as he could judge by the first reading, that learned man, who was possessed of such an excellent genius, and such singular erudition, had no other intention than to engage the learned in a further inquiry concerning antichrist; and to determine them to attack with greater strength, the romish antichrist; or, if he wrote seriously, he wanted to cut out a path for going over, without dishonour, to the papists. ruarus answers this letter dec. , , from dantzic. 'i have always (he says) looked on grotius as a very honest and at the same time a very learned man. i am persuaded that love of peace engaged him in this work. i don't deny but he has gone too far; the love of antiquity perhaps seduced him: no remonstrant, that i know of, has as yet answered him; but he has been confuted by some learned calvinists, particularly desmonets, minister of bois le duc, who has written against him with much bitterness.' "grotius's work was printed in , with this title: _commentatio ad loca quædam novi testamenti, quæ de antichristo agunt aut agere putantur:--expedenda eruditis."_[ ] x. . _his commentary on the scriptures._ [sidenote: x. . his commentary on the scriptures.] the theological works of grotius are comprised in four volumes folio: the three first contain his commentary, and notes upon the scriptures. on their merit, both catholics and protestants considerably differ. all allow that an abundance of sacred and profane learning is displayed in them; and that grotius, by his references to the writings of the rabbis, and his remarks upon the idiom of the sacred writings, has happily elucidated a multitude of passages in the text. he uniformly adopts the literal and obvious signification of the language used by the holy penmen. in explaining the predictions of the prophets, he maintains that they referred to events anterior to the coming of christ, and were accomplished in these; so that the natural and obvious sense of the words and phrases, in which they were delivered, does not terminate in christ; yet, that in some of the predictions, those particularly, which the writers of the new testament apply to christ, there is, _besides_ the literal and obvious signification, a hidden and mysterious sense, which lies concealed under the external mark of certain _persons_, certain _events_, and certain _actions_, which are representative of the person, the ministry, the sufferings, and the merits of the son of god. [sidenote: chap. x. - .] it has been objected, that this system leads to socinianism, and even beyond it. all catholic, and several episcopalian protestant divines object to it; they generally contend, that the sacred writings ought always to be understood in that sense _only_, which has been attributed to them, by the early fathers.--against this system, dr. whitby published his celebrated work "concerning the interpretation of scripture after the manner of the fathers."[ ] [sidenote: x. . his commentary on the scriptures.] the system of grotius was defended, to a certain extent, by _father simôn_, the oratorian, the father of the modern biblical school. against both simôn and grotius, bossuet wielded his powerful lance,--in his "pastoral instruction on the works of father simôn," and his "dissertations upon grotius." in these works he says that, during thirty years, "grotius searched for truth in good faith, and at last was so near it, that it is wonderful that he did not take the last step, to which god called him. shocked at calvin's harsh doctrines, he embraced arminianism; then, abandoned it. more a lawyer than a theologian, more a polite scholar than a philosopher, he throws the doctrine of the immortality of the soul into obscurity. he endeavours to weaken and steal from the church, her most powerful proofs of the divinity of the son of god, and strives to darken the prophecies, which announce the arrival of the messiah." bossuet proceeds to particularize some of the principal errors of grotius: le clerc replied to the prelate's criticism, by his _sentimens de quelques theologiens de la hollande_.--grotius had also an able advocate in father simôn. his defence of grotius against the charge of _semi-pelagianism_, in the _bibliotheque de sainjore_,[ ] appears to be satisfactory. he cites the note of grotius, on the acts of the apostles, (the celebrated ch. xiii. ver. ), in which he says expressly that he does not exclude preventive grace: this the semi-pelagians denied altogether. but in his defence of grotius against the charge of _socinianism_, he is not equally successful. bossuet sent his _pastoral instruction_, and _dissertations upon grotius_, to the bishop of fréjus, afterward cardinal de fleury: he accompanied them by a letter, which closes with these remarkable words: "the spirit of incredulity gains ground in the world every day: you have often heard me make this remark. it is now worse than ever, as the gospel itself is used for the corruption of religion. i thank god that at my age he blesses me with sufficient strength to resist the torrent." [sidenote: chap. x. -- .] dom. calmet[ ] calls grotius, "one of the most able and moderate protestant writers: one who spreads throughout his notes a pleasing profusion of profane literature, which causes his works to be sought for and read by those, who have taste for that kind of literature. his high reputation, great erudition, and rare modesty," says dom. calmet, "render it easy for him to insinuate his particular sentiments respecting the divinity of christ, against which, his readers should be guarded." x. . _some other works of grotius_. . the first which we shall mention is his history of the _goths, vandals, and lombards_, written in the latin language, and accompanied by learned dissertations. he composed it, as a testimony of his gratitude to the swedes, by doing honour to their gothic ancestors. the preface has always been admired, for its erudition and sound criticism. but the belgic friends of grotius accused him of elevating the swedes at their expense. [sidenote: x. . other works of grotius.] . a more important work consists of his _annals, and history of the united provinces_. the annals begin with the year , when prince maurice had the greatest influence in the affairs of the united provinces; and concludes with the truce of twelve years, signed between them and spain. the impartiality, with which these works are written, has been praised by every writer. it is to be lamented that grotius professed to imitate, both in his annals and history, the style of tacitus. expressed by his own pen, the style of tacitus is energetic, picturesque, and pleasing; but it is impossible to deny its frequent abruptness and obscurity. generally speaking, an imitation of what is defective, contains a larger share, than the original, of its distinctive defect. it should however be added, that grotius's own style is short, sententious and broken; and possesses nothing of the meliflous ease of the ultramontane latinists; or of our milton or buchanan. none of the works of grotius, which we have mentioned in this article, were published till after his decease. . it remains to notice the _letters of grotius_, published at amsterdam in one volume folio, in .--a multitude of his unpublished letters is said to exist in different public and private libraries. [sidenote: chap. x. - .] his published letters are an invaluable treasure: they abound with wise maxims of sound policy, and curious discussions on points arising on roman or belgic jurisprudence. many points of sacred and profane learning, and particularly of the civil and canon law, are treated in them with equal learning and taste. for the perfect understanding of them, the letters of the correspondents of grotius should be perused: they are principally to be found, in the _præstantium et eruditorum virorum epistolæ ecclesiasticæ et theologicæ_, published at amsterdam in . a critical account of the letters of grotius, executed with great taste and judgment, is inserted in the first volume of the _bibliotheque universelle et historique_.[ ] [sidenote: x. . other works of grotius.] it is acknowledged that the letters of grotius, are written in the finest latinity, and contain much valuable information; but the point, the sprightliness, the genius, the vivid descriptions of men and things, which are so profusely scattered over the letters of erasmus, are seldom discoverable in those of grotius. a man of learning would have been gratified beyond measure, by the profound conversations of grotius and father petau: but what a treat must it have been, to have assisted with one, two, or three good listeners, at the conversations between erasmus and sir thomas more! chapter. xi. grotius.--as ambassador from the kingdom of sweden to the court of france. -- . the embassy of grotius is connected with an important period in the history of the war of thirty years. this celebrated war was principally caused by the religious disputes of the sixteenth century. very soon after luther's first attack on the see of rome, the reformation was established in saxony, livonia, prussia, and hesse-cassell; in many imperial towns; in friezland and holland; in several of the swiss cantons; in pomerania, mecklenburgh, anhalt; sweden, denmark, norway; england, and scotland. its progress in germany is particularly connected with the subject of these pages. [sidenote: embassy of grotius in the court of france.] at the diet of augsburgh, in , the protestant princes of germany delivered to the emperor their confession of faith; they afterwards, at smalcald, entered into an offensive and defensive league against the emperor. being sensible that they were unable to resist him, they engaged the french monarch in their cause. at first, the emperor was victorious; but a new league was formed. france then took a more active part in favour of the confederates, and the contest ended in the peace of passau, in , there the two parties, for the first time, treated as equals, and the free exercise of the lutheran religion was allowed. things remained quiet during the reigns of ferdinand the first and maximilian the second; but, in consequence of the disputes, which arose on the succession to the dutchies of cleves and juliers, the religious differences broke out with fresh animosity:--the protestant princes formed a confederacy called the _evangelical union_, and placed, at its head, the elector palatine; the catholics formed a confederacy called the _catholic league_, and placed, at its head, the duke of bavaria. in the year , they burst into open war; every state in europe, and even the ottoman princes, at one time or other, took a part in it. france was the soul of the protestant cause; she assisted it with her armies, and her subsidies:--it may be truly said, that, if there be a protestant state from the vistula to the rhine, or a mahometan, state between the danube and the mediterranean, its existence is owing to the bourbon monarchs. from the period of its duration, it has been called the war of thirty years: it is divided, by its _palatine, danish, swedish,_ and _french_ periods. [sidenote: chap. xi. - .] . frederick, the fifth _elector palatine_ of that name, being elected king of bohemia, by the states of that kingdom, made war on the emperor ferdinand the second. being defeated in , at the battle of prague, and abandoned by his allies, he was driven from bohemia, and deprived of his other states. . christian the fourth of _denmark_, then placed himself at the head of the confederacy against the emperor; but, having in , lost the battle of lutter, in which tilly commanded the austrian forces; he signed, three years after that event, a separate peace with the emperor. in the following year, gustavus adolphus, king of sweden, was placed at the head of the confederacy. their cause appeared desperate: walstein, the austrian general, had been uniformly successful, and almost the whole of germany had submitted to the emperor: but the austrians soon experienced a severe reverse of fortune. [sidenote: embassy of grotius to the court of france.] . lewis xiii filled at that time, the throne of france; his councils were guided by cardinal richelieu, one of the ablest statesmen that has appeared upon the theatre of the world. vast, but provident in his designs; daring, but considerate in his operations; capable of the largest views and the most minute attentions; he formed three immense projects, and succeeded in all. "when your majesty," he thus addresses the monarch in his celebrated _testament politique_, "resolved at the same time to admit me into your councils, and to give me a great portion of your confidence, i can say with truth that the hugonots divided the state with you; that the great, conducted themselves, as if they were not your subjects, and the governors of the provinces, as if they were the sovereigns of them; and that france was contemned by her foreign allies." to reduce the hugonots, to lower the nobility, to elevate france to be the preponderating power in europe, were the three objects, which the cardinal proposed to himself. in each, he had difficulties to encounter, which extraordinary talents only could surmount. by a strict administration of justice, and severely punishing, without respect to rank or connections, those, who engaged in treasonable practices, he completely subdued the towering spirit of the nobility; by victorious armies and a vigorous dispensation of the laws, he reduced the hugonots; and, by calling forth all the energies of his country, and arraying half the continent against austria and spain, he gave to france an almost irresistible ascendant in the concerns of europe. [sidenote: chap. xi - .] to the last only of these three designs our present subject leads us. _sweden_ had long been engaged in a war against denmark, and highly dissatisfied with austria. by the persuasion of richelieu, she made peace with the danes, and entered into an offensive and defensive alliance with france. in consequence of it, gustavus adolphus was placed at the head of the protestant confederacy: a large army of swedes entered germany; gustavus was invested with the command of the confederate forces, and his brilliant campaigns turned the tide of success in their favour. at lutzen he obtained a complete victory, but lost his life. [sidenote: embassy of grotius to the court of france.] after the death of gustavus, the states assembled, and the mareschal of the diet proposed, that the celebrated christina, the only child of gustavus, then an infant of very tender years, should be crowned: the mareschal carried her in his arms into the midst of the assembly. on observing her, all were struck with her likeness to her father. "yes!" they cried, "it is she herself! she has the eyes, the nose and the forehead of gustavus! we will have her for our queen!" she was immediately seated on the throne, and proclaimed queen. the regency of the kingdom, during the minority of christina, was conferred on the chancellor oxenstiern: he had been the confidential minister and friend of gustavus, and shewed through life that he deserved that confidence, by his wisdom, eminent talents, and spotless integrity. both the monarch and his minister entertained a high opinion of the abilities and virtue of grotius: his treatise _de jure belli et pacis_ was found, after the death of gustavus, in the royal tent. . not long after the disastrous victory of the swedes at lutzen, the austrian and confederate armies conflicted at nordlingen, in one of the most obstinate and bloody battles recorded in history: the confederates were completely defeated. the blame was thrown on the swedes; they were deserted by almost all their protestant allies, and the weight of the war devolved almost entirely upon the swedes and _the french_. till this time, they had acted and negociated on an equality: the loss of this battle made the swedes dependent upon france, and the haughty genius of richelieu made them severely feel it. [sidenote: chap. xi. - .] the first object of oxenstiern was to renew the treaty with france: a skilful negociator on the part of sweden was necessary. oxenstiern fixed his eye upon grotius: the penetrating minister had several conversations with him. the embassy to france was certainly the most important commission, with which a minister from sweden could be charged: oxenstiern's appointment of grotius to it, demonstrated the minister's high opinion of him. some time in july , he declared grotius councillor to the queen of sweden, and her ambassador to the court of france. grotius made his public entry into paris on friday the d of march . nothing of the customary ceremonial or compliment was omitted in his regard, by the court of france. unfortunately for the success of the embassy of grotius, two envoys from some of the protestant states in germany had previously signed a treaty with france, which was generally considered by the confederates to be injurious to their interests. [sidenote: embassy of grotius to the court of france.] the first interview of grotius with the cardinal took place on the th march. during their conference, a dispatch arrived from oxenstiern to grotius: it was immediately put into his bands, by the cardinal's desire. it announced a resolution, taken by the chancellor, to repair to paris, and that he was actually on his journey thither. richelieu was displeased: but he determined to give the chancellor the most honourable and flattering reception. on the st of april, grotius met oxenstiern at soissons: they proceeded together to paris. conferences between the cardinal and the chancellor immediately took place. the matter in discussion between the courts were soon arranged: france undertook to declare war against the emperor, to subsidize sweden, and to send an army to co-operate with her forces in germany. it has always been considered highly creditable to the firmness and talents of oxenstiern, that, in the reduced condition of the swedes, he could obtain for them such advantageous terms. immediately after the treaty was signed, the chancellor quitted france. during his stay, he shewed a marked attention to grotius, and expressed unqualified approbation of his conduct and views. the arms of sweden again triumphed. in pomerania, general bannier obtained important advantages over the imperialists; in alsace, the arms of the duke of saxe-weimar were equally successful. in the following year, the two victorious generals carried their arms into the heart of the austrian territories, and, were almost uniformly successful. [sidenote: chap. xi. - .] but it is foreign to these pages to dwell further on the military achievements or political intrigues of the times of which we are speaking. humanity shudders at the perusal of the events of this war. through the whole of its long period, germany was a scene of devastation. in its northern and central parts, the ravages of advancing and retreating armies were repeatedly experienced in their utmost horrors: many of its finest towns were destroyed; whole villages depopulated; large territories laid waste. frequently the women, the children, and the aged, naked, pale, and disfigured, were seen wandering over the fields, supporting themselves by the leaves of trees, by wild roots, and even grass. the war extended itself into lorraine: an affecting account of the calamities, which it produced in that beautiful province, was published by father caussin, who accompanied lewis xiii into it, as his confessor. [sidenote: embassy of grotius to the court of france.] struck with the scene of woe, st. vincent of paul, an humble missionary priest, who, at that time, resided at paris, requested an audience of cardinal de richelieu. being admitted, he represented to his eminence, with respect, but with firmness, the misery of the people, the sins, and all the other enormities, which are the usual consequences of war: he then fell upon his knees, and in a voice, equally animated by grief and charity, "sir!" he said to the cardinal "have mercy upon us! have compassion upon the world! give us peace!" the stern and vindictive genius of the cardinal sunk before the man of god. he raised vincent from the ground. he told him, with much apparent benignity, that "the general pacification of europe was his great object, but that unfortunately it did not depend on him alone; there being, both within and without the kingdom, those who sought the contrary, and prevented peace." few ministers have shewn greater ability, or produced greater public or private misery, than richelieu. it may, on the other hand, be doubted, whether, at the day of general retribution, when every child of adam will have to account for his works, even one will appear with more numerous deeds of useful and heroic charity than st. vincent of paul.[ ] [sidenote: chap. xi. - .] the affairs of the important embassy entrusted to grotius, prospered in his hands. in his conduct, there was an uniform assemblage of prudence, activity, moderation, and firmness. to the french monarch, he was always acceptable--not always so to the cardinal minister. it was the constant object of the latter, to delay the payments of the subsidies promised to sweden, or to make deductions from them; and to lessen the number of soldiers, which france was bound, by treaty to supply. sometimes by blandishments, sometimes by loftiness, the minister or his agents endeavoured to induce grotius to sanction these irregularities: but grotius was always true to the interests of the country which he represented: it does not appear, that the cardinal gained a single point against him. towards the close of his embassy, grotius succeeded in renewing the treaty between sweden and france, on terms which were considered to do great honour to his diplomatic talents. in the discharge of his embassy, grotius had to sustain other unpleasantnesses. his pension was not regularly paid: this often subjected him to great inconveniences. he had disputes respecting rank and ceremonial, both with the french ministry and the ambassadors of other states. it must surprise an english reader to find, that grotius questioned the right of the english ambassador to precedence over him: the french court often played one ambassador, against the other. [sidenote: embassy of grotius to the court of france.] in the midst of these troubles, grotius preserved the serenity of his mind; and his attachment to sacred and profane literature. he cultivated the acquaintance of the learned and the good, of every communion; and possessed their esteem and regard. his conduct as ambassador was always approved by the chancellor oxenstiern, while he lived, and after his decease, by his son and successor in his office. the queen of sweden was equally favourable to grotius; but she unadvisedly took an adventurer into her confidence, and sent him, in an ambiguous character, to paris. this disgusted grotius: and age and infirmities now thickened upon him. he applied to the queen for his recall. she granted it in the most flattering terms, and desired him to repair immediately to stockholm, to receive, from her, distinguished marks of her favour. she wrote to the queen of france, a letter, in which she expressed herself in a manner highly honourable to grotius: she acknowledged her obligations to him and protested that she never would forget them. this was towards the month of march . [sidenote: chap. xi. - .] about three years after this event, the war of thirty years was concluded by the peace of westphalia. france and the protestant princes of europe dictated the terms: the swedes were indemnified for their charges of the war, by pomerania, steten, rugen, wismar and verden: the house of brandenburgh obtained magdeburgh, halberstad, minden and camin; alsace was conquered, and retained by france; lusatia, was ceded to saxony. the history of the treaty of westphalia has been ably written by _father bougeant_, a french jesuit: some critics have pronounced it the best historical work in the french language. till the late revolution of france, it was the breviary of all french aspirants to political distinction. chapter xii. the religious sentiments of grotius:--some other of his works. . _subsequent history of arminianism_. . _grotius's religious sentiments_. . _his projects of religious pacification_. xii. . _subsequent history of arminianism._ we left the arminians under the iron arm of prince maurice:--he died in :--we have mentioned, that prince frederick-henry his brother, and successor in the stadtholderate, adopted more moderate councils in their regard; that he recalled the remonstrants, with some exceptions, from banishment; that many settled at amsterdam and rotterdam; and that the arminians founded a college in the former city:--_episcopius_ was its first professor of theology:--it has never been without teachers, of eminence for learning, as courcelles, pollemberg, limborch, le clerc, cottemburgh, and wetstein. [sidenote: chap. xii.] it should be added, that the authority of the synod of dort insensibly declined:--its authority was never formally acknowledged by the provinces of _friesland_, _zealand_, _utrecht_, _gueldreland_ and _gröningen_: in , they were induced to intimate that they would see with pleasure, the reformed religion maintained upon the footing, upon which it had been maintained and confirmed by the synod of dort; but this intimation was never considered to have the force of a legislative enactment.[ ] [sidenote: xii. . history of arminianism.] the theological system of the arminians, after their return to holland, underwent, if we credit dr. mosheim,[ ] a remarkable change. they appear, by his account, to have almost coincided with those, who exclude the necessity of divine grace in the work of conversion and sanctification; and think that christ demands from men, rather virtue than faith; and has confined that belief, which is essential for salvation, to very few articles. thus the modern arminians, according to dr. mosheim, admit into their communion,-- st. all, with an exception of catholics, who receive the holy scriptures; and more especially the new testament; allowing at the same time to every individual, his own interpretation of the sacred books:-- dly. all whose lives are regulated by the law of god:-- dly. and all, who neither persecute nor bear ill will towards those who differ from them in their religious sentiments. their _confession of faith_ was drawn up by episcopius in : four divines of the established church of holland published a _refutation_ of it: the authors of the _confession_ replied to it in the following year, by their _apology_. [sidenote: chap. xii.] james i. of england directed his theological representatives in the synod of dort, to join the members in the condemnation of the doctrines of arminius:--but, when the english divines returned from that assembly, and gave a full account of its proceedings, the king and the greatest part of the english clergy expressed their dissatisfaction with them, and declared that the sentiments of arminius on the divine decrees, was preferable to those of calvin and gomarus. by the exertions of archbishop laud, and afterwards, in consequence of the general tendency of the public mind to doctrines of mildness and comprehension, an arminian construction of the english articles on predestination and free-will was adopted:--it has since prevailed,--and the arminian creed, by the number of its secret or open adherents, has insensibly found admittance into every protestant church. [sidenote: history of arminianism.] if we believe the celebrated jurieu[ ], arminianism even in its socinian form, abounded, in less than a century, after the death of arminius, in the united provinces, and among the hugonots of the adjacent part of france. by his account, the dispersion of the french hugonots, in consequence of the revocation of the edict of nantes, revealed to the terrified reformers of the original school, the alarming secret of the preponderance of socinianism in the reformed church. its members, according to jurieu, being no longer under the controul of the civil power, spread their socinian principles every where, with the utmost activity and success: even in england, jurieu professed to discover the effect of their exertions. he mentions that in , thirty-four french refugee ministers residing in london addressed a letter to the synod, then sitting at amsterdam, in which they declared, that socinianism had spread so rapidly, that, if the ecclesiastical assemblies supplied no means for checking their growth, or used palliatives only, the mischief would be incurable. [sidenote: chap. xii.] this charge, however, the arminians have indignantly rejected. a writer in the _bibliotheque germanique_[ ] relates, that "the celebrated anthony collins called on m. le clerc of amsterdam: he was accompanied by some frenchmen, of the fraternity of those, who think freely. they expected to find the religious opinions of le clerc in unison with their own, but, they were surprised to find the strong stand which he made in favour of revelation. he proved to them, with great strength of argument, the truth of the christian religion. jesus christ, he told them, was born among the jews; still, it was not the jewish religion which he taught; neither was it the religion of the pagan neighbourhood; but, a religion infinitely superior to both. one sees in it the most striking marks of divinity. the christians, who followed, were incapable of imagining any thing so beautiful. add to this, that the christian religion is so excellently calculated for the good of society, that, if we did not derive so great a present from heaven, the good and safety of men would absolutely demand from them an equivalent." throughout the conversation, m. le clerc reproached the deists strongly, for the hatred, which they shewed to christianity. he proved, that, by banishing it from the world, "they would overturn whatever was most holy and respectable among men; break asunder the surest bonds of humanity; teach men to shake off the yoke of law; deprive them of their strongest incitement to virtue, and bereave them of their best comfort. what," (he asked them) "do you substitute in its place? can you flatter yourself, that you will discover something better? you expect, no doubt, that men will erect statues to you, for your exertions to deprive them of their religion! permit me to tell you, that the part you act makes you odious and despicable in the eyes of all honest men." he finished the conversation by requesting mr. collins to bring him no more such visitors. [sidenote: xii. . history of arminians.] from the close of the th century, till the present time, arminianism has been continually on the increase. it is a just observation of mr. gibbon, that "the disciples of arminius must not be computed by their separate congregations." doctor maclaine says, it is certain, that the most eminent philosophers have been found among the arminians. "if both arminians and calvinists," says mr. evans, in the excellent work we have cited, "claim a _king_ (_james_ i.), it is certain that the latter alone can boast of a _newton_, a _locke_, a _clarke_, or a _boyle_. archbishop _usher_ is said to have lived a _calvinist_; and died an _arminian_. the members of the episcopal church in scotland; the moravians, the general baptists, the wesleyan methodists, the quakers or friends, are arminians; and it is supposed that a great proportion of the kirk of scotland teach the doctrines of arminius, though they have a calvinistic confession of faith. what a pity it is that the opinions either of calvinists or arminians," --(we beg leave to add: or any other catholic or protestant opinions whatsoever)-- "cannot in the eyes of some persons be held without a diminution of christian charity!" xii. . _grotius's religious sentiments_. [sidenote: chap. xii.] to the milder form of arminianism, grotius always inclined. during his embassy in france, he adopted it without reserve. he was soon disgusted with the french calvinists. the ministers of charenton accepted the decisions of the synod of dort, and, in conformity with them, refused, when grotius repaired to paris, after his escape from louvestein, to admit him into their communion. on his arrival at paris, in quality of ambassador, they offered to receive him: grotius expressed pleasure at the proposal; and, intimated to them, that if he should go into any country, in which the lutherans, knowing his sentiments on the sacrament of our lord's supper, should be willing to receive him into their communion, he would make no difficulty in joining them. thus every thing appeared to be settled; but the ministers then objected to receive grotius as ambassador from sweden, because that kingdom was lutheran. grotius, upon this, resolved to have the divine service performed in his house. lutherans publicly attended it. "we have celebrated," he writes to his brother, "the feast of the nativity in my house: the duke of wirtemberg, the count de saxenburgh, and several swedish and german lords, attended at it." his first chaplain was imprudent, his second gave him great satisfaction. [sidenote: xii. . grotius' religious sentiments.] burigni has collected, in the last chapter of his life of grotius, a multitude of passages, which shew his gradual leaning to the roman catholic faith. he produces several passages from his works, which prove,-- _that_ he paid high regard to decisions of the councils, and the discipline of the primitive church; and thought the sentiments of the antient church should be deferred to, in the explanation of the scriptures: [ ] _that_, the early reformers were held by him in no great esteem:[ ] _that_, mentioning casaubon's sentiments, grotius said that this learned man thought the roman catholics of france better informed than those of other countries, and came nearer to truth than the ministers of charenton:-- "it cannot," says grotius, "be denied, that there are several roman catholic pastors here, who teach true religion, without any mixture of superstition; it were to be wished that all did the same:"[ ] _that_ the calvinists were schismatics, and had no mission:[ ] [sidenote: chap. xii.] _that_ the jesuits were learned men and good subjects. "i know many of them," he says, in one of his writings against rivetus, "who are very desirous to see abuses abolished, and the church restored to its primitive unity."--we shall hereafter see that father petâu, an illustrious member of the society, possessed the confidence of grotius:[ ] _that_, grotius looked upon the abolition of episcopacy and of a visible head of the church, as something very monstrous:[ ] _that_, he acknowledged that some change was made in the eucharistic bread; that, when jesus christ, being sacramentally present, favours us with his substance,--as the council of trent expresses its doctrine on the eucharist,--the appearances of bread and wine remain, and in their place succeed the body and blood of christ: [ ] [sidenote: xii. . grotius's religious sentiments.] _that_, grotius did not approve of the sentiments of the calvinists concerning the eucharist, and reproached them with their contradiction. "you will hear them state in their confessions," says grotius, "that they really, substantially and essentially partake of christ's body and his blood; but, in their disputes, they maintain that christ is received only spiritually, by faith. the antients go much further: they admit a real incorporation of jesus christ with us, and the reality of christ's body, as saint hilarius speaks." it must however be remarked that, although grotius thought that the term _transubstantiation_ adopted by the council of trent, was capable of a good interpretation, it is not clear, what was his precise opinion respecting the eucharist. he proposed the following formulary: "we believe that, in the use of the supper, we truly, really, and substantially,--that is to say,--in its proper substance,--receive the true body and the true blood of jesus christ, in a spiritual and ineffable manner: [ ]" _that_, grotius justified the decision of the council of trent, concerning the number of the sacraments:[ ] _that_, after the year , he took no offence at the use of images in churches, or at prayers for the dead:[ ] _that_, he thought the bishops of rome may be in error, but cannot long remain in it, if they adhere to the universal church;--this seems to presuppose the church's infallibility:[ ] [sidenote: chap. xii.] _that_ in the opinion of grotius; fasting was early used in the church; the observance of lent was a very early practice: the sign of the cross had something respectable in it; the fathers held virginity a more perfect state than marriage; and the celibacy of the priests conformable to the antient discipline of the church:[ ] and "that those, who shall read the decrees of the council of trent, with a mind disposed to peace, will find that every thing is wisely explained in them: and agreeable to what is taught by the scriptures and the antient fathers."[ ] it is certain, that grotius was intimate with father petâu, a jesuit, inferior to none of his society, in genius and learning; that the good father used all his endeavours to convert grotius to the roman catholic religion; and was, at length, so much persuaded of his friend's catholicity, that, when he heard of his death, he said prayers for the repose of his soul.[ ] [sidenote: xii. . his project of religious pacification.] as the religion of grotius was a problem to many, menâge wrote the following epigram upon it: the sense of it is, that-- "as many sects claimed the religion of grotius, as the towns, which contended for the birth of homer." _smyrna, rhodos, colophon, salamis, chios, argos, athenæ, siderei certant vatis de patriâ homeri: grotiadæ certant de religione, socinus, arrius, arminius, calvinus, roma, lutherus_. xii. . _grotius's project of religious pacification._ a wish for religious peace among christians grew with the growth and strengthened with the strength of grotius. it was known, before his imprisonment at louvestein, that he entertained these sentiments: he avows them in the dedication to lewis xiii. of his treatise _de jure belli et pacis_. "i shall never cease," he says in a letter to his brother,[ ] "to use my utmost endeavours for establishing peace among christians; and, if i should not succeed, it will be honourable to die in such an enterprise." "i am not the only one, who has conceived such projects," he writes in another letter to his brother:[ ] "erasmus, cassander; wicelius and casaubon had the same design. la meletiere is employed at present in it. cardinal de richelieu declares that he will protect the coalition; and he is such a fortunate man, that he never undertakes any thing, in which he does not succeed. if there were no hopes of success at present, ought we not to sow the seed, which may he useful to posterity?[ ] even if we should only diminish the mutual hatred among christians, and render them more sociable, would not this be worth purchasing at the price of some labour and reproaches?"[ ] grotius expressed himself in similar terms to baron oxenstiern: surely it is the true language of the gospel. [sidenote: chap. xii.] in the first appendix to this work,--we shall insert, an account "of the formularies, confessions of faith, and symbolic books, of the roman catholic, greek, and principal protestant churches:"-- in the second appendix,--we shall insert an account of the principal attempts made, since the reformation, for the re-union of christians.--the former is abridged from the "historical and literary account of the confessions of faith," which was formerly published by the present writer;--the second is an essay appended to that work:--both have been before referred to in the present publication. [sidenote: xii. . his project of religious pacification.] grotius[ ] thought that the most compendious way to produce universal religious peace among christians, would be to frame, with the concurrence of all the orthodox eastern and western churches, a formulary which should express, briefly and explicitly, all the articles of faith, the belief of which they agree in thinking essential to salvation. in a letter addressed from paris in ,[ ] he mentions that gustavus adolphus had entertained projects of religious pacification, and had taken measures to effect it; that he had procured a meeting of divines of the lutheran and reformed churches and that they had separated amicably: grotius says that the differences between them were as slight as those between the greek and coptic churches. for some time, grotius flattered himself that he should succeed in his project of pacification. in one of his letters to his brother, he mentions distinguished protestants, who approved and encouraged them "i perceive," he says, "that by conversing with men of the most learning among the reformed, and explaining my sentiments to them, they are of my opinion; and that their number will increase, if my treatises are dispersed. i can truly affirm, that i have said nothing in them from party spirit, but followed truth as closely as i could."[ ] [sidenote: chap. xii.] he imagined that some catholics entered into his views. "the ablest men among the catholics," he thus writes to his brother, "think that what i have published is written with great freedom and moderation, and approve of it."[ ] these pacific projects of grotius cemented the union between him and father petâu. "i had," says that most learned jesuit, in his th letter, "a great desire to see and converse with grotius. we have been long together, and very intimate. he is, as far as i can judge, a good man, and possesses great candour. i do not think him far from becoming a catholic, after the example of holstenius as you hoped. i shall neglect nothing in my power to reconcile him to christ, and put him in the way of salvation."[ ] [sidenote: his project of religious pacification.] [sidenote: chap. xii.] [sidenote: xii. . his project of religious pacification.] [sidenote: chap. xii.] as grotius lays so much stress on the pacific labours of erasmus, wicelius, cassander and casaubon, we shall briefly mention, in the present chapter, the labours of the three first: casaubon's we shall notice, in the second appendix to this work. [sidenote: xii. . his project of religious pacification.] [sidenote: chap. xii.] it appears that _erasmus_ had it in contemplation to compose three dialogues, upon the important subject of religious pacification: the speakers were to have been luther, under the name of thrasimacus, and a catholic divine, under that of eubolus. in the first dialogue, they were to have discussed the proper methods of terminating the religious controversies of the times; in the second, to have investigated what were the points in controversy, the belief of which was essential to a member of the church of christ; in the third, they were to have inquired what were the best means to procure a good understanding between the contending parties, and to effect their union. it is to be lamented that erasmus did not execute his design. his general sentiments appear in his _paraphrase upon the d psalm_; they are expressed with great wisdom and moderation.[ ] [sidenote: xii. . his project of religious pacification.] _wicelius_,--who is next mentioned by grotius, had been professed in a religious order: had quitted it, and embraced lutheranism: he afterwards forsook that communion, and returned to the catholic: upon this, he was appointed to a curacy; and, in the discharge of his functions, obtained general esteem: he was much regarded by the emperors ferdinand and maximilian. in , he published at leipsic a latin work, "on the method of procuring religious concord,--_methodus concordiæ ecclesiasticæ_." he addressed it to the pope, to all sovereigns, bishops, doctors, and generally to all christians, exhorting them to peace, and to desist from contention. he assumed in it, that the true religion had been preserved in the catholic church; but he allows that modern doctors had involved it in numerous scholastic subtleties, unknown to antiquity. he complains that on one hand the reformers left nothing untouched; that, on the other, the scholastics would retain every abuse, and every superfluity: wisdom, he thought, lay between them; the reformers should have respected what antiquity consecrated; the catholics should have abandoned modern doctrines and modern practices to the discretion of individuals. the "royal road," or _via regia_ of wicelius, a still more important work, was published by him at helmstadt in . both works were approved, and the perusal of them warmly recommended, by the emperors: they have been often reprinted; they are inserted, with a life of their author, in the second volume of _brown's fasciculus_. "if all the divines of those times," says father simôn the oratorian,[ ] "had possessed the same spirit as wicelius, the affairs of religion might have taken a different turn." [sidenote: chap. xii.] [sidenote: xii. . his project of religious pacification] _cassander_, another peacemaker, mentioned with praise by grotius, is the subject of a long and interesting article in _dupin's ecclesiastical history_:[ ] "he was," says dupin, "solidly learned; and thoroughly versed in ecclesiastical antiquity and the controversies of his own times. the flaming zeal, which he had for the re-union and peace of the church, made him yield much to the protestants, and led him to advance some propositions that were too bold. but he always kept in the communion of the catholic church. he declared that he submitted to its judgments, and openly condemned the authors of the schism and their principal errors. he was a gentle, humble and moderate man; patient under afflictions, and entirely disinterested. in his disputes, he never returned injury for injury; and neither in his manners nor in his writings were presumption or arrogance ever discoverable. he avoided glory, honor, or wealth; and lived private and retired, having no other thought or wish, but to promote the peace of the church; no employment, but study; no business, but to compose books, which might be profitable to the public; and no passion, but knowing and teaching the truth." his character procured him universal respect. the emperor and several catholic princes in germany fixed upon him as a mediator in the religious disputes, by which the empire was, at that time, agitated. in conformity with their views he published his celebrated, "_consultatio de articulis religionis inter catholicos et protestantes controversis_." "in this work," says mr. chalmers, "he discusses the several articles of the augsburgh confession, stating their difference from the doctrines of the catholic church, and the concessions that might safely be made in respect to them. this work was written with great liberality, was much applauded by those, who were desirous of a coalition: they were too soon convinced that every attempt of this kind was nugatory. cassander presented it to the emperors ferdinand i. and maximilian ii. they received it favourably; the former invited cassander to vienna, but his infirmities prevented his accepting the offer." [sidenote: chap. xii.] in , grotius published his "_road to religious peace,--via ad pacem ecclesiasticam_:" he inserted in it cassander's "_consultation_," and accompanied it with notes. all pacific persons reverenced grotius, and still reverence his memory, for his attempts to restore the religious peace of christendom: all the violent condemned him, and opposed his projects. the contradictions, which he met with, chagrined him; so that he sometimes lost that tranquillity of mind, which he had possessed in his deepest adversity. but, to use his own words, he looked to the blessed peacemaker for his reward, and trusted that posterity would do justice to its intentions.-- "perhaps, by writing to reconcile such as entertain very opposite sentiments, i shall," says grotius, "offend both parties: but, if that should so happen, i shall comfort myself with the example of him, who said, if i please men, i am not the servant of christ." [sidenote: xii. . his project of religious pacification.] "grotius," says burigni, "content with gratifying his pacific desires, expected his reward from posterity. this he clearly intimates in the following verses, written by him on the subject: "_accipe, sed placidé, quæ, si non optimo, certé espressit nobis non mala pacis amor. et tibi dic, nostro labor hic si displicet avo, a gratia pretium posteritate feret_." the projects of religious pacification did not cease with grotius: several divines of distinction adopted it; and attempted, some with more prudence and ability than others, to carry it into effect. the principal of these are noticed in the second appendix to the present work. none succeeded: one description of persons, who engaged in this design, was denominated _syncretists_, or _calixtines_, from _george calixtus_ their leader: the other, from their calling men from controversy to holiness of life, received the appellation of _pietists_: a third party,--perhaps we may style them, the _ultra-orthodox_,--more hostile to the former than to the latter--arose in opposition to both, and accused them of sacrificing the doctrines of faith to a mistaken zeal for union and sanctity.[ ] it is certain[ ] that the friends of union too often erred in this,--that they aimed rather at an uniformity of _terms_ than of _sentiments_; and thus seemed satisfied, when they engaged the contending parties to use the same _words and phrases_, though their _real difference_ in opinion remained the same. this could not be justified: it tended evidently to extinguish truth and honour, and to introduce equivocation. chapter xiii. the death of grotius. [sidenote: chap. xiii. .] every thing respecting the recall of grotius being settled, he embarked at dieppe for holland. he was extremely well received at amsterdam and rotterdam: the constituted authorities, of the former city fitted a vessel, which was to take him to hamburgh: there, after along and harassing journey, he arrived on the th of may. from hamburgh he proceeded to lübec: the magistrates of that city gave him an honourable reception. he proceeded to wismar; where count wismar, the admiral of the swedish fleet, gave him a splendid entertainment, and afterwards sent him in a man-of-war to colmar: thence, he went by land to stockholm. when he arrived there, queen christina was at upsal; but, hearing that grotius was at stockholm, she returned to that city to meet him. on the day after her arrival, she favoured him with a long audience: she expressed to him great satisfaction at his conduct, and made him large promises. these audiences were often repeated; and once she permitted him to have the honour of dining with her. she assured him, that if he would continue in her service, as councillor of state, and bring his family into sweden, he should have no reason to complain of her. but grotius was anxious to leave sweden; and his passport being delayed, he resolved to quit it without one, and actually proceeded to a seaport about seven leagues distant from stockholm. the queen, being informed of his departure, sent a gentleman to inform him, that she wished to see him once more. on this invitation he returned to stockholm, and was immediately admitted into the queen's presence; he then explained to her his reasons for wishing to quit sweden. the queen appeared to be satisfied with them: she made him a present in money of twelve or thirteen thousand swedish imperials, of the value of about ten thousand french crowns; she added to the present, some plate, the finishing of which had, she told him, been the only cause of the delay of his passport. she then put it into his hands, and a vessel was appointed to carry him to lübec. on the th august he embarked for that city. [sidenote: the death of grotius.] what were his real motives for refusing christina's offers, or in what place he ultimately intended to fix himself, is not known. the vessel in which he embarked had scarcely sailed from lübec, when it was overtaken by a violent storm, and obliged, on the th august, to take shelter in a port fourteen miles distant from dantzic. grotius went from it in an open wagon to lübec, and arrived very ill at rostock[ ] on the th august. no one, there, knew him: his great weakness determined him to call in the aid of a physician: one accordingly attended him: his name was stochman. on feeling grotius's pulse, he said his indisposition proceeded from weakness and fatigue, and that, with rest and some restoratives, he might recover; but, on the following day he changed his opinion. perceiving that the weakness of grotius increased, and that it was accompanied with a cold sweat and other symptoms indicating an exhaustion of nature, the physician announced that the end of his patient was near. grotius then asked for a clergyman. _john quistorpius_ was brought to him. quistorpius, in a letter to calovius, gives the following particulars of grotius's last moments: "you are desirous of hearing from me, how that phoenix of literature, hugo grotius, behaved in his last moments, and i am going to tell you. he embarked at stockholm for lübec, and after having been tossed for the three days, by a violent tempest, he was shipwrecked, and got to shore on the coast of pomerania, from whence he came to our town of rostock, distant above sixty miles, in an open wagon through wind and rain. he lodged with balleman; and sent for m. stochman, the physician, who observing that he was extremely weakened by years, by what he suffered at sea, and by the inconveniences attending the journey, judged that he could not live long. the second day after grotius's arrival in this town, that is, on the th of august, o.s. he sent for me, about nine at night, i went, and found him almost at the point of death: i said, 'there was nothing i desired more, than to have seen him in health, that i might have the pleasure of his conversation.' he answered, 'god had ordered it otherwise.' i desired him: to prepare himself for a happier life, to acknowledge that he was a sinner, and to repent of his faults: and, happening to mention the publican, who acknowledged that he was a sinner, and asked god's mercy; he answered, '_i am that publican_.' i went on, and told him that he must have recourse to jesus christ, without whom there is no salvation.' "he replied, '_i place all my hope in jesus christ_.' [sidenote: the death of grotius.] "i began to repeat aloud in german, the prayer which begins _herr jesu:_[ ] he followed me in a very low voice; with his hands clasped. when i had done, i asked him, 'if he understood me.' he answered, '_i understand you very well_.' i continued to repeat to him those passages of the word of god, which are commonly offered to the remembrance of dying persons; and asking him, 'if he understood me,' he answered, '_i heard your voice, but i did not understand what you said._' "these were his last words; soon afterwards he expired; just at midnight. his body was delivered to the physicians, who took out his bowels. i easily obtained leave to bury them in our principal church, which is dedicated to the virgin." his corpse, was afterwards carried to delft, and deposited in the tomb of his ancestors. he wrote this modest epitaph for himself, "grotius hic hugo est, batavum captivus et exsul, legatus regni, suecia magna, tui." burigni informs us that grotius had a very agreeable person, a good complexion, an aquiline nose, sparkling eyes, a serene and smiling countenance; that he was not tall, but very strong, and well built. the engraving of him prefixed to the _hugonis grotii manes_ answers this description. it is needless to give an account of his descendants, or their prosperous or adverse fortunes: they are noticed at length by burigni. in _mr. boswell's life of johnson_, mention is made of one who was then in a state of want. dr. johnson, in a letter to dr. vyse, "requests him to recommend, an old friend, to his grace the archbishop of canterbury. his name," says the doctor, "is de groot. he has all the common claims to charity; he is poor and infirm in a great degree. he has likewise another claim, to which no scholar can refuse attention: he is, by several descents, the nephew of hugo grotius; of him, of whom every man of learning has perhaps learned something. let it not be said, that, in any lettered country, the nephew of grotius, ever asked a charity, and was refused." the reader must be pleased, to be informed, that the application,--it was for some situation, in the charter-house,--was successful. dr. vyse informed dr. johnson of it, by letter. in his answer, "dr. johnson," by dr. vyse's account, "rejoiced much, and was lavish of the praise he bestowed upon his favourite hugo grotius."[ ] [sidenote: the death of grotius.] three points were united in grotius, each of which would strongly recommend him to dr. johnson: he was learned, pious, and opposed to the doctrines of calvin. it is still more unnecessary to mention the various encomiums, which the learned of all nations have made of grotius, in prose and verse. that he was one of the most universal scholars, whom the world has produced, and that he possessed sense, taste, and genius in a high degree, is universally confessed. it is equally true, that both his public and his private character, are entitled to a high degree of praise. when queen christina, heard of his death, she wrote to his widow, a letter of condolence, and requested, that the manuscripts which he had left, might be sent to her: "my ambassador," the queen says in this letter, "has made you acquainted, with my high esteem, for his learning, and the good services he did me; but he could not express, how dear i hold his memory, and the effects of his great labours. if gold, or silver, could do any thing towards redeeming such a valuable life, i would gladly employ all, i am mistress of, for that purpose." she concludes by asking his widow, for all the manuscripts "of that learned man, whose works had given her such pleasure." the queen assures her, that "they could not fall into better hands," and that, "the author, having been useful to her in his lifetime, it was not just that she should be deprived, after his death, of the fruits of his labours." it remains to mention, that, after the death of grotius, his wife communicated with the church of england: this, it is said, she did in conformity to the dying injunctions of her husband: it is certain, that grotius respected the church of england. his wife died at the hague, in the communion of the remonstrants. through life, she was uniformly respected; and, whenever the services of grotius, to sacred and profane literature, are recorded, her services to him, should be mentioned with praise. chapter xiv. historical minutes of the revolutions of the government of the seven united provinces, from the death of william ii. till the establishment of the kingdom of the netherlands. - . in some of the preceding pages, the principal events in the history of the seven united provinces, till the death of william ii, in , have been briefly mentioned: in the present chapter, we shall insert a summary account of the revolutions of their government, till the present time. xiv. . _william iii._ - . william iii. was born after the death of william ii. his father. immediately after that event, his mother claimed for him the stadtholderate, and all the other dignities, pre-eminences, and rights, which his father and grandfather had enjoyed; but, so great, at that time, was the public jealousy of the ambitious views of the house of orange, that the states general would not even take her claims into deliberation. a general assembly of the states was held in . they confirmed the treaty of union, of ; attributed to themselves, the appointment of all civil and military offices; placed the army under the authority of the provinces and municipalities, and invested the council of state with the general direction of the military concerns of the nation. a war with england, which was then governed by cromwell, soon followed; it was the commencement of the naval glory of the united states. but the government was distracted by the contests and dissensions between the republican and the orange factions. the former were headed by john de witt. he possessed transcendent abilities, was a true lover of his country, and, on every occasion, advised the wisest measures. some of the military operations of the states proving unsuccessful, the orange faction endeavoured to persuade the people, that this reverse of fortune was owing to the want of a stadtholder; and exhorted them to confer this dignity on the young prince, to be exercised, during his minority, by one of the family. this proposition was successfully resisted by de witt. peace between england and the united provinces being concluded, cromwell endeavoured to unite them to england by a federative alliance; but they rejected the proposition. at the suggestion of de witt, the states of holland passed an act, by which they bound themselves never to appoint the prince of orange, or any of his descendants, to the office of stadtholder, or captain general; and to prevent, to their utmost power, the other states from making such an appointment. this measure displeased the other states. in , the office of commander in chief becoming vacant, the opposite party endeavoured to procure it for one of the orange family; this attempt also proved abortive. in a war broke out between england,--which was then governed by charles ii., and the united states; these displayed in it, chiefly under the command of de ruyter, prodigies of valour and naval skill; the year was famous in their annals, by their fleet's sailing up the river thames, and burning the english fleet at chatham. the peace of breda immediately followed. [sidenote: xiv. . william iii.] still, the civil discord continued. the states of holland renewed the _edict of exclusion_, with the addition of a clause, that, whenever a person should be invested, with the office of captain, or admiral general, he should swear never to aspire to the office of stadtholder, and to refuse it, if it should be offered to him. [sidenote: chap. xiv -- .] the year is remarkable for the league entered into by louis xiv. and charles ii. against the united states, and by their vigourous resistance to it. the circumstances into which it drove the united states, compelled them to appoint the prince of orange captain general and admiral: he took the oath prescribed by the perpetual edict, not to aspire to the stadtholderate, and to reject it, if offered. he was at this time in his twenty-second year: he owed his elevation to the critical situation in which the united states were then placed; but it was also owing to the great prudence with which he had conducted himself when fortune was opposed to him; and to the talents and application to business which he then discovered. at sea, the navy of the united states was generally successful. at land, the arms of lewis xiv. triumphed; he conquered gueldres, overyssell, and the city and province of utretcht. this maddened the populace. they massacred john de witt, and cornelius de witt, his brother, after having subjected them to the cruellest tortures and the most brutal indignities. to the indelible reproach of william iii. he did not interfere to prevent or stop these horrors. his measures for obtaining the stadtholderate succeeded. [sidenote: xiv. . william iii.] on the th of july , it was re-established in the person of william iii.; and all the dignities and rights enjoyed by his predecessors were conferred upon him. these, in , were made hereditary in his family. his subsequent conduct is entitled, on many accounts, to the warmest praise. the success of the united states at sea compelled charles ii. to make peace with them, so that lewis xiv. was their only enemy. the war with him was terminated by the peace of nimeguen in . ten years after it, the stadtholder, on the abdication of james ii. became king of england. in , england, spain, austria, and the united provinces, entered into the grand alliance against france. the duke of savoy and several princes of germany afterwards joined it. in general, the proceedings of the confederacy were unsuccessful; the war was terminated in by the peace of ryswick. in , the disputes on the succession to the spanish monarchy, in consequence of the death of charles ii. of spain, without issue, called the world again to arms. william iii. died in . xiv. . _john william count of nassau dietz_, - ; _william iv_. - . the government of william iii. was generally displeasing to the united states: they accused him of sacrificing them to the interests of his english monarchy, and to the hatred which he always bore to the french. he was also suspected, and not without reason, of a design to acquire the independent sovereignty of the provinces. at first, his influence within them was so great, that he was said to be king in the united states, and stadtholder in england; but it declined gradually; and an attempt by him to obtain the succession to the stadtholderate for john friso, prince of nassau and hereditary stadtholder of frizeland, absolutely failed. he made, by his will, that prince his testamentary heir. upon the decease of william iii. a general wish to discontinue the stadtholderate was expressed in most of the provinces; those of holland, zealand, utrecht, gueldres, and overyssell, came to a formal resolution to this effect they recognised the supreme power of the states general, and conferred the direction of their political concerns on heinsius, the actual grand pensionary, a person of great learning, uncommon talents for business, and acknowledged integrity. [sidenote: xiv. . john william count of nassau diets, - ; william iv. - .] as testamentary heir of william iii., john-william assumed the title of prince of orange: he died in , without having exercised the power of the stadtholderate, except in the province of frizeland. the war of the succession terminated in , by the peace of utretcht: it was succeeded in by the barrier treaty, and in by the quadruple alliance, ever memorable for the triumphant campaigns of marlborough, by which it was followed. the pensionary heinsius died in . in his life-time, several weak attempts had been made, in different provinces, to restore in them the stadtholderate. they succeeded only at gueldres; and even there, it was restored with great limitations. upon the decease of prince william-john, his rights and pretensions descended to prince william, his son. in , he married mary, the daughter of george ii. of england. this strengthened his cause; but the general spirit of the united provinces was so averse to the stadtholderate, that it was not till the invasion of holland, by the french, in , that the prince's party judged it advisable to bring forward his claim. at first they met with resistance, but finally prevailed, and prince william of orange became the sole stadtholder of every province: until his time each of the provinces of frizeland and groningen had its particular stadtholder. the dignities of captain general and admiral were also conferred on him; and, in addition to these, some rights and privileges which no former stadtholder had enjoyed. the reverses of the united provinces continued, and the aggrandisement of the stadtholderate increased proportionally. as yet william iv. had no male issue. in , the orange faction proposed that the stadtholderate should be declared hereditary; and that, in default of males, females should be admitted into the succession. after some opposition the measure was carried in all the provinces, except frizeland and groningen. from this time the united provinces ceased to be a republic, and became a monarchy, limited by the antient usages and institutions. william iv. died in . xiv. . _from the death of william iv. till the erection of the kingdom of the netherlands_. - . at the death of william iv. william, his son, and afterwards his successor in the stadtholderate, was an infant, in very tender years. his mother was named by the states governess of the united provinces. she appointed the duke of brunswick to the command of their armies; thus, after all their exertions and sacrifices for liberty, the united provinces became subject to the government of an english princess and a german prince; and an english party became predominant in their politics; william v. married a princess of prussia, and thus the orange party was strengthened by prussian influence. [sidenote: xiv. . from the death of william iv. till the erection of the kingdom of the netherlands.] these opposite, and conflicting interests, filled every province, with dissension; and, on some occasions, armed one body of citizens against another. the english party, sided with the orange faction; the french, with the republicans. at first the latter prevailed; they led the states into measures, which forced england to declare war against them. in , they acknowledged the independence of the united states of america. still, the dissensions continued. after a long conflict, the republican party acquired the ascendant; they suspended the prince of orange from his functions, and filled all the principal places of trust with their own adherents. but the orange party soon rallied; the duke of brunswick entered holland at the head of a victorious army, and, in , re-established the stadtholderate. [sidenote: chap. xiv. - .] his victorious career, was soon terminated. in , the revolutionary army of france made themselves masters of the whole territory of the united states; and established _the batavian republic_. it was successively governed, but always under the overpowering controul of france, by a convention, a directory, and a consul, with the appellation of grand pensionary. in , even these forms of her antient government were abolished; napoleon sending louis, one of his brothers, to reign over the united provinces, with the title and powers of royalty; but with an intimation, that france was entitled to his first attentions and a priority of duty. the demands of napoleon for attentions and duties were so exorbitant, that rather than be instrumental in the infliction of the miseries which a compliance with them must occasion, louis resigned his throne. napoleon then incorporated the united provinces into his empire, "as an alluvion," for such he termed them, "to the rivers of france." scenes of the most grinding oppression followed: the batavians were relieved from it by the fall and abdication of napoleon. [sidenote: xiv. . establishment of the kingdom of the netherlands.] before this event, william v. died, leaving a son, called from his pretensions to the stadtholderate, william vi. we have seen that, on the death of the emperor charles v. all the seventeen provinces, composing the netherlands, devolved to philip ii. his son; the successful defection of the seven united provinces has been mentioned; the ten remaining provinces were afterwards transferred to the house of austria, and were inherited by the emperor joseph ii. the french made an easy conquest of them in an early stage of the revolution. we now reach the ultimate fate of both the divisions of the netherlands. the congress of vienna, by an act of the th june , created and conferred upon this prince, the kingdom of the netherlands, consisting of the seventeen provinces, and a portion of luxemburgh. it is confessedly the first among the kingdoms of the second order. * * * * * it was our wish to present our readers with a sketch of the literary history of the netherlands, during the period treated of in this chapter; but after most diligent and extensive searches, both in the british and foreign markets, we have not been able to discover materials for it; persons of acknowledged learning, both in germany and the netherlands, have assured us that no such history exists. * * * * * appendix i. referred to in page . some account of the formularies, confessions of faith, or symbolic books, of the roman catholic, greek, and principal protestant churches. the constitutions of the roman catholic, and protestant churches, differ in nothing more, than in the following important points: the catholic church, acknowledges the authority of the scriptures, and, in addition to them, a body of traditionary law. she receives both under the authority, and with the interpretation of the church, and believes that the authority of the church in receiving and interpreting them is infallible. the protestant churches generally profess to acknowledge no law but the scriptures, no interpreter of the scriptures, but the understanding and conscience of the individual who peruses them. that the roman catholic church should propound a formulary of her faith, enlarge this formulary from time to time, as further interpretation is wanted, and enforce acquiscence in it by spiritual censures, is consistent with _her_ principles. whether such a pretension can be avowed, without inconsistency, by any protestant church, has been a subject of much discussion. in point of fact, however, no protestant church is without her formulary, or abstains from enforcing it by temporal provisions and spiritual censures. to enforce their formularies by civil penalties, is inconsistent with the principles, of every christian church. all churches howsoever have so enforced, and have blamed the others, for so enforcing them. such formularies, from the circumstance of their collecting into one instrument, several articles, of religious belief, are generally known on the continent, by the appellation of symbolic books. i. the symbolic books, received by all trinitarian christian churches,--are, . _the symbol of the apostles_; and . _the nicene symbol_. ii. the symbolic books, received by the roman catholic church,--are, . the general councils; . among these,--_the council of trent_,--as immediately applying to the controversies between the catholic and protestant churches, is particularly regarded; . _the symbol of pope pius iv_.; . _the catechism of the council of trent_. iii. the symbolic books of the greek church,--are, . _the confession, of her true and sincere faith_, which, on the taking of constantinople, by mahomet ii, in , gennadius, its patriarch, presented to the conqueror; . _the orthodox confession, of the catholic and apostolic greek church_, published in , by mogilow, the metropolitan of kiow. iv. the symbolic books of the lutheran churches, are . _the confession of augsburgh_; . _the apology of the confession of augsburgh_; . _the articles of smalcald_; . _and_, (in the opinion of some lutheran churches),--_the form of concord_; . _the saxon, wirtenburgian, suabian, pomeranian, mansfeldian, antwerpensian, and copenhagen confessions_, possess, in particular places, the authority of symbolic books:--the two first are particularly respected. v. the symbolic books of the reformed churches. the reformed church, in the largest extent of that expression, comprises all the religious communities, which have separated from the church of rome. in this sense, it is often used by english writers: but, having, soon after the reformation, been used by the french protestants to describe their church, which was calvinistic, it became, insensibly, the appellation of all calvinistic churches on the continent. the principal symbolic books of these churches,--are, . _the confession of the helvetian churches_; . _the tetrapolitan confession_,--signed by the four cities of strasburgh, constance, memmingen, and lindau; . _the catechism of heidelbergh_; . _the gallic confession of faith_; . _the belgic confession of faith_; . _the canons of the council of dort_. vi. the symbolic books of the waldenses,--are, _their original and reformed creeds_. vii. the symbolic books of the _bohemians_,--are, . _the confession of faith of the calixtines and taborites_, signed at the synod of cuttenburgh in ; . _the confession of the faith of the bohemians_,--inserted in the "harmony of confessions," published at cambridge in . . _the consent of faith at sendomer_. viii. the symbolic book of the arminians,--is _the declaration of the remonstrants_, drawn up by episcopius, and signed in . ix. the symbolic book of the socinians is _the catechism of racow_;--the best edition of it was published in , reprinted at frankfort, in . an english translation of it has been published by mr. rees. x. the unitarians have no symbolic book. to doctor lardner's _letter on the logos_ they shew universal respect. xi. the symbolic books of the church of england,--are, . _the theological oaths_,--containing a declaration of the belief of the monarch's spiritual supremacy;--and declarations against transubstantiation,--the invocation of saints,--and the sacrifice of the mass; . _the thirty-nine articles_. xii. the symbolic book of the english and scottish presbyterians,--is "_the articles of religion_ approved and passed by both houses of parliament after advice had with an assembly of divines, called together for that purpose." these were sent into scotland, and immediately sanctioned by the general assembly, and parliament of that kingdom; and thus became a law of the church and state. xiii. the symbolic books of the anabaptists may be said to be,-- their several confessions of faith:--five were published at amsterdam, in , in one volume vo. xiv. the symbolic books of the quakers,--are, . _barclay's catechism and confession of faith_, published in ; . his _theses theologicæ_; . his _apology_,--a logical demonstration of the propositions in the theses. it was translated into almost every language and presented to all the ministers assembled at nimeguen; . but some persons assert that the real doctrines of the quakers are more easily discoverable from _the christian quaker and his divine testimony, vindicated by scripture reason and authorities against the injurious attempts that have been lately made by several adversaries_.--this work appeared in ; the first part of it was written by penn, the second by whithead, one of his most distinguished disciples. xv. it may be added, that the symbolic book of the jews,--is _the schelosch aikara ikkarim,--the thirteen articles of faith_ framed by rabbi moses ben maimon in the th century: it is frequently inserted in the jewish prayer books. sebastian munster published it with a latin translation and an abridgment of the history of josephus, in one vol. vo. at worms in . many christian catechisms have been translated into hebrew for the benefit of the jews. * * * * * an historical and literary account of all these confessions of faith, and of several works and circumstances connected with them, is attempted to be given, by the author of these pages, in his "_historical and literary account of the formularies, confessions of faith, and symbolic books, of the roman catholic, greek, and principal protestant churches._" the sylloge confessionum printed at the clarendon press in , contains the _professio fidei tridentinæ, confessio helvetica, augustana, saxonica, belgica_." "the harmony of the confessions of the faith of the christian and reformed churches" published at cambridge in , _vo_. attempts to reconcile the confession of augsburgh, the confession of the four cities, the confession of bâsle, the first confession of helvetia; the confession of saxony, the confession of wirtemburgh, the french confession, the english confession, the latter confession of helvetia, the belgic confession, and that of bohemia. on the general subject, _walchius's bibliotheca theologica selecta_, may be usefully consulted. appendix ii. referred to in page . on the reunion of christians. the attempts, made at different times for the re-union of christians, are the subject of a learned and interesting work, published at paris, with the title of "_histoire critique des projéts formés depuis trois cents ans pour la reunion des communions chretiennes, par m. tabaraud, ancien prétre de l'oratoire, paris_, ." an excellent sketch of these attempts had been previously given by _doctor mosheim, in his ecclesiastical history, cent. xvi. ch. iii. sect. . part . c. . and cent. xvii. cha. i. sect. . p_. . to these publications the reader is referred:--the present essay may be found to contain, i. a general view of the attempts made after the reformation, to unite the lutheran and calvinist churches: ii. some account of the attempts made at different times by the sovereigns of france for the conversion of their protestant subjects: iii. the correspondence of bossuet and leibniz, under the auspices of lewis the fourteenth, for the reunion of the lutheran churches to the church of rome: iv. some account of an attempt made in the reign of george the first, to reunite the church of england to the church of rome: v. and some general remarks on the reunion of christians. i. _attempts made to unite the lutheran, and calvinist churches._ the great division of protestant churches is, into the lutheran, and calvinist communions. the abbé tabaraud relates in the work, which we have just cited, not fewer than fifteen different attempts to effect a reunion of their churches. in reading his account and that given by mosheim of these attempts, the writer thinks that, on each side, there was something to commend and something to blame. it seems to him, that the lutherans deserve credit for the open and explicit manner, in which, on these occasions, they propounded the tenets of their creed to the calvinists; that the conduct of the calvinists was more liberal and conciliating; but that, on the other hand, the conduct of the lutherans towards the calvinists, was generally repulsive, and sometimes deserving a much harsher name; while the conduct of the calvinists, was sometimes chargeable, with ambiguity. "it was deplorable," says mosheim, (cent. xvii. sect. . part . art. .) "to see two churches, which had discovered, an equal degree of pious zeal, and fortitude, in throwing off the despotic yoke of rome, divided among themselves, and living in discords, that were highly detrimental, to the interests of religion, and the well-being of society. hence, several eminent divines, and leading men, both among the lutherans, and calvinists, sought anxiously, after some method, of uniting the two churches, though divided in their opinions, in the bonds of christian charity, and ecclesiastical communion. a competent knowledge, of human nature, and human passions, was sufficient, to persuade these wise, and pacific mediators, that a perfect uniformity in religious opinions, was not practicable, and that it would be entirely extravagant, to imagine that any of these communities, could ever be brought, to embrace universally, and without limitation, the doctrines of the other. they made it, therefore, their principal business, to persuade those, whose spirits were inflamed with the heat of controversy, that the points in debate between the two churches, were not essential, to true religion;--that the fundamental doctrines, of christianity, were received, and professed, in both communions; and that the difference of opinion, between the contending parties, turned, either upon points of an abstruse, and incomprehensible nature, or upon matters of indifference, which neither tended, to make mankind wiser, or better, and in which the interests of genuine piety, were in no wise concerned. those, who viewed things in this point of light, were obliged to acknowledge, that the diversity of opinions, between the two churches, was by no means, a sufficient reason, for their separation; and that of consequence, they were called, by the dictates of that gospel, which they both professed, to live, not only in the mutual exercise, of christian charity, but also to enter, into the fraternal bonds, of church communion. the greatest part, of the reformed doctors, seemed disposed, to acknowledge, that the errors of the lutherans, were not, of a momentous nature, nor of a pernicious tendency; and that the fundamental doctrines of christianity, had not undergone, any remarkable alteration, in that communion; and thus, on their side, an important step, was made, towards peace, and union, between the two churches. but the greatest part of the lutheran doctors declared, that they could not form, a like judgment, with respect, to the doctrine, of the reformed churches; they maintained tenaciously, the importance of the points, which divided the two communions, and affirmed, that a considerable part of the controversy turned upon the fundamental principles, of all religion, and virtue. it is not at all surprising, that this steadiness and constancy of the lutherans, was branded by the opposite party, with the epithets, of morose obstinacy, supercilious arrogance, and such like odious denominations. the lutherans, were not behind hand with their adversaries, in acrimony, of style; they recriminated with vehemence, and charged their accusers with instances of misconduct, different in kind, but equally condemnable. they reproached them with having dealt disingenuously, by disguising, under ambiguous expressions, the real doctrine of the reformed churches; they observed further, that their adversaries, notwithstanding their consummate prudence and circumspection, gave plain proofs, on many occasions, that their propensity to a reconciliation, between the two churches, arose from views of private interest, rather than from a zeal for the public good." it is observable that mosheim applies these observations to a late stage of the reformation, when much of its first violence had subsided. the nearest approach[ ] to a reunion, between any protestant churches, seems to be that, which took place at sendomer, in the year . ii. _attempts for a reunion of the calvinist churches to the see of rome._ having thus summarily noticed, the unsuccessful attempts, to effect an union, between the lutheran, and calvinist churches, we proceed to a similar summary mention of the attempts, equally unsuccessful, to effect the reunion of the calvinists, to the church of rome, which were made, st, during the reign of henry the fourth: dly, during the reign of lewis the thirteenth: and dly, during the reign of lewis the fourteenth: thly, we shall afterwards notice, the revocation of the edict of nantes, and the complete restoration of the protestants of france, to their civil rights, in the reign of lewis the eighteenth. ii. . an attempt to reunite the calvinists to the church of rome was made at the celebrated conference held at poissi in . in the work which we have cited, the abbé tabaraud gives a short and clear account of this conference. it failed of success, and a long civil war of religion ensued. it was closed by the conversion of _henry the fourth_ to the roman catholic religion. he was no sooner quietly seated on the throne, than he conceived the arduous, but certainly noble project of pacifying the religious contests of the world. it appears that he was induced to entertain hopes of the success of this measure, by the assurances given him by the calvinist ministers, when his change of religion, was in agitation, that salvation might be obtained in the church of rome; and from his expectation of finding a spirit of conciliation, and concession, in the see of rome. "i have heard, from persons of distinction," says grotius[ ], "that henry the fourth declared that he had great hopes of procuring for the king of england, and the other protestant princes, who were his allies, conditions, which they could not honorably refuse, if they had any real wish of returning to the unity of the church; and that he had once an intention of employing bishops of his own kingdom on this project; but that this project failed by his death." it is said, that with these views he had sent for _isaac casaubon_, a protestant divine of equal learning and moderation, and appointed him his librarian; and that he intended confidentially employing him in preparing means for the success of the measure, and smoothing the obstacles which might impede its progress. grotius[ ] mentions, as a saying of casaubon, that "the catholics of france had a juster way of thinking than the ministers of charenton:" these were the most rigid of the french hugonot ministers. it is observable that the french government always considered the hugonots of a much more refractory disposition than the lutherans. ii. . the pacific views of henry the fourth, were terminated by his decease. the capture of la rochelle by the arms of _lewis the xiiith_, was a fatal blow to the political consequence of the protestant party in france. cardinal richelieu immediately set on foot a project, for the general conversion, of the body: two persons, of very different characters, were employed by him, in this measure; father joseph, a capuchin friar, the confident, of all the cardinal's political and private schemes, and father p. dulaurens, an oratorian, who lived in retirement, wholly absorbed in the exercises of religion. they began the work of reunion by holding frequent conferences, on an amicable footing, with several of the protestant ministers; and it was resolved, that, with the permission of the pope, and the authority of the king, an assembly, should be convened, of ecclesiastics of each communion. father dulaurens, recommended that the intended communications with the ministers, should not take place, till they reached, the capital; but, the cardinal, thought it more advisable, that the ministers, should be separately informed, of the project, before they left the provinces. it was accordingly communicated to them, and favourably received, by the ministers, of languedoc, and normandy, but met with an unfavourable reception, from the ministers of sedan. it was resolved, that the assembly, should meet, and begin their deliberations, with the differences in the opinions, of the two churches, respecting the sacraments. father dulaurens recommended, that for some time, at least, the bible, even in the calvinist version, of olivétan, should be the only book appealed to, on either side, as authority: but the cardinal insisted, on a resort to tradition. grotius mentions that in several articles, (as communion under both kinds, and the invocation of saints), the cardinal was willing, that concessions, should be made to the protestants; and suggested, that, as a medium, to reconcile them to the pope, a patriarchate should be established, in france, and he himself, be the first patriarch[ ]. notwithstanding the general loftiness, and overbearing nature, of his manners, it appears, particularly from m. de rullhiêres[ ] ( .) that the cardinal, acted on this occasion, with great moderation, and recommended to his royal master, a similar line of moderation, in all his conduct, towards his protestant subjects. ii. . the cardinal's project, was suspended, by his decease; and resumed, under _lewis the fourteenth_. in , a plan, drawn up by m. le blanc de beaulieu, a professor of divinity, at sedan, singularly esteemed, both by the roman catholics, and protestants, by which the essential articles, in dispute, were reduced to a small number, was adopted, by the court, to serve as the basis of discussion. it was resolved, that different synods of protestant ministers, should be convened; that these, should be composed, of ministers of known moderation, and pacific views, and the articles, drawn up by m. le blanc de beaulieu, presented to them. three years were employed, in negotiations for effecting this project: several ministers in the lower languedoc, and the isle of france, expressed themselves, in terms favourable, to the measure, but the synod of charenton, took the alarm, and the project, was abandoned. the revocation of the edict of nantes, a measure equally unwise, and unjust, too soon followed. it is more to be attributed, to his ministers and advisers, than to lewis the fourteenth himself. from the _eclaircissemens historiques_ of m. de rullhiêres, and the life of bossuet, by m. baussét[ ], it seems evident, that lewis the fourteenth, had been induced, to believe, that the number of protestants was much smaller; that the conversions of them, would be much more rapid, general, and sincere; and that the measures, for hastening their conversion, would be much less violent than they really were. it is also due, to the monarch, to add, that from the authors, whom we have cited, it is evident, that when he began to perceive the true state, of the transaction, though from false principles of honour, and policy, he would not revoke the edict, he wished it not to be put into great activity, and checked the forwardness, of the intendants general in its execution. it is whimsical, (if on so serious a subject such a word may be used), that the dragonâde, or employment of the dragoon troops, in forcing the conversion, of the hugonots, was owing to the wish of louvois, the minister, of lewis the fourteenth, to become himself, a missionary. observing how much the apparent success, of the missionaries, recommended them, to lewis the fourteenth, he began to consider them as dangerous rivals for the favour of his royal master, and determined, therefore, to become himself, a principal performer. with this view, he instituted the dragoon missions, and thus brought a material part, of the work of conversion, into the war department. ii. . the death of lewis, and the known disposition of the regent, appeared to the protestant party, in france, to afford a proper opportunity of recovering their rights. duclos, in his _mémoires secréts sur les regnes de louis xiv. et de louis xv_., says, that the regent himself wished to restore the protestants, to their civil rights, but was dissuaded by his council. still, he seldom permitted the edicts against them to be executed; and speaking generally, the protestants seem to have suffered no active persecution in any part of the reign of lewis, the xvth. one intolerable grievance, however, they unquestionably suffered in every part of it. their religious principles did not permit them to be married by a roman catholic priest, in the manner prescribed by the law of the state, and that law did not recognize the legal validity of a marriage, celebrated in any other form. the consequence was, that in the eye of the law, the marriage of protestants was a mere concubinage, and the offspring of it illegitimate. to his immortal honour, _lewis the xvith_, by his edict of the th of november, , accorded to all his non-catholic subjects the full and complete enjoyment of all the rights of his roman-catholic subjects. on a division in the parliament, this edict was registered by a majority of votes against . the persecution of the hugonots in consequence of the revocation of the edict of nantes, was condemned by the greatest men in france. m. d'aguesseau, the father of the celebrated chancellor, resigned his office of intendant of languedoc rather than remain a witness of it: his son repeatedly mentions it with abhorrence. fénélon, flechier, and bossuet,[ ] confessedly the ornaments of the gallican church, lamented it. to the utmost of their power, they prevented the execution of the edict, and lessened its severities, when they could not prevent them. most sincerely lamenting and condemning the outrages committed by the roman catholics against the protestants at nismes, as violations of the law of god and man, but doubting of the nature and extent, which some have attributed to them, the writer of these pages begs leave to refer to the sermon preached on them by the reverend james archer, a roman catholic priest, and printed for booker, in bond-street, by the desire of two roman catholic congregations, as expressing the doctrine of the roman catholic church, and of all real christians on heretics and the persecution of heretics. iii. _the correspondence of bossuet and leibniz, under the auspices of lewis the xivth, for the reunion of the lutheran protestants to the roman catholic church._ this correspondence forms one of the most interesting events in the life of bossuet; the letters, of which it consists, and the other written documents, which relate to it, are highly interesting. we shall attempt to present our readers with a short account-- st. of the circumstances which led to this correspondence; ndly. of the project of reunion, delivered by molanus, a lutheran divine, and bossuet's sentiments on that project; dly. of the intervention of leibniz in the negotiation; and thly. of the project suggested by bossuet, and the principal reasons, by which he contended for its reception. iii. . it appears that, towards the th century, the emperor leopold, and several sovereign princes in germany, conceived a project of re-uniting the roman catholic and lutheran churches. the duke of brunswick, who had recently embraced the roman catholic religion, and published his _fifty reasons for his conversion_, (once a popular work of controversy), and the duke of hanover, the father of the first prince of the illustrious house, which now fills the throne of england, were the original promoters of the attempt. it was generally approved; and the mention of it at the diet of the empire was favourably received. some communications upon it took place between the emperor and the ducal princes: and with all their knowledge, several conferences were held upon the subject, between certain distinguished roman catholic and protestant divines. in these, the bishop of neustadt, and molanus, the abbot of lokkum, took the lead. the first had been consecrated bishop of tina in bosnia, then under the dominion of the turks, with ordinary jurisdiction over some parts of the turkish territories. his conduct had recommended him to innocent the xith, and that pope had directed him to visit the protestant states in germany, and inform him of their actual dispositions in respect to the church of rome. in consequence of this mission, he became known to the emperor, who appointed him to the see of neustadt, in the neighbourhood of vienna. molanus, was director of the protestant churches and consistories of hanover. both were admirably calculated for the office intended them, on this occasion. each possessed the confidence of his own party, and was esteemed by the other; each was profoundly versed in the matters in dispute; each possessed good sense, moderation, and conciliating manners; and each had the success of the business at heart, with a fixed purpose, that nothing, but a real difference on some essential article of doctrine, should frustrate the project. the effect of the first conferences was so promising, that the emperor and the two princes resolved, that they should be conducted in a manner more regular, and more likely to bring the object of them to a conclusion. with this view, the business was formally entrusted by both the princes to molanus alone, and the emperor published a rescript, dated the th march, , by which he gave the bishop of neustadt full authority to treat, on all matters of religion, with the states, communities, and individuals of the empire, reserving to the ecclesiastical and imperial powers, their right to confirm the acts of the bishop, as they should judge adviseable. under these auspicious circumstances, the conference between the bishop of neustadt and molanus began. but, before the events which we have mentioned took place, a correspondence on the subject of a general reunion between catholics and protestants had been carried on for some time, between pelisson and leibniz. the former held a considerable rank among the french writers, who adorned the reign of lewis the fourteenth; the latter was eminently distinguished in the literary world. in the exact sciences, he was inferior to newton alone; in metaphysics, he had no superior; in general learning, he had scarcely a rival. he had recommended himself to the brunswick family, by three volumes, which he had recently published, on the antiquities of that illustrious house; and was then engaged in the investigation of its italian descent, and early german shoots. the result of it, under the title of _origines guelphicæ_, was published, after his decease, by scheidius, and is considered to be a perfect model of genealogical history. he was also thoroughly conversant in the theological disputes of the times; and in all the questions of dogma, or history, which enter into them. his correspondence with pelisson, came to the knowledge of louisa, princess palatine, and abbess of maubrusson. she was a daughter of frederick, the elector, and count palatine of the rhine, and a sister, of the duchess of hanover. in early life, she had been converted to the roman catholic religion, and had the conversion of her sister, very much at heart. with this view, she sent to her, the correspondence between leibniz and pelisson, and received from her an account of what was passing, between the bishop of neustadt, and molanus. both the ladies were anxious, to promote the measure, and that bossuet should take in it, the leading part, on the side of the catholics. this was mentioned to lewis the fourteenth, and had his approbation. the emperor and both the princes, by all of whom bossuet, was personally esteemed, equally approved of it, and it was finally settled that bossuet and leibniz, should be joined, to the bishops of neustadt, and molanus, and that the correspondence with bossuet, should pass through the hands of madame de brinon, who acted, as secretary to the abbess of maubrusson, and is celebrated, by the writers of the times, for her wit and dexterity in business. thus the matter assumed, a still more regular form, and much was expected from the acknowledged talents, learning, and moderation of the actors in it, and their patrons. iii. . the conferences between the bishop of neustadt, and molanus continued for seven months, and ended in their agreeing on articles, to serve for the basis of the discussion, on the terms of the reunion. the bishop of neustadt, communicated these articles to bossuet. he seems, to have approved of them generally, but to have thought, that some alteration in them, was adviseable. this being mentioned to molanus, he published his _cogitationes privatæ_, a profound and conciliating dissertation. without entering into any discussion, on the points in dispute, between the churches, he suggested in it a kind of truce, during which, there should be ecclesiastical communion between them: the lutherans, were to acknowledge the pope, as the first of bishops, in order, and dignity: the church of rome, was to receive the lutherans, as her children, without exacting from them, any retractation of their alledged errors, or any renunciation, of the articles in their creed, condemned by the council of trent. the anathemas of that council, were to be suspended, and a general council was to be convened, in which the protestants were to have a deliberative voice: the sentence of that council, was to be definitive, and, in the mean time, the members of each party, were to treat the members of the other, as brethren, whose errors, however great they might appear, were to be tolerated, from motives of peace, and in consideration, of their engagements to abandon them, if the council should pronounce against them. to show the probability of a final accommodation, molanus notices, in his dissertation, several points, in which one party imputed to the other errors, not justly chargeable on them; several, on which they disputed, merely for want of rightly understanding each other; and several, in which the dispute was of words only. it appears that the bishop of neustadt, communicated this dissertation, to bossuet, and that bossuet was delighted, with the good sense, candour, and true spirit of conciliation, which it displayed. in his letters he frequently mentions the author, and always in terms, of the highest praise. his own language was equally moderate and conciliating. "the council of trent," he says in one of his letters, "is our stay; but we shall not use it to prejudice the cause. this would be, to take for granted, what is in dispute between us. we shall deal more fairly with our opponents. we shall make the council serve, for a statement, and explanation, of our doctrines. thus, we shall come to an explanation, on those points, in which either of us imputes to the other, what he does not believe, and in which we dispute, only because we misconceive each other. this may lead us far; for _the abbot of lokkum, has actually conciliated the points so essential, of justification, and the eucharist: nothing is wanting in him, on that side, but that he should be avowed. why should we not hope to conclude, in the same manner, disputes, less difficult, and of less importance? cela se peut pousser si avant, que m. l'abbé de lokkum, a concilié, actuellement les points si essentiels, de la justification, et du sacrifice de l'eucharistie, et il ne lui manque de ce coté la, que de se faire avouer. pourquoi ne pas espérer de finir, par les mêmes moyens, des disputes, moins difficiles, et moins importantes?"_ with these rational and conciliatory dispositions, bossuet, and molanus, proceeded. but, after this stage of the business, molanus disappears, and leibniz comes on the scene. iii. . a letter, written by bossuet to m^me de brinon, having been communicated by her to leibniz, opened the correspondence between him and bossuet. in that letter, bossuet declared explicitly, that the church of rome, was ready, to make concessions, on points of discipline, and to explain doctrines, but would make no concession in respect to defined articles of faith; and, in particular, would make no such concession, in respect to any which had been defined by the council of trent. leibniz's letter to m^me de brinon, in answer to this communication, is very important. he expresses himself in these terms; "the bishop of meaux says, " st. that the project delivered to the bishop of neustadt, does not appear to him quite sufficient; " dly. that it is, nevertheless, very useful, as every thing must have its beginning: " dly. that rome will never relax from any point of doctrine, defined by the church, and cannot capitulate, in respect to any such article; " thly. that the doctrine, defined in the council of trent, is received in and out of france by all roman catholics; " thly, that satisfaction may be given to protestants, in respect to certain points of discipline, or in the way of explanation, and that this had been already done in an useful manner, in some points, mentioned in the project of the bishop of neustadt. "these are the material propositions, in the letter of the bishop of meaux, and i believe all these propositions true. neither the bishop of neustadt, nor those who negotiated with them, make any opposition to them. there is nothing in them, which is not conformable to the sentiments of those persons. the third of them in particular, which might be thought, an obstacle, to these projects of accommodation, could not be unknown to them; one may even say, that they built on it." it seems difficult to deny, that, in this stage of the business, much had been gained to the cause of reunion. the parties were come to a complete understanding on the important articles of justification, and the eucharist; and it was admitted, both by leibniz, and molanus, that, in their view of the concern, an accommodation might be effected, between the roman catholic, and lutheran churches, though the former, retained all her defined doctrines, and, in particular, all her doctrines, defined by the council of trent. the question then was, what should be done in respect to the remaining articles in difference between the churches? it is to be wished, that it had been left to bossuet, and molanus, to settle them, in the way of amicable explanation, in which they had settled, the two important articles, which we have mentioned. it is evident, from the passages, which we have cited, from bossuet, that it was his wish, that the business should proceed on that plan, and that he had hopes of its success. unfortunately, the business took, another direction: leibniz proclaimed, that after every possible explanation should be given, the lutheran church would, still retain, some articles, contrary to the defined doctrines, of the church of rome, and anathematized, by the council of trent. to remove the final effect of this objection, leibniz held out molanus's first project, that the lutherans should express a general acquiescence, in the authority of the church, and promise obedience, to the decisions of a general council, to be called, for the purpose of pronouncing, on these points; and that, in consequence of these advances, on their part, the anathemas of the council of trent, should be suspended, and the lutherans received, provisionally, within the pale, of the catholic church. to bring over bossuet to this plan, he exerted great eloquence, and displayed, no common learning. iii. . but the eloquence, and learning, of leibniz, were without effect. in language, equally temperate and firm, bossuet, adhered to his text, that in matters of discipline, or any other matter, distinct from faith, the church of rome, would show the utmost indulgence to the lutherans; but that, on articles of faith, and specifically, on those propounded by the council of trent, there could be no compromise. this, however, he confined to articles of faith alone: and even on articles of faith, he wished to consult the feelings of protestants, as much as possible. he offered them every fair explanation of the tenets of the council; he required from them no retractation, of their own tenets: "molanus," he says, "will not allow retractation to be mentioned. it may be dispensed with; it will be sufficient, that the parties acknowledge, the truth, by way of declaration or explanation. to this, the symbolical books, give a clear opening, as appears by the passages, which have been produced from them, and will appear, by other passages, which may be produced from them." if bossuet was thus considerate, in what regarded faith, it will easily be supposed, how indulgent his sentiments were, in respect to all, that merely regarded discipline. a complete confession of faith, being once obtained from the lutherans, he was willing, to allow them, if they required it, communion under both kinds; that their bishops, should retain their sees; and that, where there was no bishop, and the whole body of the people, was protestant, under the care, of a superintendant, _that_ superintendant, should be consecrated their bishop; that, where there was a catholic bishop, and a considerable part of the diocese, was lutheran, the superintendant, should be consecrated priest, and invested with rank, and office, that the lutheran ministers, should be consecrated priests; that provision should be made for their support; that such of their bishops, and ministers, as were married, might retain their wives, and that the consciences of those, who held possessions of the church, should be quieted, except in respect, to hospitals, whose possessions he thought, could not conscientiously be withheld, from the poor objects of their foundations; and that every other arrangement should be made, by the church and state, which would be agreeable, to the feelings, and prejudices, of their new brethren. such were the advances made by bossuet; and much discussion on them, took place, between him, and leibniz. it continued ten years. they are very learned, and a scholar will read them with delight; but, unfortunately, they rather retarded, than promoted, their object. the real business ended, when molanus quitted the scene. we shall close this article, with the following extract from the last letter but one, written by bossuet, on the subject. it is addressed to leibniz, and bears date the th august, , ten years, after his first letter, on it was written: "among the divines of the confession of augsburg, i always placed m. molanus, in the first rank, as a man, whose learning, candour and moderation made him one of the persons, the most capable i have known, of advancing the noble project of reunion. in a letter, which i wrote to him some years ago, by the count balati, i assured him, that, if he could obtain, the general consent of his party, to what he calls, his private thoughts, _cogitationes privatæ_, i promised myself, that, by joining to them, the remarks, which i sent to him, on the confession of augsburg, and the other symbolic writings of the protestants, the work of the reunion would be perfected, in all its most difficult and most essential points; so that well disposed persons might, in a short time, bring it to a conclusion." the passage is so important, that it is proper to present it to the reader in bossuet's own words. "parmi les théologiens de la confession d'ausbourg, j'ai toujours mis, au premier rang, m. l'abbé de lokkum, comme un homme, dont le sçavoir, la candeur, et la modération le rendolent un des plus capables, que je connusse, pour avancer ce beau dessein. cela est si véritable, que j'ai cru devoir assurer ce docte abbé, dans la réponse que je luis fis, il y a dejà, plusieurs années, par m. le comte balati, que s'il pouvoit faire passer ce qu'il appelle ses pensées particulières _cogitationes privatæ_, à un consentement suffisent, je me promettois qu'en y joignant les remarques, que je lui envoyois, sur la confession d'ausbourg, et les autres écrits symboliques des protestans, l'ouvrage de la réunion seroit achevé dans ses parties les plus difficiles et les plus essentielles; en sorte qu'il ne faudroit à des personnes bien disposées, que très peu de tems pour la conclure[ ]." dom. de foris, the benedictine editor of the new edition of the works of bossuet and the abbé racine, _abrégé de l'histoire ecclésiastique_[ ] are very severe in their censures of the conduct of leibniz in the negotiations for the reunion, and attribute its failure to his presumption and duplicity. to the writer of these pages, it appears clear, that leibniz was sincere in his wishes for the reunion; and that, if he occasioned its failure, it was unintentionally. while the business was in the hands of bossuet, and molanus, it was a treaty, not for the reunion of the roman catholic church, and all protestant churches, but for the reunion of the roman catholic church, and the lutheran church; and to this, molanus's endeavours to reconcile differences, were directed. leibniz, whose principles in religion, were much wider, than those of molanus, seems to have wished, that the negotiation should be placed, on a broader basis, and extended to a reunion of the church of rome, with every denomination of christians. this gave the negotiation a different direction, and in a great measure, undid what had been, so happily begun. we have seen, that, to the very last, bossuet, called out for molanus, and entertained great hopes, that, if the matter were left to molanus, and him, the noble project of reunion, would be crowned with success. there is no part of bossuet's literary or active life, in which he appears to greater advantage, or in a more amiable light, than on this occasion. iv. _attempt in the reign of lewis the xv. to effect an union between the church of rome and the church of england._ of all protestant churches, the national church of england most nearly resembles the church of rome. it has retained much of the dogma, and much of the discipline of roman catholics. down to the sub-deacon it has retained the whole of their hierarchy; and, like them, has its deans, rural deans, chapters, prebends, archdeacons, rectors, and vicars; a liturgy, taken in a great measure, from the roman catholic liturgy; and composed like that, of psalms, canticles, the three creeds, litanies, epistles, gospels, prayers, and responses. both churches have the sacraments of baptism, and the eucharist, the absolution of the sick, the burial service, the sign of the cross in baptism, the reservation of confirmation, and order to bishops, the difference of episcopal, and sacerdotal dress, feasts, and fasts. without adopting all the general councils of the church of rome, the church of england has adopted the first four of them; and, without acknowledging the authority of the other councils, or the authority of the early fathers, the english divines of the established church, allow them to be entitled, to a high degree of respect.[ ] on the important article of the eucharist, the language, of the thirty-nine articles, sounds very like, the doctrine of the church of rome. at the time, of which we are speaking, the doctrines of the high church, which are generally considered to incline to those of the roman catholics, more than the doctrines of the low church, were in their zenith; and in france, where the ultramontane principles on the power of the pope had always been discountenanced, the disputes of jansenism were supposed to reduce it very low. on each side, therefore, the time was thought favourable to the project of reunion. it was also favourable to it, that, a few years before this time, an event had taken place, which naturally tended to put both sides into good humour. on the occasion of the marriage of the princess christina of wolfenbuttell, a lutheran, with the archduke of austria, her court consulted the faculty of theology of the university of helmstadt, on the question, "whether a protestant princess, destined to marry a catholic prince, could, without wounding her conscience, embrace the roman catholic religion?" the faculty replied, that, "it could not answer the proposed question, in a solid manner, without having previously decided, whether the catholics were, or were not engaged in errors, that were fundamental, and opposed to salvation; or, (which was the same thing), whether the state of the catholic church was such, that persons might practise in it, the true worship of god, and arrive at salvation." this question the divines of helmstadt, discussed at length; and concluded in these terms: "after having shown, that the foundation of religion, subsists in the roman catholic religion, so that a person may be orthodox in it, live well in it, die well in it, and obtain salvation in it, the discussion of the proposed question, is easy. we are, therefore, of opinion, that the most serene princess of wolfenbuttell, may, in favour of her marriage, embrace the catholic religion." this opinion is dated the th of april , and was printed in the same year at cologne. the journalists of trevoux inserted both the original and a french translation of it in their journal of may, . under these circumstances, the correspondence in question took place. it began, in , through doctor beauvoir, chaplain to lord stair, his britannic majesty's ambassador at paris. some conversation, on the reunion of the two churches, having taken place, between doctor dupin, and him, he acquainted the archbishop of canterbury, with the subject of them. this communication, produced some compliments from the archbishop, to dr. dupin, and these, led the latter, to address, to his grace, a letter, in which he mentioned generally, that, on some points in dispute, the supposed difference between the two communions was reconcileable. the correspondence getting wind, doctor piers, pronounced a discourse in the sorbonne, in which he earnestly exhorted his colleagues, to promote the reunion, by revising those articles, of doctrine, and discipline, which protestants branded with the name of papal tyranny; and contended, that, by proscribing the ultramontane doctrines, the first step to the reunion would be made. the discourse, was communicated to dr. wake: in his answer, he pressed dr. dupin, for a more explicit declaration, on the leading points, in controversy. in compliance with this requisition, doctor dupin drew up his _commonitorium_, and communicated it, to several persons of distinction, both in the state, and church of france. he discussed in it, the thirty-nine articles, as they regarded doctrine, morality, and discipline. he insisted on the necessity of tradition, to interpret the scriptures, and to establish the canonicity of the books, of the old and new testament. he insisted on the infallibility, of the church, in faith, and morals; he contended, that the sacrifice of the mass, was not a simple sacrament, but a continuation of the sacrifice of the cross. the word transubstantiation, he seemed willing to give up, if the roman catholic doctrine, intended to be expressed by it, were retained. he proposed, that communion under both kinds, or under bread alone, should be left, to the discretion of the different churches, and consented, that persons in holy orders should retain their state, with such provisions, as would place the validity of their ordination, beyond exception. the marriage of priests, in the countries, in which such marriages were allowed, and the recitation of the divine service in the vulgar tongue, he allowed; and intimated that no difficulty would be found in the ultimate settlement of the doctrine, respecting purgatory, indulgences, the veneration of saints, relics, or images. he seems to have thought, that the pope can exercise, no immediate jurisdiction, within the dioceses of bishops, and that his primacy invested him, with no more than a general conservation, of the deposit of the faith, a right to enforce, the observance of the sacred canons, and the general maintenance of discipline. he allowed, in general terms, that there was little substantially wrong, in the discipline of the church of england; he deprecated all discussion, on the original merit of reformation, and he professed to see no use in the pope's intervention, till the basis of the negotiation, should be settled. the answer of the archbishop, was not very explicit. it is evident from it, that he thought, the quarrels on jansenism, had alienated the jansenists and their adherents, from the pope, much more, than they had done, in reality. he was willing to concede, to the pope, a primacy of rank and honour, but would by no means allow him, a primacy of jurisdiction, or any primacy, by divine right. on the other points, he seemed to have thought, that they might come to an agreement, on what they should declare, to be the fundamental doctrine of the churches, and adopt, on every other point of doctrine, a general system, of christian toleration. the correspondence, which is very interesting, may be seen, in the last volume of the english translation, of doctor mosheim's ecclesiastical history. to facilitate, the accomplishment of the object of it, doctor courayer, published his celebrated treatise, on _the validity of english ordinations_. both dr. wake, and dr. dupin. were censured, by the members of their respective communions, for the parts, which they had taken, in this business. several rigid members of the english church, and even some foreign protestants, blamed dr. wake, for what they termed, his too great concessions. in france, the worst of motives, were imputed to dr. dupin, and his associates; they were accused, of making unjustifiable sacrifices, in order to form an union, between the jansenists, and the members of the english church. even the regent, took the alarm: he ordered dr. dupin, to discontinue the correspondence, and to leave all the papers, respecting it, with the minister. this was done, but the most important of them, have been printed, in the interesting and extensively circulated publication, which has been mentioned. v. _miscellaneous remarks on the reunion of christians._ it does not appear, that subsequently to the communications, between archbishop wake, and dr. dupin, any attempts for a general, or partial reunion of christians, were made in the last century: but, early in the present, _napoleon_, conceived the project, of effecting, such a reunion. he is said, to have particularly had in view, the catholicizing, as it was termed, the northern part, of germany. to forward his design, many works were published: one of them, the _essai sur l'unité des cultes_, of m. bonald, is written, with great ingenuity. that essay, and several others by the same author, were inserted in the _ambigu_ of peltier, and deserve the attention, of every reader. though they contain some things, to which a roman catholic writer, would object, they are evidently written, by a roman catholic pen. the first point to be considered, by those, who meditate the project of reunion, is, its practicability--those, who are disposed, to contend for the affirmative, will observe, the number of important articles, of christian faith, in which, all christians, are agreed, and the proportionally small number of those, in which, any christians disagree. all christians believe, st. that there is one god; d. that he is a being, of infinite perfection; d. that he directs all things, by his providence; th. that it is our duty to love him, with all our hearts, and our neighbour, as ourselves; th. that it is our duty, to repent, of the sins we commit; th. that god, pardons the truly penitent; th. that there is a future state, of rewards, and punishments, when all mankind shall be judged, according to their works; th. that god, sent his son, into the world, to be its saviour, the author of eternal salvation, to all, that obey him; th. that he is the true messiah; th. that he taught, worked miracles, suffered, died, and rose again, as is related in the four gospels; th. that he will hereafter, make a second appearance on the earth, raise all mankind from the dead, judge the world in righteousness, bestow eternal life on the virtuous, and punish the workers of iniquity. in the belief of these articles, all christians, the roman catholic, all the oriental churches, all the members of the church of england, all lutherans, calvinists, socinians, and unitarians, are agreed. in addition to these, each division, and subdivision of christians, has its own tenets. now, let each settle among its own members, what are the articles of belief, peculiar to them, which, in their cool deliberate judgment, they consider as _absolutely necessary_ that a person should believe, to be a member of the church of christ; let these articles be divested of all foreign matter, and expressed in perspicuous, exact, and unequivocal terms; and, above all, let each distinction of christians, earnestly wish, to find an agreement, between themselves and their fellow christians:--the result of a discussion conducted on this plan, would most assuredly be, to convince all christians, that the essential articles of religious credence, in which there is, a real difference among christians, are not so numerous, as the verbal disputes, and extraneous matter, in which controversy is too often involved, make them generally thought. still,--some articles will remain, the belief of which, one denomination of christians, will consider to be the obligation of every christian, and which other christian denominations, will condemn. on some of those, a _speedy_ reunion of christians is not to be expected: but, to use the language of mr. _vansittart_, in his excellent letter to the reverend dr. marsh and john coker, esq., "there is an inferior degree of reunion, more within our prospect, and yet perhaps as perfect as human infirmity allows us to hope for; wherein, though all differences of opinion, should not be extinguished, yet they may be refined, from all party prejudices, and interested views, so softened by the spirit of charity, and mutual concession, and so controuled by agreement, on the leading principles, and zeal, for the general interests of christianity, that no sect, or persuasion, should be tempted to make religion, subservient to secular views, or to employ political power, to the prejudice of others.--the existence of dissent, will, perhaps, be inseparable from religious freedom, so long, as the mind of man, is liable to error: but it is not unreasonable to hope, that hostility, may cease, though perfect agreement, cannot be established. if we cannot reconcile all opinions, let us reconcile all hearts." these pages, cannot be closed better, than by these golden words!!! finis. * * * * * footnotes. [footnote : tom. xi. p. . .] [footnote : de institutiones clericorum, l. iii. c. xviii. &c.] [footnote : in his "recueil des ecrits pour servir d'eclaircissement de l'histoire de france, vol. paris ."] [footnote : "roswede, or aroswethe, a nun in the monastery of gardersheim, lived in the reigns of otho ii. and iii. towards the end of the tenth century. she composed many works in prose and verse. in , some of her poems, on the martyrdom of st. denys, the blessed virgin, st. ann, &c. were printed at nuremburgh. her verses in praise of otto ii. would be tolerable, if they were not leonines: there are in them some errors of prosody." bib. univers. et histor. vol. ii. p. .] [footnote : for a fuller account of feudal and civil jurisprudence, the writer of these pages begs leave to refer to his work, entitled, "horÆ juridicÆ subsecivÆ, being a connected series of notes respecting the geography, chronology, and literary history of the principal codes and original documents of the grecian, roman, feudal, and canon law." vol. vo.] [footnote : it is entitled, "_martiani minei felicis capellæ carthaginiensis, viri procunsularis, satyricon, in quo de nuptiis philologiæ et mecurii libri duo, & de septem artibus liberalibus libri singulares. omnes, et emendati et notis sive februis hug. grotii illustrati. ex officina plantiniana, apud christophorum raphelingium academiæ lugduno-bat. typographum_ m. d. c." [transcriber's note: apostrophic date ] the dedication to the prince of condé follows: then, encomiastic verses by scaliger, and tiliabrogus. the two works are then inserted, with an address to the reader, errata, and various readings. afterwards, _hugeiani grotii februa[ ] in satyricon martiani capellæ:_ this contains his notes. they are preceded by an engraving of grotius. round it, is written, "_anno_ m. d. c." [transcriber's note: apostrophic date ] hora ruit.[ ] Æt.xv. under the engraving the following verses are printed, "_quem sibi quindenis_ astrÆa _sacravit ab annis, talis,_ hugeiani grotii _ora fero_."] [footnote : "corrections"--or more literarily, "purifications".] [footnote : these words were used by grotius for his motto.] [footnote : fabricii bibliotheca latina, lib iii. c. . in , john adam goez published the "treatise on the marriage of philology and mercury" separately, in a duodecimo volume: he mentions, in the preface, an edition of it by walthard. it is on the authority of goez that we have assigned the age of capella to the third century: others place him in a much later period.] [footnote : montucla. histoire des mathematiques, vol.ii. p. .] [footnote : vol. . p. . ii. .] [footnote : a similar exclusive claim in respect to the indian seas, under the grant of pope alexander vi., was set up by the portuguese; similar claims to the ligustic and adriatic seas, have been and still continue to be made by the genoese and venetians. those, who seek for information on the subject, should consult the _dissertation of bynkershook de dominio maris_, and note to the recent edition of sir edward coke's commentary upon littleton.] [footnote : "mais, dites vous, dans ce tems même, le jeune pison pouvolt avoir dix ans: grotius faisoit bien des vers a cet âge. je le sçais, mais les grotius sont ils bien commune! combien d'enfans trouveres vous de dix ans, qui ayent nonseulement assez du feu pour faire des vers, mais encore assez de jugement pour en juger sainement." gibbon's posthumous works, vo. vol. i. p. .--"salmasius," says mr. gibbon in another part of the same entertaining publication, (vol. v. p. ), "had read as much as grotius; but their different modes of reading had made the one an enlighten'd philosopher; and the other, to speak plainly, a pedant puffed up with an useless erudition."] [footnote : bentivoglio, histoire des guerres de flandres, l, xxviii.] [footnote : _bella plusquam civilia._ lucan.] [footnote : those who wish to obtain a clear, concise, and exact notion of calvinism and arminianism, will usefully peruse the account of them in mr. evans's "_sketch of the denominations of the christian world_." the thirteenth edition is now before us, and we believe that it has been often since reprinted.] [footnote : mosheim's ecc. hist. cent. xvi, ch. . § . part .] [footnote : chalmer's biographical dictionary, title "arminius."] [footnote : a short and clear account of arminianism is given by le clere, in his bibliotheque ancienne et moderne, vol. ii. art. . p. .] [footnote : the best discussion of this subject, which has fallen into the hands of the writer, is bourduloué's sermon _sur la predestination_.] [footnote : english translation of burigni's life of grotius, pp. , , .] [footnote : vol. i.] [footnote : _letters from and to sir dudley carleton, during his embassy in holland, from january - [**modern presentation.] to december . london, , p. _,--sir dudley carleton's letters abound with harsh expressions respecting grotius. the editor of this correspondence has inserted (p. ) a letter from grotius to dr. lancelot andrews, written from the castle at louvestein. "this letter," says the editor, "which was never printed before, deserves a place here, not only for its elegance and spirit, and its connection with the subject of the work, but likewise in justice to the memory of the great writer, as it contains his own justification of his conduct, which may be compared with the less favourable accounts of it in the preceding letters of sir dudley carleton. the original is extant among the manuscripts in the library of the late sir hans sloane, bart. now part of the british museum."--"utinam," says grotius in this letter, "d. carleton mihi esset plus æquior; cui mitigando propinqui mei operam dant. sed partium, studia mire homines obcæcant."] [footnote : the history of this synod, and of the whole controversy upon arminianism, is contained in brand's _history of the reformation_: the account of the synod in these pages, is principally extracted from the french abridgment of that work, in volumes vo. the calvinian representation of the arminian doctrines, and the proceedings of the synod, may be seen in the late mr. scott's _articles of the synod of dort_, to which he has prefixed the history of the events which _made way for that synod_: it is severely censured by mr. james nichols, in his _calvinism and arminianism compared_. introd. cxlii. the abridgment of brand's history, was translated into the english language and published in - [**modern presentation.] by _m. de la roche_. he concludes his preface to it by observing, that "no good man can read the work without abhorring arbitrary power, and all manner of persecution." the persecution of the scottish non-conformists by the episcopalians, and the persecution of the remonstrants by the contra-remonstrants, were attended with this enormity, that, in most other instances, when one denomination of christians has persecuted another, it has been on the ground that the errors of the sufferers were impious, and led the maintainers of them to eternal perdition, and therefore rendered these wholesome severities, as the persecutors term them, a salutary infliction. but, when the protestant episcopalian persecuted the scottish non-conformist, or the contra-remonstrant persecuted the remonstrant, he persecuted a christian who agreed with him in all which he himself deemed to be substantial articles of faith, and differed from him only about rites and opinions, which he himself allowed to be indifferent.--see mr. neale's just remark, vol. ii. ch. vi.] [footnote : in , lord hailes published a beautiful edition of "the works of the ever-memorable mr. john hales of eaton, then first collected together," in three volumes, at glasgow. it is to be lamented that he did not accompany it with a full biographical account of mr. hales. "his biographers," says mr. chalmers, "all allow that he may be classed among those divines who were afterwards called latitudinarians." may he not be termed the founder of that splendid school? perceiving that the minds of men required to be more liberally enlightened, and their affections to be more powerfully engaged on the side of religion than was formerly thought necessary, they set themselves, to use the language of bishop burnet, "to raise those who conversed with them to another sort of thoughts, and to consider the christian religion as a doctrine sent from god, both to elevate and to sweeten human nature. with this view, they laboured chiefly to take men from being in parties from narrow notions, and from fierceness about opinions. they also continued to keep a good correspondence with those who differed from them in opinion and allowed a great freedom both in philosophy and divinity." (burnet's history of his own times. vol. i. p. - , oct. edit.) hales, chillingworth, taylor, cudworth, wilkins, tillotson, stillingfleet, and patrick, were among their brightest ornaments. they were in some respects hostile to the roman catholics: _in hoc non laudo_.--see the writer's history of the english, irish, and scottish catholics. vol. iii. c. lxviii. sect. . d edition.] [footnote : "king james," says mr. james nichols, in his calvinism and arminianism compared, p. , "sent a deputation of respectable british divines, for the double and undisguised purpose of condemning the remonstrants, but especially vórstius, (whom his majesty had long before exposed to the world as an arch-heretic), and of assisting the prince of orange in his design of usurping the liberties of the united provinces, and assuming the supreme authority. the elector palatine sent his heidelberg divines for the same family purpose; and the duke of bouillon employed all his influence with the chief pastors among the french reformed."] [footnote : the words of the former are remarkable: "the errors of public actions, if they be not very gross, are with less inconvenience tolerated than amended. for the danger of alteration, of disgracing and disabling authority, makes that the fortune of such proceeding admits of no redress; but being howsoever well or ill done, they must ever after be upheld. the most partial spectator of our synodal acts cannot but confess, that, in the late discussion of the remonstrants, with so much choler and heat, there was a great oversight committed, and that,--whether we respect our common profession of christianity, 'quæ nil nisi justum suadet et lene,' or the quality of this people, apt to mutiny by reason of long liberty, and not having learned to be imperiously commanded,--in which argument the clergy should not have read their first lesson. the synod, therefore, to whom it is not now _in integro_ to go back and rectify what is amiss, without disparagement, must now go forward and leave events to god, and for the countenance of their actions do the best they may." letter to sir dudley carleton, january .] [footnote : _nichol's calvinism and arminianism compared_, vol. ii. p. ] [footnote : _decline and fall_, ch. liv. towards the end.] [footnote : the writers who have given an account of the synod of dort are mentioned by fabricius, bib. græca, vol. xi. p. . some useful observations upon the proceedings of the synod may be found in "mr. nichols's _calvinism and arminianism compared_." it is much to be wished that the promised continuation of this work should speedily make its appearance. but no work upon this famous synod deserves more attention than "_johannis halesii, historia concilii dordraceni, j. laur. moshemius theol. doct. et p.p.c. ex anglico sermone latine vertit, variis observationibus et vitâ halesii ausit. accessit ejusdem de auctoritate concilii dordraceni paci sacræ noxii, consultatio. hamburgi_, vo." m. le clere's criticism on this work (_bibliotheque ancienne et moderne_ vol. , art. .) contains much valuable information upon the synod, and a summary of the life and writings of mr. hales.--des maizeaux published a curious account of them in .] [footnote : pfaffii hist. literaria, vol. ii. p. .] [footnote : burigni's life of grotius, lib. ii. sect. .] [footnote : cent xvii, sect. , part (note y.)] [footnote : mr. james nicholls's calvinism and arminianism compared. vol. i. p. , , , .] [footnote : see mr. dugald stewart's first dissertation, sect. iii.] [footnote : see joannis christopheri locheri dissertatio epistolica historiam libelli grotiani _de veritate religionis christianæ_ complectens, , in quarto; and the journal de scavans for the year .] [footnote : see nichols's calvinism and arminianism compared, vol. i. p. .] [footnote : on the respect, which the church of england considers to be due to the writings of the early fathers, see the excellent appendix to the sermons of dr. jebb, the right reverend bishop of limerick.] [footnote : vol. iii. l. . this letter merits a serious perusal.] [footnote : dict. historique, preliminaire, p. xxix.] [footnote : vol. . p. ] [footnote : those, who will read his life, published by the writer of these pages, with other tracts, in , will not, it is believed, think this too strong an assertion. is it not to be earnestly hoped, that in the distress by which we are now visited, and the greater distress with which we are threatened, many st. vincents will appear?] [footnote : mosheim's ecc. hist. ch. ii. sect. ii. part. ii. and bynkershock's quest. juris publici, lib. ii. ch. .] [footnote : le clerc, (bib. anc. et mod. vol. xxiii. art. iv.) strenuously objects to this representation of dr. mosheim. "the arminians," he says, "have introduced no dogma as necessary to salvation, which was unknown to the framers of their confession of faith; neither have they retrenched from it, any article essential to faith." he however observes, "that there are many ways of explaining dogmas." now, the same dogma explained in two ways, amounts to two dogmas.] [footnote : see the third part of "_the last of bossuet's six addresses to the protestants_," and the passages which he cites in it from jurieu. for the actual state of religious doctrine, both in the lutheran and reformed churches of germany, the reader may usefully consult, "_the state of the protestant religion in germany, in a series of discourses preached before the university of cambridge, by the rev. hugh james rose, m.a. vo. _;" and "_entretiens philosophiques sur la re-union des differens communions chretiens, par feu m. le baron starck, ministre protestant, et premier predicateur, de la cour de hesse darmstadt, &c. vo. _;" and "_tabaraud's histoire des re-unions des chrêtiens._"] [footnote : tom. xlvi. art. . p. .] [footnote : page .] [footnote : page , .] [footnote : page .] [footnote : page .] [footnote : page .] [footnote : page .] [footnote : page .] [footnote : page .] [footnote : page .] [footnote : page .] [footnote : page .] [footnote : page .] [footnote : page .] [footnote : page . m. le clerc, (_sentimens de quelques theologiens de hollande, dix-septieme lettre_) defends grotius with great ability against the charge of socinianism: he justly observes, that, his abstaining from unpleasing propositions, his silence on offensive doctrines, and his conciliating expressions, should not too easily be accounted proofs, of belief of his precise sentiments of any particular tenets. grotius, says le clerc, was like an arbitrator, who, to bring to amity the parties in difference, recommends to each, that he should give something of what he himself considers to be his strict right.] [footnote : ep. . p. ] [footnote : ep. . p. .] [footnote : ep. . p. .] [footnote : ep. . p. .] [footnote : _comparison of calvinism and arminianism_. vol. ii. p. .] [footnote : ib. vol. ii. p. .] [footnote : ep. . p. , , .] [footnote : ep. . p. .] [footnote : "those," says mr. james nichols,[ ] "who wish to behold the praises to which hugo grotius or hugh de groot, is justly entitled, and which he has received in ample measure from admiring friends and reluctant foes, may consult sir thomas pope blount's _censura celebriorum authorum_. his well earned reputation is founded on too durable a basis to be moved by such petty attacks as those to which i have alluded in a previous part of this introduction (p. xxi.), or those of mr. orme in page . "that a man so accomplished, virtuous, fearless, and unfortunate, should have had many enemies, among his contemporaries, is not wonderful. but the number of those who evinced their hatred to him, or to his philanthropic labours, increased after his decease, when they could display it with impunity. 'this very pious, learned, and judicious man,' says dr. hammond, 'hath of late, among many, fallen under a very unhappy fate, being most unjustly calumniated, sometimes as a socinian, sometimes as a papist, and, as if he had learnt to reconcile contradictions, sometimes _as both of them together._' "one cause of the charge of socinianism being preferred against him, has been already mentioned, (p. xxxiii.) and it is more fully explained in pages , . the reader will not require many additional reasons to convince him of the untenable ground for such an accusation, when he is told that voetius, one of the most violent of his enemies, laid down this grand axiom--'to place the principal part of religion in an _observance of christ's commands is_ rank socianism!' to such a _practical observance of the_ requisitions of the gospel, by what name soever it might be stigmatized, grotius pleaded guilty. he says (p. ) 'i perceive this was accounted the principal part of religion by the christians of the primitive ages; and their various assemblies, divines, and martyrs taught, 'that the doctrines _necessary to be known_ are exceedingly few, but that god forms his estimate of us from the purpose and intention of an obedient spirit.' i am likewise of the same opinion, and shall never repent of having maintained it.' "but as the charge of popery is of the utmost consequence, i have discussed this topic at great length, (pp. , ), and have proved (pp. , ), that grotius was as little attached to the principles or the practice of the romish church as the most zealous of his accusers. whatever tends to vindicate the conduct of grotius in this matter, will operate still more powerfully in favour of archbishop laud. the design of grotius is well described by dr. hammond, in a _digression_ which he added to his _answer_ to the _animadversions on his dissertations_; in which he says, "'for the charge of popery that is fallen upon him, it is evident from whence that flows,--either from his _profest opposition to many doctrines of some reformers, zuinglius and calvin, &c_. or from his _annotations on cassander, and the debates with rivet consequent thereto, the votum pro pace and discussio_.' "for the former of these, it is sufficiently known what contests there were, and at length how profest the divisions betwixt the remonstrants and contra-remonstrants; and it is confessed that he maintained (all his time) the remonstrants party, vindicating it from all charge, whether of pelagianism or semi-pelagianism, which was by the opposers objected to it, and pressing the favourers of the doctrine of irrespective decrees with the odious consequences of making god the _author and favourer of sin_, and frequently expressing his sense of the evil influences that some of those doctrines were experimented to have on men's lives. and by these means it is not strange that he should fall under great displeasure from those who, having espoused the opinion of irrespective decrees, did not only publish it as the the truth and truth of god, but farther asserted the questioning of it to be injurious to god's free grace and his eternal election, and consequently retained no ordinary patience for or charity to opposers. but, then, still this is no medium to to infer that charge. the doctrines which he thus maintained were neither branches nor characters of popery, but asserted by some of the first and most learned and pious reformers. witness the writings of hemingius in his _opuscula_, most of which are on these subjects. whereas on the contrary side, zuinglius and others, who maintained the rigid way of irrespective decrees, and infused them into some of this nation of ours, are truly said, by an excellent writer of ours, dr. jackson, to _have had it first from some ancient romish schoolmen_, and so to have had as much or more of that guilt adherent to them, as can be charged on their opposers. so that from hence to found the jealousy, to affirm him a papist because he was not a contra-remonstrant, is but the old method of speaking all that is ill of those who differ from our opinions on any thing; as the dutchman in his rage calls his horse an arminian, because he doth not not go as he would have him. and this is all that can soberly be concluded from such suggestions, that they are displeased and passionate that thus speak. "as for the _annotations on cassander_, &c. and the consequent vindications of himself against _rivet_, those have with some colour been deemed more favourable toward popery; but yet i suppose will be capable of benign interpretations, if they be read with these few cautions or remembrances: "_first_. that they were designed to shew a way to peace whensoever men's minds on both sides should be piously affected to it. "_secondly_. that he did not hope for this temper in his age, the humour on both sides being so turgent, and extremely contrary to it, and the controversy debated on both sides by those 'who,' saith he, '_desire to eternize, and not to compose contentions_,' and therefore makes his appeal to posterity, when this paroxysm shall be over. "_thirdly_. that for the chief usurpations of the papacy; he leaves it to christian princes to join together to vindicate their own rights, and reduce the pope _ad canones_, to that temper, which the ancient canons allow and require of him; and if that will not be done, to reform every one in their own dominions. "_fourthly_. that what he saith in favour of some popish doctrines, above what some other learned protestants have said, is not so much by way of _assertion_ or _justification_ of them, as to shew what reasons they may justly be thought to proceed upon, and so not to be go irrational or impious as they are ordinarily accounted; and this only in order to the peace of the christian world, that we may have as much charity to others and not as high animosities, live with all men as sweetly and amicably, and peaceably, and not as bitterly as is possible, accounting the wars and seditions, and divisions and rebellions, that are raised and managed upon the account of religion, far greater and more scandalous unchristian evils, than are the errors of some romish doctrines, especially as they are maintained by the more sober and moderate men among them, cassander, picherel, &c. "_fifthly_. what he saith in his _discussio_, of a conjunction of protestants with those that adhere to the bishop of rome, is no farther to be extended, than his words extend it. that there is not any other visible way to the end there mentioned by him, of acquiring or preserving universal unity. that this is to be done, not crudely, by returning to them as they are, submitting our necks to our former yokes, but by taking away at once the division, and the causes of it, on which side soever; adding only in the third place, that the bare primacy of the bishop of rome, _secundum canones_, such as the ancient canons allow of, (which hath nothing of _supreme universal power_, or authority in it,) is none of those causes, nor consequently necessary to be excluded in the [greek: diallaktikon], citing that as the confession of that excellent person philip melancthon. so that in effect, that whole speech of his which is so solemnly vouched by mr. knott, and looked on so jealously by many of us, is no more than this, 'that such a primacy of the bishop of rome, as the ancient canons allowed him, were, for so glorious an end as is the regaining the peace of christendom, very reasonably to be afforded him, nay absolutely necessary to be yielded him, whensoever any such catholic union shall be attempted, which as it had been the express opinion of melancthon, one of the first and wisest reformers, so it is far from any design of establishing the usurpations of the papacy, or any of their false doctrines attending them, but only designed as an expedient for the restoring the peace of the whole christian world, which every disciple of christ is so passionately required to contend and pray for.' "at the conclusion of the doctor's _continuation of the defence of_ hugo grotius, he thus expresses himself: "'as this is an act of mere justice and charity to the dead,--and no less to those who, by their sin of uncharitable thoughts towards him, are likely to deprive themselves of the benefit of his labours,--so is it but a proportionable return of debt and gratitude to the signal value and kindness, which in his lifetime, he constantly professed to pay to this church and nation, expressing his opinion, "that of all churches in the world, it was the most careful observer and transcriber of primitive antiquity," and more than intimating his desire to end his days in the bosom and communion of our mother. of this i want not store of witnesses, which from time to time have heard it from his own mouth whilst he was ambassador in france, and even in his return to sweden, immediately before his death; and for a real evidence of this truth, it is no news to many, that, at the taking his journey from paris, he appointed his wife, whom he left behind, to resort to the english assembly at the agent's house, which accordingly she is known to have practised.'"] [footnote : calvinism and arminianism compared, introduction, cxxxii.] [footnote : a dialogue on the reformation was also in the contemplation of mr. gibbon: "i have," he says in the memoirs of his life and writings,[ ] "sometimes thought of writing a dialogue of the dead, in which luther, erasmus and voltaire should mutually acknowledge the danger of exposing an old superstition to the contempt of the blind and fanatic multitude."] [footnote : vol. i. p. , of the vo. edition of his works.] [footnote : a full account of the writings of _wicelius_, and of his projects of pacification, is given by _father simon_ in the _biblioteque critique, par m. de sainjore_, tom. ii. ch. . he concludes it, by observing, that "the great love which wicelius had for the peace of the church, might induce him to use expressions, somewhat harsh, but which really ought not to be censured with too much rigour. it is evident that his only view was to be useful to persons of his own time, to whom he consecrated the latter part of his life.--i do not recollect to have read that he was censured at rome, and the spanish inquisitors seem to have observed the same moderation in his regard."] [footnote : xvi. cent. book v. p. , in the englsh translation.] [footnote : see mosheim's ecclesiastical history, cent. xvii. ch. ii. sect. ii. part ii.] [footnote : eccles. hist. cent. xvi. ch. ii. sect. iii. part. ii.] [footnote : observat. hallen, t. p. .] [footnote : it is a prayer addressed to jesus christ, and suited to the condition of a dying person who builds his hope on the mediator. _m. le clerc_ has inserted it at length in the _sentimens de quelques theologiens de hollande_, lettre, p. .] [footnote : boswell's life of samuel johnson, d vol. p. . d edition.] [footnote : the author's "confessions of faith," mention this convention, its dissolution, and the subsequent union of the helvetian, and bohemian protestant congregations, in the synods, held at astrog, in the years , and . the original settlement of these churches, was in bohemia, and moravia. persecution scattered the members of them: a considerable number of the fugitives, settled at herrenhut, a village in lusatia. there, under the protection and guidance of count zinzendorf, they formed themselves into a new community, which was designed to comprehend their actual and future congregations, under the title of "_the protestant church of the unitas fratrum, or united brethren of the confession of augsburgh_." that confession is their only symbolic book; but they profess great esteem for the eighteen first chapters of the synodical document of the church of berne in , as a declaration of true christian doctrine. they also respect, the writings of count zinzendorf, but do not consider themselves, bound by any opinion, sentiment, or expression, which these contain. it is acknowledged, that, towards the middle of the last century, they used in their devotional exercises, particularly in their hymns, many expressions justly censurable: but these have been corrected. they consider lutherans and calvinists, to be their brethren in faith, as according with them in the essential articles of religion; and therefore, when any of their members reside at a distance from a congregation of the united brethren, they not only attend a lutheran, or calvinist church, but receive the sacrament, from its ministers, without scruple. in this, they profess to act in conformity to the convention at sendomer. the union, which prevails both among the congregations, and the individuals which compose them, their modest and humble carriage, their moderation in lucrative pursuits, the simplicity of their manners, their laborious industry, their frugal habits, their ardent but mild piety, and their regular discharge of all their spiritual observances, are universally acknowledged and admired. their charities are boundless, their kindness to their poor brethren is most edifying; there is not among them a beggar. the care, which they bestow, on the education of their children, in forming their minds, chastening their hearts, and curbing their imaginations,--particularly in those years, "when youth, elate and gay, steps into life and follows, unrestrained, where passion leads, or reason points the way." _lowth._ are universally acknowledged, universally admired, and deserve universal imitation. but, it is principally, by the extent and success of their missionary labours, that they now engage, the attention of the public. these began, in . in , they had thirty-three settlements, in heathen nations. one hundred and thirty-seven missionaries, were employed in them: they had baptized, twenty-seven thousand, four hundred converts: and such had been their care, in admitting them to that sacred rite, and such their assiduity, in cultivating a spirit of religion, among them, that scarcely an individual, had been known, to relapse into paganism. all travellers, who have visited their settlements, speak with wonder, and praise, of the humility, the patient endurance of privation, and hardship, the affectionate zeal, the mild, and persevering exertions of the missionaries; and the innocence, industry and piety of the converts:--the european, the american, the african, and the asiatic traveller speaks of them, in the same terms: and, that they speak without exaggeration, the conduct both of the pastor, and the flock in the different settlements of the united brethren in england, incontestibly proves. whatever he may think of their religious tenets, _talis cum sitis, utinam nostri essetis_, must be the exclamation of every christian, who considers their lives. those, who desire further knowledge of this amiable, and worthy denomination of christians, will find it in _david cranz's ancient and modern history of the brethren, printed at barby, , and the two continuations of it, barby_, , and . the history has been translated into english; and is become exceedingly scarce; the continuations have not been translated. mr. la trobe, the pastor of the united brethren in london, has published a _concise historical account of the protestant church of the united brethren adhering to the confession of augsburgh_.] [footnote : epist. , p. .] [footnote : ib. epist. .] [footnote : epist. part. i. epist. . part ii. epist. . the french public strongly suspected the cardinal of this design. it gave rise to the celebrated libel, entitled "_optatus gallus,_" _grotius_, (lit. .) notices a prophecy of nostradamus, then in circulation: "_celui qui était bien avant dans le regne, ayant chat rouge, proche, hierarchie, apre et cruel, et se fera tant craindre, succedera, a sacrée monarchie._" if the event in question had happened, nostradamus would have passed, with many for a prophet.] [footnote : eclaircissemens de l'édit de nantes, page . c. .] [footnote : v. . p. , .] [footnote : we are grieved to add, that he allowed the _right_ of a sovereign to persecute for religion.] [footnote : this article is extracted from oeuvres posthumes de bossuet, vol. i. nouvelle édition des oeuvres de bossuet, vol. ii. leibnizii opera, studio ludovici dutens, vol. i. and v. and the pensées de leibniz, vol. ii. vo.] [footnote : tom. xiii.] [footnote : see the appendix to the sermons of dr. jebb, the present excellent bishop of limerick.--cadel, .] * * * * * luke hansard & sons, near lincoln's-inn fields, london. * * * * * by the same author, the life of erasmus: with historical remarks on the state of literature between the tenth and sixteenth centuries. [transcriber's note: this document contains several illustrations of letters and posters. where possible, the text on these illustrations has been included in the description of the illustration.] [illustration: his majesty, albert, king of the belgians _photograph by boute, brussels_] a journal from our legation in belgium by hugh gibson secretary of the american legation in brussels illustrated from photographs new york grosset & dunlap publishers _copyright, , by_ doubleday, page & company _all rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign languages, including the scandinavian._ to my mother list of illustrations his majesty, albert, king of the belgians _front_ facing page facsimile of the first page of the german ultimatum to belgium (_in the text_) pass issued by the belgian military authorities to enable mr. gibson to enter the german legation at brussels maître gaston de leval, legal adviser to the american legation in brussels her majesty, elizabeth, queen of the belgians mr. brand whitlock, american minister to belgium german supply train entering brussels german infantry entering brussels german officers and soldiers were always ready to oblige by posing for the camera "mit gott für kaiser und reich" count guy d'oultremont from left to right: colonel ducane, captain ferguson and colonel fairholme pass issued by general von jarotzky (_in text_) letter signed by burgomaster max requesting the belgian authorities to allow mr. gibson to pass (_in text_) boy scouts at belgian headquarters reading from left to right: a belgian staff officer, colonel fairholme, colonel ducane and captain ferguson list of the civilians killed by the germans at tamines on august , entrance to the rue de diest, louvain the dead and the living. a belgian civilian and a german soldier pass issued by field-marshal von der goltz (_in text_) a street in louvain fixing on the white flag for the dash between the lines refugees from the villages near the antwerp forts arrival in antwerp of refugees from malines at malines--a good background for a photograph to send home to germany his eminence, cardinal mercier fire at namur during the bombardment effect of big german shell on fort of waehlem outside view of the fort of waehlem after bombardment view of the meuse at huy refugees fleeing toward dunkirk before the german advance graves of civilians shot by the germans a typical proclamation views of the fort of waehlem after its bombardment herbert c. hoover french howitzer near h---- german camp kitchen von bulow's greeting to the people of liège (_in text_) how the simple pleasures of the german soldiers were restricted (_in text_) aux habitants de la belgique (_in text_) appeal of the queen of the belgians for help from america (_in text_) julius van hee, american vice-counsel at ghent lewis richards a brussels soup-kitchen run by volunteers meals served to the children in the schools german proclamation announcing the execution of miss cavell (_in text_) miss edith cavell fly-leaf of miss cavell's prayer book notes in miss cavell's prayer book , introduction this volume is not a carefully prepared treatise on the war. it does not set out to prove anything. it is merely what its title indicates--a private journal jotted down hastily from day to day in odd moments, when more pressing duties would permit. much material has been eliminated as of little interest. other material of interest has been left out because it cannot be published at this time. it is believed, however, that what is printed here will suffice to give some idea of life in belgium during the first few months of the war. i have eliminated from the journal most of the matter about the early history of the commission for relief in belgium. my day-to-day record did not do any sort of justice to the subject, and since it was not adequate, i have preferred to eliminate all but such casual reference to the relief work as is necessary to maintain the narrative. i am reconciled to this treatment of the subject by the knowledge that the story will be told comprehensively and well by dr. vernon kellogg, who will soon publish an authoritative history of the commission's work. as former director of the commission in belgium, he has the detailed knowledge of its workings and the sympathetic understanding of its purpose, which peculiarly fit him for the task. the work of the commission is of a scope and significance that few of us realise. it is without doubt the greatest humanitarian enterprise in history, conducted under conditions of almost incredible difficulty. to those who had an understanding of the work, it had a compelling appeal, not only as an opportunity for service but also as the greatest conservation project of all time--the conservation of one of the finest races of our civilisation. in its inception and execution, the work of the commission is distinctively american. its inception was in the mind of herbert hoover; in its execution he had the whole-hearted assistance of a little band of quiet american gentlemen who laboured in belgium from the autumn of until we entered the war in april of this year. they came from all parts of our country and from all walks of life. they were simple work-a-day americans, welded together by unwavering devotion to the common task and to herbert hoover, the "chief." it was the splendid human side of the commission that made it succeed in spite of all obstacles, and that part of the story will be hard to tell. the gallant little band is now widely scattered. some are carrying on their old work from holland or england or america in order to ensure a steady flow of food to belgium. others are serving our government in various capacities or fighting in the armies of our allies. some of them we shall not see again and there will never be another reunion, as in the old days, when the "chief" came over from london to brussels with work to be done. but the bright light of kindly human service which brought them all together is still aflame and will always be an inspiration to those who served, however humbly, in the great work. washington, d.c., sept. , . a journal from our legation in belgium _brussels, july , ._--after years of hard work and revolutions and wars and rumours of war, the change to this quiet post has been most welcome and i have wallowed in the luxury of having time to play. for the last year or two i have looked forward to just such a post as this, where nothing ever happens, where there is no earthly chance of being called out of bed in the middle of the night to see the human race brawling over its differences. when pounding along in the small hours of the night, nearly dead with fatigue, i have thought that i should like to have a long assignment to just such a post and become a diplomatic lotos eater. and at first it was great fun. that phase lasted until i had had a thorough rest, and then the longing for something more active began to manifest itself. i sat down and wrote to the department of state that while i greatly appreciated having been sent to this much-coveted post i was ready whenever there might be need of my services to go where there was work to be done. * * * * * _july , ._--well, the roof has fallen in. war was declared this afternoon by austria. the town is seething with excitement and everybody seems to realise how near they are to the big stage. three classes of reserves have already been called to the colours to defend belgian neutrality. a general mobilisation is prepared and may be declared at any time. the bourse has been closed to prevent too much play on the situation, and let things steady themselves. in every other way the hatches have been battened down and preparations made for heavy weather. to-night the streets are crowded and demonstrations for and against war are being held. the socialists have jaurés, their french leader, up from paris, and have him haranguing an anti-war demonstration in the grande place, where a tremendous crowd has collected. nobody on earth can see where it will all lead. england is trying hard to localise the conflict, and has valuable help. if she does not succeed * * * an advance guard of tourists is arriving from france, germany, and switzerland, and a lot of them drop in for advice as to whether it is safe for them to go to various places in europe. and most of them seem to feel that we really have authoritative information as to what the next few days are to bring forth, and resent the fact that we are too disobliging to tell them the inside news. a deluge of this sort would be easier for a full-sized embassy to grapple with, but as belgium is one of those places where nothing ever happens we have the smallest possible organisation, consisting on a peace basis of the minister and myself, with one clerk. we shall have somehow to build up an emergency force to meet the situation. * * * * * _july th._--no line on the future yet. brussels is beginning to look warlike. troops are beginning to appear. the railway stations have been occupied, and the boy scouts are swarming over the town as busy as bird dogs. a week ago there was hardly a tourist in brussels. now the legation hall is filled with them, and they all demand precise information as to what is going to happen next and where they can go with a guarantee from the legation that they will not get into trouble. * * * * * _july st._--no, my recent remarks about nothing ever happening in brussels were not intended as sarcasm. i thought belgium was the one place where i could be sure of a quiet time, and here we are right in the centre of it. even if nothing more happens we have had enough excitement to last me for some time. the doings of the past few days have brought out some idea of what a general european war would mean--and it is altogether too dreadful to think of. * * * * * _saturday, aug. st._--last night when i went home, at about midnight, i found the police going about with the orders for mobilisation, ringing the door bells and summoning the men to the colours. there was no time to tarry, but each man tumbled out of bed into his clothes and hurried away to his regiment. two of my neighbours were routed out a little after midnight, and got away within the hour. there was a good deal of weeping and handshaking and farewelling, and it was not the sort of thing to promote restful sleep. this morning i got down to the chancery at a quarter past eight, and found that omer, our good messenger, had been summoned to the colours. he had gone, of course, and had left a note for me to announce the fact. he had been ill, and could perfectly well have been exempted. the other day, when we had discussed the matter, i had told him that there would be no difficulty in getting him off. he showed no enthusiasm, however, and merely remarked, without heroics, that it was up to him. colonel falls, th regiment, of the national guard of new york, came in, having been sent back from the frontier. he had the pleasure of standing all the way as the trains were packed. millard shaler, the american mining engineer, who had just come back from the congo, came in with his amusing belgian friend who had been telling us for weeks about the wonderful new car in which he was investing. this time he came around to let me have a look at it, he having been advised that the car was requisitioned and due to be taken over to-day. we have done a land-office business in passports, and shall probably continue to turn them out by the dozen. * * * * * _sunday, august d._--another hectic day with promise of more to come. this morning i came down a little earlier than usual and found the minister already hard at it. he had been routed out of bed and had not had time to bathe or shave. there was nothing to show that it was a sunday--nearly twice as many callers as yesterday, and they were more exacting. mrs. a---- b---- c---- came in airily and announced that she had started from paris yesterday on a motor tour through france and belgium. having got this far, some rude person had told her that her motor might be seized by the government for military purposes and that an order had been promulgated forbidding any one to take cars out of the country. she came around confidently to have us assure her that this was a wicked lie--and needless to say was deeply disappointed in us when we failed to back her up. we had refrained from asking the government to release our own servants from their military obligations and have refused to interfere for anybody else, but that was not enough for her. she left, a highly indignant lady. the story is around town this afternoon that the germans have already crossed the frontier without the formality of a declaration of war--but that remains to be seen. brussels was put under martial law last night, and is now patrolled by grenadiers and lancers. the money situation is bad. all small change has disappeared in the general panic, and none of it has dared show its head during the past few days. the next thing done by panicky people was to pass round word that the government bank notes were no good and would not be honoured. lots of shops are refusing to accept bank notes, and few places can make any change. the police are lined up outside the banks keeping people in line. people in general are frantic with fear, and are trampling each other in the rush to get money out of the banks before the crash that probably will not come. travelers who came here with pockets bulging with express checks and bank notes are unable to get a cent of real money, and nobody shows any enthusiasm over american paper. i have a few bank notes left, and this evening when i went into a restaurant i have patronised ever since my arrival the head waiter refused to change a note for me, and i finally had to leave it and take credit against future meals to be eaten there. we may have our troubles when our small store is gone, but probably the situation will improve and i refuse to worry. and some of our compatriots don't understand why the legation does not have a cellar full of hard money to finance them through their stay in europe. communications, with such parts of the world as we still speak to, are getting very difficult on account of mobilisation, the military having right of way. this morning's paris papers have not come in this evening, and there are no promises as to when we shall see them. the news in the local papers is scarce and doubtful, and i hope for a word from paris. word has just come in that the government has seized the supplies of bread, rice, and beans, and will fix prices for the present. that is a sensible and steadying thing, and should have a good effect. nobody seems to remember that a few days ago serbia was playing a star rôle in this affair. she seems to have faded away behind the scenes. a few days ago, mexico loomed large in the papers and now we have forgotten that she ever existed. albania supplied a lot of table talk, and now we think about as much about her and her troubles as we do about thibet. this afternoon i went around to the rue ducale to take a look at the french legation. the tricolor was flying in the fresh breeze, and there was a big crowd outside cheering itself hoarse. it was made up of men who were called to the colors and were waiting to enroll themselves and get instructions as to where they should report for duty. the air was electric, and every now and then the military band struck up the marseillaise and the crowd instantly became happily delirious. some of them had been standing in the sun for hours waiting to get in and get their orders, but they were just as keenly responsive to the music and the mood of the crowd as anybody. all the crowd in the legation had been working day and night for days, and was dead with fatigue; but, some way, they kept going, and managed to be civil and friendly when i had business with them. how they do it i don't know. a frenchman's politeness must be more deeply ingrained than even i had supposed. on the way back from the legation this evening, i saw von below, the german minister, driving home from the foreign office to his legation. he passed close to me, and i saw that the perspiration was standing out on his forehead. he held his hat in his hand and puffed at a cigarette like a mechanical toy, blowing out jerky clouds of smoke. he looked neither to left nor right, and failed to give me his usual ceremonious bow. he is evidently not at ease about the situation, although he continues to figure in the newspapers as stating that all is well, that germany has no intention of setting foot on belgian soil, and that all belgium has to do is to keep calm. in an interview given to _le soir_ he sums up his reassuring remarks by saying: "your neighbour's house may burn but yours will be safe." * * * * * _august , ._--no mail in to-day. all communications seem to be stopped for the time being at least. mobilisation here and in france requires all the efforts of all hands, and little workaday things like mail and newspapers go by the board. according to the news which was given me when i got out of bed this morning, the german minister last night presented to the belgian government an ultimatum demanding the right to send german troops across belgium to attack france. he was evidently returning from this pleasant duty when i saw him last night, for the ultimatum seems to have been presented at seven o'clock. the king presided over a cabinet council which sat all night; and when the twelve hours given by the ultimatum had expired, at seven this morning, a flat refusal was sent to the german legation. arrangements were got under way, as the council sat, to defend the frontiers of the country against aggression. during the night the garrison left and the garde civique came on duty to police the town. the influx of callers was greater to-day than at any time so far, and we were fairly swamped. miss larner came in and worked like a trojan, taking passport applications and reassuring the women who wanted to be told that the germans would not kill them even when they got to brussels. she is a godsend to us. monsieur de leval, the belgian lawyer who for ten years has been the legal counselor of the legation, came in and brought some good clerks with him. he also hung up his hat and went to work, making all sorts of calls at the foreign office, seeing callers, and going about to the different legations. granville fortescue came in from ostend, and i should have put him to work but that he had plans of his own and has decided to blossom forth as a war correspondent. he is all for getting to the "front" if any. just to see what would happen, i went to the telephone after lunch and asked to be put through to the embassy at london. to my surprise, i got the connection in a few minutes and had a talk with bell, the second secretary. the cabinet had been sitting since eleven this morning, but had announced no decision. i telephoned him again this evening and got the same reply. bell said that they had several hundred people in the chancery and were preparing for a heavy blow. as nearly as we can make out the germans have sent patrols into belgian territory, but there have been no actual operations so far. all day long we have been getting stories to the effect that there has been a battle at visé and that fifteen hundred belgians had been killed; later it was stated that they had driven the germans back with heavy losses. the net result is that at the end of the day we know little more than we did this morning. parliament is summoned to meet in special session to-morrow morning to hear what the king has to say about the german ultimatum. it will be an interesting sight. parliament has long been rent with most bitter factional quarrels, but i hear that all these are to be forgotten and that all parties, socialists included, are to rally round the throne in a great demonstration of loyalty. all the regular troops have been withdrawn from this part of the country and dispatched to the front, leaving the protection of the capital to the garde civique, who are patrolling the streets, to examine the papers of everybody who moves about. this is a sort of local guard made up of people who have not been called for active military service, but who have volunteered for local defense. they are from every class--lawyers and butchers and bakers and dentists and university professors. they have, of course, had little training for this sort of work, and have had only elementary orders to guide them. these they carry out to the letter. there are detachments of them at all sorts of strategic points in the city where they hold up passing vehicles to see who is inside. i have been stopped by them goodness knows how many times this day. they hold up the car, look inside, apologise, and explain good-naturedly that they are obliged to bother me, asking who i am, and after i have satisfied them with papers that any well-equipped spy would be ashamed of, they let me go on with more apologies. they rejoice in a traditional uniform topped off by a derby hat with kangaroo feathers on it. this is anything but martial in appearance and seems to affect their funny bone as it does mine. * * * * * _august th._--yesterday morning we got about early and made for the chamber of deputies to hear the king's speech. the minister and i walked over together and met a few straggling colleagues headed in the same direction. most of them had got there ahead of us, and the galleries were all jammed. the rue royale, from the palace around the park to the parliament building, was packed with people, held in check by the garde civique. there was a buzz as of a thousand bees and every face was ablaze--the look of a people who have been trampled on for hundreds of years and have not learned to submit. the garde civique had two bands in front of the senate, and they tried to play the brabançonne in unison. neither of them could play the air in tune, and they were about a bar apart all the time. they played it through and then began to play it over again without a pause between. they blew and pounded steadily for nearly half an hour, and the more they played, the more enthusiastic the crowds became. when i saw how crowded the galleries were i thought i would not push, so resigned myself to missing the speech and went out onto a balcony with webber, of the british legation, to see the arrival of the king and queen. we had the balcony to ourselves, as everybody else was inside fighting for a place in the galleries to hear the speech. when the king and queen finally left the palace we knew it from a roar of cheering that came surging across the park. the little procession came along at a smart trot, and although it was hidden from us by the trees we could follow its progress by the steadily advancing roaring of the mob. when they turned from the rue royale into the rue de la loi, the crowd in front of the parliament buildings took up the cheering in a way to make the windows rattle. first came the staff of the king and members of his household. then the queen, accompanied by the royal children, in an open daumont. the cheering for the queen was full-throated and with no sign of doubt, because of her bavarian birth and upbringing--she is looked on as a belgian queen and nothing else. after the queen came a carriage or two with members of the royal family and the court. finally the king on horseback. he was in the field uniform of a lieutenant-general, with no decorations and none of the ceremonial trappings usual on such occasions as a speech from the throne. he was followed by a few members of his staff who also looked as though they were meant more for business than for dress parade. as the king drew rein and dismounted, the cheering burst forth with twice its former volume; and, in a frantic demonstration of loyalty, hats and sticks were thrown into the air. two bands played on manfully, but we could hear only an occasional discord. just as the king started into the building an usher came out, touched me on the arm and said something, beckoning me to come inside. one of the galleries had been locked by mistake but had now been opened, and webber and i were rewarded for our modesty by being given the whole thing to ourselves. in a few minutes the bolivian chargé came in and joined us. our places were not ten feet from the throne, and we could not have been better placed. the queen came in quietly from one side and took a throne to the left of the tribune, after acknowledging a roaring welcome from the members of the two houses. when the cheering had subsided, the king walked in alone from the right, bowed gravely to the assembly and walked quickly to the dais above and behind the tribune. with a business-like gesture he tossed his cap on to the ledge before him and threw his white cotton gloves into it--then drew out his speech and read it. at first his voice was not very steady but he soon controlled it and read the speech to the end in a voice that was vibrating with emotion but without any oratory or heroics. he went straight to the vital need for union between all factions and all parties, between the french, flemish, and walloon races, between catholics, liberals, and socialists in a determined resistance to the attack upon belgian independence. the house could contain itself for only a few minutes at a time, and as every point was driven home they burst into frantic cheering. when the king, addressing himself directly to the members of parliament, said, "are you determined at any cost to maintain the sacred heritage of our ancestors?" the whole chamber burst into a roar, and from the socialists' side came cries of: "at any cost, by death if need be." it was simple and to the point--a manly speech. and as he delivered it he was a kingly figure, facing for the sake of honour what he knew to be the gravest danger that could ever come to his country and his people. when he had finished he bowed to the queen, then to the parliament, and then walked quickly out of the room, while the assembly roared again. the senators and deputies swarmed about the king on his way out, cheering and trying to shake him by the hand--and none were more at pains to voice their devotion than the socialists. after he had gone the queen rose, bowed shyly to the assembly, and withdrew with the royal children. she was given a rousing ovation as everybody realised the difficulty of her position and was doubly anxious to show her all their confidence and affection. the whole occasion was moving, but when the little queen acknowledged the ovation so shyly and so sadly and withdrew, the tears were pretty near the surface--my surface at any rate. [illustration: facsimile of the first page of the german ultimatum to belgium. kaiserlich brüssel, den . august deutsche gesandtschaft in belgien trés confidentiel. der kaiserlicher regierung liegen zuverlässige nachrichten vor ueber den beabsichtigten aufmarsch französischer streitkräfte an der maas-strecke givet-namur. sie lassen keinen zweifel ueber die absicht frankreichs, durch belgisches gebiet gegen deutschland vorzugehen. die kaiserliche regierung kann sich der besorgniss nicht erwehren, daß belgien, trotz besten willens, nicht im stände sein wird, ohne hilfe einen französischen vormarsch mit so großer aussicht auf erfolg abzuwehren, daß darin eine ausreichende sicherheit gegen die bedrohung deutschlands gefunden werden kann. es ist ein gebot der selbsterhaltung für deutschland, dem feindlichen angriff zuvorzukommen. mit dem größten bedauerns würde es daher die deutsche regierung erfüllen, wenn belgien einen akt der feindseligkeit] [illustration: pass issued by the belgian military authorities to enable mr. gibson to enter the german legation at brussels] [illustration: maître gaston de leval, legal adviser to the american legation in brussels] for several minutes after the queen withdrew the cheering continued. suddenly a tense silence fell upon the room. m. de broqueville, the prime minister, had mounted the tribune and stood waiting for attention. he was clearly under great stress of emotion, and as the house settled itself to hear him he brushed away the tears that had started to his eyes. he began in a very direct way by saying that he would limit himself to reading a few documents and hoped that, after hearing them, the house would consider the government worthy of the confidence that had been reposed in it and that immediate action would be taken upon matters of urgent importance. he first read the german ultimatum,[ ] which was received quietly but with indignation and anger which was with difficulty suppressed. without commenting upon the german note, he then read the reply which had been handed to the german minister.[ ] this was followed by a final note delivered by the german minister this morning stating "that in view of the refusal of the king to accede to the well-intentioned proposals of the emperor, the imperial government, greatly to its regret, was obliged to carry out by force of arms the measures indispensable to its security." after reading these documents he made a short and ringing speech, full of fire, which was repeatedly interrupted by cheers. when he came down from the tribune he was surrounded by cheering senators and deputies struggling to shake his hand and express their approval of his speech. even the socialists who had fought him for years rose to the occasion and vied with their colleagues in their demonstrations of enthusiasm. broqueville rose again and said: "in the present crisis we have received from the opposition a whole-hearted support; they have rallied to our side in the most impressive way in preparing the reply to germany. in order to emphasise this union of all factions, his majesty the king has just signed a decree appointing monsieur vandervelde as a minister of state." this announcement was greeted by roars of applause from all parts of the house, and vandervelde was immediately surrounded by ministers and deputies anxious to congratulate him. his reply to the prime minister's speech was merely a shout above the roar of applause: "i accept." [footnote : the following is the text of the german ultimatum: brussels, august , . very confidential. reliable information has been received by the german government to the effect that french forces intend to march on the line of the meuse by gîvet and namur. this information leaves no doubt as to the intention of france to march through belgian territory against germany. the german government cannot but fear that belgium, in spite of the utmost goodwill, will be unable, without assistance, to repel so considerable a french invasion with sufficient prospect of success to afford an adequate guarantee against danger to germany. it is essential for the self-defence of germany that she should anticipate any such hostile attack. the german government would, however, feel the deepest regret if belgium regarded as an act of hostility against herself the fact that the measures of germany's opponents force germany, for her own protection, to enter belgian territory. in order to exclude any possibility of misunderstanding, the german government make the following declaration: . germany has in view no act of hostility against belgium. in the event of belgium being prepared in the coming war to maintain an attitude of friendly neutrality towards germany, the german government bind themselves, at the conclusion of peace, to guarantee the possessions and independence of the belgian kingdom in full. . germany undertakes, under the above-mentioned condition, to evacuate belgian territory on the conclusion of peace. . if belgium adopts a friendly attitude, germany is prepared, in co-operation with the belgian authorities, to purchase all necessaries for her troops against a cash payment, and to pay an indemnity for any damage that may have been caused by german troops. . should belgium oppose the german troops, and in particular should she throw difficulties in the way of their march by a resistance of the fortresses on the meuse, or by destroying railways, roads, tunnels or other similar works, germany will, to her regret, be compelled to consider belgium as an enemy. in this event, germany can undertake no obligations towards belgium, but the eventual adjustment of the relations between the two states must be left to the decision of arms. the german government, however, entertain the distinct hope that this eventuality will not occur, and that the belgian government will know how to take the necessary measures to prevent the occurrence of incidents such as those mentioned. in this case the friendly ties which bind the two neighbouring states will grow stronger and more enduring.] [footnote : the belgian government replied as follows to the german ultimatum: the german government stated in their note of the nd august, , that according to reliable information french forces intended to march on the meuse via gîvet and namur, and that belgium, in spite of the best intentions, would not be in a position to repulse, without assistance, an advance of french troops. the german government, therefore, considered themselves compelled to anticipate this attack and to violate belgian territory. in these circumstances, germany proposed that the belgian government adopt a friendly attitude towards her, and undertook, on the conclusion of peace, to guarantee the integrity of the kingdom and its possessions to their full extent. the note added that if belgium put difficulties in the way of the advance of german troops, germany would be compelled to consider her as an enemy, and to leave the ultimate adjustment of the relations between the two states to the decision of arms. this note has made a deep and painful impression upon the belgian government. the intentions attributed to france by germany are in contradiction to the formal declarations made to us on august st in the name of the french government. moreover, if contrary to our expectation, belgian neutrality should be violated by france, belgium intends to fulfil her international obligations and the belgian army would offer the most vigorous resistance to the invader. the treaties of , confirmed by the treaties of , vouch for the independence and neutrality of belgium under the guarantee of the powers, and notably of his majesty the king of prussia. belgium has always been faithful to her international obligations; she has carried out her duties in a spirit of loyal impartiality and she has left nothing undone to maintain and enforce respect for her neutrality. the attack upon her independence with which the german government threaten her constitutes a flagrant violation of international law. no strategic interest justifies such a violation of law. the belgian government, if they were able to accept the proposals submitted to them, would sacrifice the honour of the nation and betray their duty towards europe. conscious of the part which belgium has played for more than eighty years in the civilisation of the world, they refuse to believe that the independence of belgium can only be preserved at the price of the violation of her neutrality. if this hope is disappointed the belgian government are firmly resolved to repel, by all the means in their power, every attack upon their rights. brussels, august , ( a.m.).] as we came out, some of the colleagues were gathered about debating whether they should go over to the palace and ask to take leave of the king. they were saved that labour, however, for the king had stepped into a motor at the door and was already speeding to the general headquarters which has been set up nobody knows where. that looks like business. when i got back to the legation i found von stumm, counselor of the german legation, with the news that his chief had received his passports and must leave at once. he had come to ask that the american minister take over the care of the german legation and the protection of the german subjects who had not yet left the country. i said that we could not undertake anything of that sort without authority from washington, and got the minister to telegraph for it when he came in from some hurried visits he had made in search of news. while we were snatching some lunch, von stumm came back with the german minister, von below, and said that some provisional arrangement must be made at once as the staff of the legation would have to leave for the dutch frontier in the course of the afternoon--long before we could hope for an answer from washington. we did not like the idea of doing that sort of thing without the knowledge of washington, but finally agreed to accept the charge provisionally on grounds of humanity, until such time as we should receive specific instructions as to who would be definitely entrusted with the protection of german interests. in case of need, we shall be asked to take over certain other legations and shall have our hands more than full. at five o'clock we went over to the german legation, which we found surrounded by a heavy detachment of garde civique as a measure of protection against violence. we drew up, signed, and sealed a protocol accepting what is known as _la garde des clefs et des sceaux_, until such time as definite arrangements might be made. the minister and von stumm were nearly unstrung. they had been under a great strain for some days and were making no effort to get their belongings together to take them away. they sat on the edge of their chairs, mopped their brows and smoked cigarettes as fast as they could light one from another. i was given a lot of final instructions about things to be done--and all with the statement that they should be done at once, as the german army would doubtless be in brussels in three days. while we were talking, the chancellor of the legation, hofrat grabowsky, a typical white-haired german functionary, was pottering about with sealing wax and strips of paper, sealing the archives and answering questions in a deliberate and perfectly calm way. it was for all the world like a scene in a play. the shaded room, the two nervous diplomats registering anxiety and strain, the old functionary who was to stay behind to guard the archives and refused to be moved from his calm by the approaching cataclysm. it seemed altogether unreal, and i had to keep bringing myself back to a realisation of the fact that it was only too true and too serious. they were very ominous about what an invasion means to this country, and kept referring to the army as a steam roller that will leave nothing standing in its path. stumm kept repeating: "oh, the poor fools! why don't they get out of the way of the steam roller. we don't want to hurt them, but if they stand in our way they will be ground into the dirt. oh, the poor fools!" the government had a special train ready for the german diplomatic and consular officers who were to leave, and they got away about seven. now, thank goodness, they are safely in holland and speeding back to their own country. before leaving, below gave out word that we would look after german interests, and consequently we have been deluged with frightened people ever since. all the germans who have remained here seem to be paralysed with fright, and have for the most part taken refuge in convents, schools, etc. there are several hundreds of them in the german consulate-general which has been provisioned as for a siege. popular feeling is, of course, running high against them, and there may be incidents, but so far nothing has happened to justify the panic. this morning a belgian priest, the abbé upmans, came in to say that he had several hundred germans under his care and wanted some provision made for getting them away before the situation got any worse. after talking the matter over with the minister and getting his instructions, i took the abbé in tow, and with monsieur de leval went to the foreign office to see about getting a special train to take these people across the border into holland and thence to germany. at first, the suggestion was received with some resentment and i was told flatly that there was no good reason for belgium to hand over special trains to benefit germans when every car was needed for military operations. i pleaded that consideration must be shown these helpless people and that this course was just as much in the interest of belgium as of anybody else, as it would remove the danger of violence with possible reprisals and would relieve the overworked police force of onerous duties. after some argument, baron donny went with me to the sûreté publique where we went over the matter again with the chief. he got the point at once, and joined forces with us in a request to the minister of railways for a special train. we soon arranged matters as far as the belgian frontier. i then telephoned through to the hague, got marshal langhorne and asked him to request the dutch government to send another train to the frontier to pick our people up and send them through to germany. he went off with a right good will to arrange that, and i hope to have an answer in the morning. we plan to start the train on friday morning at four o'clock, so as to get our people through the streets when there are few people about. we are making it known that all germans who wish to leave should put in an appearance by that time, and it looks as though we should have from seven hundred to a thousand to provide for. it will be a great relief to get them off, and i hold my breath until the train is safely gone. the belgian government is making no distinction between germans, and is letting those liable for military service get away with the others. wild stories have begun to circulate about what is bound to happen to americans and other foreigners when hostilities get nearer to brussels, and we have had to spend much time that could have been devoted to better things in calming a lot of excitable people of both sexes. i finally dug out the plan of organisation of the foreigners for the siege of peking and suggested to the minister that, in order to give these people something to do and let them feel that something was being done, we should get them together and appoint them all on committees to look after different things. this was done to-day. committees were appointed to look for a house where americans could be assembled in case of hostilities in the immediate vicinity of brussels; to look after the food supply; to attend to catering; to round up americans and see that they get to the place of refuge when the time comes; to look after destitute americans, etc. now they are all happy and working like beavers, although there is little chance that their work will serve any useful purpose aside from keeping them occupied. we got mrs. shaler to open up the students' club, which had been closed for the summer, so that the colony can have a place to meet and work for the red cross and keep its collective mind off the gossip that is flying about. last night our cipher telegrams to washington were sent back from the telegraph office with word that under the latest instructions from the government they could not be forwarded. the minister and i hurried over to the foreign office, where we found several of the colleagues on the same errand. it was all a mistake, due to the fact that the general staff had issued a sweeping order to stop all cipher messages without stopping to consider our special case. it was fixed after some debate, and the minister and i came back to the shop and got off our last telegrams, which were finished at three this morning. i was back at my desk by a little after eight and have not finished this day's work, although it is after midnight. i have averaged from three to five hours sleep since the trouble began and, strange to say, i thrive on it. i have called several times to-day at the french and british legations to get the latest news. they keep as well posted as is possible in the prevailing confusion, and are most generous and kind in giving us everything they properly can. there seems to have been a serious engagement to-day at liège, which the germans are determined to reduce before proceeding toward france. the report is that the attack was well resisted and the germans driven back with heavy loss. a number of prisoners have been taken and were being brought into brussels this evening along with the wounded. in the course of the fighting there was a sort of charge of the light brigade; one squadron of belgian lancers was obliged to attack six times its number of germans and was cut to pieces, only one officer escaping. the morale of the belgians is splendid. this afternoon as the minister and i were going to call on the british minister, we passed the king and his staff headed out the rue de la loi for the front. they looked like business. several times to-day i have talked over the telephone with the embassy in london. they seem to be as strong on rumours as we are here. one rumour i was able to pass on to bell was to the effect that the british flagship had been sunk by german mines with another big warship. another to the effect that five german ships have been destroyed by the french fleet off the coast of algeria, etc., etc. the red cross is hard at work getting ready to handle the wounded, and everybody is doing something. nearly everybody with a big house has fitted it in whole or in part as a hospital. others are rolling bandages and preparing all sorts of supplies. the military attachés are all going about in uniform now. each legation has a flag on its motor and the letters c.d.--which are supposed to stand for corps diplomatique, although nobody knows it. i have seized mrs. boyd's big car for my own use. d.l. blount has put his car at the disposal of the minister and is to drive it himself. there is talk already of moving the court and the government to antwerp, to take refuge behind the fortifications. when the germans advance beyond liège, the government will, of course, have to go, and the diplomatic corps may follow. it would be a nuisance for us, and i hope we may be able to avoid it. germans are having an unhappy time, and i shall be happier when they are across the border. nothing much seems to have happened to them beyond having a few shops wrecked in antwerp and one or two people beaten up here. one case that came to my knowledge was an outraged man who had been roughly handled and could not understand why. all he had done was to stand in front of a café where the little tables are on the sidewalk and remark: "talk all the french you can. you'll soon have to talk german." of course there are a lot of belgians, swiss and dutch who rejoice in good german names and they are not having a pleasant time. one restaurant called chez fritz, i saw when coming along the boulevard this evening, had hung out a blackboard with the proud device: "_fritz est luxembourgeois, mais sa maison est belge._" he was taking no chances on having the place smashed. * * * * * _august th._--this morning when i came into the legation i found the minister of justice in top hat and frock coat waiting to see somebody. he had received a report that a wireless station had been established on top of the german legation and was being run by the people who were left in the building. he came to ask the minister's consent to send a judge to look, see and draw up a _procès verbal_. in our own artless little american way we suggested that it might be simpler to go straight over and find out how much there was to the report. the minister of justice had a couple of telegraph linemen with him, and as soon as mr. whitlock could get his hat, we walked around the corner to the german legation, rang the bell, told the startled occupants that we wanted to go up to the garret and--up we went. when we got there we found that the only way onto the roof was by a long perpendicular ladder leading to a trap door. we all scrambled up this--all but the minister of justice, who remained behind in the garret with his top hat. we looked the place over very carefully, and the workmen--evidently in order to feel that they were doing something--cut a few wires which probably resulted in great inconvenience to perfectly harmless people farther along the street. but there was no evidence of a wireless outfit. one of the men started to explain to me how that proved nothing at all; that an apparatus was now made that could be concealed in a hat and brought out at night to be worked. he stopped in the middle of a word, for suddenly we heard the rasping intermittent hiss of a wireless very near at hand. everybody stiffened up like a lot of pointers, and in a minute had located the plant. it was nothing but a rusty girouette on top of a chimney being turned by the wind and scratching spitefully at every turn. the discovery eased the strain and everybody laughed. then there was another sound, and we all turned around to see a trap door raised and the serene, bemonocled face of my friend cavalcanti looked out on us in bewilderment. in our search we had strayed over onto the roof of the brazilian legation. it seemed to cause him some surprise to see us doing second-story work on their house. it was a funny situation--but ended in another laugh. it is a good thing we can work in a laugh now and then. the day was chiefly occupied with perfecting arrangements for getting off our german refugees. the minister wished the job on me, and i with some elements of executive ability myself gave the worst part of it to nasmith, the vice-consul-general. modifications became necessary every few minutes, and leval and i were running around like stricken deer all day, seeing the disheartening number of government officials who were concerned, having changes made and asking for additional trains. during the afternoon more and more germans came pouring into the consulate for refuge, until there were over two thousand of them there, terribly crowded and unhappy. several convents were also packed, and we calculated that we should have two or three thousand to get out of the country. in the morning the legation was besieged by numbers of poor people who did not know which way to turn and came to us because they had been told that we would take care of them. we were all kept busy; and leval, smothering his natural feelings, came out of his own accord and talked and advised and calmed the frightened people in their own language. none of us would have asked him to do it, but he was fine enough to want to help and to do it without any fuss. a crowd of curious people gathered outside the legation to watch the callers, and now and then they boo-ed a german. i looked out of the window in time to see somebody in the crowd strike at a poor little worm of a man who had just gone out the door. he was excited and foolish enough to reach toward his hip pocket as though for a revolver. in an instant the crowd fell on him; and although gustave, the messenger, and i rushed out we were just in time to pull him inside and slam the door before they had a chance to polish him off. gustave nearly had his clothes torn off in the scrimmage, but stuck to his job. an inspired idiot of an american tourist who was inside tried to get the door open and address the crowd in good american, and i had to handle him most undiplomatically to keep him from getting us all into trouble. the crowd thumped on the door a little in imitation of a mob scene, and the garde civique had to be summoned on the run from the german legation to drive them back and establish some semblance of order. then de leval and i went out and talked to the crowd--that is to say, we went out and he talked to the crowd. he told them very reasonably that they were doing harm to belgium, as actions of this sort might bring reprisals which would cost the country dear, and that they must control their feelings. he sounded the right note so successfully that the crowd broke up with a cheer. orders have been issued to permit us free use of the telephone and telegraph, although they have been cut for everybody else. yesterday afternoon i talked with the consulates at ghent and antwerp. they were both having their troubles with germans who wanted to get out of the country. i told them to send everybody up here and let them report at their own consulate, where they will be looked after. the government is taking no chances of having trouble because of the doings of francs-tireurs. the minister of the interior sent out, on the th, a circular to every one of the , communes in the country to be posted everywhere. the circular points out in simple and emphatic terms the duty of civilians to refrain from hostile acts and makes it clear that civilians might be executed for such acts. aside from this, every newspaper in the country has printed the following notice signed by the minister of the interior: to civilians the minister of the interior advises civilians, in case the enemy should show himself in their district: not to fight; to utter no insulting or threatening words; to remain within their houses and close the windows, so that it will be impossible to allege that there has been any provocation; to evacuate any houses or small village which may be occupied by soldiers in order to defend themselves, so that it cannot be alleged that civilians have fired; an act of violence committed by a single civilian would be a crime for which the law provides arrest and punishment. it is all the more reprehensible in that it might serve as a pretext for measures of repression resulting in bloodshed and pillage or the massacre of the innocent population with women and children. in the course of the afternoon we got our telegrams telling of the appropriation by congress of two and a half millions for the relief of americans in europe, and the despatch of the _tennessee_ with the money on board. now all hands want some of the money and a cabin on the _tennessee_ to go home in. ----, the wheat king, came into the legation this morning and was very grateful because we contrived to cash out of our own pockets a twenty-dollar express check for him. he was flat broke with his pocket bulging with checks and was living in a _pension_ at six francs a day. there is going to be a lot of discomfort and suffering unless some money is made available pretty soon. the worst of it is that this is the height of the tourist season and europe is full of school-teachers and other people who came over for short trips with meager resources carefully calculated to get them through their traveling and home again by a certain date. if they are kept long they are going to be in a bad way. one of our american colony here, heineman, had a goodly store of currency and had placed it at the disposal of the legation, to be used in cashing at face value travelers' checks and other similar paper which bankers will not touch now with a pair of tongs. shaler has taken charge of that end of the business and has all the customers he can handle. heineman will have to bide his time to get any money back on all his collection of paper, and his contribution has meant a lot to people who will never know who helped them. [illustration: her majesty, elisabeth, queen of the belgians _photograph by underwood & underwood_] [illustration: mr. brand whitlock, american minister to belgium] there was a meeting of the diplomatic corps last night to discuss the question of moving with the court to antwerp in certain eventualities. it is not expected that the government will move unless and until the germans get through liège and close enough to threaten louvain, which is only a few miles out of brussels. there was no unanimous decision on the subject, but if the court goes, the minister and i will probably take turns going up, so as to keep in communication with the government. there is not much we can accomplish there, and we have so much to do here that it will be hard for either of us to get away. it appeals to some of the colleagues to take refuge with a court in distress, but i can see little attraction in the idea of settling down inside the line of forts and waiting for them to be pounded with heavy artillery. liège seems to be holding out still. the belgians have astonished everybody, themselves included. it was generally believed even here that the most they could do was to make a futile resistance and get slaughtered in a foolhardy attempt to defend their territory against invasion. they have, however, held off a powerful german attack for three or four days. it is altogether marvelous. all papers have the head lines: "_les forts tiennent toujours._" in the course of the afternoon we arranged definitely that at three o'clock this morning there should be ample train accommodations ready at the gare du nord to get our germans out of the country. nasmith and i are to go down and observe the entire proceedings, so that we can give an authoritative report afterward. there is a german-american girl married to a german who lives across the street from me. i sent her word to-day that she and her husband and little boy had better get away while there was a way open. last evening while we were at dinner at the legation the three of them arrived in a panic. they had heard that there was a mob of ten thousand people about the german consulate about to break in and kill every german in the place. of course they could not be persuaded to go near the consulate or any of the other refuges. they wanted to settle down and stay at the legation. as the minister was on his way out to the meeting of the corps, the woman waylaid him, had got down on her knees and kissed his hand and groveled and had hysterics. he called for me and we got them quieted down. i finally agreed to go down to the consulate and take a look so as to reassure them. when i got there i found that the streets had been barred off by the military for two blocks in every direction, and that there was only a small crowd gathered to see what might happen. about as hostile as a lot of children. i got through the line of troops and in front of the consulate found several hundreds of the refugees who had been brought out to be marched to the cirque royale, where they could be more comfortably lodged until it was time to start for the train. they were surrounded by placid gardes civiques and were all frightened to death. they had had nothing to do for days but talk over the terrible fate that awaited them if the bloodthirsty population of brussels ever got at them; the stories had grown so that the crowd had hypnotised itself and was ready to credit any yarn. the authorities showed the greatest consideration they could under their orders. they got the crowd started and soon had them stowed away inside the cirque royale, an indoor circus near the consulate. once they got inside, a lot of them gave way to their feelings and began to weep and wail in a way that bade fair to set off the entire crowd. one of the officers came out to where i was and begged me to come in and try my hand at quieting them. i climbed up on a trunk and delivered an eloquent address to the effect that nobody had any designs on them; that the whole interest of the belgian government lay in getting them safely across the frontier; called their attention to the way the garde civique was working to make them comfortable, and to reassure them, promised that i would go with them to the station, put them on their trains, and see them safely off for the frontier. that particular crowd cheered up somewhat, but i could not get near enough to be heard by the entire outfit at one time, so one of the officers dragged me around from one part of the building to another until i had harangued the entire crowd on the instalment plan. they all knew that we were charged with their interests, and there was nearly a riot when i wanted to leave. they expected me to stay right there until they were taken away. i came back to the legation and told my people that the way was clear and that they had nothing to worry about. mrs. whitlock and miss larner had taken the family in hand, were petting the baby boy, and had them all cheered up to a sensible state of mind. i got them into the motor and whisked them down to the lines that were drawn about the block. here we were stopped and, sooner than undertake a joint debate with the sentry, i was for descending and going the rest of the way on foot. when a few of the idly curious gathered about the car, the woman nearly had a fit and scrambled back into the car almost in spasms. of course the scene drew some more people and we soon had a considerable crowd. i gathered up the boy--who was a beauty and not at all afraid--and took him out of the car. there was in the front rank an enormous belgian with a fiercely bristling beard. he looked like a sane sort, so i said to him: "_expliquez à ces gens que vous n'êtes pas des ogres pour croquer les enfants._" he growled out affably: "_mais non, on ne mange pas les enfants, ni leurs mères,_" and gathered up the baby and passed him about for the others to look at. my passengers then decided that they were not in such mortal danger and consented to get out. an officer i knew came along and offered to escort them inside. on the way in i ran into madame carton de wiart, wife of the minister of justice, who was there to do what she could to make things run smoothly. she is rabid about the germans, but is not for taking it out on these helpless people. and that seems to be the spirit of everybody, although it would be quite understandable if they showed these people some of their resentment. the gardes were bestirring themselves to look after their charges. some of them had contributed their pocket money and had bought chocolate and milk for the children and mineral waters and other odds and ends for those that needed them. and some of them are not very sure as to how long they will have pocket money for themselves. aside from the fright and the heat and the noise of that crowd in the cirque, it was all pretty depressing. during the night one old man died--probably from fright and shock--and a child was born. it was altogether a night of horror that could perfectly well have been avoided if people had only been able to keep calm and stay at home until time for the train to leave. having settled my charges and taken a look round, i went back to the legation and got off some telegrams and talked with bell over the telephone. he had a lot of news that we had not received and many errands to be done for people who had friends and relatives here. a little after midnight friend nasmith came along and we set out together for our rounds. we first took a look at one or two places and then went to my diggings for a sandwich and such rest as we could get before time to start on our round-up. soon after midnight, fortescue came rolling up in a cab looking for a place to lay his head. he had just come in from liège, where he had had a close view of yesterday morning's heavy fighting. he said the germans were pouring men in between the forts in solid formation, and that these sheep were being mown down by the belgians heavily intrenched between the forts. the germans are apparently determined to get some of their men through between the forts and are willing to pay the price, whatever it may be. to-day we hear that the germans have asked for an armistice of twenty-four hours to bury their dead. after we had hung upon his words as long as he could keep going, nasmith and i got under way to look after our exodus. the garde was keeping order at all places where there were refugees, and i was easy in my mind about that; my only worry was as to what might happen when we got our people out into the streets. promptly at three o'clock we began to march them out of the cirque. the hour was carefully chosen as the one when there were the least possible people in the streets; the evening crowds would have gone home and the early market crowd would hardly have arrived. a heavy guard was thrown around the people as they came out of the building and they were marched quickly and quietly down back streets to the gare du nord. i never saw such a body of people handled so quickly and yet without confusion. in the station four trains were drawn up side by side; as the stream of people began pouring into the station, it was directed to the first platform and the train was filled in a few minutes. at just the right moment the stream was deflected to the next platform, and so on until all four trains were filled. after starting the crowd into the station and seeing that there was going to be no trouble, i set off with an officer of the garde civique to see about other parties coming from some of the convents. they had not waited for us, but were already moving, so that when we got back to the station they tacked onto the end of the first party and kept the stream flowing. as fast as the trains were filled, the signal was given and they pulled out silently. i stood behind some of the garde civique and watched the crowd pour in. the gardes did not know who i was aside from the fact that my presence seemed to be countenanced by their officers, and so i overheard what they had to say. they were a decent lot and kept saying: _mais c'est malheureux tout de même! regardez donc ces pauvres gens. ce n'est pas de leur faute_, and a lot more of that sort of thing. it takes a pretty fine spirit to be able to treat the enemy that way. a lot of people in the passing crowd spotted me and stopped to say good-bye or called out as they went by. it was pathetic to see how grateful they were for the least kind word. i never saw such a pitiful crowd in my life and hope i never may again. they hurried along, looking furtively to right and left with the look of a rat that is in fear of his life. i have seldom pitied people more, for that sort of fear must be the most frightful there is--simple fear of physical violence. it was remarkable to see the different classes of people who were there. the manager of a bank of brussels had abandoned everything he owned and joined the crowd. there were several financiers of standing who felt obliged to flee with their families. and there were lots of servants who had lived here for years and were really belgian in everything but birth. just before the last train left some closed wagons came from the prisons to bring a lot of germans and wish them back on their own country in this way. and there was not an incident. here and there a prowling cab driver hooted, but there was not a stone thrown or any other violence. before the last of the procession got into the station, it was nearly six o'clock and broad daylight. we moved up the platform with major dandoy and watched the last train leave. the abbé upmans was there through it all, working like a trump, bucking the people up; he did not stop until the last train pulled out into the fresh summer morning, and then he stayed aboard after the train was in motion to shake hands with a little handful of downhearted people. he shook himself and heaved a sigh of relief--remarking quietly that his duty had required him to go through all this and look after his charges while they were in trouble--but that now he might have the satisfaction of being a belgian. i too heaved a sigh of relief, but it was because the mob was safely off and i need not worry about street fighting. dandoy had not had any sleep for nearly sixty hours, and though nasmith and i were pretty tired ourselves, we thought the least we could do was to take him home. his family is in liège and he has not been able to get any word from them. i offered to try a telephone message to the consul at liège, but have had no luck with it. none the less, dandoy has been most grateful. before we left the station they began bringing in the wounded and prisoners. most of the wounded i saw were not badly hurt, and were plucky and confident. most of them were supported or led by boy scouts who have taken off the military the full burden of messenger work and a lot of other jobs. they are being of real value, as they can do lots of useful things and thereby release grown men for service at the front. when i got back to the rue st. boniface--after stopping at the legation to see what had come in--had just time to throw myself down for a twenty-minute rest before the slave came in with my coffee. and then with no time for a tub, i had to hurry back and get into the harness. and none too soon, for the work began to pour in and i have been kept on the jump all day. if all goes well i hope to get to bed some time after midnight to-night. that means about three hours sleep and hard going during the past forty-eight hours. this morning the various american committees came to the legation to report on the measures they have taken for the protection of the colony in case of danger. i have been handed the pleasant task of chief of staff, with full authority to settle all matters affecting the protection of americans in case hostilities reach this part of the country, as seems may well be the case before many days. in harmony with my well-known policy of passing the buck--more politely known as executive ability--i impressed major boyer of the army, who is here for the time. he has set up an office at the headquarters of the committee and makes it his business to keep me fully posted as to what is going on there. first i started him out to look at the various houses that have been under discussion by the committee, so that he could decide as to their relative accessibility and general strategic advantages. he did this and made all sorts of arrangements tending to co-ordinate the work of the various sub-committees along the lines of the plan we drew up. it will be a great thing to have somebody who will act as buffer for all the detail and relieve me of just that much. germans who for one reason or another had not got away on our train kept turning up all day, and we kept sending them along to the consulate. late this afternoon the hard-working nasmith came in to say that there were already seven hundred of them gathered there. we shall have to have another special train for day after to-morrow morning, and hope to get most of the remaining germans out of harm's way by that time. the belgians continue to be a surprise. at last accounts they were still holding the forts at liège. the french appear to have established themselves along the meuse and to be ready for the attack when it comes. where the british troops are, nobody here seems to know--and, strange to say, they are not advertising their whereabouts. there are plenty of people who have had confidential tips from their cook's brother, who lives in the country and has seen them with his own eyes. according to such stories they are all landed at ostend and are being hurried across the country through malines. another story is that they have been shipped through to liège in closed freight cars to outwit german spies, and that they are now in the thick of it. according to still another of these confidential fellows, they have been shipped through brussels itself in the night and we were unaware when they passed under our very windows. you can choose any story you like and get an audience with it these days. to-day's mouth-to-mouth news is that the french have fought a big battle near st. hubert and repulsed the germans with heavy losses. this has about as much confirmation as the reports as to the whereabouts of the british army. to-day trains have been coming in all day with wounded from liège, and the lot--belgian and german--are being cared for by the red cross. the palace has been turned into a hospital, and the queen has taken over the supervision of it. nearly every big hotel in town has turned its dining-room into a ward, and guests are required to have their meals in their rooms. some of the big department stores have come up finely in outfitting hospitals and workrooms, clearing out their stocks, and letting profits go hang for the time being. the international harvester company cleared its offices here and installed twenty-five beds--informing the red cross that it would take care of the running expenses as long as the war lasts. the hospital facilities have grown far faster than the wounded have come in, and there is an element of humour in the rush of eager women who go to the station and almost fight for the wounded as they are brought off the trains. i impressed the services of several people to help out to-day, but the most valuable are two crack stenographers who have been turned over to us by business firms here. by dint of labouring with them all morning and afternoon and seeing as few people as possible, i have managed to clean up my desk, so that i can go to bed with a clear conscience to-night when i have got through my call to london. * * * * * _brussels, august , ._--to-day our new organisation is working like clockwork. in cruger's formerly calm chancery there are five typewriters pounding away, and at the committee rooms there are swarms of people working to take care of odds and ends. monsieur de leval has a table at one side of my room, and the committee relieves us of the people who want information and those who want to talk. * * * * * _sunday, august th._--i got this far when the roof fell in last night. during the afternoon yesterday i got out to attend to a few odds and ends of errands--and, as always happens when i go out, things began to happen. i came back to find the minister and de leval wrestling with a big one. a curious telegram had come from the hague, quoting the text of a message which the german government desired us to present to the belgian government. here it is in translation, a truly german message: the fortress of liège has been taken by assault after a brave defense. the german government most deeply regret that bloody encounters should have resulted from the attitude of the belgian government toward germany. germany is not coming as an enemy into belgium; it is only through the force of circumstances that she has had, owing to the military measures of france, to take the grave decision of entering belgium and occupying liège as a base for her further military operations. now that the belgian army has upheld the honour of its arms by its heroic resistance to a very superior force, the german government beg the king of the belgians and the belgian government to spare belgium further horrors of war. the german government are ready for any compact with belgium which can be reconciled with their conflicts with france. germany once more gives her solemn assurance that it is not her intention to appropriate belgian territory to herself and that such an intention is far from her thoughts. germany is still ready to evacuate belgium as soon as the state of war will allow her to do so. of course we were loath to present anything of the sort, but the thing had to be handled carefully. after some pow-wowing i went over to the foreign office with the message and saw baron van der elst. i told him seriously that we had received a very remarkable telegram which purported to contain a message from the german government; that it bore no marks of authenticity, and that we were not sure as to its source; but that we felt that we should be lacking in frankness if we did not show him what we had received. he seized the message and read it through, his amazement and anger growing with each line. when he had finished, he gasped for a minute or two and then led me into the next room to the minister for foreign affairs, m. davignon, to whom he translated the telegram aloud. when they had finished discussing the message and i had a pretty clear idea as to the belgian attitude toward the proposal--not that i had had any real doubt--i asked him: "if the american minister had delivered this message what would have been its reception?" without an instant's hesitation, m. davignon replied: "we should have resented his action and should have declined to receive the communication." that was all i wanted to know and i was ready to go back to the legation. i took baron van der elst home in the car and had the pleasure of seeing him explain who he was to several gardes civiques, who held up the car from time to time. he was very good-natured about it, and only resented the interruptions to what he was trying to say. his son is in the army and he has no news of him. as he got out of the car he remarked that if it were not so horrible, the mere interest of events would be enough to make these days wonderful. when i got back to the legation and reported the result of my visit, we went to work and framed a telegram to washington, giving the text of the german message, explaining that we had nothing to prove its authenticity and adding that we had reason to believe that the belgian government would not accept it. the same message was sent to the hague. this pleasant exercise with the code kept us going until four in the morning. eugène, the wonder chauffeur, had no orders, but curled up on the front seat of his car and waited to take me home. he was also on hand when i got up a couple of hours later, to take me back to the legation. chauffeurs like that are worth having. when i came in this morning the place was packed with germans. some cheerful idiot had inserted a notice in the papers that all germans were to be run out of the country, and that they should immediately apply to the american legation. as the flood poured in, leval got on the telephone to the sûreté publique and found out the true facts. then we posted a notice in the hall. but that was not enough. as is always the case with humans, they all knew better than to pay any attention to what the notice said and each one of the hundred or more callers had some reason to insist on talking it over with somebody. when they once got hold of one of us, it was next to impossible to get away without listening to the whole story of their lives. all they had to do was to go down to the german consulate-general, where we had people waiting to tell them all there was to know. it was hard to make them realise that by taking up all our time in this way, they were preventing us from doing things that were really necessary to serve them in more important matters. i said as much to several of them, who were unusually long-winded, but every last one replied that his case was different and that he must be heard out at length. our refugee train left this morning and took eight hundred more of the poor people. where they all turn up from, i don't know, but each day brings us a fresh and unexpected batch. many of the cases are very sad, but if we stop to give sympathy in every deserving case, we should never get anything practical done for them. to-day's budget of news is that the french have got to mulhouse and have inflicted a decisive defeat upon the germans. according to reports, the alsatians went mad when the french troops crossed the frontier for the first time in forty-four years. they tore up and burned the frontier posts and generally gave way to transports of joy. i would have given a lot to see the crowds in paris. a letter came yesterday from omer, the legation footman, who is at tirlemont with the artillery. he said he had not yet been hit, although he had heard the bullets uncomfortably near. he wound up by saying that he had _beaucoup de courage_--and i believe him. it seems that some of the german troops did not know what they were attacking and thought they were in france. when brought here as prisoners, some of them expressed surprise to find that paris was so small. they seem to have thought that they were in france and the goal not far away. the king to-day received through other channels the message from the emperor of germany in regard to peace, which we declined to transmit. i have not seen its text, but hear it is practically identical with the message sent us, asking the king to name his conditions for the evacuation of liège and the abandonment of his allies, so that germany may be entirely free of belgian opposition in her further operations against france. i have heard among belgians only the most indignant comments on the proposal and look forward with interest to seeing the answer of the king, which should appear to-morrow.[ ] [footnote : the belgian reply, which was sent on august th through the netherlands minister for foreign affairs, is as follows: the proposal made to us by the german government repeats the proposal which was formulated in the ultimatum of august nd. faithful to her international obligations, belgium can only reiterate her reply to that ultimatum, the more so as since august rd, her neutrality has been violated, a distressing war has been waged on her territory, and the guarantors of her neutrality have responded loyally and without delay to her appeal.] the town is most warlike in appearance. there is hardly a house in the town that does not display a large belgian flag. it looks as though it were bedecked for a fiesta. here and there are french and british flags, but practically no others. every motor in town flies a flag or flags at the bow. we fly our own, but none the less, the sentries, who are stationed at all the corners dividing the chief quarters of the town and before all the ministries and other public buildings, stop us and demand the papers of the chauffeur and each passenger in the car. we have passports and all sorts of other papers, but that was not enough, and we finally had to be furnished by the ministry for foreign affairs with a special _laisser-passer_. this afternoon i slipped out for a breath of air and was held up and told that even that was no good until i had had it viséd by the military authorities. it is said that these strict measures are the result of the discovery of a tremendous spy system here. according to the stories which are told, but of which we have little confirmation, spies are being picked up all the time in the strangest disguises. the gossip and "inside news" that is imparted to us is screamingly funny--some of it. yesterday, according to one of these yarns, four nuns arriving at the gare du midi were followed for some time and finally arrested. when searched, they proved to be young german officers who had adopted that dress in order to conceal carrier pigeons which they were about to deliver in brussels. wireless outfits are said to have been discovered in several houses belonging to germans. i cannot remember all the yarns that are going about, but even if a part of them are true, it should make interesting work for those who are looking for the spies. the regular arrests of proven spies have been numerous enough to turn every belgian into an amateur spy-catcher. yesterday afternoon burgomaster max was chased for several blocks because somebody raised a cry of "_espion_" based on nothing more than his blond beard and chubby face. i am just as glad not to be fat and blond these days. yesterday afternoon a garde civique came in with the announcement that the chancellor and clerks of the german legation, who were locked up there, were in dire distress; that a baby had been born the day before to the wife of the concièrge, and that all sorts of troubles had come upon them. leval, who had announced that his heart was infinitely hardened against all germans, was almost overcome by the news of a suffering baby and ran like a lamp-lighter to get around there and help out. when we arrived, however, we found them all beaming and happy. the baby had been born some days before and the mother was up and about before the legation had been closed. their meals are sent in from a neighbouring restaurant, and they are perfectly contented to bide their time as they are. they had orders from berlin not to leave the legation, so it made little difference to them whether they were blockaded by the belgian authorities or not. i shall drop in every day or two and see whether there is anything i can do to lighten their gloom. of course their telephone was cut off and they are not allowed to receive mail or papers, so they are consumed with curiosity about developments. it was, of course, necessary to refuse to answer their questions about what was going on and to make assurance doubly sure, i had the garde civique stand by me while i talked with them. as things shape up now it looks as though we were the only life-sized country that could keep neutral for long, and as a consequence all the representatives of the countries in conflict are keeping us pretty well posted in the belief that they may have to turn their interests over to us. we shall probably soon have to add austrian interests to the german burdens we now have. if there is a german advance, some of the allied ministers will no doubt turn their legations over to us. the consequence is that we may see more of the inside of things than anybody else. now, at least, we are everybody's friends. this is undoubtedly the most interesting post in europe for the time being, and i would not be anywhere else for the wealth of the indies. * * * * * _brussels, aug. , ._--the belgian government has finally got out a proclamation, urging german subjects to leave the country, but stating that in the event of a general order of expulsion, certain classes of people will be allowed to remain, such as, very old persons, the sick, governesses, nurses, etc., and even others for whom belgians of undoubted reputation are willing to vouch. there are quantities of germans who have lived here all their lives, who are really more belgian than german, have no interest in the present conflict and are threatened with financial ruin if they leave their interests here, and it is pretty hard on them if they are to be obliged to get out, but they are only a few of the many, many thousands who are suffering indirectly from the effects of the war. it is not any easier for the manufacturers in the neighbourhood of liège, who will see the work of many years wiped out by the present hostilities. some inspired idiot inserted in the papers yesterday the news that the legation was attending to the repatriation of german subjects and the consequence is that our hallways have been jammed with germans all day, making uncouth noises and trying to argue with us as to whether or not we are in charge of german interests. the mere fact that we deny it is not enough for them! i suppose that the hallways will continue to sound like a celebration of kaisersgeburtstag until we have sent off the last of them. this morning a large, badly frightened darkey came in looking for a passport. he awaited his turn very quietly, and grew visibly more and more apprehensive at the long series of questions asked of the people ahead of him. when he moved up to the desk, the first question was: "where do you want to go?" "jes as fur as the stature of libbuty." "are you an american citizen?" "me? lawd bless yuh! no, i ain't nuthin' but a plain ole baltimoh coon." then they gave him the usual blank to fill out. one of the questions on it was: "why do you desire to return to the united states?" without any hesitation he wrote: "i am very much interested in my home at the present time." everybody here is intensely curious as to what has become of the british army; the most generally accepted story is that troops have been landed at calais, dunkirk and ostend, but although this is generally believed, there seems to be absolutely no official confirmation of it. everyone seems to take it for granted that the british will turn up in good form when the right time comes, and that when they do turn up, it will have a good effect. if they can get to the scene of hostilities without everybody knowing about it, it increases by just so much their chances of success and anyone that knows anything at all is keeping mum and hoping that no british soldier will stumble over a chair and make a noise and give away the line of march. our letters from london indicate intense satisfaction with the appointment of kitchener and confidence that he will get a maximum of service out of the forces at his command. we have been looking from one moment to another for news of a big naval engagement, but suppose the british navy is somewhere waiting for a chance to strike. colonel fairholme, the british military attaché, has made a number of trips to the front and reports that the morale of the belgian troops is excellent, that the organisation is moving like clockwork, and, as he expresses it, that "every man has his tail up." this evening i went over to the british legation to see the colonel, and learn whatever news he had that he could give me. there was a great scurrying of servants and the porter was not to be found in the chancery. the door to grant-watson's room was ajar, so i tapped, and, on being bade in a gruff voice to "come in," walked into the presence of a british officer in field uniform, writing at webber's desk. he was dusty and unshaven, and had evidently come in from a long ride. i promptly backed out with apologies and was hustled out of the place by kidston, who came running out from the minister's office. i asked him if the rest of the army was hidden about the chancery, and his only reply was to tell me to run along and find the navy, which they themselves had not been able to locate. they evidently have all they need to know about the whereabouts of the army, but have succeeded in keeping it dark. c.m. came over to the legation this afternoon to get some books for her mother. we fixed her up and put her in her car, when she announced that on the way over she had been arrested and taken to the police station as a german. people are pointing out spies on the street, and anybody that is blond and rosy-cheeked stands a fine show of being arrested every time he goes out. she had impressed this car with a suspected number and paid for it by being made into a jail bird. my day's work began with a visit to the german legation. the government asked me to secure and return the number for the automobile of von stumm, the german counselor. i had his machine put in the legation the day after he left, although he had offered it to me. i presented myself at the door of the legation with the note from the foreign office, asking for the number, but was refused admittance by the gardes civiques. they were very nice, but stated that they had the strictest orders not to let anybody come in or out, and that they had not discretionary powers. at a visit at the foreign office later in the day, i told of my experience and asked that i be furnished by the military authorities with a _laisser-passer_ which would enable me to enter the legation whenever i so desire. this afternoon i received a formidable document from the military governor which gives me free passage--so far as i can make out--to enter the legation in any way save by telephone or telegraph. i shall go around to-morrow and rub it in on the gardes civiques. the question of passes has been changed and made more strict each day, and has got to be a sort of joke. i first used my card, that was declared insufficient almost from the first. then i tried my _permis de circulation_, which was issued to allow me to get into the railway stations without paying. that was good for a day or so. then i tried my passport (as a bearer of despatches), and that got me through once or twice. then the minister for foreign affairs gave me his personal card with a _laisser-passer_ in his own hand, but that was soon turned down on the ground that the military authorities are in control and the civil authorities cannot grant passes. finally the government has got out a special form of _laisser-passer_ for the diplomats, and it may prove to be good--although it is not signed by the military authorities. i have taken the precaution of keeping all the aforementioned documents and some others on my person, and am curious to see how soon i shall have to have some other. the garde civique is no longer content with holding up the car every few blocks and examining the _pièce d'identité_ of the chauffeur; they must now be satisfied as to the bona fides of each passenger. doing some errands around town this afternoon i was held up and looked over eleven times. i now pull out all the documents i own and hand out the bunch each time i am stopped. the garde then, in most cases, treats the matter rather humorously, and the next time i pass lets me go on without going through the whole performance again. in front of the german legation, however, which we nearly always pass on our way to or from town, we are invariably held up and looked into seriously. i know most of the people on the different shifts by this time and wish them well each time they look at the well-remembered papers. i shall keep the credentials and any others that may eventually be added to them, and perhaps some day i shall be able to paper a room with them. in the course of the morning there were several matters of interest which made it necessary for me to go to the foreign office. all their messengers are now gone, and in their place there is a squad of boy scouts on duty. i had a long conference with van der elst, the director-general of the ministry. in the course of our pow-wow it was necessary to send out communications to various people and despatch instructions in regard to several small matters. each time van der elst would ring, for what he calls a "scoots," and hand him the message with specific instructions as to just how it should be handled. the boys were right on their toes, and take great pride in the responsibility that is given them. some of them have bicycles and do the messenger work through the town. those who have not, run errands in the different buildings and attend to small odd jobs. the red cross is very much in evidence. i went around to the headquarters after my call at the foreign office, to make a little contribution of my own and to leave others for members of our official family. the headquarters is at the house of count jean de mérode, the grand marshal of the court. the entrance hall was filled with little tables where women sat receiving contributions of money and supplies. i had to wait some time before i could get near enough to one of the dozen or more tables, to hand in my contributions. this is the headquarters, but there are any number of branch offices, and they are said to be equally busy. the society has been quite overcome by the way people have come forward with gifts, and they have been almost unable to get enough people together to handle them as they come in. the big cafés down-town nearly all have signs out, announcing that on a certain day or days they will give their entire receipts to the red cross or to one of the several funds gotten up to take care of those suffering directly or indirectly from the war. many of the small shops have signs out of the same sort, announcing that the entire receipts for all articles sold on a certain day will be handed to one of the funds. they must have gathered an enormous amount of money, and i don't doubt they will need it. the wounded are being brought in in great numbers and many buildings are quite filled with them. in nearly every street there is a red cross flag or two, to indicate a temporary hospital in a private house or a hotel or shop, and people are stationed in the street to make motors turn aside or slow down. there are almost no motors on the street except those on official business or red cross work; and, because of the small amount of traffic, these few go like young cyclones, keeping their sirens going all the time. the chauffeurs love it and swell around as much as they are allowed to do. i pray with ours now and then, but even when i go out to the barber, he seems to believe that he is on his way to a fire and cuts loose for all he is worth. quantities of german prisoners continue to be brought here for safe keeping, and many of them are taken on down to bruges. among those removed there for unusually safe keeping yesterday was a nephew of the emperor. judging from the stories printed in the _london times_ which arrived to-night, the german government aroused great enthusiasm by playing up the capture of liège. the germans evidently were led to believe they had gained a great victory; whereas the forts, which are the only object of the campaign, are still intact. the city itself is undefended, and there is no great military reason why the belgians should not allow it to be taken. the german troops that had invested the town have not taken over the administration, but appear to be confining themselves to requisitioning provisions and supplies, of which they are in need. the berlin papers made a great hurrah about the capture of the citadel, which is a purely ornamental old fort without military importance. from what they tell me, i judge that you could back an american army mule up against it and have him kick it down without the expense of bombarding it. it sounds well in the despatches, however. eight french aeroplanes sailed over the city this afternoon, probably coming from namur. one of the machines landed on the aviation field at the edge of the city, and the aviator was nearly torn to shreds by admirers who wanted to shake him by the hand and convince him that he was really welcome to brussels. it is said that some of these fellows are going to lie in wait for the zeppelins which have been sailing over brussels by night to terrify the population. we hear that one of the belgian army aviators did attack a zeppelin and put it out of business, bringing to earth and killing all the crew. he himself went to certain death in the attempt. the afternoon papers say that in paris the name of the rue de berlin has been changed to rue de liège. here the rue d'allemagne has been changed to rue de liège and the rue de prusse to rue du général leman, the defender of liège. the time abounds in _beaux gestes_ and they certainly have their effect on the situation. kitchener says that the war may last for some time. at first it seemed to be taken for granted that it could not last long, as the financial strain would be too great and the damage done so enormous that one side or the other would have to yield to avoid national bankruptcy. * * * * * _brussels, august , ._--our halls have been filled with germans and americans, the latter in smaller numbers and the former in larger crowds than ever. they are gradually being got out of the country, however, and those who are going to remain are being induced to go to the right authorities, so that their troubles will soon be settled to a large extent, and they will not be coming here so much. we are getting off hundreds of telegrams about the whereabouts and welfare of americans and others here and in other parts of europe; this work alone is enough to keep a good-sized staff working, and we have them hard at it. this afternoon i went over to the british legation and saw colonel fairholme, the military attaché, for a few minutes. he was just back from a trip out into the wilds with a party of british officers and was so clearly rushed that i had not the heart to detain him, although i was bursting with curiosity about the news he evidently had concealed about him. he appreciates the lenient way i have treated him, and goes out of his way to let me have anything that he can. while i was out we saw a german monoplane which sailed over the city not very high up. the newspapers have published a clear description of the various aeroplanes that are engaged in the present war, so that nobody will be foolish enough to fire at those of the allies when they come our way. this one was clearly german, and the garde civique and others were firing at it with their rifles, but without any success. our legation guard, which consists of about twenty-five men, banged away in a perfect fusillade, but the airman was far too high for them to have much chance of hitting him. yesterday afternoon when the german biplanes passed over the city, a belgian officer gave chase in a monoplane, but could not catch them. contests of this sort are more exciting to the crowd than any fancy aviation stunts that are done at exhibitions, and the whole town turns out whenever an aeroplane is sighted. this morning i presented myself at the german legation with the imposing _laisser-passer_ furnished me by the military governor of brabant, but the guard on duty at the door had not received orders to let me in and turned me down politely but definitely. i took the matter up with the foreign office and said that i wanted it settled, so that i would not have any more fruitless trips over there. at five an officer from the État-major of the garde civique came for me in a motor and took me over to the legation, to give orders in my presence that whenever i appeared i was to be allowed to pass without argument. as i got into the motor i noticed that the soldier who was driving the car looked at me with a twinkle in his eye, but paid no attention to him. when i took a second look i saw that it was g. b----, with whom i had played golf several times. i am constantly being greeted by people in uniform whom i had known at one time or another. it is hard to recognise them in uniform. so far as operations in belgium are concerned, we may not have anything big for some days to come; but, in the meantime, work of preparation is being pushed rapidly and supplies and reinforcements are being rushed to the front. half the shops in town are closed, and all the people are working either in the field or taking care of the wounded or prisoners. there are said to be some eight thousand german prisoners in belgium, and it is some work to take care of them all. * * * * * _brussels, august , ._--a few minutes' gap, so i seize my pen to scratch off a line. last night when i left here i rode up the rue bélliard on my way home. i was stopped in front of the german legation by the guard which was placed across the street. they examined the chauffeur's papers carefully and then looked over mine. they compared the tintype on my _laisser-passer_ with the classic lineaments of the original, and after looking wise, told me to move on. when we got up to the boulevard there was great cheering, and we came out on a thin file of french cavalry, which was on its way through town from the gare du midi. the crowd was mad with enthusiasm and the soldiers, although plainly very tired, pulled their strength together every now and then to cry, "_vive la belgique!_" there were crowds on the boulevards, waiting for news from _là bas_. a few french officers were going about in cabs, and each time that one appeared the crowd went mad. the officers were smiling and saluting, and every now and then one stood up in his place and cheered for belgium. in twenty minutes or so, i saw that we could get through, so started for home and bed. when we got to the porte de namur, we heard frenzied cheering down by the porte louise. the chauffeur is a regular old war horse who does not want to miss a trick. he cast a questioning glance over his shoulder; and, catching my nod, put on full speed down the boulevard until we came to a solid crowd banked along the line of march of more french cavalry. the people in the crowd had bought out the nearby shops of cigars and cigarettes and chocolate and small flasks of brandy, and as each man rode by, he was loaded up with as much as he could carry. the défilé had been going on for over an hour, but the enthusiasm was still boundless. all the cafés around the porte louise sent out waiters and waitresses with trays of beer to meet the troops as they came into the avenue louise. each man would snatch a glass of beer, swallow it as he rode along and hand it back to others who were waiting with empty trays a hundred yards or so down the line of march. the men were evidently very tired, and it was an effort for them to show any appreciation of their reception, but they made the effort and croaked out, "_vive la belgique!_" the french and british troops can have anything they want in this country. they will be lucky, though, if they escape without acute indigestion. yesterday afternoon, as i was coming out of the chancery of the british legation, a little cockney messenger in uniform came snorting into the court on a motor-cycle. as he got off he began describing his experiences, and wound up his story of triumphant progress--"and when i got to the boulevards i ran down a blighter on a bicycle and the crowd gave me an ovation!" more troubles to-day about the german legation. the État-major gave orders that nobody but i should be allowed to enter. the laymen who have the onerous duty of protecting the legation held a council of war, and decided that this precluded them from allowing food to go in; so when the waitress from the grand veneur with the lunch of the crowd inside came along, she was turned back and told i should have to go with her. i went around to the legation and fixed it up with the guard. a few minutes ago the waitress came back with word that more bread and butter was wanted, but that the guard had changed and that she was again barred out. monsieur de leval and i went around again and fortunately found some one from the État-major who was there for inspection. he promised to get proper orders issued and now we hope that we shall not be obliged to take in every bite under convoy. there are ominous reports to-day of a tremendous german advance in this direction, and it is generally believed that there will be a big engagement soon near haelen, which is on the way from liège to tirlemont. communications are cut, so i don't quite see where all the news comes from. * * * * * _after dinner._--news sounds better to-night. although there is nothing very definite, the impression is that the belgians have come out victorious to-day in an engagement near tirlemont. i hope to get some news later in the evening. during a lull in the proceedings this afternoon, i got in blount's car and went out to brooks, to see his horses and arrange to have him send them in for our use every afternoon. he came over here a few months ago to spend the rest of his life in peace and quiet. it looks as though he wouldn't get much of either. the avenue de tervueren, a broad boulevard with a parkway down the centre, is the most direct way into town from the scene of the fighting, and there has been a general belief that the germans might rush a force into town in motors that way. in order to be ready for anything of the sort, a barricade has been made of heavy tram cars placed at right angles across the road, so that they do not absolutely stop traffic, but compel motors to slow down and pick their way, thus: [illustration ================================================================= +---+ +---+ +---+ / / / / / / / / / / / / +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ +---+ / / / / / / / / / / / / +---+ +---+ +---+ =================================================================] it is close work getting through, and can only be done at a snail's pace. the latest news we have is that the nearest large german force is just miles away from brussels. * * * * * _brussels, august , ._--last night, after dining late, i went out to find my friend, colonel fairholme, and see if he had any news. he had just finished his day's work and wanted some air. fortunately i had the car along and so took him out for a spin to the end of the avenue louise. we walked back, followed by the car, and had a nightcap at the porte de namur. the colonel has been going to louvain every day, to visit the general staff and report to the king as the military representative of an ally. the first time he arrived in a motor with gen. de selliers de moranville, the chief of staff. as they drew into the square in front of the headquarters, they saw that everything was in confusion and a crowd was gathered to watch arrivals and departures. when their car stopped, a large thug, mistaking him for a german officer, reached in and dealt him a smashing blow on the mouth with his fist, calling him a "_sal alboche_" by way of good measure. he had to go in and report to the king, streaming with blood--a pleasant beginning. he is just getting back to a point where he can eat with ease and comfort. life will be easier for some of the attachés when people get used to khaki uniforms and learn that some do not cover germans. the day the general staff left for the front, the colonel went to see them off. he was called by one of the high officers who wanted to talk to him, and was persuaded to get on the train and ride as far as the gare du luxembourg, sending his car through town to meet him there. word came that the king wanted to see the chief of staff, so he asked the colonel to take him to the palace. when the crowd saw a british officer in uniform and decorations come out of the station accompanied by the chief of staff and two aides, they decided that it was the commander-in-chief of the british army who was arriving and gave him a wonderful ovation. even the papers published it as authentic. he was tremendously fussed at the idea of sailing under false colors, but the rest of us have got some amusement out of it. stories are coming in here about the doings of the german troops. according to reports they came into hasselt and took the money in the town treasury and the local bank--some two and a half millions altogether. the story, whether true or not, has caused a great deal of ill feeling here. there is another story that the commanding officer of one of the forts around liège was summoned to parley with a white flag. when he climbed on top of his turret, he was shot through both legs and only saved by his men pulling him to cover. of course there are always a great many stories of this sort scattered broadcast at the beginning of every war, but in this instance they seem to be generally believed and are doing the germans no good at all. mlle. d----, one of our stenographers, has a brother in the french army. she has not heard a word from him since the war began, and had no idea where he was. yesterday a small detachment of french cavalry came along the street. she ran out, called to one of them that her brother was in the ----, and asked where it was. they told her it had not yet been in action and she has been walking on air ever since. but she could not telegraph the good news to her family, for fear of betraying military movements. roger de leval, the -year-old son of our friend, practically broke off diplomatic relations with his father and mother because he was not allowed to be a boy scout. his father was at the legation, his mother at the red cross, and he had to stay at home with his governess. he felt so badly about it that we had monsieur de leval register him as a b.s., and have him assigned to special duty at the legation. he attends in full uniform and carries messages and papers from my room to the other offices and vice versa. when we go out he rides on the box with the chauffeur and salutes all the officers we pass. they are used to it now and return the salutes very gravely. the youngster now feels that he is really doing something, but is outraged because we go along. he wants to undertake some of the big missions alone. princesse charles de ligne was in this morning. her son, prince henri, head of that branch of the house, has enlisted as a private in the aviation corps. there seemed to be no way for him to have a commission at once, so he put his star of the legion of honor on his private's uniform and was off to the front yesterday. that's the spirit. comtesse d'a---- was at their home in the grand duchy when war broke out. no news had been received from her, and her husband was worried sick. we got a message through via the hague and got word back this morning that she was safe and well. i went up to tell him the good news. he was presiding over some sort of committee meeting, and the maid said i could not see him. i insisted that she should announce me and after some argument she did. as the door opened, the buzz subsided and she announced: "_monsieur le secrétaire de la légation d'amérique_." there was a terrible cry of fear and the old count came running out white as a sheet. before he had come in sight i called out, "_les nouvelles sont bonnes!_" the old chap collapsed on my shoulder and cried like a baby, saying over and over: "_j'étais si inquiet: j'étais si inquiet!_" he soon pulled himself together and showed me out to the car with the honours of war. we send and receive hundreds of telegrams of inquiry and shoot them through in a perfectly routine way. it is only now and then that we come to a realising sense of the human side of it all. this afternoon i went over and made inquiry as to the well-being of those who are cooped up in the german legation. they are getting along perfectly well, but are consumed with curiosity as to the progress of the war. the government has not allowed them to have any letters or newspapers, and they are completely in the dark as to what is going on. i felt like a brute to refuse them, but could not very well do anything against the wishes of the government. they were decent enough not to embarrass me by insisting, which made it harder to refuse. the son of hofrath grabowsky, the chancellor of the legation, is secretary of the german consulate at antwerp. he came down here to say good-bye to his father the day war was declared, and lingered so long that he was cooped up with the others. he is liable for military service in germany, and having left his post at antwerp at such a time, he must face a court martial whenever he does get home. there are five or six people there, including the wife of the old hofrath, who are firmly convinced that they will all be murdered in their beds. it is my daily job to comfort them and assure them that nobody now here is giving any thought to them. last night i dined with colonel fairholme and kidston, the first secretary of the legation. we went to the usually crowded terrace of the palace hotel, where we had no difficulty in getting a table in the best part of the balcony. the few other diners were nearly all colleagues or officers. military motors and motor-cycles came and went, and orderlies dashed up on horseback and delivered messages; it looked like war. the proprietor of the hotel, who has given one hundred thousand francs to the red cross, rolled up in his motor from a trip to the front and got out with an armful of prussian helmets and caps, which he had collected. a crowd gathered round the motor and displayed as much pleasure as though he had brought in a whole german army corps. the novelty of these souvenirs has not yet worn off. women with big tin boxes came by every few minutes to collect for the red cross or some other fund. finally the colonel protested, and asked if there was no way of buying immunity. that was quickly arranged by giving up five francs, in return for which we were given tags of immunity. dozens of collectors came by during the evening, but our ostentatiously displayed tags saved us. we ate at our leisure--out of doors--the first unhurried and unharried meal i have had for days, and then got back to the legation. this afternoon the minister and i went over to see sir francis villiers, the british minister, and spent half an hour with him. he is evidently all ready to make a quick get-away whenever it looks as though the germans would come to brussels. a number of the other diplomats are also prepared to depart. those who are accredited at the hague will probably go there, and the others will go to antwerp. we are too busy here to enjoy the luxury of spending a month undergoing a siege, so no matter what happens, we shall probably not go along. the minister and i shall take turns from time to time, going up to pay our respects. having some things to talk over, the minister and i went for a drive after our visit, and it was well we did, for when we got back, we found the hall filled with callers. as the tourists and the germans leave, the war correspondents begin to come in, and in a few days we shall probably have the place full of them. i heard to-day that there were of them in london, and that most of them want to come on here. maxwell, the british correspondent, told me this afternoon that he looked for a big engagement at diest to-morrow or the day after. he has been down through the fighting zone ever since the trouble began, and probably knows more about pending operations than any other civilian. while i was writing, z---- came in, suffering from a bad case of panic. he announced as he burst into my office that the germans were within kilometers of brussels and were going to occupy the city this evening. he was fairly trembling, but got indignant because i denied it, having just talked with colonel fairholme and with maxwell, both of whom had no more than come back from the front. the fact that it had been published in the _soir_ was enough for him, and although the news had made him nervous, he hated to have his perfectly good sensation spoiled. the authorities, so as to be prepared for any eventuality, have this evening published a communiqué to impress upon the population the necessity for abstaining from any participation in the hostilities in case of an occupation. it advises everybody to stay indoors and avoid any words or actions that might give an excuse for measures against non-combatants. * * * * * _august th._--last night i dined with the colonel, grant-watson, and kidston at the palace. i was looking forward to a lot of interesting talk, as the colonel had just come from the front. just as we were settling down to our conversational marathon, up walked ----, the ---- chargé and bade himself to dine with us. he is strongly pro-german in his sympathies, and, of course, that put a complete damper on conversation. we talked about everything on earth save the one thing we were interested in, and sat tight in the hope that he would move on. not only did he stay, but after a time the ---- first secretary came and joined us, and we gave up in despair. the only result of the evening was that i gathered the impression that there is a good deal of apprehension on the part of the allies as to the result of the next big battle, which may occur any day now. the germans are undoubtedly pretty near now, perhaps a good deal nearer than we know. just before dinner the war office announced that there would be no further official communiqués as to the operations. that looks as though they were battening down the hatches for the next big engagement. yesterday's papers announced france's declaration of war against austria. this morning comes the news that montenegro has also declared her intention of wiping austria off the map. our daily query now is--"who has declared war to-day?" every minute we are not hammering away at our work, we sit around and talk of the latest developments. these things make such an impression that i can quite understand old veterans boring everybody to death with reminiscences. i see some forty years from now that people will be saying: "i don't want to let old man gibson get hold of me and tell me all about the war of !" this morning i received a telegram from richard harding davis, who wants to join the belgian forces. we are trying to arrange it this morning, and i expect to see him any day now. we are going to have a lot of newspaper men in our midst. i met two more of them last night. none of them who have so far appeared speak any language but english, but they are all quite confident that they can get all the news. i look next for palmer and jimmy hare and the rest of the crowd. maxwell, the _telegraph_ correspondent, yesterday showed me a photograph of a french bulldog that has been doing good service at liège. his master, who is an officer in one of the forts, fastens messages in his collar and shoves him out onto the glacis. the puppy makes a blue streak for home and, as he is always sent at night, has managed so far to avoid the germans. his mistress brings him back to the edge of town and starts him back for the fort. the belgian troops have so far had to dam the flood of germans with little or no help from the allies. the kaiser expected, so far as we can make out, to sweep through belgium with little opposition and be fighting in france in three days! the belgians have knocked his schedule out by twelve days already, and there is no telling how much longer they may hold out. "my military advisers" tell me that in view of the great necessity for a quick campaign in france, so as to get the army back in time to head off the russian flood when it begins to pour over the northern frontier, the loss of this much time is equivalent to the loss of the first great battle. the moral effect is also tremendous. the minister to-day had a card from omer which began: "_j'ai l'honneur de faire savoir a votre excellence que je suis encore toujours vivant!_" _encore toujours_ sounds as though he were pretty emphatically alive. we were all relieved to hear from him. villalobar, the spanish minister, came in after dinner--just to visit. his household is greatly upset. his cook and three footmen have gone to the war. he apologised for not inviting us to dine during these depressing days, but said he could not, as his cook was a lucretia di borgia. he is confident that the war is going to knock brussels life into a cocked hat this winter. so many of the families will be in mourning, and so much poverty will come as a result of the war. life goes on so normally now, save for the little annoyances of living under martial law, that it is hard to realise that such great changes are imminent. * * * * * _brussels, august , ._--this morning i walked out of my office and bumped into frederick palmer. i had no idea he was so near. two weeks ago he was in vera cruz, but made a bee-line for brussels at the first news of impending war. in the breathing spaces during the morning i got in a little visiting with him. he stayed to lunch at the legation and so did i. in the afternoon i took him to the foreign office and the war office and the gendarmerie, and got him outfitted with passes, so that he can make a try to get towards the front. as a measure of precaution i added another _laisser-passer_ to my collection, with a beautiful photograph on it. the collection grows every day. i went to the palace to dine with palmer and blount. we had hardly got seated when in walked richard harding davis and gerald morgan, and joined us. i had not expected davis here so soon, but here he is. he was immaculate in dinner jacket and white linen, for war does not interfere with his dressing. while we were dining, a lot of motors came by filled with british officers. there was a big crowd in the square, and they went crazy with enthusiasm, cheering until the windows rattled. * * * * * _brussels, august , ._--at ten in the morning i started with frederick palmer and blount in the latter's car, to see whether we could get a little way out of town and get a glimpse of what was going on. we were provided with _laisser-passers_ and passports and all sorts of credentials, but as a strict prohibition against sightseers has been enforced for some days, we rather doubted whether we should be able to get farther than the edge of town. before we got back we had gone more than a hundred kilometers through the heart of things and saw a great deal more than anybody should be allowed to see. we got back to town about eight o'clock, thoroughly tired and with eyes filled with dust and cinders. part way out the avenue we were hailed by a soldier, who asked us for a lift as far as tervueren. he climbed into the car beside me and rode out. the forêt de soignes was mournful. quatre bras, where the cafés are usually filled with a good-sized crowd of bourgeois, was deserted and empty. the shutters were up and the proprietors evidently gone. the minister's house, near by, was closed. the gate was locked and the gardener's dog was the only living thing in sight. we passed our golf club a little farther on toward tervueren. the old château is closed, the garden is growing rank, and the rose-bushes that were kept so scrupulously plucked and trim, were heavy with dead roses. the grass was high on the lawns; weeds were springing up on the fine tennis courts. the gardeners and other servants have all been called to the colours. most of the members are also at the front, shoulder to shoulder with the servants. a few caddies were sitting mournfully on the grass and greeted us solemnly and without enthusiasm. these deserted places are in some ways more dreadful than the real horrors at the front. at least there is life and activity at the front. before we got out of town the guards began stopping us, and we were held up every few minutes until we got back to town at night. sometimes the posts were a kilometer or even two kilometers apart. sometimes we were held up every fifty yards. sometimes the posts were regulars, sometimes gardes civiques; often hastily assembled civilians, mostly too old or too young for more active service. they had no uniforms, but only rifles, caps, and brassards to distinguish them as men in authority. in some places the men formed a solid rank across the road. in others they sat by the roadside and came out only when we hove in sight. our _laisser-passers_ were carefully examined each time we were stopped, even by many of the guards who did not understand a word of french, and strangely enough, our papers were made out in only the one language. they could, at least, understand our photographs and took the rest for granted. when we got to the first outpost at tervueren, the guard waved our papers aside and demanded the password. then our soldier passenger leaned across in front of blount and whispered "_belgique_." that got us through everything until midday, when the word changed. from tervueren on we began to realise that there was really a war in progress. all was preparation. we passed long trains of motor trucks carrying provisions to the front. supply depots were planted along the way. officers dashed by in motors. small detachments of cavalry, infantry and artillery pounded along the road toward louvain. a little way out we passed a company of scouts on bicycles. they are doing good work, and have kept wonderfully fresh. in this part of the country everybody looked tense and anxious and hurried. nearer the front they were more calm. most of the groups we passed mistook our flag for a british standard and cheered with a good will. once in a while somebody who recognised the flag would give it a cheer on its own account, and we got a smile everywhere. all the farm houses along the road were either already abandoned or prepared for instant flight. in some places the reaping had already begun, only to be abandoned. in others the crop stood ripe, waiting for the reapers that may never come. the sight of these poor peasants fleeing like hunted beasts and their empty houses or their rotting crops were the worst part of the day. it is a shame that those responsible for all this misery cannot be made to pay the penalty--and they never can, no matter what is done to them. louvain is the headquarters of the king and his État-major. the king is commander-in-chief of the allied forces operating in belgium, and is apparently proving to be very much of a soldier. the town is completely occupied and troops line the streets, stopping all motors and inspecting papers, then telling you which way you can go. we were the only civilians on the road all day, except the red cross people. the big square was completely barred off from general traffic and was surrounded with grenadiers. we got through the town and stopped at the only café we could find open, where we had a bottle of mineral water and talked over what we should do next. in louvain there is an american theological seminary. we had had some correspondence with monseigneur de becker, its rector, as to what he should do to protect the institution. at our suggestion he had established a red cross hospital and had hoisted a big american flag, but still he was not altogether easy in his mind. i called on him and did my level best to reassure him, on the ground that the germans were certainly not making war on seminaries or priests, and that if the germans reached louvain, all he had to do was to stay peacefully at home and wait for quiet to be restored. most of his students were gone and some of the faculty had followed them, so his chief concern was for the library and other treasures. my arguments did not seem to have very much weight, but i left with a promise to look in again at the first opportunity and to respond to any call the rector might make. from the seminary we drove out the tirlemont road, to see if we could get to that little town and see some of the fighting that was known to be going on. at the edge of the town we came to a barricade of carts, road-rollers and cobble stones, where we were courteously but firmly turned back. everybody was anxious to make it as nice as possible for us, and one of the bright boys was brought forward to tell us in english, so as to be more convincing. he smiled deprecatingly, and said: "verreh bad. verreh sorreh. oui mus' mak our office, not?" so we turned and went back to town. they had told us that _nobody_ could go beyond the barricade without an order from the _commandant de place_ at louvain. on the way back we decided that we could at least try, so we hunted through the town until we found the headquarters of the commandant. a fierce-looking sergeant was sitting at a table near the door, hearing requests for visés on _laisser-passers_. everybody was begging for a visé on one pretext or another, and most of them were being turned down. i decided to try a play of confidence, so took our three cards and walked up to his table, as though there could be no possible doubt of his doing what i wanted. i threw our three _laisser-passers_ down in front of him, and said in a business-like tone: "_trois visés pour tirlemont, s.v.p._" my man looked up in mild surprise, viséed the three papers without a word and handed them back in less time than it takes to tell it. we sailed back to the barricade in high feather, astonished the guard with our visé, and plowed along the road, weaving in and out among ammunition wagons, artillery caissons, infantry, cavalry, bicyclists--all in a dense cloud of dust. troops were everywhere in small numbers. machine guns, covered with shrubbery, were thick on the road and in the woods. there was a decidedly hectic movement toward the front, and it was being carried out at high speed without confusion or disorder. it was a sight to remember. all along the road we were cheered both as americans and in the belief that we were british. whenever we were stopped at a barricade to have our papers examined, the soldiers crowded around the car and asked for news from other parts of the field, and everybody was wild for newspapers. unfortunately we had only a couple that had been left in the car by accident in the morning. if we had only thought a little, we could have taken out a cartful of papers and given pleasure to hundreds. the barricades were more numerous as we drew nearer the town. about two miles out we were stopped dead. fighting was going on just ahead, between us and the town, and the order had been given out that _nobody_ should pass. that applied to military and civilians alike, so we could not complain, and came back to louvain, rejoicing that we had been able to get so far. we hunted up our little café and ate our sandwiches at a table on the sidewalk, letting the house profit to the extent of three glasses of beer. we were hardly seated when a hush fell on the people sitting near. the proprietor was summoned and a whispered conversation ensued between him and a bewhiskered old man three tables away. then mr. proprietor sauntered over our way with the exaggerated carelessness of a stage detective. he stood near us for a minute or two, apparently very much interested in nothing at all. then he went back, reported to "whiskers" and the buzz of conversation began again as though nothing had happened. after a bit the proprietor came over again, welcomed us to the city, asked us a lot of questions about ourselves, and finally confided to us that we had been pointed out as germans and that he had listened to us carefully and discovered that we were nothing of the sort. "_j'ai très bonne oreille pour les langues_," he said. of course we were greatly surprised to learn that we had been under observation. think of german spies within yards of the headquarters of the general staff! (and yet they have caught them that near.) every active citizen now considers himself a policeman on special duty to catch spies, and lots of people suffer from it. i was just as glad the proprietor had not denounced us as spies, as the populace has a quite understandable distaste for them. i was glad the bright café proprietor could distinguish our lingo from german. after lunch we went down to the headquarters of the general staff, to see if we needed any more visés. we did not, but we got a sight of the headquarters with officers in all sorts of uniforms coming and going. the square was full of staff autos. the beautiful carved hôtel de ville is the headquarters. as we walked by, a british major-general came down the steps, returned everybody's salutes and rolled away--a fine gaunt old type with white hair and moustache--the sort you read about in story books. after lunch we found that there was no use in trying to get to tirlemont, so gave that up, and inquired about the road to diest. everybody who was in any sort of position to know told us we could not get more than a few kilometers along the road, and that as uhlans were prowling in that neighbourhood, we might be potted at from the woods or even carried off. on the strength of that we decided to try that road, feeling fairly confident that the worst that could happen to us would be to be turned back. as we drew out along the road, the traffic got steadily heavier. motors of all sorts--beautifully finished limousines filled with boxes of ammunition or sacks of food, carriages piled high with raw meat and cases of biscuit. even dog-carts in large numbers, with the good belgian dogs straining away at the traces with a good will, and barking with excitement. they seemed to have the fever and enthusiasm of the men and every one was pulling with all his strength. in some places we saw men pushing heavily-laden wheelbarrows, with one or two dogs pulling in front. from louvain on most of the barricades were mined. we could see clearly as we passed where the mines were planted. the battery jars were under the shelter of the barricade and the wire disappeared into some neighbouring wood or field. earthworks were planted in the fields all along the lines, good, effective, well-concealed intrenchments that would give lots of trouble to an attacking force. there was one place where an important intrenchment was placed in a field of hay. the breastworks were carefully covered with hay and the men had it tied around their hats in such a way as to conceal them almost completely. this war is evidently going to be fought with some attention to detail, and with resourcefulness. diest itself we reached at about half past three, after having been nearly turned back six or seven times. we were the only civilians that had turned up all day, and although our papers seemed to be all right and we could give a good account of ourselves, our mere presence was considered so remarkable that a good many of the outposts were inclined to turn us back. by virtue of our good arguments and our equally good looks, however, we did manage to get through to the town itself. diest is an old town which figures a good deal in the combats of the middle ages. it has a fine old church, quite large, a good hôtel de ville, and clean, dutch-looking streets, with canals here and there. the whole town is surrounded with high earthworks, which constituted the fortifications, which were part of the line of forts erected by the allies after waterloo, as a line of defence against french aggression. these forts were so numerous that belgium in her younger days had not sufficient men to garrison them. a number of them were abandoned, finally leaving antwerp, liège and namur to bear the burden. brialmont, who built the great ring forts at liège, wanted to build modern fortifications at diest, but could not get those holding the purse-strings to see things his way. diest was attacked by germans about three days ago. they wanted to take the old fortifications so as to control the road and use the place as a base of operations. it could hardly be called a big battle, but was more probably in the nature of a reconnaissance in force with four or five regiments of cavalry. this part of belgium is the only place on the whole field of operations where cavalry can be used and they are certainly using it with a liberal hand, probably in attempt to feel out the country and locate the main body of opposing troops. they have got into a lot of trouble so far, and i am sure they have not yet located the main bodies of the allied armies. the shops were all closed and most of the people were sitting on the sidewalk waiting for something to turn up. some of them had evidently been to america, and we had an ovation all the way in. the grande place was filled with motors and motor trucks, this evidently being a supply depôt. we had some of the local mineral water and talked with the people who gathered round for a look at the _angliches_. they were all ready for anything that might come, particularly prussians. in the old days the uhlans spread terror wherever they appeared, to burn and shoot and plunder. now they seem to arouse only rage and a determination to fight to the last breath. there was a little popping to the north and a general scurry to find out what was up. we jumped in the car and made good time through the crowded, crooked little streets to the fortifications. we were too late, however, to see the real row. some uhlans had strayed right up to the edge of town and had been surprised by a few men on the earthworks. there were no fatalities, but two wounded germans were brought into town in a motor. they were picked up without loss of time and transported to the nearest red cross hospital. cursing our luck we started off to haelen for a look at the battlefields. prussian cavalry made an attack there the same day they attacked diest, and their losses were pretty bad. at one of the barricades we found people with prussian lances, caps, haversacks, etc., which they were perfectly willing to sell. palmer was equally keen to buy, and he looked over the junk offered, while some two hundred soldiers gathered around to help and criticise. i urged palmer to refrain, in the hope of finding some things ourselves on the battlefield. he scoffed at the idea, however. he is, of course, an old veteran among the war correspondents, and knew what he was about. he said he had let slip any number of opportunities to get good things, in the hope of finding something himself, but there was nothing doing when he got to the field. we bowed to his superior knowledge and experience, and let him hand over an english sovereign for a long prussian lance. i decided to do my buying on the way home if i could find nothing myself. the forward movement of troops seemed to be headed toward diest, for our road was much more free from traffic. we got into haelen in short order and spent a most interesting half hour, talking to the officer in command of the village. as we came through the village we saw the effect of rifle fire and the work of machine guns on the walls of the houses. some of them had been hit in the upper story with shrapnel and were pretty badly battered up. the village must have been quite unpleasant as a place of residence while the row was on. the commanding officer, a major, seemed glad to find some one to talk to, and we stretched our legs for half an hour or so in front of his headquarters and let him tell us all about what had happened. he was tense with rage against the germans, whom he accused of all sorts of barbarous practices, and whom he announced the allies must sweep from the earth. he told us that only a few hours before a couple of uhlans had appeared in a field a few hundred yards from where we were standing, had fired on two peasant women working there, and then galloped off. everywhere we went we heard stories of peaceful peasants being fired on. it seems hard to believe, but the stories are terribly persistent. there may be some sniping by the non-combatant population, but the authorities are doing everything they can to prevent it, by requiring them to give up their arms and pointing out the danger of reprisals. before we moved on, our officer presented me with a prussian lance he had picked up on the battlefield near haelen. we got careful directions from him for finding the battlefield and set off for loxbergen, where the fight had taken place the day before. the run was about four kilometers through little farms, where the houses had been set on fire by shrapnel and were still burning. the poor peasants were wandering around in the ruins, trying to save odds and ends from the wreck, but there was practically nothing left. of course they had had to flee for their lives when the houses were shelled, and pretty much everything was burned before they could safely venture back to their homes. we had no difficulty in locating the field of battle when we reached it. the ground was strewn with lances and arms of all sorts, haversacks, saddle bags, trumpets, helmets and other things that had been left on the ground after the battle. there were a few villagers prowling around, picking things up, but there were enough for everybody, so we got out and gathered about fifteen prussian lances, some helmets and other odds and ends that would serve as souvenirs for our friends in brussels. as everybody took us for english, they were inclined to be very friendly, and we were given several choice trophies to bring back. while we were on the field, a german aeroplane came soaring down close to us and startled us with the sharp crackling of its motor. it took a good look at us and then went its way. a little farther along, some belgian troops fired at the aeroplane, but evidently went wide of their mark, for it went unconcernedly homeward. we wandered through the ruins of some old farms and sized up pretty well what must have happened. the germans had evidently come up from the south and occupied some of the farmhouses along the road. the belgians had come down from the north and opened fire on the houses with rapid-fire guns, for the walls were riddled with small holes and chipped with rifle fire. then shrapnel had been brought into play, to set the houses on fire and bring the german troops out into the open. then they had charged the belgians across an open field and apparently with disastrous results. part of the ground was in hay which had already been harvested and piled in stacks, the rest was in sugar beets. the prussians had charged across the field and had come upon a sunken road into which they fell helter-skelter without having time to draw rein. we could see where the horses had fallen, how they had scrambled to their feet and tried with might and main to paw their way up on the other side. the whole bank was pawed down, and the marks of hoofs were everywhere. the road was filled with lances and saddles, etc. all through the field were new-made graves. there was, of course, no time for careful burial. a shallow trench was dug every little way--a trench about thirty feet long and ten feet wide. into this were dumped indiscriminately germans and belgians and horses, and the earth hastily thrown over them--just enough to cover them before the summer sun got in its work. there were evidences of haste; in one place we saw the arm of a german sergeant projecting from the ground. it is said that over three thousand men were killed in this engagement, but from the number of graves we saw i am convinced that this was a good deal overstated. at any rate it was terrible enough; and when we think that this was a relatively unimportant engagement, we can form some idea of what is going to happen when the big encounter comes, as it will in the course of a few days more. it is clear that the germans were driven off with considerable losses, and that the belgians still hold undisputed control of the neighbourhood. there were a few scattered uhlans reconnoitering near by, but they were not in sufficient numbers to dare to attack. after gathering our trophies we were ready to start for home; and it was well we should, for it was getting rather late in the afternoon and we had a long trip ahead of us with many delays. soon after leaving haelen, on our way back we met a corps of bicycle carabiniers who were rolling along toward haelen at top speed. the officer in command held us up and asked us for news of the country we had covered. he seemed surprised that we had not seen any german forces, for he said the alarm had been sent in from haelen and that there were strong forces of belgians on the way to occupy the town and be ready for the attack. when he had left us, we ran into one detachment after another of infantry and lancers coming up to occupy the little village. when we got to the barricade at the entrance to diest, the soldiers of the guard poured out and began taking our trophies out of the car. we protested vigorously, but not one of them could talk anything but walloon--and french was of no use. finally, a corporal was resurrected from somewhere and came forth with a few words of french concealed about his person. we used our best arguments with him, and he finally agreed to let a soldier accompany us to the town hall and see what would be done with us there. the little chunky walloon who had held us up at the barrier climbed in with great joy, and away we sped. the little chap was about the size and shape of an egg with whopping boots, and armed to the teeth. he had never been in a car before, and was as delighted as a child. by carefully piecing words together through their resemblance to german, we managed to have quite a conversation; and by the time we got to the grande place we were comrades in arms. i fed him on cigars and chocolate, and he was ready to plead our cause. as we came through the streets of the town, people began to spot what was in the car and cheers were raised all along the line. when we got to the hôtel de ville, the troops had to come out to keep back the curious crowd, while we went in to inquire of the officer in command as to whether we could keep our souvenirs. he was a major, a very courteous and patient man, who explained that he had the strictest orders not to let anything of the sort be carried away to brussels. we bowed gracefully to the inevitable, and placed our relics on a huge pile in front of the hôtel de ville. evidently many others had met the same fate, for the pile contained enough trophies to equip a regiment. the major and an old fighting priest came out and commiserated with us on our hard luck, but their commiseration was not strong enough to cause them to depart from their instructions. the major told us that they had in the hôtel de ville the regimental standard of the death's head hussars. they are keeping it there, although it would probably be a great deal safer in brussels. unfortunately the room was locked, and the officer who had the key had gone, so we could not look upon it with our own eyes. heading out of town, a young infantryman held us up and asked for a lift. he turned out to be the son of the president of the court of appeals at charleroi. he was a delicate looking chap with lots of nerve, but little strength. his heavy infantry boots looked doubly heavy on him, and he was evidently in a bad way from fatigue. he had to rejoin his regiment which was twelve miles along the road from diest, so we were able to give him quite a boost. he asked me to get word to his father that he wanted to be given a place as chauffeur or aviator, and in any other place that would not require so much foot work. there must be a lot of this sort. we finally landed him in the bosom of his company and waved him a good-bye. by this time it was twilight, and the precautions of the guards were redoubled. a short way out from louvain, a little walloon stepped out from behind a tree about a hundred yards in front of us and barred the way excitedly. we were going pretty fast and had to put on emergency brakes, and skid up to him with a great smell of sizzling rubber. he informed us that papers were no good any more; that we must know the password, or go back to louvain for the night. this he communicated to us in his best walloon, which we finally understood. blount started to tell him that we did not know, as the word had been changed since we left; but in one of my rare bursts of resourcefulness i thought to try a ruse, so leaned forward very confidently and gave him the password for the morning--"_belgique_." with a triumphant look, he shook his head and countered: "no, _haelen_!" he had shown the travellers from the outside world that he knew more than they did, and he was without any misgivings as to what he had done, and let us proceed without further loss of time. we got all the way back to tervueren with this password, which was all that saved us from spending the night in louvain and getting back nobody knows when. nearly opposite the golf club we were stopped with the tidings that the word was no longer good, but that if we had satisfactory papers we could get into town. for some reason the password had evidently been changed since we left louvain, so we got through with rare luck all along the line. we rolled up to the legation a few minutes before eight o'clock, and found that there was a great deal of anxiety about us. cheerful people had been spreading the news all day that if we fell into the hands of the germans they would hold us as hostages, as they did the bishop and mayor of liège. they probably would if they had caught us, but they did not catch us. palmer was pleased at the amount we saw. it was by rare good luck that we got through the lines and we were probably the last who will get so far. to-day all _laisser-passers_ have been canceled, and nobody can set foot out of town to the east. it gave us a pretty good idea before we got through as to how the troops must be disposed. i came within an ace of putting off our trip for a day or two. if i had, it would have cut me out of seeing anything. as usual, when i go out, the lid had blown off the legation and the place was in a turmoil. during the afternoon the government had decided to move to antwerp and take refuge in the _enceinte_. the queen, the royal children and some of the members of the government left at eight o'clock, and this morning more of them left. most of the diplomatic corps have gone, and will have so much time to think of their troubles that they will be more uncomfortable than we are. the spanish minister will stay on and give us moral support. * * * * * _brussels, august , ._--yesterday morning began with a visit from our old friend, richard harding davis, who was still quite wroth because i had not waited for him to arrange for his passes and go with me on my trip. if we had, there would have been no trip, as he was not equipped until afternoon. after lunch he started off boldly for namur, but got turned back before he reached wavre, where there had been a skirmish with uhlans. he was sore and disgusted. while he was in my office, another troop arrived composed of irwin cobb, john mccutcheon, the cartoonist, lewis and a few others. later in the day, will irwin came in with news that he was closely followed by others. mccutcheon is a great friend of the minister, and makes this his headquarters. the minister took them out to get _laisser-passers_. while they were away, sir francis villiers came in and showed me a telegram from the foreign office, stating that british newspapers and news associations had been requested to recall their correspondents, as they had already done great harm by the news they had given out. he was also to request the belgian government to refuse permits of any sort to the press, and get all foreign correspondents out of the country. the belgian government realised the importance of this, and has consequently shut down the lid tight. there was supposed to have been a fair-sized cavalry engagement near charleroi, in which six regiments of german cavalry were chewed up. we have no details, but it looked as though they were lured into a trap. practically no news of the operations is leaking out. it looks as though kitchener had remarked, "we will go into that house where william hohenzollern is breaking the furniture, and we will close the door and pull down the blinds, and when we get through, we will come out and tell people about it." yesterday was just a day of work with a great deal of beating people on the back and assuring them that their lives are not in danger just because the court has gone to antwerp. they all seem to be convinced that their throats are going to be cut immediately. this morning we had the usual deluge of newspaper men and correspondents. the minister went off with the spanish minister to call on the military authorities, who are the only ones with whom we now have any relations, and while he was gone, sir francis came in and announced that he had been ordered to leave for antwerp and place his legation and british interests under our charge. the news is that the german cavalry in considerable force is marching toward brussels. the military authorities are getting ready to defend the city, which is quite a futile proceeding, as the available forces are inadequate, so that the only result will be that a lot of innocent people will be killed quite incidentally. the governor expects to resist about as far as the ring of inner boulevards, which are about four blocks farther in than we are. our street is probably one of the principal ones by which the germans would enter. a hundred yards farther out there is a big railroad barricade, where a stand would probably be made, so that our legation would undoubtedly get a fair share of the wild shots from both sides. the cellar is being made ready for occupancy during the shindy, if it comes. the burgomaster came in to say that he had a house prepared for our occupancy in the safe part of town; but we were not prepared to abandon the legation and declined with sincere thanks for his thoughtfulness. i went over and saw sir francis and the legation staff just as they were leaving. they refused to have their plans upset by any little thing like a german advance, so had their lunch peacefully at the usual hour and then left in motors. at seven o'clock cobb, mccutcheon, and the rest of the crowd, were due at my house, so i gathered up the minister, the consul-general, and blount, and repaired thither. davis and morgan turned up a little late, but nothing has been heard of the rest of the crowd so far-- : p.m. they were to have dined here, but have not appeared or sent word. crowds of people are pouring in from the east in all stages of panic, and some small forces of cavalry have also retreated into the city, looking weary and discouraged. there has evidently been a rout. further than that, we know nothing so far. several of the wives of high belgian officials have come in this evening, having received word from their husbands to put themselves under our protection. there is nothing we can do for them, particularly at this time. * * * * * _brussels, august , ._--to-day has been one full of experience and the end is not yet. last night there was a great stir in the streets, and crowds of people and weary-looking soldiers. at the palace hotel i found the usual collection of diplomats and some other people whom i knew, and from the crowd i elicited the fact that there had been some sort of rout of belgian forces near louvain, and the soldiers were falling back. that was about all they knew. i started back to the upper town in the hope of finding some news at the porte de namur. on the way up the hill i was stopped by half a dozen groups of gardes civiques and soldiers, who asked me to take them to ghent. they were so excited and in such a hurry that they could hardly be made to realize that the car was not liable to seizure. i took advantage of the opportunity to get a little first-hand news, and learned that they had been driven back all along the line and were ordered to retreat to ghent by any means they could find. there were no trains available; nobody seemed to know why. the last group that i talked with said that the vanguard of the german cavalry was only about fifteen miles out of town and would be in this morning. they were all tremendously excited and did not dally by the wayside to chat about the situation with me. i can't say that i blame them, particularly in view of what i have seen since. at the porte de namur i found that the garde civique in brussels had been ordered to disband and that the plan for the defense of the city had been completely abandoned. it was the wise thing to do, for there was no hope of defending the town with the small force of gardes at the disposal of the military governor. it would have been quite futile and would have entailed a big loss of innocent civilian life. the governor wanted to do it purely as a matter of honour, but he would have paid for it heavily and could not have accomplished anything beyond delaying the germans for an hour or two. the garde civique was furious, however, at the idea of not being able to make a stand. there was a demonstration, but the cooler heads prevailed, and the men withdrew to their homes. [illustration: german supply train entering brussels] [illustration: german infantry entering brussels] i was out by seven this morning and looked about for news before coming to the legation. i found that the germans were steadily advancing and that the vanguard was about seven kilometers out of the city. they expected to begin the triumphal march about eleven. the garde civique had disappeared from the streets and there were very few police to be found. the shops were closed, shutters down on all houses, and posters everywhere with the proclamation of the burgomaster urging the people to refrain from hostile acts. it was an abandoned and discouraged-looking city. on the boulevards there were long lines of high carts bringing in the peasants from the surrounding country. they are great high-wheeled affairs, each drawn by a big belgian draught horse. each cart was piled high with such belongings as could be brought away in the rush. on top of the belongings were piled children and the old women, all of whom had contrived to save their umbrellas and their gleaming, jet-black bonnets, piled with finery. those who could not find places in the carts walked alongside, some of them carrying other belongings that could not be put on the carts. it was the most depressing sight so far. lots of them were crying; all looked sad and crushed. every one of them was probably without enough money for a week's living. even those who have money in the banks cannot get it out at this time. they have no place to go to here and have a bad prospect even if this part of the campaign is finished quickly and they are soon able to return to their homes. their crops are rotting in the ground and many of their homes are already in ruins. that is the hard side of the war--lots harder than the men who go out and have at least a fighting chance for their lives. when i got down to the legation i found that the telegraph and telephone communication had been cut off. the train service is abandoned and we are completely isolated from the outside world. i did not think it would come so soon and only hope that before we were cut off the news was allowed to get out that there would be no fighting in the city. i had a lot of errands to do during the morning and kept both motors busy. i found time to get up signs on my door and that of m. de leval, warning all comers that both places were inviolate. that was in anticipation of quartering of troops on private citizens, which has not been done. we got word that the spanish minister had some news, so i went over to see him. he had heard from the burgomaster as to the plans for the entry of the troops, and wanted to pass it along to us. the commanding general, von jarotzky, was already at the edge of the city, on the boulevard militaire, and was expecting to start into town at one o'clock. he was to march down the chaussée de louvain, the boulevards, and out the other side of the city, where his men were to be encamped for the present. other forces, comparatively small, were to occupy the railway stations and the grande place. at the hôtel de ville he was to establish the headquarters of the staff and administer the city government through the regularly constituted authorities. it was all worked out to a nicety, even to the exact measures for policing the line of march. as the garde civique was withdrawn, the prisoners in the german legation knew that there was something in the air and ventured forth into the light of day. they were not long in learning just what had taken place, and called upon us to express their thanks for what we had done for them. i suppose they will be trotting away for their own country before there is a chance to lock them up again. it must be pretty dismal for them to be locked up without any news of the outside world when they don't know whether their armies are victorious or badly beaten. as i was about to start to see the triumphal entry, the spanish minister came along with his flag flying from his motor, and bade us to go with him. we made off down the boulevard and drew up at the italian legation--two motors full of us; the whole staff of the spanish legation and ourselves. the italian minister bade us in to watch the show, which we had intended he should do. this did not work out well, so m. de leval and i started off down the street together. the first of the germans appeared as we stepped out the front door, and we saw that they were not coming over the route that had been originally planned. instead, they were heading down the hill into the lower town. they proved to be the troops that were to occupy the grande place and guard the headquarters of the staff at the hôtel de ville. we cut across through side streets and came upon them as they were passing ste. gudule. there was a sullen and depressed crowd lining the streets, and not a sound was to be heard. it would have been better had the crowd been kept off the streets, but they behaved wonderfully well. a large part of the reason for bringing the german troops through here was evidently to impress the populace with their force and discipline. it was a wonderful sight, and one which i never expect to see equaled as long as i live. they poured down the hill in a steady stream without a pause or a break; not an order was shouted nor a word exchanged among the officers or men. all the orders and signals were given by whistles and signs. the silence was a large element of the impressiveness. these troops had evidently been kept fresh for this march, and i should not be at all surprised if it should prove that they had not seen any fighting. if they have suffered any losses, they have closed up their ranks with wonderful precision and show none of the signs of demoralisation. they had clearly been at great pains to brush up and give the appearance of freshness and strength. nearly all the men were freshly shaven, and their uniforms had been brushed and made as natty and presentable as possible. they swaggered along with a palpable effort to show that they were entirely at home, and that they owned the place. the officers looked over the heads of the crowd in their best supercilious manner, and the men did their best to imitate their superiors. first came some lancers--a couple of battalions, i should think; then there was a lot of artillery, rapid-fire guns and field pieces. then more cavalry and a full regiment of infantry. when the last contingent of cavalry came along, they burst into song and kept it up steadily. there was a decidedly triumphant note, and the men looked meaningly at the crowd, as much as to say: "now do you realise what your little army went up against when it tried to block us?" it seemed to me pretty rough to rub it in on them by singing songs of triumph as they rode into an undefended city. if they had been attacked and had succeeded in driving the invader back into his own capital, it would be understandable; but it seemed to me rather unnecessary to humiliate these people after trampling on their poor country and slaughtering half their army. it was more than de leval could stand, so i walked home with him to the legation. when we got back to the legation i decided that i ought to see all i could, so blount and i went back in his car. first we worked our way through to the lower town and got a look at the grande place. there were a little more than two full battalions resting there, with their field pieces parked at the lower end of the square. small squads were being walked around doing the goose step for the delectation of the _bons bruxellois_, who were kept a block away up the side streets leading to the square. the men had their arms stacked in the centre of the square, and were resting hard--all but those who were supplying the spectacle. from there we went down to luna park, an amusement place on the edge of the city. the stream was pouring by there just as steadily as it had earlier in the afternoon. we watched the passing of great quantities of artillery, cavalry and infantry, hussars, lancers, cyclists, ambulance attendants, forage men, and goodness only knows what else. i have never seen so much system and such equipment. the machine is certainly wonderful; and, no matter what is the final issue of the war, nobody can deny that so far as that part of the preparation went, the germans were hard to beat. the most insignificant details were worked out, and all eventualities met with promptness. the horses were shod for a campaign in the country, and naturally there was a lot of slipping on the smooth cobble pavements. the instant a horse went down there was a man ready with a coarse cloth to put under his head, and another to go under his forefeet, so that he would have some grip when he tried to get up and would not hurt himself slipping and pawing at the cobbles. the moment he fell, all hands rushed to the rescue so effectively that he was on his feet again in no time, and the procession was barely arrested. the men's kits were wonderfully complete and contained all sorts of things that i had never seen or heard of, so i turned for explanation to davis, who had come along and was lost in admiration of the equipment and discipline. he said he had been through pretty much every campaign for the last twenty years, and thought he knew the last word in all sorts of equipment, but that this had him staggered. i began asking him what a lot of things were for, and he frankly admitted that he was as much in the dark as i was. a great many of the officers wore, upon their chests, great electric searchlights attached to batteries in their saddle-bags. these are useful when on the march at night, and serve to read sign-posts and study maps, etc. the supply trains were right with the main body of the troops, and were also carefully equipped for purposes of display. the kitchens were on wheels, and each was drawn by four horses. the stoves were lighted and smoke was pouring from the chimneys. the horses were in fine shape and in huge numbers. the troops marched down the right side of the boulevard, leaving the left side free. up and down this side dashed officers on horseback, messengers on motor-cycles and staff officers in military cars. there were no halts and practically no slacking of the pace, as the great army rolled in. here and there came large motor trucks fitted out as cobblers' shops, each with a dozen cobblers pounding industriously away at boots that were passed up to them by the marching soldiers. while waiting for repairs to be made, these soldiers rode on the running board of the motor, which was broad enough to carry them and their kits. after watching them for a while, we moved back to the boulevard, where we found the minister with the ladies of the family who had been brought out to watch the passing show. we had hesitated to bring them out at the beginning for fear that there might be riots, or even worse, precipitated by the foolhardy action of some individual. fortunately, there was nothing of the sort, and while the reception given the troops was deadly sullen, they were offered no affronts that we could see. the entry was effected quietly, and perfect order has prevailed ever since. afterwards we drove out to the country and watched the steady stream nearer its source; still pouring in, company after company, regiment after regiment, with apparently no end in sight. we watched until after seven, and decided that the rest would have to get in without our assistance. on the way back a german monoplane flew over the city, and, turning near the hôtel de ville, dropped something that spit fire and sparks. everybody in the neighbourhood let out a yell and rushed for cover in the firm belief that it was another bomb such as was dropped in namur. it dropped, spitting fire until fairly near the spire of the hôtel de ville, when it burst into ten or a dozen lights like a roman candle--evidently a signal to the troops still outside the city--perhaps to tell them that the occupation had been peacefully accomplished. we learned afterward that the minister and villalobar were riding down the hill and the infernal machine seemed right over their car, giving them a nice start for a moment. when i got back to the legation, i found that the minister had gone with villalobar to call on the burgomaster and the german general. they found the old gentleman in command at the city hall, carrying on the government through the bourgomaster, who has settled down with resignation to his task. he is tremendously down in the mouth at having to give up his beautiful grande place to a foreign conqueror, but he has the good sense to see that he can do more good for his country by staying there and trying to maintain order than by getting out with a _beau geste_. the first thing the general did was to excuse himself and go to take a bath and get a shave, whereupon he reappeared and announced his readiness to proceed to the discussion of business. the general said that he had no intention of occupying the town permanently or of quartering soldiers, or otherwise bothering the inhabitants. he was sent there to keep open a way so that troops could be poured through toward the french frontier. they expect to be several days marching troops through, and during that time they will remain in nominal control of the city. judging from this, there must be a huge army of them coming. we shall perhaps see some of them after the big engagement, which is bound to take place soon, as they get a little nearer the french frontier. brussels has not been occupied by a foreign army since napoleon's time, and that was before it was the capital of a free country. it has been forty-four years since the capital of a european power has had hostile troops marching in triumph through its streets, and the humiliation has been terrible. the belgians have always had a tremendous city patriotism and have taken more pride in their municipal achievements than any people on earth, and it must hurt them more than it could possibly hurt any other people. the burgomaster, when he went out to meet general von jarotzky, declined to take his hand. he courteously explained that there was no personal affront intended, but that under the circumstances he could hardly bring himself to offer even such a purely perfunctory manifestation of friendship. the old general, who must be a good deal of a man, replied quietly that he entirely understood, and that under similar circumstances he would probably do the same. the two men are on exceedingly workable terms, but i don't believe they will exchange photographs after the war is over. poor max was going to spend the night at the hôtel de ville. most of his assistants cleared out for the night, but he could not bring himself to leave the beautiful old building entirely in control of the enemy. he curled up and slept on the couch in his office, just for the feeling it gave him that he was maintaining some sort of hold on the old place. the minister arranged to have his telegrams accepted and transmitted without loss of time, so we shall soon get word home that we are still in the land of the living. we wrote out our message and sent it off right after dinner, but gustave brought it back, saying that the telegraph office was closed and that he could find no one to whom he could hand his bundle of messages. evidently the orders for the re-opening of the place did not get around in time for our purposes. we shall try again the first thing in the morning, and hope that some of the newspaper men will have succeeded in getting their stuff out in some other way. they were around in force just after dinner and wild to get an o.k. on their stuff, so that it could be sent. the general had said that he wanted the minister's o.k. on the men themselves, and that he himself would approve their messages after having them carefully read to him. he gave them an interview on alleged german atrocities and will probably let them send through their stories if they play that up properly. after dinner i started out on my usual expedition in search of news. i found the foreign office closed, and learned upon inquiry that the few remaining men who had not gone to antwerp were at home and would not be around again for the present--thus we have no dealings through the foreign office, but must do the best we can with the military authorities. i went down to the palace hotel on the chance of picking up a little news, but did not have much luck. the restaurant was half filled with german officers, who were dining with great gusto. the belgians in the café were gathered just as far away as possible, and it was noticeable that instead of the usual row of conversation, there was a heavy silence brooding over the whole place. * * * * * _august , ._--so far as we can learn we are still as completely cut off from the outside world as we were yesterday. the general promised the minister that there would be no difficulty in sending his telegrams, either clear or in cipher, but when we came to sending them off, it was quite another story. the first thing this morning i made an attempt to hand them in, but found all the telegraph offices closed. at ten o'clock i went down to the hôtel de ville to see the general, who has taken over the duties of military governor, and see what was the matter. he was away somewhere and so was the burgomaster, so i contented myself with seeing one of the echevins, whom i had met a number of times. he could not do anything about it on his own responsibility, but made a careful memorandum and said that he would take it up with the general, through the mayor, when they both got back. i also asked for _laisser-passers_ for everybody in the shop, and he promised to attend to that. by lunch time we had received no answer from general von jarotzky, so i got in the motor with my pocket full of telegrams and went down to the hôtel de ville once more. it is a depressing sight. the grande place, which is usually filled with flower venders and a mass of people coming and going, is almost empty. at the lower end there are parked a number of small guns; in the centre, some camp kitchens, with smoke rising from the chimneys. the courtyard of the hôtel de ville itself, where so many sovereigns have been received in state, was filled with saddle-horses and snorting motors. the discarded uniforms of the garde civique were piled high along one side, as if for a rummage sale. beer bottles were everywhere. in the beautiful gothic room, hung with the battle flags of several centuries, there are a hundred beds--a dormitory for the officers who are not quartered at the neighbouring hotels. the marvelous order and system which so compelled our admiration yesterday were not in evidence. there were a lot of sentries at the door and they took care to jab a bayonet into you and tell you that you could not enter; but any sort of reply seemed to satisfy them, and you were allowed to go right up to the landing, where the general had established himself in state at a couple of huge tables. here confusion reigned supreme. there were staff officers in abundance, but none of them seemed to have the slightest authority, and the old man had them all so completely cowed that they did not dare express an opinion or ask for a decision. the general himself is a little, tubby man, who looks as though he might be about fifty-five; his face is red as fire when it is not purple, and the way he rages about is enough to make olympus tremble. the crowd of frightened people who came to the hôtel de ville for _laisser-passers_ and other papers, all found their way straight to his office; no one was on hand to sort them out and distribute them among the various bureaus of the civil administration. even the staff officers did very little to spare their chief and head off the crowd. they would come right up to him at his table and shove a _pièce d'identité_ under his nose, with a tremulous request for a visé; he would turn upon them and growl, "_bas bossible; keine zeit; laissez mois dranquille, nom de d----!_" he switched languages with wonderful facility, and his cuss words were equally effective in any language that he tried. just as with us, everyone wanted something quite out of the question and then insisted on arguing about the answer that they got. a man would come up to the general and say that he wanted to get a pass to go to namur. the general would say impatiently that it was quite impossible, that german troops were operating over all that territory and that no one could be allowed to pass for several days. then mr. man would say that that was no doubt true, but that _he_ must go because he had a wife or a family or a business or something else that he wanted to get to. as he talked, the general would be getting redder and redder, and when about to explode, he would spring to his feet and advance upon his tormentor, waving his arms and roaring at him to get the ---- out of there. not satisfied with that, he invariably availed of the opportunity of being on his feet to chase all the assembled crowd down the stairs and to scream at all the officers in attendance for having allowed all this crowd to gather. then he would sit down and go through the same performance from the beginning. i was there off and on for more than two hours, and i know that in that time he did not do four minutes' continuous, uninterrupted work. had it not been for the poor frightened people and the general seriousness of the situation, it would have been screamingly funny and worth staying indefinitely to see. i had my share of the troubles. i explained my errand to an aide-de-camp and asked him to see that proper instructions were given for the sending of the telegrams. he took them and went away. then after a few minutes he came gravely back, clicked his heels, and announced that there was no telegraph communication with the outside world and that he did not know when it would be reëstablished. i asked him to go back to the general, who in the meantime had retreated to the gothic room and had locked himself in with a group of officers. my friend came back again, rather red in the face, and said that he had authority to stamp my telegrams and let them go. he put the rubber stamp on them and said i could take them. i said that was all very well, but where could i take them, since the telegraph offices were closed. he went off again and came back with the word that the office in the central bureau was working for official messages. i got into the motor with the italian secretary, who had a similar task, and together we went to the central bureau. it was nailed up tight, and the german sentries on guard at the door swore to us by their _ehrenwort_ that there was absolutely nothing doing. back we went to the hôtel de ville. our friend, the aide-de-camp, had disappeared, but we got hold of another and asked him to inform himself. he went away and we spent a few minutes watching the general blow up everybody in sight; when the aide-de-camp came back, he smilingly announced that there was no way of getting the messages out on the wire; that the best thing we could do would be to send a courier to holland and telegraph from there. i told him to go back and get another answer. when he came back next time, he had the glad news that the office had really been established in the post office and that orders had been sent over there to have our cables received and sent at once. away we went again, only to find that the latest bulletin was just as good as the others; the post office was closed up just as tight as the other office, and the sentries turned us away with a weary explanation that there was not a living soul inside, as though they had explained it a thousand times since they had been on duty. by this time the wild-goose chasing was getting a little bit monotonous, and when we got back to the headquarters, i announced with some emphasis to the first aide-de-camp that i could reach, that i did not care to do any more of it; that i wanted him to get me the right information, and do it right away, so that i should not have to go back to my chief and report any more futile errands. he went away in some trepidation and was gone some time. presently the general came out himself, seething in his best manner. "_a qui tout ce tas de depeches?_" roars he. "_a moi_," says i. he then announced in a voice of thunder that they were all wrong and that he was having them rewritten. before i could summon enough breath to shout him down and protest, he had gone into another room and slammed the door. i rushed back to my trusty aide-de-camp and told him to get me those telegrams right away; he came back with word that they would be sent after correction. i said that under no circumstances could they send out a word over the signature of the american minister without his having written it himself. he came back and said that he could not get the cables. i started to walk into the office myself to get them, only to bump into the general coming out with the messages in his hand. he threw them down on a table and began telling a young officer what corrections to make on the telegraph form itself. i protested vigorously against any such proceeding, telling him that we should be glad to have his views as to any errors in our message, but that he could not touch a letter in any official message. at this stage of the game he was summoned to the office of the burgomaster and rushed off with a string of oaths that would have made an arizona cow-puncher take off his hat. the young officer started calmly interlining the message, so i reached over and took it away from him, with the statement that i would report to my chief what had happened. he was all aflutter, and asked that i remain, as the general would not be long. i could not see any use in waiting longer, however, and made as dignified a retreat as possible under the circumstances. there were a number of cables in the handful i had carried around that were being sent in the interest of the german government and of german subjects, and i took good care to tell the young man that while we were glad to do anything reasonable for them or for their people, we had stood for a good deal more than they had a right to expect, and that these cables would stay on my desk until such time as they got ready to make a proper arrangement for our communications. now we shall settle down and see what happens next. [illustration: german officers and soldiers were always ready to oblige by posing for the camera] [illustration: "mit gott für kaiser und reich." this trio had a mania for being photographed] [illustration: count guy d'oultremont, adjutant of the belgian court. french howitzer in the background] [illustration: from left to right: colonel ducane, captain ferguson, and colonel fairholme] when i got back to the legation i found the argentine and brazilian ministers and the mexican chargé d'affaires waiting to hear the news of my mission. i was rather hot under the collar, and gave an unexpurgated account of what had happened. by this time i was beginning to see some of the humor in the situation, but they saw nothing but cause for rage, and left in a fine temper. just to see what would happen, we then proceeded to put our cable in its original form into cipher, and send it back to the general with a written request that it be sent immediately to washington. it will be interesting to see what reply he makes. the spanish minister left some telegrams with him last night to be sent, and is quite sure that they were held up, as he has received no answers to any of them. to-morrow he expects to put on his uniform and make a solemn official call on von jarotzky to demand that he be granted free communication with his government. during the afternoon a lot of correspondents came in and gave an amusing account of what the general had done for them. he had received them cordially and had given them a very pleasing interview, making an extended statement about the alleged german atrocities. could they send their messages through to their papers? certainly! of course the general would have to read the stories and approve the subject matter. naturally! the boys sat down in great enthusiasm and wrote out their stories, giving full credit to the german army for the orderly way they got in, the excellence of their appearance and behaviour, and the calm that prevailed in the city. they took these messages back and let the old chap read them. he plowed his way carefully through them and expressed his great satisfaction at the friendly expressions of approval. he put his o.k. on them and handed them back with the remark that they might send them. the boys ventured to inquire how. "oh," said the general, "you can either send a courier with them to holland or to germany and have them telegraphed from there." whereupon he rose and, bowing graciously, left the bunch so flabbergasted that they did not wake up until he was gone. he was most amiable and smiling and got away with it. the general commanding the forces now coming through--von arnim--got out a proclamation to-day which was posted in the streets, warning the inhabitants that they would be called upon for supplies and might have troops quartered upon them, and that if they ventured upon hostile acts they would suffer severely. proclamation. brussels, august , . german troops will pass through brussels to-day and the following days, and will be obliged by circumstances to call upon the city for lodging, food, and supplies. all these requirements will be settled for regularly through the communal authorities. i expect the population to meet these necessities of war without resistance, and especially that there shall be no aggression against our troops, and that the supplies required shall be promptly furnished. in this case i give every guarantee for the preservation of the city and the safety of its inhabitants. if, however, as has unfortunately happened in other places, there are attacks upon our troops, firing upon our soldiers, fires or explosions of any sort, i shall be obliged to take the severest measures. the general commanding the army corps, sixt von arnim. the strongest thing so far was the series of demands made upon the city and province. the city of brussels has been given three days to hand over million francs in coin or bills. the germans also demand a tremendous supply of food to be furnished during the next three days. if the city fails to deliver any part of it, it must pay in coin at a rate equal to twice the market value of the supplies. the province of brabant must hand over, by the first of next month, millions of francs-- million dollars. when you consider that the total war indemnity imposed by germany upon france in was only five milliards, the enormity of this appears. upon one little province of a tiny country they are imposing a tax equal to one-tenth that imposed on the whole of france. how on earth they are ever to arrange to pay it, i cannot possibly see. i do not know what is to happen if they fail to make good, but i have no doubt that it will be something pretty dreadful. this afternoon the germans went into the ministry of war and the foreign office, and searched through the archives. it must have been an entirely futile proceeding, for all papers of any interest were removed to antwerp when the government left. the higher officials who were still here were kept in the buildings to witness the search--a needless humiliation. there is talk now of a search of the british legation, but we have heard nothing of it and expect that will not be done without asking our permission first. * * * * * _brussels, august , ._--another day with much to do and no great results. this morning, at o'clock, general von jarotzky arrived at the legation and was all smiles. it appears that my action, in making known my displeasure at his behaviour and that of his staff, had a good effect. we have heard, from several sources, that he blew up everybody in sight yesterday afternoon when he came out from the burgomaster's office and learned that i had departed in bad temper. he knows that nobody dares to oppose his acts or views, but just the same he gave them fits for not having made me stay and attend to my case. be that as it may, he appeared with his chief of staff, and sent up a message that brought the minister down in his pajamas and dressing gown. he expressed great regret for the "misunderstanding" of yesterday evening, and assured the minister that there would be no further cause for complaint on our part. he had in his hand the telegram which we had sent him the evening before--the very same telegram which we had been trying to get off ever since the german occupation of the city. he had signed each page of the message, and had affixed his stamp with an order that it be immediately transmitted. he explained to the minister that the best thing to do was for him to take it in person to the office of the director of the bureau of telegraphs, who had already received instructions on the subject. [illustration: pass issued by general von jarotzky, the first german commander in brussels, to enable mr. gibson to go through the lines to antwerp.] the servants were thrown into a perfect panic by the arrival of the _généraux_. it took some argument to convince them that the germans would hardly need to send two generals to take them into custody, even if they had any reason to desire them as prisoners. about ten o'clock i was starting to go down to the telegraph office, to send the messages, when the spanish minister drove up in his big green car with the spanish flag flying at the fore. we told him our story, whereupon he announced that he also had telegrams to send and that he would go with us. we drove in state to the telegraph office, and found that the entrance which had been indicated to us was the alley through which the mail wagons drive in the good days when there are any. before an admiring crowd, we descended and made our way among prussian troopers through the noisome alley to a small side door, where we were stopped by a sentry who stuck a bayonet in our general direction and said we could go no further. i was immediately thrust into the foreground as the brilliant german scholar; and, limbering up my heavy german artillery, i attacked him. the sentry blanched, but stood his ground. an officer came up as reinforcements, but was also limited to the german tongue; so i had to keep it up, with two full-grown ministers behind me thinking up impossible things to be translated into the hopeless tongue. the officer, who was a genial soul, announced as though there were no use ever again to appear at that particular place, that the instruments had all been removed, and that there was absolutely no way of sending any messages--no matter from whom they came. we told him that we had come at the special request of the general himself. he replied that that made no difference whatever; that if there were no wires and no instruments, there was no possible way of sending the messages. after three or four repetitions, the minister and i began to understand that there was no use haggling about it; but the spanish minister was not so lightly to be turned aside and took up the cudgels, himself bursting into the german language. he stood his ground valiantly in the face of a volley of long words, but he did not get any forrader. prince ernst de ligne came in with a permit from the general to send his messages, and joined forces with the spanish minister; but the poor officer could only shrug his shoulders and smile and repeat what he had already said a score of times. mr. whitlock and i began to laugh, and had a hard time to control ourselves. finally we prevailed upon them to return to the hôtel de ville. the minister was beginning to get even madder than he was yesterday, when i got back with my story of the way i had spent the afternoon, going from one wild goose chase to another. we got the burgomaster in his private office and placed our troubles before him. he understood the importance of the matter and sent for the general. he appeared in short order, clicked his heels, and inquired whether we had come in regard to the matter of telegrams. the old fox knew perfectly well that we had, and was ready for us. we had come to the conclusion--which i had reached yesterday afternoon and held all by myself--that the old man was jockeying. he listened to what we had to say, and then said that there was no means of communication with the outside world; that he had just learned it a few minutes before. it is hardly necessary to say that he had been fully posted from the minute he set foot in the town. the spanish minister was rather sarcastic about his opinion of a general who would venture to occupy a capital without being in possession of means of telegraphic communication. the old soldier was in no mood for argument on abstract questions, and was playing for too big stakes to stop and dicker, so he passed this over lightly and suggested that we go back and discuss with the director-general of telegraphs the possibilities of reëstablishing communications. then the spanish minister let loose on him, and announced that it was not consistent with the dignity of representatives of world powers to spend their time standing in back alleys disputing with soldiers who barred the way and refused to honour the instructions of their general. he threw in hot shot until the effect told. he said plainly that the general was full of fair words and promises and agreed to anything that was asked of him, but that when we went to do the things he had authorised, we were baffled by subordinates that took it upon themselves to disregard these orders--the intimation being cleverly conveyed that their action might not be unconnected with instructions from above. the old man then dropped his bluff, and asked what we wanted. we asked that he send for the director-general, and give him, in our presence, the instructions and authorisation necessary to enable him to reëstablish communication with the outside world, and instruct him to receive and send all official messages for the legations of neutral powers. there was no way out, short of flatly refusing to give us our right to communicate with our governments, so the director-general was sent for and the burgomaster wrote out, at our dictation, the most general and comprehensive orders to meet our wishes in all matters of official business. the general signed the order and instructed the director-general to go ahead. the director-general was a poor soul who could see nothing but technical difficulties in everything that was proposed. he reluctantly agreed to everything that he was told to do, and there is no telling when our stories will get off. he told us that when the germans had occupied the telegraph bureau, instead of simply disconnecting the instruments and placing a man there to see that communication was not reëstablished, the officer in command had battered down the door leading to the roof and had slashed all the wires with his sabre. as there were three or four hundred wires leading out of the office, it will be a tremendous job to get them all together again. we also took occasion to arrange for the issuance of _sauf conduits_ for all the members of the legations and for such members of the foreign colonies under our protection as we care to vouch for. food is getting very scarce because of the enormous demands of the germans, and we told von jarotzky that we should expect that he make arrangements to see that our colonies should not suffer from the requisitions--that ample food be reserved to keep them all as long as it might be found necessary for them to stay here. he agreed to this, but i don't see just how he is to arrange it in practice. there are about fifty thousand men camping within a few miles of brussels, and another army corps is now marching in. the food for all the people must be supplied by the city--all importations from the outside world have been suspended for days. it is a pretty bad situation, and it will probably get a great deal worse before long. i don't know whether we shall get down to eating horse and dog, but it is not altogether improbable. that is one of these things that it is interesting to read about afterward. we spent nearly two hours at the hôtel de ville, and got in a good deal of talk that will be of service to all sorts of people. when we got back, we found the chancery full of people who were waiting for us to tell them just how they could send telegrams and letters, and get passports and permits to pass through the lines in all possible directions. before leaving i had dictated a bulletin which was posted in the hallway, stating that there were no communications with the outside world by rail, telegraph or post, and that no _laisser-passers_ would be granted by the authorities until conditions had changed, and that the legation could not issue any sort of papers which would enable people to leave in safety. about four o'clock, mccutcheon, irwin and cobb breezed in, looking like a lot of tramps. several days ago they had sailed blissfully away to louvain in a taxi, which they had picked up in front of the hotel. when they got there, they got out and started to walk about to see what was going on, when, before they could realise what was happening, they found themselves in the midst of a belgian retreat, hard-pressed by a german advance. they were caught between the two, and escaped with their lives by flattening themselves up against the side of a house while the firing continued. when the row was over, they were left high and dry with no taxi--of course it had been seized by the retreating troops--and with no papers to justify their presence in louvain at such a time. they decided that the best thing to do was to go straight to the german headquarters and report. they were received well enough, and told to lodge themselves as best they could and stay indoors until it was decided what was to be done with them. they were told that they might be kept prisoners here, or even sent to berlin, but that no harm would come to them if they behaved themselves. the order had gone out that if a single shot was fired at the german troops, from the window of any house, everybody in the house was to be immediately taken out and shot. not wishing to risk any such unpleasant end, they rented all the front rooms of a house and spread themselves through all the rooms, so that they could be sure that nobody did any slaughtering from their house. they were there for three days, and were told to-day that they might take themselves hence. they came back to brussels in the same clothes that they had worn for the past three days, unshaven and dirty. when they drove up to the front door this afternoon, they were nearly refused admittance as being too altogether disreputable. this evening, when i went to see my old friend the general, just before dinner, he told me that he had had news of a great battle near metz, in which the french army had been cut off and practically destroyed, with a loss of , prisoners. it sounds about as probable as some of the other yarns. in view of the fact that my friend had no telegraphic communication, i was curious to know where he got his information, but my gentle queries did not bring forth any news on that point. the germans now expect to establish themselves for some time here in brussels. they are going to occupy the various governmental departments, and it is quite possible that for some time we shall have to deal exclusively with them. the government to which we are accredited has faded away, and we are left here with a condition and not a theory. we shall have to deal with the condition, and i am not at all sure that the condition will not require some pretty active dealing with. functionaries are to be brought from berlin to administer the various departments, so that it is evidently expected that the occupation is not to be of a temporary character. * * * * * _later._--after writing the foregoing, i went upstairs and listened to some of the tales of the four people who were tied up at louvain. now that they are safely out of it, they can see the funny side of it, but it was certainly pretty dangerous while it lasted. monsieur de leval is overcome with admiration for their _sang-froid_, and marvels at the race of men we breed. they seem to have made themselves solid with the germans before they had been there long; it would be hard for anybody to resist that crowd any length of time. of course they never saw their taxi again after getting out to scout for the battle, and whenever the major who had the duty of keeping them under surveillance came to take a look at them, cobb would work up a sob-shaken voice and plead for liberty and permission to return to brussels. he was always at some pains to explain that it was not his life he was worrying about, but the haunting thought of that taxi running up at the rate of fifty centimes every three minutes. after a while he got the major's funny bone located, and then all was well. he so completely got into the officer's good graces that he promised to send us word that they were safe and well,--and then failed to do so. while the germans occupied the city, all inhabitants were required to be indoors by eight o'clock; a light had to be kept in every window, and the blinds left open, so that any one moving could be clearly seen from the street. the windows themselves were to be closed. dosch said he woke up about four o'clock one morning with his head splitting; the lamp was smoking and the air vile with smoke and smell. he decided he would prefer to be shot than die of headache, so deliberately got up and opened his window. the story loses its point by the fact that after violating this strict rule, he was not taken out and shot. they said it was really pretty dreadful. from their window, they saw, every little while, a group of soldiers lead some poor frightened belgian to a little café across the street; several officers were sitting at one of the tables on the sidewalk, holding a sort of drumhead court martial. while they were examining the case, a squad would be marched around behind the railroad station. a few minutes later the prisoner would be marched around by another way, and in a few minutes there would be a volley and the troops would be marched back to their post; then, after a little while, a stretcher would be brought out with a body in civilian clothes, a cloth over the face. some of the prisoners were women, and there were screams before the shots were fired. it must have been a dreadful ordeal to go through. * * * * * _brussels, august , ._--the day after my last entry i started on a trip to antwerp, got through the lines and managed to wriggle back into brussels last night after reëstablishing telegraph communication with the department and having a number of other things happen to and around about me. all i can remember now of the d is that it was a sunday, and that we could hear cannonading all day long from the east. it was hard to tell just where it came from, but it was probably from the direction of wavre and namur. it was drizzly all day. the german troops continued to pour through the city. from time to time, during the last few days, their march has been interrupted for a couple of hours at a time, apparently as a result of a determined attempt on the part of the french and english to stop the steady flow of troops toward the french frontier. each time we could hear the booming of the cannon, the deep voices of the german guns and the sharp, dry bark of the french. at night we have seen the searchlights looking for the enemy or flashing signals. despite the nearness of all this fighting and the sight of the wounded being brought in, the streets barred off to keep the noisy traffic away from the hospitals, and all the other signs of war, it has still been hard to realize that it was so near us. our little german general, von jarotzky, has kept clicking his heels together and promising us anything we chose to ask. we have run around day after day with our telegrams, and not one has got farther than the hôtel de ville. being naturally somewhat touchy, we got tired of this after a few days, and decided that the only way to get any news to washington was for me to go to antwerp and get into direct communication over the cable from there. we got our telegrams ready and made a last try on the general monday morning. he was still effusively agreeable and assured us that he had determined to place a military field wire at our disposal so that we could communicate with washington via berlin. our previous experiences had made us suspicious, so it was decided that while depositing our messages here, i would make a try at getting through the lines and send whatever i thought best from antwerp or any other place i could reach. we told the general frankly what we intended to do, and he was all smiles and anxiety to please. at our request he had an imposing passport made out for me, signed with his hand and authorized with his seal. the burgomaster wrote out an equally good letter for us when we reached the belgian lines. providence was to take care of us while we were between the lines, and, just to make it unanimous, he did. we wanted to get away during the morning, but one thing after another came up and i was kept on the jump. we had to stop and worry about our newspaper correspondents, who have wandered off again. morgan came sauntering in during the morning and announced that he and davis had set out on foot to see whether there was any fighting near hal; they had fallen in with some german forces advancing toward mons. after satisfying themselves that there was nothing going on at hal or enghien, morgan decided that he had had enough walking for one day, and was for coming home. davis felt that they were too near the front to give up, and with a sherlock holmes sagacity announced that if they stuck to these german troops, they would succeed in locating the french and british armies. morgan thought this so probable that he was all for coming back, and left davis tramping along behind an ammunition wagon in search of adventure. he found it. after getting out of their trouble at louvain, mccutcheon, cobb and lewis set forth on another adventure. there are, of course, no motor cars or carriages to be had for love or money, so they invested in a couple of aged bicycles and a donkey cart. cobb, who weighs far above standard, perched gracefully on top of the donkey cart, and the other two pedalled alongside on their wheels. they must have been a funny outfit, and at last accounts were getting along in good style. the air is filled with nervousness, however, and there is a constantly increasing list of people who are being thrown into jail, or shot as spies, and there is little time for careful and painstaking trials for wanderers who are picked up inside the lines of the fighting armies and are unable to render a convincing account of themselves. i shall be rather uncomfortable about them until they reappear. while we were waiting for the final formalities for our trip to be accomplished, i invested in a wrist watch and goggles. we also bought a fuzzy animal like a teddy bear, about three inches high, and tied him on the radiator as a mascot. he made a hit with all hands and got a valuable grin from several forbidding-looking germans. we had signs on the car fore and aft, marking it as the car of the american legation, the signs being in both french and german. as we were the first to try to make the trip, we thought it up to us to neglect nothing that would help to get us through without any unpleasant shooting or bayoneting. [illustration: letter signed by burgomaster max requesting the belgian authorities to allow mr. gibson to pass through the lines on his way to antwerp. this was one of the last documents signed by the burgomaster before he was sent to germany as a prisoner of war. bruxelles, le septembre le bourgmestre de bruxelles, prie les autorités belges de bien vouloir laisser passer monsieur hugh s. gibsen, secrétaire de la légation des etats-unis d'amérique, accompagné de son chauffeur. m.h.s. gibsen est chargé d'une mission officielle. le bourgmestre vu au consulat de belgique à roosendaal (p.b.) le septembre le consul de belgique] after formally filing all our telegrams with the german general, blount and i got under way at half-past two. we pulled out through the northern end of the city, toward vilvorde. there were german troops and supply trains all along the road, but we were not stopped until we got about half way to vilvorde. then we heard a loud roar from a field of cabbages we were passing and, looking around, discovered what looked like a review of the knights of pythias. a magnificent-looking man on horseback, wearing several orders, surrounded by a staff of some ten or twelve others, was riding toward us through the cabbages, waving angrily at us to stop. the whole crowd surrounded the car and demanded hotly how we dared venture out of town by this road. while they were industriously blowing us up, the supreme potentate observed the sign on the front of the car, gesandtschaft der vereinigten staaten, whereupon he came straightway to salute and kept it up. the others all saluted most earnestly and we had to unlimber and take off our hats and bow as gracefully as we could, all hunched up inside a little racing car. then i handed out our pass, which the chief of staff read aloud to the assembled notables. they were all most amiable, warned us to proceed with great caution, driving slowly, stopping every hundred yards, and to tear back toward town if popping began in our immediate neighbourhood. they were so insistent on our not getting in the way of bullets that i had to assure them, in my best rusty german, that we were getting into this ragged edge of their old war simply because it was necessary for business reasons and not because of any ardent desire to have holes shot through us. they all laughed and let us go our way with a final caution. from that time on we were in the midst of german patrols. we religiously observed the officers' advice to drive slowly and keep a lookout. five minutes later we began to meet peasants running away from their homes in the direction of brussels. they reported fighting near malines, and said that we were running straight into it. they were a badly frightened lot. we decided that the only thing to do was to go ahead, feeling our way carefully, and come back or wait if things got too hot for us. we were stopped several times by troops crossing the road to get into trenches that were already prepared, and once had to wait while a big gun was put in place. it was a ticklish business to come around a turn in the road and light on a hundred men sneaking along behind a hedge with their rifles ready for instant action. just beyond eppeghem we met a troop of cavalry convoying a high cart filled with peasants, who had evidently been taken prisoners. the officer in charge was a nervous chap, who came riding at us, brandishing his revolver, which he had tied to the pommel of his saddle with a long cord. he was most indignant that we had been allowed to come this far and reluctantly admitted that our pass was good. all the time he talked with us, and told us of the skirmishing ahead, he kept waving that large blunderbuss in our faces. i tried a little humour on him by saying, as nearly as the unwieldy structure of the german tongue would permit: "please point that thing the other way; you can never tell when it may go off and hurt somebody." he was quite solemn about it, however, and assured us that he had perfect control over it, emphasising his remarks by shaking it under our noses. i was glad to get out of his range, for i verily believe that if somebody had shouted _boo!_ he would have let that gun off with a bang. the german officers we talked with from time to time said that the belgians were advancing, and that several skirmishes had taken place; that a big engagement was expected during the night or in the morning. we passed the last of the german outposts about two miles this side of malines, but for fear we might tell on them, they would not tell us whether we had any more of their kind ahead of us. we shot along through the open country, between the last germans and the edge of malines, at a fairly good rate, and kept a lookout for the english flag, which we had been given to understand was flying from the tower of the cathedral. that is what we had been given to understand in brussels, but along the road they were very noncommittal about the whereabouts of the british troops. when we finally did get a clear view of the cathedral spires, we saw the belgian flag standing straight out in the good breeze that was blowing, and while that showed that the english troops had not taken over the place, it at least convinced us that the germans were behind us; as we drove through the little suburb on this side of the canal which runs through the edge of the town, we found that all the houses were battened up tight. one lone man, who came out from a little café, told us that the germans had been through about fifteen minutes before, and had shot up the town, until they were driven off by a small force of belgian cavalry which had appeared from nowhere and had as quickly gone back to the same place. not knowing what forces were ready to start in again on short notice, all the inhabitants who were fortunate enough to have cellars were hiding in them, and the rest were trying to get into town as best they could, leaving their belongings. when we reached the canal, we found that the drawbridge had been taken up, and that there was no way to get across. there were a few gendarmes on the other side, and a few carts on our side of the canal. all were anxious to get across, but the burgomaster had ordered traffic suspended until things had quieted down. we prevailed upon a genial gendarme to run back and get orders to govern our special case. after waving our credentials and showing how much influence we had with the local administration, we were quite popular with the panic-stricken peasants who wanted to get into town. orders came very soon, and we made straight for the hôtel de ville to thank the burgomaster for letting us in, and also to pick up any news he had as to conditions. we did not get any great amount, however, as he could not get over the fact that we had come straight through from brussels without having been shot by the german or the belgian patrols, who were out with orders to pick up strays like us. we tried several times to get information out of him, but he could do nothing but marvel at our luck, and above all at our _prouesse_, which left him quite bowled over. we gave him up and went our way. he has had other things to marvel about since. not far out of malines, we ran into the first belgian outpost. when we were about fifty yards from them, they surged across the road and began brandishing rifles, swords, lances--a veritable armory of deadly weapons. blount put on the emergency brakes, and we were bracing for quick and voluble explanations when we saw that they were all grinning broadly and that each one was struggling to get our particular attention. we had our _laisser-passers_ in our hands, and waved them in the air. no one would pay the slightest heed to them. from the hubbub that was seething about our ears, we learned that ten minutes or so before they had finished a little brush with the germans, and that the articles they had been waving in our faces were the trophies of the combat. each fellow was anxious to show us what he had taken, and to tell just how he had done it. they seemed to take it for granted that we were friends and would enjoy the sight, and share their delight. one of the boys--a chap about eighteen--held aloft a huge pair of cavalry boots which he had pulled off a german he had killed. it was a curious mixture of childish pride and the savage rejoicing of a fiji islander with a head he has taken. we admired their loot until they were satisfied, and then prevailed upon them to look at our papers, which they did in a perfunctory way. then, after shaking hands all round, they sent us on with a cheer. we were hero-curiosities as the first civilians who had got through from the german lines since the occupation of brussels. and perhaps we were not glad to be safely inside the belgian lines! it was nervous work that far, but once inside we found everybody friendly and got through without any trouble, although we were stopped every kilometer or so. soon after we passed the first outposts, we began passing belgian troops advancing toward malines in large force. they seemed in good spirits and ready for anything. our position here has gone steadily up since the beginning of the hostilities, and everywhere we went, the flag was cheered and we got a warm welcome. this forward movement of the troops was a part of a concerted operation by which the belgians were to attempt to push through to brussels while the main german army was engaged in attacking mons and charleroi. about twelve kilometers out of antwerp, we were stopped at a little house and asked if we would take a wounded man into town to the hospital. he had been shot through the hand and was suffering from shock and loss of blood, but was able to chew on a huge chunk of bread all the way into town. he had no interest in anything else, and, after trying one or two questions on him, i let him alone and watched the troops we were passing--an unbroken line all the way in. the main belgian army and a lot of the garde civique were inside the ring of forts and were all being put on the road with full contingents of supply wagons, ambulances, and even the dog artillery. these little chaps came tugging along the road and turned their heads to bark at us with enthusiasm. for a mile or so outside the _enceinte_, which has been thrown up around the town, the roads are heavily mined, and small red flags planted between the cobbles to warn passers-by to tread gently and gingerly. we did not require the urging of the sentries to make us proceed with caution over these places, which were so delicately mined that heavy carts were not allowed to pass. i breathed more easily when we were once out of this. we found the military hospital and handed over our wounded soldier to the attendants, who bundled him inside and then rushed back to hear what we could tell them. they had not heard a word from the outside world--or rather from our part of the outside world--since the withdrawal of the belgian army to antwerp, and they greeted us as they would greet fellow-beings returning from a journey to mars. they had a few newspapers which were being published in antwerp, and handed them over to us, we being as anxious as they for the news that we had not been able to get. from the hospital we drove to the hôtel st. antoine and asked for rooms. the proprietor was very suspicious of us, and we had a tremendous time convincing him that there was nothing the matter with us. he _knew_ that we could not have come from brussels, as nobody had been able to make the trip. our papers were _en règle_, but that made no difference. german spies and other suspicious characters had managed to get forged papers before that. fortunately, all the other diplomats were living in the hotel, and i asked that he hunt up some of them, and verify what we had to say for ourselves. webber, of the british legation, was brought out and acted as though he had seen a ghost. he calmed down enough to assure the proprietor that we were respectable citizens, and that he could safely give us rooms. all the other people were away from the hotel for the moment, so we deposited our things in our room, and made for the consulate-general. it was then half-past six, and the consul-general had gone for the day. a well-trained porter refused to tell where either he or the vice-consul-general lived, but we managed to find out and got to the vice-consul-general's house after a hunt with a _chasseur_ of the hotel on the box. he was not at home, but his wife was there. we talked with her for a few minutes, and then went back to the hotel to await sherman's (vice-consul-general) coming. he called in the course of a few minutes, and we made arrangements to go to the consulate after dinner and get off our telegrams. by the time we could get washed up and ready for dinner, the crowd had come back, and when we set foot on the stairway, we were literally overwhelmed by our loving friends. first, i met sir francis villiers and accepted his invitation to dine. he and prince koudacheff, the russian minister, a lot of other colleagues, and goodness only knows who else, fell upon us with demands for news. i took refuge in sir francis's office, and saw as many people as i could until dinner time. baron van der elst, the secretary general of the foreign office, and m. carton de wiart, the minister of justice, forgetting all about the requirements of the protocol that i should make the first call upon them, came flying around to see if i had any news of their families. luckily i had, and was able to tell them that all was well. i did not know that i had so much first-hand knowledge of the people in brussels, but was able to give good news to any number of people. it became a regular joyfest, and was more fun for me than for anybody else. by eight o'clock we got out to dinner, but hardly got two consecutive bites without interruptions. in the midst of soup, general yungbluth, chief of staff to the king, came around in full regimentals and wanted to get all sorts of news for the queen. before we got much farther, others began to arrive and drew up chairs to the table, filling up all that part of the room. as we were finishing dinner, several ministers of state came in to say that the prime minister wanted me to come to meet him and the cabinet council which was being held--just to assure them that all was well with their families and to tell them, in the bargain, anything that i felt i properly could. however, i had my real work ahead of me--getting off my telegrams to washington. i tore myself away from the crowd and, joining sherman, who was waiting for me in the hall, i made for the consulate-general. the consul-general was already there, anxious to hear the news. i had to get before the department all the news i could, and as comprehensive a statement as possible of everything that had happened since communications had been cut. i pounded away until after eleven, and got off a fat bundle of cables, which sherman took to the office for me. i then made for the grand hôtel, where the cabinet council was waiting for me. i have never been through a more moving time than the hour and a half i spent with them. it was hard to keep from bursting out and telling them everything that i knew would interest them. i had bound myself with no promises before i left about telling of the situation, but none the less i felt bound not to do it. i was able to tell them a great deal that was of comfort to them, and that could give no ground for objection if the germans were to know of it, and, on these subjects, i gave them all they wanted. after telling them all i could about their families and friends, i let them ask questions and did my best to answer those that i could. the first thing they wanted to know was how the germans had behaved in the town. the answer i gave them was satisfactory. then they wanted to know whether the royal palace had been respected, or whether the german flag was flying over it; also whether the belgian flag still flew on the hôtel de ville. their pride in their old town was touching, and when they heard that no harm had as yet been done it, you would have thought that they were hearing good news of friends they had lost. then they started in and told me all the news they had from outside sources--bits of information which had reached them indirectly via holland, and the reports of their military authorities. we have never had such complete information given us--enough to justify the trip even if i had not restored communication with the department. we stayed on and talked until nearly half-past twelve, when i got up and insisted on leaving; perhaps it is just as well. they did not want to break up the party, but when i insisted, they also made up their minds to call it a day's work and quit. we brought van der elst back to the hotel, and with his influence ran our car into the gendarmerie next door. then to bed. blount and i had a huge room on the third floor front. we had just got into bed and were settling down to a good night's rest when there was an explosion, the like of which i have never heard before, and we sat up and paid strict attention. we were greatly interested, but took it calmly, knowing that the forts were nearly four miles out of town and that they could bang away as long as they liked without doing more than spoil our night's sleep. there were eight of these explosions at short intervals, and then as they stopped there was a sharp _purr_ like the distant rattle of a machine gun. as that died down, the chimes of the cathedral--the sweetest carillon i have ever heard--sounded one o'clock. we thought that the germans must have tried an advance under cover of a bombardment, and retired as soon as they saw that the forts were vigilant and not to be taken by surprise. we did not even get out of bed. about five minutes later we heard footsteps on the roof and the voice of a woman in a window across the street, asking some one on the sidewalk below whether it was safe to go back to bed. i got out and took a look into the street. there were a lot of people there talking and gesticulating, but nothing of enough interest to keep two tired men from their night's sleep, so we climbed back into bed and stayed until morning. blount called me at what seemed an unreasonably early hour and said we should be up and about our day's work. when we were both dressed, we found that we had made a bad guess, when he looked at his watch and discovered that it was only a quarter to seven. being up, however, we decided to go down and get our breakfast. when we got down we found everybody else stirring, and it took us several minutes to get it through our heads that we had been through more excitement than we wotted of. those distant explosions that we had taken so calmly were bombs dropped from a zeppelin which had sailed over the city and dropped death and destruction in its path. the first bomb fell less than two hundred yards from where we slept--no wonder that we were rocked in our beds! after a little breakfast we sallied forth. the first bomb was in a little street around the corner from the hotel, and had fallen into a narrow four-story house, which had been blown into bits. when the bomb burst, it not only tore a fine hole in the immediate vicinity, but hurled its pieces several hundred yards. all the windows for at least two hundred or three hundred feet were smashed into little bits. the fronts of all the surrounding houses were pierced with hundreds of holes, large and small. the street itself was filled with débris and was impassable. from this place we went to the other points where bombs had fallen. as we afterward learned, ten people were killed outright; a number have since died of their injuries and a lot more are injured, and some of these may die. a number of houses were completely wrecked and a great many will have to be torn down. army officers were amazed at the terrific force of the explosions. the last bomb dropped as the zeppelin passed over our heads fell in the centre of a large square--la place du poids publique. it tore a hole in the cobblestone pavement, some twenty feet square and four or five feet deep. every window in the square was smashed to bits. the fronts of the houses were riddled with holes, and everybody had been obliged to move out, as many of the houses were expected to fall at any time. the dutch minister's house was near one of the smaller bombs and was damaged slightly. every window was smashed. all the crockery and china are gone; mirrors in tiny fragments; and the minister somewhat startled. not far away was faura, the first secretary of the spanish legation. his wife had been worried sick for fear of bombardment, and he had succeeded only the day before in prevailing upon her to go to england with their large family of children. another bomb fell not far from the houses of the consul-general and the vice-consul-general, and they were not at all pleased. the windows on one side of our hotel were also smashed. [illustration: boy scouts at belgian headquarters, lierre] [illustration: reading from left to right: a belgian staff officer, colonel fairholme, colonel ducane and captain ferguson. (malines cathedral in the background)] [illustration: "hommage aux glorieux martyrs de tamines, tombés dans la journée du août ". list of the civilians killed by the germans at tamines on august , .] we learned that the zeppelin had sailed over the town not more than five hundred feet above us; the motor was stopped some little distance away and she slid along in perfect silence and with her lights out. it would be a comfort to say just what one thinks about the whole business. the _purr_ of machine guns that we heard after the explosion of the last bomb was the starting of the motor, which carried our visitor out of range of the guns which were trundled out to attack her. preparations were being made to receive such a visit, but they had not been completed; had she come a day or two later, she would have met a warm reception. the line of march was straight across the town, on a line from the general staff, the palace where the queen was staying with the royal children, the military hospital of ste. elisabeth, filled with wounded, the bourse, and some other buildings. it looks very much as though the idea had been to drop one of the bombs on the palace. the palace itself was missed by a narrow margin, but large pieces of the bomb were picked up on the roof and shown me later in the day by inglebleek, the king's secretary. the room at the general staff, where i had been until half an hour before the explosion, was a pretty ruin, and it was just as well for us that we left when we did. it was a fine, big room, with a glass dome skylight over the big round table where we were sitting. this came in with a crash and was in powder all over the place. next time i sit under a glass skylight in antwerp, i shall have a guard outside with an eye out for zeppelins. if the idea of this charming performance was to inspire terror, it was a complete failure. the people of the town, far from yielding to fear, are devoting all their energies to anger. they are furious at the idea of killing their king and queen. there is no telling when the performance will be repeated, but there is a chance that next time the balloon man will get a warmer reception. in the morning i went around and called at the foreign office, which is established in a handsome building that belonged to one of the municipal administrations. the minister for foreign affairs took me into his office and summoned all hands to hear any news i could give them of their families and friends. i also took notes of names and addresses of people in brussels who were to be told that their own people in antwerp were safe and well. i had been doing that steadily from the minute we set foot in the hotel the night before, and when i got back here, i had my pockets bulging with innocent messages. now comes the merry task of getting them around. at the hotel we were besieged with invitations to lunch and dine with all our friends. they were not only glad to see somebody from the outside world, but could not get over the sporting side of our trip, and patted us on the back until they made us uncomfortable. everybody in antwerp looked upon the trip as a great exploit, and exuded admiration. i fully expected to get a carnegie medal before i got away. and it sounded so funny coming from a lot of belgian officers who had for the last few weeks been going through the most harrowing experiences, with their lives in danger every minute, and even now with a perfectly good chance of being killed before the war is over. they seem to take that as a matter of course, but look upon our performance as in some way different and superior. people are funny things. i stopped at the palace to sign the king's book, and ran into general jungbluth, who was just starting off with the queen. she came down the stairs and stopped just long enough to greet me, and then went her way; she is a brave little woman and deserves a better fate than she has had. inglebleek, the king's secretary, heard that i was there signing the book, and came out to see me. he said that the queen was anxious i should see what had been done by the bombs of the night before. he wanted me to go right into the houses and see the horrid details. i did not want to do this, but there was no getting out of it under the circumstances. we drove first to the place du poids publique and went into one of the houses which had been partially wrecked by one of the smaller bombs. everything in the place had been left as it was until the police magistrate could make his examination and report. we climbed to the first floor, and i shall never forget the horrible sight that awaited us. a poor policeman and his wife had been blown to fragments, and the pieces were all over the walls and ceiling. blood was everywhere. other details are too terrible even to think of. i could not stand any more than this one room. there were others which inglebleek wanted to show me, but i could not think of it. and this was only one of a number of houses where peaceful men and women had been so brutally killed while they slept. and where is the military advantage of this? if the bombs were dropped near the fortifications, it would be easy to understand, but in this instance it is hard to explain upon any ground, except the hope of terrifying the population to the point where they will demand that the government surrender the town and the fortifications. judging from the temper they were in yesterday at antwerp, they are more likely to demand that the place be held at all costs rather than risk falling under the rule of a conqueror brutal enough to murder innocent people in their beds. the prime minister told me that he had four sons in the army--all the children he has--and that he was prepared to give every one of them, and his own life and fortune, into the bargain, but that he was _not_ prepared--and here he banged his fist down on the table and his eyes flashed--to admit for a minute the possibility of yielding to germany. everybody else is in the same state of mind. it is not hysterical. the war has been going on long enough, and they have had so many hard blows that the glamour and the fictitious attractiveness of the thing has gone, and they have settled down in deadly earnest to fight to the bitter end. there may not be one stone left upon another in belgium when the germans get through, but if these people keep up to their present level they will come through--what there is left of them--free. later in the afternoon i went to the foreign office and let them read to me the records of the commission which is investigating the alleged german atrocities. they are working in a calm and sane way and seem to be making the most earnest attempt to get at the true facts, no matter whether they prove or disprove the charges that have been made. it is wonderful to see the judicial way they can sit down in the midst of war and carnage and try to make a fair inquiry on a matter of this sort. if one one-thousandth part of the charges are proven to be true.... the rest of the afternoon was spent seeing people who came in for news of brussels, and who had messages to send home. i had had to tell the hotel people that i would be there from four to seven to see people, and that the rest of the time i must have free for my own work. they came in swarms; all the diplomats, the cabinet ministers, and the ministers of state, army officers, and other officials--a perfect mob. i had a package of cards on which i noted names and addresses and the messages which were to be delivered. these messages have been sent out to-day, after being submitted to the military authorities, some of them in writing and some by word of mouth, and if they have afforded one-tenth the comfort that i hope, the sum total of misery in this town has been reduced a good deal this day. colonel fairholme left for the front, with the king, early in the morning, and was with him during the battle at malines. he thought we were going back during the day, as i had told him the evening before. about noon he called up from the telephone and told sir francis that under no circumstances was i to be allowed to start, as the town was being bombarded with heavy siege pieces and all traffic was absolutely stopped; that we could not only not get by, but that any part of the trip by the regular road was extremely dangerous. i was just as glad that we had decided to stay over. the colonel stayed out all that night and had not returned to antwerp when we left yesterday. during the morning he called up again and asked about us, again advising against our starting. pretty decent of a man who has as much to think of as he had to be worrying about us enough to take time to telephone us as to the dangers of the road. during the evening bad news came in from france, and everybody was down in the mouth. the french minister came in and told me what he had received. everybody was plainly worried, and altogether things looked pretty dismal. we sat around a little while and then decided for a good night's sleep. to make sure of offering no unnecessary chances for mr. zeppelin the authorities had ordered all the lights on the streets put out at eight o'clock. it was dark as midnight and there was no use in thinking of venturing out into the town. the cathedral clock was stopped and the carillon turned off for the first time in heaven only knows how many years. it was a city of the dead. guns were posted in the streets ready for instant use in case the airship should put in another appearance. as a result of this and the searchlights that played upon the sky all night, our friend the enemy did not appear. some people know when they have had enough. yesterday morning i looked out of my window at the cathedral clock, and saw that it was twenty-five minutes to ten. i tumbled through my tub, and rushed downstairs to get through my morning's work, only to find that it was half-past six. i had forgotten that the cathedral clock had been stopped. it was just as well that i was up early, however, for there was plenty to be done. i found a lot of telegrams waiting for me at the consulate, and had to get off another string of them. then an orderly held me up on the street to tell me that the king's secretary was hunting for me all over the place, and that i was wanted at the palace. when i got there, he had started off on another hunt for me. he finally got me at the hotel, and kept me for half an hour. by the time that i got through with him, there was word that the minister of foreign affairs wanted to see me, so i made a bee-line over there. then there was another call to the consulate to answer some more telegrams. after attending to various matters at the palace, the ministry for foreign affairs, the consulate general, and seeing a few more people at the hotel, the morning was gone and it was time for lunch and a quick get-away. all hands came out and bade us farewell. you would have thought we were on our way to heaven, except for the fact that they urged us to come back. as we could hear the cannonading, we decided that we would avoid the malines road and would try to skirt around the zone of trouble and work our way into brussels from the west. we got ferried across the scheldt on a terrible tub of a steamer that looked as though she would go down under the weight of the military automobiles that she had to get across in order to take ammunition to the front. we all got away in a bunch from the other side, but we drew ahead of them as we had not such a heavy load; and within three-quarters of an hour we were outside the belgian lines. van der elst had secured for us a most imposing _laisser-passer_, which took us through with practically no trouble except that it was so impressive that we were held at each barricade while all the men on duty took turns reading it. the only ticklish part of the trip to the belgian outposts was working our way through the villages which had been mined in anticipation of a german invasion. it is bad enough working one's way through there in a motor with everybody helping you to keep out of harm's way, but it must be a trifle worse to do it in a mass with a man on a hill a little way off waiting for you to come up to the signal post so that he can touch a button and send you in small pieces into the next world. we struck out through st. nicholas, hamme, termonde and assche, and got into brussels from the west without mishap. we have got quite used to having people poke bayonets in our faces and brandish revolvers at us, so the latter part of the trip with only that to contend with seemed quiet and almost boring. on the road in from assche, we passed near eppeghem and vilvorde, where the fighting had been going on for a couple of days. after news had been received in antwerp of the defeat of the french and english at mons and charleroi, the belgians were ordered to fall back on antwerp and had left these little villages to be occupied by the germans. as they occupied them, they had set them afire and the flames were raging as we came by. they were quaint little towns, and had excited our admiration two days before when we had gone through--despite the fact that we had other things on our minds beside admiring the beauties of architecture. now they are gone. the germans gave us no trouble, and we got back to the legation by a little before five. everyone poured out to meet us, and greeted us as prodigal sons. when we had not come back the day before, they had about made up their minds that something dreadful had happened to us, and the rejoicing over our return was consequently much greater than if we had not whetted their imaginations just a little. i found that the situation in brussels had undergone big changes while i was away. general von jarotzky had been replaced by general von lüttwitz, who is an administrator and has been sent to put things in running order again. there was no inkling of this change when i left, and i was a good deal surprised. guns have been placed at various strategic points commanding the town, and the germans are ready for anything. the telephone wire they had put through the town to connect the two stations and headquarters was cut day before yesterday by some cheerful idiot who probably thought he was doing something good for his country. the military authorities thereupon announced that if anything of the sort was done again they would lay waste the quarter of the town where the act was committed. some of the subordinate officers have since told us that von jarotzky was a fighting general, and had no business staying in a post requiring administrative ability. the new man is cut out particularly for this sort of work, and is going to start a regular german administration. functionaries are being brought from berlin to take things over, and in a short time we shall, to all intents and purposes, be living in a german city. the first trains ran to-day in a halting fashion to liège and the german frontier. perhaps we shall have a newspaper. most distressing news has come through from tamines. i had a long talk to-day with a trustworthy man from there, and his story was enough to make one's blood run cold. he says that on the evening of the twenty-first the germans entered the village after a brush with french troops which were still in the neighbourhood. infuriated by the resistance offered to their advance, they proceeded to vent their rage on the town. they shot down a lot of villagers, and arrested many more. a great many escaped to the country. a lot of houses were first sacked, and then burned. the orgy continued during the night, and through the next day. on the evening of the twenty-second, something over four hundred men were collected near the church and lined up to be shot. the work was done for a time by a firing squad which fired into the crowd with more or less system, but this was too slow, and finally a rapid-fire gun was brought out and turned loose. of course, a great many were not killed outright and lay groaning among the dead. now and then a german would put one out of his misery by a bayonet thrust. others settled their own troubles by rolling themselves into the nearby river. altogether over six hundred people were shot down, but it is hard to get any exact figures yet. after the shooting was over, other civilians were brought out and compelled to bury the dead. my informant says that some of the scenes attending this duty were quite as poignant as the shooting itself, for some buried their own fathers and brothers. one man about to be thrown into the trench was found to be still alive, but the german doctor, after a cursory examination, ordered him buried with the rest. the man had enough life left in him to raise his hand in appeal but the doctor shrugged his shoulder and repeated his order. there were many incidents, most of them horrible. the man who told the story seemed still dazed and spoke quietly, with few adjectives and little emphasis on anything he said. it was a bare recital of facts, and far more moving than if he had striven for effect. davis got back yesterday from his trip to the front, and we learned that he had been through a perfectly good experience that will look well when he comes to writing it up, but one that gave him little satisfaction while it was in progress. he started off to follow the german army in the hope of locating the english. after leaving hal, some bright young german officer decided that he was a suspicious-looking character, and ought to be shot as an english spy. as a preliminary, they arrested him and locked him up. then the war was called off while the jury sat on his case. one of the officers thought it would be a superfluous effort to go through the form of trying him, but that they should shoot him without further to do. they began considering his case at eleven in the morning, and kept it up until midnight. he was given pretty clearly to understand that his chances were slim, and that the usual fate of spies awaited him. he argued at length, and apparently his arguments had some effect, for at three o'clock in the morning he was routed out and told to hit the road toward brussels. he was ordered to keep religiously to the main road all the way back, on pain of being shot on sight, and to report at headquarters here immediately on his arrival. by this time he was perfectly willing to do exactly what was demanded by those in authority, and made a bee-line back here on foot. he turned up at the legation yesterday morning, footsore and weary, and looking like a tramp, and told his story to an admiring audience. i was still away on my little jaunt, and did not get it at first hand. the minister took him down to call on the general, and got them to understand that richard harding davis was not an english spy, but, on the contrary, probably the greatest writer that ever lived, not excepting shakespeare or milton. the general said he had read some of his short stories, and that he would not have him shot. just the same, he was not keen about having him follow the operations. he is now ordered to remain in this immediate neighbourhood until further orders. to-day he had several interviews with the general in an attempt to get permission to leave the country, but had no luck. the last we saw of davis, he came in late this afternoon to tell us that he did not know what to do next. he said that he had been through six wars, but that he had never been so scared as he was at that time. if he is allowed to get out of belgium, i think that he will not darken the door of general von lüttwitz for some time to come. i was surprised to learn that hans von herwarth, who used to be military attaché in washington, and whom i knew very well, is here as adjutant to our new governor. i have not yet had time to get over to see him, but shall try to do so to-morrow. i am glad to have somebody like that here to do business with. he is a real white man, and i anticipate a much better time with him than with any other officer they could send here in that capacity. baron capelle came in late this afternoon to tell me that the germans were bringing in a lot of priests on carts filled with cows and pigs, and were planning to hold them as hostages. one of them had called out and asked him to notify us that monseigneur de becker, rector of the american college at louvain, was among these prisoners. he is the priest i went to see when i was in louvain ten days ago. i had told him he was perfectly safe, and scoffed at his fears. the minister was out when this news came, but i sallied forth and tried to locate the monseigneur. he was not to be found anywhere. when i got back to the legation, both the minister and villalobar were here and i told them all about what had happened. the people of the town were getting excited over the treatment that was being meted out to their priests, and it was in a fair way to result in serious trouble. both ministers made for the ministry for foreign affairs, where the german government is established, and before they left, had secured orders for the release of all the hostages. a lot of these terrible things are done by subordinate officers, and the people at the top seem only too anxious to learn of such affairs and do what they can to remedy them. the day has been dreadful with stories of suffering and murder and pillage. not only are we cut off from communication with the outside world, but a lot of the ordinary conveniences of life have already disappeared. we have no newspapers, no trams, no taxis, no telephones. milk is no longer to be had, and within a day or two we shall have no butter or eggs. then it will begin to look like a real siege. in a day or so i am to have a list of jarotzky's demands for supplies, so that i can cheer myself with thoughts of what our life is to be like. there is bad news from louvain. the reports we have received agree that there was some sort of trouble in the square before the hôtel de ville a day or two ago. beyond that, no two reports are alike. the germans say that the son of the burgomaster shot down some staff officers who were talking together at dusk before the hôtel de ville. the only flaw in that story is that the burgomaster has no son. some belgians say that two bodies of germans who were drunk met in the dusk; that one body mistook the other for french, and opened fire. other reliable people tell with convincing detail that the trouble was planned and started by the germans in cold blood. however that may be, the affair ended in the town being set on fire, and civilians shot down in the streets as they tried to escape. according to the germans themselves, the town is being wiped out of existence. the cathedral, the library, the university, and other public buildings have either been destroyed or have suffered severely. people have been shot by hundreds, and those not killed are being driven from the town. they are coming to brussels by thousands, and the end is not yet. this evening the wife of the minister of fine arts came in with the news that her mother, a woman of eighty-four, had been driven from her home at the point of the bayonet and forced to walk with a stream of refugees all the way to tervueren, a distance of about twelve miles, before she could be put on a tram to her daughter's house. two old priests have staggered into the ---- legation more dead than alive after having been compelled to walk ahead of the german troops for miles as a sort of protecting screen. one of them is ill, and it is said that he may die as a result of what he has gone through. * * * * * _august th._--after lunch blount and i decided to go out to louvain to learn for ourselves just how much truth there is in the stories we have heard, and see whether the american college is safe. we were going alone, but pousette and bulle, the swedish and mexican chargés d'affaires, were anxious to join us, so the four of us got away together and made good time as far as the first outpost this side of louvain. here there was a small camp by a hospital, and the soldiers came out to examine our papers and warn us to go no farther, as there was fighting in the town. the road was black with frightened civilians carrying away small bundles from the ruins of their homes. ahead was a great column of dull gray smoke which completely hid the city. we could hear the muffled sound of firing ahead. down the little street which led to the town, we could see dozens of white flags which had been hung out of the windows in a childish hope of averting trouble. we talked with the soldiers for some time in an effort to get some idea of what had really happened in the town. they seemed convinced that civilians had precipitated the whole business by firing upon the staff of a general who was parleying with the burgomaster in the square before the hôtel de ville. they saw nothing themselves, and believe what they are told. different members of the detachment had different stories to tell, including one that civilians had a machine gun installed on top of the cathedral, and fired into the german troops, inflicting much damage. one of the men told us that his company had lost twenty-five men in the initial flurry. they were a depressed and nervous-looking crew, bitter against the civil population and cursing their ways with great earnestness. they were at some pains to impress upon us that all belgians were _schwein_, and that the people of louvain were the lowest known form of the animal. after talking the situation over with the officer in command, we decided to try getting around the town to the station by way of the ring of outer boulevards. we got through in good shape, being stopped a few times by soldiers and by little groups of frightened civilians who were cowering in the shelter of doorways, listening to the noise of fighting in the town, the steady crackle of machine guns, and the occasional explosions. [illustration: entrance to the rue de diest, louvain] [illustration: the dead and the living. a belgian civilian and a german soldier] they were pathetic in their confidence that the united states was coming to save them. in some way word has traveled all over belgium that we have entered the war on the side of belgium, and they all seem to believe it. nearly every group we talked to asked hopefully when our troops were coming, and when we answered that we were not involved, they asked wistfully if we didn't think we should be forced to come in later. a little boy of about eight, in a group that stopped us, asked me whether we were english, and when i told him what we were, he began jumping up and down, clapping his hands, and shouting: _les américains sont arrivés! les américains sont arrivés!_ his father told him to be quiet, but he was perfectly happy and clung to the side of the car as long as we stayed, his eyes shining with joy, convinced that things were going to be all right somehow. about half way around the ring of boulevards we came to burning houses. the outer side of the boulevard was a hundred feet or so from the houses, so the motor was safe, but it was pretty hot and the cinders were so thick that we had to put on our goggles. a lot of the houses were still burning, but most of them were nothing but blackened walls with smouldering timbers inside. many of the front doors had been battered open in order to start the fires or to rout out the people who were in hiding. we came to a german ammunition wagon, half upset against a tree, where it had been hurled when the horses had turned to run away. the tongue was broken and wrenched out. near by were the two horses, dead and swollen until their legs stood out straight. then we began to see more ghastly sights--poor civilians lying where they had been shot down as they ran--men and women--one old patriarch lying on his back in the sun, his great white beard nearly hiding his swollen face. all sorts of wreckage scattered over the street, hats and wooden shoes, german helmets, swords and saddles, bottles and all sorts of bundles which had been dropped and abandoned when the trouble began. for three-quarters of a mile the boulevard looked as though it had been swept by a cyclone. the porte de tirlemont had evidently been the scene of particularly bloody business. the telegraph and trolley wires were down; dead men and horses all over the square; the houses still burning. the broad road we had traveled when we went to tirlemont was covered with wreckage and dead bodies. some bedraggled german soldiers came out from under the gate and examined our passes. they were nervous and unhappy and shook their heads gloomily over the horrors through which they were passing. they said they had had hardly a minute's sleep for the past three nights. their eyes were bloodshot and they were almost too tired to talk. some of them were drunk--in the sodden stage, when the effect begins to wear off. they told us we could proceed in safety as far as the station, where we would find the headquarters of the commanding officer. here we could leave the motor and learn how far we could safely go. this crowd varied the wording a little by saying that the belgians were all dogs and that these particular dogs were being driven out, as they should be, that all that part of town was being cleared of people, ordered to leave their homes and go to brussels or some other town, so that the destruction of louvain could proceed systematically. we thought at the time that they were exaggerating what was being done, but were enlightened before we had gone much farther. we continued down the boulevard for a quarter of a mile or so till we came to the station. sentries came out and looked through our passes again. we parked the motor with a number of german military cars in the square and set off on foot down the rue de la station, which we had admired so much when we had driven down its length, just ten days before. the houses on both sides were either partially destroyed or smouldering. soldiers were systematically removing what was to be found in the way of valuables, food, and wine, and then setting fire to the furniture and hangings. it was all most businesslike. the houses are substantial stone buildings, and fire will not spread from one to another. therefore the procedure was to batter down the door of each house, clean out what was to be saved, then pile furniture and hangings in the middle of the room, set them afire, and move on to the next house. it was pretty hot, but we made our way down the street, showing our passes every hundred feet or so to soldiers installed in comfortable armchairs, which they had dragged into the gutter from looted houses, till we came to a little crossing about half way to the hôtel de ville. here we were stopped by a small detachment of soldiers, who told us that we could go no farther; that they were clearing civilians out of some houses a little farther down the street, and that there was likely to be firing at any time. the officer in command spoke to us civilly and told us to stick close to him so that we could know just what we ought to do at any time. he was in charge of the destruction of this part of the town and had things moving along smartly. his men were firing some houses near by and he stood outside smoking a rank cigar and looking on gloomily. we exchanged remarks with him in german for a few minutes, i limping along behind the more fluent pousette and bulle. then i said something in an aside to blount, and the officer broke into the conversation in perfectly good english. he turned out to be a volunteer officer from hamburg, who had spent some thirty years in england and was completely at home in the language. we then accomplished the formal introductions which are so necessary to germans even at a time like this, and when we came to bulle the officer burst into a rapid fire of questions, which ended in his proclaiming in rapture: "why, i knew your father in hamburg and went to school with your uncle so-and-so!" reminiscence went on as though we were about a dining table at home; minute inquiry was made into the welfare and activities of the bulle family from the cradle to the grave. on the strength of the respectability of bulle's relatives we were then taken under the officer's wing and piloted by him through the rest of our visit. from where we stood we could see down the street through the smoke, as far as the hôtel de ville. it was still standing, but the cathedral across the street was badly damaged and smoke was rising in clouds from its roof. the business houses beyond were not to be seen; the smoke was too dense to tell how many of them were gone. machine guns were at work near by, and occasionally there was a loud explosion when the destructive work was helped with dynamite. a number of the men about us were drunk and evidently had been in that state for some time. our officer complained that they had had very little to eat for several days, but added glumly that there was plenty to drink. a cart, heaped high with loot, driven by a fat landsturmer and pulled by a tiny donkey, came creaking past us. one of our party pulled his kodak from his pocket and inquired of our guardian in english: "may i take a picture?" his intent evidently escaped the german, who answered cordially: "certainly; go ahead. you will find some beautiful things over there on the corner in the house they are getting ready to burn." we kept our faces under control, and he was too much occupied with his other troubles to notice that we did not avail of his kind permission to join in the pillage. he was rabid against the belgians and had an endless series of stories of atrocities they had committed--though he admitted that he had none of them at first hand. he took it as gospel, however, that they had fired upon the german troops in louvain and laid themselves open to reprisals. to his thinking there is nothing bad enough for them, and his chief satisfaction seemed to consist in repeating to us over and over that he was going the limit. orders had been issued to raze the town--"till not one stone was left on another," as he said. just to see what would happen i inquired about the provision of the hague conventions, prescribing that no collective penalty can be imposed for lawless acts of individuals. he dismissed that to his own satisfaction by remarking that: "all belgians are dogs, and all would do these things unless they are taught what will happen to them." convincing logic! with a hard glint in his eye he told us the purpose of his work; he came back to it over and over, but the burden of what he had to say was something like this: "we shall make this place a desert. we shall wipe it out so that it will be hard to find where louvain used to stand. for generations people will come here to see what we have done, and it will teach them to respect germany and to think twice before they resist her. not one stone on another, i tell you--_kein stein auf einander!_" i agreed with him when he remarked that people would come here for generations to see what germany had done--but he did not seem to follow my line of thought. while we were talking about these things and the business of burning and looting was pursuing its orderly course, a rifle shot rang out near by. instantly every soldier seized his rifle and stood waiting for an indication as to what would happen next. in a few seconds a group of soldiers rushed into a house about a hundred feet away. there was a sound of blows, as though a door was being beaten in; then a few shots, and the soldiers came out wiping the perspiration from their faces. "snipers!" said our guide, shaking his fist at the house. "we have gone through that sort of thing for three days and it is enough to drive us mad; fighting is easy in comparison, for then you know what you are doing." and then almost tearfully: "here we are _so_ helpless!" while he was talking another shot rang out, and then there was a regular fusillade, which lasted for fifteen seconds or so; then an explosion. bulle stood not upon the order of his going, but ran for the station, calling back: "i've had enough of this. let's get out and go home." our friend, the officer, said bulle was right, and that it would be the part of wisdom for us all to fall back to the station, where we would be near the car in case anything happened. he started off at a good pace, and as we were in no mood to argue we went meekly along in his wake. we overtook bulle engaged in an altercation with a very drunken soldier, who wanted to see his papers and was insulting about it. instead of taking the easy course and showing his papers bulle was opening a debate on the subject, when we arrived and took a hand. our officer waded into the soldier in a way that would have caused a mutiny in any other army, and the soldier, very drunk and sullen, retreated, muttering, to his armchair on the curb. we then moved on to the station. outside the station was a crowd of several hundred people, mostly women and children, being herded on to trains by soldiers, to be run out of the town. they seemed to be decently treated but were naturally in a pitiable state of terror. just inside the gates of the freight yard were a couple of women telling their troubles to a group of officers and soldiers. they had both lost their husbands in the street-fighting, and were in a terrible state. the officers and men were gathered about them, evidently distressed by their trouble, and trying to comfort them. they had put the older woman in an armchair and were giving her a little brandy in a tea cup. and the same men may have been the ones who killed the husbands.... we went on into the freight yards and were greeted by a number of officers with hopeful talk about a train coming from brussels with food. we were given chairs and an orderly was despatched for a bottle of wine so that a drink could be given to bulle, who said that after what he had been through he would appreciate a glass of something comforting. we settled down and listened to the stories of the past few days. it was a story of clearing out civilians from a large part of the town; a systematic routing out of men from cellars and garrets, wholesale shootings, the generous use of machine guns, and the free application of the torch--the whole story enough to make one see red. and for our guidance it was impressed on us that this would make people _respect_ germany and think twice about resisting her. suddenly several shots rang out apparently from some ruins across the street and the whole place was instantly in an uproar. the lines of civilians were driven helter-skelter to cover--where, i don't know. the stands of arms in the freight yard were snatched up, and in less time than it takes to tell it, several hundred men were scattered behind any sort of shelter that offered, ready for the fray. i took one quick look about and decided that the substantial freight station was the most attractive thing in sight. in no time i was inside, closely followed by my own crowd and a handful of soldiers. first, we lay down upon the platform, and then, when we got our bearings, rolled over on to the track among a lot of artillery horses that were tethered there. apparently a number of civilians, goaded to desperation by what they had seen, had banded together, knowing that they were as good as dead, and had determined to sell their lives as dearly as they could. they had gathered in the ruins of the houses fronting on the station and had opened up on us. there was a brisk interchange of shots, with an occasional tinkle of broken glass and a good deal of indiscriminate cursing by the soldiers, who had taken refuge with us. the artillery horses did not welcome us very cordially and began to get restive in a way that made us debate whether we preferred staying up on the platform with a chance of being potted or staying under cover and being ingloriously trampled to death. a joint debate on this important question kept us occupied for several minutes. we finally compromised by fishing down a few boxes from the platform and erecting a barricade of sorts to protect us against any stray kicks. as we sat in the undignified position imposed on us by circumstances, we exchanged various frivolous remarks, not because we felt particularly gay, but because we had to do something to keep ourselves interested and to keep our courage up. bulle resented this, and raised his head to look at me reproachfully over the barricade, and say: "don't talk like that; it is nothing short of tempting providence." after a time blount and i decided to make a reconnaissance in force and see how the car was getting on. we crawled along the floor to a place from which we could see out into the square. the soldiers were flat on their stomachs behind a low wall that extended around the small circular park in the centre of the square, and behind any odd shelter they could find. the car lay in the line of fire but had not been struck. we were sufficiently pessimistic to be convinced that it would go up in smoke before the row was over, and took a good look at our shoes to see whether they would last through a walk back to brussels. our officer came out from behind his barricade and showed us where the attacking force was concealed--at least he told us that they were there and we were willing to take his word for it without going across the street to make a first-hand investigation. he tried to impress us with the black sinfulness of people who would fire upon the german troops, and called our particular attention to the proof now offered us that civilians had started the row by firing on german troops. according to the german story, which was the only one we had heard, civilians had been hunted down like rats in garrets and cellars and shot down in cold blood in the streets when they sought safety in flight. to my mind it was not surprising that men driven to desperation by seeing their friends and neighbours murdered in cold blood, should decide to do any harm possible to the enemy. three days of the reign of terror that had been described to us was enough to account for anything, and the fact that civilians were firing now did not in any sense prove that they were guilty of starting the trouble. for all we could tell they may have started it or they may not, but firing by them three days after the row began was no proof to any one with the slightest sense of the value of evidence. on the other hand, the story freely told us by the germans as to their own behaviour, is enough to create the darkest presumptions as to how the trouble started, and would seem to place the burden of proof on them rather than on the belgians. while we were talking about this there came another rattle of fire, and we scuttled back to our shelter, among the horses. every now and then a surly soldier with two huge revolvers came and looked over the ledge at us, and growled out: _was machen sie denn hier?_ followed by some doubting remarks as to our right to be on the premises. as he was evidently very drunk and bad-tempered i was not at all sure that he would not decide on his own responsibility to take no chances and put us out of our misery. after several visits, however, he evidently found something else more interesting, and came back to trouble us no more. when the row began a motor had been despatched toward brussels to recall some troops that had left a few hours before. now and then our officer came in to tell us what he thought of their chances of getting back. on one of these visits, blount remarked by way of airy persiflage, that that drink of wine that had been sent for was a long time coming. anything as subtle as that was lost on our friend, for he walked solemnly away, only to reappear in a few minutes with a bottle and several glasses which he set up on the edge of the platform and filled with excellent burgundy. we stood up among the horses and drained a bumper of the stuff, while the officer wandered back to his work. he had gone calmly out into the thick of things to rescue this bottle, and took it as a matter of course that we should claim the drink that had been promised us. presently, with a good deal of noise, a fairly large force of troops came marching down the boulevard, and took up positions around the station. our officer returned, waving a smoking revolver, and told us to lie down as flat as we could among the horses, and not to move unless they got restive. he said it looked as though an attempt would be made to take the station by storm, and that there might be a brisk fight. however, there were only a few scattering shots, and then our friend came back and told us that we had better get out and start for home before things began again. he added, however, that we must have the permission of the commanding officer who was on the other side of the station, but offered to pilot us to the great man and help us get the permission. the way lay straight out into the square, in full view of the houses across the way, along the front of the station just behind the troops and into the railroad yard on the other side. that station seemed about four miles long, and the officer was possessed of a desire to loiter by the way, recounting anecdotes of his school days. he would walk along for a few steps and then pause to tell bulle some long and rambling yarn about his uncle. bulle would take him by the arm and get him in motion again. then the old chap would transfer his conversational fire to another member of the party, and we were obliged almost to pull him the length of the square. the commanding officer was a pleasant-faced little man who stood in the shelter of a water tank and received us in a puzzled way, as though he wondered what civilians were doing in that neighbourhood anyway. permission was readily granted for us to leave, with the ludicrous proviso that we did so "at our own risk." then bulle put everybody in good humour by inquiring innocently if there was any danger. everybody burst into peals of laughter, and we were escorted to our car by the same slow-moving officer, who insisted on exchanging cards with us and expressing the hope that we should meet again, which we could not honestly reciprocate. then, after an hour and a half in the station, we got away amid a great waving of hands. the boulevards were deserted save for the troops coming back into the town. new houses were burning that had been intact in the afternoon. after passing the porte de tirlemont, we began to see people again--little groups that had come out into the streets through a craving for company, and stood huddled together listening to the fighting in the lower part of the town. in harmony with the policy of terrorising the population, the germans have trained them to throw up their hands as soon as any one comes in sight, in order to prove that they are unarmed and defenseless. and the way they do it, the abject fear that is evident, shows that failure to comply with the rule is not lightly punished. our worst experience of this was when in coming around a corner we came upon a little girl of about seven, carrying a canary in a cage. as soon as she saw us, she threw up her hands and cried out something we did not understand. thinking that she wanted to stop us with a warning of some sort, we put on the brakes and drew up beside her. then she burst out crying with fear, and we saw that she was in terror of her life. we called out to reassure her, but she turned and ran like a hunted animal. it was hard to see the fear of others--townspeople, peasants, priests, and feeble old nuns who dropped their bundles and threw up their hands, their eyes starting with fear. the whole thing was a nightmare. we were dreadfully depressed, and rode along in silence until bulle turned around from the front seat and inquired in a matter-of-fact voice: "what sort of wine was that we drank at the station?" we told him, and then he shook his head and said as though to himself: "i drank a big glass of it, but i was so frightened that i didn't taste it at all." that broke the edge of the strain we were under, and we had a good laugh in which bulle joined. and so back to the legation without further mishap, to find everybody worrying about us, and the minister putting his foot down and announcing that there were to be no more expeditions of the sort, no matter what the reason for them. * * * * * note--the foregoing is an impression of one afternoon at louvain, taken from a journal written at the time. it was intended to pass on the question of responsibility for precipitating the orgy of murder and bestiality indulged in by the german army from the th of august until the th, when orders were received from berlin to stop the destruction and restore public order. many subsequent visits to louvain, and conversations with people who were there when the trouble began, have only served to strengthen the impression that the whole affair was part of a cold-blooded and calculated plan to terrorise the civilian population. while we were there, it was frankly stated that the town was being wiped out; that its destruction was being carried out under definite orders. when the german government realised the horror and loathing with which the civilised world learned of the fate of louvain, the orders were cancelled and the story sent out that the german forces had tried to prevent the destruction, had fought the fire, and by good fortune had been able to save the hôtel de ville. never has a government lied more brazenly. when we arrived, the destruction of the town was being carried on in an orderly and systematic way that showed careful preparation. the only thing that saved the hôtel de ville was the fact that the german troops had not progressed that far with their work when the orders were countermanded from berlin. it was only when he learned how civilisation regarded his crimes, that the emperor's heart began to bleed. the true facts as to the destruction of louvain will startle the world--hardened though it has become to surprise at german crimes. unfortunately, however, it is impossible to publish the details at this time without endangering the lives of people still in belgium under german domination. but these people will speak for themselves when the germans have been driven from belgian soil, and they are once more free to speak the truth. * * * * * during the afternoon count clary had come over and announced that austria-hungary had declared war on belgium, and that he had to leave at once. he has turned his legation over to us. i went around to see him late in the evening, and made the final arrangements. this afternoon the danish minister came in and turned his legation over to us, as he expects to go in a day or two. that will make four legations besides our own under our protection. austrian guns have been in action for some days, and now it has been thought worth while to regularise the situation. the austrian minister has, therefore, under instructions from his government addressed the following note to the belgian government: _august , ._ "whereas belgium, having refused to accept the proposals made to her on several occasions by germany, is affording her military assistance to france and great britain, both of which powers have declared war upon austria-hungary, and whereas, as has just been proved (_no indication as to how or when it has been proved_), austrian and hungarian subjects in belgium have been obliged to submit, under the very eyes of the belgian authorities, to treatment contrary to the most primitive demands of humanity and inadmissible even toward subjects of an enemy state, therefore austria is obliged to break off diplomatic relations and considers herself from this moment in a state of war with belgium. i am leaving the country with the staff of the legation, and am entrusting the protection of austrian interests to the united states minister in belgium. the austro-hungarian government is forwarding his passports to count errembault de dudzeele. clary." this is the first we have heard of any mistreatment of austrians in this country, but then they probably had to advance some sort of reason for going to war.[ ] [footnote : the belgian government sent the following reply to the austrian declaration of war. _antwerp, august , ._ belgium has always entertained friendly relations with all her neighbours without distinction. she has scrupulously fulfilled the duties imposed upon her by her neutrality. if she has not been able to accept germany's proposals, it is because those proposals contemplated the violation of her engagements toward europe, engagements which form the conditions of the creation of the belgian kingdom. she has been unable to admit that a people, however weak they may be, should fail in their duty and sacrifice their honour by yielding to force. the government have waited, not only until the ultimatum had expired, but also until belgian territory had been violated by german troops, before appealing to france and great britain, guarantors of her neutrality, under the same terms as are germany and austria-hungary, to coöperate in the name and in virtue of the treaties in defense of belgian territory. by repelling the invaders by force of arms, she has not even committed a hostile act as laid down by the provisions of article of the hague convention, respecting the rights and duties of neutral powers. germany has herself recognised that her attack constitutes a violation of international law, and being unable to justify it, she has pleaded her strategical interests. belgium formally denies the allegation that austrian and hungarian subjects have suffered treatment in belgium contrary to the most primitive demands of humanity. the belgian government, from the very beginning of hostilities, have issued the strictest orders for the protection of austro-hungarian persons and property. davignon.] the ---- chargé came around this afternoon to ask about getting to antwerp, where he wants to flee for protection. he was very indignant because the military governor had refused to allow him to go. when i asked him on what ground the permission had been refused, he said that it had not exactly been refused, but that he could go only on his own responsibility. he wanted us to protest against this. i meanly suggested to him that he would be in much more serious danger if he had an escort of german troops to take him to the belgian lines, and he left in a terrible state of mind. mr. whitlock and the spanish minister went to call on the military governor this afternoon to get off some telegrams which he had promised to send, and to talk over the general situation. after that they went to call on the burgomaster, and came back with a pretty good idea of what was happening in our fair city. the governor loaded them up with a large budget of official news, showing that germany was victorious all along every line; that she was not only chasing the french and english armies around in circles, but that uhlans were within forty kilometers of paris, and that five russian army corps had been beaten in eastern prussia. it really looks as though things were going pretty badly for the allies, but we have absolutely nothing but german news and cannot form an accurate opinion. the germans are particularly bitter against the belgian clergy and insist that the priests have incited the people to attack the german troops and mistreat the wounded. so far as i can learn, this is utter rubbish. the authorities of the church have publicly exhorted the people to remain calm and to refrain from hostile acts, pointing out that any provocation would bring sure punishment from the german military authorities. the priests i have seen have been at great pains to set an example that the germans should be the first to commend. the clergy has a tremendous influence in belgium, and is sincerely respected. they will be a vital force in holding the people together in their patriotic devotion, and in maintaining public tranquillity. a new governor-general is to be sent us here. the minister could not remember his name. i am curious. von lüttwitz will remain for the present at least. the burgomaster reports that the inhabitants of brussels are calm and that there need be no fear of trouble unless they are allowed to go hungry. a committee has been formed to revictual the town, and is working night and day. monsieur solvay has given a million francs, and other belgians given large sums. soup kitchens are being started for the poor and the question of bringing food supplies from neutral countries is being taken up and pushed with activity. these belgians are admirable in the way they handle things of this sort. they all realise the importance of keeping quiet so as to avoid any possibility of a repetition of the louvain business. it would take very little to start something of the sort here and the result would be the same--the destruction of the city. naturally everybody is turning to and trying to head off any excuse for violence. * * * * * _brussels, sunday, august , ._--our place has got to be the local diplomatic corner grocery, where all the village loafers come to do their heavy loafing. they bring in all the fantastic rumours that are abroad in the land, and discuss them with all solemnity. in the last day or so we have had it "on the best authority" that the queen of holland has had her consort shot because of his pro-german sympathies; that the kaiser has given up all hope and taken refuge in switzerland; that the united states had declared war on germany and austria; that the king and queen of the belgians had fled to holland, and that all was over. these are just a few. troops have been pouring through the town steadily all day on the way to vilvorde, where the belgians are still fighting, and to the south, where there is heavy cannonading going on. the belgians are making a big fight on the antwerp road, evidently to hold the attention of one german army corps and lighten france's load by just that much. it is a hopeless fight so far as they themselves are concerned, but it throws their courage and fighting qualities into higher relief. we are now the pampered pets of both sides. the german troops cheer our flag when the motor noses its way through them. the people of the town are equally enthusiastic, and many of them are wearing small american flags in their buttonholes. how long it will last there is no telling, but while it does, our work is made just that much easier. lunched at the palace hôtel with bulle and blount. riseis, the italian secretary, came in and joined us. bulle told him the story of our trip to louvain with embellishments that made my eyes start from my head. i had not realised what a desperate adventure we had been on until i heard it as it should be told. it made the real thing seem mild. before lunch we drove to blount's to learn whether the cannonading to the south was still going on. it was--heavy booming of german guns; no french guns to be heard. late in the afternoon blount and i drove off into the country to see whether we could locate the fighting to the south. we got as far as nivelles, but all was as peaceful as it should be on a perfect sunday afternoon. the people there were surprised that anyone should have thought there was fighting there. it was still much farther to the south. we drove around in search of evidence of fighting, but could find none. and this after circumstantial accounts of hand-to-hand struggle through all this part of the country! * * * * * _august st._--this morning began with a troop of people in to tell us that the rough work was about to begin, and that brussels was to go up in smoke. there is a good deal of unrest in the lower end of town and trouble may break out at any time. bad feeling has grown a good deal in the past few days and one good row would throw the fat in the fire. i went through the rough part of town late this afternoon and found patrols everywhere, heavily armed and swaggering about in groups of four. for their own sake i hope the people will not do anything foolish. people are making another effort to get away and are not finding it easy. at six this morning a crowd left here for ninove, twenty kilometers to the west. twenty-five hundred of them clung all over the trams that make the trip. at ninove they walked a mile or so, carrying their belongings, and caught a train to alost, where they changed for another train for ghent. goodness knows how many changes they had ahead of them after that. the trip was supposed to end safely in ostend some time this evening. it usually takes two hours. hearing that the train service was open and that boats were running from ostend to folkstone, we decided to verify the tidings and then get off some of our people, who should have gone long ago. to make sure blount and i motored down to ninove after lunch to telephone the consul at ostend and learn the true state of affairs. when we reached ninove we found the station so packed with refugees that there was no getting near the telephone bureau. the chef de gare, who had never in his long and honourable career had such a mob to lord it over, was so puffed up that he could not get down near enough to earth to hear our questions, so we decided to proceed to alost and try our luck there. we motored over in short order and got quick communication with the consul at ostend. he had very little news save that a lot of british marines had been landed there and had to-day been taken away again. he gave us what we wanted in the way of steamer information. i got the consul-general at antwerp on the telephone and learned that all was well there. as i came out of the booth from this second call, i was held up by a garde civique, who inquired if i was the _monsieur de l'automobile_. he would like to see my papers. certainly. then i remembered that i had left all my belgian papers at the legation and had nothing but papers in german from the military authorities. i showed them anyway. before he could examine us any further, three eager amateur sherlocks came bursting into the room and took charge of the proceedings. the leader pointed an accusing finger at blount, and exclaimed, "you have come from ninove!" blount admitted it. "you had a third person in the car when you left there!" "_pas du tout._" "on the contrary, i have three witnesses to prove it." aside from the fact that nobody could have got to alost in the time we had, it made no real difference how many people we had in the car, and blount said as much. then our accuser changed his plan of attack. "i observed you when you arrived, and you were speaking a language which was perhaps not german, but sounded like english." "it was," said blount. "aha," triumphantly, "but you said you were americans!" by this time the chef de gare had come to answer our questions and we waved our persecutors aside while we talked to him. they kept quiet and meekly stood aside, as we bade them. while we talked with our functionary, i looked out on the square and saw that we were a real sensation. the garde civique had been called out and was keeping the place clear. the crowd was banked up solid around the other three sides of the square. they looked hopeful of seeing the german spies brought out and shot. by signing our names on a scrap of paper, which the amateurs compared with the signatures on different papers we had about us, we convinced them that we were harmless citizens, and were allowed to go. the crowd seemed greatly disappointed to see us walk out free. the garde civique let them loose as we got in the car, and they came thronging around for a good close look at us. we honk-honked our way through them, thanking our lucky stars we had not had a worse time of it. at the edge of the town we looked up and saw two german aeroplanes snooping around. a minute later a crowd of people surged across the street to bar our way, shouting that we must go no farther, as the germans were approaching the town and that it was dangerous to proceed. two young officers came across the street to tell us in great glee that they had made a dash in a motor at the first german outpost and had brought in four prisoners. they were bursting with joy in their exploit, but by this time they may themselves be prisoners. in a few minutes we came to the first german outpost, and had our papers carefully examined. from then on we were held up every few yards and nearly had our papers worn out from much handling. at one place a young lieutenant looked over our papers and burst out into roars of laughter at the name of von jarotzky. he called to other officers. they came up, looked at the signature, and also burst out into loud laughter. i asked them what the joke was, but they were not telling. we got in about seven o'clock, without incident. went to see von herwarth after dinner on behalf of a poor belgian woman whose husband, a major in the grenadiers, is dangerously wounded and in the military hospital at antwerp. the germans are going to send her up to-morrow on a motor with some belgian officers, who are being exchanged. i saw the aide-de-camp who is going through with the car and asked him to be nice to her. then to her house, to shut up a lot of old women of both sexes who were trying to dissuade her from going, on the ground that the germans would hold her as a hostage. i suppose she will be off. mrs. bridges,[ ] wife of the former british military attaché, was in this evening for help. a british prisoner told of seeing colonel bridges fall from his horse at mons, mount again, ride a little way and fall. she cannot get to mons, so we are getting her off to france via england, in the hope that she may find him on that side. [footnote : colonel bridges was badly wounded at mons, but escaped, recovered, was wounded again at nieuport, but survived both, and having received the rank of lieutenant-general, was the military member of the balfour mission to the united states in .] it is a pitiful business, and the worst of it is that they all think we have some miraculous power to do anything we like for them. i only wish we could. * * * * * _brussels, september , ._--- the first thing this morning i had a pow-wow with hulse about how to handle the funds that are being gathered to relieve the enormous amount of distress that we shall have to meet here. there is a good deal of it even now. all the big factories are closed. most of the shops have their shutters up, and the streets are filled with idle people. importations of foodstuffs, even from the outlying districts, have stopped dead. conditions are bad enough in all conscience, but they are nothing compared to what we have ahead, when cold weather comes on. a lot of bankers and big business men have got together to wrestle with the financial problem. the burgomaster has his people at work, trying to get their hands on foodstuffs and coördinate their work. i went to the foreign office and talked things over with von herwarth. he straightened out some of the tangles, and we were able to get things moving. i have no trouble with the higher officers at headquarters, but i never go there that i do not want to murder the large brutes of non-commissioned officers who guard the door. they wear large brass plates on their chest and look like bock-beer signs. they have a free and careless way of booting everybody out the door and refusing to listen to anybody. i get fighting mad every time i go there and this morning got sufficiently roused to develop considerable fluency in german. i pictured to the large rough-neck some of the things that were going to happen to him if i was not let in; he was sufficiently impressed to permit me to stand on the sidewalk while my card was sent in. when i got in i made a few well-chosen remarks on the manners, if any, of the watch dogs of the ministry. from the ministry i went to the société générale, where i was asked to attend a conference between the bankers of the city. there were ten of them in the big directors' room, and they worked to some purpose. m. francqui, the director and leading spirit of the société générale, presided over the meeting. he explained the general situation simply and clearly, and stated what they had done and wanted to do. they had three points on which they wanted advice, and they were brought up and disposed of one at a time. by twelve o'clock i got away, and felt that the hour i had put in there had been well spent. when i got back to the legation, i found a nice belgian who had no request to make of us, but wanted to tell his story to somebody, and a terrible story it was, too. he had fitted up his château near mons as a red cross hospital. during the battle there a week ago, british wounded had been brought in. the germans found the château a hindrance in their operations, so got it out of the way by battering down the walls with artillery, and then throwing grenades into the building to set it on fire. there was great difficulty in getting the wounded out and hiding them in such shelter as was to be found. one man, at least, was burned alive in his bed. it seems incredible that red cross hospitals should be attacked, but stories come in from every side, tending to show that they are. beside this man's property there is a railway crossing. when a troop train passed over it day before yesterday, there was an explosion like the report of a rifle. the train was immediately stopped. the officer in command announced that civilians had fired upon his train, and ordered all the men in the vicinity taken prisoners. then, refusing to listen to explanation or discussion, he had them all stood up against a wall and shot. when it was all over, he listened to explanations and learned that the report was that of a cap placed in the switch by the german railway men as a signal to stop the train before reaching the next station. by way of reparation, he then graciously admitted that the civilians were innocent. but, as my caller said: "the civilians were also dead." another pleasant thing the germans seem to be doing is arresting peaceful citizens by hundreds and sending them back to germany to harvest the crops. they will also reap a fine harvest of hatred for generations to come. poor bulle is in considerable doubt as to his status. for many months he has not heard from his government, if any, and has not been able to get a word as to whether he is chargé d'affaires or not. i told him to-day that he had a rather unique situation as the representative of a country without a government to a government without a country. he extracted a chuckle from that. blount made up his mind to leave for america this afternoon, by way of ostend and england. his family was all ready to start, but when he went down to headquarters to get a _laisser-passer_ it was refused. operations are apparently about to be started in _tout le bazar_, and they don't want stray civilians seeing too much. blount will now settle down here for the present. his loss is our gain. the danish minister was in again this afternoon. he is going away, and has finally turned his legation over to us. we now have four legations besides our own--german, british, austro-hungarian, and danish. one little thing the germans have done here that is _echt deutsch_ is to change the clocks on the railway stations and public buildings to german time. every other clock in town continues about its business in the same old way, and the change only serves to arouse resentment. another thing is, that on entering a town, they hold the burgomaster, the procureur du roi and other authorities as hostages, to ensure good behaviour by the population. of course the hoodlum class would like nothing better than to see their natural enemies, the defenders of law and order, ignominiously shot, and they do not restrain themselves a bit on account of the hostages. just lack of imagination. * * * * * _september nd._--a paper, smuggled through the lines from antwerp this morning, gives the news that the queen has left for england, with the royal children; adding, "she is expected back in a few days." this move is evidently in anticipation of the bombarding of antwerp. now and then a belgian has the satisfaction of getting in a gentle dig at the germans; although, if the dig is too gentle, the chances are the digee does not know it. last week countess z----, aged eighty-four, who is living alone in her château, was obliged to put up a german general and his staff. she withdrew to her own rooms, and did not put in an appearance during the two or three days that they were there. when the time came for them to leave, the general sent word that he would like to see her. she sent back a message, asking to be excused. the general was insistent, however, and finally the little old lady came reluctantly down the stairs into the great hall, stopping three or four steps from the bottom and gazing down upon her lodgers with a quizzical smile. they all clicked their heels and bowed, and then the general stepped forward a few paces and, in his best manner, said that they could not go away without thanking her for all that had been done to make them comfortable during the time they had had the honour of being her guests. when he had quite finished, the little old lady replied in her gentle soft voice: "_messieurs, vous n'avez pas à me remercier. je ne vous avais pas invités._" * * * * * _brussels, september , ._--a beautiful aide-de-camp of field-marshal von der goltz turned up this afternoon, and announced that, if agreeable, his excellency the governor-general, would call to-morrow afternoon between four and five. we are looking forward with a good deal of interest to seeing the big man. he arrived yesterday, but has kept so quiet that nobody knew he was here. the aide-de-camp nearly wept on my shoulder; said there was nobody in the general's party who knew brussels, and that they were having a terrible time to find their way around the town. he'll probably have greater worries before he gets through. we have at last heard from mccutcheon, cobb, lewis, bennett, etc. a telegram came to-day from the consul at aix-la-chapelle, asking that we look after their baggage at the palace hotel. from this we judge that they were arrested and sent back to germany on a troop train. they left here for mons, and goodness only knows what adventures they have been through since we last saw them. * * * * * _brussels, september , ._--this afternoon, at four o'clock, von der goltz (field-marshal baron von der goltz pacha, to be exact) arrived with a staff of seven officers to make a formal call. a crowd quickly gathered in the street, as their big gray military cars snorted up to the door. all the neighbourhood was in a great state of excitement. the great man is pretty old and doddery, wears spectacles about an inch thick, and a large collection of decorations. his staff was also brilliant in decorations and silver helmets, etc. i met them at the foot of the stairs, and escorted them up. the marshal is apparently blind as a bat, for he never turned on the landings and would have walked straight into the walls if i had not steered him around the corners. after one good look we decided that he was to be a figure head and leave the real work to the troop of officers and functionaries he had brought with him. it was supposed to be a purely formal call, but the old gentleman seemed to have no thought of leaving, and did not budge for half an hour. the conversation was not thrilling. they finally left after much clicking of heels, and the bemonocled count ortenburg nearly broke his neck by tripping over his sword. however, we got them safely out of the house, while all the servants leaned out of the windows and took in the show. the new governor-general has addressed a proclamation to the belgian people, and has had it posted on the walls: proclamation. his majesty, the emperor of germany, after the occupation of the greater part of belgian territory, has been pleased to appoint me governor-general in belgium. i have established the seat of the general government in brussels. by his majesty's orders, a civil administration has been established with the general government. his excellency herr von sandt has been made chief of this administration. the german armies advance victoriously in france. my task will be to preserve quiet and public order in belgium. every act of the population against the german military forces, every attempt to interfere with their communications with germany, to trouble or cut railway, telegraph or telephone communications, will be punished severely. any resistance or revolt against the german administration will be suppressed without pity. it is inevitable in war that the punishment of hostile acts falls not only upon the guilty but also on the innocent. it is the duty of all reasonable citizens to exercise their influence with the turbulent elements of the population to restrain them from any infraction of public order. belgian citizens desiring to return peaceably to their occupations have nothing to fear from the german authorities or troops. so far as is possible, commerce should be resumed, factories should begin to work, and the crops harvested. belgian citizens i do not ask any one to forego his patriotic sentiments, but i do expect from all of you a sensible submission and absolute obedience to the orders of the general government. i call upon you to show confidence in that government, and accord it your co-operation. i address this summons particularly to the functionaries of the state and of the communes who have remained at their posts. the greater your response to this appeal, the greater the service you will render to your country. the governor-general, baron von der goltz, _field-marshal._ _brussels, september , ._ at about five o'clock, bulle came along, and we went for a long walk together--the first time i have tried anything of the sort since the war began. we tramped out to the bois and made a swing around the circle, not getting back until half-past seven, when we repaired to the palace hotel and had dinner with several of the colleagues. when von der goltz left us, he had started for the spanish legation; but we learned from the spanish secretary that he had never arrived. instead, at the last minute, an aide-de-camp had come clanking in to express his excellency's regrets that he was unable to come, and say that he would have to defer his visit until a later date. something happened to him after he left our legation. x---- had an experience yesterday which made him boiling mad. he left town in the afternoon with his consul, to go to alost for telegrams and letters. he was in a car flying his flag, and had his _laisser-passer_ from the german military authorities. near assche, he was stopped by an outpost, and told he could not go any further. he accepted this in good part, and said he would go back. at this point, an old turkey gobbler of a general arrived and lit into him for being there. he replied that he had done nothing to which exception could be taken; that his papers were in order, and that he was ready to return at the first indication from the military authorities. this seemed to enrage the old soldier who announced that they would do nothing of the sort; that they were prisoners of war and would be sent back under armed guard. x---- protested that this was an outrage against the representative of a friendly country, but in spite of this two armed soldiers were placed in the car with them and another beside the driver, and they were brought back to town as prisoners. by dint of arguments and threats they were taken to headquarters instead of jail, and succeeded in seeing general von lüttwitz who piled on the excuses. it does you no good to have legitimate business and papers in order if it suits some apoplectic officer to clap you into jail. one of the officers i saw to-day told me that the germans were deliberately terrorizing the country through which they passed. it is a perfectly convincing explanation of german doings in this country, but i did not think they were prepared to admit it so frankly. this frank fellow made no claim that civilians had attacked the german troops; his only observation was that they might do so unless they were so completely cowed that they dared not raise their hands. he emphasised the fact that it was not done as a result of bad temper, but as part of the scheme of things in general. for my information, he remarked that in the long run this was the most humane manner of conducting war, as it discouraged people from doing things that would bring terrible punishment upon them. and yet some of these belgians are ungrateful enough to complain at being murdered and robbed. * * * * * _september th._--autumn is coming with little gusts of wind and falling leaves. clouds are thick, and there is a sort of hidden chill in the air. it is depressing in itself, and makes us think with some dismay of what is ahead of the millions of men who are in the field, if the war is to continue into the winter as seems probable. i am sure there is something big in the air to-day. for several days there has been a growing nervousness at headquarters. for four days there has been no official proclamation of german victories. persistent rumours come in of large numbers of british troops between here and the coast, advancing in the general direction of brussels. x----'s arrest, while on a trip to alost, looks as though the germans had some reason for keeping people from getting out that way with knowledge of military conditions here. another thing. we were to have returned the call of von der goltz to-day at noon. between here and the spanish legation yesterday, _something_ happened. he never got to the spanish legation. this morning we got a message from the État-major that von der goltz had "telegraphed" to ask that we should postpone our call. where he is, nobody would say. the officer who brought the message merely stated that he had been called away in great haste, and that it was not known when he would return. troops are marching through the town in every direction, and in large numbers. supply trains and artillery are creaking through the place night and day, and we are awakened nearly every morning either by the crunching of the heavy siege pieces or the singing of large bodies of troops as they march through the streets. every day we realise more and more the enormous scale on which the operations are being conducted. it seems tremendous here, and we are seeing only a small part of one section of the field of operations. privately, the germans continue to assure us that they are winning all along the line. they say that they have taken the whole of the first line of defences in france with the single exception of maubeuge, where there has been long and heavy fighting and where the result still trembles in the balance. in addition to this they claim to have taken a part of the second line of defences. they say that the french government has removed to bordeaux, which seems quite possible, and even sensible. they tell us all these things every time that we go over to the general staff, but they do not publish anything about it. a british red cross doctor was in to-day and told us some items of interest. he said that he had been assigned to care for the wounded prisoners who were being brought back from france on their way to germany, and that he had seen all the british prisoners who had been brought back by way of brussels--about three thousand in all. he said that they were in good spirits and were sure that things would come out right in the end. there were the remnants of the argyle and sutherland highlanders, who went into action something over a thousand strong and came out only a handful. i made two attempts to see herwarth to-day but was kept on the sidewalk and in the courtyard by the big green dragons who guard the entrance to headquarters. after the second attempt i returned to the legation and telephoned him that i should like to see him when he could get it through the heads of these people that we were not tramps. he was very nice and apologetic and had all the officers in the german army out in the street waiting for me when i went back for the third time. all the sentries were blown up and given the strictest sort of instructions that i was to be passed along without question whenever i appeared. i was also given another _passierschein_ to add to my collection, directing everybody to let me pass wherever i wanted to go. in view of the fact that a lot of our work here is in behalf of german subjects, this is about the least they could do. some news has been brought down from antwerp that makes it seem necessary for me to go there and get back again before the siege begins. i had hoped to get away this morning but have not yet been able to get a decision as to exactly what is to be done. i now hope to get away after lunch. i spent all yesterday afternoon enciphering a telegram which i must get off either through holland or antwerp. we are able to send nothing but open messages over the military wire through berlin and i have a strong suspicion that these are being censored. * * * * * _brussels, september , ._--did not get off to antwerp to-day but hope to make it by to-morrow noon. there was too much going on, but arrangements are being made for a _laisser-passer_, etc., and i anticipate no trouble beyond being shot or made prisoner. gherardi[ ] came in this morning for a call and then left for maubeuge, which the germans had arranged to capture during the day. they seemed very sure of it, but i would not be surprised to see him come sailing back without having seen the surrender. [footnote : american naval attaché at berlin.] baron von der lancken, of the foreign office in berlin, called this morning. he is here to handle relations with the foreign ministers remaining in brussels. as we have had the care of german interests they all come here first and our position is better than that of any other legation in the country. we have things on a working basis. * * * * * _september th._--last night, after dinner, i trotted around and called on the wives of some of the belgian officials to see whether there was any news of them that i could give to their husbands in antwerp. i found madame davignon, the wife of the minister for foreign affairs, in her son's home, peacefully working away on clothes for the wounded. she told me all the news of the house so that i could repeat it to her husband. she is as calm as you please and far from despairing. madame de broqueville, the wife of the prime minister, turned her house into a red cross hospital at the outbreak of hostilities; it is a beautiful big place. of course there are practically nothing but german wounded in the house now, but the good lady conquers her natural feelings and has them as well looked after as though they were of her own race. i went in in an apologetic mood for intruding on her at so late an hour, but she had lots to say and i stayed on for a long time. it did her good to talk, and i was so overawed by her courage and poise that i sat and listened in silent admiration. the wives of the cabinet ministers and other officials have shown wonderful nerve and are standing right up to their duty. count and countess de x had an interesting story to tell of their experiences when the first armies went through. when the war broke out they were at their château and were caught by the first onrush of troops. their fine cellars were emptied for the benefit of the invader, but nothing more serious happened to them until the second wave came along. then there was a demand for more wine. as all the wine had been carried away they could not comply. the germans were convinced that they were being fooled, and searched the place very carefully. finally they imprisoned the x's for three days in the cellar and then brought them forth and stood them up before a firing squad and threatened to shoot them unless they told where the wine was hidden. at the critical moment a big gray military car rolled up, and to their considerable relief they saw that one of the occupants was a german princeling, who had formerly been their guest on several occasions. they called out to him, and by his orders were immediately released. after expressing their thanks to him they went into the château to find that soldiers were engaged in packing up their fine collections of enamels and porcelains to ship them to germany. another appeal to the prince, who was most sympathetic. he was a practical and resourceful man, and said: "of course i'll stop this, but you will understand that our men would like to keep some little souvenir of the war in belgium. that would be hard to prevent. but i would suggest that you pick out all the pieces that you value most and pack them away in that large wardrobe. then i'll do the rest." madame de x was, of course, delighted with this, and scurried about gathering together the finest pieces and packing them carefully into the big wardrobe. she kept it up as long as there was a nook or cranny where odd pieces could be put, and then reported progress to the prince. "are you sure that all the best pieces are there?" says he. "all that could be packed there," answers madame de x. "good," says the prince, and then turning to his orderly: "have that wardrobe sent to berlin for me." the way the german army cleaned out the wine of the country was a revelation to everybody. they would not take what they needed for the day's drinking but would clear out whole cellars at a time and load what was not drunk onto carts to be carried away. the result was that people who had a little warning had recourse to all sorts of ingenious tricks to save some of their store. there was one bright man in the province of namur who removed his stock of wine--all except a few thousand bottles of new wine--and deposited them in the ornamental pond near his château. the germans arrived a few hours afterward and raised a great fog because they were not satisfied with the amount of wine they found. the owner of the château had discreetly slipped away to brussels and they could not do anything to him. however, they tapped all the walls for secret hiding places and went over the park to see if anything had been buried--all in vain. the next morning, however, the pond was covered with labels which had soaked off and floated to the surface, and after draining the pond the whole stock was carted away. madame b----, who was there, has an interesting souvenir which she proposes to keep if possible. during the first days of the war her château was occupied by a lot of officers, who got gloriously drunk and smashed up pretty well everything in the drawing-room and dining-room. one of them, with a fine sense of humour, took a piece of hard chalk and wrote on the top of her piano in large letters: _deutschland über alles!_ the crowd left the place in the morning without trying to cover their traces, and madame b---- came in to put things to rights. the first thing she did was to get a large piece of plate glass to cover the top of the piano so that the legend would not be effaced, and over that she placed an ordinary piano cover so that no future visitor would be inclined to erase the inscription. when the war is over this will be an interesting reminder of her visitors. this morning i was ready to start for antwerp. my _laisser-passer_ had been promised for ten o'clock. when it did not come by that hour, i went up to see baron von der lancken who had agreed to attend to the matter. he received me most graciously, told me how delighted he was to see me, how it pleased him to see that we came to him with our little troubles, etc. he kept off the subject of the _laisser-passer_ as long as he could, but when he could stave it off no longer he said that he must ask me to see von herwarth, who had been placed in charge of all matters regarding passports, etc. i made a blue streak over to herwarth's office, and saw him after a little delay. he kept me as long as he could, and told me all that he knew about the war and perhaps a great deal more. when we got down to the subject of my visit he said that von der lancken was mistaken, that passports could be granted only by colonel von claer who had his office about a block away. i began to smell a rat about this time, but kept plugging away. i spent an hour and a quarter in the antechamber of the colonel, being unable to get to him or to any of his officers. it was all part of a game. both von der lancken and herwarth harped upon the danger of the trip to antwerp, advised against it and told how terribly they would feel if anything were to happen to me. i asked each of them point blank if they contemplated an attack while i was there. they both avoided the subject, but said that with the situation as it was now it was impossible to tell from one moment to another what might happen. i saw that they were undecided about what was going to happen next, and that until they did know they did not intend to let me go. they naturally do not wish to have anything happen to me or anyone else connected with the legation, so i feel entirely safe about going. after lunch i went back to the siege and stayed until my friend, the colonel, left by the fire-escape or some equally desperate way so as to avoid seeing me. von der goltz had sent word to the minister that he was coming here for tea this afternoon, and wanted to meet the spanish minister. that was our opportunity, and the minister was all primed with what he was to say to the old chap. they beat us to it, however. the problem had evidently been decided since i saw von der lancken in the morning, for he greeted me with the news that the _laisser-passer_ would be around in the course of the evening. he added that the general was anxious to send one of the belgian ministers of state to antwerp, and would appreciate it if i would take him with me. he is count de woeste, the man who has always fought against having an army, on the ground that belgium was so fully guaranteed by her treaties that it was unnecessary. baron von der lancken says that they will make out a _laisser-passer_ on which he will be included, and that the military authorities will mark out the route by which we had best go, so as to avoid running into trouble. i imagine it will take us by way of termonde and st. nicolas. the crowd that came to tea included von der goltz, pacha, baron von der lancken, herr von sandt, and count ortenburg--a scion of a mediatised bavarian family. they told us of all the glorious triumphs of the german army, and of the terrible drubbing that was in store for their enemies. they stayed on for about an hour. when they left, i escorted the old man to his car. before he climbed in, he looked me over curiously and remarked: "_tiens, c'est fous qui faîtes ce foyage à anfers! four afez peaucoup de gourage. che tacherai d'arranger un petit entr'acte pour fous être agreaple. mais il vaut refenir aussitot gue bossible!_" they evidently intend to hold off for a day to await certain developments, and i am to get the benefit of the delay. the marshal also told us that maubeuge had fallen, and that they had made forty-five thousand prisoners. it seems almost incredible that the french and english would have left that many men at maubeuge when they knew that it was bound to fall. perhaps we shall find that this is not altogether accurate. they say nothing about what is happening in austria. the news from england and antwerp is to the effect that the russians are giving the austrians a hard time of it. this afternoon the german headquarters issued an order prohibiting the bringing of newspapers to brussels from the outside world, and announcing that any one who brings newspapers here or is found with papers in his possession will be severely punished. two german papers will be distributed by the authorities, and everything else is taboo. they evidently intend that their own version of passing events shall be the only one to get out here. * * * * * _brussels, september , ._--ever since the th i have been off on my little jaunt to antwerp, and have not been able to get a line on paper. i was not at all sure that i was going to get away at all, until i got down to the legation on wednesday morning and found my _laisser-passer_, signed by von der goltz, waiting for me--another to add to my already large and interesting collection. with it was a letter from my friend and well-wisher, baron von der lancken, who said that an officer would be assigned to accompany us as far as the german outposts. he suggested that i take along a large white flag to be hoisted over the motor for the run between the lines. the note and _laisser-passer_ had arrived at the legation about one o'clock in the morning, and had looked so important that the slaves waked the minister from a deep sleep to receive them. [illustration: pass issued by field-marshal von der goltz to enable mr. gibson to pass through the german lines to antwerp. passierschein ============= für den ersten sekretär der gesandtschaft der vereinigten staaten von amerika zu brüssel herrn hugh gibson und den königlich belgischen staatsminister herrn woeste, die sich nach antwerpen begeben, von wo sie am . september d. j. nach brüssel zurückzukehren beabsichtigen. bei der rückreise von antwerpen nach brüssel werden die vorbezeichneten herren begleitet sein von dem ersten sekretär der hiesigen spanischen gesandtschaft, marquis de faura und einem oder zwei weiteren belgischen herren, deren namen noch nicht angegeben werden künnen. die herren sind frei und ungehindert passieren und repassieren zu lassen. jeder beistand ist ihnen zu gewahren. brüssel, den . september der generalgouverneur in belgien.] when i got to the office i found that villalobar had not sent over his contribution of letters, so i ran up to the legation and saw him. he bade me farewell as though i were off to certain death, and loaded me with a large bundle of letters and telegrams. when i got back to the shop, i found my fellow-passenger, the count de woeste, waiting for me. he is a leader of the catholic party which has been in power in belgium for the past thirty years, and, although he is seventy-five years old, he is still a big figure in the little country. he behaved very well on the trip, and if i were a belgian citizen i should vote for him on account of his good nerve. we bowled off to headquarters, where i was mightily pleased to find that von herwarth had assigned himself to the duty of taking us up to the outposts--just for a visit. it was the only satisfactory one i have had with him since he came. at headquarters there were always too many interruptions. my old travelling companion had a hard time to keep himself in hand and not enter upon a joint debate upon the war, its causes and justification. he did well, however, and my two passengers parted on good terms, even going to the extraordinary length of shaking hands at the outpost. a big military motor, filled with armed men, was sent ahead to act as guide, and we followed along closely behind in a cloud of dust. from the outskirts of brussels right up to the german outposts at hofstade, the fields were filled with german troops of every sort--infantry, lancers, heavy artillery, and even three or four large detachments of sailors in blue blouses and caps. all the men, except the sailors and a few of the landsturm who wear conspicuous blue uniforms, were in the new greenish grey, which is about the finest color that has yet seen active service. frequently we drove several hundred yards beside a field before noticing that it was filled with soldiers. several of the villages between dieghem and hofstade were partially burned, and there were evidences of shell fire--which to these peasants must be a perfectly convincing substitute for hell-fire--and of fighting at really close quarters. between perck and hofstade, the fields were covered with deep entrenchments, and over some of these were stuck dummy heads to draw hostile fire. some, on the other hand, were fitted with belgian caps picked up on the battle-field, evidently for the purpose of inducing belgian troops to approach for a closer look before firing. most of the big trees along the road had been cut down, and many houses razed to the ground so as to have a cleaner sweep for the artillery. at dieghem, the german pilot-car picked up a naval officer who was to accompany us as far as the outposts and to inspect his men on the way back. on the outskirts of hofstade, under a brick railway bridge, we found the last german troops. they had some hard fighting here at the time of the last belgian sortie, and the bridge and the surrounding houses showed evidences of shell fire. [illustration: a street in louvain] [illustration: fixing on the white flag for the dash between the lines] [illustration: refugees from the villages near the antwerp forts] [illustration: arrival in antwerp of refugees from malines] i was rather against putting up the white flag, but both herwarth and the naval officer were most insistent that i should do so, saying that the country between the lines was filled with patrols, both belgian and german; that they felt that hostilities were to be commenced at any moment, and that any one who ventured into the district between the lines would stand a fine chance of being shot unless he carried a conciliatory emblem. they rigged up a long pole on the side of the car with a white flag about six feet square, and bidding a glad farewell to the representatives of hohenzollern and company, we started out to feel our way into malines. about yards beyond the bridge we sighted two belgian bicycle patrols who, on seeing us, jumped off their machines and ran into an abandoned farmhouse. knowing that they were at high tension, we crept up very slowly so that they might have a good look at us before trying their marksmanship. they were peeking over the window-ledge, with their rifles trained at us; but after a good look at the black clothes and white whiskers of m. de woeste they pulled in their weapons and waved us to go ahead. about a kilometer farther on, we came around a turn in the road and nearly ran into the first belgian outpost--six men and an officer. as we came around upon them they scurried behind stone walls and trees, and gave us the usual pleasant greeting of levelled rifles. as the most prudent things to do under such circumstances, the car was stopped, and i went ahead to parley. the officer proved to be young z----. he turned quite white when he got a good look at me, and remarked that it was fortunate they had not had a sight of us farther down the road, as we would certainly have been filled with lead. he said that the germans had tried three times that morning to get through the lines in cars flying the white flag, in one instance at least, with a machine-gun in the car. as a result of this, the outposts had orders not to take any chance for the rest of the time intervening before the attack which was expected to begin at any minute. far be it from me to suggest that our friends had me put up the white flag, so as to offer proof of the belgian savagery in firing on the white flag. after this little experience, we took in our white flag and made the rest of our trip without trouble. we found outposts about every hundred yards, and were stopped at the point of the rifle each time; but as we got farther away from the outer lines the behaviour of the posts was noticeably less nervous, and when we got into malines the mere sight of our papers was sufficient to let us freely through. since my last trip, the belgians have been working steadily at their preparations for defence, and have accomplished wonders. their large tracts of land, some of them forming natural routes, for entry between the forts, have been inundated with water from the canals so as to be quite impassable. tremendous barbed wire entanglements form a broad barrier all around the outer and inner fortifications; they are so thick and so strongly braced that artillery fire would be practically useless against them, and cutting with wire nippers would be so slow that it could not be accomplished without a horrible loss of men. there are any number of huge searchlights placed on the fortifications to sweep the skies for zeppelins. since my last visit, one zeppelin had succeeded in getting over the town, but was surprised and dropped its whole cargo of bombs in a distance of a few hundred yards, taking no lives and doing little material damage. since then, several big craft have appeared at night, but have always been frightened away by the searchlights and the fire of the small vertical guns which have been ready for them. all the villages which cluster around the fortifications have been razed to the ground, and the avenues of big trees have been cut down; it is a pretty dreadful sight. i left m. de woeste at the grand hôtel, where the cabinet is staying, and then made for the saint antoine. had lunch with sir francis villiers and colonel fairholme, and got my first real news since the prussian headquarters stopped issuing bulletins of german victories. sir francis showed me the telegrams he had received about the german check and retreat in france; and prince koudacheff, the russian minister, who joined us for coffee, vied with him by showing me his telegrams about the russian advance in eastern prussia and in austria. after luncheon, i had some pow-wows on the subject that had brought me, and went to see various people for whom i had messages. they are a lot more cheerful than the last time i was in antwerp, and are ready for anything. from the foreign office, i went to the consulate general, where i found a mountain of letters and telegrams. got off my cables, and answered as much of the other correspondence as was absolutely necessary--no more. on my way back to the hotel, i ran into general jungbluth coming out of the palace, and was promptly hauled inside for gossip. the queen, who has very properly come back from england, walked in on us and stopped to hear the news from brussels. i got back to the hotel, and found all the colleagues waiting for me to hear the latest news from brussels. i played my part, and was nearly torn to pieces in their eagerness for news from the town where there is none. they were all there except the papal nuncio, who is most unhappy in the midst of war's alarms and hardly budges from the episcopal palace. after dinner i was again asked to go to the grand hôtel to see the prime minister. he had nothing startling to say, but was anxious to know what was going on in brussels. he showed me his telegrams from france, england and russia, and his maps with the recent movements worked out with little flags. monsieur de brocqueville told me an interesting incident that had taken place at ghent. it seems that when the germans arrived there, they sent in an officer and several soldiers to arrange for requisitions, etc., a promise having been given that they would not be molested. of course, the whole town was on the _qui vive_ and everybody had been warned to refrain from incurring their displeasure. just as the german motor passed in front of our consulate, a belgian armoured car came charging in from antwerp, knowing nothing of the presence of the germans, and upon seeing the enemy uniform, opened fire, wounding the officer and one of the men. that was enough to start things, and the town would probably be in ruins to-day but for the quick thinking and action of van hee, the american vice-consul. he plunged down the staircase, seized the burgomaster, who happened to be present, pushed him into a motor with the wounded men and went straight to the german headquarters to explain that the attack had been made by two men from antwerp who knew nothing of the agreement reached between the city and the german forces, and to plead that no reprisals should be made upon the city. the general said that he was prepared to accept the statement of the vice-consul on this matter, and that he would not therefore visit retribution on the town if the requisitions which he had demanded were promptly furnished. the requisitions were heavy, and he was apparently afraid that they might not be sent. he said that he would send in troops to occupy the town until the supplies requisitioned were actually in his possession, but finally agreed to refrain from doing so on condition that the vice-consul should give his word of honour that the supplies should be forthcoming. van hee took this responsibility, and the general agreed to keep his troops outside the town. when they got back to ghent, the military governor disavowed the arrangement on the ground that the burgomaster had no right to enter into an agreement with the germans and that he, as military governor, was the only one with any authority to deal with them. he therefore declared that no supplies should be sent. the burgomaster telegraphed the prime minister in antwerp, and placed the entire situation before him, and monsieur de brocqueville promptly telegraphed back that since the american vice-consul had given his word of honour to the german general it was impossible to disavow the agreement, and that the supplies should be sent out immediately. this was a pretty high stand for the belgians to take, but they feel that van hee saved ghent from destruction, and are correspondingly grateful to him. getting around antwerp in the evening is quite an undertaking at this time; no street lamps are lighted, all the window shades lined with black, and heavy black shades are placed over the small electric lights in the courtyards of hotels, etc.--all of this to keep from giving any indication to the zeppelins as to where to drop their visiting cards. a heavy detachment of soldiers guards the approach to the saint antoine, and there are patrols in all the streets. the few motors allowed on the street have no lights, and are stopped by all the patrols, who do not call out but rise up silently in front of you and demand the password. it is a ticklish business finding one's way. the big searchlights on the forts sweep the skies from nightfall until dawn, making a wonderful sort of fireworks. when i got back to the hotel i found prince caraman chimay waiting for me with a message from the queen. also poor prince ernest de ligne, whose son, badouin, was killed in one of the armoured motors several days ago. young de ligne, who was a volunteer, was in one of three armoured cars that went out on a reconnaissance toward the german lines. just before entering a sunken road between two fields they stopped a flemish peasant and asked him whether there were any germans anywhere about. the peasant told them that three uhlans had been seen a short time before but they had gone away. the three motors, de ligne in the first, started down and were attacked by about forty germans under command of a major. de ligne was shot in the head and died shortly afterwards. the man who took his place at the wheel was killed, and several others of the party were also badly wounded and have since died. the third motor came up from some little distance behind and opened on the germans, killing or wounding nearly all of them, including the officer, who was killed. a young chap named strauss, whose mother was an american, had the mitrailleuse in his car, and stood upright, firing upon the germans without being touched by the heavy rifle fire that they directed against him. when the germans had been put to flight he and the other survivors got the three cars into running order, and brought them all back to antwerp, where de ligne and two of the others died. prince ernest had a hard time getting through from brussels, and was fired on several times by the german troops, who were even more nervous than in the morning, when i came through. one of his nephews has also been killed, and another nephew, prince henri de ligne, is in the aviation corps, and has been in the thick of it ever since the beginning of the war. he and his wife are also staying at the saint antoine. on thursday morning i got caught in another avalanche of telegrams and had to spend a couple of hours at the consulate-general polishing off and finishing business. stopped in at the palace on the way back and saw general jungbluth, who showed me the latest telegrams. i gathered up what newspapers i could beg or buy and stuffed them into a military pouch to take back. had an early lunch, gathered up m. de woeste and faura, whom i was to bring back, and started about one. we got through malines, across the only one of the three bridges which is left, and started down the bank of the canal toward hofstade, where herwarth was to meet us at two o'clock. there was heavy firing by small guns ahead and a certain amount of protective firing from the forts behind us, with the shells singing high above our heads, but we thought that it was probably aimed further to the south and that we could get through. just at the edge of malines we were startled by a tremendous report near-by, and on getting out to reconnoitre i discovered a belgian battery, which had been established near the convent of the dames de coloma. the commanding officer of the battery, major nyssens, whom i had known in brussels, advised us to wait a little to see if there was a lull in the fighting, so that we would get through. we went into the convent to wait and were warmly received by a little irish nun, who showed us the park and pictures by way of entertainment, although we felt a much greater interest in the banging of the battery. after a bit major nyssens sent out a messenger to the farthest battery to see whether they were prepared to stop firing for a little while to let us scuttle through to hofstade. presently an answer came back that at : the firing would be stopped for twelve minutes to let us through. we were in the motor ready to start when another messenger came from the outer battery saying that the germans were prepared to move up their battery from the bridge at hofstade--the very spot we were making for, if there were any lull in the firing and that the belgian battery could not stop without endangering its position. we then decided to go back to malines and to try a direct road by way of sempst and villevorde. on parting i gave nyssens all my cigars, knowing i should find plenty when i got back to brussels, and he, in a burst of gratitude, gave me a tiny revolver taken off a dead german officer a few hours before. immediately after getting the revolver nyssens' orderly had handled it rather carelessly, and shot himself in the stomach. to make sure of doing nothing equally foolish, i took out the remaining cartridges and chucked them in the canal as we rode back to malines. about a kilometer out of malines we ran into a considerable detachment of belgian infantry and lancers and a large armoured motor with two mitrailleuses. we were told that the belgians had taken and retaken sempst three times during the day, and while neither side occupied the town at that precise moment they were both advancing on it, and that it might be rather warm for ordinary motors. they finally agreed to let us talk to the commanding officer, who turned out to be none other than colonel cumont, the owner of the building occupied by the legation. he was up on a railway embankment, lying on his stomach between the rails, watching some german patrols through a pair of big field glasses, and when we hailed him, rolled gracefully over the side, and came down to talk to us. he had been out on the track most of the time for three days and was a rather disreputable-looking person, but apparently glad of a chance to talk with someone from the outside world. he said he thought we would have time to get through before the row began, and in any event he would warn his men so that if we came scuttling back we would be given the right of way to safety. we passed several belgian patrols along the way and finally got into the town, which showed clear evidences of fighting; some of the houses were burned to the ground, and all that were standing had their doors and windows smashed, furniture broken, and strewn about the floors with broken bottles and dishes, mattresses and goodness knows what else; and above all arose that terrible smell of burnt flesh. we were nearly through the town when we were hailed by a detachment of about twenty belgians, who had got through and occupied the grounds of a villa on the edge of the village. we stopped the car, and i got out and went ahead, they remaining with leveled rifles, in their usual hospitable manner. when i got to within twenty feet of them we heard the whirr of a machine gun--which the belgian soldiers call a _cinema_--and a german armoured car poked its nose around the corner for a look-see. it was firing high to draw a return fire and locate any belgians there might be in the town, but they all scurried behind cover, closely followed by me. they were taking no chances, however, and called me to stay in the middle of the road. without wasting any time in formality i made clear my identity, and, on being shown through a breach in the wall a disagreeable-looking body of german infantry and lancers about a half a mile away approaching through a field, i decided that we were on the wrong road and made back for the motor. i told my passengers what was up, and that we had to go back to malines. m. de woeste, however, was all for going through on the valid plea that he had no clean linen and did not want to spend another night out of brussels. nevertheless we turned around and started back, only to rush into the big belgian armoured car which colonel cumont, hearing firing, had sent down to rescue us and cover our retreat. this car stayed in the village for a few minutes to meet the german car, fired a few shots at it, and then came back to the outposts. we then tried getting out toward the west from malines, but soon came to a point where the road was inundated, and had to turn back for the third time. it was then getting pretty late in the afternoon, and even m. de woeste had to admit that we had best come back to antwerp rather than try to make a roundabout journey to brussels after dark. all the way back into antwerp we met belgian forces advancing to the attack. they are getting to know the flag better every day and we were greeted with waving hands and cheers everywhere we went. when nearly in town, a young chap ran out of the ranks to where we were waiting for them to get by, grabbed me by the shoulder, and said: "i am born an american." "where were you born?" "aurora, illinois. my father worked in ----'s glycerine works." "who do you know in aurora?" "i know mr. evans and mr. ---- and mr. ---- and mr. _beaupré_."[ ] "what's your name?" just then a non-commissioned officer came along and ordered him back into the ranks; the motor started ahead, and i lost track of the boy in a cloud of dust. [footnote : former american minister at the hague.] at the edge of town we caught up with a british legation motor, which was stopped at a railroad barricade. its occupants roared with laughter when they saw us, and colonel fairholme gloated particularly, as he had prophesied that we would not get through. when we got back to the hotel we were met with more laughter. it was the great joke of the week to see the only people who had previously been successful in running the lines, caught like the rest of them. i was not at all down in the mouth, as antwerp was most interesting, and i had left only because i had felt it my duty to get back to work and to keep the minister from worrying. when i saw that there was no way of getting through i gladly accepted the decree of fate. when we got back to antwerp i soon learned that it would be out of the question to get back to brussels the next day, or perhaps even the day after that. the belgians were advancing to an enveloping movement and all the surrounding country was to be covered with belgian troops in an endeavour to deal a smashing blow to the germans and compel them to bring back more troops from the front in france. colonel fairholme asked me to accompany him to the front next morning, and i accepted with an alacrity which startled him. after dinner i made another excursion into the darkness and told monsieur de woeste that there was no prospect of getting back to brussels the next day. his colleagues, who were there also, impressed upon him the futility of going, and he finally resigned himself to staying, although he kept insisting that he infinitely preferred danger to boredom, which was his lot so long, as he had nothing to do but sit around the hotel. friday morning while i was waiting for the colonel to get ready and was doing my little errands down town, there came a great roaring of a crowd, and the chauffeur, knowing my curiosity, put on steam and spurted down to the boulevards just in time to run into a batch of three hundred german prisoners being brought in. they were a dejected-looking crowd, most of them landsturm, haggard and sullen. the crowd, mindful of the things the germans have been doing to this little country, were in no friendly mood, but did nothing violent. there was only a small guard of belgian garde civique to escort the prisoners, but there were no brickbats or vegetables. the people limited themselves to hoots and catcalls and hisses--which were pretty thick. and even this was frowned upon by the authorities. within a couple of hours the military governor had posted a proclamation begging the people of antwerp to maintain a more dignified attitude and to refrain from any hostile demonstration against other prisoners. this batch was surrounded, and caught at aerschot, where the germans are said to have committed all sorts of atrocities for the past three weeks. among the prisoners was the commanding officer, who was accused of being responsible for a lot of the outrages. he was examined by the military court, which sits for the purpose, and admitted having done most of the things of which he was accused, pleading in his own defence that he had done them only in obedience to superior orders, to which he had protested. the soldiers who made the capture disclaimed a large part of the credit for it on the ground that most of the germans were drunk and that they were too dazed to get to their arms. stories of this sort keep piling in from every side. we got away at eleven to lierre, where the king has established his headquarters for his movement. the road lay to the southeast and was through country i had not traversed before. the aspect was the same, however--long stretches of destroyed houses and felled trees, barbed-wire entanglements and inundated fields. it is a mournful sight. little lierre was unharmed, and i hope it may remain so. the grande place was filled with staff motors, and there was a constant coming and going of motors and motorcycles bearing messengers to and from the field of operations. headquarters was established in the hôtel de ville, which bears on its tower the date --a fine old building, not large, but beautiful. in the morning a message had come ordering colonel ducane back to england. he was out in the field, and we had to wait until he came in to deliver it to him. the king was also away, but we put in our time talking with the officers on duty as to the movement and its progress, and then went out for a stroll around the town. we looked into the old church, and i stopped and bought an officer's forage cap as a souvenir of the place. by the time we had poked around the neighbourhood and inspected the other _sehenswürdigkeiten_ of the town it was lunch time and we joined an officers' mess in the back room of a little café on the square, and then, to kill time, sat in front of another café and had coffee and a cigar. we could not get started until colonel ducane had returned and received his message, so we sat in front of our little café and growled. it was maddening to waste our time there while the guns were thundering all around us and we knew from the signs of activity at headquarters that big things were toward. after a time a little man, the senator for the district, came out and asked us into his house, directly across the street from the hôtel de ville. it was raining hard and we were ready for a change, so we accepted gladly and were entertained with champagne and cigars to the music of falling rain and booming cannon. our senator was very much down in the mouth about the situation in general and wanted to talk about it. the colonel told him of the bulletins that had been published in antwerp as to the progress of the campaign, and as this went on he cheered up visibly minute by minute--whether as a result of the good news or the champagne, i don't know. the colonel was called away after a time to talk to lord kitchener over the telephone. kitchener keeps himself informed directly as to the progress of operations and the knowledge that he may drop in over the telephone at any minute gives his officers a very comforting feeling that they are not forgotten. finally, after dark, colonel ducane and captain ferguson came in, and we got under way. it was too late to go forward with hopes of seeing anything, but it was evident that things would be as hot as ever the next day and that i could not hope to get my charges back to brussels. accordingly the colonel's invitation was extended and accepted, and we turned back toward antwerp considerably disappointed. while we were waiting around trying to make up our minds--if any--i ran into young strauss, the half-american, who was in the armoured car behind young de ligne. he was really the principal hero of the occasion, having stood bolt upright in his car and riddled the german forces with his mitrailleuse until the few survivors turned and fled. he had with him two of the other survivors of his party. all of them had been decorated with the order of leopold for their behaviour. an order like that looks pretty well on a private's uniform, particularly when given with such good reason. we had retreated inside the hôtel de ville during a particularly heavy downpour of rain, when in came the king, who had spent the whole day in the field with the troops. he was drenched to the skin, but came briskly up the steps, talking seriously with his aide-de-camp. he stopped and spoke with us all and took colonel ducane into his study and had a few minutes talk with him by way of farewell. the king shows up finely in the present situation and all the foreign military attachés are enthusiastic about his ability. he is in supreme command of the army and no detail is too insignificant for his attention. [illustration: at malines--a good background for a photograph to send home to germany] [illustration: his eminence, cardinal mercier, archbishop of malines] we got the password and made back for antwerp in the dark, leaving colonel ducane and captain ferguson to spend the night at lierre. we were in bad luck and got stopped at every railroad crossing along the way. troop and supply trains were pouring down toward the front and red cross trains were bringing back the wounded in large numbers. both sides must have suffered heavily during the day, and there may be several days more of this sort of fighting before there is a lull. when we got back to the hotel we found sir francis waiting for us with a glowing telegram and an equally glowing face. it was the most enthusiastic message yet received from the british war office, which has been very restrained in its daily bulletins. for the first time that day it spoke with a little punch, speaking of the "routed enemy" and their being "vigorously pressed." we tumbled through a hasty bath and got down to dinner in short order. after dinner it was the same old performance of going over to the grand hôtel and labouring with monsieur de woeste, who was still bent on getting home to his clean linen without further delay. it took the united arguments of the cabinet, which was in session, to convince him that it would be useless and foolish to try to get away. finally he yielded, with a worse grace than on the previous evening. i had a comfortable visit with several of the ministers, who were glad to hear news of their families in brussels, and asked me to remember all sorts of messages to be given on my return. i only hope that i shall not get the messages mixed and get too affectionate with the wrong people. the cabinet was going through the latest telegrams from the various fields of action. they even had some from servia and were decidedly cheered up, a big change from the dogged determination with which they were facing bad news the last time i was in antwerp. saturday morning the colonel and i were called at six, and at seven we got away in a pouring rain over the same road to lierre that we had travelled the day before. there was a big force of workmen hard at it in the vicinity of the outer forts, burning houses and chopping down trees and building barbed-wire entanglements. it is a scene of desolation, but it is necessary in a fight like this. we found things moving rapidly at headquarters in lierre. messengers were pouring in and orders going out with twice the activity of the day before. the movement had been under way for two hours when we got there and the guns were booming all around. after learning as much as we could of the disposition of the troops we went out and stocked up with bread, cheese, and mineral water, and started forth to see what we could of the operations. we took along a young officer from headquarters to show us the road. we soon saw that he did not know the roads and could not even read a map, and had to take over that work ourselves. colonel fairholme and i went in my motor with the headquarters passenger and colonel ducane and ferguson followed in their own car with an orderly. we got to malines without difficulty and got out for a look at the cathedral. it is a dreadful sight, all the wonderful old fifteenth century glass in powder on the floor. part of the roof is caved in and there are great gaping holes in the lawn, showing where the shells struck that fell short of their mark. a few of the surrounding houses, belonging to entirely peaceful citizens, were completely wiped out while they were getting the range. it is hard to see what useful military purpose is served by smashing churches and peaceful habitations, when there are no troops about the place. malines was bombarded when the troops had withdrawn. it is hard to reconcile with _gott mit uns_. before we left lierre, nine troopers of the landsturm were marched into the hallway of the hôtel de ville, to be examined by the officer who is there for that purpose. they were a depressed lot who had run away and given themselves up, so as to be spared the hardships and dangers of the rest of the war. they answered questions freely, telling all they knew as to the disposition of troops and making their get-away toward the local lockup with great alacrity as soon as the word was given to move. most of them were bavarians. colonel fairholme speaks german like a native. he talked with these chaps, and there was some interesting conversation. they were all without enthusiasm for the war, and all expressed indignation at having been brought out of the country, maintaining that the landsturm cannot be used for anything except the maintenance of order in the empire. i think they are wrong about that, but this was no joint debate on german law, and no attempt was made to sooth their injured feelings. a lot of men were brought in while we were there, some of them prisoners taken during the fighting, but a great many of them fugitives who were sick of the war, and only asked to get off with a whole skin. as they marched out of the hall, the king came in from the field for a look at the morning's telegrams. he had been out since long before daybreak, and was covered with rain and mud. he shook himself vigorously, spraying everybody with raindrops, and then stopped to speak to us before going in for a cup of coffee and a look at the news. from malines we made back along the northern side of the canal, in an endeavour to find the headquarters of the ----th division. we went through a little village where all the inhabitants were standing in the road, listening to the cannonading, and spun out upon an empty and suspiciously silent country road. a little way out we found a couple of dead horses which the thrifty peasants had already got out and skinned. i didn't like the looks of it, and in a minute the colonel agreed that he thought it did not look like a road behind the lines, but our little staff officer was cock-sure that he knew just what he was talking about, and ordered the chauffeur to go ahead. then we heard three sharp toots on the horn of the car behind--the signal to stop and wait. and it came pulling up alongside with an inquiry as to what we meant by "barging" along this sort of a road which likely as not would land us straight inside the enemy's lines. there was a spirited discussion as to whether we should go ahead or go back and strike over through rymenam, when we heard a shell burst over the road about half a mile ahead, and then saw a motor filled with belgian soldiers coming back toward us full tilt. the colonel stopped them and learned that they had been out on a reconnaissance with a motor-cyclist to locate the german lines, which were found to be just beyond where the shell had burst, killing the motor-cyclist. it would have been a little too ignominious for us to have gone bowling straight into the lines and get taken prisoners. we turned around and left that road to return no more that way. we got about half-way up to rymenam when we met some belgian officers in a motor, who told us that a battery of the big french howitzers, which had just gone into action for the first time, were in a wood near h----. we turned around once more, and made for h---- by way of malines. we found the headquarters of the ----th division, and went in and watched the news come in over the field telephone and telegraph, and by messengers on motor-cycles, bicycles and horses straight from the field. the headquarters was established in a little roadside inn about half a mile outside the town, and was as orderly as a bank. officers sat at the various instruments and took notes of the different reports as they came in. reports were discussed quickly but quietly, and orders sent out promptly but without confusion. the maps were kept up to the minute by changing the little flags to show the positions of the different troops right at the minute. there was telephone communication with the forts, and several times they were ordered to pour fire into a certain spot to cover an advance or a retreat of parts of the belgian forces, and, at other times, to cease firing, so as to let belgian troops cross or occupy the exact spot they had been bombarding. it was a wonderful sight to watch, and it was hard to realise that this was merely a highly scientific business of killing human beings on a large scale. it was so business-like and without animus, that to anyone not knowing the language or conditions, it might have passed as a busy day in a war office commissary when ordering supplies and giving orders for shipment. just outside the headquarters was one of the fine german kitchen wagons with two fine norman horses which had pulled it all the way from germany. it had been stationed in the grounds of a château not far away, and three men of its crew were hard at work getting a meal when a little belgian soldier with two weeks' growth of beard waltzed into the garden, shot one of the men dead and captured the other two. he disarmed them, put ropes around their necks and drove the kitchen to headquarters in triumph. he was proud as punch of his exploit, and, for that matter, so was everybody else around the place. in a field of turnips a couple of hundred yards away from the headquarters were the howitzers. there were three of them in a row with three ammunition wagons. they had been sent here only a few days ago, and they were promptly put into action. they were planted here, slightly inside the range of the guns from the outer forts, and were able to drop shells six miles from where we stood, or about five miles outside the range of the fort guns. they toss a shell about two feet long, filled with deadly white powder, six miles in ten seconds, and when the shell strikes anything, "it thoes rocks at yeh!" as the darkey said about our navy guns. the battery was planted down behind a little clump of pines, and was dropping shells into a little village where there was a considerable force of germans about to be attacked. the germans must have been puzzled by this development, for they had counted on being able to advance safely up to the range of the forts, feeling sure that the belgians had no powerful field guns of this sort. we were introduced to the officers commanding the battery, and watched their work for nearly two hours. one of the officers was count guy d'oultremont, adjutant of the court, whom i had known in brussels. he was brown as a berry, had lost a lot of superfluous flesh, and was really a fine-looking man. he had been in namur, and had got away with the belgian troops who went out the back door into france and came home by ship. after we had been watching a little while, an aeroplane came circling around, evidently to spot the place where these deadly cannon were. it cruised around for some time in vain, but finally crossed straight overhead. as soon as we were located, the machine darted away to spread the news, so that the big german guns could be trained on us and silence the battery; but the belgians were johnny-at-the-rat-hole again, and he was winged by rifle fire from a crowd of soldiers who were resting near the headquarters. they killed the observer and wounded the pilot himself, to say nothing of poking a hole in the oil tank. the machine volplaned to earth a few hundred yards from where we were, and the pilot was made prisoner. the machine was hauled back to the village and shipped on the first outgoing train to antwerp as a trophy. we were leaving the battery and were slipping and sliding through the cabbages on our way back to the road, when we met the king on foot, accompanied only by an aide-de-camp, coming in for a look at the big guns. he stopped and spoke to us and finally settled down for a real talk, evidently thinking that this was as good a time as any other he was likely to find in the immediate future. after talking shop with the two colonels, he turned to me for the latest gossip. he asked me about the story that the german officers had drunk his wine at the palace in laeken. i told him that it was generally accepted in brussels, and gave him my authority for the yarn. he chuckled a little and then said, in his quiet way, with a merry twinkle: "you know i never drink anything but water." he cogitated a minute and then, with an increased twinkle, he added: "and it was not very good wine!" he seemed to think that he had quite a joke on the germans. as we talked, the sound of firing came from the german lines not far away, and shrapnel began falling in a field on the other side of the road. the germans were evidently trying to locate the battery in that way. most of the shrapnel burst in the air and did no damage, but some of it fell to the ground before bursting and sent up great fountains of the soft black earth with a cloud of gray smoke with murky yellow splotches in it. it was not a reassuring sight, and i was perfectly willing to go away from there, but being a true diplomat, i remembered that the king ranked me by several degrees in the hierarchy, and that he must give the sign of departure. kings seem powerless to move at such times, however, so we stayed and talked while the nasty things popped. his majesty and i climbed to a dignified position on a pile of rubbish, whence we could get a good view up and down the road, and see the french guns which were in action again. a little later ferguson, who was standing not far away, got hit with a little sliver and had a hole punched in the shoulder of his overcoat. it stopped there, however, and did not hurt him in the least. he looked rather astonished, pulled the little stranger from the hole it had made, looked at it quizzically, and then put it in his pocket and went on watching the french guns. i think he would have been quite justified in stopping the battle and showing his trophy to everybody on both sides. the king was much interested in all the news from brussels, how the people were behaving, what the germans were doing, whether there were crowds on the streets, and how the town felt about the performances of the army. he realised what has happened to his little country, and made me realise it for the first time. he said that france was having a hard time, but added that perhaps a sixth of her territory was invaded and occupied, but that every bit of his country had been ravaged and devastated with the exception of the little bit by the sea coast and antwerp itself, which was getting pretty rough treatment, in order to put it in shape to defend itself. he spoke with a great deal of feeling. and no wonder! then to change the tone of the conversation, he looked down at my pretty patent leather shoes, and asked in a bantering way whether those were a part of my fighting kit, and where i had got them. i answered: "i got them several months ago to make my first bow to your majesty, at laeken!" he looked around for a bit at the soggy fields, the marching troops, and then down at the steaming manure heap, and remarked with a little quirk to his lips: "we did not think then that we should hold our first good conversation in a place like this, did we?" he smiled in a sad way, but there was a lot more sadness than mirth in what he said. guy d'oultremont came up and said something that i did not understand, and we started back toward the headquarters. we stopped opposite the inn, and the two colonels were called up for a little more talk. just then a crowd of priests, with red cross brassards on their arms, came down the road on their way to the battlefield to gather up the wounded. with his usual shyness the king withdrew a few steps to seek shelter behind a motor that was standing near by. as we talked, we edged back a little, forcing him to come forward, so that he was in plain sight of the priests, who promptly broke out in a hearty "_vive le roi!_" he blushed and waved his hand at them, and, after they had passed by, shook hands with us and followed them on foot out onto the field. in modern warfare a king's place is supposed to be in a perfectly safe spot, well back of the firing line, but he does not play the game that way. every day since the war began, he has gone straight out into the thick of it, with the shells bursting all around and even within range of hostile rifle fire. it is a dangerous thing for him to do, but it does the troops good, and puts heart into them for the desperate fighting they are called upon to do. they are all splendidly devoted to him. the rain stopped as we got into the motors and started back toward malines, with the idea of locating the other battery of _obusiers_. there was a sharp volley of three toots on colonel ducane's horn, and we came to a sudden stop, with the emergency brakes on, to receive the information that it was two o'clock and time for lunch. none of us had kept any track of time, and all were ready to go sailing along indefinitely without food. as soon as we had noticed the time, however, we all became instantly hungry, and moved along, looking for a good place for lunch. i had the happy idea of suggesting the convent where we had taken refuge on thursday, and thither we repaired to be most warmly greeted by all the nuns, and most particularly by the little irish sister who was overjoyed to see british uniforms and hear some war news that she could believe. she hailed me with, "oh! and it's the riprisintitive of the prisidint!" the nuns gave us a table in the park and two big benches, and we got out our bread and cheese and chocolate and a few other things that colonel ducane had found somewhere, and had a most comfortable meal with a towering pitcher of beer brought out from the convent, to give us valour for the afternoon's work. after lunch we went back through malines again, through the railroad yards, bumping over the tracks, and away toward muysen and rymenam to see the other batteries. i was struck in going through the railway yards, which i had always seen teeming with activity and movement, to see that all the rails are covered deep with rust--probably for the first time. think of it! after leaving muysen, our road lay for a mile or so along a canal with open fields on either side. uhlan patrols had been reported in this part of the country, which was in a weak spot in the belgian lines, and the colonel told the staff officer to keep a sharp lookout and be ready with his revolver and prepared for a burst of speed. that military genius replied with an air of assurance: "oh, that's all right. they cannot cross the canal." the colonel confined himself to saying mildly: "no, but bullets can!" little napoleon said nothing more, but i noticed that he unstrapped his revolver without loss of time. we were bowling along the road, looking for the battery, when there was the most enormous noise which tore the earth asunder and the universe trembled. i looked around to the left, and there not more than a hundred feet away were those three husky french guns which had just gone off right over our heads! we had found them all right, but i should prefer to find them in some other way next time. we spent a little time looking at them, and ferguson had them get out some of the explosive and show it to me. it comes in long strips that look for all the world like chewing gum--the strips about the same proportions, only longer. i fail to see, however, how they can be made to blow up. after a bit we got back into the cars, and started out to cruise around to the belgian left wing and watch, a little of the infantry fighting at close quarters. we very soon began running into stragglers who informed us that the ----th division was being driven back, and that a retreat was in progress. soon we came upon supply trains and ammunition wagons making for the rear, to be out of the way of the troops when they began to move. we were not anxious to be tangled up in the midst of a retreat, and obliged to spend the night trying to work our way out of it, so we forged ahead and got back to lierre as fast as we could. it was raining hard as we came in, and we took refuge in the hôtel de ville, where the colonels read their telegrams and got off a report to london. one of their telegrams brought the unwelcome news that ferguson was also recalled to england. they are evidently hard put to it to find enough officers to handle the volunteer forces. he will have to stay on for a few days, but colonel ducane came back with us and left the next morning for england by way of ostend. when we got back to the hotel after a fast run, i found that inglebleek, the king's secretary, had been around twice for me, and wanted me to go at once to the palace. i jumped into the car and ran over there, to learn that the queen wanted to see me. she was then at dinner, and he thought it would do the next time i came up--she seems to have wanted more news of brussels--nothing pressing. she had told inglebleek to give me a set of the pictures she had had taken of the damage done to the cathedral at malines. they are interesting as a matter of record. sir francis had another good bulletin from the war office, and was beaming. the colleagues came and gathered round the table, and chortled with satisfaction. heavy cannonading continued well into the night, to cover the advance of the ----th division, which had been reinforced and was moving back into the dark and rain to take up its old position and be ready for the germans in the morning. i was up and about early on sunday morning. had breakfast with count goblet d'alviella, one of the ministers of state. gathered up monsieur de woeste and faura, and made for the scheldt and brussels. instead of going across on the boat as we had to do the last time, we found a broad and comfortable pontoon bridge placed on canal boats and schooners lashed together and moored from one side of the river to the other. any time they like, the belgians can cut the string, and there is no way of getting into the city from that side. there was a tremendous wind blowing and the rain fell in torrents--short showers--from the time we left antwerp until we came sailing into town here. the bridge at termonde had been blown up by the germans on evacuating the place after having destroyed the entire town, so there was no thought of returning that way. i knew there could be nothing doing the direct way through malines, so decided on a long swing around the circle by way of ghent as the only practicable way. we found belgian troops all the way to ghent, and had no trouble beyond giving the password which i had. we drew up at a restaurant in a downpour and had a hasty lunch, getting under way again immediately afterward. about ten kilometers this side of ghent we came to melle, a village which had been destroyed, and another where a number of houses had been burned. a nice-looking young chap told us that there had been a fight there the day before and that the germans had set fire to the place as they retreated--just from cussedness, so far as he could see. there, and at another place along the road, peasants told us that they had been made to march in front of the german troops when they marched against the belgians. i don't like to believe that there is any truth in that story but it comes from every direction and the people tell it in a most convincing way. we found no germans until we were this side of assche and then our adventures were evidently at an end. as we came in we could hear heavy cannonading from the direction of vilvorde and hofstade and knew that the fight was still going on. they had been hearing it in town for a couple of days. the family at the legation had been somewhat anxious, but had learned through the germans that we were all right--evidently from somebody who got through the lines. i had to sit right down and tell the story of my life from one end to the other. i never got over the idea in antwerp of the incongruity of going out onto the field all day and fighting a big battle, or rather, watching it fought, and then sailing comfortably home to a big modern hotel in a motor and dressing for dinner. i don't think there has ever been a war quite like this before. herwarth has gone to the front for some active service. i am sorry to miss him. he went up to hofstade the day i was to have returned, and waited for me about an hour, but the fire got too thick for him and he came back and reported that i would not be able to get through. monsieur de woeste called this afternoon and paid his respects. he gave the minister an account of the attempts we made to get through that made his hair stand on end for an hour afterward. * * * * * _brussels, september , ._--to-day has brought a long string of callers, and between times we took satisfying looks at the passing troops, which have been pouring into town steadily yesterday and to-day. nobody has established to my satisfaction whence they come or whither they are going. there are all sorts of explanations offered, each explanation being quite convincing to the one who offers it. most people say that they are being brought in for the siege of antwerp, which is about to begin. the siege of antwerp has begun so often and never materialized that i decline to get excited about it at this stage of the game. another explanation is that the german retreat in france is so precipitate that some of the troops and supply trains are already pouring through here on their way home. i cannot get up much enthusiasm for that either. some imaginative souls maintain that these are forces being brought back to fight against the russians. none of these stories sound good to me and i have resigned myself to the belief that the only really safe conjecture is that this "is a movement of troops." this morning baron von der lancken came in and asked me to testify as to what we had seen at louvain. of course what we saw had no bearing on the original cause of the trouble and there is no reason for me to push my way into the controversy. besides, i can't do it without orders from washington. we are getting quite accustomed to having no communications with the outside world. railroads, of course, have ceased to work, except for military purposes, and there is no way for the general public to get about. there has been no postal service since the germans marched in on august th, and we don't know when we shall have any. all telephones were cut off within a few hours of the arrival of the german army. there are no newspapers, and all the information we are supposed to have about happenings in the outside world is fed to us in the form of placards on the walls of the city. nobody takes any great amount of stock in what these placards tell us, although they have sometimes told us the truth, and consequently there is a great demand for the few copies of dutch and english newspapers that are smuggled across the border and brought to brussels. the prices vary according to the number of papers to be had, and run from five francs to one hundred francs for a single copy of the _times_. those who do not care to spend so much can rent a paper by the hour--and customers are not wanting on this basis. by way of discouraging this traffic it is said that the germans have shot several men caught smuggling papers. those caught selling them in brussels are arrested and given stiff terms of imprisonment. all taxis disappeared many days ago and altogether the normal life of the town has ceased. it will be a rollicking place from now on. * * * * * _brussels, september , ._--this morning i spent digging my way out from under a landslide of detail work which has been piling up on my desk, until i could hardly see over it. i now have it out of the way, and can breathe again freely for the moment. this afternoon baron de menten de horne, a lieutenant in the second regiment of lancers, was brought in to the legation, a prisoner, still wearing his belgian uniform. he was captured last friday near h---- while i was there. nyssens, the major who was in the convent with us, told me that one of his officers had gone off on a reconnaissance and had not reappeared; he was greatly worried about him, but could not send any one out to look for him. this was the man. he was surrounded, in company with several of his men, and took to cover in a field of beets. night was coming on, and they thought that when the fight was over and the german troops who were all about them had retired, they would be able to work their way out and rejoin their own forces, but twenty-five germans surrounded them, and after killing all the others, took this man prisoner. his only idea is to be exchanged and rejoin his regiment; and, as is the case with pretty much everybody else nowadays, he turned to the american legation. he made such a good plea that the german authorities brought him here yesterday, and left him an hour, on his giving his word of honour not to divulge anything as to the military movements he had seen while a prisoner. of course, we could not arrange to make the exchange, but he stayed on for an hour and told us of his adventures. he was a pathetic figure in his dirty uniform, sitting on a little chair in my office and telling in a simple way of all he had been through--laying more stress on the sufferings and death of his soldiers than on anything that had happened to him. his own brother had been killed in the fighting around liège, and he had heard that his brother-in-law, of whom he was very fond, had also been mortally wounded. while at louvain, he had visited the military hospitals, and had a list of belgian officers who were there. i took a list of them, by permission of the german officer who came after the prisoner, and shall send word to their families. i went around to see the young man's sister, and sent her off to have a look at him at headquarters, where he is being well treated. it is a joy to be able to do some of these little errands. nobody can realize the amount of bitter sorrow there is in this country--we cannot realize it ourselves, but now and then a wave of it rises up to confront and overwhelm us. miss t----, an american owning a school here, was in late this afternoon to complain of the behaviour of a couple of officers and gentlemen who did her the honour of calling upon her. they came swaggering in, asked whether a certain german girl had attended the school and demanded her portrait. on being refused, they became nasty and finally so overawed the two women who were there alone that they found some snap shots and handed over a couple of them. then they demanded a post card with a picture of the school, wrote a message to the girl, and tried to compel the two women to sign it. they flatly refused, and, in a rage, the elder german tore up the card, threw it at miss t----, flung down the photographs and stamped out of the house, slamming the doors. the minister is going over to see the military authorities in the morning and make some remarks that they will not forget in a hurry. the puppies ought to be horsewhipped. * * * * * _september th._--repressive measures are getting stronger and more severe. the germans have now ordered the belgians to take down their flags. lüttwitz, the military governor, has posted an _avis_ on the subject which is worth reproducing in full. the population of brussels, understanding well its own interests, has generally, since the arrival of the german troops, maintained order and quiet. for this reason, i have not yet forbidden the display of belgian flags, which is regarded as a provocation by the german troops living in or passing through brussels. purely in order to avoid having our troops led to acting on their own initiative, i now call upon houseowners to take down their belgian flags. the military government, in putting this measure into effect, has not the slightest intention of wounding the susceptibilities and dignity of the citizens. it is intended solely to protect the citizens against harm. brussels, september , . baron von lÜttwitz. _general and governor_. dined at the palace in a din of german officers. bulle, pousette and riseis kept me in countenance. there were also some twenty or thirty austrian officers--the first we have seen. they were quiet and well behaved, and contrasted sharply with their allies. * * * * * _brussels, september , ._--this morning our vice-consul came in from ghent bringing with him a pouch and a huge bag of letters and telegrams. these had been got through to him from antwerp yesterday, and he made a run through the lines early this morning, having been turned back several times on account of small engagements between belgian and german outposts. this morning a dutchman came in to see me, and after showing me a lot of papers, to establish that he was somebody entirely different, told me that he was a british spy. he then launched into a long yarn about his travels through the country and the things he had seen, unloading on me a lot of military information or misinformation that he seemed anxious to have me understand. after he had run down i asked why he had honoured me with his confidence, and was somewhat startled to have him answer that he had no way of getting it out and thought that inasmuch as we were charged with the protection of british interests i might have an opportunity to pass it on where it would do the most good. he seemed rather pained at my remarks, and was most reproachful when i threw him out on his head. yes, my shrewd friend, it has also occurred to me that he may have been a german spy just trying to find out whether we were indulging in dirty work. it would not be the first time that that sort of thing was tried on us. monseigneur n---- came around this afternoon and asked me to take him to antwerp on my next trip. i told him that i could not, as i had already promised to take some other people, and that my car would be full. he said that he had his own car, and that he would ask me to convoy him; he had heard that i had "_beaucoup de bravourr, tandis que moi je n'ai pas de bravourrrr et j'aimarais me mettre sous votre protection._" i sent him to see von der lancken, and he came back in a little while to say that he was told that the only safe way was to go by namur, liège and holland, entering antwerp from the north. he evidently insisted on a perfectly safe route, that could be guaranteed, and they told him a story that they thought would dissuade him from making the trip. they do not like to have a lot of people coming and going. we have no more news from the outside world; the battle still rages all along the line in france (according to what we hear), but we have no inkling as to whether the german retreat still continues. the only thing we are told at headquarters is that the outcome is as yet undecided, but that the germans are in a favourable position, and that they will be victorious in a few days. i would give a good deal for a little real news as to how things are going. this morning major langhorne, our military attaché from berlin, breezed in upon us. he is travelling around with six other military attachés, seeing as much of the field of operations as the german officer who personally conducts them will permit. they got in this morning, and left about one, so we had only a few minutes' visit, and he carried off all our good wishes and new york papers. the german _affiche_ of yesterday, ordering the belgian flags taken down, has made everybody furious, and for a time we thought there might be trouble. if the flags had been ordered down the day the germans came in there would not have been half as much resentment, but, on the contrary, they began by proclaiming that the patriotic feelings of the people would be scrupulously respected. max, the burgomaster, got out a little proclamation of his own which served to soothe the feelings of the people. after expressing some views as to the german order, he says: i ask the population of the town to give a fresh example of self-restraint and greatness of soul which it has already so often shown during these sad days. let us provisionally accept the sacrifice which is imposed upon us; let us take down our flags in order to avoid conflicts, and patiently await the hour of redress. soon flags were coming down all over the city, and there was not a murmur. an hour after max's proclamation was posted, however, german soldiers were running about covering them with sheets of white paper. the military authorities were furious, because max had intimated in his poster that the present situation would not endure forever, and that the belgian flag would fly again over brussels. in their unimaginative way they sent down a squad of soldiers and arrested him. he was taken to headquarters, and brought before von lüttwitz, who told him that he was to be taken as a prisoner of war to berlin. max replied that he bowed before superior force; that he had done what he knew to be necessary for the preservation of order in his city, and that he was ready to accept the consequences of his act; that at any rate he would have the satisfaction of having maintained order here up to the minute that he was sent to germany, and that he could not be held responsible for what might happen after his departure. general von lüttwitz sat up and took notice of the last part of this and rushed off to see von der goltz. in ten minutes he came back and told max that he was free and that the field marshal desired that he should continue to act as burgomaster as though nothing had happened. why don't people have a little imagination!! the town is still bottled up, and troops are being marched back and forth across it, as, i believe, purely for the purpose of impressing the population with the belief that they are far more numerous than they really are. late this afternoon i took a drive to the edge of town, and we were stopped half a dozen times and had our papers examined. from all i can gather it would seem that the germans are entrenching themselves as solidly as they can so as to be ready to resist another sortie without sustaining the terrible losses they suffered last time. they cannot be very happy over the way things have been going in france, although they have this afternoon announced a great victory on their right wing. one of our friends who has just come back from the coast reports that there were a lot of french troops marching through belgium on their way from dunkerque to lille--evidently an attempt to turn the german right wing. we have heard nothing more about it. * * * * * the food supply of the country is being rapidly exhausted and there is urgent need for importations. the public knows little about the situation, but a serious shortage threatens and we must have a considerable stock from abroad. the brussels committee has raised a goodly sum of money and hopes to get food from holland and england to meet present needs. similar committees are being formed in other cities, and they, too, will require food from abroad. the local committee has asked shaler to go to holland and from there to england to purchase as much food as possible, make arrangements for sending it across the frontier and investigate the chances of getting future supplies. the german authorities have given assurances that they will not requisition any of the supplies imported for the use of the civil population. they are to issue placards signed by the military governor ordering the military authorities to respect our purchases. these placards are to be affixed to the cars and barges bringing in the supplies and we are inclined to believe that they will be effective. after hurried preparation shaler got away this afternoon with young couchman by way of liège. i went out to lunch with him and see him off. it is not an easy task he has ahead, but he went to it with a good heart. yesterday evening the minister had an interview with baron von der lancken about the question of my making a statement as to what i saw at louvain. i naturally am very reluctant to be brought into the affair, but the germans have been very insistent, and finally von der lancken said that he was confident that if he could talk with me for a few minutes he could arrange the matter to the satisfaction of everybody. he asked that i go to see him at the ministry at half past six. i hurried home and dressed for dinner, so as to be able to go straight to mrs. z.'s, and then run over to the ministry on the minute. the office of von der lancken was dark and empty. i waited in the chilly corridors for twenty minutes and then went my way. this morning one of his minions was here on another matter and i took occasion to mention the fact that he had not been there when i called. he came right back with the statement that they had come back from the field particularly early, on my account, and had waited for me in vain for nearly an hour. i assured them that i had been there on the minute and had been in the office, and that there was no one there. mystery! by way of clinching it i said that the office was dark as the tomb. then a ray of light struck the german, and he said: "oh, i see, you came at half past six, belgian time! of course von der lancken expected you at half past six, german time!!!" when he asked me when i would call i felt inclined to set eleven in the morning and then wander over at three in the afternoon, with the statement that, of course, i did everything according to new york time. i had an hour's talk with von der lancken about noon, and finally got off without testifying, which is a great comfort to me. he knew from their own troops that i had been in louvain during the fighting, and had already reported that to berlin. i finally prevailed upon him to let it go at that. after we had settled our business, von der lancken talked to me for half an hour or so about the war in general. he said they had just received a telegram that reims is in flames, cathedral and all. it is a terrible thing to think of, and i suppose may turn out to be another louvain before we get through. von der lancken explained it on the ground that french troops had come up and occupied the town, and that it was necessary to take it by storm--that troops could never operate against a position of that sort until artillery had cleared the way. i don't know just how far that sort of an explanation explains. the germans got out an _affiche_ of news this morning, stating that "_les troupes allemands ont fait des progrès sur certains points_." it does not sound very enthusiastic. people coming in from mons and charleroi yesterday and to-day say that the german rear guard has fallen back on villages near those places and ordered the inhabitants to leave; the idea evidently being that they are preparing to resist any further advance of the allies. after lunch, baron de menten de horne was brought into the legation again. the germans seem anxious to get rid of him, and have finally turned him loose. i cannot very well make out their object in setting him free without getting a german officer in exchange, but they were keen to get him off their hands and wanted us to take cognisance of the fact that they had accorded him his liberty. this we have done. i shall be curious to see whether there is any sequel to this case. late this afternoon we got a telegram from the consul at liège, stating that shaler and couchman had been arrested in that city because they were carrying private letters to be posted when they got to england. they had taken a certain number of letters, all of them open and containing nothing but information as to the welfare of individuals here. they were on a mission of interest to the german authorities--getting foodstuffs to prevent a famine here. the minister got off an urgent telegram to the consul to get to work and have them released, and also saw von der lancken about it, with the result that the wires are hot. i hope to hear to-night that they are free. these are parlous times to be travelling with correspondence. i may have to get away any minute for antwerp, to see if we cannot arrange to get flour down here for the city. there is enough for only a few days now, and there will be trouble when the bread gives out. we have now been charged with japanese interests; that makes six legations we have to look after. * * * * * _wednesday._--late yesterday afternoon i got a note from princess p---- de b----, asking me to go to see her. i got away from my toil and troubles at seven, and went up to find out what was the matter. the old lady was in a terrible state. a member of her immediate family married the duke of ----, a german who has always lived here a great deal. at the beginning of the war, things got so hot for any one with any german taint that they cleared out. for the last few days, german officers have been coming to the house in uniform asking to see the princess. the servants have stood them off with the statement that she was out, but she cannot keep that up indefinitely. they are undoubtedly anxious to see her, in order to give her some messages from the ----'s, some of her other relatives in germany; but if it gets around town that she is receiving officers in uniform the town will be up in arms, and the lady's life would be made miserable whenever the germans do get out. she wanted me to start right away for antwerp and take her along, so that she could send her intendant around afterward to say that she was away on a journey, and could not see the officers who had been sent to see her. i laboured with her, and convinced her that the best thing was to be absolutely frank. she is going to send her intendant around to see von der lancken, and explain to him frankly the embarrassment to which she would be subjected by having to receive officers at her home. i am sure that lancken will realise the difficult situation the old lady is in, and will find some way of calling his people off. went down to the palace and had dinner with pousette and bulle and cavalcanti, who were full of such news as there is floating around the town. there is a growing impression that the germans do intend to invest antwerp, and the belgians are apparently getting ready for that contingency--by inundating a lot more of the country outside the ring of forts. at noon, day before yesterday, i found a man with a copy of the _london times_, and carried it in my overcoat pocket to the palace hotel when i went there to lunch. last night, a lot of german civil officials were sitting at a table near by and holding forth in loud tones on the punishment that should be meted out to people who had forbidden newspapers in their possession. the most vehement one of the lot expressed great indignation that the _amerikanischer legationsrath_ had been seen in that very restaurant the day before with an english newspaper in his overcoat pocket. pretty good spy you have, fritz. a telegram has just been received from liège, saying that shaler and couchman have been released and are on their way to holland. a dutch messenger was in after lunch, and told me that he had seen the two men at headquarters yesterday afternoon, and that they were far from happy. he said he did not blame them, as the germans are dealing out summary justice to anybody who falls into their hands that they do not take a fancy to. a.b. has been after me for a couple of days to take her up to the château near louvain, where countess r. is left alone with twenty-eight german officers quartered on her. a man cousin was sent up to defend her, but was so badly frightened that he spent all his time in the cellar and finally ran away and came back to brussels. now she wants to go up to the rescue, and stay there. i have asked von der lancken for a pass, and shall try to take her up to-morrow. she certainly has good nerve, but i am not sure how much protection she would be able to afford. the supply of flour is getting pretty well used up, and i may have to clear out to-morrow afternoon or the next day to go to antwerp and negotiate to have some supplies sent down for the relief of the civil population. the government has volunteered to do this, if the germans would promise that the food would not be requisitioned for the troops. we have been given these assurances, and it only remains for me to go up and complete the arrangements. when the minister came back from louvain he went over to headquarters and talked about the subject of my trip to antwerp. he has been nervous about each of my trips and has worried a lot more about it than i have, but when he saw von der lancken, that worthy made things worse by saying that there was artillery ready to begin business in every part of the country i was to traverse and that it would be a very dangerous trip. now, the minister is making superhuman efforts to find some other way to get the letters and papers through to antwerp. a note has just come in from princess p. de z----, to say that she followed my advice, and that everything has been settled with the german authorities to her complete satisfaction. she is now easy in her mind. * * * * * _september th._--i spent all day yesterday sitting on the edge of my chair waiting for a decision about my leaving for antwerp, and by dark i was a fit candidate for an asylum. at five o'clock the minister went around to see von der lancken to get the _laisser-passer_. it was then suggested that a letter could be sent around by way of berlin and the hague. it would take a week or ten days to get an answer that way. then we argued the matter out again from the beginning, and after a quarter of an hour of joint debate i went over to see von der lancken and press for the _laisser-passer_. he was in a _conseil de guerre_, but i had him pulled out and put it up to him. he said it was then too late to get anything last night, but that he would attend to it to-day. i am now sitting on the same old edge of my chair waiting for action, so that i can get away. i think that the trip by namur, liège and maestricht, which is the route prescribed, is a lot safer than the other two trips i have made to antwerp, which really were risky performances. most of this trip will be in peaceful holland and i do not contemplate any sort of trouble along the way. by way of being ready i got passes from the dutch legation and the burgomaster yesterday afternoon, and now all i have to do is take the german _passierschein_ in my hand and start. yesterday evening i dined at the m.'s. just the two of them and their daughter, who is married to a french officer. as is the case everywhere else, they talk nothing but war, and are most rabid. they have a daughter in germany, but she does not seem to enter into their calculations, and all their thoughts are for france and belgium. their son, who is in the belgian cavalry, has just got his corporal's stripes for gallantry in action. the old gentleman is bursting with pride. during the evening another old chap came in with a letter from his son, who is in young m.'s regiment; he had some very nice things to say about the young man's behaviour, and there was a great popular rejoicing. the _london times_ came in during the evening, and there was a great revamping of war maps to correspond with the latest movement of troops. the daughter keeps the maps up to date, and does it very well, having picked up some training from her husband. she has different coloured lines for each day's progress and it is easy to see at a glance just how the positions compare for any given times. this morning the germans have big placards up all over town, trying to explain their action in burning reims cathedral. they are doing a lot of explaining these days. * * * * * _brussels, september , ._--my departure for antwerp has been put off again and again, but if the german authorities live up to their promises, i shall be able to start to-morrow morning early. at the last minute the mothers of mr. and mrs. whitlock decided to avail of the opportunity to go home, so i shall take them as far as rotterdam before going to antwerp. i shall attend to my business there and then go back to rotterdam, take the ladies over to england, turn them over to mr. n----, spend a day or two there getting a line on the news, and then rush back to antwerp, and then back to brussels. i suppose i shall be away ten days or so, but there is no way of telling. i should like the little trip to england and a breath of air in a country where there is no actual fighting. it is now half past eight and there is no telling when this family will sit down to dine. the burgomaster has indulged in some more repartee with the german authorities, and they, with their usual _finesse_, have put him in prison. yesterday the germans got out a proclamation announcing that since the city of brussels had not settled "voluntarily," the whole of the forced loan imposed upon her no more requisitions should be paid in cash, as had been promised.[ ] max thereupon sat down and wrote a letter to the banks, saying that they were to pay nothing on the forced loan unless and until the germans conformed to their part of the agreement. he further annoyed the germans by putting up an _affiche_, giving the lie to a proclamation of the governor of liège: the german governor of the town of liège, lieutenant-general von kolewe, caused the following notice to be posted yesterday: "_to the inhabitants of the town of liège._ "the burgomaster of brussels has informed the german commander that the french government has declared to the belgian government the impossibility of giving them any offensive assistance whatever, as they themselves are forced to adopt the defensive." _i absolutely deny this assertion._ adolphe max, _burgomaster._ [footnote : the german point of view was set forth in the following official notice: "the german government had ordered the cash payment of requisition, naturally believing that the city would voluntarily pay the whole of the forced payment (_contribution de guerre_) imposed upon it. "it was only this condition that could justify the favoured treatment enjoyed by brussels, as distinguished from the other cities of belgium which will not have their requisition orders settled until after the conclusion of peace. "inasmuch as the city administration of brussels refuses to settle the remainder of the forced payment, from this day forward no requisition will be settled in cash by the government treasury. "the military governor, baron von lÜttwitz, _major-general_" brussels, september , .] lüttwitz replied to this by having max arrested, and the present prospect is that he is to be sent to germany as a prisoner of war. that is not very comforting for us, as he has been a very calming influence, and has kept the population of brussels well in hand. if they do send him away, the germans will do a very stupid thing from their own point of view, and will make max a popular hero everywhere. early this evening monsieur lemonnier, the senior alderman, came around with several of his colleagues, and laid the matter before mr. whitlock and the spanish minister. they immediately went over to see general von lüttwitz to see whether there was anything to be done for max, but as they have been gone a long time, i fear they are going through one of those long and thoroughly unsatisfactory discussions that get nowhere. monsieur lemonnier is waiting in my office to hear the result of the visit to lüttwitz. he is naturally far from cheerful, and looks forward with a good deal of dread to taking over the reins if max is sent to germany. he, of course, foresees that the chances are in favour of his following max into exile sooner or later, if he tries to do his duty. as to his own future he says only--"i succeed only to the troubles of the office--_max a bien emporté sa gloire avec lui._" the life of a belgian official these days is anything but comfortable. * * * * * _sunday morning._--we were all up working until two o'clock this morning. monsieur max was spirited away to namur, and everybody is standing by for trouble. the people are greatly excited and highly resentful, but it is to be hoped that they will not do anything rash. the cooler spirits are going about urging calm. the excitement is not lessened by the fact that there is heavy cannonading from the direction of antwerp. lüttwitz has announced the arrest of max in the following poster: notice. burgomaster max having failed to fulfil the engagements entered into with the german government, i am forced to suspend him from his position. monsieur max will be held in honourable detention in a fortress. the military governor, baron von lÜttwitz, _general._ brussels, september , . we are evidently not yet through the epoch of destruction, for the governor-general came out to-day with this proclamation, which is posted on the walls of various towns: recently, in regions not occupied by strong forces of german troops, convoys of transport wagons and patrols have been attacked without warning by the inhabitants. i draw the attention of the public to the fact that a list is kept of the towns and communes in the vicinity of which these attacks have been committed, and that they must expect their punishment as soon as german troops pass near them. i have not been able to learn of any places where such attacks have taken place, but suppose this is merely an evidence of the well-known nervousness of the army of occupation, and that they are trying to frighten the people to a point where they will not try to start anything. [illustration: fire at namur during the bombardment] [illustration: effect of big german shell on fort of waehlem] [illustration: outside view of the fort of waehlem after bombardment by big german guns] general von lüttwitz has come out with another proclamation, forbidding the sale of foreign newspapers in belgium: i remind the population of brussels and its suburbs that it is strictly forbidden to sell or distribute newspapers that are not expressly authorised by the german military government. any infraction of this prohibition will entail the immediate arrest of the vendors, as well as long periods of imprisonment. the german military governor, baron von lÜttwitz, _general._. my _laisser-passer_ has not come, and there is no telling when we shall get away. the germans swear it was sent last night. * * * * * _on board s.s. "oranje nassau" off flushing, sept. , ._--we got away on sunday morning about eleven o'clock, after many calls at headquarters and a mild row about the _laisser-passer_ that had not been sent. it was finally discovered that some boneheaded clerk had sent it by mail--a matter of three days! it was fished out of the military post office, and we got away in a few minutes. we were in the big car, heavily laden--two trunks, several valises and a mail pouch on top--my two passengers inside with their small stuff, the chauffeur and i in front. we made quick time out through tervueren and down to namur, hearing the heavy booming of cannon all the time away to the north. ruin was all the way--odd farm-houses burned, towns with half the buildings in them, the grand place destroyed, etc. the great square at namur a heap of brick and mortar. the great bridge across the meuse was dynamited, and the three sections hung in the river. all the way to liège the main bridges had been destroyed, and we had to cross on temporary affairs constructed by the germans. and the germans were thick all the way, holding us up at frequent intervals to look at our papers. they have it in for belgium, and are in bad humour. we had some fine samples of it during the day. we stopped not far from huy for a picnic lunch, and then got under way again, being stopped frequently all the way to liège, where we sought out the consulate. the consul had gone to spa to look after some english people, but i said my few words to his wife and daughter, and then hurried away toward visé and the dutch frontier. _visé n'existe plus!_ goodness knows what was done to the place, but there is nothing left but blackened walls. it took us a long time to find unencumbered roads and get through between the fallen walls. not far from the edge of town we found the last german outpost, and were promptly put under arrest because my _laisser-passer_ did not bear my photograph. the officer in command cursed me roundly for daring to come through liège without reporting, placed two armed soldiers in the car, and ordered us sent back. it was futile to point out to him that passes issued by the military governor general did not need to conform to the local rules; in fact, it only made him peevish. we scorched back over the road to liège, but i succeeded in making the soldiers stop at a small town where there was a local headquarters of some sort with a colonel in command, i got him to look at our pass which had been confiscated by our guard, and, after hearing my case and thinking heavily, he unenthusiastically said we might proceed. we went back through visé even faster, and enjoyed the look of our lieutenant when told he had been overruled. after a minute or so he became very affable and said he had a brother in jefferson city, mo., and a nephew in sacramento, _californien_, who runs an _apoteke_. just to show there was no hard feeling, i gave him a cigar, and a few minutes later we crossed the dutch frontier, where we created a sensation. a big crowd gathered around the car, and, by the time the leisurely custom officers had examined the papers given me by the dutch legation, they were packed so tight that it took the united effort of several officers and citizens to get us extricated. holland is taking no chances, and has quantities of troops massed in that part of the country. there are frequent posts to stop travellers and examine papers, and there is practically no traffic on the road save that of a military character. near maestricht we ran into a large detachment guarding a bridge. our papers did not satisfy the commanding officer, so we were once more placed under arrest and hustled through town to headquarters. the officers there were very courteous, and, after examining my papers, made out a _laisser-passer_ for use in holland and sent me on my way. by this time it was dark, but we determined to push on as far as roermond-- kilometers. here we found a charming little hotel--the lion d'or--and after a good supper, got early to bed. the next day i planned to take the two ladies--who have good nerve, and don't turn a hair at being arrested--to rotterdam and then run down to antwerp, some kilometers, a long run in war time. we were off at : , and bowled along beautifully in a bitter cold wind until we were in sight of tilburg, where the engine broke down. eugène, the chauffeur, tried everything he could think of, and tore his hair in rage and shame. finally we got a soldier on a bicycle to go into tilburg and get a motor to tow us in. then two good hours in a garage before we were in shape to start. we caught the boat at moerdyck and got into rotterdam a little before four. i installed my companions at the maas hotel, overlooking the same old meuse, and then started back through the rain toward antwerp. at willemsdorp we just missed the boat for moerdyck and lost an hour. eugène raged and smoked many cigarettes, to the danger of his health, because his _sacrée_ machine had lost us so much time. at eight we got to rosendaal, near the belgian frontier, and were forbidden to go any farther until morning, as the outposts were taking no chances. had a good supper at the little hotel, had my papers viséed by the belgian consul, and at o'clock yesterday morning was up and away, by way of putte. the belgian outposts received us with levelled rifles, but when we got near, one of the officers recognised me through his glasses, and we got through without any more trouble. arrived at the st. antoine as everybody was coming down to breakfast. the germans were bombarding the outer forts, and they could not believe their eyes when i came in. not a word of news had got through the lines for some days, and i was nearly torn to pieces by the excited friends. i had coffee with colonel fairholme, and got all the news he could tell me. malines has been bombarded again, and antwerp is filled with refugees. before i left, the germans had occupied malines itself and were bombarding the fort at waelhem. after breakfast i started out on my carefully planned campaign. first to the consulate-general to get off some telegrams, etc. then to the foreign office with a lot of things to attend to. i was able to give van der elst word that his son is in magdebourg--a prisoner, but not wounded. the look on his face when he got the news paid for the whole trip. i saw m. davignon, and went with him to see the prime minister, who had heard i was there and had sent for me. on the way we saw hundreds of miserable refugees from malines pouring down from the station. the courage of these belgians is beyond all words. save for the two in the freight station yard at louvain, i have not seen a woman crying! it may be that they are numb, but they have none of the stupidity of numbness. and when you think that these very women will be creeping back to their homes and caring for the german wounded they find there, it gives you a fine lump in the throat. i paid a call at the french legation, went back to the consulate-general to sign my telegrams and mail which had been hammered out, and then to lunch. got away at : to the banging of heavy siege artillery and invitations to come back "if we are still here." as i was getting into the car, prince d---- plucked me by the sleeve and pointed at the cathedral tower high above us. "take a good look," he said. "it may not be here when you come back." we made good time through the rain, but missed the boat at moerdyck, and spent an hour on the dock. got in at ten, ravenously hungry, had a snack, and then to bed. up again at six and took the seven-thirty train for flushing. it loafed along through the country, and we did not sail until eleven. we have to go round to folkstone, but hope to be in by six o'clock. there are not more than twenty people on the ship, and the way they went through our credentials was a caution. i was glad i had taken the precaution to provide myself with american, british, german, dutch and belgian papers for the trip. there is another examination at folkstone. * * * * * _on board the s.s. "brussels," off flushing, october , ._--to resume. we got into folkstone last wednesday evening at sunset, and got through to london by eight-fifteen. all the latter part of the crossing we were spoken from time to time by british destroyers, which bobbed up from nowhere to warn of floating mines or give directions as to our course. the entrance to dover was surrounded by destroyers, and looked grim and warlike, and what's more, businesslike. thursday morning i got up as late as i decently could and went down to the embassy to find shaler and couchman waiting for me. they had been in london since monday, but had not made much progress with their mission of getting food for brussels. this was due to no lack of energy on their part, but to the general difficulty of getting attention for any matter at this time. i went with them to the belgian legation, and after a talk with the belgian minister, we got things started. as the food was intended for the civil population of brussels, it was necessary to get the belgian minister to secure from the foreign office permission to ship it through the blockade. he felt that he must have some instructions from the government at antwerp for his guidance in the matter, so i telegraphed at some length, with the result that he had ample instructions before the sun went down. the next day he made three or four calls at the foreign office and matters were got under way. shaler is buying the food and getting it ready for shipment, and now all that is holding things up is the actual permission to go ahead and ship. shaler has had some talk on the general problems that confront us with herbert hoover, an american mining engineer, who has given some very helpful ideas and may do more still. shaler and couchman had an experience at liège they did not particularly relish. they were pulled up by a landsturm guard somewhere in liège, taken to the kommandantur, where it was discovered that they were carrying a number of messages of the "we-are-well-and-hope-you-are-the-same" variety. without discussion they were pushed into cells and treated to talk that gave them little comfort. they spent the night in jail, but by some means contrived to get word to the consul, who arrived and delivered them before breakfast. it evidently grieved the germans that they could not take these two out and shoot them, but they yielded with a bad grace and turned them loose to hasten to the consul's breakfast table. * * * * * _brussels, october , ._--on saturday afternoon late i went with harold fowler to call on sir claude macdonald, who had been to the embassy twice to see me about the english red cross nurses in brussels. i tried to reassure him as to their safety, but he went to see the ambassador later in the day and asked him to send harold fowler back to brussels with me to bring the nurses out. this suited me perfectly, so we made preparations to get off together. on sunday evening we left fenchurch street at six, with a little group of friends to see us off. about the only other people on the train were a king's messenger, a bankrupt peer and his man friday, and a young staff officer. each set of us had a separate compartment and travelled in lonely state to tilbury, where the boat was waiting. as we got aboard the _brussels_, her sister ship, the _dresden_, just in from antwerp, pulled up alongside, and mrs. sherman, wife of the vice-consul, called me to the rail to give me the latest news. she said that everything was going to pieces, that some of the forts had fallen, and that antwerp might be under bombardment before we got there. then she went ashore in peace, and we went below to seek the seclusion that the cabin grants, and fortify ourselves for the bombardment. [illustration: view of the meuse at huy] [illustration: refugees fleeing toward dunkirk before the german advance, after the fall of antwerp _copyright by the international news service_] we got under way during the night and dropped down to the mouth of the thames, where we lay to until daylight, before starting across. the first sound i heard was a hail from a torpedo-boat destroyer, which sent an officer aboard to lay our course for us through the british mine fields. we made our zigzag course across the north sea and fetched up at flushing, where we picked up a pilot to take us through dutch waters. when darkness overtook us we were just about on the belgian frontier line and had to lie to for the night, getting to antwerp tuesday morning about nine. we found the place in a great hubbub--everybody packed and ready to leave. they had been on the point of departure since friday, and the uncertainty had got on everybody's nerves--and no wonder. several thousand british marines had arrived and were doing good work, holding back the germans, while the exhausted belgians pulled themselves together for the evacuation. the belgian forces had been fighting with little rest and no sleep until they were physically incapable of further resistance. how human strength held out so long is the great marvel. winston churchill was in the legation when i arrived, with general rawlinson and colonel seeley. after a call at the foreign office, most of which had been installed on a boat in the river, i went to the palace to see general jungbluth. he was not there, but countess de caraman-chimay said that the king wanted to see me. i was taken straight up to him in his council chamber, where i found him seated at a great table covered with maps and papers. he pushed them aside wearily as i came in, and rose to greet me. he talked at some length on the war and the ordeal of belgium, but was chiefly interested in how the people were being treated. his interest was not only for his own friends, but he showed particular interest in learning how the poorer people were being treated--whether the poorer quarters of the town were keeping calm and avoiding trouble with the germans. he was most anxious that they should avoid doing anything that would arouse the germans against them. he spoke simply and touchingly of his confidence in the loyalty and patriotism of all his people, and his certainty that they would come through the war with an even greater love of country. the rest of the palace was in confusion, with servants packing and orderlies coming and going. but the king's room was in perfect calm. the king sat quite still in his armchair and talked quietly, without haste. he was very serious, and it was clearly to be seen that he felt his responsibility and the suffering of his army. but his determination was just as evident. he realised that the evacuation was inevitable, and having made up his mind to that, he devoted his whole energies and thoughts to seeing that it was carried out effectively and quickly. he has a very patent faculty of concentration and of eliminating his own personality and feelings. i have seldom felt so sorry for anyone, partly perhaps because all of his sympathy was for others. when the king finally rose to dismiss me, he said: "the queen wants to see you. will you come back at half-past two?" i had planned to leave for brussels immediately after luncheon, but, of course, this was a command to which i gladly yielded. the st. antoine was all hurry and confusion, and the dining room was buzzing with conjecture as to whether the bombardment of the city would begin before the exodus was accomplished. the military governor had posted a proclamation to warn the population that it might begin at any time. there was a certain amount of unconscious humour in his proclamation. he advised people to retire into their cellars with bedding, food, water and other necessaries; to disconnect the water, gas and electricity; to stuff the staircases with mattresses, as a matter of protection; to take with them picks and shovels, so that they could dig themselves out in case their houses fell in; and after a few more hints of this sort, the governor genially remarks: "having taken these precautions, the population can await the bombardment in calm." the german authorities have offered to spare the historic monuments of antwerp in their bombardment, if the belgian general staff will send them maps of the city with such monuments and hospitals clearly; marked. i found that it had been arranged in brussels that i should collect the plans on my way through antwerp and deliver them to the german authorities in brussels, and, of course, agreed to do so. after luncheon i went back to the palace, where i was immediately received by the queen in her sitting room. her majesty seemed quite oblivious of the confusion in the palace, and, like the king, she was chiefly concerned as to the welfare of the people left under german domination. i was able to give her comforting news as to the treatment of the people of brussels. while we were talking, the roar of the german guns seemed to increase and made the windows rattle. there was an outcry in the street, and we went to the window to see a german aeroplane pursued by a british machine. we watched them out of sight, and then went back to our talk. the members of the court had tried to prevail upon the queen to leave antwerp, but when it became evident that the place must be surrendered, she refused to move and told me she would stay until the king left. and she did. when i got back to the hotel, i found eugène with news that the differential of my car had broken, so that we could not start. it was important that we lose no time in getting the plans of the town to the german authorities, so i got baron van der elst to go with me to the general staff and explain the situation. general de guise promptly wrote out an order that i should be given the best car to be found in the city. armed with this, eugène set forth and gathered in a very pretty little limousine to bring us back to brussels. it was evidently a lady's car and almost too pretty, but we were not exacting and took it thankfully. however, it was too late to start out through the lines, so we gave up the idea of leaving before morning. we had thought of taking the route of the army and getting to brussels by way of ghent, but the people at the general staff said the road was so crowded with transport that we would make little progress, and that the better course would be to take exactly the opposite direction and go by way of tournhout. [illustration: graves of civilians shot by the germans] [illustration: a typical proclamation proclamation a l'avenir les localités situees près de l'endroit ou a eu lieu la destruction des chemins de fer et lignes télégraphiques seront punies sans pitié (il n'importe qu'elles soient coupables ou non de ces actes.) dans ce but des otages ont été pris dans toutes les localités situees près des chemins de fer qui sont menacés de pareilles attaques; et au premier attentat à la destruction des lignes de chemins de fer, de lignes télégraphiques ou lignes téléphoniques, ils seront immédiatement fusillés. bruxelles, le octobre _le gouverneur,_ von der goltz translation: in future, villages in the vicinity of places where railway and telegraph lines are destroyed will be punished without pity (whether they are guilty or not of the acts in question). with this in view hostages have been taken in all villages near the railway lines which are threatened by such attacks. upon the first attempt to destroy lines of railway, telegraph, or telephone, they will be immediately shot. the governor, von der goltz] [illustration: two illustrations titled "views of the fort of waehlem after its bombardment by the big german guns"] i took several of the ladies of the corps down to the boat, which was to take them to ostend, which was to be the next stand of the government. they all took it coolly and went to bed, as though there were no bombardment going on. the king and queen, the prime minister, and the representatives of the allies remained in town overnight. on one of my trips out of the hotel i met the queen coming in to say good-bye to princess koudatcheff (wife of the russian minister), who was ill. she stopped to greet us and make inquiries as to each one. after dark the crowd began to melt. winston churchill came down with his party, got into motors, and made off for bruges. the belgian officers staying at the hotel got off with their units, and by ten o'clock the staff of the british legation, fowler and i, were left in almost undisputed possession of the hotel. the water-supply was cut. the lights were out and the place was far from gay, particularly as nearly all the servants had fled, and we could not get anything to eat or drink. most of the town repaired to the cellars for the night, but we decided that if it really came, we saw no choice between going down with the house into the cellar and having the house come down on top of us, so we turned in and got a night's rest, which, i am free to confess, was rather fitful. all night long motors were snorting away, and all night long the guns kept pounding, although they did not seem to get any nearer. with the intelligence that one has when half awake, i carefully arranged a pillow between me and the window, as a protection against shells! we got up early and went out into the streets to watch the movement. the few remaining troops were being poured out on the road to ghent. on foot, in motors, on trains, on bicycles, and on horseback, they streamed. the civil population was also getting away, and all the trams in the direction of the dutch frontier were loaded with people carrying their little bundles--all they could hope to take away with them. the hospitals were being emptied of the wounded and they were getting away as best they could, those whose legs were all right helping those who had trouble in walking. it was a depressing sight, and above all, the sound of the big guns which we had heard steadily since the morning before. we got under way about half-past eight, after a wretched and sketchy breakfast, and after saying good-bye to one of our friends of the british legation. first, we went to the north gate, only to find that it had been closed to vehicles a few minutes before, and that barbed-wire entanglements had been stretched across the road. argument was vain, so we worked our way back through the traffic and reached the porte de tournhout, only to be turned back again. for nearly an hour we wandered about in the stream of refugees, in vehicles and on foot, before we finally succeeded in making our way through a side door of the porte de tournhout, and starting that way. we were not at all sure that we should be able to reach the dutch frontier through tournhout, as the germans were supposed to be that far north, but we did make it after a long series of stops, to be examined by all sorts of belgian outposts who kept cropping up out of fields to stop us and look through our papers. from some little distance out of town, we could see the shells bursting over the southern part of the town, or possibly over the villages to the south of the town proper. we plowed along through holland, being stopped all afternoon by civil guards, and reached maestricht at sunset. we went straight to the german consulate to have our papers put in order and learn whether it could be arranged for us to pass the lines at night. our papers were not in order because they bore no photographs, and the consul could not see that the german interest in our mission made any difference, so that there was nothing to do but wait over until morning, and get some pictures. it took us until ten in the morning to get our photographs and have our papers arranged, and by good driving we reached liège in time to lunch with the consul. then on to brussels by way of namur. on the road we picked up a german officer on his way to namur, which kindly deed saved us much delay in being stopped by posts. we reached brussels at five and hastened to send the precious plans of antwerp to lancken. we had just settled down at the legation to a good talk when word came that lancken was anxious to see me at once. i went over to the political department to find that the gentleman merely wanted a formal statement from me as to when i had received and delivered the plans, so that he could make it a matter of record. i satisfied him on these points and went my way. then we gathered at the legation and talked steadily until after midnight. while i was away the minister had got off a train-load of americans, and with them he had sent the english nurses. that relieved harold fowler of the mission that brought him, but we bore up bravely. the germans have announced the fall of antwerp and have apparently occupied the city. at first everybody was much downcast, but on second thought they have been convinced that the evacuation of the army and the surrender of an empty shell was a pretty clever piece of work. with the big siege guns that were in action, it was only a question of days until the germans would have reduced all the forts. and then if the resistance had been maintained, the greater part of the army would probably have been captured. as it is, the belgians inundated the country to keep the germans from cutting off their retreat, and made off for ostend, leaving only a handful of men with the british marines, to hold the germans in check. so far as we can learn, most of the army has succeeded in getting away and forming a junction with the allies. * * * * * _brussels, october , ._--we are quite up in the air about what we are to do next. monday afternoon i went around to headquarters to get a _laisser-passer_ to take harold fowler back to england. while the matter was being attended to, an officer came in and told me that baron von der lancken wanted very much to see me. when i went into his room, he said that there was nothing in particular that he wanted to see me about, but that he thought i would be interested in hearing the news and in telling him something of my trip. we talked along for some time about things in general, and then he told me that the movement of troops toward the coast was progressing rapidly and that the belgian government would soon be driven from the country. then putting the tips of his fingers together and looking me coyly in the eye, he inquired: "and then my dear colleague, what will be your position?" he elaborated by pointing out that the government, to which we are accredited, having left the country, we would be merely in the position of foreigners of distinction residing here, and that we would have no official rank or standing. the idea evidently is that they do not care to have us around any longer than they can help. i later learned that villalobar had been more ready than i with his retort. in the course of a call later in the afternoon, lancken had talked the same matter over with him, and had wound up with the same genial question: "and then my dear colleague, what will be your position?" without any hesitation, villalobar replied: "my situation will be just the same as yours. we are both representatives of our country in a country not our own. we shall continue to owe each other respect, and to make the best of conditions." the latest news we have this afternoon is to the effect that the government has been driven from ostend, presumably to the isle of guernsey. it would be pleasant, in a way, to retire to a retreat of that sort for a few months' rest, but i fear there is nothing of that sort in store. to-day i ran across an order from the governor-general forbidding civilians to ride bicycles. the order concludes as follows: civilians who, in spite of this, continue to ride bicycles, expose themselves to being shot by german troops. if a cyclist is suspected of planning to damage railroad, telegraph or telephone lines, or of the intention of attacking german troops, he will be shot according to martial law. apparently it is no longer necessary to go through the forms of proving that the cyclist had any evil intention. the mere suspicion is enough to have him shot. in the course of a visit to general von lüttwitz to-day, one of the colleagues remarked that the germans _must_ keep the belgians alive, and could not allow them to starve. lüttwitz was not at all of that mind, for he said with some show of feeling: "the allies are at liberty to feed the belgians. if they don't, they are responsible for anything that may happen. if there are bread riots, the natural thing would be for us to drive the whole civil population into some restricted area, like the province of luxembourg, build a barbed wire fence around them, and leave them to starve in accordance with the policy of their allies." and as the german policy is more or less frankly stated as a determination to wipe out as many of the enemy as possible without regard to what is or has been considered as permissible, it is quite within the realm of possibility that they would be prepared to let the belgian people starve. in any event, you can't gamble with the lives of seven millions of people when all you have to go on is the belief that germany will be guided by the dictates of humanity. fowler was to have left yesterday morning, and had engaged a seat in a new motor that is being run out by way of maestricht. it was to have called at my house at seven o'clock yesterday morning, and we were up and about bright and early. we waited until a little after nine, when eugène turned up to say that the chauffeur had been arrested and put in jail for having carried correspondence and having been caught nosing around one of the forts at liège. the service is now suspended, and we don't see any prospect of his getting off before friday, when we are sending a courier to the legation at the hague. yesterday afternoon we went up to antwerp to see how our old motor-car was getting along. it was out of whack, and we were obliged to get another to come back to brussels. i took the big car and organised an expedition of monsieur de leval, fowler and a german official named conrad, who went along to help us over the rough places. it is the first time for weeks that the direct route has been feasible. i have had enough of ruined towns, and was not able to get the awful sights out of my head all night, but spent my time in bad dreams. from vilvorde right into antwerp there is not a town intact. eppeghem, sempst, malines, waehlem, berchem--all razed to the ground. in malines a good part of the town is standing and i suppose that the cathedral can be restored, but the other towns are done for. there were practically no civilians in any of them--a few poor peasants poking dismally about in the ruins, trying to find some odds and ends that they could save from the general wreck. there were some children sitting on the steps of deserted houses and a few hungry dogs prowling around, but no other signs of life. all the way from the outskirts of brussels straight through to antwerp, the road was lined with empty bottles. they gave a pretty good idea of what had gone on along the line of march. the bombardment of antwerp lasted from the afternoon that we left up to friday noon. the damage is pretty evenly distributed. houses here and there in every street were badly smashed and the whole block across the street from the hôtel st. antoine, where we stayed, was burned to the ground. the cathedral was not damaged. when we were there last week, the streets were thronged with people and with motors. yesterday there was not a soul to be seen for blocks together. the town was practically deserted. the garage where i had left my car had been taken over by the military authorities. the car was put away on the second floor undamaged, but also unrepaired, so we shall have to wait until things settle down a little and we can get some work done. i shall have to go back to antwerp a little later and attend to that. there is some comfort in the fact that the car has not been smashed. this morning the committee for the provisioning of brussels came in, and asked whether i was prepared to go to london for them and endeavour to arrange for some sort of permanent agreement with the british government for the provisioning of the civilian population of belgium. i am willing. in the course of some errands this afternoon, i dropped in on baronne lambert for a cup of tea. the baron came in and then villalobar. about two minutes later, lambert was called out of the room to speak with a german officer, who demanded that he accompany him to headquarters. villalobar went with him to see what was up, and i stayed behind to see if i could be of any use. we stood by for a little over half an hour, and then when mme. lambert could stand it no longer, i jumped in my car and went down to see what was happening. i found villalobar on the sidewalk, getting into his car. he was depressed and said that he had been obliged to leave the baron with the germans; that he was suspected of nobody would say what, and that the germans were going to search the house. i went back and had them all ready for the shock of the invasion. they were standing by for the search party, when in walked the baron, smiling broadly. they had sent him home under guard of two armed men, and were to search the house in the course of a few minutes. while he was telling about it, two officers arrived, profusely apologetic, and asked to be shown over the red cross hospital, which had been installed on the ground floor. they were taken all through the place, and found only a lot of german soldiers carrying off the beds and other belongings. then they searched the baron's private office and that of his son, and withdrew after more excuses. there was nothing to show for the whole performance, and nothing had been accomplished beyond making a lot of people nervous and apprehensive. that is the sort of thing that everybody is subject to these days, without any hope of redress. and, of course, this was the least serious thing that could happen. * * * * * _on board s.s. "princess juliana," off dover, sunday, october , ._--here we are again, coming into england in rain and fog. up to the last minute, i was in great doubt as to whether we should come at all, but everything was finally straightened out and here we are. friday we spent in hard work, aggravated with many conferences. in the morning most of the german civil and military government came to the legation and discussed the food question with the members of the committee, the spanish minister and ourselves. they all united in asking that i go to london and lay the situation before the belgian minister, the spanish and american ambassadors and, under their chaperonage, before the british government. when this had been agreed to, some bright soul suggested that i be accompanied by a commission of fifteen prominent belgians, to add impressiveness to what i had to say. the two ministers rose up and said _no_, adding that as i was to do the work and bear the responsibility in going on this mission of forlorn hope, i should not be hampered by having to carry the weight of fifteen speech makers. that was knocked in the head, and then to show that we were not unreasonable, we asked that two members of the committee go along. the men chosen were baron lambert and monsieur francqui, one of the leading bankers of brussels and a man of poise and judgment. they expressed reluctance but were soon persuaded. this morning, during a call at the political department, the talk turned on mexico. i was asked what the president was driving at, and answered that he was clearly trying to give the mexicans every opportunity to solve their own troubles without interference. i was then asked, rather slyly, whether the president really wanted them to settle their troubles. without waiting to hear my answer, the oracle went on to tell me what our real policy was as he saw it, and he had no doubts. the president wanted to take mexico, but was intelligent enough to realise that if he simply seized it, he would forfeit any claim he might have to disinterestedness, and our anglo-saxon hypocrisy could not swallow that. therefore, he was deliberately allowing the mexicans to drift into a hopeless condition of anarchy, which he knew would get steadily worse, until all the best and most prosperous elements in the country would come to the conclusion that they would be happier and safer under american rule than under the uncertain despotism of changing factions. the president could then yield to their entreaties, and could take over the government of mexico as a humanitarian service to the people. i made a feeble attempt to explain what our real feelings were toward mexico, but it soon became evident that we could not think in the same terms, so i gave up. there was no criticism expressed or implied. on the contrary, there was evidence of real admiration of the president's technique. the rest of the day was spent in getting ready letters and telegrams and other papers necessary in our work. fowler and i dined at the lambert's, finished up our work at the legation, and got to bed at midnight. we got up yesterday morning at half-past three, and at half-past four set sail in three motors--one filled with servants and mountains of small baggage. we sped in the dark through ruined villages to antwerp, and from there to esschen on the dutch frontier, which we reached soon after daylight. we had papers from the dutch legation, calling upon the customs authorities to let us pass, but a chuckle-headed _douanier_ would not even read our papers, and held us up for an hour, while he made out papers of various sorts and collected a deposit on our cars. i expostulated in vain, and shall have to get my comfort from making a row later. as a consequence of his cussedness, we missed the morning boat train to flushing, and had to spend the day in that charming city. we found the place filled with refugees from all parts of belgium, and were greeted on every hand by people we knew. the hotels were filled to overflowing, and people were living in freight cars, sheds and on the sidewalk. we clung to chairs in the reading room at one of the hotels, and walked the streets until nine o'clock, when we got aboard the boat with eight hundred other people. cabins were not to be had for love or money, but francqui, by judicious corruption, got us a place to sleep, and we slept hard, despite the noise, which was tremendous. * * * * * _london, october , ._--here we are, much cheered up by the prospect. we hammered hard yesterday and to-day, and this afternoon it looks as though we had secured the permission of the british government to send food to our people in belgium. we got into folkstone at o'clock on sunday, were passed immediately by the authorities, and then spent an hour and a half waiting for our train to pull out. we got into darkened london about a quarter of eight. we sat around and visited beyond our usual hours, and yesterday morning i was called ahead of anybody else, so as to get down to my day's work. first, i got things started at the embassy, by getting off a lot of telegrams and running away from an office full of people who, in some mysterious way, had heard i was here. i saw several of them, but as my day was going, i up and ran. first, to alfred rothschild's house in park lane, where i found baron lambert waiting for me. he was beaming, as his son (serving in the belgian army) had turned up safe and well before leaving to rejoin his regiment in france. next i went to the spanish embassy, and gave the ambassador details of what we wanted. he caught the idea immediately, and has done everything in his power. when i got back to our chancery, i found that the ambassador had come in, so i went over the whole business again, and made an appointment for a conference with him for the spanish ambassador and my travelling companions. at half-past five we had our conference with the two ambassadors. they made an appointment with sir edward grey for this afternoon, and went over the situation at some length, to make sure of the details. in view of its significance this meeting was most impressive to me. it was made up of the two ambassadors, my two companions, and herbert hoover, the man who is going to tackle one of the biggest jobs of the time. he has been studying the situation, the needs of the civil population and the difficulties to be overcome ever since shaler's arrival several weeks ago. while we could enlighten him in regard to recent developments and matters of detail i was astonished to see how clearly he grasped all the essentials of the situation. he sat still while the rest of us talked but his few remarks were very much to the point, particularly when, in answer to a question, he said very quietly: "yes, i'll take over the work. i have about finished what i have in hand. now we can take up this." * * * * * _october st._--the belgian government has sent over monsieur de berryer, the minister of the interior, to discuss the food question and the equally important money question. i had an early morning note from the spanish ambassador and went around to see him. london is filled with war spirit; not hysterics, but good determined work. the streets are full of singing recruits marching hither and yon--mostly yon. the army must be growing at a tremendous rate; in fact, faster than equipment can be provided, and they are not slow about that. * * * * * _london, october , ._--on wednesday we had things pretty well settled, and had also succeeded in raising from official sources about one hundred and fifty thousand pounds. i took a fair amount of satisfaction in gloating over those who had croaked. then some helpful soul came along and threw a monkey wrench into the machinery, so that a good part of the work has to be done over again. at any rate, we hope to get, some time to-day, permission to export enough food to serve as a stop gap until the general question can be settled. monsieur francqui and baron lambert had to start back this morning to organise the belgian local committees into one central national affair, and i am to stay on until things are settled one way or the other. that may mean not getting back to belgium for a week or two more. for some time i have been threatening to get a dog and yesterday, feeling the need of intelligent canine sympathy, i succumbed. at the army and navy stores, i found a hideous brindle bull that some officer had left on going to the front. he was promptly acquired, and given the name of max in honour of our burgomaster. the stores are to take care of him for me until i return to belgium. when i got back to the embassy, from my visit to the stores, i found shaler waiting for me with the news that i was expected at a meeting at mr. hoover's office in fifteen minutes, to discuss matters with the committee which is being formed to handle the feeding of the belgian civil population. i was surprised to find that i had been made a member of this committee, and was expected to attend. it was a comfort to talk with men who know what they are about and who can make up their minds right the first time. hoover is a wonder and has the faculty of getting big-calibre men about him. we were not in session more than an hour, but in that time we went over the needs of the belgian civil population, the means of meeting immediate needs, the broader question of finding food from other parts of the world to continue the work, the problem of getting money from public and private sources to pay expenses, and finally the organisation to be set up in belgium, england, america and holland, to handle the work. before we left a tentative organisation had been established and people despatched on various duties with orders to get things started without loss of time, so that food could be pushed across the line into belgium at the first possible moment. it is going to be up-hill work for many reasons, but it would be hard to find a group of men who inspire as much confidence as these that everything possible will be done, and occasionally a little that is impossible. [illustration: herbert c. hoover _copyright by underwood & underwood_] [illustration: french howitzer near h----] [illustration: german camp kitchen] * * * * * _october th._--yesterday was another busy day. i did not know that the entire population of belgium could make such a crowd as i have had in the waiting-room of the chancery. in some mysterious way the news of my coming to london has got about, and swarms of people are coming in with little errands they want done and messages to be delivered to their friends and families in brussels. it makes work, but that sort of thing is a comfort to lots of people and is worth undertaking. i have made it clear to all of them that anything to be delivered will be turned over to the german authorities first, and hope they will govern themselves accordingly. the british government has stipulated that the feeding of the civil population shall be carried on by a neutral organisation, under the patronage of the american and spanish ambassadors in london and berlin, and the american and spanish ministers in brussels. the food is to be consigned to the american minister in brussels for distribution by the organisation which is to be known as the american relief committee, with hoover as chairman and motive power. the various local belgian committees are to be grouped together in a national organisation, to assist in the distribution of the foodstuffs once they are delivered inside the belgian frontier. the members of the belgian organisation are, of course, prisoners of the germans and unable to give any effective guarantees as to the disposal of the supplies. the british government has, therefore, stipulated that all authority and responsibility are to be vested in the american committee, and that the belgians are to be regarded simply as a distributing agency. this is, of course, in no sense a reflection of the belgians engaged on the work, but merely a recognition of the difficulties of their position. the neutral composition of the committee assures it a freedom of travel and action, and an independence of political and personal pressure, and a consequent freedom of administration which the belgians could not hope to enjoy. it is only by the assumption of complete authority and responsibility by the committee that the patrons will be able to give the various governments concerned the necessary assurances as to the disposition of foodstuffs and the fulfillment of guarantees. there is something splendid about the way hoover and his associates have abandoned their own affairs and all thought of themselves in order to turn their entire attention to feeding the belgians. they have absolutely cut loose from their business, and are to give their whole time to the work of the committee. this is done without heroics. i should hardly have known it was done, but for the fact that hoover remarked in a matter of fact way: "of course everybody will have to be prepared to let business go and give their whole time." and it was so completely taken for granted that there is nothing but a murmur of assent. another strenuous day on the food question and other things. my plans were to leave for brussels on monday morning, but in the evening the ambassador sent for me and it was decided that i should go to havre and from there to see the king and queen. that will take me to within a couple of hours from brussels, according to old calculations, but under present conditions i shall have to get there by way of france, england and holland. * * * * * _hôtel des régates, havre, october , ._--this is the third town where i have paid my respects to the belgian government. i would gladly have foregone the experience, for it is depressing. i left waterloo station at : last night. instead of the usual two-hour run to southampton, we puttered along and did not arrive until after one. i had a compartment and made myself as comfortable as possible. when we arrived i found poor colonel swalm, the consul, waiting for me. the ambassador had telegraphed him to see me off, and he did so regardless of the hour. i felt horribly guilty to have him waiting about for me, but it certainly did make things a lot easier. i got straight to bed, but had a hard time sleeping, as there was a tremendous racket of loading all night long. nearly all the passengers were british officers on their way to the front. among the others i found de bassompierre of the foreign office, and a mr. and mrs. w----, who were coming over with a rolls-royce, to be presented to the belgian general staff. if i go to the front, he will take me. we sailed at daybreak and were here by two o'clock. our consul, osborne, was waiting for me at the dock with henry needham, the correspondent of _colliers_. i was let straight through the customs, where a _woman_ marked my bag, and then came to this hotel overlooking the sea. this was the first thing we saw as we came into the harbour. it is in a suburb called nice havrais, built by old dufayel of paris. it was a curious and pathetic sensation to see the belgian flags still flying bravely. the different ministries are set up here, and one villa has been set aside for the king and queen, who have not yet left belgian soil. the legations are all established in this hotel and are bored to extinction, as their work has dropped very much. this little suburb enjoys all the privileges of extraterritoriality, and even the french minister to belgium goes through the motions of being accredited to a foreign government in his country. the cars of the various legations go buzzing around among the french and belgian and british cars. the streets are full of troops of the three nations, while some twenty transports ride at anchor in the open roadstead. fresh troops from england are arriving constantly, and march singing through the town to the camps outside, whence they are sent to the front. there are two british hospitals near this hotel--one of them the casino--and wounded are everywhere. the place is astonishingly calm, but everybody knows there is a war. the french have their teeth set and are confident of the final outcome. women are in the custom house, drive the trams, collect the fares and do a hundred other things that are usually out of their line. i found the hall filled with colleagues, and exchanged greetings with the crowd before going over to the foreign office to make my bow. i found colonel fairholme packing, and ready to leave this evening for england. the foreign office has a pretty little villa in a pretty little garden and keeps busy. i saw everybody, from monsieur davignon down to the porters, and spent an hour and a half there. then at their request i went to the "palace" and talked with general jungbluth. he will try to arrange my business for me by telegraph, and will let me know in the morning whether i am to go up to the front to see the king and queen. when i came away from this call, osborne was waiting for me and took me down to the consulate for an hour's talk. then back to the hotel to dine with sir francis. after dinner we all went out and bade the colonel farewell. * * * * * _tuesday._--general jungbluth was waiting for me when i came down this morning, to say that i should go to the front. osborne was waiting with his car, and took me to the ministry of war, to ask for a lift to dunkerque in a military car. as luck would have it, to-day's car had left ten minutes before, so i was put off until to-morrow morning, when i shall go up with the w----s. i have spent a good part of the day getting my papers in order--both french and belgian--and in the tiresome occupation of being photographed. * * * * * _october th, hôtel des arcades, dunkerque._--another one-night stand. we cleared out of havre this morning over muddy and slippery roads. it rained hard all night, and we made good time by way of fécamp, dieppe, eu, abbeville, montreuil, bologne, marquise, and calais, getting to dunkerque a little after four, just in time to smell the smoke of a couple of bombs dropped by an aeroplane across the street from the office of the prime minister, upon whom i called. we began running into big bunches of troops at abbeville--english, french and belgian. i saw some of the indian troops doing sentry duty and looking cold and uncomfortable, and did not blame them, for it was raw and cheerless. the rolls-royce is a beauty and sailed along all day like a gondola. the prime minister had set up his office in the mayor's room at the hôtel de ville, which i found in an uproar because of the bombs. the prime minister was said to be at headquarters, at furnes, across the belgian frontier, and i was urged to go there to see him. we made twenty-one kilometers there, in time to find that little town in a great state of excitement, because three big shells had come from nobody knew where, and burst by the railroad station. but the prime minister was not there, and it was dark, so we gathered up a guide and set off for la panne, where the king and queen are living. neither of them was there; nobody but a gendarme on duty. the king was off with the troops and the queen was looking after the wounded, who have overflowed all the hospitals. in the past week--just this one engagement--the belgians have suffered , casualties. the road from furnes to la panne and back lay close behind the lines, so that we could hear the steady roar of the fighting and see the bursting shells, particularly those from the british ships, which made a tremendous flash and roar. we came on back to town, being stopped every minute by french outposts, and got to this hostelry at seven-thirty. while i was cleaning up, the prime minister came in and claimed me for dinner. he had his secretary, count lichtervelde, a.b., who is here looking after the wounded, and a couple of officers. and _then_ we talked until the hands dropped off the clock and i was nearly dead for sleep. then i took a.b. home to her hospital, through the streets darkened for the benefit of count zeppelin, and _now_ i _am_ ready for my rest. i have plans for to-morrow, but shall see what happens to them when i see the prime minister in the morning. * * * * * _october th._--still at dunkerque. another busy and interesting day, and if all goes well, i shall be back in london to-morrow night. i was up early, did a little writing, and went over to see the prime minister, who was waiting for me. despatched my business with him in short order, to my complete satisfaction. he is a trump, and it is a joy to do business with him, even at a time when he is hounded, as he is now. he said the king was out with the troops, but had sent in to say he wanted to see me and would come in to headquarters at furnes at four-thirty for that purpose. the queen had also sent word in that she wanted to see me. she was busy looking after the wounded, but said she would come to la panne at four. that suited me, although i was in some doubt as to how i would be able to make connections between the two audiences. last night i had talked of going out to look at the fighting, and a.b. had offered to conduct me. i had not taken the offer very seriously, but when i got back to the hotel after seeing the prime minister, she was there in a big racing car, with a crack chauffeur, ready for the jaunt. she was in her campaign kit of knickers, with a long rain-coat and a big knitted cap, and an entrancing boy she made. mr. and mrs. w---- had asked to go along, and were in their car with barbaçon, an aide-de-camp of the prime minister. monsieur de broqueville came out quite seriously and begged a.b. not to lead me into danger, whereat everybody had a good laugh. we made quick time to furnes and drew up before headquarters, where we learned what was known of the lay of the land and the points of the front we could reach without getting in the way. the belgians, who had for ten days held the line of the yser from nieuport to dixmude, waiting for reinforcements to come up, had been obliged to fall back to the line of the railroad, which forms the chord of the arc, and had inundated the intervening territory to impede the german advance. french and english troops were being brought up in large numbers to relieve the belgians, who have lost in killed and wounded nearly a third of the , men engaged. while waiting for some definite news to be brought in for us, we climbed to the top of the high tower of the market next the hôtel de ville, for a look at the battle line. it was pretty misty, but we could see the smoke of shrapnel and of the big shells from the english ships, which were enfilading the german right. the staircase up this tower was a crazy thing, with rotten steps and places where two or three steps were missing altogether. it was bad enough going up where we could take hold and pull ourselves up, but it was far worse going down, because we were ordered down in a hurry and all came piling down in a steady stream. there were squeaks and screams at the bad moments, but we did manage to get down without mishap and take stock of ourselves. we found some german prisoners lying on the straw in the entrance hall, and stopped to speak to them. they said that their troops were very tired from long, hard fighting, but that they had plenty of men. they seemed rather depressed themselves. by the time we got down, our information had come and we set off through a welter of transport trains, artillery, ambulances, marching troops, and goodness knows what else, in the direction of x----. when we got within a couple of kilometers of the place, an officer stopped us and asked if we knew where we were going. he shrugged his shoulders when we said we did, and let us go straight into it. when we were bowling along about one kilometer from the town, three shells burst at once, about two hundred yards to our left, and we stopped to see what was toward. a hundred yards ahead to the right of the road was a battery of five big guns, and the germans were evidently trying to get their range. the shells kept falling to the left, near a group of farm-houses, and as some of the spent balls of shrapnel kept rolling around near us, we decided we might as well go and see the big guns from nearer to. in the shelter of the farm-houses were fifty or sixty men, some of them cooking their lunch, others sleeping, all quite oblivious of the roar of bursting shrapnel and the spattering of the bullets near by. and a few months ago probably any of these men would have been frightened into a fit by a shell bursting in his neighbourhood. it is wonderful how soon people become contemptuous of danger. the horses that were tethered by the roadside seemed to take it all as a matter of course, and munched away at their hay, as though all the world were at peace. a wobbly cart came creaking by with an infantryman, who had had a good part of his face shot away. he had been bandaged after a fashion and sat up blinking at us stupidly as the cart lumbered by, bumping into holes and sliding into ruts. i was not keen on staying longer than was necessary to see what was there, but w.---- was very deliberate and not to be budged for more than half an hour. we finally got him started by calling his attention to the spent balls, which make a tremendous singing noise, but do no harm. the only really safe thing in the neighbourhood was what did the trick. the germans were making a furious attack, evidently determined to break the line before the fresh troops could be brought up, and the cannonading was terrific. the whole front as far as we could see in either direction was a line of puffs of smoke from bursting shrapnel and black spouts of earth from exploding shells. the crackle of the _mitrailleuses_ rippled up and down the whole line. the belgians were pounding back as hard as they could and the noise was deafening. finally, when we decided to leave, the officer in command of the battery loaded all five guns at once and fired a salvo for our benefit. the great shells tore away, roaring like so many express trains, and screaming like beasts in agony--a terrifying combination. my ears ache yet. it was getting hotter every minute and the germans were evidently getting a better idea of the range, for the shells began falling pretty close on the other side, and i was quieter in my mind when we went back to our cars and pulled out of the actual line. we took a road a few hundred yards back, parallel with the lines, and drove along slowly, watching the effect of the shell fire, until we absolutely had to start back for lunch. on the way we stopped at a peasant's hut, and said hello to jack reyntiens. when we got back to the hotel, about half an hour late for lunch, we found the prime minister waiting for us. at the door, in addition to the usual sentry, there were two privates of the _chasseurs à cheval_, one wearing a commander's star of the legion of honor. they saluted and smiled, and i bowed and went on in to my meal. they came in after me, still smiling, and i was taxed with not recognising them. they were the duc d'ursel and --------, the heads of their respective houses, who had enlisted, and are still fighting as privates. they had just been relieved and were on their way to the rear, where the belgian army is being reformed and rested. as soon as we had got through, i had to start back for my audience of the queen. w.---- took me out to la panne, where we found the villa on the sand dunes, a little way back of the lines. there were a couple of gendarmes on duty, the king's secretary, and the countess de caraman-chimay, the one lady-in-waiting. i had just got inside when the door opened and the king came in. he had heard i was coming to see the queen and had motored down from furnes. i was able to satisfy him in a few minutes on the points he had wanted to see me about and then he questioned me about friends in brussels. i suggested to him that it would probably help our committee in raising funds if he would write an appeal for help from america. he fell in with the idea at once, and together we got out an appeal that is to be sent across the water. where we sat we could see the british ships shelling the germans, and the windows of the dining-room were rattling steadily. the king stood beside the table with his finger tips resting on the cloth, watching the stuff ground out word by word. i looked up at him once, but could not bear to do it again--it was the saddest face one can imagine, but not a word of complaint was breathed. just as we were finishing, the queen came and bade us in to tea. she was supposed to wait for her lady-in-waiting to bring me, but didn't. the king stayed only a minute or two and then said he must be getting back to headquarters, where he would see me later. i suggested to the queen that she, too, make an appeal to the women of america, to which she agreed. another appeal was prepared for her, and it, too, will be sent to america by the first post. the queen had wanted to see me about the subject of surgeons for the belgian army. the belgian surgeons in the brussels hospitals have been replaced by germans, and have nothing to do, although they are desperately needed here. the queen was terribly depressed about the condition of the wounded. there are so few surgeons, and such tremendous numbers of wounded, that they cannot by any possibility be properly cared for. legs and arms are being ruthlessly amputated in hundreds of cases where they could be saved by a careful operation. careful operations are, of course, out of the question, with the wounded being dumped in every minute by the score. in these little frontier towns there are no hospital facilities to speak of, and the poor devils are lucky if they get a bed of straw under any sort of roof, and medical attendance, within twenty-four hours. we went to see one hospital in a near-by villa, and i hope i shall never again have to go through such an ordeal. such suffering and such lack of comforts i have never seen, but i take off my hat to the nerve of the wounded, and the nurses, most of them the best class of belgian women, used to every luxury and getting none. the queen gave me tea, and one of her small supply of cigarettes, and we talked until after dark. the monitors off shore had been joined by a battleship, and the row was terrific and rendered conversation difficult. the queen was still full of courage and said that as long as there was one square foot of belgian soil free of germans, she would be on it. she said it simply, in answer to a question from me, but there was a big force of courage and determination behind it. as i was not dismissed, i finally took it on myself to go, and the queen came with me to the door and sent me on my way. she stood in the lighted doorway until i reached the motor, and then turned slowly and went in--a delicate little woman with a lion's heart. inglebleek and the countess de caraman-chimay came out after we had cranked the car, and gave me messages for their families and friends. it is a pretty hard change for these people, who three months ago were leading such a dull, comfortable life, but they have risen to it with fine spirit. the king was with his staff, studying the maps and despatches, when i got to furnes, and i was shown the whole situation--most interesting on the large scale maps that show every farm-house and pathway. i was to go back to dunkerque with monsieur de broqueville, so waited while they discussed the events of the day and plans for to-morrow. while they talked reinforcements were pouring through the town, with great rumbling of artillery and blowing of trumpets. it was a comforting sound, as it presaged some relief for the belgians in their heartbreaking stand. there was comfort in riding back through the night with the prime minister, for there was no long examination of papers, etc. when we came to a post, the aide-de-camp would switch on a strong light in the car, the sentries would salute, and on we would go at a great gait. seemingly i was boarding with monsieur de broqueville, as i was led back to dine with him. to-morrow i am off to london. loewenstein, a young brussels banker, is to take me over in his racing car, which is a useful institution these days. we take along his mother-in-law, madame misonne, and a.b. it means getting up at five to motor to calais to catch the boat. there the car will be slung aboard, so that we can be whisked up to london without waiting for a train. * * * * * _on board s.s. "orange nassau," north sea, november , ._--on friday morning we were called before dawn, and got under way as per schedule--loewenstein, madame misonne, a.b., and i. we made good time, over slippery roads, to calais, despite frequent stops to have our papers examined by posts, and got to the dock some twenty minutes before the steamer sailed. the car was hoisted aboard, and we rode across in it. frederick palmer was on board, returning in disgust after having been just that far toward the front. our suicide wagon was swung off onto the dock without loss of time, and we sped away toward london while our fellow-passengers were doomed to wait for all sorts of formalities. it was a wild ride. at times we were doing as high as one hundred and thirty kilometers an hour over winding english roads, and i was somewhat relieved when i was dropped at the embassy, safe and sound. i got off some telegrams about my trip, and was told the ambassador wanted to see me. hoover was with him, and i turned over to them the appeals from the king and queen. jack scranton decided to come back to brussels with me, to give me a hand in legation work, and spent the morning packing enough plunder to see him through a siege of three or four years. a.b. came on to london to see her brother who is seriously wounded and in hospital. now her family want her to return to brussels and have placed her in my care for the journey. this morning we had a crowd at the station to see us off. countess n.---- has also come along, and was entrusted to our care. a.b.'s family was there in force to say good-bye, so altogether the casual observer might have inferred that we were popular. * * * * * _brussels, november th._--we were met in flushing by our consular agent, who put us through the customs and onto the train. no motor was waiting for us at rosendaal, and we had a hard time getting shelter for the night. finally we succeeded in getting a room for the two women in a little, third-rate hotel, and jack and i slept on the floor of a sitting-room in the little hôtel central. i was so dog-tired that i slept like a log, wrapped up in my fur coat. while we were having coffee, m. de leval came up in my little car. he had been to rotterdam in connection with the first shipment of food, and thought he would find me alone. he had bought a lot of gasoline in breda, to be called for, so we could take no luggage. we found another car leaving for brussels at noon, and loaded it up with countess n., ---- jack and the luggage, while m. de l. and i took a.b. and the mail bags, and started by way of breda. we came through aerschot and stopped for a stretch and to look about. we walked about the streets for a time, and stopped in a shop to ask for a drink of water. after giving it to us, the proprietor asked if we would like to see the state the germans had left things in. he led us back into his living quarters, opened a door bearing an inscription to the effect that it was an officers' mess, and let us in. i never have seen a more complete mess. everything in the place was smashed, and the whole room was filthy. the officers had left only a few days before and had taken pains to break everything before they went. obscene remarks were chalked on the walls, and the pictures were improved with heavy attempts at fun. i always used to think that the term "officer and gentleman" was redundant, but now i begin to understand the need for it. the church was also in a bad state. the doors have nearly all been battered down. the wooden gothic statues in the nave have been smashed or destroyed by fire. the altars and confessionals were wantonly destroyed. the collection boxes had been pried open and emptied. we were told that the holy-water font and the vestments of the priests had been profaned and befouled. it is not a pretty sight. aerschot was partially destroyed on august th and th. the germans claim that their commanding officer was shot by the son of the burgomaster. the belgians claim that he was struck by a stray bullet fired at random by one of his own men in the marketplace. however that may be, the whole place was instantly in an uproar, and quiet was not restored until the town had been sacked and over one hundred and fifty people killed, among them women and children. the burgomaster and his son and a priest were among those shot and buried outside the louvain gate. one of those taken to the place of execution was spared on condition that he should go to louvain to tell of what had happened. louvain has been cleaned up a lot, and we stopped there only long enough to have our passes examined at headquarters, getting back a little before six to a warm welcome. the other motor was due at six, but did not come, and after waiting up till midnight, i turned in. jack bobbed up yesterday at noon. the car had been stopped at the frontier because several of the passengers had not proper papers. jack threw out his chest and insisted on being taken to antwerp to see the military governor. his passport, as bearer of despatches, did the business, and they were allowed to proceed under armed guard. they were kept overnight in the hôtel webber, and then jack and mme. n---- were allowed to come on to brussels in the car, while the others were detained. marshal langhorne came in to-day from the hague to effect formal delivery of the first bargeload of food, and had weird tales to tell of his adventures by the way. thank goodness, the first of the food has arrived in time, and if the flow can be kept up, the worst of our troubles will be averted. with this first consignment of food came the story of how it was got through in such record time. hoover is one of these people who is inclined to get things done and attend later to such details as getting formal permission, etc. with shaler's forty thousand pounds and promises of five hundred thousand dollars more, he went to work and placed orders for twenty thousand tons of food, costing two million dollars a week. this he did on the theory that money would come along later, when the need was realised, but that the belgian stomachs would not wait until collections had been made. he purchased the food, got it transported to the docks, and loaded on vessels that he had contrived to charter, while all the world was fighting for tonnage, got them loaded and the hatches closed. when everything was ready, hoover went to the proper authority and asked for permission to ship the food, announcing that unless he could get four shiploads of food into belgium by the end of the week, the people would begin to starve. the functionary was sympathetic, but regretted that in the circumstances, he could not help. it was out of the question to purchase food. the railways were choked with troops, munitions and supplies. ships were not to be had for love or money. and above all, the channel was closed to commerce. hoover heard him patiently to the end. "i have attended to all this," he said. "the ships are already loaded and ready to sail. all i need from you is clearance papers. you can let me have them, and everything will be all right." the high official could hardly believe his ears: "young man," he gasped, "perhaps you don't realise what you have done. men have been sent to the tower for less. if it were for any other cause, i hesitate to think what would happen to you. but as it is, i can only congratulate you on some very good work." and that's how we got our food in time. fines are being imposed on towns on one pretext or another. the other day two policemen got into a controversy with a german secret-service agent who did not explain who he was, and got a good thumping for doing various things that a civilian had no business to do. this morning von lüttwitz comes out with this proclamation: on the th of october, , a legally constituted court martial pronounced the following sentences: ( ) the policeman de ryckere for having attacked, in the legal exercise of his duties, an authorised agent of the german government, for having deliberately inflicted bodily hurt in two instances with the aid of other persons, for having aided in the escape of a prisoner and for having attacked a german soldier, was condemned to five years' imprisonment. ( ) the policeman seghers for having attacked, in the exercise of his legal duties, an authorised agent of the german government, for having deliberately inflicted bodily hurt on this german agent, and for having aided the escape of a prisoner (all these offences constituting one charge), was condemned to three years' imprisonment. the sentences were confirmed on october st by the governor-general, baron von der goltz. the city of brussels, not including its suburbs, has been punished for the injury by its policeman de ryckere to a german soldier, by an additional fine of five million francs. the governor of brussels, baron von lÜttwitz, _general_. brussels, november , . last night we dined at ctesse. n----'s to celebrate everybody's safe return. * * * * * _brussels, sunday, november , ._--barges of food are beginning to come in, and we have the place filled with people with real business concerning the food and a lot of the usual "halo-grabbers" anxious to give advice or edge into some sort of non-working position where they can reap a little credit. we are put on german time to-day. on november th the governor-general came out with a proclamation ordering that german money be accepted in all business transactions. it is to have forced currency at the rate of one mark to one franc, twenty-five centimes. as a matter of fact, it is really worth about one franc, seven centimes, and can be bought at that rate in holland or switzerland, where people are glad enough to get rid of their german money. any shop refusing to accept german paper money at the stipulated rate is to be immediately closed, according to the governor's threat. * * * * * _brussels, november , ._--late in the afternoon jack and i took max for a run in the bois. while we were going across one of the broad stretches of lawn, an officer on horseback passed us, accompanied by a mounted orderly. to our surprise the orderly drew his revolver and began waving it at us, shouting at the same time that if that ------------ dog came any nearer, he would shoot him down. the officer paid no attention, but rode on ahead. i started after them on foot, but they began to trot and left me in the lurch. i ran back to the motor, overtook them, and placed the car across their path. the officer motioned his orderly to go ahead, and then let me tackle him. he took the high ground that i had no reason to complain since the dog had not actually been shot, not seeming to realize that peaceable civilians might have legitimate objections to the promiscuous waving of revolvers. he declined to give his name or that of the soldier, and i gave up and let him ride on after expressing some unflattering opinions of him and his kind to the delight of the crowd that had gathered. they did not dare say anything direct, but as i got back into the car they set up a loud "_vive l'amérique_." the officer looked peevish and rode away very stiff and haughty. of course, since he refused to give his name, there was no getting at him, and i was free to be as indignant as i liked. the germans are tightening up on the question of travel in the occupied territory, and we are now engaged in a disagreeable row with them over passes for the legation cars. they want to limit us in all sorts of ways that make no difference to them, but cut down our comfort. they will probably end by giving us what they want; but when it is all done we shall have no feeling of obligation, having been forced to fight for it. * * * * * _brussels, november , ._--on the morning of the th, i came down to the legation and found things in an uproar. a telegram had been received saying that two trainloads of food, the first shipment for the province of liège, would cross the frontier in the course of the afternoon, under convoy of captain sunderland, our military attaché at the hague. the minister and i are the only people authorized to receive shipments; and, as no power of attorney had been sent to the consul at liège, things were in a nice mess; and, at the request of the german authorities and the committee, it was decided that i should go down, receive the stuff and make arrangements for its protection and for the reception of future shipments. the german authorities were so excited about my being there to head off any trouble that they hustled me off on an hour's notice without any lunch. i contrived to get jack's name put on the _laisser-passer_, so that he could go along and see a little something of the country. joseph, the legation butler, was wild to go along as far as his native village to see his aged ma, whom he had not seen since the beginning of the war, and he rode on the front seat with max who was much delighted to get under way again. jack was thrilled with the trip, and nearly fell out of the car going through louvain and the other ruined villages along the way. as we were in such a rush, i could not stop to show him very much; but in most of these places no guide is needed. louvain has been cleared up to a remarkable extent, and the streets between the ruined houses are neat and clean. on my other trips i had had to go around by way of namur, but this time we went direct; and i got my first glimpse of tirlemont and st. trond, etc. when we reached liège we went straight to the consulate without pausing to set ourselves up at a hotel, but found that nothing was known of captain sunderland or his food trains. thence to the german headquarters where we inquired at all the offices in turn and found that the gentleman had not been heard from. by the time we got through our inquiries it was dark; and, as we had no _laisser-passer_ to be out after dark, we had to scuttle back to the hotel and stay. in the morning the consul and i started off again to see what had become of our man. we went through all the offices again, and as we were about to give up, i found renner, who used to be military attaché of the german legation here, and is now chief of staff to the military governor. he cleared up the mystery. sunderland had arrived about the same time i did, but had been taken in hand by some staff officers, dined at their mess, and kept busy until time for him to be off for maestricht. he was, however, expected back in time to lunch at the officers' mess. he was also expected to dine with them in the evening. i left word that i wanted to see him and made off to get in touch with the members of the local committee and make arrangements as to what was to be done with the food. we sat and waited until nearly dark, when i decided to go out for a little spin. i gathered jack and the consular family into the car and went for a short spin. after losing our way a couple of times we brought up at the fort of chaudefontaine, which was demolished by the germans. it is on top of a veritable mountain and it took us some time to work our way up on the winding road. when we got there the soldiers on guard made no trouble and told us that we could mouse around for fifteen minutes. we walked out to the earthworks, which had been made by the belgians and strengthened by the germans, and then took a look at the fort itself, which was destroyed, and has since been reconstructed by the germans. they must have had the turrets and cupolas already built and ready to ship to liège, for the forts are stronger than they ever were before and will probably offer a solid resistance when the tide swings back, unless, of course, the allies have by that time some of the big guns that will drop shells vertically and destroy these works the way the german 's destroyed their predecessors. it was very interesting to see and hard to realise that up to three months ago this sort of thing was considered practically impregnable. when we got back we found that our man had come and had left word that he could be found at the café du phare at six o'clock. we made straight for that place, and found him. i made an appointment with him for the first thing next morning, and went my way. i was bid to dine with the german military governor and his staff, but told renner that since we were accredited here to the belgian government, accepting german hospitality would certainly be considered as an affront. he saw the point, and did not take offence, but asked me to come over after dinner for a talk and bring jack along, the which i promised to do. while we were dining, a soldier with a rifle on his shoulder strode into the dining-room and handed me a paper; great excitement, as everybody thought we had been arrested. the paper was a pass for us to circulate on the streets after dark, so that we could go over to the headquarters. it was written on the back of a menu in pencil. although dinner was over the entire mess was still gathered about the table discussing beer and weltpolitik. at the head of the table was excellenz lieutenant-general von somethingorother, who was commanding a german army on the eastern front when they got within fifteen miles of warsaw. after being driven back he had an official "nervous breakdown," and was sent here as governor of the province of liège--quite a descent, and enough to cause a nervous breakdown. there was another old chap who had fought in the franco-prussian war and had not yet quite caught up with this one. i foregathered with renner and got my shop talk done in a very short time. then everybody set to to explain to us about the war and what they fought each other for. it was very interesting to get the point of view, and we stayed on until nearly midnight, tramping home through a tremendous downpour, which soaked us. the next morning at eleven i met sunderland. we saw the governor and the mayor and echevins, and talked things out at length. i had to collect a part of the cost of the food before i could turn it over, and they explained that the chairman of the local committee had gone to brussels to negotiate a loan; he would be back in four or five days and if i would just wait, they would settle everything beautifully. that did not please me, so i suggested in my usual simple and direct way that the governor rob the safe and pay me with provincial funds, trusting to be paid later by the committee. it took some little argument to convince him, but he had good nerve, and by half-past twelve he brought forth , francs in bank-notes and handed them over to me for a receipt. sticking this into my pocket, i made ready to get under way, but there was nothing for it but that i must lunch with them all. finally i accepted, on the understanding that it would be short and that i could get away immediately afterward. that was not definite enough, however, for we sat at table until four o'clock and then listened to some speeches. when we got down the home stretch, the governor arose and made a very neat little speech, thanking us for what we had done to get food to the people of liège, and expressing gratitude to the american government and people, etc. i responded in remarks of almost record shortness, and as soon as possible afterward, we got away through the rain to brussels. after getting through that elaborate luncheon, getting our things ready at the hotel, paying our bill, saying good-bye all around once more, etc., it was nearly five o'clock when we got off and nearly eight when we reached brussels and put our treasure in the safe. the germans have begun arresting british civilians and we have had our hands full dealing with poor people who don't want to be arrested and kept in prison until the end of the war and can't quite understand why _they_ have to put up with it. it is pretty tough, but just another of the hardships of the war, and while we are doing our best to have the treatment of these people made as lenient as possible, we can't save them. * * * * * _brussels, november , ._--some more excitement yesterday morning, when various british subjects were arrested. two german civilians tried to force their way into the british consulate and arrest mr. jeffes, the british consul, and his son, although the american flag was flying over the door and there was a sign posted to the effect that the place was under our protection and all business should be transacted with us. fortunately nasmith was there, and after trying to explain the matter politely, he made for the two men, threw them into the street, and bolted the door. the gum-shoe men were so surprised that they went away and have not been back. last night i was called around to the consulate and found two more men shadowing the place. there seemed to be no danger of arrest, but nasmith spent the night there, and this morning i went around and took the jeffes to our consulate, so that if any attempt was made to take them, we should have an opportunity to protest. the higher authorities had promised not to seize them, but apparently you can never tell. yesterday was the king's saint's day, and word was passed around that there would be a special mass at ste. gudule. just before it was to begin, the military authorities sent around and forbade the service. the grand marshal of the court opened the king's book at his house, so that we could all go around and sign, as in ordinary times, for we are accredited to the king of the belgians, but early in the morning an officer arrived and confiscated the book. the government of occupation seems to be mighty busy doing pin-head things for people who have a war on their hands. countess de buisseret's little boy was playing on the street yesterday when the german troops passed by. being a frightful and dangerous criminal, he imitated their goose-step and was arrested. m. de leval went around to headquarters to see what could be done, supposing, of course, that when it was seen what a child he was, his release would be ordered. instead, he was told seriously that the youngster must be punished and would be left in jail for some days. * * * * * _brussels, november , ._--this is another day of disgust. this morning one of the servants of the golf club came in to say that there were fifty german soldiers looting the place. in the afternoon jack and i went out for a look at the place and to get my clubs. we found a lot of soldiers under command of a corporal. they had cleaned the place out of food, wine, linen, silver, and goodness knows what else. florimont, the steward, had been arrested because he would not tell them which of the english members of the club had gone away and where the others were staying. having spent his time at the club, the fact was that he did not know who was still in town and could not tell, but the germans could not be convinced of this and have made him prisoner. i stopped at headquarters this afternoon to see von der lancken. as i came out a fine rolls-royce limousine drew up on the opposite side of the street--a military car. the chauffeur, in backing out, caught and tore the sleeve of his coat. in a rage, he slammed the door and planted a tremendous kick in the middle of the panel with his heavy boot. i stood agape and watched. he looked up, caught me looking at him, and turned his anger from the motor to me. he put his hands on his hips, shot out his jaw and glared at me. then he began walking toward me across the street in heavy-villain steps, glaring all the time. he stopped just in front of me, his face twitching with rage, evidently ready to do something cataclysmic. then the heavens opened, and a tremendous roar came from across the street. the officer to whom the car belonged had seen the display of temper from his window, and had run out to express his views. the soldier did a genée toe-spin and stood at attention, while his superior cursed him in the most stupendous way. i was glad to be saved and to have such a display of fireworks into the bargain. * * * * * _november th._--one day is like another in its cussedness. the germans have been hounding the british legation and consulate, and we have had to get excited about it. then they announced to the dutch chargé that our courier could no longer go--that everything would have to be sent by german field post. you would think that after the amount of hard work we have done for the protection of german interests and the scrupulous way in which we have used any privileges we have been accorded, they would exert themselves to make our task as easy as possible and show us some confidence. on the contrary, they treat us as we would be ashamed to treat our enemies. this morning it was snowing beautifully when i woke up, a light, dry snow that lay on the ground. it has been coming down gently all day and the town is a lovely sight, but i can't get out of my mind the thought of those poor beggars out in the trenches. it seems wicked to be comfortable before a good fire with those millions of men suffering as they are out at the front. and now grant-watson[ ] has been put in prison. he stayed on here after the minister left, to attend to various matters, and was here when the germans arrived. recently we have been trying to arrange for passports, so that he and felix jeffes, the vice-consul, might return to england. the authorities were seemingly unable to make up their minds as to what should be done, but assured the minister that both men would be allowed to return to england or to remain quietly in brussels. on friday, however, the germans changed their minds and did not let a little thing like their word of honour stand in the way. [footnote : second secretary of the british legation in brussels.] the minister was asked to bring grant-watson to headquarters to talk things over--nothing more. when they got there, it was smilingly announced that grant-watson was to leave for berlin on the seven o'clock train, which put us in the position of having lured him to prison. the minister protested vigorously, and finally grant-watson was put on parole and allowed to return to the legation, to remain there until eleven o'clock yesterday morning. i went over the first thing in the morning to help him get ready for his stay in jail. at eleven conrad arrived in a motor with monsieur de leval. we went out and got in, and drove in state to the École militaire, and, although i was boiling with rage at the entire performance, i could not help seeing some fun in it. grant-watson's butler was ordered to be ready to go at the same time. at the last minute the butler came down and said perfectly seriously that he would not be able to go until afternoon, as he had broken the key to his portmanteau and would have to have another made. the germans did not see anything funny in that, and left him behind. when we got to the École militaire, we were refused admittance, and had to wrangle with the sentries at the door. after arguing with several officers and pleading that we had a man with us who wanted to be put in prison, we were reluctantly admitted to the outer gate of the building, where british subjects are kept. when the keeper of the dungeon came out, i explained to him that the butler had been detained, but would be along in the course of the afternoon, whereupon the solemn jailer earnestly replied, "please tell him that he must be here not later than three o'clock, or he can't get in!" and nobody cracked a smile until i let my feelings get the better of me. i was prepared for an affecting parting with grant-watson in consigning him to the depths of a german jail, but he took it as calmly as though he were going into a country house for a week-end party. i suppose there is some chance that they may exchange him for a few wounded german officers and thus get him back to england. since our snow-storm the other day, the weather has turned terribly cold and we have suffered even with all the comforts that we have. and the cheerful weather prophets are telling us that without doubt this will be one of the coldest winters ever known. a pleasant prospect for the boys at the front! mrs. whitlock and everybody else is busy getting warm clothing for the poor and for the refugees from all parts of belgium who were unable to save anything from their ruined homes. it is bad enough now, but what is coming.... gustave has just come in with the cheering news that ashley, our crack stenographer, has been arrested by the germans. they are making themselves altogether charming and agreeable to us. max is spread out before the fire, snoring like a sawmill--the only englishman in brussels who is easy in his mind and need not worry. * * * * * _tuesday, november th._--another day of rush without getting very far. the germans decided this morning that they would arrest felix jeffes, the british vice-consul, so i had the pleasant task of telling him that he was wanted. i am to go for him to-morrow morning and take him to the École militaire with his compatriots. this job of policeman does not appeal to me, even if it is solely to save our friends the humiliation of being taken through the streets by the germans. * * * * * _november th._--had a _pleasant_ day. had arrangements made with jeffes to go with him to the École militaire at o'clock and turn him over to his jailer. the minister went up with von der lancken to see the englishmen and be there when jeffes arrived, so as to show a friendly interest in his being well treated. i went around to the consulate on time, and found that, through a misunderstanding, jeffes had made no preparations for going, having been assured that another attempt would be made to get him off. i pointed out that the minister had given his word of honour that jeffes should be there, and that he would be left in a very unpleasant and annoying position if we did not turn up as promised. jeffes was perfectly ready, although not willing to go. i went to the École militaire and explained to von der lancken that jeffes' failure to appear was due to a mistake, and asked that he be given time to straighten out his accounts and come later in the day or to-morrow morning. the answer was that he must come some time during the day. the consul-general went straight to von lüttwitz with jeffes, made a great plea on the score of his health or lack of it, and got his time extended until he could be given a medical examination by the military authorities. late in the afternoon he was looked over and told to go home and be quiet, that he would probably not be wanted, but that if anything came up, they would communicate with him further. * * * * * _brussels, november , ._--more busy days. each day we swear that we will stop work early and go out to play. each day we sit at our desks, and darkness comes down upon us, and we do not get away until nearly eight o'clock. "thanksgiving day" was no exception, and to-day we are going through the same old performance. yesterday, by strenuous work, i got down to swept bunkers and had a good prospect of an easy day. instead of that there has been a deluge of consuls, mail, telegrams, and excited callers, and we are snowed under a heap of work it will take several days to get out of the way. we came back to them with a bump, however, when nasmith came to my flat at midnight to say that jeffes had been arrested. and it was done in the usual charming manner. in the course of the afternoon, the consul-general got a note asking him to go to headquarters "to talk over the case of mr. jeffes." it asked also that jeffes accompany the consul-general "to the conference." when they arrived it was announced that jeffes was under arrest and to be sent immediately to the École militaire. the consul-general, like the minister, on the occasion of his visit, was placed in the position of having lured his friend into jail. he protested vigorously, but was not even allowed to accompany jeffes to the École militaire. it was only after some heated argument that jeffes was allowed five minutes at home, under guard, to get a few belongings together to take with him. the consul-general is furious, and so am i when i remember how decently the german vice-consul here was treated when the war broke out. early in the week jack is to be sent down to mons, to bring out some english nurses who have been there nursing the british wounded. two of them, miss hozier and miss angela manners, were in yesterday. they have been working hard during the past three months and are now ready to go back to england if we can arrange for passports. under the date of november th, general von kraewel announces that he has succeeded baron von lüttwitz, who has been transferred to the army at the front. hoover arrived from london this afternoon accompanied by shaler and by dr. rose, henry james, jr., and mr. bicknell of the rockefeller foundation, who have come to look into conditions. there is plenty for them to see, and we shall do our best to help them see it. as we learned from a confidential source, several days ago, there has been a big shake-up in the government here. both von der goltz and von lüttwitz have gone and have been replaced--the first by freiherr von bissing, and the latter by general von kraewel. there are several explanations for the changes, but we don't yet know what they mean. * * * * * _brussels, december , ._--we have had a hectic time. hoover arrived on sunday evening, accompanied by shaler and by three representatives of the rockefeller foundation. we have had a steady rush of meetings, conferences, etc., and hoover and shaler pulled out early this morning. there is not much relief in sight, however, for to-morrow morning at the crack of dawn, i expect to start off on a tour of belgium, to show the rockefeller people what conditions really are. we shall be gone for several days and shall cover pretty well the whole country. yesterday morning i got jack off to mons to bring back the british nurses. everything in the way of passports and arrangements with the military authorities had been made, and he went away in high spirits for a little jaunt by himself. this morning at half-past three o'clock he rang the doorbell and came bristling in, the maddest man i have seen in a long time. he had suffered everything that could be thought of in the way of insult and indignity, and to make it worse, had been obliged to stand by and watch some brutes insult the girls he was sent down to protect. when he arrived at mons he got the nurses together and took them to the headquarters, where he explained that he had been sent down by the minister with the consent of the german authorities, to bring the nurses to brussels. this was stated in writing on the passport given him by the german authorities here. instead of the polite reception he had expected, the german officer, acting for the commandant, turned on him and told him that the nurses were to be arrested, and could not go to brussels. then, by way of afterthought, he decided to arrest jack and had him placed under guard on a long bench in the headquarters, where he was kept for three hours. luckily, an old gentleman of the town who knew the nurses, came in on some errand, and before they could be shut up, they contrived to tell him what the situation was and ask him to get word to the legation. right away after this the three women were taken out and put in the fourth-class cells of the military prison, that is, in the same rooms with common criminals. jack was left in the guard room. the old gentleman, who had come in, rushed off to the burgomaster and got him stirred up about the case, although he was loath to do anything, as he _knew_ that a representative of the american legation could not be arrested. finally he did come around to headquarters, and after a long row with the adjutant, they got jack released and fitted out with a _laisser-passer_ to return to brussels. he was insulted in good shape, and told that if he came back again, sent by the minister or by anybody else, he would be chucked into jail and stay there. before the nurses were taken down to their prison, the adjutant shook his fist in miss hozier's face, and told her that they were going to give her a good lesson, so that the english should have a taste of the sort of treatment they were meting out to german nurses and doctors that fell into their hands. the mayor and aldermen took jack in charge when he was released, and kept him in one of their homes until time for the train to leave for brussels at midnight. they were convinced that he would be arrested again at the station, but he did get off in a car filled with sick soldiers and arrived here without mishap at three o'clock or a little after. i went over to see von der lancken the first thing in the morning, and told him the whole story, in order that he might be thinking over what he was going to do about it before the minister went over to see him at eleven. the minister said his say in plain language, and got a promise that steps would be taken at once to get the girls out of prison and have them brought to brussels. later in the day von der lancken came through with the information that the action of the authorities at mons was "_due to a misunderstanding_," and that everything was lovely now. we suppose that the girls will be here to-morrow; if not, inquiries will be made and the minister will probably go down himself. yesterday morning we spent visiting soup kitchens, milk stations, and the distributing centres for supplying old clothes to the poor. the whole thing is under one organisation and most wonderfully handled. it is probably the biggest thing of the sort that has ever been undertaken and is being done magnificently. it is a curious thing to watch the commission grow. it started as nothing but a group of american mining engineers, with the sympathetic aid of some of our diplomatic representatives and the good-will of the neutral world. it is rapidly growing into a powerful international entity, negotiating agreements with the great powers of europe, enjoying rights that no government enjoys, and as the warring governments come to understand its sincerity and honesty, gaining influence and authority day by day. there is no explanation of the departure of von der goltz. his successor has come out with a proclamation in three lines, as follows: his majesty, the emperor and king, having deigned to appoint me governor-general in belgium, i have to-day assumed the direction of affairs. baron von bissing. brussels, december , . * * * * * _brussels, sunday, december , ._--we got away at eight o'clock on thursday morning, in three cars from the palace hotel. we were four cars when we started, but fifty feet from the door the leading car broke down and could not be started, so we rearranged ourselves and left the wreck behind. the party was composed of the three rockefeller representatives, dr. rose, mr. bicknell, and henry james, jr., monsieur francqui, josse allard, jack and i. it was rainy and cold, but we made good time to louvain and stopped at the hôtel de ville. professor neerincxs, of the university, took up the duties of burgomaster when the germans shipped the real one away. he speaks perfect english, and led the crowd around the town with the rush and energy of a cook's tourist agent. he took us first through the cathedral, and showed us in detail things that we could not have seen if we had gone at it alone. then around to the library and some of the other sights of particular interest, and finally for a spin through the city, to see the damage to the residence district. this was a most interesting beginning, and made a good deal of an impression on our people. they asked questions about the work being done by the people toward cleaning up the ruins of the town and trying to arrange make-shift shelters to live in during the winter. the mayor is a man of real force of character, and has accomplished marvels under the greatest difficulties. from louvain we cut away to the northeast to aerschot, where we took a quick look at the welter of ruin and struck out to the west through diest and haelen, which i saw on my first trip with frederick palmer before there was anything done to them. we got to liège about one o'clock and had lunch in a restaurant downtown, where we were joined by jackson, our delegate sent down there to supervise the distribution of food for the commission. he told us a lot about the difficulties and incidents of his work, and some details of which we had to think. he is the first delegate we have sent to outlying cities, and is up on his toes with interest. a lot more have already sailed from new york, and will soon be here. they are to be spread all over the country in the principal centres, some to stay in the big cities and watch local conditions, and others to travel about their districts and keep track of the needs of the different villages. it is all working out a lot better than we had hoped for, and we have good reason to be pleased. our chief annoyance is that every time things get into a comfortable state, some idiot starts the story either in england or america that the germans have begun to seize foodstuffs consigned to us. then we have to issue statements and get off telegrams, and get renewed assurances from the german authorities and make ourselves a general nuisance to everybody concerned. if we can choke off such idiots, our work will be a lot easier. the burgomaster came into the restaurant to find us, and offered to go on with us to visé, to show us the town, and we were glad to have him, as he knows the place like the palm of his hand. i had been through visé twice, and had marvelled at the completeness of the destruction, but had really had no idea of what it was. it was a town of about forty-five hundred souls, built on the side of a pretty hill overlooking the meuse. there are only two or three houses left. we saw one old man, two children and a cat in the place. where the others are, nobody knows. the old man was well over sixty, and had that afternoon been put off a train from germany, where he had been as a prisoner of war since the middle of august. he had kriegsgefangener munster stencilled on his coat, front and back, so that there could be no doubt as to who he was. he was standing in the street with the tears rolling down his cheeks and did not know where to go; he had spent the day wandering about the neighbouring villages trying to find news of his wife, and had just learned that she had died a month or more ago. it was getting dark, and to see this poor old chap standing in the midst of this welter of ruin without a chick or child or place to lay his head.... it caught our companions hard, and they loaded the old man up with bank-notes, which was about all that anybody could do for him and then we went our way. we wandered through street after street of ruined houses, sometimes whole blocks together where there were not enough walls left to make even temporary shelters. near the station we were shown a shallow grave dug just in front of a house. we were told who filled the grave--an old chap of over sixty. he had been made to dig his own grave, and then was tied to a young tree and shot. the bullets cut the tree in two just a little above the height of his waist, and the low wall behind was full of bullet holes. as nearly as we can learn, the germans appear to have come through the town on their way toward liège. nothing was supposed to have happened then, but on the th, th and th, troops came back from liège and systematically reduced the place to ruins and dispersed the population. it was clear that the fires were all set, and there were no evidence of street fighting. it is said that some two hundred civilians were shot, and seven hundred men bundled aboard trains and sent back to germany as prisoners of war--harmless people like the old chap we saw. [illustration: von bulow's greeting to the people of liège ordre a la population liÈgeoise la population d'andenne, après avoir témoigné des intentions pacifiques à légard de nos troupes, les a attaquées de la façon la plus traîtresse. avec mon autorisation, le général qui commandait ces troupes a mis la ville en cendres et a fait fusiller personnes. je porte ce fait à la connaissance de la villé de liège pour que ses habitants sachent à quel sort ils peuvent s'attandre s'ils prennent une attitude semblable. liège, le août général von bulow. translation: order to the population of liÈge the population of andenne, after manifesting peaceful intentions toward our troops, attacked them in the most treacherous manner. with my authorization the general who commanded these troops has reduced the town to ashes and has shot persons. i bring this fact to the knowledge of the city of liège so that its people may understand the fate which awaits them if they assume a like attitude.] [illustration: how the simple pleasures of the german soldier were restricted. dieses haus ist zu schÜtzen es ist streng verboten, ohne genehmigung der kommandantur, haüser zu betreden oder in brand zu setzen. die etappen-kommandantur. translation: this house is to be protected it is strictly forbidden to enter houses or set them on fire without the permission of the kommandantur] the burgomaster set out on foot to walk back three kilometers and catch a tram to liège, and we went southeast to dalhem, where we spent the night at the château de dalhem, on a hill overlooking the picturesque little village snuggled in the bottom of the valley. it was off the main line of march, and had not suffered. the château belongs to general thyss, who was a great friend of the late king leopold. he was not there, but the place was being protected by a splendid old dragon in the shape of a german governess who had been with the family for over thirty years, and refused to leave when the war broke out. she had been obliged to lodge a crowd of german officers and some of their men, but held them down with an iron hand, kept them from doing any damage and made them pay for every egg and every bottle of wine they had. we arrived after dark and threw the place into a panic of fear, but monsieur francqui soon reassured everybody, and the place was lighted up and placed at our disposal in short order. although it was pitch dark when we arrived, it was only half past four and we set out on foot to stretch a little. the moon came out and lighted our way through the country roads. we tramped for a couple of hours through all sorts of little towns and villages and groups of houses, some of them wiped out and some hardly touched. general thyss's cellars are famous, and with our dinner of soup and bacon and eggs, we had some of the finest burgundy i have ever tasted. early to bed so that we could be up and off at daybreak. friday morning we were away early, and made for herve, where i had never been before. it is a ruin with a few natives and a lot of landsturm left. we talked to some peasants and to an old priest who gave us something to think about in their stories of happenings there during and after the occupation of their homes. from there to liège, by way of a lot of little villages whose names i don't remember, but whose condition was pretty bad, past the fort of fléron and the defensive works that are being put up there. wasted some time trying to get gasoline for the other motors, and then the long stretch to namur, down the valley of the meuse, and stopped long enough for a look at andennes, my second visit to the place. in andenne and seilles (a little village across the meuse) the germans did a thorough job. they killed about three hundred people and burned about the same number of houses. most of the houses had been looted systematically. according to the stories of those inhabitants who remain, there was a reign of terror for about a week, during which the germans rendered themselves guilty of every sort of atrocity and barbarity. they are all most positive that there was no firing upon the german troops by the civil population. it seems to be generally believed that the massacre was due to resistance of retiring belgian troops and the destruction of bridges and tunnels to cover their retreat. whatever the provocation, the behaviour of the germans was that of savages. we were shown photographs showing the corpses of some of those killed. it was to be inferred that they had been wantonly mutilated. had lunch at an hotel across the street from the station. after a hasty lunch we made off to dinant, still following the meuse. the thin line of houses down the course of the river were thinner than they were a few months ago, and there were signs of suffering and distress everywhere. i had never been to dinant before, but had seen pictures of it and thought i had an idea of what we were going to see. but the pictures did not give a hint of the horror of the place. the little town, which must have been a gem, nestled at the foot of a huge gray cliff, crowned with the obsolete fort, which was not used or attacked. the town is _gone_. part of the church is standing, and the walls of a number of buildings, but for the most part, there is nothing but a mess of scattered bricks to show where the houses had stood. and why it was done, we were not able to learn, for everybody there says that there was no fighting in the town itself. we heard stories, too, and such stories that they can hardly be put on paper. our three guests were more and more impressed as we went on. the bridge was blown up and had fallen into the river, and as we had little time to make the rest of our day's journey, we did not wait to cross by the emergency bridge farther up the river. while we were standing talking to a schoolmaster and his father by the destroyed bridge, seven big huskies with rifles and fixed bayonets came through, leading an old man and a woman who had been found with a camera in their possession. at first there was no objection raised to the taking of photographs, but now our friends are getting a little touchy about it, and lock up anybody silly enough to get caught with kodaks or cameras. according to what we were told, the germans entered the town from the direction of ciney, on the evening of august st, and began firing into the windows of the houses. the germans admit this, but say that there were french troops in the town and this was the only way they could get them out. a few people were killed, but there was nothing that evening in the nature of a general massacre. although the next day was comparatively quiet, a good part of the population took refuge in the surrounding hills. on sunday morning, the rd, the german troops set out to pillage and shoot. they drove the people into the street, and set fire to their houses. those who tried to run away were shot down in their tracks. the congregation was taken from the church, and fifty of the men were shot. all the civilians who could be rounded up were driven into the big square and kept there until evening. about six o'clock the women were lined up on one side of the square and kept in line by soldiers. on the other side, the men were lined up along a wall, in two rows, the first kneeling. then, under command of an officer, two volleys were fired into them. the dead and wounded were left together until the germans got round to burying them, when practically all were dead. this was only one of several wholesale executions. the germans do not seem to contradict the essential facts, but merely put forward the plea that most of the damage was incidental to the fighting which took place between the armed forces. altogether more than eight hundred people were killed. six hundred and twelve have been identified and given burial. others were not recognisable. i have one of the lists which are still to be had, although the germans have ordered all copies returned to them. those killed ranged in age from félix fivet, aged three weeks, to an old woman named jadot, who was eighty. but then félix probably fired on the german troops. [illustration: aux habitants de la belgique le maréchal von der goltz fait connaître aux populations de belgique qu'il est informé par les généraux commandants les troupes d'occupation sur le territoire français, que le choléra sévit avec intensité dans les troupes alliées, et qu'il y a le plus grand danger à franchir ces lignes, ou à pénétrer dans le territoire ennemi nous invitons les populations de belgique à ne pas entreìndre cet avis, et ceux qui croiraient ne pas devoir se soumettre à cet avis, seront traduits devant les officiers de la justice impériale, et nous les prévenons que la peine peut-être celle de mort. maréchal von der goltz septembre translation: field-marshal von der goltz announces to the belgian population that he is informed by the generals commanding the troops occupying french territory that cholera is raging fiercely among the allied troops and that there is the greatest danger in crossing the lines or entering enemy territory. we call upon the belgian population not to infringe this notice. those who do not comply with this notice will be brought before the imperial officers of justice and we warn them that the penalty of death may be inflicted upon them.] there is no end to the stories of individual atrocities. one is that monsieur wasseige, director of one of the banks, was seized by the germans, who demanded that he should open the safes. he flatly refused to do this, even under threat of death. finally he was led with his two eldest sons to the place d'armes and placed with more than one hundred others, who were then killed with machine guns. monsieur wasseige's three youngest children were brought to the spot by german soldiers, and compelled to witness the murder of their father and two brothers. from dinant we struck across country through phillipeville and some little by-roads to rance, where we were expected at the house of g. d----. he and his wife and their little girl of five had just returned that morning to receive us, but the place was brightly lighted and as completely prepared as though they had been there all the time. it was a lovely old place, and we were soon made comfortable. german officers have occupied it most of the time, and it required a good deal of cleaning and repairing after they left, but fortunately this work had just been completed, and we had a chance to enjoy the place before any more enforced guests appeared. one of the imperial princelings had been there for one night, and his name was chalked on the door of his room. he had been _très aimable_, and when he left had taken d----'s motor with him. we took a tramp around the town in a biting wind, and looked at some of the houses of our neighbours. some of them were almost wrecked after having served as quarters for troops for varying periods. from others all the furniture had been taken away and shipped back to germany. one man showed us a card which he had found in the frame of one of his best pictures. it was the card of a german officer, and under the name was written an order to send the picture to a certain address in berlin. the picture was gone, but the frame and card were still there and are being kept against the day of reckoning--if any. we were shown several little safes which had been pried open and looted, and were told the usual set of stories of what had happened when the army went through. some of the things would be hard to believe if one did not hear them from the lips of people who are reliable and who live in such widely separated parts of the country at a time when communications are almost impossible. we had a good and ingeniously arranged dinner. all sorts of ordinary foods are not to be had in this part of the country, and our hostess had, by able thinking, arranged a meal which skillfully concealed the things that were lacking. among other things, i observed that we had a series of most delicious wines--for our host of that evening also had a wonderful cellar. they had told us just before dinner that the germans had taken an inventory of their wines and had forbidden them to touch another drop, so i wondered whether they were not incurring some risk in order to give us the wine that they considered indispensable. when i asked our hostess, she told me that it was very simple, that all they needed to do was to drink a part of several bottles, refill them partially with water, seal them, and put them back in the cellars; she said scornfully that "_les boches_ don't know one wine from another," and had not yet been able to detect the fraud. they had a lot of cheap champagne in the cellar and had been filling them up with that, as they prefer any champagne to the best vintage burgundies. once in a while there is a little satisfaction reserved for a belgian. we were called at daybreak and were on the road at eight o'clock, taking in a series of small villages which had been destroyed, and talking with the few people to be found about the place. this part of belgium is far worse than the northern part, where the people can get away with comparative ease to one of the larger towns and come back now and then to look after their crops. here one village after another is wiped out, and the peasants have no place to go unless they travel so far that there is no hope of returning, perhaps for months together. it will be a great problem to provide shelter for these people so that they can return. we cut through beaumont, and then took the main road to mons, where we arrived in the middle of the morning. on the way we had heard that the english nurses had not yet been released, so i made for the military headquarters and saw the commandant. it was evident that they had been hauled over the coals for the way they had behaved when jack was there, for i never saw such politeness in any headquarters. i was preceded by bowing and unctuous soldiers and non-commissioned officers, all the way from the door to the presence, and was received by the old man standing. he was most solicitous for my comfort and offered me everything but the freedom of the city. he said that he had not received a word of instructions until a few minutes before my arrival, but that he was now able to give the young ladies their liberty and turn them over to me. in order to get them, i was prayed to go over to the headquarters of the military governor of the province, and an officer was assigned to accompany me. while we were there, the officer who had been so insulting to jack and to miss hozier came into the room, took one look at us, and scuttled for safety. we heard afterward that he had been ordered to apologise for his behaviour. at the door of the provincial headquarters i found another car flying the legation flag, and monsieur de leval came charging out into my arms. there had been a pretty hot time about the nurses and he had finally been sent down to get them out. in a few minutes we had them sitting on a bench in the governor's office, while kracker, who used to be one of the secretaries of the german legation here, was making out their _laisser-passers_ to come to brussels. they were a happy crowd, but pretty well done up by the treatment they had had. when they were all fixed i went in and asked for the release of miss bradford, another english nurse, who had been in prison in mons and charleroi for the past five weeks. i learned of her imprisonment almost by accident while we were waiting for the passports. after some argument it was granted, and i went with a soldier to the prison to get her out. i had not expected to find anything very luxurious, but i was shocked when i saw the place. it was the most severe, repressive penitentiary in the country--still filled with common criminals--and the english nurse was given the same treatment and rations as the worst murderer of the lot. there was the usual row with the man in charge of the place, and finally a soldier was despatched, to tell the young woman she could get ready to go. while she was getting ready, the director of the prison took me around and showed me with great pride things that made me shiver. he said, however, that it was an outrage to put a woman in such a place. the prisoners who do the work of the prison were going about the corridors under guard, each one wearing a dirty brown mask covering his entire head, and with only the smallest of slits for his eyes. they are never allowed to see each other's faces or to speak to one another. i was taken up to the chapel, where each man is herded into a little box like a confessional and locked in so that he cannot see his neighbour, and can only look up toward the raised altar in the centre, where he can see the priest. the school was arranged in the same way, and was shown with equal pride. i fear the jailer thought me lacking in appreciation. i finally got the young woman out, nearly hysterical, and took her up to the headquarters, and from there to the hotel, where monsieur de leval had gathered his charges for luncheon. they were rapidly recovering their old-time spirits, and were chattering away like a lot of magpies. while i was fussing about with them, i had sent my friends and fellow-travellers ahead, and now left the flock of nurses in the hands of monsieur de leval, to be conveyed by tram back to brussels, while i tried to catch up with my party at the château of monsieur warroqué, at mariemont. i made as much speed as my little car was capable of, but it was nearly two o'clock when i arrived. the old château of mariemont is one of those built by louis xiv, when he set out to have one for each month of the year. this was his place for august. it had been destroyed, and the new one is built near the ruins, but the large park is as it has been for a long time, and a lovely place it is. there were about twenty at table when we arrived, and places were ready for us. more fine wines, and this time to show that we were in the house of a connoisseur, the flunky, in pouring out the precious stuff, would whisper in your ear the name and vintage. warroqué owns a lot of the coal mines and other properties and is apparently greatly loved by the people. when the germans came, they seized him as a hostage, but the people became so threatening that he was released. how many men in his position could have counted on that much devotion? immediately after luncheon we shoved off and made through the rain for charleroi, where we took a look at the damage done to the town. it was already dark and we then turned toward brussels and burned up the road, getting to the legation at half-past six, to find all the nurses sitting up, having tea with mrs. whitlock and the minister. * * * * * _brussels, december , _--yesterday afternoon we received the call of general freiherr von bissing, governor general in belgium, and of general freiherr von kraewel, military governor of brussels. they were accompanied by their suites in full regalia. the military men were most affable, but we did not get any farther than tea and cigarettes. they talked mournfully of the war and said they wished to goodness the whole thing was over. it was a great contrast to the cock-sure talk at the beginning of the war. von bissing said that there were hospitals in every village in germany and that they were all filled with wounded. it is becoming clearer every day that the germans, as well as others, are getting thoroughly sick and tired of the whole business and would give a lot to end it. a little while ago the _london times_ cost as high as two hundred francs. it has been going down steadily, until it can be had now for four francs and sometimes for as little as two. the penalties are very severe, but the supply keeps up, although the blockade runners are being picked up every day. * * * * * _brussels, december , _.--this afternoon late b---- brought an uncle to see me, to talk about conditions in france between the belgian frontier and the german lines. those poor people cannot, of course, get anything from the heart of france, and as the belgian frontier is closed tight by the germans, they are already starving. it looks very much as though we should have to extend the scope of our work, so as to look after them, too. we hear very little news from that part of the country, but from what we do hear, conditions must be frightful. in one little town mr. k---- came through, only twenty out of five hundred houses are said to be standing. he says that the people are not permitted to leave the place and are living in the cellars and ruins in great misery and practically without food. out of a clear sky comes a new trouble for the country. the german government has come down with a demand for money on a scale that leaves them speechless. the belgians are ordered to make a forced payment each month of forty millions of francs, for twelve months. the two first payments are to be made by the th of next month, and the subsequent installments on the th of succeeding months. it is a staggering total, but the german authorities are deaf to appeals, and the provinces will have to get together and raise the money in some way. [publisher's note: an entry from a later part of mr. gibson's journal gives a picture of the belgian spirit under german rule and one of the few methods of retaliation they had against german oppression. the belgians are getting a good deal of quiet pleasure these days from a clandestine newspaper called _la libre belgique_ which is published almost in the shadow of the kommandantur. it is a little four-page paper that is published "every now and then" and says anything it likes about the "occupant." it also publishes news and texts that are barred from the censored press. it is distributed in a mysterious way that still has the germans guessing, although they have detailed their cleverest sleuths to the task of hunting down the paper and those responsible for its publication. every number is delivered to all the more important german officials in brussels and, more remarkable still, it appears without fail upon the desk of the governor-general--in that sanctum guarded like the vaults of the bank of england. sometimes it appears in the letter-box in the guise of a letter from germany; sometimes it is thrown in the window; sometimes it is delivered by an orderly with a bundle of official despatches; sometimes it merely appears from nowhere. but it never fails to reach the governor-general. he never fails to read it and to wax wroth over its contents. large rewards have been offered for information about the people who are writing and printing the paper. the germans rage publicly, which only adds to the pleasure that the belgians get from their little enterprise. my copy reaches me regularly and always in some weird way as in the case of the germans. i don't know who my friend is that sends me the paper. whoever he is i am much obliged.] * * * * * _brussels, december , _--yesterday afternoon late, after a session at c.r.b.[ ] headquarters, i dropped in for a cup of tea with baronne q----. there was a fine circle of gossip and i learned all the spicy stuff. the husband of mme. de f---- had been in prison for a month, having been pulled out of a motor on his way to the frontier, and found with letters on him. he got out on thursday and they are quite proud of themselves. they were having a fine time discussing the predicament of the h---- family. the countess was arrested last week because she, too, was caught carrying letters. she was released from prison and allowed to return home. now the germans have placed sentries before the house and allow no one to enter or leave: the old gentleman is also locked up there. the servants have been driven out, and are not even permitted to bring meals to their _patrons_, who are dependent on what they are given to eat by the german soldiers. there is no charge against them at present, so they have no idea as to how long the present charming situation will last. there was a great amount of gossip and the right amount of tea and cakes, so i had an enjoyable half hour. [footnote : commission for relief in belgium. this name was given the original american relief committee within a few weeks of its foundation.] yesterday morning grant-watson was put aboard a train and taken to berlin, where he is to be guarded as a prisoner of war. it is all most outrageous, as lancken definitely promised that he would not be molested. moral: get just as far away from these people as you can, while you can, in the knowledge that if they "change their mind," promises won't count. jeffes is left here for the present and may be released. we shall try to get him off, but in view of what has already happened, cannot be very confident. jeffes is philosophical and uncomplaining, but naturally is not very happy. * * * * * [illustration: appeal of the queen of the belgians for help from america i have learned with gratification of the noble and effective work being done by american citizens and officials on behalf of my stricken people. i confidently hope that their efforts will receive that ungrudging support which we have learned to expect from the generous womanhood of america. we mothers of belgium no less than the mothers of america have for generations instilled in our children the instincts and the love of peace. we asked no greater boon than to live in peace and friendship with all the world. we have provoked no war, yet in defense of our hearthstones, our country has been laid waste from end to end. the flow of commerce has ceased and my people are faced with famine. the terrors of starvation with its consequences of disease and violence menace the unoffending civilian population--the aged, the infirm, the women and the children. american officials and citizens in belgium and england, alive to their country's traditions, have created an organization under the protection of their government and are already sending food to my people. i hope that they may receive the fullest sympathy and aid from every side. i need not say that i and my people shall always hold in grateful remembrance the proven friendship of america in this hour of need. elisabeth.] _brussels, sunday, december , _--jack got off to london yesterday after a visit of six weeks. had it not been for the nearness of christmas and the knowledge that he was needed at home, he would have been prepared to stay on indefinitely. his grief at leaving was genuine. he invested heavily in flowers and chocolates for the people who had been nice to him, endowed all the servants, and left amid the cheers and sobs of the populace. he is a good sort, and i was sorry to see him go. by this time he is probably sitting up in london, telling them all about it. to-day i went up to antwerp to bring back our old motor. left a little before noon, after tidying up my desk, and took my two spanish colleagues, san esteban and molina, along for company. i had the passes and away we went by way of malines, arriving in time for a late lunch. antwerp is completely germanised already. we heard hardly a word of french anywhere--even the hotel waiters speaking only hotel french. the crowd in the restaurant of the webber was exclusively german, and there was not a word of french on the menu. the germans took over the garage where our car was left the day they came in, and there i discovered what was left of the old machine. the sentries on guard at the door reluctantly let us in, and the poor proprietor of the garage led us to the place where our car has stood since the fall of antwerp. the soldiers have removed two of the tires, the lamps, cushions, extra wheels, speedometer, tail lights, tool box, and had smashed most of the other fixings they could not take off. in view of the fact that my return trip to brussels at the time of the bombardment was for the purpose of bringing the plans of the city to the germans, so that they would have knowledge of the location of the public monuments and could spare them, it seems rather rough that they should repay us by smashing our motor. i think we shall make some remarks to them to this effect to-morrow, and intimate that it is up to them to have the car repaired and returned to us in good shape. the first group of americans to work on the relief came into belgium this month. they are, for the most part, rhodes scholars who were at oxford, and responded instantly to hoover's appeal. they are a picked crew, and have gone into the work with enthusiasm. and it takes a lot of enthusiasm to get through the sort of pioneer work they have to do. they have none of the thrill of the fellows who have gone into the flying corps or the ambulance service. they have ahead of them a long winter of motoring about the country in all sorts of weather, wrangling with millers and stevedores, checking cargoes and costs, keeping the peace between the belgians and the german authorities, observing the rules of the game toward everybody concerned, and above all, keeping neutral. it is no small undertaking for a lot of youngsters hardly out of college, but so far they have done splendidly. the one i see the most of is edward curtis, who sails back and forth to holland as courier of the commission. he was at cambridge when the war broke out, and after working on hoover's london committee to help stranded americans get home, he came on over here and fell to. he exudes silence and discretion, but does not miss any fun or any chance to advance the general cause. of course it is taking the germans some time to learn his system. he is absolutely square with them, and gets a certain amount of fun out of their determined efforts to find some sort of contraband on him. they can hardly conceive of his being honest, and think his seeming frankness is merely an unusually clever dodge to cover up his transgressions. * * * * * [illustration: julius van hee, american vice-consul at ghent] [illustration: lewis richards] [illustration: a brussels soup-kitchen run by volunteers] [illustration: meals served to the children in the schools] _brussels, december , _.--yesterday brussels awoke from the calm in which it had been plunged for some time, when a couple of french aviators came sailing overhead and dropped six bombs on the railroad yards at etterbeck. i was away at antwerp and did not see it, but everybody else of the population of , bruxellois did, and each one of them has given me a detailed account of it. the german forces did their level best to bring the bird men down with shrapnel, but they were flying high enough for safety. they seem to have hit their mark and torn up the switches, etc., in a very satisfactory way. for three or four days we have been hearing the big guns again, each day more distinctly; but we don't know what it means. the germans explain it on the ground that they are testing guns. mr. and mrs. hoover arrived last night, bringing frederick palmer with them. we dined together at the palace. they were full of news, both war and shop, and i sat and talked with them until after eleven, greatly to the prejudice of my work. had to stay up and grind until nearly two. curtis, who came back last night, says that jack was arrested at antwerp on his way out, because he had folkstone labels on his bags. it took him so long to explain away his suspicious belongings that he barely caught the last train from rosendaal to flushing. he seems to be destined to a certain amount of arrest now and then. hoover turned up at the legation this morning at a little after nine, and he and the minister and i talked steadily for three hours and a half. despite the roar of work at the legation, i went off after lunch with mrs. whitlock and did some xmas shopping--ordered some flowers and chocolates. went out and dropped mrs. whitlock at mrs. b----'s, to help decorate the tree she is going to have for the english children here. b---- is a prisoner at ruhleben, and will probably be there indefinitely, but his wife is a trump. she had a cheery letter from him, saying that he and his companions in misery had organised a theatrical troupe, and were going soon to produce _the importance of being earnest_. * * * * * _brussels, christmas, _--- this is the weirdest christmas that ever was--with no one so much as thinking of saying "merry christmas." everything is so completely overshadowed by the war, that had it not been for the children, we should have let it go unnoticed. yesterday evening there was a dinner at the legation--bicknell, rose and james, the hoovers and frederick palmer. although there was a bunch of mistletoe over the table, it did not seem a bit christmasy, but just an ordinary good dinner with much interesting talk. immediately after lunch we climbed into the big car and went out to lewis richards' christmas tree. he has a big house at the edge of town, with grounds which were fairy-like in the heavy white frost. he had undertaken to look after children, and he did it to the queen's taste. they were brought in by their mothers in bunches of one hundred, and marched around the house, collecting things as they went. in one room each youngster was given a complete outfit of warm clothes. in another, some sort of a toy which he was allowed to choose. in another, a big bag of cakes and candies, and, finally, they were herded into the big dining-room, where they were filled with all sorts of xmas food. there was a big tree in the hall, so that the children, in their triumphal progress, merely walked around the tree. stevens had painted all the figures and the background of an exquisite _crèche_, with an electric light behind it, to make the stars shine. the children were speechless with happiness, and many of the mothers were crying as they came by. since the question of food for children became acute here, richards has been supplying rations to the babies in his neighbourhood. the number has been steadily increasing, and for some time he has been feeding over two hundred youngsters a day. he has been very quiet about it, and hardly anyone has known what he was doing. it is cheering to see a man who does so much to comfort others; not so much because he weighs the responsibility of his position and fortune, but because he has a great-hearted sympathy and instinctively reaches out to help those in distress. otherwise the day was pretty black, but it did warm the cockles of my heart to find this simple american putting some real meaning into christmas for these hundreds of wretched people. he also gave it a deeper meaning for the rest of us. * * * * * _brussels, december , _--here is the end of the vile old year. we could see it out with rejoicing, if there were any prospect of bringing us anything better. but it doesn't look very bright for belgium. the case of miss edith cavell _the extracts from this journal have been so voluminous as to preclude bringing the record much farther than the end of . in the main the story of - is in the development of the commission for relief in belgium and the new light shed each day upon german methods and mentality. it is a long story and could not be crowded between the covers of this volume. there is, however, one outstanding event in --the case of miss edith cavell--which is of such interest and so enlightening as to conditions in belgium under german domination as to warrant its inclusion in this book. at the risk, therefore, of appearing disconnected it has been decided to publish as a final chapter an article in regard to the case of miss cavell which has already appeared in the "world's work."_ on august , , miss edith cavell, an englishwoman, directress of a large nursing home at brussels, was quietly arrested by the german authorities and confined in the prison of st. gilles on the charge that she had aided stragglers from the allied armies to escape across the frontier from belgium to holland, furnishing them with money, clothing and information concerning the route to be followed. it was some time before news of miss cavell's arrest was received by the american legation, which was entrusted with the protection of british interests in the occupied portion of belgium. when the minister at brussels received a communication from the ambassador at london transmitting a note from the foreign office stating that miss cavell was reported to have been arrested and asking that steps be taken to render her assistance, mr. whitlock immediately addressed a note to the german authorities asking whether there was any truth in the report of miss cavell's arrest and requesting authorisation for maître gaston de leval, the legal counselor of the legation, to consult with miss cavell and, if desirable, entrust some one with her defense. no reply was received to this communication, and on september th the legation addressed a further note to baron von der lancken, chief of the political department, calling his attention to the matter and asking that he enable the legation to take such steps as might be necessary for miss cavell's defense. on september th a reply was received from baron von der lancken in which it was stated that miss cavell had been arrested on august th and was still in the military prison of st. gilles. the note continued: she has herself admitted that she concealed in her house french and english soldiers, as well as belgians of military age, all desirous of proceeding to the front. she has also admitted having furnished these soldiers with the money necessary for their journey to france, and having facilitated their departure from belgium by providing them with guides, who enabled them to cross the dutch frontier secretly. miss cavell's defense is in the hands of the advocate braun, who, i may add, is already in touch with the competent german authorities. in view of the fact that the department of the governor-general, as a matter of principle, does not allow accused persons to have any interviews whatever, i much regret my inability to procure for m. de leval permission to visit miss cavell as long as she is in solitary confinement. under the provisions of international law the american minister could take no action while the case was before the courts. it is an elementary rule that the forms of a trial must be gone through without interference from any source. if, when the sentence has been rendered, it appears that there has been a denial of justice, the case may be taken up diplomatically, with a view to securing real justice. thus in the early stages of the case the american minister was helpless to interfere. all that he could do while the case was before the courts was to watch the procedure carefully and be prepared with a full knowledge of the facts to see that a fair trial was granted. maître de leval communicated with mr. braun, who said that he had been prevented from pleading before the court on behalf of miss cavell, but had asked his friend and colleague, mr. kirschen, to take up the case. maître de leval then communicated with mr. kirschen, and learned from him that lawyers defending prisoners before german military courts were not allowed to see their clients before the trial and were shown none of the documents of the prosecution. it was thus manifestly impossible to prepare any defense save in the presence of the court and during the progress of the trial. maître de leval, who from the beginning to the end of the case showed a most serious and chivalrous concern for the welfare of the accused, then told mr. kirschen that he would endeavour to be present at the trial in order to watch the case. mr. kirschen dissuaded him from attending the trial on the ground that it would only serve to harm miss cavell rather than help her; that the judges would resent the presence of a representative of the american legation. although it seems unbelievable that any man of judicial mind would resent the presence of another bent solely on watching the course of justice, mr. kirschen's advice was confirmed by other belgian lawyers who had defended prisoners before the german military courts and spoke with the authority of experience. mr. kirschen promised, however, to keep maître de leval fully posted as to all the developments of the case and the facts brought out in the course of the trial. [illustration: german proclamation announcing the execution of miss cavell proclamation le tribunal de conseil de guerre impérial allemand siègent à bruxelles a prononcé les condamnations suivantes: condamné à mort pour trahison en bande organisé: edith cavaell, institutrice à bruxelles. philippe bancq, architecte à bruxelles. jeanne de belleville, de montignies. louise thuiliez, professeur à lille. louis severin, pharmacien à bruxelles. albert libiez, avocat à mons. pour le même motif, ont été condamnés à quince ans de travaux forcés: hermann capiau, ingénieur à wasmes.--ada bodart, à bruxelles--georges derveau, pharmacien à paturages.--mary de croy, à bellignies. dans la même séance, le conseil de guerre a prononcé contre dix-sept autres accusés de trahison envers les armées impériales, des comdamnations de travaux forcés et de prison variant entre deux ans et huit ans. en ce qui concerne bancq et edith cavell, le jugement a déjà reçu pleine exécution. le général gouverneur de bruxelles porte ces faits à la connaissance de public pour qu'ils servent d'avertissement. translation: the imperial german court martial sitting at brussels has pronounced the following sentence: condemned to death for treason committed as an organized band: edith cavell, teacher, of brussels. philippe bancq, architect, of brussels. jeanne de belleville, of montignies. louise thuilier, teacher, of lille. louis severin, druggist, of brussels. albert libiez, lawyer, of mons. for the same offense the following are condemned to fifteen years of hard labor: hermann capiau, engineer, of wasmes--ada bodart, of brussels--georges derveau, druggist, of paturages--mary de croy, of bellignies. at the same session the court martial has pronounced sentences of hard labor and of imprisonment, varying from two to eight years, against seventeen others accused of treason against the imperial armies. as regards bancq and edith cavell, the sentence has already been fully carried out. the governor-general brings these facts to the attention of the public in order that they may serve as a warning.] the trial began on thursday, october th, and ended the following day. on sunday afternoon the legation learned from persons who had been present at the trial some of the facts. it seems that miss cavell was prosecuted for having helped english and french soldiers, as well as belgian young men, to cross the frontier into holland in order that they might get over to england. she had made a signed statement admitting the truth of these charges and had further made public acknowledgment in court. she frankly admitted that not only had she helped the soldiers to cross the frontier but that some of them had written her from england thanking her for her assistance. this last admission made the case more serious for her because if it had been proven only that she had helped men to cross the frontier into holland, she could have been sentenced only for a violation of the passport regulations, and not for the "crime" of assisting soldiers to reach a country at war with germany. miss cavell was tried under paragraph of the german military code, which says: any person who, with the intention of aiding the hostile power or causing harm to german or allied troops, is guilty of one of the crimes of paragraph of the german penal code, will be sentenced to death for treason. the "crime" referred to by paragraph was that of "conducting soldiers to the enemy" (viz.: _dem feinde mannschaften zuführt_). it is manifest that this was a strained reading of the provisions of military law; that a false interpretation was wilfully put upon these provisions in order to secure a conviction. this law was obviously framed to cover the case of those who assist stragglers or lost soldiers to get back to their own lines and join their units. it is doubtful whether the framers of the military law had foreseen anything so indirect and unprecedented as that of helping soldiers cross into a neutral country in the hope that they might find their way back through two other countries to their own army. miss cavell assisted these soldiers to escape into a neutral country which was bound, if possible, to apprehend and intern them. if these soldiers succeeded in outwitting the dutch authorities and making their way to england, their success would not, to any fair-minded person, increase the offense committed by miss cavell. miss cavell's conduct before the court was marked by the greatest frankness and courage. she stated that she had assisted these men to escape into holland because she thought that if she had not done so they would have been seized and shot by the germans; that she felt that she had only done her duty in helping to save their lives. the military prosecutor replied that while this argument might be made concerning english soldiers, it could not apply to belgians, who were free to remain in the country without danger. the subsequent behaviour of the german authorities to the belgian young men who remained in the country does not lend any considerable weight to the remarks of the public prosecutor. in concluding his plea, the public prosecutor asked that the court pass the sentence of death upon miss cavell and eight other prisoners among the thirty-five brought to trial. upon ascertaining these facts maître de leval called at the political department and asked that, the trial having taken place, permission be granted him to see miss cavell in person, as there could be no further objection to consultation. herr conrad, an official of the political department, who received maître de leval, stated that he would make enquiry of the court and communicate with him later. the foregoing are the developments up to sunday night, october th. subsequent developments are shown by the following extracts from a journal made at the time: _brussels, october , _.--when i came in yesterday morning i found information which seemed to confirm previous reports that miss cavell's trial had been concluded on saturday afternoon and that the prosecution had asked that the death sentence be imposed. monsieur de leval promptly called the political department over the telephone and talked to conrad, repeating our previous requests that he be authorised to see miss cavell in prison. he also asked that mr. gahan, the english chaplain, be permitted to visit her. conrad replied that it had been decided that mr. gahan could not see her, but that she could see any of the three protestant clergymen (germans) attached to the prison; that de leval could not see her until the judgment was pronounced and signed. he said that as yet no sentence had been pronounced and that there would probably be a delay of a day or two before a decision was reached. he stated that even if the judgment of the court had been given, it would have no effect until it had been confirmed by the governor, who was absent from brussels and would not return for two or possibly three days. we asked conrad to inform the legation immediately upon the confirmation of the sentence in order that steps might be taken to secure a pardon if the judgment really proved to be one of capital punishment. conrad said he had no information to the effect that the court had acceded to the request for the death sentence, but promised to keep us informed. i stood by the telephone and could overhear both de leval and conrad. despite the promise of the german authorities to keep us fully posted, we were nervous and apprehensive and remained at the legation all day, making repeated enquiry by telephone to learn whether a decision had been reached. on each of these occasions the political department renewed the assurance that we would be informed as soon as there was any news. in order to be prepared for every eventuality, we drew up a petition for clemency addressed to the governor-general, and a covering note addressed to baron von der lancken, in order that they might be presented without loss of time in case of urgent need. a number of people had been arrested and tried for helping men to cross into holland, but, so far as we know, the death sentence had never been inflicted. the usual thing was to give a sentence of imprisonment in germany. the officials at the political department professed to be skeptical as to the reported intention of the court to inflict the death sentence, and led us to think that nothing of the sort need be apprehended. none the less we were haunted by a feeling of impending horror that we could not shake off. i had planned to ride in the afternoon, but when my horse was brought around, i had it sent away and stayed near the telephone. late in the afternoon de leval succeeded in getting into communication with a lawyer interested in one of the accused. he said that the german kommandantur had informed him that judgment would be passed the next morning, tuesday. he was worried as to what was in store for the prisoners and said he feared the court would be very severe. at . i had topping (clerk of the legation) telephone conrad again. once more we had the most definite assurances that nothing had happened and a somewhat weary renewal of the promise that we should have immediate information when sentence was pronounced.[ ] [footnote : this was just one hour and twenty minutes after the sentence had actually been pronounced. there is no need for comment.] at . i had just gone home when de leval came for me in my car, saying that he had come to report that miss cavell was to be shot during the night. we could hardly credit this, but as our informant was so positive and insisted so earnestly, we set off to see what could be done. de leval had seen the minister, who was ill in bed, and brought me his instructions to find von der lancken, present the appeal for clemency, and press for a favourable decision. in order to add weight to our representations, i was to seek out the spanish minister to get him to go with us and join in our appeal. i found him dining at baron lambert's, and on explaining the case to him he willingly agreed to come. when we got to the political department we found that baron von der lancken and all the members of his staff had gone out to spend the evening at one of the disreputable little theatres that have sprung up here for the entertainment of the germans. at first we were unable to find where he had gone, as the orderly on duty evidently had orders not to tell, but by dint of some blustering and impressing on him the fact that lancken would have cause to regret not having seen us, he agreed to have him notified. we put the orderly into the motor and sent him off. the marquis de villalobar, de leval, and i settled down to wait, and we waited long, for lancken, evidently knowing the purpose of our visit, declined to budge until the end of an act that seemed to appeal to him particularly. he came in about . , followed shortly by count harrach and baron von falkenhausen, members of his staff. i briefly explained to him the situation as we understood it and presented the note from the minister, transmitting the appeal for clemency. lancken read the note aloud in our presence, showing no feeling aside from cynical annoyance at something--probably our having discovered the intentions of the german authorities. when he had finished reading the note, lancken said that he knew nothing of the case, but was sure in any event that no sentence would be executed so soon as we had said. he manifested some surprise, not to say annoyance, that we should give credence to any report in regard to the case which did not come from his department, that being the only official channel. leval and i insisted, however, that we had reason to believe our reports were correct and urged him to make inquiries. he then tried to find out the exact source of our information, and became painfully insistent. i did not propose, however, to enlighten him on this point and said that i did not feel at liberty to divulge our source of information. lancken then became persuasive--said that it was most improbable that any sentence had been pronounced; that even if it had, it could not be put into effect within so short a time, and that in any event all government offices were closed and that it was impossible for him to take any action before morning. he suggested that we all go home "reasonably," sleep quietly, and come back in the morning to talk about the case. it was very clear that if the facts were as we believed them to be, the next morning would be too late, and we pressed for immediate enquiry. i had to be rather insistent on this point, and de leval, in his anxiety, became so emphatic that i feared he might bring down the wrath of the germans on his own head, and tried to quiet him. there was something splendid about the way de leval, a belgian with nothing to gain and everything to lose, stood up for what he believed to be right and chivalrous, regardless of consequences to himself. finally, lancken agreed to enquire as to the facts, telephoned from his office to the presiding judge of the court martial, and returned in a short time to say that sentence had indeed been passed and that miss cavell was to be shot during the night. we then presented with all the earnestness at our command, the plea for clemency. we pointed out to lancken that miss cavell's offenses were a matter of the past; that she had been in prison for some weeks, thus effectually ending her power for harm; that there was nothing to be gained by shooting her, and on the contrary this would do germany much more harm than good and england much more good than harm. we pointed out to him that the whole case was a very bad one from germany's point of view; that the sentence of death had heretofore been imposed only for cases of espionage and that miss cavell was not even accused by the german authorities of anything so serious.[ ] we reminded him that miss cavell, as directress of a large nursing home, had, since the beginning of the war, cared for large numbers of german soldiers in a way that should make her life sacred to them. i further called his attention to the manifest failure of the political department to comply with its repeated promises to keep us informed as to the progress of the trial and the passing of the sentence. the deliberate policy of subterfuge and prevarication by which they had sought to deceive us, as to the progress of the case, was so raw as to require little comment. we all pointed out to lancken the horror of shooting a woman, no matter what her offense, and endeavoured to impress upon him the frightful effect that such an execution would have throughout the civilised world. with an ill-concealed sneer he replied that on the contrary he was confident that the effect would be excellent. [footnote : at the time there was no intimation that miss cavell was guilty of espionage. it was only when public opinion had been aroused by her execution that the german government began to refer to her as "the spy cavell." according to the german statement of the case, there is no possible ground for calling her a spy.] [illustration: miss edith cavell] [illustration: fly-leaf of miss cavell's prayer book] when everything else had failed, we asked lancken to look at the case from the point of view solely of german interests, assuring him that the execution of miss cavell would do germany infinite harm. we reminded him of the burning of louvain and the sinking of the _lusitania_, and told him that this murder would rank with those two affairs and would stir all civilised countries with horror and disgust. count harrach broke in at this with the rather irrelevant remark that he would rather see miss cavell shot than have harm come to the humblest german soldier, and his only regret was that they had not "three or four old english women to shoot." the spanish minister and i tried to prevail upon lancken to call great headquarters at charleville on the telephone and have the case laid before the emperor for his decision. lancken stiffened perceptibly at this suggestion and refused, frankly, saying that he could not do anything of the sort. turning to villalobar, he said, "i can't do that sort of thing. i am not a friend of my sovereign as you are of yours," to which a rejoinder was made that in order to be a good friend, one must be loyal and ready to incur displeasure in case of need. however, our arguments along this line came to nothing, but lancken finally came to the point of saying that the military governor of brussels was the supreme authority (_gerichtsherr_) in matters of this sort and that even the governor-general had no power to intervene. after further argument he agreed to get general von sauberschweig, the military governor, out of bed to learn whether he had already ratified the sentence and whether there was any chance for clemency. lancken was gone about half an hour, during which time the three of us laboured with harrach and falkenhausen, without, i am sorry to say, the slightest success. when lancken returned he reported that the military governor said that he had acted in this case only after mature deliberation; that the circumstances of miss cavell's offense were of such character that he considered infliction of the death penalty imperative. lancken further explained that under the provisions of german military law, the _gerichtsherr_ had discretionary power to accept or to refuse to accept an appeal for clemency; that in this case the governor regretted that he must decline to accept the appeal for clemency or any representations in regard to the matter. we then brought up again the question of having the emperor called on the telephone, but lancken replied very definitely that the matter had gone too far; that the sentence had been ratified by the military governor, and that when matters had gone that far, "even the emperor himself could not intervene."[ ] [footnote : although accepted at the time as true, this statement was later found to be entirely false and is understood to have displeased the emperor. the emperor could have stopped the execution at any moment.] he then asked me to take back the note i had presented to him. i at first demurred, pointing out that this was not an appeal for clemency, but merely a note to him, transmitting a note to the governor, which was itself to be considered the appeal for clemency. i pointed out that this was especially stated in the minister's note to him, and tried to prevail upon him to keep it. he was very insistent, however, and inasmuch as he had already read the note aloud to us and we knew that he was aware of its contents, it seemed that there was nothing to be gained by refusing to accept the note, and i accordingly took it back. despite lancken's very positive statements as to the futility of our errand, we continued to appeal to every sentiment to secure delay and time for reconsideration of the case. the spanish minister led lancken aside and said some things to him that he would have hesitated to say in the presence of harrach, falkenhausen, and de leval, a belgian subject. lancken squirmed and blustered by turns, but stuck to his refusal. in the meantime i went after harrach and falkenhausen again. this time, throwing modesty to the winds, i reminded them of some of the things we had done for german interests at the outbreak of the war; how we had repatriated thousands of german subjects and cared for their interests; how during the siege of antwerp i had repeatedly crossed the lines during actual fighting at the request of field marshal von der goltz to look after german interests; how all this service had been rendered gladly and without thought of reward; that since the beginning of the war we had never asked a favour of the german authorities and it seemed incredible that they should now decline to grant us even a day's delay to discuss the case of a poor woman who was, by her imprisonment, prevented from doing further harm, and whose execution in the middle of the night, at the conclusion of a course of trickery and deception, was nothing short of an affront to civilisation. even when i was ready to abandon all hope, de leval was unable to believe that the german authorities would persist in their decision, and appealed most touchingly and feelingly to the sense of pity for which we looked in vain. our efforts were perfectly useless, however, as the three men with whom we had to deal were so completely callous and indifferent that they were in no way moved by anything that we could say. [illustration: two illustrations titled "notes in miss cavell's prayer book"] we did not stop until after midnight, when it was only too clear that there was no hope. it was a bitter business leaving the place feeling that we had failed and that the little woman was to be led out before a firing squad within a few hours. but it was worse to go back to the legation to the little group of english women who were waiting in my office to learn the result of our visit. they had been there for nearly four hours while mrs. whitlock and miss lamer sat with them and tried to sustain them through the hours of waiting. there were mrs. gahan, wife of the english chaplain, miss b., and several nurses from miss cavell's school. one was a little wisp of a thing who had been mothered by miss cavell, and was nearly beside herself with grief. there was no way of breaking the news to them gently, for they could read the answer in our faces when we came in. all we could do was to give them each a stiff drink of sherry and send them home. de leval was white as death, and i took him back to his house. i had a splitting headache myself and could not face the idea of going to bed. i went home and read for awhile, but that was no good, so i went out and walked the streets, much to the annoyance of german patrols. i rang the bells of several houses in a desperate desire to talk to somebody, but could not find a soul--only sleepy and disgruntled servants. it was a night i should not like to go through again, but it wore through somehow and i braced up with a cold bath and went to the legation for the day's work. the day brought forth another loathsome fact in connection with the case. it seems the sentence on miss cavell was not pronounced in open court. her executioners, apparently in the hope of concealing their intentions from us, went into her cell and there, behind locked doors, pronounced sentence upon her. it is all of a piece with the other things they have done. last night mr. gahan got a pass and was admitted to see miss cavell shortly before she was taken out and shot. he said she was calm and prepared and faced the ordeal without a tremor. she was a tiny thing that looked as though she could be blown away with a breath, but she had a great spirit. she told mr. gahan that soldiers had come to her and asked to be helped to the frontier; that knowing the risks they ran and the risks she took, she had helped them. she said she had nothing to regret, no complaint to make, and that if she had it all to do over again, she would change nothing. and most pathetic of all was her statement that she thanked god for the six weeks she had passed in prison--the nearest approach to rest she had known for years. they partook together of the holy communion, and she who had so little need of preparation was prepared for death. she was free from resentment and said: "i realise that patriotism is not enough. i must have no hatred or bitterness toward any one." she was taken out and shot before daybreak. she was denied the support of her own clergyman at the end, but a german military chaplain stayed with her and gave her burial within the precincts of the prison. he did not conceal his admiration and said: "she was courageous to the end. she professed her christian faith and said that she was glad to die for her country. she died like a heroine." transcriber's notes: there are no periods/full stops used for illustration captions, with exceptions: usually the longer ones. following is a list of inconsistently used hyphenated words. they are left as they were in the book. battlefield battle-field businesslike business-like downtown down-town farmhouse farm-house goodwill good-will motorcycle motor-cycle nearby near-by the life of the truly eminent and learned hugo grotius, containing a copious and circumstantial history of the several important and honourable negotiations in which he was employed; together with a critical account of his works. written originally in french, by m. de burigny. london printed for a. millar, in the strand; j. whiston and b. white, at mr. boyle's head; and l. davis, at lord bacon's head, both in fleet-street. m dcc liv. the author's preface. _it were to be wished that such a celebrated genius as_ grotius _had found an historian equal to his fame: for in this high rank we can by no means place those who have contented themselves with giving a superficial account of his life, and a catalogue of his works. m._ lehman, _to whom we owe_ grotius's ghost revenged, _is much fuller than any that went before him; yet he is far from having taken in all that deserves to be known of that illustrious writer, the two most interesting distinctions of whose life have been entirely neglected by all who have spoken of him; i mean his negotiations, and his sentiments in matters of religion._ gaspar brandt _and_ adrian cattenburg _have indeed published a long life of_ grotius; _but the_ dutch _language, in which they wrote, is so little known, that their book cannot be of general use; with a view to which we have made choice of a more universal language, to communicate farther light concerning this excellent man, whom every one speaks of, tho' few with any certainty._ _his being one of the most learned authors that ever wrote, was not our sole motive for compiling his life: for if we consider him only in that light, and with regard to the excellent treatises with which he has enriched the republic of letters, perhaps others may be found to compare with him. but his life was so diversified, and filled with so many revolutions, that what regards literature is not the most curious part of it; greatly differing, in this respect, from the generality of men of letters, whole lives are only the histories of their works. besides_, grotius's _prudence on all occasions, his modesty in prosperity, his patience in adversity, his steadiness in his duty, his love of virtue, his eagerness in the search of truth, and the ardent desire which he constantly maintained for uniting christians in one faith, distinguish him so advantageously from most other scholars, that his life may be proposed as a model to all who make profession of literature._ _it is divided into six books. the first presents us with the brightest genius ever recorded, of a youth, in the history of the republic of letters. the second contains all that is worth being known of the disputes between the_ gomarists _and_ arminians; _the part_ grotius _took in them; his disgrace, and the manner of his escape out of prison. the third relates his transactions at_ paris, _and his retreat to_ hamburg, _where he continued till the great chancellor_ oxensteirn _sent for him, to employ him in the important and honourable post of ambassador from_ sweden _to the court of_ france. _the fourth and fifth books give a detail of his negotiations; which have never yet been published. we have been accustomed to consider_ grotius _only as a scholar; his embassy is known but by report: we shall see, however, that he was employed in affairs of the greatest importance; that he succeeded in several; that he gave excellent counsels to the ministry; and that he always conducted himself with zeal, firmness, and integrity._ _the sixth and last book gives an account of such of his works as we had not occasion to mention before; and examines particularly his theological sentiments, and his project for a coalition of christians, and bringing them to unite in one creed._ * * * * * _advertisement by the editor._ the abbé raynal[ ], a judicious french writer, gives the following character of this work. "m. de burigny hath executed his plan with abundance of erudition, and an astonishing depth of enquiry. he has introduced nothing but facts well supported, or theological discussions delivered with the greatest conciseness and accuracy. such readers as aim at amusement only, will think the author too minute in some places; those who are desirous of information will think otherwise. the most valuable part of this work is, in our opinion, the just and concise idea which it gives of _grotius's_ several writings." footnotes: [ ] mercure françois, an. . approbation. by order of my lord chancellor, i have read the _life of grotius_. this history, which gives us a pleasing idea of the extent of the human mind, farther informs us, that _grotius_ died without reaping any advantage to himself from his great talents. for the rest, i think it deserves to be made public on account of its relation to literature, and to the general history of _europe_. de marsilly the table of contents. book i. i. grotius's origin: the marriage of cornelius cornets with ermengarda de groot ii. he has a son named hugo de groot iii. life of cornelius de groot iv. life of john de groot v. birth of grotius vi. great hopes conceived of him when a boy vii. state of affairs in the united provinces viii. embassy from the states to henry iv. of france; grotius accompanies the ambassadors; is very graciously received by the king ix. his mortification at not having seen m. de thou; he writes to him; and keeps up an intimate correspondence with him till his death x. grotius gives an edition of martianus capella xi. publishes the limneu[greek: retichê] xii. publishes the phoenomena of aratus xiii. cultivates the study of poetry xiv. the states nominate him their historiographer xv. henry iv. of france intends to make him his librarian xvi. commences advocate; dislikes this employment xvii. is nominated advocate general xviii. marries xix. his treatise of the freedom of the ocean is published xx. prints his book de antiquitate reipublicæ batavicæ xxi. is made pensionary of rotterdam xxii. voyage to england: dispute concerning the fishery xxiii. grotius's intimacy with casaubon xxiv. a grand question decided by the states of holland according to grotius's opinion xxv. sends du maurier a method of study book ii. i. dispute between arminius and gomarus ii. remonstrance of the arminians iii. the troubles increase iv. the edict of the states v. the states grant the magistrates of the towns permission to levy soldiers; which highly displeases the prince of orange vi. grotius is deputed by the states to amsterdam; falls ill through chagrin vii. the project of reunion proves fruitless viii. prince maurice disbands the new levies ix. barnevelt, grotius, and hoogerbetz taken into custody x. the synod of dort xi. barnevelt's trial xii. the fruitless solicitations of the french court in favour of the prisoners: barnevelt's execution xiii. trial and condemnation of grotius xiv. grotius is carried to the fortress of louvestein, his occupations xv. grotius escapes out of prison xvi. his writings on occasion of the disputes in holland book iii. i. grotius arrives at paris, where he is well received ii. state of the french ministry: du vair's letter to grotius: the court grants him a pension iii. grotius's occupations at paris iv. grotius publishes his apology: it is condemned in holland: the french king takes him again into his protection v. he still maintains great connections in holland; corresponds with prince henry frederic of nassau vi. he publishes his stobeus, and the extracts from the greek tragedies and comedies vii. goes to balagni; is seized with the dysentery; publishes the phoenissæ of euripides viii. the death of prince maurice; frederic is made stadtholder; grotius writes to him ix. publishes his treatise, de jure belli & pacis x. has thoughts of leaving france xi. returns to holland xii. is obliged to leave holland xiii. goes to hamburg book iv. i. the high chancellor oxensteirn invites grotius to him: the high esteem in which the latter held the king of sweden ii. grotius is appointed ambassador from sweden to the court of france iii. situation of the swedes affairs iv. grotius sets out for france, makes his entry into paris, and has an audience of the king v. discussions between france and sweden vi. arrival of the high chancellor in france: a new treaty vii. disputes between grotius and the ministers of charenton viii. grotius's several journeys to court, and his negotiations with the french ministry: abstains from visiting cardinal richelieu ix. uneasiness given grotius x. dispute for precedency with the venetian ambassador xi. is of opinion that the swedes ought not to send plenipotentiaries to cologn xii. disputes with the venetian ambassador xiii. quarrel between the english and swedes for precedency book v. i. different audiences which grotius has of the french king ii. conversation between the prince of condé and grotius iii. grotius's negotiations in relation to the truce which was proposed: misconduct of schmalz iv. grotius is in great danger of his life v. divers audiences of the king and queen vi. the death of the duke of weimar vii. the elector palatine is arrested in france; grotius obtains his liberty viii. grotius obtains the exchange of marshal horn for john de vert ix. renewal of the alliance between france and sweden x. deaths of cardinal richelieu and the french king; the regency of anne of austria xi. cerisante is sent to france; grotius demands to be recalled xii. he sets out for stockholm, and applies to the queen to obtain his dismission xiii. grotius's death book vi. i. grotius's embassy does not interrupt his literary labours ii. he again applies to the cultivation of poetry iii. his notes on tacitus iv. ---- notes on statius v. ---- notes on lucan vi. ---- anthologia vii. antiquities of the goths viii. annals and history of the low countries ix. treatise of the truth of the christian religion x. florum sparsio ad jus justinianeum xi. commentaries on the bible xii. treatises on antichrist, and other theological pieces xiii. of the origin of the people of america xiv. other printed pieces or manuscripts of grotius xv. grotius's letters xvi. grotius's sentiments in religion very distant at first from those of the roman catholics xvii. his attachment to antiquity xviii. leans towards the roman catholics xix. is a partisan of the hierarchy xx. his sentiments concerning the eucharist xxi. his sentiments concerning the seven sacraments xxii. grotius's sentiments concerning several other points controverted between the roman catholics and the protestants xxiii. his project for reuniting all christians xxiv. is accused of socinianism xxv. opinions concerning grotius xxvi. an account of his family end of the table of contents. books printed for a. millar in the strand; messieurs whiston and white, at mr. boyle's head, and l. davis, at lord bacon's head, both in fleet-street. quarto, just published, printed on a fine paper, illustrated with maps and copper-plates, price one pound ten shillings bound, the second edition, revised and corrected, of . an historical account of the british trade over the caspian sea: with the author's journal of travels from england through russia into persia; and back through russia, germany, and holland. to which are added, the revolutions of persia during the present century; with the particular history of the great usurper nadir kouli. by jonas hanway, merchant. . tables of ancient coins, weights and measures, explained, and exemplified in several dissertations. by john arbuthnot, m.d. fellow of the royal society, and of the college of physicians. the second edition. to which is added, an appendix, containing observations on dr. arbuthnot's dissertations on coins, weights, and measures, by benjamin langwith, d.d. price s. bound. octavo. . the life of the most reverend dr. john tillotson, lord archbishop of canterbury, compiled chiefly from his original papers and letters. by thomas birch, d.d. the second edition, enlarged. price s. . memoirs of the life and writings of mr. william whiston, m.a. containing also memoirs of several of his friends. written by himself. the three parts compleat, in two volumes. price s. . the life of the honourable robert boyle, esq; with an account of his great improvements in natural philosophy. by thomas birch, d.d. price s. . the life of francis bacon, lord chancellor of england. by mr. mallet. price s. d. . remarks on ecclesiastical history, vol. price s. d. by john jortin, m.a. rector of st. dunstan's in the east. n.b. the second and third volumes may be had separate. . discourses concerning the truth of the christian religion. by john jortin, m.a. the third edition, price s. d. . mr. whiston's sacred history of the world, from the creation to the compleat establishment of christianity under the emperor constantine the great, anno dom. . together with the prophane history connected. wherein also the completion of the prophecies in the old testament are shewn, and many difficult passages of scripture cleared up. being an improvement of dean prideaux, dr. shuckford, and mr. eachard's histories. in six large volumes octavo. price one guinea bound. book i. i. the learned and illustrious writer whose life we undertake to give, derived the name of grotius from his great-grandmother, married to cornelius cornets. this was a gentleman of franche-compté, who travelled into the low-countries about the beginning of the sixteenth century, and coming to delft, got acquainted with a burgomaster who had an only daughter: he took a liking to her, asked, and obtained her in marriage. the name of this magistrate was diederic de groot, or diederic the great; his family was of the first distinction in the country; and had produced several persons of great merit[ ]. it is said the name of great was given to one of diederic's ancestors, above four hundred years ago, for a signal service done his country; and it has been observed[ ] that all who bore the name of de groot distinguished themselves by their zeal for the public. diederic de groot had several important employments, in which he acquitted himself with great honour. the name of his only daughter was ermengarda de groot: her father, on giving his consent to her marriage, insisted that the children should bear the name of de groot; and cornelius cornets agreed to it in the marriage contract. there were several branches of the cornets: one settled in provence, as we are informed by[ ] grotius. footnotes: [ ] acad. leid. ed. . [ ] vita grotii ap. batesium, p. . [ ] ep. . ad peyresc. p. . ii. cornelius cornets had by his marriage with ermengarda de groot a son named hugo de groot, distinguished by his knowledge of the greek and latin, and his skill in the hebrew. he died in , fifth time burgomaster of delft. he married elselinga heemskerke, of one of the ancientest noble families in holland, and by her had two sons, cornelius, and john de groot. iii. cornelius de groot, eldest son of hugh, was born at delft on the th of july, . he studied with much success at the university of louvain, at that time very famous. the greek and hebrew he knew perfectly, and was well acquainted with the mathematics. the platonic philosophy pleased him extremely, and he retained a liking to it all his life: he had read all the books of the sect, had commented their works, and knew them almost by heart. the law wholly took him up afterwards: he went to study it at the faculty of law at orleans, the most celebrated for that science, and took the degree of licentiate. returning home he followed the bar; some time after, he was nominated counsellor and echevin: william prince of orange made him master of requests. the university of leyden being founded in , cornelius de groot resigned his post in the magistracy, to follow his ruling inclination of being useful to youth; and did not think it beneath him to accept of a professor's place in the new university: he first taught philosophy, and was afterwards made law-professor; an employment that pleased him so much, he preferred it to a seat in the grand council at the hague, which was several times offered him, but which he constantly refused. his reputation was so great, the grand council often consulted with him on affairs of importance. six times he was honoured with the dignity of rector, a place of great honour and authority: the members of the university, and all who are enrolled in the rector's book, depend on his jurisdiction; before him their causes, civil and criminal, are brought, and from his sentence there is no appeal: a revisal of it is all that can be demanded. cornelius de groot died without issue in the year , on the same day of the month of july on which he was born. he left several law tracts which have never been printed. iv. john de groot, brother to cornelius and second son of hugh, studied under the famous justus lipsius, who esteemed him much: in some letters of that learned man to john de groot he speaks of him with great commendation. there is one, written in , in which lipsius tells him, "you have loved the muses, they have loved you, they will love you, and i too with them will love you." we have still preserved by his son[ ] a translation in verse, made by him in his youth of some greek verses of palladas. he also wrote a paraphrase on the epistle of st. john; which hugo grotius mentions in one of his letters[ ]. four times he was burgomaster of delft, and curator of the university of leyden: this last was a place of great consequence at that time. there are only three curators in the university of leyden; one is taken from the body of the nobility, and nominated by them; the two others are chosen by the states of the province from among the cities of holland, or the courts of justice. the curators with the burgomasters of leyden have the direction of whatever regards the welfare and advantage of the university; they chuse the professors, and have the care of the finances and revenues for payment of their salaries. john de groot filled the place of curator with great dignity and honour. daniel heinsius wrote some verses in his praise, in which he styles him the apollo and protector of the muses. this dignity did not hinder him from taking the degree of doctor of laws. in the remaining part of his life he attached himself to the count of hohenloo, who made him his counsellor. in he married alida averschie, of one of the first families in the country; by whom he had three sons and a daughter. he died in the month of may . in the same year his wife lost her eyesight; she lived till the beginning of the year [ ]. footnotes: [ ] stobæus, tit. . p. . [ ] ep. xxii. p. . [ ] ep. . p. . grotii ep. . p. . v. of the marriage of john de groot with alida averschie was born the celebrated hugo de groot, better known by the name of grotius: he was the first fruit of their coming together. almost all who have mentioned his birth[ ] fix it on the tenth of april . the president bouhier pretends they place it a year too late; and that he was born on the tenth of april . to prevent the authority of such a learned man, which has already seduced several writers, from misleading others, we shall shew that by departing from the general opinion he has fallen into an error. grotius writes to vossius on easter sunday [ ], that on that day he reckoned thirty-two years: he dates another letter[ ] to vossius the twenty-fifth of march ; easter-eve, "which, he observes, begins my thirty-fifth year." april , , he says he had completed sixty years[ ]. on easter-day he reckons sixty-one years[ ]. he acquaints us in his poems[ ], that he was fifteen when he went first to france: he went there in ; and speaking of easter he informs us[ ] he was then one-and-thirty. from all these different calculations it is manifest that grotius was born in . it must be owned, however, that the proof on which the president bouhier builds his opinion, would be decisive, if there were no error in the text of a[ ] letter written by grotius to his brother, april , , in which he says, "i have completed my fifty-eighth year:" but the other passages of grotius just cited demonstrate that the editors of this letter, instead of _incepi_, i have begun, read _implevi_, i have completed: which grotius could not have written without contradicting himself. footnotes: [ ] athenæ batavæ, p. . life of grotius prefixed to his works. le clerc, hist. de hollande, l. . t. . see the critical remarks on bayle's dict. ed. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] page . [ ] poemata, p. . [ ] ep. . p. . vi. it was therefore on the tenth of april in the year , that grotius was born, at delft. it was easter-sunday that year: and he always observed the anniversary of that feast as his birth-day[ ]. he came into the world with the most happy dispositions. nature bestowed on him a profound genius, a solid judgment, and a wonderful memory. several authors report[ ] that being employed to review some regiments he retained the name of every soldier. he was but eight years old, when, in , he wrote some elegiac verses, very pretty for that age: afterwards he thought them not good enough to publish. m. le clerc informs us, that he had seen a copy of them in the possession of a very able man, who purposed to write the life of grotius. nothing contributed more to his amazing progress, than the excellent education he received. he was so happy, as to find in his own father a pious and able governor, who formed his mind and his morals. he did not confine himself to making his son a man of learning, he purposed making him a good man. the young grotius, like horace, has celebrated his gratefulness for so good a father in some verses still extant. he often declared in the course of his life,[ ] that he could never sufficiently acknowledge his obligation to his father and mother for the principles of piety they instilled into him. we learn from his letters[ ], that his preceptor was one lusson, whom he calls an excellent man; and seems to have been greatly affected with his death: which is all we know of him. he was scarce past his childhood[ ] when he was sent to the hague; and boarded with mr. utengobard, a celebrated clergyman among the arminians, with whom he kept up the most tender friendship till his death, in return for the care he had taken of his education. before he was twelve, he was sent to the famous university of leyden to perfect himself: and continued there three years with the learned francis junius, who was so kind to superintend his behaviour. joseph scaliger, the ornament of the university of leyden, who enjoyed the most brilliant reputation among the learned, and whom his worshippers regarded as the dictator of the republic of letters, was so struck with the prodigious capacity of young grotius, that he condescended to direct his studies. in he maintained public theses in mathematics, philosophy, and law with the highest applause. hence we may judge with what ardour he applied to study. he tells us himself that he spent a part of the night in it.[ ] the device which he adopted[ ] shews that he had reflected on the swiftness of time, and the necessity of employing it well. the reputation of this learned youth spread every-where; and learned men spoke of him in their works as a prodigy. so early as the year isaac pontanus calls him a young man of the greatest hopes; meursius, in , declared he had never seen his equal. james gilot, in a letter written from paris to meursius in , affirmed the capacity of young grotius bordered on prodigy; the famous poet barlæus said the childhood of grotius astonished all the old men. daniel heinsius maintained that grotius was a man from the instant of his birth, and never had discovered any signs of childhood. he was scarce eleven when john dowza bestowed the highest encomiums on him in some verses that might deserve to be copied entire: he can scarce believe that the great erasmus promised so much as the young grotius: and foretels that he will soon excel all his cotemporaries, and be fit to be compared with the most esteemed of the antients. at this early age, grotius ventured to form plans, which required very great learning; and he executed them to such perfection, that the republic of letters was struck with astonishment. but as he did not publish these works till after his return from france, we shall defer giving an account of them till we have first spoken of his journey thither, and displayed the situation of affairs in holland, in whose government grotius had soon a share. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] borremansius. crenius anim. hist. t. . p. . du maurier. [ ] ep. , p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] apol. c. . [ ] in natalem patris, p. . [ ] _hora ruit._ vii. he came into the world precisely at that time when the affairs of the united provinces were in the greatest disorder. it was the year[ ] that the duke of anjou wanted to surprize antwerp; and that the greatest lords, in despair of being able to resist the formidable power of the king of spain, were seeking to obtain a pardon. to add to their distress, william prince of orange, the greatest support of the infant republic, was murdered the year following, , at delft. his talents, his experience, and his reputation were the principal resource of the malcontents. the confusion, in which he left affairs, grieved him so much, that his last words were, _lord, have pity on this poor people_. every thing was prepared, when he died, for proclaiming him count of holland. the provinces of zealand and utrecht did not oppose it: only the cities of amsterdam and goude made some difficulty: however, the thing was so far advanced, that the states of holland sent a deputation to those two cities, to acquaint them, if they refused any longer to give their consent, the states would nevertheless consummate the affair. the deputation had been gone a month, when the prince was assassinated on the tenth of july. the states in this kind of anarchy requested henry iii. of france to receive them for his subjects; but the embarrassments the league gave him hindered his accepting their offer. on his refusal they had recourse to queen elizabeth, who concluded a treaty with them, by which she engaged to furnish five thousand foot, and a thousand horse, under an english general, and to pay these troops during the war on condition of being reimbursed when it was over: and it was stipulated that for security of the payment some towns, particularly flushing in zealand, and the brille in holland, should be put into her hands, to be restored to the states when the money was repaid. the queen of england at the same time published a manifesto, setting forth, that the alliance between the kings of england and the sovereigns of the low countries was not so much between their persons as between their respective states: from whence she concluded that, without violating her alliance with the king of spain, she might assist the people of the low countries oppressed by the spaniards. the earl of leicester was appointed to command the succours sent by the queen to holland. the states, to express their gratitude to england, declared him governor and captain-general of the united provinces. no sooner did he see himself invested with this great power, than he began under-hand to form projects destructive of the liberty of the country he came to defend: it has been said, he designed to make himself sovereign of the provinces of which he was only governor. he soon became odious to every one; and after a campaign, in which he performed no considerable exploit, returned to england to take measures for facilitating the execution of his ambitious designs. the states, who had no longer any confidence in him, gave, in , the command of their own army to count maurice of nassau, son of the prince of orange. he was then only eighteen: but he quickly justified by many signal successes the hopes they had conceived of him. the earl of leicester, returning to holland, resolved to employ force to accomplish his design of making himself sovereign: he wanted to get possession of several places at once; but his scheme for surprizing leyden being seasonably discovered, all correspondence between the states and him was entirely broken off. the queen recalled him, and sent in his room lord willoughby, who was to command only the english. the states thereupon appointed count maurice of nassau captain-general: the grand pensionary barnevelt, who had distinguished himself by his firmness in opposing leicester, contributed greatly to this nomination. footnotes: [ ] ann. grotii l. . p. . viii. the united provinces had bravely defended their liberty for several years: it was a subject of astonishment to all europe, that such a small state should be able to resist the formidable power of king philip ii. henry iv. having triumphed over the league, had nothing more at heart than the restoring peace and order to his kingdom that had been exhausted by a long series of misfortunes, and found it impossible to bring about this without making peace with spain. he communicated his intentions to the dutch[ ] above a year before there was any talk of negotiating: for though he had not been their adviser to take up arms, he wished they might make their peace at the same time he did: but the states would have no peace on the conditions on which spain pretended to grant it: the french king's resolution, of consequence, put them in a great consternation, because they foresaw the whole force of philip ii. was coming to fall on them. they took a resolution to send to henry, in , count justin of nassau and the grand pensionary barnevelt, to intreat him to continue the war, and not make a separate peace. the dutch ambassadors, in conjunction with lord cecil, ambassador from england, omitted nothing to determine the king to conclude a new treaty of perpetual alliance with holland and england against spain. the king prayed them to consider, that the state of his affairs required him to make peace; but, for the rest, it would not hinder him, in case the queen of england and the states did not chuse to be comprehended in the treaty, from doing them service; that the peace itself would enable him to assist them with money, without leaving spain any room to complain, as he could pretend that he only repaid what money they had lent him in his greatest wants. the congress of vervins, already begun, was still continued. henry sincerely desired a general peace: and accordingly ordered mess. de bellievre and de silleri, his plenipotentiaries, to obtain from the archduke albert a truce of four months between spain and holland; hoping that means of reconciliation might be found in that interval. the archduke at first refused it: and this denial had well nigh broke off the congress: he consented at last to a truce of two months: but the dutch would not accept it, finding the term too short. the only advantage which the states drew from this embassy was a promise from the king to assist them, in four years, with two millions nine hundred thousand florins; as barnevelt informs us. grotius, who had a strong inclination to see france, seized the opportunity of the dutch ambassadors journey: he accompanied the grand pensionary, for whom he had the highest esteem, and justly regarded as one of the principal supports of the infant republic. the learned youth was advantageously known in france before. m. de buzanval, who had been ambassador in holland, introduced him to the king, by whom he was graciously received: that great prince presented him with his picture and a gold chain. grotius was so transported with this present, that he caused a print of himself, adorned with the chain given him by henry, to be engraved. he gives the history of this embassy in the seventh book of his _annals_: but is so modest not to mention himself. he reflects, however, with pleasure, in some part of his[ ] poems, on the honour he had of speaking to such a great king. "i had the honour to kiss the hand of that hero, who owes his kingdom only to his valour." grotius took advantage of this journey to get himself created doctor of laws. footnotes: [ ] mem. de bellievre & de silleri, t. . p. . [ ] in pasch. . ix. after having been near a year in france, he returned to holland. he had the greatest pleasure in his journey: one thing only was wanting to his satisfaction, a sight of the celebrated m. de thou, the person among all the french whom he most esteemed. he had fought to get acquainted with that great man; but did not succeed. as soon as he returned to delft, he wrote him[ ] that he had been a year in france; had the pleasure of seeing a fine kingdom, a great king, very valuable noblemen, but had the mortification of not seeing him; that he would endeavour to repair this misfortune by his letters; and that he took the liberty to present him with a book he had just dedicated to the prince of condé. this letter was extremely well received by the president; and from that time to the death of m. de thou, notwithstanding the disproportion of their age and fame, a most intimate correspondence subsisted between them. grotius sent him, july , ,[ ] the _epithalamium_ he had written on the marriage of king henry iv. with mary of medicis. mention was made in it of the massacre on st. bartholomew's day: this was an invidious subject; but the author, after consulting scaliger, thought he could not dispense with recalling the remembrance of that horrid scene. he was in doubt whether he ought to publish this piece: he asked the president de thou's advice; and till he had his answer, shewed the verses to none. whether it was that m. de thou advised him to suppress them, or that he took this step of himself[ ] because there were several facts in the _epithalamium_ not strictly true, it is not to be found in the collection of his _poems_. he intended to dedicate some work to the president, as a public testimony of his profound esteem for that excellent magistrate, whom he regarded as the greatest man of his age[ ]. m. de thou soon perceived the great merit of young grotius; and had the highest affection for him[ ]. they corresponded by letter whilst the president lived: grotius sent him memoirs[ ] for his _history_, and hints relating to the lives and deaths of illustrious men in the united provinces. it was a thing infinitely pleasing, and at the same time extremely honorable to a youth between seventeen and eighteen, to be most intimately connected with one of the greatest men of his time, already advanced in years, who filled a post of much eminence, and whom all europe beheld with admiration. the friendship and esteem of such a personage is the highest encomium. m. de thou gave grotius, towards the end of his life, sincere proofs of the concern he took in his quiet and welfare. that great historian, who had experienced the fiery zeal of some divines, beheld with pain his friend engaging in controversies which would render him odious to a powerful party. as if he had foreseen what was soon to happen, he advised him to drop these dangerous disputes. grotius wrote him in answer, that he had entered into them only through necessity, to serve his country and the church; that he thought himself obliged to obey those who wished he would write on those matters; that, for the rest, he would avoid, for the future, all disputes which were not absolutely necessary. this letter is the last we have of the valuable correspondence between those illustrious men: the president de thou died soon after. grotius wrote his _elogium_ in verse, addressed to francis augustus de thou his son, and in this poem, which was composed at the time he escaped from antwerp to go to paris, he appears to regret much that he had not the felicity to see his illustrious father. it is looked on as one of the best grotius ever wrote. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . april , . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] poemata, p. . ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . ep . p. . x. grotius, who had resolved to follow the bar, pleaded his first cause at delft in the year , at his return from france. the study of law and poetry employed one part of his time; he spent the other in publishing the works he had prepared for the press. the first he gave to the public was _martianus capella_. this is one of those obscure authors, who are commonly not read till we have nothing else to learn: the title of his work is, _of the marriage of mercury and philology, in two books; to which are annexed seven other books on the liberal arts_. the author was an african, and his style, like that of most authors of his nation, obscure and barbarous; which makes it not easy to be understood. before this there was no good edition of his works. john grotius had put into his son's hands a manuscript of capella: hugo shewed it to scaliger; and this learned man, whose counsels were commands to the young grotius, engaged him to study that author, and publish a new edition of him. though grotius was then but fourteen, the difficulty of the undertaking did not discourage him: he read all the works that had relation to the matters capella treated of; and at length acquitted himself of the task enjoined him by scaliger with such abilities and success, as, to use mr. baillet's words, astonished the whole world. the work appeared in . it would have been published before, but for his journey to france, and some delays occasioned by the bookseller. grotius also informs us, that he would have printed it sooner, had he been less taken up with the study of the law. to judge of grotius' labour it will be sufficient to read what he says in the preface. "we have collated _capella_ with the several authors who have treated the same subjects: in the two first books with those who have written of the sentiments of the ancient philosophers, apuleius, albricus, and others too tedious to name, on grammar we have compared him with grammarians: what he has said on rhetoric, with cicero and aquila; on logic, with porphyry, aristotle, cassiodorus, apuleius; on geography, with strabo, mela, solinus, ptolemy, but chiefly pliny; on arithmetic, with euclid; on astronomy, with hygin, and the rest who have treated that subject; on music, with cleonides, vitruvius, boëthius." rightly to understand _capella_ requires an acquaintance with all the sciences. the principal use of his book is to shew how far the knowledge of the ancients extended. grotius, when in france, had often the honour of paying his court to the young prince of condé, at that time presumptive heir of the crown: he was so well pleased with his genius, and learning, which was above his years, that he dedicated his _capella_ to him. the dedication is dated december , . men of the greatest learning publickly expressed their surprise to see a child of fifteen produce a work that would have done honour to the most celebrated man of letters. scaliger made a very high encomium on the young author in some fine verses which are much to grotius' honour. the president de thou was very well pleased with _capella_. [ ]casaubon declared that whatever high idea he might have of grotius' labour, the success exceeded his hopes. [ ]vossius, in fine, after assuring grotius that he had very happily restored _capella_, compares the editor to erasmus; and affirms that the whole world could not produce a man of greater learning than grotius[ ]. the more we consider this work, the greater difficulty we have to believe it to have been executed by a boy. we would sometimes be inclined to think the great scaliger had a hand in it; but this is only a conjecture: that grotius was assisted by his father is very certain; he tells us so himself. some perhaps will be glad to know how grotius managed with the booksellers: for even little details that relate to famous men yield a pleasure. he never took money for the copy, though, he tells us, some people of good fortune were not so delicate: but he asked a hundred books on large paper handsomely bound, to make presents to his friends; it being unjust, he said, that while he served the public and enriched the booksellers, he should injure his own fortune. footnotes: [ ] ep. gr. . p. . [ ] ep. caus. . [ ] de hist. lat. lib. xi. the same year, , grotius published another work which discovered as much knowledge of the abstract sciences in particular, as the edition of _martianus capella_ did of his learning in general. stevin, mathematician to prince maurice of nassau, had by his orders composed a small treatise for the instruction of pilots in finding a ship's place at sea. he formed a table of the variations of the needle, according to the observations of plancius, a famous geographer, and added directions how to use it. grotius translated into latin this work, which he could not have understood without knowing the mathematics, and particularly mechanics; statics, and the art of working a ship, and of finding her place at sea, being branches of that science. this translation he dedicated to the republic of venice by a letter dated april , ; in which he says, that having been in france about a year before, with the ambassadors of the states, he there saw signior contarini, ambassador of venice; that a comparison happening to be made in conversation between the republics of holland and venice, he immediately resolved to dedicate to the venetians the first work he published that might be agreeable, or worthy to be presented to them; that an opportunity now offer'd of fulfilling this resolution, and that he dedicated to them the translation of stevin's work because prince maurice had recommended it to the colleges of the admiralty to be studied by all officers of the navy; and as the republic of venice attentively cultivated navigation, this book might be as useful to her as to holland. xii. the year following, that is to say, , grotius published the treatise which aratus, of sola in cilicia, composed in greek on astronomy, two hundred and some odd years before the birth of christ. it is known by the name or the _phænomena of aratus_. the title fully shews what grotius gives in this book. it contains the phænomena of aratus in greek with cicero's latin interpretation, the places where cicero's translation is wanting being supplied; a translation of the same phænomena, ascribed to germanicus; the fragment of aratus's prognostics, and the forms of the constellations as found in a manuscript; with remarks upon the whole, the paraphrase of festus avienus, and marginal notes. this work is dedicated to the states of holland and west friesland: the author in the dedication promises them others more considerable. the book is a prodigy of science and erudition: it discovers a great knowledge of physics, and especially of astronomy. the latin verses made by grotius to supply those of cicero that were lost, are not inferior to the lines of that great man, in the opinion of the abbé d'olivet, an excellent judge, who likewise thinks the supplement a very good commentary on aratus's work. the corrections made by grotius in the greek are most judicious; and his notes shew he had read several of the rabbi's, and had some tincture of the arabic. scaliger[ ], m. de thou, and lipsius, speak of this edition with the highest praise. lipsius, in thanking grotius for his aratus, says that notwithstanding his childhood he looks on him as his friend: he congratulates him, that, tho' so very young, he had by force of genius and labour accomplished what few could do in the flower of their age[ ]. casaubon[ ] tells us, every one was surprised at such an extraordinary production. bonaventura vulcanus, who took occasion from grotius's publishing this book, to write his elogium in verse, says in the conclusion, that apollo had opened to him his sanctuary, and that he was himself an apollo. grotius's modesty would not permit him to leave us ignorant that he had been assisted by his father in this work. it may be proper to observe, that a library in germany contains a copy of grotius's edition of the phænomena of aratus, collated with an ancient manuscript by the learned nicholas heinsius, who has added some notes[ ]. footnotes: [ ] ep. scal. . ep. gr. . [ ] ep. lips. ad belgas, cent. . p. . [ ] ep. . [ ] fab. bib. gr. lib. . c. . xiii. these grave and profound studies did not hinder grotius from cultivating poetry. he had made some verses in his childhood which were thought very pretty: he continued this manner of writing in the midst of his greatest occupations, and with such success, that he was looked on as one of the best poets in europe. the prosopopoeia[ ] in which he makes the city of ostend speak, after being three years besieged by the spaniards, is reckoned one of the best pieces of verse since the augustan age. public fame gave it at first to scaliger because he was considered as the greatest poet of that time. the celebrated peyresc[ ] hinted it to that learned man, who made answer, he was too old not to be the aversion of the virgins of helicon; and that the verses were not written by him, but by grotius, a most accomplished youth. notwithstanding this declaration, mathieu, in the _life of henry iv._ ascribes them to scaliger. they were thought so excellent, several men of learning set about translating them into french, particularly du vair, afterwards keeper of the seals; rapin, grand provost of the constabulary, and stephen pasquier. malherbe himself, the oracle of the french parnassus, did not think it beneath him to put this epigram into french verse: and casaubon translated it into greek. grotius did not confine himself to writing small pieces of verse: he rose to tragedy. we have three written by him. the first was called _adamus exsul_. he sent it to lipsius, who liked it[ ]; and it was printed at leyden in . the author was afterwards dissatisfied with it, and would not suffer it to appear in the collection of his poems published by his brother[ ]. _christus patiens_ was his second tragedy. it was printed at leyden in , and much approved. casaubon greatly admires its poetic fire[ ]. sandes translated it into english verse; and dedicated it to charles i. it was very favourably received in england; and in germany it was proposed as the model of perfect tragedy. the subject of his third tragedy was the story of joseph; and its title _sophomphaneas_, which, in the language of egypt, signifies the saviour of the world. vossius assures meursius it is the most perfect thing in its kind the age has produced[ ]: vondel, a celebrated poet of holland, translated it into dutch: and grotius expressed a high sense of vondel's friendship, in condescending to translate his works, when he could write much better of his own[ ]. the most learned critics, many of whom were good versifiers, agreed that grotius excelled in poetry. scaliger acknowledged his epigrams were admirable[ ]. casaubon being informed that grotius had written some verses on the death of theodore beza, says, "he heard with infinite pleasure that so great a man had his elegy written by so great a poet[ ]." baudius calls him the darling friend of the muses, and acquaints us that scaliger thought some of his small poems equal to the best of the ancients[ ]. gerard vossius speaks of him as the greatest poet of his age, and the prince of poetry. in fine, m. baillet, who had examined the many opinions given of grotius, assures us, that all who read his poems approved of them; that those of fine taste, and who could judge of epigrams, found many of his admirable, some discovering the subtilty of his genius, and the fertility of his imagination; others, the happy turn which he could give to his thoughts and expressions. even his enemies did not presume to deny him the praise of an excellent poet; and salmasius, in a letter written with design to lessen grotius's reputation, and dictated by jealousy, injustice, and spleen, allows however he was a great poet. "but," he adds, "every one in this country prefers barlæus; and many, even heinsius." balzac, who in other things did justice to grotius, wished he had employed his poetic talents only on proper subjects. "i never saw," says he, "the swedish ambassador, but i have long esteemed his genius: and if he had not put the _institutes_ into verse, and published some other pieces of the same nature, i should esteem him still more." but it is proper to observe that these were the amusements of his childhood, and never intended to be made public. grotius had a meaner idea of his poetical talents, than even the rivals of his glory. "as to merit in poetry (he writes to the president de thou) i yield it to every one." it was william grotius who published the collection of his brother's poems. some of them, and these not the best, had been printed before in germany very incorrect: which induced william to look over his brother's papers, extract the poems, and publish them with those already printed. this collection is dedicated to vandermile, son-in-law of the grand pensionary barnevelt, deputy to the states general, curator of the university of leyden, and the great friend of hugo grotius. the dedication is dated september , . a letter of grotius, written the th of december in the preceding year, informs us he was very averse to his brother's project. he foresaw that he would one day be reproached with this edition; which accordingly happened, particularly when, endeavouring to reconcile the two religions, he incurred the hatred of rivet and some other ministers, who seeking to destroy his reputation, declaimed against his epithalamiums, and found fault with his introducing the false divinities in the manner of the ancient poets, and his speaking of war rather as a zealous citizen, than a pacific christian. these reproaches touched him: and in the latter part of his life he wished only his sacred poems had been preserved[ ]. but, notwithstanding the peevishness of those divines, grotius's poems had a great run, were printed in england, and several times reprinted in holland. footnotes: [ ] area parva ducum, totus quam respicit orbis, celsior una malis, et quam damnare ruinæ nunc quoque fata timent, alieno in littore resto. tertius annus abit; toties mutavimus hostem. sævit hiems pelago, morbisque furentibus æstas; et nimium est quod fecit iber crudelior armis. in nos orta lues: nullum est sine funere funus; nec perimit mors una semel. fortuna, quid hæres? qua mercede tenes mixtos in sanguine manes? quis tumulos moriens hos occupet hoste perempto quæritur, et sterili tantum de pulvere pugna est. [ ] gassendi's life of pyresc, lib. . p. . [ ] ep. . feb. , . [ ] ep. . ad vossium, p. . [ ] casaub. ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] scaligerana p. . ed. . [ ] ep. . [ ] ep. baudii, . cent. . scal. poemata, p. . [ ] discus. apolog. rivetiani, p. . ep. , p. . ep. . p. . ep. . p. . ep. . p. . xiv. the united provinces still bravely maintained their liberty against the efforts of spain, who since the peace of vervins had collected her whole force against them. the glory they acquired by this illustrious defence determined them to make choice of an historian who might transmit with dignity to after-ages the signal exploits of this memorable war. several learned men made great interest for the place; among others baudius, the famous professor of eloquence in the university of leyden: but the states thought young grotius (who had taken no step to obtain it) deserved the preference: and what is still more singular, baudius himself did not find fault with their choice, because he looked upon grotius to be already a very great man. xv. his high reputation was on the point of procuring him, about the same time, a very honourable settlement in france. king henry iv. sensible that he ought to have a man of the greatest merit at the head of his library, had, at the recommendation of m. de villeroi, while gosselin his librarian was yet living, fixed upon casaubon, who at that time had the greatest name for literature. this affair was carried on mysteriously: the king desired to see casaubon in private: he told him, that he intended to make him his librarian; and that gosselin could not live above a year; adding, with the frank and noble air which so well became that great prince: "you shall see my fine books, and tell me what they contain; for i don't understand them myself." gosselin lived three years after this conversation, till . the jesuits being informed casaubon was to be set over the king's library, represented to his majesty the inconveniences of confiding a treasure of that nature to the most obstinate of all heretics. this made some impression on the king: nevertheless he was afraid of a clamour were it known that he refused an employment promised to a protestant on account of his religion. he consulted with some persons; and they advised him to send to holland for grotius, whom he knew, and appoint him his librarian; which would make the public ascribe the change to some private discontent, and not to religion. casaubon, apprised of what was doing, remained perfectly quiet: but the president de thou, thinking the king's honour concerned in keeping his word, warmly solicited in his favour, and, after the affair had been suspended some weeks, casaubon was at length nominated. grotius had had no part in this whole proceeding: accordingly casaubon was so far from being offended with him, that, writing to daniel heinsius, december , , he assures him if the place could have made grotius's fortune, he wished he had got it, because he loved him, and admired his prodigious genius. xvi. grotius was at that time principally employed as an advocate. he tells us that to make himself master of the forms of law, he carefully studied the practical part, transcribing precedents of petitions, prosecutions, and defences. he pleaded his first cause when he was but seventeen, with universal applause, which he maintained whilst he continued at the bar. we learn the method he followed in his pleadings from a letter to his son peter advising him to imitate it. "that you may not, says he, be embarrassed by the little order observed by those against whom you speak, mind one thing, of which i have found the advantage. distribute all that can be said on both sides under certain heads, which imprint strongly in your memory; and whatever your adversary says, refer it to your own division, and not to his[ ]." grotius's great attention was to avoid prolixity and confusion in his pleadings[ ]. the employment of an advocate, though he acquired infinite honour by it, did not however please him. the reasons of his dislike we have in a letter to daniel heinsius, dated july , . "besides that law-suits are improper for a peaceable man, what doth he derive from them? they procure him hatred from those against whom he pleads, small acknowledgments from his clients, and not much honour with the public. add to this, that the time spent in things so little agreeable, might be employed in acquiring others much more useful. i should have been a better philosopher, more master of the greek, better acquainted with the manners of the ancients, with the poets, and philologists, if i had practiced less as an advocate." footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ibid. xvii. his brilliant success at the bar, which he treats as ungrateful, procured him, however, a very considerable promotion. the place of advocate-general of the fisc for holland and zealand becoming vacant, it was unanimously conferred on grotius. this is an employment of great distinction and authority, the person invested with it being charged with the preservation of the public peace and the prosecution of offenders. it was in he took possession of this important office, which he filled with so much reputation, the states augmented his salary, and promised him a seat in the court of holland. xviii. john grotius, on his son's being made advocate-general, began to think of a wife for him; and fixed upon mary reigersberg, of one of the first families in zealand, whose father had been burgomaster of veer: the marriage was solemnised in july, . the greatest encomium of the new-married lady is, that she was worthy such a husband as grotius. the most perfect harmony subsisted between them, and grotius held her in the highest esteem[ ]. this alliance gave occasion to a number of poems. john grotius wrote his son's epithalamium; daniel heinsius composed a poem on that subject, which, in the opinion of grotius, was the best of the kind that ever had been written. grotius himself celebrated his nuptials in some latin verses, approved of by scaliger, and translated them into dutch: he also wrote some in french on that occasion. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . xix. at the time of his marriage he was employed in a work of great importance, which was not published till the year following. this was his _freedom of the ocean, or the right of the dutch to trade to the indies_; dedicated to all the free nations of christendom, and divided into thirteen chapters. the author shews in the first, that by the law of nations navigation is free to all the world: in the second, that the portuguese never possessed the sovereignty of the countries in the east-indies with which the dutch carry on a trade: in the third, that the donation of pope alexander vi. gave the portuguese no right to the indies: in the fourth, that the portuguese had not acquired by the law of arms the sovereignty of the states to which the dutch trade: he shews in the fifth, that the ocean is immense and common to all; that it is absurd to imagine that those who first navigate a sea ought to be judged to have taken possession of it; that a vessel which cuts the waves of a sea, gives no more right to that sea, than she leaves marks of her way in it; that, besides, the portuguese are not the first who sailed in the indian sea, since there are facts which demonstrate it was neither unknown to the ancients, to the spaniards, nor to the carthaginians, nor even to the romans. the sixth chapter proves, that the right of navigation in that sea cannot belong exclusively to the portuguese by virtue of alexander vi's donation, because donation cannot take place in things which enter not into trade; and that, besides, the pope is not master of the sea. in the seventh chapter it is shewn, that the eastern sea, or the right of navigation in it, cannot belong to the portuguese by prescription, since prescription being only by the civil law it cannot operate against the law of nature, by virtue of which, navigation in that sea is free to all the world; that, moreover, prescription doth not take place in things that cannot be alienated, such as the sea, the use of the sea, and things common to all men: add to this, that the opposition of other nations, and their navigation in that sea would have hindered the prescription. it is proved in the eighth, that by the law of nations the commerce between nations is free, and cannot be prohibited without injustice. in the ninth it is shewn that the trade to the indies doth not belong to the portuguese, exclusive of other kingdoms, because they first took possession of it, since the title of first occupant takes place only in that which is corporeal. the tenth proves, that the pope could not grant the portuguese an exclusive trade to the indies: the eleventh, that this trade does not belong to them by prescription: the twelfth, that nothing is more unjust than the claim to an exclusive trade set up by the portuguese. the author concludes his work with the thirteenth chapter, exhorting the dutch to continue their trade to the indies in time of war, of truce, or of peace. this work was printed without grotius's knowledge, and published without his consent. he appears not to have been quite satisfied with it: "my intention (says he in a letter to camerarius, may th, ) was good; but the work favours too much of my want of years." they wrote against him in spain: "i know (he writes his brother, april , ) that a treatise was written some time ago, at salamanca, against mine _of the freedom of the ocean_, but it was suppressed by the king of spain." another appeared, in , at valladolid, entitled, _de justo imperio lusitanorum asiatico_, by one francis seraphin de freiras. _the freedom of the ocean_ was refuted in england by the famous selden in his work entitled _mare clausum, seu de dominio maris_. grotius thought the spanish author's book not ill done, and deserving of an answer[ ]; and was pleased with the politeness shewn him by selden[ ]. but at the time these answers appeared grotius was so dissatisfied with the dutch, he did not think himself obliged to employ his time for people void of gratitude. "let them seek among my judges (said he by way of irony on their ignorance) for one to answer the spaniard[ ]." as to selden's book, grotius seemed not to mind it; he looked on himself as no longer concerned in the controversy. "i wholly forget what i have been, says he, when i see those to whom i have done so great services, remember me only to hurt me." these sentiments of an indifference bordering on hatred he did not entertain till after the dutch had done every thing to make him uneasy, as we shall see in the sequel. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . xx. the year after the publication of the treatise _of the freedom of the ocean_, grotius printed his work _de antiquitate reipublicæ batavæ_, divided into seven chapters. in the first the author shews what is an aristocratical government: in the second he gives the history of the ancient batavi, whose government, he says, was aristocratical, under the command of a head, who was sometimes styled king. he explains, in the third, the state of the republic of the batavi in the time of the roman empire; and building on a passage of tacitus he pretends they were allies, and not subjects of the romans. in the fourth he enquires into the government of the batavi after the fall of the roman empire; from which æra till the establishment of the counts of holland we know very little of that nation. the author treats, in the fifth chapter, of the government of holland in the time of the counts. the first elected to that dignity was named diederic, of friesland, and was count of the whole nation: he was not a vassal of the empire, and, as philip of leyden observes, he was emperor in his county. he was not so absolute as a monarch, and though the dutch in chusing their counts generally followed the order of primogeniture, they never set up a prince without first requiring of him an oath, to conform to the laws: so that he reigned rather by the consent of the people, than by right of succession. the power of the counts was limited by law; and the taxes were always imposed by the states. in the sixth chapter the author shews that philip ii. king of spain, endeavouring to change their form of government, occasioned the grand war which procured holland her liberty. grotius explains, in his seventh and last chapter, the form of government established in holland after the dutch threw off the spanish yoke. the work is dedicated to the states of holland and west-friesland, march , . the states were extremely pleased with it: they returned their thanks to the author, and made him a present[ ]. he afterwards added notes, serving for proofs of the several facts: these were carried away with his other papers at the time of his arrest; but the elzevirs, intending to publish a new edition of it, acquainted grotius, who was at pains to get the notes returned; and they are now printed at the end of the elzevir edition. his love to his country led him to advance several things in this work, which he afterwards owned to be mistakes[ ]; in particular, that the batavi had always been free, and not subject to the ancient franks[ ]. while this book was in the press, grotius, and his father, who commonly assisted him in his writings, translated it into dutch[ ]. footnotes: [ ] apolog. c. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] grotii manes, conringius, pope, p. . [ ] ep. . p. . xxi. elias oldenbarnevelt, pensionary of rotterdam, and brother to the grand pensionary of holland, dying in , the city of rotterdam offered that important place to grotius, whose name was so famous, foreigners sought to draw him to them by offers of honours and lucrative posts, which love to his country made him constantly reject. it was some time before he yielded to the desires of rotterdam. by the ferment of mens minds he foresaw that very great commotions would speedily shake the republic; this made him insist with the gentlemen of rotterdam that he should never be turned out of his place of pensionary: and on their promising accordingly, he accepted the employment, which gave him a seat in the assembly of the states of holland, and afterwards in that of the states general. hitherto grotius had had very little connection with the grand pensionary; but from this time contracted an intimate friendship with him, which gave him the greater pleasure as he was most desirous of the counsels of a man of so much experience, who had been himself nine years pensionary of rotterdam, and above thirty years grand pensionary of holland (in which employment he had done his country most essential services) and who was famous not only in holland, but in foreign countries, for his many embassies, and acknowledged prudence and abilities. the great intimacy between them gave rise to a report, that the grand pensionary, who was sensible of grotius's great merit, and who loved him, designed to have him made grand pensionary. we have this particular from grotius himself[ ], who assures us he never desired that high office, the rather as his health would not then permit him to discharge the many functions belonging to it. for by the grand pensionary the states see, hear, and act; and though he has no deliberative voice, and is the lowest in rank, his influence is the greatest. he manages prosecutions, receives dispatches, and answers them, and is as it were attorney-general of the states: before he be called to be grand-pensionary, he is nominated advocate of the states. footnotes: [ ] apol. c. . xxii. there was at that time a high dispute between the english and dutch concerning the right of fishing in the northern seas. two vessels had sailed from amsterdam to greenland to kill walrus, a sea-animal, larger than an ox, with the muzzle of a lion, the skin covered with hair, four feet, and two large teeth in the upper jaw, flat, hard, and so white that in colour and value they equal those of the elephant: some even give them the preference, because, besides their exceeding whiteness, they are not subject to grow yellow. these two vessels having caught twenty-two walrus, were met by some english vessels bound to russia, who hail'd them, and demanded whether they had pasports from the king of great britain to fish at greenland? the dutchmen answered, that the sea was free, and they had pasports from count maurice their stadtholder. "that is not enough, said the english[ ]: and to let you know that that sea belongs to the king our master, if you will not give us instantly the walrus you have taken, with your boats, nets, and instruments for killing them, we'll send you to the bottom." the two dutch vessels, unable to resist, were obliged to obey. returning to holland, they made their complaint; and the affair being laid before the states, it was resolved that grotius, who had written on the subject and was more master of it than any one, should be sent to england to demand justice: but, says the _mercure françois_, he found the old proverb true: the strongest are masters of the sea, and such never care to make restitution: so that he could obtain no satisfaction. this denial of justice from the english determined the dutch not to go to greenland for the future without a force sufficient to revenge themselves on the english, or to have nothing to fear from them. the dispute growing serious, to prevent any acts of hostility, and to know on what grounds they went, a conference was held in between the commissaries of england and holland, in which the debate turned chiefly on the whale-fishery. grotius, who was one of the commissaries from the province of holland, gives the history of this conference in a letter to du maurier, dated at rotterdam, june , . the dutch commissaries put the english to silence, by demonstrating, that neither the land nor the sea of greenland belonged to them, and that they had no right to hinder the dutch to navigate and catch whales in that sea, of which none could claim the property. that the land did not belong to them, because till the year no mortal had set foot on it; that the dutch discovered it the year before, and gave it the name it still retains, as may be seen in all the modern geographers, on the globes, and carts. the english wanted to reply that hugh willoughby discovered it in : but the dutch shewed even by the journal of his voyage, that setting out from finland he landed on the island which bears his name, at a great distance from greenland; that he died of hunger and cold, with all his companions, on the coast of lapland, where the laplanders found him, next summer, and from whence his journals were sent to england. the english, not knowing what to answer, said, it was a high indignity to their master, to dispute a right of which he had hitherto been in peaceable possession; and that their instructions imported, they should break off the conference unless the dutch would acknowledge england's claim to greenland. what was still more diverting (continued grotius) they added, that they had not then their titles, but would shew them to caron, the dutch agent in england, and, they flattered themselves, on seeing them, he would yield the point. they like better (adds he in the conclusion) to deal with him, than dispute with us, because they will take his silence, as they have done already, for submission. footnotes: [ ] mercure françois, an. . xxiii. if grotius had ground to be dissatisfied with the disingenuousness and injustice of the english ministry in his negotiation concerning the fishery, he had at least reason to be pleased with the politeness of king james, who, casaubon informs us, gave grotius a most gracious reception, and was charmed with his conversation. but the greatest pleasure he received by this voyage was the intimate friendship he contracted with casaubon. they knew one another before by character, and highly esteemed each other. they were made to be intimate friends: in both the most profound erudition was joined with the most perfect probity. they had still another sympathy to knit faster the band of this union: both ardently wished to see all christians united in one faith and desired nothing more, than to be employed in that great work. they have left behind them testimonies of the satisfaction they found in each other's acquaintance. "for my part, says grotius in a letter to john frederic gronovius[ ], i reckon it one of the greatest felicities of my whole life to have been loved by a man as illustrious for his piety, his probity, and his candor, as for his extensive learning. it was by his counsels or those of persons he approved that i conducted myself in the most difficult times." "i respect no less, says he in another letter, his frankness and his probity, than his uncommon erudition. his letters sufficiently prove what great friendship he had for me." we find in fact that they contain evidences of the highest esteem for grotius. to daniel heinsius he writes, april , , "i am very well; and cannot say enough of my felicity in enjoying the friendship of such a great man as grotius. o that incomparable man! i knew him before: but fully to comprehend the excellency of his divine genius, one must see him, and hear him converse. his countenance speaks probity, and his discourse discovers the deepest learning and the most sincere piety. think not that i only am his admirer; all learned and good men entertain the same sentiments for him, particularly the king." casaubon writes to the president de thou, april , , to acquaint him what pleasure he had received by seeing grotius. "i must let you know, says he, that i have seen here hugo grotius. he is a man of admirable probity and learning[ ]." they had long conversations together on religion. casaubon ardently desired a reunion of the protestants with the roman catholics[ ]: and would have set about it, had he staid longer in france, as he informed descordes, who repeated it to grotius. he greatly respected the opinions of the ancient church[ ], and was persuaded its sentiments were more sound than those of the ministers of charenton. grotius and he had imparted their thoughts to each other before the voyage to england: for casaubon congratulates him, january , , on his desiring nothing but peace and a coalition; and communicated grotius' sentiments to king james; who approved of them. this shews that grotius thought it was wrong to depart from the discipline and forms of the ancient church: casaubon was of the same mind; and his letter to m. de thou is a demonstrative proof that these two excellent men did not differ in matters of religion. "i esteem him highly, says he[ ], on account of his other great qualities; for he judges of the modern subjects of religious controversy like a learned and good man; and in his veneration for antiquity agrees with the wisest." the last letter which we have from casaubon to grotius comprehends all these sentiments in few words[ ]: "i heartily pray god to preserve you ever: and as long as i live, i shall hold you in the highest esteem, so much am i taken with your piety, your probity, and your admirable learning." footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. p. . [ ] ep. grotii . [ ] ep. grotii . [ ] ep. . [ ] ep. . xxiv. after his return from england, grotius happened to be one day at the assembly of the states of holland and west-friesland when an affair of consequence was under consideration. the states had granted commissions to several privateers, some of which made depredations on the friends of the republic, and, afterwards quitting the country, scowered the seas, refusing to return though summoned. some people of pomerania who had been ill used by these corsairs, applied to the states for redress. the question therefore was, whether the states were answerable for the act of those privateers, either as having employed bad men in their service, or neglected to require security from them on giving them commissions. grotius' advice being asked, his opinion was, that the states were only bound to punish the offenders, or deliver them up, if taken; and, for the rest, to make satisfaction to the sufferers out of the effects of the pirates. we learn from himself on what he grounded his opinion[ ]. the states, said he, were not the cause of those unjust practices, nor had any part in them: so far from it they have prohibited, by express ordonnances, the injuring of our friends. they were not obliged to ask security from the privateers, since, without granting formal commissions, they might permit all their subjects to plunder the enemy, as was formerly practised; and the permission they granted to those privateers was not the cause of the damage they did to our allies, since any private person may, without such permission, fit out vessels, and sail on a cruize. besides, it was impossible to foresee that these privateers would turn out wicked; and there is no taking such precautions as to employ only honest men. when a prince's troops, whether by sea or land, contrary to his order, injure his friends, he is not responsable for it; as appears from what has been acknowledged by france and england. to make one answerable for the acts of those who are in his service, even when no fault of his gave any occasion to them, would be to decide the question not by the law of nations, but by the civil law; and even the rule is not general in the civil law. the states were determined by this opinion. footnotes: [ ] de jure belli et pacis, lib. . c. . § . xxv. the multitude of affairs with which grotius was oppressed, and the continual journeys he was obliged to make, left him no time for cultivating polite literature. in the midst of his occupations du maurier, the french ambassador in holland, and his particular friend, having resolved to begin a course of study, applied to grotius for directions. we shall here give an extract from his answer[ ], because it may be of use to grown persons desirous of acquiring literary accomplishments. he shortened his method as much as he could out of regard to du maurier's age, dignity, and affairs. he advises him to begin with logic, not that of aristotle, which is too long, and contains many things of no great use: an abridgment was sufficient, such as du moulin's, the most esteemed at that time. "but your assistant, says he, must read the best that has been written on the subject, and communicate to you what is most remarkable: much may be learnt in an hour or two spent in this manner." the same method he would have observed in the other sciences, and even with regard to books; that is to say, the person under whom du maurier studies must read the best writers on every subject; and extract what is most essential, to be repeated to him. after logic he directs him to the study of physics, which he would not have carried too far; and recommends some plain and short abridgement: he could think of none at that time but _jacchæus_. he is of opinion, that as in logic the rules of syllogism are chiefly to be attended to, so in physics the enquiry into the nature and functions of the soul is of most importance. after physics he advises him to proceed to metaphysics, of which he might get some notion from timplerus' book, which is neither long nor obscure. the study of moral philosophy is to be begun with aristotle, whose books to nicomachus are the best. "your reader, says he, must give you in a small compass what the ablest interpreters have said. it is also necessary to be acquainted with the sentiments of the different sects of philosophers; for without that knowledge you will be much at a loss in reading the ancients, and profit little by them." to unbend after this serious study, some other short and agreeable books that have a relation to it may be read: such as _ecclesiasticus_, the _wisdom of solomon_, _theognis_, _phocilides_, the _golden verses ascribed to pythagoras_, _epictetus's enchiridion_, _hierocles_, and the _commentaries of arrian_; not omitting the _characters of theophrastus_. what the poets have written on morality may also be perused; with some select tragedies of euripides, _terence's comedies_, and _horace's epistles_. young people and grown persons admire different things in these writings: the beauty of the style pleases the first: the others learn by them to know men. to these works may be added _cicero's offices_, a piece not enough esteemed, purely because it is in the hands of every one; some of _seneca's epistles_, the tragedies that go under his name; and the best of plutarch's smaller pieces. after having gone through _aristotle's politics_, the excellent extract by polybius of republics is to be read; with the _harangues of mecænas and agrippa to augustus_, in dion; and _sallust's letter to cæsar_. _plutarch's lives of pericles_, _cato_, _the gracchi_, _demosthenes_, _and cicero_, must not be omitted: much may be learned too from _cicero's letters to atticus_, if they were translated by one well acquainted with the roman history of that period. after this would be the proper time for reading _aristotle's rhetoric_: for, as is well remark'd by that great man, who possessed all the arts and sciences in an eminent degree, from morals and politics must the arguments be drawn that are to convince mens understandings; that is to say, it is impossible to be truly eloquent without extensive knowledge. the better to perceive the use of the precepts it would be proper to read with attention some orations of demosthenes and cicero, particularly those which relate to public affairs, such as the _philippics_, the _olinthiacs_, the oration _pro lege manilia_, that against the _agrarian law_, and some others. the next thing, to be applied to is _jus publicum_, that is to say, the knowledge of the different forms of government, the conventions between nations, and, in fine, whatever regards peace and war. the treatises of plato and cicero _on laws_ shew in what manner the principles of this law are to be deduced from morality. it will not be unprofitable to read likewise, or at least to run over the second book of _st. thomas aquinas_, especially what he says of justice and laws: the _pandecta_, particularly the first and last book, the first and the three last books of _justinian's codex_, point out the use to be made of those principles. the lawyers who have best handled the questions relating to the law of nations and _jus publicum_, are vasquès, hotoman, and gentilis. after the acquisition of these several branches of knowledge, the study of history will be extremely useful, by the application which may be made of the examples to the precepts. history is to be begun with an abridgement of universal history; such as _justin_, _florus_, and the abridgement of _livy_. but in reading history a man ought to please his own taste: for they all contain many useful things: and we retain best those we read with pleasure. in general, we ought not to begin with the most ancient, but with such as, being nearer our own times, have greater relation with what we know already: we may afterwards go back to what is more distant. it is proper to observe, that there is more advantage to be reaped from reading the greek historians who have written the history of rome, than the latin, who have treated the same subject; because foreigners give more attention to the public manners and customs, than the natives. m. du maurier received this letter with the highest satisfaction; he permitted several copies to be taken of it, and it was printed by the elzevirs in , in a collection of several methods of study, under the title of _de omni genere studiorum recte instituendo_. grotius acquaints us[ ] that it was published with out his consent. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . book ii. grotius has hitherto appeared to us chiefly as a man of learning: we are now going to consider him entering into the affairs of the republic, wholly employed in restoring the peace of his country, and receiving for the reward of his pacific intentions an imprisonment, which would in all probability have been perpetual, had not the ingenious friendship of his wife with great address procured his liberty. but as the occasion of these events was the warm dispute kindled in the united provinces concerning grace and predestination, we must resume things a little higher. i. in the year , while the truce between the spaniards and the united provinces was negotiating, arminius, an eminent professor in the university of leyden, departing from the rigid sentiments of calvin, publickly taught, that god, foreseeing adam's sin, had resolved to send his only son into the world to redeem mankind; that he had ordained grace to all to whom the law should be preached, by which they might believe if they would, and persevere; that this grace offered to all men was of such a nature, that not only it might be resisted, but men actually did often resist it; and that god had only chosen or reprobated those, who, he foresaw, would embrace or reject the grace offered them. gomar, another professor in the university of leyden, warmly opposed this doctrine; maintaining, that by an eternal and irreversible decree god had predestinated some to everlasting life, and others to eternal damnation, without regard to their actions; that the grace given to the elect was so powerful, they could not resist it; and that jesus christ did not die for the reprobate. the doctrine of arminius was directly opposite to that of calvin: accordingly it met with great opposition; and he was accused before the synod of rotterdam, in which gomar's party prevailed. arminius, who knew that the magistrates were as warm for him, as the clergy and professors were against him, presented a petition to the states of holland and west-friesland, praying that the grand council might take cognisance of this dispute. his adversaries maintained that a theological contest ought to be judged by a church judicature: arminius's petition, however, was granted, and gomar obliged to appear with him before the magistrates, who promised to have the affair speedily discussed in a synod; and forbad, in the mean time, the advancing any thing contrary to the holy scriptures, the confessions of faith, and catechism. the grand council reported to the states, that the whole dispute was about some obscure questions concerning grace and predestination. barnevelt happening to say he thanked god that the fundamental points of religion were not in question, gomar, who was present, obtaining leave to speak, said, among other things, he would be very sorry to appear before god with arminius's sentiments. the dispute still continuing with much bitterness, in the states of holland ordered the principal ministers of the two parties to appear before them: twelve accordingly attended, six arminians and six gomarists, and disputed in presence of the states on predestination, the death of christ, the necessity and nature of grace and perseverance. the states heard them, but would determine nothing, only recommended to them to live in peace. but the consequence of this conference was like that of all other disputes, especially in matters of religion, mens minds were the more inflamed and provoked. arminius died on the th of october, , some time before this conference; and grotius made his elogium in verse. he had hitherto applied little to these matters, and even, writing to rutgersius, december , , he ingenuously owns, he did not understand a great part of them, because they were foreign to his profession. he had no inclination to offend gomar in commending arminius: he speaks with great moderation of their disputes, and doth not even affirm that the sentiments of arminius were the only true ones: but entering afterwards into a more strict examination of those points, he was convinced that the idea we ought to have of god's goodness and justice, and even the earliest tradition of the church, favoured arminius's system, and contradicted that of gomar: and in these sentiments he persevered till his death. ii. the partisans of arminius, desirous to efface the bad impressions which gomar's discourses and those of his adherents had made on the minds of the public, met privately, and drew up a remonstrance, dated january , , which they addressed to the states of holland, setting forth, that they did not believe, like their adversaries. . "that god, by an eternal and irreversible decree, had predestinated men, whom he did not consider as created, and still less as culpable, some to everlasting life, and others to everlasting death, without regard to their good or evil actions, from his mere good pleasure, for the praise of his mercy, or his justice, or, as others say, to manifest his saving grace, his wisdom, and his absolute power: and that god has also, by an eternal and immutable decree, preordained the proper methods of executing his will, by which those who are predestinated to salvation are saved in a necessary and inevitable manner, so that it is impossible they should perish; and such as are predestinated to eternal death (who are the greater part of mankind) are necessarily and inevitably damned, so that they cannot be saved. . "that god, according to others, willing from all eternity to make a decree for electing some men and rejecting others, considered the human race not only as created, but also as fallen and corrupted in adam and eve our first parents, and thereby deserving of the curse; and that he resolved to deliver by his grace some men from this fall and damnation, for the manifestation of his mercy, and to leave others, both young and old, and even the children of those who are in the covenant, and died in their infancy, by his just judgment, under the curse, for the manifestation of his justice; and this without any regard to the repentance or the faith of the first, or the impenitence and unbelief of the others. they pretend that for the execution of this decree god makes use of means by which the elect are necessarily and inevitably saved, and the reprobate necessarily and inevitably damned. . "that accordingly jesus christ, the saviour of the world, did not die for all men, but for those alone who were chosen in the first or second manner, as he was only appointed mediator for the salvation of the elect, and of no others. . "that in consequence of this the spirit of god and of christ works so efficaciously in the elect, that they cannot resist it; but must be converted, believe, and be necessarily saved: that this irresistible grace and strength is given to the elect alone, and not to the reprobate, to whom god not only refuses this irresistible grace, but even denies them necessary and sufficient grace for their conversion and salvation, though they be called and solicited to accept it, without compulsion, externally, by the revealed will of god; but the inward strength necessary to conversion and faith is nevertheless denied them, by the secret will of god. . "that those who receive true and justifying faith by this irresistible power, cannot totally or finally lose it, even when they fall into gross sins; but are guided and supported by this irresistible strength, so that they cannot totally or finally fall away, or perish." the arminians afterwards added their own sentiments on these matters, comprehended in five articles. they declare their belief, . "that god, by an eternal and immutable decree, in jesus christ his son, before the world was created, resolved to save in jesus christ, on account of jesus christ, and through jesus christ, those from among mankind fallen in sin, who by the grace of the holy spirit believe in his same son jesus, and through the same grace continue in the faith and obedience to the end; and on the contrary, to leave under sin, and wrath, and to condemn the obstinate and unbelieving, as having no part in christ; according to what is said _st. john_ iii. . . "that accordingly jesus christ, the saviour of the world, died for all and every man; and by his death on the cross has merited for all reconciliation with god, and remission of sin; in such manner, nevertheless, that no one can partake of them but believers, according to the words of jesus, _st. john_ iii. . _st. john_ ii. . . "that man hath not saving faith of himself, and by the strength of his own free will; since while in a state of sin and apostacy he cannot of himself think, desire, or do that which is truly good, which is what is chiefly meant by saving faith; but it is necessary that god in jesus christ, and by the holy spirit, regenerate and renew him in his understanding and affections, or in his will and all his powers; that he may know the true good, meditate of it, desire, and do it. _st. john_ xv. . that to this grace of god is owing the beginning, the progression, and accomplishment of all good; in such manner that even the regenerate, without this antecedent, of preventing, exciting, concomitant, and co-operating grace, cannot think that which is good, desire, or practise it, nor resist any temptation to evil; so that all the good works or actions he can conceive, spring from the grace of god: that as to what regards the manner of operation of this grace, it is not irresistible, since it is said of several, they resisted the holy spirit. see _acts_ vii, and other places. . "that those who by a lively faith are engrafted into christ, and consequently made partakers of his quickening spirit, are furnished with sufficient strength to be able to combat and even overcome satan, sin, the world, and their own lusts; and all this, as is carefully to be observed, by the assistance of the grace of the holy spirit; and that jesus christ succours them by his spirit in all temptations, reaches to them his hand (provided they be willing to engage, ask his assistance, and are not wanting to themselves) supports and strengthens them so, that they cannot be led away by any wile or violence of satan, or snatched out of christ's hands, as he says himself, _st. john_ x. _my sheep shall no man pluck out of my hands._ for the rest, if it be asked whether these may not, through negligence, let go the confidence which they had from the beginning, heb. iii. , cleave again to the present world, depart from the holy doctrine which was delivered, make shipwreck of a good conscience? ( pet. i. . jude iii. . tim. i. . heb. xii. .) this must be previously examined, with more care, by the scriptures, to be able to teach it with full assurance to others." such is the arminians confession of faith, to which they gave the name of remonstrance, and thence were styled remonstrants. it was drawn up by utengobard, minister at the hague, and signed by forty-six ministers. it was probably made in concert with grotius, the intimate friend of utengobard, and at that time wholly employed in the subjects which were disputed by the arminians and gomarists. to resume in few words the doctrine of the arminians, we shall say with bossuet[ ], their principles were, that there is no absolute election, nor gratuitous preference, by which god prepares for certain chosen persons, and for them alone, the infallible means of bringing them to glory; but that god offers to all men, and especially to those to whom the gospel is preached, sufficient means to convert themselves; which some make use of; and others not, without employing any other for the elect, than for the reprobate: so that election is always conditional, and a man may come short of it by failing in the condition: from whence they conclude, first, that justifying grace may be lost totally, that is, without any degree of it being left; and lost finally, that is, without its ever being recovered: secondly, that there can be no assurance of salvation. footnotes: [ ] hist. des variations, lib. xiv. . . iii. this remonstrance not satisfying the gomarists, they opposed to it a contra-remonstrance, which gained them the name of contra-remonstrants. as these disputes gave the states a good deal of uneasiness, they enjoined the divines to deliver their thoughts of the most proper means to put an end to them. the remonstrants proposed a toleration; the contra-remonstrants, a national synod, in which they were sure of a majority. both these opinions were laid before the states, who declared for a toleration: this was the cause gained to the arminians; but the gomarists were favoured by the people, and grew very factious. the grand-pensionary, imagining that by making themselves masters of the election of the ministers, the states would insensibly appease these troubles, proposed the revival of an obsolete regulation, made in the year , by which the magistrates and consistory were each to nominate four persons, who should chuse a minister, to be afterwards presented to the body of magistrates, who might receive or reject him. this motion was agreed to by the states, to the great mortification of the contra-remonstrants: they complained that the states had exceeded their power. hence arose a grand contest who ought to be judge in ecclesiastical matters. the arminians said it belonged to the civil magistrate to decide them: the gomarists maintained that the clergy alone had that power. they separated themselves from the communion of the remonstrants[ ], took possession of the churches by force, stirred up seditions, wrote libels, and deposed the arminian ministers. in other churches the contra-remonstrants were driven out as madmen and rioters. these violences gave rise to schisms, some joining the old ministers, and others the new. it was at this time of confusion grotius was nominated pensionary of rotterdam, and ordered to go over into england. it is imagined[ ] he had secret instructions to get the king and the principal divines of the kingdom to favour the arminians, and approve of the states conduct. he had several conferences with his majesty on that subject. at his return to holland he found the divisions increased. barnevelt and he had the direction of the states proceedings in this matter; and he was appointed to draw up an edict which might restore tranquility. it was approved by the states, and is as follows. footnotes: [ ] grot. apolog. cap. . [ ] le vassor, l. . p. . iv. "whereas great dissentions and disputes have arisen in the churches of this country, on occasion of different explanations of some passages of holy writ, which speak of predestination and what relates to it; and these contentions having been carried on with so much heat, that some divines have been accused of teaching directly, or at least indirectly, that god has created some men to damn them; that he has laid certain men under a necessity of sinning; that he invites some men to salvation to whom he has resolved to deny it; other divines are also charged with believing that mens natural strength or works may operate their salvation. now these doctrines tending to the dishonour of god and the christian reformation, and being contrary to our sentiments, it has appeared to us highly necessary, from a regard to the honour and glory of god, and for the peace and harmony of the state, to condemn them. for these causes, after having weighed the matter, and long examined it with much conscience and circumspection, employing the authority which belongs to us as rightful sovereign, and agreeable to the example of the kings, princes, and cities which have embraced the reformation, we have ordained, and by these presents ordain, that in the interpretation of the passages of scripture above-mentioned every one give diligent heed to the admonition of st. paul, who teaches that no one should desire to know more than he ought; but to think soberly, according as god has dealt to every man the measure of faith; and agreeable to what the holy scriptures every-where set forth, that salvation is of god alone, but our destruction is of ourselves. wherefore in the explanation of the scripture, as often as occasion shall offer, the pastors shall declare to the people, and instil into the minds of all under their care, that men are not indebted for the beginning, the progress, and the completion of their salvation, and even of faith, to their natural strength, or works, but to the sole grace of god in jesus christ our saviour; that we have not merited it; that god has created no man to damn him; that god has not laid us under a necessity of sinning, and that he invites no man to be saved, to whom he has resolved to deny salvation. and, though in the universities, in conversation, and in those places where the scriptures are expounded, passages may be treated of which relate to predestination and what depends on it, and it may come to pass, as hath happened formerly, and in our own times, to learned and good men, that persons may give into these extremes and absurdities which we disapprove and have forbidden; our will is, that they be not proposed publicly from the pulpit to the people. but as to those who in relation to such passages only believe and teach that god hath from all eternity chosen to salvation, from the mere motion of his will, through jesus christ our saviour and redeemer, those who by grace which they have not merited, and by the operation of the holy spirit, believe in jesus christ our lord, and by free grace given them persevere in the faith to the end, we will that they be not molested on that account, nor pressed to embrace other sentiments, or teach other doctrine; for we judge these truths sufficient for salvation; and proper for the instruction of christians. we moreover ordain, that all pastors, in expounding the other articles of the christian faith, make use of explanations agreeable to the word of god, to what is commonly received in the reformed churches, and what has been taught in those of this country, which we have maintained and protected, and now maintain and protect; that they exercise christian charity; and that they avoid greater divisions: for in this manner, we judge, they ought to act for the good of the state and the church, and the restoration of her tranquility." this edict was too favourable to the arminians not to give great offence to the contra-remonstrants. they complained that it misrepresented their sentiments[ ] in order to render them odious, and that not only it wanted the approbation of the cities, but had not even been sent to them: from whence they concluded that no regard was to be paid to it. the states were very desirous that the king of great britain and the english bishops should be satisfied with the manner in which they had explained themselves in the edict: they were the more anxious as they had reason to believe james unfavourable to the arminians[ ]. however the king, the archbishop of canterbury, and the bishops of england allowed the doctrine of the edict to be orthodox, and equally distant from manicheism and pelagianism: the only thing which gave the king some pain, was, to see the civil magistrate assume a right of making decrees in matters of religion[ ]. footnotes: [ ] vossius, ep. . p. . pres. vir. epist. p. . [ ] ep. casaub. . grot. apolog. c. . ep. gr. , . [ ] ep. caus. . v. this edict served but to increase the troubles, by driving the gomarists, against whom it was levelled, into despair. the riots which had already happened, and which they hourly apprehended, made the grand pensionary barnevelt propose to the states of holland, that the magistrates of the cities of the province should be impowered to raise troops for the suppression of the rioters, and the security of their towns. dort, amsterdam, and three others of the most favourable to the gomarists, protested against this step, which they regarded as a kind of declaration of war against the contra-remonstrants. barnevelt's motion was, nevertheless, agreed to, and on the fourth of august, , the states issued a placard accordingly. this fatal decree occasioned the death of the grand pensionary and the ruin of grotius, by incensing prince maurice of nassau against them, who looked upon the resolution of the states, taken without his consent, as derogatory to his dignity of governor and captain general. he had entertained a mortal enmity for several years against the grand pensionary[ ], who concluded the truce in without his concurrence. hitherto he had stifled his revenge for want of a proper opportunity of executing it; but it blazed openly on occasion of this decree of the states, which he considered as barnevelt's act. he accused him of labouring to diminish his authority: found fault with the edict: that was made to engage the two parties to live in peace; declared publicly for the gomarists, assisted at divine service only in their churches, and forbad the soldiers to obey the states when they would employ them to appease the riots. some towns, however, levied men in consequence of the states decree, whether they suspected their garrisons, or thought there was no other way to suppress the enterprises of the rioters. the contra-remonstrants seeing themselves powerfully protected by prince maurice, separated from the communion of the arminians in . footnotes: [ ] grot. hist. l. . vi. amsterdam, almost as powerful singly as all holland, favoured the gomarists, and disapproved of the toleration which the states wanted to introduce. these resolved therefore to send a deputation to that city, in order to bring them over to their sentiments. the deputies were grotius, adrian mathenes, hugo musius, and gerard deich. april , , they received their instructions to go to amsterdam; on the morrow they left the hague, and arriving the same day at amsterdam, sent to desire the oldest burgomaster to assemble the town council: they were told, the council would meet the d at three in the afternoon. they employed this interval in removing a calumny spread by the contra-remonstrants, that they were sent to change the religion. one of the city-secretaries waited on them to conduct them to the council chamber, and being come there, grotius, as spokesman, said, "that sovereigns had a right to watch over the proceedings of the church; that the states had no intention but to protect the reformed religion; that they ardently desired the city of amsterdam would agree with them in all that might relate to the government of the church and mutual toleration; that the revival of the regulation of , which gives the magistrates a right to chuse the ministers, after being examined and found well affected to the reformed religion, was of great service, by preventing the troubles which followed the elections; of which there were several recent instances: that mutual toleration was necessary when the difference in opinion regarded only points not fundamental; that it had always been practised by the reformed churches from the time of calvin's reformation; that it was more necessary in the doctrine of predestination, as this was a matter of great difficulty; that the first reformers, though of different sentiments, tolerated one another; that bullinger and melancton were tolerated by beza and calvin; that james i. king of great britain, had advanced in his writings, that the two opposite opinions concerning predestination might be maintained without danger of damnation; that gomar himself declared arminius had not erred in fundamental points; that after the conference in , the ministers of the two parties promised to the states of holland to live in peace; that the points controverted were not necessary to salvation, that they were very difficult, that they never had been determined, either in the ancient, or the reformed church; that the decisions of the councils held in the church on occasion of pelagianism enjoined only a belief, that men are corrupted and have need of grace, and that the beginning of grace is from god; that even the church of rome permitted the doctors of different parties to dispute on these points; that it was not necessary to call a synod to examine them, because the authority of a sovereign is sufficient in matters where only the preventing of schism for things unnecessary to salvation, is in question; that the sovereign has a right to suppress disorders that arise in the church; that the business was not a change of religion, but the hindrance of schism; that the king of great britain and the canton of bern had justified the use of this right by examples; that if the utility of a synod to inform the sovereign what he ought to do on such occasions should be maintained, it were easy to answer, that it is not necessary to assemble a synod to know that men must tolerate one another when their opinions differ concerning points not necessary to salvation; that this was a truth acknowledged by calvin, beza, whittaker, junius, casaubon, du moulin, in fine by the most famous ministers, whose authority is at least equivalent to that of a synod; that as the question was not about a point of heresy, there was reason to apprehend the division would be increased by calling a synod, so great was the ferment of mens minds; that, besides, the moderate party in such synod would not be the most numerous; that perhaps the ecclesiastics would seek to diminish the sovereign authority; that they might make decisions which could not be enforced without throwing the republic into the greatest confusion; that therefore, previous to the convocation of a synod, mens minds ought to be prepared by gentle methods; that the decree made in by the states of holland, to which the city of amsterdam made some difficulty of submitting, was neither partial, nor injurious to the reformed churches; that it was resolved on after mature reflexion, and was in itself agreeable to sound doctrine; that the reasonable men among the contra-remonstrants had nothing to apprehend, since the deposition of some ministers was entirely owing to their attempts to introduce schism; that the remonstrants and contra-remonstrants, not differing in essential points, ought to tolerate one another, and agree on what they should preach; that if a toleration were not admitted, they must depose such as would not submit to the decision that might be given, or introduce two churches, either of which steps would trouble the state, whereas a toleration would restore tranquility and union, and favour the assembling of an impartial synod that might labour with success to restore peace to the church." the senate, after hearing this speech, made answer, that they would take it into consideration: and on the twenty-fifth of april the burgomasters visited the deputies, and told them, they would send to the states of holland to acquaint them with their sentiments. grotius, who perceived his discourse had not gained the senate, replied, that if the senate would mention their difficulties, the deputies of the states would endeavour to resolve them. the burgomasters answered, that the senate did not intend to grant them a new audience; adding, that as there was reason to apprehend some alteration in religion, it was their opinion, that in the present circumstances a synod ought to be assembled; and that the city of amsterdam could not receive the edict of , without endangering the church, and risking the ruin of her trade. the deputies wanted to answer, but were refused to be heard. grotius drew up in writing an account of all that passed in this deputation, and presented it to the states at his return[ ]. he flattered himself for a while with the hopes of some good effect from his deputation[ ]: and the disappointment chagrined him so much, that he was seized with a violent fever, which had well nigh carried him off. it appeared plainly by the blood taken from him that melancholy was the occasion of his disorder. he was removed to delft[ ], where he found himself better. as he was forbid to do anything which required application, he wrote to vossius that he was very desirous to see him for a few days, or at least a few hours; that it would be the means of restoring his health, since conversation with true friends is the best remedy against melancholy. he employed the time of his recovery in examining himself on the part he had acted in the present disputes; and the more he reflected on it, the less reason he found for blushing or repentance. he foresaw the danger he incurred; but his resolution was taken, not to change his conduct, and to refer the event to providence. footnotes: [ ] grotius delivered his speech in dutch. it was translated into latin by theodorus schrivelius, and printed in the third tome of his theological works. [ ] ep. . [ ] ep. . vii. the states of holland, wholly employed in seeking ways to compound matters, had come to a resolution on the twenty-first of february, , that certain wise and learned men should be chosen to draw up a rule or formula, to which the ministers of the two parties should be obliged to conform; that nothing should be advanced in it contrary to the doctrine of the reformed churches; that it should be shewn to prince maurice, and, after having his opinion, presented to the states, that they might examine what was most for god's honour, the people's safety, and the nation's tranquillity. in consequence of this resolution grotius prepared a writing to be presented to prince maurice, importing, that the states were desirous the ministers should teach a doctrine agreeable to that of the reformed churches, and that those who departed from it should be proceeded against in the way of church censure, or even by the civil magistrate; that the five articles of the remonstrants doctrine should be examined in a synod of holland, and the decision carried to a synod of all the provinces; that previous to its meeting, the sovereignty of each province in things sacred should be settled; that no definition should be fixed without an unanimous content; that if they could not agree they should endeavour to convene a general council of the reformed churches; that in the mean time a severe edict be published against rioters and the authors of defamatory libels; that the ministers be charged not to treat one another abusively; that after the holding of the council they should examine what was proper to be added to the union of utrecht concerning the authority of the provinces in matters of religion. this project did not please the prince: he wanted a national synod, of which the states of holland were afraid, because they foresaw the contra-remonstrants would have more power in it than the arminians, who would consequently be condemned by it; and that instead of forwarding the peace, it would increase the confusion and disorder. the states-general, entirely devoted to prince maurice, determined, in spite of the states of holland, to convoke a national synod in holland itself, at dort. the provinces of holland, utrecht, and overyssel protested against this resolution: barnevelt was so thunderstruck by it, that he wanted to resign his place of grand pensionary: but holland, who needed more than ever the counsels of such an experienced minister, sending a deputation to beseech him not to abandon the republic in times of so much difficulty[ ], he thought it his duty to yield to the intreaties of his masters, and resumed the functions of his office. footnotes: [ ] grotii manes, p. . viii. prince maurice of nassau, however, who saw with the utmost displeasure several cities, agreeable to the permission granted them by the particular states, levy a new militia without his consent, engaged the states-general to write to the provinces and magistrates of those cities, enjoining them to disband the new levies, which were styled the attendant soldiers: but the particular states, who looked on themselves as sovereigns, and the cities, who thought themselves obliged to obey only the orders of the states of their province, paid no attention to the letters of the states general[ ]. the prince considering this conduct as a rebellion, concerted with the states-general that he should march in person with the troops under his command, to get these soldiers who were levied irregularly, disbanded; that he should depose the arminian magistrates, and turn out the ministers of their party. the prince accordingly set out, accompanied by the deputies of the states-general, in the year . beginning with the province of gueldres, he removed from the senate of nimeguen all who were known or suspected to favour arminianism; and turned out the ministers, obliging them instantly to leave the town. at overyssel he met with no opposition. in arnheim there was a numerous garrison of attendant soldiers; but the prince having intelligence in the place, got into it by night: and the soldiers seeing themselves betrayed, laid down their arms. some senators were deposed, and the secretary of the council banished the city. the states of holland, knowing that the prince was to treat utrecht in the same manner, sent thither grotius, and hoogerbetz, pensionary of leyden. their instructions bore, first that they should consider and resolve on some method of opposing the commission given by the states-general to prince maurice: secondly, that they should consult in what manner the union between the particular states of the provinces might be strengthened, for their mutual aid and assistance. the magistrates of utrecht, in consequence of the advices given them, doubled the guards at the gates, and armed all the militia they could assemble. grotius and hoogerbetz promised that the states of holland would not abandon them on this occasion when their sovereignty was at stake: they also brought letters from the states to the principal officers of the ordinary garrison, tending to persuade them that it was their duty to obey the states of utrecht, who paid them, and to resist the stadtholder. every thing seemed ready for enabling the city to make a vigorous resistance: the burghers had taken up arms, and the attendant soldiers were posted in the principal quarters of the town. these dispositions did not divert the prince from his design of seizing it. the old garrison, from a jealousy of the new, declared for him; this occasioned a mutiny: some of the burghers left the interest of the city, which being unprovided of good officers, the prince and the deputies of the states found means to enter, and reduce it. the prince being now master of the town, disbanded the attendant soldiers, made ledenberg, secretary of the states, and some senators, prisoners, and turned out of their places those who had distinguished themselves by their resistance, putting in their room such as he could depend on. the states-general at the same time published an ordonnance at the hague for disbanding the new levies. grotius, who was returned to rotterdam, finding resistance would only occasion new troubles, advised the city even before receiving the ordonnance of the states-general, to dismiss the attendant soldiers. footnotes: [ ] la neuvill's hist. of holland. b. iii. c. . ix. the prince of orange's revenge was not yet satisfied: that was the name maurice went by after the death of his brother philip william, which happened at brussels february , . the destruction of the grand pensionary he had resolved on. in an extraordinary assembly of eight persons, who called themselves the states-general, he got an ordonnance passed, without any previous information, as grotius complained afterwards; importing, that barnevelt, grotius, and hoogerbetz should be taken into custody. accordingly on the th[ ] of august, , as barnevelt was in the court of the castle of the hague[ ] returning home from the assembly of the states of holland, one of the prince of orange's guards, attended with some soldiers, commanded him, in the name of the states-general, to follow him: he was carried to a room in the castle, and there confined. the prince had sent to acquaint grotius and hoogerbetz that he wanted to speak with them: they immediately came, and were arrested. the same day was published the following placard: "messieurs the states-general desire to acquaint all persons, that to avert the great peril which threatened the united provinces, and restore and establish in the said provinces harmony, peace, and tranquillity, they have caused to be imprisoned john de barnevelt, advocate-general of holland and west friesland, romulus hoogerbetz, and hugo grotius, it having been discovered and made manifest that they were the first authors of the insurrection at utrecht, and of an attempt which would have been not only highly prejudicial to the country and province, but to several other cities. for these causes they have ordered, that the said three persons be arrested and confined in the castle of the hague, till they give an account of the administration of their offices." this placard was without any signature. a report was at the same time spread by the prisoners enemies, that barnevelt and grotius received money from the spaniards to deliver up to them the united provinces; that they took money in to conclude the truce; that they fomented the disputes in order to disunite the provinces; and that they had engaged to introduce into holland the public exercise of the roman catholic religion. it is said that barnevelt had notice of the resolution taken to apprehend him; that he talked of it to his friends; and told them he was so secure in his innocence, he did not fear to take even his enemies for judges, if any should dare to attack his conduct. it was represented to him, that there were seasons of fanaticism and fury, in which innocence was sacrificed to the violence of powerful enemies: but the testimony of a good conscience hindered his attending to these remonstrances. a few days after grotius' arrest, his wife presented a petition, praying that she might have leave to stay with her husband till the end of the process. this grace was refused: she was not even permitted to see him; and having asked to speak to him in presence of his guards, they were so hard-hearted, as to deny even this slight favour. some days after these imprisonments, the prince of orange and the deputies of the states-general made a tour through the towns of holland. they had the power in their hands, and the arminians were in the greatest consternation. the prince met with no opposition to his designs: he deposed such magistrates as were relations or friends of the three illustrious prisoners, putting in their place others that were wholly devoted to him; and obliged some towns to receive a garrison, particularly rotterdam. the arminians had hitherto been the more powerful party there[ ], and had excluded the contra-remonstrants from preaching in the great church: but the prince took that church from them, and gave it, with all the rest, to the gomarists, leaving only two to the arminians. he placed a garrison of an hundred men in the town and turned out and banished the ministers who had distinguished themselves by their zeal for arminianism, such as vorstius, utengobard, and episcopius. ledenberg, secretary of utrecht, hearing of these violences, was so terrified, that he made away with himself in prison. footnotes: [ ] du maurier says the three prisoners were arrested the d of august; others assure us it was the th. la neuville, le clerc. but it is evident from what grotius says himself, ep. , that it was the th. [ ] le clerc. [ ] mercure françois, an. . x. the warmest opposers of a national synod being disabled from giving any further obstruction, the states-general proceeded to the holding of it. the states of holland, who in may, , had renewed their protest against the convocation of a national synod, frightened by the violences exercised against the three illustrious prisoners, at last gave their consent; and it met at dort. it was opened on the fifteenth of november, , in the name of the states-general, who assisted at it by their deputies; and was composed of about seventy contra-remonstrants, with only fourteen arminians. john bogerman, minister of leewarden in friesland, was chosen president, and had with him four assessors; all five declared enemies of the arminians. on the tenth of december the remonstrants brought in a long writing, containing their reasons for not acknowledging the synod, as being an illegal assembly where the parties made themselves judges, contrary to the laws of equity and the canons of the church. they further shewed, that most of those who composed the pretended synod were guilty of the schism complained of; that it was publickly notorious they were their declared enemies, and consequently incompetent judges. they afterwards proposed twelve conditions, without which they could not acknowledge the authority of the synod, nor submit to any of its decisions. this paper put the synod into a very ill humour. next day the arminians giving in a protest, it was censured, and a decree of the deputies of the states-general ordered that the synod should proceed, without regarding the protest. the arminians wanted to leave dort; but an order from the states-general obliged them to stay. their five articles were condemned; and episcopius and the other arminian ministers deposed, and declared guilty of corrupting religion, breaking the unity of the church, and occasioning great scandal. the synod's sentence was approved by the states-general on the second of july, . the same day the arminian ministers who had been detained at dort, were banished, or imprisoned: they were deprived of their employments, and the effects of several were confiscated. they continued to assert the irregularity of this council; and the bishop of meaux observes, that they employed the same arguments which the protestants use against the roman-catholics concerning the council of trent. xi. the prisoners were not brought to their trial till after the rising of the synod of dort. their confinement had caused great murmuring in the province of holland: for not only all honest men were persuaded of their innocence; but it was also evident that the sovereignty of the province of holland had been openly violated. on the th of august, , under the first surprise that an event of this nature must occasion, when it was mentioned in the assembly of the states-general, the deputies of the province of holland expressed great concern; they complained the rights of holland had been invaded; adding, that they would ask their constituents what was to be done in such a melancholy and singular occurrence. the city of rotterdam and some others made loud complaints: they acknowledged that if the three prisoners were guilty of treason, or of unlawful correspondence with the spaniards, they ought to be prosecuted; but maintained that they could not be legally tried but by the states of holland, who alone were their sovereigns. the prince of orange and the states-general found no way of putting a stop to the opposition of such magistrates as were zealous for their country, or friends to the prisoners, but by deposing them. nothing now remained to obstruct the prince of orange in his projects of revenge: the states of holland, not being in a situation to hinder these violences, unwillingly left the management of this affair to the states-general: but were so much persuaded of the injustice done them, and the invasion made on their sovereignty, that in the end of january [ ], notwithstanding the change of deputies, they passed a decree, importing that what had been done in the imprisonment of the grand pensionary, and the pensionaries of rotterdam and leyden, should not be made a precedent for the future. the states-general, desirous of making an end of this affair, on the nineteenth of november, , nominated twenty-six commissioners, chosen from among the nobility and magistrates of the seven provinces, who were ordered to repair to the hague to try the prisoners. the decree appointing these judges mentioned that the accused were taken into custody to secure the tranquillity of the republic, to hinder the ruin of religion and the destruction of the union, and prevent disturbance and bloodshed: they were represented as ambitious men, who sought by secret practices to embroil the state: and to give some appearance of satisfaction to holland, it was said in the decree, that the states-general had issued it without prejudice to the rights of the provinces. care was taken to chuse for judges the declared enemies of the prisoners. barnevelt objected to them; representing that he could not be tried by the states-general: but no regard was paid to his exceptions. thus he was obliged to answer before incompetent judges, who were notoriously known to have sworn his ruin. he entered a protest, that his answering before them should not be construed an approbation of their infringement of the jurisdiction of holland. in fine, after many iniquitous steps, which will be more particularly mentioned in grotius' trial, barnevelt was condemned to be beheaded. the principal grounds[ ] of his condemnation were, that he had disturbed religion; that he had advanced that each province in its own jurisdiction might decide in matters of religion, without the other provinces having a right to take cognizance of it; that he diverted the king of france from sending the reformed ministers of his kingdom to the synod of dort; preferred the interests of the particular states of holland and west friesland to those of the states-general; made use of the name of the states of holland and west friesland for holding conventicles and unlawful assemblies; occasioned the insurrection at utrecht; authorised the levying of the attendant soldiers; slandered prince maurice, accusing him of aspiring to the sovereignty of the united provinces; and that he received large sums from foreign princes, which he concealed from the state. footnotes: [ ] grotius, apology, c. . [ ] la neuville, lib. . c. . xii. lewis xiii. who had an affection for the united provinces, with which he was connected by their common interest, beheld the domestic troubles of holland with concern. the prisoners, especially barnevelt, whose merit was well known at the court of france, were held by him in particular esteem. when he heard of their arrest he nominated thumeri de boissise his ambassador extraordinary to holland, ordering him to repair thither, immediately, and join du maurier the ambassador in ordinary, in soliciting the states-general in favour of the accused, and labouring to restore the public tranquillity. december , , they presented to the states-general a writing from the king, asking that the prisoners might have justice done them; that their judges might be persons impartial and dispassionate; that the states would rather chuse mild, than rigorous measures: "and, said the ministers, his majesty will take for a high offence the little regard you pay to his counsels, his prayers, and his friendship, which for the future will be as much cooled as it was heretofore warm in your interest." the states made answer on the nineteenth of december following, that they would act with all the lenity and clemency which justice and the safety of the state would permit; and that they hoped the king would leave it to their prudence. the french ambassadors continued their solicitations[ ]; but the answer made them march , , must have left them no hope: it represented the prisoners as turbulent men, suspected of very heinous crimes, and almost convicted of conspiring against the republic, and projecting and attempting to destroy the union and the state. this answer was certainly concerted with prince maurice, who was highly offended that the king of france should interest himself so much to save men whom he looked on as his declared enemies. boissise quitted holland, leaving du maurier alone to act in favour of the accused. on monday morning, may , , the ambassador was informed, that sentence had been passed the day before, and that barnevelt was to be executed that day. he went immediately to the assembly of the states to get the execution suspended, but was refused audience: he wrote to the states, conjuring them by the regard they ought to have for the king his master, not to spill the blood of a minister who had served them so faithfully; and, if they would not pardon him, to confine him to one of his country houses, his friends being bound for him; or banish him the country for ever. this letter had no effect: their resolution was taken to destroy him. when the grand pensionary was informed of his sentence, he seemed less moved at it, than for the fate of grotius and hoogerbetz: he asked if they also were to die? adding, it would be great pity: they are still able to do great service to the republic. the scaffold for his execution was erected in the court of the castle at the hague, facing the prince of orange's apartments. he made a short speech to the people, which is preserved in the _mercure françois_: "burghers, said he, i have been always your faithful countryman: believe not that i die for treason; but for maintaining the rights and liberties of my country." after this speech the executioner struck off his head at one blow. it is affirmed that the prince of orange, to feast himself with the cruel pleasure of seeing his enemy perish, beheld the execution with a glass. the people looked on it with other eyes: for many came to gather the sand wet with his blood, to keep it carefully in phials: and the croud of those who had the same curiosity continued next day, notwithstanding all they could do to hinder them. thus fell that great minister, who did the united provinces as much service in the cabinet, as the princes of orange did in the field. it is highly probable that the melancholy end of this illustrious and unfortunate man, to whom the dutch are partly indebted for their liberty, was owing to his steadiness in opposing the design of making prince maurice dictator. but this is a question discussed by several writers[ ], and foreign to our subject. the french ministry discovered no resentment at the little attention paid by the states general to lewis's solicitations. there is reason to think barnevelt would have met with less cruel treatment, or at least that france would not have passed it over so easily, had cardinal richelieu, who was soon after prime minister, been then in place: for a book[ ] ascribed to him censures the conduct of messieurs de luines, who were in power at that time, with regard to this affair. footnotes: [ ] apology, c. . [ ] see du maurier, le vassor, la neuville, le clerc. [ ] hist. de la mere & du fils, t. . p. . xiii. grotius's trial did not come on till five days after barnevelt's execution. september , , the fourth day after he was arrested, the burgomasters of rotterdam presented a petition to the prince of orange[ ], setting forth, that they had heard with great grief that grotius, counsellor and pensionary of rotterdam, being at the hague at the assembly of the states, was arrested by order of the states general; and representing to his excellency that it was a breach of privilege, by which no deputy could be arrested during the sitting of the states; and as they stood in need of grotius's assistance and counsels, praying that he, as governor of holland and west-friesland, would prevail with the states general to set him at liberty, and put him in the same situation he was in before his imprisonment, promising to guard him at rotterdam or elsewhere, that he might be forthcoming to answer any charge brought against him by the states general. the prince gave only for answer, that the affair concerned the states general. their petition having had no effect, on the th of september, , the city of rotterdam sent a deputation to the states of holland, praying that grotius and the other persons accused might be tried according to the custom of the country. but the states themselves were under oppression. grotius's wife petitioned[ ] for leave to continue with her husband whilst his cause was depending; but this favour was denied her. on his falling ill, she again pressed to be allowed to visit him, they had the cruelty to hinder her: she offered not to speak to him but in presence of his guards; this was also refused. thus all the time of his confinement at the hague, no one was permitted to see him, even when he lay dangerously ill. we may judge to what length his enemies carried their blindness and fury, by the following passage related by selden[ ]. when grotius was arrested, some who bore him ill-will, prevailed with carleton, ambassador from great britain at the hague, to make a complaint against his book _of the freedom of the ocean_: the ambassador was not ashamed to maintain that the states ought to make an example of him, to prevent others from defending an opinion that might occasion a misunderstanding between the two nations. carleton and his advisers were the dupes of this contemptible step: the states general paid no regard to his complaint. the proposal was shameful in itself. could they think that it would be made a crime in grotius to have written a book, dictated by his love to his country, and deserving a recompence from the states to whom it had been of great use in the dispute with england concerning the right of navigation? at the first examination which grotius underwent, he answered[ ] that he was of the province of holland, minister of a city of holland; that he had been arrested on the territories of holland; that he acknowledged no judges but that province, and was ready to justify all he had done. he maintained that the states general had no jurisdiction over him, and consequently could not nominate his judges. he alledged also the privilege of the citizens of rotterdam and demanded permission to set forth his reasons before the states of holland and the states general; and that the validity of his objections might be determined by judges of holland. all these things were denied him. they insisted that he should plead: he protested against this violence; but this did not hinder them from proceeding against him, in contempt of all forms. he had been allowed the use of pen and ink[ ], but, after his first examination, they were taken away. the rigour and injustice, with which he and the other prisoners were treated, are scarce conceivable. he tells us, that when they knew they were bad, they chose that time to examine them; that they did not give them liberty to defend themselves; that they threatened, and teazed them to give immediate answers; and that they would not read over to them their examinations. grotius having asked leave to write his defence, they allowed him for that purpose only five hours, and one sheet of paper. he was always persuaded, that if he would own he had transgressed, and ask pardon, they would set him at liberty: but as he had nothing to reproach himself with, he would never take any step that might infer consciousness of guilt. his wife, his father, brother, and friends approved of this resolution[ ]. on the th of may, , the commissioners pronounced sentence against him, which we shall give at length. "whereas[ ] hugo grotius, who was pensionary of the magistrates of rotterdam, and at present a prisoner before the commissaries appointed by the states general to try him, has acknowledged without being put to the torture. that he ventured to endeavour to overturn religion, to oppress and afflict the church of god, and for that end advanced heinous things pernicious to the republic, particularly, that each province has singly a right to decree in matters of religion, and that the others ought not to take cognizance of the disputes which arise on this subject in a particular province; that against order, and the custom of the reformed churches, he endeavoured to get opinions received which are contrary to the doctrine of those churches, without being sufficiently examined; that he opposed the convocation of a national synod in the name of the states general, though it was judged by the king of great britain, prince maurice, the majority of the nation, and the principal persons of the province of holland, a necessary and certain remedy for the disorders which had crept into religion; that he advanced the convening a synod would be prejudicial to the right of sovereignty belonging to the province of holland, unless the whole or the greater part of the province would consent to it. that he held private meetings with the deputies of some towns, with design to procure a majority in the assembly of the states of holland. that without the orders of the states of holland, utrecht, and overyssel, he ventured to make an act in the name of those provinces, in the house of john barnevelt, protesting against what the deputies of the other provinces might do, and declaring they would be the cause of the disorders that the synod might produce; which act he read in the assembly of the states of holland without being required, and carried it to the assembly of the states-general. that he made eight deputies of the cities send back the letter of the states-general for the convocation of the synod. that he wrote to the king of france in the name of the states of holland, informing him that the name of the states-general was falsly made use of in the letters for convoking the synod, and desiring his majesty not to suffer his subjects to attend the synod, and to protect holland against the other provinces. that, by the counsel of barnevelt, he bestirred himself to get ministers to come to the synod who were of the new opinion. that he embroiled the republic in order to get every thing passed according to his fancy and caprice. that he assisted in so far changing the form of government, that those who complained of oppression were not admitted to be heard, and the magistrates of cities disobeyed the orders they received. that by the advice of john barnevelt he held private meetings with the deputies of some towns, whose deliberations were carried to the states of holland, to serve for the model of their resolutions. that he was concerned in the odious decree of the th of august, , permitting the cities of holland to raise new troops for their defence, and to require of them an oath of fidelity to those cities. that he gave it as his opinion, the city of rotterdam should raise those soldiers. that he also advised the city of delft to raise them; that he wanted to lay the expence of these new levies on the generality. that he asserted these new soldiers were not obliged to obey the states-general, if their orders were contrary to those of the cities. that he sent back the french auxiliaries in order to employ the money assigned for their subsistance in paying the new soldiers. that he pretended these soldiers ought to serve even against the states-general and against prince maurice. that he wanted to prevail with the cities to make a new union. that he held conferences with a foreign ambassador. that he was concerned in the deputation sent to the brille to oppose prince maurice. that, on the th of may, , he made an act with eight deputies of cities, by virtue of which they were permitted to oppose what the states-general might do for accelerating the holding of the synod; which act they wanted to get approved by the states of utrecht; that he endeavoured to divert the deputies of utrecht from disbanding their new troops agreeable to the intention of the states of that province, by promising them assistance. that he accused the states-general, as well as prince maurice, of evil designs. that he maintained, they ought to be resisted, and the revenue and forces of the state employed against them. that he said the disbanding the new soldiers would increase the boldness of the disaffected, and the disorders in the state; that the ordinary troops were not sufficient; that the members of the province of holland would abundantly succour such as did not obey the states-general; that he suffered himself to be deputed to utrecht to offer his assistance to the states and the city; that this deputation was ordered only by a few nobles, three deputies of cities, and some deputies to the states of holland, who had no instructions on that subject from their constituents. that his acknowledged design, and that of those deputed to utrecht, was to engage the states to require the ordinary soldiers to obey the states of utrecht, in prejudice of the obedience due to the states-general. that he carried letters of barnevelt, which had not been read in the assembly of the states of holland, declaring, that the soldiers ought to obey the states, and oppose whatever might be done against them. that he had combined with ledemberg in the measures to be taken for preventing the new soldiers from being disbanded by the states of utrecht. that he spoke against the states-general and against prince maurice in the assembly of the states of utrecht; that he assisted the states of utrecht in preparing their answer to prince maurice and the states general, by which they refused to acknowledge these deputies as sent by the states-general, though they were in fact; that he held a conference with the bailly of the city of utrecht on the measures to be taken for resisting prince maurice if he should come to utrecht to disband the new soldiers; and that he endeavoured to prevail with the states of utrecht to have recourse to open force on this occasion. that he wanted to make the ordinary garrison oppose the deputies of the states-general when their orders were contrary to those of the states of utrecht; threatening to stop their pay if they did otherwise. that he advised the bailly of utrecht to obey only the deputies of holland or the states of utrecht. that he conferred with the said bailly on the means of hindering prince maurice from introducing soldiers into utrecht; which might have occasioned much bloodshed in the city, and put the prince and the republic in the greatest danger; and which gave rise to dissentions and new treaties, contrary to the union of the provinces: whence the public order in church and state was disturbed, the finances of the state exhausted, divisions arose between the states-general and the provinces, and the union was on the point of being broke. for these causes the judges appointed to try this affair, administring justice in the name of the states-general, condemn the said hugo grotius to perpetual imprisonment; and to be carried to the place appointed by the states-general, there to be guarded with all precaution, and confined the rest of his days; and declare his estate confiscated. hague, may , ." grotius, who enters into an examination of this sentence, charges it with many falsities: he maintains[ ] that it makes him say several things which he constantly denied: and that he never acknowledged himself guilty. what is mentioned in the sentence concerning the deputation to utrecht, he shews to be palpably false[ ]. on the th of july, , he acquaints us, certain deputies to the states of holland wanted to go home; that the assembly was summoned for the th; that some deputies were indeed absent that day, but the curators of the republic of those cities, agreeable to the order they had received, supplied their place; that the assembly was composed of the deputies of harlem, delft, leyden, amsterdam, goude, rotterdam, alcmaër, and the nobles; that the deputies of the other cities were summoned; that their absence could not stay the proceedings of the rest; that, excepting the deputies of amsterdam, all the others agreed to the deputation sent to utrecht; that it was thrice approved; and that the deputies at their return received the thanks of the states, who defrayed the expence of their journey. grotius complains that he was not examined on the tenth part of the facts specified in his sentence, that his examination was not read over to him; in fine, that he was no ways reprehensible, since in all he did, he exactly followed the orders of the states of holland, or those of the city of rotterdam[ ], as the states and the city allowed; and that if he was to be tried, it ought to be by judges of rotterdam, according to the privileges of that city. hoogerbetz was also condemned to perpetual banishment. the body of ledemberg, secretary of the states of utrecht, who, as hath been said, put an end to his life in gaol, was affixed in the coffin to a gibbet. moerbergen, counsellor of utrecht, had only his country-house, for his prison, because, suffering himself to be moved by the tears of his wife and children, he made a kind of submission bordering on those which they wanted to draw from hoogerbetz and grotius. the judges who condemned them were so ignorant of the laws, that they decreed penalties which are only enacted against persons convicted of high treason, yet omitted mentioning in the sentence that grotius was guilty of that crime. they were told of this irregularity, and saw they were in the wrong: to remedy it, they declared, a whole year after the trial, without rehearing the cause, that their intention was to condemn grotius and his accomplices as guilty of high-treason; which step was the more irregular[ ], as delegated judges cannot, by law, add to their sentence after it is passed. this addition deprived grotius's wife of the liberty of redeeming, at a moderate price, her husband's estate; a privilege which the law allows in all cases but those of treason. his estate was therefore confiscated: but by this he was no great loser. at that time he was very far from being rich: his father being alive, what properly belonged to him was only the savings of his salary and his wife's fortune. footnotes: [ ] hug. grotii votum, p. . [ ] apol. c. . [ ] mare clausum l. . p. . [ ] apol. c. . [ ] apol. c. . [ ] ibid. c. . [ ] ibid. c. . [ ] dedication of his apology. [ ] apol. c. . . [ ] hug. grotii votum, p. . [ ] ep. gr. . xiv. in consequence of the sentence passed against grotius, the states-general ordered him to be carried from the hague to the fortress of louvestein near gorcum in south holland, at the point of the island formed by the vahal and the meuse; which was done on the th of june, ; and twenty-four sols per day assigned for his maintenance, and as much for hoogerbetz: but their wives declared they had enough to support their husbands, and that they chose to be without an allowance which they looked on as an affront. grotius' father asked permission to see his son; but was denied. they consented to admit his wife into louvestein, but if she came out, she was not to be suffered to go back. in the sequel it was granted her that she might come abroad twice a week. grotius became now more sensible than ever of the advantages men derive from a love of the sciences. exile and captivity, the greatest evils that can befal ministers of ordinary merit, restored to him that tranquillity to which he had been for some years a stranger. study became his business and consolation. from the time he was a prisoner at the hague[ ], whilst he had the use of pen and ink, he employed himself in writing a latin piece on the means of accommodating the present disputes. this treatise was presented to prince maurice; but it did not mollify the indignation he had conceived against the remonstrants. grotius maintained in it, as he had done often before, that notwithstanding difference of opinion in some points relating to grace and predestination, a mutual toleration ought to take place, and no separation be made. we have still several of his letters written from louvestein, which acquaint us in what manner he spent his time. he gave vossius an account of his studies. in the first of those letters, without date, he observes to him that he had resumed the study of the law, which had been long interrupted by his multiplicity of business; that the rest of his time he devoted to the study of morality; which had led him to translate all the maxims of the poets collected by stobæus, and the fragments of menander and philemon. he likewise purposed to extract from the comic and tragic authors of greece what related to morality, and was omitted by stobæus, and to translate it into free verse, like that of the latin comic writers. with regard to his translation of the fragments of the greek tragic authors, he intended that the verses of his latin translation should resemble those of the original, excepting in the chorus's, which he would put into the verse that best suited him. he was in doubt whether he ought to print these additions with stobæus, and asks vossius's opinion whether he should place them at the end, or entirely new-mould that collection. sundays he employed in reading treatises on the truth of the christian religion, and even spent some of his spare hours in this study: on other days, when his ordinary labour was over, he meditated some work in flemish on religion. the subject which he liked best at that time was christ's love to mankind: he no doubt intended to confute the extravagant opinions of the gomarists. he purposed also to write a commentary on the sermon on the mount. time seemed to pass very fast amidst these several projects. december , , he writes vossius, that the muses, which were always his delight, even when immersed in business, were now his consolation, and appeared more amiable than ever. he wrote some short notes on the new testament: these he intended to send to erpenius, who was projecting a new edition of it; but a fit of illness obliged him to lay them aside[ ]. when he was able to resume his studies, he composed in dutch verse his treatise _of the truth of the christian religion_, and sent it to vossius; who thought some places of it obscure. it makes no mention of the trinity or incarnation, because, the authority and authenticity of the sacred books once proved, these great points ought to be held demonstrated. those who since grotius have written against infidelity with greatest success, have followed his example. sacred and profane authors employed him alternately. in the end of the year [ ] he promises his brother to send him his observations on seneca's tragedies: these he had written at vossius's desire[ ]. he acknowledges his conjectures are sometimes very bold; but is not so attached to them, but he will submit them to vossius, and leaves them entirely to him. we have seen that du maurier employed his best offices for barnevelt and grotius. from the time they were arrested all correspondence between the ambassador and grotius was probably cut off till the beginning of ; for it is not till the fifteenth of january that year, he returns him his thanks[ ]. he says it is impossible for him to express his obligations to the most christian king, to his wife council, and to du maurier in particular, for the pains they took to assist him in his misfortunes; that tho' their intentions had not the effect which might have been hoped for, it gave him great consolation to find persons of such importance interest themselves in his troubles. he calls his conscience, as the judge he most respected, to witness, that all he intended was the prevention of schism; that he never had a thought of making any innovation in the republic; that he only purposed the supporting the rights of his sovereigns, without invading the legal authority of the states-general; that such as were in the secret of affairs knew that his whole crime was refusing to comply with the caprices of those who wanted to rule according to their fancies; and that he chose rather to lose his estate and his health, than to ask pardon for a fault he had never committed. du maurier losing his lady about this time, grotius writes him, february , , a very handsome consolatory letter, in which he deduces with great eloquence every ground of support that philosophy and religion can suggest in that melancholly event. the only method he took to unbend and recreate himself, was to go from one work to another. he translated the _phoenissæ_ of euripides: wrote his _institutions of the laws of holland_ in dutch: and composed some short instructions for his daughter cornelia[ ] in the form of a catechism, and in flemish verse, containing an hundred and eighty-five questions and answers: it was printed at the hague in . the author afterwards translated it into the same number of latin verses for the use of his son: it is added in the later editions of his poems. he wrote also, while under confinement, a dialogue in dutch verse between a father and a son, on the necessity of silence, explaining the use and abuse of speech, and shewing the advantages of taciturnity. in fine, he collected, when in prison, the materials of his _apology_[ ]. footnotes: [ ] apolog. pref. [ ] ep. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . [ ] ep. . [ ] mem. litt. de la gr. bretagne, t. xi. p. . [ ] ep. . xv. grotius had been above eighteen months shut up in louvestein, when, on the eleventh of january, [ ], muys-van-holi, his declared enemy, who had been one of his judges, informed the states-general, that he had advice from good hands their prisoner was seeking to make his escape: some persons were sent to louvestein to examine into this matter; but notwithstanding all the enquiry that could be made, they found no reason to believe that grotius had laid any plot to get out. his wife however was wholly employed in contriving how to set him at liberty. he had been permitted[ ] to borrow books of his friends, and when he had done with them, they were carried back in a chest with his foul linen, which was sent to gorcum, a town near louvestein, to be washed. the first year his guards were very exact in examining the chest when it went from louvestein; but being used to find in it only books and linen, they grew tired of searching, and did not take the trouble to open it. grotius' wife observing their negligence, purposed to take advantage of it. she represented to her husband that it was in his power to get out of prison when he pleased, if he would put himself in the chest that carried his books. however, not to endanger his health, she caused holes to be bored opposite to the part where his face was to be, to breathe at; and made him try if he could continue shut up in that confined posture as long as it would require to go from louvestein to gorcum. finding it might be done, she resolved to seize the first favourable opportunity. it soon offered. the commandant of louvestein[ ] going to heusden to raise recruits, grotius' wife made a visit to his lady, and told her in conversation, that she was desirous of sending away a chest full of books, for her husband was so weak, it gave her great uneasiness to see him study with such application. having thus prepared the commandant's wife, she returned to her husband's apartment, and in concert with a valet and a maid, who were in the secret, shut him up in the chest. at the same time, that people might not be surprised at not seeing him, she spread a report of his being ill. two soldiers carried the chest: one of them, finding it heavier than usual, said, there must be an arminian in it: this was a kind of proverb that had lately come into use. grotius' wife, who was present, answered with great coldness, there are indeed arminian books in it. the chest was brought down on a ladder, with great difficulty. the soldier insisted on its being opened, to see what was in it; he even went and informed the commandant's wife that the weight of the chest gave him reason to think there was something suspicious contained in it, and that it would be proper to have it opened. she would not; whether it was that she was willing to wink at the thing, or through negligence: she told him that grotius' wife had assured her there was nothing but books in it; and that they might carry it to the boat. it is affirmed that a soldier's wife who was present, said there was more than one example of prisoners making their escape in boxes. the chest however was put into the boat, and grotius' maid, who was in the secret, had orders to go with it to gorcum, and put it into a house there. when it came to gorcum, they wanted to put it on a sledge; but the maid telling the boatman there were some brittle things in it, and begging of him to take care how it was carried, it was put on a horse, and brought by two chairmen to david dazelaer's, a friend of grotius, and brother-in-law to erpenius, having married his sister[ ]. when every body was gone, the maid opened the chest. grotius had felt no inconvenience in it, though its length was not above three feet and a half. he got out, dressed himself like a mason, with a rule and a trowel, and went by dazelaer's back-door, through the market-place to the gate that leads to the river, and stept into a boat which carried him to valvic in brabant. at this place he made himself known to some arminians; and hired a carriage to antwerp, taking the necessary precautions not to be known by the way: it was not the spaniards he feared, for there was then a truce between them and the united provinces. he alighted at antwerp at the house of nicholas grevincovius, who had been formerly a minister at amsterdam; and made himself known to no body but him. it was on the d of march, , that grotius thus recovered his liberty. in the mean time it was believed at louvestein that he was ill; and to give him time to get off, his wife gave out that his illness was dangerous; but as soon as she learnt by the maid's return that he was in brabant, and consequently in safety, she told the guards, the bird was flown. they informed the commandant, by this time returned from heusden, who hastened to grotius's wife, and asked her where she had hid her husband? she answered he might search for him: but being much pressed and even threatened, she confessed that she had caused him to be carried to gorcum in the book chest: and that she had done no more than kept her word to him, to take the first opportunity of setting her husband at liberty. the commandant in a rage went immediately to gorcum, and acquainting the magistrate with his prisoner's escape, both came to dazelaer's, where they found the empty chest. on his return to louvestein the commandant confined grotius's wife more closely: but presenting a petition to the states-general, april , , praying that she might be discharged, and prince maurice, to whom it was communicated, making no opposition, the majority were for setting her at liberty. some indeed voted for detaining her a prisoner; but they were looked on as very barbarous, to want to punish a woman for an heroic action. two days after presenting the petition, she was discharged, and suffered to carry away every thing that belonged to her in louvestein. grotius continued some time at antwerp. march , he wrote to the states-general that in procuring his liberty he had employed neither violence nor corruption with his keepers; that he had nothing to reproach himself with in what he had done; that he gave those counsels which he thought best for appeasing the troubles that had arisen before he was concerned in public business; that he only obeyed the magistrates of rotterdam his masters, and the states of holland his sovereigns; and that the persecution he had suffered would never diminish his love to his country, for whose prosperity he heartily prayed. grotius's escape exercised the pens of the most famous poets of that period. barlæus wrote some very good verses on it[ ]: and also celebrated his wife's magnanimity[ ]. rutgersius composed a poem on his imprisonment, in which he places the day of his arrest among the most unfortunate for the republic[ ]. grotius himself wrote some verses on his happy deliverance, which were translated into flemish by the famous poet john van vondel. he made also some lines on the chest to which he owed his liberty, and in the latter part of his life was at great pains to recover it[ ]. henry dupuis, a learned man settled at louvain, being informed that grotius was at antwerp, sent him a very handsome letter, to signify to him the share he took in the general joy of all good men, and offered him his house, and all that a true friend could give[ ]: but grotius chose rather to come to france, agreeable to the advice of du maurier and the president jeannin; the latter assuring him he might depend on the king's protection, the esteem of men of the greatest consideration, and his friendship. but previous to the account of his journey to paris it will be proper to say something of the writings that appeared relating to the disputes which divided the church and state. among the ministers who opposed the arminians sibrand lubert was one of the most zealous and in greatest reputation. this man was a professor in the university of francker: he wrote against worstius, who was suspected of socinianism; and insinuated that the states of holland favoured that heresy. he also complained of their renewing the law of , concerning the election of ministers, and their opposing the convocation of a national synod. the states, incensed at his presumption, employed grotius to write their apology, which he published in . in this work he undertakes to shew that the arminians have very different sentiments on grace from the pelagians; that they join with the greek and many latin fathers in their opinion about predestination; that the reformed did not always entertain such rigid sentiments, particularly melancton, inferior to none in learning or piety; that since the rise of the disputes arminius and gomar had declared in writing, there was no difference between them in fundamentals; that after the dispute of those two divines in presence of the states, it was determined that the two opinions might be tolerated; that since the death of arminius twelve ministers of the two parties having been heard, the states recommended to them mutual toleration and charity. he afterwards proves that the synod was not necessary; that it could be of little use, because mens minds were too much inflamed; that as it could not be assembled in the present circumstances, it belonged to the states to find out ways of accommodating these disputes, which did not regard fundamental articles; and that socinus had no defenders in holland. he afterwards treats of the power which he ascribes to the sovereign in matters ecclesiastic, and his authority in convoking councils. he says the sovereign has a right to judge in synods, either in person or by his commissioners, and to judge synods themselves; in proof of which he advances what passed in the first councils; and regards as acts of jurisdiction and examination all that has been done by princes for maintaining good order and polity. he is of opinion that public acts, even those which regard the doctrine of the church, ought to proceed only from the prince: he relates what princes have done, at the solicitation of bishops, for the assembling of councils, as proofs of the sovereign's authority over councils; and omits nothing in antiquity that favours the authority of the civil magistrate in matters ecclesiastical, and especially in what regards elections: he shews that too much precaution, cannot be taken against the presumption of the reformed ministers, who want to intermeddle with state affairs, bringing with them their caprices and passions. "upon the whole (he says in the conclusion) the more i read church history, the more evident it appears to me, that the evils we complain of are the same which have been complained of in all past ages." this account of the work is sufficient to shew that the author, with much erudition, was strangely misled: if the proofs he makes use of are susceptible of different interpretations, he has not sufficiently unravelled their ambiguity and intent. it was received with great satisfaction by the magistrates of holland[ ]: and the states returned him public thanks on the st of october, , in very honorable terms. casaubon[ ] and vossius[ ] speak of this book with the highest commendation: but the gomarists were greatly dissatisfied with it[ ]. bogerman wrote some notes on it, serving to confute it; which were suppressed. sibrand's friends complained that the author had dipt his pen in gall, and not in ink: and sibrand himself wrote an answer, to which grotius replied in some short remarks, exposing the false citations, the errors, and abusive language of his adversary. sibrand's work was condemned by the states: but five years after, june , , on the imprisonment of grotius, the states revoked the condemnation. grotius's desire to bring about an union of sentiments led him, in , while in england, to compose a small treatise, entitled, _a reconciliation of the different opinions on predestination and grace_. this piece contains a display of the arminian system, which he endeavours to place in the most favourable light[ ]. the edict which grotius prepared by desire of the states[ ], ordering the two parties to tolerate each other, having been warmly attacked by the contra-remonstrants, grotius reprinted it, with a collection of passages justifying it against their censures. he afterwards wrote a defence of that decree, in which he complains of the schismatical spirit of the gomarists; proves that the states did all that depended on them to reconcile mens minds: maintains, against an anonymous writer, to whom he gives the name of _lucifuga_, that it is false the remonstrants gave the draught of that edict; asserts, on the contrary, that several things are omitted in it, which they wished to be inserted, and which had even an appearance of reason and justice; and sets forth the moderation and equity of the edict upon the whole. grotius did not finish this work; but on occasion of the dispute concerning the power of sovereigns in things sacred; he composed a very considerable treatise. he had already handled this subject in a tract on the piety of the states of holland: he examines it more thoroughly in this, proceeding on the same principles. it is certain that this book may be read with some profit[ ], that it contains many curious things, but some others also that are very bold, and very false. such as are acquainted with the just rights of the two powers will never grant to grotius, that the sovereign has a right to judge in councils, to alter their decisions, and to depose the ministers of the church. most of the proofs on which he builds consist of ambiguous passages, which he strains to his opinion by forced explanations. this work discovers rather the great lawyer, than the exact divine; and, what is singular, the author is afraid he has not granted enough to the civil magistrate, and been too favourable to the claims of the clergy. he knew, however, that it would not please the king of great britain; and the bishops of that kingdom were of opinion he had given too much authority to the secular power in things sacred: it is probable the letter sent by the states of holland and west-friesland, in , to king james i. was written by grotius: it is his style and sentiments. the states, who foresaw that the troubles would still go on increasing, begin with a short recital of the rise of these disputes; they afterwards desire his majesty to examine whether in the present circumstances a synod would be of use, and whether there was not reason to apprehend it might occasion a schism: they ask the king to grant them his protection, and promise to employ their authority in supporting truth, and driving away error. endeavours being used to render the remonstrants odious by accusing them of socinianism; grotius, to shew that his sentiments were very different from those of socinus, attacks him in a treatise, entitled, _a defence of the catholic faith concerning the satisfaction of christ, against faustus socinus_. this work was read with great applause by all who did not profess an open enmity to the author; and many of the reformed divines allowed that the subject had never been handled with more learning and strength of argument. it was approved of by several learned men in germany and england, particularly the famous overal, bishop of litchfield and coventry. we find in this treatise, as in all those of grotius, many learned discussions, which prove his profound knowledge of sacred and profane antiquity. in treating of the expiatory sacrifices of the pagans, he examines with great depth of learning the custom of sacrificing men, which obtained in all nations. grotius's enemies were very active in depreciating the merit of this work. herman ravespenger, professor at groningen, attacked it with so much rudeness, that balthasar lydius, who, however, was not of the arminian party, told him his criticism was wretched, and he was ready to answer it. the gomarists, far from recovering from their prejudices, took occasion from the book of the satisfaction of christ to accuse the author of semi-pelagianism. he did not think it worth while to defend himself against an anonymous author[ ], because in his book of the piety of the states of holland he had spoken of semi-pelagianism as a very grievous error. afterwards he enquired in an express treatise, whether the arminians were pelagians, and fully cleared them of teaching that heresy. it was during these contests, that he collected _the sentiments of the greeks and romans on fate and man's power_. he translated all that he found in the ancients on this subject; and first published it at paris in . footnotes: [ ] le clerc hist. lib. . p. . [ ] du maurier. [ ] grotii manes, p. . [ ] ep. . [ ] præst. vir. epist. p. . [ ] grotii manes, p. . [ ] ibid. p. . he compared grotius to moses, observat. hallens. . l. . p. . [ ] ep. p. . [ ] he wrote also some lines on the chest, in which grotius was confined. [ ] burman's collection of letters, let. . [ ] ep. . [ ] ep. . [ ] ep. utengobardi. præst. vir. ep. p. . [ ] it is printed among his theological works. [ ] see above, § iv. [ ] l'abbé longlet, catalogue des auteurs du droit canenique, p. . [ ] ep. . p. . book iii. grotius was at no loss what country to chuse for his asylum. as he was invited by the men of learning in france, and sought after by the virtuous ministers whom lewis xiii. honoured with his confidence, he gave the preference to paris, where he had already many friends. du maurier, the french ambassador in holland, sent him from the hague to antwerp several letters of recommendation to persons in france: the president jeannin[ ] wrote him, that he might depend on the king's protection, who was informed by many good men that he had been unjustly condemned in his own country; promising him, at the same time, the friendship of the men of greatest distinction in france, and assuring him he would do him all the service that lay in his power. grotius, therefore, set out for paris with confidence. he would not ask an escort[ ] though he was not without apprehension of some violence from the dutch; but chose rather to travel in disguise and by bye-roads. he arrived at paris on the th of april, , at night. the king was at fontainbleau. boissise, who had been ambassador extraordinary in holland at the time of barnevelt's trial, had not followed his majesty; but waited for grotius at paris, to direct him how to act. he assured him that the king bore him much good-will, that he did not doubt his majesty would in a little time give him effective proofs of it, and advised him to continue at paris till his friends did something for him. grotius visited m. de vic, and the president jeannin, who received him with the greatest marks of friendship, and repeated what boissise had already said. the states-general, in the mean time, ordered their ambassadors to do him every ill-office; a commission which they executed with the greatest zeal. they did all they could to destroy his reputation, but it was too well established to be shaken. the revenge he took was by speaking of his country like a zealous citizen; and by seeking every occasion to serve her: this gained him the applause of the king, who could not help admiring the greatness of his proceeding. when the dutch ambassadors saw that the french ministry were favourably disposed towards grotius, and that in all appearance the king would speedily give him public marks of his esteem, they spread a report that he had applied to the french ministry, to use their influence with the states-general for obtaining his pardon: they added, that the ministry, after praising the good disposition he was in, assured him the king suffered him in france only because he knew these were his sentiments, and that the way to obtain a pension from the court was by seeking to recover the favour of the states-general. grotius, informed of these reports, publicly declared he never acknowledged that he had failed in any part of his conduct whilst in place, and that his conscience bore him witness he had done nothing contrary to law. in a letter[ ] to du maurier he speaks of this slander as what gave him great uneasiness. "an atrocious lye has been spread, which vexes me extremely: it is reported that i being at liberty have asked pardon, which i absolutely refused to do, even when it would have saved me from ignominy, imprisonment, and the loss of my estate." there was yet another sort of people of whom grotius had no reason to be very fond[ ]: these were the ministers of charenton. they had received the decisions of the synod of dort, and held the remonstrants in abhorrence: they would not therefore admit grotius into their communion. but excepting these few all the french strove who should shew him greatest civilities. messieurs du puis and peyresc[ ] made haste to visit him as soon as they heard of his arrival. may , , he writes to du maurier that he had as much pleasure at paris, as he had chagrin in prison; that the great gave him on all occasions marks of their esteem, and the men of learning anticipated his wishes. the only thing that troubled his joy for his happy escape was the thought of having left in prison a wife to whom he had so great reason to be attached[ ]: this grieved him so much, as he afterwards declared, that, had they kept her still in prison, he would have surrendered himself to his persecutors, rather than have been separated from her for ever. the famous peyresc took occasion to say, that by grotius's arrival at paris the dutch had made amends to france for having formerly carried away from it the great scaliger: this thought gave rise to two latin epigrams[ ]. footnotes: [ ] præst. vir. epist. p . [ ] ep. . [ ] ep. . [ ] du maurier, p. . [ ] ep . [ ] ep. . [ ] gallia, scaligerum dederas male sana batavis: grotiadem reddit terra batava tibi. ingratam expertus patriam venerandus uterque est: felix mutato erit uterque solo. ep. grot. . p. . gallia magnanimis dedit exorata batavis dîs geniti æternum scaligeri ingenium: fallor an humanis male dura batavia gallis scaligerum magno reddidit in grotio. buchner. vind. grot. p. . ii. the constable de luynes had the management of public affairs when grotius came to france; silleri was chancellor, and du vair keeper of the seals. this last had a particular esteem for grotius, and employed all his credit to engage the king to make him a present till he should assign him a pension: he writes him a letter, assuring him that he might depend on his friendship, which deserves to be copied entire. "sir, ingenuous and generous minds, such as yours, think themselves obliged by small favours. i have always, that is, ever since i heard of you, admired your excellent disposition and uncommon learning; and have since lamented your misfortune in suffering for your too great love to the liberties of your country, and the favour you shewed to those who were beginning to bring back the truth to it: i have done all that my situation and my master's service would permit to alleviate your misfortunes, and procure your deliverance. it has pleased god you should owe it entirely to him, and not to the interposition of earthly powers, that being freed from worldly cares, you might employ the many rare talents, with which he has intrusted you, in advancing the work most agreeable to him, which is the common peace of christendom, by reuniting the members which are separated from their spiritual mother, by whom they or their fathers were conceived. and forasmuch as i see so many honourable men hope for it from you, i cannot but rejoice with them, and encourage by my applauses your happy career. i promise myself, the king, whose liberality for the present only supplies your necessities, will then reward your virtues and merit; and give them honourable employment in the affairs of state, in the management whereof you have acquired great knowledge and dexterity. i shall never be the last to promote what may be agreeable to you, and shall always highly value, as i now do, the friendship of such an extraordinary personage; offering all you can desire of him who is, sir, yours most affectionately to serve you. g. du vair, bishop of lisieux. camp at st. john d'angeli, june , ." grotius answers this obliging letter on the th of june following[ ]. he owns he was always a lover of learning; but modestly acknowledges that his friends, by engaging him too early in the study of the law and public business, retarded the progress which he might otherwise have made. he hopes, with god's grace, that no worldly motives shall induce him to act or speak against his conscience; and that if he has the misfortune to be deceived, god will graciously enlighten him, or pardon him for his good intention: and prays for the return of peace among christians, without prejudice to truth. "some thousands, says he, of whom i am one, most sincerely wish for such a desirable event; in the mean time, if i can be of any use, you may command me. though indeed the more i consider myself, the more i see i have no merit but that of good desires; but i will shew you by my obedience, that i have at least inclination." du vair died at tonneins, august , , six weeks after receiving grotius's letter. this was a great loss to him: but it would have been advantageously repaired, had the seals, agreeable to the wishes of the public, been given to the president jeannin, the most esteemed magistrate in the kingdom for his excellent talents and virtue. he had the highest friendship for grotius, who ardently wished that great man might receive the reward of the signal services he had done the state: "but, he writes to du maurier[ ], those who know the court, dare not flatter themselves with so much good luck." while the seals were vacant the constable de luynes did the office of keeper: they were at length given, not to the president jeannin, but to de vic, who had on all occasions given grotius proofs of his friendship. he made profession of an esteem for men of learning; casaubon held him in great veneration, and grotius flattered himself that he would be his friend. "his behaviour to casaubon, says grotius to du maurier[ ], proves his love to learning; and before he left paris he gave me some evident marks of his good-will." it had been determined in the king's council to do something for grotius; but it was long before this resolution had its effect. du maurier had written to all his friends warmly to solicit the issuing of the warrant for the sum granted him: it was sent at length, but there was no money in the treasury. the king was absent, and when he returned to paris, the thing, it was said, would be done. the prince of condé openly interested himself for him. what made grotius uneasy was, that on the promises made him he had hired a house. his wife came to paris in october, [ ], and their expences so much exceeded the small revenue which he had still left, that he wrote to du maurier, december , , that if something were not done for him soon, he must seek a settlement in germany, or hide himself in some corner of france. he asks a recommendation to the chancellor de silleri: "and as he is somewhat slow, it would be proper (says he) to refresh the marquis de puysieux's memory." the king returned to paris january , . grotius was presented to him by the chancellor and the keeper of the seals in the beginning of march[ ]: the court was very numerous. his majesty received him most graciously, and granted him a pension of three thousand livres. he was much obliged to the prince of condé and the keeper of the seals on this occasion. the king did not only confer marks of his favour on grotius; but on his account protected all who were persecuted by the states; and by his letters patent, dated at nantes, april , , takes such as were condemned in holland under his protection as if they were his own subjects; willing, that in case of death, their children and heirs should succeed, and that their effects should not be liable to be escheated. de vic dying on the second of september, , his death filled grotius and the dutch refugees in france with the greater concern, as the seals were given to caumartin, a professed enemy of the protestants. as soon as grotius thought himself settled, he looked out for a better house, intending to go the length of five hundred livres a year; but tilenus took half of it: its situation was in the rue de condé, opposite to the prince's hotel: he probably made choice of that quarter, to be more at hand to pay his court to the prince, with whom he had been in friendship above twenty years, and who had on all occasions given him marks of his esteem and protection. tilenus's wife was very desirous of a coach; grotius thought one equipage would serve both; but he was against setting it up immediately, in order to avoid an expence which perhaps he could not support. what farther restrained him was, that though the king had granted him a pension with the best grace that could be, and marshal schomberg, superintendant of the finances[ ], had ordered it to be paid quarterly, and one payment to be advanced on demand, he could not however come at the money. they had forgot to put it on the civil list[ ], and the commissioners of the treasury found daily some new excuse for delaying the payment. he imagined[ ] those who raised the difficulty hoped by that means to make him turn roman catholic. a report that he was not far from changing his religion had reached holland[ ]. it gave vossius some uneasiness, and he wrote to him, acquainting him of this report, and begging that he would do nothing to give it countenance. grotius removed his fears, assuring him he might make himself easy; for he might have avoided, he says, the grievous sentence passed upon him, and since his sentence would not have remained so long in captivity, and might also hope for greater honours than his country could bestow, if he would change sides. it is more probable that, the bad state of the finances of the kingdom, or the greediness of the commissioners, were the only obstructions to his payment. he had at length reason to be satisfied: by the solicitations of powerful friends, who interested themselves for him, he received his pension; and it was paid as grants were paid at that time, that is to say, very slowly, till cardinal richelieu, who bore him ill-will, gave private orders to prevent his enjoying the benefit of the king's favour: which obliged grotius to leave france, as we shall see in the sequel. he sustained a heavy loss in april by the death of the president jeannin. this worthy magistrate had so much acquired the esteem of the dutch by the great services he did them when the truce was concluded with spain in , that all good men in holland would have his picture. grotius received from him testimonies of the greatest friendship, and regretted him most sincerely. in a letter to his brother william grotius, dated april , , "whilst i am now writing this, says he, i receive the melancholy news of the president jeannin's death: it is a great loss to good men, to the king's business, and to me in particular." footnotes: [ ] ep. . [ ] ep. . [ ] ep. . [ ] ep. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . iii. the pains which he was obliged to take, and the trouble he underwent at the beginning of his new settlement at paris, did not diminish his passion for literature. april , , he informs vossius that the irksomeness of his solitary manner of life was relieved by his daily conversations with men of the greatest abilities. he writes to andrew schot from paris, july , , that, delivered from public business which never leaves the mind at ease, and from that croud whose conversation is contagious, he spent the greatest part of his time in prayer, reading the scriptures, and the ancient interpreters. he enters into a detail of his studies in a letter to vossius, september , , "i persist, says he, in my respect for sacred antiquity: there are many people here of the same taste. my six books in dutch will appear soon (this was his treatise on the truth of the christian religion, in dutch verse) perhaps i shall also publish the disquisition on pelagianism, with the precautions hinted to me by you and some other learned men. in the mean time, i am preparing an edition of stobæus; and to render it more perfect i collate the greek manuscripts with the printed copies." he sometimes attended the courts of justice to hear the advocates plead, that he might judge of their talents and eloquence. to be applauded for eloquence at that time, says the abbé d'olivet, an advocate was to say almost nothing of his cause; make continual allusions to the least-known passages of antiquity, and have the art of throwing a new kind of obscurity upon them, by, making his speech consist of a string of metaphors. this fault shocked grotius much. he gives an account to his brother of the impression made upon him by the studied harangues which were delivered at martinmas term , by m. servin and the first president: they were wholly taken from greek and latin authors. "such, says grotius, is the eloquence in fashion: it is much disliked by men of sound judgment." the celebrated patru first attempted, and accomplished the reformation of this bad taste. grotius's ardour for study did not prevent his employing a part of his time in reading the scriptures and books of theology. the ministers of charenton persisting in their refusal to receive him into their communion unless he would renounce his opinions, he resolved to have prayers read at home to his family. iv. notwithstanding the inveterate enmity of the dutch, which pursued him even to the french court, grotius still preserved a sincere love to his country. he wrote to his father and brother-in-law that he was continually soliciting all his friends in its favour; that no injuries should ever make him cease to love it; and that he stifled every thought of revenge as utterly repugnant to the precepts of the gospel. he did not however think this disposition ought to hinder him from labouring to manifest to the world the innocency of his conduct, and that of those who were condemned with him. he had even collected when in prison some materials for his apology: the president jeannin advised him to finish it while the facts were fresh in his memory, and he might print it at a favourable opportunity. grotius followed this advice, and his apology in dutch was finished in the beginning of the year . if it had appeared only in that language it could not have been read out of holland; but as he intended that wherever he was known, that is to say, throughout all europe, every one might be enabled to judge of the regularity of his conduct, he translated it into latin: he was also desirous of having it done into french, that it might be printed at the same time in the three languages: but he could not find a french translator. he expected that a work, which set in the clearest light the injustices and prevarications of men in place, would increase their hatred to him: but this consideration did not restrain him from publishing it, because he was persuaded the laws of god and of nature allowed every man unjustly accused to justify himself. his apology was soon translated into latin, for it was published at paris in the year . in the dedication to the people of holland and west friesland the author explains his reasons for so long delaying his vindication. during his nine months confinement at the hague he could do nothing in it; when removed to louvestein he wanted several necessary pieces; since his happy escape he was much busied; besides it required time to range the several parts of his defence in proper order. the work is divided into twenty chapters: in the first he shews that each of the united provinces is sovereign and independent of the states-general, whose authority is confined to the defence of the provinces: in the second, that each province is possessed of the sovereignty in matters ecclesiastical, and that this sovereignty resides in the particular states of the province: in the third and fourth, that the different opinions about predestination ought to be tolerated: in the fifth, that the convocation of a synod in the situation of affairs at that time must have been attended with great danger; that the assembling of the synod of dort was illegal, since it was done without consent of the province of holland: in the sixth, he sets forth the measures taken by the states of holland to restore tranquillity; in the seventh, the reasonableness of the regulation of relating to the share which the magistrates ought to have in the nomination of the ministers of the gospel; in the eighth, that the approbation of the majority ought to be looked upon as a decision: the excesses of the contra-remonstrants are particularised in the ninth: the tenth and eleventh justify the province of holland in relation to the raising a new militia, which were called attendants. the informality of his arrest is displayed in the thirteenth chapter; grotius there shews that he and the others arrested at the same time had only executed the orders of their superiors and sovereigns; that those who arrested him had no power to do it; that the states-general had no authority over the subjects of the provinces; that they were a party in the dispute; that the persons arrested were members of the states of holland, and were arrested in the province of holland, where the states-general had no jurisdiction. the fourteenth chapter exposes the want of formality in the proceedings from the time of their arrest to the nomination of their judges. the fifteenth chapter points out the want of formality in the nomination of the judges: and proves the extravagancy of making it a crime in them to maintain the rights of the states their sovereigns, agreeable to the express orders they received. the sixteenth chapter explains the informality committed after the judges were nominated. the seventeenth displays the irregularity of the sentence passed upon them. the eighteenth gives a detail of the wrongs done to them after the sentence. the nineteenth chapter contains several remarks all tending to shew the irregularity of the sentence. the author concludes this work, with a prayer, imploring the divine goodness to pardon his enemies, and protect his country. he farther prays that the prince of orange may merit the love of the people over whom he is governor; and that god may give himself grace to support with patience the persecution he suffers, that it may be meritorious to him in the other world. the apology was sent to holland as soon as published: it incensed the states-general the more, as they could not give a reasonable answer to it. the approbation it met with throughout europe would not suffer them to remain silent; this would have confirmed all the disagreeable truths which the necessity of a just defence obliged grotius to advance: thus destitute of any good arguments, they had recourse to authority, and made themselves judges in their own cause. they proscribed the apology, and condemned it as slanderous, and tending to asperse by falshoods the sovereign authority of the government of the provinces, the person of the prince of orange, the states of the particular provinces, and the towns themselves; and therefore forbad all persons to have it in their custody on pain of death. the _mercure françois_ mentions this in the following terms. "the apology is prohibited; and all persons of what quality soever are forbid to have it in their possession on pain of death; thus making grotius as it were a prey to any person who shall apprehend him." these menaces gave him uneasiness: he consulted the french ministry, his friends and protectors, how to behave in this situation, and what was to be done to prevent the consequence which might result from the proscription: he had several conferences on this subject with the chancellor de silleri and the president jeannin. the chancellor, who was naturally irresolute, contented himself with blaming the rigour of the edict, and making general offers of service. the president jeannin was of opinion he should write a letter to a friend, shewing the injustice of the proscription: others advised him to despise these vain threats, and publish a new edition of the _apology_ in which he might put the authors of the edict to confusion: some were of opinion he ought to complain to the states-general themselves; but others represented there would be danger in having recourse to this last expedient, as he might seem by it to acknowledge their authority. against writing to the particular states of the provinces there was one great objection, namely, the certainty of drawing upon himself a new proscription, because the power was in the hands of his greatest enemies. those who wished to see him pass the rest of his days in france thought he should get himself naturalized a frenchman, because the king by that would necessarily become his protector: they farther represented that this formality would qualify him to hold a place in france. what kept him in suspense was to know whether he should put himself under the protection of the parliament, or ask a safe-conduct from the king. in the beginning of the year [ ] he seemed resolved to present a petition to the parliament, and afterwards write to the states-general. he was in doubt whether to write to the prince of orange; at length he took the most proper step, which was to apply to the king. he presented a petition to his majesty to be protected against the above-mentioned edict, "which imported that he should be apprehended wherever found;" these are the terms of the _mercure françois_; "and his majesty took him into his special protection, the letters for that purpose being issued at paris, feb. , ." although the greatest part of the roman catholics would have found nothing amiss in his _apology_, yet many of them in the low countries were scandalized that he had not spoken of religion as they would have spoken: and it was condemned at antwerp as dangerous to be read[ ]. this work was never answered. some years after its publication[ ] a report being spread that a private person had written against the apology without being employed by the states-general, grotius desired his brother to enquire into it. it is probable this news was without foundation: at least we know nothing of that work. the malevolence of those who were then in place made no change in grotius's affection to his country: in the height of the new persecution he wrote to his brother that he would still labour to promote the interest of holland; and that if the united provinces were desirous of entering into a closer union with france, he would assist them with all his credit: for the public interest was not to be sacrificed to the resentment of injuries received from a few[ ]. footnotes: [ ] ep. , p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] dec. , . [ ] ep. . p. , . v. though the prince of orange had taken care to leave none in place but such as were entirely devoted to him, and consequently declared enemies of the remonstrants, grotius still preserved many faithful friends who ardently desired his return. he had scarce been a month at paris when they wrote to him that there were some hopes of his being recalled: but he rightly judged that they were without foundation. he even writes to his brother-in-law, reigersberg, that he looked on that rumour as an artifice of his enemies, who sought by it to engage him to silence, which they intended to take advantage of to propagate their calumnies. he was not duped by it, since, as we have just mentioned, it did not hinder him from writing his defence, and publishing it to the world. among those who preserved a friendship for him, there was one whom it would seem he had no reason to count upon: this was prince frederic henry of nassau, brother to the prince of orange, and who after the death of maurice was himself stadtholder. they maintained a correspondence by letters even at the time when the people of holland were most exasperated against grotius; and by a letter from that prince, which is still remaining, we may judge that grotius did him good service at paris; and that frederic henry was greatly disposed to serve him. this letter deserves to be copied entire: it is dated august , . "sir, i thank you for the good offices you have done me with some of the king's council, and beg of you to continue them both with these, and with others, as you shall think proper; assuring you that i shall acknowledge your friendship on all occasions where i can serve you; being bound to it by the friendship which you have ever shewn to me. i have asked your brother-in-law mr. reigersberg to write to you particularly about an affair in which i should be glad to have your opinion: you will oblige me much by sending it, as you have already done by the memorial you remitted to me; for which i sincerely thank you. i could wish to be of use in your affairs in this country, and would labour in them most chearfully: but you know the constitution of things is such, that neither i, nor your other friends, can serve you agreeably to our wishes. i would fain hope that time will bring about some change, and that i shall see you again here esteemed and honoured as your great qualities deserve; which will give me no less pleasure than i received from your regaining your liberty. in the mean time, i wish you, while at a distance from your country, all the satisfaction, prosperity, and happiness which you can desire. this i pray god to grant, and to me an opportunity of shewing by my actions that i am yours most affectionately to serve you, henry de nassau." vi. the year after the publication of the apology, that is to say, in , nicholas buon printed at paris grotius's improvements and additions to stobæus. this author, as is well known, extracted what he thought most important in the ancient greek writers, and ranged it under different heads comprehending the principal points of philosophy. his work is the more valuable as it has preserved several fragments of the ancients found no where else. grotius when very young purposed to extract from this author all the maxims of the poets, to translate them into latin verse, and print the original with the translation. he began this when a boy; he was employed in it at the time of his arrest, and continued it as an amusement, whilst he had the use of books, in his prison at the hague. he tells us that when he was deprived of pen and ink he was got to the forty-ninth title, which is an invective against tyranny, that had a great relation to what passed at that time in holland. on his removal to louvestein he resumed this work, and he finished it at paris. he made several happy corrections in the text of stobæus, some from his own conjectures or those of his friends, others on the authority of manuscripts in the king's library, which were very politely lent him by the learned nicholas rigaut, librarian to his majesty. prefixed to this book are prolegomena, in which the author shews that the works of the ancient pagans are filled with maxims agreeable to the truths taught in holy writ. he intended to dedicate this book to the chancellor silleri: he had even written the dedication; but his friends, to whom he shewed it, thought he expressed himself with too much warmth against the censurers of his _apology_. they advised him therefore to suppress it; and he yielded to their opinion. it may be observed in reading the royal privilege that the present title of the book is different from what it was to have had. to these extracts from the greek poets translated into latin verse, grotius annexed two pieces, one of plutarch, the other of st. basil, on the use of the poets; giving the greek text with a latin translation. fabricius informs us, that in the library of the college of leyden there is a copy of the geneva edition of stobæus, in the year , with several notes in grotius's own hand. three years after the publication of his stobæus, grotius printed a work which may be looked upon as a continuation of it; being an extract of the comedies and tragedies of the greeks: the text is translated into latin verse. in this work he inserted only such maxims as he thought best worth preserving. he began it, as we have observed, when a prisoner at louvestein. the learned fabricius very judiciously remarks, that it is to be regretted he did not mention the places of the ancients from whence he took these extracts. vii. after having lived a year in the noise of paris he was desirous of enjoying for some time the quiet of the country. the president de meme offered him one of his seats, balagni near senlis. grotius accepted it, and passed there the spring and summer of the year . in this castle he began his great work[ ] which singly would be sufficient to render its author's name immortal; i mean the treatise _of the rights of war and peace_, of which we shall speak more fully elsewhere. he had with him his family and four friends; and was visited by the most distinguished men of learning, among others salmasius and rigaut. he had all the books he could desire: francis de thou the president's son, who succeeded to his father's library, one of the best in europe, gave him the free use of it. grotius, who knew the president de meme to be a most zealous roman catholic, was careful to regulate his conduct in such a manner that the president might never repent his favouring him with the use of his house: he gave directions that while he was at balagni no butchers meat should be brought to table on fridays or saturdays; he received none of the dutch refugee ministers there; no psalms nor hymns were sung; in fine, he would have no public nor even private exercise of the protestant religion performed; and would see only those whom he could not decently refuse. from balagni he sometimes made excursions to st. germain, where the court was, in order to cultivate the friendship of the ministry. having learnt that the president de meme wanted to reside himself at balagni, he quitted it, and retired to senlis in the beginning of august: in october he came back to paris. his wife's affairs obliging her to make a journey to zealand, she set out for that province in the summer . in her absence grotius was seized with a violent dysentery. october th, , he writes to his brother that he had been three weeks confined to his bed, and four times blooded. the news of his illness threw his wife into a fever. as soon as it was abated she set out for paris without waiting the return of her strength. the pleasure of seeing her again and the care she took of him wrought a wonderful change in grotius: in fine, after two months dangerous illness he began to mend, and in a little time was perfectly recovered, so that he was never in better health than in the beginning of the year . his illness did not hinder his studies: in this last he was employed about the _phoenissæ_ of euripides. a part of his translation of this tragedy had been lost when he was a prisoner at the hague: he did it over again while confined by his dysentery, and put the last hand to the whole. it was not published till . he dedicated it to the president de meme. the preface confirms that he did this work in prison; that after his serious studies it served him for amusement and even consolation, for he was of timocles's opinion, that tragedies might serve to alleviate the idea of our misfortunes by carrying our reflexions to the vicissitude of human affairs; and begs some indulgence to a work done partly in prison and partly during illness. the translation is in latin verse such as the ancient tragic writers used. in the preface grotius enters into an examination of euripides's tragedy. he shews that the time of twenty-four hours has been exactly kept to; that the unity of place is observed; that the manners are good; that it contains many useful maxims, and is upon the whole very well written. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . ep. . p. . viii. the prince of orange, maurice de nassau, falling ill in november, , died after six months indisposition, at the age of fifty-eight, on the d of april, . this event raised the hopes of grotius's friends: they flattered themselves that his return to his country would no longer meet with any obstacle. prince frederic henry succeeded his brother as stadtholder. he had not entered into the malevolent projects formed by maurice against the arminians. the count d'estrades has given us some anecdotes on this subject, which we shall relate on his authority. he assures us that, being one day _tête à tête_ with prince henry frederic in his coach, he heard him say that he had much to do to keep well with his brother maurice, who suspected him of secretly favouring barnevelt and the arminians. "he told me (these are the count d'estrades words) that it was true he kept a correspondence with them to prevent their opposing his election in case his brother should die, but that as it imported him to be on good terms with his brother, and to efface the notion he had of his connection with the arminians, he made use of vandermyle, one of his particular friends and barnevelt's son-in-law, to let the cabal know that it was necessary for him to accommodate himself to his brother, that he might be better able to serve them: which barnevelt approved of." hoogerbetz's situation, who, as we have seen, was condemned with grotius, received some alleviation by the change of the stadtholder. four months after the death of prince maurice he was allowed to come out of louvestein, and to reside at a country-house, upon condition of not leaving the country on pain of forfeiting twenty thousand florins, for which his friends and children were bound. "it is asserted (says the author of the _mercure françois_) that this liberty was granted him without any acknowledgment of his fault, and without asking pardon." he did not enjoy it long, for he died three weeks after he was discharged. grotius's father, who knew his son was esteemed and even loved by the new stadtholder, advised him to write to that prince. he obeyed his father: but informed him that he was determined not to do a mean thing to procure his return. it was from mere complaisance that he wrote to the prince, for he owns to his brother he had very little hopes of success from his letter: he was even desirous that his correspondence with the prince might be kept a secret, lest its being publicly known should vex his highness. the enemies of the remonstrants would, no doubt, have been greatly offended with the stadtholder, had they discovered that he was favourably inclined to the arminians: and the prince's authority was not yet sufficiently established to free him from the necessity of keeping measures with so powerful a party. grotius's conjectures were but too true: and all that he and his friends could do to procure his return was absolutely fruitless. ix. he was now at the height of his glory by the prodigious success of his admirable book _of the rights of war and peace_, which a celebrated writer[ ] justly styles a master-piece. he began it in at balagni, and in it was published at paris. it was the famous nicholas peyresc, the mecænas of his age and the ornament of provence, who engaged grotius to handle this subject. he writes to that worthy magistrate, jan. th, . "i go on with my work _of the law of nations_: if it may be of use to the world it is to you posterity will owe the obligation, since you made me undertake it, and assisted me in it." in the preliminary discourse he sets forth his motives for treating this subject. "many strong reasons determined me to write at this time. i have observed in all parts of the christian world such an unbridled licentiousness with regard to war as the most barbarous nations might blush at: they fly to arms without reason, or on frivolous pretexts; and when they have them once in their hands they trample on all laws human and divine, as if from that time they were authorised, and firmly resolved to stick at no crime." thus it was from a principle of humanity that he composed this great work; and, as he writes to crellius[ ], to shew how unbecoming it was for a christian and a reasonable man, to make war from caprice: which was too much practised. in the dedication of this book to the king the author observes, that lewis xiii. like a propitious constellation, not satisfied with relieving the misfortunes of princes and protecting nations, had graciously supported him under his afflictions. he presented his book to the king and the principal nobility; who, he writes to his brother[ ], received it very graciously, but made him no return. he imagined it was because he had handled in it several points of divinity: and the court would not shew any favour to heterodox works, in which such questions were discussed: but the favourable reception it met with from all europe sufficiently made up this loss. it will not be expected that we should make an analysis or enter into an examination of the treatise _on the rights of war and peace_: that would be a subject for a large work. we shall only observe that those who would study the law of nations cannot read this book too often: they will find in it the most agreeable learning joined to the strongest reasoning. the whole is not equally correct: but what large work is not liable to the same censure? besides, we must consider that it has the glory of being original in its kind[ ], and the first treatise that reduced into a system the most excellent and useful of all sciences. it is divided into three books; to which is prefixed a preliminary discourse treating of the certainty of law in general, and containing a plan of the work. the first book enquires into the origin of the rights of war and its different kinds, as also the extent of the power of sovereigns: he explains in the second the nature and extent of those rights, whether public or private, whose violation authorises the taking up arms: in the third he treats of all that relates to the course of the war and the treaties of peace which put an end to it. the celebrated translator of grotius and puffendorf assures us that grotius took the hint of attempting a system of natural law from lord bacon's works; and certainly, he adds, none was more proper for such an undertaking. a clear head, an excellent judgment, profound meditation, universal learning, prodigious reading, continual application to study amidst many distractions and the duties of several considerable places, together with a sincere love to truth, are qualities which cannot be denied to that great man without wronging our own judgment and giving room to suspect us of black envy or gross ignorance. it is said that he designed at first to give his book the title, of _the law of nature and of nations_; but afterwards preferred that which it now bears, _of the rights of war and peace_. never book met with such universal approbation: commentaries have been written upon it by many learned men, and it has been publicly read at universities. though m. barbeyrac thinks puffendorf's book much more useful, he is at the same time persuaded that if grotius had not led the way, we should not yet have had any tolerable system of natural law: "and, he adds, if puffendorf had been in grotius's place, and grotius in puffendorf's, the treatise _of the rights of war and peace_ would in my opinion have been much more defective; and that _of the law of nature and nations_ much more perfect." puffendorf himself owns that there remained few things to be said after grotius. though the latin language was at that time more used than at present, the principal nations of europe wanted to have this work in their mother tongue. grotius, on examining the dutch translation, found the translator often wilfully deviating from the true sense of the original. the great gustavus caused it to be translated into swedish: a translation of it into english was preparing in the year : mr. barbeyrac thinks it was not finished in grotius's life-time, but there have been two english translations of it since his death. it was first translated into german in by mr. schutz. the leipsick journalists speak of this translation as very correct. there are two in french; one by mr. courtin, which that of barbeyrac has totally eclipsed, and most justly: for never did a great author meet with a translator more worthy of him. mr. barbeyrac possessed all the necessary qualifications for executing properly such a difficult translation as that of the treatise _of the rights of war and peace_. this so excellent and highly esteemed work was however severely criticised by one of the most learned men of the last century. salmasius, who had been grotius's admirer, and who in the latter part of his life did all he could to destroy his reputation, never spoke of _the rights of war and peace_ but with the greatest contempt: which was the more shocking; as, in his dispute with the english on the right of kings, he every where copies grotius, and when he departs from him is sure to blunder: with which boëclerus has justly reproached him. we cannot deny salmasius profound learning; but he was a man swayed by his humour, often judged from passion and jealousy, had too high an opinion of himself and too much contempt for others, and in fine found fault with whatever was not his own thought, as the learned gronovius remarks. he ventured to advance, some time after grotius's death, that a professor of helmsted had undertaken to prove that every page of grotius's book contained gross blunders; and he speaks it in such a manner as gives room to think he was of the same opinion. this professor was called john de felde; he published his notes against grotius in . had the great salmasius been still alive, i believe, says m. barbeyrac, that with all his secret jealousy against the author censured, he would have found himself greatly disappointed in his expectations from john de felde's project: never was any thing so wretched. one would be surprised a mathematician could reason so ill, did not other much more signal examples clearly demonstrate that the knowledge of the mathematics does not always produce justness of thought in matters foreign to that science. we find here a man who seeks only for censure, and knows not what he would have: he fights with his own shadow, and for the most part does not understand the thoughts of the author he attacks; and when he does understand them draws the most groundless consequences that ever were heard of. his gloomy and unhappily subtle mind cannot bear the light which grotius presents to him. the embroiled ideas and distinctions of his peripatetic philosophy form round him a thick cloud impenetrable by the strongest rays of truth. this is barbeyrac's judgment of him. felde met with some partisans of grotius who confuted him: theodorus graswinckel, advocate, his relation and friend, undertook his defence; and the redoubled efforts of the helmsted professor did not lessen his book in the esteem of the public. not that the work is perfect; this, his admirers and those who were most disposed to do him justice, frankly own. his general principles touching natural law are very solid; but they are too intricate, and it requires deep meditation to unfold them. he does not sufficiently shew the chain of consequences to be deduced from them, and applied to particular subjects; which gave certain authors of little penetration, or candour, occasion to say, that after laying down his principles he makes no use of them, and builds his decisions on a quite different thing. he might have prevented these rash censures by enlarging somewhat more, and pointing out on each head the connection of the proofs he makes use of, with the general principles from whence they are drawn. with regard to the law of nations, which he considers as an arbitrary law in itself, but acquiring the force of a law by the tacit consent of nations, barbeyrac observes that in the sense he understands it, and has endeavoured to establish its obligation, it has been shewn to be insufficiently grounded: yet the questions which he builds upon it make a great part of his work. it has been thought that his style is too concise; that he often expresses himself but by halves; that he supposes many things which require great study, passes over subjects of importance, and handles others which he might have omitted; such as questions relating rather to divinity, than the science of natural law: in fine, it has been said that the desire of shewing his learning hurt him: and a very judicious magistrate[ ] justly observes, that by displaying less learning he would have appeared a greater philosopher. notwithstanding all these defects, it is universally acknowledged to be one of the finest works that ever was written. when this book appeared at paris, cardinal francis barberin, who resided there as legate from his uncle pope urbin viii. hearing it much spoken of, was curious to see it; and read it with attention. it is said he was shocked at first that the author, in speaking of the popes, did not give them the titles which they are wont to receive from roman catholic authors; but was otherwise well pleased with the book. the reading of it had been permitted at rome two years, when on the th of february, , it was put into the _index expurgatorius_, with his _apology_ and _poems_[ ]. footnotes: [ ] bayle. [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. [ ] barbeyrac's preface. [ ] m. daube, essais sur les principes du droit, preface, p. . [ ] ep. . p. . x. in the mean time grotius began to grow tired at paris: his pension was ill paid, and his revenue insufficient to keep him decently with a wife and a numerous family. july , , he writes to his brother, "pensions are no longer paid here, which embarrasses me greatly. if any prince, such as the king of denmark or the elector of saxony, would employ me, and offer me a handsome salary, it would be worth my notice. at present nobody thinks of me, because they imagine i am employed by a great king. i have lost some powerful friends: those who are now in power wish me well; but they have too much business on their hands, and i don't love to importune." m. d'aligre being made keeper of the seals, grotius flattered himself that it would be an advantage to his affairs. "he is a good man, says he, and i shall be well recommended to him. i shall go to see him when he is less harrass'd with visits; and try whether his friendship can be of use to me. however (he writes to his father and brother, jan. , ) if any thing favourable should offer in denmark or the maritime towns, i would consider of it." he made a visit to the new lord keeper, and received a promise of more than he hoped for: but he began to build no longer on compliments: he wished his friends would try to get him a settlement in the north; but would not have it known that he set them on. some advised him to go to spires, where there was an imperial chamber, and follow the profession of an advocate: the writings there were all in latin, the roman law was followed, and the augsburg confession the religion professed. january , , he begs of his father to inform himself of the manner of living in that country, for he must soon come to some resolution. in the mean time hopes were given him of his pension[ ]: though no pensions were paid, the keeper of the seals promised that he would take particular care of him; and was in fact as good as his word: one of the first things he did was to speak to the king in favour of grotius[ ], and to obtain an order for the payment of the greatest part of the arrears owing to him. however he still pressed his father and brother to seek out a settlement for him[ ]. feb. , , he wrote to them that he persisted in his resolution of going to some town of the augsburg confession, where he might live cheap, and wait for better times. "the state of the kingdom, says he, makes me uneasy; and i have no prospect of a certainty for myself. these negotiations must be managed with precaution and secrecy, lest the knowledge of them should lessen the consideration in which i am held. it is sufficient that those who wish me well know that i am not so fixed here but i can come away if any thing better offers." in the mean time the keeper of the seals and the ministry heaped civilities on him[ ]; they spoke of him to the king, and at length he received three thousand francs, part in money, and part in bills. there were at that time dutch ambassadors in france, who carried their malice so far as to tell the king he could not be too much on his guard against grotius, who carried on a private correspondence with the spanish ambassadors. he received information of this from one of his friends. the foul calumny stung him with indignation; and though he did not think it deserved to be confuted, he wrote of it to the lord keeper, and in a letter on this subject to du maurier he calls god to witness, that he had never seen any of the spanish ambassadors, and that there was not a man in the united provinces who wished better to his country. he had an offer of being professor of law in denmark[ ], but the character of the danes made him averse to that country: besides, he thought the places he had already filled did not permit him to become a professor in a college; as to the salary, he was satisfied with it. while he was in suspense what he should do, the king nominated cardinal richelieu prime minister. his eminence had a mind to be particularly acquainted with grotius, and asked him to come to his house at limours: he was introduced by marshal de fiat. we are ignorant of what passed at this interview: all we know is that the cardinal, purposing to restore the navy and trade of the nation, talked of these matters to grotius; who acquainted his brother with his visit to the cardinal in a letter dated may , . it is highly probable the cardinal proposed to grotius to devote himself entirely to him: that minister protected none but such as professed an absolute submission to his will in all things. he gave grotius so great hopes that he thought he might write to his father, "if i would forget my country, and devote myself wholly to france, there is nothing which i might not expect." but there is room to imagine the proposals made to him by the cardinal were inconsistent with his principles; and he was not a man to act against his conscience on any consideration. this sacrifice was the more praise-worthy as he really loved france: he mentioned it in confidence to du maurier. "i am extremely sorry, says he, that i can be of no use to france, where i have found a safe asylum: but i think it my duty to adhere to my former sentiments[ ]." thus the cardinal being displeased with grotius's reservations, his pension was unpaid, either for that reason or on account of the bad state of the finances. grotius was greatly perplexed: "a man must have lived at paris at his own expence, as i have done for eighteen months (he writes to his brother, july , ) to know what it costs. i should be extremely glad that you would inform yourself at your conveniency, whether there be any hopes from the hans towns, and particularly hamburg or rostock." sept. , , he opens his mind to du maurier: "this is the second year since they have ceased all regard for me, and put in practice whatever might serve to depress a man of the greatest steadiness." it was precisely since cardinal richelieu became the arbiter of france that grotius was thus treated. the disgrace of the chancellor d'aligre deprived him of all remains of hope: the seals were given to marillac, who professed an open enmity to all that was protestant. learning was no merit with him if joined to heterodoxy. he gave a public proof of his zeal[ ] when the parliament of dijon petitioned the king that salmasius might be permitted to exercise the office of counsellor, which his father offered to resign in his favour: the keeper of the seals warmly opposed it, declaring that he would never consent to a huguenot's acquisition of the office of counsellor in any parliament of france. grotius was patient for some time longer; for he liked paris, and there were many persons in that city whose conversation gave him infinite pleasure: he told the celebrated peyresc[ ], he was so strongly attached to france on his account, that he would not leave it till his patience was worn out; and he wrote to his great friend du maurier, that he was resolved never to quit france till it deserted him, that all the world might be forced to own he could not have acted otherwise. in fine, having lost all hopes of pleasing the ministry, he began to think in good earnest of retiring into some other country. january , , he writes to his brother, "i am wholly taken up with the thoughts of settling in some part where i may live more commodiously with my family." the first condition that he required was liberty of conscience. some advised his going to rome, because pope urbin viii. was a great poet, and loved men of learning[ ]. he thought the proposal very ridiculous, and joked on it to his brother. december , , he writes to him, "it is not reasonable that i should be always in suspense. i shall leave this country too late, but i shall certainly leave it soon." what heightened his embarrassment was his uncertainty where to go. he writes to his brother, april , , "i must speedily come to a resolution: provisions become every day dearer, and the payment of my pension more uncertain: would it be proper to return to my country by stealth, and with so little hopes, after doing her so great service? my countrymen have not the same sentiments for me that i have for them." footnotes: [ ] ep . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ibid. . p. . [ ] ibid. . p. . . p. . . p. . [ ] ibid. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. p. . [ ] ibid. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . xi. in fine, upon mature consideration, trusting to the good-will of his friends, and the protestations of friendship from the prince of orange, he ventured to return to holland. he had always secretly wished to be restored; but, however ardent this desire might be, he was incapable of purchasing his restoration by any acts of meanness. they had discovered his inclination; and in a rumour spread that he was seeking to be reconciled to the states-general. he was sensible this report had reached du maurier, and therefore wrote to him on the th of september[ ] that there was nothing in it; that the times were not favourable, and that the publication of his _apology_ put an obstacle in the way of his return. du maurier was of the same opinion[ ], and no body had better opportunities of knowing the disposition of mens minds and the situation of affairs. however in the year following du maurier began to entertain better hopes. being come back from holland to france, he wrote to grotius that his affairs went on so well, he might flatter himself with the prospect of returning: but this agreed ill with other advices received by grotius; and he wrote to du maurier, july , , that he consulted his ancient friendship more than the situation of affairs; that his enemies were so powerful he did not see there could be any hopes for him; and that he was endeavouring to provide himself with patience to support perpetual banishment and the inconveniences annexed to that unhappy situation. one would imagine the death of prince maurice must make a speedy revolution in grotius' favour: the friendship with which he was honoured by prince frederic henry gave his friends ground to hope for it; but he himself was of a different opinion. july , [ ], he wrote to his father that his return was an affair of great consequence, which perhaps must not be mentioned at present. he sent his wife into holland in the spring [ ], that she might enquire herself how matters stood. she found many friends[ ]; but as she was convinced of her husband's innocence, and knew that in all holland there was not a man capable of labouring so effectually for the interest of his country, she imagined they ought to make the first advances, ask him to forget what was past, and pray him to return. this was to suppose the return of the golden age; and experience ought to have informed her better. she would not therefore have recourse to petitions and entreaties to obtain grotius' return, lest they should be taken for some acknowledgment of a fault. this encreased the malevolence of his enemies, and they fought to revenge themselves on his brother-in-law reigersberg, to whom they wanted to make a crime of his corresponding with grotius by letters; but their malice was ineffectual, because the calumnies to which they had recourse were too easily confuted. however his friends bestirred themselves in his favour: of which grotius being informed, he begged of them to promise nothing in his name, that there might be no ground to imagine he solicited leave to return. "for (he writes to his brother) that is what my enemies want, that they may reproach me with asking pardon for my pretended faults." the endeavours of his friends were fruitless; and his brother wrote to him (february , ) that there was no hope of success. if they did not obtain his return they at least made him gain a cause of consequence. he reclaimed[ ] his effects which were confiscated, grounding on the privilege of the burghers of delft; and his demand was granted. he says neither favour nor solicitations had any influence in his gaining this suit; and that he owed it to the incontestable right of which the town of delft was long in possession. though the information received from his brother of the inefficacy of his friends solicitations might have made him forget his country[ ], he resolved to regulate his conduct by his wife's advice, who had been on the spot. on her return from holland she told him it was necessary he should go thither. he immediately wrote to his brother that on his wife's information he resolved to go to see him and his father and mother; and that they would consult together what was best to be done for his advantage. he adds, that if after so long patience he still found his country ungrateful, he had received advantageous proposals from more than one quarter, where he might live with ease and honour. he set out for holland in the month of october, . footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . . p. . and . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . xii. the sentence passed against him was still in force. his friends, afraid of his being arrested, as he had no safe-conduct, advised his concealing himself: this step appeared to him shameful and timid. he wrote to his brother on the nineteenth of november, , that he would rather retire than conceal himself; and that by not appearing in public he had lessened the opinion of his innocence, and at the same time the courage of his friends. he came to rotterdam[ ], where he imagined he would be safest, because, having filled the post of pensionary with much honour, he was greatly beloved in the town. he took it ill that the magistrates did not make him the first visit after the signal services he had done the city; and hesitated whether he should go to see them: one of them sent his son to acquaint him that it was not perhaps prudent, after the sentence of condemnation passed upon him, to appear in public. grotius made answer, that he had such a good opinion of the gratitude of the burghers of rotterdam, he was persuaded he had nothing to fear among them. the young gentleman replied, that in a populous town there might possibly be some one who would do him an ill turn to gain the reward. grotius imagined this advice proceeded from the magistrates jealousy, who were afraid that the people would discover too much attachment to him. they spread a report that he was not in the remonstrants sentiments, and that the counsels formerly given by him had been frequently disapproved. in the mean time he was much embarrassed in what manner to behave, and consulted the most able lawyers on the subject, who refused to take any fee from him. he had no objection to writing to the states-general, provided the letter contained nothing to the disadvantage of his innocence. he met with more difficulties than he imagined: and wrote to his brother (november , ) "i am threatened with a storm; but i can live elsewhere, and i leave all to god's disposal." he left rotterdam, and came in the end of the year to amsterdam, where he was extremely well received[ ]. he did not, however, trust his stay in the low-countries to the success of his negotiation, for he wrote to his father, december , , "you may say you understand that i have taken my resolution to quit this cruel country." he was not satisfied with the magistrates of rotterdam: but he spoke extremely well of the town of delft[ ]: however no city ventured publickly to protect him[ ]. his great friend gerard vossius did every thing in his power to engage all who had any friendship for himself to befriend grotius, and keep him in holland. we have a letter written by him on that subject to bevovicius, magistrate of amsterdam[ ], who was in the interest of his friend: he represents to him what dishonour the states would bring on themselves by not permitting a man to live in their country who was its greatest ornament, and the wonder of the age. he exhorts him to continue his good offices to prevent amsterdam from disgracing herself by opposing that great man's return, and assures him that france, germany, england, and all nations are waiting to see what holland will do on this occasion. "let us not, says he, have ground to regret the loss of a man whom it depends entirely on ourselves to keep." vossius's desire to have grotius continue in holland was so great, that his friend's inflexibility gave him much uneasiness. he wanted him to make application to the prince of orange, and, after obtaining his consent, to write to those in power, asking permission to stay in the country: but this was precisely the step to which grotius had the greatest aversion. to employ himself till his fate should be determined, he resolved to exercise the profession of consulting advocate: with this view he desired his brother, in a letter dated february , , to send him what law books he had, and which he might need for the proper discharge of his office. he could make no use of these books: for the states-general, thinking themselves affronted by his boldness in continuing in the country without their leave, and by the repugnance he shewed to ask them pardon, on the tenth of december, , issued an ordonnance enjoining all the bailiffs of the country to seize his person, and give them notice. no body would execute it: which obliged the states to renew it, on the tenth of march in the year following, upon pain to those who would not obey of losing their places; and with a promise of two thousand florins to any one who would deliver grotius into the hands of justice. there were many who interested themselves for him: besides private persons he was favoured by the nobles, the towns of rotterdam, delft, and amsterdam. but the states-general were his judges and his adversaries. we do not find that the prince of orange, on whose friendship he had some reason to depend, protected him on this essential occasion. the intrigues of his enemies diverted him from it. they were at great pains to prejudice the stadtholder against grotius, by representing that he professed an inviolable attachment to the privileges of his country; and, being of barnevelt's principles, would support them with equal firmness; and that the prince could never agree with him because he would always oppose his views. these reasons made an impression on frederic, who being of the same character with all the princes, of his house, wanted, says du maurier, to be prince of holland. he approved therefore of the proceedings of the states-general, who intended to give grotius to understand by their last ordonnances, that they condemned him to perpetual banishment. it will perhaps be wondered at that a wise man, such as grotius, would hazard a journey to holland without succeeding in the projects he had formed for obtaining permission to stay there: but on some occasions it is prudent to run hazards. the point is whether the appearance of success was such as a man of sense ought to build on. he was sensible this would be objected to him, and in some of his letters he endeavours to justify his return. he writes to martinus ruarus, january , , that he came to holland at the solicitations of his friends, who imagined time and his services had mollified his enemies; but that immediately on his arrival he perceived his well-wishers would find great difficulty in bringing them to more moderate sentiments. he complains in another letter, written to du maurier feb. , [ ], that he found a want of courage in good men, and his misfortunes prevented them from speaking with freedom. vossius explains his friend's reasons for coming to holland in a letter of the thirteenth of february, [ ], to william laud, bishop of london. "grotius is returned to his country by the advice of several illustrious men, some of whom are in great place. he has done this without the knowledge of such as condemned him twelve years ago to perpetual imprisonment, and of those who in that time of trouble attained to the highest dignities by deposing such as were in power. all these, excepting a few, think it their interest that this great man, whose merit they know, should be buried in obscurity; and therefore spoke against him with great warmth in the assembly of the states. he had several illustrious friends who stood up for him: the nobility, three cities, rotterdam, of which he was pensionary; delft, where he was born; and amsterdam, no less famous for her prudence than her riches. leyden is much against him: because the first burgomaster was one of his judges: harlem, for the like reason, is of the same sentiments. of the other towns some take a middle course: most of them join leyden; especially the smaller towns, in which the preachers have great authority. hence it is uncertain how this affair will end: he has the flower of holland for him; but it often happens with us that the zealots, like the rigid puritans, by their menaces and clamour bear down the honest party, who are more modest. if it should so happen i fear much that this great man, fatigued with these squabbles, will of himself quit his ungrateful country: i am the more apprehensive of this as i know for certain that some kings and several princes are endeavouring to draw him to their courts by offers of great honours and a considerable salary. if he is destined to live out of his country, i shall be jealous of any place he settles in if it be not great-britain, where, i foresee, he would be of much service to the king and kingdom." laud, in his answer to this letter, owns[ ] that he always looked on grotius's recall as a thing not to be expected: as to the proposal of employing him in england, he tells him it was in vain to think of it in the present circumstances. grotius seeing so much opposition, judged it most proper to seek his fortune elsewhere; and left holland. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. vossii . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] præst. vir. epist. . p. . [ ] præs. vir. ep. . p. . xiii. it was on the seventeenth of march that he set out from amsterdam on his way to hamburg; but did not take up his residence in that city till the end of the year: the fine season[ ] he passed at an agreeable country-seat, called okinhuse, near the elbe, belonging to william morth, a dutchman. he had left many friends in france. william de lusson, first president of the court of moneys, was one who adhered to him most steadily: and we find by grotius' letter to him that he was very active to obtain the payment of his pension though absent: in a letter whose date is false[ ], grotius informs him[ ], that while he lived he would never forget the king's goodness and the gracious reception with which that prince honoured him: and promises to write to boutillier, superintendant of the finances, as soon as an occasion offered. it is probable this minister had made him an offer of service; for in speaking of him grotius says, "it is very agreeable to me to be approved by a man who in such a high station has not lost the taste for polite literature: i wish him and his family uninterrupted prosperity, and the art of enjoying it." his wife, who had been in zealand, came to join him, and the pleasure of seeing her again was a consolation under all his troubles. he writes to vossius, august , [ ], "oppressed by the violence of my enemies, to which hand shall i turn me, and to whom shall i have recourse, but to her who has been the faithful companion of my good and bad fortune; and to you who have given me public marks of your attachment in my greatest calamities? i have not yet (he adds) come to a resolution in my own affair; but as far as i can see i shall have it in my power to chuse. it ought not to appear hard to me to live under a master, when i see that after so many efforts for preserving your liberty you have little more than the name of it. i am resolved to expose myself to every thing rather than stoop to those who have treated me so unworthily after many years patience. i value not that man who lays aside all sentiments of generosity." he no doubt means the prince of orange, of whom he thought he had reason to complain. he was well pleased with the air of the place where he resided, and met with so many dutchmen[ ], that he did not look upon himself as a stranger. he wanted his books; but the learned lindenbrogius gave him access to his library to use it as his own. when winter came on, he lodged at hamburg with van sorgen, a merchant, who had a regard for men of learning: he was brother to nicholas van sorgen an eminent advocate at the hague. notwithstanding the embarrassment of his affairs he tells the first president of the court of moneys, that he did not pretend to draw money from the king of france for the future. "i shall always," says he, "retain a most grateful sense of the king's liberality: but it is enough to have been chargeable to you when in france. i have never done you any service, though i made an offer of myself. but it would not be proper that i should now live like a hornet on the goods of other men. i shall never forget, however, the kindness of so great a king, and the good offices of so many friends." his wife was gone to zealand, "to receive," says he, "the remains of our wreck, which i am uncertain into what port to carry." he wrote to descordes, to whom he had already spoke his sentiments in several letters, that he most humbly thanked the king for his inclination to honour him with his benefactions though absent, and that he was extremely sensible of the constant attention of his friends to serve him; but that he saw no just reason for accepting the king's favours since his departure from france. "i earnestly wish," he adds, "that my excuses may be well received: i have no less grateful sense of what is offered me than of what was given me: and shall most chearfully testify my gratitude for the favours received from a most excellent king as often as occasion offers. in the mean time i pray god to give him a long life and vigorous health, and to restore the tranquillity of the kingdom, if france be capable of so great a blessing." there might have been a prudential reason for his declining at this time to be a pensioner of france, namely, lest his connexion with that crown should hurt his projects of a settlement which were then on the carpet. this conjecture is strengthened by what he writes himself to the first president of the court of moneys, that the ministers of some princes having asked him whether he were attached to any court, as was reported; he answered, that he would always remember with gratitude the favours shewn him in france, but that since he came away he was free and his own master: he adds, that several considerable settlements both with regard to honour and profit were offered him; "but, says he, i keep always in mind the maxim, to deliberate long before coming to a resolution. i hope however that my situation will permit me to see france again, and my dear friends, and to thank them personally; you, messieurs de thou, descordes, du puis, pelletier, whose names will remain engraven on my heart wherever fortune carries me." lusson yielded to his reasons, and approved of his disinterestedness[ ]. he led a dull life at hamburg. "i am extremely solitary here (he writes to his brother august , [ ]:) even the men of learning keep up no correspondence with one another. i might easily support this irksomeness if i had my books and papers: for i could employ myself in some work that would be useful to the public and no discredit to me: but at present without these i am a kind of prisoner." the disagreeableness of his situation and the uneasiness of his mind were increased by the death of his landlord after fourteen days illness[ ]. he was a merchant of more knowledge and good sense than we commonly find in men of that profession. he left some young children, in whose education grotius interested himself. writing on this subject to vossius, he tells him that his landlord's two sons were at the hague learning grammar; that they were beginning to make themes and versions; that if what they had already learnt were not cultivated, they would soon forget it; and that the time which boys spent in their studies at hamburg was lost, the method of teaching being only fit to make blockheads. "several, he adds, employ preceptors in the education of their children; which method answers not expectation. i never approved of it because i know that young people learn not but in company, and that study languishes where there is no emulation. i also dislike those schools when the master scarce knows the names of his scholars, and where their number is so great that he cannot give that attention to each, which his different genius and capacity may require. for this reason i would have a middle course followed: that a master should take but ten or twelve, to stay in the house together, and be in one form, by which means he would not be overburdened." he begs of him to inform himself whether there was not such a house in amsterdam where he might place van sorgen's sons. vossius joined with grotius in his thoughts on education[ ]. the death of his landlord obliging grotius to remove, he went to lodge with a dutchman called ahasuerus matthias[ ], formerly minister at deventer, which he left on account of his adhering to arminianism. the return of his wife from zealand in autumn , who had always been his consolation in adversity, rendered his life more agreeable. [ ]he mentions it to descordes nov. , , and informs him that though several settlements were offered him, he had not yet determined which to embrace, but would soon come to a resolution. he passed his time in writing his sophomphanæus, or tragedy of joseph[ ], which he finished whilst at hamburg. it is probable that if he had had his books and papers he would have applied himself to something else at his age: but this kind of study was suitable enough to his present situation. salvius, vice-chancellor of sweden, a great statesman, and a man of learning, was then at hamburg. grotius made acquaintance with him, and saw him frequently. polite literature was the subject of their conversation. salvius conceived a great esteem for grotius, and the favourable report he made of him to the high chancellor oxenstiern determined the latter to invite grotius[ ] to come to him, that he might employ him in affairs of the greatest importance, as we shall see in the following book. footnotes: [ ] ep. grotii . p. . ep. inter vossianas . p. . [ ] this letter is dated at hamburgh feb. , . he was still in holland in the month of february. see the letters written to his brother, and following, p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. , and . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. [ ] ep. grotii . p. [ ] ep. . p. [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . book iv. when it was known in europe that grotius had no longer any connexion with the court of france, the greatest princes sought to draw to them a man who to the most profound learning and knowledge of public law joined the strictest probity. in he was invited into poland, as we learn from a letter to vossius, dated november that year[ ]. three years after, december , , ruarus wrote to grotius from dantzick, "you have a very great name at our court, and the good odour of it has induced the king to order savasi, who goes as his ambassador to holland and england, to advise with you. he has not done it, according to what the secretary of the embassy tells me; and i am ignorant of his reason: but this i know, that many are labouring to bring you here with a pension from the king. i know not what will become of this affair; but i believe it would be pushed more briskly, if those who concern themselves in it were not persuaded that you would decline the proposal." grotius[ ] answered, that he would readily have waited on savasi if he had sent him his compliments; and that he guessed what it was that hindered him. "when your king, he adds, shall be disposed to employ me, and i know in what business, i shall not be long in taking my resolution." in the beginning of the year[ ] he was flattered with the hopes of being employed by england. christiern iv. king of denmark loaded him with civilities when he was at hamburg; and vossius, who was well informed of every thing that related to his friend's affairs, writes to meric casaubon, oct. , , that the king of denmark offered grotius a considerable pension if he would enter into his service. henry ernestus informed vossius, that grotius had seen that prince at gluckstad, and was extremely well received by him: this he had from grotius himself. he concludes his letter with an invective against the dutch, who were so void of common sense, as to refuse the services of so great a man. it is said that even the king of spain[ ] had thoughts of taking him into his service: but this prince's court suited him ill for many reasons easy to be imagined; one of which was that his going to spain would be matter of triumph to his enemies, who would represent it, with some degree of probability, as a proof of what they had formerly asserted, that grotius was a private pensioner of spain. the duke of holstein and several other[ ] princes made him likewise advantageous proposals. it was reported that the famous walstein intended to take him into his service. ruarus[ ] wrote about it to grotius, and tells him he could scarce give credit to this news, from a persuasion that grotius would not employ his pen in writing things of which no doubt he partly disapproved. his remaining so long without coming to a resolution proceeded, it is probable, from his unwillingness to attach himself to any prince, till he despaired of a reconciliation with his country; of which he was so desirous, that above two years and a half after he had been so shamefully driven out, he had still thoughts of it. march , [ ], he writes to his brother, "it is of great importance to me that my affair may be no longer protracted, and that i know speedily whether i can see my country again, or must relinquish it for ever." a fortnight after he writes to him[ ], "i expect your letters with impatience, to know what i have to hope for from my countrymen. i have been too long under uncertainty, and i am afraid of losing in the mean time the opportunities which offer elsewhere. i would not however have any thing asked in my name directly or indirectly; but if they make any proposal of their own accord, i shall be glad to know it." he ought to have determined himself long before. convinced at last that he must lay aside all thoughts of returning into holland, he yielded to the pressing instances of the high chancellor of sweden, who wanted to employ him in affairs of importance. grotius gave the preference more readily to this minister, the greatest man perhaps of his age, because he followed gustavus's plan, for whom grotius had a singular veneration: in january, [ ], he speaks of him as a prince whose greatness of soul and knowledge in civil and military matters placed him above every other. march , in the same year, he writes to his brother[ ], that on every occasion he would do all in his power to serve such a virtuous monarch. on the th of april following, he congratulates camerarius[ ], whose father was ambassador from sweden, on his serving a prince who merited every commendation. "the whole universe will not furnish his equal in virtue[ ]. men of the greatest merit in this country think the brilliancy of this prince's actions and virtues must strike even envy dumb. happy are they who are under the protection of so great a king. he proves the possibility of what appeared incredible in the great men of antiquity: he is a witness who gives evidence in their favour: he will serve for a master to posterity; and the best lessons in the art of war will be taken from his history. he is no less eminent as a warrior, than as a statesman[ ]; and in him is found all that makes a great king. he is the wisest monarch now reigning, and knows how to improve every opportunity to the best advantage, not only when the injustice of his enemies obliges him to have recourse to arms, but also when he is allowed to enjoy the blessings of peace." the letters, in which he expresses his profound esteem for the great gustavus, were all written before the month of june, , whilst he resided at paris and had no thought of entering into the swedish service. gustavus had sent to paris benedict oxenstiern, a relation of the high chancellor, to bring to a final conclusion the treaty between france and sweden. this minister made acquaintance with grotius, and in a short time conceived such a high esteem for him, that he resolved to employ his credit to draw him to his master's court. a report of this spread in holland; and william grotius wrote about it to his brother, who made answer, feb. , , that these reports were without foundation; that, besides, he had an aversion to following an army. it was said that king gustavus intended to employ him at the court of france; and he answered his brother on this subject, feb. , , that if this monarch would nominate him his ambassador, with a proper salary for the decent support of that dignity, the proposal would merit his regard. this prince, who was certainly the greatest captain of his age, had at the same time an affection for men of learning. the reading of the treatise _of the rights of war and peace_ gave him the highest opinion of its author, whom he regarded as an original genius[ ]; and he was persuaded that one who wrote so well on the law of nations must be an able statesman. he resolved to gain him, and to employ him in some embassy. the high chancellor of sweden, who was of the same opinion with his master, was grotius's patron at court. gustavus, who looked upon grotius as the first man of his age, was on the point of shewing all europe how much he esteemed him, when he was unhappily slain, on the th of november, [ ], in a famous battle against the imperialists, in which the swedes gained a signal victory. some time before, this great prince[ ], as if he had had a foreboding of his end being near, gave orders for several things to be done in case of his death; among others that grotius should be employed in the swedish ministry. the high chancellor oxenstiern, who governed the kingdom during the minority of queen christina, the daughter of gustavus adolphus, thought it his duty and honour to conform to his master's intentions: he therefore pressed grotius to come to him, promising him an employment suited to his merit[ ]. grotius did not yield immediately, not only because he had still hopes of being recalled to holland, but also because he was persuaded that one ought to deliberate long before taking a resolution which cannot be altered. it may not be improper to observe that the book _of the rights of war and peace_ was found in king gustavus's tent after his death. grotius also gives us an anecdote concerning his entering into the swedish service which deserves to be mentioned, namely, that it was marshal bannier's brother, who gave him the first hint of preferring sweden to the other states, by whom he was solicited. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] henry dupuis. grotii manes, p. . niceron. [ ] ep. vossii, . p. . [ ] ruari ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . ep. . p. . & ep. . p. . [ ] prefacio man. grotii vir. grot. p. . [ ] at lutsen. [ ] ep. grotii, . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . & . p. . ii. grotius, on the invitation of the high chancellor of sweden, set out for franckfort on the main where that minister was. he had no notion what they purposed to do with him; but he was quite easy with regard to his settlement, being persuaded that a minister of oxenstiern's prudence and credit would not engage him to take a wrong step: his only anxiety was, lest the high chancellor, whom he looked on as the greatest man of his age[ ], and fit to be compared with the most famous in antiquity, should entertain too high an idea of his merit, from the advantageous testimonies given of it, and lest he should be unable to answer the hopes that minister had conceived of him. he arrived at franckfort in may, [ ], and was received with the greatest politeness by the high chancellor, who did not however explain his intentions: grotius wrote to his brother, july , , that the chancellor proceeded with great slowness in his affair; but that every body assured him he was a man of his word: "if so, he adds, all will go well." he wrote for his wife, and she arrived at franckfort, with his daughters and son cornelius, in the beginning of august. the chancellor continued to heap civilities[ ] on him without mentioning a word of business: but ordered him to follow him to mentz; and at length[ ] declared him counsellor to the queen of sweden and her ambassador at the court of france. the authority of oxenstiern was so great that this kind of nomination needed not the queen's confirmation: it was not till almost two years after[ ] that christina ratified by her letters grotius's embassy. before their arrival he enjoyed the same honours and prerogatives as if the queen herself had nominated him. as soon as he could depend upon an establishment, he purposed to make it known by some public act that he considered himself no longer as a dutchman. on the th of july, [ ], he sent his brother letters for the prince of orange and the dutch: but desired him to read them first himself, and advise with the counsellor reigersberg and beaumont about them. "i have ceased, says he in another place[ ], to be a dutchman since i entered into the service of sweden; which i have sufficiently intimated to the states of holland. i have written to them, but not as their subject. thus the spaniards used to act in such cases, as mariana informs us in several places of his history of spain. when i bad adieu to the united provinces (he writes again[ ]) i signified to them that i was a member of another nation; that i should give myself little trouble about what might be said or thought of it; and that i reckoned never to see the country again." we may judge by these expressions that his patience was at length worn out. he wrote to the city of rotterdam, which had deferred nominating a pensionary since the sentence passed against grotius, that they might now chuse one, since they ought no longer to look on him as a dutchman. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . & ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . iii. at the time that grotius entered into the service of sweden, the affairs of that crown were in a very bad situation. the death of the great gustavus had made a strange change in them. he left at his death a young princess under age, whose right was even disputed. ladislaus iv. elected king of poland on the death of his father sigismond, set up a claim to the swedish crown, and had a party in the kingdom capable of forming a dangerous faction. sweden was unable singly to support the war in germany; and saw the allies, whom she had hitherto kept on her side by her authority and the eclat of her victories, ready to fall off: the weaker, in consternation at the death of their leader, wished for peace; the more powerful, such as the dukes of pomerania, the elector of brandenbourg, the dukes of meklenbourg, and some others, jealous of the authority usurped by the swedes in germany, would acknowledge them only as allies, and not as the head of the protestant party. the duke of brunswick was already levying men in his own name, and intended to form a separate party composed of the circle of lower saxony. the elector of saxony carried his views still farther. he wanted to have the supreme direction of affairs; and, if thwarted, there was reason to apprehend he would soon relinquish the common cause. in this perilous situation the swedes, hardening themselves against danger, trusted to their courage and address: and after nominating regents to govern the kingdom during queen christina's minority, they committed the care of sweden's interests in germany to baron oxenstiern the high chancellor with an almost absolute power. that great man supported this important charge in the most difficult times with a firmness, address, and capacity, which justly made him be looked upon as one of the ablest ministers of europe. he inspired those who were wavering through fear with new courage; brought back those who on private views had detached themselves from the common cause; broke the measures of the duke of brunswick; suspended the effects of the elector of saxony's jealousy, and made all the allies sensible that they could only find their true interest, their security, and safety, in their union. by this means the bands which knit them together were strengthened, and sweden preserved the principal direction of affairs, and almost as much authority as she had in the time of gustavus. the swedes had lately lost the famous battle of norlingen in september; and marshal horne their general was made prisoner. this disaster was followed by the peace of prague, in which the emperor ferdinand ii. engaged the electors of saxony and brandenbourg to unite against the swedes; and it would have been all over with them in germany, had not a power which hitherto faintly seconded them, brought them powerful assistance. lewis xiii. by the advice of his prime minister, sent cardinal de la vallette at the head of an army into germany; and concluded a treaty with the duke of weimar, engaging to pay him a subsidy of one million five hundred thousand livres, and the sum of four millions yearly for maintaining an army of eighteen thousand men, which the duke obliged himself to furnish, and command under the direction of france. such is the exact portrait which father bougeant gives of the state of germany. let us hear what a cotemporary author says of it[ ]. "fortune smiled on the imperialists on every side. there was nothing but conquest and victories and a happy change of affairs: for in less than a month the swedes, who were become so powerful and formidable, were defeated, and entirely dispersed in one battle, and an unheard-of victory gained most gloriously with inconsiderable loss on the side of the imperialists. bavaria was entirely delivered; the swedes driven out of swabia, the dutchy of wirtemberg conquered; and almost all franconia: the rivers ocin and iser remained free; the lek, the danube, the necker, and almost all the main cleared, with the loss of so many towns and provinces in such a short time, almost deprived the swedes of a retreat; ulm and nuremberg refusing them admittance, whereas formerly they were welcome, and masters every where." these descriptions agree with that given by grotius. sept. , , he writes to du maurier[ ], "had i come sooner to the high chancellor, i should have found the times more favourable; but as his great courage is most conspicuous in adverse circumstances, it is proper we should conform to the example of so great a leader. france is at present the sole resource of germany in her affliction: since the loss of ratisbon and donavert, and the unfortunate battle of norlinguen, the towns are all frightened, and it is a great happiness that the conquerors have not approached franckfort: they have divided their army; the king of hungary has led one into bohemia, and his brother is marched with the other towards the united provinces. france alone is able to restore our affairs." the swedes, in the consternation occasioned by the defeat at norlinguen, were threatened with seeing franckfort, mentz, augsburg, nuremberg, and ulm fall into the hands of the imperialists; but by good luck they did not take the advantage of their victory. grotius assures us the swedes were obliged to the king of france for it, who kept the projects of the enemy suspended by the apprehension of his declaring war. such was the situation of affairs when grotius received orders to repair to the french court. it was the most important commission with which a minister could be charged, since the principal resource of the swedes and their allies was in the protection of france; and oxenstiern's nominating grotius to be the ambassador who was to strengthen the union between sweden and france is a demonstration of that great man's particular esteem for him. footnotes: [ ] mercure françois, an. , p. . [ ] ep. , p. et . p. . iv. in the beginning of the year grotius set out from mentz on his embassy to france. he was obliged to go a great way about, to avoid being surprised by the enemies parties. beginning his journey in very rainy weather, succeeded by a hard frost, he arrived at metz much later than he expected, and indisposed with a cholic occasioned by the great cold; which obliged him to continue there some time till he recovered. it was five days before he could write to the high chancellor. january , as soon as his pain abated, he wrote to him that he hoped to be able to continue his journey in two or three days, and that the vexation of his mind at being hindered from getting so soon as he wished to the place of his destination, was greater than the indisposition of his body. he was extremely well received by the commandants of haguenau and saverne. at the former of those towns he met some waggons going to the army with a million of money, which it was said would soon be followed by other two. he left metz february [ ], and was at meaux the th, from whence he went to st. denis. on the th he wrote to the high chancellor, that by the advice of his friends he had given the introductors of ambassadors notice of his arrival, that they might pay him the usual honours; and that he would write to the queen of sweden as soon as he had his audience of the king[ ]. francis de thou, hearing of his arrival, came immediately to visit him. grotius was suffered to remain long at st. denis: february , he wrote to oxenstiern[ ] that count brulon, introductor of ambassadors, had been with him to acquaint him that the troubles of the court had hitherto prevented the appointing a day for his entry. in fact, the duke de puy-laurens, and some other lords, accused of giving bad counsels to gaston of france duke of orleans, had been just arrested. but grotius suspected that his entry was deferred for other reasons; that they waited for the answers of la grange and feuquieres, employed by the court of france in germany, to know whether the high chancellor would conform to the intentions of the french ministry, and in consequence to proportion the honours to be paid sweden's ambassador to oxenstiern's compliance. count brulon assured grotius that in two or three days every obstruction to his entry would be removed, and in the mean time gave him an invitation to see _incognito_ the ballets and entertainments that were to be given the sunday following, in the king's apartments: which the ambassador thought fit to decline. february [ ] count brulon came to make grotius another visit, and asked, who sent him into france? grotius answered, that he was the queen of sweden's ambassador, and was nominated to that employment by the high chancellor of sweden, by virtue of the powers given to his excellency. brulon said, that the king of spain had formerly empowered the duke of mentz to nominate ambassadors; but they were never regarded as such. grotius replied, that was owing to the war, and a dislike to the duke of mentz; that when the truce between spain and the united provinces was treating at the hague, the ambassadors sent thither by the arch-dukes were received by the french and english ministers as ambassadors of the king of spain; and that if during the late war in italy cardinal richelieu, who had very extensive powers, had nominated ambassadors, they would have been every where received in the same manner as those sent by the king; that the high chancellor's powers could not be disputed; that they were given him by the whole kingdom; that the king of france had already treated as ambassadors ministers nominated by his excellency; and that the ambassadors of the king of france, in the treaty which they made with oxenstiern, acknowledged this power. brulon declared, that the difficulty did not proceed from any aversion to grotius, whom the king highly esteemed. he repeated this so often, that the swedish ambassador imagined they wanted to make him quit the service of sweden, and enter into that of france. the count promised to return in three or four days: he did not keep his word; he sent however to acquaint grotius that the wednesday following, which was the last of february, every thing would be ready for his entry; but that he must first receive the king's commands who was at chantilly. du maurier, son of the ambassador to holland, an intimate friend of grotius, pretends, in his _memoirs_, that the swedish ambassador was suffered to remain so long at st. denis because cardinal richelieu, who had a dislike to him, was vexed to see him nominated ambassador to france; that he wrote to oxenstiern, asking him to appoint some other, and that the high chancellor paying no regard to the cardinal's whim, he was obliged to acknowledge grotius's quality. the letters of grotius rather contradict than confirm this anecdote, though du maurier assures us grotius was fully informed of this secret negotiation. grotius made his public entry into paris on friday the d of march, . the marshals d'estres and st. luc were nominated to attend him; but, the latter falling ill, count brulon, introductor of ambassadors, supplied his place. they came in the king and queen's coaches to take him up. the coaches of the venetian, swiss, and mantuan ministers were at this entry, together with those of the german powers allied to sweden. the princes of the blood did not send their coaches because they were not at paris; gaston duke of orleans was at angers; the prince of condé had a cause depending at rouen; and the count de soissons was at senlis with the court. pau, ambassador from holland, greatly chagrined to see grotius in such an honourable place, was much embarrassed[ ] in what manner to behave: he wrote about it to the states-general, and in the mean time sent to make him his compliments. the states-general answered, that they intended their ambassadors should shew the same regard to grotius as to the ambassadors of powers in friendship with them. pau, not satisfied with this, wrote to the particular states of holland. grotius was informed of it, and seemed little concerned, because, he said, they knew little, were very inconstant, and took their resolutions on slight grounds. may , the count de nancei, master of the wardrobe, came to compliment him on the part of the king. he told him that his nomination to the french embassy was most agreeable to his majesty[ ], who wished he might long continue in that post. count brulon assured him that he had orders to present his lady to the queen, who remained at paris, whenever she pleased: but grotius thought this ought to be deferred till he had seen the king. grotius was carried to court at senlis on the sixth of march, by the duke de mercoeur, whom he calls the most learned of all the princes[ ]: on the death of his father he became duke of vendôme, and in the end a cardinal. the new ambassador was extremely satisfied with his reception: the king's guards were under arms[ ]: lewis xiii. spoke much to him, and with so great goodness, that he conjectured from it he should bring the affairs with which he was entrusted to the desired conclusion. his majesty gave him to understand by his gracious manner, and by his[ ] talk, that they could not have sent into france a minister so agreeable to him. he made him be covered in his presence, and repeated his civilities on grotius's presenting to him his son cornelius. march , grotius sent queen christina news of his entry and his audience of the king: next day he wrote to salmasius: after acquainting him with the agreeable revolution in his affairs, he adds, that the first formalities of his embassy being over, he hoped to have leisure to resume his studies. salmasius had at that time the greatest esteem for grotius, and on hearing of his being nominated ambassador to france, took occasion to say that grotius's friends were only sorry the affairs of sweden were not in such a good situation, as might render the embassy of so great a man as agreeable as could be desired. after having an audience of the king, grotius made his visits to mademoiselle[ ], the prince of condé, the count of soissons, the countess of soissons the count's mother, and to his lady the princess of condé. the prince[ ] received him with the greatest politeness, spoke to him of their old acquaintance, and next day returned his visit. cardinal richelieu, before he would see him, wanted to know his instructions relating to the treaty lately concluded between france and several german princes, with which the swedes were dissatisfied. he went to his abbey of royaumont till grotius should see boutillier, superintendant of the finances, with whom he was to discuss the late treaty; and as things passed at this conference the cardinal was to talk to the swedish ambassador. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. & . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . v. the subject of the dispute between france and sweden was this: after the unfortunate battle of norlinguen, the swedes and their allies being reduced to the last extremity, judged the support of france must be their principal resource. they made no doubt that such an able statesman as cardinal richelieu would seize every opportunity to abase, or at least embarrass the house of austria, the eternal rival of france. james læfler and philip strect were sent in , by the protestant princes and states of the circles and electoral provinces of franconia, suabia, and the rhine, to solicit succours from the king of france, and prevail with him to declare war against the emperor. they proposed that the king should send an army to the rhine, and advance a large sum of money to enable the allies to recruit their army, which was almost wholly destroyed. they treated with the cardinal de richelieu, who endeavoured to avail himself of the situation of affairs and their necessities, to make the most advantageous treaty he could for france. he offered only five hundred thousand livres, six thousand foot in six weeks, and twelve thousand when they had put france in possession of benfield: but their powers did not extend to the cession of that place. however they promised it without making any condition; and had not the precaution to stipulate that france should furnish every year the same subsidies which she engaged to give king gustavus by a treaty which was renewed at hailbron. the cardinal gave them hopes that france would declare war against the emperor; that after the declaration the king would keep twelve thousand men in germany, and a strong army on the rhine; advance immediately five hundred thousand francs to be divided among the army or the allies; nominate a prince to command the army of twelve thousand men, with a lieutenant under him as his collegue; and have one to assist in his majesty's name at the councils of war. after signing the treaty læfler and strect returned to germany in december . when a motion was made in the assembly of the allies at worms to ratify this treaty, the high chancellor of sweden opposed it. he maintained that it was obscure and ambiguous, and discordant with the private treaty made with sweden. this minister was chiefly chagrined at sweden's losing the principal direction of affairs in germany by the nomination of a german prince to be generalissimo of the allied army. he declared that he thought himself obliged to propose his difficulties to the queen of sweden: and besides would send an embassy to paris on the subject. this then was the business which grotius had to manage at the court of france. the commission was the more delicate as cardinal richelieu, a positive man, absolutely required that the treaty made with the envoys of the german princes should have its full effect. it was to confer on this affair that grotius made a visit to boutillier, superintendant of the finances. the swedish ambassador represented, that the treaty ought not to be in force till sweden's ratification of it, which could not be expected, as it made void the treaty of hailbron. this was not what the cardinal wanted: he commissioned father joseph to employ all his address to bring grotius into his measures. the capuchin was the cardinal's confident, and it was then thought that he was destined to succeed him in the ministry in case of the cardinal's death. march , the superintendant sent to acquaint grotius that he purposed to make him a visit with father joseph; but as the father was taken ill he asked him to go with him to the convent of the capuchins; that he ought to have no reluctance to this, since the cardinal himself had lately visited father joseph there when he was ill. grotius went to the convent, and was conducted from thence to the garden of the thuilleries, where he found boutillier and father joseph. after the usual compliments, the capuchin shewed that the late treaty at paris was made in consequence of a full power given the ministers of the german princes, and concluded and signed without any stipulation concerning the necessity of ratifying it. grotius replied, that the high chancellor himself had said the contrary; that the towns who approved of the treaty owned the necessity of its being ratified; that a ratification was so necessary to give a treaty the force of a law, that that which was concluded at ratisbon, in , by father joseph himself, had not its full execution because the king did not think proper to ratify it; that the swedes only asked what was just, and would consent that some addition should be made to the treaty of hailbron, if that were proper. grotius was asked, which article of the late treaty sweden complained of? he first mentioned that of the subsidies, the disposition of which was left to the four circles of germany, though it was on the express condition of receiving them that sweden had engaged in the war: he added, that it was unjust to take benfield from the swedes without giving them an equivalent, since the germans had given them that place as a pledge. the two french ministers, unable to make grotius approve of the treaty of paris, had recourse to menaces and caresses: they imagined that his instructions bore that he might ratify it provided it was not till the last extremity. grotius saw through their design, and told them they deceived themselves. they said, they would write to sweden to complain of the high chancellor; that the king would no longer treat with grotius as ambassador; that orders would be sent to the marquis de feuquieres to complain to oxenstiern himself of his contempt of a signed treaty, and want of due regard to the king. grotius answered, that the marquis de feuquieres had already made representations to the high chancellor, without effect, on this subject; that if france would not have him for ambassador, he would be employed elsewhere; that it would be in vain to write to sweden because oxenstiern's reasons for not ratifying the treaty of paris would certainly be approved there. they cooled a little; and gave him to understand, that an alteration might be made in some of the articles, and that the king would consent that the swedes should not be excluded from the chief command, though the treaty imported that a prince should be general. grotius shewed that there were many other articles, which occasioned great difficulty both by their ambiguity and their opposition to the interests of sweden. the two ministers put themselves into a passion, and concluded with complaining that they would inform the king and the cardinal that they could settle nothing with grotius, and that the swedes made a jest of treaties. father joseph retiring, the conversation became milder with the superintendant: grotius shewed that it was the promise of assistance from france, which engaged sweden in such a burthensome war; that the high chancellor had done essential services to the common cause; that if the king should drop his alliance with the swedes, they should be obliged to take care of themselves; that france might give subsidies to the germans, but it was just that those promised to sweden should be exactly paid. grotius informed the high chancellor of this conference in a letter of the th of march, . cardinal richelieu[ ], to induce the swedes to conform more to his measures, spread a report, and even said himself often, that he was in treaty with the emperor, and the accommodation on the point of being concluded: but grotius, who knew the cardinal's character, was not duped by it; and wrote to the high chancellor that it was only a stratagem of that minister, and the report ought to make no change in sweden's conduct. on the th of march the cardinal sending to acquaint grotius[ ] that he wanted to confer with him, he immediately waited on his eminence: which shews the inaccuracy of du maurier, who assures us that grotius never saw cardinal richelieu whilst he was minister from sweden in france, because his eminence gave not the precedence to ambassadors. he complimented the cardinal (with whom he found father joseph) in the name of the queen, the regents of sweden, and the high chancellor, and delivered to him his letters of credence. the treaty of paris was soon brought on the carpet: the cardinal pretended that it ought to be executed without any restriction; he said the king, by assisting the germans with men and money, sufficiently favoured the swedes; adding, that sweden did not apply the subsidies granted by france to the uses agreed on. grotius made answer, that læfler and strect could not make a treaty contrary to the interests of sweden. father joseph added that the king was informed that it was he (grotius) who advised the high chancellor not to ratify the treaty of paris, giving him hopes that he through his friends would obtain one more advantageous. grotius assured him it was a falshood; and that what had been said of the misapplication of the subsidies was a gross calumny. the cardinal interposing said that he perceived father joseph and the swedish ambassador were not in good understanding, and he would endeavour to reconcile them. grotius sounded high the wealth of france, as being more than sufficient to assist the germans without abandoning the swedes, who had entered into the war solely at her felicitation and on her promise of succours. the cardinal, without explaining himself what sum would be given, hinted that sweden must not expect for the future a subsidy of a million. father joseph pretended, that he knew from good hands the high chancellor only wanted that article changed which excluded the swedes from the command in chief, and that regard should be had to their interests in concluding a peace. the cardinal said the king would consent to this alteration; but that he was surprised the high chancellor, after giving so many assurances of his satisfaction, should make new demands. grotius still insisted that it was but just to adhere to the treaty of hailbron, and that sweden, which kept up armies and fleets, had a better claim to the king's liberality, than several other princes to whom the king generously gave subsidies. the cardinal receiving notice that a courier was just arrived with letters from the high chancellor, ordered him to be brought in. he presented oxenstiern's letters to the cardinal, who, on reading them, was much surprised to find the high chancellor desirous of coming into france to settle all difficulties in a conference. this journey was not at all agreeable to the cardinal: however, as it would have been indecent and improper to oppose it, he answered that he would write about it to the king, and he did not doubt but his majesty would consent to it; that it would give him the greatest pleasure to see oxenstiern, but if his errand was to set aside the treaty of paris, he foresaw the interview would do more harm than good; and that he would dispatch la grange to the high chancellor to compliment him, and assure him he must not think of concluding a treaty contrary to what had been agreed on with læfler and strect. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p . [ ] ep. . p. . vi. the king being informed that oxenstiern, to serve the common cause, wanted to come to france, consented to it, and gave orders for his being received with great magnificence: the hotel for ambassadors extraordinary at paris was fitted up for him[ ]. all business was suspended till his arrival[ ]: and the king went to compeigne to be nearer flanders and germany. the high chancellor came thither. grotius had purposed to go to meet him as soon as he heard of his being on the way; but oxenstiern not giving him notice what rout he would take, nor whether he would come directly to paris, or alight at compeigne, grotius remained in suspense till april , that a courier[ ] from the high chancellor brought him word that he had taken the road through the three bishoprics and champagne, and desired him to come to him. grotius set out immediately; and met him at soissons, from whence they came to compeigne. the high chancellor had two hundred men in his retinue. the count de soissons was at first nominated to go to meet that minister[ ]; it was however the count d'alais, son of the duke d'angoulême, who went with count brulon in the king's coach. they proceeded the distance of three leagues, and on their coming up the high chancellor stept with them into his majesty's coach. he was conducted to the hotel prepared for him, and splendidly entertained at the king's expence. on the th of april, , he came to compeigne; and next day had an audience of the king, who received him very graciously, and expressed a high esteem for him. the visit lasted half an hour: the scots colonels hepburn and leslie were present; and grotius served as interpreter. he afterwards visited the queen, and also cardinal richelieu, who took the right hand of him; he offered it indeed to oxenstiern; but he in civility refused it. they were together at this visit three hours, but said not a word of business; nothing passed but compliments and mirth, says the _mercure françois_. both spoke in latin. two days after, that is to say, on the th, the cardinal returned the high chancellor's visit: his eminence was booted as if he were returning from the country, that this visit, says puffendorf, might not be looked upon as a debt. they conversed long together about business. oxenstiern, like an able politician, made no mention of the treaty of paris, nor of that of hailbron: he foresaw that it would draw on discussions which might breed ill blood, and hurt the common cause: he only talked of a treaty with sweden. there was some alteration made in the old one; and it was agreed that no peace or truce should be concluded with the austrians without the consent of the two crowns. the same day, according to the _mercure françois_, or on the th of april, according to puffendorf, the high chancellor had his audience of leave of the king: his majesty took a diamond ring from his finger, valued at that time at ten or twelve thousand crowns, which he gave him, together with a box set with diamonds, in which was his majesty's picture. all the time he was at compeigne, he was served by the officers of the king's kitchen with so much splendor and magnificence, that he complained to grotius of the too great expence they were at on his account. he set out from compeigne on monday the th of april for paris. he wanted to be there _incognito_; and lodged with grotius[ ]; but as soon as his arrival took air, the crowd to see him was so great that they could scarce keep them from forcing into grotius's house. had he been one descended from heaven they could not have shewn more eagerness. he staid only two or three days at paris, during which he went to see the church of notre dame, the louvre, the palace of luxembourg, and some of the fine seats near the city. he was so well satisfied with the manner in which grotius received him, that he made a considerable present to his lady. she would have refused it, if she could have done it with a good grace. grotius, in returning his humble thanks for it to the high chancellor, told him that he owed all he had to his goodness, and that if he could have done more, he would have thought himself sufficiently recompensed by the honour of lodging so great a man. oxenstiern went from paris to embark at dieppe; and grotius accompanied him a part of the way[ ]. as soon as the high chancellor arrived at dieppe, he wrote grotius a very obliging letter[ ]. the court had prepared vessels at dieppe, on board which oxenstiern embarked for holland, from whence he proceeded to lower saxony. this treaty occasioned a difference between the duke of weymar and the high chancellor[ ]. the marquis de feuquieres insinuated to that prince, that oxenstiern, in treating with france, had shewn no regard to the interests of germany. the fact was most false; for grotius was a witness that the high chancellor had recommended the affairs of germany to the king with great warmth: it was agreed that neither peace nor truce should be concluded but in concert with the allies; and he had ordered grotius to solicit their affairs, who had in consequence pressed the sending the promised succours. it was not probable that feuquieres should of himself venture to talk in this manner, which was enough to ruin him: there was therefore reason to suspect that he did it by private orders from the cardinal, that the duke of weymar, distrusting the chancellor, might place his confidence in his eminence. it is certain, that notwithstanding what was agreed on at compeigne, the cardinal had the treaty with læfler and strect still much at heart; and avaugour[ ], the french minister at stockholm, was ordered to demand its ratification. but he was answered, that those ministers were not sent by sweden, and exceeded their powers, and that the affair was referred to oxenstiern. after such a formal denial, avaugour was forced to confine his demands to the ratification of the treaty of compeigne. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . & ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. & ep. p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. , . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] puffendorf, l. . n. . vii. grotius was not only fatigued and embarrassed with state affairs; the reformed ministers gave him uneasiness at a time when he imagined they had room to be satisfied with him. he was at a loss[ ] at first how to act with regard to the celebration of divine service. march , , he wrote to his brother: "you have reason to ask how i must act in the affair of religion; it greatly embarrasses me. it would be an odious thing, and might displease the high chancellor, to introduce, by my own authority, a new reformed church: besides, those, to whom i might apply for a minister, are of different sentiments from me. what you propose, that i should hear the ministers of charenton, since they receive the lutherans into their communion, is not amiss." we have seen that grotius, on his arrival at paris after his escape from louvestein, had room to be dissatisfied with the reformed ministers, who, under pretence of his refusing to receive the synod of dort, and his attachment to arminianism, would not communicate with him. the happy revolution in his fortune made one in their minds, as he writes to vossius[ ]. immediately on his arrival at paris in quality of ambassador from sweden, he was visited by six of the principal reformed ministers, among whom were faucher, aubertin, daillé, and drelincourt. they were not much attached to the rigid sentiments on predestination: some even seemed to prefer melancton's system to that of calvin. before grotius had determined in what manner he should act with the ministers of charenton, faucher, mestrezat, and daillé came on the d of august, [ ], to ask him to join their communion; which, they assured him, discovered a greater disposition than ever towards an union among protestants, having lately resolved to admit lutherans. "they hoped, they said, that he looked on their confession of faith as consistent with christianity; that they had the same charitable sentiments concerning that of the arminians; that they had not forgot what he had formerly said, writing against sibrand, 'that he wondered whether the contra-remonstrants would refuse to admit st. chrysostom and melancton into their communion, if they should offer themselves;' that they had read and approved of his treatise on the truth of the christian religion, and what he had lately written, exhorting christians to live in peace; that they had written to holland, to make no more difficulty about admitting the remonstrants into their communion; and that the dutch, become more moderate in process of time, would give attention to their reasons." grotius answered, that he was ready to give them public proofs of his willingness to join in communion with them, and that it was not his fault he had not done this sooner: adding, that if he should go into any country where the lutherans, knowing his sentiments on the sacrament of the lord's supper, should be willing to receive him into their communion, he would make no difficulty of joining with them: which the ministers approved of. he had not yet determined to go to charenton on the d of august, . "i weigh matters (he writes to his[ ] brother) that i may do what is most agreeable to god, useful to the church, and advantageous to my family." this affair seemed almost finished when the ministers sent to tell him[ ] that they would willingly receive him, but not as ambassador from sweden, because that kingdom was of a different persuasion. "i am surprised (he writes to his brother) at the fickleness of people, who invite the lutherans to partake with them, and say they cannot receive me in quality of ambassador from sweden, on account of their differing in opinion from that kingdom." to go to sermon as a private man would have been no great inconveniency to him[ ], but he could not do this without contradicting his principles, which made him look on the swedes as orthodox. he resolved therefore to have divine service celebrated for the future in his own house. it is evident from this recital, which is faithfully taken from grotius's letters, that du maurier is mistaken in saying[ ], that the ministers of charenton, when they knew that grotius was ambassador from sweden, deputed one of their number to invite him to their church; and he answered, that having neglected him when a fugitive he would now neglect them when ambassador. not having been able to settle matters with the reformed ministers, he resolved to have divine service performed at home. the lutherans attended his chapel as if he publicly professed their religion. he writes to his brother, dec. , [ ], "we celebrated at my house the feast of the nativity: the duke of wirtemberg, the count de suarsenbourg, and several swedish and german lords assisted at it." george calixtus, an eminent lutheran minister[ ], procured him brandanus for his chaplain. this man was a zealous lutheran: grotius recommended moderation to him, and took him upon condition[ ] that he should be upon his guard in his sermons, and never enter into controversy in public, either with the roman catholics or the reformed. but his zeal carried him away; and seeing his master's chapel much frequented, he took occasion to rail sometimes against the papists and even sometimes against the reformed. grotius was much offended at it, not only because it was contrary to agreement, but also because, by publicly attacking in his own house the established church and the others who were tolerated, he exposed himself to the hatred of the whole kingdom. he several times intimated to brandanus[ ] to behave otherwise; but his representations and orders having no effect, in autumn, , he forbad him his chapel: he kept him however in his house till the end of february following. to supply the place of brandanus he pitched upon francis dor, who had been deposed at sedan for his adherence to arminianism, and since lived by keeping a boarding-school, and teaching french to young flemings and germans on their travels in france. it was some time before he could resolve[ ] to quit this manner of life; but at length accepted of grotius's offer. they lived in good understanding together, because their opinions were almost the same. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] memoirs, p. , . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . viii. soon after oxenstiern left the kingdom, the peace of vervins was broken, and the french and spaniards began that long war which was not ended till the pyrenean treaty. the king went to chateau-thierry; and the cardinal followed him, though indisposed. grotius went to court on the eve of whitsunday, [ ], as well to solicit the affairs of sweden, as to attend to the interest of their allies. france was at this time in great joy on account of the victory at ardenne, gained by the marshals de brezé and de chatilon over prince thomas of savoy. the marshal de la force had also gained a great advantage over the cravats in lorrain: which happy beginning raised the hopes of the french exceedingly. it was at this point of time grotius arrived at court. he went first to cardinal richelieu, who was three leagues from chateau-thierry; but as that minister had been blooded on whitsunday, he referred the ambassador to boutillier the superintendant. they talked about several things: the chief was the payment of the subsidies. grotius after this conference sending to ask how the cardinal did, his eminence desired him to wait on the king. grotius accordingly went to compliment his majesty on the victory of ardenne, and afterwards begged that he would be pleased to give orders about the money which was demanded by the swedes. the king heard him with great goodness, and desired him to give in a state of his demands to boutillier. at taking his leave, grotius told his majesty that he should think himself most happy if he could do him any service, or promote the common cause. the king answered, that he might be of great use in what concerned the affairs of holland. he afterwards related to him what had passed between the marshal de la force and the cravats; the news of which, he had just received. grotius was preparing to visit the superintendant again, when the cardinal sent to acquaint him, that he should be glad to see him. grotius went: he spoke to his eminence of the sums due to sweden before the death of king gustavus, and which chavigni, secretary of state for foreign affairs, and boutillier's son, promised the high chancellor should be paid. the cardinal answered, that his bad state of health and greater affairs had made him much a stranger to those particulars; and that since the superintendant and bullion said they were ignorant of the king's intentions on the subject, he must wait chavigni's return, who was expected at court in a few days. grotius after this visit went to the superintendant, with whom he left a memorial of his demands as his majesty had desired. boutillier talked in the same strain the cardinal had done concerning the money due to the swedes. things being in this situation, grotius returned to paris, leaving his secretary at court, who was to give him notice of chavigni's return. the king drawing nearer paris, chavigni came back to that city. the swedish ambassador[ ] sent several times to demand an interview, which he eluded; sometimes it was pretended he was gone out; at other times he was busy: he once made a positive appointment with him; but when grotius came to his house, he was gone to wait upon the king at monceaux. at his return he appointed another meeting; grotius did not fail to be there: chavigni assured him, that some pressing business hindered him from conferring with him at that time. the cardinal returning very ill to ruel, chavigni went to see him; grotius followed, and pressed him so closely, he could not put him off. bullion was present: chavigni pretended that there never had been any positive promise to pay the arrears of the old subsidies; that he had only said from the king, that as far as the situation of affairs would allow, his majesty would endeavour that the high chancellor should have no reason to complain. however grotius recommended this affair to bullion as being just in itself; and bullion answered, that he would give as much attention to it as the state of the finances would permit. grotius shewed them his letters from germany, informing him that the body of twelve thousand men, which the king engaged to furnish, was in a very bad condition, and that even the interest of france required that it should be speedily completed. they made answer, that the king intended it, and that this army would soon be increased to seventeen thousand men. grotius's pressing solicitations were troublesome to chavigni[ ], and we see that he was afraid of his visits. he sought pretences for delay, and even often broke his appointments with so little decency, that grotius complained to the high chancellor that chavigni did not shew proper respect to the dignity of an ambassador from sweden. the king going to fontainebleau in summer, [ ], and carrying boutillier with him, whose son was with the duke of orleans, servin, secretary at war, remained at paris. grotius went to see him and was received with great politeness and friendship. he spoke to him of the subsidies; servien promised his good offices. grotius also recommended to him the interests of the duke of weymar, who was hard pressed by his enemies: and he received fair promises. some days after, servien returned his visit[ ]. july , , grotius went to see the cardinal at ruel[ ]; and spoke to him of the money owing to sweden. his eminence owned it; but enlarged much on the great expence france was put to for the allies; and wished the swedish ambassador would confer on this and other matters with father joseph, who had an apartment at ruel near the cardinal's. grotius saw him, and received much satisfaction. the father said he had always disapproved of the delays in the payment of the subsidies; that he would use his endeavours to get the promises made to sweden punctually performed, and to perpetuate a good understanding between the two crowns, which would be for the interest of both: he added, that the troops intended for augmenting the army in germany were already on their march. grotius met with the better reception as the french court was under some uneasiness lest the allies should make a separate peace. the cardinal gave some hints of what he apprehended on this subject: grotius removed his fears in relation to sweden, and the cardinal promised that france would be faithful to her engagements. grotius did not lose sight of the affair of the subsidies[ ]: he went several times to bullion, on whom it partly depended as belonging to his department: but bullion always refused to speak to him under pretence of indisposition or multiplicity of business, which did not leave him master of his own time. grotius judging this behaviour equivalent to a positive denial, wrote to the high chancellor, that he thought his excellency should write to the king himself. the answers of the ministry depended on the situation of affairs[ ]: when france had need of oxenstiern they made fine promises to grotius, who was not duped by them. at last he saw bullion[ ], who, after enlarging much on the king's great expence in maintaining an hundred and fifty thousand men, promised to advance two hundred thousand francs; but never issued the order. lewis xiii. making a progress towards lorain, cardinal richelieu was left at paris with absolute power. grotius had an audience of him in september . he found him in a very bad humour. his eminence said he was well assured the high chancellor was negotiating a separate treaty with the elector of saxony; that it was vain to make alliances if they were not faithfully observed; that for his part he was resolved to adhere to his engagements, and chose rather to be deceived than to deceive. grotius answered, that it was true the elector of saxony had made proposals to the high chancellor, but his excellency had written to the elector himself, had told his envoys, and sent a deputation to inform him, that a separate treaty would be injurious to france and the other allies of sweden: the ambassador added, that he had orders to declare to his eminence, that in case sweden should be abandoned by france, he must not be surprised if the necessity of affairs should oblige the swedish ministers to have recourse to expedients which were very far from their intention. the cardinal replied, that that was the usual style of such as depart from their engagements and treat separately. grotius assured him that there was nothing yet done; that it were to be wished france would send a minister to oxenstiern to act in concert with him; and that it was time to pay the arrears which were still owing to sweden notwithstanding the frequent promises to the contrary, and whose payment bullion always deferred. the cardinal made no answer to this article: he asked the ambassador whether he thought the high chancellor had an inclination to return to his own country. grotius replied, that that illustrious minister entertained no thoughts but what were honourable and great, and that his principal object was to terminate with dignity the great affairs with which he was entrusted. the ambassador at the same time took occasion to thank the cardinal for the attention which the king and his eminence gave to what passed on the rhine. the cardinal intimating that he heard the princes in those parts had a great aversion to oxenstiern, grotius replied, that it was impossible it should be otherwise as things were situated; and that a foreigner, however great his prudence and modesty might be, would be always odious to princes whose authority and dignity he eclipsed. the end of the conference was more calm: the cardinal conducted grotius to the door of the chamber, excusing himself that his health did not permit him to go farther. a month after this audience grotius demanded another of his eminence, which he obtained, after asking it five days successively[ ], at ruel. grotius gave him to understand that the letters he received from germany ought to make them very uneasy. the cardinal replied, that he apprehended the bad state of affairs was exaggerated in order to excuse a separate peace; but that no honourable or lasting one could be made but in conjunction, as he desired. his eminence grew more mild afterwards, and promised that the marquis de st. chaumont should in a little time set out for germany with very ample powers to act in concert with oxenstiern for the good of the common cause. he desired the ambassador to see bullion in relation to the subsidies. father joseph was present at this audience. the cardinal treated grotius with more respect than he had ever done: he waited on him a little beyond the door of his chamber, and gave him the upper hand. bullion being at ruel, grotius went to wait on him: he promised to give two hundred thousand francs, and even to add three hundred thousand more as soon as the state of the king's affairs would permit it. the ambassador answered, that was putting off the payment to a long day. bullion represented that the king sent large sums into the valtoline, italy, germany, lorain, piccardy, and flanders. all this was very true; but the greatest part, grotius said, remained in the hands of harpies. he informed the chancellor of these conferences in a letter dated at paris, october , , which he concludes with saying that the fidelity which he owed to the kingdom of sweden and to his excellency obliged him to observe, that money was very scarce in france, and that the way to derive advantage from the peace was to hasten its conclusion. the marquis de st. chaumont, who was nominated to go to germany, was not liked by grotius: he was a declared enemy of the protestants[ ], and it has even been said that he was made choice of for the embassy into germany out of compliment to the court of rome, who complained loudly of the protection given by france to heretics. st. chaumont's zeal, which was to do him much honour at the court of rome, was no merit in germany, where it might even injure the common cause. he set out on his embassy without having had any conference with the swedish ambassador[ ], and even without visiting him; which seemed contrary to custom and decency. november , , grotius went to ruel to see the cardinal[ ] whom he found in a very bad humour. his eminence thought sweden wanted to make a separate peace: he enlarged much on the respect due to the observance of treaties, and that there could never be any necessity for acting dishonourably; he added, that the design of grotius's embassy was a very bad one, and that he could only derive dishonour from it, since it had led him first to make objections against the treaty of paris, and secondly to acknowledge that the swedes would not abide by what they had agreed on at compeigne. grotius answered, that the high chancellor was in the greatest dilemma, surrounded by enemies, and abandoned by his allies; that he himself had long solicited the money promised, but could never obtain payment; that the sending a french minister into germany, so often demanded, was agreed to much later than the good of the common cause required; and that the high chancellor desired nothing more than to remedy the unhappy situation of affairs. the cardinal made no answer concerning the remedy to be applied; and contented himself with saying that these general discourses sufficiently shewed a formed design of making a separate peace. he added, that all the protestants were treacherous; which was a reason not only for being on one's guard in treating with them, but also for thinking their religion bad. grotius grew warm, and said, that he needed not produce former instances to prove the integrity and sincerity of the protestants, since the high chancellor and the duke of weymar had never departed from their engagements. the cardinal pretended that the peace which was just concluded between poland and sweden, by the mediation of france, put the swedes in condition to continue the war against the emperor. grotius answered, that it was not yet ratified; that, besides, the cession of prussia, stipulated by this treaty, was very disadvantageous to sweden, because that province not only covered the kingdom, but also yielded a rich revenue. the cardinal seemed to be in some emotion, and said that it required a great command of temper to listen patiently to discourses that bordered so near on ingratitude. grotius assured him, that in all he had advanced he exactly followed his instructions. the cardinal seemed displeased with those who had given them; and added that if the high chancellor was not content with the peace between sweden and poland, it was from private views, because he lost the government of prussia. after this sharp conversation, the cardinal appeared more calm; and said, that he had nothing to do but hear what might be advanced, and would not judge till he had seen what was done. grotius answered, that the high chancellor would always act as a man of honour and a man of courage. november , grotius had an audience of the king, who complained much, that after having been at so great expence, to the prejudice of his own affairs, on account of the germans, they should break their treaties. grotius went to ruel on the th of december[ ], again to solicit the payment of what was due to sweden. he found there a courier from the marquis de st. chaumont, who delivered to him some letters he had brought with him from the high chancellor. grotius suspected that they had been opened, for besides their being dirty, the courier had been arrived near a month; and he gave very bad reasons both for the condition of the letters, and his not delivering them sooner; he said they had fallen into the sea; that he had been at paris, but could not find grotius's house; and that he had been since kept at ruel. what made grotius easy, was that these letters were written with so much circumspection, had they been intercepted, the reading of them would rather have been advantageous than hurtful to sweden. the french court's fears lest the swedes should conclude a separate peace made the ministers promise him speedy payment of the arrears of the subsidies: bullion assured him that he would without delay advance three hundred thousand francs at several small payments (which grotius disliked) and that he had already given orders for paying other two hundred thousand francs: servien promised that france would make greater efforts next campaign, if sweden would continue the war. in the beginning of [ ] grotius went to see the cardinal, who complained bitterly that grotius had written to holland that the affairs of france were in a deplorable situation, and the french still on the point of making their peace. grotius assured him it was a pure calumny: the cardinal pretended that it was known to the french ambassadors at the hague. grotius assured him these false reports owed their rise to the artifices of pau and aërsens his declared enemies, that camerarius the swedish ambassador in holland, with whom he corresponded by letters, would attest the contrary; that this report was probably occasioned by an article inserted in the brussels gazette, that his letters had been intercepted, representing france as in the greatest declension, of which he had never had a thought; and that this was done with design to make him lose the friendship of his patrons. he added, that he had forgot his country; that indeed he wished its preservation on account of the friends and the small estate he had in it; but that he had given himself entirely to sweden, and was not so ignorant, not to know how much it imported sweden that whilst she was in arms the dutch should continue the war; nor so dishonest, to give counsels contrary to the interest of sweden and of the high chancellor, to whom he owed every thing; and that if his eminence would put it in his power to do some service to france, he would much more chearfully refute these calumnies by his actions, than by his words. the cardinal resumed an air of serenity, said several obliging things, and assured him that for the future he would behave to him with more openness. he reconducted him a pretty way, politely excusing himself that he did not go farther lest he should be oppressed by the croud that wanted to speak to him. [ ]the duke of parma arriving about this time at paris to negotiate with the court of france, great difficulties arose with regard to the ceremonial. the pope's nuncios, mazarin, and bolognetti, and the other ambassadors, would not visit him because they could not agree about the manner in which he should receive them: the english and swedish ambassadors did not even send their coaches to meet him, because they knew that those of the nuncios would take the precedence. the duke of weymar came to paris in spring . grotius[ ], who was extremely circumspect, was in doubt whether he should pay him the first visit: and before he determined, he wanted to see what the english ambassador would do. the duke sent him his compliments, and the ambassadors coming to an agreement to wait first on that prince[ ], grotius went to see him, and was extremely well received: the duke returned his visit. as it was through the mediation of the count d'avaux that the truce of twenty-six years between sweden and poland was concluded, queen christina[ ] ordered her ambassador to return her thanks to the king of france. grotius obtained an audience, april , , at chantilly, and gave an account of what passed at it in a letter to her majesty, dated april [ ]. having presented to the king the queen of sweden's letter, his majesty assured him, that he interested himself most sincerely in her majesty's health and prosperity; that she might depend upon the constancy of these his sentiments; that he had had the conclusion of the war between sweden and poland the more at heart, as he hoped her swedish majesty, having no longer any differences with the poles, would give all her attention to the affairs of germany; that he already saw with pleasure his hopes had not been without foundation: that he would write to his ministers to know how the payment of the subsidies stood; that he had always had a good opinion of d'avaux and therefore employed him in affairs of importance, and intended to make farther use of his service. grotius sent the high chancellor[ ] a copy of this letter to the queen. he used to send her majesty the substance of any affair of importance without descending to particulars, as oxenstiern[ ] had recommended to him. he had an audience of cardinal richelieu[ ] in the beginning of may, : the affairs of the allies were in a good situation. his eminence greatly extolled the high chancellor: he said what he had done was not inferior to the exploits of the great gustavus; that it was a kind of miracle that the swedes, after being betrayed by their friends, and forced into a corner of germany, should have been able in such a short time to penetrate into the heart of the empire. he assured grotius, that a part of the money due had been paid by st. chaumont, and that in a little time there would not be one sol owing. afterwards embracing the swedish ambassador with great cordiality, he begged of him in the name of polite learning, which they both professed to cultivate, to do all in his power for the advantage of the common cause, especially with the english: and, to efface the remembrance of the ill treatment grotius had received, he told him with a smile, that the french were often fools in the opinion of other nations, but they soon recovered their right senses. this change in the cardinal proceeded from the queen of sweden's approving oxenstiern's nomination of grotius to be ambassador in france; from the confidence which the high chancellor placed in him; from pau's having lost his authority in holland; and from the prince of orange's having spoken of him in terms of friendship. the cardinal magnified the preparations made by france at sea, from which great things, he said, might be expected if the english would join: he wanted they should be given to understand that the french and swedes would undertake to obtain the restitution of the palatinate to prince charles lewis the king of england's nephew, if the english would unite their forces with those of france and sweden. he added that it was unjust in the english to claim the empire of the sea, but that it would be improper for some time openly to dispute their pretensions, for fear of preventing their joining in the treaty, or on the other hand to acknowledge directly the right they assumed. this was all that passed directly between cardinal richelieu and grotius: they never conferred together afterwards. the swedish ambassador thought he should derogate from his dignity by visiting a minister, who, because he was invested with the purple, refused to give the upper hand to ambassadors. he resolved therefore to see his eminence no more, but to treat with the other ministers. the english were the first who disputed the privileges of the cardinalship. lord scudamore, ambassador in ordinary from england to france[ ], would not see cardinal richelieu: he sent to tell him that he was expressly ordered to visit no one who assumed in his own house the precedency of the ambassadors of kings. the english had been induced to take this step by the representation of the protestants, that to suffer a cardinal to take the upper hand of an ambassador was to acknowledge the pope's dignity. grotius informed the high chancellor of this by a letter of the fourth of september, , where he adds, "i say not this as if i thought the english ought to be imitated in every thing, but that we may avoid whatever might expose us to contempt: than which nothing, i am persuaded, can be of more prejudice to the interests of kings and kingdoms." he continued, however, to see the cardinal till the arrival of the earl of leicester, who came to paris in spring , as ambassador extraordinary from the king of england, with orders not to visit the cardinal, because the british court thought it indecent that ambassadors should yield the precedence to cardinals; and that it was even contrary to the ceremonial of the court of spain. "i commend, says grotius writing to the high chancellor[ ], those who defend their rights: i dare not however imitate them without orders." he thought it most proper therefore not to visit the cardinal till he knew the high chancellor's intentions. receiving no orders to continue his visits to him[ ], he wholly left them off; and the queen's ministry thinking the crown of sweden at least equal in dignity to that of england, approved of his conduct. count d'avaux was ordered to use his endeavours with the swedish ministry to write to grotius that he should continue to visit the cardinal as formerly: d'avaux spoke of it to salvius, a privy-councellor, and chancellor of the court, who was with him at hamburg negotiating a new treaty. salvius answered, that grotius had received orders to conform to the earl of leicester's example; that it would be absurd that the minister of such a king as yielded not the precedence to any other king, should yield it to a minister; and, in fine, that the dignity of cardinal was unknown in sweden. grotius informs us in several of his letters, that the english were the first who refused to give the cardinal the upper hand. he writes to the high chancellor, "[ ]chavigni asked, as by chance, whether i would see the cardinal? i answered, that since the english had ceased to visit him, i was ordered not to see him. i have in fact letters on that subject from schmalz. i added, if the earl of leicester, who wished so well to the common cause, and greatly desired the cardinal's friendship, should find an expedient to reconcile what is due to the dignity, of his king to that of the cardinal, it would be an example for me to follow: but (continues grotius) the earl of leicester has assured me that the king will not change his resolution: and i dare make no innovation without a new order." he writes to muller[ ], "i have no personal dealings with the cardinal: the regents of the kingdom must send me their orders if they would have me follow the example of the english. if they think it improper, they need only speak, it is mine to obey. i have no interest in the matter." we have enlarged so much on this article, because puffendorf, the author of _vindiciæ grotianæ_, and father bougeant have pretended[ ] that the earl of leicester only followed grotius's example, in refusing to give the upper hand to cardinal richelieu; which they would not have advanced had they read with attention the ambassador's letters. grotius's steadiness in supporting the interest and dignity of the crown of sweden rendered him most odious to the court of france. the marquis de st. chaumont was ordered to demand his recall. oxenstiern, who knew that it was his great zeal for the service of the queen his mistress that displeased the cardinal, would not consent to it: he apprised grotius of what was plotting against him, and the swedish ambassador wrote him a long letter on this subject[ ], in which he tells him that st. chamount's demand proved how greatly the courtiers were changed towards him, for he had been extremely well received by the king at his last audience; madam de combalet, the cardinal's niece, assured his wife in presence of several persons, that the cardinal had a high esteem for him; and count brulon, introductor of ambassadors, had asked him to wait upon the king whenever he pleased, even if he had no business, his majesty would take it extremely well. grotius was persuaded that the ill-offices done him proceeded from pau the dutch ambassador, and some frenchmen. pau and his accomplices hoped by this persecution to force grotius to seek a reconciliation with the dutch by some meanness. as to the frenchmen, their dislike to grotius was occasioned by his opposition to their design of abasing the crown of sweden. "if the dignity of the crown of sweden is to receive any diminution, i would rather, he says, it should be by another than by me." father joseph was one of the greatest opposers of grotius[ ], who would not visit him because the capuchin had no title; and, besides, the english ambassadors had declared they would not see him. as often as they met, grotius treated him with civility; but the monk, who had all the cardinal's confidence, wanted to be considered as a minister. the count d'avaux was also against grotius. there having been some interruption in the payment of the subsidies, the count said publicly[ ] it was owing to the swedish ambassador in france, who did not make his court to the first minister, though he was known to possess all the king's authority; and even refused him the honours paid by the other ambassadors. grotius, informed of the french ministry's dislike to him, wrote to the high chancellor[ ], praying him to consider whether it would not be better that sweden should have no ambassador in france, but only an agent without a public character, to enquire into what passed, and hear what was said to him. the swedish ministry judged that the more cardinal richelieu desired grotius's removal, the greater reason they had for supporting him, since he displeased only by doing his duty too well. grotius was informed of their sentiments, and wrote to salvius[ ], that the justice which the regents of sweden did him would serve to confirm his steadiness. father joseph said[ ] publicly, the french ministers desired grotius's removal, because it was evident to them that he opposed the success of the affairs of france. this being repeated to grotius, he answered, that it was of little importance to him whether he served sweden in france or in another kingdom, but that the french might be persuaded if a successor were sent he would be of the same opinion. he himself informed the high chancellor of what was plotting against him in france; and the regents of sweden, notwithstanding this violent opposition, wrote to him that they were well satisfied with his good services[ ]. the cardinal's tools endeavoured to render sweden suspicious of him, by insinuating that he was a pensioner of france. his friends told him one day his name was in the list of pensioners. he immediately informed the chancellor of it; adding, that he did not know whether it was done by mistake or with a bad design; that having been formerly a pensioner of the king, his name might possibly have been copied from some old list; but there was also reason to think it was done with a design to injure him: he farther adds, "i can assure your excellency, before god, that i have not received a farthing from the court of france since i have been in the service of sweden; and that i am determined to accept of only what is usually given ambassadors when they have their audience of leave." it is probable that his name was put in the list of pensioners, because the ministry imagined if they could get him to accept of a pension, they would more easily bring him to their ends. it is certain they offered him one[ ]; and when they saw that he absolutely refused it, as not thinking he could with decency be a minister of sweden and a pensioner of france at the same time, they rightly judged that he would never sacrifice the interest of the crown of sweden to the pretensions of the french ministers. they sometimes caressed him[ ], however, because they saw him powerfully protected. feuquieres was ordered to tell him they were very well satisfied with him: but he believed these compliments were made, that, being less on his guard, they might have a better opportunity to hurt him. "for (he writes to oxenstiern[ ]) i am persuaded they would be glad to see me gone, because i absolutely refuse the presents they offer me; and suffer not myself to be led by them like some other ambassadors. for this reason they put me in such a situation that i must either sacrifice the dignity of the kingdom, or expose myself to be hated. i will never do any thing against the honour of sweden; and i will shun, as much as i can, what may render me odious. whatever i may do on such critical occasions, i shall be censured; but i rely on the testimony of a good conscience." they often threw difficulties in his way, hoping that the regents of sweden, tired out with these disputes, would recall him. we are assured[ ], that when he went to see the chancellor seguier, one of the cardinal's creatures, seguier seated himself in the higher place; which obliged grotius to take his chair himself to place it above the chancellor. besides the vexation which they endeavoured to give him in france, he met with some disgust even from the swedes. it was intimated to him at the court of france, that the high chancellor's nomination to the embassy of paris was not sufficient; it must be approved of by the regency of sweden. this difficulty gave him uneasiness: he writes to schmalz, feb. , [ ], "i know the high chancellor has authority enough to maintain me in the post to which he has raised me; but i think i should be better able to defend the interest of the crown, if it were made to appear that what the high chancellor has done for me is approved of in sweden. he is mortal; and besides i find his power of sending ambassadors is sometimes called in question here." grotius was soon after satisfied, the regency of sweden confirming his nominations[ ]. having been some time without receiving letters from the swedish ministers, it gave him much chagrin, because it disabled him from serving them effectually: besides, he looked on it as a want of respect. august , , he wrote to the high chancellor[ ], "since your sublimity set out for hamburg, i have received no letter from you, nor from any of your attendants: what grieves me is, that not knowing the actual state of things, i scarce have assurance to speak to those to whom i must recommend the affairs with which i am charged." eight days after, he renewed his complaint in a more bitter tone: "i have desired nothing so much, says he, as to give proofs of my zeal and fidelity to the kingdom of sweden, and to your sublimity, in this embassy: i have not yet failed in my duty, and i hope i never shall fail; but it is impossible for me to discharge it properly, if i am kept ignorant of those things which an ambassador ought to know. i have no accounts from sweden. if i have not received letters from your sublimity since you set out for hamburg, i ascribe your silence to the multiplicity of your affairs: but schmalz has not written to me since; and for some time i have had no letter from camerarius or grubbius. if they imagine my enemies so powerful, that i ought to remain here ambassador only in name, without being let into affairs, and without doing any thing; that will not suit me. i am not a man that would be chargeable or a dishonour to those who nominated me to my employment. besides, they are mistaken if they think my enemies have so much credit in my native country; and those who know what passes there think as i do. i humbly beg you would be pleased to indemnify me for the expences i have been obliged to be at, and let me at liberty: wherever i go, it will be a sufficient recommendation not to have displeased your sublimity." whilst he was thus tormenting himself without much reason, he received two letters from the high chancellor which made him easy. he thanked him for them, assuring him that he desired information of what passed, not from any eager desire for news, but to enable him better to fulfil the functions of his embassy. oxenstiern fully satisfied him; and grotius was extremely pleased, in the end of and the beginning of , with the attention paid him by that great minister. dec. , [ ], he writes, "i cannot sufficiently thank your sublimity for the care you have taken of my private affairs and my dignity; it is my duty so to act as not to appear unworthy such great and continual favours. god forbid that i should want to penetrate into those things which prudence requires to be buried in mystery; but as to public matters, i would not be the last to know them, and to learn them from strangers." "it gives me great satisfaction (he writes to oxenstiern's secretary[ ]) that the high chancellor is pleased to remark that i discharge my embassy with honour." besides the embarrassment which always attends difficult negotiations, the trouble of contenting several masters, and the difficulty of treating with ministers to whom one is disagreeable, grotius, who thought it essential to an ambassador to live with dignity, received almost continual uneasiness from the ill payment of his appointments. sep. , , he wrote to the high chancellor[ ], that the treasurer of sweden refused to pay his quarter's salary; that the expences of his journies were still unpaid, and that he had exhausted all his private resources. he repeats in a letter of the th of november, [ ], that he had received but one quarter, which was owing even before his arrival at paris; that there were two others due since: that he spared no expence in order to live with more dignity; that his journies and the furnishing of his house were very expensive; that he could borrow no more, and what he had already borrowed, was done on very disadvantageous terms. at the end of there were six quarters owing, amounting to twelve thousand rixdollars, besides twelve hundred which he had laid out for the service of sweden. he was desirous of being permitted to pay himself out of the subsidies given by france. he represented that his expence was considerably increased by the high tax laid on all sorts of goods, which made living so dear, that his salary was insufficient for supporting his dignity. for two whole years he received no remittance, and in the end of may, [ ], there were forty thousand francs owing besides what he had laid out on several occasions. his salary was, therefore, twenty thousand francs _per annum_. salvius ordered one half of what was owing him to be paid out of the subsidies received by sweden from france; but it was long before grotius got the money: for on the th of july, [ ], he pressed salvius very warmly to order immediate payment; and went so far as to tell him that if he still left him in this perplexity, he would demand to be reimbursed and recalled. it was in these critical circumstances that the french ministry offered him a supply, which he refused with great disinterestedness[ ]. living at paris growing every day dearer, the swedish ambassador, not knowing how to support his dignity, took a resolution to ask of the queen of sweden, jan. , [ ], that, as he was unable to make any more advances, and his anxiety about this matter hindered him in some measure from attending to her majesty's more important concerns, he might be permitted to pay himself out of the french subsidy. without waiting for an answer he took sixteen thousand rixdollars of it; and wrote to the high chancellor, april , [ ], that he was compelled to this by necessity, and that it was no more than had been usually done by the ambassadors who resided in france. there is reason to think that oxenstiern, who had a friendship for the ambassador, found no fault with his boldness, as he did not venture on this step till all his resources were exhausted. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . . p. . . p. . & . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] puffendorf, l. . § . vindiciæ grotianæ, p. . hist. des guerres de vestphalie, t. . l. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] vin. grot. p. . [ ] ep. . p. . vin. grot. p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. & . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . . p. . & . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] puffendorf, l. . § . bougeant, l. . p. . see ep. . p. . [ ] ep. p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . . p. . & . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . & . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . ix. the french ministry carried their animosity against grotius so far, that, if we may believe the swedish historian[ ], they instigated the venetian ambassador to dispute with him for precedency at the public entry of the ambassador in ordinary from england. the french took the part of the venetians. grotius imagined they did it to make their court to the pope. he wrote to the high chancellor, that father joseph, who had a great desire to be a cardinal, always favoured such counsels as might please the court of rome. besides, the capuchin fought to make a merit with the cardinal of vexing grotius, whom they both hated. about a year after this dispute between the venetian ambassador and grotius, when they both were waiting in a hall for the king, the introductors of ambassadors placed their seats in such manner, that the swedish ambassador might be dissatisfied. they expected a quarrel, which would have afforded them diversion. grotius disappointed them by chusing rather to stand, than take the seat intended for him. it was on this occasion he wrote to the high chancellor, desiring him to consider, whether, to avoid all those difficulties, it would not be most expedient to have only a resident at paris: but oxenstiern thought his honour and duty was the more concerned in protecting grotius, as his strong attachment to the honour and interest of his masters was the reason of his being harrassed. footnotes: [ ] puff. l. . x. the war which was at this time ravaging europe gave the greater uneasiness to the court of rome, as there was ground to apprehend that the success of the swedes, who were the allies of france, might greatly prejudice the roman-catholic religion in germany. pope urbin viii. ardently desired the re-establishment of peace, and offered his mediation for attaining that laudable end. the city of cologn was chosen for the place of holding the conferences. the pope deputed cardinal ginetti in quality of legate and mediator between the roman catholic princes; and the emperor and the king of spain sent thither their plenipotentiaries: all this was done without consulting the dutch and the swedes. the great point was, to gain their consent, without which nothing could be done. the count de berlise was ordered to talk with the swedish ambassador on this head. accordingly he made him a visit, november , [ ], and after conversing some time asked grotius whether sweden intended to send plenipotentiaries to cologn. the ambassador made answer, he concluded from the high chancellor's letters that the president of the kingdom, to whom that matter had been referred, would determine it; that the pope's mediation would be objected to; but that difficulty, however, might be got over; and then oxenstiern would chearfully come himself to cologn, if business permitted him, in order to act in concert with the french plenipotentiaries, who, he did not doubt, would be persons of the greatest merit. grotius was of opinion that the swedes ought not to accept of the pope's mediation, or send ministers to cologn. he wrote a letter about it to the high chancellor, dec. , [ ], in which he acquaints him, that talking with lord scudamore, ambassador in ordinary from england, he told his lordship that he foresaw the protestant plenipotentiaries would suffer many mortifications in a city where the pope was held in so great consideration, and the dignity of cardinal so much respected. the venetian ambassador, who, agreeably to the intention of his masters, ardently desired that the congress might take place, came to make grotius a visit: he told him that the protestants apprehensions of ill offices from the pope were without foundation; that he knew from the nuncio that the legate was ordered to concern himself only with the affairs of the roman catholic princes, and had no intention to intermeddle with those of the protestants: he added, that pessaro, whom the republic of venice had nominated her plenipotentiary to the congress, was extremely well affected to the swedes. grotius could not discover whether the venetian came of himself, or was sent by the french ministry: he suspected that cardinal richelieu, who wanted him [grotius] out of the kingdom, wished he might go to cologn. the learned godefroy[ ], whom the court of france nominated to accompany and direct the plenipotentiaries, had several conferences with grotius concerning the peace which they seemed desirous to conclude. the swedish ambassador gave the high chancellor an account of them in a letter of the d of january, . [ ]he acquaints him that godefroy himself thought the swedes ought not to send plenipotentiaries to cologn. he gave for his reasons, that the whole town hated the swedes; that the legates had such aversion to the protestants, that at vervins the legate declared he would withdraw rather than admit the english ministers to the conferences; and that the disputes, which would infallibly arise between the plenipotentiaries concerning precedency, would serve only to sour their minds. this discourse from one, who was only to speak agreeable to the intentions of the french ministry, made grotius doubt whether cardinal richelieu ever sincerely desired peace. godefroy also insinuated that the king of france ought to have the first place after the emperor, in political assemblies. grotius would not allow this claim: he maintained that the rank granted to princes in ecclesiastical councils ought not to serve for a rule in congresses, because in the former regard was only had to the time of their embracing christianity; and that the archbishop of upsal had proved at the council of basil that the kingdom of sweden, on account of its antiquity and extent, the two most decisive arguments that could be used in this matter, ought to take place of all others. godefroy opposing to them the french king's possession of the precedency, grotius, like a zealous minister of sweden, maintained, that that title could only serve against such as had never disputed it; that in former times the kings of sweden had no transactions of this kind but in the north, where they never yielded the precedency to any person; and that since they had affairs with france, they always treated upon an equality. such were grotius's pretensions, the validity of which remain to be proved. the minds of the contending parties were not yet disposed to conform to the good intentions of the pope: and the congress of cologn did not take place because the swedes positively refused to send thither plenipotentiaries[ ]. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. & . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. xi. some time after, the republic of venice acted in conjunction with the pope in order to procure peace to europe. she made an offer of her mediation to the swedes[ ], and engaged to send an ambassador to cologn, who would be less suspected of partiality than the pope's legate. the doge, writing on this subject to the queen of sweden, in the titles given to her omitted that of _most powerful_: this gave great offence to the swedes[ ]; and the venetian ambassador being informed of it, came to visit grotius in order to discuss the point. he told him that the republic had followed the ancient ceremonial in the titles given to the queen; that she gave the king of france only the title of _most serene and most christian_, and to the king of spain that of _most serene and catholic_, without adding _most powerful_. grotius answered, that, without presuming to prescribe to the senate, he would only observe, that as the kings of france and england gave the king of sweden the title of _most serene and most powerful_, it did not become any other prince, much less a republic, to treat him with less distinction. he added several facts tending to give a high idea of the dignity of the swedish nation. the venetian promised to write about it to his masters. the queen of sweden[ ] declared that she would accept of the mediation of the venetians provided the republic gave her the honours that were due to her. christina had at length satisfaction[ ], and the venetian ambassador promised to conform to her intentions. the name of this venetian minister was corraro. grotius had reason to be dissatisfied with him[ ]: he had been to visit him, and the venetian gave him not the title of excellency, nor the precedency due to an ambassador of sweden. grotius determined to cease visiting him for some time. one thing, however, embarrassed him: as the republic of venice was to be mediator for a general peace it was necessary he should confer with corraro: for this reason he wrote to the high chancellor to know, whether, in consideration of the public good, he ought to dissemble his grounds of complaint against the venetian ambassador. he had not time to receive oxenstiern's answer when corraro came to visit him[ ], and gave him satisfaction; he assured him, that if he had given him any offence, it was not from design, but through ignorance and want of attention. grotius informed the high chancellor of this, adding that he accepted of corraro's excuses; that he would go to see him, and do all in his power to gain his friendship. accordingly he visited him some days after, and no notice was taken of what had passed, the conversation turning wholly on public affairs and the projects of a peace. footnotes: [ ] bougeant l. . n. . puffendorf l. . n. . [ ] grotii ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . xii. there happened at this time a more considerable broil between the english and swedes at paris. pau the dutch ambassador in france being recalled, oostervich, ambassador of the united provinces at venice, was appointed to succeed him[ ]. he had been formerly very intimate with grotius; and signified to him by their common friends that he intended to renew their ancient friendship, and live with him in that good understanding which ought to subsist between the ministers of allied powers. grotius made a proper answer to these advances. oostervich preparing to make a public entry into paris, informed the swedish ambassador of it, february , , by his secretary, asking him at the same time to send his coach to his entry on the second day following, according to custom[ ]. grotius sent to make his compliments to the dutch ambassador, and to tell him that he would not fail to send his coach. he sent it accordingly. there were at that time at paris an ambassador in ordinary and an ambassador extraordinary from england, who both sent their coaches, with a great number of their attendants. the swedes took the precedency of the english and kept it some time. they quarrelled; and swords were drawn. the swedes were worsted, for the english were much more numerous. the marshal de la force, who conducted the dutch ambassador, came to make up the quarrel. the swedes maintained that they ought to have the precedency of the english, because the kingdom of sweden was more ancient than that of england. the marshal de la force pretended that this question had been decided in the reign of henry iii. in favour of the english. the swedes being unequally matched, agreed to the marshal's proposal, that the coach of the english ambassador in ordinary and that of grotius should withdraw, without prejudice to the rights of sweden. on the nineteenth of february the two ambassadors from england sent to grotius, to know if it was by his order that his attendants had acted and spoke in the dispute they had with the english. grotius answered, that he had ordered them to support the dignity of the kingdom of sweden the most ancient and extensive in christendom; but that he had no intention to offend the english; that in the treaties which sweden made with france there was always one copy in which sweden was named first; that if his people had transgressed in point of form, it was not by his order; that the small number he sent to the entry, was a demonstration he did not think the quarrel ought to be determined by strength; that as to the accommodation, he had no power to make it, nor consequently given any order on the subject: that he was desirous of maintaining the good understanding between the two kingdoms, and to live well with the two english ambassadors. the deputies, without making any reply to this answer, civilly withdrew. the quarrel was mentioned in the gazette of france[ ]; and renaudot, in the account he gave, named the english before the swedes, and spoke of the affair as accommodated. grotius was very angry at this: he sent to tell him, to name the swedes first in another gazette, and to retract what he had said of the accommodation: renaudot was even threatened, that if he did not give this satisfaction to the swedes, he would be made to feel to his cost that sweden was powerful enough to do herself justice. the gazetteer replied, that he was obliged to obey only the king and the cardinal. this grand dispute did not hinder[ ] the english ambassador from visiting grotius on public business. the earl of leicester[ ], ambassador extraordinary from england, had a long conference with him concerning their quarrel: he pretended that what grotius advanced in favour of the precedency of the swedes, was a thing unheard of. the ambassador from sweden replied, that the same facts had been already maintained in the council of basil; and took occasion to set forth the extent and antiquity of the kingdom of sweden. leicester said, that they had been of the same opinion formerly in france, since they decided against the swedes. grotius answered, that he much questioned this decision, and that at the time it was pretended to be made he did not think there was any ambassador in france from sweden, which nation was little known to those of the south: the english ambassador wanted to avail himself of the pope's authority in favour of his nation: grotius rejected it. leicester insisted that england had been converted to christianity before sweden: grotius replied, that this was a very bad reason for precedency; and the employing it might be a prejudice to the christian religion by hindering the conversion of the pagans and mahometans. the king of england was not offended with grotius on account of this dispute; for after it happened lord scudamore, ambassador in ordinary from king charles, told him from his master, that he would be glad to see him in england to restore the union between the english and swedes. the earl of leicester, who had the affair of the precedency much at heart, had another conferrence on that subject with grotius, of which the latter gives an account to the high chancellor, july , . the english minister represented, that as the danes and norwegians, whose kingdoms were very ancient, yielded the precedency to england, the swedes ought to follow their example. grotius answered, that he did not know how the danes and norwegians acted; but their conduct ought not to prejudice the rights of sweden. leicester asked, how high the antiquity of sweden reached. grotius answered, that it was older than the most ancient annals; that, without going higher, it was sufficient to mention the testimony of tacitus, who speaks of the swedish nation as very powerful by sea and land. leicester replied, that a long space of time had elapsed since tacitus wrote, in which no mention was made of the swedes. grotius shewed him that in every age they were spoken of by the germans, french, and english; and that even if less frequent notice had been taken of them, it would not be matter of surprise, since in those times the swedes had no disputes but with the russians, the sclavonians, the danes, and norwegians; that their embracing christianity late could not prejudice the dignity of the kingdom, or the claims of the swedes. the ambassador of sweden afterwards asked leicester what rank the english pretended to give the czar, to whom the kings of sweden would never yield the precedency. he added, that many people were surprised when the truce was negociating at holland, that the french always preceded the english, who contented themselves with a writing, signifying that it was without prejudice to their rights. leicester said he did not see how it was possible to assemble a congress of ministers of princes who would all have the first place. grotius made answer, that several expedients might be found to save the claim of each. this quarrel, from which a rupture between the two nations was apprehended, had no bad consequence, and did not even lessen the friendship which subsisted between the ministers of the two kingdoms. lord scudamore's lady being brought to bed at paris, the lady of the swedish ambassador stood godmother[ ] to the child in the month of march, , that is, during the height of the quarrel. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] it is surprising that father bougeant, after reading the dccxviiith letter of grotius, should contradict him so manifestly by placing this quarrel in . hist. l. . n. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] p. . & epist. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . book v. grotius, notwithstanding his resolution to abstain from visiting cardinal richelieu, often paid his court to the king, and was well received. his majesty returning to paris after the campaign of , grotius went on the d of november[ ] to compliment him. the speech he made was short, such as kings love. it is in these terms he speaks of it to the high chancellor, to whom he sent it. he has preserved to us the substance of his majesty's answer. "the king, says he, answered me with great goodness, that the success of the swedes would always give him much pleasure; that they began the year well, and the french followed their example; that the spaniards made great efforts, but were nevertheless driven out of picardy and burgundy; that cardinal richelieu deserved thanks for what he did in the recovery of corbia, and that the marshal de chatillon also behaved well: he concluded with complaining of the germans, who did not observe their treaties." the divisions in the court being healed up for some time, by the reconciliation of gaston of france with the king, who was returned to paris, grotius, at an audience of his majesty on the d of february, [ ], complimented him on the restoration of peace in the royal family. the king assured him that he and his brother were on the best terms, and that this reunion gave him the highest satisfaction: he promised to make very great efforts against the common enemy, and never to separate his interests from those of sweden. the ambassador did not fail to represent[ ] in strong terms to his majesty all the pains taken by the high chancellor to keep together the allies, who were oppressed by such a burthensome war; and took occasion to beseech the king to redouble his assistance, that they might extricate themselves with honour from so great embarrassments. the king going in august, , to chantilli, grotius went thither[ ] to compliment him on the success of the campaign; and at the same time recommended to his majesty the sending a reinforcement of men to the duke of weymar, who had crossed the rhine, that so he might be enabled to make farther progress, and to keep the german allies of the two crowns from joining with their enemies. he assured him recruits were raising in sweden for marshal bannier's army, that he might make an invasion into silesia or elsewhere; and that the swedes had rejected all the proposals of peace made to them, because they believed the intention of the enemy was to sow division between them and the french. the king answered, that he most sincerely wished the prosperity of the queen his sister; and that he would send the duke of weymar as many troops as the state of his affairs would permit; adding, that the enemy laboured chiefly to divide them, against which they could not be too much upon their guard. september , in the same year, , grotius[ ], agreeable to the orders received from the queen of sweden, demanded an audience of the king, which he obtained at st. maur. he represented to his majesty, that the queen had nothing so much at heart as the success of the common cause; and that she hoped her zeal would induce the king to make powerful efforts to triumph over their enemies. he gave a particular account of what the high chancellor had done, and the marvelous resistance of marshal bannier, besieged as it were by five armies, against which, however, he could not make head much longer without speedy and powerful succours. he assured him that sweden was making numerous levies, but would be obliged to keep a part of her troops at home on account of the frequent broils she had with the poles, the danes, and the russians. he then enlarged on the interest which france had in maintaining the swedes in germany; for no sooner would they quit it, he said, than the austrians would turn all their efforts against france. he shewed, that, besides being in possession of the imperial crown, the house of austria was very powerful by the hereditary dominions of hungary, austria, bohemia, silesia, moravia, lusatia, tirol, carinthia, dalmatia, and croatia, which furnished her with large supplies of men and money; that the branch which ruled in spain had dominions in the four parts of the world; that the emperor knew well france was the greatest obstacle to his projects of ambition; that he would leave nothing unattempted to destroy a power which gave him so much umbrage; that the emperors, even before the empire came into the house of austria, had always regarded the kings of france as their rivals and enemies; that this hatred and jealousy were much increased since the austrian family obtained the imperial throne; that it was so difficult to make any accommodation with them, they would not consent to peace even if the king yielded up his late conquests, since they had the assurance to claim the three bishoprics, and to demand that the kingdom of arles, comprehending the three best provinces of the kingdom, the dutchy of burgundy, provence, and dauphiny, should be re-annexed to the empire. he represented the importance of making great efforts, and carrying the war into the enemy's country before their armies should be augmented. he beseeched his majesty to make such a powerful diversion as might oblige the austrians to recall a part of the army sent against the swedes: and shewed that nothing was more easy, since the duke of weymar had fortified himself beyond the rhine; that it was only sending him a powerful reinforcement, the princes and towns which groaned under the austrian yoke would then be seen joining themselves to the french and swedes; and that the swedes, no longer so hard pressed, would return into the heart of germany or penetrate into the hereditary estates. after this harangue, the swedish ambassador presented a letter from the queen, adding that her swedish majesty begged of the king to make speedy efforts worthy of himself, and he might depend on the queen's doing all that could be expected from a steady and magnanimous princess. he concluded with complimenting his majesty on the happy success of affairs in italy, the transactions on the rhine, and the retaking of capella. the king sometimes interrupted him during this long speech; but it was only to approve of what he said, to confirm the facts, and acknowledge that his reflections were most judicious. he assured him that he had already sent succours to the duke of weymar, that he was resolved to augment the troops of that prince in order to enable the swedes to enter germany; and that marshal de chatillon would have already been on the banks of the rhine if the siege of ampvillers had not detained him. he ended with protesting that it was his earnest desire to be more closely united with the queen his most gracious sister; which his future actions would shew. grotius gave an account of this audience in a letter to the queen of the th of september, , a copy of which he sent to the high chancellor. by the letter that he wrote the same day to oxenstiern we are informed, that the count de berlise, introductor of the ambassadors, came to him before he had this last audience of the king, to know if he would not first have a conference with chavigny, secretary of state for foreign affairs, agreeable to the usage of the ministers from england, venice, and savoy. grotius replied, that he understood from the english ministers themselves they did not always observe this custom; which berlise acknowledged. the ambassador added, that at another time he would consider what would be most proper; but, on the present occasion, having a letter from the queen to the king, he thought it his duty to give the first notice of it to his majesty; that he was afraid if he acted otherwise the king might be offended; but if, after reading it, his majesty were desirous he should confer with his ministers, he would not fail to wait upon them. the swedes being still very hard pressed in germany, the queen sent fresh orders to her ambassador at paris to represent their situation to the king. grotius demanded an audience, which he obtained on the st of october, , at st. germains. he assured his majesty, that it was not without reluctance he so frequently laid the necessities of the allies before him, and the importance of their being assisted by france, but he did it by express order; that he was particularly charged with two things; first, to compliment his majesty on the advantages gained in piccardy and burgundy; and secondly to solicit him to send speedily a powerful force over the rhine. he added, that the queen would not have thought this request necessary, had she received the letters in which he gave her a particular account of what passed at the last audience he had of his majesty. he beseeched the king to be pleased to give orders that the promises, which he had graciously made, might be speedily executed. he represented, that if succours were not immediately sent into germany, the austrians, after vanquishing their enemies, would go and overpower the duchess of savoy the king's sister, and penetrate into france. he afterwards shewed that the swedish army was in great danger of being overwhelmed, if a powerful diversion were not speedily made. after this speech, grotius presented a letter from the queen, of the th of august, . lewis xiii. replied to the swedish ambassador, that he was determined to fulfil his promises; that he had already sent some troops to the duke of weymar; that he would speedily send him a farther reinforcement, and employ all the forces of his kingdom in defence of his sister the duchess of savoy. the duke of weymar began the campaign of in a very brilliant manner[ ]: he gained a signal victory over the imperialists on the d of march; and, what was very remarkable, all the enemy's generals were taken in this engagement, and among the rest the famous john de vert, whose name was become the terror of the parisians. the king, on receiving this important news, immediately sent notice of it to grotius; signifying that he knew no body would receive it with more pleasure. march [ ], he had an audience of the king, at which he thanked his majesty for sending him the first news of the victory gained in germany, and doing him the justice to believe that it would give him infinite satisfaction: he added, that it was a happy prognostic for the rest of the campaign: that god had confounded the pride of the imperialists, who publicly gave out that they intended to come to pillage paris[ ]. he said he had certain advice by letters from the army, that the enemy's generals had been at great pains to provide themselves with maps of france, in order to examine at what part they could best enter it. he pressed the king to put the duke of weymar in a condition, by sending him immediately a considerable reinforcement, to make a proper advantage of this happy beginning of the campaign; and concluded his compliment with good wishes for the king's happiness and that of his posterity, of which there began to be then some hope. people flattered themselves the queen was with child; and she was actually in the third month of her pregnancy. the king received this compliment with great gaiety: he promised to send immediately five or at least three thousand foot to the duke of weymar, with some horse, under the command of the count de guebriant. grotius had a fresh audience of the king on the th of april, [ ]. he represented to his majesty, that though the duke of weymar had begun the year well, he could not make great progress if an additional force were not sent him: that by proceeding so slowly in this measure, the enemy had got time to recruit their army: and if it were not now taken with great expedition, they would lose the fruits of their late advantages, and the affairs of the allies suffer much; that her swedish majesty was in the same disposition with the king, and had no other view than to procure an equitable, honourable, and lasting peace; that the only way to obtain this great end was by making the most powerful efforts: that the queen, agreeable to his majesty's desire, would accept of the mediation of the venetians, provided the republic would treat her with due respect: that his most christian majesty being of opinion that a long truce would lead to a peace, the queen, who was sensible of his great prudence, had given her ambassador in france full power to treat of this affair, and to draw up a plan of it in conjunction with such persons as the king should nominate. after this speech grotius delivered to lewis xiii. a letter from the queen, acquainting him at the same time, that had her swedish majesty been informed of the queen's pregnancy, she would undoubtedly have ordered him to signify to the king her extreme satisfaction at such important news; that he knew the queen and all the swedes passionately desired that the posterity of st. lewis, of henry the great, and lewis the just, might long govern france; and that under them the kingdom might flourish in piety, increase in power, and be established in justice. the king received these good wishes with much satisfaction, and desired grotius to acquaint her swedish majesty that the queen was certainly with child. he farther assured him that the count de guebriant was already on his march to join the duke of weymar, and he was going to give orders for sending an additional reinforcement, and seconding that prince's efforts. he desired him to press her swedish majesty to send numerous recruits to her armies: adding, that he hoped the venetians would do nothing derogatory to the dignity of the crown of sweden; that he would attend to that point himself; and would nominate chavigny to confer with him in relation to the truce. grotius also set forth on this occasion what pains the high chancellor had taken for the advancement of the common cause; and the king did justice to the merit of that great minister. the queen's pregnancy being declared at court, grotius's lady went to make her compliments: on the th of may, [ ], he himself waited on her majesty for the same end: he had demanded an audience for this purpose as soon as it was publicly known that she was with child. he told the queen, that, being eager to express his joy, he could not think of waiting for orders from his court, to make his compliment; that well knowing the sentiments of the queen his mistress he could affirm, with great certainty, that her majesty and all her subjects were filled with the highest joy; that he had lately met with a greek inscription in honour of a queen, containing a very short but very emphatical encomium: it was said of this princess, that she was the daughter, sister, wife, and mother of a king, yet without any pride in so high elevation: that this modesty was the more to be admired in the queen of france, as she was much above the grecian queen, and even all other queens, since she was the consort of a king, whose provinces and even towns were equivalent to kingdoms; that she had a king for her father, and was descended from kings and emperors who conquered and long possessed kingdoms in the four parts of the world; in fine, that she was sister of a most powerful king; that only one thing was wanting to her happiness, to be mother not of a king, since france and all the friends of france wished that the king might attain to the most advanced age, but of a prince capable of ruling over a great nation; that god had at length granted her this felicity, and rendered her fruitful when it was no longer expected, as happened formerly to an illustrious woman of the same name mentioned in scripture; that history sacred and prophane informs us, that children born at a time when they are no longer expected are designed by god for great things; that in reflecting on the queen's pregnancy he attended to what the naturalists teach, that the tumbling of the dolphin [_fr._ dauphin] predicted the end of the tempest, and fine weather; that there was reason to hope peace would re-appear in the world at the birth of a dauphin, which was so passionately desired; and what increased this hope was, that at the time her majesty's pregnancy was declared he received orders to confer with the french ministers on the means of obtaining a peace, or at least a truce, if the conclusion of a peace met with too many difficulties; that he laboured in it with the more chearfulness, as he knew he would be aided by the queen's prayers, the efficacy of which was so great that they could obtain of heaven things almost miraculous; that her swedish majesty would shew that the great gustavus and she had never any other intention, than to insure the quiet and tranquillity of christendom; that he earnestly wished the negotiation for a peace might turn out well; that the queen might have a happy delivery, and be the mother of a prince, whose glory and posterity would continually increase. the queen answered, that she did not doubt of the sincerity of her swedish majesty's wishes; that she reciprocally desired the prosperity of that princess, and offered her all that was in her power. in the beginning of june, [ ], grotius waited on the king at st. germains: he first thanked his majesty for intimating to him the queen's pregnancy; and afterwards enlarged on the praise of justice, and on the title of just which the king had merited by the laws he enacted, particularly that for abolishing duels, and the protection granted to foreign princes. he entered into a detail of the favours which the king had received from providence since his accession to the throne: the extinction of the civil wars, the restoration of the royal authority, the successes both by sea and land, the passage of the alps forced, and the frontiers of the kingdom enlarged. he added, that after such a series of felicity, the only thing left to be desired was that his majesty's posterity might long reign in france; and for this her majesty's pregnancy entitled them to hope; that the swedes entertained the same sentiments, and flattered themselves a perfect harmony would always subsist between the two kingdoms. he concluded with soliciting the king to augment the duke of weymar's troops, against whom the imperialists made the greatest efforts; and to procure marshal horne's liberty, who was made prisoner at the battle of nordlinguen: he represented that his majesty might obtain it when he pleased, since he had so great a number of the enemies generals in his power, and assured him that the queen his mistress would take it as a very high obligation. the ambassador presented afterwards letters from the queen of the twelfth of april, and concluded with observing, that he had reason to think a considerable body of troops would be sent from sweden into germany this same month of june. the king replied, that he had a great friendship for the queen of sweden, and had already given proofs of his good disposition towards her; that he had sent succours to the duke of weymar, and would send still more considerable ones if necessary; that as to the exchange of marshal horne, there was only john de vert with whom it could be made; and that general was not his prisoner, but the duke of weymar's, to whom he had promised to deliver him on demand. grotius replied, that he did not doubt but the duke of weymar would shew all possible deference to the king's inclination, if he should find his majesty disposed to procure marshal horne's discharge, and that the queen had written to the duke on that subject. some days after this audience, chavigny[ ] informed the swedish ambassador that john de vert was the king's prisoner, though lewis xiii. had said the contrary. grotius had another audience of the king in the middle of july [ ]. he complimented his majesty on the happy success of the french arms on the frontiers of spain, and exhorted him to set about the recovery of navarre, which belonged to him of right, and was unjustly usurped by spain; he also recommended to him the duke of weymar's affairs, and gave reason to hope that something great would be done by general bannier, who had just received reinforcements from sweden. at this audience the ambassador presented crusius to the king as a swedish nobleman who was returning to stockholm, and would soon be employed in public affairs, and might contribute to strengthen the union between the two kingdoms. the king received him very graciously, and desired him to make his compliments to the high chancellor. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . ii. grotius had always been attentive to cultivate the friendship of the prince of condé: they visited one another often. the swedish ambassador relates in one of his letters[ ] that the prince having been nominated to command in paris in the absence of the king and cardinal richelieu, he waited on him in the beginning of february : the prince returned his visit soon after. the conversation turned on the marriage of monsieur, which the king had hitherto considered as void, because it was made without his consent. gaston's constancy in persisting to keep his wife had in the end obliged the king to approve of the match. the prince told grotius that he had always thought this marriage valid, and did not doubt but he was of the same mind. grotius answered, that the opinion of those who regarded such marriages as good, was without doubt most generally received. they afterwards talked of divinity: the prince had been well educated, and loved this kind of conversation. the grand controversies concerning the eucharist and the pope's authority came under consideration; but we know not the particulars. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . iii. the pope, foreseeing that the conclusion of a peace was still very distant, proposed a truce, in hopes that while it continued they might labour more effectually in bringing about a peace. france[ ] and sweden discovered no reluctance to suspend for some time the operations of the war; and grotius received orders, as we have already seen, to confer with the french ministry in order to settle the subsidies to be given sweden, and the conditions of the truce. chavigny was nominated to treat with the swedish ambassador on this matter. he visited grotius on the twenty-seventh of april, [ ], and the swedish minister telling him, that he had full powers from the queen to examine, in concert with the minister whom the king should nominate, what was necessary to obtain an advantageous truce; chavigny asked if he had also power to conclude the truce. grotius answered, if france and sweden could agree, he had in that case permission to sign the truce. chavigny replied, that cardinal richelieu had learnt from schmalz, lately arrived from sweden with instructions for grotius, that the swedes wanted to have the same subsidies during the truce as they had during the war; which appeared very surprising; that he did not doubt but grotius himself would think the claim unreasonable, since the truce was to be of long continuance, and the expence would be much less than in the time of war. grotius answered, that the truce would be attended with as much expence as the war, since the swedes could not keep the countries, of which they were in possession, without great armies. chavigny replied, that the number of troops to be kept on foot during the truce might be settled: upon which grotius observed, that during the truce between the spaniards and the united provinces the latter preserved the liberty of maintaining as large garrisons as they thought necessary for their security; and that the king, after the example of henry the great his father, furnished them with the same succours during the peace as in time of war. chavigny maintained that the swedes would have nothing to fear from their enemies whilst the truce lasted, on account of the great number and power of its guarantees: to which grotius answered, that the countries possessed by the swedes were so distant from their allies, that if they did not continue in arms to guard against any unlooked-for invasion, those countries would be lost before they could receive assistance. the king was gone to chantilly, and from thence he was to proceed to compeigne. chavigny, who was to follow him, but had not yet fixed the time of his departure, told grotius he would speak to cardinal richelieu to know whether the conferences in relation to the truce were to begin before he went to chantilly, or after his return, and would signify to him the cardinal's intentions. grotius answered, that he would bring schmalz with him, because he knew the sentiments of the swedish ministry, and that he might make an exact report of what passed at his return to that kingdom. schmalz was present at this conversation: he was secretary of the high chancellor and his confident: grotius till now had numbered him among his friends. april , chavigny sent to acquaint grotius that if he pleased they would hold a conference the next day. they accordingly met on the first of may[ ], , at chavigny's house. grotius asked that minister what conditions of truce the king would have. chavigny answered, that the conditions were not yet agreed upon; that a truce had only been barely proposed, and that his majesty, as a good friend and faithful ally, was willing the queen of sweden should be informed of it; that the custom in truces was, that each one should keep the countries of which he had possession; that it was proper the princes who had been driven from their estates should receive a decent pension during the truce, to be paid by those who enjoyed their country; that it was the king's opinion they ought not to be too hasty, but wait with patience for the proposals of the mediators. grotius said, if the king would signify on what conditions he would agree to the truce, it would be highly agreeable to the swedish ministry. chavigny assured him that he had no instructions on that head; but if he would acquaint him with the intentions of the swedes, he would lay them before the cardinal. they entered on the business. in the claims of the swedes there were two articles which met with much difficulty: they took it for granted that france should continue the same subsidies whilst the truce lasted, and wanted not only to keep that part of pomerania which they had already, but that the other should also be ceded to them. these proposals were put in writing. chavigny promised to send them to the cardinal, and to give a speedy answer. may [ ], chavigny went to grotius's house, who immediately sent for schmalz: the matter under consideration was the amount of the subsidies: chavigny said the swedes asked too much for a time of truce; that the king could only give three hundred thousand florins a year whilst it lasted. grotius maintained that the sum was too small in proportion to the expence which the swedes were obliged to be at; and that in one word he could consent to no diminution of the subsidies. pomerania was next brought on the carpet. chavigny pretended that the king neither ought, nor could with decency propose to the enemy to yield to sweden what they still held in pomerania. grotius maintained that sweden's right to that province was not founded on force, but supported by treaties made with the duke and the people; that, besides, sweden was in no hurry about a truce; that it would even be burdensome to her if she were not furnished with sufficient subsidies for paying her garrisons; and if she were not left in the possession of all pomerania. he added, that to enable the swedish ministry to judge whether the truce would be of advantage to the kingdom, they must first be made acquainted with its conditions. the conference was concluded by a promise from chavigny that he would communicate the king's intentions to grotius in writing. schmalz in the mean time did grotius all the ill offices he could: he wrote to court that they could no longer refuse the instances of france to recall the ambassador: but it was from jealousy or hatred that he acted in this manner; for at the same time that he was seeking to hurt grotius, the count de feuquieres waited on him from the cardinal, to tell him that they were extremely well pleased with him in france, and that far from desiring he should be recalled, his eminence would solicit his stay at paris. schmalz, displeased with grotius's firmness[ ], went privately and told chavigny, that the ministry of sweden had resolved to consent to a considerable diminution of the subsidies: which he could prove by their letters written in swedish. grotius was informed of this, and complained to the high chancellor; at the same time assuring him, that schmalz had presumed to vent the highest menaces against him and his wife, because (says he) we oppose his unjust designs. chavigny falling ill, desnoyers[ ], secretary at war, was appointed to confer with grotius: he came to his house, and after making him the king and the cardinal's compliments, delivered an answer to the memorial he had given chavigny; acquainting him that every thing was settled between the cardinal and schmalz. on reading this answer, grotius said, that before he explained himself he must speak with schmalz, who was joined with him in this negotiation; and therefore it was improper for him to act alone. desnoyers being withdrawn, grotius informed schmalz of his visit. schmalz maintained that he had settled nothing, and had made only a draught of a convention; which he at the same time pressed grotius to approve of, because, he said, it was agreeable to his swedish instructions, which empowered him to accept of two hundred thousand florins. grotius answered, that as this article was directly contrary to his instructions, he would, give them the preference; especially as he did not understand swedish. the dispute grew warm[ ]; schmalz asserted that he had full powers to act independently of grotius not only in this negotiation, but even in every affair which regarded his embassy: "if it be so, the latter writes to the high chancellor, the french will make a jest of him and of me: they, will look on me as ambassador only in name; and on him as ambassador in fact, though he has not the name: nay he actually allows himself to be treated at home as if he were ambassador, and to be written to as if he had the title. it is indeed very hard that i, who am advanced in years, should have disputes with a hot-headed youth." this quarrel gave him great uneasiness: he writes to oxenstiern[ ], "i beg it as a favour of your sublimity, that if i can be of any use to you, you would be pleased to protect me, as you have done hitherto. i have had nothing in view in all i have done but the welfare of sweden; and it has cost me much pains to raise, by my words and actions, the credit of a nation hitherto little known in this country. if i cannot serve with utility, i had much rather return to the condition of a private man, than be a burden to the kingdom, or dishonour myself." schmalz lived on very ill terms with crusius, a swedish lord, whom grotius, as we have just seen, had presented to the king. notwithstanding the grounds of complaint which the ambassador had against schmalz, he thought the public service required him to reconcile them, and for this end he often made them dine with him. one day, at the swedish banker's, both rose from table after dinner heated with wine, and came together to grotius's: there was only his lady at home. they quarrelled, and schmalz had the impudence to call crusius several times a rascal; with the addition of some threatening gestures. crusius, highly provoked, gave him a box on the ear, and an english colonel in company was so enraged against schmalz, that had it not been for grotius's lady he would have run him through. notwithstanding this gross insult, schmalz and crusius[ ] were reconciled at grotius's house; but schmalz still continued his extravagancies. he had the indiscretion one time to let his tongue loose against the duke of weymar: baron erlac, who was attached to that prince, was highly incensed, and the consequences might have been very fatal. grotius again employed his good offices to pacify erlac. but this wrought no change in schmalz's behaviour towards the swedish ambassador. in a letter of the sixteenth of october, [ ], grotius observes: "it is near two months since schmalz was to see me, though i have been ill; his reasons i neither know nor enquire. i am conscious he has no subject of complaint against me; but i have much to complain of him. he will return to you richer than he came out: i do not envy him the money, which, it is said, he received above two months ago from the french; being firmly resolved to adhere to the rule i have laid down, and hitherto observed, to accept of nothing from them." schmalz continued to seek every opportunity of injuring grotius[ ], who, he said, was a burden on sweden; and grotius[ ] was persuaded that schmalz had betrayed the secret of affairs to the french ministry in order to prejudice him. schmalz returned to sweden, where his misconduct being made manifest, he incurred the displeasure of the ministry[ ]. he afterwards embraced the roman catholic religion, privately abjuring lutheranism in baron roste's chapel, the french resident at stockholm. the regency hearing of it, complained bitterly that the resident should suffer it. schmalz was thrown into gaol under pretence of some malversation; but had the good fortune to make his escape, and took refuge in germany, entering into the service of the emperor. to return to the truce. the negotiation not succeeding at paris, it was transferred to hamburg, to be managed by d'avaux and salvius; but as it was very coldly desired either by the french, the swedes, or even by the imperialists, the conditions could not be settled, and the project was dropt. footnotes: [ ] bougeant, l. . n. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] father bougeant hist. l. . n. , places this negotiation in , in which he contradicts grotius. see ep . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . & . p. . bougeant l. . n. . iv. as grotius was returning from the audience of the king, at which he introduced crusius, there happened a melancholy adventure which had like to have cost them both their lives. in passing through a village where a great crowd was assembled to see the execution of some highwaymen[ ], one of the swedish ambassador's domestics on horseback, to make the mob give way for his master's coach, struck some of them with his whip: the alarm was instantly given that they were persons come to rescue the prisoners: upon which some shot were fired at the coach: the coachman received two balls in his body, of which he died some days after: the balls passed within two inches of the ambassador's head. on calling out who they were, the tumult ceased. the king being informed of this outrage, ordered count brulon, one of the introductors of ambassadors, to wait on grotius, and assure him that he was extremely sorry for his misfortune; and that as soon as the offenders were taken, they should receive the punishment they merited. count berlise, the other introductor of ambassadors, came also to visit grotius, and acquaint him that the king was greatly concerned at the danger he underwent, and that his majesty had ordered the chancellor to prosecute the offenders with the utmost rigour. grotius answered, he was so far from being animated by a spirit of revenge, that he intended to solicit a pardon for the offenders; but that it was proper, however, the king should publickly express his indignation, both for the safety of ambassadors, and from a regard to the law of nations. in consequence of his majesty's orders the chancellor[ ] sent to the swedish ambassador's to take the depositions; and seven or eight persons of the village where the crime was perpetrated were taken up and thrown into prison at paris. the lady of the manor came to grotius, to solicit for the prisoners: he told her she must have patience till the trials were over, and then he would employ his interest in behalf of those who should be found guilty. he informed the high chancellor of all these particulars; observing to him that he was very glad the king gave public proofs that he had the safety of ambassadors at heart; and that for his part he would do all in his power to save the offenders from capital punishment. the most guilty had had the precaution to abscond[ ]: these, for their contempt of the court, were condemned to be broke on the wheel: but the sentence was not made public, because the judges imagined they might suffer themselves to be taken if the affair seemed to be dropt. some lords, however, who had got notice of the sentence[ ], were preparing to ask their forfeited effects: the count de berlise informed grotius of it, and the ambassador desired him to beg the favour of the king not to dispose of their effects, but to order them to be sequestrated, that he might restore them to the owners, when the time of their pardon came. "i have the honour to inform you of this, he writes to the high chancellor, that it may not be thought i wanted to take advantage of the misfortune of these wretches, as some here are wicked enough to believe." the sentence was at length executed on them[ ]: but it was only in effigie; for none of the offenders had been taken. grotius was then ill of an ague[ ], and postponed his application for their pardon till his recovery. as soon as he could go abroad[ ] he asked an audience; at which, after thanking the king for doing justice on them, which proved how much his majesty had the respect due to ambassadors at heart, he entreated him to grant a pardon to the offenders, and not only spare their lives, but also restore their effects; of which he claimed no part, though the king had left them to his disposal. lewis xiii. seeing him earnest in his request, made answer, that he would give directions to the chancellor that their pardon should pass the seals. grotius promised to go to that magistrate to solicit it; which he did accordingly[ ], and the chancellor promised to finish the affair agreeable to his desire. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . v. it was on the first of october, , that grotius went to solicit the king in favour of those who had insulted him: the court was then in great joy for the happy birth of the dauphin[ ], who came into the world on the th of september. the swedish ambassador saw the king, the queen, and the dauphin, and made them his compliments such as the occasion required, though it was not the principal object of his journey as he could not have received orders on the subject. he recommended to the king the affairs of the duke of weymar, whom the imperialists were going to attack with a force infinitely superior. his majesty promised to augment that prince's army as much as his other affairs would permit. grotius having represented of what advantage an extraordinary gratification might be to the good of affairs in germany, the king exclaimed against the great expences with which he was overpowered, but gave hopes that he would advance a sum of money beyond what he engaged to furnish. november , [ ], grotius had another audience of the king, to entreat him not to abandon the duke of weymar in his present extremity: he assured his majesty that he had precise orders to recommend to him the affairs of that prince with the same zeal as those of sweden. the king contented himself with giving a vague answer, which did not satisfy the ambassador. december [ ], he waited on the king and queen to compliment them, by order of the queen of sweden, on the birth of the dauphin. a letter written by him next day to queen christina relates all that passed at these audiences. after observing that he had publicly expressed his joy for the desired birth of the young prince by bonfires, entertainments, and distributions of wine to all the neighbourhood, he tells her that he had seen the king, whom he informed of the entertainments made in sweden on occasion of the birth of the dauphin of france; that he observed to his majesty, if it were true, as the ancients believed, that names were not given by chance, one ought to prognosticate great things of the dauphin [_anglicè_ dolphin]; that the signs which surrounded the constellation bearing his name, denote the most happy presages; that it was surrounded by the eagle, pegasus, sagittarius, aquarius, and the swan; that the eagle denoted a superior genius; pegasus presaged that he would be powerful in cavalry, sagittarius in infantry, and aquarius in naval force: the swan signified that his great actions would be celebrated by poets, historians, and orators: that the nine stars in the sign of the dolphin denoted, according to astrologers, the nine muses, who were to render the prince illustrious and receive lustre from him: that the dolphin being near the equator, signified that the king's justice would be hereditary to his son; that naturalists had remarked three properties in the dolphin, which ought to be considered as happy presages of what the dauphin of france would be: that it loved men; that it came quickly to maturity; and had much activity. grotius, it is probable, had recourse to these unnatural and consequently ridiculous allegories in compliance with the bad taste of the age. it is to be presumed that such an elevated genius, who knew the rules of eloquence, and disapproved of the wretched strain of the advocates of that time, was not pleased with himself on this occasion. he concluded his harangue with beseeching the king to be persuaded that her swedish majesty would faithfully execute her treaties; that nothing would be more agreeable to her, than to live in the best understanding with the king, and to hear of the prosperity of his kingdom; and that she would chearfully employ all her forces to encrease the power of france. he afterwards excused the queen for not sending an ambassador extraordinary to compliment the king, giving as a reason, that such a commission could only be executed by one of the first lords of the kingdom, who were all employed in the army, or in the ministry; and the queen presumed his majesty would like better that they should discharge their duty, than undertake so long a journey. the king seemed much pleased with the conclusion of this compliment. he promised to be constant in his friendship, and faithful in the execution of his treaties, and to continue the war with the fame ardour as his good sister. grotius afterwards waited on the queen, to whom he said, that his complimenting her so late on the part of the queen of sweden, was owing to the distance of stockholm: he observed to her that gothland was a province of sweden, from which the kings of spain were not ashamed to derive their origin: he expressed his joy at seeing on the throne of france a queen descended from the goths, and who had brought forth a prince who by his mother belonged to that nation: he assured her that of all the princes who had borne the name of deodatus, none deserved it so well as the dauphin, whom providence had given to the prayers of the kingdom almost against all hope; that he was born on the day of the sun, which presaged that by his heat and light he would confer happiness on france, and the friends of france, among whom her swedish majesty held the first rank; that he was born in autumn, the season of the year abounding most in fruit, which denoted that with him would be found the fruit of all virtues. the queen received the compliment with great politeness, and made an offer of her services to her swedish majesty. the important fortress of brisac having been obliged to surrender to the duke of weymar in the end of the year [ ], grotius went to compliment the king on that event: he first thanked him for sending reinforcements to the duke, and afterwards enlarged on the advantages of taking brisac, the conquest of which contributed to the security of burgundy and champaigne, facilitated the preservation of lorain, the towns of alsace, and the liberty of the swiss, and, in fine, enabled them to make farther progress in germany: he concluded with beseeching his majesty to order the money promised, to be paid to the swedes, that they might put marshal bannier in a condition to accomplish what might be of service to the king. lewis assured him, that he would take care the money should be remitted. grotius having asked an audience of the king in the month of march, [ ], count brulon, introductor of ambassadors, waited on him to know what he purposed to say to the king, under pretence that when his majesty was not previously apprised of certain affairs, he was too much affected by them. grotius answered, that he should say nothing disagreeable to the king. brulon wanting to enter into farther particulars, the ambassador told him, he would follow his orders. the audience, however, was granted: he remonstrated to the king the necessity of sending speedy succours to the duke of weymar to enable him to penetrate into the heart of germany, whilst marshal bannier did the same on his side: and assured him, that the queen was determined to embark the recruits and provisions for that general's army as soon as the season would permit. the king answered, that he had affairs in so many places he could not do at once all that he desired. grotius ascribed the king's explaining himself so coldly to the offence taken by cardinal richelieu at the duke of weymar. his eminence wanted to prevail with that prince to come and pass the winter at paris, in order to enter into a closer connection with him, and to get from him the possession of brisac. the duke, who was informed of his intentions, chose rather to remain in germany, than to be near an absolute minister whom it was dangerous to contradict. it is said that from this time the cardinal resolved to obstruct the progress of a prince, whose ambition and valour filled him with apprehensions. grotius had a new audience of the king in the middle of april following, to represent to him the necessity of augmenting the army commanded by the duke of weymar, who had sent erlac to court to obtain speedy succours. the king promised that erlac should be satisfied. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . & . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . vi. these were only vague promises which the ministry never intended to fulfil. the cardinal had made no secret[ ] of his desire to gain the duke of weymar by giving him his niece in marriage: the prince's refusal and his desire to keep brisac had so much offended his eminence, that he even told erlac that the duke hearkened to bad counsels, and that his behaviour to france was not such as gratitude and civility required. the malevolence of the french minister[ ] chagrined the duke so much that he fell ill: it was only a slight indisposition, but, however, he did not long survive it[ ]: a violent fever seized him at neubourg, which on the fourth day cut off a prince, whom grotius calls the honour and last resource of germany[ ]: the tenth of july, , was the last of this illustrious personage. it was at that time very doubtful[ ] whether he died of the plague, which prevailed in those parts, or of poison. grotius tells us[ ], that the duke himself thought they had shortened his days: he even cites on this subject the prince's funeral oration delivered at brisac, wherein the author was not afraid of advancing this anecdote. grotius was also persuaded[ ] that the prince died by poison: he mentions it in a letter to the high chancellor of the th of october, . "the more i reflect on the duke of weymar's death, the more i am persuaded that he had on his body no marks of the plague, and that it was not in his house: accordingly the reports of his being poisoned again prevail, and the suspicion falls upon the geneva physician, who was brought to remove his cholic." as this prince's victories made even his allies uneasy, they were accused of contributing to his death. cardinal richelieu's enemies spread the report, without ground, that it was he who caused the poison to be given to the duke, that he might get brisac more easily; and the swedish historian[ ] seems inclined to think he was poisoned, without imputing it, however, to the cardinal. "at the time of the duke of weymar's death, says he, there was a grand negotiation on foot to know whether brisac should be yielded to france. grotius pressed the prince to keep it; and the refusing to yield that place disgusted france. he died soon after, not without suspicion of poison. the court of vienna[ ], to whom his death was of great advantage, was also accused of committing the crime: but these were all vague and ill-grounded reports, which consequently merit little attention." the duke of weymar's death[ ] occasioned the greatest consternation among the swedes; the army was left without a leader, the towns without a master, and for some time there was nothing but anarchy in the country where he commanded. this prince placed the greatest confidence in grotius, who had for him the most perfect esteem. when at paris he was most intimate with the swedish ambassador[ ], and deposited with him some valuable things which he would neither intrust to the king, nor to any of his subjects. footnotes: [ ] grotii ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . & . p. . [ ] ep. p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] puffendorf, l. . § . [ ] le vassor, l. . p. , . [ ] ep. , p. . [ ] ep. p. . vii. when the duke of weymar's death was publicly known, charles lewis, elector palatine, son of the unfortunate king of bohemia, purposed to get the weymarian army to acknowledge him for their general. this negotiation could not be carried on without a large sum of money. the elector went to his uncle the king of england, from whom he got l. sterling, with the promise of a larger sum in case of need. he might have returned into holland, and would in all probability have succeeded in his project, but the king of england, it is said, advised him to act in concert with france, whose interest was connected with his, and without whose assistance he would have much difficulty to accomplish his design. king charles spoke of it to bellievre[ ] the french ambassador at london: he told him the elector was determined to go to france, and lodge with the earl of leicester, the english ambassador at paris, that he might have an opportunity of conferring with the king. bellievre, who was informed of the intentions of the french court, and those of the elector, represented to the king, that the prince, before he embarked for france, ought to get a passport from the court, otherwise he would be in danger of being arrested by the governor of the first town. bellievre was desired to write to france about it: the ministry were in no hurry to give him an answer, because they disliked the prince's project. the elector in his impatience resolved to go over _incognito_ to france. m. pelisson assures us[ ] it was montreuil, one of the first academicians, at that time employed by france in england, who gave the court notice of the elector's design. that prince managed his matters with so little address, that his journey was a secret to no body. he went on board publicly[ ], suffered the english ships to salute him at his departure, and on landing him at boulogn, the king his uncle's ships, which escorted him, made a general discharge of their great guns. after coming on shore[ ] he set out with five of his servants for paris; and, changing his name, would not lodge with the earl of leicester; but took the road to lyons, where the king was, and travelled very slowly. his design was to turn off to switzerland, and proceed from thence to the weymarian army. the cardinal, who was informed of his rout, suffering him to advance into the heart of the kingdom, caused him to be arrested at moulins in the bourbonoise. he denied at first that he was the elector palatine; but was at last obliged to own it. [ ]he was confined in the citadel; where he was civilly treated, till orders should be received from the king. he was from thence carried to vincennes[ ], where he was permitted to see no body, and denied the use of pen and ink. for six days he was not suffered to walk in the garden. the prince had two brothers at paris, maurice and edward, who came there to learn riding and fencing. they were narrowly watched, and ordered not to leave paris; and their governor was charged to attend them wherever they went. about a month after the elector's confinement, they were permitted to see him[ ]; but it was in presence of witnesses: the elector was also suffered to walk sometimes in the garden on condition that the guard went with him. cardinal richelieu and the french ministers, to justify this conduct, gave out that it was not allowable for a foreign prince to pass through the kingdom without the king's permission; that the elector's conduct shewed that he had some bad design; that they knew he wanted to go to geneva, to proceed from thence to the duke of weymar's army, to seize the towns of alsace, and exchange them afterwards with the emperor in order to obtain restitution of the palatinate; and that such a project must be very prejudicial to france, to whom the conquest of alsace had cost so many men and so much money. this imprisonment made a great noise in europe: the earl of leicester, ambassador from england, demanded the prince's release; and christiern king of denmark used some strong expressions. the king of england wrote to the french king, that it was he who sent his nephew into france to confer with his majesty on the state of his affairs; and that if the king would not give him an audience he ought at least to send him back to england. this letter having produced no effect, the english applied to the queen of sweden to intercede for the discharge of the captive elector; and the king declared at last that he would let grotius treat with the ministry about the accommodation of this affair. he drew up a plan, in concert with the earl of leicester, for giving satisfaction to the court of france that the prince might be set at liberty. the elector was to give it under his hand, that he never intended to negotiate with the duke of weymar's army without the concurrence of the queen of sweden and the most christian king: and on making this declaration he was to remain at paris, giving his parole not to leave it without the king's permission; and the english ambassador was to be security for the observance of it. grotius, in communicating this project to camerarius the swedish ambassador in holland, acquaints him that he was persuaded nothing could have greater weight with the french ministry than what he had suggested; and that he expected letters from the queen his mistress, who was much affected with the elector's misfortune. chavigny made two visits on the subject of this negotiation to grotius, who communicated to him what he had concerted with the english ambassador. as the french ministry had need of grotius in this affair[ ], he was now treated by them with more civility. chavigny came to him, by order of the king, about the middle of january, [ ], and told him that his majesty and the cardinal esteemed him highly, and for the future would treat him with friendship and candour; that if any thing had happened formerly, which might displease him, it was wholly owing to father joseph; and that cardinal richelieu was now sensible he had been injustly blamed. grotius returned his thanks for these civilities; he assured chavigny that the ministry might expect from him all that could be hoped for from an honest man; that he knew the disgusts he had received proceeded from the dutch, who, after having treated him unjustly, still continued to persecute him; and that he had determined to meddle no otherwise in their affairs than as they were connected with those of sweden. chavigny commended this resolution; adding, that the king intended to employ him in accommodating the affair of the elector palatine; which might be accomplished, if the prince would only declare, that he had not proposed to himself any views on the duke of weymar's army but with the king's consent, whom he designed to consult; and if he would promise to carry on no intrigue for the future in that army without the approbation of the queen of sweden and the french king; that he might then be permitted to remain at paris, after giving his parole, and engaging the english ambassador to give his, that he should not leave it without the king's permission. grotius answered he would be always glad to serve the king. after this conversation grotius visited the earl of leicester, and communicated the project to him as his own; for chavigny had desired him not to speak of the conversation which they had together: he assured the english ambassador, that he knew for certain if he approved of the proposal the prince would not only obtain his liberty, but might also hope to recover his dominions if his britannic majesty would bestir himself for that purpose; and that he hoped his mediation would not be less agreeable to the king of england, than to the french king. the earl of leicester answered, that he had orders to demand the elector's discharge without any condition; that he would write to england; and till he received an answer must exactly follow his instructions. he asked grotius to continue his good offices in this affair, assuring him that they would be most agreeable to the king of england. the swedish ambassador informed the high chancellor of these particulars, in a letter dated jan. , [ ]. chavigny soon returned to grotius to know what had passed between him and the english ambassador: and on this occasion assured him of the cardinal's favourable disposition towards him. some time after, a person belonging to chavigny brought grotius some papers relating to the accommodation of this affair; in which the weymarian army was supposed to belong to the king of france, because he alone paid it. grotius, on the contrary, was persuaded that that army belonged to sweden and the confederate princes of germany; and that the duke of weymar, as he himself had several times said, received the french subsidies in quality of ally of that crown, as the landgrave did in his life-time. on reading these papers he told the person who brought them, they would not please the english; and asked permission to make some alteration in them. chavigny's secretary answered, that he had orders to leave them with him, that he might shew them to the earl of leicester. grotius replied, that he would first examine them farther, and see what was to be done. some days after, chavigny sent another secretary, asking him to confer as soon as possible with the earl of leicester. grotius answered, that he had read the papers with attention; and finding in them some things to the prejudice of sweden, he would consult the queen that he might do nothing to the prejudice of her rights; that he was sorry the distance would not permit him to receive her orders soon, but if the other ambassadors who had offered their good-offices in this affair could obtain the prince's liberty he would be well satisfied. these papers differed in many places from what had been settled between chavigny and grotius. they had agreed that the elector, on coming out of vincennes, should remain at paris: the new regulation obliged him to follow the court, that he might be more easily observed; besides, it only made mention of the king of france, and said nothing of sweden. the french ministry would absolutely[ ] have the weymarian army to be the king's; and that it was a high offence against him to attempt to get the command of it without his consent. the landgravine of hesse[ ], amelia elizabeth of hanau, whose uncommon merit and attachment to france had gained her the greatest confederation at court, wrote to the king in favour of the captive prince, assuring him, that all germany was under affliction on account of his situation. the queen of bohemia[ ], the elector's mother, approved of the difficulties started by grotius; and queen christina ordered him to demand an audience of the king to present a letter from her, dated dec. , [ ]. it was some time before he could obtain this audience, the king being ill of the gout. some imagined this was only a pretext, and that his majesty refused to see him because the ministers were treating directly with the elector, who was to be set at liberty as soon as they could agree with him, without its appearing to be done at the solicitation of any foreign prince. the th of february, , was at last appointed for the audience: grotius told the king that by clemency men approached nearest to the divinity, and that it became no prince so well as him who bore the title of most christian king; that the kings of france had always distinguished themselves by this virtue, particularly henry iv; and that he himself had on several occasions given signal proofs of his clemency. he afterwards set forth the ancient splendour of the palatine house, the most illustrious of the empire, whose heir was now in captivity, without lands, without subjects, and reduced to seek shelter among strangers: he shewed that his house was ever closely attached to france; that it defended with all its forces the rights of henry the great to the crown when unjustly disputed; that the austrians were always declared enemies of this house, and now kept the second prince of it in prison; that the courts of vienna and madrid ardently desired the continuation of the elector's captivity; that this prince deserved the better treatment in france, as during his minority he was ever an ally of the crown of sweden, and those, who managed his affairs in his youth, conformed with the greatest zeal and fidelity to all the desires of the king's ministers, and contributed much to the success of their demands in the diets of hailbron, francfort, and worms; that his majesty, by setting the prince at liberty, would not only do a great pleasure to germany, but her swedish majesty would consider it as a high obligation, and take every opportunity to express her gratitude. the king seemed to be affected with this discourse. he said, grotius was not ignorant of his reasons for arresting the elector palatine; that the good of the common cause induced him to do it; that he had always had the restoration of the palatine house much at heart, and caused it to be mentioned to the king of england, whom this affair regarded more, and had made several proposals on the subject to the earl of leicester. grotius replied, that it did not become him to enter into a dispute concerning the reasons which determined so great a king to act as he had done; but if, without breach of the respect due to his majesty, he might be permitted to speak his sentiments, he thought the best measure that could be taken was to forget what was passed, and attend only to the advantage of the common cause; adding, that some allowance must be made for the prince's youth, and it ought to be considered, that the bad situation of his affairs did not permit him to engage in his service such as were most capable of giving him good advice. the king said, he had heard what the ambassador represented, and that he was going to read the queen of sweden's letters. the audience concluded with the swedish ambassador's instances, that the king would remember clemency and goodness. grotius acquainted the queen of sweden with all these particulars, in a letter dated the d of march, [ ]. as soon as it was known in france, that grotius had received orders to intercede for the prince, he was confined more closely; so that those of his family, who were at paris, had no communication with him, as before; hence it was concluded, that the french ministers wanted to negotiate directly with him, and prevent his holding any correspondence with such as might divert him from giving the king the satisfaction he desired. these suspicions were well grounded[ ]: chavigny was treating at vincennes with the prince, who, tired of his confinement, signed the declaration which the king wanted, namely, that he had no design to get the command of the weymarian troops contrary to his majesty's inclination, and would not leave france without his permission. the king alone was mentioned in this writing, and no notice taken of the swedes. the court being satisfied[ ], chavigny went on the th of march, , at night, to vincennes, and brought the prince to the earl of leicester's house; where he staid _incognito_ till the hotel of the ambassadors extraordinary, then occupied by prince casimir, should be empty. in this manner the prince recovered his liberty[ ], which he owed to the powerful solicitation of the queen of sweden, and the good-offices of her minister. grotius informed the queen, that the prince was come out of vincennes, by a letter of the th of april, [ ]. he went to pay his compliments to his highness, and gave him all the honours due to an elector, though he was not treated as such by the french, because they were in negotiation with the duke of bavaria, who was invested with the title of elector, which the palatine house enjoyed before the troubles in bohemia. but sweden had still continued to regard the prince as if he had been in possession of his electorate. grotius held a correspondence with him before this event: we have a letter of that ambassador, written on the th of november, , to the elector palatine, in which he allures him, that he had spoken to the most christian king and his ministers, and to the english ambassador, for the restoration of the palatine house; and that he had also written about it to the queen of sweden and the grandees of the kingdom. the elector came to make grotius a visit[ ], and begged he would recommend him to the favour of the queen of sweden. grotius demanded an audience of the king, to thank him for the regard he had shewn to the queen his mistress's recommendation. the prince made his court so well to the king, and so managed the french ministry, that he at last got the title of elector. he was extremely well received at court: but grew weary, however, of france, and was desirous of obtaining full and entire liberty by the queen of sweden's credit. he spoke of it to grotius; who promised him his good-offices. the uneasiness, which the protracting of this negotiation gave the prince, threw him into an ague. at length, after much ado, he obtained full liberty. july , , the king gave him permission to go where he pleased, after giving assurances, that he would adhere to the writing signed at vincennes, by which he engaged to do nothing against the interest of france. he came to acquaint grotius with this agreeable news; adding, that he was resolved to go to holland, and continue there till the troubles in scotland were ended. it was not then foreseen that they would last so long, and still less that they would bring the king to the block. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] hist. de l'acad. p. . [ ] ep. grot. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] puffendorf, l. . § . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] puffendorf, l. . § . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. , p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. p. . [ ] ep. . p. . puffendorf, l. . § . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . viii. grotius was at this time engaged in another very delicate negotiation at the court of france. marshal horn, the high chancellor's son-in-law, had been taken at the battle of nordlinguen, and sweden was most desirous to recover her general. the famous john de vert was at the same time prisoner at vincennes[ ]: nothing seemed more natural or easy than the exchange of these two great captains: it was obstructed, however, by two considerable difficulties. the duke of weymar pretended that john de vert was his prisoner, and that he only sent him into france to be kept there till he should redemand him. besides, the french court were afraid that marshal horn's return would be rather hurtful, than advantageous to the common cause: there was no longer any employment for the marshal in the army, and as he was supported by the credit of his father-in-law, his return to it might occasion a dangerous division, the consequences whereof were to be apprehended even by france herself. grotius[ ] nevertheless was ordered to solicit the king in favour of this exchange: he spoke of it first to bullion[ ], who frankly promised to do all in his power for sweden in the affair. he afterwards spoke of it to the king at an audience in the beginning of november, ; an account of which he sends to the queen, in a letter of the th of november. he tells her, that, having pressed the king to procure the marshal's liberty, lewis discovered great readiness to do it, and promised to propose it in council. the ambassador, to engage the king more warmly for this exchange, represented to his majesty, that the late duke of weymar designed the generals john de vert and enkefort to be exchanged for marshal horn: that the prince thought his glory concerned in making this exchange; that he had mentioned it to the queen of sweden; and often written to his majesty about it, and several times employed others to solicit it, and that he died in these sentiments. marshal horn's liberty could not be obtained without the consent of another prince, the duke of bavaria, with whom he was a prisoner. that prince, being spoke to, readily gave his consent to the exchange. marshal horn wrote this to grotius, in a letter delivered to him by john de vert: and the ambassador immediately wrote to the high chancellor, may , , that he thought the queen should make new instances by letter to the king, and give him [grotius] fresh orders on the subject. the taking of arras furnishing an occasion to compliment the king, grotius went to st. germains in the beginning of november, . he expressed to his majesty the joy he received by his happy return, his good health, and the conquest of such a considerable town as the capital of the artois: he added his sincere wishes for the further increase of the prosperity of france, and the happy delivery of the queen, who was then with child of the duke of anjou, afterwards duke of orleans. the king seemed to be pleased with this compliment, and mentioned some of the difficulties which attended the siege of arras. grotius afterwards spoke to the king of marshal horn: he told his majesty that he had received letters from him, assuring that the duke of bavaria consented to his being exchanged for john de vert. the ambassador added, that the duke of weymar always desired the exchange: and that, if his majesty would do sweden this pleasure, john de vert might be sent to benfeld, and marshal horn to landau, and both be afterwards set at liberty at basil. the king answered, that he would think seriously of it. in fact, chavigny came soon after to see grotius, and told him that the king, after reflecting on the proposals he had made to him concerning marshal horn's release, had resolved to send john de vert to nancy as soon as the troops were in winter quarters, that he might be sent back with a more considerable escort; that he consented the marshal should be exchanged for john de vert, on condition, however, that the treaty between france and sweden should be renewed. chavigny added, that the king, having learnt that grotius complained of the chancellor seguier for denying him the honours due to an ambassador, had signified his intentions, that he should be treated as the other ambassadors of crowned heads. grotius having made a visit a little before[ ] to the chancellor of france, he had neither advanced to meet him, according to custom, nor given him the place that was due to him, nor re-conducted him on coming away. the ambassador complaining of it, count brulon came and told him in presence of the chancellor's servants, that if any offence had been given him, it proceeded from inattention, and not from design; for the king would have him treated with the same honours as other ambassadors of kings. grotius replied, that he expected to receive the same treatment as the english ambassador: on which count brulon said, france gave to each power the honour due to its rank. the exchange, however, was not executed. grotius made a journey to rheims, where the king was, to speak to him of it[ ]. the king gave him the most positive promises, and engaged to give john de vert his liberty, if the duke of bavaria sent marshal horn to landau. grotius wrote to the court of bavaria; john de vert was conducted to selesdad: and at last the exchange was made at strasbourg. grotius wrote a letter[ ] of compliment on it to the marshal, and desired him to come and lodge with him, if he purposed to pass through paris in his way to sweden. footnotes: [ ] bougeant, l. . § . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . . p. . . p. & . p. [ ] ep. . p. . ix. the renewal of the treaty of alliance between france and sweden, which was almost expired, was now on the carpet. this grand affair was negotiating at hamburg between claude de même count d'avaux, and john adler salvius, vice-chancellor of sweden. grotius[ ], who was attentive to give such counsels as might be useful to the crown of sweden, wrote to the high chancellor on the th of september, , that if the subsidies made the only difficulty to the conclusion of the treaty, he knew the cardinal would augment them. and accordingly, instead of a million, which france promised to sweden by the last[ ] treaty, by this she gave her twelve hundred thousand francs. the negotiation meeting with many obstacles, it was drawn into a great length and not concluded till the last of june, . in the beginning of november in the preceding year, chavigny came to acquaint grotius, that the king was astonished that nothing was done in the eight months that the renewal of the alliance had been negotiating at hamburg; that it would seem the regents of sweden imagined by these delays to obtain better conditions; but the king could add nothing to the former subsidies by reason of his exorbitant expences both on his own account and that of the allies; that he was desirous of being speedily informed of the intentions of the swedish ministers; that the renewal of the treaty would contribute to the obtaining a good peace; that if they would not renew it, it was time the king should know it, that he might take his measures; and that the peace was greatly retarded by the hopes which the enemy entertained of a difference between france and sweden. he added, that if a separate treaty should be set on foot, france could obtain better terms than sweden. the whole drift of this discourse was to let grotius know they were not ignorant that he had written to sweden, advising the regency to take advantage of the present occasion to obtain more advantageous conditions from france; which would be granted. the swedish ambassador answered chavigny, that he had received a letter from the queen for his majesty, which he purposed to deliver immediately; that the war was very burdensome to the swedes, who had so many enemies to combat with, especially this year and last; and that as to the renewal of the treaty, he had nothing to say to it; for that affair did not concern him, but salvius. he demanded an audience; but it was denied on several pretexts[ ]; because they wanted farther information of what was doing at hamburg. it was at last granted[ ] on the th of november, . he saw the queen first, whom he complimented on the birth of the duke of anjou: he afterwards saw the king, and delivered to him the queen's letters of the th of september. he congratulated him on the advantages gained last campaign, and on the birth of a second son of france; and entreated his majesty to send a greater force into germany as the only means to obtain a glorious peace. the king promised it, and afterwards repeated to grotius what chavigny had said; that the treaty of alliance would soon expire; that he would be glad to renew it on the former conditions; but that if her swedish majesty disliked them, he wished to know it immediately, that he might regulate his measures accordingly. he often repeated that it was not in his power to augment the subsidies, though the ambassador proved that he could never make a better use of his money. grotius informed the queen of what passed at this audience by a letter of the th of november, , in which he assures her that the true reason why the king deferred seeing him was his waiting for cardinal richelieu, with whom he wanted to concert the answer he should make. he acquainted this princess at the same time, that it was from the superintendant's own friends he understood the swedes might hope for an increase of the subsidies on renewing the alliance. salvius informed grotius of the state of the negotiation[ ], that they might act in concert. the vice-chancellor was the _primum mobile_ of this great affair: grotius was subordinate to him, and did him great service by the instructions which he sent him. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] bougeant. l. . n. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . x. cardinal richelieu died the year after the renewal of the treaty of alliance between france and sweden, on the th of december, . this famous minister was not much regretted by the swedish ambassador: independent of the grounds of complaint which grotius thought he had against the cardinal, it is not surprising that he should have no great veneration for him; they were of too different sentiments to esteem, or perhaps to do one another justice. lewis xiii. did not long survive his prime minister; the fourteenth of may, , was his last. anne of austria, his widow, was regent of the kingdom during the minority of her son lewis xiv. she told the swedish ambassador by chavigny, and repeated it herself, that the king's death would make no change in the alliance between france and sweden; that she would follow the intentions of the late king in every thing, and observe with the greatest fidelity the treaties made with the allies. the duke of orleans and the prince of condé were of the same sentiments[ ]. cardinal mazarin soon gained all the queen's confidence, and the principal part in the ministry: he pretended to support the dignity of cardinal with the same grandeur as his predecessor: which made grotius resolve[ ] to wait for orders from sweden before he saw his eminence. september , , he writes to salvius[ ], "i received with great pleasure your excellency's letters. i caused them to be delivered to cardinal mazarin, whom i have not seen, nor will see, unless the queen order it. he takes the precedence of the ambassadors of kings; and though the title of eminence be given him, he refuses that of excellence to ambassadors." sweden having declared war against the king of denmark[ ], who had taken several swedish ships trading in the sound, grotius communicated the queen of sweden's motives to the french queen[ ], without having orders for it, in an audience which he had of her majesty about the middle of april, ; acquainting her that justice and necessity obliged sweden to have recourse to arms against the danes; he also shewed her the declaration of war, which he translated into latin, and printed at paris. some time after, christina sent him orders to inform the queen of france of the reasons which obliged the swedes to enter into a war with denmark; which grotius did accordingly at an audience in the beginning of june, . footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] bougeant, l. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . xi. it was the adventurer cerisante who brought grotius queen christina's letters, ordering him to lay before the queen of france sweden's grounds of complaint against denmark. he had had interest to get himself nominated agent of the crown of sweden at paris, with orders however to do nothing but in concert with the ambassador[ ]. some years before, the continual jars between grotius and the french ministers made the regents of sweden[ ] hesitate whether it would not be proper to recall grotius: he himself had wrote to the high chancellor[ ], that, to obviate all difficulties raised against him, it would perhaps be more proper to have only an agent at paris. it is pretended that the inclination which he was suspected to have for the roman catholics contributed to set the swedes against him; and crusius wrote from bremen, november , [ ], "it is publicly reported that grotius is become a papist, and has lost all credit in sweden." he was not consulted in the nomination of cerisante; accordingly it gave him much uneasiness, which he did not dissemble[ ]: he regarded this agent as a spy sent to observe his conduct, and his mission as a proof that the ministry were not satisfied with him: this greatly contributed to increase the disgust he had taken to his embassy, which he had already hinted in confidence to some of his friends. february , , he wrote a letter of compliment to lewis camerarius[ ] on his being recalled from his embassy to holland, and assures him that it would give him great pleasure to live in such quiet. he writes to his brother, november , [ ], "if they threatened to recall me from my embassy i should not be sorry: it is not a lucrative thing. i am surfeited with honours; old age comes on, and will soon demand ease." a year after, he writes to him[ ], "i am come to the age at which many wise men have voluntarily renounced places of honour. i love quiet, and would be glad to devote the remainder of my life to the service of god and of posterity. if i had not some hope of contributing to a general peace, i should have retired before now." the headstrong and forward temper of the person who was appointed his coadjutor crowned all his uneasiness. in effect, no body could be more the reverse of grotius than cerisante. the memoirs of the duke of guise have placed this man in a very ridiculous light: his family indeed complain that the duke of guise did not do him justice; but we know from others that he was as vain as he was inconsiderate. he was the son of duncan, minister of saumur, and being perfect master of the belles lettres, he had been nominated governor to the marquis de foix, who afterwards made him lieutenant-colonel of the regiment of navarre; but a quarrel with the duke of candale in the beginning of anne of austria's regency obliged him to quit the kingdom. he retired into sweden, in hopes that the queen, who loved men of wit, would make his fortune. he was not disappointed: she gave him a commission to levy a regiment, which he never raised; and sent him into france with the titles of colonel and agent of sweden. he soon laid aside that regard for grotius which was recommended to him; and gave on all occasions proofs of his rash and vain-glorious humour. grotius tells us that he sent very false intelligence to sweden, which he affirmed that he had from the first hand: in short, he was guilty of so many extravagancies, that queen christina, being informed how little he was esteemed, and that she was in some sort censured on his account, dismissed him her service; but it was not till after grotius's departure from paris. it will readily be judged that a man of this character could ill agree with grotius: accordingly they were soon at great variance. their misunderstanding was quickly known. sarrau wrote to salmasius, june , [ ], "duncan the swedish agent at this court gives the ambassador much uneasiness." grotius's patience being therefore worn out, he wrote to sweden, desiring the queen to recall him: his request was granted with great readiness. as she did not dignify to him where he must go[ ], he wrote to baron oxenstiern, the swedish plenipotentiary to the peace of munster and osnabrug, and son of the high chancellor, desiring him to inform him of the queen's intentions, if he knew them; or to advise him whither he ought to go, to osnabrug or elsewhere; and in fine, to send him a safe-conduct from the ambassadors of the emperor and the king of spain, and even, if he could, from the elector of cologn. grotius was strongly persuaded that they would employ him elsewhere[ ]. he demanded an audience of queen anne, whom he informed of his being recalled. the queen of sweden wrote to the french queen a letter highly to grotius's honour[ ], in which she said that she would never forget his great services. she wrote also to himself[ ], signifying to him her satisfaction with his fidelity and prudence, and making him the fairest promises: which confutes what we find in the _menagiana_[ ], that queen christina began her reign with recalling grotius; since it is beyond doubt that it was grotius himself who asked to be recalled. but we must not expect great exactness in this kind of works, compiled for the most part by persons who relate ill what they heard, and are not always acquainted with the matters of which they write. before we consider grotius returned to a private station, we shall observe that he always supported with great firmness the rights and honours belonging to the rank of ambassador, not from vanity, but because he thought it his duty to prevent a dignity conferred on him from being depreciated. he imagined[ ], that the dutch, from ill-will to him, had entered into a kind of conspiracy not to treat him as ambassador, and to make him be considered as a simple resident[ ]; and afterwards to make a crime of his weakness in giving up any part of his right. they denied him the title of excellency when speaking to him of private business, under pretext that his embassy was not concerned: but he shewed this to be a very bad reason, since the greatest noblemen in sweden treated him as ambassador even in private letters: he therefore burnt all those letters which did not give him the proper titles, without answering them; and even would not receive in his house such persons as denied him the honours due to the ambassadors of crowned heads. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] puffendorf, l. . n. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] inter vossianas ep. . [ ] ep. , p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . sarravii. [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] tom. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . xii. when the news of grotius's recall was known at paris, it was publicly said that he was going to sweden to complain of his collegue. sarrau writes thus to salmasius, march , [ ]. "grotius is preparing to set out for sweden after easter, to complain of the injury done to him by appointing for his successor a young man who was his rival. he must however obey; and return into a private station: but this colossus, though thrown down, will be always great; this statue will still be very high without its base." whilst grotius waited for baron oxenstiern's answer, he wrote to spiringius, the swedish agent in holland, asking him, in case he should not receive a favourable letter from osnabrug, to send him a ship of war to some french port, on board of which he might embark for gottenburg; or, if that could not be done, to obtain a passport to go from holland to gottenburg; but on condition that no mention should be made of what passed in his youth; otherwise, he declared, he would take another rout. it is probable he obtained such a passport as he desired; for embarking at dieppe[ ], he went to holland, where he was extremely well received. the burgomasters of amsterdam paid him all honour, and he was entertained at the public expence. he had also reason to be satisfied with the town of rotterdam: not but there were at this time some mean souls in holland, who wanted to make the states of holland, then assembled, deny him a passage through the province: but this shameful step served only to draw upon them the public indignation. the city of amsterdam fitted out a vessel to carry him to hamburg, where he was may , , on which day he writes to his brother[ ] that the wind had been against them; that he had been eight days by the way; and that schrasvius, the dutch resident at hamburg, came to visit him, and had a conversation with him full of friendship. he was resolved to set out next day for lubeck, and hoped to find at that town, or at least at wismar, a vessel that might carry him to calmar, where he believed the high chancellor to be with the french and dutch ambassadors. in this letter he asked his brother to give him only the title of counsellor to her swedish majesty. he speaks much of the honourable reception which the magistrates of lubeck gave him[ ]. "you cannot believe, he writes to his brother, how many friends i have found." he was in the end of march at wismar[ ], where count wrangel, admiral of the swedish fleet, gave him a splendid entertainment, and afterwards sent a man of war with him to calmar[ ]. the high chancellor was not there, but at suderacher, four leagues distant, negotiating a peace between sweden and denmark. grotius wrote to him immediately, and received a speedy answer: on the th of june the high chancellor sent a gentleman with his coach to bring him to suderacher, where he remained a fortnight[ ] with the chancellor and, the other ambassadors, who treated him with great honours: returning to calmar, he went by land to stockholm. queen christina was then at upsal: but, as soon as she heard of grotius's arrival in her capital, she came back to see so great a man: a desire to be acquainted with such as distinguished themselves in the republic of letters is well known to have been one of her favourite passions. on the morrow of his arrival[ ], she gave him a long audience, with which he appears, by a letter written to his brother july , , to be well satisfied. "i am now at stockholm, says he, and have seen the queen. she makes me great promises. i do not know yet what she will do with me. the senators seem well satisfied with all that i have done." christina gave him several audiences; made him dine with her; and he appeared to be abundantly pleased with the honours he received: but as he saw they were in no haste to do any thing for him, and only rewarded him with compliments, he grew uneasy, and asked permission to retire. he was confirmed in this resolution by finding the court filled with persons who had conceived a jealousy against him; besides, the air of sweden did not agree with him. the queen several times refused to grant him his dismission, and signified to him that if he would continue in her service in quality of counsellor of state, and bring his family into sweden, he should have no reason to repent it: but he excused himself on account of his own health, which was much altered, and of his wife's health, who could not bear the cold air of that kingdom. he asked a passport, which they delayed granting. in the mean time he grew so uneasy at stockholm, that he resolved to be gone without a passport. leaving that city therefore, he went to a seaport two leagues distant, in order to embark for lubeck. the queen being informed of his departure, sent a gentleman to inform him that she wanted to see him once more; otherwise she should think that he was displeased with her: he returned therefore to stockholm, and explained himself to the queen, who seemed satisfied with his reasons, and made him a present in money amounting to twelve or thirteen thousand imperials[ ], about ten thousand french crowns, adding to it some silver plate, that was not finished sooner: which, he was assured, delayed the granting of his passport. it was afterwards issued, and the queen gave him a vessel, on board which he embarked the th of august for lubeck. the _menagiana_ contains an anecdote relating to the last audience that grotius had of queen christina, which we shall relate rather to throw contempt on this kind of works, than to give weight to it. when grotius, it tells us, had his audience of leave of queen christina, she said some sharp things to him; on which he immediately left her, saying only, madam, i remain your most humble servant. the queen was afterwards vexed at it, and could not help observing, that he ought not to have gone away without taking leave of her. marigny said to her, madam, he did take leave of you. you do not know what you say, replied the queen; if he had, i should have known it. madam, added marigny, what i say is true; i was there; when they say in france, on going away, i remain your most humble servant, it is taking leave of a person. the queen sustained this; and sending for grotius, made him a present of copper to the amount of forty thousand livres. footnotes: [ ] ep. sarr. p. . [ ] le clerc, l. . t. . latin life of grotius. barleus, in vicquefort's letters, ep. . p. . vind. grotii, p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. , p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] vind. grot. p. . xiii. grotius's departure from stockholm gave rise to several very uncertain reports. vondel, a famous dutch poet, and a friend of that learned man, pretends that he designed to go to osnabrug[ ], where the peace was negotiating; others assure[ ], that he was desirous of retiring to holland, where the republican party was beginning to gain the ascendant. a modern author has advanced[ ], that he resolved to go into poland, in hopes that the king would send him ambassador to the court of france: but it is more probable, that, disgusted with negotiations and business, he only sought a place of retreat, where he might complete his imaginary project of forming a coalition of christians, and prepare for his latter end. the vessel was scarce sailed for lubeck, when she was overtaken by a violent storm, which obliged her to put in, on the th of august, fourteen miles from dantzick. grotius set out in an open waggon for lubeck, and arrived at rostock[ ] on the th of august very ill. nobody knew him: his great weakness determined him to call a physician: his name was stochman, who, on feeling grotius's pulse, said his indisposition proceeded from weakness and fatigue; and that with rest and some restoratives he might recover: but next day he changed his tone; on seeing his weakness increase, with a cold sweat, and other symptoms of nature being spent, he judged that his end was near. grotius then asked for a clergyman. john quistorpius was brought, who, in a letter to calovius, gives us the particulars of grotius's last moments. we cannot do better than copy it. "you are desirous of hearing from me how that phoenix of literature, hugo grotius, behaved in his last moments, and i am going to tell you. he embarked at stockholm for lubeck; and after having been tossed for three days by a violent tempest, he was shipwrecked and got to shore on the coast of pomerania, from whence he came to our town of rostock, distant above sixty miles, in an open waggon, through wind and rain. he lodged with balleman; and sent for m. stochman, the physician, who observing that he was extremely weakened by years, by what he suffered at sea, and the inconveniences attending the journey, judged that he could not live long. the second day after grotius's arrival in this town, that is, on the th of august, o.s. he sent for me about nine at night. i went, and found him almost at the point of death. i said there was nothing i desired more than to have seen him in health, that i might have the pleasure of his conversation. he answered, god had ordered it otherwise. i desired him to prepare himself for a happier life, to acknowledge that he was a sinner, and to repent of his faults: and happening to mention the publican, who acknowledged that he was a sinner, and asked god's mercy, he answered: _i am that publican._ i went on, and told him, that he must have recourse to jesus christ, without whom there is no salvation. he replied, _i place all my hope in jesus christ._ i began to repeat aloud in german the prayer which begins _herr jesu_[ ]; he followed me, in a very low voice, with his hands clasped. when i had done, i asked him, if he understood me. he answered, _i understand you very well._ i continued to repeat to him those passages of the word of god which are commonly offered to the remembrance of dying persons, and asking him if he understood me, he answered, _i heard your voice, but did not understand what you said._ these were his last words: soon after he expired, just at midnight. his body was delivered to the physicians; who took out his bowels. i easily obtained leave to bury them in our principal church, which is dedicated to the virgin." thus died this celebrated man, on the th of august at night, or rather in the morning of the th, . a number of falshoods were published on occasion of his death. du maurier relates[ ], that a roman catholic priest, and ministers of different persuasions, hearing that grotius was dying, came to him to dispose him to die in their communion: that he made them no answer, but, _i don't understand you_; and on their silence said to them, _exhort me to die like a christian._ quistorpius's relation, ill understood, has given rise to several groundless stories. m. arnaud[ ] assures us that he had the particulars of grotius's death from one of his secretaries, who told him, that when he was at rostock a lutheran minister came to see him in his illness, and speaking to him of religion, grotius answered, i don't understand you; willing to let him know that his conversation was not agreeable. m. jurieu[ ] maintains, that he died without making any profession of religion, and that he answered those who exhorted him to prepare for death in these words, i don't understand you: turning his back to them. if we may believe the _menagiana_, the minister who came to wait upon him at his death, said to him what was very poor; and grotius, to gain time, and let him know that he could well dispense with his exhortations, said to him, i am grotius. to which the minister answered, what! are you the great grotius? m. le clerc[ ] mentions his having seen in an english book that grotius said when dying, "by undertaking many things i have accomplished nothing." not even so much as the cause of his death has escaped without misrepresentations. m. le clerc informs us, that some of his enemies spread a report, that he was killed by lightning: and not long ago, he adds, a learned man of my acquaintance asked me by letter if it was true. patin[ ] writes, that it was suspected he had been poisoned. "we hear, says he, that grotius is dead at rostock, on his return from sweden, of a fever, not without suspicion of being poisoned by the lutherans, on account of what he says about antichrist in favour of the pope: but i do not think that poisoning is used in that country." they carried their wickedness to such a height as to accuse queen christina of shortening that great man's days. the new memoirs of the abbé d'artigny[ ] acquaint us, that antony argoud, dean of the cathedral of vienne, haranguing queen christina the th of august, , pleased her so much, that she gave him broad hints that she would do great things for him if he would attend her in quality of first chaplain. the queen had in her retinue lesseins, one of the gentlemen of the king's bedchamber, who was ordered to accompany that princess from marseilles to lions. argoud telling him of the queen's proposals, he diverted him from accepting them by painting out christina as an inconstant and capricious princess. "he forgot nothing to set him against her, even to telling him that grotius would have been still alive, if he had had nothing to fear from the jealousy of the swedes; but that the ill treatment of the queen brought that great man to his grave." it is very possible that not having been treated by the queen so well as he expected, it chagrined him much: but whatever is not conformable to quistorpius's letter, against which nothing solid can be advanced, ought to be rejected as apocryphal. his corpse was carried to delft, and deposited in the tomb of his ancestors. he wrote this modest epitaph for himself[ ]: _grotius hîc hugo est, batavûm captivus et exul, legatus regni, suecia magna, tui._ grotius had the precaution to make his will at paris on the th of march, , a little before his departure. he had a very agreeable person, a good complexion, an aquiline nose, sparkling eyes, a serene and smiling countenance. he was not tall, but very strong, and well built. footnotes: [ ] vind. grot. p. . [ ] menagiana. [ ] hist. du socinianisme, c. . p. . [ ] observat. hallen. . t. . p. . [ ] it is a prayer addressed to jesus christ, and suited to the condition of a dying person who builds his hope on the mediator. m. le clerc has recited it at large in the sentimens de quelques theologiens de hollande, lettre, p. . [ ] memoirs, p. . [ ] sentimens des theologiens de hollande, p. . [ ] esprit de m. arnaud, t. . p. . [ ] sentimens des theologiens de hollande, lettre . p. . [ ] t. . lettre . [ ] t. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . book vi. however much grotius was employed in the business of his embassy, he still found time for study, which was one of the greatest pleasures of his life. he has even been accused of applying too much to literature for an ambassador[ ]; but his letters testify that he did not go to study till he had finished what his duty to the crown of sweden required of him, and spent in it the time only which other ministers give to their pleasures, to conversations often useless, and visits sometimes unnecessary. eight days after making his entry into paris in quality of ambassador, he wrote to salmasius, march , [ ], informing him of the happy change in his affairs. he acquaints him, that when he shall be a little used to business, he hopes to have leisure enough to continue the cultivation of learning. "how desirous soever i may be of serving the public in this respect, he says, i know not where i ought to begin. my commentaries on the evangelists would be apt to expose me to hatred in the present age, when every one maintains his opinions with obstinacy. the history of the low-countries, tho' written with great simplicity, will find malevolent readers. shall i return again to trifles, such as are not unworthy men of learning, and turn into latin the epigrams collected by planudas? one thing hinders me: i know you have made several corrections in the manuscripts, and i am unwilling to translate from a faulty copy. yet i cannot expect that you should interrupt your studies, to send me the corrections you have made." "my greatest relief from the languors of the court, he writes to schmalz[ ], is the conversation of men of learning, to whom i chearfully give all the time that i can spare from business." footnotes: [ ] du maurier, p. . & . wiquefort ambas. l. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . ii. neither his serious studies, nor his public occupations, ever made him relinquish the muses: amidst his embarrassments and anxiety in the beginning of his embassy, he put his tragedy of joseph to the press[ ], which had all the success that could be hoped for; and wrote several latin epigrams. june , [ ], he sent some to his brother that were just finished; observing to him that he would possibly one day add to them a greek translation in verse of the latin verses in suetonius; and a latin translation of euripides's iphigenia in tauris. he wrote to gronovius, february , [ ], that he unbended himself at times, after his weightier business, in the company of the muses. "however much i am busied, he writes to freinshemius[ ], i still preserve my affection for the muses, and look upon them as the most agreeable of all amusements." footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. & , p. . [ ] ep. p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . iii. he made _tacitus_ his particular study, and, writes to vossius, july , [ ], to inform himself, whether a new edition of that celebrated historian, was any where printing, because he had a mind to communicate his notes to the editors[ ]. "they are neither," says he, "political dissertations, nor a commentary; but corrections which may be useful. i call them, to speak modestly, conjectures[ ], tho' i am persuaded most of them will appear to be well grounded." however, as they filled but a few sheets[ ], he did not think proper to print them, at paris; but sent them, in , to his brother, who communicating them to the elzevirs, they were published the same year in their edition of _tacitus_[ ], and have been several times reprinted. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] fabricius, biblioth. iv. the learned gronovius, intending to publish an edition of _statius_, requested grotius to send him his remarks on that poet: this he complied with, in a letter of the th of october, [ ], containing the several corrections he had made in the margin of this author, whom he had often read with pleasure and application. the edition of _statius_ was published: and gronovius, without receiving grotius's letter[ ], had made most of the remarks that were sent to him: grotius, however, suspected[ ] gronovius had perhaps been persuaded to pretend that he did not receive his letter, that he might be under no obligation of commending a man, whose name was odious to those in power. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . v. grotius also wrote notes on _lucan_, which he offered to any bookseller who would make use of them. he wrote to his brother[ ], to enquire when any new edition of that poet should be printed, that he might contribute to make it better by communicating his remarks. they are to be found in some of the editions printed in holland, and are very highly commended by vossius[ ], who says the learned world is much obliged to their author. a letter from grotius to his brother[ ] informs us, that the latter part of the notes of _lucan_ were by william grotius. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . & . p. . [ ] præs. vir. epist. p. . [ ] ep. . p. . vi. a work, which he had much at heart, was the collection of greek epigrams, known by the name of _anthologia_: he was long about it, and thought to publish it soon after his return to paris in quality of ambassador. as he knew that salmasius had made this collection his particular study, he requests him, june , [ ], to communicate to him the corrections he had made in the greek text, either by the assistance of manuscripts, or from his own conjectures. he gives a long account of his design to gerard vossius, in a letter of the th of december, . "when i was here a private man, says he, in order to be useful to the lovers of learning, after translating stobæus and the maxims of the comic and tragic poets, i also translated the collection of greek epigrams by planudas; adding several epigrams which are not in henry stephens's edition: on coming here ambassador, i thought i should do well to finish what i had begun; and knowing that the great salmasius had collated these epigrams with ancient manuscripts, i prevailed on him to communicate to me his remarks; and i had the satisfaction to find my conjectures confirmed by the authority of manuscripts. the whole is now ready to be printed in the same form as _stobæus_ and the extracts from the greek tragedies and comedies. when i think of a bookseller, blaeu first occurs to me: he loves me and all my friends: but one thing vexes me; if i give him my manuscript, i shall not know when it will be published: besides, i doubt whether he has any one that can correct the greek proofs, and make the indexes which are necessary for rendering the book useful to youth. if i could be assured of this, i would readily give him the preference. i shall afterwards think of publishing more considerable works." new reflections on blaeu's dilatoriness set him against him, especially as he was not satisfied with his greek types[ ]: he therefore wrote to his brother, to consult with vossius what he ought to do. "i would not, he adds, have recourse to the elzevirs, not so much on account of this book, as of some others which i am preparing for the press, and which will not be to their taste." it is unlucky for the republic of letters, that grotius was obstinately bent on printing his _anthologia_ in holland; morelle would gladly have printed it at paris[ ]; cramoisi would not have refused it. grotius writes to his brother, june th, , "i am deliberating, whether to make use of cramoisi, the eminent bookseller; but i have some reason to question the abilities of his corrector." he once thought to send it to england[ ]; but he was diverted from this by reflecting, that franciscus junius, who resided in that country, printed his works out of the kingdom. the answers he received concerning the printing of the _anthologia_ not satisfying him, he wrote to his brother, april , [ ], "if my _anthologia_ cannot be printed, or not printed correctly, i would have it sent back to me; cramoisi, the richest bookseller in this country, will undertake it." he was kept in hopes of its appearing in holland; but the printing of it was put off from time to time: he wrote to several of his friends about it; however no progress was made. isaac vossius, son of the famous gerard, who inherited his father's sentiments for grotius, making an offer of his service for his literary commissions, grotius thanked him most affectionately, in a letter of the th of november, [ ], in which he says a great deal about his _anthologia_. "i cannot sufficiently thank you for the kind offer of your good services in relation to the printing of my works. no body can be of more use to me than you: for who has more friendship for me, or better understands those matters? i would have the _anthologia_ printed directly; and have desired my brother to shew you my prolegomena, and inform you in what manner i would have the indexes made. i shall repeat it, for fear that i have not sufficiently explained myself in what i wrote to my brother. i would first have an index of the poets, expressing exactly from what places the epigrams are taken. there must also be another index of the persons who are the subject of the epigrams, and of those to whom they are addressed: there should be a third, which may be called chorographical, containing the mountains, rivers, towns, baths, bridges, and other public works mentioned in the epigrams. there must be an historical one for the great actions which have happened in war or peace. to the two last indexes i would have the names of the authors added, who have mentioned such of those actions as are least known; as strabo, pausanias, procopius, and others. after these indexes there must be another, comprehending the natural history, morality, and other particulars omitted in the preceding ones. this work may be useful; but i would not, however, charge any one with it, who could employ his time better. if, without losing too much time, you could do it yourself, it would give me the highest satisfaction, not only on my own account, but on the reader's, to whom these indexes would render the edition much more useful: for it is proper to observe, that these epigrams contain what is most important in history, from the time of plato to that of justinian, and even later." this was the subject of the preface, or prolegomena, that was to be prefixed to the work, and which, with his usual modesty, he says will not be wholly useless[ ]. the _anthologia_ appears to have been put to press in jan. , under the inspection of isaac vossius: for, on the st of that month, grotius writes thus to him. "i have seen a proof of the _anthologia_, and like the type very well. i would absolutely have it printed in quarto, like _stobæus_, and the extracts from the tragic and comic poets: but if it will make too large a volume, it may be divided into two, and the greek and latin printed to face one another." grotius left france a little after the date of this letter; and his death, which soon followed, was no doubt the greatest obstacle to the publication of the _anthologia_, the printing of which blaeu discontinued. grotius's copy falling into le clerc's hands, he gave hopes that he would publish it with considerable additions. he has a great deal about it in his _bibliotheque choisie_[ ]. "those who shall read grotius's version, says he, will equally admire the happy genius, and the uncommon patience of that excellent man, who translated the whole book in the same number of verses as in the original, which he very often equals, and sometimes even surpasses. there will be an excellent preface by grotius, treating of the _anthologia_ and his version of it." unhappily m. le clerc did not fulfil the engagement he entered into with the public. father berthier, a famous jesuit, who, to solid piety joins extensive learning, has lately given us, in the _memoirs de trevoux_, a very curious article relating to grotius's _anthologia_. it is entitled, _an account of a manuscript version of the greek anthologia by grotius_. he tells us, that the original, in grotius's own hand, is in the library of the jesuits college at paris, where it was deposited in the year by edmund le mercier, grotius's secretary. this work, the learned jesuit observes, is valuable on three accounts. first, because the latin verses are excellent, and of the same measure with the greek; so that if the text be elegiac verses, or pure hexameters, or iambics of six feet, or anacreontics, the version is always of the same species of poetry. secondly, he has every where confined himself to the number of verses in the original, being never more laconic nor more prolix; which discovers a very ready genius, and a singular patience. thirdly, he corrects the text from time to time by short notes placed in the margin. father berthier gives afterwards grotius's translation of several epigrams; which makes it earnestly to be wished, that the learned jesuit would publish the whole work: but the present prevailing taste for trifles gives us ground to apprehend, that the booksellers of france dare not undertake this work, which deserves so well to be transmitted to posterity. besides the epigrams that are to be found in all the editions, grotius's manuscript contains, first, those which were collected by henry stephens, and are placed at the end of his edition of the _anthologia_. dly, a very large number of inscriptions from gruter. dly, a collection made by grotius himself from manuscripts. a note at the beginning of this valuable manuscript informs us, that the version of the seven books of the _anthologia_ was begun by grotius in september, , and finished before next september: which shews the wonderful ease with which this great author wrote. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. , . p. . & . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . & . p. . [ ] fabric. bibl. gr. l. . c. . p. . tom. vii. he was so sensible of his obligations to sweden, that, as a public testimony of his gratitude, he undertook to throw light on the history of the goths, in hopes of doing honour to the swedes, who regarded them as their ancestors. he wrote to rome to[ ] get what was wanting in heschelius's greek edition of procopius communicated to him, and obtained it by the recommendation of messieurs du puis; as we learn from a letter to the celebrated nicholas peyresc, dated april , , in which he adds, "i have translated the history of the goths and vandals by procopius, in honour of a nation who adopted me after being thrice sold by my country." he communicated this project to schmalz, july , [ ], "the time, says he, which i am not obliged to spend in public business, i devote to an enquiry into the antiquities of sweden. be so kind to send me, for this work, a swedish dictionary, a new testament in swedish, and the ancient inscriptions in that language, which are to be met with on tombs, or in other places. i have seen a latin translation of the swedish laws, which i should be glad to see again if possible. if you can procure me all these, i shall think myself highly obliged by you; and i hope you will not find me ungrateful." he explains his project more at large in a long letter to oxenstiern, aug. , [ ]. "your sublimity, he writes to him, shews me so much favour, and you interest yourself so much in what concerns me, that i think it my duty to give you an account, not only of my negotiations, but of my leisure hours. as i intend to devote the time that is not employed in the affairs with which i am charged, to the honour of a kingdom which has loaded me with honours, i had begun to read all that has been written on the great gustavus in latin, italian, german, and french: but soon perceiving that these writers did not know the intentions of the ministry, were unacquainted with the places of which they speak, and were ignorant of the art of war, i concluded that it was impossible, with such materials, to complete a work that might deserve the approbation of posterity. this has made me turn again to antiquities. of all the ancients procopius has best handled the history of the goths and vandals: he was an able man, was secretary to belisarius, had been on the spot, and speaks not only of what happened in his own time, but also of the facts which happened before his time. the latin version is very faulty, imperfect, and inelegant: i have made a new translation from the greek edition of heschelius; with the assistance of two manuscripts in the king's library, which enabled me to make several corrections in the text; others i made by conjecture. i intend to extract all that has relation to this subject from the secret history of procopius, printed by alemannus at rome, and from agathias. being informed, that the manuscript of the history of the goths and vandals, in the vatican library, was more complete than what heschelius followed, i have asked my friends at rome to fill up the gaps in the printed copies: which i hope they will do. that nothing may be omitted, which has a relation to the antiquities of scandinavia, i intend to add what is contained in strabo, pliny, tacitus, ptolemæus, and those who have written since, as helmoldus, eginhart, adam of bremen, and others. i shall farther add the gothics of jornandes, the epistle of sidonius apollinaris on the manners of theodoric king of the wisigoths; the panegyric of ennodius of pavia in honour of theodoric king of the ostrogoths and italy; the laws of the ostrogoths, westrogoths, and lombards, with the book of paulus diaconus, who was himself a lombard, and makes his nation come from scandinavia. we shall add, at the end, the appellative names contained in the laws, with their original and explication. i would beg of your sublimity, that being now returned to sweden, you will give orders for communicating to me the old inscriptions, the ancient laws, and, in fine, whatever is not printed and may contribute to throw light on the antiquities of sweden; that the work which i am about may be the more perfect. i earnestly intreat your sublimity to be assured, that i will do all that depends on me, not only to procure the advantage of sweden, but also to contribute to her glory." schmalz going to rome about this time with reigersberg, son to grotius's wife's brother[ ], grotius took that opportunity of renewing his acquaintance with holstenius, his ancient friend, who resided at rome; and to ask of him what was wanting in the printed editions of procopius. on receiving these valuable additions[ ], he communicates the good news to the high chancellor, whom he entertains with a further account of his work, in a letter dated june th, [ ]. "your sublimity, he says, will pardon me, if, having little public business on my hands, i give you an account how i employ my time. i send you a pretty long preface, in which i inscribe the new translation of procopius, which differs greatly from the old one, to your sublimity, who have deserved so well of sweden, and to whom i am under so great obligations. the work itself will include the authors who have written of the antiquities of the goths, vandals, wisigoths, and lombards. two reasons induced me to make the preface so long: the first, that i was obliged to answer cluverius, who, either from envy, or hired by the danes, first sought to darken our glory; but i have confuted him by such clear evidence, that i think no person of sense will now attempt to repeat the same falsities. the other was, that, the testimonies in favour of a nation being liable to suspicion when built only on the assertions of the natives, i have collected the authorities of foreigners, who have spoken honourably of the swedes and of the nations sprung from them." thus in appears that his design was to dedicate this work to the high chancellor[ ], who heard with infinite pleasure of this new occupation of grotius. he liked the preface much; spoke of it with the highest esteem[ ], and wrote to grotius[ ], thanking him in his own name and in the name of the whole nation, and pressing him to publish the work. however he was in no hurry[ ], because he wanted to exhaust the subject, and to make all proper enquiries for enabling him to treat it thoroughly. he imagined he should find in gallia narbonensis, and the neighbouring places, several things that might contribute to embellish his work; and that the french, from envy to the swedes, hindered his friends from communicating them. this work was finished before grotius died; but it was not printed till after his death: and whether it was that the intended dedication to the high chancellor was never written, or was suppressed, it is not now to be found. the title of the work is: _historia gothorum, vandalorum, & longobardorum, ab hugone grotio partim versa, partim in ordinem digesta: præmissa sunt ejusdem prolegomena; ubi regum gothorum ordo e chronologia, cum elogiis; accedunt nomina appellativa & verba gothica, vandalica, longobardica, cum explicatione. auctorum omnium ordinem tabula centenorum indicat. amstelodami, apud ludovicum elzevirium, ._ at the head of this work is a very learned preface, in which the author acquaints us, that he revised the gothics and vandalics of procopius by the greek manuscripts; that he new-translated them because there were many things omitted in the old translations, which were otherwise badly done; and that, by the assistance of the vatican manuscripts, he filled up large gaps. there follows a geographical description of the ancient country of the goths, a character of the people, much in their favour; a catalogue of their kings; a chronological table of the time when they lived; a list of the lombard kings, and another of the kings of the vandals; the testimonies of the ancients in favour of the people of sweden and the nations which derive their origin from the swedes. after the translation of all that procopius has concerning the goths and vandals there follows an index, with this title: _nomina appellativa & verba gothica, vandalica, & longobardica, quæ in hoc volumine reperiuntur._ it appears from the author's researches, that almost all the appellative names of the lombards had, like those of the greeks, some signification. this collection concludes with the following pieces: jornandes _de getarum sive gothorum origine & rebus gestis_; the _chronicle_ of st. isidorus, and paulus wanefridus _de gestis longobardorum_. the prolegomena acquaint us, that grotius intended to expound the ancient laws of the goths and vandals: but unhappily death prevented his executing this design, for which no one was better qualified. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep, . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. , p. . [ ] ep. , p. . [ ] ep. , p. . viii. the nomination of grotius, when very young, to be historiographer of the states, led him to enquire particularly into the troubles of the low countries and their consequences with regard to the seven provinces. he was employed about this in the year , as appears by a letter, written on the th of february, to the president de thou. he informs him[ ], that love to his country had engaged him in a work very like his, but as much inferior as holland is to france. "i own, indeed, the work is above my abilities, but i shall not publish it till years and judgment enable me to mend it." communicating this work to heinsius, with whom he was then very intimate, that learned youth wanted words to express his admiration. balzac informs us of these particulars in a letter to chapelin, dated sept. , , in which he mentions a letter from heinsius concerning this history when grotius was very young. an author, more fond of his works than grotius, would have made haste to publish this, which appears to have been finished in ; for that year he wrote to martinus opitius[ ], "my belgic annals are transcribing." he writes to his brother the year following[ ], "my annals and my history of the low countries are transcribed: but i think i must still keep them a while." he consulted several of his friends on this subject, and among others gerard vossius. the sudden deaths of many of his acquaintance leading him to reflect on the uncertainty of life, he wrote to his brother, may , [ ], "i would have my works printed before my death, that i may be useful to those that shall come after me; and would therefore have my annals correctly printed as soon as possible; but i would not have them printed by those, who, from a party spirit, would tell what was in them before they were published, and thereby prevent perhaps their ever appearing. i therefore beg of you to find out some honest man to whom i may intrust my copy." in the mean time he was still revising them; and near two years after he wrote to his brother, march , [ ], "till i put the last hand to my history, i would not have any one see it: you must therefore find a handsome excuse to those who ask you for it. read it, however, yourself, and send me your remarks." grotius had not the satisfaction to see his history printed: it was not published till twelve years after his death, by his two sons cornelius and peter, who dedicated it, in , to the states of holland and west-friesland. this work is divided into two parts, annals and history, in imitation of tacitus. the annals begin with the year , and contain five books: there are eighteen of the history, which begins with the year , that is, when prince maurice had the greatest influence in the affairs of the united provinces, and concludes with the year , when the twelve years truce was made. had his love to truth and honesty been less, he had a fine opportunity of revenging himself on prince maurice. but he every where does him justice[ ], and even speaks of him as if he had been always satisfied with his conduct to him. m. baillet thinks very advantageously and at the same time very justly of this work. "that great man (says he, speaking of grotius[ ]) has discovered in this work all the capacity, accuracy, judgment, solidity, industry, perspicuity, honesty, and integrity, of a true historian. his impartiality would almost make him pass for a foreigner, who had no interest in what he relates: he appears a dutchman, only by his thorough knowledge of the causes, motives, ends, and other circumstances of the subject he has undertaken to handle." the only thing for which he can be censured, is the stiffness of the style, by affecting to make it resemble that of tacitus, which renders it obscure and unnatural. we are assured, that the eminent advocate-general, jerom bignon, took notice of this fault to grotius, with whom he was very intimate; and that learned man, yielding to his friend's advice, promised to do his work over again, and had even begun it, but could not finish it; and his sons published it as it was at first. peter grotius tells us this history was his father's favourite work. grotius intended to dedicate it to the queen of sweden. dec. , , he writes to the high chancellor[ ], "i have written a great part of the history of the low countries: what i have done till the truce in is ready to appear with some advantage. i purpose to dedicate it to our queen, unless your sublimity determine otherwise. of all the histories of our time, it appears to me the most useful. it presents us with the speedy rise of a republic, whose forces in its weak beginning were scarce able to defend its small frontier; and which afterwards carried its arms to the extremity of the globe: we no where find the art of besieging or defending towns brought to such a height; in fine, we see her mistress of the sea after her marine had been long neglected." it should not be forgot, that the celebrated[ ] peyresc was of great use to grotius in compiling this work: he communicated to him several important papers, and procured him the memoirs collected by antonius querengius, who purposed to write the history of the famous alexander farnese, duke of parma. grotius's history was translated into french by m. l'heritier, father of mademoiselle l'heritier, famous for her writings: but it deserves a new translator to turn it into better french. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] parhasiana, t. . p. . [ ] preface de l'hist. de hollande. [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] vie par gassendi, l. . p. . ix. it was during his embassy that grotius revised and enlarged his book of the truth of the christian religion. he had written a treatise on this subject in dutch whilst a prisoner; and turning it afterwards into latin, it had prodigious success. in the year it had been translated into all languages[ ], french, german, english, and even greek. the universal approbation this book met with, did not hinder grotius's enemies from doing all they could to depreciate it. they said it contained the venom of socinianism. voetius, among others, distinguished himself by his rage against it. "it is surprising, says grotius in a letter to his brother, october , , that voetius should think he sees what the doctors of the sorbonne, who examined the book, before it was printed, could not find in it. doth cardinal barbarinus, who recommended this work[ ], and constantly carries it with him, favour socinianism? the bishops of england have caused it to be translated into their language; the ministers of charenton have approved of it; a lutheran has translated it; will he say these are all favourers of socinianism?" after this letter was written, grotius learnt[ ] that his book had been translated into swedish. he justifies himself again in a long letter written to reigersberg december , [ ], "i have often doubted which was best, to answer the censures of fools and knaves, or resting in a good conscience to despise them. i have constantly done the last; but your example makes me at present prefer the first: you have defended me with so much friendship and steadiness, that if i should sit still, i might justly be accused of indolence. my book of the christian religion is read with applause by pious and learned men, not only in the languages in which i composed it, but also in swedish, french, german, and english. those who think it their interest that i should not pass for a good christian, seek every pretext to hurt me: they censure me for making use of castellio's version; but it is very certain that i had not seen it when i wrote my book. i translated myself from the hebrew and greek all the passages of scripture i employed. they say i have interpreted something in the fifth chapter of st. mathew in the same manner as socinus. these simple people know not that my explanation is the same with what almost all the greeks and latins of greatest abilities and piety have adopted. how many things are there in the same chapter of st. matthew, which i have explained quite different from socinus?" the great argument of those who wanted to hinder the success of his[ ] book was, that the author sufficiently shewed his inclination to socinianism by his silence concerning the trinity. he opens his mind about this matter to his brother, september , , "the book of the truth of the christian religion will live and flourish in spite of the envy of my enemies. it was not proper for me to speak directly of the trinity; and such as have heretofore brought their arguments to prove it from natural reason or the authority of plato, have done more hurt than service to christianity." the men who since grotius's time have acquired the greatest reputation in france by writing for the truth of the christian religion, such as abbadie and houteville, have followed his example, and avoided the discussion of questions which suppose the divinity of the scriptures. grotius had the satisfaction to find the roman catholics very well pleased with this treatise: he writes to his brother[ ], december , , "my book of the truth of the christian religion, which the voetians look upon as socinian, is so far from being socinian here, that roman-catholic monks are translating it into persian, in order to make use of it in converting the mahometans. i have not attempted a direct proof of the trinity (he writes to gerard vossius[ ]) for i always remembered what i heard junius your father-in-law say, who was a great man, that du plessis, and those who, like him, in their disputes with atheists, pagans, jews, and mahometans, endeavoured to establish the trinity by arguments drawn from the light of nature, and by passages from plato often misapplied, acted very imprudently, because they ought first to have convinced them of the truth of the scriptures, which alone contain the doctrines which god has been pleased to reveal." a new edition of the book on the truth of the christian religion, with considerable additions, was published in , which grotius dedicated to his illustrious friend jerom bignon; and this great magistrate, in returning him his thanks[ ], gives the most favourable testimony to the work. he says,[ ] that tho' the subject had already been well handled by several learned men, none of them had acquitted himself so well, nor discovered so great knowledge of the learned languages, and so much erudition, as grotius. he admires the order and conciseness of the work, and congratulates himself on living in grotius's time, and sharing in the friendship of so great a man. some time after the publication of this work, an englishman[ ] who had lived long in turky, came to see grotius, and acquaint him that he had translated it into the turkish language, thinking no book more proper for instructing christians who live in turky, and converting the mahometans. he promised to use his endeavours to get it printed in the turkish language in england. besides the translations already mentioned, and which came to grotius's knowledge, there were others in greek, in chinese, in flemish, in danish, in the language of malacca, and five french translations. an arabic translation of it by the learned pococke was printed at london in . we are assured[ ] that there have been three translations of it into arabic, which gave occasion to spon and vehler to say that grotius copied an arabic treatise, taking the very version of his book for an ancient work: in fine, it had such a great run, that the history of it makes the subject of a treatise[ ]. this work of grotius has been equally esteemed by dispassionate protestants and roman catholics. "few pieces, says[ ] colomiers, have succeeded better than the treatise _on the truth of the christian religion_. it is an excellent book, and ought to be the _vade mecum_ of every christian. i have read it several times, and always with new pleasure." "grotius's book, says the abbé houteville[ ], is the first in which we find these great characteristics, just reasoning, accuracy, and strength; he is extremely concise, but even this brevity will please us when we find it comprehends so many things without confounding them, or lessening their evidence or force: it is no wonder the book should be translated into so many languages." footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . ep. coleri . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. præs. vir. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] fabric. delect. argum. c. . p. . [ ] joannis christophori lockeri dissertatio epistolica, historiam libelli grotiani _de veritate religionis christianæ_ complectens, , in quarto; see also the journal des scavans de pan. . [ ] colomiers, p. . [ ] preface. x. in the midst of his greatest occupations and most serious studies, grotius still found time to study civil law. blaeu printed, in , his _remarks on justinian's laws_. they are chiefly philological notes, drawn from the poets and philosophers[ ], serving to illustrate some passages of the _corpus juris_[ ]. "this book, the author modestly tells us, is not of much use to those who frequent the bar: but it is entertaining: and though i set no great value on it, i think it is better to publish it, than suffer it to be lost. it will possibly give pleasure to men of learning[ ], and some such in this place are not dissatisfied with it, because they love to see grammar and history united with law[ ]." what we cannot sufficiently admire in a man of so great learning, and so much business as grotius, is, that he should make the holy scriptures his favourite study in every period of his life. they were his consolation in prison; he always devoted a part of the day to them: and they were his principal study during a great part of his embassy. his _commentary on the evangelists_ was finished in ; but before he printed it[ ], he wanted to see the _aristarchus sacer_ which heinsius was going to put to press. this was a commentary on the new testament, which grotius imagined to be much in the manner of his, and which piqued his curiosity the more as heinsius was grotius's rival in literature, and his secret enemy. heinsius's credit with the elzevirs, who were his booksellers[ ], was one of the reasons which hindered grotius from employing them. "we must not think of the elzevirs, he writes in confidence to vossius[ ], on account of that man who has so much credit with them, and bears us ill-will. i should be glad to know whereabouts are his notes on the sacred books, and when they will be published, for i postpone till then the revisal of mine." there was at that time in holland a jew very famous for his learning, manassah ben-israel. grotius consulted him sometimes, and always with profit. in a letter to him without date he tells him, "the answer you have given to my difficulties about some places of the law of moses and the historical books of scripture, has yielded me great pleasure; and i do not think any one would have given an answer more solid. i have read many interpreters; but i see that you know them better than i, and that you have read many more, and are master of them. i return you therefore my sincere thanks; and encouraged by this favour shall take the liberty to apply to you when i have any difficulty, being ever ready to return you the like, when it lies in my power. your books, which i have mentioned to several persons here, are read with pleasure and profit: i would therefore beg and conjure you to employ the leisure you may have in explaining the obscurities of the law, which will be a signal service to all men of learning." this was not a compliment void of truth, but his real sentiment of this learned jew: he speaks in the same manner in a private letter to gerard vossius[ ]. "i have written again, he says, to manassah, and beg of you to deliver to him my letter. i esteem very highly not only his erudition, but also his judgment. he treads successfully in the steps of abenezra, maimonides, and abrabanel. i have made his works known here, and they are much read and valued." grotius foresaw that his commentary on the new testament would occasion him some disputes. "i am at a loss, says he, to vossius, what to do with my notes on the new testament. i shall easily find a bookseller here; but i am afraid of meeting with some difficulties from the divines, who will have nothing of this kind published without their approbation: and for my own part, i cannot submit in every thing to either of the two parties, nor can i be silent when i have something that may be of use to deliver. i shall see how to remedy this inconveniency. i have no hopes, says he to his brother[ ], that the divines of the sorbonne will give their approbation to my notes, especially since they censured milletiere. it remains to be considered whether i shall print them in my own house without approbation, of which there have been examples." heinsius's work, which was expected with so much impatience, had no success[ ]. salmasius (his declared enemy indeed) said publicly, he was ready to shew, that, abstracting what he had borrowed, there would not remain one remark of importance: and it was held in no higher esteem by others of the first rank in learning[ ]. cardinal richelieu, being informed that grotius leaned more to the sentiments of the roman catholics, than to those of the ministers of charenton, gave orders[ ] that his work should be printed without being obliged to pass the censors. he kept measures however with heinsius; and desired his brother william grotius to tell him[ ], that he had always said there were several things in his notes which pleased him much; and that he had made the same remarks in some places that heinsius had done, by mere chance. as grotius had a very great esteem for the learned father petau, he communicated to him his works. on sending him his notes on the old testament, he desired him to hint what alterations he thought necessary. when his commentary on the evangelists was printed at amsterdam[ ], he sent a copy to father petau, desiring him to read it, if he had time, and acquaint him what ought to be omitted, added, or changed, that the second edition might appear with more advantage. "the booksellers of amsterdam offer to print what i have written on the old testament: but i chose rather to have it printed here, that i may see the last proofs. i shall expect your remarks, or those of the persons to whom you have communicated what i have written on the first part of the old testament. i would have come for them myself had i not been confined by sore eyes. i have a high sense of your goodness, he writes again to petau[ ], in taking the trouble to revise my annotations on the old testament, in giving them to those who have time to examine them more strictly, and in contributing by your recommendation to the success of the work. as i have now an opportunity of putting them to press, i must beg of you to return them as soon as may be with your remarks. when the rest is transcribed, relying on your goodness i shall take the liberty to interrupt your occupations, however important and useful, by sending it." the dutch booksellers[ ] had prefixed to grotius's commentary on the new testament his head, with a high elogium annexed to it; which vexed him much. he wrote very seriously to his brother that it was the more improper, as this effect of vanity was prefixed to a book designed to inspire humility; that he had tore out the picture in his own copies, and desired that he would endeavour to get the same done to all the rest, because it concerned his reputation; and he chose rather to suppress his preface, than publish it with this picture. a short advertisement before his notes on the new testament acquaints us that he began them when a prisoner, that he finished them when a private man, and printed them when ambassador. though this work was far advanced before he was employed by the court of sweden, it is evident from his letters that he made many additions and amendments to it during his embassy. he met with new difficulties after cardinal richelieu's death from the chancellor seguier, who never loved him. "the chancellor of france, he writes to his brother, august , [ ], will not grant a privilege for printing my commentary on the old testament, though very able doctors have assured him that it contains nothing contrary to the doctrine of the roman catholics; but he refuses to give any even for good books, if the authors are not of his communion." cramoisi however printed it, but he was afraid of being a loser by the great expence of a handsome edition in folio if he did not obtain a privilege, because the dutch, who could print it much cheaper, would bring it into france, and undersell him. the refusal of a privilege[ ] did not hinder another paris bookseller from undertaking an edition of the notes on the new testament, which grotius calls his favourite work[ ]. m. simon, whose opinion is not always agreeable to the strictest justice, judges very favourably, however, of grotius: "his notes, says he, are esteemed by every body; and stand in no need of a particular recommendation from us. we shall only observe that he abounds too much in quotations from the poets, and many profane authors; in which he seems rather to affect appearing a man of learning and erudition, than a man of judgment and a critic. had he avoided this fault, his notes would have been much shorter, and not less excellent. they are chiefly valuable for his frequent collation of the ancient greek translation of the bible with the hebrew text, and his freedom from prejudice in favour of the masoretic version: though he generally chuses the best explanation of the text, he sometimes multiplies the various readings without necessity. after all (adds the author of the critical history) though i blame grotius for quoting too frequently the profane authors, these quotations contain some very good things, serving to explain the difficulties in scripture. i could only have wished, that, agreeable to the rules of criticism, he had not adduced the testimonies of profane authors, and especially the poets, except in places that required those elucidations." m. le clerc, after examining this judgment, speaks thus of grotius[ ]: "if you desire to know what is chiefly valuable in grotius's notes on the old testament, and not to be found elsewhere, it is first his explanation of an infinite number of passages of scripture by the assistance of pagan antiquity. secondly, an admirable knowledge of the different manners of speaking used in scripture, which he so happily compares with one another, that no interpreter ancient or modern has thrown so much light on them; and in fine, an extraordinary penetration in discovering the true sense of the prophecies." m. fabricius[ ] tells us, that one thing which highly recommends grotius's commentary on the new testament is the design, which he happily executed, of proving the truth of the christian religion by the scripture itself. before we conclude this article we must take notice that it has been pretended by some learned men, who otherwise do him justice, that grotius is frequently mistaken in his quotations from the rabbis, because he took them at second-hand. esdras edzardi, well skilled in these matters, made a small collection of his mistakes, which he shewed to morhof[ ]. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . & . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . & . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] sentimens des theolog. p. . [ ] delect. argum. c. . p. . [ ] polihistor. t. . l. . p. . vind. grot. . xii. this deep study of the holy scriptures led grotius to examine a question which made much noise at that time. some protestant synods had ventured to decide that the pope was antichrist; and this extravagance, gravely delivered by the ministers, was regarded by the zealous schismatics as a fundamental truth. grotius undertook to overturn such an absurd opinion, that stirred up an irreconcileable enmity between the roman catholics and the protestants, and of consequence was a very great obstacle to their reunion, which was the sole object of his desires. he entered therefore upon the consideration of the passages of scripture relating to antichrist, and employed his sundays in it[ ]. it was this work that raised him up most enemies. we see by the letters he wrote to his brother that his best friends were afraid lest they should be suspected of having some hand in the publication of the books in which he treated of antichrist. "if you are afraid of incurring ill-will, he writes to his brother[ ], you may easily find people that are far from a factious spirit who will take care of the impression. nothing has incensed princes against those who separated from the church of rome more than the injurious names with which the protestants load their adversaries; and nothing is a greater hindrance to that reunion which we are all obliged to labour after in consequence of christ's precept and the profession we make of our faith in the creed. perhaps the turk, who threatens italy, will force us to it. in order to arrive at it we must first remove whatever obstructs a mutual quiet hearing. i hope i shall find assistance in this pious design. i shall not cease to labour in it, and shall rejoice to die employed in so good a work." reigersberg, blaeu, vossius himself, however much devoted to grotius, beheld with concern[ ] the printing of this book, because they did not doubt but it would increase the number of his enemies. grotius informs his brother of the uneasiness which vossius gave him on this subject[ ]: "among those who wish this work destroyed, says he, i am astonished and grieved to see vossius. whence could he have this idea? i imagine somebody has told him, that it would injure the fortune of his children if he approved of such books; and that, on the contrary, he would find favour by hurting me. we must, therefore, have recourse to corcellius or corvinus." he elsewhere complains of the too great timidity of this old friend[ ], who at bottom approved of grotius's sentiments, but durst not own them publicly because he was not so independent as grotius. the treatise on antichrist made much noise among all the declared enemies of the romish church[ ]. michael gettichius wrote to ruarus, that he had only glanced over grotius's book on antichrist; but as far as he could judge by the first reading, that learned man, who was possessed of such an excellent genius, and such singular erudition, had no other intention than to engage the learned in a further enquiry concerning antichrist; and to determine them to attack with greater strength the romish antichrist; or, if he wrote seriously, he wanted to cut out a path for going over, without dishonour, to the papists. ruarus answers this letter, dec. , , from dantzic. "i have always, he says, looked on grotius as a very honest, and at the same time a very learned man. i am persuaded that love of peace engaged him in this work. i don't deny but he has gone too far; the love of antiquity perhaps seduced him: no remonstrant, that i know of, has as yet answered him; but he has been confuted by some learned calvinists, particularly desmarets, minister of boisleduc, who has written against him with much bitterness." grotius's work was printed in , with this title: _commentatio ad loca quædam novi testamenti, quæ de antichristo agunt aut agere putantur, expendenda, eruditis._ it contains an explanation of the second chapter of the second epistle of st. paul to the thessalonians, in which he undertakes to prove, that the man of sin, there mentioned, is the emperor caius caligula, who wanted to place his statue in the temple of jerusalem, as may be seen in philo; and was desirous to be thought a god, as philo and josephus relate. he afterwards explains the eighteenth verse of the second chapter of the first epistle of st. john. _you know that antichrist is come, and that there are many antichrists._ he thinks the antichrist already come was barchochebas, and that the other antichrists are simon the magician and dosithæus. the beast, in the thirteenth chapter of the revelation, is, according to him, rome pagan; the power, which is given to it for forty-two months, signifies domitian's persecution, which lasted three years and a half. the beast that ascended out of the bottomless pit, mentioned chap. xi. ver. . is magic, and apollonius thyanæus: in fine, he finds the famous number , mentioned in the last verse of the thirteenth chapter of the apocalypse, in trajan's name, who was called ulpius, of which the numeral letters form the number . the reformed were strangely scandalized at this work. samuel desmarets answered it with great bitterness, which drew another piece from grotius in defence of the former, with this title: _appendix ad interpretationem locorum novi testamenti, quæ de antichristo agunt, aut agere putantur, in qua via sternitur ad christianorum concordiam_. desmarets is never mentioned in it but under the name of borboritus. it has been observed, that grotius was guilty of a slight inaccuracy in this treatise: he says the emperor barbarossa's enemies ascribed to him the pretended book _de tribus impostoribus_: he confounds the grandson with the grandfather, for it was frederic ii. against whom this calumny was advanced, as appears from the letters of peter desvignes, his secretary and chancellor, and as grotius himself remarks in his observations on campanella's philosophy. he printed at the same time his treatise _of faith and works_ against desmarets, and against the error of the inadmissibility of grace, under the title of _explicatio trium illustrissimorum locorum novi testamenti, capitis i. pauli ad ephesios posterioris, capitis ii. jacobi commatis xiv. & sequentium, capitis iii. epistolæ i. johannis, in quibus agitur de fide & operibus_. this work shews, that faith is not sufficient for justification; and that if those who have faith live in sin, they are hated by god. _via ad pacem ecclesiasticam_ was printed in : it contains the _consultation_ of cassander presented to the emperors ferdinand i. and maximilian ii. accompanied with remarks by grotius. he expected that these works, which were compiled solely with a view to promote union among christians, would procure him many enemies; and he adopted, on this occasion, what was said in by an author who laboured in the same design, that for persons to endeavour to make mankind live in peace, was commendable; that they might indeed expect a recompence from the blessed peace-maker, but they had great reason to apprehend the same fate with those, who, attempting to part two combatants, receive blows from both. "perhaps, by writing to reconcile such as entertain very opposite sentiments, i shall offend both parties: but if it should so happen, i shall comfort myself with the example of him who said, if i please men i am not the servant of christ." grotius, content with gratifying his pacific desires, expected his reward from posterity; which he clearly intimates in some verses written by him on this subject accipe sed placidis, quæ si non optima, certe, expressit nobis non mala pacis amor. et tibi dic, nostro labor hic si displicet ævo, a gratâ pretium posteritate feret. rivetus, the clergyman, treated grotius with as much indignity, as if he had attempted to destroy the foundations or christianity. grotius answered him in a tract, entitled: _animadversiones in animadversiones andreæ riveti_. this work was followed by two others on the same subject: _votum pro pace ecclesiasticâ, contra examen andreæ riveti_, and _rivetiani apologetici discussio_: this last did not appear till after the author's death. he wrote, in , a small piece, entitled: _de canæ administratione ubi pastores non sunt, item an semper communicandum per symbola_. the design of this pernicious work is to shew, that laymen, in the absence of priests, and in cases of necessity, may do their office. rigaut had already maintained this error, and been smartly attacked by m. de l'aubepine, bishop of orleans: all the defenders of the hierarchy were scandalized at it, and father petau, among the roman catholics, and dodwell, among the english clergy, have refuted it. in the tract, _an semper communicandum per symbola_, the arminians endeavour to maintain, that we are not obliged to communicate with such as require subscriptions to which we cannot assent without acting against our consciences. grotius's design was to shew, that the arminians might dispense with communicating with the contra-remonstrants, if these insisted on retractions. another theological work of grotius (of whose publication we cannot fix the time) is entitled: _dissertatio historica ac politica de dogmatis & ritibus & gubernatione ecclesiæ christianæ, de dogmatis quæ reipublicæ noxia sunt, aut dicuntur._ in this piece he treats of the end of the priesthood, and the duties of the priests: he places what relates to the distinction and unity of the three persons, the two natures, and their properties, among the points of which we may be ignorant without ceasing to be good christians. it is probable this piece was written before those concerning antichrist, the author appearing in it less favourably disposed towards the roman catholics and the pope. it is apparent that grotius had not sufficiently examined this subject, since he speaks of it in a manner so heterodox. he would not have held a language so opposite to christianity, at, or after the time of his dispute with rivetus. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . & . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . . p. . . p. . & . p. . [ ] ep . p. . & . p. . xiii. grotius, even whilst engaged in the dispute against the zealous protestant ministers, undertook to clear up the origin of the americans; which enquiry involved him in a controversy that gave him much uneasiness. john de laët of antwerp, who had much studied these matters, printed grotius's work, with notes, under this title: _joannis de laët antverpiani notæ ad dissertationem hugonis grotii de origine gentium americanarum, & observationes aliquot ad meliorem indaginem difficillimæ illius questionis. amstelodami apud ludovicum elzevirium, anno _[ ]. grotius first confutes those, who think that the people of america came from great tartary, because they had no horses before the spanish conquest, and that it is impossible the scythians, who abounded in horses, should bring none with them; besides the tartars were never seamen. his opinion is, that north-america was peopled by persons from norway, from whence they passed into iceland, afterwards into greenland, from thence to friseland, then to estotiland, a part of the american continent, to which the fishers of friseland had penetrated two centuries before the spaniards discovered the new world. he pretends, that the names of those countries end with the same syllables as those of the norwegians; that the mexicans and their neighbours assured the spaniards they came from the north; and that the country which the norwegians inhabited, after quitting estotiland, has retained almost the name of norway; that there is yet a town in it called norembega; in fine, that there are many words in the american language, which have a relation to the german and norwegian; and that the americans still preserve the customs of the country from whence they are originally sprung. as to the people of jucatan, and the neighbourhood, grotius makes them come from ethiopia by the way of the ocean. he grounds this opinion on the practice of circumcision among these nations of america, which was also used by the ethiopians. he pretends that the peruvians are descended from the chinese, because the wrecks of chinese vessels have been found, he says, on the coasts of the pacific ocean, and they worship the sun: besides, the peruvians, he adds, write from the top to the bottom of the page like the chinese. laët easily shewed that grotius's conjectures were ill founded, and that he had even advanced several facts which were not strictly true: he denied the existence of the city of norembega, and maintained that jucatan is too distant from africa for the ethiopians to penetrate into america, it being at least two months sail from ethiopia to jucatan. he refutes the pretended traces of christianity, which grotius said were found in that part of america before the discovery of the spaniards, supporting his confutation on the authority of spanish writers; in fine, he denies that any chinese wrecks have been found on the coasts of the pacific ocean, and censures, as a very great inaccuracy in grotius, what he advances concerning the peruvian manner of writing. after doing justice to the excellent judgment and profound erudition of grotius, he ventures to assert, that he found nothing in his dissertation that could satisfy a man moderately acquainted with the history of america; and approves of what was observed by joseph acosta, that it was easier to confute what was written on the origin of the americans, than to know what to hold; because there were no monuments among them, nor any books of europeans to throw light on this matter: and hence concludes, that it is rashness to promise truth on such an obscure subject. laët's answer vexed grotius: he replied to it in a second dissertation, entitled, _adversus obtrectatorem, opaca quem bonum facit barba_. printed at paris by cramoisi, in . laët answered in a piece, printed in , by lewis elzevir, in which he inserts grotius's second dissertation. there is nothing new in these two last books: and it were to be wished that they had been written with less bitterness. it has been[ ] observed, that grotius's system is not new; and that it had been already advanced by myl, whom grotius does not once quote. footnotes: [ ] this work was printed at paris the same year. [ ] hornius, de orig. gent. amer. l. . c. . p. . xiv. it now remains to give some account of the other works of grotius, which hitherto we have not had occasion to mention. in , he printed at william blaeu's the history of the siege of grolla: _grollæ obsidio cum annexis anni _. this piece would have been brought into his history[ ] if he could have continued it. he speaks of it with great modesty[ ] in his letters to his brother. "i don't expect, he says, much honour from such a small tract." he published, in , _an introduction to the laws of holland_, in dutch. simon groenovegius de madin, a lawyer, wrote notes on this work, which grotius thought well done and very useful; and sent the author a letter of thanks[ ]. he left several manuscripts prepared for the press, which were published after his death. lewis elzevir printed, in , a small collection in twelves with this title: _hugonis grotii quædam hactenùs inedita, aliaque ex belgicè editis latinè versa, argumenti theologici, juridici, politici._ it contains, among other dissertations, _remarks on the philosophy_ or rather _on the politics of campanella_; and a tract entitled: _hugonis grotii responsio ad quædam ab utroque judicum consessu objecta, ubi multa disputantur de jure summarum potestatum in hollandiâ, westfrisi[^æ], & magistratuum in oppidis_. the disputes of the province of holland with the states-general probably gave occasion to this treatise. grotius intended to publish the golden verses of pythagoras[ ], with a translation by himself: but what he could not do in his life-time was done in england after his death, in the year [ ]. of all the tragic poets, his favourite was certainly euripides. we have already seen that he translated the _phoenissæ_ in . he afterwards revised and corrected it, as appears by a letter to his brother, september , [ ]. his translation of the _iphigenia in tauris_ is mentioned in several letters[ ]. he likewise turned into latin the _supplicantes_ of euripides, of which he speaks to his brother[ ]. the learned father berthier[ ] has lately informed us, that this translation still exists in the library of the jesuits college at paris. "one of the most precious pieces, and which alone would have been sufficient to give value to this manuscript, is the entire translation of euripides's piece, entitled _supplicantes_, added at the end of the volume by way of desert: the whole is in excellent iambic verses: we would cite some part, if we had not already trespassed too far on the complaisance of the reader." in , grotius wrote to his brother[ ], that he had finished a piece, proving that the war between different princes ought not to injure the free trade of the powers not engaged in it. this is all we know of the treatise, which is now lost: we are equally ignorant of a work, entitled, _the portrait of zeno_, which he mentions in several letters[ ], and seems very desirous of having it printed. he left several manuscripts in his closet, which, after his death, were purchased by the queen of sweden from his wife: among these[ ] were, _notes on some of the most difficult laws_; _a comparison of the republics of athens and rome with that of holland_; _notes on the hymns of orpheus_, and an _illustration of the books of moses by the writings of the pagans_. the author of _vindiciæ grotianæ_[ ] speaks of a manuscript of Æschylus with notes by grotius. many of his books were filled with marginal notes. he tells us[ ], that he had collected, with great care, the remains of the apostolical fathers, and that he had thoughts of translating that part of josephus's history, which relates to the law, and of adding notes to it. but probably the execution of this project was hindered by his other studies, and the information he received, that samuel petit, who was well skilled in the learned languages, had the same design. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . & , p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] fab. bib. græc. tom. . p. . & . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. ; p. . & . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] art. . august, . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . & . p. . ep. . p. . [ ] observat. hallenses, . t. . p. . bib. remons. p. . fabricius bib. græca, t. . l. . c. , p. . [ ] vindiciæ, p. . [ ] ep. . p. . & . p. . xv. his letters may be regarded as treatises; the collection we have of them is a treasure not only of public but of literary history, and contains many dissertations on the most important subjects. the xxxist, to gerard vossius, and xxxiiid, to john utengobard, treat of predestination and grace, according to the arminian system. we have already spoken of the livth, addressed to du maurier, the french ambassador in holland, and containing a method of study for grown persons. the lxiid, to the baron de langerac, the dutch ambassador in france, is a formal treatise on a piece of du moulin concerning the government of the ancient church; the means of reconciling grace with free-will; and the authority of sovereigns in matters ecclesiastical. he treats in the xcist, to vossius, of the effects of christ's death. the cclxivth, to the celebrated nicholas peyresc, counsellor of the parliament of aix, is rather a book than a letter, being a collection of all that the ancients have said of nicholas damascenus, which leaves us at a loss with regard to nothing that could be known concerning that celebrated writer. the cccxxixth, to john descordes, canon of limoges, treats of the power of bishops over the monks, and several other points of the ancient church discipline. he proves, in the ccclviith, to jerom bignon, advocate-general, that the letter ascribed to pope clement, which was published in , is really his. his letters to his brother treat of the law of nature and several points of civil law: and a letter, addressed to john isaac pontanus, contains his remarks on what cluverius has said of the antiquities of germany. the most interesting literary occurrences of his time are to be found in his letters, always accompanied, with instructing reflections: in fine, his negotiations, and the great events of the last ten years of the reign of lewis xiii, are very particularly, and, for the most part, very truly related in them. we must not conceal that du maurier, the son, whose anecdotes are full of blunders, advances[ ] that, when grotius desired to be recalled, the high chancellor readily took him at his word, because, says he, grotius sent him only the news that every body knew. father bougeant repeats this passage with great complacency; but he would have done much better to have read grotius's letters with attention, than to censure them without reason. by their assistance he might have rectified several dates in his work, which, otherwise, deserves the public esteem. another author, whose history is written with indiscretion and partiality, but who was nevertheless well acquainted with the events of the age of lewis xiii, sets a high value on grotius's letters[ ]: i mean le vassor, whose judgment deserves the more regard as he had little turn for panegyric. he refutes those who advanced that grotius employed his fine latin to send oxenstiern the lies of the day; and maintains that such as say this, have either never read grotius's letters, or are unacquainted with the history of lewis xiii. he does not deny, that, among the many pieces of news contained in them, there are some without foundation; but he excuses him, because a minister is obliged to write what is generally reported. he adds, "those, who shall read grotius's letters with a little discerning, will find in them the most secret affairs of the times of his embassy touched upon in few words, with great delicacy and moderation." grotius himself acquaints us, that he used great circumspection in writing news to the high chancellor[ ]. "i must beg, says he, of your sublimity, to pardon the shortness of my letter: i chuse rather to say little, than write what is false; and would fain send you nothing that is uncertain: but this is attended with much difficulty amidst so great obscurity.--living among people, he says in another letter[ ], who are very close, and receiving news which are often mixed with falshood, i am sorry to be obliged to give you my conjectures in the room of certainty; but there is nothing to apprehend from such an equitable judge, who has regard to the good intention." this made him easy; and what ought to give us a high idea of his letters, is, that they greatly pleased the high chancellor[ ]; and muller, the swedish ambassador, set a high value on them[ ]. the author of _vindiciæ grotianæ_ assures us[ ], after morhof, that grotius's letters are not all printed; and he adds, that he knew a cabinet in which were preserved upwards of two hundred and sixty, written to queen christina and the high chancellor. bunau, a privy counselor at dresden, is said to have had many of them. puffendorf saw several in cypher, to which he had a key. among those, which are printed in the collection of grotius's letters, there are some in cypher, relating to the general affairs and secret intrigues of the court of france. m. de boze has a copy of these letters in his curious cabinet, with an explanation of the cypher, given him by a swedish gentleman, which he communicates to those who desire it, with a politeness that it were to be wished were common to all men of learning. footnotes: [ ] memoires, p. . [ ] le vassor, t. . partie, l. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] p. . xvi. one of the most interesting parts of grotius's life is the knowledge of his sentiments in religion, and the ardent zeal with which he undertook to reunite christians in one belief. brought up in the principles of protestantism, he had in the former part of his life a great aversion to popery. a letter to antony walæus, nov. , [ ], in which he opens all his mind, acquaints us, that however much he might be attached to the prevailing religion in the state wherein he lived, he was persuaded that the roman catholics held all the fundamental truths; but they superadded, he thought, several other articles, which he treated as new opinions. the zeal of the jesuits for the roman catholic religion, and their attachment to the pope, had rendered them extremely odious to all the enemies of the romish church. grotius viewed them in the same light, agreeably to the sentiments which had been instilled into him in his infancy, as we find in a letter written, april , [ ], to his brother then in france; but when he came to riper years, he did them justice, highly valuing their society, and receiving many of them into his confidence, particularly the learned dionysius petavius. footnotes: [ ] ep. p. . [ ] ep. . p. . xvii. even when farthest removed from the roman catholic church, he paid the greatest regard to the decisions of the ancient councils, to the discipline of the primitive church, and the authority of the fathers. he writes, june , , to john utengobard[ ], that he highly respected the ancient councils which condemned manicheism and pelagianism. he declared to vossius, july , [ ], that none held the doctrine condemned by the ancient church in greater detestation. "besides the hatred, says he to antony walæus, which i profess to the tenets that were unknown to pious antiquity, nothing more engages me to condemn, and overturn, as far as i can, this sort of opinions, than their being an obstacle to peace." in the explanation of holy scripture he would have the sentiments of the ancient church adhered to. this point he treated at a conference with the prince of condé, in the beginning of [ ]; in which he shewed, that to be a christian, and have a right to the surname of catholic, one must receive the sacred scriptures, and explain them not according to the interpretation of private persons, which had often given occasion to seditions, schisms, and even wars, but according to the sentiments of the ancient churches, chiefly to be found in the creeds, and in the acts of general councils. he was so persuaded of the truth of these principles, that in an advertisement, prefixed to his _commentary on the new testament_, he declares that if he had written any thing inconsistent with the interpretation of holy scripture by the ancient church, which he hoped he had not, he would chuse to have it neglected, and was most ready to alter it. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . see also ep. . p. . xviii. this profound veneration for antiquity contributed greatly to render him more favourable to the roman catholics. at a time when it was looked upon by the protestants as a kind of apostacy, to speak with decency and temper of the sovereign pontiffs, he ventured to commend pope urbin viii in some verses made in honour of the blessed virgin. he speaks thus of him in a letter to his brother of the st of february, [ ]. "i send my father the poem on the mother of god. i would not however have it published, not only because the honour, distinct from superstition, given to the saints offends several of our people; but also because pope urbin is commended in it. he is an excellent poet, as appears from his elegant pindaric odes. god grant he may be able to unite christians, who are too much divided, in one faith." the reformers were held by him in no great esteem. in he wrote to gerard vossius[ ], "i think nothing can be truer than your judicious remark, that the best way to prevent good men from approving of so many different sects would be to shew them, without animosity or passion, from the sole motive of love to truth, that those who avail themselves so much of antiquity have it not always on their side, and that such as promised to restore the church to its primitive state have not at all times succeeded." he no doubt meant the pretended reformed. "the protestants, says he to his brother[ ], go too far when they accuse the roman catholics of error; they attack at the same time the whole greek and latin churches, those of syria, arabia, and egypt, and thereby very imprudently furnish arms to their adversaries. i see, he writes to vossius[ ], that those who have erected new churches among us, have followed their own ideas, but have not always advanced the affairs of religion." salmasius was as zealous for the pretended reformed religion, as he was become indifferent to grotius. however they visited one another, but it was with much coldness. "salmasius (he writes to his brother[ ], february , ) came to see me: he is ready to defend the most outrageous opinions; among others, that st. peter never set foot in italy. it is surprising what a party spirit will do." grotius looked upon almost all the reformed as factious men[ ]. he had no esteem for calvin; speaking of cassander, he says he was a very excellent, and at the same time a very able man, and therefore most worthy of calvin's hatred: he advised james laurentius to read, instead of calvin's _institutions_, vincent de lerins. "i hear[ ], says he to him, that you are less seditious than most of your order (that is, the protestant clergy) and that you only suffer yourself to be drawn away by others: wherefore i will give you one good counsel: read the scriptures in the original, the confessions of faith of the ancient christians, instead of the belgic confession, the catechisms of cyril in the room of ursinus's catechism, and the acts of the general councils, and not those of the synod of dort: you will then easily perceive that grotius is not become a papist, but laurentius turned a calvinist." laurentius wrote against him: but grotius took his revenge[ ] by silence. he did not approve of the separation of the protestants; he thought these new churches, these new rites had not at all contributed to the promoting of piety. "it is just, said he[ ], to reform our manners: but would it not have been better for us, after reforming ourselves, to have prayed to god for the reformation of others; and for the princes and bishops, who desired a reformation to have endeavoured to procure it by general councils, without breaking the unity." a minister called d'or, turning roman catholic[ ], grotius discovered little concern at it, and speaks of it with great calmness in a letter to his brother. "what d'or has just done, says he, the learned pithou did before him: casaubon was resolved to do the same had he remained longer in france, as he assured several persons, and among others descordes. i would fain, continued he, have the abuses that have crept into the church remedied, and will always say so; but is it just, or are there any examples, that it should be done by schism? this ought to be the more weighed, as we easily perceive that those who have formed new parties had not always the spirit of god; that they have propagated new abuses, and that this licence to separate themselves has given rise to different parties which will never be united." he speaks in another place of casaubon's sentiments[ ], and pretends that this learned man thought the roman catholics of france better informed than those of other countries, and came nearer to truth than the ministers of charenton. he explained himself very frequently and very sharply against the schism of the protestants. "viretus, and the rest, says he[ ], ought not to have erected new churches: yet they have done it before they were excommunicated: even an unjust excommunication would not have entitled them to erect altar against altar." he recites several passages from the fathers on this subject, by which he pretends to confute the first reformers[ ]. he came so near the roman catholics in the end, that in a letter to his brother he has these words: "it cannot be denied that there are several roman catholic pastors here who teach true religion, without any mixture of superstition: it were to be wished that all did the same." in his later works he speaks of calvin with the highest indignation[ ]: "i know, he says, with what injustice and bitterness this calvin treated cassander, baudoin, and castellio, who were much better men than himself." in refuting the apology of rivetus he speaks with all the zeal of a roman catholic disputant, and proves that the calvinists are schismatics, and had no mission; that they neither had miracles for them, nor any particular command from god: that the ministers are factious spirits, who seek only to disturb the state: that their religion is new, and has not antiquity on its side. in his youth he had commended beza in some anapest verses; extolling him as one of the most zealous defenders of the truth: he afterwards retracted this elogium, and wished it buried in eternal oblivion. in fine, the jesuits, who were the objects of his aversion before he knew them, became his friends. he was reproached with this; and mentions the accusation in a letter to his brother[ ]. "i am not, says he, the common defender of jesuits; but the king looks on them as good subjects and employs them on several occasions." he publicly took their part in some of his works. he maintains in his pieces against rivetus[ ] that the society had produced very able men of an irreproachable life, and that there were more such among them than among others. "i know many of them, he says, who are very desirous to see the abuses abolished, and the church restored to its primitive unity. the king entrusts them with his most valuable concerns." father petau, among others, possessed his confidence, as we have already observed, and shall see again. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . . p. . & , p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] animad. in animad. riveti, p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] animad in anim. riveti, ad art. . p. . discussio rivet. apolog. p. . & p. . xix. his great knowledge of antiquity and that singular veneration which he always paid to the primitive church made him even in his youth look upon the abolition of episcopacy, and of a visible head of the church, as something very monstrous. he went much farther in the sequel; shewing that[ ] melancton himself wanted the pope to be left in the church, and that king james of england and several able protestants acknowledged the utility of the primacy of the bishop of rome: adding, "if several protestants had made the same reflection, we should have had a church more reformed." he thinks that this monarchy (these are his own terms[ ]) is of use in the church for maintaining its unity. in fine, in a piece against rivetus[ ], he proves the primacy of the pope from a passage of st. cyprian, and adds, "you see that the primacy is hereby established; and this name in every society implies some jurisdiction. the bishop of rome, says he[ ], is prince of the christian aristocrasy, as it has been called before our time by the bishop of fossombrone. this primacy is under jesus christ, and may be exercised without tyranny, and without destroying the rights which the bishops have over the churches committed to them." he entertained favourable sentiments of the episcopal authority even before his embassy; and thought it necessary to preserve the unity of the church[ ]. "it is a question only in name[ ](says he to his brother some years after) to ask whether episcopacy be of divine right: it is sufficient that jesus christ has set the example in the college of apostles; that the apostles have followed it, and that this establishment has been approved by the universal consent of the church, excepting some innovators of the present age." he handles this point in the eleventh chapter of the treatise _of the power of sovereigns in matters of religion_[ ]; he says it is fanaticism to advance that a bishop has nothing above a simple priest. "episcopacy, says he[ ], that is to say the preheminence of a pastor, is not contrary to the divine right. it is incumbent on him who thinks otherwise, that is, who accuses the whole ancient church of folly and impiety, to prove his opinion. that episcopacy[ ] was received by the whole church appears from the general councils, which have always had great authority with all devout men; witness the national and provincial councils, where we find certain marks of the episcopal precedency; witness all the fathers without exception. episcopacy began with the apostles[ ]: to be convinced of this we need only have recourse to the catalogues of bishops in irenæus, eusebius, socrates, theodoret, and others, who all make them begin with the apostles. it would be very great obstinacy or disrespect to reject authors of so great weight, who unanimously agree in an historical fact. the history of all ages informs us of the advantages which the church has derived from episcopacy[ ]." however he did not yet venture to say[ ] that episcopacy was of divine establishment: he contented himself with maintaining that it was of apostolical institution. this was sufficient to offend a party among whom there were some who carried their fury and ignorance so far, as to maintain that episcopacy was an invention of satan: an expression which scandalized grotius even in his youth, as appears by a letter written in to daniel heinsius[ ]. he became more bold afterwards; and was not afraid to maintain in the face of the pretended reformation[ ], that episcopacy was established by christ, and that it were to be wished it were restored wherever it had been abolished. it was in consequence of this respect for the episcopal college, and its head, that he exposed himself to the indignation of the whole protestant party, and the bitter invectives of the ministers, by maintaining that nothing was more absurd than what they had written against the pretended romish antichrist. one of his principal reasons for writing on this subject was a persuasion not only of the truth of his sentiments, as he writes to his brother[ ], but that it was his duty to remove every obstacle that obstructed the reunion, "of which i have greater hopes than ever, he says, december , . if it is not granted us to enjoy that great blessing (he adds) it is our duty to throw water on the flames, and not oil; and to plant trees that will bear fruit perhaps in another age." he was so pleased with himself for breaking the ice in this matter, that he tells his brother[ ] in a private letter, he is persuaded god inspired him with the thought: that he returns him his most humble thanks for it, and that he thought himself in consequence obliged to labour in it with all his might, not only to support the truth, but also because he judged nothing was more capable to appease mens minds and prepare the way to the reunion. "i hope, he says to vossius[ ], to find at least among posterity equitable readers who will thank god for the light which he has been pleased to communicate to me for the understanding several obscure passages of holy scripture. i owe all that i have written on antichrist[ ] that is good, not to my own researches, says he to his brother, but to my prayers, and to the goodness of god, who has been pleased to enlighten me, though i did not deserve it." he flattered himself that his works on this subject had undeceived several protestants[ ], and that rivetus, his grand adversary, was looked upon even by his collegues as a divine of little judgment and a moderate share of erudition. footnotes: [ ] comment. ad. loca de antichristo. [ ] via ad pacem, art. . p. . [ ] ad. art. . p. . [ ] p. . & p. . discussio apolog. rivet. & p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . see ep. . p. . [ ] no . [ ] no . [ ] no . [ ] no . [ ] no . [ ] no . [ ] burman's collection, t. . ep. . p. . [ ] via ad pacem, art. xiv. p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . xx. he had been at first much prejudiced against the opinion of the romish church concerning the real presence. we may judge of it by the letter which he wrote june , , to episcopius[ ]. "i think, says he to him, that you would do well to confute those who with cassander believe that one may disapprove the errors of the romish church, and yet not be obliged to separate from her communion. two points especially appear to me to deserve discussion: the first is, whether an action lawful in itself, as the adoration during the time of the supper, ceaseth to be so on account of the error of the ministers of the church, who would have this adoration referred to the visible signs." in process of time he departed from the manner of speaking at least of the ministers. he acknowledged[ ] that in the eucharistical bread some change is made, which the ancient latin church called transfiguration, and the modern transubstantiation: when jesus christ, being sacramentally present, favours us with his substance, as the council of trent speaks, the appearances of bread and wine remain, and in their place succeed the body and blood of christ. it is certain that he did not approve of the sentiments of the calvinists concerning the eucharist: he reproached them with their contradictions[ ]. "the disciples of calvin, says he, speak very differently on this subject in their confessions and in their disputes: you will hear them say in their confessions, that they really, substantially, and essentially partake of christ's body and his blood; in their disputes they maintain that christ is received only spiritually by faith. the ancients go much farther, admitting a real incorporation of jesus christ with us, and the reality of christ's natural body, as st. hilarius speaks." thus grotius was persuaded the term _transubstantiation_, adopted by the council of trent, was capable of a good interpretation[ ]: but it is not clear however, that, though he admitted the expressions used by the catholic church, he was of her opinion. after approving the term transubstantiation, he adds[ ], "and because what is spiritual among the jews is called real, the terms really, substantially, and essentially, are used in the protestant confessions, and by their doctors." it is plain from what he subjoins, that he sought rather to unite different sentiments by means of equivocal expressions, than by an exact creed, which might be susceptible of only one sense. "we must not condemn, says he, those who assure us that the eucharist is but the sign of the body of jesus christ, since st. augustine, with several other fathers, speak in this manner; and the sacrament is defined to be the visible sign of an invisible grace." he made a draught of a kind of formulary, in which the catholics and protestants were to join: it was this. "we believe that in the use of the supper we truly, really, and substantially, that is to say, in its proper substance, receive the true body and the true blood of jesus christ in a spiritual and ineffable manner." grotius informs us that this formulary was approved of by the roman catholic doctors and by protestants: which is not surprising of the catholics, since the expressions he employs, when taken in their natural sense, comprehend the doctrine of the roman catholic church: it is more surprising of the protestants; but it must be observed that calvin himself said[ ], that under the eucharistical signs we receive truly the body and blood of jesus christ; that christ's flesh is distributed in this sacrament; that it enters into us; that we are partakers not only of christ's spirit, but also of his flesh; that we have its proper substance, and are made partakers of it; that whole christ is united to us, and therefore is united to us in body and spirit, that we must not question our receiving his proper body, and that if there is any man upon earth who sincerely acknowledges this truth, it is he. these expressions of calvin were certainly favourable to the opinion of the roman catholics: he found himself obliged to make use of such terms, because they had been so long authorised, that he was afraid of appearing desirous to change the ancient doctrine; but the sense he gave them took away their force. the protestants whom grotius consulted, agreeable to the opinion of their master, thought the expression, substantial presence, might be reconciled with their confession of faith; which, denying the real presence, teaches that christ is united to us only in a figure in the sacrament, and in spirit by faith. though grotius believed that one receives substantially jesus christ in the use of the supper, there is no proof of his admitting the real presence in the sense of the council of trent: for, besides that his formulary scarce makes stronger mention of it than calvin, he seems not to condemn those who admitted only the sign of christ's body: an indulgence which will never be approved of by a roman catholic. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] via ad pacem art. x. p. . & . [ ] votum pro pace, p. . [ ] animad. in animad. art. x. p. . [ ] via, p. . [ ] variations, l. . p. . xxi. he justifies the decision of the council of trent concerning the number of the sacraments in his works against rivetus. "the word sacrament, though sometimes taken in a more general signification, may nevertheless, says he[ ], be understood in a more limited one of these seven external signs, which are designed for the good of our souls, and more distinctly mentioned in scripture; baptism in st. matthew xxviii. . confirmation, acts viii. . penance, matthew xvi. . the eucharist, matthew xxvi. . ordination, tim. iv. . extreme unction, mark vi. . james v. . and marriage; ephes. v. ." footnotes: [ ] rivet. apol. discussio, p. . xxii. in the examination of the other articles, which divide the roman catholics from the protestants, grotius continued to lean towards the romish church. in he acknowledges in a letter to corvinus[ ], that pious and able men, who were well disposed towards the protestants, owned they were mistaken in the decision of the principal controversies between the protestants and the romish church. after the year he took no offence at the use of images in churches, and prayers for the dead. he writes to his brother this year[ ], "the lutherans have images, and there are some in several places of england. montaigue and others have proved that it is not idolatry to have recourse to the prayers of the apostles and martyrs." he explains himself afterwards much more strongly in favour of the romish church. he was persuaded[ ] that the cherubims of moses clearly shewed that images were not forbid. "the honour due to martyrs, says he, in his _via ad pacem_[ ], is much greater than what we owe to living saints, because the apocalypse tells us, that the martyrs reign with jesus christ: there is therefore no harm in publicly testifying our esteem for them, and celebrating their memories on days set apart for that purpose, and in the places where they suffered martyrdom. the protestants acknowledge that they pray for the church: they are in the wrong therefore to look on those as idolaters; who, agreeable to the opinion of several ancients, think the knowledge of our wants and our prayers may be communicated to the martyrs by a revelation from god, or by the ministry of angels. such, he says in another place[ ], as think it idolatry to address, the martyrs, that they may pray for us, accuse st. chrysostom, and the other holy doctors of the greek and latin church, of a horrible crime. for my part, i dare not do this; neither would i blame those who abstain from praying to the saints. i have also said that true relics of true martyrs deserve to be respected." in fine, in his _votum pro pace_[ ], he proves by a long series of passages from the fathers, that the invocation of saints was used by the ancient church, and therefore cannot be treated as idolatry; that there is no law in the gospel against the use of images in churches, that it cannot be said they are forbid by the law of nature, and that in the times of st. ambrose and st. augustine the relics of martyrs were honoured in the church. he defends in several places praying for the dead, which was practised in all the churches of the east, as well as of the west[ ]: he proves that the ancient church prayed for the dead, and that st. augustine[ ] regarded the opposers of this practice as heretics. he maintains[ ] that every ancient liturgy has prayers for the dead, and that as tertullian relates, they were used in all the churches in his time. he asserts[ ], that the jews knew and admitted of a purgatory. one of the articles which made most noise in the beginning of the grand schism in the sixteenth century was that of justification, grotius declares[ ], that the more he examined the scriptures, the greater agreement he discovered between them and the tradition of the roman church concerning justification. he was persuaded that it had the same idea of the catholic church mentioned in the creed, as the ancients entertained. he would have men submit to the decisions of general councils[ ]; and maintains that a pious and peaceable man ought not to contradict them when their decrees are received by almost all the churches, especially those which were founded by the apostles. he means no doubt the council of trent. grotius must have supposed that the church could not err, when he wrote[ ], "the bishops of rome may be in an error, but they cannot long remain, in it, if they adhere to the universal church." he was persuaded that we run no danger in embracing a doctrine taught by the greek and latin churches[ ]: "for, says he, the points in which these two churches agree have been decided by the apostles or by general councils." he maintains that expressions tho' new, ought to be received in theology[ ], when they are supported by the authority of general councils. this was in opposition to the protestants, who maintained that the term transubstantiation ought to be rejected on account of its novelty. he is positive that such as depart from what was practised by the whole church, and confirmed by councils[ ], are guilty of a most insolent folly, as st. augustine said. he acknowledged the utility of tradition. had he lived in the time of the apostles he would have believed, he tells us, what they said, as well as what they wrote[ ]. he was persuaded that the goodness of god[ ] had not permitted the doctrine of the universal church to be corrupted, though the manners of the pastors of the church might be reprehensible. he entertained the same opinion, he tells us[ ], concerning the authority of the fathers as the illustrious father petavius in the prolegomena prefixed to his most useful body of divinity. the works of the apostolical fathers were, next to the scriptures, grotius's favourite study. when he heard that the epistle of st. clement, which had been long lost to the world, was published in england by junius[ ], from a manuscript brought from egypt, and written about the time of the council of nice, he expressed his satisfaction to descordes[ ], in a letter from hamburg, dated june , . "you gave me great pleasure by informing me of the discovery of the epistle of st. clement of rome. no pains should be spared to recover those fragments, which partake much of the nature of the apostolical writings: and they ought not to be wholly rejected on account of interpolations: we must do with them as with metals, separate the dross from the pure metal. would to god that father sirmond, or some one of his society like him, would give us the epistle of barnabas, from which there are some quotations in clement of alexandria. i remember to have heard father sirmond himself say that the jesuits have this letter." st. clement's epistle was not sent to grotius till after his departure from hamburg, and arrival at francfort[ ]. he examined it immediately, and wrote his thoughts of it, july , to the famous jerom bignon, advocate-general: after reading it over and over, he remained satisfied that it was the same which photius had seen, and which st. jerom, clement of alexandria, and before them st. irenæus, had; and which was written in the end of nero's reign, or some years before that of vespasian; and that it was most authentic, without the least interpolation. as to the second epistle, ascribed to st. clement, he did not think it written by that pope: but at the same time did not question its being a work of the first century. grotius agrees in this with the most learned critics even among the roman catholics[ ]. he obtained a sight of st. barnabas's[ ] epistle, of which he was so desirous; but he had not the satisfaction to see it printed. usher undertook to publish it in ; but before it was finished a fire consumed at oxford what was already printed[ ]. two years after, father menard's edition appeared: but this was the year of grotius's death. to return to his opinion concerning the points controverted between the roman catholics and protestants: he speaks with great contempt of the inadmissibility[ ] of grace. his treatise _of faith and works_ is written against this error. he maintains that it is the most pernicious system that can be introduced; that it is not to be found in any of the fathers; and was not so much as tolerated in ancient times. he proves that fasting was very early observed in the church, as we may be convinced by reading st. irenæus[ ]; that lent was always observed by the ancient church; that the sign of the cross has something respectable in it, and was used in the first ages, as tertullian, and others after him, observe; that virginity[ ] is a more perfect state than marriage, as the fathers taught; that the romish church preserved the ancient discipline of the western church with regard to the celibacy of the priests; that jesus christ himself taught[ ] that such as lived in celibacy were more proper for the ecclesiastical functions; that the african church agreed in this point with that of rome; and that, besides, the romish church did not refuse to communicate with churches which permitted priests to marry. of all the religious orders he approved most of the congregation of the fathers of the oratory, and the institution of the jesuits, because the first retired when they pleased; and the others might leave the society with permission of their superiors. in fine, he speaks of the council of trent with great respect. "those, he says[ ], who shall read its decrees with a mind disposed to peace, will find that every thing is wisely explained in them, and agreeable to what is taught by the scriptures and the ancient fathers, as may be seen by the passages cited in the margin." such as were displeased with these pacific sentiments, objected to him that he had formerly thought otherwise. laurentius wrote a piece on this subject, which is mentioned by grotius in a letter to his brother[ ], "laurentius, says he, objects to me that what i have formerly written contradicts my later works: however, if they be examined by the true rules of criticism, no such contradiction will be found. farther, if, as i have advanced in years, conversation with able men, and a more perfect examination, have made me change my sentiments, i ought not on that account to be accused of inconstancy, no more than st. augustin, who retracted many things." he again touches on this point in his _votum pro pace_[ ]. "if in my youth, says he, having less knowledge than now, the prejudices of education, or a blind attachment to authors of same, carried me too great lengths, shall i not be permitted at present, when i am old, to adopt more reasonable sentiments, after long enquiry and a renunciation of all party spirit?" it is not surprising that after such a declaration the zealous clergy sought to render him odious. they printed a book against him, under the title of _grotius papista_[ ]. it is certain that he gave the preference to the roman catholic religion above all the others, and it has even been reported that he promised to m. bignon, before leaving paris, to declare himself openly a roman catholic[ ]. it has also been said that m. arnaud asserted, that he was informed by a man of honour, who had it from m. bignon, that grotius, on setting out for sweden, declared to this last gentleman, that as soon as he came back he would make profession of the roman catholic religion. the jesuits have published a flemish book under the title of the _testament of grotius_[ ], in which they advance that he was ready to turn roman catholic: the author of _vindiciæ grotianæ_ has pretended to confute this assertion by some passages in grotius's earlier works: but his reasoning must appear absurd, since it was only in the latter part of his life that he preferred the romish religion. a protestant, who could not deny that grotius gave the preference to the roman catholic religion, has ventured to advance, that it was perhaps with a view to be made a cardinal: this wretched conjecture is osiander's; but besides that grotius had a wife of whom he was very fond, he was a man incapable of embracing an opinion from motives of interest. it is very certain that grotius was most intimate with father petau, who cultivated his friendship (as this learned jesuit tells us himself in one of his letters) in hopes of bringing him to an open profession of the roman catholic faith. this gave m. varlois occasion to say, in his elogium of father petau[ ], "what did he not do to gain over the illustrious grotius to the catholic religion? he did not dislike us, he was even almost one of us, since he publicly declared his acceptance of the doctrine of the council of trent. one thing only was wanting to him, to resort to our churches, which he only deferred till he could bring many with him to the unity of the catholic faith." father briet says much the same in his _annals of the world_ for the year . "this year died hugo grotius, the honour and glory of men of learning: his intention was to die a catholic, but he wanted time; for, as he assured me, he believed as we do." we read in the _menagiana_[ ], that when grotius's death was known at paris, father petau, persuaded that he was a catholic at heart, said mass for his soul: it was even reported at that time, if we may believe the compiler of those anecdotes, that grotius wanted to declare himself before his journey to sweden, but was advised by father petau to go there first, and return afterwards to paris to settle, and fulfil his resolution. it is improbable that such a zealous catholic as father petau would advise grotius to defer for a moment the edification of all the catholics by his return to the church; but it is certain that father petau said mass for his friend. the tradition of this fact is preferred among the jesuits, and there are people of credit alive who remember to have heard it affirmed for certain by father harduin and m. huet bishop of avranches[ ]. as grotius's religion was a problem to many, menage wrote an epigram on this occasion, the sense of which is, that as many different sects claimed his religion, as there were towns which contended for the birth of homer: smyrna, rhodes, colophon, salamis, argos, athenæ, siderei certant vatis de patriâ homeri: grotiadæ certant de religione socinus, arrius, arminius, calvinus, roma, lutherus. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] via ad pacem, p. , art. xx. [ ] animad. in animad. ad. ar. . p. . [ ] p. . [ ] via ad pacem, p. . [ ] votum pro pace, p. . [ ] animad. in animad. p. . [ ] via ad pacem, p. . animad. in anim. p. [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] votum pro pace, p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] via ad pacem art. . p. . [ ] art. . p. . [ ] via ad pacem, p. . anim. in anim. p. . votum pro pace, p. . [ ] anim. in anim. p. . [ ] votum pro pace, p. . [ ] tillem. t. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] tillemont, t. . n. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] fabric. bib. græc. l. . p. . tom. . [ ] commen. ad loca de antichrist. anim. in anim. p. . [ ] commen. ad loca de antichrist. via ad pacem, p. . [ ] votum pro pace, p. . [ ] matt. xix. . cor. vii. [ ] votum pro pace, p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] sent. des theolog. de hollande, p. . menagiana, t. . p. . [ ] vin. grot. p. . [ ] vin. grot. p. . [ ] tom. . p. . [ ] see vie du p. petau, niceron, t. . p. . xxiii. that which contributed to the removal of grotius's prejudices against the catholic church was undoubtedly the project he had formed of reconciling all the different parties which divide christendom. he saw well the necessity of having the catholics on his side; and he flattered himself that having gained them, he would easily bring over the rest. m. huet did not think such a project absolutely chimerical[ ]: "the religious differences, says he, which have long disturbed the peace of christians, are not impossible to be accommodated. if the parties would set about it sincerely, without obstinacy or private interest, they would soon find ways of accommodation; but some of all parties are so warm, that they censure such of their own party as seek to accommodate differences, with no less severity than they do their adversaries. with what presumptuous rigour did rivetus the minister treat grotius for proposing the means of peace? grotius, in a modest answer, humbles his pride without naming him; humorously pointing him out by that title taken from catullus[ ], _adversus quemdam opaca quem facit bonum barba_." m. bayle differed from m. huet concerning the attempt to unite the different religions: he thinks it as great a chimera as the philosophers stone, or the quadrature of the circle. the truth is, to hope for success in such a project, one must suppose in all men a sincere love of truth, and a readiness to renounce their prejudices, good understandings, and upright hearts. in this undertaking one essential thing, which must not be forgot, is, that if the catholic church, by a condescendance worthy of her charity and her desire that all men should come to the knowledge of the truth, should remit some point of her discipline, she cannot shew this indulgence with regard to any tenet condemned by the council of trent, without betraying her principles: there is therefore only one way of reunion, namely, that those who separated from the catholic church acknowledge that they have no argument that can justify their schism, and humbly praying to be received into the bosom of their mother, seek to obtain this favour by sacrificing their errors. it was very common in the last age for men to busy themselves in finding out ways of reconciliation between the protestants and roman catholics: the reformed set about it; and i cannot forbear relating here the extravagance of cregutius, minister of montelemar, who in a small treatise, which i have in manuscript, on the question, whether an union with the romish church is to be hoped for or not? decides it in the affirmative, provided (says he) the church of rome begin with renouncing the doctrine of transubstantiation: of which he doth not despair. grotius with more good sense laboured from his youth in the grand project of reconciling all the parties into which christians are divided. his good intentions were known to europe before his escape from louvestein: du vair, keeper of the seals, complimented him on his design. "god, says he, has ordered it so that you should owe your deliverance entirely to him, to the end that being delivered from worldly distractions, you may employ the rare talents with which he has entrusted you, in promoting that work which is no doubt most agreeable to him, namely the common peace of christendom by a reunion of all the members which have separated from their spiritual mother, in whom they or their fathers were conceived. and for as much as it is the thing which many men of honour expect[ ] from you, i cannot forbear rejoicing with them, and accelerating by my applause such a happy course." grotius's answer confirmed the keeper of the seals in the idea he had entertained. "god is my witness, says he, how much i am afflicted when i compare the first ages of the church with our unhappy times, in which the people, differing in articles of faith, have divided into factions, and thereby given occasion to wars of which even the nations of the heathen would have been ashamed. there are doubtless many good men, who grieve to see such a great evil; and, preserving charity for all christians, ardently desire to see union restored; and are disposed to procure this great blessing by following the apostle's counsel, to bear with the infirmities of others, and extend their patience and candour to their utmost length: but those rigid notions, which a party spirit has instilled into many, is a great obstacle to the obtaining of this happiness. may god pour out a spirit of charity and meekness on the heads of the church, on kings and potentates, that, surmounting every difficulty, they may without delay restore to the church her primitive beauty, and above all a solid peace, without prejudice to truth. many thousands, of whom i am one, pray without ceasing for the execution of this pious design, and desire nothing more than to be employed in it." filled with this idea, he proposed to lewis xiii, in his dedication _of the rights of war and peace_, to compose the differences of the churches, and direct the age in which he lived how to terminate them in conformity to the sentiments of that time, when all allow that christianity was in its purity. he imagined the alliance between france and england would facilitate the execution of a project worthy of such mighty kings: he had it so much at heart, that he thought himself destined to labour in it from his mother's womb[ ]. "it is a vocation, says he to his brother, which god has given me.--i have many witnesses, he writes to duræus[ ], who knew me in my native country, and can attest not only how much i have desired, but also how much i have laboured to lessen the disputes among christians, in order to promote gradually the restoration of unity. i might even appeal to yourself, in relation to what has since been done both in germany and sweden.--i shall never cease, he says to his brother[ ], my utmost endeavours for establishing peace among christians; and if i should not succeed, it will be honourable to die in such a pious enterprize." he had the consolation to be seconded in his pacific projects by duræus, a clergyman in sweden, with whom he cultivated a correspondence for advancing the coalition of christians[ ]. "what you labour in with so much zeal is precisely what i have been employed about since i began to have any relish for divine things. experience teaches me how many difficulties we must expect both from statesmen and divines bigotted to their own opinions, and averse to those of others: but all these obstacles ought not to prevent our undertaking such a good work: if we do not succeed, we shall at least enjoy the satisfaction of having entertained very sublime ideas. for my part, as i have done it already, so i shall still continue to recommend to the high chancellor your piety, your learning, your good intentions, and your zeal, to which i ardently wish success; and the accounts of your progress from time to time will give me the greatest pleasure.--duræus's enterprize is attended with particular difficulties at this time, he writes to berneggerus[ ]: but things as difficult have often had a happy issue: besides, it affords much satisfaction to a man's conscience to have attempted what is highly useful, even though he should fail of success." duræus meeting with great obstacles, grotius consoles him on that head, in a letter of the st of november, . "what gives me hopes, he says, is your constancy, and the countenance of the high chancellor. i have conferred on this subject with the two english ambassadors, the earl of leicester and lord scudamore: they are of my opinion, that the present time, while europe is engaged in war, is not favourable for convoking a general assembly of protestants." duræus's project regarding only a union among protestants, daillé and the ablest men among the reformed ministers approved of it, with some limitations: there was, however, little prospect of success[ ] on account of the intollerant spirit of some turbulent ministers, such as voetius. grotius had much higher views; he proposed nothing less[ ] than to reunite all christians: in this, he said, he would not cease to labour; and, that it would yield him pleasure to die so well employed[ ]; that he gave himself little pain about the hatred he might incur, for if men gave way to this fear, never any vice would be corrected. what encouraged him farther, in this idea, was the number of great men who entertained it before him. "i am not the only one who hath conceived this project, he writes to his brother[ ]: erasmus, cassander, vecelius, and casaubon had the same design. la miletiere is employed at present in it: cardinal richelieu declares that he will protect the coalition; and he is such a happy man that he never undertook any thing in which he did not succeed: and even if there were no hopes of success at present, ought we not to sow the seed which may be useful to posterity[ ]? even if we should only diminish the mutual hatred among christians, and render them more sociable, would not this be worth purchasing at the price of some labour and reproaches?" arminius may likewise be numbered with those who were desirous of reuniting christians[ ]. the method he proposed was to distinguish fundamental points from such as were not, and leave men at liberty to believe or disbelieve the latter. he communicated his project to casaubon, who highly approved it: but how shall men settle what articles are fundamental? this question is a source of endless disputes. besides, they must be able to answer the roman catholic divines, who, building on the doctrine that has been always taught, justly pretend that whatever has been decided to be part of that doctrine ought to be regarded as fundamental. men could not help approving grotius's intention; but even those, by whom he was held in the greatest esteem, had no confidence in the success of his project. this made him write to baron oxenstiern on the subject[ ]. "even if religious differences, he says, had not given occasion to bloody wars, i should still think it the duty of christians to restore the unity; since, as the apostle of the gentiles tells us, we ought to be all members of one body. but even those, who say they desire it, doubt whether the thing be practicable. i know well that all schism, the further it has extended, and the longer it has lasted, will be more difficult to heal; so many being employed to throw oil on the flames: however, there are examples of inveterate evils that have been cured in the church. after the council of chalcedon there was a very great schism in the east, which continued an hundred years till the reign of justinian, by whose authority, pope vigilius listening at last to terms of peace, an end was put to it. charles v, ferdinand, and maximilian thought that the schism between the roman catholics and the protestants of the augsbourg confession was not incurable. melancton and other learned men, whose writings are still extant, were of the same opinion. i have heard from great men, that henry iv. of france said that he would undertake to obtain, for the king of england and his protestant allies, such conditions of returning to the unity of the church, as they could not handsomely refuse; and that he purposed to send some of his bishops into england to confer on this subject with the prelates of that kingdom: but this project, which had been concerted with several great men, was defeated by the king's death. i believe the chief difference between the tenets of the augsbourg confession and those of the council of trent lies in the ambiguity of some expressions, which are understood differently; but may be explained, by men of understanding and friends to peace, in such manner, that no difference will remain but in those things which may be left to the free discussions of the learned, without any injury to the peace of the church. it is evident, from the examples of the maronites and greeks, that those who communicate in both kinds, and use a liturgy different from that of the romish church, provided it be susceptible of a catholic sense, even were it in the vulgar tongue, may be received into the communion of the apostolical see; and likewise those churches which allow the priests to marry. what has been done in sweden and elsewhere, for the reformation of discipline, by suppressing simony and superstition, ought not only to be retained; but there is room to hope that when unity is restored other nations will follow this example, there being many among them who ardently desire, that the abuses which have crept in may be removed according to the ancient canons. it is very difficult to render the supremacy of the bishop of rome useful, or at least not hurtful to the church: but if one considers, that the kings and bishops of the romish religion are as much concerned in this matter, as the protestants, and reflects on the precautions taken in it by france and spain, he will not despair of finding expedients for securing the authority of kings, their right in the election of bishops and the prerogatives of the primates, archbishops, and bishops, agreeable to the canons and the ancient church discipline. if the christian world could have rest from war, the kings of the romish communion, who are favourably disposed towards the protestants, might prepare matters at rome in such manner as to give hope of a happy issue. i grant that these things are attended with difficulties; but so is every great, and useful, and glorious undertaking; and in such a salutary work we may confide in the almighty's aid." after this manner did grotius write to the swedish plenipotentiary, in the end of the year , handling with greater delicacy, as he wrote to protestants, the nice article of the pope's supremacy, in favour of which he had spoken more strongly in the pieces he had just published. we learn from his first letters, that he communicated his pacific ideas to his father, and that he was early sensible of the great difficulties attending a reunion. he writes to his brother, oct. , [ ], "what my father writes, of restoring things to the condition they were in before the council of trent, would be a great step; but transubstantiation, and the adoration ordained by the lateran council, and the invocation of saints, which is received in all the liturgies, will be great stumbling-blocks to tender consciences." some years after, he imagined that the shortest way to a coalition of christians would be to reduce the articles of faith to a small number. "it were well, says he[ ], if christians would reflect how few the points are, and how clearly expressed in scripture, which constitute the rule of faith laid down by st. irenæus and tertullian; and as it is not allowed to doubt of these, the liberty left to men in others might contribute to the peace of the church." afterwards he went much farther. "i could wish, he says to his brother[ ], nov. . , that utengobard, when his health will permit, would write something, if he has not done it already, on the necessity of restoring the unity of the church; and by what means it may be done. many think that the true way would be to distinguish between what is necessary, and what is not; and to leave men at full liberty in the latter: but it is as difficult to know what is necessary, as to know what is true. the scriptures, they say, are the rule: but interpreters vary on the passages referred to. i know not, therefore, whether it would not be best to adhere to the sentiments of the catholic church concerning faith and good works: for i think they hold all that is necessary to be believed in order to salvation. as to other articles which have been determined by councils, or received by the first christians, we must adopt the moderate interpretation, and such we shall find on every point. if any one cannot prevail with himself to be silent in relation to things, of which he has no certainty, but will disturb the unity of the church, instead of labouring to restore it, matters will proceed from bad to worse." sometimes grotius imagined he should succeed. nov. , , he writes to gerard vossius[ ], that codurus, justellus, and melitiere, three of the most learned protestants, had thanked him for what he had written on the consultation of cassander. "i perceive, says he to his brother, by conversing with the men of most learning among the reformed, and explaining my sentiments to them, that they are of my opinion: their number will increase if my treatises are dispersed; in which, i can truly affirm, i have said nothing from a party spirit, but followed truth as closely as i could." he writes to his father[ ], that he was not without hopes of some good effect from his incessant labours to restore peace to christendom. "that day will at length shine forth, of which we now perceive the dawn: for many great, pious, and learned men, of both parties, begin to see how unreasonable it is to neglect the reformation of manners while we are framing new tenets, and censuring old ones, which require only a good comment. this excellent design i recommend to your prayers; it was you gave me the first hint of it." he writes to his brother[ ], june , , "i have received a visit from some catholic counsellors of state, and codurus the clergyman, who expect the coalition will quickly take place, and pay great regard to my opinion. may the god of peace direct the whole to the advancement of truth and piety." he received the agreeable account, that the pieces he had written to promote the coalition were approved of in denmark, sweden, england, germany, and poland. he imagined several catholics entered into his views. divers doctors of the sorbonne, he said[ ], thanked him for the remarks he wrote on the consultation of cassander. "the ablest men among the catholics think what i have done, he tells his brother[ ], is written with great freedom and moderation, and approve of it." "we ought not, he says in another letter[ ], to regard only the present age, but posterity also: yet i find some people who think they shall live to see the union restored." he imagined his manner of handling the controversy was approved of by the ablest men of the romish communion, and even at rome because there were most great men in that city. for some time he entertained hopes that cardinal richelieu would favour him: jan. , , he writes thus to his brother[ ]: "when my book is published, many protestants will see that the reconciliation of the churches is easier than they imagined: for the principal basis of the reformation may subsist with the pope's consent, provided the affair be managed with mildness and without giving him offence. i write this on good grounds: cardinal richelieu thinks the thing will succeed: he has said so to several." grotius had either been misinformed, or the cardinal changed his language: for the former writes to his brother[ ], march , , "as cardinal richelieu speaks differently from what he did some time ago about the peace of the churches, i am afraid this change conceals some ill design against the reformed." grotius, finding at length that the project of a coalition was impracticable without the approbation of the catholics, contracted an intimacy with father petau, to whom he communicated all his works relating to religion and the reconciliation of the churches. in a letter of the d of december, , he desires him to send him his remarks on his works, "that, says he, by your assistance i may add, suppress, or correct, as shall be most necessary for promoting truth and peace. would to god that i had as much genius and learning as some others: i would accomplish what it is great barely to attempt." he communicated to father petau the manuscript of his answer to rivetus[ ], desiring him to point out what was not agreeable to truth, or had not a tendency to promote peace. "i am resolved, says he, to publish my answer as soon as i have your opinion, to which i pay great regard." father petau gives us the history of his acquaintance with grotius, in his xiith letter[ ]. "i had, says he, a great desire to see and converse with him; we have been long together, and very intimate. he is, as far as i can judge, a good man, and of great candour. i do not think him far from becoming a catholic, after, the example of holstenius, as you hoped: i shall neglect nothing in my power to reconcile him to christ, and put him in the way of salvation." father petau mentions him again in another letter, written to cardinal francis barberinus[ ]. his eminence had applied to that learned jesuit for information in what state grotius had left, at his death, his work on the antiquities of sweden. father petau makes him this answer. "i had some connection with hugo grotius, and i wish i could say he is now happy. our love to learning began our acquaintance, which i kept up in hopes of being useful to him. accordingly i saw him often, and he also visited me, and wrote to me frequently." he concludes with assuring the cardinal, that he would enquire of his widow about his work relating to sweden. grotius's several attempts to restore the peace of christendom made him be looked upon as a good man by pacific people; but they occasioned him much uneasiness from those, who, being obstinately attached to the opinions of the first reformers, regarded all that kept any measures with the romish church as apostates. he laid his account with contradictions. feb. , , he writes to israel caski[ ], "those who had the same design that i have were generally evil-treated by both parties, and met with the fate of such as would separate combatants: but the god of peace will judge them with justice. they have also on their side pious and learned men, whose merit outweighs the number of the others.--i believe, says he to his brother[ ], my remarks on cassander will please few, because there are not many skilled in the scriptures and antiquity: most people are bigotted to their opinions. i except against such judges; i regard them not; nor have i any desire to know what they say. i have granted nothing to the roman catholics, but what antiquity gives them." the zealous clergy, not content with writing against him themselves, every where stirred him up enemies: he speaks in his letters[ ] of one seyffectus of ulm, who, instigated by rivetus and others of that party, wrote against him. several learned men, who had the highest esteem and the most perfect friendship for grotius, conceived a violent hatred to him on seeing him lean towards the catholics. he had been extremely intimate with salmasius: he had received letters from him filled with the most expressive testimonies of friendship[ ]; and grotius had informed him of the happy change of his fortune, because he looked upon him as one of his best friends: they had long kept up a learned correspondence by letters, in which we find a reciprocal esteem and the greatest politeness; but when grotius set up for a mediator, salmasius publicly declared, that he disapproved of the way of reconciliation proposed by grotius[ ]; and from that time his friendship changed into bitter enmity. sarrau, counsellor in the parliament of rouen, who had been one of grotius's best friends, as we may see by the letters that passed between them, withdrew his friendship when he thought him in the interest of the romish church. may , , he writes[ ], "what is reported for certain, that grotius is gone over to the popish party, is not true: but with great concern we see him every day employed in something very like it: he will not suffer us to rank him in any class of protestants whatever, because he has used them all too ill in his treatises on antichrist and the consultation of cassander." sarrau also writes to salmasius[ ], that it was publicly said these projects of reconciliation had set the high chancellor and several other lords against grotius. he flattered himself, however[ ], that sarrau approved of his project: for he writes to his brother, william grotius, "among some others of the reformed, sarrau, who was a counsellor in the parliament of rouen, and is at present in that of paris, praises my design." but it is probable that grotius took compliments for realities. it is certain that grotius's schemes displeased sarrau, and that there was a coldness between them, for the latter writes thus to salmasius, feb. , [ ], "i am not reconciled to the swedish ambassador: if i had an inclination to it i believe it might easily be done. the alteration in our friendship does not proceed from my fault, but solely from his plan of pacification, which i do not approve. i esteem him highly, on account of the great services he has done to learning; and shall even never cease to love him: but, far from commending or approving his late pieces, i am greatly dissatisfied with them: however, i would not have the many excellent things he has done slighted on that account. every one acknowledges you to be the first man in the republic of letters; but it cannot be denied that he holds the second rank. you have no superior, nor even any equal; suffer him to be after you the first." the celebrated schurman, whose extensive knowledge had at that time gained her a very high reputation, signifies to rivetus, jan. , [ ], the general discontent of the greater number of the reformed against grotius. "hitherto, says she, every one had a high idea of grotius's genius and erudition. but since he departed from sound reason, changed the object of his studies, and insulted by gross invectives the whole body of protestants, and the principal authors of the reformation, everyone seeks for grotius in grotius. nothing can be more ridiculous or foolish than to see a man, who neither agrees with others, nor with himself, as you have well shewn, undertake, without our desire or consent, to reconcile us with the roman catholics, and positively decide that we may, and that we ought to come into his views." ruarus[ ] had predicted to grotius himself, that he would reap no other fruit of his labours, than the hatred of both parties: but he was at the same time persuaded that no worldly interest entered into grotius's views, more honest in this respect than the zealous protestant clergy, who were ready to adopt the most gross and groundless calumnies, provided they were levelled against grotius. so much contradiction chagrined him greatly, and altered his temper[ ]: by seeking to establish peace among men, he lost the tranquility of his own mind, which he had preserved in his deepest adversity. it is said he became suspicious, and peevish, and lost that politeness towards his friends, which had so advantageously distinguished him from other men of learning. it is even reported (but by one of his enemies, indeed) that one day he abused m. du puis in his [grotius's] own house, and turned him out of doors, for presuming to contradict him[ ]. yet it is evident from his letters, that he was most intimate with the two illustrious brothers, mess. du puis, and was under high obligations to them. "you have always been my best friends (he writes to them, nov. , [ ]) and almost my only ones since rigaut went to metz, salmasius to leyden, and tilenus died." a letter to his brother[ ], nov. , , clearly shews the change of his temper. blondius having used reigersberg, grotius's friend and relation, very ill, he writes to his brother william: "if blondius should speak to you, tell him i have a son here, who will send him a challenge, for affronting the senator reigersberg." this menace, which seemed to be an approbation of duelling, much surprised william grotius, who had read in the _rights of war and peace_[ ], that this doctrine was clearly condemned by the gospel. grotius proves in another part of the same book, "that honour being nothing but the opinion we have of our distinguishing qualities, he who bears with a slight injury, thereby discovers a patience above the common; and thus, instead of lessening his honour, adds to it; and that if some people, from a wrong judgment, bestow improper epithets on this virtue and turn it into ridicule; these wrong judgments change not the nature of the thing, nor lessen its real value. this has not only been acknowledged by the first christians, but by the ancient philosophers, who, as we have elsewhere shewn, ascribed an impatient resentment of insults to meanness of soul. should any one even publish things capable of hurting us with good men, that will not authorise us to kill him. if there are authors who maintain the contrary, it is an erroneous opinion which clasheth even with the principles of natural law: for killing the person who attacks our reputation is a bad way of defending it." thus grotius thought in his best days. we have enlarged on this head, to shew into what contradiction, and excess of weakness, great men may fall. william grotius was no doubt astonished at his brother's vivacity, and probably gave him some check for it; for grotius afterwards writes to him, "what i wrote to you, relating to my son and blondius, i did it not because i approved of such things, but because that or something worse might happen." footnotes: [ ] huetiana, s. . p. . [ ] m. huet is mistaken: it was not rivetus whom grotius meant by this verse of catullus, but laet. [ ] see _votum pro pace_, p. . [ ] ep. . a matris visceribus. [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . & . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. præs. vir. p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . & . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . see also ep. . p. . [ ] p. . [ ] l. . ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . ep. . p. . & . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. p. . [ ] cent. . p. . [ ] see a letter from henry villeneuve, p. , after the treatise _of the truth of the christian religion_, by m. le clerc. [ ] osiander. vind. grot. p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] l. . c. . xxiv. the hatred, which his projects of reconciliation drew upon him, contributed to the revival of the invidious accusation of socinianism, which had been formerly laid against him: they founded it on his silence concerning the trinity in his treatise _of the truth of the christian religion_, on his praises of crellius, his connection with the socinians, and, in fine, on his setting aside, or weakening several passages which established christ's divinity, particularly that in which it is said, that christ was before abraham; grotius explaining it with the socinians of christ's existence in the eternal decrees of god. it was not only his declared enemies, such as desmarets, osiander, and many others, that wanted to make him pass for a socinian: some celebrated roman catholics, among whom we may number m. bossuet, maintained that he was a favourer of socinianism. it is true he did not always express himself with the greatest exactness, and sometimes enlarged more on the necessity of good works, than on that of regulating our faith according to the decisions of the church[ ]: but besides that his expressions are susceptible of a favourable sense, it is evident that there are several tenets, the belief of which he thought necessary for salvation: this manifestly appears from the detail he enters into concerning these doctrines in his later works. if even some mistakes have escaped him, of which the socinians might take advantage, these will not authorise us to accuse him of being a favourer of that heresy. we know that never any carried a love to truth, or an abhorrence of falsehood, farther than he did: now he always expressed the greatest aversion to socinianism: he writes to gerard vossius[ ], in , that there was no body of any authority in the republic, who held not socinianism in abhorrence. he wrote against socinus the book entitled _a defence of the catholic faith concerning christ's satisfaction against faustus socinus of siena_, in which he proves that there is nothing contrary to justice in christ's suffering, though innocent, for offenders; that even the pagans believed that god punished the crimes of the fathers on the sons; and that, in the early ages of the world, the innocent children were often punished with the guilty fathers. in fine, he shews that the opinion of socinus is repugnant to scripture, which tells us that christ's death has reconciled us to god, according to the expressions of st. paul, that he died for us, and that by his death our sins are expiated. he was very orthodox on the article of original sin; for, he says, the only true opinion on this matter is that of the ancient church, which is well set forth by the council of trent. the socinians were far from thinking grotius so favourable to them: ruarus writes to one of his friends, "you have reason to think, that hitherto no body has written so learnedly against socinus, as grotius: he was always much attached to the doctrine of christ's divinity, even in his earlier years." grotius wrote to walæus[ ], in , "i do not look upon the samosatenians, and others, like them, as christians, nor even as heretics; for their doctrine is repugnant to the belief of all ages, and all nations. they retain christianity in name, but destroy it in fact. i therefore make no great difference between them and the mahometans, who even do not revile christ." m. bossuet, tho' far from being prejudiced in favour of grotius, allows however that he did not deny the divinity of christ, nor the efficacy of his sacrifice. in several of his letters he clears himself from the charge of socinianism in such a manner as leaves us no room to doubt his regarding it as a very dangerous heresy. "i give myself little trouble, he writes to his brother[ ], june , , about the calumnies spread against me by the worst of men, in relation to socinianism. they may be easily confuted before equitable judges by the writings which i have already published, and by those i shall yet publish. i have defended the sentiments of the ancient church concerning the trinity, christ's satisfaction, and future punishments, by scripture and the consent of antiquity; and have confuted the contrary opinions. calvin might more justly be[ ] accused of arianism, than i of socinianism." sorbiere, who had been his secretary; discovering a great propensity to some opinions of socinus, grotius earnestly admonished him[ ] to abstain from such dangerous innovation. one of the principal grounds on which they went, was, as we have already seen, his silence concerning the trinity, in his book _of the truth of the christian religion_: but he has justified his method in such a manner, that this objection cannot be sustained by an equitable judge: he seems to have foreseen it; for, writing to his brother from his prison at louvestein whilst he was composing this treatise in dutch verse, "my intention, he says, is not to explain the doctrines of christianity, but to make the profane, the pagans, jews, and mahometans acknowledge the truth of the christian religion, and afterwards have recourse to our sacred books to be informed of its tenets. the trinity, and christ's divinity could not be introduced into my arguments; for these doctrines will never bring over unbelievers to the christian faith, and those who attempt to demonstrate them by other arguments than such as are drawn from scripture, absolutely lose their labour: but the authority of the scriptures being once established, these doctrines ought to be held proved." he omitted therefore all mention of these points, not because he disbelieved them, but because he judged it more proper to prove first the divinity of the sacred books, and the mission of christ: and, as we have already observed, the same method has been followed by the most successful writers on the truth of christianity. he has been much reproached with his letter to crellius. grotius had written against socinus, and crellius, to vindicate his master, answered grotius with a politeness and good-breeding seldom found in a polemical divine. grotius thought it his duty to reply to him, and the measures he kept with this adversary were looked on by his enemies as a betraying of the truth. here follows the letter, which has been so much talked of. "i was so far from being offended, most learned crellius, with your book against mine that i inwardly thanked you at that time, and now do it by this letter, first, for treating me with so much civility, that the only thing i have left to complain of is your complimenting me in some places too much: next for informing me of many very useful and entertaining things, and exciting me by your example, to examine thoroughly into the sense of the sacred scriptures: you judge very rightly of me, that i bear no ill-will to any one who differs from me, without prejudice to religion; nor decline the friendship of any good man. i have found in your book of the true religion, which i have already gone through, and shall read again, many judicious remarks: and i congratulate the present age, that there are men in it who make religion consist, not so much in subtle controversies as in amendment of life and a continual progress in holiness. god grant that my writings may produce these sentiments in the minds of my readers: i should then think my life not spent in vain. the treatise on the truth of the christian religion i wrote more for my own satisfaction, than for the instruction of others. i don't see how it can be useful, after so many other works on the same subject, but by its brevity. if there be any thing in it that pleases you, or such as you, it is a happiness beyond my expectation. my great aim, in the _rights of war and peace_, was to suppress, as much as was in my power, that savage barbarity unworthy not only of a christian, but of a man, which, to the misfortune of nations, is now too common, of beginning and carrying on wars by caprice. i hear with pleasure that this work has got into the hands of princes: god grant they may retain what is good in it; for that would be the most agreeable fruit i could reap from my labour. if ever any occasion should offer of serving you, of your friends, be assured that i shall be ready to give you proofs of my high esteem. since i can do no more, i sincerely pray that god would protect you, and those who promote religion." there is another letter from grotius to crellius, which has made much noise. after thanking him for a book he had sent him, he adds, "i am resolved to read your works again and again with care, having already reaped much benefit from them. i have always loved peace, and love it still; and am grieved to see so much enmity between those, who call themselves christians, for such trifling matters[ ]." crellius having shewn these letters to several, the socinians and grotius's enemies spread a report, that he favoured socinianism: even extracts of these letters were printed. he protested against the abuse made of them, and maintained[ ] that if people would candidly read his works, they would easily be convinced of the injustice of ranking him with socinians. it is certain, that, notwithstanding the terms which he makes use of in writing to crellius, he did not at bottom approve of his book: he writes thus in confidence to his brother[ ], "i have read crellius's book: he writes with candour, and doth not want learning; but i cannot see how he will promote religion by departing from the scripture manner of speaking authorised by antiquity." "if i have not answered crellius, he says in another letter[ ], it was for prudential reasons, and even by the advice of the protestants of france, who think that the questions being unknown in this country, ought not to be made public by a confutation. it is easy to refute them with glory, though every one is not capable of it: but, it is still better that they should remain unknown." he speaks, in the same letter, of socinus as a man very little versed in the sentiments of antiquity, and whose errors he had confuted in many of his works. "must i also excuse myself, he asks, for not shutting my door against martinus ruarus, who desired to see me? the time was not lost that i spent in conversing with him, nor am i sorry for his visit. i acquainted him with my reasons for enquiring into the opinions of the ancient churches, and for following them: i shewed him that the doctrine of satisfaction was no ways contrary to reason, even in the judgment of the jews, and brought him some signal proofs of it. i did not conceal what violence it was to the scripture, and of how dangerous consequence, to deny the eternity of hell torments; and i flatter myself i advanced more with him, than those would have done who abound in reproaches; nor do i see why i should abstain from writing to him, when i find the pillars of the greek church corresponding by letters even with pagans. for my part, i am resolved and accustomed to preserve friendship for all men, particularly christians, although erring; and i shall never blush at it." he advances almost the same reasons to clear himself from the charge of socinianism, in a long letter to gerard vossius[ ], of which we shall make no extract to avoid repetitions. in fine, those who knew grotius best have defended him on this head. the celebrated jerom bignon, who lived in much intimacy with him, could not bear to [ ]hear him accused of socinianism: he said he knew him perfectly, and so far from being a socinian, he had sometimes seen him almost in a disposition to turn roman catholic. his intimate connection with father petau, whose zeal for the orthodox faith was equal to his profound learning, is a clear evidences that the jesuit did not think him a socinian. no man was more exposed than grotius to groundless accusations. an anonymous piece was written against him, accusing him of being a semi-pelagian: he did not think proper to publish a defence; but he mentions this accusation in a letter to his brother[ ] of the th of may, . "in my treatise _de ordinum hollandiæ pietate_, i have mentioned semi-pelagianism as a very grievous error. the sentiments of the remonstrants are very different from semi-pelagianism, for the priests of marseilles, who were called semi-pelagians, or the remains of the pelagians, in speaking of the necessity of grace, denied that grace preceded good motions in the foul, at least in some men: the remonstrants, on the contrary, maintain, that all that is spiritually good in us, even the beginning of it flows from antecedent grace. consult the synod of orange, by which the priests of marseilles were confuted. but those that believe predestination is a consequence of prescience, or that grace is given to all men, or in fine that it may be refilled, are certainly not semi-pelagians." they carried their calumnies so far, as even to accuse him of judaism. we read in the _patiniana_[ ] that m. bignon, advocate-general, affirmed that grotius had acknowledged, if he would change his religion, he would turn jew. john mallet, in his book _of atheism_[ ] has not only advanced that grotius judaised in his commentary on the prophets, but that if he had lived much longer he would have become a turk. even the immortality of the soul, said others, he did not believe[ ]: this ridiculous tale is grounded on these words of the _chevreana_[ ]: "charles lewis, elector palatine, formerly told me, that having asked the celebrated grotius, whether the immortality of the soul could be demonstrated, he answered, not well, my lord; not well." it is universally known that these books in _ana_ are of little authority. we must be informed of all the circumstances of this pretended conversation before we can determine grotius's meaning: one thing is certain, that he has proved the immortality of the soul by arguments drawn from reason in his treatise _on the truth of the christian religion_[ ]. footnotes: [ ] theological works. [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . see also oper. theol. t. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] these expressions afterwards gave occasion to the accusations of socinianism brought against grotius. [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] menag. t. p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] patiniana, p. . [ ] vind. grot. p. . [ ] animad. phil. & hist. crenii, part. . p. . [ ] t. . p. . [ ] l. . s. . xxv. if grotius's merit stirred up envy, and if his projects of reconciliation procured him hatred, the more irreconcilable as it was founded on a religious pretext, he had also a great number of friends and judicious persons for him, who did justice to his virtue and his talents. we shall not enter into a detail of all the testimonies in his favour, they would fill a large volume: we shall confine ourselves to the elogiums of those whose suffrages deserve most attention. we have already seen, that even when a boy he was highly extolled by the greatest men of his age. isaac pontanus, meursius, james gillot, barlæus, john dousa, m. de thou, the great scaliger, casaubon, vossius, lipsius, baudius, celebrated his childhood. he justified the great hopes that were so early conceived of him, and the praises he received were an additional motive to merit the public esteem. baudius compared him to scaliger[ ], who, he said, was his favourite author. this he wrote on the third of march, , when grotius was yet much under age. in a scazon, written in his praise, he calls him [ ]a great, an admirable, and an original man. "if any, says he in a letter dated october , [ ], can form a just notion of grotius's merit, which exceeds all that can be said of it, i am one; and i think him equal to any office. ignorant people, who judge of virtue by years and a long beard, may object to him his youth; but in my opinion that makes for him, since in his earliest youth he possesses the prudence and ripeness of understanding of the most aged." the celebrated peyresc having made a journey into holland in , would not leave the hague[ ] till he had made acquaintance with grotius, already famous for universal learning. "though he was but very young, says gassendi[ ], when peyresc heard of his arrival at paris, he said, that france, by gaining grotius, had a sufficient reparation for the loss of scaliger; and that if some others had been the ornament of the age, he was the wonder of it; and it is with reason (adds m. mesnage, after relating this story of peyresc) that we still consider grotius as a prodigy of learning, since he has made a greater proficiency in most of the sciences, than many of those who have wholly applied to one of them in particular." in the funeral elogium of peyresc, delivered at rome december , , mention is made of the learned men with whom he was connected. james bucard, who spoke it, distinguisheth salmasius and grotius from the rest, styling them the princes of literature and of the fine arts. we cannot conceive a higher idea of grotius than the celebrated gerard vossius entertained, as appears from the beautiful poem written by him in honour of his friend: we would give it at length if it were not too long, but we cannot omit the last stanza: _felici omine dicte magne, quid te sol majus videt? ô decus tuorum, delfi gloria, patrii deique amores, splendor inclute, belgices ocelle, orbis delicium, deique amores!_ he never mentions grotius without admiration. "he is, says he[ ], one of the greatest ornaments of our times, or rather the miracle, the eternal honour, of holland, and of his age." he wrote to meursius[ ], "if we would do him justice, there is none we can place above him, nor even any we can compare with him." utengobard, who had been his master, said, that to speak after grotius, was to expose one's self to be laughed at. balzac has employed his most eloquent phrases to express his thoughts of grotius: he writes to mesnage, "is it true, what you tell me, of the swedish ambassador, and shall i be so happy to share in his esteem? i tell it you as solemnly as if i were by the altar on which we swore to be friends, that my ambition was dead, but you have revived it, and my transports would be as great as yours, if my blood were as fine and sparkling: who would not glory in the esteem of one whose birth our age ought to be proud of? he is a modern whom the president jeannin sets in opposition to the greatest of the ancients." in another letter written to chapelain[ ], he says: "whatever comes from grotius is a high recommendation of him to me; and besides the solidity of his learning, the strength of his reasoning, and the graces of his language, i observe in it an air of probity, that one may put entire confidence in him, excepting in what regards our church, to which he is unhappily a stranger." colomiez, in his _bibliotheque choisie_[ ], has collected some of the elogiums which had been then made of grotius: "the president jeannin, says he, according to the relation of balzac, opposes grotius to the greatest men of antiquity. salmasius, in his notes on solinus, styles him _virum excellentissimæ doctrinæ in omni genere litterarum_; selden, in his _mare clausum, virum acuminis et omnigenæ doctrinæ præstantiâ incomparabilem_; gerard vossius, in his latin poems, _seculi nostri grande ornamentum_; pricæus, on the xivth of st. matthew, _virum ingentem, quem non sine horrore mirati sumus_: in fine, m. blondel, who was not lavish of his praise, says of him in his _sibyls_, that he was a very great man, whether we consider the sublimity of his genius, the universality of his learning, or the diversity of his writings; in fine, says colomiez[ ], he appears a great critic in his _martianus capella_, his _aratus_, and his _stobæus_; in his _notes on lucan_ and _tacitus_ a great historian, a great statesman, a great divine; but however excellent these different works may be, we must however acknowledge that grotius's _letters_ and _poems_ much surpass them; and that if he appeared great in those, in these he is incomparable. but what astonishes me is, that he should have written so many letters, and made so many verses, and all should be of equal strength, that is, that all should partake of the powerful and divine genius which animated that great man." episcopius, who was regarded as an oracle by his party, looked on grotius as his oracle. "your opinion, he writes to him[ ], shall be to me the decision of an oracle; for i know your love to truth and friendship for me to be such, that in giving it you regard only truth." christian habsoeker and philip limborch speak of him with raptures in the _preface_ to the _letters of illustrious men_: "at the name of the incomparable grotius, who is above all praise, and even all envy, we are in a sort of transport. how shall we sufficiently praise the virtues of that most illustrious hero, whom all true scholars regard as the most learned of the learned: we shall only relate the prophecy concerning him in by daniel heinsius in some verses which ought to be put under his picture." those lines are in fact the most complete elogium that can be made of a man. _depositum coeli, quod jure batavia mater horret, et baud credit se peperisse sibi; talem oculis, talem ore tulit se maximus hugo: instar crede hominis, cætera crede dei._ heinsius and grotius had been most intimate in their youth: the divisions which happened in the republic destroyed this close union: heinsius joined the contra-remonstrants, and was secretary to the commissioners of the synod of dort. grotius had reason to complain of him on several occasions: nevertheless, talking with cardinal richelieu about him, grotius greatly commended his genius and learning. he gives an account of this conversation to his brother; adding, "in this manner i am wont to revenge myself on those who hate me." cardinal richelieu, though not prejudiced in favour of grotius, ranked him however among the three first scholars of the age: the other two were claudius salmasius, and jerom bignon. this famous advocate-general said of grotius[ ], that he was the most learned man who had appeared in the world since aristotle. foreigners who loved the sciences would not leave france without seeing grotius. john christenius, who was at paris in , had more satisfaction in seeing him, than in the whole kingdom beside: he writes thus to john kirkman, june , . "the pleasure i have had, received considerable addition not only from having seen, but also often conversed with that great and eloquent man who has no fellow, i mean hugo grotius; for whom i have the highest esteem, and have been for many years of the same opinion with all who know that he possesses singly what would be sufficient to entitle many to great praise. he is master of all that is worth knowing in sacred and profane literature. besides the eastern languages, there is no art nor science with which he is not perfectly acquainted: this appears from his agreeable conversation: ask him about any thing, he immediately gives you an exact answer, and in such a manner as to excite the admiration of those who hear him. after talking about the sciences, if you enquire of him what passes in this part of the world, or the other, you will imagine you heard the answer of an oracle who delivers what is most worthy to be known. his virtue is above all i can say of it, and i want eloquence sufficiently to extol so great a man." sarrau[ ], who had been prejudiced against grotius since his leaving the protestants, ventures not however to decide whether salmasius or grotius excelled in literature; and he hesitates to make the determination, even in a letter written to salmasius, wherein he appears much dissatisfied with grotius. "whether the first place in literature in this age be due to you or to him, posterity will judge more equitably than this generation." on hearing of grotius's death, he writes to salmasius in these terms[ ]: "hugo grotius was certainly a great man in name and in fact: he was the star of our age. how great a loss has learning sustained! whilst books and sciences are held in honour his name will flourish. for my part, whilst i live i shall glory in my intimacy with him. you now reign singly (he concludes, addressing himself to salmasius) i pray god you may reign long." he calls him elsewhere[ ] the coryphæus of learning sacred and prophane. queen christina, hearing of his death, wrote to his widow to make her compliments of condolence, and to get the manuscripts he left. "my ambassador, she says, may have acquainted you in part with my high esteem for his admirable learning and the good services he did me: but he could not express how dear i hold his memory, and the effects of his great labours. if gold and silver could contribute any thing to the redeeming such a valuable life, i would chearfully employ all i am mistress of for that purpose." she concludes with asking his widow to procure her all the manuscripts of this learned man, whose works had always given her great pleasure: assuring her that they could not fall into better hands, and that the author having been of use to her in his life-time, it was just that she should not be deprived after his death of the fruits of his illustrious labours. duncomius wrote to gerard vossius, february , [ ], "it is certain and beyond dispute that grotius was a very illustrious hero, _usque ad stuporem ferè et miraculum_; that he joined science with wisdom; that he was above all praise; and that he was deeply skilled in divine and human learning." meric casaubon, son of isaac, had no less esteem for grotius than his illustrious father had had before him. in his preface to hierocles's book _of providence and destiny_, "hugo grotius, he says, was a great, an incomparable man: in him was seen what is very rare, a peaceable spirit, with much judgment, and infinite erudition." augustus buchner[ ] calls grotius the greatest ornament of his time, the oracle of human wisdom, and the wonder of the age. lewis du moulin comparing grotius with salmasius[ ], allows grotius much more judgment, but gives to salmasius a greater extent of knowledge. in another place[ ], where he censures grotius for the part he had acted with regard to religion, he bestows on him, after all, in other respects the highest praises. "neither the present nor the last age, he says, hath produced a man superior to grotius in judgment and erudition. he was great in everything: a very great divine, lawyer, orator, poet, philosopher; his genius, far from being confined within the limits of the bar, was scarce bounded by those of nature." guy patin writes[ ], february , , "they have finished in holland, in nine volumes in folio, an edition of all the works of grotius, whom i formerly knew: he was the finest genius of his time; a man of surprising knowledge, and perfect master of polite and useful learning." "he and salmasius were the greatest scholars or their time," he writes in another letter[ ]. and in another place, "peter grotius, says he[ ], was son of the first man of his age." "i would not mention the most learned and greatest man of this country, says wicquefort[ ], were i not forced to it by the remarks published at brussels on what i have said of him in my memoirs: it will be readily conceived that i mean hugo de groot. i admire, with the rest of the world, the genius, the probity, and the works of this great man; and besides this there are particular considerations, which inspire me with a veneration for his memory." morhof calls him the phoenix of his age[ ]: hofman gives him the same commendation. "he is the greatest of men, says meibomius[ ], the light and support of letters; on whom we can bestow no praise but what will fall short of his virtue and erudition. his uncommon penetration makes us compare him to an eagle in the clouds," says oldenburg. in was printed at hall in saxony, under the false name of delft, a book entitled _hugonis grotii belgarum phoenicis manes ab iniquis obtrectationibus vindicati_. the author, who was said to be m. lehman[ ], speaks of grotius as the greatest man holland ever produced, and fit to be compared with the most illustrious of other countries, and he flatters himself that the dutch will in the issue agree with all nations, that he was the greatest ornament of their country. he gives his thoughts of grotius in the following lines. _hic ille est grotius, majus quo doctior orbis nil habuit; credo, nil habiturus erit: gallia quem stupuit, stupuit quem suecia, verus qui phoebus delphis, orbe pharusque fuit._ salmasius, who so unmercifully fell foul of grotius's memory, had formerly been one of his greatest admirers. grotius gave him the title of most eminent, which pope urbin viii. had a very little time before attributed to the cardinals. salmasius answers him[ ] august , . "you not only offend the cardinals, but, more than most eminent grotius (_super eminentissime_) you offend me, by giving me a title which you much better deserve yourself." these two princes of literature, as they were styled, had at this time a great reciprocal esteem and friendship for each other. we learn from grotius's letters[ ], that salmasius, notwithstanding the advantageous idea he entertained of his own knowledge, sometimes consulted him. he changed all of a sudden: grotius imagined[ ] it was to make his court to those in power in holland; but sarrau, who knew both, assures us[ ] that salmasius's coldness wholly proceeded from the change of grotius's sentiments in religion. the news of grotius's death was scarce spread over europe, when salmasius poured out all his venom in a letter written from leyden, nov. , , to sarrau[ ]. "you think grotius, says he, the first among the learned; for my part, i give that rank to vossius. i do not think it is necessary to wait for the judgment of posterity, to know whose opinion is most just: it will be sufficient to consult the learned in italy, germany, in this country, and even in france: but till we have their suffrages let us go through all the sciences, and examine the extent of grotius's capacity. there is no one whom i would desire to resemble less in divinity: he is every where a socinian, both in his treatise _on the truth of the christian religion,_ and his _commentary on the old and new testament_. as to philosophy, he can scarce be compared with the moderately skilled. if we consider him with regard to the art of disputation, i have never seen a person reason with less force, as is evident from his pieces which rivetus and desmarets have answered. there are several who may be ranked with him as to knowledge of polite learning, and even a great number who excel him: not a few have had as much greek and latin, and many of the learned have been more masters of the oriental languages. his _florum sparsio in jus justinianeum_ shew his skill in the law. a professor of helmstat has undertaken to confute his book _of the rights of war and peace_, and has told some friends, whom i have seen, that he would prove that every page contained gross blunders[ ]. he was a great poet; but every one here prefers barlæus; some even heinsius. but besides, when the point to be decided is priority in learning, poetry is set aside by consent of all good judges. vossius excels grotius in every thing. this is not only my opinion, but that of all the learned in italy, germany, poland, and holland, as i have had an opportunity to know by their letters, their writings, and their conversation. if we compare their writings, which of grotius's works can we prefer to those of vossius? is it his _notes on martianus capella_, written when he was but a boy? is it his _aratus_? in which he has ostentatiously introduced some arabic terms, for he scarce knew the elements of that language, as he acknowledged to me himself in some letters which i keep, written in answer to my enquiry about some arabic words that puzzled me. will you tell me of his _notes on lucan_? what vossius has done on the fragments of the ancient tragic and comic writers appears to me of much greater value. we know from other pieces what a poor critic grotius was, though a great man in some respects. as inconsiderable as i am, i would not have my name prefixed to his _commentary on the old testament_; for nothing can be more childish, or unworthy a man of his great character, than many of his notes. i shall take notice in another place of his _commentary on the new testament_, and frankly declare what i think of it. such are my sentiments of the person who merits the first place in literature. i have the suffrages of many of the learned in different branches for me, and shall name them when you inform me who are of your opinion." this letter, in which hatred, jealousy, and partiality openly shew themselves, rather hurt salmasius than injured grotius's character: the contempt with which he speaks of the excellent treatise _of the rights of war and peace_, which is worth all that salmasius ever wrote, incensed the whole republic of letters against him. it has been observed that all that was good in his pieces _on the power of kings_, is taken from grotius, whom he hath not once named; and that when he departed from him, he sinks much beneath grotius. but such was salmasius's character: jealous of the reputation of those who might be put in the scale against him, he had too high an opinion of himself, and too much despised others, in the judgment of the wise gronovius. grotius's wife being informed of the indiscreet stories published by salmasius against the memory of her husband, gave him to understand, that if he would not forbear, the only answer she should make to his invectives would be the publication of his former letters to grotius, filled with elogiums. for the rest, salmasius's invectives injured only himself: and it was said publicly, that he plucked the hairs of a dead lion. two medals were struck in honour of grotius, which we find in the end of the first volume of the _history of the united provinces_ by le clerc, one of his greatest admirers. the first has on one side the bust of that great man, with his name, hugo grotius, which is to him instead of an elogium: and on the other a chest, on which are the arms of sweden and france, to express his retreat into france, and his embassy from sweden at that court: at the side of the chest is the castle of louvestein, and opposite to it a rising sun, with these words: melior post aspera fata resurgo; i rise brighter after my misfortune. in the exergue is, _natus , obiit _. the second medal, larger than the first, also represents grotius on one side with the time of his birth and death. hugo grotius natus , aprilis, obiit , augusti: on the reverse is this inscription in dutch verse: _the phoenix of his country, the oracle of delft, the great genius, the light which enlighteneth the earth_. footnotes: [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] vir magne, vir mirande, vir sine exemplo. ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . cent. . [ ] life, b. . p. . [ ] life, b. . p. . anti baillet. c. . [ ] popo blanet, p. . [ ] ep. . [ ] lettre du xxi. livre, p. . [ ] bibliotheque choisie, p. . [ ] p. . [ ] ep. . præs. vir. p. . [ ] du maurier, p. . [ ] ep. sar. p. . [ ] ep. sar. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. vossi, . p. . [ ] vind. grot. p. . [ ] crenii anim. phil. et hist. part . p. . [ ] in jugulo causa, c. . crenius, anim. phil. part . p. . [ ] lett. . [ ] lett. . [ ] lett. . [ ] amb. l. . p. . [ ] polihist. l. . c. . [ ] pope blount, p. . [ ] supplement de moreri. [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. sarr. . ep. . p. . [ ] in crenii anim. phil. & hist. t. . p. . [ ] see book . § . p. . xxvi. it remains that we should relate what we know of grotius's family. after his death, his wife communicated with the church of england; which, it is reported, she said she did in conformity to the dying intentions of her husband. it is certain[ ] that grotius had a respect for the church of england; but it is difficult to believe, that he should desire his wife to declare he died in the communion of that church: for, besides that this fact is not easy to be reconciled with his later works, it has no foundation but a letter written june , , which is supported only by a hearsay ill-circumstantiated. grotius's wife died at the hague in the communion of the remonstrants; which, according to le clerc, was not contrary to her husband's last orders, as the remonstrants allowed of communion with the church of england. grotius had three sons and three daughters by his marriage. his eldest son, cornelius, studied in holland under the direction of his grandfather[ ]. grotius sent for him afterwards to paris, where he himself superintended his studies. he wrote to his brother, william grotius[ ], aug. , , that cornelius had learned the hebrew grammar; that he was studying the greek and logic; and had made himself matter of the art of oratory, without neglecting poetry, for which the young cornelius had a particular turn. some very good verses, written by him, are published in the poems of vincent fabricius. grotius made him read vossius's pieces on rhetoric, which he thought could not be excelled; he afterwards wanted cornelius to study the roman law, and the laws of holland: he also made him read physics and metaphysics; but his progress in these sciences was inconsiderable, according to du maurier, on account of his indolence and love of pleasure. grotius sent him after this to make his court to the high chancellor, who passed the beginning of the year at straelsund: oxenstiern received him very graciously, and took him into his service as latin secretary[ ]. grotius was at the height of his joy on seeing his son in a capacity of meriting the esteem and protection of such a great man as oxenstiern: he flattered himself[ ], that the honourable place, which his son held, would induce him to shake off his indolence; and he made him frequent remonstrances on this subject: but cornelius's natural temper prevailed, and he considered his employment as attended with too much trouble. he imagined that a military life would suit him better[ ], and wrote to his father on that head. grotius opposed this new turn for some time; but his remonstrances producing no effect, he wrote to muller[ ], april , , that his son had preferred mars to the muses, and that he had thought fit to yield to his choice, as war was also a road to glory; and moreover the time, which cornelius had spent in literature, would not be absolutely lost for war. he added, that the duke of weymar being the greatest and most experienced general of his age, he was very desirous that his son should serve under such an able master; and that he would send him with a reinforcement that was marching to that prince, who, he hoped, would assist him with his advice. cornelius was very well received by the duke[ ]; and for some time kept up an exact correspondence with his father by letters, who complimented him on his diligence in writing. the duke of weymar promised to advance him, if he paid a proper regard to his father's counsels. cornelius was by nature so inconstant, that he soon took a dislike to the army: he had even thoughts of returning to his father, who diverted him from it as a step which would dishonour him. on the duke of weymar's death, reigersberg advised cornelius to write that prince's history. young grotius mentioning this project to his father, he pressed him to execute it, because it would give him an opportunity of expressing his gratitude to a prince who had laid him under great obligations, and done such important services to sweden. besides, this work would be of use to the author, by obliging him to study the art of war, in order to speak of it properly. cornelius contented himself with projecting this design[ ]: he changed his service, and entered into the marshal de chatillon's army, in which he continued not long: he made the campaign of , in quality of cornet in the colonel's company of a german regiment of horse in the french service. soon after he got a company: however he wanted to serve in the valtoline[ ]. he had not been long there before he took a fancy to enter into the venetians service; and, without consulting his father, went to venice to make his contract with them: but it is probable they could not agree; for grotius writes[ ], july , , "cornelius will return from the antenorides without doing any thing." this fickleness of temper much displeased grotius[ ], who in the latter part of his life spoke of his son with great indifference. in the sequel, when the states of holland wanted to indemnify such as were unjustly persecuted during the overgrown power of the stadtholders[ ], they gave cornelius grotius a company in the guards; to peter, a troop of horse; and to mombas, their brother-in-law, a regiment; with leave to dispose of them, or sell them to the best advantage: which was contrary to custom and law. it was in that the states thus sought to repair the injuries which grotius had formerly suffered. cornelius died unmarried. peter, grotius's second son, was more like his father. in his infancy he was very sickly: having received a hurt in his leg[ ], the surgeons and physicians treated it so ill, that he remained lame all his days. his father, thinking his education would be cheaper in holland than at paris, sent him to his native country. the young grotius gave great satisfaction to his parents, as we learn by a letter from grotius to his brother william[ ], oct. , , "your accounts of my son give me great pleasure: if he goes on in the same manner, he will have reason to be satisfied with me." gerard vossius directed his studies; and by a letter[ ] of thanks from grotius to him, we learn that he was of an indolent turn. "the exhortations you give peter are worthy of the friendship you have always entertained for me and mine. i cannot think why my children should be so idle; perhaps it is because they see their father's diligence has turned to so little account." in peter grotius was sent to[ ] amsterdam to learn the use of the globes and navigation: grotius intended that he should afterwards serve in some expedition at sea: he seems at this time to have designed him for a sailor. peter had an inclination to learn arabic under the learned golius at leyden: but his father would only suffer him to visit this eminent professor, and consult him about the pronunciation of that language, which he thought his son might learn without a master at his leisure hours. grotius was desirous that his son should make a voyage to the east-indies[ ], or, if that was too long a voyage, that he should go to the brasils, or some other part of america, to learn what was not to be learnt at home, and might be of use to him afterwards. vossius, in the mean time, gave ample testimonials not only of peter's progress in the sciences, but also of his moral conduct. he wanted to join, to the studies recommended to him by his father, that of law; and grotius was not against it. he appears to have been somewhat uneasy about what this youth would do: may , , he writes to vossius, "i should be glad to know what my son's health will permit him to do, and to what his inclination leads him: there are some things which will prevent his being agreeable at court, or his undertaking long journies by land. i am not against his trying the sea; but i would not force any of my children against their inclination. the make of his body would require a sedentary life; but i am afraid he has too much vivacity to bear with it. i would beg of you to consult with himself and his friends on this subject; and at the same time to give me your own opinion." he writes again to vossius some time after, that if his son had a dislike to long voyages, he would nevertheless have him study commerce and navigation rather than the quibbles of the law: "not but a general knowledge of public law, and the laws of his own country, may be of use to him whatever manner of life he chuses: but i would not have him make it his principal study; and remember horace's precept, to keep his eye ever on the mark. if it is out of regard to me he wants to translate the tragedy of _sophomphaneus_, he deserves to be commended, even if he should make some mistakes: however i should not be sorry if it were done by one more advanced in years, and better skilled in poetry." this youth, uncertain what course to take, was in doubt whether he ought not to seek his fortune in sweden under the credit of his father's name. grotius, hearing of this design, writes to his brother[ ], "if my son thinks to raise himself in sweden, i see no other way of doing it, than by a perfect knowledge of navigation and commerce. the profession of a lawyer is not lucrative, nor doth it succeed with every one." vossius was still well pleased with him[ ]. the ardour he discovered for the study of the law determined grotius to propose to him a translation of the institutes of the law of holland into good latin, like that of the digests; and he asked his brother, william grotius, and all his friends, to encourage and assist his son in the execution of this design, which might be useful to the public and to the author. he wrote to gerard vossius[ ] to the same effect. william grotius laboured with his nephew in this translation. grotius, in returning him his thanks for assisting his son, desires him to make him read, as he went on, what was contained in the digests relating to the matter he was translating. in summer, , peter grotius had an offer of going to the brasils in count nassau's retinue. grotius approved of it, provided his son might have a creditable post, in which he might learn navigation: he was the more desirous that his son might make this voyage, as the present state of his affairs would not permit him to keep him in the way the latter chose to live. if this project did not succeed, grotius wanted that his son should pass the winter at the hague in the study of the law, and come to france in the spring, , to take his degree in the university of orleans; then return to the hague to study some time longer, and afterwards go to amsterdam to practise as an advocate, this profession being there most lucrative. the voyage to the brasils did not take place. peter grotius came to his father in summer, . he seems to have been well satisfied with him, as we may judge by a letter written to his brother[ ], aug. , this year. "peter is arrived here: he is much indebted to you, to his grandfather, and all his friends and relations, for instilling into him such good principles. i am very well satisfied with his diligence." he writes six months after[ ], "i am only afraid for his ambition, which is the vice of youth: he will live with more ease, and gain more as an advocate. i would beg of you, that as soon as he returns, which will be immediately, you would put him upon studying the precedents in law. but what is chiefly to be inculcated is diligence and love of labour." peter was preparing to return to holland, when a surgeon undertook to make him walk without halting[ ]. there were some hopes of his succeeding in whole or in part; but the event did not correspond with the surgeon's promises, and peter set out soon after for holland, in the end of april, . grotius did not regret the time his son had passed in france. "the time peter has been here, he says to his brother[ ], was not lost either for him or me: for he has learnt several useful things, and it has been a great pleasure to me to communicate what i have learnt to one of my children, or at least to have put him in a way of informing himself. i recommend him to you, and would beg of you to give him such exercises as may fit him to hold a distinguished rank amonst the orators and advocates, that his merit may silently reproach the dutch for what they did against his father. but, above all things, i would recommend to you the cultivation of those sentiments of piety which i have instilled into him, and to keep him from bad company." grotius wrote to vossius[ ], when his son set out on his return to holland, begging of him to continue to watch over the studies of this youth; and assuring him at the same time, that the friendship, which the city of amsterdam preserved for him, was the only reason which induced him to consent that any part of him should live in a country where he had been so ill-treated. vossius and william grotius were highly satisfied with peter grotius, and made great encomiums on him to his father, who wrote to his son, commending his diligence in the study of the law. he informed him at the same time of a successful method of pleading, which he himself had formerly used with advantage. we have spoken of it elsewhere[ ]. he was desirous of settling him as soon as possible at amsterdam, that he might learn navigation and commerce, the municipal laws of the town, and whatever might contribute to raise his fortune. he wanted to accustom him to a labour, by which he might live without his father's assistance. "if he thinks, says grotius to his brother[ ], to make his fortune with what money he will get from me, he is greatly deceived: let him do as i did, and cut out a path for himself; otherwise he must not count upon my liberality." april , , he caused him to be chid[ ] for running about too much, and for his learning italian and several things for which he had little occasion. "that is not the way, says he, to please me, nor to be useful to himself." in fine, peter grotius began to plead at the hague, in[ ] spring . there was a prospect at that time of getting him made pensionary of boisleduc: this design required some money, which grotius refused not to advance; but he could scarce believe that the prince of orange would consent to have his son in this place, unless he abjured arminianism. besides, peter grotius had so little experience in the law, that his father did not yet think him capable of filling a place, the difficulties of which he knew by experience: he would much rather have had his son go to amsterdam, to follow the bar, and seek some advantageous match, that his children might one day enter into the magistracy of a city, which alone kept alive expiring liberty. peter grotius seems to have had a dislike to amsterdam; for his father writes thus to his brother william grotius[ ], march , . "i have consulted with my wife about peter's affairs: we are of opinion that he should go to amsterdam, if he can be prevailed with; if not, you must tell him to come here: he will serve me for secretary, and i shall give him lectures in law, which perhaps he would not have received from any other. let him bring with him what he has translated of the institutes of the laws of holland." grotius soon changed his opinion; for he writes to his brother[ ], april , in the same year: "i would not have peter come here: therefore keep him with you." the irresolution of peter grotius chagrined his father: "i am much afraid, he writes to his brother[ ], that he will some day smart for his continual disobedience." grotius told his son[ ], that he must expect no letters from him, unless he sent him the latin translation of the institutes of the laws of holland, which he had long before enjoined him to set about. writing to his brother[ ], he says, "i am much afraid, that the counsels which peter follows, and will follow hereafter, are inconsistent with a good conscience. i am resolved to refer the whole to god, and not intermeddle in it. i should be sorry to have a repetition of the grief i suffer on his account." some time after, he was better satisfied with him, and wrote to his brother william[ ], feb. , , "i commend peter highly for applying to the bar: it is the way to acquire much useful knowledge, to gain a character, and in time to lay up something, or to rise higher." this is all that grotius's letters inform us about his son: the sequel of whose life is more interesting. in , he married, for love, an attorney's daughter, rich and handsome; but his mother and his other friends disliked the match. in the year following, a powerful party wanted to get him made greffier of amsterdam; but veue linchovius opposed him with great virulence and violence; maintaining that such a place ought not to be given to the son of an out-law, whose religious sentiments were erroneous. the declamations of this hot-headed man preventing grotius from being nominated to the place, he bore the disappointment with great tranquility. in , he purposed to publish a complete edition of his father's works, as appears by the privilege of the emperor ferdinand iii. dated oct. , , prefixed to his theological works. this edition, which unfortunately he did not go on with, was to be in nine volumes in folio. the first was to contain his _annotations on the old testament_; the second, the _commentary on the new_; the third would have comprehended his smaller theological pieces; the fourth, the treatise _de jure belli & pacis_, the _apology_, and the work _de imperio summarum potestatum circa sacra_; the fifth, _law tracts_; the sixth, _writings historical_; the seventh, _philological works_; the eighth, _poetical translations_, the _anthologia, stobæus_, and the _extracts from the tragedies and comedies_; and, lastly, the ninth, his _poems_ and _letters_. it is probable, that this design was defeated by grotius's departure from holland. it was not till long after, in , that the handsome edition of grotius's theological works was published in three volumes in folio, dedicated to king charles ii. of england by peter grotius, feb. , . the bookseller promised, in an advertisement prefixed to it, to print all grotius's other works, even those that had never been published; but he did not fulfil his engagements. grotius's enemies still opposing his son's advancement, he entered into the service of charles lewis, elector palatine, to whom hugo grotius had done singular service during his misfortunes. this prince nominated him his agent at the hague. the ferment in mens minds having subsided, and the face of affairs being changed in holland, peter grotius was nominated pensionary of amsterdam in ; which important place he filled for seven years with great reputation. this office was the height of hugo's wishes for his son. the count d'estrade, at that time ambassador from france in holland, was dissatisfied with the pensionary of amsterdam, who opposed the interest of the french king, in resentment of that prince's having driven mombas, peter grotius's brother-in-law, out of france. feb. , , he writes to the king, "i have not been at amsterdam, because the pensionary m. de groot is brother-in-law to m. de mombas, whom your majesty ordered to quit the kingdom for some affair in which you were dissatisfied with his conduct: since that time m. de groot has constantly opposed your majesty's interest at amsterdam. he is a man of spirit and firmness; and has much credit in that city. i shall neglect nothing to bring him back to his former sentiments." the king answered him, may , , that he had had reason to be dissatisfied with mombas's conduct; that if any consideration could make him forget it, it would certainly be a regard for m. de groot, whose person, says the king, i esteem: in fact, lewis xiv, as he writes to his ambassador, sept. , , dropt his resentment against mombas out of consideration for the pensionary of amsterdam. after the conclusion of the triple alliance, the necessity of regulating the subsidies with the northern powers induced the states of holland to send grotius to denmark and sweden. he went first to copenhagen, and afterwards to stockholm, where he assumed the quality of ambassador in ordinary. the states used only to keep a minister of the second rank at this court; but it was thought proper, says wicquefort, to do something more than common for such an extraordinary person; and he was ordered to make a splendid entry at the expence of the states. the fourth volume of m. de wit's _letters and negotiations_ concludes with the correspondence of peter grotius with the grand pensionary during his embassy at stockholm. the dutch minister discovers in it great knowledge of mankind. "the more i reflect, says he to m. de wit, dec. , , on the regency of sweden, the more clearly i discover that the most important affairs are not regulated agreeable to the public interest, but according to that of the principal ministers; and the surest and easiest way to succeed, is to gain him who has the king's ear rather than the king himself; because what is done for the good of the nation obliges no one in particular, and procures glory, but no acknowledgments. when i passed through denmark, i perceived that more might be done by means of m.g. with a hundred thousand crowns, than can be done with the king with five times that sum." the negotiations of peter grotius were in a promising way at the death of william borell the dutch ambassador at paris. grotius was nominated by the states of holland to succeed him, and at the same time the town of rotterdam chose him for their pensionary. m. de wit was of opinion that grotius ought to prefer the place of pensionary: he wrote to his friend, may , , "messieurs the burgomasters and counsellors of the town of rotterdam have unanimously made choice of you to be their counsellor pensionary. i believe your nomination to the french embassy will be set aside, if the gentlemen of rotterdam apply for that purpose to their noble and great mightinesses; and i imagine you will prefer this honourable establishment in a post your father was undeservedly turned out of, to a gilded exile, for such an embassy may be styled. other reasons will occur for your taking this step, without its being necessary for me to mention them." grotius was greatly embarrassed: he writes to m. de wit, may , , that his situation would not suffer him to give a positive answer; that he had written to the gentlemen of rotterdam, acknowledging their great civility and goodness in thinking of him; but that he had not declared himself with regard to the accepting of the place. holland had occasion at this time for the ablest of her ministers at the court of lewis xiv. and peter grotius could not refuse to serve his country in such critical circumstances. the point was to bring about a reconciliation between the united provinces and the king, who resolved to declare war against them, imagining he had great reason to complain of their behaviour. grotius was the only minister who could succeed in this negotiation, had a reconciliation been practicable, says wicquefort. the king, though highly incensed against holland, shewed the greatest respect to her ambassador. war being declared in , peter grotius was again sent to the king, to try if an accommodation could be accomplished: but the king had made too great preparations for war to conclude a peace so soon. grotius returned to the hague to serve the republic in quality of deputy to the states-general; but in a short time experienced a cruel reverse of fortune. being involved in the disgrace of the de wits, he was stript of his dignities, and threatened with assassination; which determined him to leave holland: he went to antwerp, where an attempt was made on his life. he retired to liege, and afterwards to aix-la-chapelle, and cologn. a general peace was at this time negotiating; and grotius having done singular services to the dutch plenipotentiaries, he was permitted to return to holland, after being two years absent. he continued some time undisturbed in the country; but wicquefort, the duke of brunswick's minister at the hague, being taken into custody, among his papers were found several letters from grotius, containing, it is said, some indiscreet things concerning state affairs, and against the republic's ministers. he was arrested and prosecuted. of the fifteen judges appointed to try him, nine declared him innocent. this was in november, . nicholas heinsius, who was not prejudiced in his favour, writes to grævius on the th of december following: "there was certainly imprudence and malice in what grotius did; but i leave others to judge whether he was guilty of high treason." it is improbable his judges would have shewn him favour, had he been convicted of a capital crime: he was known to be hated by the prince of orange, whom the dutch at that time sought very much to please. peter grotius, thus escaping out of the hands of his enemies, retired with his family to a country seat he had near harlem, where he spent the rest of his days in educating his children, and reading the best authors. he died at the age of seventy. some pretend, but without foundation, that he was poisoned. those who knew him particularly speak of him as one of the best heads of his time. "peter de groot, son of the great grotius, was not so learned as his father, says wicquefort; but i may venture to assert he was as able a minister. we can't say too much of this man, who was above all praise. i write this after receiving the news of his death. how much is holland to be pitied for losing a man who would have assisted in repairing the breaches made by the disorders which have for some years prevailed in the state! he joined solidity of judgment to the graces of wit, and must have possessed these qualities in an eminent degree since they shone thro' such a disagreeable figure. it may be said of m. de groot, that never did such a deformed body lodge such a fine and great soul: he had a surprising ready wit, his conversation was delightful, his understanding clear and solid, and his sentiments just and equitable: he possessed great knowledge of all sorts of business, foreign and domestic, and especially of what the french call the art of pleasing." grotius's third son, diederic, began his studies in a very promising manner. grotius writes to his brother william, august , , "i am overjoyed to hear that diederic's progress even exceeds my hopes. i wish he may continue." his grandfather john grotius was his tutor. when he came to be old enough to be put to some business, grotius designed him for an engineer. he learned under the famous boschius, and came afterwards, in the beginning of , to see his father at paris. grotius having applied to the duke of weymar to take diederic into his service, he entered into that prince's houshold as one of his pages, and was much respected: the duke soon after made him his aid-de-camp. grotius seemed to be well satisfied with his son at the time this youth had the misfortune to lose his patron. on hearing of the duke of weymar's death grotius immediately thought of sending diederic to marshal bannier. he wrote a letter to that general[ ], october , , in which he puts him in mind that it was his excellency's brother first proposed to him his entering into the swedish service: he afterwards makes an offer of his son, who had served two years under boschius, chief engineer to the prince of orange, and had since been several years one of the duke of weymar's pages. after the death of that illustrious prince, who shared with bannier the glory of being the greatest general in europe, he thinks he cannot do better than give him to marshal bannier, who was unanimously allowed to hold the first rank in the art of war. he begs that his son may be only employed in things of which he is capable. on the same day he wrote to salvius, desiring him to recommend diederic to the marshal. whilst grotius was thus employed in placing his son, diederic entertained a design of entering into the dutch service. his father was highly displeased with this project; and wrote to him, and to william grotius, that it was most improper for him to expose his life for his cruellest enemies; and that sweden was his true country, and to that kingdom he ought to devote his life, and from it to merit and expect honours. "if my son dislikes the activity of a military life, grotius writes to his brother, he may find ease, and acquire honour in general bannier's houshold, or by exercising his profession of engineer. i shall always give him my assistance, and i hope i have as many friends elsewhere, as i have enemies in holland. if my son disgraces himself so far, as to ask favours from the dutch, he is unworthy to call me father. if he chuses rather to be an ensign with you, than a captain among others, he is mean-spirited, and forgetful of what he has been." diederic had a design of writing the history of the duke of weymar; which project grotius approved of, as worthy of a grateful mind. he sent him word, that if he would set about this work whilst he was with marshal bannier, he would make his court by it to that general, who had it in his power to reward him. diederic at last complied with his father's desire, and went to marshal bannier's camp. he was made a prisoner of war by the bavarians in an unfortunate action near dillingue and memingue, in the end of the year . grotius immediately set all his friends to work to procure his son's liberty: he wrote to the famous john de vert, and applied to the duke of bavaria that he would be pleased to send him back as soon as possible: and at the same time wrote to his son to come to him as soon as he should be at liberty, that they might consult together what was best to be done. diederic sent his father the history of the unfortunate action in which he was taken; and grotius printed it to give copies to his friends, and to send others to the swedish ministry. diederic was carried to tubingen, from thence to ulm, and confined in a citadel between ulm and augsburg: he did not continue there long: immediately on receiving his father's letter, the duke of bavaria gave orders that diederic might be set at liberty, after settling his ransom, which was fixed at a thousand florins. he came to paris, and on his arrival grotius wrote a letter of thanks to the elector of bavaria, telling him, that as he had but one way to express his gratitude, namely by promoting a general peace, which his electoral highness wished for, he would do all in his power to bring it about. he wrote to ketner the bavarian minister to the same effect. diederic went back to serve under marshal turenne in germany, and made the campaign of . he was again taken prisoner, but soon released; and served in the end of the same campaign. he was detached by the duke d'anguien and marshal turenne to take fridelshem and neudstad, and was afterwards sent by them to the landgravine of hesse: he acquitted himself with honour of all the commissions that were given him. the duke d'anguien spoke of him in the highest terms; and the landgravine received him in the best manner, in consideration of the services which his father had done to the house of hesse: he was sent a second time by marshal turenne to the landgravine. the duke d'anguien promised to take care of this youth's fortune; and the approbation of a prince, who was the mars of his time and knew men so well, is the highest elogium that could be given of diederic. he came to an unhappy end when but young and unmarried. queen christina having abdicated the crown in favour of charles gustavus, diederic and cornelius grotius took a resolution to wait on that prince, who had known and highly esteemed their father in france, with an intention to offer him their services, and get employment. setting out from holland with this design, they were got between embden and bremen, halfway to hamburg, when a villain, who had served diederic several years as his valet, resolved to murder both the brothers for the sake of their money: he went in the night-time into diederic's chamber, and shot his master dead while asleep: he was preparing to serve cornelius grotius in the same manner, but he was awake: he happened to be employed in composing a latin epigram. on hearing the shot, he took a pistol which lay on a chair by his bed side, and seeing the murderer advance softly to him (it was moon-light) he fired, and laid him flat on the floor: the people of the inn got up on the noise, and delivered the villain, who was dangerously wounded, into the hands of justice, and he was broke on the wheel. hugo grotius had also three daughters, frances, mary, and cornelia; frances, the youngest, was born in october, , before her time, her mother being delivered of her in the eighth month: accordingly this young person was short-lived, for she died in the beginning of the year . mary, his second daughter, died at paris in the month of march, , of the fatigue and cold she received in her journey to that city. grotius informed his father of her death by a letter[ ] dated march , , in which he tells him she died almost without pain, and with a deep sense of religion. "my wife and i, says he, bear this misfortune like people accustomed to adversity: besides, why should we call her death a misfortune? has not god a right to take back what he gave? and ought not we to flatter ourselves that she is arrived at that happy state, which the young ought to long after as much as the old? we are delivered from the care of procuring a husband for her: perhaps we should have had much difficulty to find one that would have been agreeable to her and to all her family: and even if we should have found one that pleased us all at first, would there not have been room to apprehend that he had concealed his true character for a time, and that he would afterwards make her unhappy? she is now delivered from the pains of bearing children, and bringing them up. more happy than her mother, she will not see judges incensed against her husband, because he is innocent: she will not be obliged to shut herself up in prison for her husband; nor to lead a wandering life to accompany him. let us congratulate her that god has taken her out of the world before she knew too much of the evil or what are called the good things of it. let us congratulate ourselves on her having lived with us as long as life was agreeable to her, and free from any mixture of bitterness. what is there at present in christendom to make us desire life? divisions in the church, bloody wars, men slaughtered, women violated, cruel murders, and multitudes reduced to beggary; bohemia, moravia, and silesia pillaged; the heirs of the most noble families reduced to the necessity of living on alms, if it can be called living to drag out their days in misery, wishing for death, which alone can put an end to it." cornelia, the eldest of grotius's daughters, who survived her father, married john barthon, viscount of mombas, a gentleman of poitou, who was obliged to quit france for having displeased lewis xiv. he went to holland, from whence he was also forced to fly, having been involved in the misfortunes wherein the de wits perished, and which gave peter grotius, his brother-in-law, so much uneasiness. grotius had a brother named william, with whom he kept up the greatest intimacy during his whole life, and made him the confident of his studies and designs. it appears by his letters that they lived in the strictest friendship. hugo, who was the eldest, contributed to his brother's education, and directed his studies. we have a letter from grotius to his brother, dated at rotterdam september , , containing a plan of study. "i am of opinion, says he, that in order to acquire the knowledge of law, before you touch upon law tracts you should read with attention aristotle's second and fifth book of ethics, to nicomachus, or the excellent paraphrase of them published by heinsius; then aristotle's rhetoric, with the learned commentary on it; afterwards cicero's _offices_, the _paradoxes_, _de finibus_, _of laws_, the _topica_, and _de inventiene_. i could wish that whilst reading you would make extracts, or at least mark in the margin of your book whatever has relation to the law of nature and of nations, to the origin of laws and magistrates, to _jus publicum et privatum_. when you have done this, we shall think of the rest." it was grotius who corrected his brother's law theses. william grotius came to france in to learn the language; and retiring to senlis made great progress in it: he purposed to go to tours, and grotius approved of his journey, because the air was pure, and they spoke good french there. william grotius, as well as his brother, had a turn for theological studies: he wrote something in verse on the decalogue, which grotius mentions in a letter dated from his prison at louvestein, november , . "i have read with pleasure, he says, what you have done on the decalogue: the maxims are excellent, and the verses easy." william had his brother's confidence during his whole life. grotius writes to him from paris, april , , "you are never weary of assisting me under my afflictions: if ever fortune enables me to testify my gratitude, i will forgive her all the tricks she has played me." he was desirous, in the end of the year , that his brother should settle his matters so, as to come to see him in the beginning of the following year; but this journey did not take place. grotius's disgrace affected his brother: he despaired of attaining to honours, and grotius advised him to think only of raising himself by the study of the law. in april he married alida grasvinkel. about this time a dutchman was seized at lillo, with letters from william grotius to his brother. it was expected that something would be found in them against the state, and they talked of nothing less than imprisoning him; but notwithstanding the malice of his enemies, they could not find the least pretext from these letters to trouble him. in the mean time william followed the profession of an advocate with much success: grotius compliments him on it in a letter of the th of november, , in which he tells him, that the life he led in shining at the bar was much more agreeable than that which is spent in public employments. william grotius wrote about this time the lives of the advocates, under the title of _vitæ jurisconsultorum quorum in pandectis exstant nomina, conscriptæ a gulielmo grotio jurisconsulto delphensi_. he sent this book to his brother, who writes to him that he read it with pleasure, and was delighted to see a work which demonstrated his brother's genius, learning, and good sense. william grotius, whose marriage had prevented his going to france to see his brother, went thither however in : he returned again to holland. william being desirous to have his brother's picture, hugo had the complaisance to sit for it, and send it to him. the enmity of the magistrates was still so violent at this time, that william made a mystery of this picture; in which grotius thought he acted very prudently. in there was a talk of making william grotius pensionary of delft. the conditions on which the place was offered did not suit him, and he declined it. this refusal was approved of by grotius; for he writes to him, march , , "as to the place of pensionary of our native town, the more i think of it, the happier i imagine you in having got rid of it, and in preferring honour to profit: for in these times it would have been impossible to have preserved that place and your honour." the east-india company chose him for their advocate in . grotius compliments his brother on it march , that year. "i always loved that company, he says: i look upon it as the support of the republic; and if i could be at present of any use to it, i would most gladly embrace the opportunity." grotius's writings concerning antichrist were approved of by william and their father. however, as there was reason to apprehend that the printing of these pieces might increase the number and animosity of his enemies, grotius proposed to his brother not to take upon him their publication, especially as he might easily find persons that were far from a factious spirit, who would willingly undertake it: but william grotius ran the hazard of this publication, without being frightened at the consequences. grotius had always discovered great impatience when denied the tides of honour due to the ambassadors of crowned heads. he imagined it to be the consequence of a plot of his enemies to depreciate him. william did not approve of his brother's great heat on this subject: and thought there was reason to presume that it was owing rather to inattention, than a premeditated design. grotius, whose mildness of temper was greatly altered by his late disputes with the reformed ministers, as henry de villeneuve observes in a letter to the abbé barcellini, was much dissatisfied with his brother's manner of excusing those of whom he thought he had reason to complain; and wrote to him very sharply on this subject, december , . "i imagine, says he, i see and hear you pleading at the bar: you find reasons to excuse my enemies for things for which no body here excuses them: you blame me for things for which no body here blames me, nor will any others except your dutchmen. it is fit that i should support my dignity: the thing is done on purpose; and the swedes, whom it concerns, would be offended with me if i acted otherwise. i would therefore ask of you, for the future to address the letters you receive for me to my wife; and i shall afterwards see what is to be done." this small altercation did not interrupt the friendship of the two brothers, nor their correspondence by letters, which continued till grotius's death. william, besides the book we have already mentioned, wrote another on the law of nature, entitled, _willelmi grotii de principiis juris naturalis enchiridion_. this work is much inferior to the treatise _of war and peace_. however, it has its merit, and is particularly valuable for containing in a small compass all the principles of natural law clearly displayed. grotius had still another brother, named francis, who was the second son of john grotius. he died young. grotius wrote a poem on his death, and a consolatory piece in prose and verse to his father: they are both in the collection of his poems. john grotius had a daughter of fine accomplishments. grotius acquaints us[ ], that she wrote an useful book on widowhood, which was very well done. the design of this work was not to condemn second marriages, but only to shew that it was more becoming a reasonable woman to content herself with having had one husband. after her death it was proposed to print it; and grotius, to make it a more considerable book, translated into dutch three treatises of tertullian, one of st. ambrose, two of st. chrysostome, and three of st. jerom, on the same subject. we have not learnt whether this collection was ever published. the end of the sixth and last book. footnotes: [ ] see the testimonia at the end of le clerc's edition of the treatise on the truth of the christian religion, p. . & . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . & . p . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. p. [ ] ep. . p. . & . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . . p. . . p. [ ] ep. . p. . . p. . . p. . . p. . & . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . & . p. . [ ] ann. de basnage, t. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . . p. . & . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . & . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] see book i. § . [ ] ep. . p. . & . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . [ ] ep. . p. . a catalogue of grotius's works. _hugeiani grotii batavi pontifex romanus, rex galliarum, albertus cardinalis, regina angliæ, ordines foederati: ex officinâ plantinianâ, apud christophorum raphelengium, academiæ lugduno-batavæ typographum_, . grotius's poems are in two collections; the prophane, in that published by his brother, which has gone through many editions; in the latter ones are inserted the tragedy of sophomphaneus, the _catechism_ in latin verse, and _sylva ad franciscum augustum thuanum_. see the _life of grotius_ book . § . b. . § . b. . § . the sacred poems were printed, in quarto, at the hague, in , in a collection wherein we find _adamus exsul_, a tragedy; _exordia quatuor evangeliorum_; _paraphrasis metrica hymnorum in evangelio & actis lucæ, variique psalmi, & alia carmina_; _martiani minei felicis satyricon, seu de nuptiis philologiæ & mercurii libri duo_; _& de septem artibus liberalibus libri totidem: emendati & notis illustrati_. _lugduni-batavorum_, . see the life of grotius, b. . § . limneu[greek: retichê], _sive portuum investigandorum ratio, metaphraste hugone grotio batavo: ex officinâ plantinianâ, apud christophorum raphelengium, academiæ lugduno-batavæ typographum_, . see the life of grotius, b. . § . _hug. grotii batavi syntagma aratæorum, opus poëticæ & astronomiæ studiosis utilissimum. ex officinâ plantinianâ, apud christophorum raphelengium, academiæ lugduno-batavæ typographum_, . _hoc opere continentur arati phoenomena, & diosemeia græcè ciceronis interpretatio h. grotii versibus interpolata._ _phoenomena aratea germanico cæsare interprete, multo auctiora & emendatiora, ope manuscripti profecti ex bibliothecâ nob. dom. jacobi susii de grisendorf._ _ejusdem fragmenta prognosticorum, imagines siderum germanici versibus interpositæ, ex manuscripto desumptæ, & a jacobo gheinia æri incisæ._ _notæ h. grotii ad aratum._ _notæ ejusdem ad germanici phoenomena._ _notæ ejusdem ad imagines, in quibus siderum & singularum stellarum nomina arabica, hebræa, græca, & latina, & situs exponuntur._ _notæ ad fragmenta ciceronis._ _festi avieni paraphrasis, cum notis brevibus in margine appositis._ _mare liberum, seu de jure quod batavis competit ad indica commercia._ _lugduni-batavorum_, . see the life of grotius, b. . § . _de antiquitate reipublicæ batavicæ._ _lug. bat._ . see the life of grotius, b. . § . the theological works were printed in four volumes in folio, by the heirs of blaeu, at amsterdam, in . the three first tomes contain the _commentary on the holy scriptures_. see the life of grotius, b. . § . b. . § . the fourth volume contains divers theological pieces. _de veritate religionis christianæ._ see the life of grotius, b. . § . b. . § . _ordinum hollandiæ & westfrisiæ pietas ab improbissimis multorum calumniis, præsertim vero a sibrandi luberti epistolâ, quam archiepiscopo cantuariensi scripsit, vindicata._ see the life of grotius, b. . § . _bona fides sibrandi luberti._ see the life of grotius, b. . § . _ordinum hollandiæ & westfrisiæ decretum pro pace ecclesiarum, munitum s. scripturæ, conciliorum, patrum, confessionum, & theologorum testimoniis._ see the life of grotius, b. . § . & . _oratio_ ix. _cal. maii habita in senatu amstelodamensi, versa è belgico sermone per theodorum schrevelium._ see the life of grotius, b. . § . _defensio decreti pro pace ecclesiarum._ see the life of grotius, b. . § . _de imperio summarum potestatum circa sacra._ see the life of grotius, b. . § . _defensio fidei catholicæ de satisfactione christi, adversùs faustum socinum senensem._ see the life of grotius, b. . § . _conciliatio dissidentium de re predestinatoriâ atque gratiâ opinionum._ see the life of grotius, b. . § . _disquisitio, an pelagiana sint illa dogmata, quæ nunc sub eo nomine traducuntur._ see the life of grotius, b. . § . _philosophorum veterum sententiæ de fato, & de eo quod est in nostrâ potestate._ see the life of grotius, b. . § . _commentarius ad loca quædam novi testamenti de antichristo._ see the life of grotius, b. . § . _appendix ad commentationem de antichristo._ see the life of grotius, b. . § . _dissertatio de coenæ administratione ubi pastores non adsunt._ see the life of grotius, b. . § . _dissertatio an semper communicandum per symbola._ see the life of grotius, b. . § . _explicatio trium utilissimorum locorum n.t. in quibus agitur de fide & operibus._ see the life of grotius, b. . § . _via ad pacem ecclesiasticam; quo tractatu continentur bulla pii papæ iv. super formâ juramenti professionis fidei exhibitâ invictissimo imperatori carolo v. in comitiis augustanis, . georgii cassandri consultatio de articulis religionis inter catholicos & protestantes controversis. hugonis grotii annotata ad consultationem cassandri, ejusdem disquisitio de dogmatibus pelagianis, ejusdem baptizatorum institutio & de eucharistiâ; denique syllabus auctorum, qui de conciliatione controversiarum in religione scripserunt._ _animadversiones in andreæ riveti animadversiones._ see the life of grotius, b. . § . _votum pro pace ecclesiasticâ, contra examen andreæ riveti._ see the life of grotius, b. . § . _rivetiani apologetici discussio._ see the life of grotius, b. . § . _de summo sacerdotio._ see the life of grotius, b. . § . _de dogmatis, ritibus, & gubernatione ecclesiæ christianæ._ _de dogmatis quæ reipublicæ noxia sunt aut dicuntur._ _m. annæi lucani pharsalia, ex emendatione & cum notis h. grotii. lug. bat._ . see the life of grotius, b. . § . _dicta poëtarum quæ apud joannem stobeum extant, emendata & latino carmine reddita ab hugone grotio: accesserunt plutarchi & basilii magni de usu græcorum poëtarum. parisiis_, . see the life of grotius, b. . § . b. . § . _apologeticus eorum, qui hollandiæ, westfrisiæ, & vicinis quibusdam nationibus ex legibus præfuerunt ante mutationem anni_ . _parisiis_, . see the life of grotius, b. . § . b. . § . _de jure belli ac pacis libri tres._ _parisiis_, . the best edition of this celebrated work is that published at amsterdam, in , by john barbeyrac, who has translated it so happily. at the end of this edition he subjoined a small tract of grotius: _de equitate, indulgentiâ, & facilitate, liber singularis._ see the life of grotius, b. . § . _excerpta ex tragoediis & comediis græcis, tùm quæ extant, tùm quæ perierunt: emendata & latinis versibus reddita ab hugone grotio, cum notis & indice auctorum ac rerum. parisiis apud nicolaum buon_, . see the life of grotius, b. . § . b. . § . _grollæ obsidio, cum annexis anni_ . _amstelodami, apud guillelmum blaeu_, . see the life of grotius, b. . § . _euripidis tragoedia phenissæ, emendata ex manuscriptis, & latina facta ab hugone grotio. parisiis_, . see the life of grotius, b. . § . b. . § . an introduction to the laws of holland, in dutch. hague, . see the life of grotius, b. . § . b. . § . _c. cornelius tacitus, ex j. lipsii editione, cum notis & emendationibus h. grotii. lugduni-batavorum, ex officinâ elzevirianâ_, . see the life of grotius, b. . § . _florum sparsio in jus justinianeum, & in loca quædam juris civilis. parisiis_, . see the life of grotius, b. . § . _de origine gentium americanarum dissertatio prior. parisiis_, . see the life of grotius, b. . § . _de origine gentium americanarum dissertatio altera, adversùs obtrectatorem opaca bonum quem fecit barba. parisiis_, . see the life of grotius, b. . § . _hugonis grotii quædam hactenùs inedita, aliaque ex belgicè editis latinè versa, argumenti theologici, juridici, politici. amstelodami_, . _consilium juridicum super iis, quæ nassavii in juliacum & geldriam competere sibi dicunt._ _epistola ad car. v. an provinciæ foederati belgii inferendæ sunt imperio germanico._ _f. thomæ campanellæ philosophiæ realis pars tertia, quæ est de politicâ, in aphorismos digesta._ _de pace germaniæ epistola ad clarissimum virum n.p. an supposititia sit dijudicet sagax lector._ _hugonis grotii responsio ad quædam ab utroque judicum consessu objecta, ubi multa disputantur de jure summarum potestatum in hollandiâ westfrisiâque, & magistratuum in oppidis._ see the life of grotius, b. . § . _historia gothorum, vandalorum, & longobardorum; ab hugone grotio partim versa, partim in ordinem digesta, cum ejusdem prolegomenis, ubi regum gothorum ordo & chronologia cum elogiis; accedunt nomina appellativa cum explicatione. scriptores sunt procopius, agathias, jornandes, b. isidorus, paulus warnefridus. amstelodami_, . see the life of grotius, b. . § . _annales & historiæ de rebus belgicis, ab obitu philippi regis usque ad inducias anni . amstelodami, anno_ . see the life of grotius, b. . § . _hugonis grotii epistolæ, quotquot reperiri potuerunt. amstelodami_, . see the life of grotius, b. . § . index. a. adamus exsul, a tragedy, . aligre, keeper of the seals, grotius flatters himself with being protected by him, the services which he accordingly receives from him, ibid. america, grotius's treatise of the origin of its inhabitants, . amsterdam, that city favours the gomarists, and declares against a toleration, deputation sent to it on this subject, ib. et seq. anne of austria, queen, is declared regent during the minority of her son lewis xiv., gives grotius an audience, . anthologia, grotius purposes to publish an edition of that collection, the several indexes he would have to it, the printing of it begun, but stopt, where the original of this work is to be found, the time employed by the author in it, ibid. antichrist, grotius's book on that subject, it occasions him many enemies, made a great noise among the enemies of the romish church, the offence which it gave to the reformed, a mistake of the author in this book, ibid. aratus, grotius's edition of his phoenomena, commended, ibid a copy of this edition collated by nicholas heinsius, who added some notes, . ardenne, battle of, . arminians, their conference with the gomarists in presence of the states of holland, their remonstrance to the states, ibid by whom it was drawn up, a summary of their doctrine, acknowledge the civil magistrate to be judge of ecclesiastical disputes, persecuted by prince maurice, refuse to receive the synod of dort, their protest against that assembly, ibid are condemned in it, the pretexts they make use of against that synod, ibid favoured by prince henry frederic of nassau, . arminius, his dispute with gomar, et seq. his doctrine concerning predestination and grace, ibid he is complained of to the synod of rotterdam, presents a petition to the states of holland and westfriesland, ibid et seq. his death, grotius's elogium of him, ibid. method proposed by him for a reunion of christians, . arnaud, his relation concerning grotius's death, . b. bacon, lord, the reading of his works gave grotius the first hint of compiling a system of natural law, . baillet, his judgment of grotius's poems, of his annals of the low countries, . balzac, what he said of grotius's poems, his esteem for that learned man, . bannier, marshal, his brother first put it into grotius's head to enter into the swedish service, . barberin, cardinal francis, what he found fault with in grotius's book of war and peace, . barbeyrac, his commendation of grotius's treatise of the rights of war and peace, et seq. character of his translation of that book, his judgment of john de felda's notes against it, , defects observed by barbeyrac in it, . barlæus, his elogium of grotius when a boy, . barnevelt, grand pensionary of holland, his firmness in opposing the earl of leicester's designs, contributes to the nominating count maurice of nassau captain general, ibid sent ambassador to henry iv., success of his negotiation, ibid. grotius's connection with him, the report it gave rise to, ibid his behaviour in the dispute between the arminians and gomarists, , , et seq. he and grotius have the direction of the states conduct in this affair, decree proposed by him to the states, rise of count maurice's hatred to him, wants to resign his employments, arrested by count maurice, crimes of which his enemies accuse him, is brought to his tryal, excepts against his judges, ibid his condemnation, and its grounds, the court of france interests itself in his behalf, ibid his death and elogium, . baudius, his opinion of grotius's poetical talents, a candidate for the place of historiographer of the united provinces, which he yields to that learned man, scazon written by him in honour of grotius, . bayle, his opinion of grotius's project for reuniting the religions, . berthier, father, the jesuist, his information concerning the original manuscript of grotius's anthologia, what he says of his translation of the _supplicantes_ of euripides, . bignon, jerom, advocate general, his observation to grotius concerning his annals of the low countries, his opinion of the treatise of the truth of the christian religion, cannot bear to hear grotius accused of socinianism, his esteem for him, . bishops, their authority favoured by grotius, et seq. he says they were established by christ, ibid. blondius, his ill treatment of reigersberg, how threatened by grotius on that account, ibid. boissise, thumeri de, on what occasion nominated ambassador from france to holland, success of his negotiation, receives grotius at his arrival in france, . bossuet, his summary of the arminian doctrine, accuses grotius of favouring socinianism, allows that he did not deny christ's divinity, . bouhier, the president, his mistake concerning the year of grotius's birth, . boutillier, superintendant of the finances, makes grotius offers of service, his conference with him concerning the treaty concluded in france with the envoys of the allies, . boze, a collection of grotius's letters in cipher in his cabinet, brandanus, grotius's chaplain, his character, ibid is turned away by grotius, . briet, father, a jesuit, what he says of grotius's disposition to turn roman catholic, . c. calvin, spoken of by grotius with the greatest indignation, his equivocal expressions concerning the eucharist, . calvinists, grotius disapproves of their sentiments on the eucharist, and reproaches them with their contradictions, capella, martianus, grotius's edition of that author, the nature of his work, and its character, , its use, . carleton, the english ambassador in holland, demands that grotius should be punished for writing the book of the freedom of the ocean, . casaubon, isaac, his commendation of grotius's edition of capella, what he says of his edition of aratus's phoenomena, translates into greek verse grotius's prosopopoeia of the town of ostend, his commendation of his christus patiens, ibid. his opinion of his talents for poetry, ibid. henry iv. has thoughts of making him his librarian, difficulties that design meets with, ibid is nominated librarian, ibid grotius contracts a great friendship with him, his esteem for that learned man, his thoughts of the re-union of the roman catholics with the protestants, the last testimony of his sentiments for grotius, commends his apology against sibrand lubert, what grotius says of casaubon's resolution to turn roman catholic, his opinion of the roman catholics of france, ibid. casaubon, meric, his esteem for grotius, his elogium of grotius in the preface to hierocles of providence and fate, ibid. caumartin, is made keeper of the seals, . cerisante, nominated agent from sweden at the court of france, his character and birth, , his adventures, ibid is dismissed by the queen of sweden, his disputes with grotius, ibid. charenton, the ministers of, refuse to receive grotius into their communion on his first arrival in france, his discussions with them when he returned in quality of ambassador from sweden, send a deputation to him, . charles i. of england, invites grotius into that kingdom, . charles lewis, elector palatine, purposes to put himself at the head of the weymarian army on the duke of weymar's death, goes into france, and is arrested, is conducted to vincennes, princes who interest themselves in procuring his liberty, he comes out of prison on certain conditions, ibid. chavigny, his negotiations with grotius, treats with him concerning a truce that was proposed, another negotiation between them concerning the elector palatine's discharge, christenius, john, his satisfaction on seeing grotius when he was in france, esteem with which he speaks of him, ibid. christian iv. king of denmark, his offers to grotius to draw him into his service, . christina, queen of sweden, state of affairs at her accession to the throne, her right to the crown disputed, ibid approves of grotius's nomination to the french embassy, honours paid by her to grotius at his return to sweden, her present to him at his departure, accused of shortening that learned man's days, purchases several of his manuscripts after his death, her compliment to his widow on the death of her husband, . church, grotius's thoughts of her infallibility, and the submission due to her, . clement, st. publication of his epistle, grotius's thoughts of it and of the second letter ascribed to him, ibid. clerc, le, his relation of the manner of grotius's death, gives hopes of his publishing an edition of that learned man's anthologia, his opinion of his commentary on the scriptures, . colomiez, his opinion of grotius's treatise of the truth of the christian religion, elogiums of grotius related by him, his own opinion of him, ibid. condé, prince of, grotius dedicates his capella to him, is entirely in grotius's interest, renews his acquaintance with him on his arrival in france in quality of ambassador from sweden, their conversation together, . contra-remonstrants. see gomarists. cornets, cornelius, who he was, his marriage with ermengarda de groot, a branch of his family in provence, ibid his children, ibid. corraro, the venetian ambassador at paris, grotius's complaint against him, how the affair was made up, ibid. crellius, answers grotius's book against socinus, that learned man's letters to crellius on this subject, . crusius, a swedish lord, his quarrel with schmalz, . d. d'avaux, acts against grotius, his negotiation with salvius for a renewal of the alliance between france and sweden, . daube, his opinion of grotius's treatise of the rights of war and peace, . dead, grotius's opinion of praying for them, . desmarets writes with great bitterness against grotius's treatise on antichrist, his answer to him, ibid. desnoyers, secretary at war, treats with grotius about a truce, . de vic made keeper of the seals, grotius flatters himself with being favoured by him, ibid services which de vic doth that learned man, his death, ibid. d'or, francis, enters into grotius's service as his chaplain, who he was, ibid turns roman catholic, and not censured by grotius, . dort, synod of, its convocation, the holding of that assembly, it proscribes the arminians, . douza, john, his elogium of grotius when a boy, . du maurier, ambassador from france to holland, grotius gives him a method of study, ibid he sends grotius a recommendation for france, gives him false hopes of a return to his country, . du maurier, the son, his account of the circumstances attending grotius's death, his criticism of his letters, . du moulin, lewis, what he says to grotius's advantage, . duncomius, what he writes vossius concerning grotius, . dupuis, henry, congratulates grotius on his escape out of prison, and makes him an offer of his services, , . dupuis, mess. visit grotius on his arrival at paris, his great intimacy with them, . duræus, minister of the church of sweden, seconds grotius's project of pacification, obstacles to the execution of his design, . du vair, keeper of the seals, his esteem for grotius, letter to him assuring him of his friendship, ibid his death, compliments grotius on his good intention of forming a coalition of all christians, . e. elizabeth queen of england takes the united provinces under her protection, her treaty with them, ibid. english, their dispute with the dutch concerning the greenland fishery, were the first who disputed with cardinal richelieu the privileges of the cardinalship, their broil with the swedes about precedency, . episcopius, is deposed by the synod of dort, what grotius writes to him concerning the eucharist, regards that learned man as his oracle, . estrades, an anecdote related by him of prince henry frederic of nassau, is displeased with peter grotius pensionary of amsterdam, . eucharist, grotius is at first prejudiced against the opinion of the romish church concerning this sacrament, his thoughts of it afterwards, ibid. euripides, most esteemed by grotius of all the tragic poets, several of his pieces translated by him, ibid. f. fabricius, his opinion of grotius's commentary on the scriptures, . felda, john de, his notes against grotius's treatise de jure belli et pacis, . freiras, francis seraphin, his answer to grotius's treatise of the freedom of the ocean, . g. gettichius, his opinion of grotius's writings concerning antichrist, . gilot, james, his praise of grotius when a boy, . gomar, rise of his dispute with arminius, his doctrine concerning predestination and grace, is summoned to appear before the magistrates, ibid what he says there, ibid. gomarists, their conference with the arminians in presence of the states of holland, on what occasion they were called contra-remonstrants, , are favoured by the people, disturbances raised by them, ibid their complaint against the edict published by the states, separate from the communism of the arminians, . goths, grotius writes their antiquities, the plan and design of this work, ibid its publication, . grasvinkel, theodore, who, undertakes a defence of grotius's treatise of war and peace, ibid. gronovius, suspected by grotius of having availed himself of his notes on tacitus, . groot, cornelius de, his birth, his employments, , his death, leaves several pieces in ms., ibid. groot, diederic de, origin and signification of his name of groot, marries his daughter to cornelius cornets, . groot, ermengarda de, who she was, , her marriage with cornelius cornets, ibid her children, . groot, hugo de, his birth, how he distinguished himself, ibid his death, ibid his children, ibid. groot, john de, studies under justus lipsius, that learned man's esteem for him, ibid his works, ibid his employments, verses by heinsius in his praise, his marriage and children, ibid his death, ibid assists his son grotius in the edition of martianus capella, his verses on his son's marriage, translates into dutch, in conjunction with him, his book of the antiquities of the batavi, directs his grandson diederic grotius's studies, . grotius, cornelia, grotius's eldest daughter, her marriage with viscount mombas, . grotius, cornelius, son of hugo, his studies, enters into the high chancellor oxensteirn's service, goes to serve under the duke of weymar, his fickleness, ibid his death, . grotius, diederic, son of hugo grotius, distinguishes himself by his studies, enters into the duke of weymar's service, diverted by his father from entering into the dutch service, ibid goes to serve under marshal bannier, and is made prisoner, obtains his liberty, ibid serves under marshal turenne, the duke d'anguien's esteem for him, ibid. his death, ibid. grotius, frances, grotius's youngest daughter, her birth and death, . grotius, francis, brother of hugo grotius, verses by the latter on his death, . grotius, hugo, whence he derived the name of grotius, his family and ancestors, ibid Æra of his birth, great hopes given by him in his childhood, writes elegiac verses at eight years of age, the good education he receives, ibid rise of his connection with utengobard the clergyman, ibid his studies at leyden, his masters, and the progress he makes, ibid his first journey to france, honours he receives from henry iv., ibid takes the degree of doctor of laws, ibid his correspondence with the president de thou, , his elogium of that magistrate after his death, pleads his first cause, ibid his edition of martianus capella, ibid the praise this work procures him from the learned, his management with the booksellers, ibid translates into latin the limneu[greek: retichê] of stevin, publishes an edition of aratus's phoenomena, compliments he received on it from several men of learning, cultivates poetry, his prosopopoeia of the town of ostend, ibid his tragedies, and their success, opinion of the learned concerning his poetical talents, ibid edition of his poems, his own thoughts of them in the latter part of his life, nominated historiographer of the united provinces, ibid henry iv. has thoughts of making him his librarian, applies to the bar, his method of pleading, ibid takes a dislike to this occupation, ibid appointed advocate general of the provinces of holland and zealand, , his marriage, his book of the freedom of the ocean, ibid his own thoughts of this work, his book de antiquitate reipublicæ batavicæ, nominated pensionary of rotterdam, contracts an intimacy with barnevelt, makes a voyage to england, about the greenland fishery, nominated commissioner in this affair, is graciously received by king james i., the great friendship he contracts with casaubon, ibid his esteem for that learned man, ibid a grand question decided by the states of holland according to grotius's opinion, , the method of study sent by him to du maurier, his elogium of arminius, he declares for his doctrine, ibid the remonstrance of the arminians drawn up in concert with him, he and barnevelt have the sole direction of what the states do in this affair, rise of count maurice's enmity to him, deputed by the states to the town of amsterdam, his speech on that occasion, the bad success of his negotiation throws him into a fit of illness, , his scheme for a coalition proves ineffectual, , deputed to utrecht, arrested by order of prince maurice, the crimes he is accused of by his enemies, his prosecution, and sentence, rotterdam interests itself for him in vain, ibid hard-heartedness and rage of his enemies, et seq. his condemnation, and its grounds, confutes them, and complains of his sentence, irregularity of his sentence, is removed to the fortress of louvestein, his employment in prison, makes his escape, his apology for the states of holland against sibrand lubert, publishes another work concerning predestination and grace, prints the decree of the states, and its defence, ibid his treatise de imperio summarum potestatum circa sacra, writes against socinus, censure it draws upon him, ibid publishes a tract, proving that the arminians are not pelagians, his work on destiny, ibid he arrives at paris, ill offices which the states do him by their ambassadors in france, ibid has no reason to speak well of the ministers of charenton, epigrams occasioned by his arrival in france, the court grants him a pension, a report spread of his going to change his religion, his employment at paris, his opinion of the eloquence of the advocates of those times, publishes his apology, its contents, it is condemned by the states, who proscribe the author, , his uneasiness on this subject, taken by the french king under his protection, the connections he still keeps up in holland, corresponds by letters with prince henry frederic of nassau, publishes his stobeus, , and his extract of the greek tragedies and comedies, begins his work de jure belli ac pacis, is taken ill, publishes a translation of euripides's phoenissæ, writes in vain to prince henry frederic of nassau to obtain leave to return to holland, publishes his treatise de jure belli ac pacis, purposes to leave france, a place offered him in denmark, which he refuses, his conference with cardinal richelieu, by whom great hopes are given him, grotius returns to holland, gains an important law-suit, disgusts he receives, is again outlawed by the states, leaves holland, and goes to hamburg, refuses a pension from france, his thoughts on the education of children, his first acquaintance with salvius, is courted by several princes, is desirous of a reconciliation with holland, the high chancellor oxensteirn sends for him, ibid his veneration for the great gustavus, ibid goes to oxensteirn at francfort, is nominated ambassador from sweden to france, ibid his public declaration that he ought no longer to be looked on as a dutchman, his journey to and arrival in france, objections made to his nomination, his public entry into paris, his first audience of the king, renews his acquaintance with the prince of condé, his conference with boutillier and father joseph concerning the treaty concluded in france with the envoys of the allies, another conference on the same subject with cardinal richelieu, his discussions with the ministers of charenton, resolves to have divine service celebrated in his own house, , his several journeys to court, and negotiations with the ministers, et seq. his audiences of the cardinal, , , abstains from visiting his eminence, becomes odious to the court, accused of being a pensioner of france, disgusts he receives, is uneasy about the payment of his salary, the venetian ambassador contends with him for precedency, opposes the swedes sending plenipotentiaries to the congress of cologn, his dispute with godefroy concerning the right of precedency between france and sweden, another dispute with the venetian ambassador, his explanation with the earl of leicester in relation to the precedency of england and sweden, several audiences which he has of the king, compliments the queen on her pregnancy, his conversation with the prince of condé, his negotiation with chavigny concerning the truce that was proposed, ibid smalz's bad behaviour to him, is in great danger of his life, his compliments to the king and queen on the birth of the dauphin, his esteem for the duke of weymar, labours to obtain the elector palatine's liberty, and succeeds, he negotiates the exchange of marshal horn for john de vert, the share he has in the renewal of the alliance between france and sweden, his small regret for the death of cardinal richelieu, visits not cardinal mazarine, his audience of the queen mother, ibid the regency of sweden are instigated against him, the distaste he takes to his embassy, ibid desires be recalled, which request is readily granted, , the gracious letter queen christina writes to him on that subject, his departure for stockholm, honours he receives by the way, his reception in sweden, he asks leave to retire, ibid his departure from stockholm, ibid anecdote concerning his last audience of the queen, conjectures to which his departure gave rise, his arrival at rostock, and his death, reports spread in relation to it, his epitaph by himself, his portrait, ibid his embassy did not interrupt his literary labours, he again cultivates poetry, his notes on tacitus, on statius, ibid on lucan, ibid his anthologia, his prodigious readiness at writing, his history of the antiquity of the goths, the account he gives of this work to the high chancellor, ibid. his annals of the low countries, his treatise of the truth of the christian religion, is accused, on account of this book, of socinianism, his defence, ibid his florum sparsio ad jus justinianeum, his commentary on the scriptures, his esteem for father petau, his writings on antichrist, the many enemies they stir up against him, his treatise of faith and good works, his via ad pacem ecclesiasticam, ibid expects his reward from posterity, ibid his writings against rivetus, his other theological works, ibid his treatise of the origin of the americans, his history of the siege of grolla, . his introduction to the laws of holland, ibid his other writings, ibid his translation of the supplicantes of euripides, manuscripts he left at his death, ib. et seq. his letters, and their praise, why censured, and for what esteemed, , his circumspection with regard to the news he wrote to the high chancellor, his sentiments in relation to the jesuists, , his veneration for antiquity, ibid leans towards the roman catholics, his elogium of pope urbin viii., ibid his disesteem of the reformers, ibid disapproves of the separation of the protestants, indignation with which he speaks of calvin, , is a partisan of the hierarchy and the pope's supremacy, entertains hopes of reuniting christians, his sentiments concerning the eucharist, a kind of formula proposed by him in relation to it, justifies the decision of the council of trent concerning the number of sacraments, his sentiments on several other controverted points, ibid. his fondness for the works of the apostolic fathers, what order of monks he most esteemed, in what manner he speaks of the council of trent, ibid what has been said of his disposition to turn roman catholic, his connections with father petau, ibid his religion problematical, his project of reuniting all christians, proposes to lewis xiii. to pacify the differences which prevailed in christendom, what encouraged him in this project, flatters himself with being supported by cardinal richelieu, , his letter on this subject to baron oxensteirn, communicates to his father his project of a coalition, the shortest way which he proposed of bringing it about, entertains hopes of success, his connection with father petau on this occasion, the enemies which this design raised up to him, it embroils him with salmasius and several others, ibid he becomes suspicious and peevish, is accused of socinianism, his vindication from this charge, his letters to crellius, is accused of being a semi-pelagian, other accusations brought against him, ibid. elogiums and opinions of the learned concerning him, medals struck in honour of him, his regard for the church of england, plan of study sent by him to william grotius, altercation between them, . grotius, william, prints his brother's poems, grotius directs his studies, his verses on the decalogue, the confidence which his brother places in him, ibid his marriage, is a successful pleader, ibid his lives of the advocates, ibid refuses the place of pensionary of delft, ibid. the east india company chuse him for their advocate, his altercation with his brother, his book on the law of nature, the merit of this work, ibid. grotius, mary, second daughter of grotius, her death, grotius's letter to his father on that occasion, ibid. grotius, peter, advice given him by his father with regard to his method of pleading, what he relates concerning his father's annals of the low-countries, his bad state of health while a child, and his studies, his uncertainty what course of life to follow, applies to the study of the law, uneasiness which his irresolution gives his father, ibid his marriage, the edition which he purposed to publish of his father's works, ibid enters into the service of the elector palatine, is nominated pensionary of amsterdam, ibid rise of his displeasure against france, ibid. goes ambassador to stockholm, his great knowledge of men, is made pensionary of rotterdam, and nominated ambassador from holland to france, success of his embassy, ibid involved in the disgrace of the de wits, arrested and acquitted, ibid his death, his elogium by vicquefort, ibid. gustavus, king of sweden, grotius great veneration for that prince, his esteem for grotius, purposes to engage him in his service, ibid gives orders before his death for employing him in the swedish ministry, ibid the value he set upon his treatise of war and peace, ibid. h. heemskerke, elselinga, her family, and marriage with hugo de groot, her children, ibid. heinsius, daniel, his elogium of grotius when a boy, his aristarchus sacer, the rival and secret enemy of grotius, ibid ill success of his commentary on the new testament, grotius's management of him, ibid. verses by heinsius to be put under grotius's picture, . heinsius, nicholas, , . henry iv., the reception given by him to grotius, . hoffman, calls grotius the phoenix of his age, . holland, the counts of, who was the first, their power and authority, ibid. holland, the states of, their first regulation with regard to the arminians and gomarists, they declare for a toleration, . their edict on this subject, authorise the magistrates of the towns to raise troops, deputation sent by them to the town of amsterdam, and its success, , vain scheme prepared by them for a re-union, afraid of the holding of a national synod, why, deputation sent by them to utrecht, on what occasion, consent to the holding of the synod of dort, their complaints against the imprisonment of barnevelt, and the rest, they are accused of favouring socinianism, their apology by grotius, ibid. holland, the grand pensionary of, his office, and power, . hoogerbetz, pensionary of leiden, deputed to utrecht, on what occasion, arrested by order of prince maurice, is condemned to perpetual imprisonment, is removed to the fortress of louvestein, he comes out of prison, his death, ibid. horn, marshal, made prisoner at the battle of norlinguen, , grotius negotiates his exchange for john de vert, . houteville, the abbé de, his opinion of grotius's treatise of the truth of the christian religion, . huet, his thoughts of the project of reuniting christians, . i. james i. king of england, the gracious reception he gives grotius, he approves of the project of that learned man and casaubon for a coalition of the protestants and roman catholics, does not disapprove, upon the whole, of the edict published by the states in the dispute between the arminians and gomarists, what he finds fault with in it, ibid assistance given by him to his nephew the elector palatine, . jeannin, the president, writes a letter to grotius, inviting him to france, his friendship for him, . images, grotius's thoughts on the use of images in churches, . joseph, father, a capuchin, cardinal richelieu's confident, confers with grotius on the treaty concluded in france with the ambassadors of the allies, ibid another conference between grotius and the cardinal, at which father joseph was present, confers with grotius concerning the subsidies, a warm opposer of grotius, wants to be treated as a minister, ibid. jurieu, his account of the circumstances attending grotius's death, . l. laet, john de, attacks grotius's book on the origin of the americans, grotius's answer, and laet's reply, . laurent, james, grotius advises him to read the works of vincent de lerins instead of calvin's institutions, reproaches grotius with changing sides, . ledenberg, secretary of the city of utrecht, arrested by order of prince maurice, makes away with himself in prison, . lehman, his elogium of grotius, . leicester, earl of, made governor and lieutenant general of the united provinces, makes a bad use of his power, ibid sent ambassador extraordinary to france, ordered not to visit cardinal richelieu, ibid his conference with grotius, concerning the precedency of the english and swedes, solicits the elector palatine's liberty, negotiation with grotius on that subject, . limneu[greek: retichê], the design of that work, and its author, translated by grotius into latin, ibid. linchovius, hinders peter grotius from being made greffier of amsterdam, . lipsius, justus, john de groot studies under him, lipsius's esteem for him, ibid letter which he writes to him, ibid his commendation of grotius's edition of aratus, his opinion of the tragedy entitled adamus exsul, . lewis xiii. in vain solicits a pardon for barnevelt and his associates, grants grotius a pension on his arrival in france, out of regard to him takes under his protection such as were condemned in holland, takes grotius under his special protection, the treatise of war and peace dedicated to him, grotius proposes to him the pacification of the differences among the churches, . lewis xiv. the confederation which he expresses for peter grotius, . low countries, grotius's annals of the, baillet's opinion of this book, . lubert, sibrand, writes against vossius and the states of holland, is confuted by grotius, ibid his answer to this confutation, . lusson, preceptor to grotius, . lusson, william de, his endeavours to serve grotius, the latter's acknowledgments to him, . m. malherbe, translates into french verse grotius's prosopopoeia of the town of ostend, . mallet, what he says in his book on atheism of grotius's religion, . manassah ben israel, grotius's particular esteem for that jew, mazarine, cardinal, made prime minister, , grotius does not visit him, ibid. meibomius, his elogium of grotius, . menage, his epigram on the diversity of sentiments concerning grotius's religion, in what terms he speaks of that learned man's merit, . menagiana, anecdote related in it concerning grotius's last audience of queen christina, what it says of his death, and of father petau's thoughts of grotius's disposition to turn catholic, . mercoeur, the duke de, styled by grotius the most learned of all the princes, his adventures, ibid. meursius, his high commendation of grotius when very young, , . mombas, john barthon viscount of, driven out france, , . marries cornelia, grotius's eldest daughter, and is obliged to leave holland, . morhof, calls grotius the phoenix of his age, . n. nassau, prince henry frederic of, corresponds by letters with grotius, succeeds count maurice his brother in the post of stadtholder, he enters not into the projects against the arminians, ibid approves of the proceedings of the states general against grotius, . nassau, count maurice of, rise of his hatred against grotius and barnevelt, declares for the gomarists, ibid the project of re-union rejected by him, causes barnevelt, grotius, and hoogerbetz to be arrested, persecutes the arminians, is offended at the court of france for protecting barnevelt and the other prisoners, . o. ocean, contents of grotius's treatise on the freedom of the ocean, the several answers to it, . oldemburg, his elogium of grotius, . orange, william prince of, his death, what confusion it occasions in the united provinces, ibid. ostend, prosopopoeia of that town, written by grotius, the great character of this piece, ibid. overchie, alida, her marriage with john de groot, her family, ibid her death, ibid. oxensteirn, high chancellor of sweden, sends for grotius, is his patron at gustavus's court, nominated regent of sweden during the minority of queen christina, ibid opposes the treaty made with france by the envoys of the allies, his journey to france and arrival at court, makes a new treaty with the french king, his satisfaction with grotius's preface to his history of the antiquity of the goths, . oxensteirn, benedict, a relation of the high chancellor, sent to france by king gustavus, esteem which he conceives for grotius, ibid. p. patin, guy, what he says of the manner of grotius's death, his elogium of that learned man, . patiniana, what it says of grotius's pretended inclination to judaism, . pau, ambassador from holland to france, at a loss how to behave to grotius, the ill offices which he doth him, petau, father, grotius's esteem for him, sends him his commentary on the gospels, ibid his connection with grotius, says mass for his soul, the account he gives of his first acquaintance with that learned man, . peyresc, nicholas, visits grotius on his arrival at paris, sets him about writing the treatise of war and peace, services which he did him when compiling his annals of the low countries, his esteem for him from his youth, . pontanus, isaac, his elogium of grotius when a boy, , . pope, grotius maintains and proves his supremacy, . provinces, united, state of their affairs at grotius's birth, embassy sent by them to henry iii. of france, ibid refuse to make peace with spain, embassy sent by them on that subject to henry iv., ibid refuse the truce offered them, nominate grotius to be their historiographer, see dutch. puffendorf, allows that little remained to be said after what grotius had written of war and peace, . q. quistorpius, john, minister of rostock, assisted grotius at his death, relation which he gives of it, ibid. r. reigersberg, grotius's brother-in-law, troubles which grotius's enemies endeavoured to stir up to him, blondius's ill treatment of him, . reigersberg, mary, her birth, her marriage to grotius, and her elogium, ibid is denied permission to continue with him, even to see him, or speak with him during his imprisonment, , obtains liberty to see him in his prison at louvestein, the means she made use of to obtain his liberty, is confined, but afterwards discharged, , comes to her husband at paris, her journey to zealand, and return, goes to her husband at francfort, waits on the french queen to compliment her on her pregnancy, her answer to salmasius's slanders against her husband, professes the religion of the church of england, her death, ibid. religion, grotius first composes in dutch verse his treatise of the truth of the christian religion, afterwards publishes it in latin, the general approbation, and several translations of this work, , accusation brought against the author on account of it, a new edition of it with additions, the opinion of the learned concerning this performance, ibid. remonstrants, see arminians. renaudot, publishes an article in his gazette which gives offence to grotius, . richelieu, cardinal, seems to blame the conduct of mess. de luynes with regard to barnevelt's death, nominated prime minister, confers with grotius, ibid gives him great hopes, ibid his stratagem to make the swedes comply with his desires, is unwilling the high chancellor should come to france, makes a new treaty with him, the english dispute the privileges of his cardinalship, he purposes to take brisac out of the duke of weymar's hands, his uneasiness at not gaining that prince, ibid is suspected of contributing to cut him off, the death of the cardinal, gives orders that grotius's works may be printed without passing the examination of the censors, grotius flatters himself without reason that the cardinal will favour his project of re-uniting christians, the cardinal ranks grotius among the three most learned men of his age, rights of war and peace, the author's view in writing this book, barbeyrac's commendation of it, translations of it, , its defects, put into the index expurgatorius at rome, . rivetus, how he treats grotius with regard to his writings in favour of a coalition, grotius's answer, ibid. ruarus, his opinion of grotius's writings on antichrist, his judgment of grotius's scheme for a coalition, . s. st. chaumont, the marquis, sent ambassador from the french king into germany, is disliked by grotius, ibid is ordered to demand grotius's recall, . saints, grotius's opinion of the invocation of saints, . salvius, vice-chancellor of sweden, the esteem he conceives for grotius, advantageous report which he makes of him to the high chancellor, ibid. sandes, translates grotius's tragedy, entitled christus patiens, into english verse, . sarrau, his friendship for grotius, rise of their quarrel, ibid rank which sarrau assigns grotius in the republic of letters, , how he speaks of him after his death, . salmasius, his opinion of grotius's poems, speaks with contempt of his treatise of the rights of war and peace, his character, ibid he communicates to grotius his corrections of the anthologia, a coldness between him and grotius, rise of their difference, in what manner he spoke of grotius during their friendship, the letter, in which he cruelly treats that learned man's memory, the answer of grotius's wife to it, . scaliger, joseph, is looked upon as the dictator of the republic of letters, directs grotius's studies, ibid engages him to publish a new edition of martianus capella, his encomium of grotius's edition of the phoenomena of aratus, his testimony in grotius's favour, with regard to the prosopopoeia of the town of ostend, his thoughts of his poetical talents, . schmalz, ill offices which he does grotius, grotius complains of him to the high chancellor, ibid schmalz's quarrel with crusius, he continues to injure grotius, his return to sweden, ibid sequel of his adventures, . scriptures, holy, studied by grotius at all times, his commentary on them, opinion of the learned concerning it, et seq. seguier, chancellor, the affront he put upon grotius, , the difficulties he throws in his way with regard to the printing his commentary on the new testament, . selden, his mare clausum, on what occasion it was composed, the instance he gives of the rage of grotius's enemies against him, . servien, secretary at war, is visited by grotius, promises him his good offices in the affairs he recommended to him, . sibrand, see lubert. silleri, chancellor, his irresolution, grotius thinks of dedicating his stobæus to him, . simon, his opinion of grotius's commentary on the bible, sophomphaneus, a tragedy by grotius, , . soul, grotius falsly accused of disbelieving its immortality, . states general, entirely devoted to prince maurice, convene the synod of dort, ibid disband the new levies, the placard issued by them in relation to the imprisonment of barnevelt and the others, the ill offices they do grotius by their ambassadors on his arrival at paris, condemn his apology, and proscribe him, the new ordinance which they publish against him, . statius, grotius's notes on that poet, . stobeus, the subject and use of his work, grotius gives a new edition of it, ibid a copy of it found with notes in grotius's hand writing, . swedes, state of their affairs when grotius entered into their service, their defeat at the battle of nordlinguen, the assistance they received from lewis xiii., ibid discussions between them and france, the difficulties they make about the treaty concluded with that crown by the envoys of the allies, grotius diverts them from sending plenipotentiaries to the congress at cologn, their dispute with the english for precedency, consternation into which they are thrown by the death of the duke of weymar, renew their alliance with france, . t. tacitus, grotius's notes on that historian, . thou, the president de, grotius's esteem and veneration for him, their correspondence together, the friendship which that magistrate expresses for grotius, ibid grotius's elogium of him, his approbation of grotius's edition of martianus capella, commends his edition of aratus's phoenomena, . thou, francis de, son of the president, generously gives grotius the use of his library, his visit to him on his arrival in france in the character of swedish ambassador, . trent, council of, its decision concerning the number of sacraments defended by grotius, respect with which he spoke of that council, . v. valois, m. what he says of grotius's connection with father petau, and his disposition to turn roman catholic, . vassor, character of that historian, his judgment of grotius's letters, ibid. venice, its ambassador disputes with grotius for precedency, another discussion between them, vert, john de, made prisoner by the duke of weymar, is exchanged for marshal horne, . voëtius, attacks grotius's treatise of the truth of the christian religion, grotius's opinion of his criticism, ibid. vondel, a famous dutch poet, translates grotius's tragedy of joseph into dutch, his conjectures concerning grotius's departure from stockholm, . vossius, gerard, his encomium of grotius on occasion of his edition of martianus capella, his opinion of the tragedy of joseph, his thoughts of his poetical talents, grotius gives him an account of his studies while in prison, his commendation of grotius's apology against sibrand lubert, the pains he took to keep grotius in holland, his letter, containing that learned man's reasons for returning thither, the value he set upon grotius's notes on lucan, grotius complains of his too great timidity, his poem in honour of grotius, . vossius, isaac, inherits his father's esteem for grotius, offers him his service for his literary commissions, superintends the printing of the anthologia, . urbin viii., his elogium by grotius, gives the cardinals the title of most eminent, . utengobard, prepares the remonstrance delivered to the states by the arminians, the esteem with which he speaks of grotius, . vulcanus bonaventura, his encomium of grotius on occasion of his edition of aratus's phoenomena, . w. wallæus, antony, letters written to him by grotius, concerning his religious sentiments, , . weymar, duke of, confidence which he placed in grotius, wicquefort, his encomium of grotius, in what manner he speaks of peter grotius his son, . witt, the grand pensionary de, advises peter grotius to prefer the place of pensionary of rotterdam to that of ambassador at the court of france, . instructions: this is a multi volume index file the index has links to all volumes. follow these instructions if you would like to have your own copy of this index and all the volumes of john lothrop motley, on your hard disk. 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[illustration: a peasant woman of the ardennes.] peeps at many lands belgium by george w. t. omond illustrated by amÉdÉe forestier london adam and charles black * * * * * contents chapter i. the sands opposite england ii. inland: the flemish plain iii. travelling in belgium iv. some of the towns: the ardennes v. belgian children: the "premiÈre communion" vi. christmas in belgium vii. new year's day viii. pageants and processions ix. the story of st. evermaire: a country pageant x. the carnival xi. children's winter festivals xii. the archers: games played in belgium xiii. what the belgians speak xiv. a short history xv. the belgian army: the congo * * * * * list of illustrations by amÉdÉe forestier a peasant woman of the ardennes _frontispiece_ the dunes a shrimper on horseback, coxyde the vegetable market, bruges antwerp the hÔtel de ville, brussels at the kermesse a chÂteau in the lesse valley a farmsteading playing "jeu de boule" at a flemish inn village and canal, adinkerque waterloo: the farm of la belle alliance and the mound surmounted by the belgian lion a milk-seller in bruges _on the cover_ _sketch-map of belgium._ * * * * * [illustration: sketch-map of belgium.] [illustration: the dunes.] * * * * * belgium chapter i the sands opposite england if you leave the mouth of the thames, or the white chalk cliffs at dover, and sail over the water just where the english channel meets the north sea, you will in about three or four hours see before you a long expanse of yellow sand, and rising behind it a low ridge of sandhills, which look in the distance like a range of baby mountains. these sandhills are called "dunes." here and there at intervals you will see a number of little towns, each town standing by itself on the shore, and separated from its neighbour by a row of dunes and a stretch of sand. this is your first view of the little country called belgium, which is bounded on the east by holland, and on the west by france. it is, from end to end, about half the size of ireland. there are no cliffs or rocks, no shingle or stones covered with seaweed. there are no trees. it is all bare sand, with moss and rushes on the higher ground above the beach. in winter the wind rages with terrific violence along the coast. the sand is blown in all directions, and the waves dash fiercely on the shore. it is cold and stormy, with mist and dark clouds, and sometimes violent showers of hail. but in summer all is changed. often, week after week, the waves roll gently in, and break in ripples on the beach. the sky is blue, and the sands are warm. it is the best place in the world for digging and building castles. there are very few shells to gather; but there are no dangerous rocks or slippery places, and children can wade about and play in perfect safety. so many families--belgians, english, germans, and a few french--spend the summer holidays there. hundreds of years ago the storms of winter used to drive the waves ashore with such violence that the land was flooded, and whole villages were sometimes swept away. so the people made ramparts of earth to keep back the water, till by degrees many parts of the belgian shore were thus protected. they still continue to build defences against the sea; but instead of earth they now use brick and stone. it looks as if in a few years the whole coast will be lined by these sea-fronts, which are called _digues de mer_. a _digue_, no matter how thick, which rests on the sand alone will not last. a thick bed of green branches is first laid down as a foundation. this is strengthened by posts driven through it into the sand. heavy timbers, resting on bundles of branches lashed together, are wedged into the foundations, and slope inwards and upwards to within a few feet of the height to which it is intended to carry the _digue_. on the top another solid bed of branches is laid down, and the whole is first covered with concrete, and then with bricks or tiles, while the top of the _digue_, at the edge of the seaward slope, is composed of heavy blocks of stone cemented together and bound by iron rivets. the finest and longest _digue_ is that which extends from ostend for about nine miles. it is a good place for bicycle rides. no motor-cars are allowed on it. each of the little towns which you see dotted along the coast has a _digue_ of its own, on which there is a row of villas and hotels facing the sea. among the dunes behind the _digue_ there are more villas. these are generally very picturesque, with verandas, red-tiled roofs, and brightly painted woodwork. all day long in summer the _digue_ of each town is crowded by people walking about in the sunshine, or sitting watching the bathers and the children playing on the sands. it is a very gay sight. there are prizes for those who build the best castles, and it is curious to see hundreds of little belgian, english, french, and german flags flying on these small forts, and to hear the children shouting to each other in so many different languages. it makes one think of the tower of babel. from six in the morning till six in the evening bathing-machines go to and from the water, and often there seem to be as many people in the sea as on the shore. there is a boat anchored a little way out, in which two men in red shirts, with ropes and lifebelts, sit watching to see that no one goes too far out, for the tide is often very strong. sometimes these men, who are called _sauveteurs_, stand on the sand, and if they think anyone is swimming too far they blow a trumpet to call the swimmer back. in the evening, when it is dark and the lamps are lighted, there is dancing on the _digue_ to the music of a barrel-organ. the belgians are very fond of this dancing, and often the english and other visitors join in it too. all summer this holiday life goes on, with bathing, lawn-tennis, and in some places golf, till at last the time comes for going home. the hotels and villas close their doors. the windows are boarded up. the bathing-machines are pulled away from the beach, and put in some sheltered place among the dunes. the _digue_ is left in solitude, to be covered with driven sand, and splashed with foam from the waves which beat against it, till the season of summer gaiety comes round again next year. chapter ii inland: the flemish plain let us now leave the shore, and go inland. if you climb to the top of some dune, you will see before you a wide plain stretching out as far as the eye can reach. this part of belgium is called flanders. it is all flat, with canals, and long, straight roads, paved with stones, running across it. there are rows of tall poplar-trees or willows, which are bent slightly towards the east, for the wind blows oftenest from the west, small patches of woodland, gardens, and many sluggish streams. the fields, which have no fences or hedges round them, are large and well tilled, some bearing fine crops of wheat, rye, or potatoes and turnips, while others are rich pasture-lands for sheep and cattle. the whole of this flemish plain, as it is called, is dotted with farm-houses and cottages. there are a great many villages, and in the distance rise the roof-tops and the towers and spires of famous old towns. some of the villages are worth visiting. there is one called coxyde, which lies low among the sandhills, not far from the sea. the people of this village live by fishing, but in a very curious way, for they do it on horseback. they mount little horses, and ride out into the sea with baskets, and nets fastened to long poles. it is funny to see them riding about in the water, and catching fish and shrimps in this strange fashion. there is another village, also only a short distance inland, where there is a church in which a number of toy ships are hung up. these are offerings made to an image of the virgin mary which stands there. if a crew of flemish fishermen have escaped from some dangerous storm, they walk in silence to this church, and give thanks to the image, which is called our lady of lombaerdzyde. the farm-labourers in flanders live very simply. their food is chiefly black bread, potatoes, and salted pork or fish. there are lots of boys and girls who eat nothing all the year round but black bread and potatoes, and who look on pork or fish as quite a treat. sometimes they spread lard on their slices of bread, and there are many who have never tasted butter in their lives. yet they appear to be very strong and happy. they drink black coffee, or beer if their parents can afford it. the food of the older people is much the same. most of the people in the country districts of flanders--men, women, boys, and girls--work in the fields. in summer they rise at four or five in the morning, and after eating a slice of bread go out into the fields. at half-past eleven or twelve they dine on bread and potatoes, with perhaps a slice of pork, and take a rest. then they work again till about four in the afternoon, when they rest again, and after that they work on till it is dark. in the short days of winter they toil from sunrise till sunset. by this means they earn enough to live on. a boy or girl may get from d. to d. a day, a woman a little more, while a married man generally receives s. d. or s. some farmers pay an unmarried labourer d. and his food. this seems a dull and hard life, but the flemings do not find it so. like all belgians, they are fond of amusement, and there is a great deal of dancing and singing, especially on holidays. sunday is the chief holiday. they all go to church in the morning, and the rest of the day is given up to play. unfortunately many of the older people drink too much. there are far too many public-houses. any person who likes can open one on payment of a small sum of money to the government. the result is that in many quite small villages, where very few people live, there are ten or twelve public-houses, where a large glass of beer is sold for less than a penny, and a glass of coarse spirits for about the same price. most of the drinking is done on sunday, and on monday morning it is often difficult to get men to work. there are many, especially in the towns, who never work on mondays. this is quite understood in belgium, and people who know the country are pleased, and rather surprised, if an artisan who has promised to come and do something on a monday morning keeps his word. of course there are many sober work-people, and it is a rare thing to see a tipsy woman, much rarer than in england; but there is a great deal of drunkenness in belgium. there is one thing to which all the boys and girls look forward, and that is what is called the _kermesse_. this is a kind of fair, which takes place at every village in summer, and lasts for two or three days. they talk about it for weeks before, and for weeks after. they save up every penny they can lay their hands on, and when the time comes they leave their work or the school as soon as possible in the afternoon, put on their best clothes, and enjoy themselves. the village street is full of stalls covered with cheap toys, sweetmeats, and all sorts of tempting little articles, and you may be sure the pennies melt away very quickly. flags of black, red, and yellow stripes--the belgian national colours--fly on the houses. a band of music plays. travelling showmen are there with merry-go-rounds, and the children are never tired of riding round and round on the gaily painted wooden horses. then there is dancing in the public-houses, in which all the villagers, except the very old people, take part. boys and girls hop round, and if there are not enough boys the girls take each other for partners, while the grown-up lads and young women dance together. [illustration: a shrimper on horseback, coxyde.] the rooms in these public-houses are pretty large, but they get dreadfully hot and stuffy. the constant laughing and talking, the music, and the scraping of feet on the sanded floor make an awful din. then there are sometimes disputes, and the flemings have a nasty habit of using knives when they are angry, so the dancing, which often goes on till two or three in the morning, is the least pleasant thing about these gatherings. this is a very old belgian custom, but of late years the _kermesses_ in the big towns have changed in character, and are just ordinary fairs, with menageries and things of that sort, which you can find in england or anywhere else. if you want to see a real kermesse you must go to some village in flanders, and there you will find it very amusing. chapter iii travelling in belgium travelling in belgium is cheap and easy. the best way to see the out-of-the-way parts of the country would be to journey about in a barge on the canals. there are a great many canals. you could go all the way from france to the other side of belgium in a barge, threading your way through fields, and meadow-lands, and villages, and stopping every now and then at some of the big towns. if you read that charming book "vanity fair," you will see that mr. thackeray, who wrote it, says that once an englishman, who went to belgium for a week, found the eating and drinking on these boats so good that he went backwards and forwards on the canal between bruges and ghent perpetually till the railways were invented, when he drowned himself on the last trip of the boat! but if that ever happened it was long ago. nowadays, when travellers are in such a hurry, the canals are only used for carrying coals, timber, and other goods. they are largely used for that purpose. the belgians are very wise about their canals; they keep them in good order, and send as many things as possible by water. it is not so quick, but it is much less expensive, and a great deal safer, than sending them by railway. it is interesting to stand on the bank of a canal and watch a row of barges moving slowly past. sometimes a little steam-tug puffs along, pulling three or four barges after it. some are pulled by horses, and often men or women labour along the towing-path dragging these heavily laden vessels by a rope fastened to a short mast set up in the bows. this is hard work, but the barge-folk seem to think nothing of it. whole families are born, live, and die on their barges. you often see the wife or daughter of the bargeman steering, while the children are playing on the top of the hatches, and the husband is doing some work among the cargo, or just sitting smoking his pipe. these floating homes are long and broad, painted in bright colours, with a deck-cabin, the windows of which are often hung with pretty curtains. the children run about, and seem never to tumble overboard. if they did they would be easily pulled out, for the barges are very low in the water. as the country is so flat, bicycling is easy, and alongside most of the roads there is a path made for this purpose, which is kept up by a tax everyone who has a bicycle must pay. always remember that if you meet another person you keep to the right, and not, as in england, to the left. the same rule applies to driving in a carriage or riding a horse. the belgians have an excellent system of light district railways, which run in all directions, some worked by steam and some by electricity. these are very useful, for the trains stop at every village, however small, and the country people can easily go to market or to visit each other. outside each carriage there is a platform, on which you can stand and see the country. the fares are low, and you can go a long way for a few pence. the carriages are open from end to end, and if you travel in one of them you will generally see a crowd of peasants in blue blouses, old women in long black cloaks and white caps, priests, and soldiers (who only pay half-price), the men all smoking, and the women talking about what they have bought, or what they are going to buy. they are always talking about that, and, indeed, seem never to speak about anything else. a few hours' journey in one of these district railways, which are called the _chemins-de-fer-vicinaux_, is a far better way of getting a peep at the belgian people than rushing along in an express train from one big town to another. the first railway on the continent of europe was in belgium. it was opened seventy-four years ago--in may, --and ran from brussels, the capital of belgium, to malines, a town which you will see on the map. there are now, of course, a great many railways, which belong to the state and not, as in england, to private companies. season tickets are much used on belgian railways. for instance, anyone wishing to travel for five days on end has only to pay £ s. d. for a first-class ticket, s. d. for a second-class, or s. d. for a third-class. for these small sums you can go all over belgium on the state railways, stopping as often as you please, at any hour of the day or night, for five days. all you have to do is to take a small photograph of yourself to the station an hour before you intend to start, and tell the railway clerk at the booking-office by which class you wish to travel, and when you go back to the station you will find your ticket ready, with your photograph pasted on it, so that the guards may know that you are the person to whom it belongs. you then pay for it, and leave s. more, which are given back at whatever station your trip may end. there are also tickets for longer periods than five days. you can send a letter instead of going to the station. you can write from england, and find your ticket waiting for you at ostend or antwerp, or any other place in belgium from which you may intend to start on your journey. this is very convenient, for it saves the trouble of buying a fresh ticket each day. besides, it is a great deal cheaper. these tickets are called _abonnements_. there are also _abonnements_ for children going to school, and for workmen. it is quite common in belgium to be in a railway carriage where, when the guard comes round, all the passengers pull out season tickets. there is one thing about travelling by railway in belgium which english people don't always know, and that is the rule about opening and shutting windows. the belgians are not so fond of fresh air as we are. they sleep with their bedroom windows shut, which makes them soft, and apt to catch cold. so they are always afraid of draughts, especially in a railway train. the first thing a belgian does, as soon as he enters a carriage, is to shut the windows, and the rule is that if by any chance there were, say, five people who wanted a window open, and only one who wanted it shut, that one can refuse to let the others have it open. if you are sitting near a window, and open it, you may be sure that someone, who is perhaps sitting at the other end of the carriage, will step across and shut it. they never ask leave, or, indeed, say a word; they just shut it. one day, two or three years ago, there was a great crowd in a district train. it was july, and very hot. all the windows of one first-class carriage were, as usual, shut, and it was so stifling that some of us stood outside on the platform so as to get some fresh air. a feeble old lady chanced to be sitting next one of the windows, and wished to open it. all the other passengers refused to allow her. she told them she felt as if she would faint from the heat. not one of the belgian ladies and gentlemen, who were all well-dressed people, cared about that. they just shrugged their shoulders. at last the old lady, who had been turning very pale, fainted away. then they were afraid, and the guard was sent for. he insisted on letting in some air, and attended to the lady, who presently revived. the other passengers at once had the window shut again, and the lady had to be taken into another carriage, on which everyone began to laugh, as if it was a good joke. some englishmen are always having rows about this window question; but the best plan is to say nothing, and remember that every country has its own customs, which strangers ought to observe. chapter iv some of the towns: the ardennes england, as you know, is not a very big country. but belgium is very much smaller. it is such a little bit of a place, a mere corner of europe, that in a few hours the train can take you from one end of it to the other. i suppose that from ostend to liége is one of the longest journeys you could make, and that takes less than four hours. so it is very easy to go from one town to another. suppose we land at ostend, which, as you will see on the map, lies in the middle of the belgian coast. it is the largest of the seaside towns, and one of the oldest. in ancient times it was fortified, and during the wars between the spaniards and the dutch the spaniards defended it for three whole years. it must have been very strong in those days. but now it is quite changed, and has no walls, but just a long _digue_, and a great many hotels, lodging-houses, and big shops. crowds of people go there in summer. there are horse-races, concerts, dancing, and a great deal of gambling. one part of the beach in front of the _digue_ is crowded with bathing-machines, and it is said that during one day in august a few years ago no fewer than , people bathed. [illustration: the vegetable market, bruges.] ostend, however, is not a nice place to stay in. in summer it is noisy, and full of people who care for nothing but eating, drinking, dressing up, and gambling. in winter it is an ugly, dull, stupid town, in which there is nothing to do, and nothing to see except fishing-boats and the steamers which carry travellers to and from dover. so we shall not say anything more about it, but take the train, and in twenty minutes find ourselves in a really interesting place. this is bruges. they call it _bruges la morte_--that is to say, "bruges, the dead city." once upon a time, long, long ago, this town was great, and rich, and prosperous. it was surrounded by strong walls, and within it were many gilded palaces, the homes of merchant princes whose wealth was the talk of all the world. their houses were full of precious stones, tapestries, silk, fine linen, and cloth of gold. their warehouses were stored with costly bales. they lent money to kings and princes, and lived themselves in almost royal luxury. a broad channel led from the sea to bruges, and ships entered daily laden with goods from every country in europe, as well as from india and all parts of the world. in those days the cloth made by the flemish weavers was famous, and the greatest market for wool was at bruges. so bruges grew richer and richer, and much money was spent in beautifying the town, in which there are said to have been , industrious people. churches rose, and other noble buildings. there were endless tournaments and festivals. painters flourished there. bruges was spoken of as the venice of the north. but all this came to an end. the channel which joined this great city to the sea dried up. there were wars and rebellions which drove the foreign merchants away. they went to antwerp. bruges fell, and has remained fallen ever since. it is now a quiet, sad place, so poor that the streets are badly lighted, seldom cleaned, and have a desolate, neglected appearance. the few families of the upper class who live there belong to what is called the _petite noblesse_; there is almost no trade or commerce; and many of the lower orders live on charity. but this dead city is very romantic, with all its memories of olden times. nobody should go to belgium without visiting bruges, once so famous and now so fallen, not only because it is picturesque, with its old buildings and quaint views such as artists love to paint, but also because it is so quiet that you can watch the customs of a belgian town without being disturbed by a crowd--the market-folk with their wares spread out on the stones of the street, the small carts drawn by dogs, the women sitting at their doors busy with lace-making, the pavements occupied by tables at which people sit drinking coffee or beer, the workmen clanking along in their wooden shoes, and numberless little things which are different from what you see at home. every town in belgium has its "belfry," a tower rising over some venerable building, from which, in the days of almost constant warfare, a beacon used to blaze, or a bell ring out, to call the citizens to arms. the belfry of bruges is, i think, the finest of them all. if you have ever been to bruges you can never forget it. it rises high above the market-place. all day long, year after year, the chimes ring every quarter of an hour; and all night too, unceasingly, through winter storm and summer moonlight, the belfry pours forth its perpetual lament over the dead city. not far from bruges, only forty minutes by railway, is another ancient town called ghent; but instead of being dead like bruges, it is alive and busy. in the days of old the people of ghent were the most independent and brave in belgium. in the belfry there was a famous bell called "roland," and if any of their rulers attempted to tax them against their will, this roland was rung, and wagged his iron tongue so well that the townsmen armed themselves at once, and the tax-gatherers were driven away. it was no easy task to rule them, as all who tried it found to their cost. they grew very rich, chiefly because of their trade in wool with england. but evil days came, and for more than years this mighty city remained in a most forlorn state. in the nineteenth century, however, when there was settled peace in belgium after the battle of waterloo, the people of ghent set to work in earnest once more, and made up for lost time so well that now their town is full of flourishing factories, and has a harbour from which a deep canal leads to the river scheldt, and is used by many ships. most beautiful flowers are cultivated in nursery gardens and hothouses, and are sent all over the world in such quantities that ghent has been called "the city of flowers." from busy ghent, where the belfry in which roland used to hang and the walls and towers of many an ancient building look down upon the crowded streets, you may go to the still busier town of antwerp, which stands on the river scheldt. like bruges and ghent, and, indeed, every town in belgium, antwerp is very old. it is said that long ago there was a giant who lived on the banks of the scheldt, and compelled the captain of every ship which came up the river to give him money. if the money was refused, the giant cut off one of the captain's hands, and threw it into the river. in dutch the word _werpen_ means "to throw," and thus the place where the giant lived was called _hand-werpen_, which became, in course of time, _antwerp_. perhaps you may not believe this story, but in one of the squares at antwerp there is the statue of a man called brabo, who is said to have killed the giant. close to this statue is the cathedral, which is one of the grandest in europe, and where there are some famous paintings by the great artist rubens, who lived at antwerp for many years. another very interesting thing to see at antwerp is the plantin-moretus house. it was the home, more than years ago, of a printer called plantin, who made a great fortune, and whose descendants took the name of moretus, and carried on the business for a long time. you will see there the types and printing-presses of the sixteenth century, and also the very furniture of the sitting-rooms and bedrooms, just as they were in those bygone days. one of the rooms was the nursery of the plantin children. the men who show you over the house are dressed as servants were in plantin's time. by going there you will get a far better idea of the family life of those times than by reading any number of story-books or looking at any number of pictures. antwerp has, like the other belgian towns, had its ups and downs, but now it is one of the greatest harbours in the whole world. so many ships go there that there is hardly room for all of them. it may seem an extraordinary thing that a country like belgium, so small that two or three english counties would cover it, should have such an important harbour crowded with the shipping of all nations. but antwerp is connected by railways and canals with the busiest parts of europe, and the scheldt is a noble river, by which merchantmen can find their way to every region of the world. a hundred years ago antwerp was in the hands of the french, who had seized belgium; and when napoleon was beaten he clung to antwerp as long as he could. just before he fell, there was a conference at a place called chatillon, when they tried to make peace, but could not; and afterwards, when he was at st. helena, napoleon declared that the war continued chiefly because he would not give up antwerp. "antwerp," he said, "was to me a province in itself. if they would have left it to me, peace would have been concluded." he wanted to keep a fleet in the scheldt, so as to threaten england. if you look at a map of europe, you will see how near the scheldt is to kent and essex. the belgians cannot do us any harm, but it would be a dangerous thing for england if some strong and unfriendly nation had possession of antwerp. but we must leave antwerp, and hurry on to brussels, which is the capital of belgium. it is just an hour by railway, and as the train rushes on you will see on your right a town from the middle of which rises a massive square tower. the town is malines (or mechlin), and the tower is that of the cathedral of st. rombold. malines was once, like bruges, a most important city, and so many pilgrims went there that the cost of building the cathedral was paid out of their offerings. it is now the seat of the archbishop of belgium; but its former glory has long since departed, and it is even more quiet and desolate than bruges. it is said that once upon a time, when the moon was shining brightly through the open stonework of the tower, the people thought there was a fire, and tried to put it out with water! ever since then the townsmen of malines have been laughed at, and called "moon-quenchers" by the other belgians. when you are in the train between malines and brussels, you may recollect that you are travelling on the first railway-line that was made on the continent. well, when the engineer had finished his work, the very day before the first train was to run, he looked at some plans he had of railways in england, and exclaimed: "by jove! i've forgotten a tunnel!" and so, without more ado, he sent for some workmen, and had an archway made over a cutting! then he thought his railway was complete! brussels is by far the nicest town in belgium. it is a charming place to live in, clean, bright, and gay. the walls which once surrounded it were taken down many years ago, and replaced by beautiful roadways called _boulevards_, with a broad carriage-drive in the middle, and on each side a place for riding on, shaded by rows of trees. there is a park, not very large, but with many trees and shady walks, and a round pond, in the centre of which a fountain plays. at one end of this park is the king's palace, and at the other end the houses of parliament. in the new parts of the town the streets are wide, and there are spacious squares, with large and handsome houses. there are no end of carriages and motor-cars driving about, people riding on horseback, and all the bustle of a great city of pleasure. the people of brussels are very fond of jokes and fun. they always seem to be in good humour with each other and with themselves. the part of belgium in which brussels lies is called brabant. in olden times it was spoken of as "gay brabant," and so, indeed, it might be nowadays. dull, pompous people are not liked there. you must be lively and amusing, like the town itself, of which the people are so proud that they call it the little paris. close to brussels, on the south and west, there is a great forest--the forest of soignies. the part of this forest nearest the town is called the _bois de la cambre_, which is a favourite place for walking and riding in. you reach it by a fine _boulevard_ called the avenue louise. in the middle of this _bois de la cambre_ there is a lake with an island, on which stands a little coffee-house, the châlet robinson; so called, perhaps, after robinson crusoe, who lived on an island. belgian families often go there to spend the summer afternoons. there are lots of pigeons on the island, so tame that they run about on the grass, and eat out of the children's hands, while the fathers and mothers sit drinking coffee at tables under the trees. [illustration: antwerp.] in belgium the fathers and mothers of the _petite bourgeoisie_, or lower-middle class, seem always to go about on holidays with their children. they dine at half-past twelve, and after dinner off they go, the parents arm-in-arm, and the children strolling before them, and spend the rest of the day together. it is quite a sight on a summer evening to see them coming home in crowds down the avenue louise, the father often carrying the youngest on his shoulders, and the mother with a child hanging on to each arm. the avenue louise is in the modern part of the town. brussels, however, is not all modern. most of the belgian towns are quite flat, but to reach the old brussels you must go down some very steep, narrow streets, one of which, called the _montague de la cour_, where the best shops are, leads to the grande place, a picturesque square surrounded by quaint houses with fantastic gables. these were the houses of the guilds, or merchant companies, in the old days. one of them is shaped like the stern of a ship. most of them are ornamented with gilded mouldings. they are beautiful buildings, and the finest is the hotel de ville, the front of which is a mass of statuettes. its high, steep roof is pierced by innumerable little windows, and above it there is a lofty and graceful spire, which towers up and up, with a gilded figure of the archangel michael at the top. a flower-market is held in the grande place, and in summer, when the sun is shining brightly, it is a very pretty sight. but the best time to see the grande place of brussels is at night, when all is silent, and the tall houses look solemnly down on the scene of many great events which took place there long ago. i cannot tell you one-half of all there is to see in brussels--the beautiful churches, the picture-galleries and museums, the splendid old library, and the gardens. the largest building is a modern one, the _palais de justice_, where the law courts sit. it cost nearly £ , , to build, and is much bigger than anything in london. it stands on an eminence overlooking the lower part of the town, and is so huge that it may almost be said to make the capital of this tiny kingdom look top-heavy. there are many other towns in belgium besides those we have been looking at: louvain, with its ancient university; liége and charleroi, with their steel and iron works; courtrai, celebrated for the manufacture of linen; tournai, where carpets are made; mons, with its coal-mines; and more besides, which all lie within the narrow limits of this small country. most of them have played a great part in history. belgium is, above all things, a country of famous towns. when you wander about among the towns of flanders and brabant you might think that the whole of belgium was one level plain. but if you leave brussels and journey to the south, the aspect of the country changes. beyond the forest of soignies the tame, flat fields, the formal rows of trees, and the long, straight roads begin to disappear, the landscape becomes more picturesque, and soon you reach a river called the meuse, which flows along through a romantic valley, full of quiet villages, gardens, woods, and hayfields, and enclosed by steep slopes clothed with trees and thickets, and broken here and there by dells, ravines, and bold, outstanding pinnacles of rock, beyond which, for mile after mile, an undulating tableland is covered by thick forests, where deer, wild boars, and other game abound. this district is called the ardennes. in the valley of the meuse there are three old and famous towns--liége, namur, and dinant--each nestling at the side of the river, at the foot of a hill with a castle perched upon it. other rivers flow into the meuse. there is the sambre, which runs from the west, and joins the meuse at namur; the lesse, which rushes in from the south through a narrow gorge; and the semois, a stream the sides of which are so steep that there is not even a pathway along them in some places, and travellers must pass from side to side in boats when following its course. this is the prettiest part of belgium, and in summer many people, who do not care for going to the seaside, spend the holidays at the towns and villages which are dotted about in the valleys and among the hills and woods. chapter v belgian children: the "premiÈre communion" the belgians may be divided, roughly speaking, into five classes of people. there are those of the highest rank, who are called the _grande_, or _vraie, noblesse_. of these there are not many, but they belong to old families, some of which have been famous in the history of their country. they have often fine country-houses, and the towns in which you will find them most often are brussels and ghent. then come those of a much lower class, the _petite noblesse_, of whom there are very many. they seldom mix in society with the _grande noblesse_, and their friends are generally members of the _haute_, or _bonne, bourgeoisie_. the _bonne bourgeoisie_ are like our middle class, and there is no difference between them and the _petite noblesse_ as to the way in which they live. below these are the _petite bourgeoisie_, who are mostly shopkeepers, clerks, and people in various employments. last of all are the artisans and working-class people. it is about the children of the _bonne bourgeoisie_ that i am going to speak, for they are a very numerous class, and their customs are in many respects the same as those of most belgians. when a child is born, the parents should send to all their friends a box of _dragees_--that is, sugared almonds or sugar-plums. if the child is a boy, the box is tied with pink ribbons; and if it is a girl, with blue. cards announcing the birth of a child are often sent nowadays, but the real old belgian fashion is to send the _dragees_, and it is a great pity that people are giving it up so much. the next thing is to find a name for the child, and that is done by the godmother, who either chooses some family name or calls the child after its patron saint--that is to say, the saint on whose day it was born--for in belgium, as in all catholic countries, each day is dedicated to some saint. the commonest name, however, for girls is marie, a name given in honour of the virgin mary, to whom many baby girls are devoted from their birth. the mothers of these little girls vow never to dress them in anything but blue and white till they are seven years old. when the baby is baptized, the godfather gives a pair of gloves to the mother and the godmother. curiously enough, most belgian parents would rather have a baby girl than a boy, because a boy costs more to educate, and also because boys, when they grow up, have to draw lots for service in the army, and almost every father who can afford it buys his son off, and that costs money. there is no nursery life such as we have in england--at least, in very few belgian families. here again money is grudged. people who will pay high wages for a good cook hire young girls of fourteen or fifteen to look after their children, and these _bonnes_, as they are called, are paid very little, and are often careless and stupid. the result is that the children are constantly with their parents, and, to keep them quiet, are dreadfully spoilt and petted. it very often happens that, when a belgian lady has a friend calling on her, young children, who ought to be in a nursery, are playing in the drawing-room. their mother has no control over them, and if she ventures to tell them to keep quiet, or to run away, they don't obey her, and then she gives in, and lets them have their own way. another thing which follows from this want of nursery training is that if, as sometimes happens, there are disputes between the parents, the children are mixed up in them. you will hear a belgian mother say to her young daughter: "imagine what your father has done!" or if the husband is angry with his wife, he will turn to his boy, and exclaim: "that is just like a woman!" of course, this is very bad for the children, who hear a great deal which they would know nothing about if they were not always with their parents. from being so much with older people these children get strange ideas. i know a lady who said to a small belgian girl, who was an only child: "would you like a little brother or sister to play with?" "oh! no, no," replied the child, "because when my father and mother die, i shall have all their money." whereupon the mother exclaimed: "there! the dear child; how well she knows the world already!" the children of the _petite bourgeoisie_ are the most unruly. one sees them often at the various holiday places, at the seaside or in the ardennes, where they dine, however young, along with their parents at the _tables d'hôte_, or public dining-tables, of the hotels. they eat untidily, spill their soup, throw bread at each other, upset their tumblers of beer or wine (for they are allowed to have whatever their parents are drinking), talk at the top of their voices, and really make such a row that the older people can't hear each other speaking. the moment they have had as much food as they want, they jump up, push their chairs noisily aside, and begin to chase each other round the room. their parents never think of stopping them, and care nothing about the annoyance such unmannerly behaviour causes. it is curious how few belgians, old or young, rich or poor, consider the feelings or convenience of others. they are intensely selfish, and this is doubtless caused by the way in which they are brought up. as you know, parents in england are forced by law to send their children to school, or have them taught privately. there is no such law in belgium, and parents, if they like, may leave their children without any education. the number, however, of those who do not go to school is gradually decreasing, and most children get lessons of some sort or another. no religious instruction is given in belgian schools, except in convent schools, or in those where the teachers are entirely under the church. but almost all children have to learn the catechism at home. they need not understand it, but they must be able to repeat the words. this is to prepare them for their _première communion_, or first communion, to which they go when they are eleven or twelve years old. it takes place two sundays before easter day. the custom is for all members of the family to wear new clothes on the day of a _première communion_, but the child's dress is the important thing. in belgian towns, for some time before, the windows of the shops in which articles of dress are sold are full of gloves, stockings, ties, and other things marked "_première communion_." a boy's dress is not much trouble. he wears black trousers, a black jacket, and white gloves and tie. but great thought is given to seeing that a girl looks well in her white dress, and other nice new things. she thinks and talks of nothing but her clothes for ever so long before, and especially of her "corsets," which she then puts on for the first time. her mother takes her to the shop to try them on, and is at much pains to make her waist as slender as possible. "can't you pull them a little tighter?" she will say to the shopwoman. the girl has tight new shoes to make her feet look as small as possible; the _coiffeur_ dresses her hair; and she is very proud of her appearance when, squeezed into proper shape and decked out in her new clothes, she sets off to church. [illustration: the hÔtel de ville, brussels.] the children are confirmed on the monday, the day after their first communion, and are then taken to visit the friends of the family to be shown off, and to receive presents. the windows of the confectioners' shops are full of little white sugar images of boys and girls saying their prayers, and even the poorest people manage to have a feast of some sort on this occasion. they often beg money for the purpose. it is, of course, difficult for parents who are poor to buy new clothes. but any little gifts of money which a child may receive are taken and hoarded up to be spent on its first communion. all belgian children, even those whose parents are not catholics, go, with scarcely an exception, to first communion, and are confirmed, for there may be relatives with money to leave, and they must not be displeased. the _première communion_ is the chief event in the life of a belgian child. chapter vi christmas in belgium christmas is not kept in belgium in the same way as in england, germany, and other countries. there are special services in church, but no christmas-trees, christmas presents, or family dinner-parties. this was not always so, and some traces still remain in different parts of the old customs which used to be observed in belgium. the ancient belgians had a festival at mid-winter, and when they were converted to christianity they continued to use a good many of their old rites at that season of the year, and the few very old christmas customs which survive really began when belgium was a pagan or heathen land. some of these customs are rather curious. in the valley of the meuse the pagans used to feast on the flesh of wild boars at their mid-winter banquets, and now the people of namur have roast pork for dinner on christmas day. the _petite bourgeoisie_ of brussels often eat chestnuts on that day--an old usage handed down from the days when the germans ate acorns--and think they can find out what is going to happen in the future by burning them. for instance, a young man and woman who are engaged to be married throw two nuts into the fire. if they burn peacefully, the marriage will be happy; if they crack and jump away from each other, it will be unhappy. if a candle or lamp goes out suddenly on christmas eve, it is believed that someone in the room will die soon. another sign of death is if you throw salt on the floor and it melts. in some places candles are burnt all night to scare away evil spirits. another custom is to go into orchards, and strike with an axe trees which have not been fruitful. this, it is thought, will make them bear next year. there are many other superstitions like these which can be traced back to heathen times, but are now mixed up with the rites of christian worship. one strange superstition, which a few old peasants still have, is that when the clock strikes twelve on christmas eve all the water in the house may turn into wine. this comes down, no doubt, from early christian times. in some belgian towns the children of the poor go round on christmas eve, from house to house, singing, and asking for bread, fruit, or nuts. one of their favourite songs begins: "blyden nacht, o blyden nacht! messias is geboren!" that is flemish, their language, and it means: "happy night, oh, happy night! the messiah is born." another song begins: "een kindeken is ons geboren," which is the same as "unto us a child is born." good children, who have said their prayers every night, expect to find under their pillows on christmas morning a cake, or rather a bun, which is called an _engelskoek_, or angel's cake, which the archangel gabriel is supposed to have brought during the night to reward them. naughty children find nothing. in some places the children are told that it is the _petit jesus_ (the little child jesus), who puts the bun under their pillows. in many churches, but by no means in all, there is a midnight service, at which there is a manger surrounded by wax candles, with an image of the holy child in it. but this late service was so often made an excuse for going to public-houses, and drinking too much, that the hour has been changed, in most places, to five in the morning. the custom of having shrines, with a manger and candles, known as "bethlehems," is, however, common, even in private houses. on christmas day in flanders people wish each other "a merry christmas," just as they do in england; and many parents of the upper classes send their children, in charge of a servant, to visit their relatives, from whom they may receive some small gifts. but christmas day is not the same, in the way of presents and merry-making, as it is in england. chapter vii new year's day new year's day is a great day in belgium. december , the last day of the old year, is dedicated to st. sylvester, and there is a custom, at least in antwerp, that the child who gets out of bed last is called a "sylvester," and must give the best of its toys to its brothers and sisters. if one of the older girls in a family does not finish any sewing or fancy-work she may have on hand by the end of the day, she is afraid of being haunted by evil spirits. some people say that a young woman who does not finish her work before sunset has no chance of being married for a year. so they all get their various tasks done, and the last night of the year is spent in amusement. the whole family, children and all, sit up till midnight, singing, reciting, or playing games till the clock strikes twelve, when they all kiss each other, and give wishes for "a happy new year." in the big towns, however, many of the _petite bourgeoisie_ do not "bring in the new year" at home, and the restaurants and cafés are crowded till twelve o'clock, when healths are drunk, and there is cheering and singing, which are continued in the streets when the people are going home; and there is a great deal of noise for a long time after all the cafés are closed. it used to be the fashion to fire guns at midnight on new year's eve, but that is not common now except in one part of belgium, called limburg, where any girl who has a lover expects him to fire off shots in front of her window. the more shots he fires the more she thinks he loves her, and to reward him she ought to hide a bottle of gin in some corner outside the house, from which he can drink her health. mischievous young men, however, sometimes find the bottle, and drink the gin before the lover comes, and so the girl often waits till she hears the shots, and then lowers the bottle by a string from the window. this funny custom, like many others, is now going out of fashion. on new year's day all belgians call on their friends to wish them "a happy new year," when they are offered wine, sweetmeats, and things of that sort. this paying of visits on new year's day goes on to such an extent in belgian towns that people who have many friends spend almost the whole day in walking or driving about from one house to another. as everyone is doing the same thing, of course a great many people are not at home when their friends come, and so the hall-table of nearly every house is covered with calling-cards before evening. the servants have almost nothing to do all day but answer the door-bell, which is constantly ringing. in some towns, antwerp among others, it is supposed to be quite allowable for grown-up people, ladies and gentlemen, to kiss anyone they know on new year's day. a belgian lady once told me that it brought good luck to kiss an officer of the army; but, of course, there are limits to this, as there are to kissing under the mistletoe in england. in the country parts of south belgium it is the custom to try to be the first to call out "good new year" when you meet a friend. if you say it first you have something given you. the children try to surprise their fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, and all the friends of the family in this way. they get up early, and hide themselves, so as to be able to jump out suddenly, and say "_een zalig nieuwjahr_," which means "a good new year." all day long they go on doing it, and are never tired of telling each other about the tricks they have thought of to _verassen_, as it is called, the older people, who must give them gingerbread or sugar-plums as the penalty for being surprised in this way. on new year's day in belgium it is not only your friends who stop you in the street or call at your house. every man, woman, boy, or girl who has done any work for you, and often those who have done nothing, expect to get something. they are very greedy. railway-porters who have once brought a box to your house, ring your bell and beg. telegraph-boys, scavengers paid by the town, bell-ringers, policemen, shop-boys, everyone comes bowing and scraping, and men who in england would be ashamed to take a "tip" will touch their hats, and hold out their hands for a few pence. they don't wait to be offered money; they ask for it, like common street-beggars asking alms. january , the feast of the epiphany, is known in flanders as _groot nieuwjahr_ ("great new year"), and is kept to some extent by the working-people in the same way as the first day of the year. mondays are always idle days with working-men in belgium, and the first monday after epiphany is the idlest of them all. it is called _verloren maandag_, or, in french, _lundi perdu_, which means "lost monday," because no one does any work. the day is spent going about asking for money, and at night there is a great deal of drinking. on one of these mondays not long ago some drunken troopers of a cavalry regiment stabbed the keeper of a village public-house near bruges, broke his furniture to pieces, and kept the villagers in a state of terror for some hours. one very bad thing about the lower-class belgians is that when they drink, and begin to quarrel, they use knives, and wound or kill those who have offended them. by a curious superstition it is thought unlucky to work on lost monday, so the people get drunk, and more crimes of violence are committed on that day than at any other time of the year. chapter viii pageants and processions the belgians are very fond of pageants and processions. in each town there are several, and in all villages at least one, every year. it has been so for hundreds of years, and these spectacles must have been magnificent in the middle ages, when the narrow streets were full of knights in glittering armour riding on their strong flemish war-horses decked with embroidered saddle-cloths, bishops and priests in gorgeous vestments, standard-bearers, trumpeters, heralds in their robes of office, images of saints borne high above the crowd, mingled with jesters and the enormous giants with grotesque faces which were carried along on these occasions. the tall houses with their projecting wooden gables were gay with flags. the windows and balconies were hung with rich tapestry, and from them the wives and daughters of nobles and wealthy merchants looked down upon the scene below. a queen of france once rode in a procession through the streets of bruges, and was moved to jealousy by the sight of so many ladies decked in jewels as rich as her own. "i thought," she said, "that i alone was queen, but here i have hundreds of rivals." [illustration: at the kermesse.] one of the most splendid of these pageants was in the summer of the year , when an english princess, margaret of york, married a prince called charles the bold, who was duke of burgundy. on that occasion there was a famous tournament in the market-place of bruges, in which many valiant knights took part. it was called the "tournament of the golden tree." two years ago, in the summer of , there was a pageant at bruges, when the marriage festivities of charles the bold and margaret of york were represented. a young belgian lady took the part of the english princess, and a belgian gentleman appeared as charles the bold. there were knights in armour, ladies of the court of burgundy, heralds, men-at-arms, and pages, all dressed in the picturesque costumes of the middle ages. there was tilting in the lists, when lances were broken, and, in short, everything was done very nearly as it was years ago. this spectacle, which was produced on three days, was attended by thousands of people, who came from all parts of belgium to see it. it was a very good example of how well the belgians can manage a pageant, and how popular these shows are with the people. a very celebrated pageant takes place every year at bruges, the "procession of the holy blood," which devout catholics from every country in europe attend. there is a small chapel in that town, where they keep, in a crystal tube, what is said to be some of the blood of our lord. it has been there for more than years. the tube is preserved in a beautiful case adorned with precious stones, which is carried through the town on the first monday after may . the houses are decorated with flags, and candles burn in almost every window. through the streets, between crowds of people standing on the pavements or looking down from the windows--while the church bells ring, and wreaths of incense fill the air, bands of music, squadrons of cavalry, crucifixes, shrines, images, the banners of the parishes, heralds in their varied dresses, bareheaded pilgrims from england, france, and other countries, maidens in white, bearing palms or crowns of thorn or garlands--priests and chanting choristers, move slowly along, and, when the relic of the holy blood passes, all the people sink to the ground. bruges, usually so empty, is always crowded on that day. seven or eight years ago at lierre, a town near antwerp, i saw three processions in one month, each of which showed the belgian fondness for such things. one was the procession of st. gommarius, the patron saint of the town, when a golden shrine, said to contain his bones, was carried through the streets, just as the relic of the holy blood is carried through bruges. there were a great many little children in that procession, dressed as angels and saints--in white, pale green, blue, crimson, and other colours. some had wreaths of flowers on their heads, and some carried lighted tapers. they all seemed proud of taking part in the procession. the smallest, who were tiny mites, with their mothers walking with them to take care of them, were very tired at the end, for they had to walk slowly for hours on the hard stones, stopping often before sacred images, when the priests burned incense, and all the people went down on their knees. this, like that at bruges, is a religious procession, and there are many others of the same kind all over belgium. another procession was in honour of an old couple, who had been married for fifty years. they were poor people, and the parish was celebrating their "golden wedding." there was a service in the cathedral of st. gommarius, and when that was finished the old man and his wife were put in a carriage and four. they were neatly dressed, and each had a large bouquet of yellow flowers. at the head of each horse walked a young man, leading it by a long yellow ribbon. in front of the carriage a band of musicians played, and behind it came a number of peasants, all in their best clothes. they wore white cotton gloves and yellow wedding-favours. the man and his wife, who were evidently feeble as well as very old, seemed rather bored, but all the people in the procession were in high spirits, for they were on their way to a good dinner paid for by the parish. a few nights after that there was a tremendous noise of music in the market-place, and another procession was formed, which marched off round the town, and at last stopped before the door of a house. here they remained for a long time. there was a great deal of cheering, and the band played tune after tune, finishing up with the belgian national anthem. and what do you think it was all about? a boy whose parents lived in the house had gained a prize at school. that was all; but it was an excuse for a procession, music, and drinking healths. not long ago a young man won a prize at a great school of music in brussels called the _conservatoire_, and so his native town must needs have a procession. there were two bands, a number of flags, and several carriages, in one of which the young fellow sat, bowing from side to side as he was driven through the streets to a café, at which what they call the _vin d'honneur_, or cup of honour, was served. in the same town two years ago the football team of a regiment quartered there won a cup, and there was a long procession of soldiers and townsmen in honour of the event. the cup was carried in triumph on a platform adorned with wreaths, and the crowd shouted as if the soldiers were returning victorious from war. the belgians have always been the same in their love of such displays. long ago their country was oppressed by the spaniards, who killed and tortured many of them without mercy. but that made no difference, and their sorrows were soon forgotten if their conquerors provided some pageant to amuse them. a circus procession of buffoons, with dromedaries, elephants, sham giants, and pasteboard whales and dragons, seems to have consoled them for all their misery. chapter ix the story of st. evermaire: a country pageant once upon a time there was a good man called st. evermaire, who went on a pilgrimage to a part of belgium called the hesbaye, which is near the river meuse. as he and his companions were journeying along, they came, when it was growing dark one evening, to a great wood. being afraid of losing their way, they went to a village to ask for shelter. this village belonged to a fierce robber, called hacco, and it was at his door that the pilgrims knocked. the door was opened by hacco's wife, who received them kindly, but told them that her husband was a robber, and that, though he was away from home, it would not be safe for them to remain there long. so very early next morning, as soon as it was light, they went into the wood, and lay down to sleep beside a fountain among the trees. they had scarcely gone when hacco, who had been out all night looking for people to rob, came home. when he heard about the strangers who had just left, he flew into a terrible rage, and went to look for them. he soon found them fast asleep in the wood, and killed them. then he tore off their clothes, and left their bodies lying on the ground. after a little time some huntsmen found the dead pilgrims, and dug a grave for them. but these people, noticing that the face of one dead man shone brightly, and feeling sure that he must be some very holy person, buried him in a grave by himself. this was st. evermaire. the wood was many years later cut down, and a village called russon was built near the place where hacco murdered the pilgrims. the first priest of this village discovered the grave of st. evermaire, whose bones were placed in a tomb in the church of russon; but they were afterwards laid to rest in a chapel which was built on purpose to receive them. this chapel stands in a grove of beech-trees, on a meadow surrounded by a hedge, in one corner of which there is a fountain whose water is said to be a cure for ague. it is supposed to be on the very spot where the pilgrims were killed. over the altar in the chapel is a painting of the murder. there are also statues of the virgin mary and of st. evermaire, and a gilded case, which contains the bones of the saint. [illustration: a chÂteau in the lesse valley.] on may day there is a procession from russon to this chapel. first two vergers come out of the village church, dressed in "tights," and covered from their ankles to their necks with ivy-leaves. they wear pointed caps on their heads, and brandish huge clubs, with which they threaten the country people, who roar with laughter at the faces they make. seven men are dressed up to represent st. evermaire and his companions. the saint himself wears a tunic of coarse brown cloth, girt about with a leather belt, from which hang a string of beads and a pilgrim's bottle, a short cloak of ox-hide, and a round hat; but the other pilgrims have just black coats and breeches, with white stockings. they are followed by about fifty men on horseback, dressed up as hacco and his band of robbers. this strange-looking procession goes to the chapel, where there is service, the vergers in their ivy-leaves assisting at the altar; and the moment the benediction has been said, the whole congregation rushes out to the meadow. the pilgrims stand in a circle near the fountain, where they sing a quaint old country hymn. in the meantime hacco and his band gallop about outside the meadow; but when the pilgrims have done singing, they enter it, and ride round and round several times. then the pilgrims go near the chapel, and a short conversation is sung between them and hacco, they imploring mercy, and he abusing them for trespassing on his lands. at last hacco becomes impatient, draws his sword, and advances upon the pilgrims, declaring in a voice of thunder that he is about to kill them. at this point the spectators are expected to weep; but all of a sudden the youngest pilgrim takes to his heels, and scampers away as fast as ever he can. hacco and the robbers run after him, scrambling about among bushes and trees, as if they were playing at hide-and-seek. the spectators laugh and clap their hands, and the village children scream with delight. hacco fires a pistol at the runaway, but misses, on which everybody cheers. then he fires again, and the pilgrim tumbles down, and is killed with an arrow by one of the robbers, who picks him up, throws him across the back of a horse and brings him back to the meadow. during this chase the other pilgrims have thrown themselves, as if in despair, on the grass, where presently hacco and his followers proceed to kill them. but by this time all the actors are tired and thirsty; so st. evermaire and his friends rise up, and the whole company of robbers and pilgrims walk off, and swill beer together for the rest of the day. so ends the rustic pageant of russon. chapter x the carnival the week before lent begins is called in flanders _duivelsweek_, which means "the devil's week"; and on the sunday, monday, and tuesday before ash wednesday there is the carnival, so called from the latin words _carni vale_ (which mean, as every school-boy knows, "farewell to the flesh"), because during lent good catholics should abjure "the world, the flesh, and the devil," and refrain from eating meat. in ghent the monday of that week is called _zotten-maanday_, or fools' monday, and all over belgium the next day (shrove tuesday in england) is called _mardi gras_--that is, fat tuesday--the day on which people can eat and drink as much as they like before beginning to fast. during the carnival people go about the streets in fancy dress, sometimes with their faces hidden by masks. often they are dressed as clowns, and make a great noise, blowing horns, dancing, singing, and making fools of themselves in every possible way. in the shops bags of confetti are sold--little bits of coloured paper, like what you see in england too--which you may throw at other people, whether you know them or not. the children have often great fun, covering each other with these bits of paper, which stick in the hair and are very difficult to shake off. in some of the streets at brussels the pavements are carpeted all the time of the carnival with thousands of these small pink, yellow, and white fragments, which the people have been throwing about. then there are false noses, wigs, and other disguises, so that you may pass people you know quite well without an idea who they are. a person may speak to you; you fancy you know the voice, but a beard, and perhaps a long blue nose, hide the face, and you are in doubt. a handful of confetti is thrown in your face, and in a moment the figure is gone and lost in the crowd. a few years ago there was a carnival procession in most of the towns, and then all the huge wickerwork giants were carried about. they all have names. the brussels giant is ommegan. in another town there is, or was, one called goliath. there is a very old giant called lange man, or long man. he is probably still to be seen at hasselt, in the south of belgium, which was his native place. a good many years ago he was carried through the streets on a car drawn by four horses, and all the poor people got soup, which he was supposed to give them in memory of a famine from which the town had suffered at one time. a good deal of money is collected for the poor during the carnival by people who go about with boxes, into which everyone is expected to put something. there are not so many carnival processions as there used to be, and within the last two or three years they have been entirely given up in some places. but the carnival goes on, with more or less gaiety, everywhere. there are few towns where masked balls do not take place, and these usually last all night, so that some of the dancers never go to bed. during the carnival most of the public-houses remain open all night, and there is dancing in them, and a great deal of noise. the fourth sunday in lent is called mi-carême, or, in flemish, _half-vasten_, when the fun of the carnival is renewed; and on that day a person like santa claus, whom you know in england, makes his appearance. he is called _de greef van half-fasten_--that is, the count of mi-carême--and comes to give presents to all good children. but he is so like santa claus that we shall leave him alone in the meantime, for i shall presently be telling you what santa claus does in belgium. there is, however, another count who does not visit england--the count of nut land, who rides along with a sack of nuts, which he throws about for anyone to pick up. strange to say, cracking these nuts is supposed to be a cure for toothache! is not that a funny idea? chapter xi children's winter festivals very young children in belgium look forward to the evening before november , which is the day of st. martin, because they have heard that something very exciting is going to happen. their parents make them stand in a corner, with their faces to the wall. they must not look round, for if they do nothing will happen. but if they are not inquisitive, ask no questions, and stand quite still, a shower of nuts and apples suddenly falls on the floor behind them. they are told that these have been thrown down from heaven by st. martin, and they at once turn round and scramble for them. there is another thing which is sometimes done on st. martin's eve. the father, or some big boy, comes into the younger children's bedroom, dressed up as the saint, with a beard and robes, and asks how the children have been behaving. if he is told they have been good, he gives them apples or sweetmeats; but if he hears they have been naughty, he pulls out a whip, throws it down, and leaves the room. at malines, and perhaps elsewhere, the children of poor people have a little procession of their own on st. martin's day, when they dress up and go about singing from house to house. one of them, who is dressed as st. martin, carries a large basket, into which the people at whose doors they ring put apples or money. at another town, called furnes, there is also a procession of children, who carry paper lanterns, with lighted candles in them, and march singing through the streets. the same thing is done in the country round bruges, where the children visit the farm-houses at night, singing and asking for apples and nuts. there are cakes, called _gauffres_, which are often eaten on st. martin's day, and are therefore sometimes called st. martin's cakes. that favourite saint is so much spoken of in connection with eating good things that in the valley of the meuse they call him _le bon vivant_, which means the person who lives well. just as in england bonfires are lighted on guy fawkes' day, november , so in belgium they light them on the evening of st. martin's day. indeed, they are known as st. martin's fires, and the children call lighting a bonfire "warming the good st. martin." about a month after st. martin's comes the day of st. nicholas--december . during the night before this saint is supposed to ride through the sky, over the fields and above the housetops, mounted on a donkey or a white horse, with a great basket stuffed full of toys, fruit, sweetmeats, and other nice things. down the chimney of every house where there are children sleeping he drops some of these things, if the children have been good, or a whip if they have been naughty. so on the eve of st. nicholas belgian children, before they go to bed, fill their shoes, or sometimes a basket, with hay or carrots, and place them near the chimney of their sleeping-room, so that when st. nicholas comes to the house he may find something for his donkey or horse to eat, and in return leave presents for them. having made these preparations, the children ought to sing or repeat verses addressed to the saint. here is one of them--the one they sing at lierre: "sinte niklaes, nobele sinte niklaes! werpiet in myn schoentjen een appeltjen of een limoentjen!" this means in english: "noble saint nicholas, please throw into my little shoe just a small apple or lemon." there is another of these rhymes which is not so polite, in which the saint is told that if he gives something, the child will serve him for life, but if he doesn't, the child will not serve him at all! [illustration: a farmsteading.] next morning the children wake early, and jump out of bed to see what has happened during the night. they expect to find, if st. nicholas is pleased with them, that the hay and carrots have disappeared, and that their shoes are full of presents; but that if they have not been good enough, the shoes will just be as they were the night before, and a birch-rod stuck into the hay. but, as you may suppose, it always turns out that st. nicholas is pleased. the presents are there, and amongst them there is sure to be a gingerbread figure of the saint, which they may eat or not, as they please; so they are happy for the rest of the day. st. nicholas, you see, is much the same as santa claus, for whom stockings are hung up in england. about a fortnight after this comes december , dedicated to st. thomas, when belgian children can play tricks on their parents in a curious way. the game is to get your father or mother to leave the house, and then lock the door and refuse to let them in till they have promised to give you something. a child will say: "mother, somebody wants to speak to you in the garden." the mother goes out. of course there is nobody there; and when she comes back the child calls out: "st. thomas's day! what will you give me to let you in?" so the mother promises something, which is usually chocolate, with a piece of _cramique_--a kind of bread with currants in it--and not till then is the door opened. this, of course, is great fun for the children, who always hope that their parents have forgotten what day it is, and so will be easily tricked. a week later is the festival of ss. innocents, or _allerkinderendag_ (the day of all the children), as it is called in flemish, which is observed in memory of the slaughter of the children by herod. on this day belgian children are supposed to change places with their parents, wear their best clothes, and rule the household. they can put on their parents' clothes, and go about the house making as much noise as they like, teasing the servants and giving them orders. the youngest girl has the privilege of telling the cook what she is to prepare for dinner; and all the children may go out and walk about dressed up as old people. this is not often seen now, though poor children sometimes put on their parents' things, and beg from door to door, calling themselves "the little fathers and mothers." these winter festivals, when the children have so much liberty and get so many presents, take the place in belgium of the christmas-trees and parties you have in england. chapter xii the archers: games played in belgium let us imagine we are taking a walk along some country road in flanders on a summer afternoon. there is a cinder-track for cyclists on one side, and the lines of a district railway on the other. the road between them is causeway, very hard, dusty, and hot to walk on. but we can step on to the railway, and walk between the rails, or take to the cycle-track. if a train comes up behind, the engine-driver will whistle to give us warning, but we must keep a sharp lookout for cyclists, who seldom ring their bells, but rush swiftly and silently past, and perhaps shout something rude to us for being on their track. there are no fences or hedges, but a straggling row of tall poplar-trees on each side of the road, and beyond them square fields of rye or pasturage divided by ditches of stagnant water. it will not be long before we come to a village, a row of white cottages with roofs of red tiles, and outside window-shutters painted green. in front of each cottage there is a pathway of rough stones, and a gutter full of dirty water. there are about fifty of these cottages, of which half a dozen or so have signboards with _herberg_, which means public-house, over their doors. the railway passes close in front of them. a little way back from the road there is a church, with a clock-tower, and a snug-looking house, standing in a garden, where the parish priest lives. just outside the village we notice a meadow, in which there is a wooden shed open at one side, with benches in it, and reminding us of the little pavilions we often see on village cricket-grounds in england. the part of the meadow just in front of this shed is covered with cinders or gravel, in the middle of which rises a very high pole, tapering towards the top, and looking like a gigantic fishing-rod stuck in the ground. it is crossed, a long way up, by slender spars, like the yards of a ship, only they are no thicker than a walking-stick. on these spars, and along the pole itself near the top, a number of little wooden pegs, with tufts of yellow worsted attached to them, are fixed. one bigger than the rest is perched on the very summit of the pole, which bends over slightly to one side. they look like toy canaries, but are called "pigeons," and they are put there as marks to be shot at with bows and arrows. presently a number of men come from the village, each with a long-bow and some arrows. it is a holiday, and the local society of archers is going to spend the afternoon shooting for prizes. one of them takes his stand close to the foot of the pole, fits an arrow on his bowstring, aims steadily, and shoots straight up. it needs a good deal of strength, as the bow is stiff to bend. the arrow flies whistling among the "birds," touches one or two without bringing them down, rises high above the top of the pole, turns in the air, and comes down again to the ground with a thud. it is the duty of two or three boys to pick up the arrows, and bring them back to the shooters. the arrows are blunt, but to protect their heads these boys wear hats with thick flat crowns and very broad brims, which make them look like big mushrooms with legs as they run about to fetch the arrows. when a bird is hit fair and square it comes down, and the shot is cheered. sometimes shot after shot is fired, and nothing falls, especially if there is a wind. but the interest never flags, and the shooting goes on for hours. there is a great deal of talking and laughing, much beer is drunk in the pavilion, and the fun only ends when the light fails. this is the great national sport of belgium. there is scarcely a town or village which has not a society of archers, called generally after st. sebastian, the patron saint of archers. many of them were founded years ago, at the time when the famous archers of england were showing how well they could hold their own with the bow against knights clad in heavy armour. in a society called the confraternity of the archers of st. sebastian was founded at ypres, a town in flanders, to celebrate a great battle, the battle of the golden spurs, in which the flemings had been victorious over the french the year before, and this society still exists. the chief society of archers in brabant in the old days was at louvain, and it was founded just three years before that battle of cressy of which you have so often heard, when, as the old chronicler froissart says, the english arrows flew so thick that it seemed to snow. thus the history of this national sport goes back to the time when arrows were used in battle, and men had to practise constantly with their bows in order to be able to defend their country or attack their enemies. but when the use of firearms became universal, and archers were no longer employed in warfare, the societies still continued to exist, and their meetings gradually became what they now are--social gatherings for the practice of archery as a form of sport. at bruges there is a company of archers called the society of st. sebastian, whose club-house was built with money given by charles ii. of england, who lived in that town for some time when he was an exile; and it may interest you to know that queen victoria, when on a visit to bruges, became a member of this society, and afterwards sent two silver cups as prizes to be shot for. another form of this sport is shooting with crossbows at a target. st. george is the patron generally of those who use the crossbow. the society of st. george at bruges has a curious festival, which is observed in february. it is called the _hammekensfeest_, or festival of the ham. the shooting takes place in a hall, where a supper-table is laid with various dishes of ham, salads, fish, and other eatables. the target is divided into spaces marked with the names of the dishes. if anyone hits a space marked, for example, ham, he may go and help himself to ham; but if someone else, shooting after him, hits the same place, he must then give up his seat. in the bull's-eye of the target there is the figure of an ape, and if anyone hits that he can eat of any dish he pleases. you may suppose what an amusing supper-party this is, when all the guests are shooting and eating by turns, and no one knows whether he may not have to rise suddenly and give up his place to somebody else. there are many other customs and festivals connected with the archer societies, which are very flourishing in belgium, chiefly among the _petite bourgeoisie_. there are athletic clubs in belgium, and rowing is a favourite sport, especially at ghent. two years on end the ghent rowing club won the grand challenge shield at henley, beating all the english crews which rowed against them. as in all countries, the children have many games. one, which they call _balle dans la maison_ (ball in the house), is much the same as rounders, and there is another game called _camp ruiné_, which girls play at school. there are two sides. a ball is thrown up, and each side tries to prevent the other catching it. each player who is prevented has to join the opposite side or camp, and so on till one camp is "ruined" by losing all its occupants. there is a very popular game among belgian working-men called the _jeu de balle_. there are five players on each side, who stand on two large courts marked on the ground. the ball is served by hitting it with the hand (as at fives) by a player on one side over the line which divides the courts, and is returned in the same way by a player on the other side. the ball must not touch the ground, and is taken full pitch. a point is lost by the side which sends a ball outside the lines of the court into which it ought to have been served or returned. the points count fifteen, thirty, forty, and five for the last, which wins the game. this is the chief game played by working-men in belgium. in some places it seems to be quite unknown, but in others it is very popular. but there are so many rules that it is impossible fully to understand it without seeing it played, or to explain it without a diagram showing the positions of the players, who have all different names, like men fielding at cricket. the _jeu de boule_, which you may hear mentioned in belgium, is quite different from the _jeu de balle_, and is much the same as skittles. [illustration: playing "jeu de boule," at a flemish inn.] of the more important games football is the most popular in belgium. great crowds assemble to watch the matches, which are always played under "association" rules. rugby football would be impossible for belgians, because they would never keep their tempers when caught and thrown down. there would be constant rows, and no match would ever be finished. as it is, there is a great deal of quarrelling, and when one town plays another the visitors, if they win, are hooted, and sometimes attacked, when they are leaving the ground. lately, after a football match in flanders, knives were drawn, and some of the players had to escape in a motor-car. cricket has lately been tried, but it has not as yet spread much, and is not likely to become very popular, as it requires too much patience and steadiness for belgian young men and boys. lawn-tennis and hockey, however, are quite the fashion, especially lawn-tennis, which many belgians, ladies as well as men, play extremely well. important tennis tournaments are held every summer at ostend and other places on the coast. in recent years several golf-courses have been made in belgium. there is one at a place called le coq, near ostend, where leopold ii., the present king of the belgians, founded a club. it is very pretty, and there is a fine club-house; but good english players do not like it, because the course is too artificial, with flower-beds and ornamental shrubs, whereas a golf-course ought to be as natural as possible. golf is played also at brussels, antwerp, nieuport, and ghent. another place for golf is knocke, a seaside village near bruges, where the game was introduced by a few englishmen some years ago. the golf-course at this place is laid out among the dunes, and is entirely natural, with "bunkers" of fine sand. a great many players go there from england and scotland, as well as from various parts of belgium, and the flemish "caddies," who cheerfully carry the clubs for d. a round, speak english quite well, and know all about the "royal and ancient game." chapter xiii what the belgians speak three different languages are spoken in belgium. these are flemish, walloon, and french. flemish is spoken in flanders, in the provinces of antwerp and limbourg, and in a part of brabant. walloon is the language of liége and the valley of the meuse, luxembourg, and the western districts. french is spoken all over the country. some belgians speak nothing but flemish, some nothing but walloon, and some nothing but french. a great many speak both flemish and french, and there are some who speak all three languages. though flemish is the language of the majority of belgians, most of the books, newspapers, and magazines are published in french, which is the "official" language--that is to say, it is the language of the court and the government--and all well-educated belgians can speak, read, and write it. in brussels almost everyone speaks french. though many belgians know french thoroughly, they speak it with an accent of their own, which is unlike anything you hear in france, just as english people speak french or german with an english accent. so belgium is not a good place to go to if you want to learn french. the worst french is spoken in east flanders and the best in ypres. there is a great likeness between flemish and dutch, which were originally one language, and a book printed in flemish is almost exactly the same as a dutch book. but there are many different ways of pronouncing flemish. the accent of ghent is so different from that of bruges that the people of these towns do not always understand each other, and in neither do they speak with the accent which is used in antwerp. thus, in little belgium there are not only three different languages, but various ways of speaking flemish, the original language of the country. so french is not only the official language, but the most useful for travellers to know. though french is the official language, there are laws which have been made to allow the use of flemish in the law courts, and belgian officers must be able to command the soldiers in flemish. in the _moniteur_ (a paper like the _london gazette_) royal proclamations, and things of that sort, are published in both flemish and french. railway-tickets are printed in both languages. so are the names of the streets in some towns. in the belgian parliament, though the members generally make their speeches in french, they may use flemish if they like, and they sometimes do. walloon may be described as a very old form of french, but though the walloons are the most active and industrious of all the belgians, their language is not much known, and you will never hear it spoken except in the valley of the meuse, and in the country parts of south-west belgium. the three belgian words for christmas are _kerstdag_ in flemish, _noël_ in french, and _nouée_ in walloon. chapter xiv a short history i must write just one chapter on belgian history. dates are tiresome things, though they are useful pegs, so to speak, on which to hang the facts of history, and help us to recollect the order in which they happened. however, we shall not bother with many dates. i shall make the whole story as plain and simple as possible; and, besides, you can skip it all if you find it too stupid and dull. the first thing to understand about the tiny corner of europe which is now called belgium is that very long ago it was divided into a great many small states, each of which was ruled over by some duke, or count, or baron, or some noble with another title, who made peace or war with his neighbours, just as the kings of europe do nowadays. there were the dukes of brabant, and the counts of flanders and of namur, the lords of malines, and the bishop-princes of liége, and many more. you will see where their states lay if you look at the map. the most famous was flanders, for the great flemish cities, such as ghent, bruges, and ypres, became strong and rich by reason of their trade and manufactures. in the towns the merchants and tradesmen were banded together in societies called guilds. there were guilds of weavers, and butchers, and other trades; and they defended themselves so well against the nobles, who often tried to attack their liberties, that the towns became strongholds of freedom. but, unfortunately, they were always quarrelling. each town wanted to be richer than its neighbour. each town cared only for itself, so they often fought. ghent wanted to ruin ypres, and the men of ghent helped an english army to attack ypres. at other times the guildsmen of bruges fought against those of ghent. thus for many years this part of europe was divided into petty states, and the towns, in spite of their wealth and freedom, were always rebelling against their princes, or fighting with each other. and all this time, close at hand and watchful, there was a mighty state, called "the burgundies," whose dominions were ever stretching farther and farther. at last a day came when a certain count of flanders died, leaving no heir male, and a duke of burgundy, called philip the hardy, married a flemish princess, and obtained possession of flanders. gradually after that the dukes of burgundy became rulers of all the country which we now call belgium, except the principality of liége, which remained independent under its bishop-princes till recent times. the last duke of burgundy was charles the bold, a brave warrior, but very fierce and cruel. he was killed in a battle, and his daughter, mary of burgundy, married an austrian archduke called maximilian; and then flanders, brabant, and the other places we have spoken of, passed under the austrian royal family, which is called the house of hapsburg. maximilian and mary had a son, called philip the handsome, who married joanna the mad, daughter of king ferdinand of spain. the son of this marriage was charles v., who was neither mad nor handsome, but one of the most famous men in history. he not only ruled over the netherlands, as belgium and holland were called, but also over spain, and all the immense spanish empire, and was, moreover, emperor of germany. after reigning for forty years, charles v. gave up his royal honours to his son philip; and then began a terrible time for the netherlands. philip hated the liberty which the people of the netherlands loved. they had, especially in the towns, been accustomed to make laws for themselves, which their old dukes and counts, and also the hapsburgs, had always sworn to maintain. but philip resolved to put an end to all this freedom, and to be their absolute master. [illustration: village & canal, adinkerque.] he also hated the protestants, of whom there were many in the netherlands, and resolved to destroy them. for this purpose he introduced a kind of court, called the inquisition, which inquired into the religious faith of everyone, and sent people to be tortured and burned to death if they were not catholics. the people became furious against philip, and rebelled in defence of their liberty, and against the inquisition. for a long time the contest, which is called the "revolt of the netherlands," went on. philip was enormously rich, and had a great army and a strong fleet. the spanish soldiers, whom he let loose upon the people, were cruel, as well as highly trained. men, women, and children were tortured, robbed, burnt to death, killed in battle, and murdered in cold blood by thousands. few things, if any, more terrible have been known in the history of the world. the chief protestant leader was that prince of orange called william the silent, of whom you must often have heard. after the contest had continued for some years, instead of being dismayed, he was more resolute than ever, and persuaded the southern or belgian part of the netherlands, and the northern or dutch part, to promise that they would help each other, and fight against the spaniards till they were free. but in a very short time the southern and the northern netherlands drifted apart. the dutch stood firm, and were saved in the long, weary struggle. they shook off the yoke of spain, and gained their liberty. the belgians halted between two opinions, and were lost. most of them were catholics, which made it easier for them to submit to philip. but the most industrious of the population fled, and the trade and manufactures which had made their country prosperous went to holland. after that, a great historian says, "the flemish and brabantine cities were mere dens of thieves and beggars." the spaniards ruled over belgium, which was now called the "spanish netherlands," till a daughter of philip's, isabella by name, married an austrian archduke called albert. they received belgium as a wedding-gift. the bride's father, the tyrant philip, died about that time, and albert and isabella went to brussels, where the people, in spite of the miserable state of their country, had a fine time of it with banquets, processions, and fireworks. but two more changes were at hand. when albert died belgium went back to spain; and once again, after long wars, during one of which brussels was nearly all destroyed by fire, it was handed over to austria. this was in the year ; and after that it was called the "austrian netherlands." thus, you see, the belgians were constantly being passed from one set of masters to another, like a race of slaves. they had not stuck to the brave dutch, and fought on till they were free, and so never could tell who were to be their next rulers. this could not be good for the character of any people. however, they were, on the whole, happy under the house of hapsburg till an emperor called joseph ii. came to the austrian throne. he was a good man, and wise in many ways, but he made the mistake of trying to bring in new laws and customs which the people did not like. belgium had been sunk, ever since the time of philip ii., in poverty and ignorance. all the people wished for was to be let alone, to amuse themselves, and to have peace. but joseph ii. wanted to raise them up, and, most of all, to spread knowledge and education among them. the austrian netherlands--that is, belgium--were more catholic than ever, and all the bishops and priests were up in arms against the reforms proposed by joseph; and there was a revolution, which had not finished when he died. it came to an end, however, soon after his death, when the catholics got all they wanted, though the austrians remained in power. but the country had become restless. its restlessness was increased by the french revolution, which was now in full progress; and all was ripe for another change of rulers, which soon came. the french republicans, who beheaded their own king and his queen (who was, by-the-by, a sister of joseph ii.), invaded belgium, driving out the austrians, and made it a part of france. one thing the french did was very popular with the belgians. it was this: there was a treaty, called the treaty of münster, made as long before as the year , which declared that the dutch were to have control of the scheldt, and ever since then that splendid river, on which antwerp stands, had been closed, so that the trade of antwerp, the great belgian seaport, had been entirely ruined. the french now declared the scheldt a free river, to be used by all nations. this was tidings of great joy to the belgians; but england would not allow the treaty of münster to be torn up in this way, and a war began between england and france, which lasted till the fall of napoleon in . during all that war belgium was ruled by the french. when napoleon gave up his throne, and was sent to the island of elba, the great powers met to settle europe, which he had turned upside down. one of the things they had to decide was what should be done with the austrian netherlands, and the plan they arranged seemed a very good one. austria did not want belgium, and the plan was to make that country, the principality of liége, and holland, into one state, and call it the "kingdom of the netherlands." it was to be ruled over by one of the orange family, a descendant of william the silent. and there was something more. the william of orange who was to be king of the netherlands had a son, and the english arranged that this son should marry our princess charlotte, who was heir to the throne of england; and so all the coasts of the netherlands opposite england, with antwerp and the scheldt, were to be in the hands of a friendly nation allied by marriage to the english royal family. the proposed marriage was publicly announced in march, , but it never took place. the princess charlotte married a german, called prince leopold of saxe-coburg, and the young prince of orange married a russian grand duchess. the kingdom of the netherlands, however, was set up; and at the battle of waterloo, which was fought in june, , after napoleon escaped from elba, a force of netherlanders, some of them dutch and some of them belgians, fought under the duke of wellington, when he gained the great victory which brought peace to europe. and now it was supposed that the belgians would settle quietly down, and form one people with the dutch, who spoke a language so like their own flemish, and who came of the same race. but not a bit of it. the dutch were mostly protestants, and almost all the belgians were catholics. there were disputes about questions of religion from the very first. disagreements followed on one subject after another; and, to make a long story short, in fifteen years there was a revolution in the belgian provinces of the new kingdom. the belgians proclaimed their wish to make a kingdom of their own, and once more the great powers met to consider what was to be done with them this time. the meeting was in london, where five very shrewd and wily gentlemen, from england, france, russia, austria, and prussia, sat and talked to each other for week after week about what they should do with this broken kingdom, which was, as it were, thrown on their hands. they were far too polite to quarrel openly; but russia, prussia, and austria would have liked to force the belgians to keep to what had been arranged in , while england and france were on the side of the belgians. on one thing, and one thing only, they all agreed, and that was not to have another european war. in the long run england and france managed to persuade the others that the best thing was to let the belgians have their own way, and choose a king for themselves. they first set their affections on a son of louis philippe, the king of france, and asked him to be their king. but england would not hear of this, so his father told him to refuse. then the belgians were advised to choose that prince leopold of saxe-coburg who had married princess charlotte. she was now dead, and he had been living in england ever since. they took this advice, and in he accepted the offer they made him, and was crowned at brussels as leopold i., king of the belgians. thereafter he married a daughter of louis philippe, and reigned till the year , when he died, and was succeeded by his son, leopold ii., who is the present king. this is how the southern provinces of the netherlands were made into the little, independent kingdom of belgium. since then the trade and commerce of belgium have grown. antwerp has become a huge seaport; brussels flourishes. the industries of ghent are prosperous. throughout the walloon country, from the busy forges of liége to the coal-mines round mons, there is a hard-working and, on the whole, successful people. even fallen bruges has lately been struggling to rise again. but, unfortunately, there is another side to the picture. you have often heard it said that "as the twig is bent, the tree grows." it is the same with mankind. the character and manners of grown-up people depend on how they have been trained when young. if a child is bullied, and passed from one master to another, ill-treated and frightened, it is apt to grow up timid and untruthful. the same thing may be seen in nations. to this day the lower classes in belgium bear traces of the long period of subjection, and the race has not recovered from the time when the spaniards turned so many famous towns into dens of thieves and beggars. they are very often cunning, timid though boastful, and full of the small tricks and servile ways which are natural in a people which once had all manliness and courage crushed out of it. another unlucky thing for the belgians is that they quarrel dreadfully among themselves about public questions. in all countries there are quarrels of this sort, but in belgium these disputes poison the whole life of the country. they are divided into catholics and liberals, and the best interests of the state are lost sight of in the squabbling which goes on between these two parties. by the laws of belgium all religions are equal. there is no established church. the parliament each year finds money for the catholic clergy, for the english protestant chaplains, and for those of any other faith, if there are enough of them to form a congregation of a certain size. but this has not brought peace. in england, as you know, only some foolish people allow their political disputes to interfere with their private friendships, or with their amusements. but in belgium the catholics and the liberals never forget their differences. it is like the time when the jews had no dealings with the samaritans. there are catholic football clubs and liberal football clubs; the public-houses are either catholic or liberal; and even children are taught at school to have feelings of this sort. one day a small girl was asked out to tea with some english children. when the hour came, her mother found her crying, and asked her what was the matter. "i'm afraid," she sobbed, "to go and play with these little heretics!" [illustration: waterloo: the farm of la belle alliance and the mound surmounted by the belgian lion.] the great quarrel is about education. the liberals want to make a law that all children must go to school, but the catholics will not agree to this. the priests have so much influence, and work so hard at the elections, that, except in brussels, liége, and a few more places, the people are frightened to vote against them. so there has always been a catholic government in power for the last twenty-five years. the great powers, when they allowed the belgians to have their own way and choose a king for themselves, took belgium under their protection, and made it a "neutral state"--that is to say, a country which may not be attacked or entered by the armies of other nations which are fighting each other, and which is not permitted to make war on other countries. this was a great blessing for the belgians, because their country is so small and weak, and so many battles used to be fought in it that it was called "the cock-pit of europe." but whether the people of a neutral state are ever likely to be brave and self-sacrificing is another thing. chapter xv the belgian army: the congo though belgium is a neutral state, living under the protection of the great powers of europe, the belgians are afraid that some day, if these powers quarrel with each other and begin to fight, armies may march into their country and turn it once more into a battle-field; or perhaps one of the powers may wish to take a part of belgium, or some belgian town, such as antwerp, and rule over it. so this little kingdom must have an army to defend itself till some powerful nation comes to help it. the belgian force actually under arms consists of only about , soldiers, but it can be raised to , , if there is a danger of war, by calling out the "reserves," or men who have been trained, but are no longer with their regiments. in order to keep up this force of , it is necessary to find about , new men each year. but the belgians do not like to be soldiers, and it is very difficult to persuade them to join the army. last year only , would do so, which seems very few for a country in which there are , , people. it has been the same for years. so there is a law called the conscription, by which the necessary numbers are forced to serve. this is how they manage the conscription: in february of each year all the boys who become nineteen in that year must go and draw lots to decide which of them are to enter the army. the drawing generally takes place in the _hotel de ville_ of the chief town in the part of the country to which the boys belong. on the appointed day all the families in which there are sons liable to serve flock into the town, and a great crowd gathers outside the building. the lads who are to draw lots go in, and find some officials waiting for them. each boy has to put his hand into the ballot-box and draw out a paper on which there is a number. suppose there are boys, and are wanted for the army, then those who draw the lowest numbers are those who have to serve. each boy draws out his paper, and gives it to an official, who calls out the number. if it is a number above , he is free, and runs out shouting with joy; but if it is one of the lower numbers, he goes out sadly to tell his family that he has drawn a "bad" number. while the drawing goes on, the fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, and their friends, wait outside in the greatest anxiety. there are cheers and joyful greetings when a boy with a "good" number comes out, and groans of pity for those who have been unlucky. and when the drawing is done, and everyone knows his fate, they all go off to the public-houses. those who have drawn lucky numbers get drunk from joy, while those who have to serve in the army try to forget their sorrow in drinking. very often their families and friends do the same, and so it comes to pass that every february there are horrible scenes--men and women, boys and girls, reeling about the streets, shouting, singing, quarrelling, and behaving in the most disgraceful way. it is quite different from germany, where every boy knows he must be trained to defend his country, and where almost everyone is proud of being a soldier. if, however, the father of a boy who has drawn an unlucky number is rich enough to pay for another to take his place, he may do so. this system is called the _remplacement_, and almost every father buys his son off if he can afford it. many belgians think this system unfair, and the officers of the army do not like it. perhaps, before very long, there may be a change, and a new law made by which all boys will have to serve for a certain time. the catholics have always been in favour of the _remplacement_, while the liberals have been against it. but it is said that the king wishes to abolish it, and try some new plan. so very likely the catholics will give in, and there will be no more drawing of lots and buying off, but a system of universal service, which will be a very good thing for belgium. though the trade of belgium is very large indeed for the size of the country, the belgians have no navy, and not many merchant-ships. but they have lately plunged into an adventure which may force them to have merchant-ships and men-of-war to defend them; for this small country has taken possession of a huge part of central africa, ever so many times bigger than belgium itself. about twenty-five years ago leopold ii., the present king of the belgians, was made ruler over this part of africa, which is called the congo state, because of a magnificent river, the congo, which flows through it. it was the great powers of europe who made him ruler, and they made him promise that he would abolish slavery, allow all nations to trade freely there, and do all he could to civilize the natives. but after some time ugly stories began to reach europe about what was being done by king leopold's servants in that distant part of the world. the congo is a country full of rich products, and it was said that the king was breaking his promises: that he was making heaps of money by forcing the natives to work as slaves, that all their lands were taken from them, that people were cruelly tortured, that whole villages were destroyed, that the soldiers hired by king leopold were cannibals, and that he would not allow free trading. there is no doubt whatever that the king was making a great deal of money, and that many shameful and wicked things were done in the congo. the king never went there himself, but both he and his friends, who were also making money, said that the english (for it was the english who found most fault with him) were jealous, and that everything was going well. nevertheless bad news kept arriving from the congo, and many of the belgians themselves became as angry as the english, and said something must be done to stop what was going on. at last the belgian parliament resolved that the only way to save the congo was to make it a belgian colony, and try if they could not govern it better than king leopold. so in the year , after long debates and much curious bargaining between the king and his people, the congo state became a belgian colony. it remains to be seen whether they can govern it wisely, for as yet they have no experience in such matters. few belgians like to speak about the congo. they shake their heads, and say it will cost a great deal of money, and bring danger to their country. the scene when a ship sails from antwerp for the congo is unlike anything you will see at home. when a ship leaves an english port for india or the colonies, the travellers go on board without any fuss, with perhaps a few private friends to see them off. but when a liner starts for the congo, there is much excitement. a crowd assembles; flags fly; a band plays the belgian national anthem; hawkers go about selling photographs of _le départ pour le congo_; and a steam-tug, decorated with flags, and with a band of music playing, accompanies the liner some distance down the scheldt. the belgians, you see, are so fond of hoisting flags and hearing bands of music on every possible occasion that they can't help doing it even when there is really nothing to get excited about. and now, having taken this peep at belgium, we shall leave these adventurers sailing away to their congo, and, hoping they will find wisdom to steer wisely (in more ways than one) and so avoid shipwreck, wish them _bon voyage_. * * * * * list of volumes in the peeps at many lands series each containing full-page illustrations in colour belgium india burma ireland canada italy china jamaica corsica japan egypt morocco england new zealand finland norway france scotland germany siam greece south africa holland south seas holy land switzerland iceland wales * * * * * a larger volume in the same style the world containing full-page illustrations in colour * * * * * published by adam and charles black soho square, london, w. * * * * * agents america the macmillan company & fifth avenue, new york australasia oxford university press flinders lane, melbourne canada the macmillan company of canada, ltd. richmond street west, toronto india macmillan & company, ltd. macmillan building, bombay bow bazaar street, calcutta * * * * * other books for boys & girls illustrated in colour like the peeps at many lands * * * * * price / each all with full-page illustrations in colour _large crown vo., cloth_ * * * * * by john finnemore the story of robin hood and his merry men full-page illustrations in colour by allan stewart * * * * * by ascott r. hope beasts of business full-page illustrations in colour by g. vernon stokes and alan wright * * * * * by frederic w. farrar eric; or, little by little full-page illustrations in colour by g. d. rowlandson, and in black and white by gordon browne * * * * * st. winifred's; or, the world of school full-page illustrations in colour by dudley tennant, and in black and white by gordon browne * * * * * julian home a tale of college life full-page illustrations in colour by patten wilson * * * * * by lieut. col. a. f. mockler-ferryman the golden girdle full-page illustrations in colour by allan stewart * * * * * by john finnemore the wolf patrol a story of baden-powell's boy scouts full-page illustrations in colour by h. m. paget * * * * * jack haydon's quest full-page illustrations in colour by j. jellicoe * * * * * by stanley waterloo a tale of the time of the cave men full-page illustrations in colour by simon harmon vedder * * * * * by daniel defoe robinson crusoe full-page illustrations in colour by john williamson * * * * * by andrew home by a schoolboy's hand full-page illustrations in colour by strickland brown * * * * * from fag to monitor full-page illustrations in colour by john williamson * * * * * by captain cook voyages of discovery full-page illustrations in colour by john williamson * * * * * by mungo park travels in africa full-page illustrations in colour by john williamson * * * * * by hume nisbet the divers full-page illustrations in colour by the author * * * * * by the duchess of buckingham and chandos willy wind, and jock and the cheeses illustrations by j. s. eland ( full-page in colour) * * * * * by ascott r. hope stories full-page illustrations in colour by dorothy furniss * * * * * by andrew home exiled from school full-page illustrations in colour by john williamson * * * * * by the rev. r. c. gillie the kinsfolk and friends of jesus full-page illustrations in colour and sepia * * * * * price /= each all with full-page illustrations in colour large square crown vo., cloth * * * * * by g. e. mitton the book of the railway full-page illustrations in colour by allan stewart * * * * * by mrs. alfred sidgwick and mrs. paynter the children's book of gardening full-page illustrations in colour by mrs. cayley-robinson * * * * * by miss conway and sir martin conway the children's book of art full-page illustrations in colour from public and private galleries * * * * * by elizabeth grierson children's tales of english minsters full-page illustrations in colour by various artists * * * * * by ascott r. hope adventurers in america full-page illustrations in colour by henry sandham, r.c.a. * * * * * by s. r. crockett red cap adventures being the second series of red cap tales stolen from the treasure-chest of the wizard of the north full-page illustrations by allan stewart and others * * * * * by s. r. crockett red cap tales stolen from the treasure-chest of the wizard of the north full-page illustrations in colour by simon harmon vedder * * * * * translated and abridged by dominick daly the adventures of don quixote full-page illustrations in colour by stephen baghot de la bere * * * * * gulliver's travels full-page illustrations in colour by stephen baghot de la bere * * * * * by ascott r. hope the adventures of punch full-page illustrations in colour by stephen baghot de la bere * * * * * by dudley kidd the bull of the kraal a tale of black children full-page illustrations in colour by a. m. goodall * * * * * by p. g. wodehouse william tell told again full-page illustrations in colour by philip dadd * * * * * by john bunyan the pilgrim's progress full-page illustrations in colour by gertrude demain hammond, r.i. * * * * * by g. e. mitton the children's book of stars preface by sir david gill, k.c.b. full-page illustrations ( in colour) and smaller figures in the text * * * * * by g. e. mitton the children's book of london full-page illustrations in colour by john williamson * * * * * by elizabeth w. grierson the children's book of celtic stories full-page illustrations in colour by allan stewart * * * * * price /= each all with full-page illustrations in colour _large square crown vo., cloth_ * * * * * by elizabeth w. grierson the children's book of edinburgh full-page illustrations in colour by allan stewart * * * * * edited by g. e. mitton swiss family robinson full-page illustrations in colour by harry rountree * * * * * by elizabeth w. grierson children's tales from scottish ballads full-page illustrations in colour by allan stewart * * * * * by harriet beecher stowe uncle tom's cabin full-page illustrations in colour and many others in the text * * * * * animal autobiographies edited by g. e. mitton each volume deals entirely with the life story of some one animal, and is not merely a collection of animal stories. it is necessary to emphasize this, as the idea of the series has sometimes been misunderstood. children who have outgrown fairy-tales undoubtedly prefer this form of story to any other, and a more wholesome way of stimulating their interest in the living things around them could hardly be found. though the books are designed for children of all ages, many adults have been attracted by their freshness, and have found in them much that they did not know before. the autobiographical form was chosen after careful consideration in preference to the newer method of regarding an animal through the eyes of a human being, because it is the first aim of the series to depict the world as animals see it, and it is not possible to do this realistically unless the animal himself tells the story. * * * * * the life story of a dog by g. e. mitton full-page illustrations in colour by john williamson * * * * * the life story of a fox by j. c. tregarthen full-page illustrations in colour by countess helena gleichen * * * * * the life story of a fowl by j. w. hurst full-page illustrations in colour by allan stewart and maude scrivener * * * * * the life story of a black bear by h. perry robinson full-page illustrations in colour by j. van oort * * * * * the life story of a rat by g. m. a. hewett full-page illustrations in colour by stephen baghot de la bere * * * * * the life story of a cat by violet hunt full-page illustrations in colour by adolph birkenruth * * * * * the life story of a squirrel by t. c. bridges full-page illustrations in colour by allan stewart * * * * * published by a. and c. black, soho square, london, w. * * * * * transcriber's note the punctuation and spelling from the original text have been faithfully preserved. only obvious typographical errors have been corrected. [illustration: the great cloth hall: ypres] [illustration: vanished towers and chimes of flanders _written and pictured by_ george wharton edwards the penn publishing company _philadelphia_] copyright by george wharton edwards vanished towers and chimes of flanders foreword the unhappy flemish people, who are at present much in the lime-light, because of the invasion and destruction of their once smiling and happy little country, were of a character but little known or understood by the great outside world. the very names of their cities and towns sounded strangely in foreign ears. towns named ypres, courtrai, alost, furnes, tournai, were in the beginning of the invasion unpronounceable by most people, but little by little they have become familiar through newspaper reports of the barbarities said to have been practised upon the people by the invaders. books giving the characteristics of these heroic people are eagerly sought. unhappily these are few, and it would seem that these very inadequate and random notes of mine upon some phases of the lives of these people, particularly those related to architecture, and the music of their renowned chimes of bells, might be useful. that the fleming was not of an artistic nature i found during my residence in these towns of flanders. the great towers and wondrous architectural marvels throughout this smiling green flat landscape appealed to him not at all. he was not interested in either art, music, or literature. he was of an intense practical nature. i am of course speaking of the ordinary or "bourgeois" class now. then, too, the class of great landed proprietors was numerically very small indeed, the land generally being parcelled or hired out in small squares or holdings by the peasants themselves. occasionally the commune owned the land, and sublet portions to the farmers at prices controlled to some extent by the demand. rarely was a "taking" (so-called) more than five acres or so in extent. many of the old "noblesse" are without landed estates, and this, i am informed, was because their lands were forfeited when the french republic annexed belgium, and were never restored to them. thus the whole region of the flemish littoral was given over to small holdings which were worked on shares by the peasants under general conditions which would be considered intolerable by the anglo-saxon. a common and rather depressing sight on the belgian roads at dawn of day, were the long lines of trudging peasants, men, women and boys hurrying to the fields for the long weary hours of toil lasting often into the dark of night. but we were told they were working for their own profit, were their own masters, and did not grumble. this grinding toil in the fields, as practised here where nothing was wasted, could not of course be a happy or healthful work, nor calculated to elevate the peasant in intelligence, so as a matter of fact the great body of the country people, who were the laborers, were steeped in an extraordinary state of ignorance. if their education was neglected, they are still sound catholics, and it may be that it was not thought to be in the interest of the authorities that they should be instructed in more worldly affairs. i am not prepared to argue this question. i only know that while stolid, and unemotional ordinarily, they are intensely patriotic. they became highly excited during the struggle some years ago to have their flemish tongue preserved and taught in the schools, and i remember the crowds of people thronging the streets of antwerp, ghent and bruges, with bands of music playing, and huge banners flying, bearing in large letters legends such as "flanders for the flemings." "hail to the flemish lion" and "flanders to the death." all this was when the struggle between the two parties was going on. the flemings won, be it recorded. let alone, the fleming would have worked out his own salvation in his own way. the country was prosperous. the king and queen were popular, indeed beloved; all seemed to be going well with the people. although belgium was not a military power such as its great neighbors to the north, the east, and the south, its army played an important part in the lives of the people, and the strategical position which the country held filled in the map the ever present question of "balance"; the never absent possibility of the occasion arising when the army would be called upon to defend the neutrality of the little country. but they never dreamed that it would come so soon.... one might close with the words of the great flemish song of the poet ledeganck: "thou art no more, the towns of yore: the proud-necked, world-famed towns, the doughty lion's lair;" (written in .) [the author] greenwich, conn. april, . contents page malines, and some of the vanished towers some carillons of flanders dixmude ypres commines bergues nieuport alost courtrai termonde (dendermonde) louvain douai oudenaarde furnes the artists of malines a word about the belgians list of illustrations the great cloth hall: ypres _frontispiece_ title page decoration page the tower of st. rombauld: malines malines: a quaint back street porte de bruxelles: malines the beguinage: dixmude detail of the chimes in the belfry of st. nicholas: dixmude the belfry: bergues the old porte marechale: bruges the ancient place: dixmude the great jube, or altar screen: dixmude the fish market: dixmude no. , rue de dixmude: ypres arcade of the cloth hall: ypres gateway, wall, and old moat: ypres the belfry: commines the towers of st. winoc: bergues the tower of the templars: nieuport the town hall--hall of the knights templar: nieuport tower in the grand' place: nieuport the town hall: alost the belfry: courtrai the broël towers: courtrai the museum: termonde the cathedral: louvain the town hall: louvain the town hall: douai the town hall: oudenaarde old square and church: oudenaarde the fish market: ypres the church of our lady of hanswyk malines [illustration: vanished towers _and_ chimes of flanders] malines the immense, flat-topped, gray gothic spire which dominated the picturesque line of low, red-tiled roofs showing here and there above the clustering, dark-green masses of trees in level meadows, was that of st. rombauld, designated by vauban as "the eighth wonder of the world," constructed by keldermans, of the celebrated family of architects. he it was who designed the bishop's palace, and the great town halls of louvain, oudenaarde, and brussels, although some authorities allege that gauthier coolman designed the cathedral. but without denying the power and artistry of this latter master, we may still believe in the well-established claim of keldermans, who showed in this great tower the height of art culminating in exalted workmanship. keldermans was selected by marguerite and philip of savoie to build the "greatest church in europe," and the plans, drawn with the pen on large sheets of parchment pasted together, which were preserved in the brussels museum up to the outbreak of the war, show what a wonder it was to have been. these plans show the spire complete, but the project was never realized. charles the fifth, filled with admiration for this masterpiece, showered keldermans with honors; made him director of construction of the towns of antwerp, brussels, and malines, putting thus the seal of artistic perfection upon his dynasty. [illustration: the tower of st. rombauld: malines] historical documents in the brussels library contained the following: "the precise origin of the commencements of the cathedral of malines is unknown, as the ancient records were destroyed, together with the archives, during the troubles in the sixteenth century. the 'nefs' and the transepts are the most ancient, their construction dating from the thirteenth century. it is conjectured that the first three erections of altars in the choir and the consecration of the monument took place in march, . the great conflagration of may, , which destroyed nearly all of the town, spared the church itself, but consumed the entire roof of heavy beams of norway pine. the ruins remained thus for a long period because of lack of funds for restoration, and in the meantime services were celebrated in the church of st. catherine. it was not until that the cathedral was sufficiently repaired to be used by the canons. once begun, however, the repairs continued, although slowly. but the tower remained uncompleted as it was at the outbreak of the great war, standing above the square at the great height of . metres." on each face of the tower was a large open-work clock face, or "cadran," of gilded copper. each face was forty-seven feet in diameter. these clock faces were the work of jacques willmore, an englishman by birth, but a habitant of malines, and cost the town the sum of ten thousand francs ($ ). the citizens so appreciated his work that the council awarded him a pension of two hundred florins, "which he enjoyed for fourteen years." st. rombauld was famous for its chime of forty-five bells of remarkable silvery quality: masterpieces of flemish bell founding. malines was for many hundreds of years the headquarters of bell founding. of the master bell founders, the most celebrated, according to the archives, was jean zeelstman, who practised his art for thirty years. he made, in , for the ancient church of saint michel at louvain (destroyed by the vandals in ) a large bell, bearing the inscription: "michael prepositus paradisi quem nonoripicant angelorum civis fusa per johann zeelstman anno dmi, m. ccc. xlvi." the family of waghemans furnished a great number of bell founders of renown, who made many of the bells in the carillon of the cathedral of st. rombauld; and there was lastly the van den gheyns (or ghein), of which william of bois-le-duc became "bourgeoisie" (burgess) of malines in . his son pierre succeeded to his business in , and in turn left a son pierre ii, who carried on the great repute of his father. the tower of the hospice of notre dame contained in a remarkable old bell of clear mellow tone--bearing the inscription: "peeter van den ghein heeft mi ghegotten in't jaer m.d. lxxx viii." on the lower rim were the words: "campana sancti spiritus divi rumlodi." pierre van den ghein ii had but one son, pierre iii, who died without issue in . william, however, left a second son, from whom descended the line of later bell founders, who made many of the bells of malines. of these pierre iv, who associated himself with pierre de clerck (a cousin german), made the great "bourdon" called salvator. during the later years of the seventeenth century, the van den gheyns seem to have quitted the town, seeking their fortunes elsewhere, for the foundry passed into other and less competent hands. in malines dwelt the primate of belgium, the now celebrated cardinal mercier, whose courageous attitude in the face of the invaders has aroused the admiration of the whole civilized world. malines, although near brussels, had, up to the outbreak of the war and its subsequent ruin, perhaps better preserved its characteristics than more remote towns of flanders. the market place was surrounded by purely flemish gabled houses of grayish stucco and stone, and these were most charmingly here and there reflected in the sluggish water of the rather evil-smelling river dyle. catholicism was a most powerful factor here, and the struggle between luther and loyola, separating the ancient from the modern in flemish architecture, was nowhere better exemplified than in malines. it has been said that the modern jesuitism succeeded to the ancient mysticism without displacing it, and the installation of the first in the very sanctuary of the latter has manifested itself in the ornamentation of the ecclesiastical edifices throughout flanders, and indeed this fact is very evident to the travelers in this region. the people of malines jealously retained the integrity of their ancient tongue, and many books in the language were published here. associations abounded in the town banded together for the preservation of flemish as a language. on fête days these companies, headed by bands of music, paraded the streets, bearing large silken banners on which, with the lion of flanders, were inscriptions such as "flanders for the flemish," and "hail to our flemish lion." on these occasions, too, the chimes in st. rombauld were played by a celebrated bell-ringer, while the square below the tower was black with people listening breathlessly to the songs of their forefathers, often joining in the chorus, the sounds of the voices carrying a long distance. on the opposite side of the square, in the center of which was a fine statue of margaret of austria, adjoining the recently restored "halles," a fine building in the purest renaissance was being constructed, certainly a credit to the town, and an honor to its architect, attesting as it did the artistic sense and prosperity of the people. this, too, lies now in ashes--alas! flanders fairly bloomed, if i may use the expression, with exquisite architecture, and this garden spot, this cradle of art, as it has well been called, is levelled now in heaps of shapeless ruin. [illustration: malines: a quaint back street] certainly in this damp, low-lying country the gothic style flourished amazingly, and brought into existence talent which produced many cathedrals, town halls, and gateways, the like of which were not to be found elsewhere in europe. these buildings, ornamented with lace-like traceries and crowded with statuary, their interiors embellished with choir screens of marvelous detail wrought in stone, preserved to the world the art of a half-forgotten past, and these works of incomparable art were being cared for and restored by the state for the benefit of the whole world. here, too, in malines was a most quaint "beguinage," or asylum, in an old quarter of the town, hidden away amid a network of narrow streets: a community of gentle-mannered, placid-faced women, who dwelt in a semi-religious retirement after the ancient rules laid down by sainte begga, in little, low, red-roofed houses ranged all about a grass-grown square. here, after depositing a considerable sum of money, they were permitted to live in groups of three and four in each house, each coming and going as she pleased, without taking any formal vow. their days were given up to church, hospital, parish duties and work among the sick and needy: an order, by the way, not found outside of flanders. each day brought for them a monotonous existence, the same duties at the same hours, waking in a gentle quietude, rhythmed by the silvery notes of the convent bell recalling them to the duties of their pious lives, all oblivious of the great outside world. each beguinage door bore the name of some saint, and often in a moss-covered niche in the old walls was seen a small statue of some saint, or holy personage, draped in vines. the heavy, barred door was nail studded, and furnished usually with an iron-grilled wicket, where at the sound of the bell of the visitor a panel slid back and a white-coiffed face appeared. this secluded quarter was not exclusively inhabited by these gentle women, for there were other dwellings for those that loved the quiet solitude of this end of the town. the malines beguinage was suppressed by the authorities in , and it was not until that the order was permitted to resume operations under their former rights, nor were they allowed to resume their quaint costume until the year . in the small church on my last visit i saw the portrait of the beguine catherine van halter, the work of the painter i. cossiers, and another picture by him representing the dead christ on the knees of the virgin surrounded by disciples. cossiers seemed to revel in the ghastliness of the scene, but the workmanship was certainly of a very high order. the beguine showed me with much pride their great treasure, a tiny, six-inch figure of the crucifixion, carved from one piece of ivory by jerome due quesnoy. it was of very admirable workmanship, the face being remarkable in expression. despatches (march, ) report this beguinage entirely destroyed by the siege guns. one wonders what was the fate of the saintly women. on the place de la boucherie in malines was the old "palais," which was used as a museum and contained many ill-assorted objects of the greatest interest and value, such as medals, embroideries, weapons, and a fine collection of ancient miniatures on ivory. there was also a great iron "armoire aux chartes," quite filled with priceless parchments, great vellum tomes, bound in brass; large waxen seals of dead and gone rulers and nobles; heavy volumes bound in leather, containing the archives. and also a most curious strong box bound in iron bands, nail studded, and with immense locks and keys, upon which reclined a strange, wooden figure with a grinning face, clad in the moth-eaten ancient dress of malines, representing "op signorken" (the card states), but the attendant told me it was the "vuyle bridegroom," and related a story of it which cannot be set down here, flemish ideas and speech being rather freer than ours. but the people, or rather the peasants, are devoted to him, and there were occasions when he was borne in triumph in processions when the town was "en fête." the ancient palace of margaret of york, wife of charles the bold, who after the tragic death of her consort retired to malines, was in the rue de l'empereur. it was used latterly as the hospital, and was utterly destroyed in the bombardment of . the only remnant of the ancient fortifications, i found on my last visit in , was the fine gate, the "porte de bruxelles," with a small section of the walls, all reflected in an old moat now overgrown with moss and sedge grass. there were, too, quaint vistas of the old tower of our lady of hanswyk and a number of arched bridges along the banks of the yellow dyle, which flows sluggishly through the old town. on the "quai-au-sel," i saw in , a number of ancient façades, most picturesque and quaintly pinnacled. there also a small botanical garden floriated most luxuriantly, and here again the dyle reflected the mossy walls of ancient stone palaces, and there were rows of tall, wooden, carved posts standing in the stream, to which boats were moored as in venice. [illustration: porte de bruxelles: malines] throughout the town, up to the time of the bombardment, were many quaint market-places, all grass grown, wherein on market days were tall-wheeled, peasant carts, and lines of huge, hollow-backed, thick-legged, hairy horses, which were being offered for sale. and there were innumerable fountains and tall iron pumps of knights in armor; forgotten heroes of bygone ages, all of great artistic merit and value; and over all was the dominating tower of st. rombauld, vast, gray, and mysterious, limned against the pearly, luminous sky, the more impressive perhaps because of its unfinished state. and so, however interesting the other architectural attractions of malines might be, and they were many, it was always to the great cathedral that one turned, for the townspeople were so proud of the great gray tower, venerated throughout the whole region, that they were insistent that we should explore it to the last detail. "the bells," they would exclaim, "the great bells of saint rombauld! you have not yet seen them?" st. rombauld simply compelled one's attention, and ended by laying so firm a hold upon the imagination that at no moment of the day or night was one wholly unconscious of its unique presence. by day and night its chimes floated through the air "like the music of fairy bells," weird and soft, noting the passing hours in this ancient flemish town. for four hundred years it had watched over the varying fortunes of this region, gaining that precious quality which appealed to ruskin, who said, "its glory is in its age and in that deep sense of voicefulness, of stern watching, of mysterious sympathy, nay, even of approval or condemnation, which we feel in walls that have long been washed by the passing waves of humanity." from below the eye was carried upward by range upon range of exquisite gothic detail to the four great open-work, gilded, clock discs, through which one could dimly see the beautiful, open-pointed lancets behind which on great beams hung the carillon bells, row upon row. no words of mine can give any idea of the rich grayish brown of this old tower against the pale luminous sky, or the pathetic charm of its wild bell music, shattering down through the silent watches of the night, over the sleeping town, as i have heard it, standing by some silent, dark, palace-bordered canal, watching the tall tower melting into the immensity of the dusk, or by day in varying light and shade, in storm and sunshine, with wind-driven clouds chasing each other across the sky. the ascent of the tower was a formidable task, and really it seemed as if it must have been far more than three hundred and fifty feet to the topmost gallery, when i essayed it on that stormy august day. it was not an easy task to gain admittance to the tower; on two former occasions, when i made the attempt, the _custode_ was not to be found. "he had gone to market and taken the key to the tower door with him," said the withered old dame who at length understood my wish. on this day, however, she produced the key, a huge iron one, weighing, i should say, half a pound, from a nail behind the green door of the entry. she unlocked a heavy, white-washed door into a dusty, dim vestibule, and then proceeded to lock me in, pointing to another door at the farther end, saying, as she returned to her savory stew pot on the iron stove, "montez, montez, vous trouverez l'escalier." the heavy door swung to by a weight on a cord, and i was at the bottom step of the winding stairway of the tower. for a few steps upward the way was in darkness, up the narrow stone steps, clinging to a waxy, slippery rope attached to the wall, which was grimy with dust, the steps sloping worn and uneven. quaint, gloomy openings in the wall revealed themselves from time to time as i toiled upwards, openings into deep gulfs of mysterious gloom, spanned at times by huge oaken beams. here and there at dim landings, lighted by narrow gothic slits in the walls, were blackened, low doorways heavily bolted and studded with iron nails. the narrow slits of windows served only to let in dim, dusty beams of violet light. through one dark slit in the wall i caught sight of the huge bulk of a bronze bell, green with the precious patina of age, and i fancied i heard footsteps on the stairway that wound its way above. it was the watchman, a great hairy, oily fleming, clad in a red sort of jersey, and blue patched trousers. on the back of his shock of pale, rope-colored hair sat jauntily a diminutive cap with a glazed peak. in the lobes of his huge ears were small gold rings. i was glad to see him and to have his company in that place of cobwebs and dangling hand rope. i gave him a thick black cigar which i had bought in the market-place that morning, and struck a match from which we both had a light. he expressed wonder at my matches, those paper cartons common in america, but which he had never before seen. i gave them to him, to his delight. he brought me upwards into a room crammed with strange machinery, all cranks and levers and wires and pulleys, and before us two great cylinders like unto a "brobdingnagian" music box. he drew out a stool for me and courteously bade me be seated, speaking in french with a strong flemish accent. he was, he said, a mechanic, whose duty it was to care for the bells and the machinery. he had an assistant who went on duty at six o'clock. he served watches of eight hours. there came a "whir" from a fan above, and a tinkle from a small bell somewhere near at hand. he said that the half hour would strike in three minutes. had i ever been in a bell tower when the chimes played? yes? then m'sieur knew what to expect. i took out my watch, and from the tail of my eye i fancied that i saw a gleam in his as he appraised the watch i held in my hand. he drew his bench nearer to me and held out his great hairy, oily paw, saying, "let me see the pretty watch." "not necessary," i replied, putting it back in my pocket and calmly eying him, although my heart began to beat fast. i was alone in the tower with this hairy cerberus, who, for all i knew, might be contemplating doing me mischief. if i was in danger, as i might be, then i resolved to defend myself as well as i was able. i had an ammonia gun in my pocket which i carried to fend off ugly dogs by the roadside, which infest the country. and this i carried in my hip pocket. it resembled somewhat a forty-four caliber revolver. i put my hand behind me, drew it forth, eying him the while, and ostentatiously toyed with it before placing it in my blouse side pocket. it had, i thought, an instantaneous effect, for he drew back, opening his great mouth to say something, i know not what nor shall i ever know, for at that instant came a clang from the machinery, a warning whir of wheels, the rattle of chains, and one of the great barrels began to revolve slowly; up and down rattled the chains and levers, then, faint, sweet and far off, i heard a melodious jangle followed by the first notes of the "mirleton" i had so often heard below in the town, but now subdued, etherealized, and softened like unto the dream music one fancies in the night. the watchman now grinned reassuringly at me, and, rising, beckoned me with his huge grimy hand to follow him. grasping my good ammonia gun i followed him up a wooden stairway to a green baize covered door. this he opened to an inferno of crash and din. the air was alive with tumult and the booming of heavy metal. we were among the great bells of the bottom tier. before us was the "bourdon," so called, weighing , pounds, the bronze monster upon which the bass note was sounded, and which sounded the hour over the level fields of flanders. dimly above i could see other bells of various size, hanging tier upon tier from great, red-painted, wooden beams clamped with iron bands. i contrived to keep the watchman ever before me, not trusting him, although his frank smile somewhat disarmed my suspicion. it may be i did him an injustice, but i liked not the avaricious gleam in his little slits of eyes. the bells clanged and clashed as they would break from their fastenings and drop upon us, and my brain reeled with the discord. on they beat and boomed, as if they would never stop. no melody was now apparent, though down below it had seemed as if their sweetness was all too brief. up here in the tower they were not at all melodious; they were rough, discordant, and uneven, some sounding as though out of tune and cracked. all of the mystery and glamour of sweet tenderness, all their pathos and weirdness, had quite vanished, and here amid the smell of lubricating oil and the heavy, noisy grinding of the cog wheels, and the rattle of iron chains, all the poetry and elusiveness of the bells was certainly wanting. all at once just before me a great hammer raised its head, and then fell with a sounding clang upon the rim of a big bell; the half hour had struck. all about us the air resounded and vibrated with the mighty waves of sound. from the bells above finally came the hum of faint harmonics, and then followed silence like the stillness that ensues after a heavy clap of thunder. cerberus now beckoned me to accompany him amongst the bells, and showed me the machinery that sets this great marvel of sound in motion. he showed me the huge "tambour-carillon," with barrels all bestudded with little brass pegs which pull the wires connected with the great hammers, which in their turn strike the forty-six bells, that unrivaled chime known throughout flanders as the master work of the van den gheyns of louvain, who were, as already told, the greatest bell founders of the age. the great hour bell weighing, as already noted, nearly a ton, required the united strength of eight men to ring him. cerberus pointed out to me the narrow plank runway between the huge dusty beams, whereon these eight men stood to their task. the carillon tunes, he told me, were altered every year or so, and to do this required the entire changing of the small brass pegs in the cylinders, a most formidable task, i thought. he explained that the cutting of each hole costs sixty _centimes_ (twelve cents) and that there were about , holes, so that the change must be quite expensive, but i did not figure it out for myself. the musical range of this carillon chime of malines may be judged by the fact that it was possible to play, following on the hour, a selection from "don pasquale," and on the half and quarter hours a few bars from the "pre aux clercs." every seven and a half minutes sounded a few jangling sweet notes, and thus the air over the old town of malines and the small hamlets surrounding it both day and night was musical with the bells of the carillon. on fête days a certain famous bell ringer was engaged by the authorities to play the bells from the _clavecin_. this is a sort of keyboard with pedals played by hand and foot, fashioned like a rude piano. the work is very hard, one would think, but i have heard some remarkable results from it. in former times the office of "carilloneur" was a most important position, and, as in the case of the van den gheyn family of louvain, it was hereditary. the music played by these men, those "morceaux fugues," once the pride and pleasure of the netherlands, is now the wonder and despair of the modern bell ringer, however skillful he may be. [illustration: the beguinage: dixmude] cerberus informed me that sometimes months pass without a visit from a stranger to his tower room, and that he had to wind up the mechanism of the immense clock twice each day, and that of the carillon separately three times each twenty-four hours, and that it was required of him that he should sound two strokes upon the "do" bell after each quarter, to show that he was "on the job," so to speak. i told him i thought his task a hard and lonely one, and i offered him another of the black cigars, which he accepted with civility, but i kept my hand ostentatiously in my blouse pocket, where lay the ammonia gun, and he saw plainly that i did so. i am inclined now to think that my fears, as far as he was concerned, were groundless, but nevertheless they were very real that day in the old tower of saint rombauld. he began his task of winding up the mechanism, while i mounted the steep steps leading upwards to the top gallery. here on the open gallery i gazed north, east, south, and west over the placid, flat, green-embossed meadows threaded with silver, ribbon-like waterways, upon which floated red-sailed barges. below, as in the bottom of a bowl, lay malines, its small red-roofed houses stretching away in all directions to the remains of the ancient walls, topped here and there with a red-sailed windmill, in the midst of verdant fresh fields wooded here and there with clumps of willows, where the armies of the counts of flanders, and the van arteveldes, fought in the olden days. i could see the square below where, in the grand' place, those doughty knights of the golden fleece had gathered before the pilgrimage to the holy land. now a few dwarfed, black figures of peasants crawled like insects across the wide emptiness of it. here among the startled jackdaws i lounged smoking and ruminating upon the bells, oily cerberus, and his lonely task, and inhaling the misty air from the winding canals in the fertile green fields below--appraising the values of the pale diaphanous sky of misty blue, harmonizing so exquisitely with the tender greens of the landscape which had charmed cuyp and memling, until the blue was suffused with molten gold, and over all the landscape spread a tender and lovely radiance, which in turn became changed to ruddy flames in the west, and then the radiance began to fade. then i bethought me that it was time i sought out the terrible cerberus, the guardian of the tower, and induce him peaceably to permit me to go forth unharmed. i confess that i was coward enough to give him two francs as a fee instead of the single one which was his due, and then i stumbled down the long winding stairway, grasping the slippery hand rope timorously until i gained the street level, glad to be among fellow beings once more, but not sorry i had spent the afternoon among the bells of the carillon of saint rombauld--those bells which now lie broken among the ashes of the tower in the grand' place of the ruined town of malines. some carillons of flanders some carillons of flanders it is worth noting that nearly all of the noble flemish towers with their wealth of bells are almost within sight (and i had nearly written, sound) of each other. from the summit of the tower in antwerp one could see dimly the cathedrals of malines and brussels, perhaps even those of bruges and ghent in clear weather. haweis ("music and morals") says that "one hundred and twenty-six towers can be seen from the antwerp cathedral on a fair morning," and he was a most careful observer. "so these mighty spires, gray and changeless in the high air, seem to hold converse together over the heads of puny mortals, and their language is rolled from tower to tower by the music of the bells." "non sunt loquellae neque sermones, audiantur voces eorum," (there is neither speech nor language, but their voices are heard among men). this is an inscription copied by haweis in the tower at antwerp, from a great bell signed, "f. hemony amstelo-damia, ." speaking of the rich decorations which the van den gheyns and hemony lavished on their bells, he says, "the decorations worked in bas relief around some of the old bells are extremely beautiful, while the inscriptions are often highly suggestive, and even touching." these decorations are usually confined to the top and bottom rims of the bell, and are in low relief, so as to impede the vibration as little as possible. at malines on a bell bearing date " , antwerp" (now destroyed) there is an amazingly vigorous hunt through a forest with dogs and all kinds of animals. i did not see this bell when i was in the tower of st. rombauld, as the light in the bell chamber was very dim. the inscription was carried right around the bell, and had all the grace and freedom of a spirited sketch. [illustration: detail of the chimes in belfry of st nicholas: dixmude] on one of hemony's bells dated and bearing the inscription, "laudate domini omnes gentes," we noticed a long procession of cherub boys dancing and ringing flat hand bells such as are even now rung before the host in street processions. some of the inscriptions are barely legible because of the peculiarity of the gothic letters. haweis mentions seeing the initials j.r. ("john ruskin") in the deep sill of the staircase window; underneath a slight design of a rose window apparently sketched with the point of a compass. ruskin loved the malines cathedral well, and made many sketches of detail while there. i looked carefully for these initials, but i could not find them, i am sorry to say. bells have been strangely neglected by antiquaries and historians, and but few facts concerning them are to be found in the libraries. haweis speaks of the difficulty he encountered in finding data about the chimes of the low countries, alleging that the published accounts and rumors about their size, weight, and age are seldom accurate or reliable. even in the great libraries and archives of the netherlands at louvain, bruges, or brussels the librarians were unable to furnish him with accurate information. he says: "the great folios of louvain, antwerp, and mechlin (malines) containing what is generally supposed to be an exhaustive transcript of all the monumental and funereal inscriptions in belgium, will often bestow but a couple of dates and one inscription upon a richly decorated and inscribed carillon of thirty or forty bells. the reason of this is not far to seek. the fact is, it is no easy matter to get at the bells when once they are hung, and many an antiquarian who will haunt tombs and pore over illegible brasses with commendable patience will decline to risk his neck in the most interesting of belfries. the pursuit, too, is often a disappointing one. perhaps it is possible to get half way around a bell and then be prevented by a thick beam, or the bell's own wheel from seeing the outer half, which, by perverse chance, generally contains the date and the name of the founder. "perhaps the oldest bell is quite inaccessible, or, after a half hour's climbing amid the utmost dust and difficulty, we reach a perfectly blank or commonplace bell." he gives the date of , as that when the family of van den gheyns were bringing the art of bell founding to perfection in louvain, and notes that the tower and bells of each fortified town were half civic property. thus the curfew, the carolus, and the st. mary bells in antwerp cathedral belong to the town. "let us," he says, "enter the town of mechlin (malines) in the year . the old wooden bridge (over the river dyle) has since been replaced by a stone one. to this day the elaborately carved façades of the old houses close on the water are of incomparable richness of design. the peculiar ascent of steps leading up to the angle of the roof, in a style borrowed from the spaniards, is a style everywhere to be met with. the noblest of square florid gothic towers, the tower of st. rombauld (variously spelled st. rombaud, st. rombaut, or st. rombod) finished up to three hundred and forty-eight feet, guides us to what is now called the grand' place, where in an obscure building are the workshops and furnaces adjoining the abode of peter van den gheyn, the most renowned bell founder of the seventeenth century, born in . in company with his associate, deklerk, arrangements are being made for the founding of a big bell. "before the cast was made there was no doubt great controversy between the mighty smiths, deklerk and van den gheyn: plans had to be drawn out on parchment, measurements and calculations made, little proportions weighed by fine instinct, and the defects and merits of ever so many bells canvassed. the ordinary measurements, which now hold good for a large bell, are, roughly, one-fifteenth of the diameter in thickness, and twelve times the thickness in height. describing the foundry buildings: the first is for the furnaces, containing the vast caldron for the fusing of the metal; in the second is a kind of shallow well, where the bell would have to be modeled in clay. "the object to be first attained is a hollow mold of the exact size and shape of the intended bell, into which the liquid metal is poured through a tube from the furnace, and this mold is constructed in the following simple but ingenious manner: "suppose the bell to be six feet high, a brick column of about that height is built something in the shape of the outside of a bell. upon the smooth surface of this solid bell-shaped mass can now be laid figures, decorations, and inscriptions in wax; a large quantity of the most delicately prepared clay is then produced, the model is slightly washed with some kind of oil to prevent the fine clay from sticking to it, and three or four coats of the fine clay in an almost liquid state are daubed carefully all over the model. next, a coating of common clay is added to strengthen the mold to the thickness of some inches. and thus the model stands with its great bell-shaped cover closely fitting over it. "a fire is now lighted underneath, the brick work in the interior is heated, through the clay, through the wax ornaments and oils, which steam out in vapor through two holes at the top, leaving their impressions on the inside of the cover (of clay). [illustration: the belfry: bergues] "when everything is baked thoroughly hard, the cover is raised bodily into the air by a rope, and held suspended some feet exactly above the model. in the interior of the cover thus raised will, of course, be found the exact impression in hollow of the outside of the bell. the model of clay and masonry is then broken up, and its place is taken by another perfectly smooth model, only smaller--exactly the size of the inside of the bell, in fact. on this the great cover now descends, and is stopped in time to leave a hollow space between the new model and itself. this is effected simply by the bottom rim of the new model forming a base, at the proper distance upon which the rim of the clay cover may rest in its descent. "the hollow space between the clay cover and second clay mold is now the exact shape of the required bell, and only waits to be filled with metal. "so far all has been comparatively easy; but the critical moment has now arrived. the furnaces have long been smoking; the brick work containing the caldron is almost glowing with red heat; a vast draft passage underneath the floor keeps the fire rapid; from time to time it leaps up with a hundred angry tongues, or in one sheet of flame, over the furnace-imbedded caldron. then the cunning artificer brings forth his heaps of choice metal, large cakes of red coruscated copper from drontheim, called 'rosette,' owing to a certain rare pink bloom that seems to lie all over it like the purple on a plum; then a quantity of tin, so highly refined that it shines and glistens like pure silver; these are thrown into the caldron and melted down together. kings and nobles have stood beside those famous caldrons, and looked with reverence upon the making of these old bells. nay, they have brought gold and silver and, pronouncing the name of some holy saint or apostle which the bell was thereafter to bear, they have flung in precious metals, rings, bracelets, and even bullion. "but for a moment or two before the pipe which is to convey the metal to the mold is opened, the smith stands and stirs the molten mass to see if all is melted. then he casts in certain proportions of zinc and other metals which belong to the secrets of the trade; he knows how much depends upon these little refinements, which he has acquired by experience, and which perhaps he could not impart even if he would, so true is it that in every art that which constitutes success is a matter of instinct, and not of rule, or even science. "he knows, too, that almost everything depends upon the moment chosen for flooding the mold. standing in the intense heat, and calling loudly for a still more raging fire, he stirs the metal once more. at a given signal the pipe is opened, and with a long smothered rush the molten metal fills the mold to the brim. nothing now remains but to let the metal cool, and then to break up the clay and brick work and extract the bell, which is then finished for better or for worse." we learn much of the difficulties encountered even by these great masters in successfully casting the bells, and that even they were not exempt from failure. "the great salvator" bell at malines, made by peter van den gheyn, cracked eight years after it was hung in the tower ( ). it was recast by de haze of antwerp, and existed up to a few years ago--surely a good long life for any active bell. in the belfry of st. peter's at louvain, which is now in ruins and level with the street, was a great bell of splendid tone, bearing the following inscription: "claes noorden johan albert de grave me fecerunt amstel--odamia, mdccxiv." haweis mentions also the names of bartholomews goethale, , who made a bell now in st. stephen's belfry at ghent; and another, andrew steilert, , at malines (mechlin). the great carillon in the belfry at bruges, thus far spared by the iconoclasts of , consisting of forty bells and one large bourdon, or triumphal bell, is from the foundry of the great dumery, who also made the carillon at antwerp. haweis credits petrus hemony, , with being the most prolific of all the bell founders. he was a good musician and took to bell founding only late in life. "his small bells are exceedingly fine, but his larger ones are seldom true." to the ear of so eminent an authority this may be true, but, to my own, the bells seem quite perfect, and i have repeatedly and most attentively listened to them from below in the grand' place, trying to discover the inharmonious note that troubled him. i ventured to ask one of the priests if he had noticed any flatness in the notes, and he scorned the idea, saying that the bells, "all of them," were perfect. nevertheless, i must accept the statement of haweis, who for years made a study of these bells and their individualities and than whom perhaps never has lived a more eminent authority. from my room in the small hotel de buda, just beneath the old gray tower of st. rombauld in this ancient town of malines, i have listened by day and night to the music of these bells, which sounded so exquisite to me that i can still recall them. the poet has beautifully expressed the idea of the bell music of flanders thus, "the wind that sweeps over her campagnas and fertile levels is full of broken melodious whispers" (haweis). certainly these chimes of bells playing thus by day and night, day in, day out, year after year, must exercise a most potent influence upon the imagination and life of the people. the flemish peasant is born, grows up, lives his life out, and finally is laid away to the music of these ancient bells. [illustration: the old porte marechale: bruges] when i came away from malines and reached antwerp, i lodged in the place verte, as near to the chimes as i could get. my student days being over, i found that i had a strange sense of loss, as if i had lost a dear and valued friend, for the sound of the bells had become really a part of my daily existence. victor hugo, who traveled through flanders in , stopped for a time in malines, and was so impressed with the carillon that he is said to have written there the following lines by moonlight with a diamond upon the window-pane in his room: "j'aime le carillon dans tes cités antiques, o vieux pays, gardien de tes moeurs domestiques, noble flandre, où le nord se réchauffe engourdi au soleil de castille et s'accouple au midi. le carillon, c'est l'heure inattendue et folle que l'oeil croit voir, vêtue en danseuse espagnole apparaître soudain par le trou vif et clair que ferait, en s'ouvrant, une porte de l'air." it was not until the seventeenth century that flanders began to place these wondrous collections of bells in her great towers, which seem to have been built for them. thus came the carillons of malines, bruges, ghent, antwerp, louvain, and tournai. of these, antwerp possessed the greatest in number, sixty-five bells. malines came next with forty-four, then bruges with forty, and a great bourdon or bass bell; then tournai and louvain with forty, and finally ghent with thirty-nine. in ancient times these carillons were played by hand on a keyboard, called a _clavecin_. in the belfry at bruges, in a dusty old chamber with a leaden floor, i found a very old _clavecin_. it was simply a rude keyboard much like that of a primitive kind of organ, presenting a number of jutting handles, something like rolling pins, each of which was attached to a wire operating the hammer, in the bell chamber overhead, which strikes the rim of the bells. there was an old red, leather-covered bench before this machine on which the performer sat, and it must have been a task requiring considerable strength and agility so to smite each of these pins with his gloved fist, his knees and each of his feet (on the foot board) that the hammers above would fall on the rims of the different bells. from my room in the old "panier d'or" in the market-place on many nights have i watched the tower against the dim sky, and seen the light of the "_veilleur_," shining in the topmost window, where he keeps watch over the sleeping town, and sounds two strokes upon a small bell after each quarter is struck, to show that he is on watch. and so passed the time in this peaceful land until that fatal day in august, . dixmude dixmude there is no longer a grand' place at dixmude. of the town, the great squat church of st. martin, and the quaint town hall adjoining it, now not one stone remains upon another. the old mossy walls and bastion are level with the soil, and even the course of the small sluggishly flowing river yser is changed by the ruin that chokes it. i found it to be a melancholy, faded-out kind of place in , when i last saw it. i came down from antwerp especially to see old st. martin's, which enshrined a most wondrous _jube_, or altar screen, and a chime of bells from the workshop of the van den gheyns. there was likewise on the grand' place, a fine old prison of the fourteenth century, its windows all closed with rusty iron bars, most of which were loose in the stones. i tried them, to the manifest indignation of the solitary gendarme, who saw me from a distance across the grand' place and hurried over to place me under arrest. i had to show him not only my passport but my letter of credit and my sketch book before he would believe that i was what i claimed to be, a curious american, and something of an antiquary. but it was the sketch book that won him, for he told me that he had a son studying painting in antwerp at the academy. so we smoked together on a bench over the bridge of the "pape gaei" and he related the story of his life, while i made a sketch of the silent, grass-grown grand' place and the squat tower of old st. martin's, and the town hall beside it. while we sat there on the bench only two people crossed the square, that same square that witnessed the entry of charles the fifth amid the silk-and velvet-clad nobles and burghers, and the members of the great and powerful guilds, which he regarded and treated with such respect. in those days the town had a population of thirty thousand or more. on this day my friend the gendarme told me that there were about eleven hundred in the town. of this eleven hundred i saw twelve market people, the _custode_ of the church of st. martin; ditto that of the town hall; the gendarme; one baby in the arms of a crippled girl, and two gaunt cats. the great docks to which merchantmen from all parts of the earth came in ships in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries had now vanished, and long green grass waved in the meadows where the channel had been. [illustration: the ancient place: dixmude] the ancient corporations and brotherhood, formerly of such power and renown, had likewise long since vanished, and nought remained but here and there on the silent, grass-grown streets gray, ancient palaces with barred and shuttered windows. the very names of those who once dwelt there could be found only in the musty archives in bruges or brussels. a small _estaminet_ across the bridge bore the sign "in den pape gaei," and to this i fared and wrote my notes, while the crippled girl carrying the baby seated herself where she could watch me, and then lapsed into a sort of trance, with wide open eyes which evidently saw not. in company with a large, black, savage-looking dog which traveled side-ways regarding me threateningly, i thought, and gloweringly refused my offers of friendship, i crossed the grand' place to the hôtel de ville, or town hall, the door of which stood open. inside, no living soul responded to my knock. the rooms were rather bare of furniture, many of them of noble proportions, and a few desks and chairs showed that they were used by the town officers, wherever they were. st. martin's was closed, and i skirted its walls, hoping to find somewhere a door unfastened that i might enter and see the great _jube_ or altar screen. in a small, evil-smelling alley-way, where there was a patch of green grass, i saw low down in the wall a grated window, which i fancied must be at the back of the altar. i got down on my knees and, parting the grass which grew there rankly, i put my face in against the iron bars that closed it. for a moment i could see nothing, then when my eyes became accustomed to the light i saw a tall candle burning on an iron ring on the wall; then a heavy black cross beside it, and finally a figure in some sort of heavy dark robe kneeling prostrate before it, only the tightly clasped white hands gleaming in the dim candle light; almost holding my breath i withdrew my head, feeling that i was almost committing sacrilege. unfortunately for me, i dislodged some loose mortar, and i heard this rattle noisily into the chamber below. then i fled as rapidly as i could down the dim alley-way to the silent sunlit grand' place. here i found the verger, and he admitted me to the great old church, in return for a one-franc piece, and brought me a rush-bottom chair to a choice spot before the wondrous _jube_, where i made my drawing. [illustration: the great jube, or altar screen: dixmude] in the silence of the great gray old church i labored over the exquisite gothic detail, all unmindful of the passing time, when all at once i became conscious that a small green door beside the right hand low _retable_ was moving outward. i ceased working and watched it; then the solitary candle before the statue of the virgin guttered and flared up; then the small door opened wide and forth came an old man in a priest's cassock, with a staff in his hand. the small, green, baize-covered door closed noiselessly; the old man slowly opened the gate before the altar and came down the step toward me. without a word he walked behind my chair and peered over my shoulder at the drawing i was making of the great _jube_. he tapped the floor with his staff, placed it under his arm, sought his pocket somewhere beneath his cassock, from which he produced a snuff box. from this he took a generous pinch, and a moment later was blowing vigorously that note of satisfaction that only a devotee of the powder can render an effective adjunct of emotion. "bien faite, m'sieur," he exclaimed at length, wiping his eyes on a rather suspicious looking handkerchief. "t-r-r-r-r-es bien faite! j'vous fais mes compliments." "admirable! you have certainly rendered the spirit of our great and wondrous altar screen." a little later we passed out of the old church through a side door leading into a small green enclosure, now gloomy in the shade of the old stone walls. at one end was a tangle of briar, and here were some old graves, each with a tinsel wreath or two on the iron cross. and presiding over these was the limp figure of a one-legged man on two crutches, who saluted us. we passed along to the end of the inclosure, where lay a chance beam of sunshine like a bar of dusty gold against the rich green grass. "oui, m'sieur," said the priest, as if continuing a sentence he was running over in his mind. "cassé! pauvre pierre, un peu cassé, le pauvre bonhomme, but then, he's good for several years yet; cracked he is, but only cracked like a good old basin, and (in the idiom) he'll still hold well his bowl of soup." he laughed at his wit, became grave, then shook out another laugh. "see," he added, pointing to the ground all about us strewn with morsels of tile; "the roof cracks, but it still holds," he added, pointing upwards at the old tower of st. martin's. "and now, m'sieur, i shall take you to my house; _tenez_, figure to yourself," and he laid a fine, richly veined, strong old hand upon my arm with a charming gesture. "i have been here twenty-five years; i bought all the antique furniture of my predecessor. i said to myself, 'yes, i shall buy the furniture for five hundred francs, and then, later i shall sell to a wealthy amateur for one thousand francs, perhaps in a year or two.' twenty-five years ago, and i have it yet. and now it creaks and creaks and snaps in the night. we all creak and creak thus as we grow old; ah, you should hear my wardrobes. 'elles cassent les dos,' and i lie in my warm bed in the winter nights and listen to my antiques groan and complain. poor old things, they belonged to the 'empire' period; no wonder they groan. [illustration: the fish market: dixmude] "and when my friend the notaire comes to play chess with me, you should see him eye my antiques, ah, so covetously; i see him, but i never let on. such a collection of antiques as we all are, m'sieur." then he became serious, and lifting his cane he pointed to a gravestone at one side, "my old servant lies there, m'sieur; we are all old here now, but still we do not die. alas! we never die. there is plenty of room here for us, but we die hard. see, myotis, heliotrope, hare bells, and mignonette, a bed of perfume, and there lies my old servant. a restless old soul she was, and she took such a long time to die. she was eighty-five when she finally made up her mind." i had a cup of wine with the old man in his small _salle à manger_. his house was indeed a mine of wealth for the antiquary and collector, more like a shop than a house. i lingered with him for nearly an hour, telling him of the great world lying beyond dixmude, of london and paris, and of new york and some of its wonders, of which i fancied he was rather sceptical. and then i came away, after shaking hands with him at his doorstep in the dim alley-way, with the bar of golden sunlight shining at the entrance to the grand' place and the noise of the rooks cawing on the roof. "_au revoir_, m'sieur le peintre, _et bon voyage_, and remember, 'ask, and it shall be given, seek and you shall find,'" and with these cryptic words, he stood with uplifted hands, a smile irradiating his fine ascetic face glowing like that of a saint. behind the faded black of his old _soutane_ i could see his treasures of blue china and ancient cabinets, and a chance light illumined a mirror behind his head, and aureoled him like unto one of the saints behind the great "jube," and thus i left him. and now dixmude is in formless heaps of ashes and burnt timbers. hardly one stone now remains upon another. there is no longer a grand' place--and the very course of the river yser is changed. ypres ypres ypres as a town grew out of a rude sort of stronghold built, says m. vereeke in his "histoire militaire d'ypres," in the year , on a small island in the river yperlee. it was in the shape of a triangle with a tower on each corner, and was known to the inhabitants as the "castle of the three turrets." its establishment was followed by a collection of small huts on the banks of the stream, built by those who craved the protection of the fortress. they built a rampart of earth and a wide ditch to defend it, and to this they added from time to time until the works became so extensive that a town sprang into being, which from its strategic position on the borders of france soon became of great importance in the wars that constantly occurred. probably no other flemish town has seen its defenses so altered and enlarged as ypres has between the primitive days when the crusading thierry d'alsace planted hedges of live thorns to strengthen the towers, and the formation of the great works of vauban. we have been so accustomed to regarding the fleming as a sluggish boor, that it comes in the nature of a surprise when we read of the part these burghers, these weavers and spinners, took in the great events that distinguished flemish history. "in july, , a contingent of twelve hundred chosen men, five hundred of them clothed in scarlet and the rest in black, were set to watch the town and castle of courtrai, and the old roman broël bridge, during the battle of the 'golden spurs,' and the following year saw the celebration of the establishment of the confraternity of the archers of st. sebastian, which still existed in ypres when i was there in . this was the last survivor of the famed, armed societies of archers which flourished in the middle ages. seven hundred of these men of ypres embarked in the flemish ships which so harassed the french fleet in the great naval engagement of june, ." forty years later five thousand men of ypres fought upon the battlefield with the french, on that momentous day which witnessed the death of philip van artevelde and the triumph of leliarts. later, when the allies laid siege to the town, defended by leliarts and louis of maele, it was maintained by a force of ten thousand men, and on june , , these were joined by seventeen thousand english and twenty thousand flemings, these latter from bruges and ghent. at this time the gateways were the only part of the fortifications built of stone. the ramparts were of earth, planted with thorn bushes and interlaced with beams. outside were additional works of wooden posts and stockades, behind the dyke, which was also palisaded. the english, believing that the town would not strongly resist their numbers, tried to carry it by assault. they were easily repulsed, to their great astonishment, with great losses. at last they built three great wooden towers on wheels filled with soldiers, which they pushed up to the walls, but the valiant garrison swarmed upon these towers, set fire to them, and either killed or captured those who manned them. all the proposals of spencer demanding the surrender of ypres were met with scorn, and the english were repeatedly repulsed with great losses of men whenever they attempted assaults. the english turned upon the flemish of ghent with fury, saying that they had deceived them as to the strength of the garrison of ypres, and spencer, realizing that it was impossible to take the town before the french army arrived, retired from the field with his soldiers. this left flanders at the mercy of the french. but now ensued the death of count louis of maele ( ) and this brought flanders under the rule of the house of burgundy, which resulted in prosperity and well nigh complete independence for the flemings. the great kermesse of our lady of the garden (notre dame de thuine) was then inaugurated because the townspeople believe that ypres had been saved by the intercession of the virgin mary--the word thuin meaning in flemish "an enclosed space, such as a garden plot," an allusion to the barrier of thorns which had so well kept the enemy away from the walls--a sort of predecessor of the barbed-wire entanglements used in the present great world war. the kermesse was held by the people of ypres on the first sunday in august every year, called most affectionately "thuindag," and while there in i saw the celebration in the great square before the cloth hall, and listened to the ringing of the chimes; the day being ushered in at sunrise by a fanfare of trumpets on the parapet of the tower by the members of a local association, who played ancient patriotic airs with great skill and enthusiasm. in the place de musée, a quiet, gray corner of this old town, was an ancient gothic house containing a really priceless collection of medals and instruments of torture used during the terrible days of the spanish inquisition. i spent long hours in these old musty rooms alone, and i might have stolen away whatever took my fancy had i been so minded, for the _custode_ left me quite alone to wander at will, and the cases containing the seals, parchments, and small objects were all unfastened. i saw the other day another wonderful panorama photograph taken from an aeroplane showing ypres as it now is, a vast heap of ruins, the cloth hall gutted; the cathedral leveled, and the site of the little old museum a vast blackened hole in the earth where a shell had landed. the photograph, taken by an englishman, was dated september, . the great hanseatic league, that extensive system of monopolies, was the cause of great dissatisfaction and many wars because of jealousy and bad feeling. ypres, ghent, and bruges, while defending their rights and privileges against all other towns, fought among themselves. the monopoly enjoyed by the merchant weavers of ypres forbade all weaving for "three leagues around the walls of ypres, under penalty of confiscation of the looms and all of the linen thus woven." constant friction was thus engendered between the towns of ypres and poperinghe, resulting in bloody battles and the burning and destruction of much property. even within the walls of the town this bickering went on from year to year. when they were not quarreling with their neighbors over slights or attacks, either actual or fancied, they fought among themselves over the eternal question of capital _versus_ labor. a sharp line was drawn between the workingman and the members of the guilds who sold his output. the artisans, whose industry contributed so greatly to the prosperity of these towns, resented any infringement of their legal rights. the merchant magistrates were annually elected, and on one occasion, in , to be exact, because this was omitted, the people arose in their might against the governors, who were assembled in the nieuwerck of the hôtel de ville. the baillie, one jean deprysenaere, haughty in his supposed power, and trusting in his office, as local representative of the court of flanders, appeared before the insurgent weavers and endeavored to appease them. "they fell upon him and slew him" (vereeke). then, rushing into the council chamber, they seized the other magistrates and confined them in the belfry of the cloth hall. "then the leaders in council resolved to kill the magistrates, and beheaded the burgomaster and two sheriffs in the place before the cloth hall in the presence of their colleagues" (vereeke). following the custom of the netherlands, each town acted for itself alone. the popular form of government was that of gatherings in the market-place where laws were discussed and made by and for the people. the spirit of commercial jealousy, however, kept them apart and nullified their power. consumed by the thirst for commercial, material prosperity, they had no faith in each other, no bond of union, each being ready and willing to foster its own interest at its rival's expense. thus neither against foreign nor internal difficulties were they really united. the motto of modern belgium, "l'union fait la force," was not yet invented, and there was no great and powerful authority in which they believed and about which they could gather. this history presents the picture of ghent assisting an army of english soldiers to lay siege to ypres. so the distrustful people dwelt amid perpetual quarreling, trade pitted against trade, town against town, fostering weakness of government and shameful submission in defeat. no town suffered as did ypres during this distracted state of affairs in flanders of the sixteenth century, which saw it reduced from a place of first importance to a dead town with the population of a village. and so it remained up to the outbreak of the world war in . this medieval and most picturesque of all the towns of flanders had not felt the effect of the wave of restoration, which took place in belgium during the decade preceding the outbreak of the world war, owing to the fact that its monuments of the past were perhaps finer and in a better state of preservation than those of any of the other ancient towns. ypres in the early days had treated the neighboring town of poperinghe with great severity through jealousy, but she in turn suffered heavily at the hands of ghent in - when the vast body of weavers fled, taking refuge in england, and taking with them all hope of the town's future prosperity. its decline thenceforward was rapid, and it never recovered its former place in the councils of flanders. its two great memorials of the olden times were the great cloth hall, in the grand' place, and the cathedral of saint martin, both dating from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. the cloth hall, begun by count baldwin ix of flanders, was perhaps the best preserved and oldest specimen of its kind in the netherlands, and was practically complete up to the middle of august, , when the great guns of the iconoclastic invader shot away the top of the immense clock tower, and unroofed the entire structure. its façade was nearly five hundred feet long, of most severe and simple lines, and presented a double row of ogival windows, surmounted by niches containing thirty-one finely executed statues of counts and countesses of flanders. there were small, graceful turrets at each end, and a lofty belfry some two hundred and thirty feet in height in the center, containing a fine set of bells connected with the mechanism of a carillon. [illustration: no. , rue de dixmude: ypres] the interior of the hall was of noble proportions, running the full length, its walls decorated by a series of paintings by two modern flemish painters, which were not of the highest merit, yet good withal. at the market-place end was a highly ornate structure called the new work (nieuwerke), erected by the burghers as a guild-hall in the fifteenth century. this was the first part of the edifice to be ruined by a german shell. the destruction of this exquisite work of art seems entirely wanton and unnecessary. it produced no result whatever of advantage. there were neither english, french, nor belgian soldiers in ypres at the time. the populace consisted of about ten thousand peaceful peasants and shopkeepers, who, trusting in the fact that the town was unarmed and unfortified, remained in their homes. the town was battered and destroyed, leveled in ashes. the bombardment destroyed also the great cathedral of saint martin adjoining the cloth hall, which dated from the thirteenth century [although the tower was not added until the fifteenth century]. it formed a very fine specimen of late gothic, the interior containing some fine oak carving and a richly carved and decorated organ loft. bishop jansenius, the founder of the sect of jansenists, is buried in a gothic cloister which formed a part of the older church that occupied the site. another interesting monument of past greatness was the hôtel de ville, erected in the sixteenth century, and containing a large collection of modern paintings by french and belgian artists. of this structure not a trace remains save a vast blackened pile of crumbled stones and mortar. in the market-place now roam bands of half-starved dogs in search of food; not a roof remains intact. a couple of sentries pace before the hospital at the end of the grand' place. a recent photograph in the _illustrated london news_ taken from an aeroplane shows the ruined town like a vast honeycomb uncovered, the streets and squares filled with débris, the fragments of upstanding walls showing where a few months ago dwelt in peace and prosperity an innocent, happy people, now scattered to the four winds--paupers, subsisting upon charity. their valiant and noble king and queen are living with the remnant of the belgian army in the small fishing village of la panne on the sand dunes of the north sea. the unique character of the half-forgotten town was exemplified by the number of ancient, wooden-faced houses to be found in the side streets. the most curious of these, perhaps, was that situated near the porte de lille, which i have mentioned in another page, and which noted architects of brussels and antwerp vainly petitioned the state to protect, or to remove bodily the façade and erect it in one of the vast "salles" of the cloth hall. both mm. pauwels and delbeke, the mural painters, then engaged in the decorations of the cloth hall, joined in protests to the authorities against their neglect of this remarkable example of medieval construction, but all these petitions were pigeonholed, and nothing resulted but vain empty promises, so the matter rested, and now this beautiful house has vanished forever. the great mural decorations of the "halles" were nearly completed by mm. delbeke and pauwels, when they both died within a few months of each other, in . in these decorations the artists traced the history of ypres from to , the date of the great siege, showing taste and elegance in the compositions, notably in that called the "wedding feast of mahaut, daughter of robert of bethune, with mathias of lorraine ( )." one of the panels by m. pauwels showed most vividly the progress of the "pest," under the title of the "mort d'ypres" (_de dood van yperen_, flemish). it represented the "fossoyeur" calling upon the citizens upon the tolling of the great bell of st. martin's, to bring out their dead for burial. m. delbeke's talent was engaged upon scenes illustrating the civil life of the town, the gatherings in celebration of the philanthropic and intellectual events in its remarkable history, a task in which he was successful in spite of the carping of envious contemporaries. a committee of artists was appointed to examine his work, and although this body decided in his favor, it may be that the criticism to which he was subjected hastened his death. at any rate the panels remained unfinished, no other painter having the courage to carry out the projected work. [illustration: arcade of the cloth hall: ypres] the original sketches for these great compositions were preserved in the museum of the town, but the detailed drawings, some in color, were, up to the outbreak of the war in , in the museum of decorative arts in brussels, together with the cartoons of another artist, charles de groux ( ), to whom the decoration of the halles had been awarded by the state in competition. a most sumptuous gothic apartment was that styled the "salle echevinale," restored with great skill in recent years by a concurrence of flemish artists, members of the academy. upon either side of a magnificent stone mantel, bearing statues in niches of kings, counts and countesses, bishops and high dignitaries, were large well executed frescoes by mm. swerts and guffens, showing figures of the evangelists st. mark and st. john, surrounded by myriads of counts and countesses of flanders, from the time of louis de nevers and margaret of artois to charles the bold, and margaret of york, whose tombs are in the cathedral at bruges. the attribution of these frescoes to melchior broederlam does not, it would seem, accord with the style or the date of their production, m. alph. van den peereboom thinks, and he gives credit for the work to two painters who worked in ypres in --mm. pennant and floris untenhoven. in my search for the curious and picturesque, i came, one showery day, upon a passageway beneath the old belfry which led to the tower of st. martin's. here one might believe himself back in the middle ages. on both sides of the narrow street were ancient wooden-fronted houses not a whit less interesting or well preserved than that front erected in the chamber of the "halles." this small dark street led to a vast and solitary square. on one side were lofty edifices called the colonnade of the "nieuwerck," at the end of which was a quaint vista of the grand' place. on the other side was a range of most wondrous ancient constructions; the _conciergerie_ and its attendant offices, bearing finials and gables of astonishing richness of character, and ornamented with _chefs-d'oeuvres_ of iron-work, marking the dates of erection, all of them prior to . in this square not a soul appeared, nor was there a sound to be heard save the cooing of some doves upon a rooftree, although i sat there upon a stone coping for the better part of a half hour. then all at once, out of a green doorway next the _conciergerie_, poured a throng of children, whose shrill cries and laughter brought me back to the present. one wonders where now are these merry light-hearted little ones, who thronged that gray grass-grown square behind the old cloth hall in .... in this old square i studied the truly magnificent south portal and transept of st. martin's, the triple portal with its splendid polygonal rose window, and its two graceful slender side towers, connecting a long gallery between the two smaller side portals. one's impression of this great edifice is that of a sense of noble proportions, rather than ornateness, and this is to be considered remarkable when one remembers the different epochs of its construction. that the choir was commenced in is established by the epitaph of hugues, _prévôt_ of st. martin's, whose ashes reposed in the church which he built: that the first stone of the nave transepts was laid with ceremony by marguerite of constantinople in ; that the south portal was of the fifteenth century and that a century later the chapel called the _doyen_ toward the south wall at the foot of the tower, was erected. the tower itself, visible from all parts of the town, was the conception of martin untenhoven of malines, and replaced a more primitive one in . of very severe character, its great bare bulk rose to an unfinished height of some hundred and seventy feet, and terminated in a squatty sort of pent-house roof of typical flemish character. it was flanked by four smaller, unfinished towers, one at each corner. this tower, one may recall, figures in many of the pictures of jean van eyck. it is not without reason that schayes, in his "histoire de l'architecture en belgique," speaks of the choir of st. martin's as "one of the most remarkable of the religious constructions of the epoch in belgium." of most noble lines and proportion if it were not for the intruding altar screen in the jesuit style, which mars the effect, the ensemble were well-nigh perfect. its decoration, too, was remarkable. a fresco at the left of the choir, with a portrait of robert de bethune, count of flanders, who died at ypres in and was buried in the church, was uncovered early in the eighties during a restoration; this had been most villainously repainted by a local "artist"(?); and i mortally offended the young priest who showed it to me, by the vehemence of my comments. the stalls of the choir, in two banks or ranges, twenty-seven above, twenty-four below, bore the date of , and the signature of d'urbain taillebert, a native sculptor of great merit, who also carved the great _jube_ of dixmude (see drawing). other works of taillebert are no less remarkable, notably the superb arcade with the christ triumphant suspended between the columns at the principal entrance. he was also the sculptor of the mausoleum of bishop antoine de hennin, erected in in the choir. in the pavement before the altar a plain stone marked the resting place of the famous corneille jansen (cornelius jansenius), seventh bishop of ypres, who died of the pest the th of may, . one recalls that the doctrine of jansen gave birth to the sect of that name which still flourishes in holland. following the rue de lille one came upon the old tower of st. pierre, massed among tall straight lines of picturesque poplars, its bulk recalling vaguely the belfry of the cloth hall. in this church was shown a curious little picture, representing the devil setting fire to the tower, which was destroyed in , but was later rebuilt after the original plans. the interior had no dignity of style whatever. there were, however, some figures of the saints peter and paul attributed to carel van yper, which merited the examination of connoisseurs. they are believed by experts to have been the "volets" of a triptych of which the center panel was missing. [illustration: gateway, wall, and old moat: ypres] the place st. pierre was picturesque and smiling. following this route we found on the right at the end of a small street the hospital st. jean, with an octagonal tower, which enshrined some pictures attributed to the prolific carel van yper, comment upon which would be perhaps out of place here. on the corner of this street was a most charming old façade in process of demolishment, which we deplored. now we reached the porte de lille again and the remains of the old walls of the town. again and again we followed this same route, each time finding some new beauty or hidden antiquity which well repaid us for such persistence. few of the towns of flanders presented such treasures as were to be found in ypres. following the walk on the ramparts, past the _caserne_ or infantry barracks, one came upon the place of the ancient château of the counts, a vast construction under the name of "de zaalhof." here was an antique building called the "lombard," dated , covered with old iron "ancres" and crosses between the high small-paned windows. by the rue de beurre one regained the grand' place, passing through the silent old place van den peereboom in the center of which was the statue of the old burgomaster of that name. the aspect of this silent grass-grown square behind the cloth hall was most impressive. here thronged the burghers of old, notably on the occasion of the entry of charles the bold and his daughter marguerite, all clad in fur, lace, and velvet to astonish the inhabitants, who instead of being impressed, so outshone the visitors, by their own and their wives' magnificence of apparel, that marguerite was reported to have left the banquet hall in pique. the belfry quite dominated the square at the eastern angle, where were the houses forming the _conciergerie_. turning to the right by way of the chemin de st. martin, one found the ancient beguinage latterly used by the gendarmerie as a station, the lovely old chapel turned into a stable! in this old town were hundreds of remarkable ancient houses, each of which merits description in this book. but perhaps in this brief and very fragmentary description the reader may find reason for the author's enthusiasm, and agree with him that ypres was perhaps the most unique and interesting of all the destroyed towns in flanders. commines commines it was not hard to realize that here we were in the country of bras-de-fer, of memling, of cuyp, and thierry d'alsace, for, on descending from the halting, bumping train at the small brick station, we were face to face with a bizarre, bulbous-topped tower rising above the houses surrounding a small square, and now quite crowded with large, hollow-backed, thick-legged flemish horses, which might have been those of the followers of thierry gathered in preparation for an onslaught upon one of the neighboring towns. it seemed as though any turning might bring us face to face with a grim cohort of mounted armed men in steel corselet and morion, bearing the banner of spanish philip, so sinister were the narrow, ill-paved streets, darkened by the projecting second stories of the somber, gray-stone houses. rarely was there an open door or window. as we passed, our footsteps on the uneven stones awakened the echoes. a fine drizzle of rain which began to fall upon us from the leaden sky did not tend to enliven us, and we hastened toward the small grand' place, where i noted on a sign over a doorway the words, "in de leeuw van vlanderen" (to the flemish lion), which promised at least shelter from the rainfall. here we remained until the sun shone forth. commines (flemish, komen) was formerly a fortified town of some importance in the period of the great wars of flanders. it was the birthplace of philip de commines ( - ). it was, so to say, one of the iron hinges upon which the great military defense system of the burghers swung and creaked in those dark days. to-day, in these rich fields about the small town, one can find no traces of the old-time bastions which so well guarded the town from van artevelde's assaults. inside the town were scarcely any trees, an unusual feature for flanders, and on the narrow waterways floated but few craft. the only remarkable thing by virtue of its renaissance style of architecture was the belfry and clock tower, although some of the old flemish dwelling houses in the market square, projecting over an ogival colonnade extending round one end of the square, and covering a sort of footway, were of interest, uplifting their step-like gables as a silent but eloquent protest against a posterity devoid of style, all of them to the right and left falling into line like two wings of stone in order to allow the carved front of the belfry to make a better show, and its pinnacled tower to rise the prouder against the sky. one was struck with the ascendency of the religious element over all forms of art, and this was a characteristic of the flemings. one was everywhere confronted with a curious union of religion and war, representations peopled exclusively by seraphic beings surrounded or accompanied by armed warriors. everything is adoration, resignation, incense fumes, psalmody, and crusaders. the greatest buildings we saw were ecclesiastical, the richest dresses were church vestments, even "the princes and burghers accompanied by armed knights remind one of ecclesiastics celebrating the mass. all the women are holy virgins, seemingly. the chasm between the ideal and the reality itself, however idealized, but by meditation manifested pictorially." ("the land of rubens," c.b. huet). we sat for an hour in the small, sooty, tobacco-smelling _estaminet_ (from the spanish _estamento_--an inn), and then the skies clearing somewhat we fared forth to explore the belfry, which in spite of its sadly neglected state was still applied to civic use. some dark, heavy, oaken beams in the ceiling of the principal room showed delicately carved, fancy heads, some of them evidently portraits. at the rear of the tower on the ground floor, i came upon a vaulted apartment supported on columns, and being used as a storehouse. its construction was so handsome, it was so beautifully lighted from without, as to make one grieve for its desecration; it may have served in the olden time as a refectory, and if so was doubtless the scene of great festivity in the time of philip de commines, who was noted for the magnificence of his entertainments. the flemish burghers of the middle ages first built themselves a church; when that was finished, a great hall. that of ypres took more than two hundred years to complete. how long this great tower of commines took, i can only conjecture. its semi-oriental pear-shaped (or onion-shaped, as you will) tower was certainly of great antiquity; even the unkempt little priest whom i questioned in the grand' place could give me little or no information concerning it. indeed, he seemed to be on the point of resenting my questions, as though he thought that i was in some way poking fun at him. i presume that it was the scene of great splendor in their early days. for here a count of flanders or a duke of brabant exercised sovereign rights, and at such a ceremony as the laying of a corner-stone assumed the place of honor, although the real authority was with the burghers, and founded upon commerce. while granting this privilege, the flemings ever hated autocracy. they loved pomp, but any attempt to exercise power over them infuriated them. [illustration: the belfry: commines] "the architecture of the fleming was the expression of aspiration," says c.b. huet ("the land of rubens"). "the flemish hall has often the form of a church; art history, aiming at classification, ranges it among the gothic by reason of its pointed windows. the hall usually is a defenceless feudal castle without moats, without porticullis, without loopholes. it occupies the center of a market-place. it is a temple of peace, its windows are as numerous as those in the choirs of that consecrated to the worship of god. "from the center of the building uprises an enormous mass, three, four, five stories high, as high as the cathedral, perhaps higher. it is the belfry, the transparent habitation of the alarm bell (as well as the chimes). the belfry cannot defend itself, a military character is foreign to it. but as warden of civic liberty it can, at the approach of domination from without, or autocracy uplifting its head within, awaken the threatened ones, and call them to arms in its own defence. the belfry is thus a symbol of a society expecting happiness from neither a dynasty nor from a military despotism, but solely from common institutions, from commerce and industry, from a citizen's life, budding in the shadow of the peaceful church, and borrowing its peaceful architecture from it. to the town halls of flanders belonged the place of honor among the monuments of belgian architecture. no other country of europe offered so rich a variety in that respect. "courtrai replaces arras; oudenaarde and ypres follow suit. then come tournai, bruges, ghent, antwerp, brussels, louvain. primary gothic, secondary gothic, tertiary gothic, satisfying every wish. flanders and brabant called the communal style into life. if ever europe becomes a commune, the communards have but to go to ypres to find motifs from their architects." since this was written, in , many, if not most, of these great buildings thus enumerated above, are now in ruins, utterly destroyed for all time! bergues bergues a tiny sleepy town among the fringe of great willow trees which marked the site of the ancient walls. belted by its crumbling ramparts, and like a quaint gem set in the green enamel of the smiling landscape, it offered a resting place far from the cares and noise of the world. quite ignored by the guide books, it had, i found, one of the most remarkable belfries to be found in the netherlands, and a chime of sweet bells, whose melodious sounds haunted our memories for days after our last visit in . there were winding, silent streets bordered by mysteriously closed and shuttered houses, but mainly these were small and of the peasant order. on the grand' place, for of course there was one, the tower sprang from a collection of rather shabby buildings, of little or no character, but this did not seem to detract from the magnificence of the great tower. i use the word "great" too often, i fear, but can find no other word in the language to qualify these "campanili" of flanders. this one was embellished with what are known as "ogival arcatures," arranged in zones or ranks, and there were four immense turrets, one at each corner, these being in turn covered with arcatures of the same character. these flanked the large open-work, gilded, clock face. surmounting this upon a platform was a construction in the purely flemish style, containing the chime of bells, and the machinery of the carillon, and topping all was a sort of inverted bulb or gourd-shaped turret, covered with blue slate, with a gilded weathervane about which the rooks flew in clouds. the counterpart of this tower was not to be found anywhere in the netherlands, and one is surprised that it was so little known. [illustration: the towers of st. winoc: bergues] upon the occasion of our visit the town was given up to the heavy and stolid festivities of the "kermesse," which is now of interest here only to the laboring class and the small farmers of the region. the center of attraction, as we found in several other towns, seemed to be an incredibly fat woman emblazoned on a canvas as the "belle heloise" who was seated upon a sort of throne draped in red flannel, and exhibited a pair of extremities resembling in size the masts of a ship, to the great wonder of the peasants. there were also some shabby merry-go-rounds with wheezy organs driven by machinery, and booths in which hard-featured show women were frying waffles in evil smelling grease. after buying some of these for the children who stood about with watering mouths, we left the "kermesse" and wandered away down a silent street towards a smaller tower rising from a belt of dark trees. this we found to be the remains of the ancient abbey of st. winoc. a very civil mannered young priest who overtook us on the road informed us of this, and volunteered further the information that we were in what was undoubtedly the ancient _jardin-clos_ of the abbey. of this retreat only the two towers standing apart in the long grass remained, one very heavy and square, supported by great buttresses of discolored brick, the other octangular, in stages, and retaining its high graceful steeple. we were unable to gain entrance to either of these towers, the doorways being choked with weeds and the débris of fallen masonry. [the invaders destroyed both of these fine historical remains in november, , alleging that they were being used for military observation by the belgian army.] these small towns of flanders had a simple dignity of their own which was of great attraction to the tourist, who could, without disillusionment, imagine himself back in the dim past. in the wayside inns or _estaminets_ one could extract amusement and profit listening to the peasantry or admiring the sunlight dancing upon the array of bottles and glass on the leaden counters, or watch the peasants kneel and cross themselves before the invariable quaint niched figure of the virgin and child under the hanging lighted lantern at a street corner, the evidence of the piety of the village, or the throngs of lace-capped, rosy-cheeked milkmaids with small green carts drawn by large, black, "slobbering" dogs of fierce mien, from the distant farms, on their way to market. thus the everyday life of the region was rendered poetic and artistic, and all with the most charming unconsciousness. nieuport nieuport in the midst of a level field to the east of the town of nieuport in was a high square weather-beaten tower, somewhat ruinous, built of stone and brick in strata, showing the different eras of construction in the various colors of the brick work ranging from light reds to dark browns and rich blacks. this tower, half built and square topped, belonged to a structure begun in the twelfth century, half monastery, half church, erected by the templars as a stronghold. repeatedly attacked and set on fire, it escaped complete destruction, although nearly laid in ruins by the english and burghers of ghent in , the year of the famous siege of ypres. during the wars of , it was an important part of the fortifications, and from the platform of its tower the spanish garrison commanded a clear view of the surrounding country and the distance beyond the broad moat, which then surrounded the strong walls of nieuport. in plain view from this tower top were the houses of furnes, grouped about the church of saint nicolas to the southwest, while to the north the wide belt of dunes, or sand hills, defended the plains from the north sea. nearer were the populous villages of westende and lombaerd-zyde, connected with nieuport by numerous small lakes and canals derived from the channel of the yser river, which flowed past the town on its way to the sea. [illustration: the tower of the templars: nieuport] the history of nieuport, from the terrible days of the spanish invasion down to these days of even worse fate, has been pitiable. its former sea trade after the spanish invasion was never recovered, and its population, which was beginning to be thrifty and prosperous up to , has now entirely disappeared. nieuport is now in ashes and ruins. when i passed the day there in the summer of , it was a sleepy, quiet spot, a small fishing village, with old men and women sitting in doorways and on the waysides, mending nets, and knitting heavy woolen socks or sweaters of dark blue. in the small harbor were the black hulls of fishing boats tied up to the quaysides, and a small steamer from ghoole was taking on a cargo of potatoes and beets. some barges laden with wood were being pulled through the locks by men harnessed to a long tow rope, and a savage dog on one of these barges menaced me with dripping fangs and bloodshot eyes when i stopped to talk to the steersman, who sat on the tiller smoking a short, evil-smelling pipe, while his "vrouwe" was hanging out a heavy wash of vari-colored garments on a line from the staff on the bow to a sweep fastened upright to the cabin wall. the ancient fortification had long since disappeared--those "impregnable walls of stone" which once defended the town from the assaults of philip the second. i found with some difficulty a few grass-grown mounds where they had been, and only the gray, grim tower of the templars, standing solitary in a turnip field, remained to show what had been a mighty stronghold. in the town, however, were souvenirs enough to occupy an antiquary for years to his content and profit. there was the cloth hall, with its five pointed low arched doorways from which passed in and out the knights of the temple gathered for the first pilgrimage to the holy land. on this market square too was the great gothic church, one of the largest and most important in all flanders, and on this afternoon in the summer of , i attended a service here, while in the tower a bell ringer played the chime of famous bells which now lie in broken fragments amid the ashes of the fallen tower. here was fought the bloody "battle of the dunes," between the dutch and the spaniards in those dim days of long ago, when the stubborn determination of the netherlanders overcame the might and fiery valor of the spanish invaders. from time to time the peasants laboring in the fields uncovered bones, broken steel breast-plates, and weapons, which they brought to the museum on the grand' place, and which the sleepy _custode_ showed me with reluctance, until i offered him a franc. it is curious that famous nieuport, for which so much blood was shed in those early days, should again have been a famous battle ground between the handful of valiant soldiers of the heroic king albert and a mighty teutonic foe. the dim gray town with its silent streets, the one time home of romance and chivalry, the scene of deeds of knightly valor, is now done for forever. it is not likely that it can ever again be of importance, for its harbor is well-nigh closed by drifting sand. but i shall always keep the vision i had of it that summer day, in its market place, its gabled houses against the luminous sky, its winding streets, and narrow byways across which the roofs almost touch each other. the ancient palaces are now in ruins, and the peaceful population scattered abroad, charges upon the charity of the world. certainly a woeful picture in contrast to the content of other days. the vast green plains behind the dunes, or sand hills, extend unbrokenly from here to the french frontier, spire after spire dominating small towns, and windmills, are the objects seen. to some the flatness is most monotonous, but to those who find pleasure in the paintings of cuyp, the country is very picturesque. the almost endless succession of green, well-cultivated fields and farmsteads is most entertaining, and the many canals winding their silvery ways through the country, between rows of pollards; the well kept though small country houses embowered in woody enclosures; the fruitful orchards in splendid cultivation; the gardens filled with fair flowers and the "most compact little towns"--these give the region a romance and attraction all its own. [illustration: the town hall--hall of the knights templars: nieuport] here and there is a hoary church erected in forgotten times on ground dedicated to thor or wodin. this part of the country bordering the fifty mile stretch of coast line on the north sea was given over latterly to the populous bathing establishments and their new communities, but the other localities, such as tournai, courtrai, oudenaarde or alost, were seldom visited by strangers, whose advent created almost as much excitement as it would in timbuctoo. it was not inaccessible, but the roads were not good for automobiles; they were mainly paved with rough "belgian" blocks of stone, high in the center, with a dirt roadway on either side, used by the peasants and quite rutty. a walking tour for any but the hardiest pedestrian was out of the question, so i was told that the best way for a "bachelor" traveler was to secure transportation on the canal boats. this was the warning that our kind hearted landlord in antwerp gave us, after vainly endeavoring to discourage us from leaving him for such a tour. the canals, however, are not numerous enough in this region, i found, and besides there are various other disadvantages which i leave to the reader's imagination. in addition to the main lines of the state railway, there were what are called "chemins-de-fer-vicinaux," small narrow gauge railways which traversed belgium in all directions. on these the fares were very reasonable, and they formed an ideal way in which to study the country and the people. there were first, second and third class carriages on these, hung high on tall wheels, which looked very unsafe, but were not really so. the classes varied only in the trimming of the windows, and quality of the cushions on the benches. rarely if ever, were those marked "i klasse" used. those of the second class were used sometimes; but the third class cars were generally very crowded with peasantry, who while invariably good humored and civil were certainly evil smelling, and intolerant of open windows and fresh air. the men and boys generally smoked a particularly vile-smelling black tobacco, of which they seemed very fond, and although some of the cars were marked "niet rooken" (no smoking) no one seemed to object to the fumes. [illustration: tower of the grand' place: nieuport] here one seldom saw the purely spanish type of face so usual in antwerp and brabant. the race seemed purer, and the peasants used the pure flemish tongue. few of the elders i found spoke french fluently, although the children used it freely to each other, of course understanding and speaking flemish also. there were various newspapers published in the flemish language exclusively. these, however, were very primitive, given over entirely to purely local brevities, and the prices of potatoes, beets and other commodities, and containing also a "feuilleton" of interest to the farmers and laborers. there were several "organs" of the flemish patriotic party devoted to the conservation and preservation of the flemish language and the ancient traditions, which were powerful among the people, although their circulation could not have been very profitable. the peasantry in truth were very ignorant, and knew of very little beyond their own parishes. the educational standard of the people of west flanders was certainly low, and it was a matter of comment among the opponents of the established church, that education being in the hands of the clergy, they invariably defeated plans for making it compulsory. but nevertheless, the peasantry were to all appearances both contented and fairly happy. as their wants were few and primitive, their living was cheap. their fare was coffee, of which they consumed a great deal, black bread, salt pork and potatoes. the use of oleomargarine was universal in place of butter. they grew tobacco in their small gardens for their own use, and also, it is whispered, smuggled it [and gin] over the border into france. they worked hard and long from five in the morning until seven or eight in the evening. the flemish farmhouse was generally well built, if somewhat untidy looking, with the pigstys and out buildings in rather too close proximity for comfort. there was usually a large living room with heavy sooty beams overhead, and thick walls pierced by quaint deeply sunken windows furnished often with seats. these picturesque rooms often contained "good finds" of the old spanish furniture, and brass; but as a rule the dealers had long since bought up all the old things, replacing them by "brummagem,"--modern articles shining with cheap varnish. the peasants themselves in their everyday clothes certainly did not impress the observer greatly. they were not picturesque, they wore the sabôt or "klompen," yellow varnished, and clumsy in shape. their stockings were coarse gray worsted. their short trousers were usually tied with a string above the calf, and they wore a sort of smock, sometimes of linen unbleached, or of a shining sort of dark purple thin stuff. the usual headgear was for the men a cap with a glazed peak and for the women and girls a wide flapped embroidered linen cap, but this headgear was worn only in the country towns and villages. elsewhere the costume was fast disappearing. on sundays when dressed in their holiday clothes these peasants going to or returning from mass, looked respectable and fairly prosperous, and it was certainly clear that although poor in worldly goods, these animated and laughing throngs were far from being unhappy or dissatisfied with life as they found it in west flanders. alost alost the ancient hôtel de ville on the grand' place was unique, not for its great beauty, for it had none, but for its quaintness, in the singular combination of several styles of architecture. without going into any details its attraction was in what might be called its venerable coquettishness,--bizarre, one might have styled it, but that the word conveys some hint of lack of dignity. one is at a loss just how to characterize its attractiveness. against the sky its towers and minarets held one's fancy by their very lightness and airiness, the lanterns and _fleches_ presupposing a like grace and proportion in the edifice below. the great square belfry at one side seemed to shoulder aside the structure with its beautiful renaissance façade and portal and quite dominate it. my note book says that it dated from the fifteenth century, and its appearance certainly bore evidence of this statement. it had been erected in sections at various periods, and these periods were marked in the various courses of brick, showing every variety of tone of dull reds, buffs, and mellow purplish browns. the effect was quite delightful. the tower contained a fine carillon of bells arranged on a rather bizarre platform, giving a most quaint effect to the turret which surmounted it. the face of the tower bore four niches, two at each side of the center and upper windows, and these contained time worn statues of the noble counts of alost. on the wall below was a tablet bearing the inscription "ni espoir, ni craint," and this i was told referred either to the many sieges which the town suffered, or a pestilence which depopulated the whole region. a huge gilt clock face shone below the upper gallery, at each corner of which sprang a stone gargoyle. the old square upon which this tower was placed was quite in keeping with it. there were rows of gabled stone houses of great antiquity, still inhabited, stretching away in an array of façades, gables, and most fantastic roofs, all of mellow toned tile, brick and stone. [illustration: the town hall: alost] thierry moertens, who was a renowned master printer of the netherlands, was born here, and is said to have established in alost the "very first printing house in flanders." from this press issued a translation of the holy bible, which was preserved in the museum of brussels, together with other fine specimens of his skill. a very good statue in bronze to this master printer was in the center of the market place, and on the occasion of my last visit, there was a sort of carnival in the town, with a great gathering of farmers and merchants and their families from the surrounding country all gathered about the square, which was filled with wagons, horses, booths, and merry-go-rounds, above which the statue of the old master printer appeared in great dignity. there was a great consumption of beer and waffles at the small _estaminets_, and the chimes in the belfry played popular songs at intervals to the delight of these simple happy people, all unaware of the great catastrophe of the war into which they were about to be plunged. a disastrous conflagration destroyed most of alost in , and thereafter history deals with the fury of the religious wars conducted by the spanish against alost, a most strongly fortified town. the story of the uniting of these spanish troops under the leadership of juan de navarese is well known. burning and sacking and murder were the sad lot of alost and its unfortunate citizens, who had hardly recovered, ere the duke d'alençon arrived before the walls with his troops, bent upon mischief. the few people remaining after his onslaught died like flies during the plague which broke out the following year, and the town bid fair to vanish forever. rubens painted a large and important picture based upon the destruction of alost, and this work was hanging in the old church of st. martin just before the outbreak of the war in . its fate is problematical, for st. martin's church was razed to the ground in the bombardment in - , the charge being the usual one that the tower was used for military purposes by the french. this old church with its curious bulbous tower cap was at the end of a small street, and my last view of it was on the occasion of a church fête in which some dignitaries were present, for i saw them all clad in scarlet and purple walking beneath silken canopies attended by priests bearing lighted lanterns (although the sun was shining brightly at the time) and acolytes swinging fragrant smoking censers. we were directed to a rather shabby looking hostelry, over the door of which was an emblazoned coat of arms of flanders, where we were assured we could get "déjeuner" before leaving the town. as usual, a light drizzle came on, and the streets became deserted. the hotel was a wretched one and the meal furnished us was in character with it. we were waited on by a sour, taciturn old man who bore a dirty towel on his arm, as a sort of badge of office, i presume. he nodded or shook his head as the case might demand, but not a word could i extract from him. at the close of our meal, which we dallied over, waiting for the rain to cease, i called for the bill, which was produced after a long wait, and proved to be, as i anticipated, excessive. we had coffee and hot milk and some cold chicken and salad. this repast, for two, came to twelve francs. and as the "chicken" had reached its old age long before, and the period of its roasting must have taken place at an uncertain date, this, together with the fact that the lettuce was wilted, placed these items upon the proscribed list for us. the coffee and hot milk, however, was good and, thus revived and rested, i paid the bill without protest, and having retained the carriage which we hired at the station, i bundled our belongings into it. i had resolved not to tip the surly old fellow, but a gleam in his eye made me hesitate. then i weakened and gave him a franc. to my amazement he said in excellent english: "i thank you, sir; you are a kind, good and patient man, and madam is a most charming and gracious lady. i am sorry your breakfast was so bad, but i can do nothing here; these people are impossible; but it is no fault of mine." and shaking his head he vanished into the doorway of the hotel. driving away, i glanced up at the windows, where behind the curtains i thought i saw several faces watching us furtively. it might be that we had missed an adventure in coming away. had i been alone i should have chanced it, for the old waiter interested me with his sudden confidence and his command of english. but whatever his story might have been, it must ever be to me a closed book. quaint alost among the trees is now a heap of blackened ruins. courtrai courtrai the two large and impressive stone towers flanking a bridge of three arches over the small sluggish river lys were those of the celebrated broël, dating from the fourteenth century. the towers were called respectively the "speytorre" and the "inghelbrugtorre." the first named on the south side of the river formed part of the ancient "enceinte" of the first château of philip of alsace, and was erected in the twelfth century, and famed with the château of lille, as the most formidable strongholds of flanders. the "inghelbrugtorre" was erected in - , and strongly resembles its sister tower opposite. it was furnished with loopholes for both archers and for "arquebusiers," as well as openings for the discharge of cannon and the casting of molten pitch and lead upon the heads of besiegers after the fashion of warfare as conducted during the wars of the middle ages. the breton soldiers under charles the eleventh attacked and almost razed this great stronghold in . a sleepy old _custode_ whom we aroused took us down into horrible dungeons, where, with a dripping tallow candle, he showed us some iron rings attached to the dripping walls below the surface of the river where prisoners of state were chained in former times, and told us that the walls here were three or four yards thick. the town was one of beauty and great charm, and here we stopped for a week in a most delightfully kept small hotel on the square, which was bordered with fine large trees, both linden and chestnut. the town was famed in history for the great battle of the spurs which took place outside the walls, in the year , on the plains of groveninghe. history mentions the fact that "seven hundred golden spurs were picked up afterwards on the battlefield and hung in the cathedral." these we were unable to locate. the water of the lys, flowing through the town and around the remains of the ancient walls, was put to practical use by the inhabitants in the preparation of flax, for which the town was renowned. [illustration: the belfry: courtrai] it ranked with the old city of bruges in importance up to , when it had some thirty-five thousand inhabitants. in the middle of the beflowered grand' place stood a quaint brick belfry containing a good chime of bells, and on market days when surrounded with the farmers' green wagons and the lines of booths about which the people gathered chaffering, its appearance was picturesque enough to satisfy anyone, even the most blasé of travelers. the belfry had four large gilt clock faces, and its bells could be plainly seen through the windows hanging from the huge beams. on the tower were gilded escutcheons, and a couple of armor-clad statues in niches. there was a fine church dedicated to notre dame, which was commenced by baldwin in , and a very beautiful "counts chapel" with rows of statues of counts and countesses of flanders whose very names were forgotten. here was one of the few remaining "beguinages" of flanders, which we might have overlooked but for the kindness of a passerby who, seeing that we were strangers, pointed out the doorway to us. on either hand were small houses through the windows of which one could see old women sitting bowed over cushions rapidly moving the bobbins over the lace patterns. a heavy black door gave access to the beguinage, a tiny retreat, _noyé de silence_, inaugurated, tradition says, in , by jean de constantinople, who gave it as a refuge for the sisters of st. bogga. and here about a small grass grown square in which was a statue of the saint, dwelt a number of self-sacrificing women, bound by no vow, who had consecrated their lives to the care of the sick and needy. we spent an hour in this calm and fragrant retreat, where there was no noise save the sweet tolling of the convent bell, and the cooing of pigeons on the ridge pole of the chapel. in the square before the small station was a statue, which after questioning a number of people without result, i at length found to be that of jean palfyn who, my informant assured me, was the inventor of the forceps, and expressed surprise that i should be so interested in statuary as to care "who it was." he asked me if i was not english and when i answered that i was an american, looked somewhat dazed, much as if i had said "new zealander" or "kamschatkan," and was about to ask me some further question, but upon consideration thought better of it, and turned away shrugging his shoulders. to show how well the river lys is loved by the people, i quote here a sort of prose poem by a local poet, one adolph verriest. it is called "het leielied." "la lys flows over the level fields of our beautiful country, its fecund waters reflecting the blue of our wondrous flemish landscape. active and diligent servant, it seems to work ever to our advantage, multiplying in its charming sinuosities its power for contributing to our prosperity, accomplishing our tasks, and granting our needs. it gives to our lives ammunition and power. the noise of busy mills and the movement of bodies of workmen in its banks is sweet music in our ears, in tune to the rippling of its waters. "a silver ribbon starred with the blue corn-flower, the supple textile baptised in its soft waters is transformed by the hand of man into cloudy lace, into snowy linen, into fabrics of filmy lightness for my lady's wear, la lys, name significant and fraught with poetry for us--giving life to the germ of the flax which it conserves through all its life better than any art of the chemist in the secret chambers of his laboratory. "thanks to this gracious river, our lovely town excels in napery and is known throughout all the world. in harvest time the banks of the lys are thronged with movement, the harvesters in quaint costumes, their bodies moving rhythmically to the words of the songs they sing, swinging the heavy bundles of flax from the banks to the level platforms, where it is allowed to sleep in the water, and later the heavy wagons are loaded to the cadence of other songs appropriate to the work. large picturesque colored windmills wave their brown velvety hued sails against the piled up masses of cloud, and over all is intense color, life and movement. "the river plays then a most important part in the life on the flemish plains about courtrai, giving their daily bread to the peasants, and lending poetry to their existence. so, o lys, our beautiful benefactor, we love you." at this writing (march, ) courtrai is still occupied by the troops of the german kaiser, and with the exception of the destruction of the broël towers, the church of st. martin, and the old belfry in the market place, the town is said to be "intact." whenever possible we traveled through the flemish littoral on the small steam trams, "chemins-de-fer-vicinaux," as they are called in french, in the flemish tongue "stoomtram," passing through fertile green meadows dotted with fat, sleek, black and white cows, and embossed with shining silvery waterways connecting the towns and villages. we noticed englishy cottages of white stucco and red tiled roofs, amid well kept fields and market gardens in which both men and women seemed to toil from dawn to dewy evening. flanders before the war was simply covered with these light railways. the little trains of black carriages drawn by puffing covered motors, discharging heavy black clouds of evil-smelling smoke and oily soot, rushed over the country from morning until night, and the clanging of the motorman's bell seemed never ending. [illustration: the broël towers: courtrai] to see the country thus was a privilege, and was most interesting, for one had to wait in the squares of the small towns, or at other central places until the corresponding motor arrived before the journey could proceed. here there was a sort of exchange established where the farmers compared notes as to the rise or fall in commodities, or perchance the duty upon beets and potatoes. loud and vehement was the talk upon these matters; really, did one not know the language, one might have fancied that a riot was imminent. one morning we halted at a small village called gheluwe, where the train stopped beside a white-washed wall, and everyone got out, as the custom is. there seemed no reason for stopping here, for we were at some distance from the village, the spire of which could be seen above a belt of heavy trees ahead. the morning was somewhat chilly, and the only other occupant of the compartment was a young cleric with a soiled white necktie. he puffed away comfortably at a very thin, long, and evil-smelling "stogie" which he seemed to enjoy immensely, and which in the flemish manner he seemed to eat as he smoked, eyeing us the while amicably though absent mindedly, as if we were far removed from his vicinity. as we neared the stopping place, two very jolly young farmer boys raced with the train in their quaint barrow-like wagon painted a bright green, and drawn by a pair of large dogs who foamed and panted past us "ventre à terre," with red jaws and flopping tongues. had we not known of this breed of dogs we might have fancied, as many strangers do, that flemish dogs are badly treated, but this is not the case. these dogs are very valuable, worth sometimes as much as five hundred francs (about $ ). inspections of these dogs are held regularly by the authorities. the straps and the arrangement of the girths are tested lest they should chafe the animal, and, i am told, the law now requires that a piece of carpet be carried for the animal to lie upon when resting, and a drinking bowl also has been added to the equipment of each cart. the dogs do not suffer. they are bred for the cart, and are called "_chiens de traite_," so that the charge of cruelty upon the part of ignorant tourists may be dismissed as untrue. there is a society for the prevention of cruelty to animals, and it is not unusual to see its sign displayed in the market places, with the caution "_traitez les animaux avec douceur_." rarely if ever is a case brought into court by the watchful police. the young cleric gazed at us inquiringly, as if he expected to hear us exclaim about the cruelty to animals, but catching his eye i smiled, and said something about "_ces bons chiens_," at which he seemed relieved, and nodded back grinning, but he did not remove the stogie from his mouth. priests in flanders seemed to enjoy much liberty of action, and do things not possible elsewhere. for instance, at blankenberghe, a fashionable watering place on the coast, i saw a prosperous, well-fed one (if i may so characterize him without meaning any offense) dining at the great gasthof on the digue, who after finishing his _filet aux champignons_, with a bottle of _baune superior_, ordered his "_demi tasse_" with _fine champagne_, and an havana cigar which cost him not less than three francs (sixty cents) which he smoked like a connoisseur while he listened to the fine military band playing in the kiosk. and why not, if you please? we remained for nearly twenty minutes beside this white wall at the roadside, the animated discussions of the farmers continuing, for the group was constantly augmented by fresh arrivals who meant to travel with us or back to the town from which we had come. it was here that we saw the first stork in flanders, where indeed they are uncommon. this one had a nest in a large tree nearby. one of the boys shied a small stone at him as he flapped overhead, but, i think, without any idea of hitting him. the peasants assembled here eyed us narrowly. they probed me and my belongings with eyes of corkscrew penetration, but since this country of theirs was a show place to me, i argued that i had no right to object to their making in return a show of me. but such scrutiny is not comfortable, especially if one is seated in a narrow compartment, and the open-mouthed _vis à vis_ gazes at one with steely bluish green unwinking eyes--somewhat red rimmed. especially if such scrutiny is accompanied by free comments upon one's person, delivered in a voice so pitched as to convey the information to all the other occupants, and mayhap the engine driver ahead. the other train at length arrived, there was an interchange of occupants and then we proceeded amid heavy clouds of thick black smoke which, for a time, the wind blew with us. across the tilled fields are narrow paths leading to dykes and roads. there are many green ditches filled with water and in them we could see rather heavy splashes from time to time. these we discovered were made by large green bull frogs--really monsters they were, too. of course we were below the sea level here, but one cannot credit the old story about the boy who plugged the dyke with his thumb, thereby saving the whole country. the dykes are many feet high and as the foundation is composed of heavy black stones, then layers of great red bricks and tiles, and finally turf and large willow branches interlaced most cunningly like giant basket work, such a story is impossible. my _vis à vis_, all the while regarding me unwinkingly, overheard me speak to a--, in english. then he slowly took the stogie from his mouth and ejaculated, "_ach--engelsch!--do it well met you?_" i replied that it certainly did. "_and met madame?_" i nodded. "_alst' u blieft mynheer--sir,_" he said. then he changed his seat and thereafter related to the others that he had conversed with the strangers, who were english, and were traveling for pleasure, being _enormously rich_. i think thereafter he enjoyed the reputation of being an accomplished linguist. so, pleasantly did we amble along the narrow little steam tramway through luxurious green fields and smiling fertile landscape of the flemish littoral in our well rewarded search for the quaint and the unusual. the gothic town hall, a remarkable construction on the grand' place, and erected , has been restored with a great amount of good taste in recent years, and the statues on its façade have been replaced with such skill that one is not conscious of modern work. the great hall of the magistrates on the ground floor, with its magnificent furniture, and the admirable modern mural paintings by the flemish artists guffens and severts ( ) was worth a journey to see. the most noteworthy of these paintings represented the "departure of baldwin ix," count of flanders, at the beginning of the fourth crusade in , and the "consultation of the flemish, before the great battle of the spurs" in . in this chamber is a remarkable renaissance mantelpiece, which is embellished with the arms of the allied towns of bruges and ghent, between which are the standard bearers of the doughty knights of courtrai, and two statues of the archduke albert and his lady, all surrounding a statue of the holy virgin. on the upper floor is the council chamber, in which is another mantelpiece hardly less ornate and interesting, and executed in what may be called the "flamboyant" manner in rich polychrome. it is dated and was designed by (one of the) keldermans (?). it has rows or ranges of statuary said to represent both the vices and the virtues. below are reliefs indicating the terrible punishment inflicted upon those who transgress. statues of charles v, the infanta isabella, and others are on _corbels_. very large drawn maps of the ancient town and its dependencies cover the walls, and these are dated .[ ] termonde (dendermonde) termonde (dendermonde) a strange half deserted little town on the right bank of the river scheldt, clustered about a bridge, on both sides of a small sluggish stream called the "dendre," where long lines of women were washing clothes the live-long day, and chattering like magpies the while. a grand' place, with heavy trees at one side, and on the other many small _estaminets_ and drinking shops. that was termonde. my note book says "population , , town fortified; forbidden to make sketches outside the walls, which are fortifications. two good pictures in old church of notre dame, by van dyck, 'crucifixion' and an 'adoration of the shepherds' ( ). fine hôtel de ville, with five gables and sculptured decoration. also belfry of the fourteenth century." termonde is famed throughout flanders as the birthplace of the "four sons of aymon," and the exploits of the great horse bayard. the legend of the four sons of aymon is endeared to the people, and they never tire of relating the story in song as well as prose. indeed this legend is perhaps the best preserved of all throughout flanders. it dates from the time of charlemagne, the chief of the great leaders of western europe, whose difficulty in governing and keeping in subjection and order his warlike and turbulent underlords and vassals is a matter of history known to almost every schoolboy. among these vassal lordlings, whose continued raids and grinding exactions caused him most anxious moments, was a certain duke (herzog) called aymon, who had four sons, named renault, allard, guichard, and ricard, all of most enormous stature and prodigious strength. of these renault was the tallest, the strongest, the most agile, and the most cunning. in height he measured what would correspond to sixteen feet, "and he could span a man's waist with his hand, and lifting him in the air, squeeze him to death." this was one of his favorite tricks with the enemy in battle. aymon had a brother named buves who dwelt in aigremont, which is near huy, and one may still see there the castle of aymon, who was also called the wild boar of the ardennes. this brother buves in a fit of anger against charlemagne for some fancied slight, sent an insulting message to the latter, refusing his command to accompany him on his expedition against the saracens, which so exasperated charlemagne that he sent one of his sons to remonstrate with buves and if need be, to threaten him with vengeance, in case he persisted in refusing. buves was ready, and without waiting to receive his message, he met the messenger half way and promptly murdered him. then charlemagne, in a fury, sent a large and powerful body of men to punish buves, who was killed in the battle which took place at aigremont. thereupon the four sons of aymon met and over their swords swore vengeance against charlemagne, and betook themselves to the fastnesses of the ardennes, in which they built for themselves the great castle of montfort which is said to have been even stronger than that called aigremont. on the banks of the river ourthe may still be seen the great gray bulk of its ruins. about this stronghold they constructed high walls, and there they sent out challenges defying the great emperor. now each of the four sons had his own fashion of fighting. renault fought best on horseback, and to him maugis son of buves brought a great horse named bayard ("beiaard" in flemish) of magic origin, possessed of demoniac powers, among which was the ability to run like the wind and never grow weary. here in this stronghold the four sons of aymon dwelt, making occasional sallies against the vassals of charlemagne, until at length the emperor gathered a mighty force of soldiers and horses and engines and scaling ladders, and, surrounding the stronghold, at length succeeded in capturing it. tradition says that among charlemagne's retinue was aymon himself, and intimates that it was by the father's treachery that the four mighty sons were almost captured, but at any rate the great castle of montfort was reduced to ashes and ruin, and only the fact of renault's taking the other brothers on the back of the wondrous horse bayard saved them all from the emperor's fury. so they escaped into gascony, where they independently attacked the saracens and drove them forth and extended their swords to the king of gascony, yon, who treacherously delivered them in chains over to charlemagne. these chains they broke and threw in the emperor's face, fighting their way to freedom with their bare hands. history thereafter is silent as to their end. of renault it is known only that he became a friar at cologne, where his skill and strength were utilized by the authorities in building the walls, and that one day while at work, some masons whom he had offended crept up behind him and pushed him off a great height into the river rhine, and thus he was drowned. years afterward the church canonized him, and in westphalia at dortmund may be seen a monument erected in his memory extolling his prowess, his deeds, and his strength. as to the great and magical horse bayard, the chronicle says that, captured finally by charlemagne's soldiers and brought before him, the emperor deliberated what he should do with it, since it refused to be ridden. finally he ordered that the largest mill stone in the region should be made fast to its neck by heavy chains, and that it should then be cast into the river meuse. bayard contemptuously shook off the heavy stone and with steam pouring from his nostrils, gave three neighs of derision and triumph and, climbing the opposite bank, vanished into the gloom of the forest where none dared follow. of the immortality of this great horse history is emphatic and gravely states that, for all that is known to the contrary, he may still be at large in the ardennes, but that "no man has since beheld him." and now yearly on the grand' place at termonde there is a great festival and procession in his honor depicting the chief incidents of his life and mighty deeds, while, at dinaut, on the river meuse, the scene of some of his mightiest deeds, may still be seen the great rock bayard, standing more than forty yards high and separated from the face of the mountain by a roadway cut by louis the sixteenth, who cared little for legends. from the summit of this great needle of rock sprang the horse bayard, flying before the forces of charlemagne with the four brothers on his back, and, so tradition says, "leaped across the river, disappearing in the woods on the further bank." [illustration: the museum: termonde] we were fortunate in being at termonde on the occasion of this picturesque festival. songs of bayard and his prowess were sung in the streets by various musical societies, each of which carried huge banners bearing their titles and honors, and some curious frameworks on poles which were literally covered with medals and wreaths bestowed upon the societies by the town at various times. these were borne proudly through the streets, and each society had its crowd of partisans and loud admirers. had it not been so picturesque and strange, it would have seemed childish and pathetic, but the people were so evidently in earnest and seemed to enjoy it so hugely that the chance stranger could not but enter into the spirit of it all with them. this we did and wisely. there was much drinking of a thin sour beer called "faro," which is very popular with the peasants, and the various societies sang themselves hoarse, to the delight of all, including themselves. the horse bayard, as seen in the market place, was a great wicker affair hung in wondrous chain armor, and the four sons of aymon, also of wickerwork, and likewise clad in armor, each bearing a huge sword, sat upon his back and were trundled through the streets. there were also booths in which the inevitable and odoriferous fritters were fried, and some merry-go-rounds with thunderous, wheezy, groaning steam organs splitting one's ears, and platforms upon which the peasants danced and danced until one would have thought them fit to drop with fatigue. it did not take long to examine the attractions most thoroughly, but there were two very extraordinary exhibits of enormously fat women (who are great favorites with the peasantry, and no celebration seems to be complete without them). their booths were placed opposite to each other, nearly face to face, with only about forty feet between them. in this space crowded the peasants listening open mouthed in wonder at the vocabulary of the rival "barkers." as usual, a shower came on during the afternoon, and the decorations were soaked with the downpour. the wickerwork horse bayard was left to itself out in the square, and the wind whisked the water soaked draperies over its head, disclosing piteously all of its poor framework. the leaden skies showing no promise of clearing, we called the driver of the ancient "fiacre," and after settling our score at the "grande hôtel café royal de la tête d'or," we departed for the station of the "chemin de fer," which bumped us well but safely along the road to antwerp. we came again later on to this little town on the river, thinking that we might not have done it entire justice, because of the discomfort of the rainy day. and while we did not, it is true, find anything of great value to record, nor anything in the way of bells to gloat over, still our rather dismal impression of the little town in the drizzling rain as we last saw it, was quite removed and replaced by a picture more to our liking. we were constantly finding new and unusual charms in the quaint old towns, each seeming for some reason quainter than the preceding one. here on this occasion it looked so tranquil, so somnolent, that we tarried all unwilling to lose its flavor of the unusual. there were old weather beaten walls of ancient brick, mossy in places, and here and there little flights of steep steps leading down into the water; broad pathways there were too, shaded by tall trees and behind them vistas of delightful old houses, each doubtless with its tales of joy, gayety, pain or terror of the long ago. the local policeman stood at a deserted street corner examining us curiously. he was the only sign of life visible except ourselves, and soon he, satisfied that we were only crazy foreigners with nothing else to do but wander about, took himself off yawning, his hands clasped behind his back, and his short sword rattling audibly in the stillness. the atmosphere of this silent street by the river, shaded almost to a twilight by the thick foliage, with the old houses all about us, seemed to invite reminiscence, or dreams of the stern and respectable old burghers and burgesses in sombre clothing, wide brimmed hats, and stiffly starched linen ruffs about their necks as rendered by rembrandt, hals, rubens and jordaens. they must have been veritable domestic despots, magnates of the household, but certainly there must have been something fine about them too, for they are most impressive in their portraits. "they shook the foot of spain from their necks," and when they were not fighting men they fought the waters. truly the history of their struggles is a wondrous one! none of these was in sight, however, as we strolled the streets, but we did disturb the chat or gossip of two delightful, apple cheeked old ladies in white caps, who became dumb with astonishment at the sight of two foreigners who walked about gazing up at the roofs and windows of the houses, and at the mynheer in knickerbockers who was always looking about him and writing in a little book. one cannot blame them for being so dumbfounded at such actions, such _incomprehensible_ disturbing actions in a somnolent town of long ago. in the vestibule of the dark dim old church, i copied the following inscription from a wall. it sounds something like english gone quite mad--and the last line, it seems to me, runs rather trippingly--and contains something of an idea too, whatever it means: "al wat er is. mijn hoop is christus en zyn bloed. door deze leer ik en hoop door die het eenwig goed. ons leven is maar eenen dag, vol ziekten en vol naar geklag. vol rampen dampen (!) en vendriet. een schim eien droom en anders niet." a small steamer had advertised to leave for antwerp about o'clock. it lay puffing and wheezing at the side of the stream, and we went on board and settled ourselves comfortably, tired out with our wanderings. here a bevy of children discovered us and ranged themselves along the dyke to watch our movements, exploding with laughter whenever we addressed one another. finally an oily hand appeared at the hatchway of the engine room, followed by the touseled yellow head of a heavily bearded man. he looked at us searchingly, then at the line of tormenting children. then he seized a long pole and advanced threateningly upon the phalanx. they fled incontinently out of reach, calling out various expletives in flemish--of which i distinguished only one, "koek bakker"! this would seem to be the crowning insult to cast at a respectable engineer, for he shook his fist at them. to our amazement he then touched his greasy cap to us, and in the broadest possible scotch dialect bade us welcome. there is a saying that one has only to knock on the companion ladder of any engine room in any port the world over, and call out "sandy" to bring up in response one or two canny scots from the engine room below. this little steamer evidently took the place of the carrier's cart used elsewhere; for passengers and parcels, as well as crates of vegetables were her cargo. at length we started puffing along the river, and stopping from time to time at small landings leading to villages whose roofs appeared above the banks and dykes. delightful bits of the more intimate side of the people's life revealed themselves to us on these unusual trips. we passed a fine looking old peasant woman in a beautiful lace cap, rowing a boat with short powerful strokes in company with a young girl, both keeping perfect time. the boat was laden with green topped vegetables and brightly burnished brass milk cans, forming a picture that was most quaint to look upon. and later we passed a large rhine barge, from the cabin of which came the most appetizing odor of broiled bacon. our whistle brought out the whole family, and likewise a little nervous black and white dog who went nearly mad with the excitement attendant upon driving us away from the property he had to protect. night was falling when we reached the quay side in antwerp, and we disembarked to the tinkling melody of the wondrous chimes from the tower of the great cathedral. louvain louvain it was in the great gothic church of st. peter that mathias van den gheyn delighted to execute those wonderful "_morceaux fugues_" now at once the delight and the despair of the musical world, upon the fine chime of bells in the tower. this venerable tower was entirely destroyed in the terrible bombardment of the town in . it is probable that no town in belgium was more frequented by learned men of all professions, since its university enjoyed such a high reputation the world over, and certainly its library, likewise entirely destroyed, with its precious tomes and manuscripts, was considered second to none. the old church of st. peter, opposite the matchless hôtel de ville, was a cruciform structure of noble proportions and flanked with remarkable chapels; it was begun, according to the archives in brussels, in , to replace an earlier building of the tenth century, and was "finished" in the sixteenth century. there was, it seems, originally a wooden spire on the west side of the structure but "it was blown down in a storm in ." when i saw it in , the church was in process of restoration, and the work was being very intelligently done by competent men. before the façade was a most curious row of bizarre small houses of stucco, nearly every one of which was a sort of saloon or café, and the street before them was quite obstructed by small round tables and chairs at which, in the afternoon from four to five, the shopkeepers and bourgeois of the town gathered for the afternoon "_aperitif_," whatever it might be, and to discuss politics. for be it known that this period before the outbreak of the war, was in belgium a troublous one for the flemings, because of the continued friction between the clerical and the anti-clerical parties. these bizarre houses, i was told by one of the priests with whom i talked, were owned by the church, and were very profitable holdings, but tourists and others had made such sport of them, and even entered such grave protests to the bishop, that the authorities finally concluded to tear them down. but they were certainly very picturesque, as my picture shows, their red tiled roofs and green blinds, making most agreeable notes of color against old st. peter's gray wall. [illustration: the cathedral: louvain] the church so wantonly destroyed in contained some most remarkable works of art in the nine chapels. among these were the "martyrdom of st. erasmus," by dierick bouts, long thought to be a work of memling. another painting, "the last supper," was also considered one of memling's works, until its authenticity was established by the finding of the receipt by bouts for payment, discovered in the archives of the library in louvain in . formerly the church owned a great treasure in quentin matsys' "holy family," but this was sold to the brussels museum for something less than £ , , and upon the outbreak of the war was in that collection. it is said that most of these great paintings owned in belgium were placed in zinc and leaden cases and sent over to england for safety. it is to be hoped that this is true. the _custode_ showed, with most impressive manner, a quaint image of the savior which, he related, was connected with a miraculous legend to the effect that the statue had captured and held a thief who had broken into the church upon one occasion! the townspeople venerate this image, and on each occasion when i visited the church, i noted the number of old women on their knees before it, and the many lighted waxen candles which they offered in its honor. a wave of indignation passed over the world of art when the newspapers reported the destruction of the beautiful hôtel de ville, just opposite old st. peter's. this report was almost immediately followed by a denial from berlin that it had suffered any harm whatever, and it would seem that this is true. the library, however, with its hundreds of thousands of priceless records, and masterpieces of printing is, it is admitted, entirely destroyed! this great building, black and crumbling with age, was situated in a small street behind the hôtel de ville. the town itself was bright and clean looking, and there was a handsome boulevard leading from the new gothic railway station situated in a beflowered parkway, which was lined with prosperous looking shops. this whole district was "put to the torch" and wantonly destroyed when the town was captured in . late photographs show the new station levelled to the ground, and the parkway turned into a cemetery with mounds and crosses showing where the soldiers who lost their lives in the bombardment, and subsequent sacking, are buried. remembering the complete destruction of ypres, one can only believe that the preservation of the hôtel de ville was entirely miraculous and unintentional. p.j. verhaegan, a flemish painter of considerable reputation and ability, had decorated one of the two "absidiole" chapels which contained a very richly carved tomb over a certain lady of the thirteenth century whose fame is known all over flanders. the legend was most dramatically told to me by one of the young priests of st. peter's, and this is the story of the beautiful margaret, called "the courageous," (la fière). [illustration: the town hall: louvain] by the grace of god, there lived in louvain, in the year , one armand and his wife, both devout catholics and the keepers of a travelers' "ordinary" on the road to the coast, called tirlemont. these two at length decided to retire from their occupation as "hôteliers," and devote and consecrate the remainder of their lives to god, and the blessed saints. now they had a niece who was a most beautiful girl and whose name was margaret, and she had such disdain for the young gallants of louvain that they bestowed upon her the name of "la fière." although but eighteen years of age she determined to follow the example of her uncle and aunt, and later become a "beguine," thus devoting her life to charity and the care of the sick and unfortunate, for this is the work of the order of "beguines." they realized a large sum of money from the sale of the hotel, and this became known throughout the countryside. it was said that the money was hidden in the house in which they lived, and at length eight young men of evil lives, pondering upon this, resolved that they would rob this noble couple. upon a stormy night they demanded admittance, saying that they were belated travelers. the young girl margaret was absent from the room for a moment, when these ruffians seized the old couple and murdered them. on her return to the upper room from the cellar, margaret surprised them ransacking the strong box beside the fireplace. so they overpowered her also, but at once there ensued an argument as to what should be done with her, when the chief rogue, admiring her great beauty, proposed to her that she accept him as her lover and depart with him for france, where they could live happily. this she scornfully refused, whereupon "one of the ruffians strangled her for ten marcs of silver; and her soul, white and pure as the angels, ascended to the throne of jesus, in whom she so well believed, and there became '_l'unique espoux dont elle ambitionait l'amour._'" it is said that henry the first sitting in a window of his château on the river dyle one night, saw floating on the dark water the corpse of this young martyr, where the ruffians had thus thrown her, and "the pale radiance from her brow illuminated the whole valley." calling to his consort, marguerite of flanders, he pointed out to her the wondrous sight, and hastening forth they drew her dripping body from the dark slimy water and bore it tenderly to the château. the news spread far and wide, and for days came throngs to view the "sweet martyr's" body, for which the priests had prepared a costly catafalque, and for her a grand mass was celebrated in st. peter's where she was laid at rest in a tomb, the like of which for costliness was never seen in flanders. and this is the legend of margaret, called "la fière," whose blameless life was known throughout the land. i wish that i had made a drawing of this tomb while i was in the church, but i neglected unfortunately to do so. it was of simple lines, but of great richness of detail. of course both it and the beautiful wax paintings of m. verhaegan are now entirely destroyed in the ruins of st. peter's. douai douai although across the border in france, douai must still be called a flemish town, because of its history and affiliations. the town is quaint in the extreme and of great antiquity, growing up originally around a gallo-roman fort. in the many wars carried on by the french against the english, the flemish and the germans, not to mention its sufferings from the invading spaniards, it suffered many sieges and captures. resisting the memorable attack of louis the eleventh, it has regularly celebrated the anniversary of this victory each year in a notable fête or kermesse, in which the effigies of the giant gayant and his family, made of wickerwork and clad in medieval costumes, are paraded through the town by order of the authorities, followed by a procession of costumed attendants through the tortuous streets, to the music of bands and the chimes from the belfry of the hôtel de ville. this, the most notable edifice in the town, is a fine gothic tower one hundred and fifty feet high, with a remarkable construction of tower and turrets, supported by corbels of the fifteenth century, containing a fine chime of bells made by the van den gheyns. the bells are visible from below, hanging sometimes well outside the turret of the bell chamber, and, ranging tier upon tier, from those seemingly the size of a gallon measure, to those immense ones weighing from fifteen hundred to two thousand pounds. this great tower witnessed the attack and occupation of the spaniards, the foundation by the roman catholics of the great university in to counter-act the protestantism of the netherlands, which had but a brief career, and the capture of the town by louis the fourteenth. here was published in an english translation of the old testament for roman catholics, as well as the english roman catholic version of the scriptures, and the new testament translated at rheims in , and known as the "douai bible." this was also the birthplace of jean bellgambe, the painter ( ) surnamed "maître des couleurs," whose nine great oaken panels form the wonderful altarpiece in the church of notre dame. [illustration: the town hall: douai] douai was, before the great war, a peaceful industrial center of some importance, of some thirty thousand inhabitants. it has been said that the fleming worked habitually fifty-two weeks in the year. an exception, however, must be made for fête days, when no self-respecting fleming will work. on these days the holiday makers are exceedingly boisterous, and the streets are filled with the peasants clad in all their holiday finery. but it is on the day of the kermesse that your fleming can be seen to the best advantage. there are merry-go-rounds, shooting galleries, swings, maybe a traveling circus or two, and a theatrical troupe which shows in a much bespangled and mirrored tent, decorated with tinsel and flaming at night with naphtha torches. bands of music parade the streets, each carrying a sort of banneret hung with medals and trophies awarded by the town authorities at the various "_séances_." but the greatest noise comes from the barrel organs of huge size and played by steam, or sometimes by a patient horse clad in gay apparel who trudges a sort of treadmill which furnishes the motive power. in even these small towns of ancient flanders such as douai, the old allegorical representations, formerly the main feature of the event, are now quite rare, and therefore this event of the parade of the wicker effigies of the fabulous giant gayant and his family was certainly worth the journey from tournai. the day was made memorable also to the writer and his companion because of the following adventure. there had been, it seems, considerable feeling against england among the lower orders in this border town over the anglo-boer war, so that overhearing us speaking english, some half grown lads began shouting out at us "verdamt engelsch" and other pleasantries, and in a moment a crowd gathered about us. with the best flemish at his command the writer addressed them, explaining that we were americans, but what the outcome would have been, had it not been for the timely arrival of a gendarme, i know not; but under his protection we certainly beat a hasty retreat. the lower classes of flemings in their cups are unpleasant people to deal with, and it were well not to arouse them. but for this incident, and the fact that the afternoon brought on a downpour of rain, which somewhat dampened the ardor of the people and the success of the fête, our little trip over the border to this historic town would be considered worth while. our last view of douai was from the train window as we recrossed the river scarpe, with the massive tower of the hôtel de ville showing silhouetted dim and gray against a streaming sky. oudenaarde oudenaarde from the small stucco station, embowered in luxuriant trees, we crossed a wide grass grown square, faring towards the turrets of the town, which appeared above the small red and black tiled roofs of some mean looking peasant houses, and an _estaminet_, of stucco evidently brand new, and bearing a gilt lion over its door. here a wide and rather well paved street led towards the town, bordered upon either hand by well kept and clean but blank looking houses, with the very narrowest sidewalks imaginable, all of which somehow reminded us of some of the smaller streets of philadelphia. the windows of these houses flush with the street were closely hung with lace, and invariably in each one was either a vase or a pot of some sort filled with bright flowers. occasionally there was a small poor looking shop window in which were dusty glass jars of candy, pipes, packages of tobacco, coils of rope and hardware, and in one, evidently that of an apothecary, a large carved and varnished black head of a grinning negro, this being the sign for such merchandise as tobacco and drugs. here and there doorways were embellished with shiny brass knockers of good form, and outside one shop was a tempting array of cool green earthenware bowls of such beautiful shape that i passed them by with great longing. soon this street made a turning, where there was a good bronze statue to some dignitary or other, and i caught a glimpse of that wondrous tower of the famous hôtel de ville, the mate to that at louvain, and soon i was beneath its gothic walls, bearing row upon row of niches, empty now, but once containing effigies of the powerful lords and ladies of flanders. these rows rise tier upon tier to that exquisitely slender lace-like tower crowned with a large gilded statue of the town's patron, pennant in hand, and shining in the sunlight. from the inn of the "golden apple of oudenaarde" just opposite, i appraised its beauties over a good meal of young broiled chicken and lettuce salad, and a bowl of "_café au lait_" that was all satisfying. afterwards, the _custode_, an old soldier, showed us the "salle des pas perdus," containing a fine chimney piece alone worth the journey from antwerp, and the council chamber, still hung with some good ancient stamped leather, and several large badly faded and cracked spanish paintings of long forgotten dignitaries both male and female. [illustration: the town hall: oudenaarde] one paul van schelden, a wood carver of great ability and renown, wrought a wonderful doorway, which was fast falling apart when i saw it. this gave access to a large room, the former cloth hall, now used as a sort of theatre and quite disfigured at one end by a stage and scenic arch. the walls were stenciled meanly with a large letter a surmounted by a crown. the interior had nothing of interest to show. on the opposite side of the square was the large old church of st. walburga, with a fine tower capped by a curious upturned bulbous cupola, upon which was a large gilt open-work clock face. as usual, there was a chime of bells visible, and a flock of rooks circling about the tower. the style of st. walburga was romanesque, with gothic tendencies. built in the twelfth century, it suffered severely at the hands of the iconoclasts, and even in its unfinished state was very impressive, none the less, either, because of the rows of small stucco red roofed houses which clung to its walls, leaving only a narrow entrance to its portal. inside i found an extremely rich polychromed renaissance "reredos," and there was also the somewhat remarkable tomb of "claude talon," kept in good order and repair. oudenaarde was famed for the part it played in the history of flanders, and was also the birthplace of margaret of parma. it was long the residence of mary of burgundy, and gave shelter to charles the fifth, who sought the protection of its fortifications during the siege of tournai in . here, too, marlborough vanquished the french in . i might go on for a dozen more pages citing the names of remarkable personages who gave fame to the town, which now is simply wiped from the landscape. but by some miracle, it is stated, the town hall still stands practically uninjured. i have tried in vain to substantiate this, or at least to obtain some data concerning it, but up to this writing my letters to various officials remain unanswered. i like to think of oudenaarde as i last saw it--the huge black door of the church yawning like a gaping chasm, the square partly filled with devout peasants in holiday attire for the church fête, whatever it was. part of the procession had passed beyond the gloom of the vast aisles into the frank openness of daylight. between the walls of the small houses at either hand a long line of figures was marching with many silken banners. there seemed to be an interminable line of young girls--first communicants, i fancied,--in all the purity of their white veils and gowns against the somber dull grays of the church. this mass of pure white was of dazzling, startling effect, something like a great bed of white roses. [illustration: old square and church: oudenaarde] then came a phalanx of nuns clad in brown--i know not what their order was--their wide white cowls or coifs serving only to accentuate the pallor of their grave faces, veritable "incarnations of meek renunciation," as some poet has beautifully expressed it. then followed a group of seminarians clad in the lace and scarlet of their order, swinging to and fro their brazen censers from which poured fragrant clouds of incense. all at once a curious murmur came from the multitude, followed by a great rustling, as the whole body of people sank to their knees, and then i saw beyond at a distance across the square, the archbishop's silken canopy, and beneath it a venerable figure with upraised arms, elevating the host. surely a moment of great picturesqueness, even to the non-participant; the bent heads of the multitude; the long lines of kneeling black figures; scarlet and gold and lace of the priests' robes against the black note of the nuns' somber draperies; the white coifs and veils, through which the sweet rapture of young religious awe made even homely features seem beautiful: the gold and scarlet again of the choristers; and finally, that culminating note of splendor beneath the silken canopy of the cardinal archbishop (cardinal mercier) enthroned here like some ancient venerated monarch; all this against the neutral gray and black lines of the townspeople; surely this was the psychological moment in which to leave oudenaarde, that i might retain such a picture in my mind's eye. furnes furnes the old red brick, flat topped, tower of st. nicholas was the magnet which drew us to this dear sleepy old town, in the southwest corner of the belgian littoral; and here, lodged in the historic hostel of the "nobèle rose" we spent some golden days. the name of the town is variously pronounced by the people foorn, fern, and even fearn. i doubt if many travelers in the netherlands ever heard of it. yet the town is one of great antiquity and renown, its origin lost in the dimness of the ages. according to the chronicles in the great library at bruges, as early as a.d. it was the theatre of invasions and massacres by the normans. that learned student of flemish history, m. leopold plettinck, has made exhaustive researches among the archives in both brussels and bruges, and while he has been unable to trace its beginnings he has collected and assorted an immense amount of detailed matter referring to baudoin (or baldwin) bras de fer, who seems to have been very active in harassing the people who had the misfortune to come under his hand. the war of the "deux roses" was fought outside the walls here, likewise the battle of the spurs took place on the plains between furnes and ypres. following the long undulations of the dunes from dunkerque, overgrown here and there with a rank coarse grass sown by the authorities to protect them from the wind and the encroachments of the ever menacing sea, dune succeeds dune, forming a landscape of most unique character. passing the small hamlet of zuitcote, marked by the sunken tower of its small church, which now serves as a sort of semaphore for the fishing boats off the coast, one reached the canal which crosses the plain picturesquely. this led one along the path to the quaint old town of furnes, showing against the heavy dark green of the old trees, its dull red and pink roofs with the bulk of the tower forming a picture of great attractiveness. the town before the war had about six thousand population which seemed quite lost in the long lines of silent grass grown streets, and the immense grand' place, around which were ranged large dark stone flemish houses of somewhat forbidding exteriors. all the activity of the town, however, was here in this large square, for the lower floors had been turned into shops, and also here was the hotel, before which a temporary moving picture theatre had been put up. [illustration: the fish market: ypres] these are very popular in flanders, and are called "cinema-américain." the portable theatres are invariably wooden and are carried "knocked down" in large wagons drawn by hollow-backed, thick-legged flemish horses. as a rule they have steam organs to furnish the "music" and the blare of these can be heard for miles across the level plains. the pictures shown are usually of the lurid sort to suit the peasants, and the profits must be considerable, as the charge is ten and twenty-five cents for admission. on this square is the hôtel de ville, the palace of justice, and conciergerie. this latter is a sort of square "donjon" of great antiquity, crenelated, with towers at each corner and the whole construction forming an admirable specimen of hispano-flemish architecture. the angle of the "place" opposite the pavilion of the officers is occupied by the hôtel de ville and the "palais de justice," very different in style, for on one side is a massive façade of severe aspect and no particular period, while on the other is a most graceful flemish renaissance construction, reminding one of a rubens opposed, in all its opulence, to a cold classic portrait by gainsborough. the hôtel de ville, of , exhibits in its "pignons," its columns and renaissance motifs, a large high tower of octagonal form surmounted by a small cupola. its frontage pushes forward a loggia of quite elegant form, with balustrades in the renaissance style. above this grave looking gray building rises the tower of the "beffroi," part gothic in style. all the houses on the "place" have red tiled roofs, and gables in the renaissance style very varied in form, and each one with a characteristic window above, framed richly _en coquille_, and decorated with arabesques. behind these houses is what remains of the ancient church of st. walburga, half buried in the thick verdure of the garden. after considerable difficulty we gained admittance to the ruin, because it is not considered safe to walk beneath its walls. even in its ruin it was most imposing and majestic. we would have tarried here, but the _custode_ was very nervous and hurried us through the thickets of bushes growing up between the stones of the pavement, and fairly pushed us out again into the small parkway, accepting the very generous fee which i gave him with what i should call surliness. but we ignored this completely, after the manner of old travelers, which we had been advised to adopt. at one side were stored some rather dilapidated and dirty wax figures which reclined in various postures, somewhat too lifelike in the gloom of the chamber, and entirely ludicrous, so much so that it was with much difficulty that we controlled our smiles. the roving eye of the surly _custode_, however, warned us against levity of any sort. these wax figures, he explained, gruffly enough, were those of the most sacred religious personages, and the attendant saints and martyrs, used in the great procession and ceremony of the "sodalité," which is a sort of passion play, shown during the last sunday in july of each year in the streets of the town. the story relates an adventure of a count of flanders, who brought to furnes, during the first years of the holy crusades, a fragment of the true cross. assailed by a tempest in the channel off the coast, he vowed the precious object to the first church he came to, if his prayers for succor were answered. "immediately the storm abated, and the count, bearing the fragment of the cross aloft, was miraculously transported over the waves to dry land." this land proved to be the sand dunes of flanders, and the church tower was that of st. walburga. after a conference with his followers, who also were saved, he founded the solemn annual procession in honor of the true cross, in which was also introduced the representation of the "mysteries of the passion."[ ] this procession was suppressed during the religious troubles of the reform, but afterwards was revived by the church authorities, and now all of the episodes of the life of christ pass yearly through the great grand' place--the stable in bethlehem; the flight into egypt; down to the grand drama of the calvary and the resurrection, all are shown and witnessed with great reverence by the crowds of devout peasants from the surrounding country. and these pathetic waxen figures were those of prophets, apostles, jews, angels, cavaliers and roman soldiers, lying all about the dim dusty chamber in disorder. afterwards, from the window of the quaint hôtel of the "nobèle rose," we saw this procession passing through the crowded streets of furnes, and almost held our breaths with awe at the long line of black cloaked, hooded penitents, bare-footed, the faces covered so that one could hardly tell whether they were men or women, save for the occasional delicate small white foot thrust forward beneath the black shapeless gown. and finally _one figure_, likewise black gowned and with concealed face, staggering along painfully--feebly--and bearing a heavy wooden cross, the end of which dragged along on the stones of the street.[ ] outside of this, the grand' place, and the old red brick tower of st. nicholas, so scorched by the sun and beaten by the elements, and the rows of quaint gabled houses beneath, furnes has little to offer to the seeker after antiquity. the bells in the tower are of sweet tone, but the chimes which hung there were silent, and no amount of persuasion could induce the _custode_ to admit me to the bell chamber. madame at the "nobèle rose" had assured me that i could go up there into the tower whenever i wished, but somehow that pleasure was deferred, until finally we were forced to give it up. of course madame _did_ rob me; when the bill was presented, it proved to be fifty per cent. more than the price agreed upon, but she argued that we had "used" the window in our apartment overlooking the procession, so we must pay for that privilege. the point was so novel that i was staggered for a suitable reply to it,--the crucial moment passed,--i was lost. i paid! the artists of malines the artist of malines it may not be out of place to add here some account of the artists[ ] who dwelt in and made malines famous in the early days. primitively the painters formed part of the society of furniture makers, while sculptors affiliated with the masons' gild. these at length formed between them a sort of federation as they grew in number and power. finally, in , they formed the gild of saint luke. in they numbered fifty-one free masters, who gave instruction to a great number of apprentices. they admitted the gold beaters to membership in , and the following year the organization had increased to ninety-six members. working in alabaster was, during this epoch, a specialty with the sculptors of malines, which soon resulted in a monopoly with them, for they made a law that no master workman could receive or employ more than one apprentice every four years. the workers in gold covered the statues with heavy ornaments of gold, it being forbidden to market statuary not so gilded. the gild of saint luke chafed under this ruling of the gild master, and surreptitiously made and delivered some statuary and paintings without any gilding whatever. charges being brought against the offenders, they were fined twenty-five florins, and a law was passed authorized by the magistrate, permitting domiciliary visits upon certain days known only to the officers, to the houses of suspected men engaged in art work. of course reputable workmen were free from suspicion, it being only those mediocre craftsmen and irregular apprentices who would engage in such traffic. it was not until that any sculptor was permitted to paint or gild for profit, nor was any painter allowed to model. the profession of an artist was regarded as less than an industry, being a sort of hand to mouth existence in which the unfortunate was glad to accept whatever work the artisan could give him. in the gild had dwindled to twelve members, who finally were absorbed by the academy of design, established by maria theresa in . thus perished the gild of painters and sculptors of malines. the following is a list of the principal artists and engravers, chronologically arranged, who made malines famous: jean van battele, one of the promoters of the gild of saint luke of malines, was a successful workman in . he was said to be more of a painter-glazer than a painter of pictures, but there is sufficient evidence that he practised both genres. gauthier van battele, son of the above, was admitted to the gild in , and figured in the artistic annals of the town in - . baudoin van battele, alias vander wyck, believed to be "petitfils" of gauthier, is mentioned in the chronicles of . he painted many mural pictures for the "beyaerd"; the fresco of the judgment day in the great hall of the "vierschaer" is his greatest work. he died about . he had one son, jean, who executed a triptych in the hôtel de ville of malines in , and illuminated a manuscript register on vellum relating to the "_toison d'or_." this book was presented to charles-quint, and so pleased him that he ordered a duplicate which cost the artist three years of hard work to complete. he died in july, , highly honored. daniel van yleghem was the chief workman upon the holy tabernacle of the chief altar of st. rombauld. an engraver of great merit; he died in (?). jean van orshagen occupied the position of royal mint engraver of malines, - . the following year he was discovered passing false money at louvain. imprisoned, he died of the pestilence in . guillaume trabukier excelled in the art of a designer-engraver (ciseleur) in gold. for the town he made many beautiful pieces of work, notably the silver statue of st. rombauld which decorated the high altar of the cathedral. he died in . zacherie van steynemolen, born about , was an excellent engraver of dies. during more than forty years ( - ) he made the seals of the town corporations. notably he engraved for the emperor frederic iv the two great seals which are now in the museum. he died in . michael or michel coxie, le vieux, was a greatly esteemed painter who worked under the direction of raphaël. his real name was van coxciën, or coxcyën, but he changed its form to coxie. his son, michel coxie le jeune, surnamed the flemish raphaël, was born in , and first studied under his father. he was shortly placed with bernard van orley, who sent him to rome, where he might study the work of raphaël sanzio. his work was of very unequal merit, although he painted hundreds of compositions in triptych form for the churches. towards the end of his life he was commissioned to paint a decoration for the hôtel de ville of antwerp. he fell from the scaffolding during his work, receiving such injuries that he was incapacitated. removed to his home in malines, he died after some years of suffering, aged years! his second son, raphaël coxie, born in , was a painter of great merit, whose paintings were ordered for the royal spanish cabinet. he lived at antwerp, ghent, and brussels respectively, and died, full of honors, in . michael, or michel, coxie, the third of the name, was received in the gild of painters the th day of september, . he is the author of the triptych over the altar of the "jardiniers" of notre-dame au dela de la dyle. he died in . michel coxie, the fourth, son of the above, born september, , was elected to the gild in . he became court painter to the king. jean coxie, son of michel (above) excelled as a painter of landscape. he it was who decorated the two great salons of the "parc" abbey. the subjects were drawn from the life of saint norbert. his son, jean-michel, though a member of the gild of malines, passed almost his whole life in amsterdam, dusseldorf, and berlin. in the latter town he enjoyed the favor and patronage of frederick i. he died in milan in . jean de gruyter, gold worker and engraver, came in to malines, where he enjoyed a certain renown. after his death in , his sons jean and pierre continued the work which he began. jean made seals of great beauty of detail, but pierre was condemned to banishment in and confiscation of all his goods and chattels, for counterfeiting the state coinage. jean hoogenbergh, born about , was a successful painter of miniatures; he lived about fifty years. jean van ophem was appointed civic engraver of seals and gold worker. he died in . françois verbeek became master workman in , and finally _doyen_ of the craft. he abandoned oil painting for distemper, in which medium he excelled, producing masterpieces depicting the most fantastic subjects. he died in july, . hans verbeek, or hans de malines, believed to be the son of françois. he was court painter to albert and isabella. he died sometime after . grégoire berincx, born in , visited italy and there made paintings in distemper of the ruins and ancient constructions. returning to his native town in he was at once made a gild member of the corporation of painters. he died in . his youngest son, grégoire, became _doyen_, and of him the following story is told: the great van dyck visited him unexpectedly one day, and demanded that he make a sketch of him (van dyck) at once, in his presence. berincx accordingly painted in monotone the sketch in full length, adding the details in carnation, and so charmed was van dyck, that he assured him that he would adopt the system in his own work, "if he would permit." he died full of honors the th of october, . jacques de poindre, born in , acquired a brilliant reputation as a portrait painter. he afterwards established himself under royal patronage in denmark where he died in . corneille ingelrams, a painter in distemper, was born in . he practised his art successfully in malines and died in . his son, andré, was admitted to the painters' gild in may, , and died in . marc willems, born about , was a pupil of michel coxie (le vieux), was considered a great painter in his time. he made many designs for the decorators, and admirable cartoons for tapestry makers. he died in . jean carpreau was commissioned in to take charge of the restorations of the "chasse" of the patron saint of the town. such was his success that he was appointed official seal cutter and engraver, a position of great importance in those days. at the hôtel de ville was preserved and shown a remarkable die in silver from his hand, for the seal of the municipality of malines. jean or hans bol, born december, , was the pupil of his uncles jacques and jean the elder, but after two years of apprenticeship he went to germany for a time. returning to malines, he devoted himself to the painting of landscapes with great success. likewise he sometimes engraved plates on copper. his productions are many. he died at amsterdam in . lambert de vos, admitted to the gild of saint luke in , was engaged in the service of charles kimy, imperial ambassador to constantinople. he painted oriental subjects in water colors, which were distinguished for richness of color, and accuracy of drawing. many of these are in the library of brême. jean snellinck, born about , was an historical and battle painter. it was he who prepared the designs for the tapestries of oudenaarde. during his residence in that town he painted the triptych for the church of notre dame de pamele. he died at antwerp in . louis toeput was born about . he was a landscape painter of renown, but also drew many architectural subjects. in his later period, he devoted himself to flemish literature with marked success as an authority. luc van valckenborgh, called "partisan of the reform," was born in , and in his student days went to germany, where he practised his art as a portrait painter. his reputation was made by his portrait of the archduke matthias. he died in , leaving a son martin, also his pupil, who established himself at antwerp and later at frankfort. martin was an historical and landscape painter, although he painted some good portraits in the manner of his father. he is thought to have died about . philip vinckboons, the elder, was born about , became an associate of the gild of painters in , and died . his son maur, the younger, born , studied painting under his father, finishing under his uncle pierre stevens. he died in . pierre stevens, born about , was an historical painter and engraver, as well as a portrait painter. this master latinized his name and signed his works thus--p. stephani. he died in at prague, where he had dwelt since , under the patronage of the emperor rudolphe ii. rombaut van avont, incorporated in the gild of saint luke in , was a sculptor and painter as well as an illuminator of manuscripts on vellum. he died in . his son pierre, born in , was an excellent painter of landscapes, which were distinguished by a most agreeable manner. admitted as a "franc maitre" at antwerp, he became one of the burgesses of that town in october, . luc franchoys, the elder, born january, , was admitted to the gild in . a painter of remarkable talent, he turned to historical subjects, which he produced with great success. in drawing, too, he was most skillful and correct. he died in and was buried with honors in the church of st. jean. his son pierre, born in , became pupil of gérard seghers of antwerp, where he resided for some time. afterward he lived in paris, where his works were eagerly sought and appreciated. he never married, but always surrounded himself with young pupils to the time of his death in . his younger brother, luc, was born . he remained with his father, working in his studio until he was admitted to the gild, when he went to paris, where he painted portraits of members of the court, enjoying considerable renown and favor. he returned finally to malines, where he died in april, . frans hals (the great), was born either here in malines, or at antwerp, in . accounts differ. his parents were citizens of malines, at any rate. he had the honor and glory of introducing into holland the "procede magistral" of rubens and his school. his works are too well known to need description here. he established himself at haarlem, where he died in great poverty in . not even his burial place is now known. [illustration: the church of our lady of hanswyk] jean le saive of namur, son of le saive the elder, was born in the commencement of the seventeenth century. he painted animals, landscapes, and historical subjects. in the latter genre he is inferior to his father; his color is drier, and his drawing less correct. the date of his death is not recorded. george biset, painter-decorator, entered the studio of michel coxie (third) in . he lived throughout his life at malines, and died . his son, charles emmanuel, born , was an excellent portrait painter, enjoying much appreciation at the court of france. he became burgess of antwerp in , and was elected a director of the academy. he died at breda in . martin verhoeven was elected to the gild in . he painted flowers and fruit pieces which enjoyed great celebrity. his brother jean was known as a portraitist of great ability. in late life he produced some good sculptures. david herregouts, born , was elected to the gild in . examples of his work are rare. he died at ruremonde. his son henri was a pupil of his father. david went to italy, residing at rome. after traveling in germany he returned to malines, and died at antwerp at an advanced age. jacques de (or van) homes, painter in distemper, was a pupil of grégoire berincx (second) and executed much work in "ciselé" under the direction of fayd'herbe. he died in . jean philippe van thieleu, born , was an eminent flower and still-life painter, under the guidance of daniel zeghers. he was patronized by the king of spain, and died in . ferdinand elle, born , according to some; in , say other accounts, painter of portraits, went to paris, where he remained until his death in (?). gilles (or egide) smeyers, historical painter, was born in , and studied under his father nicholas, later under jean verhoeven. in friendship for his companion and master luc franchoys the younger, he finished many of the latter's incompleted works after his death. his son jacques, born , was admitted to the gild in , and died in . egide joseph, natural son of jacques, born , was an historical painter, as well as a poet. he lived at dusseldorf for three years. obliged to support his sick parents, he did a great deal of work. smeyers had a profound knowledge of the latin tongue, which he wrote with great fluency and ease, in both poetry and prose. he possessed, too, a working knowledge of french, german, and italian. his historical works are many. at length, sick and helpless, he was admitted to the hospital of notre dame, where he died in . he painted the large portrait of cardinal thomas philippe d'alsace, archbishop of malines. daniel janssens, born in , was a painter-decorator of the first order. he adopted the manner of jacques de hornes of whom he was the favorite pupil. after having resided in antwerp for some years he returned to malines, where he died in . he it was who designed and constructed the immense triumphal arch for the jubilee of . this arch is preserved in the town hall, and serves to decorate the façade of the "halles" on the occasion of the grandes fêtes. sebastian van aken, born , was pupil of luc franchoys the younger. later he entered the studio of charles maratti in rome. after painting in spain and portugal he returned to malines, where he died in . august casimir redel, born . this painter of merit became insane from excesses and died in . he was also the author of a life of st. rombaut (rombold) and wrote much in verse. he composed an ode on the occasion of the jubilee of malines in . jacques la pla, pupil of jean le saive, a master painter of malines in , died in . jean barthelemy joffroy, born , was historian, painter, and engraver. he died . jean joseph van campenhout, designer and engraver. he was designer of the great book of the "cavalcade of malines" in . antoine opdebeek, born , author of many paintings of merit, was an untaught genius. employed in the hospital of st. hedwige in malines, he taught himself the art, with success, but never reached the height which would have been his had he had instruction in his youth. he died . pierre antoine verhulst, born , painter of marines and landscape, which he executed with great delicacy and charm, died . matthieu joseph charles hunin, born , was a master engraver, producing many plates after rubens and other masters. to his talent is also due a great number of original engravings of the tower of st. rombold; the interior and exterior of the cathedral of antwerp; the hôtels de villes of oudenaarde, brussels and louvain, etc., etc. he died in . his son, pierre paul aloys, born , was a genre painter of great taste and renown. his works in which the painting of silk and satin appeared were in great demand. he was professor of the malines academy, and in leopold i conferred upon him the decoration of the order of leopold. he died february th, . many of his paintings have been reproduced in engravings. jean ver vloet, the _doyen_ of the artists of malines, died october th, , after a long and successful artistic career. one of the founders of the society "pour l'encouragement des beaux arts" of malines, he was indefatigable in all art movements of the town. to him was due the success of the magnificent cavalcades for which malines has been famous. for fifty years he was the director of the academy of design and painting of his native town. this ends the list of famous painters of malines, and so far as i know it is the first and only one in english. did space permit i might include the architects who made flanders famous the world over as the cradle of art and architecture. a word about the belgians a word about the belgians the little country called belgium, it should be remembered, dates only from , when the existing constitution was prepared and adopted for the nine southern provinces of the ancient netherlands. the sudden and unexpected revolt against the dutch in that year has been since styled "a misunderstanding" upon the part of the belgians, and was brought about by the action of the king, william i, of the house of orange-nassau, who attempted ostentatiously to change at once the language and religion of his southern subjects. they were both roman catholic and conservative to the last degree, attached to traditional rights and forms and fiercely proud of the ancient separate constitutions of the southern provinces, which could be traced back to the charters of the baldwins and wenceslas. undoubtedly the french revolution of , which closed the monarchy of the bourbons, hastened the crisis. for the belgians had no liking for the rule of the house of orange-nassau against which they had discontentedly struggled for some years more or less openly. but matters might have gone on thus indefinitely had not the french revolution furnished ground for hope of support from a people akin in religion and language, as well as race. the smouldering fire of discontent broke into fierce flame on august th, , in the city of brussels, during a performance of the opera "muette de portici," when the tenor was singing the inspired words of massaniello: "plutôt mourir que rester misérable, pour un esclave est-il quelque danger? tombe le joug qui nous accable, et sous nos coups périsse l'étranger. amour sacré de la patrie, rends nous l'audace et la fierté; À mon pays je dois la vie, il me devra sa liberté!" the immense audience, roused to patriotic enthusiasm, took up the words of the song and, rushing from the theatre _en masse_, paraded the streets, attacking the residences of the dutch ministers, which they sacked and burned. the few troops in the town were powerless to stem the revolt, which grew until brussels was entirely in the hands of the revolutionists, who then proceeded to appoint a council of government, which prepared the now celebrated document of separation. william sent his son, the prince of orange, to treat with the council, instead of sending a force of soldiers with which the revolt might have been terminated easily, it is claimed. the prince entered brussels accompanied only by a half dozen officers as escort. after three days' useless parley, he returned to king william with the "document of separation." the reply of the king to this message was made to the dutch chambers ten days later. denouncing the revolt, he declared that he would never yield to "passion and violence." orders were then issued to dutch troops under prince frederick of holland to proceed to brussels and retake the city. the attack was made upon the four gates of the walled city on september rd. the belgians prepared a trap, cunningly allowing the dutch soldiers to enter two of the gates and retreating towards the royal park facing the palace. here they rallied and attacked the troops of william from all sides at once. joined by a strong body of men from liège they fought for three days with such ferocity that prince frederick was beaten back again and again, until he was forced to retreat at midnight of the third day. in the battle six hundred belgian citizens were slain, and to these men, regarded now as the martyrs of the revolution, a great monument has been erected in the place des martyrs, near the trench in which they were buried. a provisional government was now formed which issued the following notice: "the belgian provinces, detached by force from holland, shall form an independent state." measures were taken to rid the country of the dutch, who were expelled forcibly across the border. envoys to paris and london presented documents to secure sympathy for the new government, while the fight for independence was still going on fiercely. waelhern and berchem, besieged by the belgian volunteers, soon fell, and the city of antwerp was occupied by them before the end of october. then the conference of the five powers, sitting in london, interposed to force an armistice in order to determinate some understanding and arrangement between the dutch and the belgians, since it had become evident that the netherlands kingdom of had practically come to an end. by the treaty of london in , and that of vienna in , belgium, after a short interregnum of austrian rule, was incorporated with holland into the kingdom of the netherlands. in the space of a month then the belgian patriots had accomplished their task, and on november th the national assembly, convoked, declared as its first act the independence of the belgians. it was now necessary to find a head upon which to place the crown. the first choice of the provisional government was the duc de nemours, the son of louis philippe, but objection was made to him on the ground that his selection would add too much, perhaps, to the power of france, so his candidature was withdrawn. choice was fixed finally upon prince leopold of saxe-coburg, who had but recently declined the throne of greece by advice of the european diplomats. a resident of england, this prince, who had espoused princess charlotte, the daughter of george iv, was well known as a most clear headed diplomat, a reputation he enjoyed during his whole career. in his acceptance he said: "human destiny does not offer a nobler or more useful task than that of being called to found the independence of a nation, and to consolidate its liberties." the people hailed and received him with great enthusiasm, and on july st he was crowned king of the belgians, with most impressive ceremonies, at brussels. the dutch, however, viewed all this with much concern, and at once began hostilities, thinking that the powers would sustain them rather than permit france to occupy belgium. at once dutch troops were massed for attack on both brussels and louvain. outnumbered by the dutch, the badly organized national forces of belgium met disaster at hasselt, and, realizing his peril, leopold besought the french, who were at the frontier, to come to his assistance. simultaneously with the assault on louvain, therefore, the french troops arrived at brussels. great britain now entered the fray, threatening to send a fleet of warships to occupy the scheldt unless king william recalled his army from belgium. this settled the matter, and the dutch withdrew. the french likewise returned to their own territory. jealousy, however, was manifested by austria, prussia and russia toward the new kingdom, and their refusal to receive leopold's ambassadors was calculated to encourage hope in holland that the reign of the new monarch was to be limited. new troubles began for the belgians, in the presentation of the london protocol of october , , in consequence of a demand that the greater part of limbourg and luxembourg be ceded. not only the belgians but the dutch opposed this demand, as well as the conditions of the protocol. and at once king william prepared for armed resistance. leopold immediately after obtaining votes for the raising of the sum of three millions sterling for war purposes, increased the army to one hundred thousand men. now ensued a most critical period for the little kingdom, but both france and england held their shields over it, while leopold's marriage to the princess louise, eldest daughter of king louis philippe, gained for it still greater strength in its relations with france. king william, however, refused stubbornly to recognise the protocol, and retained possession of antwerp, which he held with a garrison of five thousand soldiers. antwerp citadel being the pride of the kingdom, the belgians, restive under the control of the powers, demanded that both england and france help them at once to recover it, alleging that in case this help was refused, they, with their hundred thousand men, were ready to capture it themselves. so in the month of november the french troops, under maréchal gérard, laid siege to the antwerp stronghold, held by general chassé, who after three weeks' siege capitulated, and the dutch, rather than have their warships captured, burnt and sank them in the scheldt. with the surrender of antwerp, the french withdrew their army, but the dutch sullenly refused to recognise the victory until the year , when they withdrew from and dismantled the forts on the scheldt facing antwerp. naturally the support of the french and english brought about a deep and lasting feeling of gratitude on the part of the belgians. louis philippe said, "belgium owes her independence and the recovery of her territory to the union of france and england in her cause." her independence thus gained and recognised, belgium turned her attention to the development of the country and its rich natural resources. the manufactures flourished, her mines of coal and iron became famous throughout the world, and she trod the peaceful path of strict neutrality among the great nations. passing over the all familiar history of waterloo, one may quote the saying of m. northomb: "the battle of waterloo opened a new era for europe, the era of representative government." and this new era was enjoyed by belgium until the franco-prussian war confronted the little country with a fresh crisis, and one fraught with danger. although her absolute neutrality had been earnestly proclaimed and presented to the powers, it was feared that she might be invaded and be unable to maintain her integrity by her military force. leopold promptly mobilized the army and massed it upon the frontier. during and after the battle of sedan, a large number of both french and german soldiers crossed the border and were interned until the close of the war.... once more peace descended upon the belgians, for a fresh treaty prepared by england and signed by both france and prussia engaged the british government to declare war upon the power violating its provisions. after his acceptance of the crown of belgium, the constitution declared the monarchy hereditary in the male line of the family of prince leopold of saxe-coburg, which consisted of two sons and one daughter. the elder of the sons was born in , and succeeded his father as leopold ii, in . the austrian archduchess marie henriette became his wife in , and their descendants were one son and three daughters, none of whom is now living. the salic law prevailing in belgium, the history of the female descendants is not of political importance. the only son of leopold ii dying in , the succession passed to the brother of the king, the count of flanders, who married mary, princess of hohenzollern, a sister of the king of roumania. the death of their son prince baldwin in was held to be a national calamity. this left the nephew of leopold ii, prince albert (the present king of belgium), the heir presumptive to the throne. he married in the princess elizabeth of bavaria; to them have been born three children, two boys and a girl. both the king and queen, the objects of intense devotion on the part of the belgians, are very simple and democratic in their bearing toward the people. the queen is a very beautiful woman, and a most devoted wife and mother.... since the seat of government has been removed to havre, the queen divides her time between the little hamlet of la panne, headquarters of the belgian army, near the town of furnes on the dunes of the north sea, and london, where the children are being cared for and educated.... may not one hope that brighter days are in store for this devoted and heroic king and queen, for the once smiling and fertile land, and for the kindly, gentle, and law abiding belgian people?[ ] the end index albert, king of belgium, , alost, church of st. martin's, , hôtel de ville, antwerp, carillon of, cathedral of, , , archers of st. sebastian, artists of malines, list of the, - aymon, legend of the four sons of, - baldwin bras-de-fer, , baldwin the ninth, count of flanders, , battle of the dunes, the, battle of the spurs, the, , battle of waterloo, the, bayard, the horse, - beguinage, the, courtrai, " " malines, - " " ypres, bell-founding, process of, - berincx, grégoire, " grégoire le jeune, , bethune, robert of, count of flanders, , biset, charles emmanuel, " george, bol, jean, bouts, dierick, , broël towers, the, courtrai, , bruges, cathedral of, library, brussels, cathedral of, museum of decorative arts, , burgundy, house of, " mary of, carillons of antwerp, " of bruges, " of ghent, " of louvain, " of malines, " of tournai, carpreau, jean, cathedral of antwerp, " of bruges, " of brussels, " of ghent, " of malines, - , , " of ypres, , charlemagne, - charles the bold, , , charles the eleventh, charles the fifth, , , cloth hall, the, ypres, , - , , , commines, philip of, cossiers, i., coxie, jean, " jean michel, " michel, " michel le jeune, " michel the third, " michel the fourth, " raphaël, counts' chapel, the, courtrai, courtrai, the counts' chapel, the hall of the magistrates, the town hall, cuyp, , de gruyter, jean, de hornes, jacques, , deklerk, , de poindre, jacques, de vos, lambert, douai, hôtel de ville, , douai bible, the, dyle, the river, , , elle, ferdinand, franchoys, luc, " luc le jeune, , , " pierre, franco-prussian war, the, furnes, hôtel de ville, ghent, the carillons of, gild of st. luke, the, gothic architecture, styles of, great wars of flanders, the, hall of the magistrates, the, courtrai, hals, frans, , hanseatic league, the, hanswyk, the tower of our lady of, malines, haweis, , , , hemony, , henry the first, herregouts, david, hoogenbergh, jean, hôtel de ville of alost, " " " of douai, , " " " of furnes, " " " of louvain, , " " " of oudenaarde, " " " of ypres, huet, , hunin, matthieu joseph charles, " pierre paul aloys, hugo, victor, ingelrams, andré, " corneille, inghelbrugtorre, courtrai, inquisition, the spanish, jansenius, cornelius, bishop of ypres, , janssens, daniel, joffroy, jean barthelemy, jordaens, jube, at st. martin's, dixmude, , - , , keldermans, , , knights of the golden fleece, knights templar, the, , la panne, , la pla, jacques, leopold of saxe-coburg, king of belgium, , , leopold the second of belgium, le saive, jean, , library, the, bruges, , brussels, louvain, , , lion of flanders, the, , louis of maele, , louis of nevers, louis philippe, , louis the eleventh, louis the fourteenth, louvain, church of st. peter, , carillons of, hôtel de ville, library, loyola, ignatius, luther, martin, lys, the river, , , - malines, carillons of, cathedral of, - , , st. rombauld, , , , , , margaret of artois, " of austria, statue of, " of parma, " of york, , " the courageous, the legend of, - marguerite of flanders, " of savoie, mary of burgundy, matsys, quentin, memling, , , mercier, cardinal, primate of belgium, , moertens, thierry, museum of decorative arts, the, brussels, , mysteries of the passion, the, nemours, duc de, nieuwerck, ypres, , , notre dame, the church of, courtrai, opdebeek, antoine, oudenaarde, church of st. walburga, " hôtel de ville, " town hall, , philip of alsace, " of savoie, " the second of spain, , place de la boucherie, quesnoy, jerome due, redel, august casimir, rembrandt, rubens, , , , ruskin, , st. martin's, cathedral of, ypres, , , , " church of, alost, , " church of, dixmude, , , , st. mary bells, in antwerp cathedral, st. nicholas, church of, furnes, , st. peter, church of, louvain, , st. pierre, tower of, ypres, st. rombauld, malines, chimes of, , " " spire of, " " tower of, - , st. walburga, church of, oudenaarde, , - st. winoc, the abbey of, bergues, sainte begga, , salvator bell, the, , scheldt, the river, , , smeyers, egide joseph, " gilles, " jacques, snellinck, jean, speytorre, the, courtrai, stevens, pierre, taillebert, d'urbain, thierry d'alsace, , toeput, louis, tournai, town hall, tower of the templars, the, nieuport, , town hall of brussels, " " of courtrai, " " of dixmude, " " of louvain, " " of oudenaarde, " " of tournai, trabukier, guillaume, untenhoven, martin, van aken, sebastian, van artevelde, family of, " " philip, , van avont, pierre, " " rombaut, van battele, baudouin, " " gautier, " " jean, " " jean le jeune, van den gheyn, family of, , , , , , " " " mathias, " " " peter, van dyck, van eyck, jean, van halter, catherine, van ophem, jean, van orley, bernard, van orshagen, jean, van steynemolen, zacherie, van thieleu, jean philippe, van valckenborgh, luc, " " martin, van yleghem, daniel, van yper, carel, vauban, verbeek, françois, " hans, vereeke, , verhaegan, p.j., , verhoeven, jean, " martin, verhulst, pierre antoine, ver vloet, jean, vinckboons, maur, " philip, waghemans, family of, waterloo, the battle of, willems, marc, william the first of holland, , , ypres, the beguinage, the cathedral of, , the cloth hall, , , , , , , the hôtel de ville, yser, the river, , zeelstman, footnotes: [ ] those who are interested in the subject are referred to c. lemonnier's "histoire des beaux arts en belgique" (brussels, ), e. hessling's "la sculpture belge contemporaire" (berlin, ), destree's "renaissance of sculpture in belgium," crowe and cavalcaselle's "early flemish painters" ( ). [ ] this passion play is described in detail in "some old flemish towns." (same author. moffat, yard & co., new york, .) [ ] see "some old flemish towns." [ ] the list is drawn in part from the "_histoire de la peinture et de la sculpture à malines_," _par emmanuel neefs_--gand, van der heeghen, , translated from the manuscripts composed in latin by the painter egide joseph smeyers, malines, . [ ] the author refers the reader to "the constitution of belgium," j.m. vincent, phila., ; "belgium and the belgians," c. scudamore, london, ; "history of belgium," d.c. boulger, london, ; "the story of belgium," c. smythe, london, . note: project gutenberg also has an html version of this file which includes the original illustrations. see -h.htm or -h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/ / / / / / -h/ -h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/ / / / / / -h.zip) bruges and west flanders painted by amÉdÉe forestier described by g. w. t. omond [illustration: a flemish country girl] preface there is no part of europe more wanting in what is known as 'scenery' than flanders; and those who journey there must spend most of their time in the old towns which are still so strangely mediæval in their aspect, or in country places which are worth seeing only because of their connection with some event in history--nature has done so little for them. thus the interest and the attraction of flanders and the flemish towns are chiefly historical. but it would be impossible to compress the history of such places as bruges, ypres, furnes, or nieuport within the limits of a few pages, except at the cost of loading them with a mass of dry facts. accordingly the plan adopted in preparing the letterpress which accompanies mr. forestier's drawings has been to select a few leading incidents, and give these at some length. the flemish school of painting and architecture has been so well and frequently described that it would have been mere affectation to make more than a few passing allusions to that topic. some space has, however, been devoted to an account of the recent development of the flemish littoral, which has been so remarkable during the last quarter of a century. contents chapter i the market-place and belfry--early history of bruges chapter ii baldwin bras-de-fer--the place du bourg--murder of charles the good chapter iii the bÉguinage--churches--the relic of the holy blood chapter iv the bruges matins--battle of the golden spurs chapter v damme--the sea-fight at sluis--splendour of bruges in the middle ages--the fall and loss of trade chapter vi 'bruges la morte' chapter vii the plain of west flanders--ypres chapter viii furnes--the procession of penitents chapter ix nieuport--the battle of the dunes chapter x the coast of flanders chapter xi coxyde--the scenery of the dunes index list of illustrations . a flemish country girl . bruges: a corner of the market on the grand' place . bell-ringer playing a chime . bruges: porte d'ostende . bruges: rue de l'Âne aveugle (showing end of town hall and bridge connecting it with palais de justice) . bruges: quai du rosaire . bruges: the béguinage . bruges: quai des marbriers . a flemish young woman . a flemish burgher . bruges: quai du miroir . bruges: view of the palais du franc. . bruges: maison du pélican (almshouse) . bruges: vegetable market . the flemish plain . duinhoek: interior of a farmhouse . adinkerque: at the kermesse . a farmsteading . ypres: place du musée (showing top part of the belfry) . ypres: arcade under the nieuwerk . furnes: grand' place and belfry . furnes: peristyle of town hall and palais de justice . nieuport: interior of church . furnes: tower of st. nicholas . furnes: in ste. walburge's church . nieuport: a fair parishioner . nieuport: hall and vicarage . nieuport: the quay, with eel-boats and landing-stages . nieuport: the town hall . nieuport: church porch (evensong) . the dunes: a stormy evening . an old farmer . la panne: interior of a flemish inn . la panne: a flemish inn--playing skittles . coxyde: a shrimper on horseback . coxyde: a shrimper . adinkerque: village and canal the market-place and belfry--early history of bruges bruges and west flanders chapter i the market-place and belfry--early history of bruges every visitor to 'the quaint old flemish city' goes first to the market-place. on saturday mornings the wide space beneath the mighty belfry is full of stalls, with white canvas awnings, and heaped up with a curious assortment of goods. clothing of every description, sabots and leathern shoes and boots, huge earthenware jars, pots and pans, kettles, cups and saucers, baskets, tawdry-coloured prints--chiefly of a religious character--lamps and candlesticks, the cheaper kinds of flemish pottery, knives and forks, carpenters' tools, and such small articles as reels of thread, hatpins, tape, and even bottles of coarse scent, are piled on the stalls or spread out on the rough stones wherever there is a vacant space. round the stalls, in the narrow spaces between them, the people move about, talking, laughing, and bargaining. their native flemish is the tongue they use amongst themselves; but many of them speak what passes for french at bruges, or even a few words of broken english, if some unwary stranger from across the channel is rash enough to venture on doing business with these sharp-witted, plausible folk. at first sight this market-place, so famed in song, is a disappointment. the north side is occupied by a row of seventeenth-century houses turned into shops and third-rate cafés. on the east is a modern post-office, dirty and badly ventilated, and some half-finished government buildings. on the west are two houses which were once of some note--the cranenburg, from the windows of which, in olden times, the counts of flanders, with the lords and ladies of their court, used to watch the tournaments and pageants for which bruges was celebrated, and in which maximilian was imprisoned by the burghers in ; and the hôtel de bouchoute, a narrow, square building of dark red brick, with a gilded lion over the doorway. but the cranenburg, once the 'most magnificent private residence in the market-place,' many years ago lost every trace of its original splendour, and is now an unattractive hostelry, the headquarters of a smoking club; while the hôtel de bouchoute, turned into a clothier's shop, has little to distinguish it from its commonplace neighbours. nevertheless, 'in the market-place of bruges stands the belfry old and brown; thrice consumed and thrice rebuilded, still it watches o'er the town.' it redeems the market-place from mediocrity. how long ago the first belfry tower of bruges was built is unknown, but this at least is certain, that in the year a fire, in which the ancient archives of the town perished, destroyed the greater part of an old belfry, which some suppose may have been erected in the ninth century. on two subsequent occasions, in the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, the present belfry, erected on the ruins of the former structure, was damaged by fire; and now it stands on the south side of the market-place, rising feet above the halles, a massive building of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, solemn, weather-beaten, and majestic. 'for six hundred years,' it has been said, 'this belfry has watched over the city of bruges. it has beheld her triumphs and her failures, her glory and her shame, her prosperity and her gradual decay, and, in spite of so many vicissitudes, it is still standing to bear witness to the genius of our forefathers, to awaken memories of old times and admiration for one of the most splendid monuments of civic architecture which the middle ages has produced.'[*] [footnote *: gilliat-smith, _the story of bruges_, p. (dent and co., london, ). mr. gilliat-smith's book is a picturesque account of bruges in the middle ages. of the english works relating to bruges, there is nothing better than mr. wilfrid robinson's _bruges, an historical sketch_, a short and clear history, coming down to modern times (louis de plancke, bruges, ).] in olden times watchmen were always on duty on the belfry to give warning if enemies approached or fire broke out in any part of the town, a constant source of danger when most of the houses were built of wood. even in these more prosaic days the custom of keeping watch and ward unceasingly is still maintained, and if there is a fire, the alarum-bell clangs over the city. all day, from year's end to year's end, the chimes ring every quarter of an hour; and all night, too, during the wildest storms of winter, when the wind shrieks round the tower; and in summer, when the old town lies slumbering in the moonlight. [illustration: bruges. a corner of the market on the grand' place.] from the top of the belfry one looks down on what is practically a mediæval city. the market-place seems to lose its modern aspect when seen from above; and all round there is nothing visible but houses with high-pointed gables and red roofs, intersected by canals, and streets so narrow that they appear to be mere lanes. above these rise, sometimes from trees and gardens, churches, convents, venerable buildings, the lofty spire of notre dame, the tower of st. sauveur, the turrets of the gruthuise, the hospital of st. john, famous for its paintings by memlinc, the church of ste. elizabeth in the grove of the béguinage, the pinnacles of the palais du franc, the steep roof of the hôtel de ville, the dome of the couvent des dames anglaises, and beyond that to the east the slender tower which rises above the guildhouse of the archers of st. sebastian. the walls which guarded bruges in troublous times have disappeared, though five of the old gateways remain; but the town is still contained within the limits which it had reached at the close of the thirteenth century. behind the large square of the halles, from which the belfry rises, is the rue du vieux bourg, the street of the ouden burg, or old fort; and to this street the student of history must first go if he wishes to understand what tradition, more or less authentic, has to say about the earliest phases in the strange, eventful past of bruges. the wide plain of flanders, the northern portion of the country which we now call belgium, was in ancient times a dreary fenland, the haunt of wild beasts and savage men; thick, impenetrable forests, tracts of barren sand, sodden marshes, covered it; and sluggish streams, some whose waters never found their way to the sea, ran through it. one of these rivulets, called the roya, was crossed by a bridge, to defend which, according to early tradition, a fort, or 'burg,' was erected in the fourth century. this fort stood on an islet formed by the meeting of the roya with another stream, called the boterbeke, and a moat which joined the two. we may suppose that near the fort, which was probably a small building of rough stones, or perhaps merely a wooden stockade, a few huts were put up by people who came there for protection, and as time went on the settlement increased. 'john of ypres, abbot of st. bertin,' says mr. robinson, 'who wrote in the fourteenth century, describes how bruges was born and christened: "very soon pedlars began to settle down under the walls of the fort to supply the wants of its inmates. next came merchants, with their valuable wares. innkeepers followed, who began to build houses, where those who could not find lodging in the fort found food and shelter. those who thus turned away from the fort would say, 'let us go to the bridge.' and when the houses near the bridge became so numerous as to form a town, it kept as its proper name the flemish word _brugge_." [illustration: bell-ringer playing a chime.] the small island on which this primitive township stood was bounded on the south and east by the roya, on the north by the boterbeke, and on the west by the moat joining these two streams. the roya still flows along between the site of the old burg and an avenue of lime-trees called the dyver till it reaches the end of the quai du rosaire, when it turns to the north. a short distance beyond this point it is vaulted over, and runs on beneath the streets and houses of the town. the rue du vieux bourg is built over the course of the boterbeke, which now runs under it and under the belfry (erected on foundations sunk deep into the bed of the stream), until it joins the subterranean channel of the roya at the south-east corner of the market-place. the moat which joined these two streams and guarded the west side of the island was filled up long ago, and its bed is now covered by the rue neuve, which connects the rue du vieux bourg with the dyver. thus the boundaries of early bruges can easily be traced; but nothing remains of the ancient buildings, though we read of a warehouse, booths, and a prison, besides the dwelling-houses of the townsfolk. the elements, at least, of civic life were there; and tradition says that in or near the village, for it was nothing more, some altars of the christian faith were set up during the seventh and eighth centuries. trade, too, soon began to flourish, and grew rapidly as the population of the place increased. the roya, flowing eastwards, fell into the zwijn, an arm of the sea, which then ran up close to the town, and on which stood damme, now a small inland village, but once a busy port crowded with shipping. the commercial life of bruges depended on the zwijn; and that much business was done before the close of the ninth century is shown by the fact that bruges had then a coinage of its own.[*] it was from such small beginnings that this famous, 'venice of the north' arose. [footnote *: gilliodts van severen, _bruges ancienne et moderne_, pp. , , .] [illustration: bruges. porte d'ostende.] baldwin bras-de-fre--the place du bourg--murder of charles the good chapter ii baldwin bras-de-fer--the place du bourg--murder of charles the good towards the end of the ninth and at the beginning of the tenth century great changes took place on the banks of the roya, and the foundations of bruges as we know it now were laid. just as in the memorable years and the empire of napoleon fell into fragments, and princes and statesmen hastened to readjust the map of europe in their own interests, so in the ninth century the empire of charlemagne was crumbling away; and in the scramble for the spoils, the normans carried fire and sword into flanders. charles the bald, king of the franks, at this crisis called to his aid the strong arm of baldwin, a flemish chief of whose ancestry we know little, but who soon became famous as baldwin bras-de-fer--baldwin of the iron arm, so called because, in peace or war, he was never seen without his coat of mail. this grim warrior had fallen in love with the daughter of charles the bald, judith, who had been already twice married, first to the saxon king ethelwulf (after the death of his first wife osberga, mother of alfred the great) and secondly to ethelbald, on whose death she left england and went to live at senlis. baldwin persuaded the princess to run away with him; and they were married without the knowledge of her father, to escape whose vengeance the culprits fled to rome. pope nicholas i. brought about a reconciliation; and charles not only pardoned his son-in-law, but appointed him ruler of flanders under the title of marquis, which was afterwards changed into that of count. it is to the steel-clad baldwin bras-de-fer that the counts of flanders trace the origin of their title; and he was, moreover, the real founder of that bruges which rose to such glory in the middle ages, and is still, though fallen from its high estate, the picturesque capital of west flanders, whither artists flock to wander about amidst the canals and bridges, the dismantled ramparts, the narrow streets with their curious houses, and the old buildings which bear such eloquent testimony to the ruin which long ago overtook what was once an opulent and powerful city. when the wrath of his father-in-law had been appeased, baldwin, now responsible for the defence of flanders, came to bruges with his wife, and there established his court. but the old burg, it seems, was not thought capable of holding out against the normans, who could easily land on the banks of the zwijn; and baldwin, therefore, set about building a new stronghold on the east side of the old burg, and close to it. it was surrounded partly by the main stream of the roya, and partly by backwaters flowing from it. here he built a fortress for himself and his household, a church dedicated to st. donatian, a prison, and a 'ghiselhuis,' or house for the safe keeping of hostages. the whole was enclosed by walls, built close to the edge of the surrounding waters. the roya is now vaulted over where it ran along the west side of baldwin's stronghold, separating it from the original burg, and the watercourses which defended it on the north and east are filled up; but the stream on the south still remains in the shape of the canal which skirts the quai des marbriers, from which a bridge leads by a narrow lane, called the rue de l'Âne aveugle, under an arch of gilded stonework, into the open space now known as the place du bourg. here we are at the very heart of bruges, on the ground where baldwin's stronghold stood, with its four gates and drawbridges, and the high walls frowning above the homes of the townsmen clustering round them. the aspect of the place is completely changed since those early days. a grove of chestnut-trees covers the site of the church of st. donatian; not a stone remains of bras-de-fer's rude palace; and instead of the prison and the hostage-house, there are the hôtel de ville, now more than five hundred years old, from whose windows the counts of flanders swore obedience to the statutes and privileges of the town, the palais de justice, and the dark crypt beneath the chapel which shelters the mysterious relic of the holy blood. [illustration: bruges. rue de l'Âne aveugle (showing end of town hall and bridge connecting it with palais de justice).] in summer it is a warm, quiet, pleasant spot. under the shade of the trees, near the statue of van eyck, women selling flowers sit beside rows of geraniums, roses, lilies, pansies, which give a touch of bright colour to the scene. artists from all parts of europe set up their easels and paint. young girls are gravely busy with their water-colours. black-robed nuns and bare-footed carmelites pass silently along. perhaps some traveller from america opens his guide-book to study the map of a city which had risen to greatness long before columbus crossed the seas. a few english people hurry across, and pass under the archway of the rue de l'Âne aveugle on the way to their tennis-ground beyond the porte de gand. the sunshine glitters on the gilded façade of the palais de justice, and lights up the statues in their niches on the front of the hôtel de ville. there is no traffic, no noise. everything is still and peaceful. the chimes, ever and anon ringing out from the huge belfry, which rises high above the housetops to the west, alone break the silence. this is bruges sleeping peacefully in old age, lulled to rest by the sound of its own carillon. but it is easy, standing there, to recall the past, and to fancy the scenes which took place from time to time throughout the long period of foreign danger and internal strife. we can imagine the bourg, now so peaceful, full of armed men, rushing to the church of st. donatian on the morning when charles the good was slain; how, in later times, the turbulent burghers, fiery partisans of rival factions, clauwerts shouting for the flemish lion, and leliarts marshalled under the lily of france, raged and threatened; how the stones were splashed with blood on the day of the bruges matins, when so many frenchmen perished; or what shouts were raised when the flemish host came back victorious from the battle of the golden spurs. though every part of bruges--not only the bourg, but the great market-place, and the whole maze of streets and lanes and canals of which it consists--has a story of its own, some of these stories stand out by themselves; and amongst these one of the most dramatic is the story of the death of charles the good. more than two hundred and fifty years had passed away since the coming of baldwin bras-de-fer; bruges had spread far beyond the walls of the bourg; and charles, who had succeeded his cousin baldwin vii., was count of flanders. he was called 'the good' because of his just rule and simple life, and still more, perhaps, because he clothed and fed the poor--not only in bruges, but throughout all flanders. the common people loved him, but his charities gave offence to the rich. he had, moreover, incurred the special enmity of the erembalds, a powerful family, who, though not of noble origin themselves, were connected by marriage with many noble houses. they had supported his claim to the throne of flanders, which had been disputed, and he had rewarded their services by heaping favours on them. but, after a time, they began to oppose the methods of government which charles applied to flanders. they resented most of all one of his decrees which made it unlawful for persons not in his service to carry arms in time of peace. this decree, which was pronounced in order to prevent the daily scenes of violence which charles abhorred, was declared by the erembalds to be an interference with flemish liberty. it did not affect them personally, for they held office under the count; but they none the less opposed it vehemently. while charles was thus on bad terms with the erembalds, a deadly feud existed between them and the straetens, another notable family, which grew to such a height that the rival clans made open war upon each other, pillaging, burning, and slaying after the manner of these times. charles called the leaders of both sides before him, and made them swear to keep the peace; but when he was at ypres in the autumn of , a complaint was laid before him that bertulf, head of the erembalds, who was also provost of st. donatian's, had sent one of his nephews, burchard by name, on a raid into the lands of the straetens, whose cattle he had carried off. on hearing of this outrage, charles gave orders that burchard's house should be pulled down, and that he should compensate the straetens for their losses. the erembalds were powerless to resist this order, and burchard's house was razed to the ground. it has been said that this was only the beginning of strong measures which charles was about to take against the erembalds; but there is no certainty as to what his intentions really were. he then lived in the loove, a mansion which he had built in the bourg at bruges, on the site now occupied by the palais de justice; and there, on his return from ypres, he had a meeting with some of the erembalds, who had been sent to plead on behalf of burchard. as to what took place at this interview there is some doubt. according to one account, charles drank wine with the delegates, and granted a free pardon to burchard, on condition that he kept the peace. according to another account, his demeanour was so unbending that the erembalds left his presence full of angry suspicions, which they communicated to their friends. whatever may have happened, they were bent on mischief. burchard was sent for, and a secret consultation was held, after which burchard and a chosen few assembled in a house on the bourg and arranged their plans. this was on the night of march , . [illustration: bruges. quai du rosaire.] at break of day next morning a cold, heavy mist hung low over bruges, and in the bourg everything was shrouded in darkness. but already some poor men were waiting in the courtyard of the loove, to whom charles gave alms on his way to early mass in the church of st. donatian. then he went along a private passage which led into the church, and knelt in prayer before the lady altar. it was his custom to give help to the needy when in church, and he had just put some money into the hands of a poor woman, when suddenly she called out: 'beware, sir count!' he turned quickly round, and there, sword in hand, was burchard, who had stolen up the dim aisle to where charles was kneeling. the next moment burchard struck, and charles fell dead upon the steps of the altar. then followed a scene of wild confusion. the woman ran out into the bourg, calling loudly that the count was slain. in the midst of the uproar some of the royal household fled in terror, while others who entered the church were butchered by the erembalds, who next attacked the loove, and, having pillaged it, rushed over bruges, slaughtering without mercy all who dared to oppose them. after some time one of the count's servants ventured to cover the dead body with a winding-sheet, and to surround it with lighted tapers; and there it remained lying on the pavement, until at last the erembalds, who were afraid to bury it in bruges lest the sight of the tomb of charles the good should one day rouse the townsmen to avenge his death, sent a message to ghent, begging the abbot of st. peter's to take it away and bury it in his own church. the abbot came to bruges, and before dawn the body of the murdered count was being stealthily carried along the aisles of st. donatian's, when a great crowd rushed in, declaring that the bones of charles must be allowed to rest in peace at bruges. the arches rang with cries, chairs were overturned, stools and candlesticks were thrown about, as the people, pressing and struggling round the abbot and his servants, told bertulf, with many an oath, that he must yield to their wishes. at last the provost submitted, and on the morrow, just two days after the murder, the body of charles was buried before the lady altar, on the very spot, it is said, where the statue of van eyck now stands under the trees in the bourg. the triumph of the erembalds was short, for the death of charles the good was terribly avenged by his friends, who came to bruges at the head of a large force. a fierce struggle took place at the rue de l'Âne aveugle, where many were slain. the erembalds were driven into the bourg, the gates of which they shut; but an entrance was forced, and, after desperate fighting, some thirty of them, all who remained alive, were compelled to take refuge, first in the nave and then in the tower of the church of st. donatian, where, defending themselves with the courage of despair, they made a last stand, until, worn out by fatigue and hunger, they surrendered and came down. bertulf the provost, burchard, and a few of the other ringleaders had fled some days before, and so escaped, for a time at least, the fate of their companions, who, having been imprisoned in a dungeon, were taken to the top of the church tower and flung down one by one on to the stones of the bourg. 'their bodies,' says mr. gilliat-smith, 'were thrown into a marsh beyond the village of st. andré, and for years afterwards no man after nightfall would willingly pass that way.' in the church of st. sauveur there is a costly shrine containing what are said to be the bones of charles the good, taken from their first resting-place, at which twice every year a festival is held in commemoration of his virtues. the bÉguinage--churches--the relic of the holy blood chapter iii the bÉguinage--churches--the relic of the holy blood bruges is one of the most catholic towns in catholic flanders. convents and religious houses of all sorts have always flourished there, and at present there are no less than forty-five of these establishments. probably one of the most interesting to english people is the couvent des dames anglaises, which was founded in by the english augustinian nuns of ste. monica's convent at louvain. its chapel, with a fine dome of the eighteenth century, contains a beautiful altar built of marbles brought from egypt, greece, and persia; and amongst its possessions is the rosary of catherine of braganza (queen of charles ii. of england), who died at bruges. and then there is the béguinage. there are béguinages at amsterdam and breda, but with this exception of holland, belgium is now the only country in europe where these societies, the origin of whose name is uncertain, are to be found. they consist of spinsters or widows, who, though bound by a few conventual oaths during their connection with the society, may return to the world. on entering each sister pays a sum of money to the general funds, and at first lives for a time along with other novices. at the end of this term of probation they are at liberty to occupy one of the small dwellings within the precincts of the béguinage, and keep house for themselves. they spend their time in sewing, making lace, educating poor children, visiting the sick, or any form of good works for which they may have a taste. they are under a mother superior, the 'grande dame,' appointed by the bishop of the diocese, and must attend the services in the church of their béguinage. thus the béguine, living generally in a house of her own, and free to reenter the world, occupies a different position from the nuns of the better-known orders, though so long as she remains a member of her society she is bound by the vows of chastity and obedience to her ecclesiastical superiors. [illustration: bruges. the béguinage.] the béguinage at bruges, founded in the thirteenth century, is situated near the minnewater, or lac d'amour, which every visitor is taken to see. this sheet of placid water, bordered by trees, which was a harbour in the busy times, is one of the prettiest bits of bruges; and they say that if you go there at midnight, and stand upon the bridge which crosses it on the south, any wish which you may form will certainly come to pass. it is better to go alone, for strict silence is necessary to insure the working of this charm. a bridge over the water which runs from the lac d'amour leads through a gateway into the béguinage, where a circle of small houses--whitewashed, with stepped gables, and green woodwork on the windows--surrounds a lawn planted with tall trees. there is a view of the spire of notre dame beyond the roofs, a favourite subject for the painters who come here in numbers on summer afternoons. the church of ste. elizabeth, an unpretentious building, stands on one side of the lawn; and within it, many times a day, the sisters may be seen on their knees repeating the offices of the church. when the service is finished they rise, remove their white head-coverings, and return demurely to their quaint little homes. bruges has, needless to say, many churches, but nothing which can be compared to the magnificent cathedral of antwerp, to the imposing front of ste. gudule at brussels, or to the huge mass which forms such a conspicuous landmark for several leagues round malines. still, some of the churches are not without interest: the cathedral of st. sauveur, where the stalls of the knights of the order of the golden fleece, which was founded at bruges, are to be seen in the choir, and over one of them the arms of edward iv. of england; the curious little church of jerusalem, with its 'holy sepulchre,' an exact copy of the traditionary grave in palestine--a dark vault, entered by a passage so low that one must crawl through it, and where a light burns before a figure which lies there wrapped in a linen cloth; and the church of notre dame, which contains some treasures, such as a lovely white marble statue of the virgin and child, from the chisel of michael angelo; the tombs of charles the bold of burgundy and his daughter--the 'gentle mary,' whose untimely death at bruges in , after a short married life, saved her from witnessing the misfortunes which clouded the last years of her husband, the archduke maximilian; and a portion of the holy cross, which came to bruges in the fifteenth century. the story goes that a rich merchant, a dutchman from dordrecht, schoutteeten by name, who lived at bruges, was travelling through syria in the year . one day, when journeying with a caravan, he saw a man hiding something in a wood, and, following him, discovered that it was a box, which he suspected might contain something valuable. mijnheer schoutteeten appropriated the box, and carried it home from syria to dordrecht, where a series of miracles began to occur of such a nature as to make it practically certain that the box (or some wood which it contained, for on this point the legend is vague) was a part of the true cross! in course of time schoutteeten died in the odour of sanctity, having on his death-bed expressed a wish that the wood which he had brought from the east should be given to the church of notre dame at bruges. his widow consoled herself by taking a second husband, who, uutenhove by name, fulfilled the pious request of his predecessor, and thus another relic was added to the large collection which is preserved in the various churches and religious houses of bruges. it was brought to flanders in the year , and must have been a source of considerable revenue to the church since then. the buildings of notre dame, with the well-known gruthuise mansion which adjoins them, and the singularly graceful spire, higher than the belfry tower, rising from the exquisite portico called 'het paradijs,' form a very beautiful group; but, with this exception, there is nothing remarkable about the churches of bruges. one of them, however, has a peculiar interest--the chapelle du saint-sang, which stands in the place du bourg in the corner next to the hôtel de ville. it is built in two stories. the lower, a dark, solemn chapel, like a crypt, was dedicated to st. basil at an early period, and is one of the oldest buildings in bruges. the greater part of the upper story does not date further back than the fifteenth century. but it is not the fabric itself, venerable though that is, but what it contains, that makes this place the holy of holies in the religious life of bruges; for here, in a costly shrine of gold and silver adorned with precious stones, they guard the wonderful relic which was brought from palestine in the time of the crusaders by thierry d'alsace, count of flanders, and which is still worshipped by thousands of devout believers every year. thierry d'alsace, the old chroniclers tell us, visited the holy land four times, and was the leader of the flemish warriors who, roused by the eloquence of st. bernard of clairvaux, joined the second crusade in the summer of . he had married sybilla, sister of baldwin, king of jerusalem; and when the time came for his return to europe, his brother-in-law and the patriarch of jerusalem resolved to reward his services by giving him a part of the most valuable relic which the church in palestine possessed, which was a small quantity of a red liquid, said to be blood and water, which, according to immemorial tradition, joseph of arimathæa had preserved after he had washed the dead body of jesus. the earlier history of this relic is unknown, and is as obscure as that of the other 'relics of the holy blood' which are to be found in various places. but there can be no doubt whatever that in the twelfth century the christians at jerusalem believed that it had been in existence since the day of the crucifixion. it was, therefore, presented to thierry with great solemnity in the church of the holy sepulchre during the christmas festivals of . the patriarch, having displayed the vessel which contained it to the people, divided the contents into two portions, one of which he poured into a small vial, the mouth of which was carefully sealed up and secured with gold wire. this vessel was next enclosed in a crystal tube, shut at the ends with golden stoppers, to which ax chain of silver was attached. then the patriarch gave the tube to baldwin, from whose hands thierry, kneeling on the steps of the altar, received it with profound emotion.[*] [footnote *: canon van haecke, _le précieux sang à bruges_ (fourth edition), pp. , .] the count, however, did not think his hands, which had shed so much human blood, worthy to convey the relic home; and he entrusted it to leonius, chaplain of the flemish army, who hung it round his neck, and so carried it to bruges, where he arrived in may, , along with thierry, who, mounted on a white horse led by two barefooted monks, and holding the relic in his hand, was conducted in state to the bourg, where he deposited the precious object in the chapel of st. basil, which is commonly known as the chapel of the holy blood. after some time the relic was found to be dry, but, strange to say, it became liquid, we are told upon the authority of pope clement v., every friday, 'usually at six o'clock.' this weekly miracle continued till about the year . since then it has never taken place except once, in , when the vial containing the relic was being transferred to a new crystal tube; and on this occasion william, bishop of ancona, was astonished to see the relic turning redder than usual, and some drops, as of newly-shed blood, flowing within the vial, which he was holding in his hand. many notable persons who were present, one of them the bishop of lincoln, testified to this event! other miracles wrought through the agency of this relic are recorded. a child which had been born dead was taken to the shrine, and came to life after three days. a young girl who had suffered for twenty months from an issue of blood, and for whom the doctors could do nothing, was cured by the application of a piece of cloth which had been used to cover the relic. another girl who had been paralyzed for a long time, being carried into the chapel of st. basil, was restored to complete strength the moment she kissed the crystal tube. in december, , a fire broke out in the bourg, and threatened to destroy the hôtel de ville; but a priest brought forth the tube containing the relic, and held it up before the flames, which were instantly extinguished. these and many other similar miracles, confirmed by the oath of witnesses and received by the church at the present day as authentic, make the relic an object of profound devotion to the people of bruges and the peasants of the surrounding country, who go in crowds to bow before it twice every friday, when it is exhibited for public worship. it was nearly lost on several occasions in the days of almost constant war, and during the french revolution it was concealed for some years in the house of a private citizen. the chapel of st. basil suffered from the disturbed condition of the country, and when napoleon came to bruges in it was such a complete wreck that the magistrates were on the point of sweeping it away altogether. but napoleon saved it, declaring that when he looked on the ruins he fancied himself once more amongst the antiquities of egypt, and that to destroy them would be a crime. four years after the battle of waterloo the relic was brought out from its hiding-place, and in the chapel was restored from the designs of two english architects, william brangwyn and thomas harper king.[*] [footnote *: gilliat-smith, _the story of bruges_, p. .] on the first monday after the nd of may every year the town of bruges is full of strangers, who have come to witness the celebrated 'procession of the holy blood,' which there is good reason to believe has taken place annually (except during the french revolution) for the last years. very early in the day a mass is celebrated in the upper chapel of the holy blood, which is crowded to the doors. in the crypt, or lower chapel, where many people are kneeling before the sacred images, the gloom, the silence, the bent figures dimly seen in the faint yellow light of a few tapers, make up a weird scene all the morning till about nine o'clock, when the relic, in its 'châsse,' or tabernacle, is carried to the cathedral of st. sauveur, and placed on the high altar, while a pontifical mass is celebrated by one of the bishops. when that is done, the procession starts on its march along the chief thoroughfares of the town. the houses are decorated with flags, and candles burn in almost every window. through the narrow streets, between crowds of people standing on the pavements or looking down from the windows, while the church bells ring and wreaths of incense fill the air, bands of music, squadrons of cavalry, crucifixes, shrines, images, the banners of the parishes and the guilds, heralds in their varied dresses, bareheaded pilgrims from england, france, and other countries, pages, maidens in white, bearing palms, or crowns of thorn, or garlands, priests with relics, acolytes and chanting choristers, pass slowly along. the buffoonery of the middle ages, when giants, ballet-dancers, and mythological characters figured in the scene, has been abandoned; but abraham and isaac, king david and king solomon, joseph and the virgin mary, the magi, and many saints and martyrs, walk in the long procession, which is closed by the bishops and clergy accompanying the gorgeous shrine containing the small tube of something red like blood, before which all the people sink to the ground, and remain kneeling till it has passed. the proceedings of the day end with a benediction at an altar erected in front of the hôtel de ville. the bourg is filled from side to side with those who have taken part in the procession, and by thousands of spectators who have followed them from all parts of the town to witness the closing scene. the crowd gathers under the trees and along the sides of the square, the centre of which, occupied by the processionists, is a mass of colour, above which the standards and images which have been carried through the streets rise against the dark background of the hôtel de ville and the chapel of the holy blood. the relic is taken out of the châsse, and a priest, standing on the steps of the altar high above the crowd, holds it up to be worshipped. everyone bows low, and then, in dead silence, the mysterious object is carried into the chapel, and with this the chief religious ceremony of the year at bruges is brought to a close. there are sights in bruges that night, within a stone's-throw of the chapel of the holy blood, which are worth seeing, they contrast so strangely with all this fervour of religion. the curtain has fallen upon the drama of the day. the flags are furled and put aside. the vestments are in the sacristy. shrines, canopies, censers, all the objects carried in the procession, have disappeared into the churches. the church doors are locked, and the images are left to stand all night without so much as one solitary worshipper kneeling before them. the bourg is empty and dark, steeped in black shadows at the door of the chapel where the relic has been laid to rest. it is all quiet there, but a stroll through the rue de l'Âne aveugle and across the canal by the bridge which leads to the purlieus of the fish-markets brings one upon another scene. every second house, if not every house, is a café, 'herberg,' or 'estaminet,' with a bar and sanded floor and some rough chairs and tables; and on the night of the procession of the holy blood they are crowded to the doors. peasants from the country are there in great force. for some days before and after the sacred festival the villagers are in the habit of coming into bruges--whole families of them, father and mother, sons and daughters, all in their best finery. they walk through the streets, following the route by which the holy blood is carried, telling their beads and saying their prayers, crossing themselves, and kneeling at any image of christ, or madonna, or saint, which they may notice at the street corners. it is curious to watch their sunburnt faces and uncouth ways as they slouch along, their hands busy with their beads, and their lips never ceasing for a moment to mutter prayer after prayer. they follow in the wake of the procession of the holy blood, or wait to fall upon their knees when it passes and receive the blessing of the bishop, who walks with fingers raised, scattering benedictions from side to side. in the evening, before starting for home, they go to the cafés. as evening passes into night the sounds of music and dancing are heard. at the doors people sit drinking round tables placed on the pavement or in the rank, poisonous gutter. the hot air is heavy with the smell of decayed fish. inside the cafés men and women, old and young, are dancing in the fetid atmosphere to jingling pianos or accordions. the heat, the close, sour fumes of musty clothing, tobacco, beer, gin, fried fish, and unwashed humanity, are overpowering. there are disgusting sights in all directions. fat women, with red, perspiring faces and dirty fingers, still clutching their rosaries; tawdry girls, field-workers, with flushed faces, dancing with country lads, most of whom are more than half tipsy; ribald jokes and laughter and leering eyes; reeling, drunken men; maudlin affection in one corner, and jealous disputing in another; crying babies; beer and gin spilt on the tables; and all sorts of indecency and hideous details which swift might have gloated over or hogarth painted. this is how the day of the holy blood procession is finished by many of the countryfolk. the brutal cabaret comes after the prayers and adoration of the morning! it is a world of contrasts. but soon the lights are out, the shutters are put up, the last customer goes staggering homewards, and the belfry speaks again, as it spoke when the sweet singer lay dreaming at the fleur-de-blé: 'in the ancient town of bruges, in the quaint old flemish city, as the evening shades descended, low and loud and sweetly blended, low at times and loud at times, and changing like a poet's rhymes, rang the beautiful wild chimes from the belfry in the market of the ancient town of bruges. then, with deep sonorous clangour, calmly answering their sweet anger, when the wrangling bells had ended, slowly struck the clock eleven, and, from out the silent heaven, silence on the town descended. silence, silence everywhere, on the earth and in the air, save that footsteps here and there of some burgher home returning, by the street lamps faintly burning, for a moment woke the echoes of the ancient town of bruges.' [illustration: bruges. quai des marbriers.] the bruges matins--battle of the golden spurs chapter iv the bruges matins--battle of the golden spurs the visitor to bruges is reminded, wherever he goes, of the stirring events which fill the chronicles of the town for several centuries. opposite the belfry, in the middle of the market-place, is the monument to peter de coninck and john breidel, on which garlands of flowers are laid every summer, in memory of what they did when the burghers rose against the french in may, ; and amongst the modern frescoes which cover the walls of the grande salle des Échevins in the hôtel de ville, with its roof of fourteenth-century woodwork, is one which represents the return from the battle of the golden spurs, that famous fight in which the hardy peasantry of flanders overthrew the knights of france whom philip the fair had sent to avenge the blood of the frenchmen who had died on the terrible morning of the 'bruges matins.' the fourteenth century had opened. the town had now reached the limits which have contained it ever since--an irregular oval with a circumference of between four and five miles, surrounded by double ditches, and a strong wall pierced by nine fortified gateways; and as the town had grown, the privileges and liberties of the townsmen had grown likewise. sturdy, independent, and resolved to keep the management of their own affairs in their own hands, the burghers of bruges, like those of the other flemish towns, had succeeded in establishing a system of self-government so complete that it roused the opposition of guy de dampierre, count of flanders, whose efforts to diminish the power of these communities at length brought about a crisis which gave philip the fair of france an excuse for interfering. the count, having to contend both against his own subjects and against the ambitions of the king of france, fell from power, and in the end flanders was annexed to france. soon after this rich province had been added to his domains, philip came with his wife, joanna of navarre, on a visit to bruges. already there were two factions in the town--the leliarts, or french party, consisting chiefly of the upper classes, and the clauwerts, or flemish party, to which the mass of the people belonged. by the former philip was received in royal fashion, and so magnificent were the dresses and jewels worn by the wives and daughters of the nobles and rich burgesses, who sat in the windows and balconies as the royal procession passed along, that the queen was moved to jealousy. 'i thought,' she said, 'that i alone was queen; but here in this place i have six hundred rivals.' but in the streets below there were sullen looks and murmurs of discontent, which grew louder and louder every day, when, after the departure of the court, the magistrates, who belonged to the french party, proposed that the merchant guilds should find money to defray some of the expenses which had been incurred on this occasion. at this time peter de coninck was dean of the guild of weavers, a man of substance, popular and eloquent. there was a tumultuous gathering in the market-place, when, standing in front of the belfry, with the leaders of five-and-twenty guilds around him, he declaimed on liberty, and attacked the magistrates, calling on his fellow-townsmen to resist the taxes. the city officers, on the order of the magistrates, arrested de coninck and his chief supporters, and hurried them to the prison in the bourg. but in a few hours the mob forced an entrance and released them. the signal for revolt had been given, and for some months bruges, like the rest of flanders, was in disorder. de coninck, who had been joined by john breidel, dean of the guild of butchers, was busy rousing the people in all parts of the country. he visited ghent, amongst other places, and tried to persuade the magistrates that if ghent and bruges united their forces the whole flemish people would rise, crush the leliarts, and expel the french. but the men of ghent would not listen to him, and he returned to bruges. here, too, he met with a rebuff, for the magistrates, having heard that jacques de châtillon, whom philip had made governor of flanders, was marching on the town, would not allow him to remain amongst them. he went to damme, and with him went, not only breidel, but , burghers of the national party, stout clauwerts, who had devoted themselves to regaining the liberty of their country. [illustration: a flemish young woman] when châtillon rode up to the walls of bruges and demanded entrance the magistrates agreed to open the gates, on condition that he brought with him only men-at-arms. but he broke his word, and the town was entered by , knights, whose haughty looks and threatening language convinced the people that treachery was intended. it was whispered in the market-place that the waggons which rumbled over the drawbridges carried ropes with which the clauwerts who had remained in the town were to be hanged; that there was to be a general massacre, in which not even the women and children would be spared; and that the frenchmen never unbuckled their swords or took off their armour, but were ready to begin the slaughter at any moment. it was a day of terror in bruges, and when evening came some of the burghers slipped out, made their way to damme, and told de coninck what was passing in the town. that night châtillon gave a feast to his chief officers, and amongst his guests was pierre flotte, chancellor of france, perhaps the ablest of those jurists by whose evil councils philip the fair was encouraged in the ideas of autocracy which led him to make the setting up of a despotism the policy of his whole life. with flotte--'that belial,' as pope boniface viii. once called him--and the rest, châtillon sat revelling till a late hour. the night wore on; de châtillon's party broke up, and went to rest; the weary sentinels were half asleep at their posts; and soon all bruges was buried in silence. here and there lights twinkled in some of the guild-houses, where a few of the burghers sat anxiously waiting for what the morrow might bring forth, while others went to the ramparts on the north, and strained their eyes to see if help was coming from damme. at early dawn--it was friday, may , --the watchers on the ramparts saw a host of armed men rapidly approaching the town. they were divided into two parties, one of which, led by de coninck, made for the porte ste. croix, while the other, under breidel, marched to the porte de damme, a gateway which no longer exists, but which was then one of the most important entrances, being that by which travellers came from damme and sluis. messengers from the ramparts ran swiftly through the streets, in which daylight was now beginning to appear, and spread the news from house to house. silently the burghers took their swords and pikes, left their homes, and gathered in the market-place and near the houses in which the french were sleeping. the french slept on till, all of a sudden, they were wakened by the tramp of feet, the clash of arms, and shouts of 'flanders for the lion!' breidel had led his men into the town, and they were rushing through the streets to where châtillon had taken up his quarters, while de coninck, having passed through the porte ste. croix, was marching to the bourg. the frenchmen, bewildered, surprised, and only half awake, ran out into the streets. the flemings were shouting 'schilt ende vriendt! schilt ende vriendt!'[*] and every man who could not pronounce these words was known to be a frenchman, and slain upon the spot. some fled to the gates; but at every gate they found a band of guards, who called out 'schilt ende vriendt!' and put them to the sword. [footnote *: 'shield and friend!'] all that summer's morning, and on throughout the day, the massacre continued. old men, women, and children hurled stones from the roofs and windows down upon the enemy. breidel, a man of great strength, killed many with his own hand, and those whom he wounded were beaten to death where they fell by the apprentices with their iron clubs. in the market-place, close to where the monument to de coninck and breidel stands, a party of soldiers, under a gallant french knight, gauthier de sapignies, made a stand; but they were overpowered and slaughtered to the last man. châtillon tried to rally his forces, but the surprise had been too complete, and, disguising himself in the cassock of a priest, he hid, in company with chancellor flotte, till it was dark, when they managed to escape from the town. by this time the carnage had ceased; the walls of the houses and the gutters ran with blood; and the burghers of bruges had done their work so thoroughly that , frenchmen lay dead upon the streets. but the final reckoning with france was yet to come. then châtillon reached paris and told his master the direful story of the bruges matins, philip swore revenge; and a few weeks later an army , strong invaded flanders, under the comte d'artois, with whom rode also châtillon, flotte, and many nobles of france. the flemings went to meet them--not only the burghers of bruges, led by de coninck and breidel, marching under the banners of their guilds, but men from every part of flanders--and on july , near courtrai, the battle of the golden spurs was fought. [illustration: a flemish burgher] the ground was marshy, with a stream and pools of water between the two armies; and just as the scots at bannockburn, twelve years afterwards, prepared pitfalls for the heavy cavalry of england, so the flemings laid a trap for the french knights by cutting down brushwood and covering the water. the horsemen, clad in cumbrous armour, charged, the brushwood gave way, and most of them sank into the water. the comte d'artois got clear, but was beaten to the ground and killed. the chancellor flotte, who had boasted that he would bring the people of bruges to their knees, was trampled to death. châtillon died too; and when, at last, a long day's fighting came to an end, the flemings had gained a complete victory. by this battle, which took its name from the thousands of golden spurs which were torn from the french knights who fell, the victors secured--for a time, at least--the liberty of their country, and the memory of it was for many a day to flanders what the memory of bannockburn was to scotland, or of morgarten to switzerland. damme--the sea-fight at sluis--splendour of bruges in the middle ages--the fall and loss of trade chapter v damme--the sea-fight at sluis--splendour of bruges in the middle ages--the fall and loss of trade damme, where the patriots mustered on the eve of the bruges matins, is within a short hour's stroll from the east end of the town. the roya, which disappears from view, as we have already seen, opposite the quai du rosaire, emerges from its hidden course at the west end of the quai du miroir, where the statue of jan van eyck stands near the door of the building now used as a public library. this building was once the customs house of bruges, conveniently situated in the neighbourhood of the market-place, and on the side of the roya, which thence stretches eastwards between the quai du miroir and the quai spinola for a few hundred yards, and then turns sharply to the north, and continues between the quai long and the quai de la potterie, which are built in rambling fashion on either side of the water. some of the houses are old, others of no earlier date, apparently, than the seventeenth or eighteenth centuries; some large and well preserved, and some mere cottages, half ruinous, with low gables and faded yellow fronts, huddled together on the rough causeway, alongside of which are moored canal-boats with brown hulls and deck-houses gay with white and green paint. at the end of the quai de la potterie is the modern bassin de commerce, in which the roya loses itself, the harbour for the barges and small steamers which come by the canal connecting ostend with bruges and ghent; and near this was, in ancient days, the porte de damme, through which breidel and his followers burst on that fateful morning in may years ago. to the right of the bassin a broad canal, constructed by napoleon in , extends in a straight line eastwards, contained within dykes which raise it above a wide expanse of level meadow-lands intersected by ditches, and dotted here and there by the white-walled cottages with red roofs and green outside shutters which are so typical of flemish scenery. about two miles out of bruges one comes in sight of a windmill perched on a slope at the side of the canal, a square church-tower, a few houses, and some grassy mounds, which were once strong fortifications. even the historical imagination, which everyone who walks round bruges must carry with him, is hardly equal to realizing that this was once a bustling seaport, with a harbour in which more than a hundred merchant ships, laden with produce from all parts of the world, were sometimes lying at the same time. in those busy times damme, they say, contained , inhabitants; now there are only about , . beyond damme the canal winds on through the same flat landscape, low-lying, water-logged, with small farmhouses and scanty trees, and in the distance, on the few patches of higher ground, the churches of oostkerke and westcapelle. at last, soon after passing the dutch frontier, the canal ends in a little dock with gray, lichen-covered sides; and this is sluis, a dull place, with a few narrow streets, a market-place, two churches, and a belfry of the fourteenth century. it is quite inland now, miles from the salt water; and from the high ramparts which still surround it the view extends to the north across broad green fields, covering what was once the bed of the sea, in the days when the tide ebbed and flowed in the channel of the zwijn, over which ships passed sailing on their way to bruges. but any english traveller who, having gone a little way out of the beaten track of summer tourists, may chance to mount the ramparts, and look down upon the fields which stretch away to the shores of the north sea and the estuary of the scheldt, and inland beyond damme to the belfry and the spires of bruges, is gazing on the scene of a great event in the naval history of england. here, on what is now dry land, on the morning of june , , ships of war, full of armed men-- , of them--were drawn up in line of battle; and further out to sea, beyond the entrance of the zwijn, the newly-risen sun was shining on the sails of another fleet which was man�uvring in the offing. [illustration: bruges. qua du miroir] 'in the cities of flanders,' says dr. gardiner, 'had arisen manufacturing populations which supplied the countries round with the products of the loom. to the ghent and bruges of the middle ages england stood in the same relation as that which the australian colonies hold to the leeds and bradford of our own day. the sheep which grazed over the wide, unenclosed pasture-lands of our island formed a great part of the wealth of england, and that wealth depended entirely on the flourishing trade with the flemish towns in which english wool was converted into cloth.' when, therefore, edward iii. claimed the throne of france, and the hundred years' war began, it was of vital importance to the trade of flanders and england that the merchants of the two countries should maintain friendly relations with each other. but philip of valois had persuaded the count of flanders, louis de nevers, to order the arrest of all the english in flanders, and edward had retaliated by arresting all the flemings who were in england, and forbidding the export of english wool to flanders. the result was that the weavers of bruges and the other manufacturing towns of flanders found themselves on the road to ruin; and, having no interest in the question at issue between the kings of france and england, apart from its effect on their commercial prosperity, the burghers of bruges, ghent, and ypres, under the leadership of the famous jacob van artevelde (anticipating, as one of the modern historians of bruges has noticed, what the great powers did for belgium in [*]), succeeded in securing, with the assent of philip, the neutrality of flanders. the french king, however, did not keep faith with the flemings, but proceeded to acts of aggression against them, and a league against france was formed between england and flanders. [footnote *: robinson, _bruges, an historical sketch_, p. .] in june, , edward, who was then in england, hearing that an immense number of french ships of war were at anchor in the zwijn, set sail to give them battle with a squadron of vessels. the english fleet anchored off the coast between blankenberghe and heyst on the evening of june , and from the top of the dunes the english scouts saw in the distance the masts of the french ships in the zwijn. as soon as there was light next morning, the english weighed anchor and sailed along the coast to the east; past lonely yellow sands, which have swarmed during recent years with workmen toiling at the construction of the immense harbour of see-brugge, which is to be the future port of bruges; past what was then the small fishing hamlet of heyst; past a range of barren dunes, amongst which to-day duinbergen, the latest of the flemish watering-places, with its spacious hotel and trim villas, is being laid out; past a waste of storm-swept sand and rushes, on which are now the digue of knocke, a cluster of hotels and crowded lodging-houses, and a golf-course; and so onwards till they opened the mouth of the zwijn, and saw the french ships crowding the entrance, 'their masts appearing to be like a great wood,' and beyond them the walls of sluis rising from the wet sands left by the receding tide. it was low-water, and while waiting for the turn of the tide the english fleet stood out to sea for some time, so that nicholas béhuchet, the french admiral, began to flatter himself that king edward, finding himself so completely outnumbered, would not dare to risk fighting against such odds. the odds, indeed, were nearly three to one against the english seamen; but as soon as the tide began to flow they steered straight into the channel, and, edward leading the van, came to close quarters, ship to ship. the famous archers of england, who six years later were to do such execution at crecy, lined the bulwarks, and poured in a tempest of arrows so thick that men fell from the tops of the french ships like leaves before a storm. the first of the four lines in which béhuchet had drawn up his fleet was speedily broken, and the english, brandishing their swords and pikes, boarded the french ships, drove their crews overboard, and hoisted the flag of england. king edward was wounded, and the issue may have been doubtful, when suddenly more ships, coming from the north of england, appeared in sight, and hordes of flemings from all parts of flanders, from the coast, and even from inland towns so far away as ypres,[*] came swarming in boats to join in the attack. this decided the fate of the great battle, which continued till sunset. when it ended, the french fleet had ceased to exist, with the exception of a few ships which escaped when it was dark. the flemings captured béhuchet, and hung him then and there. nearly , of his men perished, many of whom were drowned while attempting to swim ashore, or were clubbed to death by the flemings who lined the beach, waiting to take vengeance on the invaders for having burned their homesteads and carried off their flocks. the english lost two ships and , men; but the victory was so complete that no courtier was bold enough to carry the news to king philip, who did not know what had befallen his great fleet till the court jester went to him, and said, 'oh! the english cowards! the english cowards! they had not the courage to jump into the sea as our noble frenchmen did at sluis.' [footnote *: vereecke, _histoire militaire de la ville d'ypres_, p. .] it is strange to think that flemish peasants work, and cattle feed, and holiday visitors from knocke, or sluis, or kadzand ramble about dry-shod where the waves were rolling in on that midsummer's morning, and that far beneath the grass the timbers of so many stout ships and the bones of so many valiant seamen have long since mouldered away. and it is also strange to think, when wandering along the canals of bruges, where now the swans glide silently about in the almost stagnant water which laps the basements of the old houses, how in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries ships of every nation carried in great bales of merchandise, and that rich traders stored them in warehouses and strong vaults, which are now mere coal-cellars, or the dark and empty haunts of the rats which swarm in the canals. 'there is,' says mr. robinson, 'in the national library at paris a list of the kingdoms and cities which sent their produce to bruges at that time. england sent wool, lead, tin, coal, and cheese; ireland and scotland, chiefly hides and wool; denmark, pigs; russia, hungary, and bohemia, large quantities of wax; poland, gold and silver; germany, wine; liége, copper kettles; and bulgaria, furs.' after naming many parts of europe, asia, and africa, that sent goods, the manuscript adds: 'and all the aforesaid realms and regions send their merchants with wares to flanders, besides those who come from france, poitou, and gascony, and from the three islands of which we know not the names of their kingdoms.' the trade of bruges was enormous. people flocked there from all quarters. 'lombard and venetian merchants with deep-laden argosies; ministers from twenty nations; more than royal pomp and ease.' we read of ships entering in one day, and of german merchants buying , pieces of cloth, made by flemish weavers, in a morning's marketing. a citizen of bruges was always at the head of the hanseatic league, and maintained the rights of that vast commercial society under the title of 'comte de la hanse.' merchant princes, members of the hanse, lived here in palaces. money-changers grew rich. edward iii. borrowed from the bardi at bruges on the security of the crown jewels of england. contracts of insurance against maritime risks were entered into from an early period, and the merchant shipping code which regulated traffic by sea was known as the 'röles de damme.'[*] there were twenty consulates at one time in bruges, and the population of the town is said, though it is difficult to believe that this is not an exaggeration, to have been more than , before the middle of the fourteenth century. [footnote *: gilliodts van severen, _bruges ancienne et moderne_, p. .] six years after the battle of sluis, louis of nevers was killed at crecy, and his son, louis of maele, reigned in his stead as count of flanders. he was a leliart to the core, and his reign of nearly forty years, one long struggle against the liberties of his people, witnessed the capture of bruges by philip van artevelde, the invasion of flanders by the french, the defeat of the nationalists, and the death of van artevelde on the field of roosebeke. nevertheless, during this period and after it bruges grew in beauty and in wealth. the hôtel de ville, without the grandeur of the hôtel de ville at brussels, but still a gem of mediæval architecture, was built on the site of the old 'ghiselhuis' of baldwin bras-de-fer. other noble buildings, rich in design and beautiful in all their outlines, and great mansions, with marble halls and ceilings of exquisitely carved woodwork, rose on every side; towers and pinnacles, shapely windows and graceful arches, overhung the waterways; luxury increased; in the homes of the nobles and wealthy merchants were stores of precious stones, tapestries, silk, fine linen, cloth of gold; the churches and many buildings gleamed with gilded stone and tinted glass and brilliant frescoes. art flourished as the town grew richer. the elder and the younger van eyck, gerard david, and memlinc, with many others before and after them, were attracted by its splendour, as modern painters have been attracted by its decay; and though the 'adoration of the immaculate lamb' hangs in the choir of st. bavon at ghent, the genius which coloured that matchless altar-piece found its inspiration within the walls of bruges. the history of bruges for many long years, especially under the rule of the house of burgundy, was, in the midst of war, turmoil, and rebellion, the history of continuous progress. but all this prosperity depended on the sea. so long as the zwijn remained open, neither war nor faction, not even the last great rising against the archduke maximilian, which drove away the foreign merchants, most of whom went to antwerp, and so impoverished the town that no less than , houses were standing empty in the year ,[*] could have entirely ruined bruges. these disasters might have been retrieved if the channel of communication with damme and sluis had not been lost; but for a long time the condition of this important waterway had been the cause of grave anxiety to the people of bruges. the heavy volume of water which poured with every ebbing tide down the scheldt between flushing and breskens swept past the island of walcheren, and spread out into the north sea and down the english channel, leaving the mud it carried with it on the sands round the mouth of the zwijn, which itself did not discharge a current strong enough to prevent the slow but sure formation of a bank across its entrance. charters, moreover, had been granted to various persons, under which they drained the adjoining lands, and gradually reclaimed large portions from the sea. the channel, at no time very deep, became shallower, narrower, and more difficult of access, until at last, during the second half of the fifteenth century, the passage between sluis and damme was navigable only by small ships. soon the harbour at damme was nearly choked up with sand. many schemes were tried in the hope of preserving the zwijn, but the sea-trade of bruges dwindled away to a mere nothing, and finally disappeared before the middle of the sixteenth century. [footnote *: gilliodts van severen, p. .] and so bruges fell from greatness. there are still some traces of the ancient bed of the zwijn amongst the fields near coolkerke, a village a short distance to the north of bruges--a broad ditch with broken banks, and large pools of slimy water lying desolate and forlorn in a wilderness of tangled bushes. these are now the only remains of the highway by which the 'deep-laden argosies' used to enter in the days of old. 'bruges la morte' chapter vi 'bruges la morte' they call it 'bruges la morte,' and at every turn there is something to remind us of the deadly blight which fell upon the city when its trade was lost. the faded colours, the timeworn brickwork, the indescribable look of decay which, even on the brightest morning, throws a shade of melancholy over the whole place, lead one to think of some aged dame, who has 'come down in the world,' wearing out the finery of better days. it is all very sad and pathetic, but strangely beautiful, and the painter never lived who could put on canvas the mellow tints with which time has clothed these old walls, and thus veiled with tender hand the havoc it has made. to stand on the bridge which crosses the canal at the corner of the quai des marbriers and the quai vert, where the pinnacles of the palais du franc and the roof of the hôtel de ville, with the belfry just showing above them, and dull red walls rising from the water, make up a unique picture of still-life, is to read a sermon in stones, an impressive lesson in history. the loss of trade brought bruges face to face with the 'question of the unemployed' in a very aggravated form. how to provide for the poor became a most serious problem, and so many of the people were reduced to living on charity that almshouses sprang up all over the town. god's houses ('godshuisen') they called them, and call them still. they are to be found in all directions--quaint little places, planted down here and there, each with a small chapel of its own, with moss-grown roofs and dingy walls, and doors that open on to the uneven cobbles. every stone of them spells pauperism. the church does much towards maintaining these shelters for the poor--perhaps too much, if it is true that there are , paupers in bruges out of a population of about , . there is a great deal of begging in the streets, and a sad lack of sturdy self-respect amongst the lower class, which many think is caused by the system of doles, for which the church is chiefly responsible. bruges might not have been so picturesque to-day if her commerce had survived; but the beauty of a town is dearly purchased at the cost of such degradation and loss of personal independence. [illustration: bruges. view of the palais du franc.] it was not only the working class which suffered. many rich families sank into poverty, and their homes, some of which were more like palaces than private houses, had to be dismantled. the fate of one of these lordly mansions is connected with an episode which carries us back into the social life of bruges in the middle of the seventeenth century. on the right side of the rue haute, as one goes from the place du bourg, there is a high block containing two large houses, nos. and , of that street. it is now a big, plain building without a trace of architectural distinction; but in the seventeenth century it was a single mansion, built about the year , and was one of the many houses with towers which gave the bruges of that time almost the appearance of an oriental city. it was called the house of the seven towers, from the seven pinnacles which surmounted it; and at the back there was a large garden, which extended to the canal and quai des marbriers. in april, , the 'tall man above two yards high, with dark brown hair, scarcely to be distinguished from black,' for whom the roundheads had searched all england after the battle of worcester, found his way to bruges, with his brother henry, duke of gloucester, and the train of royalists who formed their court. for nearly three years after worcester, charles ii. had lived in france; but in july, , the alliance between cromwell and mazarin drove him to germany, where he remained till don john of austria became governor of the spanish netherlands. thereupon the prospect of recovering the english throne by the assistance of spain led him to remove his court, which had been established for some time at cologne, to flanders. he arrived at bruges on april , . his brother james, duke of york, and afterwards king of england, held a commission in the french army, and mazarin offered him a command in italy. charles, however, requested him to leave the french army, and enter the service of spain. at first james refused; but by the mediation of their sister, the princess of orange, he was persuaded to do as his brother wished, and join the court at bruges. the irish viscount tarah received charles, when he first arrived, in his house in the rue du vieux bourg, and there gave him, we read in local history, 'une brillante hospitalité.' but in the beginning of june the court took up its quarters in the house of the seven towers. during his sojourn in flanders, charles was carefully watched by the secret service officers of the commonwealth government, who sent home reports of all he did. these reports, many of which are in the thurloe state papers and other collections, contain some curious details about the exiled court. there never was a more interesting 'english colony' at bruges than at that time. hyde, who received the great seal at bruges, was there with ormonde and the earls of bristol, norwich, and rochester. sir edward nicholas was secretary of state; and we read of colonel sydenham, sir robert murray, and 'mr. cairless', who sat on the tree with charles stewart after worcester fight. another of the exiles at bruges was sir james turner, the soldier of fortune, who served under gustavus adolphus, persecuted the covenanters in scotland, and is usually supposed to have been the original of dugald dalgetty in sir walter scott's _legend of montrose_. a list of the royal household is still preserved at bruges. it was prepared in order that the town council might fix the daily allowance of wine and beer which was to be given to the court, and contains the names of about sixty persons, with a note of the supply granted to each family. a 'letter of intelligence' (the report of a spy), dated from bruges on september , , mentions that lilly, the astrologer of london, had written to say that the king would be restored to the throne next year, and that all the english at bruges were delighted. but in the meantime they were very hard up for ready money. ever since leaving england charles and his followers had suffered from the most direful impecuniosity. we find hyde declaring that he has 'neither shoes nor shirt.' the king himself was constantly running into debt for his meals, and his friends spent many a hungry day at bruges. if by good luck they chanced to be in funds, one meal a day sufficed for a party of half a dozen courtiers. if it was cold they could not afford to purchase firewood. the earl of norwich writes, saying that he has to move about so as to get lodgings on credit, and avoid people to whom he owes money. colonel borthwick, who claims to have served the king most faithfully, complains that he is in prison at bruges on suspicion of disloyalty, has not changed his clothes for three years, and is compelled by lack of cash to go without a fire in winter. sir james hamilton, a gentleman-in-waiting, gets drunk one day, and threatens to kill the lord chancellor. he is starving, and declares it is hyde's fault that the king gives him no money. he will put on a clean shirt to be hanged in, and not run away, being without so much as a penny. then we have the petition of a poor fencing-master. 'heaven,' he writes piteously, 'hears the groans of the lowest creatures, and therefore i trust that you, being a terrestrial deity, will not disdain my supplication.' he had come from cologne to bruges to teach the royal household, and wanted his wages, for he and his family were starving. [illustration: bruges. maison du pélican (almshouse).] don john of austria visited charles at bruges, and an allowance from the king of spain was promised, so that men might be levied for the operations against cromwell; but the payments were few and irregular. 'the english court,' says a letter of february, , 'remains still at bridges [bruges], never in greater want, nor greater expectations of money, without which all their levies are like to be at a stand; for englishmen cannot live on bread alone.' a 'letter of intelligence' sent from sluis says that charles is 'much loocked upon, but littell respeckted.' and this is not wonderful if the reports sent home by the commonwealth agents are to be trusted. one of the spies who haunted the neighbourhood of bruges was a mr. butler, who writes in the winter of - : 'this last week one of the richest churches in bruges was plundered in the night. the people of bruges are fully persuaded that charles stewart's followers have done it. they spare no pains to find out the guilty, and if it happen to light upon any of charles stewart's train, it will mightily incense that people against them.... there is now a company of french comedians at bruges, who are very punctually attended by charles stewart and his court, and all the ladies there. their most solemn day of acting is the lord's day. i think i may truly say that greater abominations were never practised among people than at this day at charles stewart's court. fornication, drunkenness, and adultery are esteemed no sins amongst them; so i persuade myself god will never prosper any of their attempts.'[*] in another letter we read that once, after a hunting expedition, charles and a gentleman of the bedchamber were the only two who came back sober. sir james turner was mad when drunk, 'and that was pretty often,' says bishop burnet. [footnote *: letter from mr. j. butler, flushing, december , , thurloe state papers, v., .] but, of course, it was the business of the spies to blacken the character of charles; and there can be little doubt that, in spite of his poverty and loose morals, he was well liked by the citizens of bruges, who, notwithstanding a great deal of outward decorum, have at no time been very strait-laced. 'charles,' we learn from a local history, 'sut se rendre populaire en prenant part aux amusements de la population et en se pliant, sans effort comme sans affectation, aux usages du pays.' during his whole period of exile he contrived to amuse himself. affairs of gallantry, dancing, tennis, billiards, and other frivolous pursuits, occupied as much of his attention as the grave affairs of state over which hyde and ormonde spent so many anxious hours. when on a visit to brussels in the spring of , he employed, we are told, most of his time with don john dancing, or at 'long paume, a spanish play with balls filled with wire.' and, again: 'he passes his time with shooting at bruges, and such other obscure pastimes.' this 'shooting' was the favourite flemish sport of shooting with bow and arrows at an artificial bird fixed on a high pole, the prize being, on great occasions, a golden bird, which was hung by a chain of gold round the winner's neck. in the records of the guilds of st. george and st. sebastian at bruges there are notices relating to charles. the former was a society of cross-bowmen, the latter of archers. on june , , charles and the duke of gloucester were at the festival of the society of st. george. charles was the first to try his skill, and managed to hit the mark. after the duke and many others had shot, peter pruyssenaere, a wine merchant in the rue du vieux bourg, brought down the bird, and charles hung the golden 'bird of honour' round his neck. on june charles visited the society of st. sebastian, when michael noé, a gardener, was the winner. the king and gloucester both became members of the st. sebastian, which is still a flourishing society. going along the rue des carmes, the traveller passes the english convent on the left, and on the right, at the end of the street, comes to the guild-house of st. sebastian, with its slender tower and quiet garden, one of the pleasantest spots in bruges. there the names of charles and his brother are to be seen inscribed in a small volume bound in red morocco, the 'bird of honour' with its chain of gold, a silver arrow presented by the duke of gloucester, and some other interesting relics. on september , , queen victoria, prince albert, king leopold i., and the queen of the belgians, went to the rue des carmes and signed their names as members of this society, which now possesses two silver cups, presented by the queen of england in and . the duke of york seems to have been successful as an archer, for in the hôtel de ville at bruges there is a picture by john van meuninxhove, in which charles is seen hanging the 'bird of honour' round his brother's neck. in april, , the english government was informed that the court of charles was preparing to leave bruges. 'yesterday' (april ) 'some of his servants went before to brussels to make ready lodgings for charles stewart, the duke of york, and the duke of gloucester. all that have or can compass so much money go along with charles stewart on monday morning. i do admire how people live here for want of money. our number is not increased since my last. the most of them are begging again for want of money; and when any straggling persons come, we have not so much money as will take a single man to the quarters; yet we promise ourselves great matters.' they were hampered in all their movements by this want of hard cash, for charles was in debt at bruges, and could not remove his goods until he paid his creditors. it was sadly humiliating. 'the king,' we read, 'will hardly live at bruges any more, but he cannot remove his family and goods till we get money.' the dilemma seems to have been settled by charles, his brothers, and most of the court going off to brussels, leaving their possessions behind them. the final move did not take place till february, , and clarendon says that charles never lived at bruges after that date. he may, however, have returned on a short visit, for jesse, in his _memoirs of the court of england under the stuarts_, states that the king was playing tennis at bruges when sir stephen fox came to him with the great news, 'the devil is dead!' this would be in september, , cromwell having died on the third of that month. after the restoration charles sent to the citizens of bruges a letter of thanks for the way in which they had received him. nor did he forget, amidst the pleasures of the court at whitehall, the simple pastimes of the honest burghers, but presented to the archers of the society of st. sebastian the sum of , florins, which were expended on their hall of meeting. more than a hundred years later, when the stuart dynasty was a thing of the past and george iii. was seated on the throne of england, the rue haute saw the arrival of some travellers who were very different from the roystering cavaliers and frail beauties who had made it gay in the days of the merry monarch. the english jesuits of st. omer, when expelled from their college, came to bruges in august, , and took up their abode in the house of the seven towers, where they found 'nothing but naked walls and empty chambers.' a miserable place it must have been. 'in one room a rough table of planks had been set up, and the famished travellers were rejoiced at the sight of three roast legs of mutton set on the primitive table. knives, forks, and plates there were none. a flemish servant divided the food with his pocket-knife. a farthing candle gave a rembrandt-like effect to the scene. the boys slept that night on mattresses laid on the floor of one of the big empty rooms of the house. the first days at bruges were cheerless enough.'[*] the religious houses, however, came to the rescue. flemish monks and the nuns of the english convent helped the pilgrims, and the jesuits soon established themselves at bruges, where they remained in peace for a few years, till the austrian government drove them out. the same fate overtook the inmates of many monasteries and convents at bruges in the reign of joseph ii., whose reforming zeal led to that revolt of the austrian netherlands which was the prelude to the invasion of flanders by the army of the french revolution. [footnote *: robinson, _bruges, an historical sketch_, p. .] after the conquest of belgium by the french it looked as if all the churches in bruges were doomed. the chapel of st. basil was laid in ruins. the church of st. donatian, which had stood since the days of baldwin bras-de-fer, was pulled down and disappeared entirely. notre dame, st. sauveur, and other places of worship, narrowly escaped destruction; and it was not till the middle of the nineteenth century that the town recovered, in some measure, from these disasters. bruges has doubtless shared in the general prosperity which has spread over the country since belgium became an independent kingdom after the revolution of , but its progress has been slow. it has never lost its old-world associations; and the names of the streets and squares, and the traditions connected with numberless houses which a stranger might pass without notice, are all so many links with the past. there is the rue espagnole, for example, where a vegetable market is held every wednesday. this was the quarter where the spanish merchants lived and did their business. there used to be a tall, dark, and, in fact, very dirty-looking old house in this street known by the spanish name of the 'casa negra.' it was pulled down a few years ago; but lower down, at the foot of the street, the great cellars in which the spaniards stored their goods remain; and on the quai espagnol was the spanish consulate, now a large dwelling-house. a few steps from the quai espagnol is the place des orientaux (oosterlingen plaats), where a minaret of tawny brick rises above the gables of what was once the consulate of smyrna, and on the north side of which, in the brave days of old, stood the splendid maison des orientaux, the headquarters of the hanseatic league in bruges, the finest house in flanders, with turrets and soaring spire, and marvellous façade, and rooms inside all ablaze with gilding. the glory has departed; two modern dwelling-houses have taken the place of this commercial palace; but it must surely be a very dull imagination on which the sight of this spot, now so tranquil and commonplace, but once the centre of such important transactions, makes no impression. from the place des orientaux it is only a few minutes' stroll to the rue cour de gand and the dark brown wooden front of the small house, now a lace shop, which tradition says was one of memlinc's homes in bruges, where we can fancy him, laboriously and with loving care, putting the last minute touches to some immortal painting. then there is the rue anglaise, off the quai spinola, where the english merchant adventurers met to discuss their affairs in houses with such names as 'old england' or 'the tower of london.' the head of the colony, 'governor of the english nation beyond the seas' they called him, was a very busy man years ago.[*] the scottish merchants were settled in the same district, close to the church of ste. walburge. they called their house 'scotland,' and doubtless made as good bargains as the 'auld enemy' in the next street. there is a building called the parijssche halle, or halle de paris, hidden away among the houses to the west of the market-place, with a café and a theatre where flemish plays are acted now, which was formerly the consulate of france; and subscription balls and amateur theatricals are given by the english residents of to-day in the fourteenth-century house of the genoese merchants in the rue flamande. the list of streets and houses with old-time associations like these might be extended indefinitely, for in bruges the past is ever present. [footnote *: in the _flandria illustrata_ of sanderus, vol. i., p. , there is a picture of the 'domus anglorum.'] [illustration: bruges. vegetable market.] even the flat-fronted, plain houses with which poverty or the bad taste of the last century replaced many of the older buildings do not spoil the picturesque appearance of the town as a whole, because it is no larger now than it was years ago, and these modern structures are quite lost amongst their venerable neighbours. thus bruges retains its mediæval character. in the midst, however, of all this wealth of architectural beauty and historical interest, the atmosphere of common everyday life seems to be so very dull and depressing that people living there are apt to be driven, by sheer boredom, into spending their lives in a round of small excitements and incessant, wearisome gossip, and into taking far more interest in the paltry squabbles of their neighbours over some storm in a teacup than in the more important topics which invigorate the minds of men and women in healthier and broader societies. long before rodenbach's romance was written this peculiarity of bruges was proverbial throughout belgium. but it is possible that a change is at hand, and that bruges may once again become, not the venice of the north--the time for that is past--but an important town, for the spirit of commercial enterprise which has done so much for other parts of belgium during the last seventy-five years is now invading even this quiet place, whose citizens have begun to dream of recovering some portion of their former prosperity. in the belgian parliament passed a law providing for the construction, between blankenberghe and heyst, of a harbour connected with bruges by a canal of large dimensions, and of an inner port at the town. the works at see-brugge, as the outer port is called, are nearly completed, and will allow vessels drawing - / feet of water to float at any state of the tide. the jetty describes a large curve, and the bend is such that its extremity is parallel to the coast, and yards distant from the low-water mark. the sheltered roadstead is about acres in extent, and communication is made with the canal by a lock feet wide and yards in length. from this point the canal, which has a depth of - / feet and is fed by sea-water, runs in a straight line to bruges, and ends at the inner port, which is within a few hundred yards of where the roya used to meet the zwijn. it is capable of affording a minimum capacity of , , tons per annum, and the whole equipment has been fitted up necessary for dealing with this amount of traffic. the first ship, an english steamer, entered the new port at bruges on the morning of may in the present year ( ). the carillon rung from the belfry, guns were fired, and a ceremony in honour of the event took place in the hôtel de ville. it now remains to be seen whether any part of the trade which was lost years ago can be recovered by the skill of modern engineers and the resources of modern capital. the plain of west flanders--ypres chapter vii the plain of west flanders--ypres to the west of bruges the wide plain of flanders extends to the french frontier. church spires and windmills are the most prominent objects in the landscape; but though the flatness of the scenery is monotonous, there is something pleasing to the eye in the endless succession of well-cultivated fields, interrupted at intervals by patches of rough bushland, canals, or slow-moving streams winding between rows of pollards, country houses embowered in woods and pleasure-grounds, cottages with fruitful gardens, orchards, small villages, and compact little towns, in most of which the diligent antiquary will find something of interest--a modest belfry, perhaps, with a romance of its own; a parish church, whose foundations were laid long ago in ground dedicated, in the distant past, to the worship of thor or woden; or the remains, it may be, of a mediæval castle, from which some worthy knight, whose name is forgotten except in local traditions, rode away to the crusades. this part of west flanders, which lies wedged in between the coast, with its populous bathing stations, and the better-known district immediately to the south of it, where ghent, tournai, courtrai, and other important centres draw many travellers every year, is seldom visited by strangers, who are almost as much stared at in some of the villages as they would be in the streets of pekin. it is, however, very accessible. the roads are certainly far from good, and anything in the shape of a walking tour is out of the question, for the strongest pedestrian would have all his pleasure spoilt by the hard-going of the long, straight causeway. the ideal way to see the netherlands and study the life of the people is to travel on the canals; but these are not so numerous here as in other parts of the country, and, besides, it is not very easy to arrange for a passage on the barges. but, in addition to the main lines of the state railway, there are the 'chemins-de-fer vicinaux,' or light district railways, which run through all parts of belgium. the fares on these are very low, and there are so many stoppages that the traveller can see a great many places in the course of a single day. there are cycle tracks, too, alongside most of the roads, the cost of keeping them in order being paid out of the yearly tax paid by the owners of bicycles.[*] [footnote *: bicycles entering belgium pay an _ad valorem_ duty of per cent.] [illustration: the flemish plain] this is the most purely flemish part of flanders. one very seldom notices that spanish type of face which is so common elsewhere--at antwerp, for instance. here the race is almost unmixed, and the peasants speak nothing but flemish to each other. many of them do not understand a word of french, though in belgium french is, as everyone knows, the language of public life and of literature. the newspapers published in flemish are small, and do not contain much beyond local news. the result is that the country people in west flanders know very little of what is going on in the world beyond their own parishes. the standard of education is low, being to a great extent in the hands of the clergy, who have hitherto succeeded in defeating all proposals for making it universal and compulsory. but, steeped as most of them are in ignorance and superstition, the agricultural labourers of west flanders are, to all appearance, quite contented with their lot. living is cheap, and their wants are few. coffee, black bread, potatoes, and salted pork, are the chief articles of diet, and in some households even the pork is a treat for special occasions. they seldom taste butter, using lard instead; and the 'margarine' which is sold in the towns does not find its way into the cottages of the outlying country districts. sugar has for many years been much dearer than in england, and the price is steadily rising, but with this exception the food of the people is cheap. tea enters belgium duty free, but the peasants never use it. many villagers smoke coarse tobacco grown in their own gardens, and a -centimes cigar is the height of luxury. tobacco being a state monopoly in france, the high price in that country makes smuggling common, and there is a good deal of contraband trading carried on in a quiet way on the frontiers of west flanders. the average wage paid for field labour is from franc centimes to francs a day for married men--that is to say, from about s. d. to s. d. of english money. bachelors generally receive franc ( d.) a day and their food. the working hours are long, often from five in the morning till eight in the evening in summer, and in winter from sunrise till sunset, with one break at twelve o'clock for dinner, consisting of bread with pork and black coffee, and another about four in the afternoon, when what remains of the mid-day meal is consumed. the flemish farmhouse is generally a substantial building, with two large living-rooms, in which valuable old pieces of furniture are still occasionally to be found, though the curiosity dealers have, during the last quarter of a century, carried most of them away, polished them up, and sold them at a high profit. carved chests, bearing the arms of ancient families, have been discovered lying full of rubbish in barns or stables, and handsome cabinets, with fine mouldings and brass fittings, have frequently been picked up for a few francs. the heavy beams of the ceilings, black with age, the long flemish stoves, and the quaint window-seats deeply sunk in the thick walls, still remain, and make the interiors of many of these houses very picturesque; but the 'finds' of old furniture, curious brass or pewter dishes, and even stray bits of valuable tapestry, which used to rouse the cupidity of strangers, are now very rare. almost all the brass work which is so eagerly bought by credulous tourists at bruges in summer is bran-new stuff cleverly manufactured for sale--and sold it is at five or six times its real market value! there are no bargains to be picked up on the dyver or in the shops of bruges. [illustration: duinhoek. interior of a farmhouse.] the country life is simple. a good deal of hard drinking goes on in most villages. more beer, probably, is consumed in belgium per head of the population than in any other european country, germany not excepted, and the system of swallowing 'little glasses' of fiery spirit on the top of beer brings forth its natural fruits. the drunken ways of the people are encouraged by the excessive number of public-houses. practically anyone who can pay the government fee and obtain a barrel of beer and a few tumblers may open a drinking-shop. it is not uncommon in a small country village with about inhabitants to see the words 'herberg' or 'estaminet' over the doors of a dozen houses, in which beer is sold at a penny (or less) for a large glass, and where various throat-burning liquors of the _petit verre_ species can be had at the same price; and the result is that very often a great portion of the scanty wage paid on saturday evening is melted into beer or gin on sunday and monday. as a rule, the flemish labourer, being a merry, light-hearted soul, is merely noisy and jovial in a brutal sort of way in his cups; but let a quarrel arise, out come the knives, and before the rural policeman saunters along there are nasty rows, ending in wounds and sometimes in murder. when the lots are drawn for military service, and crowds of country lads with their friends flock into the towns, the public-houses do good business. those who have drawn lucky numbers, and so escaped the conscription, get drunk out of joy; while those who find they must serve in the army drown their sorrow, or celebrate the occasion if they are of a martial turn, by reeling about the streets arm in arm with their companions, shouting and singing. whole families, old and young alike, often join in these performances, and they must be very drunk and very disorderly before the police think of making even the mildest remonstrance. the gay character of the flemings is best seen at the 'kermesse,' or fair, which is held in almost every village during summer. at bruges, ypres, and furnes, and still more in such large cities as brussels or antwerp, the kermesse has ceased to be typical of the country, and is supplanted by fairs such as may be seen in england or in almost any other country. 'merry-go-rounds' driven by steam, elaborate circuses, menageries, waxwork exhibitions, movable theatres, and modern 'shows' of every kind travel about, and settle for a few days, perhaps even for a few weeks, in various towns. the countryfolk of the surrounding district are delighted, and the showmen reap a goodly harvest of francs and centimes; but these fairs are tiresome and commonplace, much less amusing and lively than, for example, st. giles's fair at oxford, though very nearly as noisy. but the kermesse proper, which still survives in some places, shows the flemings amusing themselves in something more like the old fashion than anything which can be seen in the market-place of bruges or on the boulevards of brussels or antwerp. indeed, some of the village scenes, when the young people are dancing or shooting with bows and arrows at the mark, while the elders sit, with their mugs of beer and long pipes, watching and gossiping, are very like what took place in the times of the old painters who were so fond of producing pictures of the kermesses. the dress of the people, of course, is different, but the spirit of the scene, with its homely festivities, is wonderfully little changed. about twenty miles from the french frontier is the town of ypres, once the capital of flanders, and which in the time of louis of nevers was one of the three 'bonnes villes,' bruges and ghent being the others, which appointed deputies to defend the rights and privileges of the whole flemish people. as bruges grew out of the rude fortress on the banks of the roya, so ypres developed from a stronghold built, probably about the year , on a small island in the river yperlee. it was triangular in shape, with a tower at each corner, and was at first known by the inhabitants of the surrounding plain as the 'castle of the three towers.' in course of time houses began to appear on the banks of the river near the island. a rampart of earth with a ditch defended these, and as the place grew, the outworks became more extensive. owing to its strategic position, near france and in a part of flanders which was constantly the scene of war, it was of great importance; and probably no other flemish town has seen its defences so frequently altered and enlarged as ypres has between the primitive days when the crusading thierry d'alsace planted hedges of live thorns to strengthen the towers, and the reign of louis xiv., when a vast and elaborate system of fortifications was constructed on scientific principles, under the direction of vauban. the citizens of ypres took a prominent part in most of the great events which distinguished the heroic period of flemish history. in july, , a contingent of , chosen men, ' of them clothed in scarlet and the rest in black,' were set to watch the town and castle of courtrai during the battle of the golden spurs, and in the following year the victory was celebrated by the institution of the confraternity of the archers of st. sebastian, which still exists at ypres, the last survivor of the armed societies which flourished there during the middle ages. seven hundred burghers of ypres marched to sluis, embarked in the flemish boats which harassed the french fleet during the naval fight of june, , and at the close of the campaign formed themselves into the confraternity of st. michael, which lasted till the french invasion of . forty years later we find no fewer than , of the men of ypres, who had now changed their politics, on the french side at the battle of roosebeke, fighting in the thick mist upon the plain between ypres and roulers on that fatal day which saw the death of philip van artevelde and the triumph of the leliarts. [illustration: adinkerque. at the kermesse.] next year, so unceasingly did the tide of war flow over the plain of flanders, an english army, commanded by henry spencer, bishop of norwich, landed at calais under the pretext of supporting the partisans of pope urban vi., who then occupied the holy see, against the adherents of pope clement vii., who had established himself at avignon. the burghers of ghent flocked to the english standard, and the allies laid siege to ypres, which was defended by the french and the leliarts, who followed louis of maele, count of flanders, and maintained the cause of clement. at that time the gateways were the only part of the fortifications made of stone. the ramparts were of earth, planted on the exterior slope with a thick mass of thorn-bushes, interlaced and strengthened by posts. outside there were more defences of wooden stockades, and beyond them two ditches, divided by a dyke, on which was a palisade of pointed stakes. the town, thus fortified, was defended by about , men, and un june , , the siege was begun by a force consisting of , english and , flemings of the national party, most of whom came from bruges and ghent. the english had been told that the town would not offer a strong resistance, and on the first day of the siege , of them tried to carry it at once by assault. they were repulsed; and after that assaults by the besiegers and sorties by the garrison continued day after day, the loss of life on both sides being very great. at last the besiegers, finding that they could not, in the face of the shower of arrows, javelins, and stones which met them, break through the palisades and the sharp thorn fences (those predecessors of the barbed-wire entanglements of to-day), force the gates, or carry the ramparts, built three wooden towers mounted on wheels, and pushed them full of soldiers up to the gates. but the garrison made a sortie, seized the towers, destroyed them, and killed or captured the soldiers who manned them. spencer on several occasions demanded the surrender of the town, but all his proposals were rejected. the english pressed closer and closer, but were repulsed with heavy losses whenever they delivered an assault. the hopes of the garrison rose high on august , the sixty-first day of the siege, when news arrived that a french army, , strong, accompanied by the forces of the count of flanders, was marching to the relief of ypres. early next morning the english made a fresh attempt to force their way into the town, but they were once more driven back. a little later in the day they twice advanced with the utmost bravery. again they were beaten back. so were the burghers of ghent, whom the english reproached for having deceived them by saying that ypres would fall in three days, and whose answer to this accusation was, a furious attack on one of the gates, in which many of them fell. in the afternoon the english again advanced, and succeeded in forcing their way through part of the formidable thorn hedge; but it was of no avail, and once more they had to retire, leaving heaps of dead behind them. after a rest of some hours, another attack was made on seven different parts of the town at the same time. this assault was the most furious and bloody of the siege, but it was the last. spencer saw that, in spite of the splendid courage of his soldiers and of the flemish burghers, it would be impossible to take the town before the french army arrived, and during the night the english, with their allies from ghent and bruges, retired from before ypres. the failure of this campaign left flanders at the mercy of france; but the death of count louis of maele, which took place in january, , brought in the house of burgundy, under whose rule the flemings enjoyed a long period of prosperity and almost complete independence. it was believed in ypres that the town had been saved by the intercession of the virgin mary, its patron saint. in the cathedral church of st. martin the citizens set up an image of notre, dame-de-thuine, that is, our lady of the enclosures, an allusion to the strong barrier of thorns which had kept the enemy at bay; and a kermesse, appointed to be held on the first sunday of august every year in commemoration of the siege, received the name of the 'thuindag,' or day of the enclosures.[*] the people of ypres, though they fought on the french side, had good reason to be proud of the way in which they defended their homes; but the consequences of the siege were disastrous, for the commerce of the town never recovered the loss of the large working-class population which left it at that time. [footnote *: 'thuin,' or 'tuin,' in flemish means an enclosed space, such as a garden plot.] [illustration: a farmsteading] the religious troubles of the sixteenth century left their mark on ypres as well as on the rest of flanders. everyone has read the glowing sentences in which the historian of the dutch republic describes the cathedral of antwerp, and tells how it was wrecked by the reformers during the image-breaking in the summer of . what happened on the banks of the scheldt appeals most to the imagination; but all over flanders the statues and the shrines, the pictures and the stores of ecclesiastical wealth, with which piety, or superstition, or penitence had enriched so many churches and religious houses, became the objects of popular fury. there had been field-preaching near ypres as early as .[*] other parts of west flanders had been visited by the apostles of the new learning, and on august , , the reformers swept down upon ypres and sacked the churches. [footnote *: motley, _rise of the dutch republic_, part ii., chapter vi.] in the awful tragedy which soon followed, when parma came upon the scene, that 'spectacle of human energy, human suffering, and human strength to suffer, such as has not often been displayed upon the stage of the world's events' the town had its share of the persecutions and exactions which followed the march of the spanish soldiery; but for more than ten years a majority of the burghers adhered to the cause of philip. in july, , however, ypres fell into the hands of the protestants, and became their headquarters in west flanders. five years later alexander of parma besieged it. the siege lasted until april of the following year, when the protestants, worn out by famine, capitulated, and the town was occupied by the spaniards, who 'resorted to instant measures for cleansing a place which had been so long in the hands of the infidels, and, as the first step towards this purification, the bodies of many heretics who had been buried for years were taken from their graves and publicly hanged in their coffins. all living adherents to the reformed religion were instantly expelled from the place.'[*] by this time the population was reduced to , souls, and the fortifications were a heap of ruins. [footnote *: motley, _rise of the dutch republic_, part ii., chapter vi.] [illustration: ypres. place du musée (showing top part of the belfry).] a grim memorial of those troublous times is still preserved at ypres. the place du musée is a quiet corner of the town, where a gothic house with double gables contains a collection of old paintings, medals, instruments of torture, and some other curiosities. it was the bishop of ypres who, at midnight on june , , announced to count egmont, in his prison at brussels, that his hour had come; and the cross-hilted sword, with its long straight blade, which hangs on the wall of the museum is the sword with which the executioner 'severed his head from his shoulders at a single blow' on the following morning. the same weapon, a few minutes later, was used for the despatch of egmont's friend, count horn. before the end of that dismal sixteenth century flanders regained some of the liberties for which so much blood had been shed; but while the protestant dutch republic rose in the north, the 'catholic' or 'spanish' netherlands in the south remained in the possession of spain until the marriage of philip's daughter isabella to the archduke albert, when these provinces were given as a marriage portion to the bride. this was in . though happier times followed under the moderate rule of albert and isabella, war continued to be the incessant scourge of flanders, and during the marching and countermarching of armies across this battlefield of europe, ypres scarcely ever knew what peace meant. four times besieged and four times taken by the french in the wars of louis xiv., the town had no rest; and for miles all round it the fields were scarred by the new system of attacking strong places which vauban had introduced into the art of war. louis, accompanied by schomberg and luxembourg, was himself present at the siege of ; and ypres, having been ceded to france by the treaty of nimeguen in that year, was afterwards strengthened by fortifications constructed from plans furnished by the great french engineer.[*] [footnote *: letter from vauban to louvois on the fortifications of ypres, ; vereecke, pp. - .] in the year vauban speaks of ypres as a place 'formerly great, populous, and busy, but much reduced by the frequent sedition and revolts of its inhabitants, and by the great wars which it has endured.' and in this condition it has remained ever since. though the period which followed the treaty of rastadt in , when flanders passed into the possession of the emperor charles vi., and became a part of the 'austrian netherlands,' was a period of considerable improvement, ypres never recovered its position, not even during the peaceful reign of the empress maria theresa. the revolution against joseph ii. disturbed everything, and in june, , the town yielded, after a short siege, to the army of the french republic. the name of flanders disappeared from the map of europe. the whole of belgium was divided, like france, with which it was now incorporated, into _départements_, ypres being in the department of the lys. for twenty years, during the wars of the republic, the consulate, and the empire, though the conscription was a constant drain upon the youth of flanders, who went away to leave their bones on foreign soil, nothing happened to disturb the quiet of the town, and the fortifications were falling into decay when the return of napoleon from elba set europe in a blaze. during the hundred days guns and war material were hurried over from england, the old defences were restored, and new works constructed by the english engineers; but the battle of waterloo rendered these preparations unnecessary, and the military history of ypres came to an end when the short-lived kingdom of the netherlands was established by the congress of vienna, though it was nominally a place of arms till , when the fortifications were destroyed. nowadays everything is very quiet and unwarlike. the bastions and lunettes, the casemates and moats, which spread in every direction round the town, have almost entirely disappeared, and those parts of the fortifications which remain have been turned into ornamental walks.[*] [footnote *: the evolution of ypres from a feudal tower on an island until it became a great fortress can be traced in a very interesting volume of maps and plans published by m. vereecke in , as a supplement to his _histoire militaire d'ypres_. it shows the first defensive works, those erected by vauban, the state of the fortifications between and , and what the english engineers did in .] but while so little remains of the works which were constructed, at such a cost and with so much labour, for the purposes of war, the arts of peace, which once flourished at ypres, have left a more enduring monument. there is nothing in bruges or any other flemish town which can compare for massive grandeur with the pile of buildings at the west end of the grand place of ypres. during two centuries the merchants of flanders, whose towns were the chief centres of western commerce and civilization, grew to be the richest in europe, and a great portion of the wealth which industry and public spirit had accumulated was spent in erecting those noble civic and commercial buildings which are still the glory of flanders. the foundation-stone of the halle des drapiers, or cloth hall, of ypres was laid by baldwin of constantinople, then count of flanders, at the beginning of the thirteenth century, but more than years had passed away before it was completed. though the name of the architect who began it is unknown, the unity of design which characterizes the work makes it probable that the original plans were adhered to till the whole was finished. nothing could be simpler than the general idea; but the effect is very fine. the ground-floor of the façade, about yards long, is pierced by a number of rectangular doors, over which are two rows of pointed windows, each exactly above the other, and all of the same style. in the upper row every second window is filled up, and contains the statue of some historical character. at each end there is a turret; and the belfry, a square with towers at the corners, rises from the centre of the building. various additions have been made from time to time to the original halle des drapiers since it was finished in the year , and of these the 'nieuwerck' is the most interesting. the east end of the halle was for a long time hidden by a number of wooden erections, which, having been put up for various purposes after the main building was finished, were known as the 'nieuwe wercken,' or new works. they were pulled down in the beginning of the seventeenth century, and replaced by the stone edifice, in the style of the spanish renaissance, which now goes by the name of the nieuwerck, with its ten shapely arches supported by slender pillars, above whose sculptured capitals rise tiers of narrow windows and the steeply-pitched roof with gables of curiously carved stone. ypres had ceased to be a great commercial city long before the nieuwerck was built; but the cloth hall was a busy place during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, when ypres shared with bruges the responsibility of managing the flemish branch of the hanseatic league. the extensive system of monopolies which the league maintained was, as a matter of course, the cause of much jealousy and bad feeling. in flanders, ghent, bruges, and ypres defended their own privileges against other towns, and quarrelled amongst themselves. the merchants of ypres had a monopoly which forbade all weaving for three leagues round the town, under a penalty of fifty livres and confiscation of the looms and linen woven; but the weavers in the neighbouring communes infringed this monopoly, and sold imitations of ypres linen cloth on all hands. there was constant trouble between the people of ypres and their neighbours at poperinghe. sometimes the weavers of ypres, to enforce their exclusive privileges, marched in arms against poperinghe, and sometimes the men of poperinghe retaliated by attacking their powerful rivals. houses were burnt, looms were broken up, and lives were lost in these struggles, which were so frequent that for a long time something like a chronic state of war existed between the two places. [illustration: ypres. arcade under the nieuwerk.] besides the troubles caused by the jealousy of other towns, intestine disputes arising out of the perpetual contest between labour and capital went on from year to year within the walls of ypres. there, as in the other flemish towns, a sharp line was drawn between the working man, by whose hands the linen was actually woven, and the merchants, members of the guilds, by whom it was sold. in these towns, which maintained armies and made treaties of peace, and whose friendship was sought by princes and statesmen, the artisans, whose industry contributed so much to the importance of the community, resented any infringement of their legal rights. by law the magistrates of ypres were elected annually, and because this had not been done in the people rose in revolt against the authorities. the mob invaded the hôtel de ville, where the magistrates were assembled. the baillie, jean deprysenaere, trusting to his influence as the local representative of the count of flanders, left the council chamber, and tried to appease the rioters. he was set upon and killed. then the crowd rushed into the council chamber, seized the other magistrates, and locked them up in the belfry, where they remained prisoners for some days. the leaders of the revolt met, and resolved to kill their prisoners, and this sentence was executed on the burgomaster and two of the sheriffs, who were beheaded in front of the halle in the presence of their colleagues.[*] it was by such stern deeds that the fierce democracy of the flemish communes preserved their rights. [footnote *: vereecke, p. .] each town, however, stood for itself alone. the idea of government by the populace on the marketplace was common to them all, but they were kept apart by the exclusive spirit of commercial jealousy. the thirst for material prosperity consumed them; but they had no bond of union, and each was ready to advance its own interests at the expense of its rivals. therefore, either in the face of foreign invasion, or when the policy of some count led to revolt and civil war, it was seldom that the people of flanders were united. 'l'union fait la force' is the motto of modern belgium, but in the middle ages there was no powerful central authority round which the communes rallied. hence the spectacle of ghent helping an english army to storm the ramparts of ypres, or of the guildsmen of bruges girding on their swords to strike a blow for count louis of maele against the white hoods who marched from ghent. hence the permanent unrest of these flemish towns, the bickerings and the sheddings of blood, the jealousy of trade pitted against trade or of harbour against harbour, the insolence in the hour of triumph and the abject submission in the hour of defeat, and all the evils which discord brought upon the country. no town suffered more than ypres from the distracted state of flanders, which, combined with the ravages of war and the religious dissensions of the sixteenth century, reduced it from the first rank amongst the cities of the netherlands to something very like the condition of a quiet country town in an out-of-the-way corner of england. that is what the ypres of to-day is like--a sleepy country town, with clean, well-kept streets, dull and uninteresting save for the stately cloth hall, which stands there a silent memorial of the past. furnes--the procession of penitents chapter viii furnes--the procession of penitents the traveller wandering amongst the towns and villages in this corner of west flanders is apt to feel that he is on a kind of sentimental journey as he moves from place to place, and finds himself everywhere surrounded by things which belong to the past rather than to the present. the very guidebooks are eloquent if we read between the lines. this place 'was formerly of much greater importance.' that 'was formerly celebrated for its tapestries.' from this hôtel de ville 'the numerous statuettes with which the building was once embellished have all disappeared.' the tower of that church has been left unfinished for the last years. 'fuimus' might be written on them all. and so, some twenty miles north of ypres, on a plain which in the seventeenth century was so studded with earthen redoubts and serrated by long lines of field-works and ditches that the whole countryside between ypres and dunkirk was virtually one vast entrenched camp, we come to the town of furnes, another of the places on which time has laid its heavy hand. the early history of furnes is obscure, though it is generally supposed to have grown up round a fortress erected by baldwin bras-de-fer to check the inroads of the normans. it suffered much, like its neighbours, from wars and revolutions,[*] and is now one of the quietest of the flemish towns. the market-place is a small square, quaintly picturesque, surrounded by clusters of little brick houses with red and blue tiled roofs, low-stepped gables, and deep mouldings round the windows. behind these dwelling-places the bold flying buttresses of the church of ste. walburge, whose relics were brought to furnes by judith, wife of baldwin bras-de-fer, and the tower of st. nicholas, lift themselves on the north and east; and close together in a corner to the west are the dark gray hôtel de ville and palais de justice, in a room of which the judges of the inquisition used to sit. [footnote *: 'furnes était devenue un _oppidium_, aux termes d'une charte de , qui avait à se défendre à la fois contre les incursions des étrangers et les attaques d'une population "indocile et cruelle," comme l'appelle l'abbé de saint riquier hariulf, toujours déchirée par les factions et toujours prête à la révolte.'--gilliodts van severen: _recueil des anciennes coutumes de la belgique; quartier de furnes_, vol. i., p. .] [illustration: furnes. grand place and belfry.] though some features are common to nearly all the flemish towns--the market-place, the belfry, the hôtel de ville, the old gateways, and the churches, with their cherished paintings--yet each of them has generally some association of its own. in bruges we think of how the merchants bought and sold, how the gorgeous city rose, clothed itself in all the colours of the rainbow, glittered for a time, and sank in darkness. in the crowded streets of modern ghent, the busy capital of east flanders, we seem to catch a glimpse of bold jacques van artevelde shouldering his way up to the friday market, or of turbulent burghers gathering there to set pope, or count of flanders, or king of spain at defiance. ypres and its flat meadows suggest one of the innumerable paintings of the flemish wars, the 'battle-pieces' in which the court artists took such pride: the town walls with ditch and glacis before them, and within them the narrow-fronted houses, and the flag flying from steeple or belfry; the clumsy cannon puffing out clouds of smoke; the king of france capering on a fat horse and holding up his baton in an attitude of command in the foreground; and in the distance the tents of the camp, where the travelling theatre was set up, and the musicians fiddled, and an army of serving-men waited on the rouged and powdered ladies who had followed the army into flanders. [illustration: furnes. peristyle of town hall and palais de justice.] furnes, somehow, always recalls the spanish period. the hôtel de ville, a very beautiful example of the renaissance style, with its rare hangings of cordovan leather and its portraits of the archduke albert and his bride, the infanta isabella, is scarcely changed since it was built soon after the death of philip ii. the corps de garde espagnol and the pavilion des officiers espagnols in the market-place, once the headquarters of the whiskered bravos who wrought such ills to flanders, are now used by the municipal council of the town as a museum and a public library; but the stones of this little square were often trodden by the persecutors, with their guards and satellites, in the years when peter titelmann the inquisitor stalked through the fields of flanders, torturing and burning in the name of the catholic church and by authority of the holy office. the spacious room in which the tribunal of the inquisition sat is nowadays remarkable only for its fine proportions and venerable appearance; but, though it was not erected until after the spanish fury had spent its force, and at a time when wiser methods of government had been introduced, it reminds us of the days when the maxims of torquemada were put in force amongst the flemings by priests more wicked and merciless than any who could be found in spain. and in the market-place the people must often have seen the dreadful procession by means of which the church sought to strike terror into the souls of men. those public orgies of clerical intolerance were the suitable consummation of the crimes which had been previously committed in the private conclave of the inquisitors. the burning or strangling of a heretic was not accompanied by so much pomp and circumstance in small towns like furnes as in the great centres, where multitudes, led by the highest in the land, were present to enjoy the spectacle; but the inquisition of the netherlands, under which flanders groaned for so many years, was, as philip himself once boasted, 'much more pitiless than that of spain.' the groans of the victims will never more be heard in the torture-chamber, nor will crowds assemble in the market-place to watch the cortège of the _auto-da-fé_; but every year the famous procession of penitents, which takes place on the last sunday of july, draws many strangers to furnes. it is said in bruges that the ghost of a spanish soldier, condemned to expiate eternally a foul crime done at the bidding of the holy office, walks at midnight on the quai vert, like hamlet's father on the terrace at elsinore; and superstitious people might well fancy that a spectre appears in the market-place of furnes on the summer's night when the town is preparing for the annual ceremony. the origin of the procession was this: in the year a soldier named mannaert, only twenty-two years old, being in garrison at furnes, went to confession and communion in the chapel of the capucins. after he had received the consecrated wafer, he was persuaded by one of his comrades, mathurin lejeusne, to take it out of his mouth, wrap it in a cloth, and, on returning to his lodging, fry it over a fire, under the delusion that by reducing it to powder he would make himself invulnerable. the young man was arrested, confessed his guilt, and himself asked for punishment. condemned to be strangled, he heard the sentence without a murmur, and went to his death singing the penitential psalms. soon afterwards mathurin lejeusne, the instigator of the sacrilege, was shot for some breach of military duty. this was regarded as a proof of divine justice, and the citizens resolved that something must be done to appease the wrath of god, which they feared would fall upon their town because of the outrage done, as they believed, to the body of his son. a society calling itself the 'confrèrie de la sodalité du sauveur crucifié et de la sainte mère marie, se trouvant en douleur dessous la croix, sur mont calvaire,' had been formed a few years before at furnes, and the members now decided that a procession of penitents should walk through the streets every summer and represent to the people the story of the passion. [illustration: nieuport. interior of church.] though the procession at furnes is a thing of yesterday compared to the procession of the holy blood at bruges, it is far more suggestive of mediævalism. the hooded faces of the penitents, the quaint wooden figures representing biblical characters, the coarse dresses, the tawdry colours, the strangely weird arrangement of the whole business, take us back into the monkish superstitions of the dark ages, with their mystery plays. it is best seen from one of the windows of the spanish house, or from the balcony of the hôtel de ville, on a sultry day, when the sky is heavy with black clouds, and thunder growls over the plain of flanders, and hot raindrops fall now and then into the muddy streets. the first figure which appears is a veiled penitent bearing the standard of the sodality. then come, one after another, groups of persons representing various scenes in the bible story, each group preceded by a penitent carrying an inscription to explain what follows. abraham with his sword conducts isaac to the sacrifice on mount moriah. a penitent holding the serpent and the cross walks before moses. two penitents wearily drag a car on which joseph and mary are seen seated in the stable at bethlehem. the four shepherds and the three magi follow. then comes the flight into egypt, with mary on an ass led by joseph, the infant christ in her arms. later we see the doctors of the temple walking in two rows, disputing with the young jesus in their midst. the triumphal entry into jerusalem is represented by a crowd of schoolchildren waving palm-branches and singing hosannahs round jesus mounted on an ass. the agony in the garden, peter denying his lord and weeping bitterly, jesus crowned with thorns, pilate in his judgment-hall, the saviour staggering beneath the cross, the crucifixion itself, the resurrection and the ascension, are all shown with the crude realism of the middle ages. there are penitents bearing ponderous crosses on their shoulders, or carrying in their hands the whips, the nails, the thorns, the veil of the temple rent in twain, a picture of the darkened sun, and other symbols of the passion. at the end, amidst torches and incense and solemn chanting, the host is exhibited for the adoration of the crowd. [illustration: furnes. tower of st. nicholas.] much of this spectacle is grotesque, and even ludicrous; but there is also a great deal that is terribly real, for the penitents are not actors playing a part, but are all persons who have come to furnes for the purpose of doing penance. they are disguised by the dark brown robes which cover them from head to foot, so that they can see their way only through the eyeholes in the hoods which hide their faces; but as they pass silently along, bending under the heavy crosses, or holding out before them scrolls bearing such words as, 'all they that see me laugh me to scorn,' 'they pierced my hands and my feet,' or, 'see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow,' there are glimpses of delicate white hands grasping the hard wood of the crosses, and of small, shapely feet bare in the mud. what sighs, what tears and vain regrets, what secret tragedies of passion, guilt, remorse, may not be concealed amongst the doleful company who tread their own via dolorosa on that pilgrimage of sorrow through the streets of furnes! [illustration: furnes. in st. walburge's church.] nieuport--the battle of the dunes chapter ix nieuport--the battle of the dunes on the morning of july , in the year , two armies--spaniards, under the archduke albert, and dutchmen, under prince maurice of nassau--stood face to face amongst the dunes near nieuport, where the river yser falls into the sea about ten miles west from ostend. in a field to the east of nieuport there is a high, square tower, part of a monastery and church erected by the templars in the middle of the twelfth century, which, though it escaped complete destruction, was set on fire and nearly consumed when the town was attacked and laid in ruins by the english and the burghers of ghent in , the year of their famous siege of ypres. it is now in a half-ruinous condition, but in july, , it was an important part of the fortifications, and from the top the watchmen of the spanish garrison could see the country all round to a great distance beyond the broad moat which then surrounded the strong walls of nieuport. a few miles inland, to the southwest, in the middle of the plain of flanders, were the houses of furnes, grouped round the church tower of st. nicholas. to the north a wide belt of sandhills (the 'dunes'), with the sea beyond them, extended far past ostend on the east, and to the harbour of dunkirk on the west. nearer, on the landward side of the dunes to the east, and within less than a mile of each other, were the villages of westende and lombaerdzyde. close at hand, all round nieuport, there were numerous small lakes and watercourses connected with the channel of the yser, which, flowing past the town, widened out until it joined the sea, and became a harbour, which on that morning was full of shipping. a new chapter had just begun in the history of west flanders when the dutchmen and the spaniards thus met to slaughter each other amongst the sand and rushes of the dunes. philip ii. had offered to cede the spanish netherlands to his daughter, the infanta isabella, on condition that a marriage was arranged between her and the archduke albert of austria. after the death of philip ii. this offer was confirmed by his successor, philip iii., and the wedding took place in april, . [illustration: nieuport. a fair parishioner.] albert and isabella were both entering on the prime of life, the archduke being forty and the infanta thirty-two at the time of their marriage, and were both of a character admirably fitted for the lofty station to which they had been called. in their portraits, which hang, very often frayed and tarnished, on the walls of the hôtel de ville of many a flemish town, there is nothing very royal or very attractive; but, even after making every allowance for the flattery of contemporary historians, there can be little doubt that their popularity was well deserved--well deserved if even a part of what has been said about them is true. the archduke is always said to have taken philip ii. as a model of demeanour, but he had none of the worst faults of the sullen, powerful despot, with that small mind, that 'incredibly small' mind of his, and cold heart, cold alike to human suffering and human love, who had held the flemings, whom he hated, for so many years in the hollow of his hand. his grave mien and reserved habits, probably acquired during his sojourn at the court of spain, were distasteful to the gay and pleasure-loving people of flanders, who would have preferred a prince more like charles v., whose versatility enabled him to adapt himself to the customs of each amongst the various races over whom he ruled. nevertheless, if they did not love him they respected him, and were grateful for the moderation and good feeling which distinguished his reign, and gave their distracted country, after thirty years of civil war, a period of comparative tranquillity. the infanta isabella, _débonnaire_, affable, tolerant, and noble-hearted, as she is described, gained the hearts of the flemings as her husband never did. 'one could not find any court more truly royal or more brilliant in its public fêtes, which sometimes recall the splendid epoch of the house of burgundy. isabella loves a country life. she is often to be seen on horseback, attending the tournaments, leading the chase, flying the hawk, taking part in the sports of the bourgeoise, shooting with the crossbow, and carrying off the prize.' above all things, her works of charity endeared her to the people. in time of war she established hospitals for the wounded, for friends and enemies alike, where she visited them, nursed them, and dressed their wounds with her own hands, with heroic courage and tenderness.[*] [footnote *: de gerlache, i. .] [illustration: nieuport. hall and vicarage.] even on their first coming into flanders, before their characters were known except by hearsay, they were received with extraordinary enthusiasm. travelling by way of luxembourg, they came to namur, where their first visit was made the occasion of a military fête, conducted under the personal supervision of comte florent de berlaimont. at nivelles the duc d'arschot paid out of his own purse the cost of the brilliant festivities to which the people of brabant flocked in order to bid their new rulers welcome, and himself led the procession, accompanied by the archbishop of malines and the bishop of antwerp. so they journeyed on amidst scenes of public rejoicing until they came to brussels, where they established their court in accordance with the customs and ceremonies which had been usual under the dukes of burgundy and the kings of spain. but when the archdukes, as they were called, passed from town to town on this royal progress, the phantoms of war, pestilence, and famine hung over the land. the great cities of flanders had been deserted by thousands of their inhabitants. the sea trade of the country had been destroyed by the vigorous blockade which the dutch ships of war maintained along the coast. religious intolerance had driven the most industrious of the working classes to find a refuge in holland or england. villages lay in ruins, surrounded by untilled fields and gardens run to seed. silent looms and empty warehouses were seen on every side. to such a pass had the disastrous policy of the escurial brought this fair province of the spanish empire! from all parts of flanders the cry for peace went up, but the time for peace was not yet come.[*] [footnote *: _l'abbé nameche_, xxi. - .] the new reign had just begun when maurice of nassau suddenly invaded flanders with a great force, and laid siege to nieuport, the garrison of which, reinforced by an army, at the head of which the archduke albert had hurried across flanders, was under the command of the archduke himself, and many spanish generals of great experience in the wars. [illustration: nieuport. the quay, with eel-boats and landing-stages.] though the court at brussels had been taken by surprise, the dutch army was in a position of great danger. part of it lay on the west side of the yser, and part to the east, amongst the dunes near lombaerdzyde and westende, with a bridge of boats thrown across the river as their only connection. their ships were at anchor close to the shore; but prince maurice frankly told his men that it was useless to think of embarking in case of defeat, and that, therefore, they must either win the day or perish there, for the spaniards were before them under the protection of nieuport, the river divided them, the sea was behind them, and it would be impossible for a beaten army to escape by retreating through the dunes in the direction of ostend. such was the position of affairs beneath the walls of nieuport at sunrise on july , . the morning was spent by the dutch in preparing for battle. towards noon the spanish leaders held a council of war, at which it was decided to attack the enemy as soon as possible, and about three o'clock the battle began. a stiff breeze from the west, blowing up the english channel, drove clouds of sand into the eyes of the spaniards, and the bright rays of the afternoon sun, shining in their faces as they advanced to the attack, dazzled and confused them. but, in spite of these disadvantages, it seemed at first as if the fortunes of the day were to go in their favour. the bridge of boats across the yser was broken, and some of the dutch regiments, seized by a sudden panic, began to retreat towards the sea; but, finding it impossible to reach the ships, they rallied, and began once more to fight with all the dogged courage of their race. for some hours the battle was continued with equal bravery on both sides, the spaniards storming a battery which the dutch had entrenched amongst the dunes, and the dutch defending it so desperately that the dead and wounded lay piled in heaps around it. but at last the spanish infantry were thrown into confusion by a charge of horsemen; the archduke albert was wounded, and had to retire from the front to have his injuries attended to. prince maurice ordered a general advance of all his army, and in a few minutes the enemy were fleeing from the battlefield, leaving behind them , dead, prisoners, and more than standards. the loss on the dutch side was about , . the archduke albert, who had narrowly escaped being himself taken prisoner, succeeded in entering nieuport safely with what remained of his army. the town remained in the hands of the spaniards, for prince maurice, after spending some days in vain attempts to capture it, marched with his whole force to ostend, where soon afterwards began the celebrated siege, which was to last for three long years, and about which all europe never tired of talking.[*] [footnote *: 'le siège d'ostende fut, pendant ces trois ans, la fable et la nouvelle de l'europe; on ne se lassait pas d'en parler. des princes, des étrangers de toutes les nations venaient y assister.'--_l'abbé nameche_, xxi. .] [illustration: nieuport. the town hall.] the history of nieuport since those days has been the history of a gradual fall. its sea trade disappeared slowly but surely; the fishing industry languished; the population decreased year by year; and it has not shared to any appreciable extent in the prosperity which has enriched other parts of flanders since the revolution of . it is now a quiet, sleepy spot, with humble streets, which remind one of some fishing village on the east coast of scotland. men and women sit at the doors mending nets or preparing bait. the boats, with their black hulls and dark brown sails, move lazily up to the landing-stages, where a few small craft, trading along the coast, lie moored. barges heavily laden with wood are pulled laboriously through the locks of the canals which connect the yser with ostend and furnes. the ancient fortifications have long since disappeared, with the exception of a few grass-grown mounds; and only the grim tower of the templars, standing by itself in a field on the outskirts of the town, remains to show that this insignificant place was once a mighty stronghold. in those old flemish towns, however, it is always possible to find something picturesque; and here we have the cloth hall, with its low arches opening on the market-place, and the gothic church, one of the largest in flanders, with its porch and tower, where the bell-ringers play the chimes and the people pass devoutly to the services of the church. but that is all. nieuport has few attractions nowadays, and is chiefly memorable in flemish history because under its walls they fought that bloody 'battle of the dunes,' in which the stubborn strength and obstinacy of the dutch overcame the fiery valour of the spaniards. they are all well-nigh forgotten now, obstinate dutchman and valiant spaniard alike. amongst the dunes not a vestige remains of the field-works for which they fought. bones, broken weapons and shattered breastplates, and all the débris of the fight, were long ago buried fathoms deep beneath mounds of drifting sand. old nieuport--nieuport ville, as they call it now--for which so much blood was shed, is desolate and dreary with its small industries and meagre commerce; but a short walk to the north brings us to nieuport-bains, and to the gay summer life which pulsates all along the flemish coast, from la panne on the west to the frontiers of holland. [illustration: nieuport. church port (evensong).] the coast of flanders chapter x the coast of flanders to walk from nieuport ville to the digue de mer at nieuport-bains is to pass in a few minutes from the old flanders, the home of so much romance, the scene of so many stirring deeds, from the market-places with the narrow gables heaped up in piles around them, from the belfries soaring to the sky, from the winding streets and the narrow lanes, in which the houses almost touch each other from the tumble-down old hostelries, from the solemn aisles where the candles glimmer and the dim red light glows before the altar, from the land of bras-de-fer, and thierry d'alsace, and memlinc, and van eyck, and rubens, the land which was at once the temple and the golgotha of europe, into the clear, broad light of modern days. the flemish coast, from the frontiers of france to the frontiers of holland, is throughout the same in appearance. the sea rolls in and breaks upon the yellow beach, which extends from east to west for some seventy kilometres in an irregular line, unbroken by rocks or cliffs. above the beach are the dunes, a long range of sandhills, tossed into all sorts of queer shapes by the wind, on which nothing grows but rushes or stunted lombardy poplars, and which reach their highest point, the hoogen-blekker, about feet above the sea, near coxyde, a fishing village four or five miles from nieuport. behind the dunes a strip of undulating ground ('ter streep'), seldom more than a bare mile in width, covered with scanty vegetation, moss, and bushes, connects the barren sandhills with the cultivated farms, green fields, and woodlands of the flemish plain. on the other side of the channel the chalk cliffs and rocky coast of england have kept the waves in check; but the dunes were, for many long years, the only barrier against the encroachments of the sea on flanders. they are, however, a very weak defence against the storms of autumn and winter. the sand drifts like snow before the wind, and the outlines of these miniature mountain ranges change often in a single night. at one time, centuries ago, this part of flanders, which is now so bare, was, it is pretty clear, covered by forests, the remains of which are still sometimes found beneath the subsoil inland and under the sea. when the great change came is unknown, but the process was probably gradual. at an early period, here, as in holland, the fight against the invasions of the sea began, and the first dykes are said to have been constructed in the tenth century. the first was known as the evendyck, and ran from heyst to wenduyne. others followed, but they were swept away, and now only a few traces of them are to be found, buried beneath the sand and moss.[*] [footnote *: bortier, _le littoral de la flandre au ixe et au xixe siècles._] [illustration: the dunes. a stormy evening.] the wild storms of the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries changed the aspect of the coast of flanders. nieuport rose in consequence of one of these convulsions of nature, when the inhabitants of lombaerdzyde, which was then a seaport, were driven by the tempests to the inland village of santhoven, the name of which they changed to 'neoportus'--the new harbour. this was in the beginning of the twelfth century, and thenceforth the struggle against the waves went on incessantly. lands were granted by thierry d'alsace on condition that the owner should construct dykes, and baldwin of constantinople appointed guardians of the shore, charged with the duty of watching the sea and constructing defensive works. but the struggle was carried on under the utmost difficulties. in the twelfth century the sea burst in with resistless force upon the low-lying ground, washing away the dunes and swallowing up whole towns. the inroads of the waves, the heavy rains, and the earthquakes, made life so unendurable that there were thousands who left their homes and emigrated to germany. later, in the thirteenth century, there was a catastrophe of appalling dimensions, long known as the 'great storm,' when , flemish men and women perished. this was the same tempest which overran the dutch coast, and formed the zuyder zee, those , square miles of water which the dutch are about to reclaim and form again into dry land. in the following century the town of scarphout, in west flanders, was overwhelmed, and the inhabitants built a new town for themselves on higher ground, and called it blankenberghe, which is now one of the most important watering-places on the coast. ever since those days this constant warfare against the storms has continued, and the sea appears to be bridled; but anyone who has watched the north sea at high tide on a stormy day beating on the shores of flanders, and observed how the dunes yield to the pressure of the wind and waves, and crumble away before his eyes, must come to the conclusion that the peril of the ocean is not yet averted, and can understand the meaning of the great modern works, the _digues de mer_, or sea-fronts, as they would be called in england, which are being gradually constructed at such immense cost all along the coast. a most interesting and, indeed, wonderful thing in the recent history of the netherlands is the rapid development of the flemish littoral from a waste of sand, with here and there a paltry fishing hamlet and two or three small towns, into a great cosmopolitan pleasure resort. seventy-five years ago, when belgium became an independent country, and king leopold i. ascended the throne, ostend and nieuport were the only towns upon the coast which were of any size; but ostend was then a small fortified place, with a harbour wholly unsuited for modern commerce, and nieuport, in a state of decadence, though it possessed a harbour, was a place of no importance. to-day the whole coast is studded with busy watering-places, about twenty of them, most of which have come into existence within the last fifteen years, with a resident population of about , , which is raised by visitors in summer to, it is said, nearly , . the dunes, which the old counts of flanders fought so hard to preserve from the waves, and which were at the beginning of the present century mere wastes of sand, a sort of 'no man's land,' of little or no use except for rabbit-shooting, are now valuable properties, the price of which is rising every year. the work of turning the sand into gold, for that is what the development of the flemish coast comes to, has been carried out partly by the state and partly by private persons. in early times this belt of land upon the margin of the sea was held by the counts of flanders, who treated the ridge of sandhills above high-water mark as a natural rampart against the waves, and granted large tracts of the flat ground which lay behind to various religious houses. at the french revolution these lands were sold as church property at a very low figure, and were afterwards allowed, in many cases, to fall out of cultivation by the purchasers. so great a portion of the district was sold that at the present time only a small portion of the dune land is the property of the state--the narrow strip between mariakerke and middelkerke on the west of ostend, and that which lies between ostend and blankenberghe on the east. the larger portions, which are possessed by private owners, are partly the property of the descendants of those who bought them at the revolution, and partly of building societies, incorporated for the purpose of developing what mr. hall caine once termed the 'visiting industry'--that is to say, the trade in tourists and seaside visitors.[*] [footnote *: letter to the manx reform league, november, .] [illustration: an old farmer] plage de westende, le coq, and duinbergen--three charming summer resorts--have been created by building societies. nieuport-bains and la panne have been developed by the owners of the adjoining lands, the families of crombez and calmeyn. wenduyne, on the other hand, which lies between le coq and blankenberghe, has been made by the state, while the management of blankenberghe, heyst, and middelkerke, as bathing stations, is in the hands of their communal councils. on the coast of flanders, ostend--'la reine des plages'--is, it need hardly be said, the most important place, and its rise has been very remarkable. less than fifty years ago the population was in all about , . during the last fifteen years it has increased by nearly , , and now amounts to about , in round numbers. the increase in the number of summer visitors has been equally remarkable. in the year the list of strangers contained , names; three years ago it contained no less than , . this floating population of foreign visitors who come to ostend is cosmopolitan to an extent unknown at any watering-place in england. in , english, , french, , germans, and , americans helped to swell the crowds who walked on the sea-front, frequented the luxurious and expensive hotels, or left their money on the gaming-tables at the kursaal. on one day--august , -- , persons bathed.[*] [footnote *: i give these figures on the authority of m. paul otlet, advocate, of brussels, to whom i am indebted for much information regarding the development of the coast of flanders. see also an article by m. otlet in _le cottage_, may to june , .] blankenberghe, with its , summer visitors, comes next in importance to ostend, while both heyst and middelkerke are crowded during the season. but the life at these towns is not so agreeable as at the smaller watering-places. the hotels are too full, and have, as a rule, very little except their cheapness to recommend them. there is usually a body calling itself the _comité des fêtes_, the members of which devote themselves for two months every summer to devising amusements, sports, and competitions of various kinds, instead of leaving people to amuse themselves in their own way, so that hardly a day passes on which the strains of a second-rate band are not heard in the local kursaal, or a night which is not made hideous by a barrel-organ, to which the crowd is dancing on the _digue_. at the smaller places, however, though these also have their _comité des fêtes_, one escapes to a great extent from these disagreeable surroundings. may, june, and september are the pleasantest months upon the coast of flanders, for the visitors are not so numerous, and even in mid-winter the dunes are worth a visit. then the hotels and villas fronting the sea are closed, and their windows boarded up. the bathing-machines are removed from the beach, and stand in rows in some sheltered spot. the _digue_, a broad extent of level brickwork, is deserted, and the wind sweeps along it, scattering foam and covering it with sand and sprays of tangled seaweed. the mossy surface of the dunes is frozen hard as iron, and often the hailstones rush in furious blasts before the wind. for league after league there is not a sign of life, except the sea-birds flying low near the shore, or the ships rising and falling in the waves far out to sea. in the winter months the coast of flanders is bleak and stormy, but the air in these solitudes is as health-giving as in any other part of europe. of late years the government, represented by comte de smet de naeyer, has bestowed much attention on the development of the littoral, and king leopold ii. has applied his great business talents to the subject. large sums of money have been voted by the belgian parliament for the construction of public works and the extension of the means of communication from place to place. there is a light railway, the 'vicinal,' which runs along the whole coast, at a short distance from the shore, from knocke, on the east, to la panne in the extreme west, and which is connected with the system of state railways at various points. from ostend, through middelkerke, to plage de westende, an electric railway has been constructed, close to the beach and parallel to the vicinal (which is about a mile inland), on which trains run every ten minutes during the summer season. as an instance of the speed and energy with which these works for the convenience of the public are carried out, when once they have been decided upon, it may be mentioned that the contract for the portion of the electric line between middelkerke and plage de westende, a distance of about a mile and a half, was signed on may , that five days later workmen began to cut through the dunes, embank and lay the permanent way, and that on june , in spite of several interruptions owing to drifting sand and heavy rains, the first train of the regular service arrived at plage de westende. [illustration: la panne. interior of a flemish inn.] a large sum, amounting to several millions of francs, is voted every year for the protection of the shores of flanders against the encroachments of the sea, by the construction of these solid embankments of brickwork and masonry, which will, in the course of a few years, extend in an unbroken line along the whole coast from end to end. the building of these massive sea-walls is a work of great labour and expense, for what seems to be an impregnable embankment, perhaps feet high and feet broad, solid and strong enough to resist the most violent breakers, will be undermined and fall to pieces in a few hours, if not made in the proper way. a _digue_, no matter how thick, which rests on the sand alone will not last. a thick bed of green branches bound together must first be laid down as a foundation: this is strengthened by posts driven through it into the sand. heavy timbers, resting on bundles of branches lashed together, are wedged into the foundations, and slope inwards and upwards to within a few feet of the height to which it is intended to carry the _digue_. on the top another solid bed of branches is laid down, and the whole is first covered with concrete, and then with bricks or tiles, while the edge of the _digue_, at the top of the seaward slope, is composed of heavy blocks of stone cemented together and bound by iron rivets. _digues_ made in this solid fashion, all of them higher above the shore than the thames embankment is above the river, and some of them broader than the embankment, will, before very many years have passed, stretch along the whole coast of flanders without a break, and will form not only a defence against the tides, but a huge level promenade, with the dunes on one side and the sea on the other. this is a gigantic undertaking, but it will be completed during the lifetime of the present generation. [illustration: la panne. a flemish inn--playing skittles.] another grandiose idea, which is actually being carried into effect, is to connect all the seaside resorts on the coast of flanders by a great boulevard, yards wide, with a road for carriages and pedestrians, a track for motor-cars and bicycles, and an electric railway, all side by side. large portions of this magnificent roadway, which is to be known as the 'route royale,' have already been completed between blankenberghe and ostend, and from ostend to plage de westende. from westende it will be continued to nieuport-bains, crossing the yser by movable bridges, and thence to la panne, and so onwards, winding through the dunes, over the french borders, and perhaps as far as paris! a single day's journey through the district which this 'route royale' is to traverse will lead the traveller through the most interesting part of the dunes, and introduce him to most of the favourite _plages_ on the coast of flanders, and thus give him an insight into many characteristic flemish scenes. la panne, for instance, and adinkerque, in the west and on the confines of france, are villages inhabited by fishermen who have built their dwellings in sheltered places amongst the dunes. the low white cottages of la panne, with the strings of dried fish hanging on the walls, nestle in the little valley from which the place takes its name (for _panne_ in flemish means 'a hollow'), surrounded by trees and hedges, gay with wild roses in the summer-time. each cottage stands in its small plot of garden ground, and most of the families own fishing-boats of their own, and farm a holding which supplies them with potatoes and other vegetables. for a long time these cottages were the only houses at la panne, which was seldom visited, except by a few artists; but about fifteen years ago the surveyors and the architects made their appearance, paths and roads were laid out, and, as if by magic, cottages and villas and the inevitable _digue de mer_ have sprung up on the dunes near the sea, and not very far from the original village. the chief feature of the new la panne is that the houses are, except those on the sea-front, built on the natural levels of the ground, some perched on the tops of the dunes, and others in the hollows which separate them. the effect is extremely picturesque, and the example of the builders of la panne is being followed at other places, notably at duinbergen, one of the very latest bathing stations, which has risen during the last three years about a mile to the east of heyst. another very interesting place is the plage de westende, the present terminus of the electric railway from ostend. the old village of westende lies a mile inland on the highway between nieuport and ostend, close to the scene of the battle of the dunes. this plage is, indeed, a model seaside resort, with a _digue_ which looks down upon a shore of the finest sand, and from which, of an evening, one sees the lights of ostend in the east, and the revolving beacon at dunkirk shining far away to the west. the houses which front the sea, all different from each other, are in singularly good taste; and behind them are a number of detached cottages and villas, large and small, in every variety of design. ten years ago the site of this little town was a rabbit warren; now everything is up to date: electric light in every house, perfect drainage, a good water-supply, tennis courts, and an admirable hotel, where even the passing stranger feels at home. though only three-quarters of an hour from noisy, crowded, bustling ostend by the railway, it is one of the quietest and most comfortable places on the coast of flanders, and can be reached by travellers from england in a few hours. some years hence the lovely, peaceful plage de westende may have grown too big, but when the sand has all been turned into gold, and when the contractors and builders have grown rich, those who have known westende in its earlier days will think of it as the quiet spot about which at one time only a few people used to stroll; where perhaps the poet verhaeren found something to inspire him; where many a long summer's evening was spent in pleasant talk on history, and painting, and music by a little society of men and women who spoke french, or german, or english, as the fancy took them, and laughed, and quoted, and exchanged ideas on every subject under the sun; where the professor of music once argued, and sprang up to prove his point by playing--but that is an allusion, or, as mr. kipling would say, 'another story.' the district in which westende lies, with lombaerdzyde, nieuport, furnes, and coxyde close together, is the most interesting on the coast of flanders. le coq, on the other hand, is in that part of the dune country which has least historical interest, and is chiefly known as the place where the royal golf club de belgique has its course. it is only twenty minutes from ostend on the vicinal railway, which has a special station for golfers near the club house. there is no _digue_, and the houses are dotted about in a valley behind the dunes. this place has a curious resemblance to a swiss village. a few years ago the owners of lands upon the flemish littoral began to grasp the fact that there was a sport called golf, on which englishmen were in the habit of spending money, and that it would be an addition to the attractions of ostend if, beside the racecourse, there was a golf-course. king leopold, who is said to contemplate using all the land between the outskirts of ostend and le coq for sporting purposes, paid a large sum, very many thousands of francs, out of his own pocket, and the golf-links at le coq were laid out. the club house is handsome and commodious, but, unfortunately, the course itself, which is the main thing, is not very satisfactory, being far too artificial. the natural 'bunkers' were filled up, and replaced by ramparts and ditches like those on some inland courses in england. on the putting greens the natural undulations of the ground have been levelled, and the greens are all as flat and smooth as billiard-tables. there are clumps of ornamental wood, flower-beds, and artificial ponds with goldfish swimming in them. it is all very pretty, but it is hardly golf. what with the 'grand prix d'ostende,' the 'prix des roses,' the 'prix des ombrelles, handicap libre, réservé aux dames,' the 'grand prix des dames,' and a number of other _objets d'art_, which are offered for competition on almost every day from the beginning of june to the end of september, this is a perfect paradise for the pot-hunter and his familiar friend colonel bogey. real golf, the strenuous game, which demands patience and steady nerves, perhaps, more than any other outdoor game, is not yet quite understood by many belgians; but the bag of clubs is every year becoming more common on the dover mail-boats. most of these golf-bags find their way to knocke, where many of the english colony at bruges spend the summer, and which, as the coast of flanders becomes better known, is visited every year by increasing numbers of travellers from the other side of the channel. knocke is in itself one of the least attractive places on the flemish littoral. the old village, a nondescript collection of houses, lies on the vicinal railway about a mile from the sea, which is reached by a straight roadway, and where there is a _digue_, numerous hotels, pensions, and villas, all of which are filled to overflowing in the season. the air, indeed, is perfect, and there are fine views from the _digue_ and the dunes of the island of walcheren, flushing, and the estuary of the scheldt; but the place was evidently begun with no definite plan: the dunes were ruthlessly levelled, and the result is a few unlovely streets, and a number of detached houses standing in disorder amidst surroundings from which everything that was picturesque has long since departed. but the dunes to the east are wide, and enclose a large space of undulating ground; and here the bruges golf and sports club has its links, which present a very complete contrast to the belgian course at le coq. the links at knocke, if somewhat rough and ready, are certainly sporting in the highest degree. some of the holes, those in what is known as the green valley, are rather featureless; but in the other parts of the course there are numerous natural hazards, bunkers, and hillocks thick with sand and rushes. it has no pretentions to be a 'first-class' course (for one thing, it is too short), but in laying out the eighteen holes the ground has been utilized to the best advantage, and the royal and ancient game flourishes more at knocke than at any other place in belgium. the owners of the soil and the hotel-keepers, with a keen eye to business, and knowing that the golfing alone brings the english, from whom they reap a golden harvest, to knocke, do all in their power to encourage the game, and it is quite possible that before long other links may be established along the coast. the soil of the strip behind the dunes is not so suitable for golf as the close turf of st. andrews, north berwick, or prestwick, for in many places it consists of sand with a slight covering of moss; but with proper treatment it could probably be improved and hardened. it is merely a question of money, and money will certainly be forthcoming if the government, the communes, and the private owners once see that this form of amusement will add to the popularity of the littoral. a short mile's walk to the west of knocke brings us to duinbergen, one of the newest of the flemish _plages_, founded in the year by the société anonyme de duinbergen, a company in which some members of the royal family are said to hold shares. at knocke and others of the older watering-places everything was sacrificed to the purpose of making money speedily out of every available square inch of sand, and the first thing done was to destroy the dunes. but at duinbergen the good example set by the founders of la panne has been followed and improved upon, and nothing could be more _chic_ than this charming little place, which was planned by herr stübben, of cologne, an architect often employed by the king of the belgians, whose idea was to create a small garden city among the dunes. the dunes have been carefully preserved; the roads and pathways wind round them; most of the villas and cottages have been erected in places from which a view of the sea can be obtained; and even the _digue_ has been built in a curve in order to avoid the straight line, which is apt to give an air of monotony to the rows of villas, however picturesque they may be in themselves, which face the sea at other places. so artistic is the appearance of the houses that the term 'style duinbergen' is used by architects to describe it. electric lighting, a copious supply of water rising by gravitation to the highest houses, and a complete system of drainage, add to the luxuries and comforts of this _plage_, which is one of the best illustrations of the wonders which have been wrought among the dunes by that spirit of enterprise which has done so much for modern flanders during the last few years. coxyde--the scenery of the dunes chapter xi coxyde--the scenery of the dunes the whole of the coast-line is within the province of west flanders, and its development in recent years is the most striking fact in the modern history of the part of belgium with which this volume deals. the change which has taken place on the littoral during the last fifteen or twenty years is extraordinary, and the contrast between the old flanders and the new, between the flanders which lingers in the past and the flanders which marches with the times, is brought vividly before us by the difference between such mediæval towns as bruges, furnes, or nieuport, and the bright new places which glitter on the sandy shores of the flemish coast. but in almost every corner of the dunes, close to these signs of modern progress, there is something to remind us of that past history which is, after all, the great charm of flanders. one of the most characteristic spots in the land of the dunes is the village of coxyde, which lies low amongst the sandhills, about five miles west from nieuport, out of sight of the sea, but inhabited by a race of fisherfolk who, curiously enough, pursue their calling on horseback. mounted on their little horses, and carrying baskets and nets fastened to long poles, they go into the sea to catch small fish and shrimps. it is strange to see them riding about in the water, sometimes in bands, but more frequently alone or in pairs; and this curious custom, which has been handed down from father to son for generations, is peculiar to the part of the coast which lies between la panne and the borders of france. near coxyde, and at the corner where the road from furnes turns in the direction of la panne, is a piece of waste ground which travellers on the vicinal railway pass without notice. but here once stood the famous abbey of the dunes. [illustration: coxyde. a shrimper on horseback.] in the first years of the twelfth century a pious hermit named lyger took up his abode in these solitary regions, built a dwelling for himself, and settled down to spend his life in doing good works and in the practice of religion. soon, as others gathered round him, his dwelling grew into a monastery, and at last, in the year , the abbey of the dunes was founded. it was nearly half a century before the great building, which is said to have been the first structure of such a size built of brick in flanders, was completed; but when at last the work was done the abbey was, by all accounts, one of the most magnificent religious houses in flanders, consisting of a group of buildings with no less than windows, a rich and splendid church, so famous for its ornamental woodwork that the carvings of the stalls were reproduced in the distant abbey of melrose in scotland, and a library which, as time went on, became a storehouse of precious manuscripts and hundreds of those wonderfully illustrated missals on which the monks of the middle ages spent so many laborious hours. we can imagine them in the cells of coxyde copying and copying for hours together, or bending over the exquisitely coloured drawings which are still preserved in the museums of flanders. but their most useful work was done on the lands which lay round the abbey. there were at coxyde in the thirteenth century no fewer than monks and converts engaged at one time in cultivating the soil.[*] they drained the marshes, and planted seeds where seeds would grow, until, after years of hard labour on the barren ground, the abbey of the dunes was surrounded by wide fields which had been reclaimed and turned into a fertile oasis in the midst of that savage and inhospitable desert. [footnote *: derode, _histoire religieuse de la flandre maritime_, p. .] when st. bernard was preaching the crusade in flanders he came to coxyde. on his advice the monks adopted the order of the cistercians, and their first abbot under the new rule afterwards sat in the chair of st. bernard himself as abbot of clairvaux. thereafter the cistercian abbey of the dunes grew in fame, especially under the rule of st. idesbaldus, who had come there from furnes, where he had been a canon of the church of ste. walburge. 'it has also a special interest for english folk. it long held lands in the isle of sheppey, as well as the advowson of the church of eastchurch, in the same island. these were bestowed on it by richard the lion-hearted. the legend says that these gifts were made to reward its sixth abbot, elias, for the help he gave in releasing richard from captivity. anyhow, royal charters, and dues from the archbishop of canterbury, and a bull of pope celestine iii., confirmed the abbey in its english possessions and privileges. the abbey seems to have derived little benefit from these, and finally, by decision of a general congregation of the cistercian order, handed them over to the abbot and chapter of bexley, to recoup the latter for the cost of entertaining monks of the order going abroad, or returning from the continent, on business of the order.'[*] [footnote *: robinson, _bruges, an historical sketch_, p. .] [illustration: coxyde. a shrimper.] the english invasion of the fifteenth century destroyed the work of the monks in their fields and gardens, but the abbey itself was spared; and the great disaster did not come until a century later, when the image-breakers, who had begun their work amongst the gothic arches of antwerp, spread over west flanders, and descended upon coxyde. the abbey was attacked, and the monks fled to bruges, carrying with them many of their treasures, which are still to be seen in the collection on the quai de la poterie, beyond the bridge which is called the pont des dunes. the noble building, so long the home of so much piety and learning, and from which so many generations of apostles had gone forth to toil in the fields and minister to the poor, was abandoned, and allowed to fall into ruins, until at last it gradually sunk into complete decay, and was buried beneath the sands. not a trace of it now remains. history has few more piteous sermons to preach on the vanity of all the works of men. the fishermen on the coast of flanders have, from remote times, paid their vows in the hour of danger to notre dame de lombaerdzyde. if they escape from some wild storm they go on a pilgrimage of thanksgiving. they walk in perfect silence along the road to the shrine, for not a word must be spoken till they reach it; and these hardy seafaring men may be seen kneeling at the altar of the old, weather-beaten church which stands on the south side of the highway through the village, and in which are wooden models of ships hung up as votive offerings before an image of the virgin, which is the object of peculiar veneration. the madonna of lombaerdzyde did not prevail to keep the sea from invading the village at the time when the inhabitants were driven to nieuport, but the belief in her miraculous power is as strong to-day as it was in the dark ages. [illustration: adinkerque. village and canal.] there is a view of lombaerdzyde which no one strolling on the dunes near nieuport should fail to see--a perfect picture, as typical of the scenery in these parts as any landscape chosen by hobbema or ruysdael. a causeway running straight between two lofty dunes of bare sand, and bordered by stunted trees, forms a long vista at the end of which lombaerdzyde appears--a group of red-roofed houses, with narrow gables and white walls, and in the middle the pointed spire of the church, beyond which the level plain of flanders, dotted with other villages and churches and trees in formal rows, stretches away into the distance until it merges in the horizon. adinkerque, a picturesque village beyond furnes, is another place which calls to mind many a picture of the flemish artists in the musée of antwerp and the mauritshuis at the hague; and the recesses of the dune country in which these places are hidden has a wonderful fascination about it--the irregular outlines of the dunes, some high and some low, sinking here into deep hollows of firm sand, and rising there into strange fantastic shapes, sometimes with sides like small precipices on which nothing can grow, and sometimes sloping gently downwards and covered with trembling poplars, spread in confusion on every side. often near the shore the sandy barrier has been broken down by the wind or by the waves, and a long gulley formed, which cuts deep into the dunes, and through which the sand drifts inland till it reaches a steep bank clothed with rushes, against which it heaps itself, and so, rising higher with the storms of each winter, forms another dune. this process has been going on for ages. the sands are for ever shifting, but moss begins to grow in sheltered spots; such wild flowers as can flourish there bloom and decay; the poplars shed their leaves, and nourish by imperceptible degrees the fibres of the moss; some hardy grasses take root; and at length a scanty greensward appears. by such means slowly, in the microcosm of the dunes, have been evolved out of the changing sands places fit for men to live in, until now along the strip which guards the coast of flanders there are green glades gay with flowers, and shady dells, and gardens sheltered from the wind, plots of pasture-land, cottages and churches which seem to grow out of the landscape, their colouring so harmonizes with the colouring which surrounds them. and ever, close at hand, the sea is rolling in and falling on the shore. 'come unto these yellow sands,' and when the sun is going down, casting a long bar of burnished gold across the water, against which, perhaps, the sail of some boat looms dark for a moment and then passes on, the sky glows in such a lovely, tender light that those who watch it must needs linger till the twilight is fading away before they turn their faces inland. there are few evenings for beauty like a summer evening on the shores of flanders. index abbey of the dunes; of melrose adinkerque 'adoration of the immaculate lamb' albert, archduke, portrait at furnes; at the battle of the dunes, marries the infanta isabella; character of; wounded albert, prince, at bruges ancona, bishop of andré, st., village of Âne aveugle, rue de l' angelo, michael anglaises, couvent des dames antwerp, cathedral of arschot, duc d' artevelde, jacques van artevelde, philip van artois, comte d' augustinian nuns baldwin, bras-de-fer, real founder of bruges; defends flanders; marries judith; builds church of st. donatian baldwin, king of jerusalem baldwin of constantinople baldwin vii. bannockburn bardi, money-changers at bruges bassin de commerce at bruges battle of the dunes _et seq._ battle of the golden spurs _et seq._ béguinage at bruges; grove of béhuchet, nicholas belfry of bruges belgian parliament passes law for harbour near heyst berlaimont, comte florent de bernard, st., of clairvaux bertulf, provost of st. donatian bexley bicycles, import duty on 'bird of honour' blankenberghe, new harbour near; english fleet at, in boniface viii. bouchoute, hôtel de borthwick, colonel boterbeke bourg, place du, at bruges brangwyn, william breidel, john breskens bristol, earl of, at bruges bruges, described by john of ypres; origin of name; primitive township of; boundaries in early times; market-place; halles; early trade; the loove at; growth of; capital of west flanders; baldwin bras-de-fer its real founder; place du bourg; murder of charles the good; joanna of navarre at; death of marie, wife of maximilian; hôtel de ville; customs house; oriental appearance in middle ages; produce sent to, in middle ages; hanseatic league at; consulates at; splendour of, in middle ages; under the house of burgundy; loss of trade; pauperism; charles ii. at _et seq._; list of charles ii.'s household at; death of catherine of braganza at; fate of church at french revolution; napoleon at; state of, since revolution of ; english jesuits at; queen victoria at; relic of holy blood at _et seq._; procession of the holy blood _et seq._; relic of the holy cross bruges matins brussels, charles ii. at; church of ste. gudule; hôtel de ville burchard burgundy, charles, duke of burgundy, house of burnet, bishop butler, mr. j. caine, mr. hall 'cairless,' mr. capucins, chapel of, at furnes casa negra cathedral of antwerp cathedral of st. martin at ypres cathedral of st. sauveur at bruges catherine of braganza celestine iii. chapel of the capucins at furnes chapelle du saint-sang (st. basil's) at bruges charlemagne charles ii. of england at bruges _et seq._ charles the bald charles the bold charles the good charles v. charles vi. châtillon, jacques de chemins-de-fer vicinaux church of jerusalem at bruges church of notre dame at bruges church of st. donatian at bruges church of ste. walburge cistercians clairvaux clauwerts clement v. clement vii. cologne comte de la hanse congress of vienna coninck, peter de consulate of france; of spain; of smyrna coolkerke courtrai couvent des dames anglaises coxyde cranenberg crecy, battle of cromwell customs house at bruges dalgetty, dugald damme _et seq._; population of; röles de; harbour blocked up dampierre, guy de david, gerard deprysenaere, jean of ypres _digues de mer_, construction of donatian, church of st., built by baldwin bras-de-fer; bertulf, provost of; site of; murder of charles the good in; destroyed don john of austria dordrecht duinbergen dunes, battle of the; scenery of _et seq._ dyver, the, at bruges edward iii. edward iv. egmont, count elias, sixth abbot of coxyde english merchant adventurers erembalds _et seq._; feud with straetens; destruction of ethelbald ethelwulf, husband of judith, daughter of charles the bald evendyck eyck, van, elder and younger flanders, state of, in early times; invaded by normans; origin of title 'count of'; defended by baldwin bras-de-fer; allied to england; neutrality of, in and ; invaded by french; plain of _et seq._; ignorance of country people in; smuggling between france and; annexed to france; invaded by english; causes of disunion in; ceded to the infanta isabella; contrast between different parts of; coast of _et seq._ flotte, pierre, chancellor of france flushing fox, sir stephen france, flanders annexed to france, palais du french consulate at bruges furnes; procession of penitents at; church of ste. walburge; hôtel de ville and palais de justice; church of st. nicholas; corps de garde espagnol and pavillon des officiers espagnols gand, porte de gardiner, dr., quoted gauthier de sapignies genoese merchants, house of, at bruges george iii. germany, emigrations from flanders to ghent ghiselhuis gilliat-smith, author of _the story of bruges_ gloucester, henry, duke of _et seq._ godshuisen golden fleece, order of the golden spurs, battle of the golf in belgium 'governor of the english colony beyond the seas' grande dame of béguinage grande salle des echevins at bruges great storm of thirteenth century gruthuise guildhouse of st. sebastian at bruges gustavus adolphus guy de dampierre haecke, canon van halle de drapiers at ypres halle de paris at bruges halles at bruges hamilton, sir james hanseatic league het paradijs heyst hobbema hogarth holland, béguinages in holy blood, relic and chapel of, at bruges; procession of the holy cross, relic of holy sepulchre, church of, at jerusalem hoogenblekker horn, count hôtel de bouchoute at bruges hôtel de ville at bruges; at furnes house of the seven towers hyde (lord clarendon) idesbaldus, st. inquisition in flanders isabella, the infanta jerusalem, baldwin, king of jerusalem, church of, at bruges jesse, _memoirs of the court of england_ jesuits at bruges joanna of navarre john of ypres joseph ii. joseph of arimathæa judith, wife of baldwin bras-de-fer justice, palais du, at bruges; at furnes kadzand kermesse king, thomas harper knights of the golden fleece knocke lac d'amour la panne le coq _legend of montrose_ lejeusne, mathurin leliarts leonius leopold i. leopold ii. lilly the astrologer lincoln, bishop of lombaerdzyde longfellow, quoted loove, the, at bruges louis of maele louis of nevers louis xiv. louvain luxembourg lyger maele, louis of maison des orientaux mannaert marbriers, quai des mariakerke maria theresa market-place of bruges mary, 'the gentle' matins of bruges maurice of nassau mauritshuis at the hague maximilian, archduke mazarin melrose abbey memlinc meuninxhove, john van michael angelo middelkerke minnewater miracles wrought by the holy blood at bruges morgarten mother superior of béguinage murray, sir robert napoleon at bruges; return from elba; canal to sluis constructed by navarre, joanna of neutrality of flanders in and nevers, louis of nicholas i., pope nicholas, sir edward nieuport; origin of; besieged by prince maurice; fallen state of nieuport-bains 'nieuwerck,' at ypres nimeguen, treaty of nivelles noé, michael normans in flanders norwich, earl of notre dame, church of, at bruges notre dame de lombaerdzyde notre dame de thuine 'old england' at bruges oosterlingen plaats oostkerke orientaux, maison des; place des ormonde osburga ostend, growth of otlet, m. paul _note_ ouden burg palais de justice, at bruges; at furnes palais du franc paradijs, het parijssche halle paris parma, duke of, in flanders pauperism of bruges philip ii. cedes spanish netherlands to his daughter philip iii. philip of valois philip the fair place des orientaux place du bourg pont des dunes pope clement v.; vii.; boniface viii.; celestine iii.; urban vi. poperinghe porte de damme porte de gand porte ste. croix procession of the holy blood at bruges _et seq._; of penitents at furnes pruyssenaere, peter quai espagnol; long; des marbriers; du miroir; de la potterie; du rosaire; spinola; vert rastadt, treaty of richard i. robinson, mr. wilfrid, author of _bruges, an historical sketch_ rochester, earl of rodenbach röles de damme rome, flight of baldwin and judith to roosebeke, battle of rosaire, quai du roulers route royale roya rue anglaise, in bruges; de l'Âne aveugle; des carmes; cour de gand; espagnole; flamande; haute; neuve; du vieux bourg ruysdael santhoven scarphout 'schielt ende vriendt' schomberg schoutteeten 'scotland,' at bruges scottish merchants at bruges scott, sir walter see-brugge senlis sheppey, isle of sluis smith, gilliat- smet de naeyer, comte smyrna, consulate of, at bruges spaniards, at bruges; at furnes spanish inquisition spencer, henry, bishop of norwich st. andré, village of st. basil, church of st. bavon st. bernard of clairvaux st. donatian, church of st. george, society of st. idesbaldus st. john, hospital of st. martin, church of, at furnes st. nicholas, church of, at furnes st. omer, jesuits of st. peter's, at ghent st. sauveur, church of st. sebastian, society of, at bruges; at ypres ste. elizabeth, church of ste. gudule, church of ste. monica, church of ste. walburge, church of, at bruges; at furnes straetens stübben, herr swift, dean sybilla, wife of thierry d'alsace sydenham, colonel syria tarah, viscount 'ter streep' thierry d'alsace _et seq._ 'thuindag' thurloe state papers titelman the inquisitor torquemada tournai 'tower of london' at bruges turner, sir james valois, philip of van eyck vauban, fortifies ypres verhaeren, m., belgian poet vienna, congress of vieux bourg, rue du virgin and child, statue of, at bruges urban vi. victoria, queen, at bruges walburge, ste., church of, at bruges; at furnes walcheren waterloo, battle of weavers, guild of wenduyne westcapelle westende, village; plage william, bishop of ancona york, duke of, at bruges _et seq._ ypres; field preaching near; churches sacked; taken by parma; by the protestants; place du musée; besieged by louis xiv.; fortified by vauban; ceded to france; described by vauban in ; taken by the french in ; during the hundred days; end of military history; grand place and cloth hall; monopoly of weaving linen; manages with bruges the hanseatic league in flanders; the nieuwerck; riots at; siege of, by english _et seq._; john of ypres describes early bruges yser zwijn zuyder zee note: project gutenberg also has an html version of this file which includes the original illustrations. see -h.htm or -h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/ / / / / / -h/ -h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/ / / / / / -h.zip) transcriber's note: inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have been preserved. obvious typographical errors have been corrected. text that was printed in bold is enclosed by equal signs (=like this=). the page advertising other books in the series has been removed to the end of this e-book. the latin number [i] in the text refers to a transcriber's note at the end of this e-book. belgium from the roman invasion to the present day illustration: albert i. frontispiece. _photo langfier._ belgium from the roman invasion to the present day by emile cammaerts with illustrations and maps t. fisher unwin ltd london: adelphi terrace copyright by t. fisher unwin, (for great britain) copyright by g.p. putnam's sons (for the united states of america), first published second impression (all rights reserved) preface we possess happily, nowadays, a few standard books, of great insight and impartiality, which allow us to form a general idea of the development of the belgian nation without breaking fresh ground. the four volumes of henri pirenne's _histoire de belgique_ carry us as far as the peace of münster, and, among others, such works as vanderlinen's _belgium_, issued recently by the oxford university press, and a treatise on belgian history by f. van kalken ( ) supply a great deal of information on the modern period. to these works the author has been chiefly indebted in writing the present volume. he felt the need for placing the conclusions of modern belgian historians within reach of british readers, and believed that, though he might not claim any very special qualifications to deal with belgian history, his knowledge of england would allow him to present his material in the way most interesting to the english-speaking public. _belgium_ is neither a series of essays nor a systematic text-book. chronological sequence is preserved, and practically all important events are recorded in their appointed time, but special stress has been laid on some characteristic features of belgian civilization and national development which are of general interest and bear on the history of europe as a whole. the author wishes to express his sincere thanks to his friend, professor van der essen, who has been good enough to revise his work. he is also indebted to messrs. van oest & co. for allowing him to reproduce some pictures belonging to _l'album historique de la belgique_, and to the phototypie belge (ph.b.), sté anonyme, etterbeek, bruxelles, and other holders of copyright for providing him with valuable illustrations. contents page preface introduction chapter i the coal wood celts and germans--roman conquest--roads of roman civilization--first christianization--germanic invasion--natural obstacle presented by the "silva carbonaria"--origins of racial and linguistic division. chapter ii from saint amand to charlemagne frankish capital transferred from tournai to paris--second christianization--st. amand--restoration of the old bishoprics-- romanization of the franks and germanization of the walloons-- unification under charlemagne--aix-la-chapelle, centre of the empire--first period of economic and intellectual efflorescence. chapter iii lotharingia and flanders partition after charlemagne--treaty of verdun--the frontier of the scheldt--struggle of feudal lords against the central power--the normans. chapter iv rÉgner long neck policy of the lotharingian princes--influence of the german bishops--alliance with flanders against the emperor--decadence of the central power--religious reform of gérard de brogne--the clunisians and the struggle for the investitures--the first crusade. chapter v baldwin the bearded policy of the counts of flanders--imperial flanders--the english alliance--first prospect of unification--robert the frisian. chapter vi the belfries origin of the communes; trade and industry--resistance of feudal lords; cambrai--protection given by the counts of flanders and the dukes of brabant--social transformation extending to the country-side--the meaning of the belfries. chapter vii the golden spurs attraction of flanders on the rest of the country--attempts at maintaining neutrality between france and england--thierry and philippe d'alsace--baldwin ix--ferrand of portugal--bouvines--increasing french influence--flemish reaction--"matines brugeoises"--consequences of the battle of courtrai--edward iii and van artevelde. chapter viii the cathedral of tournai religious spirit of belgium in the middle ages--the romanesque churches--introduction of gothic; period of transition, early gothic, secondary period, third period--french and flemish languages during the middle ages--picard writers in walloon flanders--first translations and chronicles in french--origin of flemish letters, willem's _reinaert_, van maerlant. chapter ix the great dukes of the west decline of the communes--policy of the burgundian dukes: philip the bold, john the fearless, philip the good--territorial unification and political centralization--philip's external policy--charles the bold--dream of a new central empire. chapter x the town halls the meaning of belgium's gothic town halls--result of a compromise between centralization and local liberties--decline of the cloth industry--economic prosperity under the new régime--transformation of trade--antwerp succeeds bruges. chapter xi the adoration of the lamb civilization under burgundian rule--french and flemish; bilingualism--flemish letters: jean boendaele, ruysbroeck--the brothers of the common life--writers in french: jean le bel, froissart, chastellain--development of music: dufay, ockeghem, etc.--life in fifteenth-century belgium--the early "flemish school of painting"--its place in the history of art--the brothers van eyck--origins of the school; sculpture, illuminating. chapter xii reaction after the death of charles the bold--the "great privilege" of mary of burgundy--her marriage with maximilian; its consequences--conflict between burgundian and hapsburgian policies--philip the handsome--margaret of austria--accession of charles to the empire--projects of founding a separate kingdom--margaret's second governorship. chapter xiii the last stage of centralization mary of hungary--revolt of ghent--complete unification--augsburg transaction--pragmatic sanction--abdication of charles v. chapter xiv antwerp development of modern trade--rural industry--humanism and lutheranism--the placards--anabaptism--calvinism. chapter xv the beggars philip ii--marguerite of parma and the consulta--resistance of the council of state--the "compromise"--the iconoclasts--catholic reaction. chapter xvi separation north and south--the duke of alba and the council of blood--requesens--"spanish fury"--pacification of ghent--don juan--policy of orange--archduke matthias--the duke of anjou--the "malcontents"--confederation of arras--union of utrecht--"french fury"--the fall of antwerp. chapter xvii dream of independence albert and isabella--catholic reaction--siege of ostend--policy of the spanish kings--the walloon league--the states-general. chapter xviii the twelve years' truce period of reconstruction--ruin of antwerp--revival of industry and agriculture--social conditions under albert and isabella--influence of the church. chapter xix rubens contrast between flemish art in the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries--italian influence--intellectual action of the jesuits--neglect of flemish--popular art: breughel, jordaens. chapter xx political decadence under spain situation of the southern netherlands between the united provinces and france--projects of partition--münster treaty--wars of the spanish succession--the anglo-batavian conference--treaty of utrecht--the barrier system. chapter xxi the ostend company economic renaissance under the austrian régime--efforts to liberate belgian trade--war of austrian succession--charles de lorraine--intellectual decadence--popular restlessness. chapter xxii the brabanÇonne revolution joseph ii and philip ii--strength of the burgundian tradition-- suppression of the barrier--the "war of the cauldron"--the emperor's internal reforms--popular resistance: van der noot and vonck--the "etats belgiques unis"--"statists" and "vonckists"--the reichenbach convention--restoration of the austrian régime. chapter xxiii liberty, equality, fraternity jemappes--excesses of the "sans culottes"--neerwinden--treaty of the hague--policy of the convention towards occupied territory--annexation--the "war of the peasants"--napoleonic rule--the vienna treaty. chapter xxiv black, yellow and red the joint kingdom--causes of failure--belgian grievances--policy of william i--reconciliation of catholics and liberals--the september days. chapter xxv the scrap of paper the conference of london--attitude of the belgian delegates--the "bases of separation"--the luxemburg question--the xviii articles--prince leopold--dutch invasion--the xxiv articles--their final acceptance--guaranteed neutrality. chapter xxvi neutral independence the meaning of neutrality--the question of national defence--risquons tout--the policy of napoleon iii--the entrenched camp of antwerp--british action in --leopold ii and emile banning--liége and namur--military reform. chapter xxvii economic renaissance the belgian constitution--influence of neutrality on internal politics--struggle between liberals and catholics--the "school war"--the labour party--the franchise--economic prosperity: agriculture, industry, trade--the opening of the scheldt--the search for colonial outlet--leopold ii and the congo free state--the belgian congo. chapter xxviii intellectual renaissance architecture and sculpture in modern belgium--the modern school of painting--a national school of literature in french and flemish--the flemish movement. chapter xxix conclusion part played by belgium in the great war--german occupation--the "making of a nation"--the "resistance of a nation"--result of the treaty of versailles--future of belgium. index list of illustrations albert i _frontispiece_ facing page cloth hall, ypres castle of the counts, ghent cloth hall and belfry, bruges seal of the town of damme seal of guy de dampierre tournai cathedral bronze font, st. bartholomew, liÉge sainte gudule, brussels philip the good charles the bold town hall, bruges the first antwerp exchange town hall, oudenarde the adoration of the lamb the adoration of the lamb plourant mary of burgundy maximilian i philip the fair juana of castile charles v margaret of austria the infanta isabella archduke albert pulpit of sainte gudule, brussels the massacre of the innocents (breughel) proclamation of the peace of mÜnster joseph ii van der noot scene of the brabanÇonne revolution leopold i leopold ii palace of justice, brussels "the puddler" (meunier) list of maps belgium in roman times division of charlemagne's empire feudal belgium the netherlands under the rule of the dukes of burgundy belgium under the rule of the kings of spain belgium under the rule of the emperors of austria belgium under french rule the united kingdom of the netherlands modern belgium (treaties of - and ) introduction the history of the belgian nation is little known in england. this ignorance, or rather this neglect, may seem strange if we consider the frequent relations which existed between the two countries from the early middle ages. it is, however, easy enough to explain, and even to justify. the general idea has been for a long time that the existence of belgium, as a nation, dated from its independence, and that previous to such a thing as belgian history did not even exist. all through feudal times we are aware of the existence of the county of flanders, of the duchy of brabant, and of many other principalities, but, in no official act, does the term "belgique" occur. even after the unification of the fifteenth century, when the country came under the rule of the dukes of burgundy, the notion of a distinct nationality, such as the french or the british, remains hidden to the superficial student, the netherlands forming merely a part of the rich possessions of the most powerful vassals of france. through modern times the belgian provinces, "les provinces belgiques" as they were called in the eighteenth century, pass under the rule of the kings of spain, of the emperors of austria and of the french republic, to be finally merged, after the fall of napoleon, into the kingdom of the netherlands. the word "belgium," as a noun, is only found in a few books; "belgique" is a mere adjective applied to the southern portion of the netherlands. it must be admitted that the belgian official historians of the old school did very little to dispel this wrong impression. in their patriotic zeal they endeavoured to picture belgium as struggling valiantly all the time against foreign oppression. they laid great stress on cæsar's words: "of all the gauls the belgians are the bravest," and pictured the popular risings of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in the same light as the revolution. if we are to believe them, the belgian people must have been conscious from their origin of their unity. they considered national princes, such as the burgundian dukes, in the same light as philip ii or the austrian emperors, and, instead of clearing the air, added to the confusion. their interpretation of history according to the principles of national liberty of the romantic period could not be taken seriously, and the idea prevailed that, if the belgian nation was not merely a creation of european diplomacy, its existence could only be confirmed by the future, and rested on but frail foundations in the past. this idea was strengthened by the knowledge that the country possessed neither strong natural frontiers, like great britain, france, italy or spain, nor the bond created by unity of language like germany. other european countries, it is true, like holland or poland, did not constitute strong geographical units and lacked definite boundaries but their people talked at least the same idiom and belonged, as far as the word may be used in a broad sense, to the same race. others, like switzerland, were divided between various languages, but possessed geographical unity. belgium could not claim any of these distinctive features. her boundaries remained widely open in all directions. from the cultivated plains of flanders to the wild hills of the ardennes she offered the greatest variety of physical aspects. what is more, her people were nearly equally divided, by a line running from the south of ypres to the north of liége, between two different languages, two different races. according to recognized standards, the very existence of the belgian nation was a paradox, and though the history of mankind presents many similar contrasts between the hasty conclusions of the untrained mind and the tangible reality of facts, these cannot be recognized at first, and require a deeper knowledge of the past than that which can be provided by the study of warlike conflicts and political changes. it was therefore left to the modern school of belgian historians, and more especially to professor pirenne, of ghent, to place the study of the origin of the belgian nation in its right perspective and to show that, in spite of diversity of race and language, lack of natural boundaries and centuries of foreign domination, belgian unity was based on deep-rooted traditions and possessed strong characteristics in every department of human activity which could be recognized from the early middle ages to the modern period. by a close study of the economic and intellectual life of the people and of their institutions, pirenne and his disciples made evident what every artist, every writer had already realized, that, in spite of all appearances, belgian unity had never been impaired in the past by the language barrier, and that both parts of the country presented common characteristics, common customs, and common institutions which no foreign rule was able to eradicate. they showed furthermore that these characteristics, determined by the common interests and aspirations of the whole people, were so strong that they inspired the policy of many foreign princes who, by their birth, would naturally have been led to disregard them. they may still be found in the country's old charters, in ancient chronicles, in the works of the so-called flemish school of painting, and in every monument of the past which has survived the devastation of war. to these witnesses belgian historians will not appeal in vain, when they endeavour to show that the origins of belgian national unity may be sought as far back as those of any other nation in europe, and that if more exposed than her powerful neighbours to the vicissitudes of war, belgium always succeeded in preserving, throughout her darkest days, some living token of her former prosperity and of her future independence. * * * * * if, as we trust, the reader is convinced after reading this short sketch of belgium's history that belgian nationality is more than a vain word, and that the attitude adopted by the belgian people in august , far from being an impulsive movement, was merely the result of the slow and progressive development of their national feeling throughout the ages, he will also realize that this development has received many checks, and is therefore very different from that which may be traced in the history of england, for instance, or even in that of france. nowhere would the familiar image of the growing tree be more misleading. belgian history possesses some remarkable landmarks, under charlemagne, for instance, at the time of the communes, under the rule of the dukes of burgundy, under charles v, and during the recent period of independence. but, between these periods of prosperity and even splendour, we notice some periods of stagnation due to internal strife or even complete decadence, when the country became a prey to foreign invasion. few peoples have experienced such severe trials, few have shown such extraordinary power of recovery. peace and a wise government coincide invariably with an extraordinary material and intellectual efflorescence, war and oppression with the partial or total loss of the progress realized a few years before, so that the arts and trades of belgian cities which shine at one time in the forefront of european civilization seem totally forgotten at another. in more than one way belgium has lived under a troubled sky, where heavy showers succeed bright sunshine, while the towers of ypres, ghent, bruges, antwerp, louvain and brussels appear and disappear on the horizon. how can we explain the tragedy of these abrupt changes? how can we justify these sudden alternations in the life of a hard-working and peace-loving people who never indulged in any dreams of imperialism and foreign conquest? a look at the map will help us to solve the mystery. the plain of northern europe may be divided into two wide areas, the french plain, whose waters run from east to west into the atlantic, and the german plain, whose waters run from south to north into the north sea and the baltic. these wide expanses are connected by a narrow strip of territory through which all communications skirting the hills and mountains of the south must necessarily be concentrated, and whose waters follow a north-westerly direction towards the straits of dover. this small plain, only miles wide from ostend to namur, constitutes a natural link between germany and france, and plays, from the continental point of view, the same part as the straits, on its northern coast. even to-day, in spite of the progress of railway communications, the main line from paris to berlin passes along the sambre and meuse valleys, through namur, liége and aix-la-chapelle, and the events of august are only the last example of the frequent use made of this road throughout history, by invaders coming from the east or from the south. for peaceful and warlike intercourse, belgium is situated on the natural highway connecting the french and german plains. this geographical feature alone would suffice to influence the historical development of the country. but there is another. it so happens that by an extraordinary arrangement of the map, which one may be tempted to call a coincidence, the sea straits are placed in close proximity to the continental narrows, so that the natural route from great britain to central europe crosses in belgium the natural route from france to germany. this appears all the more clearly if we take into consideration the fact that the seventeen provinces extended in the past from the zuyder zee to the somme, and that bruges, and later on antwerp, benefited largely from the trade of the thames. this then is what is meant when belgium is spoken of as being placed at "the cross-roads of europe." most of the continental communications between great britain and germany or italy, on the one hand, or between france and germany on the other, were bound to pass through her provinces. she was, and is still to a certain extent, the predestined meeting-ground of british, french and german culture, the market-place where merchandise and ideas from the north, the west, the east and the south may be most conveniently exchanged, and she derives her originality from the very variety of the influences which surround her. the division of languages and races helped her in her task, and, instead of proving an obstacle to national development, contributed to it whenever circumstances proved favourable. the original contribution of the people to this development may be somewhat difficult to define, but the result is no less evident. belgian, or as it is sometimes called, flemish culture, though intimately connected with france and germany, is neither french nor german, still less english. its characteristics are derived from the combination of various european influences strongly moulded by long-standing traditions and habits. "the will to live together" which, according to renan, is at the root of every nationality, and proves stronger than unity of race and language, finds nowhere a better illustration than in the strange part played by the belgian nation in the history of europe. common interests, common dangers, common aspirations produced and maintained a distinct civilization which, according to all the laws of materialistic logic, ought to have been wrecked and swamped long ago by the overwhelming influences to which it was subjected. * * * * * as early as the ninth century, under the rule of charlemagne, these characteristics began to show themselves. the emperor chose aix-la-chapelle for his capital, not only because he possessed vast domains in the region, but also because, from this central position, he was better able to keep in contact with the governors of a vast empire which extended from the elbe to spain and italy. aix-la-chapelle, "the northern rome," became the metropolis of commerce as well as the political capital. the various intellectual centres created in the neighbourhood, at the monasteries of liége, tongres, and maesyck attracted english, irish, french and italian poets, musicians, lawyers and theologians. later, in the twelfth century, when the free communes developed all over western europe and succeeded in breaking the power of feudalism, it was left to ghent and bruges to raise the free city to a standard of independence and prosperity which it did not attain in other countries, placed under a stronger central power. in the shadow of their proud belfries over , merchants and artisans pursued their active trade, and bruges, "the venice of the north," became the principal port of europe and the centre of banking activity. the part played by the burgundian dukes in european politics during the hundred years' war is well known in this country, but the importance of their action in unifying the seventeen provinces of the netherlands is not sufficiently realized. in fact, in spite of their foreign origin, their policy was so much inspired by the interest of the country that they may be considered as national princes. the "great dukes of the west" did for belgium, in the fifteenth century, what louis xi did for france, and what henry viii did for england, half a century later. they succeeded in centralizing public institutions and in suppressing, to a great extent, local jealousies and internal strife which weakened the nation and wasted her resources. under their rule the belgian provinces rose to an unequalled intellectual and artistic splendour and gave to the world, by the paintings of the brothers van eyck and their school, one of the most brilliant expressions of the early renaissance. this prominent situation was maintained, in spite of the fall of the burgundian dynasty, when, through the marriage of mary of burgundy with maximilian, belgium passed under the sway of the hapsburg dynasty. under charles v, antwerp inherited the prosperity of bruges, and became the principal centre of european commerce. it was visited every year by , ships, and the amount of commercial transactions made through its exchange was valued at forty million ducats per year. even after the disastrous wars of religion which separated the northern netherlands, or united provinces, from the southern provinces, and ruined for two centuries the port of antwerp, there was a short respite, under the wise rule of the archdukes albert and isabella ( - ), during which the art of rubens, van dyck and jordaens threw a last glamour on belgium's falling greatness. this rapid sketch of the happy periods of belgian history would not be complete if we did not allude to the wonderful recovery made by the country as soon as the powers granted her the right to live as an independent state after the unhappy experiment of the joint kingdom of the netherlands ( - ). her population increased twofold. the scheldt was reopened and antwerp regained most of its previous trade. at the time of the german invasion modern belgium occupied the first rank in europe with regard to the density of her population, the yield of her fields per acre, the development of her railway system and the importance of her special trade per head of inhabitants. in spite of her small area, she occupied the fifth rank among the great trading nations of the world, and the names of maeterlinck, verhaeren, césar franck and meunier show that she had reconquered a great part of her former intellectual prestige. there is one striking resemblance between all periods of belgian development. whether in the ninth, the thirteenth, the fifteenth or the nineteenth century, they express the civilization of the time, and succeed in producing a typical example of essentially european culture, imperial under charlemagne, communal in the middle ages, centralized under national princes during the renaissance, highly industrialized and colonial in modern times. this trait must be considered when belgium is represented as the "kernel of europe," as combining the spirit of the north, east and south. it is not enough to say that the country seems predestined to this task by her geographical position and her duality of race and language bringing together the so-called "germanic" and "latin" tendencies; it must be added that, whenever historical circumstances allowed it, the people made full use of such advantages. whether under local princes, or under foreign princes who understood belgian interests, given peace conditions at home and abroad, the country never failed to rise to the occasion. but these periods of greatness were short-lived compared with the periods of decadence which succeeded them. after the division of the empire of charlemagne the belgian counties and duchies found themselves plunged in the throes of feudal disputes and divided between the kings of france and the emperors of germany. the power of the suzerain was nowhere weaker than in these distant marches, and the belgian princes were left free to pursue their quarrels with complete disregard of the common interest. the prosperity of the communes in the thirteenth and beginning of the fourteenth centuries, was rapidly undermined by internal strife and by the difficulties the counts of flanders experienced in trying to conciliate their duty to their french suzerain with the interest of the people which prompted an english alliance. the fall of charles the bold provoked a fresh outburst of the spirit of local independence, which greatly endangered the country's peace, and, if the situation was restored, under philip the fair and charles v, during the first part of the sixteenth century, the second part of this century witnessed the gradual exhaustion of the southern netherlands divided against themselves and subjected to the attacks of both spanish and dutch. the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, which are for other countries, like france, a period of exceptional national prestige, mark the deepest stage of belgian decadence and humiliation. the scheldt was closed, trade and industry were practically dead, foreign troops, french, dutch, spanish or austrian, ceaselessly pursued their work of devastation. a foreign possession, open to the incursions of her possessors' enemies, sacrificed by her masters at every stage of the peace negotiations in order to save their native country, belgium lost dutch flanders, northern brabant and part of limburg to holland, french flanders, franche comté and artois to france. the treaty of münster sealed the fate of antwerp, and the treaty of the barriers left the dutch in possession of all the country's most important fortified positions. though it gave back to belgium her natural frontier in the north and reopened the scheldt for a short time, the french régime did not greatly improve the economic situation. after the union with holland ( ), the political struggle which followed prevented the people from enjoying the full benefit of the change, so that we must wait until before being able to notice any considerable improvement. * * * * * this general survey will suffice to show that belgian history may be divided into periods of progress and decadence. the same may be said, it is true, of the history of all nations. but nowhere else is the difference between the higher and lower levels so pronounced and the intervals between the acts so protracted. as we have already said, the country passes suddenly from the brightest limelight of fame to the darkest recess of mediocrity and oblivion. some of these contrasts, such as those existing between charlemagne's united empire and feudal divisions, are shared by the rest of europe. others, at the time of the renaissance and the reformation, and when the country came under spanish, austrian and french rule, are peculiar to belgium. to the slow development of national unity, her history adds the obstacles of foreign domination and foreign invasion. the exceptional situation of the country on the map gives equally great chances of ruin and recovery. the same conditions which bring about belgium's downfall contribute largely to her restoration, the same roads which bring wealth in time of peace, are followed, in time of war, by foreign armies. she is not only the cross-roads of europe, she is the battlefield of europe. from bouvines ( ) to waterloo and ypres, almost all the great battles which decided the fate of europe and determined her balance of power were fought on belgian soil. sometimes the inhabitants took a share in the struggle, oftener they were not even given the chance to interfere, while the powers settled other quarrels at their expense. the belgian people have acquired a remarkable reputation for their sturdiness and their power of recovery. but, while they are entirely irresponsible for their weakness, which can only be attributed to the small size and the defenceless character of their country, they cannot be considered as entirely responsible for their strength. a port like antwerp, if at all accessible, is bound to prosper under any circumstances. a town like brussels cannot fail to benefit by its unique situation, from an international point of view. with her rich coal mines among her fertile fields, belgium, considering her size, is perhaps more richly endowed by nature than any other country in europe. but such exceptional advantages have been more than compensated in the past by the heavy risks which this richness implied. illustration: belgium in roman times. chapter i the coal wood it is usually assumed that, while human conditions alter throughout the ages, natural surroundings remain sensibly the same. this may be true with regard to people whose history is only affected by the streams which cross their land and the hills and mountains which protect them by natural barriers. when dealing with a country like belgium however, widely open on all sides, we cannot be content with such wide generalizations. we must ask ourselves if some important physical features have not been altered by the work of man and if some natural obstacles, which have since disappeared, did not affect the earlier stage of belgian history. the traveller who crosses the country to-day from ostend to arlon will at once recognize its main features: first a low-lying plain, between the sea and brussels, then a district of smooth hills, as far as namur, and finally, beyond the meuse, the deeply cut valleys and high plateaux of the ardennes, reaching an average of , feet above sea-level. in this last region only will the aspect of the country suggest to him the idea of some natural obstacle to free communications, though it could in no way appear forbidding when compared to the mountains of scotland and wales. but at the time of the roman conquest ( _b.c._), belgium, that is to say the country peopled by various tribes designated by julius cæsar under the name of "belgæ," was very different from what it is to-day. the flat coast, unprotected against the incursions of the sea, was bordered by wide marshes, while all the southern part of the country was covered by a thick forest, the "silva carbonaria," which merged in the wild plateaux of the ardennes and formed, at the time, a serious obstacle to any incursion coming from the north or the east. these physical conditions must have favoured the guerrilla warfare waged for four years by the various celtic tribes against the roman invader, and it is no doubt partly to them that the old "belgæ" owed their reputation of courage and fortitude. these tribes, occupying the scheldt and meuse valleys, formed the rearguard of the celtic wave of invasion which, coming from the east, had spread across western europe. at the time of the roman conquest they were already closely pressed by a vanguard of germanic tribes which had settled in zeeland and on the left bank of the rhine, so that even at this early stage of belgium's history we find the dualistic character of belgian civilization marked in the division of the country into two roman provinces, "belgica secunda," in the west, and "germania inferior," in the east. [_roman influences_] the immediate effect of the roman conquest, which was far more rapid than in britain, was to stop for a time the influx of german tribes by the establishment of a solid barrier along the rhine. the colonists of german origin were soon absorbed by the old inhabitants of the country, and were subjected with them to the powerful influence of roman culture. celts and germans alike became belgo-romans, and adopted the trade and the institutions of their conquerors. as far as we can make out from the scanty documents at our disposal, roman civilization moved along the rhine towards cologne, whence a great roman highway was built towards the west, crossing the meuse at maestricht and, following the edge of the coal wood, through tongres and cambrai to boulogne. this road, known through the early middle ages as the "road of brunehaut," was for a long time the main way running from east to west in a country where all the important streams, such as the meuse, the scheldt and their tributaries, ran from south to north. the extent of roman influence may be gauged by the position which the various parts of the country occupied towards this highway. tongres and tournai still possess roman remains. the foundations of roman villas are found in the provinces of namur, hainault and artois, while all traces of roman occupation have disappeared from flanders. the sandy and marshy nature of the soil in northern belgium may to a certain extent account for this fact, and we know that, in some instances, the stones provided by old roman structures were used, in the middle ages, for the construction of new buildings. but it can nevertheless be assumed that, generally speaking, communications remained the principal factor of roman civilization in these far-away marches of the empire, and that roman influence, so strongly felt on the rhine and along the meuse, became gradually less important as the distance increased. the country was almost exclusively agricultural, but it is interesting to note, in view of later developments, that, even at this remote period, the menapii, who dwelt in flanders, had acquired a reputation for cattle breeding and manufactured woollen mantles which, under the name of "birri," were exported beyond the alps. though strongly influenced by rome in their trade and methods of agriculture, the belgo-romans had retained their language and religion. romanization, in the full meaning of the word, only began during the last years of the third century, under the influence of christianity. during the third century, the bishopric of trèves included the whole of "germania inferior." a special bishopric was established subsequently at cologne, and, about the middle of the fourth century, at tongres. others appeared later at tournai, arras and cambrai. this gradual spread of christianity, which moved along the same roads as roman civilization, from cologne towards the west, only reached flanders half a century later. the christianization of the country must have been far from complete when the incursions of the germanic tribes, greatly encouraged by the gradual decline of the roman empire, brought a sudden and dramatic change in the life and development of the two roman provinces. * * * * * [_the franks_] during the third and fourth centuries, the pressure of the germanic tribes, which had been considerably delayed by the roman conquest, reasserted itself. the rhine frontier was subjected to repeated assaults, which the depleted legions were no longer in a position to repulse effectively. the franks attacked from the east and the north through zeeland, while part of the saxons who attacked britain raided at the same time the belgian coast. in spite of the military successes of the emperors constantine and julian, the situation became so threatening that a second line of defences was fortified on the meuse and along the great roman highroad running from tongres to tournai. in , julian authorized the franks to settle in the sandy moors east of the scheldt (toxandria), and when, at the beginning of the fifth century, stilicon recalled the legions in order to defend italy against the goths, the german tribes, finding themselves unopposed, invaded the country of the scheldt and the lys, reducing into serfdom the old inhabitants who had escaped massacre. the rhine ceased henceforth to be the empire's frontier. the latter ran now along the great highway from tongres to arras. before their second line of defences the romans, under Ætius, put up a last fight, but they were defeated by the frankish king clodion, who extended his kingdom along the coast as far as the somme and established himself at tournai ( ), where his grave was discovered twelve centuries later. [_language frontier_] it seemed as if the franks, in their irresistible advance, were going to wipe out from belgium and gaul all trace of roman civilization, and such a catastrophe would no doubt have occurred, if a natural obstacle had not broken their impetus. we mentioned above that, south of a line running from dunkirk to maestricht, the country was covered with a thick forest, the "silva carbonaria." this wall of wood did more to stop the invaders than the heroic efforts of Ætius. it sheltered the celts from the franks in belgium as the mountains of wales and the hills of cornwall sheltered them from the saxons in great britain. conquests were pursued by the frankish kings and their nobles, but the invasion stopped. the movement ceased to be ethnical and became political. the franks reached the clearings of the forest and nominally subjected gaul to their power, but they were now in a minority, and the conquered soon succeeded in absorbing the conquerors. it is significant that the "lex salica," the oldest document in which the name of the coal wood is mentioned, describes it as "the boundary of the territories occupied by the frankish people." to the north of this boundary the country was entirely in the hands of the invaders; to the south, the "wala," as the franks called the belgo-romans, succeeded in maintaining themselves and in preserving to a certain extent the roman language and civilization. the old limit, running in a northerly direction and dividing in the past "germania inferior" from "belgica secunda," had been bent under the pressure of the frankish invasions, and ran now from east to west, but the dualism which we noted above had not disappeared. the franks settled in the north, the romanized celts or "walas" occupied the south. the first are the ancestors of the flemings of to-day, the second of the walloons, and the limit of languages between the two sections of the population has remained the same. it runs to-day where it ran fourteen centuries ago, from the south of ypres to brussels and maestricht, dividing belgium almost evenly into two populations belonging to two separate races and speaking two different languages. the ancient forest has disappeared, but its edge is still marked on the map. we cross it to-day without noticing any alteration in the landscape, but the distant voices of the peasants working in the fields remind us of its ancient shadow and impassable undergrowth. the traveller wonders, one moment, at the change, then takes up the road again, adding one further unanswered question to his load of unsolved problems. the historian evokes the terrible years of the fifth century, when the fate of europe hung in the balance and when the surging waves of pagan germanism spent their last energy along that leafy barrier which saved christianity and roman civilization, and incidentally gave the belgian nation its most prominent and interesting character. the singsong of a walloon sentence may thus suggest the rustling of the leaves and the piping of early birds, while the more guttural accents of a flemish name remind us of the war-cry of wild hordes and the beating of "frameas." the frankish invasions of the fifth century may be considered the most important event of belgium's early history. whether the unity of the belgian nation is questioned or upheld, we must inevitably go back to the cause of its real or apparent division. if such division, from being racial and linguistic, had become political or economic--that is to say, if the language boundary had coincided with some of the boundaries which divided the country at a later stage--the idea that belgium was born in and constituted an "artificial creation of european diplomacy" might not be groundless. here, as in many other countries of europe, nationality would have been determined mostly by race and language. this, however, is not the case. at no period of belgian history did any division follow the linguistic frontier. on the contrary, most of the political and ecclesiastical units created during the middle ages included both elements of the population, and, through frequent intercourse and common interests, these two people, speaking different languages, became gradually welded into one. when in the fifteenth century the various duchies and counties came under the sway of the dukes of burgundy, national unity was realized, as it was realized in england or in france at the same time, through the increasing power and centralizing action of modern princes. a few prejudiced writers have vainly endeavoured to exaggerate the racial or linguistic factor, and contended that, in the eyes of science, belgian nationality could not exist. the duty of a scientist is not to distort the manifestations of natural phenomena in the light of some more or less popular idea. his duty is to explain facts. the development and permanence of belgian nationality, in spite of the most adverse conditions, is one of these facts. the existence of the swiss nation, far more deeply divided than the belgian, shows that it is not unique. but even if it were unique, it ought to be accounted for. it is far easier to indulge in broad generalizations than to devote oneself to a close study of nature or man. it is not the rules, it is the exceptions which ought to retain our attention, for only exceptions will teach us how imperfect are our rules. chapter ii from saint amand to charlemagne pursuing their conquests in gaul, the frankish kings soon abandoned clodion's capital and established themselves in paris. clovis and his successors, surrounded by their warriors, could not resist the gallo-roman influences to which they were subjected. they gave their name to the country they conquered, but adopted its customs and paid but scant attention to their old companions left behind as settlers on the banks of the scheldt. with the belgo-roman population, christianity had been swept from northern belgium, and it took the church two centuries, after the baptism of clovis ( ), to reconquer the ground she had lost. this long delay is easily accounted for. the conversion of clovis and of his followers, which affected so deeply the course of french history, scarcely reacted on the creeds and customs of the pagan frankish tribes established in the northern plain. the organization of the church, which had had no time to consolidate itself, had been utterly shattered by the invasions. between the fourth and the seventh centuries, the shadow of paganism spread again across the land in northern belgium as in britain, and when st. amand arrived in flanders, he found the franks as little prepared to receive him as the saxons had been, a few years before, to receive augustine. in northern belgium, as in britain, the work of rechristianization had to be undertaken from outside. the regular bishops, confined to their towns, could not possibly cope with it. their influence was limited to a small area, and their frequent change of residence suggests that their situation was rather precarious. during the sixth century, the bishops of tongres established themselves at maestricht, those of tournai at noyon, and those of arras at cambrai. later, maestricht was abandoned for liége (early eighth century). the old titles of "episcopi tungrorum" and "episcopi morinorum" had lost all meaning since the disappearance of the old celtic tribes, but the bishops, in preserving them, showed that they still hoped to increase their influence towards the north. this ambition would have remained an empty wish but for the action of a few ardent missionaries who undertook to convert the german conquerors, in the seventh century, as the vanquished celts had been converted in the third. we have already drawn the attention of the reader to the simultaneous events occurring on both sides of the sea, in britain and belgium, during the early stage of their history--roman conquest, german raids, retreat of the celtic population among the forests and the hills--but none of these concomitant events is more striking than the appearance, almost at the same time, of st. augustine in kent and st. amand in flanders. [_st. amand_] the latter's mission, however, was not official. on his way to rome, he saw in a vision st. peter, who ordered him to preach the gospel to the northern pagans, and forthwith he established himself at the confluence of the lys and the scheldt. in this place he founded two monasteries, which were to be the origin of the city of ghent ( ). emboldened by his first successes, he attempted, supported by the king, to render baptism compulsory, which caused the franks to revolt against him. after long wanderings among the danube tribes, he came back to flanders as bishop of tongres in , but soon gave up the cross and the mitre to resume the monk's habit, and sought martyrdom among the basques. the palm being refused him, he again took the road to belgium, where he died at the monastery of elnone, near tournai, towards . for fifty years, with some intervals, he had worked unceasingly, as a monk and as a bishop, for the conversion of northern belgium. his efforts were not nearly so systematic as those of augustine. he did not organize in the same way his spiritual conquests. he contented himself with bringing pagans into the fold of christianity, but did little to retain them there. his burning enthusiasm, however, set an example to many disciples and followers, who wandered after him through the country--st. eloi along the scheldt, st. remacle along the meuse, st. lambert among the barren moors of toxandria and st. hubert through the forests of the ardennes. beside these, english and irish missionaries took a large share in the conversion of northern belgium. the fruit of these individual efforts was reaped by the various bishops who had never ceased to claim the northern plain as an integral part of their dominions, according to roman tradition. all that was necessary, after christianity had been reintroduced, was to render again effective a bond which for four centuries had remained purely nominal. the bishopric of liége extended between the meuse and the dyle, within the limits occupied formerly by that of tongres; that of cambrai, between the dyle and the scheldt (nervii); that of noyon, between the scheldt and the sea (menapii); and that of térouanne, along the yser valley (morini). thus were re-established, through the action of the church, the old frontiers of the celtic tribes, adopted by the roman "civitates," long after the disappearance of the celts and the fall of rome. liége was attached to the archbishopric of cologne, the three others to rheims, reviving, for ecclesiastical purposes, the old division between "belgica secunda" in the west and "germania inferior" in the east. this division never changed until the sixteenth century, when the northern part of the country ceased to be under the religious influence of the episcopal cities of the south. [_bishoprics_] it will be noticed that none of the ecclesiastical boundaries which we have mentioned run in an easterly direction. instead of coinciding with the language frontier, they cross it everywhere, uniting in the same religious community "walas" and "dietschen," celts and germans. for eight centuries the church, which was at the time the supreme moral influence, unconsciously devoted all its energy to bringing together the two groups of population. they met in the same churches, they prayed before the same shrines, they joined in the same pilgrimages, they studied and meditated within the walls of the same monasteries. no wonder if such intercourse succeeded finally in uniting those whom nature had so strongly separated, and in creating in belgium a new type of civilization neither celtic nor frankish, neither romanized nor germanized, but combining some of the strongest qualities of both races and well prepared to act as a kind of intellectual, moral and artistic link between them. this rule suffers only one exception. when the progress of christianity permitted the foundation of a new bishopric at utrecht, this religious metropolis was not subjected to any romanic influence. it remained purely germanic in character, and, already at this early stage of the history of the netherlands, gave a distinct character to their extreme northern districts, which reasserted itself so strongly at the time of the reformation. the merovingian kings gave a kind of sanction to this gradual separation of the salian franks, established in northern belgium, from the bulk of the germanic tribes. it is significant that the limit which for a time separated their kingdom into neustria in the west and austrasia in the east, and which followed, in eastern gaul, the language frontier, assumed another course in belgium, and, instead of running from east to west, as might have been expected, ran north and south along the frontier separating the bishopric of liége from that of cambrai, bringing walas and franks together on both sides of the line. another proof of the romanizing influence of the church may be found in the fact that the franks established in belgium forgot their tribal affinities. while in the seventh century ripuarians, alamans and thuringians constituted themselves into so many distinct duchies, no attempt was ever made to found a salian duchy in northern belgium. the very name of franks ceased to be applied to the walas' neighbours, and it is as "dietschen," or "thiois," that they were known through the middle ages. it ought not to be assumed, however, that the movement was one-sided and that the ancient franks adopted the religion and, to a certain extent, the language of the southern people without influencing them in their turn. the romanization of the franks was accompanied by the germanization of the walloons, who adopted the laws and customs of their conquerors. the latter became, in many instances, the great landowners of this part of the country, while the frankish settlers, in the north, preserved the economic tradition of their native country and remained small farmers. even this last contrast gradually disappeared under the influence of powerful landlords and through the foundation of rich monasteries, which gradually drew towards them, as tenants or clients, the bulk of the population in both parts of the country. so that, when the carolingian dynasty superseded the merovingian, and when charlemagne received the imperial crown from the hands of the pope ( ), the work of unification was very nearly accomplished. through reciprocal influences, dietschen and walas lived under the same economic, political, religious and judicial régime. the linguistic distinction, on both sides of the tournai-maestricht line, was the only notable difference, and even this distinction tended to disappear through the common use of the roman dialect. [_charlemagne_] one thing only remained to be done in order to crown the work accomplished during the two last centuries: the creation of a strong centralizing political power. the country was prepared to play the part which she was predestined to play through natural and racial conditions in the history of europe, but she was still without guidance, a mere borderland, forgotten and neglected, on the fringe of the frankish kingdom. the instrument was ready, but no artisan could yet use it. as long as the centre of political activity remained on the seine, the characteristics of belgian civilization could not be revealed. as long as the balance between germanic and romanized culture inclined steadily towards the west, the european qualities of this germanic, semi-romanized people could not be tested. it would be perhaps too much to say that charlemagne founded belgian nationality, in the same way that clovis established french nationality in unifying gaul, or that alfred revealed the english to themselves in his triumphant struggle against the danes. but, by carrying the frontiers of his empire as far as the elbe and establishing his headquarters in the centre of his old domain, at aix-la-chapelle, in a central position midway between france and germany, charlemagne gave at least an opportunity to almost every trait of belgian social life to assert itself. during the first part of the ninth century the region of the scheldt and the meuse became a beehive of activity. from every part of the world, merchants, theologians, artists and musicians crowded towards the new economic and intellectual centre of europe. arnon, a pupil of alcuin, came to elnone, the irish sedulius to liége, the italian georgius to valenciennes, while the schools of st. amand, under hucbald, acquired a world-wide reputation. everywhere new monasteries were established, new churches and palaces built. the arts of illuminating, embroidery, carving and stained glass were brought to an unparalleled degree of perfection and refinement. bishops and abbots competed in attracting to their courts and monasteries the best-known doctors and poets of the time. we have lost most of the artistic treasures and manuscripts of the period through the subsequent norman invasions. every vestige of carolingian sculpture and architecture in belgium has been destroyed. but, through the works accomplished in other countries and with the help of a few documents such as the inventory preserved in the _chronicle of st. trond_, we are able at least to appreciate not only their intrinsic value, but also the interest they awoke among clerics and laymen. that the great emperor encouraged this movement and took a direct part in it in attracting to the various centres of learning the best masters in europe is sufficiently shown by his letter to gerbald of liége. under his direction, european civilization was definitely established in the northern plain of europe and aix-la-chapelle became indeed the "northern rome." the capital, with tongres, liége, st. trond and other neighbouring cities, formed a centre from which civilization spread east and west towards germany and france, just as it had spread, a few centuries before, from central italy towards the eastern and western mediterranean. [_frisian cloth_] the old roman road, along which the monasteries founded many hostelries, was followed by streams of travellers of every description. the meuse, scheldt and rhine were dotted with the sails of many ships bringing foreign wares and taking away the products of home industry. the most important of these was a special kind of cloth, "the frisian cloth," for which the northern plain, covered with rich pastures and producing great quantities of wool, was already renowned. it was a specialized industry, the natural development of the ancient clothmaking of the menapii mentioned above, and the predecessor of the cloth-weaving for which flanders acquired a world-wide reputation during the subsequent centuries. the "frisian cloth" was already exported, by the rhine, as far as central europe and, by sea, towards great britain and scandinavia. pieces of money from the ports of sluis and duurstede have been found in both countries, and the frequency of intercourse with the north was such that a monastery was established at thourout, near duurstede, for the special purpose of training missionaries for the conversion of the danish traders. it is true that the prosperity realized under charlemagne was short-lived, and that, a few years later, northern europe, and more especially belgium, became the prey of the normans, who destroyed most of the literary and artistic treasures accumulated with such enthusiasm during his reign. it is true also that belgian unity was destined to break up, and that the country was to be divided between germany and france and their respective vassals. but if charlemagne came too soon, at a time when ethnographic conditions had not yet been sufficiently stabilized, and if his empire did not survive him, his influence has nevertheless been felt through many centuries. if his dream of a european empire could not be realized, the mission assigned to belgium, as a natural link between east and west, remains even to-day one of the main features of european politics. history has shown that no annexation, no territorial division, of the dualistic country could ever guarantee peace between france and germany. such a peace is only possible, if the intervening nation is allowed to play its part in the concert of nations, and it has only been realized, when this part has been played. belgium will never be what charlemagne made it, the nucleus of a great empire; but, unless it remains a free factor in the history of europe, as it was for the first time under the great emperor, conflicts between the two rivals, abruptly brought together along the same frontier, become inevitable. there is a big jump from the ninth century to the congress of vienna, between the glory of aix-la-chapelle and the establishment of belgian neutrality; there has been a great deal of ground covered since, but there is a kind of permanency in human affairs which cannot vainly be disregarded, and the policy of charlemagne teaches us lessons which no modern statesman ought to ignore. illustration: division of charlemagne's empire. chapter iii lotharingia and flanders the central position occupied by ancient belgium, which had been the cause of its efflorescence in the first years of the ninth century, was also the cause of its decadence after the death of charlemagne ( ). from the competition which arose at the time date the age-long rivalries between france and germany and the tribulations of the territories lying between them, which, though claimed in turn by both powers, and including a half romanized and half germanic population, were neither french nor german, but possessed an individuality of their own. if these territories had been widespread and strongly defended by nature, like ancient italy in the mediterranean world, they might have become the seat of a new european empire, or at least played the part of a strong third partner with which both french and german rivals would have had to reckon. this would have entirely changed the course of european politics and perhaps greatly increased the chances of a peaceful and stable régime. as it was, the intermediate country, widely open in the east and in the west, too weak to resist foreign aggression, became, at best, a weak buffer state, and, at worst, a bone of contention between two powerful hereditary enemies. [_feudal princes_] the wars and treaties which brought about the division of charlemagne's empire show plainly that the creation of a central power was doomed to failure, this third power being too vulnerable to resist combined attacks from east and west and being far too heterogeneous to maintain its unity. the treaty of verdun, in , divided the empire between charlemagne's three grandsons. charles received france, louis germany, and lotharius, the youngest, the rich region lying between both countries and extending from holland to italy, including the largest portion of belgium, with the title of emperor. after the death of lotharius i, his son, lotharius ii, inherited the northern part of his father's domains, which, for want of a better name, was called "regnum lotharii"--lotharingia. but both charles and louis were already endeavouring to conquer their nephew's possessions. soon after his death, they met at meersen, near maestricht ( ), where the partition of his lands was decided, charles obtaining the whole of present belgium, as far as the meuse. the death of louis was the signal for a new conflict. charles was defeated at andernach by louis iii ( ), and the frontier between france and germany was fixed on the scheldt, charles retaining flanders, louis obtaining lotharingia ( ). after the short reign of charles the fat, who restored for a few years the unity of the empire, these two parts of belgium remained thus separated for three centuries. it is important to notice that both included flemings and walloons, and that, on either side of the frontier, there was a strong tendency not to let lotharingia or flanders be drawn into the circle of german or french policy. the spirit of independence remained alive, and when, in the eleventh century, political conditions became more favourable, an entente between the belgian princes on both sides of the scheldt was the natural result of the weakening of the central power. such an entente brought about finally, in the early days of the fifteenth century, the complete reunion of both parts of the country. so that the history of belgium, from the tenth century to the early renaissance, may be considered as the history of a small part of france and a small part of germany, which, after struggling for independence against their respective masters, gradually joined hands in order to submit themselves to the rule of common national princes. it would be an error to attribute the separatist leanings of the nobles in flanders and lotharingia to national feeling, at a time when this feeling scarcely existed in western europe. no doubt, the resistance offered by the belgian nobles to their foreign sovereigns might be simply represented as the direct effect of the feudal system and of the jealous pride which every vassal entertained towards his suzerain. but, if local ambitions became supreme in europe in the tenth century, we may at least point out that, owing to the mixed characters of language and race prevailing in belgium, and to the peculiar position occupied by flanders and lotharingia, nowhere were those tendencies more evident than in these distant marches of france and germany. just as, at a later stage, bruges and ghent became the most accomplished types of the independent mediæval communes, the counts of flanders and the princes of lotharingia offered the most perfect examples of the restless feudal princes. the origin of feudalism is well known and is common to all european countries. it springs from the weakening of central authority, after the death of charlemagne, the increasing influence of the big property-owners and the gradual subordination of the small owners to the nobles who gave them the benefit of their protection. its development was greatly hastened, in belgium, by the invasions of the normans. these were particularly severe in a land which had become, under charlemagne, the richest in europe, and which was easily reached from the sea, owing to the navigable character of its rivers. they coincided with the danish invasions in england and with the scandinavian raids on the coasts of germany and france. it seemed, at one time, as if the invaders were going to settle in holland, as they settled later in normandy. in they established themselves at the mouths of the meuse, the rhine and the scheldt, and, from this centre, pursued their systematic expeditions almost unhindered. great camps were organized by them at louvain and maestricht, at the farthest navigable limit of the dyle and meuse, where all the treasures of the surrounding monasteries, churches and palaces were accumulated. lotharius ii allowed ruric to establish himself on the lower meuse, and godfried, another norman chieftain, received friesland from charles the fat. when the victory of arnulf of carinthia at louvain ( ) put a stop to their activity and compelled them to retreat, the normans left behind them only barren deserts dotted with ruins, separated by a series of entrenched camps where tenants dwelt under the protection of their masters' strongholds. [_the normans_] the normans not only hastened the advent of feudalism, they wrecked carolingian civilization as effectually as the franks had wrecked belgo-roman culture. once more the threads had to be picked up one by one, and the fabric of european civilization patiently rebuilt, and once more the church became the most important factor in this work of reconstruction and succeeded in preserving the spiritual heritage of st. amand. for the third time, she endeavoured to bring charity, art and culture into a world of violence and barbarism. after civilizing the pagan celts in the third century and the pagan franks in the seventh, she had now to civilize the christians of the tenth century, and this was not destined to be an easier task. chapter iv rÉgner long neck let us now deal briefly with the general course of events in eastern belgium, or lotharingia, attached to the germanic empire since . it is merely, as we said, the story of the efforts made by the nobles, who appear, for the first time, as a power in the state, to free themselves from the control of their imperial suzerain. the aristocracy was divided between the partisans of the german emperors and those of the local chiefs, and between these parties no compromise was possible. it would be without interest for the british reader to follow every episode of this quarrel, but some of its aspects cannot be ignored in the study of the formation of belgian nationality. illustration: feudal belgium. [_lotharingian nobles_] two features characterize the policy of the native aristocracy: their attachment to the carolingian dynasty and the way in which they endeavoured to preserve their freedom of action by concluding a series of alliances either with france against germany or with germany against france. it is easy to understand that, in these districts, which owed so much to the carolingian régime, the carolingian tradition had retained its prestige. the way the descendants of lotharius had been despoiled of their heritage by charles and louis became the pretext for a series of insurrections against the new masters imposed on the country by the second treaty of verdun. the first of these movements was led by hugh, a natural son of lotharius; it failed through the capture of its leader. the second, which was far more important, was led by a native lord, régner long neck, son of one of lotharius's daughters, who possessed vast domains in hainault, the ardennes, the liége country and on the lower meuse--that is to say, on both sides of the language frontier. régner may be considered as a typical representative of this lotharingian nobility, which, though defeated at first, succeeded in the end in freeing itself from imperial control. speaking both languages, he was attached neither to the french nor to the german party, but was ready to pass from one to the other according to the interest of his policy, which was merely to preserve his own independence. régner differed entirely from the other nobles of the empire, such as the dukes of saxony, bavaria, etc., inasmuch as he did not represent any ethnographic group. he was the ideal type of the feudal lord for whom no interest prevails against his own. thanks to his alliance with the french king, he succeeded in defeating zwentibold, the son of the emperor, and established his rule over lotharingia. his capital was at meersen, near maestricht, on the language frontier, midway between his walloon and flemish possessions. from the point of view of international politics, his son gislebert is a still more striking personality. threatened by charles the simple, he concluded an alliance with the emperor henry, and succeeded thus in shifting his position from france to germany and from germany to france no less than four times. he was finally obliged to submit to the emperor, whose power was steadily growing, and married his daughter ( ). having risen against otto, henry's successor, he was defeated at andernach and drowned in the rhine. otto experienced further difficulties in controlling his belgian possessions, and only succeeded by delegating his power to his brother bruno, archbishop of cologne, and germanizing the lotharingian bishoprics of liége and cambrai. for over a century, the german or germanized high clergy became the strongest supporters of the emperor's influence in the country. their loyalty never failed, and was emphatically expressed by wazo, bishop of liége, who declared that "even if the emperor had his right eye put out, he would not fail to use the left for his master's honour and service." bruno and notger of liége ( - ) undertook to reform their clergy and to encourage intellectual culture. under their guidance, liége became once more a great centre of learning. besides theology, grammar, rhetoric and poetry, music and mathematics were taught in the city, which could boast of being a "northern athens." the movement reached cambrai and utrecht, and one of the most important chronicles of the time, sigebert's _de scriptoribus ecclesiasticis_--a first attempt towards a universal history of europe--was written in the monastery of gembloux. the prestige derived from this intellectual movement helped considerably to increase german influence and brought to liége a number of foreign students from germany, france, england, and even from the slav countries. [_baldwin v_] for a time, the resistance of the local aristocracy was overcome. régner of hainault, nephew of gislebert, had been exiled by bruno, the carolingian dynasty was supplanted in france by the capetian, and its last representatives, duke charles and his son, lay buried side by side in maestricht. the descendants of régner long neck nevertheless remained powerful, owing, partly, to the marriage of régner v of hainault with a daughter of hugh capet, and to the marriage of lambert of louvain to the daughter of duke charles. from the first years of the eleventh century, feudalism prevailed not only in hainault and brabant, but also in namur, holland and luxemburg, so that the only means the emperor and his loyal bishops had to maintain their power was by provoking rivalries among the nobles. the title of duke of lotharingia was therefore not given to one of régner's descendants, but to godfrey of verdun, who succeeded in defeating his adversaries at florennes ( ), where he was killed. his successors did not show the same loyalty to germany, and when the emperor henry iii attempted to divide the duchy in order to diminish the duke's power, he found himself faced by a powerful confederacy, including not only godfrey the bearded, the counts of louvain, hainault, namur and holland, but also baldwin v of flanders ( ). the date is important, for it marks a turning-point in the mediæval history of belgium. for two centuries flanders and lotharingia had remained separated, dependent respectively on france and germany for their political life. by crossing the boundary established by the verdun treaty and interfering directly in the internal affairs of lotharingia, baldwin inaugurated a new policy and rendered possible a system of alliances between the belgian nobles which brought about the reunion of both parts of the country under the same sovereign and, ultimately, the foundation of belgian nationality. the emperors might have resisted more successfully if they had preserved to the last the support of the bishops, who had been for so long their trustworthy agents. in order to understand how they lost this support, we must describe briefly the conditions of religious life during the tenth and eleventh centuries. * * * * * when the normans left the country, it was again plunged in barbarism. the monasteries were in every way similar to any other feudal residence, and the ascetic rule of st. benedict was entirely forgotten. the abbots rather distinguished themselves from the other nobles by their greed and violence. they married and indulged in drinking bouts and predatory expeditions. a reform was urgently needed. once more it was not accomplished by the high clergy, but quite spontaneously by the people themselves, whose faith had survived the ordeal of invasions. [_revival_] gérard de brogne, an obscure nobleman, possessor of the small domain of brogne, near namur, after a visit to the abbey of st. denys, decided to restore the benedictine tradition. on his return, he founded an abbey on his own land, gave up the world, and retired with a few disciples to the solitude of the woods. the nobles soon heard of his exemplary life and endeavoured to secure his services. almost against his will, he was made to go from one monastery to another under the patronage of duke gislebert and of arnulf of flanders. st. ghislain, st. pierre, st. bavon (ghent), st. amand and st. omer received his visit in turn, and, by the middle of the tenth century, the old rule was re-established from the meuse to the sea. the bishops of liége, cambrai and utrecht joined in the movement and, with their help and that of the nobility, a number of new monasteries sprang to life in a very short time on both sides of the linguistic frontier. an extraordinary religious revival took place, which was not limited to an intellectual aristocracy, like the reform brought about almost at the same time by bruno and notgen in the schools of cologne and liége. it was not concerned with science or politics, and was essentially religious and popular in character. the chronicles of the time tell us of many examples of religious fervour. at st. trond, the people volunteered to bring from the rhine the stones and pillars for the erection of a new church. near tournai, a colony of monks established in the ruins of an old abbey were fed, year after year, by the citizens. at the end of the eleventh century a great procession was instituted in that town, in which the whole population of the neighbouring districts took part, without any distinction of rank or class, the people walking barefoot behind a miraculous image of the virgin. in order to put a stop to local conflicts, so frequent at the time, it was enough to send a few monks carrying some sacred shrine. at the sight of the relics, the contending warriors laid down their weapons, forgot their quarrels and became reconciled. gérard de brogne prepared the way for the clunisian reformers, who, coming from lorraine, spread rapidly during the first part of the eleventh century through belgium towards germany. this new movement, however, which became extremely popular not only among the people and the nobility but also among the high clergy, was bound to react on the political situation of lotharingia at a time when the question of the supremacy of the spiritual over the temporal power was brought to the fore. the clunisians, like most mystics at the time, were bound to reject any interference of the emperors in the affairs of the church. they only recognized one power, the spiritual power of the pope. in the struggle for the investitures, all their influence was thrown against henry iv and his german bishops. the latter, after a long resistance, were obliged to give way before the popular outcry and the relentless opposition of the feudal lords, who found in the new movement a powerful and unexpected ally. french influence had come once more to their help in their efforts to shake off german hegemony. * * * * * [_godfrey of bouillon_] against the combined action of the clunisians, the lotharingian nobles and their new allies, the counts of flanders, the emperors were still powerless. after the death of henry iii, count baldwin v obtained some territories between the scheldt and the dendre (imperial flanders) and the supremacy over hainault, through the marriage of his son to countess richilda ( ). the duke of lotharingia, godfrey the hunchback, the last belgian supporter of imperial rule, after checking the progress of the coalition, died, murdered in zeeland ( ). his son, godfrey of bouillon, sold his land to the bishop of liége and left the country as the leader of the first crusade. the belgian princes, talking both languages, in close relations with france and germany, were bound to take an important part in the great european adventure. they were, as far as the word may be used at this period of history, more european than national lords. and it is no doubt owing to this essentially belgian character, as well as to his personal qualities, that godfrey was chosen by the crusaders as their chief rather than other princes who, in spite of their greater riches and power, were not so well placed to understand and conciliate rival claims. the same reasons which made aix-la-chapelle the capital of charlemagne's empire gave the leadership of the mightiest european expedition of the middle ages to a humble and ruined belgian prince. the first years of the twelfth century mark the triumph of local feudalism over imperial rule. while henry iv, under the ban of excommunication, found a last refuge in liége, his son gave the ducal dignity to godfrey of louvain. thus the house of régner long neck, after two centuries of ostracism, came into its own once more. chapter v baldwin the bearded while, during the tenth and eleventh centuries, the lotharingian lords were striving to retain their independence under german rule, the counts of flanders acquired very rapidly a considerable influence in france, and were practically left free to administer their domains without any interference from outside. no duke, no bishops stood in their way. they were directly dependent on the french kings, and the latter were so weak, at the time, that they could not use the power they possessed. from this point of view the story of the two parts of mediæval belgium presents a striking contrast. on one side of the scheldt, an enfeebled and divided nobility struggled against a powerful suzerain; on the other, a powerless suzerain was vainly attempting to assert his authority over one of his most overbearing vassals. [_counts of flanders_] there is, however, one characteristic which the house of régner and that of the flemish counts had in common. both owed their initial power to their alliance with the carolingian dynasty. just as régner's father had abducted one of lotharius's daughters, baldwin iron arm succeeded in abducting judith, daughter of charles the bald, and widow of the english king ethelwulf ( ). this gave him a pretext to intervene in french affairs, of which his son baldwin ii ( - ) made full use. after extending his domains as far as the somme and annexing walloon flanders and artois, this prince consolidated his power by marrying a daughter of alfred the great. flanders was definitely established as one of the richest fiefs of the french crown, in close contact with england. like lotharingia, it possessed two essentially belgian characteristics. it had neither racial nor linguistic unity, the north being germanic and the south romanized, and it was placed between two rival powers, france and england. the counts, or "marchios" as they preferred to call themselves, sought alliance at one time with their suzerain, at another with their neighbour, according to circumstances. when the power of the french kings increased, they leant more and more towards england, as the lotharingian nobles had towards france when threatened by the german emperors. arnulf i, having secured douai and arras, turned his attention towards normandy, but his progress was soon checked in that direction. his seal, which has been preserved, is the oldest feudal seal known, and the story of his life, the _sancta prosapia domini arnulfi comitis gloriosissimi_, was the origin of the collection of annals and chronicles in latin, french and flemish which formed, in the sixteenth century, the well-known _excellente cronijke van vlaenderen_. his son and grandson gave up all attacks against normandy and endeavoured to extend their possessions towards the east and south. baldwin iv seized valenciennes, in hainault, and held it, for some time, against a coalition including the emperor, the king of france and the duke of normandy. he was finally obliged to restore the town in , but, a few years later, succeeded in obtaining a portion of zeeland and zeeland flanders ("four métiers"). in spite of the efforts made by the emperors to fortify the line of the scheldt at antwerp and valenciennes, his successor, baldwin v, the bearded, crossed the river, and, after pushing as far as the dendre, obtained from henry ii the investiture of the country of alost and zeeland. this was called "imperial flanders," as opposed to french flanders, and the count, though nominally subjected to the rule of king and emperor, acquired from his intermediate position a new prestige. like the dukes of burgundy, four centuries later, he only lacked the title of a sovereign. "the kings," according to william of poitiers, "feared and respected him; dukes, marquises, bishops trembled before him." when henry i of france died, baldwin was unanimously chosen to act as regent until young philip came of age. the latter called him "his patron, the protector of his childhood"; he called himself "_regni procurator et bajulus_." the regency ended in , at a time when william of normandy, who had married one of baldwin's daughters, was preparing to invade england. the mere threat of a diversion on the somme would have prevented this expedition, whose consequences were to prove later on so dangerous to france. but baldwin acted as a belgian, not as a french prince. it suited his policy to create a rival to his suzerain. far from hampering william, he allowed a number of his subjects to take an active part in the enterprise. [_bruges as capital_] the marriage of baldwin's eldest son with richilda of hainault and of his second son robert with gertrude of holland suggested the possibility of an early unification of belgium under the counts of flanders. according to gilbert of bruges, the two sons of baldwin were "like powerful wings sustaining him in his flight." the reunion of hainault and flanders was, however, destined to be short-lived. baldwin vi died in , leaving his widow richilda with two young children; robert, her brother-in-law, rebelled against her. after his victory at mont cassel, where he defeated a french army sent by the king to richilda's help, he left hainault to his nephew and took possession of flanders. up to then, the counts had resided most of the time in the southern part of their possessions, where they had their richest domains. robert the frisian established his capital at bruges, whose trade was beginning to develop rapidly, and which had opened relations with england and the baltic countries. the fact that robert's first possessions were in holland might have influenced his choice, but the change marks, nevertheless, an important stage in the evolution of flanders from a purely agricultural country into an industrial and commercial one. it looked at one time as if war was going to break out between england and flanders, as the conqueror, owing to his marriage, had some claims on the country. robert, who had given his daughter in marriage to king canute of denmark, concluded an alliance with him, and even projected a combined attack on the english coast, which, however, never materialized. he proved an irreconcilable enemy to the german emperors, and entered into close relations with the pope. his pilgrimage to jerusalem, in , added to his prestige, and the emperor alexis, who had received him with great pomp in constantinople, asked his support against the turks. the letter which the emperor addressed to him at the time, as to the "staunchest supporter of christianity," and which was given wide circulation, had a considerable influence in preparing the first crusade, in which his son robert ii ( - ) took a prominent part under godfrey of bouillon. the rich and powerful count of flanders did not remain in the holy land, like the ruined duke of lotharingia. his home interests were far too important. he gave up the danish policy of his father and allied himself to the king of france against the english kings, whose power was rapidly increasing. the french alliance stood him in good stead when, making a pretext of the struggle of the investitures and of his relationship with the pope, he renewed his ancestor's claim upon the emperor's possessions. more successful than baldwin iv, he succeeded in detaching the bishopric of arras from cambrai, and in spite of the obstinate resistance of henry iv and henry v, in obtaining the suzerainty over cambraisis. [_policy of flanders_] on the other hand, by encouraging and protecting the first capetians, robert of jerusalem and his son baldwin vii made a very grave political mistake. too preoccupied by the imminent danger from england, they did not realize that, owing to its geographical position, this country could never threaten flanders's independence in the same way as france, which had, besides, the right to interfere in its internal affairs. it is, however, characteristic of the count's policy that, on several occasions, in and , they signed separate agreements with henry i, in which they promised him to use all their influence in his favour in case the french king contemplated an expedition against england, and, if their efforts failed, not to give their suzerain more help than they were strictly bound to. even at the time when the alliance with france was most cordial, the door was never closed on possible negotiations with england. to call such a policy sheer duplicity would be to misunderstand the spirit of the period and the special position in which the belgian princes, whether of lotharingia or of flanders, were placed. their diplomacy was the necessary result of the central situation occupied by their possessions. unless they endeavoured to maintain a certain balance of power between their neighbours, they were in direct danger of losing their independence. periods of hesitation coincided with a divided menace. as soon as the danger became evident on one side, the belgian princes invariably turned towards the other. the same reasons which bound the descendants of régner long neck to france soon brought about a closer entente between the counts and communes of flanders and the english kings. chapter vi the belfries on several occasions in the course of the eleventh century, the constitution of belgian unity seemed to come within sight. the scheldt no longer divided the country into two distinct political units. the powerful counts of flanders were still practically independent of their french suzerain, while the struggle for the investitures had ruined the emperors' authority in the meuse region, where the native nobility was again exerting its supremacy. both parts of the country were brought more and more into contact by military alliances and dynastic intermarriages. in spite of these tendencies, three centuries were still to elapse before the reunion of the various counties and duchies under the same house and the foundation of what may be considered as the belgian nation, in the modern sense of the word. while in france and england the central power was making great progress against the separatist tendencies of the feudal barons, in belgium the work of political centralization was delayed by the considerable influence exerted on social conditions by the towns, or communes. illustration: cloth hall and belfry, ypres (destroyed ). (thirteenth century.) _ph. b._ [_first communes_] the development of urban institutions in the twelfth century was not peculiar to belgium. almost in every european country the progress of trade and industry had the same result, but, just as feudalism had been more feudal in the region of the meuse and the scheldt than in any other part of northern europe, communalism became more communal. the same reasons which favoured separatism from the point of view of the feudal lords allowed the spirit of the guilds to assert itself more energetically than in the neighbouring countries. the very remoteness of any strong centralizing influence, the linguistic and racial differences, favoured the new régime, while the resources of the country and its geographical position on the map of europe gave to its trade and industry an extraordinary efflorescence. the communes found in belgium a well prepared ground. politically, they met with a minimum of resistance; economically, they benefited from a maximum of advantages. illustration: the castle of the counts, ghent (twelfth century). _ph. b._ up to the twelfth century, it must be remembered, only the lay and ecclesiastical aristocracy had been allowed to play a part in belgian, and, for the matter of that, in european history. the feudal system had reduced the ancient free peasants to bondage; most of them were tied to the soil and deprived, of course, of all political rights. the foundation of large towns of , to , inhabitants, whose citizens possessed their own militia, their own tribunals and their own privileges, was nothing short of a social revolution. the merchants and artisans made their influence strongly felt in the state; they had money and military power, and the impoverished nobility became more and more dependent on them. the spirit of separatism and local individualism passed thus from the castle to the town, and it was only when some balance was re-established between the different classes of society, and when altered economic conditions necessitated a closer co-operation of the whole nation, that unification became possible in the early days of the fifteenth century. the story of the formation of the first communes is well known. it is the same in all parts of western europe, though the essential characteristics are nowhere more evident than in belgium. trade gave the first impulse. it had been practically annihilated by the norman invasions and the wars of the ninth century. using the natural waterways of the country and the sea routes, it revived slowly, and we know, through the discovery of flemish coins in denmark, prussia and russia, that the belgian coast was already in frequent communication with northern europe at the end of the tenth century. the norman conquest was the main cause of the rapid progress of trade in the eleventh century. many flemings accompanied william in his expedition, many more followed as colonists, and a constant intercourse was established between the thames and the scheldt. the development of the trade of bruges was the natural consequence of the increasing importance of london. singing the _kyrie eleison_, flemish sailors came up the thames, bringing to england wine from france and germany, spices from the east and cloth from flanders. [_merchants_] meanwhile, great fairs had been established in southern flanders at lille, ypres and douai, where french and italian merchants met the flemish traders; so that flanders was kept in close contact with the romanized countries by the continental routes, while the sea brought her into touch with the germanic world. wharves and storehouses were built on the main streams where the merchants made their winter quarters, usually in the vicinity and under the protection of some monastery or some feudal castle. though the commercial settlements were more dependent than the latter on the geographical features of the country, most of the best situated spots, at the crossing of two main roads (maestricht), at the confluence of navigable streams (liége, ghent), at the highest navigable point of a river (cambrai), etc., had attracted the monks and the barons before the merchants. the new settlements were, however, quite distinct from the old, and their population lived under an entirely different régime. the name given to them at the time is characteristic: they were called either "porters" or "emporia" (storehouses); even after the industrial population had joined the merchants, the inhabitants remained for a long time "mercatores." the nobles--especially the lay nobles--protected the traders. at a time when landed property diminished considerably in value, they were a source of revenue. they paid tolls on the rivers, on the roads, at the fairs. they provided all lingeries, silks, spices, furs, jewels, etc.; their ships could be equipped for war. these were sufficient reasons for the princes to grant the wandering traders a certain freedom and a privileged position in the state, and even to fight any noble who persecuted them and robbed them of their wares. at the beginning of the twelfth century, trade not only moved from south to north, on belgium's many navigable streams; it ran also from east to west along a new road connecting bruges with cologne, through maestricht, st. trond, léau, louvain, brussels, alost and ghent, all these places occupying some favourable geographical position. the origin of the prosperity of antwerp dates from this period, a certain part of the wares being transported to this spot by the scheldt from ghent. the bruges-cologne road eventually ruined the trade of the latter place, to the great advantage of agricultural brabant, which was, by this means, drawn into the economic movement then revolutionizing social conditions on the meuse and the scheldt. [_artisans_] had this movement continued to be purely commercial, social conditions would not have undergone such a rapid change, for the number of settlers would have remained relatively small. but, already in the eleventh century, the "porters" and "emporia" proved a centre of attraction, not only to discontented serfs and would-be merchants, but to skilled artisans, mostly clothmakers in flanders and metal-workers on the meuse. from the early days of the menapii the inhabitants of northern belgium had a reputation for working the wool of their sheep. under charlemagne, it had already become their principal industry. in the eleventh century, with the conquest of new "polders" upon the sea and the extension of the area of rich low meadows, the quantity of wool increased considerably, and, more raw material becoming available, the cloth industry developed accordingly. from the building of a protective dyke to the weaver bending over his loom and to the ship carrying valuable flemish cloth from bruges to london or any other part of the european coast, there is a natural chain of thought. but the progress accomplished along the coast may also be connected with the foundation and development of the first towns and the chimes of the belfries. in the hills of the south, industry was very likely determined by the presence of copper and tin mines. the latter, however, were rapidly exhausted, and, as early as the tenth century, the artisans of the meuse were obliged to fetch their raw material from germany, especially from the mines of the geslar. the industry, however, remained in dinant and huy, and coppersmiths and merchants met in these places, as clothmakers and merchants met in the flemish towns. so that, in the early middle ages, the contrast between agricultural and industrial belgium was already apparent. the migration of artisans towards trade centres in the eleventh century is as easy to understand as the attraction exerted in the present day by commerce on industry. but, in the middle ages, the union was bound to become closer still, owing to the resistance offered by the old régime to the social transformation and to the necessity felt by the "guilds" (either of merchants or of artisans) to unite against a common enemy. though, in some instances, the new towns received their privileges from the princes, who rather encouraged than opposed their development, the burgesses were frequently obliged to fight in order to obtain their liberty. the case of cambrai is typical. a settlement of traders and artisans had been established close to the walls of the episcopal castle at the beginning of the eleventh century. in it was surrounded with walls and became a "bourg" (borough). the "bourg" was placed under the jurisdiction of the bishop's officers, who administered it without making any allowance for new conditions, the laws applied to peasants and serfs being vigorously applied to traders and craftsmen. meetings took place in the "halle" (guildhall), and the members of the guilds swore to shake off the bishop's yoke as soon as an opportunity arose. when, in , bishop gérard left cambrai to receive his investiture from henry iv, the burgesses overwhelmed the soldiery, seized the gates and proclaimed the commune. it was not a rising of the poor against the rich, for the leaders were the richest merchants in the town, neither was it a rising of guelphs against ghibelines, though the bishop had lost much of his prestige owing to his loyalty to the emperor. it was essentially a fight of the new "bourgeoisie" against feudalism, of a commercial and industrial culture against a purely agricultural civilization. the rising was soon crushed, but, a few years later, bishop walcher was obliged to grant to the citizens the charters which bishop gérard had refused them, and even when, in , the emperor henry v tore up cambrai's charter, the town preserved its sheriffs and magistrates. the burgesses kept up the struggle for two centuries, until they succeeded in taking from the bishops every shred of temporal power and in obtaining the entire control of the city. [_nobles and communes_] cambrai was, with huy, one of the first communes in belgium, and the rising had a great influence in northern france. it is an extreme example of the resistance of the feudal lords to the rise of the bourgeoisie. generally speaking, this resistance was greater among ecclesiastical than among lay nobles, and in small fiefs, where the prince was in direct opposition to the people, than in larger ones, where the communes frequently supported him against his vassals or even against his suzerain. while the imperial bishops opposed the movement, for instance, the counts of flanders encouraged it. during the eleventh century, the merchants had already enjoyed the protection of the counts, and, in the beginning of the twelfth century, the erection of a wall surrounding the "porters" was accompanied by the grant of special privileges. when charles the good was killed in , the people rose to avenge his death and besieged his murderers in the castle of bruges. the count having left no heir, louis vi of france upheld the claim of william of normandy, but the burgesses, fearing that the duke would not maintain their privileges, opposed his candidature and selected thierry of alsace. a war ensued, during which most of the nobles sided with the first, whilst the towns and free peasants took the part of the second. after his victory, thierry showed his gratitude by extending to all towns in the country, whether walloon or flemish, the same freedom. strangely enough, it was not the charter of bruges which was chosen, but that of arras. the towns enjoyed a kind of self-government. the citizens were judged by their own sheriffs ("échevins"), the prince being represented on their council by a "bailli." they had their own seal, their own hall and archives. they owed allegiance to their prince, and, in case of war, had to give him military help. their rights were shown by the gallows erected at the gates of the town and by the belfry, whose bell called the burgesses to arms when the city was threatened by the enemy. illustration: the cloth hall and belfry, bruges (thirteenth-fourteenth century). _ph. b._ in brabant also the communes enjoyed the protection of the duke, but they developed later, owing to the agricultural character of the region. the importance of louvain and brussels dates from the twelfth century, when the cologne-bruges road brought commercial activity into the country and when the weaving industry began to spread in the duchy. as for liége, which was a purely ecclesiastical town, where, for a long time, the number of priests and monks exceeded that of the ordinary citizens, it enjoyed a smaller share of local liberties than the other centres of the meuse valley where industry was more developed, and the citizens never succeeded in freeing themselves completely from the bishop's authority. [_peasants_] if the imperial bishops opposed the new movement, it was mainly owing to the influence of the monks, and especially the cistercian monks, that it spread to agricultural districts and that the rise of the communes coincided with the abolition of serfdom. the direct consequence of the development of trade and industry was the depreciation of the land, and it became necessary to open new districts to agriculture. the cistercians were pioneers in this direction. they established their houses in barren heaths and marshy districts, and applied their skill and patience to converting them into fertile fields. unable to carry on the work unaided, they appealed to lay brethren, who established farms in the neighbourhood of the monasteries. these peasants were no longer serfs but free peasants, as had been their forefathers after the frankish invasion. under the supervision of the monks and of the stewards of dukes and counts, who soon realized the advantages of the cistercian method, they created new "polders" along the flemish coast, cleared the forests of hainault and namur, and reclaimed the heaths and marshes of flanders and brabant. the reclaimed ground was divided among the workers, so that, at the beginning of the thirteenth century, a new class of free peasants replaced the old class of feudal serfs. the farm produce was no longer for local consumption alone; it was taken to the market-place, where the farmers met the merchants and artisans. the social transformation begun in the town halls spread thence to the country-side, and the whole country began to share the same economic and political interests. the belfry remains the living symbol of this rapid and widespread transformation, and the few mediæval belfries which remain standing in belgium date from that period. those of ghent and tournai, built at the end of the twelfth century, stand alone, in the centre of the town, while in ypres and bruges (thirteenth century) the tower was erected above the centre of the "halles." in both cases, however, the meaning of these old monuments is the same. they are far more typical of belgian mediæval civilization than the gothic churches of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, such as st. bavon (ghent), ste. gudule (brussels) and notre dame (bruges), and even than the great cathedrals built later in antwerp and malines. belgium's ecclesiastical architecture, though distinct from the french, is strongly influenced by the french gothic style, while her civic monuments can only be compared to the palazzi publici of florence and sienna. they stand as living witnesses of the heroic times when the alliance of the guilds was sought by the princes and when common artisans did not hesitate to challenge the power of the french kings. the spirit which raised them has left its mark on the people, who still cherish to an extraordinary degree their local institutions, and for whom communal privileges constitute the very basis of social liberty. this "love of the clock-tower" is not only belgian, or italian, or english; it is essentially a european trait, as opposed to asiatic imperialism, and may even be found in republican rome and in ancient greece. [_town citizenship_] it is not without interest to notice that this european conception of town-citizenship coincided with an exceptional artistic and economic development strongly subjected both to latin and germanic influences. while in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries ghent became the centre of flemish-german trade, owing to its privileged position on the cologne road, bruges was the most cosmopolitan centre in europe. it communicated with the sea by a canal, whose great dykes are mentioned by dante (_inferno_, xv, , ), and its market-place, deserted to-day, was then crowded with traders from england, france, spain and germany and brokers from lombardy and tuscany. seventeen states were represented in the city, where the hanseatic towns had their main warehouses. ships, laden with stores from all parts of the world, took with them flemish textiles, which were celebrated for their suppleness and beauty of colour, and which were exported, not only to all parts of europe, but even to the bazaars of the east. when local raw material became insufficient, wool was imported from england, and the hansa of london centralized the trade between the two countries. england and flanders were thus brought close together, and their commercial relations reacted on the policy of both countries. in the shadow of the bruges belfry, amid english, french, german and italian traders, a new civilization was born, which, combining the latin and germanic influences to which it was subjected, was soon to assert its own originality. belgium had definitely broken down the barriers of feudalism. the same causes which had liberated her people had brought them into contact with the outside world. chapter vii the golden spurs the political history of the last centuries of the middle ages is entirely dominated by the development of the communes. their influence is twofold. on one hand, they prevented the absorption of the country by the french kings; on the other, they delayed its unification under national princes. by safeguarding local liberties, they checked foreign ambitions, but, through their efforts to maintain their privileges and through their petty rivalries, they impeded, for a long time, the establishment of central institutions. during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries they fostered trade and industry by affording due protection to the burgesses and forcing the princes to follow a policy in accordance with the interests of the country. during the fourteenth century they were weakened by internal struggles between classes and cities, and, through their trade restrictions, became an obstacle to the free development of the economic life of the nation. [_flanders' influence_] the cardinal event of the period is the battle of courtrai ( ), also called the battle of the golden spurs, owing to the great number of these spurs collected on the battlefield after the defeat of the french knights by the flemish militia. it was hailed at the time as a miraculous triumph for the commoners, the disproportion between the opposing forces being somewhat exaggerated by enthusiastic contemporary chroniclers. but its influence was not only social, it was national, for it definitely secured the independence of flanders and of the other belgian principalities against the increasing power of the french kings, and this rendered possible the unification of the country, which was accomplished, a century later, under the dukes of burgundy. illustration: seal of the town of damme. ( ). illustration: seal of guy de dampierre, count of flanders ( - ). at the beginning of the twelfth century the old distinction between lotharingia and flanders had practically ceased to exist. the emperor's prestige, greatly diminished by the struggle of the investitures, was no longer strong enough to keep the belgian princes east of the scheldt within the bounds of their allegiance. the most loyal of them, the count of hainault, would not even depart from neutrality during the war waged between frederick barbarossa and the french king. "he was not obliged," he declared, "to put his fortunes in the hands of the imperial troops and to grant them passage across his territory, as that would bring devastation to his country." the development of trade and industry had shifted the centre of interest from germany, which remained purely feudal and agricultural, to flanders, which represented a far more advanced civilization, based on the free development of the cities. when the princes of brabant, hainault and the other principal cities looked for an example or for some political support, they no longer had to seek it outside the country. even liége was gradually drawn within the circle of flanders's influence. this lead, given by one belgian principality to the others, over the scheldt boundary, marks the break-up of the division of the country between france and germany inaugurated at the treaty of verdun, and prepares the work of centralization which brought about the creation of belgian nationality. the policy of flanders was determined by the desire to preserve peace with england and with france, germany playing only a very secondary part in european affairs at the time. good relations with england were essential to the flemish cloth industry, since most of the wool was imported from this country through bruges. as the power of the french kings increased, the flemish counts endeavoured also to avoid any conflict with their suzerains, since their northern allies could not bring them sufficient military help to prevent the country's invasion. counts and communes tried in vain to remain neutral. neutrality was impossible, and, whenever it was infringed, flanders had invariably to suffer from the consequences, either through the ruin of her trade or through the loss of her liberties. [_bouvines_] the house of alsace came into power at the death of charles the good. its representative, thierry, had been opposed by the french king, who wanted to give the county to the duke of normandy. the communes, fearing that the duke's attitude would bring difficulties with england, upheld the claim of thierry, who prevailed after the death of his rival. his son, philip, acquired further territories in france (amiénois, valois and vermandois). his influence and his prestige were so considerable that the french king, philippe-auguste, is supposed to have said: "france will absorb flanders or be destroyed by it." to his suzerain's policy of "absorption," the count of flanders opposed the british alliance, which he, however, broke in , when he thought himself threatened by his ally. philip of alsace died in the crusade, during the siege of st. john of acre ( ). philippe-auguste at once attempted to seize his possessions, but his attempt was frustrated by count baldwin v of hainault, who invaded the country and, having been recognized by the communes, succeeded in uniting both counties. baldwin v of hainault and ix of flanders preserved a friendly neutrality towards england during the struggle between coe de lion and philippe-auguste. when the count of flanders, who had become emperor of constantinople, died before adrianople ( ), the french king hoped at last to annex definitely the rich county. he had given baldwin's daughter in marriage to one of his creatures, ferrand of portugal, who thus became the legitimate successor. as soon, however, as he arrived in flanders, ferrand recognized that he could only maintain himself in power by pursuing an independent policy friendly to england. though a foreigner, with little knowledge of the country, he observed the same attitude towards france as his predecessors, concluding an alliance against his liege with the duke of brabant, king john of england and the emperor otto. the confederates were severely defeated at bouvines ( ), and, for nearly a century, the hegemony of france became paramount in the low countries. not only did the kings henceforth rule in their own estates of flanders, but they were able to extend their influence over the whole country as far as liége. the wishes of their representatives were considered as orders, and the complete absorption of belgium by france seemed the foregone conclusion of their tireless activity. two obstacles, however, stood in the way--the fact that flanders drew from england most of her raw material and the independent policy of the dukes of brabant. henry iii took the hansa of london under his special protection and promised the flemish traders that they should not be molested even if war broke out between england and france, unless flanders took an active part in the conflict. the flemish trade constituted a large source of revenue for the english kings, and it was still as essential, at the time, to the prosperity of england as to that of flanders. since the increased power of the french crown had rendered direct opposition impossible, the british kings did their best to favour flemish neutrality and to enter into close friendship with the only belgian princes who had preserved their full independence, the dukes of brabant. the latter belonged to the last national dynasty ruling in the country and were therefore particularly popular. the battle of woeringen ( ), in which duke john i succeeded in defeating the powerful archbishop of cologne and his allies, established his supremacy between the meuse and the rhine and gave him the full control of the road from cologne to ghent, through louvain and brussels, which brought brabant into line with flanders's trade and industry. brabant became thus the national bulwark against foreign influence and the political stronghold of belgium, a position which it never completely relinquished, even through the cruel vicissitudes of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. [_brabant_] if the prosperity of brabant did not yet equal that of flanders, the dukes possessed greater authority over their subjects and enjoyed far more independence. edward i, when preparing for war against france, fully appreciated these advantages, and gave his daughter margaret in marriage to the son of john i. antwerp benefited largely from the anglo-brabançonne alliance, since, when the english kings forbade the importation of wool into flanders, following some conflict with france, the english merchants found a suitable market in the scheldt port in close communication with the centres of brabant's cloth industry, louvain, brussels and malines. the cities of flanders, however, were not prepared to see their trade ruined to suit the plans of the french. the economic reasons which forbade a hostile attitude towards england would have afforded sufficient ground for an anti-french reaction. the crisis was hastened by internal trouble. the merchants and the craftsmen of the communes had not remained united. the rich and influential merchants had gradually monopolized public offices and formed a strong aristocracy opposed by the craftsmen. count guy de dampierre declared himself for the artisans, philip the fair of france, seizing the opportunity of interfering in the affairs of flanders, declared himself in favour of the aristocracy. at the same time, he opposed the projected marriage of the count's daughter with king edward's eldest son. the popular party, or "clauwaerts" (the claw of the flemish lion), was not sufficiently organized to resist the "leliaerts" (partisans of the lily), helped by philip's forces, and for five years the land remained under french occupation, count guy being imprisoned in france. in july a terrible rising, known as "matines brugeoises" and led by the weaver pieter de coninck, broke out in bruges, when all the french in the town were murdered in the early hours of the morning. philip immediately sent a powerful army to punish the rebels, which was defeated under the walls of courtrai by the flemish militia, which some nobles, partisans of the count, had hastily joined. the consequences of the battle of the golden spurs were considerable. it reversed the situation created, a century before, by bouvines. from the social point of view, it gave a tremendous impulse to democratic liberty throughout belgium. as a result, the people of liége obtained, in , their first liberties, symbolized by the erection of the "perron." the "joyeuse entrée" of brabant was published in and became the fixed constitution of the central principality. charters were enlarged and confirmed even in the least industrial districts of hainault and namur, luxemburg remaining practically the only purely feudal state in the country. duke john of luxemburg, who became king of bohemia and who fought at crécy, was considered at the time as one of the last representatives of mediæval chivalry. the prince of wales's motto "i serve" was supposed to have been borrowed by the black prince from this noble enemy. [flanders and england] from the national point of view, the battle of courtrai is no less important. had the flemings again failed in their bold bid for liberty, the principle of belgian nationality might have been irretrievably jeopardized on the eve of the period when it was to assert itself, and the efforts of centuries towards the reconstitution of political unity might have become useless. it is, of course, entirely wrong to attribute the rising of to purely patriotic motives, as some romantic belgian historians have endeavoured to do; but one may legitimately believe that part at least of the blind and obstinate heroism displayed during the struggle may have been inspired by an obscure instinct that flanders was, at the moment, waging the battle of belgium--that is to say, of all the lands lying between france and germany, and which, if permanently annexed by one or other of the powers, must necessarily upset the balance of europe and wreck all hope of european peace based on national freedom. flanders did not, however, reap the full benefits of her victory. the peace concluded in , after further military operations, took away from the county all the walloon district, considerably reducing the cattle grazing area and making flemish industry more dependent than ever on england for its raw material. from the beginning of the fourteenth century, the counts, who had, up to then, sided with the people, went over to the french party, so that, when the hundred years' war broke out, flanders found herself again faced by the cruel alternative of breaking her allegiance and being exposed to the disasters of an armed invasion from the south, or keeping it and seeing her industry ruined owing to the stoppage of her trade with england. as early as , count louis de nevers having ordered the arrest of english merchants, edward iii, as a reprisal, interrupted all intercourse between the two countries. this measure was all the more disastrous for flanders because, helped by the immigration of some flemish weavers and fullers to england, an english cloth industry had been started across the channel. the english were therefore far less dependent on the flemings than the flemings on the english, and it was to be feared that the new industry would greatly benefit from the monopoly created by the stoppage of trade. the prosperity of bruges was further threatened, since the prohibition did not include brabant, and antwerp remained open to british trade. [van artevelde] in the people rose against their count, and jacques van artevelde of ghent became the acknowledged leader of the movement. these risings differed from the "matines brugeoises" in that the aristocracy took part in them as well as the craftsmen. van artevelde was not a workman like de coninck. he was a rich landowner and had great interests in the cloth trade. his aim was not only to preserve the country's independence, but to safeguard its prosperity. approached by edward iii's delegates, he tried at first to maintain a purely neutral attitude, but, when the english king landed in antwerp with supplies of wool, he was obliged to side with england. the "wise man of ghent" suggested, however, that in order to relieve the communes of their oath of allegiance to philip of valois, who had succeeded the capetians, edward should declare himself the true king of france. the struggle which followed the destruction of the french fleet at sluis ( ) was protracted, no decision being reached at the siege of tournai. edward was called back to england by the restlessness of his own subjects, while the flemish artisans were unwilling indefinitely to hold the field against the french armies. the departure of the english forces caused great bitterness among the people, who accused van artevelde of having betrayed them, and in the course of a riot the once popular tribune was killed by the mob ( ). froissart, his enemy, pays him a generous tribute: "the poor exalted him, the wicked killed him." his son philip, queen philippa's godson, vainly endeavoured to succeed where his father had failed. after leading a revolt against the pro-french count louis de mâle, he was defeated by the french in and died on the battlefield. all these struggles had weakened flanders considerably. by chasing german merchants from bruges ( ), louis de mâle had brought about the decadence of this port in favour of antwerp, where the english were soon to transfer the wool market. political persecutions had driven a great many of the artisans to england, to the great advantage of english industry. hundreds of houses in bruges remained empty, ypres was half destroyed, and ghent had lost a considerable part of its population. civil war had exhausted the country's resources during the last years of the fourteenth century. in the country-side the dykes were neglected, great stretches of "polders" were again flooded by the sea, and wolves and bears infested the woods. the restoration of flanders to its previous prosperity did not take place before the middle of the fifteenth century, as a result of the wise rule of the dukes of burgundy. chapter viii the cathedral of tournai literature is perhaps nowadays the most characteristic expression of civilization, just as painting was the most striking mode of expression in the renaissance and architecture in the middle ages. we have seen that, in the netherlands, civic monuments constitute a typical feature in mediæval architecture, but, though it is important to insist on the conditions which favoured and inspired the building of belfries and cloth-halls, the important part played by churches in the netherlands, as in france and england, must nevertheless be acknowledged. it is true that, considering the intense religious life of the low countries from the tenth to the fifteenth centuries, the number of well preserved old churches still existing is rather disappointing, but this impression would be greatly altered if it were possible to revive the buildings which have fallen victim to destruction or to a worse fate still, wholesale restoration. [_second crusade_] all through the middle ages, belgium was an extraordinarily active centre of religious teaching and mysticism, and nowhere else perhaps in europe did the christian faith penetrate so deeply among the common people. quite apart from the intellectual and aristocratic movements favoured in the tenth and eleventh centuries by the imperial bishops of liége and their celebrated schools, from the deeper influence exerted in other parts by the clunisian monks (eleventh century) and by the cistercians and prémontrés (twelfth century), the enthusiasm aroused by the crusades is a sufficient proof of the country's religious fervour. not only did the nobles play a predominant part, godfrey of bouillon, duke of lower lotharingia, being the leader of the first crusade and the counts of flanders, robert ii, thierry of alsace, philip of alsace and baldwin ix, taking a large share in the same and in subsequent expeditions, but the lower classes enlisted with the same enthusiasm and flocked around the cross raised by peter the hermit and his followers. it is reported that, during the second crusade, certain localities lost more than half their male population. later, with the development of the communes, the bourgeois and the townspeople endeavoured to nominate their own priests and chaplains, civil hospitals were founded, and, in the thirteenth century, the mendicant orders enjoyed an enormous popularity, owing to the familiarity with which they mixed with the people. they followed the armies in the field, and it was among them that the citizens found their favourite preachers in times of peace. the great concourse of merchants and artisans in the towns favoured the spreading of heresies, and, for a time, the manicheans, under their leader tanchelm, made many converts among the antwerp weavers; but the church was strong enough, at the time, not to appeal hastily to forcible repression. the heretic preachers were fought, on their own ground, by franciscans, dominicans and other ecclesiastics, who succeeded in defeating them by their personal prestige. one of these preachers who was honoured as a saint, lambert le bègue (the stammerer), greatly influenced spiritual life in liége and the surrounding districts. the foundation of the characteristically belgian institution of the "béguines," or "beggards," can, at least partly, be traced to his religious activity. this institution, which spread all over the country during the thirteenth century, shows once more the success of all attempts in the netherlands to bring the inspiration of religion into the practice of everyday life and into close contact with the humble and the poor. it was specially successful among the women, and absorbed a great many of the surplus female population. the "béguines" did not pronounce eternal vows and could, if they liked, return to the world. they led a very active life, settled in small houses, forming a large square planted with trees, around a chapel where they held their services. all the time not devoted to prayer was given to some manual work, teaching or visiting the poor. from nivelles, the movement spread to ghent, bruges, lille, ypres, oudenarde, damme, courtrai, alost, dixmude, etc., and even to northern france and western germany. the accomplished type of the "béguine" is marie d'oignies, who, after a few months of married life, separated from her husband, spent many years among the lepers, and finally settled, with a few companions, in the little convent of oignies, near namur. [_romanesque architecture_] such was the spirit which inspired the builders of the belgian churches. certainly the most typical and perhaps the most beautiful is notre dame of tournai, with its romanesque nave, built in the eleventh century, its early gothic choir (thirteenth century) and its later gothic porch (fourteenth century). it illustrates admirably the succession of styles used in the country during the middle ages and the series of influences to which these styles were subjected from the east and from the south. most of the romanesque churches of the tenth and eleventh centuries were built either by german architects or by their belgian pupils. though the best examples of the period are now found either at tournai (cathedral and st. quentin), at soignies (st. vincent) and at nivelles (ste. gertrude), the centre of the school was at liége, where st. denis, st. jacques, st. barthélémy and especially ste. croix still show some traces of this early work. the main features of these buildings, in their original state, are, beside the use of the rounded arch, round or octagonal turrets, with pointed roofs, over the façade and sometimes over the transept. illustration: the cathedral, tournai (twelfth-fourteenth century). _ph. b._ with the decline of german political and intellectual influence, gothic was introduced into the country by french architects. in the last years of the twelfth century, tournai thus became the meeting-place of the two currents, and, owing to its favourable position on the scheldt and to the material available in the district, dominated the whole religious architecture of flanders. the period of transition lasted over a century and produced some of the most characteristic religious buildings of the country, in which both the rounded and pointed arches are happily combined. to this period belong st. jacques and ste. madeleine of tournai, st. nicolas and st. jacques of ghent and the pretty little church of pamele, built by arnold of binche (near tournai) between and , where beside the romanesque turrets of the façade may be found a short central octagonal gothic tower. the well-known church of st. sauveur at bruges, begun in , belongs to the same period, but brick instead of tournai stone has been used for its erection. the same feature is found in a good many gothic churches in maritime flanders and holland, which were too distant from the hainault quarries. tournai again, in the choir of its cathedral, furnishes a good example of belgian early gothic (thirteenth century), of which the destroyed cathedral of ypres, st. martin, was considered the masterpiece. all trace of the round arch has now disappeared and the columns are formed by massive pillars. as the gothic style develops in its secondary period (late thirteenth and beginning of fourteenth century) the windows increase in size, the pillars are fluted and the tracery of the windows becomes more and more complicated. the best examples of this particular gothic still in existence are the choir of st. paul at liége and notre dame of huy (begun in ). illustration: bronze font in the church of st. bartholomew, liÉge ( - ). the baptism of christ. st. peter baptising cornelius. [_gothic cathedrals_] the most important and the best preserved belgian churches belong, however, to the third period of gothic, when clustered columns replace pillars, tracery becomes flamboyant and spires soar higher and higher above the naves. brabant is especially rich in fourteenth and fifteenth century churches. possessing its own quarries, it was independent of tournai, and can claim an original style altogether free from hainault or french influence. in this group must be mentioned notre dame of hal; the cathedral of st. rombaut, in malines, begun in and whose flat-roofed tower was only finished in ; ste. gudule, in brussels, the oldest of them all, with some parts dating as far back as the thirteenth century, a flamboyant porch and two flat-roofed towers similar to those of st. rombaut; and, finally, the great cathedral of antwerp, begun in , with one of the highest towers in europe and certainly the slenderest, whose various stories mark the transformation of style as they rise to end in a purely renaissance spire. illustration: collegiate church of sainte gudule, brussels (thirteenth-fourteenth century). _ph. b._ most of these romanesque and gothic churches have no unity of style, owing to the long period covered during their building. from a purely architectural point of view, they lack perhaps the purity of some of their french and german rivals, but they are all the more interesting to the historian and bring him into close contact with the transformation of mind and manners from the middle ages to the renaissance. in order not to split up our subject we have wandered from the civilization of the middle ages into the early renaissance. let us now go back to notre dame of tournai, with her five pointed towers, and see what we may learn from her with regard to the intellectual and literary developments of the period. in the same way as the building of its choir, in the early thirteenth century, shows evident traces of french influence, so the use of french, among the upper classes and in the literature of the period, becomes more and more predominant. during the first centuries of the middle ages, french influence in flanders was particularly noticeable in the monasteries. almost in every monastery walloon and flemish monks lived side by side, and it became necessary that their abbots should be able to make themselves understood by both sections of the community. thierry of st. trond was chosen by the monks of st. peter at ghent "quoniam theutonica et gaulonica lingua expeditus." examples abound of bishops, teachers and preachers able to express themselves in flemish and french. the "cantilène of ste. eulalie," the oldest poem written in the french language, was discovered in the monastery of st. amand together with one of the oldest german writings, the "ludwigslied." the clunisian influence tended also to spread the use of french in the northern districts. [_bi-lingualism_] the same bilingual characteristic may be found among the nobles, who met frequently in the course of their military expeditions or peaceful tournaments. intermarriages between families belonging to both parts of lotharingia and flanders were frequent. besides, most of the large domains lay across the language frontier. the knowledge of french soon became an essential condition of a good education, and the children of flemish lords were sent to french abbeys in order to perfect their knowledge of the language. it may be assumed that, at the end of the eleventh century, the majority of the aristocracy was bilingual. it was one of the reasons which gave the belgian nobles such a prominent position in the crusades. a contemporary writer, otto of friesingen, explains that godfrey of bouillon was placed at the head of the crusaders because, "brought up on the frontier between romanized and teutonic people, he knew both languages equally well." this penetration of french, not only in flanders, which was nominally attached to the kingdom of france, but also in lotharingia and even in liége, the centre of german influence, is all the more remarkable as it implied no political hegemony, the counts of flanders being practically independent, at the time, and the other nobles attached to the empire. it was not introduced by conquest, as in england in the eleventh century, or through immigration, like german into bohemia or into the baltic states. the race of the northern provinces remained relatively pure, and the adoption of a second language by the aristocracy can only be explained by the intimate relations created between thiois (flemings) and walloons owing to political conditions, to diocesan boundaries and social intercourse. the influence of french was still further increased during the twelfth century, which is the classical epoch of french literature in the middle ages, and during which trade became so much more active owing to the formation of the communes. it was not only spoken by nearly all the counts of flanders and used in their private correspondence, but it became, to a certain extent, the official language when latin was dispossessed of its monopoly. its use ceased to be confined to the aristocracy and spread to the bourgeoisie, owing to the frequent intercourse between flemish and french merchants at the fairs of champagne. all bills of exchange were written in french, and even the lombards and the florentine bankers used it in their transactions. its knowledge was as necessary, at the time, as a knowledge of english may be to-day to all exporters. as late as , it was the only popular language in which public documents were written. it is true that, in northern flanders, many germanic terms are mixed with it, but it exerts practically no influence on the early development of the flemish language. the linguistic situation in flanders, during the thirteenth century, is interesting to compare with that existing in england, at the same time, where the imported tongue was progressively absorbed by the native, just as the normans were absorbed by the saxons. again, it is typical of the pacific character of french penetration that when, in the middle of the thirteenth century, flemish prose, having sufficiently developed, was adopted for public acts, no restriction whatever was placed on this custom. french, however, remained the language used by the counts and by their officers. the documents of the period present an extraordinary medley of latin, french and flemish texts. brabant was not so strongly influenced, partly because the dukes belonged to the old native dynasty and partly because the dukedom entered later into the current of trade intercourse. french was used at court, and a knowledge of it was considered as a necessary accomplishment for a nobleman. but the dukes used flemish in their relations with their flemish subjects, and when latin gradually disappeared, the popular language took its place in public acts. [_picard writers_] this efflorescence of the french language must be connected with the great prosperity of walloon flanders and the development, in arras, douai, lille, tournai and valenciennes, of an intense literary movement, including poets, chroniclers and translators endowed with a distinct originality. as late as the thirteenth century these writers, who had adopted the picard dialect, proclaimed their independence from purely french literature, so that, in their own domain, they play a similar part to that played by the tournai master-builders in theirs. the counts of flanders and hainault, among them philip of alsace, baldwin v and baldwin vi, patronized native literature and even attracted to their courts some of the greatest french poets of the period, such as chrétien de troyes and gautier d'epinal. the dukes of brabant imitated this example and patronized adenet le roi, who was considered the most eminent belgian trouvère. we still possess a few songs composed by duke henry iii. nothing can give us a better insight into the intellectual life of some of the nobles of the time than the following lines in which lambert d'ardres describes the manifold activities of baldwin ii, count of guines ( - ). this prince "surrounded himself with clerks and masters, asked them questions unceasingly and listened to them attentively. but, as he would have liked to know everything and could not remember everything by heart, he ordered master landri de waben to translate for him from the latin into romance the song of solomon, together with its mystic interpretation, and often had it read aloud to him. he learned, in the same way, the gospels, accompanied by appropriate sermons, which had been translated, as well as the life of st. anthony abbot, by a certain alfred. he also received from master godfrey a great portion of the physic translated from latin into romance. everyone knows that the venerable father simon of bologna translated for him from the latin into romance the book of solinus on natural history and, in order to obtain a reward for his labour, offered the book to him publicly and read it to him aloud." translations play a most important part in the literature of the time, and it is significant that belgium, from this point of view, owing no doubt to her duality of language, acted as a pioneer for france. just as the walloon provinces were first to discard latin in public acts and replace it by french, it is among their writers that the first and most notable translators may be found. the tastes of translators and their patrons were very catholic; science, theology, history and poetry proving equally attractive. another characteristic of french letters in belgium is the importance given to history. the first historical work written in french is a translation by nicolas de senlis of the _chronicle of turpin_, made for yolande, sister of baldwin v of hainault. in a clerk compiled for roger, castellan of lille, a series of historical stories, the _livre des histoires_, taken from the most various sources, from the creation of the world down to his own time. soon original works, dealing with local and contemporary events, replaced translations and compilations. such are the _story of hainault_, written for baldwin of avesnes, and the rhymed _chronicle of tournai_ by philippe mousket. [_romances_] the bourgeoisie soon became interested in the movement. but the citizens of the towns enjoyed neither courtiers' poetry nor epics and warlike histories. satire and didactic works were far more to their taste. as early as the first part of the twelfth century a priest, nivardus, collected the numerous animal stories which were told in his time and in which renard the fox, isengrain the wolf, noble the lion and many more animal heroes play a very lively part. these tales, in spite of their oriental or greek origin, had found a new meaning among the townsfolk of the twelfth century, who delighted in the tricks of renard, whose cunning outwitted the strength of the great barons and the pride of their suzerain. translations from nivardus were the origin of the french versions of the _roman du renard_ and of the flemish poem of _reinaert_, written by willem in the thirteenth century, and which surpasses all other variations of the theme. the _reinaert_ is the first notable work of mediæval flemish literature. willem's predecessor, hendrick van veldeke, is merely a translator. one of his most popular poems at the time, the _eneÿde_, is a flemish version of the french _roman d'enéas_. the number and the success of these flemish translations of french romances of chivalry, in the thirteenth century, is however, remarkable, especially as it was the means of introducing these stories into germany, where they received new and sometimes original treatment. from its very origin flemish literature acted thus as an intermediary between france and germany. veldeke was a noble, and his works were only appreciated in the castles. jacob van maerlant, who was hailed, in his time, as the "father of flemish poets," was a bourgeois scribe. though obliged at first to write some translations from the french romances, he could not but feel that this kind of literature suited neither the aspirations nor the temperament of the people among whom he lived. turning from these frivolous stories, he sought in the works of vincent de beauvais and pierre comestor a wiser and more serious inspiration. his ambition was to place within reach of laymen the scientific, philosophic and religious thought of his time, so that they might obtain the same chances of acquiring knowledge as the learned clerics. this is the spirit which pervades his principal and most popular works, _der naturen blume_, the _rymbybel_ and the _spiegel historiael_, in which the author deals with natural lore and sacred and profane history. in his impatience against "the beautiful, false french poets who rhyme more than they know," van maerlant declared that all french things were false: "wat waelsch is valsch is," but one would seek vainly any systematic hostility towards france in the poet's encyclopædic work. on the contrary, on several occasions, he pays a glowing tribute to the intellectual splendour of france, specially as represented by the university of paris, and it is not without astonishment that we discover from his pen, on the eve of the battle of the golden spurs, a eulogy of the french régime. [_van maerlant_] the reason why van maerlant attacked the french romances of chivalry was not that they were french, but that they were romances. the characteristic of the early flemish writers, apart from the satiric poetry of willem, is the seriousness of their thought and purpose. they feel strongly their responsibility in influencing their contemporaries and seldom abandon the tone of the preacher or teacher. the most eloquent verses of van maerlant may be found in _van den lande van oversee_, in which he preaches a new crusade after the fall of st. john of acre. from the very beginning belgian flemish literature is distinct from the french, but has many points of contact with the intellectual movement of the walloon provinces. there can be no question, at this early stage, of disagreement or rivalry, for french was only, at the time, the second language of the aristocracy in flanders, and, as flemish letters developed, they naturally penetrated into the upper classes. there are few examples in history of a civilization combining with such harmony the genius of two races and two languages. chapter ix the great dukes of the west there are certain periods in the life of nations and individuals when, owing to a combination of happy circumstances, all their best faculties work in perfect harmony. they give us a complete and almost perfect image of the man or the land. it is towards such periods of efflorescence that we turn when we want to judge a great reformer, a great writer or a great artist, and it is only fair that we should turn to them also when we want to appreciate the part played in the history of civilization by all nations who have left their mark in the world. illustration: the netherlands under the rule of the dukes of burgundy. such a period of economic, political and artistic splendour may be found in belgium when the whole country became united under the dukes of burgundy. the fifteenth century is for belgium what the elizabethan period is for england and the seventeenth century for france. not only did the territorial importance of the unified provinces reach its culminating point and the national princes play a prominent part in european politics, but, from the point of view of economic prosperity and intellectual efflorescence, bruges, brussels and antwerp rivalled, at the time, the great italian republics of the renaissance. [_decline of the communes_] considering the common interests linking the various states, and their remoteness from the political centres of france and germany, the unification of the country under one crown seemed a foregone conclusion. in fact, we have seen that, already at the beginning of the twelfth century, the division of the country between the two great powers had become purely nominal. lotharingia ceased to exist owing to the decreasing influence of the empire following the struggle of the investitures, and the counts of flanders were so powerful that they were practically independent of their french suzerains. they began to take an important share in political life east of the scheldt, and would no doubt have succeeded in uniting the whole country under their sway but for the rising power of the communes and for the political recovery of france. the communes substituted economic divisions for the political divisions created by feudalism. the efforts of the french kings, while unable to crush flemish independence, succeeded, nevertheless, in checking the power of the counts, while other states, such as brabant, were allowed to develop more freely beyond the scheldt. at the close of the fourteenth century, the communes, which had proved such a powerful means of liberating trade and industry from feudal restrictions, had, to a great extent, ceased to fulfil their part in the development of the nation. instead of using their privileges to further economic relations, the large towns oppressed the smaller ones and the country-side was entirely sacrificed. internal strife, war with france and the decadence of the cloth industry had brought about a state of economic depression and social unrest out of which the country could only emerge through the support of a strong and centralized administration. on the other hand, the french kings were, for the time, reconciled to the idea of an independent flanders and too exhausted by their struggle against england to make further warlike attempts in this direction. so that when philip the bold, duke of burgundy, became count of flanders, in , the country, exhausted by civil war and independent of foreign hegemony, was at last prepared to submit to parting with some of its local privileges in order to obtain peace and prosperity under a wise central administration. philip was the brother of charles v, king of france, and succeeded louis de mâle after marrying the count's daughter. he was supposed to bring back flanders under french influence, but, as a matter of fact, pursued a policy distinct from that of the french. once more, as in the case of guy de dampierre and of ferrand, the french king was deceived in his plans, and the interests of the country proved stronger than the personal relations of its ruler. one of the first acts of the new count was to secure artois, thus reconstituting the bilingual flanders of the previous century. he then proceeded to extend the power of his house by obtaining, for his second son antoine, the succession of brabant in exchange for military help given to the duchess jeanne. such a scheme was opposed to the emperor's projects, but his influence could not outweigh the advantages which the brabançons expected from the house of burgundy. it thus happened that, when philip the bold died, in , his eldest son john inherited flanders and artois, and antoine acquired brabant and limburg. the latter's possessions were further increased by his marriage with elisabeth gorlitz, heiress of luxemburg. the two brothers supported each other, and when antoine died at agincourt ( ), john the fearless obtained the lease of luxemburg. he had previously intervened in the affairs of liége and received the title of protector of the bishopric. only hainault, holland, zeeland and namur remained independent of the burgundian house when john died, in , assassinated on the bridge of montereau. like his father, his policy had been inspired far more by the interests of the low countries than by those of france. he resided in ghent during the greater part of his reign. illustration: philip the good. from a portrait by roger van der weyden (madrid). [_philip the good_] philip the good, his son, reaped all the benefits of his father's efforts. he completed the work of unification by extending his protectorate over tournai, cambrai and utrecht and buying namur. john iv of brabant, son of antoine and elisabeth, had married jacqueline of bavaria, countess of hainault, holland and zeeland. when he and his brother had died without heir, brabant and limburg reverted to the elder branch of the house of burgundy. so that, after having dispossessed his cousin jacqueline of her inheritance, philip became practically the sole master of all the principalities founded on belgian soil since the middle ages. no doubt the dukes of burgundy were helped in their work of unification by a series of most favourable circumstances. within a remarkably short time, many marriages and deaths occurred which favoured their plans to a very considerable extent. but it would be a great mistake to attribute their success to fate alone. their power was so great that, through political pressure and offers of money, they might, in any case, have induced the less favoured princes of the country to part with their domains. and, what is far more important, economic and political circumstances were such as to render the old system of local divisions obsolete and to necessitate the formation of a central administration pooling the resources and directing the common policy of all parts of the country. it was not through the process of burgundian unification that belgium became a nation. it was because belgium had already practically become a nation, through the gradual intercourse of the various principalities, that one prince, more favoured than his neighbours at the time, was able to concentrate in his hands the power of all the belgian princes. it is not without reason, nevertheless, that justus lipsius, the belgian humanist of the seventeenth century, calls philip the good "conditor belgii," the founder of belgium. if this prince benefited from the efforts of his predecessors, if he enjoyed tremendous opportunities, he was wise enough to make full use of them. while enlarging his possessions and even contemplating, no doubt, the foundation of a great european empire, he proceeded step by step and did not launch into any wild enterprise which might have jeopardized the future. while building up a centralized state such as the legists of the renaissance conceived it, a state independent of local institutions and possessing a distinct life apart from the people and above them, he endeavoured, as much as possible, to respect local privileges, superimposing modern institutions on mediæval ones and preserving, if not wholly, at least formally, the rights of each province and town. [_the great duke of the west_] the "great duke of the west," as he was called, "could," according to his own words, "have been king if he had only willed it"--that is to say, if he had been prepared to pay homage to the emperor. after some protracted negotiations, he preferred to remain a duke and to preserve his complete independence. he was duke of burgundy, count of flanders, duke of brabant, count of hainault, "mambourg" of liége, etc.; he was, in short, the head of a monarchic confederation in which he succeeded in establishing a few central institutions common to all the principalities, a private council, the "council of the duke," a government council, "the grand council," and the "states general," on which sat delegates of the various provincial states and which the duke called together when he deemed it opportune. the states general's approval was necessary whenever fresh taxes were to be levied or when the sovereign intended to declare war. following the example of the french kings, the duke was nearly always able to conciliate the states general by giving the majority of the seats to members of the clergy or to the nobility. the latter he succeeded in converting into a body of courtiers by grants of money, land or well-paid offices, also by founding, in , the privileged order of the golden fleece. philip's external policy was judged severely by his english contemporaries, whose views are no doubt reflected in the first part of shakespeare's _henry vi_, where we see burgundy abandoning his allies at the instigation of the maid of orleans. his "betrayal" was followed by riots in london, during which some flemish and walloon merchants lost their lives. considered, however, from the point of view of the period, when diplomacy and politics were not inspired by a particularly keen sense of justice and morality, the duke's decision is easy to explain. drawn into the english alliance by the traditional policy of flanders, which always sought support in this country against france, and by the murder of his father, for which he sought revenge, he never lost sight of the possible threat to his power and independence which an overwhelming english victory might constitute some day. english ambitions in the low countries had been made evident by the expedition of the duke of gloucester, henry v's brother, who had championed jacqueline of bavaria's cause against the duke. a permanent union of hainault, brabant and holland, under english protection, had even been contemplated. it would, therefore, have been contrary to burgundian and to belgian interests, if the power of france had been absolutely and irremediably crushed, since such a victory would have upset the balance of western power, on which the very existence of the new confederation depended. philip's quarrel with henry vi was, however, short-lived, and, during the last part of his reign, he succeeded in re-establishing the anglo-burgundian alliance on a sounder basis. his wife, isabella of portugal, a granddaughter of john of gaunt, used her influence to bring about a reconciliation and the resumption of trade relations. the marriage of charles, son of philip, with margaret of york, sister of edward iv, which was celebrated in bruges in amidst an amazing display of luxury, definitely sealed the bond of union. illustration: charles the bold. from a portrait by roger van der weyden (berlin museum). [_charles the bold_] for france had recovered from her trials; and when he succeeded his father, charles, surnamed the bold, was confronted by an adversary all the more formidable that, through his impulsive temperament, he literally played into the hands of the cunning french king. faced, as philip had been, by the opposition of the communes and by the separatist tendencies of certain towns, the new duke, scorning diplomacy, tried to impose his will through sheer force and terrorism. the sack of dinant in was destined to serve as an example to liége, where the agents of king louis maintained a constant agitation. two years later, the duke obliged his rival to witness the burning and pillage of the latter city, which had revolted for a second time, following the instigations of the french. charles might have resisted his enemy's intrigues, if he had limited his ambitions to the low countries. like his father, he entered into negotiations with the emperor with the hope of acquiring the title of king. his burgundian domains were separated from the low countries by alsace and lorraine. had he been able to join low and high burgundy through these lands, he would have very nearly reconstituted the old kingdom of lotharingia, by unifying all the borderlands lying between france and germany, from the north sea to the mediterranean. the success of such an enterprise might have had incalculable consequences. but charles was the last man to succeed in an endeavour requiring at least as much skill and diplomacy as material resources. he obtained rights upon alsace and conquered lorraine, but fell an easy prey to louis xi's artifices by launching an expedition against the swiss. defeated at granson and morat, he was killed before nancy, leaving the whole responsibility of his heavy succession to his young daughter mary. according to philip de commines: "he tried so many things that he could not live long enough to carry them through, and they were indeed almost impossible enterprises." but his external policy remained all through perfectly consistent. he was a faithful friend to the house of york and gave his support to edward iv, with whom he intended to divide france, had he succeeded in conquering louis. [_position of belgium_] philip the good, by his work of territorial consolidation, had succeeded in obliterating from the map of europe the frontier of the scheldt, which, since the treaty of verdun, had divided the country between france and germany. charles the bold failed in reconstituting the short-lived kingdom of lotharius, which had stood, for a few years, as a barrier between the two rival powers. such a dream was indeed outside the scope of practical politics, though, considered from the point of view of language and race, it was not entirely unjustifiable, the population of the rhine sharing with that of the low countries both their romanic and germanic characteristics, and asserting from time to time their desire to lead a free and independent life. this desire was never fulfilled, owing partly to the main direction of the line of race-demarcation running from north to south, parallel to the political frontier, and partly to the narrowness of the strip of territory involved. had such a boundary extended through belgium along the scheldt, for instance, instead of being deflected from cologne to boulogne, the same result would have occurred. belgium owes her independent state to the presence of the coal wood which, in the fourth century, broke the invaders' efforts along a line running from east to west across political frontiers, not parallel to them. thanks to the exceptional richness of her widespread plain, easily accessible from the sea, she remains, in modern times, as the last fragment of the great empire of lotharius, which, for a few years, gathered under one rule all the borderlands of western europe. chapter x the town halls the most characteristic monument of the fifteenth century in belgium is the town hall, just as the most characteristic monument of the two preceding centuries is the belfry, with, or without, its cloth hall. illustration: the town hall, bruges (fourteenth-fifteenth century). _ph. b._ [_gothic town halls_] it may seem strange that it should be left to great municipal palaces to express the spirit of a period of centralization, when local privileges were progressively sacrificed to the general interest of the state, and when the prince gathered under one sway the various states among which the netherlands had been divided. when looking at the gothic town halls of brussels, louvain and bruges, with their flowered traceries and luxury of ornament, one might be misled into taking them for the palaces of the prince rather than for the expression of municipal freedom. there is nothing about them of the strength and defiance expressed in the great "halles" and belfries of ypres, bruges and ghent. the latter were, as we have seen, erected for two purposes. they were, so to speak, a central citadel raised in the middle of the town, from the towers of which the sentinel sounded the alarm and called the citizens to arms to defend their privileges and protect their homes against the attacks of any enemy from outside, not excluding the prince himself. behind their thick walls and battlements, the archives and charters of the towns were jealously preserved. on the other hand, the "halles" afforded a meeting-place for foreign and local merchants and a warehouse where their goods were stored. they constituted fortified covered markets, and the combination of these military and economic characteristics is visible in every outline of the building and reveals the dominant aspirations of an age which succeeded in emancipating the city from the autocratic rule of the suzerain and in safeguarding the trade and industry of its inhabitants. none of these features is apparent in the "hôtels de ville" of the burgundian period. their slender outline and small proportions exclude any idea of defence. compare, for instance, the graceful spire of brussels with the proud and massive belfry of bruges, and the almost feminine aspect of the louvain town hall with the forbidding masculinity of the destroyed ypres cloth hall. again, the profusion of ornament and statuettes, the delicate flanking towers, especially in bruges and louvain, contrast with the austerity of the old "halles." these luxurious mansions were built neither for military nor for economic purposes. they are far too small to be of any use as covered markets. in fact, the new municipal buildings of the fifteenth century only preserved one characteristic of their predecessors. they were still the seat of the "échevinage," and it was within their walls that the magistrates of the town met the duke's representative, the "bailli." economic activity had left the central hall and migrated to the exchange. the achievement of the hôtels de ville of brussels ( ) and louvain ( ) coincides with the foundation of the first european exchange in antwerp ( ). in this transformation of the municipal buildings from the middle ages to the early renaissance, we may read a parallel transformation in political and social institutions. the municipal spirit was still predominant, and the resistance made by bruges in , and still more energetically by ghent from to , to the increasing influence of philip the good, shows clearly that the communal spirit was still prevalent, especially in the old towns. but the relatively more modern towns, such as brussels and antwerp, were ready to accept the beneficial protection of the princes. the villages and the country, which had suffered for a long time from the tyranny of the large towns, were all on his side. the transformation of industry and trade contributed to break down local mediæval customs and privileges, to the greater benefit of the state. the result was a compromise, and it is that compromise which is revealed by burgundian municipal architecture. the town was still exalted, but it was no longer the free defiant town which wrested its charters from a reluctant suzerain; it was, if one may so express it, a tamed town, developing its resources under the protection and the control of its master, while still keeping alive its pride by a great display of luxury. the failure of the ghent revolt marked the decline of the communal militias, which were no longer able to resist the well disciplined ducal mercenary army. the defeat of gavere ( ) sealed the fate of citizen armies, just as the battle of the golden spurs ( ) had revealed their strength. [_policy of the dukes_] it must, however, be remarked that this success was only obtained by a complete change of policy on the part of the dukes. they no longer, like their mediæval predecessors, opposed the development of the towns by oppressive measures. on the contrary, they did all in their power to protect and expand this prosperity, not only by securing peace and commercial liberty, but also by taking special measures in case of emergency. philip the good, on several occasions, attempted to arrest the decadence of ypres caused by the development of the english cloth industry. in spite of the opposition of ghent and ypres, charles the bold undertook important works in order to dredge the estuary of the zwyn, which was rapidly silting up, and thus to keep open, if possible, the port of bruges. at the same time, the dukes encouraged the trade of antwerp and gave the first impulse to the maritime activity of the ports of holland. the burgundian princes did not live isolated in their feudal castles; they made it a rule to reside in their large towns, either ghent, bruges or brussels, where they held their courts and where they contributed, by their display of luxury, to the general prosperity. this solicitude for the welfare of the large towns was not altogether disinterested. the dukes realized that their power rested not so much on their military forces as on their wealth, and that their wealth depended on the riches of their towns. they understood, according to a contemporary historian (chastellain), that "in the fullness of substance and money, not in dignities and highness of their rank, lay the glory and the power of princes." the substitution of the renaissance hôtel de ville for the old cloth hall is also the symbol of the decline of the cloth industry. the wool industry in flanders had passed through three consecutive stages which directly affected the relationships between belgium and england. we have seen how, during the early middle ages, flemish wool being sufficient for flemish looms, the cloth industry was almost entirely independent, and how, as the industry increased, flemish weavers depended more and more on the imports of english wool during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. during the fourteenth century, however, owing partly to the immigration of flemish weavers encouraged by edward iii and partly to the natural course of events, which must induce a country to work up its own raw material, the english cloth industry had become very active, and the quantity of wool available for flanders consequently decreased, while its price increased, and the flemish industry was faced by the double difficulty of preserving its market from the import of english cloth, through hanseatic ships, and of obtaining the necessary raw material. the restrictive measures taken against the import of english cloth proved ineffectual, and spanish wool, which was tried as a substitute for english, was of inferior quality. ypres was the first to suffer, in spite of the solicitude of the dukes, who reduced commercial taxes in its favour. its population fell from , in to , in , and in one-third of its inhabitants were reduced to begging. bruges succeeded in maintaining herself for a time through her banking establishments, while ghent benefited from the staple of grain, brussels from the presence of the dukes, malines from its parliament, louvain from its newly created university and antwerp from its rising trade. [_linen and tapestry_] besides, when the resistance to english rivalry proved fruitless, in spite of the repeated prohibitions decreed by philip the good, the country turned, with extraordinary adaptability, to the linen industry as a substitute for the woollen. linen replaced cloth, and the same processes and looms which had been applied to the old industry were successfully applied to the new. clothmaking took refuge either in the flemish country districts, where the wages were lower, or in some remote parts of the walloon country. the existence of verviers as a clothmaking town dates from . the decline of the cloth industry was also to a certain extent compensated for by the introduction in northern flanders and in brabant of tapestry, whose centres, until then, had been in arras and tournai. * * * * * i have already alluded to the ornamental character of burgundian gothic contrasting with the severity of the communal period. luxury rather than strength is aimed at by the architects of the hôtels de ville and other well-known monuments of the period, such as the hôtel gruuthuse and the chapelle du saint sang in bruges. this richness is real, and not artificially confined to the prince and the upper classes of society. at the beginning of the burgundian régime, under philip the bold, flanders was partially ruined by internal and external wars. its towns were depleted of their craftsmen, its polders converted into marshes by the incursions of the sea, and wolves and wild boars again wandered through the country as in the early middle ages. brabant, holland, zeeland and liége, though less severely affected, passed through a time of strife and civil war. fifty years later (about ), the low countries were again the most prosperous states of europe, and the historian philip de commines was able to call them "a land of promise," while gachard contrasts them with the southern domains of the duke, "burgundy, which lacks money and smells of france." chastellain eloquently vaunts their banquets and gorgeous festivities. the dukes themselves took every opportunity to display their wealth, especially in the presence of foreign princes. it seems as if they wanted to make up for the title of king which they vainly coveted by an ostentatious luxury which no king of the time could have afforded. when, in , the dauphin louis visited bruges with the duke, the decoration of the town amazed the french, "who had never witnessed such riches" (chastellain), and when margaret of york entered the town, on the occasion of her marriage with charles the bold, in , the streets were covered with cloth of gold, silks and tapestries, and the procession had to stop ten times before reaching the market-place to admire tableaux vivants illustrating the periods of sacred and profane history: "by my troth," wrote john paston, one of the english gentlemen who attended margaret's wedding, "i heard never of so great plenty as there is, and, as for the duke's court, as for lords, ladies and gentlewomen, knights, squires and gentlemen, i heard never of none like to it save king arthur's court." [_manners of the times_] this astounding economic recovery must not, it is true, be attributed only to the beneficial action of the dukes' administration, but it seems evident that a long period of peace, guaranteeing order, security and free communication with other countries, combined with wise administrative and financial measures, contributed greatly to hasten it. measures were taken to lighten the restrictions and monopolies of towns and corporations and to regulate and control the minting of money. as early as , philip the good was able to boast that his money was better than that of any of his neighbours. the right of coining money was no longer farmed out, but entrusted "to notables well known for their wealth, who could provide the country with gold and silver money and exchange any money which might be brought to them by the merchants." in edward iv of england and charles the bold agreed to call a conference in bruges to determine a common currency for both countries and to suppress the exchange. [_antwerp and bruges_] these financial regulations are intimately connected with the transformation which trade underwent at the time, and which was one of the main causes of the transfer of the economic centre of the country from bruges to antwerp. the reason generally given for this change is a geographical one. it is pointed out that while, at the beginning of the fifteenth century, the widening of the western branch of the scheldt through inundations in zeeland afforded a direct road from antwerp to the high-seas (formerly ships had to go round the island of walcheren), all the efforts made to prevent the silting up of the zwyn from to were fruitless. in , it was possible for carts to drive safely at low tide across the end of the harbour. the progress of navigation, increasing the tonnage of ships, and the spanish and portuguese discoveries acted also in favour of the deeper and safer harbour, but there are other reasons which might have ruined bruges in favour of antwerp, even if the geographical advantages of both ports had remained equal. from the beginning of the fifteenth century the conditions of trade underwent complete transformation. powerful companies, disposing of large capital and wide credit, took the place of the old local merchant companies. transactions became so considerable and involved that mediæval regulations, instead of controlling commerce, only hampered it. any protective measure detrimental to foreigners became fatal to home trade. antwerp, which then appeared as a new metropolis, had no difficulty in adapting itself to modern capitalist conditions. at the end of the fourteenth century the town had already lost its brabançon character and had become almost cosmopolitan. it had adopted economic liberty. foreign merchants meeting at its fairs were protected by safe conducts. the positions of brokers and money-changers were open to all, and citizenship easily accessible. bruges, on the other hand, hampered by old regulations and closely attached to its privileges, was not able to adapt itself to the new situation. as late as measures were taken to prevent foreigners from introducing on the market wares purchased elsewhere, and their position was no longer in accordance with the principle of free trade. it thus happened that, while the population of antwerp increased by leaps and bounds, from , families in to , in , the trade of bruges decreased steadily, owing to the emigration of foreign merchants. protective measures against the import of english cloth estranged the hanseatic merchants, and, in , the "merchant adventurers" established themselves definitely in antwerp, where they were soon followed by the italians, spanish and portuguese. it is true that bruges remained, for a time, the centre of banking activity, which accounts for the fact that it preserved its architectural and artistic splendour at the very time when its trade was failing. but in the natural course of events the financiers had to follow the merchants, and at the end of the century the decadence of bruges as a great seaport was almost as complete as that of ypres as an industrial centre. it was characteristic of the new trade conditions that no "halles" were built in antwerp, the mediæval emporium being replaced by a modern exchange. antwerp, however, possessed with bruges one common feature. it was, like its predecessor, the great clearing-house of western europe, and derived its prosperity not from the goods either consumed or manufactured in its own country, but from its position as an open market where all merchants could conveniently sell their own wares and buy those of distant lands. illustration: the first antwerp exchange. from an old print ( ). it must also be noticed that, while bruges resisted as far as lay in its power the centralizing influence of the dukes and of the princes who succeeded them, antwerp remained loyal to the new political régime which brought it so many advantages. the troubles which arose in bruges under maximilian may be considered as the death-blow to the prosperity of the old town. illustration: the town hall, oudenarde (fifteenth century). _ph. b._ the rule of the dukes was equally beneficial to the smaller towns and villages of the country-side. it put an end to the mediæval régime and to feudal and ecclesiastical dues. the nobility had no longer the monopoly of landownership, and many bourgeois enriched by trade bought large estates. this change contributed, to a certain extent, to decrease the number of small landowners and to create a larger class of farmers and agricultural labourers. this was, however, partially compensated for by the reclamation of land from the sea (polders) through the building of dykes and by the impulse given to cattle breeding, which rendered more intensive cultivation possible. it was at that time that the old system of leaving a third of the land fallow was to a great extent abolished through a larger use of manure. with the exception of the famine of , due to bad crops, the burgundian régime was free from the terrible calamities which had never ceased to devastate the country during the previous centuries. [_population_] through the census made for brabant in and for flanders in , it is possible to estimate the total population of the burgundian states in the netherlands at two millions, to which , ought to be added if we include liége. this, considering the size of these states and the economic conditions of the period, is a very high figure, and implies an economic activity at least equal to that of modern belgium. how far such a rise in the population was due to the wise administration of philip the good is shown by a closer inspection of the facts. the years from to are marked by a steady increase, while the period from to , when charles the bold imperilled the prosperity of the country by his foreign wars, shows a slow decrease, which becomes far more accentuated after the death of the duke and during the troubled period which succeeded the burgundian rule. chapter xi the adoration of the lamb the hôtels de ville built during the burgundian period afford an excellent example of the new economic tendencies prevailing at the time, but they are by no means the greatest works of art illustrating this period of belgian efflorescence. neither in the town hall of bruges, begun in by jean de valenciennes, nor in those of brussels ( to ), built by jacques van thienen and jean de ruysbroeck, or of louvain, completed in by matthieu de layens, still less in the pretty municipal buildings of oudenarde or destroyed arras, can we find any adequate representation of the wonderful intellectual and artistic movement which placed the netherlands, during the fifteenth century, at the head of northern european civilization. this can only be realized by a careful study of the pictures of the period, generally known as the works of the early flemish school. [_intellectual movement_] before trying to determine the position of this school in the history of art, it may be well to give a rapid survey of the intellectual movement under the burgundian régime, and to show that in every department, literature, architecture and music, the civilization of the period produced some remarkable works. in this way, the netherlands of the fifteenth century are comparable with the italian republics and principalities which flourished at the same time. in belgium, as in tuscany and umbria, all arts were cultivated at the same time and sometimes by the same man, and people and princes took an equal interest in all the manifestations of human genius. one would have to go back as far as ancient greece to find such a harmonious development, and the world has never produced it since. literary activity was perhaps the least brilliant, owing mostly to the division of languages. though the intercourse between the flemish and the walloon parts of the country was intimate and never constituted an obstacle in the work of unification, belgium can scarcely boast of one common literature at the time when its nationality was founded. as far as political and administrative activity was concerned, an almost exact balance was struck between the languages of the north and the south. in flanders, from the beginning of the fourteenth century, french influence had considerably decreased, owing partly to the loss of artois and walloon flanders and to the blow inflicted on french prestige by the reverses of the hundred years' war. the use of french was only maintained among the nobility and the rich bourgeoisie, and in all intercourse with other countries; flemish made considerable progress and took the place of latin in all acts of common administration. its prestige as a literary language had been enhanced by the reputation of van maerlant, and it served also in all relations with lower germany. by the end of the century, bilingualism was a consecrated institution both in flanders and brabant, the judges rendering their sentences in the tongue spoken by the parties and some officials using, according to circumstances, either french, latin or flemish. under john the fearless and philip the good, this situation, which favoured the centralizing influence of the dukes, remained unchanged. in holland and zeeland, where french was practically unknown, state officials only used flemish. the dukes themselves knew both languages, included flemish books in their libraries, and encouraged flemish letters. owing to the economic attraction of antwerp, a great number of walloon traders used both languages, and the number of those who understood flemish and french was considerable enough to allow the production of flemish plays to the south and of french plays to the north of the dividing language line. it is true that charles the bold attempted vainly to enforce french for administrative purposes in flemish districts, but, owing to subsidiary evidence, this must be considered much more as an act of political absolutism than as a sign of hostility towards flemish. as a matter of fact, we should seek vainly for proof of any attempt to frenchify the country at the time. in holding their courts in the netherlands, the dukes of burgundy had renounced their french origin. bilingualism must thus be considered as a solution of the language question in belgium in the fifteenth century. but though the people remained united, the literatures of the two parts of the country followed different lines. on the flemish side, poetry had never ceased to decline since the death of van maerlant, in spite of the numerous works produced by the disciples of this master, especially in brabant. jean boendaele ( - ) described in his remarkable _brabantsche yeesten_ the struggle of the duke against his enemies. his attitude of mind is thoroughly typical of the time. boendaele is a bourgeois poet, and distrusts equally the democracy of the towns and the nobility. he places his faith in the prince, the merchants and the peasants. [_jan ruysbroeck_] the mystic treatises of jan ruysbroeck ( - ), who may be considered as the founder of flemish prose, just as van maerlant is the founder of flemish poetry, are far more important than the rhymed chronicles of boendaele. not only do they rank among the most inspired religious writings of the middle ages, but they are the expression of a deep-rooted religious movement which animated the flemish bourgeoisie at the time, and which had its origin in the foundation of the institution of the béguines and the beggards, so active and so influential during the twelfth century. this movement aimed at bringing religion closer to the common people through the work of laymen who, though deeply attached to the church, were conscious of its limitations and of the barrier which aristocracy and privilege had built around it. one of ruysbroeck's disciples, gérard de groote ( - ), founded the order of the "frères de la vie commune" (brothers of the common life), and the "sustershuysen," which contributed so much to the revival of religious studies and general education in the early days of the fifteenth century. like the beggards, the brothers did not strictly constitute a religious order, they did not pronounce any binding vow and retained their lay character. refusing any gift or endowment from outside, they had to provide for their own needs, but, while the beggards devoted most of their time to the weaving industry, the brothers gave themselves up to copying manuscripts, learning and teaching. under florent radewyn, one of de groote's early disciples, they acquired a very complete organization and founded numerous schools, specially in brussels ( ) and in ghent ( ), their influence spreading as far as germany. thierry maertens, the first well-known belgian printer, was one of their pupils. this educational and religious revival is closely connected with the foundation of the university of louvain in . de groote and his disciples were frequently attacked, chiefly by the monks, who became jealous of their success, but their strict orthodoxy and the unimpeachable character of their life made their position unassailable. de groote was equally well known for his criticism of the abuses among the clergy, his denunciation of the luxury displayed by the rich and the mystic character of his preaching. he was equally severe against heretics, and was called by his contemporaries "malleus hereticorum." another of his followers founded the celebrated monastery of windesheim, where, half a century later, the _imitation of christ_ was written. while the flemish writers of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries wrote mostly for the bourgeoisie and the people and kept in close contact with the religious aspirations of the time, the authors belonging to the walloon part of the country were nearly all attached to some court and confined themselves to the production of chronicles and mémoires destined for the aristocracy. though extremely limited, this genre was cultivated with great success by the walloon writers and is typical of the belgian branch of the french letters of the period. as early as the fourteenth century, jean le bel of liége had related with extraordinary vividness his adventures at the court of hainault and the part played by his master, jean de beaumont, in the expedition led by edward iii against the scots. le bel writes in french, but as far as his political views are concerned remains impervious to french influence and chooses an english king, "le noble roi edowart," for his hero, while he has nothing but harsh words for philip de valois. [_jean froissart_] jean froissart, of valenciennes, who continued the work of le bel and served as a link between him and the burgundian school of chroniclers, had a much wider field of vision. attached successively to albert of bavaria, queen philippa of england and wenceslas of luxemburg, he had many opportunities to study european affairs, and, as a belgian, was able to consider them from an independent and even a sceptical point of view. though generally considered as a french writer, he remains independent of french influence. with monstrelet, chastellain, jean molinet and jean lemaire de belges, who wrote for the dukes of burgundy, this independent attitude is still further strengthened. all these writers extolled the burgundian régime and supported the duke's policy, whether friendly or antagonistic to france. from a literary point of view, they are greatly inferior to their predecessors and often lapse into rhetorical eloquence. their style, which appears to be overloaded with flowery images, excited great admiration at the time, especially in the case of chastellain, who was hailed by his contemporaries as a "supreme rhetorician." * * * * * music was not hampered, like literature, by the division of languages, and might, under different circumstances, have given a more accurate expression to the belgian national spirit. its style was, unhappily, still so formal that national characteristics cannot immediately be recognized in the works of guillaume dufay, of chimay ( - ) and giles de binche, chapelmasters to philip the good, and those of the fleming jean ockeghem (dec. - ) and of josquin des prés, of hainault (_c._ - ). these musicians, who enjoyed european celebrity and exerted a widespread influence on the musical movement in france and italy, are well known to musical historians as having largely contributed to the development of polyphonic music as opposed to the monody of the gregorian chant. they were thus pioneers in the art of musical ornamentation, and their method may be associated with the flowery images of chastellain's style, the architectural luxury of burgundian gothic and the display of colouring of the early flemish painters. in all branches of intellectual activity, belgium enters decidedly, from the beginning of the fifteenth century, into the renaissance period. but, unlike the italian, the belgian renaissance was at first only very slightly affected by the study of the classics. it was more realistic in its aims than the mediæval period. it revelled in the display of harmony, whether in sound, colour or form, and abundance of tracery, but as far as the subject was concerned it remained essentially and profoundly christian. [_social life_] though the works of belgian writers and artists of the period are very remarkable, they are somewhat misleading if we want to form an accurate idea of social life in the fifteenth century. neither the _libri teutonici_, published by ruysbroeck's followers, nor the great paintings of the brothers van eyck, van der weyden and memling, suggest for one moment the laxity of morals prevalent at the time and revealed by the writers of the chronicles. the number of illegitimate births was extraordinarily high, the example being set by the dukes themselves, philip the good alone being responsible for eighteen bastards and jean de heinsberg, bishop of liége, for nearly as many. it must be pointed out, however, that the illegitimate character of their birth did not stand in the way of many prominent men of the time, such as the chancellor rolin, the dean of st. donatian of bruges, the great financier pierre bladelin, the bishop of tournai and many high officials. all these had, of course, received their letters of legitimation. numerous edicts made by the dukes were unable to check gambling, prostitution and prodigality. the scant effect of the regulations relating to the latter may be easily understood when we read that, on the occasion of the marriage of margaret of york to charles the bold, belgian artists and artisans were ordered to prepare and to decorate a large wooden house which was subsequently transported by water from brussels to bruges. in a tower feet high attached to this house, the noble company invited to the ceremony witnessed the movements and heard the cries of a number of mechanical animals, monkeys, wolves and boars, while a whale feet long moved around the hall together with elephants, amid thirty large trees, a fountain of crystal and a pelican "spouting hippocras from his beak." the fact is that the situation in the netherlands, in the second half of the fifteenth century, was very much the same as that in florence at the same time, the people being swayed between an exuberant enjoyment of life and a severe asceticism. there are many points of contact between charles the bold and lorenzo the magnificent, and no figure comes closer to savonarola than that of the carthusian, thomas conecte, who stirred public feeling to such a pitch that the people crowding to listen to his fiery speeches, in market-places, threw into the braziers burning before his platform all the instruments of their worldly life--chessboards, cards, dice, skittles, silks and jewels. strangely enough, no religious order benefited more from the sympathy and generosity of the people than the ascetic carthusians. philip the bold erected in dijon the famous chartreuse of champmol; philip the good and margaret of york corresponded with the celebrated carthusian denys de ryckel, the "doctor extaticus," and the chartreuse of louvain was endowed by rich bourgeois of the duke's entourage. unless this apparent contradiction is fully realized, it is impossible to understand the spirit of an epoch which, though deeply absorbed by its worldly life, produced works almost entirely devoted to faith, and in which luxurious garments and colours are only employed to enhance the glory of god. * * * * * [_the brothers van eyck_] painting stands foremost among the achievements of the burgundian period. here again the difference of language does not hamper the genius of the nation. while in music the walloon element dominates, the flemish dominates in art; but it must be clearly stated that, in this branch, as in all other branches of burgundian civilization, the two parts of the country are strongly represented, and that the title of "flemish school of painting" is therefore misleading when referring to belgian painting of the fifteenth century. the greatest name associated with the period is that of the brothers jan and hubert van eyck, and the work which naturally comes to the mind, when thinking of them, is the monumental altarpiece which they painted for jos. vyt, lord of pamele, to be placed in his chapel in the cathedral of st. john in ghent. this work, generally known as the "mystic lamb," is composed of ten smaller pictures, but the partitions separating the various divisions of the wings and the wings from the central piece scarcely detract from the majesty of the ensemble. the composition is well known: above, god the father, as christ, enthroned, his hand raised in benediction, between st. john baptist and the virgin, with angels on both sides singing and playing on various instruments. on the extreme right and left of the upper panels, excluded, so to speak, from the company of heaven, stand adam and eve, in all the realistic weakness of their nakedness. below, in the midst of a flowery meadow, behind the fountain of life, surrounded by groups of holy virgins, martyrs and saints, in the new paradise, under the walls of the new jerusalem, stands the lamb, directly under the figure of christ and the symbol of the holy ghost, the centre towards which every line, every attitude in the picture converges. towards the holy spot walk, on the right, the pilgrims and the hermits, on the left, the good judges and the soldiers of christ. the symbolism of the picture which enfolds the majestic plan of the redemption of man through christ's sacrifice, of the second creation through the spirit, as contrasted with the first creation through the flesh, is directly inspired by the mystic writings of the time, while the harmony and depth of colours, the gorgeous robes and jewels adorning the figures of god, the virgin and the angels, the pompous cavalcade of knights and judges and the systematic grouping of the central scene, are an adequate expression of the love of ceremony and solemn luxury which characterized the burgundian age. the whole picture appears as a sacred pageant in which the saints, the angels and the blessed take the place of nobles, ladies and clerics, as they were seen during the festivities and processions arranged at the ducal court. illustration: the adoration of the lamb (saint bavon, ghent). angels singing and playing. [_the mystic lamb_] considered as a purely religious picture, this work, like almost all the works of the school, stands in striking contrast to italian fourteenth-century painting, especially as illustrated by the frescoes of giotto. the latter are characterized by an extreme simplicity of outline and by vivid narrative power. in padua, for instance, giotto tells us the story of christ as he saw it in his mystical vision, without any concern for accessories or detail. he clings to essentials, to the figures of christ and his apostles, while scorning any subordinate object, such as trees, architecture, costumes, etc., which are only represented in a rude fashion when necessary to the story. it is characteristic of hubert van eyck's work (since, according to all evidence, hubert must be considered as the author of the general outlines of the picture, which was finished by his brother jan after his death) that perhaps the least satisfactory figure of the adoration of the lamb is the deity, while our attention is immediately captured by the group of angels surrounding him, and still more by the procession of worshippers at the bottom of the picture. to put it briefly, whereas giotto's art is at its best when dealing with the _divine_ side of the christian drama, van eyck's genius stands foremost in the _human_ interpretation of the subject. his greatest creations are not the figures of the worshipped but of the worshippers, and we must seek for religious inspiration not so much in the direct vision of the divinity as in the expression of devotion reflected on the faces of the adoring crowds. illustration: the adoration of the lamb (saint bavon, ghent). the annunciation (exterior of the shutters). _hubert and jan van eyck._ it is true that we may find the same insistence on landscape, costume and the portraits of donors in the works of the italian artists of the early renaissance, who painted at the same time as van eyck, and that the spirit of the period may, to a certain extent, account for it. but it would be difficult to discover in the pictures of masaccio, fra filippo lippi, ghirlandajo, botticelli and the other masters of the italian fifteenth century, with the sole exception of fra angelico, the same depth of religious inspiration which pervades the works of the van eycks and of their disciples. if the gospel story still provides most of the subjects of the italian school, it is treated in a lighter vein, and pagan inspiration, prompted by the study of classics, is more and more conspicuous. earthly loveliness is of greater importance than christian teaching. the virgins of van eyck, the pietà of van der weyden and the saints of memling occupy the intermediate position between the purely mediæval attitude of giotto and of the sculptors of the french cathedrals and the worldly atmosphere of the early italian renaissance. they preserve, to a great extent, the religious atmosphere of the former, and devote the same attention to technical skill and realistic representation as the second. the combination of these two elements is the chief source of originality of the burgundian school of painters, and it is truly characteristic of the period, which, though strongly attached to the world and its pleasures, founded its greatest productions on the stern lessons of deep devotion and of a society in which the beggards and the brothers of the common life strove incessantly to bring religion closer to the heart of the people. the adoration of the lamb is not only the most complete expression of the spirit of belgium in the fifteenth century, it is also the first great work produced by belgian painters. art critics have been at great pains to explain the sudden appearance in history of such a highly skilled and complete production. but a closer study of belgian civilization in the fourteenth century would show that it is merely the outcome of previous efforts and the blossoming of a great individual genius in an art which had already found, in other departments, very remarkable means of expression. [_sculpture_] from the end of the twelfth century, belgian art, as shown by the works of the goldsmiths, decorators, sculptors and miniaturists, had become independent of german and french influence. a highly trained class of artisans was formed, and, in the middle of the fourteenth century, was organized into regular corporations. goldsmiths and decorators devoted their talent to the embellishment of churches and ecclesiastical treasures, as well as to decoration of secular buildings such as cloth halls or town halls and to the designing of banners for the guilds. we still possess a great number of engraved tombstones which reveal an extraordinary development of technique. soon the figure of the deceased was raised in high relief, and even, as in the tomb of the count of artois in the cathedral of st. denys, the work of pepin of huy, raised on the shoulders of standing figures. from the second half of the fourteenth century the most prominent sculptors ceased to be considered as mere artisans. hennequin of liége was attached to the court of the french king charles v, while andré beauneveu ( - ) remained in flanders as the sculptor of louis de mâle. the striking sculptures of the pit of moses, at dijon, were executed by claus sluter of zeeland. these statues, which bear comparison with those of ghiberti and donatello, sluter's contemporaries, suffice to explain the sense of form and of line in the draperies revealed by the early flemish masters. in the north, as in the south, sculpture developed earlier than painting, and, just as pisano precedes giotto, sluter precedes, and to a certain extent explains, the brothers van eyck. the influence of sculpture on painting is made evident from the fact that many statues of the time were gilded and coloured, painters being frequently called in to perform this part of the work. besides, many sculptors such as beauneveu and hennequin were equally skilled in the art of painting. the result of these influences is shown in the _book of hours_ of the duke of berry, the work of pol de limburg, and in the pictures painted in dijon for philip the bold by melchior broederlam. the latter's annunciation, presentation in the temple and flight into egypt prepare the way for the adoration of the lamb, though far from being equal to it. these pictures serve as a link between the belgian art of the fifteenth and the fourteenth centuries. the difference to be accounted for is certainly not larger than that separating, a century before, the frescoes of giotto from the works of cimabue and his school. illustration: "plourant." detail of the tomb of john the fearless (dijon museum). netherlandish school of the fifteenth century. [_flemish school_] it would be impossible here to characterize the works of the various masters who followed in the wake of the brothers van eyck. of the two brothers, hailing from maeseyck, we know that hubert settled in ghent (_c._ ) and jan in bruges in . roger de la pasture, usually known as van der weyden, the foremost representative of the walloon branch of the school, came from tournai to brussels in . there were other walloons, such as robert campin and jacques daret of tournai, but the flemish element, represented beside the brothers van eyck by the brabançon pieter christus, justus van ghent, hughes van der goes (of ghent) and thierry bouts of harlem, not to mention memling (of mayence), was manifestly prevalent. the renown enjoyed by these artists extended far beyond the limits of belgium and france, and the influence exerted by their works in italy can easily be traced. strangely enough, while during the next century the belgian painters were subjected so strongly to italian influence, they were hailed, at this period, as pioneers by the italians themselves. at home, the consideration which the great painters enjoyed is shown by the interest displayed in their work not only by the prince but also by his courtiers, among them chancellor rolin, and by rich foreigners, such as the portinari and the arnolfini established in flanders. philip the good visited jan van eyck frequently, was godfather to his daughter, and employed him on several occasions for secret missions. his position at the court of burgundy was equal to that occupied later by rubens at the court of albert and isabella. chapter xii hapsburg and burgundy the disaster of nancy naturally provoked a strong reaction in the belgian provinces. we have seen that the large towns bore only with great reluctance the centralized rule of philip the good, in spite of the moderation and the diplomatic talents of this prince. in the latter part of his reign, charles the bold had completely disregarded local privileges and relentlessly crushed every attempt at rebellion. he raised taxes for his foreign expeditions which weighed heavily on the people. more and more absorbed by his struggle against louis xi, he neglected internal affairs, and the belgians were loath to support an expensive policy of foreign adventures which could only be detrimental to their own interests. mary of burgundy was thus left alone, in , to confront, on one side the exigencies of the towns and states, and on the other the intrigues of louis xi. the latter had not only confiscated the duke's french dominions, as soon as the news of his death reached him, but he proposed, with the support of the disaffected towns, to appropriate as well his northern provinces. fearing english interference, he thought of striking a bargain with the king of england and offered to conquer brabant for him. very wisely, edward iv retorted that the province would be too difficult to hold and that "a war with the netherlands would not be popular in england owing to the active trade between the two countries." left to his own devices, louis succeeded in persuading the flemings that a marriage between mary and the dauphin would be the most profitable solution of the crisis. on the refusal of the princess, who was already affianced to the archduke maximilian of austria, the french king dropped the mask of friendship and invaded hainault and artois. [_the "great privilege"_] by that time, mary had given full satisfaction to the particularist demands by granting the "great privilege," which practically restored all provincial and urban liberties and brought to nought the patient work of centralization accomplished by the dukes. under the threat of foreign invasion, the people rallied around her to the cry of "vive bourgogne!" and identified the cause of their national dynasty with that of their own independence. arras was obliged to open its gates to the french armies, but valenciennes and st. omer made a desperate resistance. it was, however, evident that, under the circumstances, the low countries could not oppose the french advance without foreign help. the states therefore agreed to the marriage of mary with maximilian of austria, who entered the country at the head of a small army. this marriage proved fatal to the independence of the low countries, by bringing them more and more under the sway of the hapsburg dynasty. in spite of their french possessions, the burgundian princes had maintained a national policy, or, to speak more accurately, had, with the exception of charles's last adventures, furthered their own interests to the greater benefit of the belgian provinces. as far as foreign politics were concerned, they succeeded in remaining neutral between the three powers surrounding them and in interfering in european affairs only when their possessions were directly threatened. there was no conflict between the economic and political interests of belgium and those of the burgundian dynasty. the dukes remained in the country and the welfare of the country was the essential condition of their own prosperity. owing to the union of maximilian with mary of burgundy, this situation was entirely altered. from the end of the fifteenth century to the time of the french revolution, the netherlands were more and more sacrificed to the interests of their masters, whether belonging to the austrian or the spanish branch of the hapsburgs. they lost the benefit of the presence of their national and "natural" princes, who were absorbed in far more important affairs and spent most of their life out of the country. they were administered by regents or governors, who generally did not enjoy sufficient independence and authority to pursue a netherlandish policy. they constituted a sort of outpost of the power to which they were attached, and were, in consequence, first exposed to the attacks of the enemies of this power. this is one of the main causes of the sixteenth-century revolution and the subsequent partition of the country, and of the decadence of the southern provinces which became so evident during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. for some time, however, the hapsburg policy did not prevail, and it even appeared, at certain moments, as if a national dynasty might be restored. the belgian states, and more especially the belgian aristocracy, succeeded in influencing the princes and their governors, who, from time to time, reverted to a national policy. the story of the fifteenth and the sixteenth centuries in belgium is composed of the struggle of the two opposing principles: the national burgundian policy, based on peace and neutrality in european conflicts, and the hapsburg policy, drawing the provinces in the wake of hapsburg ambitions and rivalries. illustration: mary of burgundy. from the mausoleum in the church of notre dame, bruges. [_death of mary_] if maximilian, after his victory at guinegate, had limited his aims to the defence of the country and managed to conclude an early peace with louis, the attitude of the people would no doubt have remained friendly. but, before being mary's husband and the successor of the burgundian dukes, he was an austrian archduke, bound to pursue the policy of his house against france, whether it was to the interest of the netherlands or not, and to oppose any local liberties which hampered his action. it is in this light that the intricate conflicts which arose between the archduke and the towns, more especially ghent, must be viewed. the latter town rose against him, and even went as far as to re-enter into negotiations with france, far more to guard municipal liberties than from any friendly feeling towards that country. mary died in , leaving two children, philip and margaret, who had been entrusted to the care of ghent. on the archduke's refusal to conclude peace, the ghent deputies, reverting to the project of the french marriage, negotiated at arras a treaty with louis xi, according to which the young princess margaret was to marry the dauphin. maximilian succeeded in defeating the ghent militias, and transferred philip from ghent to malines. but the communes were not yet daunted. a rising occurred in bruges and the citizens took maximilian prisoner, obliging him, before restoring him to liberty, to abolish all the monarchical reforms which he had introduced since the granting of the great privilege. bruges, however, was finally defeated, in , and ghent, which had allied itself with charles viii of france, in . the next year peace was concluded at senlis between maximilian and charles, who was compelled to restore artois and franche comté. this date marks, for the time, the end of the stubborn fight waged by the towns against the central authority of the monarch and the triumph of the modern principle of the state against the mediæval principle of local privilege. illustration: maximilian i. from a portrait by ambrozio de predis (imperial museum, vienna). [_the "joyous entry"_] with the accession of maximilian to the empire ( ) and of his son philip the handsome, then sixteen years old, to the governance of belgium, we witness a return to the traditional burgundian policy on strictly national lines. the enthusiasm provoked by the change and the professions of loyalty made to belgium's "natural prince" show how deep was the attachment for the burgundian policy and how much maximilian's foreign origin had counted against him. the new prince, who had never left his belgian provinces and whose education had been entrusted to belgian tutors, became the symbol of national independence, and all the restrictions which had been exacted from mary of burgundy and from maximilian were allowed to lapse in his favour. he was not asked to ratify the great privilege nor the various promises made by maximilian. his "joyous entry of brabant" was very much on the same lines as those sworn previously by philip the good and charles the bold. the prince's commissaries were restored to their offices and had again the power to choose communal magistrates, thus removing them from the direct influence of the corporations. the ducal council was reappointed, and a special ordinance of provided for the reconstitution of the prince's estates. the parliament of malines was re-established under the name of "grand council." in fact, all the ground lost by centralization since the death of charles the bold was rapidly reconquered without any opposition, and the states general made no difficulty in granting the taxes. such an extraordinary transformation can only be explained if we remember that almost all foreigners had been excluded from the council of the prince. out of fourteen councillors, two only were germans and three of burgundian origin. philip himself did not even know german and had become estranged from his father. the readiness with which he accepted the counsels of his belgian advisers, the princes of croy and the counts of berg and lalaing, had gained for him the nickname of "take-advice" (croit-conseil). needless to say his foreign policy was entirely directed towards peace. in vain did maximilian endeavour to lure him into his intrigues against france. philip established the most cordial relations with charles viii. henry vii of england, who had alienated maximilian's sympathies since his reconciliation with france (the archduke having even encouraged the pretender perkin warbeck against him), and who had retaliated by transferring the staple of english cloth from antwerp to calais and by forbidding all trade with the low countries, was also pacified by philip after some negotiations. in , the two sovereigns signed the "intercursus magnus," which re-established commercial relations between the two countries. it is characteristic of the intimate economic connection between england and belgium that they were the first to sign the most liberal treaty of commerce of the time. in , after a new attempt by maximilian to enlist his support against louis xii, philip appealed to the states general, which strongly supported his pacific attitude. by the treaty of paris, concluded in the same year, the belgian prince went as far as renouncing his rights on burgundy in order to maintain friendly relations and to keep the advantages granted by the treaty of senlis. philip the handsome, in so doing, went farther than the dukes themselves: he deliberately sacrificed his dynastic interests to the welfare of the northern provinces. illustration: philip the fair. juana of castile. portraits by an unknown flemish painter of the sixteenth century. [_philip the handsome_] this uncompromising attitude with regard to belgian interests was unhappily not destined to be adhered to much longer by philip. in he had been married to juana of castille, daughter of his father's allies, ferdinand and isabella. through a series of deaths in the family, juana became, in , heiress to the throne of spain. from this moment philip's line of conduct changed, and the interests of the low countries were sacrificed to his dynastic ambitions. this brought about a reconciliation with maximilian, who had at last succeeded in enlisting his son's support. on the death of isabella, in , philip took the title of king of castille in order to forestall the intrigues of his father-in-law, ferdinand. with a view of securing the support of england, which had been somewhat estranged owing to the new policy followed by philip, the latter concluded in a new treaty of commerce, very unsatisfactory from the belgian point of view, and which was therefore called by the people the "intercursus malus." the new king of spain died the same year, in burgos, having lost a great deal of the popularity which he had so largely enjoyed during the first part of his reign. the crisis which followed was not so severe as that of , but was very similar to it. while protesting his friendship for the young prince charles of luxemburg, then only six years old, louis xii won the support of erard de la marck, bishop of liége, and endeavoured to influence the towns in order to exclude maximilian from the regency. under the threat of french ambition, the states general, however, took the same line as after the death of charles the bold and sent a deputation to germany. the emperor chose his daughter, margaret of austria, aunt of charles, to govern the low countries. this princess had not forgotten the affront she had suffered during her youth: when first affianced to charles viii she had been abducted by the french and subsequently restored to her father. her hostility was, however, directed far more against the valois than against france. widow of philibert of savoy, she was the type of the great princess of the renaissance, and combined an intense interest in art and letters with great diplomatic acumen. during the twenty-three years that she governed belgium, she remained a foreigner to the people. she did not know either flemish or german, and her culture as well as her surroundings remained entirely french. devoted to her nephew, her first aim was to further his dynastic interests, but, being very independent of her father, whose austrian policy she succeeded in checking several times, she was intelligent enough to realize that charles's interests were also, at the time, those of the netherlands. her rule therefore struck a balance between the hapsburg and the dynastic tendencies. living a secluded life in her palace of malines, and taking no part in the festivities so dear to the heart of the people, she governed the netherlands without sympathy, but with enough wisdom for her ability to be recognized, on several occasions, both by the people and the nobility. this was soon made apparent during the first year of her governance. she had to contend with the suspicions of the belgian nobles, headed by guillaume de croy, lord of chièvres, whom philip had appointed governor on leaving the country. the people of ghent again became restive, while, owing to the intrigues of louis xii, robert de la marck and the duke of gelder caused serious trouble in luxemburg and in the north. the states general, on their side, clamoured for peace. while ordering the tax to be levied for war, in spite of the opposition of the states, margaret managed to conclude with france the treaty of cambrai. this caused great satisfaction all over the country. chièvres was recalled to the court, where he acted as tutor to the prince. again, in , margaret, who had been one of the principal agents in the league against france, which, besides the emperor, included the pope, the king of aragon and the king of england, succeeded in maintaining the neutrality of the low countries, which, though benefiting from the allies' victory at guinegate and from the taking of tournai, had not to suffer from the military operations. the opposition between chièvres and the gouvernante was nevertheless constant. it had been embittered by a project of marriage between charles and princess mary of england, which margaret furthered for dynastic reasons, and which chièvres opposed for fear of alienating france. the reconciliation which took place in between louis xii and henry viii, and the marriage which followed between the french king and the english king's sister, mary, were therefore a great disappointment to margaret. chièvres followed his advantage by estranging maximilian from his daughter and by urging the states general to demand the emancipation of charles, which was finally granted by the emperor for a money consideration. margaret, who had been kept in ignorance of these intrigues, though deeply hurt in her pride, could do nothing but accept the accomplished fact. [_of charles v_] the accession of charles, which took place on january , , was a triumph for chièvres. the situation was exactly similar to that which prevailed when philip the handsome came into power. the youth of the prince, who, like his father, had received a belgian education and was ignorant of german and spanish, his veneration for chièvres and his friendship for his belgian counsellors, brought about a return to a purely national policy, to the exclusion of any dynastic tendencies. all foreigners were excluded from the council, the confidants of margaret and maximilian became suspect, and a rapprochement was brought about with francis i of france. a new commercial treaty was signed with henry viii, favouring, at the same time, relations with england. this policy was not altered when, in , through the death of ferdinand and owing to the disability of juana to succeed him, charles took the title of king of spain. instead of countering francis i's intrigues and his claims to the kingdom of naples by military measures, charles, still bent on maintaining peace with france, negotiated the treaty of noyon, and succeeded in persuading maximilian to agree to this treaty, in spite of the opposition of england. a few months later, the young king and his belgian courtiers left for spain ( ), charles having meanwhile consented to become a candidate for the empire. illustration: charles v. from a contemporary engraving. illustration: margaret of austria. from a picture by van orley ( - ). these events were bound to cause the same reaction towards a dynastic policy which had been provoked by the accession of philip the handsome to the throne of spain. once more belgium lost her national prince and her interests were sacrificed to foreign ambitions. but charles was so thoroughly belgian in his sympathies and tastes that he succeeded, nevertheless, in retaining the friendship of the belgian nobles. spanish honours and titles were showered on chièvres, lalaing, croy, nassau and others, to the great annoyance of the spanish, who had nothing but scorn for the boisterous manners of the belgian nobility. a reconciliation was brought about between chièvres and margaret, who, after the death of maximilian ( ), worked hard for the nomination of charles as emperor. his election was loudly celebrated in brussels and all over the country, for the people, delighted at the honour conferred on their prince, did not realize that henceforth their country was bound to be lost and neglected among charles's huge possessions. it is true that the suzerainty of the empire was purely nominal, but the bonds linking belgium's destiny to spain were far stronger, and the country acquired gradually the situation described above: she became an advance post, in the north, of the spanish power, which was about the worst position she could occupy on the map of europe, being cut off from spain and isolated among her adversaries. [_treaty of madrid_] this, however, was not yet apparent, and the protestations of friendship of the young emperor, who declared, in , to the states general, that his heart had always been "par deça" (in the netherlands), together with his military successes, which resulted in the signature of the treaty of madrid ( ), were considered as a happy omen for the future. by this treaty, francis i renounced all sovereignty over artois and flanders and all rights over tournai. it seemed as if, in his sympathy for his belgian provinces, the emperor had been more clear-sighted than his subjects, for we know that he entertained, in , the idea of forming the low countries into a separate kingdom. if this project had been realized, belgian independence might have been maintained. but the very prosperity of the low countries made such realization impossible. in urgent need of money for his military expeditions, the emperor could not deliberately sacrifice his principal source of revenue--the taxes provided by the states general and the loans raised in antwerp. since , margaret had again taken up the governorship, this time in full accord with the belgian nobility. from that date till the end of the eighteenth century, with the sole exception of the short reign of albert and isabella, belgium was administered, not by its natural princes, but by governors, most of them without power or initiative and obeying orders received from headquarters. charles spent only ten years in the country until his abdication in . philip ii made only a short appearance, and until joseph ii none of the rulers who had the responsibility of the government took enough interest in the welfare of their belgian subjects to visit the provinces. margaret, however, preserved a great deal of independence, and succeeded in curbing the will of her nephew in the greater interests of the netherlands, as she had curbed the will of her father. when, in , war broke out again between the emperor and an anglo-french coalition, she succeeded in maintaining the trade with england. in the same way she constantly opposed charles's project to help his relative, christian ii of denmark, to reconquer his throne, since such a policy would have ruined belgian trade with denmark and the hanseatic towns. finally, in , she succeeded in negotiating the peace of cambrai, whose clauses bear the mark of a truly national policy. charles renounced all pretensions to burgundy, while francis gave up all claims on the netherlands and recognized charles's sovereignty over artois, flanders, cambrai and tournaisis. by inducing the two rivals to recognize the established position and to renounce ancient dynastic claims on each other's domains, margaret hoped to ensure a long peace for the greater benefit of the netherlands. the final renunciation of france of her rights over her old fiefs was bound also to consolidate belgian unity, the link binding the provinces to the empire being purely nominal. thus, after a struggle of seven hundred years, the western netherlands were finally detached from france. in order to celebrate the event, lancelot blondeel designed the monumental mantelpiece in carved wood which may still be admired, in the palace of justice of bruges, and where the victorious emperor is represented having, on one side, ferdinand and isabella, and on the other, maximilian and mary of burgundy, his maternal and paternal ancestors. [_death of margaret of austria_] margaret of austria died in , at her palace of malines, "without any regret save for the privation of her nephew's presence." in her last letter to charles, she claims that under her rule the low countries were considerably enlarged, and she expresses a wish to obtain for her work divine reward, the commendation of her sovereign and the good will of his subjects. she utters a last recommendation which shows how far the burgundian tradition had been preserved by the belgian people. she urges charles not to abolish the name of burgundy, and to leave the title to his successor in the low countries. chapter xiii the last stage of centralization from the death of margaret, the emperor's policy became entirely independent. though absorbed by the affairs of the empire, distant military expeditions and a recurrent war with france, he managed to devote a great deal of attention to the netherlands, and during the last years of his reign, from to , scarcely left the country. the netherlands were far more important to the ruler of germany, spain and half of the new world than their actual size might suggest. not only did they provide one of the main sources of his revenue, but their central position allowed him to reach comparatively easily the various parts of his empire where his presence might become necessary. the scattered possessions of charles v cannot very well be compared with the homogeneous domains of charlemagne, which stretched all across western europe, but we may nevertheless notice that, in both empires, the netherlands were allowed to play a part disproportionate to their size and population. though france remained in the hands of his rival, the great emperor of the renaissance, just as the great emperor of the middle ages, was obliged to divide his attention between east and west, and brussels was allowed to play a part similar to that of aix-la-chapelle. it is significant that, at the time of charles v's abdication, this town was selected, in preference to madrid or vienna, as the stage for the ceremony. the second part of the reign of charles v is characterized by the completion of the work of the burgundian dukes, the seventeen provinces being finally brought under one rule. at the same time, the last local resistance was mercilessly crushed and political centralization completely established. [_margaret of hungary_] mary of hungary, charles v's sister, who was chosen by him to succeed margaret of austria, did not enjoy the independence of her predecessor. she confined herself to executing faithfully the instructions she received, even at the cost of her popularity. the emperor installed her at brussels in . he had been previously absolved by the pope from his oath at the time of the joyous entry of brabant, and proceeded to strengthen the central government by the creation of three collateral councils and the proclamation of a perpetual edict giving a common constitution to all the provinces of the netherlands. after his departure, mary was at once confronted with military difficulties. christian ii, no longer restrained by margaret, had concentrated troops in holland in order to attack frederick of holstein. his violation of the neutrality of the netherlands caused reprisals against the dutch merchant fleet, but antwerp and brussels refused to wage war in its defence. thanks to the death of holstein, mary succeeded in negotiating a satisfactory treaty with denmark at ghent ( ). the resistance of the states general and the towns to the warlike policy of charles caused further trouble when, in , hostilities between the two rivals were resumed. in vain did mary endeavour to obtain the neutralization of the low countries, in vain did she offer her resignation. in spite of serious reverses, the emperor maintained his attitude, while the states general declared "that they were not rich enough to help him to conquer france and italy." their resistance was only overborne when, in , the french armies invaded the low countries. under this threat, they voted the taxes and organized resistance. the french king, disappointed in his hopes, signed the truce of nice, . the revolt of ghent, which broke out the next year, must be considered as the last attempt made by the towns to save their old privileges. for the last time, a commune raised its head to challenge central power. in spite of the peace of cadzand, ghent had succeeded in preserving a privileged situation in the state, and many popular leaders had witnessed with dismay the progress made in by centralizing tendencies. beside the defence of local liberties, the aim of the revolutionaries was to restore the situation of the old corporations, which was directly threatened by the economic transformation of the modern régime. under the new conditions, the "masters" had succeeded in enriching themselves, but the "companions" and prentices had lost all the advantages of the old corporation system. riots caused by unstable labour conditions had already taken place in bois-le-duc ( ) and brussels ( ). in ghent, however, the movement acquired more threatening proportions, the magistrates being overwhelmed by the crowd and the workmen seizing the direction of affairs. charles, who had obtained from francis i permission to cross france with an army, condemned to torture most of the leaders of the movement, suppressed all the town's privileges by the "caroline concession" ( ), and even ordered that the well-known bell "roland" should be unhung. this last punishment remained in the memory of the people as a symbol of the deepest humiliation which might be inflicted on any town. [_treaty of venloo_] as soon as charles departed for his expedition to algiers, the netherlands were again exposed to the attacks of his enemies, including francis i, the king of denmark and the duke of cleves, who had inherited the county of gelder. this time mary was strongly supported by the states general, and succeeded in facing the attacks on both sides pending the return of the emperor ( ). the latter took the opportunity given him by a prompt victory to settle once for all the gelder question by the treaty of venloo. the duke of cleves was obliged to renounce all rights over gelder and zutphen, which became integral parts of the netherlands. this was the last act of the work of territorial unification pursued by the dukes of burgundy. at the same time, in order to protect the low countries from french attacks, charles v fortified the three towns of marienbourg, charlemont and philippeville, called after mary of hungary, charles himself and his son philip. thus, at last, the low countries reaped some advantage from the constant expenses which they had to sustain owing to incessant european wars. they were no longer able to pursue an independent policy, and, if the states preserved a certain liberty, it was mainly because they could be induced to vote war-taxes, these being, so to speak, the ransom which the so-called "free" netherlands paid to their ruler. during charles's youth, almost all the revenues of the state had been drawn from the prince's domain, but towards the end of his reign the levies extorted from the people became more and more heavy and frequent. the annual budget rose from one million pounds in to two and a half millions in and six and a half millions in . to these annual contributions we must add the numerous loans raised by the government on the security of the provinces. the interest on these loans weighed heavily on the budget. it was £ , in , £ , in , and rose to £ , , in . as a matter of fact, the states general could grant taxes but not control expenditure, so that most of the money raised in the netherlands was spent on foreign expeditions from which the country could reap no benefit. up to , when gold from mexico and peru arrived in spain, the low countries remained the main source of the income of the emperor. with the annexation of tournaisis, friesland, utrecht, gelder and zutphen and the protectorate over the prince-bishopric of liége, which, under erard de la marck ( - ), had finally accepted hapsburgian control, the unification of the low countries was completed. it still remained to give the country its definite status. thanks to the treaties of madrid and cambrai, all connection with france had been severed, but the reichstag endeavoured, on several occasions, to revive the nominal rights of the empire on the low countries and to compel the provinces to pay the imperial tax. the emperor, foreseeing that his son might not succeed him in germany, was not at all keen to encourage such claims. on the contrary, he exempted, by his own free will, the low countries from the imperial tax, and he endeavoured to make it a sovereign country attached to spain, which should remain, with it, the heritage of the hapsburg family. we are far from the time when he entertained the suggestion of creating a separate kingdom in the low countries, under the inspiration of his burgundian advisers, and though this suggestion recurred in and , connected with the project of the marriage of the emperor's daughter with the french prince, the sincerity of the emperor's proposals, at that time, may certainly be questioned. [_transaction of augsburg_] the victory of muhlberg ( ) provided charles with an excellent opportunity to settle definitely the situation of the netherlands towards the empire. cowed into submission, the reichstag readily admitted the transaction of augsburg ( ), by which the netherlands became the "circle of burgundy," under the protection of the empire, and whose sovereign was represented on the reichstag. the circle undertook to pay a small subsidy, but was entirely independent of imperial jurisdiction and imperial laws. in fact, it constituted an independent sovereign state, which benefited from the empire's military protection without any obligation on its side, since the emperor had no means to enforce the payment of the tax in case it should be refused. the augsburg transaction was completed in by the pragmatic sanction, which unified the successorial rights of all the provinces. this new edict marked a new stage in the work of centralization by securing the inheritance of all the provinces to the same prince. thus, of the two essential characteristics of modern states, unity and independence, the first was practically achieved; the second, however, was not yet within sight. it is characteristic of the status of belgium, as established by charles v, that this period of consolidation marks the final break up of the burgundian tradition. the principle of nationality, which had asserted itself so clearly under philip the handsome and at the beginning of the reign of charles v, was finally defeated, and, for two centuries and a half, the dynastic principle of the hapsburgs was destined to dominate the fate of the country. in the same year that the pragmatic sanction was signed, prince philip visited the netherlands. the appearance of the young prince and his education were in complete contrast to those of his father and grandfather. his name only was burgundian. he did not know a word of flemish and only spoke french with great difficulty. all his manners, all his views, were those of a spanish aristocrat, and it did not take long for the belgian nobles and notables who were brought into contact with him to realize that their future ruler would always remain a foreigner in the country. the failure of philip to secure the title of king of the romans strengthened still more the links which bound belgium to spain. his marriage with queen mary of england might have re-established a healthier balance between south and north, to the greater benefit of the low countries, but this union was only an episode in philip's life, and he was perhaps more foreign to england than he was to belgium, since he did not benefit in the former country from any sentimental attachment to his family. [_abdication of charles v_] on october , , the emperor, who suffered from ill-health and desired to spend his last years in retreat, called together the states general in brussels and solemnly abdicated his power in favour of his son. he recalled in his speech the ceremony of his accession, which had taken place forty years before in the same hall, and, after surveying rapidly the wars and struggles of his reign and the perils to which he had been exposed, he recommended his son to the affection of his subjects, exhorting them to remain united, to uphold justice and to fight heresy. at the end of his speech, he asked forgiveness for the wrongs he had committed and was unable to control his feelings. "if i weep, gentlemen," he concluded, "do not think that it is because i regret the sovereign power which i abandon; it is because i am compelled to leave the country of my birth and to part from such vassals as i had here." his emotion was shared by the belgian representatives, who realized that, whatever harm the great emperor had inflicted upon his favourite provinces, belgium had nevertheless found in him, on several occasions, some sympathy and understanding. parting from him, they may have foreseen that they were parting from their last natural and national prince. this feeling was only increased when charles, turning towards his son, addressed him in spanish, and when the latter, in his answer to the address of the states general, excused himself for not being able to speak to them in french. the burgundian dukes had endeavoured to convert belgium into a modern centralized state, with common institutions, a permanent army, a loyal nobility and docile states general. this part of their work was crowned with success, and it is significant that the word "patrie" comes to be used by belgian writers towards the middle of the sixteenth century. but the dukes had also pursued an independent policy, free from any foreign influence and inspired by the country's interests, since the country's prosperity was a condition of their own welfare and of the stability of their dynasty. this part of their work had been progressively destroyed. belgium was hereafter ruled neither from bruges nor from brussels, but from distant capitals and by ministers and councillors entirely unacquainted with and indifferent to its economic interests and social aspirations. chapter xiv antwerp the economic and social development, accompanying the political transformation which we have just witnessed, was entirely dominated by the amazing prosperity of the city of antwerp. the latter became, during the first part of the sixteenth century, the first market and the first banking centre in the world. for trade, limited during the two former centuries to europe, now extended to the new world, and the atlantic route hereafter played a more and more important part. the same causes which brought about the decadence of venice were the direct causes of the growth of antwerp. it is true that bruges occupied a similar position on the map, and from being a purely european market might have become a world-metropolis. we have seen that the silting up of the zwyn did not account alone for the rapid decadence of the flemish city, and that the conservatism of the guilds and corporations, their attachment to their old privileges and their disregard of modern tendencies, were the main reasons of its downfall. in , damme and sluis were partly in ruins, and in the middle of the century, whole quarters of bruges were emptied of their inhabitants, while over seven thousand destitute depended on charity. unhampered by mediæval traditions and enjoying the advantages of a deeper and more accessible harbour, antwerp was bound to secure the heritage of its former rival and to add to it the prosperity derived from the opening of new markets and the rapid widening of the circle of trade activity during the renaissance. as opposed to bruges, antwerp characterizes modern capitalist tendencies resting on the freedom of trade and on individual initiative. the advantages enjoyed by foreigners in the new metropolis drew gradually towards it the powerful companies of spanish, english and german merchants, whose presence was so essential in a market where most of the imported goods were re-exported to distant countries. the florentine guicciardini, who resided in the low countries from to , describes antwerp as "an excellent and famous city," where , , florins' worth of merchandise arrives every year, and in whose exchange transactions of , , ducats take place. out of its , inhabitants, , to , were foreigners. there were , "beautiful, agreeable and spacious" houses, and the rents varied from to écus yearly. the inhabitants "are well and gaily clothed; their houses are well kept, well ordered and furnished with all sorts of household objects. the air of the country is thick and damp, but it is healthy and encourages the appetite and the fecundity of the people." he insists, in his description, on the abundant life led by the rich bourgeois of the great city. the decadence of the cloth industry, caused by the development of english weaving, did not greatly affect the prosperity of antwerp, since it benefited from the import of english cloth, which arrived at its docks in a rough state and was dyed and prepared by local artisans. besides, urban industry in flanders and brabant had to a great extent been replaced by rural industry. employers found in the country districts the cheap labour that was needed, owing to foreign competition, and, for a hundred workers who lost their employment in the towns, thousands of weavers were only too ready to work up the raw material provided for them by the merchants. the linen industry, which more and more took the lead, recruited its labour in the same way, not only in flanders but also in brabant, holland and hainault. the flax of the country provided excellent raw material, notably in the region of the lys, whose water was specially suitable for retting. in , england bought from flanders , marks' worth of linen in the course of the year. it was soon found necessary to import flax from russia. [_industrial prosperity_] the development of tapestry contributed also to fill up the gap caused by the decadence of clothmaking. from arras, where it had flourished since the eleventh century, it extended, in the fifteenth century, to the regions of alost, oudenarde, enghien, tournai and brussels, and, in the sixteenth, to those of binche, ath, lille, louvain and ghent. the low countries were especially suited to this branch of industry, owing to the perfection of dyeing methods and to the great number of painters and draughtsmen able to provide the workers with beautiful designs. here, again, most of the artisans were villagers, in spite of the resistance of the old corporations. around oudenarde, in , about fourteen thousand men, women and children were engaged in this work. even the region of the meuse was affected. it possessed mineral resources besides great hydraulic power in its rapid streams. at the beginning of the reign of charles v, a great number of forges and blast furnaces heated with wood were installed in namurois. according to guicciardini "there was a constant hammering, forging, smelting and tempering in so many furnaces, among so many flames, sparks and so much smoke, that it seemed as if one were in the glowing forges of vulcan." such a description must not be taken too literally, and the beginnings of the metal industry in the southern provinces were very modest indeed, compared with present conditions. but, even then, a sharp distinction was drawn between the employers, usually some rich bourgeois of the town, who had the means to set up these embryo factories, and the rural population employed to work them. while these new conditions were developing, the corporations of dinant, which had for a long time monopolized the copper industry, were fast disappearing, partly owing to the difficulty of obtaining the raw material from the mines of moresnet, but chiefly owing to the protectionist spirit of the guilds, which would not adapt themselves to modern needs. at the same period, the coal industry was growing in importance in the liége district, the use of coal being extended from domestic consumption to the metal industry. by the end of the sixteenth century, all the superficial seams which could be worked by means of inclined planes were practically exhausted, and it was found necessary to resort to blasting and to sink pits, in order to reach the lower strata. the bourgeois of liége furnished the necessary funds for this innovation, which they were the first in europe to undertake, so that the new industry soon acquired the same capitalistic character which we have noticed in the metal industry, tapestry and textiles. [_rural conditions_] though the condition of the peasantry was very prosperous and agricultural methods had improved, the increase of large properties, due to the investment in land of the money acquired by trade and industry, favoured the development of a large class of agricultural labourers, whose situation contrasted unfavourably with that of the large tenant and the smaller farmer. in every branch of economic activity, modern methods rapidly supplanted mediæval conditions. from the general point of view of the country's prosperity, the change was beneficial and the princes showed wisdom in supporting it. a return to the narrow regulations and guild monopolies of the fourteenth century would have proved as fatal, in the fifteenth, as a return to the feudal system in the thirteenth. the princes supported the rich merchants and employers in the renaissance, as they supported the communes in the twelfth century. the corporation system, which had proved a boon at that time, had become an obstacle to free activity and initiative and had therefore to be sacrificed. but, at the same time, the formation of a large class of unorganized rural workers, who had no means of defending themselves against the ruthless exploitation of their employers, was bound to prove a cause of social unrest. it was among these uneducated masses that the anabaptists recruited most of their followers, and the industrial population around hondschoote and armentières provided the first bands of iconoclasts whose excesses contributed so much to confuse the issue of the revolution against spain. modern monarchy, which had upheld the new order of things, became the scapegoat of the discontented, and the suffering and exasperated people were no longer able to distinguish between the evil brought about by unrestrained capitalism and the good resulting from the organization of a strongly centralized state. * * * * * [_humanism_] antwerp was not only the centre of economic activity for the low countries, it became, as early as , the cradle of lutheranism. it is needless to recall here how the doctrines of martin luther, born in the german empire, had gradually spread through northern europe, and how his criticism of the morals of the clergy had originated a criticism of the dogmas of the roman catholic religion. hitherto similar movements, such as those started in the low countries by gérard de brogne and the beggards during the middle ages, and, during the last century, by gérard de groote, the founder of the brothers of the common life, had confined themselves to fighting the excesses of the church, remaining throughout orthodox, as far as the dogmas were concerned. now the principle of free individualism was transplanted from the economic to the religious domain, and capitalistic initiative and freedom of trade found corresponding expression in free interpretation of the bible. the movement had been prepared and, to a certain extent, favoured by the educative action of the brothers of the common life, who, though remaining strictly faithful to the church, had nevertheless substituted, in their schools, lay for clerical teaching. it is interesting to remark that both humanism, as represented by its greatest master, erasmus, and the art of printing, represented by thierry maertens and jean veldener, who were its originators at alost and louvain, were closely connected with the educational movement promoted by the brothers. erasmus had first studied at deventer. the extraordinary success of his _adagia_, published in , and of his early works, influenced by thomas more (with whom he had been brought into contact during his stay in england as a protégé of lord mountjoy), seems certainly strange in view of the unbending attitude taken by charles v towards lutheranism. but humanism had become the fashion in high aristocratic and ecclesiastical circles, and neither the young emperor nor his gouvernante, mary of hungary, disguised their interest in the movement. it is true that erasmus endeavoured to reconcile christian dogmas with the new philosophy inspired by the classics, but his attacks against asceticism, the celibacy of the priests and the superstition and ignorance of the monks would certainly not have been tolerated if they had influenced social life at large. the situation, at the beginning of the fifteenth century, among intellectuals and aristocrats was very much the same as that which prevailed at the courts of france, prussia and russia at the end of the eighteenth century. princes and nobles extended to voltaire similar favours, and for the same reasons. as long as their situation in the state was not threatened, they encouraged doctrines and intellectual pursuits which, besides providing them with fresh interests and distractions, justified to a certain extent the laxity of their morals. but, whatever their personal convictions might have been, their attitude had to change entirely as soon as the doctrine was adopted by the common people and when the privileges of church and state, so closely bound together, began to be questioned by the masses. that charles v's policy was not prompted only by his affection for the church is shown by the fact that, a few years before, he had subjected the pope's bull to his "placet," taken measures to restrict mortmain (which exempted church property from taxation), and had obtained the right to designate bishops. [_anabaptists_] it must be acknowledged that, as the new doctrines spread from the aristocracy to the people, they assumed a more extreme character. the first step in this direction was taken by lutheranism, whose attacks against dogmas were far more precise and categoric than those of the humanists. in the low countries, however, lutheranism, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, was still tolerant. it mainly affected a few nobles and a number of rich bourgeois. church and state, according to them, were separate entities, and one could remain perfectly loyal to the prince while denying the authority of the pope. they professed, in other words, the principle of liberty of conscience, and, while preserving the right to separate themselves from the dominant church, they did not make any attempt to enforce their theories on any unwilling converts. the first "placard" issued against them by the emperor was extremely severe in terms, since it condemned all heretics to death, but was very lightly applied. the men were to perish by the sword, the women to be buried alive and recanters to be burnt. but the belgian bishops were unwilling to denounce the lutherans and to deliver them to the secular arm. influenced by his spanish advisers, some of whom had initiated the spanish inquisition, charles, in , transferred the right of prosecution from the bishops to three special inquisitors enjoying full powers. the first executions were too rare to impress the public mind in an age when such spectacles were so frequent for other reasons, and the "placards," which had received the sanction of the states general, did not provoke much opposition. a new stage was reached in by the appearance of anabaptism, which had spread from münster into holland and gelder. melchior hoffmann, the leader of this movement, claimed to found the kingdom of heaven by the sword. he incensed the poor people by inflammatory speeches in which he invited them to install the new régime of brotherhood on the ruins of the old world. their triumph would be the "day of vengeance." his success among the sailors and the agricultural labourers of the north, who endured great sufferings under the new economic conditions and owing to the war with denmark, was very rapid, and ought to have been a warning to the governing classes. the anabaptists did not make any distinction between church and state, like the lutherans, neither did they entertain the idea of freedom of conscience. they were as extremist in their views as the spanish inquisitors. they intended to enforce their social and mystic doctrines on a reluctant population and appealed to open revolution. in fighting them, the government was backed by the immense majority of the population, and, after the fall of münster, this danger was for the time averted. [_calvinists_] a few years later, however, calvinism, spread by swiss and french disguised predicants, began to make considerable progress among the rural population of the western and northern provinces. the calvinists, like the anabaptists, did not believe in freedom of conscience. they opposed the fanaticism of the spanish inquisition with the fanaticism of the reformers and opened the fight without any idea of conciliation. they distributed satiric pamphlets, secretly printed, in which the church and the court were grossly caricatured, and their loathing for the worship of the virgin and the saints degenerated into blasphemy and sacrilege. they found very little favour among the educated classes, but made a number of converts among the discontented proletarians, who led a very miserable life in the neighbourhood of the most important industrial centres. to counteract this propaganda, charles issued a new "placard," in , which forbade the printing, selling or buying of reformist pamphlets, together with any public or private discussion on religious matters. even to ask forgiveness for a heretic or to abstain from denouncing him was considered as a crime punishable by death and confiscation of property. half of the fortune of the condemned went to the denunciator, the other half to the state. only in one quarter, in the nominally independent bishopric of liége, where erard de la marck issued similar decrees, was the repression successful. everywhere else, the number of new proselytes increased with that of the executions, and when the emperor abdicated, it seemed evident that a war of religion could not be averted. this war was destined to break up belgian unity, which had only just been entirely achieved. this might have been averted if belgium had been allowed to cope with the reformation crisis in all independence, according to the social conditions of the time, like other european states. a truly national prince and government would, no doubt, have succeeded in keeping the country together, but belgium no longer enjoyed the advantage of being ruled by national princes. hapsburgian dynastic principles had conquered burgundian traditions. orders no longer emanated from brussels but from madrid, so that to the obstacles created by religious differences and class hatred was added the bitter conflict between patriots and foreign rulers. chapter xv the beggars through a most unhappy coincidence, the prince on whose shoulders the fate of the country was to rest during the critical times to come was the first, since the beginning of unification, to be entirely unpopular in the low countries. even maximilian, who could not adapt himself to belgian manners, found some moral support in the presence of his wife, and, later on, of his son and heir. but no link of sympathy and understanding could exist between the haughty and taciturn spaniard and his genial subjects, between the bigoted incarnation of autocracy and the liberty-loving population of the netherlands, so that even the personal element contributed to render the task of government more difficult. philip's first visit, in , had hardly been a success. his second stay in the country did not improve the impression he had produced on those who had approached him. in henry ii of france had resumed hostilities. the campaign which followed was signalled by the brilliant operations of the count of egmont, who, first before st. quentin and the next year at gravelines, inflicted severe reverses on the enemy. but, in spite of the satisfactory treaties of cateau-cambraisis and the marriage of philip with the french princess elisabeth, which was a good omen for peace, the people of the netherlands remained discontented. they had again been called upon to pay the cost of a war which did not concern them directly, and they were deeply incensed by the continued presence of spanish troops, who, irregularly paid, committed incessant excesses. several belgian deputies vented their grievances rather freely, urging the king to deliver them from these "destructive brigands." philip, hurt in his pride, left the low countries for spain, on august , , without any intention of ever returning. [_marguerite of parma_] he had left behind him as gouvernante marguerite of parma, a natural daughter of charles, who lacked neither education nor intelligence, but whose initiative was paralysed by the detailed secret instructions she had received. she had been told not to make any important decision without the advice of a secret council called the "consulta," formed by three courtiers who were merely creatures of the king: granvelle, bishop of arras, the jurist viglius d'ayetta and charles de berlaymont. it was, however, impossible to keep such an institution secret, and the council of state, whose functions were unconstitutionally superseded by the action of the consulta, naturally resented such interference. among the most prominent members of the opposition were william of nassau, prince of orange, governor of holland, zeeland and utrecht; lamoral, count of egmont, governor of flanders and artois; and philippe de montmorency, count of horn, grand admiral of the flemish seas. these three nobles were moderate catholics, the two first being strongly influenced by the tolerant spirit of humanism, especially orange, who, though brought up as a catholic, had had a lutheran father. the clergy had been also aggravated by philip owing to the creation, in , of fourteen new dioceses, added to the four ancient bishoprics of arras, cambrai, tournai and utrecht. such a reform had already been contemplated by philip the good, and it would have caused no opposition if the bishops had been nominated by the pope, as in mediæval times. but, owing to charles v's religious policy, they were now selected by the king, and his choice, which included several inquisitors, was much criticized by the belgian clergy and the abbots. the promotion of the parvenu granvelle to the supreme dignity of archbishop of malines, in , added still more to the discontent. the same year, ceding to the entreaties of marguerite, philip consented to withdraw the spanish troops. this measure gave satisfaction to the people, but did not placate the grievances of the nobles and of the clergy. at the instigation of william of orange, the states of brabant openly supported the council of state in its opposition to granvelle and the consulta. this was brought to a climax by the refusal of orange, egmont and horn to sit on the council as long as granvelle remained in the country. again, marguerite supported the attitude of her council and, reluctantly, philip resigned himself to recall his minister ( ). [_the placards_] these first incidents were insignificant compared with the crisis confronting the government owing to the rigorous application of charles v's "placards." philip had issued no new edicts, deeming, no doubt, that his father's were sufficiently comprehensive, but these were to be rigorously enforced. in his farewell message to the states general, he had declared that "a change of religion cannot occur without at the same time changing the republic," and it was a subject on which he was not prepared to compromise. the increasing number of protestants, owing to the continued calvinistic propaganda, rendered the placards more and more odious and their application almost impossible. marguerite herself declared that "continual executions strained public opinion more than the country could stand." in the council of state deputed egmont to go to spain in order to entreat philip to moderate his instructions, but, in spite of the courteous reception given to him, the journey of the count remained without result. the horror inspired by the inquisition to catholics and protestants alike increased every day, and the constant emigration of intellectuals and skilled workers to england caused considerable uneasiness. queen elizabeth was ready to welcome belgian calvinists. she assigned the town of norwich as the principal centre for their settlement. quite apart from her sympathy for the followers of the reform, she realized that the introduction of the refugees' various industries into england--including tapestry--was likely to prove invaluable to this country. she resented the economic rivalry of the low countries, and, on several occasions, disregarded commercial treaties, levying taxes on imports, from the netherlands and ignoring the raids of english privateers in the north sea. it was high time to find means of checking emigration. [_the beggars_] a few calvinist notables, jean de marnix and louis of nassau, william's brother, among them, conceived the plan of linking together all the nobles opposed to philip's policy. they drew up a compromise acceptable to both parties in which the signatories swore to "defend the privileges of the country and prevent the maintenance of the inquisition," without undertaking anything "which would be to the dishonour of god and the king." over two thousand adherents, nobles, bourgeois and ecclesiastics, signed this document, and on april , , three hundred nobles presented a petition to marguerite. the regent having assured them that she would apply the placards with moderation while awaiting the king's orders, they promised, on their side, to do their utmost to maintain public order. two days later, the delegates were invited to a banquet by the calvinist count of keulenburg. they appeared at this function dressed as beggars in rough gowns, carrying wallets and bowls, and when bréderode, emptying his bowl, toasted them, the cry of "long live the beggars!" was repeated with enthusiasm by the whole assembly. tradition has it that the reason for this disguise was a disparaging reflection made by count berlaymont when the nobles appeared before the regent in simple dress as a sign of protest against the reckless expenditure which was ruining the provinces. but the medals struck at the time and worn by nobles and bourgeois suffice to explain the incident. these medals bore, on one side, the effigy of the king, and on the other, two hands joined over a wallet, with the inscription: "faithful to the king even to beggary." the "compromise" implied liberty of conscience, but this remained open to interpretation. most of the signatories considered that the followers of the reform would merely be tolerated, catholicism remaining the only state and public worship. these were the "beggars of state." the calvinists, on the other hand, the "beggars of religion," claimed full liberty to proclaim their faith, to "fight roman idolatry" through their propaganda and to transform the institutions of the country. in order to keep the two parties together, in their struggle against foreign interference, it would have been necessary to persuade both sides to adopt a more moderate attitude and entirely to dissociate the affairs of state from religious convictions. orange tried to obtain this result. at the time, he drew his main support from the german lutherans, who had accepted the "religions friede." but the lutherans were only a small minority in the low countries compared to the calvinists, who were in close touch with the french huguenots. in order to conciliate catholics and protestants, the prince endeavoured to bring the lutherans and calvinists together, and even entered into negotiations with the calvinist leader, gui de bray. his efforts failed completely, the calvinists declaring that "they would rather die than become lutherans." from that time, owing partly to philip's policy in exasperating the people by the application of the placards and partly also to the fanatic attitude adopted by the new sect, the reform entered on a new phase in the low countries. no concessions on the part of the government would satisfy the extremists, bent on complete victory or separation. these tendencies were soon made apparent by the return of many emigrants and the number of open air "predicants" who held meetings where the people flocked, armed with sticks and weapons. the moderation shown by marguerite came too late. it was merely considered as a proof of weakness and emboldened the reformers to redouble their attacks. their task was considerably facilitated by the misery prevalent in the country, due to the bad harvest of the year and to the increased cost of living brought about by the paralysis of many branches of trade. a great many merchants had left antwerp, and in the region of oudenarde alone eight thousand weavers were unemployed. the church was held responsible for the misery endured by the people; class hatred and fanaticism combined to make it the scapegoat for all grievances. in flanders, some agitators produced letters, supposed to have been sealed by the king, by which the pillage of the churches was ordered. suddenly, on august th, armed bands invaded the churches, convents and monasteries of the region of hondschoote and armentières, breaking all statues, tearing pictures and manuscripts, and destroying church treasures and ornaments. the movement spread to ypres and ghent, ravaged the cathedral of antwerp and passed like a hurricane over holland and zeeland only to stop in friesland, on september th. during nearly a month the authorities of the western and northern provinces allowed the destruction to continue without daring or trying to stop it. under the impression caused by the rising of the "iconoclasts," the council of state obtained from marguerite the abolition of the inquisition and the authorization for the protestants to hold their meetings publicly, but unarmed and only in such places where similar meetings had already been organized. in return for these last concessions, the nobles dissolved their confederation and applied themselves to the re-establishment of order. [_the inquisition_] just as the inquisition had deepened the gulf between the two parties and stiffened the resistance of the followers of the reform, the excesses of the iconoclasts exasperated the moderate catholics and rendered union more and more difficult. the count of mansfeld, a belgian catholic, was made governor of brussels by marguerite, who placed herself under his protection. a great many moderate nobles, who had taken part in the compromise, rallied round the government, and it was suggested that, in order to counteract the revolutionary movement, it would be wise to obtain from all the nobles of the kingdom a new oath of fealty to the king. this measure was bound to cause a split. the small group of calvinist nobles, headed by the brothers marnix, louis of nassau and bréderode, abstained from taking the oath. orange himself was led by his followers into adopting an intransigent attitude, though he had not yet given up the hope of realizing union. chapter xvi separation the year marks the beginning of civil war in the low countries. up till then, the nobility and the states general had worked more or less together, acting as intermediaries between the government and the people. the sovereign rights of the king had never been questioned. henceforth, the low countries were to be divided into two parties, having their headquarters in the south and in the north. both aimed at preserving their national liberties and equally resented foreign oppression, but, while the people of the northern provinces decided to sever all connection with spain, the people of the south were loath to part from their national dynasty and were easily conciliated as soon as the government adopted a moderate attitude; while the people of the north adopted calvinism as their only public religion, the people of the south remained attached to the roman church. [_north and south_] the story of the sixteenth-century revolution in the low countries is so well known that it is scarcely necessary to recall again here the details of events. from the point of view of the formation of belgian nationality, the revolution has an extraordinary importance, since it engendered the separation of the low countries into two distinct nationalities, which were later to be known as belgian and dutch. most english readers who remember their motley, or any of the less valuable writings he inspired, are under the impression that if the belgians did not adopt the same attitude as the dutch all through the struggle against spain, it was either because they were blinded by their religious prejudices or because their patriotism did not rise to the same exalted height. such an opinion is perfectly plausible, but it does not sufficiently take into account the intransigent and selfish attitude adopted by the northern provinces, the political mistakes committed by their leader, and the difference between the strategical position and the economic interests of the revolutionaries in the north and in the south of the country. it may therefore be useful to examine the efforts made towards unity during the struggle and the causes of their failure. the steps taken by the calvinist nobles which resulted in the failure of de marnix to seize antwerp (march th) and the taking of valenciennes by government troops (march th) were followed by a strong reaction. the placards were again enforced, and a rumour began to spread that the duke of alba was being sent by philip to the netherlands at the head of a strong army. at this news over a hundred thousand protestants emigrated to england or to the north. many people in southern belgium were, however, unable to believe in the possibility of ruthless repression, and even some of those who had taken an active part in recent events remained in the country. they did not know the intentions of the duke of alba and the instructions he had received from his master. "i will try to arrange the affairs of religion in the low countries," wrote philip at the time, "if possible without having recourse to force, because this means would imply the total destruction of the country, but i am determined to use it nevertheless, if i cannot otherwise arrange everything as i wish." when, after a fortnight of festivities, the duke suddenly ordered the arrest of the counts of egmont and horn (september th), the people were taken entirely by surprise. in spite of the protests of marguerite and the counsels of moderation of the pope and the emperor maximilian, repression was systematically organized by the council of troubles, soon called the "council of blood." egmont and horn were executed on june th, and all those who had participated in the agitation of the compromise and the iconoclast movement were arrested. during the three years which followed, from six to eight thousand people perished. all resistance was impossible. only a few bands of beggars kept to the woods ("boschgeuzen") and a few privateers operated in the north sea ("zeegeuzen"). alba repulsed with equal success the attacks of louis of nassau and of the prince of orange. "the people are very pleased," he declared; "there is no people in the world more easy to govern when one knows how to manage them." the new taxes he raised in to pay for the cost of the war rendered his régime still more odious. these taxes of per cent. on all property, per cent. on the sale of real estate and per cent. on the sale of all goods, were of course unconstitutional, and for a long time brussels and louvain refused to pay them. when at last they came into force, in , all trade stopped and the people opposed passive resistance amid great privations and sufferings. the situation was at last relieved by the bold coup de main of the sea beggars on the port of la brielle, in zeeland. up till then, they had sought refuge in the english ports, but in queen elizabeth closed her ports to them, and the seizure of a naval base in the low countries became imperative. the taking of la brielle, coming as it did in the worst time of spanish oppression, provoked unbounded enthusiasm. successively flushing, rotterdam, schiedam, and soon all zeeland and holland, with the exception of a few towns, revolted against the duke. the huguenots were no less active in the south, where la noue seized valenciennes and louis of nassau mons (may th). orange himself advanced victoriously through gelder towards brabant. these successes roused great hopes in the southern provinces, but were unhappily marred by the massacre of the monks at gorcum and other excesses. they were abruptly stopped by the news of the massacre of st. bartholomew, orange's french allies being obliged to leave his army. [_protestant successes_] holland and zeeland became henceforth the centre of resistance. these provinces had not taken an important share in the life of the low countries during the middle ages. their prosperity was of comparatively recent date and mainly due to their merchant fleet, which brought to antwerp wood and corn from the baltic and wine from bordeaux. their sailors had ventured as far as madeira and the azores, and, on being stopped by charles v from reaching america by the southern route, had endeavoured to find a route to india by the north. from the beginning of the sixteenth century, amsterdam had become the great corn market, middleburg the centre of the french wine trade, and the shipyards of vere, goes and arnemuyden were among the most active in northern europe. the influx of capital resulting from trade and shipping was used to reclaim marshes, to build fresh dikes and to increase considerably the cultivated area. nowhere else, according to guicciardini, was prosperity so general or did the traveller meet such "clean and agreeable houses and such smiling and well cared for country." economically speaking, the northern provinces were only beginning to feel the benefit of the advantages of their position, already so manifest in antwerp. they were, so to speak, in a stage of formation, and far more ready to cut loose the links of tradition with an obscure past and to throw themselves into some great adventure in which they might try their strength. they occupied, besides, a safer situation than the south, controlling the outlets of three great streams and the adjoining seas, among low-lying lands which, as a last resort, could be flooded in order to stop the advance of an enemy or cut off his retreat. this situation adapted itself remarkably well to a defensive strategy by land and an aggressive strategy by sea. the small number of inhabitants and the small forces available rendered any offensive by land against the spanish armies extremely dangerous, so that the southern provinces, exposed on all sides to invasion, were left to shift for themselves. it so happened that the prince of orange, the principal leader of the opposition, had, as governor of holland and zeeland, acquired a great popularity in the country, which was considerably increased by his conversion to calvinism. he had been made "stadhouder" of his provinces and had found great resources in the confiscation of ecclesiastical property. the next campaign ( - ) affords an excellent example of the strength of orange's position. he was finally able to compel the duke to raise the siege of alkmaar, in spite of his overwhelming superiority in numbers and of the striking successes which had marked his progress from malines to zutphen, to naarden and to harlem. the spanish retreat, in october , coincided with a naval defeat off enkhuizen. alba, discouraged, left the low countries in december and was replaced by a spanish aristocrat, louis de zuniga y requesens. [_requesens_] philip was at last resigned to make some concessions, but remained adamant with regard to religion. thanks to the victory won by the spaniards at mook, where louis of nassau lost his life, requesens was able to grant some of the claims of the states general without losing prestige. he proclaimed a general amnesty, suppressed the taxes of per cent. and per cent., and induced the council of troubles not to pronounce any more death sentences. he would not, however, dismiss the spanish troops, and the north having refused to negotiate, the spaniards laid siege to leyden. in maximilian offered his mediation, and a congress was held at breda between the representatives of philip and of the prince of orange. the religious question, however, proved a stumbling-block, philip maintaining catholicism as the only state religion and the prince asking for a guarantee with regard to the preservation of liberty of conscience. after the death of requesens, on march , , the administration was taken over by the council of state, including the moderate catholics, mansfeld, berlaymont and viglius. they hastened to suppress the council of troubles, but were unable to disband the spanish army, in spite of the insistence of the provincial states, owing to the lack of funds for their arrears of pay. at the beginning of july some spanish units took alost, which became the centre of pillaging expeditions. these excesses and the increasing danger of the situation brought about a reconciliation between orange and the belgian nobles, and once more the dream of a common country came within reach of realization. the states of brabant proscribed the spanish soldiers and called the citizens to arms. the members of the council of state were arrested and the states general assembled. in spite of the irregularity of such procedure, all the provinces sent their representatives with the sole exception of luxemburg. philip was still proclaimed "sovereign lord and natural prince," but the command of the national troops was given to the belgian nobles, and orange was asked to help in reducing the rebellious soldiery and in besieging the citadels of ghent and antwerp. while the delegates of the stadhouder and of the states conferred in ghent, news reached them of the terrible excesses committed, on november th, by the spanish soldiers in antwerp, during the course of which seven thousand people lost their lives. these riots are remembered as the "spanish fury." [_pacification of ghent_] deplorable though they were, they would not have been too heavy a price to pay if national unity could have been maintained. never did it seem nearer at hand. with fresh memories of alba's régime and the wholesale executions of the council of blood, under the direct influence of the terrible news from antwerp, the belgian catholics were never more ready to wipe off old grievances, to forget the sacrileges of the iconoclasts, the massacre of gorcum and the persecution of those of their faith in the north. the pacification of ghent was signed on november th. the seventeen provinces allied themselves into a confederation, promised to render each other mutual help, to expel the spanish armies, to suppress the placards and the ordinances of the duke of alba and to proclaim a general amnesty. liberty of conscience, however, was only proclaimed in fifteen provinces. calvinism remained the only religion permitted in holland and zeeland. it is true that the pre-eminent situation of catholicism was recognized and that the protestants were not allowed any public manifestations outside holland and zeeland, but if we take into account the fact that, all over the country, the catholics were far more numerous than their rivals, this last clause of the pacification of ghent shows that the calvinists were bent on exacting all the advantages of the situation they had so heroically conquered and that the moderates of the southern provinces still found themselves placed between the hammer of spanish domination and the anvil of calvinist sectarianism. the prince of orange cannot be held entirely responsible for missing this unique opportunity of concluding with his compatriots a fair and liberal compact. his correspondence shows that he had hard work to reconcile his partisans even to such one-sided religious conclusions as those expressed in the pacification of ghent, and that in many instances he had to resign himself to being led in order to be allowed to lead. [_don juan_] this mistake was bound to bear fruit, when the new governor, don juan of austria, a natural son of charles v who had covered himself with glory at the battle of lepanto, reached the country, in november . philip, aware that the netherlands would escape him if he did not make some sacrifices, had given don juan still freer instructions than those given to requesens. the religious question only was excluded from concessions. besides, the king hoped that the belgians would be flattered by the choice of a prince of the blood and would be captivated by the romantic reputation of this striking representative of renaissance nobility. negotiations between don juan and the states general were rendered difficult by the opposition of the partisans of orange and by the want of good faith on the part of the new governor, who, while promising to recall the spanish troops, was discovered secretly negotiating with them. the first union of brussels was, however, concluded on january , . the states promised to obey the king and to maintain the catholic religion as the only state religion all through the country. on the other hand, don juan, by the edict of marche, known as "edit perpétuel," undertook to convoke the states general, to recall the spanish troops and not to persecute the partisans of the reform. orange and his partisans in holland and zeeland naturally refused to ratify such an arrangement, which violated the articles of the pacification of ghent. don juan entered brussels in may, after dismissing the spanish troops, but, in spite of all his efforts, was unable to ingratiate himself in the eyes of the population. most of the people had resented the signature of the union of brussels, and when the negotiations with the northerners broke off and don juan asked for troops to fight them, he met with a curt refusal. alarmed by this veiled hostility and exasperated by his protracted negotiations with orange, don juan shut himself up in the fortress of namur and recalled the spanish troops. nothing better could have happened from the point of view of the patriots, and the differences which had begun to undermine the work of the pacification of ghent, during the last months, were promptly forgotten. william of orange made a triumphal entry into brussels on september rd. he was greeted as the liberator of his country, amid scenes of unbounded enthusiasm. he was proclaimed "ruwaert" of brabant and his authority did not meet with any further open opposition. faithful to his principles, orange endeavoured to establish liberty of conscience in the low countries. his ideas, however, were only shared by a few friends whose rather elastic religious principles allowed them to sacrifice sectarianism to the higher interests of the state. they did not suit the catholic aristocracy, who, though strongly opposed to spain, remained attached to legitimist principles. they did not suit calvinist democrats, who, though in a minority, intended to overwhelm all opposition. the intellectuals among them propounded the idea of the "monarchomaques" that "the prince existed for the people, not the people for the prince," while the uneducated classes already proclaimed the principle of modern democracy and universal suffrage and questioned the right of the states to represent the people. since august brussels had been practically in the hands of the commune, represented by a council of eighteen. similar councils had seized power in some provincial towns, and at ghent, where the calvinists dominated the commune, the articles of the pacification were entirely disregarded, the churches being plundered and the priests persecuted. holland and zeeland maintained an expectant and somewhat moody attitude. they resented their leader's concessions to the catholics and were not over-enthusiastic towards unification. they felt themselves stronger than the rest of the country and had largely benefited from the closing of the scheldt and the momentary stoppage of antwerp's trade. they were loath to sacrifice such advantages for the sake of joining hands with "papists and monarchists." [_policy of orange_] as the democratic tendencies and calvinist excesses were more and more apparent, following the return of orange to brussels, the catholic aristocracy of the southern provinces became alarmed. the nobles were afraid of the attitude adopted by the people concerning their privileges and of the personal prestige of orange. they endeavoured to check his power by inviting foreign princes to take the leadership of the country. the duke of aerschot induced archduke matthias, brother of the emperor, to come to the low countries, but orange easily countered this manoeuvre by arresting the duke and opening negotiations with matthias, who signed the second union of brussels, on december , , and guaranteed liberty of conscience. the young archduke was henceforth a mere figurehead and orange remained the real ruler of the country. to add to the confusion, don juan opened an offensive, a few days later, and easily defeated the national troops which opposed his progress in luxemburg, namur and hainault, forcing the government to take refuge in antwerp. it became more and more apparent that the provinces could not rid themselves of the spaniards without appealing to foreign help. the emperor rudolph being unwilling to support matthias, the latter had become practically useless. in spite of repeated entreaties, queen elizabeth would not consent to give military help. she encouraged the revolution, since it proved a drain on philip's resources and an efficient protection from spanish enterprise against england, but she would not openly break with spain. only france remained. as early as july , count de lalaing endeavoured to repeat with the duke of anjou, henry iii's brother, the manoeuvre of aerschot. he sought, at the same time, to deliver the country from spain with foreign help and to check the increasing power of orange and all he stood for in his eyes. anjou had no respect for the liberties and aspirations of the provinces, neither did his rather tepid religious convictions, as a catholic prince, stand in his way. he hoped to obtain the title of sovereign of the netherlands and thus to increase his chances of succeeding in his suit for the hand of queen elizabeth. once more orange took for himself the plans propounded by his enemies. he negotiated with anjou, who received the title of "defender of the liberties of the low countries" in exchange for some military help. don juan was obliged to retreat on namur, where he died, completely disheartened, on october , , leaving his lieutenant, alexander farnese, duke of parma, to continue the struggle. [_the malcontents_] the situation, during the last months of , had become extremely intricate. the spanish troops, commanded by farnese, held the southern provinces as far as the sambre and the meuse. holland and zeeland maintained their powerful position in the north, but, between spanish and dutch headquarters, the country was thrown into a state of complete anarchy, and the power of the stadhouder, who, from antwerp, tried vainly to maintain unity, was more and more disregarded. the act of religious peace, which he had issued in june and which placed the two confessions on a footing of equality, though endeavouring to conciliate everybody, only increased the discontent. its clauses were entirely ignored by the calvinist republic of ghent, which pursued its own ruthless policy under the leadership of ryhove and terrorized the catholics. on the other hand, the catholic nobles, who commanded some units of the national army, formed themselves into a new party, the "malcontents," and occupied menin on october st. civil war became more and more inevitable. ryhove called the prince palatine, john casimir, a protégé of queen elizabeth, to his help, while anjou, alarmed by the apparition of this unexpected rival, helped the malcontents to reduce the calvinist communes in arras, lille and valenciennes. william of orange, who had displayed such extraordinary political aptitudes during the first years of the revolution, seemed, since his entry into brussels, to have disregarded some essential conditions of success. though imbued by the principle of national unity, he never threw himself wholeheartedly into the struggle and never gave the country the leadership it so badly needed. he first seemed to ignore the difficulties ahead, owing to the rivalry of religious factions, and, when these were made clear to him, he did not take any strong measure to enforce on the people the principle of liberty of conscience which he so loudly proclaimed. the recurrence of excesses and cruelties committed by the fanatic leaders of the communes contributed to create a widespread impression, among the catholics, that he was merely paying lip-service to them, while determined to tolerate any disobedience among his own followers. his retirement to antwerp, in close contact with holland and zeeland, but far removed from the southern provinces, was also unfavourable to the maintenance of the union under his leadership. finally, the interference in national affairs of such disreputable adventurers as john casimir and anjou diminished, to a certain degree, the reluctance with which the catholics envisaged the possibility of treating with spain. [_union of arras_] on january , , artois, hainault and walloon flanders formed the "confederation of arras," which sanctioned the first union of brussels--that is to say, the maintenance of catholicism all over the country; and from that time negotiations began between the catholic bourgeoisie and nobility and farnese. had orange proved more active or farnese less diplomatic, the union might still have been maintained even at the eleventh hour. for nothing but religious passion, and perhaps, to a certain extent, the fear of mob rule, prompted the southern provinces to accept the spanish offers. the states of hainault had declared that they would not undertake anything contrary to the common cause, but wanted only to preserve their existence, to "maintain the pacification of ghent against an insolent and barbarian tyranny worse than the spanish" and "to prevent the extinction of their holy faith and religion, of the nobility and of all order and state." they did not abandon any of their old claims against spain, but they refused to acknowledge the social and religious transformation which had taken place in the country since the signature of the pacification. the defenders of the new confederation expressed the hope that in all towns the oppressed catholics would join hands with them. the union of arras ought to be considered therefore, not as a walloon, but as a purely catholic league. it confirms the first union of brussels, including all its anti-spanish stipulations concerning the restoration of the old privileges, the voting of taxes by the states, the defence of the country by native troops, the maintenance of the catholic religion in all the provinces being the only common ground on which spaniards and belgians could meet. it was, nevertheless, a breach of the pacification of ghent, and was destined to link belgium with spain for many years to come. it was also a definite and irretrievable step towards separation. it has been suggested that the difference of race and languages might have influenced the fateful decision of the walloon provinces. such an interpretation does not take into account the language situation in the low countries at the time. one seeks vainly for any grievance which the southern provinces might have entertained on that ground. french was used in all the acts of the central government and in the deliberations of the states general. even the prince of orange had kept the burgundian tradition and considered french as his mother-tongue. he was surrounded and supported by a great number of french huguenots and walloon calvinists. owing to their smaller population the southern provinces were rather over-represented in the states general, where the vote went by province and not by numbers. besides, we must not overlook the fact that the confederates represented themselves not as dissenters, but as the true supporters of the act of union, which had been violated by the calvinists. they did not show any separatist tendencies like holland and zeeland, but opposed their policy of union to the policy of the prince of orange. one of their most urgent demands was that the prince of the netherlands should henceforth be of royal and legitimate blood, in order to restore a national policy, similar to that followed during the early years of the reigns of philip the handsome and charles v. all through the troubled period of the last twenty years, walloons and flemings never ceased to emphasize their will to live together. their mottoes are, "viribus unitis"; "belgium foederatum"; "concordia res parvæ crescunt"; and almost every speech and public manifestation insists on the necessity of protecting a common "patrie" against a common enemy through a common defence. as a matter of fact, the principle of unity was so popular at the time in the southern provinces that the confederates would have made themselves thoroughly unpopular if they had dared to preach separation, and, on both sides, it was only by pretending to defend the union that the extremists, moved by class hatred and religious passion, succeeded in destroying it. the centre of catholic reaction might have been formed in any other part of the southern provinces under similar circumstances. the region of armentières and valenciennes had been the cradle of the iconoclast rebellion, but repression in that quarter was far more effective than in any other. a great proportion of the walloon workers who did not perish under alba's rule emigrated to england. the southern cities were thus considerably depleted of their calvinist element, and the peasants and the bourgeois outnumbered them far more than in any other part of the country. even under ordinary circumstances the workers of the towns exercised very little influence on the states of hainault and artois. in hainault (valenciennes and tournai forming special circumscriptions), mons remained alone to represent their interests. in artois, arras, st. omer and béthune were the only important centres whose representatives could oppose those of the far more important agricultural districts. the question of race and language had no more influence on the attitude of the walloon provinces than on that of holland, zeeland and utrecht. both were determined by economic, social and religious conditions as well as by their strategic situation. [_union of utrecht_] the confederation of arras was proclaimed on january , . on the rd the union of utrecht was constituted, under the same claim of defending the pacification of ghent. it grouped around holland and zeeland the provinces of utrecht, gelder, friesland, over-yssel and groningen, together with the most important towns of flanders and brabant: ghent, ypres, bruges, antwerp, brussels, etc. they undertook to act jointly in reference to peace, war, alliances and all external matters, while retaining their local autonomy. the exercise of religion remained free, with the exception of holland and zeeland, from which catholicism was excluded. the union of utrecht was the origin of the republic of the seven united provinces. it was entirely dominated by the particularist policy of holland and zeeland, which, as events developed more and more in favour of farnese in the south, took less and less interest in their southern confederates. the small forces at their disposal rendered any offensive towards flanders and brabant, which would have provided the beleaguered cities with food and arms, very difficult, and the reopening of the scheldt, which must have taken place in the event of the integral preservation of the union of utrecht, would have reacted unfavourably on the trade of the northern ports. [_alexander farnese_] owing to the defensive attitude of the north, events moved rather slowly during the following years. after the fall of maestricht, which was marked by further massacres of the people by the spanish soldiery, farnese, who had staked all on a policy of conciliation, gradually dismissed the spanish troops and organized native units with the help of the malcontents. now that all bonds were severed between the union of utrecht and the crown of spain, philip ii endeavoured to revenge himself on his opponent by putting a price on his head ( ). the apology written by the prince of orange in answer to philip's accusations, in the shape of a letter addressed to the states general, is one of the most dignified pleas of such a kind in history. orange had no difficulty in showing the sincerity of his motives and his devotion to the common weal. the reader of this eloquent document will, however, realize that its author lacked the energy and self-reliance necessary to deal with the desperate situation in which the country was placed. in his eagerness to save the belgian towns and to safeguard unity, in spite of the unwillingness of holland and zeeland to depart from their expectant attitude, he concluded with the duke of anjou, on september th, the treaty of plessis-lez-tours, by which, in exchange for military help, the duke was to receive the title of hereditary sovereign of the united provinces, undertook to respect the rights of the states general and maintain the representatives of the house of orange-nassau as hereditary stadhouders of holland, zeeland and utrecht. this last clause was introduced far more to pacify the northerners, who strongly objected to these negotiations, than to further orange's personal ambition. it shows once more the privileged situation occupied by the three provinces and their strong particularist tendencies. the treaty of plessis-lez-tours, which was supposed to save the union, was destined to give it its death-blow and to strengthen the alliance between the southern provinces and farnese. by that time, the central government in antwerp had become purely nominal. the northern provinces had ceased to send their representatives and the delegates from the south could not claim to represent the people, who were more and more unfavourable to their attitude. the states general was only used to register and sanction orange's decisions. in spite of some opposition, it finally proclaimed, on july , , the deposition of the king. hostilities were at once resumed, farnese besieging cambrai and tournai, which had not yet joined the confederation. the first town was saved by the intervention of the french troops of anjou, but the second capitulated on november rd. from that time, farnese endeavoured to treat his enemies with the greatest clemency. he suppressed severely all acts of terrorism or pillage and offered honourable conditions to any city willing to surrender, the protestants being free to leave the town after settling their affairs and the local liberties remaining intact. by these moderate conditions and by the loyalty with which he kept to them, he gradually earned the respect, if not the sympathy, of a great number of his former opponents, and his attitude contrasted favourably with the vagaries of anjou, whose rule was, after all, the only alternative offered to the southern provinces at the time. after a journey to england, where he received a rebuff from queen elizabeth, anjou was greeted with great honours at antwerp (february , ). during the year which followed, he grew more and more impatient of the obstacles placed in his way and the restrictions imposed on his authority. he finally decided to make a bid for power, and, on the night of january - , , his soldiers endeavoured to seize the gates of antwerp and occupy the public buildings. they were, however, defeated by the armed citizens, and the duke, entirely discredited, was obliged to leave the country. this episode is remembered as the "french fury." the last hopes of reconstituting the unity of the netherlands were ruined by the murder, on july , , at delft, of the prince of orange, the only statesman who had pursued this aim with some consistency, in spite of all his mistakes. this action was as criminal as it was senseless. the prince had failed in his great enterprise of uniting the netherlands against spain, and no efforts on his part could have restored the situation. thanks to the spanish reinforcements the confederation had allowed him to receive, farnese was systematically blockading and besieging every important flemish town. already dunkirk, ypres and bruges had opened their gates to him and obtained very favourable conditions. ghent itself, the stronghold of calvinism in flanders, whose population had distinguished itself by so many cruelties and excesses and which was considered as the arch-enemy of the malcontents, benefited from the same policy when obliged to surrender, on september th. all the old customs were restored, the town was obliged to pay , golden écus, its hostages were pardoned, and, though the protestants were not allowed to celebrate their worship in public, they obtained a delay of two years before leaving the city. [_fall of antwerp_] at the beginning of almost every town had been reduced as far as malines. brussels, which had vainly expected some help from the north, opened its gates to farnese on march th, and the taking of antwerp, on august th, closed the series of operations which definitely separated belgium from holland and again placed the southern provinces under the subjection of spain. antwerp had been defended obstinately by its burgomaster, the calvinist pamphleteer, marnix de st. aldegonde, who confidently hoped that his northern allies would create a diversion and at least prevent the spanish from cutting off the great port from the sea. in the case of antwerp, holland and zeeland might have interfered without so much danger, but orange was no longer there to plead for unity and the great port of the southern provinces was abandoned to its fate. chapter xvii dream of independence the fall of antwerp had doomed all projects of anti-spanish unity. it had settled for centuries to come the fate of the southern provinces, which were henceforth attached to a foreign dynasty and administered as foreign possessions. this ultimate result was not, however, apparent at once, and for some years the people entertained a hope of a return to the burgundian tradition and to a national policy. this period of transition is covered by the reign of albert and isabella, who were, nominally at least, the sovereigns of the low countries. illustration: belgium under the rule of the kings of spain. before giving the low countries as a dowry to his daughter isabella, philip ii made several attempts to break the resistance of holland and zeeland. had farnese been left to deal with the situation after the fall of antwerp, he might have succeeded in this difficult enterprise. but all the successes he had obtained against maurice of nassau in zeeland flanders, brabant and gelder were jeopardized by the european policy of the spanish king. from august , , queen elizabeth had at last openly allied herself with the united provinces, and the whole attention of philip was now centred upon england and upon the bold project of forcing the entry of the thames with a powerful fleet. farnese was therefore obliged to concentrate most of his troops near dunkirk, in view of the projected landing. the complete failure of the expedition released these forces, but their absence from the northern provinces had already given maurice of nassau the opportunity of restoring the situation ( ). the next year, instead of resuming the campaign against the united provinces, farnese was obliged to fight in france to support the catholic league. it was in the course of one of these expeditions that he died in arras, on december , . [_albert and isabella_] illustration: the infanta isabella. from a picture by rubens (brussels museum). illustration: archduke albert. from a picture by rubens (brussels museum). philip was bound by his promises to send to belgium a prince of the blood. his choice of archduke ernest, son of maximilian ii, was, however, an unhappy one, as the weak prince was entirely dominated by his spanish general, fuentès, brother-in-law of the duke of alba. the country suffered, at the time, from the combined attacks of maurice of nassau and of henry iv of france. after the death of archduke ernest, philip chose as governor-general the former's younger brother, archduke albert, who had distinguished himself as viceroy of portugal. he arrived just in time, in , to relieve the situation by the taking of calais. this success was short-lived, and by the treaty of vervins (may , ) philip was obliged to restore calais to france, together with the vermandois and part of picardy. the next year the king negotiated the marriage of his daughter isabella with archduke albert. he died on september , , before the marriage could be celebrated. had philip ii come to this last determination willingly, the future of the low countries, at least of the southern provinces, might still have been saved. but this last act of the sovereign whose rule had been so fatal to the netherlands proved as disappointing as the others. while he wrote in the act of cession that "the greatest happiness which might occur to a country is to be governed under the eyes and in the presence of its natural prince and lord," he almost annihilated this very wise concession to belgian aspirations by adding stringent restrictions. the inhabitants of the low countries were not allowed to trade with the indies; in the eventuality of the infanta isabella having no children, the provinces would return to the crown. besides, the act contained some secret clauses according to which the new sovereigns undertook to obey all orders received from madrid and to maintain spanish garrisons in the principal towns. the spanish king reserved to himself the right to re-annex the low countries in any case, under certain circumstances. this half-hearted arrangement, besides placing the archduke in a false position in his relations with his subjects, deprived him of all initiative in foreign matters. in fact, in spite of his sincere attempts to shake off spanish influence, he enjoyed less independence than some former governors, like margaret of austria. these secret clauses were not known to the belgian people, and they greeted their new sovereigns with unbounded enthusiasm. their journey from luxemburg to brussels, where they made their entry on september , , was a triumphal progress. after so many years of war and foreign subjection, the belgians believed that albert and isabella would bring them a much needed peace and an independence similar to that which they enjoyed under charles v and philip the handsome. they considered their accession to the throne as a return to the burgundian policy to which they had been so consistently loyal all through their struggle against spain, and whose remembrance had done so much to separate them from the northern provinces. on several occasions, and more especially at the time of the peace of arras, they had expressed a wish to be governed by a prince of the blood who would be allowed to act as their independent sovereign, and they confidently imagined that this wish was going to be realized and that, under her new rulers, the country would be at last able to repair the damage caused by the war and to restore her economic prosperity. [_catholic reaction_] they knew that the new régime implied the exclusion of the protestants from the southern provinces, but this did not cause much discontent at the time. all through the struggle the catholics had been in great majority not only in the country but also in the principal towns, with the sole exception of antwerp, which was the meeting-place of many refugees. though at the time of the pacification of ghent a great number of citizens had adopted the new faith in order to avoid calvinistic persecutions, they had given it up as soon as the armies of farnese entered their towns. the sincere protestants had been obliged to emigrate to the northern provinces. though the number of these emigrants has been somewhat exaggerated, they included a great many intellectuals, big traders and skilful artisans, whose loss was bound to affect the southern provinces, as their presence was destined to benefit holland, where the names of the bruxellois hans van aerssen, the gantois heinsius and the tournaisiens jacques and issac lemaire are still remembered. at the time of the arrival of albert and isabella in belgium, protestantism had practically disappeared from the towns and maintained itself only in a few remote villages, such as dour (hainault), hoorebeke, estaires (flanders) and hodimont (limburg), where protestant communities still exist to-day. though the placards had not been abolished, they were no longer applied, and all executions had ceased. except in case of a public manifestation causing scandal, the judges did not interfere, and even then, penalties were limited to castigation or fine. contrary to some popular conceptions, protestantism was not uprooted by the violence and cruelties of the inquisition in the southern provinces. on the contrary, these violences, under the duke of alba, only contributed to extend its influence. the calvinist excesses of - and the leniency of farnese did more to counteract calvinist propaganda than the wholesale massacres organized by the council of blood. it was against these persecutions, not against the catholic religion, that the southern provinces fought throughout the period of revolution, and the breaking off of all relations with the north automatically brought to an end the influence of calvinism. the rapid success obtained by farnese's policy, and the fact that his successors had no need to have recourse to violent measures, shows that protestantism was not deeply rooted in the south and that the people would have been only too pleased to agree to its exclusion if they had obtained in exchange peace and independence. but the war went on and the archduke was compelled to remain governor for philip iii. [_siege of ostend_] this became apparent immediately when, in , the states general claimed a voice in the administration of the country and in the control of expenditure. they met with a curt refusal and were obliged to agree to pay a regular subsidy in place of the old "special grants." the same year, maurice of nassau invaded northern flanders in the hope of provoking a rising, but the people did not answer to his call. the spanish, however, were defeated at the battle of nieuport, where the archduke was severely wounded. the next year began the siege of ostend, which had remained faithful to the united provinces and which was easily able to receive provisions by sea. after three years of struggle, the town was obliged to surrender, thanks to the skilful operations of ambrose spinola, who was placed at the head of the spanish army. after further indecisive operations, a twelve years' truce was finally declared, on april , , between the united provinces and spain. philip iii virtually recognized the independence of the republic and even allowed the dutch merchants to trade with the west indies, a privilege which he had refused to his own subjects in belgium. the southern provinces were further sacrificed by the recognition of the blockade of the scheldt, which remained closed to all ships wishing to enter antwerp, to the greater benefit of dutch ports. as soon as hostilities were resumed, in , it became apparent that philip iv would not support belgium any more energetically than his father had done. spinola, who had the whole responsibility of the defence of the country after the death of archduke albert ( ), succeeded in taking breda ( ). with the spanish general's disgrace, owing to a court intrigue, the armies of the united provinces were once more successful in consolidating their situation in northern brabant and limburg, which they considered as the bulwarks of their independence. frederick henry of nassau, who had succeeded his brother in the command of the republic's armies, took bois-le-duc in , and venloo, ruremonde and maestricht in . he was supported, in these last operations, by louis xiii, who, prompted by richelieu, took this opportunity of humiliating the hapsburg dynasty. the spanish commander, the marquis of santa cruz, proved so inefficient that some belgian patriots tried to take matters into their own hands and to deliver their country from a foreign domination which was so fatal to its interests. it soon became clear, however, that any step taken against spain would deliver belgium into the hands of either the french or the dutch. a first ill-considered and hasty attempt was made by henry, count of bergh, and rené de renesse, who opened secret negotiations at the hague with some dutch statesmen and the french ambassador. on june th they attempted a rising at liége, but were obliged to take refuge in the united provinces. a more serious conspiracy was entered into, almost at the same time, by count egmont and prince d'epinoy, who, with some followers, formed a walloon league. their aim was to drive the spaniards out of the country with the help of the french and to found a "belgian federative and independent state." on being denounced to the government, the conspirators were obliged to take flight before their plans had matured. [_the states general_] the fall of maestricht had induced isabella to assemble once more the states general. after thirty-two years' silence, the latter put forward the same grievances concerning the restoration of old privileges and the defence of the country by native troops, together with new complaints referring to the recent spanish administration. the people had become so restless that the marquis of santa cruz and cardinal de la cueva, the representative of philip iv in the low countries, were obliged to fly from brussels. under pressure of public opinion, isabella allowed the states general to send a deputation to the hague to negotiate peace (september , ). the deputies left the town amid great rejoicings. with undaunted optimism, the belgians hoped that where the spanish armies had failed their representatives would be successful, and that the new negotiations would bring them at last peace and independence, for they realized that they could not obtain one without the other. according to a contemporary, they believed that they saw "the dawn of the day of peace and tranquillity after such a long and black night of evil war." but they had reckoned without the exigencies of the dutch, whose policy was even then to secure their own safety, independence and prosperity by drastically sacrificing the interests of the southern provinces. the delegates were met with the proposal of establishing in belgium a catholic federative republic at the price of heavy territorial concessions both to holland and to the french. they could obtain independence, but on such conditions that they would never have been able to defend it. the following year ( ), after the death of isabella, philip iv recalled the belgian delegates. he dissolved the states general a few months later ( ). from this time to the end of the eighteenth century, during the brabançonne revolution, the representatives of the belgian people were no longer consulted and had no share in the central government of belgium. chapter xviii the twelve years' truce the truce of - was used by the government and the people to restore as far as possible the economic prosperity of the catholic netherlands. the relative success with which these efforts were crowned shows that some energy was left in the country, in spite of the blockade imposed on her trade and of the emigration of some of her most prominent sons to the united provinces. it is a common mistake to presume that, from the beginning of the seventeenth century, all economic and intellectual life left the southern provinces and was absorbed by the northern. the contrast was indeed striking between the young republic which was becoming the first maritime power in europe and the mother-country from which it had been torn, and which had ceased to occupy a prominent rank in european affairs. a medal was struck, in , showing, on one side, symbols of want and misery, applied to the catholic netherlands, and, on the other, symbols of riches and prosperity, applied to the northern netherlands, whilst the inscriptions made it clear that these were the punishment of the impious and the reward of the faithful. but a careful study of the period would show that her most valuable treasure, the stubborn energy of her people, did not desert belgium during this critical period, and that in a remarkably short time she succeeded in rebuilding her home, or at least those parts of it which she was allowed to repair. at the end of the sixteenth century the situation, especially in flanders and brabant, was pitiful. the dikes were pierced, the polders were flooded and by far the greater part of the cultivated area left fallow. the amount of unclaimed land was so large in flanders that the first new-comer was allowed to till it. wild beasts had invaded the country, and only a mile from ghent travellers were attacked by wolves. bands of robbers infested the land, and in an order was issued to fell all the woods along roads and canals, in order to render travelling more secure. in brabant, many villages had lost more than half their houses, the mills were destroyed and the flocks scattered. the conditions in several of the towns were still worse. at ghent the famine was so acute among the poor that they even ate the garbage thrown in the streets. the population of antwerp, from , in the fifteenth century, had fallen to , in . lille, on account of its industry, and brussels, owing to the presence of the court, were the only centres which succeeded in maintaining their prosperity. the excesses of the foreign garrisons, often ill-paid and living on the population, added still further to the misery. the english traveller overbury, who visited the seventeen provinces at the beginning of the truce, declared that, as soon as he had passed the frontier, he found "a province distressed with warre; the people heartlesse, and rather repining against their governours, then revengefull against the enemies, the bravery of that gentrie which was left, and the industry of the merchant quite decayed; the husbandman labouring only to live, without desire to be rich to another's use; the townes (whatsoever concerned not the strength of them) ruinous; and to conclude, the people here growing poore with lesse taxes, then they flourish with on the states side." [_blockade_] the truce had declared the re-establishment of commercial liberty, but the blockade of the coast remained as stringent as ever. flushing, middleburg and amsterdam had inherited the transit trade of antwerp, now completely abandoned by foreign merchants. in only two genoese and one merchant from lucca remained in the place, while the last portuguese and english were taking their departure. the exchange was now so completely deserted that, in , it was used as a library. the docks were only frequented by a few dutch boats which brought their cargo of corn and took away manufactured articles. any foreign boat laden for antwerp was obliged to discharge its cargo in zeeland, the dutch merchant fleet monopolizing the trade of the scheldt. the belgians could not alter this situation themselves. they could only appeal to spanish help, and spain was neither in a situation nor in a mood to help them. most of its naval forces had been destroyed during the armada adventure, and neither the few galleys brought by spinola to sluis, before the taking of this town by maurice of nassau ( ), nor the privateers from dunkirk were able to do more than harass dutch trade. with the defeat of the reorganized spanish fleet at the battle of the downs, the last hope of seeing the dutch blockade raised vanished. not only was the lower scheldt firmly held, but enemy ships cruised permanently outside ostend, nieuport and dunkirk. the attempts made by the government to counter these measures by the closing of the land frontier were equally doomed to failure, since the dutch did not depend in any way on their belgian market, while the belgians needed the corn imported from the northern provinces. the extraordinary indifference of the spanish kings to the trade of their northern possessions is made evident by the fact that, while the treaty of allowed the dutch to trade with the indies, it was only thirty-one years later that the belgians received the same permission. thwarted in this direction, the activity of the people and of the government concentrated on industry and agriculture. dikes were rebuilt, marshes drained and cattle brought into the country. though trade had been ruined, the raw material remained. the region of valenciennes, tournai and lille was the first to recover. the wool which could no longer come through antwerp was imported from rouen, a staple being fixed at st. omer. in an enthusiastic contemporary compared lille to a small antwerp. the walloon provinces had been less severely tried, and the coal industry, as well as the foundries, in the meuse valley soon recovered their former activity. tapestry-making was also resumed in oudenarde and brussels, copper-working in malines, dyeing in antwerp and linen-weaving in the flemish country districts. but the economic upheaval caused by the civil wars had given the death-blow to the decaying town industries, paralysed by the régime of the corporations. the coppersmiths of dinant and namur were now completely ruined, and the cloth industry in ghent had become so insignificant that, in , the cloth hall of the town was ceded to the society of the "fencers of st. michael." rural industry and capitalist organization, which had made such strides at the beginning of the sixteenth century, had now definitely superseded mediæval institutions. it was on the same lines that the new industries which developed in the country at the time were organized by their promoters. the manufacture of silk stuffs started in antwerp, while the state attempted the cultivation of mulberry-trees to provide raw material. similar attention was devoted by albert and isabella to lace-making, which produced one of the most important articles of export. glass furnaces were established in ghent, liége and hainault, paper-works in huy, the manufacture of iron cauldrons began in liége, and soap factories and distilleries were set up in other places. [_new canals_] the solicitude of the central government was not limited to industry. roads and canals were repaired all over the country and new important public works were undertaken. though the project of a rhine-scheldt canal, favoured by isabella, had to be given up owing to dutch opposition, the canals from bruges to ghent ( ), from bruges to ostend ( - ) and from bruges to ypres ( - ) were completed at this time. navigation on the dendre was also improved, and it was in that the project was made to connect brussels with the province of hainault by a waterway. this plan was only realized a century later. the conditions prevailing in the catholic low countries during the first part of the seventeenth century were, therefore, on the whole, favourable. with regard to world trade and foreign politics the country was entirely paralysed, but the activity of the people and the solicitude of the sovereigns succeeded in realizing the economic restoration of the country as far as this restoration depended upon them. the real economic decadence of belgium did not occur on the date of the separation, but fifty years later, during the second half of the seventeenth century, when its exports were reduced by the protective tariffs of france, when the thirty years' war ruined the german market and when spain remained the only country open for its produce. [_social life_] this relative prosperity extended beyond the twelve years of the truce. for, even when hostilities were resumed, they did not deeply affect the life of the nation, most of the operations being limited to the frontier. some belgian historians have drawn a very flattering picture of this period and extolled the personal qualities of albert and isabella. we must, however, realize that, in spite of the archduke's good intentions, the promises made at the peace of arras were not kept, that the states general were only twice assembled and that all the political guarantees obtained by the patriots from farnese were disregarded. spanish garrisons remained in the country and the representatives of the people had no control over the expenditure. in fact, belgium was nearer to having an absolutist monarchical régime than it had ever been before. the council of state was only assembled to conciliate the nobility, whose loyalty was still further encouraged by the granting of honours, such as that of the order of the golden fleece, and entrusting to them missions to foreign countries. the upper bourgeoisie, on the other hand, were largely permitted to enter the ranks of the nobility by receiving titles. from to no less than forty-one estates were raised to the rank of counties, marquisates and principalities, and a contemporary writer complains that "as many nobles are made now in one year as formerly in a hundred." it was among these new nobles, or would-be nobles, who constituted a class very similar to that of the english gentry of the same period, that the state recruited the officers of its army and many officials, whose loyalty was, of course, ensured. no opposition was likely from the ranks of the clergy. the new bishoprics founded by philip ii had been reconstituted and the bishops selected by the king exercised strict discipline in their dioceses. besides, all religious orders were now united by the necessity of opposing a common front to the attacks of the protestants, and they felt that the fate of the religion was intimately bound up with that of the dynasty. the principle of the divine right of kings was opposed to the doctrine of the right of the people to choose their monarch propounded by the monarchomaques, and roman catholics were, by then, attached to the monarchy just as calvinists were attached to the republic. the experiences of the last century prevented any return to the situation existing under charles v, when, on certain questions, the clergy were inclined to side with the people against the prince. the close alliance of church and state had now become an accomplished fact, and was destined to influence belgian politics right up to modern times. the loyalty of the people was even stimulated by this alliance, the work of public charity being more and more taken from the communal authorities to be monopolized by the clergy. attendance at church and, for children, at catechism and sunday school was encouraged by benevolence, the distribution of prizes and small favours, while religious slackness or any revolutionary tendency implied a loss of all similar advantages. here, again, the skilful propaganda against heresy constituted a powerful weapon in the hands of the state. it must, in all fairness, be added that charity contributed greatly to relieve the misery so widespread during the first years of the century, and that the people were genuinely grateful to such orders as the récollets and the capuchins, who resumed the work undertaken with such enthusiasm by the minor orders in the previous centuries. they visited the prisoners and the sick, sheltered the insane and the destitute, and even undertook such public duties as those of firemen. these efforts soon succeeded in obliterating the last traces of calvinist and republican tendencies, which had never succeeded in affecting the bulk of the population. as a modern sovereign, bent on increasing the power of the state, archduke albert resented the encroachments of the clergy, as charles v had done before him. but he was as powerless to extricate himself from the circumstances which identified the interests of his internal policy with those of the church, as to liberate himself from the severe restrictions with which the spanish régime paralysed his initiative in foreign matters. chapter xix rubens if it be true that the spirit of a period can best be judged by its intellectual and artistic achievements, we ought certainly to find in the pictures of rubens ( - ) an adequate expression of the tendencies and aspirations of the counter reformation in belgium. compared with the religious pictures of the van eycks and of van der weyden, such works as the "spear thrust" (antwerp museum), "the erection of the cross" and the "descent from the cross" (antwerp cathedral) form a complete contrast. there is no trace left in them of the mystic atmosphere, the sense of repose and of the intense inner tragedy which pervade the works of the primitives. within a century, flemish art is completely transformed. it appeals to the senses more than to the soul, and finds greatness in the display of physical effort and majestic lines more than in any spiritual fervour. two predominant influences contributed to bring about this extraordinary transformation--the influence of italy and that of the catholic restoration, specially as expressed by the jesuits. while, in the fifteenth century, art, in the low countries, had remained purely flemish, or, to speak more accurately, faithful to native tendencies, all through the sixteenth century the attraction of the italian renaissance became more and more apparent. we know that van der weyden, in , and josse van ghent, in , visited italy, but they went there more as teachers than as students. their works were appreciated by the italian patrons for their intense originality and for their technical perfection. jean gossaert, better known as mabuse on account of his being born in maubeuge (_c._ ), was the first of a numerous series of artists who, all through the sixteenth century, considered the imitation of the italian art of the period as an essential condition of success. just as the primitive national school had been patronized by the dukes of burgundy, the italianizants were patronized by charles v, margaret of austria and mary of hungary. the worship of raphael and michael angelo, so apparent in the paintings of van orley, peter pourbus, j. massys and many others, marks the transition between the primitive tendencies of van eyck and the modern tendencies of rubens. both tendencies are sometimes aptly combined in their works, and their portraits, especially those of antoine moro, still place the antwerp school of the sixteenth century in the forefront of european art, but the general decadence of native inspiration is nevertheless plainly apparent. the favour shown to these painters by the governors under charles v and philip ii is significant. whatever their personal opinions may have been, the italianizants adapted themselves to the pomp displayed by the monarchists and to the modern spirit of catholicism, as opposed to the reformation, whose critical and satiric tendencies were expressed, to a certain extent, by realists like jérôme bosch ( - ) and peter breughel (_c._ - ) who painted, at the same time, genre pictures of a popular character and who remained absolutely free from italian influence. the same opposition which divided society and religion reflected itself in art. [_rubens_] though he succeeded in transforming their methods, rubens is nevertheless the spiritual descendant of the italianizants. it is from them and from his direct contact with the works of michael angelo and titian that he inherits his association of spiritual sublimity with physical strength. adopting without reserve michael angelo's pagan vision of christianity, he transformed his saints and apostles into powerful heroes and endeavoured to convey the awe and majesty inspired by the christian drama through an imposing combination of forceful lines and striking colouring. rubens was chosen by the jesuits to decorate the great church they had erected in antwerp in . such a choice at first appears strange, considering that, on several occasions, rubens does not seem to conform to the strict rule which the powerful brotherhood succeeded in imposing on other intellectual activities. translated into poetry, such works as the "rape of the daughters of lucippus," "the judgment of paris," "the progress of silenus," would suggest a style very much akin to that of shakespeare's _venus and adonis_, and, needless to say, would never have passed the church's censor. for the reaction against the moral license and the intellectual liberty of the previous century was by now completed. higher education was monopolized by the reformed university of louvain and the new university of douai, and no belgian was allowed to study abroad. all traces of humanism had disappeared from louvain, where justus lipsius remained as the last representative of renaissance tendencies strongly tempered by orthodoxy. scientific novelties were so much distrusted that when, in , van helmont dared to make public his observations on animal magnetism, he was denounced as a heretic and obliged to recant. for fear of exposing themselves to similar persecutions, the historians of the time confined themselves to the study of national antiquities. the theatre was confined to the representation of conventional passions and mysteries and to the plays produced every year by the jesuits in their schools. illustration: pulpit of sainte gudule, brussels (eighteenth century). _ph. b._ as a matter of fact, the tolerance and even the encouragement granted, at the time, to an exuberant display of forms and colours and to an overloaded ornamental architecture, were not opposed to the jesuit methods. they were determined, by all means at their disposal, to transform the low countries into an advance citadel of roman catholicism. their policy was far more positive than negative. they were far more bent on bringing to the church new converts and stimulating the zeal of their flock than on eradicating protestantism. they thought that the only means to obtain such a result was to attract the people by pleasant surroundings and not to rebuke them by morose asceticism. they were the first to introduce dancing, music and games into their colleges. they organized processions and sacred pageants. they surrounded the first solemn communion with a new ceremonial. they stimulated emulation and showered prizes on all those who distinguished themselves. [_the jesuits_] society was merely for them a larger school in which they used the same means in order to consolidate their position. during the first years of the seventeenth century, an enormous number of new churches were built. never had architects been so busy since the time of philip the good. the church of douai, erected in , was a replica of the gésù in rome, and the general adoption of the italian "barocco" by the jesuits has encouraged the idea, in modern times, that there really existed a jesuit type of architecture. the flowery ornaments on the façades of these churches, their columns, gilded torches, elaborate and heavy designs, cannot be compared to rubens's masterpieces, but, from the point of view of propaganda, which was the only point of view that mattered, the glorious paintings of the antwerp master fulfilled the same purpose. they rendered religion attractive to the masses, they combined with music and incense to fill the congregation with a sacred awe conducive to faith. it ought not to be assumed, however, that the painters of the period enjoyed complete liberty of expression. if the church showed great tolerance with regard to the choice of certain profane subjects, christian art was directly influenced by the reforms promulgated by the council of trent. in a pamphlet published in by jean molanus, _de picturis et imaginibus sacris_, the new rules are strictly set forth. all subjects inspired by the apocryphal books and popular legends are proscribed, and even such details of treatment as the representation of st. joseph as an old man and the removal of the lily from the hand of the angel of the annunciation to a vase are severely criticized. the censors of the period would have given short shrift to memling's interpretation of st. ursula's story and all similar legends which could not be upheld by the authority of the _acta sanctorum_. this remarkable historical work, initiated by bollandus at the time, endeavoured to weed out from the lives of the saints most of the popular anecdotes which had inspired mediæval artists. all episodes connected with the birth and marriage of the virgin disappeared, at the same time, from the churches. the jesuits were stern rationalists, and, considering themselves as the defenders of a besieged fortress, were determined not to lay the church open to attack and to remove any cause for criticism. their point of view was entirely contrary to that of the mediæval artists. for the latter, art sprang naturally from a fervent mysticism, just as flowers spring from the soil. its intimate faith does not need any effort, any artifices, to make itself apparent; even secondary works retain a religious value. the sacred pictures of the seventeenth century appear, in contrast, as a gigantic and wonderful piece of religious advertisement. based on purely pagan motives, they succeed in capturing the wandering attention on some sacred subject, by overloading it with a luxury of ornament and an exuberance of gesture unknown to the primitives. the treatment may be free, it is even necessary that it should be so in order to flatter the taste of the period, but the repertory of subjects becomes more and more limited. brilliant colours, floating draperies, powerful draughtsmanship, become the obedient servants of a stern and dogmatic mind. the pagans exalted sensuousness, the mediæval artists magnified faith, the artists of the counter-reformation used all the means of the former to reach the aim of the latter "ad majorem dei gloriam." [_intellectual life_] the result of this intellectual and artistic movement was stupendous. while the récollets and capuchins, carmelites, brigittines, ursulines and clarisses worked among the poor, the jesuits succeeded in capturing the upper classes. all the children of the rich bourgeoisie and the nobility attended their schools and colleges, and, in , the number of pupils with their parents who had entered the congregation of the virgin reached , . one might say that the jesuits had taken intellectual power from the hands of the laity in order to wield it for the benefit of the church. from their ranks rose all the most prominent men of the period, philosophers like lessius, economists like scribani, historians like the bollandists, physicians, mathematicians, architects and painters. the direct result of this clericalization of art and letters was to thwart the progress realized during the last century by the vulgar tongue. latin replaced french in philosophy, history and science, and even in literature the elite preferred to express themselves in the classic tongue. flemish was completely disdained. according to geulinx, "it ought not to have been heard outside the kitchen or the inn." this period, which from the artistic point of view was marked by such bold innovations, favoured a reaction towards the mediæval use of latin in preference to the vulgar tongue. but latin was not read by the people. rubens was not only the most successful religious painter of his time, he was also the favourite and ambassador of albert and isabella, the great courtier and portrait painter and the decorator of the luxemburg palace in paris. he not only paid court to the church, he also placed his talent at the service of the sovereigns and nobles of his day, and certainly the encouragement given by the latter to pagan subjects may account for the leniency of the church towards them. in the king of spain ordered from the antwerp master fifty-six pictures illustrating the _metamorphoses_ of ovid, destined for his hunting lodge near madrid. rubens's pupil, van dyck, was the accomplished type of the court painter of the period. his portraits of charles i and of his children and of lord john and lord bernard stewart are among the best-known examples of the work he accomplished in england. [_breughel and jordaens_] there is a third aspect of rubens which cannot be ignored and through which he may be associated with the realist artists of the seventeenth century, who succeeded in preserving a purely flemish and popular tradition in spite of italian and monarchist influences. the "kermesse" of the louvre and the wonderful landscapes disseminated in so many european museums are the best proofs that the master did not lose touch with his native land and with the people who tilled it. this special aspect of his art is even more prominent in the works of his follower, jacques jordaens ( - ). it is significant that the latter became a calvinist in . while rubens and van dyck represent mostly the aristocratic and clerical side of the flemish art of the period, jordaens appears as the direct descendant of jérôme bosch and peter breughel. breughel's satires, such as the "fight between the lean and the fat" and the "triumph of death," show plainly that his sympathies were certainly not on the side of spanish oppression. his interpretation of the "massacre of the innocents" (imperial museum, vienna) is nothing but a tragic description of a raid of spanish soldiery on a flemish village. quite apart from their extraordinary suggestiveness, these works, like most of breughel's drawings and paintings, constitute admirable illustrations of the popular life of the low countries during the religious wars. it must never be forgotten that all through the sixteenth century, starting from quentin matsys, the founder of the antwerp school, the popular and flemish tradition remains distinct from the flowery style of the italianizants. though it is impossible to divide the two groups of artists among the two political and religious tendencies in conflict, the works of breughel and jordaens may be considered as a necessary counterpart to those of frans floris and rubens if we wish to form a complete idea of the civilization of the period. illustration: the massacre of the innocents (sixteenth century). (imperial museum, vienna.) _p. breugghel._[i] chapter xx political decadence under spain though the seven northern provinces could be considered as definitely lost after the failure of farnese's last attempt to reconquer them, the spanish netherlands still included, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, the three duchies of brabant, limburg (with its dependencies beyond the meuse, daelhem, fauquemont and rolduc), luxemburg and a small part of gelder with ruremonde; four counties, flanders, artois, hainault and namur, and the two seigneuries of malines and tournai. when, in , the southern netherlands passed under austrian sovereignty, they had lost maestricht and part of northern limburg, northern brabant, zeeland flanders, walloon flanders and artois, and various small enclaves, most of their fortified towns being further obliged to receive foreign garrisons, maintained at the expense of the state. antwerp remained closed, and the efforts made during the first years of the seventeenth century to restore the economic situation through industrial and agricultural activity were practically annihilated by incessant wars. this situation was evidently caused by the weakness of spain, which, though clinging to its northern possessions, did not possess the means to defend them against the ambition of european powers, more especially france. it was due also to the policy of the united provinces, who considered belgium as a mere buffer state which they could use for their own protection and whose ruin, through the closing of antwerp, was one of the conditions of their own prosperity. up to the war of the spanish succession, england played a less prominent part in the various conflicts affecting the southern netherlands, but she succeeded, on several occasions, in checking the annexationist projects of france, whose presence along the belgian coast was a far greater danger than that of a weak and impoverished spain. [_weakness of belgium_] there is no better illustration of the paramount importance of a strong and independent belgium to the peace of europe than the series of wars which followed each other in such rapid succession during the seventeenth century. it is true that, in nearly every instance, the new situation created in the netherlands cannot be given as the direct cause of these various conflicts, resulting from territorial ambitions, dynastic susceptibilities and even, as in the case of the thirty years' war, from circumstances quite independent of those prevalent on the meuse and the scheldt. but, whatever the nominal cause of these wars may have been, they certainly acquired a more widespread character from the fact that the spanish netherlands lay as an easy prey at the mercy of the invader and constituted a kind of open arena where european armies could meet and carry on their contests on enemy ground. it is not a mere chance that the separation of the southern and northern provinces coincided with a remarkable recrudescence of the warlike spirit all over europe. the contrast between the fifteenth century, when the seventeen provinces constituted a powerful state under the dukes of burgundy, and the seventeenth, when the greater part of it was ruined and undefended, at the mercy of foreign invasion, is particularly enlightening. all through the middle ages first flanders, later the burgundian netherlands, had exerted their sobering and regulating influence between france, on one side, and england or germany on the other. the belgian princes were directly interested in maintaining peace, and, in most cases, only went to war when their independence, and incidentally the peace of europe, was threatened by the increasing ambition of one of their neighbours. the system of alliances concluded with this object could not possibly prevent conflicts, but it certainly limited their scope and preserved europe from general conflagration, the combination of the netherlands with one power being usually enough to keep a third power in order. the weakening of the southern provinces under spanish rule thus caused an irreparable gap in the most sensitive and dangerous spot on the political map of europe. triple and quadruple alliances were entered into and inaugurated the system of grand alliances which was henceforth to characterize almost every european conflict and increase on such a large scale the numbers of opposed forces and the devastations accompanying their warlike operations. [_dutch policy_] it may be said that the united provinces might have played the part formerly filled by the burgundian netherlands and the county of flanders, but, in spite of their amazing maritime expansion and of the prosperity of their trade, they did not enjoy the same military prestige on land. besides, they did not care to undertake such a heavy responsibility, and pursued most of the time a narrowly self-centred policy. though they had some excellent opportunities of reconstituting the unity of the low countries, and though some of their statesmen contemplated such a step, the united provinces never embarked upon a definite policy of reconstitution. they played for safety first and were far too wary to sacrifice solid material advantages for a problematic european prestige. unification would have meant the reopening of the scheldt and the resurrection of antwerp, whose rivalry was always dreaded by the northern ports. it would have meant the admission of a far more numerous population on an equal footing, with religious freedom, to the privileges of the republic. it would have implied the sacrifice of an extraordinarily strong strategic situation and the risks involved by the defence of weak and extended frontiers. the maintenance of a weak buffer state, as a glacis against any attacks from the south, seemed far more advantageous, especially if its fortified positions were garrisoned with dutch forces. it gave all the same strategic advantages which unification might have given, without any of its risks and inconveniences. "it is far better," wrote a dutch grand pensioner, at the time, "to defend oneself in brussels or antwerp than in breda or dordrecht." such an attitude was perfectly justified as long as holland did not claim the advantages attached to the position of a moderating central power and ask for the reward without having taken the risks. we have seen how, in , the delegates of the states general were met at the hague with the proposal of the creation of a federative catholic republic under the tutelage of france and holland. this project, already entertained in by the grand pensioner oldenbarneveldt, was very much favoured by cardinal richelieu, who, in , signed a secret convention with the united provinces, according to which such a proposal would be made to the people of the southern netherlands. in the event of their refusing this arrangement, the country would be divided among the two allies, following a line running from blankenberghe to luxemburg. if we remember the attitude of the belgians at the time of the conspiracy of the nobles, led by the count of bergh ( ), such a refusal must have been anticipated, so that the proposal amounted really to a project of partition. this project would anyhow have been opposed by england, since, according to the dutch diplomat grotius, charles i "would not admit" the presence of france on the flemish coast. in a formal and public alliance was declared between the united provinces and france, and war broke out once more between spain and the confederates. the operations which followed form part of the fourth phase of the thirty years' war, but we are only concerned here with their result with regard to the netherlands. while the dutch took breda and concentrated near maestricht, the french advanced through the southern provinces towards limburg, where they made their junction with their allies to proceed against brussels. the belgians had not answered the franco-batavian manifesto, inviting them to rebel, and gave whatever help they could to their spanish governor, the cardinal infant ferdinand. students co-operated in the defence of louvain, and the people showed the greatest loyalty during the campaign. they knew by now that they had very little good to expect from a franco-dutch protectorate and that even the shadow of independence they were allowed to preserve under the spanish régime would be taken from them. powerless to reconquer full independence, they preferred a weak rule which secured for them at least religious liberty to the strong rule of those whom they considered as foreigners and as enemies to their country. [_richelieu and mazarin_] operations were pursued with alternating success until , when mazarin succeeded richelieu as french prime minister. mazarin favoured a more radical solution of the netherlands difficulty. he persuaded louis xiv that the possession of the left bank of the rhine was essential to the safety of the kingdom, and aimed at the total annexation of the belgian provinces. the negotiations begun in that direction met with dutch and english opposition and the curt refusal of spain to renounce her rights on her northern possessions. this new attitude of france brought about a rapprochement between spain and the united provinces, who began to fear louis xiv's ambitious schemes. the two countries settled their difficulties by the treaty of münster ( ), while, after a new series of defeats, culminating, in , in the battle of the dunes, won by turenne against don juan, philip iv was finally obliged to submit to the treaty of the pyrenees ( ). the dutch plenipotentiaries had practically a free hand in the settling of the münster treaty. they acquired all the territories they claimed, and they only claimed the territories they wanted and which they already held. their choice was dictated neither by territorial ambition nor by the desire to realize the unity of the netherlands. they obtained, of course, the official recognition of their full independence and the maintenance of the closing of the scheldt and of its dependencies. the annexation of zeeland flanders, henceforth known as flanders of the states, ensured their position on the left bank of the stream, that of north brabant with bergen-op-zoom, breda and bois-le-duc, ensured the protection of their central provinces, while maestricht, together with fauquemont, daelhem and rolduc, secured their position on the meuse. these were purely strategic annexations, prompted by strategic motives and by the desire to keep a firm hold on some key positions from which the united provinces could check any attack, either from spain or from france, with the least effort. by the treaty of the pyrenees philip iv abandoned to france the whole of artois and a series of fortified positions in southern flanders, hainault, namur and luxemburg. these latter demands were prompted by an evident desire to extend french territory towards the netherlands and to obtain a position which should afford a good starting-point for such extension. the treaties of münster and of the pyrenees had, broadly speaking, determined the new status of the southern provinces, considerably diminished to comply with the wishes and the interests of the united provinces and of france. this status was not considerably altered by the succession of wars which took place during the second half of the seventeenth century and the early years of the eighteenth, and which ended by the substitution of austrian for spanish rule. it was, however, considered as provisional by louis xiv, whose territorial ambitions extended far beyond walloon flanders, and, before obtaining the right to live within her new frontiers, belgium had still to undergo the ordeal of five devastating wars. illustration: proclamation of the peace of mÜnster in front of the antwerp town hall. from an old print ( ). [_projects of partition_] at the time of the death of philip iv ( ), the southern provinces, impoverished and inadequately defended, were an easy prey to foreign territorial greed. the dutch grand pensioner de witt returned to the old plan of , whereby holland and france should agree to the constitution of a protected buffer state, and, in case this proposal should not meet with the support of the states, to a partition along a line extending from ostend to maestricht. holland and england, however, were soon to realize that no compromise was possible with france and that their safety required prompt joint action. the roi-soleil would not agree to recognize the right of the new king of spain, charles ii, to the southern netherlands. a few years before, king louis had married maria theresa, the eldest daughter of philip iv, and his legal advisers made a pretext of the non-payment of her dowry and of a custom prevalent in some parts of brabant, according to which the children of a first marriage were favoured ("dévolution"), to claim this part of the spanish succession. the king's troops entered the netherlands in , without meeting with any serious opposition, and hostilities only came to an end when, after concluding a hasty peace and enlisting the support of sweden, the united provinces and england concluded the triple alliance ( ). by the treaty of aix-la-chapelle, france nevertheless obtained the fortified towns of bergues, furnes, armentières, courtrai, lille, oudenarde, tournai, ath, douai, binche and charleroi, strengthening her position still further on the borders of walloon flanders and in hainault. the allies understood by then that louis's ambitions threatened their very existence. when the french resumed hostilities, four years later, a revolution took place in holland which overthrew de witt in favour of william iii of orange, who was hereafter the strongest opponent of french policy. charles ii of england took an equally strong attitude, following the traditional english policy of not allowing the french to obtain a hold on the flemish coast. addressing parliament, a few years later, he declared that england could not admit "that even one town like ostend should fall into french hands, and could not tolerate that even only forty french soldiers should occupy such a position, just opposite the mouth of the thames." william had therefore no difficulty in constituting a powerful alliance, including, besides the united provinces and england, spain, germany and denmark. in face of such opposition, louis was finally compelled to sign the treaty of nymegen, which restored to spain some of the advanced positions obtained by the treaty of aix-la-chapelle, but confirmed the loss of walloon flanders and southern hainault. after a few years, however, seeing the alliance broken off and his enemies otherwise engaged, the king of france assumed a more and more aggressive attitude and encroached so much on the rights of spain that charles ii was finally compelled to resist his pretensions. luxemburg was the only town which offered any serious resistance; everywhere else french armies pursued their methods of terrorism, bombarded the towns and ravaged the country. the truce of ratisbon, concluded in for twenty years, added chimay, beaumont and luxemburg to the french spoils. [_the augsburg league_] william iii, alarmed by this progress, succeeded in enlisting the support of the emperor leopold i, the king of spain, the king of sweden and the duke of savoy. a new league against france was founded in augsburg ( ). when, two years later, william succeeded in supplanting james ii on the throne of england, this country entered the league and a new conflict became inevitable. belgium was not directly interested in it, and, as on former occasions, served as the battleground of foreign armies. in spite of the series of victories won by the french general, the marshal of luxemburg, at fleurus ( ), steenkerque ( ) and neerwinden ( ), william iii always succeeded in reconstituting his army. two years later, he retook namur, in spite of marshal de villeroi's attack on brussels, during which the capital was bombarded for two days (august th to th) with red-hot bullets, over four thousand houses, including those of the grand' place, being destroyed by fire. the peace of ryswyck, september , , gave back to spain the advanced fortresses annexed by the two previous treaties, william being definitely recognized as king of england. the personal union between the two countries reacted somewhat on british policy in the netherlands, this country taking a far more important share in the last period of the struggle against louis xiv. up till then, england had been content with checking france's encroachments in flanders and maintaining the balance of power in europe. the closer relationships with the united provinces, during the reigns of william and mary and of queen anne, involved england in further responsibilities and even induced her to impose, for a short time, an anglo-dutch protectorate on the belgian provinces. this attitude was made more apparent by marlborough's personal ambitions concerning the governorship of the southern provinces, but the failure of these projects and the prompt return to traditional policy, after the treaty of utrecht, only makes more apparent the general territorial disinterestedness of this country concerning the netherlands. [_marlborough's campaigns_] charles ii of spain had died in , leaving all his possessions and the crown of spain to philip, duke of anjou, the second grandson of louis xiv, thus depriving of his hopes of the succession archduke charles, son of the emperor leopold i, who stood in exactly the same relation to the deceased monarch. the emperor at once sought the support of the united provinces, which, however, hesitated to reopen hostilities. the spanish governor in belgium was then maximilian emmanuel of bavaria, who harboured the project of restoring the southern provinces to their former prosperity and of becoming the sovereign of the new state, with or without a spanish protectorate. french agents at his court encouraged his plan and so lured him by false promises that, in , he allowed french troops to enter belgium unopposed and to establish themselves in the principal towns. the grand alliance, including the same partners as the augsburg league, was at once re-formed, in spite of the death, in , of william, and the duke of marlborough was placed at the head of the allied troops. during the first years of the war of the spanish succession, operations were purely defensive in the netherlands, owing specially to the anxiety of the dutch not to risk any offensive which might have left a gap for the enemy's attacks. it was not until that marlborough was able to break through the enemy's defences at ramillies, near tirlemont. this victory was followed by a french retreat, and the belgians expected to be placed at once under the rule of charles iii, the other claimant of the spanish crown, instead of which the council of state, summoned in brussels, was subjected to the orders of an anglo-batavian conference, which had no legitimate right to rule the country. the council protested, upon several occasions, and the exactions of the allies, who had been first hailed as deliverers, caused such indignation in the provinces that some towns, such as ghent, opened their gates to the french. the defeat of louis xiv was, however, consummated at oudenarde ( ) and malplaquet ( ). the french forces had been so considerably reduced that, had louis's openings for peace been met at the time, the integrity of the southern provinces might have been restored. the allies were, however, rather indifferent to such advantages, since it became more and more evident that, owing to anglo-dutch rivalries, they could not reap any direct benefit from them, and the netherlands would finally have to be restored to charles iii, who, at the death of the emperor, in , succeeded his brother under the name of charles vi. the whig party had fallen from power in england in the previous year, and marlborough, no longer supported at home, could not undertake any further operations. under these conditions negotiations became possible, and the result was not so damaging to the prestige of france as might have been expected. by the treaty of utrecht ( ) the southern netherlands were transferred to the austrian branch of the hapsburgs as a compensation for its loss of the spanish crown. louis restored tournai, and a portion of west flanders beyond the yser including furnes and ypres, but artois, walloon flanders, the south of hainault and of luxemburg remained french. [_treaty of utrecht_] from the point of view of the netherlands, the treaties of rastadt and of baden ( ) were merely the ratification, by the emperor and by the holy roman empire, of the clauses of the treaty of utrecht. but the treaty of antwerp, or of the barriers, concluded the next year, between austria and the united provinces, included new stipulations practically placing the new austrian netherlands under the tutelage of holland and still increasing her territorial encroachments. this was the outcome of previous conventions concluded between england and the united provinces and according to which the latter were promised, beside some territorial advantages, the possession of a certain number of fortified towns "in order that they should serve as a barrier of safety to the states general" ( ). if, at utrecht, the british had obtained new possessions in canada, at antwerp the dutch claimed their share of advantages and exacted from charles vi the price of their services. namur, tournai, menin, ypres, warneton, furnes, knocke and termonde were to be the fixed points of the barrier where the united provinces might keep their troops at the expense of the belgian provinces. further advantages were obtained in zeeland flanders and on the meuse by the annexation of venloo, stevensweert and montfort. the fortifications of liége, huy and ghent were to be razed and the dutch had further the right to flood certain parts of the country if they considered it necessary for defence. the scheldt, of course, remained closed, since, according to article xxvi, "the trade of the austrian netherlands and everything depending on it would be on the same footing as that established by the treaty of münster, which was confirmed." the treaty of the barriers marked the lowest ebb of belgian nationality. during the protracted war which preceded it, complete anarchy reigned, imperialists, the allied conference, maximilian emmanuel and the french administering various parts of the country. the great nation raised in the heart of europe by the dukes of burgundy seemed practically annihilated, but the people had retained, in spite of all reverses and tribulations, the memory of their past, and, from the very depth of their misery, evolved a new strength and reasserted their right to live, in spite of the attitude of all european powers, which seemed, at the time, to consider their nationality as non-existent. "we are reduced to the last extremity," wrote the states of brabant to charles ii in , "we are exhausted to the last substance by long and costly wars, and we can only present your majesty with our infirmities, our wounds and our cries of sorrow." illustration: belgium under the rule of the emperors of austria. chapter xxi the ostend company the austrian régime is characterized by a return to more peaceful conditions, since, with the exception of the period of to , the country was not directly affected by european conflicts. under any rule, this period of peace must have been marked by an economic renaissance in a country disposing of such natural riches as the southern provinces. the austrian governors encouraged this movement, as the archdukes had encouraged it before, but, like them, they were unable to deliver the country from its economic bondage, as far as foreign trade was concerned. the maritime countries had made stringent conditions on the cession of the southern netherlands to the austrian dynasty. the treaties stipulated that "the loyal subjects of his imperial majesty could neither buy nor sell without the consent of their neighbours." during the last years of the spanish régime, a small group of ostend merchants had chartered a ship, the _prince eugène_, and founded factories near canton. this was the origin of the "general company of the indies to trade in bengal and the extreme east," usually known as the "ostend company," founded in . within seven hours' time, the capital of , , florins was subscribed, and soon eleven ships plied between ostend and a series of factories established on the coast of bengal and southern china. this success was looked at askance by the maritime powers, which, basing their claim on a clause in the treaty of münster forbidding the spanish to trade in the east indies, made the suppression of the new company a condition to the acceptance of the pragmatic sanction. by this act, charles vi endeavoured to ensure the succession of maria theresa to the austrian throne. once more, belgium was sacrificed to dynastic interests, and on may , , the concession of the company of ostend was suspended, to be finally suppressed in . a similar attempt was made, later in the century, by the company of asia and africa, whose seat was at trieste, with a branch at ostend. this company chose for its ventures the deserted group of islands surrounding tristan d'acunha, with the idea that such a modest enterprise could not possibly awake the jealousy of the powers. but, in the same way, in , holland, england and france brought about the failure of the new company. ostend had to be satisfied with the transit of spanish wool towards the empire and with the temporary activity brought to her port by the american war of independence. [_industrial progress_] in spite of their apparent insignificance and of their total failure, these attempts to reopen communication with the outer world, notwithstanding the closing of the scheldt, are symptomatic of a remarkable economic revival. the population had risen from two to three millions, during the first half of the eighteenth century, and brussels, with , inhabitants, ghent and antwerp, with , each, had regained a certain part of their former prosperity. native industry, strongly encouraged by protective measures, made a wonderful recovery. in the small towns and the country-side, the linen industry benefited largely from the invention of the fly shuttle, over two hundred thousand weavers and spinners being employed in . lace-making had made further progress, specially in brussels, where fifteen thousand women followed this trade. in tournai became an important centre for the china industry, its wares acquiring great renown. the extraction of coal in the deeper seams had been facilitated by the use of recently invented steam-pumps, and the woollen industry around verviers was producing, in , , pieces of material a year. such progress largely compensated for the decadence of tapestry, which had been ruined by the rivalry of printed stuffs. the government intervened also actively in agricultural matters by encouraging small ownership, at the expense of great estates, and the breaking up of new ground. the land tax was more evenly distributed and the great work of draining the moeres (flooded land between furnes and dunkirk), which had been begun by the archdukes, was successfully completed ( ). the peasants also benefited from the cultivation of potatoes, which were becoming more and more popular. the only severe check to economic activity was caused by the war of the austrian succession, which opened at the accession of maria theresa ( ), and which opposed the forces of austria, england and holland against the coalition of prussia, france, spain and poland. a british landing in ostend prevented an early invasion of the southern netherlands by france during the first year of the struggle, but in french troops appeared in west flanders, and belgium became once more the "cockpit of europe." the victory of maurice de saxe at fontenoy against the allied armies commanded by the duke of cumberland placed the southern netherlands under french occupation. after a month's siege, brussels was obliged to capitulate, and was soon followed by antwerp and the principal towns of the country. the marshal de saxe treated the belgian provinces as conquered territory, and the exactions of his intendant, moreau de seychelles, provoked some protests, which were abruptly silenced. after two years' operations, during which the allies sustained some reverses on land but obtained some victories at sea, peace was finally signed at aix-la-chapelle ( ). the belgian provinces came again under austrian rule, and maestricht and bergen-op-zoom, which had been conquered by the french, were given back to holland, together with the fortresses of the barrier, which were again occupied by dutch troops. dutch occupation had, from the beginning, been strongly resented by the belgian people, who felt the humiliation of entertaining foreign garrisons in their own towns. now that the dutch had proved unable to defend the barrier, its re-establishment was still less justified and was considered as a gratuitous insult. nothing did more to deepen the gulf between the southern and northern netherlands than the maintenance of the barrier system, combined with the repeated actions taken by the dutch to ruin the trade of ostend and to enforce the free import of certain goods. the popularity enjoyed by charles de lorraine, the brother in-law of maria theresa, who governed the belgian provinces from to , was partly due to the resentment provoked by dutch supremacy. [_austrian succession_] on the whole, the austrian régime was not very different from the spanish. the provinces were governed from vienna, where the council of the low countries invariably adopted the government's decision. the states general were never summoned and no affair of importance was submitted to the council of state in brussels. charles de lorraine, however, showed a greater respect for local privileges than his predecessors and gained the sympathy of the nobles by his genial manners. he held court either in brussels or in his castles of mariemont and tervueren, where french fashions were introduced and which recalled, on a modest scale, the glories of versailles. some members of the aristocracy, like charles joseph de ligne, who was, besides, a remarkable writer, were in close relations with the french philosophers, but they were only a small minority and most of the belgian nobles were decidedly hostile to the new ideas. voltaire, who visited brussels in , did not appreciate this provincial atmosphere: "the arts do not dwell in brussels, neither do the pleasures; a retired and quiet life is here the lot of nearly all, but this quiet life is so much like tedium that one may easily be mistaken for the other." as a matter of fact, though the eighteenth century contrasted favourably with the seventeenth, in the southern provinces, from the economic point of view, its intellectual life was extraordinarily poor. there is no name to mention among the flemish writers. indeed, one might even say that flemish had practically ceased to be written and had become a mere dialect. the prince de ligne remained isolated in his castle of beloeil, designed by lenôtre, and was merely a french intellectual in exile. a royal academy of drawing had been founded, but the period hardly produced any painter worthy of note. an imperial and royal academy of science and letters had been inaugurated in , but the only members were scholars and antiquaries without any originality. maria theresa tried to react against this intellectual apathy. she substituted civil for ecclesiastical censorship, she commissioned count de nény, the famous jurist, to reform the university of louvain. when the order of the jesuits was suppressed by the pope in , she founded fifteen new lay colleges, known as collèges thérésiens, and took a personal interest in the framing of the programme of studies and in the least detail of organization. she favoured the teaching of flemish as well as french in the secondary schools and the two languages were placed on exactly the same footing. in the judicial domain she succeeded in abolishing torture as a means of inquiry. she also attempted to relieve pauperism by the foundation of orphanages and almshouses. [_maria theresa_] in spite of the fact that neither charles vi nor maria theresa ever visited belgium, the people felt a genuine attachment to the monarchy. they lived with the memory of such severe trials that they were grateful for the scant attention they received. besides, the hapsburg dynasty remained one of their links with the past, and it is significant that, at a time when all eyes were turned towards the future, the belgians, and especially the popular classes, were more and more thrown back on their own traditions. no doubt the economic restrictions to which they were subjected and the fact that they were practically isolated must have conduced to this state of mind, but the lack of political independence is mainly responsible for it. unable to take their fate in their own hands, obliged to submit to the greatest calamities without being allowed to avoid or to prevent them, the belgians clung to the last vestige of their past privileges as if their salvation could only be found among the ruins of their bygone glory. [_popular restlessness_] the only serious civil trouble which occurred under spanish and austrian rule was caused by trivial infringements by the government of some of the old privileges of the corporations. for such reasons, riots broke out in brussels ( ), antwerp ( ) and louvain ( ). the people did not rise against foreign domination or in order to obtain their share in the administration of the country, but because they thought, rightly or wrongly, that some mediæval custom, which they considered as their sacred privilege, had not been observed. during the last years of the spanish régime, frequent riots broke out in brussels because, after the accidental collapse of a tower containing old documents, the people had been able to read again the grand privilege of mary of burgundy, granted two centuries before. they had reprints made of it under the name _luyster van brabant_ (ornament of brabant) and wanted to persuade maximilian emmanuel to apply the old charter. after long delays, the governor had finally to enforce severe regulations, known as "réglements additionnels." this incident was the origin of further trouble at the beginning of the austrian régime, when prince eugène, being engaged in the war against the turks, delegated the marquis de prié to represent him in the low countries. unwilling to comply with the new regulations, the brussels artisans refused to pay the taxes. they were led by a chair-maker, françois anneessens. riots broke out in in brussels and malines, and prié was obliged to let the local militia restore order. he had meanwhile sent for troops, and in october brussels was militarily occupied. anneessens was executed, and the bitterness provoked by this tyrannical measure obliged the government to recall prié a few years later ( ). these popular movements were only the first signs of the increasing restlessness of the people which caused the brabançonne revolution of . while the conservative and even reactionary character of these civil troubles must be made clear, in order to avoid any confusion between the belgian and the french revolutions, it must at the same time be admitted that both movements started from the same desire for change and from the same confused feeling that, under a new régime, life would become more tolerable. the social conditions caused by the "ancien régime" were not nearly so oppressive in the belgian provinces as in france, and, under the enlightened rule of maria theresa and joseph ii, some amelioration was certainly to be expected. but the people suffered from the artificial conditions under which they lived economically, and though they did not see clearly the cause of their trouble, they were inclined to seize upon any pretext to manifest their discontent. in spite of all appearances, one could suggest that the closing of the scheldt may have had something to do with the overthrow of the austrian régime. chapter xxii the brabanÇonne revolution philip ii's policy ruined the southern netherlands at the end of the sixteenth century. two hundred years later, joseph ii's methods of government provoked a popular reaction which practically brought to an end the hapsburg régime. the contrast between the two sovereigns is striking. philip ii is the type of the monarchic tyrant basing his claim to sovereignty on the divine right of kings and pursuing these principles to their extreme conclusions. not only did he consider his mission to govern his people's bodies, but he also felt bound to govern their souls, and sincerely believed that, by persecuting heresy by the most cruel means, he was in reality working for their good. opposed to this clerical fanatic, issuing decrees from a monastery cell, joseph ii stands as the type of the modern monarch, brought up on eighteenth-century enlightened philosophy, for whom the state was not to serve the church but to be served by it. for this young philosopher, who affected the greatest simplicity in manners and habits, the sovereign himself was the first servant of the state, and his autocratic rule was only justified by his belief that a reasonable and wise government could not be subjected to the peoples' control. [_joseph ii_] but, in spite of this contrast in education, external appearance and outlook, philip ii and joseph ii had certain points in common. they were both conscientious workers, over-anxious to control every act of their representatives, and they had both the greatest contempt for the feelings of the people they governed. having come to certain conclusions, they applied them mechanically, scornful of all resistance. they held the secret of their people's happiness or salvation in their hands and they were resolved to enforce this happiness and this salvation on them whether they agreed or not. they both possessed the hard, intolerant and virtuous mind which makes the worst autocrats. the only striking difference between the wishes of the two monarchs was that the fanatic of eighteenth-century philosophy was determined that his people should find happiness in this life, while the fanatic of the catholic renaissance was determined that they should find this happiness in the next. illustration: joseph ii. from a contemporary engraving. [_joseph's visit to belgium_] such appreciation may seem strange if one considers that one of joseph ii's cardinal principles of government was precisely religious and philosophic tolerance and the complete dissociation of state politics from personal belief. but we are not concerned at present with the personal philosophy of the two kings, but with the way it affected their people. this people, as far as the netherlands were concerned, were the last in europe to tolerate such hard and abstract methods of government, and nothing perhaps is more enlightening, if we try to form an adequate opinion of belgian temperament, than the upheaval caused by the reforms proclaimed by the "benighted" and by the "enlightened" monarch. it was not so much that the belgians rebelled against inquisition, in one case, and against secularization in the other. we have seen that, in the sixteenth century, the great majority had remained catholic, in spite of calvinistic propaganda, and, though the church had obtained still greater authority during the seventeenth century, the minority influenced by the ideas of the french revolution was by no means to be disregarded. the principle to which the belgians most objected was state worship, because it broke up all the traditions of the burgundian and post-burgundian periods. as long as these traditions and local privileges, giving them still a shadow of provincial independence, were respected, they submitted without too much difficulty to the imposition of centralized institutions and to foreign rule. they were even ready, when this rule proved at all congenial, to give solid proofs of their loyalty. they were very sensible of any mark of sympathy and showed an almost exaggerated gratitude to any prince who condescended to preside over their festivals and share in their pleasures. this had been the secret of charles v's popularity, and the successful governorship of charles de lorraine had no other cause. but charles de lorraine was just the type of man whom a puritan dogmatist like joseph ii could not stand. though he had visited most of his estates, as heir apparent, he had always refrained from going to belgium, owing to his antipathy for his uncle, whose popularity he envied. when charles died, he changed the name of the regiment which had been called after him. his visit to belgium, in , was a great disappointment to the people--as great a disappointment as the first appearance of philip ii in brussels. he started with the intention of "undertaking a serious and thorough study" of the southern netherlands. when asked to preside over a festivity, in luxemburg, he answered that he had not come "to eat, drink and dance, but on serious business." when shown, at ghent, the glorious masterpiece of flemish art, the crowning glory of the burgundian time, van eyck's adoration of the lamb, he objected to the nude figures of adam and eve and had them removed. he appeared in simple uniform, accompanied by one servant, stayed at the public inn and travelled in public coaches. he spent most of his time in government offices, taking no opportunity to mix with the people and visiting in a hurried way schools, barracks and workshops. such were his serious studies. how could the people understand a prince who understood them so little? perceiving this lack of sympathy, he had already judged them; they were, for him, "frenchified heads who cared for nothing but beer." maria theresa, though her policy had remained strictly dynastic, involving even the possible exchange of her belgian provinces against other states, had acquired a certain knowledge of the people and realized that their prejudices, though absurd according to her own lights, had to be indulged. she had urged her son to be patient with regard to such prejudices, "of which too many had already been scraped away." she realized that the acceptance by the government of local customs and privileges was an essential condition to the continuance of austrian rule, that the people, unable to defend themselves, centred all their affection and their pride on these last remnants of their former glory, and that religious ceremonies and popular feasts were a healthy overflow for popular energy which might otherwise become dangerous. choosing her opportunities, she had gradually worked towards the secularization of education and the limitation of the privileges of the clergy, but she had not attempted wholesale reforms. joseph ii, on the contrary, worked according to plan, and was bent on destroying whatever seemed to him absurd in the customs and institutions of the country. practically everything seemed so to him: the anachronism of the joyous entry, the mediævalism of the grand privilege of mary of burgundy, the regionalism of provincial states, the prestige of the church, the pilgrimages, the intolerance, down to the popular festivities, the drinking bouts of the "kermesses" and the mad craving of the people for good cheer. this last trait was as characteristic of the belgian people in those days as in mediæval and modern times. all the realist painters, from breughel to jordaens and from jordaens to teniers, had exalted the joys of popular holidays, and it is remarkable that, during a century when there was so little to eat in the country and so little cause for merrymaking, the works of art which are the truest expression of the people's aspirations dwell on no other subject with so much relish and insistence. the tragic side of life was not represented, and one might venture to say that the admirers of such merry kermesses must often have taken their wish for the reality. like breughel's "pays de cocagne," they described an earthly paradise far more distant than the heavenly one. [_war of the cauldron_] in one way only the emperor understood the aspirations of his people and supported them up to a certain point. before organizing his possessions according to the ideal project he had already sketched, he intended to consolidate their political situation. the barrier system was as distasteful to him as to the population of flanders and hainault, and he shared the grievances of the merchants of antwerp with regard to the closing of the scheldt. as early as maria theresa had refused to pay the annual tribute for the upkeep of the dutch garrisons, which had done so little to defend belgium during the previous war, but she had been unable to prevent the prince of brunswick from rebuilding the destroyed fortresses and from reinstating the garrisons. after the break up of the dutch-british alliance, owing to the american war, joseph ii did not hesitate to demolish the fortresses, and the dutch garrisons were obliged to depart ( ). encouraged by this first success and finding england eager to reopen the scheldt, owing to the blockade of the dutch coast, the emperor announced the liberty of the river, and followed this announcement by sending, rather rashly, a small brig, the _louis_, flying his flag, from antwerp down to the sea. a shot, fired from a dutch cutter, hit a cauldron which happened to be on deck and europe was faced with the prospect of a new war. the "war of the cauldron" was, however, prevented by the mediation of louis xvi, and the treaty of fontainebleau ( ), while recognizing the suppression of the barrier, maintained the closing of the scheldt. this check in his foreign policy further increased the unpopularity of joseph ii in belgium. jealous of the authority of duke albert casimir of saxe-teschen and of his sister, marie christine, his representatives in the country, the emperor deprived them of all initiative and acted directly through his minister plenipotentiary, the count of belgiojioso. in order to restrict the influence of the clergy and to bring belgian institutions into complete harmony with the organization of his other states, joseph ii issued, from to , a series of edicts which could not fail to cause great indignation among the catholics: all public functions were rendered accessible to catholics and non-catholics alike, complete liberty of worship was proclaimed, mixed marriages (between catholics and protestants) were authorized, the keeping of the parish registers was taken from the ecclesiastical authorities, all "useless" convents and monasteries were suppressed, all episcopal charges were subjected to imperial sanction, all episcopal seminaries were suppressed, to be replaced by controlled seminaries at louvain and luxemburg. the parish limits were altered and strong regulations were made with regard to processions, pilgrimages and even sacerdotal costume, while burying in consecrated ground was forbidden, in order that all dead, whatever their creed, should be equally honoured. [_internal reforms_] some of these measures might have been quite justified, and the example of maria theresa shows that they might have been taken progressively, under favourable circumstances, without causing trouble. what hurt the people most was their sweeping character, their frequency and the petty tyranny with which they were applied. it was not without reason that frederick ii of prussia nicknamed joseph "my brother the sacristan." the emperor had gone as far as replacing the catholic brotherhoods by the "brotherhood of the active love of my neighbour." all protests remained without the least result. they were merely, according to joseph ii, "the effect of delirium." within five years, this too sensible sovereign, by calling all those who did not agree with him "madmen," had succeeded in undoing all the good work undertaken by charles de lorraine and in ruining austrian authority in the netherlands. in joseph ii undertook to regulate the people's pleasures. in order to prevent the inhabitants of neighbouring villages and towns from taking part in each other's kermesses, he fixed one day in the year for the celebration of all these festivities. no wonder that his good intentions were not appreciated and that this constant interference of the state in the people's most intimate and cherished traditions was met with growing dislike. the emperor, nevertheless, did not slacken his activity, and the next year issued a decree which completely upset the administrative and judicial organization of the provinces. a "general council of the low countries" replaced the three collateral councils. the country was divided into nine circles, under the authority of intendants, each of which was subdivided into districts under the authority of commissaries. all supreme courts, provincial, municipal, ecclesiastical, university and corporation courts were replaced, from one day to another, by sixty-four ordinary tribunals, two courts of appeal and one court of revision. this last measure, which really meant the final break up of all the privileges and institutions so anxiously defended and preserved through centuries of foreign oppression, provoked a unanimous protest. the catholics, headed by the popular tribune van der noot, were joined by the minority of nobles and bourgeois influenced by the ideas of the french revolution, whose principal representative was françois vonck. the states of brabant refused to pay the taxes, as long as the decrees were not repealed, and the few partisans of belgiojioso, or "figs," were persecuted by the populace. on may , , duke albert casimir wrote to joseph ii: "convinced that it is attacked in its most sacred rights and its very liberty, the whole nation, from the first to the last citizen, is permeated with a patriotic enthusiasm which would cause them to shed the last drop of their blood rather than obey laws which the authorities would endeavour to impose and which appear contrary to the constitution." illustration: van der noot. from a contemporary engraving. meanwhile van der noot and vonck had founded a patriotic committee, heavily subsidized by the clergy, which enlisted volunteers and circulated anti-imperial pamphlets. in august joseph ii was at last persuaded to suspend his last decrees, on the condition that the committee should be dissolved and the volunteers disbanded. he sent to brussels, as plenipotentiary, count trautmansdorff, with dictatorial powers, and general d'alton as commander of the imperial forces. under the threat of the military, the council of brabant was obliged to submit. [_religious reforms_] the religious reforms, however, were still provoking strong opposition. the seminary general remained without pupils. the university of louvain, having rebelled against the new regulations, was closed. riots broke out in louvain, malines and antwerp which were sternly repressed. the states of hainault, having refused subsidies, were dissolved. when the states of brabant adopted a similar attitude, the emperor had guns trained on the grand' place of brussels and threatened "to turn the capital into a desert where grass would grow in the streets." the autocrat was now showing under the dogmatist. exasperated by resistance, joseph ii asked from the states of brabant a perpetual subsidy, declared his intention of revising the joyous entry, which he had sworn to maintain, and of taking up his plans of judiciary reorganization. the states, having refused their support, were dissolved and the joyous entry annulled. it so happened that public opinion was stirred most acutely in the provinces at the time of the taking of the bastille by the people of paris (july ). this great symbolic event was bound to react on the belgian crisis. the vonckist minority was strongly encouraged and the rest of the people saw in the event merely a victory of liberty against autocracy. van der noot had taken refuge in breda, whence he had undertaken several journeys to secure the support of the triple alliance. pitt had refused to grant him an audience, but the dutch and prussian governments, without making any definite engagements, had at least lent an ear to his proposals. the popular leader, rushing to hasty conclusions, announced that the powers were favourable to the revolution. vonck, on the other hand, had established his headquarters in the principality of liége, where he had many friends and where he succeeded in enlisting a certain number of volunteers. when the austrians entered the principality, he was obliged to leave for breda, where he joined forces with van der noot. a retired colonel of the prussian army, van der meersch, was chosen as the commander of the three thousand badly equipped volunteers massed along the dutch frontier. on october rd he occupied hoogstraeten, in the campine, and issued a manifesto in which joseph ii was declared to have forfeited his rights. a slight success at turnhout, a few days later, followed by the retreat of the austrian forces, sufficed to provoke risings all over the country. deserted by his walloon troops, general d'alton was obliged to leave brussels for luxemburg, the only town remaining loyal. on december th van der noot and vonck made their solemn entry into brussels, followed by a thanksgiving service at ste. gudule. amazed by these events, joseph ii wrote to count de ségur: "a general madness seems to seize all peoples; those of brabant, for instance, have revolted because i wanted to give them what your own nation clamours for." he was certainly nearer the truth than camille desmoulins, who, in his well-known paper, assimilated the two revolutions because they started almost on the same day. as a matter of fact, the brabançonne revolution was far more conservative than progressive. the intellectual vonckists, who had always been in a minority, were practically ignored on the morrow of the victory, and van der noot assumed power. illustration: scene of the brabanÇonne revolution. (from an old print) a delegation from mons arriving at the town hall of brussels. ["_belgian united states_"] the new constitution, accepted, on january , , by delegates of the provincial states, with the exception of luxemburg, declared the "etats belgiques unis" to form a confederation under the leadership of a supreme congress. the states general dealt only with questions of general administration and differences between the provinces. the congress was responsible for foreign affairs, all local matters being referred to the provincial states. though, at first sight, this constitution seems to be strongly influenced by the american example, it marked merely the triumph of the particularist tendencies of the middle ages and a reaction against the dogmatic and centralized rule of joseph ii. it secured the predominance of the nobility and the clergy and the maintenance of the old states, while preserving the church against any attempt at secularization. any effort made by the vonckists to infuse the new constitution with the principles of the rights of man and popular sovereignty was not only resisted, but strongly resented, and soon a regular persecution of the progressive bourgeois and nobles was organized by the "statistes" led by van der noot. vonck and his followers were obliged to fly to france, and van der meersch, who sided with them, was arrested by baron de schoenfeldt, placed by the congress at the head of the national troops. [_return of the austrians_] the new emperor, leopold ii, who had succeeded his brother on the throne of austria (february ), took the opportunity offered by these internal troubles to reopen negotiations. he promised a complete amnesty, the suppression of the reforms and the nomination of belgians to all posts, even those of plenipotentiary and of commander of the national forces. van der noot had refused these offers on the ground that the triple alliance would support the confederacy. on july th, however, england, the united provinces and prussia signed the convention of reichenbach, reinstating leopold ii in his dominion over the netherlands. this contributed to ruin the prestige of the congress. the belgian national troops could not offer much resistance to the invading austrian armies. on november th, marshal bender reached namur, and on december nd, nearly a year after their departure from brussels, the austrians re-entered the capital. the reichenbach convention had guaranteed complete amnesty. leopold ii kept his promise and, by the treaty of the hague, restored all institutions as they had been in the reign of maria theresa. thus failed miserably a revolution begun amid fervent enthusiasm. the patriotism of the people cannot be questioned. they had only been reconciled to foreign rule in the sixteenth century because it had been the means of preserving their faith and their ancient traditions. as soon as this tacit contract was broken, they decided to shake off foreign tutelage and to make a bid for independence. but, if the people did not lack public spirit, they had lost contact with the times and were unable to use their liberty when they had conquered it. public opinion was uneducated and regionalism had blinded the people to the advantages which they might have derived from a more centralized régime. they were not prepared to make any concessions to their political adversaries for the sake of unity; they had still to learn the motto of : "union is strength." in this way, the terrible ordeal which they had to undergo under french occupation did not remain entirely fruitless. neither the spaniards nor the austrians had succeeded in uprooting particularist tendencies. the french imposed a centralized régime and impressed the people with its social value. when, in , the belgians again rebelled against foreign oppression, they had learnt their lesson and did not again allow internal differences to deprive them of the fruit of their labours. chapter xxiii liberty, equality, fraternity one of the reasons of joseph ii's failure to reform belgian institutions was that his monarchical power rested mainly on the nobility, the clergy and the peasants, who were bound to resent the sacrifice of their privileges and traditions. the french republic and its outcome, the napoleonic régime, were more successful, not because they displayed more diplomacy and moderation, but because, in spite of their excesses and autocratic procedure, they really brought a new idea into the country and based their power on a new conception of society. the bourgeois elements of the vonckist school and the population of the great towns had by now been permeated with the spirit of the revolution. they had adopted the principle of the rights of man and of equal citizenship, and, for the sake of such ideals, they were prepared to make some allowances. the first years of the french régime were nevertheless a bitter disappointment. [_jemappes_] by the declaration of pillnitz ( ), leopold ii, brother of the french queen, had laid the basis of the first coalition and manifested his intention of intervening in favour of louis xvi. after his death ( ) francis ii pursued a still more aggressive policy towards the revolution, and the girondins, who had just come into power, obliged the king of france to declare war against austria. the first attacks against belgium were easily repulsed by the imperial troops, commanded by national leaders, but the victory of jemappes (november th), won by dumouriez with the help of a belgian legion, opened the belgian provinces to the revolutionary troops. general dumouriez was a moderate and intended to remain faithful to the principles of liberty. he issued a proclamation, approved by the convention, declaring that his soldiers were coming as allies and as brothers. when, on november th, he was offered the keys of brussels by the magistrates, he refused them, saying: "keep the keys yourselves and keep them carefully; let no foreigner rule you any more, for you are not made for such a fate." greatly impressed by the warm reception given him in mons and brussels by the vonckists, he did not realize that the country was far from being unanimous. the french general declared the scheldt open, in accordance with a decree of the republic which had proclaimed the freedom of the river. illustration: belgium under french rule. while the belgians hesitated to declare a convention and to organize themselves according to the republican régime, they began to feel the first effects of the occupation. the french army, in the region of liége, lived only on requisitions. cambon had presented to the convention (december ) a decree suppressing all distinctions and privileges in the conquered territories, these being replaced by the sovereignty of the people. this sovereignty being without expression in belgium, the provinces were practically administered by a number of jacobin commissaries, whose most important task was to confiscate the goods of the nobles and of the clergy and to enforce the circulation of the revolutionary paper money (assignats). these measures provoked a reaction in favour of statism, and the conservatives obtained an overwhelming majority in the elections held in december. meanwhile, england and the united provinces, alarmed by the progress of the french in the netherlands, had joined the first coalition (january ), and the jacobins, dominating the convention, had entered upon an annexationist policy, nothing short of the left bank of the rhine being able, according to them, to secure france against the attacks of the reaction. in order to appease the scruples of the french moderates, the jacobins endeavoured to provoke manifestations in favour of annexation in the belgian provinces. a regular propaganda was organized by the clubs. orators, wearing the scarlet hood and armed with pikes, addressed the crowds in the market-places. the deputy chepy, who had taken the leadership of the movement, declared that he was determined to obtain reunion by "the power of reason, the touching insinuations of philanthropy and by all means of revolutionary tactics." on many occasions crowds driven into a church were surrounded by armed "sans culottes" and obliged to manifest their attachment to the republic by loud acclamations. in march a rising was imminent, ten thousand armed peasants being already concentrated near grammont. it was prevented, at the last moment, by the return of dumouriez, who ordered chepy to be arrested, liberated hostages and enforced the restitution of the spoils taken from churches and castles. in a letter to the convention, he protested against the mad policy pursued by the jacobin commissaries, and adjured them to read through the story of the netherlands, where they would find that the good will of the belgian people could never be obtained by force. [_neerwinden_] defeated at neerwinden (march ), dumouriez was obliged to retreat, and on april th the austrians re-entered brussels. the restoration was favourably greeted by the people, especially as francis ii adhered faithfully to the old privileges, abstaining from levying recruits, after the refusal of the states of brabant, and personally taking the oath of the joyous entry (april ). this was the last time that this ancient ceremony was performed. a few days later, pichegru started a great offensive movement in flanders, and on june th, the victory of fleurus again placed the belgian provinces in french hands. while jourdan pursued the imperialists towards the rhine, taking maestricht on his way, pichegru continued the campaign in holland. zeeland flanders had already been conquered by moreau, and the treaty of the hague (may ) restored to the belgian provinces most of the districts lost by the treaty of münster, nearly a century and a half before. france obtained zeeland flanders with the left bank of the scheldt, and, in limburg, the key positions of maestricht and venloo. she obtained, besides, the right to place garrisons, in war-time, in bois-le-duc and other towns of north brabant. holland was promised compensation in gelder. [_republican rule_] while the internal policy of the republic was veiled in so much ideology and marred by tyrannous cupidity, its foreign policy was based on sound realism. the french plenipotentiaries, like joseph ii, but far more clearly, perceived that the possession of the key positions on the scheldt and on the meuse was essential to the security of the country and to its commercial prosperity. a comparison between the clauses of the treaty of the hague and of the treaty of münster is particularly enlightening. apparently, the demands of the french were moderate; in fact, they entirely reversed the situation created in the seventeenth century. no wholesale annexations would have given the french equivalent advantages. the choice of the republic was dictated by sound strategic principles and determined by the same motives as had guided the dutch in . but the belgian people, suffering from all the evils of foreign occupation, could derive but scant satisfaction from the restoration of the lost districts. the convention was waging war on the world and bleeding belgium white in order to find the necessary resources. the provinces were obliged to pay a contribution of , , francs, amounting to six times the previous yearly budget. hostages were taken from the towns which could not contribute their share. requisitions of all raw material were systematically organized. cambon boasted to the convention that the netherlands not only provided for the upkeep of the republican armies, but also enriched the national treasury. under the management of the "agence de commerce et d'extraction de la belgique," the treasuries of churches, convents, corporations and municipalities were carted away, together with pictures, works of art and industrial machines. the republican agents, nicknamed the "french sponges," even went as far as plundering private property. at the same time, the value of the assignats had fallen to a ridiculously low level, and in order to check the corresponding rise in prices the authorities had fixed a "maximum" and obliged the traders to keep their shops open. all dumouriez's promises had been long forgotten and no account whatever was taken now of the wishes of the population. old charters were destroyed and people were obliged to plant "trees of liberty" in the market-places. the names of the streets were altered, the use of the republican calendar enforced and the "decadi" (observance of the tenth day) substituted for sunday. religious festivals were replaced by feasts in honour of "nature" or "mankind," and most of the churches were closed or transformed into barracks, storehouses or temples devoted to the worship of the "supreme being." finally, in , a proposal was made to the committee of public safety to annex the territory of the austrian netherlands. in spite of a few protests, the proposal was adopted, on october , , and the country divided into nine departments--lys, escaut, deux nèthes, meuse inférieure, dyle, ourthe, jemappes, sambre et meuse and forêts. the régime of the directoire was equally hateful to the belgians, who derived scant benefit from their annexation. the flemish language was proscribed from official documents, all public manifestations of catholic worship were forbidden, and the estates of religious communities confiscated. after the coup d'état of the eighteenth fructidor, the directoire exacted from every priest an oath of hatred against monarchy. most of the belgian priests having refused to take this oath, deportations and persecutions followed. many churches were destroyed, among them st. lambert, the cathedral of liége. by the treaty of campo formio ( ), francis ii submitted to the annexation of the austrian netherlands, but great britain refused to give up the fight, faithful to her traditional policy, which could not admit the presence of the french on the belgian coast, which was all the more threatening now that they held the left bank of the scheldt. the next year the second coalition was formed, and the directoire applied to the belgian departments the new law of conscription. up to that moment, with the exception of the rising avoided by dumouriez, the belgians had not attempted to rebel. exhausted by the brabançonne revolution, divided among themselves, they had merely shown a passive resistance to republican propaganda and to the efforts made by their masters to induce them to take part in rationalistic worship. this last measure, however, provoked a rising among the peasantry. many young men, liable to conscription, preferred to die fighting for their liberty than for the french. the movement was quite desperate. it could expect no help from outside, neither could it be supported by the nobles, who had fled the country, or by the high clergy, who were now powerless. the peasants were assembled in the villages, at the sound of the tocsin, wearing their working clothes and often armed only with clubs or forks. they raided small towns and villages, cut down the trees of liberty, destroyed the registers on which the conscription lists were based and molested those who were suspected of french sympathies. the rising, begun in the pays de waes, spread to brabant, and especially to the campine. the repression, entrusted to general jardon, was merciless. most of the leaders were shot and their followers dispersed after heavy losses. [_napoleon_] the rule of napoleon restored peace to the low countries. the emperor carried the war far from the belgian frontiers. the united provinces had become a vassal kingdom, under the sceptre of napoleon's brother louis ( ), and, with the exception of a british landing on the island of walcheren which miscarried ( ), the belgian provinces were spared military operations up to the eve of the fall of the imperial régime. in spite of the aversion caused by incessant conscription levies and by the strict censorship which stifled intellectual life, the belgians benefited largely from the stern rule of the emperor, who re-established discipline and succeeded in substituting many belgian notables for the french officials who had, up to then, governed the country. prefects were placed at the head of the departments, which were divided into arrondissements and municipalities, each of these divisions possessing its own councils and its own courts: justices of the peace, courts of the first instance, courts of assize with a jury, above which were installed courts of appeal and a court of cassation. a "general code of simple laws," still known as the code napoleon, was substituted, in , for the confused and intricate customs and laws preserved from the middle ages, and the fiscal methods were similarly transformed, inaugurating a system of direct and indirect taxes. the concordat, signed in , re-established religious peace, catholicism being recognized as the state religion. churches were reopened and the observance of sunday re-established. already, as first consul, napoleon devoted great attention to external trade. ostend, which had been bombarded by the british in , was restored, and after the peace of amiens antwerp enjoyed a few years of remarkable prosperity. in , ships entered the port; in the customs receipts rose to over , , francs, in to over , , , and in to over , , . but the emperor's decree of november , , establishing the continental blockade, after the battle of trafalgar, converted antwerp into a powerful naval base and a great centre of naval dockyards, without any benefit to the rest of the country. the activity of the nation was again confined to agriculture and industry. in this latter domain the period is marked by the introduction of spinning machinery by the gantois liévin bauwens, who succeeded in obtaining models of the new british jennies. this was the origin of the prosperity of ghent. while, in , only persons were employed in this industry, there were over , in . another innovation was brought about by a british engineer, william cockerill, who, in , initiated the use of new carding and spinning machines in verviers. many french cloth manufacturers were sent to the walloon town by the french government in order to study the new process. [_waterloo_] there are no periods of belgian history where intellectual and artistic production reached such a low level as under the napoleonic régime. how could it be otherwise at a time when official patronage directed every activity towards imperial worship? in france, such worship, stimulated by brilliant victories, might have inspired some sincere manifestations, but in belgium, where the people submitted to the french régime only as to a necessary evil, military glory could not provoke any genuine enthusiasm. it was more than compensated for by conscription and arbitrary imprisonments. according to la tour du pain, prefect of the dyle, the belgians were "neither english, nor austrian, nor anti-french--they were belgian." in the way of administration and judicial organization, they learnt their lesson, but it was a distasteful lesson. they were too wise to disregard the benefit which they might derive from the simplification of procedure brought about by the reforms, and they remembered them at the right time, but they remained stubbornly hostile to a foreign domination which could not be supported by any dynastic loyalism, and most of them greeted with enthusiasm the arrival of the allied armies which penetrated into the country in january , after the battle of leipzig. this enthusiasm was considerably cooled by the time of waterloo, when it was known that, in order to constitute a powerful state on the northern frontiers of france and to reward william of orange for his services to the allied cause, belgium's destinies would henceforth be linked with those of the northern provinces. this decision, already declared in the secret protocol of london, was confirmed by the congress of vienna. from august , , the prince of orange administered the southern provinces on behalf of the powers. illustration: united kingdom of the netherlands. chapter xxiv black, yellow and red the vienna settlement, creating the joint kingdom of the netherlands, suited the powers which made it. it suited england, since it placed the belgian provinces, and especially antwerp, out of the reach of france. it suited prussia, which acquired a strong foothold on the plateaux commanding the meuse and the right to interfere in the affairs of luxemburg. it suited holland, whose position was considerably strengthened by the addition of rich and populous provinces. it suited austria and russia, since it created a strong buffer state acting as a bulwark against french annexionism in the north. it suited everybody but the belgians themselves, who had never been consulted, in spite of their desire to be independent, made evident by the brabançonne revolution and their attitude under the french régime. they had been disposed of as being without legitimate owner, and if the idea of granting them the right to rule themselves ever occurred to european diplomacy at the time, it was promptly dismissed, under the assumption that belgian independence meant, sooner or later, reabsorption by france. the project of reuniting belgium and holland affords an excellent example of a scheme plausible enough on paper, but which could not resist the test of reality. it not only seemed sound from the powers' selfish point of view, it ought to have worked for the common benefit of belgians and dutch alike. an end was made to the bitter struggle waged by holland against the southern provinces. the commerce of antwerp ceased to threaten the dutch ports, the scheldt was open, the commercial blockade lifted at last, and belgian trade able to regain its former importance after two centuries of stagnation. belgium must benefit from the association with a strong maritime power, possessing rich colonies and a limitless capacity for expansion. holland's prosperity, on the other hand, must be largely increased through the agricultural and industrial resources of the southern provinces. even from a purely historical point of view the idea of reconstituting the burgundian netherlands must have appealed to those who had preserved the memory of their former grandeur. this was not a mere inert buffer state: it might become the strong central nation which european balance of power so urgently required, since the renaissance, to relieve the tension of franco-british or franco-prussian relations. thus could be bridged the gap created, during two centuries, by the religious wars. the old tradition of philip the good and charles v was to be renewed, and the netherlands to take once more their rank at the outposts of european civilization. [_the joint kingdom_] and, indeed, under exceptionally favourable conditions, sound union, if not "complete and intimate fusion," could have been the outcome of this bold experiment. had the powers formally recognized belgian nationality and provided for the respect of the country's institutions under the new régime, the belgians might have reconciled themselves to the idea of wiping away past grievances. the dutch might have justified their attitude under the plea that they had not been fighting belgium, but spain or france, and that their policy had been dictated by the necessity in which they had been placed of defending themselves against foreign invasion. william i might have conciliated public opinion in belgium by respecting scrupulously the country's customs, which had survived spanish and austrian domination, by avoiding all undue interference in religious affairs, by protecting the rights of the french-speaking minority and by placing the belgians exactly on the same footing as the dutch. in fact, his policy aimed at achieving the complete and intimate assimilation advised at vienna from the dutch point of view and without any consideration for the natural feeling of a people whose traditions and religion were different from his own. the new constitution was the dutch constitution adopted in , revised by a commission including an equal number of belgian and dutch delegates. it provided for equal toleration for all creeds and a two chamber parliament where an equal number of deputies from both countries would sit. (this in spite of the fact that belgium had per cent. more inhabitants than holland.) this constitution or "fundamental law," as it was called, was adopted by the dutch, but rejected by the belgian states general. instead of amending the law, the king considered abstentions as favourable votes and ignored all opposition, so that the new constitution was passed, in spite of a strong adverse majority. this singular procedure was called, at the time, "dutch arithmetic." in several aspects, the policy of william i resembled that pursued thirty years before by joseph ii. it had the same qualities and the same defects. though taking into consideration the material interests of the people, he ignored their character and traditions and the psychological problems with which he was confronted. faced with opposition, he attempted to override all resistance by asserting his sovereign will, with little consideration for the democratic spirit which pervaded western europe at the time. [_policy of william i_] like joseph ii, william i, very wisely, attached great importance to the economic revival of the country. the embargo once removed, antwerp made surprising progress, its tonnage being increased twofold between and . new canals were built between maestricht and bois-le-duc, pommeroeul and antoing, while through the creation of powerful banks, such as the "société générale pour favoriser l'industrie nationale," belgian manufacturers received adequate credits. the king supported, also, the creation of several factories, such as the "phoenix" at ghent and "cockerill" at seraing. it was during his reign that belgian collieries began considerably to increase their production and that the first blast furnaces were erected near liége and charleroi. the dutch king attempted also to develop national education. he placed the three universities (ghent, louvain and liége) under state control. many secondary and primary schools were founded all over the country and public instruction made considerable progress. such measures would have been beneficial to belgium, but they needed a deep knowledge of and sympathy for local conditions to be carried out successfully. neither the king nor his dutch ministers (the belgians remained always in a minority in the cabinet) were able to realize the difficulties which stood in the way and the legitimate grievances which might easily be created by hasty action. when holland entered the union, she had a debt of nearly , , , florins, while belgium's debt was much smaller ( , , ). the latter was, nevertheless, obliged to bear half of the total liabilities and the heavy taxes rendered necessary by the king's enterprising policy. besides, in the distribution of such taxes the interests of belgium, still almost entirely agricultural, were sacrificed to those of commercial holland. the latter stood for free trade, the former for protection. it is characteristic of the situation that the first sharp conflict between belgian and dutch deputies took place in over a bill imposing taxes on the grinding of corn and the slaughter of cattle. these immediate grievances overshadowed, in the minds of the belgians, the encouragement given by the government to belgian trade and industry. a similar disregard for existing conditions and long-established traditions brought about the failure of the measures taken by william i to promote education. not content with creating new schools, he endeavoured to give the monopoly of public education to the state and to subject the existing private establishments (almost all led by priests) to official control. he further increased catholic opposition by establishing a philosophical college at louvain, where all those intending to enter a seminary were obliged to study. these examples show how premature was the idea of a "complete union" between the two countries--an idea put forward, no doubt, owing to the necessity of creating a strong centralized state on the northern boundary of france. had the dutch government possessed as much political wisdom as the austrian minister at the court of the hague, they would have realized that the "kingdom of the netherlands would never be consolidated as long as the constitutional and administrative union was not replaced by a federal system." the same solution might have avoided a great deal of discontent with regard to the language question. the difference of language between northern and southern belgium had created no difficulty in the last centuries, owing to the fact that the country was nearly equally divided, and also that the northern provinces were bilingual, french being used by the bourgeoisie and flemish by the people. the union with holland placed the french-speaking population in a minority. on the other hand, twenty years of french occupation had left their mark on the country, and the prestige of french letters had never been so brilliant. it seemed, therefore, urgent to display a great deal of tact in any reform dealing with the language question, in order not to encourage pro-french tendencies at the expense of dutch sympathy. the idea of introducing dutch as the official language in flemish-speaking belgium seemed wise enough, since it was the language understood by the great majority of the people, but there was no urgent demand for it, and it could have been realized progressively with the development of flemish education. king william, nevertheless, decreed that no officials or civil servants should remain in office in northern belgium unless they spoke and wrote dutch correctly. since a great many of these officials belonged to the flemish bourgeoisie and had only a very incomplete knowledge of the popular language, they were obliged to resign their posts and were supplanted by dutchmen. so that a measure which might have been popular in flanders, at another time and under different circumstances, was considered as a mere pretext for turning belgian subjects out of office. it must be made clear that this language question played a secondary part among the causes of discontent. it alienated the flemish bourgeoisie without conciliating the working classes, whose influence in politics, at the time, was very small. it scarcely affected the french-speaking population, since only few walloon officials were concerned in the matter. [_belgian grievances_] scorning all opposition, william i had not even attempted to conciliate one of the two great parties which divided the belgian population: the conservative catholics and the liberals, advocates of the "rights of man" and opposed to the influence of the church. he had alienated the first by his attempt to monopolize education and the second by the autocratic manner in which he suppressed all opposition. the prosecution against a liberal journalist, de potter, who attacked the government's policy in _le courier des pays-bas_, brought about the reconciliation of the two parties against the common enemy, in , just as the harsh attitude of joseph ii had caused the alliance of van der noot and vonck on the eve of the brabançonne revolution. from anti-government, the movement became gradually anti-dutch, and party grievances were henceforth merged into a revival of patriotic feeling, aiming first at administrative separation and later at complete independence. the final outburst was no doubt hastened by the revolution in france, when the legitimist dynasty was overthrown in favour of louis philippe d'orléans, just as the taking of the bastille determined a corresponding movement in belgium against austrian rule. but nothing could be more misleading than to attribute to french influence the popular demonstration which took place in brussels, on august th, following a performance of auber's _muette de portici_ at the monnaie theatre. the song which stirred such wild enthusiasm in the breasts of the brussels people was purely patriotic, and it was to defend the rights of their country that they sacked the house of van maenen, king william's unpopular minister, and the offices of _le national_, whose director, a french pamphleteer named libri, was looked upon as a dutch agent. it is true that the french flag was for a short time hoisted at the hôtel de ville, but it was soon replaced by the three colours of brabant. french influences had been at work, but the french party remained a small minority. every act of the leaders of the revolution shows that they were bent on obtaining first administrative separation, and later, after such a proposal had been made impossible through the king's stubborn attitude, complete independence. never did the idea of a union with france commend itself to the people. from brussels, standing on the language frontier, the revolution spread to walloon liége and flemish louvain. most of the important towns, with the exception of ghent and antwerp, joined in the movement in both parts of the country. the prince of orange, whose popularity was used in order to calm the multitude, came to visit brussels, but, unable to make any definite promise, he was obliged to fly from the city. [_the september days_] even at that last hour, the joint kingdom of the netherlands might have been saved, since the most enthusiastic leaders, like gendebien, only urged autonomy; but king william remained deaf to all advice of moderation and sent a dutch army of , men against brussels under prince frederick. the revolutionary leaders had preserved but small hope, owing to the unpreparedness of the defence. the belgian success in the street-fighting which took place near the rue royale and the adjoining streets was nothing short of a miracle. after three days, prince frederick was obliged to leave the town, leaving , dead behind him; but the losses on the belgian side had also been heavy, and all reconciliation had become impossible. a provisional government was formed, a national congress summoned, the complete independence of the country proclaimed and a new constitution prepared, a special commission adopting the principle of constitutional monarchy (october th). meanwhile, the few towns, including ghent and antwerp, which had not already done so expelled their garrisons, the citadel of antwerp alone remaining in dutch hands. the fascinating scheme endorsed by the vienna congress had completely miscarried. though only a ruler of great political talent could have realized it, the story of the fifteen years of union between the two countries shows that the king and his dutch ministers were unable to master the very elements of the difficult proposition they had to solve. up to the last months several opportunities offered themselves to them of retracing their steps and retrieving the situation. they failed to seize them. a careful survey of events will show that the action brought against de potter and the choice of the hague as the seat of the supreme court did more to estrange the belgian bourgeoisie from dutch rule than the activity of french propagandists. the initial blunder of william i was to ignore the fact that belgium was not merely a group of ownerless provinces, but a nation as strong in her soul, if not as happy in her fate, as the dutch nation, deserving the same care and the same consideration. had he acted as a national prince he would have succeeded, in spite of the sad memories of past oppression, as many princes had succeeded before. but he remained essentially dutch in his manners and his political outlook, and as such he was bound to fail, as joseph ii, maximilian and philip ii had failed before him. illustration: modern belgium (treaties of - and ). chapter xxv the scrap of paper having failed to repress the revolution, king william appealed to the powers signatories of the eight articles creating the joint kingdom. lord aberdeen answered that the independence of the belgians was an accomplished fact, but a conference was, nevertheless, called in london, in order to mediate between the two parties, to which france was invited to send a representative. on november , , the conditions of an armistice were settled, according to which both belligerents were to withdraw their forces behind the frontier which divided the two countries before their reunion in . this arrangement would have restored to belgium the left bank of the scheldt, which she had lost since the münster treaty. the dutch king protested, and the line was altered from the frontier of to that of --that is to say, five years before the annexation by the french of the contested territory. throughout the negotiations the autocratic powers--prussia, austria and russia--were opposed to the belgians. they treated them as rebels who ought to be only too happy to buy their independence at any price. as a matter of fact, if the same wave of nationalism which had stirred belgium had not, at the same time, caused serious trouble in poland and italy, it is doubtful whether england and france could have induced the conference to accept even the principle of belgian independence. but, owing to their internal troubles, both russia and austria were disinclined to take action, and prussia would have found herself isolated if she had maintained an uncompromising attitude. the belgians, on the other hand, from the very beginning of the negotiations, placed themselves on an equal footing with holland, and considered the conference as a mediator, not as an arbiter. they gratefully accepted its intervention as "prompted by feelings of sympathy for the sufferings of belgium and by humanitarian motives," but refused energetically to bind themselves by any engagement. when, on december th, belgian independence was finally recognized, the provisory government remarked that "the balance of power in europe can still be ensured, and a general peace maintained, by making belgium independent, strong and happy. if belgium were to be left without strength and happiness, the new arrangement would be threatened with the same fate as that of the political combination of . independent belgium has her share of european duties to fulfil, but it would be difficult to conceive what obligations could be imposed upon her by treaties in the conclusion of which she had no voice." such a complete consciousness of their national rights on the part of the belgian plenipotentiaries can only be explained by the fact that such consciousness had never ceased to exist. this was no new nation struggling for its birth, but an old nation, as old as any of those who had assumed the responsibility of planning her future. the belgian statesmen of had nothing to improvise. they had merely to pick up the threads broken through the vicissitudes of european struggle. their new constitution was based on the old joyous entry of brabant, which joseph ii had vainly attempted to abolish, and whose memory forty years of french and dutch centralization had not succeeded in obliterating. their foreign policy was, in the same way, inspired by a firm attachment to their past and a firmer belief in their future. the london conference was not long in realizing, when faced by such men as lebeau, van de weyer and de mérode, that they had not merely to deal with vague idealists or eloquent demagogues. it is not enough to say that belgium was well represented. it would be more accurate to say that her delegates had a good case to defend. [_the london conference_] three treaties were prepared by the london conference in the course of the negotiations. the first included a series of conditions formulated in january and known as "bases of separation." the second was the outcome of new negotiations which took place during the following months, and is known as "the treaty of xviii articles" (july ). the third, framed after the defeat of the belgian troops by the dutch and the military and naval intervention of the powers, is known as "the treaty of xxiv articles" (november ). accepted by the belgians, it was first rejected by william i, and finally sanctioned by him in . this is the final settlement which popular history will remember as the "scrap of paper." according to the bases of separation, belgium lost the left bank of the scheldt, but this stream was to remain entirely free. she also lost luxemburg, which "would continue to belong to the german confederation." it will be remembered that, under the treaty of vienna, this belgian province had been converted into a grand duchy and given to king william, in exchange for his possessions in germany, but the king had declared, at the time, that the "grand duchy would be considered as an integral part of the state." accordingly, luxemburg shared the political life of the rest of the kingdom, sending deputies to the chambers and being, from every point of view, considered as a belgian province. luxemburgers had even taken a prominent part in the revolutionary movement. one of them remarked in congress, during the debate which followed the conference resolutions, that "national sovereignty was transferred from brussels to the foreign office," and by an overwhelming majority ( against ) the congress protested against any delimitation of belgian territory made without the consent of the representatives of the nation. [_bases of separation_] a period of acute tension followed this refusal. king william had not raised the blockade of the scheldt, in spite of the conditions of the armistice, and the belgians consequently continued their military operations in front of maestricht, which had not yet been evacuated. the conference urged cessation of hostilities and prompt acceptance. the government remaining obdurate, an ultimatum was sent fixing june st as the last date on which the belgians had to submit and threatening military intervention. on june th, lord ponsonby, british representative at brussels, and general belliard, the french representative, were formally recalled by their respective governments, but the action of the powers was delayed owing to differences of opinion concerning the method of intervention. this allowed belgium some time to reopen negotiations, and her delegates in london finally obtained the revision of the "bases of separation." a new agreement was drafted, on june th, known as "the treaty of xviii articles," according to which belgium became permanently neutral, while the questions of luxemburg and maestricht remained in abeyance, further negotiations concerning the contested territories having to be pursued direct between belgium and holland. illustration: leopold i. (reigned - ). from a portrait by liévin de winne. _ph. b._ this diplomatic success was not only due to the perseverance of the belgian delegates but also to prince leopold's wise decision not to accept the crown unless a satisfactory solution was reached. it must be recalled that, as soon as the belgian congress had decided on constitutional monarchy, the names of several candidates had been discussed. the conservative powers favoured the candidature of the prince of orange, hoping thus to restore in the future the union of the two countries. but this proposal had met with an overwhelming opposition in belgium. the candidature of the duke of nemours, son of louis philippe, had then been considered, and by a narrow majority of two votes the belgian congress decided in his favour. such a choice could not be approved in england, since it would have meant, sooner or later, french hegemony over the belgian coast and antwerp. louis philippe, therefore, refused the belgian offer. prince leopold of saxe-coburg-gotha, widower of princess charlotte, was practically an english prince, having spent most of his life in england; he was of german extraction, and a marriage was contemplated between him and princess marie louise, louis philippe's daughter. he had already acquired a great reputation for wisdom, which gained him later the title of the "nestor of europe." it was felt that no better man could be found to fill such a delicate post, and both english and french diplomats were inclined to remove all obstacles which might prevent him from accepting the belgian offer. the prince's influence and the belgian diplomats' firm attitude succeeded in altering the conference's views. the belgians were no longer treated as rebels and ordered to submit, but as free people whose claims must be considered. "everybody says," wrote lord palmerston to lord granville, "that the belgians are mad and that it is useless to discuss with them. i have noticed that there is a good deal of method in their madness." talleyrand, who was not too well disposed towards the belgian emissaries and "their reticences," wrote on june th: "we have been in conference for forty hours, but the belgian delegates are so little accustomed to this kind of negotiations, they create so many difficulties, that we cannot get on and i am tired out. a conference took place to-day at prince leopold's; it lasted until eight. it will continue at my house and last probably till late in the night." the next day, the xviii articles were signed. prince leopold having accepted the crown, the new treaty was sanctioned by the belgian congress on july th. less than a month later, on august nd, the dutch armies, breaking the armistice, invaded belgian territory and defeated the belgian forces at louvain. owing to the armed intervention both of england and france, the dutch were forced to retreat, but these military operations had set the seal on belgian hopes. [_the xxiv articles_] the powers were now "firmly determined to stop, by all available means, the resumption of hostilities which would threaten europe with a general war," and, on november th, king leopold was obliged to accept, under strong protest, a new agreement, known as "the treaty of xxiv articles," which, though preserving the country's independence and neutrality, deprived her of her natural frontiers and tore from her territories whose inhabitants had shared her life since the early middle ages. the scheldt was given the status of an international river, according to the general act of vienna, the supervision of pilotage, buoying and dredging operations being entrusted to a dutch-belgian commission. belgium retained half of luxemburg (the area known to-day as the province of luxemburg), while the other half, with the town of luxemburg, remained in the hands of the dutch king, and constituted a grand duchy attached to the german confederation. "in exchange" for their portion of luxemburg, the belgians were obliged to relinquish their rights over eastern limburg and maestricht, which became the dutch provinces of the same name. such were the "final and irrevocable" decisions of the powers. though the compromise was entirely in his favour, king william refused to sanction it. from the beginning of the negotiations the dutch had contended that, by the separation of belgium and holland, article xiv of the treaty of münster (that is to say, the right of holland to close the scheldt in time of peace or war) came into force again. disregarding the liberal principles laid down at vienna, they wanted to go back to the old régime of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries which subjected belgium to their control. holding maestricht, the key of the meuse, and the lower scheldt, the key of antwerp, they intended to treat independent belgium as they had treated the spanish and austrian provinces. laborious negotiations proceeded during the following years, and, in , king william declared himself at last prepared to sign the treaty on the consideration of the payment of a toll of one florin and a half per ton on every ship entering and leaving the stream on its way to antwerp. meanwhile, limburg and luxemburg had remained belgian, and the bonds attaching the sacrificed provinces to the country had become so strong that the forthcoming settlement provoked emphatic protests. petitions were sent to the king, and delegations came to brussels urging resistance. once more, belgian negotiators multiplied their efforts in london and paris. but, this time, the friendly powers remained adamant and the government was made to understand that, if the belgians created difficulties, nothing would prevent the german confederation and the king of holland from annexing luxemburg and limburg by force. in the spring of the belgian chamber was at last compelled to give its final decision. three ministers had resigned from the government. the austrian and prussian "chargés d'affaires" had left the capital. it was common knowledge that several prussian army corps were massed on the eastern frontier. under such a threat, and this time without the support of england and france, the chamber was faced with the cruel alternative of sanctioning partial annexation or seeing the very life of the nation jeopardized by foreign invasion. the deputies of limburg and luxemburg were the most emphatic in their opposition: "suicide will follow fratricide," exclaimed a deputy of maestricht, while a representative of ruremonde urged armed resistance. "i would rather give my life a thousand times," protested a luxemburger, "than a vote which would oppress my conscience until my last day." on march th, mr. metz, who was unable to walk through illness, was carried to his seat and declared that "neither the king, nor the conference, nor the government, nor the chambers had the right to dispose of his life" by "a sacrilegious treaty which takes away four hundred thousand belgians from the country of their choice and covers belgium with eternal shame." [_submission_] the government's action was defended by mr. nothomb, who, though a luxemburger and an ardent patriot, realized too well the danger of the situation not to urge submission: "we have not yet had the opportunity of rendering any service to europe. she has no reason to be grateful to us. if it were not for our pressing need of independence, nothing up to now justifies our existence. what matter to her our national soul tempered by age-long traditions! if we resist, she will put an end to our existence as a free state with a stroke of the pen. in bending before the inevitable, belgium will save her nationality, spare the disputed districts the horrors of war, and make a sacrifice which europe will be obliged to take into account on the day when, bearing no responsibility in the outbreak of war, the country will be able to claim her revenge!" another argument urged by some supporters of the government was based on the fact that, though not legally bound by her former acceptance of the xxiv articles, which had remained in abeyance for seven years, belgium's faith had been pledged to it: "i believe," said one of them, "that international treaties have a real value, that they are not merely scraps of paper. i believe that right more than force governs the affairs of this world, and that, in the end, it pays to fulfil one's obligations, however painful these may be." a tragic incident occurred on march th. mr. bekaert-baekelandt, deputy of courtrai, had first been opposed to the government's policy. he had, however, been gradually convinced that all resistance had become useless. this conversion to the inevitable had broken his heart. he ended his speech by alluding to the return at a future date of the deputies of the sacrificed provinces to the belgian chamber. "meanwhile," he said, "they will remain belgians like ourselves, and they will be generous enough to consider that our votes are extorted by force, that they are a painful sacrifice imposed upon us by foreign nations. they will no doubt appreciate how powerless we are to avoid this sad obligation...." he did not proceed further, and fell dead. [_neutrality_] these manifestations have been compared with the heartrending scenes which took place at the time of the annexation of alsace-lorraine by germany, but it would be wrong to draw too hasty conclusions from such a comparison. on the one hand, the annexation of alsace-lorraine is far more recent. on the other, dutch administration and the grand-ducal régime did not provoke the same opposition among the people. if belgian irredentism proved very strong at the beginning, it gradually diminished, owing mainly to the fact that the patriots, on both sides of the frontier, were unable to entertain any hope of reunion during the long period of neutrality which paralysed belgian foreign policy. recent manifestations which took place on the occasion of the revision of the treaties towards the reunion of zeeland flanders, luxemburg and limburg to belgium must, however, not be misjudged. they must not be considered as the outcome of a crude instinct towards aggrandisement, following the military success of the belgian army at the end of the great war, or of a wild thirst for revenge, but merely as the outburst of irredentist feelings, nursed in silence during eighty years of neutrality, and revived, among a certain group of intellectuals, by the fierce struggle waged by the nation for the safeguard of its liberties. as for the demand of military guarantees made by the government during these negotiations, a demand which must be clearly distinguished from the irredentist agitation just mentioned, it was merely prompted by the circumstances in which belgium is placed at the present time. the territorial losses inflicted upon the country in were largely compensated for by the pact of neutrality entered into by the great powers, which provided belgium with the strongest and most unequivocal guarantees respecting her territorial integrity. provided these guarantees were observed faithfully, the closing of the scheldt by holland in time of war, the critical situation on the eastern frontier created by the indefensible cul-de-sac of dutch limburg, and the supremacy in luxemburg of a foreign power, did not seriously jeopardize the country's security. the treaties of were considered as forming a whole, the moral safeguard of guaranteed neutrality counterbalancing, to a certain extent, the new territorial encroachments. with the disappearance of neutrality, the substitution of new guarantees of security for the old ones seemed obvious. the demands formulated at the paris conference by the belgian people and government--free access from the sea towards belgian ports in order to ensure communication between the country and her allies in time of war, a military entente with holland towards the defence of dutch limburg, and a rapprochement with luxemburg--were therefore the natural outcome of the revision of the settlement. chapter xxvi neutral independence from till , belgium lived under the régime of independent neutrality. her territory had been gradually reduced during modern times. she stood stripped of all her marches. in the course of the seventeenth century she had lost walloon flanders and artois to france and northern brabant to holland, while the conquest by the latter power of zeeland flanders and some districts in eastern limburg had been confirmed and enlarged by the settlements. in prussia had seized the districts of eupen, malmédy, st. vith and bitsburg, and the xxiv articles had given half of luxemburg to the german confederation. the same treaty granted belgium independence. within these narrow limits, she remained at least mistress of her destinies. she had her own king, her own government, her own constitution. as far as internal affairs were concerned, she enjoyed full sovereignty. she was diminished, but not deeply altered. she maintained, in the nineteenth century, all the main characteristics which had distinguished her history and civilization during the middle ages and the renaissance. two races, two languages, were still associated on her soil. walloons and flemings took an equal share in the framing of her future. the sea remained free for commercial purposes, and the great european roads, which had so largely contributed in the past to placing her in the forefront of european nations, still found in the country their natural and necessary meeting-place. this main fact must be made evident if one attempts to explain the causes of the belgian renaissance during the nineteenth century. it is not enough to say that the belgium of leopold i and leopold ii followed the tradition of the belgium of charles v and philip the good. it must be added that modern belgium, in spite of gradual encroachments, had remained whole. such encroachments having taken place on all sides, the nucleus was untouched. belgium preserved her great towns and her main streams. no essential organ of the national body had been impaired. as far as internal affairs were concerned, belgium then emerged free and sound from the turmoil of three centuries of european warfare. for external affairs, she was still subjected to the restriction of guaranteed neutrality. it is scarcely necessary to dwell on the distinction between self-imposed neutrality, such as that existing in switzerland, and the régime of guaranteed neutrality imposed by the powers on belgium. the first is no restriction of the sovereign rights of the state upon its foreign policy, the second takes away from it practically all initiative in foreign matters. if the powers bound themselves, in the treaty, not to violate the integrity of belgian territory and to defend the country in case of attack, belgium, on her side, undertook to observe strictly the rules of neutrality and to take necessary measures towards the defence of her frontiers. it might be argued, and it has been argued frequently in belgium, that such neutrality could not prevent a nation from possessing colonies and concluding a defensive alliance for the sole purpose of safeguarding herself. but, as a matter of fact, rival powers could not give such a liberal interpretation to the text of the treaties. first from the french side, later from the german side, belgium was constantly held under suspicion. any manifestation of public opinion concerning foreign affairs was deeply resented, her military policy was narrowly watched, she could not take a step towards self-defence or economic expansion without provoking some discontent among the powers. thanks to the firmness of her statesmen and, more than once, to the friendly support of great britain, she was able to resist urgent demands. but it goes without saying that the belgian government, anxious to preserve their dignity, avoided all possible cause of friction, so that belgium scarcely ever made use of her legitimate right to determine, within some limits, her foreign policy. neutrality, to all intents and purposes, meant paralysis. for many, it meant worse than that--carelessness and apathy. [_false security_] after the eight years of uncertainty which followed the first signature of the xxiv articles--eight years during which all parties joined under the permanent dutch menace--two currents of thought divided belgian opinion. the first attempted to minimize the military responsibility of the country, and, trusting blindly to the promise of the powers, to reduce to a strict minimum belgium's military charges in men and money. the second saw clearly that, without an adequate army and the necessary defences, belgium would be unable to fulfil her obligations in case her integrity should be violated, and would suffer in consequence; it realized that any weakness in the country's defences increased the temptation of some powers to break their pledge. it is easy to understand that the first school was generally more popular than the other, and rallied not only the sincere idealists who thought such a contingency as the tearing up of solemn treaties absolutely impossible, but many unscrupulous politicians only too anxious to use the popular catchword "not a penny, not a soldier," or "niemand gedwongen soldaat," for electoral purposes. the belgians had always been stubbornly opposed to conscription; it will be remembered that they resisted all attempts at enforcing it in the past and that it was the main cause of the war of peasants ( ) against the "sans culottes." to a people which, by tradition, was strongly adverse to militarism and centralization, it was only too easy to misrepresent measures of self-defence, urgently required by the european situation, as the first step towards autocracy and oppression. the partisans of military safeguards found themselves, therefore, in a minority, and their only support was the personal influence of the belgian kings, who, from the first days of the new régime till the eve of the war, never ceased to emphasize the evident danger of disregarding the country's international responsibilities. it is true that, with the lapse of time, the danger became more and more threatening, but, on the other hand, the "anti-militarists" found a fresh argument in the fact that, during so many years, the country had been able to weather the storm. [_military problems_] the first trouble arose in connection with the socialist revolution which broke out in france in . in the previous year, marx and engels had established their headquarters in brussels, where they drafted the "manifesto of the communist party." the belgians, however, were not prepared to adopt it, and the revolutionaries decided to invade the country from the south. bands organized in france and secretly encouraged by some french leaders attempted to cross the frontier near mouscron, at risquons tout, but their advance was easily checked by the belgian forces. the only consequence of these disturbances was the vote by the chamber of a new grant towards the reinforcement of the army: "no doubt," said the minister rogier on that occasion, "it will cost something to equip a greater number of men. but has one ever estimated the cost of an invasion, even if it only lasted a week?" in , leopold ii wrote to one of his ministers: "without means of defence you will be the plaything of everyone." a greater danger loomed ahead. louis napoleon had, by the coup d'état of december , , imposed his dictatorship on france. many prominent exiles and refugees came to belgium, and the brussels papers openly expressed their opinion of the new dictator. so that belgium, which three years before had been branded as ultramontane, was now denounced as a nest of communists and rebels. pressure was even brought to bear on the government to introduce press censorship. it was duly ignored, and the relations between the two countries became strained. one year later, napoleon became emperor of the french, and all clear-sighted belgians realized that he was only awaiting an opportunity to extend his power and authority towards the north. this was shown plainly by the french policy with regard to luxemburg. [_franco-prussian war_] the emperor having approached the king of holland in view of obtaining from him the cession of the grand duchy, a conference was called in london (may ) at which the independence, neutrality and inviolability of the duchy were placed under the collective guarantee of the powers. thwarted in this direction by european diplomacy, napoleon iii attempted to obtain a footing in luxemburg by controlling the railways. in january the compagnie de l'est, under guarantee of the french government, took over from the compagnie guillaume luxembourg its railway lines both in luxemburg and belgian territory. further negotiations began with the belgian companies grand luxemburg and chemins de fer liégeois-limbourgeois, which would have placed all the main railways of luxemburg and south-eastern belgium in french hands. warned in time, the premier, frère-orban, instructed the belgian representative in paris to declare that belgium would never consent to such an arrangement. napoleon's threats remained without result, the belgian policy being strongly upheld by lord clarendon, and, in july , a protocol was signed annulling the contracts of the compagnie de l'est as far as the belgian railways were concerned. at the same time, napoleon iii, anxious to find at any cost "compensations" for the increased prestige which prussia obtained from her danish and austrian victories, had sounded that power regarding a project of partition of the netherlands. his proposal, first kept secret and subsequently revealed by bismarck on the morrow of the declaration of war in , was to annex belgium to france, while prussia would be left a free hand in holland. the publication of this revelation by _the times_ did more than anything else to alienate british public opinion, if not from france at least from the french emperor, during the franco-prussian war. baron chazal, who had joined the belgian ministry in , succeeded in convincing the cabinet of the necessity of reinforcing belgian defences. in view of the superiority of the french army--for the threat came evidently from that quarter at the time--it was decided to give up the idea of defending the country by a cordon of inefficient fortresses, and to build round antwerp a powerful "entrenched camp," where the belgian army could retreat and maintain itself until reinforcements came from abroad. it goes without saying that the only country which would be in a position to send such reinforcements to antwerp, in case of an invasion, was great britain, and antwerp was purposely chosen as the only position where considerable forces could conveniently be disembarked from the sea. in view of the present interpretation placed on the treaties by holland, which gives to the latter country the right to close the scheldt in time of war, this scheme seems, to say the least, hastily conceived. but the dutch exclusive sovereignty over the scheldt did not appear nearly so definite at the time as it appears now. no mention being made of the matter in the settlement, many belgian authorities considered that the stream was placed under a régime of co-sovereignty, and it seemed then incredible that the dutch should stop the passage of relief ships. in the face of strong popular opposition, the chamber voted a credit of , , francs for the antwerp fortifications, and general brialmont, one of the foremost military engineers in europe, was entrusted with the work. after its completion, antwerp was considered one of the strongest fortified towns in the world. as soon as a conflict became imminent between france and prussia, great britain, in accordance with her traditional policy as far as belgium was concerned, demanded from the two powers a declaration confirming belgian neutrality. the situation in corresponds exactly to that in , and the language used by mr. asquith during the first days of august of the latter year seems to echo the words uttered forty years before by his great chief. "it would be impossible for us not to interfere," firmly declared mr. gladstone, "should we witness the destruction of belgium's liberty and independence." in both cases, british policy was inspired by the guarantee mentioned in the treaties, a guarantee which not only implied safety for belgium, but also absolute opposition to any power attempting to seize the belgian coast. the motives were the same, the steps taken were the same, the outcome only was different. both the french emperor and bismarck confirmed, in , the inviolability of belgian territory, the latter stating that such a declaration was not required, the treaties being sufficiently explicit on the subject. [_european policy in _] why did germany respect in a treaty which she ignored in ? even without taking into account the change in german mentality since her victory, military conditions were totally different. the strong chain of fortifications on the french eastern frontier had not yet been erected, and the strength of the belgian army appeared by no means negligible. before the enormous increase of modern armies which took place during the twenty years of "armed peace," , men might have made all the difference one way or the other. it was approximately the strength of the french army which surrendered at sedan. after this great defeat, german headquarters declared their intention to pursue the fugitives into belgian territory if the french forces attempted to escape being encircled by crossing the frontier. such steps, however, were not rendered necessary. while showing their intense sympathy for the vanquished, the belgians fulfilled most scrupulously all their obligations, and the european diplomats who had conceived the idea of neutralizing "the cockpit of europe" could congratulate themselves. their arrangements had worked perfectly, and for once belgium had not been drawn into the conflict. in the light of recent events, it is almost to be regretted that the test had been so successful. more than anything else, the experience allayed suspicion in and out of belgium. the powers refrained from pressing on the country the necessity for further armaments, and the hands of the anti-militarists in belgium, instead of being weakened (as they ought to have been if events had been placed in their proper light), were considerably strengthened. illustration: leopold ii. (reigned - ). _ph. b._ [_antwerp, liÉge, namur_] during the long period of armed peace which followed, while the powers formed, on one side the "triplice" ( ), on the other the "duplice" ( ) and the entente cordiale ( ), while armies and fleets were increased tenfold and german aggressive policy asserted itself more and more acutely, belgium's defences were only slowly reinforced, in spite of the desperate efforts of disinterested patriots and of the stern warnings of the kings. the name of leopold ii must be associated here with that of albert i. both were prompted in their action by the same motives that inspired leopold i's policy. they placed security on a level with, and even above, prosperity. standing aloof from party intrigues, they were in a position to appeal to all patriots without distinction, and to make use of the services of a little band of clear-sighted citizens who saw the centre of danger transferred from france to germany, and watched the young empire's military and economic development with growing anxiety. foremost among them stood emile banning, author of a prophetic report on the meuse defences ( - ). nothing illustrated more clearly the crippling influence of neutrality on belgian international thought than the way this man of genius was ignored by his fellow-citizens. in any other country, he would have exercised a considerable influence on public opinion. in belgium, he was only heard by a few statesmen and, happily, by leopold ii, who no doubt had his report in mind when, in , he warned one of his ministers of the necessity of belgium not only safeguarding her independence, but "preventing the passage" of foreign troops through her territory. germany had now become the main source of danger, but in order to avoid all criticism it was decided to build two bridgeheads, one at namur and the other at liége. the first commanded the upper valley of the meuse, the second the middle course of the stream; one was facing france, the other germany. the plan of defence was consequently developed, the forts enabling the army to make a short stand before retiring into the entrenched camp of antwerp. it is largely to banning's clearsightedness and to leopold ii's firm attitude that western europe owes the respite given by the resistance of liége in august . had not general brialmont's original plans of the forts been unduly curtailed, this resistance would have proved still more effective. [_military reform_] credits for the defences of liége and namur, like those of antwerp a few years before, were voted grudgingly by a chamber lulled into a false state of security by the experience of . but, if public opinion was little inclined to devote money to improve the country's defences, it became obdurate when experts advised a reform of the belgian military system. not only were the effectives ridiculously small, compared with the size of the german and french armies, but recruiting was managed through a system of drawing lots, to which was added the evil of "substitution"--that is to say, the sons of the bourgeois class who drew a "bad number" were entitled to buy a substitute, who took their place in the ranks. a campaign for personal and general service was launched, but in spite of the king's support it met with little success. a certain number of volunteers were added to the normal effectives in , and in , after the sensational journey of william ii to tangiers, new credits were voted for the development of the antwerp defences. to those who objected that fortifications would be useless if belgium did not possess a sufficient army to man them, the king answered: "let us have the stones first. the men will come later." when the seventy-fifth anniversary of belgian independence gave him at last the opportunity of breaking the silence imposed upon him by the congo campaign, he uttered a supreme warning to the nation: "let us not be overconfident in our present prosperity; let us stand closer and closer together around our flag. nations, like human beings, have to pass through a critical age which brings about old age or premature death. its date, for young nations, falls _during the last quarter of the first century of their existence_." once more, on february , , he imparted to a friend--for his lack of popularity had made public declarations useless at that time--his anxieties regarding the future: "it is indispensable that we should possess a good army, that we should be able to defend ourselves, and thus, in conformity with our international obligations, prevent the crossing of our territory by a foreign army, and _make such crossing as costly as possible, in order to remove the temptation from those who would be inclined to attempt it.... on my return from my recent journey to germany, i warned all concerned that germany is building more ships and increasing her military expenses. we must efficiently complete our fortifications and our equipment. you know that neither one nor the other can be improvised...._" leopold ii attached such importance to the adoption of personal service, proposed in , that he deliberately postponed an operation which might have saved his life, in order to be able to sign the decree which placed the bill on the statute book. he died three days later.[ ] footnote : see e. vandersmissen, _leopold ii and beernaert_, and g. harry, _leopold ii_ ( ). this supreme satisfaction was not unmixed. important concessions had had to be made. the voluntary system was maintained to a certain extent, only one son per family being called up for a short time (fifteen months). the passing of the bill was a victory in principle, but it only increased very slightly the strength of the belgian army. the pan-german campaign was in full swing by then. maps were published, beyond the rhine, showing large portions of belgium painted in imperial red, like the rest of the reich. pamphlets and books appeared claiming antwerp as a german port and connecting east africa with the german cameroons through the belgian congo. still the majority of the belgians would not believe that such views were shared by the german emperor and his government. it was only after the agadir coup ( ) and algeciras ( ) that m. de broqueville, minister of war, strongly supported by king albert, was able to carry through a bill introducing general and compulsory service, which would have placed the army on a proper footing if its provisions had been rendered immediately effective. unhappily, the bill only provided for a gradual increase, the army reaching its full strength of , men in . this last reservation proved nearly fatal to the country, for, when mobilization was ordered, in july , the total forces available only amounted to , men, of which the combatant portion was reduced to , bayonets--an increase of only , over the effectives of . there are few subjects so depressing as the slow development of belgian defences under the threat of invasion. each time the situation became serious, as in , , and , public opinion allowed some progress to be made. but it came always too late. the people were ready to face their responsibilities, but they could not be made to realize them. blindly relying on the treaties, absorbed in their economic and intellectual development, they showed little interest in international affairs. those who did, found themselves in the dilemma either of taking refuge in a fools' paradise or of powerlessly facing an ever-growing menace. neutrality may have saved belgium in , full independence might have saved her in . chapter xxvii economic renaissance one month after the first outbreak of the belgian revolution, elections were already taking place. an almost equal number of liberals (the successors of the vonckists) and of catholics (statists) were returned to the congress whose duty was to frame the new constitution. it is typical of the spirit of patriotic union between both parties and of the adaptability of the belgians to their new independent life that these deputies, most of whom had no experience of political life, succeeded, within two months, in drafting a constitution which has since served as a model for several european nations. it was the result of various influences: the groundwork--based on individual liberty, equality before the law, freedom of the press, of worship, of public meeting, of association and of teaching--was no doubt inspired by the french. on the other hand, the preponderance of legislative power, represented by the chamber and the senate, over the executive, the principle of ministerial responsibility, placing the king outside and above parties, was the result of english influence: but perhaps the most interesting characteristic of the new constitution was the way in which provincial and communal rights were safeguarded, the communes, in particular, preserving practical autonomy for local affairs, with the only restriction that the burgomaster was to be nominated by the king. the belgian constitution struck the balance between centralization, inherited from the period of french rule, and particularism, which had, from the burgundian period, been the most striking feature in belgian politics. if we associate, in our minds, particularism with the traditional conservatism of the catholic peasantry and centralization with modern industrial developments and the intellectual culture of the large towns, we shall obtain a fairly good idea of the two general tendencies which divided public opinion in belgium during the nineteenth century and whose main features may be recognized not only in politics, but also in the economic, intellectual and artistic development of the country. [_liberals and catholics_] the status of neutrality not only affected foreign politics, it reacted very strongly on belgium's internal life. if it crippled her activity with regard to home defence, it developed to an abnormal degree party warfare. it shut the door on international problems and all questions which may be considered as national issues and before which party strife ought to cease in consideration for the common weal. social, philosophic or religious differences were not balanced, in modern belgium, as in other countries, by international consciousness. in the close atmosphere of the tutelage of the powers, party politics absorbed the whole public life of the nation and external problems were practically ignored. it thus happened that the people who stood in the forefront of europe, and who were more directly interested than any other in the fluctuations of european politics, were about the worst informed on foreign affairs. from to , the electorate being limited by a property qualification (only , electors out of , , inhabitants taking part in the first election), the struggle was confined to the two middle-class parties, catholics and liberals. roughly speaking, the catholics stood for the defence of religious interests, more especially in the domain of education and relief, the liberals for the supremacy of a nominally neutral state in all public matters. it is easy to realize how this purely political quarrel could degenerate into a conflict of ideals, some ultramontanes distrusting the motives of "atheists" and ignoring the public spirit of men who did not share their creed, while some agnostics, steeped in the narrow doctrines of voltaire and diderot, made the church the scapegoat of all social evils and even denied the wholesome influence of religion on social education. during the first part of the century the conflict was not so acute, both parties possessing their moderate and extremist leaders and the so-called "liberal catholics" acting as a link between the two factions. from to the liberals, representing the bourgeoisie of the large towns, were most of the time in power, while from to the catholics, upheld by the farmers and the middle classes of the small towns, took the direction of affairs. the property qualification was progressively reduced, first for the parliamentary, later for the provincial and communal elections, and a larger share was given to the lower middle classes in the administration of the country. meanwhile, party differences had developed through the gradual disappearance of the moderating elements on both sides, and the vexed question of education was coming to the fore. the constitution was not very explicit concerning this matter, and both parties interpreted it according to their own interests. many communes having neglected to keep up the official schools, religious orders had taken a more and more important part in primary education. when the liberals came into power, in , they passed a law compelling every commune to maintain its own schools, where religious instruction should only be given out of school hours. they also founded a great many secondary schools and training colleges, with the object of transferring education from religious to secular teachers. these sweeping reforms entailed heavy expenditure and unpopular taxation, and finally brought about the downfall of the liberal régime in . the catholics proceeded to abrogate the law on primary education by giving state grants to the free catholic schools, and suppressed a number of the secondary schools and training colleges established by the previous régime. feeling ran so high that king leopold, who realized the harm which this "school war" was doing to the national spirit, warned monsieur malou (the catholic premier) against the attitude he had adopted, as he had previously warned the liberal premier, frère-orban: "the liberals have acted as if there were no longer any catholics in belgium. are you going also to act as if there were no liberals left in the country, without any consideration for the disastrous consequences of such an attitude for the nation and for yourself?" from to educational matters, though by no means forgotten, were entirely overshadowed by social problems and by the efforts made by the opposition to obtain the revision of the constitution and the adoption of universal suffrage. this change was brought about by the foundation, in , by the flemish printer, césar de paepe, of the belgian labour party. its action was from the first political as well as economic. while consumers' co-operatives, such as the "vooruit" of ghent, were founded in several large towns, socialist clubs entertained a continuous agitation for electoral franchise, their aim being to use parliament to obtain the sweeping social reforms inscribed on their programme. here, again, we find french insistence on politics checked by the old spirit of association which had been so prominent in the netherlands during the middle ages. [_labour party_] after the miners' strike of , both catholics and liberals revised their programmes and paid more attention to social reforms. but the workmen, who were now powerfully organized, especially in the industrial centres of the south, wanted to take a direct share in political life. under pressure of public opinion, the demand for a revision of the constitution was at last taken into consideration in , and in a new law granted universal suffrage tempered by plural voting. in a new campaign was launched by the allied liberal-socialist opposition in favour of universal suffrage pure and simple, without obtaining any result, but when, in , a general strike supported the demand, the catholic government promised that the question should be examined by a parliamentary commission. * * * * * before the war, belgium was the most productive agricultural district of europe. the secret of her prosperity is generally attributed to the small number of large estates and to the great area cultivated by small owners, per cent. of the cultivated area being covered by farms of ½ to ½ acres. it must be added that, during the last twenty years, powerful producers' co-operatives, or "boerenbonden," have grouped agriculturists and given them important advantages with regard to credit and insurance. the inbred qualities which have rendered this development possible are, however, to be found in the race itself. again and again, in the course of centuries, the belgian peasant has come to the fore under every political régime and every system of landholding. he has had to conquer the country from the sea, protect it against its incursions and to repair periodically the havoc caused by war. the memory of physical and social calamities has been handed down the ages, and the present system of small-ownership and co-operative societies is only the result of centuries of incessant toil. the conservative spirit of the peasants and farmers is illustrated by the opposition made to the project of the liberal minister rogier, in , to build the first railway in belgium. it was argued that this would be a considerable waste of fertile soil and would frighten the cattle. the first railway line, between brussels and malines, was nevertheless inaugurated on may , , and since then, such enormous progress has been realized that, before the war, belgium occupied the first place in europe with regard to the development of its railway lines. all other means of communication have been similarly developed. in the country possessed , kilometres of roads, , kilometres of railway line, , kilometres of light railways, and , kilometres of inland waterways. * * * * * [_the industrial revolution_] the first consequence of the revolution was to disorganize belgian industry, which had lost the dutch market, the powerful works of cockerill, at seraing, being among the few which did not suffer from the change. the introduction of machinery in a country so rich in coal-fields not only restored the situation but enormously increased industrial production in the southern districts. in only machines were used, with a total of , horse-power; in these figures had risen to , machines with , horse-power, without taking into account railway engines ( , horse-power). the distribution of the various industries in the different parts of the country did not vary very much from that existing under previous régimes. broadly speaking, no new development took place, every centre remaining in the situation determined by coal or the presence of raw material. the principal centre of the textile industry remained at ghent, near the hemp-fields of the lys; metal-works, glass-works, etc., were still grouped close to the four main coal-fields in the region of mons, la louvière (centre), charleroi and liége; the number of men engaged on industrial production before the war had reached , , , among whom were , miners, over , metal workers, and over , textile workers. but it is not so much to the number as to the quality of her workmen that belgium owes her great industrial prosperity. this may be accounted for by the fact that a great number of industrial workers never lost touch with the land. belonging, most of them, to agricultural districts, they do not settle permanently around their factories, and between the country and the great centres there is a continuous exchange of population. the hard-working qualities of mechanics and artisans are inherited from the peasants, and there is a considerable reluctance, on their part, to crowd into big cities, cheap railway fares allowing them to live around the towns where they work during the day. [_trade of antwerp_] the condition of this wonderful economic development was the opening of the scheldt. for nearly two centuries and a half the country had been cut off from the outside world and obliged to live on her own resources. we have seen how, during the fifteen years of union with holland, the trade of antwerp had made considerable progress, and how, in spite of dutch resistance, the freedom of international rivers proclaimed by the vienna congress was applied to the lower scheldt. the settlement placed the river, below antwerp, under the joint control of a belgo-dutch commission. the only obstacle still in the way was a toll of one florin and a half which king william had persisted in levying on all ships going and coming from the port. in , after laborious negotiations undertaken by baron lambermont, belgium was able to buy off these tolls from holland for the sum of , , francs. the stream was at last definitely free, at least in time of peace. placed under normal conditions, with the help of numerous waterways spreading over the interior of an exceptionally rich country, antwerp was bound to reconquer rapidly the situation it had occupied under charles v. in about , ships, with a tonnage of , , entered the port. in the annual tonnage had reached , , , and in over , , . though such figures were undreamt of in the sixteenth century, the nature of the antwerp trade remained very similar. the antwerp merchants were really brokers or warehousers, and most of the merchandise brought to the port from all parts of the world was re-exported to other countries. so that in trade, as in industry and agriculture, the permanence of certain characteristics, determined by the land and the race, are preserved to this day. the absence of a national merchant fleet, which was equally apparent in the sixteenth century, did not affect imports and exports, which increased respectively from , , francs and , , francs in to , , , francs and , , , francs in . the government undertook various great public works in order to allow the country to benefit fully from this extraordinary activity. in a law was passed voting large credits for the extension of antwerp's maritime installations. when these works are completed they will give to the port kilometres of quays instead of . in the enlargement of the terneuzen canal permitted large ships to reach ghent; the new port of bruges and the zeebrugge canal were inaugurated in , and an important scheme, whose result will be to connect brussels with the sea, begun in , is still in progress. economic renaissance was accompanied by a corresponding increase in the population. from , , in it rose to , , in , and to , , in . with a density of persons per square mile, belgium became the most thickly populated country in the world and only consumed a fourteenth part of her industrial production. the necessity of finding new markets abroad and of discovering some substitute for the loss of the dutch colonies, which had proved so helpful during the period of union with holland, might have been felt by any far-sighted statesman. leopold i had already devoted some attention to the problem. he encouraged several belgian settlements in rio nuñez, where a regular protectorate was established for a short time, in guatemala and in various parts of brazil. none of these enterprises, however, bore fruit, and the problem was still unsolved when leopold ii ascended the throne in . [_foreign enterprises_] the search for a colonial outlet for the activity of the nation dominated the reign of the new king and absorbed all the energy he was able to spare from military problems. as duke of brabant, leopold ii had already drawn the attention of the country to the future development of china. he had formed several projects with regard to the establishment of a belgian settlement at the mouth of the yangtse-kiang and on the island of formosa. their failure did not prevent him from taking, later on, an active part in chinese affairs. the imperial government did not entertain towards belgium the same distrust as it did towards the european great powers, and king leopold several times had the opportunity of acting as intermediary between these powers and the chinese government, in order to obtain concessions. he became thus, in later years, the initiator of the peking-hankow railway. the difficulty of finding a field of economic activity in foreign countries became, nevertheless, more and more apparent, and, without giving up his chinese policy, the belgian king endeavoured to ensure to his country some part of the vacant territories which had not yet been seized by other european nations. when his congo enterprise was in full swing, he proposed to buy the canary islands from spain ( ), and, after the spanish-american war, opened negotiations with america with regard to the future development of the newly acquired philippines. he was also concerned, for a time, with korean, manchurian and mongolian enterprises, and nothing but the progress of the congo scheme put a stop to his incessant search for new opportunities. in , when the congo basin was still practically _terra incognita_, stanley having just left europe in order to determine the course of the stream, leopold ii founded the "association internationale africaine." it was a purely private association, composed of geographers and travellers, its aim being to suppress the slave trade in central africa and to open this part of the continent to modern civilization. two years later, on stanley's return, the "comité d'etudes du haut congo" secured his services in order to undertake, with the help of a little band of belgian explorers, a complete survey of the congo basin and to conclude treaties with the native chiefs. within five years a region as large as a fifth of europe, and eighty times larger than belgium, had been brought under the influence of the committee, and in the king founded the "association internationale du congo." if, instead of ruling over a small neutral state, leopold ii had ruled over one of the large nations of europe, he would have reaped forthwith the fruit of his labour and the gratitude of his people. the congo would have become a state colony, been subsidized by state funds, and the sovereign would have incurred no further responsibilities in the matter. but belgium was not a great power like germany, which acquired its african colonies at the same time, in a similar manner. neither could she rest her colonial claims on historical grounds, like holland or portugal. she was not even fully independent, as far as foreign policy was concerned, and her right to break fresh ground might have been questioned at the time. besides, popular opinion in belgium, dominated by the fear of international complications, was not prepared to claim this right, even the capitalists considering the king's projects far too hazardous to give him the necessary support. leopold ii was, therefore, left to his own resources to accomplish an almost superhuman task: to obtain the necessary recognition from the powers, and to sufficiently develop the resources of the congo to persuade the belgian people to accept his gift. it was, therefore, not as a king, but as a private individual, that the president of the "association internationale du congo" was obliged first to remove the obstacles created by french and portuguese opposition, and, later, to persuade the other powers to entrust him with the administration of the new territory. this first success must not be attributed to his diplomatic skill alone, but also to the enormous expenses implied by the bold enterprise, to the reluctance of the rich colonial powers to incur further liabilities and to their anxiety to avoid international difficulties. germany's attitude, in view of further events, may be described as expectant. bismarck had only just been converted to colonial expansion, and found, no doubt, what he must have considered as the "interregnum" of king leopold an excellent solution of his difficulties. [_congo free state_] in the work of the "association" was recognized by the congress of berlin, the sovereign of belgium becoming the sovereign of the congo free state. the treaty of berlin stipulated that trade should remain free in the new state, that the natives should be protected and that slavery should be suppressed. four years later, the king, in his will, left the congo to belgium, "desiring to ensure to his beloved country the fruit of a work pursued during long years with the generous and devoted collaboration of many belgians, and confident of thus securing for belgium, if she was willing to use it, an indispensable outlet for her trade and industry and a new field for her children's activity." the work was pushed with indomitable energy. in a vigorous campaign against the arab slave-traders was brought to a successful conclusion. in the first railway connecting matadi, on the lower congo, with leopoldville, on the stanley pool, opened the great waterway as far as the stanley falls. a flotilla was launched on the upper stream and its main affluents, while roads and telegraph lines spread all over the country. the financial situation, however, remained critical. the enterprise had absorbed the greater part of the king's personal fortune. the credits voted by the belgian chambers were inadequate, and, though a few financiers began by now to realize the enormous value of the enterprise, their number was not sufficient to ensure the immediate future. faced with considerable difficulties, which compelled him to severely curtail his personal expenses, leopold ii had formally offered the colony to the country in . this offer had been rejected. under the stress of circumstances, the sovereign of the congo free state decided to exploit directly the natural resources of the land, mainly rubber and ivory. the natives were compelled to pay a tax in kind and vast concessions were granted to commercial companies whose actions could not be properly controlled. this semi-commercial, semi-political system was bound to lead to abuses, even a few state agents betraying the confidence which their chief had placed in them and oppressing the natives in order to exact a heavier tax. when the first protests were heard in this country, king leopold committed the grave mistake of not starting an immediate inquiry and punishing the culprits. distrusting the motives of the leaders of the campaign, and stiffened in his resistance by the tone they chose to adopt towards him, he allowed the opposition to grow to such proportions that the general public, whose indignation was skilfully nurtured by the most exaggerated reports, lost all sense of proportion. they ignored the fact that the king had given sufficient proof of disinterestedness and of devotion to his country not to deserve the abominable accusations launched against him. they forgot the invaluable work accomplished, under the most difficult circumstances, during twenty years of ceaseless labour, the suppression of slavery, of cannibalism, human sacrifices and tribal wars, and remembered only the gross indictments of mr. morel and the biased reports of mr. roger casement ( ). [_the belgian congo_] when, the next year, three impartial magistrates sent to the congo by king leopold reported that the excesses had been repressed and advised a complete reform of the administration, their testimony was disregarded. when concessions were abolished and drastic measures taken against the criminal agents, the fact remained unnoticed. even after the congo had become a belgian colony ( ), under the control of the belgian parliament, when every scrap of authority had been taken away from the old king with the "domaine de la couronne" (whose revenue was to be devoted by its founder to public works in belgium), when the colony had been entirely reorganized, the campaign of the congo reform association went on relentlessly. far from silencing his accusers, the king's death, a year later, was made the occasion of a fresh outburst of abuse. the good faith of the public throughout the congo campaign is unquestionable. that of its main engineers is at least open to doubt. they organized their efforts at the time when the greatest difficulties of colonization had been overcome. they pursued them after all cause for abuse had been removed. in one of his first books, _british case in french congo_, mr. morel suggests the partition of the free state between this country and germany. in his last books, written during the war, he warmly champions the internationalization of central africa in order to save the german colonies. neither can it be urged that those two men who roused the conscience of this country against the congo atrocities were deeply shocked by more recent and far better authenticated atrocities committed in belgium. if they were, the only remark an impartial observer might venture to make is that their actions, during the war, scarcely reflected such righteous indignation. it may be too hasty to conclude from this, and from the close association of erzberger, morel and casement in the congo campaign, that this campaign was engineered by germany. we do not yet possess all the documents necessary to establish this fact. we know enough, however, to deplore that a movement which might have been so beneficial to all concerned was allowed to fall into the hands of unscrupulous agitators, who succeeded in estranging for a time belgium from great britain, and incidentally in marring the last years of the life of one of the greatest belgian patriots. chapter xxviii intellectual renaissance the remarkable revival of belgian arts and letters which followed shortly after the revolution is one of the most striking examples of the influence exercised by political events on intellectual activity. for over a century the nation had been devoid of self-expression, and during the fifteen years of union with holland scarcely any notable works were produced. no doubt this time, being one of economic recovery, was not favourable to the efflorescence of art and letters, but the intense activity of the period of independence appears nevertheless as an outburst of national pride and energy. it seems as if all the strength, subdued during the periods of foreign domination, had at last found an outlet, as if the belgians had waited all these years to assert again their intellectual power, which could not or would not flourish for the benefit of foreigners. illustration: palace of justice, brussels. _ph. b._ architecture no longer represents, in modern times, what it represented in the past, and it would be vain to search in modern belgium, and, for the matter of that, in any modern country, for the manifestation of an original style expressing the spirit of the age. there are, however, symptoms of vitality which must not be entirely disregarded. the considerable number of public buildings erected and the more or less successful efforts of their builders are by themselves a remarkable testimony. it is characteristic of belgian civilization and of its irradicable traditional spirit of regionalism that the hôtels de ville built in imitation of the flemish renaissance are particularly numerous, and even in some cases, such as the maison communale of schaarbeek, particularly impressive. some reconstitutions were also attempted, as, for instance, the antwerp exchange and the palace of margaret of austria in malines. the only strikingly original monument is the palace of justice in brussels, built by poelaert ( - ). it is the result of an extraordinary medley of styles, from the assyrian onwards, and presents one of the most pathetic and gigantic efforts to create a beautiful monument under modern conditions. this huge building was intended by the belgian people to be the apotheosis of right. not only of the justice of everyday courts, but also of international justice and of the right, so long violated on belgian soil, of the people to dispose of themselves. [_historical sculpture_] wandering through the most important squares and gardens of belgian towns, the stranger will be astonished at the number of monuments raised to the great belgians of the past and to the heroes of belgian history. in brussels, antwerp, ghent, bruges, and even the small provincial towns, he will find statues dedicated not only to the modern kings and statesmen, but to the leaders of the various revolts against foreign oppression, to the great artists and communal tribunes. almost every person mentioned in this book possesses his effigy, and the town of tongres has gone as far as immortalizing the features of the celtic chief ambiorix in token of his resistance to the roman legions. all these statues are not necessarily great works of art, nor is the historical conception which their ensemble represents quite above criticism, but, if one remembers that they were almost all raised within fifty years of the declaration of belgian independence, one may at least understand the reason of their sudden appearance. in spite of those who insist, in flattering terms, on belgium's youth, she strongly maintains her right to old traditions and wants to keep her ancient heroes before her eyes. more or less consciously, the sculptors of these statues realized that their fathers of the renaissance and the middle ages had as great a share in the making of the nation as present kings and ministers. their sudden appearance in the midst of belgian towns was not the result of official zeal, but the living symbol of the gratitude of new to old belgium. jacques van artevelde in ghent, breydel and de coninck in bruges, egmont and horn in brussels came into their own at last. beside these historical statues, the traveller will find some remarkable works of a more recent date which will recommend themselves for their purely artistic value and which are generally noticeable for their feeling for movement and muscular effort. in many ways, the qualities of rubens were revived in the modern school of belgian sculpture, and the brabo fountain in antwerp, the death of ompdrailles and the riders' fight in brussels suffice to show the influence exercised by the seventeenth century school of painting on jef. lambeaux, van der stappen and j. de lalaing. the most original of belgian sculptors, constantin meunier ( - ), while possessing similar plastic qualities, opened a new field by his idealization of agricultural and industrial work. his miners, dockers, puddlers, and field labourers are known to all students of art and will stand in the future as the symbol of the economic renaissance of a people who could, even under modern conditions, find a kind of grim attachment to their labour. illustration: "the puddler." by constantin meunier ( - ). cold academic compositions, painted under the influence of the chief of the imperial french school of painting, louis david, were the only productions of belgian art at the beginning of the nineteenth century. in no domain did the fashion change more abruptly, on the morrow of the revolution, than in belgian historical paintings. as early as , g. wappers of antwerp exhibited a large canvas recording an episode of the recent revolution. his example was followed by many artists at the time, and belgian history became the subject of a great number of paintings, whose rather theatrical and pompous style does not entirely succeed in hiding their sincere and serious qualities. the french style of david was soon abandoned. movement and colour, so inherent in the belgian temperament, came again to the fore, and, though the influence of rubens was overmastering, it was at least a national influence, and soon led, under the inspiration of henri leys ( - ), to the production of historical works of great interest. the latter's frescoes of the hôtel de ville in antwerp, illustrating the old franchises and privileges of the town, may still be considered as a striking expression of municipal freedom. [_modern painters_] at the same time, a great number of painters, reacting against the rather artificial style of historical paintings, went back to genre pictures, in which teniers and his followers had excelled in the past. henri de braekeleer ( - ) translated the simple, intimate poetry of modest interiors, while joseph stevens ( - ) devoted his genius to scenes of dog life. later, when social questions came to the fore and when the attention of the public was centred on the sufferings of the poor and destitute, de groux, léon frédéric and, even more, eugène laermans (_b._ ) conveyed in their works a burning sympathy for the wretches and vagabonds straying through the towns and the flemish country-side. the latter's work is strongly influenced by breughel. through an extraordinary paradox, belgian art, which only represented scenes of merriment during the darkest days of the spanish occupation, gave far more importance to scenes of misery during the modern time of great public prosperity, so revolting did it seem that such prosperity should not be shared by all. another artist in whose works breughel's inspiration is apparent is jacob smits (_b._ ). he is almost the only one who may be considered as a representative of religious painting in belgium. like breughel, he succeeded in bringing the christian story close to the people's hearts amidst flemish contemporary surroundings. a school of art in which colour and light play such a predominant part is bound to produce valuable landscapes. in this new form, the love of country expressed itself far more sincerely than in the earlier historical compositions. under the influence of henri boulanger, belgium produced, in later years, a number of first-rate landscape painters such as verwée, courtens, gilsoul, baertsoen and emile claus. flemish landscapes exert a far greater attraction than the walloon hills, and, generally speaking, the flemish element dominates in the modern school as it did in the old. for the golden light lies on the damp fields of flanders, and flemish artists have not yet given up the hope of capturing it. [_national literature_] the artistic renaissance of modern belgium might have been expected. the worship of colour and form had always been a strong characteristic of the race, and even in the drab years of the austrian régime belgian painters had never ceased to work. a far more startling development was the appearance, towards the middle of the nineteenth century, of a national belgian school of literature. in the middle ages, flemish and french letters in belgium had produced some remarkable works. owing to the scholastic character of these writings and to the predominant influence of french culture, they could not, however, be considered as a direct expression of the people's spirit. in many ways, the modern school of belgian letters was a new departure: french and flemish influences were more evenly balanced, and, though they worked separately, flemish and french writers, coming into close contact with the people's soul, expressed the same feelings and the same aspirations. for, if we make due allowance for the part played by purely walloon writers, specially novelists and story-tellers, the main feature of the belgian school of literature in the nineteenth century is the break up of the language barrier. strange as it may seem, a comparison between writers in french and flemish reveals a series of similarities so striking that, supposing an adequate translation were possible, there would be no difficulty whatever in including them in the same group. the main reason for this is, no doubt, that almost all the leaders of the movement in french, starting with de coster and lemonnier, up to the contemporary period of verhaeren and maeterlinck, are of flemish extraction, and that their best works are imbued with flemish traditions and flemish temperament. broadly speaking, one might say that most of the belgian french writers are flemings writing in french and are far closer to their northern brethren than to the french whose language they use. charles de coster, who may be considered as the father of this particular branch of the school, published in the _legend of ulenspiegel_, which is nothing but a prose epic in which the legendary character of owliglass is identified with one of the heroes of the sixteenth century revolution against spain. camille lemonnier ( - ), in his best novels, deals with the manners and customs of the flemish peasantry. the very soul of flanders shines through the whole work of belgium's great national poet, emile verhaeren, from his early _les flamandes_ ( ) to the six volumes of _toute la flandre_ ( - ), and in all his earlier writings ( - ), maurice maeterlinck remains under the influence of flemish mysticism and miracle plays. this may seem a one-sided conclusion, and the names of many belgian writers of great distinction may be quoted against it, but if we were to examine the question more closely, this conclusion would be rather verified than disproved. from a purely historical point of view, the general trend of inspiration is certainly towards the north rather than towards the south. the main features which characterize the belgian writers in french and confer on them a truly national originality are, on one side, a tendency to emphasize the intimate joys of life, and on the other, an intense feeling for mysticism, sometimes quite dissociated from any dogmatic faith. just as flemish art is remarkable for the religious work of the fifteenth century and the sensuous productions of the seventeenth, so belgian writing in the nineteenth oscillates between the spirit of jordaens and that of memling. in spite of some modernist tendencies and a great technical boldness, belgian literature remains deeply influenced by mediævalism. it belongs to the twentieth century, even when written in the nineteenth, or to the fifteenth. the classical atmosphere of the french seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is totally absent. those who care for the delicately poised balance of classical taste, for wit and brilliance of dialogue, will be disconcerted by childishness or fierce passion. it is an abrupt literature, but spontaneous and sincere, which has not been spoilt by formalism and scepticism, but which has not acquired, from a purely technical point of view, the perfection of the french. having remained inarticulate during the two centuries of classical education, it has lost nothing and gained nothing through them. [_the flemish movement_] it is significant that the movement started in flanders before influencing the french-speaking part of the country. the flemish novelist, henri conscience ( - ) had devoted a series of books to the history of his country long before de coster wrote his _ulenspiegel_. the flemish language was, at the time, struggling against great difficulties. it had been entirely neglected, from the literary point of view, during the eighteenth century, and suffered now from the natural reaction which followed the revolution. it had reaped little benefit from the fifteen years of union with holland, and there was a general belief, among the flemings themselves, that it would never recover its ancient position. the flemish literary renaissance was initiated by a small group of intellectuals, headed by jan frans willems ( - ), who exerted all their energy to revive flemish customs, collect folk songs and traditions, and obtain a liberal interpretation of the constitution which proclaimed liberty of language. the flemish movement received a new impulse when the young poet albrecht rodenbach ( - ) spread its influence to all flemish intellectual circles. the flemings began to realize that they possessed in guido gezelle ( - ) a religious poet whose work could bear comparison with the best french writings in the country. they saw, growing up around them, a new school of writers of great promise, and they insisted on their language being recognized, not only in principle, but in fact, as the second official language of the country. in a law was passed removing some of the causes of grievances, such as the inability of judges and officials to understand the language of the people with whom they dealt. progressively the flemish language came into its own in matters of education and administration, and, before the war, the only large question still under discussion was the creation of a flemish university. the principle of such an institution had been admitted, but the relationship between this new university and the old french university of ghent had not yet been established. [_common temperament_] it must be understood that the language question remained throughout a local quarrel between two sets of flemish intellectuals. it was not a quarrel between walloons and flemings, and administrative separation was scarcely ever mentioned. it was not even, before the war, a quarrel between the flemish people, who knew only flemish, and the flemish bourgeoisie, who preferred to talk french. it was a dispute between a few intellectual flemings, who wished to restore the language to the position it occupied before the spanish and austrian régimes silenced it, and the flemings who wanted to restrict it to the common people and treat it as a patois. it was, to put it bluntly, a discussion between those who ignored history and those who realized that the independence of the belgian provinces was bound to bring about a revival of flemish letters, as it was causing a revival of french letters. for two centuries the country had remained silent; she was now able to speak again and to use all the riches and the resources of her two languages. instead of threatening national unity, bilingualism was its necessary condition. for real differences do not lie in modes of expression, but in the feeling and the soul of the people, and it matters little if an image or a thought is expressed in one language or another, as long as they reflect a common temperament and common aspirations. chapter xxix conclusion the part played by belgium during the war is well known. those who knew the country and its history were not astonished at the attitude observed by king albert and his people on august , . quite apart from any foreign sympathies, no other answer could be given to an ultimatum which directly challenged belgium's rights. a modern nation might have been intimidated, but an old nation like belgium, which had struggled towards independence through long and weary periods of warfare and foreign domination, was bound to resist. in challenging king albert and his ministers, the german government challenged at the same time all the leaders of the belgian people, from de coninck to vonck and de mérode, and the reply of the belgian government was stiffened by an age-long tradition of stubborn resistance and by the ingrained instinct of the people that this had to be done because there was nothing else to do. [_german invasion_] history also accounts for the desperate fight waged by the small and ill-equipped army against the first military power in europe. liége, haelen, the three sorties from antwerp, the ten terrible days on the yser, are not due merely to the personal valour of the leaders and of their troops, but to the fact that they were belgian leaders and belgian troops, that they belonged to a nation conscious of her destiny and who had never despaired in the past, in spite of the ordeals to which she was subjected and of the scorn of those who questioned her very existence. the same thing might be said of all allied nations. even so fought the british, even so fought the french; the only difference lies in the fact that their heroism was expected as a matter of course, while that of the belgians came to many as a surprise. for british traditions and french traditions were well known, while the past of belgium was blurred amidst the confusion of feudalism and foreign rule. on the yser, in october , the belgian forces had been reduced from , to , bayonets. these last defences, preserving about twenty square miles of independent territory, were maintained during four years while the army was refilling its ranks and reorganizing its supplies. it took its share in all the concerted actions of the allies in flanders, and when, at last, the final offensive was launched, on september , , king albert was placed at the head of the anglo-franco-belgian forces. meanwhile the civil population, under german occupation, was undergoing one of the severest trials that the nation had ever experienced, not excepting revolutionary oppression and the spanish fury. the germans used every means in their power to disintegrate the people's unity, break its resistance and enlist its services. terrorism was used, from the first, at aerschot, louvain, tamines, andenne and dinant, whilst the invasion progressed towards the heart of the country. then, under the governorship of von bissing, the method was altered, and attempts were made to induce the chiefs of industry and their workmen to resume work for the greater benefit of the enemy. this policy culminated in the sinister deportations, pursued during the winter of - , which enslaved about , men and compelled them to work either behind the german front or in german kommandos. enormous fines and contributions were levied on towns and provinces, the country was emptied of all raw material, private property and the produce of the soil were systematically requisitioned, and the population would have been decimated by famine but for the help of the commission for relief in belgium. when it became evident, in , that the passive resistance of the workers could not be broken, all the industries which had not been commandeered were entirely or partially destroyed and the machinery transported to germany. [_von bissing's intrigues_] the most insidious attack of governor von bissing's policy on the belgian nation was his attempt to use the flemish movement as a means to divide the belgians against themselves. the governor, who explained his intentions in a remarkable document known as his "political testament," undertook this campaign under the assumption that belgium was an artificial creation of the vienna congress and that such a thing as belgian nationality did not really exist. german university professors had been at great pains to explain to the german and neutral public that nationality could only be created by unity of race or language, and that belgium, possessing neither of these attributes, could consequently claim no right to independence. following this trend of thought, the governor and his advisers considered the flemish movement as the outcome of internal dissensions between walloons and flemings, and hoped that, by encouraging the flemings, they would succeed in dividing the country and in securing the protectorate of flanders. first the creation of a flemish university in ghent, replacing the french university, absorbed the attention of the german administration. having secured the support of a few extreme "flamingants" known as "activists" and completed the professorial board with foreigners, they hastily inaugurated the new institution ( ). to their great surprise, all flemish organizations protested indignantly against this action, contending that the occupying power had no right to interfere in internal policy. the next step was a series of decrees establishing administrative separation, with two capitals at namur and brussels and a complete division of government offices between the flemish and walloon districts of the country. this measure failed like the first, owing to the patriotic resistance of the belgian officials and the inability of the germans to replace them, and long before they were obliged to evacuate the country the germans had given up the hope of mastering the absurd and unscientific decision of walloons and flemings alike to remain one people, as history had made them. professor van der linden has given to his valuable work on belgian history the sub-title of _the making of a nation_, and shown conclusively how the present institutions of belgium are the result of various contributions from the middle ages to the present time. but a book on belgian history might just as aptly be called _the resistance of a nation_, since history tells us not only how the monument was built, but also how it was not destroyed in spite of the most adverse circumstances. from that point of view, belgium may indeed be considered as the embodiment of steadfastness, rather than that of sheer heroism. she has succeeded in preserving, far more than in acquiring. from her fifteenth century frontiers she has been reduced to her present limited boundaries, which, nevertheless, contain all the elements of her past and present genius. she sacrificed territory, centuries of independence, long periods of prosperity, but she remained essentially one people and one land, a small people on a small land, combining the genius of two races and two languages and acting as a natural intermediary between the great nations of europe. her history, up to her last fight, is nothing but the struggle of a nation to assert her right to live, in spite of her weakness, in the midst of great military powers. unity, first constituted in the fifteenth century, is at once endangered by the rule of a foreign dynasty. during the first part of the sixteenth century the two influences, national and foreign, contend in the counsels of the nation. the latter tendency prevails, and, though remaining nominally independent in regional matters, the country passes under foreign rule. when, in the beginning of the nineteenth century, after the failure of several insurrections under the austrian and french régimes, independence is finally granted, and when a new dynasty is at last inaugurated as a symbol of national unity, belgium remains nevertheless under foreign tutelage. her independence is bought at the price of neutrality; and it is only after the violation of this guaranteed neutrality by two of the foremost powers which established it that the cycle of belgium's trials comes to an end and that she is allowed to exert her sovereign rights in external as well as internal affairs. [_treaty of versailles_] some may consider that belgium has not reaped important advantages from the treaty of versailles, and may be inclined to compare the small territories of the walloon districts of eupen and malmédy with the efforts made during the last few years. but, quite apart from economic indemnities, which may prove a great asset if they materialize, belgium has conquered a far more valuable possession than any territory could give. for the first time in modern history she has received full recognition. she is at last allowed to make friends with her friends and to beware of her enemies, if she has any reason to fear them. through the bitter struggle of the last few years belgium has conquered what other nations might consider as their birthright--the right to be herself, the master of her fate, the captain of her soul. it becomes more and more apparent to foreign consciousness that her future is bound up with that of europe. her welfare will be europe's welfare, her ruin, the ruin of western civilization and christianity. unless through the league of nations, or through any other means, justice prevails in international relations, the history of her tribulations is not yet closed, for only under a régime of justice may the weak hope to live in freedom and in peace. among the pantheon of monuments erected by modern belgium to the heroes of her past history, the stranger will find, with some surprise, in the midst of the place royale in brussels, an equestrian statue of godfrey of bouillon, who, nine centuries ago, sold his land to join the first crusade, and who refused to wear a crown of gold where his saviour had worn a crown of thorns. quite close stands the palace where another belgian prince returned lately, after four years' incessant labour at the side of his soldiers amid the sodden fields of flanders. there is a great contrast between the civilization of the eleventh and that of the twentieth century, between the great adventure sought by the old crusaders and the great war forced on western europe, between the mystic idealism of the middle ages and the practical idealism of modern times. on both occasions, however, belgium was placed in the van, and found in godfrey iv and albert i two leaders whose courage and dignity will stand as the purest symbol of chivalry and national honour. index administration, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , aerschot, duke of, agadir, , agriculture, , , , , , , , , , , aix-la-chapelle, , , treaty of, , alba, duke of, , , , albert, archduke, , , , , , , , , , , , albert i, , , , algeciras, alost, , , , alsace-- house of, philip of, , , , thierry of, , , amiens, peace of, anabaptism, , , anjou, duke of, , , , , , anneessens, françois, antoine of burgundy, , antwerp, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , camp of, , , , , cathedral, , , fall of, lutheranism, monuments, , , school of, , , treaty of, _see_ barriers architecture, , , , , , , , , , , , ardennes, , armada, armentières, , , army defences, , , , arnolfini, arras, , , , , , , , bishopric, , , , , confederation of, , , peace of, , union of, , art, , , , , , , , , , , , - , , - augsburg league, , austrasia, baden, treaty of, baertsoen, baldwin i, iron arm, baldwin ii, baldwin iv, the bearded, baldwin v, , , baldwin vi of flanders and i of hainault, , baldwin vii of flanders and of hainault, baldwin viii of flanders and v of hainault, , baldwin ii, count of guines, banning, emile, , barriers, , , treaty of the, bases of separation, , , bastille, taking of the, , beauneveu, andré, , beggards, béguines, , , , , beggars, , , of religion, of state, sea, belfries, , , , , belgæ, belgica secunda, , , belgiojioso, count of, , belgo-romans, , , bergh, henry, count of, , berlaymont, charles de, , , berlin, congress of, bilingualism, , , , , , , , , , , bishoprics and bishops, , , , , bismarck, , , blondeel, lancelot, boendaele, jean, bois-le-duc, , , , bollandists, bollandus, boulanger, henri, bouts, thierry, bouvines, brabançonne revolution, _see_ revolution breda, , , , congress of, bréderode, , breughel, peter, , , , , brialmont, general, , broederlam, melchior, brotherhood of the active love of my neighbour, brothers of the common life, , , , , bruges, , , , , , , , - , , , , , , , , belfry, , , chapelle du saint sang, churches, , palais de justice, statues, , town hall, , bruno, , brussels, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , industry, , , palais de justice, st. gudule, statues, , , town hall, , , union of, , , burgundy, house of, , , calais, calvinism, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , cambrai, , bishopric, , , , , , , peace of, treaty of, , cambraisis, campin, robert, campo formio, treaty of, capuchins, , caroline concession, carolingian dynasty, , , , carthusians, casement, roger, , casimir, john, casimir, duke albert, , cateau-cambraisis, treaty of, catholics, catholicism, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , cauldron, war of the, celtic, , centralization, , , , , , , , charlemagne, , , , , , , charleroi, , , charles, archduke, charles de lorraine, , , charles, duke, charles the bald, charles the bold, , , , , , , , charles the fat, , charles the good, charles v, , - , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , charles ii of spain, , , charles iii of spain and vi of austria, , , , chastellain, , chazal, baron, chepy, chièvres, , , , christianity, christianization, , , , , , cistercians, , clodion, cloth hall, _see_ halles clovis, clunisians, , coal wood, , , , , , , cockerill, john, , cockerill, william, cologne, bishopric, , , communes, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , compromise of the nobles, , , concordat, conecte, thomas, confederation of arras, _see_ arras conference, the london, , , congo, , - campaign, conscience, henri, consulta, , council of blood, , , council of brabant, council of state, , , , , , , council of trent, council of troubles, , , courtens, courtrai, , battle of, , crusade, , , d'alton, general, , damme, , daret, jacques, de braekeleer, henri, de broqueville, de coninck, , , de coster, , de groux, de lalaing, _see_ lalaing de la marck, erard, , de la marck, robert, de la pasture, roger, _see_ van der weyden de ligne, charles joseph, , de mérode, , de paepe, césar, de potter, de witt, , dietschen, _see_ thiois dijon, , , dinant, , , sack of, dixmude, don juan, , , , , douai, , , , university, downs, battle of the, dufay, guillaume, dumouriez, , , , dunes, battle of the, dunkirk, , , , , duplice, edict of marche, edit perpétuel, education, , , , , , , , , , egmont, count of, , , , , , egmont count, entente cordiale, erasmus, ernest, archduke, eupen and malmédy, , exchange, , , , , , farnese, alex., duke of parma, , , , , , , , , , ferdinand, cardinal infant, ferrand of portugal, feudalism, , , , , , finance, , , , , , , , , , flemings, , , flemish movement, , fleurus, , fontainebleau, treaty of, fontenoy, francis i of france, , , , francis ii, , , franco-prussian war, , , franks, , invasion, , , salian, frédéric, léon, french fury, revolution, _see_ revolution frère-orban, froissart, jean, furnes, , , gavere, gelder, , duke of, gérard de brogne, , , gérard de groote, , , general council of the low countries, germania, inferior, , , , germanic, , , germanization, gertrude, of holland, gezelle, guido, ghent, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , belfry, , churches, , , halle, industry, , , , , , pacification of, - , , , revolt, statues, , treaty, university, , , giles de binche, gilsoul, gislebert, gladstone, godfrey, of bouillon, , , , , godfrey of verdun, godfrey the bearded, godfrey the hunchback, golden fleece, order of, , golden spurs, battle of, _see_ courtrai gorcum, , grand alliance, granvelle, bishop of arras, , gravelines, great privilege, , , , guilds, , , , - , guinegate, , hague, the, treaty of the, , , halles, , , , , , hansa, hanseatic, , , , hapsburg, , , , , , , , , , , hennequin of liége, , henry iii, duke of brabant, hoffmann, melchior, horn, count of, , , , hôtel de ville, _see_ town halls huguenot, , humanism, , , , hundred years' war, huy, , , iconclasts, , , , , , industry, , , , , , , , , , , , , china, cloth, , , , , , , , , coal, , , , copper-working, distilling, dyeing, glass, , lacemaking, , linen, , , , metal and mining, , , , , , , , papermaking, spinning, , silk, tapestry, , , , , wool, , , , , , , , , , , inquisition, , , , , , , , invasion-- frankish, , , german, norman, investitures, struggle of, , , isabella, archduchess, , , , , , , , , , italianizants, , , jemappes, jesuits, , , , , , , john the fearless, , , john i of brabant, john iv of brabant, jordaens, jacques, , , , joseph ii, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , josquin des prés, joyous entry of brabant, , , , , , , justice, , , , , , , kermesses, , la brielle, laermans, eugène, lalaing, count of, lalaing, j. de, lambeaux, lambermont, baron, lambert d'ardres, lambert le bègue, lambert of louvain, language limit, , , , , , (_see_ bilingualism) league of nations, lebeau, le bel, jean, leipzig, battle of, lemaire, jean, lemonnier, camille, leopold ii of austria, , leopold i of belgium, , , , , , leopold ii of belgium, , , , , , , - leys, henri, liége, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , bishopric, , , , , , university, lille, , , , , , , limburg, , , , , lipsius, justus, literature, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , lotharingia, , , , , , lotharius i, lotharius ii, , louis, buonaparte, louis the germanic, louis de mâle, , , louis philippe d'orléans, , , louis xiii, louis xiv, , - louis xvi, , louvain, , , , , , , , , , town hall, , , university, , , , , luther, lutheranism, , , , , luxemburg, , , , , , , , , mabuse (jean gossaert), madrid, treaty of, , maeseyck, maestricht, , , , , , , , , , bishopric, fall of, maeterlinck, maurice, malcontents, , , , malines, , , , , , , , , , , , , malplaquet, manicheans, mansfeld, count of, , margaret of austria, , , , , , , , , , , , , marguerite of parma, , , , , , , maria theresa, , , , , , , , , , marie d'oignies, marlborough, duke of, , , marnix, de, , , , mary of burgundy, , , , , , , , mary of hungary, , , , , massys, j., matsys, quentin, matthias, archduke, maximilian, , , , , , , , , , , , , , maximilian ii, maximilian emmanuel of bavaria, , , , mazarin, memling, , , , menapii, , , mendicant orders-- franciscans, dominicans, merchant adventurers, merovingian dynasty, , meunier, constantin, molinet, jean, monarchomaques, , monasteries, , , , , , , , , , mons, , , monstrelet, morel, , moresnet, morini, mousket, philippe, muhlberg, münster, , treaty of, , , , , , , , , music, , , namur, , , , , nancy, napoleon i, , , napoleon iii, , , , nassau, nassau, frederick henry of, nassau, louis of, , , , , nassau, maurice of, , , , nassau, william of, _see_ orange national congress, navigation and harbours, , , , , , , , neerwinden, , nény, count de, nervii, neustria, neutrality, , - , nieuport, , nivardus, nivelles, , normans, , notger, nothomb, noyon-- bishopric, , treaty of, nymegen, treaty of, ockeghem, jean, orange, house of, orange, william of (the silent), , , , - , - , , - orange, william iii of england, , , orange, william i of the netherlands, , , , , , , , , , ostend, , , , , company, , siege of, otto, oudenarde, , , , , , battle of, party-- catholic, , , , , , labour, liberal, , , , , liberal catholic, peter the hermit, philip the bold, , , , philip the good, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , philip i (the handsome), , , , , , , , , philip ii, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , philip iii, philip iv, , , , pichegru, pieter christus, pillnitz, declaration of, placards, , , , , , plessiz-lez-tours, treaty of, , poelaert, pol de limburg, population, , , , , , , pragmatic sanction, , , prié, marquis de, printing, , protestantism, , , , , , , , , , pyrenees, treaty of the, , races, radewyn, florent, ramillies, rastadt, treaty of, ratisbon, truce of, récollets, , reformation, , , , , counter, , régner of hainault, régner, long neck, , reichenbach, convention of, renaissance, , , , , , , , , renesse, rené de, requesens, louis de zuniga y, , , revolution-- brabançonne, , , , , french, , - , , , richelieu, , , richilda of hainault, risquons tout, robert the frisian, robert ii, , rogier, , rolin, chancellor, , roman conquest, roman culture, , romanization, roman road, , rubens, , , , , , , , ruremonde, ruysbroeck, jean de, ruysbroeck, jan, ryswyck, peace of, st. amand, , , schools of, monastery of, st. bartholomew, massacre of, st. eloi, st. hubert, st. lambert, st. omer, , st. quentin, st. remacle, st. ursula, saxons, scrap of paper, _see_ treaty of xxiv articles sedan, senlis, nicolas de, peace of, , silva carbonaria, _see_ coal wood sluis, , sluter, claus, , smits, jacob, spanish fury, spanish succession, war of the, spinola, ambrose, , , states general, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , sustershuysen, stevens, joseph, talleyrand, teniers, , térouanne, bishopric, thierry, bouts, _see_ bouts thierry maertens, , thierry of alsace, _see_ alsace thierry of st. trond, thiois, , , , thirty years' war, , , tongres, bishopric, , , , tournai, , , , , , , , , , , , , bishopric, , , frankish capital, belfry, siege of, taking of, tournaisis, town halls, , , , , , , toxandria, trade, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , trafalgar, battle of, transaction of augsburg, transport, , , treaty of xviii articles, , of xxiv articles, , , , , , , trèves, bishopric, triple alliance, , , triplice, turenne, unity, national, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , - universities, , , , utrecht, bishopric, , , treaty of, , , union of, , valenciennes, , , , , , , , jean de, van artevelde, jacques, , , van der goes, hughes, van der linden, van der noot, - , van der stappen, van der weyden, , , van de weyer, van dyck, , van eyck, , , , , , , , , van ghent, justus, van helmont, van josse, van maerlant, , , , , , van thienen, veldener, jean, venloo, , , treaty of, verdun-- treaty, second treaty, , verhaeren, emile, versailles, treaty of, verwée, vienna-- congress of, , , , , treaty of, , , viglius d'ayetta, , voltaire, , von bissing, , , vonck, vonckists, , , , , , , , , wala, , , walloon league, walloons, , , , wappers, g., war of the peasants, , , waterloo, battle of, willem, , willems, jan frans, william ii of germany, , woeringen, battle of, ypres, , , , , , , , , , , yser, battle of the, , zeebrugge canal, zutphen, , , zwyn, , , _printed in great britain by_ unwin brothers, limited london and woking the story of the nations . =rome.= by arthur gilman, m.a. . =the jews.= by prof. j.k. hosmer. . =germany.= by rev. s. baring-gould, m.a. . =carthage.= by prof. alfred j. church. . =alexander's empire.= by prof. j.p. mahaffy. . =the moors in spain.= by stanley lane-poole. . =ancient egypt.= by prof. george rawlinson. . =hungary.= by prof. arminius vambery . =the saracens.= by arthur gilman, m.a. . =ireland.= by the hon. emily lawless. . =chaldea.= by zÉnaÏde a. ragozin. . =the goths.= by henry bradley. . =assyria.= by zÉnaÏde a. ragozin. . =turkey.= by stanley lane-poole. . =holland.= by prof. j.e. thorold rogers. . =mediæval france.= by gustave masson. . =persia.= by s.g.w. benjamin. . =phoenicia.= by prof. g. rawlinson. . =media.= by zÉnaÏde a. ragozin. . =the hansa towns.= by helen zimmern. . =early britain.= by prof. alfred j. church. . =the barbary corsairs.= by stanley lane-poole. . =russia.= by w.r. morfill, m.a. . =the jews under the romans.= by w.d. morrison. . =scotland.= by john mackintosh, ll.d. . =switzerland.= by mrs. lina hug and r. stead. . =mexico.= by susan hale. . =portugal.= by h. morse stephens. . =the normans.= by sarah orme jewett. . =the byzantine empire.= by c.w.c. oman. . =sicily: phoenician, greek and roman.= by the prof. e.a. freeman. . =the tuscan republics.= by bella duffy. . =poland.= by w.r. morfill, m.a. . =parthia.= by prof. george rawlinson. . =the australian commonwealth.= by greville tregarthen. . =spain.= by h.e. watts. . =japan.= by david murray, ph.d. . =south africa.= by george m. theal. . =venice.= by alethea wiel. . =the crusades.= by t.a. archer and c.l. kingsford. . =vedic india.= by z.a. ragozin. . =the west indies and the spanish main.= by james rodway. . =bohemia.= by c. edmund maurice. . =the balkans.= by w. miller, m.a. . =canada.= by sir j.g. bourinot, ll.d. . =british india.= by r.w. frazer, ll.b. . =modern france.= by andrÉ le bon. . =the franks.= by lewis sergeant. . =austria.= by sidney whitman. . =modern england.= before the reform bill. by justin mccarthy. . =china.= by prof. r.k. douglas. . =modern england.= from the reform bill to the present time. by justin mccarthy. . =modern spain.= by martin a.s. hume. . =modern italy.= by pietro orsi. . =norway.= by h.h. boyesen. . =wales.= by o.m. edwards. . =mediæval rome.= by w. miller, m.a. . =the papal monarchy.= by william barry, d.d. . =mediæval india under mohammedan rule.= by stanley lane-poole. . =buddhist india.= by prof. t.w. rhys-davids. . =parliamentary england.= by edward jenks, m.a. . =mediæval england.= by mary bateson. . =the coming of parliament.= by l. cecil jane. . =the story of greece.= from the earliest times to a.d. . by e.s. shuckburgh. . =the story of the roman empire.= (b.c. to a.d. .) by h. stuart jones. . =denmark and sweden=, with iceland and finland. by jon stefansson, ph.d. . =belgium.= from the roman invasion to the present day. by emile cammaerts. london: t. fisher unwin, ltd., adelphi terrace * * * * * transcriber's note i. in the caption of the illustration in the original text the name is spelt "breugghel". history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- volume iv. by john lothrop motley chapter xxxviii. military events--aggressive movement of the netherlanders--state of the archdukes provinces--mutiny of the spanish forces--proposed invasion of flanders by the states-general--disembarkation of the troops on the spanish coasts--capture of oudenburg and other places --surprise of nieuport--conduct of the archduke--oudenburg and the other forts re-taken--dilemma of the states' army--attack of the archduke on count ernest's cavalry--panic and total overthrow of the advance-guard of the states' army--battle of nieuport--details of the action--defeat of the spanish army--results of the whole expedition. the effect produced in the republic by the defensive and uneventful campaigning of the year had naturally been depressing. there was murmuring at the vast amount of taxation, especially at the new imposition of one-half per cent. upon all property, and two-and-a-half per cent. on all sales, which seemed to produce so few results. the successful protection of the isle of bommel and the judicious purchase of the two forts of crevecoeur and st. andrew; early in the following year, together with their garrisons, were not military events of the first magnitude, and were hardly enough to efface the mortification felt at the fact that the enemy had been able so lately to construct one of those strongholds within the territory of the commonwealth. it was now secretly determined to attempt an aggressive movement on a considerable scale, and to carry the war once for all into the heart of the obedient provinces. it was from flanders that the spanish armies drew a great portion of their supplies. it was by the forts erected on the coast of flanders in the neighbourhood of ostend that this important possession of the states was rendered nearly valueless. it was by privateers swarming from the ports of flanders, especially from nieuport and dunkirk, that the foreign trade of the republic was crippled, and its intercommunications by river and estuary rendered unsafe. dunkirk was simply a robbers' cave, a station from which an annual tax was levied upon the commerce of the netherlands, almost sufficient, had it been paid to the national treasury instead of to the foreign freebooters, to support the expenses of a considerable army. on the other hand the condition of the archdukes seemed deplorable. never had mutiny existed before in so well-organised and definite a form even in the spanish netherlands. besides those branches of the "italian republic," which had been established in the two fortresses of crevecoeur and st. andrew, and which had already sold themselves to the states, other organisations quite as formidable existed in various other portions of the obedient provinces. especially at diest and thionville the rebellious spaniards and italians were numbered by thousands, all veterans, well armed, fortified in strong cities; and supplying themselves with perfect regularity by contributions levied upon the peasantry, obeying their eletto and other officers with exemplary promptness; and paying no more heed to the edicts or the solicitations of the archduke than if he had been the duke of muscovy. the opportunity seemed tempting to strike a great blow. how could albert and isabella, with an empty exchequer and a mutinous army, hope either to defend their soil from attack or to aim a counter blow at the republic, even if, the republic for a season should be deprived of a portion of its defenders? the reasoning was plausible, the prize tempting. the states-general, who habitually discountenanced rashness, and were wont to impose superfluous restraints upon the valiant but discreet lewis william, and upon the deeply pondering but energetic maurice, were now grown as ardent as they had hitherto been hesitating. in the early days of june it was determined in secret session to organize a great force in holland and zeeland, and to embark suddenly for nieuport, to carry that important position by surprise or assault, and from that basis to redeem dunkirk. the possession of these two cities, besides that of ostend, which had always been retained by the republic, would ensure the complete subjugation of flanders. the trifling force of two thousand men under rivas--all that the archduke then had in that province--and the sconces and earthworks which had been constructed around ostend to impede the movements and obstruct the supplies of the garrison, would be utterly powerless to prevent the consummation of the plan. flanders once subjugated, it would not be long before the spaniards were swept from the obedient netherlands as thoroughly as they had been from the domains of the commonwealth, and all the seventeen provinces, trampling out every vestige of a hated foreign tyranny, would soon take their natural place as states of a free; prosperous, and powerful union. but maurice of nassau did not share the convictions of the states-general. the unwonted ardour of barneveld did not inflame his imagination. he urged that the enterprise was inexcusably rash; that its execution would require the whole army of the states, except the slender garrisons absolutely necessary to protect important places from surprise; that a defeat would not be simply disaster, but annihilation; that retreat without absolute triumph would be impossible, and that amid such circumstances the archduke, in spite of his poverty and the rebellious condition of his troops, would doubtless assemble a sufficient force to dispute with reasonable prospects of victory, this invasion of his territory. sir francis vere, too, was most decidedly opposed to the plan. he pointed out with great clearness its dangerous and possibly fatal character; assuring the staten that, within a fortnight after the expedition had begun, the archduke would follow upon their heels with an army fully able to cope with the best which they could put into the field. but besides this experienced and able campaigner, who so thoroughly shared the opinions of prince maurice, every military man in the provinces of any consideration, was opposed to, the scheme. especially lewis william--than whom no more sagacious military critic or accomplished strategist existed in europe, denounced it with energy and even with indignation. it was, in the opinion of the young stadholder of friesland, to suspend the existence of the whole commonwealth upon a silken thread. even success, he prophesied, would bring no permanent, fruits, while the consequences of an overthrow, were fearful to contemplate. the immediate adherents and most trusted counsellors of william lewis were even more unmeasured in their denunciations than he was himself. "'tis all the work of barneveld and the long-gowns," cried everard van reyd. "we are led into a sack from which there is no extrication. we are marching to the caudine forks." certainly it is no small indication of the vast influence and the indomitable resolution of barneveld that he never faltered in this storm of indignation. the advocate had made up his mind to invade flanders and to capture nieuport; and the decree accordingly went forth, despite all opposition. the states-general were sovereign, and the advocate and the states-general were one. it was also entirely characteristic of maurice that he should submit his judgment on this great emergency to that of olden-barneveld. it was difficult for him to resist the influence of the great intellect to which he had always willingly deferred in affairs of state, and from which; even in military matters, it was hardly possible for him to escape. yet in military matters maurice was a consummate professor, and the advocate in comparison but a school-boy. the ascendency of barneveld was the less wholesome, therefore, and it might have been better had the stadholder manifested more resolution. but maurice had not a resolute character. thorough soldier as he was, he was singularly vacillating, at times almost infirm of purpose, but never before in his career had this want of decision manifested itself in so striking a manner. accordingly the states-general, or in other words john of olden-barneveld proposed to invade flanders, and lay siege, to nieuport. the states-general were sovereign, and maurice bowed to their authority. after the matter had been entirely decided upon the state-council was consulted, and the state-council attempted no opposition to the project. the preparations were made with matchless energy and extraordinary secrecy. lewis william, who meanwhile was to defend the eastern frontier of the republic against any possible attack, sent all the troops that it was possible to spare; but he sent, them with a heavy heart. his forebodings were dismal. it seemed to him that all was about to be staked upon a single cast of the dice. moreover it was painful to him while the terrible game, was playing to be merely a looker on and a prophet of evil from a distance, forbidden to contribute by his personal skill and experience to a fortunate result. hohenlo too was appointed to protect the southern border, and was excluded from, all participation in the great expedition. as to the enemy, such rumors as might came to them from day to day of mysterious military, preparations on the part of the rebels only served to excite suspicion in others directions. the archduke was uneasy in, regard to the rhine and the gueldrian; quarter, but never dreamt of a hostile descent upon the flemish coast. meantime, on the th june maurice of nassau made his appearance at castle rammekens, not far from flushing, at the mouth of the scheld, to superintend the great movement. so large a fleet as was there assembled had never before been seen or heard of in christendom. of war-ships, transports, and flat-bottomed barges there were at least thirteen hundred. many eye-witnesses, who counted however with their imaginations, declared that there were in all at least three thousand vessels, and the statement has been reproduced by grave and trustworthy chroniclers. as the number of troops to be embarked upon the enterprise certainly did not exceed fourteen thousand, this would have been an allowance of one vessel to every five soldiers, besides the army munitions and provisions--a hardly reasonable arrangement. twelve thousand infantry and sixteen hundred cavalry, the consummate flower of the states' army, all well-paid, well-clad, well-armed, well-disciplined veterans, had been collected in this place of rendezvous and were ready to embark. it would be unjust to compare the dimensions of this force and the preparations for ensuring the success of the enterprise with the vast expeditions and gigantic armaments of later times, especially with the tremendous exhibitions of military and naval energy with which our own civil war has made us familiar. maurice was an adept in all that science and art had as yet bequeathed to humanity for the purpose of human' destruction, but the number of his troops was small compared to the mighty hosts which the world since those days has seen embattled. war, as a trade, was then less easily learned. it was a guild in which apprenticeship was difficult, and in which enrolment was usually for life. a little republic of scarce three million souls, which could keep always on foot a regular well-appointed army of twenty-five thousand men and a navy of one or two hundred heavily armed cruisers, was both a marvel and a formidable element in the general polity of the world. the lesson to be derived both in military and political philosophy from the famous campaign of nieuport does not depend for its value on the numbers of the ships or soldiers engaged in the undertaking. otherwise, and had it been merely a military expedition like a thousand others which have been made and forgotten, it would not now deserve more than a momentary attention. but the circumstances were such as to make the issue of the impending battle one of the most important in human history. it was entirely possible that an overwhelming defeat of the republican forces on this foreign expedition would bring with it an absolute destruction of the republic, and place spain once more in possession of the heretic "islands," from which basis she would menace the very existence of england more seriously than she had ever done before. who could measure the consequences to christendom of such a catastrophe? the distance from the place where the fleet and army were assembled to nieuport--the objective point of the enterprise--was but thirty-five miles as the crow flies. and the crow can scarcely fly in a straighter line than that described by the coast along which the ships were to shape their course. and here it is again impossible not to reflect upon the change which physical science has brought over the conduct of human affairs. we have seen in a former chapter a most important embassy sent forth from the states for the purpose of preventing the consummation of a peace between their ally and their enemy. celerity was a vital element in the success of such a mission; for the secret negotiations which it was intended to impede were supposed to be near their termination. yet months were consumed in a journey which in our day would have been accomplished in twenty-four hours. and now in this great military expedition the essential and immediate purpose was to surprise a small town almost within sight from the station at which the army was ready to embark. such a midsummer voyage in this epoch of steam-tugs and transports would require but a few hours. yet two days long the fleet lay at anchor while a gentle breeze blew persistently from the south-west. as there seemed but little hope that the wind would become more favourable, and as the possibility of surprise grew fainter with every day's delay, it was decided to make a landing upon the nearest point of flemish coast placed by circumstances within their reach: count ernest of nassau; with the advance-guard, was accordingly, despatched on the st june to the neighbourhood of the sas-of ghent, where he seized a weakly guarded fort, called philippine, and made thorough preparations, for the arrival of the whole army. on the following day the rest of the troops made their appearance, and in the course of five hours were safely disembarked. the army, which consisted of zeelanders, frisians, hollanders, walloons, germans, english, and scotch, was divided into three corps. the advance was under the command of count ernest, the battalia under that of count george everard solms, while the rear-guard during the march was entrusted to that experienced soldier sir francis vere. besides prince maurice, there were three other members of the house of nassau serving in the expedition--his half-brother frederic henry, then a lad of sixteen, and the two brothers of the frisian stadholder, ernest and lewis gunther, whom lewis william had been so faithfully educating in the arts of peace and war both by precept and example. lewis gunther, still a mere youth, but who had been the first to scale the fort of cadiz, and to plant on its height the orange banner of the murdered rebel, and whose gallantry during the whole expedition had called forth the special commendations of queen elizabeth--expressed in energetic and affectionate terms to his father--now commanded all the cavalry. certainly if the doctrine of primordial selection could ever be accepted among human creatures, the race of nassau at that day might have seemed destined to be chiefs of the netherland soil. old john of nassau, ardent and energetic as ever in the cause of the religious reformation of germany and the liberation of holland, still watched from his retirement the progress of the momentous event. four of his brethren, including the great founder of the republic, had already laid down their lives for the sacred cause. his son philip had already fallen under the banner in the fight of bislich, and three other sons were serving the republic day and night, by sea and land, with sword, and pen, and purse, energetically, conscientiously, and honourably. of the stout hearts and quick intellects on which the safety of the commonwealth then depended, none was more efficient or true than the accomplished soldier and statesman lewis william. thoroughly disapproving of the present invasion of flanders, he was exerting himself, now that it had been decided upon by his sovereigns the states-generals, with the same loyalty as that of maurice, to bring it to a favourable issue, although not personally engaged in the adventure. so soon as the troops had been landed the vessels were sent off as expeditiously as possible, that none might fall into, the enemy's hands; the transports under a strong convoy of war-ships having been directed to proceed as fast as the wind would permit in the direction of nieuport. the march then began. on the rd they advanced a league and halted for the night at assenede. the next day brought them three leagues further, to a place called eckerloo. on the th they marched to male, a distance of three leagues and a half, passing close to the walls of bruges, in which they had indulged faint hopes of exciting an insurrection, but obtained nothing but a feeble cannonade from the fortifications which did no damage except the killing of one muleteer. the next night was passed at jabbeke, four leagues from male, and on the th, after marching another league, they came before the fort of oudenburg. this important post on the road which the army would necessarily traverse in coming from the interior to the coast was easily captured and then strongly garrisoned. maurice with the main army spent the two following days at the fortress, completing his arrangements. solms was sent forward to seize the sconces and redoubts of the enemy around ostend, at breedene, snaaskerk, plassendaal, and other points, and especially to occupy the important fort called st. albert, which was in the downs at about a league from that city. all this work was thoroughly accomplished; little or no resistance having been made to the occupation of these various places. meantime the states-general, who at the special request of maurice were to accompany the expedition in order to observe the progress of events for which they were entirely responsible, and to aid the army when necessary by their advice and co-operation, had assembled to the number of thirteen in ostend. solms having strengthened the garrison of that place then took up his march along the beach to nieuport. during the progress of the army through holland and zeeland towards its place of embarkation there had been nothing but dismal prognostics, with expressions of muttered indignation, wherever the soldiers passed. it seemed to the country people, and to the inhabitants of every town and village, that their defenders were going to certain destruction; that the existence of the commonwealth was hanging by a thread soon to be snapped asunder. as the forces subsequently marched from the sas of ghent towards the flemish coast there was no rising of the people in their favour, and although maurice had issued distinct orders that the peasantry were to be dealt with gently and justly, yet they found neither peasants nor villagers to deal with at all. the whole population on their line of march had betaken themselves to the woods, except the village sexton of jabbeke and his wife, who were too old to run. lurking in the thickets and marshes, the peasants fell upon all stragglers from the army and murdered them without mercy--so difficult is it in times of civil war to make human brains pervious to the light of reason. the stadholder and his soldiers came to liberate their brethren of the same race, and speaking the same language, from abject submission to a foreign despotism. the flemings had but to speak a word, to lift a finger, and all the netherlands, self-governed, would coalesce into one independent confederation of states, strong enough to defy all the despots of europe. alas! the benighted victims of superstition hugged their chains, and preferred the tyranny under which their kindred had been tortured, burned, and buried alive for half-a-century long, to the possibility of a single calvinistic conventicle being opened in any village of obedient flanders. so these excellent children of philip and the pope, whose language was as unintelligible to them as it was to peruvians or iroquois, lay in wait for the men who spoke their own mother tongue, and whose veins were filled with their own blood, and murdered them, as a sacred act of duty. retaliation followed as a matter of course, so that the invasion of flanders, in this early stage of its progress, seemed not likely to call forth very fraternal feelings between the two families of netherlanders. the army was in the main admirably well supplied, but there was a deficiency of drink. the water as they advanced became brackish and intolerably bad, and there was great difficulty in procuring any substitute. at male three cows were given for a pot of beer, and more of that refreshment might have been sold at the same price, had there been any sellers. on the th june maurice marched from oudenburg, intending to strike a point called niewendam--a fort in the neighbourhood of nieuport--and so to march along the walls of that city and take up his position immediately in its front. he found the ground, however, so marshy and impracticable as he advanced, that he was obliged to countermarch, and to spend that night on the downs between forts isabella and st. albert. on the st july he resumed his march, and passing a bridge over a small stream at a place called leffingen, laying down a road as he went with sods and sand, and throwing bridges over streams and swamps, he arrived in the forenoon before nieuport. the fleet had reached the roadstead the same morning. this was a strong, well-built, and well-fortified little city, situate half-a-league from the sea coast on low, plashy ground. at high water it was a seaport, for a stream or creek of very insignificant dimensions was then sufficiently filled by the tide to admit vessels of considerable burthen. this haven was immediately taken possession of by the stadholder, and two-thirds of his army were thrown across to the western side of the water, the troops remaining on the ostend side being by a change of arrangement now under command of count ernest. thus the army which had come to surprise nieuport had, after accomplishing a distance of nearly forty miles in thirteen days, at last arrived before that place. yet there was no more expeditious or energetic commander in christendom than maurice, nor troops better trained in marching and fighting than his well-disciplined army. it is now necessary to cast a glance towards the interior of flanders, in order to observe how the archduke conducted himself in this emergency. so soon as the news of the landing of the states' army at the port of ghent reached the sovereign's ears, he awoke from the delusion that danger was impending on his eastern border, and lost no time in assembling such troops as could be mustered from far and near to protect the western frontier. especially he despatched messengers well charged with promises, to confer with the authorities of the "italian republic" at diest and thionville. he appealed to them in behalf of the holy catholic religion, he sought to arouse their loyalty to himself and the infanta isabella--daughter of the great and good philip ii., once foremost of earthly potentates, and now eminent among the saints of heaven--by whose fiat he and his wife had now become legitimate sovereigns of all the netherlands. and those mutineers responded with unexpected docility. eight hundred foot soldiers and six hundred cavalry men came forth at the first summons, making but two conditions in addition to the stipulated payment when payment should be possible--that they should be commanded by their own chosen officers, and that they should be placed in the first rank in the impending conflict. the example spread. other detachments of mutineers in various strongholds, scenting the battle from afar, came in with offers to serve in the campaign on similar terms. before the last week of june the archduke had a considerable army on foot. on the th of that month, accompanied by the infanta, he reviewed a force of ten thousand foot and nearly two thousand cavalry in the immediate vicinity of ghent. he addressed them in a few stirring words, reminding them of their duty to the church and to himself, and assuring them--as commanders of every nation and every age are wont to assure their troops at the eve of every engagement--that the cause in which they were going forth to battle was the most sacred and inspiring for which human creatures could possibly lay down their lives. isabella, magnificently attired, and mounted on a white palfrey, galloped along the lines, and likewise made an harangue. she spoke to the soldiers as "her lions," promised them boundless rewards in this world and the next, as the result of the great victory which they were now about to gain over the infidels; while as to their wages, she vowed that, rather than they should remain unpaid, she would sacrifice all her personal effects, even to the plate from which she ate her daily bread, and to the jewels which she wore in her ears. thousands of hoarse voices greeted the eloquence of the archdukes with rude acclamations, while the discharge of arquebus and volleys of cannon testified to the martial ardour with which the troops were inspired; none being more enthusiastic than the late mutineers. the army marched at once, under many experienced leaders--villars, zapena, and avalos among the most conspicuous. the command of the artillery was entrusted to velasco; the marshal-general of the camp was frederic van den berg, in place of the superannuated peter ernest; while the admiral of arragon, francisco de mendoza, "terror of germany and of christendom," a little man with flowing locks, long hooked nose, and a sinister glance from his evil black eyes, was general of the cavalry. the admiral had not displayed very extraordinary genius in his recent campaigning in the rhenish duchies, but his cruelty had certainly been conspicuous. not even alva could have accomplished more murders and other outrages in the same space of time than had been perpetrated by the spanish troops during the infamous winter of - . the assassination of count broeck at his own castle had made more stir than a thousand other homicides of nameless wretches at the same period had done, because the victim had been a man of rank and large possessions, but it now remained to be seen whether mendoza was to gain fresh laurels of any kind in the battle which was probably impending. on the st of july the archduke came before oudenburg. not a soul within that fortress nor in ostend dreamed of an enemy within twenty miles of them, nor had it been supposed possible that a spanish army could take the field for many weeks to come. the states-general at ostend were complacently waiting for the first bulletin from maurice announcing his capture of nieuport and his advance upon dunkirk, according to the program so succinctly drawn up for him, and meantime were holding meetings and drawing up comfortable protocols with great regularity. colonel piron, on his part, who had been left with several companies of veterans to hold oudenburg and the other forts, and to protect the rear of the invading army, was accomplishing that object by permitting a large portion of his force to be absent on foraging parties and general marauding. when the enemy came before oudenburg they met with no resistance. the fort was surrendered at once, and with it fell the lesser sconces of breedene, snaaskerk, and plassendaal--all but the more considerable fort st. albert. the archduke, not thinking it advisable to delay his march by the reduction of this position, and having possession of all the other fortifications around ostend, determined to push forward next morning at daybreak. he had granted favourable terms of surrender to the various garrisons, which, however, did not prevent them from being dearly--every man of them immediately butchered in cold blood. thus were these strong and well-manned redoubts, by which prince maurice had hoped to impede for many days the march of a spanish army--should a spanish army indeed be able to take the field at all--already swept off in an hour. great was the dismay in ostend when colonel piron and a few stragglers brought the heavy news of discomfiture and massacre to the high and mighty states-general in solemn meeting assembled. meanwhile, the states' army before nieuport, not dreaming of any pending interruption to their labours, proceeded in a steady but leisurely manner to invest the city. maurice occupied himself in tracing the lines of encampment and entrenchment, and ordered a permanent bridge to be begun across the narrowest part of the creek, in order that the two parts of his army might not be so dangerously divided from each other as they now were, at high water, by the whole breadth and depth of the harbour. evening came on before much had been accomplished on this first day of the siege. it was scarcely dusk when a messenger, much exhausted and terrified, made his appearance at count ernest's tent. he was a straggler who had made his escape from oudenburg, and he brought the astounding intelligence that the archduke had already possession of that position and of all the other forts. ernest instantly jumped into a boat and had himself rowed, together with the messenger, to the headquarters of prince maurice on the other side of the river. the news was as unexpected as it was alarming. here was the enemy, who was supposed incapable of mischief for weeks to come, already in the field, and planted directly on their communications with ostend. retreat, if retreat were desired, was already impossible, and as to surprising the garrison of nieuport and so obtaining that stronghold as a basis for further aggressive operations, it is very certain that if any man in flanders was more surprised than another at that moment it was prince maurice himself. he was too good a soldier not to see at a glance that if the news brought by the straggler were true, the whole expedition was already a failure, and that, instead of a short siege and an easy victory, a great battle was to be fought upon the sands of nieuport, in which defeat was destruction of the whole army of the republic, and very possibly of the republic itself. the stadholder hesitated. he was prone in great emergencies to hesitate at first, but immovable when his resolution was taken. vere, who was asleep in his tent, was sent for and consulted. most of the generals were inclined to believe that the demonstrations at oudenburg, which had been so successful, were merely a bravado of rivas, the commander of the permanent troops in that district, which were comparatively insignificant in numbers. vere thought otherwise. he maintained that the archduke was already in force within a few hours' march of them, as he had always supposed would be the case. his opinion was not shared by the rest, and he went back to his truckle-bed, feeling that a brief repose was necessary for the heavy work which would soon be upon him. at midnight the englishman was again called from his slumbers. another messenger, sent directly from the states-general at ostend, had made his way to the stadholder. this time there was no possibility of error, for colonel piron had sent the accord with the garrison commanders of the forts which had been so shamefully violated, and which bore the signature of the archduke. it was now perfectly obvious that a pitched battle was to be fought before another sunset, and most anxious were the deliberations in that brief midsummer's night. the dilemma was as grave a one as commander-in-chief had ever to solve in a few hours. a portentous change had come over the prospects of the commonwealth since the arrival of these despatches. but a few hours before, and never had its destiny seemed so secure, its attitude more imposing. the little republic, which spain had been endeavouring forty years long to subjugate, had already swept every spanish soldier out of its territory, had repeatedly carried fire and sword into spain itself, and even into its distant dependencies, and at that moment--after effecting in a masterly manner the landing of a great army in the very face of the man who claimed to be sovereign of all the netherlands, and after marching at ease through the heart of his territory--was preparing a movement, with every prospect of success, which should render the hold of that sovereign on any portion of netherland soil as uncertain and shifting as the sands on which the states army was now encamped. the son of the proscribed and murdered rebel stood at the head of as powerful and well-disciplined an army as had ever been drawn up in line of battle on that blood-stained soil. the daughter of the man who had so long oppressed the provinces might soon be a fugitive from the land over which she had so recently been endowed with perpetual sovereignty. and now in an instant these visions were fading like a mirage. the archduke, whom poverty and mutiny were to render powerless against invasion, was following close up upon the heels of the triumphant army of the stadholder. a decision was immediately necessary. the siege of nieuport was over before it had begun. surprise had failed, assault for the moment was impossible, the manner how best to confront the advancing foe the only question. vere advised that the whole army should at once be concentrated and led without delay against the archduke before he should make further progress. the advice involved an outrageous impossibility, and it seems incredible that it could have been given in good faith; still more amazing that its rejection by maurice should have been bitterly censured. two-thirds of the army lay on the other side of the harbour, and it was high water at about three o'clock. while they were deliberating, the sea was rising, and, so soon as daybreak should make any evolutions possible, they would be utterly prohibited during several hours by the inexorable tide. more time would be consumed by the attempt to construct temporary bridges (for of course little progress had been made in the stone bridge hardly begun) or to make use of boats than in waiting for the falling of the water, and, should the enemy make his appearance while they were engaged in such confusing efforts, the army would be hopelessly lost. maurice, against the express advice of vere, decided to send his cousin ernest, with the main portion of the force established on the right bank of the harbour, in search of the archduke, for the purpose of holding him in check long enough to enable the rest of the army to cross the water when the tide should serve. the enemy, it was now clear, would advance by precisely the path over which the states' army had marched that morning. ernest was accordingly instructed to move with the greatest expedition in order to seize the bridge at leffingen before the archduke should reach the deep, dangerous, and marshy river, over which it was the sole passage to the downs. two thousand infantry, being the scotch regiment of edmonds and the zeelanders of van der noot, four squadrons of dutch cavalry, and two pieces of artillery composed the force with which ernest set forth at a little before dawn on his hazardous but heroic enterprise. with a handful of troops he was to make head against an army, and the youth accepted the task in the cheerful spirit of self-sacrifice which characterized his house. marching as rapidly as the difficult ground would permit, he had the disappointment, on approaching the fatal point at about eight o'clock, to see the bridge at leffingen in the possession of the enemy. maurice had sent off a messenger early that morning with a letter marked post haste (cito, cito) to ostend ordering up some four hundred cavalry-men then stationed in that city under piron and bruges, to move up to the support of ernest, and to destroy the bridge and dams at leffingen before the enemy should arrive. that letter, which might have been so effective, was delivered, as it subsequently appeared, exactly ten days after it was written. the states, of their own authority, had endeavoured to send out those riders towards the scene of action, but it was with great difficulty that they could be got into the saddle at all, and they positively refused to go further than st. albert fort. what course should he now pursue? he had been sent to cut the archduke's road. he had failed. had he remained in his original encampment his force would have been annihilated by the overwhelming numbers of the enemy so soon as they reached the right bank of nieuport haven, while maurice could have only looked hopelessly on from the opposite shore. at least nothing worse than absolute destruction could befal him now. should he accept a combat of six or eight to one the struggle would be hopeless, but the longer it was protracted the better it would be for his main army, engaged at that very moment as he knew in crossing the haven with the ebbing tide. should he retreat, it might be possible for him to escape into fort albert or even ostend, but to do so would be to purchase his own safety and that of his command at the probable sacrifice of the chief army of the republic. ernest hesitated but an instant. coming within carbine-shot of the stream, where he met his cavalry which had been sent forward at full speed, in the vain hope of seizing or destroying the bridge before it should be too late, he took up a position behind a dyke, upon which he placed his two field-pieces, and formed his troops in line of battle exactly across the enemy's path. on the right he placed the regiment of scots. on the left was van der noot's zeeland infantry, garnished with four companies of riders under risoir, which stood near st. mary's church. the passage from the stream to the downs was not more than a hundred yards wide, being skirted on both sides by a swamp. here ernest with his two thousand men awaited the onset of the archduke's army. he was perfectly aware that it was a mere question of time, but he was sure that his preparations must interpose a delay to the advance of the spaniards, should his troops, as he felt confident, behave themselves as they had always done, and that the delay would be of inestimable value to his friends at the haven of nieuport. the archduke paused; for he, too, could not be certain, on observing the resolute front thus presented to him, that he was not about to engage the whole of the states' army. the doubt was but of short duration, however, and the onset was made. ernest's artillery fired four volleys into the advancing battalions with such effect as to stagger them for a moment, but they soon afterwards poured over the dyke in over whelming numbers, easily capturing the cannon. the attack began upon ernest's left, and risoir's cavalry, thinking that they should be cut off from all possibility of retreat into fort st. albert, turned their backs in the most disgraceful manner, without even waiting for the assault. galloping around the infantry on the left they infected the zeelanders with their own cowardice. scarcely a moment passed before van der noot's whole regiment was running away as fast as the troopers, while the scots on the right hesitated not for an instant to follow their example. even before the expected battle had begun, one of those hideous and unaccountable panics which sometimes break out like a moral pestilence to destroy all the virtue of an army, and to sweep away the best-considered schemes of a general, had spread through ernest's entire force. so soon as the demi-cannon had discharged their fourth volley, scots, zeelanders, walloons, pikemen, musketeers, and troopers, possessed by the demon of cowardice, were running like a herd of swine to throw themselves into the sea. had they even kept the line of the downs in the direction of the fort many of them might have saved their lives, although none could have escaped disgrace. but the scots, in an ecstasy of fear, throwing away their arms as they fled, ran through the waters behind the dyke, skimmed over the sands at full speed, and never paused till such as survived the sabre and musket of their swift pursuers had literally drowned themselves in the ocean. almost every man of them was slain or drowned. all the captains--stuart, barclay, murray, kilpatrick, michael, nesbit--with the rest of the company officers, doing their best to rally the fugitives, were killed. the zeelanders, more cautious in the midst of their panic, or perhaps knowing better the nature of the country, were more successful in saving their necks. not more than a hundred and fifty of van der noot's regiment were killed, while such of the cavalry of bruges and piron as had come to the neighbourhood of fort albert, not caring to trust themselves to the shelter of that redoubt, now fled as fast as their horses' legs would carry them, and never pulled bridle till they found themselves in ostend. and so beside themselves with panic were these fugitives, and so virulent was the contagion, that it was difficult to prevent the men who had remained in the fort from joining in the flight towards ostend. many of them indeed threw themselves over the walls and were sabred by the enemy when they might have been safe within the fortifications. had these cavalry companies of bruges and piron been even tolerably self-possessed, had they concentrated themselves in the fort instead of yielding to the delirium which prompted them to participate in their comrades' flight, they would have had it entirely in their power, by making an attack, or even the semblance of an attack, by means of a sudden sally from the fort, to have saved, not the battle indeed, but a large number of lives. but the panic was hopeless and universal, and countless fugitives scrambling by the fort were shot in a leisurely manner by a comparative few of the enemy as easily as the rabbits which swarmed in those sands were often knocked down in multitudes by half-a-dozen sportsmen. and thus a band of patriots, who were not cowards by nature, and who had often played the part of men, had horribly disgraced themselves, and were endangering the very existence of their country, already by mistaken councils brought within the jaws of death. the glory of thermopyla; might have hung for ever over that bridge of leffingen. it was now a pass of infamy, perhaps of fatal disaster. the sands were covered with weapons-sabre, pike, and arquebus--thrown away by almost every soldier as he fled to save the life which after all was sacrificed. the artillery, all the standards and colours, all the baggage and ammunition, every thing was lost. no viler panic, no more complete defeat was ever recorded. such at half-past eight in the morning was that memorable sunday of the nd july, , big with the fate of the dutch republic--the festival of the visitation of the virgin mary, always thought of happy augury for spanish arms. thus began the long expected battle of nieuport. at least a thousand of the choicest troops of the stadholder were slain, while the spanish had hardly lost a man. the archduke had annihilated his enemy, had taken his artillery and thirty flags. in great exultation he despatched a messenger to the infanta at ghent, informing her that he had entirely defeated the advance-guard of the states' army, and that his next bulletin would announce his complete triumph and the utter overthrow of maurice, who had now no means of escape. he stated also that he would very soon send the rebel stadholder himself to her as a prisoner. the infanta, much pleased with the promise, observed to her attendants that she was curious to see how nassau would conduct himself when he should be brought a captive into her presence. as to the catholic troops, they were informed by the archduke that after the complete victory which they were that day to achieve, not a man should be left alive save maurice and his brother frederic henry. these should be spared to grace the conqueror's triumph, but all else should be put to the sword. meantime artillery thundered, bonfires blazed, and bells rang their merriest peals in ghent, bruges, and the other obedient cities as the news of the great victory spread through the land. when the fight was done the archduke called a council of war. it was a grave question whether the army should at once advance in order to complete the destruction of the enemy that day, or pause for an interval that the troops fatigued with hard marching and with the victorious combat in which they just had been engaged, should recover their full strength. that the stadholder was completely in their power was certain. the road to ostend was barred, and nieuport would hold him at bay, now that the relieving army was close upon his heels. all that was necessary in order to annihilate his whole force, was that they should entrench themselves for the night on the road which he must cross. he would then be obliged to assault their works with troops inferior in number to theirs and fatigued by the march. should he remain where he was he would soon be starved into submission, and would be obliged to surrender his whole army. on the other hand, by advancing now, in the intolerable heat of a july sun over the burning and glaring sands, the troops already wearied would arrive on the field of battle utterly exhausted, and would be obliged to attack an enemy freshly and cheerfully awaiting them on ground of his own selection. moreover it was absolutely certain that fort albert would not hold an hour if resolutely assaulted in the midst of the panic of ernest's defeat, and, with its capture, the annihilation of maurice was certain. meantime the three thousand men under velasco, who had been detached to protect the rear, would arrive to reinforce the archduke's main army, should he pause until the next day. these arguments, which had much logic in them, were strongly urged by zapena, a veteran marshal of the camp who had seen much service, and whose counsels were usually received with deference. but on this occasion commanders and soldiers were hot for following up their victory. they cared nothing for the numbers of their enemy, they cried, "the more infidels the greater glory in destroying them." delay might after all cause the loss of the prize, it was eagerly shouted. the archduke ought to pray that the sun might stand still for him that morning, as for joshua in the vale of ajalon. the foe seeing himself entrapped, with destruction awaiting him, was now skulking towards his ships, which still offered him the means of escape. should they give him time he would profit by their negligence, and next morning when they reached nieuport, the birds would be flown. especially the leaders of the mutineers of diest and thionville were hoarse with indignation at the proposed delay. they had not left their brethren, they shouted, nor rallied to the archduke's banner in order to sit down and dig in the sand like ploughmen. there was triumph for the holy church, there was the utter overthrow of the heretic army, there was rich booty to be gathered, all these things were within their reach if they now advanced and smote the rebels while, confused and panic-stricken, they were endeavouring to embark in their ships. while these vehement debates were at the hottest, sails were descried in the offing; for the archduke's forces already stood upon the edge of the downs. first one ship, then another and another, moved steadily along the coast, returning from nieuport in the direction of ostend. this was more than could be borne. it was obvious that the rebels were already making their escape, and it was urged upon the cardinal that probably prince maurice and the other chieftains were on board one of those very vessels, and were giving him the slip. with great expedition it would still be possible to overtake them before the main body could embark, and the attack might yet be made at the most favourable moment. those white sails gleaming in the distance were more eloquent than zapena or any other advocate of delay, and the order was given to advance. and it was exactly at this period that it still lay within the power of the states' cavalry at ostend to partially redeem their character, and to render very effective service. had four or five hundred resolute troopers hung upon the rear of the spanish army now, as it moved toward nieuport, they might, by judiciously skirmishing, advancing and retreating according to circumstances, have caused much confusion, and certainly have so harassed the archduke as to compel the detachment of a very considerable force of his own cavalry to protect himself against such assaults. but the terror was an enduring one. those horsemen remained paralyzed and helpless, and it was impossible for the states, with all their commands or entreaties, to induce them to mount and ride even a half mile beyond the city gates. while these events had been occurring in the neighbourhood of ostend, maurice had not been idle at nieuport. no sooner had ernest been despatched on his desperate errand than his brother lewis gunther was ordered by the stadholder to get on horseback and ride through the quarters of the army. on the previous afternoon there had been so little thought of an enemy that large foraging parties had gone out from camp in all directions, and had not returned. lewis gave notice that a great battle was to be expected on the morrow, instead of the tranquil commencement of a leisurely siege, and that therefore no soul was henceforth to leave the camp, while a troop of horse was despatched at the first gleam of daylight to scour the country in search of all the stragglers. maurice had no thought of retreating, and his first care was to bring his army across the haven. the arrangements were soon completed, but it was necessary to wait until nearly low water. soon after eight o'clock count lewis began to cross with eight squadrons of cavalry, and partly swimming, partly wading, effected the passage in safety. the advanced guard of infantry, under sir francis vere--consisting of two thousand six hundred englishmen, and two thousand eight hundred frisians, with some companies of horse, followed by the battalia under solms, and the rearguard under tempel--then slowly and with difficulty moved along the same dangerous path with the water as high as their armpits, and often rising nearly over their heads. had the archduke not been detained near the bridge of leffingen by ernest's scotchmen and zeelanders during three or four precious hours that morning; had he arrived, as he otherwise might have done, just as the states' army--horse, foot, and artillery--was floundering through that treacherous tide, it would have fared ill for the stadholder and the republic. but the devotion of ernest had at least prevented the attack of the archduke until maurice and his men stood on dry land. dripping from head to foot, but safe and sound, the army had at last reached the beach at nieuport. vere had refused his soldiers permission to denude themselves in crossing of their shoes and lower garments. there was no time for that, he said, and they would either earn new clothes for themselves that day, or never need doublet and hose again any more in the world. some hours had elapsed before the tedious and difficult crossing of infantry, cavalry, artillery, and munition trains had been accomplished. lewis gunther, with eight squadrons of picked cavalry, including his own company, maurice's own, frederic henry's own, with batenburg's arquebus-men, and other veterans, was first to place himself in battle order on the beach. his squadrons in iron corslet and morion, and armed with lances, carbines, and sabres, stretched across from the water to the downs. he had not been long stationed there when he observed that far away in the direction of ostend the beach was growing black with troops. he believed them at first to be his brother ernest and his forces returning victorious from their hazardous expedition, but he was soon undeceived. a couple of troopers from ostend came spurring full gallop along the strand, and almost breathless with dismay, announced that it was the whole army of the archduke advancing in line of battle. they were instantly sent to the rear, without being allowed to speak further, in order that they might deliver their message in private to the commander-in-chief. and most terrible were the tidings to which maurice now listened in very secret audience. ernest was utterly defeated, his command cut to pieces, the triumphant foe advancing rapidly, and already in full sight. the stadholder heard the tale without flinching, and having quietly ordered the messengers upon their lives not to open their lips on the subject to living soul, sent them securely guarded in a boat on board one of the war-ships in the offing. with perfect cheerfulness he then continued his preparations, consulting with vere, on whom he mainly relied for the marshalling of the army in the coming conflict. undecided as he had sometimes shown himself, he was resolute now. he called no council of war, for he knew not how much might be known or suspected of the disaster already sustained, and he had fully made up his mind as to the course to be pursued. he had indeed taken a supreme resolution. entirely out of his own breast, without advising with any man, he calmly gave directions that every war-ship, transport, barge, or wherry should put to sea at once. as the tide had now been long on the flood, the few vessels that had been aground--within the harbour were got afloat, and the whole vast, almost innumerable armada, was soon standing out to sea. no more heroic decision was ever taken by fighting man. sir francis gave advice that entrenchments should be thrown up on the north-east, and that instead of advancing towards the enemy they should await his coming, and refuse the battle that day if possible. the englishman, not aware of the catastrophe at leffingen, which maurice had locked up in his own breast, was now informed by the stadholder that there were to be no entrenchments that day but those of pike and arquebus. it was not the fault of maurice that the fate of the commonwealth had been suspended on a silken thread that morning, but he knew that but one of two issues was possible. they must fight their way through the enemy back to ostend, or perish, every man of them. the possibility of surrender did not enter his mind, and he felt that it was better to hasten the action before the news of ernest's disaster should arrive to chill the ardour of the troops. meantime lewis gunther and his cavalry had been sitting motionless upon their horses on the beach. the enemy was already in full view, and the young general, most desirous to engage in a preliminary skirmish, sent repeated messages to the stadholder for permission to advance. presently sir francis vere rode to the front, to whom he eagerly urged his request that the infantry of the vanguard might be, brought up at once to support him. on the contrary the english general advised that the cavalry should fall back to the infantry, in order to avoid a premature movement. lewis strongly objected to this arrangement, on the ground that the mere semblance of retreat, thus upon the eve of battle, would discourage all the troops. but he was over-ruled, for maurice had expressly enjoined upon his cousin that morning to defer in all things to the orders of vere. these eight squadrons of horse accordingly shifted their position, and were now placed close to the edge of the sea, on the left flank of the vanguard, which vere had drawn up across the beach and in the downs. on the edge of the downs, on the narrow slip of hard sand above high-water mark, and on vere's right, maurice had placed a battery of six demi-cannon. behind the advance was the battalia, or centre, under command of that famous fighter, george everard solms, consisting of germans, swiss, french, and walloons. the "new beggars," as the walloons were called, who had so recently surrendered the forts of crevecoeur and st. andrew, and gone over from the archduke's service to the army of the states, were included in this division, and were as eager to do credit to their new chief as were the mutineers in the archduke's army to merit the approbation of their sovereign. the rearguard under tempel was made up, like the other divisions, of the blended nationalities of german, briton, hollander, and walloon, and, like the others, was garnished at each flank with heavy cavalry. the spanish army, after coming nearly within cannon-shot of their adversary, paused. it was plain that the states' troops were not in so great a panic as the more sanguine advisers of the archduke had hoped. they were not cowering among the shipping, preparing to escape. still less had any portion of them already effected their retreat in those vessels, a few of which had so excited the enemy's ardour when they came in sight. it was obvious that a great struggle, in which the forces were very evenly balanced, was now to be fought out upon those sands. it was a splendid tournament--a great duel for life and death between the champions of the papacy and of protestantism, of the republic and of absolutism, that was to be fought out that midsummer's day. the lists were closed. the trumpet signal for the fray would soon be blown. the archduke, in milanese armour, on a wonderfully beautiful snow-white spanish stallion, moved in the centre of his army. he wore no helmet, that his men might the more readily recognize him as he rode gallantly to and fro, marshalling, encouraging, exhorting the troops. never before had he manifested such decided military talent, combined with unquestionable personal valour, as he had done since this campaign began. friend and foe agreed that day that albert fought like a lion. he was at first well seconded by mendoza, who led the van, and by villars, la bourlotte, avalos, zapena, and many other officers of note. the mutinous spanish and italian cavalry, combined with a few choice squadrons of walloon and german horse, were placed in front and on the flanks. they were under the special supervision of the admiral, who marshalled their squadrons and directed their charging, although mounted on a hackney himself, and not intending to participate in the action. then came the battalia and rear, crowding very closely upon each other. face to face with them stood the republican host, drawn up in great solid squares of infantry, their standards waving above each closely planted clump of pikemen, with the musketeers fringing their skirts, while the iron-clad ponderous cavalry of count lewis and marcellus bax, in black casque and, corslet, were in front, restlessly expecting the signal for the onset. the volunteers of high rank who were then serving on the staff of the stadholder--the duke of holstein, the prince of anhalt, two young counts solms, and others--had been invited and even urged to abandon the field while there was yet time for setting them on board the fleet. especially it was thought desirable that young frederic henry, a mere boy, on whom the hopes of the orange-nassau house would rest if maurice fell in the conflict, should be spared the fate which seemed hanging over the commonwealth and her defenders. but the son of william the silent implored his brother with clasped hands not to send him from his side at that moment, so that maurice granted his prayer, and caused him to be provided with a complete suit of armour. thus in company with young coligny--a lad of his own age, and like himself a grandson of the great admiral--the youth who was one day to play so noble a part on the stage of the world's affairs was now to be engaged in his first great passage of arms. no one left the field but sir robert sidney, who had come over from ostend, from irrepressible curiosity to witness the arrangements, but who would obviously have been guilty of unpardonable negligence had he been absent at such a crisis from the important post of which he was governor for the queen. the arena of the conflict seemed elaborately prepared by the hand of nature. the hard, level, sandy beach, swept clean and smooth by the ceaseless action of the tides, stretched out far as the eye could reach in one long, bold, monotonous line. like the whole coast of flanders and of holland, it seemed drawn by a geometrical rule, not a cape, cove, or estuary breaking the perfect straightness of the design. on the right, just beyond high-water mark, the downs, fantastically heaped together like a mimic mountain chain, or like tempestuous ocean-waves suddenly changed to sand, rolled wild and confused, but still in a regularly parallel course with the line of the beach. they seemed a barrier thrown up to protect the land from being bitten quite away by the ever-restless and encroaching sea. beyond the downs, which were seven hundred yards in width; extended a level tract of those green fertile meadows, artificially drained, which are so characteristic a feature of the netherland landscapes, the stream which ran from ostend towards the town of nieuport flowing sluggishly through them. it was a bright warm midsummer day. the waves of the german ocean came lazily rolling in upon the crisp yellow sand, the surf breaking with its monotonous music at the very feet of the armies. a gentle south-west breeze was blowing, just filling the sails of more than a thousand ships in the offing, which moved languidly along the sparkling sea. it was an atmosphere better befitting a tranquil holiday than the scene of carnage which seemed approaching. maurice of nassau, in complete armour, rapier in hand, with the orange-plumes waving from his helmet and the orange-scarf across his breast, rode through the lines, briefly addressing his soldiers with martial energy. pointing to the harbour of nieuport behind them, now again impassable with the flood, to the ocean on the left where rode the fleet, carrying with it all hope of escape by sea, and to the army of the archduke in front, almost within cannon-range, he simply observed that they had no possible choice between victory and death. they must either utterly overthrow the spanish army, he said, or drink all the waters of the sea. either drowning or butchery was their doom if they were conquered, for no quarter was to be expected from their unscrupulous and insolent foe. he was there to share their fate, to conquer or to perish with them, and from their tried valour and from the god of battles he hoped a more magnificent victory than had ever before been achieved in this almost perpetual war for independence. the troops, perfectly enthusiastic, replied with a shout that they were ready to live or die with their chieftain, and eagerly demanded to be led upon the foe. whether from hope or from desperation they were confident and cheerful. some doubt was felt as to the walloons, who had so lately transferred themselves from the archduke's army, but their commander, marquette, made them all lift up their hands, and swear solemnly to live or die that day at the feet of prince maurice. two hours long these two armies had stood looking each other in the face. it was near two o'clock when the arch duke at last gave the signal to advance. the tide was again almost at the full. maurice stood firm, awaiting the assault; the enemy slowly coming nearer, and the rising tide as steadily lapping away all that was left of the hard beach which fringed the rugged downs. count lewis chafed with impatience as it became each moment more evident that there would be no beach left for cavalry fighting, while in the downs the manoeuvring of horse was entirely impossible. meantime, by command of vere, all those sandy hillocks and steeps had been thickly sown with musketeers and pikemen. arquebus-men and carabineers were planted in every hollow, while on the highest and most advantageous elevation two pieces of cannon had been placed by the express direction of maurice. it seemed obvious that the battle would, after all, be transferred to the downs. not long before the action began, a private of the enemy's cavalry was taken, apparently with his own consent, in a very trifling preliminary skirmish. he bragged loudly of the immense force of the archduke, of the great victory already gained over ernest, with the utter annihilation of his forces, and of the impending destruction of the whole states' army. strange to say, this was the first intimation received by count lewis of that grave disaster, although it had been for some hours known to maurice. the prisoner was at once gagged, that he might spread his disheartening news no further, but as he persisted by signs and gestures in attempting to convey the information which he had evidently been sent forward to impart, he was shot by command of the stadholder, and so told no further tales. the enemy had now come very close, and it was the desire of count lewis that a couple of companies of horse, in accordance with the commands of maurice, should charge the cavalry in front, and that after a brief skirmish they should retreat as if panic-stricken behind the advance column, thus decoying the spanish vanguard in hot pursuit towards the battery upon the edge of the downs. the cannon were then suddenly to open upon them, and during the confusion sure to be created in their ranks, the musketeers, ambushed among the hollows, were to attack them in flank, while the cavalry in one mass should then make a concentrated charge in front. it seemed certain that the effect of this movement would be to hurl the whole of the enemy's advance, horse and foot, back upon his battalia, and thus to break up his army in irretrievable rout. the plan was a sensible one, but it was not ingeniously executed. before the handful of cavalry had time to make the proposed feint the cannoneers, being unduly excited, and by express command of sir francis vere, fired a volley into the advancing columns of the archduke. this precipitated the action; almost in an instant changed its whole character, and defeated the original plan of the republican leader. the enemy's cavalry broke at the first discharge from the battery, and wheeled in considerable disorder, but without panic, quite into and across the downs. the whole army of the archduke, which had already been veering in the same direction, as it advanced, both because the tide was so steadily devouring the even surface of the sands, and because the position of a large portion of the states' forces among the hillocks exposed him to an attack in flank, was now rapidly transferred to the downs. it was necessary for that portion of maurice's army which still stood on what remained of the beach to follow this movement. a rapid change of front was then undertaken, and--thanks to the careful system of wheeling, marching, and counter-marching in which the army had been educated by william lewis and maurice--was executed with less confusion than might have been expected. but very few companies of infantry now remained on the strip of beach still bare of the waves, and in the immediate vicinity of the artillery planted high and dry beyond their reach. the scene was transformed as if by magic, and the battle was now to be fought out in those shifting, uneven hills and hollows, where every soldier stood mid-leg deep in the dry and burning sand. fortunately for the states' army, the wind was in its back, blowing both sand and smoke into the faces of its antagonists, while the already weltering sun glared fiercely in their eyes. maurice had skilfully made use of the great advantage which accident had given him that day, and his very refusal to advance and to bring on a premature struggle thus stood him in stead in a variety of ways lewis gunther was now ordered, with marcellus bax and six squadrons of horse, to take position within the belt of pasture land on the right of the downs. when he arrived there the van of the archduke's infantry had already charged the states' advance under vere, while just behind and on the side of the musketeers and pikemen a large portion of the enemy's cavalry was standing stock still on the green. without waiting for instructions lewis ordered a charge. it was brilliantly successful. unheeding a warm salutation in flank from the musketeers as they rode by them, and notwithstanding that they were obliged to take several ditches as they charged, they routed the enemy's cavalry at the first onset, and drove them into panic-stricken flight. some fled for protection quite to the rear of their infantry, others were hotly pursued across the meadows till they took refuge under the walls of nieuport. the very success of the attack was nearly fatal however to count lewis; for, unable to restrain the ardour of his troopers in the chase, he found himself cut off from the army with only ten horsemen to support him, and completely enveloped by the enemy. fortunately prince maurice had foreseen the danger, and had ordered all the cavalry to the meadows so soon as the charge was made. captain kloet, with a fresh company of mounted carabineers, marked the little squad of states' cavalry careering about in the midst of the catholics, recognized their leader by the orange-plumes on his calque, and dashed forward to the rescue. lewis again found himself at the head of his cavalry, but was obliged to wait a long time for the return of the stragglers. while this brilliant diversion had been enacting as it were on the fringe of the battle, its real bustle and business had been going on in the downs. just as lewis made his charge in the pastures, the infantry of the archduke and the advance guard of the republicans met in deadly shock. more than an hour long they contended with varying success. musketeers, pikemen, arquebusmen, swordmen, charged, sabred, or shot each other from the various hollows or heights of vantage, plunging knee-deep in the sand, torn and impeded by the prickly broom-plant which grew profusely over the whole surface, and fighting breast to breast and hand to hand in a vast series of individual encounters. thrice were the spaniards repulsed in what for a moment seemed absolute rout, thrice they rallied and drove their assailants at push of pike far beyond their original position; and again the conquered republicans recovered their energy and smote their adversaries as if the contest were just begun. the tide of battle ebbed and flowed like the waves of the sea, but it would be mere pedantry to affect any technical explanation of its various changes. it was a hot struggle of twenty thousand men, pent up in a narrow space, where the very nature of the ground had made artistic evolutions nearly impracticable. the advance, the battalia, even the rearguard on both sides were mixed together pell-mell, and the downs were soon covered at every step with the dead and dying-briton, hollander, spaniard, italian, frisian, frenchman, walloon, fighting and falling together, and hotly contesting every inch of those barren sands. it seemed, said one who fought there, as if the last day of the world had come. political and religious hatred, pride of race, remembrance of a half-century of wrongs, hope, fury, and despair; these were the real elements contending with each other that summer's day. it was a mere trial of ferocity and endurance, not more scientific than a fight between packs of wolves and of bloodhounds. no doubt the brunt of the conflict fell upon vere, with his englishmen and frisians, for this advance-guard made up nearly one-half of the states' army actually engaged. and most nobly, indefatigably, did the hardy veteran discharge his duty. having personally superintended almost all the arrangements in the morning, he fought all day in the front, doing the work both of a field-marshal and a corporal. he was twice wounded, shot each time through the same leg, yet still fought on as if it were some one else's blood and not his own that was flowing from "those four holes in his flesh." he complained that he was not sufficiently seconded, and that the reserves were not brought up rapidly enough to his support. he was manifestly unjust, for although it could not be doubted that the english and the frisians did their best, it was equally certain that every part of the army was as staunch as the vanguard. it may be safely asserted that it would not have benefited the cause of the states, had every man been thrown into the fight at one and the same moment. during this "bloody bit," as vere called it, between the infantry on both sides, the little battery of two field-pieces planted on the highest hillock of the downs had been very effective. meantime, while the desperate and decisive struggle had been going on, lewis gunther, in the meadow, had again rallied all the cavalry, which, at the first stage of the action, had been dispersed in pursuit of the enemy's horse. gathering them together in a mass, he besought prince maurice to order him to charge. the stadholder bade him pause yet a little longer. the aspect of the infantry fight was not yet, in his opinion, sufficiently favourable. again and again lewis sent fresh entreaties, and at last received the desired permission. placing three picked squadrons in front, the young general made a furious assault upon the catholic cavalry, which had again rallied and was drawn up very close to the musketeers. fortune was not so kind to him as at the earlier stage of the combat. the charge was received with dauntless front by the spanish and italian horse, while at the same moment the infantry poured a severe fire into their assailants. the advancing squadrons faltered, wheeled back upon the companies following them, and the whole mass of the republican cavalry broke into wild and disorderly retreat. at the same moment the archduke, observing his advantage, threw in his last reserves of infantry, and again there was a desperate charge upon vere's wearied troops, as decisive as the counter charge of lewis's cavalry had been unsuccessful. the english and frisians, sorely tried during those hours of fighting with superior numbers in the intolerable heat, broke at last and turned their backs upon the foe. some of them fled panic-stricken quite across the downs and threw themselves into the sea, but the mass retreated in a comparatively orderly manner, being driven from one down to another, and seeking a last refuge behind the battery placed on the high-water line of the beach. in the confusion and panic sir francis vere went down at last. his horse, killed by a stray shot fell with and upon him, and the heroic englishman would then and there have finished his career--for he would hardly have found quarter from the spaniards--had not sir robert drury, riding by in the tumult, observed him as he lay almost exhausted in the sand. by his exertion and that of his servant higham, vere was rescued from his perilous situation, placed on the crupper of sir robert's horse, and so borne off the field. the current of the retreating and pursuing hosts swept by the spot where maurice sat on horseback, watching and directing the battle. his bravest and best general, the veteran vere, had fallen; his cousin lewis was now as utterly overthrown as his brother ernest had been but a few hours before at the fatal bridge of leffingen; the whole army, the only army, of the states was defeated, broken, panic-struck; the spanish shouts of victory rang on every side. plainly the day was lost, and with it the republic. in the blackest hour that the netherland commonwealth had ever known, the fortitude of the stadholder did not desert him. immoveable as a rock in the torrent he stemmed the flight of his troops. three squadrons of reserved cavalry, balen's own, vere's own, and cecil's, were all that was left him, and at the head of these he essayed an advance. he seemed the only man on the field not frightened; and menacing, conjuring, persuading the fugitives for the love of fatherland, of himself and his house, of their own honour, not to disgrace and destroy themselves for ever; urging that all was not yet lost, and beseeching them at least to take despair for their master, and rather to die like men on the field than to drown like dogs in the sea, he succeeded in rallying a portion of those nearest him. the enemy paused in their mad pursuit, impressed even more than were the states' troops at the dauntless bearing of the prince. it was one of those supreme moments in battle and in history which are sometimes permitted to influence the course of events during a long future. the archduke and his generals committed a grave error in pausing for an instant in their career. very soon it was too late to repair the fault, for the quick and correct eye of the stadholder saw the point to which the whole battle was tending, and he threw his handful of reserved cavalry, with such of the fugitives as had rallied, straight towards the battery on the beach. it was arranged that balen should charge on the strand, horace vere through the upper downs, and cecil along the margin of the beach. balen rode slowly through the heavy sand, keeping his horses well in wind, and at the moment he touched the beach, rushed with fury upon the enemy's foot near the battery. the moment was most opportune, for the last shot had been fired from the guns, and they had just been nearly abandoned in despair. the onset of balen was successful: the spanish infantry, thus suddenly attached, were broken, and many were killed and taken. cecil and vere were equally fortunate, so that the retreating english and frisians began to hold firm again. it was the very crisis of the battle, which up to that instant seemed wholly lost by the republic, so universal was the overthrow and the flight. some hundred and fifty frisian pikemen now rallied from their sullen retreat, and drove the enemy off one hillock or dune. foiled in their attempt to intercept the backward movement of the states' army and to seize this vital point and the artillery with it, the spaniards hesitated and were somewhat discouraged. some zeeland sailors, who had stuck like wax to those demi-cannon during the whole conflict, now promptly obeyed orders to open yet once more upon the victorious foe. at the first volley the spaniards were staggered, and the sailors with a lively shout of "ian-fall on," inspired the defeated army with a portion of their own cheerfulness. others vehemently shouted victory without any reason whatever. at that instant maurice ordered a last charge by those few cavalry squadrons, while the enemy was faltering under the play of the artillery. it was a forlorn hope, yet such was the shifting fortune of that memorable day that the charge decided the battle. the whole line of the enemy broke, the conquered became the victors, the fugitives quickly rallying and shouting victory almost before they had turned their faces to the foe, became in their turn the pursuers. the catholic army could no longer be brought to a stand, but fled wildly in every direction, and were shot and stabbed by the republicans as they fled. the admiral of arragon fell with his hackney in this last charge. unwounded, but struggling to extricate himself from his horse that had been killed, he was quickly surrounded by the enemy. two spaniards, mendo and villalobos by name, who had recently deserted to the states, came up at the moment and recognised the fallen admiral. they had reason to recognise him, for both had been in his service, and one of them, who was once in immediate household attendance upon him, bore the mark of a wound which he had received from his insolent master. "admiral, look at this," cried villalobos, pointing to the scar on his face. the admiral looked and knew his old servants, and gave his scarf to the one and the hanger of his sword-belt to the other, as tokens that he was their prisoner. thus his life was saved for heavy ransom, of which those who had actually captured him would receive a very trifling portion. the great prisoner was carried to the rear, where he immediately asked for food and drink, and fell to with an appetite, while the pursuit and slaughter went on in all directions. the archduke, too, whose personal conduct throughout the day was admirable, had been slightly wounded by a halberd stroke on the ear. this was at an earlier stage of the action, and he had subsequently mounted another horse, exchanged his splendid armour for a plain black harness, over which he wore a shabby scarf. in the confusion of the rout he was hard beset. "surrender, scoundrel!" cried a walloon pikeman, seizing his horse by the bridle. but a certain flemish captain kabbeljaw recognising his sovereign and rushing to his rescue, slew his assailant and four others with his own hand. he was at last himself killed, but albert escaped, and, accompanied by the duke of aumale, who was also slightly wounded, by colonel la bourlotte, and half a dozen troopers rode for their life in the direction of bruges. when they reached the fatal bridge of leffingen, over which the archduke had marched so triumphantly but a few hours before to annihilate count ernest's division, he was nearly taken prisoner. a few soldiers, collected from the scattered garrisons, had occupied the position, but knowing nothing of the result of the action in the downs, took to their heels and fled as the little party of cavaliers advanced. had the commander at ostend or the states-general promptly sent out a company or two so soon as the news of the victory reached them to seize this vital point, the doom of the archduke would have been sealed. nothing then could have saved him from capture. fortunately escaping this danger, he now pushed on, and never pulled bridle till he reached bruges. thence without pausing he was conveyed to ghent, where he presented himself to the infanta. he was not accompanied by the captive maurice of nassau, and the curiosity of the princess to know how that warrior would demean himself as a prisoner was not destined on this occasion to be gratified. isabella bore the disappointment and the bitter intelligence of the defeat with a stoicism worthy of her departed father. she had already had intimations that the day was going against her army, and had successively received tidings that her husband was killed, was dangerously wounded, was a prisoner; and she was now almost relieved to receive him, utterly defeated, but still safe and sound. meantime the mad chase continued along the beach and through the downs. never was a rout more absolute than that of albert's army. never had so brilliant a victory been achieved by hollander or spaniard upon that great battleground of europe--the netherlands. maurice, to whom the chief credit of the victory was unquestionably due, had been firm and impassive during the various aspects of the battle, never losing his self-command when affairs seemed blackest. so soon, however, as the triumph, after wavering so long, was decided in his favour--the veteran legions of spain and italy, the picked troops of christendom, all flying at last before his troops--the stadholder was fairly melted. dismounting from his horse, he threw himself on his knees in the sand, and with streaming eyes and uplifted hands exclaimed, "o god, what are we human creatures to whom thou hast brought such honour, and to whom thou hast vouchsafed such a victory!" the slaughter went on until nightfall, but the wearied conquerors were then obliged to desist from the pursuit. three thousand spaniards were slain and about six hundred prisoners were taken. the loss of the states' army; including the affair in the morning at leffingen, was about two thousand killed. maurice was censured for not following up his victory more closely, but the criticism seems unjust. the night which followed the warm summer's day was singularly black and cloudy, the army was exhausted, the distance for the enemy to traverse before they found themselves safe within their own territory was not great. in such circumstances the stadholder might well deem himself sufficiently triumphant to have plucked a splendid victory out of the very jaws of death. all the artillery of the archduke--seven pieces besides the two captured from ernest in the morning--one hundred and twenty standards, and a long list of distinguished prisoners, including the admiral zapena and many other officers of note, were the trophies of the conqueror. maurice passed the night on the battle-field; the admiral supping with him in his tent. next morning he went to ostend, where a great thanksgiving was held, uytenbogart preaching an eloquent sermon on the th psalm. afterwards there was a dinner at the house of the states-general, in honour of the stadholder, to which the admiral of arragon was likewise bidden. that arrogant but discomfited personage was obliged to listen to many a rough martial joke at his disaster as they sat at table, but he bore the brunt of the encounter with much fortitude. "monsieur the admiral of arragon," said the stadholder in french, "is more fortunate than many of his army. he has been desiring these four years to see holland. now he will make his entrance there without striking a blow." the gibe was perhaps deficient in delicacy towards a fallen foe, but a man who had passed a whole winter in murdering his prisoners in cold blood might be satisfied if he were stung only by a sharp sarcasm or two, when he had himself become a captive. others asked him demurely what he thought of these awkward apprentices of holland and zeeland, who were good enough at fighting behind dykes and ramparts of cities, but who never ventured to face a spanish army in the open field. mendoza sustained himself with equanimity however, and found plenty of answers. he discussed the battle with coolness, blamed the archduke for throwing the whole of his force prematurely into the contest, and applauded the prudence of maurice in keeping his reserves in hand. he ascribed a great share of the result to the states' artillery, which had been well placed upon wooden platforms and well served, while the archduke's cannon, sinking in the sands, had been of comparatively little use. especially he expressed a warm admiration for the heroism of maurice in sending away his ships, and in thus leaving himself and his soldiers no alternative but death or triumph. while they still sat at table many of the standards taken from the enemy were brought in and exhibited; the stadholder and others amusing themselves with reading the inscriptions and devices emblazoned upon them. and thus on the nd july, , the army of the states-general, led by maurice of nassau, had utterly defeated albert of austria. ["enfin l'affaire vint auix mains et fut combattu bien furieusement de deux costes l'espace de deux heures. enfin dieu par sa grace voulut que la victoire demeura de more coste." such were the simple words in which maurice announced to his cousin lewis william his victory in the most important battle that had been fought for half a century. not even general ulysses grant could be more modest in the hour of immense triumph.] strange to say--on another nd july, three centuries and two years before, a former albert of austria had overthrown the emperor adolphus of nassau, who had then lost both crown and life in the memorable battle of worms. the imperial shade of maurice's ancestor had been signally appeased. in ostend, as may well be imagined, ineffable joy had succeeded to the horrible gloom in which the day had been passed, ever since the tidings had been received of ernest's overthrow. those very cavalry men, who had remained all day cowering behind the walls of the city, seeing by the clouds of dust which marked the track of the fugitives that the battle had been won by the comrades whom they had so basely deserted in the morning, had been eager enough to join in the pursuit. it was with difficulty that the states, who had been unable to drive them out of the town while the fight was impending or going on, could keep enough of them within the walls to guard the city against possible accident, now that the work was done. even had they taken the field a few hours earlier, without participating in the action, or risking their own lives, they might have secured the pass of leffingen, and made the capture of the archduke or his destruction inevitable. the city, which had seemed deserted, swarmed with the garrison and with the lately trembling burghers, for it seemed to all as if they had been born again. even the soldiers on the battle-field had embraced each other like comrades who had met in another world. "blessed be his holy name," said the stadholder's chaplain, "for his right hand has led us into hell and brought us forth again. i know not," he continued, "if i am awake or if i dream, when i think how god has in one moment raised us from the dead." lewis gunther, whose services had been so conspicuous, was well rewarded. "i hope," said that general, writing to his brother lewis william, "that this day's work will not have been useless to me, both for what i have learned in it and for another thing. his excellency has done me the honour to give me the admiral for my prisoner." and equally characteristic was the reply of the religious and thrifty stadholder of friesland. "i thank god," he said, "for his singular grace in that he has been pleased to make use of your person as the instrument of so renowned and signal a victory, for which, as you have derived therefrom not mediocre praise, and acquired a great reputation, it should be now your duty to humble yourself before god, and to acknowledge that it is he alone who has thus honoured you . . . . you should reverence him the more, that while others are admonished of their duty by misfortunes and miseries, the good god invites you to his love by benefits and honours . . . . i am very glad, too, that his excellency has given you the admiral for your prisoner, both because of the benefit to you, and because it is a mark of your merit on that day. knowing the state of our affairs, you will now be able to free your patrimony from encumbrances, when otherwise you would have been in danger of remaining embarrassed and in the power of others. it will therefore be a perpetual honour to you that you, the youngest of us all, have been able by your merits to do more to raise up our house out of its difficulties than your predecessors or myself have been able to do." the beautiful white horse which the archduke had ridden during the battle fell into the hands of lewis gunther, and was presented by him to prince maurice, who had expressed great admiration of the charger. it was a spanish horse, for which the archduke had lately paid eleven hundred crowns. a white hackney of the infanta had also been taken, and became the property of count ernest. the news of the great battle spread with unexampled rapidity, not only through the netherlands but to neighbouring countries. on the night of the th july (n.s.) five days after the event, envoy caron, in england, received intimations of the favourable news from the french ambassador, who had received a letter from the governor of calais. next morning, very early, he waited on sir robert cecil at greenwich, and was admitted to his chamber, although the secretary was not yet out of bed. he, too, had heard of the battle, but richardot had informed the english ambassador in paris that the victory had been gained, not by the stadholder, but by the archduke. while they were talking, a despatch-bearer arrived with letters from vere to cecil, and from the states-general to caron, dated on the rd july. there could no longer be any doubt on the subject, and the envoy of the republic had now full details of the glorious triumph which the spanish agent in paris had endeavoured for a time to distort into a defeat. while the two were conversing, the queen, who had heard of caron's presence in the palace, sent down for the latest intelligence. cecil made notes of the most important points in the despatches to be forthwith conveyed to her majesty. the queen, not satisfied however, sent for caron himself. that diplomatist, who had just ridden down from london in foul weather, was accordingly obliged to present himself--booted and spurred and splashed with mud from head to foot--before her majesty. elizabeth received him with such extraordinary manifestations of delight at the tidings that he was absolutely amazed, and she insisted upon his reading the whole of the letter just received from olden-barneveld, her majesty listening very patiently as he translated it out of dutch into french. she then expressed unbounded admiration of the states-general and of prince maurice. the sagacious administration of the states' government is "so full of good order and policy," she said, "as to far surpass in its wisdom the intelligence of all kings and potentates. we kings," she said, "understand nothing of such affairs in comparison, but require, all of us, to go to school to the states-general." she continued to speak in terms of warm approbation of the secrecy and discretion with which the invasion of flanders had been conducted, and protested that she thanked god on both knees for vouchsafing such a splendid victory to the united provinces. yet after all, her majesty, as mankind in general, both wise and simple, are apt to do, had judged only according to the result, and the immediate result. no doubt john of barneveld was second to no living statesman in breadth of view and adroitness of handling, yet the invasion of flanders, which was purely his work, was unquestionably a grave mistake, and might easily have proved a fatal one. that the deadly peril was escaped was due, not to his prudence, but to the heroism of maurice, the gallantry of vere, count lewis gunther, and the forces under them, and the noble self-devotion of ernest. and even, despite the exertions of these brave men, it seems certain that victory would have been impossible had the archduke possessed that true appreciation of a situation which marks the consummate general. surely the lord seemed to have delivered the enemy into his hands that morning. maurice was shut in between nieuport on one side and the archduke's army on the other, planted as it was on the only road of retreat. had albert entrenched himself, maurice must either have attacked at great disadvantage or attempted embarkation in the face of his enemy. to stay indefinitely where he was would have proved an impossibility, and amid the confusion necessary to the shipping of his army, how could he have protected himself by six demi-cannon placed on the sea-beach? that maurice was able to extricate himself from the horrible dilemma in which he had been placed, through no fault of his own, and to convert imminent disaster into magnificent victory, will always redound to his reputation as a great military chief. and this was all the fruit of the expedition, planned, as elizabeth thought, with so much secrecy and discretion. three days after the battle the stadholder came again before nieuport, only to find the garrison strengthened meantime by la bourlotte to three thousand men. a rainy week succeeded, and maurice then announced to the states-general the necessity of abandoning an enterprise, a successful issue to which was in his opinion impossible. the states-general, grown more modest in military matters, testified their willingness to be governed by his better judgment, and left ostend for the hague on the th july. maurice, after a little skirmishing with some of the forts around that city, in one of which the archduke's general la bourlotte was killed, decided to close the campaign, and he returned with his whole army on the last day of july into holland. the expedition was an absolute failure, but the stadholder had gained a great victory. the effect produced at home and abroad by this triumphant measuring of the republican forces, horse, foot, and artillery, in a pitched battle and on so conspicuous an arena, with the picked veterans of spain and italy, was perhaps worth the cost, but no other benefit was derived from the invasion of flanders. the most healthy moral to be drawn from this brief but memorable campaign is that the wisest statesmen are prone to blunder in affairs of war, success in which seems to require a special education and a distinct genius. alternation between hope and despair, between culpable audacity and exaggerated prudence, are but too apt to mark the warlike counsels of politicians who have not been bred soldiers. this, at least, had been eminently the case with barneveld and his colleagues of the states-general. etext editor's bookmarks: alas! the benighted victims of superstition hugged their chains culpable audacity and exaggerated prudence the wisest statesmen are prone to blunder in affairs of war chapter xxxix. effects of the nieuport campaign--the general and the statesman-- the roman empire and the turk--disgraceful proceedings of the mutinous soldiers in hungary--the dunkirk pirates--siege of ostend by the archduke--attack on rheinberg by prince maurice--siege and capitulation of meura--attempt on bois-le-duc--concentration of the war at ostend--account of the belligerents--details of the siege-- feigned offer of sir francis vere to capitulate--arrival of reinforcements from the states--attack and overthrow of the besiegers. the nieuport campaign had exhausted for the time both belligerents. the victor had saved the republic from impending annihilation, but was incapable of further efforts during the summer. the conquered cardinal-archduke, remaining essentially in the same position as before, consoled himself with the agreeable fiction that the states, notwithstanding their triumph, had in reality suffered the most in the great battle. meantime both parties did their best to repair damages and to recruit their armies. the states--or in other words barneveld, who was the states--had learned a lesson. time was to show whether it would be a profitable one, or whether maurice, who was the preceptor of europe in the art of war, would continue to be a docile pupil of the great advocate even in military affairs. it is probable that the alienation between the statesman and the general, which was to widen as time advanced, may be dated from the day of nieuport. fables have even been told which indicated the popular belief in an intensity of resentment on the part of the prince, which certainly did not exist till long afterwards. "ah, scoundrel!" the stadholder was said to have exclaimed, giving the advocate a box on the ear as he came to wish him joy of his great victory, "you sold us, but god prevented your making the transfer." history would disdain even an allusion to such figments--quite as disgraceful, certainly to maurice as to barneveld--did they not point the moral and foreshadow some of the vast but distant results of events which had already taken place, and had they not been so generally repeated that it is a duty for the lover of truth to put his foot upon the calumny, even at the risk for a passing moment of reviving it. the condition of the war in flanders had established a temporary equilibrium among the western powers--france and england discussing, intriguing, and combining in secret with each other, against each other, and in spite of each other, in regard to the great conflict--while spain and the cardinal-archduke on the one side, and the republic on the other, prepared themselves for another encounter in the blood-stained arena. meantime, on the opposite verge of what was called european civilization, the perpetual war between the roman empire and the grand turk had for the moment been brought into a nearly similar equation. notwithstanding the vast amount of gunpowder exploded during so many wearisome years, the problem of the crescent and the cross was not much nearer a solution in the east than was that of mass and conventicle in the west. war was the normal and natural condition of mankind. this fact, at least, seemed to have been acquired and added to the mass of human knowledge. from the prolific womb of germany came forth, to swell impartially the protestant and catholic hosts, vast swarms of human creatures. sold by their masters at as high prices as could be agreed upon beforehand, and receiving for themselves five stivers a day, irregularly paid, until the carrion-crow rendered them the last service, they found at times more demand for their labor in the great european market than they could fully supply. there were not germans enough every year for the consumption of the turk, and the pope, and the emperor, and the republic, and the catholic king, and the christian king, with both ends of europe ablaze at once. so it happened that the duke of mercoeur and other heroes of the league, having effected their reconciliation with the bearnese, and for a handsome price paid down on the nail having acknowledged him to be their legitimate and catholic sovereign, now turned their temporary attention to the turk. the sweepings of the league--frenchmen, walloons, germans, italians, spaniards--were tossed into hungary, because for a season the war had become languid in flanders. and the warriors grown grey in the religious wars of france astonished the pagans on the danube by a variety of crimes and cruelties such as christians only could imagine. thus, while the forces of the sultan were besieging buda, a detachment of these ancient leaguers lay in pappa, a fortified town not far from raab, which archduke maximilian had taken by storm two years before. finding their existence monotonous and payments unpunctual, they rose upon the governor; michael maroti, and then entered into a treaty with the turkish commander outside the walls. bringing all the principal citizens of the town, their wives and children, and all their moveable property into the market-place, they offered to sell the lot, including the governor, for a hundred thousand rix dollars. the bargain was struck, and the turk, paying him all his cash on hand and giving hostages for the remainder, carried off six hundred of the men and women, promising soon to return and complete the transaction. meantime the imperial general, schwartzenberg, came before the place, urging the mutineers with promises of speedy payment, and with appeals to their sense of shame, to abstain from the disgraceful work. he might as well have preached to the wild swine swarming in the adjacent forests. siege thereupon was laid to the place. in a sortie the brave schwartzenberg was killed, but colonitz coming up in force the mutineers were locked up in the town which they had seized, and the turk never came to their relief. famine drove them at last to choose between surrender and a desperate attempt to cut their way out. they took the bolder course, and were all either killed or captured. and now--the mutineers having given the turk this lesson in christian honour towards captives--their comrades and the rest of the imperial forces showed them the latest and most approved christian method of treating mutineers. several hundred of the prisoners were distributed among the different nationalities composing the army to be dealt with at pleasure. the honest germans were the most straightforward of all towards their portion of the prisoners, for they shot them down at once, without an instant's hesitation. but the lorrainers, the remainder of the french troops, the walloons, and especially the hungarians--whose countrymen and women had been sold into captivity--all vied with each other in the invention of cruelties at which the soul sickens, and which the pen almost refuses to depict. these operations and diversions had no sensible effect upon the progress of the war, which crept on with the same monotonous and sluggish cruelty as ever; but the incidents narrated paint the course of civilization more vividly than the detailed accounts of siege and battle; mining and countermining, assaults and ambuscades can do, of which the history books are full. the leaguers of buda and of other cities and fortresses in hungary went their course; and it was destined to remain for a still longer season doubtful whether cross or crescent should ultimately wave over the whole territory of eastern europe, and whether the vigorous moslem, believing in himself, his mission, his discipline, and his resources, should ultimately absorb what was left of the ancient roman empire. meantime, such of the walloons, lorrainers, germans, and frenchmen as had grown wearied of the fighting on the danube and the theiss--might have recourse for variety to the perpetual carnage on the meuse, the rhine, and the scheld. if there was not bloodshed enough for all, it was surely not the fault of mahomet, nor clement, nor philip. during the remainder of the year not much was done in of the stadholder or the cardinal, but there was immense damage done to the dutch shipping by the famous privateersman, van der waecken, with his squadron of twelve or fourteen armed cruisers. in vain had the states exerted themselves to destroy the robbers cave, dunkirk. shiploads of granite had been brought from norway, and stone fleets had been sunk in the channel, but the insatiable quicksands had swallowed them as fast as they could be deposited, the tide rolled as freely as before, and the bold pirates sailed forth as gaily as ever to prey upon the defenceless trading vessels and herring-smacks of the states. for it was only upon non-combatants that admiral van der waecken made war, and the fishermen especially, who mainly belonged to the memnonite religion, with its doctrines of non-resistance--not a very comfortable practice in that sanguinary age--were his constant victims. and his cruelties might have almost served as a model to the christian warriors on the turkish frontier. after each vessel had been rifled of everything worth possessing, and then scuttled, the admiral would order the crews to be, thrown overboard at once, or, if he chanced to be in a merry mood, would cause them to be fastened to the cabin floor, or nailed crossways on the deck and then would sail away leaving ship and sailors to sink at leisure. the states gave chase as well as they could to the miscreant--a dutchman born, and with a crew mainly composed of renegade netherlanders and other outcasts, preying for base lucre on their defenceless countryman--and their cruisers were occasionally fortunate enough to capture and bring in one of the pirate ships. in such cases, short shrift was granted, and the buccaneers were hanged without mercy, thirty-eight having been executed in one morning at rotterdam. the admiral with most of his vessels escaped, however, to the coast of spain, where his crews during the autumn mainly contrived to desert, and where he himself died in the winter, whether from malady, remorse, or disappointment at not being rewarded by a high position in the spanish navy. the war was in its old age. the leaf of a new century had been turned, and men in middle life had never known what the word peace meant. perhaps they could hardly imagine such a condition. this is easily said, but it is difficult really to picture to ourselves the moral constitution of a race of mankind which had been born and had grown up, marrying and giving in marriage, dying and burying their dead, and so passing on from the cradle towards the grave, accepting the eternal clang of arms, and the constant participation by themselves and those nearest to them in the dangers, privations, and horrors of siege and battle-field as the commonplaces of life. at least, those netherlanders knew what fighting for independence of a foreign tyrant meant. they must have hated spain very thoroughly, and believed in the right of man to worship god according to the dictates of his conscience, and to govern himself upon his own soil, however meagre, very earnestly, or they would hardly have spent their blood and treasure, year after year; with such mercantile regularity when it was always in their power to make peace by giving up the object for which they had been fighting. yet the war, although in its old age, was not fallen into decrepitude. the most considerable and most sanguinary pitched battle of what then were modern times had just been fought, and the combatants were preparing themselves for a fresh wrestle, as if the conflict had only begun. and now--although the great leaguers of harlem, leyden, and antwerp, as well as the more recent masterpieces of prince maurice in gelderland and friesland were still fresh in men's memory--there was to be a siege, which for endurance, pertinacity, valour, and bloodshed on both sides, had not yet been foreshadowed, far less equalled, upon the fatal netherland soil. that place of fashionable resort, where the fine folk of europe now bathe, and flirt, and prattle politics or scandal so cheerfully during the summer solstice--cool and comfortable ostend--was throughout the sixteenth century as obscure a fishing village as could be found in christendom. nothing, had ever happened there, nobody had ever lived there, and it was not until a much later period that the famous oyster, now identified with its name, had been brought to its bay to be educated. it was known for nothing except for claiming to have invented the pickling of herrings, which was not at all the fact. towards the latter part of the century, however, the poor little open village had been fortified to such purpose as to enable it to beat off the great alexander farnese, when he had made an impromptu effort to seize it in the year , after his successful enterprise against dunkirk and nieuport, and subsequent preparation had fortunately been made against any further attempt. for in the opening period of the new century thousands and tens of thousands were to come to those yellow sands, not for a midsummer holiday, but to join hands in one of the most enduring struggles that history had yet recorded, and on which the attention of europe was for a long time to be steadily fixed. ostend--east-end--was the only possession of the republic in flanders. having been at last thoroughly fortified according to the principles of the age, it was a place whence much damage was inflicted upon the enemy, and whence forays upon the obedient flemings could very successfully be conducted. being in the hands of so enterprising a naval power, it controlled the coast, while the cardinal-archduke on the other side fondly hoped that its possession would give him supremacy on the sea. the states of flanders declared it to be a thorn in the belgic lion's foot, and called urgently upon their sovereign to remove the annoyance. they offered albert , florins a month so long as the siege should last, besides an extraordinary sum of , , of which one third was to be paid when the place should be invested, one-third when the breach had been made, and one-third after the town had been taken. it was obvious that, although they thought the extraction of the thorn might prove troublesome, the process would be accomplished within a reasonable time. the cardinal-archduke, on his part, was as anxious as the "members" of flanders. asking how long the duke of parma had been in taking antwerp, and being told "eighteen months," he replied that, if necessary, he was willing to employ eighteen years in reducing ostend. the town thus about to assume so much importance in the world's eye had about three thousand inhabitants within its lowly; thatch-roofed houses. it fronted directly upon the seacoast and stretched backward in a southerly direction, having the sandy downs on the right and left, and a swampy, spongy soil on the inner verge, where it communicated with the land. its northern part, small and scarcely inhabited, was lashed by the ocean, and exposed to perpetual danger from its storms and flood-tides, but was partially protected from these encroachments by a dyke stretching along the coast on the west. here had hitherto been the harbour formed by the mouth of the river iperleda as it mingled with the sea, but this entrance had become so choked with sand as to be almost useless at low water. this circumstance would have rendered the labours of the archduke comparatively easy, and much discouraged the states, had there not fortunately been a new harbour which had formed itself on the eastern side exactly at the period of threatened danger. the dwarf mountain range of dunes which encircled the town on the eastern side had been purposely levelled, lest the higher summits should offer positions of vantage to a besieging foe. in consequence of this operation, the sea had burst over the land and swept completely around the place, almost converting it into an island, while at high water there opened a wide and profound gulf which with the ebb left an excellent channel quite deep enough for even the ships of war of those days. the next care of the states authorities was to pierce their fortifications on this side at a convenient point, thus creating a safe and snug haven within the walls for the fleets of transports which were soon to arrive by open sea, laden with soldiers and munitions. the whole place was about half an hour's walk in circumference. it was surrounded with a regular counterscarp, bastions, and casemates, while the proximity of the ocean and the humid nature of the soil ensured it a network of foss and canal on every side. on the left or western side, where the old harbour had once been, and which was the most vulnerable by nature, was a series of strong ravelins, the most conspicuous of which were called the sand hill, the porcupine, and hell's mouth. beyond these, towards the southwest, were some detached fortifications, resting for support, however, upon the place itself, called the polder, the square, and the south square. on the east side, which was almost inaccessible, as it would seem, by such siege machinery as then existed, was a work called the spanish half-moon, situate on the new harbour called the guele or gullet. towards the west and southwest, externally, upon the territory of flanders--not an inch of which belonged to the republic, save the sea-beaten corner in which nestled the little town-eighteen fortresses had been constructed by the archduke as a protection against hostile incursions from the place. of these, the most considerable were st. albert, often mentioned during the nieuport campaign, st. isabella st. clara, and great-thirst. on the th july, , the archduke came before the town, and formally began the siege. he established his headquarters in the fort which bore the name of his patron saint. frederic van den berg meanwhile occupied fort breden on the eastern side, with the intention, if possible, of getting possession of the gullet, or at least of rendering the entrance to that harbour impossible by means of his hostile demonstrations. under van den berg was count bucquoy-longueval, a walloon officer of much energy and experience, now general-in-chief of artillery in the archduke's army. the numbers with which albert took the field at first have not been accurately stated, but it is probable that his object was to keep as many as twenty thousand constantly engaged in the siege, and that in this regard he was generally successful. within the town were fifty-nine companies of infantry, to which were soon added twenty-three more under command of young chatillon, grandson of the great coligny. it was "an olla podrida of nationalities," according to the diarist of the siege--[meteren]. english, scotch, dutch, flemings, frenchmen, germans, mixed in about equal proportions. commander-in-chief at the outset was sir francis vere, who established himself by the middle of july in the place, sent thither by order of the states-general. it had been the desire of that assembly that the stadholder should make another foray in flanders for the purpose of driving off the archduke before he should have time to complete his preliminary operations. but for that year at least maurice was resolved not to renounce his own schemes in deference to those so much more ignorant than himself of the art of war, even if barneveld and his subordinates on their part had not learned a requisite lesson of modesty. so the prince, instead of risking another nieuport campaign, took the field with a small but well-appointed force, about ten thousand men in all, marched to the rhine, and early in june, laid siege to rheinberg. it was his purpose to leave the archduke for the time to break his teeth against the walls of ostend, while he would himself protect the eastern frontier, over which came regular reinforcements and supplies for the catholic armies. his works were laid out with his customary precision and neatness. but, standing as usual, like a professor at his blackboard, demonstrating his proposition to the town, he was disturbed in his calculations by the abstraction from his little army of two thousand english troops ordered by the states-general to march to the defence of ostend. the most mathematical but most obedient of princes, annoyed but not disconcerted, sent off the troops but continued his demonstration. "by this specimen," cried the french envoy, with enthusiasm, "judge of the energy of this little commonwealth. they are besieging berg with an army of twelve thousand men, a place beyond the frontier, and five days' march from the hague. they are defending another important place, besieged by the principal forces of the archdukes, and there is good chance of success at both points. they are doing all this too with such a train of equipages of artillery, of munitions, of barks, of ships of war, that i hardly know of a monarch in the world who would not be troubled to furnish such a force of warlike machinery." by the middle of july he sprang a mine under the fortifications, doing much damage and sending into the air a considerable portion of the garrison. two of the soldiers were blown into his own camp, and one of them, strangely enough, was but slightly injured. coming as he did through the air at cannon-ball speed, he was of course able to bring the freshest intelligence from the interior of the town. his news as to the condition of the siege confirmed the theory of the stadholder. he persisted in his operations for three weeks longer, and the place was then surrendered. the same terms--moderate and honourable were given to the garrison and the burghers as in all maurice's victories. those who liked to stay were at liberty to do so, accepting the prohibition of public worship according to the roman ritual, but guaranteed against inquisition into household or conscience. the garrison went out with the honours of war, and thus the place, whose military value caused it to change hands almost as frequently as a counter in a game, was once more in possession of the republic. in the course of the following week maurice laid siege to the city of meurs, a little farther up the rhine, which immediately capitulated. thus the keys to the debatable land of cleves and juliers, the scene of the admiral of arragon's recent barbarities, were now held by the stadholder. these achievements were followed by an unsuccessful attempt upon bois-le-duc in the course of november. the place would have fallen notwithstanding the slenderness of the besieging army had not a sudden and severe frost caused the prudent prince to raise the siege. feeling that his cousin frederic van den berg, who had been despatched from before ostend to command the relieving force near bois-le-duc, might take advantage of the prematurely frozen canals and rivers to make an incursion into holland, he left his city just as his works had been sufficiently advanced to ensure possession of the prize, and hastened to protect the heart of the republic from possible danger. nothing further was accomplished by maurice that year, but meantime something had been doing within and around ostend. for now the siege of ostend became the war, and was likely to continue to be the war for a long time to come; all other military operations being to a certain degree suspended, as if by general consent of both belligerants, or rendered subsidiary to the main design. so long as this little place should be beleaguered it was the purpose of the states, and of maurice, acting in harmony with those authorities, to concentrate their resources so as to strengthen the grip with which the only scrap of flanders was held by the republic. and as time wore on, the supposed necessities of the wealthy province, which, in political importance, made up a full half of the archduke's dominions, together with self-esteem and an exaggerated idea of military honour, made that prelate more and more determined to effect his purpose. so upon those barren sands was opened a great academy in which the science and the art of war were to be taught by the most skilful practitioners to all europe; for no general, corporal, artillerist, barber-surgeon, or engineer, would be deemed to know his trade if he had not fought at ostend; and thither resorted month after month warriors of every rank, from men of royal or of noblest blood to adventurers of lowlier degree, whose only fortune was buckled at their sides. from every land, of every religion, of every race, they poured into the town or into the besiegers' trenches. habsburg and holstein; northumberland, vere, and westmoreland; fairfax and stuart; bourbon, chatillon, and lorraine; bentivoglio, farnese, spinola, grimaldi, arragon, toledo, avila, berlaymont, bucquoy, nassau, orange, solms--such were the historic names of a few only of the pupils or professors in that sanguinary high school, mingled with the plainer but well known patronymics of the baxes, meetkerkes, van loons, marquettes, van der meers, and barendrechts, whose bearers were fighting, as they long had fought, for all that men most dearly prize on earth, and not to win honour or to take doctors' degrees in blood. papist, calvinist, lutheran, turk, jew and moor, european, asiatic, african, all came to dance in that long carnival of death; and every incident, every detail throughout the weary siege could if necessary be reproduced; for so profound and general was the attention excited throughout christendom by these extensive operations, and so new and astonishing were many of the inventions and machines employed--most of them now as familiar as gunpowder or as antiquated as a catapult--that contemporaries have been most bountiful in their records for the benefit of posterity, feeling sure of a gratitude which perhaps has not been rendered to their shades. especially the indefatigable philip fleming-auditor and secretary of ostend before and during the siege, bravest, most conscientious, and most ingenious of clerks--has chronicled faithfully in his diary almost every cannon-shot that was fired, house that was set on fire, officer that was killed, and has pourtrayed each new machine that was invented or imagined by native or foreign genius. for the adepts or, pretenders who swarmed to town or camp from every corner of the earth, bringing in their hands or brains to be disposed of by either belligerents infallible recipes for terminating the siege at a single blow, if only their theories could be understood and their pockets be filled, were as prolific and as sanguine as in every age. but it would be as wearisome, and in regard to the history of human culture as superfluous, to dilate upon the technics of targone and giustianini, and the other engineers, italian and flemish, who amazed mankind at this period by their successes, still more by their failures, or to describe every assault, sortie, and repulse, every excavation, explosion, and cannonade, as to disinter the details of the siege of nineveh or of troy. but there is one kind of enginry which never loses its value or its interest, and which remains the same in every age--the machinery by which stout hearts act directly upon willing hands--and vast were the results now depending on its employment around ostend. on the outside and at a distance the war was superintended of course by the stadholder and commander-in-chief, while his cousin william lewis, certainly inferior to no living man in the science of war, and whose studies in military literature, both ancient and modern, during the brief intervals of his active campaigning, were probably more profound than those of any contemporary, was always alert and anxious to assist with his counsels or to mount and ride to the fray. in the town sir francis vere commanded. few shapes are more familiar to the student of those times than this veteran campaigner, the offshoot of a time-honoured race. a man of handsome, weather-beaten, battle-bronzed visage, with massive forehead, broad intelligent eyes, a high straight nose, close-clipped hair, and a great brown beard like a spade; captious, irascible, but most resolute, he seemed, in his gold inlaid milan corslet and ruff of point-lace, the very image of a partizan chieftain; one of the noblest relics of a race of fighters slowly passing off the world's stage. an efficient colonel, he was not a general to be relied upon in great affairs either in council or the field. he hated the nassaus, and the nassaus certainly did not admire him, while his inordinate self-esteem, both personal and national, and his want of true sympathy for the cause in which, he fought, were the frequent source of trouble and danger to the republic. of the seven or eight thousand soldiers in the town when the siege began, at least two thousand were english. the queen, too intelligent, despite her shrewishness to the staten; not to be faithful to the cause in which her own interests were quite as much involved as theirs, had promised envoy caron that although she was obliged to maintain twenty thousand men in ireland to keep down the rebels, directly leagued as they were with spain and the archdukes, the republic might depend upon five thousand soldiers from england. detachment after detachment, the soldiers came as fast as the london prisons could be swept and the queen's press-gang perform its office. it may be imagined that the native land of those warriors was not inconsiderably benefited by the grant to the republic of the right to make and pay for these levies. but they had all red uniforms, and were as fit as other men to dig trenches, to defend them; and to fill them afterwards, and none could fight more manfully or plunder friend and foe with greater cheerfulness of impartiality than did those islanders. the problem which the archduke had set himself to solve was not an easy one. he was to reduce a town, which he could invest and had already succeeded very thoroughly in investing on the land aide, but which was open to the whole world by sea; while the besieged on their part could not only rely upon their own government and people, who were more at home on the ocean than was any nation in the world, but upon their alliance with england, a state hardly inferior in maritime resources to the republic itself. on the western side, which was the weakest, his progress was from the beginning the more encouraging, and his batteries were soon able to make some impression upon the outer works, and even to do considerable damage to the interior of the town. in the course of a few months he had fifty siege-guns in position, and had constructed a practicable road all around the place, connecting his own fortifications on the west and south with those of bucquoy on the east. albert's leading thought however was to cut off the supplies. the freaks of nature, as already observed, combined with his own exertions, had effectually disposed of the western harbour as a means of ingress. the tide ebbed and flowed through the narrow channel, but it was clogged with sand and nearly, dry at low water. moreover, by an invention then considered very remarkable, a foundation was laid for the besiegers' forts and batteries by sinking large and deep baskets of wicker-work, twenty feet in length, and filled with bricks and sand, within this abandoned harbour. these clumsy machines were called sausages, and were the delight of the camp and of all europe. the works thus established on the dry side crept slowly on towards the walls, and some demi-cannon were soon placed upon, them, but the besieged, not liking these encroachments, took the resolution to cut the pea-dyke along the coast which had originally protected the old harbour. thus the sea, when the tides were high and winds boisterous, was free to break in upon the archduke's works, and would often swallow sausages, men, and cannon far more rapidly than it was possible to place them there. yet still those human ants toiled on, patiently restoring what the elements so easily destroyed; and still, despite the sea; the cannonade, and the occasional sorties of the garrison, the danger came nearer and nearer. bucquoy on the other side was pursuing the same system, but his task was immeasurably more difficult. the gullet, or new eastern entrance, was a whirlpool at high tide, deep, broad, and swift as a millrace. yet along its outer verge he too laid his sausages, protecting his men at their work as well as he could with gabions, and essayed to build a dyke of wicker-work upon which he might place a platform for artillery to prevent the ingress of the republican ships. and his soldiers were kept steadily at work, exposed all the time to the guns of the spanish half-moon from which the besieged never ceased to cannonade those industrious pioneers. it was a bloody business. night and day the men were knee-deep in the trenches delving in mud and sand, falling every instant into the graves which they were thus digging for themselves, while ever and anon the sea would rise in its wrath and sweep them with their works away. yet the victims were soon replaced by others, for had not the cardinal-archduke sworn to extract the thorn from the belgic lion's paw even if he should be eighteen years about it, and would military honour permit him to break his vow? it was a piteous sight, even for the besieged, to see human life so profusely squandered. it is a terrible reflection, too, that those spaniards, walloons, italians, confronted death so eagerly, not from motives of honour, religion, discipline, not inspired by any kind of faith or fanaticism, but because the men who were employed in this horrible sausage-making and dyke-building were promised five stivers a day instead of two. and there was always an ample supply of volunteers for the service so long as the five stivers were paid. but despite all bucquoy's exertions the east harbour remained as free as ever. the cool, wary dutch skippers brought in their cargoes as regularly as if there had been no siege at all. ostend was rapidly acquiring greater commercial importance, and was more full of bustle and business than had ever been dreamed of in that quiet nook since the days of robert the frisian, who had built the old church of ostend, as one of the thirty which he erected in honour of st. peter, five hundred years before. for the states did not neglect their favourite little city. fleets of transports arrived day after day, week after week, laden with every necessary and even luxury for the use of the garrison. it was perhaps the cheapest place in all the netherlands, so great was the abundance. capons, bares, partridges, and butcher's meat were plentiful as blackberries, and good french claret was but two stivers the quart. certainly the prospect was not promising of starving the town into a surrender. but besides all this digging and draining there was an almost daily cannonade. her royal highness the infanta was perpetually in camp by the side of her well-beloved albert, making her appearance there in great state, with eighteen coaches full of ladies of honour, and always manifesting much impatience if she did not hear the guns. she would frequently touch off a forty-pounder with her own serene fingers in order to encourage the artillerymen, and great was the enthusiasm which such condescension excited. assaults, sorties, repulses, ambuscades were also of daily occurrence, and often with very sanguinary results; but it would be almost as idle now to give the details of every encounter that occurred, as to describe the besieging of a snow-fort by schoolboys. it is impossible not to reflect that a couple of parrots and a monitor or two would have terminated the siege in half an hour in favor of either party, and levelled the town or the besiegers' works as if they had been of pasteboard. bucquoy's dyke was within a thousand yards of the harbour's entrance, yet the guns on his platform never sank a ship nor killed a man on board, while the archduke's batteries were even nearer their mark. yet it was the most prodigious siege of modern days. fifty great guns were in position around the place, and their balls weighed from ten to forty pounds apiece. it was generally agreed that no such artillery practice had ever occurred before in the world. for the first six months, and generally throughout the siege, there was fired on an average a thousand of such shots a day. in the sieges of the american civil war there were sometimes three thousand shots an hour, and from guns compared to which in calibre and power those cannon and demi-cannon were but children's toys. certainly the human arm was of the same length then as now, a pike-thrust was as effective as the stab of the most improved bayonet, and when it came, as it was always the purpose to do, to the close embrace of foemen, the work was done as thoroughly as it could be in this second half of the nineteenth century. nevertheless it is impossible not to hope that such progress in science must at last render long wars impossible. the dutch war of independence had already lasted nearly forty years. had the civil war in america upon the territory of half a continent been waged with the ostend machinery it might have lasted two centuries. something then may have been gained for humanity by giving war such preter-human attributes as to make its demands of gold and blood too exhaustive to become chronic. yet the loss of human life during that summer and winter was sufficiently wholesale as compared with the meagre results. blood flowed in torrents, for no man could be more free of his soldiers' lives than was the cardinal-archduke, hurling them as he did on the enemy's works before the pretence of a practical breach had been effected, and before a reasonable chance existed of purchasing an advantage at such a price. five hundred were killed outright in half-an-hour's assault on an impregnable position one autumn evening, and lay piled in heaps beneath the sand hill fort-many youthful gallants from spain and italy among them, noble volunteers recognised by their perfumed gloves and golden chains, and whose pockets were worth rifling. the dutch surgeons, too, sallied forth in strength after such an encounter, and brought in great bags filled with human fat esteemed the sovereignst remedy in the world for wounds and disease. leaders were killed on both sides. catrici, chief of the italian artillery, and braccamonte, commander of a famous sicilian legion, with many less-known captains, lost their lives before the town. the noble young chatillon, grandson of coligny, who had distinguished himself at nieuport, fell in the porcupine fort, his head carried off by a cannon-ball, which destroyed another officer at his side, and just grazed the ear of the distinguished colonel uchtenbroek. sir francis vere, too, was wounded in the head by a fragment of iron, and was obliged to leave the town for six weeks till his wound should heal. the unfortunate inhabitants--men, women, and children--were of course exposed to perpetual danger, and very many were killed. their houses were often burned to the ground, in which cases the english auxiliaries were indefatigable, not in rendering assistance, but in taking possession of such household goods as the flames had spared. nor did they always wait for such opportunities, but were apt, at the death of an eminent burgher, to constitute themselves at once universal legatees. thus, while honest bartholomew tysen, a worthy citizen grocer, was standing one autumn morning at his own door, a stray cannon-ball took off his head, and scarcely had he been put in a coffin before his house was sacked from garret to cellar and all the costly spices, drugs, and other valuable merchandize of his warehouse--the chief magazine in the town--together with all his household furniture, appropriated by those london warriors. bartholomew's friends and relatives appealed to sir francis vere for justice, but were calmly informed by that general that ostend was like a stranded ship, on its beam-ends on a beach, and that it was impossible not to consider it at the mercy of the wreckers. so with this highly figurative view of the situation from the lips of the governor of the place and the commander-in-chief of the english as well as the dutch garrison, they were fain to go home and bury their dead, finding when they returned that another cannonball had carried away poor bartholomew's coffin-lid. thus was never non-combatant and grocer, alive or dead, more out of suits with fortune than this citizen of ostend; and such were the laws of war, as understood by one of the most eminent of english practitioners in the beginning of the seventeenth century. it is true, however, that vere subsequently hanged a soldier for stealing fifty pounds of powder and another for uttering counterfeit money, but robberies upon the citizens were unavenged. nor did the deaths by shot or sword-stroke make up the chief sum of mortality. as usual the murrain-like pestilence which swept off its daily victims both within an without the town, was more effective than any direct agency of man. by the month of december the number of the garrison had been reduced to less than three thousand, while it is probable that the archduke had not eight thousand effective men left in his whole army. it was a black and desolate scene. the wild waves of the german ocean, lashed by the wintry gales, would often sweep over the painfully constructed works of besieger and besieged and destroy in an hour the labour of many weeks. the porcupine's small but vitally-important ravelin lying out in the counterscarp between the old town and the new, guarding the sluices by which the water for the town moats and canals was controlled, and preventing the pioneers of the enemy from undermining the western wall--was so damaged by the sea as to be growing almost untenable. indefatigably had the besieged attempted with wicker-work and timber and palisades to strengthen this precious little fort, but they had found, even as bucquoy and the archduke on their part had learned, that the north sea in winter was not to be dammed by bulrushes. moreover, in a bold and successful assault the besiegers had succeeded in setting fire to the inflammable materials heaped about the ravelin to such effect that the fire burned for days, notwithstanding the flooding of the works at each high tide. the men, working day and night, scorching in the flames, yet freezing kneedeep in the icy slush of the trenches and perpetually under fire of the hostile batteries, became daily more and more exhausted, notwithstanding their determination to hold the place. christmas drew nigh, and a most gloomy, festival it was like to be, for it seemed as if the beleaguered garrison had been forgotten by the states. weeks had passed away without a single company being sent to repair the hideous gaps made daily in the ranks of those defenders of a forlorn hope. it was no longer possible to hold the external works; the square, the polder, and the other forts on the southwest which vere had constructed with so much care and where he had thus far kept his headquarters. on sunday morning,-- rd december, he reluctantly gave orders that they should be abandoned on the following day and the whole garrison concentrated within the town. the clouds were gathering darkly over the head of the gallant vere; for no sooner had he arrived at this determination than he learned from a deserter that the archduke had fixed upon that very sunday evening for a general assault upon the place. it was hopeless for the garrison to attempt to hold these outer forts, for they required a far larger number of soldiers than could be spared from the attenuated little army. yet with those forts in the hands of the enemy there would be nothing left but to make the best and speediest terms that might be obtained. the situation was desperate. sir francis called his principal officers together, announced his resolve not to submit to the humiliation of a surrender after all their efforts, if there was a possibility of escape from their dilemma, reminded them that reinforcements might be expected to arrive at any moment, and that with even a few hundred additional soldiers the outer works might still be manned and the city saved. the officers english, dutch, and french, listened respectfully to his remarks, but, without any suggestions on their own part, called on him as their alexander to untie the gordian knot. alexander solved it, not with the sword, but with a trick which he hoped might prove sharper than a sword. he announced his intention of proposing at once to treat, and to protract the negotiations as long as possible, until the wished-for sails should be discerned in the offing, when he would at once break faith with them, resume hostilities, and so make fools of the besiegers. this was a device worthy of a modern alexander whose surname was farnese. even in that loose age such cynical trifling with the sacredness of trumpets of truce and offers of capitulation were deemed far from creditable among soldiers and statesmen, yet the council of war highly applauded the scheme, and importuned the general to carry it at once into effect. when it came, however, to selecting the hostages necessary for the proposed negotiations, they became less ardent and were all disposed to recede. at last, after much discussion, the matter was settled, and before nightfall a drummer was set upon the external parapet of the porcupine, who forthwith began to beat vigorously for a parley. the rattle was a welcome sound in the ears of the weary besiegers, just drawn up in column for a desperate assault, and the tidings were at once communicated to the archduke in fort st. albert. the prince manifested at first some unwillingness to forego the glory of the attack, from which he confidently expected a crowning victory, but yielding to the representations of his chief generals that it was better to have his town without further bloodshed, he consented to treat. hostages were expeditiously appointed on both sides, and captains ogle and fairfax were sent that same evening to the headquarters of the besieging army. it was at once agreed as a preliminary that the empty outer works of the place should remain unmolested. the english officers were received with much courtesy. the archduke lifted his hat as they were presented, asked them of what nation they were, and then inquired whether they were authorized to agree upon terms of capitulation. they answered in the negative; adding, that the whole business would be in the hands of commissioners to be immediately sent by his highness, as it was supposed, into the town. albert then expressed the hope that there was no fraudulent intention in the proposition just made to negotiate. the officers professed themselves entirely ignorant of any contemplated deception; although captain ogle had been one of the council, had heard every syllable of vere's stratagem, and had heartily approved of the whole plot. the englishmen were then committed to the care of a spanish nobleman of the duke's staff, and were treated with perfect politeness and hospitality. meantime no time was lost in despatching hostages, who should be at the same time commissioners, to ostend. the quartermaster-general of the army, don matteo antonio, and matteo serrano, governor of sluys, but serving among the besiegers, were selected for this important business as personages of ability, discretion, and distinction. they reached the town, coming in of course from the western side, as expeditiously as possible, but after nightfall. before they arrived at headquarters there suddenly arose, from some unknown cause, a great alarm and beating to arms on the opposite or eastern side of the city. they were entirely innocent of any participation in this uproar and ignorant of its cause, but when they reached the presence of sir francis vere they found that warrior in a towering passion. there was cheating going on, he exclaimed. the spaniards, he cried, were taking advantage of these negotiations, and were about, by dishonourable stratagem, to assault the town. astounded, indignant, but utterly embarrassed, the grave spaniards knew not how to reply. they were still more amazed when the general, rising to a still higher degree of exasperation, absolutely declined to exchange another word with them, but ordered captains carpentier and st. hilaire, by whom they had been escorted to his quarters, to conduct them out of the town again by the same road which had brought them there. there was nothing for it but to comply, and to smother their resentment at such extraordinary treatment as best they could. when they got to the old harbour on the western side the tide had risen so high that it was impossible to cross. nobody knew better than vere, when he gave the order, that this would be the case; so that when the escorting officers returned to state the fact, he simply ordered them to take the spaniards back by the gullet or eastern side. the strangers were not very young men, and being much fatigued with wandering to and fro in the darkness over the muddy roads, they begged permission to remain all night in ostend, if it were only in a guardhouse. but vere was inexorable, after the duplicity which he affected to have discovered on the part of the enemy. so the quartermaster-general and the governor of sluys, much to the detriment of their dignity, were forced once more to tramp through the muddy streets. and obeying their secret instructions, the escort led them round and round through the most miry and forlorn parts of the town, so that, sinking knee-deep at every step into sloughs and quicksands, and plunging about through the mist and sleet of a dreary december's night, they at last reached the precincts of the spanish half-moon on the gullet, be-draggled from head to foot and in a most dismal and exhausted condition. "ah, the villainous town of ostend!" exclaimed serrano, ruefully contemplating his muddy boots and imploring at least a pipe of tobacco. he was informed, however, that no such medical drugs were kept in the fort, but that a draught of good english ale was much at their service. the beer was brought in four foaming flagons, and, a little refreshed by this hospitality, the spaniards were put in a boat and rowed under the guns of the fort across the gullet and delivered to their own sentries on the outposts of bucquoy's entrenchments. by this time it was midnight, so that it was necessary for them to remain for the night in the eastern encampment before reporting themselves at fort st. albert. thus far vere's comedy had been eminently successful, and by taking advantage of the accidental alarm and so adroitly lashing himself into a fictitious frenzy, the general had gained nearly twenty-four additional hours of precious time on which he had not reckoned. next morning, after serrano and antonio had reported to the archduke, it was decided, notwithstanding the very inhospitable treatment which they had received, that those commissioners should return to their labours. ogle and fairfax still remained as hostages in camp, and of course professed entire ignorance of these extraordinary proceedings, attributing them to some inexplicable misunderstanding. so on monday, th, december, the quartermaster and the governor again repaired to ostend with orders to bring about the capitulation of the place as soon as possible. the same sergeant-major was again appointed by vere to escort the strangers, and on asking by what way he should bring them in, was informed by sir francis that it would never do to allow those gentlemen, whose feet were accustomed to the soft sand of the sea-beach and downs, to bruise themselves upon the hard paving-stones of ostend, but that the softest and muddiest road must be carefully selected for them. these reasons accordingly were stated with perfect gravity to the two spaniards, who, in spite of their solemn remonstrances, were made to repeat a portion of their experiences and to accept it as an act of special courtesy from the english general. thus so much time had been spent in preliminaries and so much more upon the road that the short winter's day was drawing to a close before they were again introduced to the presence of vere. they found that fiery personage on this occasion all smiles and blandishments. the spaniards were received with most dignified courtesy, to which they gravely responded; and the general then proceeded to make excuses for the misunderstanding of the preceding day with its uncomfortable consequences. thereupon arose much animated discussion as to the causes and the nature of the alarm on the east side which had created such excitement. much time was ingeniously consumed in this utterly superfluous discussion; but at last the commissioners of the archduke insisted on making allusion to the business which had brought them to the town. "what terms of negotiation do you propose?" they asked sir francis. "his highness has only to withdraw from before ostend," coolly replied the general, "and leave us, his poor neighbours, in peace and quietness. this would be the most satisfactory negotiation possible and the one most easily made." serrano and antonio found it difficult to see the matter in that cheerful light, and assured sir francis that they had not been commissioned by the archduke to treat for his own withdrawal but for the surrender of the town. hereupon high words and fierce discussion very naturally arose, and at last, when a good deal of time had been spent in the sharp encounter of wits, vere proposed an adjournment of the discussion until after supper; politely expressing the hope that the spanish gentlemen would be his guests. the conversation had been from the beginning in french, as vere, although a master of the spanish language, was desirous that the rest of the company present should understand everything said at the interview. the invitation to table was graciously accepted, and the christmas eve passed off more merrily than the preceding night had done, so far as vere's two guests were concerned. several distinguished officers were present at the festive board: captain montesquieu de roquette, sir horace vere, captains st. hilaire, meetkerke, de ryck, and others among them. as it was strict fast for the catholics that evening--while on the other hand the english, still reckoning according to the old style, would not keep christmas until ten days later--the banquet consisted mainly of eggs and fish, and the like meagre articles, in compliment to the guests. it was, however, as well furnished as could be expected in a beleaguered town, out of whose harbour a winter gale had been for many weeks blowing and preventing all ingress. there was at least no lack of excellent bordeaux wine; while the servants waiting upon the table did not fail to observe that governor serrano was not in all respects a model of the temperance usually characteristic of his race. they carefully counted and afterwards related with admiration, not unmingled with horror, that the veteran spaniard drank fifty-two goblets of claret, and was emptying his glass as fast as filled, although by no means neglecting the beer, the quality of which he had tested the night before at the half-moon. yet there seemed to be no perceptible effect produced upon him, save perhaps that he grew a shade more grave and dignified with each succeeding draught. for while the banquet proceeded in this very genial manner business was by no means neglected; the negotiations for the surrender of the city being conducted on both sides with a fuddled solemnity very edifying for the attendants to contemplate. vere complained that the archduke was unreasonable, for he claimed nothing less from his antagonists than their all. the commissioners replied that all was no more than his own property. it certainly could not be thought unjust of him to demand his own, and all flanders was his by legal donation from his majesty of spain. vere replied that he had never studied jurisprudence, and was not versed at all in that--science, but he had always heard in england that possession was nine points of the law. now it so happened that they, and not his highness, were in possession of ostend, and it would be unreasonable to expect them to make a present of it to any one. the besiegers, he urged, had gained much honour by their steady persistence amid so many dangers; difficulties, and losses;--but winter had come, the weather was very bad, not a step of progress had been made, and he was bold enough to express his opinion that it would be far more sensible on the part of his highness, after such deeds of valour, to withdraw his diminished forces out of the freezing and pestilential swamps before ostend and go into comfortable winter-quarters at ghent or bruges. enough had been done for glory, and it must certainly now be manifest that he had no chance of taking the city. serrano retorted that it was no secret to the besiegers that the garrison had dwindled to a handful; that it was quite impossible for them to defend their outer works any longer; that with the loss of the external boulevard the defence of the place would be impossible, and that, on the contrary, it was for the republicans to resign themselves to their fate. they, too, had done enough for glory, and had nothing for it but to retire into the centre of their ruined little nest, where they must burrow until the enemy should have leisure to entirely unearth them, which would be a piece of work very easily and rapidly accomplished. this was called negotiation; and thus the winter's evening wore away, until the spaniards; heavy with fatigue and wine, were without much difficulty persuaded to seek the couches prepared for them. next day the concourse of people around the city was christmas, wonderful to behold. the rumour had spread through the provinces, and was on the wing to all foreign countries, that ostend had capitulated, and that the commissioners were at that moment arranging the details. the cardinal-archduke, in complete milanese armour, with a splendid feather-bush waving from his casque and surrounded by his brilliant body-guard, galloped to and fro outside the entrenchments, expecting every moment a deputation to come forth, bearing the keys of the town. the infanta too, magnificent in ruff and farthingale and brocaded petticoat, and attended by a cavalcade of ladies of honour in gorgeous attire, pranced impatiently about, awaiting the dramatic termination of a leaguer which was becoming wearisome to besieger and besieged. not even on the famous second of july of the previous year, when that princess was pleasing herself with imaginations as to the deportment of maurice of nassau as a captive, had her soul been so full of anticipated triumph as on this christmas morning. such a festive scene as was now presented in the neighbourhood of ostend had not been exhibited for many a long year in flanders. from the whole country side came the peasants and burghers, men, women, and children, in holiday attire. it was like a kermiss or provincial fair. three thousand people at least were roaming about in all direction, gaping with wonder at the fortifications of the besieging army, so soon to be superfluous, sliding, skating, waltzing on the ice, admiring jugglers, dancing bears, puppet shows and merry-go-rounds, singing, and carousing upon herrings, sausages, waffles, with mighty draughts of flemish ale, manifesting their exuberant joy that the thorn was nearly extracted from the lion's paw, and awaiting with delight a blessed relief from that operation. never was a merrier christmas morning in flanders. there should be an end now to the forays through the country of those red-coated english pikemen, those hard-riding, hard-drinking troopers of germany and, holland, with the french and scotch arquebus men, and terrible zeeland sailors who had for years swept out of ostend, at any convenient opportunity, to harry the whole province. and great was the joy in flanders. meantime within the city a different scene was enacting. those dignified spaniards--governor serrano and don matteo antonio--having slept off their carouse, were prepared after breakfast next morning to resume the interrupted negotiations. but affairs were now to take an unexpected turn. in the night the wind had changed, and in the course of the forenoon three dutch vessels of war were descried in the offing, and soon calmly sailed into the mouth of the gullet. the news was at once brought to vere's headquarters. that general's plans had been crowned with success even sooner than he expected. there was no further object in continuing the comedy of negotiation, for the ships now arriving seemed crowded with troops. sir francis accordingly threw off the mask, and assuring his guests with extreme politeness that it had given him great pleasure to make the acquaintance of such distinguished personages, he thanked them cordially for their visit, but regretted that it would be no longer in his power to entertain any propositions of a pacific nature. the necessary reinforcements, which he had been so long expecting, had at last reached him, and it would not yet be necessary for him to retire into his ruined nest. military honour therefore would not allow him to detain them any longer. should he ever be so hard pressed again he felt sure that so magnanimous a prince as his highness would extend to him all due clemency and consideration. the spaniards; digesting as they best could the sauce of contumely with which the gross treachery of the transaction was now seasoned, solemnly withdrew, disdaining to express their spleen in words of idle menace. they were escorted back through the lines, and at once made their report at headquarters. the festival had been dismally interrupted before it was well begun. the vessels were soon observed by friend and foe making their way triumphantly up to the town where they soon dropped anchor at the wharf of the inner gullet, having only a couple of sailors wounded, despite all the furious discharges of bucquoy's batteries. the holiday makers dispersed, much discomfited, the english hostages returned to the town, and the archduke shut himself up, growling and furious. his generals and counsellors, who had recommended the abandonment of his carefully prepared assault, and acceptance of the perfidious propositions to negotiate, by which so much golden time had been squandered, were for several days excluded from his presence. meantime the army, disappointed, discontented, half-starved, unpaid, passed their days and nights as before, in the sloppy trenches, while deep and earnest were the complaints and the curses which succeeded to the momentary exultation of christmas eve. the soldiers were more than ever embittered against their august commander-in-chief, for they had just enjoyed a signal opportunity of comparing the luxury and comfortable magnificence of his highness and the infanta, and of contrasting it with their own misery. moreover, it had long been exciting much indignation in the ranks that veteran generals and colonels, in whom all men had confidence, had been in great numbers superseded in order to make place for court favourites, utterly without experience or talent. thus the veterans; murmuring in the wet trenches. the archduke meanwhile, in his sullen retirement, brooded over a tragedy to follow the very successful comedy of his antagonist. it was not long delayed. the assault which had been postponed in the latter days of december was to be renewed before the end of the first week of the new year. vere, through scouts and deserters, was aware of the impending storm, and had made his arrangements in accordance with, the very minute information which he had thus received. the reinforcements, so opportunely sent by the states, were not numerous--only six hundred in all--but they were an earnest of fresh comrades to follow. meantime they sufficed to fill the gaps in the ranks, and to enable vere to keep possession of the external line of fortifications, including the all-important porcupine. moreover, during the fictitious negotiations, while the general had thus been holding--as he expressed it--the wolf by both ears, the labor of repairing damages in dyke, moat, and wall had not been for an instant neglected. the morning of the th january, , opened with a vigorous cannonade from all the archduke's batteries, east, west, and south. auditor fleeting, counsellor and secretary of the city, aide-de-camp and right hand of the commander-in-chief, a grim, grizzled, leathern-faced man of fifty, steady under fire as a veteran arquebuseer, ready with his pen as a counting-house clerk, and as fertile in resource as the most experienced campaigner, was ever at the general's side. at his suggestion several houses had been demolished, to furnish materials in wood and iron to stop the gaps as soon as made. especially about the sand hill fort and the porcupine a plentiful supply was collected, no time having been lost in throwing up stockades, palisades, and every other possible obstruction to the expected assailants. knowing perfectly well where the brunt of the battle was to be, vere had placed his brother sir horace at the head of twelve picked companies of diverse nations in the sand hill. four of the very best companies of the garrison were stationed in the porcupine, and ten more of the choicest in fort hell's mouth, under colonel meetkerke. it must be recollected that the first of these three works was the key to the fortifications of the old or outer town. the other two were very near it, and were the principal redoubts which defended the most exposed and vulnerable portion of the new town on the western side. the sand hill, as its name imported, was the only existing relic within the city's verge of the chain of downs once encircling the whole place. it had however been cannonaded so steadily during the six months' siege as to have become almost ironclad--a mass of metal gradually accumulating from the enemy's guns. with the curtain extending from it towards east and west it protected the old town quite up to the little ancient brick church, one of the only two in ostend. all day long the cannon thundered--a bombardment such as had never before been dreamed of in those days, two thousand shots having been distinctly counted, by the burghers. there was but languid response from the besieged, who were reserving their strength. at last, to the brief winter's day succeeded a pitch-dark evening. it was dead low tide at seven. at that hour the drums suddenly beat alarm along the whole line of fortifications from the gullet on the east to the old harbour on the west, while through the mirky atmosphere sounded the trumpets of the assault, the shouts of the spanish and italian commanders, and the fierce responsive yells of their troops. sir francis, having visited every portion of the works, and satisfied himself that every man in the garrison was under arms, and that all his arrangements had been fulfilled, now sat on horseback, motionless as a statue, within the sand hill. among the many serious and fictitious attacks now making he waited calmly for the one great assault, even allowing some of the enemy to scale the distant counterscarp of the external works towards the south, which he had by design left insufficiently guarded. it was but a brief suspense, for in a few moments two thousand men had rushed through the bed of the old harbour, out of which the tide had ebbed, and were vigorously assailing the sand hill and the whole length of its curtain. the impenetrable darkness made it impossible to count, but the noise and the surging fury of the advance rendered it obvious that the critical moment had arrived. suddenly a vivid illumination burst forth. great pine torches, piles of tar-barrels, and heaps of other inflammable material, which had been carefully arranged in fort porcupine, were now all at once lighted by vere's command. as the lurid blaze flashed far and wide there started out of the gloom not only the long lines of yellow jerkined pikemen and arquebuseers, with their storm-hoods and scaling ladders, rushing swiftly towards the forts, but beyond the broken sea dyke the reserved masses supporting the attack, drawn up in solid clumps of spears, with their gay standards waving above them, and with a strong force of cavalry in iron corslet and morion stationed in the rear to urge on the infantry and prevent their faltering in the night's work, became visible--phantom-like but perfectly distinct. at least four thousand men were engaged in this chief attack, and the light now permitted the besieged to direct their fire from cannon, demi-cannon, culverin, and snaphance, with fatal effect. the assailants, thinned, straggling, but undismayed, closed up their ranks, and still came fiercely on. never had spaniards, walloons, and italians, manifested greater contempt of death than on this occasion. they knew that the archduke and the infanta were waiting breathlessly in fort st. albert for the news of that victory of which the feigned negotiations had defrauded them at christmas, and they felt perfectly confident of ending both the siege and the forty years' war this january night. but they had reckoned without their wily english host. as they came nearer--van, and at last reserve--they dropped in great heaps under the steady fire of the musketry--as philip flaming, looking on, exclaimed--like apples when the autumn wind blows through the orchard. and as the foremost still pressed nearer and nearer, striving to clamber up the shattered counterscarp and through every practicable breach, the english, hollanders, and zeelanders, met them in the gap, not only at push of pike, but with their long daggers and with flaming pitchhoops, and hurled them down to instant death. and thus around the sand hill, the porcupine, and hell's mouth, the battle raged nearly two hours long, without an inch of ground being gained by the assailants. the dead and dying were piled beneath the walls, while still the reserves, goaded up to the mark by the cavalry, mounted upon the bodies of their fallen comrades and strove to plant their ladders. but now the tide was on the flood, the harbour was filling, and cool auditor fleming, whom nothing escaped quietly asked the general's permission to open the western' sluice. it was obvious, he observed, that the fury of the attack was over, and that the enemy would soon be effecting a retreat before the water should have risen too high. he even pointed out many stragglers attempting to escape through the already deepening shallows. vere's consent was at once given, the flood-gate was opened, and the assailants such as still survived--panic-struck in a moment, rushed wildly back through the old harbour towards their camp. it was too late. the waters were out, and the contending currents whirled the fugitives up and down through the submerged land, and beyond the broken dyke, until great numbers of them were miserably drowned in the haven, while others were washed out to sea. horses and riders were borne off towards the zealand coast, and several of their corpses were picked up days afterwards in the neighbourhood of flushing. meantime those who had effected a lodgment in the polder, the square, and the other southern forts, found, after the chief assault had failed, that they had gained nothing by their temporary triumph but the certainty of being butchered. retreat was impossible, and no quarter was given. count imbec, a noble of great wealth, offered his weight in gold for his ransom, but was killed by a private soldier, who preferred his blood, or doubted his solvency. durango, marshal of the camp, don alvarez de suarez, and don matteo antonio, sergeant-major and quarter-master-general, whose adventures as a hostage within the town on christmas eve have so recently been related, were also slain. on the eastern side bucquoy's attack was an entire failure. his arrangements were too slowly made, and before he could bring his men to the assault the water was so high in the gullet that they refused to lay their pontoons and march to certain death. only at lowest ebb, and with most exquisite skill in fording, would it have been possible to effect anything like an earnest demonstration or a surprise. moreover some of the garrison, giving themselves out as deserters, stole out of the spanish half-moon, which had been purposely almost denuded of its defenders, towards the enemy's entrenchments, and offered to lead a body of spaniards into that ravelin. bucquoy fell into the trap, so that the detachment, after a victory as easily effected as that in the southern forts, found themselves when the fight was over not the captors but the caught. a few attempted to escape and were driven into the sea; the rest were massacred. fifteen hundred of the enemy's dead were counted and registered by auditor fleming. the whole number of the slain and drowned was reckoned as high as two thousand, which was at least, a quarter of the whole besieging army. and so ended this winter night's assault, by which the archduke had fondly hoped to avenge himself for vere's perfidy, and to terminate the war at a blow. only sixty of the garrison were killed, and sir horace vere was wounded. the winter now set in with severe sleet, and snow, and rain, and furious tempests lashing the sea over the works of besieger and besieged, and for weeks together paralyzing all efforts of either army. eight weary months the siege had lasted; the men in town and hostile camp, exposed to the inclemency of the wintry trenches, sinking faster before the pestilence which now swept impartially through all ranks than the soldiers of the archduke had fallen at nieuport, or in the recent assault on the sand hill. of seven thousand hardly three thousand now remained in the garrison. yet still the weary sausage making and wooden castle building went on along the gullet and around the old town. the bredene dyke crept on inch by inch, but the steady ships of the republic came and went unharmed by the batteries with which bucquoy hoped to shut up the new harbour. the archduke's works were pushed up nearer on the west, but, as yet, not one practical advantage had been gained, and the siege had scarcely advanced a hair's breadth since the th of july of the preceding year, when the armies had first sat down before the place. the stormy month of march had come, and vere, being called to service in the field for the coming season, transferred the command at ostend to frederic van dorp, a rugged, hard-headed, ill-favoured, stout-hearted zealand colonel, with the face of a bull-dog, and with the tenacious grip of one. etext editor's bookmarks: constitute themselves at once universal legatees crimes and cruelties such as christians only could imagine human fat esteemed the sovereignst remedy (for wounds) war was the normal and natural condition of mankind chapter xl. - protraction of the siege of ostend--spanish invasion of ireland-- prince maurice again on the march--siege of grave--state of the archduke's army--formidable mutiny--state of europe--portuguese expedition to java--foundation there of the first batavian trading settlement--exploits of jacob heemskerk--capture of a lisbon carrack--progress of dutch commerce--oriental and germanic republics --commercial embassy from the king of atsgen in sumatra to the netherlands--surrender of grave--privateer work of frederic spinola --destruction of spinola's fleet by english and dutch cruisers-- continuation of the siege of ostend--fearful hurricane and its effects--the attack--capture of external forts--encounter between spinola and a dutch squadron--execution of prisoners by the archduke--philip fleming and his diary--continuation of operations before ostend--spanish veterans still mutinous--their capital besieged by van den berg--maurice marches to their relief-- convention between the prince and the mutineers--great commercial progress of the dutch--opposition to international commerce-- organization of the universal east india company. it would be desirable to concentrate the chief events of the siege of ostend so that they might be presented to the reader's view in a single mass. but this is impossible. the siege was essentially the war--as already observed--and it was bidding fair to protract itself to such an extent that a respect for chronology requires the attention to be directed for a moment to other topics. the invasion of ireland under aquila, so pompously heralded as almost to suggest another grand armada, had sailed in the beginning of the winter, and an army of six thousand men had been landed at kinsale. rarely had there been a better opportunity for the celt to strike for his independence. shane mac neil had an army on foot with which he felt confident of exterminating the saxon oppressor, even without the assistance of his peninsular allies; while the queen's army, severely drawn upon as it had been for the exigencies of vere and the states, might be supposed unable to cope with so formidable a combination. yet montjoy made short work of aquila and tyrone. the invaders, shut up in their meagre conquest, became the besieged instead of the assailants. tyrone made a feeble attempt to relieve his spanish allies, but was soon driven into his swamps, the peasants would not rise; in spite of proclamations and golden mountains of promise, and aquila was soon glad enough to sign a capitulation by which he saved a portion of his army. he then returned, in transports provided by the english general, a much discomfited man, to spain instead of converting ireland into a province of the universal empire. he had not rescued hibernia, as he stoutly proclaimed at the outset his intention of doing, from the jaws of the evil demon. the states, not much wiser after the experience of nieuport, were again desirous that maurice should march into flanders, relieve ostend, and sweep the archduke into the sea. as for vere, he proposed that a great army of cavalry and infantry should be sent into ostend, while another force equally powerful should take the field as soon as the season permitted. where the men were to be levied, and whence the funds for putting such formidable hosts in motion were to be derived, it was not easy to say: "'tis astonishing," said lewis william, "that the evils already suffered cannot open his eyes; but after all, 'tis no marvel. an old and good colonel, as i hold him to be, must go to school before he can become a general, and we must beware of committing any second folly, govern ourselves according to our means and the art of war, and leave the rest to god." prince maurice, however; yielding as usual to the persuasions or importunities of those less sagacious than himself; and being also much influenced by the advice of the english queen and the french king, after reviewing the most splendid army that even he had ever equipped and set in the field, crossed the waal at nymegen, and the meuse at mook, and then moving leisurely along meuse--side by way of sambeck, blitterswyck, and maasyk, came past st. truyden to the neighbourhood of thienen, in brabant. here he stood, in the heart of the enemy's country, and within a day's march of brussels. the sanguine portion of his countrymen and the more easily alarmed of the enemy already thought it would be an easy military promenade for the stadholder to march through brabant and flanders to the coast, defeat the catholic forces before ostend, raise the weary siege of that place, dictate peace to the archduke, and return in triumph to the hague, before the end of the summer. but the experienced maurice too well knew the emptiness of such dreams. he had a splendid army--eighteen thousand foot and five thousand horse--of which lewis william commanded the battalia, vere the right, and count ernest the left, with a train of two thousand baggage wagons, and a considerable force of sutlers and camp-followers. he moved so deliberately, and with such excellent discipline, that his two wings could with ease be expanded for black-mail or forage over a considerable extent of country, and again folded together in case of sudden military necessity. but he had no intention of marching through brussels, ghent, and bruges, to the flemish coast. his old antagonist, the admiral of arragon, lay near thienen in an entrenched camp, with a force of at least fifteen thousand men, while the archduke, leaving rivas in command before ostend, hovered in the neighbourhood of brussels, with as many troops as could be spared from the various flemish garrisons, ready to support the admiral. but maurice tempted the admiral in vain with the chances of a general action. that warrior, remembering perhaps too distinctly his disasters at nieuport, or feeling conscious that his military genius was more fitly displayed in burning towns and villages in neutral territory, robbing the peasantry, plundering gentlemen's castles and murdering the proprietors, than it was like to be in a pitched battle with the first general of the age, remained sullenly within his entrenchments. his position was too strong and his force far too numerous to warrant an attack by the stadholder upon his works. after satisfying himself, therefore, that there was no chance of an encounter in brabant except at immense disadvantage, maurice rapidly counter-marched towards the lower meuse, and on the th july laid siege to grave. the position and importance of this city have been thoroughly set before the reader in a former volumes it is only necessary, therefore, to recal the fact that, besides being a vital possession for the republic, the place was in law the private property of the orange family, having been a portion of the estate of count de buren, afterwards redeemed on payment of a considerable sum of money by his son-in-law, william the silent, confirmed to him at the pacification of ghent, and only lost to his children by the disgraceful conduct of captain hamart, which had cost that officer his head. maurice was determined at least that the place should not now slip through his fingers, and that the present siege should be a masterpiece. his forts, of which he had nearly fifty, were each regularly furnished with moat, drawbridge, and bulwark. his counterscarp and parapet, his galleries, covered ways and mines, were as elaborate, massive, and artistically finished as if he were building a city instead of besieging one. buzanval, the french envoy, amazed at the spectacle, protested that his works "were rather worthy of the grand emperor of the turks than of, a little commonwealth, which only existed through the disorder of its enemies and the assistance of its friends;" but he admitted the utility of the stadholder's proceedings to be very obvious. while the prince calmly sat before grave, awaiting the inexorable hour for burghers and garrison to surrender, the great francis mendoza, admiral of arragon, had been completing the arrangements for his exchange. a prisoner after the nieuport battle, he had been assigned by maurice, as will be recollected, to his cousin, young lewis gunther, whose brilliant services as commander of the cavalry had so much contributed to the victory. the amount of ransom for so eminent a captive could not fail to be large, and accordingly the thrifty lewis william had congratulated his brother on being able, although so young, thus to repair the fortunes of the family by his military industry to a greater extent than had yet been accomplished by any of the race. subsequently, the admiral had been released on parole, the sum of his ransom having been fixed at nearly one hundred thousand flemish crowns. by an agreement now made by the states, with consent of the nassau family, the prisoner was definitely released, on condition of effecting the exchange of all prisoners of the republic, now held in durance by spain in any part of the world. this was in lieu of the hundred thousand crowns which were to be put into the impoverished coffers of lewis gunther. it may be imagined, as the hapless prisoners afterwards poured in--not only from the peninsula, but from more distant regions, whither they had been sent by their cruel taskmasters, some to relate their sufferings in the horrible dungeons of spain, where they had long been expiating the crime of defending their fatherland, others to relate their experiences as chained galley-slaves in the naval service of their bitterest enemies, many with shorn heads and long beards like turks, many with crippled limbs, worn out with chains and blows, and the squalor of disease and filth--that the hatred for spain and rome did not glow any less fiercely within the republic, nor the hereditary love for the nassaus, to whose generosity these poor victims were indebted for their deliverance, become fainter, in consequence of these revelations. it was at first vehemently disputed by many that the admiral could be exchanged as a prisoner of war, in respect to the manifold murders and other crimes which would seem to authorize his trial and chastisement by the tribunals of the republic. but it was decided by the states that the sacred aegis of military law must be held to protect even so bloodstained a criminal as he, and his release was accordingly effected. not long afterwards he took his departure for spain, where his reception was not enthusiastic. from this epoch is to be dated a considerable reform in the laws regulating the exchange of prisoners of war.--[grotius] while maurice was occupied with the siege of grave, and thus not only menacing an important position, but spreading, danger and dismay over all brabant and flanders, it was necessary for the archduke to detach so large a portion of his armies to observe his indefatigable and scientific enemy, as to much weaken the vigour of the operations before ostend. moreover, the execrable administration of his finances, and the dismal delays and sufferings of that siege; had brought about another mutiny--on the whole, the most extensive, formidable, and methodical of all that had hitherto occurred in the spanish armies. by midsummer, at least three thousand five hundred veterans, including a thousand of excellent cavalry, the very best soldiers in the service, had seized the city of hoogstraaten. here they established themselves securely, and strengthened the fortifications; levying contributions in corn, cattle, and every other necessary, besides wine, beer, and pocket-money, from the whole country round with exemplary regularity. as usual, disorder assumed the forms of absolute order. anarchy became the best organized of governments; and it would have been difficult to find in the world--outside the dutch commonwealth--a single community where justice appeared to be so promptly administered as in this temporary republic, founded upon rebellion and theft. for; although a brotherhood of thieves, it rigorously punished such of its citizens as robbed for their own, not for the public good. the immense booty swept daily from the granges, castles; and villages of flanders was divided with the simplicity of early christians, while the success and steadiness of the operations paralyzed their sovereign, and was of considerable advantage to the states. albert endeavoured in vain to negotiate with the rebels. nuncius frangipani went to them in person, but was received with calm derision. pious exhortations might turn the keys of paradise, but gold alone, he was informed, would unlock the gates of hoogstraaten. in an evil hour the cardinal-archduke was tempted to try the effect of sacerdotal thunder. the ex-archbishop of toledo could not doubt that the terrors of the church would make those brown veterans tremble who could confront so tranquilly the spring-tides of the north sea, and the batteries of vere and nassau. so he launched a manifesto, as highly spiced as a pamphlet of marnig, and as severe as a sentence of torquemada. entirely against the advice of the states-general of the obedient provinces, he denounced the mutineers as outlaws and accursed. he called on persons of every degree to kill any of them in any way, at any time, or in any place, promising that the slayer of a private soldier should receive a reward of "ten crowns for each head" brought in, while for a subaltern officer's head one hundred crowns were offered; for that of a superior officer two hundred, and for that of the eletto or chief magistrate, five hundred crowns. should the slayer be himself a member of the mutiny, his crime of rebellion was to be forgiven, and the price of murder duly paid. all judges, magistrates, and provost-marshals were ordered to make inventories of the goods, moveable and immoveable, of the mutineers, and of the clothing and other articles belonging to their wives and children, all which property was to be brought in and deposited in the hands of the proper functionaries of the archduke's camp, in order that it might be duly incorporated into the domains of his highness. the mutineers were not frightened. the ban was an anachronism. if those spaniards and italians had learned nothing by their much campaigning in the land of calvinism, they had at least unlearned their faith in bell, book, and candle. it happened, too, that among their numbers were to be found pamphleteers as ready and as unscrupulous as the scribes of the archduke. so there soon came forth and was published to the world, in the name of the eletto and council of hoogstraaten, a formal answer to the ban. "if scolding and cursing be payment," said the magistrates of the mutiny, "then we might give a receipt in full for our wages. the ban is sufficient in this respect; but as these curses give no food for our bellies nor clothes for our backs, not preventing us, therefore, who have been fighting so long for the honour and welfare of the archdukes from starving with cold and hunger, we think a reply necessary in order to make manifest how much reason these archdukes have for thundering forth all this choler and fury, by which women and children may be frightened, but at which no soldier will feel alarm. "when it is stated," continued the mutineers, "that we have deserted our banners just as an attempt was making by the archduke to relieve grave, we can only reply that the assertion proves how impossible it is to practise arithmetic with disturbed brains. passion is a bad schoolmistress for the memory, but, as good friends, we will recal to the recollection of your highness that it was not your highness, but the admiral of arragon, that commanded the relieving force before that city. "'tis very true that we summon your highnesses, and levy upon your provinces, in order to obtain means of living; for in what other quarter should we make application. your highnesses give us nothing except promises; but soldiers are not chameleons, to live on such air. according to every principle of law, creditors have a lien on the property of their debtors. "as to condemning to death as traitors and scoundrels those who don't desire to be killed, and who have the means of killing such as attempt to execute the sentence; this is hardly in accordance with the extraordinary wisdom which has always characterized your highnesses. "as, to the confiscation of our goods, both moveable and immoveable, we would simply make this observation: "our moveable goods are our swords alone, and they can only be moved by ourselves. they are our immoveable goods as well; for should any one but ourselves undertake to move them, we assure your highnesses that they will prove too heavy to be handled. "as to the official register and deposit ordained of the money, clothing, and other property belonging to ourselves, our wives and children, the work may be done without clerks of inventory. certainly, if the domains of your highnesses have no other sources of revenue than the proceeds of this confiscation, wherewith to feed the ostrich-like digestions of those about you, 'tis to be feared that ere long they will be in the same condition as were ours, when we were obliged to come together in hoogstraaten to devise means to keep ourselves, our wives, and children alive. and at that time we were an unbreeched people, like the indians--saving your highnesses' reverence--and the climate here is too cold for such costume. your highnesses, and your relatives the emperor and king of spain, will hardly make your royal heads greasy with the fat of such property as we possess, 'twill also be a remarkable spectacle after you have stripped our wives and children stark naked for the benefit of your treasury, to see them sent in that condition, within three days afterwards, out of the country, as the ban ordains. "you order the ban to be executed against our children and our children's children, but your highness never learned this in the bible, when you were an archbishop, and when you expounded, or ought to have expounded, the holy scriptures to your flock. what theology teaches your highness to vent your wrath upon the innocent? "whenever the cause of discontent is taken away, the soldiers will become obedient and cheerful. all kings and princes may mirror themselves in the bad government of your highness, and may see how they fare who try to carry on a war, while with their own hands they cut the sinews of war. the great leaders of old--cyrus, alexander, scipio, caesar--were accustomed, not to starve, but to enrich their soldiers. what did alexander, when in an arid desert they brought, him a helmet full of water? he threw it on the sand, saying that there was only enough for him, but not enough for his army. "your highnesses have set ten crowns, and one hundred, and five hundred crowns upon our heads, but never could find five hundred mites nor ten mites to keep our souls and bodies together. "yet you have found means to live yourselves with pomp and luxury, far exceeding that of the great emperor charles and much surpassing the magnificence of your highnesses' brothers, the emperor and the king." thus, and much more, the magistrates of the "italian republic"--answering their master's denunciations of vengeance, both in this world and the next, with a humorous scorn very refreshing in that age of the world to contemplate. the expanding influence of the dutch commonwealth was already making itself felt even in the ranks of its most determined foes. the mutineers had also made an agreement with the states-general, by which they had secured permission, in case of need, to retire within the territory of the republic. maurice had written to them from his camp before grave, and at first they were disposed to treat him with as little courtesy as they had shown the nuncius; for they put the prince's letter on a staff, and fired at it as a mark, assuring the trumpeter who brought it that they would serve him in the same manner should he venture thither again. very soon afterwards, however, the eletto and council, reproving the folly of their subordinates, opened negotiations with the stadholder, who, with the consent of the states, gave them preliminary permission to take refuge under the guns of bergenop-zoom, should they by chance be hard pressed. thus throughout europe a singular equilibrium of contending forces seemed established. before ostend, where the chief struggle between imperialism and republicanism had been proceeding for more than a year with equal vigour, there seemed no possibility of a result. the sands drank up the blood of the combatants on both sides, month after month, in summer; the pestilence in town and camp mowed down catholic and protestant with perfect impartiality during the winter, while the remorseless ocean swept over all in its wrath, obliterating in an hour the patient toil of months. in spain, in england, and ireland; in hungary, germany, sweden, and poland, men wrought industriously day by day and year by year, to destroy each other, and to efface the products of human industry, and yet no progress could fairly be registered. the turk was in buda, on the right bank of the danube, and the christian in pest, on the left, while the crescent; but lately supplanted by the cross, again waved in triumph over stuhlweissenberg, capital city of the magyars. the great marshal biron, foiled in his stupendous treachery, had laid down his head upon the block; the catastrophe following hard upon the madcap riot of lord essex in the strand and his tragic end. the troublesome and restless favourites of henry and of elizabeth had closed their stormy career, but the designs of the great king and the great queen were growing wider and wilder, more false and more fantastic than ever, as the evening shadows of both were lengthening. but it was not in europe nor in christendom: alone during that twilight epoch of declining absolutism, regal and sacerdotal, and the coming glimmer of freedom, religious and commercial, that the contrast between the old and new civilizations was exhibiting itself. the same fishermen and fighting men, whom we have but lately seen sailing forth from zeeland and friesland to confront the dangers of either pole, were now contending in the indian seas with the portuguese monopolists of the tropics. a century long, the generosity of the roman pontiff in bestowing upon others what was not his property had guaranteed to the nation of vasco de gama one half at least of the valuable possessions which maritime genius, unflinching valour, and boundless cruelty had won and kept. but the spirit of change was abroad in the world. potentates and merchants under the equator had been sedulously taught that there were no other white men on the planet but the portuguese and their conquerors the spaniards, and that the dutch--of whom they had recently heard, and the portrait of whose great military chieftain they had seen after the news of the nieuport battle had made the circuit of the earth--were a mere mob of pirates and savages inhabiting the obscurest of dens. they were soon, however, to be enabled to judge for themselves as to the power and the merits of the various competitors for their trade. early in this year andreas hurtado de mendoza with a stately fleet of galleons and smaller vessels, more than five-and-twenty in all, was on his way towards the island of java to inflict summary vengeance upon those oriental rulers who had dared to trade with men forbidden by his catholic majesty and the pope. the city of bantam was the first spot marked out for destruction, and it so happened that a dutch skipper, wolfert hermann by name, commanding five trading vessels, in which were three hundred men, had just arrived in those seas to continue the illicit commerce which had aroused the ire of the portuguese. his whole force both of men and of guns was far inferior to that of the flag-ship alone of mendoza. but he resolved to make manifest to the indians that the batavians were not disposed to relinquish their promising commercial relations with them, nor to turn their backs upon their newly found friends in the hour of danger. to the profound astonishment of the portuguese admiral the dutchman with his five little trading ships made an attack on the pompous armada, intending to avert chastisement from the king of bantam. it was not possible for wolfert to cope at close quarters with his immensely superior adversary, but his skill and nautical experience enabled him to play at what was then considered long bowls with extraordinary effect. the greater lightness and mobility of his vessels made them more than a match, in this kind of encounter, for the clumsy, top-heavy, and sluggish marine castles in which spain and portugal then went forth to battle on the ocean. it seems almost like the irony of history, and yet it is the literal fact, that the dutch galleot of that day--hardly changed in two and a half centuries since--"the bull-browed galleot butting through the stream,"--[oliver wendell holmes]--was then the model clipper, conspicuous among all ships for its rapid sailing qualities and ease of handling. so much has the world moved, on sea and shore, since those simple but heroic days. and thus wolfert's swift-going galleots circled round and round the awkward, ponderous, and much-puzzled portuguese fleet, until by well-directed shots and skilful manoeuvring they had sunk several ships, taken two, run others into the shallows, and, at last, put the whole to confusion. after several days of such fighting, admiral mendoza fairly turned his back upon his insignificant opponent, and abandoned his projects upon java. bearing away for the island of amboyna with the remainder of his fleet, he laid waste several of its villages and odoriferous spice-fields, while wolfert and his companions entered bantam in triumph, and were hailed as deliverers. and thus on the extreme western verge of this magnificent island was founded the first trading settlement of the batavian republic in the archipelago of the equator--the foundation-stone of a great commercial empire which was to encircle the earth. not many years later, at the distance, of a dozen leagues from bantam, a congenial swamp was fortunately discovered in a land whose volcanic peaks rose two miles into the air, and here a town duly laid out with canals and bridges, and trim gardens and stagnant pools, was baptized by the ancient and well-beloved name of good-meadow or batavia, which it bears to this day. meantime wolfert hermann was not the only hollander cruising in those seas able to convince the oriental mind that all europeans save the portuguese were not pirates and savages, and that friendly intercourse with other foreigners might be as profitable as slavery to the spanish crown. captain nek made treaties of amity and commerce with the potentates of ternate, tydor, and other molucca islands. the king of candy on the island of ceylon, lord of the odoriferous fields of cassia which perfume those tropical seas, was glad to learn how to exchange the spices of the equator for the thousand fabrics and products of western civilization which found their great emporium in holland. jacob heemskerk, too, who had so lately astonished the world by his exploits and discoveries during his famous winter in nova zembla, was now seeking adventures and carrying the flag and fame of the republic along the indian and chinese coasts. the king of johor on the malayan peninsula entered into friendly relations with him, being well pleased, like so many of those petty rulers, to obtain protection against the portuguese whom he had so long hated and feared. he informed heemskerk of the arrival in the straits of malacca of an immense lisbon carrack, laden with pearls and spices, brocades and precious-stones, on its way to europe, and suggested an attack. it is true that the roving hollander merely commanded a couple of the smallest galleots, with about a hundred and thirty men in the two. but when was jacob heemskerk ever known to shrink from an encounter--whether from single-handed combat with a polar bear, or from leading a forlorn hope against a spanish fort, or from assailing a portuguese armada. the carrack, more than one thousand tons burthen, carried seventeen guns, and at least eight times as many men as he commanded. nevertheless, after a combat of but brief duration heemskerk was master of the carrack: he spared the lives of his seven hundred prisoners, and set them on shore before they should have time to discover to what a handful of dutchmen they had surrendered. then dividing about a million florins' worth of booty among his men, who doubtless found such cruising among the spice-islands more attractive than wintering at the north pole, he sailed in the carrack for macao, where he found no difficulty in convincing the authorities of the celestial empire that the friendship of the dutch republic was worth cultivating. there was soon to be work in other regions for the hardy hollander--such as was to make the name of heemskerk a word to conjure with down to the latest posterity. meantime he returned to his own country to take part in the great industrial movements which were to make this year an epoch in commercial history. the conquerors of mendoza and deliverers of bantam had however not paused in their work. from java they sailed to banda; and on those volcanic islands of nutmegs and cloves made, in the name of their commonwealth, a treaty with its republican antipodes. for there was no king to be found in that particular archipelago, and the two republics, the oriental and the germanic, dealt with each other with direct and becoming simplicity. their convention was in accordance with the commercial ideas of the day, which assumed monopoly as the true basis of national prosperity. it was agreed that none but dutchmen should ever purchase the nutmegs of banda, and that neither nation should harbour refugees from the other. other articles, however; showed how much farther, the practice of political and religious liberty had advanced than had any theory of commercial freedom. it was settled that each nation should judge its own citizens according to its own laws, that neither should interfere by force with the other in regard to religious matters, but that god should be judge over them all. here at least was progress beyond the system according to which the holy inquisition furnished the only enginry of civilization. the guardianship assumed by holland over these children of the sun was at least an improvement on the tyranny which roasted them alive if they rejected religious dogmas which they could not comprehend, and which proclaimed with fire, sword, and gibbet that the omnipotent especially forbade the nutmeg trade to all but the subjects, of the most catholic king. in atsgen or achim, chief city of sumatra, a treaty was likewise made with the government of the place, and it was arranged that the king of atsgen should send over an embassy to the distant but friendly republic. thus he might judge whether the hollanders were enemies of all the world, as had been represented to him, or only of spain; whether their knowledge of the arts and sciences, and their position among the western nations entitled them to respect, and made their friendship desirable; or whether they were only worthy of the contempt which their royal and aristocratic enemies delighted to heap upon their heads. the envoys sailed from sumatra on board the same little fleet which, under the command of wolfert hermann, had already done such signal service, and on their way to europe they had an opportunity of seeing how these republican sailors could deal with their enemies on the ocean. off st. helena an immense portuguese carrack richly laden and powerfully armed, was met, attacked, and overpowered by the little merchantmen with their usual audacity and skill. a magnificent booty was equitably divided among the captors, the vanquished crew were set safely on shore; and the hollanders then pursued their home voyage without further adventures. the ambassadors; with an arab interpreter, were duly presented to prince maurice in the lines before the city of grave. certainly no more favourable opportunity could have been offered them for contrasting the reality of military power, science, national vigour; and wealth, which made the republic eminent among the nations, with the fiction of a horde of insignificant and bloodthirsty savages which her enemies had made so familiar at the antipodes. not only were the intrenchments bastions, galleries, batteries, the discipline and equipment of the troops, a miracle in the eyes of these newly arrived oriental ambassadors, but they had awakened the astonishment of europe, already accustomed to such spectacles. evidently the amity of the stadholder and his commonwealth was a jewel of price, and the king of achim would have been far more barbarous than he had ever deemed the dutchmen to be, had he not well heeded the lesson which he had sent so far to learn. the chief of the legation, abdulzamar, died in zeeland, and was buried with honourable obsequies at middleburg, a monument being raised to his memory. the other envoys returned to sumatra, fully determined to maintain close relations with the republic. there had been other visitors in maurice's lines before grave at about the same period. among others, gaston spinola, recently created by the archduke count of bruay, had obtained permission to make a visit to a wounded relative, then a captive in the republican camp, and was hospitably entertained at the stadholder's table. maurice, with soldierly bluntness, ridiculed the floating batteries, the castles on wheels, the sausages, and other newly-invented machines, employed before ostend, and characterized them as rather fit to catch birds with than to capture a city, defended by mighty armies and fleets. "if the archduke has set his heart upon it, he had far better try to buy ostend," he observed. "what is your price?" asked the italian; "will you take , ducats?" "certainly not less than a million and a half," was the reply; so highly did maurice rate the position and advantages of the city. he would venture to prophesy, he added, that the siege of ostend would last as long as the siege of troy. "ostend is no troy," said spinola with a courtly flourish, "although there are certainly not wanting an austrian agamemnon, a dutch hector, and an italian achilles." the last allusion was to the speaker's namesake and kinsman, the marquis anibrose spinola, of whom much was to be heard in the world from that time forth. meantime, although so little progress had been made at ostend, maurice had thoroughly done his work before grave. on the th september the place surrendered, after sixty days' siege, upon the terms usually granted by the stadholder. the garrison was to go out with the honours of war. those of the inhabitants who wished to leave were to leave; those who preferred staying were to stay; rendering due allegiance to the republic, and abstaining in public from the rites of the roman church, without being exposed, however, to any inquiries as to their religious opinions, or any interference within their households. the work went slowly on before ostend. much effect had been produced, however, by the operations of the archduke's little naval force. the galley of that day, although a child's toy as compared with the wonders of naval architecture of our own time, was an effective machine enough to harass fishing and coasting vessels in creeks and estuaries, and along the shores of holland and zeeland during tranquil weather. the locomotive force of these vessels consisted of galley-slaves, in which respect the spaniards had an advantage over other nations; for they had no scruples in putting prisoners of war into chains and upon the benches of the rowers. humanity--"the law of christian piety," in the words of the noble grotius--forbade the hollanders from reducing their captives to such horrible slavery, and they were obliged to content themselves with condemned criminals, and with the few other wretches whom abject poverty and the impossibility of earning other wages could induce to accept the service. and as in the maritime warfare of our own day, the machinery--engines, wheels, and boilers--is the especial aim of the enemy's artillery, so the chain-gang who rowed in the waist of the galley, the living enginry, without which the vessel became a useless tub, was as surely marked out for destruction whenever a sea-fight took place. the hollanders did not very much favour this species of war-craft, both by reason of the difficulty of procuring the gang, and because to a true lover of the ocean and of naval warfare the galley was about as clumsy and amphibious a production as could be hoped of human perverseness. high where it should be low. exposed, flat, and fragile, where elevation and strength were indispensable--encumbered and top-heavy where it should be level and compact, weak in the waist, broad at stem and stern, awkward in manoeuvre, helpless in rough weather, sluggish under sail, although possessing the single advantage of being able to crawl over a smooth sea when better and faster ships were made stationary by absolute calm, the galley was no match for the dutch galleot, either at close quarters or in a breeze. nevertheless for a long time there had been a certain awe produced by the possibility of some prodigious but unknown qualities in these outlandish vessels, and already the hollanders had tried their hand at constructing them. on a late occasion a galley of considerable size, built at dort, had rowed past the spanish forts on the scheld, gone up to antwerp, and coolly cut out from the very wharves of the city a spanish galley of the first class, besides seven war vessels of lesser dimensions, at first gaining advantage by surprise, and then breaking down all opposition in a brilliant little fight. the noise of the encounter summoned the citizens and garrison to the walls, only to witness the triumph achieved by dutch audacity, and to see the victors dropping rapidly down the river, laden with booty and followed by their prizes. nor was the mortification of these unwilling spectators diminished when the clear notes of a bugle on board the dutch galley brought to their ears the well-known melody of "wilhelmus of nassau," once so dear to every patriotic heart in antwerp, and perhaps causing many a renegade cheek on this occasion to tingle with shame. frederic spinola, a volunteer belonging to the great and wealthy genoese family of that name, had been performing a good deal of privateer work with a small force of galleys which he kept under his command at sluys. he had succeeded in inflicting so much damage upon the smaller merchantmen of the republic, and in maintaining so perpetual a panic in calm weather among the seafaring multitudes of those regions, that he was disposed to extend the scale of his operations. on a visit to spain he had obtained permission from government to employ in this service eight great galleys, recently built on the guadalquivir for the royal navy. he was to man and equip them at his own expense, and was to be allowed the whole of the booty that might result from his enterprise. early in the autumn he set forth with his eight galleys on the voyage to flanders, but, off cezimbra, on the portuguese coast, unfortunately fell in with sir robert mansell, who; with a compact little squadron of english frigates, was lying in wait for the homeward-bound india fleet on their entrance to lisbon. an engagement took place, in which spinola lost two of his galleys. his disaster might have been still greater, had not an immense indian carrack, laden with the richest merchandize, just then hove in sight, to attract his conquerors with a hope of better prize-money than could be expected from the most complete victory over him and his fleet. with the remainder of his vessels spinola crept out of sight while the english were ransacking the carrack. on the rd of october he had entered the channel with a force which, according to the ideas of that day, was still formidable. each of his galleys was of two hundred and fifty slave power, and carried, beside the chain-gang, four hundred fighting men. his flag-ship was called the st. lewis; the names of the other vessels being the st. philip, the morning star, the st. john, the hyacinth, and the padilla. the trinity and the opportunity had been destroyed off cezimbra. now there happened to be cruising just then in the channel, captain peter mol, master of the dutch war-ship tiger, and captain lubbertson, commanding the pelican. these two espied the spanish squadron, paddling at about dusk towards the english coast, and quickly gave notice to vice-admiral john kant, who in the states' ship half-moon, with three other war-galleots, was keeping watch in that neighbourhood. it was dead calm as the night fell, and the galleys of spinola, which had crept close up to the dover cliffs, were endeavouring to row their way across in the darkness towards the flemish coast, in the hope of putting unobserved into the gut of sluys. all went well with spinola till the moon rose; but, with the moon, sprang up a steady breeze, so that the galleys lost all their advantage. nearly off gravelines another states' ship, the mackerel, came in sight, which forthwith attacked the st: philip, pouring a broadside into her by which fifty men were killed. drawing off from this assailant, the galley found herself close to the dutch admiral in the half-moon, who, with all sail set, bore straight down upon her, struck her amidships with a mighty crash, carrying off her mainmast and her poop, and then, extricating himself with difficulty from the wreck, sent a tremendous volley of cannon-shot and lesser missiles straight into the waist where sat the chain-gang. a howl of pain and terror rang through the air, while oars and benches, arms, legs, and mutilated bodies, chained inexorably together, floated on the moonlit waves. an instant later, and another galleot bore down to complete the work, striking with her iron prow the doomed st. philip so straightly and surely that she went down like a stone, carrying with her galley slaves, sailors, and soldiers, besides all the treasure brought by spinola for the use of his fleet. the morning star was the next galley attacked, captain sael, in a stout galleot, driving at her under full sail, with the same accuracy and solidity of shock as had been displayed in the encounter with the st. philip and with the same result. the miserable, top-heavy monster galley was struck between mainmast and stern, with a blow which carried away the assailant's own bowsprit and fore-bulwarks, but which--completely demolished the stem of the galley, and crushed out of existence the greater portion of the live machinery sitting chained and rowing on the benches. and again, as the first enemy hauled off from its victim, admiral pant came up once more in the half-moon, steered straight at the floundering galley, and sent her with one crash to the bottom. it was not very scientific practice perhaps. it was but simple butting, plain sailing, good steering, and the firing of cannon at short pistol-shot. but after all, the work of those unsophisticated dutch skippers was done very thoroughly, without flinching, and, as usual, at great odds of men and guns. two more of the spanish galleys were chased into the shallows near gravelines, where they went to pieces. another was wrecked near calais. the galley which bore frederic spinola himself and his fortunes succeeded in reaching dunkirk, whence he made his way discomfited, to tell the tale of his disaster to the archduke at brussels. during the fight the dutch admiral's boats had been active in picking up such of the drowning crews, whether galley-slaves or soldiers, as it was possible to save. but not more than two hundred were thus rescued, while by far the greater proportion of those on board, probably three thousand in number, perished, and the whole fleet, by which so much injury was to have been inflicted on dutch commerce, was, save one damaged galley, destroyed. yet scarcely any lives were lost by the hollanders, and it is certain that the whole force in their fleet did not equal the crew of a single one of the enemy's ships. neither spinola nor the archduke seemed likely to make much out of the contract. meantime, the genoese volunteer kept quiet in sluy's, brooding over schemes to repair his losses and to renew his forays on the indomitable zeelanders. another winter had now closed in upon ostend, while still the siege had scarcely advanced an inch. during the ten months of governor dorp's administration, four thousand men had died of wounds or malady within the town, and certainly twice as many in the trenches of the besieging force. still the patient bucquoy went on, day after day, night after night, month after month, planting his faggots and fascines, creeping forward almost imperceptibly with his dyke, paying five florins each to the soldiers who volunteered to bring the materials, and a double ducat to each man employed in laying them. so close were they under the fire of the town; that a life was almost laid down for every ducat, but the gullet, which it was hoped to close, yawned as wide as ever, and the problem how to reduce a city, open by sea to the whole world, remained without solution. on the last day of the year a splendid fleet of transports arrived in the town, laden with whole droves of beeves and flocks of sheep, besides wine and bread and beer enough to supply a considerable city; so that market provisions in the beleaguered town were cheaper than in any part of europe. thus skilfully did the states-general and prince maurice watch from the outside over ostend, while the audacious but phlegmatic sea-captains brought their cargoes unscathed through the gullet, although bucquoy's batteries had now advanced to within seventy yards of the shore. on the west side, the besiegers were slowly eating their way through the old harbour towards the heart of the place. subterranean galleries, patiently drained of their water, were met by counter-galleries leading out from the town, and many were the desperate hand-to-hand encounters, by dim lanterns, or in total darkness, beneath the ocean and beneath the earth; hollander, spaniard, german, englishman, walloon, digging and dying in the fatal trenches, as if there had been no graves at home. those insatiable sand-banks seemed ready to absorb all the gold and all the life of christendom. but the monotony of that misery it is useless to chronicle. hardly an event of these dreary days has been left unrecorded by faithful diarists and industrious soldiers, but time has swept us far away from them, and the world has rolled on to fresher fields of carnage and ruin. all winter long those unwearied, intelligent, fierce, and cruel creatures toiled and fought in the stagnant waters, and patiently burrowed in the earth. it seemed that if ostend were ever lost it would be because at last entirely bitten away and consumed. when there was no ostend left, it might be that the archduke would triumph. as there was always danger that the movements on the east side might be at last successful, it was the command of maurice that the labours to construct still another harbour should go on in case the gullet should become useless, as the old haven had been since the beginning of the siege. and the working upon that newest harbour was as dangerous to the hollanders as bucquoy's dike-building to the spaniards, for the pioneers and sappers were perpetually under fire from the batteries which the count had at, last successfully established on the extremity of his work. it was a piteous sight to see those patient delvers lay down their spades and die, hour after hour, to be succeeded by their brethren only to share their fate. yet still the harbour building progressed; for the republic was determined that the city should be open to the sea so long as the states had a stiver, or a ship, or a spade. while this deadly industry went on, the more strictly military operations were not pretermitted day nor night. the catholics were unwearied in watching for a chance of attack, and the hollanders stood on the ramparts and in the trenches, straining eyes and ears through the perpetual icy mists of that black winter to catch the sight and sound of a coming foe. especially the by-watches, as they were called, were enough to break down constitutions of iron; for, all day and night, men were stationed in the inundated regions, bound on pain of death to stand in the water and watch for a possible movement of the enemy, until the waves should rise so high as to make it necessary to swim. then, until the tide fell again, there was brief repose. and so the dreary winter faded away at last into chill and blustering spring. on the th of april a hurricane, such as had not occurred since the siege began; raged across the ocean, deluging and shattering the devoted town. the waters rose over dyke and parapet, and the wind swept from the streets and ramparts every living thing. not a soldier or sailor could keep his feet, the chief tower of the church was blown into the square, chimneys and windows crashed on all sides, and the elements had their holiday, as if to prove how helpless a thing was man, however fierce and determined, when the powers of nature arose in their strength. it was as if no siege existed, as if no hostile armies had been lying nearly two years long close to each other, and losing no opportunity to fly at each other's throats. the strife of wind and ocean gave a respite to human rage. it was but a brief respite. at nightfall there was a lull in the tempest, and the garrison crept again to the ramparts. instantly the departing roar of the winds and waters were succeeded by fainter but still more threatening sounds, and the sentinels and the drums and trumpets to rally the garrison, when the attack came. the sleepless spaniards were already upon them. in the porcupine fort, a blaze of wickerwork and building materials suddenly illuminated the gathering gloom of night; and the loud cries of the assailants, who had succeeded in kindling this fire by their missiles, proclaimed the fierceness of the attack. governor dorp was himself in the fort, straining every nerve to extinguish the flames, and to hold this most important position. he was successful. after a brief but bloody encounter the spaniards were repulsed with heavy loss. all was quiet again, and the garrison in the porcupine were congratulating themselves on their victory when suddenly the ubiquitous philip fleeting plunged, with a face of horror, into the governor's quarters, informing him that the attack on the redoubt had been a feint, and that the spaniards were at that very moment swarming all over the three external forts, called the south square, the west square, and the polder. these points, which have been already described, were most essential to the protection of the place, as without them the whole counterscarp was in danger. it was to save those exposed but vital positions that sir francis vere had resorted to the slippery device of the last christmas eve but one. dorp refused to believe the intelligence. the squares were well guarded, the garrison ever alert. spaniards were not birds of prey to fly up those perpendicular heights, and for beings without wings the thing was impossible. he followed fleming through the darkness, and was soon convinced that the impossible was true. the precious squares were in the hands of the enemy. nimble as monkeys, those yellow jerkined italians, walloons, and spaniards--stormhats on their heads and swords in their teeth--had planted rope-ladders, swung themselves up the walls by hundreds upon hundreds, while the fight had been going on at the porcupine, and were now rushing through the forts grinning defiance, yelling and chattering with fierce triumph, and beating down all opposition. it was splendidly done. the discomfited dorp met small bodies of his men, panic-struck, reeling out from their stronghold, wounded, bleeding, shrieking for help and for orders. it seemed as if the spaniards had dropped from the clouds. the dutch commandant did his best to rally the fugitives, and to encourage those who had remained. all night long the furious battle raged, every inch of ground being contested; for both catholics and hollanders knew full well that this triumph was worth more than all that had been gained for the archduke in eighteen months of siege. pike to pike, breast to breast, they fought through the dark april night; the last sobs of the hurricane dying unheard, the red lanterns flitting to and fro, the fireworks hissing in every direction of earth and air, the great wicker piles, heaped up with pitch and rosin, flaming over a scene more like a dance of goblins than a commonplace christian massacre. at least fifteen hundred were killed--besiegers and besieged--during the storming of the forts and the determined but unsuccessful attempt of the hollanders to retake them. and when at last the day had dawned, and the spaniards could see the full extent of their victory, they set themselves with--unusual alacrity to killing such of the wounded and prisoners as were in their hands, while, at the same time, they turned the guns of their newly acquired works upon the main counterscarp of the town. yet the besieged--discomfited but undismayed lost not a moment in strengthening their inner works, and in doing their best, day after day, by sortie, cannonade, and every possible device, to prevent the foe from obtaining full advantage of his success. the triumph was merely a local one, and the patient hollanders soon proved to the enemy that the town was not gained by carrying the three squares, but that every inch of the place was to be contested as hotly as those little redoubts had been. ostend, after standing nearly two years of siege, was not to be carried by storm. a goodly slice of it had been pared off that april night, and was now in possession of the archduke, but this was all. meantime the underground work was resumed on both sides. frederic spinola, notwithstanding the stunning defeat sustained by him in the preceding october, had not lost heart while losing all his ships. on the contrary, he had been busy during the winter in building other galleys. accordingly, one fine morning in may, counsellor flooswyk, being on board a war vessel convoying some empty transports from ostend, observed signs of mischief brewing as he sailed past the gut of sluys; and forthwith gave notice of what he had seen to admiral joost de moor, commanding the blockading squadron. the counsellor was right. frederic spinola meant mischief. it was just before sunrise of a beautiful summer's day. the waves were smooth--not a breath of wind stirring--and de moor, who had four little war-ships of holland, and was supported besides by a famous vessel called the black galley of zeeland, under captain jacob michelzoon, soon observed a movement from sluys. over the flat and glassy surface of the sea, eight galleys of the largest size were seen crawling slowly, like vast reptiles, towards his .. position. four lesser vessels followed in the wake of the great galleys. the sails of the admiral's little fleet flapped idly against the mast. he could only placidly await the onset. the black galley, however, moved forward according to her kind; and was soon vigorously attacked by two galleys of the enemy. with all the force that five hundred rowers could impart, these two huge vessels ran straight into the zeeland ship, and buried their iron prows in her sides. yet the black galley was made of harder stuff than were those which had gone down in the channel the previous autumn under the blows of john kant. those on board her, at least, were made of tougher material than were galley-slaves and land-soldiers. the ramming was certainly not like that of a thousand horse-power of steam, and there was no very great display of science in the encounter; yet captain jacob michelzoon, with two enemy's ships thus stuck to his sides, might well have given himself up for lost. the disproportion of ships and men was monstrous. beside the chain-gang, each of spinola's ships was manned by two hundred soldiers, while thirty-six musketeers from the flushing garrison were the only men-at-arms in de moor's whole squadron. but those amphibious zeelanders and hollanders, perfectly at home in the water, expert in handling vessels, and excellent cannoneers, were more than a match for twenty times their number of landsmen. it was a very simple-minded, unsophisticated contest. the attempt to board the black galley was met with determined resistance, but the zeeland sailors clambered like cats upon the bowsprits of the spanish galleys, fighting with cutlass and handspike, while a broadside or two was delivered with terrible effect into the benches of the chained and wretched slaves. captain michelzoon was killed, but his successor, lieutenant hart, although severely wounded, swore that he would blow up his ship with his own hands rather than surrender. the decks of all the vessels ran with blood, but at last the black galley succeeded in beating off her assailants; the zeelanders, by main force, breaking off the enemy's bowsprits, so that the two ships of spinola were glad to sheer off, leaving their stings buried in the enemy's body. next, four galleys attacked the stout little galleot of captain logier, and with a very similar result. their prows stuck fast in the bulwarks of the ship, but the boarders soon found themselves the boarded, and, after a brief contest, again the iron bowsprits snapped like pipe-stems, and again the floundering and inexperienced spaniards shrank away from the terrible encounter which they had provoked. soon afterwards, joost de moor was assailed by three galleys. he received them, however, with cannonade and musketry so warmly that they willingly obeyed a summons from spinola, and united with the flag-ship in one more tremendous onset upon the black galley of zeeland. and it might have gone hard with that devoted ship, already crippled in the previous encounter, had not captain logier fortunately drifted with the current near enough to give her assistance, while the other sailing ships lay becalmed and idle spectators. at last spinola, conspicuous by his armour, and by magnificent recklessness of danger, fell upon the deck of his galley, torn to pieces with twenty-four wounds from a stone gun of the black galley, while at nearly the same, moment a gentle breeze began in the distance to ruffle the surface of the waters. more than a thousand men had fallen in spinola's fleet, inclusive of the miserable slaves, who were tossed overboard as often as wounds made them a cumbrous part of the machinery, and the galleys, damaged, discomfited, laden with corpses and dripping with blood, rowed off into sluys as speedily as they could move, without waiting until the coming wind should bring all the sailing ships into the fight, together with such other vessels under haultain as might be cruising in the distance. they succeeded in getting into the gut of sluys, and so up to their harbour of refuge. meantime, baldheaded, weather-beaten joost de moor--farther pursuit being impossible--piped all hands on deck, where officers and men fell on their knees, shouting in pious triumph the th psalm: "i will bless the lord at all times, his praise shall continually be in my mouth . . . . o magnify the lord with me, and let us exalt his name together." so rang forth the notes of humble thanksgiving across the placid sea. and assuredly those hardy mariners, having gained a victory with their little vessels over twelve ships and three thousand men--a numerical force of at least ten times their number,--such as few but dutchmen could have achieved; had a right to give thanks to him from whom all blessings flow. thus ended the career of frederic spinola, a wealthy, gallant, high-born, brilliant youth, who might have earned distinction, and rendered infinitely better service to the cause of spain and the archdukes, had he not persuaded himself that he had a talent for seamanship. certainly, never was a more misplaced ambition, a more unlucky career. not even in that age of rash adventure, when grandees became admirals and field-marshals because they were grandees, had such incapacity been shown by any restless patrician. frederic spinola, at the age of thirty-two, a landsman and a volunteer, thinking to measure himself on blue water with such veterans as john rant, joost de moor, and the other dutchmen and zeelanders whom it was his fortune to meet, could hardly escape the doom which so rapidly befell him. on board the black galley captain michelznon, eleven of his officers, and fifteen of his men were killed; admiral de moor was slightly wounded, and had five of his men killed and twenty wounded; captain logier was wounded in the foot, and lost fifteen killed and twelve wounded. the number of those killed in spinola's fleet has been placed as high as fourteen hundred, including two hundred officers and gentlemen of quality, besides the crowds of galley-slaves thrown overboard. this was perhaps an exaggeration. the losses were, however, sufficient to put a complete atop to the enterprise out of which the unfortunate spinola had conceived such extravagant hopes of fame and fortune. the herring-smacks and other coasters, besides the transports passing to and from ostend, sailed thenceforth unmolested by any galleys from sluys. one unfortunate sloop, however, in moving out from the beleaguered city, ran upon some shoals before getting out of the gullet and thus fell a prize to the besiegers. she was laden with nothing more precious than twelve wounded soldiers on their way to the hospitals at flushing. these prisoners were immediately hanged, at the express command of the archduke, because they had been taken on the sea where, according to his highness, there were no laws of war. the stadholder, against his will--for maurice was never cruel--felt himself obliged to teach the cardinal better jurisprudence and better humanity for the future. in order to show him that there was but one belligerent law on sea and on land, he ordered two hundred spanish prisoners within his lines to draw lots from an urn in which twelve of the tickets were inscribed with the fatal word gibbet. eleven of the twelve thus marked by ill luck were at once executed. the twelfth, a comely youth, was pardoned at the intercession of a young girl. it is not stated whether or not she became his wife. it is also a fact worth mentioning, as illustrating the recklessness engendered by a soldier's life, that the man who drew the first blank sold it to one of his comrades and plunged his hand again into the fatal urn. whether he succeeded in drawing the gibbet at his second trial has not been recorded. when these executions had taken place in full view of the enemy's camp, maurice formally announced that for every prisoner thenceforth put to death by the archduke two captives from his own army should be hanged. these stern reprisals, as usual, put an end to the foul system of martial murder. throughout the year the war continued to be exclusively the siege of ostend. yet the fierce operations, recently recorded, having been succeeded by a period of comparative languor, governor dorp at last obtained permission to depart to repair his broken health. he was succeeded in command of the forces within the town by charles van der noot, colonel of the zeeland regiment which had suffered so much in the first act of the battle of nieuport. previously to this exchange, however, a day of solemn thanksgiving and prayer was set apart on the anniversary of the beginning of the siege. since the th of july, , two years had been spent by the whole power of the enemy in the attempt to reduce this miserable village, and the whole result thus far had been the capture of three little external forts. there seemed cause for thanksgiving. philip fleming, too, obtained a four weeks' holiday--the first in eleven years--and went with his family outside the pestiferous and beleaguered town. he was soon to return to his multifarious duties as auditor, secretary, and chronicler of the city, and unattached aide-de-camp to the commander-in-chief, whoever that might be; and to perform his duty with the same patient courage and sagacity that had marked him from the beginning. "an unlucky cannon-ball of the enemy," as he observes, did some damage at this period to his diary, but it happened at a moment when comparatively little was doing, so that the chasm was of less consequence. "and so i, philip fleming, auditor to the council of war," he says with homely pathos, "have been so continually employed as not to have obtained leave in all these years to refresh, for a few days outside this town, my troubled spirit after such perpetual work, intolerable cares, and slavery, having had no other pleasure allotted me than with daily sadness, weeping eyes, and heavy yearnings to tread the ramparts, and, like a poor slave laden with fetters, to look at so many others sailing out of the harbour in order to feast their souls in other provinces with green fields and the goodly works of god. and thus it has been until it has nearly gone out of my memory how the fruits of the earth, growing trees, and dumb beasts appear to mortal eye." he then, with whimsical indignation, alludes to a certain author who pleaded in excuse for the shortcomings of the history of the siege the damage done to his manuscripts by a cannon-ball. "where the liar dreamt of or invented his cannon-ball," he says, "i cannot tell, inasmuch as he never saw the city of ostend in his life; but the said cannon-ball, to my great sorrow, did come one afternoon through my office, shot from the enemy's great battery, which very much damaged not his memoirs but mine; taking off the legs and arms at the same time of three poor invalid soldiers seated in the sun before my door and killing them on the spot, and just missing my wife, then great with child, who stood by me with faithfulness through all the sufferings of the bloody siege and presented me twice during its continuance, by the help of almighty god, with young amazons or daughters of war." and so honest philip fleming went out for a little time to look at the green trees and the dumb creatures feeding in the dutch pastures. meantime the two armies--outside and within ostend--went moiling on in their monotonous work; steadily returning at intervals, as if by instinct, to repair the ruin which a superior power would often inflict in a half-hour on the results of laborious weeks. in the open field the military operations were very trifling, the wager of battle being by common consent fought out on the sands of ostend, and the necessities for attack and defence absorbing, the resources of each combatant. france, england, and spain were holding a perpetual diplomatic tournament to which our eyes must presently turn, and the sublime realm of the ottoman and the holy roman empire were in the customary equilibrium of their eternal strife. the mutiny of the veterans continued; the "italian republic" giving the archduke almost as much trouble, despite his ban and edicts and outlawry, as the dutch commonwealth itself. for more than a twelvemonth the best troops of the spanish army had been thus established as a separate empire, levying black-mail on the obedient provinces, hanging such of their old officers as dared to remonstrate, and obeying their elected chief magistrates with exemplary docility. they had become a force of five thousand strong, cavalry and infantry together, all steady, experienced veterans--the best and bravest soldiers of europe. the least of them demanded two thousand florins as owed to him by the king of spain and the archduke. the burghers of bois-le-duc and other neighbouring towns in the obedient provinces kept watch and ward, not knowing how soon the spaniards might be upon them to reward them for their obedience. not a peasant with provisions was permitted by the mutineers to enter bois-le-duc, while the priests were summoned to pay one year's income of all their property on pain of being burned alive. "very much amazed are the poor priests at these proceedings," said ernest nassau, "and there is a terrible quantity of the vile race within and around the city. i hope one day to have the plucking of some of their feathers myself." the mutiny governed itself as a strict military democracy, and had caused an official seal to be engraved, representing seven snakes entwined in one, each thrusting forth a dangerous tongue, with the motto-- "tutto in ore e sua eccelenza in nostro favore." "his excellency" meant maurice of nassau, with whom formal articles of compact had been arranged. it had become necessary for the archduke, notwithstanding the steady drain of the siege of ostend, to detach a considerable army against this republic and to besiege them in their capital of hoogstraaten. with seven thousand foot and three thousand cavalry frederic van den berg took the field against them in the latter part of july. maurice, with nine thousand five hundred infantry and three thousand horse, lay near gertruydenberg. when united with the rebel "squadron," two thousand five hundred strong, he would dispose of a force of fifteen thousand veterans, and he moved at once to relieve the besieged mutineers. his cousin frederic, however, had no desire to measure himself with the stadholder at such odds, and stole away from him in the dark without beat of drum. maurice entered hoogstraaten, was received with rapture by the spanish and italian veterans, and excited the astonishment of all by the coolness with which he entered into the cage of these dangerous serpents--as they called themselves--handling them, caressing them, and being fondled by them in return. but the veterans knew a soldier when they saw one, and their hearts warmed to the prince--heretic though he were--more than they had ever done to the unfrocked bishop who, after starving them for years, had doomed them to destruction in this world and the next. the stadholder was feasted and honoured by the mutineers during his brief visit to hoogatraaten, and concluded with them a convention, according to which that town was to be restored to him, while they were to take temporary possession of the city of grave. they were likewise to assist, with all their strength, in his military operations until they should make peace on their own terms with the archduke. for two weeks after such treaty they were not to fight against the states, and meantime, though fighting on the republican side, they were to act as an independent corps and in no wise to be merged in the stadholder's forces. so much and no more had resulted from the archduke's excommunication of the best part of his army. he had made a present of those troops to the enemy. he had also been employing a considerable portion of his remaining forces in campaigning against their own comrades. while at grave, the mutineers, or the "squadron" as they were now called, were to be permitted to practise their own religious rites, without offering however, any interference with the regular protestant worship of the place. when they should give up grave, hoogstraaten was to be restored to them if still in possession of the states and they were to enter into no negotiations with the archduke except with full knowledge of the stadholder. there were no further military, operations of moment during the rest of the year. much, more important, however, than siege, battle, or mutiny, to human civilization, were the steady movements of the dutch skippers and merchants at this period. the ears of europe were stunned with the clatter of destruction going on all over christendom, and seeming the only reasonable occupation of christians; but the little republic; while fighting so heroically against the concentrated powers of despotism in the west, was most industriously building up a great empire in the east. in the new era just dawning, production was to become almost as honourable and potent, a principle as destruction. the voyages among the spicy regions of the equator--so recently wrested from their catholic and faithful majesties by dutch citizens who did not believe in borgia--and the little treaties made with petty princes and commonwealths, who for the first time ware learning that there were other white men in the world beside the portuguese, had already led to considerable results. before the close of, the previous year that great commercial corporation had been founded--an empire within an empire; a republic beneath a republic--a counting-house company which was to organize armies, conquer kingdoms, build forts and cities, make war and peace, disseminate and exchange among the nations of the earth the various products of civilization, more perfectly than any agency hitherto known, and bring the farthest disjoined branches of the human family into closer, connection than had ever existed before. that it was a monopoly, offensive to true commercial principles, illiberal, unjust, tyrannical; ignorant of the very rudiments of mercantile philosophy; is plain enough. for the sages of the world were but as clowns, at that period, in economic science. was not the great financier of the age; maximilian de bethune, at that very moment exhausting his intellect in devices for the prevention of all international commerce even in europe? "the kingdom of france," he groaned, "is stuffed full of the manufactures of our neighbours, and it is incredible what a curse to us are these wares. the import of all foreign goods has now been forbidden under very great penalties." as a necessary corollary to this madhouse legislation an edict was issued, prohibiting the export of gold and silver from france, on pain, not only of confiscation of those precious metals, but of the whole fortune of such as engaged in or winked at the traffic. the king took a public oath never to exempt the culprits from the punishment thus imposed, and, as the thrifty sully had obtained from the great king a private grant of all those confiscations, and as he judiciously promised twenty-five per cent. thereof to the informer, no doubt he filled his own purse while impoverishing the exchequer. the united states, not enjoying the blessings, of a paternal government, against which they had been fighting almost half a century, could not be expected to rival the stupendous folly of such political economy, although certainly not emancipated from all the delusions of the age. nor are we to forget how very recently, and even dimly, the idea of freedom in commerce has dawned upon nations, the freest of all in polity and religion. certainly the vices and shortcomings of the commercial system now inaugurated by the republic may be justly charged in great part to the epoch, while her vast share in the expanding and upward movement which civilization, under the auspices of self-government; self-help, political freedom, free thought, and unshackled science, was then to undertake--never more perhaps to be permanently checked--must be justly ascribed to herself. it was considered accordingly that the existence of so many private companies and copartnerships trading to the east was injurious to the interests of commerce. merchants arriving at the different indian ports would often find that their own countrymen had been too quick for them, and that other fleets had got the wind out of their sails, that the eastern markets had been stripped, and that prices had gone up to a ruinous height, while on the other hand, in the dutch cities, nutmegs and cinnamon, brocades and indigo, were as plentiful as red herrings. it was hardly to be expected at that day to find this very triumph of successful traffic considered otherwise than as a grave misfortune, demanding interference on the part of the only free government then existing in the world. that already free competition and individual enterprise, had made such progress in enriching the hollanders and the javanese respectively with a superfluity of useful or agreeable things, brought from the farthest ends of the earth, seemed to the eyes of that day a condition of things likely to end in a general catastrophe. with a simplicity, amazing only to those who are inclined to be vain of a superior wisdom--not their own but that of their wisest contemporaries--one of the chief reasons for establishing the east india company was stated to be the necessity of providing against low prices of oriental productions in europe. but national instinct is often wiser than what is supposed to be high national statesmanship, and there can be no doubt that the true foundation of the east india company was the simple recognition of an iron necessity. every merchant in holland knew full well that the portuguese and spaniards could never be driven out of their commercial strongholds under the equator, except by a concentration of the private strength and wealth, of the mercantile community. the government had enough on its hands in disputing, inch by inch, at so prodigious an expenditure of blood and treasure, the meagre territory with which nature had endowed the little commonwealth. private organisation, self-help; union of individual purses and individual brains, were to conquer an empire at the antipodes if it were to be won at all. by so doing, the wealth of the nation and its power to maintain the great conflict with the spirit of the past might be indefinitely increased, and the resources of spanish despotism proportionally diminished. it was not to be expected of jacob heemskerk, wolfert hermann, or joris van spilberg, indomitable skippers though they were, that each, acting on his own responsibility or on that of his supercargo, would succeed every day in conquering a whole spanish fleet and dividing a million or two of prize-money among a few dozen sailors. better things even than this might be done by wholesome and practical concentration on a more extended scale. so the states-general granted a patent or charter to one great company with what, for the time, was an enormous paid-up capital, in order that the india trade might be made secure and the spaniards steadily confronted in what they had considered their most impregnable possessions. all former trading companies were invited to merge themselves in the universal east india company, which, for twenty-one years, should alone have the right to trade to the east of the cape of good hope and to sail through the straits of magellan. the charter had been signed on th march, , and was mainly to the following effect. the company was to pay twenty-five thousand florins to the states-general for its privilege. the whole capital was to be six million six hundred thousand florins. the chamber of amsterdam was to have one half of the whole interest, the chamber of zeeland one fourth; the chambers of the meuse, namely, delft, rotterdam, and the north quarter; that is to say, hoorn and enkhuizen, each a sixteenth. all the chambers were to be governed by the directors then serving, who however were to be allowed to die out, down to the number of twenty for amsterdam, twelve for zeeland, and seven for each of the other chambers. to fill a vacancy occurring among the directors, the remaining members of the board were to nominate three candidates, from whom the estates of the province should choose one. each director was obliged, to have an interest in the company amounting to at least six thousand florins, except the directors for hoorn and enkhuizen, of whom only three thousand should be required. the general assembly of these chambers should consist of seventeen directors, eight for amsterdam, four for zeeland, two for the meuse, and two for the north quarter; the seventeenth being added by turns from the chambers of zeeland, the meuse, and the north quarter. this assembly was to be held six years at amsterdam, and then two years in zeeland. the ships were always to return to the port from which they had sailed. all the inhabitants of the provinces had the right, within a certain time, to take shares in the company. any province or city subscribing for forty thousand florins or upwards might appoint an agent to look after its affairs. the company might make treaties with the indian powers, in the name of the states-general of the united netherlands or of the supreme authorities of the same, might build fortresses; appoint generals, and levy troops, provided such troops took oaths of fidelity to the states, or to the supreme authority, and to the company. no ships, artillery, or other munitions of war belonging to the company were to be used in service of the country without permission of the company. the admiralty was to have a certain proportion of the prizes conquered from the enemy. the directors should not be liable in property or person for the debts of the company. the generals of fleets returning home were to make reports on the state of india to the states. notification; of the union of all india companies with this great corporation was duly sent to the fleets cruising in those regions, where it arrived in the course of the year . meantime the first fleet of the company, consisting of fourteen vessels under command of admiral wybrand van warwyk, sailed before the end of , and was followed towards the close of by thirteen other ships, under stephen van der hagen? the equipment of these two fleets cost two million two hundred thousand florins. etext editor's bookmarks: bestowing upon others what was not his property four weeks' holiday--the first in eleven years idea of freedom in commerce has dawned upon nations impossible it is to practise arithmetic with disturbed brains passion is a bad schoolmistress for the memory prisoners were immediately hanged unlearned their faith in bell, book, and candle world has rolled on to fresher fields of carnage and ruin chapter xli. - death of queen elizabeth--condition of spain--legations to james i. --union of england and scotland--characteristics of the new monarch --the english court and government--piratical practices of the english--audience of the states' envoy with king james--queen elizabeth's scheme far remodelling europe--ambassador extraordinary from henry iv. to james--de rosny's strictures on the english people--private interview of de rosny with the states' envoy--de rosny's audience of the king--objects of his mission--insinuations of the duke of northumberland--invitation of the embassy to greenwich--promise of james to protect the netherlands against spain--misgivings of barneveld--conference at arundel house--its unsatisfactory termination--contempt of de rosny for the english counsellors--political aspect of europe--de rosny's disclosure to the king of the secret object of his mission--agreement of james to the proposals of de rosny--ratification of the treaty of alliance-- return of de rosny and suite to france--arrival of the spanish ambassador. on the th of march, , queen elizabeth died at richmond, having nearly completed her seventieth year. the two halves of the little island of britain were at last politically adjoined to each other by the personal union of the two crowns. a foreigner, son of the woman executed by elizabeth, succeeded to elizabeth's throne. it was most natural that the dutch republic and the french king, the archdukes and his catholic majesty, should be filled with anxiety as to the probable effect of this change of individuals upon the fortunes of the war. for this dutch war of independence was the one absorbing and controlling interest in christendom. upon that vast, central, and, as men thought, baleful constellation the fates of humanity, were dependent. around it lesser political events were forced to gravitate, and, in accordance to their relation to it, were bright or obscure. it was inevitable that those whose vocation it was to ponder the aspects of the political firmament, the sages and high-priests who assumed to direct human action and to foretell human destiny, should now be more than ever perplexed. spain, since the accession of philip iii. to his father's throne, although rapidly declining in vital energy, had not yet disclosed its decrepitude to the world. its boundless ambition survived as a political tradition rather than a real passion, while contemporaries still trembled at the vision of universal monarchy in which the successor of charlemagne and of charles v. was supposed to indulge. meantime, no feebler nor more insignificant mortal existed on earth than this dreaded sovereign. scarcely a hairdresser or lemonade-dealer in all spain was less cognizant of the political affairs of the kingdom than was its monarch, for philip's first care upon assuming the crown was virtually to abdicate in favour of the man soon afterwards known as the duke of lerma. it is therefore only by courtesy and for convenience that history recognizes his existence at all, as surely no human being in the reign of philip iii. requires less mention than philip iii. himself. i reserve for a subsequent chapter such rapid glances at the interior condition of that kingdom with which it seemed the destiny of the dutch republic to be perpetually at war, as may be necessary to illustrate the leading characteristics of the third philip's reign. meantime, as the great queen was no more, who was always too sagacious to doubt that the dutch cause was her own--however disposed she might be to browbeat the dutchmen--it seemed possible to spain that the republic might at last be deprived of its only remaining ally. tassis was despatched as chief of a legation, precursory to a more stately embassy to be confided to the duke of frias. the archdukes sent the prince of arenberg, while from the united states came young henry of nassau, associated with john of olden-barneveld, falk, brederode, and other prominent statesmen of the commonwealth. ministers from denmark and sweden, from the palatinate and from numerous other powers, small and great, were also collected to greet the rising sun in united britain, while the awkward scotchman, who was now called upon to play that prominent part in the world's tragi-comedy which had been so long and so majestically sustained by the "virgin queen," already began to tremble at the plaudits and the bustle which announced how much was expected of the new performer. there was indeed a new sovereign upon the throne. that most regal spirit which had well expressed so many of the highest characteristics of the nation had fled. mankind, has long been familiar with the dark, closing hours of the illustrious reign. the great queen, moody, despairing, dying, wrapt in profoundest thought, with eyes fixed upon the ground or already gazing into infinity, was besought by the counsellors around her to name the man to whom she chose that the crown should devolve. "not to a rough," said elizabeth, sententiously and grimly. when the king of france was named, she shook her head. when philip iii. was suggested, she made a still more significant sign of dissent. when the king of scots was mentioned, she nodded her approval, and again relapsed into silent meditation. she died, and james was king of great britain and ireland. cecil had become his prime minister long before the queen's eyes were closed. the hard-featured, rickety, fidgety, shambling, learned, most preposterous scotchman hastened to take possession of the throne. never--could there have been a more unfit place or unfit hour for such a man. england, although so small in dimensions, so meager in population, so deficient, compared to the leading nations of europe, in material and financial strength, had already her great future swelling in her heart. intellectually and morally she was taking the lead among the nations. even at that day she had produced much which neither she herself nor any other nation seemed destined to surpass. yet this most redoubtable folk only numbered about three millions, one-tenth of them inhabiting london. with the scots and irish added they amounted to less than five millions of souls, hardly a third as many as the homogeneous and martial people of that dangerous neighbour france. ireland was always rebellious; a mere conquered province, hating her tyrant england's laws, religion, and people; loving spain, and believing herself closely allied by blood as well as sympathy to that most catholic land. scotland, on the accession of james, hastened to take possession of england. never in history had two races detested each other more fervently. the leeches and locusts of the north, as they were universally designated in england, would soon have been swept forth from the country, or have left it of their own accord, had not the king employed all that he had of royal authority or of eloquent persuasion to retain them on the soil. of union, save the personal union of the sceptre, there was no thought. as in ireland there was hatred to england and adoration for spain; so in scotland, france was beloved quite as much as england was abhorred. who could have foretold, or even hoped, that atoms so mutually repulsive would ever have coalesced into a sympathetic and indissoluble whole? even the virtues of james were his worst enemies. as generous as the day, he gave away with reckless profusion anything and everything that he could lay his hands upon. it was soon to appear that the great queen's most unlovely characteristic, her avarice; was a more blessed quality to the nation she ruled than the ridiculous prodigality of james. two thousand gowns, of the most, expensive material, adorned with gold, pearls, and other bravery--for elizabeth was very generous to herself--were found in the queen's wardrobe, after death. these magnificent and costly robes, not one of which had she vouchsafed to bestow upon or to bequeath to any of her ladies of honour, were now presented by her successor to a needy scotch lord, who certainly did not intend to adorn his own person therewith. "the hat was ever held out," said a splenetic observer, "and it was filled in overflowing measure by the new monarch." in a very short period he had given away--mainly to scotchmen--at least two millions of crowns, in various articles of personal property. yet england was very poor. the empire, if so it could be called, hardly boasted a regular revenue of more than two millions of dollars a year; less than that of a fortunate individual or two, in our own epoch, both in europe and america; and not one-fifth part of the contemporary income of france. the hundred thousand dollars of scotland's annual budget did not suffice to pay its expenses, and ireland was a constant charge upon the imperial exchequer. it is astounding, however, to reflect upon the pomp, extravagance, and inordinate pride which characterized the government and the court. the expenses of james's household were at least five hundred thousand crowns, or about one quarter of the whole revenue of the empire. henry iv., with all his extravagance, did not spend more than one-tenth of the public income of france upon himself and his court. certainly if england were destined to grow great it would be in despite of its new monarch. hating the people, most intolerant in religion, believing intensely in royal prerogative, thoroughly convinced of his regal as well as his personal infallibility, loathing that inductive method of thought which was already leading the english nation so proudly on the road of intellectual advancement, shrinking from the love of free inquiry, of free action, of daring adventure, which was to be the real informing spirit of the great british nation; abhorring the puritans--that is to say, one-third of his subjects--in whose harsh, but lofty nature he felt instinctively that popular freedom was enfolded--even as the overshadowing tree in the rigid husk--and sending them forth into the far distant wilderness to wrestle with wild beasts and with savages more ferocious than beasts; fearing and hating the catholics as the sworn enemies of his realm; his race, and himself, trampling on them as much as he dared, forcing them into hypocrisy to save themselves from persecution or at least pecuniary ruin--if they would worship god according to their conscience; at deadly feud, therefore, on religious grounds, with much more than half his subjects--puritans or papists--and yet himself a puritan in dogma and a papist in church government, if only the king could be pope; not knowing, indeed, whether a puritan, or a jesuit whom he called a papist-puritan, should be deemed the more disgusting or dangerous animal; already preparing for his unfortunate successor a path to the scaffold by employing all the pedantry, both theological and philosophical at his command to bring parliaments into contempt, and to place the royal prerogative on a level with divinity; at the head of a most martial, dauntless, and practical nation, trembling, with unfortunate physical timidity, at the sight of a drawn sword; ever scribbling or haranguing in latin, french, or broad scotch, when the world was arming, it must always be a special wonder that one who might have been a respectable; even a useful, pedagogue, should by the caprice of destiny have been permitted, exactly at that epoch to be one of the most contemptible and mischievous of kings. but he had a most effective and energetic minister. even as in spain and in france at the same period, the administration of government was essentially in-one pair of hands. robert cecil, earl of salisbury, ever since the termination of the splendid triumvirate of his father and walsingham, had been in reality supreme. the proud and terrible hunchback, who never forgave, nor forgot to destroy, his enemies, had now triumphed over the last passion of the doting queen. essex had gone to perdition. son of the great minister who had brought the mother of james to the scaffold, salisbury had already extorted forgiveness for that execution from the feeble king. before elizabeth was in her grave, he was already as much the favourite of her successor as of herself, governing scotland as well as england, and being prime minister of great britain before great britain existed. lord high treasurer and first secretary of state, he was now all in all in the council. the other great lords, highborn and highly titled as they were and served at their banquets by hosts of lackeys on their knees--nottinghams, northamptons, suffolks--were, after all, ciphers or at best, mere pensioners of spain. for all the venality of europe was not confined to the continent. spain spent at least one hundred and fifty thousand crowns annually among the leading courtiers of james while his wife, anne of denmark, a papist at heart, whose private boudoir was filled with pictures and images of the madonna and the saints, had already received one hundred thousand dollars in solid cash from the spanish court, besides much jewelry, and other valuable things. to negotiate with government in england was to bribe, even as at paris or madrid. gold was the only passkey to justice, to preferment, or to power. yet the foreign subsidies to the english court were, after all, of but little avail at that epoch. no man had influence but cecil, and he was too proud, too rich, too powerful to be bribed. alone with clean fingers among courtiers and ministers, he had, however, accumulated a larger fortune than any. his annual income was estimated at two hundred thousand crowns, and he had a vast floating capital, always well employed. among other investments, he had placed half a million on interest in holland,' and it was to be expected, therefore, that he should favour the cause of the republic, rebellious and upstart though it were. the pigmy, as the late queen had been fond of nicknaming him, was the only giant in the government. those crooked shoulders held up, without flinching, the whole burden of the state. pale, handsome, anxious, suffering, and intellectual of visage, with his indomitable spirit, ready eloquence, and nervous energy, he easily asserted supremacy over all the intriguers, foreign and domestic, the stipendiariea, the generals, the admirals, the politicians, at court, as well as over the scotch solomon who sat on the throne. but most certainly, it was for the public good of britain, that europe should be pacified. it is very true that the piratical interest would suffer, and this was a very considerable and influential branch of business. so long as war existed anywhere, the corsairs of england sailed with the utmost effrontery from english ports, to prey upon the commerce of friend and foe alike. after a career of successful plunder, it was not difficult for the rovers to return to their native land, and, with the proceeds of their industry, to buy themselves positions of importance, both social and political. it was not the custom to consider too curiously the source of the wealth. if it was sufficient to dazzle the eyes of the vulgar, it was pretty certain to prove the respectability of the owner. it was in vain that the envoys of the dutch and venetian republics sought redress for the enormous damage inflicted on their commerce by english pirates, and invoked the protection of public law. it was always easy for learned juris-consuls to prove such depredations to be consistent with international usage and with sound morality. even at that period, although england was in population and in wealth so insignificant, it possessed a lofty, insular contempt for the opinions and the doctrines of other nations, and expected, with perfect calmness, that her own principles should be not only admitted, but spontaneously adored. yet the piratical interest was no longer the controlling one. that city on the thames, which already numbered more than three hundred thousand inhabitants, had discovered that more wealth was to be accumulated by her bustling shopkeepers in the paths of legitimate industry than by a horde of rovers over the seas, however adventurous and however protected by government. as for france, she was already defending herself against piracy by what at the period seemed a masterpiece of internal improvement. the seine, the loire, and the rhone were soon to be united in one chain of communication. thus merchandise might be water-borne from the channel to the mediterranean, without risking the five or six months' voyage by sea then required from havre to marseilles, and exposure along the whole coast to attack from the corsairs of england spain and barbary. the envoys of the states-general had a brief audience of the new sovereign, in which little more than phrases of compliment were pronounced. "we are here," said barneveld, "between grief and joy. we have lost her whose benefits to us we can never describe in words, but we have found a successor who is heir not only to her kingdom but to all her virtues." and with this exordium the great advocate plunged at once into the depths of his subject, so far as was possible in an address of ceremony. he besought the king not to permit spain, standing on the neck of the provinces, to grasp from that elevation at other empires. he reminded james of his duty to save those of his own religion from the clutch of a sanguinary superstition, to drive away those lurking satellites of the roman pontiff who considered britain their lawful prey. he implored him to complete the work so worthily begun by elizabeth. if all those bound by one interest should now, he urged, unite their efforts, the spaniard, deprived not only of the netherlands, but, if he were not wise in time, banished from the ocean and stripped of all his transmarine possessions, would be obliged to consent to a peace founded on the only secure basis, equality of strength. the envoy concluded by beseeching the king for assistance to ostend, now besieged for two years long. but james manifested small disposition to melt in the fervour of the advocate's eloquence. he answered with a few cold commonplaces. benignant but extremely cautious, he professed goodwill enough to the states but quite as much for spain, a power with which, he observed, he had never quarrelled, and from which he had received the most friendly offices. the archdukes, too, he asserted, had never been hostile to the realm, but only to the queen of england. in brief, he was new to english affairs, required time to look about him, but would not disguise that his genius was literary, studious, and tranquil, and much more inclined to peace than to war. in truth, james had cause to look very sharply about him. it required an acute brain and steady nerves to understand and to control the whirl of parties and the conflict of interests and intrigues, the chameleon shiftings of character and colour, at this memorable epoch of transition in the realm which he had just inherited. there was a scotch party, favourable on the whole to france; there was a spanish party, there was an english party, and, more busy than all, there was a party--not scotch, nor french, nor english, nor spanish--that un-dying party in all commonwealths or kingdoms which ever fights for itself and for the spoils. france and spain had made peace with each other at vervins five years before, and had been at war ever since. nothing could be plainer nor more cynical than the language exchanged between the french monarch and the representative of spain. that philip iii.--as the spanish government by a convenient fiction was always called--was the head and front of the great savoy-biron conspiracy to take henry's life and dismember his kingdom, was hardly a stage secret. yet diplomatic relations were still preserved between the two countries, and wonderful diplomatic interviews had certainly been taking place in paris. ambassador tassis had walked with lofty port into henry's cabinet, disdaining to salute any of the princes of the blood or high functionaries of state in the apartments through which he passed, and with insolent defiance had called henry to account for his dealing with the dutch rebels. "sire, the king my master finds it very strange," he said, "that you still continue to assist his rebels in holland, and that you shoot at his troops on their way to the netherlands. if you don't abstain from such infractions of his rights he prefers open war to being cheated by such a pretended peace. hereupon i demand your reply." "mr. ambassador," replied the king, "i find it still more strange that your master is so impudent as to dare to make such complaints--he who is daily making attempts upon my life and upon this state. even if i do assist the hollanders, what wrong is that to him? it is an organized commonwealth, powerful, neighbourly, acknowledging no subjection to him. but your master is stirring up rebellion in my own kingdom, addressing himself to the princes of my blood and my most notable officers, so that i have been obliged to cut off the head of one of the most beloved of them all. by these unchristian proceedings he has obliged me to take sides with the hollanders, whom i know to be devoted to me; nor have i done anything for them except to pay the debts i owed them. i know perfectly well that the king your master is the head of this conspiracy, and that the troops of naples were meditating an attack upon my kingdom. i have two letters written by the hand of your master to marshal biron, telling him to trust fuentes as if it were himself, and it is notorious that fuentes has projected and managed all the attempts to assassinate me. do you, think you have a child to deal with? the late king of spain knew me pretty well. if this one thinks himself wiser i shall let him see who i am. do you want peace or war? i am ready for either." the ambassador, whose head had thus been so vigorously washed--as henry expressed it in recounting the interview afterwards to the dutch envoy, dr. aerssens--stammered some unintelligible excuses, and humbly begged his majesty not to be offended. he then retired quite crest-fallen, and took leave most politely of everybody as he went, down even to the very grooms of the chambers. "you must show your teeth to the spaniard," said henry to aerssens, "if you wish for a quiet life." here was unsophisticated diplomacy; for the politic henry, who could forgive assassins and conspirators, crowned or otherwise, when it suited his purpose to be lenient, knew that it was on this occasion very prudent to use the gift of language, not in order to conceal, but to express his thoughts. "i left the king as red as a turkey-cock," said tassis, as soon as he got home that morning, "and i was another turkey-cock. we have been talking a little bit of truth to each other." in truth, it was impossible, as the world was then constituted, that france and spain, in spite of many secret sympathies, should not be enemies; that france, england, and the dutch commonwealth, although cordially disliking each other, should not be allies. even before the death of elizabeth a very remarkable interview had taken place at dover, in which the queen had secretly disclosed the great thoughts with which that most imperial brain was filled just before its boundless activity was to cease for ever. she had wished for a personal interview with the french king, whose wit and valour she had always heartily admired, henry, on his part, while unmercifully ridiculing that preterhuman vanity which he fed with fantastic adulation, never failed to do justice to her genius, and had been for a moment disposed to cross the channel, or even to hold council with her on board ship midway between the two countries. it was however found impracticable to arrange any such meeting, and the gossips of the day hinted that the great henry, whose delight was in battle, and who had never been known to shrink from danger on dry land, was appalled at the idea of sea-sickness, and even dreaded the chance of being kidnapped by the english pirates. the corsairs who drove so profitable a business at that period by plundering the merchantmen of their enemy, of their dutch and french allies, and of their own nation, would assuredly have been pleased with such a prize. the queen had confided to de bethune that she had some thing to say to the king which she could never reveal to other ears than his, but when the proposed visit of henry was abandoned, it was decided that his confidential minister should slip across the channel before elizabeth returned to her palace at greenwich. de bethune accordingly came incognito from calais to dover, in which port he had a long and most confidential interview with the queen. then and there the woman, nearly seventy years of age, who governed despotically the half of a small island, while the other half was in the possession of a man whose mother she had slain, and of a people who hated the english more than they hated the spaniards or the french--a queen with some three millions of loyal but most turbulent subjects in one island, and with about half-a-million ferocious rebels in another requiring usually an army of twenty thousand disciplined soldiers to keep them in a kind of subjugation, with a revenue fluctuating between eight hundred thousand pounds sterling, and the half of that sum, and with a navy of a hundred privateersmen--disclosed to the french envoy a vast plan for regulating the polity and the religion of the civilized world, and for remodelling the map of europe. there should be three religions, said elizabeth--not counting the dispensation from mecca, about which turk and hun might be permitted to continue their struggle on the crepuscular limits of civilization. everywhere else there should be toleration only for the churches of peter, of luther, and of calvin. the house of austria was to be humbled--the one branch driven back to spain and kept there, the other branch to be deprived of the imperial crown, which was to be disposed of as in times past by the votes of the princely electors. there should be two republics--the swiss and the dutch--each of those commonwealths to be protected by france and england, and each to receive considerable parings out of the possessions of spain and the empire. finally, all christendom was to be divided off into a certain number of powers, almost exactly equal to each other; the weighing, measuring, and counting, necessary to obtain this international equilibrium, being of course the duty of the king and queen when they should sit some day together at table. thus there were five points; sovereigns and politicians having always a fondness for a neat summary in five or six points. number one, to remodel the electoral system of the holy roman empire. number two, to establish the republic of the united provinces. number three, to do as much for switzerland. number four, to partition europe. number five, to reduce all religions to three. nothing could be more majestic, no plan fuller fraught with tranquillity for the rulers of mankind and their subjects. thrice happy the people, having thus a couple of heads with crowns upon them and brains within them to prescribe what was to be done in this world and believed as to the next! the illustrious successor of that great queen now stretches her benignant sceptre over two hundred millions of subjects, and the political revenues of her empire are more than a hundredfold those of elizabeth; yet it would hardly now be thought great statesmanship or sound imperial policy for a british sovereign even to imagine the possibility of the five points which filled the royal english mind at dover. but henry was as much convinced as elizabeth of the necessity and the possibility of establishing the five points, and de bethune had been astonished at the exact similarity of the conclusion which those two sovereign intellects had reached, even before they had been placed in communion with each other. the death of the queen had not caused any change in the far-reaching designs of which the king now remained the sole executor, and his first thought, on the accession of james, was accordingly to despatch de bethune, now created marquis de rosny, as ambassador extraordinary to england, in order that the new sovereign might be secretly but thoroughly instructed as to the scheme for remodelling christendom. as rosny was also charged with the duty of formally congratulating king james, he proceeded upon his journey with remarkable pomp. he was accompanied by two hundred gentlemen of quality, specially attached to his embassy--young city fops, as he himself described them, who were out of their element whenever they left the pavement of paris--and by an equal number of valets, grooms, and cooks. such a retinue was indispensable to enable an ambassador to transact the public business and to maintain the public dignity in those days; unproductive consumption being accounted most sagacious and noble. before reaching the english shore the marquis was involved in trouble. accepting the offer of the english vice-admiral lying off calais, he embarked with his suite in two english vessels, much to the dissatisfaction of de vic, vice-admiral of france, who was anxious to convey the french ambassador in the war-ships of his country. there had been suspicion afloat as to the good understanding between england and spain, caused by the great courtesy recently shown to the count of arenberg, and there was intense irritation among all the seafaring people of france on account of the exploits of the english corsairs upon their coast. rosny thought it best to begin his embassy by an act of conciliation, but soon had cause to repent his decision. in mid-channel they were met by de vic's vessels with the french banner displayed, at which sight the english commander was so wroth that he forthwith ordered a broadside to be poured into the audacious foreigner;--swearing with mighty oaths that none but the english flag should be shown in those waters. and thus, while conveying a french ambassador and three hundred frenchmen on a sacred mission to the british sovereign, this redoubtable mariner of england prepared to do battle with the ships of france. it was with much difficulty and some prevarication that rosny appeased the strife, representing that the french flag had only been raised in order that it might be dipped, in honour of the french ambassador, as the ships passed each other. the full-shotted broadside was fired from fifty guns, but the english commander consented, at de rosny's representations, that it should be discharged wide of the mark. a few shots, however, struck the side of one of the french vessels, and at the same time, as cardinal richelieu afterwards remarked, pierced the heart of every patriotic frenchman. the ambassador made a sign, which de vic understood; to lower his flag and to refrain from answering the fire. thus a battle between allies, amid the most amazing circumstances, was avoided, but it may well be imagined how long and how deeply the poison of the insult festered. such an incident could hardly predispose the ambassador in favour of the nation he was about to visit, or strengthen his hope of laying, not only the foundation of a perpetual friendship between the two crowns, but of effecting the palingenesis of europe. yet no doubt sully--as the world has so long learned to call him--was actuated by lofty sentiments in many respects in advance of his age. although a brilliant and successful campaigner in his youth, he detested war, and looked down with contempt at political systems which had not yet invented anything better than gunpowder for the arbitrament of international disputes. instead of war being an occasional method of obtaining peace, it pained him to think that peace seemed only a process for arriving at war. surely it was no epigram in those days, but the simplest statement of commonplace fact, that war was the normal condition of christians. alas will it be maintained that in the two and a half centuries which have since elapsed the world has made much progress in a higher direction? is there yet any appeal among the most civilized nations except to the logic of the largest battalions and the eloquence of the biggest guns? de rosny came to be the harbinger of a political millennium, and he heartily despised war. the schemes, nevertheless, which were as much his own as his master's, and which he was instructed to lay before the english monarch as exclusively his own, would have required thirty years of successful and tremendous warfare before they could have a beginning of development. it is not surprising that so philosophical a mind as his, while still inclining to pacific designs, should have been led by what met his eyes and ears to some rather severe generalizations. "it is certain that the english hate us," he said, "and with a hatred so strong and so general that one is tempted to place it among the natural dispositions of this people. yet it is rather the effect of their pride and their presumption; since there is no nation in europe more haughty, more disdainful, more besotted with the idea of its own excellence. if you were to take their word for it, mind and reason are only found with them; they adore all their opinions and despise those of all other nations; and it never occurs to them to listen to others, or to doubt themselves. . . . examine what are called with them maxims of state; you will find nothing but the laws of pride itself, adopted through arrogance or through indolence." "placed by nature amidst the tempestuous and variable ocean," he wrote to his sovereign, "they are as shifting, as impetuous, as changeable as its waves. so self-contradictory and so inconsistent are their actions almost in the same instant as to make it impossible that they should proceed from the same persons and the same mind. agitated and urged by their pride and arrogance alone, they take all their imaginations and extravagances for truths and realities; the objects of their desires and affections for inevitable events; not balancing and measuring those desires with the actual condition of things, nor with the character of the people with whom they have to deal." when the ambassador arrived in london he was lodged at arundel palace. he at once became the cynosure of all indigenous parties and of adventurous politicians from every part of europe; few knowing how to shape their course since the great familiar lustre had disappeared from the english sky. rosny found the scotch lords sufficiently favourable to france; the english catholic grandees, with all the howards and the lord high admiral at their head, excessively inclined to spain, and a great english party detesting both spain and france with equal fervour and well enough disposed to the united provinces, not as hating that commonwealth less but the two great powers more. the ambassador had arrived with the five points, not in his portfolio but in his heart, and they might after all be concentrated in one phrase--down with austria, up with the dutch republic. on his first interview with cecil, who came to arrange for his audience with the king, he found the secretary much disposed to conciliate both spain and the empire, and to leave the provinces to shift for themselves. he spoke of ostend as of a town not worth the pains taken to preserve it, and of the india trade as an advantage of which a true policy required that the united provinces should be deprived. already the fine commercial instinct of england had scented a most formidable rival on the ocean. as for the king, he had as yet declared himself for no party, while all parties were disputing among each other for mastery over him. james found himself, in truth, as much, astray in english politics as he was a foreigner upon english earth. suspecting every one, afraid of every one, he was in mortal awe, most of all, of his wife, who being the daughter of one protestant sovereign and wife of another, and queen of a united realm dependent for its very existence on antagonism to spain and rome, was naturally inclined to spanish politics and the catholic faith. the turbulent and intriguing anne of denmark was not at the moment in london, but james was daily expecting and de bethune dreading her arrival. the ambassador knew very well that, although the king talked big in her absence about the forms which he intended to prescribe for her conduct, he would take orders from her as soon as she arrived, refuse her nothing, conceal nothing from her, and tremble before her as usual. the king was not specially prejudiced in favour of the french monarch or his ambassador, for he had been told that henry had occasionally spoken of him as captain of arts and doctor of arms, and that both the marquis de rosny and his brother were known to have used highly disrespectful language concerning him. before his audience, de rosny received a private visit from barneveld and the deputies of the states-general, and was informed that since his arrival they had been treated with more civility by the king. previously he had refused to see them after the first official reception, had not been willing to grant count henry of nassau a private audience, and had spoken publicly of the states as seditious rebels. oh the st june barneveld had a long private interview with the ambassador at arundel palace, when he exerted all his eloquence to prove the absolute necessity of an offensive and defensive alliance between france and the united provinces if the independence of the republic were ever to be achieved. unless a french army took the field at once, ostend would certainly fall, he urged, and resistance to the spaniards would soon afterwards cease. it is not probable that the advocate felt in his heart so much despair as his words indicated, but he was most anxious that henry should openly declare himself the protector of the young commonwealth, and not indisposed perhaps to exaggerate the dangers, grave as they were without doubt, by which its existence was menaced. the ambassador however begged the hollander to renounce any such hopes, assuring him that the king had no intention of publicly and singly taking upon his shoulders the whole burden of war with spain, the fruits of which would not be his to gather. certainly before there had been time thoroughly to study the character and inclinations of the british monarch it would be impossible for de rosny to hold out any encouragement in this regard. he then asked barneveld what he had been able to discover during his residence in london as to the personal sentiments of james. the advocate replied that at first the king, yielding to his own natural tendencies, and to the advice of his counsellors, had refused the dutch deputies every hope, but that subsequently reflecting, as it would seem, that peace would cost england very dear if english inaction should cause the hollanders to fall again under the dominion of the catholic king, or to find their only deliverance in the protection of france, and beginning to feel more acutely how much england had herself to fear from a power like spain, he had seemed to awake out of a profound sleep, and promised to take these important affairs into consideration. subsequently he had fallen into a dreary abyss of indecision, where he still remained. it was certain however that he would form no resolution without the concurrence of the king of france, whose ambassador he had been so impatiently expecting, and whose proposition to him of a double marriage between their respective children had given him much satisfaction. de rosny felt sure that the dutch statesmen were far too adroit to put entire confidence in anything said by james, whether favourable or detrimental to their cause. he conjured barneveld therefore, by the welfare of his country, to conceal nothing from him in regard to the most secret resolutions that might have been taken by the states in the event of their being abandoned by england, or in case of their being embarrassed by a sudden demand on the part of that power for the cautionary towns offered to elizabeth. barneveld, thus pressed, and considering the ambassador as the confidential counsellor of a sovereign who was the republic's only friend, no longer hesitated. making a merit to himself of imparting an important secret, he said that the state-council of the commonwealth had resolved to elude at any cost the restoration of the cautionary towns. the interview was then abruptly terminated by the arrival of the venetian envoy. the nd of june arrived. the marquis had ordered mourning suits for his whole embassy and retinue, by particular command of his sovereign, who wished to pay this public tribute to the memory of the great queen. to his surprise and somewhat to his indignation, he was however informed that no one, stranger or native, scotchman or englishman, had been permitted to present himself to the king in black, that his appearance there in mourning would be considered almost an affront, and that it was a strictly enforced rule at court to abstain from any mention of elizabeth, and to affect an entire oblivion of her reign. at the last moment, and only because convinced that he might otherwise cause the impending negotiations utterly to fail, the ambassador consented to attire himself, the hundred and twenty gentlemen selected from his diplomatic family to accompany him on this occasion, and all his servants, in gala costume. the royal guards, with the earl of derby at their head, came early in the afternoon to arundel house to escort him to the thames, and were drawn up on the quay as the marquis and his followers embarked in the splendid royal barges provided to convey them to greenwich. on arriving at their destination they were met at the landing by the earl of northumberland, and escorted with great pomp and through an infinite multitude of spectators to the palace. such was the crowd, without and within, of courtiers and common people, that it was a long time before the marquis, preceded by his hundred and twenty gentlemen, reached the hall of audience. at last he arrived at the foot of the throne, when james arose and descended eagerly two steps of the dais in order to greet the ambassador. he would have descended them all had not one of the counsellors plucked him by the sleeve, whispering that he had gone quite far enough. "and if i honour this ambassador," cried james, in a loud voice, "more than is usual, i don't intend that it shall serve as a precedent for others. i esteem and love him particularly, because of the affection which i know he cherishes for me, of his firmness in our religion, and of his fidelity to his master." much more that was personally flattering to the marquis was said thus emphatically by james. to all this the ambassador replied, not by a set discourse, but only by a few words of compliment, expressing his sovereign's regrets at the death of queen elizabeth, and his joy at the accession of the new sovereign. he then delivered his letters of credence, and the complimentary conversation continued; the king declaring that he had not left behind him in scotland his passion for the monarch of france, and that even had he found england at war with that country on his accession he would have instantly concluded a peace with a prince whom he so much venerated. thus talking, the king caused his guest to ascend with him to the uppermost steps of the dais, babbling on very rapidly and skipping abruptly from one subject to another. de rosny took occasion to express his personal esteem and devotion, and was assured by the king in reply that the slanders in regard to him which had reached the royal ears had utterly failed of their effect. it was obvious that they were the invention of spanish intriguers who wished to help that nation to universal monarchy. then he launched forth into general and cordial abuse of spain, much to the satisfaction of count henry of nassau, who stood near enough to hear a good deal of the conversation, and of the other dutch deputies who were moving about, quite unknown, in the crowd. he denounced very vigorously the malignity of the spaniards in lighting fires everywhere in their neighbours' possessions, protested that he would always oppose their wicked designs, but spoke contemptuously of their present king as too feeble of mind and body ever to comprehend or to carry out the projects of his predecessors. among other gossip, james asked the envoy if he went to hear the protestant preaching in london. being answered in the affirmative, he expressed surprise, having been told, he said, that it was rosny's intention to repudiate his religion as de sancy had done, in order to secure his fortunes. the marquis protested that such a thought had never entered his head, but intimated that the reports might come from his familiar intercourse with the papal nuncius and many french ecclesiastics. the king asked if, when speaking with the nuncius, he called the pope his holiness, as by so doing he would greatly offend god, in whom alone was holiness. rosny replied that he commonly used the style prevalent at court, governing himself according to the rules adopted in regard to pretenders to crowns and kingdoms which they thought belonged to them, but the possession of which was in other hands, conceding to them, in order not to offend them, the titles which they claimed. james shook his head portentously, and changed the subject. the general tone of the royal-conversation was agreeable enough to the ambassador, who eagerly alluded to the perfidious conduct of a government which, ever since concluding the peace of vervins with henry, had been doing its best to promote sedition and territorial dismemberment in his kingdom, and to assist all his open and his secret enemies. james assented very emphatically, and the marquis felt convinced that a resentment against spain, expressed so publicly and so violently by james, could hardly fail to, be sincere. he began seriously to, hope that his negotiations would be successful, and was for soaring at once into the regions of high politics, when the king suddenly began to talk of hunting. "and so you sent half the stag i sent you; to count arenberg," said james; "but he is very angry about it; thinking that you did so to show how much more i make of you than i do of him. and so i do; for i know the difference between your king, my brother; and his masters who have sent me an ambassador who can neither walk nor talk, and who asked me to give him audience in a garden because he cannot go upstairs." the king then alluded to tassis, chief courier of his catholic majesty and special envoy from spain, asking whether the marquis had seen him on his passage through france. "spain sends me a postillion-ambassador," said he, "that he may travel the faster and attend to business by post." it was obvious that james took a sincere satisfaction in abusing everything relating to that country from its sovereign and the duke of lerma downwards; but he knew very well that velasco, constable of castile, had been already designated as ambassador, and would soon be on his way to england. de rosny on the termination of his audience, was escorted in great state by the earl of northumberland to the barges. a few days later, the ambassador had another private audience, in which the king expressed himself with apparent candour concerning the balance of power. christendom, in his opinion, should belong in three equal shares to the families of stuart, bourbon, and habsburg; but personal ambition and the force of events had given to the house of austria more than its fair third. sound policy therefore required a combination between france and england, in order to reduce their copartner within proper limits. this was satisfactory as far as it went, and the ambassador complimented the king on his wide views of policy and his lofty sentiments in regard to human rights. warming with the subject, james held language very similar to that which de rosny and his master had used in their secret conferences, and took the ground unequivocally that the secret war levied by spain against france and england, as exemplified in the biron conspiracy, the assault on geneva, the aid of the duke of savoy, and in the perpetual fostering of jesuit intrigues, plots of assassination, and other conspiracies in the british islands, justified a secret war on the part of henry and himself against philip. the ambassador would have been more deeply impressed with the royal language had he felt more confidence in the royal character. highly applauding the sentiments expressed, and desiring to excite still further the resentment of james against spain, he painted a vivid picture of the progress of that aggressive power in the past century. she had devoured flanders, burgundy, granada, navarre, portugal, the german empire, milan, naples, and all the indies. if she had not swallowed likewise both france and england those two crowns were indebted for their preservation, after the firmness of elizabeth and henry, to the fortunate incident of the revolt of the netherlands. de rosny then proceeded to expound the necessity under which james would soon find himself of carrying on open war with spain, and of the expediency of making preparations for the great struggle without loss of time. he therefore begged the king to concert with him some satisfactory measure for the preservation of the united provinces. "but," said james, "what better assistance could we give the netherlanders than to divide their territory between the states and spain; agreeing at the same time to drive the spaniard out altogether, if he violates the conditions which we should guarantee." this conclusion was not very satisfactory to de rosny, who saw in the bold language of the king--followed thus by the indication of a policy that might last to the greek kalends, and permit ostend, dutch flanders, and even the republic to fall--nothing but that mixture of timidity, conceit, and procrastination which marked the royal character. he pointed out to him accordingly that spanish statesmanship could beat the world in the art of delay, and of plucking the fruits of delay, and that when the united provinces had been once subjugated, the turn of england would come. it would be then too late for him to hope to preserve himself by such measures as, taken now, would be most salutary. a few days later the king invited de rosny and the two hundred members of his embassy to dine at greenwich, and the excursion down the thames took place with the usual pomp. the two hundred dined with the gentlemen of the court; while at the king's table, on an elevated platform in the same hall, were no guests but de rosny, and the special envoy of france, count beaumont. the furniture and decorations of the table were sumptuous, and the attendants, to the surprise of the frenchmen, went on their knees whenever they offered wine or dishes to the king. the conversation at first was on general topics, such as the heat of the weather, which happened to be remarkable, the pleasures of the chase, and the merits of the sermon which, as it was sunday, de rosny had been invited to hear before dinner in the royal chapel. soon afterwards, however, some allusion being made to the late queen, james spoke of her with contempt. he went so far as to say that, for a long time before her death, he had governed the councils, of england; all her ministers obeying and serving him much better than they did herself. he then called for wine, and, stretching out his glass towards his two. guests, drank to the health of the king and queen and royal family of france. de rosny, replied by proposing the health of his august host, not forgetting the queen and their children, upon which the king, putting his lips close to the ambassador's ear, remarked that his next toast should be in honour of the matrimonial union which was proposed between the families of britain and france. this was the first allusion made by james to the alliance; and the occasion did not strike the marquis as particularly appropriate to such a topic. he however replied in a whisper that he was rejoiced to hear this language from the king, having always believed that there would be no hesitation on his part between king henry and the monarch of spain, who, as he was aware, had made a similar proposition. james, expressing surprise that his guest was so well informed, avowed that he had in fact received the same offer of the infanta for his son as had been made to his christian majesty for the dauphin. what more convenient counters in the great game of state than an infant prince and princess in each of the three royal families to which europe belonged! to how many grave political combinations were these unfortunate infants to give rise, and how distant the period when great nations might no longer be tied to the pinafores of children in the nursery! after this little confidential interlude, james expressed in loud voice, so that all might hear, his determination never to permit the subjugation of the netherlands by spain. measures should be taken the very next day, he promised, in concert with the ambassador, as to the aid to be given to the states. upon the faith of this declaration de rosny took from his pocket the plan of a treaty, and forthwith, in the presence of all the ministers, placed it in the hands of the king, who meantime had risen from table. the ambassador also took this occasion to speak publicly of the english piracies upon french commerce while the two nations were at peace. the king, in reply, expressed his dissatisfaction at these depredations and at the english admiral who attempted to defend what had been done. he then took leave of his guests, and went off to bed, where it was his custom to pass his afternoons. it was certain that the constable of castile was now to arrive very soon, and the marquis had, meantime, obtained information on which he relied, that this ambassador would come charged with very advantageous offers to the english court. accounts had been got ready in council, of all the moneys due to england by france and by the states, and it was thought that these sums, payment of which was to be at once insisted upon, together with the spanish dollars set afloat in london, would prove sufficient to buy up all resistance to the spanish alliance. such being the nature of the information furnished to de rosny, he did not look forward with very high hopes to the issue of the conference indicated by king james at the greenwich dinner. as, after all, he would have to deal once more with cecil, the master-spirit of the spanish party, it did not seem very probable that the king's whispered professions of affection for france, his very loud denunciations of spanish ambition, and his promises of support to the struggling provinces, would be brought into any substantial form for human nourishment. whispers and big words, touching of glasses at splendid banquets, and proposing of royal toasts, would not go far to help those soldiers in ostend, a few miles away, fighting two years long already for a square half-mile of barren sand, in which seemed centred the world's hopes of freedom. barneveld was inclined to take an even more gloomy view than that entertained by the french ambassador. he had, in truth, no reason to be sanguine. the honest republican envoys had brought no babies to offer in marriage. their little commonwealth had only the merit of exchanging buffets forty years long with a power which, after subjugating the netherlands, would have liked to annihilate france and england too, and which, during that period, had done its best to destroy and dismember both. it had only struggled as no nation in the world's history had ever done, for the great principle upon which the power and happiness of england were ever to depend. it was therefore not to be expected that its representatives should be received with the distinction conferred upon royal envoys. barneveld and his colleagues accordingly were not invited, with two hundred noble hangers-on, to come down the thames in gorgeous array, and dine at greenwich palace; but they were permitted to mix in the gaping crowd of spectators, to see the fine folk, and to hear a few words at a distance which fell from august lips. this was not very satisfactory, as barneveld could rarely gain admittance to james or his ministers. de rosny, however, was always glad to confer with him, and was certainly capable of rendering justice both to his genius and to the sacredness of his cause. the advocate, in a long conference with the ambassador, thought it politic to paint the situation of the republic in even more sombre colours than seemed to de rosny justifiable. he was, indeed, the more struck with barneveld's present despondency, because, at a previous conference, a few days before, he had spoken almost with contempt of the spaniards, expressing the opinion that the mutinous and disorganized condition of the archduke's army rendered the conquest of ostend improbable, and hinted at a plan, of which the world as yet knew nothing, which would save that place, or at any rate would secure such an advantage for the states as to more than counterbalance its possible loss? this very sanguine demeanour had rather puzzled those who had conferred with the advocate, although they were ere long destined to understand his allusions, and it was certainly a contrast to his present gloom. he assured de rosny that the hollanders were becoming desperate, and that they were capable of abandoning their country in mass, and seeking an asylum beyond the seas? the menace was borrowed from the famous project conceived by william the silent in darker days, and seemed to the ambassador a present anachronism. obviously it was thought desirable to force the french policy to extreme lengths, and barneveld accordingly proposed that henry should take the burthen upon his shoulders of an open war with spain, in the almost certain event that england would make peace with that power. de rosny calmly intimated to the advocate that this was asking something entirely beyond his power to grant, as the special object of his mission was to form a plan of concerted action with england. the cautionary towns being next mentioned, barneveld stated that a demand had been made upon envoy caron by cecil for the delivery of those places to the english government, as england had resolved to make peace with spain. the advocate confided, however, to de rosny that the states would interpose difficulties, and that it would be long before the towns were delivered. this important information was given under the seal of strictest secrecy, and was coupled with an inference that a war between the republic and britain would be the probable result, in which case the states relied upon the alliance with france. the ambassador replied that in this untoward event the republic would have the sympathy of his royal master, but that it would be out of the question for him to go to war with spain and england at the same time. on the same afternoon there was a conference at arundel house between the dutch deputies, the english counsellors, and de rosny, when barneveld drew a most dismal picture of the situation; taking the ground that now or never was the time for driving the spaniards entirely out of the netherlands. cecil said in a general way that his majesty felt a deep interest in the cause of the provinces, and the french ambassador summoned the advocate, now that he was assured of the sympathy of two great kings, to furnish some plan by which that sympathy might be turned to account. barneveld, thinking figures more eloquent than rhetoric, replied that the states, besides garrisons, had fifteen thousand infantry and three thousand cavalry in the field, and fifty warships in commission, with artillery and munitions in proportion, and that it would be advisable for france and england to furnish an equal force, military and naval, to the common cause. de rosny smiled at the extravagance of the proposition. cecil, again taking refuge in commonplaces, observed that his master was disposed to keep the peace with all his neighbours, but that, having due regard to the circumstances, he was willing to draw a line between the wishes of the states and his own, and would grant them a certain amount of succour underhand. thereupon the dutch deputies withdrew to confer. de rosny, who had no faith in cecil's sincerity--the suggestion being essentially the one which he had himself desired--went meantime a little deeper into the subject, and soon found that england, according to the secretary of state, had no idea of ruining herself for the sake of the provinces, or of entering into any positive engagements in their behalf. in case spain should make a direct attack upon the two kings who were to constitute themselves protectors of dutch liberty, it might be necessary to take up arms. the admission was on the whole superfluous, it not being probable that britain, even under a stuart, would be converted to the doctrine of non-resistance. yet in this case it was suggested by cecil that the chief reliance of his government would be on the debts owed by the dutch and french respectively, which would then be forthwith collected. de rosny was now convinced that cecil was trifling with him, and evidently intending to break off all practical negotiations. he concealed his annoyance, however, as well as he could, and simply intimated that the first business of importance was to arrange for the relief of ostend; that eventualities, such as the possible attack by spain upon france and england, might for the moment be deferred, but that if england thought it a safe policy to ruin henry by throwing on his shoulders the whole burthen of a war with the common enemy, she would discover and deeply regret her fatal mistake. the time was a very ill-chosen one to summon france to pay old debts, and his christian majesty had given his ambassador no instructions contemplating such a liquidation. it was the intention to discharge the sum annually, little by little, but if england desired to exhaust the king by these peremptory demands, it was an odious conduct, and very different from any that france had ever pursued. the english counsellors were not abashed by this rebuke, but became, on the contrary, very indignant, avowing that if anything more was demanded of them, england would entirely abandon the united provinces. "cecil made himself known to me in this conference," said de rosny, "for exactly what he was. he made use only of double meanings and vague propositions; feeling that reason was not on his side. he was forced to blush at his own self-contradictions, when, with a single word, i made him feel the absurdity of his language. now, endeavouring to intimidate me, he exaggerated the strength of england, and again he enlarged upon the pretended offers made by spain to that nation." the secretary, desirous to sow discord between the dutch deputies and the ambassador, then observed that france ought to pay to england l , upon the nail, which sum would be at once appropriated to the necessities of the states. "but what most enraged me," said de rosny, "was to see these ministers, who had come to me to state the intentions of their king, thus impudently substitute their own; for i knew that he had commanded them to do the very contrary to that which they did." the conference ended with a suggestion by cecil, that as france would only undertake a war in conjunction with england, and as england would only consent to this if paid by france and the states, the best thing for the two kings to do would be to do nothing, but to continue to live in friendship together, without troubling themselves about foreign complications. this was the purpose towards which the english counsellors had been steadily tending, and these last words of cecil seemed to the ambassador the only sincere ones spoken by him in the whole conference. "if i kept silence," said the ambassador, "it was not because i acquiesced in their reasoning. on the contrary, the manner in which they had just revealed themselves, and avowed themselves in a certain sort liars and impostors, had given me the most profound contempt for them. i thought, however, that by heating myself and contending with them so far from causing them to abandon a resolution which they had taken in concert--i might even bring about a total rupture. on the other hand, matters remaining as they were, and a friendship existing between the two kings, which might perhaps be cemented by a double marriage, a more favourable occasion might present itself for negotiation. i did not yet despair of the success of my mission, because i believed that the king had no part in the designs which his counsellors wished to carry out." that the counsellors, then struggling for dominion over the new king and his kingdom, understood the character of their sovereign better than did the ambassador, future events were likely enough to prove. that they preferred peace to war, and the friendship of spain to an alliance, offensive and defensive, with france in favour of a republic which they detested, is certain. it is difficult, however, to understand why they were "liars and impostors" because, in a conference with the representative of france, they endeavoured to make their own opinions of public policy valid rather than content themselves simply with being the errand-bearers of the new king, whom they believed incapable of being stirred to an honourable action. the whole political atmosphere of europe was mephitic with falsehood, and certainly the gales which blew from the english court at the accession of james were not fragrant, but de rosny had himself come over from france under false pretences. he had been charged by his master to represent henry's childish scheme, which he thought so gigantic, for the regeneration of europe, as a project of his own, which he was determined to bring to execution, even at the risk of infidelity to his sovereign, and the first element in that whole policy was to carry on war underhand against a power with which his master had just sworn to preserve peace. in that age at least it was not safe for politicians to call each other hard names. the very next day de rosny had a long private interview with james at greenwich. being urged to speak without reserve, the ambassador depicted the privy counsellors to the king as false to his instructions, traitors to the best interests of their country, the humble servants of spain, and most desirous to make their royal master the slave of that power, under the name of its ally. he expressed the opinion, accordingly, that james would do better in obeying only the promptings of his own superior wisdom, rather than the suggestions of the intriguers about him. the adroit de rosny thus softly insinuated to the flattered monarch that the designs of france were the fresh emanations of his own royal intellect. it was the whim of james to imagine himself extremely like henry of bourbon in character, and he affected to take the wittiest, bravest, most adventurous, and most adroit knight-errant that ever won and wore a crown as his perpetual model. it was delightful, therefore, to find himself in company with his royal brother; making and unmaking kings; destroying empires, altering the whole face of christendom, and, better than all, settling then and for ever the theology of the whole world, without the trouble of moving from his easy chair, or of incurring any personal danger. he entered at once, with the natural tendency to suspicion of a timid man, into the views presented by de rosny as to the perfidy of his counsellors. he changed colour; and was visibly moved, as the ambassador gave his version of the recent conference with cecil and the other ministers, and, being thus artfully stimulated, he was, prepared to receive with much eagerness the portentous communications now to be made. the ambassador, however, caused him to season his admiration until he had taken a most solemn oath, by the sacrament of the eucharist, never to reveal a syllable of what he was about to hear. this done, and the royal curiosity excited almost beyond endurance, de rosny began to, unfold the stupendous schemes which had been, concerted between elizabeth and henry at dover, and which formed the secret object of his present embassy. feeling that the king was most malleable in the theological part of his structure, the wily envoy struck his first blows in that direction; telling him that his own interest in the religious, condition of europe, and especially in the firm establishment of the protestant faith, far surpassed in his mind all considerations of fortune, country, or even of fidelity to his sovereign. thus far, political considerations had kept henry from joining in the great catholic league, but it was possible that a change might occur in his system, and the protestant form of worship, abandoned by its ancient protector, might disappear entirely from france and from europe. de rosny had, therefore, felt the necessity of a new patron for the reformed religion in this great emergency, and had naturally fixed his eyes on the puissant and sagacious prince who now occupied, the british throne. now was the time, he urged, for james to immortalize his name by becoming the arbiter of the destiny of europe. it would always seem his own design, although henry was equally interested in it with himself. the plan was vast but simple, and perfectly easy of execution. there would be no difficulty in constructing an all-powerful league of sovereigns for the destruction of the house of austria, the foundation-stones of which would of course be france, great britain, and the united provinces. the double marriage between the bourbon and stuart families would indissolubly unite the two kingdoms, while interest and gratitude; a common hatred and a common love, would bind the republic as firmly to the union. denmark and sweden were certainly to be relied upon, as well as all other protestant princes. the ambitious and restless duke of savoy would be gained by the offer of lombardy and a kingly crown, notwithstanding his matrimonial connection with spain. as for the german princes, they would come greedily into the arrangement, as the league, rich in the spoils of the austrian house, would have hungary, bohemia, silesia, moravia, the archduchies, and other splendid provinces to divide among them. the pope would be bought up by a present, in fee-simple, of naples, and other comfortable bits of property, of which he was now only feudal lord. sicily would be an excellent sop for the haughty republic of venice. the franche comte; alsace, tirol, were naturally to be annexed to switzerland; liege and the heritage of the duke of cleves and juliers to the dutch commonwealth. the king of france, who, according to de rosny's solemn assertions, was entirely ignorant of the whole scheme, would, however, be sure to embrace it very heartily when james should propose it to him, and would be far too disinterested to wish to keep any of the booty for himself. a similar self-denial was, of course, expected of james, the two great kings satisfying themselves with the proud consciousness of having saved society, rescued the world from the sceptre of an austrian universal monarchy, and regenerated european civilization for all future time. the monarch listened with ravished ears, interposed here and there a question or a doubt, but devoured every detail of the scheme, as the ambassador slowly placed it before him. de rosny showed that the spanish faction was not in reality so powerful as the league which would be constructed for its overthrow. it was not so much a religious as a political frontier which separated the nations. he undertook to prove this, but, after all, was obliged to demonstrate that the defection of henry from the protestant cause had deprived him of his natural allies, and given him no true friends in exchange for the old ones. essentially the catholics were ranged upon one side, and the protestants on the other, but both religions were necessary to henry the huguenot: the bold free-thinker adroitly balanced himself upon each creed. in making use of a stern and conscientious calvinist, like maximilian de bethune, in his first assault upon the theological professor who now stood in elizabeth's place, he showed the exquisite tact which never failed him. toleration for the two religions which had political power, perfect intolerance for all others; despotic forms of polity, except for two little republics which were to be smothered with protection and never left out of leading strings, a thorough recasting of governments and races, a palingenesis of europe, a nominal partition of its hegemony between france and england, which was to be in reality absorbed by france, and the annihilation of austrian power east and west, these were the vast ideas with which that teeming bourbon brain was filled. it is the instinct both of poetic and of servile minds to associate a sentiment of grandeur with such fantastic dreams, but usually on condition that the dreamer wears a crown. when the regenerator of society appears with a wisp of straw upon his head, unappreciative society is apt to send him back to his cell. there, at least, his capacity for mischief is limited. if to do be as grand as to imagine what it were good to do, then the dutchmen in hell's mouth and the porcupine fighting universal monarchy inch by inch and pike to pike, or trying conclusions with the ice-bears of nova zembla, or capturing whole portuguese fleets in the moluccas, were effecting as great changes in the world, and doing perhaps as much for the advancement of civilization, as james of the two britains and henry of france and navarre in those his less heroic days, were likely to accomplish. history has long known the results. the ambassador did his work admirably. the king embraced him in a transport of enthusiasm, vowed by all that was most sacred to accept the project in all its details, and exacted from the ambassador in his turn an oath on the eucharist never to reveal, except to his master, the mighty secrets of their conference. the interview had lasted four hours. when it was concluded, james summoned cecil, and in presence of the ambassador and of some of the counsellors, lectured him soundly on his presumption in disobeying the royal commands in his recent negotiations with de rosny. he then announced his decision to ally himself strictly with france against spain in consequence of the revelations just made to him, and of course to espouse the cause of the united provinces. telling the crest-fallen secretary of state to make the proper official communications on the subject to the ambassadors of my lords the states-general,--thus giving the envoys from the republic for the first time that pompous designation, the king turned once more to the marquis with the exclamation, "well, mr. ambassador, this time i hope that you are satisfied with me?" in the few days following de rosny busied himself in drawing up a plan of a treaty embodying all that had been agreed upon between henry and himself, and which he had just so faithfully rehearsed to james. he felt now some inconvenience from his own artfulness, and was in a measure caught in his own trap. had he brought over a treaty in his pocket, james would have signed it on the spot, so eager was he for the regeneration of europe. it was necessary, however, to continue the comedy a little longer, and the ambassador, having thought it necessary to express many doubts whether his master could be induced to join in the plot, and to approve what was really his own most cherished plan, could now do no more than promise to use all his powers of persuasion unto that end. the project of a convention, which james swore most solemnly to sign, whether it were sent to him in six weeks or six months, was accordingly rapidly reduced to writing and approved. it embodied, of course, most of the provisions discussed in the last secret interview at greenwich. the most practical portion of it undoubtedly related to the united provinces, and to the nature of assistance to be at once afforded to that commonwealth, the only ally of the two kingdoms expressly mentioned in the treaty. england was to furnish troops, the number of which was not specified, and france was to pay for them, partly out of her own funds, partly out of the amount due by her to england. it was, however, understood, that this secret assistance should not be considered to infringe the treaty of peace which already existed between henry and the catholic king. due and detailed arrangements were made as to the manner in which the allies were to assist each other, in case spain, not relishing this kind of neutrality, should think proper openly to attack either great britain or france, or both. unquestionably the dutch republic was the only portion of europe likely to be substantially affected by these secret arrangements; for, after all, it had not been found very easy to embody the splendid visions of henry, which had so dazzled the imagination of james in the dry clauses of a protocol. it was also characteristic enough of the crowned conspirators, that the clause relating to the united provinces provided that the allies would either assist them in the attainment of their independence, or--if it should be considered expedient to restore them to the domination of spain or the empire--would take such precautions and lay down such conditions as would procure perfect tranquillity for them, and remove from the two allied kings the fear of a too absolute government by the house of austria in those provinces. it would be difficult to imagine a more impotent conclusion. those dutch rebels had not been fighting for tranquillity. the tranquillity of the rock amid raging waves--according to the device of the father of the republic--they had indeed maintained; but to exchange their turbulent and tragic existence, ever illumined by the great hope of freedom, for repose under one despot guaranteed to them by two others, was certainly not their aim. they lacked the breadth of vision enjoyed by the regenerators who sat upon mountain-tops. they were fain to toil on in their own way. perhaps, however, the future might show as large results from their work as from the schemes of those who were to begin the humiliation of the austrian house by converting its ancient rebels into tranquil subjects. the marquis of rosny, having distributed , crowns among the leading politicians and distinguished personages at the english court, with ample promises of future largess if they remained true to his master, took an affectionate farewell of king james, and returned with his noble two hundred to recount his triumphs to the impatient henry. the treaty was soon afterwards duly signed and ratified by the high contracting parties. it was, however, for future history to register its results on the fate of pope, emperor, kings, potentates, and commonwealths, and to show the changes it would work in the geography, religion, and polity of the world. the deputies from the states-general, satisfied with the practical assistance promised them, soon afterwards took their departure with comparative cheerfulness, having previously obtained the royal consent to raise recruits in scotland. meantime the great constable of castile, ambassador from his catholic majesty, had arrived in london, and was wroth at all that he saw and all that he suspected. he, too, began to scatter golden arguments with a lavish hand among the great lords and statesmen of britain, but found that the financier of france had, on the whole; got before him in the business, and was skilfully maintaining his precedence from the other side of the channel. but the end of these great diplomatic manoeuvres had not yet come. chapter xlii. siege of ostend--the marquis spinola made commander-in-chief of the besieging army--discontent of the troops--general aspect of the operations--gradual encroachment of the enemy. the scene again shifts to ostend. the spanish cabinet, wearied of the slow progress of the siege, and not entirely satisfied with the generals, now concluded almost without consent of the archdukes, one of the most extraordinary jobs ever made, even in those jobbing days. the marquis spinola, elder brother of the ill-fated frederic, and head of the illustrious genoese family of that name, undertook to furnish a large sum of money which the wealth of his house and its connection with the great money-lenders of genoa enabled him to raise, on condition that he should have supreme command of the operations against ostend and of the foreign armies in the netherlands. he was not a soldier, but he entered into a contract, by his own personal exertions both on the exchange and in the field, to reduce the city which had now resisted all the efforts of the archduke for more than two years. certainly this was an experiment not often hazarded in warfare. the defence of ostend was in the hands of the best and moat seasoned fighting-men in europe. the operations were under the constant supervision of the foremost captain of the age; for maurice, in consultation with the states-general, received almost daily reports from the garrison, and regularly furnished advice and instructions as to their proceedings. he was moreover ever ready to take the field for a relieving campaign. nothing was known of spinola save that he was a high-born and very wealthy patrician who had reached his thirty-fourth year without achieving personal distinction of any kind, and who, during the previous summer, like so many other nobles from all parts of europe, had thought it worth his while to drawl through a campaign or two in the low countries. it was the mode to do this, and it was rather a stigma upon any young man of family not to have been an occasional looker on at that perpetual military game. his brother frederic, as already narrated; had tried his chance for fame and fortune in the naval service, and had lost his life in the adventure without achieving the one or the other. this was not a happy augury for the head of the family. frederic had made an indifferent speculation. what could the brother hope by taking the field against maurice of nassau and lewis william and the baxes and meetkerkes? nevertheless the archduke eagerly accepted his services, while the infanta, fully confident of his success before he had ordered a gun to be fired, protested that if spinola did not take ostend nobody would ever take it. there was also, strangely enough, a general feeling through the republican ranks that the long-expected man had come. thus a raw volunteer, a man who had never drilled a hundred men, who had never held an officer's commission in any army in the world, became, as by the waving of a wand, a field-marshal and commander-in-chief at a most critical moment in history, in the most conspicuous position in christendom, and in a great war, now narrowed down to a single spot of earth, on which the eyes of the world were fixed, and the daily accounts from which were longed for with palpitating anxiety. what but failure and disaster could be expected from such astounding policy? every soldier in the catholic forces--from grizzled veterans of half a century who had commanded armies and achieved victories when this dainty young italian was in his cradle, down to the simple musketeer or rider who had been campaigning for his daily bread ever since he could carry a piece or mount a horse was furious with discontent or outraged pride. very naturally too, it was said that the position of the archdukes had become preposterous. it was obvious, notwithstanding the pilgrimages of the infanta to our lady of hall, to implore not only the fall of ostend, but the birth of a successor to their sovereignty, that her marriage would for ever remain barren. spain was already acting upon this theory, it was said, for the contract with spinola was made, not at brussels, but at madrid, and a foreign army of spaniards and italians, under the supreme command of a genoese adventurer, was now to occupy indefinitely that flanders which had been proclaimed an independent nation, and duly bequeathed by its deceased proprietor to his daughter. ambrose spinola, son of philip, marquis of venafri, and his wife, polyxena grimaldi, was not appalled by the murmurs of hardly suppressed anger or public criticism. a handsome, aristocratic personage, with an intellectual, sad, but sympathetic face, fair hair and beard, and imposing but attractive presence--the young volunteer, at the beginning of october, made his first visit of inspection in the lines before ostend. after studying the situation of affairs very thoroughly, he decided that the operations on the gullet or eastern side, including bucquoy's dike, with pompey targone's perambulatory castles and floating batteries, were of secondary importance. he doubted the probability of closing up a harbour, now open to the whole world and protected by the fleets of the first naval power of europe, with wickerwork, sausages, and bridges upon barrels. his attention was at once concentrated on the western side, and he was satisfied that only by hard fighting and steady delving could he hope to master the place. to gain ostend he would be obliged to devour it piecemeal as he went on. whatever else might be said of the new commander-in-chief, it was soon apparent that, although a volunteer and a patrician, he was no milksop. if he had been accustomed all his life to beds of down, he was as ready now to lie in the trenches, with a cannon for his pillow, as the most ironclad veteran in the ranks. he seemed to require neither sleep nor food, and his reckless habit of exposing himself to unnecessary danger was the subject of frequent animadversion on the part both of the archdukes and of the spanish government. it was however in his case a wise temerity. the veterans whom he commanded needed no encouragement to daring deeds, but they required conviction as to the valour and zeal of their new commander, and this was afforded them in overflowing measure. it is difficult to decide, after such a lapse of years, as to how much of the long series of daily details out of which this famous siege was compounded deserves to be recorded. it is not probable that for military history many of the incidents have retained vital importance. the world rang, at the beginning of the operations, with the skill and inventive talent of targone, giustiniani, and other italian engineers, artificers, and pyrotechnists, and there were great expectations conceived of the effects to be produced by their audacious and original devices. but time wore on. pompey's famous floating battery would not float, his moving monster battery would not move. with the one; the subtle italian had intended to close up the gullet to the states' fleets. it was to rest on the bottom at low water at the harbour's mouth, to rise majestically with the flood, and to be ever ready with a formidable broadside of fifty pounders against all comers. but the wild waves and tempests of the north sea soon swept the ponderous toy into space, before it had fired a gun. the gigantic chariot, on which a moveable fort was constructed, was still more portentous upon paper than the battery. it was directed against that republican work, defending the gullet, which was called in derision the spanish half-moon. it was to be drawn by forty horses, and armed with no man knew how many great guns, with a mast a hundred and fifty feet high in the centre of the fort, up and down which played pulleys raising and lowering a drawbridge long enough to span the gullet. it was further provided with anchors, which were to be tossed over the parapet of the doomed redoubt, while the assailants, thus grappled to the enemy's work, were to dash over the bridge after having silenced the opposing fire by means of their own peripatetic battery. unfortunately for the fame of pompey, one of his many wheels was crushed on the first attempt to drag the chariot to the scene of anticipated triumph, the whole structure remained embedded in the sand, very much askew; nor did all the mules and horses that could be harnessed to it ever succeed in removing it an inch out of a position, which was anything but triumphant. it seemed probable enough therefore that, so far as depended on the operations from the eastern side, the siege of ostend, which had now lasted two years and three months, might be protracted for two years and three months longer. indeed, spinola at once perceived that if the archduke was ever to be put in possession of the place for which he had professed himself ready to wait eighteen years, it would be well to leave bucquoy and targone to build dykes and chariots and bury them on the east at their leisure, while more energy was brought to bear upon the line of fortifications of the west than had hitherto been employed. there had been shooting enough, bloodshed enough, suffering enough, but it was amazing to see the slight progress made. the occupation of what were called the external squares has been described. this constituted the whole result of the twenty-seven months' work. the town itself--the small and very insignificant kernel which lay enclosed in such a complicated series of wrappings and layers of defences--seemed as far off as if it were suspended in the sky. the old haven or canal, no longer navigable for ships, still served as an admirable moat which the assailants had not yet succeeded in laying entirely dry. it protected the counterscarp, and was itself protected by an exterior aeries of works, while behind the counterscarp was still another ditch, not so broad nor deep as the canal, but a formidable obstacle even after the counterscarp should be gained. there were nearly fifty forts and redoubts in these lines, of sufficient importance to have names which in those days became household words, not only in the netherlands, but in europe; the siege of ostend being the one military event of christendom, so long as it lasted. these names are of course as much forgotten now as those of the bastions before nineveh. a very few of them will suffice to indicate the general aspect of the operations. on the extreme southwest of ostend had been in peaceful times a polder--the general term to designate a pasture out of which the sea-water had been pumped--and the forts in that quarter were accordingly called by that name, as polder half-moon, polder ravelin, or great and little polder bulwark, as the case might be. farther on towards the west, the north-west, and the north, and therefore towards the beach, were the west ravelin, west bulwark, moses's table, the porcupine, the hell's mouth, the old church, and last and most important of all, the sand hill. the last-named work was protected by the porcupine and hell's mouth, was the key to the whole series of fortifications, and was connected by a curtain with the old church, which was in the heart of the old town. spinola had assumed command in october, but the winter was already closing in with its usual tempests and floods before there had been time for him to produce much effect. it seemed plain enough to the besieged that the object of the enemy would be to work his way through the polder, and so gradually round to the porcupine and the sand hill. precisely in what directions his subterraneous passages might be tending, in what particular spot of the thin crust upon which they all stood an explosion might at any moment be expected, it was of course impossible to know. they were sure that the process of mining was steadily progressing, and maurice sent orders to countermine under every bulwark, and to secretly isolate every bastion, so that it would be necessary for spinola to make his way, fort by fort, and inch by inch. thus they struggled drearily about under ground, friend and foe, often as much bewildered as wanderers in the catacombs. to a dismal winter succeeded a ferocious spring. both in february and march were westerly storms, such as had not been recorded even on that tempest-swept coast for twenty years, and so much damage was inflicted on the precious sand hill and its curtain, that, had the enemy been aware of its plight, it is probable that one determined assault might have put him in possession of the place. but ostend was in charge of a most watchful governor, peter van gieselles, who had succeeded charles van der noot at the close of the year . a plain, lantern jawed, dutch colonel; with close-cropped hair, a long peaked beard, and an eye that looked as if it had never been shut; always dressed in a shabby old jerkin with tarnished flowers upon it, he took command with a stout but heavy heart, saying that the place should never be surrendered by him, but that he should never live to see the close of the siege. he lost no time in repairing the damages of the tempest, being ready to fight the west wind, the north sea, and spinola at any moment, singly or conjoined. he rebuilt the curtain of the sand hill, added fresh batteries to the porcupine and hell's mouth, and amused and distracted the enemy with almost daily sorties and feints. his soldiers passed their days and nights up to the knees in mud and sludge and sea-water, but they saw that their commander never spared himself, and having a superfluity of food and drink, owing to the watchful care of the states-general, who sent in fleets laden with provisions faster than they could be consumed, they were cheerful and content. on the th march there was a determined effort to carry the lesser polder bulwark. after a fierce and bloody action, the place was taken by storm, and the first success in the game was registered for spinola. the little fort was crammed full of dead, but such of the defenders as survived were at last driven out of it, and forced to take refuge in the next work. day after day the same bloody business was renewed, a mere monotony of assaults, repulses, sallies, in which hardly an inch of ground was gained on either side, except at the cost of a great pile of corpses. "men will never know, nor can mortal pen ever describe," said one who saw it all, "the ferocity and the pertinacity of both besiegers and besieged." on the th of march, colonel catrice, an accomplished walloon officer of engineers, commanding the approaches against the polder, was killed. on the st march, as peter orieselles was taking his scrambling dinner in company with philip fleming, there was a report that the enemy was out again in force. a good deal of progress had been made during the previous weeks on the south-west and west, and more was suspected than was actually known. it was felt that the foe was steadily nibbling his way up to the counterscarp. moreover, such was the emulation among the germans, walloons, italians, and spaniards for precedence in working across the canal, that a general assault and universal explosion were considered at any instant possible. the governor sent fleming to see if all was right in the porcupine, while he himself went to see if a new battery, which he had just established to check the approaches of the enemy towards the polder half-moon and ravelin in a point very near the counterscarp, was doing its duty. being, as usual, anxious to reconnoitre with his own eyes, he jumped upon the rampart. but there were sharp-shooters in the enemy's trenches, and they were familiar with the governor's rusty old doublet and haggard old face. hardly had he climbed upon the breastwork when a ball pierced his heart, and he fell dead without a groan. there was a shout of triumph from the outside, while the tidings soon spread sadness through the garrison, for all loved and venerated the man. philip fleming, so soon as he learned the heavy news, lost no time in unavailing regrets, but instantly sent a courier to prince maurice; meantime summoning a council of superior officers, by whom colonel john van loon was provisionally appointed commandant. a stately, handsome man, a good officer, but without extensive experience, he felt himself hardly equal to the immense responsibility of the post, but yielding to the persuasions of his comrades, proceeded to do his best. his first care was to secure the all-important porcupine, towards which the enemy had been slowly crawling with his galleries and trenches. four days after he had accepted the command he was anxiously surveying that fortification, and endeavouring to obtain a view of the enemy's works, when a cannon-ball struck him on the right leg, so that he died the next day. plainly the post of commandant of ostend was no sinecure. he was temporarily succeeded by sergeant-major jacques de bievry, but the tumults and confusion incident upon this perpetual change of head were becoming alarming. the enemy gave the garrison no rest night nor day, and it had long become evident that the young volunteer, whose name was so potent on the genoa exchange, was not a man of straw nor a dawdler, however the superseded veterans might grumble. at any rate the troops on either side were like to have their fill of work. on the nd april the polder ravelin was carried by storm. it was a most bloody action. never were a few square feet of earth more recklessly assailed, more resolutely maintained. the garrison did not surrender the place, but they all laid down their lives in its defence. scarcely an individual of them all escaped, and the foe, who paid dearly with heaps of dead and wounded for his prize, confessed that such serious work as this had scarce been known before in any part of that great slaughter-house, flanders. a few days later, colonel bievry, provisional commandant, was desperately wounded in a sortie, and was carried off to zeeland. the states-general now appointed jacques van der meer, baron of berendrecht, to the post of honour and of danger. a noble of flanders, always devoted to the republican cause; an experienced middle-aged officer, vigilant, energetic, nervous; a slight wiry man, with a wizened little face, large bright eyes, a meagre yellow beard, and thin sandy hair flowing down upon his well-starched ruff, the new governor soon showed himself inferior to none of his predecessors in audacity and alertness. it is difficult to imagine a more irritating position in many respects than that of commander in such an extraordinary leaguer. it was not a formal siege. famine, which ever impends over an invested place, and sickens the soul with its nameless horrors, was not the great enemy to contend against here. nor was there the hideous alternative between starving through obstinate resistance or massacre on submission, which had been the lot of so many dutch garrisons in the earlier stages of the war. retreat by sea was ever open to the ostend garrison, and there was always an ample supply of the best provisions and of all munitions of war. but they had been unceasingly exposed to two tremendous enemies. during each winter and spring the ocean often smote their bastions and bulwarks in an hour of wrath till they fell together like children's toys, and it was always at work, night and day, steadily lapping at the fragile foundations on which all their structures stood. nor was it easy to give the requisite attention to the devouring sea, because all the materials that could be accumulated seemed necessary to repair the hourly damages inflicted by their other restless foe. thus the day seemed to draw gradually but inexorably nearer when the place would be, not captured, but consumed. there was nothing for it, so long as the states were determined to hold the spot, but to meet the besieger at every point, above or below the earth, and sell every inch of that little morsel of space at the highest price that brave men could impose. so berendrecht, as vigilant and devoted as even peter gieselles had ever been, now succeeded to the care of the polders and the porcupines, and the hell's mouths; and all the other forts, whose quaint designations had served, as usually is the case among soldiers, to amuse the honest patriots in the midst of their toils and danger. on the th april, the enemy assailed the great western ravelin, and after a sanguinary hand-to-hand action, in which great numbers of officers and soldiers were lost on both sides, he carried the fort; the spaniards, italians, germans, and walloons vieing with each other in deeds of extraordinary daring, and overcoming at last the resistance of the garrison. this was an important success. the foe had now worked his way with galleries and ditches along the whole length of the counterscarp till he was nearly up with the porcupine, and it was obvious that in a few days he would be master of the counterscarp itself. a less resolute commander, at the head of less devoted troops, might have felt that when that inevitable event should arrive all that honour demanded would have been done, and that spinola was entitled to his city. berendrecht simply decided that if the old counterscarp could no longer be held it was time to build a new counterscarp. this, too, had been for some time the intention of prince maurice. a plan for this work had already been sent into the place, and a distinguished english engineer, ralph dexter by name, arrived with some able assistants to carry it into execution. it having been estimated that the labour would take three weeks of time, without more ado the inner line was carefully drawn, cutting off with great nicety and precision about one half the whole place. within this narrowed circle the same obstinate resistance was to be offered as before, and the bastions and redoubts of the new entrenchment were to be baptized with the same uncouth names which two long years of terrible struggle had made so precious. the work was very laborious; for the line was drawn straight through the town, and whole streets had to be demolished and the houses to their very foundations shovelled away. moreover the men were forced to toil with spade in one hand and matchlock in the other, ever ready to ascend from the ancient dilapidated cellars in order to mount the deadly breach at any point in the whole circumference of the place. it became absolutely necessary therefore to send a sufficient force of common workmen into the town to lighten the labours of the soldiers. moreover the thought, although whistled to the wind, would repeatedly recur, that, after all, there must be a limit to these operations, and that at last there would remain no longer any earth in which to find a refuge. the work of the new entrenchment went slowly on, but it was steadily done. meantime they were comforted by hearing that the stadholder had taken the field in flanders, at the head of a considerable force, and they lived in daily expectation of relief. it will be necessary, at the proper moment, to indicate the nature of prince maurice's operations. for the present, it is better that the reader should confine his attention within the walls of ostend. by the th may, the enemy had effected a lodgment in a corner of the porcupine, and already from that point might threaten the new counterscarp before it should be completed. at the same time he had gnawed through to the west bulwark, and was busily mining under the porcupine itself. in this fort friend and foe now lay together, packed like herrings, and profited by their proximity to each other to vary the monotony of pike and anaphance with an occasional encounter of epistolary wit. thus spanish letters, tied to sticks, and tossed over into the next entrenchment, were replied to by others, composed in four languages by the literary man of ostend, auditor fleming, and shot into the enemy's trenches on cross-bow bolts. on the th may, a long prepared mine was sprung beneath the porcupine. it did its work effectively, and the may assailants did theirs no less admirably, crowding into the breach with headlong ferocity, and after a long and sanguinary struggle with immense lose on both sides, carrying the precious and long-coveted work by storm. inch by inch the defenders were thus slowly forced back toward their new entrenchment. on the same day, however, they inflicted a most bloody defeat upon the enemy in an attempt to carry the great polder. he withdrew, leaving heaps of slain, so that the account current for the day would have balanced itself, but that the porcupine, having changed hands, now bristled most formidably against its ancient masters. the daily 'slaughter had become sickening to behold. there were three thousand effective men in the garrison. more could have been sent in to supply the steady depletion in the ranks, but there was no room for more. there was scarce space enough for the living to stand to their work, or for the dead to lie in their graves. and this was an advantage which could not fail to tell. of necessity the besiegers would always very far outnumber the garrison, so that the final success of their repeated assaults became daily more and more possible. yet on the nd june the enemy met not only with another signal defeat, but also with a most bitter surprise. on that day the mine which he had been so long and so laboriously constructing beneath the great polder bulwark was sprung with magnificent effect. a breach, forty feet wide, was made in this last stronghold of the old defences, and the soldiers leaped into the crater almost before it had ceased to blaze, expecting by one decisive storm to make themselves masters at last of all the fortifications, and therefore of the town itself. but as emerging from the mine, they sprang exulting upon the shattered bulwark, a transformation more like a sudden change in some holiday pantomime than a new fact in this three years' most tragic siege presented itself to their astonished eyes. they had carried the last defence of the old counterscarp, and behold--a new one, which they had never dreamed of, bristling before their eyes, with a flanking battery turned directly upon them. the musketeers and pikemen, protected by their new works, now thronged towards the assailants; giving them so hearty a welcome that they reeled back, discomfited, after a brief but severe struggle, from the spot of their anticipated triumph, leaving their dead and dying in the breach. four days later, berendrecht, with a picked party of english troops, stole out for a reconnaissance, not wishing to trust other eyes than his own in the imminent peril of the place. the expedition was successful. a few prisoners were taken, and valuable information was obtained, but these advantages were counterbalanced by a severe disaster. the vigilant and devoted little governor, before effecting his entrance into the sally port, was picked off by a sharpshooter, and died the next day. this seemed the necessary fate of the commandants of ostend, where the operations seemed more like a pitched battle lasting three years than an ordinary siege. gieselles, van loon, bievry, and now berendrecht, had successively fallen at the post of duty since the beginning of the year. not one of them was more sincerely deplored than berendrecht. his place was supplied by colonel uytenhoove, a stalwart, hirsute, hard-fighting dutchman, the descendant of an ancient race, and seasoned in many a hard campaign. the enemy now being occupied in escarping and furnishing with batteries the positions he had gained, with the obvious intention of attacking the new counterscarp, it was resolved to prepare for the possible loss of this line of fortifications by establishing another and still narrower one within it. half the little place had been shorn away by the first change. of the half which was still in possession of the besieged about one-third was now set off, and in this little corner of earth, close against the new harbour, was set up their last refuge. they called the new citadel little troy, and announced, with pardonable bombast, that they would hold out there as long as the ancient trojans had defended ilium. with perfect serenity the engineers set about their task with line, rule, and level, measuring out the bulwarks and bastions, the miniature salients, half-moons, and ditches, as neatly and methodically as if there were no ceaseless cannonade in their ears, and as if the workmen were not at every moment summoned to repel assaults upon the outward wall. they sent careful drawings of little troy to maurice and the states, and received every encouragement to persevere, together with promises of ultimate relief. but there was one serious impediment to the contemplated construction of the new earth-works. they had no earth. nearly everything solid had been already scooped away in the perpetual delving. the sea-dykes had been robbed of their material, so that the coming winter might find besiegers and besieged all washed together into the german ocean, and it was hard digging and grubbing among the scanty cellarages of the dilapidated houses. but there were plenty of graves, filled with the results of three years' hard fighting. and now, not only were all the cemeteries within the precincts shovelled and carted in mass to the inner fortifications, but rewards being offered of ten stivers for each dead body, great heaps of disinterred soldiers were piled into the new ramparts. thus these warriors, after laying down their lives for the cause of freedom, were made to do duty after death. whether it were just or no thus to disturb the repose--if repose it could be called--of the dead that they might once more protect the living, it can scarcely be doubted that they took ample revenge on the already sufficiently polluted atmosphere. on the th june the foe sprang a mine under the western bulwark; close to a countermine exploded by the garrison the day before. the assailants thronged as merrily as usual to the breach, and were met with customary resolution by the besieged; governor uytenhoove, clad in complete armour, leading his troops. the enemy, after an hour's combat, was repulsed with heavy loss, but the governor fell in the midst of the fight. instantly he was seized by the legs by a party of his own men, some english desperadoes among the number, who, shouting that the colonel was dead, were about to render him the last offices by plundering his body. the ubiquitous fleming, observing the scene, flew to the rescue and, with the assistance of a few officers, drove off these energetic friends, and taking off the governor's casque, discovered that he still breathed. that he would soon have ceased to do so, had he been dragged much farther in his harness over that jagged and precipitous pile of rubbish, was certain. he was desperately wounded, and of course incapacitated for his post. thus, in that year, before the summer solstice, a fifth commandant had fallen. on the same day, simultaneously with this repulse in the west bulwark, the enemy made himself at last completely master of the polder. here, too, was a savage hand-to-hand combat with broadswords and pikes, and when the pikes were broken, with great clubs and stakes pulled from the fascines; but the besiegers were victorious, and the defenders sullenly withdrew with their wounded to the inner entrenchments. on the th june, daniel de hartaing, lord of marquette, was sent by the states-general to take command in ostend. the colonel of the walloon regiment which had rendered such good service on the famous field of nieuport, the new governor, with his broad, brown, cheerful face, and his milan armour, was a familiar figure enough to the campaigners on both sides in flanders or germany. the stoutest heart might have sunk at the spectacle which the condition of the town presented at his first inspection. the states-general were resolved to hold the place, at all hazards, and marquette had come to do their bidding, but it was difficult to find anything that could be called a town. the great heaps of rubbish, which had once been the outer walls, were almost entirely in the possession of the foe, who had lodged himself in all that remained of the defiant porcupine, the hell's mouth, and other redoubts, and now pointed from them at least fifty great guns against their inner walls. the old town, with its fortifications, was completely honeycombed, riddled, knocked to pieces, and, although the sand hill still held out, it was plain enough that its days were numbered unless help should soon arrive. in truth, it required a clear head and a practised eye to discover among those confused masses of prostrate masonry, piles of brick, upturned graves, and mounds of sand and rubbish, anything like order and regularity. yet amid the chaos there was really form and meaning to those who could read aright, and marquette saw, as well in the engineers' lines as in the indomitable spirit that looked out of the grim faces of the garrison, that ostend, so long as anything of it existed in nature, could be held for the republic. their brethren had not been firmer, when keeping their merry christmas, seven years before, under the north pole, upon a pudding made of the gunner's cartridge paste, or the knights of the invincible lion in the horrid solitudes of tierra del fuego, than were the defenders of this sandbank. whether the place were worth the cost or not, it was for my lords the states-general to decide, not for governor marquette. and the decision of those "high and mighty" magistrates, to whom even maurice of nassau bowed without a murmur, although often against his judgment, had been plainly enough announced. and so shiploads of deals and joists, bricks, nails, and fascines, with requisite building materials, were sent daily in from zeeland, in order that little troy might be completed; and, with god's help, said the garrison, the republic shall hold its own. and now there were two months more of mining and countermining, of assaults and repulses, of cannonading and hand-to-hand fights with pikes and clubs. nearer and nearer, day by day, and inch by inch, the foe had crawled up to the verge of their last refuge, and the walls of little troy, founded upon fresh earth and dead men's bones, and shifting sands, were beginning to quake under the guns of the inexorable volunteer from genoa. yet on the th august there was great rejoicing in the beleaguered town. cannon thundered salutes, bonfires blazed, trumpets rang jubilant blasts, and, if the church-bells sounded no merry peals, it was because the only church in the place had been cut off in the last slicing away by the engineers. hymns of thanksgiving ascended to heaven, and the whole garrison fell on their knees, praying fervently to almighty god, with devout and grateful hearts. it was not an ignoble spectacle to see those veterans kneeling where there was scarce room to kneel, amid ruin and desolation, to praise the lord for his mercies. but to explain this general thanksgiving it is now necessary for a moment to go back. etext editor's bookmarks: began to scatter golden arguments with a lavish hand certain number of powers, almost exactly equal to each other conceit, and procrastination which marked the royal character do you want peace or war? i am ready for either eloquence of the biggest guns even the virtues of james were his worst enemies gold was the only passkey to justice if to do be as grand as to imagine what it were good to do it is certain that the english hate us (sully) logic of the largest battalions made peace--and had been at war ever since nations tied to the pinafores of children in the nursery natural tendency to suspicion of a timid man not safe for politicians to call each other hard names one of the most contemptible and mischievous of kings (james i) peace founded on the only secure basis, equality of strength peace seemed only a process for arriving at war repose under one despot guaranteed to them by two others requires less mention than philip iii himself rules adopted in regard to pretenders to crowns served at their banquets by hosts of lackeys on their knees take all their imaginations and extravagances for truths the expenses of james's household the pigmy, as the late queen had been fond of nicknaming him to negotiate with government in england was to bribe unproductive consumption being accounted most sagacious war was the normal condition of christians we have been talking a little bit of truth to each other what was to be done in this world and believed as to the next you must show your teeth to the spaniard chapter xliii. - policy of the king of france--operations of prince maurice--plans for a flemish campaign--passage into flanders--fort st. catharine-- flight of its garrison, and occupation by maurice--surrender of ysendyke and aardenburg--skirmish at stamper's hook--siege of sluys by prince maurice--ineffectual attempt of spinola to relieve the town--its capitulation and restoration to the states--death of lewis gunther of nassau--operations at ostend--surrender of the garrison-- desolation of the scene after its evacuation. the states-general had begun to forget the severe lesson taught them in the nieuport campaign. being determined to hold ostend, they became very impatient, in the early part of the present year, that maurice should once more invade flanders, at the head of a relieving army, and drive the archdukes from before the town. they were much influenced in this policy by the persistent advice of the french king. to the importunities of their envoy at paris, henry had, during the past eighteen months, replied by urging the states to invade flanders and seize its ports. when they had thus something to place as pledges in his hands, he might accede to their clamour and declare war against spain. but he scarcely concealed his intention, in such case, to annex both the obedient and the united netherlands to his own dominions. meantime, before getting into the saddle, he chose to be guaranteed against loss. "assure my lords the states that i love them," he said, "and shall always do my best for them." his affection for the territory of my lords was even warmer than the sentiments he entertained for themselves. moreover, he grudged the preliminary expenses which would be necessary even should he ultimately make himself sovereign of the whole country. rosny assured the envoy that he was mistaken in expecting a declaration of war against spain. "not that he does not think it useful and necessary," said the minister, "but he wishes to have war and peace both at once--peace because he wishes to make no retrenchments in his pleasures of women, dogs, and buildings, and so war would be very inopportune. in three months he would be obliged to turn tail for want of means (to use his own words), although i would furnish him funds enough, if he would make the use of them that he ought." the queen of england, who, with all her parsimony and false pretences, never doubted in her heart that perpetual hostility to spain was the chief bulwark of her throne, and that the republic was fighting her battles as well as its own, had been ready to make such a lively war in conjunction with france as would drive the spaniard out of all the netherlands. but henry was not to be moved. "i know that if i should take her at her word," said he, "she would at once begin to screw me for money. she has one object, i another." villeroy had said plainly to aerssens, in regard to the prevalent system of englishmen, spaniards, and frenchmen being at war with each other, while the governments might be nominally at peace, "let us take off our masks. if the spaniard has designs against our state, has he not cause? he knows the aid we are giving you, and resents it. if we should abstain, he would leave us in peace. if the queen of england expects to draw us into a league, she is mistaken. look to yourselves and be on your guard. richardot is intriguing with cecil. you give the queen securities, fortresses, seats in your council. the king asks nothing but communication of your projects." in short, all the comfort that aerssens had been able to derive from his experiences at the french court in the autumn of , was that the republic could not be too suspicious both of england and france. rosny especially he considered the most dangerous of all the politicians in france. his daughter was married to the prince of espinoy, whose , livres a year would be safer the more the archduke was strengthened. "but for this he would be stiffer," said aerssens. nevertheless there were strong motives at work, pressing france towards the support of the states. there were strong political reasons, therefore, why they should carry the war into flanders, in conformity with the wishes of the king. the stadholder, after much argument, yielded as usual to the authority of the magistrates, without being convinced as to the sagacity of their plans. it was arranged that an army should make a descent upon the flemish coast in the early spring, and make a demonstration upon sluys. the effect of this movement, it was thought, would be to draw the enemy out of his entrenchments, in which case it would be in the power of maurice to put an end at once to the siege. it is unquestionable that the better alternative, in the judgment of the prince, was to take possession; if possible, of sluys itself. his preparations were, however, made with a view to either event, and by the middle of april he had collected at willemstad a force of fifteen thousand foot and three thousand horse. as on the former memorable expedition, he now again insisted that a considerable deputation of the states and of the states' council should accompany the army. his brother henry, and his cousins lewis william, lewis gunther, and ernest casimir, were likewise with him, as well as the prince of anhalt and other distinguished personages. on the th april the army, having crossed the mouth of the west scheld, from zeeland, in numberless vessels of all sizes and degrees, effected their debarkation on the island of cadzand. in the course of two days they had taken possession of the little town, and all the forts of that island, having made their entrance through what was called the black channel. had they steered boldly through the swint or sluys channel at once, it is probable that they might have proceeded straight up to sluy's, and taken the place by surprise. maurice's habitual caution was, perhaps, on this occasion, a disadvantage to him, but he would have violated the rules of war, and what seemed the dictates of common sense, had he not secured a basis of operations, and a possibility of retreat, before plunging with his army into the heart of a hostile country. the republic still shuddered at the possible catastrophe of four years before, when circumstances had forced him to take the heroic but dangerous resolution of sending off his ships from nieuport. before he had completed his arrangements for supplies on the island of cadzand, he learned from scouts and reconnoitring parties that spinola had sent a thousand infantry, besides five hundred cavalry, under trivulzio, to guard the passage across the swint. maurice was thus on the wrong side of the great channel by which sluy's communicated with the sea? the town of sluy's and its situation have been described in a former chapter. as a port, it was in those days considered a commodious and important one, capable of holding five hundred ships. as a town, it was not so insignificant as geographical and historical changes have since made it, and was certainly far superior to ostend, even if ostend had not been almost battered out of existence. it had spacious streets and squares, and excellent fortifications in perfectly good condition. it was situate in a watery labyrinth, many slender streams from the interior and several saltwater creeks being complicated around it, and then flowing leisurely, in one deep sluggish channel, to the sea. the wrath of leicester, when all his efforts to relieve the place had been baffled by the superior skill of alexander farnese, has been depicted, and during the seventeen years which had elapsed since its capture, the republic had not ceased to deplore that disaster. obviously if the present expedition could end in the restoration of sluy's to its rightful owners, it would be a remarkable success, even if ostend should fall. sluy's and its adjacent domains formed a natural portion of the zeeland archipelago, the geographical counterpart of flushing. with both branches of the stately scheld in its control, the republic would command the coast, and might even dispense with ostend, which, in the judgment of maurice, was an isolated and therefore not a desirable military possession. the states-general were of a different opinion. they much desired to obtain sluy's, but they would not listen to the abandonment of ostend. it was expected of the stadholder, therefore, that he should seize the one and protect the other. the task was a difficult one. a less mathematical brain than that of maurice of nassau would have reeled at the problem to be solved. to master such a plexus of canals, estuaries, and dykes, of passages through swamps, of fords at low water which were obliterated by flood-tide; to take possession of a series of redoubts built on the only firm points of land, with nothing but quaking morass over which to manoeuvre troops or plant batteries against them, would be a difficult study, even upon paper. to accomplish it in the presence of a vigilant and anxious foe seemed bewildering enough. at first it was the intention of the stadholder, disappointed at learning the occupation of the swint, to content himself with fortifying cadzand, in view of future operations at some more favourable moment? so meagre a result would certainly not have given great satisfaction to the states, nor added much to the military reputation of maurice. while he hesitated between plunging without a clue into the watery maze around him, and returning discomfited from the expedition on which such high hopes had been built, a flemish boor presented himself. he offered to guide the army around the east and south of sluy's, and to point out passages where it would be possible to cross the waters, which, through the care of spinola, now seemed to forbid access to the place. maurice lingered no longer. on the th april, led by the friendly boor, he advanced towards oostburg. next morning a small force of the enemy's infantry and cavalry was seen, showing that there must be foothold in that direction. he sent out a few companies to skirmish with those troops, who fled after a very brief action, and, in flying, showed their pursuers the road. maurice marched in force, straight through the waters, on the track of the retreating foe. they endeavoured to rally at the fort of coxie, which stood upon and commanded a dyke, but the republicans were too quick for them, and "drove them out of the place." the stadholder, thus obtaining an unexpected passage into flanders, conceived strong hopes of success, despite the broken nature of the ground. continuing to feel his way cautiously through the wilderness of quagmire, he soon came upon a very formidable obstacle. the well-built and well-equipped redoubt of st. catharine rose frowning before him, overshadowing his path, and completely prohibiting all further progress. plainly it would be necessary to reduce this work at once, unless he were willing to abandon his enterprise. he sent back to cadzand for artillery, but it was flood-tide, the waters were out, and it was not till late in the afternoon that nine pieces arrived. the stadholder ordered a cannonade, less with the hope of producing an impression by such inadequate means on so strong a work, than with the intention of showing the enemy that he had brought field-guns with him, and was not merely on an accidental foray. at the same time, having learned that the garrison, which was commanded by trivulzio, was composed of only a few regular troops, and a large force of guerillas, he gave notice that such combatants were not entitled to quarter, and that if captured they would be all put to the sword. the reply to this threat was not evacuation but defiance. especially a volunteer ensign mounted upon a rampart, and danced about, waving his flag gaily in the face of the assailants. maurice bitterly remarked to his staff that such a man alone was enough to hold the fort. as it was obvious that the place would require a siege in form, and that it would be almost impossible to establish batteries upon that quaking soil, where there was no dry land for cavalry or artillery to move, maurice ordered the nine guns to be carried back to cadzand that night, betaking himself, much disappointed, in the same direction. yet it so happened that the cannoneers, floundering through the bogs, made such an outcry--especially when one of their guns became so bemired that it was difficult for them to escape the disgrace of losing it--that the garrison, hearing a great tumult, which they could not understand, fell into one of those panics to which raw and irregular troops are liable. nothing would convince them that fresh artillery had not arrived, that the terrible stadholder with an immense force was not creating invincible batteries, and that they should be all butchered in cold blood, according to proclamation, before the dawn of day. they therefore evacuated the place under cover of the night, so that this absurd accident absolutely placed maurice in possession of the very fort--without striking a blow--which he was about to abandon in despair, and which formed the first great obstacle to his advance. having occupied st. catharine's, he moved forward to ysendyke, a strongly fortified place three leagues to the eastward of sluys and invested it in form. meantime a great danger was impending over him. a force of well-disciplined troops, to the number of two thousand, dropped down in boats from sluy's to cadzand, for the purpose of surprising the force left to guard that important place. the expedition was partially successful. six hundred landed; beating down all opposition. but a few scotch companies held firm, and by hard fighting were able at last to drive the invaders back to their sloops, many of which were sunk in the affray, with all on board. the rest ignominiously retreated. had the enterprise been as well executed as it was safely planned, it would have gone hard with the stadholder and his army. it is difficult to see in what way he could have extricated himself from such a dilemma, being thus cut off from his supplies and his fleet, and therefore from all possibility of carrying out his design or effecting his escape to zeeland. certainly thus far, fortune had favoured his bold adventure. he now sent his own trumpeter, master hans, to summon ysendyke to a surrender. the answer was a bullet which went through the head of unfortunate master hans. maurice, enraged at this barbarous violation of the laws of war, drew his lines closer. next day the garrison, numbering six hundred, mostly italians, capitulated, and gave up the musketeer who had murdered the trumpeter. two days later the army appeared before aardenburg, a well-fortified town four miles south of sluys. it surrendered disgracefully, without striking a blow. the place was a most important position for the investment of sluys. four or five miles further towards the west, two nearly parallel streams, both navigable, called the sweet and the salt, ran from dam to sluys. it was a necessary but most delicate operation, to tie up these two important arteries. an expedition despatched in this direction came upon trivulzio with a strong force of cavalry, posted at a pass called stamper's hook, which controlled the first of these streams. the narrowness of the pathway gave the advantage to the italian commander. a warm action took place, in which the republican cavalry were worsted, and paul bax severely wounded. maurice coming up with the infantry at a moment when the prospect was very black, turned defeat into victory and completely routed the enemy, who fled from the precious position with a loss of five hundred killed and three hundred prisoners, eleven officers among them. the sweet was now in the stadholder's possession. next day he marched against the salt, at a pass where fourteen hundred spaniards were stationed. making very ostentatious preparations for an attack upon this position, he suddenly fell backwards down the stream to a point which he had discovered to be fordable at low water, and marched his whole army through the stream while the skirmishing was going on a few miles farther up. the spaniards, discovering their error, and fearing to be cut off, scampered hastily away to dam. both streams were now in the control of the republican army, while the single fort of st. joris was all that was now interposed between maurice and the much-coveted swint. this redoubt, armed with nine guns, and provided with a competent, garrison, was surrendered on the rd may. the swint, or great sea-channel of sluys, being now completely in the possession of the stadholder, he deliberately proceeded to lay out his lines, to make his entrenched camp, and to invest his city with the beautiful neatness which ever characterized his sieges. a groan came from the learned lipsius, as he looked from the orthodox shades of louvain upon the progress of the heretic prince. "would that i were happier," he cried, "but things are not going on in flanders as i could wish. how easy it would have been to save sluys, which we are now trying so hard to do, had we turned our attention thither in time! but now we have permitted the enemy to entrench and fortify himself, and we are the less excusable because we know to our cost how felicitously he fights with the spade, and that he builds works like an ancient roman. . . . should we lose sluys, which god forbid, how much strength and encouragement will be acquired by the foe, and by all who secretly or openly favour him! our neighbours are all straining their eyes, as from a watch-tower, eager to see the result of all these doings. but what if they too should begin to move? where should we be? i pray god to have mercy on the netherlanders, whom he has been so many years chastising with heavy whips." it was very true. the man with the spade had been allowed to work too long at his felicitous vocation. there had been a successful effort made to introduce reinforcements to the garrison. troops, to the number of fifteen hundred, had been added to those already shut up there, but the attempts to send in supplies were not so fortunate. maurice had completely invested the town before the end of may, having undisputed possession of the harbour and of all the neighbouring country. he was himself encamped on the west side of the swint; charles van der noot lying on the south. the submerged meadows, stretching all around in the vicinity of the haven, he had planted thickly with gunboats. scarcely a bird or a fish could go into or out of the place. thus the stadholder exhibited to the spaniards who, fifteen miles off towards the west, had been pounding and burrowing three years long before ostend without success, what he understood by a siege. on the nd of may a day of solemn prayer and fasting was, by command of maurice, celebrated throughout the besieging camp. in order that the day should be strictly kept in penance, mortification, and thanksgiving, it was ordered, on severe penalties, that neither the commissaries nor sutlers should dispense any food whatever, throughout the twenty-four hours. thus the commander-in-chief of the republic prepared his troops for the work before them. in the very last days of may the experiment was once more vigorously tried to send in supplies. a thousand galley-slaves, the remnant of frederic spinola's unlucky naval forces, whose services were not likely very soon to be required at sea, were sent out into the drowned land, accompanied by five hundred infantry. simultaneously count berlaymont, at the head of four thousand men, conveying a large supply of provisions and munitions, started from dam. maurice, apprised of the adventure, sallied forth with two thousand troops to meet them. near stamper's hook he came upon a detachment of berlaymont's force, routed them, and took a couple of hundred prisoners. learning from them that berlaymont himself, with the principal part of his force, had passed farther on, he started off in pursuit; but, unfortunately taking a different path through the watery wilderness from the one selected by the flying foe, he was not able to prevent his retreat by a circuitous route to dam. from the prisoners, especially from the galley-slaves, who had no reason for disguising the condition of the place, he now learned that there were plenty of troops in sluys, but that there was already a great lack of provisions. they had lost rather than gained by their success in introducing reinforcements without supplies. upon this information maurice now resolved to sit quietly down and starve out the garrison. if spinola, in consequence, should raise the siege of ostend, in order to relieve a better town, he was prepared to give him battle. if the marquis held fast to his special work, sluys was sure to surrender. this being the position of affairs, the deputies of the states-general took their leave of the stadholder, and returned to the hague. two months passed. it was midsummer, and the famine in the beleaguered town had become horrible. the same hideous spectacle was exhibited as on all occasions where thousands of human beings are penned together without food. they ate dogs, cats, and rats, the weeds from the churchyards, old saddles, and old shoes, and, when all was gone, they began to eat each other. the small children diminished rapidly in numbers, while beacons and signals of distress were fired day and night, that the obdurate spinola, only a few miles off, might at last move to their relief. the archdukes too were beginning to doubt whether the bargain were a good one. to give a strong, new, well-fortified city, with the best of harbours, in exchange for a heap of rubbish which had once been ostend, seemed unthrifty enough. moreover, they had not got ostend, while sure to lose sluys. at least the cardinal could no longer afford to dispense with the service of his beat corps of veterans who had demanded their wages so insolently, and who had laughed at his offer of excommunication by way of payment so heartily. flinging away his pride, he accordingly made a treaty with the mutinous "squadron" at grave, granting an entire pardon for all their offences, and promising full payment of their arrears. until funds should be collected sufficient for this purpose, they were to receive twelve stivers a day each foot-soldier, and twenty-four stivers each cavalryman, and were to have the city of roermond in pledge. the treaty was negotiated by guerrera, commandant of ghent citadel, and by the archbishop of roermond, while three distinguished hostages were placed in the keeping of the mutineers until the contract should be faithfully executed: guerrera himself, count fontenoy, son of marquis d'havre, and avalos, commander of a spanish legion. thus, after making a present of the services of these veterans for a twelvemonth to the stadholder, and after employing a very important portion of his remaining forces in a vain attempt to reduce their revolt, the archduke had now been fain to purchase their submission by conceding all their demands. it would have been better economy perhaps to come to this conclusion at an earlier day. it would likewise have been more judicious, according to the lamentations of justus lipsius, had the necessity of saving sluys been thought of in time. now that it was thoroughly enclosed, so that a mouse could scarce creep through the lines, the archduke was feverish to send in a thousand wagon loads of provisions. spinola, although in reality commander-in-chief of a spanish army, and not strictly subject to the orders of the flemish sovereigns, obeyed the appeal of the archduke, but he obeyed most reluctantly. two-thirds of ostend had been effaced, and it was hard to turn even for a moment from the spot until all should have been destroyed. leaving rivas and bucquoy to guard the entrenchments, and to keep steadily to the work, spinola took the field with a large force of all arms, including the late mutineers and the troops of count trivulzio. on the th august he appeared in the neighbourhood of the salt and sweet streams, and exchanged a few cannon-shots with the republicans. next day he made a desperate assault with three thousand men and some companies of cavalry, upon lewis william's quarters, where he had reason to believe the lines were weakest. he received from that most vigilant commander a hearty welcome, however, and after a long skirmish was obliged to withdraw, carrying off his dead and wounded, together with a few cart-horses which had been found grazing outside the trenches. not satisfied with these trophies or such results, he remained several days inactive, and then suddenly whirled around aardenburg with his whole army, directly southward of sluys, seized the forts of st. catharine and st. philip, which had been left with very small garrisons, and then made a furious attempt to break the lines at oostburg, hoping to cross the fords at that place, and thus push his way into the isle of cadzand. the resistance to his progress was obstinate, the result for a time doubtful. after severe fighting however he crossed the waters of oostburg in the face of the enemy. maurice meantime had collected all his strength at the vital position of cadzand, hoping to deal, or at least to parry, a mortal blow. on the th, on cadzand dyke, between two redoubts, spinola again met lewis william, who had been transferred to that important position. a severe struggle ensued. the spaniards were in superior force, and lewis william, commanding the advance only of the states troops, was hard pressed. moving always in the thickest of the fight, he would probably have that day laid down his life, as so many of his race had done before in the cause of the republic, had not colonel van dorp come to his rescue, and so laid about him with a great broad sword, that the dyke was kept until maurice arrived with eytzinga's frisian regiment and other reserves. van dorp then fell covered with wounds. here was the decisive combat. the two commanders-in-chief met face to face for the first time, and could spinola have gained the position of cadzand the fate of maurice must have been sealed. but all his efforts were vain. the stadholder, by coolness and promptness, saved the day, and inflicted a bloody repulse upon the catholics. spinola had displayed excellent generalship, but it is not surprising that the young volunteer should have failed upon his first great field day to defeat maurice of nassau and his cousin lewis william. he withdrew discomfited at last, leaving several hundred dead upon the field, definitely renouncing all hope of relieving sluys, and retiring by way of dam to his camp before ostend. next day the town capitulated. the garrison were allowed to depart with the honours of war, and the same terms were accorded to the inhabitants, both in secular and religious matters, as were usual when maurice re-occupied any portion of the republic. between three and four thousand creatures, looking rather like ghosts from the churchyards than living soldiers, marched out, with drums beating, colours displayed, matches lighted, and bullet in mouth. sixty of them fell dead before the dismal procession had passed out of the gates. besides these troops were nearly fifteen hundred galley-slaves, even more like shadows than the rest, as they had been regularly sent forth during the latter days of the siege to browse upon soutenelle in the submerged meadows, or to drown or starve if unable to find a sufficient supply of that weed. these unfortunate victims of mahometan and christian tyranny were nearly all turks, and by the care of the dutch government were sent back by sea to their homes. a few of them entered the service of the states. the evacuation of sluys by governor serrano and his garrison was upon the th august. next day the stadholder took possession, bestowing the nominal government of the place upon his brother frederic henry. the atmosphere, naturally enough, was pestiferous, and young count lewis gunther of nassau, who had so brilliantly led the cavalry on the famous day of nieuport, died of fever soon after entering the town infinitely regretted by every one who wished well to the republic. thus an important portion of zeeland was restored, to its natural owners. a seaport which in those days was an excellent one, and more than a compensation for the isolated fishing village already beleaguered for upwards of three years, had been captured in three months. the states-general congratulated their stadholder on such prompt and efficient work, while the garrison of ostend, first learning the authentic news seven days afterwards, although at a distance of only fourteen miles, had cause to go upon their knees and sing praises to the most high. the question now arose as to the relief of ostend. maurice was decidedly opposed to any such scheme. he had got a better ostend in slays, and he saw no motive for spending money and blood in any further attempt to gain possession of a ruin, which, even if conquered, could only with extreme difficulty be held. the states were of a diametrically opposite opinion. they insisted that the stadholder, so soon he could complete his preparations, should march straight upon spinola's works and break up the siege, even at the risk of a general action. they were willing once more to take the terrible chance of a defeat in flanders. maurice, with a heavy heart, bowed to their decision, showing by his conduct the very spirit of a republican soldier, obeying the civil magistrate, even when that obedience was like to bring disaster upon the commonwealth. but much was to be done before he could undertake this new adventure. meantime the garrison in ostend were at their last gasp. on being asked by the states-general whether it was possible to hold out for twenty days longer, marquette called a council of officers, who decided that they would do their best, but that it was impossible to fix a day or hour when resistance must cease. obviously, however, the siege was in its extreme old age. the inevitable end was approaching. before the middle of september the enemy was thoroughly established in possession of the new hell's mouth, the new porcupine, and all the other bastions of the new entrenchment. on the th of that month the last supreme effort was made, and the sand hill, that all-important redoubt, which during these three dismal years had triumphantly resisted every assault, was at last carried by storm. the enemy had now gained possession of the whole town except little troy. the new harbour would be theirs in a few hours, and as for troy itself, those hastily and flimsily constructed ramparts were not likely to justify the vaunts uttered when they were thrown up nor to hold out many minutes before the whole artillery of spinola. plainly on this last morsel of the fatal sandbank the word surrender must be spoken, unless the advancing trumpets of maurice should now be heard. but there was no such welcome sound in the air. the weather was so persistently rainy and stormy that the roads became impassable, and maurice, although ready and intending to march towards spinola to offer him battle, was unable for some days to move. meantime a council, summoned by marquette, of all the officers, decided that ostend must be abandoned now that ostend had ceased to exist. on the th september the accord was signed with spinola. the garrison were to march out with their arms. they were to carry off four cannon but no powder. all clerical persons were to leave the place, with their goods and chattels. all prisoners taken on both sides during the siege were to be released. burghers, sutlers, and others, to go whither they would, undisturbed. and thus the archdukes, after three years and seventy-seven days of siege, obtained their prize. three thousand men, in good health, marched out of little troy with the honours of war. the officers were entertained by spinola and his comrades at a magnificent banquet, in recognition of the unexampled heroism with which the town had been defended. subsequently the whole force marched to the headquarters of the states' army in and about sluys. they were received by prince maurice, who stood bareheaded and surrounded by his most distinguished officers; to greet them and to shake them warmly by the hand. surely no defeated garrison ever deserved more respect from friend or foe. the archduke albert and the infants isabella entered the place in triumph, if triumph it could be called. it would be difficult to imagine a more desolate scene. the artillery of the first years of the seventeenth century was not the terrible enginry of destruction that it has become in the last third of the nineteenth, but a cannonade, continued so steadily and so long, had done its work. there were no churches, no houses, no redoubts, no bastions, no walls, nothing but a vague and confused mass of ruin. spinola conducted his imperial guests along the edge of extinct volcanoes, amid upturned cemeteries, through quagmires which once were moats, over huge mounds of sand, and vast shapeless masses of bricks and masonry, which had been forts. he endeavoured to point out places where mines had been exploded, where ravelins had been stormed, where the assailants had been successful, and where they had been bloodily repulsed. but it was all loathsome, hideous rubbish. there were no human habitations, no hovels, no casemates. the inhabitants had burrowed at last in the earth, like the dumb creatures of the swamps and forests. in every direction the dykes had burst, and the sullen wash of the liberated waves, bearing hither and thither the floating wreck of fascines and machinery, of planks and building materials, sounded far and wide over what should have been dry land. the great ship channel, with the unconquered half-moon upon one side and the incomplete batteries and platforms of bucquoy on the other, still defiantly opened its passage to the sea, and the retiring fleets of the garrison were white in the offing. all around was the grey expanse of stormy ocean, without a cape or a headland to break its monotony, as the surges rolled mournfully in upon a desolation more dreary than their own. the atmosphere was mirky and surcharged with rain, for the wild equinoctial storm which had held maurice spell-bound had been raging over land and sea for many days. at every step the unburied skulls of brave soldiers who had died in the cause of freedom grinned their welcome to the conquerors. isabella wept at the sight. she had cause to weep. upon that miserable sandbank more than a hundred thousand men had laid down their lives by her decree, in order that she and her husband might at last take possession of a most barren prize. this insignificant fragment of a sovereignty which her wicked old father had presented to her on his deathbed--a sovereignty which he had no more moral right or actual power to confer than if it had been in the planet saturn--had at last been appropriated at the cost of all this misery. it was of no great value, although its acquisition had caused the expenditure of at least eight millions of florins, divided in nearly equal proportions between the two belligerents. it was in vain that great immunities were offered to those who would remain, or who would consent to settle in the foul golgotha. the original population left the place in mass. no human creatures were left save the wife of a freebooter and her paramour, a journeyman blacksmith. this unsavoury couple, to whom entrance into the purer atmosphere of zeeland was denied, thenceforth shared with the carrion crows the amenities of ostend. chapter xliv. equation between the contending powers--treaty of peace between king james and the archdukes and the king of spain--position of the provinces--states envoy in england to be styled ambassador--protest of the spanish ambassador--effect of james's peace-treaty on the people of england--public rejoicings for the victory at sluys-- spinola appointed commander-in-chief of the spanish forces-- preparations for a campaign against the states--seizure of dutch cruisers--international discord--destruction of sarmiento's fleet by admiral haultain--projected enterprise against antwerp--descent of spinola on the netherland frontier--oldenzaal and lingen taken-- movements of prince maurice--encounter of the two armies--panic of the netherlanders--consequent loss and disgrace--wachtendonk and cracow taken by spinola--spinola's reception in spain--effect of his victories--results of the struggle between freedom and absolutism-- affairs in the east--amboyna taken by van der hagen--contest for possession of the clove islands--commercial treaty between the states and the king of ternate--hostilities between the kings of ternate and tydor--expulsion of the portuguese from the moluccas-- du terrail's attempted assault on bergen-op-zoom--attack on the dunkirk pirate fleet--practice of executing prisoners captured at sea. i have invited the reader's attention to the details of this famous siege because it was not an episode, but almost the sum total, of the great war during the period occupied by its events. the equation between the contending forces indicated the necessity of peace. that equation seemed for the time to have established itself over all europe. france had long since withdrawn from the actual strife, and kept its idle thunders in a concealed although ever threatening hand. in the east the pacha of buda had become pacha of pest. even gran was soon to fall before the turk, whose advancing horse-tails might thus almost be descried from the walls of vienna. stephen botschkay meantime had made himself master of transylvania, concluded peace with ahmet, and laughed at the emperor rudolph for denouncing him as a rebel. between spain and england a far different result had been reached than the one foreshadowed in the portentous colloquies between king james and maximilian de bethune. those conferences have been purposely described with some minuteness, in order that the difference often existing between vast projects and diametrically opposed and very insignificant conclusions might once more be exhibited. in the summer of it had been firmly but mysteriously arranged between the monarchs of france and great britain that the house of austria should be crushed, its territories parcelled out at the discretion of those two potentates, the imperial crown taken from the habsburgs, the spaniards driven out of the netherlands, an alliance offensive and defensive made with the dutch republic, while the east and west indies were, to be wrested by main force of the allies, from spain, whose subjects were thenceforth to be for ever excluded from those lucrative regions. as for the jesuits, who were to james as loathsome as were the puritans to elizabeth, the british sovereign had implored the ambassador of his royal brother, almost with tears, never to allow that pestilential brood to regain an entrance into his dominions. in the summer of king james made a treaty of peace and amity with the archdukes and with the monarch of spain, thus extending his friendly relations with the doomed house of austria. the republic of the netherlands was left to fight her battles alone; her imaginary allies looking down upon her struggle with benevolent indifference. as for the indies, not a syllable of allusion in the treaty was permitted by spain to that sacred subject; the ambassador informing the british government that he gave them access to twelve kingdoms and two seas, while spain acquired by the treaty access only to two kingdoms and one sea. the new world, however, east or west, from the antilles to the moluccas, was the private and indefeasible property of his catholic majesty. on religious matters, it was agreed that english residents in spain should not be compelled to go to mass, but that they should kneel in the street to the host unless they could get out of the ways. in regard to the netherlands, it was agreed by the two contracting powers that one should never assist the rebels or enemies of the other. with regard to the cities and fortresses of brill, flushing, rammekens, and other cautionary places, where english garrisons were maintained, and which king james was bound according to the contracts of queen elizabeth never to restore except to those who had pledged them to the english crown--the king would uphold those contracts. he would, however, endeavour to make an arrangement with the states by which they should agree within a certain period to make their peace with spain. should they refuse or fail, he would then consider himself liberated from these previous engagements and free to act concerning those cities in an honourable and reasonable manner, as became a friendly king? meantime the garrisons should not in any way assist the hollanders in their hostilities with spain. english subjects were forbidden to carry into spain or the obedient netherlands any property or merchandize belonging to the hollanders, or to make use of dutch vessels in their trade with spain. both parties agreed to do their best to bring about a pacification in the netherlands. no irony certainly could be more exquisite that this last-named article. this was the end of that magnificent conception, the great anglo-french league against the house of austria. king james would combine his efforts with king philip to pacify the netherlands. the wolf and the watchdog would unite to bring back the erring flock to the fold. meantime james would keep the cautionary towns in his clutches, not permitting their garrisons or any of his subjects to assist the rebels on sea or shore. as for the jesuits, their triumphant re-appearance in france, and the demolition of the pyramid raised to their dishonour on the site of the house where john castel, who had stabbed henry iv., had resided, were events about to mark the opening year. plainly enough secretary cecil had out-generalled the french party. the secret treaty of hampton court, the result of the efforts of rosny and olden-barneveld in july of the previous year, was not likely to be of much service in protecting the republic. james meant to let the dead treaties bury their dead, to live in peace with all the world, and to marry his sons and daughters to spanish infantes and infantas. meantime, although he had sheathed the sword which elizabeth had drawn against the common enemy, and had no idea of fighting or spending money for the states, he was willing that their diplomatic agent should be called ambassador. the faithful and much experienced noel de caron coveted that distinction, and moved thereby the spleen of henry's envoy at the hague, buzanval, who probably would not have objected to the title himself. "'twill be a folly," he said, "for him to present himself on the pavement as a prancing steed, and then be treated like a poor hack. he has been too long employed to put himself in such a plight. but there are lunatics everywhere and of all ages." never had the advocate seemed so much discouraged. ostend had fallen, and the defection of the british sovereign was an off-set for the conquest of sluys. he was more urgent with the french government for assistance than he had ever been before. "a million florins a year from france," he said "joined to two millions raised in the provinces, would enable them to carry on the war. the ship was in good condition," he added, "and fit for a long navigation without danger of shipwreck if there were only biscuit enough on board." otherwise she was lost. before that time came he should quit the helm which he had been holding the more resolutely since the peace of vervins because the king had told him, when concluding it, that if three years' respite should be given him he would enter into the game afresh, and take again upon his shoulders the burthen which inevitable necessity had made him throw down. "but," added olden-barneveld, bitterly, "there is little hope of it now, after his neglect of the many admirable occasions during the siege of ostend." so soon as the spanish ambassador learned that caron was to be accepted into the same diplomatic rank as his own, he made an infinite disturbance, protested moat loudly and passionately to the king at the indignity done to his master by this concession to the representative of a crew of traitors and rebels, and demanded in the name of the treaty just concluded that caron should be excluded in such capacity from all access to court. as james was nearly forty years of age, as the hollanders had been rebels ever since he was born, and as the king of spain had exercised no sovereignty over them within his memory, this was naturally asking too much of him in the name of his new-born alliance with spain. so he assumed a position of great dignity, notwithstanding the constable's clamour, and declared his purpose to give audience to the agents of the states by whatever title they presented themselves before him. in so doing he followed the example, he said, of others who (a strange admission on his part) were as wise as himself. it was not for him to censure the crimes and faults of the states, if such they had committed. he had not been the cause of their revolt from spanish authority, and it was quite sufficient that he had stipulated to maintain neutrality between the two belligerents's. and with this the ambassador of his catholic majesty, having obtained the substance of a very advantageous treaty, was fain to abandon opposition to the shadowy title by which james sought to indemnify the republic for his perfidy. the treaty of peace with spain gave no pleasure to the english public. there was immense enthusiasm in london at the almost simultaneous fall of sluys, but it was impossible for the court to bring about a popular demonstration of sympathy with the abandonment of the old ally and the new-born affection for the ancient enemy. "i can assure your mightinesses," wrote caron, "that no promulgation was ever received in london with more sadness. no mortal has shown the least satisfaction in words or deeds, but, on the contrary, people have cried out openly, 'god save our good neighbours the states of holland and zeeland, and grant them victory!' on sunday, almost all the preachers gave thanks from their pulpits for the victory which their good neighbours had gained at sluys, but would not say a word about the peace. the people were admonished to make bonfires, but you may be very sure not a bonfire was to be seen. but, in honour of the victory, all the vessels in st. catharine's docks fired salutes at which the spaniards were like to burst with spite. the english clap their hands and throw their caps in the air when they hear anything published favourable to us, but, it must be confessed, they are now taking very dismal views of affairs. 'vox populi vox dei.'" the rejoicing in paris was scarcely less enthusiastic or apparently less sincere than in london. "the news of the surrender of sluys," wrote aerasens, "is received with so much joy by small and great that one would have said it was their own exploit. his majesty has made such demonstrations in his actions and discourse that he has not only been advised by his council to dissemble in the matter, but has undergone reproaches from the pope's nuncius of having made a league with your mightinesses to the prejudice of the king of spain. his majesty wishes your mightinesses prosperity with all his heart, yea so that he would rather lose his right arm than see your mightinesses in danger. be assured that he means roundly, and we should pray god for his long life; for i don't see that we can expect anything from these regions after his death." it was ere long to be seen, however, roundly as the king meant it, that the republic was to come into grave peril without causing him to lose his right arm, or even to wag his finger, save in reproach of their mightinesses. the republic, being thus left to fight its battles alone, girded its loins anew for the conflict. during the remainder of the year , however, there were no military operations of consequence. both belligerents needed a brief repose. the siege of ostend had not been a siege. it was a long pitched battle between the new system and the old, between absolutism and the spirit of religious, political and mercantile freedom. absolutism had gained the lists on which the long duel had been fought, but the republic had meantime exchanged that war-blasted spot for a valuable and commodious position. it was certainly an advantage, as hostilities were necessarily to have continued somewhere during all that period, that all the bloodshed and desolation had been concentrated upon one insignificant locality, and one more contiguous to the enemy's possessions than to those of the united states. it was very doubtful, however, whether all that money and blood might not have been expended in some other manner more beneficial to the cause of the archdukes. at least it could hardly be maintained that they took anything by the capitulation of ostend but the most barren and worthless of trophies. eleven old guns, partly broken, and a small quantity of ammunition, were all the spoils of war found in the city after its surrender. the marquis spinola went to spain. on passing through paris he was received with immense enthusiasm by henry iv., whose friendship for the states, and whose desperate designs against the house of austria, did not prevent him from warmly congratulating the great spanish general on his victory. it was a victory, said henry, which he could himself have never achieved, and, in recognition of so great a triumph, he presented spinola with a beautiful thracian horse, valued at twelve hundred ducats. arriving in spain, the conqueror found himself at once the object of the open applause and the scarcely concealed hatred of the courtiers and politicians. he ardently desired to receive as his guerdon the rank of grandee of spain. he met with a refusal. to keep his hat on his head in presence of the sovereign was the highest possible reward. should that be bestowed upon him now, urged lerma, what possible recompense could be imagined for the great services which all felt confident that he was about to render in the future? he must continue to remove his hat in the monarch's company. meantime, if he wished the title of prince, with considerable revenues attached to his principality, this was at his disposal. it must be confessed that in a monarchy where the sentiment of honour was supposed to be the foundation of the whole structure there is something chivalrous and stimulating to the imagination in this preference by the great general of a shadowy but rare distinction to more substantial acquisitions. nevertheless, as the grandeeship was refused, it is not recorded that he was displeased with the principality. meantime there was a very busy intrigue to deprive him of the command-in-chief of the catholic forces in flanders, and one so nearly successful that mexia, governor of antwerp citadel, was actually appointed in spinola's stead. it was only after long and anxious conferences at valladolid with the king and the duke of lerma, and after repeated statements in letters from the archdukes that all their hopes of victory depended on retaining the genoese commander-in-chief, that the matter was finally arranged. mexia received an annual pension of eight thousand ducats, and to spinola was assigned five hundred ducats monthly, as commander-in-chief under the archduke, with an equal salary as agent for the king's affairs in flanders. early in the spring he returned to brussels, having made fresh preparations for the new campaign in which he was to measure himself before the world against maurice of nassau. spinola had removed the thorn from the belgic lion's foot: "ostendae erasit fatalis spinola spinam." and although it may be doubted whether the relief was as thorough as had been hoped, yet a freedom of movement had unquestionably been gained. there was now at least what for a long time had not existed, a possibility for imagining some new and perhaps more effective course of campaigning. the young genoese commander-in-chief returned from spain early in may, with the golden fleece around his neck, and with full powers from the catholic king to lay out his work, subject only to the approbation of the archduke. it was not probable that albert, who now thoroughly admired and leaned upon the man of whom he had for a time been disposed to be jealous, would interfere with his liberty of action. there had also been--thanks to spinola's influence with the cabinet at madrid and the merchants of genoa--much more energy in recruiting and in providing the necessary sinews of war. moreover it had been resolved to make the experiment of sending some of the new levies by sea, instead of subjecting them all to the long and painful overland march through spain, italy, and germany. a terzo of infantry was on its way from naples, and two more were expected from milan, but it was decided that the spanish troops should be embarked on board a fleet of transports, mainly german and english, and thus carried to the shores of the obedient netherlands. the states-general got wind of these intentions, and set vice-admiral haultain upon the watch to defeat the scheme. that well-seasoned mariner accordingly, with a sufficient fleet of war-galleots, cruised thenceforth with great assiduity in the chops of the channel. already the late treaty between spain and england had borne fruits of bitterness to the republic. the spanish policy had for the time completely triumphed in the council of james. it was not surprising therefore that the partisans of that policy should occasionally indulge in manifestations of malevolence towards the upstart little commonwealth which had presumed to enter into commercial rivalry with the british realm, and to assert a place among the nations of the earth. an order had just been issued by the english government that none of its subjects should engage in the naval service of any foreign power. this decree was a kind of corollary to the spanish treaty, was levelled directly against the hollanders, and became the pretext of intolerable arrogance, both towards their merchantmen and their lesser war-vessels. admiral monson, an especial partisan of spain, was indefatigable in exercising the right he claimed of visiting foreign vessels off the english coast, in search of english sailors violating the proclamation of neutrality. on repeated occasions prizes taken by dutch cruisers from the spaniards, and making their way with small prize crews to the ports of the republic, were overhauled, visited, and seized by the english admiral, who brought the vessels into the harbours of his own country, liberated the crews, and handed ships and cargoes over to the spanish ambassador. thus prizes fairly gained by nautical skill and hard fighting, off spain, portugal, brazil, or even more distant parts of the world, were confiscated almost in sight of port, in utter disregard of public law or international decency. the states-general remonstrated with bitterness. their remonstrances were answered by copious arguments, proving, of course, to the entire satisfaction of the party who had done the wrong, that no practice could be more completely in harmony with reason and justice. meantime the spanish ambassador sold the prizes, and appropriated the proceeds towards carrying on the war against the republic; the dutch sailors, thus set ashore against their will and against law on the neutral coast of england, being left to get home as they could, or to starve if they could do no better. as for the states, they had the legal arguments of their late ally to console them for the loss of their ships. simultaneously with these events considerable levies of troops were made in england by the archduke, in spite of all the efforts of the dutch ambassador to prevent this one-sided; neutrality, while at the other ends of the world mercantile jealousy in both the indies was fast combining with other causes already rife to increase the international discord. out of all this fuel it was fated that a blaze of hatred between the two leading powers of the new era, the united kingdom and the united republic, should one day burst forth, which was to be fanned by passion, prejudice, and a mistaken sentiment of patriotism and self-interest on both sides, and which not all the bloodshed of more than one fierce war could quench. the traces of this savage sentiment are burnt deeply into the literature, language, and traditions of both countries; and it is strange enough that the epoch at which chronic wrangling and international coolness changed into furious antipathy between the two great protestant powers of europe--for great they already both were, despite the paucity of their population and resources, as compared with nations which were less influenced by the spirit of the age or had less aptness in obeying its impulse--should be dated from the famous year of guy fawkes. meantime the spanish troops, embarked in eight merchant ships and a few pinnaces, were slowly approaching their destination. they had been instructed, in case they found it impracticable to enter a flemish port, to make for the hospitable shores of england, the spanish ambassador and those whom he had bribed at the court of james having already provided for their protection. off dover admiral haultain got sight of sarmiento's little fleet. he made short work with it. faithfully carrying out the strenuous orders of the states-general, he captured some of the ships, burned one, and ran others aground after a very brief resistance. some of the soldiers and crews were picked up by english vessels cruising in the neighbourhood and narrowly watching the conflict. a few stragglers escaped by swimming, but by far, the greater proportion of the newly-arrived troops were taken prisoners, tied together two and two, and then, at a given signal from the admiral's ship, tossed into the sea. not peter titelmann, nor julian romero, nor the duke of alva himself, ever manifested greater alacrity in wholesale murder than was shown by this admiral of the young republic in fulfilling the savage decrees of the states-general. thus at least one-half of the legion perished. the pursuit of the ships was continued within english waters, when the guns of dover castle opened vigorously upon the recent allies of england, in order to protect her newly-found friends in their sore distress. doubtless in the fervour of the work the dutch admiral had violated the neutral coast of england, so that the cannonade from the castle waw technically justified. it was however a biting satire upon the proposed protestant league against spain and universal monarchy in behalf of the dutch republic, that england was already doing her best to save a spanish legion and to sink a dutch fleet. the infraction of english sovereignty was unquestionable if judged by the more scrupulous theory of modern days, but it was well remarked by the states-general, in answer to the remonstrances of james's government, that the dutch admiral, knowing that the pirates of dunkirk roamed at will through english waters in search of their prey, might have hoped for some indulgence of a similar character to the ships of the republic. thus nearly the whole of the spanish legion perished. the soldiers who escaped to the english coast passed the winter miserably in huts, which they were allowed to construct on the sands, but nearly all, including the lieutenant-colonel commanding, pedro cubiera, died of famine or of wounds. a few small vessels of the expedition succeeded in reaching the flemish coast, and landing a slight portion of the terzo. the campaign of opened but languidly. the strain upon the resources of the netherlands, thus unaided, was becoming severe, although there is no doubt that, as the india traffic slowly developed itself, the productive force of the commonwealth visibly increased, while the thrifty habits of its citizens, and their comparative abstinence from unproductive consumption, still enabled it to bear the tremendous burthen of the war. a new branch of domestic industry had grown out of the india trade, great quantities of raw silk being now annually imported from the east into holland, to be wrought into brocades, tapestries, damasks, velvets, satins, and other luxurious fabrics for european consumption. it is a curious phenomenon in the history of industry that while at this epoch holland was the chief seat of silk manufactures, the great financier of henry iv. was congratulating his sovereign and himself that natural causes had for ever prevented the culture or manufacture of silk in france. if such an industry were possible, he was sure that the decline of martial spirit in france and an eternal dearth of good french soldiers would be inevitable, and he even urged that the importation of such luxurious fabrics should be sternly prohibited, in order to preserve the moral health of the people. the practical hollanders were more inclined to leave silk farthingales and brocaded petticoats to be dealt with by thunderers from the pulpit or indignant fathers of families. meantime the states-general felt instinctively that the little commonwealth grew richer, the more useful or agreeable things its burghers could call into existence out of nothingness, to be exchanged for the powder and bullets, timber and cordage, requisite for its eternal fight with universal monarchy, and that the richer the burghers grew the more capable they were of paying their taxes. it was not the fault of the states that the insane ambition of spain and the archdukes compelled them to exhaust themselves annually by the most unproductive consumption that man is ever likely to devise, that of scientifically slaughtering his brethren, because to practise economy in that regard would be to cease to exist, or to accept the most intolerable form of slavery. the forces put into the field in the spring of were but meagre. there was also, as usual, much difference of opinion between maurice and barneveld as to the most judicious manner of employing them, and as usual the docile stadholder submitted his better judgment to the states. it can hardly be too much insisted upon that the high-born maurice always deported himself in fact, and as it were unconsciously, as the citizen soldier of a little republic, even while personally invested with many of the attributes of exalted rank, and even while regarded by many of his leading fellow-citizens as the legitimate and predestined sovereign of the newly-born state. early in the spring a great enterprise against antwerp was projected. it failed utterly. maurice, at bergen-op-zoom, despatched seven thousand troops up the scheld, under command of ernest casimir. the flotilla was a long time getting under weigh, and instead of effecting a surprise, the army, on reaching the walls of antwerp, found the burghers and garrison not in the least astonished, but on the contrary entirely prepared. ernest returned after a few insignificant skirmishes, having accomplished nothing. maurice next spent a few days in reducing the castle of wouda, not far from bergen, and then, transporting his army once more to the isle of cadzand, he established his headquarters at watervliet, near ysendyke. spinola followed him, having thrown a bridge across the scheld. maurice was disposed to reduce a fort, well called patience, lying over against the isle of walcheren. spinola took up a position by which he defended the place as with an impenetrable buckler. a game of skill now began. between these two adepts in the art of war, for already the volunteer had taken rank among the highest professors of the new school. it was the object of maurice, who knew himself on the whole outnumbered, to divine his adversary's intentions. spinola was supposed to be aiming at sluys, at grave, at bergen-op-zoom, possibly even at some more remote city, like rheinberg, while rumours as to his designs, flying directly from his camp, were as thick as birds in the air. they were let loose on purpose by the artful genoese, who all the time had a distinct and definite plan which was not yet suspected. the dilatoriness of the campaign was exasperating. it might be thought that the war was to last another half century, from the excessive inertness of both parties. the armies had all gone into winter quarters in the previous november, spinola had spent nearly six months in spain, midsummer had came and gone, and still maurice was at watervliet, guessing at his adversary's first move. on the whole, he had inclined to suspect a design upon rheinberg, and had accordingly sent his brother henry with a detachment to strengthen the garrison of that place. on the st of august however he learned that spinola had crossed the meuse and the rhine, with ten thousand foot and three thousand horse, and that leaving count bucquoy with six thousand foot and one thousand five hundred horse in the neighbourhood of the rhine, to guard a couple of redoubts which had been constructed for a basis at kaiserswerth, he was marching with all possible despatch towards friesland and groningen. the catholic general had concealed his design in a masterly manner. he had detained maurice in the isle of cadzand, the states still dreaming of a victorious invasion on their part of obedient flanders, and the stadholder hesitating to quit his position of inactive observation, lest the moment his back was turned the rapid spinola might whirl down upon sluys, that most precious and skilfully acquired possession of the republic, when lo! his formidable antagonist was marching in force upon what the prince well knew to be her most important and least guarded frontier. on the th august the catholic general was before olden-zaal which he took in three days, and then advanced to lingen. should that place fall--and the city was known to be most inadequately garrisoned and supplied--it would be easy for the foe to reduce coeworden, and so seize the famous pass over the bourtanger morass, march straight to embden--then in a state of municipal revolution on account of the chronic feuds between its counts and the population, and therefore an easy prey--after which all friesland and groningen would be at his mercy, and his road open to holland and utrecht; in short, into the very bowels of the republic. on the th august maurice broke up his camp in flanders, and leaving five thousand men under colonel van der noot, to guard the positions there, advanced rapidly to deventer, with the intention of saving lingen. it was too late. that very important place had been culpably neglected. the garrison consisted of but one cannoneer, and he had but one arm. a burgher guard, numbering about three hundred, made such resistance as they could, and the one-armed warrior fired a shot or two from a rusty old demi-cannon. such opposition to the accomplished italian was naturally not very effective. on the th august the place capitulated. maurice, arriving at deventer, and being now strengthened by his cousin lewis william with such garrison troops as could be collected, learned the mortifying news with sentiments almost akin to despair. it was now to be a race for coeworden, and the fleet-footed spinola was a day's march at least in advance of his competitor. the key to the fatal morass would soon be in his hands. to the inexpressible joy of the stadholder, the genoese seemed suddenly struck with blindness. the prize was almost in his hands and he threw away all his advantages. instead of darting at once upon coeworden he paused for nearly a month, during which period he seemed intoxicated with a success so rapidly achieved, and especially with his adroitness in outwitting the great stadholder. on the th september he made a retrograde movement towards the rhine, leaving two thousand five hundred men in lingen. maurice, giving profound thanks to god for his enemy's infatuation, passed by lingen, and having now, with his cousin's reinforcements, a force of nine thousand foot and three thousand horse, threw himself into coeworden, strengthened and garrisoned that vital fortress which spinola would perhaps have taken as easily as he had done lingen, made all the neighbouring positions secure, and then fell back towards wesel on the rhine, in order to watch his antagonist. spinola had established his headquarters at ruhrort, a place where the river ruhr empties into the rhine. he had yielded to the remonstrances of the archbishop of cologne, to whom kaiserwerth belonged, and had abandoned the forts which bucquoy, under his directions, had constructed at that place. the two armies now gazed at each other, at a respectful distance, for a fortnight longer, neither commander apparently having any very definite purpose. at last, maurice having well reconnoitred his enemy, perceived a weak point in his extended lines. a considerable force of italian cavalry, with some infantry, was stationed at the village of mulheim, on the ruhr, and apparently out of convenient supporting distance from spinola's main army. the stadholder determined to deliver a sudden blow upon this tender spot, break through the lines, and bring on a general action by surprise. assembling his well-seasoned and veteran troopers in force, he divided them into two formidable bands, one under the charge of his young brother frederic henry, the other under that most brilliant of cavalry officers, marcellus bax, hero of turnhout and many another well-fought field. the river ruhr was a wide but desultory stream, easily fordable in many places. on the opposite bank to mulheim was the castle of brock, and some hills of considerable elevation. bax was ordered to cross the river and seize the castle and the heights, count henry to attack the enemy's camp in front, while maurice himself, following rapidly with the advance of infantry and wagons, was to sustain the assault. marcellus bax, rapid and dashing as usual, crossed the ruhr, captured broek castle with ease, and stood ready to prevent the retreat of the spaniards. taken by surprise in front, they would naturally seek refuge on the other side of the river. that stream was not difficult for infantry, but as the banks were steep, cavalry could not easily extricate themselves from the water, except at certain prepared landings. bax waited however for some time in vain for the flying spaniards. it was not destined that the stadholder should effect many surprises that year. the troopers under frederic henry had made their approaches through an intricate path, often missing their way, and in far more leisurely fashion than was intended, so that outlying scouts had brought in information of the coming attack. as count henry approached the village, trivulzio's cavalry was found drawn up in battle array, formidable in numbers, and most fully prepared for their visitors from wesel. the party most astonished was that which came to surprise. in an instant one of those uncontrollable panics broke out to which even veterans are as subject as to dysentery or scurvy. the best cavalry of maurice's army turned their backs at the very sight of the foe, and galloped off much faster than they had come. meantime, marcellus bax was assaulted, not only by his late handful of antagonists, who had now rallied, but by troops from mulheim, who began to wade across the stream. at that moment he was cheered by the sight of count henry coming on with a very few of his troopers who had stood to their colours. a simultaneous charge from both banks at the enemy floundering in the river was attempted. it might have been brilliantly successful, but the panic had crossed the river faster than the spaniards could do, and the whole splendid picked cavalry force of the republic, commanded by the youngest son of william the silent, and by the favourite cavalry commander of her armies, was, after a hot but brief action, in disgraceful and unreasonable flight. the stadholder reached the bank of that fatal stream only to witness this maddening spectacle, instead of the swift and brilliant triumph which he was justified in expecting. he did his best to stem the retreating tide. he called upon the veterans, by the memory of turnhout and nieuport, and so many other victories, to pause and redeem their name before it was too late. he taunted them with their frequent demands to be led to battle, and their expressed impatience at enforced idleness. he denounced them as valiant only for plundering defenceless peasants, and as cowards against armed men; as trusting more to their horses' heels than to their own right hands. he invoked curses upon them for deserting his young brother, who, conspicuous among them by his gilded armour, the orange-plumes upon his calque, and the bright orange-scarf across his shoulders, was now sorely pressed in the struggling throng. it was all in vain. could maurice have thrown himself into the field, he might, as in the crisis of the republic's fate at nieuport, have once more converted ruin into victory by the magic of his presence. but the river was between him and the battle, and he was an enforced spectator of his country's disgrace. for a few brief moments his demeanour, his taunts, and his supplications had checked the flight of his troops. a stand was made by a portion of the cavalry and a few detached but fierce combats took place. count frederic henry was in imminent danger. leading a mere handful of his immediate retainers, he threw himself into the thickest of the fight, with the characteristic audacity of his house. a spanish trooper aimed his carbine full at his face. it missed fire, and henry, having emptied his own pistol, was seized by the floating scarf upon his breast by more than one enemy. there was a brief struggle, and death or capture seemed certain; when an unknown hand laid his nearest antagonist low, and enabled him to escape from over powering numbers. the soldier, whose devotion thus saved the career of the youngest orange-nassau destined to be so long and so brilliant, from being cut off so prematurely, was never again heard of, and doubtless perished in the fray. meantime the brief sparkle of valour on the part of the states' troops had already vanished. the adroit spinola, hurrying personally to the front, had caused such a clangor from all the drums and trumpets in broek and its neighbourhood to be made as to persuade the restive cavalry that the whole force of the enemy was already upon them. the day was obviously lost, and maurice, with a heavy heart, now him self gave the signal to retreat. drawing up the greater part of his infantry in solid mass upon the banks to protect the passage, he sent a force to the opposite side, horace vere being the first to wade the stream. all that was then possible to do was accomplished, and the panic flight converted into orderly retreat, but it was a day of disaster and disgrace for the republic. about five hundred of the best states' cavalry were left dead on the field, but the stain upon his almost unsullied flag was more cutting to the stadholder's heart than the death of his veterans. the material results were in truth almost even. the famous cavalry general, count trivulzio, with at least three hundred spaniards, fell in the combat, but the glory of having defeated the best cavalry of europe in a stricken field and under the very eyes of the stadholder would have been sufficient compensation to spinola for much greater losses. maurice withdrew towards wesel, sullen but not desponding. his forces were meagre, and although he had been out-generalled, out-marched, and defeated in the open field, at least the genoese had not planted the blow which he had meditated in the very heart of the republic. autumn was now far advanced, and dripping with rain. the roads and fields were fast becoming impassable sloughs, and no further large operations could be expected in this campaign. yet the stadholder's cup was not full, and he was destined to witness two more triumphs of his rival, now fast becoming famous, before this year of disasters should close. on the th october, spinola took the city of wachtendonk, after ten days' siege, and on the th of november the strong place of cracow. maurice was forced to see these positions captured almost under his eyes, being now quite powerless to afford relief. his troops had dwindled by sickness and necessary detachments for garrison-work to a comparatively, insignificant force, and very soon afterwards both armies went into winter quarters. the states were excessively disappointed at the results of the year's work, and deep if not loud were the reproaches cast upon the stadholder. certainly his military reputation had not been augmented by this campaign. he had lost many places, and had not gained an inch of ground anywhere. already the lustre of sluys, of nieuport, and turnhout were growing dim, for maurice had so accustomed the republic to victories that his own past triumphs seemed now his greatest enemies. moreover he had founded a school out of which apt pupils had already graduated, and it would seem that the genoese volunteer had rapidly profited by his teachings as only a man endowed with exquisite military genius could have done. yet, after all, it seems certain that, with the stadholder's limited means, and with the awful consequences to the country of a total defeat in the open field, the fabian tactics, which he had now deliberately adopted, were the most reasonable. the invader of foreign domains, the suppressor of great revolts, can indulge in the expensive luxury of procrastination only at imminent peril. for the defence, it is always possible to conquer by delay, and it was perfectly understood between spinola and his ablest advisers at the spanish court that the blows must be struck thick and fast, and at the most vulnerable places, or that the victory would be lost. time was the ally not of the spanish invaders, who came from afar, but of the dutch burghers, who remained at home. "jam aut nunquam," was the motto upon the italian's banners. in proportion to the depression in the republic at the results of this year's campaigning was the elation at the spanish court. bad news and false news had preceded the authentic intelligence of spinola's victories. the english envoy had received unquestionable information that the catholic general had sustained an overwhelming defeat at the close of the campaign, with a loss of three thousand five hundred men. the tale was implicitly believed by king and cabinet, so that when, very soon afterwards, the couriers arrived bringing official accounts of the victory gained over the veteran cavalry of the states in the very presence of the stadholder, followed by the crowning triumph of wachtendonk, the demonstrations of joy were all the more vivacious in consequence of the previous gloom. spinola himself followed hard upon the latest messengers, and was received with ovations. never, since the days of alexander farnese, had a general at the spanish court been more cordially caressed or hated. had philip the prudent been still upon the throne, he would have felt it his duty to make immediate arrangements for poisoning him. certainly his plans and his popularity would have been undermined in the most artistic manner. but philip iii., more dangerous to rabbits than to generals, left the genoese to settle the plans of his next campaign with lerma and his parasites. the subtle spinola, having, in his despatches, ascribed the chief merit of the victories to louis velasco, a spaniard, while his own original conception of transferring the war to friesland was attributed by him with magnificent effrontery to lerma and to the king--who were probably quite ignorant of the existence of that remote province--succeeded in maintaining his favourable position at court, and was allowed, by what was called the war-council, to manage matters nearly at his pleasure. it is difficult however to understand how so much clamour should have been made over such paltry triumphs. all europe rang with a cavalry fight in which less than a thousand saddles on both sides had been emptied, leading to no result, and with the capture of a couple of insignificant towns, of which not one man in a thousand had ever heard. spinola had doubtless shown genius of a subtle and inventive order, and his fortunate audacity in measuring himself, while a mere apprentice, against the first military leader living had been crowned with wonderful success. he had nailed the stadholder fast to the island of cadzand, while he was perfecting his arrangements and building boats on the rhine; he had propounded riddles which maurice had spent three of the best campaigning months in idle efforts to guess, and when he at last moved, he had swept to his mark with the swiftness and precision of a bird of prey. yet the greatest of all qualities in a military commander, that of deriving substantial fruits from victory instead of barren trophies, he had not manifested. if it had been a great stroke of art to seize reach deventer, it was an enormous blunder, worthy of a journeyman soldier, to fail to seize the bourtange marshes, and drive his sword into the fiery vitals of the republic, thus placed at his mercy. meantime, while there had been all these rejoicings and tribulations at the great doings on the rhine and the shortcoming in friesland, the real operations of the war had been at the antipodes. it is not a very unusual phenomenon in history that the events, upon whose daily development the contemporary world hangs with most palpitating interest, are far inferior in permanent influence upon the general movement of humanity to a series of distant and apparently commonplace transactions. empires are built up or undermined by the ceaseless industry of obscure multitudes often slightly observed, or but dimly comprehended. battles and sieges, dreadful marches, eloquent debates, intricate diplomacy--from time to time but only perhaps at rare intervals--have decided or modified the destiny of nations, while very often the clash of arms, the din of rhetoric, the whiz of political spindles, produce nothing valuable for human consumption, and made the world no richer. if the age of heroic and religious passion was rapidly fading away before the gradual uprising of a politico-mercantile civilization--as it certainly was--the most vital events, those in which the fate of coming generations was most deeply involved, were those inspired by the spirit of commercial-enterprise. nor can it be denied that there is often a genial and poetic essence even among things practical or of almost vulgar exterior. in those early expeditions of the hollanders to the flaming lands of the equator there is a rhythm and romance of historical movement not less significant than in their unexampled defence of fatherland and of the world's liberty against the great despotism of the age. universal monarchy was baffled by the little republic, not within its own populous cities only, or upon its own barren sands. the long combat between freedom and absolutism had now become as wide as the world. the greatest european states had been dragged by the iron chain of necessity into a conflict from which they often struggled to escape, and on every ocean, and on almost every foot of soil, where the footsteps of mankind had as yet been imprinted, the fierce encounters were every day renewed. in the east and the west, throughout that great vague new world, of which geographers had hardly yet made a sketch, which comprised both the americas and something called the east indies, and which spain claimed as her private property, those humbly born and energetic adventurers were rapidly creating a symmetrical system out of most dismal chaos. the king of spain warned all nations from trespassing upon those outlying possessions. his edicts had not however prevented the english in moderate numbers, and the hollanders in steadily increasing swarms, from enlarging and making profitable use of these new domains of the world's commerce. the days were coming when the people was to have more to say than the pope in regard to the disposition and arrangements of certain large districts of this planet. while the world-empire, which still excited so much dismay, was yielding to constant corrosion, another empire, created by well-directed toil and unflinching courage, was steadily rising out of the depths. it has often been thought amazing that the little republic should so long and so triumphantly withstand the enormous forces brought forward for her destruction. it was not, however, so very surprising. foremost among nations, and in advance of the age, the republic had found the strength which comes from the spirit of association. on a wider scale than ever before known, large masses of men, with their pecuniary means, had been intelligently banded together to advance material interests. when it is remembered that, in addition to this force, the whole commonwealth was inspired by the divine influence of liberty, her power will no longer seem so wonderful. a sinister event in the isle of ceylon had opened the series of transactions in the east, and had cast a gloom over the public sentiment at home. the enterprising voyager, sebald de weerdt, one of the famous brotherhood of the invincible lion which had wintered in the straits of magellan, had been murdered through the treachery of the king of candy. his countrymen had not taken vengeance on his assassins. they were perhaps too fearful of losing their growing trade in those lucrative regions to take a becoming stand in that emergency. they were also not as yet sufficiently powerful there. the east india company had sent out in may of this year its third fleet of eleven large ships, besides some smaller vessels, under the general superintendence of matelieff de jonghe, one of the directors. the investments for the voyage amounted to more than nineteen hundred thousand florins. meantime the preceding adventurers under stephen van der hagen, who had sailed at the end of , had been doing much thorough work. a firm league had been made with one of the chief potentates of malabar, enabling them to build forts and establish colonies in perpetual menace of goa, the great oriental capital of the portuguese. the return of the ambassadors sent out from astgen to holland had filled not only the island of sumatra but the moluccas, and all the adjacent regions, with praises of the power, wealth, and high civilization of that distant republic so long depicted by rivals as a nest of uncouth and sanguinary savages. the fleet now proceeded to amboyna, a stronghold of the spanish-portuguese, and the seat of a most lucrative trade. on the arrival of those foreign well-armed ships under the guns of the fortress, the governor sent to demand, with castilian arrogance, who the intruders were, and by whose authority and with what intent they presumed to show themselves in those waters. the reply was that they came in the name and by the authority of their high mightinesses the states-general, and their stadholder the prince of orange; that they were sworn enemies of the king of spain and all his subjects, and that as to their intent, this would soon be made apparent. whereupon, without much more ado, they began a bombardment of the fort, which mounted thirty-six guns. the governor, as often happened in those regions, being less valiant against determined european foes than towards the feebler oriental races on which he had been accustomed to trample, succumbed with hardly an effort at resistance. the castle and town and whole island were surrendered to the fleet, and thenceforth became virtually a colony of the republic with which, nominally, treaties of alliance and defence were, negotiated. thence the fleet, after due possession had been taken of these new domains, sailed partly to bands and partly to two small but most important islands of the moluccas. in that multitude of islands which make up the eastern archipelago there were but five at that period where grew the clove--ternate, tydor, motiel, makian, and bacia. pepper and ginger, even nutmegs, cassia, and mace, were but vulgar drugs, precious as they were already to the world and the world's commerce, compared with this most magnificent spice. it is wonderful to reflect upon the strange composition of man. the world had lived in former ages very comfortably without cloves. but by the beginning of the seventeenth century that odoriferous pistil had been the cause of so many pitched battles and obstinate wars, of so much vituperation, negotiation, and intriguing, that the world's destiny seemed to have almost become dependent upon the growth of a particular gillyflower. out of its sweetness had grown such bitterness among great nations as not torrents of blood could wash away. a commonplace condiment enough it seems to us now, easily to be dispensed with, and not worth purchasing at a thousand human lives or so the cargo, but it was once the great prize to be struggled for by civilized nations. from that fervid earth, warmed from within by volcanic heat, and basking ever beneath the equatorial sun, arose vapours as deadly to human life as the fruits were exciting and delicious to human senses. yet the atmosphere of pestiferous fragrance had attracted, rather than repelled. the poisonous delights of the climate, added to the perpetual and various warfare for its productions, spread a strange fascination around those fatal isles. especially ternate and tydor were objects of unending strife. chinese, malays, persians, arabs, had struggled centuries long for their possession; those races successively or simultaneously ruling these and adjacent portions of the archipelago. the great geographical discoveries at the close of the fifteenth century had however changed the aspect of india and of the world. the portuguese adventurers found two rival kings--in the two precious islands, and by ingeniously protecting one of these potentates and poisoning the other, soon made themselves masters of the field. the clove trade was now entirely in the hands of the strangers from the antipodes. goa became the great mart of the lucrative traffic, and thither came chinese, arabs, moors, and other oriental traders to be supplied from the portuguese monopoly: two-thirds of the spices however found their way directly to europe. naturally enough, the spaniards soon penetrated into these seas, and claimed their portion of the spice trade. they insisted that the coveted islands were included in their portion of the great borgian grant. as there had hardly yet been time to make a trigonometrical survey of an unknown world, so generously divided by the pope, there was no way of settling disputed boundary questions save by apostolic blows. these were exchanged with much earnestness, year after year, between spaniards, portuguese, and all who came in their way. especially the unfortunate natives, and their kings most of all, came in for a full share. at last charles v. sold out his share of the spice islands to his portuguese rival and co-proprietor, for three hundred and fifty thousand ducats. the emperor's very active pursuits caused him to require ready money more than cloves. yet john iii. had made an excellent bargain, and the monopoly thenceforth brought him in at least two hundred thousand ducats annually. goa became more flourishing, the natives more wretched, the portuguese more detested than ever. occasionally one of the royal line of victims would consent to put a diadem upon his head, but the coronation was usually the prelude to a dungeon or death. the treaties of alliance, which these unlucky potentates had formed with their powerful invaders, were, as so often is the case, mere deeds to convey themselves and their subjects into slavery. spain and portugal becoming one, the slender weapon of defence which these weak but subtle orientals sometimes employed with success--the international and commercial jealousy between their two oppressors--was taken away. it was therefore with joy that zaida, who sat on the throne of ternate at the end of the sixteenth century, saw the sails of a dutch fleet arriving in his harbours. very soon negotiations were opened, and the distant republic undertook to protect the mahometan king against his catholic master. the new friendship was founded upon trade monopoly, of course, but at that period at least the islanders were treated with justice and humanity by their republican allies. the dutch undertook to liberate their friends from bondage, while the king of ternate, panting under portuguese oppression, swore to have no traffic, no dealings of any kind, with any other nation than holland; not even with the english. the dutch, they declared, were the liberators of themselves, of their friends, and of the seas. the international hatred, already germinating between england and holland, shot forth in these flaming regions like a tropical plant. it was carefully nurtured and tended by both peoples. freedom of commerce, freedom of the seas, meant that none but the dutch east india company--so soon as the portuguese and spaniards were driven out--should trade in cloves and nutmegs. decrees to that effect were soon issued, under very heavy penalties, by the states-general to the citizens of the republic and to the world at large. it was natural therefore that the english traders should hail the appearance of the dutch fleets with much less enthusiasm than was shown by the king of ternate. on the other hand, the king of tydor, persisting in his oriental hatred towards the rival potentate in the other island, allowed the portuguese to build additional citadels, and generally to strengthen their positions within his dominions. thus when cornelius sebastian, with his division of ver hagen's fleet, arrived in the moluccas in the summer of , he found plenty of work prepared for him. the peace recently concluded by james with philip and the archdukes placed england in a position of neutrality in the war now waging in the clove islands between spain and the republic's east india company. the english in those regions were not slow to avail themselves of the advantage. the portuguese of tydor received from neutral sympathy a copious supply of powder and of pamphlets. the one explosive material enabled them to make a more effective defence of their citadel against the dutch fleet; the other revealed to the portuguese and their mussulman allies that "the netherlanders could not exist without english protection, that they were the scum of nations, and that if they should get possession of this clove monopoly, their insolence would become intolerable." samples of polite literature such as these, printed but not published, flew about in volleys. it was an age of pamphleteering, and neither the english nor the dutch were behind their contemporaries in the science of attack and self-defence. nevertheless cornelius sebastian was not deterred by paper pellets, nor by the guns of the citadel, from carrying out his purpose. it was arranged with king zaida that the islanders of ternate should make a demonstration against tydor, being set across the strait in dutch vessels. sebastian, however, having little faith in oriental tenacity, entrusted the real work of storming the fortress to his own soldiers and sailors. on a fine morning in may the assault was delivered in magnificent style. the resistance was obstinate; many of the assailants fell, and captain mol, whom we have once before seen as master of the tiger, sinking the galleys of frederic spinola off the gat of sluys, found himself at the head of only seven men within the interior defences of the citadel. a spanish soldier, torre by name, rushed upon him with a spear. avoiding the blow, mol grappled with his antagonist, and both rolled to the ground. a fortunate carbine-shot from one of the dutch captain's comrades went through the spaniard's head. meantime the little band, so insignificant in numbers, was driven out of the citadel. mol fell to the ground with a shattered leg, and reproached his companions, who sought to remove him, for neglecting their work in order to save his life. let them take the fort, he implored them, and when that was done they might find leisure to pick him up if they chose. while he was speaking the principal tower of the fortress blew up, and sixty of the garrison were launched into the air. a well-directed shot had set fire to the magazine. the assault was renewed with fresh numbers, and the dutch were soon masters of the place. never was a stronghold more audaciously or more successfully stormed. the garrison surrendered. the women and children, fearing to be at the mercy of those who had been depicted to them as cannibals, had already made their escape, and were scrambling like squirrels among the volcanic cliffs. famine soon compelled them to come down, however, when they experienced sufficiently kind treatment, but were all deported in dutch vessels to the philippine islands. the conquerors not only spared the life of the king of tydor, but permitted him to retain his crown. at his request the citadel was razed to the ground. it would have been better perhaps to let it stand, and it was possible that in the heart of the vanquished potentate some vengeance was lurking which might bear evil fruit at a later day. meantime the portuguese were driven entirely out of the moluccas, save the island of timos, where they still retained a not very important citadel. the east india company was now in possession of the whole field. the moluccas and the clove trade were its own, and the dutch republic had made manifest to the world that more potent instruments had now been devised for parcelling out the new world than papal decrees, although signed by the immaculate hand of a borgia. during the main operations already sketched in the netherlands, and during those vastly more important oriental movements to which the reader's attention has just been called, a detached event or two deserves notice. twice during the summer campaign of this year du terrail, an enterprising french refugee in the service of the archdukes, had attempted to surprise the important city of bergen-op-zoom. on the st august the intended assault had been discovered in time to prevent any very serious conflict on, either side. on the th september the experiment was renewed at an hour after midnight. du terrail, having arranged the attack at three different points, had succeeded in forcing his way across the moat and through one of the gates. the trumpets of the foremost spaniards already sounded in, the streets. it was pouring with rain; the town was pitch dark. but the energetic paul bax was governor of the place, a man who was awake at any hour of the twenty-four, and who could see in the darkest night. he had already informed himself of the enemy's project, and had strengthened his garrison by a large intermixture of the most trustworthy burgher guards, so that the advance of du terrail at the southern gate was already confronted by a determined band. a fierce battle began in the darkness. meantime paul bax, galloping through the city, had aroused the whole population for the defence. at the steinberg gate, where the chief assault had been prepared, bax had caused great fires of straw and pitch barrels to be lighted, so that the invaders, instead of finding, as they expected, a profound gloom through the streets, saw themselves approaching a brilliantly illuminated city, fully prepared to give their uninvited guests a warm reception. the garrison, the townspeople, even the women, thronged to the ramparts, saluting the spaniards with a rain of bullets, paving-stones, and pitch hoops, and with a storm of gibes and taunts. they were asked why they allowed their cardinal thus to send them to the cattle market, and whether our lady of hall, to whom isabella was so fond of making pilgrimages, did not live rather too far off to be of much use just then to her or to them. catholics and protestants all stood shoulder to shoulder that night to defend their firesides against the foreign foe, while mothers laid their sleeping children on the ground that they might fill their cradles with powder and ball, which they industriously brought to the soldiers. the less energetic women fell upon their knees in the street, and prayed aloud through the anxious night. the attack was splendidly repulsed. as morning dawned the enemy withdrew, leaving one hundred dead outside the walls or in the town, and carrying off thirty-eight wagon loads of wounded. du terrail made no further attempts that summer, although the list of his surprises was not yet full. he was a good engineer, and a daring partisan officer. he was also inspired by an especial animosity to the states-general, who had refused the offer of his services before he made application to the archdukes. at sea there was no very important movement in european waters, save that lambert heinrichzoon, commonly called pretty lambert, a rotterdam skipper, whom we have seen the sea-fights with frederic spinola, of the dunkirk pirate fleet, adrian dirkzoon. it was a desperate fight.--pretty lambent, sustained at a distance by rear-admiral gerbrantzon, laid himself yard-arm to yard-arm alongside the pirate vessel, boarded her, and after beating down all resistance made prisoners such of the crew as remained alive, and carried them into rotterdam. next day they were hanged, to the number of sixty. a small number were pardoned on account of their youth, and a few individuals who effected their escape when led to the gallows, were not pursued. the fact that the townspeople almost connived at the escape of these desperadoes showed that there had been a surfeit of hangings in rotterdam. it is moreover not easy to distinguish with exactness the lines which in those days separated regular sea belligerents, privateers, and pirates from each other. it had been laid down by the archdukes that there was no military law at sea, and that sick soldiers captured on the water should be hanged. accordingly they were hanged. admiral fazardo, of the spanish royal navy, not only captured all the enemy's merchant vessels which came in his way, but hanged, drowned, and burned alive every man found on board. admiral haultain, of the republican navy, had just been occupied in drowning a whole regiment of spanish soldiers, captured in english and german transports. the complaints brought against the english cruisers by the hollanders for capturing and confiscating their vessels, and banging, maiming, and torturing their crews--not only when england was neutral, but even when she was the ally of the republic--had been a standing topic for diplomatic discussion, and almost a standing joke. why, therefore, these dunkirk sea-rovers should not on the same principle be allowed to rush forth from their very convenient den to plunder friend and foe, burn ships, and butcher the sailors at pleasure, seems difficult to understand. to expect from the inhabitants of this robbers' cave--this "church on the downs"--a code of maritime law so much purer and sterner than the system adopted by the english, the spaniards, and the dutch, was hardly reasonable. certainly the dunkirkers, who were mainly netherlanders--rebels to the republic and partisans of the spanish crown--did their best to destroy the herring fishery and to cut the throats of the fishermen, but perhaps they received the halter more often than other mariners who had quite as thoroughly deserved it. and this at last appeared the prevailing opinion in rotterdam. etext editor's bookmarks: abstinence from unproductive consumption defeated garrison ever deserved more respect from friend or foe his own past triumphs seemed now his greatest enemies hundred thousand men had laid down their lives by her decree john castel, who had stabbed henry iv. looking down upon her struggle with benevolent indifference no retrenchments in his pleasures of women, dogs, and buildings sick soldiers captured on the water should be hanged the small children diminished rapidly in numbers when all was gone, they began to eat each other chapter xlv. - preparations for the campaign of --diminution of maurice's popularity--quarrel between the pope and the venetian republic-- surprise of sluys by du terrail--dilatoriness of the republic's operations--movements of spinola--influence of the weather on the military transactions of the year--endeavours of spinola to obtain possession of the waal and yssel--surrender of lochem to spinola-- siege of groll--siege and loss of rheinberg--mutiny in the catholic army--recovery of lochem by maurice--attempted recovery of groll-- sudden appearance of the enemy--withdrawal of the besieging army close of the campaign--end of the war of independence--motives of the prince in his actions before groll--cruise of admiral haultain to the coast of spain and portugal--his encounter with the war-- ships of fazardo--courageous conduct of the vice-admiral--deaths of justus lipsius, hohenlo, and count john of nassau. after the close of the campaign of spinola had gone once more to spain. on his passage through paris he had again been received with distinguished favour by that warm ally of the dutch republic, henry iv., and on being questioned by that monarch as to his plans for the next campaign had replied that he intended once more to cross the rhine, and invade friesland. henry, convinced that the genoese would of course not tell him the truth on such an occasion, wrote accordingly to the states-general that they might feel safe as to their eastern frontier. whatever else might happen, friesland and the regions adjacent would be safe next year from attack. the immediate future was to show whether the subtle italian had not compassed as neat a deception by telling the truth as coarser politicians could do by falsehood. spinola found the royal finances in most dismal condition. three hundred thousand dollars a month were the least estimate of the necessary expenses for carrying on the netherland war, a sum which could not possibly be spared by lerma, uceda, the marquis of the seven churches, and other financiers then industriously occupied in draining dry the exchequer for their own uses. once more the general aided his sovereign with purse and credit, as well as with his sword. once more the exchange at genoa was glutted with the acceptances of marquis spinola. here at least was a man of a nature not quite so depraved as that of the parasites bred out of the corruption of a noble but dying commonwealth, and doubtless it was with gentle contempt that the great favourite and his friends looked at the military and financial enthusiasm of the volunteer. it was so much more sagacious to make a princely fortune than to sacrifice one already inherited, in the service of one's country. spinola being thus ready not only to fight but to help to pay for the fighting, found his plans of campaigns received with great benignity by the king and his ministers. meantime there was much delay. the enormous labours thus devolved upon one pair of shoulders by the do-nothing king and a mayor of the palace whose soul was absorbed by his own private robberies, were almost too much for human strength. on his return to the netherlands spinola fell dangerously ill in genoa. meantime, during his absence and the enforced idleness of the catholic armies, there was an opportunity for the republicans to act with promptness and vigour. they displayed neither quality. never had there been so much sluggishness as in the preparations for the campaign of . the states' exchequer was lower than it had been for years. the republic was without friends. left to fight their battle for national existence alone, the hollanders found themselves perpetually subjected to hostile censure from their late allies, and to friendly advice still more intolerable. there were many brave englishmen and frenchmen sharing in the fatigues of the dutch war of independence, but the governments of henry and of james were as protective, as severely virtuous, as offensive, and, in their secret intrigues with the other belligerent, as mischievous as it was possible for the best-intentioned neutrals to be. the fame and the popularity of the stadholder had been diminished by the results of the past campaign. the states-general were disappointed, dissatisfied, and inclined to censure very unreasonably the public servant who had always obeyed their decrees with docility. while henry iv. was rapidly transferring his admiration from maurice to spinola, the disagreements at home between the advocate and the stadholder were becoming portentous. there was a want of means and of soldiers for the new campaign. certain causes were operating in europe to the disadvantage of both belligerents. in the south, venice had almost drawn her sword against the pope in her settled resolution to put down the jesuits and to clip the wings of the church party, before, with bequests and donations, votive churches and magnificent monasteries, four-fifths of the domains of the republic should fall into mortmain, as was already the case in brabant. naturally there was a contest between the ex-huguenot, now eldest son of the church, and the most catholic king, as to who should soonest defend the pope. henry offered thorough protection to his holiness, but only under condition that he should have a monopoly of that protection. he lifted his sword, but meantime it was doubtful whether the blow was to descend upon venice or upon spain. the spanish levies, on their way to the netherlands, were detained in italy by this new exigency. the states-general offered the sister republic their maritime assistance, and notwithstanding their own immense difficulties, stood ready to send a fleet to the mediterranean. the offer was gratefully declined, and the quarrel with the pope arranged, but the incident laid the foundation of a lasting friendship between the only two important republics then existing. the issue of the gunpowder plot, at the close of the preceding year, had confirmed james in his distaste for jesuits, and had effected that which all the eloquence of the states-general and their ambassador had failed to accomplish, the prohibition of spanish enlistments in his kingdom. guido fawkes had served under the archduke in flanders. here then were delays additional to that caused by spinola's illness. on the other hand, the levies of the republic were for a season paralysed by the altercation, soon afterwards adjusted, between henry iv. and the duke of bouillon, brother-in-law of the stadholder and of the palatine, and by the petty war between the duke and hanseatic city of brunswick, in which ernest of nassau was for a time employed. during this period of almost suspended animation the war gave no signs of life, except in a few spasmodic efforts on the part of the irrepressible du terrail. early in the spring, not satisfied with his double and disastrous repulse before bergen-op-zoom, that partisan now determined to surprise sluy's. that an attack was impending became known to the governor of that city, the experienced colonel van der noot. not dreaming, however, that any mortal--even the most audacious of frenchmen and adventurers--would ever think of carrying a city like sluy's by surprise, defended as it was by a splendid citadel and by a whole chain of forts and water-batteries, and capable of withstanding three months long, as it had so recently done, a siege in form by the acknowledged master of the beleaguering science, the methodical governor event calmly to bed one fine night in june. his slumbers were disturbed before morning by the sound of trumpets sounding spanish melodies in the streets, and by a great uproar and shouting. springing out of bed, he rushed half-dressed to the rescue. less vigilant than paul bax had been the year before in bergen, he found that du terrail had really effected a surprise. at the head of twelve hundred walloons and irishmen, that enterprising officer had waded through the drowned land of cadzand, with the promised support of a body of infantry under frederic van den berg, from damm, had stolen noiselessly by the forts of that island unchallenged and unseen, had effected with petards a small breach through the western gate of the city, and with a large number of his followers, creeping two and two through the gap, had found himself for a time master of sluys. the profound silence of the place had however somewhat discouraged the intruders. the whole population were as sound asleep as was the excellent commandant, but the stillness in the deserted streets suggested an ambush, and they moved stealthily forward, feeling their way with caution towards the centre of the town. it so happened, moreover, that the sacristan had forgotten to wind up the great town clock. the agreement with the party first entering and making their way to the opposite end of the city, had been that at the striking of a certain hour after midnight they should attack simultaneously and with a great outcry all the guardhouses, so that the garrison might be simultaneously butchered. the clock never struck, the signal was never given, and du terrail and his immediate comrades remained near the western gate, suspicious and much perplexed. the delay was fatal. the guard, the whole garrison, and the townspeople flew to arms, and half-naked, but equipped with pike and musket, and led on by van der noot in person, fell upon the intruders. a panic took the place of previous audacity in the breasts of du terrail's followers. thinking only of escape, they found the gap by which they had crept into the town much less convenient as a means of egress in the face of an infuriated multitude. five hundred of them were put to death in a very few minutes. almost as many were drowned or suffocated in the marshes, as they attempted to return by the road over which they had come. a few stragglers june, of the fifteen hundred were all that were left to tell the tale. it would seem scarcely worth while to chronicle such trivial incidents in this great war--the all-absorbing drama of christendom--were it not that they were for the moment the whole war. it might be thought that hostilities were approaching their natural termination, and that the war was dying of extreme old age, when the quixotic pranks of a du terrail occupied so large a part of european attention. the winter had passed, another spring had come and gone, and maurice had in vain attempted to obtain sufficient means from the states to take the field in force. henry, looking on from the outside, was becoming more and more exasperated with the dilatoriness which prevented the republic from profiting by the golden moments of spinola's enforced absence. yet the best that could be done seemed to be to take measures for defensive operations. spinola never reached brussels until the beginning of june, yet, during all the good campaigning weather which had been fleeting away, not a blow had been struck, nor a wholesome counsel taken by the stadholder or the states. it was midsummer before the armies were in the field. the plans of the catholic general however then rapidly developed themselves. having assembled as large a force as had ever been under his command, he now divided it into two nearly equal portions. bucquoy, with ten thousand foot, twelve hundred cavalry, and twelve guns, arrived on the th july at nook, on the meuse. spinola, with eleven thousand infantry, two thousand horse, and eight guns, crossed the rhine at the old redoubts of ruhrort, and on the same th july took position at goor, in overyssel. the first plan of the commander-in-chief was to retrace exactly his campaign of the previous year, even as he had with so much frankness stated to henry. but the republic, although deserted by her former friends, and looked upon askance by the monarch of britain, and by the most christian king, had this year a most efficient ally in the weather. jupiter pluvius had descended from on high to the rescue of the struggling commonwealth, and his decrees were omnipotent as to the course of the campaign. the seasons that year seemed all fused into one. it was difficult to tell on midsummer day whether it were midwinter, spring, or autumn. the rain came down day after day, week after week, as if the contending armies and the very country which was to be invaded and defended were to be all washed out of existence together. friesland resolved itself into a vast quagmire; the roads became fluid, the rivers lakes. spinola turned his face from the east, and proceeded to carry out a second plan which he had long meditated, and even a more effective one, in the west. the waal and the yssel formed two sides of a great quadrilateral; and furnished for the natural fortress, thus enclosed, two vast and admirable moats. within lay good-meadow and foul-meadow--bet-uwe and vel-uwe--one, the ancient batavian island which from time immemorial had given its name to the commonwealth, the other, the once dismal swamp which toil and intelligence had in the course of centuries transformed into the wealthy and flowery land of gueldres. beyond, but in immediate proximity, lay the ancient episcopal city and province of utrecht, over which lay the road to the adjacent holland and zeeland. the very heart of the republic would be laid bare to the conqueror's sword if he could once force the passage, and obtain the control of these two protecting streams. with utrecht as his base, and all brabant and flanders--obedient provinces--at his back, spinola might accomplish more in one season than alva, don john, and alexander farnese had compassed in forty years, and destroy at a blow what was still called the netherland rebellion. the passage of the rivers once effected, the two enveloping wings would fold themselves together, and the conquest would be made. thus reasoned the brilliant young general, and his projects, although far-reaching, did not seem wild. the first steps were, however, the most important as well as the most difficult, and he had to reckon with a wary and experienced antagonist. maurice had at last collected and reviewed at arnhem an army of nearly fifteen thousand men, and was now watching closely from doesburg and deventer every movement of the foe. having been forced to a defensive campaign, in which he was not likely at best to gain many additional laurels, he was the more determined to lay down his own life, and sacrifice every man he could bring into the field, before spinola should march into the cherished domains of utrecht and holland. meantime the rain, which had already exerted so much influence on the military movements of the year, still maintained the supremacy over human plans. the yssel and the waal, always deep, broad, sluggish, but dangerous rivers--the rhine in its old age--were swollen into enormous proportions, their currents flowing for the time with the vigour of their far away youth. maurice had confided the defence of the waal to warner du bois, under whose orders he placed a force of about seven thousand men, and whose business it was to prevent bucquoy's passage. his own task was to baffle spinola. bucquoy's ambition was to cross the waal at a point as near as possible to the fork of that stream with the true rhine, seize the important city of nymegen, and then give the hand to spinola, so soon as he should be on the other side of the yssel. at the village of spardorp or kekerdom, he employed pompeio giustiniani to make a desperate effort, having secured a large number of barges in which he embarked his troops. as the boatmen neared the opposite bank, however, they perceived that warner du bois had made effective preparations for their reception. they lost heart, and, on pretence that the current of the river was too rapid to allow them to reach the point proposed for their landing, gradually dropped down the stream, and, in spite of the remonstrances of the commanders, pushed their way back to the shore which they had left. from that time forth, the states' troops, in efficient numbers, fringed the inner side of the waal, along the whole length of the batavian island, while armed vessels of the republic patrolled the stream itself. in vain count bucquoy watched an opportunity, either by surprise or by main strength, to effect a crossing. the waal remained as impassable as if it were a dividing ocean. on the other side of the quadrilateral, maurice's dispositions were as effective as those of his lieutenant on the waal. the left shore of the yssel, along its whole length, from arnhem and doesburg quite up to zwoll and campen, where the river empties itself into the zuyder zee, was now sprinkled thickly with forts, hastily thrown up, but strong enough to serve the temporary purpose of the stadholder. in vain the fleet-footed and audacious spinola moved stealthily or fiercely to and fro, from one point to another, seeking an opening through which to creep, or a weak spot where he might dash himself against the chain. the whole line was securely guarded. the swollen river, the redoubts, and the musketeers of maurice, protected the heart of the republic from the impending danger. wearied of this fruitless pacing up and down, spinola, while apparently intending an assault upon deventer, and thus attracting his adversary's attention to that important city, suddenly swerved to the right, and came down upon lochem. the little town, with its very slender garrison, surrendered at once. it was not a great conquest, but it might possibly be of use in the campaign. it was taken before the stadholder could move a step to its assistance, even had he deemed it prudent to leave yssel-side for an hour. the summer was passing away, the rain was still descending, and it was the st of august before spinola left lochem. he then made a rapid movement to the north, between zwoll and hasselt, endeavouring to cross the blackwater, and seize geelmuyden, on the zuyder zee. had he succeeded, he might have turned maurice's position. but the works in that direction had been entrusted to an experienced campaigner, warmelo, sheriff of zalant, who received the impetuous spinola and his lieutenant, count solre, so warmly, that they reeled backwards at last, after repeated assaults and great loss of men, and never more attempted to cross the yssel. obviously, the campaign had failed. utrecht and holland were as far out of the catholic general's reach as the stars in the sky, but at least, with his large armies, he could earn a few trophies, barren or productive, as it might prove, before winter, uniting with the deluge, should drive him from the field. on the rd august, he laid siege to groll (or groenlo), a fortified town of secondary importance in the country of zutphen, and, squandering his men with much recklessness, in his determination not to be baffled, reduced the place in eleven days. here he paused for a breathing spell, and then, renouncing all his schemes upon the inner defences of the republic, withdrew once more to the rhine and laid siege to rheinberg. this frontier place had been tossed to and fro so often between the contending parties in the perpetual warfare, that its inhabitants must have learned to consider themselves rather as a convenient circulating medium for military operations than as burghers who had any part in the ordinary business of life. it had old-fashioned defences of stones which, during the recent occupation by the states, had been much improved, and had been strengthened with earthworks. before it was besieged, maurice sent his brother frederic henry, with some picked companies, into the place, so that the garrison amounted to three thousand effective men. the prince de soubise, brother of the duc de rohan, and other french volunteers of quality, also threw themselves into the place, in order to take lessons in the latest methods of attack and defence. it was now admitted that no more accomplished pupil of the stadholder in the beleaguering art had appeared in europe than his present formidable adversary. on this occasion, however, there was no great display of science. maurice obstinately refused to move to the relief of the place, despite all the efforts of a deputation of the states-general who visited his camp in september, urging him strenuously to take the chances of a stricken field. nothing could induce the stadholder, who held an observing position at wesel, with his back against the precious watery quadrilateral, to risk the defence of those most vital lines of the yssel and the waal. while attempting to save rheinberg, he felt it possible that he might lose nymegen, or even utrecht. the swift but wily genoese was not to be trifled with or lost sight of an instant. the road to holland might still be opened, and the destiny of the republic might hang on the consequences of a single false move. that destiny, under god, was in his hands alone, and no chance of winning laurels, even from his greatest rival's head, could induce him to shrink from the path of duty, however obscure it might seem. there were a few brilliant assaults and sorties, as in all sieges, the french volunteers especially distinguishing themselves; but the place fell at the end of forty days. the garrison marched out with the honours of war. in the modern practice, armies were rarely captured in strongholds, nor were the defenders, together with the population, butchered. the loss, after a six weeks' siege, of rheinberg, which six years before, with far inferior fortifications, had held out a much longer time against the states, was felt as a bitter disappointment throughout the republic. frederic henry, on leaving the place, made a feeble and unsuccessful demonstration against yenlo, by which the general dissatisfaction was not diminished. soon afterwards, the war became more languid than ever. news arrived of a great crisis on the genoa exchange. a multitude of merchants, involved in pecuniary transactions with spinola, fell with one tremendous crash. the funds of the catholic commander-in-chief were already exhausted, his acceptances could no longer be negotiated. his credit was becoming almost as bad as the king's own. the inevitable consequence of the want of cash and credit followed. mutiny, for the first time in spinola's administration, raised its head once more, and stalked about defiant. six hundred veterans marched to breda, and offered their services to justinus of nassau. the proposal was accepted. other bands, established their quarters in different places, chose their elettos and lesser officers, and enacted the scenes which have been so often depicted in these pages. the splendid army of spinola melted like april snow. by the last week of october there hardly seemed a catholic army in the field. the commander-in-chief had scattered such companies as could still be relied upon in the villages of the friendly arch-episcopate of cologne, and had obtained, not by murders and blackmail--according to the recent practice of the admiral of arragon, at whose grim name the whole country-side still shuddered--but from the friendship of the leading inhabitants and by honest loans, a sufficient sum to put bread into the mouths of the troops still remaining faithful to him. the opportunity had at last arrived for the stadholder to strike a blow before the season closed. bankruptcy and mutiny had reduced his enemy to impotence in the very season of his greatest probable success. on the th october maurice came before lochem, which he recaptured in five days. next in the order of spinola's victories was groll, which the stadholder at once besieged. he had almost fifteen thousand infantry and three thousand horse. a career of brief triumph before winter should close in upon those damping fields, seemed now assured. but the rain, which during nearly the whole campaign had been his potent ally, had of late been playing him false. the swollen yssel, during a brief period of dry weather, had sunk so low in certain shallows as not to be navigable for his transports, and after his trains of artillery and munitions had been dragged wearily overland as far as groll, the deluge had returned in such force, that physical necessity as well as considerations of humanity compelled him to defer his entrenching operations until the weather should moderate. as there seemed no further danger to be apprehended from the broken, mutinous, and dispersed forces of the enemy, the siege operations were conducted in a leisurely manner. what was the astonishment, therefore, among the soldiers, when a rumour flew about the camp in the early days of november that the indomitable spinola was again advancing upon them! it was perfectly true. with extraordinary perseverance he had gathered up six or seven thousand infantry and twelve companies of horse--all the remnants of the splendid armies with which he had taken the field at midsummer--and was now marching to the relief of groll, besieged as it was by a force at least doubly as numerous as his own. it was represented to the stadholder, however, that an impassable morass lay between him and the enemy, and that there would therefore be time enough to complete his entrenchments before spinola could put his foolhardy attempt into execution. but the catholic general, marching faster than rumour itself, had crossed the impracticable swamp almost before a spadeful of earth had been turned in the republican camp. his advance was in sight even while the incredulous were sneering at the absurdity of his supposed project. informed by scouts of the weakest point in the stadholder's extended lines, spinola was directing himself thither with beautiful precision. maurice hastily contracted both his wings, and concentrated himself in the village of lebel. at last the moment had come for a decisive struggle. there could be little doubt of the result. all the advantage was with the republican army. the catholics had arrived in front of the enemy fatigued by forced marches through quagmires, in horrible weather, over roads deemed impassable. the states' troops were fresh, posted on ground of their own choosing, and partially entrenched. to the astonishment, even to the horror of the most eager portion of the army, the stadholder deliberately, and despite the groans of his soldiers, refused the combat, and gave immediate orders for raising the siege and abandoning the field. on the th of november he broke up his camp and withdrew to a village called zelem. on the same day the marquis, having relieved the city, without paying the expected price, retired in another direction, and established what was left of his army in the province of munster. the campaign was closed. and thus the great war which had run its stormy course for nearly forty years, dribbled out of existence, sinking away that rainy november in the dismal fens of zutphen. the long struggle for independence had come, almost unperceived, to an end. peace had not arrived, but the work of the armies was over for many a long year. freedom and independence were secured. a deed or two, never to be forgotten by netherland hearts, was yet to be done on the ocean, before the long and intricate negotiations for peace should begin, and the weary people permit themselves to rejoice; but the prize was already won. meantime, the conduct of prince maurice in these last days of the campaign was the subject of biting censure by friend and foe. the military fame of spinola throughout europe grew apace; and the fame of his great rival seemed to shrink in the same proportion. henry of france was especially indignant at what he considered the shortcomings of the republic and of its chief. already, before the close of the summer, the agent aerssens had written from paris that his majesty was very much displeased with spinola's prosperity, ascribing it to the want of good councils on the part of the states' government that so fine an army should lie idle so long, without making an attempt to relieve the beleaguered places, so that spinola felt assured of taking anything as soon as he made his appearance. "your mightinesses cannot believe," continued the agent, "what a trophy is made by the spanish ministers out of these little exploits, and they have so much address at this court, that if such things continue they may produce still greater results." in december he wrote that the king was so malcontent concerning the siege of groll as to make it impossible to answer him with arguments, that he openly expressed regret at not having employed the money lent to the states upon strengthening his own frontiers, so distrustful was he of their capacity for managing affairs, and that he mentioned with disgust statements received from his ambassador at brussels and from the duc de rohan, to the effect that spinola had between five and six thousand men only at the relief of groll, against twelve thousand in the stadholder's army. the motives of the deeds and the omissions of the prince at this supreme moment must be pondered with great caution. the states-general had doubtless been inclined for vigorous movements, and olden-barneveld, with some of his colleagues, had visited the camp late in september to urge the relief of rheinberg. maurice was in daily correspondence with the government, and regularly demanded their advice, by which, on many former occasions, he had bound himself, even when it was in conflict with his own better judgment. but throughout this campaign, the responsibility was entirely, almost ostentatiously, thrown by the states-general upon their commander-in-chief, and, as already indicated, their preparations in the spring and early summer had been entirely inadequate. should he lose the army with which he had so quietly but completely checked spinola in all his really important moves during the summer and autumn, he might despair of putting another very soon into the field. that his force in that november week before groll was numerically far superior to the enemy is certain, but he had lost confidence in his cavalry since their bad behaviour at mulheim the previous year, and a very large proportion of his infantry was on the sick-list at the moment of spinola's approach. "lest the continual bad weather should entirely consume the army," he said, "we are resolved, within a day or two after we have removed the sick who are here in great numbers, to break up, unless the enemy should give us occasion to make some attempt upon him." maurice was the servant of a small republic, contending single-handed against an empire still considered the most formidable power in the world. his cue was not necessarily to fight on all occasions; for delay often fights better than an army against a foreign invader. when a battle and a victory were absolutely necessary we have seen the magnificent calmness which at nieuport secured triumph under the shadow of death. had he accepted spinola's challenge in november, he would probably have defeated him and have taken groll. he might not, however, have annihilated his adversary, who, even when worsted, would perhaps have effected his escape. the city was of small value to the republic. the principal advantage of a victory would have been increased military renown for himself. viewed in this light, there is something almost sublime in the phlegmatic and perfectly republican composure with which he disdained laurels, easily enough, as it would stem, to have been acquired, and denied his soldiers the bloodshed and the suffering for which they were clamouring. and yet, after thoroughly weighing and measuring all these circumstances, it is natural to regret that he did not on that occasion rise upon spinola and smite him to the earth. the lord had delivered him into his hands. the chances of his own defeat were small, its probable consequences, should it occur, insignificant. it is hardly conceivable that he could have been so completely overthrown as to allow the catholic commander to do in november what he had tried all summer in vain to accomplish, cross the yssel and the waal, with the dregs of his army, and invade holland and zeeland in midwinter, over the prostrate bodies of maurice and all his forces. on the other hand, that the stadholder would have sent the enemy reeling back to his bogs, with hardly the semblance of an army at his heels, was almost certain: the effect of such a blow upon impending negotiations, and especially upon the impressible imagination of henry and the pedantic shrewdness of james, would have been very valuable. it was not surprising that the successful soldier who sat on the french throne, and who had been ever ready to wager life and crown on the results of a stricken field, should be loud in his expressions of disapprobation and disgust. yet no man knew better than the sagacious gascon that fighting to win a crown, and to save a republic, were two essentially different things. in the early summer of this year admiral haultain, whom we lately saw occupied with tossing sarmiento's spanish legion into the sea off the harbour of dover, had been despatched to the spanish coast on a still more important errand. the outward bound portuguese merchantmen and the home returning fleets from america, which had been absent nearly two years, might be fallen in with at any moment, in the latitude of - deg. the admiral, having received orders, therefore, to cruise carefully in those regions, sailed for the shores of portugal with a squadron of twenty-four war-ships. his expedition was not very successful. he picked up a prize or two here and there, and his presence on the coast prevented the merchant-fleet from sailing out of lisbon for the east indies, the merchandise already on board being disembarked and the voyage postponed to a more favourable opportunity. he saw nothing, however, of the long-expected ships from the golden west indies--as mexico, peru, and brazil were then indiscriminately called--and after parting company with six of his own ships, which were dispersed and damaged in a gale, and himself suffering from a dearth of provisions, he was forced to return without much gain or glory. in the month of september he was once more despatched on the same service. he had nineteen war-galleots of the first class, and two yachts, well equipped and manned. vice-admiral of the fleet was regnier klaaszoon (or nicholson), of amsterdam, a name which should always be held fresh in remembrance, not only by mariners and netherlanders, but by all men whose pulses can beat in sympathy with practical heroism. the admiral coasted deliberately along the shores of spain and portugal. it seemed impossible that the golden fleets, which, as it was ascertained, had not yet arrived, could now escape the vigilance of the dutch cruisers. an occasional merchant-ship or small war-galley was met from time to time and chased into the harbours. a landing was here and there effected and a few villages burned. but these were not the prizes nor the trophies sought. on the th september a storm off the portuguese coast scattered the fleet; six of the best and largest ships being permanently lost sight of and separated from the rest. with the other thirteen haultain now cruised off cape st. vincent directly across the ordinary path of the homeward-bound treasure ships. on the th october many sails were descried in the distance, and the longing eyes of the hollanders were at last gratified with what was supposed to be the great west india commercial squadrons. the delusion was brief. instead of innocent and richly freighted merchantmen, the new comers soon proved to be the war-ships of admiral dan luis de fazardo, eighteen great galleons and eight galleys strong, besides lesser vessels--the most formidable fleet that for years had floated in those waters. there had been time for admiral haultain to hold but a very brief consultation with his chief officers. as it was manifest that the hollanders were enormously over-matched, it was decided to manoeuvre as well as possible for the weather-gage, and then to fight or to effect an escape, as might seem most expedient after fairly testing the strength of the enemy. it was blowing a fresh gale, and the netherland fleet had as much as they could stagger with under close-reefed topsails. the war-galleys, fit only for fair weather, were soon forced to take refuge under the lee of the land, but the eighteen galleons, the most powerful vessels then known to naval architecture, were bearing directly down, full before the wind, upon the dutch fleet. it must be admitted that admiral haultain hardly displayed as much energy now as he had done in the straits of dover against the unarmed transports the year before. his ships were soon scattered, right and left, and the manoeuvres for the weather-gage resolved themselves into a general scramble for escape. vice-admiral klaaszoon alone held firm, and met the onset of the first comers of the spanish fleet. a fierce combat, yard-arm to yard-arm, ensued. klaaszoon's mainmast went by the board, but haultain, with five ships, all that could be rallied, coming to the rescue, the assailants for a moment withdrew. five dutch vessels of moderate strength were now in action against the eighteen great galleons of fazardo. certainly it was not an even game, but it might have been played with more heart and better skill. there was but a half-hour of daylight left when klaaszoon's crippled ship was again attacked. this time there was no attempt to offer him assistance; the rest of the dutch fleet crowding all the sails their masts would bear, and using all the devices of their superior seamanship, not to harass the enemy, but to steal as swiftly as possible out of his way. honestly confessing that they dared not come into the fight, they bore away for dear life in every direction. night came on, and the last that the fugitives knew of the events off cape st. vincent was that stout regnier klaaszoon had been seen at sunset in the midst of the spanish fleet; the sound of his broadsides saluting their ears as they escaped. left to himself, alone in a dismasted ship, the vice-admiral never thought of yielding to the eighteen spanish galleons. to the repeated summons of don luis fazardo that he should surrender he remained obstinately deaf. knowing that it was impossible for him to escape, and fearing that he might blow up his vessel rather than surrender, the enemy made no attempt to board. spanish chivalry was hardly more conspicuous on this occasion than dutch valour, as illustrated by admiral haultain. two whole days and nights klaaszoon drifted about in his crippled ship, exchanging broadsides with his antagonists, and with his colours flying on the stump of his mast. the fact would seem incredible, were it not attested by perfectly trustworthy contemporary accounts. at last his hour seemed to have come. his ship was sinking; a final demand for surrender, with promise of quarter, was made. out of his whole crew but sixty remained alive; many of them badly wounded. he quietly announced to his officers and men his decision never to surrender, in which all concurred. they knelt together upon the deck, and the admiral made a prayer, which all fervently joined. with his own hand klaaszoon then lighted the powder magazine, and the ship was blown into the air. two sailors, all that were left alive, were picked out of the sea by the spaniards and brought on board one of the vessels of the fleet. desperately mutilated, those grim dutchmen lived a few minutes to tell the tale, and then died defiant on the enemy's deck. yet it was thought that a republic, which could produce men like regnier klaaszoon and his comrades, could be subjected again to despotism, after a war for independence of forty years, and that such sailors could be forbidden to sail the eastern and western seas. no epigrammatic phrase has been preserved of this simple regnier, the son of nicholas. he only did what is sometimes talked about in phraseology more or less melodramatic, and did it in a very plain way. such extreme deeds may have become so much less necessary in the world, that to threaten them is apt to seem fantastic. exactly at that crisis of history, however, and especially in view of the dutch admiral commanding having refused a combat of one to three, the speechless self-devotion of the vice-admiral was better than three years of eloquent arguments and a ship-load of diplomatic correspondence, such as were already impending over the world. admiral haultain returned with all his ships uninjured--the six missing vessels having found their way at last safely back to the squadron--but with a very great crack to his reputation. it was urged very justly, both by the states-general and the public, that if one ship under a determined commander could fight the whole spanish fleet two days and nights, and sink unconquered at last, ten ships more might have put the enemy to flight, or at least have saved the vice-admiral from destruction. but very few days after the incidents just described, the merchant fleet which, instead of don luis fazardo's war galleons, admiral haultain had so longed to encounter, arrived safely at san lucar. it was the most splendid treasure-fleet that had ever entered a spanish port, and the dutch admiral's heart might well have danced for joy, had he chanced to come a little later on the track. there were fifty ships, under charge of general alonzo de ochares galindo and general ganevaye. they had on board, according to the registers, , , dollars worth of bullion for the king, and , , dollars for merchants, or , , dollars in all, besides rich cargoes of silk, cochineal, sarsaparilla, indigo, brazil wood, and hides; the result of two years of pressure upon peruvians, mexicans, and brazilians. never had spanish finances been at so low an ebb. never was so splendid an income more desirable. the king's share of the cargo was enough to pay half the arrearages due to his mutinous troops; and for such housekeeping this was to be in funds. there were no further exploits on land or sea that year. there were, however, deaths of three personages often mentioned in this history. the learned justus lipsius died in louvain, a good editor and scholar, and as sincere a catholic at last as he had been alternately a bigoted calvinist and an earnest lutheran. his reputation was thought to have suffered by his later publications, but the world at large was occupied with sterner stuff than those classic productions, and left the final decision to posterity. a man of a different mould, the turbulent, high-born, hard fighting, hard-drinking hohenlo, died also this year, brother-in-law and military guardian, subsequently rival and political and personal antagonist, of prince maurice. his daring deeds and his troublesome and mischievous adventures have been recounted in these pages. his name will be always prominent in the history of the republic, to which he often rendered splendid service, but he died, as he had lived, a glutton and a melancholy sot. the third remarkable personage who passed away was one whose name will be remembered as long as the netherlands have a history, old count john of nassau, only surviving brother of william the silent. he had been ever prominent and deeply interested in the great religious and political movements of upper and lower germany, and his services in the foundation of the dutch commonwealth were signal, and ever generously acknowledged. at one period, as will be recollected, he was stadholder of gelderland, and he was ever ready with sword, purse, and counsel to aid in the great struggle for independence. chapter xlvi. general desire for peace--political aspect of europe--designs of the kings of england, france, and spain concerning the united provinces --matrimonial schemes of spain--conference between the french ministers and the dutch envoy--confidential revelations--henry's desire to annex the netherlands to france--discussion of the subject--artifice of barneveld--impracticability of a compromise between the provinces and spain--formation of a west india company-- secret mission from the archdukes to the hague--reply of the states- general--return of the archdukes' envoy--arrangement of an eight months' armistice. the general tendency towards a pacification in europe at the close of the year could hardly be mistaken. the languor of fatigue, rather than any sincere desire for peace seemed to make negotiations possible. it was not likely that great truths would yet be admitted, or that ruling individuals or classes would recognise the rise of a new system out of the rapidly dissolving elements of the one which had done its work. war was becoming more and more expensive, while commerce, as the world slowly expanded itself, and manifested its unsuspected resources, was becoming more and more lucrative. it was not, perhaps, that men hated each other less, but that they had for a time exhausted their power and their love for slaughter. meanwhile new devices for injuring humanity and retarding its civilization were revealing themselves out of that very intellectual progress which ennobled the new era. although war might still be regarded as the normal condition of the civilized world, it was possible for the chosen ones to whom the earth and its fulness belonged, to inflict general damage otherwise than by perpetual battles. in the east, west, north, and south of europe peace was thrusting itself as it were uncalled for and unexpected upon the general attention. charles and his nephew sigismund, and the false demetrius, and the intrigues of the jesuits, had provided too much work for sweden, poland, and russia to leave those countries much leisure for mingling in the more important business of europe at this epoch, nor have their affairs much direct connection with this history. venice, in its quarrels with the jesuits, had brought spain, france, and all italy into a dead lock, out of which a compromise had been made not more satisfactory to the various parties than compromises are apt to prove. the dutch republic still maintained the position which it had assumed, a quarter of a century before, of actual and legal independence; while spain, on the other hand, still striving after universal monarchy, had not, of course, abated one jot of its pretensions to absolute dominion over its rebellious subjects in the netherlands. the holy roman and the sublime ottoman empires had also drifted into temporary peace; the exploits of the persians and other asiatic movements having given ahmed more work than was convenient on his eastern frontier, while stephen botshkay had so completely got the better of rudolph in transylvania as to make repose desirable. so there was a treaty between the great turk and the great christian on the basis of what each possessed; stephen botshkay was recognized as prince of transylvania with part of hungary, and, when taken off soon afterwards by family poison, he recommended on his death-bed the closest union between hungary and transylvania, as well as peace with the emperor, so long as it might be compatible with the rights of the magyars. france and england, while suspecting each other, dreading each other, and very sincerely hating each other, were drawn into intimate relations by their common detestation of spain, with which power both had now formal treaties of alliance and friendship. this was the result of their mighty projects for humbling the house of austria and annihilating its power. england hated the netherlands because of the injuries she had done them, the many benefits she had conferred upon them, and more than all on account of the daily increasing commercial rivalry between the two most progressive states in christendom, the two powers which, comparatively weak as they were in territory, capital, and population, were most in harmony with the spirit of the age. the government of england was more hostile than its people to the united provinces. james never spoke of the netherlanders but as upstarts and rebels, whose success ought to be looked upon with horror by the lord's anointed everywhere. he could not shut his eyes to the fact that, with the republic destroyed, and a spanish sacerdotal despotism established in holland and zeeland, with jesuit seminaries in full bloom in amsterdam and the hague, his own rebels in ireland might prove more troublesome than ever, and gunpowder plots in london become common occurrences. the earl of tyrone at that very moment was receiving enthusiastic hospitality at the archduke's court, much to the disgust of the presbyterian sovereign of the united kingdom, who nevertheless, despite his cherished theology, was possessed with an unconquerable craving for a close family alliance with the most catholic king. his ministers were inclined to spain, and the british government was at heart favourable to some kind of arrangement by which the netherlands might be reduced to the authority of their former master, in case no scheme could be carried into, effect for acquiring a virtual sovereignty over those provinces by the british crown. moreover, and most of all, the king of france being supposed to contemplate the annexation of the netherlands to his own dominions, the jealousy excited by such ambition made it even possible for james's government to tolerate the idea of dutch independence. thus the court and cabinet of england were as full of contradictory hopes and projects as a madman's brain. the rivalry between the courts of england and france for the spanish marriages and by means of them to obtain ultimately the sovereignty of all the netherlands, was the key to most of the diplomacy and interpalatial intrigue of the several first years of the century. the negotiations of cornwallis at madrid were almost simultaneous with the schemes of villeroy and rosny at paris. a portion of the english government, so soon as its treaty with spain had been signed, seemed secretly determined to do as much injury to the republic as might lie in its power. while at heart convinced that the preservation of the netherlands was necessary for england's safety, it was difficult for james and the greater part of his advisers to overcome their repugnance to the republic, and their jealousy of the great commercial successes which the republic had achieved. it was perfectly plain that a continuance of the war by england and the netherlands united would have very soon ended in the entire humiliation of spain. now that peace had been made, however, it was thought possible that england might make a bargain with her late enemy for destroying the existence and dividing the territory of her late ally. accordingly the spanish cabinet lost no time in propounding, under seal of secrecy, and with even more mystery than was usually employed by the most catholic court, a scheme for the marriage of the prince of wales with the infanta; the bridal pair, when arrived at proper age, to be endowed with all the netherlands, both obedient and republican, in full sovereignty. one thing was necessary to the carrying out of this excellent plot, the reduction of the republic into her ancient subjection to spain before her territory could be transferred to the future princess of wales. it was proposed by the spanish government that england should undertake this part of the job, and that king james for such service should receive an annual pension of one million ducats a year. it was also stipulated that certain cities in the republican dominions should be pledged to him as security for the regular payment of that stipend. sir charles cornwallis, english ambassador in spain, lent a most favourable ear to these proposals, and james eagerly sanctioned them so soon as they were secretly imparted to that monarch. "the king here," said cornwallis, "hath need of the king of great britain's arm. our king . . . hath good occasion to use the help of the king of spain's purse. the assistance of england to help that nation out of that quicksand of the low countries, where so long they have struggled to tread themselves out, and by proof find that deeper in, will be a sovereign medicine to the malady of this estate. the addition of a million of ducats to the revenue of our sovereign will be a good help to his estate." the spanish government had even the effrontery to offer the english envoy a reward of two hundred thousand crowns if the negotiations should prove successful. care was to be taken however that great britain, by this accession of power, both present and in prospect, should not grow too great, spain reserving to herself certain strongholds and maritime positions in the netherlands, for the proper security of her european and indian commerce. it was thought high time for the bloodshed to cease in the provinces; and as england, by making a treaty of peace with spain when spain was at the last gasp, had come to the rescue of that power, it was logical that she should complete the friendly work by compelling the rebellious provinces to awake from their dream of independence. if the statesmen of holland believed in the possibility of that independence, the statesmen of england knew better. if the turbulent little republic was not at last convinced that it had no right to create so much turmoil and inconvenience for its neighbours and for christendom in general in order to maintain its existence, it should be taught its duty by the sovereigns of spain and britain. it was observed, however, that the more greedily james listened day after day to the marriage propositions, the colder became the spanish cabinet in regard to that point, the more disposed to postpone those nuptials "to god's providence and future event." the high hopes founded on these secret stratagems were suddenly dashed to the earth before the end of the year; the explosion of the gunpowder plot blowing the castles in spain into the air. of course the spanish politicians vied with each other in expressions of horror and indignation at the plot, and the wicked contrivers thereof, and suggested to cornwallis that the king of france was probably at the bottom of it. they declined to give up owen and baldwin, however, and meantime the negotiations for the marriage of the prince of wales and the infanta, the million ducats of yearly pension for the needy james, and the reduction of the dutch republic to its ancient slavery to spain "under the eye and arm of britain," faded indefinitely away. salisbury indeed was always too wise to believe in the possibility of the schemes with which james and some of his other counsellors had been so much infatuated. it was almost dramatic that these plottings between james and the catholic king against the life of the republic should have been signally and almost simultaneously avenged by the conspiracy of guido fawkes. on the other hand, rosny had imparted to the dutch envoy the schemes of henry and his ministers in regard to the same object, early in . "spain is more tired of the war," said he to aerssens, under seal of absolute secrecy, "than you are yourselves. she is now negotiating for a marriage between the dauphin and the infanta, and means to give her the united provinces, as at present constituted, for a marriage portion. villeroy and sillery believe the plan feasible, but demand all the netherlands together. as for me i shall have faith in it if they send their infanta hither at once, or make a regular cession of the territory. do you believe that my lords the states will agree to the proposition?" it would be certainly difficult to match in history the effrontery of such a question. the republican envoy was asked point blank whether his country would resign her dearly gained liberty and give herself as a dowry for philip the second's three-years-old grand daughter. aerssens replied cautiously that he had never heard the matter discussed in the provinces. it had always been thought that the french king had no pretensions to their territory, but had ever advocated their independence. he hinted that such a proposition was a mere apple of discord thrown between two good allies by spain. rosny admitted the envoy's arguments, and said that his majesty would do nothing without the consent of the dutch government, and that he should probably be himself sent ere long to the hague to see if he could not obtain some little recognition from the states. thus it was confidentially revealed to the agent of the republic that her candid adviser and ally was hard at work, in conjunction with her ancient enemy, to destroy her independence, annex her territory, and appropriate to himself all the fruits of her great war, her commercial achievements, and her vast sacrifices; while, as we have just seen, english politicians at the same moment were attempting to accomplish the same feat for england's supposed advantage. all that was wished by henry to begin with was a little, a very little, recognition of his sovereignty. "you will do well to reflect on this delicate matter in time," wrote aerssens to the advocate; "i know that the king of spain is inclined to make this offer, and that they are mad enough in this place to believe the thing feasible. for me, i reject all such talk until they have got the infanta--that is to say, until the greek kalends. i am ashamed that they should believe it here, and fearful that there is still more evil concealed than i know of." towards the close of the year the french government became still more eager to carry out their plans of alliance and absorption. aerssens, who loved a political intrigue better than became a republican envoy, was perfectly aware of henry's schemes. he was disposed to humour them, in order to make sure of his military assistance, but with the secret intention of seeing them frustrated by the determined opposition of the states. the french ministers, by command of their sovereign, were disposed to deal very plainly. they informed the dutch diplomatist, with very little circumlocution, that if the republic wished assistance from france she was to pay a heavy price for it. not a pound of flesh only, but the whole body corporate, was to be surrendered if its destruction was to be averted by french arms. "you know," said sillery, "that princes in all their actions consider their interests, and his majesty has not so much affection for your conservation as to induce him to resign his peaceful position. tell me, i pray you, what would you do for his majesty in case anything should be done for you? you were lately in holland. do you think that they would give themselves to the king if he assisted them? do you not believe that prince maurice has designs on the sovereignty, and would prevent the fulfilment of the king's hopes? what will you do for us in return for our assistance?" aerssens was somewhat perplexed, but he was cunning at fence. "we will do all we can," said he, "for any change is more supportable than the yoke of spain." "what can you do then?" persisted sillery. "give us your opinion in plain french, i beg of you, and lay aside all passion; for we have both the same object--your preservation. besides interest, his majesty has affection for you. let him only see some advantage for himself to induce to assist you more powerfully. suppose you should give us what you have and what you may acquire in flanders with the promise to treat secretly with us when the time comes. could you do that?" the envoy replied that this would be tearing the commonwealth in pieces. if places were given away, the jealousy of the english would be excited. certainly it would be no light matter to surrender sluys, the fruit of maurice's skill and energy, the splendidly earned equivalent for the loss of ostend. "as to sluys and other places in flanders," said aerssens, "i don't know if towns comprised in our union could be transferred or pledged without their own consent and that of the states. should such a thing get wind we might be ruined. nevertheless i will write to learn what his majesty may hope." "the people," returned sillery, "need know nothing of this transfer; for it might be made secretly by prince maurice, who could put the french quietly into sluys and other flemish places. meantime you had best make a journey to holland to arrange matters so that the deputies, coming hither, may be amply instructed in regard to sluys, and no time be lost. his majesty is determined to help you if you know how to help yourselves." the two men then separated, sillery enjoining it upon the envoy to see the king next morning, "in order to explain to his majesty, as he had just been doing to himself, that this sovereignty could not be transferred, without the consent of the whole people, nor the people be consulted in secret." "it is necessary therefore to be armed," continued henry's minister very significantly, "before aspiring to the sovereignty." thus there was a faint glimmer of appreciation at the french court of the meaning of popular sovereignty. it did not occur to the minister that the right of giving consent was to be respected. the little obstacle was to be overcome by stratagem and by force. prince maurice was to put french garrisons stealthily into sluys and other towns conquered by the republic in flanders. then the magnanimous ally was to rise at the right moment and overcome all resistance by force of arms. the plot was a good one. it is passing strange, however, that the character of the nassaus and of the dutch nation should after the last fifty years have been still so misunderstood. it seemed in france possible that maurice would thus defile his honour and the netherlanders barter their liberty, by accepting a new tyrant in place of the one so long ago deposed. "this is the marrow of our conference," said aerssens to barneveld, reporting the interview, "and you may thus perceive whither are tending the designs of his majesty. it seems that they are aspiring here to the sovereignty, and all my letters have asserted the contrary. if you will examine a little more closely, however, you will find that there is no contradiction. this acquisition would be desirable for france if it could be made peacefully. as it can only be effected by war you may make sure that it will not be attempted; for the great maxim and basis of this kingdom is to preserve repose, and at the same time give such occupation to the king of spain that his means shall be consumed and his designs frustrated. all this will cease if we make peace. "thus in treating with the king we must observe two rules. the first is that we can maintain ourselves no longer unless powerfully assisted, and that, the people inclining to peace, we shall be obliged to obey the people. secondly, we must let no difficulty appear as to the desire expressed by his majesty to have the sovereignty of these provinces. we ought to let him hope for it, but to make him understand that by ordinary and legitimate means he cannot aspire to it. we will make him think that we have an equal desire with himself, and we shall thus take from those evil-disposed counsellors the power to injure us who are always persuading him that he is only making us great for ourselves, and thus giving us the power to injure him. in short, the king can hope nothing from us overtly, and certainly nothing covertly. by explaining to him that we require the authorization of the people, and by showing ourselves prompt to grant his request, he will be the very first to prevent us from taking any steps, in order that his repose may not be disturbed. i know that france does not wish to go to war with spain. let us then pretend that we wish to be under the dominion of france, and that we will lead our people to that point if the king desires it, but that it cannot be done secretly. believe me, he will not wish it on such conditions, while we shall gain much by this course. would to god that we could engage france in war with spain. all the utility would be ours; and the accidents of arms would so press them to spain, italy, and other places, that they would have little leisure to think of us. consider all this and conceal it from buzanval." buzanval, it is well known, was the french envoy at the hague, and it must be confessed that these schemes and paltry falsehoods on the part of the dutch agent were as contemptible as any of the plots contrived every day in paris or madrid. such base coin as this was still circulating in diplomacy as if fresh from the machiavellian mint; but the republican agent ought to have known that his government had long ago refused to pass it current. soon afterwards this grave matter was discussed at the hague between henry's envoy and barneveld. it was a very delicate negotiation. the advocate wished to secure the assistance of a powerful but most unscrupulous ally, and at the same time to conceal his real intention to frustrate the french design upon the independence of the republic. disingenuous and artful as his conduct unquestionably was, it may at least be questioned whether in that age of deceit any other great statesman would have been more frank. if the comparatively weak commonwealth, by openly and scornfully refusing all the insidious and selfish propositions of the french king, had incurred that monarch's wrath, it would have taken a noble position no doubt, but it would have perhaps been utterly destroyed. the advocate considered himself justified in using the artifices of war against a subtle and dangerous enemy who wore the mask of a friend. when the price demanded for military protection was the voluntary abandonment of national independence in favour of the protector, the man who guided the affairs of the netherlands did not hesitate to humour and to outwit the king who strove to subjugate the republic. at the same time--however one may be disposed to censure the dissimulation from the standing-ground of a lofty morality--it should not be forgotten that barneveld never hinted at any possible connivance on his part with an infraction of the laws. whatever might be the result of time, of persuasion, of policy, he never led henry or his ministers to believe that the people of the netherlands could be deprived of their liberty by force or fraud. he was willing to play a political game, in which he felt himself inferior to no man, trusting to his own skill and coolness for success. if the tyrant were defeated, and at the same time made to serve the cause of the free commonwealth, the advocate believed this to be fair play. knowing himself surrounded by gamblers and tricksters, he probably did not consider himself to be cheating because he did not play his cards upon the table. so when buzanval informed him early in october that the possession of sluys and other flemish towns would not be sufficient for the king, but that they must offer the sovereignty on even more favourable conditions than had once been proposed to henry iii., the advocate told him roundly that my lords the states were not likely to give the provinces to any man, but meant to maintain their freedom and their rights. the envoy replied that his majesty would be able to gain more favour perhaps with the common people of the country. when it is remembered that the states had offered the sovereignty of the provinces to henry iii., abjectly and as it were without any conditions at all, the effrontery of henry iv. may be measured, who claimed the same sovereignty, after twenty years of republican independence, upon even more favourable terms than those which his predecessor had rejected. barneveld, in order to mitigate the effect of his plump refusal of the royal overtures, explained to buzanval, what buzanval very well knew, that the times had now changed; that in those days, immediately after the death of william the silent, despair and disorder had reigned in the provinces, "while that dainty delicacy--liberty--had not so long been sweetly tickling the appetites of the people; that the english had not then acquired their present footing in the country, nor the house of nassau the age, the credit, and authority to which it had subsequently attained." he then intimated--and here began the deception, which certainly did not deceive buzanval--that if things were handled in the right way, there was little doubt as to the king's reaching the end proposed, but that all depended on good management. it was an error, he said, to suppose that in one, two, or three months, eight provinces and their principal members, to wit, forty good cities all enjoying liberty and equality, could be induced to accept a foreign sovereign. such language was very like irony, and probably not too subtle to escape the fine perception of the french envoy. the first thing to be done, continued the advocate, is to persuade the provinces to aid the king with all their means to conquer the disunited provinces--to dispose of the archdukes, in short, and to drive the spaniards from the soil--and then, little by little, to make it clear that there could be no safety for the states except in reducing the whole body of the netherlands under the authority of the king. let his majesty begin by conquering and annexing to his crown the provinces nearest him, and he would then be able to persuade the others to a reasonable arrangement. whether the advocate's general reply was really considered by buzanval as a grave sarcasm, politely veiled, may be a question. that envoy, however, spoke to his government of the matter as surrounded with difficulties, but not wholly desperate. barneveld was, he said, inclined to doubt whether the archdukes would be able, before any negotiations were begun, to comply with the demand which he had made upon them to have a declaration in writing that the united provinces were to be regarded as a free people over whom they pretended to no authority. if so, the french king would at once be informed of the fact. meantime the envoy expressed the safe opinion that, if prince maurice and the advocate together should take the matter of henry's sovereignty in hand with zeal, they might conduct the bark to the desired haven. surely this was an 'if' with much virtue in it. and notwithstanding that he chose to represent barneveld as, rich, tired, at the end of his latin, and willing enough to drop his anchor in a snug harbour, in order to make his fortune secure, it was obvious enough that buzanval had small hope at heart of seeing his master's purpose accomplished. as to prince maurice, the envoy did not even affect to believe him capable of being made use of, strenuous as the efforts of the french government in that direction had been. "he has no private designs that i can find out," said buzanval, doing full justice to the straightforward and sincere character of the prince. "he asks no change for himself or for his country." the envoy added, as a matter of private opinion however, that if an alteration were to be made in the constitution of the provinces, maurice would prefer that it should be made in favour of france than of any other government. he lost no opportunity, moreover, of impressing it upon his government that if the sovereignty were to be secured for france at all, it could only be done by observing great caution, and by concealing their desire to swallow the republic of which they were professing themselves the friends. the jealousy of england was sure to be awakened if france appeared too greedy at the beginning. on the other hand, that power "might be the more easily rocked into a profound sleep if france did not show its appetite at the very beginning of the banquet." that the policy of france should be steadily but stealthily directed towards getting possession of as many strong places as possible in the netherlands had long been his opinion. "since we don't mean to go to war," said he a year before to villeroy, "let us at least follow the example of the english, who have known how to draw a profit out of the necessities of this state. why should we not demand, or help ourselves to, a few good cities. sluys, for example, would be a security for us, and of great advantage." suspicion was rife on this subject at the court of spain. certainly it would be less humiliating to the catholic crown to permit the independence of its rebellious subjects than to see them incorporated into the realms of either france or england. it is not a very striking indication of the capacity of great rulers to look far into the future that both, france and england should now be hankering after the sovereignty of those very provinces, the solemn offer of which by the provinces themselves both france and england had peremptorily and almost contemptuously refused. in spain itself the war was growing very wearisome. three hundred thousand dollars a month could no longer be relied upon from the royal exchequer, or from the american voyages, or from the kite-flying operations of the merchant princes on the genoa exchange. a great fleet, to be sure, had recently arrived, splendidly laden, from the west indies, as already stated. pagan slaves, scourged to their dreadful work, continued to supply to their christian taskmasters the hidden treasures of the new world in exchange for the blessings of the evangel as thus revealed; but these treasures could never fill the perpetual sieve of the netherland war, rapidly and conscientiously as they were poured into it, year after year. the want of funds in the royal exchequer left the soldiers in flanders unpaid, and as an inevitable result mutiny admirably organized and calmly defiant was again established throughout the obedient provinces. this happened regularly once a year, so that it seemed almost as business-like a proceeding for an eletto to proclaim mutiny as for a sovereign to declare martial law. should the whole army mutiny at once, what might become of the kingdom of spain? moreover, a very uneasy feeling was prevalent that, as formerly, the turks had crossed the hellespont into europe by means of a genoese alliance and genoese galleys, so now the moors were contemplating the reconquest of granada, and of their other ancient possessions in spain, with the aid of the dutch republic and her powerful fleets.--[grotius, xv. ] the dutch cruisers watched so carefully on the track of the homeward-bound argosies, that the traffic was becoming more dangerous than lucrative, particularly since the public law established by admiral fazardo, that it was competent for naval commanders to hang, drown, or burn the crews of the enemy's merchantmen. the portuguese were still more malcontent than the spaniards. they had gained little by the absorption of their kingdom by spain, save participation in the war against the republic, the result of which had been to strip them almost entirely of the conquests of vasco de gama and his successors, and to close to them the ports of the old world and the new. in the republic there was a party for peace, no doubt, but peace only with independence. as for a return to their original subjection to spain they were unanimously ready to accept forty years more of warfare rather than to dream of such a proposition. there were many who deliberately preferred war to peace. bitter experience had impressed very deeply on the netherlanders the great precept that faith would never be kept with heretics. the present generation had therefore been taught from their cradles to believe that the word peace in spanish mouths simply meant the holy inquisition. it was not unnatural, too, perhaps, that a people who had never known what it was to be at peace might feel, in regard to that blessing, much as the blind or the deaf towards colour or music; as something useful and agreeable, no doubt, but with which they might the more cheerfully dispense, as peculiar circumstances had always kept them in positive ignorance of its nature. the instinct of commercial greediness made the merchants of holland and zeeland, and especially those of amsterdam, dread the revival of antwerp in case of peace, to the imagined detriment of the great trading centres of the republic. it was felt also to be certain that spain, in case of negotiations, would lay down as an indispensable preliminary the abstinence on the part of the netherlanders from all intercourse with the indies, east or west; and although such a prohibition would be received by those republicans with perfect contempt, yet the mere discussion of the subject moved their spleen. they had already driven the portuguese out of a large portion of the field in the east, and they were now preparing by means of the same machinery to dispute the monopoly of the spaniards in the west. to talk of excluding such a people as this from intercourse with any portion of the old world or the new was the mumbling of dotage; yet nothing could be more certain than that such would be the pretensions of spain. as for the stadholder, his vocation was war, his greatness had been derived from war, his genius had never turned itself to pacific pursuits. should a peace be negotiated, not only would his occupation be gone, but he might even find himself hampered for means. it was probable that his large salaries, as captain and admiral-general of the forces of the republic, would be seriously curtailed, in case his services in the field were no longer demanded, while such secret hopes as he might entertain of acquiring that sovereign power which barneveld had been inclined to favour, were more likely to be fulfilled if the war should be continued. at the same time, if sovereignty were to be his at all, he was distinctly opposed to such limitations of his authority as were to have been proposed by the states to his father. rather than reign on those conditions, he avowed that he would throw himself head foremost from the great tower of hague castle. moreover, the prince was smarting under the consciousness of having lost military reputation, however undeservedly, in the latter campaigns, and might reasonably hope to gain new glory in the immediate future. thus, while his great rival, marquis spinola, whose fame had grown to so luxuriant a height in so brief a period, had many reasons to dread the results of future campaigning, maurice seemed to have personally much to lose and nothing to hope for in peace. spinola was over head and ears in debt. in the past two years he had spent millions of florins out of his own pocket. his magnificent fortune and boundless credit were seriously compromised. he had found it an easier task to take ostend and relieve grol than to bolster up the finances of spain. his acceptances were becoming as much a drug upon the exchanges of antwerp, genoa, or augsburg, as those of the most catholic king or their highnesses the archdukes. ruin stared him in the face, notwithstanding the deeds with which he had startled the world, and he was therefore sincerely desirous of peace, provided, of course, that all those advantages for which the war had been waged in vain could now be secured by negotiation. there had been, since the arrival of the duke of alva in the netherlands, just forty years of fighting. maurice and the war had been born in the same year, and it would be difficult for him to comprehend that his whole life's work had been a superfluous task, to be rubbed away now with a sponge. yet that spain, on the entrance to negotiations, would demand of the provinces submission to her authority, re-establishment of the catholic religion, abstinence from oriental or american commerce, and the toleration of spanish soldiers over all the netherlands, seemed indubitable. it was equally unquestionable that the seven provinces would demand recognition of their national independence by spain, would refuse public practice of the roman religion within their domains, and would laugh to scorn any proposed limitations to their participation in the world's traffic. as to the presence of spanish troops on their soil, that was, of course, an inconceivable idea. where, then, could even a loophole be found through which the possibility of a compromise could be espied? the ideas of the contending parties were as much opposed to each other as fire and snow. nevertheless, the great forces of the world seemed to have gradually settled into such an equilibrium as to make the continuance of the war for the present impossible. accordingly, the peace-party in brussels had cautiously put forth its tentacles late in , and again in the early days of the new year. walrave van wittenhorst and doctor gevaerts had been allowed to come to the hague, ostensibly on private business, but with secret commission from the archdukes to feel and report concerning the political atmosphere. they found that it was a penal offence in the republic to talk of peace or of truce. they nevertheless suspected that there might be a more sympathetic layer beneath the very chill surface which they everywhere encountered. having intimated in the proper quarters that the archdukes would be ready to receive or to appoint commissioners for peace or armistice, if becoming propositions should be made, they were allowed on the th of january, , to make a communication to the states-general. they indulged in the usual cheap commonplaces on the effusion of blood, the calamities of war, and the blessings of peace, and assured the states of the very benignant disposition of their highnesses at brussels. the states-general, in their reply, seventeen days afterwards, remarking that the archdukes persisted in their unfounded pretensions of authority over them, took occasion to assure their highnesses that they had no chance to obtain such authority except by the sword. whether they were like to accomplish much in that way the history of the past might sufficiently indicate, while on the other hand the states would always claim the right, and never renounce the hope, of recovering those provinces which had belonged to their free commonwealth since the union of utrecht, and which force and fraud had torn away. during twenty-five years that union had been confirmed as a free state by solemn decrees, and many public acts and dealings with the mightiest potentates of europe, nor could any other answer now be made to the archdukes than the one always given to his holy roman imperial majesty, and other princes, to wit, that no negotiations could be had with powers making any pretensions in conflict with the solemn decrees and well-maintained rights of the united netherlands. it was in this year that two words became more frequent in the mouths of men than they had ever been before; two words which as the ages rolled on were destined to exercise a wider influence over the affairs of this planet than was yet dreamed of by any thinker in christendom. those words were america and virginia. certainly both words were known before, although india was the more general term for these auriferous regions of the west, which, more than a century long, had been open to european adventure, while the land, baptized in honour of the throned vestal, had been already made familiar to european ears by the exploits of raleigh. but it was not till that jamestown was founded, that captain john smith's adventures with powhattan, "emperor of virginia," and his daughter the princess pocahontas, became fashionable topics in england, that the english attempts to sail up the chickahominy to the pacific ocean--as abortive as those of the netherlanders to sail across the north pole to cathay--were creating scientific discussion in europe, and that the first cargo of imaginary gold dust was exported from the james river. with the adventurous minds of england all aflame with enthusiasm for those golden regions, with the thick-coming fancies for digging, washing, refining the precious sands of virginia rivers, it was certain that a great rent was now to be made in the borgian grant. it was inevitable that the rivalry of the netherlanders should be excited by the achievements and the marvellous tales of englishmen beyond the atlantic, and that they too should claim their share of traffic with that golden and magnificent unknown which was called america. the rivalry between england and holland, already so conspicuous in the spicy archipelagos of the east, was now to be extended over the silvery regions of the west. the two leading commercial powers of the old world were now to begin their great struggle for supremacy in the western hemisphere. a charter for what was called a west india company was accordingly granted by the states-general. west india was understood to extend from the french settlements in newfoundland or acadia, along the american coast to the straits of magellan, and so around to the south sea, including the atlantic and pacific oceans, besides all of africa lying between the tropic of cancer and the cape of good hope. at least, within those limits the west india company was to have monopoly of trade, all other netherlanders being warned off the precincts. nothing could be more magnificent, nor more vague. the charter was for thirty-six years. the company was to maintain armies and fleets, to build forts and cities, to carry on war, to make treaties of peace and of commerce. it was a small peripatetic republic of merchants and mariners, evolved out of the mother republic--which had at last established its position among the powers of christendom--and it was to begin its career full grown and in full armour. the states-general were to furnish the company at starting with one million of florins and with twenty ships of war. the company was to add twenty other ships. the government was to consist of four chambers of directors. one-half the capital was to be contributed by the chamber of amsterdam, one-quarter by that of zeeland, one-eighth respectively by the chambers of the meuse and of north holland. the chambers of amsterdam, of zeeland, of the meuse, and of north holland were to have respectively thirty, eighteen, fifteen, and fifteen directors. of these seventy-eight, one-third were to be replaced every sixth year by others, while from the whole number seventeen persons were to be elected as a permanent board of managers. dividends were to be made as soon as the earnings amounted to ten per cent. on the capital. maritime judges were to decide upon prizes, the proceeds of which were not to be divided for six years, in order that war might be self-sustaining. afterwards, the treasury of the united provinces should receive one-tenth, prince maurice one-thirtieth, and the merchant stockholders the remainder. governors and generals were to take the oath of fidelity to the states-general. the merchandize of the company was to be perpetually free of taxation, so far as regarded old duties, and exempt from war-taxes for the first twenty years. very violent and conflicting were the opinions expressed throughout the republic in regard to this project. it was urged by those most in favour of it that the chief sources of the greatness of spain would be thus transferred to the states-general; for there could be no doubt that the hollanders, unconquerable at sea, familiar with every ocean-path, and whose hardy constitutions defied danger and privation and the extremes of heat and cold, would easily supplant the more delicately organized adventurers from southern europe, already enervated by the exhausting climate of america. moreover, it was idle for spain to attempt the defence of so vast a portion of the world. every tribe over which she had exercised sway would furnish as many allies for the dutch company as it numbered men; for to obey and to hate the tyrannical spaniard were one. the republic would acquire, in reality, the grandeur which with spain was but an empty boast, would have the glory of transferring the great war beyond the limits of home into those far distant possessions, where the enemy deemed himself most secure, and would teach the true religion to savages sunk in their own superstitions, and still further depraved by the imported idolatries of rome. commerce was now world-wide, and the time had come for the netherlanders, to whom the ocean belonged, to tear out from the pompous list of the catholic king's titles his appellation of lord of the seas. there were others, however, whose language was not so sanguine. they spoke with a shiver of the inhabitants of america, who hated all men, simply because they were men, or who had never manifested any love for their species except as an article of food. to convert such cannibals to christianity and calvinism would be a hopeless endeavour, and meanwhile the spaniards were masters of the country. the attempt to blockade half the globe with forty galleots was insane; for, although the enemy had not occupied the whole territory, he commanded every harbour and position of vantage. men, scarcely able to defend inch by inch the meagre little sandbanks of their fatherland, who should now go forth in hopes to conquer the world, were but walking in their sleep. they would awake to the consciousness of ruin. thus men in the united provinces spake of america. especially barneveld had been supposed to be prominent among the opponents of the new company, on the ground that the more violently commercial ambition excited itself towards wider and wilder fields of adventure, the fainter grew inclinations for peace. the advocate, who was all but omnipotent in holland and zeeland, subsequently denied the imputation of hostility to the new corporation, but the establishment of the west india company, although chartered, was postponed. the archdukes had not been discouraged by the result of their first attempts at negotiation, for wittenhorst had reported a disposition towards peace as prevalent in the rebellious provinces, so far as he had contrived, during his brief mission, to feel the public pulse. on the th february, , werner cruwel, an insolvent tradesman of brussels, and a relative of recorder aerssens, father of the envoy at paris, made his appearance very unexpectedly at the house of his kinsman at the hague. sitting at the dinner-table, but neither eating nor drinking, he was asked by his host what troubled him. he replied that he had a load on his breast. aerssens begged him, if it was his recent bankruptcy that oppressed him, to use philosophy and patience. the merchant answered that he who confessed well was absolved well. he then took from his pocket-book a letter from president richardot, and said he would reveal what he had to say after dinner. the cloth being removed, and the wife and children of aerssens having left the room, cruwel disclosed that he had been sent by richardot and father neyen on a secret mission. the recorder, much amazed and troubled, refused to utter a word, save to ask if cruwel would object to confer with the advocate. the merchant expressing himself as ready for such an interview, the recorder, although it was late, immediately sent a message to the great statesman. barneveld was in bed and asleep, but was aroused to receive the communication of aerssens. "we live in such a calumnious time," said the recorder, "that many people believe that you and i know more of the recent mission of wittenhorst than we admit. you had best interrogate cruwel in the presence of witnesses. i know not the man's humour, but it seems to me since his failure, that, in spite of his shy and lumpish manner, he is false and cunning." the result was a secret interview, on the th february, between prince maurice, barneveld, and the recorder, in which cruwel was permitted to state the object of his mission. he then produced a short memorandum, signed by spinola and by father neyen, to the effect that the archdukes were willing to treat for a truce of ten or twelve years, on the sole condition that the states would abstain from the india navigation. he exhibited also another paper, signed only by neyen, in which that friar proposed to come secretly to the hague, no one in brussels to know of the visit save the archdukes and spinola; and all in the united provinces to be equally ignorant except the prince, the advocate, and the recorder. cruwel was then informed that if neyen expected to discuss such grave matters with the prince, he must first send in a written proposal that could go on all fours and deserve attention. a week afterwards cruwel came back with a paper in which neyen declared himself authorized by the archdukes to treat with the states on the basis of their liberty and independence, and to ask what they would give in return for so great a concession as this renunciation of all right to "the so-called united provinces." this being a step in advance, it was decided to permit the visit of neyen. it was, however, the recorded opinion of the distinguished personages to whom the proposal was made that it was a trick and a deception. the archdukes would, no doubt, it was said, nominally recognise the provinces as a free state, but without really meaning it. meantime, they would do their best to corrupt the government and to renew the war after the republic had by this means been separated from its friends. john neyen, father commissary of the franciscans, who had thus invited himself to the momentous conference, was a very smooth flemish friar, who seemed admirably adapted, for various reasons, to glide into the rebel country and into the hearts of the rebels. he was a netherlander, born at antwerp, when antwerp was a portion of the united commonwealth, of a father who had been in the confidential service of william the silent. he was eloquent in the dutch language, and knew the character of the dutch people. he had lived much at court, both in madrid and brussels, and was familiar with the ways of kings and courtiers. he was a holy man, incapable of a thought of worldly advancement for himself, but he was a master of the logic often thought most conclusive in those days; no man insinuating golden arguments more adroitly than he into half-reluctant palms. blessed with a visage of more than flemish frankness, he had in reality a most wily and unscrupulous disposition. insensible to contumely, and incapable of accepting a rebuff, he could wind back to his purpose when less supple negotiators would have been crushed. he was described by his admirers as uniting the wisdom of the serpent with the guilelessness of the dove. who better than he then, in this double capacity, to coil himself around the rebellion, and to carry the olive-branch in his mouth? on the th february the monk, disguised in the dress of a burgher, arrived at ryswick, a village a mile and a half from the hague. he was accompanied on the journey by cruwel, and they gave themselves out as travelling tradesmen. after nightfall, a carriage having been sent to the hostelry, according to secret agreement, by recorder aerssens, john neyen was brought to the hague. the friar, as he was driven on through these hostile regions, was somewhat startled, on looking out, to find himself accompanied by two mounted musketeers on each side of the carriage, but they proved to have been intended as a protective escort. he was brought to the recorder's house, whence, after some delay, he was conveyed to the palace. here he was received by an unknown and silent attendant, who took him by the hand and led him through entirely deserted corridors and halls. not a human being was seen nor a sound heard until his conductor at last reached the door of an inner apartment through which he ushered him, without speaking a syllable. the monk then found himself in the presence of two personages, seated at a table covered with books and papers. one was in military undress, with an air about him of habitual command, a fair-complexioned man of middle age, inclining to baldness, rather stout, with a large blue eye, regular features, and a mouse-coloured beard. the other was in the velvet cloak and grave habiliments of a civil functionary, apparently sixty years of age, with a massive features, and a shaggy beard. the soldier was maurice of nassau, the statesman was john of olden-barneveld. both rose as the friar entered, and greeted him with cordiality. "but," said the prince, "how did you dare to enter the hague, relying only on the word of a beggar?" "who would not confide," replied neyen, "in the word of so exalted, so respectable a beggar as you, o most excellent prince?" with these facetious words began the negotiations through which an earnest attempt was at last to be made for terminating a seemingly immortal war. the conversation, thus begun, rolled amicably and informally along. the monk produced letters from the archdukes, in which, as he stated, the truly royal soul of the writers shone conspicuously forth. "without a thought for their own advantage," he observed, "and moved only by a contemplation of the tears shed by so many thousands of beings reduced to extreme misery, their highnesses, although they were such exalted princes, cared nothing for what would be said by the kings of europe and all the potentates of the universe about their excessive indulgence." "what indulgence do you speak of?" asked the stadholder. "does that seem a trifling indulgence," replied john neyen, "that they are willing to abandon the right which they inherited from their ancestors over these provinces, to allow it so easily to slip from their fingers, to declare these people to be free, over whom, as their subjects refusing the yoke, they have carried on war so long?" "it is our right hands that have gained this liberty," said maurice, "not the archdukes that have granted it. it has been acquired by our treasure, poured forth how freely! by the price of our blood, by so many thousands of souls sent to their account. alas, how dear a price have we paid for it! all the potentates of christendom, save the king of spain alone, with his relatives the archdukes, have assented to our independence. in treating for peace we ask no gift of freedom from the archdukes. we claim to be regarded by them as what we are--free men. if they are unwilling to consider us as such, let them subject us to their dominion if they can. and as we have hitherto done, we shall contend more fiercely for liberty than for life." with this, the tired monk was dismissed to sleep off the effects of his journey and of the protracted discussion, being warmly recommended to the captain of the citadel, by whom he was treated with every possible consideration. several days of private discussion ensued between neyen and the leading personages of the republic. the emissary was looked upon with great distrust. all schemes of substantial negotiation were regarded by the public as visions, while the monk on his part felt the need of all his tact and temper to wind his way out of the labyrinth into which he felt that he had perhaps too heedlessly entered. a false movement on his part would involve himself and his masters in a hopeless maze of suspicion, and make a pacific result impossible. at length, it having been agreed to refer the matter to the states-general, recorder aerssens waited upon neyen to demand his credentials for negotiation. he replied that he had been forbidden to deliver his papers, but that he was willing to exhibit them to the states-general. he came accordingly to that assembly, and was respectfully received. all the deputies rose, and he was placed in a seat near the presiding officer. olden-barneveld then in a few words told him why he had been summoned. the monk begged that a want of courtesy might not be imputed to him, as he had been sent to negotiate with three individuals, not with a great assembly. thus already the troublesome effect of publicity upon diplomacy was manifesting itself. the many-headed, many-tongued republic was a difficult creature to manage, adroit as the negotiator had proved himself to be in gliding through the cabinets and council-chambers of princes and dealing with the important personages found there. the power was, however, produced, and handed around the assembly, the signature and seals being duly inspected by the members. neyen was then asked if he had anything to say in public. he replied in the negative, adding only a few vague commonplaces about the effusion of blood and the desire of the archdukes for the good of mankind. he was then dismissed. a few days afterwards a committee of five from the states-general, of which barneveld was chairman, conferred with neyen. he was informed that the paper exhibited by him was in many respects objectionable, and that they had therefore drawn up a form which he was requested to lay before the archdukes for their guidance in making out a new power. he was asked also whether the king of spain was a party to these proposals for negotiation. the monk answered that he was not informed of the fact, but that he considered it highly probable. john neyen then departed for brussels with the form prescribed by the states-general in his pocket. nothing could exceed the indignation with which the royalists and catholics at the court of the archdukes were inspired by the extreme arrogance and obstinacy thus manifested by the rebellious heretics. that the offer on the part of their master to negotiate should be received by them with cavils, and almost with contempt, was as great an offence as their original revolt. that the servant should dare to prescribe a form for the sovereign to copy seemed to prove that the world was coming to an end. but it was ever thus with the vulgar, said the courtiers and church dignitaries, debating these matters. the insanity of plebeians was always enormous, and never more so than when fortune for a moment smiled. full of arrogance and temerity when affairs were prosperous, plunged in abject cowardice when dangers and reverses came--such was the people--such it must ever be. thus blustered the priests and the parasites surrounding the archduke, nor need their sentiments amaze us. could those honest priests and parasites have ever dreamed, before the birth of this upstart republic, that merchants, manufacturers, and farmers, mechanics and advocates--the people, in short--should presume to meddle with affairs of state? their vocation had been long ago prescribed--to dig and to draw, to brew and to bake, to bear burdens in peace and to fill bloody graves in war--what better lot could they desire? meantime their superiors, especially endowed with wisdom by the omnipotent, would direct trade and commerce, conduct war and diplomacy, make treaties, impose taxes, fill their own pockets, and govern the universe. was not this reasonable and according to the elemental laws? if the beasts of the field had been suddenly gifted with speech, and had constituted themselves into a free commonwealth for the management of public affairs, they would hardly have caused more profound astonishment at brussels and madrid than had been excited by the proceedings of the rebellious dutchmen. yet it surely might have been suggested, when the lament of the courtiers over the abjectness of the people in adversity was so emphatic, that dorp and van loon, berendrecht and gieselles, with the men under their command, who had disputed every inch of little troy for three years and three months, and had covered those fatal sands with a hundred thousand corpses, had not been giving of late such evidence of the people's cowardice in reverses as theory required. the siege of ostend had been finished only three years before, and it is strange that its lessons should so soon have been forgotten. it was thought best, however, to dissemble. diplomacy in those days--certainly the diplomacy of spain and rome--meant simply dissimulation. moreover, that solid apothegm, 'haereticis non servanda fides,' the most serviceable anchor ever forged for true believers, was always ready to be thrown out, should storm or quicksand threaten, during the intricate voyage to be now undertaken. john neyen soon returned to the hague, having persuaded his masters that it was best to affect compliance with the preliminary demand of the states. during the discussions in regard to peace, it would not be dangerous to treat with the rebel provinces as with free states, over which the archdukes pretended to no authority, because--so it was secretly argued--this was to be understood with a sense of similitude. "we will negotiate with them as if they were free," said the greyfriar to the archduke and his counsellors, "but not with the signification of true and legitimate liberty. they have laid down in their formula that we are to pretend to no authority over them. very well. for the time being we will pretend that we do not pretend to any such authority. to negotiate with them as if they were free will not make them free. it is no recognition by us that they are free. their liberty could never be acquired by their rebellion. this is so manifest that neither the king nor the archdukes can lose any of their rights over the united provinces, even should they make this declaration." thus the hair-sputters at brussels--spinning a web that should be stout enough to entrap the noisy, blundering republicans at the hague, yet so delicate as to go through the finest dialectical needle. time was to show whether subtilty or bluntness was the best diplomatic material. the monk brought with him three separate instruments or powers, to be used according to his discretion. admitted to the assembly of the states-general, he produced number one. it was instantly rejected. he then offered number two, with the same result. he now declared himself offended, not on his own account, but for the sake of his masters, and asked leave to retire from the assembly, leaving with them the papers which had been so benignantly drawn up, and which deserved to be more carefully studied. the states, on their parts, were sincerely and vehemently indignant. what did all this mean, it was demanded, this producing one set of propositions after another? why did the archdukes not declare their intentions openly and at once? let the states depart each to the several provinces, and let john neyen be instantly sent out of the country. was it thought to bait a trap for the ingenuous netherlanders, and catch them little by little, like so many wild animals? this was not the way the states dealt with the archdukes. what they meant they put in front--first, last, and always. now and in the future they said and they would say exactly what they wished, candidly and seriously. those who pursued another course would never come into negotiation with them. the monk felt that he had excited a wrath which it would be difficult to assuage. he already perceived the difference between a real and an affected indignation, and tried to devise some soothing remedy. early next morning he sent a petition in writing to the states for leave to make an explanation to the assembly. barneveld and recorder aerssens, in consequence, came to him immediately, and heaped invectives upon his head for his duplicity. evidently it was a different matter dealing with this many-headed roaring beast, calling itself a republic, from managing the supple politicians with whom he was more familiar. the noise and publicity of these transactions were already somewhat appalling to the smooth friar who was accustomed to negotiate in comfortable secrecy. he now vehemently protested that never man was more sincere than he, and implored for time to send to brussels for another power. it is true that number three was still in his portfolio, but he had seen so much indignation on the production of number two as to feel sure that the fury of the states would know no bounds should he now confess that he had come provided with a third. it was agreed accordingly to wait eight days, in which period he might send for and receive the new power already in his possession. these little tricks were considered masterly diplomacy in those days, and by this kind of negotiators; and such was the way in which it was proposed to terminate a half century of warfare. [the narrative is the monk's own, as preserved by his admirer, the jesuit gallucci, (ubi sup.)] the friar wrote to his masters, not of course to ask for a new power, but to dilate on the difficulties to be anticipated in procuring that which the losing party is always most bent upon in circumstances like these, and which was most ardently desired by the archdukes--an armistice. he described prince maurice as sternly opposed to such a measure, believing that temporary cessation of hostilities was apt to be attended with mischievous familiarity between the opposing camps, with relaxation of discipline, desertion, and various kinds of treachery, and that there was no better path to peace than that which was trampled by contending hosts. seven days passed, and then neyen informed the states that he had at last received a power which he hoped would prove satisfactory. being admitted accordingly to the assembly, he delivered an eloquent eulogy upon the sincerity of the archdukes, who, with perhaps too little regard for their own dignity and authority, had thus, for the sake of the public good, so benignantly conceded what the states had demanded. barneveld, on receiving the new power, handed to neyen a draught of an agreement which he was to study at his leisure, and in which he might suggest alterations. at the same time it was demanded that within three months the written consent of the king of spain to the proposed negotiations should be produced. the franciscan objected that it did not comport with the dignity of the archdukes to suppose the consent of any other sovereign needful to confirm their acts. barneveld insisted with much vehemence on the necessity of this condition. it was perfectly notorious, he said, that the armies commanded by the archdukes were subject to the king of spain, and were called royal armies. prince maurice observed that all prisoners taken by him had uniformly called themselves soldiers of the crown, not of the archdukes, nor of marquis spinola. barneveld added that the royal power over the armies in the netherlands and over the obedient provinces was proved by the fact that all commanders of regiments, all governors of fortresses, especially of antwerp, ghent, cambray, and the like, were appointed by the king of spain. these were royal citadels with royal garrisons. that without the knowledge and consent of the king of spain it would be impossible to declare the united provinces free, was obvious; for in the cession by philip ii. of all the netherlands it was provided that, without the consent of the king, no part of that territory could be ceded, and this on pain of forfeiting all the sovereignty. to treat without the king was therefore impossible. the franciscan denied that because the sovereigns of spain sent funds and auxiliary troops to flanders, and appointed military commanders there of various degrees, the authority of the archdukes was any the less supreme. philip ii. had sent funds and troops to sustain the league, but he was not king of france. barneveld probably thought it not worth his while to reply that philip, with those funds and those troops, had done his best to become king of france, and that his failure proved nothing for the argument either way. neyen then returned once more to brussels, observing as he took leave that the decision of the archdukes as to the king's consent was very doubtful, although he was sure that the best thing for all parties would be to agree to an armistice out of hand. this, however, was far from being the opinion of the states or the stadholder. after conferring with his masters, the monk came down by agreement from antwerp to the dutch ships which lay in the scheld before fort lillo. on board one of these, dirk van der does had been stationed with a special commission from the states to compare documents. it was expressly ordered that in these preliminary negotiations neither party was to go on shore. on a comparison of the agreement brought by neyen from brussels with the draught furnished by barneveld, of which van der does had a copy, so many discrepancies appeared that the document of the archdukes was at once rejected. but of course the monk had a number two, and this, after some trouble, was made to agree with the prescribed form. brother john then, acting upon what he considered the soundest of principles--that no job was so difficult as not to be accomplished with the help of the precious metals--offered his fellow negotiator a valuable gold chain as a present from the archdukes. dirk van der does accepted the chain, but gave notice of the fact to his government. the monk now became urgent to accompany his friend to the hague, but this had been expressly forbidden by the states. neyen felt sure, he said, of being able by arguments, which he could present by word of mouth, to overcome the opposition to the armistice were he once more to be admitted to the assembly. van der does had already much overstaid his appointed time, bound to the spot, as it were, by the golden chain thrown around him by the excellent friar, and he now, in violation of orders, wrote to the hague for leave to comply with this request. pending the answer, the persuasive neyen convinced him, much against his will, that they might both go together as far as delft. to delft they accordingly went; but, within half a league of that place, met a courier with strict orders that the monk was at once to return to brussels. brother john was in great agitation. should he go back, the whole negotiation might come to nought; should he go on, he might be clapped into prison as a spy. being conscious, however, that his services as a spy were intended to be the most valuable part of his mission, he resolved to proceed in that capacity. so he persuaded his friend dirk to hide him in the hold of a canal-boat. van der does was in great trepidation himself, but on reaching the hague and giving up his gold chain to barneveld, he made his peace, and obtained leave for the trembling but audacious friar to come out of his hiding-place. appearing once more before the states-general on the afternoon of th may, neyen urged with much eloquence the propriety of an immediate armistice both by sea and land, insisting that it would be a sanguinary farce to establish a cessation of hostilities upon one element while blood and treasure were profusely flowing on the oceans. there were potent reasons for this earnestness on the part of the monk to procure a truce to maritime operations, as very soon was to be made evident to the world. meantime, on this renewed visit, the negotiator expressed himself as no longer doubtful in regard to the propriety of requesting the spanish king's consent to the proposed negotiations. that consent, however, would in his opinion depend upon the earnestness now to be manifested by the states in establishing the armistice by sea and land, and upon their promptness in recalling the fleets now infesting the coast of spain. no immediate answer was given to these representations, but neyen was requested to draw up his argument in writing, in order that it might be duly pondered by the states of the separate provinces. the radical defect of the dutch constitution--the independent sovereignty claimed by each one of the provinces composing the confederation, each of those provinces on its part being composed of cities, each again claiming something very like sovereignty for itself--could not fail to be manifested whenever, great negotiations with foreign powers were to be undertaken. to obtain the unanimous consent of seven independent little republics was a work of difficulty, requiring immense expenditure of time in comparatively unimportant contingencies. how intolerable might become the obstructions, the dissensions, and the delays, now that a series of momentous and world-wide transactions was beginning, on the issue of which the admission of a new commonwealth into the family of nations, the international connections of all the great powers of christendom, the commerce of the world, and the peace of europe depended. yet there was no help for it but to make the best present use of the institutions which time and great events had bestowed upon the young republic, leaving to a more convenient season the task of remodelling the law. meanwhile, with men who knew their own minds, who meant to speak the truth, and who were resolved to gather in at last the harvest honestly and bravely gained by nearly a half-century of hard fighting, it would be hard for a legion of friars, with their heads full of quirks and their wallets full of bills of exchange, to carry the day for despotism. barneveld was sincerely desirous of peace. he was well aware that his province of holland, where he was an intellectual autocrat, was staggering under the burden of one half the expenses of the whole republic. he knew that holland in the course of the last nine years, notwithstanding the constantly heightened rate of impost on all objects of ordinary consumption, was twenty-six millions of florins behindhand, and that she had reason therefore to wish for peace. the great advocate, than whom no statesman in europe could more accurately scan the world's horizon, was convinced that the propitious moment for honourable straightforward negotiations to secure peace, independence, and free commerce, free religion and free government, had come, and he had succeeded in winning the reluctant maurice into a partial adoption, at least, of his opinions. the franciscan remained at delft, waiting, by direction of the states, for an answer to his propositions, and doing his best according to the instructions of his own government to espy the condition and sentiments of the enemy. becoming anxious after the lapse of a fortnight, he wrote to barneveld. in reply the advocate twice sent a secret messenger, urging, him to be patient, assuring him that the affair was working well; that the opposition to peace came chiefly from zeeland and from certain parties in amsterdam vehemently opposed to peace or truce; but that the rest of holland was decidedly in favour of the negotiations. a few days passed, and neyen was again summoned before the assembly. barneveld now informed him that the dutch fleet would be recalled from the coast of spain so soon as the consent of his catholic majesty to the negotiations arrived, but that it would be necessary to confine the cessation of naval warfare within certain local limits. both these conditions were strenuously opposed by the franciscan, who urged that the consent of the spanish king was certain, but that this new proposition to localize the maritime armistice would prove to be fraught with endless difficulties and dangers. barneveld and the states remaining firm, however, and giving him a formal communication of their decision in writing, neyen had nothing for it but to wend his way back rather malcontent to brussels. it needed but a brief deliberation at the court of the archdukes to bring about the desired arrangement. the desire for an armistice, especially for a cessation of hostilities by sea, had been marvellously stimulated by an event to be narrated in the next chapter. meantime, more than the first three months of the year had been passed in these secret preliminary transactions, and so softly had the stealthy friar sped to and fro between brussels and the hague, that when at last the armistice was announced it broke forth like a sudden flash of fine weather in the midst of a raging storm. no one at the archduke's court knew of the mysterious negotiations save the monk himself, spinola, richardot, verreycken, the chief auditor, and one or two others. the great belgian nobles, from whom everything had been concealed, were very wroth, but the belgian public was as much delighted as amazed at the prospects of peace. in the united provinces opinions were conflicting, but doubtless joy and confidence were the prevailing emotions. towards the middle of april the armistice was publicly announced. it was to last for eight months from the th of may. during this period no citadels were to be besieged, no camps brought near a city, no new fortifications built, and all troops were to be kept carefully within walls. meantime commissioners were to be appointed by the archdukes to confer with an equal number of deputies of the united provinces for peace or for a truce of ten, fifteen, or twenty years, on the express ground that the archdukes regarded the united provinces as free countries, over which their highnesses pretended to no authority. the armistice on land was absolute. on sea, hostilities were to cease in the german ocean and in the channel between england and france, while it was also provided that the netherland fleet should, within a certain period, be recalled from the spanish coast. a day of public fast, humiliation, thanksgiving, and prayer was ordered throughout the republic for the th of may, in order to propitiate the favour of heaven on the great work to be undertaken; and, as a further precaution, prince maurice ordered all garrisons in the strong places to be doubled, lest the slippery enemy should take advantage of too much confidence reposed in his good faith. the preachers throughout the commonwealth, each according to his individual bias, improved the occasion by denouncing the spaniard from their pulpits and inflaming the popular hatred against the ancient enemy, or by dilating on the blessings of peace and the horrors of war. the peace party and the war party, the believers in barneveld and the especial adherents of prince maurice, seemed to divide the land in nearly equal portions. while the netherlands, both rebellious and obedient, were filled with these various emotions, the other countries of europe were profoundly amazed at the sudden revelation. it was on the whole regarded as a confession of impotence on the part of spain that the archdukes should now prepare to send envoys to the revolted provinces as to a free and independent people. universal monarchy, brought to such a pass as this, was hardly what had been expected after the tremendous designs and the grandiloquent language on which the world had so long been feeding as its daily bread. the spectacle of anointed monarchs thus far humbling themselves to the people of rebellion dictating terms, instead of writhing in dust at the foot of the throne--was something new in history. the heavens and earth might soon be expected to pass away, now that such a catastrophe was occurring. the king of france had also been kept in ignorance of these events. it was impossible, however, that the negotiations could go forward without his consent and formal participation. accordingly on receiving the news he appointed an especial mission to the hague--president jeannin and de russy, besides his regular resident ambassador buzanval. meantime startling news reached the republic in the early days of may. etext editor's bookmarks: a penal offence in the republic to talk of peace or of truce accepting a new tyrant in place of the one so long ago deposed as if they were free will not make them free as neat a deception by telling the truth cargo of imaginary gold dust was exported from the james river delay often fights better than an army against a foreign invader diplomacy of spain and rome--meant simply dissimulation draw a profit out of the necessities of this state england hated the netherlands friendly advice still more intolerable haereticis non servanda fides he who confessed well was absolved well insensible to contumely, and incapable of accepting a rebuff languor of fatigue, rather than any sincere desire for peace much as the blind or the deaf towards colour or music subtle and dangerous enemy who wore the mask of a friend word peace in spanish mouths simply meant the holy inquisition chapter xlvii. a dutch fleet under heemskerk sent to the coast of spain and portugal--encounter with the spanish war fleet under d'avila--death of both commanders-in-chief--victory of the netherlanders--massacre of the spaniards. the states-general had not been inclined to be tranquil under the check which admiral haultain had received upon the coast of spain in the autumn of . the deed of terrible self-devotion by which klaaszoon and his comrades had in that crisis saved the reputation of the republic, had proved that her fleets needed only skilful handling and determined leaders to conquer their enemy in the western seas as certainly as they had done in the archipelagos of the east. and there was one pre-eminent naval commander, still in the very prime of life, but seasoned by an experience at the poles and in the tropics such as few mariners in that early but expanding maritime epoch could boast. jacob van heemskerk, unlike many of the navigators and ocean warriors who had made and were destined to make the orange flag of the united provinces illustrious over the world, was not of humble parentage. sprung of an ancient, knightly race, which had frequently distinguished itself in his native province of holland, he had followed the seas almost from his cradle. by turns a commercial voyager, an explorer, a privateer's-man, or an admiral of war-fleets, in days when sharp distinctions between the merchant service and the public service, corsairs' work and cruisers' work, did not exist, he had ever proved himself equal to any emergency--a man incapable of fatigue, of perplexity, or of fear. we have followed his career during that awful winter in nova zembla, where, with such unflinching cheerful heroism, he sustained the courage of his comrades--the first band of scientific martyrs that had ever braved the dangers and demanded the secrets of those arctic regions. his glorious name--as those of so many of his comrades and countrymen--has been rudely torn from cape, promontory, island, and continent, once illustrated by courage and suffering, but the noble record will ever remain. subsequently he had much navigated the indian ocean; his latest achievement having been, with two hundred men, in a couple of yachts, to capture an immense portuguese carrack, mounting thirty guns, and manned with eight hundred sailors, and to bring back a prodigious booty for the exchequer of the republic. a man with delicate features, large brown eyes, a thin high nose, fair hair and beard, and a soft, gentle expression, he concealed, under a quiet exterior, and on ordinary occasions a very plain and pacific costume, a most daring nature, and an indomitable ambition for military and naval distinction. he was the man of all others in the commonwealth to lead any new enterprise that audacity could conceive against the hereditary enemy. the public and the states-general were anxious to retrace the track of haultain, and to efface the memory of his inglorious return from the spanish coast. the sailors of holland and zeeland were indignant that the richly freighted fleets of the two indies had been allowed to slip so easily through their fingers. the great east india corporation was importunate with government that such blunders should not be repeated, and that the armaments known to be preparing in the portuguese ports, the homeward-bound fleets that might be looked for at any moment off the peninsular coast, and the spanish cruisers which were again preparing to molest the merchant fleets of the company, should be dealt with effectively and in season. twenty-six vessels of small size but of good sailing qualities, according to the idea of the epoch, were provided, together with four tenders. of this fleet the command was offered to jacob van heemskerk. he accepted with alacrity, expressing with his usual quiet self-confidence the hope that, living or dead, his fatherland would have cause to thank him. inspired only by the love of glory, he asked for no remuneration for his services save thirteen per cent. of the booty, after half a million florins should have been paid into the public treasury. it was hardly probable that this would prove a large share of prize money, while considerable victories alone could entitle him to receive a stiver. the expedition sailed in the early days of april for the coast of spain and portugal, the admiral having full discretion to do anything that might in his judgment redound to the advantage of the republic. next in command was the vice-admiral of zeeland, laurenz alteras. another famous seaman in the fleet was captain henry janszoon of amsterdam, commonly called long harry, while the weather-beaten and well-beloved admiral lambert, familiarly styled by his countrymen "pretty lambert," some of whose achievements have already been recorded in these pages, was the comrade of all others upon whom heemskerk most depended. after the th april the admiral, lying off and on near the mouth of the tagus, sent a lugger in trading disguise to reconnoitre that river. he ascertained by his spies, sent in this and subsequently in other directions, as well as by occasional merchantmen spoken with at sea, that the portuguese fleet for india would not be ready to sail for many weeks; that no valuable argosies were yet to be looked for from america, but that a great war-fleet, comprising many galleons of the largest size, was at that very moment cruising in the straits of gibraltar. such of the netherland traders as were returning from the levant, as well as those designing to enter the mediterranean, were likely to fall prizes to this formidable enemy. the heart of jacob heemskerk danced for joy. he had come forth for glory, not for booty, and here was what he had scarcely dared to hope for--a powerful antagonist instead of peaceful, scarcely resisting, but richly-laden merchantmen. the accounts received were so accurate as to assure him that the gibraltar fleet was far superior to his own in size of vessels, weight of metal, and number of combatants. the circumstances only increased his eagerness. the more he was over-matched, the greater would be the honour of victory, and he steered for the straits, tacking to and fro in the teeth of a strong head-wind. on the morning of the th april he was in the narrowest part of the mountain-channel, and learned that the whole spanish fleet was in the bay of gibraltar. the marble pillar of hercules rose before him. heemskerk was of a poetic temperament, and his imagination was inflamed by the spectacle which met his eyes. geographical position, splendour of natural scenery, immortal fable, and romantic history, had combined to throw a spell over that region. it seemed marked out for perpetual illustration by human valour. the deeds by which, many generations later, those localities were to become identified with the fame of a splendid empire--then only the most energetic rival of the young republic, but destined under infinitely better geographical conditions to follow on her track of empire, and with far more prodigious results--were still in the womb of futurity. but st. vincent, trafalgar, gibraltar--words which were one day to stir the english heart, and to conjure heroic english shapes from the depths so long as history endures--were capes and promontories already familiar to legend and romance. those netherlanders had come forth from their slender little fatherland to offer battle at last within his own harbours and under his own fortresses to the despot who aspired to universal monarchy, and who claimed the lordship of the seas. the hollanders and zeelanders had gained victories on the german ocean, in the channel, throughout the indies, but now they were to measure strength with the ancient enemy in this most conspicuous theatre, and before the eyes of christendom. it was on this famous spot that the ancient demigod had torn asunder by main strength the continents of europe and africa. there stood the opposite fragments of the riven mountain-chain, calpe and abyla, gazing at each other, in eternal separation, across the gulf, emblems of those two antagonistic races which the terrible hand of destiny has so ominously disjoined. nine centuries before, the african king, moses son of nuzir, and his lieutenant, tarik son of abdallah, had crossed that strait and burned the ships which brought them. black africa had conquered a portion of whiter europe, and laid the foundation of the deadly mutual repugnance which nine hundred years of bloodshed had heightened into insanity of hatred. tarik had taken the town and mountain, carteia and calpe, and given to both his own name. gib-al-tarik, the cliff of tarik, they are called to this day. within the two horns of that beautiful bay, and protected by the fortress on the precipitous rock, lay the spanish fleet at anchor. there were ten galleons of the largest size, besides lesser war-vessels and carracks, in all twenty-one sail. the admiral commanding was don juan alvarez d'avila, a veteran who had fought at lepanto under don john of austria. his son was captain of his flag-ship, the st. augustine. the vice-admiral's galleon was called 'our lady of la vega,' the rear-admiral's was the 'mother of god,' and all the other ships were baptized by the holy names deemed most appropriate, in the spanish service, to deeds of carnage. on the other hand, the nomenclature of the dutch ships suggested a menagerie. there was the tiger, the sea dog, the griffin, the red lion, the golden lion, the black bear, the white bear; these, with the aeolus and the morning star, were the leading vessels of the little fleet. on first attaining a distant view of the enemy, heemskerk summoned all the captains on board his flag-ship, the aeolus, and addressed them in a few stirring words. "it is difficult," he said, "for netherlanders not to conquer on salt water. our fathers have gained many a victory in distant seas, but it is for us to tear from the enemy's list of titles his arrogant appellation of monarch of the ocean. here, on the verge of two continents, europe is watching our deeds, while the moors of africa are to learn for the first time in what estimation they are to hold the batavian republic. remember that you have no choice between triumph and destruction. i have led you into a position whence escape is impossible--and i ask of none of you more than i am prepared to do myself--whither i am sure that you will follow. the enemy's ships are far superior to ours in bulk; but remember that their excessive size makes them difficult to handle and easier to hit, while our own vessels are entirely within control. their decks are swarming with men, and thus there will be more certainty that our shot will take effect. remember, too, that we are all sailors, accustomed from our cradles to the ocean; while yonder spaniards are mainly soldiers and landsmen, qualmish at the smell of bilgewater, and sickening at the roll of the waves. this day begins a long list of naval victories, which will make our fatherland for ever illustrious, or lay the foundation of an honourable peace, by placing, through our triumph, in the hands of the states-general, the power of dictating its terms." his comrades long remembered the enthusiasm which flashed from the man, usually so gentle and composed in demeanour, so simple in attire. clad in complete armour, with the orange-plumes waving from his casque and the orange-scarf across his breast, he stood there in front of the mainmast of the aeolus, the very embodiment of an ancient viking. he then briefly announced his plan of attack. it was of antique simplicity. he would lay his own ship alongside that of the spanish admiral. pretty lambert in the tiger was to grapple with her on the other side. vice-admiral alteras and captain bras were to attack the enemy's vice-admiral in the same way. thus, two by two, the little netherland ships were to come into closest quarters with each one of the great galleons. heemskerk would himself lead the way, and all were to follow, as closely as possible, in his wake. the oath to stand by each other was then solemnly renewed, and a parting health was drunk. the captains then returned to their ships. as the lepanto warrior, don juan d'avila, saw the little vessels slowly moving towards him, he summoned a hollander whom he had on board, one skipper gevaerts of a captured dutch trading bark, and asked him whether those ships in the distance were netherlanders. "not a doubt of it," replied the skipper. the admiral then asked him what their purpose could possibly be, in venturing so near gibraltar. "either i am entirely mistaken in my countrymen," answered gevaerta, "or they are coming for the express purpose of offering you battle." the spaniard laughed loud and long. the idea that those puny vessels could be bent on such a purpose seemed to him irresistibly comic, and he promised his prisoner, with much condescension, that the st. augustine alone should sink the whole fleet. gevaerts, having his own ideas on the subject, but not being called upon to express them, thanked the admiral for his urbanity, and respectfully withdrew. at least four thousand soldiers were in d'avila's ships, besides seamen. there were seven hundred in the st. augustine, four hundred and fifty in our lady of vega, and so on in proportion. there were also one or two hundred noble volunteers who came thronging on board, scenting the battle from afar, and desirous of having a hand in the destruction of the insolent dutchmen. it was about one in the afternoon. there was not much wind, but the hollanders, slowly drifting on the eternal river that pours from the atlantic into the mediterranean, were now very near. all hands had been piped on board every one of the ships, all had gone down on their knees in humble prayer, and the loving cup had then been passed around. heemskerk, leading the way towards the spanish admiral, ordered the gunners of the bolus not to fire until the vessels struck each other. "wait till you hear it crack," he said, adding a promise of a hundred florins to the man who should pull down the admiral's flag. avila, notwithstanding his previous merriment, thought it best, for the moment, to avoid the coming collision. leaving to other galleons, which he interposed between himself and the enemy, the task of summarily sinking the dutch fleet, he cut the cable of the st. augustine and drifted farther into the bay. heemskerk, not allowing himself to be foiled in his purpose, steered past two or three galleons, and came crashing against the admiral. almost simultaneously, pretty lambert laid himself along her quarter on the other side. the st. augustine fired into the aeolus as she approached, but without doing much damage. the dutch admiral, as he was coming in contact, discharged his forward guns, and poured an effective volley of musketry into his antagonist. the st. augustine fired again, straight across the centre of the bolus, at a few yards' distance. a cannon-ball took off the head of a sailor, standing near heemskerk, and carried away the admiral's leg, close to the body. he fell on deck, and, knowing himself to be mortally wounded, implored the next in command on board, captain verhoef, to fight his ship to the last, and to conceal his death from the rest of the fleet. then prophesying a glorious victory for republic, and piously commending his soul to his maker, he soon breathed his last. a cloak was thrown over him, and the battle raged. the few who were aware that the noble heemskerk was gone, burned to avenge his death, and to obey the dying commands of their beloved chief. the rest of the hollanders believed themselves under his directing influence, and fought as if his eyes were upon them. thus the spirit of the departed hero still watched over and guided the battle. the aeolus now fired a broadside into her antagonist, making fearful havoc, and killing admiral d'avila. the commanders-in-chief of both contending fleets had thus fallen at the very beginning of the battle. while the st. augustine was engaged in deadly encounter, yardarm and yardarm, with the aeolus and the tiger, vice-admiral alteras had, however, not carried out his part of the plan. before he could succeed in laying himself alongside of the spanish vice-admiral, he had been attacked by two galleons. three other dutch ships, however, attacked the vice-admiral, and, after an obstinate combat, silenced all her batteries and set her on fire. her conquerors were then obliged to draw off rather hastily, and to occupy themselves for a time in extinguishing their own burning sails, which had taken fire from the close contact with their enemy. our lady of vega, all ablaze from top-gallant-mast to quarterdeck, floated helplessly about, a spectre of flame, her guns going off wildly, and her crew dashing themselves into the sea, in order to escape by drowning from a fiery death. she was consumed to the water's edge. meantime, vice-admiral alteras had successively defeated both his antagonists; drifting in with them until almost under the guns of the fortress, but never leaving them until, by his superior gunnery and seamanship, he had sunk one of them, and driven the other a helpless wreck on shore. long harry, while alteras had been thus employed, had engaged another great galleon, and set her on fire. she, too, was thoroughly burned to her hulk; but admiral harry was killed. by this time, although it was early of an april afternoon, and heavy clouds of smoke, enveloping the combatants pent together in so small a space, seemed to make an atmosphere of midnight, as the flames of the burning galleons died away. there was a difficulty, too, in bringing all the netherland ships into action--several of the smaller ones having been purposely stationed by heemskerk on the edge of the bay to prevent the possible escape of any of the spaniards. while some of these distant ships were crowding sail, in order to come to closer quarters, now that the day seemed going against the spaniards, a tremendous explosion suddenly shook the air. one of the largest galleons, engaged in combat with a couple of dutch vessels, had received a hot shot full in her powder magazine, and blew up with all on board. the blazing fragments drifted about among the other ships, and two more were soon on fire, their guns going off and their magazines exploding. the rock of gibraltar seemed to reel. to the murky darkness succeeded the intolerable glare of a new and vast conflagration. the scene in that narrow roadstead was now almost infernal. it seemed, said an eye-witness, as if heaven and earth were passing away. a hopeless panic seized the spaniards. the battle was over. the st. augustine still lay in the deadly embrace of her antagonists, but all the other galleons were sunk or burned. several of the lesser war-ships had also been destroyed. it was nearly sunset. the st. augustine at last ran up a white flag, but it was not observed in the fierceness of the last moments of combat; the men from the bolus and the tiger making a simultaneous rush on board the vanquished foe. the fight was done, but the massacre was at its beginning. the trumpeter, of captain kleinsorg clambered like a monkey up the mast of the st. augustine, hauled down the admiral's flag, the last which was still waving, and gained the hundred florins. the ship was full of dead and dying; but a brutal, infamous butchery now took place. some netherland prisoners were found in the hold, who related that two messengers had been successively despatched to take their lives, as they lay there in chains, and that each had been shot, as he made his way towards the execution of the orders. this information did not chill the ardour of their victorious countrymen. no quarter was given. such of the victims as succeeded in throwing themselves overboard, out of the st. augustine, or any of the burning or sinking ships, were pursued by the netherlanders, who rowed about among them in boats, shooting, stabbing, and drowning their victims by hundreds. it was a sickening spectacle. the bay, said those who were there, seemed sown with corpses. probably two or three thousand were thus put to death, or had met their fate before. had the chivalrous heemskerk lived, it is possible that he might have stopped the massacre. but the thought of the grief which would fill the commonwealth when the news should arrive of his death--thus turning the joy of the great triumph into lamentations--increased the animosity of his comrades. moreover, in ransacking the spanish admiral's ship, all his papers had been found, among them many secret instructions from government signed "the king;" ordering most inhuman persecutions, not only of the netherlanders, but of all who should in any way assist them, at sea or ashore. recent examples of the thorough manner in which the royal admirals could carry out these bloody instructions had been furnished by the hangings, burnings, and drownings of fazardo. but the barbarous ferocity of the dutch on this occasion might have taught a lesson even to the comrades of alva. the fleet of avila was entirely destroyed. the hulk of the st. augustine drifted ashore, having been abandoned by the victors, and was set on fire by a few spaniards who had concealed themselves on board, lest she might fall again into the enemy's hands. the battle had lasted from half-past three until sunset. the dutch vessels remained all the next day on the scene of their triumph. the townspeople were discerned, packing up their goods, and speeding panic-struck into the interior. had heemskerk survived he would doubtless have taken gibraltar--fortress and town--and perhaps cadiz, such was the consternation along the whole coast. but his gallant spirit no longer directed the fleet. bent rather upon plunder than glory, the ships now dispersed in search of prizes towards the azores, the canaries, or along the portuguese coast; having first made a brief visit to tetuan, where they were rapturously received by the bey. the hollanders lost no ships, and but one hundred seamen were killed. two vessels were despatched homeward directly, one with sixty wounded sailors, the other with the embalmed body of the fallen heemskerk. the hero was honoured with a magnificent funeral in amsterdam at the public expense--the first instance in the history of the republic--and his name was enrolled on the most precious page of her records. [the chief authorities for this remarkable battle are meteren, , . grotius, xvi. - . wagenaar, ix. - .] chapter xlviii. internal condition of spain--character of the people--influence of the inquisition--population and revenue--incomes of church and government--degradation of labour--expulsion of the moors and its consequences--venality the special characteristic of spanish polity --maxims of the foreign polity of spain--the spanish army and navy-- insolvent state of the government--the duke of lerma--his position in the state--origin of his power--system of bribery and trafficking--philip iii. his character--domestic life of the king and queen. a glance at the interior condition of spain, now that there had been more than nine years of a new reign, should no longer be deferred. spain was still superstitiously regarded as the leading power of the world, although foiled in all its fantastic and gigantic schemes. it was still supposed, according to current dogma, to share with the ottoman empire the dominion of the earth. a series of fortunate marriages having united many of the richest and fairest portions of europe under a single sceptre, it was popularly believed in a period when men were not much given as yet to examine very deeply the principles of human governments or the causes of national greatness, that an aggregation of powers which had resulted from preposterous laws of succession really constituted a mighty empire, founded by genius and valour. the spanish people, endowed with an acute and exuberant genius, which had exhibited itself in many paths of literature, science, and art; with a singular aptitude for military adventure, organization, and achievement; with a great variety, in short, of splendid and ennobling qualities; had been, for a long succession of years, accursed with almost the very worst political institutions known to history. the depth of their misery and of their degradation was hardly yet known to themselves, and this was perhaps the most hideous proof of the tyranny of which they had been the victims. to the outward world, the hollow fabric, out of which the whole pith and strength had been slowly gnawed away, was imposing and majestic still. but the priest, the soldier, and the courtier had been busy too long, and had done their work too thoroughly, to leave much hope of arresting the universal decay. nor did there seem any probability that the attempt would be made. it is always difficult to reform wide-spread abuses, even when they are acknowledged to exist, but when gigantic vices are proudly pointed to as the noblest of institutions and as the very foundations of the state, there seems nothing for the patriot to long for but the deluge. it was acknowledged that the spanish population--having a very large admixture of those races which, because not catholic at heart, were stigmatized as miscreants, heretics, pagans, and, generally, as accursed--was by nature singularly prone to religious innovation. had it not been for the holy inquisition, it was the opinion of acute and thoughtful observers in the beginning of the seventeenth century, that the infamous heresies of luther, calvin, and the rest, would have long before taken possession of the land. to that most blessed establishment it was owing that spain had not polluted itself in the filth and ordure of the reformation, and had been spared the horrible fate which had befallen large portions of germany, france, britain, and other barbarous northern nations. it was conscientiously and thankfully believed in spain, two centuries ago, that the state had been saved from political and moral ruin by that admirable machine which detected heretics with unerring accuracy, burned them when detected, and consigned their descendants to political incapacity and social infamy to the remotest generation. as the awful consequences of religious freedom, men pointed with a shudder to the condition of nations already speeding on the road to ruin, from which the two peninsulas at least had been saved. yet the british empire, with the american republic still an embryo in its bosom, france, north germany, and other great powers, had hardly then begun their headlong career. whether the road of religious liberty was leading exactly to political ruin, the coming centuries were to judge. enough has been said in former chapters for the characterization of philip ii. and his polity. but there had now been nearly ten years of another reign. the system, inaugurated by charles and perfected by his son, had reached its last expression under philip iii. the evil done by father and son lived and bore plentiful fruit in the epoch of the grandson. and this is inevitable in history. no generation is long-lived enough to reap the harvest, whether of good or evil, which it sows. philip ii. had been indefatigable in evil, a thorough believer in his supernatural mission as despot, not entirely without capacity for affairs, personally absorbed by the routine of his bureau. he was a king, as he understood the meaning of the kingly office. his policy was continued after his death; but there was no longer a king. that important regulator to the governmental machinery was wanting. how its place was supplied will soon appear. meantime the organic functions were performed very much in the old way. there was, at least, no lack of priests or courtiers. spain at this epoch had probably less than twelve millions of inhabitants, although the statistics of those days cannot be relied upon with accuracy. the whole revenue of the state was nominally sixteen or seventeen millions of dollars, but the greater portion of that income was pledged for many coming years to the merchants of genoa. all the little royal devices for increasing the budget by debasing the coin of the realm, by issuing millions of copper tokens, by lowering the promised rate of interest on government loans, by formally repudiating both interest and principal, had been tried, both in this and the preceding reign, with the usual success. an inconvertible paper currency, stimulating industry and improving morals by converting beneficent commerce into baleful gambling--that fatal invention did not then exist. meantime, the legitimate trader and innocent citizen were harassed, and the general public endangered, as much as the limited machinery of the epoch permitted. the available, unpledged revenue of the kingdom hardly amounted to five millions of dollars a-year. the regular annual income of the church was at least six millions. the whole personal property of the nation was estimated in a very clumsy and unsatisfactory way, no doubt--at sixty millions of dollars. thus the income of the priesthood was ten per cent. of the whole funded estate of the country, and at least a million a year more than the income of the government. could a more biting epigram be made upon the condition to which the nation had been reduced? labour was more degraded than ever. the industrious classes, if such could be said to exist, were esteemed every day more and more infamous. merchants, shopkeepers, mechanics, were reptiles, as vilely, esteemed as jews, moors, protestants, or pagans. acquiring wealth by any kind of production was dishonourable. a grandee who should permit himself to sell the wool from his boundless sheep-walks disgraced his caste, and was accounted as low as a merchant. to create was the business of slaves and miscreants: to destroy was the distinguishing attribute of christians and nobles. to cheat, to pick, and to steal, on the most minute and the most gigantic scale--these were also among the dearest privileges of the exalted classes. no merchandize was polluting save the produce of honest industry. to sell places in church and state, the army, the navy, and the sacred tribunals of law, to take bribes from rich and poor, high and low; in sums infinitesimal or enormous, to pillage the exchequer in, every imaginable form, to dispose of titles of honour, orders of chivalry, posts in municipal council, at auction; to barter influence, audiences, official interviews against money cynically paid down in rascal counters--all this was esteemed consistent with patrician dignity. the ministers, ecclesiastics, and those about court, obtaining a monopoly of such trade, left the business of production and circulation to their inferiors, while, as has already been sufficiently indicated, religious fanaticism and a pride of race, which nearly amounted to idiocy, had generated a scorn for labour even among the lowest orders. as a natural consequence, commerce and the mechanical arts fell almost exclusively into the hands of foreigners--italians, english, and french--who resorted in yearly increasing numbers to spain for the purpose of enriching. themselves by the industry which the natives despised. the capital thus acquired was at regular intervals removed from the country to other lands, where wealth resulting from traffic or manufactures was not accounted infamous. moreover, as the soil of the country was held by a few great proprietors--an immense portion in the dead-hand of an insatiate and ever-grasping church, and much of the remainder in vast entailed estates--it was nearly impossible for the masses of the people to become owners of any portion of the land. to be an agricultural day-labourer at less than a beggar's wage could hardly be a tempting pursuit for a proud and indolent race. it was no wonder therefore that the business of the brigand, the smuggler, the professional mendicant became from year to year more attractive and more overdone; while an ever-thickening swarm of priests, friars, and nuns of every order, engendered out of a corrupt and decaying society, increasing the general indolence, immorality, and unproductive consumption, and frightfully diminishing the productive force of the country, fed like locusts upon what was left in the unhappy land. "to shirk labour, infinite numbers become priests and friars," said, a good catholic, in the year --[gir. soranzo]. before the end of the reign of philip iii. the peninsula, which might have been the granary of the world, did not produce food enough for its own population. corn became a regular article of import into spain, and would have come in larger quantities than it did had the industry of the country furnished sufficient material to exchange for necessary food. and as if it had been an object of ambition with the priests and courtiers who then ruled a noble country, to make at exactly this epoch the most startling manifestation of human fatuity that the world had ever seen, it was now resolved by government to expel by armed force nearly the whole stock of intelligent and experienced labour, agricultural and mechanical, from the country. it is unnecessary to dwell long upon an event which, if it were not so familiarly known to mankind, would seem almost incredible. but the expulsion of the moors is, alas! no exaggerated and imaginary satire, but a monument of wickedness and insanity such as is not often seen in human history. already, in the very first years of the century, john ribera, archbishop of valencia, had recommended and urged the scheme. it was too gigantic a project to be carried into execution at once, but it was slowly matured by the aid of other ecclesiastics. at last there were indications, both human and divine, that the expulsion of these miscreants could no longer be deferred. it was rumoured and believed that a general conspiracy existed among the moors to rise upon the government, to institute a general massacre, and, with the assistance of their allies and relatives on the barbary coast, to re-establish the empire of the infidels. a convoy of eighty ass-loads of oil on the way to madrid had halted at a wayside inn. a few flasks were stolen, and those who consumed it were made sick. some of the thieves even died, or were said to have died, in consequence. instantly the rumour flew from mouth to mouth, from town to town, that the royal family, the court, the whole capital, all spain, were to be poisoned with that oil. if such were the scheme it was certainly a less ingenious one than the famous plot by which the spanish government was suspected but a few years before to have so nearly succeeded in blowing the king, peers, and commons of england into the air. the proof of moorish guilt was deemed all-sufficient, especially as it was supported by supernatural evidence of the most portentous and convincing kind. for several days together a dark cloud, tinged with blood-red, had been seen to hang over valencia. in the neighbourhood of daroca, a din of, drums and trumpets and the clang of arms had been heard in the sky, just as a procession went out of a monastery. at valencia the image of the virgin had shed tears. in another place her statue had been discovered in a state of profuse perspiration. what more conclusive indications could be required as to the guilt of the moors? what other means devised for saving crown, church, and kingdom from destruction but to expel the whole mass of unbelievers from the soil which they had too long profaned? archbishop ribera was fully sustained by the archbishop of toledo, and the whole ecclesiastical body received energetic support from government. ribera had solemnly announced that the moors were so greedy of money, so determined to keep it, and so occupied with pursuits most apt for acquiring it, that they had come to be the sponge of spanish wealth. the best proof of this, continued the reverend sage, was that, inhabiting in general poor little villages and sterile tracts of country, paying to the lords of the manor one third of the crops, and being overladen with special taxes imposed only upon them, they nevertheless became rich, while the christians, cultivating the most fertile land, were in abject poverty. it seems almost incredible that this should not be satire. certainly the most delicate irony could not portray the vicious institutions under which the magnificent territory and noble people of spain were thus doomed to ruin more subtly end forcibly than was done by the honest brutality of this churchman. the careful tillage, the beautiful system of irrigation by aqueduct and canal, the scientific processes by which these "accursed" had caused the wilderness to bloom with cotton, sugar, and every kind of fruit and grain; the untiring industry, exquisite ingenuity, and cultivated taste by which the merchants, manufacturers, and mechanics, guilty of a darker complexion than that of the peninsular goths, had enriched their native land with splendid fabrics in cloth, paper, leather, silk, tapestry, and by so doing had acquired fortunes for themselves, despite iniquitous taxation, religious persecution, and social contumely--all these were crimes against a race of idlers, steeped to the lips in sloth which imagined itself to be pride. the industrious, the intelligent, the wealthy, were denounced as criminals, and hunted to death or into exile as vermin, while the lermas, the ucedas, and the rest of the brood of cormorants, settled more thickly than ever around their prey. meantime, government declared that the piece of four maravedis should be worth eight maravedis; the piece of two maravedis being fixed at four. thus the specie of the kingdom was to be doubled, and by means of this enlightened legislation, spain, after destroying agriculture, commerce, and manufacture, was to maintain great armies and navies, and establish universal monarchy. this measure, which a wiser churchman than ribera, cardinal richelieu, afterwards declared the most audacious and barbarous ever recorded by history, was carried out with great regularity of organization. it was ordained that the moors should be collected at three indicated points, whence they were not to move on pain of death, until duly escorted by troops to the ports of embarkation. the children under the age of four years were retained, of course without their parents, from whom they were forever separated. with admirable forethought, too, the priests took measures, as they supposed, that the arts of refining sugar, irrigating the rice-fields, constructing canals and aqueducts, besides many other useful branches of agricultural and mechanical business, should not die out with the intellectual, accomplished, and industrious race, alone competent to practise them, which was now sent forth to die. a very small number, not more than six in each hundred, were accordingly reserved to instruct other inhabitants of spain in those useful arts which they were now more than ever encouraged to despise. five hundred thousand full-grown human beings, as energetic, ingenious, accomplished, as any then existing in the world, were thus thrust forth into the deserts beyond sea, as if spain had been overstocked with skilled labour; and as if its native production had already outgrown the world's power of consumption. had an equal number of mendicant monks, with the two archbishops who had contrived this deed at their head, been exported instead of the moors, the future of spain might have been a more fortunate one than it was likely to prove. the event was in itself perhaps of temporary advantage to the dutch republic, as the poverty and general misery, aggravated by this disastrous policy, rendered the acknowledgment of the states' independence by spain almost a matter of necessity. it is superfluous to enter into any farther disquisiton as to the various branches of the royal revenue. they remained essentially the same as during the preceding reign, and have been elaborately set forth in a previous chapter. the gradual drying up of resources in all the wide-spread and heterogeneous territories subject to the spanish sceptre is the striking phenomenon of the present epoch. the distribution of such wealth as was still created followed the same laws which had long prevailed, while the decay and national paralysis, of which the prognostics could hardly be mistaken, were a natural result of the system. the six archbishops had now grown to eleven, and still received gigantic revenues; the income of the archbishop of toledo, including the fund of one hundred thousand destined for repairing the cathedral, being estimated at three hundred thousand dollars a year, that of the archbishop of seville and the others varying from one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to fifty thousand. the sixty-three bishops perhaps averaged fifty thousand a year each, and there were eight more in italy. the commanderies of chivalry, two hundred at least in number, were likewise enormously profitable. some of them were worth thirty thousand a year; the aggregate annual value being from one-and-a-half to two millions, and all in lerma's gift, upon his own terms. chivalry, that noblest of ideals, without which, in some shape or another, the world would be a desert and a sty; which included within itself many of the noblest virtues which can adorn mankind--generosity, self-denial, chastity, frugality, patience, protection to the feeble, the downtrodden, and the oppressed; the love of daring adventure, devotion to a pure religion and a lofty purpose, most admirably pathetic, even when in the eyes of the vulgar most fantastic--had been the proudest and most poetical of spanish characteristics, never to be entirely uprooted from the national heart. alas! what was there in the commanderies of calatrava, alcantara, santiago, and all the rest of those knightly orders, as then existing, to respond to the noble sentiments on which all were supposed to be founded? institutions for making money, for pillaging the poor of their hard-earned pittance, trafficked in by greedy ministers and needy courtiers with a shamelessness which had long ceased to blush at vices however gross, at venality however mean. venality was in truth the prominent characteristic of the spanish polity at this epoch. everything political or ecclesiastical, from highest to lowest, was matter of merchandize. it was the autocrat, governing king and kingdom, who disposed of episcopal mitres, cardinals' hats, commanders' crosses, the offices of regidores or municipal magistrates in all the cities, farmings of revenues, collectorships of taxes, at prices fixed by himself. it was never known that the pope refused to confirm the ecclesiastical nominations which were made by the spanish court. the nuncius had the privilege of dispensing the small cures from thirty dollars a year downwards, of which the number was enormous. many of these were capable, in careful hands, of becoming ten times as valuable as their nominal estimate, and the business in them became in consequence very extensive and lucrative. they were often disposed of for the benefit of servants and the hangers-on of noble families, to laymen, to women, children, to babes unborn. when such was the most thriving industry in the land, was it wonderful that the poor of high and low degree were anxious in ever-increasing swarms to effect their entrance into convent, monastery, and church, and that trade, agriculture, and manufactures languished? the foreign polity of the court remained as it had been established by philip ii. its maxims were very simple. to do unto your neighbour all possible harm, and to foster the greatness of spain by sowing discord and maintaining civil war in all other nations, was the fundamental precept. to bribe and corrupt the servants of other potentates, to maintain a regular paid bode of adherents in foreign lands, ever ready to engage in schemes of assassination, conspiracy, sedition, and rebellion against the legitimate authority, to make mankind miserable, so far as it was in the power of human force or craft to produce wretchedness, were objects still faithfully pursued. they had not yet led to the entire destruction of other realms and their submission to the single sceptre of spain, nor had they developed the resources, material or moral, of a mighty empire so thoroughly as might have been done perhaps by a less insidious policy, but they had never been abandoned. it was a steady object of policy to keep such potentates of italy as were not already under the dominion of the spanish crown in a state of internecine feud with each other and of virtual dependence on the powerful kingdom. the same policy pursued in france, of fomenting civil war by subsidy, force, and chicane, during a long succession of years in order to reduce that magnificent realm under the sceptre of philip, has been described in detail. the chronic rebellion of ireland against the english crown had been assisted and inflamed in every possible mode, the system being considered as entirely justified by the aid and comfort afforded by the queen to the dutch rebels. it was a natural result of the system according to which kingdoms and provinces with the populations dwelling therein were transferable like real estate by means of marriage-settlements, entails, and testaments, that the proprietorship of most of the great realms in christendom was matter of fierce legal dispute. lawsuits, which in chancery could last for centuries before a settlement of the various claims was made, might have infinitely enriched the gentlemen of the long robe and reduced all the parties to beggary, had there been any tribunal but the battle-field to decide among the august litigants. thus the king of great britain claimed the legal proprietorship and sovereignty of brittany, normandy, anjou, gascony, calais, and boulogne in france, besides the whole kingdom by right of conquest. the french king claimed to be rightful heir of castile, biscay, guipuscoa, arragon, navarre, nearly all the spanish peninsula in short, including the whole of portugal and the balearic islands to boot. the king of spain claimed, as we have seen often enough, not only brittany but all france as his lawful inheritance. such was the virtue of the prevalent doctrine of proprietorship. every potentate was defrauded of his rights, and every potentate was a criminal usurper. as for the people, it would have excited a smile of superior wisdom on regal, legal, or sacerdotal lips, had it been suggested that by any possibility the governed could have a voice or a thought in regard to the rulers whom god in his grace had raised up to be their proprietors and masters. the army of spain was sunk far below the standard at which it had been kept when it seemed fit to conquer and govern the world. neither by spain nor italy could those audacious, disciplined, and obedient legions be furnished, at which the enemies of the mighty despot trembled from one extremity of earth to the other. peculation, bankruptcy, and mutiny had done their work at last. we have recently had occasion to observe the conduct of the veterans in flanders at critical epochs. at this moment, seventy thousand soldiers were on the muster and pay roll of the army serving in those provinces, while not thirty thousand men existed in the flesh. the navy was sunk to fifteen or twenty old galleys, battered, dismantled, unseaworthy, and a few armed ships for convoying the east and west indiamen to and from their destinations. the general poverty was so great that it was often absolutely impossible to purchase food for the royal household. "if you ask me," said a cool observer, "how this great show of empire is maintained, when the funds are so small, i answer that it is done by not paying at all." the government was shamelessly, hopelessly bankrupt. the noble band of courtiers were growing enormously rich. the state was a carcase which unclean vultures were picking to the bones. the foremost man in the land--the autocrat, the absolute master in state and church--was the duke of lerma. very rarely in human history has an individual attained to such unlimited power under a monarchy, without actually placing the crown upon his own head. mayors of the palace, in the days of the do-nothing kings, wielded nothing like the imperial control which was firmly held by this great favourite. yet he was a man of very moderate capacity and limited acquirements, neither soldier, lawyer, nor priest. the duke was past sixty years of age, a tall, stately, handsome man, of noble presence and urbane manner. born of the patrician house of sandoval, he possessed, on the accession of philip, an inherited income of ten or twelve thousand dollars. he had now, including what he had bestowed on his son, a funded revenue of seven hundred thousand a year. he had besides, in cash, jewels, and furniture, an estimated capital of six millions. all this he had accumulated in ten years of service, as prime minister, chief equerry, and first valet of the chamber to the king. the tenure of his authority was the ascendancy of a firm character over a very weak one. at this moment he was doubtless the most absolute ruler in christendom, and philip iii. the most submissive and uncomplaining of his subjects. the origin of his power was well known. during the reign of philip ii., the prince, treated with great severity by his father, was looked upon with contempt by every one about court. he was allowed to take no part in affairs, and, having heard of the awful tragedy of his eldest half-brother, enacted ten years before his own birth, he had no inclination to confront the wrath of that terrible parent and sovereign before whom all spain trembled. nothing could have been more humble, more effaced, more obscure, than his existence as prince. the marquis of denia, his chamberlain, alone was kind to him, furnished him with small sums of money, and accompanied him on the shooting excursions in which his father occasionally permitted him to indulge. but even these little attentions were looked upon with jealousy by the king; so that the marquis was sent into honourable exile from court as governor of valencia. it was hoped that absence would wean the prince of his affection for the kind chamberlain. the calculation was erroneous. no sooner were the eyes of philip ii. closed in death than the new king made haste to send for denia, who was at once created duke of lerma, declared of the privy council, and appointed master of the horse and first gentleman of the bed-chamber. from that moment the favourite became supreme. he was entirely without education, possessed little experience in affairs of state, and had led the life of a commonplace idler and voluptuary until past the age of fifty. nevertheless he had a shrewd mother-wit, tact in dealing with men, aptitude to take advantage of events. he had directness of purpose, firmness of will, and always knew his own mind. from the beginning of his political career unto its end, he conscientiously and without swerving pursued a single aim. this was to rob the exchequer by every possible mode and at every instant of his life. never was a more masterly financier in this respect. with a single eye to his own interests, he preserved a magnificent unity in all his actions. the result had been to make him in ten years the richest subject in the world, as well as the most absolute ruler. he enriched his family, as a matter of course. his son was already made duke of uceda, possessed enormous wealth, and was supposed by those who had vision in the affairs of court to be the only individual ever likely to endanger the power of the father. others thought that the young duke's natural dulness would make it impossible for him to supplant the omnipotent favourite. the end was not yet, and time was to show which class of speculators was in the right. meantime the whole family was united and happy. the sons and daughters had intermarried with the infantados, and other most powerful and wealthy families of grandees. the uncle, sandoval, had been created by lerma a cardinal and archbishop of toledo; the king's own schoolmaster being removed from that dignity, and disgraced and banished from court for having spoken disrespectfully of the favourite. the duke had reserved for himself twenty thousand a year from the revenues of the archbishopric, as a moderate price for thus conducting himself as became a dutiful nephew. he had ejected rodrigo de vasquez from his post as president of the council. as a more conclusive proof of his unlimited sway than any other of his acts had been, he had actually unseated and banished the inquisitor-general, don pietro porto carrero, and supplanted him in that dread office, before which even anointed sovereigns trembled, by one of his own creatures. in the discharge of his various functions, the duke and all his family were domesticated in the royal palace, so that he was at no charges for housekeeping. his apartments there were more sumptuous than those of the king and queen. he had removed from court the dutchess of candia, sister of the great constable of castile, who had been for a time in attendance on the queen, and whose possible influence he chose to destroy in the bud. her place as mistress of the robes was supplied by his sister, the countess of lemos; while his wife, the terrible duchess of lerma, was constantly with the queen, who trembled at her frown. thus the royal pair were completely beleaguered, surrounded, and isolated from all except the lermas. when the duke conferred with the king, the doors were always double locked. in his capacity as first valet it was the duke's duty to bring the king's shirt in the morning, to see to his wardrobe and his bed, and to supply him with ideas for the day. the king depended upon him entirely and abjectly, was miserable when separated from him four-and-twenty hours, thought with the duke's thoughts and saw with the duke's eyes. he was permitted to know nothing of state affairs, save such portions as were communicated to him by lerma. the people thought their monarch bewitched, so much did he tremble before the favourite, and so unscrupulously did the duke appropriate for his own benefit and that of his creatures everything that he could lay his hands upon. it would have needed little to bring about a revolution, such was the universal hatred felt for the minister, and the contempt openly expressed for the king. the duke never went to the council. all papers and documents relating to business were sent to his apartments. such matters as he chose to pass upon, such decrees as he thought proper to issue, were then taken by him to the king, who signed them with perfect docility. as time went on, this amount of business grew too onerous for the royal hand, or this amount of participation by the king in affairs of state came to be esteemed superfluous and inconvenient by the duke, and his own signature was accordingly declared to be equivalent to that of the sovereign's sign-manual. it is doubtful whether such a degradation of the royal prerogative had ever been heard of before in a christian monarch. it may be imagined that this system of government was not of a nature to expedite business, however swiftly it might fill the duke's coffers. high officers of state, foreign ambassadors, all men in short charged with important affairs, were obliged to dance attendance for weeks and months on the one man whose hands grasped all the business of the kingdom, while many departed in despair without being able to secure a single audience. it was entirely a matter of trade. it was necessary to bribe in succession all the creatures of the duke before getting near enough to headquarters to bribe the duke himself. never were such itching palms. to do business at court required the purse of fortunatus. there was no deception in the matter. everything was frank and above board in that age of chivalry. ambassadors wrote to their sovereigns that there was no hope of making treaties or of accomplishing any negotiation except by purchasing the favour of the autocrat; and lerma's price was always high. at one period the republic of venice wished to put a stop to the depredations by spanish pirates upon venetian commerce, but the subject could not even be approached by the envoy until he had expended far more than could be afforded out of his meagre salary in buying an interview. when it is remembered that with this foremost power in the world affairs of greater or less importance were perpetually to be transacted by the representatives of other nations as well as by native subjects of every degree; that all these affairs were to pass through the hands of lerma, and that those hands had ever to be filled with coin, the stupendous opulence of the one man can be easily understood. whether the foremost power of the world, thus governed, were likely to continue the foremost power, could hardly seem doubtful to those accustomed to use their reason in judging of the things of this world. meantime the duke continued to transact business; to sell his interviews and his interest; to traffic in cardinals' hats, bishops' mitres, judges' ermine, civic and magisterial votes in all offices, high or humble, of church, army, or state. he possessed the art of remembering, or appearing to remember, the matters of business which had been communicated to him. when a negotiator, of whatever degree, had the good fortune to reach the presence, he found the duke to all appearance mindful of the particular affair which led to the interview, and fully absorbed by its importance. there were men who, trusting to the affability shown by the great favourite, and to the handsome price paid down in cash for that urbanity, had been known to go away from their interview believing that their business was likely to be accomplished, until the lapse of time revealed to them the wildness of their dream. the duke perhaps never manifested his omnipotence on a more striking scale than when by his own fiat he removed the court and the seat of government to valladolid, and kept it there six years long. this was declared by disinterested observers to be not only contrary to common sense, but even beyond the bounds of possibility. at madrid the king had splendid palaces, and in its neighbourhood beautiful country residences, a pure atmosphere, and the facility of changing the air at will. at valladolid there were no conveniences of any kind, no sufficient palace, no summer villa, no park, nothing but an unwholesome climate. but most of the duke's estates were in that vicinity, and it was desirable for him to overlook them in person. moreover, he wished to get rid of the possible influence over the king of the empress dowager maria, widow of maximilian ii. and aunt and grandmother of philip iii. the minister could hardly drive this exalted personage from court, so easily as he had banished the ex-archbishop of toledo, the inquisitor general, the duchess of candia, besides a multitude of lesser note. so he did the next best thing, and banished the court from the empress, who was not likely to put up with the inconveniences of valladolid for the sake of outrivalling the duke. this babylonian captivity lasted until madrid was nearly ruined, until the desolation of the capital, the moans of the trades-people, the curses of the poor, and the grumblings of the courtiers, finally produced an effect even upon the arbitrary lerma. he then accordingly re-emigrated, with king and government, to madrid, and caused it to be published that he had at last overcome the sovereign's repugnance to the old capital, and had persuaded him to abandon valladolid. there was but one man who might perhaps from his position have competed with the influence of lerma. this was the king's father-confessor, whom philip wished--although of course his wish was not gratified--to make a member of the council of state. the monarch, while submitting in everything secular to the duke's decrees, had a feeble determination to consult and to be guided by his confessor in all matters of conscience. as it was easy to suggest that high affairs of state, the duties of government, the interests of a great people, were matters not entirely foreign to the conscience of anointed kings, an opening to power might have seemed easy to an astute and ambitious churchman. but the dominican who kept philip's conscience, gasparo de cordova by name, was, fortunately for the favourite, of a very tender paste, easily moulded to the duke's purpose. dull and ignorant enough, he was not so stupid as to doubt that, should he whisper any suggestions or criticisms in regard to the minister's proceedings, the king would betray him and he would lose his office. the cautious friar accordingly held his peace and his place, and there was none to dispute the sway of the autocrat. what need to dilate further upon such a minister and upon such a system of government? to bribe and to be bribed, to maintain stipendiaries in every foreign government, to place the greatness of the empire upon the weakness, distraction, and misery of other nations, to stimulate civil war, revolts of nobles and citizens against authority; separation of provinces, religious discontents in every land of christendom--such were the simple rules ever faithfully enforced. the other members of what was called the council were insignificant. philip iii., on arriving at the throne, had been heard to observe that the day of simple esquires and persons of low condition was past, and that the turn of great nobles had come. it had been his father's policy to hold the grandees in subjection, and to govern by means of ministers who were little more than clerks, generally of humble origin; keeping the reins in his own hands. such great personages as he did employ, like alva, don john of austria, and farnese, were sure at last to excite his jealousy and to incur his hatred. forty-three years of this kind of work had brought spain to the condition in which the third philip found it. the new king thought to have found a remedy in discarding the clerks, and calling in the aid of dukes. philip ii. was at least a king. the very first act of philip iii. at his father's death was to abdicate. it was, however, found necessary to retain some members of the former government. fuentes, the best soldier and accounted the most dangerous man in the empire, was indeed kept in retirement as governor of milan, while cristoval di mora, who had enjoyed much of the late king's confidence, was removed to portugal as viceroy. but don john of idiaquez, who had really been the most efficient of the old administration, still remained in the council. without the subordinate aid of his experience in the routine of business, it would have been difficult for the favourite to manage the great machine with his single hand. but there was no disposition on the part of the ancient minister to oppose the new order of things. a cautious, caustic, dry old functionary, talking more with his shoulders than with his tongue, determined never to commit himself, or to risk shipwreck by venturing again into deeper waters than those of the harbour in which he now hoped for repose, idiaquez knew that his day of action was past. content to be confidential clerk to the despot duke, as he had been faithful secretary to the despot king, he was the despair of courtiers and envoys who came to pump, after having endeavoured to fill an inexhaustible cistern. thus he proved, on the whole, a useful and comfortable man, not to the country, but to its autocrat. of the count of chinchon, who at one time was supposed to have court influence because a dabbler in architecture, much consulted during the building of the escorial by philip ii. until the auditing of his accounts brought him into temporary disgrace, and the marquises of velada, villalonga, and other ministers, it is not necessary to speak. there was one man in the council, however, who was of great importance, wielding a mighty authority in subordination to the duke. this was don pietro de franqueza. an emancipated slave, as his name indicated, and subsequently the body-servant of lerma, he had been created by that minister secretary of the privy council. he possessed some of the virtues of the slave, such as docility and attachment to the hand that had fed and scourged him, and many vices of both slave and freedman. he did much of the work which it would have been difficult for the duke to accomplish in person, received his fees, sold and dispensed his interviews, distributed his bribes. in so doing, as might be supposed, he did not neglect his own interest. it was a matter of notoriety, no man knowing it better than the king, that no business, foreign or domestic, could be conducted or even begun at court without large preliminary fees to the secretary of the council, his wife, and his children. he had, in consequence, already accumulated an enormous fortune. his annual income, when it was stated, excited amazement. he was insolent and overbearing to all comers until his dues had been paid, when he became at once obliging, supple, and comparatively efficient. through him alone lay the path to the duke's sanctuary. the nominal sovereign, philip iii., was thirty years of age. a very little man, with pink cheeks, flaxen hair, and yellow beard, with a melancholy expression of eye, and protruding under lip and jaw, he was now comparatively alert and vigorous in constitution, although for the first seven years of his life it had been doubtful whether he would live from week to week. he had been afflicted during that period with a chronic itch or leprosy, which had undermined his strength, but which had almost entirely disappeared as he advanced in life. he was below mediocrity in mind, and had received scarcely any education. he had been taught to utter a few phrases, more or less intelligible, in french, italian, and flemish, but was quite incapable of sustaining a conversation in either of those languages. when a child, he had learned and subsequently forgotten the rudiments of the latin grammar. these acquirements, together with the catechism and the offices of the church, made up his whole stock of erudition. that he was devout as a monk of the middle ages, conforming daily and hourly to religious ceremonies, need scarcely be stated. it was not probable that the son of philip ii. would be a delinquent to church observances. he was not deficient in courage, rode well, was fond of hunting, kept close to the staghounds, and confronted, spear in hand, the wild-boar with coolness and success. he was fond of tennis, but his especial passion and chief accomplishment was dancing. he liked to be praised for his proficiency in this art, and was never happier than when gravely leading out the queen or his daughter, then four or five years of age--for he never danced with any one else--to perform a stately bolero. he never drank wine, but, on the other hand, was an enormous eater; so that, like his father in youth, he was perpetually suffering from stomach-ache as the effect of his gluttony. he was devotedly attached to his queen, and had never known, nor hardly looked at, any other woman. he had no vice but gambling, in which he indulged to a great extent, very often sitting up all night at cards. this passion of the king's was much encouraged by lerma, for obvious reasons. philip had been known to lose thirty thousand dollars at a sitting, and always to some one of the family or dependents of the duke, who of course divided with them the spoils. at one time the count of pelbes, nephew of lerma, had won two hundred thousand dollars in a very few nights from his sovereign. for the rest, philip had few peculiarities or foibles. he was not revengeful, nor arrogant, nor malignant. he was kind and affectionate to his wife and children, and did his best to be obedient to the duke of lerma. occasionally he liked to grant audiences, but there were few to request them. it was ridiculous and pathetic at the same time to see the poor king, as was very frequently the case, standing at a solemn green table till his little legs were tired, waiting to transact business with applicants who never came; while ushers, chamberlains, and valets were rushing up and down the corridors, bawling for all persons so disposed to come and have an audience of their monarch. meantime, the doors of the great duke's apartments in the same palace would be beleaguered by an army of courtiers, envoys, and contractors, who had paid solid gold for admission, and who were often sent away grumbling and despairing without entering the sacred precincts. as time wore on, the king, too much rebuked for attempting to meddle in state affairs, became solitary and almost morose, moping about in the woods by himself, losing satisfaction in his little dancing and ball-playing diversions, but never forgetting his affection for the queen nor the hours for his four daily substantial repasts of meats and pastry. it would be unnecessary and almost cruel to dwell so long upon a picture of what was after all not much better than human imbecility, were it not that humanity is, a more sacred thing than royalty. a satire upon such an embodiment of kingship is impossible, the simple and truthful characteristics being more effective than fiction or exaggeration. it would be unjust to exhume a private character after the lapse of two centuries merely to excite derision, but if history be not powerless to instruct, it certainly cannot be unprofitable to ponder the merits of a system which, after bestowing upon the world forty-three years of philip the tyrant, had now followed them up with a decade of philip the simpleton. in one respect the reigning sovereign was in advance of his age. in his devotion to the madonna he claimed the same miraculous origin for her mother as for herself. when the prayer "o sancta maria sine labe originali concepta" was chanted, he would exclaim with emotion that the words embodied his devoutest aspirations. he had frequent interviews with doctors of divinity on the subject, and instructed many bishops to urge upon the pope the necessity of proclaiming the virginity of the virgin's mother. could he secure this darling object of his ambition, he professed himself ready to make a pilgrimage on foot to rome. the pilgrimage was never made, for it may well be imagined that lerma would forbid any such adventurous scheme. meantime, the duke continued to govern the empire and to fill his coffers, and the king to shoot rabbits. the queen was a few years younger than her husband, and far from beautiful. indeed, the lower portion of her face was almost deformed. she was graceful, however, in her movements, and pleasing and gentle in manner. she adored the king, looking up to him with reverence as the greatest and wisest of beings. to please him she had upon her marriage given up drinking wine, which, for a german, was considered a great sacrifice. she recompensed herself, as the king did, by eating to an extent which, according to contemporary accounts, excited amazement. thus there was perfect sympathy between the two in the important article of diet. she had also learned to play at cards, in order to take a hand with him at any moment, feebly hoping that an occasional game for love might rescue the king from that frantic passion by which his health was shattered and so many courtiers were enriched. not being deficient in perception, the queen was quite aware of the greediness of all who surrounded the palace. she had spirit enough too to feel the galling tyranny to which the king was subjected. that the people hated the omnipotent favourite, and believed the king to be under the influence of sorcery, she was well aware. she had even a dim notion that the administration of the empire was not the wisest nor the noblest that could be devised for the first power in christendom. but considerations of high politics scarcely troubled her mind. of a people she had perhaps never heard, but she felt that the king was oppressed. she knew that he was helpless, and that she was herself his only friend. but of what avail were her timid little flutterings of indignation and resistance? so pure and fragile a creature could accomplish little good for king or people. perpetually guarded and surrounded by the countess of lemos and the duchess of lerma, she lived in mortal awe of both. as to the duke himself, she trembled at his very name. on her first attempts to speak with philip on political matters--to hint at the unscrupulous character of his government, to arouse him to the necessity of striking for a little more liberty and for at least a trifling influence in the state--the poor little king instantly betrayed her to the favourite and she was severely punished. the duke took the monarch off at once on a long journey, leaving her alone for weeks long with the terrible duchess and countess. never before had she been separated for a day from her husband, it having been the king's uniform custom to take her with him in all his expeditions. her ambition to interfere was thus effectually cured. the duke forbade her thenceforth ever to speak of politics to her husband in public or in private--not even in bed--and the king was closely questioned whether these orders had been obeyed. she submitted without a struggle. she saw how completely her happiness was at lerma's mercy. she had no one to consult with, having none but spanish people about her, except her german father-confessor, whom, as a great favour, and after a severe struggle, she had beep allowed to retain, as otherwise her ignorance of the national language would have made it impossible for her to confess her little sins. moreover her brothers, the archdukes at gratz, were in receipt of considerable annual stipends from the spanish exchequer, and the duke threatened to stop those pensions at once should the queen prove refractory. it is painful to dwell any longer on the abject servitude in which the king and queen were kept. the two were at least happy in each other's society, and were blessed with mutual affection, with pretty and engaging children, and with a similarity of tastes. it is impossible to imagine anything more stately, more devout, more regular, more innocent, more utterly dismal and insipid, than the lives of this wedded pair. this interior view of the court and council of spain will suffice to explain why, despite the languor and hesitations with which the transactions were managed, the inevitable tendency was towards a peace. the inevitable slowness, secrecy, and tergiversations were due to the dignity of the spanish court, and in harmony with its most sacred traditions. but what profit could the duke of lerma expect by the continuance of the dutch war, and who in spain was to be consulted except the duke of lerma? etext editor's bookmarks: a man incapable of fatigue, of perplexity, or of fear converting beneficent commerce into baleful gambling gigantic vices are proudly pointed to as the noblest no generation is long-lived enough to reap the harvest proclaiming the virginity of the virgin's mother steeped to the lips in sloth which imagined itself to be pride to shirk labour, infinite numbers become priests and friars chapter xlix. peace deliberations in spain--unpopularity of the project-- disaffection of the courtiers--complaints against spinola-- conference of the catholic party--position of henry iv. towards the republic--state of france further peace negotiations--desire of king james of england for the restoration of the states to spain--arrival of the french commissioners president jeannin before the states- general--dangers of a truce with spain--dutch legation to england-- arrival of lewis verreyken at the hague with philip's ratification-- rejection of the spanish treaty--withdrawal of the dutch fleet from the peninsula--the peace project denounced by the party of prince maurice--opposition of maurice to the plans of barneveld--amended ratification presented to the states-general--discussion of the conditions--determination to conclude a peace--indian trade-- exploits of admiral matelieff in the malay peninsula--he lays siege to malacca--victory over the spanish fleet--endeavour to open a trade with china--return of matelieff to holland. the marquis spinola had informed the spanish government that if , dollars a month could be furnished, the war might be continued, but that otherwise it would be better to treat upon the basis of 'uti possidetis,' and according to the terms proposed by the states-general. he had further intimated his opinion that, instead of waiting for the king's consent, it more comported with the king's dignity for the archdukes to enter into negotiations, to make a preliminary and brief armistice with the enemy, and then to solicit the royal approval of what had been done. in reply, the king--that is to say the man who thought, wrote, and signed in behalf of the king--had plaintively observed that among evils the vulgar rule was to submit to the least. although, therefore, to grant to the netherland rebels not only peace and liberty, but to concede to them whatever they had obtained by violence and the most abominable outrages, was the worst possible example to all princes; yet as the enormous sum necessary for carrying on the war was not to be had, even by attempting to scrape it together from every corner of the earth, he agreed with the opinion of the archdukes that it was better to put an end to this eternal and exhausting war by peace or truce, even under severe conditions. that the business had thus far proceeded without consulting him, was publicly known, and he expressed approval of the present movements towards a peace or a long truce, assuring spinola that such a result would be as grateful to him as if the war had been brought to a successful issue. when the marquis sent formal notice of the armistice to spain there were many complaints at court. men said that the measure was beneath the king's dignity, and contrary to his interests. it was a cessation of arms under iniquitous conditions, accorded to a people formerly subject and now rebellious. such a truce was more fatal than any conflict, than any amount of slaughter. during this long and dreadful war, the king had suffered no disaster so terrible as this, and the courtiers now declared openly that the archduke was the cause of the royal and national humiliation. having no children, nor hope of any, he desired only to live in tranquillity and selfish indulgence, like the indolent priest that he was, not caring what detriment or dishonour might accrue to the crown after his life was over. thus murmured the parasites and the plunderers within the dominions of the do-nothing philip, denouncing the first serious effort to put an end to a war which the laws of nature had proved to be hopeless on the part of spain. spinola too, who had spent millions of his own money, who had plunged himself into debt and discredit, while attempting to sustain the financial reputation of the king, who had by his brilliant services in the field revived the ancient glory of the spanish arms, and who now saw himself exposed with empty coffers to a vast mutiny, which was likely to make his future movements as paralytic as those of his immediate predecessors--spinola, already hated because he was an italian, because he was of a mercantile family, and because he had been successful, was now as much the object of contumely with the courtiers as with the archduke himself. the splendid victory of heemskerk had struck the government with dismay and diffused a panic along the coast. the mercantile fleets, destined for either india, dared not venture forth so long as the terrible dutch cruisers, which had just annihilated a splendid spanish fleet, commanded by a veteran of lepanto, and under the very guns of gibraltar, were supposed to be hovering off the peninsula. very naturally, therefore, there was discontent in spain that the cessation of hostilities had not originally been arranged for sea as well as land, and men said openly at court that spinola ought to have his head cut off for agreeing to such an armistice. quite as reasonably, however, it was now felt to be necessary to effect as soon as possible the recal of this very inconvenient dutch fleet from the coast of spain. the complaints were so incessant against spinola that it was determined to send don diego d'ybarra to brussels, charged with a general superintendence of the royal interests in the present confused condition of affairs. he was especially instructed to convey to spinola the most vehement reproaches in regard to the terms of the armistice, and to insist upon the cessation of naval hostilities, and the withdrawal of the cruisers. spinola, on his part, was exceedingly irritated that the arrangements which he had so carefully made with the archduke at brussels should be so contumaciously assailed, and even disavowed, at madrid. he was especially irritated that ybarra should now be sent as his censor and overseer, and that fuentes should have received orders to levy seven thousand troops in the milanese for flanders, the arrival of which reinforcements would excite suspicion, and probably break off negotiations. he accordingly sent his private secretary biraga, posthaste to spain with two letters. in number one he implored his majesty that ybarra might not be sent to brussels. if this request were granted, number two was to be burned. otherwise, number two was to be delivered, and it contained a request to be relieved from all further employment in the king's service. the marquis was already feeling the same effects of success as had been experienced by alexander farnese, don john of austria, and other strenuous maintainers of the royal authority in flanders. he was railed against, suspected, spied upon, put under guardianship, according to the good old traditions of the spanish court. public disgrace or secret poison might well be expected by him, as the natural guerdons of his eminent deeds. biraga also took with him the draught of the form in which the king's consent to the armistice and pending negotiations was desired, and he was particularly directed to urge that not one letter or comma should be altered, in order that no pretext might be afforded to the suspicious netherlanders for a rupture. in private letters to his own superintendent strata, to don john of idiaquez, to the duke of lerma, and to stephen ybarra, spinola enlarged upon the indignity about to be offered him, remonstrated vehemently against the wrong and stupidity of the proposed policy, and expressed his reliance upon the efforts of these friends of his to prevent its consummation. he intimated to idiaquez that a new deliberation would be necessary to effect the withdrawal of the dutch fleet--a condition not inserted in the original armistice--but that within the three months allowed for the royal ratification there would be time enough to procure the consent of the states to that measure. if the king really desired to continue the war, he had but to alter a single comma in the draught, and, out of that comma, the stadholder's party would be certain to manufacture for him as long a war as he could possibly wish. in a subsequent letter to the king, spinola observed that he was well aware of the indignation created in spain by the cessation of land hostilities without the recal of the fleet, but that nevertheless john neyen had confidentially represented to the archdukes the royal assent as almost certain. as to the mission of ybarra, the marquis reminded his master that the responsibility and general superintendence of the negotiations had been almost forced upon him. certainly he had not solicited them. if another agent were now interposed, it was an advertisement to the world that the business had been badly managed. if the king wished a rupture, he had but to lift his finger or his pen; but to appoint another commissioner was an unfit reward for his faithful service. he was in the king's hands. if his reputation were now to be destroyed, it was all over with him and his affairs. the man, whom mortals had once believed incapable, would be esteemed incapable until the end of his days. it was too late to prevent the mission of ybarra, who, immediately after his arrival in brussels, began to urge in the king's name that the words in which the provinces had been declared free by the archdukes might be expunged. what could be more childish than such diplomacy? what greater proof could be given of the incapacity of the spanish court to learn the lesson which forty years had been teaching? spinola again wrote a most earnest remonstrance to the king, assuring him that this was simply to break off the negotiation. it was ridiculous to suppose, he said, that concessions already made by the archdukes, ratification of which on the part of the king had been guaranteed, could now be annulled. those acquainted with netherland obstinacy knew better. the very possibility of the king's refusal excited the scorn of the states-general. ybarra went about, too, prating to the archdukes and to others of supplies to be sent from spain sufficient to carry on the war for many years, and of fresh troops to be forwarded immediately by fuentes. as four millions of crowns a year were known to be required for any tolerable campaigning, such empty vaunts as these were preposterous. the king knew full well, said spinola, and had admitted the fact in his letters, that this enormous sum could not be furnished. moreover, the war cost the netherlanders far less in proportion. they had river transportation, by which they effected as much in two days as the catholic army could do in a fortnight, so that every siege was managed with far greater rapidity and less cost by the rebels than by their opponents. as to sending troops from milan, he had already stated that their arrival would have a fatal effect. the minds of the people were full of suspicion. every passing rumour excited a prodigious sensation, and the war party was already gaining the upper hand. spinola warned the king, in the most solemn manner, that if the golden opportunity were now neglected the war would be eternal. this, he said, was more certain than certain. for himself, he had strained every nerve, and would continue to do his best in the interest of peace. if calamity must come, he at least would be held blameless. such vehement remonstrances from so eminent a source produced the needful effect. royal letters were immediately sent, placing full powers of treating in the hands of the marquis, and sending him a ratification of the archduke's agreement. government moreover expressed boundless confidence in spinola, and deprecated the idea that ybarra's mission was in derogation of his authority. he had been sent, it was stated, only to procure that indispensable preliminary to negotiations, the withdrawal of the dutch fleet, but as this had now been granted, ybarra was already recalled. spinola now determined to send the swift and sure-footed friar, who had made himself so useful in opening the path to discussion, on a secret mission to spain. ybarra objected; especially because it would be necessary for him to go through france, where he would be closely questioned by the king. it would be equally dangerous, he said, for the franciscan in that case to tell the truth or to conceal it. but spinola replied that a poor monk like him could steal through france undiscovered. moreover, he should be disguised as a footman, travelling in the service of aurelio spinola, a relative of the marquis, then proceeding to madrid. even should henry hear of his presence and send for him, was it to be supposed that so practised a hand would not easily parry the strokes of the french king--accomplished fencer as he undoubtedly was? after stealing into and out of holland as he had so recently done, there was nothing that might not be expected of him. so the wily friar put on the spinola livery, and, without impediment, accompanied don aurelio to madrid. meantime, the french commissioners--pierre jeannin, buzanval, regular resident at the hague, and de russy, who was destined to succeed that diplomatist--had arrived in holland. the great drama of negotiation, which was now to follow the forty years' tragedy, involved the interests and absorbed the attention of the great christian powers. although serious enough in its substance and its probable consequences, its aspect was that of a solemn comedy. there was a secret disposition on the part of each leading personage--with a few exceptions--to make dupes of all the rest. perhaps this was a necessary result of statesmanship, as it had usually been taught at that epoch. paul v., who had succeeded clement viii. in , with the brief interlude of the twenty-six days of leo xi.'s pontificate, was zealous, as might be supposed, to check the dangerous growth of the pestilential little republic of the north. his diplomatic agents, millino at madrid, barberini at paris, and the accomplished bentivoglio, who had just been appointed to the nunciatura at brussels, were indefatigable in their efforts to suppress the heresy and the insolent liberty of which the upstart commonwealth was the embodiment. especially barberini exerted all the powers at his command to bring about a good understanding between the kings of france and spain. he pictured to henry, in darkest colours, the blight that would come over religion and civilization if the progress of the rebellious netherlands could not be arrested. the united provinces were becoming dangerous, if they remained free, not only to the french kingdom, but to the very existence of monarchy throughout the world. no potentate was ever more interested, so it was urged, than henry iv. to bring down the pride of the dutch rebels. there was always sympathy of thought and action between the huguenots of france and their co-religionists in holland. they were all believers alike in calvinism--a sect inimical not less to temporal monarchies than to the sovereign primacy of the church--and the tendency and purposes of the french rebels were already sufficiently manifest in their efforts, by means of the so-called cities of security, to erect a state within a state; to introduce, in short, a dutch republic into france. a sovereign remedy for the disease of liberty, now threatening to become epidemic in europe, would be found in a marriage between the second son of the king of spain and a daughter of france. as the archdukes were childless, it might be easily arranged that this youthful couple should succeed them--the result of which would of course be the reduction of all the netherlands to their ancient obedience. it has already been seen, and will become still farther apparent, that nostrums like this were to be recommended in other directions. meantime, jeannin and his colleagues made their appearance at the hague. if there were a living politician in europe capable of dealing with barneveld on even terms, it was no doubt president jeannin. an ancient leaguer, an especial adherent of the duke of mayenne, he had been deep in all the various plots and counter-plots of the guises, and often employed by the extinct confederacy in various important intrigues. being secretly sent to spain to solicit help for the league after the disasters of ivry and arques, he found philip ii. so sincerely imbued with the notion that france was a mere province of spain, and so entirely bent upon securing the heritage of the infanta to that large property, as to convince him that the maintenance of the roman religion was with that monarch only a secondary condition. aid and assistance for the confederacy were difficult of attainment, unless coupled with the guarantee of the infanta's rights to reign in france. the guise faction being inspired solely by religious motives of the loftiest kind, were naturally dissatisfied with the lukewarmness of his most catholic majesty. when therefore the discomfited mayenne subsequently concluded his bargain with the conqueror of ivry, it was a matter of course that jeannin should also make his peace with the successful huguenot, now become eldest son of the church. he was very soon taken into especial favour by henry, who recognised his sagacity, and who knew his hands to be far cleaner than those of the more exalted leaguers with whom he had dealt. the "good old fellow," as henry familiarly called him, had not filled his pockets either in serving or when deserting the league. placed in control of the exchequer at a later period, he was never accused of robbery or peculation. he was a hard-working, not overpaid, very intelligent public functionary. he was made president of the parliament, or supreme tribunal of burgundy, and minister of state, and was recognised as one of the ablest jurists and most skilful politicians in the kingdom. an elderly man, with a tall, serene forehead, a large dark eye and a long grey beard, he presented an image of vast wisdom and reverend probity. he possessed--an especial treasure for a statesman in that plotting age--a singularly honest visage. never was that face more guileless, never was his heart more completely worn upon his sleeve, than when he was harbouring the deepest or most dangerous designs. such was the "good fellow," whom that skilful reader of men, henry of france, had sent to represent his interests and his opinions at the approaching conferences. what were those opinions? paul v. and his legates barberini, millino, and the rest, were well enough aware of the secret strings of the king's policy, and knew how to touch them with skill. of all things past, henry perhaps most regretted that not he, but the last and most wretched of the valois line, was sovereign of france when the states-general came to paris with that offer of sovereignty which had been so contumaciously refused. if the object were attainable, the ex-chief of the huguenots still meant to be king of the netherlands as sincerely as philip ii. had ever intended to be monarch of france. but henry was too accurate a calculator of chances, and had bustled too much in the world of realities, to exhaust his strength in striving, year after year, for a manifest impossibility. the enthusiast, who had passed away at last from the dreams of the escorial into the land of shadows, had spent a lifetime, and melted the wealth of an empire; but universal monarchy had never come forth from his crucible. the french king, although possessed likewise of an almost boundless faculty for ambitious visions, was capable of distinguishing cloud-land from substantial empire. jeannin, as his envoy, would at any rate not reveal his master's secret aspirations to those with whom he came to deal, as openly as philip had once unveiled himself to jeannin. there could be no doubt that peace at this epoch was the real interest of france. that kingdom was beginning to flourish again, owing to the very considerable administrative genius of bethune, an accomplished financier according to the lights of the age, and still more by reason of the general impoverishment of the great feudal houses and of the clergy. the result of the almost interminable series of civil and religious wars had been to cause a general redistribution of property. capital was mainly in the hands of the middle and lower classes, and the consequence of this general circulation of wealth through all the channels of society was precisely what might have been expected, an increase of enterprise and of productive industry in various branches. although the financial wisdom of the age was doing its best to impede commerce, to prevent the influx of foreign wares, to prohibit the outflow of specie--in obedience to the universal superstition, which was destined to survive so many centuries, that gold and silver alone constituted wealth--while, at the same time, in deference to the idiotic principle of sumptuary legislation, it was vigorously opposing mulberry culture, silk manufactures, and other creations of luxury, which, in spite of the hostility of government sages, were destined from that time forward to become better mines of wealth for the kingdom than the indies had been for spain, yet on the whole the arts of peace were in the ascendant in france. the king, although an unscrupulous, self-seeking despot and the coarsest of voluptuaries, was at least a man of genius. he had also too much shrewd mother-wit to pursue such schemes as experience had shown to possess no reality. the talisman "espoir," emblazoned on his shield, had led him to so much that it was natural for him at times to think all things possible. but he knew how to renounce as well as how to dare. he had abandoned his hope to be declared prince of wales and successor to the english crown, which he had cherished for a brief period, at the epoch of the essex conspiracy; he had forgotten his magnificent dream of placing the crown of the holy german empire upon his head, and if he still secretly resolved to annex the netherlands to his realms, and to destroy his excellent ally, the usurping, rebellious, and heretic dutch republic, he had craft enough to work towards his aim in the dark, and the common sense to know that by now throwing down the mask he would be for ever baffled of his purpose. the history of france, during the last three-quarters of a century, had made almost every frenchman, old enough to bear arms, an accomplished soldier. henry boasted that the kingdom could put three hundred thousand veterans into the field--a high figure, when it is recollected that its population certainly did not exceed fifteen millions. no man however was better aware than he, that in spite, of the apparent pacification of parties, the three hundred thousand would not be all on one side, even in case of a foreign war. there were at least four thousand great feudal lords as faithful to the huguenot faith and cause as he had been false to both; many of them still wealthy, notwithstanding the general ruin which had swept over the high nobility, and all of them with vast influence and a splendid following, both among the lesser gentry and the men of lower rank. although he kept a jesuit priest ever at his elbow, and did his best to persuade the world and perhaps himself that he had become a devout catholic, in consequence of those memorable five hours' instruction from the bishop of bourges, and that there was no hope for france save in its return to the bosom of the church, he was yet too politic and too farseeing to doubt that for him to oppress the protestants would be not only suicidal, but, what was worse in his eyes, ridiculous. he knew, too, that with thirty or forty thousand fighting-men in the field, with seven hundred and forty churches in the various provinces for their places of worship, with all the best fortresses in france in their possession, with leaders like rohan, lesdiguieres, bouillon, and many others, and with the most virtuous, self-denying, christian government, established and maintained by themselves, it would be madness for him and his dynasty to deny the protestants their political and religious liberty, or to attempt a crusade against their brethren in the netherlands. france was far more powerful than spain, although the world had not yet recognised the fact. yet it would have been difficult for both united to crush the new commonwealth, however paradoxical such a proposition seemed to contemporaries. sully was conscientiously in favour of peace, and sully was the one great minister of france. not a lerma, certainly; for france was not spain, nor was henry iv. a philip iii. the huguenot duke was an inferior financier to his spanish contemporary, if it were the height of financial skill for a minister to exhaust the resources of a great kingdom in order to fill his own pocket. sully certainly did not neglect his own interests, for he had accumulated a fortune of at least seventy thousand dollars a year, besides a cash capital estimated at a million and a half. but while enriching himself, he had wonderfully improved the condition of the royal treasury. he had reformed many abuses and opened many new sources of income. he had, of course, not accomplished the whole augean task of purification. he was a vigorous huguenot, but no hercules, and demigods might have shrunk appalled at the filthy mass of corruption which great european kingdoms everywhere presented to the reformer's eye. compared to the spanish government, that of france might almost have been considered virtuous, yet even there everything was venal. to negotiate was to bribe right and left, and at every step. all the ministers and great functionaries received presents, as a matter of course, and it was necessary to pave the pathway even of their ante-chambers with gold. the king was fully aware of the practice, but winked at it, because his servants, thus paid enormous sums by the public and by foreign governments, were less importunate for rewards and salaries from himself. one man in the kingdom was said to have clean hands, the venerable and sagacious chancellor, pomponne de bellievre. his wife, however, was less scrupulous, and readily disposed of influence and court-favour for a price, without the knowledge, so it was thought, of the great judge. jeannin, too, was esteemed a man of personal integrity, ancient leaguer and tricky politician though he were. highest offices of magistracy and judicature, church and state, were objects of a traffic almost as shameless as in spain. the ermine was sold at auction, mitres were objects of public barter, church preferments were bestowed upon female children in their cradles. yet there was hope in france, notwithstanding that the pragmatic sanction of st. louis, the foundation of the liberties of the gallican church, had been annulled by francis, who had divided the seamless garment of church patronage with leo. those four thousand great huguenot lords, those thirty thousand hard-fighting weavers, and blacksmiths, and other plebeians, those seven hundred and forty churches, those very substantial fortresses in every province of the kingdom, were better facts than the holy inquisition to preserve a great nation from sinking into the slough of political extinction. henry was most anxious that sully should convert himself to the ancient church, and the gossips of the day told each other that the duke had named his price for his conversion. to be made high constable of france, it was said would melt the resolve of the stiff huguenot. to any other inducement or blandishment he was adamant. whatever truth may have been in such chatter, it is certain that the duke never gratified his master's darling desire. yet it was for no lack of attempts and intrigues on the part of the king, although it is not probable that he would have ever consented to bestow that august and coveted dignity upon a bethune. the king did his best by intrigue, by calumny, by talebearing, by inventions, to set the huguenots against each other, and to excite the mutual jealousy of all his most trusted adherents, whether protestant or catholic. the most good-humoured, the least vindictive, the most ungrateful, the falsest of mankind, he made it his policy, as well as his pastime, to repeat, with any amount of embroidery that his most florid fancy could devise, every idle story or calumny that could possibly create bitter feeling and make mischief among those who surrounded him. being aware that this propensity was thoroughly understood, he only multiplied fictions, so cunningly mingled with truths, as to leave his hearers quite unable to know what to believe and what to doubt. by such arts, force being impossible, he hoped one day to sever the band which held the conventicles together, and to reduce protestantism to insignificance. he would have cut off the head of d'aubigne or duplessis mornay to gain an object, and have not only pardoned but caressed and rewarded biron when reeking from the conspiracy against his own life and crown, had he been willing to confess and ask pardon for his stupendous crime. he hated vindictive men almost as much as he despised those who were grateful. he was therefore far from preferring sully to villeroy or jeannin, but he was perfectly aware that, in financial matters at least, the duke was his best friend and an important pillar of the state. the minister had succeeded in raising the annual revenue of france to nearly eleven millions of dollars, and in reducing the annual expenditures to a little more than ten millions. to have a balance on the right side of the public ledger was a feat less easily accomplished in those days even than in our own. could the duke have restrained his sovereign's reckless extravagance in buildings, parks, hunting establishments, and harems, he might have accomplished even greater miracles. he lectured the king roundly, as a parent might remonstrate with a prodigal son, but it was impossible even for a sully to rescue that hoary-headed and most indomitable youth from wantonness and riotous living. the civil-list of the king amounted to more than one-tenth of the whole revenue. on the whole, however, it was clear, as france was then constituted and administered, that a general peace would be, for the time at least, most conducive to its interests, and henry and his great minister were sincerely desirous of bringing about that result. preliminaries for a negotiation which should terminate this mighty war were now accordingly to be laid down at the hague. yet it would seem rather difficult to effect a compromise. besides the powers less interested, but which nevertheless sent representatives to watch the proceedings--such as sweden, denmark, brandenburg, the elector palatine--there were spain, france, england, the republic, and the archdukes. spain knew very well that she could not continue the war; but she hoped by some quibbling recognition of an impossible independence to recover that authority over her ancient vassals which the sword had for the time struck down. distraction in councils, personal rivalries, the well-known incapacity of a people to govern itself, commercial greediness, provincial hatreds, envies and jealousies, would soon reduce that jumble of cities and villages, which aped the airs of sovereignty, into insignificance and confusion. adroit management would easily re-assert afterwards the sovereignty of the lord's anointed. that a republic of freemen, a federation of independent states, could take its place among the nations did not deserve a serious thought. spain in her heart preferred therefore to treat. it was however indispensable that the netherlands should reestablish the catholic religion throughout the land, should abstain then and for ever from all insolent pretences to trade with india or america, and should punish such of their citizens as attempted to make voyages to the one or the other. with these trifling exceptions, the court of madrid would look with favour on propositions made in behalf of the rebels. france, as we have seen, secretly aspired to the sovereignty of all the netherlands, if it could be had. she was also extremely in favour of excluding the hollanders from the indies, east and west. the king, fired with the achievements of the republic at sea, and admiring their great schemes for founding empires at the antipodes by means of commercial corporations, was very desirous of appropriating to his own benefit the experience, the audacity, the perseverance, the skill and the capital of their merchants and mariners. he secretly instructed his commissioners, therefore, and repeatedly urged it upon them, to do their best to procure the renunciation, on the part of the republic, of the indian trade, and to contrive the transplantation into france of the mighty trading companies, so successfully established in holland and zeeland. the plot thus to deprive the provinces of their india trade was supposed by the statesmen of the republic to have been formed in connivance with spain. that power, finding itself half pushed from its seat of power in the east by the "grand and infallible society created by the united provinces,"--[memoir of aerssens, ubi sup]--would be but too happy to make use of this french intrigue in order to force the intruding dutch navy from its conquests. olden-barneveld, too politic to offend the powerful and treacherous ally by a flat refusal, said that the king's friendship was more precious than the india trade. at the same time he warned the french government that, if they ruined the dutch east india company, "neither france nor any other nation would ever put its nose into india again." james of england, too, flattered himself that he could win for england that sovereignty of the netherlands which england as well as france had so decidedly refused. the marriage of prince henry with the spanish infanta was the bait, steadily dangled before him by the politicians of the spanish court, and he deluded himself with the thought that the catholic king, on the death of the childless archdukes, would make his son and daughter-in-law a present of the obedient netherlands. he already had some of the most important places in the united netherlands-the famous cautionary towns in his grasp, and it should go hard but he would twist that possession into a sovereignty over the whole land. as for recognising the rebel provinces as an independent sovereignty, that was most abhorrent to him. such a tampering with the great principles of government was an offence against all crowned heads, a crime in which he was unwilling to participate. his instinct against rebellion seemed like second sight. the king might almost be imagined to have foreseen in the dim future those memorable months in which the proudest triumph of the dutch commonwealth was to be registered before the forum of christendom at the congress of westphalia, and in which the solemn trial and execution of his own son and successor, with the transformation of the monarchy of the tudors and stuarts into a british republic, were simultaneously to startle the world. but it hardly needed the gift of prophecy to inspire james with a fear of revolutions. he was secretly desirous therefore, sustained by salisbury and his other advisers, of effecting the restoration of the provinces to the dominion of his most catholic majesty. it was of course the interest of england that the netherland rebels should renounce the india trade. so would james be spared the expense and trouble of war; so would the great doctrines of divine right be upheld; so would the way be paved towards the ultimate absorption of the netherlands by england. whether his theological expositions would find as attentive pupils when the pope's authority had been reestablished over all his neighbours; whether the catholic rebels in ireland would become more tranquil by the subjugation of the protestant rebels in holland; whether the principles of guy fawkes might not find more effective application, with no bulwark beyond the seas against the incursion of such practitioners--all this he did not perhaps sufficiently ponder. thus far had the discursive mind of james wandered from the position which it occupied at the epoch of maximilian de bethune's memorable embassy to england. the archdukes were disposed to quiet. on them fell the burthen of the war. their little sovereignty, where--if they could only be allowed to expend the money squeezed from the obedient provinces in court diversions, stately architecture, splendid encouragement of the fine arts, and luxurious living, surrounded by a train of great nobles, fit to command regiments in the field or assist in the counsels of state, but chiefly occupied in putting dishes on the court table, handing ewers and napkins to their highnesses, or in still more menial offices--so much enjoyment might be had, was reduced to a mere parade ground for spanish soldiery. it was ridiculous, said the politicians of madrid, to suppose that a great empire like spain would not be continually at war in one direction or another, and would not perpetually require the use of large armies. where then could there be a better mustering place for their forces than those very provinces, so easy of access, so opulent, so conveniently situate in the neighbourhood of spain's most insolent enemies? it was all very fine for the archduke, who knew nothing of war, they declared, who had no hope of children, who longed only for a life of inglorious ease, such as he could have had as archbishop, to prate of peace and thus to compromise the dignity of the realm. on the contrary by making proper use of the netherlands, the repose and grandeur of the monarchy would be secured, even should the war become eternal. this prospect, not agreeable certainly for the archdukes or their subjects, was but little admired outside the spanish court. such then were the sentiments of the archdukes, and such the schemes and visions of spain, france, and england. on two or three points, those great powers were mainly, if unconsciously, agreed. the netherlands should not be sovereign; they should renounce the india navigation; they should consent to the re-establishment of the catholic religion. on the other hand, the states-general knew their own minds, and made not the slightest secret of their intentions. they would be sovereign, they would not renounce the india trade, they would not agree to the re-establishment of the catholic religion. could the issue of the proposed negotiations be thought hopeful, or was another half century of warfare impending? on the th may the french commissioners came before the states-general. there had been many wild rumours flying through the provinces in regard to the king's secret designs upon the republic, especially since the visit made to the hague a twelvemonth before by francis aerssens, states' resident at the french court. that diplomatist, as we know, had been secretly commissioned by henry to feel the public pulse in regard to the sovereignty, so far as that could be done by very private and delicate fingering. although only two or three personages had been dealt with--the suggestions being made as the private views of the ambassadors only--there had been much gossip on the subject, not only in the netherlands, but at the english and spanish courts. throughout the commonwealth there was a belief that henry wished to make himself king of the country. as this happened to be the fact, it was natural that the president, according to the statecraft of his school, should deny it at once, and with an air of gentle melancholy. wearing therefore his most ingenuous expression, jeannin addressed the assembly. he assured the states that the king had never forgotten how much assistance he had received from them when he was struggling to conquer the kingdom legally belonging to him, and at a time when they too were fighting in their own country for their very existence. the king thought that he had given so many proofs of his sincere friendship as to make doubt impossible; but he had found the contrary, for the states had accorded an armistice, and listened to overtures of peace, without deigning to consult him on the subject. they had proved, by beginning and concluding so important a transaction without his knowledge, that they regarded him with suspicion, and had no respect for his name. whence came the causes of that suspicion it was difficult to imagine, unless from certain false rumours of propositions said to have been put forward in his behalf, although he had never authorised anyone to make them, by which men had been induced to believe that he aspired to the sovereignty of the provinces. "this falsehood," continued the candid president, "has cut our king to the heart, wounding him more deeply than anything else could have done. to make the armistice without his knowledge showed merely your contempt for him, and your want of faith in him. but he blamed not the action in itself, since you deemed it for your good, and god grant that you may not have been deceived. but to pretend that his majesty wished to grow great at your expense, this was to do a wrong to his reputation, to his good faith, and to the desire which he has always shown to secure the prosperity of your state." much more spoke jeannin, in this vein, assuring the assembly that those abominable falsehoods proceeded from the enemies of the king, and were designed expressly to sow discord and suspicion in the provinces. the reader, already aware of the minute and detailed arrangements made by henry and his ministers for obtaining the sovereignty of the united provinces and destroying their liberties, will know how to appreciate the eloquence of the ingenuous president. after the usual commonplaces concerning the royal desire to protect his allies against wrong and oppression, and to advance their interests, the president suggested that the states should forthwith communicate the pending deliberations to all the kings and princes who had favoured their cause, and especially to the king of england, who had so thoroughly proved his desire to promote their welfare. as jeannin had been secretly directed to pave the way by all possible means for the king's sovereignty over the provinces; as he was not long afterwards to receive explicit instructions to expend as much money as might be necessary in bribing prince maurice, count lewis william, barneveld and his son, together with such others as might seem worth purchasing, in order to assist henry in becoming monarch of their country; and as the english king was at that moment represented in henry's private letters to the commissioners as actually loathing the liberty, power, and prosperity of the provinces, it must be conceded that the president had acquitted himself very handsomely in his first oration. such was the virtue of his honest face. barneveld answered with generalities and commonplaces. no man knew better than the advocate the exact position of affairs; no man had more profoundly fathomed the present purposes of the french king; no man had more acutely scanned his character. but he knew the critical position of the commonwealth. he knew that, although the public revenue might be raised by extraordinary and spasmodic exertion to nearly a million sterling, a larger income than had ever been at the disposition of the great queen of england, the annual deficit might be six millions of florins--more than half the revenue--if the war continued, and that there was necessity of peace, could the substantial objects of the war be now obtained. he was well aware too of the subtle and scheming brain which lay hid beneath that reverend brow of the president, although he felt capable of coping with him in debate or intrigue. doubtless he was inspired with as much ardour for the intellectual conflict as henry might have experienced on some great field-day with alexander farnese. on this occasion, however, barneveld preferred to glide gently over the rumours concerning henry's schemes. those reports had doubtless emanated, he said, from the enemies of netherland prosperity. the private conclusion of the armistice he defended on the ground of necessity, and of temporary financial embarrassment, and he promised that deputies should at once be appointed to confer with the royal commissioners in regard to the whole subject. in private, he assured jeannin that the communications of aerssens had only been discussed in secret, and had not been confided to more than three or four persons. the advocate, although the leader of the peace party, was by no means over anxious for peace. the object of much insane obloquy, because disposed to secure that blessing for his country on the basis of freedom and independence, he was not disposed to trust in the sincerity of the archdukes, or the spanish court, or the french king. "timeo danaos etiam dona ferentes," he had lately said to aerssens. knowing that the resistance of the netherlands had been forty years long the bulwark of europe against the designs of the spaniard for universal empire, he believed the republic justified in expecting the support of the leading powers in the negotiations now proposed. "had it not been for the opposition of these provinces," he said, "he might, in the opinion of the wisest, have long ago been monarch of all europe, with small expense of men, money, or credit." he was far from believing therefore that spain, which had sacrificed, according to his estimate, three hundred thousand soldiers and two hundred million ducats in vain endeavours to destroy the resistance of the united provinces, was now ready to lay aside her vengeance and submit to a sincere peace. rather he thought to see "the lambkins, now frisking so innocently about the commonwealth, suddenly transform themselves into lions and wolves." it would be a fatal error, he said, to precipitate the dear fatherland into the net of a simulated negotiation, from unwise impatience for peace. the netherlanders were a simple, truthful people and could hope for no advantage in dealing with spanish friars, nor discover all the danger and deceit lurking beneath their fair words. thus the man, whom his enemies perpetually accused of being bought by the enemy, of wishing peace at any price, of wishing to bring back the catholic party and ecclesiastical influence to the netherlands, was vigorously denouncing a precipitate peace, and warning his countrymen of the danger of premature negotiations. "as one can hardly know the purity and value of gold," he said, "without testing it, so it is much more difficult to distinguish a false peace from a genuine one; for one can never touch it nor taste it; and one learns the difference when one is cheated and lost. ignorant people think peace negotiations as simple as a private lawsuit. many sensible persons even think that; the enemy once recognising us for a free, sovereign state, we shall be in the same position as england and france, which powers have lately made peace with the archdukes and with spain. but we shall find a mighty difference. moreover, in those kingdoms the spanish king has since the peace been ever busy corrupting their officers of state and their subjects, and exciting rebellion and murder within their realms, as all the world must confess. and the english merchants complain that they have suffered more injustice, violence, and wrong from the spaniards since the peace than they did during the war." the advocate also reminded his countrymen that the archduke, being a vassal of spain, could not bind that power by his own signature, and that there was no proof that the king would renounce his pretended rights to the provinces. if he affected to do so, it would only be to put the republic to sleep. he referred, with much significance, to the late proceedings of the admiral of arragon at emmerich, who refused to release that city according to his plighted word, saying roundly that whatever he might sign and seal one day he would not hesitate absolutely to violate on the next if the king's service was thereby to be benefited. with such people, who had always learned law-doctors and ghostly confessors to strengthen and to absolve them, they could never expect anything but broken faith and contempt for treaties however solemnly ratified. should an armistice be agreed upon and negotiations begun, the advocate urged that the work of corruption and bribery would not be a moment delayed, and although the netherlanders were above all nations a true and faithful race, it could hardly be hoped that no individuals would be gained over by the enemy. "for the whole country," said barneveld, "would swarm with jesuits, priests, and monks, with calumnies and corruptions--the machinery by which the enemy is wont to produce discord, relying for success upon the well-known maxim of philip of macedon, who considered no city impregnable into which he could send an ass laden with gold." the advocate was charged too with being unfriendly to the india trade, especially to the west india company. he took the opportunity, however, to enlarge with emphasis and eloquence upon that traffic as constituting the very lifeblood of the country. "the commerce with the east indies is going on so prosperously," he said, "that not only our own inhabitants but all strangers are amazed. the west india company is sufficiently prepared, and will cost the commonwealth so little, that the investment will be inconsiderable in comparison with the profits. and all our dangers and difficulties have nearly vanished since the magnificent victory of gibraltar, by which the enemy's ships, artillery, and sailors have been annihilated, and proof afforded that the spanish galleys are not so terrible as they pretend to be. by means of this trade to both the indies, matters will soon be brought into such condition that the spaniards will be driven out of all those regions and deprived of their traffic. thus will the great wolf's teeth be pulled out, and we need have no farther fear of his biting again. then we may hope for a firm and assured peace, and may keep the indies, with the whole navigation thereon depending, for ourselves, sharing it freely and in common with our allies." certainly no statesman could more strongly depict the dangers of a pusillanimous treaty, and the splendid future of the republic, if she held fast to her resolve for political independence, free religion, and free trade, than did the great advocate at this momentous epoch of european history. had he really dreamed of surrendering the republic to spain, that republic whose resistance ever since the middle of the previous century had been all that had saved europe, in the opinion of learned and experienced thinkers, from the universal empire of spain--had the calumnies, or even a thousandth part of the calumnies, against him been true--how different might have been the history of human liberty! soon afterwards, in accordance with the suggestions of the french king and with their own previous intentions, a special legation was despatched by the states to england, in order to notify the approaching conferences to the sovereign of that country, and to invite his participation in the proceedings. the states' envoys were graciously received by james, who soon appointed richard spencer and ralph winwood as commissioners to the hague, duly instructed to assist at the deliberations, and especially to keep a sharp watch upon french intrigues. there were also missions and invitations to denmark and to the electors palatine and of brandenburg, the two latter potentates having, during the past three years, assisted the states with a hundred thousand florins annually. the news of the great victory at gibraltar had reached the netherlands almost simultaneously with the arrival of the french commissioners. it was thought probable that john neyen had received the weighty intelligence some days earlier, and the intense eagerness of the archdukes and of the spanish government to procure the recal of the dutch fleet was thus satisfactorily explained. very naturally this magnificent success, clouded though it was by the death of the hero to whom it was due, increased the confidence of the states in the justice of their cause and the strength of their position. once more, it is not entirely idle to consider the effect of scientific progress on the march of human affairs, as so often exemplified in history. whether that half-century of continuous war would have been possible with the artillery, means of locomotion, and other machinery of destruction and communication now so terribly familiar to the world, can hardly be a question. the preterhuman prolixity of negotiation which appals us in the days when steam and electricity had not yet annihilated time and space, ought also to be obsolete. at a period when the news of a great victory was thirty days on its travels from gibraltar to flushing, aged counsellors justified themselves in a solemn consumption of time such as might have exasperated jared or methuselah in his boyhood. men fought as if war was the normal condition of humanity, and negotiated as if they were all immortal. but has the art political kept pace with the advancement of physical science? if history be valuable for the examples it furnishes both for imitation and avoidance, then the process by which these peace conferences were initiated and conducted may be wholesome food for reflection. john neyen, who, since his secret transactions already described at the hague and fort lillo, had been speeding back and forth between brussels, london, and madrid, had once more returned to the netherlands, and had been permitted to reside privately at delft until the king's ratification should arrive from spain. while thus established, the industrious friar had occupied his leisure in studying the situation of affairs. especially he had felt inclined to renew some of those little commercial speculations which had recently proved so comfortable in the case of dirk van der does. recorder cornelius aerssens came frequently to visit him, with the private consent of the government, and it at once struck the friar that cornelius would be a judicious investment. so he informed the recorder that the archdukes had been much touched with his adroitness and zeal in facilitating the entrance of their secret agent into the presence of the prince and the advocate. cruwel, in whose company the disguised neyen had made his first journey to the hague, was a near relative of aerssena, the honest monk accordingly, in recognition of past and expected services, begged one day the recorder's acceptance of a bill, drawn by marquis spinola on henry beckman, merchant of amsterdam, for eighty thousand ducats. he also produced a diamond ring, valued at ten thousand florins, which he ventured to think worthy the acceptance of madame aerssens. furthermore, he declared himself ready to pay fifteen thousand crowns in cash, on account of the bill, whenever it might be, desired, and observed that the archdukes had ordered the house which the recorder had formerly occupied in brussels to be reconveyed to him. other good things were in store, it was delicately hinted, as soon as they had been earned. aerssens expressed his thanks for the house, which, he said, legally belonged to him according to the terms of the surrender of brussels. he hesitated in regard to the rest, but decided finally to accept the bill of exchange and the diamond, apprising prince maurice and olden-barneveld of the fact, however, on his return to the hague. being subsequently summoned by neyen to accept the fifteen thousand crowns, he felt embarrassed at the compromising position in which he had placed himself. he decided accordingly to make a public statement of the affair to the states-general. this was done, and the states placed the ring and the bill in the hands of their treasurer, joris de bie. the recorder never got the eighty thousand ducats, nor his wife the diamond; but although there had been no duplicity on his part, he got plenty of slander. his evil genius had prompted him, not to listen seriously to the temptings of the monk, but to deal with him on his own terms. he was obliged to justify himself against public suspicion with explanations and pamphlets, but some taint of the calumny stuck by him to the last. meantime, the three months allotted for the reception of philip's ratification had nearly expired. in march, the royal government had expressly consented that the archdukes should treat with the rebels on the ground of their independence. in june that royal permission had been withdrawn, exactly because the independence could never be acknowledged. albert, naturally enough indignant at such double-dealing, wrote to the king that his disapprobation was incomprehensible, as the concession of independence had been made by direct command of philip. "i am much amazed," he said, "that, having treated with the islanders on condition of leaving them free, by express order of your majesty (which you must doubtless very well remember), your majesty now reproves my conduct, and declares your dissatisfaction." at last, on the rd july, spinola requested a safe conduct for louis verreyken, auditor of the council at brussels, to come to the hague. on the rd of july that functionary accordingly arrived. he came before prince maurice and fifty deputies of the states-general, and exhibited the document. at the same time he urged them, now that the long-desired ratification had been produced, to fulfil at once their promise, and to recal their fleet from the coast of spain. verreyken was requested to withdraw while the instrument was examined. when recalled, he was informed that the states had the most straight-forward intention to negotiate, but that the royal document did not at all answer their expectation. as few of the delegates could read spanish, it would first of all be necessary to cause it to be translated. when that was done they would be able to express their opinion concerning it and come to a decision in regard to the recal of the fleet. this ended the proceedings on that occasion. next day prince maurice invited verreyken and others to dine. after dinner the stadholder informed him that the answer of the states might soon be expected; at the same time expressing his regret that the king should have sent such an instrument. it was very necessary, said the prince, to have plain speaking, and he, for one, had never believed that the king would send a proper ratification. the one exhibited was not at all to the purpose. the king was expected to express himself as clearly as the archdukes had done in their instrument. he must agree to treat with the states-general as with people entirely free, over whom he claimed no authority. if the king should refuse to make this public declaration, the states would at once break off all negotiations. three days afterwards, seven deputies conferred with verreyken. barneveld, as spokesman, declared that, so far as the provinces were concerned, the path was plain and open to an honest, ingenuous, lasting peace, but that the manner of dealing on the other side was artificial and provocative of suspicion. a most important line, which had been placed by the states at the very beginning of the form suggested by them, was wanting in the ratification now received. this hardly seemed an accidental omission. the whole document was constrained and defective. it was necessary to deal with netherlanders in clear and simple language. the basis of any possible negotiation was that the provinces were to be treated with as and called entirely free. unless this was done negotiations were impossible. the states-general were not so unskilled in affairs as to be ignorant that the king and the archdukes were quite capable, at a future day, of declaring themselves untrammelled by any conditions. they would boast that conventions with rebels and pledges to heretics were alike invalid. if verreyken had brought no better document than the one presented, he had better go at once. his stay in the provinces was superfluous. at a subsequent interview barneveld informed verreyken that the king's confirmation had been unanimously rejected by the states-general as deficient both in form and substance. he added that the people of the provinces were growing very lukewarm in regard to peace, that prince maurice opposed it, that many persons regretted the length to which the negotiations had already gone. difficult as it seemed to be to recede, the archdukes might be certain that a complete rupture was imminent. all these private conversations of barneveld, who was known to be the chief of the peace party, were duly reported by verreyken in secret notes to the archduke and to spinola. of course they produced their effect. it surely might have been seen that the tricks and shifts of an antiquated diplomacy were entirely out of place if any wholesome result were desired. but the habit of dissimulation was inveterate. that the man who cannot dissemble is unfit to reign, was perhaps the only one of his father's golden rules which philip iii. could thoroughly comprehend, even if it be assumed that the monarch was at all consulted in regard to this most important transaction of his life. verreyken and the friar knew very well when they brought the document that it would be spurned by the states, and yet they were also thoroughly aware that it was the king's interest to, begin the negotiations as soon as possible. when thus privately and solemnly assured by the advocate that they were really wasting their time by being the bearers of these royal evasions, they learned therefore nothing positively new, but were able to assure their employers that to thoroughly disgust the peace party was not precisely the mode of terminating the war. verreyken now received public and formal notification that a new instrument must be procured from the king. in the ratification which had been sent, that monarch spoke of the archdukes as princes and sovereign proprietors of all the netherlands. the clause by which, according to the form prescribed by the states, and already adopted by the archdukes, the united provinces were described as free countries over which no authority was claimed had been calmly omitted, as if, by such a subterfuge, the independence of the republic could be winked out of existence. furthermore, it was objected that the document was in spanish, that it was upon paper instead of parchment, that it was not sealed with the great, but with the little seal, and that it was subscribed. "i the king." this signature might be very appropriate for decrees issued by a monarch to his vassals, but could not be rightly appended, it was urged, to an instrument addressed to a foreign power. potentates, treating with the states-general of the united provinces, were expected to sign their names. whatever may be thought of the technical requirements in regard to the parchment, the signature, and the seal, it would be difficult to characterize too strongly the polity of the spanish government in the most essential point. to seek relief from the necessity of recognising-at least in the sense of similitude, according to the subtlety of bentivoglio--the freedom of the provinces, simply by running the pen through the most important line of a most important document, was diplomacy in its dotage. had not marquis spinola, a man who could use his brains and his pen as well as his sword, expressly implored the politicians of madrid not to change even a comma in the form of ratification which he sent to spain? verreyken, placed face to face with plain-spoken, straightforward, strong-minded men, felt the dreary absurdity of the position. he could only stammer a ridiculous excuse about the clause, having been accidentally left out by a copying secretary. to represent so important an omission as a clerical error was almost as great an absurdity as the original device; but it was necessary for verreyken to say something. he promised, however, that the form prescribed by the states should be again transmitted to madrid, and expressed confidence that the ratification would now be sent as desired. meantime he trusted that the fleet would be at once recalled. this at once created a stormy debate which lasted many days, both within the walls of the house of assembly and out of doors. prince maurice bitterly denounced the proposition, and asserted the necessity rather of sending out more ships than of permitting their cruisers to return. it was well known that the spanish government, since the destruction of avila's fleet, had been straining every nerve to procure and equip other war-vessels, and that even the duke of lerma had offered a small portion of his immense plunderings to the crown in aid of naval armaments. on the other hand, barneveld urged that the states, in the preliminary armistice, had already agreed to send no munitions nor reinforcements to the fleet already cruising on the coasts of the peninsula. it would be better, therefore, to recal those ships than to leave them where they could not be victualled nor strengthened without a violation of good faith. these opinions prevailed, and on the th august, verreyken was summoned before the assembly, and informed by barneveld that the states had decided to withdraw the fleet, and to declare invalid all prizes made six weeks after that date. this was done, it was said, out of respect to the archdukes, to whom no blame was imputed for the negligence displayed in regard to the ratification. furthermore, the auditor was requested to inform his masters that the documents brought from spain were not satisfactory, and he was furnished with a draught, made both in latin and french. with this form, it was added, the king was to comply within six weeks, if he desired to proceed further in negotiations with the states. verreyken thanked the states-general, made the best of promises, and courteously withdrew. next day, however, just as his preparations for departure had been made, he was once more summoned before the assembly to meet with a somewhat disagreeable surprise. barneveld, speaking as usual in behalf of the states-general, publicly produced spinola's bill of exchange for eighty thousand ducats, the diamond ring intended for madame aerssens, and the gold chain given to dirk van der does, and expressed the feelings of the republican government in regard to those barefaced attempts of friar john at bribery and corruption, in very scornful language? netherlanders were not to be bought--so the agent of spain and of the archdukes was informed--and, even if the citizens were venal, it would be necessary in a popular government to buy up the whole nation. "it is not in our commonwealth as in despotisms," said the advocate, "where affairs of state are directed by the nod of two or three individuals, while the rest of the inhabitants are a mob of slaves. by turns, we all govern and are governed. this great council, this senate--should it seem not sufficiently fortified against your presents-could easily be enlarged. here is your chain, your ring, your banker's draught. take them all back to your masters. such gifts are not necessary to ensure a just peace, while to accept them would be a crime against liberty, which we are incapable of committing." verreyken, astonished and abashed, could answer little save to mutter a few words about the greediness of monks, who, judging everyone else by themselves, thought no one inaccessible to a bribe. he protested the innocence of the archdukes in the matter, who had given no directions to bribe, and who were quite ignorant that the attempt had been made. he did not explain by whose authority the chain, the ring, and the draught upon beckman had been furnished to the friar. meantime that ecclesiastic was cheerfully wending his way to spain in search of the new ratification, leaving his colleague vicariously to bide the pelting of the republican storm, and to return somewhat weather-beaten to brussels. during the suspension, thus ridiculously and gratuitously caused, of preliminaries which had already lasted the better portion of a year, party-spirit was rising day by day higher, and spreading more widely throughout the provinces. opinions and sentiments were now sharply defined and loudly announced. the clergy, from a thousand pulpits, thundered against the peace, exposing the insidious practices, the faithless promises, the monkish corruptions, by which the attempt was making to reduce the free republic once more into vassalage to spain. the people everywhere listened eagerly and applauded. especially the mariners, cordwainers, smiths, ship-chandlers, boatmen, the tapestry weavers, lace-manufacturers, shopkeepers, and, above all, the india merchants and stockholders in the great commercial companies for the east and west, lifted up their voices for war. this was the party of prince maurice, who made no secret of his sentiments, and opposed, publicly and privately, the resumption of negotiations. doubtless his adherents were the most numerous portion of the population. barneveld, however, was omnipotent with the municipal governments, and although many individuals in those bodies were deeply interested in the india navigation and the great corporations, the advocate turned them as usual around his finger. ever since the memorable day of nieuport there had been no love lost between the stadholder and the advocate. they had been nominally reconciled to each other, and had, until lately, acted with tolerable harmony, but each was thoroughly conscious of the divergence of their respective aims. exactly at this period the long-smothered resentment of maurice against his old preceptor, counsellor, and, as he believed, betrayer, flamed forth anew. he was indignant that a man, so infinitely beneath him in degree, should thus dare to cross his plans, to hazard, as he believed, the best interests of the state, and to interfere with the course of his legitimate ambition. there was more glory for a great soldier to earn in future battle-fields, a higher position before the world to be won. he had a right by birth, by personal and family service, to claim admittance among the monarchs of europe. the pistol of balthasar gerard had alone prevented the elevation of his father to the sovereignty of the provinces. the patents, wanting only a few formalities, were still in possession of the son. as the war went on--and nothing but blind belief in spanish treachery could cause the acceptance of a peace which would be found to mean slavery--there was no height to which he might not climb. with the return of peace and submission, his occupation would be gone, obscurity and poverty the sole recompense for his life long services and the sacrifices of his family. the memory of the secret movements twice made but a few years before to elevate him to the sovereignty, and which he believed to have been baffled by the advocate, doubtless rankled in his breast. he did not forget that when the subject had been discussed by the favourers of the scheme in barneveld's own house, barneveld himself had prophesied that one day or another "the rights would burst out which his excellency had to become prince of the provinces, on strength of the signed and sealed documents addressed to the late prince of orange; that he had further alluded to the efforts then on foot to make him duke of gelderland; adding with a sneer, that zeeland was all agog on the subject, while in that province there were individuals very desirous of becoming children of zebedee." barneveld, on his part, although accustomed to speak in public of his excellency prince maurice in terms of profoundest respect, did not fail to communicate in influential quarters his fears that the prince was inspired by excessive ambition, and that he desired to protract the war, not for the good of the commonwealth, but for the attainment of greater power in the state. the envoys of france, expressly instructed on that subject by the king, whose purposes would be frustrated if the ill-blood between these eminent personages could not be healed, did their best to bring about a better understanding, but with hardly more than an apparent success. once more there were stories flying about that the stadholder had called the advocate liar, and that he had struck him or offered to strike him--tales as void of truth, doubtless, as those so rife after the battle of nieuport, but which indicated the exasperation which existed. when the news of the rejection of the king's ratification reached madrid, the indignation of the royal conscience-keepers was vehement. that the potentate of so large a portion of the universe should be treated by those lately his subjects with less respect than that due from equals to equals, seemed intolerable. so thoroughly inspired, however, was the king by the love of religion and the public good--as he informed marquis spinola by letter--and so intense was his desire for the termination of that disastrous war, that he did not hesitate indulgently to grant what had been so obstinately demanded. little was to be expected, he said, from the stubbornness of the provinces, and from their extraordinary manner of transacting business, but looking, nevertheless, only to divine duty, and preferring its dictates to a selfish regard for his own interests, he had resolved to concede that liberty to the provinces which had been so importunately claimed. he however imposed the condition that the states should permit free and public exercise of the catholic religion throughout their territories, and that so long as such worship was unobstructed, so long and no longer should the liberty now conceded to the provinces endure. "thus did this excellent prince," says an eloquent jesuit, "prefer obedience to the church before subjection to himself, and insist that those, whom he emancipated from his own dominions, should still be loyal to the sovereignty of the pope." friar john, who had brought the last intelligence from the netherlands, might have found it difficult, if consulted, to inform the king how many bills of exchange would be necessary to force this wonderful condition on the government of the provinces. that the republic should accept that liberty as a boon which she had won with the red right hand, and should establish within her domains as many agents for spanish reaction as there were roman priests, monks, and jesuits to be found, was not very probable. it was not thus nor then that the great lesson of religious equality and liberty for all men--the inevitable result of the dutch revolt--was to be expounded. the insertion of such a condition in the preamble to a treaty with a foreign power would have been a desertion on the part of the netherlands of the very principle of religious or civil freedom. the monk, however, had convinced the spanish government that in six months after peace had been made the states would gladly accept the dominion of spain once more, or, at the very least, would annex themselves to the obedient netherlands under the sceptre of the archdukes. secondly, he assured the duke that they would publicly and totally renounce all connection with france. thirdly, he pledged himself that the exercise of the catholic religion would be as free as that of any other creed. and the duke of lerma believed it all: such and no greater was his capacity for understanding the course of events which he imagined himself to be directing. certainly friar john did not believe what he said. "master monk is not quite so sure of his stick as he pretends to be," said secretary-of-state villeroy. of course, no one knew better the absurdity of those assurances than master monk himself. "it may be that he has held such language," said jeannin, "in order to accomplish his object in spain. but 'tis all dreaming and moonshine, which one should laugh at rather than treat seriously. these people here mean to be sovereign for ever and will make no peace except on that condition. this grandeur and vanity have entered so deeply into their brains that they will be torn into little pieces rather than give it up." spinola, as acute a politician as he was a brilliant commander, at once demonstrated to his government the impotence of such senile attempts. no definite agreements could be made, he wrote, except by a general convention. before a treaty of peace, no permission would be given by the states to the public exercise of the catholic religion, for fear of giving offence to what were called the protestant powers. unless they saw the proper ratification they would enter into no negotiations at all. when the negotiations had produced a treaty, the catholic worship might be demanded. thus peace might be made, and the desired conditions secured, or all parties would remain as they had been. the spanish government replied by sending a double form of ratification. it would not have been the spanish government, had one simple, straightforward document been sent. plenty of letters came at the same time, triumphantly refuting the objections and arguments of the states-general. to sign "yo el rey" had been the custom of the king's ancestors in dealing with foreign powers. thus had philip ii. signed the treaty of vervins. thus had the reigning king confirmed the treaty of vervins. thus had he signed the recent treaty with england as well as other conventions with other potentates. if the french envoys at the hague said the contrary they erred from ignorance or from baser reasons. the provinces could not be declared free until catholic worship was conceded. the donations must be mutual and simultaneous and the states would gain a much more stable and diuturnal liberty, founded not upon a simple declaration, but lawfully granted them as a compensation for a just and pious work performed. to this end the king sent ratification number one in which his sentiments were fully expressed. if, however, the provinces were resolved not to defer the declaration so ardently desired and to refuse all negotiation until they had received it, then ratification number two, therewith sent and drawn up in the required form, might be used. it was, however, to be exhibited but not delivered. the provinces would then see the clemency with which they were treated by the king, and all the world might know that it was not his fault if peace were not made. thus the politicians of madrid; speaking in the name of their august sovereign and signing "yo el rey" for him without troubling him even to look at the documents. when these letters arrived, the time fixed by the states for accepting the ratification had run out, and their patience was well-nigh exhausted. the archduke held council with spinola, verreyken, richardot, and others, and it was agreed that ratification number two, in which the catholic worship was not mentioned, should be forthwith sent to the states. certainly no other conclusion could have been reached, and it was fortunate that a lucid interval in the deliberations of the 'lunati ceat' madrid had furnished the archduke with an alternative. had it been otherwise and had number one been presented, with all the accompanying illustrations, the same dismal comedy might have gone on indefinitely until the dutchmen hissed it away and returned to their tragic business once more. on the th october, friar john and verreyken came before the states-general, more than a hundred members being present, besides prince maurice and count lewis william. the monk stated that he had faithfully represented to his majesty at madrid the sincere, straightforward, and undissembling proceedings of their lordships in these negotiations. he had also explained the constitution of their government and had succeeded in obtaining from his royal majesty the desired ratification, after due deliberation with the council. this would now give the assurance of a firm and durable peace, continued neyen, even if his majesty should come one day to die--being mortal. otherwise, there might be inconveniences to fear. now, however, the document was complete in all its parts, so far as regarded what was principal and essential, and in conformity with the form transmitted by the states-general. "god the omnipotent knows," proceeded the friar, "how sincere is my intention in this treaty of peace as a means of delivering the netherlands from the miseries of war, as your lordships will perceive by the form of the agreement, explaining itself and making manifest its pure and undissembling intentions, promising nothing and engaging to nothing which will not be effectually performed. this would not be the case if his majesty were proceeding by finesse or deception. the ratification might be nakedly produced as demanded, without any other explanation. but his majesty, acting in good faith, has now declared his last determination in order to avoid anything that might be disputed at some future day, as your lordships will see more amply when the auditor has exhibited the document." when the friar had finished verreyken spoke. he reminded them of the proofs already given by the archdukes of their sincere desire to change the long and sanguinary war into a good and assured peace. their lordships the states had seen how liberally, sincerely, and roundly their highnesses had agreed to all demands and had procured the ratification of his majesty, even although nothing had been proposed in that regard at the beginning of the negotiations. he then produced the original document, together with two copies, one in french the other in flemish, to be carefully collated by the states. "it is true," said the auditor, "that the original is not made out in latin nor in french as your lordships demanded, but in spanish, and in the same form and style as used by his majesty in treating with all the kings, potentates, and republics of christendom. to tell you the truth, it has seemed strange that there should be a wish to make so great and puissant a king change his style, such demand being contrary to all reason and equity, and more so as his majesty is content with the style which your lordships have been pleased to adopt." the ratification was then exhibited. it set forth that don philip, by grace of god king of castile, leon, arragon, the two sicilies, portugal, navarre, and of fourteen or fifteen other european realms duly enumerated; king of the eastern and western indies and of the continents on terra firma adjacent, king of jerusalem, archduke of antioch, duke of burgundy, and king of the ocean, having seen that the archdukes were content to treat with the states-general of the united provinces in quality of, and as holding them for, countries, provinces, and free states over which they pretended to no authority; either by way of a perpetual peace or for a truce or suspension of arms for twelve, fifteen, or twenty years, at the choice of the said states, and knowing that the said most serene archdukes had promised to deliver the king's ratification; had, after ripe deliberation with his council, and out of his certain wisdom and absolute royal power, made the present declarations, similar to the one made by the archdukes, for the accomplishment of the said promise so far as it concerned him: "and we principally declare," continued the king of spain, jerusalem, america, india, and the ocean, "that we are content that in our name, and on our part, shall be treated with the said states in the quality of, and as held by us for, free countries, provinces, and states, over which we make no pretensions. thus we approve and ratify every point of the said agreement, promising on faith and word of a king to guard and accomplish it as entirely as if we had consented to it from the beginning." "but we declare," said the king, in conclusion, "that if the treaty for a peace or a truce of many years, by which the pretensions of both parties are to be arranged--as well in the matter of religion as all the surplus--shall not be concluded, then this ratification shall be of no effect and as if it never had been made and, in virtue of it, we are not to lose a single point of our right, nor the united provinces to acquire one, but things are to remain, so far as regards the rights of the two parties, exactly as they what to each shall seem best." such were the much superfluous verbiage lopped away--which had been signed "i the king" at madrid on the th september, and the two copies of which were presented to the states-general on the th october, the commissioners retaining the original. the papers were accepted, with a few general commonplaces by barneveld meaning nothing, and an answer was promised after a brief delay. a committee of seven, headed by the advocate as chairman and spokesman, held a conference with the ambassadors of france and england, at four o'clock in the afternoon of the same day and another at ten o'clock next morning. the states were not very well pleased with the ratification. what especially moved their discontent was the concluding clause, according to which it was intimated that if the pretensions of spain in regard to religion were not fulfilled in the final treaty, the ratification was waste-paper and the king would continue to claim all his rights. how much more loudly would they have vociferated, could they have looked into friar john's wallet and have seen ratification number one! then they would have learned that, after nearly a year of what was called negotiation, the king had still meant to demand the restoration of the catholic worship before he would even begin to entertain the little fiction that the provinces were free. as to the signature, the paper, and the spanish language, those were minor matters. indeed, it is difficult to say why the king of spain should not issue a formal document in spanish. it is doubtful whether, had he taken a fancy to read it, he could have understood it in any other tongue. moreover, spanish would seem the natural language for spanish state-papers. had he, as king of jerusalem, america, or india, chosen the hebrew, aztec, or sanscrit, in his negotiations with the united provinces, there might have been more cause for dissatisfaction. jeannin, who was of course the leading spirit among the foreign members of the conference, advised the acceptance of the ratification. notwithstanding the technical objections to its form, he urged that in substance it was in sufficient conformity to the draught furnished by the states. nothing could be worse, in his opinion, for the provinces than to remain any longer suspended between peace and war. they would do well, therefore, to enter upon negotiations so soon as they had agreed among themselves upon three points. they must fix the great indispensable terms which they meant to hold, and from which no arguments would ever induce them to recede. thus they would save valuable time and be spared much frivolous discourse. next, they ought to establish a good interior government. thirdly, they should at once arrange their alliances and treaties with foreign powers, in order to render the peace to be negotiated a durable one. as to the first and second of these points, the netherlanders needed no prompter. they had long ago settled the conditions without which they would make no treaty at all, and certainly it was not the states-general that had thus far been frivolously consuming time. as to the form of government, defective though it was, the leaders of the republic knew very well in whose interests such sly allusions to their domestic affairs were repeatedly ventured by the french envoys. in regard to treaties with foreign powers it was, of course, most desirable for the republic to obtain the formal alliance of france and england. jeannin and his colleagues were ready to sign such a treaty, offensive and defensive, at once, but they found it impossible to induce the english ambassadors, with whom there was a conference on the th october, to come into any written engagement on the subject. they expressed approbation of the plan individually and in words, but deemed it best to avoid any protocol, by which their sovereign could be implicated in a promise. should the negotiations for peace be broken off, it would be time enough to make a treaty to protect the provinces. meantime, they ought to content themselves with the general assurance, already given them, that in case of war the monarchs of france and england would not abandon them, but would provide for their safety, either by succour or in some other way, so that they would be placed out of danger. such promises were vague without being magnificent, and, as james had never yet lifted his finger to assist the provinces, while indulging them frequently with oracular advice, it could hardly be expected that either the french envoys or the states-general would reckon very confidently on assistance from great britain, should war be renewed with spain. on the whole, it was agreed to draw up a paper briefly stating the opinion of the french and english plenipotentiaries that the provinces would do well to accept the ratification. the committee of the states, with barneveld as chairman, expressed acquiescence, but urged that they could not approve the clause in that document concerning religion. it looked as if the king of spain wished to force them to consent by treaty that the catholic religion should be re-established in their country. as they were free and sovereign, however, and so recognised by himself, it was not for him to meddle with such matters. they foresaw that this clause would create difficulties when the whole matter should be referred to the separate provinces, and that it would, perhaps, cause the entire rejection of the ratification. the envoys, through the voice of jeannin, remonstrated against such a course. after all, the objectionable clause, it was urged, should be considered only as a demand which the king was competent to make and it was not reasonable, they said, for the states to shut his mouth and prevent him from proposing what he thought good to propose. on the other hand, they were not obliged to acquiesce in the proposition. in truth, it would be more expedient that the states themselves should grant this grace to the catholics, thus earning their gratitude, rather than that it should be inserted in the treaty. a day or two later there was an interview between the french envoys and count lewis william, for whose sage, dispassionate, and upright character they had all a great respect. it was their object--in obedience to the repeated instructions of the french king--to make use of his great influence over prince maurice in favour of peace. it would be better, they urged, that the stadholder should act more in harmony with the states than he had done of late, and should reflect that, the ratification being good, there was really no means of preventing a peace, except in case the king of spain should refuse the conditions necessary for securing it. the prince would have more power by joining with the states than in opposing them. count lewis expressed sympathy with these views, but feared that maurice would prefer that the ratification should not be accepted until the states of the separate provinces had been heard; feeling convinced that several of those bodies would reject that instrument on account of the clause relating to religion. jeannin replied that such a course would introduce great discord into the provinces, to the profit of the enemy, and that the king of france himself--so far from being likely to wish the ratification rejected because of the clause--would never favour the rupture of negotiations if it came on account of religion. he had always instructed them to use their efforts to prevent any division among the states, as sure to lead to their ruin. he would certainly desire the same stipulation as the one made by the king of spain, and would support rather than oppose the demand thus made, in order to content the catholics. to be sure, he would prefer that the states should wisely make this provision of their own accord rather than on the requisition of spain, but a rupture of the pending negotiations from the cause suggested would be painful to him and very damaging to his character at rome. on the nd november the states-general gave their formal answer to the commissioners, in regard to the ratification. that instrument, they observed, not only did not agree with the form as promised by the archdukes in language and style, but also in regard to the seal, and to the insertion and omission of several words. on this account, and especially by reason of the concluding clause, there might be inferred the annulment of the solemn promise made in the body of the instrument. the said king and archdukes knew very well that these states-general of free countries and provinces, over which the king and archdukes pretended to no authority, were competent to maintain order in all things regarding the good constitution and government of their land and its inhabitants. on this subject, nothing could be pretended or proposed on the part of the king and archdukes without, violation of formal and solemn promises. "nevertheless," continued the states-general, "in order not to retard a good work, already begun, for the purpose of bringing the united provinces out of a long and bloody war into a christian and assured peace, the letters of ratification will be received in respect that they contain the declaration, on part of both the king and the archdukes, that they will treat for a peace or a truce of many years with the states-general of the united provinces, in quality of, and as holding them to be, free countries, provinces, and states, over which they make no pretensions." it was further intimated, however, that the ratification was only received for reference to the estates of each of the provinces, and it was promised that, within six weeks, the commissioners should be informed whether the provinces would consent or refuse to treat. it was moreover declared that, neither at that moment nor at any future time, could any point in the letters of ratification be accepted which, directly or indirectly, might be interpreted as against that essential declaration and promise in regard to the freedom of the provinces. in case the decision should be taken to enter into negotiation upon the basis of that ratification, or any other that might meantime arrive from spain, then firm confidence was expressed by the states that, neither on the part of the king nor that of the archdukes would there be proposed or pretended, in contravention of that promise, any point touching the good constitution, welfare, state, or government of the united provinces, and of the inhabitants. the hope was furthermore expressed that, within ten days after the reception of the consent of the states to treat, commissioners would be sent by the archdukes to the hague, fully authorised and instructed to declare, roundly their intentions, in order to make short work of the whole business. in that case, the states would duly authorize and instruct commissioners to act in their behalf. thus in the answer especial warning was given against any possible attempt to interfere with the religious question. the phraseology could not be mistaken. at this stage of the proceedings, the states demanded that the original instrument of ratification should be deposited with them. the two commissioners declared that they were without power to consent to this. hereupon the assembly became violent, and many members denounced the refusal as equivalent to breaking off the negotiations. everything indicated, so it was urged, a desire on the spanish side to spin delays out of delays, and, meantime, to invent daily some new trap for deception. such was the vehemence upon this point that the industrious franciscan posted back to brussels, and returned with the archduke's permission to deliver the document. three conditions, however, were laid down. the states must give a receipt for the ratification. they must say in that receipt that the archdukes, in obtaining the paper from spain, had fulfilled their original promise. if peace should not be made, they were to return the document. when these conditions were announced, the indignation of the republican government at the trifling of their opponents was fiercer than ever. the discrepancies between the form prescribed and the ratification obtained had always been very difficult of digestion, but, although willing to pass them by, the states stoutly refused to accept the document on these conditions. tooth and nail verreyken and neyen fought out the contest and were worsted. once more the nimble friar sped back and forth between the hague and his employer's palace, and at last, after tremendous discussions in cabinet council, the conditions were abandoned. "nobody can decide," says the jesuit historian, "which was greater--the obstinacy of the federal government in screwing out of the opposite party everything it deemed necessary, or the indulgence of the archdukes in making every possible concession." had these solemn tricksters of an antiquated school perceived that, in dealing with men who meant what they said and said what they meant, all these little dilatory devices were superfluous, perhaps the wholesome result might have sooner been reached. in a contest of diplomacy against time it generally happens that time is the winner, and on this occasion, time and the republic were fighting on the same side. on the th december the states-general re-assembled at the hague, the separate provinces having in the interval given fresh instructions to their representatives. it was now decided that no treaty should be made, unless the freedom of the commonwealth was recognized in phraseology which, after consultation with the foreign ambassadors, should be deemed satisfactory. farther it was agreed that, neither in ecclesiastical nor secular matters, should any conditions be accepted which could be detrimental to freedom. in case the enemy should strive for the contrary, the world would be convinced that he alone was responsible for the failure of the peace negotiations. then, with the support of other powers friendly to the republic, hostilities could be resumed in such a manner as to ensure a favourable issue for an upright cause. the armistice, begun on the th of may, was running to an end, and it was now renewed at the instance of the states. that government, moreover, on the rd december formally notified to the archdukes that, trusting to their declarations, and to the statements of neyen and verreyken, it was willing to hold conferences for peace. their highnesses were accordingly invited to appoint seven or eight commissioners at once, on the same terms as formally indicated. the original understanding had been that no envoys but netherlanders should come from brussels for these negotiations. barneveld and the peace party, however, were desirous that spinola, who was known to be friendly to a pacific result, should be permitted to form part of the mission. accordingly the letters, publicly drawn up in the assembly, adhered to the original arrangement, but barneveld, with the privity of other leading personages, although without the knowledge of maurice, lewis william, and the state-council, secretly enclosed a little note in the principal despatch to neyen and verreyken. in this billet it was intimated that, notwithstanding the prohibition in regard to foreigners, the states were willing--it having been proposed that one or two who were not netherlanders should be sent--that a single spaniard, provided he were not one of the principal military commanders, should make part of the embassy. the phraseology had a double meaning. spinola was certainly the chief military commander, but he was not a spaniard. this eminent personage might be supposed to have thus received permission to come to the netherlands, despite all that had been urged by the war-party against the danger incurred, in case of a renewal of hostilities, by admitting so clear-sighted an enemy into the heart of the republic. moreover, the terms of the secret note would authorize the appointment of another foreigner--even a spaniard--while the crafty president richardot might creep into the commission, on the ground that, being a burgundian, he might fairly call himself a netherlander. and all this happened. thus, after a whole year of parley, in which the states-general had held firmly to their original position, while the spanish government had crept up inch by inch, and through countless windings and subterfuges, to the point on which they might have all stood together at first, and thus have saved a twelvemonth, it was finally settled that peace conferences should begin. barneveld had carried the day. maurice and his cousin lewis william had uniformly, deliberately, but not factiously, used all their influence against any negotiations. the prince had all along loudly expressed his conviction that neither the archdukes nor spain would ever be brought to an honourable peace. the most to be expected of them was a truce of twelve or fifteen years, to which his consent at least should never be given, and during which cessation of hostilities, should it be accorded, every imaginable effort would be made to regain by intrigue what the king had lost by the sword. as for the king of england and his counsellors, maurice always denounced them as more spanish than spaniards, as doing their best to put themselves on the most intimate terms with his catholic majesty, and as secretly desirous--insane policy as it seemed--of forcing the netherlands back again under the sceptre of that monarch. he had at first been supported in his position by the french ambassadors, who had felt or affected disinclination for peace, but who had subsequently, thrown the whole of their own and their master's influence on the side of barneveld. they had done their best--and from time to time they had been successful--to effect at least a superficial reconciliation between those two influential personages. they had employed all the arguments at their disposal to bring the prince over to the peace party. especially they had made use of the 'argumentum ad crumenam,' which that veteran broker in politics, jeannin, had found so effective in times past with the great lords of the league. but maurice showed himself so proof against the golden inducements suggested by the president that he and his king both arrived at the conclusion that there were secret motives at work, and that maurice was not dazzled by the brilliant prospects held out to him by henry, only because his eyes were stedfastly fixed upon some unknown but splendid advantage, to be gained through other combinations. it was naturally difficult for henry to imagine the possibility of a man, playing a first part in the world's theatre, being influenced by so weak a motive as conviction. lewis william too--that "grave and wise young man," as lord leicester used to call him twenty years before--remained steadily on the side of the prince. both in private conversation and in long speeches to the states-general, he maintained that the spanish court was incapable of sincere negotiations with the commonwealth, that to break faith with heretics and rebels would always prove the foundation of its whole policy, and that to deceive them by pretences of a truce or a treaty, and to triumph afterwards over the results of its fraud, was to be expected as a matter of course. sooner would the face of nature be changed than the cardinal maxim of catholic statesmanship be abandoned. but the influence of the nassaus, of the province of zeeland, of the clergy, and of the war-party in general, had been overbalanced by barneveld and the city corporations, aided by the strenuous exertions of the french ambassadors. the decision of the states-general was received with sincere joy at brussels. the archdukes had something to hope from peace, and little but disaster and ruin to themselves from a continuance of the war. spinola too was unaffectedly in favour of negotiations. he took the ground that the foreign enemies of spain, as well as her pretended friends, agreed in wishing her to go on with the war, and that this ought to open her eyes as to the expediency of peace. while there was a general satisfaction in europe that the steady exhaustion of her strength in this eternal contest made her daily less and less formidable to other nations, there were on the other hand puerile complaints at court that the conditions prescribed by impious and insolent rebels to their sovereign were derogatory to the dignity of monarchy. the spectacle of spain sending ambassadors to the hague to treat for peace, on the basis of netherland independence, would be a humiliation such as had never been exhibited before. that the haughty confederation should be allowed thus to accomplish its ends, to trample down all resistance to its dictation, and to defy the whole world by its insults to the church and to the sacred principle, of monarchy, was most galling to spanish pride. spinola, as a son of italy, and not inspired by the fervent hatred to protestantism which was indigenous to the other peninsula, steadily resisted those arguments. none knew better than he the sternness of the stuff out of which that republic was made, and he felt that now or never was the time to treat, even as, five years before, 'jam ant nunquam' had been inscribed on his banner outside ostend. but he protested that his friends gave him even harder work than his enemies had ever done, and he stoutly maintained that a peace against which all the rivals of spain seemed to have conspired from fear of seeing her tranquil and disembarrassed, must be advantageous to spain. the genial and quick-wined genoese could not see and hear all the secret letters and private conversations of henry and james and their ambassadors, and he may be pardoned for supposing that, notwithstanding all the crooked and incomprehensible politics of greenwich and paris, the serious object of both england and france was to prolong the war. in his most private correspondence he expressed great doubts as to a favourable issue to the pending conferences, but avowed his determination that if they should fail it would be from no want of earnest effort on his part to make them succeed. it should never be said that he preferred his own private advantage to the duty of serving the best interests of the crown. meantime the india trade, which was to form the great bone of contention in the impending conferences, had not been practically neglected of late by the enterprising hollanders. peter verhoeff, fresh from the victory of gibraltar, towards which he had personally so much contributed by the splendid manner in which he had handled the aeolus after the death of admiral heemskerk, was placed in command of a fleet to the east indies, which was to sail early in the spring. admiral matelieff, who had been cruising in those seas during the three years past, was now on his way home. his exploits had been worthy the growing fame of the republican navy. in the summer of he had laid siege to the town and fortress of malacca, constructed by the portuguese at the southmost extremity of the malay peninsula. andreas hurtado de mendoza commanded the position, with a force of three thousand men, among whom were many indians. the king or sultan of johore, at the south-eastern extremity of the peninsula, remained faithful to his dutch allies, and accepted the proposition of matelieff to take part in the hostilities now begun. the admiral's fleet consisted of eleven small ships, with fourteen hundred men. it was not exactly a military expedition. to the sailors of each ship were assigned certain shares of the general profits, and as it was obvious that more money was likely to be gained by trade with the natives, or by the capture of such stray carracks and other, merchantmen of the enemy as were frequently to be met in these regions, the men were not particularly eager to take part in sieges of towns or battles with cruisers. matelieff, however, had sufficient influence over his comrades to inflame their zeal on this occasion for the fame of the republic, and to induce them to give the indian princes and the native soldiery a lesson in batavian warfare. a landing was effected on the peninsula, the sailors and guns were disembarked, and an imposing auxiliary force, sent, according to promise, after much delay, by the sultan of johore, proceeded to invest malacca. the ground proved wet, swampy, and impracticable for trenches, galleries, covered ways, and all the other machinery of a regular siege. matelieff was not a soldier nor a naval commander by profession, but a merchant-skipper, like so many other heroes whose achievements were to be the permanent glory of their fatherland. he would not, however, have been a netherlander had he not learned something of the science which prince maurice had so long been teaching, not only to his own countrymen but to the whole world. so moveable turrets, constructed of the spice-trees which grew in rank luxuriance all around, were filled with earth and stones, and advanced towards the fort. had the natives been as docile to learn as the hollanders were eager to teach a few easy lessons in the military art, the doom of andreas hurtado de mendoza would have been sealed. but the great truths which those youthful pedants, maurice and lewis william, had extracted twenty years before from the works of the emperor leo and earlier pagans, amid the jeers of veterans, were not easy to transplant to the malayan peninsula. it soon proved that those white-turbaned, loose-garmented, supple jointed, highly-picturesque troops of the sultan were not likely to distinguish themselves for anything but wonderful rapidity in retreat. not only did they shrink from any advance towards the distant forts, but they were incapable of abiding an attack within or behind their towers, and, at every random shot from the enemy's works, they threw down their arms and fled from their stations in dismay. it was obvious enough that the conquest and subjugation of such feeble warriors by the portuguese and spaniards were hardly to be considered brilliant national trophies. they had fallen an easy prey to the first european invader. they had no discipline, no obedience, no courage; and matelieff soon found that to attempt a scientific siege with such auxiliaries against a well-constructed stone fortress, garrisoned with three thousand troops, under an experienced spanish soldier, was but midsummer madness. fevers and horrible malaria, bred by the blazing sun of the equator out of those pestilential jungles, poisoned the atmosphere. his handful of troops, amounting to not much more than a hundred men to each of his ships, might melt away before his eyes. nevertheless, although it was impossible for him to carry the place by regular approach, he would not abandon the hope of reducing it by famine. during four months long, accordingly, he kept every avenue by land or sea securely invested. in august, however, the spanish viceroy of india, don alphonso de castro, made his appearance on the scene. coming from goa with a splendid fleet, numbering fourteen great galleons, four galleys, and sixteen smaller vessels, manned by three thousand seven hundred portuguese and other europeans, and an equal number of native troops, he had at first directed his course towards atchen, on the north-west point of sumatra. here, with the magnificent arrogance which spanish and portuguese viceroys were accustomed to manifest towards the natives of either india, he summoned the king to surrender his strongholds, to assist in constructing a fortress for the use of his conquerors, to deliver up all the netherlanders within his domains, and to pay the expenses of the expedition which had thus been sent to chastise him. but the king of atchen had not sent ambassadors into the camp of prince maurice before the city of grave in vain. he had learned that there were other white skins besides the spaniards at the antipodes, and that the republic whose achievements in arts and arms were conspicuous trophies of western civilization, was not, as it had been represented to him, a mere nest of pirates. he had learned to prefer an alliance with holland to slavery under spain. moreover, he had dutch engineers and architects in his service, and a well-constructed system of dutch fortifications around his capital. to the summons to surrender himself and his allies he returned a defiant answer. the viceroy ordered an attack upon the city. one fort was taken. from before the next he was repulsed with great loss. the sumatrans had derived more profit from intercourse with europeans than the inhabitants of johore or the moluccas had done. de castro abandoned the siege. he had received intelligence of the dangerous situation of malacca, and moved down upon the place with his whole fleet. admiral matelieff, apprised by scouts of his approach, behaved with the readiness and coolness of a veteran campaigner. before de castro could arrive in the roadstead of malacca, he had withdrawn all his troops from their positions, got all his artillery reshipped, and was standing out in the straits, awaiting the enemy. on the th august, the two fleets, so vastly disproportionate in number, size, equipment, and military force--eighteen galleons and galleys, with four or five thousand fighting men, against eleven small vessels and twelve or fourteen hundred sailors--met in that narrow sea. the action lasted all day. it was neither spirited nor sanguinary. it ought to have been within the power of the spaniard to crush his diminutive adversary. it might have seemed a sufficient triumph for matelieff to manoeuvre himself out of harm's way. no vessel on either side was boarded, not one surrendered, but two on each side were set on fire and destroyed. eight of the dutchmen were killed--not a very sanguinary result after a day's encounter with so imposing an armada. de castro's losses were much greater, but still the battle was an insignificant one, and neither fleet gained a victory. night put an end to the cannonading, and the spaniards withdrew to malacca, while matelieff bore away to johore. the siege of malacca was relieved, and the netherlanders now occupied themselves with the defence of the feeble sovereign at the other point of the peninsula. matelieff lay at johore a month, repairing damages and laying in supplies. while still at the place, he received information that a large part of the spanish armada had sailed from malacca. several of his own crew, who had lost their shares in the adventure by the burning of the ships to which they belonged in the action of th august, were reluctant and almost mutinous when their admiral now proposed to them a sudden assault on the portion of the spanish fleet still remaining within reach. they had not come forth for barren glory, many protested, but in search of fortune; they were not elated by the meagre result of the expedition. matelieff succeeded, however, at last in inspiring all the men of his command with an enthusiasm superior to sordid appeals, and made a few malcontents. on the st september, he sailed to malacca, and late in the afternoon again attacked the spaniards. their fleet consisted of seven great galleons and three galleys lying in a circle before the town. the outermost ship, called the st. nicholas, was boarded by men from three of the dutch galleots with sudden and irresistible fury. there was a brief but most terrible action, the netherlanders seeming endowed with superhuman vigour. so great was the panic that there was hardly an effort at defence, and within less than an hour nearly every spaniard on board the st. nicholas had been put to the sword. the rest of the armada engaged the dutch fleet with spirit, but one of the great galleons was soon set on fire and burned to the water's edge. another, dismasted and crippled, struck her flag, and all that remained would probably have been surrendered or destroyed had not the sudden darkness of a tropical nightfall put an end to the combat at set of sun. next morning another galleon, in a shattered and sinking condition, was taken possession of and found filled with dead and dying. the rest of the spanish ships made their escape into the harbour of malacca. matelieff stood off and on in the straits for a day or two, hesitating for fear of shallows to follow into the roadstead. before he could take a decision, he had the satisfaction of seeing the enemy, panic-struck, save him any further trouble. not waiting for another attack, the spaniards set fire to every one of their ships, and retired into their fortress, while matelieff and his men enjoyed the great conflagration as idle spectators. thus the enterprising dutch admiral had destroyed ten great war-ships of the enemy, and, strange to relate, had scarcely lost one man of his whole squadron. rarely had a more complete triumph been achieved on the water than in this battle in the straits of malacca. matelieff had gained much glory but very little booty. he was also encumbered with a great number of prisoners. these he sent to don alphonso, exchanging them for a very few netherlanders then in spanish hands, at the rate of two hundred spaniards for ten dutchmen--thus showing that he held either the enemy very cheap, or his own countrymen very dear. the captured ships he burned as useless to him, but retained twenty-four pieces of artillery. it was known to matelieff that the spanish viceroy had received instructions to inflict chastisement on all the oriental potentates and their subjects who had presumed of late to trade and to form alliances with the netherlanders. johore, achem, paham, patane, amboyna, and bantam, were the most probable points of attack. johore had now been effectually defended, achem had protected itself. the dutch fleet proceeded at first to bantams for refreshment, and from this point matelieff sent three of his ships back to holland. with the six remaining to him, he sailed for the moluccas, having heard of various changes which had taken place in that important archipelago. pausing at the great emporium of nutmegs and all-spice, amboyna, he took measures for strengthening the fortifications of the place, which was well governed by frederick houtman, and then proceeded to ternate and tidor. during the absence of the netherlanders, after the events on those islands recorded in a previous chapter, the spaniards had swept down upon them from the philippines with a fleet of thirty-seven ships, and had taken captive the sultan of ternate; while the potentate of tidor, who had been left by stephen van der hagen in possession of his territories on condition of fidelity to the dutch, was easily induced to throw aside the mask, and to renew his servitude to spain. thus both the coveted clove-islands had relapsed into the control of the enemy. matelieff found it dangerous, on account of quicksands and shallows, to land on tydore, but he took very energetic measures to recover possession of ternate. on the southern side of the island, the spaniards had built a fort and a town. the dutch admiral disembarked upon the northern side, and, with assistance of the natives, succeeded in throwing up substantial fortifications at a village called malaya. the son of the former sultan, who was a spanish prisoner at the philippines, was now formally inducted into his father's sovereignty, and matelieff established at malaya for his protection a garrison of forty-five hollanders and a navy of four small yachts. such were the slender means with which oriental empires were founded in those days by the stout-hearted adventurers of the little batavian republic. with this miniature army and navy, and by means of his alliance with the distant commonwealth, of whose power this handful of men was a symbol, the king of ternate was thenceforth to hold his own against the rival potentate on the other island, supported by the spanish king. the same convention of commerce and amity was made with the ternatians as the one which stephen van der hagen had formerly concluded with the bandians; and it was agreed that the potentate should be included in any treaty of peace that might be made between the republic and spain. matelieff, with three ships and a cutter, now sailed for china, but lost his time in endeavouring to open trade with the celestial empire. the dilatory mandarins drove him at last out of all patience, and, on turning his prows once more southward, he had nearly brought his long expedition to a disastrous termination. six well-armed, well-equipped portuguese galleons sailed out of macao to assail him. it was not matelieff's instinct to turn his back on a foe, however formidable, but on this occasion discretion conquered instinct. his three ships were out of repair; he had a deficiency of powder; he was in every respect unprepared for a combat; and he reflected upon the unfavourable impression which would be made on the chinese mind should the hollanders, upon their first appearance in the flowery regions, be vanquished by the portuguese. he avoided an encounter, therefore, and, by skilful seamanship, eluded all attempts of the foe at pursuit. returning to ternate, he had the satisfaction to find that during his absence the doughty little garrison of malaya had triumphantly defeated the spaniards in an assault on the fortifications of the little town. on the other hand, the king of johore, panic-struck on the departure of his dutch protectors, had burned his own capital, and had betaken himself with all his court into the jungle. commending the one and rebuking the other potentate, the admiral provided assistance for both, some dutch trading, vessels having meantime arrived in the archipelago. matelieff now set sail for holland, taking with him some ambassadors from the king of siam and five ships well laden with spice. on his return he read a report of his adventures to the states-general, and received the warm commendations of their high mightinesses. before his departure from the tropics, paul van kaarden, with eight war-ships, had reached bantam. on his arrival in holland the fleet of peter ver hoef was busily fitting out for another great expedition to the east. this was the nation which spanish courtiers thought to exclude for ever from commerce with india and america, because the pope a century before had divided half the globe between ferdinand the catholic and emmanuel the fortunate. it may be supposed that the results of matelieff's voyage were likely to influence the pending negotiations for peace. etext editor's bookmarks: a sovereign remedy for the disease of liberty all the ministers and great functionaries received presents because he had been successful (hated) but the habit of dissimulation was inveterate by turns, we all govern and are governed contempt for treaties however solemnly ratified despised those who were grateful idiotic principle of sumptuary legislation indulging them frequently with oracular advice justified themselves in a solemn consumption of time man who cannot dissemble is unfit to reign men fought as if war was the normal condition of humanity men who meant what they said and said what they meant negotiated as if they were all immortal philip of macedon, who considered no city impregnable to negotiate was to bribe right and left, and at every step unwise impatience for peace chapter l. movements of the emperor rudolph--marquis spinola's reception at the hague--meeting of spinola and prince maurice--treaty of the republic with the french government--the spanish commissioners before the states-general--beginning of negotiations--stormy discussions--real object of spain in the negotiations--question of the india trade-- abandonment of the peace project--negotiations for a truce-- prolongation of the armistice--further delays--treaty of the states with england--proposals of the spanish ambassadors to henry of france and to james of england--friar neyen at the court of spain-- spanish procrastination--decision of philip on the conditions of peace--further conference at the hague--answer of the states-general to the proposals of the spanish government--general rupture. towards the close of the year a very feeble demonstration was made in the direction of the dutch republic by the very feeble emperor of germany. rudolph, awaking as it might be from a trance, or descending for a moment from his star-gazing tower and his astrological pursuits to observe the movements of political spheres, suddenly discovered that the netherlands were no longer revolving in their preordained orbit. those provinces had been supposed to form part of one great system, deriving light and heat from the central imperial sun. it was time therefore to put an end to these perturbations. the emperor accordingly, as if he had not enough on his hands at that precise moment with the hungarians, transylvanians, bohemian protestants, his brother matthias and the grand turk, addressed a letter to the states of holland, zeeland, and the provinces confederated with them. reminding them of the care ever taken by himself and his father to hear all their petitions, and to obtain for them a good peace, he observed that he had just heard of their contemplated negotiations with king philip and archduke albert, and of their desire to be declared free states and peoples. he was amazed, he said, that they should not have given him notice of so important an affair, inasmuch as all the united provinces belonged to and were fiefs of the holy roman empire. they were warned, therefore, to undertake nothing that might be opposed to the feudal law except with his full knowledge. this letter was dated the th of october. the states took time to deliberate, and returned no answer until after the new year. on the nd of january, , they informed the emperor that they could never have guessed of his requiring notification as to the approaching conferences. they had not imagined that the archduke would keep them a secret from his brother, or the king from his uncle-cousin. otherwise, the states would have sent due notice to his majesty. they well remembered, they said, the appeals made by the provinces to the emperor from time to time, at the imperial diets, for help against the tyranny of the spaniards. they well remembered, too, that no help was ever given them in response to those appeals. they had not forgotten either the famous cologne negotiations for peace in presence of the imperial envoys, in consequence of which the enemy had carried on war against them with greater ferocity than before. at that epoch they had made use of an extreme remedy for an intolerable evil, and had solemnly renounced allegiance to the king. since that epoch a whole generation of mankind had passed away, and many kings and potentates had recognised their freedom, obtained for just cause and maintained by the armed hand. after a long and bloody war, albert and philip had at last been brought to acknowledge the provinces as free countries over which they pretended to no right, as might be seen by the letters of both, copies of which were forwarded to the emperor. full confidence was now expressed, therefore, that the emperor and all germany would look with favour on such a god-fearing transaction, by which an end would be put to so terrible a war. thus the states-general; replying with gentle scorn to the antiquated claim of sovereignty on the part of imperial majesty. duly authenticated by citations of investitures, indulgences, and concordates, engrossed on yellowest parchment, sealed with reddest sealing-wax, and reposing in a thousand pigeon-holes in mustiest archives, no claim could be more solemn or stately. unfortunately, however, rebel pikes and matchlocks, during the past forty years, had made too many rents in those sacred parchments to leave much hope of their ever being pieced handsomely together again. as to the historical theory of imperial enfeoffment, the states thought it more delicate to glide smoothly and silently over the whole matter. it would have been base to acknowledge and impolite to refute the claim. it is as well to imitate this reserve. it is enough simply to remind the reader that although so late as the time of charles v., the provinces had been declared constituent parts of the empire, liable to its burthens, and entitled to its protection; the netherlanders being practical people, and deeming burthens and protection correlative, had declined the burthen because always deprived of the protection. and now, after a year spent in clearing away the mountains of dust which impeded the pathway to peace, and which one honest vigorous human breath might at once have blown into space, the envoys of the archduke set forth towards the hague. marquis spinola, don juan de mancicidor, private secretary to the king of spain, president richardot, auditor verreyken, and brother john neyen--a genoese, a spaniard, a burgundian, a fleming, and a franciscan friar--travelling in great state, with a long train of carriages, horses, lackeys, cooks, and secretaries, by way of breda, bergen-op-zoom, dort, rotterdam, and delft, and being received in each town and village through which they passed with great demonstrations of respect and cordial welcome, arrived at last within a mile of the hague. it was the dead of winter, and of the severest winter that had occurred for many years. every river, estuary, canal was frozen hard. all holland was one broad level sheet of ice, over which the journey had been made in sledges. on the last day of january prince maurice, accompanied by lewes william, and by eight state coaches filled with distinguished personages, left the hague and halted at the hoorn bridge, about midway between ryswyk and the capital. the prince had replied to the first request of the states that he should go forward to meet spinola, by saying that he would do so willingly if it were to give him battle; otherwise not. olden-barneveld urged upon him however that, as servant of the republic, he was bound to do what the states commanded, as a matter involving the dignity of the nation. in consequence of this remonstrance maurice consented to go, but he went unwillingly. the advancing procession of the spanish ambassadors was already in sight. far and wide in whatever direction the eye could sweep, the white surface of the landscape was blackened with human beings. it seemed as if the whole population of the netherlands had assembled, in mass meeting, to witness the pacific interview between those two great chieftains who had never before stood face to face except upon the battle-field. in carriages, in donkey carts, upon horseback, in sledges, on skates, upon foot-men, women, and children, gentle and simple, protestants, catholics, gomarites, armenians, anabaptists, country squires in buff and bandaleer, city magistrates and merchants in furs and velvet, artisans, boatmen, and peasants, with their wives and daughters in well-starched ruff and tremendous head-gear--they came thronging in countless multitudes, those honest hollanders, cheering and throwing up their caps in honour of the chieftain whose military genius had caused so much disaster to their country. this uproarious demonstration of welcome on the part of the multitude moved the spleen of many who were old enough to remember the horrors of spanish warfare within their borders. "thus unreflecting, gaping, boorish, are nearly all the common people of these provinces," said a contemporary, describing the scene, and forgetting that both high and low, according to his own account, made up the mass of spectators on that winter's day. moreover it seems difficult to understand why the hollanders should not have indulged a legitimate curiosity, and made a holiday on this memorable occasion. spinola was not entering their capital in triumph, a spanish army was not marching--as it might have done had the course of events been different--over the protective rivers and marshes of the fatherland, now changed by the exceptional cold into solid highways for invasion. on the contrary, the arrival of the great enemy within their gates, with the olive-branch instead of the sword in his hand, was a victory not for spain but for the republic. it was known throughout the land that he was commissioned by the king and the archdukes to treat for peace with the states-general of the united provinces as with the representatives of a free and independent nation, utterly beyond any foreign control. was not this opening of a cheerful and pacific prospect, after a half century's fight for liberty, a fair cause for rejoicing? the spanish commissioners arrived at the hoorn bridge, spinola alighted from his coach, prince maurice stepped forward into the road to greet him. then the two eminent soldiers, whose names had of late been so familiar in the mouths of men, shook hands and embraced with heroic cordiality, while a mighty shout went up from the multitude around. it was a stately and dramatic spectacle, that peaceful meeting of the rival leaders in a war which had begun before either of them was born. the bystanders observed, or thought that they observed, signs of great emotion on the faces of both. it has also been recorded that each addressed the other in epigrammatic sentences of compliment. "god is my witness," maurice was supposed to have said, "that the arrival of these honourable negotiators is most grateful to me. time, whose daughter is truth, will show the faith to be given to my words." "this fortunate day," replied spinola, "has filled full the measure of my hopes and wishes, and taken from me the faculty of ever wishing for anything again. i trust in divine clemency that an opportunity may be given to show my gratitude, and to make a fit return for the humanity thus shown me by the most excellent prince that the sun shines upon." with this both got into the stadholder's carriage, spinola being placed on maurice's right hand. their conversation during their brief drive to the capital, followed by their long retinue, and by the enthusiastic and vociferating crowd, has not been chronicled. it is also highly probable that the second-rate theatrical dialogue which the jesuit historian, writing from spinola's private papers, has preserved for posterity, was rather what seemed to his imagination appropriate for the occasion than a faithful shorthand report of anything really uttered. a few commonplace phrases of welcome, with a remark or two perhaps on the unexampled severity of the frost, seem more likely to have formed the substance of that brief conversation. a couple of trumpeters of spinola went braying through the streets of the village capital, heralding their master's approach with superfluous noise, and exciting the disgust of the quieter portion of the burghers. at last however the envoys and their train were all comfortably housed. the marquis, president richardot, and secretary mancicidor, were established at a new mansion on the vyverberg, belonging to goswyn menskens. the rest of the legation were lodged at the house of wassenaer. it soon became plain that the ways of life and the style housekeeping habitual to great officers of the spanish crown were very different from the thrifty manners and customs of dutch republicans. it was so long since anything like royal pomp and circumstance had been seen in their borders that the exhibition, now made, excited astonishment. it was a land where every child went to school, where almost every individual inhabitant could read and write, where even the middle classes were proficients in mathematics and the classics, and could speak two or more modern languages; where the whole nation, with but few exceptions, were producers of material or intellectual wealth, and where comparatively little of unproductive consumption prevailed. those self-governing and self-sustaining municipalities had almost forgotten the existence of the magnificent nothings so dear to the hearts of kings. spinola's house was open day and night. the gorgeous plate, gigantic candelabra, mighty ewers, shields and layers of silver and gold, which decorated his tables and sideboards, amazed the gaping crowd. he dined and supped in state every day, and the public were admitted to gaze upon his banquets as if he had been a monarch. it seemed, said those homely republicans, as if "a silver christening were going on every day in his house." there were even grave remonstrances made to the magistracy and to, the states-general against the effect of such ostentatious and immoral proceedings upon the popular mind, and suggestions that at least the doors should be shut, so that the scandal might be confined to spinola's own household. but the republican authorities deciding, not without wisdom, that the spectacle ought to serve rather as a wholesome warning than as a contaminating example, declined any inquisitorial interference with the housekeeping of the spanish ambassadors. before the negotiations began, a treaty had been made between the republic and the french government, by which it was stipulated that every effort should be made by both contracting parties to bring about an honourable and assured peace between the united provinces, spain, and the archdukes. in case of the continuance of the war, however, it was agreed that france should assist the states with ten thousand men, while in case at any time, during the continuance of the league, france should be attacked by a foreign enemy, she should receive from her ally five thousand auxiliary troops, or their equivalent in maritime assistance. this convention was thought by other powers to be so profitable to the netherlands as to excite general uneasiness and suspicion. the states would have gladly signed a similar agreement with england, but nothing was to be done with that government until an old-standing dispute in regard to the cloth trade had been arranged. middelburg had the exclusive right of deposit for the cloths imported from england. this monopoly for zealand being naturally not very palatable to amsterdam and other cities of holland, the states-general had at last authorized the merchant-adventurers engaged in this traffic to deposit their goods in any city of the united provinces. the course of trade had been to import the raw cloth from england, to dress and dye it in the netherlands, and then to re-export it to england. latterly, however, some dyers and clothiers emigrating from the provinces to that country, had obtained a monopoly from james for practising their art in his dominions. in consequence of this arrangement the exportation of undyed cloths had been forbidden. this prohibition had caused irritation both in the kingdom and the republic, had necessarily deranged the natural course of trade and manufacture, and had now prevented for the time any conclusion of an alliance offensive and defensive between the countries, even if political sentiment had made such a league possible. the states-general had recourse to the usual expedient by which bad legislation on one side was countervailed by equally bad legislation on the other. the exportation of undyed english cloths being forbidden by england, the importation of dyed english cloths was now prohibited by the netherlands. the international cloth trade stopped. this embargo became at last so detestable to all parties that concession was made by the crown for a limited export of raw cloths. the concession was soon widened by custom into a general exportation, the royal government looking through its fingers at the open infraction of its own laws, while the natural laws of trade before long re-established the old equilibrium. meantime the ill-feeling produced by this dissension delayed any cordial political arrangement between the countries. on the th of february the spanish commissioners came for the first time before the states-general, assembled to the number of a hundred and thirty, in their palace at the hague. the first meeting was merely one of mutual compliment, president richardot, on behalf of his colleagues, expressing gratitude for the cordial welcome which had been manifested to the envoys on their journey through so many towns of the united provinces. they had been received, he said, not as enemies with whom an almost perpetual war had been waged, but as friends, confederates, and allies. a warmer reception they could never have hoped for nor desired. two special commissioners were now appointed by the states-general to negotiate with the envoys. these were count lewis william and brederode. with these delegates at large were associated seven others, one from each province. barneveld of course represented holland; maldere, zeeland; berk, utrecht; hillama, friesland; bloat, overyssel; koender van helpen, groningen; cornelius vail gend, gelderland. the negotiations began at once. the archdukes had empowered the five envoys to deal in their name and in that of the king of spain. philip had authorized the archdukes to take this course by an instrument dated th january. in this paper he called the archdukes hereditary sovereigns of the netherlands. it was agreed that the various points of negotiation should be taken up in regular order; but the first question of all that presented itself was whether the conferences should be for a truce or, a peace. the secret object of spain was for a truce of years. thus she thought to save her dignity, to reserve her rights of re-conquest, to replenish her treasury, and to repair her military strength. barneveld and his party, comprising a large majority of the states-general, were for peace. prince maurice, having done his utmost to oppose negotiations for peace, was, for still stronger reasons, determined to avoid falling into what he considered the ambush of a truce. the french ambassadors were also for peace. the spanish envoys accordingly concealed their real designs, and all parties began discussions for the purpose of establishing a permanent peace. this preliminary being settled, barneveld asked the spaniards if they had full powers to treat with the states as with a free nation, and if they recognised them as such. "the most ample power," was the reply; "and we are content to treat with you even if you should choose to call yourself a kingdom." "by what right then are the archdukes called by the king hereditary sovereigns of the netherlands, and why do they append the seals of the seven united provinces to this document?" asked the advocate, taking up from the table the full power of albert and isabella and putting his finger on the seals. "by the same right," replied president richardot, "that the king of france calls himself king of navarre, that the king of great britain calls himself king of france, that the king of spain calls himself king of jerusalem." nothing could be more logical, nothing more historically accurate. but those plain-spoken republicans saw no advantage in beginning a negotiation for peace on the basis of their independence by permitting the archduke to call himself their sovereign, and to seal solemn state papers with their signet. it might seem picturesque to genealogical minds, it might be soothing to royal vanity, that paste counterfeits should be substituted for vanished jewels. it would be cruelty to destroy the mock glitter without cause. but there was cause. on this occasion the sham was dangerous. james stuart might call himself king of france. he was not more likely to take practical possession of that kingdom than of the mountains in the moon. henry of bourbon was not at present contemplating an invasion of the hereditary possessions of the house of albret. it was a matter of indifference to the netherlands whether philip iii. were crowned in jerusalem that very day, or the week afterwards, or never. it was very important however that the united provinces should have it thoroughly recognised that they were a free and independent republic, nor could that recognition be complete so long as any human being in the whole world called himself their master, and signed with their seals of state. "'tis absurd," said the hollanders, "to use the names and arms of our provinces. we have as yet no precedent to prove that you consider the united provinces as lost, and name and arms to be but wind." barneveld reminded them that they had all expressed the most straightforward intention, and that the father commissary especially had pledged his very soul for the sincerity of the king and the archdukes. "we ourselves never wished and never could deceive any one," continued the advocate, "and it is also very difficult for others to deceive us." this being the universal sentiment of the netherlanders, it was thought proper to express it in respectful but vigorous language. this was done and the session was terminated. the spanish envoys, knowing very well that neither the king nor the archduke regarded the retention of the titles and seals of all the seventeen netherlands as an empty show, but that a secret and solid claim lurked beneath that usurpation, were very indignant. they however dissembled their wrath from the states' commissioners. they were unwilling that the negotiations should be broken up at the very first session, and they felt that neither prince maurice nor barneveld was to be trifled with upon this point. but they were loud and magnificent in their demonstrations when they came to talk the matter over with the ambassadors of france and england. it was most portentous, they thought, to the cause of monarchy and good government all over the world, that these republicans, not content to deal with kings and princes on a footing of equality, should presume to dictate to them as to inferiors. having passed through rebellion to liberty, they were now proceeding to trample upon the most hallowed customs and rites. what would become of royalty, if in the same breath it should not only renounce the substance, but even put away the symbols of authority. this insolence of the people was not more dangerous to the king and the archdukes than it was to every potentate in the universe. it was a sacred duty to resist such insults. sage jeannin did his best to pacify the vehemence of the commissioners. he represented to them that foreign titles borne by anointed kings were only ensigns of historical possessions which they had for ever renounced; but that it might become one day the pleasure of spain, or lie in the power of spain, to vindicate her ancient rights to the provinces. hence the anxiety of the states was but natural. the old leaguer and political campaigner knew very well, moreover, that at least one half of richardot's noble wrath was feigned. the commissioners would probably renounce the title and the seven seals, but in so doing would drive a hard bargain. for an empty phrase and a pennyworth of wax they would extort a heavy price. and this was what occurred. the commissioners agreed to write for fresh instructions to brussels. a reply came in due time from the archdukes, in which they signified their willingness to abandon the title of sovereigns over all the netherlands, and to abstain from using their signet. in exchange for this concession they merely demanded from the states-general a formal abandonment of the navigation to both the indies. this was all. the archdukes granted liberty to the republic. the republic would renounce its commerce with more than half the world. the scorn of the states' commissioners at this proposition can be imagined, and it became difficult indeed for them to speak on the subject in decorous language. because the archdukes were willing to give up something which was not their property, the republic was voluntarily to open its veins and drain its very life-blood at the bidding of a foreign potentate. she was to fling away all the trophies of heemskerk and sebalt de weerd, of balthasar de cordes, van der hagen, matelieff, and verhoeff; she was to abdicate the position which she had already acquired of mistress of the seas, and she was to deprive herself for ever of that daily increasing ocean commerce which was rapidly converting a cluster of puny, half-submerged provinces into a mighty empire. of a certainty the spanish court at this new epoch was an astounding anachronism. in its view pope alexander vi. still lived and reigned. liberty was not a boon conferred upon the netherlanders by their defeated enemy. it had been gained by their own right hands; by the blood, and the gold, and the sweat of two generations. if it were the king's to give, let him try once more if he could take it away. such were the opinions and emotions of the dutchmen, expressed in as courteous language as they could find. "it would be a political heresy," said barneveld to the spanish commissioners at this session, "if my lords the states should by contract banish their citizens out of two-thirds of the world, both land and sea." "'tis strange," replied the spaniards, "that you wish to have more than other powers--kings or republics--who never make any such pretensions. the indies, east and west, are our house, privately possessed by us for more than a hundred years, and no one has a right to come into it without our permission. this is not banishment, but a custom to which all other nations submit. we give you your sovereignty before all the world, quitting all claims upon it. we know very well that you deny receiving it from us; but to give you a quit claim, and to permit free trade besides, would be a little more than you have a right to expect." was it not well for the cause of liberty, commercial intercourse, and advancement of the human intellect, that there was this obstinate little republic in the world, refusing to tolerate that to which all other great powers of the earth submitted; that there was one nation determined not to acknowledge three-quarters of the world, including america and india, as the private mansion of the king of spain, to be locked against the rest of the human race? the next session of the negotiators after the arrival of this communication from the archdukes was a stormy one. the india trade was the sole subject of discussion. as the states were firmly resolved never to relinquish that navigation which in truth was one of their most practical and valuable possessions, and as the royal commissioners were as solemnly determined that it should never be conceded, it may be imagined how much breath, how much foolscap paper, was wasted. in truth, the negotiation for peace had been a vile mockery from the beginning. spain had no real intention of abdicating her claim to the united provinces. at the very moment when the commissioners were categorically making that concession in brussels, and claiming such a price for it, hoboken, the archduke's diplomatic representative in london, was earnestly assuring king james that neither his master nor philip had the remotest notion of renouncing their sovereignty over all the netherlands. what had been said and written to that effect was merely a device, he asserted, to bring about a temporary truce. during the interval of imaginary freedom it was certain that the provinces would fall into such dire confusion that it would be easier for spain to effect their re-conquest, after a brief delay for repairing her own strength, than it would be by continuing the present war without any cessation. the spanish ambassador at vienna too on his part assured the emperor rudolph that his master was resolved never to abdicate the sovereignty of the provinces. the negotiations then going on, he said, were simply intended to extort from the states a renunciation of the india trade and their consent to the re-introduction of the catholic religion throughout their territories. something of all this was known and much more suspected at the hague; the conviction therefore that no faith would be kept with rebels and heretics, whatever might be said or written, gained strength every day. that these delusive negotiations with the hollanders were not likely to be so successful as the comedy enacted twenty years before at bourbourg, for the amusement of queen elizabeth and her diplomatists while the tragedy of the armada was preparing, might be safely prophesied. richardot was as effective as ever in the part which he had so often played, but spinola laboured under the disadvantage of being a far honester man than alexander farnese. far from equal to that famous chieftain in the management of a great military campaign, it is certain that he was infinitely inferior to him in genteel comedy. whether maurice and lewis william, barneveld and brederode, were to do better in the parts formerly assigned to john rogers, valentine dale, comptroller croft, and their colleagues, remained to be seen. on the th of february, at the fifth conference of the commissioners, the first pitched battle on the india trade was fought. thereafter the combat was almost every day renewed. exactly, as a year before, the news of heemskerk's victory at gibraltar had made the king and the archdukes eager to obtain an armistice with the rebels both by land and sea, so now the report of matelieff's recent achievements in the indian ocean was increasing their anxiety to exclude the netherlanders from the regions which they were rapidly making their own. as we look back upon the negotiations, after the lapse of two centuries and a half, it becomes difficult to suppress our amazement at those scenes of solemn trickery and superhuman pride. it is not necessary to follow, step by step, the proceedings at each daily conference, but it is impossible for me not to detain the reader for yet a season longer with those transactions, and especially to invite him to ponder the valuable lesson which in their entirety they convey. no higher themes could possibly be laid before statesmen to discuss. questions of political self-government, religious liberty, national independence, divine right, rebellious power, freedom of commerce, supremacy of the seas, omnipotence claimed by the old world over the destiny of what was called the new, were importunately demanding solution. all that most influenced human passion, or stirred human reason to its depths--at that memorable point of time when two great epochs seemed to be sweeping against each other in elemental conflict--was to be dealt with. the emancipated currents of human thought, the steady tide of ancient dogma, were mingling in wrath. there are times of paroxysm in which nature seems to effect more in a moment, whether intellectually or materially, than at other periods during a lapse of years. the shock of forces, long preparing and long delayed, is apt at last to make itself sensible to those neglectful of gradual but vital changes. yet there are always ears that are deaf to the most portentous din. thus, after that half century of war, the policy of spain was still serenely planting itself on the position occupied before the outbreak of the revolt. the commonwealth, solidly established by a free people, already one of the most energetic and thriving among governments, a recognised member of the great international family, was now gravely expected to purchase from its ancient tyrant the independence which it had long possessed, while the price demanded for the free papers was not only extravagant, but would be disgraceful to an emancipated slave. holland was not likely at that turning point in her history, and in the world's history, to be false to herself and to the great principles of public law. it was good for the cause of humanity that the republic should reappear at that epoch. it was wholesome for europe that there should be just then a plain self-governing people, able to speak homely and important truths. it was healthy for the moral and political atmosphere--in those days and in the time to come--that a fresh breeze from that little sea-born commonwealth should sweep away some of the ancient fog through which a few very feeble and very crooked mortals had so long loomed forth like giants and gods. to vindicate the laws of nations and of nature; to make a noble effort for reducing to a system--conforming, at least approximately, to divine reason--the chaotic elements of war and peace; to recal the great facts that earth, sea, and sky ought to belong to mankind, and not to an accidental and very limited selection of the species was not an unworthy task for a people which had made such unexampled sacrifice for liberty and right. accordingly, at the conference on the th february, the spanish commissioners categorically summoned the states to desist entirely from the trade to either india, exactly as before the war. to enforce this prohibition, they said, was the principal reason why philip desired peace. to obtain their freedom was surely well worth renunciation of this traffic; the more so, because their trade with spain, which was so much shorter and safer, was now to be re-opened. if they had been able to keep that commerce, it was suggested, they would have never talked about the indies. the commissioners added, that this boon had not been conceded to france nor england, by the treaties of vervins and london, and that the states therefore could not find it strange that it should be refused to them. the states' commissioners stoutly replied that commerce was open to all the world, that trade was free by the great law of nature, and that neither france, england, nor the united provinces, were to receive edicts on this great subject from spain and portugal. it was absurd to circumscribe commercial intercourse at the very moment of exchanging war for peace. to recognise the liberty of the states upon paper, and to attempt the imposition of servitude in reality, was a manifest contradiction. the ocean was free to all nations. it had not been enclosed by spain with a rail-fence. the debate grew more stormy every hour. spinola expressed great indignation that the netherlanders should be so obstinate upon this point. the tall, spare president arose in wrath from his seat at the council-board, loudly protesting that the king of spain would never renounce his sovereignty over the provinces until they had forsworn the india trade; and with this menace stalked out of the room. the states' commissioners were not frightened. barneveld was at least a match for richardot, and it was better, after all, that the cards should be played upon the table. subsequent meetings were quite as violent as the first, the country was agitated far and wide, the prospects of pacification dwindled to a speck in the remote horizon. arguments at the board of conference, debates in the states-general, pamphlets by merchants and advocates--especially several emanating from the east india company--handled the great topic from every point of view, and it became more and more evident that spain could not be more resolute to prohibit than the republic to claim the trade. it was an absolute necessity, so it was urged, for the hollanders to resist the tyrannical dominion of the spaniards. but this would be impossible for them, should they rely on the slender natural resources of their own land. not a sixth part of the population could be nourished from the soil. the ocean was their inheritance, their birthright, their empire. it was necessary that spain should understand this first, last, and always. she ought to comprehend, too, that her recognition of dutch independence was not a gift, but the acknowledgment of a fact. without that acknowledgment peace was impossible. if peace were to be established, it was not to be bought by either party. each gave and each received, and certainly spain was in no condition to dictate the terms of a sale. peace, without freedom of commerce, would be merely war without killing, and therefore without result. the netherlanders, who in the middle of the previous century had risen against unjust taxation and arbitrary laws, had not grown so vile as to accept from a vanquished foe what they had spurned from their prince. to be exiled from the ocean was an unimaginable position for the republic. moreover, to retire from the indies would be to abandon her oriental allies, and would be a dishonour as well us a disaster. her good faith, never yet contaminated, would be stained, were she now to desert the distant peoples and potentates with whom she had formed treaties of friendship and commerce, and hand them over to the vengeance of the spaniards and portuguese. and what a trade it was which the united provinces were thus called upon to renounce! the foreign commerce of no other nation could be compared in magnitude to that of their commonwealth. twenty ships traded regularly to guinea, eighty to the cape de verd islands, twenty to america, and forty to the east indies. ten thousand sailors, who gained their living in this traffic, would be thrown out of employment, if the states should now listen to the spanish propositions. it was well known too that the profits of the east india company had vastly increased of late, and were augmenting with every year. the trade with cambay, malabar, ceylon, koromandel, and queda, had scarcely begun, yet was already most promising. should the hollanders only obtain a footing in china, they felt confident of making their way through the south seas and across the pole to india. thus the search for a great commercial highway between cathay, europe, and the new world, which had been baffled in the arctic regions, should be crowned with success at the antarctic, while it was deemed certain that there were many lands, lighted by the southern cross, awaiting the footsteps of the fortunate european discoverer. what was a coasting-trade with spain compared with this boundless career of adventure? now that the world's commerce, since the discovery of america and the passage around the cape of good hope, had become oceanic and universal, was the nation which took the lead on blue water to go back to the creeping land-locked navigation of the ancient greeks and phoenicians? if the east india company, in whose womb was empire, were now destroyed, it would perish with its offspring for ever. there would be no regeneration at a future day. the company's ships too were a navy in themselves, as apt for war as for trade. this the spaniards and portuguese had already learned to their cost. the merchant-traders to spain would be always in the power of spain, and at any favourable moment might be seized by spain. the spanish monopoly in the east and west was the great source of spanish power, the chief cause of the contempt with, which the spanish monarchy looked down upon other nations. let those widely expanded wings be clipped, and spain would fall from her dizzy height. to know what the states ought to refuse the enemy, it was only necessary to observe what he strenuously demanded, to ponder the avowed reason why he desired peace. the enemy was doing his best to damage the commonwealth; the states were merely anxious to prevent injury to themselves and to all the world; to vindicate for themselves, and for all men, the common use of ocean, land, and sky. a nation which strove to shut up the seas, and to acquire a monopoly of the world's trade, was a pirate, an enemy of mankind. she was as deserving of censure as those who created universal misery in time of famine, by buying up all the corn in order to enrich themselves. according to the principles of the ancients, it was legitimate to make war upon such states as closed their own ports to foreign intercourse. still more just was it, therefore, to carry arms against a nation which closed the ports of other people. the dispute about the india navigation could be settled in a moment, if spain would but keep her word. she had acknowledged the great fact of independence, which could not be gainsaid. let each party to the negotiation, therefore keep that which it already possessed. let neither attempt to prescribe to the other--both being free and independent states--any regulations about interior or foreign trade. thus reasoned the states-general, the east india directors, the great majority of the population of the provinces, upon one great topic of discussion. a small minority only attempted to defend the policy of renouncing the india trade as a branch of industry, in which a certain class, and that only in the maritime provinces, was interested. it is certainly no slight indication of the liberty of thought, of speech, and of the press, enjoyed at that epoch in the netherlands and nowhere else to anything like the same extent--that such opinions, on a subject deemed vital to the very existence of the republic, were freely published and listened to with toleration, if not with respect. even the enlightened mind of grotius was troubled with terrors as to the effect on the public mind at this crisis of anonymous pamphlets concerning political affairs. but in this regard it must be admitted that grotius was not in advance of his age, although fully conceding that press-laws were inconsistent with human liberty. maurice and barneveld were equally strenuous in maintaining the india trade; the prince, because he hoped that resistance to spain upon this point would cause the negotiations to be broken off, the advocate in the belief that firmness on the part of the states would induce the royal commissioners to yield. the states-general were not likely to be deficient in firmness. they felt that the republic was exactly on the point of wresting the control of the east from the hands of the portuguese, and they were not inclined to throw away the harvest of their previous labours just as it was ripening. ten thousand persons at least, besides the sailors employed, were directly interested in the traffic, most of whom possessed great influence in the commonwealth, and would cause great domestic dissension should they now be sacrificed to spain. to keep the india trade was the best guarantee for the future possession of the traffic to spain; for the spanish government would never venture an embargo upon the direct intercourse between the provinces and its own dominions, for fear of vengeance in the east. on the other hand, by denouncing oceanic commerce, they would soon find themselves without a navy at all, and their peaceful coasting ships would be at the mercy of spain or of any power possessing that maritime energy which would have been killed in the republic. by abandoning the ocean, the young commonwealth would sink into sloth, and become the just object of contempt to the world. it would cease to be an independent power, and deserve to fall a prey to any enterprising neighbour. even villeroy admitted the common belief to be, that if the india trade were abandoned "the states would melt away like snow in the sun." he would not, on that account, however, counsel to the states obstinacy upon the subject, if spain refused peace or truce except on condition of their exclusion from the traffic. jeannin, villeroy, and their master; isaac le maire and peter plancius, could have told the reason why if they had chosen. early in march a triple proposition was made by the states' commissioners. spain might take her choice to make peace on the basis of free trade; to make peace, leaving everything beyond the tropic of cancer to the chance of war; or to make peace in regard to all other than the tropical regions, concluding for those only a truce during a definite number of years. the spaniards rejected decidedly two of these suggestions. of course they would not concede freedom of the sea. they considered the mixture of peace and war a monstrous conception. they were, however, willing to favour peace for europe and truce in the tropics, provided the states bound themselves; on the expiration of the limited period, to abandon the indian and american trade for ever. and to this proposition the states of course were deaf. and thus they went on spinning around, day after day, in the same vicious circle, without more hope of progress than squirrels in a cage. barneveld, always overbearing with friend or foe, and often violent, was not disposed to make preposterous concessions, notwithstanding his eager desire for peace. "the might of the states-general," said he, "is so great, thank god, that they need not yield so much to the king of spain as seems to be expected, nor cover themselves with dishonour." "and do you think yourselves more mighty than the kings of england and france?" cried richardot in a great rage, "for they never dared to make any attempt upon the indies, east or west." "we are willing to leave the king in his own quarters," was the reply, "and we expect him to leave us in ours." "you had better take a sheet of paper at once," said richardot, "write down exactly what you wish, and order us to agree to it all without discussion." "we demand nothing that is unreasonable in these negotiations," was the firm rejoinder, "and expect that nothing unjust will be required of us." it was now suggested by the states' commissioners that a peace; with free navigation, might be concluded for europe, and a truce for other parts of the world, without any stipulations as to what should take place on its termination. this was hardly anything new, but it served as a theme for more intellectual buffeting. hard words were freely exchanged during several hours; and all parties lost their temper. at last the spaniards left the conference-chamber in a rage. just as they were going, barneveld asked them whether he should make a protocol of the session for the states-general, and whether it was desirable in future to resume the discussion. "let every one do exactly as he likes," replied spinola, wrathfully, as he moved to the door. friar john, always plausible, whispered a few soothing words in the ear of the marquis, adding aloud, so that the commissioners might hear, "night brings counsel." these words he spoke in latin. "he who wishes to get everything is apt to lose everything," cried, out maldere, the zeeland deputy, in spanish, to the departing commissioners. "take that to yourselves," rejoined richardot, very fiercely; "you may be sure that it will be your case."' so ended that interview. directly afterwards there was a conference between the states' commissioners and the french envoys. jeannin employed all his powers of argument: and persuasion to influence the netherlanders against a rupture of the negotiations because of the india trade. it would be better to abandon that commerce, so he urged, than to give up the hope of peace. the commissioners failed to see the logic or to melt at the eloquence of his discourse. they would have been still less inclined, if that were possible, to move from their position, had they known of the secret conferences which jeannin had just been holding with isaac le maire of amsterdam, and other merchants practically familiar with the india trade. carrying out the french king's plan to rob the republic of that lucrative traffic, and to transplant it, by means of experienced hollanders, into france, the president, while openly siding with the states, as their most disinterested friend, was secretly doing all in his power to destroy the very foundation of their commonwealth. isaac le maire came over from amsterdam in a mysterious manner, almost in disguise. had his nocturnal dealings with the french minister been known, he would have been rudely dealt with by the east india company. he was a native of tournay, not a sincere republican therefore, was very strongly affected to france, and declared that all his former fellow-townsmen, and many more, had the fleur-de-lys stamped on their hearts. if peace should be made without stipulation in favour of the east india company, he, with his three brothers, would do what they could to transfer that corporation to france. all the details of such a prospective arrangement were thoroughly discussed, and it was intimated that the king would be expected to take shares in the enterprise. jeannin had also repeated conferences on the same subject with the great cosmographer plancius. it may be well understood, therefore, that the minister of henry iv. was not very ardent to encourage the states in their resolve to oppose peace or truce, except with concession of the india trade. the states preferred that the negotiations should come to nought on the religious ground rather than on account of the india trade. the provinces were nearly unanimous as to the prohibition of the catholic worship, not from bigotry for their own or hatred of other creeds, but from larger views of what was then called tolerance, and from practical regard for the necessities of the state. to permit the old worship, not from a sense of justice but as an article of bargain with a foreign power, was not only to abase the government of the states but to convert every sincere catholic throughout the republic into a grateful adherent of philip and the archdukes. it was deliberately to place a lever, to be used in all future time, for the overthrow of their political structure. in this the whole population was interested, while the india navigation, although vital to the well-being of the nation, was not yet universally recognised as so supremely important, and was declared by a narrow-minded minority to concern the provinces of holland and zeeland alone. all were silently agreed, therefore, to defer the religious question to the last. especially, commercial greed induced the states to keep a firm clutch on the great river on which the once splendid city of antwerp stood. ever since that commercial metropolis had succumbed to farnese, the republic had maintained the lower forts, by means of which, and of flushing at the river's mouth, antwerp was kept in a state of suspended animation. to open the navigation of the scheld, to permit free approach to antwerp, would, according to the narrow notions of the amsterdam merchants, be destructive to their own flourishing trade. in vain did richardot, in one well-fought conference, do his best to obtain concessions on this important point. the states' commissioners were as deaf as the spaniards had been on the india question. richardot, no longer loud and furious, began to cry. with tears running down his cheeks, he besought the netherlanders not to insist so strenuously upon all their points, and to remember that concessions were mutually necessary, if an amicable arrangement were to be framed. the chances for peace were promising. "let not a blight be thrown over all our hopes," he exclaimed, "by too great pertinacity on either side. above all, let not the states dictate terms as to a captive or conquered king, but propose such conditions as a benevolent but powerful sovereign could accept." these adjurations might be considered admirable, if it had been possible for the royal commissioners to point to a single mustard-seed of concession ever vouchsafed by them to the republic. meantime the month of march had passed. nothing had been accomplished, but it was agreed to prolong the armistice through april and may. the negotiations having feebly dribbled off into almost absolute extinction, friar john was once more set in motion, and despatched to madrid. he was sent to get fresh instructions from philip, and he promised, on departing, to return in forty days. he hoped as his reward, he said, to be made bishop of utrecht. "that will be a little above your calibre," replied barneveld. forty days was easily said, and the states consented to the additional delay. during his absence there was much tedious discussion of minor matters, such as staple rights of wine and cloths, regulations of boundaries, removal of restrictions on trade and navigation, passports, sequestered estates, and the like; all of which were subordinate to the all-important subjects of india and religion, those two most tender topics growing so much more tender the more they were handled as to cause at last a shiver whenever they were approached. nevertheless both were to be dealt with, or the negotiations would fall to the ground. the states felt convinced that they would fall to the ground, that they had fallen to the ground, and they at least would not stoop to pick them up again. the forty days passed away, but the friar never returned. april and may came and went, and again the armistice expired by its own limitation. the war party was disgusted with the solemn trifling, maurice was exasperated beyond endurance, barneveld and the peace men began to find immense difficulty in confronting the gathering storm. the prince, with difficulty, consented to a prolongation of the armistice for two months longer; resolute to resume hostilities should no accord be made before the end of july. the advocate, with much earnestness, and with more violence than was habitual with him, insisted on protracting the temporary truce until the end of the year. the debates in the states-general and the state-council were vehement; passion rose to fever-heat, but the stadholder, although often half beside himself with rage, ended by submitting once more to the will of barneveld. this was the easier, as the advocate at last proposed an agreement which seemed to maurice and lewis william even better than their own original suggestion. it was arranged that the armistice should be prolonged until the end of the year, but it was at the same time stipulated that unless the negotiations had reached a definite result before the st of august, they should be forthwith broken off. thus a period of enforced calm--a kind of vacation, as if these great soldiers and grey-beards had been a troop of idle school-boys--was now established, without the slightest reason. president jeannin took occasion to make a journey to paris, leaving the hague on the th june. during his absence a treaty of the states with england, similar in its terms to the one recently concluded between the republic and france, but only providing for half the number of auxiliary troops arranged for in the french convention, was signed at the hague. the english plenipotentiaries, vinwood and spencer, wished to delay the exchange of signatures under the pending negotiations with spain and the archdukes were brought to a close, as king james was most desirous at that epoch to keep on good terms with his catholic majesty. the states were so urgent, however, to bring at least this matter to a termination, and the english so anxious lest france should gain still greater influence than she now enjoyed in the provinces, that they at last gave way. it was further stipulated in the convention that the debt of the states to england, then amounting to l , sterling, should be settled by annual payments of l , ; to begin with the expected peace. besides this debt to the english government, the states-general owed nine millions of florins (l , ), and the separate provinces altogether eighteen millions (l , , ). in short, there would be a deficiency of at least three hundred thousand florins a month if the war went on, although every imaginable device had already been employed for increasing the revenue from taxation. it must be admitted therefore, that the barneveld party were not to be severely censured for their desire to bring about an honourable peace. that jeannin was well aware of the disposition prevailing throughout a great part of the commonwealth is certain. it is equally certain that he represented to his sovereign, while at paris, that the demand upon his exchequer by the states, in case of the resumption of hostilities, would be more considerable than ever. immense was the pressure put upon henry by the spanish court, during the summer, to induce him to abandon his allies. very complicated were the nets thrown out to entangle the wary old politician in "the grey jacket and with the heart of gold," as he was fond of designating himself, into an alliance with philip and the archdukes. don pedro de toledo, at the head of a magnificent embassy, arrived in paris with projects of arranging single, double, or triple marriages between the respective nurseries of france and spain. the infanta might marry with a french prince, and have all the netherlands for her dower, so soon as the childless archdukes should have departed this life. or an infante might espouse a daughter of france with the same heritage assigned to the young couple. such proposals, duly set forth in sonorous spanish by the constable of castile, failed to produce a very soothing effect on henry's delicate ear. he had seen and heard enough of gaining thrones by spanish marriages. had not the very crown on his own head, which he had won with foot in stirrup and lance in rest, been hawked about for years, appended to the wedding ring of the spanish infanta? it might become convenient to him at some later day, to form a family alliance with the house of austria, although he would not excite suspicion in the united provinces by openly accepting it then. but to wait for the shoes of albert and isabella, and until the dutch republic had been absorbed into the obedient netherlands by his assistance, was not a very flattering prospect for a son or daughter of france. the ex-huguenot and indomitable campaigner in the field or in politics was for more drastic measures. should the right moment come, he knew well enough how to strike, and could appropriate the provinces, obedient or disobedient, without assistance from the spanish babies. don pedro took little by his propositions. the king stoutly declared that the netherlands were very near to his heart, and that he would never abandon them on any consideration. so near, indeed, that he meant to bring them still nearer, but this was not then suspected by the spanish court; henry, the while, repelling as a personal insult to himself the request that he should secretly labour to reduce the united provinces under subjection to the archdukes. it had even been proposed that he should sign a secret convention to that effect, and there were those about the court who were not ill-disposed for such a combination. the king was, however, far too adroit to be caught in any such trap. the marriage proposals in themselves he did not dislike, but jeannin and he were both of a mind that they should be kept entirely secret. don pedro, on the contrary, for obvious reasons, was for making the transactions ostentatiously public, and, as a guarantee of his master's good faith in regard to the heritage of the netherlands, he proposed that every portion of the republic, thenceforth to be conquered by the allies, should be confided to hands in which henry and the archdukes would have equal confidence. but these artifices were too trivial to produce much effect. henry remained true, in his way, to the states-general, and don pedro was much laughed at in paris, although the public scarcely knew wherefore. these intrigues had not been conducted so mysteriously but that barneveld was aware of what was going on. both before jeannin's departure from the hague in june, and on his return in the middle of august, he catechised him very closely on the subject. the old leaguer was too deep, however, to be thoroughly pumped, even by so practised a hand as the advocate's, so that more was suspected than at the time was accurately known. as, at the memorable epoch of the accession of the king of scots to the throne of elizabeth, maximilian de bethune had flattered the new monarch with the prospect of a double marriage, so now don fernando girono had been sent on solemn mission to england, in order to offer the same infants to james which don pedro was placing at the disposition of henry. the british sovereign, as secretly fascinated by the idea of a spanish family alliance as he had ever been by the proposals of the marquis de rosny for the french marriages, listened with eagerness. money was scattered as profusely among the english courtiers by don fernando as had been done by de bethune four years before. the bribes were accepted, and often by the very personages who knew the colour of bourbon money, but the ducats were scarcely earned. girono, thus urging on the english government the necessity of deserting the republic and cementing a cordial, personal, and political understanding between james and philip, effected but little. it soon became thoroughly understood in england that the same bargaining was going on simultaneously in france. as it was evident that the spanish children could not be disposed of in both markets at the same time, it was plain to the dullest comprehension that either the brokerage of toledo or of girono was a sham, and that a policy erected upon such flimsy foundations would soon be washed away. it is certain, however, that james, while affecting friendship for the states, and signing with them the league of mutual assistance, was secretly longing to nibble the bait dangled before him by girono, and was especially determined to prevent, if possible, the plans of toledo. meantime, brother john neyen was dealing with philip and the duke of lerma, in spain. the friar strenuously urged upon the favourite and the rest of the royal advisers the necessity of prompt action with the states. this needed not interfere with an unlimited amount of deception. it was necessary to bring the negotiations to a definite agreement. it would be by no means requisite, however, to hold to that agreement whenever a convenient opportunity for breaking it should present itself. the first object of spanish policy, argued honest john, should be to get the weapons out of the rebels' hands. the netherlanders ought to be encouraged to return to their usual pursuits of commerce and manufactures, whence they derived their support, and to disband their military and naval forces. their sailors and traders should be treated kindly in spain, instead of being indulged as heretofore with no hospitality save that of the holy inquisition and its dungeons. let their minds be disarmed of all suspicion. now the whole population of the provinces had been convinced that spain, in affecting to treat, was secretly devising means to re-impose her ancient yoke upon their necks. time went by in aranjuez and madrid. the forty days, promised as the period of neyen's absence, were soon gone; but what were forty days, or forty times forty, at the spanish court? the friar, who, whatever his faults, was anything but an idler, chafed at a procrastination which seemed the more stupendous to him, coming fresh as he did from a busy people who knew the value of time. in the anguish of his soul he went to rodrigo calderon, of the privy council, and implored his influence with government to procure leave for him to depart. calderon, in urbane but decisive terms, assured him that this would be impossible before the king should return to madrid. the monk then went to idiaquez, who was in favour of his proceeding at once to the netherlands, but who on being informed that calderon was of a different opinion, gave up the point. more distressed than ever, neyen implored prada's assistance, but prada plunged him into still deeper despair. his majesty, said that counsellor, with matchless effrontery, was studying the propositions of the states-general, and all the papers in the negotiation, line by line, comma by comma. there were many animadversions to make, many counter suggestions to offer. the king was pondering the whole subject most diligently. when those lucubrations were finished, the royal decision, aided by the wisdom of the privy council, would be duly communicated to the archdukes. to wait for an answer to the propositions of the suspicious states-general until philip iii. had mastered the subject in detail, was a prospect too dreary even for the equable soul of brother john. dismayed at the position in which he found himself, he did his best to ferret out the reasons for the preposterous delay; not being willing to be paid off in allusions to the royal investigations. he was still further appalled at last by discovering that the delay was absolutely for the delay's sake. it was considered inconsistent with the dignity of the government not to delay. the court and cabinet had quite made up their minds as to the answer to be made to the last propositions of the rebels, but to make it known at once was entirely out of the question. in the previous year his majesty's administration, so it was now confessed with shame, had acted with almost indecent haste. that everything had been conceded to the confederated provinces was the--common talk of europe. let the time-honoured, inveterate custom of spain in grave affairs to proceed slowly, and therefore surely, be in future observed. a proper self-respect required the king to keep the universe in suspense for a still longer period upon the royal will and the decision of the royal council. were the affairs of the mighty spanish empire so subordinate to the convenience of that portion of it called the netherlands that no time was to be lost before settling their affairs? such dismal frivolity, such palsied pride, seems scarcely credible; but more than all this has been carefully recorded in the letters of the friar. if it were precipitation to spend the whole year in forming a single phrase; to wit, that the archdukes and the king would treat with the united provinces as with countries to which they made no pretensions; and to spend the best part of another year in futile efforts to recal that phrase; if all this had been recklessness and haste, then, surely, the most sluggish canal in holland was a raging cataract, and the march of a glacier electric speed. midsummer had arrived. the period in which peace was to be made or abandoned altogether had passed. jeannin had returned from his visit to paris; the danish envoys, sent to watch the negotiations, had left the hague, utterly disgusted with a puppet-show, all the strings of which, they protested, were pulled from the louvre. brother john, exasperated by the superhuman delays, fell sick of a fever at burgos, and was sent, on his recovery, to the court at valladolid to be made ill again by the same cause, and still there came no sound from the government of spain. at last the silence was broken. something that was called the voice of the king reached the ears of the archduke. long had he wrestled in prayer on this great subject, said philip iii., fervently had he besought the omnipotent for light. he had now persuaded himself that he should not fulfil his duty to god, nor satisfy his own strong desire for maintaining the catholic faith, nor preserve his self-respect, if he now conceded his supreme right to the confederated provinces at any other price than the uncontrolled exercise, within their borders, of the catholic religion. he wished, therefore, as obedient son of the church and defender of the faith, to fulfil this primary duty, untrammelled by any human consideration, by any profit that might induce him towards a contrary course. that which he had on other occasions more than once signified he now confirmed. his mind was fixed; this was his last and immutable determination, that if the confederates should permit the free and public exercise of the catholic, roman, apostolic religion to all such as wished to live and die in it, for this cause so grateful to god, and for no other reason, he also would permit to them that supreme right over the provinces, and that authority which now belonged to himself. natives and residents of those countries should enjoy liberty, just so long as the exercise of the catholic religion flourished there, and not one day nor hour longer. philip then proceeded flatly to refuse the india navigation, giving reasons very satisfactory to himself why the provinces ought cheerfully to abstain from that traffic. if the confederates, in consequence of the conditions thus definitely announced, moved by their innate pride and obstinacy, and relying on the assistance of their allies, should break off the negotiations, then it would be desirable to adopt the plan proposed by jeannin to richardot, and conclude a truce for five or six years. the king expressed his own decided preference for a truce rather than a peace, and his conviction that jeannin had made the suggestion by command of his sovereign. the negotiators stood exactly where they did when friar john, disguised as a merchant, first made his bow to the prince and barneveld in the palace at the hague. the archduke, on receiving at last this peremptory letter from the king, had nothing for it but to issue instructions accordingly to the plenipotentiaries at the hague. a decisive conference between those diplomatists and the states' commissioners took place immediately afterwards. it was on the th august. although it had been agreed on the st may to break off negotiations on the ensuing st of august, should no result be reached, yet three weeks beyond that period had been suffered to elapse, under a tacit agreement to wait a little longer for the return of the friar. president jeannin, too, had gone to paris on the th june, to receive new and important instructions; verbal and written, from his sovereign, and during his absence it had not been thought expedient to transact much business. jeannin returned to the hague on the th of august, and, as definite instructions from king and archduke had now arrived, there seemed no possibility of avoiding an explanation. the spanish envoys accordingly, with much gravity, and as if they had been propounding some cheerful novelty, announced to the assembled commissioners that all reports hitherto flying about as to the spanish king's intentions were false. his majesty had no intention of refusing to give up the sovereignty of the provinces. on the contrary, they were instructed to concede that sovereignty freely and frankly to my lords the states-general--a pearl and a precious jewel, the like of which no prince had ever given away before. yet the king desired neither gold nor silver, neither cities nor anything else of value in exchange. he asked only for that which was indispensable to the tranquillity of his conscience before god, to wit, the re-establishment in those countries of the catholic apostolic roman religion. this there could surely be no reasons for refusing. they owed it as a return for the generosity of the king, they owed it to their own relatives, they owed it to the memory of their ancestors, not to show greater animosity to the ancient religion than to the new and pernicious sect of anabaptists, born into the world for the express purpose of destroying empires; they owed it to their many fellow-citizens, who would otherwise be driven into exile, because deprived of that which is dearest to humanity. in regard to the east india navigation, inasmuch as the provinces had no right whatever to it, and as no other prince but the sovereign of spain had any pretensions to it, his majesty expected that the states would at once desist from it. this was the magnificent result of twenty months of diplomacy. as the king's father had long ago flung away the pearl and precious jewel which the son now made a merit of selling to its proprietors at the price of their life's blood--the world's commerce--it is difficult to imagine that richardot, while communicating thin preposterous ultimatum, could have kept his countenance. but there were case-hardened politicians on both sides. the proposition was made and received with becoming seriousness, and it was decided by the states' commissioners to make no answer at all on that occasion. they simply promised to render their report to the states-general, who doubtless would make short work with the matter. they made their report and it occasioned a tumult. every member present joined in a general chorus of wrathful denunciation. the spanish commissioners were infamous swindlers, it was loudly asserted. there should be no more dealings with them at all. spain was a power only to be treated with on the battle-field. in the tempest of general rage no one would listen to argument, no one asked which would be the weaker, which the stronger party, what resources for the renewed warfare could be founds or who would be the allies of the republic. hatred, warlike fury and scorn at the duplicity with which they had been treated, washed every more politic sentiment away, and metamorphosed that body of burghers as in an instant. the negotiations should be broken off, not on one point, but on all points, and nothing was left but to prepare instantly for war. three days later, after the french and english ambassadors, as well as prince maurice and count lewis william, had been duly consulted, comparative calm was restored, and a decisive answer was unanimously voted by the states-general. the proposition of the commissioners was simply declared to be in direct violation of the sovereignty and freedom of the country, and it was announced that, if it should be persisted in, the whole negotiation might be considered as broken off. a formal answer to the royal propositions would be communicated likewise to the envoys of foreign powers, in order that the royal commissioners might be placed completely in the wrong. on the th august an elaborate response was accordingly delivered in writing by the states' commissioners to those of the archdukes and king, it being at the same time declared by barneveld and his colleagues that their functions were ended, and that this document, emanating from the states-general, was a sovereign resolution, not a diplomatic note. the contents of this paper may be inferred from all that has been previously narrated. the republic knew its own mind, and had always expressed itself with distinctness. the spanish government having at last been brought to disclose its intentions, there was an end to the negotiations for peace. the rupture was formally announced. etext editor's bookmarks: night brings counsel this obstinate little republic triple marriages between the respective nurseries usual expedient by which bad legislation on one side countered chapter li. designs of henry iv.--new marriage project between france and spain formal proposition of negotiating for a truce between the states and spain--exertions of prince maurice to counteract the designs of barneveld--strife between the two parties in the republic--animosity of the people against barneveld--return of the spanish commissioners--further trifling--dismissal of the commissioners-- close of the negotiations--accidental discovery of the secret instructions of the archdukes to the commissioners--opposing factions in the republic--oration of president jeannin before the states-general--comparison between the dutch and swiss republics-- calumnies against the advocate--ambassador lambert in france-- henry's letter to prince maurice--reconciliation of maurice and barneveld--agreement of the states to accept a truce. president jeannin had long been prepared for this result. it was also by no means distasteful to him. a peace would not have accorded with the ulterior and secretly cherished schemes of his sovereign, and during his visit to paris, he had succeeded in persuading henry that a truce would be far the most advantageous solution of the question, so far as his interests were concerned. for it had been precisely during that midsummer vacation of the president at paris that henry had completed his plot against the liberty of the republic, of which he professed himself the only friend. another phase of spanish marriage-making had excited his ever scheming and insidious brain. it had been proposed that the second son of the spanish king should espouse one of henry's daughters. the papal nuncius asked what benefit the king of spain would receive for his share, in case of the marriage. the french king replied by plainly declaring to the nuncius that the united states should abstain from and renounce all navigation to and commerce with the indies, and should permit public exercise of the catholic religion. if they refused, would incontinently abandon them to their fate. more than this, he said, could not honestly be expected of him. surely this was enough. honestly or dishonestly, what more could spain expect of the republic's best ally, than that he should use all his efforts to bring her back into spanish subjection, should deprive her of commerce with three-quarters of the world, and compel her to re-establish the religion which she believed, at that period, to be incompatible with her constitutional liberties? it is difficult to imagine a more profligate or heartless course than the one pursued at this juncture by henry. secretly, he was intriguing, upon the very soil of the netherlands, to filch from them that splendid commerce which was the wonder of the age, which had been invented and created by dutch navigators and men of science, which was the very foundation of their state, and without which they could not exist, in order that he might appropriate it to himself, and transfer the east india company to france; while at paris he was solemnly engaging himself in a partnership with their ancient and deadly enemy to rob them of their precious and nobly gained liberty. was better proof ever afforded that god alone can protect us against those whom we trust? who was most dangerous to the united provinces during those memorable peace negotiations, spain the avowed enemy, or france the friend? the little republic had but her own sword, her own brain, and her own purse to rely upon. elizabeth was dead, and james loved spain better than he did the netherlands, and quiet better than spain. "i have told you often," said caron, "and i say it once more, the spaniard is lucky that he has such a peaceable king as this to deal with in england." the details of the new marriage project were arranged at paris between the nuncius, the spanish ambassador, don pedro de toledo, the diplomatic agent of the archdukes, and henry's ministers, precisely as if there had been no negotiations going on between the states and spain. yet the french king was supposed to be the nearest friend of the states, and was consulted by them on every occasion, while his most intimate and trusted counsellor, the ingenuous jeannin, whose open brow was stamped with sincerity, was privy to all their most secret deliberations. but the statesman thus dealing with the hollanders under such a mask of friendly candour, knew perfectly well the reason why his government preferred a truce to a peace. during a prolonged truce, the two royal children would grow old enough for the consummation of marriage, and the states--so it was hoped--would be corrupted and cajoled into renouncing their liberty. all the netherlands would be then formed into a secundogeniture for spain, and the first sovereign would be the husband of a french princess. even as an object of ambition, the prize to be secured by so much procrastination and so much treachery was paltry. when the spanish commissioners came to the french and english ambassadors accordingly, complaining of the abrupt and peremptory tone of the states' reply, the suggestion of conferences for truce, in place of fruitless peace negotiations, was made at once, and of course favourably received. it was soon afterwards laid before the states-general. to this end, in truth, richardot and his colleagues had long been secretly tending. moreover, the subject had been thoroughly but secretly discussed long before between jeannin and barneveld. the french and english ambassadors, accordingly, on the th august, came before the states-general, and made a formal proposition for the opening of negotiations for a truce. they advised the adoption of this course in the strongest manner. "let the truce be made with you," they said, "as with free states, over which the king and the archdukes have no pretensions, with the understanding that, during the time of the truce you are to have free commerce as well to the indies as to spain and the obedient netherlands, and to every part of the spanish dominions; that you are to retain all that you possess at present, and that such other conditions are to be added as you may find it reasonable to impose. during this period of leisure you will have time to put your affairs in order, to pay your debts, and to reform your government, and if you remain united, the truce will change into an absolute peace." maurice was more indignant when the new scheme was brought to his notice than he had ever been before, and used more violent language in opposing a truce than he had been used to employ when striving against a peace. to be treated with, as with a free state, and to receive permission to trade with the outside world until the truce should expire, seemed to him a sorry result for the republic to accept. the state-council declared, by way of answer to the foreign ambassadors, that the principal points and conditions which had been solemnly fixed, before the states had consented to begin the negotiations, had been disputed with infinite effrontery and shamelessness by the enemy. the pure and perfect sovereignty notoriously included religion and navigation to any part of the world; and the republic would never consent to any discussion of truce unless these points were confirmed beforehand with the spanish king's signature and seal. this resolution of the council--a body which stood much under the influence of the nassaus--was adopted next day by the states-general, and duly communicated to the friendly ambassadors. the foreign commissioners, when apprised of this decision, begged for six weeks' time; in order to be able to hear from madrid. even the peace party was disgusted with this impertinence. maurice boiled over with wrath. the ambassadors recommended compliance with the proposal. their advice was discussed in the states-general, eighty members being present, besides maurice and lewis william. the stadholder made a violent and indignant speech. he was justified in his vehemence. nothing could exceed the perfidy of their great ally. "i know that the king of france calculates thus"--wrote aerssens at that moment from paris--"'if the truce lasts seven years, my son will be old enough to accomplish the proposed marriage, and they will be obliged to fulfil their present offers. otherwise; i would break the truce in the netherlands, and my own peace with them, in order to take from the spaniard by force what he led me to hope from alliance.' thus it is," continued the states' envoy, "that his majesty condescends to propose, to us a truce, which may have a double interpretation, according to the disposition of the strongest, and thus our commonwealth will be kept in perpetual disquiet, without knowing whether it is sovereign or not. nor will it be sovereign unless it shall so please our neighbour, who by this means will always keep his foot upon our throat." "to treat with the states as if they were free," said henry to the nuncius soon afterwards, "is not to make them free. this clause does no prejudice to the rights of the king of spain, except for the time of the truce." aerssens taxed the king with having said this. his majesty flatly denied it. the republican envoy bluntly adduced the testimony of the ambassadors of venice and of wirtemberg. the king flew into a rage on seeing that his secrets had been divulged, and burst out with these words: "what you demand is not reasonable. you wish the king of spain to renounce his rights in order to arrive at a truce. you wish to dictate the law to him. if you had just gained four battles over him, you could not demand more. i have always held you for sovereigns, because i am your friend, but if you would judge by equity and justice, you are not sovereigns. it is not reasonable that the king of spain should quit the sovereignty for always, and you ought to be satisfied with having it so long as the treaty shall last." here was playing at sovereignty with a vengeance. sovereignty was a rattle for the states to amuse themselves with, until the royal infants, french and spanish, should be grown old enough to take the sovereignty for good. truly this was indeed keeping the republic under the king's heel to be crushed at his pleasure, as aerssens, with just bitterness, exclaimed. two days were passed at the hague in vehement debate. the deputies of zeeland withdrew. the deputies from holland were divided, but, on the whole, it was agreed to listen to propositions of truce, provided the freedom of the united provinces--not under conditions nor during a certain period, but simply and for all time--should be recognised beforehand. it was further decided on the th september to wait until the end of the month for the answer from spain. after the st of october it was distinctly intimated to the spanish commissioners that they must at once leave the country unless the king had then acknowledged the absolute independence of the provinces. a suggestion which had been made by these diplomatists to prolong the actually existing armistice into a truce of seven years, a step which they professed themselves willing to take upon their own responsibility, had been scornfully rejected by the states. it was already carrying them far enough away, they said, to take them away from a peace to a truce, which was something far less secure than a peace, but the continuance of this floating, uncertain armistice would be the most dangerous insecurity of all. this would be going from firm land to slippery ice, and from slippery ice into the water. by such a process, they would have neither war nor peace--neither liberty of government nor freedom of commerce--and they unanimously refused to listen to any such schemes. during the fortnight which followed this provisional consent of the states, the prince redoubled his efforts to counteract the barneveld party. he was determined, so far as in him lay, that the united netherlands should never fall back under the dominion of spain. he had long maintained the impossibility of effecting their thorough independence except by continuing the war, and had only with reluctance acquiesced in the arguments of the french ambassadors in favour of peace negotiations. as to the truce, he vehemently assured those envoys that it was but a trap. how could the netherlanders know who their friends might be when the truce should have expired, and under what unfavourable auspices they might not be compelled to resume hostilities? as if he had been actually present at the council boards in madrid and valladolid, or had been reading the secret letters of friar john to spinola, he affirmed that the only object of spain was to recruit her strength and improve her finances, now entirely exhausted. he believed, on the other hand, that the people of the provinces, after they should have once become accustomed to repose; would shrink from exchanging their lucrative pursuits for war, and would prefer to fall back under the yoke of spain. during the truce they would object to the furnishing of necessary contributions for garrison expenses, and the result would be that the most important cities and strongholds, especially those on the frontier, which were mainly inhabited by catholics, would become insecure. being hostile to a government which only controlled them by force, they would with difficulty be kept in check by diminished garrisons, unless they should obtain liberty of catholic worship. it is a dismal proof of the inability of a leading mind, after half a century's war, to comprehend the true lesson of the war--that toleration of the roman religion seemed to maurice an entirely inadmissible idea. the prince could not rise to the height on which his illustrious father had stood; and those about him, who encouraged him in his hostility to catholicism, denounced barneveld and arminius as no better than traitors and atheists. in the eyes of the extreme party, the mighty war had been waged, not to liberate human thought, but to enforce predestination; and heretics to calvinism were as offensive in their eyes as jews and saracens had ever been to torquemada. the reasons were unanswerable for the refusal of the states to bind themselves to a foreign sovereign in regard to the interior administration of their commonwealth; but that diversity of religious worship should be considered incompatible with the health of the young republic--that the men who had so bravely fought the spanish inquisition should now claim their own right of inquisition into the human conscience--this was almost enough to create despair as to the possibility of the world's progress. the seed of intellectual advancement is slow in ripening, and it is almost invariably the case that the generation which plants--often but half conscious of the mightiness of its work--is not the generation which reaps the harvest. but all mankind at last inherits what is sown in the blood and tears of a few. that government, whether regal or democratic, should dare to thrust itself between man and his maker--that the state, not with interfering in a thousand superfluous ways with the freedom of individual human action in the business of life, should combine with the church to reduce human thought to slavery in regard to the sacred interests of eternity, was one day to be esteemed a blasphemous presumption in lands which deserved to call themselves free. but that hour had not yet come. "if the garrisons should be weakened," said the prince, "nothing could be expected from the political fidelity of the town populations in question, unless they should be allowed the exercise of their own religion. but the states could hardly be disposed to grant this voluntarily, for fear of injuring the general insecurity and violating the laws of the commonwealth, built as it is upon a foundation which cannot suffer this diversity in the public exercise of religion. already," continued maurice, "there are the seeds of dissension in the provinces and in the cities, sure to ripen in the idleness and repose of peace to an open division. this would give the enemy a means of intriguing with and corrupting those who are already wickedly inclined." thus in the year , the head of the dutch republic, the son of william the silent, seemed to express himself in favour of continuing a horrible war, not to maintain the political independence of his country, but to prevent catholics from acquiring the right of publicly worshipping god according to the dictates of their conscience. yet it would be unjust to the prince, whose patriotism was as pure and unsullied as his sword, to confound his motives with his end. he was firmly convinced that liberty of religious worship, to be acquired during the truce, would inevitably cause the united provinces to fall once more under the spanish yoke. the french ambassador, with whom he conferred every day, never doubted his sincerity. gelderland, friesland, overyssel, groningen, and utrecht, five provinces out of the united seven, the prince declared to be chiefly inhabited by catholics. they had only entered the union, he said, because compelled by force. they could only be kept in the union by force, unless allowed freedom of religion. his inference from such a lamentable state of affairs was, not that the experiment of religious worship should be tried, but that the garrisons throughout the five provinces ought to be redoubled, and the war with spain indefinitely waged. the president was likewise of opinion that "a revolt of these five provinces against the union might be at any moment expected, ill disposed as they were to recognise a sovereignty which abolished their religion." being himself a catholic, however, it was not unnatural that he should make a different deduction from that of the prince, and warmly recommend, not more garrisons, but more liberty of worship. thus the very men who were ready to dare all, and to sacrifice all in behalf of their country, really believed themselves providing for the imperishable security of the commonwealth by placing it on the narrow basis of religious intolerance. maurice, not satisfied with making these vehement arguments against the truce in his conferences with the envoys of the french and british sovereigns, employed the brief interval yet to elapse before definitely breaking off or resuming the conferences with the spanish commissioners in making vigorous appeals to the country. "the weal or woe of the united provinces for all time," he said, "is depending on the present transactions." weigh well the reasons we urge, and make use of those which seem to you convincing. you know that the foe, according to his old deceitful manner, laid down very specious conditions at the beginning, in order to induce my lords the states-general to treat. "if the king and the archdudes sincerely mean to relinquish absolutely their pretensions to these provinces, they can certainly have no difficulty in finding honest and convenient words to express their intention. as they are seeking other phrases than the usual and straightforward ones, they give certain proof that they mean to keep back from us the substance. they are trying to cheat us with dark, dubious, loosely-screwed terms, which secure nothing and bind to nothing. if it be wise to trust the welfare of our state to ambiguous words, you can judge according to your own discretion. "recognition of our sovereignty is the foundation-stone of these negotiations. "let every man be assured that, with such mighty enemies, we can do nothing by halves. we cannot afford to retract, mutilate, or moderate our original determination. he who swerves from the straight road at the beginning is lost; he who stumbles at the first step is apt to fall down the whole staircase. if, on account of imaginable necessity, we postpone that most vital point, the assurance of our freedom, we shall very easily allow less important points to pass muster, and at last come tamely into the path of reconciliation. that was exactly the danger which our ancestors in similar negotiations always feared, and against which we too have always done our best to guard ourselves. "wherefore, if the preservation of our beloved fatherland is dear to you, i exhort you to maintain that great fundamental resolution, at all times and against all men, even if this should cause the departure of the enemy's commissioners. what can you expect from them but evil fruit?" he then advised all the estates and magistracies which he was addressing to instruct their deputies, at the approaching session of the states-general, to hold on to the first article of the often-cited preliminary resolution without allowing one syllable to be altered. otherwise nothing could save the commonwealth from dire and notorious confusion. above all, he entreated them to act in entire harmony and confidence with himself and his cousin, even as they had ever done with his illustrious father. certainly the prince fully deserved the confidence of the states, as well for his own signal services and chivalrous self-devotion, as for the unexampled sacrifices and achievements of william the silent. his words had the true patriotic ring of his father's frequent and eloquent appeals; and i have not hesitated to give these extracts from his discourse, because comparatively few of such utterances of maurice have been preserved, and because it gives a vivid impression of the condition of the republic and the state of parties at that momentous epoch. it was not merely the fate of the united netherlands and the question of peace or war between the little republic and its hereditary enemy that were upon the issue. the peace of all christendom, the most considerable material interests of civilization, and the highest political and moral principles that can influence human action, were involved in those negotiations. there were not wanting many to impeach the purity of the stadholder's motives. as admiral or captain-general, he received high salaries, besides a tenth part of all prize-money gained at sea by the fleets, or of ransom and blackmail on land by the armies of the republic. his profession, his ambition, his delights, were those of a soldier. as a soldier in a great war, he was more necessary to his countrymen than he could expect to be as a statesman in time of peace. but nothing ever appeared in public or in private, which threw a reasonable suspicion upon his lofty patriotism. peace he had always believed to be difficult of attainment. it had now been proved impossible. a truce he honestly considered a pitfall of destruction, and he denounced it, as we have seen, in the language of energetic conviction. he never alluded to his pecuniary losses in case peace should be made. his disinterested patriotism was the frequent subject of comment in the most secret letters of the french ambassadors to the king. he had repeatedly refused enormous offers if he would forsake the cause of the republic. the king of france was ever ready to tempt him with bribes, such as had proved most efficacious with men as highly born and as highly placed as a cadet of the house of orange-nassau. but there is no record that jeannin assailed him at this crisis with such temptations, although it has not been pretended that the prince was obdurate to the influence of mammon when that deity could be openly approached. that maurice loved power, pelf, and war, can hardly be denied. that he had a mounting ambition; that he thought a monarchy founded upon the historical institutions and charters of the provinces might be better than the burgher-aristocracy which, under the lead of barneveld, was establishing itself in the country; that he knew no candidate so eligible for such a throne as his father's son, all this is highly probable and scarcely surprising. but that such sentiments or aspirations caused him to swerve the ninth part of a hair from what he considered the direct path of duty; that he determined to fight out the great fight with spain and rome until the states were free in form, in name, and in fact; only that he might then usurp a sovereignty which would otherwise revert to philip of spain or be snatched by henry of navarre--of all this there is no proof whatever. the language of lewis william to the provinces under his government was quite as vigorous as the appeals of maurice. during the brief interval remaining before the commissioners should comply with the demands of the states or take their departure, the press throughout the netherlands was most active. pamphlets fell thick as hail. the peace party and the war party contended with each other, over all the territory of the provinces, as vigorously as the troops of fuentes or bucquoy had ever battled with the columns of bax and meetkerke. the types of blaauw and plantin were as effective during the brief armistice, as pike and arquebus in the field, but unfortunately they were used by netherlanders against each other. as a matter of course, each party impeached the motives as well as the actions of its antagonist. the adherents of the advocate accused the stadholder of desiring the continuance of the war for personal aims. they averred that six thousand men for guarding the rivers would be necessary, in addition to the forty-five thousand men, now kept constantly on foot. they placed the requisite monthly expenses, if hostilities were resumed, at , florins, while they pointed to the , , of debt over and above the , , due to the british crown, as a burthen under which the republic could scarcely stagger much longer. such figures seem modest enough, as the price of a war of independence. familiar with the gigantic budgets of our own day, we listen with something like wonder, now that two centuries and a half have passed, to the fierce denunciations by the war party of these figures as wilful fictions. science has made in that interval such gigantic strides. the awful intellect of man may at last make war impossible for his physical strength. he can forge but cannot wield the hammer of thor; nor has science yet discovered the philosopher's stone. without it, what exchequer can accept chronic warfare and escape bankruptcy? after what has been witnessed in these latest days, the sieges and battles of that distant epoch seem like the fights of pigmies and cranes. already an eighty years' war, such as once was waged, has become inconceivable. let two more centuries pass away, and perhaps a three weeks' campaign may exhaust an empire. meantime the war of words continued. a proclamation with penalties was issued by the states against the epidemic plague of pamphlets or "blue-books," as those publications were called in holland, but with little result. it was not deemed consistent with liberty by those republicans to put chains on the press because its utterances might occasionally be distasteful to magistrates. the writers, printers, and sellers of the "blue-books" remained unpunished and snapped their fingers at the placard. we have seen the strenuous exertions of the nassaus and their adherents by public appeals and private conversation to defeat all schemes of truce. the people were stirred by the eloquence of the two stadholders. they were stung to fury against spain and against barneveld by the waspish effusions of the daily press. the magistrates remained calm, and took part by considerable majorities with barneveld. that statesman, while exercising almost autocratic influence in the estates, became more and more odious to the humbler classes, to the nassaus, and especially to the calvinist clergy. he was denounced, as a papist, an atheist, a traitor, because striving for an honourable peace with the foe, and because admitting the possibility of more than one road to the kingdom of heaven. to doubt the infallibility of calvin was as heinous a crime, in the eyes of his accusers, as to kneel to the host. peter titelmann, half a century earlier, dripping with the blood of a thousand martyrs, seemed hardly a more loathsome object to all netherlanders than the advocate now appeared to his political enemies, thus daring to preach religious toleration, and boasting of, humble ignorance as the safest creed. alas! we must always have something to persecute, and individual man is never so convinced of his own wisdom as when dealing with subjects beyond human comprehension. unfortunately, however, while the great advocate was clear in his conscience he had scarcely clean hands. he had very recently accepted a present of twenty thousand florins from the king of france. that this was a bribe by which his services were to be purchased for a cause not in harmony with his own convictions it would be unjust to say. we of a later generation, who have had the advantage of looking through the portfolio of president jeannin, and of learning the secret intentions of that diplomatist and of his master, can fully understand however that there was more than sufficient cause at the time for suspecting the purity of the great advocate's conduct. we are perfectly aware that the secret instructions of henry gave his plenipotentiaries almost unlimited power to buy up as many influential personages in the netherlands as could be purchased. so they would assist in making the king master of the united provinces at the proper moment there was scarcely any price that he was not willing to pay. especially prince maurice, his cousin, and the advocate of holland, were to be secured by life pensions, property, offices, and dignities, all which jeannin might offer to an almost unlimited amount, if by such means those great personages could possibly be induced to perform the king's work. there is no record that the president ever held out such baits at this epoch to the prince. there could never be a doubt however in any one's mind that if the political chief of the orange-nassau house ever wished to make himself the instrument by which france should supplant spain in the tyranny of the netherlands, he might always name his own price. jeannin never insulted him with any such trading propositions. as for barneveld, he avowed long years afterwards that he had accepted the twenty thousand florins, and that the king had expressly exacted secrecy in regard to the transaction. he declared however that the money was a reward for public services rendered by him to the french government ten years before, in the course of his mission to france at the time of the peace of vervins. the reward had been promised in , and the pledge was fulfilled in . in accepting wages fairly earned, however, he protested that he had bound himself to no dishonourable service, and that he had never exchanged a word with jeannin or with any man in regard to securing for henry the sovereignty of the netherlands. his friends moreover maintained in his defence that there were no laws in the netherlands forbidding citizens to accept presents or pensions from foreign powers. such an excuse was as bad as the accusation. woe to the republic whose citizens require laws to prevent them from becoming stipendiaries of foreign potentates! if public virtue, the only foundation of republican institutions, be so far washed away that laws in this regard are necessary to save it from complete destruction, then already the republic is impossible. many who bore illustrious names, and occupied the highest social positions at, that day in france, england, and the obedient provinces, were as venal as cattle at a fair. philip and henry had bought them over and over again, whenever either was rich enough to purchase and strong enough to enforce the terms of sale. bribes were taken with both hands in overflowing measure; the difficulty was only in obtaining the work for the wage. but it would have been humiliating beyond expression had the new commonwealth, after passing through the fiery furnace of its great war, proved no purer than leading monarchies at a most corrupt epoch. it was no wonder therefore that men sought to wipe off the stain from the reputation of barneveld, and it is at least a solace that there was no proof of his ever rendering, or ever having agreed to render, services inconsistent with his convictions as to the best interests of the commonwealth. it is sufficiently grave that he knew the colour of the king's money, and that in a momentous crisis of history he accepted a reward for former professional services, and that the broker in the transaction, president jeannin, seriously charged him by henry's orders to keep the matter secret. it would be still more dismal if jeannin, in his private letters, had ever intimated to villeroy or his master that he considered it a mercantile transaction, or if any effort had ever been made by the advocate to help henry to the batavian throne. this however is not the case. in truth, neither maurice nor barneveld was likely to assist the french king in his intrigues against the independence of their fatherland. both had higher objects of ambition than to become the humble and well-paid servants of a foreign potentate. the stadholder doubtless dreamed of a crown which might have been his father's, and which his own illustrious services might be supposed to have earned for himself. if that tempting prize were more likely to be gained by a continuance of the war, it is none the less certain that he considered peace, and still more truce, as fatal to the independence of the provinces. the advocate, on the other hand, loved his country well. perhaps he loved power even better. to govern the city magistracies of holland, through them the provincial estates; and through them again the states-general of the whole commonwealth; as first citizen of a republic to wield; the powers of a king; as statesman, diplomatist, and financier, to create a mighty empire out of those slender and but recently emancipated provinces of spain, was a more flattering prospect for a man of large intellect, iron will, and infinite resources, than to sink into the contemptible position of stipendiary to a foreign master. he foresaw change, growth, transformation in the existing condition of things. those great corporations the east and west india companies were already producing a new organism out of the political and commercial chaos which had been so long brooding over civilization. visions of an imperial zone extending from the little batavian island around the earth, a chain of forts and factories dotting the newly-discovered and yet undiscovered points of vantage, on island or promontory, in every sea; a watery, nebulous, yet most substantial empire--not fantastic, but practical--not picturesque and mediaeval, but modern and lucrative--a world-wide commonwealth with a half-submerged metropolis, which should rule the ocean with its own fleets and, like venice and florence, job its land wars with mercenary armies--all these dreams were not the cloudy pageant of a poet but the practical schemes of a great creative mind. they were destined to become reality. had the geographical conditions been originally more favourable than they were, had nature been less a stepmother to the metropolis of the rising batavian realm, the creation might have been more durable. barneveld, and the men who acted with him, comprehended their age, and with slender materials were prepared to do great things. they did not look very far perhaps into futurity, but they saw the vast changes already taking place, and felt the throb of forces actually at work. the days were gone when the iron-clad man on horseback conquered a kingdom with his single hand. doubtless there is more of poetry and romance in his deeds than in the achievements of the counting-house aristocracy, the hierarchy of joint-stock corporations that was taking the lead in the world's affairs. enlarged views of the social compact and of human liberty, as compared with those which later generations ought to take, standing upon the graves, heaped up mountains high, of their predecessors, could hardly be expected of them. but they knew how to do the work before them. they had been able to smite a foreign and sacerdotal tyranny into the dust at the expense of more blood and more treasure, and with sacrifices continued through a longer cycle of years, than had ever been recorded by history. thus the advocate believed that the chief fruits of the war--political independence, religious liberty, commercial expansion--could be now secured by diplomacy, and that a truce could be so handled as to become equivalent to a peace. he required no bribes therefore to labour for that which he believed to be for his own interests and for those of the country. first citizen of holland, perpetual chairman of a board of ambitious shopkeepers who purposed to dictate laws to the world from their counting-house table, with an unerring eye for the interests of the commonwealth and his own, with much vision, extraordinary eloquence, and a magnificent will, he is as good a sample of a great burgher--an imposing not a heroic figure--as the times had seen. a vast stride had been taken in the world's progress. even monopoly was freedom compared to the sloth and ignorance of an earlier epoch and of other lands, and although the days were still far distant when the earth was to belong to mankind, yet the modern republic was leading, half unconsciously, to a period of wider liberty of government, commerce, and above all of thought. meantime, the period assigned for the departure of the spanish commissioners, unless they brought a satisfactory communication from the king, was rapidly approaching. on the th september verreyken returned from brussels, but it was soon known that he came empty handed. he informed the french and english ambassadors that the archdukes, on their own responsibility, now suggested the conclusion of a truce of seven years for europe only. this was to be negotiated with the states-general as with free people, over whom no pretensions of authority were made, and the hope was expressed that the king would give his consent to this arrangement. the ambassadors naturally refused to carry the message to the states. to make themselves the mouthpieces of such childish suggestions was to bring themselves and their masters into contempt. there had been trifling enough, and even jeannin saw that the storm of indignation about to burst forth would be irresistible. there was no need of any attempt on the part of the commissioners to prolong their stay if this was the result of the fifteen days' grace which had so reluctantly been conceded to them. to express a hope that the king might perhaps give his future approval to a proceeding for which his signed and sealed consent had been exacted as an indispensable preliminary, was carrying effrontery further than had yet been attempted in these amazing negotiations. prince maurice once more addressed the cities of holland, giving vent to his wrath in language with which there was now more sympathy than there had been before. "verreyken has come back," he said, "not with a signature, but with a hope. the longer the enemy remains in the country the more he goes back from what he had originally promised. he is seeking for nothing more than, in this cheating way and in this pretence of waiting for the king's consent--which we have been expecting now for more than eighteen months--to continue the ruinous armistice. thus he keeps the country in a perpetual uncertainty, the only possible consequence of which is our complete destruction. we adjure you therefore to send a resolution in conformity with our late address, in order that through these tricks and snares the fatherland may not fall into the clutch of the enemy, and thus into eternal and intolerable slavery. god save us all from such a fate!" neither barneveld nor jeannin attempted to struggle against the almost general indignation. the deputies of zeeland withdrew from the assembly of the states-general, protesting that they would never appear there again so long as the spanish commissioners remained in the country. the door was opened wide, and it was plain that those functionaries must take their departure. pride would not allow them to ask permission of the states to remain, although they intimated to the ambassadors their intense desire to linger for ten or twelve days longer. this was obviously inadmissible, and on the th september they appeared before the assembly to take leave. there were but three of them, the genoese, the spaniard, and the burgundian--spinola, mancicidor; and richardot. of the two netherlanders, brother john was still in spain, and verreyken found it convenient that day to have a lame leg. president richardot, standing majestically before the states-general, with his robes wrapped around his tall, spare form, made a solemn farewell speech of mingled sorrow, pity, and the resentment of injured innocence. they had come to the hague, he said, sent by the king of spain and the archdukes to treat for a good and substantial peace, according to the honest intention of his majesty and their highnesses. to this end they had sincerely and faithfully dealt with the gentlemen deputed for that purpose by their high mightinesses the states, doing everything they could think of to further the cause of peace. they lamented that the issue had not been such as they had hoped, notwithstanding that the king and archdukes had so far derogated from their reputation as to send their commissioners into the united netherlands, it having been easy enough to arrange for negotiations on other soil. it had been their wish thus to prove to the world how straightforward were their intentions by not requiring the states to send deputies to them. they had accorded the first point in the negotiations, touching the free state of the country. their high mightinesses had taken offence upon the second, regarding the restoration of religion in the united provinces. thereupon the father commissary had gone to spain, and had remained longer than was agreeable. nevertheless, they had meantime treated of other points. coming back at last to the point of religion, the states-general had taken a resolution, and had given them their dismissal, without being willing to hear a word more, or to make a single proposition of moderation or accommodation. he could not refrain from saying that the commissioners had been treated roughly. their high mightinesses had fixed the time for their dismissal more precisely than one would do with a servant who was discharged for misconduct; for the lackey, if he asked for it, would be allowed at least a day longer to pack his trunk for the journey. they protested before god and the assembly of the states that the king and princes had meant most sincerely, and had dealt with all roundness and sincerity. they at least remained innocent of all the disasters and calamities to come from the war. "as for myself," said richardot, "i am no prophet, nor the son of a prophet; yet i will venture the prediction to you, my lords the states-general, that you will bitterly rue it that you did not embrace the peace thus presented, and which you might have had. the blood which is destined to flow, now that you have scorned our plan of reconciliation, will be not on our heads but your own." barneveld replied by temperately but firmly repelling the charges brought against the states in this artful oration of the president. they had proceeded in the most straightforward manner, never permitting themselves to enter into negotiations except on the preliminary condition that their freedom should be once for all conceded and recognised. "you and you only," he continued, "are to bear the blame that peace has not been concluded; you who have not been willing or not been able to keep your promises. one might, with better reason, hold you guilty of all the bloodshed; you whose edicts, bloodier and more savage than war itself, long, ago forced these provinces into the inevitable necessity of waging war; you whose cruelty, but yesterday exercised on the crews of defenceless and innocent merchantmen and fishing-vessels, has been fully exhibited to the world." spinola's countenance betrayed much emotion as he listened to the exchange of bitter recriminations which took place on this farewell colloquy. it was obvious that the brave and accomplished soldier honestly lamented the failure of the attempt to end the war. but the rupture was absolute. the marquis and the president dined that day with prince maurice, by whom they were afterwards courteously accompanied a part of the way on their journey to brussels. thus ended the comedy which had lasted nearly two years. the dismal leave-taking, as the curtain fell, was not as, entertaining to the public outside as the dramatic meeting between maurice and spinola had been at the opening scene near ryswyk. there was no populace to throw up their hats for the departing guests. from the winter's night in which the subtle franciscan had first stolen into the prince's cabinet down to this autumn evening, not a step of real progress could be recorded as the result of the intolerable quantity of speech-making and quill-driving. there were boat-loads of documents, protocols, and notes, drowsy and stagnant as the canals on which they were floated off towards their tombs in the various archives. peace to the dust which we have not wantonly disturbed, believing it to be wholesome for the cause of human progress that the art of ruling the world by doing nothing, as practised some centuries since, should once and again be exhibited. not in vain do we listen to those long-bearded, venerable, very tedious old presidents, advocates, and friars of orders gray, in their high ruffs, taffety robes or gowns of frieze, as they squeak and gibber, for a fleeting moment, to a world which knew them not. it is something to learn that grave statesmen, kings, generals, and presidents could negotiate for two years long; and that the only result should be the distinction between a conjunction, a preposition, and an adverb. that the provinces should be held as free states, not for free states--that they should be free in similitude, not in substance--thus much and no more had been accomplished. and now to all appearance every chance of negotiation was gone. the half-century war, after this brief breathing space, was to be renewed for another century or so, and more furiously than ever. so thought the public. so meant prince maurice. richardot and jeannin knew better. the departure of the commissioners was recorded upon the register of the resolutions of holland, with the ominous note: "god grant that they may not have sown, evil seed here; the effects of which will one day be visible in the ruin of this commonwealth." hardly were the backs of the commissioners turned, before the indefatigable jeannin was ready with his scheme for repatching the rupture. he was at first anxious that the deputies of zeeland should be summoned again, now that the country was rid of the spaniards. prince maurice, however, was wrathful when the president began to talk once more of truce. the proposition, he said, was simply the expression of a wish to destroy the state. holland and zeeland would never agree to any such measure, and they would find means to compel the other provinces to follow their example. if there were but three or four cities in the whole country to reject the truce, he would, with their assistance alone, defend the freedom of the republic, or at least die an honourable death in its defence. this at least would be better than after a few months to become slaves of spain. such a result was the object of those who began this work, but he would resist it at the peril of his life. a singular incident now seemed to justify the wrath of the stadholder, and to be likely to strengthen his party. young count john of nassau happened to take possession of the apartments in goswyn meursken's hostelry at the hague, just vacated by richardot. in the drawer of a writing-table was found a document, evidently left there by the president. this paper was handed by count john to his cousin, frederic henry, who at once delivered it to his brother maurice. the prince produced it in the assembly of the states-general, members from each province were furnished with a copy of it within two or three hours, and it was soon afterwards printed, and published. the document, being nothing less than the original secret instructions of the archdukes to their commissioners, was naturally read with intense interest by the states-general, by the foreign envoys, and by the general public. it appeared, from an inspection of the paper, that the commissioners had been told that, if they should find the french, english, and danish ambassadors desirous of being present at the negotiations for the treaty, they were to exclude them from all direct participation in the proceedings. they were to do this however so sweetly and courteously that it would be impossible for those diplomats to take offence or to imagine themselves distrusted. on the contrary, the states-general were to be informed that their communication in private on the general subject with the ambassadors was approved by the archdukes, because they believed the sovereigns of france, england, and denmark, their sincere and affectionate friends. the commissioners were instructed to domesticate themselves as much as possible with president jeannin and to manifest the utmost confidence in his good intentions. they were to take the same course with the english envoys, but in more general terms, and were very discreetly to communicate to them whatever they already knew, and, on the other hand, carefully to conceal from them all that was still a secret. they were distinctly told to make the point of the catholic religion first and foremost in the negotiations; the arguments showing the indispensable necessity of securing its public exercise in the united provinces being drawn up with considerable detail. they were to insist that the republic should absolutely renounce the trade with the east and west indies, and should pledge itself to chastise such of its citizens as might dare to undertake those voyages, as disturbers of the peace and enemies of the public repose, whether they went to the indies in person or associated themselves with men of other nations for that purpose, under any pretext whatever. when these points, together with many matters of detail less difficult of adjustment, had been satisfactorily settled, the commissioners were to suggest measures of union for the common defence between the united and the obedient provinces. this matter was to be broached very gently. "in the sweetest terms possible," it was to be hinted that the whole body of the netherlanders could protect itself against every enemy, but if dismembered as it was about to be, neither the one portion nor the ocher would be safe. the commissioners were therefore to request the offer of some proposition from the states-general for the common defence. in case they remained silent, however, then the commissioners were to declare that the archdukes had no wish to speak of sovereignty over the united provinces, however limited. "having once given them that morsel to swallow," said their highnesses, "we have nothing of the kind in our thoughts. but if they reflect, it is possible that they may see fit to take us for protectors." the scheme was to be managed with great discreetness and delicacy, and accomplished by hook or by crook, if the means could be found. "you need not be scrupulous as to the form or law of protection, provided the name of protector can be obtained," continued the archdukes. at least the greatest pains were to be taken that the two sections of the netherlands might remain friends. "we are in great danger unless we rely upon each other," it was urged. "but touch this chord very gently, lest the french and english hearing of it suspect some design to injure them. at least we may each mutually agree to chastise such of our respective subjects as may venture to make any alliance with the enemies of the other." it was much disputed whether these instructions had been left purposely or by accident in the table-drawer. jeannin could not make up his mind whether it was a trick or not, and the vociferous lamentations of richardot upon his misfortunes made little impression upon his mind. he had small confidence in any austerity of principle on the part of his former fellow-leaguer that would prevent him from leaving the document by stealth, and then protesting that he had been foully wronged by its coming to light. on the whole, he was inclined to think, however, that the paper had been stolen from him. barneveld, after much inquiry, was convinced that it had been left in the drawer by accident. richardot himself manifested rage and dismay when he found that a paper, left by chance in his lodgings, had been published by the states. such a proceeding was a violation, he exclaimed, of the laws of hospitality. with equal justice, he declared it to be an offence against the religious respect due to ambassadors, whose persons and property were sacred in foreign countries. "decency required the states," he said, "to send the document back to him, instead of showing it as a trophy, and he was ready to die of shame and vexation at the unlucky incident." few honourable men will disagree with him in these complaints, although many contemporaries obstinately refused to believe that the crafty and experienced diplomatist could have so carelessly left about his most important archives. he was generally thought by those who had most dealt with him, to prefer, on principle, a crooked path to a straight one. "'tis a mischievous old monkey," said villeroy on another occasion, "that likes always to turn its tail instead of going directly to the purpose." the archduke, however, was very indulgent to his plenipotentiary. "my good master," said the president, "so soon as he learned the loss of that accursed paper, benignantly consoled, instead of chastising me; and, after having looked over the draught, was glad that the accident had happened; for thus his sincerity had been proved, and those who sought profit by the trick had been confounded." on the other hand, what good could it do to the cause of peace, that these wonderful instructions should be published throughout the republic? they might almost seem a fiction, invented by the war party to inspire a general disgust for any further negotiation. every loyal netherlander would necessarily be qualmish at the word peace, now that the whole design of the spanish party was disclosed. the public exercise of the roman religion was now known to be the indispensable condition--first, last, and always--to any possible peace. every citizen of the republic was to be whipped out of the east and west indies, should he dare to show his face in those regions. the states-general, while swallowing the crumb of sovereignty vouchsafed by the archdukes, were to accept them as protectors, in order not to fall a prey to the enemies whom they imagined to be their friends. what could be more hopeless than such negotiations? what more dreary than the perpetual efforts of two lines to approach each other which were mathematically incapable of meeting? that the young republic, conscious of her daily growing strength, should now seek refuge from her nobly won independence in the protectorate of albert, who was himself the vassal of philip, was an idea almost inconceivable to the dutch mind. yet so impossible was it for the archdukes to put themselves into human relations with this new and popular government, that in the inmost recesses of their breasts they actually believed themselves, when making the offer, to be performing a noble act of christian charity. the efforts of jeannin and of the english ambassador were now unremitting, and thoroughly seconded by barneveld. maurice was almost at daggers drawn, not only with the advocate but with the foreign envoys. sir ralph winwood, who had, in virtue of the old treaty arrangements with england, a seat in the state-council at the hague, and who was a man of a somewhat rough and insolent deportment, took occasion at a session of that body, when the prince was present, to urge the necessity of at once resuming the ruptured negotiations. the king of great britain; he said, only recommended a course which he was himself always ready to pursue. hostilities which were necessary, and no others, were just. such, and such only, could be favoured by god or by pious kings. but wars were not necessary which could be honourably avoided. a truce was not to be despised, by which religious liberty and commerce were secured, and it was not the part of wisdom to plunge into all the horrors of immediate war in order to escape distant and problematical dangers; that might arise when the truce should come to an end. if a truce were now made, the kings of both france and england would be guarantees for its faithful observance. they would take care that no wrong or affront was offered to the states-general. maurice replied, with a sneer, to these sententious commonplaces derived at second-hand from king james that great kings were often very indifferent to injuries sustained by their friends. moreover, there was an eminent sovereign, he continued, who was even very patient under affronts directly offered to himself. it was not very long since a horrible plot had been discovered to murder the king of england, with his wife, his children, and all the great personages of the realm. that this great crime had been attempted under the immediate instigation of the king of spain was notorious to the whole world, and certainly no secret to king james. yet his britannic majesty had made haste to exonerate the great criminal from all complicity in the crime; and had ever since been fawning upon the catholic king, and hankering for a family alliance with him. conduct like this the prince denounced in plain terms as cringing and cowardly, and expressed the opinion that guarantees of dutch independence from such a monarch could hardly be thought very valuable. these were terrible words for the representative of james to have hurled in his face in full council by the foremost personage of the republic winwood fell into a furious passion, and of course there was a violent scene, with much subsequent protesting and protocolling. the british king insisted that the prince should make public amends for the insult, and maurice firmly refused to do anything of the kind. the matter was subsequently arranged by some amicable concessions made by the prince in a private letter to james, but there remained for the time a abate of alienation between england and the republic, at which the french sincerely rejoiced. the incident, however, sufficiently shows the point of exasperation which the prince had reached, for, although choleric, he was a reasonable man, and it was only because the whole course of the negotiations had offended his sense of honour and of right that he had at last been driven quite beyond self-control. on the th of october, the envoys of france, england, denmark, and of the elector palatine, the elector of brandeburg, and other german princes, came before the states-general. jeannin, in the name of all these foreign ministers, made a speech warmly recommending the truce. he repelled the insinuation that the measure proposed had been brought about by the artifices of the enemy, and was therefore odious. on the contrary, it was originated by himself and the other good friends of the republic. in his opinion, the terms of the suggested truce contained sufficient guarantees for the liberty of the provinces, not only during the truce, but for ever. no stronger recognition of their independence could be expected than the one given. it was entirely without example, argued the president, that in similar changes brought about by force of arms, sovereigns after having been despoiled of their states have been compelled to abandon their rights shamefully by a public confession, unless they had absolutely fallen into the hands of their enemies and were completely at their mercy. "yet the princes who made this great concession," continued jeannin, "are not lying vanquished at your feet, nor reduced by dire necessity to yield what they have yielded." he reminded the assembly that the swiss enjoyed at that moment their liberty in virtue of a simple truce, without ever having obtained from their former sovereign a declaration such as was now offered to the united provinces. the president argued, moreover, with much force and acuteness that it was beneath the dignity of the states, and inconsistent with their consciousness of strength, to lay so much stress on the phraseology by which their liberty was recognised. that freedom had been won by the sword, and would be maintained against all the world by the sword. "in truth," said the orator, "you do wrong to your liberty by calling it so often in doubt, and in claiming with so much contentious anxiety from your enemies a title-deed for your independence. you hold it by your own public decree. in virtue of that decree, confirmed by the success of your arms, you have enjoyed it long. nor could anything obtained from your enemies be of use to you if those same arms with which you gained your liberty could not still preserve it for you." therefore, in the opinion of the president, this persistence in demanding a more explicit and unlimited recognition of independence was only a pretext for continuing the war, ingeniously used by those who hated peace. addressing himself more particularly to the celebrated circular letter of prince maurice against the truce, the president maintained that the liberty of the republic was as much acknowledged in the proposed articles as if the words "for ever" had been added. "to acknowledge liberty is an act which, by its very nature, admits of no conditions," he observed, with considerable force. the president proceeded to say that in the original negotiations the qualifications obtained had seemed to him enough. as there was an ardent desire, however, on the part of many for a more explicit phraseology, as something necessary to the public safety, he had thought it worth attempting. "we all rejoiced when you obtained it," continued jeannin, "but not when they agreed to renounce the names, titles, and arms of the united provinces; for that seemed to us shameful for them beyond all example. that princes should make concessions so entirely unworthy of their grandeur, excited at once our suspicion, for we could not imagine the cause of an offer so specious. we have since found out the reason." the archdukes being unable, accordingly, to obtain for the truce those specious conditions which spain had originally pretended to yield, it was the opinion of the old diplomatist that the king should be permitted to wear the paste substitutes about which so many idle words had been wasted. it would be better, he thought, for the states to be contented with what was precious and substantial, and not to lose the occasion of making a good treaty of truce, which was sure to be converted with time into an absolute peace. "it is certain," he said, "that the princes with whom you are treating will never go to law with you to get an exposition of the article in question. after the truce has expired, they will go to war with you if you like, but they will not trouble themselves to declare whether they are fighting you as rebels or as enemies, nor will it very much signify. if their arms are successful, they will give you no explanations. if you are the conquerors, they will receive none. the fortune of war will be the supreme judge to decide the dispute; not the words of a treaty. those words are always interpreted to the disadvantage of the weak and the vanquished, although they may be so perfectly clear that no man could doubt them; never to the prejudice of those who have proved the validity of their rights by the strength of their arms." this honest, straightforward cynicism, coming from the lips of one of the most experienced diplomatists of europe, was difficult to gainsay. speaking as one having authority, the president told the states-general in full assembly, that there was no law in christendom, as between nations, but the good old fist-law, the code of brute force. two centuries and a half have rolled by since that oration was pronounced, and the world has made immense progress in science during that period. but there is still room for improvement in this regard in the law of nations. certainly there is now a little more reluctance to come so nakedly before the world. but has the cause of modesty or humanity gained very much by the decorous fig-leaves of modern diplomacy? the president alluded also to the ungrounded fears that bribery and corruption would be able to effect much, during the truce, towards the reduction of the provinces under their repudiated sovereign. after all, it was difficult to buy up a whole people. in a commonwealth, where the people was sovereign, and the persons of the magistrates ever changing, those little comfortable commercial operations could not be managed so easily as in civilized realms like france and england. the old leaguer thought with pensive regret, no doubt, of the hard, but still profitable bargains by which the guises and mayennes and mercoeurs, and a few hundred of their noble adherents, had been brought over to the cause of the king. he sighed at the more recent memories of the marquis de rosny's embassy in england, and his largess scattered broadcast among the great english lords. it would be of little use he foresaw--although the instructions of henry were in his portfolio, giving him almost unlimited powers to buy up everybody in the netherlands that could be bought--to attempt that kind of traffic on a large scale in the netherlands. those republicans were greedy enough about the navigation to the east and west indies, and were very litigious about the claim of spain to put up railings around the ocean as her private lake, but they were less keen than were their more polished contemporaries for the trade in human souls. "when we consider," said jeannin, "the constitution of your state, and that to corrupt a few people among you does no good at all, because the frequent change of magistracies takes away the means of gaining over many of them at the same time, capable by a long duration of their power to conduct an intrigue against the commonwealth, this fear must appear wholly vain." and then the old leaguer, who had always refused bribes himself, although he had negotiated much bribery of others, warmed into sincere eloquence as he spoke of the simple virtues on which the little republic, as should be the case with all republics, was founded. he did homage to the dutch love of liberty. "remember," he said, "the love of liberty which is engraved in the hearts of all your inhabitants, and that there are few persons now living who were born in the days of the ancient subjection, or who have not been nourished and brought up for so long a time in liberty that they have a horror for the very name of servitude. you will then feel that there is not one man in your commonwealth who would wish or dare to open his mouth to bring you back to subjection, without being in danger of instant punishment as a traitor to his country." he again reminded his hearers that the swiss had concluded a long and perilous war with their ancient masters by a simple truce, during which they had established so good a government that they were never more attacked. honest republican principles, and readiness at any moment to defend dearly won liberties, had combined with geographical advantages to secure the national independence of switzerland. jeannin paid full tribute to the maritime supremacy of the republic. "you may have as much good fortune," he said, "as the swiss, if you are wise. you have the ocean at your side, great navigable rivers enclosing you in every direction, a multitude of ships, with sailors, pilots, and seafaring men of every description, who are the very best soldiers in battles at sea to be found in christendom. with these you will preserve your military vigour and your habits of navigation, the long voyages to which you are accustomed continuing as usual. and such is the kind of soldiers you require. as for auxiliaries, should you need them you know where to find them." the president implored the states-general accordingly to pay no attention to the writings which were circulated among the people to prejudice them against the truce. this was aimed directly at the stadholder, who had been making so many direct personal appeals to the people, and who was now the more incensed, recognising the taunt of the president as an arrow taken from barneveld's quiver. there had long ceased to be any communication between the prince and the advocate, and maurice made no secret of his bitter animosity both to barneveld and to jeannin. he hesitated on no occasion to denounce the advocate as travelling straight on the road to spain, and although he was not aware of the twenty thousand florins recently presented by the french king, he had accustomed himself, with the enormous exaggeration of party spirit, to look upon the first statesman of his country and of europe as a traitor to the republic and a tool of the archdukes. as we look back upon those passionate days, we cannot but be appalled at the depths to which theological hatred could descend. on the very morning after the session of the assembly in which jeannin had been making his great speech, and denouncing the practice of secret and incendiary publication, three remarkable letters were found on the doorstep of a house in the hague. one was addressed to the states-general, another to the mates of holland, and a third to the burgomaster of amsterdam. in all these documents, the advocate was denounced as an infamous traitor, who was secretly intriguing to bring about a truce for the purpose of handing over the commonwealth to the enemy. a shameful death, it was added, would be his fitting reward. these letters were read in the assembly of the states-general, and created great wrath among the friends of barneveld. even maurice expressed indignation, and favoured a search for the anonymous author, in order that he might be severely punished. it seems strange enough that anonymous letters picked up in the street should have been deemed a worthy theme of discussion before their high mightinesses the states-general. moreover, it was raining pamphlets and libels against barneveld and his supporters every day, and the stories which grave burghers and pious elders went about telling to each other, and to everybody who would listen to them, about the advocate's depravity, were wonderful to hear. at the end of september, just before the spanish commissioners left the hague, a sledge of the kind used in the dutch cities as drays stopped before barneveld's front-door one fine morning, and deposited several large baskets, filled with money, sent by the envoys for defraying certain expenses of forage, hire of servants, and the like, incurred by them during their sojourn at the hague, and disbursed by the states. the sledge, with its contents, was at once sent by order of the advocate, under guidance of commissary john spronsen, to the receiver-general of the republic. yet men wagged their beards dismally as they whispered this fresh proof of barneveld's venality. as if spinola and his colleagues were such blunderers in bribing as to send bushel baskets full of spanish dollars on a sledge, in broad daylight, to the house of a great statesman whom they meant to purchase, expecting doubtless a receipt in full to be brought back by the drayman! well might the advocate say at a later moment, in the bitterness of his spirit, that his enemies, not satisfied with piercing his heart with their false, injurious and honour-filching libels and stories, were determined to break it. "he begged god almighty," he said, "to be merciful to him, and to judge righteously between him and them." party spirit has rarely run higher in any commonwealth than in holland during these memorable debates concerning a truce. yet the leaders both of the war party and the truce party were doubtless pure, determined patriots, seeking their country's good with all their souls and strength. maurice answered the discourse of jeannin by a second and very elaborate letter. in this circular, addressed to the magistracies of holland, he urged his countrymen once more with arguments already employed by him, and in more strenuous language than ever, to beware of a truce even more than of a peace, and warned them not to swerve by a hair's breadth from the formula in regard to the sovereignty agreed upon at the very beginning of the negotiations. to this document was appended a paper of considerations, drawn up by maurice and lewis william, in refutation, point by point, of all the arguments of president jeannin in his late discourse. it is not necessary to do more than allude to these documents, which were marked by the close reasoning and fiery spirit which characterized all the appeals of the prince and his cousin at this period, because the time had now come which comes to all controversies when argument is exhausted and either action or compromise begins. meantime, barneveld, stung almost to madness by the poisonous though ephemeral libels which buzzed so perpetually about him, had at last resolved to retire from the public service. he had been so steadily denounced as being burthensome to his superiors in birth by the power which he had acquired, and to have shot up so far above the heads of his equals; that he felt disposed to withdraw from a field where his presence was becoming odious. his enemies, of course, considered this determination a trick by which he merely wished to prove to the country how indispensable he was, and to gain a fresh lease of his almost unlimited power by the alarm which his proposed abdication would produce. certainly, however, if it were a trick, and he were not indispensable, it was easy enough to prove it and to punish him by taking him at his word. on the morning after the anonymous letters had been found in the street he came into the house of assembly and made a short speech. he spoke simply of his thirty-one years of service, during which he believed himself to have done his best for the good of the fatherland and for the welfare of the house of nassau. he had been ready thus to go on to the end, but he saw himself environed by enemies, and felt that his usefulness had been destroyed. he wished, therefore, in the interest of the country, not from any fear for himself, to withdraw from the storm, and for a time at least to remain in retirement. the displeasure and hatred of the great were nothing new to him, he said. he had never shrunk from peril when he could serve his fatherland; for against all calumnies and all accidents he had worn the armour of a quiet conscience. but he now saw that the truce, in itself an unpleasant affair, was made still more odious by the hatred felt towards him. he begged the provinces, therefore, to select another servant less hated than himself to provide for the public welfare. having said these few words with the dignity which was natural to him he calmly walked out of the assembly house. the personal friends of barneveld and the whole truce party were in consternation. even the enemies of the advocate shrank appalled at the prospect of losing the services of the foremost statesman of the commonwealth at this critical juncture. there was a brief and animated discussion as soon as his back was turned. its result was the appointment of a committee of five to wait upon barneveld and solemnly to request him to reconsider his decision. their efforts were successful. after a satisfactory interview with the committee he resumed his functions with greater authority than ever. of course there were not wanting many to whisper that the whole proceeding had been a comedy, and that barneveld would have been more embarrassed than he had ever been in his life had his resignation been seriously accepted. but this is easy to say, and is always said, whenever a statesman who feels himself aggrieved, yet knows himself useful, lays dawn his office. the advocate had been the mark of unceasing and infamous calumnies. he had incurred the deadly hatred of the highest placed, the most powerful, and the most popular man in the commonwealth. he had more than once been obliged to listen to opprobrious language from the prince, and it was even whispered that he had been threatened with personal violence. that maurice was perpetually denouncing him in public and private, as a traitor, a papist, a spanish partisan, was notorious. he had just been held up to the states of the union and of his own province by unknown voices as a criminal worthy of death. was it to be wondered at that a man of sixty, who had passed his youth, manhood, and old age in the service of the republic, and was recognised by all as the ablest, the most experienced, the most indefatigable of her statesmen, should be seriously desirous of abandoning an office which might well seem to him rather a pillory than a post of honour? "as for neighbour barneveld," said recorder aerssens, little dreaming of the foul witness he was to bear against that neighbour at a terrible moment to come, "i do what i can and wish to help him with my blood. he is more courageous than i. i should have sunk long ago, had i been obliged to stand against such tempests. the lord god will, i hope, help him and direct his understanding for the good of all christendom, and for his own honour. if he can steer this ship into a safe harbour we ought to raise a golden statue of him. i should like to contribute my mite to it. he deserves twice much honour, despite all his enemies, of whom he has many rather from envy than from reason. may the lord keep him in health, or it will go hardly with us all." thus spoke some of his grateful countrymen when the advocate was contending at a momentous crisis with storms threatening to overwhelm the republic. alas! where is the golden statue? he believed that the truce was the most advantageous measure that the country could adopt. he believed this with quite as much sincerity as maurice held to his conviction that war was the only policy. in the secret letter of the french ambassador there is not a trace of suspicion as to his fidelity to the commonwealth, not the shadow of proof of the ridiculous accusation that he wished to reduce the provinces to the dominion of spain. jeannin, who had no motive for concealment in his confidential correspondence with his sovereign, always rendered unequivocal homage to the purity and patriotism of the advocate and the prince. he returned to the states-general and to the discharge of his functions as advocate-general of holland. his policy for the time was destined to be triumphant, his influence more extensive than ever. but the end of these calumnies and anonymous charges was not yet. meantime the opposition to the truce was confined to the states of zeeland and two cities of holland. those cities were very important ones, amsterdam and delft, but they were already wavering in their opposition. zeeland stoutly maintained that the treaty of utrecht forbade a decision of the question of peace and war except by a unanimous vote of the whole confederacy. the other five provinces and the friends of the truce began with great vehemence to declare that the question at issue was now changed. it was no longer to be decided whether there should be truce or war with spain, but whether a single member of the confederacy could dictate its law to the other six states. zeeland, on her part, talked loudly of seceding from the union, and setting up for an independent, sovereign commonwealth. she would hardly have been a very powerful one, with her half-dozen cities, one prelate, one nobleman, her hundred thousand burghers at most, bustling and warlike as they were, and her few thousand mariners, although the most terrible fighting men that had ever sailed on blue water. she was destined ere long to abandon her doughty resolution of leaving her sister provinces to their fate. maurice had not slackened in his opposition to the truce, despite the renewed vigour with which barneveld pressed the measure since his return to the public councils. the prince was firmly convinced that the kings of france and england would assist the republic in the war with spain so soon as it should be renewed. his policy had been therefore to force the hand of those sovereigns, especially that of henry, and to induce him to send more stringent instructions to jeannin than those with which he believed him to be furnished. he had accordingly despatched a secret emissary to the french king, supplied with confidential and explicit instructions. this agent was a captain lambert. whether it was "pretty lambert," "dandy lambert"--the vice-admiral who had so much distinguished himself at the great victory of gibraltar--does not distinctly appear. if it were so, that hard-hitting mariner would seem to have gone into action with the french government as energetically as he had done eighteen months before, when, as master of the tiger, he laid himself aboard the spanish admiral and helped send the st. augustine to the bottom. he seemed indisposed to mince matters in diplomacy. he intimated to the king and his ministers that jeannin and his colleagues were pushing the truce at the hague much further and faster than his majesty could possibly approve, and that they were obviously exceeding their instructions. jeannin, who was formerly so much honoured and cherished throughout the republic, was now looked upon askance because of his intimacy with barneveld and his partisans. he assured the king that nearly all the cities of holland, and the whole of zeeland, were entirely agreed with maurice, who would rather die than consent to the proposed truce. the other provinces, added lambert, would be obliged, will ye nill ye, to receive the law from holland and zeeland. maurice, without assistance from france or any other power, would give spain and the archdukes as much exercise as they could take for the next fifty years before he would give up, and had declared that he would rather die sword in hand than basely betray his country by consenting to such a truce. as for barneveld, he was already discovering the blunders which he had made, and was trying to curry favour with maurice. barneveld and both the aprasens were traitors to the state, had become the objects of general hatred and contempt, and were in great danger of losing their lives, or at least of being expelled from office. here was altogether too much zeal on the part of pretty lambert; a quality which, not for the first time, was thus proved to be less useful in diplomatic conferences than in a sea-fight. maurice was obliged to disavow his envoy, and to declare that his secret instructions had never authorized him to hold such language. but the mischief was done. the combustion in the french cabinet was terrible. the dutch admiral had thrown hot shot into the powder-magazine of his friends, and had done no more good by such tactics than might be supposed. such diplomacy was denounced as a mere mixture of "indiscretion and impudence." henry was very wroth, and forthwith indited an imperious letter to his cousin maurice. "lambert's talk to me by your orders," said the king, "has not less astonished than scandalized me. i now learn the new resolution which you have taken, and i observe that you have begun to entertain suspicions as to my will and my counsels on account of the proposition of truce." henry's standing orders to jeannin, as we know, were to offer maurice a pension of almost unlimited amount, together with ample rewards to all such of his adherents as could be purchased, provided they would bring about the incorporation of the united provinces into france. he was therefore full of indignation that the purity of his intentions and the sincerity of his wish for the independence of the republic could be called in question. "people have dared to maliciously invent," he continued, "that i am the enemy of the repose and the liberty of the united provinces, and that i was afraid lest they should acquire the freedom which had been offered them by their enemies, because i derived a profit from their war, and intended in time to deprive them of their liberty. yet these falsehoods and jealousies have not been contradicted by you nor by anyone else, although you know that the proofs of my sincerity and good faith have been entirely without reproach or example. you knew what was said, written, and published everywhere, and i confess that when i knew this malice, and that you had not taken offence at it, i was much amazed and very malcontent." queen elizabeth, in her most waspish moods, had not often lectured the states-general more roundly than henry now lectured his cousin maurice. the king once more alluded to the secret emissary's violent talk, which had so much excited his indignation. "if by weakness and want of means," he said, "you are forced to abandon to your enemies one portion of your country in order to defend the other-as lambert tells me you are resolved to do, rather than agree to the truce without recognition of your sovereignty for ever--i pray you to consider how many accidents and reproaches may befal you. do you suppose that any ally of the states, or of your family, would risk his reputation and his realms in such a game, which would seem to be rather begun in passion and despair than required by reason or necessity?" here certainly was plain speaking enough, and maurice could no longer expect the king for his partner, should he decide to risk once more the bloody hazard of the die. but henry was determined to leave no shade of doubt on the subject. "lambert tells me," he said, "that you would rather perish with arms in your hands than fall shamefully into inevitable ruin by accepting truce. i have been and am of a contrary opinion. perhaps i am mistaken, not knowing as well as you do the constitution of your country and the wishes of your people. but i know the general affairs of christendom better than you do, and i can therefore judge more soundly on the whole matter than you can, and i know that the truce, established and guaranteed as proposed, will bring you more happiness than you can derive from war." thus the king, in the sweeping, slashing way with which he could handle an argument as well as a sword, strode forward in conscious strength, cutting down right and left all opposition to his will. he was determined, once for all, to show the stadholder and his adherents that the friendship of a great king was not to be had by a little republic on easy terms, nor every day. above all, the prince of nassau was not to send a loud-talking, free and easy dutch sea-captain to dictate terms to the king of france and navarre. "lambert tells me"--and maurice might well wish that pretty lambert had been sunk in the bay of gibraltar, tiger and all, before he had been sent on this diplomatic errand, "lambert tells me," continued his majesty, "that you and the states-general would rather that i should remain neutral, and let you make war in your own fashion, than that i should do anything more to push on this truce. my cousin, it would be very easy for me, and perhaps more advantageous for me and my kingdom than you think, if i could give you this satisfaction, whatever might be the result. if i chose to follow this counsel, i am, thanks be to god, in such condition, that i have no neighbour who is not as much in need of me as i can be of him, and who is not glad to seek for and to preserve my friendship. if they should all conspire against me moreover, i can by myself, and with no assistance but heaven's, which never failed me yet, wrestle with them altogether, and fling them all, as some of my royal predecessors have done. know then, that i do not favour war nor truce for the united provinces because of any need i may have of the one or the other for the defence of my own sceptre. the counsels and the succours, which you have so largely received from me, were given because of my consideration for the good of the states, and of yourself in particular, whom i have always favoured and cherished, as i have done others of your house on many occasions." the king concluded his lecture by saying, that after his ambassadors had fulfilled their promise, and had spoken the last word of their master at the hague, he should leave maurice and the states to do as they liked. "but i desire," he said, "that you and the states should not do that wrong to yourselves or to me as to doubt the integrity of my counsels nor the actions of my ambassadors: i am an honest man and a prince of my word, and not ignorant of the things of this world. neither the states nor you, with your adherents, can permit my honour to be compromised without tarnishing your own, and without being branded for ingratitude. i say not this in order to reproach you for the past nor to make you despair of the future, but to defend the truth. i expect, therefore, that you will not fall into this fault, knowing you as i do. i pay more heed to what you said in your letter than in all lambert's fine talk, and you will find out that nobody wishes your prosperity and that of the states more sincerely than i do, or can be more useful to you than i can." [i have abbreviated this remarkable letter, but of course the text of the passages cited is literally given. j.l.m.] there could be but little doubt in the mind of prince maurice, after this letter had been well pondered, that barneveld had won the game, and that the peace party had triumphed. to resume the war, with the french king not merely neutral but angry and covertly hostile, and with the sovereign of great britain an almost open enemy in the garb of an ally, might well seem a desperate course. and maurice, although strongly opposed to the truce, and confident in his opinions at this crisis, was not a desperado. he saw at once the necessity of dismounting from the high horse upon which, it must be confessed, he had been inclined for more rough-riding of late than the situation warranted. peace was unattainable, war was impossible, truce was inevitable; barneveld was master of the field. the prince acquiesced in the result which the letter from the french king so plainly indicated. he was, however, more incensed than ever against barneveld; for he felt himself not only checkmated but humiliated by the advocate, and believed him a traitor, who was selling the republic to spain. it was long since the two had exchanged a word. maurice now declared, on more than one occasion, that it was useless for him any longer to attempt opposition to the policy of truce. the states must travel on the road which they had chosen, but it should not be under his guidance, and he renounced all responsibility for the issue. dreading disunion, however, more than ought else that could befal the republic, he now did his best to bring about the return of zeeland to the federal councils. he was successful. the deputies from that province reappeared in the states-general on the th november. they were still earnest, however, in their opposition to the truce, and warmly maintained, in obedience to instructions, that the union of utrecht forbade the conclusion of a treaty except by unanimous consent of the seven provinces. they were very fierce in their remonstrances, and again talked loudly of secession. after consultation with barneveld, the french envoys now thought it their duty to take the recalcitrant zeelanders in hand; maurice having, as it were, withdrawn from the contest. on the th november, accordingly, jeannin once more came very solemnly before the states-general, accompanied by his diplomatic colleagues. he showed the impossibility of any arrangement, except by the submission of zeeland to a vote of the majority. "it is certain," he said, "that six provinces will never be willing to be conquered by a single one, nor permit her to assert that, according to a fundamental law of the commonwealth, her dissent can prevent the others from forming a definite conclusion. "it is not for us," continued the president, "who are strangers in your republic, to interpret your laws, but common sense teaches us that, if such a law exist, it could only have been made in order to forbid a surrender. "if any one wishes to expound it otherwise, to him we would reply, in the words of an ancient roman, who said of a law which seemed to him pernicious, that at least the tablet upon which it was inscribed, if it could not be destroyed, should be hidden out of sight. thus at least the citizens might escape observing it, when it was plain that it would cause detriment to the republic, and they might then put in its place the most ancient of all laws, 'salus populi suprema lex.'" the president, having suggested this ingenious expedient of the antique roman for getting rid of a constitutional provision by hiding the statute-book, proceeded to give very practical reasons for setting, up the supreme law of the people's safety on this occasion. and, certainly, that magnificent common-place, which has saved and ruined so many states, the most effective weapon in the political arsenal, whether wielded by tyrants or champions of freedom, was not unreasonably recommended at this crisis to the states in their contest with the refractory zeelanders. it was easy to talk big, but after all it would be difficult for that doughty little sandbank, notwithstanding the indomitable energy which it had so often shown by land and sea, to do battle by itself with the whole spanish empire. nor was it quite consistent with republican principles that the other six provinces should be plunged once more into war, when they had agreed to accept peace and independence instead, only that zeeland should have its way. the orator went on to show the absurdity, in his opinion, of permitting one province to continue the war, when all seven united had not the means to do it without the assistance of their allies. he pointed out, too, the immense blunders that would be made, should it be thought that the kings of france and england were so much interested in saving the provinces from perdition as to feel obliged in any event to render them assistance. "beware of committing an irreparable fault," he said, "on so insecure a foundation. you are deceiving yourselves: and, in order that there may be no doubt on the subject, we declare to you by express command that if your adversaries refuse the truce, according to the articles presented to you by us, it is the intention of our kings to assist you with armies and subsidies, not only as during the past, but more powerfully than before. if, on the contrary, the rupture comes from your side, and you despise the advice they are giving you, you have no succour to expect from them. the refusal of conditions so honourable and advantageous to your commonwealth will render the war a useless one, and they are determined to do nothing to bring the reproach upon themselves." the president then intimated; not without adroitness, that the republic was placing herself in a proud position by accepting the truce, and that spain was abasing herself by giving her consent to it. the world was surprised that the states should hesitate at all. there was much more of scholastic dissertation in the president's address, but enough has been given to show its very peremptory character. if the war was to go on it was to be waged mainly by zeeland alone. this was now plain beyond all peradventure. the other provinces had resolved to accept the proposed treaty. the cities of delft and amsterdam, which had stood out so long among the estates of holland, soon renounced their opposition. prince maurice, with praiseworthy patriotism, reconciled himself with the inevitable, and now that the great majority had spoken, began to use his influence with the factious minority. on the day after jeannin's speech he made a visit to the french ambassadors. after there had been some little discussion among them, barneveld made his appearance. his visit seemed an accidental one, but it had been previously arranged with the envoys. the general conversation went on a little longer, when the advocate, frankly turning to the prince, spoke of the pain which he felt at the schism between them. he defended himself with honest warmth against the rumours circulated, in which he was accused of being a spanish partisan. his whole life had been spent in fighting spain, and he was now more determined than ever in his hostility to that monarchy. he sincerely believed that by the truce now proposed all the solid advantages of the war would be secured, and that such a result was a triumphant one for the republic. he was also most desirous of being restored to the friendship and good opinion of the house of nassau; having proved during his whole life his sincere attachment to their interests--a sentiment never more lively in his breast than at that moment. this advance was graciously met by the stadholder, and the two distinguished personages were, for the time at least, reconciled. it was further debated as to the number of troops that it be advisable for the states to maintain during the truce and barneveld expressed his decided opinion that thirty thousand men, at least, would be required. this opinion gave the prince at least as much pleasure as did the personal devotion expressed by the advocate, and he now stated his intention of working with the peace party. the great result was now certain. delft and amsterdam withdrew from their opposition to the treaty, so that holland was unanimous before the year closed; zeeland, yielding to the influence of maurice, likewise gave in her adhesion to the truce. the details of the mode in which the final arrangement was made are not especially interesting. the discussion was fairly at an end. the subject had been picked to the bones. it was agreed that the french ambassadors should go over the frontier, and hold a preliminary interview with the spanish commissioners at antwerp. the armistice was to be continued by brief and repeated renewals, until it should be superseded by the truce of years: meantime, archduke albert sent his father confessor, inigo brizuela, to spain, in order to make the treaty posed by jeannin palatable to the king? the priest was to set forth to philip, as only a ghostly confessor could do with full effect, that he need not trouble himself about the recognition by the proposed treaty of the independence of the united provinces. ambiguous words had been purposely made use of in this regard, he was to explain, so that not only the foreign ambassadors were of opinion that the rights of spain were not curtailed, but the emptiness of the imaginary recognition of dutch freedom had been proved by the sharp criticism of the states. it is true that richardot, in the name of the archduke, had three months before promised the consent of the king, as having already been obtained. but richardot knew very well when he made the statement that it was false. the archduke, in subsequent correspondence with the ambassadors in december, repeated the pledge. yet, not only had the king not given that consent, but he had expressly refused it by a courier sent in november. philip, now convinced by brother inigo that while agreeing to treat with the states-general as with a free commonwealth, over which he pretended to no authority, he really meant that he was dealing with vassals over whom his authority was to be resumed when it suited his convenience, at last gave his consent to the proposed treaty. the royal decision was, however, kept for a time concealed, in order that the states might become more malleable. etext editor's bookmarks: a truce he honestly considered a pitfall of destruction alas! we must always have something to persecute argument is exhausted and either action or compromise begins beware of a truce even more than of a peace could handle an argument as well as a sword god alone can protect us against those whom we trust humble ignorance as the safest creed man is never so convinced of his own wisdom peace was unattainable, war was impossible, truce was inevitable readiness at any moment to defend dearly won liberties such an excuse was as bad as the accusation the art of ruling the world by doing nothing to doubt the infallibility of calvin was as heinous a crime what exchequer can accept chronic warfare and escape bankruptcy words are always interpreted to the disadvantage of the weak chapter lii. vote of the states-general on the groundwork of the treaty-- meeting of the plenipotentiaries for arrangement of the truce-- signing of the twelve years' truce--its purport--the negotiations concluded--ratification by the states-general, the archdukes, and the king of spain--question of toleration--appeal of president jeannin on behalf of the catholics--religious liberty the fruit of the war--internal arrangements of the states under the rule of peace--deaths of john duke of cleves and jacob arminius--doctrines of arminius and gomarus--theological warfare--twenty years' truce between the turkish and roman empires--ferdinand of styria-- religious peace--prospects of the future. on the th january, , the states-general decided by unanimous vote that the first point in the treaty should be not otherwise fixed than, thus:-- "that the archdukes--to superfluity--declare, as well in their own name as in that of the king of spain, their willingness to treat with the lords states of the united provinces in the capacity of, and as holding them for, free countries, provinces, and states, over which they have no claim, and that they are making a treaty with them in those said names and qualities." it was also resolved not to permit that any ecclesiastical or secular matters, conflicting with the above-mentioned freedom, should be proposed; nor that any delay should be sought for, by reason of the india navigation or any other point. in case anything to the contrary should be attempted by the king or the archdukes, and the deliberations protracted in consequence more than eight days, it was further decided by unanimous vote that the negotiations should at once be broken off, and the war forthwith renewed, with the help, if possible, of the kings, princes, and states, friends of the good cause. this vigorous vote was entirely the work of barneveld, the man whom his enemies dared to denounce as the partisan of spain, and to hold up as a traitor deserving of death. it was entirely within his knowledge that a considerable party in the provinces had grown so weary of the war, and so much alarmed at the prospect of the negotiations for truce coming to nought, as to be ready to go into a treaty without a recognition of the independence of the states. this base faction was thought to be instigated by the english government, intriguing secretly with president richardot. the advocate, acting in full sympathy with jeannin, frustrated the effects of the manoeuvre by obtaining all the votes of holland and zeeland for this supreme resolution. the other five provinces dared to make no further effort in that direction against the two controlling states of the republic. it was now agreed that the french and english ambassadors should delay going to antwerp until informed of the arrival in that city of spinola and his colleagues; and that they should then proceed thither, taking with them the main points of the treaty, as laid down by themselves, and accepted with slight alterations by the states. when the spanish commissioners had signed these points the plenipotentiaries were to come to antwerp in order to settle other matters of less vital import. meantime, the states-general were to be summoned to assemble in bergen-op-zoom, that they might be ready to deal with difficulties, should any arise. the first meeting took place on the th february, . the first objection to the draught was made by the spaniards. it was about words and wind. they liked not the title of high and puissant lords which was given to the states-general, and they proposed to turn the difficulty by abstaining from giving any qualifications whatever, either to the archdukes or the republican authorities. the states refused to lower these ensigns of their new-born power. it was, however, at last agreed that, instead of high and mighty, they should be called illustrious and serene. this point being comfortably adjusted, the next and most important one was accepted by the spaniards. the independence of the states was recognised according to the prescribed form. then came the great bone of contention, over which there had been such persistent wrangling--the india trade. the spanish government had almost registered a vow in heaven that the word india should not be mentioned in the treaty. it was no less certain that india was stamped upon the very heart of the republic, and could not be torn from it while life remained. the subtle diplomatists now invented a phrase in which the word should not appear, while the thing itself should be granted. the spaniards, after much altercation, at last consented. by the end of february, most of the plenipotentiaries thought it safe to request the appearance of the states-general at bergen-op-zoom. jeannin, not altogether satisfied, however, with the language of the spaniards in regard to india, raised doubts as to the propriety of issuing the summons. putting on his most reverend and artless expression of countenance, he assured richardot that he had just received a despatch from the hague, to the effect that the india point would, in all probability, cause the states at that very moment to break off the negotiations. it was surely premature, therefore, to invite them to bergen. the despatch from the hague was a neat fiction on the part of the president, but it worked admirably. the other president, himself quite as ready at inventions as jeannin could possibly be, was nevertheless taken in; the two ex-leaguers being, on the whole, fully a match for each other in the art of intrigue. richardot, somewhat alarmed, insisted that the states should send their plenipotentiaries to antwerp as soon as possible. he would answer for it that they would not go away again without settling upon the treaty. the commissioners were forbidden, by express order from spain, to name the indies in writing, but they would solemnly declare, by word of mouth, that the states should have full liberty to trade to those countries; the king of spain having no intention of interfering with such traffic during the period of the truce. the commissioners came to antwerp. the states-general assembled at bergen. on the th april, , the truce for twelve years was signed. this was its purport: the preamble recited that the most serene princes and archdukes, albert and isabella clara eugenic, had made, on the th april, , a truce and cessation of arms for eight months with the illustrious lords the states-general of the united provinces of the netherlands, in quality of, and as holding them for, states, provinces, and free countries, over which they pretended to nothing; which truce was ratified by his catholic majesty, as to that which concerned him, by letters patent of th september, ; and that, moreover, a special power had been given to the archdukes on the th january, , to enable them in the king's name as well as their own to do everything that they might think proper to bring about a peace or a truce of many years. it then briefly recited the rupture of the negotiations for peace, and the subsequent, proposition, originated by the foreign ambassadors, to renew the conference for the purpose of concluding a truce. the articles of the treaty thus agreed upon were: that the archdukes declared, as well in their own name as that of the king, that they were content to treat with the lords the states-general of the united provinces in quality of, and as holding them for, countries, provinces, and free states, over which they pretended to nothing, and to, make with them a truce on certain following conditions--to wit: that the truce should be good, firm, loyal, inviolable, and for the term of twelve years, during which time there was to be cessation of all acts of hostility between the king, archdukes, and states-general, as well by sea and other waters as by land, in all their kingdoms, countries, lands, and lordships, and for all their subjects and inhabitants of whatever quality and condition, without exception of places or of persons. that each party should remain seized of their respective possessions, and be not troubled therein during the truce. that the subjects and inhabitants of the respective countries should preserve amity and good correspondence during the truce, without referring to past offences, and should freely and securely entertain communication and traffic with each other by land and sea. this provision, however, was to be expressly understood as limited by the king to the kingdoms and countries possessed by him in europe, and in other places and seas where the subjects of other kings and princes, his friends and allies, have amicable traffic. in regard, however, to places, cities, ports, and harbours which he possessed outside of those limits, the states and their subjects were to exercise no traffic, without express permission of the king. they could, however, if they chose, trade with the countries of all other princes, potentates, and peoples who were willing to permit it; even outside those limits, without any hindrance by the king; that the truce should begin in regard to those distant countries after a year from date, unless actual notification could be sooner served there on those concerned; that the subjects of the united provinces should have the same liberty and privilege within the states of the king and archdukes as had been accorded to the subjects of the by the king of great britain, according to the last treaty made with that sovereign; that letters of marque and reprisal should not be granted during the truce, except for special cause, and in cases permitted by the laws and imperial constitutions, and according to the rules therein prescribed; that those who had retired into neutral territory during the war were also to enjoy the benefit of the truce, and could reside wherever they liked without being deprived of their property; that the treaty should be ratified by the archdukes and the states-general within four days. as to the ratification of the king, the archdukes were bound to deliver it in good and due form within three months, in order that the lords the states-general, their subjects and inhabitants, might enjoy effectively the fruits of the treaty; that the treaty should be published everywhere immediately after the ratification of the archdukes and states-general. this document was signed by the ambassadors of the kings of france and great britain, as mediators, and then by the deputies of the archdukes, and afterwards by those of the lords the states-general. there were thirty-eight articles in all, but the chief provisions have been indicated. the other clauses, relating to boundaries, confiscations, regulations of duties, frontier fortifications, the estates of the nassau family, and other sequestrated property, have no abiding interest. there was also a secret and special treaty which was demanded of the king of spain by the states-general, and by him accorded. this secret treaty consisted of a single clause. that clause was made up of a brief preamble and of a promise. the preamble recited textually article fourth of the public treaty relative to the india trade. the promise was to this effect. for the period of the truce the spanish commissioners pledged the faith of the king and of his successors that his majesty would cause no impediment, whether by sea or land, to the states nor their subjects, in the traffic that thereafter might be made in the countries of all princes, potentates, and peoples who might permit the same, in whatever place it might be, even without the limits designated, and everywhere else, nor similarly to those carrying on such traffic with them, and that the king and his successors would faithfully carry into effect everything thus laid, down, so that the said traffic should be free and secure, consenting even, in order that the clause might be the more authentic, that it should be considered as inserted in the principal treaty, and as making part thereof. it will be perceived that the first article of all, and the last or secret article, contained the whole marrow of the treaty. it may be well understood, therefore, with what wry faces the spanish plenipotentiaries ultimately signed the document. after two years and a quarter of dreary negotiation, the republic had carried all its points, without swerving a hair's breadth from the principles laid down in the beginning. the only concession made was that the treaty was for a truce of twelve years, and not for peace. but as after all, in those days, an interval of twelve years might be almost considered an eternity of peace, and as calling a peace perpetual can never make it so, the difference was rather one of phraseology than of fact. on the other hand, the states had extorted from their former sovereign a recognition of their independence. they had secured the india trade. they had not conceded catholic worship. mankind were amazed at this result--an event hitherto unknown in history. when before had a sovereign acknowledged the independence of his rebellious subjects, and signed a treaty with them as with equals? when before had spain, expressly or by implication, admitted that the east and west indies were not her private property, and that navigators to those regions, from other countries than her own, were not to be chastised as trespassers and freebooters? yet the liberty of the netherlands was acknowledged in terms which convinced the world that it was thenceforth an established fact. and india was as plainly expressed by the omission of the word, as if it had been engrossed in large capitals in article iv. the king's government might seek solace in syntax. they might triumph in cardinal bentivoglio's subtleties, and persuade themselves that to treat with the republic as a free nation was not to hold it for a free nation then and for ever. but the whole world knew that the republic really was free, and that it had treated, face to face, with its former sovereign, exactly as the kings of france or great britain, or the grand turk, might treat with him. the new commonwealth had taken its place among the nations of the earth. other princes and potentates made not the slightest difficulty in recognising it for an independent power and entering into treaties and alliances with it as with any other realm. to the republic the substantial blessing of liberty: to his catholic majesty the grammatical quirk. when the twelve years should expire, spain might reconquer the united provinces if she could; relying upon the great truth that an adverb was not a preposition. and france or great britain might attempt the same thing if either felt strong enough for the purpose. did as plausible a pretext as that ever fail to a state ambitious of absorbing its neighbours? jeannin was right enough in urging that this famous clause of recognition ought to satisfy both parties. if the united provinces, he said, happened not to have the best muskets and cannons on their side when it should once more come to blows, small help would they derive from verbal bulwarks and advantages in the text of treaties. richardot consoled himself with his quibbles; for quibbles were his daily bread. "thank god our truce is made," said he, "and we have only lost the sovereignty for twelve years, if after that we have the means or the will to resume the war--whatever don pedro de toledo may say." barneveld, on his part, was devoutly and soberly pleased with the result. "to-day we have concluded our negotiations for the truce," he wrote to aerssens. "we must pray to the lord god, and we must do our highest duty that our work may redound to his honour and glory, and to the nation's welfare. it is certain that men will make their criticisms upon it according to their humours. but those who love their country, and all honest people who know the condition of the land, will say that it is well done." thus modestly, religiously, and sincerely spoke a statesman, who felt that he had accomplished a great work, and that he had indeed brought the commonwealth through the tempest at last. the republic had secured the india trade. on this point the negotiators had taken refuge in that most useful figure of speech for hard-pressed diplomatists and law-makers--the ellipsis. they had left out the word india, and his catholic majesty might persuade himself that by such omission a hemisphere had actually been taken away from the dutch merchants and navigators. but the whole world saw that article iv. really contained both the east and west indies. it hardly needed the secret clause to make assurance doubly sure. president richardot was facetiously wont to observe that this point in the treaty was so obscure that he did not understand it himself. but he knew better. he understood it very well. the world understood it very well. the united provinces had throughout the negotiations ridiculed the idea of being excluded from any part of the old world or, the new by reason of the borgian grant. all the commissioners knew that the war would be renewed if any attempt were to be seriously made to put up those famous railings around the ocean, of which the dutch diplomatists spoke in such bitter scorn. the spanish plenipotentiaries, therefore, had insisted that the word itself should be left out, and that the republic should be forbidden access to territories subject to the crown of spain. so the hollanders were thenceforth to deal directly with the kings of sumatra and the moluccas, and the republics of banda, and all the rich commonwealths and principalities of nutmegs; cloves, and indigo, unless, as grew every day more improbable, the spaniards and portuguese could exclude them from that traffic by main force. and the orange flag of the republic was to float with equal facility over all america, from the isle of manhattan to the shores of brazil and the straits of magellan, provided philip had not ships and soldiers to vindicate with the sword that sovereignty which spanish swords and spanish genius had once acquired. as for the catholic worship, the future was to prove that liberty for the old religion and for all forms of religion was a blessing more surely to flow from the enlightened public sentiment of a free people emerging out of the most tremendous war for liberty ever waged, than from the stipulations of a treaty with a foreign power. it was characteristic enough of the parties engaged in the great political drama that the republic now requested from france and great britain a written recognition of its independence, and that both france and england refused. it was strange that the new commonwealth, in the very moment of extorting her freedom from the ancient tyranny, should be so unconscious of her strength as to think free papers from neutral powers a boon. as if the sign-manual of james and henry were a better guarantee than the trophies of the nassaus, of heemskerk, of matelieff, and of olden-barneveld! it was not strange that the two sovereigns should decline the proposition; for we well know the secret aspirations of each, and it was natural that they should be unwilling to sign a formal quit-claim, however improbable it might be that those dreams should ever become a reality. both powers, however, united in a guarantee of the truce. this was signed on the th june, and stipulated that, without their knowledge and consent, the states should make no treaty during the period of truce with the king of spain or the archdukes. on the other hand, in case of an infraction of the truce by the enemy, the two kings agreed to lend assistance to the states in the manner provided--by the treaties concluded with the republic previously to the negotiation of the truce. the treaty had been at once ratified by the states-general, assembled for the purpose with an extraordinary number of deputies at bergen-op-zoom. it was also ratified without delay by the archdukes. the delivery of the confirmation by his catholic majesty had been promised within three months after the signatures of the plenipotentiaries. it would however have been altogether inconsistent with the dignity and the traditions of the spanish court to fulfil this stipulation. it was not to be expected that "i the king" could be written either by the monarch himself, or by his alter ego the duke of lerma, in so short a time as a quarter of a year. several weeks accordingly went by after the expiration of the stated period. the ratification did not come, and the netherlanders began to be once more indignant. before the storm had risen very high, however, the despatches arrived. the king's signature was ante-dated th april, being thus brought within the term of three months, and was a thorough confirmation of what had been done by his plenipotentiaries. his majesty, however, expressed a hope that during the truce the states would treat their catholic subjects with kindness. certainly no exception could be taken to so reasonable an intimation as this. president jeannin, too, just before his departure, handed in to the states-general an eloquent appeal on behalf of the catholics of the netherlands; a paper which was not immediately made public. "consider the great number of catholics," he said, "in your territory, both in the cities and the country. remember that they have worked with you; spent their property, have been exposed to the same dangers, and have always kept their fidelity to the commonwealth inviolate as long as the war endured, never complaining that they did not enjoy liberty of religious worship, believing that you had thus, ordained because the public safety required such guaranty. but they always promised themselves, should the end of the war be happy, and should you be placed in the enjoyment of entire freedom, that they too would have some part in this good fortune, even as they had been sharers in the inconveniences, the expenses, and the perils of the war. "but those cannot be said to share in any enjoyment from whom has been taken the power of serving god according to the religion in which they were brought up. on the contrary, no slavery is more intolerable nor more exasperates the mind than such restraint. you know this well, my lords states; you know too that it was the principal, the most puissant cause that made you fly to arms and scorn all dangers, in order to effect your deliverance from this servitude. you know that it has excited similar movements in various parts of christendom, and even in the kingdom of france, with such fortunate success everywhere as to make it appear that god had so willed it, in order to prove that religion ought to be taught and inspired by the movements which come from the holy ghost, and not by the force of man. thus kings and princes should be induced by the evils and ruin which they and their subjects have suffered from this cause, as by a sentiment of their own interest, to take more care than has hitherto been taken to practise in good earnest those remedies which were wont to be used at a time when the church was in its greatest piety, in order to correct the abuses and errors which the corruption of mankind had tried to introduce as being the true and sole means of uniting all christians in one and the same creed." surely the world had made progress in these forty years of war. was it not something to gain for humanity, for intellectual advancement, for liberty of thought, for the true interests of religion, that a roman catholic, an ex-leaguer, a trusted representative of the immediate successor of charles ix. and henry iii., could stand up on the blood-stained soil of the netherlands and plead for liberty of conscience for all mankind? "those cannot be said to share in, any enjoyment from whom has been taken the power of serving god according to the religion in which they have been brought up. no slavery is more intolerable nor more exasperating to the mind than such restraint." most true, o excellent president! no axiom in mathematics is more certain than this simple statement. to prove its truth william the silent had lived and died. to prove it a falsehood, emperors, and kings, and priests, had issued bans, and curses, and damnable decrees. to root it out they had butchered, drowned, shot, strangled, poisoned, tortured, roasted alive, buried alive, starved, and driven mad, thousands and tens of thousands of their fellow creatures. and behold there had been almost a century of this work, and yet the great truth was not rooted out after all; and the devil-worshippers, who had sought at the outset of the great war to establish the holy inquisition in the netherlands upon the ruins of religious and political liberty, were overthrown at last and driven back into the pit. it was progress; it was worth all the blood and treasure which had been spilled, that, instead of the holy inquisition, there was now holy liberty of thought. that there should have been a party, that there should have been an individual here and there, after the great victory was won, to oppose the doctrine which the catholic president now so nobly advocated, would be enough to cause every believer in progress to hide his face in the dust, did we not know that the march of events was destined to trample such opposition out of existence, and had not history proved to us that the great lesson of the war was not to be rendered nought by the efforts of a few fanatics. religious liberty was the ripened and consummate fruit, and it could not but be gathered. "consider too," continued the president, "how much injury your refusal, if you give it, will cause to those of your religion in the places where they are the weakest, and where they are every day imploring with tears and lamentations the grace of those catholic sovereigns to whom they are subject, to enable them to enjoy the same religious liberty which our king is now demanding in favour of the catholics among you. do not cause it to come again into the minds of those sovereigns and their peoples, whom an inconsiderate zeal has often driven into violence and ferocity against protestants, that a war to compel the weakest to follow the religion of the strongest is just and lawful." had not something been gained for the world when this language was held by a catholic on the very spot where less than a half century before the whole population of the netherlands, men, women, and children, had been condemned to death by a foreign tyrant, for the simple reason that it was just, legal, and a christian duty to punish the weak for refusing to follow the religion of the strong? "as for the perils which some affect to fear," said jeannin, further, "if this liberty of worship is accorded, experience teaches us every day that diversity of religion is not the cause of the ruin of states, and that a government does not cease to be good, nor its subjects to live in peace and friend ship with one another, rendering due obedience to the laws and to their rulers as well as if they had all been of the same religion, without having another thought, save for the preservation of the dignity and grandeur of the state in which god had caused them to be born. the danger is not in the permission, but in the prohibition of religious liberty." all this seems commonplace enough to us on the western side of the atlantic, in the middle of the nineteenth century, but it would have been rank blasphemy in new england in the middle of the seventeenth, many years after jeannin spoke. it was a horrible sound, too, in the ears of some of his audience. to the pretence so often urged by the catholic persecutors, and now set up by their calvinistic imitators; that those who still clung to the old religion were at liberty to depart from the land, the president replied with dignified scorn. "with what justice," he asked, "can you drive into, exile people who have committed no offence, and who have helped to conquer the very country from which you would now banish them? if you do drive them away, you will make solitudes in your commonwealth, which will, be the cause of evils such as i prefer that you should reflect upon without my declaring them now. although these reasons," he continued, "would seem sufficient to induce you to accord the free and public exercise of the catholic religion, the king, not hoping as much as that, because aware that you are not disposed to go so far, is content to request only this grace in behalf of the catholics, that you will tolerate them, and suffer them to have some exercise of their religion within their own households, without interference or inquiry on that account, and without execution of the rigorous decrees heretofore enforced against them." certainly if such wholesome, moderate, and modest counsels as these had been rejected, it would have been sound doctrine to proclaim that the world did not move. and there were individuals enough, even an influential party, prepared to oppose them for both technical and practical reasons. and the cause of intolerance derived much warmth and comfort at this juncture from that great luminary of theology and political philosophy, the king of great britain. direful and solemn were the warnings uttered by james to the republic against permitting the old religion, or any religion save his own religion, to obtain the slightest foothold within her borders. "let the religion be taught and preached in its parity throughout your provinces without the least mixture," said sir ralph winwood, in the name of his sovereign. "on this foundation the justice of your cause is built. there is but one verity. those who are willing to tolerate any religion, whatever it may be, and try to make you believe that liberty for both is necessary in your commonwealth, are paving the way towards atheism." such were the counsels of king james to the united states of the netherlands against harbouring catholics. a few years later he was casting forth calvinists from his own dominions as if they had been lepers; and they went forth on their weary pilgrimage to the howling wilderness of north america, those exiled calvinists, to build a greater republic than had ever been dreamed of before on this planet; and they went forth, not to preach, but in their turn to denounce toleration and to hang heretics. "he who would tolerate another religion that his own may be tolerated, would if need be, hang god's bible at the devil's girdle." so spoke an early massachusetts pilgrim, in the very spirit, almost the very words of the royal persecutor; who had driven him into outer darkness beyond the seas. he had not learned the lesson of the mighty movement in which he was a pioneer, any more than gomarus or uytenbogaart had comprehended why the dutch republic had risen. yet the founders of the two commonwealths, the united states of the seventeenth and of the nineteenth centuries, although many of them fiercely intolerant, through a natural instinct of resistance, not only to the oppressor but to the creed of the oppressor, had been breaking out the way, not to atheism, as king james believed, but to the only garden in which christianity can perennially flourish--religious liberty. those most ardent and zealous path-finders may be forgiven, in view of the inestimable benefits conferred by them upon humanity, that they did not travel on their own road. it should be sufficient for us, if we make due use of their great imperishable work ourselves; and if we never cease rendering thanks to the omnipotent, that there is at least one great nation on the globe where the words toleration and dissenter have no meaning whatever. for the dutch fanatics of the reformed church, at the moment of the truce, to attempt to reverse the course of events, and to shut off the mighty movement of the great revolt from its destined expanse, was as hopeless a dream as to drive back the rhine, as it reached the ocean, into the narrow channel of the rheinwald glacier whence it sprang. the republic became the refuge for the oppressed of all nations, where jews and gentiles, catholics, calvinists, and anabaptistis, prayed after their own manner to the same god and father. it was too much, however, to hope that passions which had been so fiercely bubbling during fifty years would subside at once, and that the most intense religious hatreds that ever existed would exhale with the proclamation of truce. the march of humanity is rarely rapid enough to keep pace with the leaders in its most sublime movements, and it often happens that its chieftains are dwarfed in the estimation of the contemporaneous vulgar, by the very distance at which they precede their unconscious followers. but even if the progress of the human mind towards the truth is fated to be a spiral one, as if to remind us that mankind is of the earth, earthy--a worm in the dust while inhabiting this lower sphere--it is at least a consolation to reflect upon the gradual advancement of the intellect from age to age. the spirit of torquemada, of charles, of philip, of titelmann, is even now not extinct on this globe, but there are counter forces at work, which must ultimately blast it into insignificance. at the moment of the great truce, that evil spirit was not exorcised from the human breast, but the number of its victims and the intensity of its influence had already miraculously diminished. the truce was made and announced all over the netherlands by the ringing of bells, the happy discharge of innocent artillery, by illuminations, by te deums in all the churches. papist and presbyterian fell on their knees in every grand cathedral or humblest village church, to thank god that what had seemed the eternal butchery was over. the inhabitants of the united and of the obedient netherlands rushed across the frontiers into a fraternal embrace; like the meeting of many waters when the flood-gates are lifted. it was pity that the foreign sovereignty, established at brussels, could not then and there have been for ever swept away, and self-government and beneficent union extended over all the seventeen netherlands, walloon and flemish, catholic and reformed. but it hardly needs a word to show that the course of events had created a deeper chasm between the two sections than the gravest physical catastrophe could have produced. the opposing cliffs which religious hatred had rent asunder, and between which it seemed destined to flow for ever, seemed very close, and yet eternally separated. the great war had established the republic; and apparently doomed the obedient netherlands to perpetual servitude. there were many details of minor importance to be settled between the various governments involved in these great transactions; but this history draws to its predestined close, and it is necessary to glide rapidly over matters which rather belong to a later epoch than the one now under consideration. the treaty between the republic and the government of great britain, according to which each was to assist the other in case of war with four thousand troops and twenty ships of war, was confirmed in the treaty of truce. the debt of the united provinces to the crown of england was definitely reckoned at , , florins, and it was settled by the truce that , florins should be paid semi-annually, to begin with the year , until the whole debt should be discharged. the army establishment of the republic was fixed during the truce at thirty thousand infantry and three thousand horse. this was a reduction from the war footing of fifteen thousand men. of the force retained, four thousand were a french legion maintained by the king, two thousand other french at the expense of the states, and distributed among other troops, two thousand scotch, three thousand english, three thousand germans. the rest were native netherlanders, among whom, however, were very few hollanders and zeelanders, from which races the navy, both public and mercantile, was almost wholly supplied. the revenue of the united provinces was estimated at between seven and eight millions of florins. it is superfluous to call attention again to the wonderful smallness of the means, the minuteness of the physical enginry, as compared with more modern manifestations, especially in our own land and epoch, by which so stupendous a result had been reached. in the midst of an age in which regal and sacerdotal despotism had seemed as omnipotent and irreversible as the elemental laws of the universe, the republic had been reproduced. a commonwealth of sand-banks, lagoons, and meadows, less than fourteen thousand square miles in extent, had done battle, for nearly half a century, with the greatest of existing powers, a realm whose territory was nearly a third of the globe, and which claimed universal monarchy. and this had been done with an army averaging forty-six thousand men, half of them foreigners hired by the job, and by a sea-faring population, volunteering into ships of every class and denomination, from a fly-boat to a galleot of war. and when the republic had won its independence, after this almost eternal warfare, it owed four or five millions of dollars, and had sometimes an annual revenue of nearly that amount. it was estimated by barneveld, at the conclusion of the truce, that the interest on the public debt of spain was about thrice the amount of the yearly income of the republic, and it was characteristic of the financial ideas of the period, that fears were entertained lest a total repudiation of that burthen by the spanish government would enable it to resume the war against the provinces with redoubled energy. the annual salary of prince maurice, who was to see his chief occupation gone by the cessation of the war, was fixed by the states at , florins. it was agreed, that in case of his marriage he should receive a further yearly sum of , florins, and this addition was soon afterwards voted to him outright, it being obvious that the prince would remain all his days a bachelor. count frederic henry likewise received a military salary of , florins, while the emoluments of lewis william were placed at , florins a year. it must be admitted that the republic was grateful. , dollars a year, in the seventeenth century, not only for life, but to be inherited afterwards by his younger brother, frederic henry, was surely a munificent sum to be accorded from the puny exchequer of the states-general to the chief magistrate of the nation. the mighty transatlantic republic, with its population of thirty or forty millions, and its revenue of five hundred millions of dollars, pays , dollars annually for its president during his four years of office, and this in the second half of the nineteenth century, when a dollar is worth scarcely one-fifth of its value two hundred and fifty years ago. surely here is improvement, both in the capacity to produce and in the power to save. in the year , died john, the last sovereign of cleves and juliers, and jacob arminius, doctor of divinity at leyden. it would be difficult to imagine two more entirely dissimilar individuals of the human family than this lunatic duke and that theological professor. and yet, perhaps, the two names, more concisely than those of any other mortals, might serve as an index to the ghastly chronicle over which a coming generation was to shudder. the death of the duke was at first thought likely to break off the negotiations for truce. the states-general at once declared that they would permit no movements on the part of the spanish party to seize the inheritance in behalf of the catholic claimants. prince maurice, nothing loth to make use of so well-timed an event in order to cut for ever the tangled skein at the hague, was for marching forthwith into the duchies. but the archdukes gave such unequivocal assurances of abstaining from interference, and the desire for peace was so strong both in the obedient and in the united provinces, that the question of the duchies was postponed. it was to serve as both torch and fuel for one of the longest and most hideous tragedies that had ever disgraced humanity. a thirty years' war of demons was, after a brief interval, to succeed the forty years' struggle between slaves and masters, which had just ended in the recognition of dutch independence. the gentle arminius was in his grave, but a bloody harvest was fast ripening from the seeds which he had sown. that evil story must find its place in the melancholy chapter where the fortunes of the dutch republic are blended with the grim chronicle of the thirty years' war. until the time arrives for retracing the course of those united transactions to their final termination in the peace of westphalia, it is premature to characterize an epoch which, at the moment with which we are now occupied, had not fairly begun. the gomarites accused the arminians of being more lax than papists, and of filling the soul of man with vilest arrogance and confidence in good works; while the arminians complained that the god of the gomarites was an unjust god, himself the origin of sin. the disputes on these themes had been perpetual in the provinces ever since the early days of the reformation. of late, however, the acrimony of theological conflict had been growing day by day more intense. it was the eternal struggle of religious dogma to get possession of the state, and to make use of political forces in order to put fetters on the human soul; to condemn it to slavery where most it requires freedom. the conflict between gomarus and arminius proceeded with such ferocity in leyden, that, since the days of the memorable siege, to which the university owed its origin, men's minds had never been roused to such feverish anxiety: the theological cannonades, which thundered daily from the college buildings and caused all holland to quake, seemed more appalling to the burghers than the enginry of valdez and boisot had ever seemed to their fathers. the gomarite doctrine gained most favour with the clergy, the arminian creed with the municipal magistracies. the magistrates claimed that decisions concerning religious matters belonged to the supreme authority. the gomarites contended that sacred matters should be referred to synods of the clergy. here was the germ of a conflict which might one day shake the republic to its foundations. barneveld, the great leader of the municipal, party, who loved political power quite as well as he loved his country; was naturally a chieftain of the arminians; for church, matters were no more separated from political matters in the commonwealth at that moment than they were in the cabinets of henry, james, or philip. it was inevitable therefore that the war party should pour upon his head more than seven vials of theological wrath. the religious doctrines which he espoused were, odious not only because they were deemed vile in themselves but because he believed in them. arminianism was regarded as a new and horrible epidemic, daily gaining ground, and threatening to destroy the whole population. men deliberated concerning the best means to cut off communication with the infected regions, and to extirpate the plague even by desperate and heroic remedies, as men in later days take measures against the cholera or the rinderpest. theological hatred was surely not extinct in the netherlands. it was a consolation, however, that its influence was rendered less noxious by the vastly increased strength of principles long dormant in the atmosphere. anna van der hoven, buried alive in brussels, simply because her calvinistic creed was a crime in the eyes of the monks who murdered her, was the last victim to purely religious persecution. if there were one day to be still a tragedy or two in the netherlands it was inevitable that theological hatred would be obliged to combine with political party spirit in its most condensed form before any deadly effect could be produced. thus the year is a memorable one in the world's history. it forms a great landmark in human progress. it witnessed the recognition of a republic, powerful in itself, and whose example was destined to be most influential upon the career of two mighty commonwealths of the future. the british empire, just expanding for wider flight than it had hitherto essayed, and about to pass through a series of vast revolutions, gathering strength of wing as it emerged from cloud after cloud; and the american republic, whose frail and obscure beginnings at that very instant of time scarcely attracted a passing attention from the contemporaneous world--both these political organisms, to which so much of mankind's future liberties had been entrusted, were deeply indebted to the earlier self-governing commonwealth. the dutch republic was the first free nation to put a girdle of empire around the earth. it had courage, enterprise, intelligence, perseverance, faith in itself, the instinct of self-government and self-help, hatred of tyranny, the disposition to domineer, aggressiveness, greediness, inquisitiveness, insolence, the love of science, of liberty, and of money--all this in unlimited extent. it had one great defect, it had no country. upon that meagre standing ground its hand had moved the world with an impulse to be felt through all the ages, but there was not soil enough in those fourteen thousand, square miles to form the metropolis of the magnificent empire which the genius of liberty had created beyond the seas. that the political institutions bequeathed by the united states of the seventeenth century have been vastly improved, both in theory and practice, by the united states of the nineteenth, no american is likely to gainsay. that the elder republic showed us also what to avoid, and was a living example of the perils besetting a confederacy which dared not become a union, is a lesson which we might take closely to heart. but the year was not only memorable as marking an epoch in dutch history. it was the beginning of a great and universal pause. the world had need of rest. disintegration had been going on too rapidly, and it was absolutely necessary that there should be a new birth, if civilization were not to vanish. a twenty years' truce between the turkish and holy roman empires was nearly simultaneous with the twelve years' truce between spain and the united provinces. the emperor rudolph having refused to ratify the treaty which his brother matthias had made, was in consequence partially discrowned. the same archduke who, thirty years before, had slipped away from vienna in his nightgown; with his face blackened, to outwit and outgeneral william the silent at brussels, was now--more successful in his manoeuvres against his imperial brother. standing at the head of his army in battle array, in the open fields before the walls of prague, he received--from the unfortunate rudolph the crown and regalia of hungary, and was by solemn treaty declared sovereign of that ancient and chivalrous kingdom. his triumphal entrance into vienna succeeded, where, surrounded by great nobles and burghers, with his brother maximilian at his side, with immense pomp and with flowers strewn before his feet, he ratified that truce with ahmed which rudolph had rejected. three months later he was crowned at pressburg, having first accepted the conditions proposed by the estates of hungary. foremost among these was the provision that the exercise of the reformed religion should be free in all the cities and villages beneath his sceptre, and that every man in the kingdom was to worship god according to his conscience. in the following march, at the very moment accordingly when the conclusive negotiations were fast ripening at antwerp, matthias granted religious peace for austria likewise. great was the indignation of his nephew leopold, the nuncius, and the spanish ambassador in consequence, by each and all of whom the revolutionary mischief-maker, with his brother's crown on his head, was threatened with excommunication. as for ferdinand of styria, his wrath may well be imagined. he refused religious peace in his dominions with scorn ineffable. not gomarus in leyden could have shrunk from arminianism with more intense horror than that with which the archduke at gratz recoiled from any form of protestantism. he wrote to his brother-in-law the king of spain and to other potentates--as if the very soul of philip ii. were alive within him--that he would rather have a country without inhabitants than with a single protestant on its soil. he strongly urged upon his catholic majesty--as if such urging were necessary at the spanish court--the necessity of extirpating heresy, root and branch. here was one man at least who knew what he meant, and on whom the dread lessons of fifty years of bloodshed had been lost. magnificent was the contempt which this pupil of the jesuits felt for any little progress made by the world since the days of torquemada. in ferdinand's view alva was a christian hero, scarcely second to godfrey of bouillon, philip ii. a sainted martyr, while the dutch republic had never been born. and ferdinand was one day to sit on the throne of the holy roman empire. might not a shudder come over the souls of men as coming events vaguely shaped themselves to prophetic eyes? meantime there was religious peace in hungary, in austria, in bohemia, in france, in great britain, in the netherlands. the hangman's hands were for a period at rest, so far as theology had need of them. butchery in the name of christ was suspended throughout christendom. the cross and the crescent, santiago and the orange banner, were for a season in repose. there was a vast lull between two mighty storms. the forty years' war was in the past, the thirty years' war in the not far distant future. chapter liii. conclusion. forth-three years had passed since the memorable april morning in which the great nobles of the netherlands presented their "request" to the regent margaret at brussels. they had requested that the holy spanish inquisition might not be established on their soil to the suppression of all their political and religious institutions. the war which those high-born "beggars" had then kindled, little knowing what they were doing, had now come to a close, and the successor of philip ii., instead of planting the inquisition in the provinces, had recognised them as an independent, sovereign, protestant republic. in the ratification which he had just signed of the treaty of truce the most catholic king had in his turn made a request. he had asked the states-general to deal kindly with their catholic subjects. that request was not answered with the age and faggot; with the avenging sword of mercenary legions. on the contrary, it was destined to be granted. the world had gained something in forty-three years. it had at least begun to learn that the hangman is not the most appropriate teacher of religion. during the period of apparent chaos with which this history of the great revolt has been occupied, there had in truth been a great reorganization, a perfected new birth. the republic had once more appeared in the world. its main characteristics have been indicated in the course of the narrative, for it was a polity which gradually unfolded itself out of the decay and change of previous organisms. it was, as it were, in their own despite and unwittingly that the united provinces became a republic at all. in vain, after originally declaring their independence of the ancient tyrant, had they attempted to annex themselves to france and to england. the sovereignty had been spurned. the magnificent prize which france for centuries since has so persistently coveted, and the attainment of which has been a cardinal point of her perpetual policy--the low countries and the banks of the rhine--was deliberately laid at her feet, and as deliberately refused. it was the secret hope of the present monarch to repair the loss which the kingdom had suffered through the imbecility of his two immediate predecessors. but a great nation cannot with impunity permit itself to be despotically governed for thirty years by lunatics. it was not for the bearnese, with all his valour, his wit, and his duplicity, to obtain the prize which charles ix. and henry iii. had thrown away. yet to make himself sovereign of the netherlands was his guiding but most secret thought during all the wearisome and tortuous negotiations which preceded the truce; nor did he abandon the great hope with the signature of the treaty of . maurice of nassau too was a formidable rival to henry. the stadholder-prince was no republican. he was a good patriot, a noble soldier, an honest man. but his father had been offered the sovereignty of holland and zeeland, and the pistol of balthasar gerard had alone, in all human probability, prevented the great prince from becoming constitutional monarch of all the netherlands, batavian and belgic. maurice himself asserted that not only had he been offered a million of dollars, and large estates besides in germany, if he would leave the provinces to their fate, but that the archdukes had offered, would he join his fortunes with theirs, to place him in a higher position over all the netherlands than he had ever enjoyed in the united provinces, and that they had even unequivocally offered him the sovereignty over the whole land. maurice was a man of truth, and we have no right to dispute the accuracy of the extraordinary statement. he must however have reflected upon the offer once made by the prince of darkness from the mountain top, and have asked himself by what machinery the archdukes proposed to place him in possession of such a kingdom. there had, however, been serious question among leading dutch statesmen of making him constitutional, hereditary monarch of the united netherlands. as late as a secret conference was held at the house of olden-barneveld, in which the advocate had himself urged the claims of the prince to the sovereignty, and reminded his guests that the signed and sealed documents--with the concurrence of the amsterdam municipality alone lacking--by which william the silent had been invited to assume the crown were still in the possession of his son. nothing came of these deliberations. it was agreed that to stir in the matter at that moment would be premature, and that the pursuit by maurice of the monarchy in the circumstances then existing would not only over-burthen him with expense, but make him a more conspicuous mark than ever for the assassin. it is certain that the prince manifested no undue anxiety at any period in regard to those transactions. subsequently, as olden-barneveld's personal power increased, and as the negotiations for peace became more and more likely to prove successful, the advocate lost all relish for placing his great rival on a throne. the whole project, with the documents and secret schemes therewith connected, became mere alms for oblivion. barneveld himself, although of comparatively humble birth and station, was likely with time to exercise more real power in the state than either henry or maurice; and thus while there were three individuals who in different ways aspired to supreme power, the republic, notwithstanding, asserted and established itself. freedom of government and freedom, of religion were, on the whole, assisted by this triple antagonism. the prince, so soon as war was over, hated the advocate and his daily increasing power more and more. he allied himself more closely than ever with the gomarites and the clerical party in general, and did his best to inflame the persecuting spirit, already existing in the provinces, against the catholics and the later sects of protestants. jeannin warned him that "by thus howling with the priests" he would be suspected of more desperately ambitious designs than he perhaps really cherished. on the other hand, barneveld was accused of a willingness to wink at the introduction, privately and quietly, of the roman catholic worship. that this was the deadliest of sins, there was no doubt whatever in the minds of his revilers. when it was added that he was suspected of the arminian leprosy, and that he could tolerate the thought that a virtuous man or woman, not predestined from all time for salvation, could possibly find the way to heaven, language becomes powerless to stigmatize his depravity. whatever the punishment impending over his head in this world or the next, it is certain that the cause of human freedom was not destined on the whole to lose ground through the life-work of barneveld. a champion of liberties rather than of liberty, he defended his fatherland with heart and soul against the stranger; yet the government of that fatherland was, in his judgments to be transferred from the hand of the foreigner, not to the self-governing people, but to the provincial corporations. for the people he had no respect, and perhaps little affection. he often spoke of popular rights with contempt. of popular sovereignty he had no conception. his patriotism, like his ambition, was provincial. yet his perceptions as to eternal necessity in all healthy governments taught him that comprehensible relations between the state and the population were needful to the very existence of a free commonwealth. the united provinces, he maintained, were not a republic, but a league of seven provinces very loosely hung together, a mere provisional organization for which it was not then possible to substitute anything better. he expressed this opinion with deep regret, just as the war of independence was closing, and added his conviction that, without some well-ordered government, no republic could stand. yet, as time wore on, the advocate was destined to acquiesce more and more in this defective constitution. a settled theory there was none, and it would have been difficult legally and historically to establish the central sovereignty of the states-general as matter of right. thus barneveld, who was anything but a democrat, became, almost unwittingly, the champion of the least venerable or imposing of all forms of aristocracy--an oligarchy of traders who imagined themselves patricians. corporate rights, not popular liberty, seemed, in his view, the precious gains made by such a prodigious expenditure of time, money, and blood. although such acquisitions were practically a vast addition to the stock of human freedom then existing in the world, yet torrents of blood and millions of treasure were to be wasted in the coming centuries before mankind was to convince itself that a republic is only to be made powerful and perpetual by placing itself upon the basis of popular right rather than on that of municipal privilege. the singular docility of the dutch people, combined with the simplicity, honesty, and practical sagacity of the earlier burgher patricians, made the defects of the system tolerable for a longer period than might have been expected; nor was it until theological dissensions had gathered to such intensity as to set the whole commonwealth aflame that the grave defects in the political structure could be fairly estimated. it would be anticipating a dark chapter in the history of the united provinces were the reader's attention now to be called to those fearful convulsions. the greatest reserve is therefore necessary at present in alluding to the subject. it was not to be expected that an imperious, energetic but somewhat limited nature like that of barneveld should at that epoch thoroughly comprehend the meaning of religious freedom. william the silent alone seems to have risen to that height. a conscientious calvinist himself, the father of his country would have been glad to see protestant and papist, lutheran, presbyterian, and anabaptist living together in harmony and political equality. this was not to be. the soul of the immortal prince could not inspire the hearts of his contemporaries. that barneveld was disposed to a breadth of religious sympathy unusual in those days, seems certain. it was inevitable, too, that the mild doctrines of arminius should be more in harmony with such a character than were the fierce dogmas of calvin. but the struggle, either to force arminianism upon the church which considered itself the established one in the netherlands, or to expel the calvinists from it, had not yet begun; although the seeds of religious persecution of protestants by protestants had already been sown broadcast. the day was not far distant when the very calvinists, to whom, more than to any other class of men, the political liberties of holland, england, and america are due, were to be hunted out of churches into farm-houses, suburban hovels, and canal-boats by the arm of provincial sovereignty and in the name of state-rights, as pitilessly as the early reformers had been driven out of cathedrals in the name of emperor and pope; and when even those refuges for conscientious worship were to be denied by the dominant sect. and the day was to come, too, when the calvinists, regaining ascendency in their turn, were to hunt the heterodox as they had themselves been hunted; and this, at the very moment when their fellow calvinists of england were driven by the church of that kingdom into the american wilderness. toleration--that intolerable term of insult to all who love liberty--had not yet been discovered. it had scarcely occurred to arminian or presbyterian that civil authority and ecclesiastical doctrine could be divorced from each other. as the individual sovereignty of the seven states established itself more and more securely, the right of provincial power to dictate religious dogmas, and to superintend the popular conscience, was exercised with a placid arrogance which papal infallibility could scarcely exceed. the alternation was only between the sects, each in its turn becoming orthodox, and therefore persecuting. the lessened intensity of persecution however, which priesthood and authority were now allowed to exercise, marked the gains secured. yet while we censure--as we have a right to do from the point of view which we have gained after centuries--the crimes committed by bigotry against liberty, we should be false, to our faith in human progress did we not acknowledge our debt of gratitude to the hot gospellers of holland and england. the doctrine of predestination, the consciousness of being chosen soldiers of christ, inspired those puritans, who founded the commonwealths of england, of holland, and of america, with a contempt of toil, danger, and death which enabled them to accomplish things almost supernatural. no uncouthness of phraseology, no unlovely austerity of deportment, could, except to vulgar minds, make that sublime enthusiasm ridiculous, which on either side the ocean ever confronted tyranny with dauntless front, and welcomed death on battle-field, scaffold, or rack with perfect composure. the early puritan at least believed. the very intensity of his belief made him--all unconsciously to himself, and narrowed as was his view of his position--the great instrument by which the widest human liberty was to be gained for all mankind. the elected favourite of the king of kings feared the power of no earthly king. accepting in rapture the decrees of a supernatural tyranny, he rose on mighty wings above the reach of human wrath. prostrating himself before a god of vengeance, of jealousy, and of injustice, he naturally imitated the attributes which he believed to be divine. it was inevitable, therefore, that barneveld, and those who thought with him, when they should attempt to force the children of belial into the company of the elect and to drive the faithful out of their own churches, should be detested as bitterly as papists had ever been. had barneveld's intellect been broad enough to imagine in a great republic the separation of church and state, he would deserve a tenderer sympathy, but he would have been far in advance of his age. it is not cheerful to see so powerful an intellect and so patriotic a character daring to entrust the relations between man and his maker to the decree of a trading corporation. but alas! the world was to wait for centuries until it should learn that the state can best defend religion by letting it alone, and that the political arm is apt to wither with palsy when it attempts to control the human conscience. it is not entirely the commonwealth of the united netherlands that is of importance in the epoch which i have endeavoured to illustrate. history can have neither value nor charm for those who are not impressed with a conviction of its continuity. more than ever during the period which we call modern history has this idea of the continuousness of our race, and especially of the inhabitants of europe and america, become almost oppressive to the imagination. there is a sense of immortality even upon earth when we see the succession of heritages in the domains of science, of intellectual and material wealth by which mankind, generation after generation, is enriching itself. if this progress be a dream, if mankind be describing a limited circle instead of advancing towards the infinite; then no study can be more contemptible than the study of history. few strides more gigantic have been taken in the march of humanity than those by which a parcel of outlying provinces in the north of europe exchanged slavery to a foreign despotism and to the holy inquisition for the position of a self-governing commonwealth, in the front rank of contemporary powers, and in many respects the foremost of the world. it is impossible to calculate the amount of benefit tendered to civilization by the example of the dutch republic. it has been a model which has been imitated, in many respects, by great nations. it has even been valuable in its very defects; indicating to the patient observer many errors most important to avoid. therefore, had the little republic sunk for ever in the sea so soon as the treaty of peace had been signed at antwerp, its career would have been prolific of good for all succeeding time. exactly at the moment when a splendid but decaying despotism, founded upon wrong--upon oppression of the human body and the immortal soul, upon slavery, in short, of the worst kind--was awaking from its insane dream of universal empire to a consciousness of its own decay, the new republic was recognised among the nations. it would hardly be incorrect to describe the holland of the beginning of the seventeenth century as the exact reverse of spain. in, the commonwealth labour was most honourable; in the kingdom it was vile. in the north to be idle was accounted and punished as a crime. in the southern peninsula, to be contaminated with mechanical, mercantile, commercial, manufacturing pursuits, was to be accursed. labour was for slaves, and at last the mere spectacle of labour became so offensive that even the slaves were expelled from the land. to work was as degrading in the south as to beg or to steal was esteemed unworthy of humanity in the north. to think a man's thought upon high matters of religion and government, and through a thousand errors to pursue the truth; with the aid of the most high and with the best use of human reason, was a privilege secured by the commonwealth, at the expense of two generations of continuous bloodshed. to lie fettered, soul and body, at the feet of authority wielded by a priesthood in its last stage of corruption, and monarchy almost reduced to imbecility, was the lot of the chivalrous, genial; but much oppressed spaniard. the pictures painted of the republic by shrewd and caustic observers, not inclined by nature or craft to portray freedom in too engaging colours, seem, when contrasted with those revealed of spain, almost like enthusiastic fantasies of an ideal commonwealth. during the last twenty years of the great war the material prosperity of the netherlands had wonderfully increased. they had, become the first commercial nation in the world. they had acquired the supremacy of the seas. the population of amsterdam had in twenty years increased from seventy thousand to a hundred and thirty thousand, and was destined to be again more than doubled in the coming decade. the population of antwerp had sunk almost as rapidly as that of its rival had increased; having lessened by fifty thousand during the same period. the commercial capital of the obedient provinces, having already lost much of its famous traffic by the great changes in the commercial current of the world, was unable to compete with the cities of the united provinces in the vast trade which the geographical discoveries of the preceding century had opened to civilization. freedom of thought and action were denied, and without such liberty it was impossible for oceanic commerce to thrive. moreover, the possession by the hollanders of the scheld forts below antwerp, and of flushing at the river's mouth, suffocated the ancient city, and would of itself have been sufficient to paralyze all its efforts. in antwerp the exchange, where once thousands of the great merchants of the earth held their daily financial parliament, now echoed to the solitary footfall of the passing stranger. ships lay rotting at the quays; brambles grow in the commercial streets. in amsterdam the city had been enlarged by two-thirds, and those who swarmed thither to seek their fortunes could not wait for the streets to be laid out and houses to be built, but established themselves in the environs, building themselves hovels and temporary residences, although certain to find their encampments swept away with the steady expanse of the city. as much land as could be covered by a man's foot was worth a ducat in gold. in every branch of human industry these republicans took the lead. on that scrap of solid ground, rescued by human energy from the ocean, were the most fertile pastures in the world. on those pastures grazed the most famous cattle in the world. an ox often weighed more than two thousand pounds. the cows produced two and three calves at a time, the sheep four and five lambs. in a single village four thousand kine were counted. butter and cheese were exported to the annual value of a million, salted provisions to an incredible extent. the farmers were industrious, thriving, and independent. it is an amusing illustration of the agricultural thrift and republican simplicity of this people that on one occasion a farmer proposed to prince maurice that he should marry his daughter, promising with her a dowry of a hundred thousand florins. the mechanical ingenuity of the netherlanders, already celebrated by julius caesar and by tacitus, had lost nothing of its ancient fame. the contemporary world confessed that in many fabrics the hollanders were at the head of mankind. dutch linen, manufactured of the flax grown on their own fields or imported from the obedient provinces, was esteemed a fitting present for kings to make and to receive. the name of the country had passed into the literature of england as synonymous with the delicate fabric itself. the venetians confessed themselves equalled, if not outdone, by the crystal workers and sugar refiners of the northern republic. the tapestries of arras--the name of which walloon city had become a household word of luxury in all modern languages--were now transplanted to the soil of freedom, more congenial to the advancement of art. brocades of the precious metals; splendid satins and velvets; serges and homely fustians; laces of thread and silk; the finer and coarser manufactures of clay and porcelain; iron, steel, and all useful fabrics for the building and outfitting of ships; substantial broadcloths manufactured of wool imported from scotland--all this was but a portion of the industrial production of the provinces. they supplied the deficiency of coal, not then an article readily obtained by commerce, with other remains of antediluvian forests long since buried in the sea, and now recovered from its depths and made useful and portable by untiring industry. peat was not only the fuel for the fireside, but for the extensive fabrics of the country, and its advantages so much excited the admiration of the venetian envoys that they sent home samples of it, in the hope that the lagunes of venice might prove as prolific of this indispensable article as the polders of holland. but the foundation of the national wealth, the source of the apparently fabulous power by which the republic had at last overthrown her gigantic antagonist, was the ocean. the republic was sea-born and sea-sustained. she had nearly one hundred thousand sailors, and three thousand ships. the sailors were the boldest, the best disciplined, and the most experienced in the-world, whether for peaceable seafaring or ocean warfare. the ships were capable of furnishing from out of their number in time of need the most numerous and the best appointed navy then known to mankind. the republic had the carrying trade for all nations. feeling its very existence dependent upon commerce, it had strode centuries in advance of the contemporary world in the liberation of trade. but two or three per cent. ad valorem was levied upon imports; foreign goods however being subject, as well as internal products, to heavy imposts in the way of both direct and indirect taxation. every article of necessity or luxury known was to be purchased in profusion and at reasonable prices in the warehouses of holland. a swarm of river vessels and fly-boats were coming daily through the rivers of germany, france and the netherlands, laden with the agricultural products and the choice manufactures of central and western europe. wine and oil, and delicate fabrics in thread and wool, came from france, but no silks, velvets, nor satins; for the great sully had succeeded in persuading his master that the white mulberry would not grow in his kingdom, and that silk manufactures were an impossible dream for france. nearly a thousand ships were constantly employed in the baltic trade. the forests of holland were almost as extensive as those which grew on norwegian hills, but they were submerged. the foundation of a single mansion required a grove, and wood was extensively used in the superstructure. the houses, built of a framework of substantial timber, and filled in with brick or rubble, were raised almost as rapidly as tents, during the prodigious expansion of industry towards the end of the war. from the realms of the osterlings, or shores of the baltic, came daily fleets laden with wheat and other grains so that even in time of famine the granaries of the republic were overflowing, and ready to dispense the material of life to the outer world. eight hundred vessels of lesser size but compact build were perpetually fishing for herrings on the northern coasts. these hardy mariners, the militia of the sea, who had learned in their life of hardship and daring the art of destroying spanish and portuguese armadas, and confronting the dangers of either pole, passed a long season on the deep. commercial voyagers as well as fishermen, they salted their fish as soon as taken from the sea, and transported them to the various ports of europe, thus reducing their herrings into specie before their return, and proving that a fishery in such hands was worth more than the mines of mexico and peru. it is customary to speak of the natural resources of a country as furnishing a guarantee of material prosperity. but here was a republic almost without natural resources, which had yet supplied by human intelligence and thrift what a niggard nature had denied. spain was overflowing with unlimited treasure, and had possessed half the world in fee; and spain was bankrupt, decaying, sinking into universal pauperism. holland, with freedom of thought, of commerce, of speech, of action, placed itself, by intellectual power alone, in the front rank of civilization. from cathay, from the tropical coasts of africa, and from farthest ind, came every drug, spice, or plant, every valuable jewel, every costly fabric, that human ingenuity had discovered or created. the spaniards, maintaining a frail tenure upon a portion of those prolific regions, gathered their spice harvests at the point of the sword, and were frequently unable to prevent their northern rivals from ravaging such fields as they had not yet been able to appropriate. certainly this conduct of the hollanders was barbarism and supreme selfishness, if judged by the sounder political economy of our time. yet it should never be forgotten that the contest between spain and holland in those distant regions, as everywhere else, was war to the knife between superstition and freedom, between the spirits of progress and of dogma. hard blows and foul blows were struck in such a fight, and humanity, although gaining at last immense results, had much to suffer and much to learn ere the day was won. but spain was nearly beaten out of those eastern regions, and the very fact that the naval supremacy of the republic placed her ancient tyrant at her mercy was the main reason for spain to conclude the treaty of truce. lest she should lose the india trade entirely, spain consented to the treaty article by which, without mentioning the word, she conceded the thing. it was almost pathetic to witness, as we have witnessed, this despotism in its dotage, mumbling so long over the formal concession to her conqueror of a portion of that india trade which would have been entirely wrested from herself had the war continued. and of this spain was at heart entirely convinced. thus the portuguese, once the lords and masters, as they had been the european discoverers, of those prolific regions and of the ocean highways which led to them, now came with docility to the republic which they had once affected to despise, and purchased the cloves and the allspice, the nutmegs and the cinnamon, of which they had held the monopoly; or waited with patience until the untiring hollanders should bring the precious wares to the peninsula ports. a dutch indianian would make her voyage to the antipodes and her return in less time than was spent by a portuguese or a spaniard in the outward voyage. to accomplish such an enterprise in two years was accounted a wonder of rapidity, and when it is remembered that inland navigation through france by canal and river from the north sea to the mediterranean was considered both speedier and safer, because the sea voyage between the same points might last four or five months, it must be admitted that two years occupied in passing from one end of the earth to the other and back again might well seem a miracle. the republic was among the wealthiest and the most powerful of organized states. her population might be estimated at three millions and a half, about equal to that of england at the same period. but she was richer than england. nowhere in the world was so large a production in proportion to the numbers of a people. nowhere were so few unproductive consumers. every one was at work. vagabonds, idlers, and do-nothings, such as must be in every community, were caught up by the authorities and made to earn their bread. the devil's pillow, idleness, was smoothed for no portion of the population. there were no beggars, few paupers, no insolently luxurious and ostentatiously idle class. the modesty, thrift, and simple elegance of the housekeeping, even among the wealthy, was noted by travellers with surprise. it will be remembered with how much amused wonder, followed by something like contempt, the magnificent household of spinola, during his embassy at the hague, was surveyed by the honest burghers of holland. the authorities showed their wisdom in permitting the absurd exhibition, as an example of what should be shunned, in spite of grave remonstrances from many of the citizens. drunken helotism is not the only form of erring humanity capable of reading lessons to a republic. there had been monasteries, convents, ecclesiastical establishments of all kinds in the country, before the great war between holland and the inquisition. these had, as a matter of course, been confiscated as the strife went on. the buildings, farms, and funds, once the property of the church, had not, however, been seized upon, as in other protestant lands, by rapacious monarchs, and distributed among great nobles according to royal caprice. monarchs might give the revenue of a suppressed convent to a cook, as reward for a successful pudding; the surface of britain and the continent might be covered with abbeys and monasteries now converted into lordly palaces--passing thus from the dead hand of the church into the idle and unproductive palm of the noble; but the ancient ecclesiastical establishments of the free netherlands were changed into eleemosynary institutions, admirably organized and administered with wisdom and economy, where orphans of the poor, widows of those slain in the battles for freedom by land and sea, and the aged and the infirm, who had deserved well of the republic in the days of their strength, were educated or cherished at the expense of the public, thus endowed from the spoils of the church. in spain, monasteries upon monasteries were rising day by day, as if there were not yet receptacles enough for monks and priests, while thousands upon thousands of spaniards were pressing into the ranks of the priesthood, and almost forcing themselves into monasteries, that they might be privileged to beg, because ashamed to work. in the united netherlands the confiscated convents, with their revenues, were appropriated for the good of those who were too young or too old to labour, and too poor to maintain themselves without work. need men look further than to this simple fact to learn why spain was decaying while the republic was rising? the ordinary budget of the united provinces was about equal to that of england, varying not much from four millions of florins, or four hundred thousand pounds. but the extraordinary revenue was comparatively without limits, and there had been years, during the war, when the citizens had taxed themselves as highly as fifty per cent. on each individual income, and doubled the receipts of the exchequer. the budget was proposed once a year, by the council of state, and voted by the states-general, who assigned the quota of each province; that of holland being always one-half of the whole, that of zeeland sixteen per cent., and that of the other five of course in lesser proportions. the revenue was collected in the separate provinces, one-third of the whole being retained for provincial expenses, and the balance paid into the general treasury. there was a public debt, the annual interest of which amounted to , florins. during the war, money had been borrowed at as high a rate as thirty-six per cent., but at the conclusion of hostilities the states could borrow at six per cent., and the whole debt was funded on that basis. taxation was enormously heavy, but patriotism caused it to be borne with cheerfulness, and productive industry made it comparatively light. rents were charged twenty-five per cent. a hundred per cent. was levied upon beer, wine, meat, salt, spirits. other articles of necessity and luxury were almost as severely taxed. it is not easy to enumerate the tax-list, scarcely anything foreign or domestic being exempted, while the grave error was often committed of taxing the same article, in different forms, four, five, and six times. the people virtually taxed themselves, although the superstition concerning the state, as something distinct from and superior to the people, was to linger long and work infinite mischief among those seven republics which were never destined to be welded theoretically and legally into a union. the sacredness of corporations had succeeded, in a measure, to the divinity which hedges kings. nevertheless, those corporations were so numerous as to be effectively open to a far larger proportion of the population than, in those days, had ever dreamed before of participating in the government. the magistracies were in general unpaid and little coveted, being regarded as a burthen and a responsibility rather than an object of ambition. the jurisconsults, called pensionaries, who assisted the municipal authorities, received, however, a modest salary, never exceeding florins a year. these numerous bodies, provincial and municipal, elected themselves themselves by supplying their own vacancies. the magistrates were appointed by the stadholder, on a double or triple nomination from the municipal board. this was not impartial suffrage nor manhood suffrage. the germ of a hateful burgher-oligarchy was in the system, but, as compared with spain, where municipal magistracies were sold by the crown at public auction; or with france, where every office in church, law, magistrature, or court was an object of merchandise disposed of in open market, the system was purity itself, and marked a great advance in the science of government. it should never be forgotten, moreover, that while the presidents and judges of the highest courts of judicature in other civilized lands were at the mercy of an irresponsible sovereign, and held office--even although it had been paid for in solid specie--at his pleasure, the supreme justices of the high courts of appeal at the hague were nominated by a senate, and confirmed by a stadholder, and that they exercised their functions for life, or so long as they conducted themselves virtuously in their high office--'quamdiu se bene gesserint.' if one of the great objects of a civilized community is to secure to all men their own--'ut sua tenerent'--surely it must be admitted that the republic was in advance of all contemporary states in the laying down of this vital principle, the independence of judges. as to the army and navy of the united provinces, enough has been said, in earlier chapters of these volumes, to indicate the improvements introduced by prince maurice, and now carried to the highest point of perfection ever attained in that period. there is no doubt whatever, that for discipline, experience, equipment, effectiveness of movement, and general organization, the army of the republic was the model army of europe. it amounted to but thirty thousand infantry and two thousand five hundred cavalry, but this number was a large one for a standing army at the beginning of the seventeenth century. it was composed of a variety of materials, hollanders, walloons, flemings, scotch, english, irish, germans, but all welded together into a machine of perfect regularity. the private foot-soldier received twelve florins for a so-called month of forty-two days, the drummer and corporal eighteen, the lieutenant fifty-two, and the captain one hundred and fifty florins. prompt payment was made every week. obedience was implicit; mutiny, such as was of periodical recurrence in the archduke's army, entirely unknown. the slightest theft was punished with the gallows, and there was therefore no thieving. the most accurate and critical observers confessed, almost against their will, that no army in europe could compare with the troops of the states. as to the famous regiments of sicily, and the ancient legions of naples and milan, a distinguished venetian envoy, who had seen all the camps and courts of christendom, and was certainly not disposed to overrate the hollanders at the expense of the italians, if any rivalry between them had been possible, declared that every private soldier in the republic was fit to be a captain in any italian army; while, on the other hand, there was scarcely an italian captain who would be accepted as a private in any company of the states. so low had the once famous soldiery of alva, don john, and alexander farnese descended. the cavalry of the republic was even more perfectly organized than was the infantry. "i want words to describe its perfection," said contarini. the pay was very high, and very prompt. a captain received four hundred florins a month (of forty-two days), a lieutenant one hundred and eighty florins, and other officers and privates in proportion. these rates would be very high in our own day. when allowance is made for the difference in the value of money at the respective epochs, the salaries are prodigious; but the thrifty republic found its account in paying well and paying regularly the champions on whom so much depended, and by whom such splendid services had been rendered. while the soldiers in the pay of queen elizabeth were crawling to her palace gates to die of starvation before her eyes; while the veterans of spain and of italy had organized themselves into a permanent military, mutinous republic, on the soil of the so-called obedient netherland, because they were left by their masters without clothing or food; the cavalry and infantry of the dutch commonwealth, thanks to the organizing spirit and the wholesome thrift of the burgher authorities, were contented, obedient, well fed, well clothed, and well paid; devoted to their government, and ever ready to die in its defence. nor was it only on the regular army that reliance was placed. on the contrary, every able-bodied man in the country was liable to be called upon to serve, at any moment, in the militia. all were trained to arms, and provided with arms, and there had been years during this perpetual war in which one man out of three of the whole male population was ready to be mustered at any moment into the field. even more could be said in praise of the navy than has been stated of the armies of the republic; for the contemporary accounts of foreigners, and of foreigners who were apt to be satirical, rather than enthusiastic, when describing the institutions, leading personages, and customs of other countries, seemed ever to speak of the united provinces in terms of eulogy. in commerce, as in war, the naval supremacy of the republic was indisputable. it was easy for the states to place two thousand vessels of war in commission, if necessary, of tonnage varying from four hundred to twelve hundred tons, to man them with the hardiest and boldest sailors in the world, and to despatch them with promptness to any quarter of the globe. it was recognised as nearly impossible to compel a war-vessel of the republic to surrender. hardly an instance was on her naval record of submission, even to far superior force, while it was filled with the tragic but heroic histories of commanders who had blown their ships, with every man on board, into the air, rather than strike their flag. such was the character, and such the capacity of the sea-born republic. that republic had serious and radical defects, but the design remained to be imitated and improved upon, centuries afterwards. the history of the rise and progress of the dutch republic is a leading chapter in the history of human liberty. the great misfortune of the commonwealth of the united provinces, next to the slenderness of its geographical proportions, was the fact that it was without a centre and without a head, and therefore not a nation capable of unlimited vitality. there were seven states. each claimed to be sovereign. the pretension on the part of several of them was ridiculous. overyssel, for example, contributed two and three-quarters per cent. of the general budget. it was a swamp of twelve hundred square miles in extent, with some heath-spots interspered, and it numbered perhaps a hundred thousand inhabitants. the doughty count of embden alone could have swallowed up such sovereignty, have annexed all the buckwheat patches and cranberry marshes of overyssel to his own meagre territories, and nobody the wiser. zeeland, as we have seen, was disposed at a critical moment to set up its independent sovereignty. zeeland, far more important than overyssel, had a revenue of perhaps five hundred thousand dollars,--rather a slender budget for an independent republic, wedged in as it was by the most powerful empires of the earth, and half drowned by the ocean, from which it had scarcely emerged. there was therefore no popular representation, and on the other hand no executive head. as sovereignty must be exercised in some way, however, in all living commonwealths, and as a low degree of vitality was certainly not the defect of those bustling provinces, the supreme functions had now fallen into the hands of holland. while william the silent lived, the management of war, foreign affairs, and finance, for the revolted provinces, was in his control. he was aided by two council boards, but the circumstances of history and the character of the man had invested him with an inevitable dictatorship. after his death, at least after leicester's time, the powers of the state-council, the head of which, prince maurice, was almost always absent at the wars, fell into comparative disuse. the great functions of the confederacy passed into the possession of the states-general. that body now came to sit permanently at the hague. the number of its members, deputies from the seven provinces-envoys from those seven immortal and soulless sovereigns--was not large. the extraordinary assembly held at bergen-op-zoom for confirmation of the truce was estimated by, bentivoglio at eight hundred. bentivoglio, who was on the spot, being then nuncius at brussels, ought to have been able to count them, yet it is very certain that the number was grossly exaggerated. at any rate the usual assembly at the hague rarely amounted to one hundred members. the presidency was changed once a week, the envoy of each province taking his turn as chairman. olden-barneveld, as member for holland, was always present in the diet. as advocate-general of the leading province, and keeper of its great seal, more especially as possessor of the governing intellect of the whole commonwealth, he led the administration of holland, and as the estates of holland contributed more than half of the whole budget of the confederacy, it was a natural consequence of the actual supremacy of that province, and of the vast legal hand political experience of the advocate, that holland should, govern the confederacy, and that barneveld should govern holland. the states-general remained virtually supreme, receiving envoys from all the great powers, sending abroad their diplomatic representatives, to whom the title and rank of ambassador was freely accorded, and dealing in a decorous and dignified way with all european affairs. the ability of the republican statesmen was as fully recognised all over the earth, as was the genius of their generals and great naval commanders. the people did not exist; but this was merely because, in theory, the people had not been invented. it was exactly because there was a people--an energetic and intelligent people--that the republic was possible. no scheme had yet been devised for laying down in primary assemblies a fundamental national law, for distributing the various functions of governmental power among selected servants, for appointing representatives according to population or property, and for holding all trustees responsible at reasonable intervals to the nation itself. thus government was involved, fold within fold, in successive and concentric municipal layers. the states-general were the outer husk, of which the separate town-council was the kernel or bulb. yet the number of these executive and legislative boards was so large, and the whole population comparatively so slender, as to cause the original inconveniences from so incomplete a system to be rather theoretic than practical. in point of fact, almost as large a variety of individuals served the state as would perhaps have been the case under a more philosophically arranged democracy. the difficulty was rather in obtaining a candidate for the post than in distributing the posts among candidates. men were occupied with their own affairs. in proportion to their numbers, they were more productive of wealth than any other nation then existing. an excellent reason why the people were so, well governed, so productive, and so enterprising, was the simple fact that they were an educated people. there was hardly a netherlander--man, woman, or child--that could not read and write. the school was the common property of the people, paid for among the municipal expenses. in the cities, as well as in the rural districts, there were not only common schools but classical schools. in the burgher families it was rare to find boys who had not been taught latin, or girls unacquainted with french. capacity to write and speak several modern languages was very common, and there were many individuals in every city, neither professors nor pedants, who had made remarkable progress in science and classical literature. the position, too, of women in the commonwealth proved a high degree of civilization. they are described as virtuous, well-educated, energetic, sovereigns in their households, and accustomed to direct all the business at home. "it would be ridiculous," said donato, "to see a man occupying himself with domestic house-keeping. the women do it all, and command absolutely." the hollanders, so rebellious against church and king, accepted with meekness the despotism of woman. the great movement of emancipation from political and ecclesiastical tyranny had brought with it a general advancement of the human intellect. the foundation of the leyden university in memory of the heroism displayed by the burghers during the siege was as noble a monument as had ever been raised by a free people jealous of its fame. and the scientific lustre of the university well sustained the nobility of its origin. the proudest nation on earth might be more proud of a seat of learning, founded thus amidst carnage and tears, whence so much of profound learning and brilliant literature had already been diffused. the classical labours of joseph scaliger, heinsius father and son the elder dousa, almost as famous with his pen in latin poetry as his sword had made him in the vernacular chronicle; of dousa the son, whom grotius called "the crown and flower of all good learning, too soon snatched away by envious death, than whom no man more skilled in poetry, more consummate in acquaintance with ancient science and literature, had ever lived;" of hugo grotius himself, who at the age of fifteen had taken his doctor's degree at leyden who as a member of olden-barneveld's important legation to france and england very soon afterwards had excited the astonishment of henry iv. and elizabeth, who had already distinguished himself by editions of classic poets, and by original poems and dramas in latin, and was already, although but twenty-six years of age; laying the foundation of that magnificent reputation as a jurist, a philosopher, a historian, and a statesman, which was to be one of the enduring glories of humanity, all these were the precious possessions of the high school of leyden. the still more modern university of franeker, founded amid the din of perpetual warfare in friesland, could at least boast the name of arminius, whose theological writings and whose expansive views were destined to exert such influence over his contemporaries and posterity. the great history of hoofd, in which the splendid pictures and the impassioned drama of the great war of independence were to be preserved for his countrymen through all time, was not yet written. it was soon afterwards, however, to form not only a chief source of accurate information as to the great events themselves, but a model of style never since surpassed by any prose writer in either branch of the german tongue. had hoofd written for a wider audience, it would be difficult to name a contemporary author of any nation whose work would have been more profoundly studied or more generally admired. but the great war had not waited to be chronicled by the classic and impassioned hoofd. already there were thorough and exhaustive narrators of what was instinctively felt to be one of the most pregnant episodes of human history. bor of utrecht, a miracle of industry, of learning, of unwearied perseverance, was already engaged in the production of those vast folios in which nearly all the great transactions of the forty years' war were conscientiously portrayed, with a comprehensiveness of material and an impartiality of statement, such as might seem almost impossible for a contemporary writer. immersed in attentive study and profound contemplation, he seemed to lift his tranquil head from time to time over the wild ocean of those troublous times, and to survey with accuracy without being swayed or appalled by the tempest. there was something almost sublime in his steady, unimpassioned gaze. emanuel van meteren, too, a plain protestant merchant of antwerp and amsterdam, wrote an admirable history of the war and of his own times, full of precious details, especially rich in statistics--a branch of science which he almost invented--which still, remains as one of the leading authorities, not only for scholars, but for the general reader. reyd and burgundius, the one the calvinist private secretary of lewis william, the other a warm catholic partisan, both made invaluable contemporaneous contributions to the history of the war. the trophies already secured by the netherlanders in every department of the fine arts, as well as the splendour which was to enrich the coming epoch, are too familiar to the world to need more than a passing allusion. but it was especially in physical science that the republic was taking a leading part in the great intellectual march of the nations. the very necessities of its geographical position had forced it to pre-eminence in hydraulics and hydrostatics. it had learned to transform water into dry land with a perfection attained by no nation before or since. the wonders of its submarine horticulture were the despair of all gardeners in the world. and as in this gentlest of arts, so also in the dread science of war, the republic had been the instructor of mankind. the youthful maurice and his cousin lewis william had so restored and improved the decayed intelligence of antique strategy, that the greybeards of europe became docile pupils in their school. the mathematical teacher of prince maurice amazed the contemporary world with his combinations and mechanical inventions; the flying chariots of simon stevinua seeming products of magical art. yet the character of the dutch intellect was averse to sorcery. the small but mighty nation, which had emancipated itself from the tyranny of philip and of the holy inquisition, was foremost to shake off the fetters of superstition. out of holland came the first voice to rebuke one of the hideous delusions of the age. while grave magistrates and sages of other lands were exorcising the devil by murdering his supposed victims, john wier, a physician of grave, boldly denounced the demon which had taken possession, not of the wizards, but of the judges. the age was lunatic and sick, and it was fitting that the race which had done so much for the physical and intellectual emancipation of the world, should have been the first to apply a remedy for this monstrous madness. englishmen and their descendants were drowning and hanging witches in new england, long after john wier had rebuked and denounced the belief in witchcraft. it was a zeelander, too; who placed the instrument in the hand of galileo by which that daring genius traced the movements of the universe, and who, by another wondrous invention, enabled future discoverers to study the infinite life which lies all around us, hidden not by its remoteness but it's minuteness. zacharias jansens of middelburg, in , invented both the telescope and the microscope. the wonder-man of alkmaar, cornelius drebbel, who performed such astounding feats for the amusement of rudolph of germany and james of britain, is also supposed to have invented the thermometer and the barometer. but this claim has been disputed. the inventions of jansens are proved. willebrod snellius, mathematical professor of leyden, introduced the true method of measuring the degrees of longitude and latitude, and huygens, who had seen his manuscripts, asserted that snellius had invented, before descartes, the doctrine of refraction. but it was especially to that noble band of heroes and martyrs, the great navigators and geographical discoverers of the republic, that science is above all indebted. nothing is more sublime in human story than the endurance and audacity with which those pioneers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries confronted the nameless horrors of either pole, in the interests of commerce, and for the direct purpose of enlarging the bounds of the human intellect. the achievements, the sufferings, and the triumphs of barendz and cordes, heemskerk, van der hagen, and many others, have been slightly indicated in these pages. the contributions to botany, mineralogy, geometry, geography, and zoology, of linschoten, plancius, wagenaar, and houtmann, and so many other explorers of pole and tropic, can hardly be overrated. the netherlanders had wrung their original fatherland out of the grasp of the ocean. they had confronted for centuries the wrath of that ancient tyrant, ever ready to seize the prey of which he had been defrauded. they had waged fiercer and more perpetual battle with a tyranny more cruel than the tempest, with an ancient superstition more hungry than the sea. it was inevitable that a race, thus invigorated by the ocean, cradled to freedom by their conflicts with its power, and hardened almost to invincibility by their struggle against human despotism, should be foremost among the nations in the development of political, religious, and commercial freedom. the writer now takes an affectionate farewell of those who have followed him with an indulgent sympathy as he has attempted to trace the origin and the eventful course of the dutch commonwealth. if by his labours a generous love has been fostered for that blessing, without which everything that this earth can afford is worthless--freedom of thought, of speech, and of life--his highest wish has been fulfilled. etext editor's bookmarks: about equal to that of england at the same period an unjust god, himself the origin of sin butchery in the name of christ was suspended calling a peace perpetual can never make it so chieftains are dwarfed in the estimation of followers each in its turn becoming orthodox, and therefore persecuting exorcising the devil by murdering his supposed victims foremost to shake off the fetters of superstition god of vengeance, of jealousy, and of injustice gomarites accused the arminians of being more lax than papists hangman is not the most appropriate teacher of religion he often spoke of popular rights with contempt john wier, a physician of grave necessity of extirpating heresy, root and branch nowhere were so few unproductive consumers paving the way towards atheism (by toleration) privileged to beg, because ashamed to work religious persecution of protestants by protestants so unconscious of her strength state can best defend religion by letting it alone taxed themselves as highly as fifty per cent the people had not been invented the slightest theft was punished with the gallows tolerate another religion that his own may be tolerated toleration--that intolerable term of insult war to compel the weakest to follow the religion of the strongest. etext editor's bookmarks, entire - united netherlands: a penal offence in the republic to talk of peace or of truce a sovereign remedy for the disease of liberty a man incapable of fatigue, of perplexity, or of fear a truce he honestly considered a pitfall of destruction about equal to that of england at the same period abstinence from unproductive consumption accepting a new tyrant in place of the one so long ago deposed alas! we must always have something to persecute alas! the benighted victims of superstition hugged their chains all the ministers and great functionaries received presents an unjust god, himself the origin of sin argument is exhausted and either action or compromise begins as if they were free will not make them free as neat a deception by telling the truth because he had been successful (hated) began to scatter golden arguments with a lavish hand bestowing upon others what was not his property beware of a truce even more than of a peace but the habit of dissimulation was inveterate butchery in the name of christ was suspended by turns, we all govern and are governed calling a peace perpetual can never make it so cargo of imaginary gold dust was exported from the james river certain number of powers, almost exactly equal to each other chieftains are dwarfed in the estimation of followers conceit, and procrastination which marked the royal character constitute themselves at once universal legatees contempt for treaties however solemnly ratified converting beneficent commerce into baleful gambling could handle an argument as well as a sword crimes and cruelties such as christians only could imagine culpable audacity and exaggerated prudence defeated garrison ever deserved more respect from friend or foe delay often fights better than an army against a foreign invader despised those who were grateful diplomacy of spain and rome--meant simply dissimulation do you want peace or war? i am ready for either draw a profit out of the necessities of this state each in its turn becoming orthodox, and therefore persecuting eloquence of the biggest guns england hated the netherlands even the virtues of james were his worst enemies exorcising the devil by murdering his supposed victims foremost to shake off the fetters of superstition four weeks' holiday--the first in eleven years friendly advice still more intolerable gigantic vices are proudly pointed to as the noblest god alone can protect us against those whom we trust god of vengeance, of jealousy, and of injustice gold was the only passkey to justice gomarites accused the arminians of being more lax than papists haereticis non servanda fides hangman is not the most appropriate teacher of religion he often spoke of popular rights with contempt he who confessed well was absolved well his own past triumphs seemed now his greatest enemies human fat esteemed the sovereignst remedy (for wounds) humble ignorance as the safest creed hundred thousand men had laid down their lives by her decree idea of freedom in commerce has dawned upon nations idiotic principle of sumptuary legislation if to do be as grand as to imagine what it were good to do impossible it is to practise arithmetic with disturbed brains indulging them frequently with oracular advice insensible to contumely, and incapable of accepting a rebuff it is certain that the english hate us (sully) john castel, who had stabbed henry iv. john wier, a physician of grave justified themselves in a solemn consumption of time languor of fatigue, rather than any sincere desire for peace logic of the largest battalions looking down upon her struggle with benevolent indifference made peace--and had been at war ever since man is never so convinced of his own wisdom man who cannot dissemble is unfit to reign men who meant what they said and said what they meant men fought as if war was the normal condition of humanity much as the blind or the deaf towards colour or music nations tied to the pinafores of children in the nursery natural tendency to suspicion of a timid man necessity of extirpating heresy, root and branch negotiated as if they were all immortal night brings counsel no retrenchments in his pleasures of women, dogs, and buildings no generation is long-lived enough to reap the harvest not safe for politicians to call each other hard names nowhere were so few unproductive consumers one of the most contemptible and mischievous of kings (james i) passion is a bad schoolmistress for the memory paving the way towards atheism (by toleration) peace seemed only a process for arriving at war peace founded on the only secure basis, equality of strength peace was unattainable, war was impossible, truce was inevitable philip of macedon, who considered no city impregnable prisoners were immediately hanged privileged to beg, because ashamed to work proclaiming the virginity of the virgin's mother readiness at any moment to defend dearly won liberties religious persecution of protestants by protestants repose under one despot guaranteed to them by two others requires less mention than philip iii himself rules adopted in regard to pretenders to crowns served at their banquets by hosts of lackeys on their knees sick soldiers captured on the water should be hanged so unconscious of her strength state can best defend religion by letting it alone steeped to the lips in sloth which imagined itself to be pride subtle and dangerous enemy who wore the mask of a friend such an excuse was as bad as the accusation take all their imaginations and extravagances for truths taxed themselves as highly as fifty per cent the art of ruling the world by doing nothing the slightest theft was punished with the gallows the wisest statesmen are prone to blunder in affairs of war the pigmy, as the late queen had been fond of nicknaming him the expenses of james's household the people had not been invented the small children diminished rapidly in numbers this obstinate little republic to shirk labour, infinite numbers become priests and friars to negotiate was to bribe right and left, and at every step to doubt the infallibility of calvin was as heinous a crime to negotiate with government in england was to bribe tolerate another religion that his own may be tolerated toleration--that intolerable term of insult triple marriages between the respective nurseries unlearned their faith in bell, book, and candle unproductive consumption being accounted most sagacious unwise impatience for peace usual expedient by which bad legislation on one side countered war was the normal and natural condition of mankind war was the normal condition of christians war to compel the weakest to follow the religion of the strongest we have been talking a little bit of truth to each other what was to be done in this world and believed as to the next what exchequer can accept chronic warfare and escape bankruptcy when all was gone, they began to eat each other word peace in spanish mouths simply meant the holy inquisition words are always interpreted to the disadvantage of the weak world has rolled on to fresher fields of carnage and ruin you must show your teeth to the spaniard etext editor's bookmarks of the united netherlands - , complete a hard bargain when both parties are losers a penal offence in the republic to talk of peace or of truce a despot really keeps no accounts, nor need to do so a free commonwealth--was thought an absurdity a burnt cat fears the fire a pusillanimous peace, always possible at any period a man incapable of fatigue, of perplexity, or of fear a sovereign remedy for the disease of liberty a truce he honestly considered a pitfall of destruction able men should be by design and of purpose suppressed about equal to that of england at the same period abstinence from unproductive consumption accepting a new tyrant in place of the one so long ago deposed accustomed to the faded gallantries act of uniformity required papists to assist alas! we must always have something to persecute alas! the benighted victims of superstition hugged their chains alexander's exuberant discretion all fellow-worms together all business has been transacted with open doors all italy was in his hands all the ministers and great functionaries received presents allow her to seek a profit from his misfortune an unjust god, himself the origin of sin anarchy which was deemed inseparable from a non-regal form anatomical study of what has ceased to exist and thus this gentle and heroic spirit took its flight are wont to hang their piety on the bell-rope argument is exhausted and either action or compromise begins arminianism artillery as logical as men in their cups are prone to be as if they were free will not make them free as neat a deception by telling the truth as lieve see the spanish as the calvinistic inquisition at length the twig was becoming the tree auction sales of judicial ermine baiting his hook a little to his appetite beacons in the upward path of mankind because he had been successful (hated) been already crimination and recrimination more than enough began to scatter golden arguments with a lavish hand being the true religion, proved by so many testimonies beneficent and charitable purposes (war) bestowing upon others what was not his property beware of a truce even more than of a peace bomb-shells were not often used although known for a century bungling diplomatists and credulous dotards burning of servetus at geneva but the habit of dissimulation was inveterate butchery in the name of christ was suspended by turns, we all govern and are governed calling a peace perpetual can never make it so canker of a long peace cargo of imaginary gold dust was exported from the james river casting up the matter "as pinchingly as possibly might be" certain number of powers, almost exactly equal to each other certainly it was worth an eighty years' war chief seafaring nations of the world were already protestant chieftains are dwarfed in the estimation of followers children who had never set foot on the shore chronicle of events must not be anticipated college of "peace-makers," who wrangled more than all conceding it subsequently, after much contestation conceit, and procrastination which marked the royal character condemned first and inquired upon after conformity of governments to the principles of justice considerable reason, even if there were but little justice constant vigilance is the price of liberty constitute themselves at once universal legatees contempt for treaties however solemnly ratified continuing to believe himself invincible and infallible converting beneficent commerce into baleful gambling could do a little more than what was possible could handle an argument as well as a sword courage and semblance of cheerfulness, with despair in his heart court fatigue, to scorn pleasure crimes and cruelties such as christians only could imagine culpable audacity and exaggerated prudence deal with his enemy as if sure to become his friend decline a bribe or interfere with the private sale of places defeated garrison ever deserved more respect from friend or foe defect of enjoying the flattery, of his inferiors in station delay often fights better than an army against a foreign invader demanding peace and bread at any price despised those who were grateful diplomacy of spain and rome--meant simply dissimulation diplomatic adroitness consists mainly in the power to deceive disciple of simon stevinus dismay of our friends and the gratification of our enemies disordered, and unknit state needs no shaking, but propping disposed to throat-cutting by the ministers of the gospel divine right of kings do you want peace or war? i am ready for either done nothing so long as aught remained to do draw a profit out of the necessities of this state during this, whole war, we have never seen the like each in its turn becoming orthodox, and therefore persecuting eat their own children than to forego one high mass elizabeth, though convicted, could always confute elizabeth (had not) the faintest idea of religious freedom eloquence of the biggest guns england hated the netherlands englishmen and hollanders preparing to cut each other's throats enmity between lutherans and calvinists even the virtues of james were his worst enemies even to grant it slowly is to deny it utterly ever met disaster with so cheerful a smile every one sees what you seem, few perceive what you are evil is coming, the sooner it arrives the better evil has the advantage of rapidly assuming many shapes exorcising the devil by murdering his supposed victims faction has rarely worn a more mischievous aspect famous fowl in every pot fed on bear's liver, were nearly poisoned to death fellow worms had been writhing for half a century in the dust find our destruction in our immoderate desire for peace fitter to obey than to command five great rivers hold the netherland territory in their coils fled from the land of oppression to the land of liberty fool who useth not wit because he hath it not for his humanity towards the conquered garrisons (censured) for us, looking back upon the past, which was then the future forbidding the wearing of mourning at all foremost to shake off the fetters of superstition four weeks' holiday--the first in eleven years french seem madmen, and are wise friendly advice still more intolerable full of precedents and declamatory commonplaces future world as laid down by rival priesthoods german highland and the german netherland german-lutheran sixteenth-century idea of religious freedom gigantic vices are proudly pointed to as the noblest god of vengeance, of jealousy, and of injustice god alone can protect us against those whom we trust god of wrath who had decreed the extermination of all unbeliever god, whose cause it was, would be pleased to give good weather gold was the only passkey to justice gomarites accused the arminians of being more lax than papists guilty of no other crime than adhesion to the catholic faith had industry been honoured instead of being despised haereticis non servanda fides hanging of mary dyer at boston hangman is not the most appropriate teacher of religion hard at work, pouring sand through their sieves hardly an inch of french soil that had not two possessors hardly a distinguished family in spain not placed in mourning he often spoke of popular rights with contempt he did his work, but he had not his reward he who confessed well was absolved well he spent more time at table than the bearnese in sleep he sat a great while at a time. he had a genius for sitting henry the huguenot as the champion of the council of trent her teeth black, her bosom white and liberally exposed (eliz.) heretics to the english church were persecuted hibernian mode of expressing himself high officers were doing the work of private, soldiers highest were not necessarily the least slimy his invectives were, however, much stronger than his arguments his own past triumphs seemed now his greatest enemies his insolence intolerable his inordinate arrogance historical scepticism may shut its eyes to evidence history is but made up of a few scattered fragments history is a continuous whole of which we see only fragments holland was afraid to give a part, although offering the whole holy institution called the inquisition honor good patriots, and to support them in venial errors hugo grotius human fat esteemed the sovereignst remedy (for wounds) humanizing effect of science upon the barbarism of war humble ignorance as the safest creed humility which was but the cloak to his pride hundred thousand men had laid down their lives by her decree i will never live, to see the end of my poverty i am a king that will be ever known not to fear any but god i did never see any man behave himself as he did idea of freedom in commerce has dawned upon nations idiotic principle of sumptuary legislation idle, listless, dice-playing, begging, filching vagabonds if to do be as grand as to imagine what it were good to do ignorance is the real enslaver of mankind imagining that they held the world's destiny in their hands imposed upon the multitudes, with whom words were things impossible it was to invent terms of adulation too gross impossible it is to practise arithmetic with disturbed brains in times of civil war, to be neutral is to be nothing individuals walking in advance of their age indulging them frequently with oracular advice inevitable fate of talking castles and listening ladies infamy of diplomacy, when diplomacy is unaccompanied by honesty infinite capacity for pecuniary absorption inhabited by the savage tribes called samoyedes innocent generation, to atone for the sins of their forefathers inquisitors enough; but there were no light vessels in the armada insensible to contumely, and incapable of accepting a rebuff intelligence, science, and industry were accounted degrading intentions of a government which did not know its own intentions intolerable tendency to puns invaluable gift which no human being can acquire, authority invincible armada had not only been vanquished but annihilated it is certain that the english hate us (sully) john castel, who had stabbed henry iv. john wier, a physician of grave justified themselves in a solemn consumption of time king had issued a general repudiation of his debts king was often to be something much less or much worse labour was esteemed dishonourable languor of fatigue, rather than any sincere desire for peace leading motive with all was supposed to be religion life of nations and which we call the past little army of maurice was becoming the model for europe logic of the largest battalions longer they delay it, the less easy will they find it look for a sharp war, or a miserable peace looking down upon her struggle with benevolent indifference lord was better pleased with adverbs than nouns loud, nasal, dictatorial tone, not at all agreeable loving only the persons who flattered him luxury had blunted the fine instincts of patriotism made peace--and had been at war ever since magnificent hopefulness make sheep of yourselves, and the wolf will eat you man is never so convinced of his own wisdom man had no rights at all he was property man who cannot dissemble is unfit to reign maritime heretics matter that men may rather pray for than hope for matters little by what name a government is called meet around a green table except as fencers in the field men who meant what they said and said what they meant men fought as if war was the normal condition of humanity mendacity may always obtain over innocence and credulity military virtue in the support of an infamous cause mistakes might occur from occasional deviations into sincerity mondragon was now ninety-two years old moral nature, undergoes less change than might be hoped more catholic than the pope much as the blind or the deaf towards colour or music myself seeing of it methinketh that i dream names history has often found it convenient to mark its epochs national character, not the work of a few individuals nations tied to the pinafores of children in the nursery natural tendency to suspicion of a timid man necessity of kingship necessity of extirpating heresy, root and branch negotiated as if they were all immortal neighbour's blazing roof was likely soon to fire their own never did statesmen know better how not to do never peace well made, he observed, without a mighty war new years day in england, th january by the new style night brings counsel nine syllables that which could be more forcibly expressed in on no retrenchments in his pleasures of women, dogs, and buildings no generation is long-lived enough to reap the harvest nor is the spirit of the age to be pleaded in defence not many more than two hundred catholics were executed not a friend of giving details larger than my ascertained facts not distinguished for their docility not of the genus reptilia, and could neither creep nor crouch not safe for politicians to call each other hard names nothing cheap, said a citizen bitterly, but sermons nothing could equal alexander's fidelity, but his perfidy nowhere were so few unproductive consumers obscure were thought capable of dying natural deaths octogenarian was past work and past mischief often necessary to be blind and deaf one-third of philip's effective navy was thus destroyed one could neither cry nor laugh within the spanish dominions one of the most contemptible and mischievous of kings (james i) only citadel against a tyrant and a conqueror was distrust oration, fertile in rhetoric and barren in facts others that do nothing, do all, and have all the thanks passion is a bad schoolmistress for the memory past was once the present, and once the future patriotism seemed an unimaginable idea pauper client who dreamed of justice at the hands of law paving the way towards atheism (by toleration) peace and quietness is brought into a most dangerous estate peace seemed only a process for arriving at war peace founded on the only secure basis, equality of strength peace would be destruction peace-at-any-price party peace was unattainable, war was impossible, truce was inevitable philip ii. gave the world work enough philip of macedon, who considered no city impregnable picturesqueness of crime placid unconsciousness on his part of defeat plea of infallibility and of authority soon becomes ridiculous portion of these revenues savoured much of black-mail possible to do, only because we see that it has been done pray here for satiety, (said cecil) than ever think of variety prisoners were immediately hanged privileged to beg, because ashamed to work proceeds of his permission to eat meat on fridays proclaiming the virginity of the virgin's mother rarely able to command, having never learned to obey readiness at any moment to defend dearly won liberties rebuked him for his obedience religion was rapidly ceasing to be the line of demarcation religion was not to be changed like a shirt religious persecution of protestants by protestants repentance, as usual, had come many hours too late repose under one despot guaranteed to them by two others repose in the other world, "repos ailleurs" repudiation of national debts was never heard of before requires less mention than philip iii himself resolved thenceforth to adopt a system of ignorance respect for differences in religious opinions rich enough to be worth robbing righteous to kill their own children road to paris lay through the gates of rome round game of deception, in which nobody was deceived royal plans should be enforced adequately or abandoned entirely rules adopted in regard to pretenders to crowns sacked and drowned ten infant princes sacrificed by the queen for faithfully obeying her orders sages of every generation, read the future like a printed scroll security is dangerous seeking protection for and against the people seem as if born to make the idea of royalty ridiculous seems but a change of masks, of costume, of phraseology self-assertion--the healthful but not engaging attribute selling the privilege of eating eggs upon fast-days sentiment of christian self-complacency served at their banquets by hosts of lackeys on their knees sewers which have ever run beneath decorous christendom she relieth on a hope that will deceive her shift the mantle of religion from one shoulder to the other shutting the stable-door when the steed is stolen sick soldiers captured on the water should be hanged simple truth was highest skill sixteen of their best ships had been sacrificed slain four hundred and ten men with his own hand so often degenerated into tyranny (calvinism) so unconscious of her strength soldiers enough to animate the good and terrify the bad some rude lessons from that vigorous little commonwealth spain was governed by an established terrorism spaniards seem wise, and are madmen sparing and war have no affinity together stake or gallows (for) heretics to transubstantiation state can best defend religion by letting it alone states were justified in their almost unlimited distrust steeped to the lips in sloth which imagined itself to be pride strangled his nineteen brothers on his accession strength does a falsehood acquire in determined and skilful hand string of homely proverbs worthy of sancho panza subtle and dangerous enemy who wore the mask of a friend succeeded so well, and had been requited so ill such an excuse was as bad as the accusation such a crime as this had never been conceived (bankruptcy) sure bind, sure find sword in hand is the best pen to write the conditions of peace take all their imaginations and extravagances for truths taxed themselves as highly as fifty per cent tension now gave place to exhaustion that crowned criminal, philip the second that unholy trinity--force; dogma, and ignorance the very word toleration was to sound like an insult the blaze of a hundred and fifty burning vessels the expenses of james's household the worst were encouraged with their good success the history of the netherlands is history of liberty the great ocean was but a spanish lake the divine speciality of a few transitory mortals the sapling was to become the tree the nation which deliberately carves itself in pieces the most thriving branch of national industry (smuggler) the record of our race is essentially unwritten the busy devil of petty economy the small children diminished rapidly in numbers the people had not been invented the alcoran was less cruel than the inquisition the wisest statesmen are prone to blunder in affairs of war the art of ruling the world by doing nothing the slightest theft was punished with the gallows the pigmy, as the late queen had been fond of nicknaming him their existence depended on war there are few inventions in morals there was apathy where there should have been enthusiasm there is no man fitter for that purpose than myself they were always to deceive every one, upon every occasion they had come to disbelieve in the mystery of kingcraft they liked not such divine right nor such gentle-mindedness they chose to compel no man's conscience thirty-three per cent. interest was paid (per month) thirty thousand masses should be said for his soul this obstinate little republic those who argue against a foregone conclusion thought that all was too little for him three hundred and upwards are hanged annually in london three or four hundred petty sovereigns (of germany) tis pity he is not an englishman to negotiate with government in england was to bribe to negotiate was to bribe right and left, and at every step to work, ever to work, was the primary law of his nature to attack england it was necessary to take the road of ireland to shirk labour, infinite numbers become priests and friars to doubt the infallibility of calvin was as heinous a crime toil and sacrifices of those who have preceded us tolerate another religion that his own may be tolerated tolerating religious liberty had never entered his mind toleration--that intolerable term of insult torturing, hanging, embowelling of men, women, and children tranquil insolence tranquillity rather of paralysis than of health triple marriages between the respective nurseries trust her sword, not her enemy's word twas pity, he said, that both should be heretics under the name of religion (so many crimes) undue anxiety for impartiality universal suffrage was not dreamed of at that day unlearned their faith in bell, book, and candle unproductive consumption being accounted most sagacious unproductive consumption was alarmingly increasing unwise impatience for peace upon their knees, served the queen with wine upper and lower millstones of royal wrath and loyal subserviency use of the spade usual expedient by which bad legislation on one side countered utter want of adaptation of his means to his ends utter disproportions between the king's means and aims uttering of my choler doth little ease my grief or help my case valour on the one side and discretion on the other waiting the pleasure of a capricious and despotic woman walk up and down the earth and destroy his fellow-creatures war was the normal and natural condition of mankind war to compel the weakest to follow the religion of the strongest war was the normal condition of christians wasting time fruitlessly is sharpening the knife for himself we have the reputation of being a good housewife we must all die once we mustn't tickle ourselves to make ourselves laugh we have been talking a little bit of truth to each other we were sold by their negligence who are now angry with us wealthy papists could obtain immunity by an enormous fine weapons weary of place without power what exchequer can accept chronic warfare and escape bankruptcy what was to be done in this world and believed as to the next when persons of merit suffer without cause when all was gone, they began to eat each other whether murders or stratagems, as if they were acts of virtue while one's friends urge moderation who the "people" exactly were whole revenue was pledged to pay the interest, on his debts wish to sell us the bear-skin before they have killed the bear with something of feline and feminine duplicity word peace in spanish mouths simply meant the holy inquisition words are always interpreted to the disadvantage of the weak world has rolled on to fresher fields of carnage and ruin worn nor caused to be worn the collar of the serf wrath of bigots on both sides wrath of that injured personage as he read such libellous truths write so illegibly or express himself so awkwardly you must show your teeth to the spaniard history of the netherlands, pg edition, complete by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. corresponding member of the institute of france, etc. - contents: the rise of the dutch republic, - history of the united netherlands, - life and death of john of barneveld, - a memoir of john lothrop motley by oliver wendell holmes, sr. the rise of the dutch republic, - a history john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. corresponding member of the institute of france, etc. [etext editor's note: john lothrop motley, born in dorchester, mass. , died . other works: morton's hopes and merry mount, novels. motley was the united states minister to austria, - , and the united states minister to england, - . mark twain mentions his respect for john motley. oliver wendell holmes said in 'an oration delivered before the city authorities of boston' on the th of july, : "'it cannot be denied,'--says another observer, placed on one of our national watch-towers in a foreign capital,--'it cannot be denied that the tendency of european public opinion, as delivered from high places, is more and more unfriendly to our cause; but the people,' he adds, 'everywhere sympathize with us, for they know that our cause is that of free institutions,--that our struggle is that of the people against an oligarchy.' these are the words of the minister to austria, whose generous sympathies with popular liberty no homage paid to his genius by the class whose admiring welcome is most seductive to scholars has ever spoiled; our fellow-citizen, the historian of a great republic which infused a portion of its life into our own,--john lothrop motley." (see the biography of motley, by holmes) ed.] preface the rise of the dutch republic must ever be regarded as one of the leading events of modern times. without the birth of this great commonwealth, the various historical phenomena of: the sixteenth and following centuries must have either not existed; or have presented themselves under essential modifications.--itself an organized protest against ecclesiastical tyranny and universal empire, the republic guarded with sagacity, at many critical periods in the world's history; that balance of power which, among civilized states; ought always to be identical with the scales of divine justice. the splendid empire of charles the fifth was erected upon the grave of liberty. it is a consolation to those who have hope in humanity to watch, under the reign of his successor, the gradual but triumphant resurrection of the spirit over which the sepulchre had so long been sealed. from the handbreadth of territory called the province of holland rises a power which wages eighty years' warfare with the most potent empire upon earth, and which, during the progress of the struggle, becoming itself a mighty state, and binding about its own slender form a zone of the richest possessions of earth, from pole to tropic, finally dictates its decrees to the empire of charles. so much is each individual state but a member of one great international commonwealth, and so close is the relationship between the whole human family, that it is impossible for a nation, even while struggling for itself, not to acquire something for all mankind. the maintenance of the right by the little provinces of holland and zealand in the sixteenth, by holland and england united in the seventeenth, and by the united states of america in the eighteenth centuries, forms but a single chapter in the great volume of human fate; for the so-called revolutions of holland, england, and america, are all links of one chain. to the dutch republic, even more than to florence at an earlier day, is the world indebted for practical instruction in that great science of political equilibrium which must always become more and more important as the various states of the civilized world are pressed more closely together, and as the struggle for pre-eminence becomes more feverish and fatal. courage and skill in political and military combinations enabled william the silent to overcome the most powerful and unscrupulous monarch of his age. the same hereditary audacity and fertility of genius placed the destiny of europe in the hands of william's great-grandson, and enabled him to mould into an impregnable barrier the various elements of opposition to the overshadowing monarchy of louis xiv. as the schemes of the inquisition and the unparalleled tyranny of philip, in one century, led to the establishment of the republic of the united provinces, so, in the next, the revocation of the nantes edict and the invasion of holland are avenged by the elevation of the dutch stadholder upon the throne of the stipendiary stuarts. to all who speak the english language; the history of the great agony through which the republic of holland was ushered into life must have peculiar interest, for it is a portion of the records of the anglo-saxon race--essentially the same, whether in friesland, england, or massachusetts. a great naval and commercial commonwealth, occupying a small portion of europe but conquering a wide empire by the private enterprise of trading companies, girdling the world with its innumerable dependencies in asia, america, africa, australia--exercising sovereignty in brazil, guiana, the west indies, new york, at the cape of good hope, in hindostan, ceylon, java, sumatra, new holland--having first laid together, as it were, many of the cyclopean blocks, out of which the british realm, at a late: period, has been constructed--must always be looked upon with interest by englishmen, as in a great measure the precursor in their own scheme of empire. for america the spectacle is one of still deeper import. the dutch republic originated in the opposition of the rational elements of human nature to sacerdotal dogmatism and persecution--in the courageous resistance of historical and chartered liberty to foreign despotism. neither that liberty nor ours was born of the cloud-embraces of a false divinity with, a humanity of impossible beauty, nor was the infant career of either arrested in blood and tears by the madness of its worshippers. "to maintain," not to overthrow, was the device of the washington of the sixteenth century, as it was the aim of our own hero and his great contemporaries. the great western republic, therefore--in whose anglo-saxon veins flows much of that ancient and kindred blood received from the nation once ruling a noble portion of its territory, and tracking its own political existence to the same parent spring of temperate human liberty--must look with affectionate interest upon the trials of the elder commonwealth. these volumes recite the achievement of dutch independence, for its recognition was delayed till the acknowledgment was superfluous and ridiculous. the existence of the republic is properly to be dated from the union of utrecht in , while the final separation of territory into independent and obedient provinces, into the commonwealth of the united states and the belgian provinces of spain, was in reality effected by william the silent, with whose death three years subsequently, the heroic period of the history may be said to terminate. at this point these volumes close. another series, with less attention to minute details, and carrying the story through a longer range of years, will paint the progress of the republic in its palmy days, and narrate the establishment of, its external system of dependencies and its interior combinations for self-government and european counterpoise. the lessons of history and the fate of free states can never be sufficiently pondered by those upon whom so large and heavy a responsibility for the maintenance of rational human freedom rests. i have only to add that this work is the result of conscientious research, and of an earnest desire to arrive at the truth. i have faithfully studied all the important contemporary chroniclers and later historians--dutch, flemish, french, italian, spanish, or german. catholic and protestant, monarchist and republican, have been consulted with the same sincerity. the works of bor (whose enormous but indispensable folios form a complete magazine of contemporary state-papers, letters, and pamphlets, blended together in mass, and connected by a chain of artless but earnest narrative), of meteren, de thou, burgundius, heuterus; tassis, viglius, hoofd, haraeus, van der haer, grotius-of van der vynckt, wagenaer, van wyn, de jonghe, kluit, van kampen, dewez, kappelle, bakhuyzen, groen van prinsterer--of ranke and raumer, have been as familiar to me as those of mendoza, carnero, cabrera, herrera, ulloa, bentivoglio, peres, strada. the manuscript relations of those argus-eyed venetian envoys who surprised so many courts and cabinets in their most unguarded moments, and daguerreotyped their character and policy for the instruction of the crafty republic, and whose reports remain such an inestimable source for the secret history of the sixteenth century, have been carefully examined--especially the narratives of the caustic and accomplished badovaro, of suriano, and michele. it is unnecessary to add that all the publications of m. gachard--particularly the invaluable correspondence of philip ii. and of william the silent, as well as the "archives et correspondence" of the orange nassau family, edited by the learned and distinguished groen van prinsterer, have been my constant guides through the tortuous labyrinth of spanish and netherland politics. the large and most interesting series of pamphlets known as "the duncan collection," in the royal library at the hague, has also afforded a great variety of details by which i have endeavoured to give color and interest to the narrative. besides these, and many other printed works, i have also had the advantage of perusing many manuscript histories, among which may be particularly mentioned the works of pontua payen, of renom de france, and of pasquier de la barre; while the vast collection of unpublished documents in the royal archives of the hague, of brussels, and of dresden, has furnished me with much new matter of great importance. i venture to hope that many years of labour, a portion of them in the archives of those countries whose history forms the object of my study, will not have been entirely in vain; and that the lovers of human progress, the believers in the capacity of nations for self-government and self-improvement, and the admirers of disinterested human genius and virtue, may find encouragement for their views in the detailed history of an heroic people in its most eventful period, and in the life and death of the great man whose name and fame are identical with those of his country. no apology is offered for this somewhat personal statement. when an unknown writer asks the attention of the public upon an important theme, he is not only authorized, but required, to show, that by industry and earnestness he has entitled himself to a hearing. the author too keenly feels that he has no further claims than these, and he therefore most diffidently asks for his work the indulgence of his readers. i would take this opportunity of expressing my gratitude to dr. klemm, hofrath and chief librarian at dresden, and to mr. von weber, ministerial-rath and head of the royal archives of saxony, for the courtesy and kindness extended to me so uniformly during the course of my researches in that city. i would also speak a word of sincere thanks to mr. campbell, assistant librarian at the hague, for his numerous acts of friendship during the absence of, his chief, m. holtrop. to that most distinguished critic and historian, m. bakhuyzen van den brinck, chief archivist of the netherlands, i am under deep obligations for advice, instruction, and constant kindness, during my residence at the hague; and i would also signify my sense of the courtesy of mr. charter-master de schwane, and of the accuracy with which copies of mss. in the archives were prepared for me by his care. finally, i would allude in the strongest language of gratitude and respect to m. gachard, archivist-general of belgium, for his unwearied courtesy and manifold acts of kindness to me during my studies in the royal archives of brussels. the rise of the dutch republic historical introduction. part . i. the north-western corner of the vast plain which extends from the german ocean to the ural mountains, is occupied by the countries called the netherlands. this small triangle, enclosed between france, germany, and the sea, is divided by the modern kingdoms of belgium and holland into two nearly equal portions. our earliest information concerning this territory is derived from the romans. the wars waged by that nation with the northern barbarians have rescued the damp island of batavia, with its neighboring morasses, from the obscurity in which they might have remained for ages, before any thing concerning land or people would have been made known by the native inhabitants. julius caesar has saved from, oblivion the heroic savages who fought against his legions in defence of their dismal homes with ferocious but unfortunate patriotism; and the great poet of england, learning from the conqueror's commentaries the name of the boldest tribe, has kept the nervii, after almost twenty centuries, still fresh and familiar in our ears. tacitus, too, has described with singular minuteness the struggle between the people of these regions and the power of rome, overwhelming, although tottering to its fall; and has moreover, devoted several chapters of his work upon germany to a description of the most remarkable teutonic tribes of the netherlands. geographically and ethnographically, the low countries belong both to gaul and to germany. it is even doubtful to which of the two the batavian island, which is the core of the whole country, was reckoned by the romans. it is, however, most probable that all the land, with the exception of friesland, was considered a part of gaul. three great rivers--the rhine, the meuse, and the scheld--had deposited their slime for ages among the dunes and sand banks heaved up by the ocean around their mouths. a delta was thus formed, habitable at last for man. it was by nature a wide morass, in which oozy islands and savage forests were interspersed among lagoons and shallows; a district lying partly below the level of the ocean at its higher tides, subject to constant overflow from the rivers, and to frequent and terrible inundations by the sea. the rhine, leaving at last the regions where its storied lapse, through so many ages, has been consecrated alike by nature and art-by poetry and eventful truth--flows reluctantly through the basalt portal of the seven mountains into the open fields which extend to the german sea. after entering this vast meadow, the stream divides itself into two branches, becoming thus the two-horned rhine of virgil, and holds in these two arms the island of batavia. the meuse, taking its rise in the vosges, pours itself through the ardennes wood, pierces the rocky ridges upon the southeastern frontier of the low countries, receives the sambre in the midst of that picturesque anthracite basin where now stands the city of namur, and then moves toward the north, through nearly the whole length of the country, till it mingles its waters with the rhine. the scheld, almost exclusively a belgian river, after leaving its fountains in picardy, flows through the present provinces of flanders and hainault. in caesar's time it was suffocated before reaching the sea in quicksands and thickets, which long afforded protection to the savage inhabitants against the roman arms; and which the slow process of nature and the untiring industry of man have since converted into the archipelago of zealand and south holland. these islands were unknown to the romans. such were the rivers, which, with their numerous tributaries, coursed through the spongy land. their frequent overflow, when forced back upon their currents by the stormy sea, rendered the country almost uninhabitable. here, within a half-submerged territory, a race of wretched ichthyophagi dwelt upon terpen, or mounds, which they had raised, like beavers, above the almost fluid soil. here, at a later day, the same race chained the tyrant ocean and his mighty streams into subserviency, forcing them to fertilize, to render commodious, to cover with a beneficent network of veins and arteries, and to bind by watery highways with the furthest ends of the world, a country disinherited by nature of its rights. a region, outcast of ocean and earth, wrested at last from both domains their richest treasures. a race, engaged for generations in stubborn conflict with the angry elements, was unconsciously educating itself for its great struggle with the still more savage despotism of man. the whole territory of the netherlands was girt with forests. an extensive belt of woodland skirted the sea-coast; reaching beyond the mouths of the rhine. along the outer edge of this carrier, the dunes cast up by the sea were prevented by the close tangle of thickets from drifting further inward; and thus formed a breastwork which time and art were to strengthen. the, groves of haarlem and the hague are relics of this ancient forest. the badahuenna wood, horrid with druidic sacrifices, extended along the eastern line of the vanished lake of flevo. the vast hercynian forest, nine days' journey in breadth, closed in the country on the german side, stretching from the banks of the rhine to the remote regions of the dacians, in such vague immensity (says the conqueror of the whole country) that no german, after traveling sixty days, had ever reached, or even heard of; its commencement. on the south, the famous groves of ardennes, haunted by faun and satyr, embowered the country, and separated it from celtic gaul. thus inundated by mighty rivers, quaking beneath the level of the ocean, belted about by hirsute forests, this low land, nether land, hollow land, or holland, seemed hardly deserving the arms of the all-accomplished roman. yet foreign tyranny, from the earliest ages, has coveted this meagre territory as lustfully as it has sought to wrest from their native possessors those lands with the fatal gift of beauty for their dower; while the genius of liberty has inspired as noble a resistance to oppression here as it ever aroused in grecian or italian breasts. ii. it can never be satisfactorily ascertained who were the aboriginal inhabitants. the record does not reach beyond caesar's epoch, and he found the territory on the left of the rhine mainly tenanted by tribes of the celtic family. that large division of the indo-european group which had already overspread many portions of asia minor, greece, germany, the british islands, france, and spain, had been long settled in belgic gaul, and constituted the bulk of its population. checked in its westward movement by the atlantic, its current began to flow backwards towards its fountains, so that the gallic portion of the netherland population was derived from the original race in its earlier wanderings and from the later and refluent tide coming out of celtic gaul. the modern appellation of the walloons points to the affinity of their ancestors with the gallic, welsh, and gaelic family. the belgae were in many respects a superior race to most of their blood-allies. they were, according to caesar's testimony, the bravest of all the celts. this may be in part attributed to the presence of several german tribes, who, at this period had already forced their way across the rhine, mingled their qualities with the belgic material, and lent an additional mettle to the celtic blood. the heart of the country was thus inhabited by a gallic race, but the frontiers had been taken possession of by teutonic tribes. when the cimbri and their associates, about a century before our era, made their memorable onslaught upon rome, the early inhabitants of the rhine island of batavia, who were probably celts, joined in the expedition. a recent and tremendous inundation had swept away their miserable homes, and even the trees of the forests, and had thus rendered them still more dissatisfied with their gloomy abodes. the island was deserted of its population. at about the same period a civil dissension among the chatti--a powerful german race within the hercynian forest--resulted in the expatriation of a portion of the people. the exiles sought a new home in the empty rhine island, called it "bet-auw," or "good-meadow," and were themselves called, thenceforward, batavi, or batavians. these batavians, according to tacitus, were the bravest of all the germans. the chatti, of whom they formed a portion, were a pre-eminently warlike race. "others go to battle," says the historian, "these go to war." their bodies were more hardy, their minds more vigorous, than those of other tribes. their young men cut neither hair nor beard till they had slain an enemy. on the field of battle, in the midst of carnage and plunder, they, for the first time, bared their faces. the cowardly and sluggish, only, remained unshorn. they wore an iron ring, too, or shackle upon their necks until they had performed the same achievement, a symbol which they then threw away, as the emblem of sloth. the batavians were ever spoken of by the romans with entire respect. they conquered the belgians, they forced the free frisians to pay tribute, but they called the batavians their friends. the tax-gatherer never invaded their island. honorable alliance united them with the romans. it was, however, the alliance of the giant and the dwarf. the roman gained glory and empire, the batavian gained nothing but the hardest blows. the batavian cavalry became famous throughout the republic and the empire. they were the favorite troops of caesar, and with reason, for it was their valor which turned the tide of battle at pharsalia. from the death of julius down to the times of vespasian, the batavian legion was the imperial body guard, the batavian island the basis of operations in the roman wars with gaul, germany, and britain. beyond the batavians, upon the north, dwelt the great frisian family, occupying the regions between the rhine and ems, the zuyder zee and the dollart, both caused by the terrific inundations of the thirteenth century and not existing at this period, did not then interpose boundaries between kindred tribes. all formed a homogeneous nation of pure german origin. thus, the population of the country was partly celtic, partly german. of these two elements, dissimilar in their tendencies and always difficult to blend, the netherland people has ever been compounded. a certain fatality of history has perpetually helped to separate still more widely these constituents, instead of detecting and stimulating the elective affinities which existed. religion, too, upon all great historical occasions, has acted as the most powerful of dissolvents. otherwise, had so many valuable and contrasted characteristics been early fused into a whole, it would be difficult to show a race more richly endowed by nature for dominion and progress than the belgo-germanic people. physically the two races resembled each other. both were of vast stature. the gigantic gaul derided the roman soldiers as a band of pigmies. the german excited astonishment by his huge body and muscular limbs. both were fair, with fierce blue eyes, but the celt had yellow hair floating over his shoulders, and the german long locks of fiery red, which he even dyed with woad to heighten the favorite color, and wore twisted into a war-knot upon the top of his head. here the german's love of finery ceased. a simple tunic fastened at his throat with a thorn, while his other garments defined and gave full play to his limbs, completed his costume. the gaul, on the contrary, was so fond of dress that the romans divided his race respectively into long-haired, breeched, and gowned gaul; (gallia comata, braccata, togata). he was fond of brilliant and parti-colored clothes, a taste which survives in the highlander's costume. he covered his neck and arms with golden chains. the simple and ferocious german wore no decoration save his iron ring, from which his first homicide relieved him. the gaul was irascible, furious in his wrath, but less formidable in a sustained conflict with a powerful foe. "all the gauls are of very high stature," says a soldier who fought under julian. (amm. marcel. xv. . ). "they are white, golden-haired, terrible in the fierceness of their eyes, greedy of quarrels, bragging and insolent. a band of strangers could not resist one of them in a brawl, assisted by his strong blue-eyed wife, especially when she begins, gnashing her teeth, her neck swollen, brandishing her vast and snowy arms, and kicking with her heels at the same time, to deliver her fisticuffs, like bolts from the twisted strings of a catapult. the voices of many are threatening and formidable. they are quick to anger, but quickly appeased. all are clean in their persons; nor among them is ever seen any man or woman, as elsewhere, squalid in ragged garments. at all ages they are apt for military service. the old man goes forth to the fight with equal strength of breast, with limbs as hardened by cold and assiduous labor, and as contemptuous of all dangers, as the young. not one of them, as in italy is often the case, was ever known to cut off his thumbs to avoid the service of mars." the polity of each race differed widely from that of the other. the government of both may be said to have been republican, but the gallic tribes were aristocracies, in which the influence of clanship was a predominant feature; while the german system, although nominally regal, was in reality democratic. in gaul were two orders, the nobility and the priesthood, while the people, says caesar, were all slaves. the knights or nobles were all trained to arms. each went forth to battle, followed by his dependents, while a chief of all the clans was appointed to take command during the war. the prince or chief governor was elected annually, but only by the nobles. the people had no rights at all, and were glad to assign themselves as slaves to any noble who was strong enough to protect them. in peace the druids exercised the main functions of government. they decided all controversies, civil and criminal. to rebel against their decrees was punished by exclusion from the sacrifices--a most terrible excommunication, through which the criminal was cut off from all intercourse with his fellow-creatures. with the germans, the sovereignty resided in the great assembly of the people. there were slaves, indeed, but in small number, consisting either of prisoners of war or of those unfortunates who had gambled away their liberty in games of chance. their chieftains, although called by the romans princes and kings, were, in reality, generals, chosen by universal suffrage. elected in the great assembly to preside in war, they were raised on the shoulders of martial freemen, amid wild battle cries and the clash of spear and shield. the army consisted entirely of volunteers, and the soldier was for life infamous who deserted the field while his chief remained alive. the same great assembly elected the village magistrates and decided upon all important matters both of peace and war. at the full of the moon it was usually convoked. the nobles and the popular delegates arrived at irregular intervals, for it was an inconvenience arising from their liberty, that two or three days were often lost in waiting for the delinquents. all state affairs were in the hands of this fierce democracy. the elected chieftains had rather authority to persuade than power to command. the gauls were an agricultural people. they were not without many arts of life. they had extensive flocks and herds; and they even exported salted provisions as far as rome. the truculent german, ger-mane, heer-mann, war-man, considered carnage the only useful occupation, and despised agriculture as enervating and ignoble. it was base, in his opinion, to gain by sweat what was more easily acquired by blood. the land was divided annually by the magistrates, certain farms being assigned to certain families, who were forced to leave them at the expiration of the year. they cultivated as a common property the lands allotted by the magistrates, but it was easier to summon them to the battle-field than to the plough. thus they were more fitted for the roaming and conquering life which providence was to assign to them for ages, than if they had become more prone to root themselves in the soil. the gauls built towns and villages. the german built his solitary hut where inclination prompted. close neighborhood was not to his taste. in their system of religion the two races were most widely contrasted. the gauls were a priest-ridden race. their druids were a dominant caste, presiding even over civil affairs, while in religious matters their authority was despotic. what were the principles of their wild theology will never be thoroughly ascertained, but we know too much of its sanguinary rites. the imagination shudders to penetrate those shaggy forests, ringing with the death-shrieks of ten thousand human victims, and with the hideous hymns chanted by smoke-and-blood-stained priests to the savage gods whom they served. the german, in his simplicity, had raised himself to a purer belief than that of the sensuous roman or the superstitious gaul. he believed in a single, supreme, almighty god, all-vater or all-father. this divinity was too sublime to be incarnated or imaged, too infinite to be enclosed in temples built with hands. such is the roman's testimony to the lofty conception of the german. certain forests were consecrated to the unseen god whom the eye of reverent faith could alone behold. thither, at stated times, the people repaired to worship. they entered the sacred grove with feet bound together, in token of submission. those who fell were forbidden to rise, but dragged themselves backwards on the ground. their rules were few and simple. they had no caste of priests, nor were they, when first known to the romans, accustomed to offer sacrifice. it must be confessed that in a later age, a single victim, a criminal or a prisoner, was occasionally immolated. the purity of their religion was soon stained by their celtic neighborhood. in the course of the roman dominion it became contaminated, and at last profoundly depraved. the fantastic intermixture of roman mythology with the gloomy but modified superstition of romanized celts was not favorable to the simple character of german theology. the entire extirpation, thus brought about, of any conceivable system of religion, prepared the way for a true revelation. within that little river territory, amid those obscure morasses of the rhine and scheld, three great forms of religion--the sanguinary superstition of the druid, the sensuous polytheism of the roman, the elevated but dimly groping creed of the german, stood for centuries, face to face, until, having mutually debased and destroyed each other, they all faded away in the pure light of christianity. thus contrasted were gaul and german in religious and political systems. the difference was no less remarkable in their social characteristics. the gaul was singularly unchaste. the marriage state was almost unknown. many tribes lived in most revolting and incestuous concubinage; brethren, parents, and children, having wives in common. the german was loyal as the celt was dissolute. alone among barbarians, he contented himself with a single wife, save that a few dignitaries, from motives of policy, were permitted a larger number. on the marriage day the german offered presents to his bride--not the bracelets and golden necklaces with which the gaul adorned his fair-haired concubine, but oxen and a bridled horse, a sword, a shield, and a spear-symbols that thenceforward she was to share his labors and to become a portion of himself. they differed, too, in the honors paid to the dead. the funerals of the gauls were pompous. both burned the corpse, but the celt cast into the flames the favorite animals, and even the most cherished slaves and dependents of the master. vast monuments of stone or piles of earth were raised above the ashes of the dead. scattered relics of the celtic age are yet visible throughout europe, in these huge but unsightly memorials. the german was not ambitious at the grave. he threw neither garments nor odors upon the funeral pyre, but the arms and the war-horse of the departed were burned and buried with him. the turf was his only sepulchre, the memory of his valor his only monument. even tears were forbidden to the men. "it was esteemed honorable," says the historian, "for women to lament, for men to remember." the parallel need be pursued no further. thus much it was necessary to recall to the historical student concerning the prominent characteristics by which the two great races of the land were distinguished: characteristics which time has rather hardened than effaced. in the contrast and the separation lies the key to much of their history. had providence permitted a fusion of the two races, it is, possible, from their position, and from the geographical and historical link which they would have afforded to the dominant tribes of europe, that a world-empire might have been the result, different in many respects from any which has ever arisen. speculations upon what might have been are idle. it is well, however; to ponder the many misfortunes resulting from a mutual repulsion, which, under other circumstances and in other spheres, has been exchanged for mutual attraction and support. it is now necessary to sketch rapidly the political transformations undergone by the country, from the early period down to the middle of the sixteenth century; the epoch when the long agony commenced, out of which the batavian republic was born. iii. the earliest chapter in the history of the netherlands was written by their conqueror. celtic gaul is already in the power of rome; the belgic tribes, alarmed at the approaching danger, arm against the universal, tyrant. inflammable, quick to strike, but too fickle to prevail against so powerful a foe, they hastily form a league of almost every clan. at the first blow of caesar's sword, the frail confederacy falls asunder like a rope of sand. the tribes scatter in all directions. nearly all are soon defeated, and sue for mercy. the nervii, true to the german blood in their, veins, swear to die rather than surrender. they, at least, are worthy of their cause. caesar advances against them at the head of eight legions. drawn up on the banks of the sambre, they await the roman's approach. in three days' march caesar comes up with them, pitches his camp upon a steep hill sloping down to the river, and sends some cavalry across. hardly have the roman horsemen crossed the stream, than the nervii rush from the wooded hill-top, overthrow horse and rider, plunge in one great mass into the current, and, directly afterwards, are seen charging up the hill into the midst of the enemy's force. "at the same moment," says the conqueror, "they seemed in the wood, in the river, and within our lines." there is a panic among the romans, but it is brief. eight veteran roman legions, with the world's victor at their head, are too much for the brave but undisciplined nervii. snatching a shield from a soldier, and otherwise unarmed, caesar throws himself into the hottest of the fight. the battle rages foot to foot and hand to hand but the hero's skill, with the cool valor of his troops, proves invincible as ever. the nervii, true to their vow, die, but not a man surrenders. they fought upon that day till the ground was heaped with their dead, while, as the foremost fell thick and fast, their comrades, says the roman, sprang upon their piled-up bodies, and hurled their javelins at the enemy as from a hill. they fought like men to whom life without liberty was a curse. they were not defeated, but exterminated. of many thousand fighting men went home but five hundred. upon reaching the place of refuge where they had bestowed their women and children, caesar found, after the battle, that there were but three of their senators left alive. so perished the nervii. caesar commanded his legions to treat with respect the little remnant of the tribe which had just fallen to swell the empty echo of his glory, and then, with hardly a breathing pause, he proceeded to annihilate the aduatici, the menapii, and the morini. gaul being thus pacified, as, with sublime irony, he expresses himself concerning a country some of whose tribes had been annihilated, some sold as slaves, and others hunted to their lairs like beasts of prey, the conqueror departed for italy. legations for peace from many german races to rome were the consequence of these great achievements. among others the batavians formed an alliance with the masters of the world. their position was always an honorable one. they were justly proud of paying no tribute, but it was, perhaps, because they had nothing to pay. they had few cattle, they could give no hides and horns like the frisians, and they were therefore allowed to furnish only their blood. from this time forth their cavalry, which was the best of germany, became renowned in the roman army upon every battle-field of europe. it is melancholy, at a later moment, to find the brave batavians distinguished in the memorable expedition of germanicus to crush the liberties of their german kindred. they are forever associated with the sublime but misty image of the great hermann, the hero, educated in rome, and aware of the colossal power of the empire, who yet, by his genius, valor, and political adroitness, preserved for germany her nationality, her purer religion, and perhaps even that noble language which her late-flowering literature has rendered so illustrious--but they are associated as enemies, not as friends. galba, succeeding to the purple upon the suicide of nero, dismissed the batavian life-guards to whom he owed his elevation. he is murdered, otho and vitellius contend for the succession, while all eyes are turned upon the eight batavian regiments. in their hands the scales of empire seem to rest. they declare for vitellius, and the civil war begins. otho is defeated; vitellius acknowledged by senate and people. fearing, like his predecessors, the imperious turbulence of the batavian legions, he, too, sends them into germany. it was the signal for a long and extensive revolt, which had well nigh overturned the roman power in gaul and lower germany. iv. claudius civilis was a batavian of noble race, who had served twenty-five years in the roman armies. his teutonic name has perished, for, like most savages who become denizens of a civilized state, he had assumed an appellation in the tongue of his superiors. he was a soldier of fortune, and had fought wherever the roman eagles flew. after a quarter of a century's service he was sent in chains to rome, and his brother executed, both falsely charged with conspiracy. such were the triumphs adjudged to batavian auxiliaries. he escaped with life, and was disposed to consecrate what remained of it to a nobler cause. civilis was no barbarian. like the german hero arminius, he had received a roman education, and had learned the degraded condition of rome. he knew the infamous vices of her rulers; he retained an unconquerable love for liberty and for his own race. desire to avenge his own wrongs was mingled with loftier motives in his breast. he knew that the sceptre was in the gift of the batavian soldiery. galba had been murdered, otho had destroyed himself, and vitellius, whose weekly gluttony cost the empire more gold than would have fed the whole batavian population and converted their whole island-morass into fertile pastures, was contending for the purple with vespasian, once an obscure adventurer like civilis himself, and even his friend and companion in arms. it seemed a time to strike a blow for freedom. by his courage, eloquence, and talent for political combinations, civilis effected a general confederation of all the netherland tribes, both celtic and german. for a brief moment there was a united people, a batavian commonwealth. he found another source of strength in german superstition. on the banks of the lippe, near its confluence with the rhine, dwelt the virgin velleda, a bructerian weird woman, who exercised vast influence over the warriors of her nation. dwelling alone in a lofty tower, shrouded in a wild forest, she was revered as an oracle. her answers to the demands of her worshippers concerning future events were delivered only to a chosen few. to civilis, who had formed a close friendship with her, she promised success, and the downfall of the roman world. inspired by her prophecies, many tribes of germany sent large subsidies to the batavian chief. the details of the revolt have been carefully preserved by tacitus, and form one of his grandest and most elaborate pictures. the spectacle of a brave nation, inspired by the soul of one great man and rising against an overwhelming despotism, will always speak to the heart, from generation to generation. the battles, the sieges, the defeats, the indomitable spirit of civilis, still flaming most brightly when the clouds were darkest around him, have been described by the great historian in his most powerful manner. the high-born roman has thought the noble barbarian's portrait a subject worthy his genius. the struggle was an unsuccessful one. after many victories and many overthrows, civilis was left alone. the gallic tribes fell off, and sued for peace. vespasian, victorious over vitellius, proved too powerful for his old comrade. even the batavians became weary of the hopeless contest, while fortune, after much capricious hovering, settled at last upon the roman side. the imperial commander cerialis seized the moment when the cause of the batavian hero was most desperate to send emissaries among his tribe, and even to tamper with the mysterious woman whose prophecies had so inflamed his imagination. these intrigues had their effect. the fidelity of the people was sapped; the prophetess fell away from her worshipper, and foretold ruin to his cause. the batavians murmured that their destruction was inevitable, that one nation could not arrest the slavery which was destined for the whole world. how large a part of the human race were the batavians? what were they in a contest with the whole roman empire? moreover, they were not oppressed with tribute. they were only expected to furnish men and valor to their proud allies. it was the next thing to liberty. if they were to have rulers, it was better to serve a roman emperor than a german witch. thus murmured the people. had civilis been successful, he would have been deified; but his misfortunes, at last, made him odious in spite of his heroism. but the batavian was not a man to be crushed, nor had he lived so long in the roman service to be outmatched in politics by the barbarous germans. he was not to be sacrificed as a peace-offering to revengeful rome. watching from beyond the rhine the progress of defection and the decay of national enthusiasm, he determined to be beforehand with those who were now his enemies. he accepted the offer of negotiation from cerialis. the roman general was eager to grant a full pardon, and to re-enlist so brave a soldier in the service of the empire. a colloquy was agreed upon. the bridge across the nabalia was broken asunder in the middle, and cerialis and civilis met upon the severed sides. the placid stream by which roman enterprise had connected the waters of the rhine with the lake of flevo, flowed between the imperial commander and the rebel chieftain. *********************************************** here the story abruptly terminates. the remainder of the roman's narrative is lost, and upon that broken bridge the form of the batavian hero disappears forever. his name fades from history: not a syllable is known of his subsequent career; every thing is buried in the profound oblivion which now steals over the scene where he was the most imposing actor. the soul of civilis had proved insufficient to animate a whole people; yet it was rather owing to position than to any personal inferiority, that his name did not become as illustrious as that of hermann. the german patriot was neither braver nor wiser than the batavian, but he had the infinite forests of his fatherland to protect him. every legion which plunged into those unfathomable depths was forced to retreat disastrously, or to perish miserably. civilis was hemmed in by the ocean; his country, long the basis of roman military operations, was accessible by river and canal, the patriotic spirit which he had for a moment raised, had abandoned him; his allies had deserted him; he stood alone and at bay, encompassed by the hunters, with death or surrender as his only alternative. under such circumstances, hermann could not have shown more courage or conduct, nor have terminated the impossible struggle with greater dignity or adroitness. the contest of civilis with rome contains a remarkable foreshadowing of the future conflict with spain, through which the batavian republic, fifteen centuries later, was to be founded. the characters, the events, the amphibious battles, desperate sieges, slippery alliances, the traits of generosity, audacity and cruelty, the generous confidence, the broken faith seem so closely to repeat themselves, that history appears to present the self-same drama played over and over again, with but a change of actors and of costume. there is more than a fanciful resemblance between civilis and william the silent, two heroes of ancient german stock, who had learned the arts of war and peace in the service of a foreign and haughty world-empire. determination, concentration of purpose, constancy in calamity, elasticity almost preternatural, self-denial, consummate craft in political combinations, personal fortitude, and passionate patriotism, were the heroic elements in both. the ambition of each was subordinate to the cause which he served. both refused the crown, although each, perhaps, contemplated, in the sequel, a batavian realm of which he would have been the inevitable chief. both offered the throne to a gallic prince, for classicus was but the prototype of anjou, as brinno of brederode, and neither was destined, in this world, to see his sacrifices crowned with success. the characteristics of the two great races of the land portrayed themselves in the roman and the spanish struggle with much the same colors. the southrons, inflammable, petulant, audacious, were the first to assault and to defy the imperial power in both revolts, while the inhabitants of the northern provinces, slower to be aroused, but of more enduring wrath, were less ardent at the commencement, but; alone, steadfast at the close of the contest. in both wars the southern celts fell away from the league, their courageous but corrupt chieftains having been purchased with imperial gold to bring about the abject submission of their followers; while the german netherlands, although eventually subjugated by rome, after a desperate struggle, were successful in the great conflict with spain, and trampled out of existence every vestige of her authority. the batavian republic took its rank among the leading powers of the earth; the belgic provinces remained roman, spanish, austrian property. v. obscure but important movements in the regions of eternal twilight, revolutions, of which history has been silent, in the mysterious depths of asia, outpourings of human rivets along the sides of the altai mountains, convulsions up-heaving r mote realms and unknown dynasties, shock after shock throb bing throughout the barbarian world and dying upon the edge of civilization, vast throes which shake the earth as precursory pangs to the birth of a new empire--as dying symptoms of the proud but effete realm which called itself the world; scattered hordes of sanguinary, grotesque savages pushed from their own homes, and hovering with vague purposes upon the roman frontier, constantly repelled and perpetually reappearing in ever-increasing swarms, guided thither by a fierce instinct, or by mysterious laws--such are the well known phenomena which preceded the fall of western rome. stately, externally powerful, although undermined and putrescent at the core, the death-stricken empire still dashed back the assaults of its barbarous enemies. during the long struggle intervening between the age of vespasian and that of odoacer, during all the preliminary ethnographical revolutions which preceded the great people's wandering, the netherlands remained subject provinces. their country was upon the high road which led the goths to rome. those low and barren tracts were the outlying marches of the empire. upon that desolate beach broke the first surf from the rising ocean of german freedom which was soon to overwhelm rome. yet, although the ancient landmarks were soon well nigh obliterated, the netherlands still remained faithful to the empire, batavian blood was still poured out for its defence. by the middle of the fourth century, the franks and allemanians, alle-mannez, all-men, a mass of united germans are defeated by the emperor julian at strasburg, the batavian cavalry, as upon many other great occasions, saving the day for despotism. this achievement, one of the last in which the name appears upon historic record, was therefore as triumphant for the valor as it was humiliating to the true fame of the nation. their individuality soon afterwards disappears, the race having been partly exhausted in the roman service, partly merged in the frank and frisian tribes who occupy the domains of their forefathers. for a century longer, rome still retains its outward form, but the swarming nations are now in full career. the netherlands are successively or simultaneously trampled by franks, vandals, alani, suevi, saxons, frisians, and even sclavonians, as the great march of germany to universal empire, which her prophets and bards had foretold, went majestically forward. the fountains of the frozen north were opened, the waters prevailed, but the ark of christianity floated upon the flood. as the deluge assuaged, the earth had returned to chaos, the last pagan empire had been washed out of existence, but the dimly, groping, faltering, ignorant infancy of christian europe had begun. after the wanderings had subsided, the netherlands are found with much the same ethnological character as before. the frank dominion has succeeded the roman, the german stock preponderates over the celtic, but the national ingredients, although in somewhat altered proportions, remain essentially the same. the old belgae, having become romanized in tongue and customs, accept the new empire of the franks. that people, however, pushed from their hold of the rhine by thickly thronging hordes of gepidi, quadi, sarmati, heruli, saxons, burgundians, move towards the south and west. as the empire falls before odoacer, they occupy celtic gaul with the belgian portion of the netherlands; while the frisians, into which ancient german tribe the old batavian element has melted, not to be extinguished, but to live a renovated existence, the "free frisians;" whose name is synonymous with liberty, nearest blood relations of the anglo-saxon race, now occupy the northern portion, including the whole future european territory of the dutch republic. the history of the franks becomes, therefore, the history of the netherlands. the frisians struggle, for several centuries, against their dominion, until eventually subjugated by charlemagne. they even encroach upon the franks in belgic gaul, who are determined not to yield their possessions. moreover, the pious merovingian faineans desire to plant christianity among the still pagan frisians. dagobert, son of the second clotaire, advances against them as far as the weser, takes possession of utrecht, founds there the first christian church in friesland, and establishes a nominal dominion over the whole country. yet the feeble merovingians would have been powerless against rugged friesland, had not their dynasty already merged in that puissant family of brabant, which long wielded their power before it assumed their crown. it was pepin of heristal, grandson of the netherlander, pepin of landen, who conquered the frisian radbod (a.d. ), and forced him to exchange his royal for the ducal title. it was pepin's bastard, charles the hammer, whose tremendous blows completed his father's work. the new mayor of the palace soon drove the frisian chief into submission, and even into christianity. a bishop's indiscretion, however, neutralized the apostolic blows of the mayor. the pagan radbod had already immersed one of his royal legs in the baptismal font, when a thought struck him. "where are my dead forefathers at present?" he said, turning suddenly upon bishop wolfran. "in hell, with all other unbelievers," was the imprudent answer. "mighty well," replied radbod, removing his leg, "then will i rather feast with my ancestors in the halls of woden, than dwell with your little starveling hand of christians in heaven." entreaties and threats were unavailing. the frisian declined positively a rite which was to cause an eternal separation from his buried kindred, and he died as he had lived, a heathen. his son, poppa, succeeding to the nominal sovereignty, did not actively oppose the introduction of christianity among his people, but himself refused to be converted. rebelling against the frank dominion, he was totally routed by charles martell in a great battle (a.d. ) and perished with a vast number of frisians. the christian dispensation, thus enforced, was now accepted by these northern pagans. the commencement of their conversion had been mainly the work of their brethren from britain. the monk wilfred was followed in a few years by the anglo-saxon willibrod. it was he who destroyed the images of woden in walcheren, abolished his worship, and founded churches in north holland. charles martell rewarded him with extensive domains about utrecht, together with many slaves and other chattels. soon afterwards he was consecrated bishop of all the frisians. thus rose the famous episcopate of utrecht. another anglo-saxon, winfred, or bonifacius, had been equally active among his frisian cousins. his crozier had gone hand in hand with the battle-axe. bonifacius followed close upon the track of his orthodox coadjutor charles. by the middle of the eighth century, some hundred thousand frisians had been slaughtered, and as many more converted. the hammer which smote the saracens at tours was at last successful in beating the netherlanders into christianity. the labors of bonifacius through upper and lower germany were immense; but he, too, received great material rewards. he was created archbishop of mayence, and, upon the death of willibrod, bishop of utrecht. faithful to his mission, however, he met, heroically, a martyr's death at the hands of the refractory pagans at dokkum. thus was christianity established in the netherlands. under charlemagne, the frisians often rebelled, making common cause with the saxons. in , a.d., they were, however, completely subjugated, and never rose again until the epoch of their entire separation from the frank empire. charlemagne left them their name of free frisians, and the property in their own land. the feudal system never took root in their soil. "the frisians," says their statute book; "shall be free, as long as the wind blows out of the clouds and the world stands." they agreed, however, to obey the chiefs whom the frank monarch should appoint to govern them, according to their own laws. those laws were collected, and are still extant. the vernacular version of their asega book contains their ancient customs, together with the frank additions. the general statutes of charlemagne were, of course, in vigor also; but that great legislator knew too well the importance attached by all mankind to local customs, to allow his imperial capitulara to interfere, unnecessarily, with the frisian laws. vi. thus again the netherlands, for the first time since the fall of rome, were united under one crown imperial. they had already been once united, in their slavery to rome. eight centuries pass away, and they are again united, in subjection to charlemagne. their union was but in forming a single link in the chain of a new realm. the reign of charlemagne had at last accomplished the promise of the sorceress velleda and other soothsayers. a german race had re-established the empire of the world. the netherlands, like-the other provinces of the great monarch's dominion, were governed by crown-appointed functionaries, military and judicial. in the northeastern, or frisian portion, however; the grants of land were never in the form of revocable benefices or feuds. with this important exception, the whole country shared the fate, and enjoyed the general organization of the empire. but charlemagne came an age too soon. the chaos which had brooded over europe since the dissolution of the roman world, was still too absolute. it was not to be fashioned into permanent forms, even by his bold and constructive genius. a soil, exhausted by the long culture of pagan empires, was to lie fallow for a still longer period. the discordant elements out of which the emperor had compounded his realm, did not coalesce during his life-time. they were only held together by the vigorous grasp of the hand which had combined them. when the great statesman died, his empire necessarily fell to pieces. society had need of farther disintegration before it could begin to reconstruct itself locally. a new civilization was not to be improvised by a single mind. when did one man ever civilize a people? in the eighth and ninth centuries there was not even a people to be civilized. the construction of charles was, of necessity, temporary. his empire was supported by artificial columns, resting upon the earth, which fell prostrate almost as soon as the hand of their architect was cold. his institutions had not struck down into the soil. there were no extensive and vigorous roots to nourish, from below, a flourishing empire through time and tempest. moreover, the carlovingian race had been exhausted by producing a race of heroes like the pepins and the charleses. the family became, soon, as contemptible as the ox-drawn, long-haired "do-nothings" whom it had expelled; but it is not our task to describe the fortunes of the emperor's ignoble descendants. the realm was divided, sub-divided, at times partially reunited, like a family farm, among monarchs incompetent alike to hold, to delegate, or--to resign the inheritance of the great warrior and lawgiver. the meek, bald, fat, stammering, simple charles, or louis, who successively sat upon his throne--princes, whose only historic individuality consists in these insipid appellations--had not the sense to comprehend, far less to develop, the plans of their ancestor. charles the simple was the last carlovingian who governed lotharingia, in which were comprised most of the netherlands and friesland. the german monarch, henry the fowler, at that period called king of the east franks, as charles of the west franks, acquired lotharingia by the treaty of bonn, charles reserving the sovereignty over the kingdom during his lifetime. in , a.d., however, the simpleton having been imprisoned and deposed by his own subjects, the fowler was recognized king, of lotharingia. thus the netherlands passed out of france into germany, remaining, still, provinces of a loose, disjointed empire. this is the epoch in which the various dukedoms, earldoms, and other petty sovereignties of the netherlands became hereditary. it was in the year that charles the simple presented to count dirk the territory of holland, by letters patent. this narrow hook of land, destined, in future ages, to be the cradle of a considerable empire, stretching through both hemispheres, was, thenceforth, the inheritance of dirk's descendants. historically, therefore, he is dirk i., count of holland. of this small sovereign and his successors, the most powerful foe for centuries was ever the bishop of utrecht, the origin of whose greatness has been already indicated. of the other netherland provinces, now or before become hereditary, the first in rank was lotharingia, once the kingdom of lothaire, now the dukedom of lorraine. in it was divided into upper and lower lorraine, of which the lower duchy alone belonged to the netherlands. two centuries later, the counts of louvain, then occupying most of brabant, obtained a permanent hold of lower lorraine, and began to call themselves dukes of brabant. the same principle of local independence and isolation which created these dukes, established the hereditary power of the counts and barons who formerly exercised jurisdiction under them and others. thus arose sovereign counts of namur, hainault, limburg, zutphen, dukes of luxemburg and gueldres, barons of mechlin, marquesses of antwerp, and others; all petty autocrats. the most important of all, after the house of lorraine, were the earls of flanders; for the bold foresters of charles the great had soon wrested the sovereignty of their little territory from his feeble descendants as easily as baldwin, with the iron arm, had deprived the bald charles of his daughter. holland, zeeland, utrecht, overyssel, groningen, drenthe and friesland (all seven being portions of friesland in a general sense), were crowded together upon a little desolate corner of europe; an obscure fragment of charlemagne's broken empire. they were afterwards to constitute the united states of the netherlands, one of the most powerful republics of history. meantime, for century after century, the counts of holland and the bishops of utrecht were to exercise divided sway over the territory. thus the whole country was broken into many shreds and patches of sovereignty. the separate history of such half-organized morsels is tedious and petty. trifling dynasties, where a family or two were every thing, the people nothing, leave little worth recording. even the most devout of genealogists might shudder to chronicle the long succession of so many illustrious obscure. a glance, however, at the general features of the governmental system now established in the netherlands, at this important epoch in the world's history, will show the transformations which the country, in common with other portions of the western world, had undergone. in the tenth century the old batavian and later roman forms have faded away. an entirely new polity has succeeded. no great popular assembly asserts its sovereignty, as in the ancient german epoch; no generals and temporary kings are chosen by the nation. the elective power had been lost under the romans, who, after conquest, had conferred the administrative authority over their subject provinces upon officials appointed by the metropolis. the franks pursued the same course. in charlemagne's time, the revolution is complete. popular assemblies and popular election entirely vanish. military, civil, and judicial officers-dukes, earls, margraves, and others--are all king's creatures, 'knegton des konings, pueri regis', and so remain, till they abjure the creative power, and set up their own. the principle of charlemagne, that his officers should govern according to local custom, helps them to achieve their own independence, while it preserves all that is left of national liberty and law. the counts, assisted by inferior judges, hold diets from time to time--thrice, perhaps, annually. they also summon assemblies in case of war. thither are called the great vassals, who, in turn, call their lesser vassals; each armed with "a shield, a spear, a bow, twelve arrows, and a cuirass." such assemblies, convoked in the name of a distant sovereign, whose face his subjects had never seen, whose language they could hardly understand, were very different from those tumultuous mass-meetings, where boisterous freemen, armed with the weapons they loved the best, and arriving sooner or later, according to their pleasure, had been accustomed to elect their generals and magistrates and to raise them upon their shields. the people are now governed, their rulers appointed by an invisible hand. edicts, issued by a power, as it were, supernatural, demand implicit obedience. the people, acquiescing in their own annihilation, abdicate not only their political but their personal rights. on the other hand, the great source of power diffuses less and less of light and warmth. losing its attractive and controlling influence, it becomes gradually eclipsed, while its satellites fly from their prescribed bounds and chaos and darkness return. the sceptre, stretched over realms so wide, requires stronger hands than those of degenerate carlovingians. it breaks asunder. functionaries become sovereigns, with hereditary, not delegated, right to own the people, to tax their roads and rivers, to take tithings of their blood and sweat, to harass them in all the relations of life. there is no longer a metropolis to protect them from official oppression. power, the more sub-divided, becomes the more tyrannical. the sword is the only symbol of law, the cross is a weapon of offence, the bishop is a consecrated pirate, every petty baron a burglar, while the people, alternately the prey of duke, prelate, and seignor, shorn and butchered like sheep, esteem it happiness to sell themselves into slavery, or to huddle beneath the castle walls of some little potentate, for the sake of his wolfish protection. here they build hovels, which they surround from time to time with palisades and muddy entrenchments; and here, in these squalid abodes of ignorance and misery, the genius of liberty, conducted by the spirit of commerce, descends at last to awaken mankind from its sloth and cowardly stupor. a longer night was to intervene; however, before the dawn of day. the crown-appointed functionaries had been, of course, financial officers. they collected the revenue of the sovereign, one third of which slipped through their fingers into their own coffers. becoming sovereigns themselves, they retain these funds for their private emolument. four principal sources yielded this revenue: royal domains, tolls and imposts, direct levies and a pleasantry called voluntary contributions or benevolences. in addition to these supplies were also the proceeds of fines. taxation upon sin was, in those rude ages, a considerable branch of the revenue. the old frisian laws consisted almost entirely of a discriminating tariff upon crimes. nearly all the misdeeds which man is prone to commit, were punished by a money-bote only. murder, larceny, arson, rape--all offences against the person were commuted for a definite price. there were a few exceptions, such as parricide, which was followed by loss of inheritance; sacrilege and the murder of a master by a slave, which were punished with death. it is a natural inference that, as the royal treasury was enriched by these imposts, the sovereign would hardly attempt to check the annual harvest of iniquity by which his revenue was increased. still, although the moral sense is shocked by a system which makes the ruler's interest identical with the wickedness of his people, and holds out a comparative immunity in evil-doing for the rich, it was better that crime should be punished by money rather than not be punished at all. a severe tax, which the noble reluctantly paid and which the penniless culprit commuted by personal slavery, was sufficiently unjust as well as absurd, yet it served to mitigate the horrors with which tumult, rapine, and murder enveloped those early days. gradually, as the light of reason broke upon the dark ages, the most noxious features of the system were removed, while the general sentiment of reverence for law remained. etext editor's bookmarks: a country disinherited by nature of its rights a pleasantry called voluntary contributions or benevolences annual harvest of iniquity by which his revenue was increased batavian legion was the imperial body guard beating the netherlanders into christianity bishop is a consecrated pirate brethren, parents, and children, having wives in common for women to lament, for men to remember gaul derided the roman soldiers as a band of pigmies great science of political equilibrium holland, england, and america, are all links of one chain long succession of so many illustrious obscure others go to battle, says the historian, these go to war revocable benefices or feuds taxation upon sin the gaul was singularly unchaste motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. historical introduction., part . vii. five centuries of isolation succeed. in the netherlands, as throughout europe, a thousand obscure and slender rills are slowly preparing the great stream of universal culture. five dismal centuries of feudalism: during which period there is little talk of human right, little obedience to divine reason. rights there are none, only forces; and, in brief, three great forces, gradually arising, developing themselves, acting upon each other, and upon the general movement of society. the sword--the first, for a time the only force: the force of iron. the "land's master," having acquired the property in the territory and in the people who feed thereon, distributes to his subalterns, often but a shade beneath him in power, portions of his estate, getting the use of their faithful swords in return. vavasours subdivide again to vassals, exchanging land and cattle, human or otherwise, against fealty, and so the iron chain of a military hierarchy, forged of mutually interdependent links, is stretched over each little province. impregnable castles, here more numerous than in any other part of christendom, dot the level surface of the country. mail-clad knights, with their followers, encamp permanently upon the soil. the fortunate fable of divine right is invented to sanction the system; superstition and ignorance give currency to the delusion. thus the grace of god, having conferred the property in a vast portion of europe upon a certain idiot in france, makes him competent to sell large fragments of his estate, and to give a divine, and, therefore, most satisfactory title along with them. a great convenience to a man, who had neither power, wit, nor will to keep the property in his own hands. so the dirks of holland get a deed from charles the simple, and, although the grace of god does not prevent the royal grantor himself from dying a miserable, discrowned captive, the conveyance to dirk is none the less hallowed by almighty fiat. so the roberts and guys, the johns and baldwins, become sovereigns in hainault, brabant, flanders and other little districts, affecting supernatural sanction for the authority which their good swords have won and are ever ready to maintain. thus organized, the force of iron asserts and exerts itself. duke, count, seignor and vassal, knight and squire, master and man swarm and struggle amain. a wild, chaotic, sanguinary scene. here, bishop and baron contend, centuries long, murdering human creatures by ten thousands for an acre or two of swampy pasture; there, doughty families, hugging old musty quarrels to their heart, buffet each other from generation to generation; thus they go on, raging and wrestling among themselves, with all the world, shrieking insane war-cries which no human soul ever understood--red caps and black, white hoods and grey, hooks and kabbeljaws, dealing destruction, building castles and burning them, tilting at tourneys, stealing bullocks, roasting jews, robbing the highways, crusading--now upon syrian sands against paynim dogs, now in frisian quagmires against albigenses, stedingers, and other heretics--plunging about in blood and fire, repenting, at idle times, and paying their passage through, purgatory with large slices of ill-gotten gains placed in the ever-extended dead-hand of the church; acting, on the whole, according to their kind, and so getting themselves civilized or exterminated, it matters little which. thus they play their part, those energetic men-at-arms; and thus one great force, the force of iron, spins and expands itself, century after century, helping on, as it whirls, the great progress of society towards its goal, wherever that may be. another force--the force clerical--the power of clerks, arises; the might of educated mind measuring itself against brute violence; a force embodied, as often before, as priestcraft--the strength of priests: craft meaning, simply, strength, in our old mother-tongue. this great force, too, develops itself variously, being sometimes beneficent, sometimes malignant. priesthood works out its task, age after age: now smoothing penitent death-beds, consecrating graves! feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, incarnating the christian precepts, in an, age of rapine and homicide, doing a thousand deeds of love and charity among the obscure and forsaken--deeds of which there shall never be human chronicle, but a leaf or two, perhaps, in the recording angel's book; hiving precious honey from the few flowers of gentle, art which bloom upon a howling wilderness; holding up the light of science over a stormy sea; treasuring in convents and crypts the few fossils of antique learning which become visible, as the extinct megatherium of an elder world reappears after the gothic deluge; and now, careering in helm and hauberk with the other ruffians, bandying blows in the thickest of the fight, blasting with bell, book, and candle its trembling enemies, while sovereigns, at the head of armies, grovel in the dust and offer abject submission for the kiss of peace; exercising the same conjury over ignorant baron and cowardly hind, making the fiction of apostolic authority to bind and loose, as prolific in acres as the other divine right to have and hold; thus the force of cultivated intellect, wielded by a chosen few and sanctioned by supernatural authority, becomes as potent as the sword. a third force, developing itself more slowly, becomes even more potent than the rest: the power of gold. even iron yields to the more ductile metal. the importance of municipalities, enriched by trade, begins to be felt. commerce, the mother of netherland freedom, and, eventually, its destroyer--even as in all human history the vivifying becomes afterwards the dissolving principle--commerce changes insensibly and miraculously the aspect of society. clusters of hovels become towered cities; the green and gilded hanse of commercial republicanism coils itself around the decaying trunk of feudal despotism. cities leagued with cities throughout and beyond christendom-empire within empire-bind themselves closer and closer in the electric chain of human sympathy and grow stronger and stronger by mutual support. fishermen and river raftsmen become ocean adventurers and merchant princes. commerce plucks up half-drowned holland by the locks and pours gold into her lap. gold wrests power from iron. needy flemish weavers become mighty manufacturers. armies of workmen, fifty thousand strong, tramp through the swarming streets. silk-makers, clothiers, brewers become the gossips of kings, lend their royal gossips vast sums and burn the royal notes of hand in fires of cinnamon wood. wealth brings strength, strength confidence. learning to handle cross-bow and dagger, the burghers fear less the baronial sword, finding that their own will cut as well, seeing that great armies--flowers of chivalry--can ride away before them fast enough at battles of spurs and other encounters. sudden riches beget insolence, tumults, civic broils. internecine quarrels, horrible tumults stain the streets with blood, but education lifts the citizens more and more out of the original slough. they learn to tremble as little at priestcraft as at swordcraft, having acquired something of each. gold in the end, unsanctioned by right divine, weighs up the other forces, supernatural as they are. and so, struggling along their appointed path, making cloth, making money, making treaties with great kingdoms, making war by land and sea, ringing great bells, waving great banners, they, too--these insolent, boisterous burghers--accomplish their work. thus, the mighty power of the purse develops itself and municipal liberty becomes a substantial fact. a fact, not a principle; for the old theorem of sovereignty remains undisputed as ever. neither the nation, in mass, nor the citizens, in class, lay claim to human rights. all upper attributes--legislative, judicial, administrative--remain in the land-master's breast alone. it is an absurdity, therefore, to argue with grotius concerning the unknown antiquity of the batavian republic. the republic never existed at all till the sixteenth century, and was only born after long years of agony. the democratic instincts of the ancient german savages were to survive in the breasts of their cultivated descendants, but an organized, civilized, republican polity had never existed. the cities, as they grew in strength, never claimed the right to make the laws or to share in the government. as a matter of fact, they did make the laws, and shared, beside, in most important functions of sovereignty, in the treaty-making power, especially. sometimes by bargains; sometimes by blood, by gold, threats, promises, or good hard blows they extorted their charters. their codes, statutes, joyful entrances, and other constitutions were dictated by the burghers and sworn to by the monarch. they were concessions from above; privileges private laws; fragments indeed of a larger liberty, but vastly, better than the slavery for which they had been substituted; solid facts instead of empty abstractions, which, in those practical and violent days, would have yielded little nutriment; but they still rather sought to reconcile themselves, by a rough, clumsy fiction, with the hierarchy which they had invaded, than to overturn the system. thus the cities, not regarding themselves as representatives or aggregations of the people, became fabulous personages, bodies without souls, corporations which had acquired vitality and strength enough to assert their existence. as persons, therefore--gigantic individualities--they wheeled into the feudal ranks and assumed feudal powers and responsibilities. the city of dort; of middelburg, of ghent, of louvain, was a living being, doing fealty, claiming service, bowing to its lord, struggling with its equals, trampling upon its slaves. thus, in these obscure provinces, as throughout europe, in a thousand remote and isolated corners, civilization builds itself up, synthetically and slowly; yet at last, a whole is likely to get itself constructed. thus, impelled by great and conflicting forces, now obliquely, now backward, now upward, yet, upon the whole, onward, the new society moves along its predestined orbit, gathering consistency and strength as it goes. society, civilization, perhaps, but hardly humanity. the people has hardly begun to extricate itself from the clods in which it lies buried. there are only nobles, priests, and, latterly, cities. in the northern netherlands, the degraded condition of the mass continued longest. even in friesland, liberty, the dearest blessing of the ancient frisians, had been forfeited in a variety of ways. slavery was both voluntary and compulsory. paupers sold themselves that they might escape starvation. the timid sold themselves that they might escape violence. these voluntary sales, which were frequent, wore usually made to cloisters and ecclesiastical establishments, for the condition of church-slaves was preferable to that of other serfs. persons worsted in judicial duels, shipwrecked sailors, vagrants, strangers, criminals unable to pay the money-bote imposed upon them, were all deprived of freedom; but the prolific source of slavery was war. prisoners were almost universally reduced to servitude. a free woman who intermarried with a slave condemned herself and offspring to perpetual bondage. among the ripuarian franks, a free woman thus disgracing herself, was girt with a sword and a distaff. choosing the one, she was to strike her husband dead; choosing the other, she adopted the symbol of slavery, and became a chattel for life. the ferocious inroads of the normans scared many weak and timid persons into servitude. they fled, by throngs, to church and monastery, and were happy, by enslaving themselves, to escape the more terrible bondage of the sea-kings. during the brief dominion of the norman godfrey, every free frisian was forced to wear a halter around his neck. the lot of a church-slave was freedom in comparison. to kill him was punishable by a heavy fine. he could give testimony in court, could inherit, could make a will, could even plead before the law, if law could be found. the number of slaves throughout the netherlands was very large; the number belonging to the bishopric of utrecht, enormous. the condition of those belonging to laymen was much more painful. the lyf-eigene, or absolute slaves, were the most wretched. they were mere brutes. they had none of the natural attributes of humanity, their life and death were in the master's hands, they had no claim to a fraction of their own labor or its fruits, they had no marriage, except under condition of the infamous 'jus primoe noctis'. the villagers, or villeins, were the second class and less forlorn. they could commute the labor due to their owner by a fixed sum of money, after annual payment of which, the villein worked for himself. his master, therefore, was not his absolute proprietor. the chattel had a beneficial interest in a portion of his own flesh and blood. the crusades made great improvement in the condition of the serfs. he who became a soldier of the cross was free upon his return, and many were adventurous enough to purchase liberty at so honorable a price. many others were sold or mortgaged by the crusading knights, desirous of converting their property into gold, before embarking upon their enterprise. the purchasers or mortgagees were in general churches and convents, so that the slaves, thus alienated, obtained at least a preferable servitude. the place of the absent serfs was supplied by free labor, so that agricultural and mechanical occupations, now devolving upon a more elevated class, became less degrading, and, in process of time, opened an ever-widening sphere for the industry and progress of freemen. thus a people began to exist. it was, however; a miserable people, with personal, but no civil rights whatever. their condition, although better than servitude, was almost desperate. they were taxed beyond their ability, while priest and noble were exempt. they had no voice in the apportionment of the money thus contributed. there was no redress against the lawless violence to which they were perpetually exposed. in the manorial courts, the criminal sat in judgment upon his victim. the functions of highwayman and magistrate were combined in one individual. by degrees, the class of freemen, artisans, traders, and the like, becoming the more numerous, built stronger and better houses outside the castle gates of the "land's master" or the burghs of the more powerful nobles. the superiors, anxious to increase their own importance, favored the progress of the little boroughs. the population, thus collected, began to divide themselves into guilds. these were soon afterwards erected by the community into bodies corporate; the establishment of the community, of course, preceding, the incorporation of the guilds. those communities were created by charters or keuren, granted by the sovereign. unless the earliest concessions of this nature have perished, the town charters of holland or zeland are nearly a century later than those of flanders, france, and england. the oldest keur, or act of municipal incorporation, in the provinces afterwards constituting the republic, was that granted by count william the first of holland and countess joanna of flanders, as joint proprietors of walcheren, to the town of middelburg. it will be seen that its main purport is to promise, as a special privilege to this community, law, in place of the arbitrary violence by which mankind, in general, were governed by their betters. "the inhabitants," ran the charter, "are taken into protection by both counts. upon fighting, maiming, wounding, striking, scolding; upon peace-breaking, upon resistance to peace-makers and to the judgment of schepens; upon contemning the ban, upon selling spoiled wine, and upon other misdeeds fines are imposed for behoof of the count, the city, and sometimes of the schepens.......to all middelburgers one kind of law is guaranteed. every man must go to law before the schepens. if any one being summoned and present in walcheren does not appear, or refuses submission to sentence, he shall be banished with confiscation of property. schout or schepen denying justice to a complainant, shall, until reparation, hold no tribunal again.......a burgher having a dispute with an outsider (buiten mann) must summon him before the schepens. an appeal lies from the schepens to the count. no one can testify but a householder. all alienation of real estate must take place before the schepens. if an outsider has a complaint against a burgher, the schepens and schout must arrange it. if either party refuses submission to them, they must ring the town bell and summon an assembly of all the burghers to compel him. any one ringing the town bell, except by general consent, and any one not appearing when it tolls, are liable to a fine. no middelburger can be arrested or held in durance within flanders or holland, except for crime." this document was signed, sealed, and sworn to by the two sovereigns in the year . it was the model upon which many other communities, cradles of great cities, in holland and zeland, were afterwards created. these charters are certainly not very extensive, even for the privileged municipalities which obtained them, when viewed from an abstract stand-point. they constituted, however, a very great advance from the stand-point at which humanity actually found itself. they created, not for all inhabitants, but for great numbers of them, the right, not to govern them selves but to be governed by law: they furnished a local administration of justice. they provided against arbitrary imprisonment. they set up tribunals, where men of burgher class were to sit in judgment. they held up a shield against arbitrary violence from above and sedition from within. they encouraged peace-makers, punished peace-breakers. they guarded the fundamental principle, 'ut sua tanerent', to the verge of absurdity; forbidding a freeman, without a freehold, from testifying--a capacity not denied even to a country slave. certainly all this was better than fist-law and courts manorial. for the commencement of the thirteenth century, it was progress. the schout and schepens, or chief magistrate and aldermen, were originally appointed by the sovereign. in process of time, the election of these municipal authorities was conceded to the communities. this inestimable privilege, however, after having been exercised during a certain period by the whole body of citizens, was eventually monopolized by the municipal government itself, acting in common with the deans of the various guilds. thus organized and inspired with the breath of civic life, the communities of flanders and holland began to move rapidly forward. more and more they assumed the appearance of prosperous little republics. for this prosperity they were indebted to commerce, particularly with england and the baltic nations, and to manufactures, especially of wool. the trade between england and the netherlands had existed for ages, and was still extending itself, to the great advantage of both countries. a dispute, however, between the merchants of holland and england, towards the year , caused a privateering warfare, and a ten years' suspension of intercourse. a reconciliation afterwards led to the establishment of the english wool staple, at dort. a subsequent quarrel deprived holland of this great advantage. king edward refused to assist count florence in a war with the flemings, and transferred the staple from dort to bruges and mechlin. the trade of the netherlands with the mediterranean and the east was mainly through this favored city of bruges, which, already in the thirteenth century, had risen to the first rank in the commercial world. it was the resting-place for the lombards and other italians, the great entrepot for their merchandise. it now became, in addition, the great marketplace for english wool, and the woollen fabrics of all the netherlands, as well as for the drugs and spices of the east. it had, however, by no means reached its apogee, but was to culminate with venice, and to sink with her decline. when the overland indian trade fell off with the discovery of the cape passage, both cities withered. grass grew in the fair and pleasant streets of bruges, and sea-weed clustered about the marble halls of venice. at this epoch, however, both were in a state of rapid and insolent prosperity. the cities, thus advancing in wealth and importance, were no longer satisfied with being governed according to law, and began to participate, not only in their own, but in the general government. under guy of flanders, the towns appeared regularly, as well as the nobles, in the assembly of the provincial estates. ( - , a.d.) in the course of the following century, the six chief cities, or capitals, of holland (dort, harlem, delft, leyden, goads, and amsterdam) acquired the right of sending their deputies regularly to the estates of the provinces. these towns, therefore, with the nobles, constituted the parliamentary power of the nation. they also acquired letters patent from the count, allowing them to choose their burgomasters and a limited number of councillors or senators (vroedschappen). thus the liberties of holland and flanders waxed, daily, stronger. a great physical convulsion in the course of the thirteenth century came to add its influence to the slower process of political revolution. hitherto there had been but one friesland, including holland, and nearly all the territory of the future republic. a slender stream alone separated the two great districts. the low lands along the vlie, often threatened, at last sank in the waves. the german ocean rolled in upon the inland lake of flevo. the stormy zuyder zee began its existence by engulfing thousands of frisian villages, with all their population, and by spreading a chasm between kindred peoples. the political, as well as the geographical, continuity of the land was obliterated by this tremendous deluge. the hollanders were cut off from their relatives in the east by as dangerous a sea as that which divided them from their anglo-saxon brethren in britain. the deputies to the general assemblies at aurich could no longer undertake a journey grown so perilous. west friesland became absorbed in holland. east friesland remained a federation of rude but self-governed maritime provinces, until the brief and bloody dominion of the saxon dukes led to the establishment of charles the fifth's authority. whatever the nominal sovereignty over them, this most republican tribe of netherlanders, or of europeans, had never accepted feudalism. there was an annual congress of the whole confederacy. each of the seven little states, on the other hand, regulated its own internal affairs. each state was subdivided into districts, each district governed by a griet-mann (greatman, selectman) and assistants. above all these district officers was a podesta, a magistrate identical, in name and functions, with the chief officer of the italian republics. there was sometimes but one podesta; sometimes one for each province. he was chosen by the people, took oath of fidelity to the separate estates, or, if podesta-general, to the federal diet, and was generally elected for a limited term, although sometimes for life. he was assisted by a board of eighteen or twenty councillors. the deputies to the general congress were chosen by popular suffrage in easter-week. the clergy were not recognized as a political estate. thus, in those lands which a niggard nature had apparently condemned to perpetual poverty and obscurity, the principle of reasonable human freedom, without which there is no national prosperity or glory worth contending for, was taking deepest and strongest root. already in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries friesland was a republic, except in name; holland, flanders, brabant, had acquired a large share of self-government. the powerful commonwealth, at a later period to be evolved out of the great combat between centralized tyranny and the spirit of civil and religious liberty, was already foreshadowed. the elements, of which that important republic was to be compounded, were germinating for centuries. love of freedom, readiness to strike and bleed at any moment in her cause, manly resistance to despotism, however overshadowing, were the leading characteristics of the race in all regions or periods, whether among frisian swamps, dutch dykes, the gentle hills and dales of england, or the pathless forests of america. doubtless, the history of human liberty in holland and flanders, as every where else upon earth where there has been such a history, unrolls many scenes of turbulence and bloodshed; although these features have been exaggerated by prejudiced historians. still, if there were luxury and insolence, sedition and uproar, at any rate there was life. those violent little commonwealths had blood in their veins. they were compact of proud, self-helping, muscular vigor. the most sanguinary tumults which they ever enacted in the face of day, were better than the order and silence born of the midnight darkness of despotism. that very unruliness was educating the people for their future work. those merchants, manufacturers, country squires, and hard-fighting barons, all pent up in a narrow corner of the earth, quarrelling with each other and with all the world for centuries, were keeping alive a national pugnacity of character, for which there was to be a heavy demand in the sixteenth century, and without which the fatherland had perhaps succumbed in the most unequal conflict ever waged by man against oppression. to sketch the special history of even the leading netherland provinces, during the five centuries which we have thus rapidly sought to characterize, is foreign to our purpose. by holding the clue of holland's history, the general maze of dynastic transformations throughout the country may, however, be swiftly threaded. from the time of the first dirk to the close of the thirteenth century there were nearly four hundred years of unbroken male descent, a long line of dirks and florences. this iron-handed, hot-headed, adventurous race, placed as sovereign upon its little sandy hook, making ferocious exertions to swell into larger consequence, conquering a mile or two of morass or barren furze, after harder blows and bloodier encounters than might have established an empire under more favorable circumstances, at last dies out. the courtship falls to the house of avennes, counts of hainault. holland, together with zeland, which it had annexed, is thus joined to the province of hainault. at the end of another half century the hainault line expires. william the fourth died childless in . his death is the signal for the outbreak of an almost interminable series of civil commotions. those two great, parties, known by the uncouth names of hook and kabbeljaw, come into existence, dividing noble against noble, city against city, father against son, for some hundred and fifty years, without foundation upon any abstract or intelligible principle. it may be observed, however, that, in the sequel, and as a general rule, the kabbeljaw, or cod-fish party, represented the city or municipal faction, while the hooks (fish-hooks), that were to catch and control them, were the nobles; iron and audacity against brute number and weight. duke william of bavaria, sister's son--of william the fourth, gets himself established in . he is succeeded by his brother albert; albert by his son william. william, who had married margaret of burgundy, daughter of philip the bold, dies in . the goodly heritage of these three netherland provinces descends to his daughter jacqueline, a damsel of seventeen. little need to trace the career of the fair and ill-starred jacqueline. few chapters of historical romance have drawn more frequent tears. the favorite heroine of ballad and drama, to netherlanders she is endued with the palpable form and perpetual existence of the iphigenias, mary stuarts, joans of arc, or other consecrated individualities. exhausted and broken-hearted, after thirteen years of conflict with her own kinsmen, consoled for the cowardice and brutality of three husbands by the gentle and knightly spirit of the fourth, dispossessed of her father's broad domains, degraded from the rank of sovereign to be lady forester of her own provinces by her cousin, the bad duke of burgundy, philip surnamed "the good," she dies at last, and the good cousin takes undisputed dominion of the land. ( .) the five centuries of isolation are at end. the many obscure streams of netherland history are merged in one broad current. burgundy has absorbed all the provinces which, once more, are forced to recognize a single master. a century and a few years more succeed, during which this house and its heirs are undisputed sovereigns of the soil. philip the good had already acquired the principal netherlands, before dispossessing jacqueline. he had inherited, beside the two burgundies, the counties of flanders and artois. he had purchased the county of namur, and had usurped the duchy of brabant, to which the duchy of limburg, the marquisate of antwerp, and the barony of mechlin, had already been annexed. by his assumption of jacqueline's dominions, he was now lord of holland, zeland, and hainault, and titular master of friesland. he acquired luxemburg a few years later. lord of so many opulent cities and fruitful provinces, he felt himself equal to the kings of europe. upon his marriage with isabella of portugal, he founded, at bruges, the celebrated order of the golden fleece. what could be more practical or more devout than the conception? did not the lamb of god, suspended at each knightly breast, symbolize at once the woollen fabrics to which so much of flemish wealth and burgundian power was owing, and the gentle humility of christ, which was ever to characterize the order? twenty-five was the limited number, including philip himself, as grand master. the chevaliers were emperors, kings, princes, and the most illustrious nobles of christendom; while a leading provision, at the outset, forbade the brethren, crowned heads excepted, to accept or retain the companionship of any other order. the accession of so potent and ambitious a prince as the good philip boded evil to the cause of freedom in the netherlands. the spirit of liberty seemed to have been typified in the fair form of the benignant and unhappy jacqueline, and to be buried in her grave. the usurper, who had crushed her out of existence, now strode forward to trample upon all the laws and privileges of the provinces which had formed her heritage. at his advent, the municipal power had already reached an advanced stage of development. the burgher class controlled the government, not only of the cities, but often of the provinces, through its influence in the estates. industry and wealth had produced their natural results. the supreme authority of the sovereign and the power of the nobles were balanced by the municipal principle which had even begun to preponderate over both. all three exercised a constant and salutary check upon each other. commerce had converted slaves into freemen, freemen into burghers, and the burghers were acquiring daily, a larger practical hold upon the government. the town councils were becoming almost omnipotent. although with an oligarchical tendency, which at a later period was to be more fully developed, they were now composed of large numbers of individuals, who had raised themselves, by industry and intelligence, out of the popular masses. there was an unquestionably republican tone to the institutions. power, actually, if not nominally, was in the hands of many who had achieved the greatness to which they had not been born. the assemblies of the estates were rather diplomatic than representative. they consisted, generally, of the nobles and of the deputations from the cities. in holland, the clergy had neither influence nor seats in the parliamentary body. measures were proposed by the stadholder, who represented the sovereign. a request, for example, of pecuniary, accommodation, was made by that functionary or by the count himself in person. the nobles then voted upon the demand, generally as one body, but sometimes by heads. the measure was then laid before the burghers. if they had been specially commissioned to act upon the matter; they voted, each city as a city, not each deputy, individually. if they had received no instructions, they took back the proposition to lay before the councils of their respective cities, in order to return a decision at an adjourned session, or at a subsequent diet. it will be seen, therefore, that the principle of national, popular representation was but imperfectly developed. the municipal deputies acted only under instructions. each city was a little independent state, suspicious not only of the sovereign and nobles, but of its sister cities. this mutual jealousy hastened the general humiliation now impending. the centre of the system waging daily more powerful, it more easily unsphered these feebler and mutually repulsive bodies. philip's first step, upon assuming the government, was to issue a declaration, through the council of holland, that the privileges and constitutions, which he had sworn to as ruward, or guardian, during the period in which jacqueline had still retained a nominal sovereignty, were to be considered null and void, unless afterwards confirmed by him as count. at a single blow he thus severed the whole knot of pledges, oaths and other political complications, by which he had entangled himself during his cautious advance to power. he was now untrammelled again. as the conscience of the smooth usurper was, thenceforth, the measure of provincial liberty, his subjects soon found it meted to them more sparingly than they wished. from this point, then, through the burgundian period, and until the rise of the republic, the liberty of the netherlands, notwithstanding several brilliant but brief laminations, occurring at irregular intervals, seemed to remain in almost perpetual eclipse. the material prosperity of the country had, however, vastly increased. the fisheries of holland had become of enormous importance. the invention of the humble beukelzoon of biervliet, had expanded into a mine of wealth. the fisheries, too, were most useful as a nursery of seamen, and were already indicating holland's future naval supremacy. the fishermen were the militia of the ocean, their prowess attested in the war with the hanseatic cities, which the provinces of holland and zeland, in philip's name, but by their own unassisted exertions, carried on triumphantly at this epoch. then came into existence that race of cool and daring mariners, who, in after times, were to make the dutch name illustrious throughout the world, the men, whose fierce descendants, the "beggars of the sea," were to make the spanish empire tremble, the men, whose later successors swept the seas with brooms at the mast-head, and whose ocean-battles with their equally fearless english brethren often lasted four uninterrupted days and nights. the main strength of holland was derived from the ocean, from whose destructive grasp she had wrested herself, but in whose friendly embrace she remained. she was already placing securely the foundations of commercial wealth and civil liberty upon those shifting quicksands which the roman doubted whether to call land or water. her submerged deformity, as she floated, mermaid-like, upon the waves was to be forgotten in her material splendor. enriched with the spoils of every clime, crowned with the divine jewels of science and art, she was, one day, to sing a siren song of freedom, luxury, and power. as with holland, so with flanders, brabant, and the other leading provinces. industry and wealth, agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, were constantly augmenting. the natural sources of power were full to overflowing, while the hand of despotism was deliberately sealing the fountain. for the house of burgundy was rapidly culminating and as rapidly curtailing the political privileges of the netherlands. the contest was, at first, favorable to the cause of arbitrary power; but little seeds were silently germinating, which, in the progress of their gigantic development, were, one day, to undermine the foundations of tyranny and to overshadow the world. the early progress of the religious reformation in the netherlands will be outlined in a separate chapter. another great principle was likewise at work at this period. at the very epoch when the greatness of burgundy was most swiftly ripening, another weapon was secretly forging, more potent in the great struggle for freedom than any which the wit or hand of man has ever devised or wielded. when philip the good, in the full blaze of his power, and flushed with the triumphs of territorial aggrandizement, was instituting at bruges the order of the golden fleece, "to the glory of god, of the blessed virgin, and of the holy andrew, patron saint of the burgundian family," and enrolling the names of the kings and princes who were to be honored with its symbols, at that very moment, an obscure citizen of harlem, one lorenz coster, or lawrence the sexton, succeeded in printing a little grammar, by means of movable types. the invention of printing was accomplished, but it was not ushered in with such a blaze of glory as heralded the contemporaneous erection of the golden fleece. the humble setter of types did not deem emperors and princes alone worthy his companionship. his invention sent no thrill of admiration throughout christendom; and yet, what was the good philip of burgundy, with his knights of the golden fleece, and all their effulgent trumpery, in the eye of humanity and civilization, compared with the poor sexton and his wooden types? [the question of the time and place to which the invention of printing should be referred, has been often discussed. it is not probable that it will ever be settled to the entire satisfaction of holland and germany. the dutch claim that movable types were first used at harlem, fixing the time variously between the years and . the first and very faulty editions of lorenz are religiously preserved at harlem.] philip died in february, . the details of his life and career do not belong to our purpose. the practical tendency of his government was to repress the spirit of liberty, while especial privileges, extensive in nature, but limited in time, were frequently granted to corporations. philip, in one day, conferred thirty charters upon as many different bodies of citizens. these were, however, grants of monopoly not concessions of rights. he also fixed the number of city councils or vroedschappen in many netherland cities, giving them permission to present a double list of candidates for burgomasters and judges, from which he himself made the appointments. he was certainly neither a good nor great prince, but he possessed much administrative ability. his military talents were considerable, and he was successful in his wars. he was an adroit dissembler, a practical politician. he had the sense to comprehend that the power of a prince, however absolute, must depend upon the prosperity of his subjects. he taxed severely the wealth, but he protected the commerce and the manufactures of holland and flanders. he encouraged art, science, and literature. the brothers, john and hubert van eyck, were attracted by his generosity to bruges, where they painted many pictures. john was even a member of the duke's council. the art of oil-painting was carried to great perfection by hubert's scholar, john of bruges. an incredible number of painters, of greater or less merit, flourished at this epoch in the netherlands, heralds of that great school, which, at a subsequent period, was to astonish the world with brilliant colors; profound science, startling effects, and vigorous reproductions of nature. authors, too, like olivier de la marche and philippe de comines, who, in the words of the latter, "wrote, not for the amusement of brutes, and people of low degree, but for princes and other persons of quality," these and other writers, with aims as lofty, flourished at the court of burgundy, and were rewarded by the duke with princely generosity. philip remodelled and befriended the university of louvain. he founded at brussels the burgundian library, which became celebrated throughout europe. he levied largely, spent profusely, but was yet so thrifty a housekeeper, as to leave four hundred thousand crowns of gold, a vast amount in those days, besides three million marks' worth of plate and furniture, to be wasted like water in the insane career of his son. the exploits of that son require but few words of illustration. hardly a chapter of european history or romance is more familiar to the world than the one which records the meteoric course of charles the bold. the propriety of his title was never doubtful. no prince was ever bolder, but it is certain that no quality could be less desirable, at that particular moment in the history of his house. it was not the quality to confirm a usurping family in its ill-gotten possessions. renewed aggressions upon the rights of others justified retaliation and invited attack. justice, prudence, firmness, wisdom of internal administration were desirable in the son of philip and the rival of louis. these attributes the gladiator lacked entirely. his career might have been a brilliant one in the old days of chivalry. his image might have appeared as imposing as the romantic forms of baldwin bras de fer or godfrey of bouillon, had he not been misplaced in history. nevertheless, he imagined himself governed by a profound policy. he had one dominant idea, to make burgundy a kingdom. from the moment when, with almost the first standing army known to history, and with coffers well filled by his cautious father's economy, he threw himself into the lists against the crafty louis, down to the day when he was found dead, naked, deserted, and with his face frozen into a pool of blood and water, he faithfully pursued this thought. his ducal cap was to be exchanged for a kingly crown, while all the provinces which lay beneath the mediterranean and the north sea, and between france and germany, were to be united under his sceptre. the netherlands, with their wealth, had been already appropriated, and their freedom crushed. another land of liberty remained; physically, the reverse of holland, but stamped with the same courageous nationality, the same ardent love of human rights. switzerland was to be conquered. her eternal battlements of ice and granite were to constitute the great bulwark of his realm. the world knows well the result of the struggle between the lord of so many duchies and earldoms, and the alpine mountaineers. with all his boldness, charles was but an indifferent soldier. his only merit was physical courage. he imagined himself a consummate commander, and, in conversation with his jester, was fond of comparing himself to hannibal. "we are getting well hannibalized to-day, my lord," said the bitter fool, as they rode off together from the disastrous defeat of gransen. well "hannibalized" he was, too, at gransen, at murten, and at nancy. he followed in the track of his prototype only to the base of the mountains. as a conqueror, he was signally unsuccessful; as a politician, he could out-wit none but himself; it was only as a tyrant within his own ground, that he could sustain the character which he chose to enact. he lost the crown, which he might have secured, because he thought the emperor's son unworthy the heiress of burgundy; and yet, after his father's death, her marriage with that very maximilian alone secured the possession of her paternal inheritance. unsuccessful in schemes of conquest, and in political intrigue, as an oppressor of the netherlands, he nearly carried out his plans. those provinces he regarded merely as a bank to draw upon. his immediate intercourse with the country was confined to the extortion of vast requests. these were granted with ever-increasing reluctance, by the estates. the new taxes and excises, which the sanguinary extravagance of the duke rendered necessary, could seldom be collected in the various cities without tumults, sedition, and bloodshed. few princes were ever a greater curse to the people whom they were allowed to hold as property. he nearly succeeded in establishing a centralized despotism upon the ruins of the provincial institutions. his sudden death alone deferred the catastrophe. his removal of the supreme court of holland from the hague to mechlin, and his maintenance of a standing army, were the two great measures by which he prostrated the netherlands. the tribunal had been remodelled by his father; the expanded authority which philip had given to a bench of judges dependent upon himself, was an infraction of the rights of holland. the court, however, still held its sessions in the country; and the sacred privilege--de non evocando--the right of every hollander to be tried in his own land, was, at least, retained. charles threw off the mask; he proclaimed that this council--composed of his creatures, holding office at his pleasure--should have supreme jurisdiction over all the charters of the provinces; that it was to follow his person, and derive all authority from his will. the usual seat of the court he transferred to mechlin. it will be seen, in the sequel, that the attempt, under philip the second, to enforce its supreme authority was a collateral cause of the great revolution of the netherlands. charles, like his father, administered the country by stadholders. from the condition of flourishing self-ruled little republics, which they had, for a moment, almost attained, they became departments of an ill-assorted, ill-conditioned, ill-governed realm, which was neither commonwealth nor empire, neither kingdom nor duchy; and which had no homogeneousness of population, no affection between ruler and people, small sympathies of lineage or of language. his triumphs were but few, his fall ignominious. his father's treasure was squandered, the curse of a standing army fixed upon his people, the trade and manufactures of the country paralyzed by his extortions, and he accomplished nothing. he lost his life in the forty-fourth year of his age ( ), leaving all the provinces, duchies, and lordships, which formed the miscellaneous realm of burgundy, to his only child, the lady mary. thus already the countries which philip had wrested from the feeble hand of jacqueline, had fallen to another female. philip's own granddaughter, as young, fair, and unprotected as jacqueline, was now sole mistress of those broad domains. viii. a crisis, both for burgundy and the netherlands, succeeds. within the provinces there is an elastic rebound, as soon as the pressure is removed from them by the tyrant's death. a sudden spasm of liberty gives the whole people gigantic strength. in an instant they recover all, and more than all, the rights which they had lost. the cities of holland, flanders, and other provinces call a convention at ghent. laying aside their musty feuds, men of all parties-hooks and kabbeljaws, patricians and people, move forward in phalanx to recover their national constitutions. on the other hand, louis the eleventh seizes burgundy, claiming the territory for his crown, the heiress for his son. the situation is critical for the lady mary. as usual in such cases, appeals are made to the faithful commons. a prodigality of oaths and pledges is showered upon the people, that their loyalty may be refreshed and grow green. the congress meets at ghent. the lady mary professes much, but she will keep her vow. the deputies are called upon to rally the country around the duchess, and to resist the fraud and force of louis. the congress is willing to maintain the cause of its young mistress. the members declare, at the same time, very roundly, "that the provinces have been much impoverished and oppressed by the enormous taxation imposed upon them by the ruinous wars waged by duke charles from the beginning to the end of his life." they rather require "to be relieved than additionally encumbered." they add that, "for many years past, there has been a constant violation of the provincial and municipal charters, and that they should be happy to see them restored." the result of the deliberations is the formal grant by duchess mary of the "groot privilegie," or great privilege, the magna charta of holland. although this instrument was afterwards violated, and indeed abolished, it became the foundation of the republic. it was a recapitulation and recognition of ancient rights, not an acquisition of new privileges. it was a restoration, not a revolution. its principal points deserve attention from those interested in the political progress of mankind. "the duchess shall not marry without consent of the estates of her provinces. all offices in her gift shall be conferred on natives only. no man shall fill two offices. no office shall be farmed. the 'great council and supreme court of holland' is re-established. causes shall be brought before it on appeal from the ordinary courts. it shall have no original jurisdiction of matters within the cognizance of the provincial and municipal tribunals. the estates and cities are guaranteed in their right not to be summoned to justice beyond the limits of their territory. the cities, in common with all the provinces of the netherlands, may hold diets as often ten and at such places as they choose. no new taxes shall be imposed but by consent of the provincial estates. neither the duchess nor her descendants shall begin either an offensive or defensive war without consent of the estates. in case a war be illegally undertaken, the estates are not bound to contribute to its maintenance. in all public and legal documents, the netherland language shall be employed. the commands of the duchess shall be invalid, if conflicting with the privileges of a city. "the seat of the supreme council is transferred from mechlin to the hague. no money shall be coined, nor its value raised or lowered, but by consent of the estates. cities are not to be compelled to contribute to requests which they have not voted. the sovereign shall come in person before the estates, to make his request for supplies." here was good work. the land was rescued at a blow from the helpless condition to which it had been reduced. this summary annihilation of all the despotic arrangements of charles was enough to raise him from his tomb. the law, the sword, the purse, were all taken from the hand of the sovereign and placed within the control of parliament. such sweeping reforms, if maintained, would restore health to the body politic. they gave, moreover, an earnest of what was one day to arrive. certainly, for the fifteenth century, the "great privilege" was a reasonably liberal constitution. where else upon earth, at that day, was there half so much liberty as was thus guaranteed? the congress of the netherlands, according to their magna charta, had power to levy all taxes, to regulate commerce and manufactures, to declare war, to coin money, to raise armies and navies. the executive was required to ask for money in person, could appoint only natives to office, recognized the right of disobedience in his subjects, if his commands should conflict with law, and acknowledged himself bound by decisions of courts of justice. the cities appointed their own magistrates, held diets at their own pleasure, made their local by-laws and saw to their execution. original cognizance of legal matters belonged to the municipal courts, appellate jurisdiction to the supreme tribunal, in which the judges were appointed by the sovereign. the liberty of the citizen against arbitrary imprisonment was amply provided for. the 'jus de non evocando', the habeas corpus of holland, was re-established. truly, here was a fundamental law which largely, roundly, and reasonably recognized the existence of a people with hearts, heads, and hands of their own. it was a vast step in advance of natural servitude, the dogma of the dark ages. it was a noble and temperate vindication of natural liberty, the doctrine of more enlightened days. to no people in the world more than to the stout burghers of flanders and holland belongs the honor of having battled audaciously and perennially in behalf of human rights. similar privileges to the great charter of holland are granted to many other provinces; especially to flanders, ever ready to stand forward in fierce vindication of freedom. for a season all is peace and joy; but the duchess is young, weak, and a woman. there is no lack of intriguing politicians, reactionary councillors. there is a cunning old king in the distance, lying in wait; seeking what he can devour. a mission goes from the estates to france. the well-known tragedy of imbrecourt and hugonet occurs. envoys from the states, they dare to accept secret instructions from the duchess to enter into private negotiations with the french monarch, against their colleagues--against the great charter--against their country. sly louis betrays them, thinking that policy the more expedient. they are seized in ghent, rapidly tried, and as rapidly beheaded by the enraged burghers. all the entreaties of the lady mary, who, dressed in mourning garments, with dishevelled hair, unloosed girdle, and streaming eyes; appears at the town-house and afterwards in the market place, humbly to intercede for her servants, are fruitless there is no help for the juggling diplomatists. the punishment was sharp. was it more severe and sudden than that which betrayed monarchs usually inflict? would the flemings, at that critical moment, have deserved their freedom had they not taken swift and signal vengeance for this first infraction of their newly recognized rights? had it not been weakness to spare the traitors who had thus stained the childhood of the national joy at liberty regained? ix. another step, and a wide one, into the great stream of european history. the lady mary espouses the archduke maximilian. the netherlands are about to become habsburg property. the ghenters reject the pretensions of the dauphin, and select for husband of their duchess the very man whom her father had so stupidly rejected. it had been a wiser choice for charles the bold than for the netherlanders. the marriage takes place on the th of august, . mary of burgundy passes from the guardianship of ghent burghers into that of the emperor's son. the crafty husband allies himself with the city party, feeling where the strength lies. he knows that the voracious kabbeljaws have at last swallowed the hooks, and run away with them. promising himself future rights of reconsideration, he is liberal in promises to the municipal party. in the mean time he is governor and guardian of his wife and her provinces. his children are to inherit the netherlands and all that therein is. what can be more consistent than laws of descent, regulated by right divine? at the beginning of the century, good philip dispossesses jacqueline, because females can not inherit. at its close, his granddaughter succeeds to the property, and transmits it to her children. pope and emperor maintain both positions with equal logic. the policy and promptness of maximilian are as effective as the force and fraud of philip. the lady mary falls from her horse and dies. her son, philip, four years of age, is recognized as successor. thus the house of burgundy is followed by that of austria, the fifth and last family which governed holland, previously to the erection of the republic. maximilian is recognized by the provinces as governor and guardian, during the minority of his children. flanders alone refuses. the burghers, ever prompt in action, take personal possession of the child philip, and carry on the government in his name. a commission of citizens and nobles thus maintain their authority against maximilian for several years. in , the archduke, now king of the romans, with a small force of cavalry, attempts to take the city of bruges, but the result is a mortifying one to the roman king. the citizens of bruges take him. maximilian, with several councillors, is kept a prisoner in a house on the market-place. the magistrates are all changed, the affairs of government conducted in the name of the young philip alone. meantime, the estates of the other netherlands assemble at ghent; anxious, unfortunately, not for the national liberty, but for that of the roman king. already holland, torn again by civil feuds, and blinded by the artifices of maximilian, has deserted, for a season, the great cause to which flanders has remained so true. at last, a treaty is made between the archduke and the flemings. maximilian is to be regent of the other provinces; philip, under guardianship of a council, is to govern flanders. moreover, a congress of all the provinces is to be summoned annually, to provide for the general welfare. maximilian signs and swears to the treaty on the th may, . he swears, also, to dismiss all foreign troops within four days. giving hostages for his fidelity, he is set at liberty. what are oaths and hostages when prerogative, and the people are contending? emperor frederic sends to his son an army under the duke of saxony. the oaths are broken, the hostages left to their fate. the struggle lasts a year, but, at the end of it, the flemings are subdued. what could a single province effect, when its sister states, even liberty-loving holland, had basely abandoned the common cause? a new treaty is made, (oct. ). maximilian obtains uncontrolled guardianship of his son, absolute dominion over flanders and the other provinces. the insolent burghers are severely punished for remembering that they had been freemen. the magistrates of ghent, bruges, and ypres, in black garments, ungirdled, bare-headed, and kneeling, are compelled to implore the despot's forgiveness, and to pay three hundred thousand crowns of gold as its price. after this, for a brief season, order reigns in flanders. the course of maximilian had been stealthy, but decided. allying himself with the city party, he had crushed the nobles. the power thus obtained, he then turned against the burghers. step by step he had trampled out the liberties which his wife and himself had sworn to protect. he had spurned the authority of the "great privilege," and all other charters. burgomasters and other citizens had been beheaded in great numbers for appealing to their statutes against the edicts of the regent, for voting in favor of a general congress according to the unquestionable law. he had proclaimed that all landed estates should, in lack of heirs male, escheat to his own exchequer. he had debased the coin of the country, and thereby authorized unlimited swindling on the part of all his agents, from stadholders down to the meanest official. if such oppression and knavery did not justify the resistance of the flemings to the guardianship of maximilian, it would be difficult to find any reasonable course in political affairs save abject submission to authority. in , maximilian succeeds to the imperial throne, at the death of his father. in the following year his son, philip the fair, now seventeen years of age, receives the homage of the different states of the netherlands. he swears to maintain only the privileges granted by philip and charles of burgundy, or their ancestors, proclaiming null and void all those which might have been acquired since the death of charles. holland, zeland, and the other provinces accept him upon these conditions, thus ignominiously, and without a struggle, relinquishing the great privilege, and all similar charters. friesland is, for a brief season, politically separated from the rest of the country. harassed and exhausted by centuries of warfare, foreign, and domestic, the free frisians, at the suggestion or command of emperor maximilian, elect the duke of saxony as their podesta. the sovereign prince, naturally proving a chief magistrate far from democratic, gets himself acknowledged, or submitted to, soon afterwards, as legitimate sovereign of friesland. seventeen years afterward saxony sells the sovereignty to the austrian house for , crowns. this little country, whose statutes proclaimed her to be "free as the wind, as long as it blew," whose institutions charlemagne had honored and left unmolested, who had freed herself with ready poniard from norman tyranny, who never bowed her neck to feudal chieftain, nor to the papal yoke, now driven to madness and suicide by the dissensions of her wild children, forfeits at last her independent existence. all the provinces are thus united in a common servitude, and regret, too late, their supineness at a moment when their liberties might yet have been vindicated. their ancient and cherished charters, which their bold ancestors had earned with the sweat of their brows and the blood of their hearts, are at the mercy of an autocrat, and liable to be superseded by his edicts. in , the momentous marriage of philip the fair with joanna, daughter of ferdinand and isabella of castile and aragon, is solemnized. of this union, in the first year of the century, is born the second charlemagne, who is to unite spain and the netherlands, together with so many vast and distant realms, under a single sceptre. six years afterwards (sept. , ), philip dies at burgos. a handsome profligate, devoted to his pleasures, and leaving the cares of state to his ministers, philip, "croit-conseil," is the bridge over which the house of habsburg passes to almost universal monarchy, but, in himself, is nothing. x. two prudent marriages, made by austrian archdukes within twenty years, have altered the face of the earth. the stream, which we have been tracing from its source, empties itself at last into the ocean of a world-empire. count dirk the first, lord of a half-submerged corner of europe, is succeeded by count charles the second of holland, better known as charles the fifth, king of spain, sicily, and jerusalem, duke of milan, emperor of germany, dominator in asia and africa, autocrat of half the world. the leading events of his brilliant reign are familiar to every child. the netherlands now share the fate of so large a group of nations, a fate, to these provinces, most miserable. the weddings of austria felix were not so prolific of happiness to her subjects as to herself. it can never seem just or reasonable that the destiny of many millions of human beings should depend upon the marriage-settlements of one man with one woman, and a permanent, prosperous empire can never be reared upon so frail a foundation. the leading thought of the first charlemagne was a noble and a useful one, nor did his imperial scheme seem chimerical, even although time, wiser than monarchs or lawgivers, was to prove it impracticable. to weld into one great whole the various tribes of franks, frisians, saxons, lombards, burgundians, and others, still in their turbulent youth, and still composing one great teutonic family; to enforce the mutual adhesion of naturally coherent masses, all of one lineage, one language, one history, and which were only beginning to exhibit their tendencies to insulation, to acquiesce in a variety of local laws and customs, while an iron will was to concentrate a vast, but homogeneous, people into a single nation; to raise up from the grave of corrupt and buried rome a fresh, vigorous, german, christian empire; this was a reasonable and manly thought. far different the conception of the second charlemagne. to force into discordant union, tribes which, for seven centuries, had developed themselves into hostile nations, separated by geography and history, customs and laws, to combine many millions under one sceptre, not because of natural identity, but for the sake of composing one splendid family property, to establish unity by annihilating local institutions, to supersede popular and liberal charters by the edicts of a central despotism, to do battle with the whole spirit of an age, to regard the souls as well as the bodies of vast multitudes as the personal property of one individual, to strive for the perpetuation in a single house of many crowns, which accident had blended, and to imagine the consecration of the whole system by placing the pope's triple diadem forever upon the imperial head of the habsburgs;--all this was not the effort of a great, constructive genius, but the selfish scheme of an autocrat. the union of no two countries could be less likely to prove advantageous or agreeable than that of the netherlands and spain. they were widely separated geographically, while in history, manners, and politics, they were utterly opposed to each other. spain, which had but just assumed the form of a single state by the combination of all its kingdoms, with its haughty nobles descended from petty kings, and arrogating almost sovereign power within their domains, with its fierce enthusiasm for the catholic religion, which, in the course of long warfare with the saracens, had become the absorbing characteristic of a whole nation, with its sparse population scattered over a wide and stern country, with a military spirit which led nearly all classes to prefer poverty to the wealth attendant upon degrading pursuits of trade;--spain, with her gloomy, martial, and exaggerated character, was the absolute contrast of the netherlands. these provinces had been rarely combined into a whole, but there was natural affinity in their character, history, and position. there was life, movement, bustling activity every where. an energetic population swarmed in all the flourishing cities which dotted the surface of a contracted and highly cultivated country. their ships were the carriers for the world;--their merchants, if invaded in their rights, engaged in vigorous warfare with their own funds and their own frigates; their fabrics were prized over the whole earth; their burghers possessed the wealth of princes, lived with royal luxury, and exercised vast political influence; their love of liberty was their predominant passion. their religious ardor had not been fully awakened; but the events of the next generation were to prove that in no respect more than in the religious sentiment, were the two races opposed to each other. it was as certain that the netherlanders would be fierce reformers as that the spaniards would be uncompromising persecutors. unhallowed was the union between nations thus utterly contrasted. philip the fair and ferdinand had detested and quarrelled with each other from the beginning. the spaniards and flemings participated in the mutual antipathy, and hated each other cordially at first sight. the unscrupulous avarice of the netherland nobles in spain, their grasping and venal ambition, enraged and disgusted the haughty spaniards. this international malignity furnishes one of the keys to a proper understanding of the great revolt in the next reign. the provinces, now all united again under an emperor, were treated, opulent and powerful as they were, as obscure dependencies. the regency over them was entrusted by charles to his near relatives, who governed in the interest of his house, not of the country. his course towards them upon the religious question will be hereafter indicated. the political character of his administration was typified, and, as it were, dramatized, on the occasion of the memorable insurrection at ghent. for this reason, a few interior details concerning that remarkable event, seem requisite. xi. ghent was, in all respects, one of the most important cities in europe. erasmus, who, as a hollander and a courtier, was not likely to be partial to the turbulent flemings, asserted that there was no town in all christendom to be compared to it for size, power, political constitution, or the culture of its inhabitants. it was, said one of its inhabitants at the epoch of the insurrection, rather a country than a city. the activity and wealth of its burghers were proverbial. the bells were rung daily, and the drawbridges over the many arms of the river intersecting the streets were raised, in order that all business might be suspended, while the armies of workmen were going to or returning from their labors. as early as the fourteenth century, the age of the arteveldes, froissart estimated the number of fighting men whom ghent could bring into the field at eighty thousand. the city, by its jurisdiction over many large but subordinate towns, disposed of more than its own immediate population, which has been reckoned as high as two hundred thousand. placed in the midst of well cultivated plains, ghent was surrounded by strong walls, the external circuit of which measured nine miles. its streets and squares were spacious and elegant, its churches and other public buildings numerous and splendid. the sumptuous church of saint john or saint bavon, where charles the fifth had been baptized, the ancient castle whither baldwin bras de fer had brought the daughter of charles the bald, the city hall with its graceful moorish front, the well-known belfry, where for three centuries had perched the dragon sent by the emperor baldwin of flanders from constantinople, and where swung the famous roland, whose iron tongue had called the citizens, generation after generation, to arms, whether to win battles over foreign kings at the head of their chivalry, or to plunge their swords in each others' breasts, were all conspicuous in the city and celebrated in the land. especially the great bell was the object of the burghers' affection, and, generally, of the sovereign's hatred; while to all it seemed, as it were, a living historical personage, endowed with the human powers and passions which it had so long directed and inflamed. the constitution of the city was very free. it was a little republic in all but name. its population was divided into fifty-two guilds of manufacturers and into thirty-two tribes of weavers; each fraternity electing annually or biennally its own deans and subordinate officers. the senate, which exercised functions legislative, judicial, and administrative, subject of course to the grand council of mechlin and to the sovereign authority, consisted of twenty-six members. these were appointed partly from the upper class, or the men who lived upon their means, partly from the manufacturers in general, and partly from the weavers. they were chosen by a college of eight electors, who were appointed by the sovereign on nomination by the citizens. the whole city, in its collective capacity, constituted one of the four estates (membra) of the province of flanders. it is obvious that so much liberty of form and of fact, added to the stormy character by which its citizens were distinguished, would be most offensive in the eyes of charles, and that the delinquencies of the little commonwealth would be represented in the most glaring colors by all those quiet souls, who preferred the tranquillity of despotism to the turbulence of freedom. the city claimed, moreover, the general provisions of the "great privilege" of the lady mary, the magna charta, which, according to the monarchical party, had been legally abrogated by maximilian. the liberties of the town had also been nominally curtailed by the "calf-skin" (kalf vel). by this celebrated document, charles the fifth, then fifteen years of age, had been made to threaten with condign punishment all persons who should maintain that he had sworn at his inauguration to observe any privileges or charters claimed by the ghenters before the peace of cadsand. the immediate cause of the discontent, the attempt to force from flanders a subsidy of four hundred thousand caroli, as the third part of the twelve hundred thousand granted by the states of the netherlands, and the resistance of ghent in opposition to the other three members of the province, will, of course, be judged differently, according as the sympathies are stronger with popular rights or with prerogative. the citizens claimed that the subsidy could only be granted by the unanimous consent of the four estates of the province. among other proofs of this their unquestionable right, they appealed to a muniment, which had never existed, save in the imagination of the credulous populace. at a certain remote epoch, one of the counts of flanders, it was contended, had gambled away his countship to the earl of holland, but had been extricated from his dilemma by the generosity of ghent. the burghers of the town had paid the debts and redeemed the sovereignty of their lord, and had thereby gained, in return, a charter, called the bargain of flanders (koop van flandern). among the privileges granted by this document, was an express stipulation that no subsidy should ever be granted by the province without the consent of ghent. this charter would have been conclusive in the present emergency, had it not labored under the disadvantage of never having existed. it was supposed by many that the magistrates, some of whom were favorable to government, had hidden the document. lieven pyl, an ex-senator, was supposed to be privy to its concealment. he was also, with more justice, charged with an act of great baseness and effrontery. reputed by the citizens to carry to the queen regent their positive refusal to grant the subsidy, he had, on the contrary, given an answer, in their name, in the affirmative. for these delinquencies, the imaginary and the real, he was inhumanly tortured and afterwards beheaded. "i know, my children," said he upon the scaffold, "that you will be grieved when you have seen my blood flow, and that you will regret me when it is too late." it does not appear, however, that there was any especial reason to regret him, however sanguinary the punishment which had requited his broken faith. the mischief being thus afoot, the tongue of roland, and the easily-excited spirits of the citizens, soon did the rest. ghent broke forth into open insurrection. they had been willing to enlist and pay troops under their own banners, but they had felt outraged at the enormous contribution demanded of them for a foreign war, undertaken in the family interests of their distant master. they could not find the "bargain of flanders," but they got possession of the odious "calf skin," which was solemnly cut in two by the dean of the weavers. it was then torn in shreds by the angry citizens, many of whom paraded the streets with pieces of the hated document stuck in their caps, like plumes. from these demonstrations they proceeded to intrigues with francis the first. he rejected them, and gave notice of their overtures to charles, who now resolved to quell the insurrection, at once. francis wrote, begging that the emperor would honor him by coming through france; "wishing to assure you," said he, "my lord and good brother, by this letter, written and signed by my hand, upon my honor, and on the faith of a prince, and of the best brother you have, that in passing through my kingdom every possible honor and hospitality will be offered you, even as they could be to myself." certainly, the french king, after such profuse and voluntary pledges, to confirm which he, moreover, offered his two sons and other great individuals as hostages, could not, without utterly disgracing himself, have taken any unhandsome advantage of the emperor's presence in his dominions. the reflections often made concerning the high-minded chivalry of francis, and the subtle knowledge of human nature displayed by charles upon the occasion, seem, therefore, entirely superfluous. the emperor came to paris. "here," says a citizen of ghent, at the time, who has left a minute account of the transaction upon record, but whose sympathies were ludicrously with the despot and against his own townspeople, "here the emperor was received as if the god of paradise had descended." on the th of february, , he left brussels; on the th he came to ghent. his entrance into the city lasted more than six hours. four thousand lancers, one thousand archers, five thousand halberdmen and musqueteers composed his bodyguard, all armed to the teeth and ready for combat. the emperor rode in their midst, surrounded by "cardinals, archbishops, bishops, and other great ecclesiastical lords," so that the terrors of the church were combined with the panoply of war to affright the souls of the turbulent burghers. a brilliant train of "dukes, princes, earls, barons, grand masters, and seignors, together with most of the knights of the fleece," were, according to the testimony of the same eyewitness, in attendance upon his majesty. this unworthy son of ghent was in ecstasies with the magnificence displayed upon the occasion. there was such a number of "grand lords, members of sovereign houses, bishops, and other ecclesiastical dignitaries going about the streets, that," as the poor soul protested with delight, "there was nobody else to be met with." especially the fine clothes of these distinguished guests excited his warmest admiration. it was wonderful to behold, he said, "the nobility and great richness of the princes and seignors, displayed as well in their beautiful furs, martins and sables, as in the great chains of fine gold which they wore twisted round their necks, and the pearls and precious stones in their bonnets and otherwise, which they displayed in great abundance. it was a very triumphant thing to see them so richly dressed and accoutred." an idea may be formed of the size and wealth of the city at this period, from the fact that it received and accommodated sixty thousand strangers, with their fifteen thousand horses, upon the occasion of the emperor's visit. charles allowed a month of awful suspense to intervene between his arrival and his vengeance. despair and hope alternated during the interval. on the th of march, the spell was broken by the execution of nineteen persons, who were beheaded as ringleaders. on the th of april, he pronounced sentence upon the city. the hall where it was rendered was open to all comers, and graced by the presence of the emperor, the queen regent, and the great functionaries of court, church, and state. the decree, now matured, was read at length. it annulled all the charters, privileges, and laws of ghent. it confiscated all its public property, rents, revenues, houses, artillery, munitions of war, and in general every thing which the corporation, or the traders, each and all, possessed in common. in particular, the great bell--roland was condemned and sentenced to immediate removal. it was decreed that the four hundred thousand florins, which had caused the revolt, should forthwith be paid, together with an additional fine by ghent of one hundred and fifty thousand, besides six thousand a year, forever after. in place of their ancient and beloved constitution, thus annihilated at a blow, was promulgated a new form of municipal government of the simplest kind, according to which all officers were in future to be appointed by himself and the guilds, to be reduced to half their number; shorn of all political power, and deprived entirely of self-government. it was, moreover, decreed, that the senators, their pensionaries, clerks and secretaries, thirty notable burghers, to be named by the emperor, with the great dean and second dean of the weavers, all dressed in black robes, without their chains, and bareheaded, should appear upon an appointed day, in company with fifty persons from the guilds, and fifty others, to be arbitrarily named, in their shirts, with halters upon their necks. this large number of deputies, as representatives of the city, were then to fall upon their knees before the emperor, say in a loud and intelligible voice, by the mouth of one of their clerks, that they were extremely sorry for the disloyalty, disobedience, infraction of laws, commotions, rebellion, and high treason, of which they had been guilty, promise that they would never do the like again, and humbly implore him, for the sake of the passion of jesus christ, to grant them mercy and forgiveness. the third day of may was appointed for the execution of the sentence. charles, who was fond of imposing exhibitions and prided himself upon arranging them with skill, was determined that this occasion should be long remembered by all burghers throughout his dominions who might be disposed to insist strongly upon their municipal rights. the streets were alive with troops: cavalry and infantry in great numbers keeping strict guard at every point throughout the whole extent of the city; for it was known that the hatred produced by the sentence was most deadly, and that nothing but an array of invincible force could keep those hostile sentiments in check. the senators in their black mourning robes, the other deputies in linen shirts, bareheaded, with halters on their necks, proceeded, at the appointed hour, from the senate house to the imperial residence. high on his throne, with the queen regent at his side, surrounded by princes, prelates and nobles, guarded by his archers and halberdiers, his crown on his head and his sceptre in his hand, the emperor, exalted, sat. the senators and burghers, in their robes cf humiliation, knelt in the dust at his feet. the prescribed words of contrition and of supplication for mercy were then read by the pensionary, all the deputies remaining upon their knees, and many of them crying bitterly with rage and shame. "what principally distressed them," said the honest citizen, whose admiration for the brilliant accoutrement of the princes and prelates has been recorded, "was to have the halter on their necks, which they found hard to bear, and, if they had not been compelled, they would rather have died than submit to it." as soon as the words had been all spoken by the pensionary, the emperor, whose cue was now to appear struggling with mingled emotions of reasonable wrath and of natural benignity, performed his part with much dramatic effect. "he held himself coyly for a little time," says the eye-witness, "without saying a word; deporting himself as though he were considering whether or not he would grant the pardon for which the culprits had prayed." then the queen regent enacted her share in the show. turning to his majesty "with all reverence, honor and humility, she begged that he would concede forgiveness, in honor of his nativity, which had occurred in that city." upon this the emperor "made a fine show of benignity," and replied "very sweetly" that in consequence of his "fraternal love for her, by reason of his being a gentle and virtuous prince, who preferred mercy to the rigor of justice, and in view of their repentance, he would accord his pardon to the citizens." the netherlands, after this issue to the struggle of ghent, were reduced, practically, to a very degraded condition. the form of local self-government remained, but its spirit, when invoked, only arose to be derided. the supreme court of mechlin, as in the days of charles the bold, was again placed in despotic authority above the ancient charters. was it probable that the lethargy of provinces, which had reached so high a point of freedom only to be deprived of it at last, could endure forever? was it to be hoped that the stern spirit of religious enthusiasm, allying itself with the--keen instinct of civil liberty, would endue the provinces with strength to throw off the spanish yoke? xii. it is impossible to comprehend the character of the great netherland revolt in the sixteenth century without taking a rapid retrospective survey of the religious phenomena exhibited in the provinces. the introduction of christianity has been already indicated. from the earliest times, neither prince, people, nor even prelates were very dutiful to the pope. as the papal authority made progress, strong resistance was often made to its decrees. the bishops of utrecht were dependent for their wealth and territory upon the good will of the emperor. they were the determined opponents of hildebrand, warm adherents of the hohenstaufers-ghibelline rather than guelph. heresy was a plant of early growth in the netherlands. as early as the beginning of the th century, the notorious tanchelyn preached at antwerp, attacking the authority of the pope and of all other ecclesiastics; scoffing at the ceremonies and sacraments of the church. unless his character and career have been grossly misrepresented, he was the most infamous of the many impostors who have so often disgraced the cause of religious reformation. by more than four centuries, he anticipated the licentiousness and greediness manifested by a series of false prophets, and was the first to turn both the stupidity of a populace and the viciousness of a priesthood to his own advancement; an ambition which afterwards reached its most signal expression in the celebrated john of leyden. the impudence of tanchelyn and the superstition of his followers seem alike incredible. all antwerp was his harem. he levied, likewise, vast sums upon his converts, and whenever he appeared in public, his apparel and pomp were befitting an emperor. three thousand armed satellites escorted his steps and put to death all who resisted his commands. so groveling became the superstition of his followers that they drank of the water in which, he had washed, and treasured it as a divine elixir. advancing still further in his experiments upon human credulity, he announced his approaching marriage with the virgin mary, bade all his disciples to the wedding, and exhibited himself before an immense crowd in company with an image of his holy bride. he then ordered the people to provide for the expenses of the nuptials and the dowry of his wife, placing a coffer upon each side of the image, to receive the contributions of either sex. which is the most wonderful manifestation in the history of this personage--the audacity of the impostor, or the bestiality of his victims? his career was so successful in the netherlands that he had the effrontery to proceed to rome, promulgating what he called his doctrines as he went. he seems to have been assassinated by a priest in an obscure brawl, about the year . by the middle of the th century, other and purer heresiarchs had arisen. many netherlanders became converts to the doctrines of waldo. from that period until the appearance of luther, a succession of sects--waldenses, albigenses, perfectists, lollards, poplicans, arnaldists, bohemian brothers--waged perpetual but unequal warfare with the power and depravity of the church, fertilizing with their blood the future field of the reformation. nowhere was the persecution of heretics more relentless than in the netherlands. suspected persons were subjected to various torturing but ridiculous ordeals. after such trial, death by fire was the usual but, perhaps, not the most severe form of execution. in flanders, monastic ingenuity had invented another most painful punishment for waldenses and similar malefactors. a criminal whose guilt had been established by the hot iron, hot ploughshare, boiling kettle, or other logical proof, was stripped and bound to the stake:--he was then flayed, from the neck to the navel, while swarms of bees were let loose to fasten upon his bleeding flesh and torture him to a death of exquisite agony. nevertheless heresy increased in the face of oppression the scriptures, translated by waldo into french, were rendered into netherland rhyme, and the converts to the vaudois doctrine increased in numbers and boldness. at the same time the power and luxury of the clergy was waxing daily. the bishops of utrecht, no longer the defenders of the people against arbitrary power, conducted themselves like little popes. yielding in dignity neither to king nor kaiser, they exacted homage from the most powerful princes of the netherlands. the clerical order became the most privileged of all. the accused priest refused to acknowledge the temporal tribunals. the protection of ecclesiastical edifices was extended over all criminals and fugitives from justice--a beneficent result in those sanguinary ages, even if its roots were sacerdotal pride. to establish an accusation against a bishop, seventy-two witnesses were necessary; against a deacon, twenty-seven; against an inferior dignitary, seven; while two were sufficient to convict a layman. the power to read and write helped the clergy to much wealth. privileges and charters from petty princes, gifts and devises from private persons, were documents which few, save ecclesiastics, could draw or dispute. not content, moreover, with their territories and their tithings, the churchmen perpetually devised new burthens upon the peasantry. ploughs, sickles, horses, oxen, all implements of husbandry, were taxed for the benefit of those who toiled not, but who gathered into barns. in the course of the twelfth century, many religious houses, richly endowed with lands and other property, were founded in the netherlands. was hand or voice raised against clerical encroachment--the priests held ever in readiness a deadly weapon of defence: a blasting anathema was thundered against their antagonist, and smote him into submission. the disciples of him who ordered his followers to bless their persecutors, and to love their enemies, invented such christian formulas as these:--"in the name of the father, the son, the holy ghost, the blessed virgin mary, john the baptist, peter and paul, and all other saints in heaven, do we curse and cut off from our communion him who has thus rebelled against us. may the curse strike him in his house, barn, bed, field, path, city, castle. may he be cursed in battle, accursed in praying, in speaking, in silence, in eating, in drinking, in sleeping. may he be accursed in his taste, hearing, smell, and all his senses. may the curse blast his eyes, head, and his body, from his crown to the soles of his feet. i conjure you, devil, and all your imps, that you take no rest till you have brought him to eternal shame; till he is destroyed by drowning or hanging, till he is torn to pieces by wild beasts, or consumed by fire. let his children become orphans, his wife a widow. i command you, devil, and all your imps, that even as i now blow out these torches, you do immediately extinguish the light from his eyes. so be it--so be it. amen. amen." so speaking, the curser was wont to blow out two waxen torches which he held in his hands, and, with this practical illustration, the anathema was complete. such insane ravings, even in the mouth of some impotent beldame, were enough to excite a shudder, but in that dreary epoch, these curses from the lips of clergymen were deemed sufficient to draw down celestial lightning upon the head, not of the blasphemer, but of his victim. men, who trembled neither at sword nor fire, cowered like slaves before such horrid imprecations, uttered by tongues gifted, as it seemed, with superhuman power. their fellow-men shrank from the wretches thus blasted, and refused communication with them as unclean and abhorred. by the end of the thirteenth century, however, the clerical power was already beginning to decline. it was not the corruption of the church, but its enormous wealth which engendered the hatred, with which it was by many regarded. temporal princes and haughty barons began to dispute the right of ecclesiastics to enjoy vast estates, while refusing the burthen of taxation, and unable to draw a sword for the common defence. at this period, the counts of flanders, of holland, and other netherland sovereigns, issued decrees, forbidding clerical institutions from acquiring property, by devise, gift, purchase, or any other mode. the downfall of the rapacious and licentious knights-templar in the provinces and throughout europe, was another severe blow administered at the same time. the attacks upon church abuses redoubled in boldness, as its authority declined. towards the end of the fourteenth century, the doctrines of wicklif had made great progress in the land. early in the fifteenth, the executions of huss and jerome of prague, produce the bohemian rebellion. the pope proclaims a crusade against the hussites. knights and prelates, esquires and citizens, enlist in the sacred cause, throughout holland and its sister provinces; but many netherlanders, who had felt the might of ziska's arm, come back, feeling more sympathy with the heresy which they had attacked, than with the church for which they had battled. meantime, the restrictions imposed by netherland sovereigns upon clerical rights to hold or acquire property, become more stern and more general. on the other hand, with the invention of printing, the cause of reformation takes a colossal stride in advance. a bible, which, before, had cost five hundred crowns, now costs but five. the people acquire the power of reading god's word, or of hearing it read, for themselves. the light of truth dispels the clouds of superstition, as by a new revelation. the pope and his monks are found to bear, very often, but faint resemblance to jesus and his apostles. moreover, the instinct of self-interest sharpens the eye of the public. many greedy priests, of lower rank, had turned shop-keepers in the netherlands, and were growing rich by selling their wares, exempt from taxation, at a lower rate than lay hucksters could afford. the benefit of clergy, thus taking the bread from the mouths of many, excites jealousy; the more so, as, besides their miscellaneous business, the reverend traders have a most lucrative branch of commerce from which other merchants are excluded. the sale of absolutions was the source of large fortunes to the priests. the enormous impudence of this traffic almost exceeds belief. throughout the netherlands, the price current of the wares thus offered for sale, was published in every town and village. god's pardon for crimes already committed, or about to be committed, was advertised according to a graduated tariff. thus, poisoning, for example, was absolved for eleven ducats, six livres tournois. absolution for incest was afforded at thirty-six livres, three ducats. perjury came to seven livres and three carlines. pardon for murder, if not by poison, was cheaper. even a parricide could buy forgiveness at god's tribunal at one ducat; four livres, eight carlines. henry de montfort, in the year , purchased absolution for that crime at that price. was it strange that a century or so of this kind of work should produce a luther? was it unnatural that plain people, who loved the ancient church, should rather desire to see her purged of such blasphemous abuses, than to hear of st. peter's dome rising a little nearer to the clouds on these proceeds of commuted crime? at the same time, while ecclesiastical abuses are thus augmenting, ecclesiastical power is diminishing in the netherlands. the church is no longer able to protect itself against the secular aim. the halcyon days of ban, book and candle, are gone. in , duke philip of burgundy prohibits the churches from affording protection to fugitives. charles the bold, in whose eyes nothing is sacred save war and the means of making it, lays a heavy impost upon all clerical property. upon being resisted, he enforces collection with the armed hand. the sword and the pen, strength and intellect, no longer the exclusive servants or instruments of priestcraft, are both in open revolt. charles the bold storms one fortress, doctor grandfort, of groningen, batters another. this learned frisian, called "the light of the world," friend and compatriot of the great rudolph agricola, preaches throughout the provinces, uttering bold denunciations of ecclesiastical error. he even disputes the infallibility of the pope, denies the utility of prayers for the dead, and inveighs against the whole doctrine of purgatory and absolution. with the beginning of the th century, the great reformation was actually alive. the name of erasmus of rotterdam was already celebrated; the man, who, according to grotius, "so well showed the road to a reasonable reformation." but if erasmus showed the road, he certainly did not travel far upon it himself. perpetual type of the quietist, the moderate man, he censured the errors of the church with discrimination and gentleness, as if borgianism had not been too long rampant at rome, as if men's minds throughout christendom were not too deeply stirred to be satisfied with mild rebukes against sin, especially when the mild rebuker was in receipt of livings and salaries from the sinner. instead of rebukes, the age wanted reforms. the sage of rotterdam was a keen observer, a shrewd satirist, but a moderate moralist. he loved ease, good company, the soft repose of princely palaces, better than a life of martyrdom and a death at the stake. he was not of the stuff of which martyrs are made, as he handsomely confessed on more than one occasion. "let others affect martyrdom," he said, "for myself i am unworthy of the honor;" and, at another time, "i am not of a mind," he observed "to venture my life for the truth's sake; all men have not strength to endure the martyr's death. for myself, if it came to the point, i should do no better than simon peter." moderate in all things, he would have liked, he said, to live without eating and drinking, although he never found it convenient to do so, and he rejoiced when advancing age diminished his tendency to other carnal pleasures in which he had moderately indulged. although awake to the abuses of the church, he thought luther going too fast and too far. he began by applauding ended by censuring the monk of wittemberg. the reformation might have been delayed for centuries had erasmus and other moderate men been the only reformers. he will long be honored for his elegant, latinity. in the republic of letters, his efforts to infuse a pure taste, a sound criticism, a love for the beautiful and the classic, in place of the owlish pedantry which had so long flapped and hooted through mediveval cloisters, will always be held in grateful reverence. in the history of the religious reformation, his name seems hardly to deserve the commendations of grotius. as the schism yawns, more and more ominously, throughout christendom, the emperor naturally trembles. anxious to save the state, but being no antique roman, he wishes to close the gulf, but with more convenience to himself: he conceives the highly original plan of combining church and empire under one crown. this is maximilian's scheme for church reformation. an hereditary papacy, a perpetual pope-emperor, the charlemagne and hildebrand systems united and simplified--thus the world may yet be saved. "nothing more honorable, nobler, better, could happen to us," writes maximilian to paul lichtenstein ( th sept. ), "than to re-annex the said popedom--which properly belongs to us--to our empire. cardinal adrian approves our reasons and encourages us to proceed, being of opinion that we should not have much trouble with the cardinals. it is much to be feared that the pope may die of his present sickness. he has lost his appetite, and fills himself with so much drink that his health is destroyed. as such matters can not be arranged without money, we have promised the cardinals, whom we expect to bring over, , ducats, [recall that the fine for redemption and pardon for the sin of murder was at that time one ducat. d.w.] which we shall raise from the fuggers, and make payable in rome upon the appointed day." these business-like arrangements he communicates, two days afterwards, in a secret letter to his daughter margaret, and already exults at his future eminence, both in this world and the next. "we are sending monsieur de gurce," he says; "to make an agreement with the pope, that we may be taken as coadjutor, in order that, upon his death, we may be sure of the papacy, and, afterwards, of becoming a saint. after my decease, therefore, you will be constrained to adore me, of which i shall be very proud. i am beginning to work upon the cardinals, in which affair two or three hundred thousand ducats will be of great service." the letter was signed, "from the hand of your good father, maximilian, future pope." these intrigues are not destined, however, to be successful. pope julius lives two years longer; leo the tenth succeeds; and, as medici are not much prone to church reformation some other scheme, and perhaps some other reformer, may be wanted. meantime, the traffic in bulls of absolution becomes more horrible than ever. money must be raised to supply the magnificent extravagance of rome. accordingly, christians, throughout europe, are offered by papal authority, guarantees of forgiveness for every imaginable sin, "even for the rape of god's mother, if that were possible," together with a promise of life eternal in paradise, all upon payment of the price affixed to each crime. the netherlands, like other countries, are districted and farmed for the collection of this papal revenue. much of the money thus raised, remains in the hands of the vile collectors. sincere catholics, who love and honor the ancient religion, shrink with horror at the spectacle offered on every side. criminals buying paradise for money, monks spending the money thus paid in gaming houses, taverns, and brothels; this seems, to those who have studied their testaments, a different scheme of salvation from the one promulgated by christ. there has evidently been a departure from the system of earlier apostles. innocent conservative souls are much perplexed; but, at last, all these infamies arouse a giant to do battle with the giant wrong. martin luther enters the lists, all alone, armed only with a quiver filled with ninety-five propositions, and a bow which can send them all over christendom with incredible swiftness. within a few weeks the ninety-five propositions have flown through germany, the netherlands, spain, and are found in jerusalem. at the beginning, erasmus encourages the bold friar. so long as the axe is not laid at the foot of the tree, which bears the poisonous but golden fruit, the moderate man applauds the blows. "luther's cause is considered odious," writes erasmus to the elector of saxony, "because he has, at the same time, attacked the bellies of the monks and the bulls of the pope." he complains that the zealous man had been attacked with roiling, but not with arguments. he foresees that the work will have a bloody and turbulent result, but imputes the principal blame to the clergy. "the priests talk," said he, "of absolution in such terms, that laymen can not stomach it. luther has been for nothing more censured than for making little of thomas aquinas; for wishing to diminish the absolution traffic; for having a low opinion of mendicant orders, and for respecting scholastic opinions less than the gospels. all this is considered intolerable heresy." erasmus, however, was offending both parties. a swarm of monks were already buzzing about him for the bold language of his commentaries and dialogues. he was called erasmus for his errors--arasmus because he would plough up sacred things--erasinus because he had written himself an ass--behemoth, antichrist, and many other names of similar import. luther was said to have bought the deadly seed in his barn. the egg had been laid by erasmus, hatched by luther. on the other hand, he was reviled for not taking side manfully with the reformer. the moderate man received much denunciation from zealots on either side. he soon clears himself, however, from all suspicions of lutheranism. he is appalled at the fierce conflict which rages far and wide. he becomes querulous as the mighty besom sweeps away sacred dust and consecrated cobwebs. "men should not attempt every thing at once," he writes, "but rather step by step. that which men can not improve they must look at through the fingers. if the godlessness of mankind requires such fierce physicians as luther, if man can not be healed with soothing ointments and cooling drinks, let us hope that god will comfort, as repentant, those whom he has punished as rebellious. if the dove of christ--not the owl of minerva--would only fly to us, some measure might be put to the madness of mankind." meantime the man, whose talk is not of doves and owls, the fierce physician, who deals not with ointments and cooling draughts, strides past the crowd of gentle quacks to smite the foul disease. devils, thicker than tiles on house-tops, scare him not from his work. bans and bulls, excommunications and decrees, are rained upon his head. the paternal emperor sends down dire edicts, thicker than hail upon the earth. the holy father blasts and raves from rome. louvain doctors denounce, louvain hangmen burn, the bitter, blasphemous books. the immoderate man stands firm in the storm, demanding argument instead of illogical thunder; shows the hangmen and the people too, outside the elster gate at wittenberg, that papal bulls will blaze as merrily as heretic scrolls. what need of allusion to events which changed the world--which every child has learned--to the war of titans, uprooting of hoary trees and rock-ribbed hills, to the worms diet, peasant wars, the patmos of eisenach, and huge wrestlings with the devil? imperial edicts are soon employed to suppress the reformation in the netherlands by force. the provinces, unfortunately; are the private property of charles, his paternal inheritance; and most paternally, according to his view of the matter, does he deal with them. germany can not be treated thus summarily, not being his heritage. "as it appears," says the edict of , "that the aforesaid martin is not a man, but a devil under the form of a man, and clothed in the dress of a priest, the better to bring the human race to hell and damnation, therefore all his disciples and converts are to be punished with death and forfeiture of all their goods." this was succinct and intelligible. the bloody edict, issued at worms, without even a pretence of sanction by the estates, was carried into immediate effect. the papal inquisition was introduced into the provinces to assist its operations. the bloody work, for which the reign of charles is mainly distinguished in the netherlands, now began. in , july st, two augustine monks were burned at brussels, the first victims to lutheranism in the provinces. erasmus observed, with a sigh, that "two had been burned at brussels, and that the city now began strenuously to favor lutheranism." pope adrian the sixth, the netherland boat-maker's son and the emperor's ancient tutor, was sufficiently alive to the sins of churchmen. the humble scholar of utrecht was, at least, no borgia. at the diet of nuremberg, summoned to put down luther, the honest pope declared roundly, through the bishop of fabriane, that "these disorders had sprung from the sins of men, more especially from the sins of priests and prelates. even in the holy chair," said he, "many horrible crimes have been committed. many abuses have grown up in the ecclesiastical state. the contagious disease, spreading from the head to the members--from the pope to lesser prelates--has spread far and wide, so that scarcely any one is to be found who does right, and who is free from infection. nevertheless, the evils have become so ancient and manifold, that it will be necessary to go step by step." in those passionate days, the ardent reformers were as much outraged by this pregnant confession as the ecclesiastics. it would indeed be a slow process, they thought, to move step by step in the reformation, if between each step, a whole century was to intervene. in vain did the gentle pontiff call upon erasmus to assuage the stormy sea with his smooth rhetoric. the sage of rotterdam was old and sickly; his day was over. adrian's head; too; languishes beneath the triple crown but twenty months. he dies th sept., , having arrived at the conviction, according to his epitaph, that the greatest misfortune of his life was to have reigned. another edict, published in the netherlands, forbids all private assemblies for devotion; all reading of the scriptures; all discussions within one's own doors concerning faith, the sacraments, the papal authority, or other religious matter, under penalty of death. the edicts were no dead letter. the fires were kept constantly supplied with human fuel by monks, who knew the art of burning reformers better than that of arguing with them. the scaffold was the most conclusive of syllogisms, and used upon all occasions. still the people remained unconvinced. thousands of burned heretics had not made a single convert. a fresh edict renewed and sharpened the punishment for reading the scriptures in private or public. at the same time, the violent personal altercation between luther and erasmus, upon predestination, together with the bitter dispute between luther and zwingli concerning the real presence, did more to impede the progress of the reformation than ban or edict, sword or fire. the spirit of humanity hung her head, finding that the bold reformer had only a new dogma in place of the old ones, seeing that dissenters, in their turn, were sometimes as ready as papists, with age, fagot, and excommunication. in , felix mants, the anabaptist, is drowned at zurich, in obedience to zwingli's pithy formula--'qui iterum mergit mergatur'. thus the anabaptists, upon their first appearance, were exposed to the fires of the church and the water of the zwinglians. there is no doubt that the anabaptist delusion was so ridiculous and so loathsome, as to palliate or at least render intelligible the wrath with which they were regarded by all parties. the turbulence of the sect was alarming to constituted authorities, its bestiality disgraceful to the cause of religious reformation. the leaders were among the most depraved of human creatures, as much distinguished for licentiousness, blasphemy and cruelty as their followers for grovelling superstition. the evil spirit, driven out of luther, seemed, in orthodox eyes, to have taken possession of a herd of swine. the germans, muncer and hoffmann, had been succeeded, as chief prophets, by a dutch baker, named matthiszoon, of harlem; who announced himself as enoch. chief of this man's disciples was the notorious john boccold, of leyden. under the government of this prophet, the anabaptists mastered the city of munster. here they confiscated property, plundered churches, violated females, murdered men who refused to join the gang, and, in briefs practised all the enormities which humanity alone can conceive or perpetrate. the prophet proclaimed himself king of sion, and sent out apostles to preach his doctrines in germany and the netherlands. polygamy being a leading article of the system, he exemplified the principle by marrying fourteen wives. of these, the beautiful widow of matthiszoon was chief, was called the queen of sion, and wore a golden crown. the prophet made many fruitless efforts to seize amsterdam and leyden. the armed invasion of the anabaptists was repelled, but their contagious madness spread. the plague broke forth in amsterdam. on a cold winter's night, (february, ), seven men and five women, inspired by the holy ghost, threw off their clothes and rushed naked and raving through the streets, shrieking "wo, wo, wo! the wrath of god, the wrath of god!" when arrested, they obstinately refused to put on clothing. "we are," they observed, "the naked truth." in a day or two, these furious lunatics, who certainly deserved a madhouse rather than the scaffold, were all executed. the numbers of the sect increased with the martyrdom to which they were exposed, and the disorder spread to every part of the netherlands. many were put to death in lingering torments, but no perceptible effect was produced by the chastisement. meantime the great chief of the sect, the prophet john, was defeated by the forces of the bishop of munster, who recovered his city and caused the "king of zion" to be pinched to death with red-hot tongs. unfortunately the severity of government was not wreaked alone upon the prophet and his mischievous crew. thousands and ten-thousands of virtuous, well-disposed men and women, who had as little sympathy with anabaptistical as with roman depravity; were butchered in cold blood, under the sanguinary rule of charles, in the netherlands. in , queen dowager mary of hungary, sister of the emperor, regent of the provinces, the "christian widow" admired by erasmus, wrote to her brother that "in her opinion all heretics, whether repentant or not, should be prosecuted with such severity as that error might be, at once, extinguished, care being only taken that the provinces were not entirely depopulated." with this humane limitation, the "christian widow" cheerfully set herself to superintend as foul and wholesale a system of murder as was ever organized. in , an imperial edict was issued at brussels, condemning all heretics to death; repentant males to be executed with the sword, repentant females to be buried alive, the obstinate, of both sexes, to be burned. this and similar edicts were the law of the land for twenty years, and rigidly enforced. imperial and papal persecution continued its daily deadly work with such diligence as to make it doubtful whether the limits set by the regent mary might not be overstepped. in the midst of the carnage, the emperor sent for his son philip, that he might receive the fealty of the netherlands as their future lord and master. contemporaneously, a new edict was published at brussels ( th april, ), confirming and reenacting all previous decrees in their most severe provisions. thus stood religious matters in the netherlands at the epoch of the imperial abdication. xiii. the civil institutions of the country had assumed their last provincial form, in the burgundo-austrian epoch. as already stated, their tendency, at a later period a vicious one, was to substitute fictitious personages for men. a chain of corporations was wound about the liberty of the netherlands; yet that liberty had been originally sustained by the system in which it, one day, might be strangled. the spirit of local self-government, always the life-blood of liberty, was often excessive in its manifestations. the centrifugal force had been too much developed, and, combining with the mutual jealousy of corporations, had often made the nation weak against a common foe. instead of popular rights there were state rights, for the large cities, with extensive districts and villages under their government, were rather petty states than municipalities. although the supreme legislative and executive functions belonged to the sovereign, yet each city made its by-laws, and possessed, beside, a body of statutes and regulations, made from time to time by its own authority and confirmed by the prince. thus a large portion, at least, of the nation shared practically in the legislative functions, which, technically, it did not claim; nor had the requirements of society made constant legislation so necessary, as that to exclude the people from the work was to enslave the country. there was popular power enough to effect much good, but it was widely scattered, and, at the same time, confined in artificial forms. the guilds were vassals of the towns, the towns, vassals of the feudal lord. the guild voted in the "broad council" of the city as one person; the city voted in the estates as one person. the people of the united netherlands was the personage yet to be invented, it was a privilege, not a right, to exercise a handiwork, or to participate in the action of government. yet the mass of privileges was so large, the shareholders so numerous, that practically the towns were republics. the government was in the hands of a large number of the people. industry and intelligence led to wealth and power. this was great progress from the general servitude of the th and th centuries, an immense barrier against arbitrary rule. loftier ideas of human rights, larger conceptions of commerce, have taught mankind, in later days, the difference between liberties and liberty, between guilds and free competition. at the same time it was the principle of mercantile association, in the middle ages, which protected the infant steps of human freedom and human industry against violence and wrong. moreover, at this period, the tree of municipal life was still green and vigorous. the healthful flow of sap from the humblest roots to the most verdurous branches indicated the internal soundness of the core, and provided for the constant development of exterior strength. the road to political influence was open to all, not by right of birth, but through honorable exertion of heads and hands. the chief city of the netherlands, the commercial capital of the world, was antwerp. in the north and east of europe, the hanseatic league had withered with the revolution in commerce. at the south, the splendid marble channels, through which the overland india trade had been conducted from the mediterranean by a few stately cities, were now dry, the great aqueducts ruinous and deserted. verona, venice, nuremberg, augsburg, bruges, were sinking, but antwerp, with its deep and convenient river, stretched its arm to the ocean and caught the golden prize, as it fell from its sister cities' grasp. the city was so ancient that its genealogists, with ridiculous gravity, ascended to a period two centuries before the trojan war, and discovered a giant, rejoicing in the classic name of antigonus, established on the scheld. this patriarch exacted one half the merchandise of all navigators who passed his castle, and was accustomed to amputate and cast into the river the right hands of those who infringed this simple tariff. thus hand-werpen, hand-throwing, became antwerp, and hence, two hands, in the escutcheon of the city, were ever held up in heraldic attestation of the truth. the giant was, in his turn, thrown into the scheld by a hero, named brabo, from whose exploits brabant derived its name; "de quo brabonica tellus." but for these antiquarian researches, a simpler derivation of the name would seem an t' werf, "on the wharf." it had now become the principal entrepot and exchange of europe. the huggers, velsens, ostetts, of germany, the gualterotti and bonvisi of italy, and many other great mercantile houses were there established. no city, except paris, surpassed it in population, none approached it in commercial splendor. its government was very free. the sovereign, as marquis of antwerp, was solemnly sworn to govern according to the ancient charters and laws. the stadholder, as his representative, shared his authority with the four estates of the city. the senate of eighteen members was appointed by the stadholder out of a quadruple number nominated by the senate itself and by the fourth body, called the borgery. half the board was thus renewed annually. it exercised executive and appellate judicial functions, appointed two burgomasters, and two pensionaries or legal councillors, and also selected the lesser magistrates and officials of the city. the board of ancients or ex-senators, held their seats ex officio. the twenty-six ward-masters, appointed, two from each ward, by the senate on nomination by the wards, formed the third estate. their especial business was to enrol the militia and to attend to its mustering and training. the deans of the guilds, fifty-four in number, two from each guild, selected by the senate, from a triple list of candidates presented by the guilds, composed the fourth estate. this influential body was always assembled in the broad-council of the city. their duty was likewise to conduct the examination of candidates claiming admittance to any guild and offering specimens of art or handiwork, to superintend the general affairs of the guilds and to regulate disputes. there were also two important functionaries, representing the king in criminal and civil matters. the vicarius capitalis, scultetus, schout, sheriff, or margrave, took precedence of all magistrates. his business was to superintend criminal arrests, trials, and executions. the vicarius civilis was called the amman, and his office corresponded with that of the podesta in the frisian and italian republics. his duties were nearly similar, in civil, to those of his colleague, in criminal matters. these four branches, with their functionaries and dependents, composed the commonwealth of antwerp. assembled together in council, they constituted the great and general court. no tax could be imposed by the sovereign, except with consent of the four branches, all voting separately. the personal and domiciliary rights of the citizen were scrupulously guarded. the schout could only make arrests with the burgomaster's warrant, and was obliged to bring the accused, within three days, before the judges, whose courts were open to the public. the condition of the population was prosperous. there were but few poor, and those did not seek but were sought by the almoners: the schools were excellent and cheap. it was difficult to find a child of sufficient age who could not read, write, and speak, at least, two languages. the sons of the wealthier citizens completed their education at louvain, douay, paris, or padua. the city itself was one of the most beautiful in europe. placed upon a plain along the banks of the scheld, shaped like a bent bow with the river for its string, it enclosed within it walls some of the most splendid edifices in christendom. the world-renowned church of notre dame, the stately exchange where five thousand merchants daily congregated, prototype of all similar establishments throughout the world, the capacious mole and port where twenty-five hundred vessels were often seen at once, and where five hundred made their daily entrance or departure, were all establishments which it would have been difficult to rival in any other part of the world. from what has already been said of the municipal institutions of the country, it may be inferred that the powers of the estates-general were limited. the members of that congress were not representatives chosen by the people, but merely a few ambassadors from individual provinces. this individuality was not always composed of the same ingredients. thus, holland consisted of two members, or branches--the nobles and the six chief cities; flanders of four branches--the cities, namely, of ghent, bruges, ypres, and the "freedom of bruges;" brabant of louvain, brussels, bois le due, and antwerp, four great cities, without representation of nobility or clergy; zeland, of one clerical person, the abbot of middelburg, one noble, the marquis of veer and vliessingen, and six chief cities; utrecht, of three branches--the nobility, the clergy, and five cities. these, and other provinces, constituted in similar manner, were supposed to be actually present at the diet when assembled. the chief business of the states-general was financial; the sovereign, or his stadholder, only obtaining supplies by making a request in person, while any single city, as branch of a province, had a right to refuse the grant. education had felt the onward movement of the country and the times. the whole system was, however, pervaded by the monastic spirit, which had originally preserved all learning from annihilation, but which now kept it wrapped in the ancient cerecloths, and stiffening in the stony sarcophagus of a bygone age. the university of louvain was the chief literary institution in the provinces. it had been established in by duke john iv. of brabant. its government consisted of a president and senate, forming a close corporation, which had received from the founder all his own authority, and the right to supply their own vacancies. the five faculties of law, canon law, medicine, theology, and the arts, were cultivated at the institution. there was, besides, a high school for under graduates, divided into four classes. the place reeked with pedantry, and the character of the university naturally diffused itself through other scholastic establishments. nevertheless, it had done and was doing much to preserve the love for profound learning, while the rapidly advancing spirit of commerce was attended by an ever increasing train of humanizing arts. the standard of culture in those flourishing cities was elevated, compared with that observed in many parts of europe. the children of the wealthier classes enjoyed great facilities for education in all the great capitals. the classics, music, and the modern languages, particularly the french, were universally cultivated. nor was intellectual cultivation confined to the higher orders. on the contrary, it was diffused to a remarkable degree among the hard-working artisans and handicraftsmen of the great cities. for the principle of association had not confined itself exclusively to politics and trade. besides the numerous guilds by which citizenship was acquired in the various cities, were many other societies for mutual improvement, support, or recreation. the great secret, architectural or masonic brotherhood of germany, that league to which the artistic and patient completion of the magnificent works of gothic architecture in the middle ages is mainly to be attributed, had its branches in nether germany, and explains the presence of so many splendid and elaborately finished churches in the provinces. there were also military sodalities of musketeers, cross-bowmen, archers, swordsmen in every town. once a year these clubs kept holiday, choosing a king, who was selected for his prowess and skill in the use of various weapons. these festivals, always held with great solemnity and rejoicing, were accompanied bye many exhibitions of archery and swordsmanship. the people were not likely, therefore, voluntarily to abandon that privilege and duty of freemen, the right to bear arms, and the power to handle them. another and most important collection of brotherhoods were the so-called guilds of rhetoric, which existed, in greater or less number, in all the principal cities. these were associations of mechanics, for the purpose of amusing their leisure with poetical effusions, dramatic and musical exhibitions, theatrical processions, and other harmless and not inelegant recreations. such chambers of rhetoric came originally in the fifteenth century from france. the fact that in their very title they confounded rhetoric with poetry and the drama indicates the meagre attainments of these early "rederykers." in the outset of their career they gave theatrical exhibitions. "king herod and his deeds" was enacted in the cathedral at utrecht in . the associations spread with great celerity throughout the netherlands, and, as they were all connected with each other, and in habits of periodical intercourse, these humble links of literature were of great value in drawing the people of the provinces into closer union. they became, likewise, important political engines. as early as the time of philip the good, their songs and lampoons became so offensive to the arbitrary notions of the burgundian government, as to cause the societies to be prohibited. it was, however, out of the sovereign's power permanently to suppress institutions, which already partook of the character of the modern periodical press combined with functions resembling the show and licence of the athenian drama. viewed from the stand-point of literary criticism their productions were not very commendable in taste, conception, or execution. to torture the muses to madness, to wire-draw poetry through inextricable coils of difficult rhymes and impossible measures; to hammer one golden grain of wit into a sheet of infinite platitude, with frightful ingenuity to construct ponderous anagrams and preternatural acrostics, to dazzle the vulgar eye with tawdry costumes, and to tickle the vulgar ear with virulent personalities, were tendencies which perhaps smacked of the hammer, the yard-stick and the pincers, and gave sufficient proof, had proof been necessary, that literature is not one of the mechanical arts, and that poetry can not be manufactured to a profit by joint stock companies. yet, if the style of these lucubrations was often depraved, the artisans rarely received a better example from the literary institutions above them. it was not for guilds of mechanics to give the tone to literature, nor were their efforts in more execrable taste than the emanations from the pedants of louvain. the "rhetoricians" are not responsible for all the bad taste of their generation. the gravest historians of the netherlands often relieved their elephantine labors by the most asinine gambols, and it was not to be expected that these bustling weavers and cutlers should excel their literary superiors in taste or elegance. philip the fair enrolled himself as a member in one of these societies. it may easily be inferred, therefore, that they had already become bodies of recognized importance. the rhetorical chambers existed in the most obscure villages. the number of yards of flemish poetry annually manufactured and consumed throughout the provinces almost exceed belief. the societies had regular constitutions. their presiding officers were called kings, princes, captains, archdeacons, or rejoiced in similar high-sounding names. each chamber had its treasurer, its buffoon, and its standard-bearer for public processions. each had its peculiar title or blazon, as the lily, the marigold, or the violet, with an appropriate motto. by the year , the associations had become so important, that philip the fair summoned them all to a general assembly at mechlin. here they were organized, and formally incorporated under the general supervision of an upper or mother-society of rhetoric, consisting of fifteen members, and called by the title of "jesus with the balsam flower." the sovereigns were always anxious to conciliate these influential guilds by becoming members of them in person. like the players, the rhetoricians were the brief abstract and chronicle of the time, and neither prince nor private person desired their ill report. it had, indeed, been philip's intention to convert them into engines for the arbitrary purposes of his house, but fortunately the publicly organized societies were not the only chambers. on the contrary, the unchartered guilds were the moat numerous and influential. they exercised a vast influence upon the progress of the religious reformation, and the subsequent revolt of the netherlands. they ridiculed, with their farces and their satires, the vices of the clergy. they dramatized tyranny for public execration. it was also not surprising, that among the leaders of the wild anabaptists who disgraced the great revolution in church and state by their hideous antics, should be found many who, like david of delft, john of leyden, and others, had been members of rhetorical chambers. the genius for mummery and theatrical exhibitions, transplanted from its sphere, and exerting itself for purposes of fraud and licentiousness, was as baleful in its effects as it was healthy in its original manifestations. such exhibitions were but the excrescences of a system which had borne good fruit. these literary guilds befitted and denoted a people which was alive, a people which had neither sunk to sleep in the lap of material prosperity, nor abased itself in the sty of ignorance and political servitude. the spirit of liberty pervaded these rude but not illiterate assemblies, and her fair proportions were distinctly visible, even through the somewhat grotesque garb which she thus assumed. the great leading recreations which these chambers afforded to themselves and the public, were the periodic jubilees which they celebrated in various capital cities. all the guilds of rhetoric throughout the netherlands were then invited to partake and to compete in magnificent processions, brilliant costumes, living pictures, charades, and other animated, glittering groups, and in trials of dramatic and poetic skill, all arranged under the superintendence of the particular association which, in the preceding year, had borne away the prize. such jubilees were called "land jewels." from the amusements of a people may be gathered much that is necessary for a proper estimation of its character. no unfavorable opinion can be formed as to the culture of a nation, whose weavers, smiths, gardeners, and traders, found the favorite amusement of their holidays in composing and enacting tragedies or farces, reciting their own verses, or in personifying moral and esthetic sentiments by ingeniously-arranged groups, or gorgeous habiliments. the cramoisy velvets and yellow satin doublets of the court, the gold-brocaded mantles of priests and princes are often but vulgar drapery of little historic worth. such costumes thrown around the swart figures of hard-working artisans, for literary and artistic purposes, have a real significance, and are worthy of a closer examination. were not these amusements of the netherlanders as elevated and humanizing as the contemporary bull-fights and autos-da-fe of spain? what place in history does the gloomy bigot merit who, for the love of christ, converted all these gay cities into shambles, and changed the glittering processions of their land jewels into fettered marches to the scaffold? thus fifteen ages have passed away, and in the place of a horde of savages, living among swamps and thickets, swarm three millions of people, the most industrious, the most prosperous, perhaps the most intelligent under the sun. their cattle, grazing on the bottom of the sea, are the finest in europe, their agricultural products of more exchangeable value than if nature had made their land to overflow with wine and oil. their navigators are the boldest, their mercantile marine the most powerful, their merchants the most enterprising in the world. holland and flanders, peopled by one race, vie with each other in the pursuits of civilization. the flemish skill in the mechanical and in the fine arts is unrivalled. belgian musicians delight and instruct other nations, belgian pencils have, for a century, caused the canvas to glow with colors and combinations never seen before. flemish fabrics are exported to all parts of europe, to the east and west indies, to africa. the splendid tapestries, silks, linens, as well as the more homely and useful manufactures of the netherlands, are prized throughout the world. most ingenious, as they had already been described by the keen-eyed caesar, in imitating the arts of other nations, the skillful artificers of the country at louvain, ghent, and other places, reproduce the shawls and silks of india with admirable accuracy. their national industry was untiring; their prosperity unexampled; their love of liberty indomitable; their pugnacity proverbial. peaceful in their pursuits, phlegmatic by temperament, the netherlands were yet the most belligerent and excitable population of europe. two centuries of civil war had but thinned the ranks of each generation without quenching the hot spirit of the nation. the women were distinguished by beauty of form and vigor of constitution. accustomed from childhood to converse freely with all classes and sexes in the daily walks of life, and to travel on foot or horseback from one town to another, without escort and without fear, they had acquired manners more frank and independent than those of women in other lands, while their morals were pure and their decorum undoubted. the prominent part to be sustained by the women of holland in many dramas of the revolution would thus fitly devolve upon a class, enabled by nature and education to conduct themselves with courage. within the little circle which encloses the seventeen provinces are walled cities, many of them among the most stately in christendom, chartered towns, , villages, with their watch-towers and steeples, besides numerous other more insignificant hamlets; the whole guarded by a belt of sixty fortresses of surpassing strength. xiv. thus in this rapid sketch of the course and development of the netherland nation during sixteen centuries, we have seen it ever marked by one prevailing characteristic, one master passion--the love of liberty, the instinct of self-government. largely compounded of the bravest teutonic elements, batavian and frisian, the race ever battles to the death with tyranny, organizes extensive revolts in the age of vespasian, maintains a partial independence even against the sagacious dominion of charlemagne, refuses in friesland to accept the papal yoke or feudal chain, and, throughout the dark ages, struggles resolutely towards the light, wresting from a series of petty sovereigns a gradual and practical recognition of the claims of humanity. with the advent of the burgundian family, the power of the commons has reached so high a point, that it is able to measure itself, undaunted, with the spirit of arbitrary rule, of which that engrossing and tyrannical house is the embodiment. for more than a century the struggle for freedom, for civic life, goes on; philip the good, charles the bold, mary's husband maximilian, charles v., in turn, assailing or undermining the bulwarks raised, age after age, against the despotic principle. the combat is ever renewed. liberty, often crushed, rises again and again from her native earth with redoubled energy. at last, in the th century, a new and more powerful spirit, the genius of religious freedom, comes to participate in the great conflict. arbitrary power, incarnated in the second charlemagne, assails the new combination with unscrupulous, unforgiving fierceness. venerable civic magistrates; haltered, grovel in sackcloth and ashes; innocent, religious reformers burn in holocausts. by the middle of the century, the battle rages more fiercely than ever. in the little netherland territory, humanity, bleeding but not killed, still stands at bay and defies the hunters. the two great powers have been gathering strength for centuries. they are soon to be matched in a longer and more determined combat than the world had ever seen. the emperor is about to leave the stage. the provinces, so passionate for nationality, for municipal freedom, for religious reformation, are to become the property of an utter stranger; a prince foreign to their blood, their tongue, their religion, their whole habits of life and thought. such was the political, religious, and social condition of a nation who were now to witness a new and momentous spectacle. etext editor's bookmarks: absolution for incest was afforded at thirty-six livres achieved the greatness to which they had not been born advancing age diminished his tendency to other carnal pleasures all his disciples and converts are to be punished with death all reading of the scriptures (forbidden) altercation between luther and erasmus, upon predestination an hereditary papacy, a perpetual pope-emperor announced his approaching marriage with the virgin mary as ready as papists, with age, fagot, and excommunication attacking the authority of the pope bold reformer had only a new dogma in place of the old ones charles the fifth autocrat of half the world condemning all heretics to death craft meaning, simply, strength criminal whose guilt had been established by the hot iron criminals buying paradise for money crusades made great improvement in the condition of the serfs democratic instincts of the ancient german savages denies the utility of prayers for the dead difference between liberties and liberty dispute between luther and zwingli concerning the real presence divine right drank of the water in which, he had washed enormous wealth (of the church) which engendered the hatred erasmus encourages the bold friar erasmus of rotterdam even for the rape of god's mother, if that were possible executions of huss and jerome of prague fable of divine right is invented to sanction the system felix mants, the anabaptist, is drowned at zurich few, even prelates were very dutiful to the pope fiction of apostolic authority to bind and loose fishermen and river raftsmen become ocean adventurers for myself i am unworthy of the honor (of martyrdom) forbids all private assemblies for devotion force clerical--the power of clerks great privilege, the magna charta of holland guarantees of forgiveness for every imaginable sin halcyon days of ban, book and candle heresy was a plant of early growth in the netherlands in holland, the clergy had neither influence nor seats invented such christian formulas as these (a curse) july st, two augustine monks were burned at brussels king of zion to be pinched to death with red-hot tongs labored under the disadvantage of never having existed learn to tremble as little at priestcraft as at swordcraft many greedy priests, of lower rank, had turned shop-keepers no one can testify but a householder not of the stuff of which martyrs are made (erasmus) nowhere was the persecution of heretics more relentless obstinate, of both sexes, to be burned one golden grain of wit into a sheet of infinite platitude pardon for crimes already committed, or about to be committed pardon for murder, if not by poison, was cheaper paying their passage through, purgatory poisoning, for example, was absolved for eleven ducats pope and emperor maintain both positions with equal logic power to read and write helped the clergy to much wealth readiness to strike and bleed at any moment in her cause repentant females to be buried alive repentant males to be executed with the sword sale of absolutions was the source of large fortunes to the priests same conjury over ignorant baron and cowardly hind scoffing at the ceremonies and sacraments of the church sharpened the punishment for reading the scriptures in private slavery was both voluntary and compulsory soldier of the cross was free upon his return st. peter's dome rising a little nearer to the clouds tanchelyn the bad duke of burgundy, philip surnamed "the good," the egg had been laid by erasmus, hatched by luther the vivifying becomes afterwards the dissolving principle thousands of burned heretics had not made a single convert thus hand-werpen, hand-throwing, became antwerp to prefer poverty to the wealth attendant upon trade tranquillity of despotism to the turbulence of freedom villagers, or villeins motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. philip the second in the netherlands [chapter i.] abdication of charles resolved upon--brussels in the sixteenth century--hall of the palace described--portraits of prominent individuals present at the ceremony--formalities of the abdication-- universal emotion--remarks upon the character and career of charles --his retirement at juste. on the twenty-fifth day of october, , the estates of the netherlands were assembled in the great hall of the palace at brussels. they had been summoned to be the witnesses and the guarantees of the abdication which charles v. had long before resolved upon, and which he was that day to execute. the emperor, like many potentates before and since, was fond of great political spectacles. he knew their influence upon the masses of mankind. although plain, even to shabbiness, in his own costume, and usually attired in black, no one ever understood better than he how to arrange such exhibitions in a striking and artistic style. we have seen the theatrical and imposing manner in which he quelled the insurrection at ghent, and nearly crushed the life forever out of that vigorous and turbulent little commonwealth. the closing scene of his long and energetic reign he had now arranged with profound study, and with an accurate knowledge of the manner in which the requisite effects were to be produced. the termination of his own career, the opening of his beloved philip's, were to be dramatized in a manner worthy the august character of the actors, and the importance of the great stage where they played their parts. the eyes of the whole world were directed upon that day towards brussels; for an imperial abdication was an event which had not, in the sixteenth century, been staled by custom. the gay capital of brabant--of that province which rejoiced in the liberal constitution known by the cheerful title of the "joyful entrance," was worthy to be the scene of the imposing show. brussels had been a city for more than five centuries, and, at that day, numbered about one hundred thousand inhabitants. its walls, six miles in circumference, were already two hundred years old. unlike most netherland cities, lying usually upon extensive plains, it was built along the sides of an abrupt promontory. a wide expanse of living verdure, cultivated gardens, shady groves, fertile cornfields, flowed round it like a sea. the foot of the town was washed by the little river senne, while the irregular but picturesque streets rose up the steep sides of the hill like the semicircles and stairways of an amphitheatre. nearly in the heart of the place rose the audacious and exquisitely embroidered tower of the townhouse, three hundred and sixty-six feet in height, a miracle of needlework in stone, rivalling in its intricate carving the cobweb tracery of that lace which has for centuries been synonymous with the city, and rearing itself above a facade of profusely decorated and brocaded architecture. the crest of the elevation was crowned by the towers of the old ducal palace of brabant, with its extensive and thickly-wooded park on the left, and by the stately mansions of orange, egmont, aremberg, culemburg, and other flemish grandees, on the right.. the great forest of soignies, dotted with monasteries and convents, swarming with every variety of game, whither the citizens made their summer pilgrimages, and where the nobles chased the wild boar and the stag, extended to within a quarter of a mile of the city walls. the population, as thrifty, as intelligent, as prosperous as that of any city in europe, was divided into fifty-two guilds of artisans, among which the most important were the armorers, whose suits of mail would turn a musket-ball; the gardeners, upon whose gentler creations incredible sums were annually lavished; and the tapestry-workers, whose gorgeous fabrics were the wonder of the world. seven principal churches, of which the most striking was that of st. gudule, with its twin towers, its charming facade, and its magnificently painted windows, adorned the upper part of the city. the number seven was a magic number in brussels, and was supposed at that epoch, during which astronomy was in its infancy and astrology in its prime, to denote the seven planets which governed all things terrestrial by their aspects and influences. seven noble families, springing from seven ancient castles, supplied the stock from which the seven senators were selected who composed the upper council of the city. there were seven great squares, seven city gates, and upon the occasion of the present ceremony, it was observed by the lovers of wonderful coincidences, that seven crowned heads would be congregated under a single roof in the liberty-loving city. the palace where the states-general were upon this occasion convened, had been the residence of the dukes of brabant since the days of john the second, who had built it about the year . it was a spacious and convenient building, but not distinguished for the beauty of its architecture. in front was a large open square, enclosed by an iron railing; in the rear an extensive and beautiful park, filled with forest trees, and containing gardens and labyrinths, fish-ponds and game preserves, fountains and promenades, race-courses and archery grounds. the main entrance to this edifice opened upon a spacious hall, connected with a beautiful and symmetrical chapel. the hall was celebrated for its size, harmonious proportions, and the richness of its decorations. it was the place where the chapters of the famous order of the golden fleece were held. its walls were hung with a magnificent tapestry of arran, representing the life and achievements of gideon, the midianite, and giving particular prominence to the miracle of the "fleece of wool," vouchsafed to that renowned champion, the great patron of the knights of the fleece. on the present occasion there were various additional embellishments of flowers and votive garlands. at the western end a spacious platform or stage, with six or seven steps, had been constructed, below which was a range of benches for the deputies of the seventeen provinces. upon the stage itself there were rows of seats, covered with tapestry, upon the right hand and upon the left. these were respectively to accommodate the knights of the order and the guests of high distinction. in the rear of these were other benches, for the members of the three great councils. in the centre of the stage was a splendid canopy, decorated with the arms of burgundy, beneath which were placed three gilded arm-chairs. all the seats upon the platform were vacant, but the benches below, assigned to the deputies of the provinces, were already filled. numerous representatives from all the states but two--gelderland and overyssel--had already taken their places. grave magistrates, in chain and gown, and executive officers in the splendid civic uniforms for which the netherlands were celebrated, already filled every seat within the apace allotted. the remainder of the hall was crowded with the more favored portion of the multitude which had been fortunate enough to procure admission to the exhibition. the archers and hallebardiers of the body-guard kept watch at all the doors. the theatre was filled--the audience was eager with expectation--the actors were yet to arrive. as the clock struck three, the hero of the scene appeared. caesar, as he was always designated in the classic language of the day, entered, leaning on the shoulder of william of orange. they came from the chapel, and were immediately followed by philip the second and queen mary of hungary. the archduke maximilian the duke of savoy, and other great personages came afterwards, accompanied by a glittering throng of warriors, councillors, governors, and knights of the fleece. many individuals of existing or future historic celebrity in the netherlands, whose names are so familiar to the student of the epoch, seemed to have been grouped, as if by premeditated design, upon this imposing platform, where the curtain was to fall forever upon the mightiest emperor since charlemagne, and where the opening scene of the long and tremendous tragedy of philip's reign was to be simultaneously enacted. there was the bishop of arras, soon to be known throughout christendom by the more celebrated title of cardinal granvelle, the serene and smiling priest whose subtle influence over the destinies of so many individuals then present, and over the fortunes of the whole land, was to be so extensive and so deadly. there was that flower of flemish chivalry, the, lineal descendant of ancient frisian kings, already distinguished for his bravery in many fields, but not having yet won those two remarkable victories which were soon to make the name of egmont like the sound of a trumpet throughout the whole country. tall, magnificent in costume, with dark flowing hair, soft brown eye, smooth cheek, a slight moustache, and features of almost feminine delicacy; such was the gallant and ill-fated lamoral egmont. the count of horn; too, with bold, sullen face, and fan-shaped beard-a brave, honest, discontented, quarrelsome, unpopular man; those other twins in doom--the marquis berghen and the lord of montigny; the baron berlaymont, brave, intensely loyal, insatiably greedy for office and wages, but who, at least, never served but one party; the duke of arschot, who was to serve all, essay to rule all, and to betray all--a splendid seignor, magnificent in cramoisy velvet, but a poor creature, who traced his pedigree from adam, according to the family monumental inscriptions at louvain, but who was better known as grand-nephew of the emperor's famous tutor, chiebres; the bold, debauched brederode, with handsome, reckless face and turbulent demeanor; the infamous noircarmes, whose name was to be covered with eternal execration, for aping towards his own compatriots and kindred as much of alva's atrocities and avarice, as he was permitted to exercise; the distinguished soldiers meghen and aremberg--these, with many others whose deeds of arms were to become celebrated throughout europe, were all conspicuous in the brilliant crowd. there, too, was that learned frisian, president viglius, crafty, plausible, adroit, eloquent--a small, brisk man, with long yellow hair, glittering green eyes, round, tumid, rosy cheeks, and flowing beard. foremost among the spanish grandees, and close to philip, stood the famous favorite, ruy gomez, or as he was familiarly called "re y gomez" (king and gomez), a man of meridional aspect, with coal-black hair and beard, gleaming eyes, a face pallid with intense application, and slender but handsome figure; while in immediate attendance upon the emperor, was the immortal prince of orange. such were a few only of the most prominent in that gay throng, whose fortunes, in part, it will be our humble duty to narrate; how many of them passing through all this glitter to a dark and mysterious doom!--some to perish on public scaffolds, some by midnight assassination; others, more fortunate, to fall on the battle-field --nearly all, sooner or later, to be laid in bloody graves! all the company present had risen to their feet as the emperor entered. by his command, all immediately afterwards resumed their places. the benches at either end of the platform were accordingly filled with the royal and princely personages invited, with the fleece knights, wearing the insignia of their order, with the members of the three great councils, and with the governors. the emperor, the king, and the queen of hungary, were left conspicuous in the centre of the scene. as the whole object of the ceremony was to present an impressive exhibition, it is worth our while to examine minutely the appearance of the two principal characters. charles the fifth was then fifty-five years and eight months old; but he was already decrepit with premature old age. he was of about the middle height, and had been athletic and well-proportioned. broad in the shoulders, deep in the chest, thin in the flank, very muscular in the arms and legs, he had been able to match himself with all competitors in the tourney and the ring, and to vanquish the bull with his own hand in the favorite national amusement of spain. he had been able in the field to do the duty of captain and soldier, to endure fatigue and exposure, and every privation except fasting. these personal advantages were now departed. crippled in hands, knees and legs, he supported himself with difficulty upon a crutch, with the aid of, an attendant's shoulder. in face he had always been extremely ugly, and time had certainly not improved his physiognomy. his hair, once of a light color, was now white with age, close-clipped and bristling; his beard was grey, coarse, and shaggy. his forehead was spacious and commanding; the eye was dark blue, with an expression both majestic and benignant. his nose was aquiline but crooked. the lower part of his face was famous for its deformity. the under lip, a burgundian inheritance, as faithfully transmitted as the duchy and county, was heavy and hanging; the lower jaw protruding so far beyond the upper, that it was impossible for him to bring together the few fragments of teeth which still remained, or to speak a whole sentence in an intelligible voice. eating and talking, occupations to which he was always much addicted, were becoming daily more arduous, in consequence of this original defect, which now seemed hardly human, but rather an original deformity. so much for the father. the son, philip the second, was a small, meagre man, much below the middle height, with thin legs, a narrow chest, and the shrinking, timid air of an habitual invalid. he seemed so little, upon his first visit to his aunts, the queens eleanor and mary, accustomed to look upon proper men in flanders and germany, that he was fain to win their favor by making certain attempts in the tournament, in which his success was sufficiently problematical. "his body," says his professed panegyrist, "was but a human cage, in which, however brief and narrow, dwelt a soul to whose flight the immeasurable expanse of heaven was too contracted." [cabrera] the same wholesale admirer adds, that "his aspect was so reverend, that rustics who met him alone in a wood, without knowing him, bowed down with instinctive veneration." in face, he was the living image of his father, having the same broad forehead, and blue eye, with the same aquiline, but better proportioned, nose. in the lower part of the countenance, the remarkable burgundian deformity was likewise reproduced. he had the same heavy, hanging lip, with a vast mouth, and monstrously protruding lower jaw. his complexion was fair, his hair light and thin, his beard yellow, short, and pointed. he had the aspect of a fleming, but the loftiness of a spaniard. his demeanor in public was still, silent, almost sepulchral. he looked habitually on the ground when he conversed, was chary of speech, embarrassed, and even suffering in manner. this was ascribed partly to a natural haughtiness which he had occasionally endeavored to overcome, and partly to habitual pains in the stomach, occasioned by his inordinate fondness for pastry. [bodavaro] such was the personal appearance of the man who was about to receive into his single hand the destinies of half the world; whose single will was, for the future, to shape the fortunes of every individual then present, of many millions more in europe, america, and at the ends of the earth, and of countless millions yet unborn. the three royal personages being seated upon chairs placed triangularly under the canopy, such of the audience as had seats provided for them, now took their places, and the proceedings commenced. philibert de bruxelles, a member of the privy council of the netherlands, arose at the emperor's command, and made a long oration. he spoke of the emperor's warm affection for the provinces, as the land of his birth; of his deep regret that his broken health and failing powers, both of body and mind, compelled him to resign his sovereignty, and to seek relief for his shattered frame in a more genial climate. caesar's gout was then depicted in energetic language, which must have cost him a twinge as he sat there and listened to the councillor's eloquence. "'tis a most truculent executioner," said philibert: "it invades the whole body, from the crown of the head to the soles of the feet, leaving nothing untouched. it contracts the nerves with intolerable anguish, it enters the bones, it freezes the marrow, it converts the lubricating fluids of the joints into chalk, it pauses not until, having exhausted and debilitated the whole body, it has rendered all its necessary instruments useless, and conquered the mind by immense torture." [godelaevus] [the historian was present at the ceremony, and gives a very full report of the speeches, all of which he heard. his imagination may have assisted his memory in the task. the other reporters of the councillor's harangue have reduced this pathological flight of rhetoric to a very small compass.] engaged in mortal struggle with such an enemy, caesar felt himself obliged, as the councillor proceeded to inform his audience, to change the scene of the contest from the humid air of flanders to the warmer atmosphere of spain. he rejoiced, however, that his son was both vigorous and experienced, and that his recent marriage with the queen of england had furnished the provinces with a most valuable alliance. he then again referred to the emperor's boundless love for his subjects, and concluded with a tremendous, but superfluous, exhortation to philip on the necessity of maintaining the catholic religion in its purity. after this long harangue, which has been fully reported by several historians who were present at the ceremony, the councillor proceeded to read the deed of cession, by which philip, already sovereign of sicily, naples, milan, and titular king of england, france, and jerusalem, now received all the duchies, marquisates, earldoms, baronies, cities, towns, and castles of the burgundian property, including, of course, the seventeen netherlands. as de bruxelles finished, there was a buzz of admiration throughout the assembly, mingled with murmurs of regret, that in the present great danger upon the frontiers from the belligerent king of france and his warlike and restless nation, the provinces should be left without their ancient and puissant defender. the emperor then rose to his feet. leaning on his crutch, he beckoned from his seat the personage upon whose arm he had leaned as he entered the hall. a tall, handsome youth of twenty-two came forward--a man whose name from that time forward, and as long as history shall endure, has been, and will be, more familiar than any other in the mouths of netherlanders. at that day he had rather a southern than a german or flemish appearance. he had a spanish cast of features, dark, well chiselled, and symmetrical. his head was small and well placed upon his shoulders. his hair was dark brown, as were also his moustache and peaked beard. his forehead was lofty, spacious, and already prematurely engraved with the anxious lines of thought. his eyes were full, brown, well opened, and expressive of profound reflection. he was dressed in the magnificent apparel for which the netherlanders were celebrated above all other nations, and which the ceremony rendered necessary. his presence being considered indispensable at this great ceremony, he had been summoned but recently from the camp on the frontier, where, notwithstanding his youth, the emperor had appointed him to command his army in chief against such antagonists as admiral coligny and the due de nevers. thus supported upon his crutch and upon the shoulder of william of orange, the emperor proceeded to address the states, by the aid of a closely-written brief which he held in his hand. he reviewed rapidly the progress of events from his seventeenth year up to that day. he spoke of his nine expeditions into germany, six to spain, seven to italy, four to france, ten to the netherlands, two to england, as many to africa, and of his eleven voyages by sea. he sketched his various wars, victories, and treaties of peace, assuring his hearers that the welfare of his subjects and the security of the roman catholic religion had ever been the leading objects of his life. as long as god had granted him health, he continued, only enemies could have regretted that charles was living and reigning, but now that his strength was but vanity, and life fast ebbing away, his love for dominion, his affection for his subjects, and his regard for their interests, required his departure. instead of a decrepit man with one foot in the grave, he presented them with a sovereign in the prime of life and the vigor of health. turning toward philip, he observed, that for a dying father to bequeath so magnificent an empire to his son was a deed worthy of gratitude, but that when the father thus descended to the grave before his time, and by an anticipated and living burial sought to provide for the welfare of his realms and the grandeur of his son, the benefit thus conferred was surely far greater. he added, that the debt would be paid to him and with usury, should philip conduct himself in his administration of the province with a wise and affectionate regard to their true interests. posterity would applaud his abdication, should his son prove worthy of his bounty; and that could only be by living in the fear of god, and by maintaining law, justice, and the catholic religion in all their purity, as the true foundation of the realm. in conclusion, he entreated the estates, and through them the nation, to render obedience to their new prince, to maintain concord and to preserve inviolate the catholic faith; begging them, at the same time, to pardon him all errors or offences which he might have committed towards them during his reign, and assuring them that he should unceasingly remember their obedience and affection in his every prayer to that being to whom the remainder of his life was to be dedicated. such brave words as these, so many vigorous asseverations of attempted performance of duty, such fervent hopes expressed of a benign administration in behalf of the son, could not but affect the sensibilities of the audience, already excited and softened by the impressive character of the whole display. sobs were heard throughout every portion of the hall, and tears poured profusely from every eye. the fleece knights on the platform and the burghers in the background were all melted with the same emotion. as for the emperor himself, he sank almost fainting upon his chair as he concluded his address. an ashy paleness overspread his countenance, and he wept like a child. even the icy philip was almost softened, as he rose to perform his part in the ceremony. dropping upon his knees before his father's feet, he reverently kissed his hand. charles placed his hands solemnly upon his son's head, made the sign of the cross, and blessed him in the name of the holy trinity. then raising him in his arms he tenderly embraced him. saying, as he did so, to the great potentates around him, that he felt a sincere compassion for the son on whose shoulders so heavy a weight had just devolved, and which only a life-long labor would enable him to support. philip now uttered a few words expressive of his duty to his father and his affection for his people. turning to the orders, he signified his regret that he was unable to address them either in the french or flemish language, and was therefore obliged to ask their attention to the bishop of arras, who would act as his interpreter. antony perrenot accordingly arose, and in smooth, fluent, and well-turned commonplaces, expressed at great length the gratitude of philip towards his father, with his firm determination to walk in the path of duty, and to obey his father's counsels and example in the future administration of the provinces. this long address of the prelate was responded to at equal length by jacob maas, member of the council of brabant, a man of great learning, eloquence and prolixity, who had been selected to reply on behalf of the states-general, and who now, in the name of these; bodies, accepted the abdication in an elegant and complimentary harangue. queen mary of hungary, the "christian widow" of erasmus, and regent of the netherlands during the past twenty-five years, then rose to resign her office, making a brief address expressive of her affection for the people, her regrets at leaving them, and her hopes that all errors which she might have committed during her long administration would be forgiven her. again the redundant maas responded, asserting in terms of fresh compliment and elegance the uniform satisfaction of the provinces with her conduct during her whole career. the orations and replies having now been brought to a close, the ceremony was terminated. the emperor, leaning on the shoulders of the prince of orange and of the count de buren, slowly left the hall, followed by philip, the queen of hungary, and the whole court; all in the same order in which they had entered, and by the same passage into the chapel. it is obvious that the drama had been completely successful. it had been a scene where heroic self-sacrifice, touching confidence, ingenuous love of duty, patriotism, and paternal affection upon one side; filial reverence, with a solemn regard for public duty and the highest interests of the people on the other, were supposed to be the predominant sentiments. the happiness of the netherlands was apparently the only object contemplated in the great transaction. all had played well their parts in the past, all hoped the best in the times which were to follow. the abdicating emperor was looked upon as a hero and a prophet. the stage was drowned in tears. there is not the least doubt as to the genuine and universal emotion which was excited throughout the assembly. "caesar's oration," says secretary godelaevus, who was present at the ceremony, "deeply moved the nobility and gentry, many of whom burst into tears; even the illustrious knights of the fleece were melted." the historian, pontus heuterus, who, then twenty years of age, was likewise among the audience, attests that "most of the assembly were dissolved in tears; uttering the while such sonorous sobs that they compelled his caesarean majesty and the queen to cry with them. my own face," he adds, "was certainly quite wet." the english envoy, sir john mason, describing in a despatch to his government the scene which he had just witnessed, paints the same picture. "the emperor," he said, "begged the forgiveness of his subjects if he had ever unwittingly omitted the performance of any of his duties towards them. and here," continues the envoy, "he broke into a weeping, whereunto, besides the dolefulness of the matter, i think, he was moche provoked by seeing the whole company to do the lyke before; there beyng in myne opinion not one man in the whole assemblie, stranger or another, that dewring the time of a good piece of his oration poured not out as abundantly teares, some more, some lesse. and yet he prayed them to beare with his imperfections, proceeding of his sickly age, and of the mentioning of so tender a matter as the departing from such a sort of dere and loving subjects." and yet what was the emperor charles to the inhabitants of the netherlands that they should weep for him? his conduct towards them during his whole career had been one of unmitigated oppression. what to them were all these forty voyages by sea and land, these journeyings back and forth from friesland to tunis, from madrid to vienna. what was it to them that the imperial shuttle was thus industriously flying to and fro? the fabric wrought was but the daily growing grandeur and splendor of his imperial house; the looms were kept moving at the expense of their hardly-earned treasure, and the woof was often dyed red in the blood of his bravest subjects. the interests of the netherlands had never been even a secondary consideration with their master. he had fulfilled no duty towards them, he had committed the gravest crimes against them. he had regarded them merely as a treasury upon which to draw; while the sums which he extorted were spent upon ceaseless and senseless wars, which were of no more interest to them than if they had been waged in another planet. of five millions of gold annually, which he derived from all his realms, two millions came from these industrious and opulent provinces, while but a half million came from spain and another half from the indies. the mines of wealth which had been opened by the hand of industry in that slender territory of ancient morass and thicket, contributed four times as much income to the imperial exchequer as all the boasted wealth of mexico and peru. yet the artisans, the farmers and the merchants, by whom these riches were produced, were consulted about as much in the expenditure of the imposts upon their industry as were the savages of america as to the distribution of the mineral treasures of their soil. the rivalry of the houses of habsburg and valois, this was the absorbing theme, during the greater part of the reign which had just been so dramatically terminated. to gain the empire over francis, to leave to don philip a richer heritage than the dauphin could expect, were the great motives of the unparalleled energy displayed by charles during the longer and the more successful portion of his career. to crush the reformation throughout his dominions, was his occupation afterward, till he abandoned the field in despair. it was certainly not desirable for the netherlanders that they should be thus controlled by a man who forced them to contribute so largely to the success of schemes, some of which were at best indifferent, and others entirely odious to them. they paid , , crowns a year regularly; they paid in five years an extraordinary subsidy of eight millions of ducats, and the states were roundly rebuked by the courtly representatives of their despot, if they presumed to inquire into the objects of the appropriations, or to express an interest in their judicious administration. yet it maybe supposed to have been a matter of indifference to them whether francis or charles had won the day at pavia, and it certainly was not a cause of triumph to the daily increasing thousands of religious reformers in holland and flanders that their brethren had been crushed by the emperor at muhlberg. but it was not alone that he drained their treasure, and hampered their industry. he was in constant conflict with their ancient and dearly-bought political liberties. like his ancestor charles the bold, he was desirous of constructing a kingdom out of the provinces. he was disposed to place all their separate and individual charters on a procrustean bed, and shape them all into uniformity simply by reducing the whole to a nullity. the difficulties in the way, the stout opposition offered by burghers, whose fathers had gained these charters with their blood, and his want of leisure during the vast labors which devolved upon him as the autocrat of so large a portion of the world, caused him to defer indefinitely the execution of his plan. he found time only to crush some of the foremost of the liberal institutions of the provinces, in detail. he found the city of tournay a happy, thriving, self-governed little republic in all its local affairs; he destroyed its liberties, without a tolerable pretext, and reduced it to the condition of a spanish or italian provincial town. his memorable chastisement of ghent for having dared to assert its ancient rights of self-taxation, is sufficiently known to the world, and has been already narrated at length. many other instances might be adduced, if it were not a superfluous task, to prove that charles was not only a political despot, but most arbitrary and cruel in the exercise of his despotism. but if his sins against the netherlands had been only those of financial and political oppression, it would be at least conceivable, although certainly not commendable, that the inhabitants should have regretted his departure. but there are far darker crimes for which he stands arraigned at the bar of history, and it is indeed strange that the man who had committed them should have been permitted to speak his farewell amid blended plaudits and tears. his hand planted the inquisition in the netherlands. before his day it is idle to say that the diabolical institution ever had a place there. the isolated cases in which inquisitors had exercised functions proved the absence and not the presence of the system, and will be discussed in a later chapter. charles introduced and organized a papal inquisition, side by side with those terrible "placards" of his invention, which constituted a masked inquisition even more cruel than that of spain. the execution of the system was never permitted to languish. the number of netherlanders who were burned, strangled, beheaded, or buried alive, in obedience to his edicts, and for the offences of reading the scriptures, of looking askance at a graven image, or of ridiculing the actual presence of the body and blood of christ in a wafer, have been placed as high as one hundred thousand by distinguished authorities, and have never been put at a lower mark than fifty thousand. the venetian envoy navigero placed the number of victims in the provinces of holland and friesland alone at thirty thousand, and this in , ten years before the abdication, and five before the promulgation of the hideous edict of ! the edicts and the inquisition were the gift of charles to the netherlands, in return for their wasted treasure and their constant obedience. for this, his name deserves to be handed down to eternal infamy, not only throughout the netherlands, but in every land where a single heart beats for political or religious freedom. to eradicate these institutions after they had been watered and watched by the care of his successor, was the work of an eighty years' war, in the course of which millions of lives were sacrificed. yet the abdicating emperor had summoned his faithful estates around him, and stood up before them in his imperial robes for the last time, to tell them of the affectionate regard which he had always borne them, and to mingle his tears with theirs. could a single phantom have risen from one of the many thousand graves where human beings had been thrust alive by his decree, perhaps there might have been an answer to the question propounded by the emperor amid all that piteous weeping. perhaps it might have told the man who asked his hearers to be forgiven if he had ever unwittingly offended them, that there was a world where it was deemed an offence to torture, strangle, burn, and drown one's innocent fellow-creatures. the usual but trifling excuse for such enormities can not be pleaded for the emperor. charles was no fanatic. the man whose armies sacked rome, who laid his sacrilegious hands on christ's vicegerent, and kept the infallible head of the church a prisoner to serve his own political ends, was then no bigot. he believed in nothing; save that when the course of his imperial will was impeded, and the interests of his imperial house in jeopardy, pontiffs were to succumb as well as anabaptists. it was the political heresy which lurked in the restiveness of the religious reformers under dogma, tradition, and supernatural sanction to temporal power, which he was disposed to combat to the death. he was too shrewd a politician not to recognize the connection between aspirations for religious and for political freedom. his hand was ever ready to crush both heresies in one. had he been a true son of the church, a faithful champion of her infallibility, he would not have submitted to the peace of passau, so long as he could bring a soldier to the field. yet he acquiesced in the reformation for germany, while the fires for burning the reformers were ever blazing in the netherlands, where it was death even to allude to the existence of the peace of passau. nor did he acquiesce only from compulsion, for long before his memorable defeat by maurice, he had permitted the german troops, with whose services he could not dispense, regularly to attend protestant worship performed by their own protestant chaplains. lutheran preachers marched from city to city of the netherlands under the imperial banner, while the subjects of those patrimonial provinces were daily suffering on the scaffold for their nonconformity. the influence of this garrison-preaching upon the progress of the reformation in the netherlands is well known. charles hated lutherans, but he required soldiers, and he thus helped by his own policy to disseminate what had he been the fanatic which he perhaps became in retirement, he would have sacrificed his life to crush. it is quite true that the growing calvinism of the provinces was more dangerous both religiously and politically, than the protestantism of the german princes, which had not yet been formally pronounced heresy, but it is thus the more evident that it was political rather than religious heterodoxy which the despot wished to suppress. no man, however, could have been more observant of religious rites. he heard mass daily. he listened to a sermon every sunday and holiday. he confessed and received the sacrament four times a year. he was sometimes to be seen in his tent at midnight, on his knees before a crucifix with eyes and hands uplifted. he ate no meat in lent, and used extraordinary diligence to discover and to punish any man, whether courtier or plebeian, who failed to fast during the whole forty days. he was too good a politician not to know the value of broad phylacteries and long prayers. he was too nice an observer of human nature not to know how easily mint and cummin could still outweigh the "weightier matters of law, judgment, mercy and faith;" as if the founder of the religion which he professed, and to maintain which he had established the inquisition and the edicts, had never cried woe upon the pharisees. yet there is no doubt that the emperor was at times almost popular in the netherlands, and that he was never as odious as his successor. there were some deep reasons for this, and some superficial ones; among others, a singularly fortunate manner. he spoke german, spanish, italian, french, and flemish, and could assume the characteristics of each country as easily as he could use its language. he could be stately with spaniards, familiar with flemings witty with italians. he could strike down a bull in the ring like a matador at madrid, or win the prize in the tourney like a knight of old; he could ride at the ring with the flemish nobles, hit the popinjay with his crossbow among antwerp artisans, or drink beer and exchange rude jests with the boors of brabant. for virtues such as these, his grave crimes against god and man, against religion and chartered and solemnly-sworn rights have been palliated, as if oppression became more tolerable because the oppressor was an accomplished linguist and a good marksman. but the great reason for his popularity no doubt lay in his military genius. charles was inferior to no general of his age. "when he was born into the world," said alva, "he was born a soldier," and the emperor confirmed the statement and reciprocated the compliment, when he declared that "the three first captains of the age were himself first, and then the duke of alva and constable montmorency." it is quite true that all his officers were not of the same opinion, and many were too apt to complain that his constant presence in the field did more harm than good, and "that his majesty would do much better to stay at home." there is, however, no doubt that he was both a good soldier and a good general. he was constitutionally fearless, and he possessed great energy and endurance. he was ever the first to arm when a battle was to be fought, and the last to take off his harness. he commanded in person and in chief, even when surrounded by veterans and crippled by the gout. he was calm in great reverses. it was said that he was never known to change color except upon two occasions: after the fatal destruction of his fleet at algiers, and in the memorable flight from innspruck. he was of a phlegmatic, stoical temperament, until shattered by age and disease; a man without a sentiment and without a tear. it was said by spaniards that he was never seen to weep, even at the death of his nearest relatives and friends, except on the solitary occasion of the departure of don ferrante gonzaga from court. such a temperament was invaluable in the stormy career to which he had devoted his life. he was essentially a man of action, a military chieftain. "pray only for my health and my life," he was accustomed to say to the young officers who came to him from every part of his dominions to serve under his banners, "for so, long as i have these i will never leave you idle; at least in france. i love peace no better than the rest of you. i was born and bred to arms, and must of necessity keep on my harness till i can bear it no longer." the restless energy and the magnificent tranquillity of his character made him a hero among princes, an idol with his officers, a popular favorite every where. the promptness with which, at much personal hazard, he descended like a thunderbolt in the midst of the ghent insurrection; the juvenile ardor with which the almost bedridden man arose from his sick-bed to smite the protestants at muhlberg; the grim stoicism with which he saw sixty thousand of his own soldiers perish in the wintry siege of metz; all ensured him a large measure of that applause which ever follows military distinction, especially when the man who achieves it happens to wear a crown. he combined the personal prowess of a knight of old with the more modern accomplishments of a scientific tactician. he could charge the enemy in person like the most brilliant cavalry officer, and he thoroughly understood the arrangements of a campaign, the marshalling and victualling of troops, and the whole art of setting and maintaining an army in the field. yet, though brave and warlike as the most chivalrous of his ancestors, gothic, burgundian, or suabian, he was entirely without chivalry. fanaticism for the faith, protection for the oppressed, fidelity to friend and foe, knightly loyalty to a cause deemed sacred, the sacrifice of personal interests to great ideas, generosity of hand and heart; all those qualities which unite with courage and constancy to make up the ideal chevalier, charles not only lacked but despised. he trampled on the weak antagonist, whether burgher or petty potentate. he was false as water. he inveigled his foes who trusted to imperial promises, by arts unworthy an emperor or a gentleman. he led about the unfortunate john frederic of saxony, in his own language, "like a bear in a chain," ready to be slipped upon maurice should "the boy" prove ungrateful. he connived at the famous forgery of the prelate of arras, to which the landgrave philip owed his long imprisonment; a villany worse than many for which humbler rogues have suffered by thousands upon the gallows. the contemporary world knew well the history of his frauds, on scale both colossal and minute, and called him familiarly "charles qui triche." the absolute master of realms on which the sun perpetually shone, he was not only greedy for additional dominion, but he was avaricious in small matters, and hated to part with a hundred dollars. to the soldier who brought him the sword and gauntlets of francis the first, he gave a hundred crowns, when ten thousand would have been less than the customary present; so that the man left his presence full of desperation. the three soldiers who swam the elbe, with their swords in their mouths; to bring him the boats with which he passed to the victory of muhlberg, received from his imperial bounty a doublet, a pair of stockings, and four crowns apiece. his courtiers and ministers complained bitterly of his habitual niggardliness, and were fain to eke out their slender salaries by accepting bribes from every hand rich enough to bestow them. in truth charles was more than any thing else a politician, notwithstanding his signal abilities as a soldier. if to have founded institutions which could last, be the test of statesmanship, he was even a statesman; for many of his institutions have resisted the pressure of three centuries. but those of charlemagne fell as soon as his hand was cold, while the works of many ordinary legislators have attained to a perpetuity denied to the statutes of solon or lycurgus. durability is not the test of merit in human institutions. tried by the only touchstone applicable to governments, their capacity to insure the highest welfare of the governed, we shall not find his polity deserving of much admiration. it is not merely that he was a despot by birth and inclination, nor that he naturally substituted as far as was practicable, the despotic for the republican element, wherever his hand can be traced. there may be possible good in despotisms as there is often much tyranny in democracy. tried however according to the standard by which all governments may be measured, those laws of truth and divine justice which all christian nations recognize, and which are perpetual, whether recognized or not, we shall find little to venerate in the life work of the emperor. the interests of his family, the security of his dynasty, these were his end and aim. the happiness or the progress of his people never furnished even the indirect motives of his conduct, and the result was a baffled policy and a crippled and bankrupt empire at last. he knew men, especially he knew their weaknesses, and he knew how to turn them to account. he knew how much they would bear, and that little grievances would sometimes inflame more than vast and deliberate injustice. therefore he employed natives mainly in the subordinate offices of his various states, and he repeatedly warned his successor that the haughtiness of spaniards and the incompatibility of their character with the flemish, would be productive of great difficulties and dangers. it was his opinion that men might be tyrannized more intelligently by their own kindred, and in this perhaps he was right. he was indefatigable in the discharge of business, and if it were possible that half a world could be administered as if it were the private property of an individual, the task would have been perhaps as well accomplished by charles as by any man. he had not the absurdity of supposing it possible for him to attend to the details of every individual affair in every one of his realms; and he therefore intrusted the stewardship of all specialities to his various ministers and agents. it was his business to know men and to deal with affairs on a large scale, and in this he certainly was superior to his successor. his correspondence was mainly in the hands of granvelle the elder, who analyzed letters received, and frequently wrote all but the signatures of the answers. the same minister usually possessed the imperial ear, and farmed it out for his own benefit. in all this there was of course room for vast deception, but the emperor was quite aware of what was going on, and took a philosophic view of the matter as an inevitable part of his system. granvelle grew enormously rich under his eye by trading on the imperial favor and sparing his majesty much trouble. charles saw it all, ridiculed his peculations, but called him his "bed of down." his knowledge of human nature was however derived from a contemplation mainly of its weaknesses, and was therefore one-sided. he was often deceived, and made many a fatal blunder, shrewd politician though he was. he involved himself often in enterprises which could not be honorable or profitable, and which inflicted damage on his greatest interests. he often offended men who might have been useful friends, and converted allies into enemies. "his majesty," said a keen observer who knew him well, "has not in his career shown the prudence which was necessary to him. he has often offended those whose love he might have conciliated, converted friends into enemies, and let those perish who were his most faithful partisans." thus it must be acknowledged that even his boasted knowledge of human nature and his power of dealing with men was rather superficial and empirical than the real gift of genius. his personal habits during the greater part of his life were those of an indefatigable soldier. he could remain in the saddle day and night, and endure every hardship but hunger. he was addicted to vulgar and miscellaneous incontinence. he was an enormous eater. he breakfasted at five, on a fowl seethed in milk and dressed with sugar and spices. after this he went to sleep again. he dined at twelve, partaking always of twenty dishes. he supped twice; at first, soon after vespers, and the second time at midnight or one o'clock, which meal was, perhaps, the most solid of the four. after meat he ate a great quantity of pastry and sweetmeats, and he irrigated every repast by vast draughts of beer and wine. his stomach, originally a wonderful one, succumbed after forty years of such labors. his taste, but not his appetite began to fail, and he complained to his majordomo, that all his food was insipid. the reply is, perhaps, among the most celebrated of facetia. the cook could do nothing more unless he served his majesty a pasty of watches. the allusion to the emperor's passion for horology was received with great applause. charles "laughed longer than he was ever known to laugh before, and all the courtiers (of course) laughed as long as his majesty." [badovaro] the success of so sorry a jest would lead one to suppose that the fooling was less admirable at the imperial court than some of the recorded quips of tribaulet would lead us to suppose. the transfer of the other crowns and dignitaries to philip, was accomplished a month afterwards, in a quiet manner. spain, sicily, the balearic islands, america, and other portions of the globe, were made over without more display than an ordinary 'donatio inter vivos'. the empire occasioned some difficulty. it had been already signified to ferdinand, that his brother was to resign the imperial crown in his favor, and the symbols of sovereignty were accordingly transmitted to him by the hands of william of orange. a deputation, moreover, of which that nobleman, vice-chancellor seld, and dr. wolfgang haller were the chiefs, was despatched to signify to the electors of the empire the step which had been thus resolved upon. a delay of more than two years, however, intervened, occasioned partly by the deaths of three electors, partly by the war which so soon broke out in europe, before the matter was formally acted upon. in february, , however, the electors, having been assembled in frankfort, received the abdication of charles, and proceeded to the election of ferdinand. that emperor was crowned in march, and immediately despatched a legation to the pope to apprize him of the fact. nothing was less expected than any opposition on the part of the pontiff. the querulous dotard, however, who then sat in st. peter's chair, hated charles and all his race. he accordingly denied the validity of the whole transaction, without sanction previously obtained from the pope, to whom all crowns belonged. ferdinand, after listening, through his envoys, to much ridiculous dogmatism on the part of the pope, at last withdrew from the discussion, with a formal protest, and was first recognized by caraffa's successor, pius iv. charles had not deferred his retirement till the end of these disputes. he occupied a private house in brussels, near the gate of louvain, until august of the year . on the th of that month, he addressed a letter from ghent to john of osnabruck, president of the chamber of spiers, stating his abdication in favor of ferdinand, and requesting that in the interim the same obedience might be rendered to ferdinand, as could have been yielded to himself. ten days later; he addressed a letter to the estates of the empire, stating the same fact; and on the th september, , he set sail from zeland for spain. these delays and difficulties occasioned some misconceptions. many persons who did not admire an abdication, which others, on the contrary, esteemed as an act of unexampled magnanimity, stoutly denied that it was the intention of charles to renounce the empire. the venetian envoy informed his government that ferdinand was only to be lieutenant for charles, under strict limitations, and that the emperor was to resume the government so soon as his health would allow. the bishop of arras and don juan de manrique had both assured him, he said, that charles would not, on any account, definitely abdicate. manrique even asserted that it was a mere farce to believe in any such intention. the emperor ought to remain to protect his son, by the resources of the empire, against france, the turks, and the heretics. his very shadow was terrible to the lutherans, and his form might be expected to rise again in stern reality from its temporary grave. time has shown the falsity of all these imaginings, but views thus maintained by those in the best condition to know the truth, prove how difficult it was for men to believe in a transaction which was then so extraordinary, and how little consonant it was in their eyes with true propriety. it was necessary to ascend to the times of diocletian, to find an example of a similar abdication of empire, on so deliberate and extensive a scale, and the great english historian of the roman empire has compared the two acts with each other. but there seems a vast difference between the cases. both emperors were distinguished soldiers; both were merciless persecutors of defenceless christians; both exchanged unbounded empire for absolute seclusion. but diocletian was born in the lowest abyss of human degradation--the slave and the son of a slave. for such a man, after having reached the highest pinnacle of human greatness, voluntarily to descend from power, seems an act of far greater magnanimity than the retreat of charles. born in the purple, having exercised unlimited authority from his boyhood, and having worn from his cradle so many crowns and coronets, the german emperor might well be supposed to have learned to estimate them at their proper value. contemporary minds were busy, however, to discover the hidden motives which could have influenced him, and the world, even yet, has hardly ceased to wonder. yet it would have been more wonderful, considering the emperor's character, had he remained. the end had not crowned the work; it not unreasonably discrowned the workman. the earlier, and indeed the greater part of his career had been one unbroken procession of triumphs. the cherished dream of his grandfather, and of his own youth, to add the pope's triple crown to the rest of the hereditary possessions of his family, he had indeed been obliged to resign. he had too much practical flemish sense to indulge long in chimeras, but he had achieved the empire over formidable rivals, and he had successively not only conquered, but captured almost every potentate who had arrayed himself in arms against him. clement and francis, the dukes and landgraves of, clever, hesse, saxony, and brunswick, he had bound to his chariot wheels; forcing many to eat the bread of humiliation and captivity, during long and weary years. but the concluding portion of his reign had reversed all its previous glories. his whole career had been a failure. he had been defeated, after all, in most of his projects. he had humbled francis, but henry had most signally avenged his father. he had trampled upon philip of hesse and frederic of saxony, but it had been reserved for one of that german race, which he characterized as "dreamy, drunken, and incapable of intrigue," to outwit the man who had outwitted all the world, and to drive before him, in ignominious flight, the conqueror of the nations. the german lad who had learned both war and dissimulation in the court and camp of him who was so profound a master of both arts, was destined to eclipse his teacher on the most august theatre of christendom. absorbed at innspruck with the deliberations of the trent council, charles had not heeded the distant mutterings of the tempest which was gathering around him. while he was preparing to crush, forever, the protestant church, with the arms which a bench of bishops were forging, lo! the rapid and desperate maurice, with long red beard streaming like a meteor in the wind, dashing through the mountain passes, at the head of his lancers--arguments more convincing than all the dogmas of granvelle! disguised as an old woman, the emperor had attempted on the th april, to escape in a peasant's wagon, from innspruck into flanders. saved for the time by the mediation of ferdinand, he had, a few weeks later, after his troops had been defeated by maurice, at fussen, again fled at midnight of the nd may, almost unattended, sick in body and soul, in the midst of thunder, lightning, and rain, along the difficult alpine passes from innspruck into carinthia. his pupil had permitted his escape, only because in his own language, "for such a bird he had no convenient cage." the imprisoned princes now owed their liberation, not to the emperor's clemency, but to his panic. the peace of passau, in the following august, crushed the whole fabric of the emperor's toil, and laid-the foundation of the protestant church. he had smitten the protestants at muhlberg for the last time. on the other hand, the man who had dealt with rome, as if the pope, not he, had been the vassal, was compelled to witness, before he departed, the insolence of a pontiff who took a special pride in insulting and humbling his house, and trampling upon the pride of charles, philip and ferdinand. in france too, the disastrous siege of metz had taught him that in the imperial zodiac the fatal sign of cancer had been reached. the figure of a crab, with the words "plus citra," instead of his proud motto of "plus ultra," scrawled on the walls where he had resided during that dismal epoch, avenged more deeply, perhaps, than the jester thought, the previous misfortunes of france. the grand turk, too, solyman the magnificent, possessed most of hungary, and held at that moment a fleet ready to sail against naples, in co-operation with the pope and france. thus the infidel, the protestant, and the holy church were all combined together to crush him. towards all the great powers of the earth, he stood not in the attitude of a conqueror, but of a disappointed, baffled, defeated potentate. moreover, he had been foiled long before in his earnest attempts to secure the imperial throne for philip. ferdinand and maximilian had both stoutly resisted his arguments and his blandishments. the father had represented the slender patrimony of their branch of the family, compared with the enormous heritage of philip; who, being after all, but a man, and endowed with finite powers, might sink under so great a pressure of empire as his father wished to provide for him. maximilian, also, assured his uncle that he had as good an appetite for the crown as philip, and could digest the dignity quite as easily. the son, too, for whom the emperor was thus solicitous, had already, before the abdication, repaid his affection with ingratitude. he had turned out all his father's old officials in milan, and had refused to visit him at brussels, till assured as to the amount of ceremonial respect which the new-made king was to receive at the hands of his father. had the emperor continued to live and reign, he would have found himself likewise engaged in mortal combat with that great religious movement in the netherlands, which he would not have been able many years longer to suppress, and which he left as a legacy of blood and fire to his successor. born in the same year with his century, charles was a decrepit, exhausted man at fifty-five, while that glorious age, in which humanity was to burst forever the cerements in which it had so long been buried, was but awakening to a consciousness of its strength. disappointed in his schemes, broken in his fortunes, with income anticipated, estates mortgaged, all his affairs in confusion; failing in mental powers, and with a constitution hopelessly shattered; it was time for him to retire. he showed his keenness in recognizing the fact that neither his power nor his glory would be increased, should he lag superfluous on the stage where mortification instead of applause was likely to be his portion. his frame was indeed but a wreck. forty years of unexampled gluttony had done their work. he was a victim to gout, asthma, dyspepsia, gravel. he was crippled in the neck, arms, knees, and hands. he was troubled with chronic cutaneous eruptions. his appetite remained, while his stomach, unable longer to perform the task still imposed upon it, occasioned him constant suffering. physiologists, who know how important a part this organ plays in the affairs of life, will perhaps see in this physical condition of the emperor a sufficient explanation, if explanation were required, of his descent from the throne. moreover, it is well known that the resolution to abdicate before his death had been long a settled scheme with him. it had been formally agreed between himself and the empress that they should separate at the approach of old age, and pass the remainder of their lives in a convent and a monastery. he had, when comparatively a young man, been struck by the reply made to him by an aged officer, whose reasons he had asked for, earnestly soliciting permission to retire from the imperial service. it was, said the veteran, that he might put a little space of religious contemplation between the active portion of his life and the grave. a similar determination, deferred from time to time, charles had now carried into execution. while he still lingered in brussels, after his abdication, a comet appeared, to warn him to the fulfilment of his purpose. from first to last, comets and other heavenly bodies were much connected with his evolutions and arrangements. there was no mistaking the motives with which this luminary had presented itself. the emperor knew very well, says a contemporary german chronicler, that it portended pestilence and war, together with the approaching death of mighty princes. "my fates call out," he cried, and forthwith applied himself to hasten the preparations for his departure. the romantic picture of his philosophical retirement at juste, painted originally by sandoval and siguenza, reproduced by the fascinating pencil of strada, and imitated in frequent succession by authors of every age and country, is unfortunately but a sketch of fancy. the investigations of modern writers have entirely thrown down the scaffolding on which the airy fabric, so delightful to poets and moralists, reposed. the departing emperor stands no longer in a transparency robed in shining garments. his transfiguration is at an end. every action, almost every moment of his retirement, accurately chronicled by those who shared his solitude, have been placed before our eyes, in the most felicitous manner, by able and brilliant writers. the emperor, shorn of the philosophical robe in which he had been conventionally arrayed for three centuries, shivers now in the cold air of reality. so far from his having immersed himself in profound and pious contemplation, below the current of the world's events, his thoughts, on the contrary, never were for a moment diverted from the political surface of the times. he read nothing but despatches; he wrote or dictated interminable ones in reply, as dull and prolix as any which ever came from his pen. he manifested a succession of emotions at the course of contemporary affairs, as intense and as varied, as if the world still rested in his palm. he was, in truth, essentially a man of action. he had neither the taste nor talents which make a man great in retirement. not a lofty thought, not a generous sentiment, not a profound or acute suggestion in his retreat has been recorded from his lips. the epigrams which had been invented for him by fabulists have been all taken away, and nothing has been substituted, save a few dull jests exchanged with stupid friars. so far from having entertained and even expressed that sentiment of religious toleration for which he was said to have been condemned as a heretic by the inquisition, and for which philip was ridiculously reported to have ordered his father's body to be burned, and his ashes scattered to the winds, he became in retreat the bigot effectually, which during his reign he had only been conventionally. bitter regrets that he should have kept his word to luther, as if he had not broken faith enough to reflect upon in his retirement; stern self-reproach for omitting to put to death, while he had him in his power, the man who had caused all the mischief of the age; fierce instructions thundered from his retreat to the inquisitors to hasten the execution of all heretics, including particularly his ancient friends, preachers and almoners, cazalla and constantine de fuente; furious exhortations to philip--as if philip needed a prompter in such a work--that he should set himself to "cutting out the root of heresy with rigor and rude chastisement;"--such explosions of savage bigotry as these, alternating with exhibitions of revolting gluttony, with surfeits of sardine omelettes, estramadura sausages, eel pies, pickled partridges, fat capons, quince syrups, iced beer, and flagons of rhenish, relieved by copious draughts of senna and rhubarb, to which his horror-stricken doctor doomed him as he ate--compose a spectacle less attractive to the imagination than the ancient portrait of the cloistered charles. unfortunately it is the one which was painted from life. etext editor's bookmarks: burned, strangled, beheaded, or buried alive ( , ) despot by birth and inclination (charles v.) endure every hardship but hunger gallant and ill-fated lamoral egmont he knew men, especially he knew their weaknesses his imagination may have assisted his memory in the task little grievances would sometimes inflame more than vast often much tyranny in democracy planted the inquisition in the netherlands motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. philip the second in the netherlands - [chapter ii.] sketch of philip the second--characteristics of mary tudor--portrait of philip--his council--rivalry of rup gomez and alva--character of rup gomez--queen mary of hungary--sketch of philibert of savoy-- truce of vaucelles--secret treaty between the pope and henry ii.-- rejoicings in the netherlands on account of the peace--purposes of philip--re-enactment of the edict of --the king's dissimulation --"request" to the provinces--infraction of the truce in italy-- character of pope paul iv.--intrigues of cardinal caraffa--war against spain resolved upon by france--campaign in italy--amicable siege of rome--pence with the pontiff--hostilities on the flemish border--coligny foiled at douay--sacks lens--philip in england-- queen mary engages in the war--philip's army assembled at givet-- portrait of count egmont--the french army under coligny and montmorency--siege of st. quentin--attempts of the constable to relieve the city--battle of st. quentin--hesitation and timidity of philip--city of st. quentin taken and sacked--continued indecision of philip--his army disbanded--campaign of the duke of guise-- capture of calais--interview between cardinal de lorraine and the bishop of arran--secret combinations for a league between france and spain against heresy--languid movements of guise--foray of de thermes on the flemish frontier--battle of gravelines--popularity of egmont--enmity of alva. philip the second had received the investiture of milan and the crown of naples, previously to his marriage with mary tudor. the imperial crown he had been obliged, much against his will, to forego. the archduchy of austria, with the hereditary german dependencies of his father's family, had been transferred by the emperor to his brother ferdinand, on the occasion of the marriage of that prince with anna, only sister of king louis of hungary. ten years afterwards, ferdinand (king of hungary and bohemia since the death of louis, slain in at the battle of mohacz) was elected king of the romans, and steadily refused all the entreaties afterwards made to him in behalf of philip, to resign his crown and his succession to the empire, in favor of his nephew. with these diminutions, philip had now received all the dominions of his father. he was king of all the spanish kingdoms and of both the sicilies. he was titular king of england, france, and jerusalem. he was "absolute dominator" in asia, africa, and america; he was duke of milan and of both burgundies, and hereditary sovereign of the seventeen netherlands. thus the provinces had received a new master. a man of foreign birth and breeding, not speaking a word of their language, nor of any language which the mass of the inhabitants understood, was now placed in supreme authority over them, because he represented, through the females, the "good" philip of burgundy, who a century before had possessed himself by inheritance, purchase, force, or fraud, of the sovereignty in most of those provinces. it is necessary to say an introductory word or two concerning the previous history of the man to whose hands the destiny of so many millions was now entrusted. he was born in may, , and was now therefore twenty-eight years of age. at the age of sixteen he had been united to his cousin, maria of portugal, daughter of john iii. and of the emperor's sister, donna catalina. in the following year ( ) he became father of the celebrated and ill-starred don carlos, and a widower. the princess owed her death, it was said, to her own imprudence and to the negligence or bigotry of her attendants. the duchess of alva, and other ladies who had charge of her during her confinement, deserted her chamber in order to obtain absolution by witnessing an auto-da-fe of heretics. during their absence, the princess partook voraciously of a melon, and forfeited her life in consequence. in , don philip had made his first appearance in the netherlands. he came thither to receive homage in the various provinces as their future sovereign, and to exchange oaths of mutual fidelity with them all. andrew doria, with a fleet of fifty ships, had brought him to genoa, whence he had passed to milan, where he was received with great rejoicing. at trent he was met by duke maurice of saxony, who warmly begged his intercession with the emperor in behalf of the imprisoned landgrave of hesse. this boon philip was graciously pleased to promise,--and to keep the pledge as sacredly as most of the vows plighted by him during this memorable year. the duke of aerschot met him in germany with a regiment of cavalry and escorted him to brussels. a summer was spent in great festivities, the cities of the nether lands vieing with each other in magnificent celebrations of the ceremonies, by which philip successively swore allegiance to the various constitutions and charters of the provinces, and received their oaths of future fealty in return. his oath to support all the constitutions and privileges was without reservation, while his father and grandfather had only sworn to maintain the charters granted or confirmed by philip and charles of burgundy. suspicion was disarmed by these indiscriminate concessions, which had been resolved upon by the unscrupulous charles to conciliate the good will of the people. in view of the pretensions which might be preferred by the brederode family in holland, and by other descendants of ancient sovereign races in other provinces, the emperor, wishing to ensure the succession to his sisters in case of the deaths of himself, philip, and don carlos without issue, was unsparing in those promises which he knew to be binding only upon the weak. although the house of burgundy had usurped many of the provinces on the express pretext that females could not inherit, the rule had been already violated, and he determined to spare no pains to conciliate the estates, in order that they might be content with a new violation, should the contingency occur. philip's oaths were therefore without reserve, and the light-hearted flemings, brabantines, and walloons received him with open arms. in valenciennes the festivities which attended his entrance were on a most gorgeous scale, but the "joyous entrance" arranged for him at antwerp was of unparalleled magnificence. a cavalcade of the magistrates and notable burghers, "all attired in cramoisy velvet," attended by lackies in splendid liveries and followed by four thousand citizen soldiers in full uniform, went forth from the gates to receive him. twenty-eight triumphal arches, which alone, according to the thrifty chronicler, had cost , carolus guldens, were erected in the different streets and squares, and every possible demonstration of affectionate welcome was lavished upon the prince and the emperor. the rich and prosperous city, unconscious of the doom which awaited it in the future, seemed to have covered itself with garlands to honor the approach of its master. yet icy was the deportment with which philip received these demonstrations of affection, and haughty the glance with which he looked down upon these exhibitions of civic hilarity, as from the height of a grim and inaccessible tower. the impression made upon the netherlanders was any thing but favorable, and when he had fully experienced the futility of the projects on the empire which it was so difficult both for his father and himself to resign, he returned to the more congenial soil of spain. in he had again issued from the peninsula to marry the queen of england, a privilege which his father had graciously resigned to him. he was united to mary tudor at winchester, on the th july of that year, and if congeniality of tastes could have made a marriage happy, that union should have been thrice blessed. to maintain the supremacy of the church seemed to both the main object of existence, to execute unbelievers the most sacred duty imposed by the deity upon anointed princes, to convert their kingdoms into a hell the surest means of winning heaven for themselves. it was not strange that the conjunction of two such wonders of superstition in one sphere should have seemed portentous in the eyes of the english nation. philip's mock efforts in favor of certain condemned reformers, and his pretended intercessions in favor of the princess elizabeth, failed entirely of their object. the parliament refused to confer upon him more than a nominal authority in england. his children, should they be born, might be sovereigns; he was but husband of the queen; of a woman who could not atone by her abject but peevish fondness for himself, and by her congenial blood-thirstiness towards her subjects, for her eleven years seniority, her deficiency in attractions, and her incapacity to make him the father of a line of english monarchs. it almost excites compassion even for mary tudor, when her passionate efforts to inspire him with affection are contrasted with his impassiveness. tyrant, bigot, murderess though she was, she was still woman, and she lavished upon her husband all that was not ferocious in her nature. forbidding prayers to be said for the soul of her father, hating her sister and her people, burning bishops, bathing herself in the blood of heretics, to philip she was all submissiveness and feminine devotion. it was a most singular contrast, mary, the queen of england and mary the wife of philip. small, lean and sickly, painfully near-sighted, yet with an eye of fierceness and fire; her face wrinkled by the hands of care and evil passions still more than by time, with a big man's voice, whose harshness made those in the next room tremble; yet feminine in her tastes, skilful with her needle, fond of embroidery work, striking the lute with a touch remarkable for its science and feeling, speaking many languages, including latin, with fluency and grace; most feminine, too, in her constitutional sufferings, hysterical of habit, shedding floods of tears daily at philip's coldness, undisguised infidelity, and frequent absences from england--she almost awakens compassion and causes a momentary oblivion of her identity. her subjects, already half maddened by religious persecution, were exasperated still further by the pecuniary burthens which she imposed upon them to supply the king's exigencies, and she unhesitatingly confronted their frenzy, in the hope of winning a smile from him. when at last her chronic maladies had assumed the memorable form which caused philip and mary to unite in a letter to cardinal pole, announcing not the expected but the actual birth of a prince, but judiciously leaving the date in blank, the momentary satisfaction and delusion of the queen was unbounded. the false intelligence was transmitted every where. great were the joy and the festivities in the netherlands, where people were so easily made to rejoice and keep holiday for any thing. "the regent, being in antwerp," wrote sir thomas gresham to the lords of council, "did cause the great bell to rings to give all men to understand that the news was trewe. the queene's highness here merchants caused all our inglishe ships to shoote off with such joy and triumph, as by men's arts and pollicey coulde be devised--and the regent sent our inglishe maroners one hundred crownes to drynke." if bell-ringing and cannon-firing could have given england a spanish sovereign, the devoutly-wished consummation would have been reached. when the futility of the royal hopes could no longer be concealed, philip left the country, never to return till his war with france made him require troops, subsidies, and a declaration of hostilities from england. the personal appearance of the new sovereign has already been described. his manner was far from conciliatory, and in this respect he was the absolute reverse of his father. upon his first journey out of spain, in , into his various dominions, he had made a most painful impression every where. "he was disagreeable," says envoy suriano, "to the italians, detestable to the flemings, odious to the germans." the remonstrances of the emperor, and of queen mary of hungary, at the impropriety of his manners, had produced, however, some effect, so that on his wedding journey to england, he manifested much "gentleness and humanity, mingled with royal gravity." upon this occasion, says another venetian, accredited to him, "he had divested himself of that spanish haughtiness, which, when he first came from spain, had rendered him so odious." the famous ambassador, badovaro confirms the impression. "upon his first journey," he says, "he was esteemed proud, and too greedy for the imperial succession; but now 'tis the common opinion that his humanity and modesty are all which could be desired." these humane qualities, however, it must be observed, were exhibited only in the presence of ambassadors and grandees, the only representatives of "humanity" with whom he came publicly and avowedly in contact. he was thought deficient in manly energy. he was an infirm valetudinarian, and was considered as sluggish in character, as deficient in martial enterprise, as timid of temperament as he was fragile and sickly of frame. it is true, that on account of the disappointment which he occasioned by his contrast to his warlike father, he mingled in some tournaments in brussels, where he was matched against count mansfeld, one of the most distinguished chieftains of the age, and where, says his professed panegyrist, "he broke his lances very mach to the satisfaction of his father and aunts." that learned and eloquent author, estelle calvete, even filled the greater part of a volume, in which he described the journey of the prince, with a minute description of these feasts and jousts, but we may reasonably conclude that to the loyal imagination of his eulogist philip is indebted for most of these knightly trophies. it was the universal opinion of unprejudiced cotemporaries, that he was without a spark of enterprise. he was even censured for a culpable want of ambition, and for being inferior to his father in this respect, as if the love of encroaching on his neighbor's dominions, and a disposition to foreign. commotions and war would have constituted additional virtues, had he happened to possess them. those who were most disposed to think favorably of him, remembered that there was a time when even charles the fifth was thought weak and indolent, and were willing to ascribe philip's pacific disposition to his habitual cholic and side-ache, and to his father's inordinate care for him in youth. they even looked forward to the time when he should blaze forth to the world as a conqueror and a hero. these, however, were views entertained by but few; the general and the correct opinion, as it proved, being, that philip hated war, would never certainly acquire any personal distinction in the field, and when engaged in hostilities would be apt to gather his laurels at the hands of his generals, rather than with his own sword. he was believed to be the reverse of the emperor. charles sought great enterprises, philip would avoid them. the emperor never recoiled before threats; the son was reserved, cautious, suspicious of all men, and capable of sacrificing a realm from hesitation and timidity. the father had a genius for action, the son a predilection for repose. charles took "all men's opinions, but reserved his judgment," and acted on it, when matured, with irresistible energy; philip was led by others, was vacillating in forming decisions, and irresolute in executing them when formed. philip, then, was not considered, in that warlike age, as likely to shine as a warrior. his mental capacity, in general, was likewise not very highly esteemed. his talents were, in truth, very much below mediocrity. his mind was incredibly small. a petty passion for contemptible details characterized him from his youth, and, as long as he lived, he could neither learn to generalize, nor understand that one man, however diligent, could not be minutely acquainted with all the public and private affairs of fifty millions of other men. he was a glutton of work. he was born to write despatches, and to scrawl comments upon those which he received. [the character of these apostilles, always confused, wordy and awkward, was sometimes very ludicrous; nor did it improve after his thirty or forty years' daily practice in making them. thus, when he received a letter from france in , narrating the assassination of henry iii., and stating that "the manner in which he had been killed was that a jacobin monk had given him a pistol-shot in the head" (la facon qua l'on dit qu'il a ette tue, sa ette par un jacobin qui luy a donna d'un cou de pistolle dans la tayte), he scrawled the following luminous comment upon the margin. underlining the word "pistolle," he observed, "this is perhaps some kind of knife; and as for 'tayte,' it can be nothing else but head, which is not tayte, but tete, or teyte, as you very well know" (quiza de alguna manera de cuchillo, etc., etc.)--gachard. rapport a m. le minist. de l'interieur, prefixed to corresp. philippe ii. vol. i. xlix. note . it is obvious that a person who made such wonderful commentaries as this, and was hard at work eight or nine hours a day for forty years, would leave a prodigious quantity of unpublished matter at his death.] he often remained at the council-board four or five hours at a time, and he lived in his cabinet. he gave audiences to ambassadors and deputies very willingly, listening attentively to all that was said to him, and answering in monosyllables. he spoke no tongue but spanish; and was sufficiently sparing of that, but he was indefatigable with his pen. he hated to converse, but he could write a letter eighteen pages long, when his correspondent was in the next room, and when the subject was, perhaps, one which a man of talent could have settled with six words of his tongue. the world, in his opinion, was to move upon protocols and apostilles. events had no right to be born throughout his dominions, without a preparatory course of his obstetrical pedantry. he could never learn that the earth would not rest on its axis, while he wrote a programme of the way it was to turn. he was slow in deciding, slower in communicating his decisions. he was prolix with his pen, not from affluence, but from paucity of ideas. he took refuge in a cloud of words, sometimes to conceal his meaning, oftener to conceal the absence of any meaning, thus mystifying not only others but himself. to one great purpose, formed early, he adhered inflexibly. this, however, was rather an instinct than an opinion; born with him, not created by him. the idea seemed to express itself through him, and to master him, rather than to form one of a stock of sentiments which a free agent might be expected to possess. although at certain times, even this master-feeling could yield to the pressure of a predominant self-interest-thus showing that even in philip bigotry was not absolute--yet he appeared on the whole the embodiment of spanish chivalry and spanish religious enthusiasm, in its late and corrupted form. he was entirely a spaniard. the burgundian and austrian elements of his blood seemed to have evaporated, and his veins were filled alone with the ancient ardor, which in heroic centuries had animated the gothic champions of spain. the fierce enthusiasm for the cross, which in the long internal warfare against the crescent, had been the romantic and distinguishing feature of the national character, had degenerated into bigotry. that which had been a nation's glory now made the monarch's shame. the christian heretic was to be regarded with a more intense hatred than even moor or jew had excited in the most christian ages, and philip was to be the latest and most perfect incarnation of all this traditional enthusiasm, this perpetual hate. thus he was likely to be single-hearted in his life. it was believed that his ambition would be less to extend his dominions than to vindicate his title of the most catholic king. there could be little doubt entertained that he would be, at least, dutiful to his father in this respect, and that the edicts would be enforced to the letter. he was by birth, education, and character, a spaniard, and that so exclusively, that the circumstance would alone have made him unfit to govern a country so totally different in habits and national sentiments from his native land. he was more a foreigner in brussels, even, than in england. the gay, babbling, energetic, noisy life of flanders and brabant was detestable to him. the loquacity of the netherlanders was a continual reproach upon his taciturnity. his education had imbued him, too, with the antiquated international hatred of spaniard and fleming, which had been strengthening in the metropolis, while the more rapid current of life had rather tended to obliterate the sentiment in the provinces. the flippancy and profligacy of philip the handsome, the extortion and insolence of his flemish courtiers, had not been forgotten in spain, nor had philip the second forgiven his grandfather for having been a foreigner. and now his mad old grandmother, joanna, who had for years been chasing cats in the lonely tower where she had been so long imprisoned, had just died; and her funeral, celebrated with great pomp by both her sons, by charles at brussels and ferdinand at augsburg, seemed to revive a history which had begun to fade, and to recall the image of castilian sovereignty which had been so long obscured in the blaze of imperial grandeur. his education had been but meagre. in an age when all kings and noblemen possessed many languages, he spoke not a word of any tongue but spanish,--although he had a slender knowledge of french and italian, which he afterwards learned to read with comparative facility. he had studied a little history and geography, and he had a taste for sculpture, painting, and architecture. certainly if he had not possessed a feeling for art, he would have been a monster. to have been born in the earlier part of the sixteenth century, to have been a king, to have had spain, italy, and the netherlands as a birthright, and not to have been inspired with a spark of that fire which glowed so intensely in those favored lands and in that golden age, had indeed been difficult. the king's personal habits were regular. his delicate health made it necessary for him to attend to his diet, although he was apt to exceed in sweetmeats and pastry. he slept much, and took little exercise habitually, but he had recently been urged by the physicians to try the effect of the chase as a corrective to his sedentary habits. he was most strict in religious observances, as regular at mass, sermons, and vespers as a monk; much more, it was thought by many good catholics, than was becoming to his rank and age. besides several friars who preached regularly for his instruction, he had daily discussions with others on abstruse theological points. he consulted his confessor most minutely as to all the actions of life, inquiring anxiously whether this proceeding or that were likely to burthen his conscience. he was grossly licentious. it was his chief amusement to issue forth at night disguised, that he might indulge in vulgar and miscellaneous incontinence in the common haunts of vice. this was his solace at brussels in the midst of the gravest affairs of state. he was not illiberal, but, on the contrary, it was thought that he would have been even generous, had he not been straitened for money at the outset of his career. during a cold winter, he distributed alms to the poor of brussels with an open hand. he was fond of jests in private, and would laugh immoderately, when with a few intimate associates, at buffooneries, which he checked in public by the icy gravity of his deportment. he dressed usually in the spanish fashion, with close doublet, trunk hose, and short cloak, although at times he indulged in the more airy fashions of france and burgundy, wearing buttons on his coats and feathers in his hat. he was not thought at that time to be cruel by nature, but was usually spoken of, in the conventional language appropriated to monarchs, as a prince "clement, benign, and debonnaire." time was to show the justice of his claims to such honorable epithets. the court was organized during his residence at brussels on the burgundian, not the spanish model, but of the one hundred and fifty persons who composed it, nine tenths of the whole were spaniards; the other fifteen or sixteen being of various nations, flemings, burgundians, italians, english, and germans. thus it is obvious how soon he disregarded his father's precept and practice in this respect, and began to lay the foundation of that renewed hatred to spaniards which was soon to become so intense, exuberant, and fatal throughout every class of netherlanders. he esteemed no nation but the spanish, with spaniards he consorted, with spaniards he counselled, through spaniards he governed. his council consisted of five or six spanish grandees, the famous ruy gomez, then count of melito, afterwards prince of eboli; the duke of alva, the count de feria, the duke of franca villa, don antonio toledo, and don juan manrique de lara. the "two columns," said suriano, "which sustain this great machine, are ruy gomez and alva, and from their councils depends the government of half the world." the two were ever bitterly opposed to each other. incessant were their bickerings, intense their mutual hate, desperate and difficult the situation of any man, whether foreigner or native, who had to transact business with the government. if he had secured the favor of gomez, he had already earned the enmity of alva. was he protected by the duke, he was sure to be cast into outer darkness by the favorite.--alva represented the war party, ruy gomez the pacific polity more congenial to the heart of philip. the bishop of arras, who in the opinion of the envoys was worth them all for his capacity and his experience, was then entirely in the background, rarely entering the council except when summoned to give advice in affairs of extraordinary delicacy or gravity. he was, however, to reappear most signally in course of the events already preparing. the duke of alva, also to play so tremendous a part in the yet unborn history of the netherlands, was not beloved by philip. he was eclipsed at this period by the superior influence of the favorite, and his sword, moreover, became necessary in the italian campaign which was impending. it is remarkable that it was a common opinion even at that day that the duke was naturally hesitating and timid. one would have thought that his previous victories might have earned for him the reputation for courage and skill which he most unquestionably deserved. the future was to develop those other characteristics which were to make his name the terror and wonder of the world. the favorite, ruy gomez da silva, count de melito, was the man upon whose shoulders the great burthen of the state reposed. he was of a family which was originally portuguese. he had been brought up with the king, although some eight years his senior, and their friendship dated from earliest youth. it was said that ruy gomez, when a boy, had been condemned to death for having struck philip, who had come between him and another page with whom he was quarrelling. the prince threw himself passionately at his father's feet, and implored forgiveness in behalf of the culprit with such energy that the emperor was graciously pleased to spare the life of the future prime minister. the incident was said to have laid the foundation of the remarkable affection which was supposed to exist between the two, to an extent never witnessed before between king and subject. ruy gomez was famous for his tact and complacency, and omitted no opportunity of cementing the friendship thus auspiciously commenced. he was said to have particularly charmed his master, upon one occasion, by hypocritically throwing up his cards at a game of hazard played for a large stake, and permitting him to win the game with a far inferior hand. the king learning afterwards the true state of the case, was charmed by the grace and self-denial manifested by the young nobleman. the complacency which the favorite subsequently exhibited in regard to the connexion which existed so long and so publicly between his wife, the celebrated princess eboli, and philip, placed his power upon an impregnable basis, and secured it till his death. at the present moment he occupied the three posts of valet, state councillor, and finance minister. he dressed and undressed his master, read or talked him to sleep, called him in the morning, admitted those who were to have private audiences, and superintended all the arrangements of the household. the rest of the day was devoted to the enormous correspondence and affairs of administration which devolved upon him as first minister of state and treasury. he was very ignorant. he had no experience or acquirement in the arts either of war or peace, and his early education had been limited. like his master, he spoke no tongue but spanish, and he had no literature. he had prepossessing manners, a fluent tongue, a winning and benevolent disposition. his natural capacity for affairs was considerable, and his tact was so perfect that he could converse face to face with statesmen; doctors, and generals upon campaigns, theology, or jurisprudence, without betraying any remarkable deficiency. he was very industrious, endeavoring to make up by hard study for his lack of general knowledge, and to sustain with credit the burthen of his daily functions. at the same time, by the king's desire, he appeared constantly at the frequent banquets, masquerades, tourneys and festivities, for which brussels at that epoch was remarkable. it was no wonder that his cheek was pale, and that he seemed dying of overwork. he discharged his duties cheerfully, however, for in the service of philip he knew no rest. "after god," said badovaro, "he knows no object save the felicity of his master." he was already, as a matter of course, very rich, having been endowed by philip with property to the amount of twenty-six thousand dollars yearly, [at values of ] and the tide of his fortunes was still at the flood. such were the two men, the master and the favorite, to whose hands the destinies of the netherlands were now entrusted. the queen of hungary had resigned the office of regent of the netherlands, as has been seen, on the occasion of the emperor's abdication. she was a woman of masculine character, a great huntress before the lord, a celebrated horsewoman, a worthy descendant of the lady mary of burgundy. notwithstanding all the fine phrases exchanged between herself and the eloquent maas, at the great ceremony of the th of october, she was, in reality, much detested in the provinces, and she repaid their aversion with abhorrence. "i could not live among these people," she wrote to the emperor, but a few weeks before the abdication, "even as a private person, for it would be impossible for me to do my duty towards god and my prince. as to governing them, i take god to witness that the task is so abhorrent to me, that i would rather earn my daily bread by labor than attempt it." she added, that a woman of fifty years of age, who had served during twenty-five of them, had a right to repose, and that she was moreover "too old to recommence and learn her a, b, c." the emperor, who had always respected her for the fidelity with which she had carried out his designs, knew that it was hopeless to oppose her retreat. as for philip, he hated his aunt, and she hated him--although, both at the epoch of the abdication and subsequently, he was desirous that she should administer the government. the new regent was to be the duke of savoy. this wandering and adventurous potentate had attached himself to philip's fortunes, and had been received by the king with as much favor as he had ever enjoyed at the hands of the emperor. emanuel philibert of savoy, then about twenty-six or seven years of age, was the son of the late unfortunate duke, by donna beatrice of portugal, sister of the empress. he was the nephew of charles, and first cousin to philip. the partiality of the emperor for his mother was well known, but the fidelity with which the family had followed the imperial cause had been productive of nothing but disaster to the duke. he had been ruined in fortune, stripped of all his dignities and possessions. his son's only inheritance was his sword. the young prince of piedmont, as he was commonly called in his youth; sought the camp of the emperor, and was received with distinguished favor. he rose rapidly in the military service. acting always upon his favorite motto, "spoliatis arma supersunt," he had determined, if possible, to carve his way to glory, to wealth, and even to his hereditary estates, by his sword alone. war was not only his passion, but his trade. every one of his campaigns was a speculation, and he had long derived a satisfactory income by purchasing distinguished prisoners of war at a low price from the soldiers who had captured them, and were ignorant of their rank, and by ransoming them afterwards at an immense advance. this sort of traffic in men was frequent in that age, and was considered perfectly honorable. marshal strozzi, count mansfeld, and other professional soldiers, derived their main income from the system. they were naturally inclined, therefore, to look impatiently upon a state of peace as an unnatural condition of affairs which cut off all the profits of their particular branch of industry, and condemned them both to idleness and poverty. the duke of savoy had become one of the most experienced and successful commanders of the age, and an especial favorite with the emperor. he had served with alva in the campaigns against the protestants of germany, and in other important fields. war being his element, he considered peace as undesirable, although he could recognize its existence. a truce he held, however, to be a senseless parodox, unworthy of the slightest regard. an armistice, such as was concluded on the february following the abdication, was, in his opinion, only to be turned to account by dealing insidious and unsuspected blows at the enemy, some portion of whose population might repose confidence in the plighted faith of monarchs and plenipotentiaries. he had a show of reason for his political and military morality, for he only chose to execute the evil which had been practised upon himself. his father had been beggared, his mother had died of spite and despair, he had himself been reduced from the rank of a sovereign to that of a mercenary soldier, by spoliations made in time of truce. he was reputed a man of very decided abilities, and was distinguished for headlong bravery. his rashness and personal daring were thought the only drawbacks to his high character as a commander. he had many accomplishments. he spoke latin, french, spanish, and italian with equal fluency, was celebrated for his attachment to the fine arts, and wrote much and with great elegance. such had been philibert of savoy, the pauper nephew of the powerful emperor, the adventurous and vagrant cousin of the lofty philip, a prince without a people, a duke without a dukedom; with no hope but in warfare, with no revenue but rapine; the image, in person, of a bold and manly soldier, small, but graceful and athletic, martial in bearing, "wearing his sword under his arm like a corporal," because an internal malady made a belt inconvenient, and ready to turn to swift account every chance which a new series of campaigns might open to him. with his new salary as governor, his pensions, and the remains of his possessions in nice and piedmont, he had now the splendid annual income of one hundred thousand crowns, and was sure to spend it all. it had been the desire of charles to smooth the commencement of philip's path. he had for this purpose made a vigorous effort to undo, as it were, the whole work of his reign, to suspend the operation of his whole political system. the emperor and conqueror, who had been warring all his lifetime, had attempted, as the last act of his reign, to improvise a peace. but it was not so easy to arrange a pacification of europe as dramatically as he desired, in order that he might gather his robes about him, and allow the curtain to fall upon his eventful history in a grand hush of decorum and quiet. during the autumn and winter of , hostilities had been virtually suspended, and languid negotiations ensued. for several months armies confronted each other without engaging, and diplomatists fenced among themselves without any palpable result. at last the peace commissioners, who had been assembled at vaucelles since the beginning of the year , signed a treaty of truce rather than of peace, upon the th of february. it was to be an armistice of five years, both by land and sea, for france, spain, flanders, and italy, throughout all the dominions of the french and spanish monarchs. the pope was expressly included in the truce, which was signed on the part of france by admiral coligny and sebastian l'aubespine; on that of spain, by count de lalain, philibert de bruxelles, simon renard, and jean baptiste sciceio, a jurisconsult of cremona. during the precious month of december, however, the pope had concluded with the french monarch a treaty, by which this solemn armistice was rendered an egregious farce. while henry's plenipotentiaries had been plighting their faith to those of philip, it had been arranged that france should sustain, by subsidies and armies, the scheme upon which paul was bent, to drive the spaniards entirely out of the italian peninsula. the king was to aid the pontiff, and, in return, was to carve thrones for his own younger children out of the confiscated realms of philip. when was france ever slow to sweep upon italy with such a hope? how could the ever-glowing rivalry of valois and habsburg fail to burst into a general conflagration, while the venerable vicegerent of christ stood thus beside them with his fan in his hand? for a brief breathing space, however, the news of the pacification occasioned much joy in the provinces. they rejoiced even in a temporary cessation of that long series of campaigns from which they could certainly derive no advantage, and in which their part was to furnish money, soldiers, and battlefields, without prospect of benefit from any victory, however brilliant, or any treaty, however elaborate. manufacturing, agricultural and commercial provinces, filled to the full with industrial life, could not but be injured by being converted into perpetual camps. all was joy in the netherlands, while at antwerp, the great commercial metropolis of the provinces and of europe, the rapture was unbounded. oxen were roasted whole in the public squares; the streets, soon to be empurpled with the best blood of her citizens, ran red with wine; a hundred triumphal arches adorned the pathway of philip as he came thither; and a profusion of flowers, although it was february, were strewn before his feet. such was his greeting in the light-hearted city, but the countenance was more than usually sullen with which the sovereign received these demonstrations of pleasure. it was thought by many that philip had been really disappointed in the conclusion of the armistice, that he was inspired with a spark of that martial ambition for which his panegyrists gave him credit, and that knowing full well the improbability of a long suspension of hostilities, he was even eager for the chance of conquest which their resumption would afford him. the secret treaty of the pope was of course not so secret but that the hollow intention of the contracting parties to the truce of vaucelles were thoroughly suspected; intentions which certainly went far to justify the maxims and the practice of the new governor-general of the netherlands upon the subject of armistices. philip, understanding his position, was revolving renewed military projects while his subjects were ringing merry bells and lighting bonfires in the netherlands. these schemes, which were to be carried out in the immediate future, caused, however, a temporary delay in the great purpose to which he was to devote his life. the emperor had always desired to regard the netherlands as a whole, and he hated the antiquated charters and obstinate privileges which interfered with his ideas of symmetry. two great machines, the court of mechlin and the inquisition, would effectually simplify and assimilate all these irregular and heterogeneous rights. the civil tribunal was to annihilate all diversities in their laws by a general cassation of their constitutions, and the ecclesiastical court was to burn out all differences in their religious faith. between two such millstones it was thought that the netherlands might be crushed into uniformity. philip succeeded to these traditions. the father had never sufficient leisure to carry out all his schemes, but it seemed probable that the son would be a worthy successor, at least in all which concerned the religious part of his system. one of the earliest measures of his reign was to re-enact the dread edict of . this he did by the express advice of the bishop of arras who represented to him the expediency of making use of the popularity of his father's name, to sustain the horrible system resolved upon. as charles was the author of the edict, it could be always argued that nothing new was introduced; that burning, hanging, and drowning for religious differences constituted a part of the national institutions; that they had received the sanction of the wise emperor, and had been sustained by the sagacity of past generations. nothing could have been more subtle, as the event proved, than this advice. innumerable were the appeals made in subsequent years, upon this subject, to the patriotism and the conservative sentiments of the netherlanders. repeatedly they were summoned to maintain the inquisition, on the ground that it had been submitted to by their ancestors, and that no change had been made by philip, who desired only to maintain church and crown in the authority which they had enjoyed in the days of his father of very laudable memory. nevertheless, the king's military plans seemed to interfere for the moment with this cherished object. he seemed to swerve, at starting, from pursuing the goal which he was only to abandon with life. the edict of was re-enacted and confirmed, and all office-holders were commanded faithfully to enforce it upon pain of immediate dismissal. nevertheless, it was not vigorously carried into effect any where. it was openly resisted in holland, its proclamation was flatly refused in antwerp, and repudiated throughout brabant. it was strange that such disobedience should be tolerated, but the king wanted money. he was willing to refrain for a season from exasperating the provinces by fresh religious persecution at the moment when he was endeavoring to extort every penny which it was possible to wring from their purses. the joy, therefore, with which the pacification had been hailed by the people was far from an agreeable spectacle to the king. the provinces would expect that the forces which had been maintained at their expense during the war would be disbanded, whereas he had no intention of disbanding them. as the truce was sure to be temporary, he had no disposition to diminish his available resources for a war which might be renewed at any moment. to maintain the existing military establishment in the netherlands, a large sum of money was required, for the pay was very much in arrear. the king had made a statement to the provincial estates upon this subject, but the matter was kept secret during the negotiations with france. the way had thus been paved for the "request" or "bede," which he now made to the estates assembled at brussels, in the spring of . it was to consist of a tax of one per cent. (the hundredth penny) upon all real estate, and of two per cent. upon all merchandise; to be collected in three payments. the request, in so far as the imposition of the proposed tax was concerned, was refused by flanders, brabant, holland, and all the other important provinces, but as usual, a moderate, even a generous, commutation in money was offered by the estates. this was finally accepted by philip, after he had become convinced that at this moment, when he was contemplating a war with france, it would be extremely impolitic to insist upon the tax. the publication of the truce in italy had been long delayed, and the first infractions which it suffered were committed in that country. the arts of politicians; the schemes of individual ambition, united with the short-lived military ardor of philip to place the monarch in an eminently false position, that of hostility to the pope. as was unavoidable, the secret treaty of december acted as an immediate dissolvent to the truce of february. great was the indignation of paul caraffa, when that truce was first communicated to him by the cardinal de tournon, on the part of the french government. notwithstanding the protestations of france that the secret league was still binding, the pontiff complained that he was likely to be abandoned to his own resources, and to be left single-handed to contend with the vast power of spain. pope paul iv., of the house of caraffa, was, in position, the well-known counterpart of the emperor charles. at the very moment when the conqueror and autocrat was exchanging crown for cowl, and the proudest throne of the universe for a cell, this aged monk, as weary of scientific and religious seclusion as charles of pomp and power, had abdicated his scholastic pre-eminence, and exchanged his rosary for the keys and sword. a pontifical faustus, he had become disgusted with the results of a life of study and abnegation, and immediately upon his election appeared to be glowing with mundane passions, and inspired by the fiercest ambition of a warrior. he had rushed from the cloister as eagerly as charles had sought it. he panted for the tempests of the great external world as earnestly as the conqueror who had so long ridden upon the whirlwind of human affairs sighed for a haven of repose. none of his predecessors had been more despotic, more belligerent, more disposed to elevate and strengthen the temporal power of rome. in the inquisition he saw the grand machine by which this purpose could be accomplished, and yet found himself for a period the antagonist of philip. the single circumstance would have been sufficient, had other proofs been wanting, to make manifest that the part which he had chosen to play was above his genius. had his capacity been at all commensurate with his ambition, he might have deeply influenced the fate of the world; but fortunately no wizard's charm came to the aid of paul caraffa, and the triple-crowned monk sat upon the pontifical throne, a fierce, peevish, querulous, and quarrelsome dotard; the prey and the tool of his vigorous enemies and his intriguing relations. his hatred of spain and spaniards was unbounded. he raved at them as "heretics, schismatics, accursed of god, the spawn of jews and moors, the very dregs of the earth." to play upon such insane passions was not difficult, and a skilful artist stood ever ready to strike the chords thus vibrating with age and fury. the master spirit and principal mischief-maker of the papal court was the well-known cardinal caraffa, once a wild and dissolute soldier, nephew to the pope. he inflamed the anger of the pontiff by his representations, that the rival house of colonna, sustained by the duke of alva, now viceroy of naples, and by the whole spanish power, thus relieved from the fear of french hostilities, would be free to wreak its vengeance upon their family. it was determined that the court of france should be held by the secret league. moreover, the pope had been expressly included in the treaty of vaucelles, although the troops of spain had already assumed a hostile attitude in the south of italy. the cardinal was for immediately proceeding to paris, there to excite the sympathy of the french monarch for the situation of himself and his uncle. an immediate rupture between france and spain, a re-kindling of the war flames from one end of europe to the other, were necessary to save the credit and the interests of the caraffas. cardinal de tournon, not desirous of so sudden a termination to the pacific relations between his, country and spain, succeeded in detaining him a little longer in rome.--he remained, but not in idleness. the restless intriguer had already formed close relations with the most important personage in france, diana of poitiers.--this venerable courtesan, to the enjoyment of whose charms henry had succeeded, with the other regal possessions, on the death of his father, was won by the flatteries of the wily caraffa, and by the assiduities of the guise family. the best and most sagacious statesmen, the constable, and the admiral, were in favor of peace, for they knew the condition of the kingdom. the duke of guise and the cardinal lorraine were for a rupture, for they hoped to increase their family influence by war. coligny had signed the treaty of vaucelles, and wished to maintain it, but the influence of the catholic party was in the ascendant. the result was to embroil the catholic king against the pope and against themselves. the queen was as favorably inclined as the mistress to listen to caraffa, for catherine de medici was desirous that her cousin, marshal strozzi, should have honorable and profitable employment in some fresh italian campaigns. in the mean time an accident favored the designs of the papal court. an open quarrel with spain resulted from an insignificant circumstance. the spanish ambassador at rome was in the habit of leaving the city very often, at an early hour in the morning, upon shooting excursions, and had long enjoyed the privilege of ordering the gates to be opened for him at his pleasure. by accident or design, he was refused permission upon one occasion to pass through the gate as usual. unwilling to lose his day's sport, and enraged at what he considered an indignity, his excellency, by the aid of his attendants, attacked and beat the guard, mastered them, made his way out of the city, and pursued his morning's amusement. the pope was furious, caraffa artfully inflamed his anger. the envoy was refused an audience, which he desired, for the sake of offering explanations, and the train being thus laid, it was thought that the right moment had arrived for applying the firebrand. the cardinal went to paris post haste. in his audience of the king, he represented that his holiness had placed implicit reliance upon his secret treaty with his majesty, that the recently concluded truce with spain left the pontiff at the mercy of the spaniard, that the duke of alva had already drawn the sword, that the pope had long since done himself the pleasure and the honor of appointing the french monarch protector of the papal chair in general, and of the caraffa family in particular, and that the moment had arrived for claiming the benefit of that protection. he assured him, moreover, as by full papal authority, that in respecting the recent truce with spain, his majesty would violate both human and divine law. reason and justice required him to defend the pontiff, now that the spaniards were about to profit by the interval of truce to take measures for his detriment. moreover, as the pope was included in the truce of vaucelles, he could not be abandoned without a violation of that treaty itself.--the arts and arguments of the cardinal proved successful; the war was resolved upon in favor of the pope. the cardinal, by virtue of powers received and brought with him from his holiness, absolved the king from all obligation to keep his faith with spain. he also gave him a dispensation from the duty of prefacing hostilities by a declaration of war. strozzi was sent at once into italy, with some hastily collected troops, while the duke of guise waited to organize a regular army. the mischief being thus fairly afoot, and war let loose again upon europe, the cardinal made a public entry into paris, as legate of the pope. the populace crowded about his mule, as he rode at the head of a stately procession through the streets. all were anxious to receive a benediction from the holy man who had come so far to represent the successor of st. peter, and to enlist the efforts of all true believers in his cause. he appeared to answer the entreaties of the superstitious rabble with fervent blessings, while the friends who were nearest him were aware that nothing but gibes and sarcasms were falling from his lips. "let us fool these poor creatures to their heart's content, since they will be fools," he muttered; smiling the while upon them benignantly, as became his holy office. such were the materials of this new combination; such was the fuel with which this new blaze was lighted and maintained. thus were the great powers of the earth--spain, france, england, and the papacy embroiled, and the nations embattled against each other for several years. the preceding pages show how much national interests, or principles; were concerned in the struggle thus commenced, in which thousands were to shed their life-blood, and millions to be reduced from peace and comfort to suffer all the misery which famine and rapine can inflict. it would no doubt have increased the hilarity of caraffa, as he made his triumphant entry into paris, could the idea have been suggested to his mind that the sentiments, or the welfare of the people throughout the great states now involved in his meshes, could have any possible bearing upon the question of peace or wax. the world was governed by other influences. the wiles of a cardinal--the arts of a concubine--the snipe-shooting of an ambassador--the speculations of a soldier of fortune--the ill temper of a monk--the mutual venom of italian houses--above all, the perpetual rivalry of the two great historical families who owned the greater part of europe between them as their private property--such were the wheels on which rolled the destiny of christendom. compared to these, what were great moral and political ideas, the plans of statesmen, the hopes of nations? time was soon to show. meanwhile, government continued to be administered exclusively for the benefit of the governors. meanwhile, a petty war for paltry motives was to precede the great spectacle which was to prove to europe that principles and peoples still existed, and that a phlegmatic nation of merchants and manufacturers could defy the powers of the universe, and risk all their blood and treasure, generation after generation, in a sacred cause. it does not belong to our purpose to narrate the details of the campaign in italy; neither is this war of politics and chicane of any great interest at the present day. to the military minds of their age, the scientific duel which now took place upon a large scale, between two such celebrated captains as the dukes of guise and alva, was no doubt esteemed the most important of spectacles; but the progress of mankind in the art of slaughter has stripped so antiquated an exhibition of most of its interest, even in a technical point of view. not much satisfaction could be derived from watching an old-fashioned game of war, in which the parties sat down before each other so tranquilly, and picked up piece after piece, castle after castle, city after city, with such scientific deliberation as to make it evident that, in the opinion of the commanders, war was the only serious business to be done in the world; that it was not to be done in a hurry, nor contrary to rule, and that when a general had a good job upon his hands he ought to know his profession much too thoroughly, to hasten through it before he saw his way clear to another. from the point of time, at the close of the year , when that well-trained but not very successful soldier, strozzi, crossed the alps, down to the autumn of the following year, when the duke of alva made his peace with the pope, there was hardly a pitched battle, and scarcely an event of striking interest. alva, as usual, brought his dilatory policy to bear upon his adversary with great effect. he had no intention, he observed to a friend, to stake the whole kingdom of naples against a brocaded coat of the duke of guise. moreover, he had been sent to the war, as ruy gomez informed the venetian ambassador, "with a bridle in his mouth." philip, sorely troubled in his mind at finding himself in so strange a position as this hostile attitude to the church, had earnestly interrogated all the doctors and theologians with whom he habitually took counsel, whether this war with the pope would not work a forfeiture of his title of the most catholic king. the bishop of arras and the favorite both disapproved of the war, and encouraged, with all their influence, the pacific inclinations of the monarch. the doctors were, to be sure, of opinion that philip, having acted in italy only in self-defence, and for the protection of his states, ought not to be anxious as to his continued right to the title on which he valued himself so highly. nevertheless, such ponderings and misgivings could not but have the effect of hampering the actions of alva. that general chafed inwardly at what he considered his own contemptible position. at the same time, he enraged the duke of guise still more deeply by the forced calmness of his proceedings. fortresses were reduced, towns taken, one after another, with the most provoking deliberation, while his distracted adversary in vain strove to defy, or to delude him, into trying the chances of a stricken field. the battle of saint quentin, the narrative of which belongs to our subject, and will soon occupy our attention, at last decided the italian operations. egmont's brilliant triumph in picardy rendered a victory in italy superfluous, and placed in alva's hand the power of commanding the issue of his own campaign. the duke of guise was recalled to defend the french frontier, which the bravery of the flemish hero had imperilled, and the pope was left to make the best peace which he could. all was now prosperous and smiling, and the campaign closed with a highly original and entertaining exhibition. the pontiff's puerile ambition, sustained by the intrigues of his nephew, had involved the french monarch in a war which was contrary to his interests and inclination. paul now found his ally too sorely beset to afford him that protection upon which he had relied, when he commenced, in his dotage, his career as a warrior. he was, therefore, only desirous of deserting his friend, and of relieving himself from his uncomfortable predicament, by making a treaty with his catholic majesty upon the best terms which he could obtain. the king of france, who had gone to war only for the sake of his holiness, was to be left to fight his own battles, while the pope was to make his peace with all the world. the result was a desirable one for philip. alva was accordingly instructed to afford the holy father a decorous and appropriate opportunity for carrying out his wishes. the victorious general was apprized that his master desired no fruit from his commanding attitude in italy and the victory of saint quentin, save a full pardon from the pope for maintaining even a defensive war against him. an amicable siege of rome was accordingly commenced, in the course of which an assault or "camiciata" on the holy city, was arranged for the night of the th august, . the pontiff agreed to be taken by surprise--while alva, through what was to appear only a superabundance of his habitual discretion, was to draw off his troops at the very moment when the victorious assault was to be made. the imminent danger to the holy city and to his own sacred person thus furnishing the pontiff with an excuse for abandoning his own cause, as well as that of his ally the duke of alva was allowed, in the name of his master and himself; to make submission to the church and his peace with rome. the spanish general, with secret indignation and disgust, was compelled to humor the vanity of a peevish but imperious old man. negotiations were commenced, and so skilfully had the duke played his game during the spring and summer, that when he was admitted to kiss the pope's toe, he was able to bring a hundred italian towns in his hand, as a peace-offering to his holiness. these he now restored, with apparent humility and inward curses, upon the condition that the fortifications should be razed, and the french alliance absolutely renounced. thus did the fanaticism of philip reverse the relative position of himself and his antagonist. thus was the vanquished pontiff allowed almost to dictate terms to the victorious general. the king who could thus humble himself to a dotard, while he made himself the scourge of his subjects, deserved that the bull of excommunication which had been prepared should have been fulminated. he, at least, was capable of feeling the scathing effects of such anathemas. the duke of guise, having been dismissed with the pontiff's assurance that he had done little for the interests of his sovereign, less for the protection of the church, and least of all for his own reputation, set forth with all speed for civita vecchia, to do what he could upon the flemish frontier to atone for his inglorious campaign in italy. the treaty between the pope and the duke of alva was signed on the th september ( ), and the spanish general retired for the winter to milan. cardinal caraffa was removed from the french court to that of madrid, there to spin new schemes for the embroilment of nations and the advancement of his own family. very little glory was gained by any of the combatants in this campaign. spain, france, nor paul iv., not one of them came out of the italian contest in better condition than that in which they entered upon it. in fact all were losers. france had made an inglorious retreat, the pope a ludicrous capitulation, and the only victorious party, the king of spain, had, during the summer, conceded to cosmo de medici the sovereignty of sienna. had venice shown more cordiality towards philip, and more disposition to sustain his policy, it is probable that the republic would have secured the prize which thus fell to the share of cosmo. that astute and unprincipled potentate, who could throw his net so well in troubled water, had successfully duped all parties, spain, france, and rome. the man who had not only not participated in the contest, but who had kept all parties and all warfare away from his borders, was the only individual in italy who gained territorial advantage from the war. to avoid interrupting the continuity of the narrative, the spanish campaign has been briefly sketched until the autumn of , at which period the treaty between the pope and philip was concluded. it is now necessary to go back to the close of the preceding year. simultaneously with the descent of the french troops upon italy, hostilities had broken out upon the flemish border. the pains of the emperor in covering the smouldering embers of national animosities so precipitately, and with a view rather to scenic effect than to a deliberate and well-considered result, were thus set at nought, and within a year from the day of his abdication, hostilities were reopened from the tiber to the german ocean. the blame of first violating the truce of vaucelles was laid by each party upon the other with equal justice, for there can be but little doubt that the reproach justly belonged to both. both had been equally faithless in their professions of amity. both were equally responsible for the scenes of war, plunder, and misery, which again were desolating the fairest regions of christendom. at the time when the french court had resolved to concede to the wishes of the caraffa family, admiral coligny, who had been appointed governor of picardy, had received orders to make a foray upon the frontier of flanders. before the formal annunciation of hostilities, it was thought desirable to reap all the advantage possible from the perfidy which had been resolved upon. it happened that a certain banker of lucca, an ancient gambler and debauchee, whom evil courses had reduced from affluence to penury, had taken up his abode upon a hill overlooking the city of douay. here he had built himself a hermit's cell. clad in sackcloth, with a rosary at his waist, he was accustomed to beg his bread from door to door. his garb was all, however, which he possessed of sanctity, and he had passed his time in contemplating the weak points in the defences of the city with much more minuteness than those in his own heart. upon the breaking out of hostilities in italy, the instincts of his old profession had suggested to him that a good speculation might be made in flanders, by turning to account as a spy the observations which he had made in his character of a hermit. he sought an interview with coligny, and laid his propositions before him. the noble admiral hesitated, for his sentiments were more elevated than those of many of his contemporaries. he had, moreover, himself negotiated and signed the truce with spain, and he shrank from violating it with his own hand, before a declaration of war. still he was aware that a french army was on its way to attack the spaniards in italy; he was under instructions to take the earliest advantage which his position upon the frontier might offer him; he knew that both theory and practice authorized a general, in that age, to break his fast, even in time of truce, if a tempting morsel should present itself; and, above all, he thoroughly understood the character of his nearest antagonist, the new governor of the netherlands, philibert of savoy, whom he knew to be the most unscrupulous chieftain in europe. these considerations decided him to take advantage of the hermit-banker's communication. a day was accordingly fixed, at which, under the guidance of this newly-acquired ally, a surprise should be attempted by the french forces, and the unsuspecting city of douay given over to the pillage of a brutal soldiery. the time appointed was the night of epiphany, upon occasion of which festival, it was thought that the inhabitants, overcome with sleep and wassail, might be easily overpowered. ( th january, .) the plot was a good plot, but the admiral of france was destined to be foiled by an old woman. this person, apparently the only creature awake in the town, perceived the danger, ran shrieking through the streets, alarmed the citizens while it was yet time, and thus prevented the attack. coligny, disappointed in his plan, recompensed his soldiers by a sudden onslaught upon lens in arthois, which he sacked and then levelled with the ground. such was the wretched condition of frontier cities, standing, even in time of peace, with the ground undermined beneath them, and existing every moment, as it were, upon the brink of explosion. hostilities having been thus fairly commenced, the french government was in some embarrassment. the duke of guise, with the most available forces of the kingdom, having crossed the alps, it became necessary forthwith to collect another army. the place of rendezvous appointed was pierrepoint, where an army of eighteen thousand infantry and five thousand horse were assembled early in the spring. in the mean time, philip finding the war fairly afoot, had crossed to england for the purpose (exactly in contravention of all his marriage stipulations) of cajoling his wife and browbeating her ministers into a participation in his war with france. this was easily accomplished. the english nation found themselves accordingly engaged in a contest with which they had no concern, which, as the event proved, was very much against their interests, and in which the moving cause for their entanglement was the devotion of a weak, bad, ferocious woman, for a husband who hated her. a herald sent from england arrived in france, disguised, and was presented to king henry at rheims. here, dropping on one knee, he recited a list of complaints against his majesty, on behalf of the english queen, all of them fabricated or exaggerated for the occasion, and none of them furnishing even a decorous pretext for the war which was now formally declared in consequence. the french monarch expressed his regret and surprise that the firm and amicable relations secured by treaty between the two countries should thus, without sufficient cause, be violated. in accepting the wager of warfare thus forced upon him, he bade the herald, norris, inform his mistress that her messenger was treated with courtesy only because he represented a lady, and that, had he come from a king, the language with which he would have been greeted would have befitted the perfidy manifested on the occasion. god would punish this shameless violation of faith, and this wanton interruption to the friendship of two great nations. with this the herald was dismissed from the royal presence, but treated with great distinction, conducted to the hotel of the english ambassador, and presented, on the part of the french sovereign with a chain of gold. philip had despatched ruy gomez to spain for the purpose of providing ways and means, while he was himself occupied with the same task in england. he stayed there three months. during this time, he "did more," says a spanish contemporary, "than any one could have believed possible with that proud and indomitable nation. he caused them to declare war against france with fire and sword, by sea and land." hostilities having been thus chivalrously and formally established, the queen sent an army of eight thousand men, cavalry, infantry, and pioneers, who, "all clad in blue uniform," commanded by lords pembroke and clinton, with the three sons of the earl of northumberland, and officered by many other scions of england's aristocracy, disembarked at calais, and shortly afterwards joined the camp before saint quentin. philip meantime had left england, and with more bustle and activity than was usual with him, had given directions for organizing at once a considerable army. it was composed mainly of troops belonging to the netherlands, with the addition of some german auxiliaries. thirty-five thousand foot and twelve thousand horse had, by the middle of july, advanced through the province of namur, and were assembled at givet under the duke of savoy, who, as governor-general of the netherlands, held the chief command. all the most eminent grandees of the provinces, orange, aerschot, berlaymont, meghen, brederode, were present with the troops, but the life and soul of the army, upon this memorable occasion, was the count of egmont. lamoral, count of egmont, prince of gavere, was now in the thirty-sixth year of his age, in the very noon of that brilliant life which was destined to be so soon and so fatally overshadowed. not one of the dark clouds, which were in the future to accumulate around him, had yet rolled above his horizon. young, noble, wealthy, handsome, valiant, he saw no threatening phantom in the future, and caught eagerly at the golden opportunity, which the present placed within his grasp, of winning fresh laurels on a wider and more fruitful field than any in which he had hitherto been a reaper. the campaign about to take place was likely to be an imposing, if not an important one, and could not fail to be attractive to a noble of so ardent and showy a character as egmont. if there were no lofty principles or extensive interests to be contended for, as there certainly were not, there was yet much that was stately and exciting to the imagination in the warfare which had been so deliberately and pompously arranged. the contending armies, although of moderate size, were composed of picked troops, and were commanded by the flower of europe's chivalry. kings, princes, and the most illustrious paladins of christendom, were arming for the great tournament, to which they had been summoned by herald and trumpet; and the batavian hero, without a crown or even a country, but with as lofty a lineage as many anointed sovereigns could boast, was ambitious to distinguish himself in the proud array. upon the north-western edge of the narrow peninsula of north holland, washed by the stormy waters of the german ocean, were the ancient castle, town, and lordship, whence egmont derived his family name, and the title by which he was most familiarly known. he was supposed to trace his descent, through a line of chivalrous champions and crusaders, up to the pagan kings of the most ancient of existing teutonic races. the eighth century names of the frisian radbold and adgild among his ancestors were thought to denote the antiquity of a house whose lustre had been increased in later times by the splendor of its alliances. his father, united to francoise de luxemburg, princess of gavere, had acquired by this marriage, and transmitted to his posterity, many of the proudest titles and richest estates of flanders. of the three children who survived him, the only daughter was afterwards united to the count of vaudemont, and became mother of louise de vaudemont, queen of the french monarch, henry the third. of his two sons, charles, the elder, had died young and unmarried, leaving all the estates and titles of the family to his brother. lamoral, born in , was in early youth a page of the emperor. when old enough to bear arms he demanded and obtained permission to follow the career of his adventurous sovereign. he served his apprenticeship as a soldier in the stormy expedition to barbary, where, in his nineteenth year, he commanded a troop of light horse, and distinguished himself under the emperor's eye for his courage and devotion, doing the duty not only of a gallant commander but of a hardy soldier. returning, unscathed by the war, flood, or tempest of that memorable enterprise, he reached his country by the way of corsica, genoa, and lorraine, and was three years afterwards united (in the year ) to sabina of bavaria, sister of frederick, elector palatine. the nuptials had taken place at spiers, and few royal weddings could have been more brilliant. the emperor, his brother ferdinand king of the romans, with the archduke maximilian, all the imperial electors, and a concourse of the principal nobles of the empire, were present on the occasion been at the emperor's side during the unlucky siege of metz; in he had been sent at the head of a splendid embassy to england, to solicit for philip the hand of mary tudor, and had witnessed the marriage in winchester cathedral, the same year. although one branch of his house had, in past times, arrived at the sovereignty of gueldres, and another had acquired the great estates and titles of buren, which had recently passed, by intermarriage with the heiress, into the possession of the prince of orange, yet the prince of gavere, count of egmont, was the chief of a race which yielded to none of the great batavian or flemish families in antiquity, wealth, or power. personally, he was distinguished for his bravery, and although he was not yet the idol of the camp, which he was destined to become, nor had yet commanded in chief on any important occasion, he was accounted one of the five principal generals in the spanish service. eager for general admiration, he was at the same time haughty and presumptuous, attempting to combine the characters of an arrogant magnate and a popular chieftain. terrible and sudden in his wrath, he was yet of inordinate vanity, and was easily led by those who understood his weakness. with a limited education, and a slender capacity for all affairs except those relating to the camp, he was destined to be as vacillating and incompetent as a statesman, as he was prompt and fortunately audacious in the field. a splendid soldier, his evil stars had destined him to tread, as a politician, a dark and dangerous path, in which not even genius, caution, and integrity could ensure success, but in which rashness alternating with hesitation, and credulity with violence, could not fail to bring ruin. such was count egmont, as he took his place at the-head of the king's cavalry in the summer of . the early operations of the duke of savoy were at first intended to deceive the enemy. the army, after advancing as far into picardy as the town of vervins, which they burned and pillaged, made a demonstration with their whole force upon the city of guise. this, however, was but a feint, by which attention was directed and forces drawn off from saint quentin, which was to be the real point of attack in the mean time, the constable of france, montmorency, arrived upon the th july ( ), to take command of the french troops. he was accompanied by the marechal de saint andre and by admiral coligny. the most illustrious names of france, whether for station or valor, were in the officers' list of this select army. nevers and montpensier, enghien and conde, vendome and rochefoucauld, were already there, and now the constable and the admiral came to add the strength of their experience and lofty reputation to sustain the courage of the troops. the french were at pierrepoint, a post between champagne and picardy, and in its neighborhood. the spanish army was at vervins, and threatening guise. it had been the opinion in france that the enemy's intention was to invade champagne, and the duc de nevers, governor of that province, had made a disposition of his forces suitable for such a contingency. it was the conviction of montmorency, however, that picardy was to be the quarter really attacked, and that saint quentin, which was the most important point at which the enemy's progress, by that route, towards paris could be arrested, was in imminent danger. the constable's opinion was soon confirmed by advices received by coligny. the enemy's army, he was informed, after remaining three days before guise, had withdrawn from that point, and had invested saint quentin with their whole force. this wealthy and prosperous city stood upon an elevation rising from the river somme. it was surrounded by very extensive suburbs, ornamented with orchards and gardens, and including within their limits large tracts of a highly cultivated soil. three sides of the place were covered by a lake, thirty yards in width, very deep at some points, in others, rather resembling a morass, and extending on the flemish side a half mile beyond the city. the inhabitants were thriving and industrious; many of the manufacturers and merchants were very rich, for it was a place of much traffic and commercial importance. teligny, son-in-law of the admiral, was in the city with a detachment of the dauphin's regiment; captain brueuil was commandant of the town. both informed coligny of the imminent peril in which they stood. they represented the urgent necessity of immediate reinforcements both of men and supplies. the city, as the admiral well knew, was in no condition to stand a siege by such an army, and dire were the consequences which would follow the downfall of so important a place. it was still practicable, they wrote, to introduce succor, but every day diminished the possibility of affording effectual relief. coligny was not the man to let the grass grow under his feet, after such an appeal in behalf of the principal place in his government. the safety of france was dependent upon that of st. quentin. the bulwark overthrown, paris was within the next stride of an adventurous enemy. the admiral instantly set out, upon the d of august, with strong reinforcements. it was too late. the english auxiliaries, under lords pembroke, clinton, and grey, had, in the mean time, effected their junction with the duke of savoy, and appeared in the camp before st. quentin. the route, by which it had been hoped that the much needed succor could be introduced, was thus occupied and rendered impracticable. the admiral, however, in consequence of the urgent nature of the letters received from brueuil and teligny, had outstripped, in his anxiety, the movements of his troops. he reached the city, almost alone and unattended. notwithstanding the remonstrances of his officers, he had listened to no voice save the desperate entreaties of the besieged garrison, and had flown before his army. he now shut himself up in the city, determined to effect its deliverance by means of his skill and experience, or, at least, to share its fate. as the gates closed upon coligny, the road was blocked up for his advancing troops. a few days were passed in making ineffectual sorties, ordered by coligny for the sake of reconnoitring the country, and of discovering the most practicable means of introducing supplies. the constable, meantime, who had advanced with his army to la fore, was not idle. he kept up daily communications with the beleagured admiral, and was determined, if possible, to relieve the city. there was, however, a constant succession of disappointments. moreover, the brave but indiscreet teligny, who commanded during a temporary illness of the admiral, saw fit, against express orders, to make an imprudent sortie. he paid the penalty of his rashness with his life. he was rescued by the admiral in person, who, at imminent hazard, brought back the unfortunate officer covered with wounds, into the city, there to die at his father's feet, imploring forgiveness for his disobedience. meantime the garrison was daily growing weaker. coligny sent out of the city all useless consumers, quartered all the women in the cathedral and other churches, where they were locked in, lest their terror and their tears should weaken the courage of the garrison; and did all in his power to strengthen the defences of the city, and sustain the resolution of the inhabitants. affairs were growing desperate. it seemed plain that the important city must soon fall, and with it most probably paris. one of the suburbs was already in the hands of the enemy. at last coligny discovered a route by which he believed it to be still possible to introduce reinforcements. he communicated the results of his observations to the constable. upon one side of the city the lake, or morass, was traversed by a few difficult and narrow pathways, mostly under water, and by a running stream which could only be passed in boats. the constable, in consequence of this information received from coligny, set out from la fere upon the th of august, with four thousand infantry and two thousand horse. halting his troops at the village of essigny, he advanced in person to the edge of the morass, in order to reconnoitre the ground and prepare his plans. the result was a determination to attempt the introduction of men and supplies into the town by the mode suggested. leaving his troops drawn up in battle array, he returned to la fere for the remainder of his army, and to complete his preparations. coligny in the mean time was to provide boats for crossing the stream. upon the th august, which was the festival of st. laurence, the constable advanced with four pieces of heavy artillery, four culverines, and four lighter pieces, and arrived at nine o'clock in the morning near the faubourg d'isle, which was already in possession of the spanish troops. the whole army of the constable consisted of twelve thousand german, with fifteen companies of french infantry; making in all some sixteen thousand foot, with five thousand cavalry in addition. the duke of savoy's army lay upon the same side of the town, widely extended, and stretching beyond the river and the morass. montmorency's project was to be executed in full view of the enemy. fourteen companies of spaniards were stationed in the faubourg. two companies had been pushed forward as far as a water-mill, which lay in the pathway of the advancing constable. these soldiers stood their ground for a moment, but soon retreated, while a cannonade was suddenly opened by the french upon the quarters of the duke of savoy. the duke's tent was torn to pieces, and he had barely time to hurry on his cuirass, and to take refuge with count egmont. the constable, hastening to turn this temporary advantage to account at once, commenced the transportation of his troops across the morass. the enterprise was, however, not destined to be fortunate. the number of boats which had been provided was very inadequate; moreover they were very small, and each as it left the shore was consequently so crowded with soldiers that it was in danger of being swamped. several were overturned, and the men perished. it was found also that the opposite bank was steep and dangerous. many who had crossed the river were unable to effect a landing, while those who escaped drowning in the water lost their way in the devious and impracticable paths, or perished miserably in the treacherous quagmires. very few effected their entrance into the town, but among them was andelot, brother of coligny, with five hundred followers. meantime, a council of officers was held in egmont's tent. opinions were undecided as to the course to be pursued under the circumstances. should an engagement be risked, or should the constable, who had but indifferently accomplished his project and had introduced but an insignificant number of troops into the city, be allowed to withdraw with the rest of his army? the fiery vehemence of egmont carried all before it. here was an opportunity to measure arms at advantage with the great captain of the age. to relinquish the prize, which the fortune of war had now placed within reach of their valor, was a thought not to be entertained. here was the great constable montmorency, attended by princes of the royal blood, the proudest of the nobility, the very crown and flower of the chivalry of france, and followed by an army of her bravest troops. on a desperate venture he had placed himself within their grasp. should he go thence alive and unmolested? the moral effect of destroying such an army would be greater than if it were twice its actual strength. it would be dealing a blow at the very heart of france, from which she could not recover. was the opportunity to be resigned without a struggle of laying at the feet of philip, in this his first campaign since his accession to his father's realms, a prize worthy of the proudest hour of the emperor's reign? the eloquence of the impetuous batavian was irresistible, and it was determined to cut off the constable's retreat. three miles from the faubourg d'isle, to which that general had now advanced, was a narrow pass or defile, between steep and closely hanging hills. while advancing through this ravine in the morning, the constable had observed that the enemy might have it in their power to intercept his return at that point. he had therefore left the rhinegrave, with his company of mounted carabineers, to guard the passage. being ready to commence his retreat, he now sent forward the due de nevers, with four companies of cavalry to strengthen that important position, which he feared might be inadequately guarded. the act of caution came too late. this was the fatal point which the quick glance of egmont had at once detected. as nevers reached the spot, two thousand of the enemy's cavalry rode through and occupied the narrow passage. inflamed by mortification and despair, nevers would have at once charged those troops, although outnumbering his own by nearly, four to one. his officers restrained him with difficulty, recalling to his memory the peremptory orders which he had received from the constable to guard the passage, but on no account to hazard an engagement, until sustained by the body of the army. it was a case in which rashness would have been the best discretion. the headlong charge which the duke had been about to make, might possibly have cleared the path and have extricated the army, provided the constable had followed up the movement by a rapid advance upon his part. as it was, the passage was soon blocked up by freshly advancing bodies of spanish and flemish cavalry, while nevers slowly and reluctantly fell back upon the prince of conde, who was stationed with the light horse at the mill where the first skirmish had taken place. they were soon joined by the constable, with the main body of the army. the whole french force now commenced its retrograde movement. it was, however, but too evident that they were enveloped. as they approached the fatal pass through which lay their only road to la fire, and which was now in complete possession of the enemy, the signal of assault was given by count egmont. that general himself, at the head of two thousand light horse, led the charge upon the left flank. the other side was assaulted by the dukes eric and henry of brunswick, each with a thousand heavy dragoons, sustained by count horn, at the head of a regiment of mounted gendarmerie. mansfeld, lalain, hoogstraaten; and vilain, at the same time made a furious attack upon the front. the french cavalry wavered with the shock so vigorously given. the camp followers, sutlers, and pedlers, panic-struck, at once fled helter-skelter, and in their precipitate retreat, carried confusion and dismay throughout all the ranks of the army. the rout was sudden and total. the onset and the victory were simultaneous, nevers riding through a hollow with some companies of cavalry, in the hope of making a detour and presenting a new front to the enemy, was overwhelmed at once by the retreating french and their furious pursuers. the day was lost, retreat hardly possible, yet, by a daring and desperate effort, the duke, accompanied by a handful of followers, cut his way through the enemy and effected his escape. the cavalry had been broken at the first onset and nearly destroyed. a portion of the infantry still held firm, and attempted to continue their retreat. some pieces of artillery, however, now opened upon them, and before they reached essigny, the whole army was completely annihilated. the defeat was absolute. half the french troops actually engaged in the enterprise, lost their lives upon the field. the remainder of the army was captured or utterly disorganized. when nevers reviewed, at laon, the wreck of the constable's whole force, he found some thirteen hundred french and three hundred german cavalry, with four companies of french infantry remaining out of fifteen, and four thousand german foot remaining of twelve thousand. of twenty-one or two thousand remarkably fine and well-appointed troops, all but six thousand had been killed or made prisoners within an hour. the constable himself, with a wound in the groin, was a captive. the duke of enghien, after behaving with brilliant valor, and many times rallying the troops, was shot through the body, and brought into the enemy's camp only to expire. the due de montpensier, the marshal de saint andre, the due de loggieville, prince ludovic of mantua, the baron corton, la roche du mayne, the rhinegrave, the counts de rochefoucauld, d'aubigni, de rochefort, all were taken. the due de nevers, the prince of conde, with a few others, escaped; although so absolute was the conviction that such an escape was impossible, that it was not believed by the victorious army. when nevers sent a trumpet, after the battle, to the duke of savoy, for the purpose of negotiating concerning the prisoners, the trumpeter was pronounced an impostor, and the duke's letter a forgery; nor was it till after the whole field had been diligently searched for his dead body without success, that nevers could persuade the conquerors that he was still in existence. of philip's army but fifty lost their lives. lewis of brederode was smothered in his armor; and the two counts spiegelberg and count waldeck were also killed; besides these, no officer of distinction fell. all the french standards and all their artillery but two pieces were taken, and placed before the king, who the next day came into the camp before saint quentin. the prisoners of distinction were likewise presented to him in long procession. rarely had a monarch of spain enjoyed a more signal triumph than this which philip now owed to the gallantry and promptness of count egmont. while the king stood reviewing the spoils of victory, a light horseman of don henrico manrique's regiment approached, and presented him with a sword. "i am the man, may it please your majesty," said the trooper, "who took the constable; here is his sword; may your majesty be pleased to give me something to eat in my house." "i promise it," replied philip; upon which the soldier kissed his majesty's hand and retired. it was the custom universally recognized in that day, that the king was the king's captive, and the general the general's, but that the man, whether soldier or officer, who took the commander-in-chief, was entitled to ten thousand ducats. upon this occasion the constable was the prisoner of philip, supposed to command his own army in person. a certain spanish captain valenzuela, however, disputed the soldier's claim to the constable's sword. the trooper advanced at once to the constable, who stood there with the rest of the illustrious prisoners. "your excellency is a christian," said he; "please to declare upon your conscience and the faith of a cavalier, whether 't was i that took you prisoner. it need not surprise your excellency that i am but a soldier, since with soldiers his majesty must wage his wars." "certainly," replied the constable, "you took me and took my horse, and i gave you my sword. my word, however, i pledged to captain valenzuela." it appearing, however, that the custom of spain did not recognize a pledge given to any one but the actual captor, it was arranged that the soldier should give two thousand of his ten thousand ducats to the captain. thus the dispute ended. such was the brilliant victory of saint quentin, worthy to be placed in the same list with the world-renowned combats of creqy and agincourt. like those battles, also, it derives its main interest from the personal character of the leader, while it seems to have been hallowed by the tender emotions which sprang from his subsequent fate. the victory was but a happy move in a winning game. the players were kings, and the people were stakes--not parties. it was a chivalrous display in a war which was waged without honorable purpose, and in which no single lofty sentiment was involved. the flemish frontier was, however, saved for the time from the misery which was now to be inflicted upon the french border. this was sufficient to cause the victory to be hailed as rapturously by the people as by the troops. from that day forth the name of the brave hollander was like the sound of a trumpet to the army. "egmont and saint quentin" rang through every mouth to the furthest extremity of philip's realms. a deadly blow was struck to the very heart of france. the fruits of all the victories of francis and henry withered. the battle, with others which were to follow it, won by the same hand, were soon to compel the signature of the most disastrous treaty which had ever disgraced the history of france. the fame and power of the constable faded--his misfortunes and captivity fell like a blight upon the ancient glory of the house of montmorency--his enemies destroyed his influence and his popularity--while the degradation of the kingdom was simultaneous with the downfall of his illustrious name. on the other hand, the exultation of philip was as keen as his cold and stony nature would permit. the magnificent palace-convent of the escurial, dedicated to the saint on whose festival the battle had been fought, and built in the shape of the gridiron, on which that martyr had suffered, was soon afterwards erected in pious commemoration of the event. such was the celebration of the victory. the reward reserved for the victor was to be recorded on a later page of history. the coldness and caution, not to say the pusillanimity of philip, prevented him from seizing the golden fruits of his triumph. ferdinand gonzaga wished the blow to be followed up by an immediate march upon paris.--such was also the feeling of all the distinguished soldiers of the age. it was unquestionably the opinion, and would have been the deed, of charles, had he been on the field of saint quentin, crippled as he was, in the place of his son. he could not conceal his rage and mortification when he found that paris had not fallen, and is said to have refused to read the despatches which recorded that the event had not been consummated. there was certainly little of the conqueror in philip's nature; nothing which would have led him to violate the safest principles of strategy. he was not the man to follow up enthusiastically the blow which had been struck; saint quentin, still untaken, although defended by but eight hundred soldiers, could not be left behind him; nevers was still in his front, and although it was notorious that he commanded only the wreck of an army, yet a new one might be collected, perhaps, in time to embarrass the triumphant march to paris. out of his superabundant discretion, accordingly, philip refused to advance till saint quentin should be reduced. although nearly driven to despair by the total overthrow of the french in the recent action, coligny still held bravely out, being well aware that every day by which the siege could be protracted was of advantage to his country. again he made fresh attempts to introduce men into the city. a fisherman showed him a submerged path, covered several feet deep with water, through which he succeeded in bringing one hundred and fifty unarmed and half-drowned soldiers into the place. his garrison consisted barely of eight hundred men, but the siege was still sustained, mainly by his courage and sagacity, and by the spirit of his brother andelot. the company of cavalry, belonging to the dauphin's regiment, had behaved badly, and even with cowardice, since the death of their commander teligny. the citizens were naturally weary and impatient of the siege. mining and countermining continued till the st august. a steady cannonade was then maintained until the th. upon that day, eleven breaches having been made in the walls, a simultaneous assault was ordered at four of them. the citizens were stationed upon the walls, the soldiers in the breaches. there was a short but sanguinary contest, the garrison resisting with uncommon bravery. suddenly an entrance was effected through a tower which had been thought sufficiently strong, and which had been left unguarded. coligny, rushing to the spot, engaged the enemy almost single-handed. he was soon overpowered, being attended only by four men and a page, was made a prisoner by a soldier named francisco diaz, and conducted through one of the subterranean mines into the presence of the duke of savoy, from whom the captor received ten thousand ducats in exchange for the admiral's sword. the fighting still continued with great determination in the streets, the brave andelot resisting to the last. he was, however, at last overpowered, and taken prisoner. philip, who had, as usual, arrived in the trenches by noon, armed in complete harness, with a page carrying his helmet, was met by the intelligence that the city of saint quentin was his own. to a horrible carnage succeeded a sack and a conflagration still more horrible. in every house entered during the first day, every human being was butchered. the sack lasted all that day and the whole of the following, till the night of the th. there was not a soldier who did not obtain an ample share of plunder, and some individuals succeeded in getting possession of two, three, and even twelve thousand ducats each. the women were not generally outraged, but they were stripped almost entirely naked, lest they should conceal treasure which belonged to their conquerors, and they were slashed in the face with knives, partly in sport, partly as a punishment for not giving up property which was not in their possession. the soldiers even cut off the arms of many among these wretched women, and then turned them loose, maimed and naked, into the blazing streets; for the town, on the th, was fired in a hundred places, and was now one general conflagration. the streets were already strewn with the corpses of the butchered garrison and citizens; while the survivors were now burned in their houses. human heads, limbs, and trunks, were mingled among the bricks and rafters of the houses, which were falling on every side. the fire lasted day and night, without an attempt being made to extinguish it; while the soldiers dashed like devils through flame and smoke in search of booty. bearing lighted torches, they descended into every subterrranean vault and receptacle, of which there were many in the town, and in every one of which they hoped to discover hidden treasure. the work of killing, plundering, and burning lasted nearly three days and nights. the streets, meanwhile, were encumbered with heaps of corpses, not a single one of which had been buried since the capture of the town. the remains of nearly all the able bodied male population, dismembered, gnawed by dogs or blackened by fire, polluted the midsummer air meantime, the women had been again driven into the cathedral, where they had housed during the siege, and where they now crouched together in trembling expectation of their fate.' on the th august, at two o'clock in the afternoon, philip issued an order that every woman, without an exception, should be driven out of the city into the french territory. saint quentin, which seventy years before had been a flemish town, was to be re-annexed, and not a single man, woman, or child who could speak the french language was to remain another hour in the place. the tongues of the men had been effectually silenced. the women, to the number of three thousand five hundred, were now compelled to leave the cathedral and the city. some were in a starving condition; others had been desperately wounded; all, as they passed through the ruinous streets of what had been their home, were compelled to tread upon the unburied remains of their fathers, husbands, or brethren. to none of these miserable creatures remained a living protector--hardly even a dead body which could be recognized; and thus the ghastly procession of more than three thousand women, many with gaping wounds in the face, many with their arms cut off and festering, of all ranks and ages, some numbering more than ninety years, bareheaded, with grey hair streaming upon their shoulders; others with nursing infants in their arms, all escorted by a company of heavy-armed troopers, left forever their native city. all made the dismal journey upon foot, save that carts were allowed to transport the children between the ages of two and six years. the desolation and depopulation were now complete. "i wandered through the place, gazing at all this," says a spanish soldier who was present, and kept a diary of all which occurred, "and it seemed to me that it was another destruction of jerusalem. what most struck me was to find not a single denizen of the town left, who was or who dared to call himself french. how vain and transitory, thought i, are the things of this world! six days ago what riches were in the city, and now remains not one stone upon another." the expulsion of the women had been accomplished by the express command of philip, who moreover had made no effort to stay the work of carnage, pillage, and conflagration. the pious king had not forgotten, however, his duty to the saints. as soon as the fire had broken out, he had sent to the cathedral, whence he had caused the body of saint quentin to be removed and placed in the royal tent. here an altar, was arranged, upon one side of which was placed the coffin of that holy personage, and upon the other the head of the "glorious saint gregory" (whoever that glorious individual may have been in life), together with many other relics brought from the church. within the sacred enclosure many masses were said daily, while all this devil's work was going on without. the saint who had been buried for centuries was comfortably housed and guarded by the monarch, while dogs were gnawing the carcases of the freshly-slain men of saint quentin, and troopers were driving into perpetual exile its desolate and mutilated women. the most distinguished captives upon this occasion were, of course, coligny and his brother. andelot was, however, fortunate enough to make his escape that night under the edge of the tent in which he was confined. the admiral was taken to antwerp. here he lay for many weeks sick with a fever. upon his recovery, having no better pastime, he fell to reading the scriptures. the result was his conversion to calvinism; and the world shudders yet at the fate in which that conversion involved him. saint quentin being thus reduced, philip was not more disposed to push his fortune. the time was now wasted in the siege of several comparatively unimportant places, so that the fruits of egmont's valor were not yet allowed to ripen. early in september le catelet was taken. on the th of the same month the citadel of ham yielded, after receiving two thousand shots from philip's artillery, while nojon, chanly, and some other places of less importance, were burned to the ground. after all this smoke and fire upon the frontier, productive of but slender consequences, philip disbanded his army, and retired to brussels. he reached that city on the th october. the english returned to their own country. the campaign of was closed without a material result, and the victory of saint quentin remained for a season barren. in the mean time the french were not idle. the army of the constable had been destroyed but the duke de guise, who had come post-haste from italy after hearing the news of saint quentin, was very willing to organize another. he was burning with impatience both to retrieve his own reputation, which had suffered some little damage by his recent italian campaign, and to profit by the captivity of his fallen rival the constable. during the time occupied by the languid and dilatory proceedings of philip in the autumn, the duke had accordingly recruited in france and germany a considerable army. in january ( ) he was ready to take the field. it had been determined in the french cabinet, however, not to attempt to win back the places which they had lost in picardy, but to carry the war into the territory of the ally. it was fated that england should bear all the losses, and philip appropriate all the gain and glory, which resulted from their united exertions. it was the war of the queen's husband, with which the queen's people had no concern, but in which the last trophies of the black prince were to be forfeited. on the first january, , the duc de guise appeared before calais. the marshal strozzi had previously made an expedition, in disguise, to examine the place. the result of his examination was that the garrison was weak, and that it relied too much upon the citadel. after a tremendous cannonade, which lasted a week, and was heard in antwerp, the city was taken by assault. thus the key to the great norman portal of france, the time-honored key which england had worn at her girdle since the eventful day of crecy, was at last taken from her. calais had been originally won after a siege which had lasted a twelvemonth, had been held two hundred and ten years, and was now lost in seven days. seven days more, and ten thousand discharges from thirty-five great guns sufficed for the reduction of guines. thus the last vestige of english dominion, the last substantial pretext of the english sovereign to wear the title and the lilies of france, was lost forever. king henry visited calais, which after two centuries of estrangement had now become a french town again, appointed paul de thermes governor of the place, and then returned to paris to celebrate soon afterwards the marriage of the dauphin with the niece of the guises, mary, queen of scots. these events, together with the brief winter campaign of the duke, which had raised for an instant the drooping head of france, were destined before long to give a new face to affairs, while it secured the ascendancy of the catholic party in the kingdom. disastrous eclipse had come over the house of montmorency and coligny, while the star of guise, brilliant with the conquest of calais, now culminated to the zenith. it was at this period that the memorable interview between the two ecclesiastics, the bishop of arras and the cardinal de lorraine, took place at peronne. from this central point commenced the weaving of that wide-spread scheme, in which the fate of millions was to be involved. the duchess christina de lorraine, cousin of philip, had accompanied him to saint quentin. permission had been obtained by the duc de guise and his brother, the cardinal, to visit her at peronne. the duchess was accompanied by the bishop of arras, and the consequence was a full and secret negotiation between the two priests. it may be supposed that philip's short-lived military ardor had already exhausted itself. he had mistaken his vocation, and already recognized the false position in which he was placed. he was contending against the monarch in whom he might find the surest ally against the arch enemy of both kingdoms, and of the world. the french monarch held heresy in horror, while, for himself, philip had already decided upon his life's mission. the crafty bishop was more than a match for the vain and ambitious cardinal. that prelate was assured that philip considered the captivity of coligny and montmorency a special dispensation of providence, while the tutelar genius of france, notwithstanding the reverses sustained by that kingdom, was still preserved. the cardinal and his brother, it was suggested, now held in their hands the destiny of the kingdom, and of europe. the interests of both nations, of religion, and of humanity, made it imperative upon them to put an end to this unnatural war, in order that the two monarchs might unite hand and heart for the extirpation of heresy. that hydra-headed monster had already extended its coils through france, while its pestilential breath was now wafted into flanders from the german as well as the french border. philip placed full reliance upon the wisdom and discretion of the cardinal. it was necessary that these negotiations should for the present remain a profound secret; but in the mean time a peace ought to be concluded with as little delay as possible; a result which, it was affirmed, was as heartily desired by philip as it could be by henry. the bishop was soon aware of the impression which his artful suggestions had produced. the cardinal, inspired by the flattery thus freely administered, as well as by the promptings of his own ambition, lent a willing ear to the bishop's plans. thus was laid the foundation of a vast scheme, which time was to complete. a crusade with the whole strength of the french and spanish crowns, was resolved upon against their own subjects. the bishop's task was accomplished. the cardinal returned to france, determined to effect a peace with spain. he was convinced that the glory of his house was to be infinitely enhanced, and its power impregnably established, by a cordial co-operation with philip in his dark schemes against religion and humanity. the negotiations were kept, however, profoundly secret. a new campaign and fresh humiliations were to precede the acceptance by france of the peace which was thus proffered. hostile operations were renewed soon after the interview at peronne. the duke of guise, who had procured five thousand cavalry and fourteen thousand infantry in germany, now, at the desire of the king, undertook an enterprise against thionville, a city of importance and great strength in luxemburg, upon the river moselle. it was defended by peter de quarebbe, a gentleman of louvain, with a garrison of eighteen hundred men. on the th june, thirty-five pieces of artillery commenced the work; the mining and countermining-continuing seventeen days; on the nd the assault was made, and the garrison capitulated immediately afterwards. it was a siege conducted in a regular and business-like way, but the details possess no interest. it was, however, signalized by the death of one of the eminent adventurers of the age, marshal strozzi. this brave, but always unlucky soldier was slain by a musket ball while assisting the duke of guise--whose arm was, at that instant, resting upon his shoulder--to point a gun at the fortress. after the fall of thionville, the due de guise, for a short time, contemplated the siege of the city of luxemburg, but contented himself with the reduction of the unimportant places of vireton and arlon. here he loitered seventeen days, making no exertions to follow up the success which had attended him at the opening of the campaign. the good fortune of the french was now neutralized by the same languor which had marked the movements of philip after the victory of saint quentin. the time, which might have been usefully employed in following up his success, was now wasted by the duke in trivial business, or in absolute torpor. this may have been the result of a treacherous understanding with spain, and the first fruits of the interview at peronne. whatever the cause, however, the immediate consequences were disaster to the french nation, and humiliation to the crown. it had been the plan of the french cabinet that marshal de thermes, who, upon the capture of calais, had been appointed governor of the city, should take advantage of his position as soon as possible. having assembled an army of some eight thousand foot and fifteen hundred horse, partly gascons and partly germans, he was accordingly directed to ravage the neighboring country, particularly the county of saint pol. in the mean time, the due de guise, having reduced the cities on the southern frontier, was to move in a northerly direction, make a junction with the marshal, and thus extend a barrier along the whole frontier of the netherlands. de therlries set forth from calais, in the beginning of june, with his newly-organized army. passing by gravelines and bourbourg, he arrived before dunkerk on the d of july. the city, which was without a garrison, opened negotiations, during the pendency of which it was taken by assault and pillaged. the town of saint winochsberg shared the same fate. de thermes, who was a martyr to the gout, was obliged at this point temporarily to resign the command to d'estonteville, a ferocious soldier, who led the predatory army as far as niewport, burning, killing, ravishing, plundering, as they went. meantime philip, who was at brussels, had directed the duke of savoy to oppose the due de guise with an army which had been hastily collected and organized at maubeuge, in the province of namur. he now desired, if possible, to attack and cut off the forces of de thermes before he should extend the hand to guise, or make good his retreat to calais. flushed with victory over defenceless peasants, laden with the spoils of sacked and burning towns, the army of de thermes was already on its homeward march. it was the moment for a sudden and daring blow. whose arm should deal it? what general in philip's army possessed the requisite promptness, and felicitous audacity; who, but the most brilliant of cavalry officers, the bold and rapid hero of st. quentin? egmont, in obedience to the king's command, threw himself at once into the field. he hastily collected all the available forces in the neighborhood. these, with drafts from the duke of savoy's army, and with detachments under marshal bigonicourt from the garrisons of saint omer, bethune, aire, and bourbourg, soon amounted to ten thousand foot and two thousand horse. his numbers were still further swollen by large bands of peasantry, both men and women, maddened by their recent injuries, and thirsting for vengeance. with these troops the energetic chieftain took up his position directly in the path of the french army. determined to destroy de thermes with all his force, or to sacrifice himself, he posted his army at gravelines, a small town lying near the sea-shore, and about midway between calais and dunkerk. the french general was putting the finishing touch to his expedition by completing the conflagration at dunkerk, and was moving homeward, when he became aware of the lion in his path. although suffering from severe sickness, he mounted his horse and personally conducted his army to gravelines. here he found his progress completely arrested. on that night, which was the th july, he held a council of officers. it was determined to refuse the combat offered, and, if possible, to escape at low tide along the sands toward calais. the next morning he crossed the river aa, below gravelines. egmont, who was not the man, on that occasion at least, to build a golden bridge for a flying enemy, crossed the same stream just above the town, and drew up his whole force in battle array. de thermes could no longer avoid the conflict thus resolutely forced upon him. courage was now his only. counsellor. being not materially outnumbered by his adversaries, he had, at least, an even chance of cutting his way through all obstacles, and of saving his army and his treasure. the sea was on his right hand, the aa behind him, the enemy in front. he piled his baggage and wagons so as to form a barricade upon his left, and placed his artillery, consisting of four culverines and three falconeta, in front. behind these he drew up his cavalry, supported at each side by the gascons, and placed his french and german infantry in the rear. egmont, on the other hand, divided his cavalry into five squadrons. three of light horse were placed in advance for the first assault--the centre commanded by himself, the two wings by count pontenals and henrico henriquez. the black hussars of lazarus schwendi and the flemish gendarmes came next. behind these was the infantry, divided into three nations, spanish, german, and flemish, and respectively commanded by carvajal, monchausen, and bignicourt. egmont, having characteristically selected the post of danger in the very front of battle for himself, could no longer restrain his impatience. "the foe is ours already," he shouted; "follow me, all who love their fatherland:" with that he set spurs to his horse, and having his own regiment well in hand, dashed upon the enemy. the gascons received the charge with coolness, and under cover of a murderous fire from the artillery in front, which mowed down the foremost ranks of their assailants-sustained the whole weight of the first onset without flinching. egmont's horse was shot under him at the commencement of the action. mounting another, he again cheered his cavalry to the attack. the gascons still maintained an unwavering front, and fought with characteristic ferocity. the courage of despair inflamed the french, the hope of a brilliant and conclusive victory excited the spaniards and flemings. it was a wild, hand to hand conflict--general and soldier, cavalier and pikeman, lancer and musketeer, mingled together in one dark, confused, and struggling mass, foot to foot, breast to breast, horse to horse-a fierce, tumultuous battle on the sands, worthy the fitful pencil of the national painter, wouvermans. for a long time it was doubtful on which side victory was to incline, but at last ten english vessels unexpectedly appeared in the offing, and ranging up soon afterwards as close to the share as was possible, opened their fire upon the still unbroken lines of the french. the ships were too distant, the danger of injuring friend as well as foe too imminent, to allow of their exerting any important influence upon the result. the spirit of the enemy was broken, however, by this attack upon their seaward side, which they had thought impregnable. at the same time, too, a detachment of german cavalry which had been directed by egmont to make their way under the downs to the southward, now succeeded in turning their left flank. egmont, profiting by their confusion, charged them again with redoubled vigor. the fate of the day was decided. the french cavalry wavered, broke their ranks, and in their flight carried dismay throughout the whole army. the rout was total; horse and foot; french, gascon, and german fled from the field together. fifteen hundred fell in the action, as many more were driven into the sea, while great numbers were torn to pieces by the exasperated peasants, who now eagerly washed out their recent injuries in the blood of the dispersed, wandering, and wounded soldiers. the army of de thermes was totally destroyed, and with it, the last hope of france for an honorable and equal negotiation. she was now at philip's feet, so that this brilliant cavalry action, although it has been surpassed in importance by many others, in respect to the numbers of the combatants and the principles involved in the contest, was still, in regard to the extent both of its immediate and its permanent results, one of the most decisive and striking which have ever been fought. the french army engaged was annihilated. marshal de thermes, with a wound in the head, senarpont, annibault, villefon, morvilliers, chanlis, and many others of high rank were prisoners. the french monarch had not much heart to set about the organization of another army; a task which he was now compelled to undertake. he was soon obliged to make the best terms which he could, and to consent to a treaty which was one of the most ruinous in the archives of france. the marshal de thermes was severely censured for having remained so long at dunkerk and in its neighborhood. he was condemned still more loudly for not having at least effected his escape beyond gravelines, during the night which preceded the contest. with regard to the last charge, however, it may well be doubted whether any nocturnal attempt would have been likely to escape the vigilance of egmont. with regard to his delay at dunkerk, it was asserted that he had been instructed to await in that place the junction with the due de guise, which had been previously arranged. but for the criminal and, then, inexplicable languor which characterized that commander's movements, after the capture of thionville, the honor of france might still have been saved. whatever might have been the faults of de thermes or of guise, there could be little doubt as to the merit of egmont. thus within eleven months of the battle of saint quentin, had the dutch hero gained another victory so decisive as to settle the fate of the war, and to elevate his sovereign to a position from which he might dictate the terms of a triumphant peace. the opening scenes of philip's reign were rendered as brilliant as the proudest days of the emperor's career, while the provinces were enraptured with the prospect of early peace. to whom, then, was the sacred debt of national and royal gratitude due but to lamoral of egmont? his countrymen gladly recognized the claim. he became the idol of the army; the familiar hero of ballad and story; the mirror of chivalry, and the god of popular worship. throughout the netherlands he was hailed as the right hand of the fatherland, the saviour of flanders from devastation and outrage, the protector of the nation, the pillar of the throne. the victor gained many friends by his victory, and one enemy. the bitterness of that foe was likely, in the future, to outweigh all the plaudits of his friends. the duke of alva had strongly advised against giving battle to de thermes. he depreciated the triumph after it had been gained, by reflections upon the consequences which would have flowed, had a defeat been suffered instead. he even held this language to egmont himself after his return to brussels. the conqueror, flushed with his glory, was not inclined to digest the criticism, nor what he considered the venomous detraction of the duke. more vain and arrogant than ever, he treated his powerful spanish rival with insolence, and answered his observations with angry sarcasms, even in the presence of the king. alva was not likely to forget the altercation, nor to forgive the triumph. there passed, naturally, much bitter censure and retort on both sides at court, between the friends and adherents of egmont and those who sustained the party of his adversary. the battle of gravelines was fought over daily, amid increasing violence and recrimination, between spaniard and fleming, and the old international hatred flamed more fiercely than ever. alva continued to censure the foolhardiness which had risked so valuable an army on a single blow. egmont's friends replied that it was easy for foreigners, who had nothing at risk in the country, to look on while the fields of the netherlands were laid waste, and the homes and hearths of an industrious population made desolate, by a brutal and rapacious soldiery. they who dwelt in the provinces would be ever grateful to their preserver for the result. they had no eyes for the picture which the spanish party painted of an imaginary triumph of de thermos and its effects. however the envious might cavil, now that the blow had been struck, the popular heart remained warm as ever, and refused to throw down the idol which had so recently been set up. - [chapter iii.] secret negotiations for peace--two fresh armies assembled, but inactive--negotiations at cercamp--death of mary tudor--treaty of cateau cambresis--death of henry ii.--policy of catharine de medici --revelations by henry ii. to the prince of orange--funeral of charles v. in brussels--universal joy in the netherlands at the restoration of peace--organization of the government by philip, and preparations for his departure--appointment of margaret of parma as regent of the netherlands--three councils--the consulta--the stadholders of the different provinces--dissatisfaction caused by the foreign troops--assembly of the estates at ghent to receive the parting instructions and farewell of the king--speech of the bishop of arras--request for three millions--fierce denunciation of heresy on the part of philip--strenuous enforcement of the edicts commanded--reply by the states of arthois--unexpected conditions-- rage of the king--similar conduct on the part of the other provinces--remonstrance in the name of states--general against the foreign soldiery--formal reply on the part of the crown--departure of the king from the netherlands--autos--da--fe in spain. the battle of gravelines had decided the question. the intrigues of the two cardinals at peronne having been sustained by egmont's victory, all parties were ready for a peace. king henry was weary of the losing game which he had so long been playing, philip was anxious to relieve himself from his false position, and to concentrate his whole mind and the strength of his kingdom upon his great enemy the netherland heresy, while the duke of savoy felt that the time had at last arrived when an adroit diplomacy might stand him in stead, and place him in the enjoyment of those rights which the sword had taken from him, and which his own sword had done so much towards winning back. the sovereigns were inclined to peace, and as there had never been a national principle or instinct or interest involved in the dispute, it was very certain that peace would be popular every where, upon whatever terms it might be concluded. montmorency and the prince of orange were respectively empowered to open secret negotiations. the constable entered upon the task with alacrity, because he felt that every day of his captivity was alike prejudicial to his own welfare and the interests of his country.--the guises, who had quarrelled with the duchess de valentinois (diane de poitiers), were not yet powerful enough to resist the influence of the mistress; while, rather to baffle them than from any loftier reasons, that interest was exerted in behalf of immediate peace. the cardinal de lorraine had by no means forgotten the eloquent arguments used by the bishop of arras; but his brother, the due de guise, may be supposed to have desired some little opportunity of redeeming the credit of the kingdom, and to have delayed the negotiations until his valor could secure a less inglorious termination to the war. a fresh army had, in fact, been collected under his command, and was already organized at pierrepoint. at the same time, philip had assembled a large force, consisting of thirty thousand foot and fifteen thousand cavalry, with which he had himself taken the field, encamping towards the middle of august upon the banks of the river anthies, near the border of picardy. king henry, on the other hand, had already arrived in the camp at pierrepoint, and had reviewed as imposing an army as had ever been at the disposal of a french monarch. when drawn up in battle array it covered a league and a half of ground, while three hours were required to make its circuit on horseback. all this martial display was only for effect. the two kings, at the head of their great armies, stood looking at each other while the negotiations for, peace were proceeding. an unimportant skirmish or two at the out-posts, unattended with loss of life, were the only military results of these great preparations. early in the autumn, all the troops were disbanded, while the commissioners of both crowns met in open congress at the abbey of cercamp, near cambray, by the middle of october. the envoys on the part of philip were the prince of orange, the duke of alva, the bishop of arras, ruy gomez de silva, the president viglius; on that of the french monarch, the constable, the marshal de saint andre, the cardinal de lorraine, the bishop of orleans, and claude l'aubespine. there were also envoys sent by the queen of england, but as the dispute concerning calais was found to hamper the negotiations at cercamp, the english question was left to be settled by another congress, and was kept entirely separate from the arrangements concluded between france and spain. the death of queen mary, on the th november, caused a temporary suspension of the proceedings. after the widower, however, had made a fruitless effort to obtain the hand of her successor, and had been unequivocally repulsed, the commissioners again met in february, , at cateau cambresis. the english difficulty was now arranged by separate commissioners, and on the third of april a treaty between france and spain was concluded. by this important convention, both kings bound themselves to maintain the catholic worship inviolate by all means in their power, and agreed that an oecumenical council should at once assemble, to compose the religious differences, and to extinguish the increasing heresy in both kingdoms. furthermore, it was arranged that the conquests made by each country during the preceding eight years should be restored. thus all the gains of francis and henry were annulled by a single word, and the duke of savoy converted, by a dash of the pen, from a landless soldier of fortune into a sovereign again. he was to receive back all his estates, and was moreover to marry henry's sister margaret, with a dowry of three hundred thousand crowns. philip, on the other hand, now a second time a widower, was to espouse henry's daughter isabella, already betrothed to the infant don carlos, and to receive with her a dowry of four hundred thousand crowns. the restitutions were to be commenced by henry, and to be completed within three months. philip was to restore his conquests in the course of a month afterwards. most of the powers of europe were included by both parties in this treaty: the pope, the emperor, all the electors, the republics of venice, genoa and switzerland, the kingdoms of england, scotland, poland, denmark, sweden; the duchies of ferrara, savoy and parma, besides other inferior principalities. nearly all christendom, in short, was embraced in this most amicable compact, as if philip were determined that, henceforth and forever, calvinists and mahometans, turks and flemings, should be his only enemies. the king of france was to select four hostages from among philip's subjects, to accompany him to paris as pledges for the execution of all the terms of the treaty. the royal choice fell upon the prince of orange, the duke of alva, the duke of aerschot, and the count of egmont. such was the treaty of cateau cambresis. thus was a termination put to a war between france and spain, which had been so wantonly undertaken. marshal monluc wrote that a treaty so disgraceful and disastrous had never before been ratified by a french monarch. it would have been difficult to point to any one more unfortunate upon her previous annals; if any treaty can be called unfortunate, by which justice is done and wrongs repaired, even under coercion. the accumulated plunder of years, which was now disgorged by france, was equal in value to one third of that kingdom. one hundred and ninety-eight fortified towns were surrendered, making, with other places of greater or less importance, a total estimated by some writers as high as four hundred. the principal gainer was the duke of savoy, who, after so many years of knight-errantry, had regained his duchy, and found himself the brother-in-law of his ancient enemy. the well-known tragedy by which the solemnities of this pacification were abruptly concluded in paris, bore with it an impressive moral. the monarch who, in violation of his plighted word and against the interests of his nation and the world, had entered precipitately into a causeless war, now lost his life in fictitious combat at the celebration of peace. on the tenth of july, henry the second died of the wound inflicted by montgomery in the tournament held eleven days before. of this weak and worthless prince, all that even his flatterers could favorably urge was his great fondness for war, as if a sanguinary propensity, even when unaccompanied by a spark of military talent, were of itself a virtue. yet, with his death the kingdom fell even into more pernicious hands, and the fate of christendom grew darker than ever. the dynasty of diane de poitiers was succeeded by that of catharine de medici; the courtesan gave place to the dowager; and france during the long and miserable period in which she lay bleeding in the grasp of the italian she-wolf and her litter of cowardly and sanguinary princes--might even lament the days of henry and his diana. charles the ninth, henry the third, francis of alencon, last of the valois race--how large a portion of the fearful debt which has not yet been discharged by half a century of revolution and massacre was of their accumulation. the duchess of valentinois had quarrelled latterly with the house of guise, and was disposed to favor montmorency. the king, who was but a tool in her hands, might possibly have been induced, had he lived, to regard coligny and his friends with less aversion. this is, however, extremely problematical, for it was henry the second who had concluded that memorable arrangement with his royal brother of spain, to arrange for the huguenot chiefs throughout both realms, a "sicilian vespers," upon the first favorable occasion. his death and the subsequent policy of the queen-regent deferred the execution of the great scheme till fourteen years later. henry had lived long enough, however, after the conclusion of the secret agreement to reveal it to one whose life was to be employed in thwarting this foul conspiracy of monarchs against their subjects. william of orange, then a hostage for the execution of the treaty of cateau cambresis, was the man with whom the king had the unfortunate conception to confer on the subject of the plot. the prince, who had already gained the esteem of charles the fifth by his habitual discretion, knew how to profit by the intelligence and to bide his time; but his hostility to the policy of the french and spanish courts was perhaps dated from that hour. pending the peace negotiations, philip had been called upon to mourn for his wife and father. he did not affect grief for the death of mary tudor, but he honored the emperor's departure with stately obsequies at brussels. the ceremonies lasted two days (the th and th december, ). in the grand and elaborate procession which swept through the streets upon the first day, the most conspicuous object was a ship floating apparently upon the waves, and drawn by a band of tritons who disported at the bows. the masts, shrouds, and sails of the vessel were black, it was covered with heraldic achievements, banners and emblematic mementos of the emperor's various expeditions, while the flags of turks and moors trailed from her sides in the waves below. three allegorical personages composed the crew. hope, "all clothyd in brown, with anker in hand," stood at the prow; faith, with sacramental chalice and red cross, clad in white garment, with her face nailed "with white tiffany," sat on a "stool of estate" before the mizen-mast; while charity "in red, holding in her hand a burning heart," was at the helm to navigate the vessel. hope, faith, and love were thought the most appropriate symbols for the man who had invented the edicts, introduced the inquisition, and whose last words, inscribed by a hand already trembling with death, had adjured his son, by his love, allegiance, and hope of salvation, to deal to all heretics the extreme rigor of the law, "without respect of persons and without regard to any plea in their favor." the rest of the procession, in which marched the duke of alva, the prince of orange, and other great personages, carrying the sword, the globe, the sceptre, and the "crown imperial," contained no emblems or imagery worthy of being recorded. the next day the king, dressed in mourning and attended by a solemn train of high officers and nobles, went again to the church. a contemporary letter mentions a somewhat singular incident as forming the concluding part of the ceremony. "and the service being done," wrote sir richard clough to sir thomas gresham, "there went a nobleman into the herse (so far as i codde understande, it was the prince of orange), who, standing before the herse, struck with his hand upon the chest and sayd, 'he is ded.' then standing styli awhile, he sayd, 'he shall remayn ded.' and 'then resting awhile, he struck again and sayd, 'he is ded, and there is another rysen up in his place greater than ever he was.' whereupon the kynge's hoode was taken off and the kynge went home without his hoode." if the mourning for the dead emperor was but a mummery and a masquerade, there was, however, heartiness and sincerity in the rejoicing which now burst forth like a sudden illumination throughout the netherlands, upon the advent of peace. all was joy in the provinces, but at antwerp, the metropolis of the land, the enthusiasm was unbounded. nine days were devoted to festivities. bells rang their merriest peals, artillery thundered, beacons blazed, the splendid cathedral spire flamed nightly with three hundred burning cresaets, the city was strewn with flowers and decorated with triumphal arches, the guilds of rhetoric amazed the world with their gorgeous processions, glittering dresses and bombastic versification, the burghers all, from highest to humblest, were feasted and made merry, wine flowed in the streets and oxen were roasted whole, prizes on poles were climbed for, pigs were hunted blindfold, men and women raced in sacks, and in short, for nine days long there was one universal and spontaneous demonstration of hilarity in antwerp and throughout the provinces. but with this merry humor of his subjects, the sovereign had but little sympathy. there was nothing in his character or purposes which owed affinity with any mood of this jocund and energetic people. philip had not made peace with all the world that the netherlanders might climb on poles or ring bells, or strew flowers in his path for a little holiday time, and then return to their industrious avocations again. he had made peace with all the world that he might be free to combat heresy; and this arch enemy had taken up its strong hold in the provinces. the treaty of cateau cambresis left him at liberty to devote himself to that great enterprise. he had never loved the netherlands, a residence in these constitutional provinces was extremely irksome to him, and he was therefore anxious to return to spain. from the depths of his cabinet he felt that he should be able to direct the enterprise he was resolved upon, and that his presence in the netherlands would be superfluous and disagreeable. the early part of the year was spent by philip in organizing the government of the provinces and in making the necessary preparations for his departure. the duke of savoy, being restored to his duchy, had, of course, no more leisure to act as regent of the netherlands, and it was necessary, therefore, to fix upon his successor in this important post, at once. there were several candidates. the duchess christina of lorraine had received many half promises of the appointment, which she was most anxious to secure; the emperor was even said to desire the nomination of the archduke maximilian, a step which would have certainly argued more magnanimity upon philip's part than the world could give him credit for; and besides these regal personages, the high nobles of the land, especially orange and egmont, had hopes of obtaining the dignity. the prince of orange, however, was too sagacious to deceive himself long, and became satisfied very soon that no netherlander was likely to be selected for regent. he therefore threw his influence in favor of the duchess christina, whose daughter, at the suggestion of the bishop of arras, he was desirous of obtaining in marriage. the king favored for a time, or pretended to favor, both the appointment of madame de lorraine and the marriage project of the prince. afterwards, however, and in a manner which was accounted both sudden and mysterious, it appeared that the duchess and orange had both been deceived, and that the king and bishop had decided in favor of another candidate, whose claims had not been considered, before, very prominent. this was the duchess margaret of parma, natural daughter of charles the fifth. a brief sketch of this important personage, so far as regards her previous career, is reserved for the following chapter. for the present it is sufficient to state the fact of the nomination. in order to afford a full view of philip's political arrangements before his final departure from the netherlands, we defer until the same chapter, an account of the persons who composed the boards of council organized to assist the new regent in the government. these bodies themselves were three in number: a state and privy council and one of finance. they were not new institutions, having been originally established by the emperor, and were now arranged by his successor upon the same nominal basis upon which they had before existed. the finance council, which had superintendence of all matters relating to the royal domains and to the annual budgets of the government, was presided over by baron berlaymont. the privy council, of which viglius was president, was composed of ten or twelve learned doctors, and was especially entrusted with the control of matters relating to law, pardons, and the general administration of justice. the state council, which was far the most important of the three boards, was to superintend all high affairs of government, war, treaties, foreign intercourse, internal and interprovincial affairs. the members of this council were the bishop of arras, viglius, berlaymont, the prince of orange, count egmont, to which number were afterwards added the seigneur de glayon, the duke of aerschot, and count horn. the last-named nobleman, who was admiral of the provinces, had, for the, present, been appointed to accompany the king to spain, there to be specially entrusted with the administration of affairs relating to the netherlands. he was destined, however, to return at the expiration of two years. with the object, as it was thought, of curbing the power of the great nobles, it had been arranged that the three councils should be entirely distinct from each other, that the members of the state council should have no participation in the affairs of the two other bodies; but, on the other hand, that the finance and privy councillors, as well as the knights of the fleece, should have access to the deliberations of the state council. in the course of events, however, it soon became evident that the real power of the government was exclusively in the hands of the consulta, a committee of three members of the state council, by whose deliberations the regent was secretly instructed to be guided on all important occasions. the three, viglius, berlaymont, and arras, who composed the secret conclave or cabinet, were in reality but one. the bishop of arras was in all three, and the three together constituted only the bishop of arras. there was no especial governor or stadholder appointed for the province of brabant, where the regent was to reside and to exercise executive functions in person. the stadholders for the other provinces were, for flanders and artois, the count of egmont; for holland, zeeland, and utrecht, the prince of orange; for gueldres and zutfen, the count of meghen; for friesland, groningen and overyssel, count aremberg; for hainault, valenciennes and cambray, the marquis of berghen; for tournay and tournaisis, baron montigny; for namur, baron berlaymont; for luxemburg, count mansfeld; for ryssel, douay and orchies, the baron coureires. all these stadholders were commanders-in-chief of the military forces in their respective provinces. with the single exception of count egmont, in whose province of flanders the stadholders were excluded from the administration of justice,--all were likewise supreme judges in the civil and criminal tribunal. the military force of the netherlands in time of peace was small, for the provinces were jealous of the presence of soldiery. the only standing army which then legally existed in the netherlands were the bandes d'ordonnance, a body of mounted gendarmerie--amounting in all to three thousand men--which ranked among the most accomplished and best disciplined cavalry of europe. they were divided into fourteen squadrons, each under the command of a stadholder, or of a distinguished noble. besides these troops, however, there still remained in the provinces a foreign force amounting in the aggregate to four thousand men. these soldiers were the remainder of those large bodies which year after year had been quartered upon the netherlands during the constant warfare to which they had been exposed. living upon the substance of the country, paid out of its treasury, and as offensive by their licentious and ribald habits of life as were the enemies against whom they were enrolled, these troops had become an intolerable burthen to the people. they were now disposed in different garrisons, nominally to protect the frontier. as a firm peace, however, had now been concluded between spain and france, and as there was no pretext for compelling the provinces to accept this protection, the presence of a foreign soldiery strengthened a suspicion that they were to be used in the onslaught which was preparing against the religious freedom and the political privileges of the country. they were to be the nucleus of a larger army, it was believed, by which the land was to be reduced to a state of servile subjection to spain. a low, constant, but generally unheeded murmur of dissatisfaction and distrust upon this subject was already perceptible throughout the netherlands; a warning presage of the coming storm. all the provinces were now convoked for the th of august ( ), at ghent, there to receive the parting communication and farewell of the king. previously to this day, however, philip appeared in person upon several solemn occasions, to impress upon the country the necessity of attending to the great subject with which his mind was exclusively occupied. he came before the great council of mechlin, in order to address that body with his own lips upon the necessity of supporting the edicts to the letter, and of trampling out every vestige of heresy, wherever it should appear, by the immediate immolation of all heretics, whoever they might be. he likewise caused the estates of flanders to be privately assembled, that he might harangue them upon the same great topic. in the latter part of july he proceeded to ghent, where a great concourse of nobles, citizens, and strangers had already assembled. here, in the last week of the month, the twenty-third chapter of the golden fleece was held with much pomp, and with festivities which lasted three days. the fourteen vacancies which existed were filled with the names of various distinguished personages. with this last celebration the public history of philip the good's ostentatious and ambitious order of knighthood was closed. the subsequent nominations were made 'ex indultu apostolico', and without the assembling of a chapter. the estates having duly assembled upon the day prescribed, philip, attended by margaret of parma, the duke of savoy, and a stately retinue of ambassadors and grandees, made his appearance before them. after the customary ceremonies had been performed, the bishop of arras arose and delivered, in the name of his sovereign, an elaborate address of instructions and farewells. in this important harangue, the states were informed that the king had convened them in order that they might be informed of his intention of leaving the netherlands immediately. he would gladly have remained longer in his beloved provinces, had not circumstances compelled his departure. his father had come hither for the good of the country in the year , and had never returned to spain, except to die. upon the king's accession to the sovereignty he had arranged a truce of five years, which had been broken through by the faithlessness of france. he had, therefore, been obliged, notwithstanding his anxiety to return to a country where his presence was so much needed, to remain in the provinces till he had conducted the new war to a triumphant close. in doing this he had been solely governed by his intense love for the netherlands, and by his regard for their interests. all the money which he had raised from their coffers had been spent for their protection. upon this account his majesty expressed his confidence that the estates would pay an earnest attention to the "request" which had been laid before them, the more so, as its amount, three millions of gold florins, would all be expended for the good of the provinces. after his return to spain he hoped to be able to make a remittance. the duke of savoy, he continued, being obliged, in consequence of the fortunate change in his affairs, to resign the government of the netherlands, and his own son, don carlos, not yet being sufficiently advanced in years to succeed to that important post, his majesty had selected his sister, the duchess margaret of parma, daughter of the emperor, as the most proper person for regent. as she had been born in the netherlands, and had always entertained a profound affection for the provinces, he felt a firm confidence that she would prove faithful both to their interests and his own. as at this moment many countries, and particularly the lands in the immediate neighborhood, were greatly infested by various "new, reprobate, and damnable sects;" as these sects, proceeding from the foul fiend, father of discord, had not failed to keep those kingdoms in perpetual dissension and misery, to the manifest displeasure of god almighty; as his majesty was desirous to avert such terrible evils from his own realms, according to his duty to the lord god, who would demand reckoning from him hereafter for the well-being of the provinces; as all experience proved that change of religion ever brought desolation and confusion to the commonweal; as low persons, beggars and vagabonds, under color of religion, were accustomed to traverse the land for the purpose of plunder and disturbance; as his majesty was most desirous of following in the footsteps of his lord and father; as it would be well remembered what the emperor had said to him upon the memorable occasion of his abdication; therefore his majesty had commanded the regent margaret of parma, for the sake of religion and the glory of god, accurately and exactly to cause to be enforced the edicts and decrees made by his imperial majesty, and renewed by his present majesty, for the extirpation of all sects and heresies. all governors, councillors, and others having authority, were also instructed to do their utmost to accomplish this great end. the great object of the discourse was thus announced in the most impressive manner, and with all that conventional rhetoric of which the bishop of arras was considered a consummate master. not a word was said on the subject which was nearest the hearts of the netherlanders--the withdrawal of the spanish troops. [bentivoglio. guerra di fiandra, i. (opere, parigi, ), gives a different report, which ends with a distinct promise on the part of the king to dismiss the troops as soon as possible: "--in segno di the spetialmente havrebbe quanto prima, a fatti uscire i presidij stranieri dalle fortezze a levata ogn' insolita contributione al paese." it is almost superfluous to state that the cardinal is no authority for speeches, except, indeed, for those which were never made. long orations by generals upon the battle-field, by royal personages in their cabinets, by conspirators in secret conclave, are reported by him with muck minuteness, and none can gainsay the accuracy with which these harangues, which never had any existence, except in the author's imagination, are placed before the reader. bentivoglio's stately and graceful style, elegant descriptions, and general acquaintance with his subject will always make his works attractive, but the classic and conventional system of inventing long speeches for historical characters has fortunately gone out of fashion. it is very interesting to know what an important personage really did say or write upon remarkable occasions; but it is less instructive to be told what the historian thinks might have been a good speech or epistle for him to utter or indito.] not a hint was held out that a reduction of the taxation, under which the provinces had so long been groaning, was likely to take place; but, on the contrary, the king had demanded a new levy of considerable amount. a few well-turned paragraphs were added on the subject of the administration of justice--"without which the republic was a dead body without a soul"--in the bishop's most approved style, and the discourse concluded with a fervent exhortation to the provinces to trample heresy and heretics out of existence, and with the hope that the lord god, in such case, would bestow upon the netherlands health and happiness. after the address had been concluded, the deputies, according to ancient form, requested permission to adjourn, that the representatives of each province might deliberate among themselves on the point of granting or withholding the request for the three millions. on the following day they again assembled in the presence of the king, for the purpose of returning their separate answers to the propositions. the address first read was that of the estates of artois. the chairman of the deputies from that province read a series of resolutions, drawn up, says a contemporary, "with that elegance which characterized all the public acts of the artesians; bearing witness to the vivacity of their wits." the deputies spoke of the extreme affection which their province had always borne to his majesty and to the emperor. they had proved it by the constancy with which they had endured the calamities of war so long, and they now cheerfully consented to the request, so far as their contingent went. they were willing to place at his majesty's disposal, not only the remains of their property, but even the last drop of their blood. as the eloquent chairman reached this point in his discourse, philip, who was standing with his arm resting upon egmont's shoulder, listening eagerly to the artesian address, looked upon the deputies of the province with a smiling face, expressing by the unwonted benignity of his countenance the satisfaction which he received from these loyal expressions of affection, and this dutiful compliance with his request. the deputy, however, proceeded to an unexpected conclusion, by earnestly entreating his majesty, as a compensation for the readiness thus evinced in the royal service, forthwith to order the departure of all foreign troops then in the netherlands. their presence, it was added, was now rendered completely superfluous by the ratification of the treaty of peace so fortunately arranged with all the world. at this sudden change in the deputy's language, the king, no longer smiling, threw himself violently upon his chair of state, where he remained, brooding with a gloomy countenance upon the language which had been addressed to him. it was evident, said an eye-witness, that he was deeply offended. he changed color frequently, so that all present "could remark, from the working of his face, how much his mind was agitated." the rest of the provinces were even more explicit than the deputies of artois. all had voted their contingents to the request, but all had made the withdrawal of the troops an express antecedent condition to the payment of their respective quotas. the king did not affect to conceal his rage at these conditions, exclaiming bitterly to count egmont and other seignors near the throne that it was very easy to estimate, by these proceedings, the value of the protestations made by the provinces of their loyalty and affection. besides, however, the answers thus addressed by the separate states to the royal address, a formal remonstrance had also been drawn up in the name of the states general, and signed by the prince of orange, count egmont, and many of the leading patricians of the netherlands. this document, which was formally presented to the king before the adjournment of the assembly, represented the infamous "pillaging, insults, and disorders" daily exercised by the foreign soldiery; stating that the burthen had become intolerable, and that the inhabitants of marienburg, and of many other large towns and villages had absolutely abandoned their homes rather than remain any longer exposed to such insolence and oppression. the king, already enraged, was furious at the presentation of this petition. he arose from his seat, and rushed impetuously from the assembly, demanding of the members as he went, whether he too, as a spaniard, was expected immediately to leave the land, and to resign all authority over it. the duke of savoy made use of this last occasion in which he appeared in public as regent, violently to rebuke the estates for the indignity thus offered to their sovereign. it could not be forgotten, however, by nobles and burghers, who had not yet been crushed by the long course of oppression which was in store for them, that there had been a day when philip's ancestors had been more humble in their deportment in the face of the provincial authorities. his great-grandfather, maximilian, kept in durance by the citizens of bruges; his great-grandmother, mary of burgundy, with streaming eyes and dishevelled hair, supplicating in the market-place for the lives of her treacherous ambassadors, were wont to hold a less imperious language to the delegates of the states. this burst of ill temper on the part of the monarch was, however, succeeded by a different humor. it was still thought advisable to dissemble, and to return rather an expostulatory than a peremptory answer to the remonstrance of the states general. accordingly a paper of a singular tone was, after the delay of a few days, sent into the assembly. in this message it was stated that the king was not desirous of placing strangers in the government--a fact which was proved by the appointment of the duchess margaret; that the spanish infantry was necessary to protect the land from invasion; that the remnant of foreign troops only amounted to three or four thousand men, who claimed considerable arrears of pay, but that the amount due would be forwarded to them immediately after his majesty's return to spain. it was suggested that the troops would serve as an escort for don carlos when he should arrive in the netherlands, although the king would have been glad to carry them to spain in his fleet, had he known the wishes of the estates in time. he would, however, pay for their support himself, although they were to act solely for the good of the provinces. he observed, moreover, that he had selected two seignors of the provinces, the prince of orange and count egmont, to take command of these foreign troops, and he promised faithfully that, in the course of three or four months at furthest, they should all be withdrawn. on the same day in which the estates had assembled at ghent, philip had addressed an elaborate letter to the grand council of mechlin, the supreme court of the provinces, and to the various provincial councils and tribunals of the whole country. the object of the communication was to give his final orders on the subject of the edicts, and for the execution of all heretics in the most universal and summary manner. he gave stringent and unequivocal instructions that these decrees for burning, strangling, and burying alive, should be fulfilled to the letter. he ordered all judicial officers and magistrates "to be curious to enquire on all sides as to the execution of the placards," stating his intention that "the utmost rigor should be employed without any respect of persons," and that not only the transgressors should be proceeded against, but also the judges who should prove remiss in their prosecution of heretics. he alluded to a false opinion which had gained currency that the edicts were only intended against anabaptists. correcting this error, he stated that they were to be "enforced against all sectaries, without any distinction or mercy, who might be spotted merely with the errors introduced by luther." the king, notwithstanding the violent scenes in the assembly, took leave of the estates at another meeting with apparent cordiality. his dissatisfaction was sufficiently manifest, but it expressed itself principally against individuals. his displeasure at the course pursued by the leading nobles, particularly by the prince of orange, was already no secret. philip, soon after the adjournment of the assembly, had completed the preparations for his departure. at middelburg he was met by the agreeable intelligence that the pope had consented to issue a bull for the creation of the new bishoprics which he desired for the netherlands.--this important subject will be resumed in another chapter; for the present we accompany the king to flushing, whence the fleet was to set sail for spain. he was escorted thither by the duchess regent, the duke of savoy, and by many of the most eminent personages of the provinces. among others william of orange was in attendance to witness the final departure of the king, and to pay him his farewell respects. as philip was proceeding on board the ship which was to bear him forever from the netherlands, his eyes lighted upon the prince. his displeasure could no longer be restrained. with angry face he turned upon him, and bitterly reproached him for having thwarted all his plans by means of his secret intrigues. william replied with humility that every thing which had taken place had been done through the regular and natural movements of the states. upon this the king, boiling with rage, seized the prince by the wrist, and shaking it violently, exclaimed in spanish, "no los estados, ma vos, vos, vos!--not the estates, but you, you, you!" repeating thrice the word vos, which is as disrespectful and uncourteous in spanish as "toi" in french. after this severe and public insult, the prince of orange did not go on board his majesty's vessel, but contented himself with wishing philip, from the shore, a fortunate journey. it may be doubted, moreover, whether he would not have made a sudden and compulsory voyage to spain had he ventured his person in the ship, and whether, under the circumstances, he would have been likely to effect as speedy a return. his caution served him then as it was destined to do on many future occasions, and philip left the netherlands with this parting explosion of hatred against the man who, as he perhaps instinctively felt, was destined to circumvent his measures and resist his tyranny to the last. the fleet, which consisted of ninety vessels, so well provisioned that, among other matters, fifteen thousand capons were put on board, according to the antwerp chronicler, set sail upon the th august ( ), from flushing. the voyage proved tempestuous, so that much of the rich tapestry and other merchandise which had been accumulated by charles and philip was lost. some of the vessels foundered; to save others it was necessary to lighten the cargo, and "to enrobe the roaring waters with the silks," for which the netherlands were so famous; so that it was said that philip and his father had impoverished the earth only to enrich the ocean. the fleet had been laden with much valuable property, because the king had determined to fix for the future the wandering capital of his dominions in spain. philip landed in safety, however, at laredo, on the th september. his escape from imminent peril confirmed him in the great purpose to which he had consecrated his existence. he believed himself to have been reserved from shipwreck only because a mighty mission had been confided to him, and lest his enthusiasm against heresy should languish, his eyes were soon feasted, upon his arrival in his native country, with the spectacle of an auto-da fe. early in january of this year the king being persuaded that it was necessary every where to use additional means to check the alarming spread of lutheran opinions, had written to the pope for authority to increase, if that were possible, the stringency of the spanish inquisition. the pontiff, nothing loath, had accordingly issued a bull directed to the inquisitor general, valdez, by which he was instructed to consign to the flames all prisoners whatever, even those who were not accused of having "relapsed." great preparations had been made to strike terror into the hearts of heretics by a series of horrible exhibitions, in the course of which the numerous victims, many of them persons of high rank, distinguished learning, and exemplary lives, who had long been languishing in the dungeons of the holy office, were to be consigned to the flames. the first auto-da fe had been consummated at valladolid on the st may ( ), in the absence of the king, of course, but in the presence of the royal family and the principal notabilities, civil, ecclesiastical, and military. the princess regent, seated on her throne, close to the scaffold, had held on high the holy sword. the archbishop of seville, followed by the ministers of the inquisition and by the victims, had arrived in solemn procession at the "cadahalso," where, after the usual sermon in praise of the holy office and in denunciation of heresy, he had administered the oath to the intante, who had duly sworn upon the crucifix to maintain forever the sacred inquisition and the apostolic decrees. the archbishop had then cried aloud, "so may god prosper your highnesses and your estates;" after which the men and women who formed the object of the show had been cast into the flames.--[cabrera]. it being afterwards ascertained that the king himself would soon be enabled to return to spain, the next festival was reserved as a fitting celebration for his arrival. upon the th october, accordingly, another auto-da fe took place at valladolid. the king, with his sister and his son, the high officers of state, the foreign ministers, and all the nobility of the kingdom, were present, together with an immense concourse of soldiery, clergy, and populace. the sermon was preached by the bishop of cuenga. when it was finished, inquisitor general valdez cried with a loud voice, "oh god, make speed to help us!" the king then drew his sword. valdez, advancing to the platform upon which philip was seated, proceeded to read the protestation: "your majesty swears by the cross of the sword, whereon your royal hand reposes, that you will give all necessary favor to the holy office of the inquisition against heretics, apostates, and those who favor them, and will denounce and inform against all those who, to your royal knowledge, shall act or speak against the faith." the king answered aloud, "i swear it," and signed the paper. the oath was read to the whole assembly by an officer of the inquisition. thirteen distinguished victims were then burned before the monarch's eyes, besides one body which a friendly death had snatched from the hands of the holy office, and the effigy of another person who had been condemned, although not yet tried or even apprehended. among the sufferers was carlos de sessa, a young noble of distinguished character and abilities, who said to the king as he passed by the throne to the stake, "how can you thus look on and permit me to be burned?" philip then made the memorable reply, carefully recorded by his historiographer and panegyrist; "i would carry the wood to burn my own son withal, were he as wicked as you." in seville, immediately afterwards, another auto-da fe was held, in which fifty living heretics were burned, besides the bones of doctor constantine ponce de la fuente, once the friend, chaplain, and almoner of philip's father. this learned and distinguished ecclesiastic had been released from a dreadful dungeon by a fortunate fever. the holy office, however, not content with punishing his corpse, wreaked also an impotent and ludicrous malice upon his effigy. a stuffed figure, attired in his robes and with its arms extended in the attitude which was habitual with him in prayer, was placed upon the scaffold among the living victims, and then cast into the flames, that bigotry might enjoy a fantastic triumph over the grave. such were the religious ceremonies with which philip celebrated his escape from shipwreck, and his marriage with isabella of france, immediately afterwards solemnized. these human victims, chained and burning at the stake, were the blazing torches which lighted the monarch to his nuptial couch. etext editor's bookmarks: consign to the flames all prisoners whatever (papal letter) courage of despair inflamed the french decrees for burning, strangling, and burying alive i would carry the wood to burn my own son withal inventing long speeches for historical characters let us fool these poor creatures to their heart's content petty passion for contemptible details promises which he knew to be binding only upon the weak rashness alternating with hesitation these human victims, chained and burning at the stake motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. administration of the duchess margaret. - [chapter i.] biographical sketch and portrait of margaret of parma--the state council--berlaymont--viglius--sketch of william the silent--portrait of antony perrenot, afterwards cardinal granvelle--general view of the political, social and religious condition of the netherlands-- habits of the aristocracy--emulation in extravagance--pecuniary embarrassments--sympathy for the reformation, steadily increasing among the people, the true cause of the impending revolt--measures of the government.--edict of described--papal bulls granted to philip for increasing the number of bishops in the netherlands-- necessity for retaining the spanish troops to enforce the policy of persecution. margaret of parma, newly appointed regent of the netherlands, was the natural daughter of charles the fifth, and his eldest born child. her mother, of a respectable family called van der genst, in oudenarde, had been adopted and brought up by the distinguished house of hoogstraaten. peculiar circumstances, not necessary to relate at length, had palliated the fault to which margaret owed her imperial origin, and gave the child almost a legitimate claim upon its father's protection. the claim was honorably acknowledged. margaret was in her infancy placed by the emperor in the charge of his paternal aunt, margaret of savoy, then regent of the provinces. upon the death of that princess, the child was entrusted to the care of the emperor's sister, mary, queen dowager of hungary, who had succeeded to the government, and who occupied it until the abdication. the huntress-queen communicated her tastes to her youthful niece, and margaret soon outrivalled her instructress. the ardor with which she pursued the stag, and the courageous horsemanship which she always displayed, proved her, too, no degenerate descendant of mary of burgundy. her education for the distinguished position in which she had somewhat surreptitiously been placed was at least not neglected in this particular. when, soon after the memorable sack of rome, the pope and the emperor had been reconciled, and it had been decided that the medici family should be elevated upon the ruins of florentine liberty, margaret's hand was conferred in marriage upon the pontiff's nephew alexander. the wretched profligate who was thus selected to mate with the emperor's eldest born child and to appropriate the fair demesnes of the tuscan republic was nominally the offspring of lorenzo de medici by a moorish slave, although generally reputed a bastard of the pope himself. the nuptials were celebrated with great pomp at naples, where the emperor rode at the tournament in the guise of a moorish warrior. at florence splendid festivities had also been held, which were troubled with omens believed to be highly unfavorable. it hardly needed, however, preternatural appearances in heaven or on earth to proclaim the marriage ill-starred which united a child of twelve years with a worn-out debauchee of twenty-seven. fortunately for margaret, the funereal portents proved true. her husband, within the first year of their wedded life, fell a victim to his own profligacy, and was assassinated by his kinsman, lorenzino de medici. cosmo, his successor in the tyranny of florence, was desirous of succeeding to the hand of margaret, but the politic emperor, thinking that he had already done enough to conciliate that house, was inclined to bind to his interests the family which now occupied the papal throne. margaret was accordingly a few years afterwards united to ottavio farnese, nephew of paul the third. it was still her fate to be unequally matched. having while still a child been wedded to a man of more than twice her years, she was now, at the age of twenty, united to an immature youth of thirteen. she conceived so strong an aversion to her new husband, that it became impossible for them to live together in peace. ottavio accordingly went to the wars, and in accompanied the emperor in his memorable expedition to barbary. rumors of disaster by battle and tempest reaching europe before the results of the expedition were accurately known, reports that the emperor had been lost in a storm, and that the young ottavio had perished with him, awakened remorse in the bosom of margaret. it seemed to her that he had been driven forth by domestic inclemency to fall a victim to the elements. when, however, the truth became known, and it was ascertained that her husband, although still living, was lying dangerously ill in the charge of the emperor, the repugnance which had been founded upon his extreme youth changed to passionate fondness. his absence, and his faithful military attendance upon her father, caused a revulsion in her feelings, and awakened her admiration. when ottavio, now created duke of parma and piacenza, returned to rome, he was received by his wife with open arms. their union was soon blessed with twins, and but for a certain imperiousness of disposition which margaret had inherited from her father, and which she was too apt to exercise even upon her husband, the marriage would have been sufficiently fortunate. various considerations pointed her out to philip as a suitable person for the office of regent, although there seemed some mystery about the appointment which demanded explanation. it was thought that her birth would make her acceptable to the people; but perhaps, the secret reason with philip was, that she alone of all other candidates would be amenable to the control of the churchman in whose hand he intended placing the real administration of the provinces. moreover, her husband was very desirous that the citadel of piacenza, still garrisoned by spanish troops, should be surrendered to him. philip was disposed to conciliate the duke, but unwilling to give up the fortress. he felt that ottavio would be flattered by the nomination of his wife to so important an office, and be not too much dissatisfied at finding himself relieved for a time from her imperious fondness. her residence in the netherlands would guarantee domestic tranquillity to her husband, and peace in italy to the king. margaret would be a hostage for the fidelity of the duke, who had, moreover, given his eldest son to philip to be educated in his service. she was about thirty-seven years of age when she arrived in the netherlands, with the reputation of possessing high talents, and a proud and energetic character. she was an enthusiastic catholic, and had sat at the feet of loyola, who had been her confessor and spiritual guide. she felt a greater horror for heretics than for any other species of malefactors, and looked up to her father's bloody edicts as if they had been special revelations from on high. she was most strenuous in her observance of roman rites, and was accustomed to wash the feet of twelve virgins every holy week, and to endow them in marriage afterwards.--her acquirements, save that of the art of horsemanship, were not remarkable. carefully educated in the machiavellian and medicean school of politics, she was versed in that "dissimulation," to which liberal anglo-saxons give a shorter name, but which formed the main substance of statesmanship at the court of charles and philip. in other respects her accomplishments were but meagre, and she had little acquaintance with any language but italian. her personal appearance, which was masculine, but not without a certain grand and imperial fascination, harmonized with the opinion generally entertained of her character. the famous moustache upon her upper lips was supposed to indicate authority and virility of purpose, an impression which was confirmed by the circumstance that she was liable to severe attacks of gout, a disorder usually considered more appropriate to the sterner sex. such were the previous career and public reputation of the duchess margaret. it remains to be unfolded whether her character and endowments, as exemplified in her new position, were to justify the choice of philip. the members of the state council, as already observed, were berlaymont, viglius, arras, orange, and egmont. the first was, likewise, chief of the finance department. most of the catholic writers described him as a noble of loyal and highly honorable character. those of the protestant party, on the contrary, uniformly denounced him as greedy, avaricious, and extremely sanguinary. that he was a brave and devoted soldier, a bitter papist, and an inflexible adherent to the royal cause, has never been disputed. the baron himself, with his four courageous and accomplished sons, were ever in the front ranks to defend the crown against the nation. it must be confessed, however, that fanatical loyalty loses most of the romance with which genius and poetry have so often hallowed the sentiment, when the "legitimate" prince for whom the sword is drawn is not only an alien in tongue and blood, but filled with undisguised hatred for the land he claims to rule. viglius van aytta van zuichem was a learned frisian, born, according to some writers, of "boors' degree, but having no inclination for boorish work". according to other authorities, which the president himself favored, he was of noble origin; but, whatever his race, it is certain that whether gentle or simple, it derived its first and only historical illustration from his remarkable talents and acquirements. these in early youth were so great as to acquire the commendation of erasmus. he had studied in louvain, paris, and padua, had refused the tutorship philip when that prince was still a child, and had afterwards filled a professorship at ingolstadt. after rejecting several offers of promotion from the emperor, he had at last accepted in a seat in the council of mechlin, of which body he had become president in . he had been one of the peace commissioners to france in , and was now president of the privy council, a member of the state council, and of the inner and secret committee of that board, called the consults. much odium was attached to his name for his share in the composition of the famous edict of . the rough draught was usually attributed to his pen, but he complained bitterly, in letters written at this time, of injustice done him in this respect, and maintained that he had endeavored, without success, to induce the emperor to mitigate the severity of the edict. one does not feel very strongly inclined to accept his excuses, however, when his general opinions on the subject of religion are remembered. he was most bigoted in precept and practice. religious liberty he regarded as the most detestable and baleful of doctrines; heresy he denounced as the most unpardonable of crimes. from no man's mouth flowed more bitter or more elegant commonplaces than from that of the learned president against those blackest of malefactors, the men who claimed within their own walls the right to worship god according to their own consciences. for a common person, not learned in law or divinity, to enter into his closet, to shut the door, and to pray to him who seeth in secret, was, in his opinion, to open wide the gate of destruction for all the land, and to bring in the father of evil at once to fly away with the whole population, body and soul. "if every man," said he to hopper, "is to believe what he likes in his own house, we shall have hearth gods and tutelar divinities, again, the country will swarm with a thousand errors and sects, and very few there will be, i fear, who will allow themselves to be enclosed in the sheepfold of christ. i have ever considered this opinion," continued the president, "the most pernicious of all. they who hold it have a contempt for all religion, and are neither more nor less than atheists. this vague, fireside liberty should be by every possible means extirpated; therefore did christ institute shepherds to drive his wandering sheep back into the fold of the true church; thus only can we guard the lambs against the ravening wolves, and prevent their being carried away from the flock of christ to the flock of belial. liberty of religion, or of conscience, as they call it, ought never to be tolerated." this was the cant with which viglius was ever ready to feed not only his faithful hopper, but all the world beside. the president was naturally anxious that the fold of christ should be entrusted to none but regular shepherds, for he looked forward to taking one of the most lucrative crooks into his own hand, when he should retire from his secular career. it is now necessary to say a few introductory words concerning the man who, from this time forth, begins to rise upon the history of his country with daily increasing grandeur and influence. william of nassau, prince of orange, although still young in years, is already the central personage about whom the events and the characters of the epoch most naturally group themselves; destined as he is to become more and more with each succeeding year the vivifying source of light, strength, and national life to a whole people. the nassau family first emerges into distinct existence in the middle of the eleventh century. it divides itself almost as soon as known into two great branches. the elder remained in germany, ascended the imperial throne in the thirteenth century in the person of adolph of nassau and gave to the country many electors, bishops, and generals. the younger and more illustrious branch retained the modest property and petty sovereignty of nassau dillenbourg, but at the same time transplanted itself to the netherlands, where it attained at an early period to great power and large possessions. the ancestors of william, as dukes of gueldres, had begun to exercise sovereignty in the provinces four centuries before the advent of the house of burgundy. that overshadowing family afterwards numbered the netherland nassaus among its most stanch and powerful adherents. engelbert the second was distinguished in the turbulent councils and in the battle-fields of charles the bold, and was afterwards the unwavering supporter of maximilian, in court and camp. dying childless, he was succeeded by his brother john, whose two sons, henry and william, of nassau, divided the great inheritance after their father's death, william succeeded to the german estates, became a convert to protestantism, and introduced the reformation into his dominions. henry, the eldest son, received the family possessions and titles in luxembourg, brabant, flanders and holland, and distinguished himself as much as his uncle engelbert, in the service of the burgundo-austrian house. the confidential friend of charles the fifth, whose governor he had been in that emperor's boyhood, he was ever his most efficient and reliable adherent. it was he whose influence placed the imperial crown upon the head of charles. in he espoused claudia de chalons, sister of prince philibert of orange, "in order," as he wrote to his father, "to be obedient to his imperial majesty, to please the king of france, and more particularly for the sake of his own honor and profit." his son rene de nassau-chalons succeeded philibert. the little principality of orange, so pleasantly situated between provence and dauphiny, but in such dangerous proximity to the seat of the "babylonian captivity" of the popes at avignon, thus passed to the family of nassau. the title was of high antiquity. already in the reign of charlemagne, guillaume au court-nez, or "william with the short nose," had defended the little--town of orange against the assaults of the saracens. the interest and authority acquired in the demesnes thus preserved by his valor became extensive, and in process of time hereditary in his race. the principality became an absolute and free sovereignty, and had already descended, in defiance of the salic law, through the three distinct families of orange, baux, and chalons. in , prince rene died at the emperor's feet in the trenches of saint dizier. having no legitimate children, he left all his titles and estates to his cousin-german, william of nassau, son of his father's brother william, who thus at the age of eleven years became william the ninth of orange. for this child, whom the future was to summon to such high destinies and such heroic sacrifices, the past and present seemed to have gathered riches and power together from many sources. he was the descendant of the othos, the engelberts, and the henries, of the netherlands, the representative of the philiberts and the renes of france; the chief of a house, humbler in resources and position in germany, but still of high rank, and which had already done good service to humanity by being among the first to embrace the great principles of the reformation. his father, younger brother of the emperor's friend henry, was called william the rich. he was, however, only rich in children. of these he had five sons and seven daughters by his wife juliana of stolberg. she was a person of most exemplary character and unaffected piety. she instilled into the minds of all her children the elements of that devotional sentiment which was her own striking characteristic, and it was destined that the seed sown early should increase to an abundant harvest. nothing can be more tender or more touching than the letters which still exist from her hand, written to her illustrious sons in hours of anxiety or anguish, and to the last, recommending to them with as much earnest simplicity as if they were still little children at her knee, to rely always in the midst of the trials and dangers which were to beset their paths through life, upon the great hand of god. among the mothers of great men, juliana of stolberg deserves a foremost place, and it is no slight eulogy that she was worthy to have been the mother of william of orange and of lewis, adolphus, henry, and john of nassau. at the age of eleven years, william having thus unexpectedly succeeded to such great possessions, was sent from his father's roof to be educated in brussels. no destiny seemed to lie before the young prince but an education at the emperor's court, to be followed by military adventures, embassies, viceroyalties, and a life of luxury and magnificence. at a very early age he came, accordingly, as a page into the emperor's family. charles recognized, with his customary quickness, the remarkable character of the boy. at fifteen, william was the intimate, almost confidential friend of the emperor, who prided himself, above all other gifts, on his power of reading and of using men. the youth was so constant an attendant upon his imperial chief that even when interviews with the highest personages, and upon the gravest affairs, were taking place, charles would never suffer him to be considered superfluous or intrusive. there seemed to be no secrets which the emperor held too high for the comprehension or discretion of his page. his perceptive and reflective faculties, naturally of remarkable keenness and depth, thus acquired a precocious and extraordinary development. he was brought up behind the curtain of that great stage where the world's dramas were daily enacted. the machinery and the masks which produced the grand delusions of history had no deceptions for him. carefully to observe men's actions, and silently to ponder upon their motives, was the favorite occupation of the prince during his apprenticeship at court. as he advanced to man's estate, he was selected by the emperor for the highest duties. charles, whose only merit, so far as the provinces were concerned, was in having been born in ghent, and that by an ignoble accident, was glad to employ this representative of so many great netherland houses, in the defence of the land. before the prince was twenty-one he was appointed general-in-chief of the army on the french frontier, in the absence of the duke of savoy. the post was coveted by many most distinguished soldiers: the counts of buren, bossu, lalaing, aremberg, meghem, and particularly by count egmont; yet charles showed his extraordinary confidence in the prince of orange, by selecting him for the station, although he had hardly reached maturity, and was moreover absent in france. the young prince acquitted himself of his high command in a manner which justified his appointment. it was the prince's shoulder upon which the emperor leaned at the abdication; the prince's hand which bore the imperial insignia of the discrowned monarch to ferdinand, at augsburg. with these duties his relations with charles were ended, and those with philip begun. he was with the army during the hostilities which were soon after resumed in picardy; he was the secret negotiator of the preliminary arrangement with france, soon afterwards confirmed by the triumphant treaty of april, . he had conducted these initiatory conferences with the constable montmorency and marshal de saint andre with great sagacity, although hardly a man in years, and by so doing he had laid philip under deep obligations. the king was so inexpressibly anxious for peace that he would have been capable of conducting a treaty upon almost any terms. he assured the prince that "the greatest service he could render him in this world was to make peace, and that he desired to have it at any price what ever, so eager was he to return to spain." to the envoy suriano, philip had held the same language. "oh, ambassador," said he, "i wish peace on any terms, and if the king of france had not sued for it, i would have begged for it myself." with such impatience on the part of the sovereign, it certainly manifested diplomatic abilities of a high character in the prince, that the treaty negotiated by him amounted to a capitulation by france. he was one of the hostages selected by henry for the due execution of the treaty, and while in france made that remarkable discovery which was to color his life. while hunting with the king in the forest of vincennes, the prince and henry found themselves alone together, and separated from the rest of the company. the french monarch's mind was full of the great scheme which had just secretly been formed by philip and himself, to extirpate protestantism by a general extirpation of protestants. philip had been most anxious to conclude the public treaty with france, that he might be the sooner able to negotiate that secret convention by which he and his most christian majesty were solemnly to bind themselves to massacre all the converts to the new religion in france and the netherlands. this conspiracy of the two kings against their subjects was the matter nearest the hearts of both. the duke of alva, a fellow hostage with william of orange, was the plenipotentiary to conduct this more important arrangement. the french monarch, somewhat imprudently imagining that the prince was also a party to the plot, opened the whole subject to him without reserve. he complained of the constantly increasing numbers of sectaries in his kingdom, and protested that his conscience would never be easy, nor his state secure until his realm should be delivered of "that accursed vermin." a civil revolution, under pretext of a religious reformation, was his constant apprehension, particularly since so many notable personages in the realm, and even princes of the blood, were already tainted with heresy. nevertheless, with the favor of heaven, and the assistance of his son and brother philip, he hoped soon to be master of the rebels. the king then proceeded, with cynical minuteness, to lay before his discreet companion the particulars of the royal plot, and the manner in which all heretics, whether high or humble, were to be discovered and massacred at the most convenient season. for the furtherance of the scheme in the netherlands, it was understood that the spanish regiments would be exceedingly efficient. the prince, although horror-struck and indignant at the royal revelations, held his peace, and kept his countenance. the king was not aware that, in opening this delicate negotiation to alva's colleague and philip's plenipotentiary, he had given a warning of inestimable value to the man who had been born to resist the machinations of philip and of alva. william of orange earned the surname of "the silent," from the manner in which he received these communications of henry without revealing to the monarch, by word or look, the enormous blunder which he had committed. his purpose was fixed from that hour. a few days afterwards he obtained permission to visit the netherlands, where he took measures to excite, with all his influence, the strongest and most general opposition to the continued presence of the spanish troops, of which forces, touch against his will, he had been, in conjunction with egmont, appointed chief. he already felt, in his own language, that "an inquisition for the netherlands had been, resolved upon more cruel than that of spain; since it would need but to look askance at an image to be cast into the flames." although having as yet no spark of religious sympathy for the reformers, he could not, he said, "but feel compassion for so many virtuous men and women thus devoted to massacre," and he determined to save them if he could!' at the departure of philip he had received instructions, both patent and secret, for his guidance as stadholder of holland, friesland, and utrecht. he was ordered "most expressly to correct and extirpate the sects reprobated by our holy mother church; to execute the edicts of his imperial majesty, renewed by the king, with absolute rigor. he was to see that the judges carried out the edicts, without infraction, alteration, or moderation, since they were there to enforce, not to make or to discuss the law." in his secret instructions he was informed that the execution of the edicts was to be with all rigor, and without any respect of persons. he was also reminded that, whereas some persons had imagined the severity of the law "to be only intended against anabaptists, on the contrary, the edicts were to be enforced on lutherans and all other sectaries without distinction." moreover, in one of his last interviews with philip, the king had given him the names of several "excellent persons suspected of the new religion," and had commanded him to have them put to death. this, however, he not only omitted to do, but on the contrary gave them warning, so that they might effect their escape, "thinking it more necessary to obey god than man." william of orange, at the departure of the king for spain, was in his twenty-seventh year. he was a widower; his first wife, anne of egmont, having died in , after seven years of wedlock. this lady, to whom he had been united when they were both eighteen years of age, was the daughter of the celebrated general, count de buren, and the greatest heiress in the netherlands. william had thus been faithful to the family traditions, and had increased his possessions by a wealthy alliance. he had two children, philip and mary. the marriage had been more amicable than princely marriages arranged for convenience often prove. the letters of the prince to his wife indicate tenderness and contentment. at the same time he was accused, at a later period, of "having murdered her with a dagger." the ridiculous tale was not even credited by those who reported it, but it is worth mentioning, as a proof that no calumny was too senseless to be invented concerning the man whose character was from that hour forth to be the mark of slander, and whose whole life was to be its signal, although often unavailing, refutation. yet we are not to regard william of orange, thus on the threshold of his great career, by the light diffused from a somewhat later period. in no historical character more remarkably than in his is the law of constant development and progress illustrated. at twenty-six he is not the "pater patriae," the great man struggling upward and onward against a host of enemies and obstacles almost beyond human strength, and along the dark and dangerous path leading through conflict, privation, and ceaseless labor to no repose but death. on the contrary, his foot was hardly on the first step of that difficult ascent which was to rise before him all his lifetime. he was still among the primrose paths. he was rich, powerful, of sovereign rank. he had only the germs within him of what was thereafter to expand into moral and intellectual greatness. he had small sympathy for the religious reformation, of which he was to be one of the most distinguished champions. he was a catholic, nominally, and in outward observance. with doctrines he troubled himself but little. he had given orders to enforce conformity to the ancient church, not with bloodshed, yet with comparative strictness, in his principality of orange. beyond the compliance with rites and forms, thought indispensable in those days to a personage of such high degree, he did not occupy himself with theology. he was a catholic, as egmont and horn, berlaymont and mansfeld, montigny and even brederode, were catholic. it was only tanners, dyers and apostate priests who were protestants at that day in the netherlands. his determination to protect a multitude of his harmless inferiors from horrible deaths did not proceed from sympathy with their religious sentiments, but merely from a generous and manly detestation of murder. he carefully averted his mind from sacred matters. if indeed the seed implanted by his pious parents were really the germ of his future conversion to protestantism, it must be confessed that it lay dormant a long time. but his mind was in other pursuits. he was disposed for an easy, joyous, luxurious, princely life. banquets, masquerades, tournaments, the chase, interspersed with the routine of official duties, civil and military, seemed likely to fill out his life. his hospitality, like his fortune, was almost regal. while the king and the foreign envoys were still in the netherlands, his house, the splendid nassau palace of brussels, was ever open. he entertained for the monarch, who was, or who imagined himself to be, too poor to discharge his own duties in this respect, but he entertained at his own expense. this splendid household was still continued. twenty-four noblemen and eighteen pages of gentle birth officiated regularly in his family. his establishment was on so extensive a scale that upon one day twenty-eight master cooks were dismissed, for the purpose of diminishing the family expenses, and there was hardly a princely house in germany which did not send cooks to learn their business in so magnificent a kitchen. the reputation of his table remained undiminished for years. we find at a later period, that philip, in the course of one of the nominal reconciliations which took place several times between the monarch and william of orange, wrote that, his head cook being dead, he begged the prince to "make him a present of his chief cook, master herman, who was understood to be very skilful." in this hospitable mansion, the feasting continued night and day. from early morning till noon, the breakfast-tables were spread with wines and luxurious viands in constant succession, to all comers and at every moment.--the dinner and supper were daily banquets for a multitude of guests. the highest nobles were not those alone who were entertained. men of lower degree were welcomed with a charming hospitality which made them feel themselves at their ease. contemporaries of all parties unite in eulogizing the winning address and gentle manners of the prince. "never," says a most bitter catholic historian, "did an arrogant or indiscreet word fall from his lips. he, upon no occasion, manifested anger to his servants, however much they might be in fault, but contented himself with admonishing them graciously, without menace or insult. he had a gentle and agreeable tongue, with which he could turn all the gentlemen at court any way he liked. he was beloved and honored by the whole community." his manner was graceful, familiar, caressing, and yet dignified. he had the good breeding which comes from the heart, refined into an inexpressible charm from his constant intercourse, almost from his cradle, with mankind of all ranks. it may be supposed that this train of living was attended with expense. moreover, he had various other establishments in town and country; besides his almost royal residence in brussels. he was ardently fond of the chase, particularly of the knightly sport of falconry. in the country he "consoled himself by taking every day a heron in the clouds." his falconers alone cost him annually fifteen hundred florins, after he had reduced their expenses to the lowest possible point. he was much in debt, even at this early period and with his princely fortune. "we come of a race," he wrote carelessly to his brother louis, "who are somewhat bad managers in our young days, but when we grow older, we do better, like our late father: 'sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper et in secula seculorum'. my greatest difficulty," he adds, "as usual, is on account of the falconers." his debts already amounted, according to granvelle's statement, to , or , florins. he had embarrassed himself, not only through his splendid extravagance, by which all the world about him were made to partake of his wealth, but by accepting the high offices to which he had been appointed. when general-in-chief on the frontier, his salary was three hundred florins monthly; "not enough," as he said, "to pay the servants in his tent," his necessary expenses being twenty-five hundred florins, as appears by a letter to his wife. his embassy to carry the crown to ferdinand, and his subsequent residence as a hostage for the treaty in paris, were also very onerous, and he received no salary; according to the economical system in this respect pursued by charles and philip. in these two embassies or missions alone, together with the entertainments offered by him to the court and to foreigners, after the peace at brussels, the prince spent, according to his own estimate, , , florins. he was, however, although deeply, not desperately involved, and had already taken active measures to regulate and reduce his establishment. his revenues were vast, both in his own right and in that of his deceased wife. he had large claims upon the royal treasury for service and expenditure. he had besides ample sums to receive from the ransoms of the prisoners of st. quentin and gravelines, having served in both campaigns. the amount to be received by individuals from this source may be estimated from the fact that count horn, by no means one of the most favored in the victorious armies, had received from leonor d'orleans, due de loggieville, a ransom of eighty thousand crowns. the sum due, if payment were enforced, from the prisoners assigned to egmont, orange, and others, must have been very large. granvelle estimated the whole amount at two millions; adding, characteristically, "that this kind of speculation was a practice" which our good old fathers, lovers of virtue, would not have found laudable. in this the churchman was right, but he might have added that the "lovers of virtue" would have found it as little "laudable" for ecclesiastics to dispose of the sacred offices in their gift, for carpets, tapestry, and annual payments of certain percentages upon the cure of souls. if the profits respectively gained by military and clerical speculators in that day should be compared, the disadvantage would hardly be found to lie with those of the long robe. such, then, at the beginning of , was william of orange; a generous, stately, magnificent, powerful grandee. as a military commander, he had acquitted himself very creditably of highly important functions at an early age. nevertheless it was the opinion of many persons, that he was of a timid temperament. he was even accused of having manifested an unseemly panic at philippeville, and of having only been restrained by the expostulations of his officers, from abandoning both that fortress and charlemont to admiral coligny, who had made his appearance in the neighborhood, merely at the head of a reconnoitring party. if the story were true, it would be chiefly important as indicating that the prince of orange was one of the many historical characters, originally of an excitable and even timorous physical organization, whom moral courage and a strong will have afterwards converted into dauntless heroes. certain it is that he was destined to confront open danger in every form, that his path was to lead through perpetual ambush, yet that his cheerful confidence and tranquil courage were to become not only unquestionable but proverbial. it may be safely asserted, however, that the story was an invention to be classed with those fictions which made him the murderer of his first wife, a common conspirator against philip's crown and person, and a crafty malefactor in general, without a single virtue. it must be remembered that even the terrible alva, who lived in harness almost from the cradle to the grave, was, so late as at this period, censured for timidity, and had been accused in youth of flat cowardice. he despised the insinuation, which for him had no meaning. there is no doubt too that caution was a predominant characteristic of the prince. it was one of the chief sources of his greatness. at that period, perhaps at any period, he would have been incapable of such brilliant and dashing exploits as had made the name of egmont so famous. it had even become a proverb, "the counsel of orange, the execution of egmont," yet we shall have occasion to see how far this physical promptness which had been so felicitous upon the battle-field was likely to avail the hero of st. quentin in the great political combat which was approaching. as to the talents of the prince, there was no difference of opinion. his enemies never contested the subtlety and breadth of his intellect, his adroitness and capacity in conducting state affairs, his knowledge of human nature, and the profoundness of his views. in many respects it must be confessed that his surname of the silent, like many similar appellations, was a misnomer. william of orange was neither "silent" nor "taciturn," yet these are the epithets which will be forever associated with the name of a man who, in private, was the most affable, cheerful, and delightful of companions, and who on a thousand great public occasions was to prove himself, both by pen and by speech, the most eloquent man of his age. his mental accomplishments were considerable: he had studied history with attention, and he spoke and wrote with facility latin, french, german, flemish, and spanish. the man, however, in whose hands the administration of the netherlands was in reality placed, was anthony perrenot, then bishop of arras, soon to be known by the more celebrated title of cardinal granvelle. he was the chief of the consults, or secret council of three, by whose deliberations the duchess regent was to be governed. his father, nicholas perrenot, of an obscure family in burgundy, had been long the favorite minister and man of business to the emperor charles. anthony, the eldest of thirteen children, was born in . he was early distinguished for his talents. he studied at dole, padua, paris, and louvain. at, the age of twenty he spoke seven languages with perfect facility, while his acquaintance with civil and ecclesiastical laws was considered prodigious. at the age of twenty-three he became a canon of liege cathedral. the necessary eight quarters of gentility produced upon that occasion have accordingly been displayed by his panegyrists in triumphant refutation of that theory which gave him a blacksmith for his grandfather. at the same period, although he had not reached the requisite age, the rich bishopric of arras had already been prepared for him by his father's care. three years afterwards, in , he distinguished himself by a most learned and brilliant harangue before the council of trent, by which display he so much charmed the emperor, that he created him councillor of state. a few years afterwards he rendered the unscrupulous charles still more valuable proofs of devotion and dexterity by the part he played in the memorable imprisonment of the landgrave of hesse and the saxon dukes. he was thereafter constantly employed in embassies and other offices of trust and profit. there was no doubt as to his profound and varied learning, nor as to his natural quickness and dexterity. he was ready witted, smooth and fluent of tongue, fertile in expedients, courageous, resolute. he thoroughly understood the art of managing men, particularly his superiors. he knew how to govern under the appearance of obeying. he possessed exquisite tact in appreciating the characters of those far above him in rank and beneath him in intellect. he could accommodate himself with great readiness to the idiosyncrasies of sovereigns. he was a chameleon to the hand which fed him. in his intercourse with the king, he colored himself, as it were, with the king's character. he was not himself, but philip; not the sullen, hesitating, confused philip, however, but philip endowed with eloquence, readiness, facility. the king ever found himself anticipated with the most delicate obsequiousness, beheld his struggling ideas change into winged words without ceasing to be his own. no flattery could be more adroit. the bishop accommodated himself to the king's epistolary habits. the silver-tongued and ready debater substituted protocols for conversation, in deference to a monarch who could not speak. he corresponded with philip, with margaret of parma, with every one. he wrote folios to the duchess when they were in the same palace. he would write letters forty pages long to the king, and send off another courier on the same day with two or three additional despatches of identical date. such prolixity enchanted the king, whose greediness for business epistles was insatiable. the painstaking monarch toiled, pen in hand, after his wonderful minister in vain. philip was only fit to be the bishop's clerk; yet he imagined himself to be the directing and governing power. he scrawled apostilles in the margins to prove that he had read with attention, and persuaded himself that he suggested when he scarcely even comprehended. the bishop gave advice and issued instructions when he seemed to be only receiving them. he was the substance while he affected to be the shadow. these tactics were comparatively easy and likely to be triumphant, so long as he had only to deal with inferior intellects like those of philip and margaret. when he should be matched against political genius and lofty character combined, it was possible that his resources might not prove so all-sufficient. his political principles were sharply defined in reality, but smoothed over by a conventional and decorous benevolence of language, which deceived vulgar minds. he was a strict absolutist. his deference to arbitrary power was profound and slavish. god and "the master," as he always called philip, he professed to serve with equal humility. "it seems to me," said he, in a letter of this epoch, "that i shall never be able to fulfil the obligation of slave which i owe to your majesty, to whom i am bound by so firm a chain;--at any rate, i shall never fail to struggle for that end with sincerity." as a matter of course, he was a firm opponent of the national rights of the netherlands, however artfully he disguised the sharp sword of violent absolutism under a garland of flourishing phraseology. he had strenuously warned philip against assembling the states-general before his departure for the sake of asking them for supplies. he earnestly deprecated allowing the constitutional authorities any control over the expenditures of the government, and averred that this practice under the regent mary had been the cause of endless trouble. it may easily be supposed that other rights were as little to his taste as the claim to vote the subsidies, a privilege which was in reality indisputable. men who stood forth in defence of the provincial constitutions were, in his opinion, mere demagogues and hypocrites; their only motive being to curry favor with the populace. yet these charters were, after all, sufficiently limited. the natural rights of man were topics which had never been broached. man had only natural wrongs. none ventured to doubt that sovereignty was heaven-born, anointed of god. the rights of the netherlands were special, not general; plural, not singular; liberties, not liberty; "privileges," not maxims. they were practical, not theoretical; historical, not philosophical. still, such as they were, they were facts, acquisitions. they had been purchased by the blood and toil of brave ancestors; they amounted--however open to criticism upon broad humanitarian grounds, of which few at that day had ever dreamed--to a solid, substantial dyke against the arbitrary power which was ever chafing and fretting to destroy its barriers. no men were more subtle or more diligent in corroding the foundation of these bulwarks than the disciples of granvelle. yet one would have thought it possible to tolerate an amount of practical freedom so different from the wild, social speculations which in later days, have made both tyrants and reasonable lovers of our race tremble with apprehension. the netherlanders claimed, mainly, the right to vote the money which was demanded in such enormous profusion from their painfully-acquired wealth; they were also unwilling to be burned alive if they objected to transubstantiation. granvelle was most distinctly of an opposite opinion upon both topics. he strenuously deprecated the interference of the states with the subsidies, and it was by his advice that the remorseless edict of , the emperor's ordinance of blood and fire, was re-enacted, as the very first measure of philip's reign. such were his sentiments as to national and popular rights by representation. for the people itself--"that vile and mischievous animal called the people"--as he expressed it, he entertained a cheerful contempt. his aptitude for managing men was very great; his capacity for affairs incontestable; but it must be always understood as the capacity for the affairs of absolutism. he was a clever, scheming politician, an adroit manager; it remained to be seen whether he had a claim to the character of a statesman. his industry was enormous. he could write fifty letters a day with his own hand. he could dictate to half a dozen amanuenses at once, on as many different subjects, in as many different languages, and send them all away exhausted. he was already rich. his income from his see and other livings was estimated, in , at ten thousand dollars--[ approximation. the decimal point more places to the right would in not be out of line. d.w.]--; his property in ready money, "furniture, tapestry, and the like," at two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. when it is considered that, as compared with our times, these sums represent a revenue of a hundred thousand, and a capital of two millions and a half in addition, it may be safely asserted that the prelate had at least made a good beginning. besides his regular income, moreover, he had handsome receipts from that simony which was reduced to a system, and which gave him a liberal profit, generally in the shape of an annuity, upon every benefice which he conferred. he was, however, by no means satisfied. his appetite was as boundless as the sea; he was still a shameless mendicant of pecuniary favors and lucrative offices. already, in , the emperor had roundly rebuked his greediness. "as to what you say of getting no 'merced' nor 'ayuda de costa,'" said he, "'tis merced and ayuda de costa quite sufficient, when one has fat benefices, pensions, and salaries, with which a man might manage to support himself." the bishop, however, was not easily abashed, and he was at the epoch which now occupies us, earnestly and successfully soliciting from philip the lucrative abbey of saint armand. not that he would have accepted this preferment, "could the abbey have been annexed to any of the new bishoprics;" on the contrary, he assured the king that "to carry out so holy a work as the erection of those new sees, he would willingly have contributed even out of his own miserable pittance." it not being considered expedient to confiscate the abbey to any particular bishop, philip accordingly presented it to the prelate of arras, together with a handsome sum of money in the shape of an "ayuda de costa" beside. the thrifty bishop, who foresaw the advent of troublous times in the netherlands, however, took care in the letters by which he sent his thanks, to instruct the king to secure the money upon crown property in arragon, naples, and sicily, as matters in the provinces were beginning to look very precarious. such, at the commencement of the duchess margaret's administration, were the characters and the previous histories of the persons into whose hands the netherlands were entrusted. none of them have been prejudged. we have contented ourselves with stating the facts with regard to all, up to the period at which we have arrived. their characters have been sketched, not according to subsequent developments, but as they appeared at the opening of this important epoch. the aspect of the country and its inhabitants offered many sharp contrasts, and revealed many sources of future trouble. the aristocracy of the netherlands was excessively extravagant, dissipated, and already considerably embarrassed in circumstances. it had been the policy of the emperor and of philip to confer high offices, civil, military, and diplomatic, upon the leading nobles, by which enormous expenses were entailed upon them, without any corresponding salaries. the case of orange has been already alluded to, and there were many other nobles less able to afford the expense, who had been indulged with these ruinous honors. during the war, there had been, however, many chances of bettering broken fortunes. victory brought immense prizes to the leading officers. the ransoms of so many illustrious prisoners as had graced the triumphs of saint quentin and gravelines had been extremely profitable. these sources of wealth had now been cut off; yet, on the departure of the king from the netherlands, the luxury increased instead of diminishing, "instead of one court," said a contemporary, "you would have said that there were fifty." nothing could be more sumptuous than the modes of life in brussels. the household of orange has been already painted. that of egmont was almost as magnificent. a rivalry in hospitality and in display began among the highest nobles, and extended to those less able to maintain themselves in the contest. during the war there had been the valiant emulation of the battlefield; gentlemen had vied with each other how best to illustrate an ancient name with deeds of desperate valor, to repair the fortunes of a ruined house with the spoils of war. they now sought to surpass each other in splendid extravagance. it was an eager competition who should build the stateliest palaces, have the greatest number of noble pages and gentlemen in waiting, the most gorgeous liveries, the most hospitable tables, the most scientific cooks. there was, also, much depravity as well as extravagance. the morals of high society were loose. gaming was practised to a frightful extent. drunkenness was a prevailing characteristic of the higher classes. even the prince of orange himself, at this period, although never addicted to habitual excess, was extremely convivial in his tastes, tolerating scenes and companions, not likely at a later day to find much favor in his sight. "we kept saint martin's joyously," he wrote, at about this period, to his brother, "and in the most jovial company. brederode was one day in such a state that i thought he would certainly die, but he has now got over it." count brederode, soon afterwards to become so conspicuous in the early scenes of the revolt, was, in truth, most notorious for his performances in these banqueting scenes. he appeared to have vowed as uncompromising hostility to cold water as to the inquisition, and always denounced both with the same fierce and ludicrous vehemence. their constant connection with germany at that period did not improve the sobriety of the netherlands' nobles. the aristocracy of that country, as is well known, were most "potent at potting." "when the german finds himself sober," said the bitter badovaro, "he believes himself to be ill." gladly, since the peace, they had welcomed the opportunities afforded for many a deep carouse with their netherlands cousins. the approaching marriage of the prince of orange with the saxon princess--an episode which will soon engage our attention--gave rise to tremendous orgies. count schwartzburg, the prince's brother-in-law, and one of the negotiators of the marriage, found many occasions to strengthen the bonds of harmony between the countries by indulgence of these common tastes. "i have had many princes and counts at my table," he wrote to orange, "where a good deal more was drunk than eaten. the rhinegrave's brother fell down dead after drinking too much malvoisie; but we have had him balsamed and sent home to his family." these disorders among the higher ranks were in reality so extensive as to justify the biting remark of the venetian: "the gentlemen intoxicate themselves every day," said he, "and the ladies also; but much less than the men." his remarks as to the morality, in other respects, of both sexes were equally sweeping, and not more complimentary. if these were the characteristics of the most distinguished society, it may be supposed that they were reproduced with more or less intensity throughout all the more remote but concentric circles of life, as far as the seductive splendor of the court could radiate. the lesser nobles emulated the grandees, and vied with each other in splendid establishments, banquets, masquerades, and equipages. the natural consequences of such extravagance followed. their estates were mortgaged, deeply and more deeply; then, after a few years, sold to the merchants, or rich advocates and other gentlemen of the robe, to whom they had been pledged. the more closely ruin stared the victims in the face, the more heedlessly did they plunge into excesses. "such were the circumstances," moralizes a catholic writer, "to which, at an earlier period, the affairs of catiline, cethegus, lentulus, and others of that faction had been reduced, when they undertook to overthrow the roman republic." many of the nobles being thus embarrassed, and some even desperate, in their condition, it was thought that they were desirous of creating disturbances in the commonwealth, that the payment of just debts might be avoided, that their mortgaged lands might be wrested by main force from the low-born individuals who had become possessed of them, that, in particular, the rich abbey lands held by idle priests might be appropriated to the use of impoverished gentlemen who could turn them to so much better account. it is quite probable that interested motives such as these were not entirely inactive among a comparatively small class of gentlemen. the religious reformation in every land of europe derived a portion of its strength from the opportunity it afforded to potentates and great nobles for helping themselves to church property. no doubt many netherlanders thought that their fortunes might be improved at the expense of the monks, and for the benefit of religion. even without apostasy from the mother church, they looked with longing eyes on the wealth of her favored and indolent children. they thought that the king would do well to carve a round number of handsome military commanderies out of the abbey lands, whose possessors should be bound to military service after the ancient manner of fiefs, so that a splendid cavalry, headed by the gentlemen of the country, should be ever ready to mount and ride at the royal pleasure, in place of a horde of lazy epicureans, telling beads and indulging themselves in luxurious vice. such views were entertained; such language often held. these circumstances and sentiments had their influence among the causes which produced the great revolt now impending. care should be taken, however, not to exaggerate that influence. it is a prodigious mistake to refer this great historical event to sources so insufficient as the ambition of a few great nobles, and the embarrassments of a larger number of needy gentlemen. the netherlands revolt was not an aristocratic, but a popular, although certainly not a democratic movement. it was a great episode--the longest, the darkest, the bloodiest, the most important episode in the history of the religious reformation in europe. the nobles so conspicuous upon the surface at the outbreak, only drifted before a storm which they neither caused nor controlled. even the most powerful and the most sagacious were tossed to and fro by the surge of great events, which, as they rolled more and more tumultuously around them, seemed to become both irresistible and unfathomable. for the state of the people was very different from the condition of the aristocracy. the period of martyrdom had lasted long and was to last loner; but there were symptoms that it might one day be succeeded by a more active stage of popular disease. the tumults of the netherlands were long in ripening; when the final outbreak came it would have been more philosophical to enquire, not why it had occurred, but how it could have been so long postponed. during the reign of charles, the sixteenth century had been advancing steadily in strength as the once omnipotent emperor lapsed into decrepitude. that extraordinary century had not dawned upon the earth only to increase the strength of absolutism and superstition. the new world had not been discovered, the ancient world reconquered, the printing-press perfected, only that the inquisition might reign undisturbed over the fairest portions of the earth, and chartered hypocrisy fatten upon its richest lands. it was impossible that the most energetic and quick-witted people of europe should not feel sympathy with the great effort made by christendom to shake off the incubus which had so long paralyzed her hands and brain. in the netherlands, where the attachment to rome had never been intense, where in the old times, the bishops of utrecht had been rather ghibelline than guelph, where all the earlier sects of dissenters--waldenses, lollards, hussites--had found numerous converts and thousands of martyrs, it was inevitable that there should be a response from the popular heart to the deeper agitation which now reached to the very core of christendom. in those provinces, so industrious and energetic, the disgust was likely to be most easily awakened for a system under which so many friars battened in luxury upon the toils of others, contributing nothing to the taxation, nor to the military defence of the country, exercising no productive avocation, except their trade in indulgences, and squandering in taverns and brothels the annual sums derived from their traffic in licences to commit murder, incest, and every other crime known to humanity. the people were numerous, industrious, accustomed for centuries to a state of comparative civil freedom, and to a lively foreign trade, by which their minds were saved from the stagnation of bigotry. it was natural that they should begin to generalize, and to pass from the concrete images presented them in the flemish monasteries to the abstract character of rome itself. the flemish, above all their other qualities, were a commercial nation. commerce was the mother of their freedom, so far as they had acquired it, in civil matters. it was struggling to give birth to a larger liberty, to freedom of conscience. the provinces were situated in the very heart of europe. the blood of a world-wide traffic was daily coursing through the thousand arteries of that water-in-woven territory. there was a mutual exchange between the netherlands and all the world; and ideas were as liberally interchanged as goods. truth was imported as freely as less precious merchandise. the psalms of marot were as current as the drugs of molucca or the diamonds of borneo. the prohibitory measures of a despotic government could not annihilate this intellectual trade, nor could bigotry devise an effective quarantine to exclude the religious pest which lurked in every bale of merchandise, and was wafted on every breeze from east and west. the edicts of the emperor had been endured, but not accepted. the horrible persecution under which so many thousands had sunk had produced its inevitable result. fertilized by all this innocent blood, the soil of the netherlands became as a watered garden, in which liberty, civil and religious, was to flourish perennially. the scaffold had its daily victims, but did not make a single convert. the statistics of these crimes will perhaps never be accurately adjusted, nor will it be ascertained whether the famous estimate of grotius was an exaggerated or an inadequate calculation. those who love horrible details may find ample material. the chronicles contain the lists of these obscure martyrs; but their names, hardly pronounced in their life-time, sound barbarously in our ears, and will never ring through the trumpet of fame. yet they were men who dared and suffered as much as men can dare and suffer in this world, and for the noblest cause which can inspire humanity. fanatics they certainly were not, if fanaticism consists in show, without corresponding substance. for them all was terrible reality. the emperor and his edicts were realities, the axe, the stake were realities, and the heroism with which men took each other by the hand and walked into the flames, or with which women sang a song of triumph while the grave-digger was shovelling the earth upon their living faces, was a reality also. thus, the people of the netherlands were already pervaded, throughout the whole extent of the country, with the expanding spirit of religious reformation. it was inevitable that sooner or later an explosion was to arrive. they were placed between two great countries, where the new principles had already taken root. the lutheranism of germany and the calvinism of france had each its share in producing the netherland revolt, but a mistake is perhaps often made in estimating the relative proportion of these several influences. the reformation first entered the provinces, not through the augsburg, but the huguenot gate. the fiery field-preachers from the south of france first inflamed the excitable hearts of the kindred population of the south-western netherlands. the walloons were the first to rebel against and the first to reconcile themselves with papal rome, exactly as their celtic ancestors, fifteen centuries earlier, had been foremost in the revolt against imperial rome, and precipitate in their submission to her overshadowing power. the batavians, slower to be moved but more steadfast, retained the impulse which they received from the same source which was already agitating their "welsh" compatriots. there were already french preachers at valenciennes and tournay, to be followed, as we shall have occasion to see, by many others. without undervaluing the influence of the german churches, and particularly of the garrison-preaching of the german military chaplains in the netherlands, it may be safely asserted that the early reformers of the provinces were mainly huguenots in their belief: the dutch church became, accordingly, not lutheran, but calvinistic, and the founder of the commonwealth hardly ceased to be a nominal catholic before he became an adherent to the same creed. in the mean time, it is more natural to regard the great movement, psychologically speaking, as a whole, whether it revealed itself in france, germany, the netherlands, england, or scotland. the policy of governments, national character, individual interests, and other collateral circumstances, modified the result; but the great cause was the same; the source of all the movements was elemental, natural, and single. the reformation in germany had been adjourned for half a century by the augsburg religious peace, just concluded. it was held in suspense in france through the macchiavellian policy which catharine de medici had just adopted, and was for several years to prosecute, of balancing one party against the other, so as to neutralize all power but her own. the great contest was accordingly transferred to the netherlands, to be fought out for the rest of the century, while the whole of christendom were to look anxiously for the result. from the east and from the west the clouds rolled away, leaving a comparatively bright and peaceful atmosphere, only that they might concentrate themselves with portentous blackness over the devoted soil of the netherlands. in germany, the princes, not the people, had conquered rome, and to the princes, not the people, were secured the benefits of the victory--the spoils of churches, and the right to worship according to conscience. the people had the right to conform to their ruler's creed, or to depart from his land. still, as a matter of fact, many of the princes being reformers, a large mass of the population had acquired the privilege for their own generation and that of their children to practise that religion which they actually approved. this was a fact, and a more comfortable one than the necessity of choosing between what they considered wicked idolatry and the stake--the only election left to their netherland brethren. in france, the accidental splinter from montgomery's lance had deferred the huguenot massacre for a dozen years. during the period in which the queen regent was resolved to play her fast and loose policy, all the persuasions of philip and the arts of alva were powerless to induce her to carry out the scheme which henry had revealed to orange in the forest of vincennes. when the crime came at last, it was as blundering as it was bloody; at once premeditated and accidental; the isolated execution of an interregal conspiracy, existing for half a generation, yet exploding without concert; a wholesale massacre, but a piecemeal plot. the aristocracy and the masses being thus, from a variety of causes, in this agitated and dangerous condition, what were the measures of the government? the edict of had been re-enacted immediately after philip's accession to sovereignty. it is necessary that the reader should be made acquainted with some of the leading provisions of this famous document, thus laid down above all the constitutions as the organic law of the land. a few plain facts, entirely without rhetorical varnish, will prove more impressive in this case than superfluous declamation. the american will judge whether the wrongs inflicted by laud and charles upon his puritan ancestors were the severest which a people has had to undergo, and whether the dutch republic does not track its source to the same high, religious origin as that of our own commonwealth. "no one," said the edict, "shall print, write, copy, keep, conceal, sell, buy or give in churches, streets, or other places, any book or writing made by martin luther, john ecolampadius, ulrich zwinglius, martin bucer, john calvin, or other heretics reprobated by the holy church; nor break, or otherwise injure the images of the holy virgin or canonized saints.... nor in his house hold conventicles, or illegal gatherings, or be present at any such in which the adherents of the above-mentioned heretics teach, baptize, and form conspiracies against the holy church and the general welfare..... moreover, we forbid," continues the edict, in name of the sovereign, "all lay persons to converse or dispute concerning the holy scriptures, openly or secretly, especially on any doubtful or difficult matters, or to read, teach, or expound the scriptures, unless they have duly studied theology and been approved by some renowned university..... or to preach secretly, or openly, or to entertain any of the opinions of the above-mentioned heretics..... on pain, should anyone be found to have contravened any of the points above-mentioned, as perturbators of our state and of the general quiet, to be punished in the following manner." and how were they to be punished? what was the penalty inflicted upon the man or woman who owned a hymn-book, or who hazarded the opinion in private, that luther was not quite wrong in doubting the power of a monk to sell for money the license to commit murder or incest; or upon the parent, not being a roman catholic doctor of divinity, who should read christ's sermon on the mount to his children in his own parlor or shop? how were crimes like these to be visited upon the transgressor? was it by reprimand, fine, imprisonment, banishment, or by branding on the forehead, by the cropping of the ears or the slitting of nostrils, as was practised upon the puritan fathers of new england for their nonconformity? it was by a sharper chastisement than any of these methods. the puritan fathers of the dutch republic had to struggle against a darker doom. the edict went on to provide-- "that such perturbators of the general quiet are to be executed, to wit: the men with the sword and the women to be buried alive, if they do not persist in their errors; if they do persist in them, then they are to be executed with fire; all their property in both cases being confiscated to the crown." thus, the clemency of the sovereign permitted the repentant heretic to be beheaded or buried, alive, instead of being burned. the edict further provided against all misprision of heresy by making those who failed to betray the suspected liable to the same punishment as if suspected or convicted themselves: "we forbid," said the decree, "all persons to lodge, entertain, furnish with food, fire, or clothing, or otherwise to favor any one holden or notoriously suspected of being a heretic; . . . and any one failing to denounce any such we ordain shall be liable to the above-mentioned punishments." the edict went on to provide, "that if any person, being not convicted of heresy or error, but greatly suspected thereof, and therefore condemned by the spiritual judge to abjure such heresy, or by the secular magistrate to make public fine and reparation, shall again become suspected or tainted with heresy--although it should not appear that he has contravened or violated any one of our abovementioned commands--nevertheless, we do will and ordain that such person shall be considered as relapsed, and, as such, be punished with loss of life and property, without any hope of moderation or mitigation of the above-mentioned penalties." furthermore, it was decreed, that "the spiritual judges, desiring to proceed against any one for the crime of heresy, shall request any of our sovereign courts or provincial councils to appoint any one of their college, or such other adjunct as the council shall select, to preside over the proceedings to be instituted against the suspected. all who know of any person tainted with heresy are required to denounce and give them up to all judges, officers of the bishops, or others having authority on the premises, on pain of being punished according to the pleasure of the judge. likewise, all shall be obliged, who know of any place where such heretics keep themselves, to declare them to the authorities, on pain of being held as accomplices, and punished as such heretics themselves would be if apprehended." in order to secure the greatest number of arrests by a direct appeal to the most ignoble, but not the least powerful principle of human nature, it was ordained "that the informer, in case of conviction, should be entitled to one half the property of the accused, if not more than one hundred pounds flemish; if more, then ten per cent. of all such excess." treachery to one's friends was encouraged by the provision, "that if any man being present at any secret conventicle, shall afterwards come forward and betray his fellow-members of the congregation, he shall receive full pardon." in order that neither the good people of the netherlands, nor the judges and inquisitors should delude themselves with the notion that these fanatic decrees were only intended to inspire terror, not for practical execution, the sovereign continued to ordain--"to the end that the judges and officers may have no reason, under pretext that the penalties are too great and heavy and only devised to terrify delinquents, to punish them less severely than they deserve--that the culprits be really punished by the penalties above declared; forbidding all judges to alter or moderate the penalties in any manner forbidding any one, of whatsoever condition, to ask of us, or of any one having authority, to grant pardon, or to present any petition in favor of such heretics, exiles, or fugitives, on penalty of being declared forever incapable of civil and military office, and of being, arbitrarily punished besides." such were the leading provisions of this famous edict, originally promulgated in as a recapitulation and condensation of all the previous ordinances of the emperor upon religious subjects. by its style and title it was a perpetual edict, and, according to one of its clauses, was to be published forever, once in every six months, in every city and village of the netherlands. it had been promulgated at augsburg, where the emperor was holding a diet, upon the th of september. its severity had so appalled the dowager queen of hungary, that she had made a journey to augsburg expressly to procure a mitigation of some of its provisions. the principal alteration which she was able to obtain of the emperor was, however, in the phraseology only. as a concession to popular, prejudice, the words "spiritual judges" were substituted for "inquisitors" wherever that expression had occurred in the original draft. the edict had been re-enacted by the express advice of the bishop of arras, immediately on the accession of philip: the prelate knew the value of the emperor's name; he may have thought, also, that it would be difficult to increase the sharpness of the ordinances. "i advised the king," says granvelle, in a letter written a few years later, "to make no change in the placards, but to proclaim the text drawn up by the emperor, republishing the whole as the king's edict, with express insertion of the phrase, 'carolus,' etc. i recommended this lest men should calumniate his majesty as wishing to introduce novelties in the matter of religion." this edict, containing the provisions which have been laid before the reader, was now to be enforced with the utmost rigor; every official personage, from the stadholders down, having received the most stringent instructions to that effect, under philip's own hand. this was the first gift of philip and of granvelle to the netherlands; of the monarch who said of himself that he had always, "from the beginning of his government, followed the path of clemency, according to his natural disposition, so well known to all the world;" of the prelate who said of himself, "that he had ever combated the opinion that any thing could be accomplished by terror, death, and violence." during the period of the french and papal war, it has been seen that the execution of these edicts had been permitted to slacken. it was now resumed with redoubled fury. moreover, a new measure had increased the disaffection and dismay of the people, already sufficiently filled with apprehension. as an additional security for the supremacy of the ancient religion, it had been thought desirable that the number of bishops should be increased. there were but four sees in the netherlands, those of arras, cambray, tournay, and utrecht. that of utrecht was within the archiepiscopate of cologne; the other three were within that of rheims. it seemed proper that the prelates of the netherlands should owe no extraprovincial allegiance. it was likewise thought that three millions of souls required more than four spiritual superintendents. at any rate, whatever might be the interest of the flocks, it was certain that those broad and fertile pastures would sustain more than the present number of shepherds. the wealth of the religious houses in the provinces was very great. the abbey of afflighem alone had a revenue of fifty thousand florins, and there were many others scarcely inferior in wealth. but these institutions were comparatively independent both of king and pope. electing their own superiors from time to time, in nowise desirous of any change by which their ease might be disturbed and their riches endangered, the honest friars were not likely to engage in any very vigorous crusade against heresy, nor for the sake of introducing or strengthening spanish institutions, which they knew to be abominated by the people, to take the risk, of driving all their disciples into revolt and apostacy. comforting themselves with an erasmian philosophy, which they thought best suited to the times, they were as little likely as the sage of rotterdam himself would have been, to make martyrs of themselves for the sake of extirpating calvinism. the abbots and monks were, in political matters, very much under the influence of the great nobles, in whose company they occupied the benches of the upper house of the states-general. doctor francis sonnius had been sent on a mission to the pope, for the purpose of representing the necessity of an increase in the episcopal force of the netherlands. just as the king was taking his departure, the commissioner arrived, bringing with him the bull of paul the fourth, dated may , . this was afterwards confirmed by that of pius the fourth, in january of the following year. the document stated that "paul the fourth, slave of slaves, wishing to provide for the welfare of the provinces and the eternal salvation of their inhabitants, had determined to plant in that fruitful field several new bishoprics. the enemy of mankind being abroad," said the bull, "in so many forms at that particular time, and the netherlands, then under the sway of that beloved son of his holiness, philip the catholic, being compassed about with heretic and schismatic nations, it was believed that the eternal welfare of the land was in great danger. at the period of the original establishment of cathedral churches, the provinces had been sparsely peopled; they had now become filled to overflowing, so that the original ecclesiastical arrangement did not suffice. the harvest was plentiful, but the laborers were few." in consideration of these and other reasons, three archbishoprics were accordingly appointed. that of mechlin was to be principal, under which were constituted six bishoprics, those, namely, of antwerp, bois le due, rurmond, ghent, bruges and ypres. that of cambray was second, with the four subordinate dioceses of tournay, arras, saint omer and namur. the third archbishopric was that of utrecht, with the five sees of haarlem, middelburg, leeuwarden, groningen and deventer. the nomination to these important offices was granted to the king, subject to confirmation by the pope. moreover, it was ordained by the bull that "each bishop should appoint nine additional prebendaries, who were to assist him in the matter of the inquisition throughout his bishopric, two of whom were themselves to be inquisitors." to sustain these two great measures, through which philip hoped once and forever to extinguish the netherland heresy, it was considered desirable that the spanish troops still remaining in the provinces, should be kept there indefinitely. the force was not large, amounting hardly to four thousand men, but they were unscrupulous, and admirably disciplined. as the entering wedge, by which a military and ecclesiastical despotism was eventually to be forced into the very heart of the land, they were invaluable. the moral effect to be hoped from the regular presence of a spanish standing army during a time of peace in the netherlands could hardly be exaggerated. philip was therefore determined to employ every argument and subterfuge to detain the troops. etext editor's bookmarks: burned alive if they objected to transubstantiation german finds himself sober--he believes himself ill govern under the appearance of obeying informer, in case of conviction, should be entitled to one half man had only natural wrongs (no natural rights) no calumny was too senseless to be invented ruinous honors sovereignty was heaven-born, anointed of god that vile and mischievous animal called the people understood the art of managing men, particularly his superiors upon one day twenty-eight master cooks were dismissed william of nassau, prince of orange motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. - [chapter ii.] agitation in the netherlands--the ancient charters resorted to as barriers against the measures of government--"joyous entrance" of brabant--constitution of holland--growing unpopularity of antony perrenot, archbishop of mechlin--opposition to the new bishoprics, by orange, egmont, and other influential nobles--fury of the people at the continued presence of the foreign soldiery--orange resigns the command of the legion--the troops recalled--philip's personal attention to the details of persecution--perrenot becomes cardinal de granvelle--all the power of government in his hands--his increasing unpopularity--animosity and violence of egmont towards the cardinal--relations between orange and granvelle--ancient friendship gradually changing to enmity--renewal of the magistracy at antwerp--quarrel between the prince and cardinal--joint letter of orange and egmont to the king--answer of the king--indignation of philip against count horn--secret correspondence between the king and cardinal--remonstrances against the new bishoprics--philip's private financial statements--penury of the exchequer in spain and in the provinces--plan for debasing the coin--marriage of william the silent with the princess of lorraine circumvented--negotiations for his matrimonial alliance with princess anna of saxony-- correspondence between granvelle and philip upon the subject-- opposition of landgrave philip and of philip the second--character and conduct of elector augustus--mission of count schwartzburg-- communications of orange to the king and to duchess margaret-- characteristic letter of philip--artful conduct of granvelle and of the regent--visit of orange to dresden--proposed "note" of elector augustus--refusal of the prince--protest of the landgrave against the marriage--preparations for the wedding at leipzig--notarial instrument drawn up on the marriage day--wedding ceremonies and festivities--entrance of granvelle into mechlin as archbishop-- compromise in brabant between the abbeys and bishops. the years and were mainly occupied with the agitation and dismay produced by the causes set forth in the preceding chapter. against the arbitrary policy embodied in the edicts, the new bishoprics and the foreign soldiery, the netherlanders appealed to their ancient constitutions. these charters were called "handvests" in the vernacular dutch and flemish, because the sovereign made them fast with his hand. as already stated, philip had made them faster than any of the princes of his house had ever done, so far as oath and signature could accomplish that purpose, both as hereditary prince in , and as monarch in . the reasons for the extensive and unconditional manner in which he swore to support the provincial charters, have been already indicated. of these constitutions, that of brabant, known by the title of the 'joyeuse entree, blyde inkomst', or blithe entrance, furnished the most decisive barrier against the present wholesale tyranny. first and foremost, the "joyous entry" provided "that the prince of the land should not elevate the clerical state higher than of old has been customary and by former princes settled; unless by consent of the other two estates, the nobility and the cities." again; "the prince can prosecute no one of his subjects nor any foreign resident, civilly or criminally, except in the ordinary and open courts of justice in the province, where the accused may answer and defend himself with the help of advocates." further; "the prince shall appoint no foreigners to office in brabant." lastly; "should the prince, by force or otherwise, violate any of these privileges, the inhabitants of brabant, after regular protest entered, are discharged of their oaths of allegiance, and as free, independent and unbound people, may conduct themselves exactly as seems to them best." such were the leading features, so far as they regarded the points now at issue, of that famous constitution which was so highly esteemed in the netherlands, that mothers came to the province in order to give birth to their children, who might thus enjoy, as a birthright, the privileges of brabant. yet the charters of the other provinces ought to have been as effective against the arbitrary course of the government. "no foreigner," said the constitution of holland, "is eligible as, councillor, financier, magistrate, or member of a court. justice can be administered only by the ordinary tribunals and magistrates. the ancient laws and customs shall remain inviolable. should the prince infringe any of these provisions, no one is bound to obey him." these provisions, from the brabant and holland charters, are only cited as illustrative of the general spirit of the provincial constitutions. nearly all the provinces possessed privileges equally ample, duly signed and sealed. so far as ink and sealing wax could defend a land against sword and fire, the netherlands were impregnable against the edicts and the renewed episcopal inquisition. unfortunately, all history shows how feeble are barriers of paper or lambskin, even when hallowed with a monarch's oath, against the torrent of regal and ecclesiastical absolutism. it was on the reception in the provinces of the new and confirmatory bull concerning the bishoprics, issued in january, , that the measure became known, and the dissatisfaction manifest. the discontent was inevitable and universal. the ecclesiastical establishment which was not to be enlarged or elevated but by consent of the estates, was suddenly expanded into three archiepiscopates and fifteen bishoprics. the administration of justice, which was only allowed in free and local courts, distinct for each province, was to be placed, so far as regarded the most important of human interests, in the, hands of bishops and their creatures, many of them foreigners and most of them monks. the lives and property of the whole population were to be at the mercy of these utterly irresponsible conclaves. all classes were outraged. the nobles were offended because ecclesiastics, perhaps foreign ecclesiastics, were to be empowered to sit in the provincial estates and to control their proceedings in place of easy, indolent, ignorant abbots and friars, who had generally accepted the influence of the great seignors. the priests were enraged because the religious houses were thus taken out of their control and confiscated to a bench of bishops, usurping the places of those superiors who had formally been elected by and among themselves. the people were alarmed because the monasteries, although not respected nor popular, were at least charitable and without ambition to exercise ecclesiastical cruelty; while, on the other hand, by the new episcopal arrangements, a force of thirty new inquisitors was added to the apparatus for enforcing orthodoxy already established. the odium of the measure was placed upon the head of that churchman, already appointed archbishop of mechlin, and soon to be known as cardinal granvelle. from this time forth, this prelate began to be regarded with a daily increasing aversion. he was looked upon as the incarnation of all the odious measures which had been devised; as the source of that policy of absolutism which revealed itself more and more rapidly after the king's departure from the country. it was for this reason that so much stress was laid by popular clamor upon the clause prohibiting foreigners from office. granvelle was a burgundian; his father had passed most of his active life in spain, while both he and his more distinguished son were identified in the general mind with spanish politics. to this prelate, then, were ascribed the edicts, the new bishoprics, and the continued presence of the foreign troops. the people were right as regarded the first accusation. they were mistaken as to the other charges. the king had not consulted anthony perrenot with regard to the creation of the new bishoprics. the measure, which had been successively contemplated by philip "the good," by charles the bold, and by the emperor charles, had now been carried out by philip the second, without the knowledge of the new archbishop of mechlin. the king had for once been able to deceive the astuteness of the prelate, and had concealed from him the intended arrangement, until the arrival of sonnius with the bulls. granvelle gave the reasons for this mystery with much simplicity. "his majesty knew," he said, "that i should oppose it, as it was more honorable and lucrative to be one of four than one of eighteen." in fact, according to his own statement, he lost money by becoming archbishop of mechlin, and ceasing to be bishop of arras. for these reasons he declined, more than once, the proffered dignity, and at last only accepted it from fear of giving offence to the king, and after having secured compensation for his alleged losses. in the same letter (of th may, ) in which he thanked philip for conferring upon him the rich abbey of saint armand, which he had solicited, in addition to the "merced" in ready money, concerning the safe investment of which he had already sent directions, he observed that he was now willing to accept the archbishopric of mechlin; notwithstanding the odium attached to the measure, notwithstanding his feeble powers, and notwithstanding that, during the life of the bishop of tournay, who was then in rude health, he could only receive three thousand ducats of the revenue, giving up arras and gaining nothing in mechlin; notwithstanding all this, and a thousand other things besides, he assured his majesty that, "since the royal desire was so strong that he should accept, he would consider nothing so difficult that he would not at least attempt it." having made up his mind to take the see and support the new arrangements, he was resolved that his profits should be as large as possible. we have seen how he had already been enabled to indemnify himself. we shall find him soon afterwards importuning the king for the abbey of afflighem, the enormous revenue of which the prelate thought would make another handsome addition to the rewards of his sacrifices. at the same time, he was most anxious that the people, and particularly the great nobles, should not ascribe the new establishment to him, as they persisted in doing. "they say that the episcopates were devised to gratify my ambition," he wrote to philip two years later; "whereas your majesty knows how steadily i refused the see of mechlin, and that i only accepted it in order not to live in idleness, doing nothing for god and your majesty." he therefore instructed philip, on several occasions, to make it known to the government of the regent, to the seignors, and to the country generally, that the measure had been arranged without his knowledge; that the marquis berghen had known of it first, and that the prelate had, in truth, been kept in the dark on the subject until the arrival of sonnius with the bulls. the king, always docile to his minister, accordingly wrote to the duchess the statements required, in almost the exact phraseology suggested; taking pains to repeat the declarations on several occasions, both by letter and by word of mouth, to many influential persons. the people, however, persisted in identifying the bishop with the scheme. they saw that he was the head of the new institutions; that he was to receive the lion's share of the confiscated abbeys, and that he was foremost in defending and carrying through the measure, in spite of all opposition. that opposition waxed daily more bitter, till the cardinal, notwithstanding that he characterised the arrangement to the king as "a holy work," and warmly assured secretary perez that he would contribute his fortune, his blood, and his life, to its success, was yet obliged to exclaim in the bitterness of his spirit, "would to god that the erection of these new sees had never been thought of. amen! amen!" foremost in resistance was the prince of orange. although a catholic, he had no relish for the horrible persecution which had been determined upon. the new bishoprics he characterized afterwards as parts "of one grand scheme for establishing the cruel inquisition of spain; the said bishops to serve as inquisitors, burners of bodies; and tyrants of conscience: two prebendaries in each see being actually constituted inquisitors." for this reason he omitted no remonstrance on the subject to the duchess, to granvelle, and by direct letters to the king. his efforts were seconded by egmont, berghen, and other influential nobles. even berlaymont was at first disposed to side with the opposition, but upon the argument used by the duchess, that the bishoprics and prebends would furnish excellent places for his sons and other members of the aristocracy, he began warmly to support the measure. most of the labor, however, and all the odium, of the business fell upon the bishop's shoulders. there was still a large fund of loyalty left in the popular mind, which not even forty years of the emperor's dominion had consumed, and which philip was destined to draw upon as prodigally as if the treasure had been inexhaustible. for these reasons it still seemed most decorous to load all the hatred upon the minister's back, and to retain the consolatory formula, that philip was a prince, "clement, benign, and debonair." the bishop, true to his habitual conviction, that words, with the people, are much more important than things, was disposed to have the word "inquisitor" taken out of the text of the new decree. he was anxious at this juncture to make things pleasant, and he saw no reason why men should be unnecessarily startled. if the inquisition could be practised, and the heretics burned, he was in favor of its being done comfortably. the word "inquisitor" was unpopular, almost indecent. it was better to suppress the term and retain the thing. "people are afraid to speak of the new bishoprics," he wrote to perez, "on account of the clause providing that of nine canons one shall be inquisitor. hence people fear the spanish inquisition."--he, therefore, had written to the king to suggest instead, that the canons or graduates should be obliged to assist the bishop, according as he might command. those terms would suffice, because, although not expressly stated, it was clear that the bishop was an ordinary inquisitor; but it was necessary to expunge words that gave offence. it was difficult, however, with all the bishop's eloquence and dexterity, to construct an agreeable inquisition. the people did not like it, in any shape, and there were indications, not to be mistaken, that one day there would be a storm which it would be beyond human power to assuage. at present the people directed their indignation only upon a part of the machinery devised for their oppression. the spanish troops were considered as a portion of the apparatus by which the new bishoprics and the edicts were to be forced into execution. moreover, men were, weary of the insolence and the pillage which these mercenaries had so long exercised in the land. when the king had been first requested to withdraw them, we have seen that he had burst into a violent passion. he had afterward dissembled. promising, at last, that they should all be sent from the country within three or four months after his departure, he had determined to use every artifice to detain them in the provinces. he had succeeded, by various subterfuges, in keeping them there fourteen months; but it was at last evident that their presence would no longer be tolerated. towards the close of they were quartered in walcheren and brill. the zelanders, however, had become so exasperated by their presence that they resolutely refused to lay a single hand upon the dykes, which, as usual at that season, required great repairs. rather than see their native soil profaned any longer by these hated foreign mercenaries, they would see it sunk forever in the ocean. they swore to perish-men, women, and children together-in the waves, rather than endure longer the outrages which the soldiery daily inflicted. such was the temper of the zelanders that it was not thought wise to trifle with their irritation. the bishop felt that it was no longer practicable to detain the troops, and that all the pretext devised by philip and his government had become ineffectual. in a session of the state council, held on the th october, , he represented in the strongest terms to the regent the necessity for the final departure of the troops. viglius, who knew the character of his countrymen, strenuously seconded the proposal. orange briefly but firmly expressed the same opinion, declining any longer to serve as commander of the legion, an office which, in conjunction with egmont, he had accepted provisionally, with the best of motives, and on the pledge of philip that the soldiers should be withdrawn. the duchess urged that the order should at least be deferred until the arrival of count egmont, then in spain, but the proposition was unanimously negatived. letters were accordingly written, in the name of the regent, to the king. it was stated that the measure could no longer be delayed, that the provinces all agreed in this point, that so long as the foreigners remained not a stiver should be paid into the treasury; that if they had once set sail, the necessary amount for their arrears would be furnished to the government; but that if they should return it was probable that they would be resisted by the inhabitants with main force, and that they would only be allowed to enter the cities through a breach in their wall. it was urged, moreover, that three or four thousand spaniards would not be sufficient to coerce all the provinces, and that there was not money enough in the royal exchequer to pay the wages of a single company of the troops. "it cuts me to the heart," wrote the bishop to philip, "to see the spanish infantry leave us; but go they must. would to god that we could devise any pretext, as your majesty desires, under which to keep them here! we have tried all means humanly possible for retaining them, but i see no way to do it without putting the provinces in manifest danger of sudden revolt." fortunately for the dignity of the government, or for the repose of the country, a respectable motive was found for employing the legion elsewhere. the important loss which spain had recently met with in the capture of zerby made a reinforcement necessary in the army engaged in the southern service. thus, the disaster in barbary at last relieved the netherlands of the pest which had afflicted them so long. for a brief breathing space the country was cleared of foreign mercenaries. the growing unpopularity of the royal government, still typified, however, in the increasing hatred entertained for the bishop, was not materially diminished by the departure of the spaniards. the edicts and the bishoprics were still there, even if the soldiers were gone. the churchman worked faithfully to accomplish his master's business. philip, on his side, was industrious to bring about the consummation of his measures. ever occupied with details, the monarch, from his palace in spain, sent frequent informations against the humblest individuals in the netherlands. it is curious to observe the minute reticulations of tyranny which he had begun already to spin about a whole, people, while cold, venomous, and patient he watched his victims from the centre of his web. he forwarded particular details to the duchess and cardinal concerning a variety of men and women, sending their names, ages, personal appearance, occupations, and residence, together with directions for their immediate immolation. even the inquisitors of seville were set to work to increase, by means of their branches or agencies in the provinces, the royal information on this all-important subject. "there are but few of us left in the world," he moralized in a letter to the bishop, "who care for religion. 'tis necessary, therefore, for us to take the greater heed for christianity. we must lose our all, if need be, in order to do our duty; in fine," added he, with his usual tautology, "it is right that a man should do his duty." granvelle--as he must now be called, for his elevation to the cardinalship will be immediately alluded to--wrote to assure the king that every pains would be taken to ferret out and execute the individuals complained of. he bewailed, however, the want of heartiness on the part of the netherland inquisitors and judges. "i find," said he, "that all judicial officers go into the matter of executing the edicts with reluctance, which i believe is caused by their fear of displeasing the populace. when they do act they do it but languidly, and when these matters are not taken in hand with the necessary liveliness, the fruit desired is not gathered. we do not fail to exhort and to command them to do their work." he added that viglius and berlaymont displayed laudable zeal, but that he could not say as much for the council of brabant. those councillors "were forever prating," said he, "of the constitutional rights of their province, and deserved much less commendation." the popularity of the churchman, not increased by these desperate exertions to force an inhuman policy upon an unfortunate nation, received likewise no addition from his new elevation in rank. during the latter part of the year , margaret of parma, who still entertained a profound admiration of the prelate, and had not yet begun to chafe under his smooth but imperious dominion, had been busy in preparing for him a delightful surprise. without either his knowledge or that of the king, she had corresponded with the pope, and succeeded in obtaining, as a personal favor to herself, the cardinal's hat for anthony perrenot. in february, , cardinal borromeo wrote to announce that the coveted dignity had been bestowed. the duchess hastened, with joyous alacrity, to communicate the intelligence to the bishop, but was extremely hurt to find that he steadily refused to assume his new dignity, until he had written to the king to announce the appointment, and to ask his permission to accept the honor. the duchess, justly wounded at his refusal to accept from her hands the favor which she, and she only, had obtained for him, endeavored in vain to overcome his pertinacity. she represented that although philip was not aware of the application or the appointment, he was certain to regard it as an agreeable surprise. she urged, moreover, that his temporary refusal would be misconstrued at rome, where it would certainly excite ridicule, and very possibly give offence in the highest quarter. the bishop was inexorable. he feared, says his panegyrist, that he might one day be on worse terms than at present with the duchess, and that then she might reproach him with her former benefits. he feared also that the king might, in consequence of the step, not look with satisfaction upon him at some future period, when he might stand in need of his favors. he wrote, accordingly, a most characteristic letter to philip, in which he informed him that he had been honored with the cardinal's hat. he observed that many persons were already congratulating him, but that before he made any demonstration of accepting or refusing, he waited for his majesty's orders: upon his will he wished ever to depend. he also had the coolness, under the circumstances, to express his conviction that "it was his majesty who had secretly procured this favor from his holiness." the king received the information very graciously, observing in reply, that although he had never made any suggestion of the kind, he had "often thought upon the subject." the royal command was of course at once transmitted, that the dignity should be accepted. by special favor, moreover, the pope dispensed the new cardinal from the duty of going to rome in person, and despatched his chamberlain, theophilus friso, to brussels, with the red hat and tabbard. the prelate, having thus reached the dignity to which he had long aspired, did not grow more humble in his deportment, or less zealous in the work through which he had already gained so much wealth and preferment. his conduct with regard to the edicts and bishoprics had already brought him into relations which were far from amicable with his colleagues in the council. more and more he began to take the control of affairs into his own hand. the consulta, or secret committee of the state council, constituted the real government of the country. here the most important affairs were decided upon without the concurrence of the other seignors, orange, egmont, and glayon, who, at the same time, were held responsible for the action of government. the cardinal was smooth in manner, plausible of speech, generally even-tempered, but he was overbearing and blandly insolent. accustomed to control royal personages, under the garb of extreme obsequiousness, he began, in his intercourse with those of less exalted rank, to omit a portion of the subserviency while claiming a still more undisguised authority. to nobles like egmont and orange, who looked down upon the son of nicolas perrenot and nicola bonvalot as a person immeasurably beneath themselves in the social hierarchy, this conduct was sufficiently irritating. the cardinal, placed as far above philip, and even margaret, in mental power as he was beneath them in worldly station, found it comparatively easy to deal with them amicably. with such a man as egmont, it was impossible for the churchman to maintain friendly relations. the count, who notwithstanding his romantic appearance, his brilliant exploits, and his interesting destiny, was but a commonplace character, soon conceived a mortal aversion to granvelle. a rude soldier, entertaining no respect for science or letters, ignorant and overbearing, he was not the man to submit to the airs of superiority which pierced daily more and more decidedly through the conventional exterior of the cardinal. granvelle, on the other hand, entertained a gentle contempt for egmont, which manifested itself in all his private letters to the king, and was sufficiently obvious in his deportment. there had also been distinct causes of animosity between them. the governorship of hesdin having become vacant, egmont, backed by orange and other nobles, had demanded it for the count de roeulx, a gentleman of the croy family, who, as well as his father, had rendered many important services to the crown. the appointment was, however, bestowed, through granvelle's influence, upon the seigneur d'helfault, a gentleman of mediocre station and character, who was thought to possess no claims whatever to the office. egmont, moreover, desired the abbey of trulle for a poor relation of his own; but the cardinal, to whom nothing in this way ever came amiss, had already obtained the king's permission to, appropriate the abbey to himself egmont was now furious against the prelate, and omitted no opportunity of expressing his aversion, both in his presence and behind his back. on one occasion, at least, his wrath exploded in something more than words. exasperated by granvelle's polished insolence in reply to his own violent language, he drew his dagger upon him in the presence of the regent herself, "and," says a contemporary, "would certainly have sent the cardinal into the next world had he not been forcibly restrained by the prince of orange and other persons present, who warmly represented to him that such griefs were to be settled by deliberate advice, not by choler." at the same time, while scenes like these were occurring in the very bosom of the state council, granvelle, in his confidential letters to secretary perez, asserted warmly that all reports of a want of harmony between himself and the other seignors and councillors were false, and that the best relations existed among them all. it was not his intention, before it should be necessary, to let the king doubt his ability to govern the counsel according to the secret commission with which he had been invested. his relations with orange were longer in changing from friendship to open hostility. in the prince the cardinal met his match. he found himself confronted by an intellect as subtle, an experience as fertile in expedients, a temper as even, and a disposition sometimes as haughty as his own. he never affected to undervalue the mind of orange. "'tis a man of profound genius, vast ambition--dangerous, acute, politic," he wrote to the king at a very early period. the original relations between himself and the prince bad been very amicable. it hardly needed the prelate's great penetration to be aware that the friendship of so exalted a personage as the youthful heir to the principality of orange, and to the vast possessions of the chalons-nassau house in burgundy and the netherlands, would be advantageous to the ambitious son of the burgundian councillor granvelle. the young man was the favorite of the emperor from boyhood; his high rank, and his remarkable talents marked him indisputably for one of the foremost men of the coming reign. therefore it was politic in perrenot to seize every opportunity of making himself useful to the prince. he busied himself with securing, so far as it might be necessary to secure, the succession of william to his cousin's principality. it seems somewhat ludicrous for a merit to be made not only for granvelle but for the emperor, that the prince should have been allowed to take an inheritance which the will of rene de nassau most unequivocally conferred, and which no living creature disputed. yet, because some of the crown lawyers had propounded the dogma that "the son of a heretic ought not to succeed," it was gravely stated as an immense act of clemency upon the part of charles the fifth that he had not confiscated the whole of the young prince's heritage. in return granvelle's brother jerome had obtained the governorship of the youth, upon whose majority he had received an honorable military appointment from his attached pupil. the prelate had afterwards recommended the marriage with the count de buren's heiress, and had used his influence with the emperor to overcome certain objections entertained by charles, that the prince, by this great accession of wealth, might be growing too powerful. on the other hand, there were always many poor relations and dependents of granvelle, eager to be benefitted by orange's patronage, who lived in the prince's household, or received handsome appointments from his generosity. thus, there had been great intimacy, founded upon various benefits mutually conferred; for it could hardly be asserted that the debt of friendship was wholly upon one side. when orange arrived in brussels from a journey, he would go to the bishop's before alighting at his own house. when the churchman visited the prince, he entered his bed-chamber without ceremony before he had risen; for it was william's custom, through life, to receive intimate acquaintances, and even to attend to important negotiations of state, while still in bed. the show of this intimacy had lasted longer than its substance. granvelle was the most politic of men, and the prince had not served his apprenticeship at the court of charles the fifth to lay himself bare prematurely to the criticism or the animosity of the cardinal with the recklessness of horn and egmont. an explosion came at last, however, and very soon after an exceedingly amicable correspondence between the two upon the subject of an edict of religious amnesty which orange was preparing for his principality, and which granvelle had recommended him not to make too lenient. a few weeks after this, the antwerp magistracy was to be renewed. the prince, as hereditary burgrave of that city, was entitled to a large share of the appointing power in these political arrangements, which at the moment were of great importance. the citizens of antwerp were in a state of excitement on the subject of the new bishops. they openly, and in the event, successfully resisted the installation of the new prelate for whom their city had been constituted a diocese. the prince was known to be opposed to the measure, and to the whole system of ecclesiastical persecution. when the nominations for the new magistracy came before the regent, she disposed of the whole matter in the secret consulta, without the knowledge, and in a manner opposed to the views of orange. he was then furnished with a list of the new magistrates, and was informed that he had been selected as commissioner along with count aremberg, to see that the appointments were carried into effect. the indignation of the prince was extreme. he had already taken offence at some insolent expressions upon this topic, which the cardinal had permitted himself. he now sent back the commission to the duchess, adding, it was said, that he was not her lackey, and that she might send some one else with her errands. the words were repeated in the state council. there was a violent altercation--orange vehemently resenting his appointment merely to carry out decisions in which he claimed an original voice. his ancestors, he said, had often changed the whole of the antwerp magistracy by their own authority. it was a little too much that this matter, as well as every other state affair, should be controlled by the secret committee of which the cardinal was the chief. granvelle, on his side, was also in a rage. he flung from the council-chamber, summoned the chancellor of brabant, and demanded, amid bitter execrations against orange, what common and obscure gentleman there might be, whom he could appoint to execute the commission thus refused by the prince and by aremberg. he vowed that in all important matters he would, on future occasions, make use of nobles less inflated by pride, and more tractable than such grand seignors. the chancellor tried in vain to appease the churchman's wrath, representing that the city of antwerp would be highly offended at the turn things were taking, and offering his services to induce the withdrawal, on the part of the prince, of the language which had given so much offence. the cardinal was inexorable and peremptory. "i will have nothing to do with the prince, master chancellor," said he, "and these are matters which concern you not." thus the conversation ended, and thus began the open state of hostilities between the great nobles and the cardinal, which had been brooding so long. on the rd july, , a few weeks after the scenes lately described, the count of egmont and the prince of orange addressed a joint letter to the king. they reminded him in this despatch that, they had originally been reluctant to take office in the state council, on account of their previous experience of the manner in which business had been conducted during the administration of the duke of savoy. they had feared that important matters of state might be transacted without their concurrence. the king had, however, assured them, when in zeland, that all affairs would be uniformly treated in full council. if the contrary should ever prove the case, he had desired them to give him information to that effect, that he might instantly apply the remedy. they accordingly now gave him that information. they were consulted upon small matters: momentous affairs were decided upon in their absence. still they would not even now have complained had not cardinal granvelle declared that all the members of the state council were to be held responsible for its measures, whether they were present at its decisions or not. not liking such responsibility, they requested the king either to accept their resignation or to give orders that all affairs should be communicated to the whole board and deliberated upon by all the councillors. in a private letter, written some weeks later (august ), egmont begged secretary erasso to assure the king that their joint letter had not been dictated by passion, but by zeal for his service. it was impossible, he said, to imagine the insolence of the cardinal, nor to form an idea of the absolute authority which he arrogated. in truth, granvelle, with all his keenness, could not see that orange, egmont, berghen, montigny and the rest, were no longer pages and young captains of cavalry, while he was the politician and the statesman. by six or seven years the senior of egmont, and by sixteen years of orange, he did not divest himself of the superciliousness of superior wisdom, not unjust nor so irritating when they had all been boys. in his deportment towards them, and in the whole tone of his private correspondence with philip, there was revealed, almost in spite of himself, an affectation of authority, against which egmont rebelled and which the prince was not the man to acknowledge. philip answered the letter of the two nobles in his usual procrastinating manner. the count of horn, who was about leaving spain (whither he had accompanied the king) for the netherlands, would be entrusted with the resolution which he should think proper to take upon the subject suggested. in the mean time, he assured them that he did not doubt their zeal in his service. as to count horn, granvelle had already prejudiced the king against him. horn and the cardinal had never been friends. a brother of the prelate had been an aspirant for the hand of the admiral's sister, and had been somewhat contemptuously rejected. horn, a bold, vehement, and not very good-tempered personage, had long kept no terms with granvelle, and did not pretend a friendship which he had never felt. granvelle had just written to instruct the king that horn was opposed bitterly to that measure which was nearest the king's heart--the new bishoprics. he had been using strong language, according to the cardinal, in opposition to the scheme, while still in spain. he therefore advised that his majesty, concealing, of course, the source of the information, and speaking as it were out of the royal mind itself, should expostulate with the admiral upon the subject. thus prompted, philip was in no gracious humor when he received count horn, then about to leave madrid for the netherlands, and to take with him the king's promised answer to the communication of orange and egmont. his majesty had rarely been known to exhibit so much anger towards any person as he manifested upon that occasion. after a few words from the admiral, in which he expressed his sympathy with the other netherland nobles, and his aversion to granvelle, in general terms, and in reply to philip's interrogatories, the king fiercely interrupted him: "what! miserable man!" he vociferated, "you all complain of this cardinal, and always in vague language. not one of you, in spite of all my questions, can give me a single reason for your dissatisfaction." with this the royal wrath boiled over in such unequivocal terms that the admiral changed color, and was so confused with indignation and astonishment, that he was scarcely able to find his way out of the room. this was the commencement of granvelle's long mortal combat with egmont, horn, and orange. this was the first answer which the seignors were to receive to their remonstrances against the churchman's arrogance. philip was enraged that any opposition should be made to his coercive measures, particularly to the new bishoprics, the "holy work" which the cardinal was ready, to "consecrate his fortune and his blood" to advance. granvelle fed his master's anger by constant communications as to the efforts made by distinguished individuals to delay the execution of the scheme. assonville had informed him, he wrote, that much complaint had been made on the subject by several gentlemen, at a supper of count egmont's. it was said that the king ought to have consulted them all, and the state councillors especially. the present nominees to the new episcopates were good enough, but it would be found, they said, that very improper personages would be afterwards appointed. the estates ought not to permit the execution of the scheme. in short, continued granvelle, "there is the same kind of talk which brought about the recall of the spanish troops." a few months later, he wrote to inform philip that a petition against the new bishoprics was about to be drawn up by "the two lords.". they had two motives; according to the cardinal, for this step--first, to let the king know that he could do nothing without their permission; secondly, because in the states' assembly they were then the cocks of the walk. they did not choose, therefore, that in the clerical branch of the estates any body should be above the abbots, whom they could frighten into doing whatever they chose. at the end, of the year, granvelle again wrote to instruct his sovereign how to reply to the letter which was about to be addressed to him by the prince of orange and the marquis berghen on the subject of the bishoprics. they would tell him, he said, that the incorporation of the brabant abbeys into the new bishoprics was contrary to the constitution of the "joyful entrance." philip was, however, to make answer that he had consulted the universities, and those learned in the laws, and had satisfied himself that it was entirely constitutional. he was therefore advised to send his command that the prince and marquis should use all their influence to promote the success of the measure. thus fortified, the king was enabled not only to deal with the petition of the nobles, but also with the deputies from the estates of brabant, who arrived about this time at madrid. to these envoys, who asked for the appointment of royal commissioners, with whom they might treat on the subject of the bishoprics, the abbeys, and the "joyful entrance," the king answered proudly, "that in matters which concerned the service of god, he was his own commissioner." he afterwards, accordingly, recited to them, with great accuracy, the lesson which he had privately received from the ubiquitous cardinal. philip was determined that no remonstrance from great nobles or from private citizens should interfere with the thorough execution of the grand scheme on which he was resolved, and of which the new bishoprics formed an important part. opposition irritated him more and more, till his hatred of the opponents became deadly; but it, at the same time, confirmed him in his purpose. "'tis no time to temporize," he wrote to granvelle; "we must inflict chastisement with full rigor and severity. these rascals can only be made to do right through fear, and not always even by that means." at the same time, the royal finances did not admit of any very active measures, at the moment, to enforce obedience to a policy which was already so bitterly opposed. a rough estimate, made in the king's own handwriting, of the resources and obligations of his exchequer, a kind of balance sheet for the, years and , drawn up much in the same manner as that in which a simple individual would make a note of his income and expenditure, gave but a dismal picture of his pecuniary, condition. it served to show how intelligent a financier is despotism, and how little available are the resources of a mighty empire when regarded merely as private property, particularly when the owner chances to have the vanity of attending to all details himself: "twenty millions of ducats," began the memorandum, "will be required to disengage my revenues. but of this," added the king, with whimsical pathos for an account-book, "we will not speak at present, as the matter is so entirely impossible." he then proceeded to enter the various items of expense which were to be met during the two years; such as so many millions due to the fuggers (the rothschilds of the sixteenth century), so many to merchants in flanders, seville, and other places, so much for prince doria's galleys, so much for three years' pay due to his guards, so much for his household expenditure, so much for the, tuition of don carlos, and don juan d'austria, so much for salaries of ambassadors and councillors--mixing personal and state expenses, petty items and great loans, in one singular jumble, but arriving at a total demand upon his purse of ten million nine hundred and ninety thousand ducats. to meet this expenditure he painfully enumerated the funds upon which he could reckon for the two years. his ordinary rents and taxes being all deeply pledged, he could only calculate from that source upon two hundred thousand ducats. the indian revenue, so called, was nearly spent; still it might yield him four hundred and twenty thousand ducats. the quicksilver mines would produce something, but so little as hardly to require mentioning. as to the other mines, they were equally unworthy of notice, being so very uncertain, and not doing as well as they were wont. the licences accorded by the crown to carry slaves to america were put down at fifty thousand ducats for the two years. the product of the "crozada" and "cuarta," or money paid to him in small sums by individuals, with the permission of his holiness, for the liberty of abstaining from the church fasts, was estimated at five hundred thousand ducats. these and a few more meagre items only sufficed to stretch his income to a total of one million three hundred and thirty thousand far the two years, against an expenditure calculated at near eleven millions. "thus, there are nine millions, less three thousand ducats, deficient," he concluded ruefully (and making a mistake in his figures in his own favor of six hundred and sixty-three thousand besides), "which i may look for in the sky, or try to raise by inventions already exhausted." thus, the man who owned all america and half of europe could only raise a million ducats a year from his estates. the possessor of all peru and mexico could reckon on "nothing worth mentioning" from his mines, and derived a precarious income mainly from permissions granted his subjects to carry on the slave-trade and to eat meat on fridays. this was certainly a gloomy condition of affairs for a monarch on the threshold of a war which was to outlast his own life and that of his children; a war in which the mere army expenses were to be half a million florins monthly, in which about seventy per cent. of the annual disbursements was to be regularly embezzled or appropriated by the hands through which it passed, and in which for every four men on paper, enrolled and paid for, only one, according to the average, was brought into the field. granvelle, on the other hand, gave his master but little consolation from the aspect of financial affairs in the provinces. he assured him that "the government was often in such embarrassment as not to know where to look for ten ducats." he complained bitterly that the states would meddle with the administration of money matters, and were slow in the granting of subsidies. the cardinal felt especially outraged by the interference of these bodies with the disbursement of the sums which they voted. it has been seen that the states had already compelled the government to withdraw the troops, much to the regret of granvelle. they continued, however, to be intractable on the subject of supplies. "these are very vile things," he wrote to philip, "this authority which they assume, this audacity with which they say whatever they think proper; and these impudent conditions which they affix to every proposition for subsidies." the cardinal protested that he had in vain attempted to convince them of their error, but that they remained perverse. it was probably at this time that the plan for debasing the coin, suggested to philip some time before by a skilful chemist named malen, and always much approved of both by himself and ruy gomez, recurred to his mind. "another and an extraordinary source of revenue, although perhaps not a very honorable one," wrote suriano, "has hitherto been kept secret; and on account of differences of opinion between the king and his confessor, has been discontinued." this source of revenue, it seemed, was found in "a certain powder, of which one ounce mixed with six ounces of quicksilver would make six ounces of silver." the composition was said to stand the test of the hammer, but not of the fire. partly in consequence of theological scruples and partly on account of opposition from the states, a project formed by the king to pay his army with this kind of silver was reluctantly abandoned. the invention, however, was so very agreeable to the king, and the inventor had received such liberal rewards, that it was supposed, according to the envoy, that in time of scarcity his majesty would make use of such coin without reluctance. it is necessary, before concluding this chapter, which relates the events of the years and , to allude to an important affair which occupied much attention during the whole of this period. this is the celebrated marriage of the prince of orange with the princess anna of saxony. by many superficial writers; a moving cause of the great netherland revolt was found in the connexion of the great chieftain with this distinguished lutheran house. one must have studied the characters and the times to very little purpose, however, to believe it possible that much influence could be exerted on the mind of william of orange by such natures as those of anna of saxony, or of her uncle the elector augustus, surnamed "the pious." the prince had become a widower in , at the age of twenty-five. granvelle, who was said to have been influential in arranging his first marriage, now proposed to him, after the year of mourning had expired, an alliance with mademoiselle renee, daughter of the duchess de lorraine, and granddaughter of christiern the third of denmark, and his wife isabella, sister of the emperor charles the fifth. such a connexion, not only with the royal house of spain but with that of france--for, the young duke of lorraine, brother of the lady, had espoused the daughter of henry the considered highly desirable by the prince. philip and the duchess margaret of parma both approved, or pretended to approve, the match. at the same time the dowager duchess of lorraine, mother of the intended bride, was a candidate, and a very urgent one, for the regency of the netherlands. being a woman of restless ambition, and intriguing character, she naturally saw in a man of william's station and talents a most desirable ally in her present and future schemes. on the other hand, philip--who had made open protestation of his desire to connect the prince thus closely with his own blood, and had warmly recommended the match to the young lady's mother--soon afterwards, while walking one day with the prince in the park at brussels, announced to him that the duchess of lorraine had declined his proposals. such a result astonished the prince, who was on the best of terms with the mother, and had been urging her appointment to the regency with all his-influence, having entirely withdrawn his own claims to that office. no satisfactory explanation was ever given of this singular conclusion to a courtship, begun with the apparent consent of all parties. it was hinted that the young lady did not fancy the prince; but, as it was not known that a word had ever been exchanged between them, as the prince, in appearance and reputation, was one of the most brilliant cavaliers of the age, and as the approval of the bride was not usually a matter of primary consequence in such marriages of state, the mystery seemed to require a further solution. the prince suspected granvelle and the king, who were believed to have held mature and secret deliberation together, of insincerity. the bishop was said to have expressed the opinion, that although the friendship he bore the prince would induce him to urge the marriage, yet his duty to his master made him think it questionable whether it were right to advance a personage already placed so high by birth, wealth, and popularity, still higher by so near an alliance with his majesty's family. the king, in consequence, secretly instructed the duchess of lorraine to decline the proposal, while at the same time he continued openly to advocate the connexion. the prince is said to have discovered this double dealing, and to have found in it the only reasonable explanation of the whole transaction. moreover, the duchess of lorraine, finding herself equally duped, and her own ambitious scheme equally foiled by her unscrupulous cousin--who now, to the surprise of every one, appointed margaret of parma to be regent, with the bishop for her prime minister--had as little reason to be satisfied with the combinations of royal and ecclesiastical intrigue as the prince of orange himself. soon after this unsatisfactory mystification, william turned his attentions to germany. anna of saxony, daughter of the celebrated elector maurice, lived at the court of her uncle, the elector augustus. a musket-ball, perhaps a traitorous one, in an obscure action with albert of brandenbourg, had closed the adventurous career of her father seven years before. the young lady, who was thought to have inherited much of his restless, stormy character, was sixteen years of age. she was far from handsome, was somewhat deformed, and limped. her marriage-portion was deemed, for the times, an ample one; she had seventy thousand rix dollars in hand, and the reversion of thirty thousand on the death of john frederic the second, who had married her mother after the death of maurice. her rank was accounted far higher in germany than that of william of nassau, and in this respect, rather than for pecuniary considerations, the marriage seemed a desirable one for him. the man who held the great nassau-chalons property, together with the heritage of count maximilian de buren, could hardly have been tempted by , thalers. his own provision for the children who might spring from the proposed marriage was to be a settlement of seventy thousand florins annually. the fortune which permitted of such liberality was not one to be very materially increased by a dowry which might seem enormous to many of the pauper princes of germany. "the bride's portion," says a contemporary, "after all, scarcely paid for the banquets and magnificent festivals which celebrated the marriage. when the wedding was paid for, there was not a thaler remaining of the whole sum." nothing, then, could be more puerile than to accuse the prince of mercenary motives in seeking this alliance; an accusation, however, which did not fail to be brought. there were difficulties on both sides to be arranged before this marriage could take place. the bride was a lutheran, the prince was a catholic. with regard to the religion of orange not the slightest doubt existed, nor was any deception attempted. granvelle himself gave the most entire attestation of the prince's orthodoxy. "this proposed marriage gives me great pain," he wrote to philip, "but i have never had reason to suspect his principles." in another letter he observed that he wished the marriage could be broken off; but that he hoped so much from the virtue of the prince that nothing could suffice to separate him from the true religion. on the other side there was as little doubt as to his creed. old landgrave philip of hesse, grandfather of the young lady, was bitterly opposed to the match. "'tis a papist," said he, "who goes to mass, and eats no meat on fast days." he had no great objection to his character, but insurmountable ones to his religion. "old count william," said he, "was an evangelical lord to his dying day. this man is a papist!" the marriage, then, was to be a mixed marriage. it is necessary, however, to beware of anachronisms upon the subject. lutherans were not yet formally denounced as heretics. on the contrary, it was exactly at this epoch that the pope was inviting the protestant princes of germany to the trent council, where the schism was to be closed, and all the erring lambs to be received again into the bosom of the fold. so far from manifesting an outward hostility, the papal demeanor was conciliating. the letters of invitation from the pope to the princes were sent by a legate, each commencing with the exordium, "to my beloved son," and were all sent back to his holiness, contemptuously, with the coarse jest for answer, "we believe our mothers to have been honest women, and hope that we had better fathers." the great council had not yet given its decisions. marriages were of continual occurrence, especially among princes and potentates, between the adherents of rome and of the new religion. even philip had been most anxious to marry the protestant elizabeth, whom, had she been a peasant, he would unquestionably have burned, if in his power. throughout germany, also, especially in high places, there was a disposition to cover up the religious controversy; to abstain from disturbing the ashes where devastation still glowed, and was one day to rekindle itself. it was exceedingly difficult for any man, from the archduke maximilian down, to define his creed. a marriage, therefore; between a man and woman of discordant views upon this topic was not startling, although in general not considered desirable. there were, however, especial reasons why this alliance should be distasteful, both to philip of spain upon one side, and to the landgrave philip of hesse on the other. the bride was the daughter of the elector maurice. in that one name were concentrated nearly all the disasters, disgrace, and disappointment of the emperor's reign. it was maurice who had hunted the emperor through the tyrolean mountains; it was maurice who had compelled the peace of passau; it was maurice who had overthrown the catholic church in germany, it was maurice who had frustrated philip's election as king of the romans. if william of orange must seek a wife among the pagans, could no other bride be found for him than the daughter of such a man? anna's grandfather, on the other hand, landgrave philip, was the celebrated victim to the force and fraud of charles the fifth. he saw in the proposed bridegroom, a youth who had been from childhood, the petted page and confidant of the hated emperor, to whom he owed his long imprisonment. he saw in him too, the intimate friend and ally--for the brooding quarrels of the state council were not yet patent to the world--of the still more deeply detested granvelle; the crafty priest whose substitution of "einig" for "ewig" had inveigled him into that terrible captivity. these considerations alone would have made him unfriendly to the prince, even had he not been a catholic. the elector augustus, however, uncle and guardian to the bride, was not only well-disposed but eager for the marriage, and determined to overcome all obstacles, including the opposition of the landgrave, without whose consent he was long pledged not to bestow the hand of anna. for this there were more than one reason. augustus, who, in the words of one of the most acute historical critics of our day, was "a byzantine emperor of the lowest class, re-appearing in electoral hat and mantle," was not firm in his rights to the dignity he held. he had inherited from his brother, but his brother had dispossessed john frederic. maurice, when turning against the emperor, who had placed him in his cousin's seat, had not thought it expedient to restore to the rightful owner the rank which he himself owed to the violence of charles. those claims might be revindicated, and augustus be degraded in his turn, by a possible marriage of the princess anna, with some turbulent or intriguing german potentate. out of the land she was less likely to give trouble. the alliance, if not particularly desirable on the score of rank, was, in other worldly respects, a most brilliant one for his niece. as for the religious point, if he could overcome or circumvent the scruples of the landgrave, he foresaw little difficulty in conquering his own conscience. the prince of orange, it is evident, was placed in such a position, that it would be difficult for him to satisfy all parties. he intended that the marriage, like all marriages among persons in high places at that day, should be upon the "uti possidetis" principle, which was the foundation of the religious peace of germany. his wife, after marriage and removal to the netherlands, would "live catholically;" she would be considered as belonging to the same church with her husband, was to give no offence to the government, and bring no suspicion upon himself, by violating any of the religious decencies. further than this, william, who at that day was an easy, indifferent catholic, averse to papal persecutions, but almost equally averse to long, puritanical prayers and faces, taking far more pleasure in worldly matters than in ecclesiastical controversies, was not disposed to advance in this thorny path. having a stern bigot to deal with, in madrid, and another in cassel, he soon convinced himself that he was not likely entirely to satisfy either, and thought it wiser simply to satisfy himself. early in , count gunther de schwartzburg, betrothed to the prince's sister catharine, together with colonel george von holl, were despatched to germany to open the marriage negotiations. they found the elector augustus already ripe and anxious for the connexion. it was easy for the envoys to satisfy all his requirements on the religious question. if, as the elector afterwards stated to the landgrave, they really promised that the young lady should be allowed to have an evangelical preacher in her own apartments, together with the befitting sacraments, it is very certain that they travelled a good way out of their instructions, for such concessions were steadily refused by william in person. it is, however, more probable that augustus, whose slippery feet were disposed to slide smoothly and swiftly over this dangerous ground, had represented the prince's communications under a favorable gloss of his own. at any rate, nothing in the subsequent proceedings justified the conclusions thus hastily formed. the landgrave philip, from the beginning, manifested his repugnance to the match. as soon as the proposition had been received by augustus, that potentate despatched hans von carlowitz to the grandfather at cassel. the prince of orange, it was represented, was young, handsome, wealthy, a favorite of the spanish monarch; the princess anna, on the other hand, said her uncle was not likely to grow straighter or better proportioned in body, nor was her crooked and perverse character likely to improve with years. it was therefore desirable to find a settlement for her as soon as possible. the elector, however, would decide upon nothing without the landgrave's consent. to this frank, and not very flattering statement, so far as the young lady was concerned, the landgrave answered stoutly and characteristically. the prince was a spanish subject, he said, and would not be able to protect anna in her belief, who would sooner or later become a fugitive: he was but a count in germany, and no fitting match for an elector's daughter; moreover, the lady herself ought to be consulted, who had not even seen the prince. if she were crooked in body, as the elector stated, it was a shame to expose her; to conceal it, however, was questionable, as the prince might complain afterwards that a straight princess had been promised, and a crooked one fraudulently substituted,--and so on, though a good deal more of such quaint casuistry, in which the landgrave was accomplished. the amount of his answer, however, to the marriage proposal was an unequivocal negative, from which he never wavered. in consequence of this opposition, the negotiations were for a time suspended. augustus implored the prince not to abandon the project, promising that every effort should be made to gain over the landgrave, hinting that the old man might "go to his long rest soon," and even suggesting that if the worst came to the worst, he had bound himself to do nothing without the knowledge of the landgrave, but was not obliged to wait for his consent. on the other hand, the prince had communicated to the king of spain the fact of the proposed marriage. he had also held many long conversations with the regent and with granvelle. in all these interviews he had uniformly used one language: his future wife was to "live as a catholic," and if that point were not conceded, he would break off the negotiations. he did not pretend that she was to abjure her protestant faith. the duchess, in describing to philip the conditions, as sketched to her by the prince, stated expressly that augustus of saxony was to consent that his niece "should live catholically after the marriage," but that it was quite improbable that "before the nuptials she would be permitted to abjure her errors, and receive necessary absolution, according to the rules of the church." the duchess, while stating her full confidence in the orthodoxy of the prince, expressed at the same time her fears that attempts might be made in the future by his new connexions "to pervert him to their depraved opinions." a silence of many months ensued on the part of the sovereign, during which he was going through the laborious process of making up his mind, or rather of having it made up for him by people a thousand miles off. in the autumn granvelle wrote to say that the prince was very much surprised to have been kept so long waiting for a definite reply to his communications, made at the beginning of the year concerning his intended marriage, and to learn at last that his majesty had sent no answer, upon the ground that the match had been broken off; the fact being, that the negotiations were proceeding more earnestly than ever. nothing could be more helpless and more characteristic than the letter which philip sent, thus pushed for a decision. "you wrote me," said he, "that you had hopes that this matter of the prince's marriage would go no further, and seeing that you did not write oftener on the subject, i thought certainly that it had been terminated. this pleased me not a little, because it was the best thing that could be done. likewise," continued the most tautological of monarchs, "i was much pleased that it should be done. nevertheless;" he added, "if the marriage is to be proceeded with, i really don't know what to say about it, except to refer it to my sister, inasmuch as a person being upon the spot can see better what can be done with regard to it; whether it be possible to prevent it, or whether it be best, if there be no remedy, to give permission. but if there be a remedy, it would be better to take it, because," concluded the king, pathetically, "i don't see how the prince could think of marrying with the daughter of the man who did to his majesty, now in glory, that which duke maurice did." armed with this luminous epistle, which, if it meant any thing, meant a reluctant affirmation to the demand of the prince for the royal consent, the regent and granvelle proceeded to summon william of orange, and to catechise him in a manner most galling to the pride, and with a latitude not at all justified by any reasonable interpretation of the royal instructions. they even informed him that his majesty had assembled "certain persons learned in cases of conscience, and versed in theology," according to whose advice a final decision, not yet possible, would be given at some future period. this assembly of learned conscience-keepers and theologians had no existence save in the imaginations of granvelle and margaret. the king's letter, blind and blundering as it was, gave the duchess the right to decide in the affirmative on her own responsibility; yet fictions like these formed a part of the "dissimulation," which was accounted profound statesmanship by the disciples of machiavelli. the prince, however irritated, maintained his steadiness; assured the regent that the negotiation had advanced too far to be abandoned, and repeated his assurance that the future princess of orange was to "live as a catholic." in december, , william made a visit to dresden, where he was received by the elector with great cordiality. this visit was conclusive as to the marriage. the appearance and accomplishments of the distinguished suitor made a profound impression upon the lady. her heart was carried by storm. finding, or fancying herself very desperately enamored of the proposed bridegroom, she soon manifested as much eagerness for the marriage as did her uncle, and expressed herself frequently with the violence which belonged to her character. "what god had decreed," she said, "the devil should not hinder." the prince was said to have exhibited much diligence in his attention to the services of the protestant church during his visit at dreaden. as that visit lasted, however, but ten or eleven days, there was no great opportunity for shewing much zeal. at the same period one william knuttel was despatched by orange on the forlorn hope of gaining the old landgrave's consent, without making any vital concessions. "will the prince," asked the landgrave, "permit my granddaughter to have an evangelical preacher in the house?"--"no," answered knuttel. "may she at least receive the sacrament of the lord's supper in her own chamber, according to the lutheran form?"--"no," answered knuttel, "neither in breda, nor any where else in the netherlands. if she imperatively requires such sacraments, she must go over the border for them, to the nearest protestant sovereign." upon the th april, , the elector, returning to the charge, caused a little note to be drawn up on the religious point, which he forwarded, in the hope that the prince would copy and sign it. he added a promise that the memorandum should never be made public to the signer's disadvantage. at the same time he observed to count louis, verbally, "that he had been satisfied with the declarations made by the prince when in dresden, upon all points, except that concerning religion. he therefore felt obliged to beg for a little agreement in writing.--"by no means! by no means!" interrupted louis promptly, at the very first word, "the prince can give your electoral highness no such assurance. 't would be risking life, honor, and fortune to do so, as your grace is well aware." the elector protested that the declaration, if signed, should never come into the spanish monarch's hands, and insisted upon sending it to the prince. louis, in a letter to his brother, characterized the document as "singular, prolix and artful," and strongly advised the prince to have nothing to do with it. this note, which the prince was thus requested to sign, and which his brother louis thus strenuously advised him not to sign, the prince never did sign. its tenor was to the following effect:--the princess, after marriage, was, neither by menace nor persuasion; to be turned from the true and pure word of god, or the use of the sacrament according to the doctrines of the augsburg confession. the prince was to allow her to read books written in accordance with the augsburg confession. the prince was to permit her, as often, annually, as she required it, to go out of the netherlands to some place where she could receive the sacrament according to the augsburg confession. in case she were in sickness or perils of childbirth, the prince, if necessary, would call to her an evangelical preacher, who might administer to her the holy sacrament in her chamber. the children who might spring from the marriage were to be instructed as to the doctrines of the augsburg confession. even if executed, this celebrated memorandum would hardly have been at variance with the declarations made by the prince to the spanish government. he had never pretended that his bride was to become a catholic, but only to live as a catholic. all that he had promised, or was expected to promise, was that his wife should conform to the law in the netherlands. the paper, in a general way, recognized that law. in case of absolute necessity, however, it was stipulated that the princess should have the advantage of private sacraments. this certainly would have been a mortal offence in a calvinist or anabaptist, but for lutherans the practise had never been so strict. moreover, the prince already repudiated the doctrines of the edicts, and rebelled against the command to administer them within his government. a general promise, therefore, made by him privately, in the sense of the memorandum drawn up by the elector, would have been neither hypocritical nor deceitful, but worthy the man who looked over such grovelling heads as granvelle and philip on the one side, or augustus of saxony on the other, and estimated their religious pretences at exactly what they were worth. a formal document, however, technically according all these demands made by the elector, would certainly be regarded by the spanish government as a very culpable instrument. the prince never signed the note, but, as we shall have occasion to state in its proper place, he gave a verbal declaration, favorable to its tenor, but in very vague and brief terms, before a notary, on the day of the marriage. if the reader be of opinion that too much time has been expended upon the elucidation of this point, he should remember that the character of a great and good man is too precious a possession of history to be lightly abandoned. it is of no great consequence to ascertain the precise creed of augustus of saxony, or of his niece; it is of comparatively little moment to fix the point at which william of orange ceased to be an honest, but liberal catholic, and opened his heart to the light of the reformation; but it is of very grave interest that his name should be cleared of the charge of deliberate fraud and hypocrisy. it has therefore been thought necessary to prove conclusively that the prince never gave, in dresden or cassel, any assurance inconsistent with his assertions to king and cardinal. the whole tone of his language and demeanor on the religious subject was exhibited in his reply to the electress, who, immediately after the marriage, entreated that he would not pervert her niece from the paths of the true religion. "she shall not be troubled," said the prince, "with such melancholy things. instead of holy writ she shall read 'amadis de gaule,' and such books of pastime which discourse de amore; and instead of knitting and sewing she shall learn to dance a galdiarde, and such courtoisies as are the mode of our country and suitable to her rank." the reply was careless, flippant, almost contemptuous. it is very certain that william of orange was not yet the "father william" he was destined to become--grave, self-sacrificing, deeply religious, heroic; but it was equally evident from this language that he had small sympathy, either in public or private, with lutheranism or theological controversy. landgrave william was not far from right when he added, in his quaint style, after recalling this well-known reply, "your grace will observe, therefore, that when the abbot has dice in his pocket, the convent will play." so great was the excitement at the little court of cassel, that many protestant princes and nobles declared that "they would sooner give their daughters to a boor or a swineherd than to a papist." the landgrave was equally vigorous in his protest, drawn up in due form on the th april, . he was not used, he said, "to flatter or to tickle with a foxtail." he was sorry if his language gave offense, nevertheless "the marriage was odious, and that was enough." he had no especial objection to the prince, "who before the world was a brave and honorable man." he conceded that his estates were large, although he hinted that his debts also were ample; allowed that he lived in magnificent style, had even heard "of one of his banquets, where all the table-cloths, plates, and every thing else, were made of sugar," but thought he might be even a little too extravagant; concluding, after a good deal of skimble-skamble of this nature, with "protesting before god, the world, and all pious christians, that he was not responsible for the marriage, but only the elector augustus and others, who therefore would one day have to render account thereof to the lord." meantime the wedding had been fixed to take place on sunday, the th august, . this was st. bartholomew's, a nuptial day which was not destined to be a happy one in the sixteenth century. the landgrave and his family declined to be present at the wedding, but a large and brilliant company were invited. the king of spain sent a bill of exchange to the regent, that she might purchase a ring worth three thousand crowns, as a present on his part to the bride. beside this liberal evidence that his opposition to the marriage was withdrawn, he authorized his sister to appoint envoys from among the most distinguished nobles to represent him on the occasion. the baron de montigny, accordingly, with a brilliant company of gentlemen, was deputed by the duchess, although she declined sending all the governors of the provinces, according to the request of the prince. the marriage was to take place at leipsic. a slight picture of the wedding festivities, derived entirely from unpublished sources, may give some insight into the manners and customs of high life in germany and the netherlands at this epoch. the kings of spain and denmark were invited, and were represented by special ambassadors. the dukes of brunswick, lauenburg, mecklenburg, the elector and margraves of brandenburg, the archbishop of cologne, the duke of cleves, the bishops of naumburg, meneburg, meissen, with many other potentates, accepted the invitations, and came generally in person, a few only being represented by envoys. the town councils of erfurt, leipsic, magdeburg, and other cities, were also bidden. the bridegroom was personally accompanied by his brothers john, adolphus, and louis; by the burens, the leuchtenbergs, and various other distinguished personages. as the electoral residence at leipsic was not completely finished, separate dwellings were arranged for each of the sovereign families invited, in private houses, mostly on the market-place. here they were to be furnished with provisions by the elector's officials, but they were to cook for themselves. for this purpose all the princes had been requested to bring their own cooks and butlers, together with their plate and kitchen utensils. the sovereigns themselves were to dine daily with the elector at the town-house, but the attendants and suite were to take their meals in their own lodgings. a brilliant collection of gentlemen and pages, appointed by the elector to wait at his table, were ordered to assemble at leipsic on the d, the guests having been all invited for the d. many regulations were given to these noble youths, that they might discharge their duties with befitting decorum. among other orders, they received particular injunctions that they were to abstain from all drinking among themselves, and from all riotous conduct whatever, while the sovereigns and potentates should be at dinner. "it would be a shameful indecency," it was urged, "if the great people sitting at table should be unable to hear themselves talk on account of the screaming of the attendants." this provision did not seem unreasonable. they were also instructed that if invited to drink by any personage at the great tables they were respectfully to decline the challenge, and to explain the cause after the repast. particular arrangements were also made for the safety of the city. besides the regular guard of leipsic, two hundred and twenty arquebuseers, spearsmen, and halberdmen, were ordered from the neighboring towns. these were to be all dressed in uniform; one arm, side and leg in black, and the other in yellow, according to a painting distributed beforehand to the various authorities. as a mounted patrole, leipsic had a regular force of two men. these were now increased to ten, and received orders to ride with their lanterns up and down all the streets and lanes, to accost all persons whom they might find abroad without lights in their hands, to ask them their business in courteous language, and at the same time to see generally to the peace and safety of the town. fifty arquebuseers were appointed to protect the town-house, and a burgher watch of six hundred was distributed in different quarters, especially to guard against fire. on saturday, the day before the wedding, the guests had all arrived at leipsic, and the prince of orange, with his friends, at meneburg. on sunday, the th august, the elector at the head of his guests and attendants, in splendid array, rode forth to receive the bridegroom. his cavalcade numbered four thousand. william of orange had arrived, accompanied by one thousand mounted men. the whole troop now entered the city together, escorting the prince to the town-house. here he dismounted, and was received on the staircase by the princess anna, attended by her ladies. she immediately afterwards withdrew to her apartments. it was at this point, between and p.m., that the elector and electress, with the bride and bridegroom, accompanied also by the dame sophia von miltitz and the councillors hans von ponika and ubrich woltersdorff upon one side, and by count john of nassau and heinrich von wiltberg upon the other, as witnesses, appeared before wolf seidel, notary, in a corner room of the upper story of the town-house. one of the councillors, on the part of the elector, then addressed the bridegroom. he observed that his highness would remember, no doubt, the contents of a memorandum or billet, sent by the elector on the th april of that year, by the terms of which the prince was to agree that he would, neither by threat nor persuasion, prevent his future wife from continuing in the augsburg confession; that he would allow her to go to places where she might receive the augsburg sacraments; that in case of extreme need she should receive them in her chamber; and that the children who might spring from the marriage should be instructed as to the augsburg doctrines. as, however, continued the councillor, his highness the prince of orange has, for various reasons, declined giving any such agreement in writing, as therefore it had been arranged that before the marriage ceremony the prince should, in the presence of the bride and of the other witnesses, make a verbal promise on the subject, and as the parties were now to be immediately united in marriage, therefore the elector had no doubt that the prince would make no objection in presence of those witnesses to give his consent to maintain the agreements comprised in the memorandum or note. the note was then read. thereupon, the prince answered verbally. "gracious elector; i remember the writing which you sent me on the th april. all the point: just narrated by the doctor were contained in it. i now state to your highness that i will keep it all as becomes a prince, and conform to it." thereupon he gave the elector his hand.-- what now was the amount and meaning of this promise on the part of the prince? almost nothing. he would conform to the demands of the elector, exactly as he had hitherto said he would conform to them. taken in connexion with his steady objections to sign and seal any instrument on the subject--with his distinct refusal to the landgrave (through knuttel) to allow the princess an evangelical preacher or to receive the sacraments in the netherlands--with the vehement, formal, and public protest, on the part of the landgrave, against the marriage--with the prince's declarations to the elector at dresden, which were satisfactory on all points save the religious point,--what meaning could this verbal promise have, save that the prince would do exactly as much with regard to the religious question as he had always promised, and no more? this was precisely what did happen. there was no pretence on the part of the elector, afterwards, that any other arrangement had been contemplated. the princess lived catholically from the moment of her marriage, exactly as orange had stated to the duchess margaret, and as the elector knew would be the case. the first and the following children born of the marriage were baptized by catholic priests, with very elaborate catholic ceremonies, and this with the full consent of the elector, who sent deputies and officiated as sponsor on one remarkable occasion. who, of all those guileless lambs then, philip of spain, the elector of saxony, or cardinal granvelle, had been deceived by the language or actions of the prince? not one. it may be boldly asserted that the prince, placed in a transition epoch, both of the age and of his own character, surrounded by the most artful and intriguing personages known to history, and involved in a network of most intricate and difficult circumstances, acquitted himself in a manner as honorable as it was prudent. it is difficult to regard the notarial instrument otherwise than as a memorandum, filed rather by augustus than by wise william, in order to put upon record for his own justification, his repeated though unsuccessful efforts to procure from the prince a regularly signed, sealed, and holographic act, upon the points stated in the famous note. after the delay occasioned by these private formalities, the bridal procession, headed by the court musicians, followed by the court marshals, councillors, great officers of state, and the electoral family, entered the grand hall of the town-house. the nuptial ceremony was then performed by "the superintendent doctor pfeffinger." immediately afterwards, and in the same hall, the bride and bridegroom were placed publicly upon a splendid, gilded bed, with gold-embroidered curtains, the princess being conducted thither by the elector and electress. confects and spiced drinks were then served to them and to the assembled company. after this ceremony they were conducted to their separate chambers, to dress for dinner. before they left the hall, however, margrave hans of brandenburg, on part of the elector of saxony, solemnly recommended the bride to her husband, exhorting him to cherish her with faith and affection, and "to leave her undisturbed in the recognized truth of the holy gospel and the right use of the sacraments." five round tables were laid in the same hall immediately afterwards--each accommodating ten guests. as soon as the first course of twenty-five dishes had been put upon the chief table, the bride and bridegroom, the elector and electress, the spanish and danish envoys and others, were escorted to it, and the banquet began. during the repast, the elector's choir and all the other bands discoursed the "merriest and most ingenious music." the noble vassals handed the water, the napkins, and the wine, and every thing was conducted decorously and appropriately. as soon as the dinner was brought to a close, the tables were cleared away, and the ball began in the same apartment. dances, previously arranged, were performed, after which "confects and drinks" were again distributed, and the bridal pair were then conducted to the nuptial chamber. the wedding, according to the lutheran custom of the epoch, had thus taken place not in a church, but in a private dwelling; the hall of the town-house, representing, on this occasion, the elector's own saloons. on the following morning, however, a procession was formed at seven o'clock to conduct the newly-married couple to the church of st. nicholas, there to receive an additional exhortation and benediction. two separate companies of gentlemen, attended by a great number of "fifers, drummers, and trumpeters," escorted the bride and the bridegroom, "twelve counts wearing each a scarf of the princess anna's colors, with golden garlands on their heads and lighted torches in their hands," preceding her to the choir, where seats had been provided for the more illustrious portion of the company. the church had been magnificently decked in tapestry, and, as the company entered, a full orchestra performed several fine motettos. after listening to a long address from dr. pfeffinger, and receiving a blessing before the altar, the prince and princess of orange returned, with their attendant processions, to the town-house. after dinner, upon the same and the three following days, a tournament was held. the lists were on the market-place, on the side nearest the town-house; the electress and the other ladies looking down from balcony and window to "rain influence and adjudge the prize." the chief hero of these jousts, according to the accounts in the archives, was the elector of saxony. he "comported himself with such especial chivalry" that his far-famed namesake and remote successor, augustus the strong, could hardly have evinced more knightly prowess. on the first day he encountered george von wiedebach, and unhorsed him so handsomely that the discomfited cavalier's shoulder was dislocated. on the following day he tilted with michael von denstedt, and was again victorious, hitting his adversary full in the target, and "bearing him off over his horse's tail so neatly, that the knight came down, heels over head, upon the earth." on wednesday, there was what was called the palliatourney. the prince of orange, at the head of six bands, amounting in all to twenty-nine men; the margrave george of brandenburg, with seven bands, comprising thirty-four men, and the elector augustus, with one band of four men, besides himself, all entered the lists. lots were drawn for the "gate of honor," and gained by the margrave, who accordingly defended it with his band. twenty courses were then run between these champions and the prince of orange, with his men. the brandenburgs broke seven lances, the prince's party only six, so that orange was obliged to leave the lists discomfited. the ever-victorious augustus then took the field, and ran twenty courses against the defenders, breaking fourteen spears to the brandenburg's ten. the margrave, thus defeated, surrendered the "gate of honor" to the elector, who maintained, it the rest of the day against all comers. it is fair to suppose, although the fact is not recorded, that the elector's original band had received some reinforcement. otherwise, it would be difficult to account for these constant victories, except by ascribing more than mortal strength, as well as valor, to augustus and his four champions. his party broke one hundred and fifty-six lances, of which number the elector himself broke thirty-eight and a half. he received the first prize, but declined other guerdons adjudged to him. the reward for the hardest hitting was conferred on wolf von schonberg, "who thrust kurt von arnim clean out of the saddle, so that he fell against the barriers." on thursday was the riding at the ring. the knights who partook of this sport wore various strange garbs over their armor. some were disguised as hussars, some as miners, come as lansquenettes; others as tartans, pilgrims, fools, bird-catchers, hunters, monks; peasants, or netherland cuirassiers. each party was attended by a party of musicians, attired in similar costume. moreover, count gunter von schwartzburg made, his appearance in the lists, accompanied "by five remarkable giants of wonderful proportions and appearance, very ludicrous to behold, who performed all kind of odd antics on horseback." the next day there was a foot tourney, followed in the evening by "mummeries," or masquerades. these masques were repeated on the following evening, and afforded great entertainment. the costumes were magnificent, "with golden and pearl embroidery," the dances were very merry and artistic, and the musicians, who formed a part of the company, exhibited remarkable talent. these "mummeries" had been brought by william of orange from the netherlands, at the express request of the elector, on the ground that such matters were much better understood in the provinces than in germany. such is a slight sketch of the revels by which this ill-fated bartholomew marriage was celebrated. while william of orange was thus employed in germany, granvelle seized the opportunity to make his entry into the city of mechlin, as archbishop; believing that such a step would be better accomplished in the absence of the prince from the country. the cardinal found no one in the city to welcome him. none of the great nobles were there. "the people looked upon the procession with silent hatred. no man cried, god bless him." he wrote to the king that he should push forward the whole matter of the bishoprics as fast as possible, adding the ridiculous assertion that the opposition came entirely from the nobility, and that "if the seigniors did not talk so much, not a man of the people would open his mouth on the subject." the remonstrance offered by the three estates of brabant against the scheme had not influenced philip. he had replied in a peremptory tone. he had assured them that he had no intention of receding, and that the province of brabant ought to feel itself indebted to him for having given them prelates instead of abbots to take care of their eternal interests, and for having erected their religious houses into episcopates. the abbeys made what resistance they could, but were soon fain to come to a compromise with the bishops, who, according to the arrangement thus made, were to receive a certain portion of the abbey revenues, while the remainder was to belong to the institutions, together with a continuance of their right to elect their own chiefs, subordinate, however, to the approbation of the respective prelates of the diocese. thus was the episcopal matter settled in brabant. in many of the other bishoprics the new dignitaries were treated with disrespect, as they made their entrance into their cities, while they experienced endless opposition and annoyance on attempting to take possession of the revenue assigned to them. etext editor's bookmarks: history shows how feeble are barriers of paper licences accorded by the crown to carry slaves to america we believe our mothers to have been honest women when the abbot has dice in his pocket, the convent will play wiser simply to satisfy himself motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. - [chapter iii.] the inquisition the great cause of the revolt--the three varieties of the institution--the spanish inquisition described--the episcopal inquisition in the netherlands--the papal inquisition established in the provinces by charles v.--his instructions to the inquisitors-- they are renewed by philip--inquisitor titelmann--instances of his manner of proceeding--spanish and netherland inquisitions compared-- conduct of granvelle--faveau and mallart condemned at valenciennes-- "journee des maubrulea"--severe measures at valenciennes--attack of the rhetoric clubs upon granvelle--granvelle's insinuations against egmont and simon renard--timidity of viglius--universal hatred toward the cardinal--buffoonery of brederode and lumey--courage of granvelle--philip taxes the netherlands for the suppression of the huguenots in france--meeting of the knights of the fleece--assembly at the house of orange--demand upon the estates for supplies-- montigny appointed envoy to spain--open and determined opposition to granvelle--secret representations by the cardinal to philip, concerning egmont and other seigniors--line of conduct traced out for the king--montigny's representations in spain--unsatisfactory result of his mission. the great cause of the revolt which, within a few years, was to break forth throughout the netherlands; was the inquisition. it is almost puerile to look further or deeper, when such a source of convulsion lies at the very outset of any investigation. during the war there had been, for reasons already indicated, an occasional pause in the religious persecution. philip had now returned to spain, having arranged, with great precision, a comprehensive scheme for exterminating that religious belief which was already accepted by a very large portion of his netherland subjects. from afar there rose upon the provinces the prophetic vision of a coming evil still more terrible than any which had yet oppressed them. as across the bright plains of sicily, when the sun is rising, the vast pyramidal shadow of mount etna is definitely and visibly projected--the phantom of that ever-present enemy, which holds fire and devastation in its bosom--so, in the morning hour of philip's reign, the shadow of the inquisition was cast from afar across those warm and smiling provinces--a spectre menacing fiercer flames and wider desolation than those which mere physical agencies could ever compass. there has been a good deal of somewhat superfluous discussion concerning the different kinds of inquisition. the distinction drawn between the papal, the episcopal, and the spanish inquisitions, did not, in the sixteenth century, convince many unsophisticated minds of the merits of the establishment in any of its shapes. however classified or entitled, it was a machine for inquiring into a man's thoughts, and for burning him if the result was not satisfactory. the spanish inquisition, strictly so called, that is to say, the modern or later institution established by pope alexander the sixth and ferdinand the catholic, was doubtless invested with a more complete apparatus for inflicting human misery, and for appalling human imagination, than any of the other less artfully arranged inquisitions, whether papal or episcopal. it had been originally devised for jews or moors, whom the christianity of the age did not regard as human beings, but who could not be banished without depopulating certain districts. it was soon, however, extended from pagans to heretics. the dominican torquemada was the first moloch to be placed upon this pedestal of blood and fire, and from that day forward the "holy office" was almost exclusively in the hands of that band of brothers. in the eighteen years of torquemada's administration; ten thousand two hundred and twenty individuals were burned alive, and ninety-seven thousand three hundred and twenty-one punished with infamy, confiscation of property, or perpetual imprisonment, so that the total number of families destroyed by this one friar alone amounted to one hundred and fourteen thousand four hundred and one. in course of time the jurisdiction of the office was extended. it taught the savages of india and america to shudder at the name of christianity. the fear of its introduction froze the earlier heretics of italy, france, and ger many into orthodoxy. it was a court owning allegiance to no temporal authority, superior to all other tribunals. it was a bench of monks without appeal, having its familiars in every house, diving into the secrets of every fireside, judging, and executing its horrible decrees without responsibility. it condemned not deeds, but thoughts. it affected to descend into individual conscience, and to punish the crimes which it pretended to discover. its process was reduced to a horrible simplicity. it arrested on suspicion, tortured till confession, and then punished by fire. two witnesses, and those to separate facts, were sufficient to consign the victim to a loathsome dungeon. here he was sparingly supplied with food, forbidden to speak, or even to sing to which pastime it could hardly be thought he would feel much inclination--and then left to himself, till famine and misery should break his spirit. when that time was supposed to have arrived he was examined. did he confess, and forswear his heresy, whether actually innocent or not, he might then assume the sacred shirt, and escape with confiscation of all his property. did he persist in the avowal of his innocence, two witnesses sent him to the stake, one witness to the rack. he was informed of the testimony against him, but never confronted with the witness. that accuser might be his son, father, or the wife of his bosom, for all were enjoined, under the death penalty, to inform the inquisitors of every suspicious word which might fall from their nearest relatives. the indictment being thus supported, the prisoner was tried by torture. the rack was the court of justice; the criminal's only advocate was his fortitude--for the nominal counsellor, who was permitted no communication with the prisoner, and was furnished neither with documents nor with power to procure evidence, was a puppet, aggravating the lawlessness of the proceedings by the mockery of legal forms: the torture took place at midnight, in a gloomy dungeon, dimly, lighted by torches. the victim--whether man, matron, or tender virgin--was stripped naked, and stretched upon the wooden bench. water, weights, fires, pulleys, screws--all the apparatus by which the sinews could be strained without cracking, the bones crushed without breaking, and the body racked exquisitely without giving up its ghost, was now put into operation. the executioner, enveloped in a black robe from head to foot, with his eyes glaring at his victim through holes cut in the hood which muffled his face, practised successively all the forms of torture which the devilish ingenuity of the monks had invented. the imagination sickens when striving to keep pace with these dreadful realities. those who wish to indulge their curiosity concerning the details of the system, may easily satisfy themselves at the present day. the flood of light which has been poured upon the subject more than justifies the horror and the rebellion of the netherlanders. the period during which torture might be inflicted from day to day was unlimited in duration. it could only be terminated by confession; so that the scaffold was the sole refuge from the rack. individuals have borne the torture and the dungeon fifteen years, and have been burned at the stake at last. execution followed confession, but the number of condemned prisoners was allowed to accumulate, that a multitude of victims might grace each great gala-day. the auto-da fe was a solemn festival. the monarch, the high functionaries of the land, the reverend clergy, the populace regarded it as an inspiring and delightful recreation. when the appointed morning arrived, the victim was taken from his dungeon. he was then attired in a yellow robe without sleeves, like a herald's coat, embroidered all over with black figures of devils. a large conical paper mitre was placed upon his head, upon which was represented a human being in the midst of flames, surrounded by imps. his tongue was then painfully gagged, so that he could neither open nor shut his mouth. after he was thus accoutred, and just as he was leaving his cell, a breakfast, consisting of every delicacy, was placed before him, and he was urged, with ironical politeness, to satisfy his hunger. he was then led forth into the public square. the procession was formed with great pomp. it was headed by the little school children, who were immediately followed by the band of prisoners, each attired in the horrible yet ludicrous manner described. then came the magistrates and nobility, the prelates and other dignitaries of the church: the holy inquisitors, with their officials and familiars, followed, all on horseback, with the blood-red flag of the "sacred office" waving above them, blazoned upon either side with the portraits of alexander and of ferdinand, the pair of brothers who had established the institution. after the procession came the rabble. when all had reached the neighborhood of the scaffold, and had been arranged in order, a sermon was preached to the assembled multitude. it was filled with laudations of the inquisition, and with blasphemous revilings against the condemned prisoners. then the sentences were read to the individual victims. then the clergy chanted the fifty-first psalm, the whole vast throng uniting in one tremendous miserere. if a priest happened to be among the culprits, he was now stripped of the canonicals which he had hitherto worn; while his hands, lips, and shaven crown were scraped with a bit of glass, by which process the oil of his consecration was supposed to be removed. he was then thrown into the common herd. those of the prisoners who were reconciled, and those whose execution was not yet appointed, were now separated from the others. the rest were compelled to mount a scaffold, where the executioner stood ready to conduct them to the fire. the inquisitors then delivered them into his hands, with an ironical request that he would deal with them tenderly, and without blood-letting or injury. those who remained steadfast to the last were then burned at the stake; they who in the last extremity renounced their faith were strangled before being thrown into the flames. such was the spanish inquisition--technically--so called: it was, according' to the biographer of philip the second, a "heavenly remedy, a guardian angel of paradise, a lions' den in which daniel and other just men could sustain no injury, but in which perverse sinners were torn to pieces." it was a tribunal superior to all human law, without appeal, and certainly owing no allegiance to the powers of earth or heaven. no rank, high or humble, was safe from its jurisdiction. the royal family were not sacred, nor, the pauper's hovel. even death afforded no protection. the holy office invaded the prince in his palace and the beggar in his shroud. the corpses of dead heretics were mutilated and burned. the inquisitors preyed upon carcases and rifled graves. a gorgeous festival of the holy office had, as we have seen, welcomed philip to his native land. the news of these tremendous autos-da fe, in which so many illustrious victims had been sacrificed before their sovereign's eyes, had reached the netherlands almost simultaneously with the bulls creating the new bishoprics in the provinces. it was not likely that the measure would be rendered more palatable by this intelligence of the royal amusements. the spanish inquisition had never flourished in any soil but that of the peninsula. it is possible that the king and granvelle were sincere in their protestations of entertaining no intention of introducing it into the netherlands, although the protestations of such men are entitled to but little weight. the truth was, that the inquisition existed already in the provinces. it was the main object of the government to confirm and extend the institution. the episcopal inquisition, as we have already seen, had been enlarged by the enormous increase in the number of bishops, each of whom was to be head inquisitor in his diocese, with two special inquisitors under him. with this apparatus and with the edicts, as already described, it might seem that enough had already been done for the suppression of heresy. but more had been done. a regular papal inquisition also existed in the netherlands. this establishment, like the edicts, was the gift of charles the fifth. a word of introduction is here again necessary--nor let the reader deem that too much time is devoted to this painful subject. on the contrary, no definite idea can be formed as to the character of the netherland revolt without a thorough understanding of this great cause--the religious persecution in which the country had lived, breathed, and had its being, for half a century, and in which, had the rebellion not broken out at last, the population must have been either exterminated or entirely embruted. the few years which are immediately to occupy us in the present and succeeding chapter, present the country in a daily increasing ferment from the action of causes which had existed long before, but which received an additional stimulus as the policy of the new reign developed itself. previously to the accession of charles v., it can not be said that an inquisition had ever been established in the provinces. isolated instances to the contrary, adduced by the canonists who gave their advice to margaret of parma, rather proved the absence than the existence of the system. in the reign of philip the good, the vicar of the inquisitor-general gave sentence against some heretics, who were burned in lille ( ). in , pierre troussart, a jacobin monk, condemned many waldenses, together with some leading citizens of artois, accused of sorcery and heresy. he did this, however, as inquisitor for the bishop of arras, so that it was an act of episcopal, and not papal inquisition. in general, when inquisitors were wanted in the provinces, it was necessary to borrow them from france or germany. the exigencies of persecution making a domestic staff desirable, charles the fifth, in the year , applied to his ancient tutor, whom he had placed on the papal throne. charles had, however, already, in the previous year appointed francis van der hulst to be inquisitor-general for the netherlands. this man, whom erasmus called a "wonderful enemy to learning," was also provided with a coadjutor, nicholas of egmond by name, a carmelite monk, who was characterized by the same authority as "a madman armed with a sword." the inquisitor-general received full powers to cite, arrest, imprison, torture heretics without observing the ordinary forms of law, and to cause his sentences to be executed without appeal. he was, however, in pronouncing definite judgments, to take the advice of laurens, president of the grand council of mechlin, a coarse, cruel and ignorant man, who "hated learning with a more than deadly hatred," and who might certainly be relied upon to sustain the severest judgments which the inquisitor might fulminate. adrian; accordingly, commissioned van der hulst to be universal and general inquisitor for all the netherlands. at the same time it was expressly stated that his functions were not to supersede those exercised by the bishops as inquisitors in their own sees. thus the papal inquisition was established in the provinces. van der hulst, a person of infamous character, was not the man to render the institution less odious than it was by its nature. before he had fulfilled his duties two years, however, he was degraded from his office by the emperor for having forged a document. in , buedens, houseau and coppin were confirmed by clement the seventh as inquisitors in the room of van der hulst. in , ruard tapper and michael drutius were appointed by paul the third, on the decease of coppin, the other two remaining in office. the powers of the papal inquisitors had been gradually extended, and they were, by , not only entirely independent of the episcopal inquisition, but had acquired right of jurisdiction over bishops and archbishops, whom they were empowered to arrest and imprison. they had also received and exercised the privilege of appointing delegates, or sub-inquisitors, on their own authority. much of the work was, indeed, performed by these officials, the most notorious of whom were barbier, de monte, titelmann, fabry, campo de zon, and stryen. in , and again in , a stringent set of instructions were drawn up by the emperor for the guidance of these papal inquisitors. a glance at their context shows that the establishment was not intended to be an empty form. they were empowered to inquire, proceed against, and chastise all heretics, all persons suspected of heresy, and their protectors. accompanied by a notary, they were to collect written information concerning every person in the provinces, "infected or vehemently suspected." they were authorized to summon all subjects of his majesty, whatever their rank, quality, or station, and to compel them to give evidence, or to communicate suspicions. they were to punish all who pertinaciously refused such depositions with death. the emperor commanded his presidents, judges, sheriffs, and all other judicial and executive officers to render all "assistance to the inquisitors and their familiars in their holy and pious inquisition, whenever required so to do," on pain of being punished as encouragers of heresy, that is to say, with death. whenever the inquisitors should be satisfied as to the heresy of any individual, they were to order his arrest and detention by the judge of the place, or by others arbitrarily to be selected by them. the judges or persons thus chosen, were enjoined to fulfil the order, on pain of being punished as protectors of heresy, that is to say, with death, by sword or fire. if the prisoner were an ecclesiastic, the inquisitor was to deal summarily with the case "without noise or form in the process--selecting an imperial councillor to render the sentence of absolution or condemnation." if the prisoner were a lay person, the inquisitor was to order his punishment, according to the edicts, by the council of the province. in case of lay persons suspected but not convicted of heresy, the inquisitor was to proceed to their chastisement, "with the advice of a counsellor or some other expert." in conclusion, the emperor ordered the "inquisitors to make it known that they were not doing their own work, but that of christ, and to persuade all persons of this fact." this clause of their instructions seemed difficult of accomplishment, for no reasonable person could doubt that christ, had he re-appeared in human form, would have been instantly crucified again, or burned alive in any place within the dominions of charles or philip. the blasphemy with which the name of jesus was used by such men to sanctify all these nameless horrors, is certainly not the least of their crimes. in addition to these instructions, a special edict had been issued on the th april, , according to which all judicial officers, at the requisition of the inquisitors, were to render them all assistance in the execution of their office, by arresting and detaining all persons suspected of heresy, according to the instructions issued to said inquisitors; and this, notwithstanding any privileges or charters to the contrary. in short, the inquisitors were not subject to the civil authority, but the civil authority to them. the imperial edict empowered them "to chastise, degrade, denounce, and deliver over heretics to the secular judges for punishment; to make use of gaols, and to make arrests, without ordinary warrant, but merely with notice given to a single counselor, who was obliged to give sentence according to their desire, without application to the ordinary judge." these instructions to the inquisitors had been renewed and confirmed by philip, in the very first month of his reign ( th nov. ). as in the case of the edicts, it had been thought desirable by granvelle to make use of the supposed magic of the emperor's name to hallow the whole machinery of persecution. the action of the system during the greater part of the imperial period had been terrible. suffered for a time to languish during the french war, it had lately been renewed with additional vigor. among all the inquisitors, the name of peter titelmann was now pre-eminent. he executed his infamous functions throughout flanders, douay, and tournay, the most thriving and populous portions of the netherlands, with a swiftness, precision, and even with a jocularity which hardly seemed human. there was a kind of grim humor about the man. the woman who, according to lear's fool, was wont to thrust her live eels into the hot paste, "rapping them o' the coxcombs with a stick and crying reproachfully, wantons, lie down!" had the spirit of a true inquisitor. even so dealt titelmann with his heretics writhing on the rack or in the flames. cotemporary chronicles give a picture of him as of some grotesque yet terrible goblin, careering through the country by night or day, alone, on horseback, smiting the trembling peasants on the head with a great club, spreading dismay far and wide, dragging suspected persons from their firesides or their beds, and thrusting them into dungeons, arresting, torturing, strangling, burning, with hardly the shadow of warrant, information, or process. the secular sheriff, familiarly called red-rod, from the color of his wand of office, meeting this inquisitor titelmann one day upon the high road, thus wonderingly addressed him--"how can you venture to go about alone, or at most with an attendant or two, arresting people on every side, while i dare not attempt to execute my office, except at the head of a strong force, armed in proof; and then only at the peril of my life?" "ah! red-rod," answered peter, jocosely, "you deal with bad people. i have nothing to fear, for i seize only the innocent and virtuous, who make no resistance, and let themselves be taken like lambs." "mighty well," said the other; "but if you arrest all the good people and i all the bad, 'tis difficult to say who in the world is to escape chastisement." the reply of the inquisitor has not been recorded, but there is no doubt that he proceeded like a strong man to run his day's course. he was the most active of all the agents in the religious persecution at the epoch of which we are now treating, but he had been inquisitor for many years. the martyrology of the provinces reeks with his murders. he burned men for idle words or suspected thoughts; he rarely waited, according to his frank confession, for deeds. hearing once that a certain schoolmaster, named geleyn de muler, of audenarde, "was addicted to reading the bible," he summoned the culprit before him and accused him of heresy. the schoolmaster claimed, if he were guilty of any crime, to be tried before the judges of his town. "you are my prisoner," said titelmann, "and are to answer me and none other." the inquisitor proceeded accordingly to catechize him, and soon satisfied himself of the schoolmaster's heresy. he commanded him to make immediate recantation. the schoolmaster refused. "do you not love your wife and children?" asked the demoniac titelmann. "god knows," answered the heretic, "that if the whole world were of gold, and my own, i would give it all only to have them with me, even had i to live on bread and water and in bondage." "you have then," answered the inquisitor, "only to renounce the error of your opinions."--"neither for wife, children, nor all the world, can i renounce my god and religious truth," answered the prisoner. thereupon titelmann sentenced him to the stake. he was strangled and then thrown into the flames. at about the same-time, thomas calberg, tapestry weaver, of tournay, within the jurisdiction of this same inquisitor, was convicted of having copied some hymns from a book printed in geneva. he was burned alive. another man, whose name has perished, was hacked to death with seven blows of a rusty sword, in presence of his wife, who was so horror-stricken that she died on the spot before her husband. his crime, to be sure, was anabaptism, the most deadly offence in the calendar. in the same year, one walter kapell was burned at the stake for heretical opinions. he was a man of some property, and beloved by the poor people of dixmuyde, in flanders, where he resided, for his many charities. a poor idiot, who had been often fed by his bounty, called out to the inquisitor's subalterns, as they bound his patron to the stake, "ye are bloody murderers; that man has done no wrong; but has given me bread to eat." with these words, he cast himself headlong into the flames to perish with his protector, but was with difficulty rescued by the officers. a day or two afterwards, he made his way to the stake, where the half-burnt skeleton of walter kapell still remained, took the body upon his shoulders, and carried it through the streets to the house of the chief burgomaster, where several other magistrates happened then to be in session. forcing his way into their presence, he laid his burthen at their feet, crying, "there, murderers! ye have eaten his flesh, now eat his bones!" it has not been recorded whether titelmann sent him to keep company with his friend in the next world. the fate of so obscure a victim could hardly find room on the crowded pages of the netherland martyrdom. this kind of work, which went on daily, did not increase the love of the people for the inquisition or the edicts. it terrified many, but it inspired more with that noble resistance to oppression, particularly to religious oppression, which is the sublimest instinct of human nature. men confronted the terrible inquisitors with a courage equal to their cruelty: at tournay, one of the chief cities of titelmann's district, and almost before his eyes, one bertrand le blas, a velvet manufacturer, committed what was held an almost incredible crime. having begged his wife and children to pray for a blessing upon what he was about to undertake, he went on christmas-day to the cathedral of tournay and stationed himself near the altar. having awaited the moment in which the priest held on high the consecrated host, le blas then forced his way through the crowd, snatched the wafer from the hands of the astonished ecclesiastic, and broke it into bits, crying aloud, as he did so, "misguided men, do ye take this thing to be jesus christ, your lord and saviour?" with these words, he threw the fragments on the ground and trampled them with his feet. [histoire des martyrs, f. , exev.; apud brandt, i. , . it may be well supposed that this would be regarded as a crime of almost inconceivable magnitude. it was death even to refuse to kneel in the streets when the wafer was carried by. thus, for example, a poor huckster, named simon, at bergen-op-zoom, who neglected to prostrate himself before his booth at the passage of the host, was immediately burned. instances of the same punishment for that offence might be multiplied. in this particular case, it is recorded that the sheriff who was present at the execution was so much affected by the courage and fervor of the simple-minded victim, that he went home, took to his bed, became delirious, crying constantly, ah, simon! simon! and died miserably, "notwithstanding all that the monks could do to console him."] the amazement and horror were so universal at such an appalling offence, that not a finger was raised to arrest the criminal. priests and congregation were alike paralyzed, so that he would have found no difficulty in making his escape. ho did not stir, however; he had come to the church determined to execute what he considered a sacred duty, and to abide the consequences. after a time, he was apprehended. the inquisitor demanded if he repented of what he had done. he protested, on the contrary, that he gloried in the deed, and that he would die a hundred deaths to rescue from such daily profanation the name of his redeemer, christ. he was then put thrice to the torture, that he might be forced to reveal his accomplices. it did not seem in human power for one man to accomplish such a deed of darkness without confederates. bertrand had none, however, and could denounce none. a frantic sentence was then devised as a feeble punishment for so much wickedness. he was dragged on a hurdle, with his mouth closed with an iron gag, to the market-place. here his right hand and foot were burned and twisted off between two red-hot irons. his tongue was then torn out by the roots, and because he still endeavored to call upon the name of god, the iron gag was again applied. with his arms and legs fastened together behind his back, he was then hooked by the middle of his body to an iron chain, and made to swing to and fro over a slow fire till he was entirely roasted. his life lasted almost to the end of these ingenious tortures, but his fortitude lasted as long as his life. in the next year, titelmann caused one robert ogier, of ryssel, in flanders, to be arrested, together with his wife and two sons. their crime consisted in not going to mass, and in practising private worship at home. they confessed the offence, for they protested that they could not endure to see the profanation of their saviour's name in the idolatrous sacraments. they were asked what rites they practised in their own house. one of the sons, a mere boy, answered, "we fall on our knees, and pray to god that he may enlighten our hearts, and forgive our sins. we pray for our sovereign, that his reign may be prosperous, and his life peaceful. we also pray for the magistrates and others in authority, that god may protect and preserve them all." the boy's simple eloquence drew tears even from the eyes of some of his judges; for the inquisitor had placed the case before the civil tribunal. the father and eldest son were, however, condemned to the flames. "oh god!" prayed the youth at the stake, "eternal father, accept the sacrifice of our lives, in the name of thy beloved son."--"thou liest, scoundrel!" fiercely interrupted a monk, who was lighting the fire; "god is not your father; ye are the devil's children." as the flames rose about them, the boy cried out once more, "look, my father, all heaven is opening, and i see ten hundred thousand angels rejoicing over us. let us be glad, for we are dying for the truth."--"thou liest! thou liest!" again screamed the monk; "all hell is opening, and you see ten thousand devils thrusting you into eternal fire." eight days afterwards, the wife of ogier and his other son were burned; so that there was an end of that family. such are a few isolated specimens of the manner of proceeding in a single district of the netherlands. the inquisitor titelmann certainly deserved his terrible reputation. men called him saul the persecutor, and it was well known that he had been originally tainted with the heresy which he had, for so many years, been furiously chastising. at the epoch which now engages our attention, he felt stimulated by the avowed policy of the government to fresh exertions, by which all his previous achievements should be cast into the shade. in one day he broke into a house in ryssel, seized john de swarte, his wife and four children, together with two newly-married couples, and two other persons, convicted them of reading the bible, and of praying in their own doors, and had them all immediately burned. are these things related merely to excite superfluous horror? are the sufferings of these obscure christians beneath the dignity of history? is it not better to deal with murder and oppression in the abstract, without entering into trivial details? the answer is, that these things are the history of the netherlands at this epoch; that these hideous details furnish the causes of that immense movement, out of which a great republic was born and an ancient tyranny destroyed; and that cardinal granvelle was ridiculous when he asserted that the people would not open their mouths if the seigniors did not make such a noise. because the great lords "owed their very souls"--because convulsions might help to pay their debts, and furnish forth their masquerades and banquets--because the prince of orange was ambitious, and egmont jealous of the cardinal--therefore superficial writers found it quite natural that the country should be disturbed, although that "vile and mischievous animal, the people," might have no objection to a continuance of the system which had been at work so long. on the contrary, it was exactly because the movement was a popular and a religious movement that it will always retain its place among the most important events of history. dignified documents, state papers, solemn treaties, are often of no more value than the lambskin on which they are engrossed. ten thousand nameless victims, in the cause of religious and civil freedom, may build up great states and alter the aspect of whole continents. the nobles, no doubt, were conspicuous, and it was well for the cause of the right that, as in the early hours of english liberty, the crown and mitre were opposed by the baron's sword and shield. had all the seigniors made common cause with philip and granvelle, instead of setting their breasts against the inquisition, the cause of truth and liberty would have been still more desperate. nevertheless they were directed and controlled, under providence, by humbler, but more powerful agencies than their own. the nobles were but the gilded hands on the outside of the dial--the hour to strike was determined by the obscure but weighty movements within. nor is it, perhaps, always better to rely upon abstract phraseology, to produce a necessary impression. upon some minds, declamation concerning liberty of conscience and religious tyranny makes but a vague impression, while an effect may be produced upon them, for example by a dry, concrete, cynical entry in an account book, such as the following, taken at hazard from the register of municipal expenses at tournay, during the years with which we are now occupied: "to mr. jacques barra, executioner, for having tortured, twice, jean de lannoy, ten sous. "to the same, for having executed, by fire, said lannoy, sixty sous. for having thrown his cinders into the river, eight sous." this was the treatment to which thousands, and tens of thousands, had been subjected in the provinces. men, women, and children were burned, and their "cinders" thrown away, for idle words against rome, spoken years before, for praying alone in their closets, for not kneeling to a wafer when they met it in the streets, for thoughts to which they had never given utterance, but which, on inquiry, they were too honest to deny. certainly with this work going on year after year in every city in the netherlands, and now set into renewed and vigorous action by a man who wore a crown only that he might the better torture his fellow-creatures, it was time that the very stones in the streets should be moved to mutiny. thus it may be seen of how much value were the protestations of philip and of granvelle, on which much stress has latterly been laid, that it was not their intention to introduce the spanish inquisition. with the edicts and the netherland inquisition, such as we have described them, the step was hardly necessary. in fact, the main difference between the two institutions consisted in the greater efficiency of the spanish in discovering such of its victims as were disposed to deny their faith. devised originally for more timorous and less conscientious infidels who were often disposed to skulk in obscure places and to renounce without really abandoning their errors, it was provided with a set of venomous familiars who glided through every chamber and coiled themselves at every fireside. the secret details of each household in the realm being therefore known to the holy office and to the monarch, no infidel or heretic could escape discovery. this invisible machinery was less requisite for the netherlands. there was comparatively little difficulty in ferreting out the "vermin"--to use the expression of a walloon historian of that age--so that it was only necessary to maintain in good working order the apparatus for destroying the noxious creatures when unearthed. the heretics of the provinces assembled at each other's houses to practise those rites described in such simple language by baldwin ogier, and denounced under such horrible penalties by the edicts. the inquisitorial system of spain was hardly necessary for men who had but little prudence in concealing, and no inclination to disavow their creed. "it is quite a laughable matter," wrote granvelle, who occasionally took a comic view of the inquisition, "that the king should send us depositions made in spain by which we are to hunt for heretics here, as if we did not know of thousands already. would that i had as many doubloons of annual income," he added, "as there are public and professed heretics in the provinces." no doubt the inquisition was in such eyes a most desirable establishment. "to speak without passion," says the walloon, "the inquisition well administered is a laudable institution, and not less necessary than all the other offices of spirituality and temporality belonging both to the bishops and to the commissioners of the roman see." the papal and episcopal establishments, in co-operation with the edicts, were enough, if thoroughly exercised and completely extended. the edicts alone were sufficient. "the edicts and the inquisition are one and the same thing," said the prince of orange. the circumstance, that the civil authorities were not as entirely superseded by the netherland, as by the spanish system, was rather a difference of form than of fact. we have seen that the secular officers of justice were at the command of the inquisitors. sheriff, gaoler, judge, and hangman, were all required, under the most terrible penalties, to do their bidding. the reader knows what the edicts were. he knows also the instructions to the corps of papal inquisitors, delivered by charles and philip: he knows that philip, both in person and by letter, had done his utmost to sharpen those instructions, during the latter portion of his sojourn in the netherlands. fourteen new bishops, each with two special inquisitors under him, had also been appointed to carry out the great work to which the sovereign had consecrated his existence. the manner in which the hunters of heretics performed their office has been exemplified by slightly sketching the career of a single one of the sub-inquisitors, peter titelmann. the monarch and his minister scarcely needed, therefore, to transplant the peninsular exotic. why should they do so? philip, who did not often say a great deal in a few words, once expressed the whole truth of the matter in a single sentence: "wherefore introduce the spanish inquisition?" said he; "the inquisition of the netherlands is much more pitiless than that of spain." such was the system of religious persecution commenced by charles, and perfected by philip. the king could not claim the merit of the invention, which justly belonged to the emperor. at the same time, his responsibility for the unutterable woe caused by the continuance of the scheme is not a jot diminished. there was a time when the whole system had fallen into comparative desuetude. it was utterly abhorrent to the institutions and the manners of the netherlanders. even a great number of the catholics in the provinces were averse to it. many of the leading grandees, every one of whom was catholic were foremost in denouncing its continuance. in short, the inquisition had been partially endured, but never accepted. moreover, it had never been introduced into luxemburg or groningen. in gelderland it had been prohibited by the treaty through which that province had been annexed to the emperor's dominions, and it had been uniformly and successfully resisted in brabant. therefore, although philip, taking the artful advice of granvelle, had sheltered himself under the emperor's name by re-enacting, word for word, his decrees, and re-issuing his instructions, he can not be allowed any such protection at the bar of history. such a defence for crimes so enormous is worse than futile. in truth, both father and son recognized instinctively the intimate connexion between ideas of religious and of civil freedom. "the authority of god and the supremacy of his majesty" was the formula used with perpetual iteration to sanction the constant recourse to scaffold and funeral pile. philip, bigoted in religion, and fanatical in his creed of the absolute power of kings, identified himself willingly with the deity, that he might more easily punish crimes against his own sacred person. granvelle carefully sustained him in these convictions, and fed his suspicions as to the motives of those who opposed his measures. the minister constantly represented the great seigniors as influenced by ambition and pride. they had only disapproved of the new bishoprics, he insinuated, because they were angry that his majesty should dare to do anything without their concurrence, and because their own influence in the states would be diminished. it was their object, he said, to keep the king "in tutelage"--to make him a "shadow and a cipher," while they should themselves exercise all authority in the provinces. it is impossible to exaggerate the effect of such suggestions upon the dull and gloomy mind to which they were addressed. it is easy, however, to see that a minister with such views was likely to be as congenial to his master as he was odious to the people. for already, in the beginning of , granvelle was extremely unpopular. "the cardinal is hated of all men," wrote sir thomas gresham. the great struggle between him and the leading nobles had already commenced. the people justly identified him with the whole infamous machinery of persecution, which had either originated or warmly made his own. viglius and berlaymont were his creatures. with the other members of the state council, according to their solemn statement, already recorded, he did not deign to consult, while he affected to hold them responsible for the measures of the administration. even the regent herself complained that the cardinal took affairs quite out of her hands, and that he decided upon many important matters without her cognizance. she already began to feel herself the puppet which it had been intended she should become; she already felt a diminution of the respectful attachment for the ecclesiastic which had inspired her when she procured his red hat. granvelle was, however, most resolute in carrying out the intentions of his master. we have seen how vigorously he had already set himself to the inauguration of the new bishoprics, despite of opposition and obloquy. he was now encouraging or rebuking the inquisitors in their "pious office" throughout all the provinces. notwithstanding his exertions, however, heresy continued to spread. in the walloon provinces the infection was most prevalent, while judges and executioners were appalled by the mutinous demonstrations which each successive sacrifice provoked. the victims were cheered on their way to the scaffold. the hymns of marot were sung in the very faces of the inquisitors. two ministers, faveau and mallart, were particularly conspicuous at this moment at valenciennes. the governor of the province, marquis berghen, was constantly absent, for he hated with his whole soul the system of persecution. for this negligence granvelle denounced him secretly and perpetually to philip, "the marquis says openly," said the cardinal, "that 'tis not right to shed blood for matters of faith. with such men to aid us, your majesty can judge how much progress we can make." it was, however, important, in granvelle's opinion, that these two ministers at valenciennes should be at once put to death. they were avowed heretics, and they preached to their disciples, although they certainly were not doctors of divinity. moreover, they were accused, most absurdly, no doubt, of pretending to work miracles. it was said that, in presence of several witnesses, they had undertaken to cast out devils; and they had been apprehended on an accusation of this nature. ["histoire des choses les plus memorables qui se sent passees en la ville et compte de valenciennes depuis le commencement des troubles des pays-bas sons le regne de phil. ii., jusqu' a l'annee ."-- ms. (collect. gerard).--this is a contemporary manuscript belonging to the gerard collection in the royal library at the hague. its author was a citizen of valenciennes, and a personal witness of most of the events which he describes. he appears to have attained to a great age, as he minutely narrates, from personal observation, many scenes which occurred before , and his work is continued till the year . it is a mere sketch, without much literary merit, but containing many local anecdotes of interest. its anonymous author was a very sincere catholic.] their offence really consisted in reading the bible to a few of their friends. granvelle sent philibert de bruxelles to valenciennes to procure their immediate condemnation and execution. he rebuked the judges and inquisitors, he sent express orders to marquis berghen to repair at once to the scene of his duties. the prisoners were condemned in the autumn of . the magistrates were, however, afraid to carry the sentence into effect. granvelle did not cease to censure them for their pusillanimity, and wrote almost daily letters, accusing the magistrates of being themselves the cause of the tumults by which they were appalled. the popular commotion was, however, not lightly to be braved. six or seven months long the culprits remained in confinement, while daily and nightly the people crowded the streets, hurling threats and defiance at the authorities, or pressed about the prison windows, encouraging their beloved ministers, and promising to rescue them in case the attempt should be made to fulfil the sentence. at last granvelle sent down a peremptory order to execute the culprits by fire. on the th of april, , faveau and mallart were accordingly taken from their jail and carried to the market-place, where arrangements had been made for burning them. simon faveau, as the executioner was binding him to the stake, uttered the invocation, "o! eternal father!" a woman in the crowd, at the same instant, took off her shoe and threw it at the funeral pile. this was a preconcerted signal. a movement was at once visible in the crowd. men in great numbers dashed upon the barriers which had been erected in the square around the place of execution. some seized the fagots, which had been already lighted, and scattered them in every direction; some tore up the pavements; others broke in pieces the barriers. the executioners were prevented from carrying out the sentence, but the guard were enabled, with great celerity and determination, to bring off the culprits and to place them in their dungeon again. the authorities were in doubt and dismay. the inquisitors were for putting the ministers to death in prison, and hurling their heads upon the street. evening approached while the officials were still pondering. the people who had been chanting the psalms of david through the town, without having decided what should be their course of action, at last determined to rescue the victims. a vast throng, after much hesitation, accordingly directed their steps to the prison. "you should have seen this vile populace," says an eye-witness, "moving, pausing, recoiling, sweeping forward, swaying to and fro like the waves of the sea when it is agitated by contending winds." the attack was vigorous, the defence was weak--for the authorities had expected no such fierce demonstration, notwithstanding the menacing language which had been so often uttered. the prisoners were rescued, and succeeded in making their escape from the city. the day in which the execution had been thus prevented was called, thenceforward, the "day of the ill-burned," (journee des mau-brulez). one of the ministers, however, simon faveau, not discouraged by this near approach to martyrdom, persisted in his heretical labors, and was a few years afterwards again apprehended. "he was then," says the chronicler, cheerfully, "burned well and finally" in the same place whence he had formerly been rescued. [valenciennes ms.] this desperate resistance to tyranny was for a moment successful, because, notwithstanding the murmurs and menaces by which the storm had been preceded, the authorities had not believed the people capable of proceeding to such lengths. had not the heretics--in the words of inquisitor titelmann--allowed themselves, year after year, to be taken and slaughtered like lambs? the consternation of the magistrates was soon succeeded by anger. the government at brussels was in a frenzy of rage when informed of the occurrence. a bloody vengeance was instantly prepared, to vindicate the insult to the inquisition. on the th of april, detachments of bossu's and of berghen's "band of ordonnance" were sent into valenciennes, together with a company of the duke of aerschot's regiment. the prisons were instantly filled to overflowing with men and women arrested for actual or suspected participation in the tumult. orders had been sent down from the capital to make a short process and a sharp execution for all the criminals. on the th of may, the slaughter commenced. some were burned at the stake, some were beheaded: the number of victims was frightful. "nothing was left undone by the magistrates," says an eyewitness, with great approbation, "which could serve for the correction and amendment of the poor people." it was long before the judges and hangmen rested from their labors. when at last the havoc was complete, it might be supposed that a sufficient vengeance had been taken for the "day of the ill-burned," and an adequate amount of "amendment" provided for the "poor people." such scenes as these did not tend to increase the loyalty of the nation, nor the popularity of the government. on granvelle's head was poured a daily increasing torrent of hatred. he was looked upon in the provinces as the impersonation of that religious oppression which became every moment more intolerable. the king and the regent escaped much of the odium which belonged to them, because the people chose to bestow all their maledictions upon the cardinal. there was, however, no great injustice in this embodiment. granvelle was the government. as the people of that day were extremely reverent to royalty, they vented all their rage upon the minister, while maintaining still a conventional respect for the sovereign. the prelate had already become the constant butt of the "rhetoric chambers." these popular clubs for the manufacture of homespun poetry and street farces out of the raw material of public sentiment, occupied the place which has been more effectively filled in succeeding ages, and in free countries by the daily press. before the invention of that most tremendous weapon, which liberty has ever wielded against tyranny, these humble but influential associations shared with the pulpit the only power which existed of moving the passions or directing the opinions of the people. they were eminently liberal in their tendencies. the authors and the actors of their comedies, poems, and pasquils were mostly artisans or tradesmen, belonging to the class out of which proceeded the early victims, and the later soldiers of the reformation. their bold farces and truculent satire had already effected much in spreading among the people a detestation of church abuses. they were particularly severe upon monastic licentiousness. "these corrupt comedians, called rhetoricians," says the walloon contemporary already cited, "afforded much amusement to the people." always some poor little nuns or honest monks were made a part of the farce. it seemed as if the people could take no pleasure except in ridiculing god and the church. the people, however, persisted in the opinion that the ideas of a monk and of god were not inseparable. certainly the piety of the early reformers was sufficiently fervent, and had been proved by the steadiness with which they confronted torture and death, but they knew no measure in the ridicule which they heaped upon the men by whom they were daily murdered in droves. the rhetoric comedies were not admirable in an aesthetic point of view, but they were wrathful and sincere. therefore they cost many thousand lives, but they sowed the seed of resistance to religious tyranny, to spring up one day in a hundredfold harvest. it was natural that the authorities should have long sought to suppress these perambulating dramas. "there was at that tyme," wrote honest richard clough to sir thomas gresham, "syche playes (of reteryke) played thet hath cost many a man's lyves, for in these plays was the word of god first opened in thys country. weche playes were and are forbidden moche more strictly than any of the bookes of martin luther." these rhetoricians were now particularly inflamed against granvelle. they were personally excited against him, because he had procured the suppression of their religious dramas. "these rhetoricians who make farces and street plays," wrote the cardinal to philip, "are particularly angry with me, because two years ago i prevented them from ridiculing the holy scriptures." nevertheless, these institutions continued to pursue their opposition to the course of the government. their uncouth gambols, their awkward but stunning blows rendered daily service to the cause of religious freedom. upon the newly-appointed bishops they poured out an endless succession of rhymes and rebuses, epigrams, caricatures and extravaganzas. poems were pasted upon the walls of every house, and passed from hand to hand. farces were enacted in every street; the odious ecclesiastics figuring as the principal buffoons. these representations gave so much offence, that renewed edicts were issued to suppress them. the prohibition was resisted, and even ridiculed in many provinces, particularly in holland. the tyranny which was able to drown a nation in blood and tears, was powerless to prevent them from laughing most bitterly at their oppressors. the tanner, cleon, was never belabored more soundly by the wits of athens, than the prelate by these flemish "rhetoricians." with infinitely less attic salt, but with as much heartiness as aristophanes could have done, the popular rhymers gave the minister ample opportunity to understand the position which he occupied in the netherlands. one day a petitioner placed a paper in his hand and vanished. it contained some scurrilous verses upon himself, together with a caricature of his person. in this he was represented as a hen seated upon a pile of eggs, out of which he was hatching a brood of bishops. some of these were clipping the shell, some thrusting forth an arm, some a leg, while others were running about with mitres on their heads, all bearing whimsical resemblance to various prelates who had been newly-appointed. above the cardinal's head the devil was represented hovering, with these words issuing from his mouth: "this is my beloved son, listen to him, my people." there was another lampoon of a similar nature, which was so well executed, that it especially excited granvelle's anger. it was a rhymed satire of a general nature, like the rest, but so delicate and so stinging, that the cardinal ascribed it to his old friend and present enemy, simon renard. this man, a burgundian by birth, and college associate of granvelle, had been befriended both by himself and his father. aided by their patronage and his own abilities, he had arrived at distinguished posts; having been spanish envoy both in france and england, and one of the negotiators of the truce of vaucelles. he had latterly been disappointed in his ambition to become a councillor of state, and had vowed vengeance upon the cardinal, to whom he attributed his ill success. he was certainly guilty of much ingratitude, for he had been under early obligations to the man in whose side he now became a perpetual thorn. it must be confessed, on the other hand, that granvelle repaid the enmity of his old associate with a malevolence equal to his own, and if renard did not lose his head as well as his political station, it was not for want of sufficient insinuation on the part of the minister. especially did granvelle denounce him to "the master" as the perverter of egmont, while he usually described that nobleman himself, as weak, vain, "a friend of smoke," easily misguided, but in the main well-intentioned and loyal. at the same time, with all these vague commendations, he never omitted to supply the suspicious king with an account of every fact or every rumor to the count's discredit. in the case of this particular satire, he informed philip that he could swear it came from the pen of renard, although, for the sake of deception, the rhetoric comedians had been employed. he described the production as filled with "false, abominable, and infernal things," and as treating not only himself, but the pope and the whole ecclesiastical order with as much contumely as could be showed in germany. he then proceeded to insinuate, in the subtle manner which was peculiarly his own, that egmont was a party to the publication of the pasquil. renard visited at that house, he said, and was received there on a much more intimate footing than was becoming. eight days before the satire was circulated, there had been a conversation in egmont's house, of a nature exactly similar to the substance of the pamphlet. the man, in whose hands it was first seen, continued granvelle, was a sword cutler, a godson of the count. this person said that he had torn it from the gate of the city hall, but god grant, prayed the cardinal, that it was not he who had first posted it up there. 'tis said that egmont and mansfeld, he added, have sent many times to the cutler to procure copies of the satire, all which augments the suspicion against them. with the nobles he was on no better terms than with the people. the great seigniors, orange, egmont, horn, and others, openly avowed their hostility to him, and had already given their reasons to the king. mansfeld and his son at that time were both with the opposition. aerschot and aremberg kept aloof from the league which was forming against the prelate, but had small sympathy for his person. even berlaymont began to listen to overtures from the leading nobles, who, among other inducements, promised to supply his children with bishoprics. there were none truly faithful and submissive to the cardinal but such men as the prevot morillon, who had received much advancement from him. this distinguished pluralist was popularly called "double a, b, c," to indicate that he had twice as many benefices as there were letters in the alphabet. he had, however, no objection to more, and was faithful to the dispensing power. the same course was pursued by secretary bave, esquire bordey, and other expectants and dependents. viglius, always remarkable for his pusillanimity, was at this period already anxious to retire. the erudite and opulent frisian preferred a less tempestuous career. he was in favor of the edicts, but he trembled at the uproar which their literal execution was daily exciting, for he knew the temper of his countrymen. on the other hand, he was too sagacious not to know the inevitable consequence of opposition to the will of philip. he was therefore most eager to escape the dilemma. he was a scholar, and could find more agreeable employment among his books. he had accumulated vast wealth, and was desirous to retain it as long as possible. he had a learned head and was anxious to keep it upon his shoulders. these simple objects could be better attained in a life of privacy. the post of president of the privy council and member of the "consulta" was a dangerous one. he knew that the king was sincere in his purposes. he foresaw that the people would one day be terribly in earnest. of ancient frisian blood himself, he knew that the, spirit of the ancient batavians and frisians had not wholly deserted their descendants. he knew that they were not easily roused, that they were patient, but that they would strike at last and would endure. he urgently solicited the king to release him, and pleaded his infirmities of body in excuse. philip, however, would not listen to his retirement, and made use of the most convincing arguments to induce him to remain. four hundred and fifty annual florins, secured by good reclaimed swamps in friesland, two thousand more in hand, with a promise of still larger emoluments when the king should come to the netherlands, were reasons which the learned doctor honestly confessed himself unable to resist. fortified by these arguments, he remained at his post, continued the avowed friend and adherent of granvelle, and sustained with magnanimity the invectives of nobles and people. to do him justice, he did what he could to conciliate antagonists and to compromise principles. if it had ever been possible to find the exact path between right and wrong, the president would have found it, and walked in it with respectability and complacency. in the council, however, the cardinal continued to carry it with a high hand; turning his back on orange and egmont, and retiring with the duchess and president to consult, after every session. proud and important personages, like the prince and count, could ill brook such insolence; moreover, they suspected the cardinal of prejudicing the mind of their sovereign against them. a report was very current, and obtained almost universal belief, that granvelle had expressly advised his majesty to take off the heads of at least half a dozen of the principal nobles in the land. this was an error; "these two seigniors," wrote the cardinal to philip, "have been informed that i have written to your majesty, that you will never be master of these provinces without taking off at least half a dozen heads, and that because it would be difficult, on account of the probable tumults which such a course would occasion, to do it here, your majesty means to call them to spain and do it there. your majesty can judge whether such a thing has ever entered my thoughts. i have laughed at it as a ridiculous invention. this gross forgery is one of renard's." the cardinal further stated to his majesty that he had been informed by these same nobles that the duke of alva, when a hostage for the treaty of cateau cambresis, had negotiated an alliance between the crowns of france and spain for the extirpation of heresy by the sword. he added, that he intended to deal with the nobles with all gentleness, and that he should do his best to please them. the only thing which he could not yield was the authority of his majesty; to sustain that, he would sacrifice his life, if necessary. at the same time granvelle carefully impressed upon the king the necessity of contradicting the report alluded to, a request which he took care should also be made through the regent in person. he had already, both in his own person and in that of the duchess, begged for a formal denial, on the king's part, that there was any intention of introducing the spanish inquisition into the netherlands, and that the cardinal had counselled, originally, the bishoprics. thus instructed, the king accordingly wrote to margaret of parma to furnish the required contradictions. in so doing, he made a pithy remark. "the cardinal had not counselled the cutting off the half a dozen heads," said the monarch, "but perhaps it would not be so bad to do it!" time was to show whether philip was likely to profit by the hint conveyed in the cardinal's disclaimer, and whether the factor "half dozen" were to be used or not as a simple multiplier in the terrible account preparing. the contradictions, however sincere, were not believed by the persons most interested. nearly all the nobles continued to regard the cardinal with suspicion and aversion. many of the ruder and more reckless class vied with the rhetoricians and popular caricaturists in the practical jests which they played off almost daily against the common foe. especially count brederode, "a madman, if there ever were one," as a contemporary expressed himself, was most untiring in his efforts to make granvelle ridiculous. he went almost nightly to masquerades, dressed as a cardinal or a monk; and as he was rarely known to be sober on these or any other occasions, the wildness of his demonstrations may easily be imagined. he was seconded on all these occasions by his cousin robert de la marck, seigneur de lumey, a worthy descendant of the famous "wild boar of ardennes;" a man brave to temerity, but utterly depraved, licentious, and sanguinary. these two men, both to be widely notorious, from their prominence in many of the most striking scenes by which the great revolt was ushered in, had vowed the most determined animosity to the cardinal, which was manifested in the reckless, buffooning way which belonged to their characters. besides the ecclesiastical costumes in which they always attired themselves at their frequent festivities, they also wore fog-tails in their hats instead of plumes. they decked their servants also with the same ornaments; openly stating, that by these symbols they meant to signify that the old fox granvelle, and his cubs, viglius, berlaymont, and the rest, should soon be hunted down by them, and the brush placed in their hats as a trophy. moreover, there is no doubt that frequent threats of personal violence were made against the cardinal. granvelle informed the king that his life was continually menaced by, the nobles, but that he feared them little, "for he believed them too prudent to attempt any thing of the kind." there is no doubt, when his position with regard to the upper and lower classes in the country is considered, that there was enough to alarm a timid man; but granvelle was constitutionally brave. he was accused of wearing a secret shirt of mail, of living in perpetual trepidation, of having gone on his knees to egmont and orange, of having sent richardot, bishop of arras, to intercede for him in the same humiliating manner with egmont. all these stories were fables. bold as he was arrogant, he affected at this time to look down with a forgiving contempt on the animosity of the nobles. he passed much of his time alone, writing his eternal dispatches to the king. he had a country-house, called la fontaine, surrounded by beautiful gardens, a little way outside the gates of brussels, where he generally resided, and whence, notwithstanding the remonstrances of his friends, he often returned to town, after sunset, alone, or with but a few attendants. he avowed that he feared no attempts at assassination, for, if the seigniors took his life, they would destroy the best friend they ever had. this villa, where most of his plans were matured and his state papers drawn up, was called by the people, in derision of his supposed ancestry, "the smithy." here, as they believed, was the anvil upon which the chains of their slavery were forging; here, mostly deserted by those who had been his earlier, associates, he assumed a philosophical demeanor which exasperated, without deceiving his adversaries. over the great gate of his house he had placed the marble statue of a female. it held an empty wine-cup in one hand, and an urn of flowing water in the other. the single word "durate" was engraved upon the pedestal. by the motto, which was his habitual device, he was supposed, in this application, to signify that his power would outlast that of the nobles, and that perennial and pure as living water, it would flow tranquilly on, long after the wine of their life had been drunk to the lees. the fiery extravagance of his adversaries, and the calm and limpid moderation of his own character, thus symbolized, were supposed to convey a moral lesson to the world. the hieroglyphics, thus interpreted, were not relished by the nobles--all avoided his society, and declined his invitations. he consoled himself with the company of the lesser gentry,--a class which he now began to patronize, and which he urgently recommended to the favor of the king,--hinting that military and civil offices bestowed upon their inferiors would be a means of lowering the pride of the grandees. he also affected to surround himself with even humbler individuals. "it makes me laugh," he wrote to philip, "to see the great seigniors absenting themselves from my dinners; nevertheless, i can always get plenty of guests at my table, gentlemen and councillors. i sometimes invite even citizens, in order to gain their good will." the regent was well aware of the anger excited in the breasts of the leading nobles by the cool manner in which they had been thrust out of their share in the administration of affairs. she defended herself with acrimony in her letters to the king, although a defence was hardly needed in that quarter for implicit obedience to the royal commands. she confessed her unwillingness to consult with her enemies. she avowed her determination to conceal the secrets of the government from those who were capable of abusing her confidence. she represented that there were members of the council who would willingly take advantage of the trepidation which she really felt, and which she should exhibit if she expressed herself without reserve before them. for this reason she confined herself, as philip had always intended, exclusively to the consulta. it was not difficult to recognize the hand which wrote the letter thus signed by margaret of parma. both nobles and people were at this moment irritated by another circumstance. the civil war having again broken out in france, philip, according to the promise made by him to catharine de medici, when he took her daughter in marriage, was called upon to assist the catholic party with auxiliaries. he sent three thousand infantry, accordingly, which he had levied in italy, as many more collected in spain, and gave immediate orders that the duchess of parma should despatch at least two thousand cavalry, from the netherlands. great was the indignation in the council when the commands were produced. sore was the dismay of margaret. it was impossible to obey the king. the idea of sending the famous mounted gendarmerie of the provinces to fight against the french huguenots could not be tolerated for an instant. the "bands of ordonnance" were very few in number, and were to guard the frontier. they were purely for domestic purposes. it formed no part of their duty to go upon crusades in foreign lands; still less to take a share in a religious quarrel, and least of all to assist a monarch against a nation. these views were so cogently presented to the duchess in council, that she saw the impossibility of complying with her brother's commands. she wrote to philip to that effect. meantime, another letter arrived out of spain, chiding her delay, and impatiently calling upon her to furnish the required cavalry at once. the duchess was in a dilemma. she feared to provoke another storm in the council, for there was already sufficient wrangling there upon domestic subjects. she knew it was impossible to obtain the consent, even of berlaymont and viglius, to such an odious measure as the one proposed. she was, however, in great trepidation at the peremptory tone of the king's despatch. under the advice of granvelle, she had recourse to a trick. a private and confidential letter of philip was read to the council, but with alterations suggested and interpolated by the cardinal. the king was represented as being furious at the delay, but as willing that a sum of money should be furnished instead of the cavalry, as originally required. this compromise, after considerable opposition, was accepted. the duchess wrote to philip, explaining and apologizing for the transaction. the king received the substitution with as good a grace as could have been expected, and sent fifteen hundred troopers from spain to his medicean mother-in-law, drawing upon the duchess of parma for the money to pay their expenses. thus was the industry of the netherlands taxed that the french might be persecuted by their own monarch. the regent had been forbidden, by her brother, to convoke the states-general; a body which the prince of orange, sustained by berghen, montigny, and other nobles, was desirous of having assembled. it may be easily understood that granvelle would take the best care that the royal prohibition should be enforced. the duchess, however, who, as already hinted, was beginning to feel somewhat uncomfortable under the cardinal's dominion, was desirous of consulting some larger council than that with which she held her daily deliberations. a meeting of the knights of the fleece was accordingly summoned. they assembled in brussels, in the month of may, . the learned viglius addressed them in a long and eloquent speech, in which he discussed the troubled and dangerous condition of the provinces, alluded to some of its causes, and suggested various remedies. it may be easily conceived, however, that the inquisition was not stated among the causes, nor its suppression included among the remedies. a discourse, in which the fundamental topic was thus conscientiously omitted, was not likely, with all its concinnities, to make much impression upon the disaffected knights, or to exert a soothing influence upon the people. the orator was, however, delighted with his own performance. he informs us, moreover, that the duchess was equally charmed, and that she protested she had never in her whole life heard any thing more "delicate, more suitable, or more eloquent." the prince of orange, however, did not sympathize with her admiration. the president's elegant periods produced but little effect upon his mind. the meeting adjourned, after a few additional words from the duchess, in which she begged the knights to ponder well the causes of the increasing discontent, and to meet her again, prepared to announce what, in their opinion, would be the course best adapted to maintain the honor of the king, the safety of the provinces, and the glory of god. soon after the separation of the assembly, the prince of orange issued invitations to most of the knights, to meet at his house for the purpose of private deliberation. the president and cardinal were not included in these invitations. the meeting was, in fact, what we should call a caucus, rather than a general gathering. nevertheless, there were many of the government party present--men who differed from the prince, and were inclined to support granvelle. the meeting was a stormy one. two subjects were discussed. the first was the proposition of the duchess, to investigate the general causes of the popular dissatisfaction; the second was an inquiry how it could be rendered practicable to discuss political matters in future--a proceeding now impossible, in consequence of the perverseness and arrogance of certain functionaries, and one which, whenever attempted, always led to the same inevitable result. this direct assault upon the cardinal produced a furious debate. his enemies were delighted with the opportunity of venting their long-suppressed spleen. they indulged in savage invectives against the man whom they so sincerely hated. his adherents, on the other hand--bossu, berlaymont, courieres--were as warm in his defence. they replied by indignant denials of the charge against him, and by bitter insinuations against the prince of orange. they charged him with nourishing the desire of being appointed governor of brabant, an office considered inseparable from the general stadholderate of all the provinces. they protested for themselves that they were actuated by no ambitious designs--that they were satisfied with their own position, and not inspired by jealousy of personages more powerful than themselves. it is obvious that such charges and recriminations could excite no healing result, and that the lines between cardinalists and their opponents would be defined in consequence more sharply than ever. the adjourned meeting of the chevaliers of the fleece took place a few days afterwards. the duchess exerted herself as much as possible to reconcile the contending factions, without being able, however, to apply the only remedy which could be effective. the man who was already fast becoming the great statesman of the country knew that the evil was beyond healing, unless by a change of purpose on the part of the government. the regent, on the other hand, who it must be confessed never exhibited any remarkable proof of intellectual ability during the period of her residence in the netherlands, was often inspired by a feeble and indefinite hope that the matter might be arranged by a compromise between the views of conflicting parties. unfortunately the inquisition was not a fit subject for a compromise. nothing of radical importance was accomplished by the assembly of the fleece. it was decided that an application should be made to the different states for a giant of money, and that, furthermore, a special envoy should be despatched to spain. it was supposed by the duchess and her advisers that more satisfactory information concerning the provinces could be conveyed to philip by word of mouth than by the most elaborate epistles. the meeting was dissolved after these two measures had been agreed upon. doctor viglius, upon whom devolved the duty of making the report and petition to the states, proceeded to draw up the necessary application. this he did with his customary elegance, and, as usual, very much to his own satisfaction. on returning to his house, however, after having discharged this duty, he was very much troubled at finding that a large mulberry-tree; which stood in his garden, had been torn up by the roots in a violent hurricane. the disaster was considered ominous by the president, and he was accordingly less surprised than mortified when he found, subsequently, that his demand upon the orders had remained as fruitless as his ruined tree. the tempest which had swept his garden he considered typical of the storm which was soon to rage through the land, and he felt increased anxiety to reach a haven while it was yet comparatively calm. the estates rejected the request for supplies, on various grounds; among others, that the civil war was drawing to a conclusion in france, and that less danger was to be apprehended from that source than had lately been the case. thus, the "cup of bitterness," of which granvelle had already complained; was again commended to his lips, and there was more reason than ever for the government to regret that the national representatives had contracted the habit of meddling with financial matters. florence de montmorency, seigneur de montigny, was selected by the regent for the mission which had been decided upon for spain. this gentleman was brother to count horn, but possessed of higher talents and a more amiable character than those of the admiral. he was a warm friend of orange, and a bitter enemy to granvelle. he was a sincere catholic, but a determined foe to the inquisition. his brother had declined to act as envoy. this refusal can excite but little surprise, when philip's wrath at their parting interview is recalled, and when it is also remembered that the new mission would necessarily lay bare fresh complaints against the cardinal, still more extensive than those which had produced the former explosion of royal indignation. montigny, likewise, would have preferred to remain at home, but he was overruled. it had been written in his destiny that he should go twice into the angry lion's den, and that he should come forth once, alive. thus it has been shown that there was an open, avowed hostility on the part of the grand seignors and most of the lesser nobility to the cardinal and his measures. the people fully and enthusiastically sustained the prince of orange in his course. there was nothing underhand in the opposition made to the government. the netherlands did not constitute an absolute monarchy. they did not even constitute a monarchy. there was no king in the provinces. philip was king of spain, naples, jerusalem, but he was only duke of brabant, count of flanders, lord of friesland, hereditary chief, in short, under various titles, of seventeen states, each one of which, although not republican, possessed constitutions as sacred as, and much more ancient than, the crown. the resistance to the absolutism of granvelle and philip was, therefore, logical, legal, constitutional. it was no cabal, no secret league, as the cardinal had the effrontery to term it, but a legitimate exercise of powers which belonged of old to those who wielded them, and which only an unrighteous innovation could destroy. granvelle's course was secret and subtle. during the whole course of the proceedings which have just been described, he was; in daily confidential correspondence with the king, besides being the actual author of the multitudinous despatches which were sent with the signature of the duchess. he openly asserted his right to monopolize all the powers of the government; he did his utmost to force upon the reluctant and almost rebellious people the odious measures which the king had resolved upon, while in his secret letters he uniformly represented the nobles who opposed him, as being influenced, not by an honest hatred of oppression and attachment to ancient rights, but by resentment, and jealousy of their own importance. he assumed, in his letters to his master, that the absolutism already existed of right and in fact, which it was the intention of philip to establish. while he was depriving the nobles, the states and the nation of their privileges, and even of their natural rights (a slender heritage in those days), he assured the king that there was an evident determination to reduce his authority to a cipher. the estates, he wrote, had usurped the whole administration of the finances, and had farmed it out to antony van stralen and others, who were making enormous profits in the business. "the seignors," he said, "declare at their dinner parties that i wish to make them subject to the absolute despotism of your majesty. in point of fact, however, they really exercise a great deal more power than the governors of particular provinces ever did before; and it lacks but little that madame and your majesty should become mere ciphers, while the grandees monopolize the whole power. this," he continued, "is the principal motive of their opposition to the new bishoprics. they were angry that your majesty should have dared to solicit such an arrangement at rome, without, first obtaining their consent. they wish to reduce your majesty's authority to so low a point that you can do nothing unless they desire it. their object is the destruction of the royal authority and of the administration of justice, in order to avoid the payment of their debts; telling their creditors constantly that they, have spent their all in your majesty's service, and that they have never received recompence or salary. this they do to make your majesty odious." as a matter of course, he attributed the resistance on the part of the great nobles, every man of whom was catholic, to base motives. they were mere demagogues, who refused to burn their fellow-creatures, not from any natural repugnance to the task, but in order to gain favor with the populace. "this talk about the inquisition," said he, "is all a pretext. 'tis only to throw dust in the eyes of the vulgar, and to persuade them into tumultuous demonstrations, while the real reason is, that they choose that your majesty should do nothing without their permission, and through their hands." he assumed sometimes, however, a tone of indulgence toward the seignors--who formed the main topics of his letters--an affectation which might, perhaps, have offended them almost as much as more open and sincere denunciation. he could forgive offences against himself. it was for philip to decide as to their merits or crimes so far as the crown was concerned. his language often was befitting a wise man who was speaking of very little children. "assonleville has told me, as coming from egmont," he wrote, "that many of the nobles are dissatisfied with me; hearing from spain that i am endeavoring to prejudice your majesty against them." certainly the tone of the cardinal's daily letters would have justified such suspicion, could the nobles have seen them. granvelle begged the king, however, to disabuse them upon this point. "would to god," said he, piously, "that they all would decide to sustain the authority of your majesty, and to procure such measures as tend to the service of god and the security of the states. may i cease to exist if i do not desire to render good service to the very least of these gentlemen. your majesty knows that, when they do any thing for the benefit of your service, i am never silent. nevertheless, thus they are constituted. i hope, however, that this flurry will blow over, and that when your majesty comes they will all be found to deserve rewards of merit." of egmont, especially, he often spoke in terms of vague, but somewhat condescending commendation. he never manifested resentment in his letters, although, as already stated, the count had occasionally indulged, not only in words, but in deeds of extreme violence against him. but the cardinal was too forgiving a christian, or too keen a politician not to pass by such offences, so long as there was a chance of so great a noble's remaining or becoming his friend. he, accordingly, described him, in general, as a man whose principles, in the main, were good, but who was easily led by his own vanity and the perverse counsels of others. he represented him as having been originally a warm supporter of the new bishoprics, and as having expressed satisfaction that two of them, those of bruges and ypres, should have been within his own stadholderate. he regretted, however; to inform the king that the count was latterly growing lukewarm, perhaps from fear of finding himself separated from the other nobles. on the whole, he was tractable enough, said the cardinal, if he were not easily persuaded by the vile; but one day, perhaps, he might open his eyes again. notwithstanding these vague expressions of approbation, which granvelle permitted himself in his letters to philip, he never failed to transmit to the monarch every fact, every rumor, every inuendo which might prejudice the royal mind against that nobleman or against any of the noblemen, whose characters he at the same time protested he was most unwilling to injure. it is true that he dealt mainly by insinuation, while he was apt to conclude his statements with disclaimers upon his own part, and with hopes of improvement in the conduct of the seignors. at this particular point of time he furnished philip with a long and most circumstantial account of a treasonable correspondence which was thought to be going on between the leading nobles and the future emperor, maximilian. the narrative was a good specimen of the masterly style of inuendo in which the cardinal excelled, and by which he was often enabled to convince his master of the truth of certain statements while affecting to discredit them. he had heard a story, he said, which he felt bound to communicate to his majesty, although he did not himself implicitly believe it. he felt himself the more bound to speak upon the subject because it tallied exactly with intelligence which he had received from another source. the story was that one of these seigniors (the cardinal did not know which, for he had not yet thought proper to investigate the matter) had said that rather than consent that the king should act in this matter of the bishoprics against the privileges of brabant, the nobles would elect for their sovereign some other prince of the blood. this, said the cardinal, was perhaps a fantasy rather than an actual determination. count egmont, to be sure, he said, was constantly exchanging letters with the king of bohemia (maximilian), and it was supposed, therefore, that he was the prince of the blood who was to be elected to govern the provinces. it was determined that he should be chosen king of the romans, by fair means or by force, that he should assemble an army to attack the netherlands, that a corresponding movement should be made within the states, and that the people should be made to rise, by giving them the reins in the matter of religion. the cardinal, after recounting all the particulars of this fiction with great minuteness, added, with apparent frankness, that the correspondence between egmont and maximilian did not astonish him, because there had been much intimacy between them in the time of the late emperor. he did not feel convinced, therefore, from the frequency of the letters exchanged, that there was a scheme to raise an army to attack the provinces and to have him elected by force. on the contrary, maximilian could never accomplish such a scheme without the assistance of his imperial father the emperor, whom granvelle was convinced would rather die than be mixed up with such villany against philip. moreover, unless the people should become still more corrupted by the bad counsels constantly given them, the cardinal did not believe that any of the great nobles had the power to dispose in this way of the provinces at their pleasure. therefore, he concluded that the story was to be rejected as improbable, although it had come to him directly from the house of the said count egmont. it is remarkable that, at the commencement of his narrative, the cardinal had expressed his ignorance of the name of the seignior who was hatching all this treason, while at the end of it he gave a local habitation to the plot in the palace of egmont. it is also quite characteristic that he should add that, after all, he considered that nobleman one of the most honest of all, if appearances did not deceive. it may be supposed, however, that all these details of a plot which was quite imaginary, were likely to produce more effect upon a mind so narrow and so suspicious as that of philip, than could the vague assertions of the cardinal, that in spite of all, he would dare be sworn that he thought the count honest, and that men should be what they seemed. notwithstanding the conspiracy, which, according to granvelle's letters, had been formed against him, notwithstanding that his life was daily threatened, he did not advise the king at this period to avenge him by any public explosion of wrath. he remembered, he piously observed, that vengeance belonged to god, and that he would repay. therefore he passed over insults meekly, because that comported best with his majesty's service. therefore, too, he instructed philip to make no demonstration at that time, in order not to damage his own affairs. he advised him to dissemble, and to pretend not to know what was going on in the provinces. knowing that his master looked to him daily for instructions, always obeyed them with entire docility, and, in fact, could not move a step in netherland matters without them, he proceeded to dictate to him the terms in which he was to write to the nobles, and especially laid down rules for his guidance in his coming interviews with the seigneur de montigny. philip, whose only talent consisted in the capacity to learn such lessons with laborious effort, was at this juncture particularly in need of tuition. the cardinal instructed him, accordingly, that he was to disabuse all men of the impression that the spanish inquisition was to be introduced into the provinces. he was to write to the seigniors, promising to pay them their arrears of salary; he was to exhort them to do all in their power for the advancement of religion and maintenance of the royal authority; and he was to suggest to them that, by his answer to the antwerp deputation, it was proved that there was no intention of establishing the inquisition of spain, under pretext of the new bishoprics. the king was, furthermore, to signify his desire that all the nobles should exert themselves to efface this false impression from the popular mind. he was also to express himself to the same effect concerning the spanish inquisition, the bishoprics, and the religious question, in the public letters to madame de parma, which were to be read in full council. the cardinal also renewed his instructions to the king as to the manner in which the antwerp deputies were to be answered, by giving them, namely, assurances that to transplant the spanish inquisition into the provinces would be as hopeless as to attempt its establishment in naples. he renewed his desire that philip should contradict the story about the half dozen heads, and he especially directed him to inform montigny that berghen had known of the new bishoprics before the cardinal. this, urged granvelle, was particularly necessary, because the seigniors were irritated that so important a matter should have been decided upon without their advice, and because the marquis berghen was now the "cock of the opposition." at about the same time, it was decided by granvelle and the regent, in conjunction with the king, to sow distrust and jealousy among the nobles, by giving greater "mercedes" to some than to others, although large sums were really due to all. in particular, the attempt was made in this paltry manner, to humiliate william of orange. a considerable sum was paid to egmont, and a trifling one to the prince, in consideration of their large claims upon the treasury. moreover the duke of aerschot was selected as envoy to the frankfort diet, where the king of the romans was to be elected, with the express intention, as margaret wrote to philip, of creating divisions among the nobles, as he had suggested. the duchess at the same time informed her brother that, according to, berlaymont, the prince of orange was revolving some great design, prejudicial to his majesty's service. philip, who already began to suspect that a man who thought so much must be dangerous, was eager to find out the scheme over which william the silent was supposed to be brooding, and wrote for fresh intelligence to the duchess. neither margaret nor the cardinal, however, could discover any thing against the prince--who, meantime, although disappointed of the mission to frankfort, had gone to that city in his private capacity--saving that he had been heard to say, "one day we shall be the stronger." granvelle and madame de parma both communicated this report upon the same day, but this was all that they were able to discover of the latent plot. in the autumn of this year ( ) montigny made his visit to spain, as confidential envoy from the regent. the king being fully prepared as to the manner in which he was to deal with him, received the ambassador with great cordiality. he informed him in the course of their interviews, that granvelle had never attempted to create prejudice against the nobles, that he was incapable of the malice attributed to him, and that even were it otherwise, his evil representations against other public servants would produce no effect. the king furthermore protested that he had no intention of introducing the spanish inquisition into the netherlands, and that the new bishops were not intended as agents for such a design, but had been appointed solely with a view of smoothing religious difficulties in the provinces, and of leading his people back into the fold of the faithful. he added, that as long ago as his visit to england for the purpose of espousing queen mary, he had entertained the project of the new episcopates, as the marquis berghen, with whom he had conversed freely upon the subject, could bear witness. with regard to the connexion of granvelle with the scheme, he assured montigny that the cardinal had not been previously consulted, but had first learned the plan after the mission of sonnius. such was the purport of the king's communications to the envoy, as appears from memoranda in the royal handwriting and from the correspondence of margaret of parma. philip's exactness in conforming to his instructions is sufficiently apparent, on comparing his statements with the letters previously received from the omnipresent cardinal. beyond the limits of those directions the king hardly hazarded a syllable. he was merely the plenipotentiary of the cardinal, as montigny was of the regent. so long as granvelle's power lasted, he was absolute and infallible. such, then, was the amount of satisfaction derived from the mission of montigny. there was to be no diminution of the religious persecution, but the people were assured upon royal authority, that the inquisition, by which they were daily burned and beheaded, could not be logically denominated the spanish inquisition. in addition to the comfort, whatever it might be, which the nation could derive from this statement, they were also consoled with the information that granvelle was not the inventor of the bishoprics. although he had violently supported the measure as soon as published, secretly denouncing as traitors and demagogues, all those who lifted their voices against it, although he was the originator of the renewed edicts, although he took, daily, personal pains that this netherland inquisition, "more pitiless than the spanish," should be enforced in its rigor, and although he, at the last, opposed the slightest mitigation of its horrors, he was to be represented to the nobles and the people as a man of mild and unprejudiced character, incapable of injuring even his enemies. "i will deal with the seigniors most blandly," the cardinal had written to philip, "and will do them pleasure, even if they do not wish it, for the sake of god and your majesty." it was in this light, accordingly, that philip drew the picture of his favorite minister to the envoy. montigny, although somewhat influenced by the king's hypocritical assurances of the, benignity with which he regarded the netherlands, was, nevertheless, not to be deceived by this flattering portraiture of a man whom he knew so well and detested so cordially as he did granvelle. solicited by the king, at their parting interview, to express his candid opinion as to the causes of the dissatisfaction in the provinces, montigny very frankly and most imprudently gave vent to his private animosity towards the cardinal. he spoke of his licentiousness, greediness, ostentation, despotism, and assured the monarch that nearly all the inhabitants of the netherlands entertained the same opinion concerning him. he then dilated upon the general horror inspired by the inquisition and the great repugnance felt to the establishment of the new episcopates. these three evils, granvelle, the inquisition, and the bishoprics, he maintained were the real and sufficient causes of the increasing popular discontent. time was to reveal whether the open-hearted envoy was to escape punishment for his frankness, and whether vengeance for these crimes against granvelle and philip were to be left wholly, as the cardinal had lately suggested, in the hands of the lord. montigny returned late in december. his report concerning the results of his mission was made in the state council, and was received with great indignation. the professions of benevolent intentions on the part of the sovereign made no impression on the mind of orange, who was already in the habit of receiving secret information from spain with regard to the intentions of the government. he knew very well that the plot revealed to him by henry the second in the wood of vincennes was still the royal program, so far as the spanish monarch was concerned. moreover, his anger was heightened by information received from montigny that the names of orange, egmont and their adherents, were cited to him as he passed through france as the avowed defenders of the huguenots, in politics and religion. the prince, who was still a sincere catholic, while he hated the persecutions of the inquisition, was furious at the statement. a violent scene occurred in the council. orange openly denounced the report as a new slander of granvelle, while margaret defended the cardinal and denied the accusation, but at the same time endeavored with the utmost earnestness to reconcile the conflicting parties. it had now become certain, however, that the government could no longer be continued on its present footing. either granvelle or the seigniors must succumb. the prince of orange was resolved that the cardinal should fall or that he would himself withdraw from all participation in the affairs of government. in this decision he was sustained by egmont, horn, montigny, berghen, and the other leading nobles. etext editor's bookmarks: affecting to discredit them an inspiring and delightful recreation (auto-da-fe) arrested on suspicion, tortured till confession inquisition of the netherlands is much more pitiless inquisition was not a fit subject for a compromise made to swing to and fro over a slow fire orator was, however, delighted with his own performance philip, who did not often say a great deal in a few words scaffold was the sole refuge from the rack ten thousand two hundred and twenty individuals were burned torquemada's administration (of the inquisition) two witnesses sent him to the stake, one witness to the rack motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. - [chapter iv.] joint letter to philip, from orange, egmont, and horn--egmont's quarrel with aerschot and with aremberg--philip's answer to the three nobles--his instructions to the duchess--egmont declines the king's invitation to visit spain--second letter of the three seigniors--mission of armenteros--letter of alva--secret letters of granvelle to philip--the cardinal's insinuations and instructions-- his complaints as to the lukewarmness of berghen and montigny in the cause of the inquisition--anecdotes to their discredit privately chronicled by granvelle--supposed necessity for the king's presence in the provinces--correspondence of lazarus schwendi--approaching crisis--anxiety of granvelle to retire--banquet of caspar schetz-- invention of the foolscap livery--correspondence of the duchess and of the cardinal with philip upon the subject--entire withdrawal of the three seigniors from the state council--the king advises with alva concerning the recall of granvelle--elaborate duplicity of philip's arrangements--his secret note to the cardinal--his dissembling letters to others--departure of granvelle from the netherlands--various opinions as to its cause--ludicrous conduct of brederode and hoogstraaten--fabulous statements in granvelle's correspondence concerning his recall--universal mystification--the cardinal deceived by the king--granvelle in retirement--his epicureanism--fears in the provinces as to his return--universal joy at his departure--representations to his discredit made by the duchess to philip--her hypocritical letters to the cardinal-- masquerade at count mansfeld's--chantonnay's advice to his brother-- review of granvelle's administration and estimate of his character. on the th march, , orange, horn, and egmont united in a remarkable letter to the king. they said that as their longer "taciturnity" might cause the ruin of his majesty's affairs, they were at last compelled to break silence. they hoped that the king would receive with benignity a communication which was pure, frank, and free from all passion. the leading personages of the province, they continued, having thoroughly examined the nature and extent of cardinal granvelle's authority, had arrived at the conclusion that every thing was in his hands. this persuasion, they said, was rooted in the hearts of all his majesty's subjects, and particularly in their own, so deeply, that it could not be eradicated as long as the cardinal remained. the king was therefore implored to consider the necessity of remedying the evil. the royal affairs, it was affirmed, would never be successfully conducted so long as they were entrusted to granvelle, because he was so odious to so many people. if the danger were not imminent, they should not feel obliged to write to his majesty with so much vehemence. it was, however, an affair which allowed neither delay nor dissimulation. they therefore prayed the king, if they had ever deserved credence in things of weight, to believe them now. by so doing, his majesty would avoid great mischief. many grand seigniors, governors, and others, had thought it necessary to give this notice, in order that the king might prevent the ruin of the country. if, however, his majesty were willing, as they hoped, to avoid discontenting all for the sake of satisfying one, it was possible that affairs might yet prosper. that they might not be thought influenced by ambition or by hope of private profit, the writers asked leave to retire from the state council. neither their reputation, they said, nor the interests of the royal service would permit them to act with the cardinal. they professed themselves dutiful subjects and catholic vassals. had it not been for the zeal of the leading seigniors, the nobility, and other well-disposed persons, affairs would not at that moment be so tranquil; the common people having been so much injured, and the manner of life pursued by the cardinal not being calculated to give more satisfaction than was afforded by his unlimited authority. in conclusion, the writers begged his majesty not to throw the blame upon them, if mischance should follow the neglect of this warning. this memorable letter was signed by guillaume, de nassau, lamoral d'egmont, and philippes de montmorency (count horn). it was despatched undercover to charles de tisnacq, a belgian, and procurator for the affairs of the netherlands at madrid, a man whose relations with count egmont were of a friendly character. it was impossible, however, to keep the matter a secret from the person most interested. the cardinal wrote to the king the day before the letter was written, and many weeks before it was sent, to apprize him that it was coming, and to instruct him as to the answer he was to make. nearly all the leading nobles and governors had adhered to the substance of the letter, save the duke of aerschot, count aremberg, and baron berlaymont. the duke and count had refused to join the league; violent scenes having occurred upon the subject between them and the leaders of the opposition party. egmont, being with a large shooting party at aerschot's country place, beaumont, had taken occasion to urge the duke to join in the general demonstration against the cardinal, arguing the matter in the rough, off-hand, reckless manner which was habitual with him. his arguments offended the nobleman thus addressed, who was vain and irascible. he replied by affirming that he was a friend to egmont, but would not have him for his master. he would have nothing to do, he said, with their league against the cardinal, who had never given him cause of enmity. he had no disposition to dictate to the king as to his choice of ministers, and his majesty was quite right to select his servants at his own pleasure. the duke added that if the seigniors did not wish him for a friend, it was a matter of indifference to him. not one of them was his superior; he had as large a band of noble followers and friends as the best of them, and he had no disposition to accept the supremacy of any nobleman in the land. the conversation carried on in this key soon became a quarrel, and from words the two gentlemen would soon have come to blows, but for the interposition of aremberg and robles, who were present at the scene. the duchess of parma, narrating the occurrence to the king, added that a duel had been the expected result of the affair, but that the two nobles had eventually been reconciled. it was characteristic of aerschot that he continued afterward to associate with the nobles upon friendly terms, while maintaining an increased intimacy with the cardinal. the gentlemen who sent the letter were annoyed at the premature publicity which it seemed to have attained. orange had in vain solicited count aremberg to join the league, and had quarrelled with him in consequence. egmont, in the presence of madame de parma, openly charged aremberg with having divulged the secret which had been confided to him. the count fiercely denied that he had uttered a syllable on the subject to a human being; but added that any communication on his part would have been quite superfluous, while egmont and his friends were daily boasting of what they were to accomplish. egmont reiterated the charge of a breach of faith by aremberg. that nobleman replied by laying his hand upon his sword, denouncing as liars all persons who should dare to charge him again with such an offence, and offering to fight out the quarrel upon the instant. here, again, personal combat was, with much difficulty, averted. egmont, rude, reckless, and indiscreet, was already making manifest that he was more at home on a battle-field than in a political controversy where prudence and knowledge of human nature were as requisite as courage. he was at this period more liberal in his sentiments than at any moment of his life. inflamed by his hatred of granvelle, and determined to compass the overthrow of that minister, he conversed freely with all kinds of people, sought popularity among the burghers, and descanted to every one with much imprudence upon the necessity of union for the sake of liberty and the national good. the regent, while faithfully recording in her despatches every thing of this nature which reached her ears, expressed her astonishment at egmont's course, because, as she had often taken occasion to inform the king, she had always considered the count most sincerely attached to his majesty's service. berlaymont, the only other noble of prominence who did not approve the th of march letter, was at this period attempting to "swim in two waters," and, as usual in such cases, found it very difficult to keep himself afloat. he had refused to join the league, but he stood aloof from granvelle. on a hope held out by the seigniors that his son should be made bishop of liege, he had ceased during a whole year from visiting the cardinal, and had never spoken to him at the council-board. granvelle, in narrating these circumstances to the king, expressed the opinion that berlaymont, by thus attempting to please both parties, had thoroughly discredited himself with both. the famous epistle, although a most reasonable and manly statement of an incontrovertible fact, was nevertheless a document which it required much boldness to sign. the minister at that moment seemed omnipotent, and it was obvious that the king was determined upon a course of political and religious absolutism. it is, therefore, not surprising that, although many sustained its principles, few were willing to affix their names to a paper which might prove a death-warrant to the signers. even montigny and berghen, although they had been active in conducting the whole cabal, if cabal it could be called, refused to subscribe the letter. egmont and horn were men of reckless daring, but they were not keen-sighted enough to perceive fully the consequences of their acts. orange was often accused by his enemies of timidity, but no man ever doubted his profound capacity to look quite through the deeds of men. his political foresight enabled him to measure the dangerous precipice which they were deliberately approaching, while the abyss might perhaps be shrouded to the vision of his companions. he was too tranquil of nature to be hurried, by passions into a grave political step, which in cooler moments he might regret. he resolutely, therefore, and with his eyes open, placed himself in open and recorded enmity with the most powerful and dangerous man in the whole spanish realm, and incurred the resentment of a king who never forgave. it may be safely averred that as much courage was requisite thus to confront a cold and malignant despotism, and to maintain afterwards, without flinching, during a whole lifetime, the cause of national rights and liberty of conscience, as to head the most brilliant charge of cavalry that ever made hero famous. philip answered the letter of the three nobles on the th june following. in this reply, which was brief, he acknowledged the zeal and affection by which the writers had been actuated. he suggested, nevertheless, that, as they had mentioned no particular cause for adopting the advice contained in their letter, it would be better that one of them should come to madrid to confer with him. such matters, he said, could be better treated by word of mouth. he might thus receive sufficient information to enable him to form a decision, for, said he in conclusion, it was not his custom to aggrieve any of his ministers without cause. this was a fine phrase, but under the circumstances of its application, quite ridiculous. there was no question of aggrieving the minister. the letter of the three nobles was very simple. it consisted of a fact and a deduction. the fact stated was, that the cardinal was odious to all classes of the nation. the deduction drawn was, that the government could no longer be carried on by him without imminent danger of ruinous convulsions. the fact was indisputable. the person most interested confirmed it in his private letters. "'tis said," wrote granvelle to philip, "that grandees, nobles, and people, all abhor me, nor am i surprised to find that grandees, nobles, and people are all openly against me, since each and all have been invited to join in the league." the cardinal's reasons for the existence of the unpopularity, which he admitted to the full, have no bearing upon the point in the letter. the fact was relied upon to sustain a simple, although a momentous inference. it was for philip to decide upon the propriety of the deduction, and to abide by the consequences of his resolution when taken. as usual, however, the monarch was not capable of making up his mind. he knew very well that the cardinal was odious and infamous, because he was the willing impersonation of the royal policy. philip was, therefore, logically called upon to abandon the policy or to sustain the minister. he could make up his mind to do neither the one nor the other. in the mean time a well-turned period of mock magnanimity had been furnished him. this he accordingly transmitted as his first answer to a most important communication upon a subject which, in the words of the writers, "admitted neither of dissimulation nor delay." to deprive philip of dissimulation and delay, however, was to take away his all. they were the two weapons with which he fought his long life's battle. they summed up the whole of his intellectual resources. it was inevitable, therefore, that he should at once have recourse to both on such an emergency as the present one. at the same time that he sent his answer to the nobles, he wrote an explanatory letter to the regent. he informed her that he had received the communication of the three seigniors, but instructed her that she was to appear to know nothing of the matter until egmont should speak to her upon the subject. he added that, although he had signified his wish to the three nobles, that one of them, without specifying which, should come to madrid, he in reality desired that egmont, who seemed the most tractable of the three, should be the one deputed. the king added, that his object was to divide the nobles, and to gain time. it was certainly superfluous upon philip's part to inform his sister that his object was to gain time. procrastination was always his first refuge, as if the march of the world's events would pause indefinitely while he sat in his cabinet and pondered. it was, however, sufficiently puerile to recommend to his sister an affectation of ignorance on a subject concerning which nobles had wrangled, and almost drawn their swords in her presence. this, however, was the king's statesmanship when left to his unaided exertions. granvelle, who was both philip and margaret when either had to address or to respond to the world at large, did not always find it necessary to regulate the correspondence of his puppets between themselves. in order more fully to divide the nobles, the king also transmitted to egmont a private note, in his own handwriting, expressing his desire that he should visit spain in person, that they might confer together upon the whole subject. these letters, as might be supposed, produced any thing but a satisfactory effect. the discontent and rage of the gentlemen who had written or sustained the th of march communication, was much increased. the answer was, in truth, no answer at all. "'tis a cold and bad reply," wrote louis of nassau, "to send after so long a delay. 'tis easy to see that the letter came from the cardinal's smithy. in summa it is a vile business, if the gentlemen are all to be governed by one person. i hope to god his power will come soon to an end. nevertheless," added louis, "the gentlemen are all wide awake, for they trust the red fellow not a bit more than he deserves." the reader has already seen that the letter was indeed "from the cardinal's smithy," granvelle having instructed his master how to reply to the seigniors before the communication had been despatched. the duchess wrote immediately to inform her brother that egmont had expressed himself willing enough to go to spain, but had added that he must first consult orange and horn. as soon as that step had been taken, she had been informed that it was necessary for them to advise with all the gentlemen who had sanctioned their letter. the duchess had then tried in vain to prevent such an assembly, but finding that, even if forbidden, it would still take place, she had permitted the meeting in brussels, as she could better penetrate into their proceedings there, than if it should be held at a distance. she added, that she should soon send her secretary armenteros to spain, that the king might be thoroughly acquainted with what was occurring. egmont soon afterwards wrote to philip, declining to visit spain expressly on account of the cardinal. he added, that he was ready to undertake the journey, should the king command his presence for any other object. the same decision was formally communicated to the regent by those chevaliers of the fleece who had approved the th of march letter--montigny; berghen, meghem, mansfeld, ligne, hoogstraaten, orange, egmont, and horn. the prince of orange, speaking in the name of all, informed her that they did not consider it consistent with their reputation, nor with the interest of his majesty, that any one of them should make so long and troublesome a journey, in order to accuse the cardinal. for any other purpose, they all held themselves ready to go to spain at once. the duchess expressed her regret at this resolution. the prince replied by affirming that, in all their proceedings, they had been governed, not by hatred of granvelle but by a sense of duty to his majesty. it was now, he added, for the king to pursue what course it pleased him. four days after this interview with the regent, orange, egmont, and horn addressed a second letter to the king. in this communication they stated that they had consulted with all the gentlemen with whose approbation their first letter had been written. as to the journey of one of them to spain,--as suggested, they pronounced it very dangerous for any seignior to absent himself, in the condition of affairs which then existed. it was not a sufficient cause to go thither on account of granvelle. they disclaimed any intention of making themselves parties to a process against the cardinal. they had thought that their simple, brief announcement would have sufficed to induce his majesty to employ that personage in other places, where his talents would be more fruitful. as to "aggrieving the cardinal without cause," there was no question of aggrieving him at all, but of relieving him of an office which could not remain in his hands without disaster. as to "no particular cause having been mentioned," they said the omission was from no lack of many such. they had charged none, however, because, from their past services and their fidelity to his majesty, they expected to be believed on their honor, without further witnesses or evidence. they had no intention of making themselves accusers. they had purposely abstained from specifications. if his majesty should proceed to ampler information, causes enough would be found. it was better, however, that they should be furnished by others than by themselves. his majesty would then find that the public and general complaint was not without adequate motives. they renewed their prayer to be excused from serving in the council of state, in order that they might not be afterwards inculpated for the faults of others. feeling that the controversy between themselves and the cardinal de granvelle in the state council produced no fruit for his majesty's affairs, they preferred to yield to him. in conclusion, they begged the king to excuse the simplicity of their letters, the rather that they were not by nature great orators, but more accustomed to do well than to speak well, which was also more becoming to persons of their quality. on the th of august, count horn also addressed a private letter to the king, written in the same spirit as that which characterized the joint letter just cited. he assured his majesty that the cardinal could render no valuable service to the crown on account of the hatred which the whole nation bore him, but that, as far as regarded the maintenance of the ancient religion, all the nobles were willing to do their duty. the regent now despatched, according to promise, her private secretary, thomas de armenteros, to spain. his instructions, which were very elaborate, showed that granvelle was not mistaken when he charged her with being entirely changed in regard to him, and when he addressed her a reproachful letter, protesting his astonishment that his conduct had become auspicious, and his inability to divine the cause of the weariness and dissatisfaction which she manifested in regard to him. armenteros, a man of low, mercenary, and deceitful character, but a favorite of the regent, and already beginning to acquire that influence over her mind which was soon to become so predominant, was no friend of the cardinal. it was not probable that he would diminish the effect of that vague censure mingled with faint commendation, which characterized margaret's instructions by any laudatory suggestions of his own. he was directed to speak in general terms of the advance of heresy, and the increasing penury of the exchequer. he was to request two hundred thousand crowns toward the lottery, which the regent proposed to set up as a financial scheme. he was to represent that the duchess had tried, unsuccessfully, every conceivable means of accommodating the quarrel between the cardinal and the seigniors. she recognized granvelle's great capacity, experience, zeal, and devotion--for all which qualities she made much of him--while on the other hand she felt that it would be a great inconvenience, and might cause a revolt of the country, were she to retain him in the netherlands against the will of the seigniors. these motives had compelled her, the messenger was to add, to place both views of the subject before the eyes of the king. armenteros was, furthermore, to narrate the circumstances of the interviews which had recently taken place between herself and the leaders of the opposition party. from the tenor of these instructions, it was sufficiently obvious that margaret of parma was not anxious to retain the cardinal, but that, on the contrary, she was beginning already to feel alarm at the dangerous position in which she found herself. a few days after the three nobles had despatched their last letter to the king, they had handed her a formal remonstrance. in this document they stated their conviction that the country was on the high road to ruin, both as regarded his majesty's service and the common weal. the bare, the popular discontent daily increasing, the fortresses on the frontier in a dilapidated condition. it was to be apprehended daily that merchants and other inhabitants of the provinces would be arrested in foreign countries, to satisfy the debts owed by his majesty. to provide against all these evils, but one course, it was suggested, remained to the government--to summon the states-general, and to rely upon their counsel and support. the nobles, however, forbore to press this point, by reason of the prohibition which the regent had received from the king. they suggested, however, that such an interdiction could have been dictated only by a distrust created between his majesty and the estates by persons having no love for either, and who were determined to leave no resource by which the distress of the country could be prevented. the nobles, therefore, begged her highness not to take it amiss if, so long as the king was indisposed to make other arrangements for the administration of the provinces, they should abstain from appearing at the state council. they preferred to cause the shadow at last to disappear, which they had so long personated. in conclusion, however, they expressed their determination to do their duty in their several governments, and to serve the regent to the best of their abilities. after this remonstrance had been delivered, the prince of orange, count horn, and count egmont abstained entirely from the sessions of the state council. she was left alone with the cardinal, whom she already hated, and with his two shadows, viglius and berlaymont. armenteros, after a month spent on his journey, arrived in spain, and was soon admitted to an audience by philip. in his first interview, which lasted four hours, he read to the king all the statements and documents with which he had come provided, and humbly requested a prompt decision. such a result was of course out of the question. moreover, the cortes of tarragon, which happened then to be in session, and which required the royal attention, supplied the monarch with a fresh excuse for indulging in his habitual vacillation. meantime, by way of obtaining additional counsel in so grave an emergency, he transmitted the letters of the nobles, together with the other papers, to the duke of alva, and requested his opinion on the subject. alva replied with the roar of a wild beast, "every time," he wrote, "that i see the despatches of those three flemish seigniors my rage is so much excited that if i did not use all possible efforts to restrain it, my sentiments would seem those of a madman." after this splenitive exordium he proceeded to express the opinion that all the hatred and complaints against the cardinal had arisen from his opposition to the convocation of the states-general. with regard to persons who had so richly deserved such chastisement, he recommended "that their heads should be taken off; but, until this could be done, that the king should dissemble with them." he advised philip not to reply to their letters, but merely to intimate, through the regent, that their reasons for the course proposed by them did not seem satisfactory. he did not prescribe this treatment of the case as "a true remedy, but only as a palliative; because for the moment only weak medicines could be employed, from which, however, but small effect could be anticipated." as to recalling the cardinal, "as they had the impudence to propose to his majesty," the duke most decidedly advised against the step. in the mean time, and before it should be practicable to proceed "to that vigorous chastisement already indicated," he advised separating the nobles as much as possible by administering flattery and deceitful caresses to egmont, who might be entrapped more easily than the others. here, at least, was a man who knew his own mind. here was a servant who could be relied upon to do his master's bidding whenever this master should require his help. the vigorous explosion of wrath with which the duke thus responded to the first symptoms of what he regarded as rebellion, gave a feeble intimation of the tone which he would assume when that movement should have reached a more advanced stage. it might be guessed what kind of remedies he would one day prescribe in place of the "mild medicines" in which he so reluctantly acquiesced for the present. while this had been the course pursued by the seigniors, the regent and the king, in regard to that all-absorbing subject of netherland politics--the straggle against granvelle--the cardinal, in his letters to philip, had been painting the situation by minute daily touches, in a manner of which his pencil alone possessed the secret. still maintaining the attitude of an injured but forgiving christian, he spoke of the nobles in a tone of gentle sorrow. he deprecated any rising of the royal wrath in his behalf; he would continue to serve the gentlemen, whether they would or no; he was most anxious lest any considerations on his account should interfere with the king's decision in regard to the course to be pursued in the netherlands. at the same time, notwithstanding these general professions of benevolence towards the nobles, he represented them as broken spendthrifts, wishing to create general confusion in order to escape from personal liabilities; as conspirators who had placed themselves within the reach of the attorney-general; as ambitious malcontents who were disposed to overthrow the royal authority, and to substitute an aristocratic republic upon its ruins. he would say nothing to prejudice the king's mind against these gentlemen, but he took care to omit nothing which could possibly accomplish that result. he described them as systematically opposed to the policy which he knew lay nearest the king's heart, and as determined to assassinate the faithful minister who was so resolutely carrying it out, if his removal could be effected in no other way. he spoke of the state of religion as becoming more and more unsatisfactory, and bewailed the difficulty with which he could procure the burning of heretics; difficulties originating in the reluctance of men from whose elevated rank better things might have been expected. as granvelle is an important personage, as his character has been alternately the subject of much censure and of more applause, and as the epoch now described was the one in which the causes of the great convulsion were rapidly germinating, it is absolutely necessary that the reader should be placed in a position to study the main character, as painted by his own hand; the hand in which were placed, at that moment, the destinies of a mighty empire. it is the historian's duty, therefore, to hang the picture of his administration fully in the light. at the moment when the th of march letter was despatched, the cardinal represented orange and egmont as endeavoring by every method of menace or blandishment to induce all the grand seigniors and petty nobles to join in the league against himself. they had quarrelled with aerschot and aremberg, they had more than half seduced berlaymont, and they stigmatized all who refused to enter into their league as cardinalists and familiars of the inquisition. he protested that he should regard their ill-will with indifference, were he not convinced that he was himself only a pretext, and that their designs were really much deeper. since the return of montigny, the seigniors had established a league which that gentleman and his brother, count horn, had both joined. he would say nothing concerning the defamatory letters and pamphlets of which he was the constant object, for he wished no heed taken of matters which concerned exclusively himself, notwithstanding this disclaimer, however, he rarely omitted to note the appearance of all such productions for his majesty's especial information. "it was better to calm men's spirits," he said, "than to excite them." as to fostering quarrels among the seigniors, as the king had recommended, that was hardly necessary, for discord was fast sowing its own seeds. "it gave him much pain," he said, with a christian sigh, "to observe that such dissensions had already arisen, and unfortunately on his account." he then proceeded circumstantially to describe the quarrel between aerschot and egmont, already narrated by the regent, omitting in his statement no particular which could make egmont reprehensible in the royal eyes. he likewise painted the quarrel between the same noble and aremberg, to which he had already alluded in previous letters to the king, adding that many gentlemen, and even the more prudent part of the people, were dissatisfied with the course of the grandees, and that he was taking underhand but dexterous means to confirm them in such sentiments. he instructed philip how to reply to the letter addressed to him, but begged his majesty not to hesitate to sacrifice him if the interests of his crown should seem to require it. with regard to religious matters, he repeatedly deplored that, notwithstanding his own exertions and those of madame de parma, things were not going on as he desired, but, on the contrary, very badly. "for the-love of god and the service of the holy religion," he cried out fervently, "put your royal hand valiantly to the work, otherwise we have only to exclaim, help, lord, for we perish!" having uttered this pious exhortation in the ear of a man who needed no stimulant in the path of persecution, he proceeded to express his regrets that the judges and other officers were not taking in hand the chastisement of heresy with becoming vigor. yet, at that very moment peter titelmann was raging through flanders, tearing whole families out of bed and burning them to ashes, with such utter disregard to all laws or forms as to provoke in the very next year a solemn protest from the four estates of flanders; and titelmann was but one of a dozen inquisitors. granvelle, however, could find little satisfaction in the exertions of subordinates so long as men in high station were remiss in their duties. the marquis berghen, he informed philip, showed but little disposition to put down heresy, in valenciennes, while montigny was equally remiss at tournay. they were often heard to say, to any who chose to listen, that it was not right to inflict the punishment of death for matters of religion. this sentiment, uttered in that age of blood and fire, and crowning the memory of those unfortunate nobles with eternal honor, was denounced by the churchman as criminal, and deserving of castigation. he intimated, moreover, that these pretences of clemency were mere hypocrisy, and that self-interest was at the bottom of their compassion. "'tis very black," said he, "when interest governs; but these men are a in debt, so deeply that they owe their very souls. they are seeking every means of escaping from their obligations, and are most desirous of creating general confusion." as to the prince of orange, the cardinal asserted that he owed nine hundred thousand florins, and had hardly twenty-five thousand a-year clear income, while he spent ninety thousand, having counts; barons, and gentlemen in great numbers, in his household. at this point, he suggested that it might be well to find employment for some of these grandees in spain and other dominions of his majesty, adding that perhaps orange might accept the vice-royalty of sicily. resuming the religious matter, a few weeks later, he expressed himself a little more cheerfully, "we have made so much outcry," said he, "that at last marquis berghen has been forced to burn a couple of heretics at valenciennes. thus, it is obvious," moralized the cardinal, "that if he were really willing to apply the remedy in that place, much progress might be made; but that we can do but little so long as he remains in the government of the provinces and refuses to assist us." in a subsequent letter, he again uttered com plaints against the marquis and montigny, who were evermore his scapegoats and bugbears. berghen will give us no aid, he wrote, despite of all the letters we send him. he absents himself for private and political reasons. montigny has eaten meat in lent, as the bishop of tournay informs me. both he and the marquis say openly that it is not right to shed blood for matters of faith, so that the king can judge how much can be effected with such coadjutors. berghen avoids the persecution of heretics, wrote the cardinal again, a month later, to secretary perez. he has gone to spa for his health, although those who saw him last say he is fat and hearty. granvelle added, however, that they had at last "burned one more preacher alive." the heretic, he stated, had feigned repentance to save his life, but finding that, at any rate, his head would be cut off as a dogmatizer, he retracted his recantation. "so," concluded the cardinal, complacently, "they burned him." he chronicled the sayings and doings of the principal personages in the netherlands, for the instruction of the king, with great regularity, insinuating suspicions when unable to furnish evidence, and adding charitable apologies, which he knew would have but small effect upon the mind of his correspondent. thus he sent an account of a "very secret meeting" held by orange, egmont, horn, montigny and berghen, at the abbey of la forest, near brussels, adding, that he did not know what they had been doing there, and was at loss what to suspect. he would be most happy, he said, to put the best interpretation upon their actions, but he could not help remembering with great sorrow the observation so recently made by orange to montigny, that one day they should be stronger. later in the year, the cardinal informed the king that the same nobles were holding a conference at weerdt, that he had not learned what had been transacted there, but thought the affair very suspicious. philip immediately communicated the intelligence to alva, together with an expression of granvelle's fears and of his own, that a popular outbreak would be the consequence of the continued presence of the minister in the netherlands. the cardinal omitted nothing in the way of anecdote or inuendo, which could injure the character of the leading nobles, with the exception, perhaps, of count egmont. with this important personage, whose character he well understood, he seemed determined, if possible, to maintain friendly relations. there was a deep policy in this desire, to which we shall advert hereafter. the other seigniors were described in general terms as disposed to overthrow the royal authority. they were bent upon granvelle's downfall as the first step, because, that being accomplished, the rest would follow as a matter of course. "they intend," said he, "to reduce the state into the form of a republic, in which the king shall have no power except to do their bidding." he added, that he saw with regret so many german troops gathering on the borders; for he believed them to be in the control of the disaffected nobles of the netherlands. having made this grave insinuation, he proceeded in the same breath to express his anger at a statement said to have been made by orange and egmont, to the effect that he had charged them with intending to excite a civil commotion, an idea, he added, which had never entered his head. in the same paragraph, he poured into the most suspicious ear that ever listened to a tale of treason, his conviction that the nobles were planning a republic by the aid of foreign troops, and uttered a complaint that these nobles had accused him of suspecting them. as for the prince of orange, he was described as eternally boasting of his influence in germany, and the great things which he could effect by means of his connexions there, "so that," added the cardinal, "we hear no other song." he had much to say concerning the projects of these grandees to abolish all the councils, but that of state, of which body they intended to obtain the entire control. marquis berghen was represented as being at the bottom of all these intrigues. the general and evident intention was to make a thorough change in the form of government. the marquis meant to command in every thing, and the duchess would soon have nothing to do in the provinces as regent for the king. in fact, philip himself would be equally powerless, "for," said the cardinal, "they will have succeeded in putting your majesty completely under guardianship." he added, moreover, that the seigniors, in order to gain favor with the people and with the estates, had allowed them to acquire so much power, that they would respond to any request for subsidies by a general popular revolt. "this is the simple truth," said granvelle, "and moreover, by the same process, in a very few days there will likewise be no religion left in the land." when the deputies of some of the states, a few weeks later, had been irregularly convened in brussels, for financial purposes, the cardinal informed the monarch that the nobles were endeavoring to conciliate their good-will, by offering them a splendid series of festivities and banquets. he related various anecdotes which came to his ears from time to time, all tending to excite suspicions as to the loyalty and orthodoxy of the principal nobles. a gentleman coming from burgundy had lately, as he informed the king, been dining with the prince of orange, with whom horn and montigny were then lodging. at table, montigny called out in a very loud voice to the strange cavalier, who was seated at a great distance from him, to ask if there were many huguenots in burgundy. no, replied the gentleman nor would they be permitted to exist there. "then there can be very few people of intelligence in that province," returned montigny, "for those who have any wit are mostly all huguenots." the prince of orange here endeavored to put a stop to the conversation, saying that the burgundians were very right to remain as they were; upon which montigny affirmed that he had heard masses enough lately to last him for three months. these things may be jests, commented granvelle, but they are very bad ones; and 'tis evident that such a man is an improper instrument to remedy the state of religious affairs in tournay. at another large party, the king was faithfully informed by the same chronicler, that marquis berghen had been teasing the duke of aerschot very maliciously, because he would not join the league. the duke had responded as he had formerly done to egmont, that his majesty was not to receive laws from his vassals; adding that, for himself, he meant to follow in the loyal track of his ancestors, fearing god and honoring the king. in short, said granvelle, he answered them with so much wisdom, that although they had never a high opinion of his capacity, they were silenced. this conversation had been going on before all the servants, the marquis being especially vociferous, although the room was quite full of them. as soon as the cloth was removed, and while some of the lackies still remained, berghen had resumed the conversation. he said he was of the same mind as his ancestor, john of berghen, had been, who had once told the king's grandfather, philip the fair, that if his majesty was bent on his own perdition, he had no disposition to ruin himself. if the present monarch means to lose these provinces by governing them as he did govern them, the marquis affirmed that he had no wish to lose the little property that he himself possessed in the country. "but if," argued the duke of aerschot, "the king absolutely refuse to do what you demand of him; what then?"--"par la cordieu!" responded berghen, in a rage, "we will let him see!" whereupon all became silent. granvelle implored the king to keep these things entirely to himself; adding that it was quite necessary for his majesty to learn in this manner what were the real dispositions of the gentlemen of the provinces. it was also stated in the same letter, that a ruffian genoese, who had been ordered out of the netherlands by the regent, because of a homicide he had committed, was kept at weert, by count horn, for the purpose of murdering the cardinal. he affirmed that he was not allowed to request the expulsion of the assassin from the count's house; but that he would take care, nevertheless, that neither this ruffian nor any other, should accomplish his purpose. a few weeks afterwards, expressing his joy at the contradiction of a report that philip had himself been assassinated, granvelle added; "i too, who am but a worm in comparison, am threatened on so many sides, that many must consider me already dead. nevertheless, i will endeavor, with god's help, to live as long as i can, and if they kill me, i hope they will not gain every thing." yet, with characteristic jesuitism, the cardinal could not refrain, even in the very letter in which he detailed the rebellious demonstrations of berghen, and the murderous schemes of horn, to protest that he did not say these things "to prejudice his majesty against any one, but only that it might be known to what a height the impudence was rising." certainly the king and the ecclesiastic, like the roman soothsayers, would have laughed in each other's face, could they have met, over the hollowness of such demonstrations. granvelle's letters were filled, for the greater part, with pictures of treason, stratagem, and bloody intentions, fabricated mostly out of reports, table-talk, disjointed chat in the careless freedom of domestic intercourse, while at the same time a margin was always left to express his own wounded sense of the injurious suspicions uttered against him by the various subjects of his letters. "god knows," said he to perez, "that i always speak of them with respect, which is more than they do of me. but god forgive them all. in times like these, one must hold one's tongue. one must keep still, in order not to stir up a hornet's nest." in short, the cardinal, little by little, during the last year of his residence in the netherlands, was enabled to spread a canvas before his sovereign's eye, in which certain prominent figures, highly colored by patiently accumulated touches, were represented as driving a whole nation, against its own will, into manifest revolt. the estates and the people, he said, were already tired of the proceedings of the nobles, and those personages would find themselves very much mistaken in thinking that men who had any thing to lose would follow them, when they began a rebellion against his majesty. on the whole, he was not desirous of prolonging his own residence, although, to do him justice, he was not influenced by fear. he thought or affected to think that the situation was one of a factitious popular discontent, procured by the intrigues of a few ambitious and impoverished catilines and cethegi, not a rising rebellion such as the world had never seen, born of the slowly-awakened wrath of, a whole people, after the martyrdom of many years. the remedy that he recommended was that his majesty should come in person to the provinces. the monarch would cure the whole disorder as soon as he appeared, said the cardinal, by merely making the sign of the cross. whether, indeed, the rapidly-increasing cancer of national discontent would prove a mere king's evil, to be healed by the royal touch, as many persons besides granvelle believed, was a point not doomed to be tested. from that day forward philip began to hold out hopes that he would come to administer the desired remedy, but even then it was the opinion of good judges that he would give millions rather than make his appearance in the netherlands. it was even the hope of william of orange that the king would visit the provinces. he expressed his desire, in a letter to lazarus schwendi, that his sovereign should come in person, that he might see whether it had been right to sow so much distrust between himself and his loyal subjects. the prince asserted that it was impossible for any person not on the spot to imagine the falsehoods and calumnies circulated by granvelle and his friends, accusing orange and his associates of rebellion and heresy, in the most infamous manner in the world. he added, in conclusion, that he could write no more, for the mere thought of the manner in which the government of the netherlands was carried on filled him with disgust and rage. this letter, together with one in a similar strain from egmont, was transmitted by the valiant and highly intellectual soldier to whom they were addressed, to the king of spain, with an entreaty that he would take warning from the bitter truths which they contained. the colonel, who was a most trusty friend of orange, wrote afterwards to margaret of parma in the same spirit, warmly urging her to moderation in religious matters. this application highly enraged morillon, the cardinal's most confidential dependent, who accordingly conveyed the intelligence to his already departed chief, exclaiming in his letter, "what does the ungrateful baboon mean by meddling with our affairs? a pretty state of things, truly, if kings are to choose or retain their ministers at the will of the people; little does he know of the disasters which would be caused by a relaxation of the edicts." in the same sense, the cardinal, just before his departure, which was now imminent, wrote to warn his sovereign of the seditious character of the men who were then placing their breasts between the people and their butchers. he assured philip that upon the movement of those nobles depended the whole existence of the country. it was time that they should be made to open their eyes. they should be solicited in every way to abandon their evil courses, since the liberty which they thought themselves defending was but abject slavery; but subjection to a thousand base and contemptible personages, and to that "vile animal called the people." it is sufficiently obvious, from the picture which we have now presented of the respective attitudes of granvelle, of the seigniors and of the nation, during the whole of the year , and the beginning of the following year, that a crisis was fast approaching. granvelle was, for the moment, triumphant, orange, egmont, and horn had abandoned the state council, philip could not yet make up his mind to yield to the storm, and alva howled defiance at the nobles and the whole people of the netherlands. nevertheless, margaret of parma was utterly weary of the minister, the cardinal himself was most anxious to be gone, and the nation--for there was a nation, however vile the animal might be--was becoming daily more enraged at the presence of a man in whom, whether justly or falsely, it beheld the incarnation of the religious oppression under which they groaned. meantime, at the close of the year, a new incident came to add to the gravity of the situation. caspar schetz, baron of grobbendonck, gave a great dinner-party, in the month of december, . this personage, whose name was prominent for many years in the public affairs of the nation, was one of the four brothers who formed a very opulent and influential mercantile establishment. he was the king's principal factor and financial agent. he was one of the great pillars of the bourse at antwerp. he was likewise a tolerable scholar, a detestable poet, an intriguing politician, and a corrupt financier. he was regularly in the pay of sir thomas gresham, to whom he furnished secret information, for whom he procured differential favors, and by whose government he was rewarded by gold chains and presents of hard cash, bestowed as secretly as the equivalent was conveyed adroitly. nevertheless, although his venality was already more than suspected, and although his peculation, during his long career became so extensive that he was eventually prosecuted by government, and died before the process was terminated, the lord of grobbendonck was often employed in most delicate negotiations, and, at the present epoch, was a man of much importance in the netherlands. the treasurer-general accordingly gave his memorable banquet to a distinguished party of noblemen. the conversation, during dinner, turned, as was inevitable, upon the cardinal. his ostentation, greediness, insolence, were fully canvassed. the wine flowed freely as it always did in those flemish festivities--the brains of the proud and reckless cavaliers became hot with excitement, while still the odious ecclesiastic was the topic of their conversation, the object alternately of fierce invective or of scornful mirth. the pompous display which he affected in his equipages, liveries, and all the appurtenances of his household, had frequently excited their derision, and now afforded fresh matter for their ridicule. the customs of germany, the simple habiliments in which the retainers of the greatest houses were arrayed in that country, were contrasted with the tinsel and glitter in which the prelate pranked himself. it was proposed, by way of showing contempt for granvelle, that a livery should be forthwith invented, as different as possible from his in general effect, and that all the gentlemen present should indiscriminately adopt it for their own menials. thus would the people whom the cardinal wished to dazzle with his finery learn to estimate such gauds at their true value. it was determined that something extremely plain, and in the german fashion, should be selected. at the same time, the company, now thoroughly inflamed with wine, and possessed by the spirit of mockery, determined that a symbol should be added to the livery, by which the universal contempt for granvelle should be expressed. the proposition was hailed with acclamation, but who should invent the hieroglyphical costume? all were reckless and ready enough, but ingenuity of device was required. at last it was determined to decide the question by hazard. amid shouts of hilarity, the dice were thrown. those men were staking their lives, perhaps, upon the issue, but the reflection gave only a keener zest to the game. egmont won. it was the most fatal victory which he had ever achieved, a more deadly prize even than the trophies of st. quentin and gravelingen. in a few days afterwards, the retainers of the house of egmont surprised brussels by making their appearance in a new livery. doublet and hose of the coarsest grey, and long hanging sleeves, without gold or silver lace, and having but a single ornament, comprised the whole costume. an emblem which seemed to resemble a monk's cowl, or a fool's cap and bells, was embroidered upon each sleeve. the device pointed at the cardinal, as did, by contrast, the affected coarseness of the dress. there was no doubt as to the meaning of the hood, but they who saw in the symbol more resemblance to the jester's cap, recalled certain biting expressions which granvelle had been accustomed to use. he had been wont, in the days of his greatest insolence, to speak of the most eminent nobles as zanies, lunatics, and buffoons. the embroidered fool's cap was supposed to typify the gibe, and to remind the arrogant priest that a brutus, as in the olden time, might be found lurking in the costume of the fool. however witty or appropriate the invention, the livery had an immense success. according to agreement, the nobles who had dined with the treasurer ordered it for all their servants. never did a new dress become so soon the fashion. the unpopularity of the minister assisted the quaintness of the device. the fool's-cap livery became the rage. never was such a run upon the haberdashers, mercers, and tailors, since brussels had been a city. all the frieze-cloth in brabant was exhausted. all the serge in flanders was clipped into monastic cowls. the duchess at first laughed with the rest, but the cardinal took care that the king should be at once informed upon the subject. the regent was, perhaps, not extremely sorry to see the man ridiculed whom she so cordially disliked, and, she accepted the careless excuses made on the subject by egmont and by orange without severe criticism. she wrote to her brother that, although the gentlemen had been influenced by no evil intention, she had thought it best to exhort them not to push the jest too far. already, however, she found that two thousand pairs, of sleeves had been made, and the most she could obtain was that the fools' caps, or monks' hoods, should in future be omitted from the livery. a change was accordingly made in the costume, at about the time of the cardinal's departure. a bundle of arrows, or in some instances a wheat-sheaf, was substituted for the cowls. various interpretations were placed upon this new emblem. according to the nobles themselves, it denoted the union of all their hearts in the king's service, while their enemies insinuated that it was obviously a symbol of conspiracy. the costume thus amended was worn by the gentlemen themselves, as well as by their servants. egmont dined at the regent's table, after the cardinal's departure, in a camlet doublet, with hanging sleeves, and buttons stamped with the bundle of arrows. for the present, the cardinal affected to disapprove of the fashion only from its rebellious tendency. the fools' caps and cowls, he meekly observed to philip, were the least part of the offence, for an injury to himself could be easily forgiven. the wheat-sheaf and the arrow-bundles, however, were very vile things, for they betokened and confirmed the existence of a conspiracy, such as never could be tolerated by a prince who had any regard for his own authority. this incident of the livery occupied the public attention, and inflamed the universal hatred during the later months of the minister's residence in the country. meantime the three seigniors had become very impatient at receiving no answer to their letter. margaret of parma was urging her brother to give them satisfaction, repeating to him their bitter complaints that their characters and conduct were the subject of constant misrepresentation to their sovereign, and picturing her own isolated condition. she represented herself as entirely deprived of the support of those great personages, who, despite her positive assurances to the contrary, persisted in believing that they were held up to the king as conspirators, and were in danger of being punished as traitors. philip, on his part, was conning granvelle's despatches, filled with hints of conspiracy, and holding counsel with alva, who had already recommended the taking off several heads for treason. the prince of orange, who already had secret agents in the king's household, and was supplied with copies of the most private papers in the palace, knew better than to be deceived by the smooth representations of the regent. philip had, however, at last begun secretly to yield. he asked alva's advice whether on the whole it would not be better to let the cardinal leave the netherlands, at least for a time, on pretence of visiting his mother in burgundy, and to invite count egmont to madrid, by way of striking one link from the chain, as granvelle had suggested. the duke had replied that he had no doubt of the increasing insolence of the three seigniors, as depicted in the letters of the duchess margaret, nor of their intention to make the cardinal their first victim; it being the regular principle in all revolts against the sovereign, to attack the chief minister in the first place. he could not, however, persuade himself that the king should yield and granvelle be recalled. nevertheless, if it were to be done at all, he preferred that the cardinal should go to burgundy without leave asked either of the duchess or of philip; and that he should then write; declining to return, on the ground that his life was not safe in the netherlands. after much hesitation, the monarch at last settled upon a plan, which recommended itself through the extreme duplicity by which it was marked, and the complicated system of small deceptions, which it consequently required. the king, who was never so thoroughly happy or at home as when elaborating the ingredients of a composite falsehood, now busily employed himself in his cabinet. he measured off in various letters to the regent, to the three nobles, to egmont alone, and to granvelle, certain proportionate parts of his whole plan, which; taken separately, were intended to deceive, and did deceive nearly every person in the world, not only in his own generation, but for three centuries afterwards, but which arranged synthetically, as can now be done, in consequence of modern revelations, formed one complete and considerable lie, the observation of which furnishes the student with a lesson in the political chemistry of those days, which was called macchiavellian statesmanship. the termination of the granvelle regency is, moreover, most important, not only for the grave and almost interminable results to which it led, but for the illustration which it affords of the inmost characters of the cardinal and "his master." the courier who was to take philip's letters to the three nobles was detained three weeks, in order to allow armenteros, who was charged with the more important and secret despatches for the duchess and granvelle to reach brussels first. all the letters, however, were ready at the same time. the letter of instructions for armenteros enjoined upon that envoy to tell the regent that the heretics were to be chastised with renewed vigor, that she was to refuse to convoke the states-general under any pretext, and that if hard pressed, she was to refer directly to the king. with regard to granvelle, the secretary was to state that his majesty was still deliberating, and that the duchess would be informed as to the decision when it should be made. he was to express the royal astonishment that the seigniors should absent themselves from the state council, with a peremptory intimation that they should immediately return to their posts. as they had specified no particularities against the cardinal, the king would still reflect upon the subject. he also wrote a private note to the duchess, stating that he had not yet sent the letters for the three nobles, because he wished that armenteros should arrive before their courier. he, however, enclosed two notes for egmont, of which margaret was to deliver that one, which, in her opinion, was, under the circumstances, the best. in one of these missives the king cordially accepted, and in the other he politely declined egmont's recent offer to visit spain. he also forwarded a private letter in his own hand-writing to the cardinal. armenteros, who travelled but slowly on account of the state of his health, arrived in brussels towards the end of february. five or six days afterwards, on the st march, namely, the courier arrived bringing the despatches for the seigniors. in his letter to orange, egmont, and horn, the king expressed his astonishment at their resolution to abstain from the state council. nevertheless, said he, imperatively, fail not to return thither and to show how much more highly you regard my service and the good of the country than any other particularity whatever. as to granvelle, continued philip, since you will not make any specifications, my intention is to think over the matter longer, in order to arrange it as may seem most fitting. this letter was dated february ( ), nearly a month later therefore than the secret letter to granvelle, brought by armenteros, although all the despatches had been drawn up at the same time and formed parts of the same plan. in this brief note to granvelle, however, lay the heart of the whole mystery. "i have reflected much," wrote the king, "on all that you have written me during these last few months, concerning the ill-will borne you by certain personages. i notice also your suspicions that if a revolt breaks out, they will commence with your person, thus taking occasion to proceed from that point to the accomplishment of their ulterior designs. i have particularly taken into consideration the notice received by you from the curate of saint gudule, as well as that which you have learned concerning the genoese who is kept at weert; all which has given me much anxiety as well from my desire for the preservation of your life in which my service is so deeply interested, as for the possible results if any thing should happen to you, which god forbid. i have thought, therefore, that it would be well, in order to give time and breathing space to the hatred and rancor which those persons entertain towards you, and in order to see what coarse they will take in preparing the necessary remedy, for the provinces, for you to leave the country for some days, in order to visit your mother, and this with the knowledge of the duchess, my sister, and with her permission, which you will request, and which i have written to her that she must give, without allowing it to appear that you have received orders to that effect from me. you will also beg her to write to me requesting my approbation of what she is to do. by taking this course neither my authority nor yours will suffer prejudice; and according to the turn which things may take, measures may be taken for your return when expedient, and for whatever else there may be to arrange." thus, in two words, philip removed the unpopular minister forever. the limitation of his absence had no meaning, and was intended to have none. if there were not strength enough to keep the cardinal in his place, it was not probable that the more difficult task of reinstating him after his fall would be very soon attempted. it, seemed, however, to be dealing more tenderly with granvelle's self-respect thus to leave a vague opening for a possible return, than to send him an unconditional dismissal. thus, while the king refused to give any weight to the representations of the nobles, and affected to be still deliberating whether or not he should recall the cardinal, he had in reality already recalled him. all the minute directions according to which permission was to be asked of the duchess to take a step which had already been prescribed by the monarch, and philip's indulgence craved for obeying his own explicit injunctions, were fulfilled to the letter. as soon as the cardinal received the royal order, he privately made preparations for his departure. the regent, on the other hand, delivered to count egmont the one of philip's two letters in which that gentleman's visit was declined, the duchess believing that, in the present position of affairs, she should derive more assistance from him than from the rest of the seigniors. as granvelle, however, still delayed his departure, even after the arrival of the second courier, she was again placed in a situation of much perplexity. the three nobles considered philip's letter to them extremely "dry and laconic," and orange absolutely refused to comply with the order to re-enter the state council. at a session of that body, on the d of march, where only granvelle, viglius, and berlaymont were present, margaret narrated her fruitless attempts to persuade the seigniors into obedience to the royal orders lately transmitted, and asked their opinions. the extraordinary advice was then given, that "she should let them champ the bit a little while longer, and afterwards see what was to be done." even at the last moment, the cardinal, reluctant to acknowledge himself beaten, although secretly desirous to retire, was inclined for a parting struggle. the duchess, however, being now armed with the king's express commands, and having had enough of holding the reins while such powerful and restive personages were "champing the bit," insisted privately that the cardinal should make his immediate departure known. pasquinades and pamphlets were already appearing daily, each more bitter than the other; the livery was spreading rapidly through all classes of people, and the seigniors most distinctly refused to recede from their determination of absenting themselves from the council so long as granvelle remained. there was no help for it; and on the th of march the cardinal took his departure. notwithstanding the mystery of the whole proceeding, however, william of orange was not deceived. he felt certain that the minister had been recalled, and thought it highly improbable that he would ever be permitted to return. "although the cardinal talks of coming back again soon," wrote the prince to schwartzburg, "we nevertheless hope that, as he lied about his departure, so he will also spare the truth in his present assertions." this was the general conviction, so far as the question of the minister's compulsory retreat was concerned, of all those who were in the habit of receiving their information and their opinions from the prince of orange. many even thought that granvelle had been recalled with indignity and much against his will. "when the cardinal," wrote secretary lorich to count louis, "received the king's order to go, he growled like a bear, and kept himself alone in his chamber for a time, making his preparations for departure. he says he shall come back in two months, but some of us think they will be two long months which will eat themselves up like money borrowed of the jews." a wag, moreover, posted a large placard upon the door of granvelle's palace in brussels as soon as the minister's departure was known, with the inscription, in large letters, "for sale, immediately." in spite of the royal ingenuity, therefore, many shrewdly suspected the real state of the case, although but very few actually knew the truth. the cardinal left brussels with a numerous suite, stately equipages, and much parade. the duchess provided him with her own mules and with a sufficient escort, for the king had expressly enjoined that every care should be taken against any murderous attack. there was no fear of such assault, however, for all were sufficiently satisfied to see the minister depart. brederode and count hoogstraaten were standing together, looking from the window of a house near the gate of caudenberg, to feast their eyes with the spectacle of their enemy's retreat. as soon as the cardinal had passed through that gate, on his way to namur, the first stage of his journey, they rushed into the street, got both upon one horse, hoogstraaten, who alone had boots on his legs, taking the saddle and brederode the croup, and galloped after the cardinal, with the exultation of school-boys. thus mounted, they continued to escort the cardinal on his journey. at one time, they were so near his carriage, while it was passing through a ravine, that they might have spoken to him from the heights above, where they had paused to observe him; but they pulled the capes of their cloaks over their faces and suffered him to pass unchallenged. "but they are young folk," said the cardinal, benignantly, after relating all these particulars to the duchess, "and one should pay little regard to their actions." he added, that one of egmont's gentlemen dogged their party on the journey, lodging in the same inns with them, apparently in the hope of learning something from their conversation or proceedings. if that were the man's object, however, granvelle expressed the conviction that he was disappointed, as nothing could have been more merry than the whole company, or more discreet than their conversation. the cardinal began at once to put into operation the system of deception, as to his departure, which had been planned by philip. the man who had been ordered to leave the netherlands by the king, and pushed into immediate compliance with the royal command by the duchess, proceeded to address letters both to philip and margaret. he wrote from namur to beg the regent that she would not fail to implore his majesty graciously to excuse his having absented himself for private reasons at that particular moment. he wrote to philip from besancon, stating that his desire to visit his mother, whom he had not seen for nineteen years, and his natal soil, to which he had been a stranger during the same period, had induced him to take advantage of his brother's journey to accompany him for a few days into burgundy. he had, therefore, he said, obtained the necessary permission from the duchess, who had kindly promised to write very particularly by the first courier, to beg his majesty's approval of the liberty which they had both taken. he wrote from the same place to the regent again, saying that some of the nobles pretended to have learned from armenteros that the king had ordered the cardinal to leave the country and not to return; all which, he added, was a very false renardesque invention, at which he did nothing but laugh. as a matter of course, his brother, in whose company he was about to visit the mother whom he had not seen for the past nineteen years, was as much mystified as the rest of the world. chantonnay was not aware that any thing but the alleged motives had occasioned the journey, nor did he know that his brother would perhaps have omitted to visit their common parent for nineteen years longer had he not received the royal order to leave the netherlands. philip, on the other side, had sustained his part, in the farce with much ability. viglius, berlaymont, morillon, and all the lesser cardinalists were entirely taken in by the letters which were formally despatched to the duchess in reply to her own and the cardinal's notification. "i can not take it amiss," wrote the king, "that you have given leave of absence to cardinal de granvelle, for two or three months, according to the advices just received from you, that he may attend to some private affairs of his own." as soon as these letters had been read in the council, viglius faithfully transmitted them to granvelle for that personage's enlightenment; adding his own innocent reflection, that "this was very different language from that held by some people, that your most illustrious lordship had retired by order of his majesty." morillon also sent the cardinal a copy of the same passage in the royal despatch, saying, very wisely, "i wonder what they will all say now, since these letters have been read in council." the duchess, as in duty bound, denied flatly, on all occasions, that armenteros had brought any letters recommending or ordering the minister's retreat. she conscientiously displayed the letters of his majesty, proving the contrary, and yet, said viglius, it was very hard to prevent people talking as they liked. granvelle omitted no occasion to mystify every one of his correspondents on the subject, referring, of course, to the same royal letters which had been written for public reading, expressly to corroborate these statements. "you see by his majesty's letters to madame de parma," said he to morillon, "how false is the report that the king had ordered me to leave flanders, and in what confusion those persons find themselves who fabricated the story." it followed of necessity that he should carry out his part in the royal program, but he accomplished his task so adroitly, and with such redundancy of zeal, as to show his thorough sympathy with the king's policy. he dissembled with better grace, even if the king did it more naturally. nobody was too insignificant to be deceived, nobody too august. emperor ferdinand fared no better than "esquire" bordey. "some of those who hate me," he wrote to the potentate, "have circulated the report that i had been turned out of the country, and was never to return. this story has ended in smoke, since the letters written by his majesty to the duchess of parma on the subject of the leave of absence which she had given me." philip himself addressed a private letter to granvelle, of course that others might see it, in which he affected to have just learned that the cardinal had obtained permission from the regent "to make a visit to his mother, in order to arrange certain family matters," and gravely gave his approbation to the step. at the same time it was not possible for the king to resist the temptation of adding one other stroke of dissimulation to his own share in the comedy. granvelle and philip had deceived all the world, but philip also deceived granvelle. the cardinal made a mystery of his departure to pollwiller, viglius, morillon, to the emperor, to his own brother, and also to the king's secretary, gonzalo perez; but he was not aware that perez, whom he thought himself deceiving as ingeniously as he had done all the others, had himself drawn up the letter of recall, which the king had afterwards copied out in his own hand and marked "secret and confidential." yet granvelle might have guessed that in such an emergency philip would hardly depend upon his own literary abilities. granvelle remained month after month in seclusion, doing his best to philosophize. already, during the latter period of his residence in the netherlands, he had lived in a comparative and forced solitude. his house had been avoided by those power-worshippers whose faces are rarely turned to the setting sun. he had, in consequence, already, before his departure, begun to discourse on the beauties of retirement, the fatigues of greatness, and the necessity of repose for men broken with the storms of state. a great man was like a lake, he said, to which a thirsty multitude habitually resorted till the waters were troubled, sullied, and finally exhausted. power looked more attractive in front than in the retrospect. that which men possessed was ever of less value than that which they hoped. in this fine strain of eloquent commonplace the falling minister had already begun to moralize upon the vanity of human wishes. when he was established at his charming retreat in burgundy, he had full leisure to pursue the theme. he remained in retirement till his beard grew to his waist, having vowed, according to report, that he would not shave till recalled to the netherlands. if the report were true, said some of the gentlemen in the provinces, it would be likely to grow to his feet. he professed to wish himself blind and deaf that he might have no knowledge of the world's events, described himself as buried in literature, and fit for no business save to remain in his chamber, fastened to his books, or occupied with private affairs and religious exercises. he possessed a most charming residence at orchamps, where he spent a great portion of his time. in one of his letters to vice-chancellor seld, he described the beauties of this retreat with much delicacy and vigor--"i am really not as badly off here," said he, "as i should be in the indies. i am in sweet places where i have wished for you a thousand times, for i am certain that you would think them appropriate for philosophy and worthy the habitation of the muses. here are beautiful mountains, high as heaven, fertile on all their sides, wreathed with vineyards, and rich with every fruit; here are rivers flowing through charming valleys, the waters clear as crystal, filled with trout, breaking into numberless cascades. here are umbrageous groves, fertile fields, lovely meadows; on the one aide great warmth, on the other aide delectable coolness, despite the summer's heat. nor is there any lack of good company, friends, and relations, with, as you well know, the very best wines in the world." thus it is obvious that the cardinal was no ascetic. his hermitage contained other appliances save those for study and devotion. his retired life was, in fact, that of a voluptuary. his brother, chantonnay, reproached him with the sumptuousness and disorder of his establishment. he lived in "good and joyous cheer." he professed to be thoroughly satisfied with the course things had taken, knowing that god was above all, and would take care of all. he avowed his determination to extract pleasure and profit even from the ill will of his adversaries. "behold my philosophy," he cried, "to live joyously as possible, laughing at the world, at passionate people, and at all their calumnies." it is evident that his philosophy, if it had any real existence, was sufficiently epicurean. it was, however, mainly compounded of pretence, like his whole nature and his whole life. notwithstanding the mountains high as heaven, the cool grottos, the trout, and the best burgundy wines in the world, concerning which he descanted so eloquently, he soon became in reality most impatient of his compulsory seclusion. his pretence of "composing himself as much as possible to tranquillity and repose" could deceive none of the intimate associates to whom he addressed himself in that edifying vein. while he affected to be blind and deaf to politics, he had eyes and ears for nothing else. worldly affairs were his element, and he was shipwrecked upon the charming solitude which he affected to admire. he was most anxious to return to the world again, but he had difficult cards to play. his master was even more dubious than usual about everything. granvelle was ready to remain in burgundy as long as philip chose that he should remain there. he was also ready to go to "india, peru, or into the fire," whenever his king should require any such excursion, or to return to the netherlands, confronting any danger which might lie in his path. it is probable that he nourished for a long time a hope that the storm would blow over in the provinces, and his resumption of power become possible. william of orange, although more than half convinced that no attempt would be made to replace the minister, felt it necessary to keep strict watch on his movements. "we must be on our guard," said he, "and not be deceived. perhaps they mean to put us asleep, in order the better to execute their designs. for the present things are peaceable, and all the world is rejoiced at the departure of that good cardinal." the prince never committed the error of undervaluing the talents of his great adversary, and he felt the necessity of being on the alert in the present emergency. "'tis a sly and cunning bird that we are dealing with," said he, "one that sleeps neither day nor night if a blow is to be dealt to us." honest brederode, after solacing himself with the spectacle of his enemy's departure, soon began to suspect his return, and to express himself on the subject, as usual, with ludicrous vehemence. "they say the red fellow is back again," he wrote to count louis, "and that berlaymont has gone to meet him at namur. the devil after the two would be a good chase." nevertheless, the chances of that return became daily fainter. margaret of parma hated the cardinal with great cordiality. she fell out of her servitude to him into far more contemptible hands, but for a brief interval she seemed to take a delight in the recovery of her freedom. according to viglius, the court, after granvelle's departure, was like a school of boys and girls when the pedagogue's back is turned. he was very bitter against the duchess for her manifest joy at emancipation. the poor president was treated with the most marked disdain by margaret, who also took pains to show her dislike to all the cardinalists. secretary armenteros forbade bordey, who was granvelle's cousin and dependent, from even speaking to him in public. the regent soon became more intimate with orange and egmont than she had ever been with the cardinal. she was made to see--and, seeing, she became indignant--the cipher which she had really been during his administration. "one can tell what's o'clock," wrote morillon to the fallen minister, "since she never writes to you nor mentions your name." as to armenteros, with whom granvelle was still on friendly relations, he was restless in his endeavors to keep the once-powerful priest from rising again. having already wormed himself into the confidence of the regent, he made a point of showing to the principal seigniors various letters, in which she had been warned by the cardinal to put no trust in them. "that devil," said armenteros, "thought he had got into paradise here; but he is gone, and we shall take care that he never returns." it was soon thought highly probable that the king was but temporizing, and that the voluntary departure of the minister had been a deception. of course nothing was accurately known upon the subject. philip had taken good care of that, but meantime the bets were very high that there would be no restoration, with but few takers. men thought if there had been any royal favor remaining for the great man, that the duchess would not be so decided in her demeanor on the subject. they saw that she was scarlet with indignation whenever the cardinal's name was mentioned. they heard her thank heaven that she had but one son, because if she had had a second he must have been an ecclesiastic, and as vile as priests always were. they witnessed the daily contumely which she heaped upon poor viglius, both because he was a friend of granvelle and was preparing in his old age to take orders. the days were gone, indeed, when margaret was so filled with respectful affection for the prelate, that she could secretly correspond with the holy father at rome, and solicit the red hat for the object of her veneration. she now wrote to philip, stating that she was better informed as to affairs in the netherlands than she had ever formerly been. she told her brother that all the views of granvelle and of his followers, viglius with the rest, had tended to produce a revolution which they hoped that philip would find in full operation when he should come to the netherlands. it was their object, she said, to fish in troubled waters, and, to attain that aim, they had ever pursued the plan of gaining the exclusive control of all affairs. that was the reason why they had ever opposed the convocation of the states-general. they feared that their books would be read, and their frauds, injustice, simony, and rapine discovered. this would be the result, if tranquillity were restored to the country, and therefore they had done their best to foment and maintain discord. the duchess soon afterwards entertained her royal brother with very detailed accounts of various acts of simony, peculation, and embezzlement committed by viglius, which the cardinal had aided and abetted, and by which he had profited.--[correspondence de phil. ii, i. - .]--these revelations are inestimable in a historical point of view. they do not raise our estimate of margaret's character, but they certainly give us a clear insight into the nature of the granvelle administration. at the same time it was characteristic of the duchess, that while she was thus painting the portrait of the cardinal for the private eye of his sovereign, she should address the banished minister himself in a secret strain of condolence, and even of penitence. she wrote to assure granvelle that she repented extremely having adopted the views of orange. she promised that she would state publicly every where that the cardinal was an upright man, intact in his morals and his administration, a most zealous and faithful servant of the king. she added that she recognized the obligations she was under to him, and that she loved him like a brother. she affirmed that if the flemish seigniors had induced her to cause the cardinal to be deprived of the government, she was already penitent, and that her fault deserved that the king, her brother, should cut off her head, for having occasioned so great a calamity.--["memoires de granvelle," tom. , p. .] there was certainly discrepancy between the language thus used simultaneously by the duchess to granvelle and to philip, but margaret had been trained in the school of macchiavelli, and had sat at the feet of loyola. the cardinal replied with equal suavity, protesting that such a letter from the duchess left him nothing more to desire, as it furnished him with an "entire and perfect justification" of his conduct. he was aware of her real sentiments, no doubt, but he was too politic to quarrel with so important a personage as philip's sister. an incident which occurred a few months after the minister's departure served, to show the general estimation in which he was held by all ranks of netherlanders. count mansfeld celebrated the baptism of his son, philip octavian, by a splendid series of festivities at luxemburg, the capital of his government. besides the tournaments and similar sports, with which the upper classes of european society were accustomed at that day to divert themselves, there was a grand masquerade, to which the public were admitted as spectators. in this "mummery" the most successful spectacle was that presented by a group arranged in obvious ridicule of granvelle. a figure dressed in cardinal's costume, with the red hat upon his head, came pacing through the arena upon horseback. before him marched a man attired like a hermit, with long white beard, telling his beads upon a rosary, which he held ostentatiously in his hands. behind the mounted cardinal came the devil, attired in the usual guise considered appropriate to the prince of darkness, who scourged both horse and rider with a whip of fog-tails, causing them to scamper about the lists in great trepidation, to the immense delight of the spectators. the practical pun upon simon renard's name embodied in the fox-tail, with the allusion to the effect of the manifold squibs perpetrated by that most bitter and lively enemy upon granvelle, were understood and relished by the multitude. nothing could be more hearty than the blows bestowed upon the minister's representative, except the applause with which this satire, composed of actual fustigation, was received. the humorous spectacle absorbed all the interest of the masquerade, and was frequently repeated. it seemed difficult to satisfy the general desire to witness a thorough chastisement of the culprit. the incident made a great noise in the country. the cardinalists felt naturally very much enraged, but they were in a minority. no censure came from the government at brussels, and mansfeld was then and for a long time afterwards the main pillar of royal authority in the netherlands. it was sufficiently obvious that granvelle, for the time at least, was supported by no party of any influence. meantime he remained in his seclusion. his unpopularity did not, however, decrease in his absence. more than a year after his departure, berlaymont said the nobles detested the cardinal more than ever, and would eat him alive if they caught him. the chance of his returning was dying gradually out. at about the same period chantonnay advised his brother to show his teeth. he assured granvelle that he was too quiet in his disgrace, reminded him that princes had warm affections when they wished to make use of people, but that when they could have them too cheaply, they esteemed them but little; making no account of men whom they were accustomed to see under their feet. he urged the cardinal, in repeated letters, to take heart again, to make himself formidable, and to rise from his crouching attitude. all the world say, he remarked, that the game is up between the king and yourself, and before long every one will be laughing at you, and holding you for a dupe. stung or emboldened by these remonstrances, and weary of his retirement, granvelle at last abandoned all intention of returning to the netherlands, and towards the end of , departed to rome, where he participated in the election of pope pius v. five years afterwards he was employed by philip to negotiate the treaty between spain, rome, and venice against the turk. he was afterwards viceroy of naples, and in , he removed to madrid, to take an active part in the management of the public business, "the disorder of which," says the abbe boisot, "could be no longer arrested by men of mediocre capacity." he died in that city on the st september, , at the age of seventy, and was buried at besancon. we have dwelt at length on the administration of this remarkable personage, because the period was one of vital importance in the history of the netherland commonwealth. the minister who deals with the country at an epoch when civil war is imminent, has at least as heavy a responsibility upon his head as the man who goes forth to confront the armed and full-grown rebellion. all the causes out of which the great revolt was born, were in violent operation during the epoch of granvelle's power. by the manner in which he comported himself in presence of those dangerous and active elements of the coming convulsions, must his character as a historical personage be measured. his individuality had so much to do with the course of the government, the powers placed in his hands were so vast, and his energy so untiring, that it is difficult to exaggerate the importance of his influence upon the destiny of the country which he was permitted to rule. it is for this reason that we have been at great pains to present his picture, sketched as it were by his own hand. a few general remarks are, however, necessary. it is the historian's duty to fix upon one plain and definite canvas the chameleon colors in which the subtle cardinal produced his own image. almost any theory concerning his character might be laid down and sustained by copious citations from his works; nay, the most opposite conclusions as to his interior nature, may be often drawn from a single one of his private and interminable letters. embarked under his guidance, it is often difficult to comprehend the point to which we are tending. the oarsman's face beams upon us with serenity, but he looks in one direction, and rows in the opposite course. even thus it was three centuries ago. was it to be wondered at that many did not see the precipice towards which the bark which held their all was gliding under the same impulse? no man has ever disputed granvelle's talents. from friend and foe his intellect has received the full measure of applause which it could ever claim. no doubt his genius was of a rare and subtle kind. his great power was essentially dramatic in its nature. he mastered the characters of the men with whom he had to deal, and then assumed them. he practised this art mainly upon personages of exalted station, for his scheme was to govern the world by acquiring dominion over its anointed rulers. a smooth and supple slave in appearance, but, in reality, while his power lasted, the despot of his masters, he exercised boundless control by enacting their parts with such fidelity that they were themselves deceived. it is impossible not to admire the facility with which this accomplished proteus successively assumed the characters of philip and of margaret, through all the complicated affairs and voluminous correspondence of his government. when envoys of high rank were to be despatched on confidential missions to spain, the cardinal drew their instructions as the duchess--threw light upon their supposed motives in secret letters as the king's sister--and answered their representations with ponderous wisdom as philip; transmitting despatches, letters and briefs for royal conversations, in time to be thoroughly studied before the advent of the ambassador. whoever travelled from brussels to madrid in order to escape the influence of the ubiquitous cardinal, was sure to be confronted with him in the inmost recesses of the king's cabinet as soon as he was admitted to an audience. to converse with philip or margaret was but to commune with antony. the skill with which he played his game, seated quietly in his luxurious villa, now stretching forth one long arm to move the king at madrid, now placing margaret upon what square he liked, and dealing with bishops, knight of the fleece, and lesser dignitaries, the richardota, the morillons, the viglii and the berlaymonts, with sole reference to his own scheme of action, was truly of a nature to excite our special wonder. his aptitude for affairs and his power to read character were extraordinary; but it was necessary that the affairs should be those of a despotism, and the characters of an inferior nature. he could read philip and margaret, egmont or berlaymont, alva or viglius, but he had no plummet to sound the depths of a mind like that of william the silent. his genius was adroit and subtle, but not profound. he aimed at power by making the powerful subservient, but he had not the intellect which deals in the daylight face to face with great events and great minds. in the violent political struggle of which his administration consisted, he was foiled and thrown by the superior strength of a man whose warfare was open and manly, and who had no defence against the poisoned weapons of his foe. his literary accomplishments were very great. his fecundity was prodigious, and he wrote at will in seven languages. 'this polyglot facility was not in itself a very remarkable circumstance, for it grew out of his necessary education and geographical position. few men in that age and region were limited to their mother tongue. the prince of orange, who made no special pretence to learning, possessed at least five languages. egmont, who was accounted an ignorant man, was certainly familiar with three. the cardinal, however, wrote not only with ease, but with remarkable elegance, vigor and vivacity, in whatever language he chose to adopt. the style of his letters and other documents, regarded simply as compositions, was inferior to that of no writer of the age. his occasional orations, too, were esteemed models of smooth and flowing rhetoric, at an epoch when the art of eloquence was not much cultivated. yet it must be allowed that beneath all the shallow but harmonious flow of his periods, it would be idle to search for a grain of golden sand. not a single sterling, manly thought is to be found in all his productions. if at times our admiration is excited with the appearance of a gem of true philosophy, we are soon obliged to acknowledge, on closer inspection, that we have been deceived by a false glitter. in retirement, his solitude was not relieved by serious application to any branch of knowledge. devotion to science and to the advancement of learning, a virtue which has changed the infamy of even baser natures than his into glory, never dignified his seclusion. he had elegant tastes, he built fine palaces, he collected paintings, and he discoursed of the fine arts with the skill and eloquence of a practised connoisseur; but the nectared fruits of divine philosophy were but harsh and crabbed to him. his moral characteristics are even more difficult to seize than his intellectual traits. it is a perplexing task to arrive at the intimate interior structure of a nature which hardly had an interior. he did not change, but he presented himself daily in different aspects. certain peculiarities he possessed, however, which were unquestionable. he was always courageous, generally calm. placed in the midst of a nation which hated him, exposed to the furious opposition of the most powerful adversaries, having hardly a friend, except the cowardly viglius and the pluralist morillon, secretly betrayed by margaret of parma, insulted by rude grandees, and threatened by midnight assassins, he never lost his self-possession, his smooth arrogance, his fortitude. he was constitutionally brave. he was not passionate in his resentments. to say that he was forgiving by nature would be an immense error; but that he could put aside vengeance at the dictate of policy is very certain. he could temporize, even after the reception of what he esteemed grave injuries, if the offenders were powerful. he never manifested rancor against the duchess. even after his fall from power in the netherlands, he interceded with the pope in favor of the principality of orange, which the pontiff was disposed to confiscate. the prince was at that time as good a catholic as the cardinal. he was apparently on good terms with his sovereign, and seemed to have a prosperous career before him. he was not a personage to be quarrelled with. at a later day, when the position of that great man was most clearly defined to the world, the cardinal's ancient affection for his former friend and pupil did not prevent him from suggesting the famous ban by which a price was set upon his head, and his life placed in the hands of every assassin in europe. it did not prevent him from indulging in the jocularity of a fiend, when the news of the first-fruits of that bounty upon murder reached his ears. it did not prevent him from laughing merrily at the pain which his old friend must have suffered, shot through the head and face with a musket-ball, and at the mutilated aspect which his "handsome face must have presented to the eyes of his apostate wife." it did not prevent him from stoutly disbelieving and then refusing to be comforted, when the recovery of the illustrious victim was announced. he could always dissemble without entirely forgetting his grievances. certainly, if he were the forgiving christian he pictured himself, it is passing strange to reflect upon the ultimate fate of egmont, horn, montigny, berghen, orange, and a host of others, whose relations with him were inimical. his extravagance was enormous, and his life luxurious. at the same time he could leave his brother champagny--a man, with all his faults, of a noble nature, and with scarcely inferior talents to his own--to languish for a long time in abject poverty; supported by the charity of an ancient domestic. his greediness for wealth was proverbial. no benefice was too large or too paltry to escape absorption, if placed within his possible reach. loaded with places and preferments, rolling in wealth, he approached his sovereign with the whine of a mendicant. he talked of his property as a "misery," when he asked for boons, and expressed his thanks in the language of a slave when he received them. having obtained the abbey of st. armand, he could hardly wait for the burial of the bishop of tournay before claiming the vast revenues of afflighem, assuring the king as he did so that his annual income was but eighteen thousand crowns. at the same time, while thus receiving or pursuing the vast rents of st. armand and afflighem, he could seize the abbey of trulle from the expectant hands of poor dependents, and accept tapestries and hogsheads of wine from jacques lequien and others, as a tax on the benefices which he procured for them. yet the man who, like his father before him, had so long fattened on the public money, who at an early day had incurred the emperor's sharp reproof for his covetousness, whose family, beside all these salaries and personal property, possessed already fragments of the royal domain, in the shape of nineteen baronies and seigniories in burgundy, besides the county of cantecroix and other estates in the netherlands, had the effrontery to affirm, "we have always rather regarded the service of the master than our own particular profit." in estimating the conduct of the minister, in relation to the provinces, we are met upon the threshold by a swarm of vague assertions which are of a nature to blind or distract the judgment. his character must be judged as a whole, and by its general results, with a careful allowance for contradictions and equivocations. truth is clear and single, but the lights are parti-colored and refracted in the prism of hypocrisy. the great feature of his administration was a prolonged conflict between himself and the leading seigniors of the netherlands. the ground of the combat was the religious question. let the quarrel be turned or tortured in any manner that human ingenuity can devise, it still remains unquestionable that granvelle's main object was to strengthen and to extend the inquisition, that of his adversaries to overthrow the institution. it followed, necessarily, that the ancient charters were to be trampled in the dust before that tribunal could be triumphant. the nobles, although all catholics, defended the cause of the poor religious martyrs, the privileges of the nation and the rights of their order. they were conservatives, battling for the existence of certain great facts, entirely consonant to any theory of justice and divine reason--for ancient constitutions which had been purchased with blood and treasure. "i will maintain," was the motto of william of orange. philip, bigoted and absolute almost beyond comprehension, might perhaps have proved impervious to any representations, even of granvelle. nevertheless, the minister might have attempted the task, and the responsibility is heavy upon the man who shared the power and directed the career, but who never ceased to represent the generous resistance of individuals to frantic cruelty, as offences against god and the king. yet extracts are drawn from his letters to prove that he considered the spaniards as "proud and usurping," that he indignantly denied ever having been in favor of subjecting the netherlands to the soldiers of that nation; that he recommended the withdrawal of the foreign regiments, and that he advised the king, when he came to the country, to bring with him but few spanish troops. it should, however, be remembered that he employed, according to his own statements, every expedient which human ingenuity could suggest to keep the foreign soldiers in the provinces, that he "lamented to his inmost soul" their forced departure, and that he did not consent to that measure until the people were in a tumult, and the zealanders threatening to lay the country under the ocean. "you may judge of the means employed to excite the people," he wrote to perez in , "by the fact that a report is circulated that the duke of alva is coming hither to tyrannize the provinces." yet it appears by the admissions of del ryo, one of alva's blood council, that, "cardinal granvelle expressly advised that an army of spaniards should be sent to the netherlands, to maintain the obedience to his majesty and the catholic religion," and that the duke of alva was appointed chief by the advice of cardinal spinosa, and by that of cardinal granvelle, as, appeared by many letters written at the time to his friends. by the same confessions; it appeared that the course of policy thus distinctly recommended by granvelle, "was to place the country under a system of government like that of spain and italy, and to reduce it entirely under the council of spain." when the terrible duke started on his errand of blood and fire, the cardinal addressed him, a letter of fulsome flattery; protesting "that all the world know that no person could be found so appropriate as he, to be employed in an affair of such importance;" urging him to advance with his army as rapidly as possible upon the netherlands, hoping that "the duchess of parma would not be allowed to consent that any pardon or concession should be made to the cities, by which the construction of fortresses would be interfered with, or the revocation of the charters which had been forfeited, be prevented," and giving him much advice as to the general measures to be adopted, and the persons to be employed upon his arrival, in which number the infamous noircarmes was especially recommended. in a document found among his papers, these same points, with others, were handled at considerable length. the incorporation of the provinces into one kingdom, of which the king was to be crowned absolute sovereign; the establishment of, a universal law for the catholic religion, care being taken not to call that law inquisition, "because there was nothing so odious to the northern nations as the word spanish inquisition, although the thing in itself be most holy and just;" the abolition and annihilation of the broad or general council in the cities, the only popular representation in the country; the construction of many citadels and fortresses to be garrisoned with spaniards, italians, and germans. such were the leading features in that remarkable paper. the manly and open opposition of the nobles was stigmatized as a cabal by the offended priest. he repeatedly whispered in the royal ear that their league was a treasonable conspiracy, which the attorney-general ought to prosecute; that the seigniors meant to subvert entirely the authority of the sovereign; that they meant to put their king under tutelage, to compel him to obey all their commands, to choose another prince of the blood for their chief, to establish a republic by the aid of foreign troops. if such insinuations, distilled thus secretly into the ear of philip, who, like his predecessor, dionysius, took pleasure in listening daily to charges against his subjects and to the groans of his prisoners, were not likely to engender a dangerous gangrene in the royal mind, it would be difficult to indicate any course which would produce such a result. yet the cardinal maintained that he had never done the gentlemen ill service, but that "they were angry with him for wishing to sustain the authority of the master." in almost every letter he expressed vague generalities of excuse, or even approbation, while he chronicled each daily fact which occurred to their discredit. the facts he particularly implored the king to keep to himself, the vague laudation he as urgently requested him to repeat to those interested. perpetually dropping small innuendos like pebbles into the depths of his master's suspicious soul, he knew that at last the waters of bitterness would overflow, but he turned an ever-smiling face upon those who were to be his victims. there was ever something in his irony like the bland request of the inquisitor to the executioner that he would deal with his prisoners gently. there was about the same result in regard to such a prayer to be expected from philip as from the hangman. even if his criticisms had been uniformly indulgent, the position of the nobles and leading citizens thus subjected to a constant but secret superintendence, would have been too galling to be tolerated. they did not know, so precisely as we have learned after three centuries, that all their idle words and careless gestures as well as their graver proceedings, were kept in a noting book to be pored over and conned by rote in the recesses of the royal cabinet and the royal mind; but they suspected the espionage of the cardinal, and they openly charged him with his secret malignity. the men who refused to burn their fellow-creatures for a difference in religious opinion were stigmatized as demagogues; as ruined spendthrifts who wished to escape from their liabilities in the midst of revolutionary confusion; as disguised heretics who were waiting for a good opportunity to reveal their true characters. montigny, who, as a montmorency, was nearly allied to the constable and admiral of france, and was in epistolary correspondence with those relatives, was held up as a huguenot; of course, therefore, in philip's eye, the most monstrous of malefactors. although no man could strew pious reflections and holy texts more liberally, yet there was always an afterthought even in his most edifying letters. a corner of the mask is occasionally lifted and the deadly face of slow but abiding vengeance is revealed. "i know very well," he wrote, soon after his fall, to viglius, "that vengeance is the lord's-god is my witness that i pardon all the past." in the same letter, nevertheless, he added, "my theology, however, does not teach me, that by enduring, one is to enable one's enemies to commit even greater wrongs. if the royal justice is not soon put into play, i shall be obliged to right myself. this thing is going on too long-patience exhausted changes to fury. 'tis necessary that every man should assist himself as he can, and when i choose to throw the game into confusion i shall do it perhaps more notably than the others." a few weeks afterwards, writing to the same correspondent, he observed, "we shall have to turn again, and rejoice together. whatever the king commands i shall do, even were i to march into the fire, whatever happens, and without fear or respect for any person i mean to remain the same man to the end--durate;--and i have a head that is hard enough when i do undertake any thing--'nec animism despondeo'." here, certainly, was significant foreshadowing of the general wrath to come, and it was therefore of less consequence that the portraits painted by him of berghen, horn, montigny, and others, were so rarely relieved by the more flattering tints which he occasionally mingled with the sombre coloring of his other pictures. especially with regard to count egmont, his conduct was somewhat perplexing and, at first sight, almost inscrutable. that nobleman had been most violent in opposition to his course, had drawn a dagger upon him, had frequently covered him with personal abuse, and had crowned his offensive conduct by the invention of the memorable fool's-cap: livery. yet the cardinal usually spoke of him with pity and gentle consideration, described him as really well disposed in the main, as misled by others, as a "friend of smoke," who might easily be gained by flattery and bribery. when there was question of the count's going to madrid, the cardinal renewed his compliments with additional expression of eagerness that they should be communicated to their object. whence all this christian meekness in the author of the ban against orange and the eulogist of alva? the true explanation of this endurance on the part of the cardinal lies in the estimate which he had formed of egmont's character. granvelle had taken the man's measure, and even he could not foresee the unparalleled cruelty and dulness which were eventually to characterize philip's conduct towards him. on the contrary, there was every reason why the cardinal should see in the count a personage whom brilliant services, illustrious rank, and powerful connexions, had marked for a prosperous future. it was even currently asserted that philip was about to create him governor-general of the netherlands, in order to detach him entirely from orange, and to bind him more closely to the crown. he was, therefore, a man to be forgiven. nothing apparently but a suspicion of heresy could damage the prospects of the great noble, and egmont was orthodox beyond all peradventure. he was even a bigot in the catholic faith. he had privately told the duchess of parma that he had always been desirous of seeing the edicts thoroughly enforced; and he denounced as enemies all those persons who charged him with ever having been in favor of mitigating the system. he was reported, to be sure, at about the time of granvelle's departure from the netherlands, to have said "post pocula, that the quarrel was not with the cardinal, but with the king, who was administering the public affairs very badly, even in the matter of religion." such a bravado, however, uttered by a gentleman in his cups, when flushed with a recent political triumph, could hardly outweigh in the cautious calculations of granvelle; distinct admissions in favor of persecution. egmont in truth stood in fear of the inquisition. the hero of gravelingen and st. quentin actually trembled before peter titelmann. moreover, notwithstanding all that had past, he had experienced a change in his sentiments in regard to the cardinal. he frequently expressed the opinion that, although his presence in the netherlands was inadmissible, he should be glad to see him pope. he had expressed strong disapprobation of the buffooning masquerade by which he had been ridiculed at the mansfeld christening party. when at madrid he not only spoke well of granvelle himself; but would allow nothing disparaging concerning him to be uttered in his presence. when, however, egmont had fallen from favor, and was already a prisoner, the cardinal diligently exerted himself to place under the king's eye what he considered the most damning evidence of the count's imaginary treason; a document with which the public prosecutor had not been made acquainted. thus, it will be seen by this retrospect how difficult it is to seize all the shifting subtleties of this remarkable character. his sophisms even, when self-contradictory, are so adroit that they are often hard to parry. he made a great merit to himself for not having originated the new episcopates; but it should be remembered that he did his utmost to enforce the measure, which was "so holy a scheme that he would sacrifice for its success his fortune and his life." he refused the archbishopric of mechlin, but his motives for so doing were entirely sordid. his revenues were for the moment diminished, while his personal distinction was not, in his opinion, increased by the promotion. he refused to accept it because "it was no addition to his dignity, as he was already cardinal and bishop of arras," but in this statement he committed an important anachronism. he was not cardinal when he refused the see of mechlin; having received the red hat upon february , , and having already accepted the archbishopric in may of the preceding year. he affirmed that "no man would more resolutely defend the liberty and privileges of the provinces than he would do," but he preferred being tyrannized by his prince, to maintaining the joyful entrance. he complained of the insolence of the states in meddling with the supplies; he denounced the convocation of the representative bodies, by whose action alone, what there was of "liberty and privilege" in the land could be guarded; he recommended the entire abolition of the common councils in the cities. he described himself as having always combated the opinion that "any thing could be accomplished by terror, death and violence," yet he recommended the mission of alva, in whom "terror, death, and violence" were incarnate. he was indignant that he should be accused of having advised the introduction of the spanish inquisition; but his reason was that the term sounded disagreeably in northern ears, while the thing was most commendable. he manifested much anxiety that the public should be disabused of their fear of the spanish inquisition, but he was the indefatigable supporter of the netherland inquisition, which philip declared with reason to be "the more pitiless institution" of the two. he was the author, not of the edicts, but of their re-enactment, verbally and literally, in all the horrid extent to which they had been carried by charles the fifth; and had recommended the use of the emperor's name to sanctify the infernal scheme. he busied himself personally in the execution of these horrible laws, even when judge and hangman slackened. to the last he denounced all those "who should counsel his majesty to permit a moderation of the edicts," and warned the king that if he should consent to the least mitigation of their provisions, things would go worse in the provinces than in france. he was diligent in establishing the reinforced episcopal inquisition side by side with these edicts, and with the papal inquisition already in full operation. he omitted no occasion of encouraging the industry of all these various branches in the business of persecution. when at last the loud cry from the oppressed inhabitants of flanders was uttered in unanimous denunciation by the four estates of that province of the infamous titelmann, the cardinal's voice, from the depths of his luxurious solitude, was heard, not in sympathy with the poor innocent wretches, who were daily dragged from their humble homes to perish by sword and fire, but in pity for the inquisitor who was doing the work of hell. "i deeply regret," he wrote to viglius, "that the states of flanders should be pouting at inquisitor titelmann. truly he has good zeal, although sometimes indiscreet and noisy; still he must be supported, lest they put a bridle upon him, by which his authority will be quite enervated." the reader who is acquainted with the personality of peter titelmann can decide as to the real benignity of the joyous epicurean who could thus commend and encourage such a monster of cruelty. if popularity be a test of merit in a public man, it certainly could not be claimed by the cardinal. from the moment when gresham declared him to be "hated of all men," down to the period of his departure, the odium resting upon him had been rapidly extending: he came to the country with two grave accusations resting upon his name. the emperor maximilian asserted that the cardinal had attempted to take his life by poison, and he persisted in the truth of the charge thus made by him, till the day of his death. another accusation was more generally credited. he was the author of the memorable forgery by which the landgrave philip of hesse had been entrapped into his long imprisonment. his course in and towards the netherlands has been sufficiently examined. not a single charge has been made lightly, but only after careful sifting of evidence. moreover they are all sustained mainly from the criminal's own lips. yet when the secrecy of the spanish cabinet and the macchiavellian scheme of policy by which the age was characterized are considered, it is not strange that there should have been misunderstandings and contradictions with regard to the man's character till a full light had been thrown upon it by the disinterment of ancient documents. the word "durate," which was the cardinals device, may well be inscribed upon his mask, which has at last been torn aside, but which was formed of such durable materials, that it has deceived the world for three centuries. etext editor's bookmarks: attempting to swim in two waters dissimulation and delay excited with the appearance of a gem of true philosophy insinuating suspicions when unable to furnish evidence maintaining the attitude of an injured but forgiving christian more accustomed to do well than to speak well perpetually dropping small innuendos like pebbles procrastination was always his first refuge they had at last burned one more preacher alive motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. - [chapter v.] return of the three seigniors to the state council--policy of orange--corrupt character of the government--efforts of the prince in favor of reform--influence of armenteros--painful situation of viglius--his anxiety to retire--secret charges against him transmitted by the duchess to philip--ominous signs of the times-- attention of philip to the details of persecution--execution of fabricius, and tumult at antwerp--horrible cruelty towards the protestants--remonstrance of the magistracy of bruges and of the four flemish estates against titelmann--obduracy of philip--council of trent--quarrel for precedence between the french and spanish envoys--order for the publication of the trent decrees in the netherlands--opposition to the measure--reluctance of the duchess-- egmont accepts a mission to spain--violent debate in the council concerning his instructions--remarkable speech of orange--apoplexy of viglius--temporary appointment of hopper--departure of egmont-- disgraceful scene at cambray--character of the archbishop--egmont in spain--flattery and bribery--council of doctors--vehement declarations of philip--his instructions to egmont at his departure --proceedings of orange in regard to his principality--egmont's report to the state council concerning his mission--his vainglory-- renewed orders from philip to continue the persecution--indignation of egmont--habitual dissimulation of the king--reproof of egmont by orange--assembly of doctors in brussels--result of their deliberations transmitted to philip--universal excitement in the netherlands--new punishment for heretics--interview at bayonne between catharine de medici and her daughter, the queen of spain-- mistaken views upon this subject--diplomacy of alva--artful conduct of catharine--stringent letters from philip to the duchess with regard to the inquisition--consternation of margaret and of viglius --new proclamation of the edicts, the inquisition, and the council of trent--fury of the people--resistance of the leading seigniors and of the brabant council--brabant declared free of the inquisition--prince alexander of parma betrothed to donna maria of portugal--her portrait--expensive preparations for the nuptials-- assembly of the golden fleece--oration of viglius--wedding of prince alexander. the remainder of the year, in the spring of which the cardinal had left the netherlands, was one of anarchy, confusion, and corruption. at first there had been a sensation of relief. philip had exchanged letters of exceeding amity with orange, egmont, and horn. these three seigniors had written, immediately upon granvelle's retreat, to assure the king of their willingness to obey the royal commands, and to resume their duties at the state council. they had, however, assured the duchess that the reappearance of the cardinal in the country would be the signal for their instantaneous withdrawal. they appeared at the council daily, working with the utmost assiduity often till late into the night. orange had three great objects in view, by attaining which the country, in his opinion, might yet be saved, and the threatened convulsions averted. these were to convoke the states-general, to moderate or abolish the edicts, and to suppress the council of finance and the privy council, leaving only the council of state. the two first of these points, if gained, would, of course, subvert the whole absolute policy which philip and granvelle had enforced; it was, therefore, hardly probable that any impression would be made upon the secret determination of the government in these respects. as to the council of state, the limited powers of that body, under the administration of the cardinal, had formed one of the principal complaints against that minister. the justice and finance councils were sinks of iniquity. the most barefaced depravity reigned supreme. a gangrene had spread through the whole government. the public functionaries were notoriously and outrageously venal. the administration of justice had been poisoned at the fountain, and the people were unable to slake their daily thirst at the polluted stream. there was no law but the law of the longest purse. the highest dignitaries of philip's appointment had become the most mercenary hucksters who ever converted the divine temple of justice into a den of thieves. law was an article of merchandise, sold by judges to the highest bidder. a poor customer could obtain nothing but stripes and imprisonment, or, if tainted with suspicion of heresy, the fagot or the sword, but for the rich every thing was attainable. pardons for the most atrocious crimes, passports, safe conducts, offices of trust and honor, were disposed of at auction to the highest bidder. against all this sea of corruption did the brave william of orange set his breast, undaunted and unflinching. of all the conspicuous men in the land, he was the only one whose worst enemy had never hinted through the whole course of his public career, that his hands had known contamination. his honor was ever untarnished by even a breath of suspicion. the cardinal could accuse him of pecuniary embarrassment, by which a large proportion of his revenues were necessarily diverted to the liquidation of his debts, but he could not suggest that the prince had ever freed himself from difficulties by plunging his hands into the public treasury, when it might easily have been opened to him. it was soon, however, sufficiently obvious that as desperate a struggle was to be made with the many-headed monster of general corruption as with the cardinal by whom it had been so long fed and governed. the prince was accused of ambition and intrigue. it was said that he was determined to concentrate all the powers of government in the state council, which was thus to become an omnipotent and irresponsible senate, while the king would be reduced to the condition of a venetian doge. it was, of course, suggested that it was the aim of orange to govern the new tribunal of ten. no doubt the prince was ambitious. birth, wealth, genius, and virtue could not have been bestowed in such eminent degree on any man without carrying with them the determination to assert their value. it was not his wish so much as it was the necessary law of his being to impress himself upon his age and to rule his fellow-men. but he practised no arts to arrive at the supremacy which he felt must always belong to him, what ever might be his nominal position in the political hierarchy. he was already, although but just turned of thirty years, vastly changed from the brilliant and careless grandee, as he stood at the hour of the imperial abdication. he was becoming careworn in face, thin of figure, sleepless of habit. the wrongs of which he was the daily witness, the absolutism, the cruelty, the rottenness of the government, had marked his face with premature furrows. "they say that the prince is very sad," wrote morillon to granvelle; "and 'tis easy to read as much in his face. they say he can not sleep." truly might the monarch have taken warning that here was a man who was dangerous, and who thought too much. "sleekheaded men, and such as slept o' nights," would have been more eligible functionaries, no doubt, in the royal estimation, but, for a brief period, the king was content to use, to watch, and to suspect the man who was one day to be his great and invincible antagonist. he continued assiduous at the council, and he did his best, by entertaining nobles and citizens at his hospitable mansion, to cultivate good relations with large numbers of his countrymen. he soon, however, had become disgusted with the court. egmont was more lenient to the foul practices which prevailed there, and took almost a childish pleasure in dining at the table of the duchess, dressed, as were many of the younger nobles, in short camlet doublet with the wheat-sheaf buttons. the prince felt more unwilling to compromise his personal dignity by countenancing the flagitious proceedings and the contemptible supremacy of armenteros, and it was soon very obvious, therefore, that egmont was a greater favorite at court than orange. at the same time the count was also diligently cultivating the good graces of the middle and lower classes in brussels, shooting with the burghers at the popinjay, calling every man by his name, and assisting at jovial banquets in town-house or guild-hall. the prince, although at times a necessary partaker also in these popular amusements, could find small cause for rejoicing in the aspect of affairs. when his business led him to the palace, he was sometimes forced to wait in the ante-chamber for an hour, while secretary armenteros was engaged in private consultation with margaret upon the most important matters of administration. it could not be otherwise than galling to the pride and offensive to the patriotism of the prince, to find great public transactions entrusted to such hands. thomas de armenteros was a mere private secretary--a simple clerk. he had no right to have cognizance of important affairs, which could only come before his majesty's sworn advisers. he was moreover an infamous peculator. he was rolling up a fortune with great rapidity by his shameless traffic in benefices, charges, offices, whether of church or state. his name of armenteros was popularly converted into argenteros, in order to symbolize the man who was made of public money. his confidential intimacy with the duchess procured for him also the name of "madam's barber," in allusion to the famous ornaments of margaret's upper lip, and to the celebrated influence enjoyed by the barbers of the duke of savoy, and of louis the eleventh. this man sold dignities and places of high responsibility at public auction. the regent not only connived at these proceedings, which would have been base enough, but she was full partner in the disgraceful commerce. through the agency of the secretary, she, too, was amassing a large private fortune. "the duchess has gone into the business of vending places to the highest bidders," said morillon, "with the bit between her teeth." the spectacle presented at the council-board was often sufficiently repulsive not only to the cardinalists, who were treated with elaborate insolence, but to all men who loved honor and justice, or who felt an interest in the prosperity of government. there was nothing majestic in the appearance of the duchess, as she sat conversing apart with armenteros, whispering, pinching, giggling, or disputing, while important affairs of state were debated, concerning which the secretary had no right to be informed. it was inevitable that orange should be offended to the utmost by such proceedings, although he was himself treated with comparative respect. as for the ancient adherents of granvelle, the bordeys, baves, and morillons, they were forbidden by the favorite even to salute him in the streets. berlaymont was treated by the duchess with studied insult. "what is the man talking about?" she would ask with languid superciliousness, if he attempted to express his opinion in the state-council. viglius, whom berlaymont accused of doing his best, without success, to make his peace with the seigniors, was in even still greater disgrace than his fellow-cardinalists. he longed, he said, to be in burgundy, drinking granvelle's good wine. his patience under the daily insults which he received from the government made him despicable in the eyes of his own party. he was described by his friends as pusillanimous to an incredible extent, timid from excess of riches, afraid of his own shadow. he was becoming exceedingly pathetic, expressing frequently a desire to depart and end his days in peace. his faithful hopper sustained and consoled him, but even joachim could not soothe his sorrows when he reflected that after all the work performed by himself and colleagues, "they had only been beating the bush for others," while their own share in the spoils had been withheld. nothing could well be more contumelious than margaret's treatment of the learned frisian. when other councillors were summoned to a session at three o'clock, the president was invited at four. it was quite impossible for him to have an audience of the duchess except in the presence of the inevitable armenteras. he was not allowed to open his mouth, even when he occasionally plucked up heart enough to attempt the utterance of his opinions. his authority was completely dead. even if he essayed to combat the convocation of the states-general by the arguments which the duchess, at his suggestion, had often used for the purpose, he was treated with the same indifference. "the poor president," wrote granvelle to the king's chief secretary, gonzalo perez, "is afraid, as i hear, to speak a word, and is made to write exactly what they tell him." at the same time the poor president, thus maltreated and mortified, had the vanity occasionally to imagine himself a bold and formidable personage. the man whom his most intimate friends described as afraid of his own shadow, described himself to granvelle as one who went his own gait, speaking his mind frankly upon every opportunity, and compelling people to fear him a little, even if they did not love him. but the cardinal knew better than to believe in this magnanimous picture of the doctor's fancy. viglius was anxious to retire, but unwilling to have the appearance of being disgraced. he felt instinctively, although deceived as to the actual facts, that his great patron had been defeated and banished. he did not wish to be placed in the same position. he was desirous, as he piously expressed himself, of withdrawing from the world, "that he might balance his accounts with the lord, before leaving the lodgings of life." he was, however, disposed to please "the master" as well as the lord. he wished to have the royal permission to depart in peace. in his own lofty language, he wished to be sprinkled on taking his leave "with the holy water of the court." moreover, he was fond of his salary, although he disliked the sarcasms of the duchess. egmont and others had advised him to abandon the office of president to hopper, in order, as he was getting feeble, to reserve his whole strength for the state-council. viglius did not at all relish the proposition. he said that by giving up the seals, and with them the rank and salary which they conferred, he should become a deposed saint. he had no inclination, as long as he remained on the ground at all, to part with those emoluments and honors, and to be converted merely into the "ass of the state-council." he had, however, with the sagacity of an old navigator, already thrown out his anchor into the best holding-ground during the storms which he foresaw were soon to sweep the state. before the close of the year which now occupies, the learned doctor of laws had become a doctor of divinity also; and had already secured, by so doing, the wealthy prebend of saint bavon of ghent. this would be a consolation in the loss of secular dignities, and a recompence for the cold looks of the duchess. he did not scruple to ascribe the pointed dislike which margaret manifested towards him to the awe in which she stood of his stern integrity of character. the true reason why armenteros and the duchess disliked him was because, in his own words, "he was not of their mind with regard to lotteries, the sale of offices, advancement to abbeys, and many other things of the kind, by which they were in such a hurry to make their fortune." upon another occasion he observed, in a letter to granvelle, that "all offices were sold to the highest bidder, and that the cause of margaret's resentment against both the cardinal and himself was, that they had so long prevented her from making the profit which she was now doing from the sale of benefices, offices, and other favors." the duchess, on her part, characterized the proceedings and policy, both past and present, of the cardinalists as factious, corrupt, and selfish in the last degree. she assured her brother that the simony, rapine, and dishonesty of granvelle, viglius, and all their followers, had brought affairs into the ruinous condition which was then but too apparent. they were doing their best, she said, since the cardinal's departure, to show, by their sloth and opposition, that they were determined to allow nothing to prosper in his absence. to quote her own vigorous expression to philip--"viglius made her suffer the pains of hell." she described him as perpetually resisting the course of the administration, and she threw out dark suspicions, not only as to his honesty but his orthodoxy. philip lent a greedy ear to these scandalous hints concerning the late omnipotent minister and his friends. it is an instructive lesson in human history to look through the cloud of dissimulation in which the actors of this remarkable epoch were ever enveloped, and to watch them all stabbing fiercely at each other in the dark, with no regard to previous friendship, or even present professions. it is edifying to see the cardinal, with all his genius and all his grimace, corresponding on familiar terms with armenteros, who was holding him up to obloquy upon all occasions; to see philip inclining his ear in pleased astonishment to margaret's disclosures concerning the cardinal, whom he was at the very instant assuring of his undiminished confidence; and to see viglius, the author of the edict of , and the uniform opponent of any mitigation in its horrors, silently becoming involved without the least suspicion of the fact in the meshes of inquisitor titelmann. upon philip's eager solicitations for further disclosures, margaret accordingly informed her brother of additional facts communicated to her, after oaths of secrecy had been exchanged, by titelmann and his colleague del canto. they had assured her, she said, that there were grave doubts touching the orthodoxy of viglius. he had consorted with heretics during a large portion of his life, and had put many suspicious persons into office. as to his nepotism, simony, and fraud, there was no doubt at all. he had richly provided all his friends and relations in friesland with benefices. he had become in his old age a priest and churchman, in order to snatch the provostship of saint bavon, although his infirmities did not allow him to say mass, or even to stand erect at the altar. the inquisitors had further accused him of having stolen rings, jewels, plate, linen, beds, tapestry, and other furniture, from the establishment, all which property he had sent to friesland, and of having seized one hundred thousand florins in ready money which had belonged to the last abbe--an act consequently of pure embezzlement. the duchess afterwards transmitted to philip an inventory of the plundered property, including the furniture of nine houses, and begged him to command viglius to make instant restitution. if there be truth in the homely proverb, that in case of certain quarrels honest men recover their rights, it is perhaps equally certain that when distinguished public personages attack each other, historians may arrive at the truth. here certainly are edifying pictures of the corruption of the spanish regency in the netherlands, painted by the president of the state-council, and of the dishonesty of the president painted by the regent. a remarkable tumult occurred in october of this year, at antwerp. a carmelite monk, christopher smith, commonly called fabricius, had left a monastery in bruges, adopted the principles of the reformation, and taken to himself a wife. he had resided for a time in england; but, invited by his friends, he had afterwards undertaken the dangerous charge of gospel-teacher in the commercial metropolis of the netherlands. he was, however, soon betrayed to the authorities by a certain bonnet dealer, popularly called long margaret, who had pretended, for the sake of securing the informer's fee, to be a convert to his doctrines. he was seized, and immediately put to the torture. he manfully refused to betray any members of his congregation, as manfully avowed and maintained his religious creed. he was condemned to the flames, and during the interval which preceded his execution, he comforted his friends by letters of advice, religious consolation and encouragement, which he wrote from his dungeon. he sent a message to the woman who had betrayed him, assuring her of his forgiveness, and exhorting her to repentance. his calmness, wisdom, and gentleness excited the admiration of all. when; therefore, this humble imitator of christ was led through the streets of antwerp to the stake, the popular emotion was at once visible. to the multitude who thronged about the executioners with threatening aspect, he addressed an urgent remonstrance that they would not compromise their own safety by a tumult in his cause. he invited all, however, to remain steadfast to the great truth for which he was about to lay down his life. the crowd, as they followed the procession of hangmen, halberdsmen, and magistrates, sang the hundred and thirtieth psalm in full chorus. as the victim arrived upon the market-place, he knelt upon the ground to pray, for the last time. he was, however, rudely forced to rise by the executioner, who immediately chained him to the stake, and fastened a leathern strap around his throat. at this moment the popular indignation became uncontrollable; stones were showered upon the magistrates and soldiers, who, after a slight resistance, fled for their lives. the foremost of the insurgents dashed into the enclosed arena, to rescue the prisoner. it was too late. the executioner, even as he fled, had crushed the victim's head with a sledge hammer, and pierced him through and through with a poniard. some of the bystanders maintained afterwards that his fingers and lips were seen to move, as if in feeble prayer, for a little time longer, until, as the fire mounted, he fell into the flames. for the remainder of the day, after the fire had entirely smouldered to ashes, the charred and half-consumed body of the victim remained on the market-place, a ghastly spectacle to friend and foe. it was afterwards bound to a stone and cast into the scheld. such was the doom of christopher fabricius, for having preached christianity in antwerp. during the night an anonymous placard, written with blood, was posted upon the wall of the town-house, stating that there were men in the city who would signally avenge his murder. nothing was done, however, towards the accomplishment of the threat. the king, when he received the intelligence of the transaction, was furious with indignation, and wrote savage letters to his sister, commanding instant vengeance to be taken upon all concerned in so foul a riot. as one of the persons engaged had, however, been arrested and immediately hanged, and as the rest had effected their escape, the affair was suffered to drop. the scenes of outrage, the frantic persecutions, were fast becoming too horrible to be looked upon by catholic or calvinist. the prisons swarmed with victims, the streets were thronged with processions to the stake. the population of thriving cities, particularly in flanders, were maddened by the spectacle of so much barbarity inflicted, not upon criminals, but usually upon men remarkable for propriety of conduct and blameless lives. it was precisely at this epoch that the burgomasters, senators, and council of the city of bruges (all catholics) humbly represented to the duchess regent, that peter titelmann, inquisitor of the faith, against all forms of law, was daily exercising inquisition among the inhabitants, not only against those suspected or accused of heresy, but against all, however untainted their characters; that he was daily citing before him whatever persons he liked, men or women, compelling them by force to say whatever it pleased him; that he was dragging people from their houses, and even from the sacred precincts of the church; often in revenge for verbal injuries to himself, always under pretext of heresy, and without form or legal warrant of any kind. they therefore begged that he might be compelled to make use of preparatory examinations with the co-operation of the senators of the city, to suffer that witnesses should make their depositions without being intimidated by menace, and to conduct all his subsequent proceedings according to legal forms, which he had uniformly violated; publicly declaring that he would conduct himself according to his own pleasure. the four estates of flanders having, in a solemn address to the king, represented the same facts, concluded their brief but vigorous description of titelmann's enormities by calling upon philip to suppress these horrible practices, so manifestly in violation of the ancient charters which he had sworn to support. it may be supposed that the appeal to philip would be more likely to call down a royal benediction than the reproof solicited upon the inquisitor's head. in the privy council, the petitions and remonstrances were read, and, in the words of the president, "found to be in extremely bad taste." in the debate which followed, viglius and his friends recalled to the duchess, in earnest language, the decided will of the king, which had been so often expressed. a faint representation was made, on the other hand, of the dangerous consequences, in case the people were driven to a still deeper despair. the result of the movement was but meagre. the duchess announced that she could do nothing in the matter of the request until further information, but that meantime she had charged titelmann to conduct himself in his office "with discretion and modesty." the discretion and modesty, however, never appeared in any modification of the inquisitor's proceedings, and he continued unchecked in his infamous career until death, which did not occur till several years afterwards. in truth, margaret was herself in mortal fear of this horrible personage. he besieged her chamber door almost daily, before she had risen, insisting upon audiences which, notwithstanding her repugnance to the man, she did not dare to refuse. "may i perish," said morillon, "if she does not stand in exceeding awe of titelmann." under such circumstances, sustained by the king in spain, the duchess in brussels, the privy council, and by a leading member of what had been thought the liberal party, it was not difficult for the inquisition to maintain its ground, notwithstanding the solemn protestations of the estates and the suppressed curses of the people. philip, so far from having the least disposition to yield in the matter of the great religious persecution, was more determined as to his course than ever. he had already, as easy as august of this year, despatched orders to the duchess that the decrees of the council of trent should be published and enforced throughout the netherlands. the memorable quarrel as to precedency between the french and spanish delegates had given some hopes of a different determination. nevertheless, those persons who imagined that, in consequence of this quarrel of etiquette, philip would slacken in his allegiance to the church, were destined to be bitterly mistaken. he informed his sister that, in the common cause of christianity, he should not be swayed by personal resentments. how, indeed, could a different decision be expected? his envoy at rome, as well as his representatives at the council, had universally repudiated all doubts as to the sanctity of its decrees. "to doubt the infallibility of the council, as some have dared to do," said francis de vargas, "and to think it capable of error, is the most devilish heresy of all." nothing could so much disturb and scandalize the world as such a sentiment. therefore the archbishop of granada told, very properly, the bishop of tortosa, that if he should express such an opinion in spain, they would burn him. these strenuous notions were shared by the king. therefore, although all europe was on tip-toe with expectation to see how philip would avenge himself for the slight put upon his ambassador, philip disappointed all europe. in august, , he wrote to the duchess regent, that the decrees were to be proclaimed and enforced without delay. they related to three subjects, the doctrines to be inculcated by the church, the reformation of ecclesiastical moral, and the education of the people. general police regulations were issued at the same time, by which heretics were to be excluded from all share in the usual conveniences of society, and were in fact to be strictly excommunicated. inns were to receive no guests, schools no children, alms-houses no paupers, grave-yards no dead bodies, unless guests, children, paupers, and dead bodies were furnished with the most satisfactory proofs of orthodoxy. midwives of unsuspected romanism were alone to exercise their functions, and were bound to give notice within twenty-four hours of every birth which occurred; the parish clerks were as regularly to record every such addition to the population, and the authorities to see that catholic baptism was administered in each case with the least possible delay. births, deaths, and marriages could only occur with validity under the shadow of the church. no human being could consider himself born or defunct unless provided with a priest's certificate. the heretic was excluded, so far as ecclesiastical dogma could exclude him, from the pale of humanity, from consecrated earth, and from eternal salvation. the decrees contained many provisions which not only conflicted with the privileges of the provinces, but with the prerogatives of the sovereign. for this reason many of the lords in council thought that at least the proper exceptions should be made upon their promulgation. this was also the opinion of the duchess, but the king, by his letters of october, and november ( ), expressly prohibited any alteration in the ordinances, and transmitted a copy of the form according to which the canons had been published in spain, together with the expression of his desire that a similar course should be followed in the netherlands. margaret of parma was in great embarrassment. it was evident that the publication could no longer be deferred. philip had issued his commands, but grave senators and learned doctors of the university had advised strongly in favor of the necessary exceptions. the extreme party, headed by viglius, were in favor of carrying out the royal decisions. they were overruled, and the duchess was induced to attempt a modification, if her brother's permission could be obtained. the president expressed the opinion that the decrees, even with the restrictions proposed, would "give no contentment to the people, who, moreover, had no right to meddle with theology." the excellent viglius forgot, however, that theology had been meddling altogether too much with the people to make it possible that the public attention should be entirely averted from the subject. men and women who might be daily summoned to rack, stake, and scaffold, in the course of these ecclesiastical arrangements, and whose births, deaths, marriages, and position in the next world, were now to be formally decided upon, could hardly be taxed with extreme indiscretion, if they did meddle with the subject. in the dilemma to which the duchess was reduced, she again bethought herself of a special mission to spain. at the end of the year ( ), it was determined that egmont should be the envoy. montigny excused himself on account of private affairs; marquis berghen "because of his indisposition and corpulence." there was a stormy debate in council after egmont had accepted the mission and immediately before his departure. viglius had been ordered to prepare the count's instructions. having finished the rough draught, he laid it before the board. the paper was conceived in general terms and might mean any thing or nothing. no criticism upon its language was, however, offered until it came to the turn of orange to vote upon the document. then, however, william the silent opened his lips, and poured forth a long and vehement discourse, such as he rarely pronounced, but such as few except himself could utter. there was no shuffling, no disguise, no timidity in his language. he took the ground boldly that the time had arrived for speaking out. the object of sending an envoy of high rank and european reputation like the count of egmont, was to tell the king the truth. let philip know it now. let him be unequivocally informed that this whole machinery of placards and scaffolds, of new bishops and old hangmen, of decrees, inquisitors, and informers, must once and forever be abolished. their day was over. the netherlands were free provinces, they were surrounded by free countries, they were determined to vindicate their ancient privileges. moreover, his majesty was to be plainly informed of the frightful corruption which made the whole judicial and administrative system loathsome. the venality which notoriously existed every where, on the bench, in the council chamber, in all public offices, where purity was most essential, was denounced by the prince in scathing terms. he tore the mask from individual faces, and openly charged the chancellor of brabant, engelbert maas, with knavery and corruption. he insisted that the king should be informed of the necessity of abolishing the two inferior councils, and of enlarging the council of state by the admission of ten or twelve new members selected for their patriotism, purity, and capacity. above all, it was necessary plainly to inform his majesty that the canons of trent, spurned by the whole world, even by the catholic princes of germany, could never be enforced in the netherlands, and that it would be ruinous to make the attempt. he proposed and insisted that the count of egmont should be instructed accordingly. he avowed in conclusion that he was a catholic himself and intended to remain in the faith, but that he could not look on with pleasure when princes strove to govern the souls of men, and to take away their liberty in matters of conscience and religion. here certainly was no daintiness of phraseology, and upon these leading points, thus slightly indicated, william of orange poured out his eloquence, bearing conviction upon the tide of his rapid invective. his speech lasted till seven in the evening, when the duchess adjourned the meeting. the council broke up, the regent went to supper, but the effect of the discourse upon nearly all the members was not to be mistaken. viglius was in a state of consternation, perplexity, and despair. he felt satisfied that, with perhaps the exception of berlaymont, all who had listened or should afterwards listen to the powerful arguments of orange, would be inevitably seduced or bewildered. the president lay awake, tossing and tumbling in his bed, recalling the prince's oration, point by point, and endeavoring, to answer it in order. it was important, he felt, to obliterate the impression produced. moreover, as we have often seen, the learned doctor valued himself upon his logic. it was absolutely necessary, therefore, that in his reply, next day, his eloquence should outshine that of his antagonist. the president thus passed a feverish and uncomfortable night, pronouncing and listening to imaginary harangues. with the dawn of day he arose and proceeded to dress himself. the excitement of the previous evening and the subsequent sleeplessness of his night had, however, been too much for his feeble and slightly superannuated frame. before he had finished his toilet, a stroke of apoplexy stretched him senseless upon the floor. his servants, when they soon afterwards entered the apartment, found him rigid, and to all appearance dead. after a few days, however, he recovered his physical senses in part, but his reason remained for a longer time shattered, and was never perhaps fully restored to its original vigor. this event made it necessary that his place in the council should be supplied. viglius had frequently expressed intentions of retiring, a measure to which he could yet never fully make up his mind. his place was now temporarily supplied by his friend and countryman, joachim hopper, like himself a, frisian doctor of ancient blood and extensive acquirements, well versed in philosophy and jurisprudence; a professor of louvain and a member of the mechlin council. he was likewise the original founder and projector of douay university, an institution which at philip's desire he had successfully organized in , in order that a french university might be furnished for walloon youths, as a substitute for the seductive and poisonous paris. for the rest, hopper was a mere man of routine. he was often employed in private affairs by philip, without being entrusted with the secret at the bottom of them. his mind was a confused one, and his style inexpressibly involved and tedious. "poor master hopper," said granvelle, "did not write the best french in the world; may the lord forgive him. he was learned in letters, but knew very little of great affairs." his manners were as cringing as his intellect was narrow. he never opposed the duchess, so that his colleagues always called him councillor "yes, madam," and he did his best to be friends with all the world. in deference to the arguments of orange, the instructions for egmont were accordingly considerably modified from the original draughts of viglius. as drawn up by the new president, they contained at least a few hints to his majesty as to the propriety of mitigating the edicts and extending some mercy to his suffering people. the document was, however, not very satisfactory to the prince, nor did he perhaps rely very implicitly upon the character of the envoy. egmont set forth upon his journey early in january ( ). he travelled in great state. he was escorted as far as cambray by several nobles of his acquaintance, who improved the occasion by a series of tremendous banquets during the count's sojourn, which was protracted till the end of january. the most noted of these gentlemen were hoogstraaten, brederode, the younger mansfeld, culemburg, and noircarmes. before they parted with the envoy, they drew up a paper which they signed with their blood, and afterwards placed in the hands of his countess. in this document they promised, on account of their "inexpressible and very singular affection" for egmont, that if, during his mission to spain, any evil should befal him, they would, on their faith as gentlemen and cavaliers of honor, take vengeance, therefore, upon the cardinal granvelle, or upon all who should be the instigators thereof. [green v. p., archives, etc., i. , from arnoldi, hist. denkwurd, p. ., it is remarkable that after the return of the count from. spain, hoogstraaten received this singular bond from the countess, and gave it to mansfeld, to be burned in his presence. mansfeld, however, advised keeping it, on account of noircarmes, whose signature was attached to the document, and whom he knew to be so false and deceitful a man that it might be well to have it within their power at some future day to reproach him therewith.--ibid. it will be seen in the sequel that noircarmes more than justified the opinion of mansfeld, but that the subsequent career of mansfeld himself did not entitle him to reproach any of philip's noble hangmen.] wherever brederode was, there, it was probable, would be much severe carousing. before the conclusion, accordingly, of the visit to cambray, that ancient city rang with the scandal created by a most uproarious scene. a banquet was given to egmont and his friends in the citadel. brederode, his cousin lumey, and the other nobles from brussels, were all present. the archbishop of cambray, a man very odious to the liberal party in the provinces, was also bidden to the feast. during the dinner, this prelate, although treated with marked respect by egmont, was the object of much banter and coarse pleasantry by the ruder portion of the guests. especially these convivial gentlemen took infinite pains to overload him with challenges to huge bumpers of wine; it being thought very desirable, if possible; to place the archbishop under the table. this pleasantry was alternated with much rude sarcasm concerning the new bishoprics. the conversation then fell upon other topics, among others, naturally upon the mission of count egmont. brederede observed that it was a very hazardous matter to allow so eminent a personage to leave the land at such a critical period. should any thing happen to the count, the netherlands would sustain an immense loss. the archbishop, irritated by the previous conversation, ironically requested the speaker to be comforted, "because," said he, "it will always be easy to find a new egmont." upon this, brederode, beside himself with rage, cried out vehemently, "are we to tolerate such language from this priest?" gulemburg, too, turning upon the offender, observed, "your observation would be much more applicable to your own case. if you were to die, 't would be easy to find five hundred of your merit, to replace you in the see of cambray." the conversation was, to say the least, becoming personal. the bishop, desirous of terminating this keen encounter of wits, lifted a goblet full of wine and challenged brederode to drink. that gentleman declined the invitation. after the cloth had been removed, the cup circulated more freely than ever. the revelry became fast and furious. one of the younger gentlemen who was seated near the bishop snatched the bonnet of that dignitary from his head and placed it upon his own. he then drained a bumper to his health, and passed the goblet and the cap to his next neighbor. both circulated till they reached the viscount of ghent, who arose from his seat and respectfully restored the cap to its owner. brederode then took a large "cup of silver and gold," filled it to the brim, and drained it to the confusion of cardinal granvelle; stigmatizing that departed minister, as he finished, by an epithet of more vigor than decency. he then called upon all the company to pledge him to the same toast, and denounced as cardinalists all those who should refuse. the archbishop, not having digested the affronts which had been put upon him already, imprudently ventured himself once more into the confusion, and tried to appeal to the reason of the company. he might as well have addressed the crew of comus. he gained nothing but additional insult. brederode advanced upon him with threatening gestures. egmont implored the prelate to retire, or at least not to take notice of a nobleman so obviously beyond the control of his reason. the bishop, however, insisted--mingling reproof, menace; and somewhat imperious demands--that the indecent saturnalia should cease. it would have been wiser for him to retire. count hoogstraaten, a young man and small of stature, seized the gilt laver, in which the company had dipped their fingers before seating themselves at table: "be quiet, be quiet, little man," said egmont, soothingly, doing his best to restrain the tumult. "little man, indeed," responded the count, wrathfully; "i would have you to know that never did little man spring from my race." with those words he hurled the basin, water, and all, at the head of the archbishop. hoogstraaten had no doubt manifested his bravery before that day; he was to display, on future occasions, a very remarkable degree of heroism; but it must be confessed that the chivalry of the noble house of lalaing was not illustrated by this attack upon a priest. the bishop was sprinkled by the water, but not struck by the vessel. young mansfeld, ashamed of the outrage, stepped forward to apologize for the conduct of his companions and to soothe the insulted prelate. that personage, however, exasperated, very naturally, to the highest point, pushed him rudely away, crying, "begone, begone! who is this boy that is preaching to me?" whereupon, mansfeld, much irritated, lifted his hand towards the ecclesiastic, and snapped his fingers contemptuously in his face. some even said that he pulled the archiepiscopal nose, others that he threatened his life with a drawn dagger. nothing could well have been more indecent or more cowardly than the conduct of these nobles upon this occasion. their intoxication, together with the character of the victim, explained, but certainly could not palliate the vulgarity of the exhibition. it was natural enough that men like brederode should find sport in this remarkable badgering of a bishop, but we see with regret the part played by hoogstraaten in the disgraceful scene. the prelate, at last, exclaiming that it appeared that he had been invited only to be insulted, left the apartment, accompanied by noircarmes and the viscount of ghent, and threatening that all his friends and relations should be charged with his vengeance. the next day a reconciliation was effected, as well as such an arrangement was possible, by the efforts of egmont, who dined alone with the prelate. in the evening, hoogstraaten, culemburg, and brederode called upon the bishop, with whom they were closeted for, an hour, and the party separated on nominal terms of friendship. this scandalous scene; which had been enacted not only before many guests, but in presence of a host of servants, made necessarily a great sensation throughout the country. there could hardly be much difference of opinion among respectable people as to the conduct of the noblemen who had thus disgraced themselves. even brederode himself, who appeared to have retained, as was natural, but a confused impression of the transaction, seemed in the days which succeeded the celebrated banquet, to be in doubt whether he and his friends had merited any great amount of applause. he was, however, somewhat self-contradictory, although always vehement in his assertions on the subject. at one time he maintained--after dinner, of course--that he would have killed the archbishop if they had not been forcibly separated; at other moments he denounced as liars all persons who should insinuate that he had committed or contemplated any injury to that prelate; offering freely to fight any man who disputed either of his two positions. the whole scene was dramatized and represented in masquerade at a wedding festival given by councillor d'assonleville, on the marriage of councillor hopper's daughter, one of the principal parts being enacted by a son of the president-judge of artois. it may be supposed that if such eminent personages, in close connexion with the government, took part in such proceedings, the riot must have been considered of a very pardonable nature. the truth was, that the bishop was a cardinalist, and therefore entirely out of favor with the administration. he was also a man of treacherous, sanguinary character, and consequently detested by the people. he had done his best to destroy heresy in valenciennes by fire and sword. "i will say one thing," said he in a letter to granvelle, which had been intercepted, "since the pot is uncovered, and the whole cookery known, we had best push forward and make an end of all the principal heretics, whether rich or poor, without regarding whether the city will be entirely ruined by such a course. such an opinion i should declare openly were it not that we of the ecclesiastical profession are accused of always crying out for blood." such was the prelate's theory. his practice may be inferred from a specimen of his proceedings which occurred at a little later day. a citizen of cambray, having been converted to the lutheran confession, went to the archbishop, and requested permission to move out of the country, taking his property with him. the petitioner having made his appearance in the forenoon, was requested to call again after dinner, to receive his answer. the burgher did so, and was received, not by the prelate, but by the executioner, who immediately carried the lutheran to the market-place, and cut off his head. it is sufficiently evident that a minister of christ, with such propensities, could not excite any great sympathy, however deeply affronted he might have been at a drinking party, so long as any christians remained in the land. egmont departed from cambray upon the th january, his friends taking a most affectionate farewell of him; and brederode assuring him, with a thousand oaths, that he would forsake god for his service. his reception at madrid was most brilliant. when he made his first appearance at the palace, philip rushed from his cabinet into the grand hall of reception, and fell upon his neck, embracing him heartily before the count had time to drop upon his knee and kiss the royal hand. during the whole period of his visit he dined frequently at the king's private table, an honor rarely accorded by philip, and was feasted and flattered by all the great dignitaries of the court as never a subject of the spanish crown had been before. all vied with each other in heaping honors upon the man whom the king was determined to honor. philip took him out to drive daily in his own coach, sent him to see the wonders of the new escorial, which he was building to commemorate the battle of st. quentin, and, although it was still winter, insisted upon showing him the beauties of his retreat in the segovian forest. granvelle's counsels as to the method by which the "friend of smoke" was so easily to be gained, had not fallen unheeded in his royal pupil's ears. the count was lodged in the house of ruy gomez, who soon felt himself able, according to previous assurances to that effect, contained in a private letter of armenteros, to persuade the envoy to any course which philip might command. flattery without stint was administered. more solid arguments to convince the count that philip was the most generous and clement of princes were also employed with great effect. the royal dues upon the estate of gaasbecque, lately purchased by egmont, were remitted. a mortgage upon his seigneurie of ninove was discharged, and a considerable sum of money presented to him in addition. altogether, the gifts which the ambassador received from the royal bounty amounted to one hundred thousand crowns. thus feasted, flattered, and laden with presents, it must be admitted that the count more than justified the opinions expressed in the letter of armenteros, that he was a man easily governed by those who had credit with him. egmont hardly broached the public matters which had brought him to madrid. upon the subject of the edicts, philip certainly did not dissemble, however loudly the envoy may have afterwards complained at brussels. in truth, egmont, intoxicated by the incense offered to him at the spanish court, was a different man from egmont in the netherlands, subject to the calm but piercing glance and the irresistible control of orange. philip gave him no reason to suppose that he intended any change in the religious system of the provinces, at least in any sense contemplated by the liberal party. on the contrary, a council of doctors and ecclesiastics was summoned, at whose deliberations the count was invited to assist; on which occasion the king excited general admiration by the fervor of his piety and the vehemence of his ejaculations. falling upon his knees before a crucifix, in the midst of the assembly, he prayed that god would keep him perpetually in the same mind, and protested that he would never call himself master of those who denied the lord god. such an exhibition could leave but little doubt in the minds of those who witnessed it as to the royal sentiments, nor did egmont make any effort to obtain any relaxation of those religious edicts, which he had himself declared worthy of approbation, and fit to be maintained. as to the question of enlarging the state-council, philip dismissed the subject with a few vague observations, which egmont, not very zealous on the subject at the moment, perhaps misunderstood. the punishment of heretics by some new method, so as to secure the pains but to take away the glories of martyrdom, was also slightly discussed, and here again egmont was so unfortunate as to misconceive the royal meaning, and to interpret an additional refinement of cruelty into an expression of clemency. on the whole, however, there was not much negotiation between the monarch and the ambassador. when the count spoke of business, the king would speak to him of his daughters, and of his desire to see them provided with brilliant marriages. as egmont had eight girls, besides two sons, it was natural that he should be pleased to find philip taking so much interest in looking out husbands for them. the king spoke to him, as hardly could be avoided, of the famous fool's-cap livery. the count laughed the matter off as a jest, protesting that it was a mere foolish freak, originating at the wine-table, and asseverating, with warmth, that nothing disrespectful or disloyal to his majesty had been contemplated upon that or upon any other occasion. had a single gentleman uttered an undutiful word against the king, egmont vowed he would have stabbed him through and through upon the spot, had he been his own brother. these warm protestations were answered by a gentle reprimand as to the past by philip, and with a firm caution as to the future. "let it be discontinued entirely, count," said the king, as the two were driving together in the royal carriage. egmont expressed himself in handsome terms concerning the cardinal, in return for the wholesale approbation quoted to him in regard to his own character, from the private letters of that sagacious personage to his majesty. certainly, after all this, the count might suppose the affair of the livery forgiven. thus amicably passed the hours of that mission, the preliminaries for which had called forth so much eloquence from the prince of orange and so nearly carried off with apoplexy the president viglius. on his departure egmont received a letter of instructions from philip as to the report which he was to make upon his arrival in brussels, to the duchess. after many things personally flattering to himself, the envoy was directed to represent the king as overwhelmed with incredible grief at hearing the progress made by the heretics, but as immutably determined to permit no change of religion within his dominions, even were he to die a thousand deaths in consequence. the king, he was to state, requested the duchess forthwith to assemble an extraordinary session of the council, at which certain bishops, theological doctors, and very orthodox lawyers, were to assist, in which, under pretence of discussing the council of trent matter, it was to be considered whether there could not be some new way devised for executing heretics; not indeed one by which any deduction should be made from their sufferings (which certainly was not the royal wish, nor likely to be grateful to god or salutary to religion), but by which all hopes of glory--that powerful incentive to their impiety--might be precluded. with regard to any suggested alterations in the council of state, or in the other two councils, the king was to be represented as unwilling to form any decision until he should hear, at length, from the duchess regent upon the subject. certainly here was a sufficient amount of plain speaking upon one great subject, and very little encouragement with regard to the other. yet egmont, who immediately after receiving these instructions set forth upon his return to the netherlands, manifested nothing but satisfaction. philip presented to him, as his travelling companion, the young prince alexander of parma, then about to make a visit to his mother in brussels, and recommended the youth, afterwards destined to play so prominent a part in flemish history, to his peculiar caret egmont addressed a letter to the king from valladolid, in which he indulged in ecstasies concerning the escorial and the wood of segovia, and declared that he was returning to the netherlands "the most contented man in the world." he reached brussels at the end of april. upon the fifth of may he appeared before the council, and proceeded to give an account of his interview with the king, together with a statement of the royal intentions and opinions. these were already sufficiently well known. letters, written after the envoy's departure, had arrived before him, in which, while in the main presenting the same views as those contained in the instructions to egmont, philip had expressed his decided prohibition of the project to enlarge the state council and to suppress the authority of the other two. nevertheless, the count made his report according to the brief received at madrid, and assured his hearers that the king was all benignity, having nothing so much at heart as the temporal and eternal welfare of the provinces. the siege of malta, he stated, would prevent the royal visit to the netherlands for the moment, but it was deferred only for a brief period. to remedy the deficiency in the provincial exchequer, large remittances would be made immediately from spain. to provide for the increasing difficulties of the religious question, a convocation of nine learned and saintly personages was recommended, who should devise some new scheme by which the objections to the present system of chastising heretics might be obviated. it is hardly necessary to state that so meagre a result to the mission of egmont was not likely to inspire the hearts of orange and his adherents with much confidence. no immediate explosion of resentment, however, occurred. the general aspect for a few days was peaceful. egmont manifested much contentment with the reception which he met with in spain, and described the king's friendly dispositions towards the leading nobles in lively colors. he went to his government immediately after his return, assembled the states of artois, in the city of arras, and delivered the letters sent to that body by the king. he made a speech on this occasion, informing the estates that his majesty had given orders that the edicts of the emperor were to be enforced to the letter; adding that he had told the king, freely, his own opinion upon the subject; in order to dissuade him from that which others were warmly urging. he described philip as the most liberal and debonair of princes; his council in spain as cruel and sanguinary. time was to show whether the epithets thus applied to the advisers were not more applicable to the monarch than the eulogies thus lavished by the blind and predestined victim. it will also be perceived that this language, used before the estates of artois, varied materially from his observation to the dowager duchess of aerschot, denouncing as enemies the men who accused him of having requested a moderation of the edicts. in truth, this most vacillating, confused, and unfortunate of men perhaps scarcely comprehended the purport of his recent negotiations in spain, nor perceived the drift of his daily remarks at home. he was, however, somewhat vainglorious immediately after his return, and excessively attentive to business. "he talks like a king," said morillon, spitefully, "negotiates night and day, and makes all bow before him." his house was more thronged with petitioners, courtiers, and men of affairs, than even the palace of the duchess. he avowed frequently that he would devote his life and his fortune to the accomplishment of the king's commands, and declared his uncompromising hostility to all who should venture to oppose that loyal determination. it was but a very short time, however, before a total change was distinctly perceptible in his demeanor. these halcyon days were soon fled. the arrival of fresh letters from spain gave a most unequivocal evidence of the royal determination, if, indeed, any doubt could be rationally entertained before. the most stringent instructions to keep the whole machinery of persecution constantly at work were transmitted to the duchess, and aroused the indignation of orange and his followers. they avowed that they could no longer trust the royal word, since, so soon after egmont's departure, the king had written despatches so much at variance with his language, as reported by the envoy. there was nothing, they said, clement and debonair in these injunctions upon gentlemen of their position and sentiments to devote their time to the encouragement of hangmen and inquisitors. the duchess was unable to pacify the nobles. egmont was beside himself with rage. with his usual recklessness and wrath, he expressed himself at more than one session of the state council in most unmeasured terms. his anger had been more inflamed by information which he had received from the second son of berlaymont, a young and indiscreet lad, who had most unfortunately communicated many secrets which he had learned from his father, but which were never intended for egmont's ear. philip's habitual dissimulation had thus produced much unnecessary perplexity. it was his custom to carry on correspondence through the aid of various secretaries, and it was his invariable practice to deceive them all. those who were upon the most confidential terms with the monarch, were most sure to be duped upon all important occasions. it has been seen that even the astute granvelle could not escape this common lot of all who believed their breasts the depositories of the royal secrets. upon this occasion, gonzalo perez and ruy gomez complained bitterly that they had known nothing of the letters which had recently been despatched from valladolid, while tisnacq and courterville had been ignorant of the communications forwarded by the hands of egmont. they avowed that the king created infinite trouble by thus treating his affairs in one way with one set of councillors and in an opposite sense with the others, thus dissembling with all, and added that philip was now much astonished at the dissatisfaction created in the provinces by the discrepancy between the french letters brought by egmont, and the spanish letters since despatched to the duchess. as this was his regular manner of transacting business, not only for the netherlands, but for all his dominions, they were of opinion that such confusion and dissatisfaction might well be expected. after all, however, notwithstanding the indignation of egmont, it must be confessed that he had been an easy dupe. he had been dazzled by royal smiles, intoxicated by court incense, contaminated by yet baser bribes. he had been turned from the path of honor and the companionship of the wise and noble to do the work of those who were to compass his destruction. the prince of orange reproached him to his face with having forgotten, when in spain, to represent the views of his associates and the best interests of the country, while he had well remembered his own private objects, and accepted the lavish bounty of the king. egmont, stung to the heart by the reproof, from one whom he honored and who wished him well, became sad and sombre for a long time, abstained from the court and from society, and expressed frequently the intention of retiring to his estates. he was, however, much governed by his secretary, the seigneur de bakerzeel, a man of restless, intriguing, and deceitful character, who at this period exercised as great influence over the count as armenteros continued to maintain over the duchess, whose unpopularity from that and other circumstances was daily increasing. in obedience to the commands of the king, the canons of trent had been published. they were nominally enforced at cambray, but a fierce opposition was made by the clergy themselves to the innovation in mechlin, utrecht, and many other places. this matter, together with other more vitally important questions, came before the assembly of bishops and doctors, which, according to philip's instructions, had been convoked by the duchess. the opinion of the learned theologians was, on the whole, that the views of the trent council, with regard to reformation of ecclesiastical morals and popular education, was sound. there was some discordancy between the clerical and lay doctors upon other points. the seigniors, lawyers, and deputies from the estates were all in favor of repealing the penalty of death for heretical offences of any kind. president viglius, with all the bishops and doctors of divinity, including the prelates of st. omer, namur and ypres, and four theological professors from louvain, stoutly maintained the contrary opinion. the president especially, declared himself vehemently in favor of the death punishment, and expressed much anger against those who were in favor of its abolition. the duchess, upon the second day of the assembly, propounded formally the question, whether any change was to be made in the chastisement of heretics. the prince of orange, with counts horn and egmont, had, however, declined to take part in the discussions, on the ground that it was not his majesty's intention that state councillors should deliver their opinions before strangers, but that persons from outside had been summoned to communicate their advice to the council. the seigniors having thus washed their hands of the matter, the doctors came to a conclusion with great alacrity. it was their unanimous opinion that it comported neither with the service of god nor the common weal, to make any change in the punishment, except, perhaps, in the case of extreme youth; but that, on the contrary, heretics were only to be dealt with by retaining the edicts in their rigor, and by courageously chastising the criminals. after sitting for the greater part of six days, the bishops and doctors of divinity reduced their sentiments to writing, and affixed their signatures to the document. upon the great point of the change suggested in the penalties of heresy, it was declared that no alteration was advisable in the edicts, which had been working so well for thirty-five years. at the same time it was suggested that "some persons, in respect to their age and quality, might be executed or punished more or less rigorously than others; some by death, some by galley slavery, some by perpetual banishment and entire confiscation of property." the possibility was also admitted, of mitigating the punishment of those who, without being heretics or sectaries, might bring themselves within the provisions of the edicts, "through curiosity, nonchalance, or otherwise." such offenders, it was hinted, might be "whipped with rods, fined, banished, or subjected to similar penalties of a lighter nature." it will be perceived by this slight sketch of the advice thus offered to the duchess that these theologians were disposed very carefully to strain the mercy, which they imagined possible in some cases, but which was to drop only upon the heads of the just. heretics were still to be dealt with, so far as the bishops and presidents could affect their doom, with unmitigated rigor. when the assembly was over, the duchess, thus put in possession of the recorded wisdom of these special councillors, asked her constitutional advisers what she was to do with it. orange, egmont, horn, mansfeld replied, however, that it was not their affair, and that their opinion had not been demanded by his majesty in the premises. the duchess accordingly transmitted to philip the conclusions of the assembly, together with the reasons of the seigniors for refusing to take part in its deliberations. the sentiments of orange could hardly be doubtful, however, nor his silence fail to give offense to the higher powers. he contented himself for the time with keeping his eyes and ears open to the course of events, but he watched well. he had "little leisure for amusing himself," as brederode suggested. that free-spoken individual looked upon the proceedings of the theological assembly with profound disgust. "your letter," he wrote to count louis, "is full of those blackguards of bishops and presidents. i would the race were extinct, like that of green dogs. they will always combat with the arms which they have ever used, remaining to the end avaricious, brutal, obstinate, ambitious, et cetera. i leave you to supply the rest." thus, then, it was settled beyond peradventure that there was to be no compromise with heresy. the king had willed it. the theologians had advised it. the duchess had proclaimed it. it was supposed that without the axe, the fire, and the rack, the catholic religion would be extinguished, and that the whole population of the netherlands would embrace the reformed faith. this was the distinct declaration of viglius, in a private letter to granvelle. "many seek to abolish the chastisement of heresy," said he; "if they gain this point, actum est de religione catholica; for as most of the people are ignorant fools, the heretics will soon be the great majority, if by fear of punishment they are not kept in the true path." the uneasiness, the terror, the wrath of the people seemed rapidly culminating to a crisis. nothing was talked of but the edicts and the inquisition. nothing else entered into the minds of men. in the streets, in the shops, in the taverns, in the fields; at market, at church, at funerals, at weddings; in the noble's castle, at the farmer's fireside, in the mechanic's garret, upon the merchants' exchange, there was but one perpetual subject of shuddering conversation. it was better, men began to whisper to each other, to die at once than to live in perpetual slavery. it was better to fall with arms in hand than to be tortured and butchered by the inquisition. who could expect to contend with such a foe in the dark? they reproached the municipal authorities with lending themselves as instruments to the institution. they asked magistrates and sheriffs how far they would go in their defence before god's tribunal for the slaughter of his creatures, if they could only answer the divine arraignment by appealing to the edict of . on the other hand, the inquisitors were clamorous in abuse of the languor and the cowardice of the secular authorities. they wearied the ear of the duchess with complaints of the difficulties which they encountered in the execution of their functions--of the slight alacrity on the part of the various officials to assist them in the discharge of their duties. notwithstanding the express command of his majesty to that effect, they experienced, they said, a constant deficiency of that cheerful co-operation which they had the right to claim, and there was perpetual discord in consequence. they had been empowered by papal and by royal decree to make use of the gaols, the constables, the whole penal machinery of each province; yet the officers often refused to act, and had even dared to close the prisons. nevertheless, it had been intended, as fully appeared by the imperial and royal instructions to the inquisitors, that their action through the medium of the provincial authorities should be unrestrained. not satisfied with these representations to the regent, the inquisitors had also made a direct appeal to the king. judocus tiletanus and michael de bay addressed to philip a letter from louvain. they represented to him that they were the only two left of the five inquisitors-general appointed by the pope for all the netherlands, the other three having been recently converted into bishops. daily complaints, they said, were reaching them of the prodigious advance of heresy, but their own office was becoming so odious, so calumniated, and exposed to so much resistance, that they could not perform its duties without personal danger. they urgently demanded from his majesty, therefore, additional support and assistance. thus the duchess, exposed at once to the rising wrath of a whole people and to the shrill blasts of inquisitorial anger, was tossed to and fro, as upon a stormy sea. the commands of the king, too explicit to be tampered with, were obeyed. the theological assembly had met and given advice. the council of trent was here and there enforced. the edicts were republished and the inquisitors encouraged. moreover, in accordance with philip's suggestion, orders were now given that the heretics should be executed at midnight in their dungeons, by binding their heads between their knees, and then slowly suffocating them in tubs of water. secret drowning was substituted for public burning, in order that the heretic's crown of vainglory, which was thought to console him in his agony, might never be placed upon his head. in the course of the summer, magaret wrote to her brother that the popular frenzy was becoming more and more intense. the people were crying aloud, she said, that the spanish inquisition, or a worse than spanish inquisition, had been established among them by means of bishops and ecclesiastics. she urged philip to cause the instructions for the inquisitors to be revised. egmont, she said, was vehement in expressing his dissatisfaction at the discrepancy between philip's language to him by word of mouth and that of the royal despatches on the religious question. the other seigniors were even more indignant. while the popular commotion in the netherlands was thus fearfully increasing, another circumstance came to add to the prevailing discontent. the celebrated interview between catharine de medici and her daughter, the queen of spain, occurred in the middle of the month of june, at bayonne. the darkest suspicions as to the results to humanity of the plots to be engendered in this famous conference between the representatives of france and spain were universally entertained. these suspicions were most reasonable, but they were nevertheless mistaken. the plan for a concerted action to exterminate the heretics in both kingdoms had, as it was perfectly well known, been formed long before this epoch. it was also no secret that the queen regent of france had been desirous of meeting her son-in-law in order to confer with him upon important matters, face to face. philip, however, had latterly been disinclined for the personal interview with catharine. as his wife was most anxious to meet her mother, it was nevertheless finally arranged that queen isabella should make the journey; but he excused himself, on account of the multiplicity of his affairs, from accompanying her in the expedition. the duke of alva was, accordingly, appointed to attend the queen to bayonne. both were secretly instructed by philip to leave nothing undone in the approaching interview toward obtaining the hearty co-operation of catharine de medici in a general and formally-arranged scheme for the simultaneous extermination of all heretics in the french and spanish dominions. alva's conduct in this diplomatic commission was stealthy in the extreme. his letters reveal a subtlety of contrivance and delicacy of handling such as the world has not generally reckoned among his characteristics. all his adroitness, as well as the tact of queen isabella, by whose ability alva declared himself to have been astounded, proved quite powerless before the steady fencing of the wily catharine. the queen regent, whose skill the duke, even while defeated, acknowledged to his master, continued firm in her design to maintain her own power by holding the balance between guise and montmorency, between leaguer and huguenot. so long as her enemies could be employed in exterminating each other, she was willing to defer the extermination of the huguenots. the great massacre of st. bartholomew was to sleep for seven years longer. alva was, to be sure, much encouraged at first by the language of the french princes and nobles who were present at bayonne. monluc protested that "they might saw the queen dowager in two before she would become huguenot." montpensier exclaimed that "he would be cut in pieces for philip's service--that the spanish monarch was the only hope for france," and, embracing alva with fervor, he affirmed that "if his body were to be opened at that moment, the name of philip would be found imprinted upon his heart." the duke, having no power to proceed to an autopsy, physical or moral, of montpensier's interior, was left somewhat in the dark, notwithstanding these ejaculations. his first conversation with the youthful king, however, soon dispelled his hopes. he found immediately, in his own words, that charles the ninth "had been doctored." to take up arms, for religious reasons, against his own subjects, the monarch declared to be ruinous and improper. it was obvious to alva that the royal pupil had learned his lesson for that occasion. it was a pity for humanity that the wisdom thus hypocritically taught him could not have sunk into his heart. the duke did his best to bring forward the plans and wishes of his royal master, but without success. the queen regent proposed a league of the two kings and the emperor against the turk, and wished to arrange various matrimonial alliances between the sons and daughters of the three houses. alva expressed the opinion that the alliances were already close enough, while, on the contrary, a secret league against the protestants would make all three families the safer. catherine, however, was not to be turned from her position. she refused even to admit that the chancellor de l'hospital was a huguenot, to which the duke replied that she was the only person in her kingdom who held that opinion. she expressed an intention of convoking an assembly of doctors, and alva ridiculed in his letters to philip the affectation of such a proceeding. in short, she made it sufficiently evident that the hour for the united action of the french and spanish sovereigns against their subjects had not struck, so that the famous bayonne conference was terminated without a result. it seemed not the less certain, however, in the general opinion of mankind, that all the particulars of a regular plot had been definitely arranged upon this occasion, for the extermination of the protestants, and the error has been propagated by historians of great celebrity of all parties, down to our own days. the secret letters of alva, however, leave no doubt as to the facts. in the course of november, fresh letters from philip arrived in the netherlands, confirming every thing which he had previously written. he wrote personally to the inquisitors-general, tiletanus and de bay, encouraging them, commending them, promising them his support, and urging them not to be deterred by any consideration from thoroughly fulfilling their duties. he wrote peter titelmann a letter, in which he applauded the pains taken by that functionary to remedy the ills which religion was suffering, assured him of his gratitude, exhorted him to continue in his virtuous course, and avowed his determination to spare neither pains, expense, nor even his own life, to sustain the catholic faith. to the duchess he wrote at great length, and in most unequivocal language. he denied that what he had written from valladolid was of different meaning from the sense of the despatches by egmont. with regard to certain anabaptist prisoners, concerning whose fate margaret had requested his opinion, he commanded their execution, adding that such was his will in the case of all, whatever their quality, who could be caught. that which the people said in the netherlands touching the inquisition, he pronounced extremely distasteful to him. that institution, which had existed under his predecessors, he declared more necessary than ever; nor would he suffer it to be discredited. he desired his sister to put no faith in idle talk, as to the inconveniences likely to flow from the rigor of the inquisition. much greater inconveniences would be the result if the inquisitors did not proceed with their labors, and the duchess was commanded to write to the secular judges, enjoining upon them to place no obstacles in the path, but to afford all the assistance which might be required. to egmont, the king wrote with his own hand, applauding much that was contained in the recent decisions of the assembly of bishops and doctors of divinity, and commanding the count to assist in the execution of the royal determination. in affairs of religion, philip expressed the opinion that dissimulation and weakness were entirely out of place. when these decisive letters came before the state council, the consternation was extreme. the duchess had counted, in spite of her inmost convictions, upon less peremptory instructions. the prince of orange, the count of egmont, and the admiral, were loud in their denunciations of the royal policy. there was a violent and protracted debate. the excitement spread at once to the, people. inflammatory hand-bills were circulated. placards were posted every night upon the doors of orange, egmont, and horn, calling upon them to come forth boldly as champions of the people and of liberty in religious matters. banquets were held daily at the houses of the nobility, in which the more ardent and youthful of their order, with brains excited by wine and anger, indulged in flaming invectives against the government, and interchanged vows to protect each other and the cause of the oppressed provinces. meanwhile the privy council, to which body the duchess had referred the recent despatches from madrid, made a report upon the whole subject to the state council, during the month of november, sustaining the royal views, and insisting upon the necessity of carrying them into effect. the edicts and inquisition having been so vigorously insisted upon by the king, nothing was to be done but to issue new proclamations throughout the country, together with orders to bishops, councils, governors and judges, that every care should be taken to enforce them to the full. this report came before the state council, and was sustained by some of its members. the prince of orange expressed the same uncompromising hostility to the inquisition which he had always manifested, but observed that the commands of the king were so precise and absolute, as to leave no possibility of discussing that point. there was nothing to be done, he said, but to obey, but he washed his hands of the fatal consequences which he foresaw. there was no longer any middle course between obedience and rebellion. this opinion, the soundness of which could scarcely be disputed, was also sustained by egmont and horn. viglius, on the contrary, nervous, agitated, appalled, was now disposed to temporize. he observed that if the seigniors feared such evil results, it would be better to prevent, rather than to accelerate the danger which would follow the proposed notification to the governors and municipal authorities throughout the country, on the subject of the inquisition. to make haste, was neither to fulfil the intentions nor to serve the interests of the king, and it was desirable "to avoid emotion and scandal." upon these heads the president made a very long speech, avowing, in conclusion, that if his majesty should not find the course proposed agreeable, he was ready to receive all the indignation upon his own head. certainly, this position of the president was somewhat inconsistent with his previous course. he had been most violent in his denunciations of all who should interfere with the execution of the great edict of which he had been the original draughtsman. he had recently been ferocious in combating the opinion of those civilians in the assembly of doctors who had advocated the abolition of the death penalty against heresy. he had expressed with great energy his private opinion that the ancient religion would perish if the machinery of persecution were taken away; yet he now for the first time seemed to hear or to heed the outcry of a whole nation, and to tremble at the sound. now that the die had been cast, in accordance with the counsels of his whole life, now that the royal commands, often enigmatical and hesitating; were at last too distinct to be misconstrued, and too peremptory to be tampered with--the president imagined the possibility of delay. the health of the ancient frisian had but recently permitted him to resume his seat at the council board. his presence there was but temporary, for he had received from madrid the acceptance of his resignation, accompanied with orders to discharge the duties of president until the arrival of his successor, charles de tisnacq. thus, in his own language, the duchess was still obliged to rely for a season "upon her ancient palinurus," a necessity far from agreeable to her, for she had lost confidence in the pilot. it may be supposed that he was anxious to smooth the troubled waters during the brief period in which he was still to be exposed to their fury; but he poured out the oil of his eloquence in vain. nobody sustained his propositions. the duchess, although terrified at the probable consequences, felt the impossibility of disobeying the deliberate decree of her brother. a proclamation was accordingly prepared, by which it was ordered that the council of trent, the edicts and the inquisition, should be published in every town and village in the provinces, immediately, and once in six months forever afterwards. the deed was done, and the prince of orange, stooping to the ear of his next neighbor, as they sat at the council-board, whispered that they were now about to witness the commencement of the most extraordinary tragedy which had ever been enacted. the prophecy was indeed a proof that the prince could read the future, but the sarcasm of the president, that the remark had been made in a tone of exultation, was belied by every action of the prophet's life. the fiat went forth. in the market-place of every town and village of the netherlands, the inquisition was again formally proclaimed. every doubt which had hitherto existed as to the intention of the government was swept away. no argument was thenceforward to be permissible as to the constitutionality of the edicts as to the compatibility of their provisions with the privileges of the land. the cry of a people in its agony ascended to heaven. the decree was answered with a howl of execration. the flames of popular frenzy arose lurid and threatening above the house-tops of every town and village. the impending conflict could no longer be mistaken. the awful tragedy which the great watchman in the land had so long unceasingly predicted, was seen sweeping solemnly and steadily onward. the superstitious eyes of the age saw supernatural and ominous indications in the sky. contending armies trampled the clouds; blood dropped from heaven; the exterminating angel rode upon the wind. there was almost a cessation of the ordinary business of mankind. commerce was paralyzed. antwerp shook as with an earthquake. a chasm seemed to open, in which her prosperity and her very existence were to be forever engulfed. the foreign merchants, manufacturers, and artisans fled from her gates as if the plague were raging within them. thriving cities were likely soon to be depopulated. the metropolitan heart of the whole country was almost motionless. men high in authority sympathized with the general indignation. the marquis berghen, the younger mansfeld, the baron montigny, openly refused to enforce the edicts within their governments. men of eminence inveighed boldly and bitterly against the tyranny of the government, and counselled disobedience. the netherlanders, it was stoutly maintained, were not such senseless brutes as to be ignorant of the mutual relation of prince and people. they knew that the obligation of a king to his vassals was as sacred as the duties of the subjects to the sovereign. the four principal cities of brabant first came forward in formal denunciation of the outrage. an elaborate and conclusive document was drawn up in their name, and presented to the regent. it set forth that the recent proclamation violated many articles in the "joyous entry." that ancient constitution had circumscribed the power of the clergy, and the jealousy had been felt in old times as much by the sovereign as the people. no ecclesiastical tribunal had therefore been allowed, excepting that of the bishop of cambray, whose jurisdiction was expressly confined to three classes of cases--those growing out of marriages, testaments, and mortmains. it would be superfluous to discuss the point at the present day, whether the directions to the inquisitors and the publication of the edicts conflicted with the "joyous entrance." to take a man from his house and burn him, after a brief preliminary examination, was clearly not to follow the, letter and spirit of the brabantine habeas corpus, by which inviolability of domicile and regular trials were secured and sworn to by the monarch; yet such had been the uniform practice of inquisitors throughout the country. the petition of the four cities was referred by the regent to the council of brabant. the chancellor, or president judge of that tribunal was notoriously corrupt--a creature of the spanish. his efforts to sustain the policy of the administration however vain. the duchess ordered the archives of the province to be searched for precedents, and the council to report upon the petition. the case was too plain for argument or dogmatism, but the attempt was made to take refuge in obscurity. the answer of the council was hesitating and equivocal. the duchess insisted upon a distinct and categorical answer to the four cities. thus pressed, the council of brabant declared roundly that no inquisition of any kind had ever existed, in the provinces. it was impossible that any other answer could be given, but viglius, with his associates in the privy council, were extremely angry at the conclusion. the concession was, however, made, notwithstanding the bad example which, according to some persons, the victory thus obtained by so important a province would afford to the people in the other parts of the country. brabant was declared free of the inquisition. meanwhile the pamphlets, handbills, pasquils, and other popular productions were multiplied. to use a flemish expression, they "snowed in the streets." they were nailed nightly on all the great houses in brussels. patriots were called upon to strike, speak, redress. pungent lampoons, impassioned invectives, and earnest remonstrances, were thrust into the hands of the duchess. the publications, as they appeared; were greedily devoured by the people. "we are willing," it was said, in a remarkable letter to the king, "to die for the gospel, but we read therein 'render unto caesar that which is caesar's, and unto god that which is god's.' we thank god that our enemies themselves are compelled to bear witness to our piety and patience; so that it is a common saying--'he swears not; he is a protestant; he is neither a fornicator nor a drunkard; he is of the new sect.' yet, notwithstanding these testimonials to our character, no manner of punishment has been forgotten by which we can possibly be chastised." this statement of the morality of the puritans of the netherlands was the justification of martyrs--not the self-glorification of pharisees. the fact was incontrovertible. their tenets were rigid, but their lives were pure. they belonged generally to the middling and lower classes. they were industrious artisans, who desired to live in the fear of god and in honor of their king. they were protected by nobles and gentlemen of high position, very many of whom came afterwards warmly to espouse the creed which at first they had only generously defended. their whole character and position resembled, in many features, those of the english puritans, who, three quarters of a century afterwards, fled for refuge to the dutch republic, and thence departed to establish the american republic. the difference was that the netherlanders were exposed to a longer persecution and a far more intense martyrdom. towards the end of the year ( ) which was closing in such universal gloom; the contemporary chronicles are enlivened with a fitful gleam of sunshine. the light enlivens only the more elevated regions of the flemish world, but it is pathetic to catch a glimpse of those nobles, many of whose lives were to be so heroic, and whose destinies so tragic, as amid the shadows projected by coming evil, they still found time for the chivalrous festivals of their land and epoch. a splendid tournament was held at the chateau d'antoing to celebrate the nuptials of baron montigny with the daughter of prince d'espinoy. orange, horn, and hoogstraaten were the challengers, and maintained themselves victoriously against all comers, egmont and other distinguished knights being, among the number. thus brilliantly and gaily moved the first hours of that marriage which before six months had fled was to be so darkly terminated. the doom which awaited the chivalrous bridegroom in the dungeon of simancas was ere long to be recorded in one of the foulest chapters of philip's tyranny. a still more elaborate marriage-festival, of which the hero was, at a later day, to exercise a most decisive influence over the fortunes of the land, was celebrated at brussels before the close of the year. it will be remembered that alexander, prince of parma, had accompanied egmont on his return from spain in the month of april. the duchess had been delighted with the appearance of her son, then twenty years of age, but already an accomplished cavalier. she had expressed her especial pleasure in finding him so thoroughly a spaniard "in manner, costume, and conversation," that it could not be supposed he had ever visited any other land, or spoken any other tongue than that of spain. the nobles of the flemish court did not participate in the mother's enthusiasm. it could not be denied that he was a handsome and gallant young prince; but his arrogance was so intolerable as to disgust even those most disposed to pay homage to margaret's son. he kept himself mainly in haughty retirement, dined habitually alone in his own apartments, and scarcely honored any of the gentlemen of the netherlands with his notice. even egmont, to whose care he had been especially recommended by philip, was slighted. if, occasionally, he honored one or two of the seigniors with an invitation to his table, he sat alone in solemn state at the head of the board, while the guests, to whom he scarcely vouchsafed a syllable, were placed on stools without backs, below the salt. such insolence, it may be supposed, was sufficiently galling to men of the proud character, but somewhat reckless demeanor, which distinguished the netherland aristocracy. after a short time they held themselves aloof, thinking it sufficient to endure such airs from philip. the duchess at first encouraged the young prince in his haughtiness, but soon became sad, as she witnessed its effects. it was the universal opinion that the young prince was a mere compound of pride and emptiness. "there is nothing at all in the man," said chantonnay. certainly the expression was not a fortunate one. time was to show that there was more in the man than in all the governors despatched successively by philip to the netherlands; but the proof was to be deferred to a later epoch. meantime, his mother was occupied and exceedingly perplexed with his approaching nuptials. he had been affianced early in the year to the princess donna maria of portugal. it was found necessary, therefore, to send a fleet of several vessels to lisbon, to fetch the bride to the netherlands, the wedding being appointed to take place in brussels. this expense alone was considerable, and the preparations for banquets, jousts, and other festivities, were likewise undertaken on so magnificent a scale that the duke, her husband, was offended at margaret's extravagance. the people, by whom she was not beloved, commented bitterly on the prodigalities which they were witnessing in a period of dearth and trouble. many of the nobles mocked at her perplexity. to crown the whole, the young prince was so obliging as to express the hope, in his mother's hearing, that the bridal fleet, then on its way from portugal, might sink with all it contained, to the bottom of the sea. the poor duchess was infinitely chagrined by all these circumstances. the "insane and outrageous expenses" in which the nuptials had involved her, the rebukes of her husband, the sneers of the seigniors, the undutiful epigrams of her son, the ridicule of the people, affected her spirits to such a degree, harassed as she was with grave matters of state, that she kept her rooms for days together, weeping, hour after hour, in the most piteous manner. her distress was the town talk; nevertheless, the fleet arrived in the autumn, and brought the youthful maria to the provinces. this young lady, if the faithful historiographer of the farnese house is to be credited, was the paragon of princesses. [this princess, in her teens, might already exclaim, with the venerable faustus: "habe nun philosophie juristerei and medicin und leider ach: theologie durch studirt mit heissem bemuhen," etc. the panegyrists of royal houses in the sixteenth century were not accustomed to do their work by halves.--strada.] she was the daughter of prince edward, and granddaughter of john the third. she was young and beautiful; she could talk both latin and greek, besides being well versed in philosophy, mathematics and theology. she had the scriptures at her tongue's end, both the old dispensation and the new, and could quote from the fathers with the promptness of a bishop. she was so strictly orthodox that, on being compelled by stress of weather to land in england, she declined all communication with queen elizabeth, on account of her heresy. she was so eminently chaste that she could neither read the sonnets of petrarch, nor lean on the arm of a gentleman. her delicacy upon such points was, indeed, carried to such excess, that upon one occasion when the ship which was bringing her to the netherlands was discovered to be burning, she rebuked a rude fellow who came forward to save her life, assuring him that there was less contamination in the touch of fire than in that of man. fortunately, the flames were extinguished, and the phoenix of portugal was permitted to descend, unburned, upon the bleak shores of flanders. the occasion, notwithstanding the recent tears of the duchess, and the arrogance of the prince, was the signal for much festivity among the courtiers of brussels. it was also the epoch from which movements of a secret and important character were to be dated. the chevaliers of the fleece were assembled, and viglius pronounced before them one of his most classical orations. he had a good deal to say concerning the private adventures of saint andrew, patron of the order, and went into some details of a conversation which that venerated personage had once held with the proconsul aegeas. the moral which he deduced from his narrative was the necessity of union among the magnates for the maintenance of the catholic faith; the nobility and the church being the two columns upon which the whole social fabric reposed. it is to be feared that the president became rather prosy upon the occasion. perhaps his homily, like those of the fictitious archbishop of granada, began to smack of the apoplexy from which he had so recently escaped. perhaps, the meeting being one of hilarity, the younger nobles became restive under the infliction of a very long and very solemn harangue. at any rate, as the meeting broke up, there was a good dial of jesting on the subject. de hammes, commonly called "toison d'or," councillor and king-at-arms of the order, said that the president had been seeing visions and talking with saint andrew in a dream. marquis berghen asked for the source whence he had derived such intimate acquaintance with the ideas of the saint. the president took these remarks rather testily, and, from trifling, the company became soon earnestly engaged in a warm discussion of the agitating topics of the day. it soon became evident to viglius that de hammer and others of his comrades had been dealing with dangerous things. he began shrewdly to suspect that the popular heresy was rapidly extending into higher regions; but it was not the president alone who discovered how widely the contamination was spreading. the meeting, the accidental small talk, which had passed so swiftly from gaiety to gravity, the rapid exchange of ideas, and the free-masonry by which intelligence upon forbidden topics had been mutually conveyed, became events of historical importance. interviews between nobles, who, in the course of the festivities produced by the montigny and parma marriages, had discovered that they entertained a secret similarity of sentiment upon vital questions, became of frequent occurrence. the result to which such conferences led will be narrated in the following chapter. meantime, upon the th november, , the marriage of prince alexander and donna maria was celebrated; with great solemnity, by the archbishop of cambray, in the chapel of the court at brussels. on the following sunday the wedding banquet was held in the great hall, where, ten years previously, the memorable abdication of the bridegroom's imperial grandfather had taken place. the walls were again hung with the magnificent tapestry of gideon, while the knights of the fleece, with all the other grandees of the land, were assembled to grace the spectacle. the king was represented by his envoy in england, don guzman de silva, who came to brussels for the occasion, and who had been selected for this duty because, according to armenteros, "he was endowed, beside his prudence, with so much witty gracefulness with ladies in matters of pastime and entertainment." early in the month of december, a famous tournament was held in the great market-place of brussels, the duke of parma, the duke of aerschot, and count egmont being judges of the jousts. count mansfeld was the challenger, assisted by his son charles, celebrated among the gentry of the land for his dexterity in such sports. to count charles was awarded upon this occasion the silver cup from the lady of the lists. count bossu received the prize for breaking best his lances; the seigneur de beauvoir for the most splendid entrance; count louis, of nassau, for having borne himself most gallantly in the melee. on the same evening the nobles, together with the bridal pair, were entertained at a splendid supper, given by the city of brussels in the magnificent hotel de ville. on this occasion the prizes gained at the tournament were distributed, amid the applause and hilarity of all the revellers. thus, with banquet, tourney, and merry marriage bells, with gaiety gilding the surface of society, while a deadly hatred to the inquisition was eating into the heart of the nation, and while the fires of civil war were already kindling, of which no living man was destined to witness the extinction, ended the year . etext editor's bookmarks: all offices were sold to the highest bidder english puritans habeas corpus he did his best to be friends with all the world look through the cloud of dissimulation no law but the law of the longest purse panegyrists of royal houses in the sixteenth century secret drowning was substituted for public burning sonnets of petrarch st. bartholomew was to sleep for seven years longer to think it capable of error, is the most devilish heresy of all motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. [chapter vi.] francis junius--his sermon at culemburg house--the compromise-- portraits of sainte aldegonde, of louis 'nassau, of "toison d'or," of charles mansfeld--sketch of the compromise--attitude of orange-- his letter to the duchess--signers of the compromise--indiscretion of the confederates--espionage over philip by orange-- dissatisfaction of the seigniors--conduct of egmont--despair of the people--emigration to england--its effects--the request--meeting at breda and hoogstraaten--exaggerated statements concerning the request in the state council--hesitation of the duchess--assembly of notables--debate concerning the request and the inquisition-- character of brederode--arrival of the petitioners in brussels-- presentation of the request--emotion of margaret--speech of brederode--sketch of the request--memorable sarcasm of berlaymont-- deliberation in the state council--apostille to the request--answer to the apostille--reply of the duchess--speech of d'esquerdes-- response of margaret--memorable banquet at culemburg house--name of "the beggars" adopted--orange, egmont, and horn break up the riotous meeting--costume of "the beggars"--brederode at antwerp--horrible execution at oudenardo--similar cruelties throughout the provinces-- project of "moderation"--religious views of orange--his resignation of all his offices not accepted--the "moderation" characterized-- egmont at arras debate on the "moderation"--vacillation of egmont-- mission of montigny and berghen to spain--instructions to the envoys--secret correspondence of philip with the pope concerning the netherland inquisition and the edicts--field-preaching in the provinces--modet at ghent--other preachers characterized--excitement at tournay--peter gabriel at harlem--field--preaching near antwerp-- embarrassment of the regent--excitement at antwerp--pensionary wesenbeck sent to brussels--orange at antwerp--his patriotic course --misrepresentation of the duchess--intemperate zeal of dr. rythovius--meeting at st. trond--conference at duffel--louis of nassau deputed to the regent--unsatisfactory negotiations. the most remarkable occurrence in the earlier part of the year was the famous compromise. this document, by which the signers pledged themselves to oppose the inquisition, and to defend each other against all consequences of such a resistance, was probably the work of philip de marnix, lord of sainte aldegonde. much obscurity, however, rests upon the origin of this league. its foundations had already been laid in the latter part of the preceding year. the nuptials of parma with the portuguese princess had been the cause of much festivity, not only in brussels, but at antwerp. the great commercial metropolis had celebrated the occasion by a magnificent banquet. there had been triumphal arches, wreaths of flowers, loyal speeches, generous sentiments, in the usual profusion. the chief ornament of the dinner-table had been a magnificent piece of confectionary, netting elaborately forth the mission of count mansfeld with the fleet to portugal to fetch the bride from her home, with exquisitely finished figures in sugar--portraits, it is to be presumed--of the principal personages as they appeared during the most striking scenes of the history. at the very moment, however, of these delectations, a meeting was held at brussels of men whose minds were occupied with sterner stuff than sugar-work. on the wedding-day of parma, francis junius, a dissenting minister then residing at antwerp, was invited to brussels to preach a sermon in the house of count culemburg, on the horse-market (now called little sablon), before a small assembly of some twenty gentlemen. this francis junius, born of a noble family in bourges, was the pastor of the secret french congregation of huguenots at antwerp. he was very young, having arrived from geneva, where he had been educated, to take charge of the secret church, when but just turned of twenty years. he was, however, already celebrated for his learning, his eloquence, and his courage. towards the end of , it had already become known that junius was in secret understanding with louis of nassau, to prepare an address to government on the subject of the inquisition and edicts. orders were given for his arrest. a certain painter of brussels affected conversion to the new religion, that he might gain admission to the congregation, and afterwards earn the reward of the informer. he played his part so well that he was permitted to attend many meetings, in the course of which he sketched the portrait of the preacher, and delivered it to the duchess regent, together with minute statements as to his residence and daily habits. nevertheless, with all this assistance, the government could not succeed in laying hands on him. he escaped to breda, and continued his labors in spite of persecution. the man's courage may be estimated from the fact that he preached on one occasion a sermon, advocating the doctrines of the reformed church with his usual eloquence, in a room overlooking the market-place, where, at the very, instant, the execution by fire of several heretics was taking place, while the light from the flames in which the brethren of their faith were burning, was flickering through the glass windows of the conventicle. such was the man who preached a sermon in culemburg palace on parma's wedding-day. the nobles who listened to him were occupied with grave discourse after conclusion of the religious exercises. junius took no part in their conversation, but in his presence it was resolved that a league against the "barbarous and violent inquisition" should be formed, and, that the confederates should mutually bind themselves both within and without the netherlands to this great purpose. junius, in giving this explicit statement; has not mentioned the names of the nobles before whom he preached. it may be inferred that some of them were the more ardent and the more respectable among the somewhat miscellaneous band by whom the compromise was afterwards signed. at about the same epoch, louis of nassau, nicolas de hammes, and certain other gentlemen met at the baths of spa. at this secret assembly, the foundations of the compromise were definitely laid. a document was afterwards drawn up, which was circulated for signatures in the early part of . it is, therefore, a mistake to suppose that this memorable paper was simultaneously signed and sworn to at any solemn scene like that of the declaration of american independence, or like some of the subsequent transactions in the netherland revolt, arranged purposely for dramatic effect. several copies of the compromise were passed secretly from hand to hand, and in the course of two months some two thousand signatures had been obtained. the original copy bore but three names, those of brederode, charles de mansfeld, and louis of nassau. the composition of the paper is usually ascribed to sainte aldegonde, although the fact is not indisputable. at any rate, it is very certain that he was one of the originators and main supporters of the famous league. sainte aldegonde was one of the most accomplished men of his age. he was of ancient nobility, as he proved by an abundance of historical and heraldic evidence, in answer to a scurrilous pamphlet in which he had been accused, among other delinquencies, of having sprung from plebeian blood. having established his "extraction from true and ancient gentlemen of savoy, paternally and maternally," he rebuked his assailants in manly strain. "even had it been that i was without nobility of birth," said he, "i should be none the less or more a virtuous or honest man; nor can any one reproach me with having failed in the point of honor or duty. what greater folly than to boast of the virtue or gallantry of others, as do many nobles who, having neither a grain of virtue in their souls nor a drop of wisdom in their brains, are entirely useless to their country! yet there are such men, who, because their ancestors have done some valorous deed, think themselves fit to direct the machinery of a whole country, having from their youth learned nothing but to dance and to spin like weathercocks with their heads as well as their heels." certainly sainte aldegonde had learned other lessons than these. he was one of the many-sided men who recalled the symmetry of antique patriots. he was a poet of much vigor and imagination; a prose writer whose style was surpassed by that of none of his contemporaries, a diplomatist in whose tact and delicacy william of orange afterwards reposed in the most difficult and important negotiations, an orator whose discourses on many great public occasions attracted the attention of europe, a soldier whose bravery was to be attested afterwards on many a well-fought field, a theologian so skilful in the polemics of divinity, that, as it will hereafter appear, he was more than a match for a bench of bishops upon their own ground, and a scholar so accomplished, that, besides speaking and writing the classical and several modern languages with facility, he had also translated for popular use the psalms of david into vernacular verse, and at a very late period of his life was requested by the states-general of the republic to translate all the scriptures, a work, the fulfilment of which was prevented by his death. a passionate foe to the inquisition and to all the abuses of the ancient church, an ardent defender of civil liberty, it must be admitted that he partook also of the tyrannical spirit of calvinism. he never rose to the lofty heights to which the spirit of the great founder of the commonwealth was destined to soar, but denounced the great principle of religious liberty for all consciences as godless. he was now twenty-eight years of age, having been born in the same year with his friend louis of nassau. his device, "repos ailleurs," finely typified the restless, agitated and laborious life to which he was destined. that other distinguished leader of the newly-formed league, count louis, was a true knight of the olden time, the very mirror of chivalry. gentle, generous, pious; making use, in his tent before the battle, of the prayers which his mother sent him from the home of his childhood,--yet fiery in the field as an ancient crusader--doing the work of general and soldier with desperate valor and against any numbers--cheerful and steadfast under all reverses, witty and jocund in social intercourse, animating with his unceasing spirits the graver and more foreboding soul of his brother; he was the man to whom the eyes of the most ardent among the netherland reformers were turned at this early epoch, the trusty staff upon which the great prince of orange was to lean till it was broken. as gay as brederode, he was unstained by his vices, and exercised a boundless influence over that reckless personage, who often protested that he would "die a poor soldier at his feet." the career of louis was destined to be short, if reckoned by years, but if by events, it was to attain almost a patriarchal length. at the age of nineteen he had taken part in the battle of st. quentin, and when once the war of freedom opened, his sword was never to be sheathed. his days were filled with life, and when he fell into his bloody but unknown grave, he was to leave a name as distinguished for heroic valor and untiring energy as for spotless integrity. he was small of stature, but well formed; athletic in all knightly exercises, with agreeable features, a dark laughing eye, close-clipped brown hair, and a peaked beard. "golden fleece," as nicholas de hammes was universally denominated, was the illegitimate scion of a noble house. he was one of the most active of the early adherents to the league, kept the lists of signers in his possession, and scoured the country daily to procure new confederates. at the public preachings of the reformed religion, which soon after this epoch broke forth throughout the netherlands as by a common impulse, he made himself conspicuous. he was accused of wearing, on such occasions, the ensigns of the fleece about his neck, in order to induce ignorant people to believe that they might themselves legally follow, when they perceived a member of that illustrious fraternity to be leading the way. as de hammer was only an official or servant of that order, but not a companion, the seduction of the lieges by such false pretenses was reckoned among the most heinous of his offences. he was fierce in his hostility to the government, and one of those fiery spirits whose premature zeal was prejudicial to the cause of liberty, and disheartening to the cautious patriotism of orange. he was for smiting at once the gigantic atrocity of the spanish dominion, without waiting for the forging of the weapons by which the blows were to be dealt. he forgot that men and money were as necessary as wrath, in a contest with the most tremendous despotism of the world. "they wish," he wrote to count louis, "that we should meet these hungry wolves with remonstrances, using gentle words, while they are burning and cutting off heads.--be it so then. let us take the pen let them take the sword. for them deeds, for us words. we shall weep, they will laugh. the lord be praised for all; but i can not write this without tears." this nervous language painted the situation and the character of the writer. as for charles mansfeld, he soon fell away from the league which he had embraced originally with excessive ardor. by the influence of the leaders many signatures were obtained during the first two months of the year. the language of the document was such that patriotic catholics could sign it as honestly as protestants. it inveighed bitterly against the tyranny of "a heap of strangers," who, influenced only by private avarice and ambition, were making use of an affected zeal for the catholic religion, to persuade the king into a violation of his oaths. it denounced the refusal to mitigate the severity of the edicts. it declared the inquisition, which it seemed the intention of government to fix permanently upon them, as "iniquitous, contrary to all laws, human and divine, surpassing the greatest barbarism which was ever practised by tyrants, and as redounding to the dishonor of god and to the total desolation of the country." the signers protested, therefore, that "having a due regard to their duties as faithful vassals of his majesty, and especially, as noblemen--and in order not to be deprived of their estates and their lives by those who, under pretext of religion, wished to enrich themselves by plunder and murder," they had bound themselves to each other by holy covenant and solemn oath to resist the inquisition. they mutually promised to oppose it in every shape, open or covert, under whatever mask, it might assume, whether bearing the name of inquisition, placard, or edict, "and to extirpate and eradicate the thing in any form, as the mother of all iniquity and disorder." they protested before god and man, that they would attempt nothing to the dishonor of the lord or to the diminution of the king's grandeur, majesty, or dominion. they declared, on the contrary, an honest purpose to "maintain the monarch in his estate, and to suppress all seditious, tumults, monopolies, and factions." they engaged to preserve their confederation, thus formed, forever inviolable, and to permit none of its members to be persecuted in any manner, in body or goods, by any proceeding founded on the inquisition, the edicts, or the present league. it will be seen therefore, that the compromise was in its origin, a covenant of nobles. it was directed against the foreign influence by which the netherlands were exclusively governed, and against the inquisition, whether papal, episcopal, or by edict. there is no doubt that the country was controlled entirely by spanish masters, and that the intention was to reduce the ancient liberty of the netherlands into subjection to a junta of foreigners sitting at madrid. nothing more legitimate could be imagined than a constitutional resistance to such a policy. the prince of orange had not been consulted as to the formation of the league. it was sufficiently obvious to its founders that his cautious mind would find much to censure in the movement. his sentiments with regard to the inquisition and the edicts were certainly known to all men. in the beginning of this year, too, he had addressed a remarkable letter to the duchess, in answer to her written commands to cause the council of trent, the inquisition, and the edicts, in accordance with the recent commands of the king, to be published and enforced throughout his government. although his advice on the subject had not been asked, he expressed his sense of obligation to speak his mind on the subject, preferring the hazard of being censured for his remonstrance, to that of incurring the suspicion of connivance at the desolation of the land by his silence. he left the question of reformation in ecclesiastical morals untouched, as not belonging to his vocation: as to the inquisition, he most distinctly informed her highness that the hope which still lingered in the popular mind of escaping the permanent establishment of that institution, had alone prevented the utter depopulation of the country, with entire subversion of its commercial and manufacturing industry. with regard to the edicts, he temperately but forcibly expressed the opinion that it was very hard to enforce those placards now in their rigor, when the people were exasperated, and the misery universal, inasmuch as they had frequently been modified on former occasions. the king, he said, could gain nothing but difficulty for himself, and would be sure to lose the affection of his subjects by renewing the edicts, strengthening the inquisition, and proceeding to fresh executions, at a time when the people, moved by the example of their neighbors, were naturally inclined to novelty. moreover, when by reason of the daily increasing prices of grain a famine was impending over the land, no worse moment could be chosen to enforce such a policy. in conclusion, he observed that he was at all times desirous to obey the commands of his majesty and her highness, and to discharge the duties of "a good christian." the use of the latter term is remarkable, as marking an epoch in the history of the prince's mind. a year before he would have said a good catholic, but it was during this year that his mind began to be thoroughly pervaded by religious doubt, and that the great question of the reformation forced itself, not only as a political, but as a moral problem upon him, which he felt that he could not much longer neglect instead of solving. such were the opinions of orange. he could not, however, safely entrust the sacred interests of a commonwealth to such hands as those of brederode--however deeply that enthusiastic personage might drink the health of "younker william," as he affectionately denominated the prince--or to "golden fleece," or to charles mansfeld, or to that younger wild boar of ardennes, robert de la marck. in his brother and in sainte aldegonde he had confidence, but he did not exercise over them that control which he afterwards acquired. his conduct towards the confederacy was imitated in the main by the other great nobles. the covenanters never expected to obtain the signatures of such men as orange, egmont, horn, meghen, berghen, or montigny, nor were those eminent personages ever accused of having signed the compromise, although some of them were afterwards charged with having protected those who did affix their names to the document. the confederates were originally found among the lesser nobles. of these some were sincere catholics, who loved the ancient church but hated the inquisition; some were fierce calvinists or determined lutherans; some were troublous and adventurous spirits, men of broken fortunes, extravagant habits, and boundless desires, who no doubt thought that the broad lands of the church, with their stately abbeys; would furnish much more fitting homes and revenues for gallant gentlemen than for lazy monks. all were young, few had any prudence or conduct, and the history of the league more than justified the disapprobation of orange. the nobles thus banded together, achieved little by their confederacy. they disgraced a great cause by their orgies, almost ruined it by their inefficiency, and when the rope of sand which they had twisted fell asunder, the people had gained nothing and the gentry had almost lost the confidence of the nation. these remarks apply to the mass of the confederates and to some of the leaders. louis of nassau and sainte aldegonde were ever honored and trusted as they deserved. although the language of the compromise spoke of the leaguers as nobles, yet the document was circulated among burghers and merchants also, many of whom, according to the satirical remark of a netherland catholic, may, have been influenced by the desire of writing their names in such aristocratic company, and some of whom were destined to expiate such vainglory upon the scaffold. with such associates, therefore, the profound and anxious mind of orange could have little in common. confidence expanding as the numbers increased, their audacity and turbulence grew with the growth of the league. the language at their wild banquets was as hot as the wine which confused their heads; yet the prince knew that there was rarely a festival in which there did not sit some calm, temperate spaniard, watching with quiet eye and cool brain the extravagant demeanor, and listening with composure to the dangerous avowals or bravados of these revellers, with the purpose of transmitting a record of their language or demonstrations, to the inmost sanctuary of philip's cabinet at madrid. the prince knew, too, that the king was very sincere in his determination to maintain the inquisition, however dilatory his proceedings might appear. he was well aware that an armed force might be expected ere long to support the royal edicts. already the prince had organized that system of espionage upon philip, by which the champion of his country was so long able to circumvent its despot. the king left letters carefully locked in his desk at night, and unseen hands had forwarded copies of them to william of orange before the morning. he left memoranda in his pockets on retiring to bed, and exact transcripts of those papers found their way, likewise, ere he rose, to the same watchman in the netherlands. no doubt that an inclination for political intrigue was a prominent characteristic of the prince, and a blemish upon the purity of his moral nature. yet the dissimulating policy of his age he had mastered only that he might accomplish the noblest purposes to which a great and good man can devote his life-the protection of the liberty and the religion of a whole people against foreign tyranny. his intrigue served his country, not a narrow personal ambition, and it was only by such arts that he became philip's master, instead of falling at once, like so many great personages, a blind and infatuated victim. no doubt his purveyors of secret information were often destined fearfully to atone for their contraband commerce, but they who trade in treason must expect to pay the penalty of their traffic. although, therefore, the great nobles held themselves aloof from the confederacy, yet many of them gave unequivocal signs of their dissent from the policy adopted by government. marquis berghen wrote to the duchess; resigning his posts, on the ground of his inability to execute the intention of the king in the matter of religion. meghen replied to the same summons by a similar letter. egmont assured her that he would have placed his offices in the king's hands in spain, could he have foreseen that his majesty would form such resolutions as had now been proclaimed. the sentiments of orange were avowed in the letter to which we have already alluded. his opinions were shared by montigny, culemburg, and many others. the duchess was almost reduced to desperation. the condition of the country was frightful. the most determined loyalists, such as berlaymont, viglius and hopper, advised her not to mention the name of inquisition in a conference which she was obliged to hold with a deputation from antwerp. she feared, all feared, to pronounce the hated word. she wrote despairing letters to philip, describing the condition of the land and her own agony in the gloomiest colors. since the arrival of the royal orders, she said, things had gone from bad to worse. the king had been ill advised. it was useless to tell the people that the inquisition had always existed in the provinces. they maintained that it was a novelty; that the institution was a more rigorous one than the spanish inquisition, which, said margaret, "was most odious, as the king knew." it was utterly impossible to carry the edicts into execution. nearly all the governors of provinces had told her plainly that they would not help to burn fifty or sixty thousand netherlanders. thus bitterly did margaret of parma bewail the royal decree; not that she had any sympathy for the victims, but because she felt the increasing danger to the executioner. one of two things it was now necessary to decide upon, concession or armed compulsion. meantime, while philip was slowly and secretly making his levies, his sister, as well as his people, was on the rack. of all the seigniors, not one was placed in so painful a position as egmont. his military reputation and his popularity made him too important a personage to be slighted, yet he was deeply mortified at the lamentable mistake which he had committed. he now averred that he would never take arms against the king, but that he would go where man should never see him more. such was the condition of the nobles, greater and less. that of the people could not well be worse. famine reigned in the land. emigration, caused not by over population, but by persecution, was fast weakening the country. it was no wonder that not only, foreign merchants should be scared from the great commercial cities by the approaching disorders; but that every industrious artisan who could find the means of escape should seek refuge among strangers, wherever an asylum could be found. that asylum was afforded by protestant england, who received these intelligent and unfortunate wanderers with cordiality, and learned with eagerness the lessons in mechanical skill which they had to teach. already thirty thousand emigrant netherlanders were established in sandwich, norwich, and other places, assigned to them by elizabeth. it had always, however, been made a condition of the liberty granted to these foreigners for practising their handiwork, that each house should employ at least one english apprentice. "thus," said a walloon historian, splenetically, "by this regulation, and by means of heavy duties on foreign manufactures, have the english built up their own fabrics and prohibited those of the netherlands. thus have they drawn over to their own country our skilful artisans to practise their industry, not at home but abroad, and our poor people are thus losing the means of earning their livelihood. thus has clothmaking, silk-making and the art of dyeing declined in this country, and would have been quite extinguished but by our wise countervailing edicts." the writer, who derived most of his materials and his wisdom from the papers of councillor d'assonleville, could hardly doubt that the persecution to which these industrious artisans, whose sufferings he affected to deplore, had been subjected, must have had something to do with their expatriation; but he preferred to ascribe it wholly to the protective system adopted by england. in this he followed the opinion of his preceptor. "for a long time," said assonleville, "the netherlands have been the indies to england; and as long as she has them, she needs no other. the french try to surprise our fortresses and cities: the english make war upon our wealth and upon the purses of the people." whatever the cause, however, the current of trade was already turned. the cloth-making of england was already gaining preponderance over that of the provinces. vessels now went every week from sandwich to antwerp, laden with silk, satin, and cloth, manufactured in england, while as many but a few years before, had borne the flemish fabrics of the same nature from antwerp to england. it might be supposed by disinterested judges that persecution was at the bottom of this change in commerce. the prince of orange estimated that up to this period fifty thousand persons in the provinces had been put to death in obedience to the edicts. he was a moderate man, and accustomed to weigh his words. as a new impulse had been given to the system of butchery--as it was now sufficiently plain that "if the father had chastised his people with a scourge the son held a whip of scorpions" as the edicts were to be enforced with renewed vigor--it was natural that commerce and manufactures should make their escape out of a doomed land as soon as possible, whatever system of tariffs might be adopted by neighboring nations. a new step had been resolved upon early in the month of march by the confederates. a petition, or "request," was drawn up, which was to be presented to the duchess regent in a formal manner by a large number of gentlemen belonging to the league. this movement was so grave, and likely to be followed by such formidable results, that it seemed absolutely necessary for orange and his friends to take some previous cognizance of it before it was finally arranged. the prince had no power, nor was there any reason why he should have the inclination, to prevent the measure, but he felt it his duty to do what he could to control the vehemence of the men who were moving so rashly forward, and to take from their manifesto, as much as possible, the character of a menace. for this end, a meeting ostensibly for social purposes and "good cheer" was held, in the middle of march, at breda, and afterwards adjourned to hoogstraaten. to these conferences orange invited egmont, horn, hoogstraaten, berghen, meghen, montigny, and other great nobles. brederode, tholouse, boxtel, and other members of the league, were also present. the object of the prince in thus assembling his own immediate associates, governors of provinces and knights of the fleece, as well as some of the leading members of the league, was twofold. it had long been his opinion that a temperate and loyal movement was still possible, by which the impending convulsions might be averted. the line of policy which he had marked out required the assent of the magnates of the land, and looked towards the convocation of the states-general. it was natural that he should indulge in the hope of being seconded by the men who were in the same political and social station with himself. all, although catholics, hated the inquisition. as viglius pathetically exclaimed, "saint paul himself would have been unable to persuade these men that good fruit was to be gathered from the inquisition in the cause of religion." saint paul could hardly be expected to reappear on earth for such a purpose. meantime the arguments of the learned president had proved powerless, either to convince the nobles that the institution was laudable or to obtain from the duchess a postponement in the publication of the late decrees. the prince of orange, however, was not able to bring his usual associates to his way of thinking. the violent purposes of the leaguers excited the wrath of the more loyal nobles. their intentions were so dangerous, even in the estimation of the prince himself, that he felt it his duty to lay the whole subject before the duchess, although he was not opposed to the presentation of a modest and moderate request. meghen was excessively indignant at the plan of the confederates, which he pronounced an insult to the government, a treasonable attempt to overawe the duchess, by a "few wretched vagabonds." he swore that "he would break every one of their heads, if the king would furnish him with a couple of hundred thousand florins." orange quietly rebuked this truculent language, by assuring him both that such a process would be more difficult than he thought, and that he would also find many men of great respectability among the vagabonds. the meeting separated at hoogstraaten without any useful result, but it was now incumbent upon the prince, in his own judgment, to watch, and in a measure to superintend, the proceedings of the confederates. by his care the contemplated request was much altered, and especially made more gentle in its tone. meghen separated himself thenceforth entirely from orange, and ranged himself exclusively upon the side of government. egmont vacillated, as usual, satisfying neither the prince nor the duchess. margaret of parma was seated in her council chamber very soon after these occurrences, attended both by orange and egmont, when the count of meghen entered the apartment. with much precipitation, he begged that all matters then before the board might be postponed, in order that he might make an important announcement. he then stated that he had received information from a gentleman on whose word he could rely, a very affectionate servant of the king, but whose name he had promised not to reveal, that a very extensive conspiracy of heretics and sectaries had been formed, both within and without the netherlands, that they had already a force of thirty-five thousand men, foot and horse, ready for action, that they were about to make a sudden invasion, and to plunder the whole country, unless they immediately received a formal concession of entire liberty of conscience, and that, within six or seven days, fifteen hundred men-at-arms would make their appearance before her highness. these ridiculous exaggerations of the truth were confirmed by egmont, who said that he had received similar information from persons whose names he was not at liberty to mention, but from whose statements he could announce that some great tumult might be expected every day. he added that there were among the confederates many who wished to change their sovereign, and that the chieftains and captains of the conspiracy were all appointed. the same nobleman also laid before the council a copy of the compromise, the terms of which famous document scarcely justified the extravagant language with which it had been heralded. the duchess was astounded at these communications. she had already received, but probably not yet read, a letter from the prince of orange upon the subject, in which a moderate and plain statement of the actual facts was laid down, which was now reiterated by the same personage by word of mouth. an agitated and inconclusive debate followed, in which, however, it sufficiently appeared, as the duchess informed her brother, that one of two things must be done without further delay. the time had arrived for the government to take up arms, or to make concessions. in one of the informal meetings of councillors, now held almost daily, on the subject of the impending request, aremberg, meghen, and berlaymont maintained that the door should be shut in the face of the petitioners without taking any further notice of the petition. berlaymont suggested also, that if this course were not found advisable, the next best thing would be to allow the confederates to enter the palace with their request, and then to cut them to pieces to the very last man, by means of troops to be immediately ordered from the frontiers. such sanguinary projects were indignantly rebuked by orange. he maintained that the confederates were entitled to be treated with respect. many of them, he said, were his friends--some of them his relations--and there was no reason for refusing to gentlemen of their rank, a right which belonged to the poorest plebeian in the land. egmont sustained these views of the prince as earnestly as he had on a previous occasion appeared to countenance the more violent counsels of meghen. meantime, as it was obvious that the demonstration on the part of the confederacy was soon about to be made, the duchess convened a grand assembly of notables, in which not only all the state and privy councillors, but all the governors and knights of the fleece were to take part. on the th of march, this assembly was held, at which the whole subject of the request, together with the proposed modifications of the edicts and abolition of the inquisition, was discussed. the duchess also requested the advice of the meeting--whether it would not be best for her to retire to some other city, like mons, which she had selected as her stronghold in case of extremity. the decision was that it would be a high-handed proceeding to refuse the right of petition to a body of gentlemen, many of them related to the greatest nobles in the land; but it was resolved that they should be required to make their appearance without arms. as to the contemplated flight of the duchess, it was urged, with much reason, that such a step would cast disgrace upon the government, and that it would be a sufficiently precautionary measure to strengthen the guards at the city gates--not to prevent the entrance of the petitioners, but to see that they were unaccompanied by an armed force. it had been decided that count brederode should present the petition to the duchess at the head of a deputation of about three hundred gentlemen. the character of the nobleman thus placed foremost on such an important occasion has been sufficiently made manifest. he had no qualities whatever but birth and audacity to recommend him as a leader for a political party. it was to be seen that other attributes were necessary to make a man useful in such a position, and the count's deficiencies soon became lamentably conspicuous. he was the lineal descendant and representative of the old sovereign counts of holland. five hundred years before his birth; his ancestor sikko, younger brother of dirk the third, had died, leaving two sons, one of whom was the first baron of brederode. a descent of five centuries in unbroken male succession from the original sovereigns of holland, gave him a better genealogical claim to the provinces than any which philip of spain could assert through the usurping house of burgundy. in the approaching tumults he hoped for an opportunity of again asserting the ancient honors of his name. he was a sworn foe to spaniards and to "water of the fountain." but a short time previously to this epoch he had written to louis of nassau, then lying ill of a fever, in order gravely to remonstrate with him on the necessity of substituting wine for water on all occasions, and it will be seen in the sequel that the wine-cup was the great instrument on which he relied for effecting the deliverance of the country. although "neither bachelor nor chancellor," as he expressed it, he was supposed to be endowed with ready eloquence and mother wit. even these gifts, however, if he possessed them, were often found wanting on important emergencies. of his courage there was no question, but he was not destined to the death either of a warrior or a martyr. headlong, noisy, debauched, but brave, kind-hearted and generous, he was a fitting representative of his ancestors, the hard-fighting, hard-drinking, crusading, free-booting sovereigns of holland and friesland, and would himself have been more at home and more useful in the eleventh century than in the sixteenth. it was about six o'clock in the evening, on the third day of april ( ), that the long-expected cavalcade at last entered brussels. an immense concourse of citizens of all ranks thronged around the noble confederates as soon as they made their appearance. they were about two hundred in number, all on horseback, with pistols in their holsters, and brederode, tall, athletic, and martial in his bearing, with handsome features and fair curling locks upon his shoulders, seemed an appropriate chieftain for that band of batavian chivalry. the procession was greeted with frequent demonstrations of applause as it wheeled slowly through the city till it reached the mansion of orange nassau. here brederode and count louis alighted, while the rest of the company dispersed to different quarters of the town. "they thought that i should not come to brussels," said brederode, as he dismounted. "very well, here i am; and perhaps i shall depart in a different manner." in the course of the next day, counts culemburg and van den berg entered the city with one hundred other cavaliers. on the morning of the fifth of april, the confederates were assembled at the culemburg mansion, which stood on the square called the sabon, within a few minutes' walk of the palace. a straight handsome street led from the house along the summit of the hill, to the splendid residence of the ancient dukes of brabant, then the abode of duchess margaret. at a little before noon, the gentlemen came forth, marching on foot, two by two, to the number of three hundred. nearly all were young, many of them bore the most ancient historical names of their country, every one was arrayed in magnificent costume. it was regarded as ominous, that the man who led the procession, philip de bailleul, was lame. the line was closed by brederode and count louis, who came last, walking arm in arm. an immense crowd was collected in the square in front of the palace, to welcome the men who were looked upon as the deliverers of the land from spanish tyranny, from the cardinalists, and from the inquisition. they were received with deafening huzzas and clappings of hands by the assembled populace. as they entered the council chamber, passing through the great hall, where ten years before the emperor had given away his crowns, they found the emperor's daughter seated in the chair of state, and surrounded by the highest personages of the country. the emotion of the duchess was evident, as the procession somewhat abruptly made its appearance; nor was her agitation diminished as she observed among the petitioners many relatives and, retainers of the orange and egmont houses, and saw friendly glances of recognition exchanged between them and their chiefs. as soon as all had entered the senate room, brederode advanced, made a low obeisance, and spoke a brief speech. he said that he had come thither with his colleagues to present a humble petition to her highness. he alluded to the reports which had been rife, that they had contemplated tumult, sedition, foreign conspiracies, and, what was more abominable than all, a change of sovereign. he denounced such statements as calumnies, begged the duchess to name the men who had thus aspersed an honorable and loyal company, and called upon her to inflict exemplary punishment upon the slanderers. with these prefatory remarks he presented the petition. the famous document was then read aloud.--its tone was sufficiently loyal, particularly in the preamble, which was filled with protestations of devotion to both king and duchess. after this conventional introduction, however, the petitioners proceeded to state, very plainly, that the recent resolutions of his majesty, with regard to the edict and the inquisition, were likely to produce a general rebellion. they had hoped, they said, that a movement would be made by the seigniors or by the estates, to remedy the evil by striking at its cause, but they had waited in vain. the danger, on the other hand, was augmenting every day, universal sedition was at the gate, and they had therefore felt obliged to delay no longer, but come forward the first and do their duty. they professed to do this with more freedom, because the danger touched them very nearly. they were the most exposed to the calamities which usually spring from civil commotions, for their, houses and lands situate in the open fields, were exposed to the pillage of all the world. moreover there was not one of them, whatever his condition, who was not liable at any moment to be executed under the edicts, at the false complaint of the first man who wished to obtain his estate, and who chose to denounce him to the inquisitor, at whose mercy were the lives and property of all. they therefore begged the duchess regent to despatch an envoy on their behalf, who should humbly implore his majesty to abolish the edicts. in the mean time they requested her highness to order a general surcease of the inquisition, and of all executions, until the king's further pleasure was made known, and until new ordinances, made by his majesty with advice and consent of the states-general duly assembled, should be established. the petition terminated as it had commenced, with expressions of extreme respect and devoted loyalty. the agitation of duchess margaret increased very perceptibly during the reading of the paper. when it was finished, she remained for a few minutes quite silent, with tears rolling down her cheeks. as soon as she could overcome her excitement, she uttered a few words to the effect that she would advise with her councillors and give the petitioners such answer as should be found suitable. the confederates then passed out from the council chamber into the grand hall; each individual, as he took his departure, advancing towards the duchess and making what was called the "caracole," in token of reverence. there was thus ample time to contemplate the whole company; and to count the numbers of the deputation. after this ceremony had been concluded, there was much earnest debate in. the council. the prince of orange addressed a few words to the duchess, with the view of calming her irritation. he observed that the confederates were no seditious rebels, but loyal gentlemen, well born, well connected, and of honorable character. they had been influenced, he said, by an honest desire to save their country from impending danger--not by avarice or ambition. egmont shrugged his shoulders, and observed that it was necessary for him to leave the court for a season, in order to make a visit to the baths of aix, for an inflammation which he had in the leg. it was then that berlaymont, according to the account which has been sanctioned by nearly every contemporary writer, whether catholic or protestant, uttered the gibe which was destined to become immortal, and to give a popular name to the confederacy. "what, madam," he is reported to have cried in a passion, "is it possible that your highness can entertain fears of these beggars? (gueux). is it not obvious what manner of men they are? they have not had wisdom enough to manage their own estates, and are they now to teach the king and your highness how to govern the country? by the living god, if my advice were taken, their petition should have a cudgel for a commentary, and we would make them go down the steps of the palace a great deal faster than they mounted them." the count of meghen was equally violent in his language. aremberg was for ordering "their reverences; the confederates," to, quit brussels without delay. the conversation, carried on in so violent a key, might not unnaturally have been heard by such of the gentlemen as had not yet left the grand hall adjoining the council chamber. the meeting of the council was then adjourned for an hour or two, to meet again in the afternoon, for the purpose of deciding deliberately upon the answer to be given to the request. meanwhile, many of the confederates were swaggering about the streets, talking very bravely of the scene which had just occurred, and it is probable, boasting not a little of the effect which their demonstration would produce. as they passed by the house of berlaymont, that nobleman, standing at his window in company with count aremberg, is said to have repeated his jest. "there go our fine beggars again," said he. "look, i pray you, with what bravado they are passing before us!" on the th of april, brederode, attended by a large number of his companions, again made his appearance at the palace. he then received the petition, which was returned to him with an apostille or commentary to this effect:--her highness would despatch an envoy for the purpose of inducing his majesty to grant the request. every thing worthy of the king's unaffected (naive) and customary benignity might be expected as to the result. the duchess had already, with the assistance of the state and privy councillors, fleece knights and governors, commenced a project for moderating the edicts, to be laid before the king. as her authority did not allow her to suspend the inquisition and placards, she was confident that the petitioners would be satisfied with the special application about to be made to the king. meantime, she would give orders to all inquisitors, that they should proceed "modestly and discreetly" in their office, so that no one would have cause to complain. her highness hoped likewise that the gentlemen on their part would conduct themselves in a loyal and satisfactory manner; thus proving that they had no intention to make innovations in the ancient religion of the country. upon the next day but one, monday, th of april, brederode, attended by a number of the confederates, again made his appearance at the palace, for the purpose of delivering an answer to the apostille. in this second paper the confederates rendered thanks for the prompt reply which the duchess had given to their request, expressed regrets that she did not feel at liberty to suspend the inquisition, and declared their confidence that she would at once give such orders to the inquisitors and magistrates that prosecutions for religious matters should cease, until the king's further pleasure should be declared. they professed themselves desirous of maintaining whatever regulations should be thereafter established by his majesty, with the advice and consent of the states-general, for the security of the ancient religion, and promised to conduct themselves generally in such wise that her highness would have every reason to be satisfied with them. they, moreover, requested that the duchess would cause the petition to be printed in authentic form by the government printer. the admission that the confederates would maintain the ancient religion had been obtained, as margaret informed her brother, through the dexterous management of hoogstraaten, without suspicion on the part of the petitioners that the proposition for such a declaration came from her. the duchess replied by word of mouth to the second address thus made to her by the confederates, that she could not go beyond the apostille which she had put on record. she had already caused letters for the inquisitors and magistrates to be drawn up. the minutes for those instructions should be laid before the confederates by count hoogstraaten and secretary berty. as for the printing of their petition, she was willing to grant their demand, and would give orders to that effect. the gentlemen having received this answer, retired into the great hall. after a few minutes' consultation, however, they returned to the council chamber, where the seigneur d'esquerdes, one of their number, addressed a few parting words, in the name of his associates, to the regent; concluding with a request that she would declare, the confederates to have done no act, and made no demonstration, inconsistent with their duty and with a perfect respect for his majesty. to this demand the duchess answered somewhat drily that she could not be judge in such a cause. time and their future deeds, she observed, could only bear witness as to their purposes. as for declarations from her, they must be satisfied with the apostille which they had already received. with this response, somewhat more tart than agreeable, the nobles were obliged to content themselves, and they accordingly took their leave. it must be confessed that they had been disposed to slide rather cavalierly over a good deal of ground towards the great object which they had in view. certainly the petitio principii was a main feature of their logic. they had, in their second address, expressed perfect confidence as to two very considerable concessions. the duchess was practically to suspend the inquisition, although she had declared herself without authority for that purpose, the king, who claimed, de jure and de facto, the whole legislative power, was thenceforth to make laws on religious matters by and with the consent of the states-general. certainly, these ends were very laudable, and if a civil and religious revolution could have been effected by a few gentlemen going to court in fine clothes to present a petition, and by sitting down to a tremendous banquet afterwards, brederode and his associates were the men to accomplish the task. unfortunately, a sea of blood and long years of conflict lay between the nation and the promised land, which for a moment seemed so nearly within reach. meantime the next important step in brederode's eyes was a dinner. he accordingly invited the confederates to a magnificent repast which he had ordered to be prepared in the culemburg mansion. three hundred guests sat down, upon the th of april, to this luxurious banquet, which was destined to become historical. the board glittered with silver and gold. the wine circulated with more than its usual rapidity among the band of noble bacchanals, who were never weary of drinking the healths of brederode, of orange, and of egmont. it was thought that the occasion imperiously demanded an extraordinary carouse, and the political events of the past three days lent an additional excitement to the wine. there was an earnest discussion as to an appropriate name to be given to their confederacy. should they call themselves the "society of concord," the restorers of lost liberty, or by what other attractive title should the league be baptized? brederode was, however, already prepared to settle the question. he knew the value of a popular and original name; he possessed the instinct by which adroit partisans in every age have been accustomed to convert the reproachful epithets of their opponents into watchwords of honor, and he had already made his preparations for a startling theatrical effect. suddenly, amid the din of voices, he arose, with all his rhetorical powers at command: he recounted to the company the observations which the seigneur de berlaymont was reported to have made to the duchess, upon the presentation of the request, and the name which he had thought fit to apply to them collectively. most of the gentlemen then heard the memorable sarcasm for the first time. great was the indignation of all that the state councillor should have dared to stigmatize as beggars a band of gentlemen with the best blood of the land in their veins. brederode, on the contrary, smoothing their anger, assured them with good humor that nothing could be more fortunate. "they call us beggars!" said he; "let us accept the name. we will contend with the inquisition, but remain loyal to the king, even till compelled to wear the beggar's sack." he then beckoned to one of his pages, who brought him a leathern wallet, such as was worn at that day by professional mendicants, together with a large wooden bowl, which also formed part of their regular appurtenances. brederode immediately hung the wallet around his neck, filled the bowl with wine, lifted it with both hands, and drained it at a draught. "long live the beggars!" he cried, as he wiped his beard and set the bowl down. "vivent les gueulx." then for the first time, from the lips of those reckless nobles rose the famous, cry, which was so often to ring over land and sea, amid blazing cities, on blood-stained decks, through the smoke and carnage of many a stricken field. the humor of brederode was hailed with deafening shouts of applause. the count then threw the wallet around the neck of his nearest neighbor, and handed him the wooden bawl. each guest, in turn, donned the mendicant's knapsack. pushing aside his golden goblet, each filled the beggars' bowl to the brim, and drained it to the beggars' health. roars of laughter, and shouts of "vivent les gueulx" shook the walls of the stately mansion, as they were doomed never to shake again. the shibboleth was invented. the conjuration which they had been anxiously seeking was found. their enemies had provided them with a spell, which was to prove, in after days, potent enough to start a spirit from palace or hovel, forest or wave, as the deeds of the "wild beggars," the "wood beggars," and the "beggars of the sea" taught philip at last to understand the nation which he had driven to madness. when the wallet and bowl had made the circuit of the table, they were suspended to a pillar in the hall. each of the company in succession then threw some salt into his goblet, and, placing himself under these symbols of the brotherhood, repeated a jingling distich, produced impromptu for the occasion. by this salt, by this bread, by this wallet we swear, these beggars ne'er will change, though all the world should stare. this ridiculous ceremony completed the rites by which the confederacy received its name; but the banquet was by no means terminated. the uproar became furious. the younger and more reckless nobles abandoned themselves to revelry, which would have shamed heathen saturnalia. they renewed to each other, every moment, their vociferous oaths of fidelity to the common cause, drained huge beakers to the beggars' health, turned their caps and doublets inside out, danced upon chairs and tables. several addressed each other as lord abbot, or reverend prior, of this or that religious institution, thus indicating the means by which some of them hoped to mend their broken fortunes. while the tumult was at its height, the prince of orange with counts horn and egmont entered the apartment. they had been dining quietly with mansfeld, who was confined to his house with an inflamed eye, and they were on their way to the council chamber, where the sessions were now prolonged nightly to a late hour. knowing that hoogstraaten, somewhat against his will, had been induced to be present at the banquet, they had come round by the way of culemburg house, to induce him to retire. they were also disposed, if possible, to abridge the festivities which their influence would have been powerless to prevent. these great nobles, as soon as they made their appearance, were surrounded by a crew of "beggars," maddened and dripping with their, recent baptism of wine, who compelled them to drink a cup amid shouts of "vivent le roi et les gueulx!" the meaning of this cry they of course could not understand, for even those who had heard berlaymont's contemptuous remarks, might not remember the exact term which he had used, and certainly could not be aware of the importance to which it had just been elevated. as for horn, he disliked and had long before quarrelled with brederode, had prevented many persons from signing the compromise, and, although a guest at that time of orange, was in the habit of retiring to bed before supper, to avoid the company of many who frequented the house. yet his presence for a few moments, with the best intentions, at the conclusion of this famous banquet, was made one of the most deadly charges which were afterwards drawn up against him by the crown. the three seigniors refused to be seated, and remained but for a moment, "the length of a miserere," taking with them hoogstraaten as they retired. they also prevailed upon the whole party to break up at the same time, so that their presence had served at least to put a conclusion to the disgraceful riot. when they arrived at the council chamber they received the thanks of the duchess for what they had done. such was the first movement made by the members of the compromise. was it strange that orange should feel little affinity with such companions? had he not reason to hesitate, if the sacred cause of civil and religious liberty could only be maintained by these defenders and with such assistance? the "beggars" did not content themselves with the name alone of the time-honored fraternity of mendicants in which they had enrolled themselves. immediately after the culemburg banquet, a costume for the confederacy was decided upon. these young gentlemen discarding gold lace and velvet, thought it expedient to array themselves in doublets and hose of ashen grey, with short cloaks of the same color, all of the coarsest materials. they appeared in this guise in the streets, with common felt hats on their heads, and beggars' pouches and bowls at their sides. they caused also medals of lead and copper to be struck, bearing upon one side the head of philip; upon the reverse, two hands clasped within a wallet, with the motto, "faithful to the king, even to wearing the beggar's sack." these badges they wore around their necks, or as buttons to their hats. as a further distinction they shaved their beards close, excepting the moustachios, which were left long and pendent in the turkish fashion,--that custom, as it seemed, being an additional characteristic of mendicants. very soon after these events the nobles of the league dispersed from the capital to their various homes. brederode rode out of brussels at the head of a band of cavaliers, who saluted the concourse of applauding spectators with a discharge of their pistols. forty-three gentlemen accompanied him to antwerp, where he halted for a night. the duchess had already sent notice to the magistrates of that city of his intended visit, and warned them to have an eye upon his proceedings. "the great beggar," as hoogstraaten called him, conducted himself, however, with as much propriety as could be expected. four or five thousand of the inhabitants thronged about the hotel where he had taken up his quarters. he appeared at a window with his wooden bowl, filled with wine, in his hands, and his wallet at his side. he assured the multitude that he was ready to die to defend the good people of antwerp and of all the netherlands against the edicts and the inquisition. meantime he drank their healths, and begged all who accepted the pledge to hold up their hands. the populace, highly amused, held up and clapped their hands as honest brederode drained his bowl, and were soon afterwards persuaded to retire in great good humor. these proceedings were all chronicled and transmitted to madrid. it was also both publicly reported and secretly registered, that brederode had eaten capons and other meat at antwerp, upon good friday, which happened to be the, day of his visit to that city. he denied the charge, however; with ludicrous vehemence. "they who have told madame that we ate meat in antwerp," he wrote to count louis, "have lied wickedly and miserably, twenty-four feet down in their throats." he added that his nephew, charles mansfeld, who, notwithstanding the indignant prohibition of his father, had assisted of the presentation of the request, and was then in his uncle's company at antwerp, had ordered a capon, which brederode had countermanded. "they told me afterwards," said he, "that my nephew had broiled a sausage in his chamber. i suppose that he thought himself in spain, where they allow themselves such dainties." let it not be thought that these trifles are beneath the dignity of history. matters like these filled the whole soul of philip, swelled the bills of indictment for thousands of higher and better men than brederode, and furnished occupation as well for secret correspondents and spies as for the most dignified functionaries of government. capons or sausages on good friday, the psalms of clement marot, the sermon on the mount in the vernacular, led to the rack, the gibbet, and the stake, but ushered in a war against the inquisition which was to last for eighty years. brederode was not to be the hero of that party which he disgraced by his buffoonery. had he lived, he might, perhaps, like many of his confederates, have redeemed, by his bravery in the field, a character which his orgies had rendered despicable. he now left antwerp for the north of holland, where, as he soon afterwards reported to count louis, "the beggars were as numerous as the sands on the seashore." his "nephew charles," two months afterwards, obeyed his father's injunction, and withdrew formally from the confederacy. meantime the rumor had gone abroad that the request of the nobles had already produced good fruit, that the edicts were to be mitigated, the inquisition abolished, liberty of conscience eventually to prevail. "upon these reports," says a contemporary, "all the vermin of exiles and fugitives for religion, as well as those who had kept in concealment, began to lift up their heads and thrust forth their horns." it was known that margaret of parma had ordered the inquisitors and magistrates to conduct themselves "modestly and discreetly." it was known that the privy council was hard at work upon the project for "moderating" the edicts. modestly and discreetly, margaret of parma, almost immediately after giving these orders, and while the "moderation" was still in the hands of the lawyers, informed her brother that she had given personal attention to the case of a person who had snatched the holy wafer from the priest's hand at oudenarde. this "quidam," as she called him--for his name was beneath the cognizance of an emperor's bastard daughter--had by her orders received rigorous and exemplary justice. and what was the "rigorous and exemplary justice" thus inflicted upon the "quidam?" the procurator of the neighboring city of tournay has enabled us to answer. the young man, who was a tapestry weaver, hans tiskaen by name, had, upon the th may, thrown the holy wafer upon the ground. for this crime, which was the same as that committed on christmas-day of the previous year by bertrand le blas, at tournay, he now met with a similar although not quite so severe a punishment. having gone quietly home after doing the deed, he was pursued, arrested, and upon the saturday ensuing taken to the market-place of oudenarde. here the right hand with which he had committed the offence was cut off, and he was then fastened to the stake and burned to death over a slow fire. he was fortunately not more than a quarter of an hour in torment, but he persisted in his opinions, and called on god for support to his last breath. this homely tragedy was enacted at oudenarde, the birth place of duchess margaret. she was the daughter of the puissant charles the fifth, but her mother was only the daughter of a citizen of oudenarde; of a "quidam" like the nameless weaver who had thus been burned by her express order. it was not to be supposed, however, that the circumstance could operate in so great a malefactor's favor. moreover, at the same moment, she sent orders that a like punishment should be inflicted upon another person then in a flemish prison, for the crime of anabaptism. the privy council, assisted by thirteen knights of the fleece, had been hard at work, and the result of their wisdom was at last revealed in a "moderation" consisting of fifty-three articles. what now was the substance of those fifty-three articles, so painfully elaborated by viglius, so handsomely drawn up into shape by councillor d'assonleville? simply to substitute the halter for the fagot. after elimination of all verbiage, this fact was the only residuum. it was most distinctly laid down that all forms of religion except the roman catholic were forbidden; that no public or secret conventicles were to be allowed; that all heretical writings were to be suppressed; that all curious inquiries into the scriptures were to be prohibited. persons who infringed these regulations were divided into two classes--the misleaders and the misled. there was an affectation of granting mercy to persons in the second category, while death was denounced upon those composing the first. it was merely an affectation; for the rambling statute was so open in all its clauses, that the juggernaut car of persecution could be driven through the whole of them, whenever such a course should seem expedient. every man or woman in the netherlands might be placed in the list of the misleaders, at the discretion of the officials. the pretended mercy to the misguided was a mere delusion. the superintendents, preachers, teachers, ministers, sermon-makers, deacons, and other officers, were to be executed with the halter, with confiscation of their whole property. so much was very plain. other heretics, however, who would abjure their heresy before the bishop, might be pardoned for the first offence, but if obstinate, were to be banished. this seemed an indication of mercy, at least to the repentant criminals. but who were these "other" heretics? all persons who discussed religious matters were to be put to death. all persons, not having studied theology at a "renowned university," who searched and expounded the scriptures, were to be put to death. all persons in whose houses any act of the perverse religion should be committed, were to be put to death. all persons who harbored or protected ministers and teachers of any sect, were to be put to death. all the criminals thus carefully enumerated were to be executed, whether repentant or not. if, however, they abjured their errors, they were to be beheaded instead of being strangled. thus it was obvious that almost any heretic might be brought to the halter at a moment's notice. strictly speaking, the idea of death by the halter or the axe was less shocking to the imagination than that of being burned or buried alive. in this respect, therefore, the edicts were softened by the proposed "moderation." it would, however, always be difficult to persuade any considerable slumber of intelligent persons, that the infliction of a violent death, by whatever process, on account of religious opinions, was an act of clemency. the netherlanders were, however, to be persuaded into this belief. the draft of the new edict was ostentatiously called the "moderatie," or the "moderation." it was very natural, therefore, that the common people, by a quibble, which is the same in flemish as in english, should call the proposed "moderation" the "murderation." the rough mother-wit of the people had already characterized and annihilated the project, while dull formalists were carrying it through the preliminary stages. a vote in favor of the project having been obtained from the estates of artois, hainault, and flanders, the instructions for the envoys; baron montigny and marquis berghen, were made out in conformity to the scheme. egmont had declined the mission, not having reason to congratulate himself upon the diplomatic success of his visit to spain in the preceding year. the two nobles who consented to undertake the office were persuaded into acceptance sorely against their will. they were aware that their political conduct since the king's departure from the country had not always been deemed satisfactory at madrid, but they were, of course, far from suspecting the true state of the royal mind. they were both as sincere catholics and as loyal gentlemen as granvelle, but they were not aware how continuously, during a long course of years, that personage had represented them to philip as renegades and rebels. they had maintained the constitutional rights of the state, and they had declined to act as executioners for the inquisition, but they were yet to learn that such demonstrations amounted to high treason. montigny departed, on the th may, from brussels. he left the bride to whom he had been wedded amid scenes of festivity, the preceding autumn--the unborn child who was never to behold its father's face. he received warnings in paris, by which he scorned to profit. the spanish ambassador in that city informed him that philip's wrath at the recent transactions in the netherlands was high. he was most significantly requested, by a leading personage in france, to feign illness, or to take refuge in any expedient by which he might avoid the fulfilment of his mission. such hints had no effect in turning him from his course, and he proceeded to madrid, where he arrived on the th of june. his colleague in the mission, marquis berghen, had been prevented from setting forth at the same time, by an accident which, under the circumstances, might almost seem ominous. walking through the palace park, in a place where some gentlemen were playing at pall-mall, he was accidentally struck in the leg by a wooden ball. the injury, although trifling, produced go much irritation and fever that he was confined to his bed for several weeks. it was not until the st of july that he was able to take his departure from brussels. both these unfortunate nobles thus went forth to fulfil that dark and mysterious destiny from which the veil of three centuries has but recently been removed. besides a long historical discourse, in eighteen chapters, delivered by way of instruction to the envoys, margaret sent a courier beforehand with a variety of intelligence concerning the late events. alonzo del canto, one of philip's spies in the netherlands, also wrote to inform the king that the two ambassadors were the real authors of all the troubles then existing in the country. cardinal granvelle, too, renewed his previous statements in a confidential communication to his majesty, adding that no persons more appropriate could have been selected than berghen and montigny, for they knew better than any one else the state of affairs in which they had borne the principal part. nevertheless, montigny, upon his arrival in madrid on the th of june, was received by philip with much apparent cordiality, admitted immediately to an audience, and assured in the strongest terms that there was no dissatisfaction in the royal mind against the seigniors, whatever false reports might be circulated to that effect. in other respects, the result of this and of his succeeding interviews with the monarch was sufficiently meagre. it could not well be otherwise. the mission of the envoys was an elaborate farce to introduce a terrible tragedy. they were sent to procure from philip the abolition of the inquisition and the moderation of the edicts. at the very moment, however, of all these legislative and diplomatic arrangements, margaret of parma was in possession of secret letters from philip, which she was charged to deliver to the archbishop of sorrento, papal nuncio at the imperial court, then on a special visit to brussels. this ecclesiastic had come to the netherlands ostensibly to confer with the prince of orange upon the affairs of his principality, to remonstrate with count culemburg, and to take measures for the reformation of the clergy. the real object of his mission, however, was to devise means for strengthening the inquisition and suppressing heresy in the provinces. philip, at whose request he had come, had charged him by no means to divulge the secret, as the king was anxious to have it believed that the ostensible was the only business which the prelate had to perform in the country. margaret accordingly delivered to him the private letters, in which philip avowed his determination to maintain the inquisition and the edicts in all their rigor, but enjoined profound secrecy upon the subject. the duchess, therefore, who knew the face of the cards, must have thought it a superfluous task to continue the game, which to philip's cruel but procrastinating temperament was perhaps a pleasurable excitement. the scheme for mitigating the edicts by the substitution of strangling for burning, was not destined therefore far much success either in spain or in the provinces; but the people by whom the next great movement was made in the drama of the revolt, conducted themselves in a manner to shame the sovereign who oppressed, and the riotous nobles who had undertaken to protect their liberties. at this very moment, in the early summer of , many thousands of burghers, merchants, peasants, and gentlemen, were seen mustering and marching through the fields of every province, armed with arquebus, javelin, pike and broadsword. for what purpose were these gatherings? only to hear sermons and to sing hymns in the open air, as it was unlawful to profane the churches with such rites. this was the first great popular phase of the netherland rebellion. notwithstanding the edicts and the inquisition with their daily hecatombs, notwithstanding the special publication at this time throughout the country by the duchess regent that all the sanguinary statutes concerning religion were in as great vigor as ever, notwithstanding that margaret offered a reward of seven hundred crowns to the man who would bring her a preacher--dead or alive,--the popular thirst for the exercises of the reformed religion could no longer be slaked at the obscure and hidden fountains where their priests had so long privately ministered. partly emboldened by a temporary lull in the persecution, partly encouraged by the presentation of the request and by the events to which it had given rise, the reformers now came boldly forth from their lurking places and held their religious meetings in the light of day. the consciousness of numbers and of right had brought the conviction of strength. the audacity of the reformers was wonderful to the mind of president viglius, who could find no language strong enough with which to characterize and to deplore such blasphemous conduct. the field-preaching seemed in the eyes of government to spread with the rapidity of a malignant pestilence. the miasma flew upon the wings of the wind. as early as , there had been public preaching in the neighborhood of ypres. the executions which followed, however, had for the time suppressed the practice both in that place as well as throughout flanders and the rest of the provinces. it now broke forth as by one impulse from one end of the country to the other. in the latter part of june, hermann stryoker or modet, a monk who had renounced his vows to become one of the most popular preachers in the reformed church, addressed a congregation of seven or eight thousand persons in the neighborhood of ghent. peter dathenus, another unfrocked monk, preached at various places in west flanders, with great effect. a man endowed with a violent, stormy eloquence, intemperate as most zealots, he was then rendering better services to the cause of the reformation than he was destined to do at later periods. but apostate priests were not the only preachers. to the ineffable disgust of the conservatives in church and state, there were men with little education, utterly devoid of hebrew, of lowly station--hatters, curriers, tanners, dyers, and the like, who began to preach also; remembering, unseasonably perhaps, that the early disciples, selected by the founder of christianity, had not all been doctors of theology, with diplomas from a "renowned university." but if the nature of such men were subdued to what it worked in, that charge could not be brought against ministers with the learning and accomplishments of ambrose wille, marnier, guy de bray, or francis junius, the man whom scaliger called the "greatest of all theologians since the days of the apostles." an aristocratic sarcasm could not be levelled against peregrine de la grange, of a noble family in provence, with the fiery blood of southern france in his veins, brave as his nation, learned, eloquent, enthusiastic, who galloped to his field-preaching on horseback, and fired a pistol-shot as a signal for his congregation to give attention. on the th of june, , at eleven o'clock at night, there was an assemblage of six thousand people near tournay, at the bridge of ernonville, to hear a sermon from ambrose wille, a man who had studied theology in geneva, at the feet of calvin, and who now, with a special price upon his head,--was preaching the doctrines he had learned. two days afterwards, ten thousand people assembled at the same spot, to hear peregrine de la grange. governor moulbais thundered forth a proclamation from the citadel, warning all men that the edicts were as rigorous as ever, and that every man, woman, or child who went to these preachings, was incurring the penalty of death. the people became only the more ardent and excited. upon sunday, the seventh of july; twenty thousand persons assembled at the same bridge to hear ambrose wille. one man in three was armed. some had arquebuses, others pistols, pikes, swords, pitchforks, poniards, clubs. the preacher, for whose apprehension a fresh reward had been offered, was escorted to his pulpit by a hundred mounted troopers. he begged his audience not to be scared from the word of god by menace; assured them that although but a poor preacher himself, he held a divine commission; that he had no fear of death; that, should he fall, there were many better than he to supply his place, and fifty thousand men to avenge his murder. the duchess sent forth proclamations by hundreds. she ordered the instant suppression of these armed assemblies and the arrest of the preachers. but of what avail were proclamations against such numbers with weapons in their hands. why irritate to madness these hordes of enthusiasts, who were now entirely pacific, and who marched back to the city, after conclusion of divine service, with perfect decorum? all classes of the population went eagerly to the sermons. the gentry of the place, the rich merchants, the notables, as well as the humbler artisans and laborers, all had received the infection. the professors of the reformed religion outnumbered the catholics by five or six to one. on sundays and other holidays, during the hours of service, tournay was literally emptied of its inhabitants. the streets were as silent as if war or pestilence had swept the place. the duchess sent orders, but she sent no troops. the trained-bands of the city, the cross-bow-men of st. maurice, the archers of st. sebastian, the sword-players of st. christopher, could not be ordered from tournay to suppress the preaching, for they had all gone to the preaching themselves. how idle, therefore; to send peremptory orders without a matchlock to enforce the command. throughout flanders similar scenes were enacted. the meetings were encampments, for the reformers now came to their religious services armed to the teeth, determined, if banished from the churches, to defend their right to the fields. barricades of upturned wagons, branches, and planks, were thrown up around the camps. strong guards of mounted men were stationed at every avenue. outlying scouts gave notice of approaching danger, and guided the faithful into the enclosure. pedlers and hawkers plied the trade upon which the penalty of death was fixed, and sold the forbidden hymn-books to all who chose to purchase. a strange and contradictory spectacle! an army of criminals doing deeds which could only be expiated at the stake; an entrenched rebellion, bearding the government with pike, matchlock, javelin and barricade, and all for no more deadly purpose than to listen to the precepts of the pacific jesus. thus the preaching spread through the walloon provinces to the northern netherlands. towards the end of july, an apostate monk, of singular eloquence, peter gabriel by name, was announced to preach at overeen near harlem. this was the first field-meeting which had taken place in holland. the people were wild with enthusiasm; the authorities beside themselves with apprehension. people from the country flocked into the town by thousands. the other cities were deserted, harlem was filled to overflowing. multitudes encamped upon the ground the night before. the magistrates ordered the gates to be kept closed in the morning till long after the usual hour. it was of no avail. bolts and bars were but small impediments to enthusiasts who had travelled so many miles on foot or horseback to listen to a sermon. they climbed the walls, swam the moat and thronged to the place of meeting long before the doors had been opened. when these could no longer be kept closed without a conflict, for which the magistrates were not prepared, the whole population poured out of the city with a single impulse. tens of thousands were assembled upon the field. the bulwarks were erected as usual, the guards were posted, the necessary precautions taken. but upon this occasion, and in that region there was but little danger to be apprehended. the multitude of reformers made the edicts impossible, so long as no foreign troops were there to enforce them. the congregation was encamped and arranged in an orderly manner. the women, of whom there were many, were placed next the pulpit, which, upon this occasion, was formed of a couple of spears thrust into the earth, sustaining a cross-piece, against which the preacher might lean his back. the services commenced with the singing of a psalm by the whole vast assemblage. clement marot's verses, recently translated by dathenus, were then new and popular. the strains of the monarch minstrel, chanted thus in their homely but nervous mother tongue by a multitude who had but recently learned that all the poetry and rapture of devotion were not irrevocably coffined with a buried language, or immured in the precincts of a church, had never produced a more elevating effect. no anthem from the world-renowned organ in that ancient city ever awakened more lofty emotions than did those ten thousand human voices ringing from the grassy meadows in that fervid midsummer noon. when all was silent again, the preacher rose; a little, meagre man, who looked as if he might rather melt away beneath the blazing sunshine of july, than hold the multitude enchained four uninterrupted hours long, by the magic of his tongue. his text was the th, th, and th verses of the second chapter of ephesians; and as the slender monk spoke to his simple audience of god's grace, and of faith in jesus, who had descended from above to save the lowliest and the most abandoned, if they would put their trust in him, his hearers were alternately exalted with fervor or melted into tears. he prayed for all conditions of men--for themselves, their friends, their enemies, for the government which had persecuted them, for the king whose face was turned upon them in anger. at times, according to one who was present, not a dry eye was to be seen in the crowd. when the minister had finished, he left his congregation abruptly, for he had to travel all night in order to reach alkmaar, where he was to preach upon the following day. by the middle of july the custom was established outside all the principal cities. camp-meetings were held in some places; as, for instance, in the neighborhood of antwerp, where the congregations numbered often fifteen thousand and on some occasions were estimated at between twenty and thirty thousand persons at a time; "very many of them," said an eye-witness, "the best and wealthiest in the town." the sect to which most of these worshippers belonged was that of calvin. in antwerp there were lutherans, calvinists, and anabaptists. the lutherans were the richest sect, but the calvinists the most numerous and enthusiastic. the prince of orange at this moment was strenuously opposed both to calvinism and anabaptism, but inclining to lutheranism. political reasons at this epoch doubtless influenced his mind in religious matters. the aid of the lutheran princes of germany, who detested the doctrines of geneva, could hardly be relied upon for the netherlanders, unless they would adapt the confession of augsburg. the prince knew that the emperor, although inclined to the reformation, was bitterly averse to calvinism, and he was, therefore, desirous of healing the schism which existed in the general reformed church. to accomplish this, however, would be to gain a greater victory over the bigotry which was the prevailing characteristic of the age than perhaps could be expected. the prince, from the first moment of his abandoning the ancient doctrines, was disposed to make the attempt. the duchess ordered the magistrates of antwerp to put down these mass-meetings by means of the guild-militia. they replied that at an earlier day such a course might have been practicable, but that the sects had become quite too numerous for coercion. if the authorities were able to prevent the exercises of the reformed religion within the city, it would be as successful a result as could be expected. to prevent the preaching outside the walls, by means of the bourgher force, was an utter impossibility. the dilatoriness of the sovereign placed the regent in a frightful dilemma, but it was sufficiently obvious that the struggle could not long be deferred. "there will soon be a hard nut to crack," wrote count louis. "the king will never grant the preaching; the people will never give it up, if it cost them their necks. there's a hard puff coming upon the country before long." the duchess was not yet authorized to levy troops, and she feared that if she commenced such operations, she should perhaps offend the king, while she at the same time might provoke the people into more effective military preparations than her own. she felt that for one company levied by her, the sectaries could raise ten. moreover, she was entirely without money, even if she should otherwise think it expedient to enrol an army. meantime she did what she could with "public prayers, processions, fasts, sermons, exhortations," and other ecclesiastical machinery which she ordered the bishops to put in motion. her situation was indeed sufficiently alarming. egmont, whom many of the sectaries hoped to secure as their leader in case of a civil war, showed no disposition to encourage such hopes, but as little to take up arms against the people. he went to flanders, where the armed assemblages for field-preaching had become so numerous that a force of thirty or forty thousand men might be set on foot almost at a moment's warning, and where the conservatives, in a state of alarm, desired the presence of their renowned governor. the people of antwerp, on their part, demanded william of orange. the prince, who was hereditary burgrave of the city, had at first declined the invitation of the magistracy. the duchess united her request with the universal prayer of the inhabitants. events meantime had been thickening, and suspicion increasing. meghen had been in the city for several days, much to the disgust of the reformers, by whom he was hated. aremberg was expected to join him, and it was rumored that measures were secretly in progress under the auspices of these two leading cardinalists, for introducing a garrison, together with great store of ammunition, into the city. on the other hand, the "great beggar," brederode, had taken up his quarters also in antwerp; had been daily entertaining a crowd of roystering nobles at his hotel, previously to a second political demonstration, which will soon be described, and was constantly parading the street, followed by a swarm of adherents in the beggar livery. the sincere reformers were made nearly as uncomfortable by the presence of their avowed friends, as by that of meghen and aremberg, and earnestly desired to be rid of them all. long and anxious were the ponderings of the magistrates upon all these subjects. it was determined, at last, to send a fresh deputation to brussels, requesting the regent to order the departure of meghen, aremberg, and brederode from antwerp; remonstrating with her against any plan she might be supposed to entertain of sending mercenary troops into the city; pledging the word of the senate to keep the peace, meanwhile, by their regular force; and above all, imploring her once more, in the most urgent terms, to send thither the burgrave, as the only man who was capable of saving the city from the calamities into which it was so likely to fall. the prince of orange being thus urgently besought, both by the government of antwerp, the inhabitants of that city, and by the regent herself, at last consented to make the visit so earnestly demanded. on the th july, he arrived in antwerp. the whole city was alive with enthusiasm. half its population seemed to have come forth from the gates to bid him welcome, lining the road for miles. the gate through which he was to pass, the ramparts, the roofs of the houses were packed close, with expectant and eager faces. at least thirty thousand persons had assembled to welcome their guest. a long cavalcade of eminent citizens had come as far as berghen to meet him and to escort him into the city. brederode, attended by some of the noble confederates, rode at the head of the procession. as they encountered the prince, a discharge of pistol-shots was fired by way of salute, which was the signal for a deafening shout from the assembled multitude. the crowd thronged about the prince as he advanced, calling him their preserver, their father, their only hope. wild shouts of welcome rose upon every side, as he rode through the town, mingled with occasional vociferations of "long life to the beggars." these party cries were instantly and sharply rebuked by orange, who expressed, in brederode's presence, the determination that he would make men unlearn that mischievous watchword. he had, moreover, little relish at that time for the tumultuous demonstrations of attachment to his person, which were too fervid to be censured, but too unseasonable to be approved. when the crowd had at last been made to understand that their huzzas were distasteful to the prince, most of the multitude consented to disperse, feeling, however, a relief from impending danger in the presence of the man to whom they instinctively looked as their natural protector. the senators had come forth in a body to receive the burgrave and escort him to the hotel prepared for him. arrived there, he lost no time in opening the business which had brought him to antwerp. he held at once a long consultation with the upper branch of the government. afterwards, day after day, he honestly, arduously, sagaciously labored to restore the public tranquillity. he held repeated deliberations with every separate portion of the little commonwealth, the senate, the council of ancients, the corporation of ward-masters, the deans of trades. nor did he confine his communication to these organized political bodies alone. he had frequent interviews with the officers of the military associations, with the foreign merchant companies, with the guilds of "rhetoric." the chambers of the "violet" and the "marigold" were not too frivolous or fantastic to be consulted by one who knew human nature and the constitution of netherland society so well as did the prince. night and day he labored with all classes of citizens to bring about a better understanding, and to establish mutual confidence. at last by his efforts tranquillity was restored. the broad-council having been assembled, it was decided that the exercise of the reformed religion should be excluded from the city, but silently tolerated in the suburbs, while an armed force was to be kept constantly in readiness to suppress all attempts at insurrection. the prince had desired, that twelve hundred men should be enlisted and paid by the city, so that at least a small number of disciplined troops might be ready at a moment's warning; but he found it impossible to carry the point with the council. the magistrates were willing to hold themselves responsible for the peace of the city, but they would have no mercenaries. thus, during the remainder of july and the early part of august, was william of orange strenuously occupied in doing what should have been the regent's work. he was still regarded both by the duchess and by the calvinist party--although having the sympathies of neither,--as the only man in the netherlands who could control the rising tide of a national revolt. he took care, said his enemies, that his conduct at antwerp should have every appearance of loyalty; but they insinuated that he was a traitor from the beginning, who was insidiously fomenting the troubles which he appeared to rebuke. no one doubted his genius, and all felt or affected admiration at its display upon this critical occasion. "the prince of orange is doing very great and notable services at antwerp to the king and to the country," said assonleville. "that seignior is very skilful in managing great affairs." margaret of parma wrote letters to him fixed with the warmest gratitude, expressions of approbation, and of wishes that he could both remain in antwerp and return to assist her in brussels. philip, too, with his own pen, addressed him a letter, in which implicit confidence in the prince's character was avowed, all suspicion on the part of the sovereign indignantly repudiated, earnest thanks for his acceptance of the antwerp mission uttered, and a distinct refusal given to the earnest request made by orange to resign his offices. the prince read or listened to all this commendation, and valued it exactly at its proper worth. he knew it to be pure grimace. he was no more deceived by it than if he had read the letter sent by margaret to philip, a few weeks later, in which she expressed herself as "thoroughly aware that it was the intention of orange to take advantage of the impending tumults, for the purpose of conquering the provinces and of dividing the whole territory among himself and friends." nothing could be more utterly false than so vile and ridiculous a statement. the course of the prince had hitherto been, and was still, both consistent and loyal. he was proceeding step by step to place the monarch in the wrong, but the only art which he was using, was to plant himself more firmly upon the right. it was in the monarch's power to convoke the assembly of the states-general, so loudly demanded by the whole nation, to abolish the inquisition, to renounce persecution, to accept the great fact of the reformation. to do so he must have ceased to be philip. to have faltered in attempting to bring him into that path, the prince must have ceased to be william of orange. had he succeeded, there would have been no treason and no republic of holland. his conduct at the outbreak of the antwerp troubles was firm and sagacious. even had his duty required him to put down the public preaching with peremptory violence, he had been furnished with no means to accomplish the purpose. the rebellion, if it were one, was already full-grown. it could not be taken by the throat and strangled with one hand, however firm. a report that the high sheriff of brabant was collecting troops by command of government, in order to attack the reformers at their field-preachings, went far to undo the work already accomplished by the prince. the assemblages swelled again from ten or twelve thousand to twenty-five thousand, the men all providing themselves more thoroughly with weapons than before. soon afterwards, the intemperate zeal of another individual, armed to the teeth--not, however, like the martial sheriff and his forces, with arquebus and javelin, but with the still more deadly weapons of polemical theology,--was very near causing a general outbreak. a peaceful and not very numerous congregation were listening to one of their preachers in a field outside the town. suddenly an unknown individual in plain clothes and with a pragmatical demeanor, interrupted the discourse by giving a flat contradiction to some of the doctrines advanced. the minister replied by a rebuke, and a reiteration of the disputed sentiment.--the stranger, evidently versed in ecclesiastical matters, volubly and warmly responded. the preacher, a man of humble condition and moderate abilities, made as good show of argument as he could, but was evidently no match for his antagonist. he was soon vanquished in the wordy warfare. well he might be, for it appeared that the stranger was no less a personage than peter rythovius, a doctor of divinity, a distinguished pedant of louvain, a relation of a bishop and himself a church dignitary. this learned professor, quite at home in his subject, was easily triumphant, while the poor dissenter, more accustomed to elevate the hearts of his hearers than to perplex their heads, sank prostrate and breathless under the storm of texts, glosses, and hard hebrew roots with which he was soon overwhelmed. the professor's triumph was, however, but short-lived, for the simple-minded congregation, who loved their teacher, were enraged that he should be thus confounded. without more ado, therefore, they laid violent hands upon the quixotic knight-errant of the church, and so cudgelled and belabored him bodily that he might perhaps have lost his life in the encounter had he not been protected by the more respectable portion of the assembly. these persons, highly disapproving the whole proceeding, forcibly rescued him from the assailants, and carried him off to town, where the news of the incident at once created an uproar. here he was thrown into prison as a disturber of the peace, but in reality that he might be personally secure. the next day the prince of orange, after administering to him a severe rebuke for his ill-timed exhibition of pedantry, released him from confinement, and had him conveyed out of the city. "this theologian;" wrote the prince to duchess margaret, "would have done better, methinks, to stay at home; for i suppose he had no especial orders to perform this piece of work." thus, so long as this great statesman could remain in the metropolis, his temperate firmness prevented the explosion which had so long been expected. his own government of holland and zeland, too, especially demanded his care. the field-preaching had spread in that region with prodigious rapidity. armed assemblages, utterly beyond the power of the civil authorities, were taking place daily in the neighborhood of amsterdam. yet the duchess could not allow him to visit his government in the north. if he could be spared from antwerp for a day, it was necessary that he should aid her in a fresh complication with the confederated nobles in the very midst, therefore, of his antwerp labors, he had been obliged, by margaret's orders, to meet a committee at duffel. for in this same eventful month of july a great meeting was held by the members of the compromise at st. trond, in the bishopric of liege. they came together on the thirteenth of the month, and remained assembled till the beginning of august. it was a wild, tumultuous convention, numbering some fifteen hundred cavaliers, each with his esquires and armed attendants; a larger and more important gathering than had yet been held. brederode and count louis were the chieftains of the assembly, which, as may be supposed from its composition and numbers, was likely to be neither very orderly in its demonstrations nor wholesome in its results. it was an ill-timed movement. the convention was too large for deliberation, too riotous to inspire confidence. the nobles quartered themselves every where in the taverns and the farm-houses of the neighborhood, while large numbers encamped upon the open fields. there was a constant din of revelry and uproar, mingled with wordy warfare, and an occasional crossing of swords. it seemed rather like a congress of ancient, savage batavians, assembled in teutonic fashion to choose a king amid hoarse shouting, deep drinking, and the clash of spear and shield, than a meeting for a lofty and earnest purpose, by their civilized descendants. a crowd of spectators, landlopers, mendicants, daily aggregated themselves to the aristocratic assembly, joining, with natural unction, in the incessant shout of "vivent les gueux!" it was impossible that so soon after their baptism the self-styled beggars should repudiate all connection with the time-honored fraternity in which they had enrolled themselves. the confederates discussed--if an exchange of vociferations could be called discussion--principally two points: whether, in case they obtained the original objects of their petition, they should pause or move still further onward; and whether they should insist upon receiving some pledge from the government, that no vengeance should be taken upon them for their previous proceedings. upon both questions, there was much vehemence of argument and great difference of opinion. they, moreover, took two very rash and very grave resolutions--to guarantee the people against all violence on account of their creeds, and to engage a force of german soldiery, four thousand horse and forty companies of infantry by, "wart geld" or retaining wages. it was evident that these gentlemen were disposed to go fast and far. if they had been ready in the spring to receive their baptism of wine, the "beggars" were now eager for the baptism of blood. at the same time it must be observed that the levies which they proposed, not to make, but to have at command, were purely for defence. in case the king, as it was thought probable, should visit the netherlands with fire and sword, then there would be a nucleus of resistance already formed. upon the th july, the prince of orange, at the earnest request of the regent, met a committee of the confederated nobles at duffel. count egmont was associated with him in this duty. the conference was not very satisfactory. the deputies from st. trend, consisting of brederode, culemburg, and others, exchanged with the two seigniors the old arguments. it was urged upon the confederates, that they had made themselves responsible for the public tranquillity so long as the regent should hold to her promise; that, as the duchess had sent two distinguished envoys to madrid, in order to accomplish, if possible, the wishes of the nobles, it was their duty to redeem their own pledges; that armed assemblages ought to be suppressed by their efforts rather than encouraged by their, example; and that, if they now exerted themselves zealously to check, the tumults, the duchess was ready to declare, in her own-name and that of his majesty, that the presentation of the request had been beneficial. the nobles replied that the pledges had become a farce, that the regent was playing them false, that persecution was as fierce as ever, that the "moderation" was a mockery, that the letters recommending "modesty and discretion" to the inquisitors had been mere waste paper, that a price had been set upon the heads of the preachers as if they had been wild beasts, that there were constant threats of invasions from spain, that the convocation of the states-general had been illegally deferred, that the people had been driven to despair, and that it was the conduct of government, not of the confederates, which had caused the reformers to throw off previous restraint and to come boldly forth by tens of thousands into the fields, not to defy their king, but to worship their god. such, in brief, was the conference of duffel. in conclusion, a paper was drawn up which brederode carried back to the convention, and which it was proposed to submit to the duchess for her approval. at the end of the month, louis of nassau was accordingly sent to brussels, accompanied by twelve associates, who were familiarly called his twelve apostles. here he laid before her highness in council a statement, embodying the views of the confederates. in this paper they asserted that they were ever ready to mount and ride against a foreign foe, but that they would never draw a sword against their innocent countrymen. they maintained that their past conduct deserved commendation, and that in requiring letters of safe conduct in the names both of the duchess and of the fleece-knights, they were governed not by a disposition to ask for pardon, but by a reluctance without such guarantees to enter into stipulations touching the public tranquillity. if, however, they should be assured that the intentions of the regent were amicable and that there was no design to take vengeance for the past--if, moreover, she were willing to confide in the counsels of horn, egmont, and orange, and to take no important measure without their concurrence--if, above all, she would convoke the states-general, then, and then only, were the confederates willing to exert their energies to preserve peace, to restrain popular impetuosity and banish universal despair. so far louis of nassau and his twelve apostles. it must be confessed that, whatever might be thought of the justice, there could be but one opinion as to the boldness of these views. the duchess was furious. if the language held in april had been considered audacious, certainly this new request was, in her own words, "still more bitter to the taste and more difficult of digestion." she therefore answered in a very unsatisfactory, haughty and ambiguous manner, reserving decision upon their propositions till they had been discussed by the state council, and intimating that they would also be laid before the knights of the fleece, who were to hold a meeting upon the th of august. there was some further conversation without any result. esquerdes complained that the confederates were the mark of constant calumny, and demanded that the slanderers should be confronted with them and punished. "i understand perfectly well," interrupted margaret, "you wish to take justice into your own hands and to be king yourself." it was further intimated by these reckless gentlemen, that if they should be driven by violence into measures of self-protection, they had already secured friends in a certain country. the duchess, probably astonished at the frankness of this statement, is said to have demanded further explanations. the confederates replied by observing that they had resources both in the provinces and in germany. the state council decided that to accept the propositions of the confederates would be to establish a triumvirate at once, and the duchess wrote to her brother distinctly advising against the acceptance of the proposal. the assembly at st. trond was then dissolved, having made violent demonstrations which were not followed by beneficial results, and having laid itself open to various suspicions, most of which were ill-founded, while some of them were just. before giving the reader a brief account of the open and the secret policy pursued by the government at brussels and madrid, in consequence of these transactions, it is now necessary to allude to a startling series of events, which at this point added to the complications of the times, and exercised a fatal influence upon the situation of the commonwealth. [chapter vii.] ecclesiastical architecture in the netherlands--the image-breaking-- description of antwerp cathedral--ceremony of the ommegang-- precursory disturbances--iconoclasts at antwerp--incidents of the image--breaking in various cities--events at tournay--preaching of wille--disturbance by a little boy--churches sacked at tournay-- disinterment of duke adolphus of gueldres--iconoclasts defeated and massacred at anchin--bartholomew's day at valenciennes--general characteristics of the image-breaking--testimony of contemporaries as to the honesty of the rioters--consternation of the duchess-- projected flight to mons--advice of horn and other seigniors-- accord of th august. the netherlands possessed an extraordinary number of churches and monasteries. their exquisite architecture and elaborate decoration had been the earliest indication of intellectual culture displayed in the country. in the vast number of cities, towns, and villages which were crowded upon that narrow territory, there had been, from circumstances operating throughout christendom, a great accumulation of ecclesiastical wealth. the same causes can never exist again which at an early day covered the soil of europe with those magnificent creations of christian art. it was in these anonymous but entirely original achievements that gothic genius; awaking from its long sleep of the dark ages, first expressed itself. the early poetry of the german races was hewn and chiselled in atone. around the steadfast principle of devotion then so firmly rooted in the soil, clustered the graceful and vigorous emanations of the newly-awakened mind. all that science could invent, all that art could embody, all that mechanical ingenuity could dare, all that wealth could lavish, whatever there was of human energy which was panting for pacific utterance, wherever there stirred the vital principle which instinctively strove to create and to adorn at an epoch when vulgar violence and destructiveness were the general tendencies of humanity, all gathered around these magnificent temples, as their aspiring pinnacles at last pierced the mist which had so long brooded over the world. there were many hundreds of churches, more or less remarkable, in the netherlands. although a severe criticism might regret to find in these particular productions of the great germanic school a development of that practical tendency which distinguished the batavian and flemish branches,--although it might recognize a departure from that mystic principle which, in its efforts to symbolize the strivings of humanity towards the infinite object of worship above, had somewhat disregarded the wants of the worshippers below,--although the spaces might be too wide and the intercolumniations too empty, except for the convenience of congregations; yet there were, nevertheless, many ecclesiastical masterpieces, which could be regarded as very brilliant manifestations of the batavian and belgic mind during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. many were filled with paintings from a school which had precedence in time and merit over its sister nurseries of art in germany. all were peopled with statues. all were filled with profusely-adorned chapels, for the churches had been enriched generation after generation by wealthy penitence, which had thus purchased absolution for crime and smoothed a pathway to heaven. and now, for the space of only six or seven summer days and nights, there raged a storm by which all these treasures were destroyed. nearly every one of these temples was entirely rifled of its contents; not for the purpose of plunder, but of destruction. hardly a province or a town escaped. art must forever weep over this bereavement; humanity must regret that the reforming is thus always ready to degenerate into the destructive principle; but it is impossible to censure very severely the spirit which prompted the brutal, but not ferocious deed. those statues, associated as they were with the remorseless persecution which had so long desolated the provinces, had ceased to be images. they had grown human and hateful, so that the people arose and devoted them to indiscriminate massacre. no doubt the iconoclastic fury is to be regretted; for such treasures can scarcely be renewed. the age for building and decorating great cathedrals is past. certainly, our own age, practical and benevolent, if less poetical, should occupy itself with the present, and project itself into the future. it should render glory to god rather by causing wealth to fertilize the lowest valleys of humanity, than by rearing gorgeous temples where paupers are to kneel. to clothe the naked, redeem the criminal, feed the hungry, less by alms and homilies than by preventive institutions and beneficent legislation; above all, by the diffusion of national education, to lift a race upon a level of culture hardly attained by a class in earlier times, is as lofty a task as to accumulate piles of ecclesiastical splendor. it would be tedious to recount in detail the events which characterized the remarkable image-breaking in the netherlands. as antwerp was the central point in these transactions, and as there was more wealth and magnificence in the great cathedral of that city than in any church of northern europe, it is necessary to give a rapid outline of the events which occurred there. from its exhibition in that place the spirit every where will best be shown. the church of our lady, which philip had so recently converted into a cathedral, dated from the year , although it may be more fairly considered a work of the fourteenth century. its college of canons had been founded in another locality by godfrey of bouillon. the brabantine hero, who so romantically incarnates the religious poetry of his age, who first mounted the walls of redeemed jerusalem, and was its first christian monarch, but who refused to accept a golden diadem on the spot where the saviour had been crowned with thorns; the fleming who lived and was the epic which the great italian, centuries afterwards; translated into immortal verse, is thus fitly associated with the beautiful architectural poem which was to grace his ancestral realms. the body of the church, the interior and graceful perspectives of which were not liable to the reproach brought against many netherland churches, of assimilating themselves already to the municipal palaces which they were to suggest--was completed in the fourteenth century. the beautiful facade, with its tower, was not completed till the year . the exquisite and daring spire, the gigantic stem upon which the consummate flower of this architectural creation was to be at last unfolded, was a plant of a whole century's growth. rising to a height of nearly five hundred feet, over a church of as many feet in length, it worthily represented the upward tendency of gothic architecture. externally and internally the cathedral was a true expression of the christian principle of devotion. amid its vast accumulation of imagery, its endless ornaments, its multiplicity of episodes, its infinite variety of details, the central, maternal principle was ever visible. every thing pointed upwards, from the spire in the clouds to the arch which enshrined the smallest sculptured saint in the chapels below. it was a sanctuary, not like pagan temples, to enclose a visible deity, but an edifice where mortals might worship an unseen being in the realms above. the church, placed in the centre of the city, with the noisy streets of the busiest metropolis in europe eddying around its walls, was a sacred island in the tumultuous main. through the perpetual twilight, tall columnar trunks in thick profusion grew from a floor chequered with prismatic lights and sepulchral shadows. each shaft of the petrified forest rose to a preternatural height, their many branches intermingling in the space above, to form an impenetrable canopy. foliage, flowers and fruit of colossal luxuriance, strange birds, beasts, griffins and chimeras in endless multitudes, the rank vegetation and the fantastic zoology of a fresher or fabulous world, seemed to decorate and to animate the serried trunks and pendant branches, while the shattering symphonies or dying murmurs of the organ suggested the rushing of the wind through the forest, now the full diapason of the storm and now the gentle cadence of the evening breeze. internally, the whole church was rich beyond expression. all that opulent devotion and inventive ingenuity could devise, in wood, bronze, marble, silver, gold, precious jewelry, or blazing sacramental furniture, had been profusely lavished. the penitential tears of centuries had incrusted the whole interior with their glittering stalactites. divided into five naves, with external rows of chapels, but separated by no screens or partitions, the great temple forming an imposing whole, the effect was the more impressive, the vistas almost infinite in appearance. the wealthy citizens, the twenty-seven guilds, the six military associations, the rhythmical colleges, besides many other secular or religious sodalities, had each their own chapels and altars. tombs adorned with the effigies of mailed crusaders and pious dames covered the floor, tattered banners hung in the air, the escutcheons of the golden fleece, an order typical of flemish industry, but of which emperors and kings were proud to be the chevaliers, decorated the columns. the vast and beautifully-painted windows glowed with scriptural scenes, antique portraits, homely allegories, painted in those brilliant and forgotten colors which art has not ceased to deplore. the daylight melting into gloom or colored with fantastic brilliancy, priests in effulgent robes chanting in unknown language, the sublime breathing of choral music, the suffocating odors of myrrh and spikenard, suggestive of the oriental scenery and imagery of holy writ, all combined to bewilder and exalt the senses. the highest and humblest seemed to find themselves upon the same level within those sacred precincts, where even the bloodstained criminal was secure, and the arm of secular justice was paralyzed. but the work of degeneration had commenced. the atmosphere of the cathedral was no longer holy in the eyes of increasing multitudes. better the sanguinary rites of belgic druids, better the yell of slaughtered victims from the "wild wood without mercy" of the pagan forefathers of the nation, than this fantastic intermingling of divine music, glowing colors, gorgeous ceremonies, with all the burning, beheading and strangling work which had characterized the system of human sacrifice for the past half-century. such was the church of notre dame at antwerp. thus indifferent or hostile towards the architectural treasure were the inhabitants of a city, where in a previous age the whole population would have risked their lives to defend what they esteemed the pride and garland of their metropolis. the prince of orange had been anxiously solicited by the regent to attend the conference at duffel. after returning to antwerp, he consented, in consequence of the urgent entreaties of the senate, to delay his departure until the th of august should be past. on the th of that month he had agreed with the magistrates upon an ordinance, which was accordingly published, and by which the preachings were restricted to the fields. a deputation of merchants and others waited upon him with a request to be permitted the exercises of the reformed religion in the city. this petition the prince peremptorily refused, and the deputies, as well as their constituents, acquiesced in the decision, "out of especial regard and respect for his person." he, however, distinctly informed the duchess that it would be difficult or impossible to maintain such a position long, and that his departure from the city would probably be followed by an outbreak. he warned her that it was very imprudent for him to leave antwerp at that particular juncture. nevertheless, the meeting of the fleece-knights seemed, in margaret's opinion, imperatively to require his presence in brussels. she insisted by repeated letters that he should leave antwerp immediately. upon the th august, the great and time-honored ceremony of the ommegang occurred. accordingly, the great procession, the principal object of which was to conduct around the city a colossal image of the virgin, issued as usual from the door of the cathedral. the image, bedizened and effulgent, was borne aloft upon the shoulders of her adorers, followed by the guilds, the military associations, the rhetoricians, the religious sodalities, all in glittering costume, bearing blazoned banners, and marching triumphantly through the streets with sound of trumpet and beat of drum. the pageant, solemn but noisy, was exactly such a show as was most fitted at that moment to irritate protestant minds and to lead to mischief. no violent explosion of ill-feeling, however, took place. the procession was followed by a rabble rout of scoffers, but they confined themselves to words and insulting gestures. the image was incessantly saluted, as she was borne along--the streets, with sneers, imprecations, and the rudest, ribaldry. "mayken! mayken!" (little mary) "your hour is come. 'tis your last promenade. the city is tired of you." such were the greetings which the representative of the holy virgin received from men grown weary of antiquated mummery. a few missiles were thrown occasionally at the procession as it passed through the city, but no damage was inflicted. when the image was at last restored to its place, and the pageant brought to a somewhat hurried conclusion, there seemed cause for congratulation that no tumult had occurred. on the following morning there was a large crowd collected in front of the cathedral. the image, instead of standing in the centre of the church, where, upon all former occasions, it had been accustomed during the week succeeding the ceremony to receive congratulatory, visits, was now ignominiously placed behind an iron railing within the choir. it had been deemed imprudent to leave it exposed to sacrilegious hands. the precaution excited derision. many vagabonds of dangerous appearance, many idle apprentices and ragged urchins were hanging for a long time about the imprisoned image, peeping through the railings, and indulging in many a brutal jest. "mayken! mayken!" they cried; "art thou terrified so soon? hast flown to thy nest so early? dost think thyself beyond the reach of mischief? beware, mayken! thine hour is fast approaching!" others thronged around the balustrade, shouting "vivent les gueux!" and hoarsely commanding the image to join in the beggars' cry. then, leaving the spot, the mob roamed idly about the magnificent church, sneering at the idols, execrating the gorgeous ornaments, scoffing at crucifix and altar. presently one of the rabble, a ragged fellow of mechanical aspect, in a tattered black doublet and an old straw hat, ascended the pulpit. opening a sacred volume which he found there, he began to deliver an extemporaneous and coarse caricature of a monkish sermon. some of the bystanders applauded, some cried shame, some shouted "long live the beggars!" some threw sticks and rubbish at the mountebank, some caught him by the legs and strove to pull him from the place. he, on the other hand, manfully maintained his ground, hurling back every missile, struggling with his assailants, and continuing the while to pour forth a malignant and obscene discourse. at last a young sailor, warm in the catholic faith, and impulsive as mariners are prone to be, ascended the pulpit from behind, sprang upon the mechanic, and flung him headlong down the steps. the preacher grappled with his enemy as he fell, and both came rolling to the ground. neither was much injured, but a tumult ensued. a pistol-shot was fired, and the sailor wounded in the arm. daggers were drawn, cudgels brandished, the bystanders taking part generally against the sailor, while those who protected him were somewhat bruised and belabored before they could convey him out of the church. nothing more, however, transpired that day, and the keepers of the cathedral were enabled to expel the crowd and to close the doors for the night. information of this tumult was brought to the senate, then assembled in the hotel de ville. that body was thrown into a state of great perturbation. in losing the prince of orange, they seemed to have lost their own brains, and the first measure which they took was to despatch a messenger to implore his return. in the mean time, it was necessary that they should do something for themselves. it was evident that a storm was brewing. the pest which was sweeping so rapidly through the provinces would soon be among them. symptoms of the dreaded visitation were already but too manifest. what precaution should: they take? should they issue a proclamation? such documents had been too common of late, and had lost their virtue. it was the time not to assert but to exercise authority. should they summon the ward-masters, and order the instant arming and mustering of their respective companies? should they assemble the captains of the military associations? nothing better could have been desired than such measures in cases of invasion or of ordinary tumult, but who should say how deeply the poison had sunk into the body politic; who should say with how much or how little alacrity the burgher militia would obey the mandates of the magistracy? it would be better to issue no proclamation unless they could enforce its provisions; it would be better not to call out the citizen soldiery unless they were likely to prove obedient. should mercenary troops at this late hour be sent for? would not their appearance at this crisis rather inflame the rage than intimidate the insolence of the sectaries? never were magistrates in greater perplexity. they knew not what course was likely to prove the safest, and in their anxiety to do nothing wrong, the senators did nothing at all. after a long and anxious consultation, the honest burgomaster and his associates all went home to their beds, hoping that the threatening flame of civil tumult would die out of itself, or perhaps that their dreams would supply them with that wisdom which seemed denied to their waking hours. in the morning, as it was known that no precaution had been taken, the audacity of the reformers was naturally increased. within the cathedral a great crowd was at an early hour collected, whose savage looks and ragged appearance denoted that the day and night were not likely to pass away so peacefully as the last. the same taunts and imprecations were hurled at the image of the virgin; the same howling of the beggars' cry resounded through the lofty arches. for a few hours, no act of violence was committed, but the crowd increased. a few trifles, drifting, as usual, before the event, seemed to indicate the approaching convulsion. a very paltry old woman excited the image-breaking of antwerp. she had for years been accustomed to sit before the door of the cathedral with wax-tapers and wafers, earning scanty subsistence from the profits of her meagre trade, and by the small coins which she sometimes received in charity. some of the rabble began to chaffer with this ancient hucksteress. they scoffed at her consecrated wares; they bandied with her ribald jests, of which her public position had furnished her with a supply; they assured her that the hour had come when her idolatrous traffic was to be forever terminated, when she and her patroness, mary, were to be given over to destruction together. the old woman, enraged, answered threat with threat, and gibe with gibe. passing from words to deeds, she began to catch from the ground every offensive missile or weapon which she could find, and to lay about her in all directions. her tormentors defended themselves as they could. having destroyed her whole stock-in-trade, they provoked others to appear in her defence. the passers-by thronged to the scene; the cathedral was soon filled to overflowing; a furious tumult was already in progress. many persons fled in alarm to the town-house, carrying information of this outbreak to the magistrates. john van immerzeel, margrava of antwerp, was then holding communication with the senate, and awaiting the arrival of the ward-masters, whom it had at last been thought expedient to summon. upon intelligence of this riot, which the militia, if previously mustered, might have prevented, the senate determined to proceed to the cathedral in a body, with the hope of quelling the mob by the dignity of their presence. the margrave, who was the high executive officer of the little commonwealth, marched down to the cathedral accordingly, attended by the two burgomasters and all the senators. at first their authority, solicitations, and personal influence, produced a good effect. some of those outside consented to retire, and the tumult partially subsided within. as night, however, was fast approaching, many of the mob insisted upon remaining for evening mass. they were informed that there would be none that night, and that for once the people could certainly dispense with their vespers. several persons now manifesting an intention of leaving the cathedral, it was suggested to the senators that if, they should lead the way, the populace would follow in their train, and so disperse to their homes. the excellent magistrates took the advice, not caring, perhaps, to fulfil any longer the dangerous but not dignified functions of police officers. before departing, they adopted the precaution of closing all the doors of the church, leaving a single one open, that the rabble still remaining might have an opportunity to depart. it seemed not to occur to the senators that the same gate would as conveniently afford an entrance for those without as an egress for those within. that unlooked-for event happened, however. no sooner had the magistrates retired than the rabble burst through the single door which had been left open, overpowered the margrave, who, with a few attendants, had remained behind, vainly endeavoring by threats and exhortations to appease the tumult, drove him ignominiously from the church, and threw all the other portals wide open. then the populace flowed in like an angry sea. the whole of the cathedral was at the mercy of the rioters, who were evidently bent on mischief. the wardens and treasurers of the church, after a vain attempt to secure a few of its most precious possessions, retired. they carried the news to the senators, who, accompanied by a few halberdmen, again ventured to approach the spot. it was but for a moment, however, for, appalled by the furious sounds which came from within the church, as if subterranean and invisible forces were preparing a catastrophe which no human power could withstand, the magistrates fled precipitately from the scene. fearing that the next attack would be upon the town-house, they hastened to concentrate at that point their available forces, and left the stately cathedral to its fate. and now, as the shadows of night were deepening the perpetual twilight of the church, the work of destruction commenced. instead of evening mass rose the fierce music of a psalm, yelled by a thousand angry voices. it seemed the preconcerted signal for a general attack. a band of marauders flew upon the image of the virgin, dragged it forth from its receptacle, plunged daggers into its inanimate body, tore off its jewelled and embroidered garments, broke the whole figure into a thousand pieces, and scattered the fragments along the floor. a wild shout succeeded, and then the work which seemed delegated to a comparatively small number of the assembled crowd, went on with incredible celerity. some were armed with axes, some with bludgeons, some with sledge-hammers; others brought ladders, pulleys, ropes, and levers. every statue was hurled from its niche, every picture torn from the wall, every wonderfully-painted window shivered to atoms, every ancient monument shattered, every sculptured decoration, however inaccessible in appearance, hurled to the ground. indefatigably, audaciously,--endowed, as it seemed, with preternatural strength and nimbleness, these furious iconoclasts clambered up the dizzy heights, shrieking and chattering like malignant apes, as they tore off in triumph the slowly-matured fruit of centuries. in a space of time wonderfully brief, they had accomplished their task. a colossal and magnificent group of the saviour crucified between two thieves adorned the principal altar. the statue of christ was wrenched from its place with ropes and pulleys, while the malefactors, with bitter and blasphemous irony, were left on high, the only representatives of the marble crowd which had been destroyed. a very beautiful piece of architecture decorated the choir,--the "repository," as it was called, in which the body of christ was figuratively enshrined. this much-admired work rested upon a single column, but rose, arch upon arch, pillar upon pillar, to the height of three hundred feet, till quite lost in the vault above. "it was now shattered into a million pieces." the statues, images, pictures, ornaments, as they lay upon the ground, were broken with sledge-hammers, hewn with axes, trampled, torn; and beaten into shreds. a troop of harlots, snatching waxen tapers from the altars, stood around the destroyers and lighted them at their work. nothing escaped their omnivorous rage. they desecrated seventy chapels, forced open all the chests of treasure, covered their own squalid attire with the gorgeous robes of the ecclesiastics, broke the sacred bread, poured out the sacramental wine into golden chalices, quaffing huge draughts to the beggars' health; burned all the splendid missals and manuscripts, and smeared their shoes with the sacred oil, with which kings and prelates had been anointed. it seemed that each of these malicious creatures must have been endowed with the strength of a hundred giants. how else, in the few brief hours of a midsummer night, could such a monstrous desecration have been accomplished by a troop which, according to all accounts, was not more than one hundred in number. there was a multitude of spectators, as upon all such occasions, but the actual spoilers were very few. the noblest and richest temple of the netherlands was a wreck, but the fury of the spoilers was excited, not appeased. each seizing a burning torch, the whole herd rushed from the cathedral, and swept howling through the streets. "long live the beggars!" resounded through the sultry midnight air, as the ravenous pack flew to and fro, smiting every image of the virgin, every crucifix, every sculptured saint, every catholic symbol which they met with upon their path. all night long, they roamed from one sacred edifice to another, thoroughly destroying as they went. before morning they had sacked thirty churches within the city walls. they entered the monasteries, burned their invaluable libraries, destroyed their altars, statues, pictures, and descending into the cellars, broached every cask which they found there, pouring out in one great flood all the ancient wine and ale with which those holy men had been wont to solace their retirement from generation to generation. they invaded the nunneries, whence the occupants, panic-stricken, fled for refuge to the houses of their friends and kindred. the streets were filled with monks and nuns, running this way and that, shrieking and fluttering, to escape the claws of these fiendish calvinists. the terror was imaginary, for not the least remarkable feature in these transactions was, that neither insult nor injury was offered to man or woman, and that not a farthing's value of the immense amount of property destroyed, was appropriated. it was a war not against the living, but against graven images, nor was the sentiment which prompted the onslaught in the least commingled with a desire of plunder. the principal citizens of antwerp, expecting every instant that the storm would be diverted from the ecclesiastical edifices to private dwellings, and that robbery, rape, and murder would follow sacrilege, remained all night expecting the attack, and prepared to defend their hearths, even if the altars were profaned. the precaution was needless. it was asserted by the catholics that the confederates and other opulent protestants had organized this company of profligates for the meagre pittance of ten stivers day. on the other hand, it was believed by many that the catholics had themselves plotted the whole outrage in order to bring odium upon the reformers. both statements were equally unfounded. the task was most thoroughly performed, but it was prompted: by a furious fanaticism, not by baser motives. two days and nights longer the havoc raged unchecked through all the churches of antwerp and the neighboring villages. hardly a statue or picture escaped destruction. fortunately, the illustrious artist, whose labors were destined in the next generation to enrich and ennoble the city, rubens, most profound of colorists, most dramatic--of artists; whose profuse tropical genius seemed to flower the more luxuriantly, as if the destruction wrought by brutal hands were to be compensated by the creative energy of one, divine spirit, had not yet been born. of the treasures which existed the destruction was complete. yet the rage was directed exclusively against stocks and stones. not a man was wounded nor a woman outraged. prisoners, indeed, who had been languishing hopelessly in dungeons were liberated. a monk, who had been in the prison of the barefoot monastery, for twelve years, recovered his freedom. art was trampled in the dust, but humanity deplored no victims. these leading features characterized the movement every where. the process was simultaneous and almost universal. it was difficult to say where it began and where it ended. a few days in the midst of august sufficed for the whole work. the number of churches desecrated has never been counted. in the single province of flanders, four hundred were sacked. in limburg, luxemburg, and namur, there was no image-breaking. in mechlin, seventy or eighty persons accomplished the work thoroughly, in the very teeth of the grand council, and of an astonished magistracy. in tournay, a city distinguished for its ecclesiastical splendor, the reform had been making great progress during the summer. at the same time the hatred between the two religions had been growing more and more intense. trifles and serious matters alike fed the mutual animosity. a tremendous outbreak had been nearly occasioned by an insignificant incident. a jesuit of some notoriety had been preaching a glowing discourse in the pulpit of notre dane. he earnestly avowed his wish that he were good enough to die for all his hearers. he proved to demonstration that no man should shrink from torture or martyrdom in order to sustain the ancient faith. as he was thus expatiating, his fervid discourse was suddenly interrupted by three sharp, sudden blows, of a very peculiar character, struck upon the great portal of the church. the priest, forgetting his love for martyrdom, turned pale and dropped under the pulpit. hurrying down the steps, he took refuge in the vestry, locking and barring the door. the congregation shared in his panic: "the beggars are coming," was the general cry. there was a horrible tumult, which extended through the city as the congregation poured precipitately out of the cathedral, to escape a band of destroying and furious calvinists. yet when the shock had a little subsided, it was discovered that a small urchin was the cause of the whole tumult. having been bathing in the scheldt, he had returned by way of the church with a couple of bladders under his arm. he had struck these against the door of the cathedral, partly to dry them, partly from a love of mischief. thus a great uproar, in the course of which it had been feared that toumay was to be sacked and drenched in blood, had been caused by a little wanton boy who had been swimming on bladders. this comedy preceded by a few days only the actual disaster. on the d of august the news reached tournay that the churches in antwerp, ghent, and many other places, had been sacked. there was an instantaneous movement towards imitating the example on the same evening. pasquier de la barre, procureur-general of the city, succeeded by much entreaty in tranquillizing the people for the night. the "guard of terror" was set, and hopes were entertained that the storm might blow over. the expectation, was vain. at daybreak next day, the mob swept upon the churches and stripped them to the very walls. pictures, statues; organs, ornaments, chalices of silver and gold, reliquaries, albs, chasubles, copes, ciboriea, crosses, chandeliers, lamps; censers, all of richest material, glittering with pearls, rubies, and other precious stones, were scattered in heaps of ruin upon the ground. as the spoilers burrowed among the ancient tombs, they performed, in one or two instances, acts of startling posthumous justice. the embalmed body of duke adolphus of gueldres, last of the egmonts, who had reigned in that province, was dragged from its sepulchre and recognized. although it had been there for ninety years, it was as uncorrupted, "owing to the excellent spices which had preserved it from decay," as upon the day of burial. thrown upon the marble floor of the church, it lay several days exposed to the execrations of the multitude. the duke had committed a crime against his father, in consequence of which the province which had been ruled by native races, had passed under the dominion of charles the bold. weary of waiting for the old duke's inheritance, he had risen against him in open rebellion. dragging him from his bed at midnight in the depth of winter, he had compelled the old man, with no covering but his night gear, to walk with naked feet twenty-five miles over ice and snow from grave to buren, while he himself performed the same journey in his company on horseback. he had then thrown him into a dungeon beneath the tower of buren castle, and kept him a close prisoner for six months. [memoires de philippe de comines (loud. et paris, ), liv. iv. - . in the royal gallery at berlin is a startling picture by rembrandt, in which the old duke is represented looking out of the bars of his dungeon at his son, who is threatening him with uplifted hand and savage face. no subject could be imagined better adapted to the gloomy and sarcastic genius of that painter.] at last, the duke of burgundy summoned the two before his council, and proposed that adolphus should allow his father florins annually, with the title of duke till his death. "he told us," said comines, "that he would sooner throw the old man head-foremost down a well and jump in himself afterwards. his father had been duke forty-four years, and it was time for him to retire." adolphus being thus intractable, had been kept in prison till after the death of charles the bold. to the memorable insurrection of ghent, in the time of the lady mary, he owed his liberty. the insurgent citizens took him from prison, and caused him to lead them in their foray against tournay. beneath the walls of that city he was slain, and buried under its cathedral. and now as if his offence had not been sufficiently atoned for by the loss of his ancestral honors, his captivity, and his death, the earth, after the lapse of nearly a century, had cast him forth from her bosom. there, once more beneath the sunlight, amid a ribald crew of a later generation which had still preserved the memory of his sin, lay the body of the more than parricide, whom "excellent spices" had thus preserved from corruption, only to be the mark of scorn and demoniac laughter. a large assemblage of rioters, growing in numbers as they advanced, swept over the province of tournay, after accomplishing the sack of the city churches. armed with halberds, hammers, and pitchforks, they carried on the war, day after day, against the images. at the convent of marchiennes, considered by contemporaries the most beautiful abbey in all the netherlands, they halted to sing the ten commandments in marot's verse. hardly had the vast chorus finished the precept against graven images; taiiler ne to feras imaige de quelque chose que ce soit, sy bonneur luy fail on hommaige, bon dieu jalousie en recoit, when the whole mob seemed seized with sudden madness. without waiting to complete the psalm, they fastened upon the company of marble martyrs, as if they had possessed sensibility to feel the blows inflicted. in an hour they had laid the whole in ruins. having accomplished this deed, they swept on towards anchin. here, however, they were confronted by the seigneur de la tour, who, at the head of a small company of peasants, attacked the marauders and gained a complete victory. five or six hundred of them were slain, others were drowned in the river and adjacent swamps, the rest were dispersed. it was thus proved that a little more spirit upon the part of the orderly portion of the inhabitants, might have brought about a different result than the universal image-breaking. in valenciennes, "the tragedy," as an eye-witness calls it, was performed upon saint bartholomew's day. it was, however, only a tragedy of statues. hardly as many senseless stones were victims as there were to be living huguenots sacrificed in a single city upon a bartholomew which was fast approaching. in the valenciennes massacre, not a human being was injured. such in general outline and in certain individual details, was the celebrated iconomachy of the netherlands. the movement was a sudden explosion of popular revenge against the symbols of that church from which the reformers had been enduring such terrible persecution. it was also an expression of the general sympathy for the doctrines which had taken possession of the national heart. it was the depravation of that instinct which had in the beginning of the summer drawn calvinists and lutherans forth in armed bodies, twenty thousand strong, to worship god in the open fields. the difference between the two phenomena was, that the field-preaching was a crime committed by the whole mass of the reformers; men, women, and children confronting the penalties of death, by a general determination, while the imagebreaking was the act of a small portion of the populace. a hundred persons belonging to the lowest order of society sufficed for the desecration of the antwerp churches. it was, said orange, "a mere handful of rabble" who did the deed. sir richard clough saw ten or twelve persons entirely sack church after church, while ten thousand spectators looked on, indifferent or horror-struck. the bands of iconoclasts were of the lowest character, and few in number. perhaps the largest assemblage was that which ravaged the province of tournay, but this was so weak as to be entirely routed by a small and determined force. the duty of repression devolved upon both catholics and protestants. neither party stirred. all seemed overcome with special wonder as the tempest swept over the land. the ministers of the reformed religion, and the chiefs of the liberal party, all denounced the image-breaking. francis junius bitterly regretted such excesses. ambrose wille, pure of all participation in the crime, stood up before ten thousand reformers at tournay--even while the storm was raging in the neighboring cities, and, when many voices around him were hoarsely commanding similar depravities to rebuke the outrages by which a sacred cause was disgraced. the prince of orange, in his private letters, deplored the riots, and stigmatized the perpetrators. even brederode, while, as suzerain of his city of viane, he ordered the images there to be quietly taken from the churches, characterized this popular insurrection as insensate and flagitious. many of the leading confederates not only were offended with the proceedings, but, in their eagerness to chastise the iconoclasts and to escape from a league of which they were weary, began to take severe measures against the ministers and reformers, of whom they had constituted themselves in april the especial protectors. the next remarkable characteristic of these tumults was the almost entire abstinence of the rioters from personal outrage and from pillage. the testimony of a very bitter, but honest catholic at valenciennes, is remarkable upon this point. "certain chroniclers," said he, "have greatly mistaken the character of this image-breaking. it has been said that the calvinists killed a hundred priests in this city, cutting some of them into pieces, and burning others over a slow fire. i remember very well every thing which happened upon that abominable day, and i can affirm that not a single priest was injured. the huguenots took good care not to injure in any way the living images." this was the case every where. catholic and protestant writers agree that no deeds of violence were committed against man or woman. it would be also very easy to accumulate a vast weight of testimony as to their forbearance from robbery. they destroyed for destruction's sake, not for purposes of plunder. although belonging to the lowest classes of society, they left heaps of jewellery, of gold and silver plate, of costly embroidery, lying unheeded upon the ground. they felt instinctively that a great passion would be contaminated by admixture with paltry motives. in flanders a company of rioters hanged one of their own number for stealing articles to the value of five shillings. in valenciennes the iconoclasts were offered large sums if they would refrain from desecrating the churches of that city, but they rejected the proposal with disdain. the honest catholic burgher who recorded the fact, observed that he did so because of the many misrepresentations on the subject, not because he wished to flatter heresy and rebellion. at tournay, the greatest scrupulousness was observed upon this point. the floor of the cathedral was strewn with "pearls and precious stones, with chalices and reliquaries of silver and gold;" but the ministers of the reformed religion, in company with the magistrates, came to the spot, and found no difficulty, although utterly without power to prevent the storm, in taking quiet possession of the wreck. "we had every thing of value," says procureur-general de la barre, "carefully inventoried, weighed, locked in chests, and placed under a strict guard in the prison of the halle, to which one set of keys were given to the ministers, and another to the magistrates." who will dare to censure in very severe language this havoc among stocks and stones in a land where so many living men and women, of more value than many statues, had been slaughtered by the inquisition, and where alva's "blood tribunal" was so soon to eclipse even that terrible institution in the number of its victims and the amount of its confiscations? yet the effect of the riots was destined to be most disastrous for a time to the reforming party. it furnished plausible excuses for many lukewarm friends of their cause to withdraw from all connection with it. egmont denounced the proceedings as highly flagitious, and busied himself with punishing the criminals in flanders. the regent was beside herself with indignation and terror. philip, when he heard the news, fell into a paroxysm of frenzy. "it shall cost them dear!" he cried, as he tore his beard for rage; "it shall cost them dear! i swear it by the soul of my father!" the reformation in the netherlands, by the fury of these fanatics, was thus made apparently to abandon the high ground upon which it had stood in the early summer. the sublime spectacle of the multitudinous field-preaching was sullied by the excesses of the image-breaking. the religious war, before imminent, became inevitable. nevertheless, the first effect of the tumults was a temporary advantage to the reformers. a great concession was extorted from the fears of the duchess regent, who was certainly placed in a terrible position. her conduct was not heroic, although she might be forgiven for trepidation. her treachery, however, under these trying circumstances was less venial. at three o'clock in the morning of the nd of august, orange, egmont, horn, hoogatraaten, mansfeld, and others were summoned to the palace. they found her already equipped for flight, surrounded by her waiting-women, chamberlains and lackeys, while the mules and hackneys stood harnessed in the court-yard, and her body-guard were prepared to mount at a moment's notice. she announced her intention of retreating at once to mons, in which city, owing to aerschot's care, she hoped to find refuge against the fury of the rebellion then sweeping the country. her alarm was almost beyond control. she was certain that the storm was ready to burst upon brussels, and that every catholic was about to be massacred before her eyes. aremberg, berlaymont, and noircarmes were with the duchess when the other seigniors arrived. a part of the duke of aerschot's company had been ordered out to escort the projected flight to mons. orange, horn, egmont, and hoogstraaten implored her to desist from her fatal resolution. they represented that such a retreat before a mob would be the very means of ruining the country. they denounced all persons who had counselled the scheme, as enemies of his majesty and herself. they protested their readiness to die at her feet in her defence, but besought her not to abandon the post of duty in the hour of peril. while they were thus anxiously debating, viglius entered the chamber. with tears streaming down her cheeks, margaret turned to the aged president, uttering fierce reproaches and desponding lamentations. viglius brought the news that the citizens had taken possession of the gates, and were resolved not to permit her departure from the city. he reminded her, according to the indispensable practice of all wise counsellors, that he had been constantly predicting this result. he, however, failed in administering much consolation, or in suggesting any remedy. he was, in truth, in as great a panic as herself, and it was, according to the statement of the duchess, mainly in order to save the president from threatened danger, that she eventually resolved to make concessions. "viglius," wrote margaret to philip, "is so much afraid of being cut to pieces, that his timidity has become incredible." upon the warm assurance of count horn, that he would enable her to escape from the city, should it become necessary, or would perish in the attempt, a promise in which he was seconded by the rest of the seigniors, she consented to remain for the day in her palace.--mansfeld was appointed captain-general of the city; egmont, horn, orange, and the others agreed to serve under his orders, and all went down together to the townhouse. the magistrates were summoned, a general meeting of the citizens was convened, and the announcement made of mansfeld's appointment, together with an earnest appeal to all honest men to support the government. the appeal was answered by a shout of unanimous approbation, an enthusiastic promise to live or die with the regent, and the expression of a resolution to permit neither reformed preaching nor image-breaking within the city. nevertheless, at seven o'clock in the evening, the duchess again sent for the seigniors. she informed them that she had received fresh and certain information, that the churches were to be sacked that very night; that viglius, berlaymont, and aremberg were to be killed, and that herself and egmont were to be taken prisoners. she repeated many times that she had been ill-advised, expressed bitter regret at having deferred her flight from the city, and called upon those who had obstructed her plan, now to fulfil their promises. turning fiercely upon count horn, she uttered a volley of reproaches upon his share in the transaction. "you are the cause," said she, "that i am now in this position. why do you not redeem your pledge and enable me to leave the place at once." horn replied that he was ready to do so if she were resolved to stay no longer. he would at the instant cut his way through the guard at the caudenberg gate, and bring her out in safety, or die in the effort. at the same time he assured her that he gave no faith to the idle reports flying about the city, reminded her that nobles, magistrates, and citizens were united in her defence, and in brief used the, same arguments which had before been used to pacify her alarm. the nobles were again successful in enforcing their counsels, the duchess was spared the ignominy and the disaster of a retreat before an insurrection which was only directed against statues, and the ecclesiastical treasures of brussels were saved from sacrilege. on the th august came the crowning act of what the reformers considered their most complete triumph, and the regent her deepest degradation. it was found necessary under the alarming aspect of affairs, that liberty of worship, in places where it had been already established, should be accorded to the new religion. articles of agreement to this effect were accordingly drawn up and exchanged between the government and lewis of nassau, attended by fifteen others of the confederacy. a corresponding pledge was signed by them, that so long as the regent was true to her engagement, they would consider their previously existing league annulled, and would assist cordially in every endeavor to maintain tranquillity and support the authority of his majesty. the important accord was then duly signed by the duchess. it declared that the inquisition was abolished, that his majesty would soon issue a new general edict, expressly and unequivocally protecting the nobles against all evil consequences from past transactions, that they were to be employed in the royal service, and that public preaching according to the forms of the new religion was to be practised in places where it had already taken place. letters general were immediately despatched to the senates of all the cities, proclaiming these articles of agreement and ordering their execution. thus for a fleeting moment there was a thrill of joy throughout the netherlands. the inquisition was thought forever abolished, the era of religious reformation arrived. etext editor's bookmarks: all denounced the image-breaking anxiety to do nothing wrong, the senators did nothing at all before morning they had sacked thirty churches bigotry which was the prevailing characteristic of the age enriched generation after generation by wealthy penitence fifty thousand persons in the provinces (put to death) furious fanaticism lutheran princes of germany, detested the doctrines of geneva monasteries, burned their invaluable libraries no qualities whatever but birth and audacity to recommend him notre dame at antwerp persons who discussed religious matters were to be put to death premature zeal was prejudicial to the cause purchased absolution for crime and smoothed a pathway to heaven rearing gorgeous temples where paupers are to kneel schism which existed in the general reformed church storm by which all these treasures were destroyed (in days) the noblest and richest temple of the netherlands was a wreck tyrannical spirit of calvinism would not help to burn fifty or sixty thousand netherlanders etext editor's bookmarks the dutch republic, - , complete: a pleasantry called voluntary contributions or benevolences a country disinherited by nature of its rights absolution for incest was afforded at thirty-six livres achieved the greatness to which they had not been born advancing age diminished his tendency to other carnal pleasures affecting to discredit them all offices were sold to the highest bidder all denounced the image-breaking all his disciples and converts are to be punished with death all reading of the scriptures (forbidden) altercation between luther and erasmus, upon predestination an hereditary papacy, a perpetual pope-emperor an inspiring and delightful recreation (auto-da-fe) announced his approaching marriage with the virgin mary annual harvest of iniquity by which his revenue was increased anxiety to do nothing wrong, the senators did nothing at all arrested on suspicion, tortured till confession as ready as papists, with age, fagot, and excommunication attacking the authority of the pope attempting to swim in two waters batavian legion was the imperial body guard beating the netherlanders into christianity before morning they had sacked thirty churches bigotry which was the prevailing characteristic of the age bishop is a consecrated pirate bold reformer had only a new dogma in place of the old ones brethren, parents, and children, having wives in common burned alive if they objected to transubstantiation burned, strangled, beheaded, or buried alive ( , ) charles the fifth autocrat of half the world condemning all heretics to death consign to the flames all prisoners whatever (papal letter) courage of despair inflamed the french craft meaning, simply, strength criminal whose guilt had been established by the hot iron criminals buying paradise for money crusades made great improvement in the condition of the serfs decrees for burning, strangling, and burying alive democratic instincts of the ancient german savages denies the utility of prayers for the dead despot by birth and inclination (charles v.) difference between liberties and liberty dispute between luther and zwingli concerning the real presence dissimulation and delay divine right drank of the water in which, he had washed endure every hardship but hunger english puritans enormous wealth (of the church) which engendered the hatred enriched generation after generation by wealthy penitence erasmus encourages the bold friar erasmus of rotterdam even for the rape of god's mother, if that were possible excited with the appearance of a gem of true philosophy executions of huss and jerome of prague fable of divine right is invented to sanction the system felix mants, the anabaptist, is drowned at zurich few, even prelates were very dutiful to the pope fiction of apostolic authority to bind and loose fifty thousand persons in the provinces (put to death) fishermen and river raftsmen become ocean adventurers for myself i am unworthy of the honor (of martyrdom) for women to lament, for men to remember forbids all private assemblies for devotion force clerical--the power of clerks furious fanaticism gallant and ill-fated lamoral egmont gaul derided the roman soldiers as a band of pigmies german finds himself sober--he believes himself ill govern under the appearance of obeying great science of political equilibrium great privilege, the magna charta of holland guarantees of forgiveness for every imaginable sin habeas corpus halcyon days of ban, book and candle he knew men, especially he knew their weaknesses he did his best to be friends with all the world heresy was a plant of early growth in the netherlands his imagination may have assisted his memory in the task history shows how feeble are barriers of paper holland, england, and america, are all links of one chain i would carry the wood to burn my own son withal in holland, the clergy had neither influence nor seats informer, in case of conviction, should be entitled to one half inquisition of the netherlands is much more pitiless inquisition was not a fit subject for a compromise insinuating suspicions when unable to furnish evidence invented such christian formulas as these (a curse) inventing long speeches for historical characters july st, two augustine monks were burned at brussels king of zion to be pinched to death with red-hot tongs labored under the disadvantage of never having existed learn to tremble as little at priestcraft as at swordcraft let us fool these poor creatures to their heart's content licences accorded by the crown to carry slaves to america little grievances would sometimes inflame more than vast long succession of so many illustrious obscure look through the cloud of dissimulation lutheran princes of germany, detested the doctrines of geneva made to swing to and fro over a slow fire maintaining the attitude of an injured but forgiving christian man had only natural wrongs (no natural rights) many greedy priests, of lower rank, had turned shop-keepers monasteries, burned their invaluable libraries more accustomed to do well than to speak well no one can testify but a householder no calumny was too senseless to be invented no law but the law of the longest purse no qualities whatever but birth and audacity to recommend him not of the stuff of which martyrs are made (erasmus) notre dame at antwerp nowhere was the persecution of heretics more relentless obstinate, of both sexes, to be burned often much tyranny in democracy one golden grain of wit into a sheet of infinite platitude orator was, however, delighted with his own performance others go to battle, says the historian, these go to war panegyrists of royal houses in the sixteenth century pardon for murder, if not by poison, was cheaper pardon for crimes already committed, or about to be committed paying their passage through, purgatory perpetually dropping small innuendos like pebbles persons who discussed religious matters were to be put to death petty passion for contemptible details philip, who did not often say a great deal in a few words planted the inquisition in the netherlands poisoning, for example, was absolved for eleven ducats pope and emperor maintain both positions with equal logic power to read and write helped the clergy to much wealth premature zeal was prejudicial to the cause procrastination was always his first refuge promises which he knew to be binding only upon the weak purchased absolution for crime and smoothed a pathway to heaven rashness alternating with hesitation readiness to strike and bleed at any moment in her cause rearing gorgeous temples where paupers are to kneel repentant females to be buried alive repentant males to be executed with the sword revocable benefices or feuds ruinous honors sale of absolutions was the source of large fortunes to the priests same conjury over ignorant baron and cowardly hind scaffold was the sole refuge from the rack schism which existed in the general reformed church scoffing at the ceremonies and sacraments of the church secret drowning was substituted for public burning sharpened the punishment for reading the scriptures in private slavery was both voluntary and compulsory soldier of the cross was free upon his return sonnets of petrarch sovereignty was heaven-born, anointed of god st. peter's dome rising a little nearer to the clouds st. bartholomew was to sleep for seven years longer storm by which all these treasures were destroyed (in days) tanchelyn taxation upon sin ten thousand two hundred and twenty individuals were burned that vile and mischievous animal called the people the noblest and richest temple of the netherlands was a wreck the gaul was singularly unchaste the vivifying becomes afterwards the dissolving principle the bad duke of burgundy, philip surnamed "the good," the egg had been laid by erasmus, hatched by luther these human victims, chained and burning at the stake they had at last burned one more preacher alive thousands of burned heretics had not made a single convert thus hand-werpen, hand-throwing, became antwerp to think it capable of error, is the most devilish heresy of all to prefer poverty to the wealth attendant upon trade torquemada's administration (of the inquisition) tranquillity of despotism to the turbulence of freedom two witnesses sent him to the stake, one witness to the rack tyrannical spirit of calvinism understood the art of managing men, particularly his superiors upon one day twenty-eight master cooks were dismissed villagers, or villeins we believe our mothers to have been honest women when the abbot has dice in his pocket, the convent will play william of nassau, prince of orange wiser simply to satisfy himself would not help to burn fifty or sixty thousand netherlanders motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, - , complete the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley volume , book ., [chapter viii.] secret policy of the government--berghen and montigny in spain-- debates at segovia--correspondence of the duchess with philip-- procrastination and dissimulation of the king--secret communication to the pope--effect in the provinces of the king's letters to the government--secret instructions to the duchess--desponding statements of margaret--her misrepresentations concerning orange, egmont, and others--wrath and duplicity of philip--egmont's exertions in flanders--orange returns to antwerp--his tolerant spirit--agreement of d september--horn at tournay--excavations in the cathedral--almost universal attendance at the preaching-- building of temples commenced--difficult position of horn--preaching in the clothiers' hall--horn recalled--noircarmes at tournay-- friendly correspondence of margaret with orange, egmont, horn, and hoogstraaten--her secret defamation of these persons. egmont in flanders, orange at antwerp, horn at tournay; hoogstraaten at mechlin, were exerting themselves to suppress insurrection and to avert ruin. what, meanwhile, was the policy of the government? the secret course pursued both at brussels and at madrid may be condensed into the usual formula--dissimulation, procrastination, and again dissimulation. it is at this point necessary to take a rapid survey of the open and the secret proceedings of the king and his representatives from the moment at which berghen and montigny arrived in madrid. those ill-fated gentlemen had been received with apparent cordiality, and admitted to frequent, but unmeaning, interviews with his majesty. the current upon which they were embarked was deep and treacherous, but it was smooth and very slow. they assured the king that his letters, ordering the rigorous execution of the inquisition and edicts, had engendered all the evils under which the provinces were laboring. they told him that spaniards and tools of spaniards had attempted to govern the country, to the exclusion of native citizens and nobles, but that it would soon be found that netherlanders were not to be trodden upon like the abject inhabitants of milan, naples, and sicily. such words as these struck with an unaccustomed sound upon the royal ear, but the envoys, who were both catholic and loyal, had no idea, in thus expressing their opinions, according to their sense of duty, and in obedience to the king's desire, upon the causes of the discontent, that they were committing an act of high treason. when the news of the public preaching reached spain, there were almost daily consultations at the grove of segovia. the eminent personages who composed the royal council were the duke of alva, the count de feria, don antonio de toledo, don juan manrique de lara, ruy gomez, quixada, councillor tisnacq, recently appointed president of the state council, and councillor hopper. six spaniards and two netherlanders, one of whom, too, a man of dull intellect and thoroughly subservient character, to deal with the local affairs of the netherlands in a time of intense excitement! the instructions of the envoys had been to represent the necessity of according three great points--abolition of the inquisition, moderation of the edicts, according to the draft prepared in brussels, and an ample pardon for past transactions. there was much debate upon all these propositions. philip said little, but he listened attentively to the long discourses in council, and he took an incredible quantity of notes. it was the general opinion that this last demand on the part of the netherlanders was the fourth link in the chain of treason. the first had been the cabal by which granvelle had been expelled; the second, the mission of egmont, the main object of which had been to procure a modification of the state council, in order to bring that body under the control of a few haughty and rebellious nobles; the third had been the presentation of the insolent and seditious request; and now, to crown the whole, came a proposition embodying the three points--abolition of the inquisition, revocation of the edicts, and a pardon to criminals, for whom death was the only sufficient punishment. with regard to these three points, it was, after much wrangling, decided to grant them under certain restrictions. to abolish the inquisition would be to remove the only instrument by which the church had been accustomed to regulate the consciences and the doctrines of its subjects. it would be equivalent to a concession of religious freedom, at least to individuals within their own domiciles, than which no concession could be more pernicious. nevertheless, it might be advisable to permit the temporary cessation of the papal inquisition, now that the episcopal inquisition had been so much enlarged and strengthened in the netherlands, on the condition that this branch of the institution should be maintained in energetic condition. with regard to the moderation, it was thought better to defer that matter till, the proposed visit of his majesty to the provinces. if, however, the regent should think it absolutely necessary to make a change, she must cause a new draft to be made, as that which had been sent was not found admissible. touching the pardon general, it would be necessary to make many conditions and restrictions before it could be granted. provided these were sufficiently minute to exclude all persons whom it might be found desirable to chastise, the amnesty was possible. otherwise it was quite out of the question. meantime, margaret of parma had been urging her brother to come to a decision, painting the distracted condition of the country in the liveliest colors, and insisting, although perfectly aware of philip's private sentiments, upon a favorable decision as to the three points demanded by the envoys. especially she urged her incapacity to resist any rebellion, and demanded succor of men and money in case the "moderation" were not accepted by his majesty. it was the last day of july before the king wrote at all, to communicate his decisions upon the crisis which had occurred in the first week of april. the disorder for which he had finally prepared a prescription had, before his letter arrived, already passed through its subsequent stages of the field-preaching and the image-breaking. of course these fresh symptoms would require much consultation, pondering, and note-taking before they could be dealt with. in the mean time they would be considered as not yet having happened. this was the masterly procrastination of the sovereign, when his provinces were in a blaze. his masterly dissimulation was employed in the direction suggested by his councillors. philip never originated a thought, nor laid down a plan, but he was ever true to the falsehood of his nature, and was indefatigable in following out the suggestions of others. no greater mistake can be made than to ascribe talent to this plodding and pedantic monarch. the man's intellect was contemptible, but malignity and duplicity, almost superhuman; have effectually lifted his character out of the regions of the common-place. he wrote accordingly to say that the pardon, under certain conditions, might be granted, and that the papal inquisition might cease--the bishops now being present in such numbers, "to take care of their flocks," and the episcopal inquisition being, therefore established upon so secure a basis. he added, that if a moderation of the edicts were still desired, a new project might be sent to madrid, as the one brought by berghen and montigny was not satisfactory. in arranging this wonderful scheme for composing the tumults of the country, which had grown out of a determined rebellion to the inquisition in any form, he followed not only the advice, but adopted the exact language of his councillors. certainly, here was not much encouragement for patriotic hearts in the netherlands. a pardon, so restricted that none were likely to be forgiven save those who had done no wrong; an episcopal inquisition stimulated to renewed exertions, on the ground that the papal functionaries were to be discharged; and a promise that, although the proposed moderation of the edicts seemed too mild for the monarch's acceptance, yet at some future period another project would be matured for settling the matter to universal satisfaction--such were the propositions of the crown. nevertheless, philip thought he had gone too far, even in administering this meagre amount of mercy, and that he had been too frank in employing so slender a deception, as in the scheme thus sketched. he therefore summoned a notary, before whom, in presence of the duke of alva, the licentiate menchaca and dr. velasco, he declared that, although he had just authorized margaret of parma, by force of circumstances, to grant pardon to all those who had been compromised in the late disturbances of the netherlands, yet as he had not done this spontaneously nor freely, he did not consider himself bound by the authorization, but that, on the contrary, he reserved his right to punish all the guilty, and particularly those who had been the authors and encouragers of the sedition. so much for the pardon promised in his official correspondence. with regard to the concessions, which he supposed himself to have made in the matter of the inquisition and the edicts, he saved his conscience by another process. revoking with his right hand all which his left had been doing, he had no sooner despatched his letters to the duchess regent than he sent off another to his envoy at rome. in this despatch he instructed requesens to inform the pope as to the recent royal decisions upon the three points, and to state that there had not been time to consult his holiness beforehand. nevertheless, continued philip "the prudent," it was perhaps better thus, since the abolition could have no force, unless the pope, by whom the institution had been established, consented to its suspension. this matter, however, was to be kept a profound secret. so much for the inquisition matter. the papal institution, notwithstanding the official letters, was to exist, unless the pope chose to destroy it; and his holiness, as we have seen, had sent the archbishop of sorrento, a few weeks before, to brussels, for the purpose of concerting secret measures for strengthening the "holy office" in the provinces. with regard to the proposed moderation of the edicts, philip informed pius the fifth, through requesens, that the project sent by the duchess not having been approved, orders had been transmitted for a new draft, in which all the articles providing for the severe punishment of heretics were to be retained, while alterations, to be agreed upon by the state and privy councils, and the knights of the fleece, were to be adopted--certainly in no sense of clemency. on the contrary, the king assured his holiness, that if the severity of chastisement should be mitigated the least in the world by the new articles, they would in no case receive the royal approbation. philip further implored the pope "not to be scandalized" with regard to the proposed pardon, as it would be by no means extended to offenders against religion. all this was to be kept entirely secret. the king added, that rather than permit the least prejudice to the ancient religion, he would sacrifice all his states, and lose a hundred lives if he had so many; for he would never consent to be the sovereign of heretics. he said he would arrange the troubles of the netherlands, without violence, if possible, because forcible measures would cause the entire destruction of the country. nevertheless they should be employed, if his purpose could be accomplished in no other way. in that case the king would himself be the executor of his own design, without allowing the peril which he should incur, nor the ruin of the provinces, nor that of his other realms, to prevent him from doing all which a christian prince was bound to do, to maintain the catholic religion and the authority of the holy see, as well as to testify his personal regard for the reigning pontiff, whom he so much loved and esteemed. here was plain speaking. here were all the coming horrors distinctly foreshadowed. here was the truth told to the only being with whom philip ever was sincere. yet even on this occasion, he permitted himself a falsehood by which his holiness was not deceived. philip had no intention of going to the netherlands in person, and the pope knew that he had none. "i feel it in my bones," said granvelle, mournfully, "that nobody in rome believes in his majesty's journey to the provinces." from that time forward, however, the king began to promise this visit, which was held out as a panacea for every ill, and made to serve as an excuse for constant delay. it may well be supposed that if philip's secret policy had been thoroughly understood in the netherlands, the outbreak would have come sooner. on the receipt, however, of the public despatches from madrid, the administration in brussels made great efforts to represent their tenor as highly satisfactory. the papal inquisition was to be abolished, a pardon was to be granted, a new moderation was to be arranged at some indefinite period; what more would men have? yet without seeing the face of the cards, the people suspected the real truth, and orange was convinced of it. viglius wrote that if the king did not make his intended visit soon, he would come too late, and that every week more harm was done by procrastination than could be repaired by months of labor and perhaps by torrents of blood. what the precise process was, through which philip was to cure all disorders by his simple presence, the president did not explain. as for the measures propounded by the king after so long a delay, they were of course worse than useless; for events had been marching while he had been musing. the course suggested was, according to viglius, but "a plaster for a wound, but a drag-chain for the wheel." he urged that the convocation of the states-general was the only remedy for the perils in which the country was involved; unless the king should come in person. he however expressed the hope that by general consultation some means would be devised by which, if not a good, at least a less desperate aspect would be given to public affairs, "so that the commonwealth, if fall it must, might at least fall upon its feet like a cat, and break its legs rather than its neck." notwithstanding this highly figurative view of the subject; and notwithstanding the urgent representations of duchess margaret to her brother, that nobles and people were all clamoring about the necessity of convening the states general, philip was true to his instincts on this as on the other questions. he knew very well that the states-general of the netherlands and spanish despotism were incompatible ideas, and he recoiled from the idea of the assembly with infinite aversion. at the same time a little wholesome deception could do no harm. he wrote to the duchess, therefore, that he was determined never to allow the states-general to be convened. he forbade her to consent to the step under any circumstances, but ordered her to keep his prohibition a profound secret. he wished, he said, the people to think that it was only for the moment that the convocation was forbidden, and that the duchess was expecting to receive the necessary permission at another time. it was his desire, he distinctly stated, that the people should not despair of obtaining the assembly, but he was resolved never to consent to the step, for he knew very well what was meant by a meeting of the states-general. certainly after so ingenuous but secret a declaration from the disciple of macchiavelli, margaret might well consider the arguments to be used afterward by herself and others, in favor of the ardently desired measure, as quite superfluous. such then was the policy secretly resolved upon by philip; even before he heard of the startling events which were afterwards to break upon him. he would maintain the inquisition and the edicts; he would exterminate the heretics, even if he lost all his realms and his own life in the cause; he would never hear of the national representatives coming together. what then were likely to be his emotions when he should be told of twenty thousand armed heretics assembling at one spot, and fifteen thousand at another, in almost every town in every province, to practice their blasphemous rites; when he should be told of the whirlwind which had swept all the ecclesiastical accumulations of ages out of existence; when he should read margaret's despairing letters, in which she acknowledged that she had at last committed an act unworthy of god, of her king, and of herself, in permitting liberty of worship to the renegades from the ancient church! the account given by the duchess was in truth very dismal. she said that grief consumed her soul and crimson suffused her cheeks while she related the recent transactions. she took god to witness that she had resisted long, that she had past many sleepless nights, that she had been wasted with fever and grief. after this penitential preface she confessed that, being a prisoner and almost besieged in her palace, sick in body and soul, she had promised pardon and security to the confederates, with liberty of holding assemblies to heretics in places where the practice had already obtained. these concessions had been made valid until the king by and with the consent of the states-general, should definitely arrange the matter. she stated, however, that she had given her consent to these two demands, not in the royal name, but in her own. the king was not bound by her promise, and she expreesed the hope that he would have no regard to any such obligation. she further implored her brother to come forth as soon as possibe to avenge the injuries inflicted upon the ancient church, adding, that if deprived of that consolation, she should incontinently depart this life. that hope alone would prevent her death. this was certainly strong language. she was also very explicit in her representations of the influence which had been used by certain personages to prevent the exercise of any authority upon her own part. "wherefore," said margaret, "i eat my heart; and shall never have peace till the arrival of your majesty." there was no doubt who those personages were who, as it was pretended, had thus held the duchess in bondage, and compelled her to grant these infamous concessions. in her secret italian letters, she furnished the king with a tissue of most extravagant and improbable falsehoods, supplied to her mainly by noircarmes and mansfeld, as to the course pursued at this momentous crisis by orange, egmont, horn, and hoogstraaten. they had all, she said, declared against god and against religion.--horn, at least, was for killing all the priests and monks in the country, if full satisfaction were not given to the demands of the heretics. egmont had declared openly for the beggars, and was levying troops in germany. orange had the firm intention of making himself master of the whole country, and of dividing it among the other seigniors and himself. the prince had said that if she took refuge in mons, as she had proposed, they would instantly convoke the states-general, and take all necessary measures. egmont had held the same language, saying that he would march at the head of forty thousand men to besiege her in that city. all these seigniors, however, had avowed their determination to prevent her flight, to assemble the estates, and to drag her by force before the assembly, in order to compel her consent to every measure which might be deemed expedient. under all these circumstances, she had been obliged to defer her retreat, and to make the concessions which had overwhelmed her with disgrace. with such infamous calumnies, utterly disproved by every fact in the case, and unsupported by a tittle of evidence, save the hearsay reports of a man like noircarmes, did this "woman, nourished at rome, in whom no one could put confidence," dig the graves of men who were doing their best to serve her. philip's rage at first hearing of the image-breaking has been indicated. he was ill of an intermittent fever at the wood of segovia when the news arrived, and it may well be supposed that his wrath at these proceedings was not likely to assuage his malady. nevertheless, after the first burst of indignation, he found relief in his usual deception. while slowly maturing the most tremendous vengeance which anointed monarch ever deliberately wreaked upon his people, he wrote to say, that it was "his intention to treat his vassals and subjects in the provinces like a good and clement prince, not to ruin them nor to put them into servitude, but to exercise all humanity, sweetness, and grace, avoiding all harshness." such were the avowed intentions of the sovereign towards his people at the moment when the terrible alva, who was to be the exponent of all this "humanity, sweetness, and grace," was already beginning the preparations for his famous invasion of the netherlands. the essence of the compact agreed to upon the d august between the confederates and the regent, was that the preaching of the reformed religion should be tolerated in places where it had previously to that date been established. upon this basis egmont, horn, orange, hoogstraaten, and others, were directed once more to attempt the pacification of the different provinces. egmont departed for his government of flanders, and from that moment vanished all his pretensions, which at best had been, slender enough, to the character of a national chieftain. during the whole of the year his course had been changeful. he had felt the influence of orange; he had generous instincts; he had much vanity; he had the pride of high rank; which did not easily brook the domination of strangers, in a land which he considered himself and his compeers entitled by their birth to rule. at this juncture, however, particularly when in the company of noircarmes, berlaymont, and viglius, he expressed, notwithstanding their calumnious misstatements, the deepest detestation of the heretics. he was a fervent catholic, and he regarded the image-breaking as an unpardon able crime. "we must take up arms," said he, "sooner or later, to bring these reformers to reason, or they will end by laying down the law for us." on the other hand, his anger would be often appeased by the grave but gracious remonstrances of orange. during a part of the summer, the reformers had been so strong in flanders that upon a single day sixty thousand armed men had been assembled at the different field-preachings within that province. "all they needed was a jacquemart, or a philip van artevelde," says a catholic, contemporary, "but they would have scorned to march under the banner of a brewer; having dared to raise their eyes for a chief, to the most illustrious warrior of his ages." no doubt, had egmont ever listened to these aspirations, he might have taken the field against the government with an invincible force, seized the capital, imprisoned the regent, and mastered the whole country, which was entirely defenceless, before philip would have had time to write more than ten despatches upon the subject. these hopes of the reformers, if hopes they could be called, were now destined to be most bitterly disappointed. egmont entered flanders, not as a chief of rebels--not as a wise pacificator, but as an unscrupulous partisan of government, disposed to take summary vengeance on all suspected persons who should fall in his way. he ordered numerous executions of image-breakers and of other heretics. the whole province was in a state of alarm; for, although he had not been furnished by the regent with a strong body of troops, yet the name of the conqueror at saint quentin and gravelines was worth many regiments. his severity was excessive. his sanguinary exertions were ably seconded also by his secretary bakkerzeel, a man who exercised the greatest influence over his chief, and who was now fiercely atoning for having signed the compromise by persecuting those whom that league had been formed to protect. "amid all the perplexities of the duchess regent," says a walloon historian, "this virtuous princess was consoled by the exploits of bakkerzeel, gentleman in count egmont's service. on one occasion he hanged twenty heretics, including a minister, at a single heat." such achievements as these by the hands or the orders of the distinguished general who had been most absurdly held up as a possible protector of the civil and religious liberties of the country, created profound sensation. flanders and artois were filled with the wives and children of suspected i thousands who had fled the country to escape the wrath of egmont. the cries and piteous lamentations of these unfortunate creatures were heard on every side. count louis was earnestly implored to intercede for the persecuted reformers. "you who have been so nobly gifted by heaven, you who have good will and singular bounty written upon your face," said utenhove to louis, "have the power to save these poor victims from the throats of the ravenous wolves." the count responded to the appeal, and strove to soften the severity of egmont, without, however, producing any very signal effect. flanders was soon pacified, nor was that important province permitted to enjoy the benefits of the agreement which had been extorted, from the duchess. the preachings were forbidden, and the ministers and congregations arrested and chastised, even in places where the custom had been established previously to the d august. certainly such vigorous exertions upon the part both of master and man did not savor of treason to philip, and hardly seemed to indicate the final doom of egmont and bakkerzeel. the course of orange at antwerp was consistent with his whole career. he honestly came to arrange a pacification, but he knew that this end could be gained only by loyally maintaining the accord which had been signed between the confederates and the regent. he came back to the city on the th august, and found order partially re-established. the burghers having at last become thoroughly alarmed, and the fury of the image-breakers entirely appeased, it had been comparatively easy to restore tranquillity. the tranquillity, however, rather restored itself, and when the calm had succeeded to the tempest, the placid heads of the burgomasters once, more emerged from the waves. three image-breakers, who had been taken in the act, were hanged by order of the magistrates upon the th of august. the presence of orange gave them courage to achieve these executions which he could not prevent, as the fifth article of the accord enjoined the chastisement of the rioters. the magistrates chose that the "chastisement" on this occasion should be exemplary, and it was not in the power of orange to interfere with the regular government of the city when acting according to its laws. the deed was not his, however, and he hastened, in order to obviate the necessity of further violence, to prepare articles of agreement, upon the basis of margaret's concessions. public preaching, according to the reformed religion, had already taken place within the city. upon the d, possession had been taken of at least three churches. the senate had deputed pensionary wesenbeck to expostulate with the ministers, for the magistrates were at that moment not able to command. taffin, the walloon preacher, had been tractable, and had agreed to postpone his exercises. he furthermore had accompanied the pensionary to the cathedral, in order to persuade herman modet that it would be better for him likewise to defer his intended ministrations. they had found that eloquent enthusiast already in the great church, burning with impatience to ascend upon the ruins, and quite unable to resist the temptation of setting a flemish psalm and preaching a flemish sermon within the walls which had for so many centuries been vocal only to the roman tongue and the roman ritual. all that he would concede to the entreaties of his colleague and of the magistrate, was that his sermon should be short. in this, however, he had overrated his powers of retention, for the sermon not only became a long one, but he had preached another upon the afternoon of the same day. the city of antwerp, therefore, was clearly within the seventh clause of the treaty of the th august, for preaching had taken place in the cathedral, previously to the signing of that accord. upon the d september, therefore, after many protracted interview with the heads of the reformed religion, the prince drew up sixteen articles of agreement between them, the magistrates and the government, which were duly signed and exchanged. they were conceived in the true spirit of statesmanship, and could the rulers of the land have elevated themselves to the mental height of william de nassau, had philip been able of comprehending such a mind, the prince, who alone possessed the power in those distracted times of governing the wills of all men, would have enabled the monarch to transmit that beautiful cluster of provinces, without the lose of a single jewel, to the inheritors of his crown. if the prince were playing a game, he played it honorably. to have conceived the thought of religious toleration in an age of universal dogmatism; to have labored to produce mutual respect among conflicting opinions, at a period when many dissenters were as bigoted as the orthodox, and when most reformers fiercely proclaimed not liberty for every christian doctrine, but only a new creed in place of all the rest,--to have admitted the possibility of several roads, to heaven, when zealots of all creeds would shut up all pathways but their own; if such sentiments and purposes were sins, they would have been ill-exchanged for the best virtues of the age. yet, no doubt, this was his crying offence in the opinion of many contemporaries. he was now becoming apostate from the ancient church, but he had long thought that emperors, kings, and popes had taken altogether too much care of men's souls in times past, and had sent too many of them prematurely to their great account. he was equally indisposed to grant full-powers for the same purpose to calvinists, lutherans, or anabaptists. "he censured the severity of our theologians," said a catholic contemporary, accumulating all the religious offences of the prince in a single paragraph, "because they keep strictly the constitutions of the church without conceding a single point to their adversaries; he blamed the calvinists as seditious and unruly people, yet nevertheless had a horror for the imperial edicts which condemned them to death; he said it was a cruel thing to take a man's life for sustaining an erroneous opinion; in short, he fantasied in his imagination a kind of religion, half catholic, half reformed, in order to content all persons; a system which would have been adopted could he have had his way." this picture, drawn by one of his most brilliant and bitter enemies, excites our admiration while intended to inspire aversion. the articles of agreement at antwerp thus promulgated assigned three churches to the different sects of reformers, stipulated that no attempt should be made by catholics or protestants to disturb the religious worship of each other, and provided that neither by mutual taunts in their sermons, nor by singing street ballads, together with improper allusions and overt acts of hostility, should the good-fellowship which ought to reign between brethren and fellow-citizens, even although entertaining different opinions as to religious rites and doctrines, be for the future interrupted. this was the basis upon which the very brief religious peace, broken almost as soon as established, was concluded by william of orange, not only at antwerp, but at utrecht, amsterdam, and other principal cities within his government. the prince, however, notwithstanding his unwearied exertions, had slender hopes of a peaceful result. he felt that the last step taken by the reformation had been off a precipice. he liked not such rapid progress. he knew that the king would never forgive the image-breaking. he felt that he would never recognize the accord of the th august. sir thomas gresham, who, as the representative of the protestant queen of england in the great commercial metropolis of europe, was fully conversant with the turn things were taking, was already advising some other place for the sale of english commodities. he gave notice to his government that commerce would have no security at antwerp "in those brabbling times." he was on confidential terms with the prince, who invited him to dine upon the th september, and caused pensionary wesenbeck, who was also present, to read aloud the agreement which was that day to be proclaimed at the town-house. orange expressed himself, however, very doubtfully as to the future prospects of the provinces, and as to the probable temper of the king. "in all his talke," says gresham, "the prince aside unto me, 'i know this will nothing contente the king!'" while egmont had been, thus busied in flanders, and orange at antwerp, count horn had been doing his best in the important city of tournay. the admiral was not especially gifted with intellect, nor with the power of managing men, but he went there with an honest purpose of seeing the accord executed, intending, if it should prove practicable, rather to favor the government than the reformers. at the same time, for the purpose of giving satisfaction to the members of "the religion," and of manifesting his sincere desire for a pacification, he accepted lodgings which had been prepared for him at the house of a calvinist merchant in the city, rather, than, take up his quarters with fierce old governor moulbais, in the citadel. this gave much offence to the catholics; and inspired the reformers, with the hope of having their preaching inside the town. to this privilege they were entitled, for the practice had already been established there, previously to the th october. nevertheless, at first he was disposed to limit them, in accordance with the wishes of the duchess, to extra-mural exercises. upon his arrival, by a somewhat ominous conjuncture, he had supped with some of the leading citizens in the hall of the "gehenna" or torture room, certainly not a locality calculated to inspire a healthy appetite. on the following sunday he had been entertained with a great banquet, at which all the principal burghers were present, held in a house on the market-place. the festivities had been interrupted by a quarrel, which had been taking place in the cathedral. beneath the vaults of that edifice, tradition said that a vast treasure was hidden, and the canons had been known to boast that this buried wealth would be sufficient to rebuild their temple more magnificently than ever, in case of its total destruction. the admiral had accordingly placed a strong guard in the church as soon as he arrived, and commenced very extensive excavations in search of this imaginary mine. the regent informed her brother that the count was prosecuting this work with the view of appropriating whatever might be found to his own benefit. as she knew that he was a ruined man, there seemed no more satisfactory mode of accounting for these proceedings. horn had, however, expressly stated to her that every penny which should come into his possession from that or any other source would carefully be restored to the rightful owners. nothing of consequence was ever found to justify the golden legends of the monks, but in the mean time the money-diggers gave great offence. the canons, naturally alarmed for the safety of their fabulous treasure, had forced the guard, by surreptitiously obtaining the countersign from a certain official of the town. a quarrel ensued which ended in the appearance of this personage, together with the commander of the military force on guard in the cathedral, before the banqueting company. the count, in the rough way habitual with him, gave the culprit a sound rebuke for his intermeddling, and threatened, in case the offence were repeated, to have him instantly bound, gagged, and forwarded to brussels for further punishment. the matter thus satisfactorily adjusted, the banquet proceeded, the merchants present being all delighted at seeing the said official, who was exceedingly, unpopular, "so well huffed by the count." the excavations were continued for along time, until there seemed danger of destroying the foundation of the church, but only a few bits of money were discovered, with some other articles of small value. horn had taken his apartments in the city in order to be at hand to suppress any tumults, and to inspire confidence in the people. he had come to a city where five sixths of the inhabitants--were of the reformed religion, and he did not, therefore, think it judicious to attempt violently the suppression of their worship. upon his arrival he had issued a proclamation, ordering that all property which might have been pillaged from the religious houses should be instantly restored to the magistracy, under penalty that all who disobeyed the command should "be forthwith strangled at the gibbet." nothing was brought back, however, for the simple reason that nothing had been stolen. there was, therefore, no one to be strangled. the next step was to publish the accord of th august, and to signify the intention of the admiral to enforce its observance. the preachings were as enthusiastically attended as ever, while the storm which had been raging among the images had in the mean time been entirely allayed. congregations of fifteen thousand were still going to hear ambrose wille in the suburbs, but they were very tranquil in their demeanor. it was arranged between the admiral and the leaders of the reformed consistories, that three places, to be selected by horn, should be assigned for their places of worship. at these spots, which were outside the walls, permission was given the reformers to build meeting-houses. to this arrangement the duchess formally gave her consent. nicholas taffin; councillor, in the name of the reformers, made "a brave and elegant harangue" before the magistrates, representing that, as on the most moderate computation, three quarters of the population were dissenters, as the regent had ordered the construction of the new temples, and as the catholics retained possession of all the churches in the city, it was no more than fair that the community should bear the expense of the new buildings. it was indignantly replied, however, that catholics could not be expected to pay for the maintenance of heresy, particularly when they had just been so much exasperated by the image-breaking councillor taffin took nothing, therefore by his "brave and elegant harangue," saving a small vote of forty livres. the building was, however, immediately commenced. many nobles and rich citizens contributed to the work; some making donations in money; others giving quantities of oaks, poplars, elms, and other timber trees, to be used in the construction. the foundation of the first temple outside the ports de cocquerel was immediately laid. vast heaps of broken images and other ornaments of the desecrated churches were most unwisely used for this purpose, and the catholics were exceedingly enraged at beholding those male and female saints, who had for centuries been placed in such "reverend and elevated positions," fallen so low as to be the foundation-stones of temples whose builders denounced all those holy things as idols. as the autumn began to wane, the people were clamorous for permission to have their preaching inside the city. the new buildings could not be finished before the winter; but in the mean time the camp-meetings were becoming, in the stormy seasons fast approaching, a very inconvenient mode of worship. on the other hand, the duchess was furious at the proposition, and commanded horn on no account to consent that the interior of tournay should be profaned by these heretical rites. it was in vain that the admiral represented the justice of the claim, as these exercises had taken place in several of the city churches previously to the accord of the th of august. that agreement had been made by the duchess only to be broken. she had already received money and the permission to make levies, and was fast assuming a tone very different from the abject demeanor which had characterized her in august. count horn had been used even as egmont, orange and hoogstraaten had been employed, in order that their personal influence with the reformers might be turned to account. the tools and the work accomplished by them were to be thrown away at the most convenient opportunity. the admiral was placed in a most intolerable position. an honest, common-place, sullen kind of man, he had come to a city full of heretics, to enforce concessions just made by the government to heresy. he soon found himself watched, paltered with, suspected by the administration at brussels. governor moulbais in the citadel, who was nominally under his authority, refused obedience to his orders, was evidently receiving secret instructions from the regent, and was determined to cannonade the city into submission at a very early day. horn required him to pledge himself that no fresh troops should enter the castle. moulbais swore he would make no such promise to a living soul. the admiral stormed with his usual violence, expressed his regret that his brother montigny had so bad a lieutenant in the citadel, but could make no impression upon the determined veteran, who knew, better than horn, the game which was preparing. small reinforcements were daily arriving at the castle; the soldiers of the garrison had been heard to boast "that they would soon carve and eat the townsmen's flesh on their dressers," and all the good effect from the admiral's proclamation on arriving, had completely vanished. horn complained bitterly of the situation in which he was placed. he knew himself the mark of incessant and calumnious misrepresentation both at brussels and madrid. he had been doing his best, at a momentous crisis, to serve the government without violating its engagements, but he declared himself to be neither theologian nor jurist, and incapable, while suspected and unassisted, of performing a task which the most learned doctors of the council would find impracticable. he would rather, he bitterly exclaimed, endure a siege in any fortress by the turks, than be placed in such a position. he was doing all that he was capable of doing, yet whatever he did was wrong. there was a great difference, he said, between being in a place and talking about it at a distance. in the middle of october he was recalled by the duchess, whose letters had been uniformly so ambiguous that he confessed he was quite unable to divine their meaning. before he left the city, he committed his most unpardonable crime. urged by the leaders of the reformed congregations to permit their exercises in the clothiers' hall until their temples should be finished, the count accorded his consent provisionally, and subject to revocation by the regent, to whom the arrangement was immediately to be communicated. horn departed, and the reformers took instant possession of the hall. it was found in a very dirty and disorderly condition, encumbered with benches, scaffoldings, stakes, gibbets, and all the machinery used for public executions upon the market-place. a vast body of men went to work with a will; scrubbing, cleaning, whitewashing, and removing all the foul lumber of the hall; singing in chorus, as they did so, the hymns of clement marot. by dinner-time the place was ready. the pulpit and benches for the congregation had taken the place of the gibbet timber. it is difficult to comprehend that such work as this was a deadly crime. nevertheless, horn, who was himself a sincere catholic, had committed the most mortal of all his offences against philip and against god, by having countenanced so flagitious a transaction. the admiral went to brussels. secretary de la torre, a very second-rate personage, was despatched to tournay to convey the orders of the regent. governor moulbais, now in charge of affairs both civil and military, was to prepare all things for the garrison, which was soon to be despatched under noircarmes. the duchess had now arms in her hands, and her language was bold. la torre advised the reformers to be wise "while the rod was yet green and growing, lest it should be gathered for their backs; for it was unbecoming is subjects to make bargains with their king." there was hardly any decent pretext used in violating the accord of the th august, so soon as the government was strong enough to break it. it was always said that the preachings suppressed, had not been established previously to that arrangement; but the preachings had in reality obtained almost every where, and were now universally abolished. the ridiculous quibble was also used that, in the preachings other religious exercises were not included, whereas it was notorious that they had never been separated. it is, however, a gratuitous task, to unravel the deceptions of tyranny when it hardly deigns to disguise itself. the dissimulations which have resisted the influence of centuries are more worthy of serious investigation, and of these the epoch offers us a sufficient supply. at the close of the year, the city of tournay was completely subjugated and the reformed religion suppressed. upon the nd day of january, , the seignior de noircarmes arrived before the gates at the head of eleven companies, with orders from duchess margaret to strengthen the garrison and disarm the citizens. he gave the magistrates exactly one hour and a half to decide whether they would submit without a murmur. he expressed an intention of maintaining the accord of th august; a ridiculous affectation under the circumstances, as the event proved. the notables were summoned, submission agreed upon, and within the prescribed time the magistrates came before noircarmes, with an unconditional acceptance of his terms. that truculent personage told them, in reply, that they had done wisely, for if they had delayed receiving the garrison a minute longer, he would have instantly burned the city to ashes and put every one of the inhabitants to the sword. he had been fully authorized to do so, and subsequent events were to show, upon more than one dreadful occasion, how capable noircarmes would have been of fulfilling this menace. the soldiers, who had made a forced march all night, and who had been firmly persuaded that the city would refuse the terms demanded, were excessively disappointed at being obliged to forego the sack and pillage upon which they had reckoned. eight or nine hundred rascally peasants, too, who had followed in the skirts of the regiments, each provided with a great empty bag, which they expected to fill with booty which they might purchase of the soldiers, or steal in the midst of the expected carnage and rapine, shared the discontent of the soldiery, by whom they were now driven ignominiously out of the town. the citizens were immediately disarmed. all the fine weapons which they had been obliged to purchase at their own expense, when they had been arranged by the magistrates under eight banners, for defence of the city against tumult and invasion, were taken from them; the most beautiful cutlasses, carbines, poniards, and pistols, being divided by noircarmes among his officers. thus tournay was tranquillized. during the whole of these proceedings in flanders, and at antwerp, tournay, and mechlin, the conduct of the duchess had been marked with more than her usual treachery. she had been disavowing acts which the men upon whom she relied in her utmost need had been doing by her authority; she had been affecting to praise their conduct, while she was secretly misrepresenting their actions and maligning their motives, and she had been straining every nerve to make foreign levies, while attempting to amuse the confederates and sectaries with an affectation of clemency. when orange complained that she had been censuring his proceedings at antwerp, and holding language unfavorable to his character, she protested that she thoroughly approved his arrangements--excepting only the two points of the intramural preachings and the permission to heretics of other exercises than sermons--and that if she were displeased with him he might be sure that she would rather tell him so than speak ill of him behind his back. the prince, who had been compelled by necessity, and fully authorized by the terms of the "accord", to grant those two points which were the vital matter in his arrangements, answered very calmly, that he was not so frivolous as to believe in her having used language to his discredit had he not been quite certain of the fact, as he would soon prove by evidence. orange was not the man to be deceived as to the position in which he stood, nor as to the character of those with whom he dealt. margaret wrote, however, in the same vein concerning him to hoogstmaten, affirming that nothing could be further from her intention than to characterize the proceedings of "her cousin, the prince of orange, as contrary to the service of his majesty; knowing, as she did, how constant had been his affection, and how diligent his actions, in the cause of god and the king." she also sent councillor d'assonleville on a special mission to the prince, instructing that smooth personage to inform her said cousin of orange that he was and always had been "loved and cherished by his majesty, and that for herself she had ever loved him like a brother or a child." she wrote to horn, approving of his conduct in the main, although in obscure terms, and expressing great confidence in his zeal, loyalty, and good intentions. she accorded the same praise to hoogstraaten, while as to egmont she was perpetually reproaching him for the suspicions which he seemed obstinately to entertain as to her disposition and that of philip, in regard to his conduct and character. it has already been partly seen what were her private sentiments and secret representations as to the career of the distinguished personages thus encouraged and commended. her pictures were painted in daily darkening colors. she told her brother that orange, egmont, and horn were about to place themselves at the head of the confederates, who were to take up arms and had been levying troops; that the lutheran religion was to be forcibly established, that the whole power of the government was to be placed in the triumvirate thus created by those seigniors, and that philip was in reality to be excluded entirely from those provinces which were his ancient patrimony. all this information she had obtained from mansfeld, at whom the nobles were constantly sneering as at a faithful valet who would never receive his wages. she also informed the king that the scheme for dividing the country was already arranged: that augustus of saxony was to have friesland and overyssel; count brederode, holland; the dukes of cleves and lorraine, gueldres; the king of france, flanders, artois, and hainault, of which territories egmont was to be perpetual stadholder; the prince of orange, brabant; and so on indefinitely. a general massacre of all the catholics had been arranged by orange, horn, and egmont, to commence as soon as the king should put his foot on shipboard to come to the country. this last remarkable fact margaret reported to philip, upon the respectable authority of noircarmes. she apologized for having employed the service of these nobles, on the ground of necessity. their proceedings in flanders, at antwerp, tournay, mechlin, had been highly reprehensible, and she had been obliged to disavow them in the most important particulars. as for egmont, she had most unwillingly entrusted forces to his hands for the purpose of putting down the flemish sectaries. she had been afraid to show a want of confidence in his character, but at the same time she believed that all soldiers under egmont's orders would be so many enemies to the king. notwithstanding his protestations of fidelity to the ancient religion and to his majesty, she feared that he was busied with some great plot against god and the king. when we remember the ruthless manner in which the unfortunate count had actually been raging against the sectaries, and the sanguinary proofs which he had been giving of his fidelity to "god and the king," it seems almost incredible that margaret could have written down all these monstrous assertions. the duchess gave, moreover, repeated warnings to her brother, that the nobles were in the habit of obtaining possession of all the correspondence between madrid and brussels; and that they spent a vast deal of money in order to read her own and philip's most private letters. she warned him therefore, to be upon his guard, for she believed that almost all their despatches were read. such being the cases and the tenor of those documents being what we have seen it to be, her complaints as to the incredulity of those seigniors to her affectionate protestations, seem quite wonderful. chapter ix., part ., position of orange--the interview at dendermonde--the supposititious letters of alava--views of egmont--isolation of orange--conduct of egmont and of horn--confederacy, of the nobles dissolved--weak behavior of prominent personages----watchfulness of orange-- convocation of states general demanded--pamphlet of orange--city of valenciennes refuses a garrison--influence of la grange and de bray --city, declared in a state of siege--invested by noircarmes-- movements to relieve the place--calvinists defeated at lannoy and at waterlots--elation of the government--the siege pressed more closely--cruelties practised upon the country people--courage of the inhabitants--remonstrance to the knights of the fleece--conduct of brederode--orange at amsterdam--new oath demanded by government-- orange refuses--he offers his resignation of all offices--meeting at breda--new "request" of brederode--he creates disturbances and levies troops in antwerp--conduct of hoogstraaten--plans of brederode--supposed connivance of orange--alarm at brussels-- tholouse at ostrawell--brederode in holland--de beauvoir defeats tholouse--excitement at antwerp--determined conduct of orange--three days' tumult at antwerp suppressed by the wisdom and courage of orange. it is necessary to allude to certain important events contemporaneous with those recorded in the last chapter, that the reader may thoroughly understand the position of the leading personages in this great drama at the close of the year . the prince of orange had, as we have seen, bean exerting all his energies faithfully to accomplish the pacification of the commercial metropolis, upon the basis assented to beforehand by the duchess. he had established a temporary religious peace, by which alone at that crisis the gathering tempest could be averted; but he had permitted the law to take its course upon certain rioters, who had been regularly condemned by courts of justice. he had worked day and night--notwithstanding immense obstacles, calumnious misstatements, and conflicting opinions--to restore order out of chaos; he had freely imperilled his own life--dashing into a tumultuous mob on one occasion, wounding several with the halberd which he snatched from one of his guard, and dispersing almost with his single arm a dangerous and threatening insurrection--and he had remained in antwerp, at the pressing solicitations of the magistracy, who represented that the lives of not a single ecclesiastic would be safe as soon as his back was turned, and that all the merchants would forthwith depart from the city. it was nevertheless necessary that he should make a personal visit to his government of holland, where similar disorders had been prevailing, and where men of all ranks and parties were clamoring for their stadholder. notwithstanding all his exertions however, he was thoroughly aware of the position in which he stood towards the government. the sugared phrases of margaret, the deliberate commendation of the "benign and debonair" philip, produced no effect upon this statesman, who was accustomed to look through and through men's actions to the core of their hearts. in the hearts of philip and margaret he already saw treachery and revenge indelibly imprinted. he had been especially indignant at the insult which the duchess regent had put upon him, by sending duke eric of brunswick with an armed force into holland in order to protect gouda, woerden, and other places within the prince's own government. he was thoroughly conversant with the general tone in which the other seigniors and himself were described to their sovereign. he, was already convinced that the country was to be conquered by foreign mercenaries, and that his own life, with these of many other nobles, was to be sacrificed. the moment had arrived in which he was justified in looking about him for means of defence, both for himself and his country, if the king should be so insane as to carry out the purposes which the prince suspected. the time was fast approaching in which a statesman placed upon such an elevation before the world as that which he occupied, would be obliged to choose his part for life. to be the unscrupulous tool of tyranny, a rebel, or an exile, was his necessary fate. to a man so prone to read the future, the moment for his choice seemed already arrived. moreover, he thought it doubtful, and events were most signally to justify his doubts, whether he could be accepted as the instrument of despotism, even were he inclined to prostitute himself to such service. at this point, therefore, undoubtedly began the treasonable thoughts of william the silent, if it be treason to attempt the protection of ancient and chartered liberties against a foreign oppressor. he despatched a private envoy to egmont, representing the grave suspicions manifested by the duchess in sending duke eric into holland, and proposing that means should be taken into consideration for obviating the dangers with which the country was menaced. catholics as well as protestants, he intimated, were to be crushed in one universal conquest as soon as philip had completed the formidable preparations which he was making for invading the provinces. for himself, he said, he would not remain in the land to witness the utter desolation of the people, nor to fall an unresisting victim to the vengeance which he foresaw. if, however, he might rely upon the co-operation of egmont and horn, he was willing, with the advice of the states-general, to risk preparations against the armed invasion of spaniards by which the country was to be reduced to slavery. it was incumbent, however, upon men placed as they were, "not to let the grass grow under their feet;" and the moment for action was fast approaching. this was the scheme which orange was willing to attempt. to make use of his own influence and that of his friends, to interpose between a sovereign insane with bigotry, and a people in a state of religious frenzy, to resist brutal violence if need should be by force, and to compel the sovereign to respect the charters which he had sworn to maintain, and which were far more ancient than his sovereignty; so much of treason did william of orange already contemplate, for in no other way could he be loyal to his country and his own honor. nothing came of this secret embassy, for egmont's heart and fate were already fixed. before orange departed, however; for the north, where his presence in the dutch provinces was now imperatively required, a memorable interview took place at dendermonde between orange, horn, egmont, hoogstraaten, and count louis. the nature of this conference was probably similar to that of the secret mission from orange to egmont just recorded. it was not a long consultation. the gentlemen met at eleven o'clock, and conversed until dinner was ready, which was between twelve and one in the afternoon. they discussed the contents of a letter recently received by horn from his brother montigny at segovia, giving a lively picture of philip's fury at the recent events in the netherlands, and expressing the baron's own astonishment and indignation that it had been impossible for the seigniors to prevent such outrages as the public preaching, the image-breaking and the accord. they had also some conversation concerning the dissatisfaction manifested by the duchess at the proceedings of count horn at tournay, and they read a very remarkable letter which had been furnished them, as having been written by the spanish envoy in paris, don francis of alava, to margaret of parma. this letter was forged. at least the regent, in her italian correspondence, asserted it to be fictitious, and in those secret letters to philip she usually told the truth. the astuteness of william of orange had in this instance been deceived. the striking fidelity, however, with which the present and future policy of the government was sketched, the accuracy with which many unborn events were foreshadowed, together with the minute touches which gave an air of genuineness to the fictitious despatch, might well deceive even so sagacious an observer as the prince. the letters alluded to the deep and long-settled hostility of philip to orange, horn, and egmont, as to a fact entirely within the writer's knowledge, and that of his correspondent, but urged upon the duchess the assumption of an extraordinary degree of apparent cordiality in her intercourse with them. it was the king's intention to use them and to destroy them, said the writer, and it was the regent's duty to second the design. "the tumults and troubles have not been without their secret concurrence," said the supposititious alava, "and your highness may rest assured that they will be the first upon whom his majesty will seize, not to confer benefits, but to chastise them as they deserve. your highness, however, should show no symptom of displeasure, but should constantly maintain in their minds the idea that his majesty considers them as the most faithful of his servants. while they are persuaded of this, they can be more easily used, but when the time comes, they will be treated in another manner. your highness may rest assured that his majesty is not less inclined than your highness that they should receive the punishment which they merit." the duchess was furthermore recommended "to deal with the three seigniors according to the example of the spanish governments in its intercourse with the envoys, bergen and montigny, who are met with a smiling face, but who are closely watched, and who will never be permitted to leave spain alive." the remainder of the letter alludes to supposed engagements between france and spain for the extirpation of heresy, from which allusion to the generally accepted but mistaken notion as to the bayonne conference, a decided proof seems to be furnished that the letter was not genuine. great complaints, however, are made, as to the conduct of the queen regent, who is described as "a certain lady well known to her highness, and as a person without faith, friendship, or truth; the most consummate hypocrite in the world." after giving instances of the duplicity manifested by catherine de medici, the writer continues: "she sends her little black dwarf to me upon frequent errands, in order that by means of this spy she may worm out my secrets. i am, however, upon my guard, and flatter myself that i learn more from him than she from me. she shall never be able to boast of having deceived a spaniard." an extract or two from this very celebrated document seemed indispensable, because of the great importance attached to it, both at the dendermonde conference, and at the trials of egmont and horn. the contemporary writers of holland had no doubt of its genuineness, and what is more remarkable, strada, the historiographer of the farnese family, after quoting margaret's denial of the authenticity of the letter, coolly observes: "whether this were only an invention of the conspirators, or actually a despatch from alava, i shall not decide. it is certain, however, that the duchess declared it to be false." certainly, as we read the epistles, and observe how profoundly the writer seems to have sounded the deep guile of the spanish cabinet, and how distinctly events, then far in the future, are indicated, we are tempted to exclaim: "aut alava, aut diabolus;" either the envoy wrote the despatch, or orange. who else could look into the future, and into philip's heart so unerringly? as the charge has never been made, so far as we are aware, against the prince, it is superfluous to discuss the amount of immorality which should belong to such a deception. a tendency to employ stratagem in his warfare against spain was, no doubt, a blemish upon his--high character. before he is condemned, however, in the court of conscience, the ineffable wiles of the policy with which he had to combat must be thoroughly scanned, as well as the pure and lofty purpose for which his life's long battle was fought. there was, doubtless, some conversation at dendermonde on the propriety or possibility of forcible resistance to a spanish army, with which it seemed probable that philip was about to invade the provinces, and take the lives of the leading nobles. count louis was in favor of making provision in germany for the accomplishment of this purpose. it is also highly probable that the prince may have encouraged the proposition. in the sense of his former communication to egmont, he may have reasoned on the necessity of making levies to sustain the decisions of the states-general against violence. there is, however, no proof of any such fact. egmont, at any rate, opposed the scheme, on the ground that "it was wrong to entertain any such ill opinion of so good a king as philip, that he had never done any thing unjust towards his subjects, and that if any one was in fear, he had better leave the country." egmont, moreover; doubted the authenticity of the letters from alava, but agreed to carry them to brussels, and to lay them before the regent. that lady, when she saw them, warmly assured the count that they were inventions. the conference broke up after it had lasted an hour and a half. the nobles then went to dinner, at which other persons appear to have been present, and the celebrated dendermonde meeting was brought to a close. after the repast was finished, each of the five nobles mounted his horse, and departed on his separate way. from this time forth the position of, these leading seigniors became more sharply defined. orange was left in almost complete isolation. without the assistance of egmont, any effective resistance to the impending invasion from spain seemed out of the question. the count, however, had taken his irrevocable and fatal resolution. after various oscillations during the stormy period which had elapsed, his mind, notwithstanding all the disturbing causes by which it had hitherto been partially influenced, now pointed steadily to the point of loyalty. the guidance of that pole star was to lead him to utter shipwreck. the unfortunate noble, entrenched against all fear of philip by the brazen wall of an easy conscience; saw no fault in his past at which he should grow pale with apprehension. moreover, he was sanguine by nature, a catholic in religion, a royalist from habit and conviction. henceforth he was determined that his services to the crown should more than counterbalance any idle speeches or insolent demonstrations of which he might have been previously guilty. horn pursued a different course, but one which separated him also from the prince, while it led to the same fate which egmont was blindly pursuing.--the admiral had committed no act of treason. on the contrary, he had been doing his best, under most difficult circumstances, to avert rebellion and save the interests of a most ungrateful sovereign. he was now disposed to wrap himself in his virtue, to retreat from a court life, for which he had never felt a vocation, and to resign all connection with a government by which he felt himself very badly, treated. moody, wrathful, disappointed, ruined, and calumniated, he would no longer keep terms with king or duchess. he had griefs of long standing against the whole of the royal family. he had never forgiven the emperor for refusing him, when young, the appointment of chamberlain. he had served philip long and faithfully, but he had never received a stiver of salary or "merced," notwithstanding all his work as state councillor, as admiral, as superintendent in spain; while his younger brother had long been in receipt of nine or ten thousand florins yearly. he had spent four hundred thousand florins in the king's service; his estates were mortgaged to their full value; he had been obliged to sell, his family plate. he had done his best in tourney to serve the duchess, and he had averted the "sicilian vespers," which had been imminent at his arrival. he had saved the catholics from a general massacre, yet he heard nevertheless from montigny, that all his actions were distorted in spain, and his motives blackened. his heart no longer inclined him to continue in philip's service, even were he furnished with the means of doing so. he had instructed his secretary, alonzo de la loo, whom he had despatched many months previously to madrid, that he was no longer to press his master's claims for a "merced," but to signify that he abandoned all demands and resigned all posts. he could turn hermit for the rest of his days, as well as the emperor charles. if he had little, he could live upon little. it was in this sense that he spoke to margaret of parma, to assonleville, to all around him. it was precisely in this strain and temper that he wrote to philip, indignantly defending his course at tourney, protesting against the tortuous conduct of the duchess, and bluntly declaring that he would treat no longer with ladies upon matters which concerned a man's honor. thus, smarting under a sense of gross injustice, the admiral expressed himself in terms which philip was not likely to forgive. he had undertaken the pacification of tournay, because it was montigny's government, and he had promised his services whenever they should be requisite. horn was a loyal and affectionate brother, and it is pathetic to find him congratulating montigny on being, after all, better off in spain than in the netherlands. neither loyalty nor the sincere catholicism for which montigny at this period commended horn in his private letters, could save the two brothers from the doom which was now fast approaching. thus horn, blind as egmont--not being aware that a single step beyond implicit obedience had created an impassable gulf between philip and himself--resolved to meet his destiny in sullen retirement. not an entirely disinterested man, perhaps, but an honest one, as the world went, mediocre in mind, but brave, generous, and direct of purpose, goaded by the shafts of calumny, hunted down by the whole pack which fawned upon power as it grew more powerful, he now retreated to his "desert," as he called his ruined home at weert, where he stood at bay, growling defiance at the regent, at philip, at all the world. thus were the two prominent personages upon whose co-operation orange had hitherto endeavored to rely, entirely separated from him. the confederacy of nobles, too, was dissolved, having accomplished little, notwithstanding all its noisy demonstrations, and having lost all credit with the people by the formal cessation of the compromise in consequence of the accord of august. as a body, they had justified the sarcasm of hubert languet, that "the confederated nobles had ruined their country by their folly and incapacity." they had profaned a holy cause by indecent orgies, compromised it by seditious demonstrations, abandoned it when most in need of assistance. bakkerzeel had distinguished himself by hanging sectaries in flanders. "golden fleece" de hammes, after creating great scandal in and about antwerp, since the accord, had ended by accepting an artillery commission in the emperor's army, together with three hundred crowns for convoy from duchess margaret. culemburg was serving the cause of religious freedom by defacing the churches within his ancestral domains, pulling down statues, dining in chapels and giving the holy wafer to his parrot. nothing could be more stupid than these acts of irreverence, by which catholics were offended and honest patriots disgusted. nothing could be more opposed to the sentiments of orange, whose first principle was abstinence by all denominations of christians from mutual insults. at the same time, it is somewhat revolting to observe the indignation with which such offences were regarded by men of the most abandoned character. thus, armenteros, whose name was synonymous with government swindling, who had been rolling up money year after year, by peculations, auctioneering of high posts in church and state, bribes, and all kinds of picking and stealing, could not contain his horror as he referred to wafers eaten by parrots, or "toasted on forks" by renegade priests; and poured out his emotions on the subject into the faithful bosom of antonio perez, the man with whose debaucheries, political villanies, and deliberate murders all europe was to ring. no doubt there were many individuals in the confederacy for whom it was reserved to render honorable service in the national cause. the names of louis nassau, mamix of st. aldegonde, bernard de merode, were to be written in golden letters in their country's rolls; but at this moment they were impatient, inconsiderate, out of the control of orange. louis was anxious for the king to come from spain with his army, and for "the bear dance to begin." brederode, noisy, bawling, and absurd as ever, was bringing ridicule upon the national cause by his buffoonery, and endangering the whole people by his inadequate yet rebellious exertions. what course was the prince of orange to adopt? he could find no one to comprehend his views. he felt certain at the close of the year that the purpose of the government was fixed. he made no secret of his determination never to lend himself as an instrument for the contemplated subjugation of the people. he had repeatedly resigned all his offices. he was now determined that the resignation once for all should be accepted. if he used dissimulation, it was because philip's deception permitted no man to be frank. if the sovereign constantly disavowed all hostile purposes against his people, and manifested extreme affection for the men whom he had already doomed to the scaffold, how could the prince openly denounce him? it was his duty to save his country and his friends from impending ruin. he preserved, therefore, an attitude of watchfulness. philip, in the depth of his cabinet, was under a constant inspection by the sleepless prince. the sovereign assured his sister that her apprehensions about their correspondence was groundless. he always locked up his papers, and took the key with him. nevertheless, the key was taken out of his pocket and the papers read. orange was accustomed to observe, that men of leisure might occupy themselves with philosophical pursuits and with the secrets of nature, but that it was his business to study the hearts of kings. he knew the man and the woman with whom he had to deal. we have seen enough of the policy secretly pursued by philip and margaret to appreciate the accuracy with which the prince, groping as it were in the dark, had judged the whole situation. had his friends taken his warnings, they might have lived to render services against tyranny. had he imitated their example of false loyalty, there would have been one additional victim, more illustrious than all the rest, and a whole country hopelessly enslaved. it is by keeping these considerations in view, that we can explain his connection with such a man as brederode. the enterprises of that noble, of tholouse, and others, and the resistance of valenciennes, could hardly have been prevented even by the opposition of the prince. but why should he take the field against men who, however rashly or ineffectually, were endeavoring to oppose tyranny, when he knew himself already proscribed and doomed by the tyrant? such loyalty he left to egmont. till late in the autumn, he had still believed in the possibility of convoking the states-general, and of making preparations in germany to enforce their decrees. the confederates and sectaries had boasted that they could easily raise an army of sixty thousand men within the provinces,--that twelve hundred thousand florins monthly would be furnished by the rich merchants of antwerp, and that it was ridiculous to suppose that the german mercenaries enrolled by the duchess in saxony, hesse, and other protestant countries, would ever render serious assistance against the adherents of the reformed religion. without placing much confidence in such exaggerated statements, the prince might well be justified in believing himself strong enough, if backed by the confederacy, by egmont, and by his own boundless influence, both at antwerp and in his own government, to sustain the constituted authorities of the nation even against a spanish army, and to interpose with legitimate and irresistible strength between the insane tyrant and the country which he was preparing to crush. it was the opinion of the best informed catholics that, if egmont should declare for the confederacy, he could take the field with sixty thousand men, and make himself master of the whole country at a blow. in conjunction with orange, the moral and physical force would have been invincible. it was therefore not orange alone, but the catholics and protestants alike, the whole population of the country, and the duchess regent herself, who desired the convocation of the estates. notwithstanding philip's deliberate but secret determination never to assemble that body, although the hope was ever to be held out that they should be convened, margaret had been most importunate that her brother should permit the measure. "there was less danger," she felt herself compelled to say, "in assembling than in not assembling the states; it was better to preserve the catholic religion for a part of the country, than to lose it altogether." "the more it was delayed," she said, "the more ruinous and desperate became the public affairs. if the measure were postponed much longer, all flanders, half brabant, the whole of holland, zeland, gueldrea, tournay, lille, mechlin, would be lost forever, without a chance of ever restoring the ancient religion." the country, in short, was "without faith, king, or law," and nothing worse could be apprehended from any deliberation of the states-general. these being the opinions of the duchess, and according to her statement those of nearly all the good catholics in the country, it could hardly seem astonishing or treasonable that the prince should also be in favor of the measure. as the duchess grew stronger, however, and as the people, aghast at the fate of tournay and valenciennes, began to lose courage, she saw less reason for assembling the states. orange, on the other hand, completely deserted by egmont and horn, and having little confidence in the characters of the ex-confederates, remained comparatively quiescent but watchful. at the close of the year, an important pamphlet from his hand was circulated, in which his views as to the necessity of allowing some degree of religious freedom were urged upon the royal government with his usual sagacity of thought, moderation of language, and modesty in tone. the man who had held the most important civil and military offices in the country almost from boyhood, and who was looked up to by friend and foe as the most important personage in the three millions of its inhabitants, apologized for his "presumption" in coming forward publicly with his advice. "i would not," he said, "in matters of such importance, affect to be wiser or to make greater pretensions than my age or experience warrants, yet seeing affairs in such perplexity, i will rather incur the risk of being charged with forwardness than neglect that which i consider my duty." this, then, was the attitude of the principal personages in the netherlands, and the situation of affairs at the end of the eventful year , the last year of peace which the men then living or their children were to know. the government, weak at the commencement, was strong at the close. the confederacy was broken and scattered. the request, the beggar banquets, the public preaching, the image-breaking, the accord of august, had been followed by reaction. tournay had accepted its garrison. egmont, completely obedient to the crown, was compelling all the cities of flanders and artois to receive soldiers sufficient to maintain implicit obedience, and to extinguish all heretical demonstrations, so that the regent was at comparative leisure to effect the reduction of valenciennes. this ancient city, in the province of hainault, and on the frontier of france, had been founded by the emperor valentinian, from whom it had derived its name. originally established by him as a city of refuge, it had received the privilege of affording an asylum to debtors, to outlaws, and even to murderers. this ancient right had been continued, under certain modifications, even till the period with which we are now occupied. never, however, according to the government, had the right of asylum, even in the wildest times, been so abused by the city before. what were debtors, robbers, murderers, compared to heretics? yet these worst enemies of their race swarmed in the rebellious city, practising even now the foulest rites of calvin, and obeying those most pestilential of all preachers, guido de bray, and peregrine de la grange. the place was the hot-bed of heresy and sedition, and it seemed to be agreed, as by common accord, that the last struggle for what was called the new religion, should take place beneath its walls. pleasantly situated in a fertile valley, provided with very strong fortifications and very deep moats, valenciennes, with the scheld flowing through its centre, and furnishing the means of laying the circumjacent meadows under water, was considered in those days almost impregnable. the city was summoned, almost at the same time as tournay, to accept a garrison. this demand of government was met by a peremptory refusal. noircarmes, towards the middle of december, ordered the magistrates to send a deputation to confer with him at conde. pensionary outreman accordingly repaired to that neighboring city, accompanied by some of his colleagues. this committee was not unfavorable to the demands of government. the magistracies of the cities, generally, were far from rebellious; but in the case of valenciennes the real power at that moment was with the calvinist consistory, and the ministers. the deputies, after their return from conde, summoned the leading members of the reformed religion, together with the preachers. it was urged that it was their duty forthwith to use their influence in favor of the demand made by the government upon the city. "may i grow mute as a fish!" answered de la grange, stoutly, "may the tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, before i persuade my people to accept a garrison of cruel mercenaries, by whom their rights of conscience are to be trampled upon!" councillor outreman reasoned with the fiery minister, that if he and his colleague were afraid of their own lives, ample provision should be made with government for their departure under safe conduct. la grange replied that he had no fears for himself, that the lord would protect those who preached and those who believed in his holy word, but that he would not forgive them should they now bend their necks to his enemies. it was soon very obvious that no arrangement could be made. the magistrates could exert no authority, the preachers were all-powerful; and the citizens, said a catholic inhabitant of valenciennes, "allowed themselves to be led by their ministers like oxen." upon the th december, , a proclamation was accordingly issued by the duchess regent, declaring the city in a state of siege, and all its inhabitants rebels. the crimes for which this penalty was denounced, were elaborately set forth in the edict. preaching according to the reformed religion had been permitted in two or three churches, the sacrament according to the calvinistic manner had been publicly administered, together with a renunciation by the communicants of their adhesion to the catholic church, and now a rebellious refusal to receive the garrison sent to them by the duchess had been added to the list of their iniquities. for offences like these the regent deemed it her duty to forbid all inhabitants of any city, village, or province of the netherlands holding communication with valenciennes, buying or selling with its inhabitants, or furnishing them with provisions; on pain of being considered accomplices in their rebellion, and as such of being executed with the halter. the city was now invested by noircarmes with all the troops which could be spared. the confederates gave promises of assistance to the beleaguered citizens, orange privately encouraged them to holdout in their legitimate refusal. brederode and others busied themselves with hostile demonstrations which were destined to remain barren; but in the mean time the inhabitants had nothing to rely upon save their own stout hearts and arms. at first, the siege was sustained with a light heart. frequent sallies were made, smart skirmishes were ventured, in which the huguenots, on the testimony of a most bitter catholic contemporary, conducted themselves with the bravery of veteran troops, and as if they had done nothing all their lives but fight; forays were made upon the monasteries of the neighborhood for the purpose of procuring supplies, and the broken statues of the dismantled churches were used to build a bridge across an arm of the river, which was called in derision the bridge of idols. noircarmes and the six officers under him, who were thought to be conducting their operations with languor, were christened the seven sleepers. gigantic spectacles, three feet in circumference, were planted derisively upon the ramparts, in order that the artillery, which it was said that the papists of arras were sending, might be seen, as soon as it should arrive. councillor outreman, who had left the city before the siege, came into it again, on commission from noircarmes. he was received with contempt, his proposals on behalf of the government were answered with outcries of fury; he was pelted with stones, and was very glad to make his escape alive. the pulpits thundered with the valiant deeds of joshua, judas maccabeus, and other bible heroes. the miracles wrought in their behalf served to encourage the enthusiasm of the people, while the movements making at various points in the neighborhood encouraged a hope of a general rising throughout the country. those hopes were destined to disappointment. there were large assemblages made, to be sure, at two points. nearly three thousand sectaries had been collected at lannoy under pierre comaille, who, having been a locksmith and afterwards a calvinist preacher, was now disposed to try his fortune as a general. his band was, however, disorderly. rustics armed with pitchforks, young students and old soldiers out of employment, furnished with rusty matchlocks, pikes and halberds, composed his force. a company similar in character, and already amounting to some twelve hundred in number, was collecting at waterlots. it was hoped that an imposing array would soon be assembled, and that the two bands, making a junction, would then march to the relief of valenciennes. it was boasted that in a very short time, thirty thousand men would be in the field. there was even a fear of some such result felt by the catholics. etext editor's bookmarks: , the last year of peace dissenters were as bigoted as the orthodox if he had little, he could live upon little incur the risk of being charged with forwardness than neglect not to let the grass grow under their feet motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley [chapter ix., part .] calvinists defeated at lannoy and at waterlots--elation of the government--the siege pressed more closely--cruelties practised upon the country people--courage of the inhabitants--remonstrance to the knights of the fleece--conduct of brederode--orange at amsterdam-- new oath demanded by government--orange refuses--he offers his resignation of all offices--meeting at breda--new "request" of brederode--he creates disturbances and levies troops in antwerp-- conduct of hoogstraaten--plans of brederode--supposed connivance of orange--alarm at brussels--tholouse at ostrawell--brederode in holland--de beauvoir defeats tholouse--excitement at antwerp-- determined conduct of orange--three days' tumult at antwerp suppressed by the wisdom and courage of orange. it was then that noircarmes and his "seven sleepers" showed that they were awake. early in january, , that fierce soldier, among whose vices slothfulness was certainly never reckoned before or afterwards, fell upon the locksmith's army at zannoy, while the seigneur de rassinghem attacked the force at waterlots on the same day. noircarmes destroyed half his enemies at the very first charge. the ill-assorted rabble fell asunder at once. the preacher fought well, but his undisciplined force fled at the first sight of the enemy. those who carried arquebusses threw them down without a single discharge, that they might run the faster. at least a thousand were soon stretched dead upon the field; others were hunted into the river. twenty-six hundred, according to the catholic accounts, were exterminated in an hour. rassinghem, on his part, with five or six hundred regulars, attacked teriel's force, numbering at least twice as many. half of these were soon cut to pieces and put to flight. six hundred, however, who had seen some service, took refuge in the cemetery of waterlots. here, from behind the stone wall of the inclosure, they sustained the attack of the catholics with some spirit. the repose of the dead in the quiet country church-yard was disturbed by the uproar of a most sanguinary conflict. the temporary fort was soon carried, and the huguenots retreated into the church. a rattling arquebusade was poured in upon them as they struggled in the narrow doorway. at least four hundred corpses were soon strewn among the ancient graves. the rest were hunted, into the church, and from the church into the belfry. a fire was then made in the steeple and kept up till all were roasted or suffocated. not a man escaped. this was the issue in the first stricken field in the netherlands, for the cause of religious liberty. it must be confessed that it was not very encouraging to the lovers of freedom. the partisans of government were elated, in proportion to the apprehension which had been felt for the result of this rising in the walloon country. "these good hypocrites," wrote a correspondent of orange, "are lifting up their heads like so many dromedaries. they are becoming unmanageable with pride." the duke of aerschot and count meghem gave great banquets in brussels, where all the good chevaliers drank deep in honor of the victory, and to the health of his majesty and madame. "i saw berlaymont just go by the window," wrote schwartz to the prince. "he was coming from aerschot's dinner with a face as red as the cardinal's new hat." on the other hand, the citizens of valenciennes were depressed in equal measure with the exultation of their antagonists. there was no more talk of seven sleepers now, no more lunettes stuck upon lances, to spy the coming forces of the enemy. it was felt that the government was wide awake, and that the city would soon see the impending horrors without telescopes. the siege was pressed more closely. noircarmes took up a commanding position at saint armand, by which he was enabled to cut off all communication between the city and the surrounding country. all the villages in the neighborhood were pillaged; all the fields laid waste. all the infamies which an insolent soldiery can inflict upon helpless peasantry were daily enacted. men and women who attempted any communication--with the city, were murdered in cold blood by hundreds. the villagers were plundered of their miserable possessions, children were stripped naked in the midst of winter for the sake of the rags which covered them; matrons and virgins were sold at public auction by the tap of drum; sick and wounded wretches were burned over slow fires, to afford amusement to the soldiers. in brief, the whole unmitigated curse which military power inflamed by religious bigotry can embody, had descended upon the heads of these unfortunate provincials who had dared to worship god in christian churches without a roman ritual. meantime the city maintained, a stout heart still. the whole population were arranged under different banners. the rich and poor alike took arms to defend the walls which sheltered them. the town paupers were enrolled in three companies, which bore the significant title of the "tons-nulls" or the "stark-nakeds," and many was the fierce conflict delivered outside the gates by men, who, in the words of a catholic then in the city, might rather be taken for "experienced veterans than for burghers and artisans." at the same time, to the honor of valenciennes, it must be stated, upon the same incontestable authority, that not a catholic in the city was injured or insulted. the priests who had remained there were not allowed to say mass, but they never met with an opprobrious word or look from the people. the inhabitants of the city called upon the confederates for assistance. they also issued an address to the knights of the fleece; a paper which narrated the story of their wrongs in pathetic and startling language. they appealed to those puissant and illustrious chevaliers to prevent the perpetration of the great wrong which was now impending over so many innocent heads. "wait not," they said, "till the thunderbolt has fallen, till the deluge has overwhelmed us, till the fires already blazing have laid the land in coals and ashes, till no other course be possible, but to abandon the country in its desolation to foreign barbarity. let the cause of the oppressed come to your ears. so shall your conscience become a shield of iron; so shall the happiness of a whole country witness before the angels, of your truth to his majesty, in the cause of his true grandeur and glory." these stirring appeals to an order of which philip was chief, viglius chancellor, egmont, mansfeld, aerschot, berlaymont, and others, chevaliers, were not likely to produce much effect. the city could rely upon no assistance in those high quarters. meantime, however, the bold brederode was attempting a very extensive diversion, which, if successful, would have saved valenciennes and the whole country beside. that eccentric personage, during the autumn and winter had been creating disturbances in various parts of the country. wherever he happened to be established, there came from the windows of his apartments a sound of revelry and uproar. suspicious characters in various costumes thronged his door and dogged his footsteps. at the same time the authorities felt themselves obliged to treat him with respect. at horn he had entertained many of the leading citizens at a great banquet.--the-health-of-the-beggars had been drunk in mighty potations, and their shibboleth had resounded through the house. in the midst of the festivities, brederode had suspended a beggar's-medal around the neck of the burgomaster, who had consented to be his guest upon that occasion, but who had no intention of enrolling himself in the fraternities of actual or political mendicants. the excellent magistrate, however, was near becoming a member of both. the emblem by which he had been conspicuously adorned proved very embarrassing to him upon his recovery from the effects of his orgies with the "great beggar," and he was subsequently punished for his imprudence by the confiscation of half his property. early in january, brederode had stationed himself in his city of viane. there, in virtue of his seignorial rights, he had removed all statues and other popish emblems from the churches, performing the operation, however, with much quietness and decorum. he had also collected many disorderly men at arms in this city, and had strengthened its fortifications, to resist, as he said, the threatened attacks of duke eric of brunswick and his german mercenaries. a printing-press was established in the place, whence satirical pamphlets, hymn-books, and other pestiferous productions, were constantly issuing to the annoyance of government. many lawless and uproarious individuals enjoyed the count's hospitality. all the dregs and filth of the provinces, according to doctor viglius, were accumulated at viane as in a cesspool. along the placid banks of the lech, on which river the city stands, the "hydra of rebellion" lay ever coiled and threatening. brederode was supposed to be revolving vast schemes, both political and military, and margaret of parma was kept in continual apprehension by the bravado of this very noisy conspirator. she called upon william of orange, as usual, for assistance. the prince, however, was very ill-disposed to come to her relief. an extreme disgust for the policy of the government already began to, characterize his public language. in the autumn and winter he had done all that man could do for the safety of the monarch's crown, and for the people's happiness. his services in antwerp have been recorded. as soon as he could tear himself from that city, where the magistrates and all classes of citizens clung to him as to their only saviour, he had hastened to tranquillize the provinces of holland, zeland, and utrecht. he had made arrangements in the principal cities there upon the same basis which he had adopted in antwerp, and to which margaret had consented in august. it was quite out of the question to establish order without permitting the reformers, who constituted much the larger portion of the population, to have liberty of religious exercises at some places, not consecrated, within the cities. at amsterdam, for instance, as he informed the duchess, there were swarms of unlearned, barbarous people, mariners and the like, who could by no means perceive the propriety of doing their preaching in the open country, seeing that the open country, at that season, was quite under water.--margaret's gracious suggestion that, perhaps, something might be done with boats, was also considered inadmissible. "i know not," said orange, "who could have advised your highness to make such a proposition." he informed her, likewise; that the barbarous mariners had a clear right to their preaching; for the custom had already been established previously to the august treaty, at a place called the "lastadge," among the wharves. "in the name of god, then," wrote margaret; "let them continue to preach in the lastadge." this being all the barbarians wanted, an accord, with the full consent of the regent, was drawn up at amsterdam and the other northern cities. the catholics kept churches and cathedrals, but in the winter season, the greater part of the population obtained permission to worship god upon dry land, in warehouses and dock-yards. within a very few weeks, however, the whole arrangement was coolly cancelled by the duchess, her permission revoked, and peremptory prohibition of all preaching within or without the walls proclaimed. the government was growing stronger. had not noircarmes and rassinghem cut to pieces three or four thousand of these sectaries marching to battle under parsons, locksmiths, and similar chieftains? were not all lovers of good government "erecting their heads like dromedaries?" it may easily be comprehended that the prince could not with complacency permit himself to be thus perpetually stultified by a weak, false, and imperious woman. she had repeatedly called upon him when she was appalled at the tempest and sinking in the ocean; and she had as constantly disavowed his deeds and reviled his character when she felt herself in safety again. he had tranquillized the old batavian provinces, where the old batavian spirit still lingered, by his personal influence and his unwearied exertions. men of all ranks and religions were grateful for his labors. the reformers had not gained much, but they were satisfied. the catholics retained their churches, their property, their consideration. the states of holland had voted him fifty thousand florins, as an acknowledgment of his efforts in restoring peace. he had refused the present. he was in debt, pressed for money, but he did not choose, as he informed philip, "that men should think his actions governed by motives of avarice or particular interest, instead of the true affection which he bore to his majesty's service and the good of the country." nevertheless, his back was hardly turned before all his work was undone by the regent. a new and important step on the part of the government had now placed him in an attitude of almost avowed rebellion. all functionaries, from governors of provinces down to subalterns in the army, were required to take a new oath of allegiance, "novum et hactenua inusitatum religionia juramentum," as the prince characterized it, which was, he said, quite equal to the inquisition. every man who bore his majesty's commission was ordered solemnly to pledge himself to obey the orders of government, every where, and against every person, without limitation or restriction.--count mansfeld, now "factotum at brussels," had taken the oath with great fervor. so had aerachot, berlaymont, meghem, and, after a little wavering, egmont. orange spurned the proposition. he had taken oaths enough which he had never broken, nor intended now to break: he was ready still to do every thing conducive to the real interest of the monarch. who dared do more was no true servant to the government, no true lover of the country. he would never disgrace himself by a blind pledge, through which he might be constrained to do acts detrimental, in his opinion, to the safety of the crown, the happiness of the commonwealth, and his own honor. the alternative presented he willingly embraced. he renounced all his offices, and desired no longer to serve a government whose policy he did not approve, a king by whom he was suspected. his resignation was not accepted by the duchess, who still made efforts to retain the services of a man who was necessary to her administration. she begged him, notwithstanding the purely defensive and watchful attitude which he had now assumed, to take measures that brederode should abandon his mischievous courses. she also reproached the prince with having furnished that personage with artillery for his fortifications. orange answered, somewhat contemptuously, that he was not brederode's keeper, and had no occasion to meddle with his affairs. he had given him three small field-pieces, promised long ago; not that he mentioned that circumstance as an excuse for the donation. "thank god," said he, "we have always had the liberty in this country of making to friends or relatives what presents we liked, and methinks that things have come to a pretty pass when such trifles are scrutinized." certainly, as suzerain of viane, and threatened with invasion in his seignorial rights, the count might think himself justified in strengthening the bulwarks of his little stronghold, and the prince could hardly be deemed very seriously to endanger the safety of the crown by the insignificant present which had annoyed the regent. it is not so agreeable to contemplate the apparent intimacy which the prince accorded to so disreputable a character, but orange was now in hostility to the government, was convinced by evidence, whose accuracy time was most signally to establish, that his own head, as well as many others, were already doomed to the block, while the whole country was devoted to abject servitude, and he was therefore disposed to look with more indulgence upon the follies of those who were endeavoring, however weakly and insanely, to avert the horrors which he foresaw. the time for reasoning had passed. all that true wisdom and practical statesmanship could suggest, he had already placed at the disposal of a woman who stabbed him in the back even while she leaned upon his arm--of a king who had already drawn his death warrant, while reproaching his "cousin of orange" for want of confidence in the royal friendship. was he now to attempt the subjugation of his country by interfering with the proceedings of men whom he had no power to command, and who, at least, were attempting to oppose tyranny? even if he should do so, he was perfectly aware of the reward, reserved for his loyalty. he liked not such honors as he foresaw for all those who had ever interposed between the monarch and his vengeance. for himself he had the liberation of a country, the foundation of a free commonwealth to achieve. there was much work for those hands before he should fall a victim to the crowned assassin. early in february, brederode, hoogstraaten, horn, and some other gentlemen, visited the prince at breda. here it is supposed the advice of orange was asked concerning the new movement contemplated by brederode. he was bent upon presenting a new petition to the duchess with great solemnity. there is no evidence to show that the prince approved the step, which must have seemed to him superfluous, if not puerile. he probably regarded the matter with indifference. brederode, however, who was fond of making demonstrations, and thought himself endowed with a genius for such work, wrote to the regent for letters of safe conduct that he might come to brussels with his petition. the passports were contemptuously refused. he then came to antwerp, from which city he forwarded the document to brussels in a letter. by this new request, the exercise of the reformed religion was claimed as a right, while the duchess was summoned to disband the forces which she had been collecting, and to maintain in good faith the "august" treaty. these claims were somewhat bolder than those of the previous april, although the liberal party was much weaker and the confederacy entirely disbanded. brederode, no doubt, thought it good generalship to throw the last loaf of bread into the enemy's camp before the city should surrender. his haughty tone was at once taken down by margaret of parma. "she wondered," she said, "what manner of nobles these were, who, after requesting, a year before, to be saved only from the inquisition, now presumed to talk about preaching in the cities." the concessions of august had always been odious, and were now canceled. "as for you and your accomplices," she continued to the count, "you will do well to go to your homes at once without meddling with public affairs, for, in case of disobedience, i shall deal with you as i shall deem expedient." brederode not easily abashed, disregarded the advice, and continued in antwerp. here, accepting the answer of the regent as a formal declaration of hostilities, he busied himself in levying troops in and about the city. orange had returned to antwerp early in february. during his absence, hoogstraaten had acted as governor at the instance of the prince and of the regent. during the winter that nobleman, who was very young and very fiery, had carried matters with a high hand, whenever there had been the least attempt at sedition. liberal in principles, and the devoted friend of orange, he was disposed however to prove that the champions of religious liberty were not the patrons of sedition. a riot occurring in the cathedral, where a violent mob were engaged in defacing whatever was left to deface in that church, and in heaping insults on the papists at their worship, the little count, who, says a catholic contemporary, "had the courage of a lion," dashed in among them, sword in hand, killed three upon the spot, and, aided by his followers, succeeded in slaying, wounding, or capturing all the rest. he had also tracked the ringleader of the tumult to his lodging, where he had caused him to be arrested at midnight, and hanged at once in his shirt without any form of trial. such rapid proceedings little resembled the calm and judicious moderation of orange upon all occasions, but they certainly might have sufficed to convince philip that all antagonists of the inquisition were not heretics and outlaws. upon the arrival of the prince in antwerp, it was considered advisable that hoogstraaten should remain associated with him in the temporary government of the city. during the month of february, brederode remained in antwerp, secretly enrolling troops. it was probably his intention--if so desultory and irresponsible an individual could be said to have an intention--to make an attempt upon the island of walcheren. if such important cities as flushing and middelburg could be gained, he thought it possible to prevent the armed invasion now soon expected from spain. orange had sent an officer to those cities, who was to reconnoitre their condition, and to advise them against receiving a garrison from government without his authority. so far he connived at brederode's proceedings, as he had a perfect right to do, for walcheren was within what had been the prince's government, and he had no disposition that these cities should share the fate of tourney, valenciennes, bois le duc, and other towns which had already passed or were passing under the spears of foreign mercenaries. it is also probable that he did not take any special pains to check the enrolments of brederode. the peace of antwerp was not endangered, and to the preservation of that city the prince seemed now to limit himself. he was hereditary burgrave of antwerp, but officer of philip's never more. despite the shrill demands of duchess margaret, therefore; the prince did not take very active measures by which the crown of philip might be secured. he, perhaps, looked upon the struggle almost with indifference. nevertheless, he issued a formal proclamation by which the count's enlistments were forbidden. van der aa, a gentleman who had been active in making these levies, was compelled to leave the city. brederode was already gone to the north to busy himself with further enrolments. in the mean time there had been much alarm in brussels. egmont, who omitted no opportunity of manifesting his loyalty, offered to throw himself at once into the isle of walcheren, for the purpose of dislodging any rebels who might have effected an entrance. he collected accordingly seven or eight hundred walloon veterans, at his disposal in flanders, in the little port of sas de ghent, prepared at once to execute his intention, "worthy," says a catholic writer, "of his well-known courage and magnanimity." the duchess expressed gratitude for the count's devotion and loyalty, but his services in the sequel proved unnecessary. the rebels, several boat-loads of whom had been cruising about in the neighborhood of flushing during the early part of march, had been refused admittance into any of the ports on the island. they therefore sailed up the scheld, and landed at a little village called ostrawell, at the distance of somewhat more than a mile from antwerp. the commander of the expedition was marnix of tholouse, brother to marnix of saint aldegonde. this young nobleman, who had left college to fight for the cause of religious liberty, was possessed of fine talents and accomplishments. like his illustrious brother, he was already a sincere convert to the doctrines of the reformed church. he had nothing, however, but courage to recommend him as a leader in a military expedition. he was a mere boy, utterly without experience in the field. his troops were raw levies, vagabonds and outlaws. such as it was, however, his army was soon posted at ostrawell in a convenient position, and with considerable judgment. he had the scheld and its dykes in his rear, on his right and left the dykes and the village. in front he threw up a breastwork and sunk a trench. here then was set up the standard of rebellion, and hither flocked daily many malcontents from the country round. within a few days three thousand men were in his camp. on the other handy brederode was busy in holland, and boasted of taking the field ere long with six thousand soldiers at the very least. together they would march to the relief of valenciennes, and dictate peace in brussels. it was obvious that this matter could not be allowed to go on. the duchess, with some trepidation, accepted the offer made by philip de lannoy, seigneur de beauvoir, commander of her body-guard in brussels, to destroy this nest of rebels without delay. half the whole number of these soldiers was placed at his disposition, and egmont supplied de beauvoir with four hundred of his veteran walloons. with a force numbering only eight hundred, but all picked men, the intrepid officer undertook his enterprise, with great despatch and secrecy. upon the th march, the whole troop was sent off in small parties, to avoid suspicion, and armed only with sword and dagger. their helmets, bucklers, arquebusses, corselets, spears, standards and drums, were delivered to their officers, by whom they were conveyed noiselessly to the place of rendezvous. before daybreak, upon the following morning, de beauvoir met his soldiers at the abbey of saint bernard, within a league of antwerp. here he gave them their arms, supplied them with refreshments, and made them a brief speech. he instructed them that they were to advance, with furled banners and without beat of drum, till within sight of the enemy, that the foremost section was to deliver its fire, retreat to the rear and load, to be followed by the next, which was to do the same, and above all, that not an arquebus should be discharged till the faces of the enemy could be distinguished. the troop started. after a few minutes' march they were in full sight of ostrawell. they then displayed their flags and advanced upon the fort with loud huzzas. tholouse was as much taken by surprise as if they had suddenly emerged from the bowels of the earth. he had been informed that the government at brussels was in extreme trepidation. when he first heard the advancing trumpets and sudden shouts, he thought it a detachment of brederode's promised force. the cross on the banners soon undeceived him. nevertheless "like a brave and generous young gentleman as he was," he lost no time in drawing up his men for action, implored them to defend their breastworks, which were impregnable against so small a force, and instructed them to wait patiently with their fire, till the enemy were near enough to be marked. these orders were disobeyed. the "young scholar," as de beauvoir had designated him, had no power to infuse his own spirit into his rabble rout of followers. they were already panic-struck by the unexpected appearance of the enemy. the catholics came on with the coolness of veterans, taking as deliberate aim as if it had been they, not their enemies, who were behind breastworks. the troops of tholouse fired wildly, precipitately, quite over the heads of the assailants. many of the defenders were slain as fast as they showed themselves above their bulwarks. the ditch was crossed, the breastwork carried at, a single determined charge. the rebels made little resistance, but fled as soon as the enemy entered their fort. it was a hunt, not a battle. hundreds were stretched dead in the camp; hundreds were driven into the scheld; six or eight hundred took refuge in a farm-house; but de beauvoir's men set fire to the building, and every rebel who had entered it was burned alive or shot. no quarter was given. hardly a man of the three thousand who had held the fort escaped. the body of tholouse was cut into a hundred pieces. the seigneur de beauvoir had reason, in the brief letter which gave an account of this exploit, to assure her highness that there were "some very valiant fellows in his little troop." certainly they had accomplished the enterprise entrusted to them with promptness, neatness, and entire success. of the great rebellious gathering, which every day had seemed to grow more formidable, not a vestige was left. this bloody drama had been enacted in full sight of antwerp. the fight had lasted from daybreak till ten o'clock in the forenoon, during the whole of which period, the city ramparts looking towards ostrawell, the roofs of houses, the towers of churches had been swarming with eager spectators. the sound of drum and trumpet, the rattle of musketry, the shouts of victory, the despairing cries of the vanquished were heard by thousands who deeply sympathized with the rebels thus enduring so sanguinary a chastisement. in antwerp there were forty thousand people opposed to the church of rome. of this number the greater proportion were calvinists, and of these calvinists there were thousands looking down from the battlements upon the disastrous fight. the excitement soon became uncontrollable. before ten o'clock vast numbers of sectaries came pouring towards the red gate, which afforded the readiest egress to the scene of action; the drawbridge of the ostrawell gate having been destroyed the night before by command of orange. they came from every street and alley of the city. some were armed with lance, pike, or arquebus; some bore sledge-hammers; others had the partisans, battle-axes, and huge two-handed swords of the previous century; all were determined upon issuing forth to the rescue of their friends in the fields outside the town. the wife of tholouse, not yet aware of her husband's death, although his defeat was obvious, flew from street to street, calling upon the calvinists to save or to avenge their perishing brethren. a terrible tumult prevailed. ten thousand men were already up and in arms.--it was then that the prince of orange, who was sometimes described by his enemies as timid and pusillanimous by nature, showed the mettle he was made of. his sense of duty no longer bade him defend the crown of philip--which thenceforth was to be entrusted to the hirelings of the inquisition--but the vast population of antwerp, the women, the children, and the enormous wealth of the richest deity in the world had been confided to his care, and he had accepted the responsibility. mounting his horse, he made his appearance instantly at the red gate, before as formidable a mob as man has ever faced. he came there almost alone, without guards. hoogstraaten arrived soon afterwards with the same intention. the prince was received with howls of execration. a thousand hoarse voices called him the pope's servant, minister of antichrist, and lavished upon him many more epithets of the same nature. his life was in imminent danger. a furious clothier levelled an arquebus full at his breast. "die, treacherous villain?" he cried; "thou who art the cause that our brethren have perished thus miserably in yonder field." the loaded weapon was struck away by another hand in the crowd, while the prince, neither daunted by the ferocious demonstrations against his life, nor enraged by the virulent abuse to which he was subjected, continued tranquilly, earnestly, imperatively to address the crowd. william of orange had that in his face and tongue "which men willingly call master-authority." with what other talisman could he, without violence and without soldiers, have quelled even for a moment ten thousand furious calvinists, armed, enraged against his person, and thirsting for vengeance on catholics. the postern of the red gate had already been broken through before orange and his colleague, hoogstraaten, had arrived. the most excited of the calvinists were preparing to rush forth upon the enemy at ostrawell. the prince, after he had gained the ear of the multitude, urged that the battle was now over, that the reformers were entirely cut to pieces, the enemy, retiring, and that a disorderly and ill-armed mob would be unable to retrieve the fortunes of the day. many were persuaded to abandon the design. five hundred of the most violent, however, insisted upon leaving the gates, and the governors, distinctly warning these zealots that their blood must be upon their own heads, reluctantly permitted that number to issue from the city. the rest of the mob, not appeased, but uncertain, and disposed to take vengeance upon the catholics within the walls, for the disaster which had been occurring without, thronged tumultuously to the long, wide street, called the mere, situate in the very heart of the city. meantime the ardor of those who had sallied from the gate grew sensibly cooler, when they found themselves in the open fields. de beauvoir, whose men, after the victory, had scattered in pursuit of the fugitives, now heard the tumult in the city. suspecting an attack, he rallied his compact little army again for a fresh encounter. the last of the vanquished tholousians who had been captured; more fortunate than their predecessors, had been spared for ransom. there were three hundred of them; rather a dangerous number of prisoners for a force of eight hundred, who were just going into another battle. de beauvoir commanded his soldiers, therefore, to shoot them all. this order having been accomplished, the catholics marched towards antwerp, drums beating, colors flying. the five hundred calvinists, not liking their appearance, and being in reality outnumbered, retreated within; the gates as hastily as they had just issued from them. de beauvoir advanced close to the city moat, on the margin of which he planted the banners of the unfortunate tholouse, and sounded a trumpet of defiance. finding that the citizens had apparently no stomach for the fight, he removed his trophies, and took his departure. on the other hand, the tumult within the walls had again increased. the calvinists had been collecting in great numbers upon the mere. this was a large and splendid thoroughfare, rather an oblong market-place than a street, filled with stately buildings, and communicating by various cross streets with the exchange and with many other public edifices. by an early hour in the afternoon twelve or fifteen thousand calvinists, all armed and fighting men, had assembled upon the place. they had barricaded the whole precinct with pavements and upturned wagons. they had already broken into the arsenal and obtained many field-pieces, which were planted at the entrance of every street and by-way. they had stormed the city jail and liberated the prisoners, all of whom, grateful and ferocious, came to swell the numbers who defended the stronghold on the mere. a tremendous mischief was afoot. threats of pillaging the churches and the houses of the catholics, of sacking the whole opulent city, were distinctly heard among this powerful mob, excited by religious enthusiasm, but containing within one great heterogeneous mass the elements of every crime which humanity can commit. the alarm throughout the city was indescribable. the cries of women and children, as they remained in trembling expectation of what the next hour might bring forth, were, said one who heard them, "enough to soften the hardest hearts." nevertheless the diligence and courage of the prince kept pace with the insurrection. he had caused the eight companies of guards enrolled in september, to be mustered upon the square in front of the city hall, for the protection of that building and of the magistracy. he had summoned the senate of the city, the board of ancients, the deans of guilds, the ward masters, to consult with him at the council-room. at the peril of his life he had again gone before the angry mob in the mere, advancing against their cannon and their outcries, and compelling them to appoint eight deputies to treat with him and the magistrates at the town-hall. this done, quickly but deliberately he had drawn up six articles, to which those deputies gave their assent, and in which the city government cordially united. these articles provided that the keys of the city should remain in the possession of the prince and of hoogstraaten, that the watch should be held by burghers and soldiers together, that the magistrates should permit the entrance of no garrison, and that the citizens should be entrusted with the care of, the charters, especially with that of the joyful entrance. these arrangements, when laid before the assembly at the mere by their deputies, were not received with favor. the calvinists demanded the keys of the city. they did not choose to be locked up at the mercy of any man. they had already threatened to blow the city hall into the air if the keys were not delivered to them. they claimed that burghers, without distinction of religion, instead of mercenary troops, should be allowed to guard the market-place in front of the town-hall. it was now nightfall, and no definite arrangement had been concluded. nevertheless, a temporary truce was made, by means of a concession as to the guard. it was agreed that the burghers, calvinists and lutherans, as well as catholics, should be employed to protect the city. by subtlety, however, the calvinists detailed for that service, were posted not in the town-house square, but on the ramparts and at the gates. a night of dreadful expectation was passed. the army of fifteen thousand mutineers remained encamped and barricaded on the mere, with guns loaded and artillery pointed. fierce cries of "long live the beggars,"--"down with the papists," and other significant watchwords, were heard all night long, but no more serious outbreak occurred. during the whole of the following day, the calvinists remained in their encampment, the catholics and the city guardsmen at their posts near the city hall. the prince was occupied in the council-chamber from morning till night with the municipal authorities, the deputies of "the religion," and the guild officers, in framing a new treaty of peace. towards evening fifteen articles were agreed upon, which were to be proposed forthwith to the insurgents, and in case of nonacceptance to be enforced. the arrangement provided that there should be no garrison; that the september contracts permitting the reformed worship at certain places within the city should be maintained; that men of different parties should refrain from mutual insults; that the two governors, the prince and hoogstraaten, should keep the keys; that the city should be guarded by both soldiers and citizens, without distinction of religious creed; that a band of four hundred cavalry and a small flotilla of vessels of war should be maintained for the defence of the place, and that the expenses to be incurred should be levied upon all classes, clerical and lay, catholic and reformed, without any exception. it had been intended that the governors, accompanied by the magistrates, should forthwith proceed to the mere, for the purpose of laying these terms before the insurgents. night had, however, already arrived, and it was understood that the ill-temper of the calvinists had rather increased than diminished, so that it was doubtful whether the arrangement would be accepted. it was, therefore, necessary to await the issue of another day, rather than to provoke a night battle in the streets. during the night the prince labored incessantly to provide against the dangers of the morrow. the calvinists had fiercely expressed their disinclination to any reasonable arrangement. they had threatened, without farther pause, to plunder the religious houses and the mansions of all the wealthy catholics, and to drive every papist out of town. they had summoned the lutherans to join with them in their revolt, and menaced them, in case of refusal, with the same fate which awaited the catholics. the prince, who was himself a lutheran, not entirely free from the universal prejudice against the calvinists, whose sect he afterwards embraced, was fully aware of the deplorable fact, that the enmity at that day between calvinists and lutherans was as fierce as that between reformers and catholics. he now made use of this feeling, and of his influence with those of the augsburg confession, to save the city. during the night he had interviews with the ministers and notable members of the lutheran churches, and induced them to form an alliance upon this occasion with the catholics and with all friends of order, against an army of outlaws who were threatening to burn and sack the city. the lutherans, in the silence of night, took arms and encamped, to the number of three or four thousand, upon the river side, in the neighborhood of saint michael's cloister. the prince also sent for the deans of all the foreign mercantile associations--italian, spanish, portuguese, english, hanseatic, engaged their assistance also for the protection of the city, and commanded them to remain in their armor at their respective factories, ready to act at a moment's warning. it was agreed that they should be informed at frequent intervals as to the progress of events. on the morning of the th, the city of antwerp presented a fearful sight. three distinct armies were arrayed at different points within its walls. the calvinists, fifteen thousand strong, lay in their encampment on the mere; the lutherans, armed, and eager for action, were at st. michael's; the catholics and the regulars of the city guard were posted on the square. between thirty-five and forty thousand men were up, according to the most moderate computation. all parties were excited, and eager for the fray. the fires of religious hatred burned fiercely in every breast. many malefactors and outlaws, who had found refuge in the course of recent events at antwerp, were in the ranks of the calvinists, profaning a sacred cause, and inspiring a fanatical party with bloody resolutions. papists, once and forever, were to be hunted down, even as they had been for years pursuing reformers. let the men who had fed fat on the spoils of plundered christians be dealt with in like fashion. let their homes be sacked, their bodies given to the dogs--such were the cries uttered by thousands of armed men. on the other hand, the lutherans, as angry and as rich as the catholics, saw in every calvinist a murderer and a robber. they thirsted after their blood; for the spirit of religious frenzy; the characteristic of the century, can with difficulty be comprehended in our colder and more sceptical age. there was every probability that a bloody battle was to be fought that day in the streets of antwerp--a general engagement, in the course of which, whoever might be the victors, the city was sure to be delivered over to fire, sack, and outrage. such would have been the result, according to the concurrent testimony of eye-witnesses, and contemporary historians of every country and creed, but for the courage and wisdom of one man. william of orange knew what would be the consequence of a battle, pent up within the walls of antwerp. he foresaw the horrible havoc which was to be expected, the desolation which would be brought to every hearth in the city. "never were men so desperate and so willing to fight," said sir thomas gresham, who had been expecting every hour his summons to share in the conflict. if the prince were unable that morning to avert the impending calamity, no other power, under heaven, could save antwerp from destruction. the articles prepared on the th had been already approved by those who represented the catholic and lutheran interests. they were read early in the morning to the troops assembled on the square and at st. michael's, and received with hearty cheers. it was now necessary that the calvinists should accept them, or that the quarrel should be fought out at once. at ten o'clock, william of orange, attended by his colleague, hoogstraaten, together with a committee of the municipal authorities, and followed by a hundred troopers, rode to the mere. they wore red scarfs over their armor, as symbols by which all those who had united to put down the insurrection were distinguished. the fifteen thousand calvinists, fierce and disorderly as ever, maintained a threatening aspect. nevertheless, the prince was allowed to ride into the midst of the square. the articles were then read aloud by his command, after which, with great composure, he made a few observations. he pointed out that the arrangement offered them was founded upon the september concessions, that the right of worship was conceded, that the foreign garrison was forbidden, and that nothing further could be justly demanded or honorably admitted. he told them that a struggle upon their part would be hopeless, for the catholics and lutherans, who were all agreed as to the justice of the treaty, outnumbered them by nearly two to one. he, therefore, most earnestly and affectionately adjured them to testify their acceptance to the peace offered by repeating the words with which he should conclude. then, with a firm voice; the prince exclaimed, "god save the king!" it was the last time that those words were ever heard from the lips of the man already proscribed by philip. the crowd of calvinists hesitated an instant, and then, unable to resist the tranquil influence, convinced by his reasonable language, they raised one tremendous shout of "vive le roi!" the deed was done, the peace accepted, the dreadful battle averted, antwerp saved. the deputies of the calvinists now formally accepted and signed the articles. kind words were exchanged among the various classes of fellow-citizens, who but an hour before had been thirsting for each other's blood, the artillery and other weapons of war were restored to the arsenals, calvinists, lutherans, and catholics, all laid down their arms, and the city, by three o'clock, was entirely quiet. fifty thousand armed men had been up, according to some estimates, yet, after three days of dreadful expectation, not a single person had been injured, and the tumult was now appeased. the prince had, in truth, used the mutual animosity of protestant sects to a good purpose; averting bloodshed by the very weapons with which the battle was to have been waged. had it been possible for a man like william the silent to occupy the throne where philip the prudent sat, how different might have been the history of spain and the fate of the netherlands. gresham was right, however, in his conjecture that the regent and court would not "take the business well." margaret of parma was incapable of comprehending such a mind as that of orange, or of appreciating its efforts. she was surrounded by unscrupulous and mercenary soldiers, who hailed the coming civil war as the most profitable of speculations. "factotum" mansfeld; the counts aremberg and meghem, the duke of aerschot, the sanguinary noircarmes, were already counting their share in the coming confiscations. in the internecine conflict approaching, there would be gold for the gathering, even if no honorable laurels would wreath their swords. "meghen with his regiment is desolating the country," wrote william of orange to the landgrave of hesse, "and reducing many people to poverty. aremberg is doing the same in friesland. they are only thinking how, under the pretext of religion, they may grind the poor christians, and grow rich and powerful upon their estates and their blood." the seignior de beauvoir wrote to the duchess, claiming all the estates of tholouse, and of his brother st. aldegonde, as his reward for the ostrawell victory, while noircarmes was at this very moment to commence at valenciennes that career of murder and spoliation which, continued at mons a few years afterwards, was to load his name with infamy. from such a regent, surrounded by such councillors, was the work of william de nassau's hands to gain applause? what was it to them that carnage and plunder had been spared in one of the richest and most populous cities in christendom? were not carnage and plunder the very elements in which they disported themselves? and what more dreadful offence against god and philip could be committed than to permit, as the prince had just permitted, the right of worship in a christian land to calvinists and lutherans? as a matter of course, therefore, margaret of parma denounced the terms by which antwerp had been saved as a "novel and exorbitant capitulation," and had no intention of signifying her approbation either to prince or magistrate. [chapter x.] egmont and aerschot before valenciennes--severity of egmont-- capitulation of the city--escape and capture of the ministers-- execution of la grange and de bray--horrible cruelty at valenciennes--effects of the reduction of valenciennes--the duchess at antwerp--armed invasion of the provinces decided upon in spain-- appointment of alva--indignation of margaret--mission of de billy-- pretended visit of philip--attempts of the duchess to gain over orange--mission of berty--interview between orange and egmont at willebroek--orange's letters to philip, to egmont, and to horn-- orange departs from the netherlands--philip's letter to egmont-- secret intelligence received by orange--la torre's mission to brederode--brederode's departure and death--death of bergen--despair in the provinces--great emigration--cruelties practised upon those of the new religion--edict of th may--wrath of the king. valenciennes, whose fate depended so closely upon the issue of these various events, was now trembling to her fall. noircarmes had been drawing the lines more and more closely about the city, and by a refinement of cruelty had compelled many calvinists from tournay to act as pioneers in the trenches against their own brethren in valenciennes. after the defeat of tholouse, and the consequent frustration of all brederode's arrangements to relieve the siege, the duchess had sent a fresh summons to valenciennes, together with letters acquainting the citizens with the results of the ostrawell battle. the intelligence was not believed. egmont and aerschot, however, to whom margaret had entrusted this last mission to the beleaguered town, roundly rebuked the deputies who came to treat with them, for their insolence in daring to doubt the word of the regent. the two seigniors had established themselves in the chateau of beusnage, at a league's distance from valenciennes. here they received commissioners from the city, half of whom were catholics appointed by the magistrates, half calvinists deputed by the consistories. these envoys were informed that the duchess would pardon the city for its past offences, provided the gates should now be opened, the garrison received, and a complete suppression of all religion except that of rome acquiesced in without a murmur. as nearly the whole population was of the calvinist faith, these terms could hardly be thought favorable. it was, however, added, that fourteen days should be allowed to the reformers for the purpose of converting their property, and retiring from the country. the deputies, after conferring with their constituents in the, city, returned on the following day with counter-propositions, which were not more likely to find favor with the government. they offered to accept the garrison, provided the soldiers should live at their own expense, without any tax to the citizens for their board, lodging, or pay. they claimed that all property which had been seized should be restored, all persons accused of treason liberated. they demanded the unconditional revocation of the edict by which the city had been declared rebellious, together with a guarantee from the knights of the fleece and the state council that the terms of the propose& treaty should be strictly observed. as soon as these terms had been read to the two seigniors, the duke of aerschot burst into an immoderate fit of laughter. he protested that nothing could be more ludicrous than such propositions, worthy of a conqueror dictating a peace, thus offered by a city closely beleaguered, and entirely at the mercy of the enemy. the duke's hilarity was not shared by egmont, who, on the contrary, fell into a furious passion. he swore that the city should be burned about their ears, and that every one of the inhabitants should be put to the sword for the insolent language which they had thus dared to address to a most clement sovereign. he ordered the trembling deputies instantly to return with this peremptory rejection of their terms, and with his command that the proposals of government should be accepted within three days' delay. the commissioners fell upon their knees at egmont's feet, and begged for mercy. they implored him at least to send this imperious message by some other hand than theirs, and to permit them to absent themselves from the city. they should be torn limb from limb, they said, by the enraged inhabitants, if they dared to present themselves with such instructions before them. egmont, however, assured them that they should be sent into the city, bound hand and foot, if they did not instantly obey his orders. the deputies, therefore, with heavy hearts, were fain to return home with this bitter result to their negotiations. the, terms were rejected, as a matter of course, but the gloomy forebodings of the commissioners, as to their own fate at the hands of their fellow-citizens, were not fulfilled. instant measures were now taken to cannonade the city. egmont, at the hazard of his life, descended into the foss, to reconnoitre the works, and to form an opinion as to the most eligible quarter at which to direct the batteries. having communicated the result of his investigations to noircarmes, he returned to report all these proceedings to the regent at brussels. certainly the count had now separated himself far enough from william of orange, and was manifesting an energy in the cause of tyranny which was sufficiently unscrupulous. many people who had been deceived by his more generous demonstrations in former times, tried to persuade themselves that he was acting a part. noircarmes, however--and no man was more competent to decide the question distinctly--expressed his entire confidence in egmont's loyalty. margaret had responded warmly to his eulogies, had read with approbation secret letters from egmont to noircarmes, and had expressed the utmost respect and affection for "the count." egmont had also lost no time in writing to philip, informing him that he had selected the most eligible spot for battering down the obstinate city of valenciennes, regretting that he could not have had the eight or ten military companies, now at his disposal, at an earlier day, in which case he should have been able to suppress many tumults, but congratulating his sovereign that the preachers were all fugitive, the reformed religion suppressed, and the people disarmed. he assured the king that he would neglect no effort to prevent any renewal of the tumults, and expressed the hope that his majesty would be satisfied with his conduct, notwithstanding the calumnies of which the times were full. noircarmes meanwhile, had unmasked his batteries, and opened his fire exactly according to egmont's suggestions. the artillery played first upon what was called the "white tower," which happened to bear this ancient, rhyming inscription: "when every man receives his own, and justice reigns for strong and weak, perfect shall be this tower of stone, and all the dumb will learn to speak." "quand chacun sera satisfaict, et la justice regnera, ce boulevard sera parfaict, et--la muette parlera."--valenciennes ms. for some unknown reason, the rather insipid quatrain was tortured into a baleful prophecy. it was considered very ominous that the battery should be first opened against this sibylline tower. the chimes, too, which had been playing, all through the siege, the music of marot's sacred songs, happened that morning to be sounding forth from every belfry the twenty-second psalm: "my god, my god, why hast thou forsaken me?" it was palm sunday, d of march. the women and children were going mournfully about the streets, bearing green branches in their hands, and praying upon their knees, in every part of the city. despair and superstition had taken possession of citizens, who up to that period had justified la noue's assertion, that none could endure a siege like huguenots. as soon as the cannonading began, the spirit of the inhabitants seemed to depart. the ministers exhorted their flocks in vain as the tiles and chimneys began to topple into the streets, and the concussions of the artillery were responded to by the universal wailing of affrighted women. upon the very first day after the unmasking of the batteries, the city sent to noircarmes, offering almost an unconditional surrender. not the slightest breach had been effected--not the least danger of an assault existed--yet the citizens, who had earned the respect of their antagonists by the courageous manner in which they had sallied and skirmished during the siege, now in despair at any hope of eventual succor, and completely demoralized by the course of recent events outside their walls, surrendered ignominiously, and at discretion. the only stipulation agreed to by noircarmes was, that the city should not be sacked, and that the lives of the inhabitants should be spared. this pledge was, however, only made to be broken. noircarmes entered the city and closed the gates. all the richest citizens, who of course were deemed the most criminal, were instantly arrested. the soldiers, although not permitted formally to sack the city, were quartered upon the inhabitants, whom they robbed and murdered, according to the testimony of a catholic citizen, almost at their pleasure. michael herlin, a very wealthy and distinguished burgher, was arrested upon the first day. the two ministers, guido de bray and peregrine de la grange, together with the son of herlin, effected their escape by the water-gate. having taken refuge in a tavern at saint arnaud, they were observed, as they sat at supper, by a peasant, who forthwith ran off to the mayor of the borough with the intelligence that some individuals, who looked like fugitives, had arrived at saint arnaud. one of them, said the informer, was richly dressed; and wore a gold-hilted sword with velvet scabbard. by the description, the mayor recognized herlin the younger,--and suspected his companions. they were all arrested, and sent to noircarmes. the two herlins, father and son, were immediately beheaded. guido de bray and peregrine de la grange were loaded with chains, and thrown into a filthy dungeon, previously to their being hanged. here they were visited by the countess de roeulx, who was curious to see how the calvinists sustained themselves in their martyrdom. she asked them how they could sleep, eat, or drink, when covered with such heavy fetters. "the cause, and my good conscience," answered de bray, "make me eat, drink, and sleep better than those who are doing me wrong. these shackles are more honorable to me than golden rings and chains. they are more useful to me, and as i hear their clank, methinks i hear the music of sweet voices and the tinkling of lutes." this exultation never deserted these courageous enthusiasts. they received their condemnation to death "as if it had been an invitation to a marriage feast." they encouraged the friends who crowded their path to the scaffold with exhortations to remain true in the reformed faith. la grange, standing upon the ladder, proclaimed with a loud voice, that he was slain for having preached the pure word of god to a christian people in a christian land. de bray, under the same gibbet; testified stoutly that he, too, had committed that offence alone. he warned his friends to obey the magistrates, and all others in authority, except in matters of conscience; to abstain from sedition; but to obey the will of god. the executioner threw him from the ladder while he was yet speaking. so ended the lives of two eloquent, learned, and highly-gifted divines. many hundreds of victims were sacrificed in the unfortunate city. "there were a great many other citizens strangled or beheaded," says an aristocratic catholic historian of the time, "but they were mostly personages of little quality, whose names are quite unknown to me."--[pontus payen]--the franchises of the city were all revoked. there was a prodigious amount of property confiscated to the benefit of noircarmes and the rest of the "seven sleepers." many calvinists were burned, others were hanged. "for--two whole years," says another catholic, who was a citizen of valenciennes at the time, "there was, scarcely a week in which several citizens were not executed and often a great number were despatched at a time. all this gave so much alarm to the good and innocent, that many quitted the city as fast as they could." if the good and innocent happened to be rich, they might be sure that noircarmes would deem that a crime for which no goodness and innocence could atone. upon the fate of valenciennes had depended, as if by common agreement, the whole destiny of the anti-catholic party. "people had learned at last," says another walloon, "that the king had long arms, and that he had not been enlisting soldiers to string beads. so they drew in their horns and their evil tempers, meaning to put them forth again, should the government not succeed at the siege of valenciennes." the government had succeeded, however, and the consternation was extreme, the general submission immediate and even abject. "the capture of valenciennes," wrote noircarmes to granvelle, "has worked a miracle. the other cities all come forth to meet me, putting the rope around their own necks." no opposition was offered any where. tournay had been crushed; valenciennes, bois le duc, and all other important places, accepted their garrisons without a murmur. even antwerp had made its last struggle, and as soon as the back of orange was turned, knelt down in the dust to receive its bridle. the prince had been able, by his courage and wisdom, to avert a sanguinary conflict within its walls, but his personal presence alone could guarantee any thing like religious liberty for the inhabitants, now that the rest of the country was subdued. on the th april, sixteen companies of infantry, under count mansfeld, entered the gates. on the th the duchess made a visit to the city, where she was received with respect, but where her eyes were shocked by that which she termed the "abominable, sad, and hideous spectacle of the desolated churches." to the eyes of all who loved their fatherland and their race, the sight of a desolate country, with its ancient charters superseded by brute force, its industrious population swarming from the land in droves, as if the pestilence were raging, with gibbets and scaffolds erected in every village, and with a sickening and universal apprehension of still darker disasters to follow, was a spectacle still more sad, hideous, and abominable. for it was now decided that the duke of alva, at the head of a spanish army, should forthwith take his departure for the netherlands. a land already subjugated was to be crushed, and every vestige of its ancient liberties destroyed. the conquered provinces, once the abode of municipal liberty, of science, art, and literature, and blessed with an unexampled mercantile and manufacturing prosperity, were to be placed in absolute subjection to the cabinet council at madrid. a dull and malignant bigot, assisted by a few spanish grandees, and residing at the other extremity of europe, was thenceforth to exercise despotic authority over countries which for centuries had enjoyed a local administration, and a system nearly approaching to complete self-government. such was the policy devised by granvelle and spinosa, which the duke of alva, upon the th april, had left madrid to enforce. it was very natural that margaret of parma should be indignant at being thus superseded. she considered herself as having acquired much credit by the manner in which the latter insurrectionary movements had been suppressed, so soon as philip, after his endless tergiversations, had supplied her with arms and money. therefore she wrote in a tone of great asperity to her brother, expressing her discontent. she had always been trammelled in her action, she said, by his restrictions upon her authority. she complained that he had no regard for her reputation or her peace of mind. notwithstanding, all impediments and dangers, she had at last settled the country, and now another person was to reap the honor. she also despatched the seigneur de billy to spain, for the purpose of making verbal representations to his majesty upon the inexpediency of sending the duke of alva to the netherlands at that juncture with a spanish army. margaret gained nothing, however, by her letters and her envoy, save a round rebuke from philip, who was not accustomed to brook the language of remonstrance; even from his sister. his purpose was fixed. absolute submission was now to be rendered by all. "he was highly astonished and dissatisfied," he said, "that she should dare to write to him with so much passion, and in so resolute a manner. if she received no other recompense, save the glory of having restored the service of god, she ought to express her gratitude to the king for having given her the opportunity of so doing." the affectation of clement intentions was still maintained, together with the empty pretence of the royal visit. alva and his army were coming merely to prepare the way for the king, who still represented himself as "debonair and gentle, slow to anger, and averse from bloodshed." superficial people believed that the king was really coming, and hoped wonders from his advent. the duchess knew better. the pope never believed in it, granvelle never believed in it, the prince of orange never believed in it, councillor d'assonleville never believed in it. "his majesty," says the walloon historian, who wrote from assonleville's papers, "had many imperative reasons for not coming. he was fond of quiet, he was a great negotiator, distinguished for phlegm and modesty, disinclined to long journeys, particularly to sea voyages, which were very painful to him. moreover, he was then building his escorial with so much taste and affection that it was impossible for him to leave home." these excellent reasons sufficed to detain the monarch, in whose place a general was appointed, who, it must be confessed, was neither phlegmatic nor modest, and whose energies were quite equal to the work required. there had in truth never been any thing in the king's project of visiting the netherlands but pretence. on the other hand, the work of orange for the time was finished. he had saved antwerp, he had done his best to maintain the liberties of the country, the rights of conscience, and the royal authority, so far as they were compatible with each other. the alternative had now been distinctly forced upon every man, either to promise blind obedience or to accept the position of a rebel. william of orange had thus become a rebel. he had been requested to sign the new oath, greedily taken by the mansfelds, the berlaymont, the aerachot, and the egmonts, to obey every order which he might receive, against every person and in every place, without restriction or limitation,--and he had distinctly and repeatedly declined the demand. he had again and again insisted upon resigning all his offices. the duchess, more and more anxious to gain over such an influential personage to the cause of tyranny, had been most importunate in her requisitions. "a man with so noble a heart," she wrote to the prince, "and with a descent from, such illustrious and loyal ancestors, can surely not forget his duties to his majesty and the country." william of orange knew his duty to both better than the duchess could understand. he answered this fresh summons by reminding her that he had uniformly refused the new and extraordinary pledge required of him. he had been true to his old oaths, and therefore no fresh pledge was necessary. moreover, a pledge without limitation he would never take. the case might happen, he said, that he should be ordered to do things contrary to his conscience, prejudicial to his majesty's service, and in violation of his oaths to maintain the laws of the country. he therefore once more resigned all his offices, and signified his intention of leaving the provinces. margaret had previously invited him to an interview at brussels, which he had declined, because he had discovered a conspiracy in that place to "play him a trick." assonleville had already been sent to him without effect. he had refused to meet a deputation of fleece knights at mechlin, from the same suspicion of foul play. after the termination of the antwerp tumult, orange again wrote to the duchess, upon the th march, repeating his refusal to take the oath, and stating that he considered himself as at least suspended from all his functions, since she had refused, upon the ground of incapacity, to accept his formal resignation. margaret now determined, by the advice of the state council, to send secretary berty, provided with an ample letter of instructions, upon a special mission to the prince at antwerp. that respectable functionary performed his task with credit, going through the usual formalities, and adducing the threadbare arguments in favor of the unlimited oath, with much adroitness and decorum. he mildly pointed out the impropriety of laying down such responsible posts as those which the prince now occupied at such a juncture. he alluded to the distress which the step must occasion to the debonair sovereign. william of orange became somewhat impatient under the official lecture of this secretary to the privy council, a mere man of sealing-wax and protocols. the slender stock of platitudes with which he had come provided was soon exhausted. his arguments shrivelled at once in the scorn with which the prince received them. the great statesman, who, it was hoped, would be entrapped to ruin, dishonor, and death by such very feeble artifices, asked indignantly whether it were really expected that he should acknowledge himself perjured to his old obligations by now signing new ones; that he should disgrace himself by an unlimited pledge which might require him to break his oaths to the provincial statutes and to the emperor; that he should consent to administer the religious edicts which he abhorred; that he should act as executioner of christians on account of their religious opinions, an office against which his soul revolted; that he should bind himself by an unlimited promise which might require, him to put his own wife to death, because she was a lutheran? moreover, was it to be supposed that he would obey without restriction any orders issued to him in his majesty's name, when the king's representative might be a person whose supremacy it ill became one of his' race to acknowledge? was william of orange to receive absolute commands from the duke of alva? having mentioned that name with indignation, the prince became silent. it was very obvious that no impression was to be made upon the man by formalists. poor berty having conjugated his paradigm conscientiously through all its moods and tenses, returned to his green board in the council-room with his proces verbal of the conference. before he took his leave, however, he prevailed upon orange to hold an interview with the duke of aerschot, count mansfeld, and count egmont. this memorable meeting took place at willebroek, a village midway between antwerp and brussels, in the first week of april. the duke of aerschot was prevented from attending, but mansfeld and egmont--accompanied by the faithful berty, to make another proces verbal--duly made their appearance. the prince had never felt much sympathy with mansfeld, but a tender and honest friendship had always existed between himself and egmont, notwithstanding the difference of their characters, the incessant artifices employed by the spanish court to separate them, and the impassable chasm which now, existed between their respective positions towards the government. the same common-places of argument and rhetoric were now discussed between orange and the other three personages, the, prince distinctly stating, in conclusion, that he considered himself as discharged from all his offices, and that he was about to leave the netherlands for germany. the interview, had it been confined to such formal conversation, would have but little historic interest. egmont's choice had been made. several months before he had signified his determination to hold those for enemies who should cease to conduct themselves as faithful vassals, declared himself to be without fear that the country was to be placed in the hands of spaniards, and disavowed all intention, in any case whatever, of taking arms against the king. his subsequent course, as we have seen, had been entirely in conformity with these solemn declarations. nevertheless, the prince, to whom they had been made, thought it still possible to withdraw his friend from the precipice upon which he stood, and to save him from his impending fate. his love for egmont had, in his own noble; and pathetic language, "struck its roots too deeply into his heart" to permit him, in this their parting interview, to neglect a last effort, even if this solemn warning were destined to be disregarded. by any reasonable construction of history, philip was an unscrupulous usurper, who was attempting to convert himself from a duke of brabant and a count of holland into an absolute king. it was william who was maintaining, philip who was destroying; and the monarch who was thus blasting the happiness of the provinces, and about to decimate their population, was by the same process to undermine his own power forever, and to divest himself of his richest inheritance. the man on whom he might have leaned for support, had he been capable of comprehending his character, and of understanding the age in which he had himself been called upon to reign, was, through philip's own insanity, converted into the instrument by which his most valuable provinces were, to be taken from him, and eventually re-organized into: an independent commonwealth. could a vision, like that imagined by the immortal dramatist for another tyrant and murderer, have revealed the future to philip, he, too, might have beheld his victim, not crowned himself, but pointing to a line of kings, even to some who 'two-fold balls and treble sceptres carried', and smiling on them for his. but such considerations as these had no effect upon the prince of orange. he knew himself already proscribed, and he knew that the secret condemnation had extended to egmont also. he was anxious that his friend should prefer the privations of exile, with the chance of becoming the champion of a struggling country, to the wretched fate towards which his blind confidence was leading him. even then it seemed possible that the brave soldier, who had been recently defiling his sword in the cause of tyranny, might be come mindful of his brighter and earlier fame. had egmont been as true to his native land as, until "the long divorce of steel fell on him," he was faithful to philip, he might yet have earned brighter laurels than those gained at st. quentin and gravelines. was he doomed to fall, he might find a glorious death upon freedom's battle-field, in place of that darker departure then so near him, which the prophetic language of orange depicted, but which he was too sanguine to fear. he spoke with confidence of the royal clemency. "alas, egmont," answered the prince, "the king's clemency, of which you boast, will destroy you. would that i might be deceived, but i foresee too clearly that you are to be the bridge which the spaniards will destroy so soon as they have passed over it to invade our country." with these last, solemn words he concluded his appeal to awaken the count from his fatal security. then, as if persuaded that he was looking upon his friend for the last time, william of orange threw his arms around egmont, and held him for a moment in a close embrace. tears fell from the eyes of both at this parting moment--and then the brief scene of simple and lofty pathos terminated--egmont and orange separated from each other, never to meet again on earth. a few days afterwards, orange addressed a letter to philip once more resigning all his offices, and announcing his intention of departing from the netherlands for germany. he added, that he should be always ready to place himself and his property at the king's orders in every thing which he believed conducive to the true service of his majesty. the prince had already received a remarkable warning from old landgrave philip of hesse, who had not forgotten the insidious manner in which his own memorable captivity had been brought about by the arts of granvelle and of alva. "let them not smear your mouths with honey," said the landgrave. "if the three seigniors, of whom the duchess margaret has had so much to say, are invited to court by alva, under pretext of friendly consultation, let them be wary, and think twice ere they accept. i know the duke of alva and the spaniards, and how they dealt with me." the prince, before he departed, took a final leave of horn and egmont, by letters, which, as if aware of the monumental character they were to assume for posterity, he drew up in latin. he desired, now that he was turning his back upon the country, that those two nobles who had refused to imitate, and had advised against his course, should remember that, he was acting deliberately, conscientiously, and in pursuance of a long-settled plan. to count horn he declared himself unable to connive longer at the sins daily committed against the country and his own conscience. he assured him that the government had been accustoming the country to panniers, in order that it might now accept patiently the saddle and bridle. for himself, he said, his back was not strong enough for the weight already imposed upon it, and he preferred to endure any calamity which might happen to him in exile, rather than be compelled by those whom they had all condemned to acquiesce in the object so long and steadily pursued. he reminded egmont, who had been urging him by letter to remain, that his resolution had been deliberately taken, and long since communicated to his friends. he could not, in conscience, take the oath required; nor would he, now that all eyes were turned upon him, remain in the land, the only recusant. he preferred to encounter all that could happen, rather than attempt to please others by the sacrifice of liberty, of his fatherland, of his own conscience. "i hope, therefore," said he to egmont in conclusion, "that you, after weighing my reasons, will not disapprove my departure. the rest i leave to god, who will dispose of all as may most conduce to the glory of his name. for yourself, i pray you to believe that you have no more sincere friend than i am. my love for you has struck such deep root into my heart, that it can be lessened by no distance of time or place, and i pray you in return to maintain the same feelings towards me which you have always cherished." the prince had left antwerp upon the th april, and had written these letters from breda, upon the th of the same month. upon the d, he took his departure for dillenburg, the ancestral seat of his family in germany, by the way of grave and cleves. it was not to be supposed that this parting message would influence egmont's decision with regard to his own movements, when his determination had not been shaken at his memorable interview with the prince. the count's fate was sealed. had he not been praised by noircarmes; had he not earned the hypocritical commendations of duchess margaret; nay more, had he not just received a most affectionate letter of, thanks and approbation from the king of spain himself? this letter, one of the most striking monuments of philip's cold-blooded perfidy, was dated the th of march. "i am pleased, my cousin," wrote the monarch to egmont, "that you have taken the new oath, not that i considered it at all necessary so far as regards yourself, but for the example which you have thus given to others, and which i hope they will all follow. i have received not less pleasure in hearing of the excellent manner in which you are doing your duty, the assistance you are rendering, and the offers which you are making to my sister, for which i thank you, and request you to continue in the same course." the words were written by the royal hand which had already signed the death-warrant of the man to whom they were addressed. alva, who came provided with full powers to carry out the great scheme resolved upon, unrestrained by provincial laws or by the statutes of the golden fleece, had left madrid to embark for carthagena, at the very moment when egmont was reading the royal letter. "the spanish honey," to use once more old landgrave philip's homely metaphor, had done its work, and the unfortunate victim was already entrapped. count horn remained in gloomy silence in his lair at weert, awaiting the hunters of men, already on their way. it seemed inconceivable that he, too, who knew himself suspected and disliked, should have thus blinded himself to his position. it will be seen, however, that the same perfidy was to be employed to ensnare him which proved so successful with egmont. as for the prince himself, he did not move too soon. not long after his arrival in germany, vandenesse, the king's private secretary, but orange's secret agent, wrote him word that he had read letters from the king to alva in which the duke was instructed to "arrest the prince as soon as he could lay hands upon him, and not to let his trial last more than twenty-four hours." brederode had remained at viane, and afterwards at amsterdam, since the ill-starred expedition of tholouse, which he had organized, but at which he had not assisted. he had given much annoyance to the magistracy of amsterdam, and to all respectable persons, calvinist or catholic. he made much mischief, but excited no hopes in the minds of reformers. he was ever surrounded by a host of pot companions, swaggering nobles disguised as sailors, bankrupt tradesmen, fugitives and outlaws of every description, excellent people to drink the beggars' health and to bawl the beggars' songs, but quite unfit for any serious enterprise. people of substance were wary of him, for they had no confidence in his capacity, and were afraid of his frequent demands for contributions to the patriotic cause. he spent his time in the pleasure gardens, shooting at the mark with arquebuss or crossbow, drinking with his comrades, and shrieking "vivent les gueux." the regent, determined to dislodge him, had sent secretary la torre to him in march, with instructions that if brederode refused to leave amsterdam, the magistracy were to call for assistance upon count meghem, who had a regiment at utrecht. this clause made it impossible for la torre to exhibit his instructions to brederode. upon his refusal, that personage, although he knew the secretary as well as he knew his own father, coolly informed him that he knew nothing about him; that he did not consider him as respectable a person as he pretended to be; that he did not believe a word of his having any commission from the duchess, and that he should therefore take no notice whatever of his demands. la torre answered meekly, that he was not so presumptuous, nor so destitute of sense as to put himself into comparison with a, gentleman of count brederode's quality, but that as he had served as secretary to the privy council for twenty-three years, he had thought that he might be believed upon his word. hereupon la tome drew up a formal protest, and brederode drew up another. la torre made a proces verbal of their interview, while brederode stormed like a madman, and abused the duchess for a capricious and unreasonable tyrant. he ended by imprisoning la torre for a day or two, and seizing his papers. by a singular coincidence, these events took place on the th, th, and th of march, the very days of the great antwerp tumult. the manner in which the prince of orange had been dealing with forty or fifty thousand armed men, anxious to cut each other's throats, while brederode was thus occupied in browbeating a pragmatical but decent old secretary, illustrated the difference in calibre of the two men. this was the count's last exploit. he remained at amsterdam some weeks longer, but the events which succeeded changed the hector into a faithful vassal. before the th of april, he wrote to egmont, begging his intercession with margaret of parma, and offering "carte blanche" as to terms, if he might only be allowed to make his peace with government. it was, however, somewhat late in the day for the "great beggar" to make his submission. no terms were accorded him, but he was allowed by the duchess to enjoy his revenues provisionally, subject to the king's pleasure. upon the th april, he entertained a select circle of friends at his hotel in amsterdam, and then embarked at midnight for embden. a numerous procession of his adherents escorted him to the ship, bearing lighted torches, and singing bacchanalian songs. he died within a year afterwards, of disappointment and hard drinking, at castle hardenberg, in germany, after all his fretting and fury, and notwithstanding his vehement protestations to die a poor soldier at the feet of louis nassau. that "good chevalier and good christian," as his brother affectionately called him, was in germany, girding himself for the manly work which providence had destined him to perform. the life of brederode, who had engaged in the early struggle, perhaps from the frivolous expectation of hearing himself called count of holland, as his ancestors had been, had contributed nothing to the cause of freedom, nor did his death occasion regret. his disorderly band of followers dispersed in every direction upon the departure of their chief. a vessel in which batenburg, galaina, and other nobles, with their men-at-arms, were escaping towards a german port, was carried into harlingen, while those gentlemen, overpowered by sleep and wassail, were unaware of their danger, and delivered over to count meghem, by the treachery of their pilot. the soldiers, were immediately hanged. the noblemen were reserved to grace the first great scaffold which alva was to erect upon the horse-market in brussels. the confederacy was entirely broken to pieces. of the chieftains to whom the people had been accustomed to look for support and encouragement, some had rallied to the government, some were in exile, some were in prison. montigny, closely watched in spain, was virtually a captive, pining for the young bride to whom he had been wedded amid such brilliant festivities but a few months before his departure, and for the child which was never to look upon its father's face. his colleague, marquis berghen, more fortunate, was already dead. the excellent viglius seized the opportunity to put in a good word for noircarmes, who had been grinding tournay in the dust, and butchering the inhabitants of valenciennes. "we have heard of berghen's death," wrote the president to his faithful joachim. "the lord of noircarmes, who has been his substitute in the governorship of hainault, has given a specimen of what he can do. although i have no private intimacy with that nobleman, i can not help embracing him with all my benevolence. therefore, oh my hopper, pray do your best to have him appointed governor." with the departure of orange, a total eclipse seemed to come over the netherlands. the country was absolutely helpless, the popular heart cold with apprehension. all persons at all implicated in the late troubles, or suspected of heresy, fled from their homes. fugitive soldiers were hunted into rivers, cut to pieces in the fields, hanged, burned, or drowned, like dogs, without quarter, and without remorse. the most industrious and valuable part of the population left the land in droves. the tide swept outwards with such rapidity that the netherlands seemed fast becoming the desolate waste which they had been before the christian era. throughout the country, those reformers who were unable to effect their escape betook themselves to their old lurking-places. the new religion was banished from all the cities, every conventicle was broken up by armed men, the preachers and leading members were hanged, their disciples beaten with rods, reduced to beggary, or imprisoned, even if they sometimes escaped the scaffold. an incredible number, however, were executed for religious causes. hardly a village so small, says the antwerp chronicler,--[meteren]--but that it could furnish one, two, or three hundred victims to the executioner. the new churches were levelled to the ground, and out of their timbers gallows were constructed. it was thought an ingenious pleasantry to hang the reformers upon the beams under which they had hoped to worship god. the property of the fugitives was confiscated. the beggars in name became beggars in reality. many who felt obliged to remain, and who loved their possessions better than their creed, were suddenly converted into the most zealous of catholics. persons who had for years not gone to mass, never omitted now their daily and nightly visits to the churches. persons who had never spoken to an ecclesiastic but with contumely, now could not eat their dinners without one at their table. many who were suspected of having participated in calvinistic rites, were foremost and loudest in putting down and denouncing all forms and shows of the reformation. the country was as completely "pacified," to use the conqueror's expression, as gaul had been by caesar. the, regent issued a fresh edict upon the th may, to refresh the memories of those who might have forgotten previous statutes, which were, however, not calculated to make men oblivious. by this new proclamation, all ministers and teachers were sentenced to the gallows. all persons who had suffered their houses to be used for religious purposes were sentenced to the gallows. all parents or masters whose children or servants had attended such meetings were sentenced to the gallows, while the children and servants were only to be beaten with rods. all people who sang hymns at the burial of their relations were sentenced to the gallows. parents who allowed their newly-born children to be baptized by other hands than those of the catholic priest were sentenced to the gallows. the same punishment was denounced against the persons who should christen the child or act as its sponsors. schoolmasters who should teach any error or false doctrine were likewise to be punished with death. those who infringed the statutes against the buying and selling of religious books and songs were to receive the same doom; after the first offence. all sneers or insults against priests and ecclesiastics were also made capital crimes. vagabonds, fugitives; apostates, runaway monks, were ordered forthwith to depart from every city on pain of death. in all cases confiscation of the whole property of the criminal was added to the hanging. this edict, says a contemporary historian, increased the fear of those professing the new religion to such an extent that they left the country "in great heaps." it became necessary, therefore, to issue a subsequent proclamation forbidding all persons, whether foreigners or natives, to leave the land or to send away their property, and prohibiting all shipmasters, wagoners, and other agents of travel, from assisting in the flight of such fugitives, all upon pain of death. yet will it be credited that the edict of th may, the provisions of which have just been sketched, actually excited the wrath of philip on account of their clemency? he wrote to the duchess, expressing the pain and dissatisfaction which he felt, that an edict so indecent, so illegal, so contrary to the christian religion, should have been published. nothing, he said, could offend or distress him more deeply, than any outrage whatever, even the slightest one, offered to god and to his roman catholic church. he therefore commanded his sister instantly to revoke the edict. one might almost imagine from reading the king's letter that philip was at last appalled at the horrors committed in his name. alas, he was only indignant that heretics had been suffered to hang who ought to have been burned, and that a few narrow and almost impossible loopholes had been left through which those who had offended alight effect their escape. and thus, while the country is paralyzed with present and expected woe, the swiftly advancing trumpets of the spanish army resound from beyond the alps. the curtain is falling upon the prelude to the great tragedy which the prophetic lips of orange had foretold. when it is again lifted, scenes of disaster and of bloodshed, battles, sieges, executions, deeds of unfaltering but valiant tyranny, of superhuman and successful resistance, of heroic self-sacrifice, fanatical courage and insane cruelty, both in the cause of the wrong and the right, will be revealed in awful succession--a spectacle of human energy, human suffering, and human strength to suffer, such as has not often been displayed upon the stage of the world's events. etext editor's bookmarks: god save the king! it was the last time having conjugated his paradigm conscientiously indignant that heretics had been suffered to hang insane cruelty, both in the cause of the wrong and the right sick and wounded wretches were burned over slow fires slender stock of platitudes the time for reasoning had passed who loved their possessions better than their creed motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley [part iii., alva, chapter .] continued dissensions in the spanish cabinet--ruy gomez and alva-- conquest of the netherlands entrusted to the duke--birth, previous career and character of alva--organization of the invading army-- its march to the provinces--complaints of duchess margaret--alva receives deputations on the frontier--interview between the duke and egmont--reception of alva by the duchess of parma--circular letters to the cities requiring their acceptance of garrisons--margaret's secret correspondence--universal apprehension--keys of the great cities demanded by alva--secret plans of the government, arranged before the duke's departure--arrest of orange, egmont, horn, and others, determined upon--stealthy course of the government towards them--infatuation of egmont--warnings addressed to him by de billy and others--measures to entrap count horn--banquet of the grand prior--the grand prior's warning to egmont--evil counsels of noircarmes--arrests of egmont, horn, bakkerzeel and straalen-- popular consternation--petulant conduct of duchess margaret-- characteristic comments of granvelle--his secret machinations and disclaimers--berghen and montigny--last moments of marquis berghen-- perfidy of ruy gomez--establishment of the "blood-council"--its leading features--insidious behavior of viglius--secret correspondence, concerning the president, between philip and alva-- members of the "blood-council"--portraits of vargas and hessels-- mode of proceeding adopted by the council--wholesale executions-- despair in the provinces--the resignation of duchess margaret accepted--her departure from the netherlands--renewed civil war in france--death of montmorency--auxiliary troops sent by alva to france--erection of antwerp citadel--description of the citadel. the armed invasion of the netherlands was the necessary consequence of all which had gone before. that the inevitable result had been so long deferred lay rather in the incomprehensible tardiness of philip's character than in the circumstances of the case. never did a monarch hold so steadfastly to a deadly purpose, or proceed so languidly and with so much circumvolution to his goal. the mask of benignity, of possible clemency, was now thrown off, but the delusion of his intended visit to the provinces was still maintained. he assured the regent that he should be governed by her advice, and as she had made all needful preparations to receive him in zeland, that it would be in zeland he should arrive. the same two men among philip's advisers were prominent as at an earlier day--the prince of eboli and the duke of alva. they still represented entirely opposite ideas, and in character, temper, and history, each was the reverse of the other. the policy of the prince was pacific and temporizing; that of the duke uncompromising and ferocious. ruy gomez was disposed to prevent, if possible, the armed mission of alva, and he now openly counselled the king to fulfil his long-deferred promise, and to make his appearance in person before his rebellious subjects. the jealousy and hatred which existed between the prince and the duke--between the man of peace and the man of wrath--were constantly exploding, even in the presence of the king. the wrangling in the council was incessant. determined, if possible; to prevent the elevation of his rival, the favorite was even for a moment disposed to ask for the command of the army himself. there was something ludicrous in the notion, that a man whose life had been pacific, and who trembled at the noise of arms, should seek to supersede the terrible alva, of whom his eulogists asserted, with, castilian exaggeration, that the very name of fear inspired him with horror. but there was a limit beyond which the influence of anna de mendoza and her husband did not extend. philip was not to be driven to the netherlands against his will, nor to be prevented from assigning the command of the army to the most appropriate man in europe for his purpose. it was determined at last that the netherland heresy should be conquered by force of arms. the invasion resembled both a crusade against the infidel, and a treasure-hunting foray into the auriferous indies, achievements by which spanish chivalry had so often illustrated itself. the banner of the cross was to be replanted upon the conquered battlements of three hundred infidel cities, and a torrent of wealth, richer than ever flowed from mexican or peruvian mines, was to flow into the royal treasury from the perennial fountains of confiscation. who so fit to be the tancred and the pizarro of this bicolored expedition as the duke of alva, the man who had been devoted from his earliest childhood, and from his father's grave, to hostility against unbelievers, and who had prophesied that treasure would flow in a stream, a yard deep, from the netherlands as soon as the heretics began to meet with their deserts. an army of chosen troops was forthwith collected, by taking the four legions, or terzios, of naples, sicily, sardinia, and lombardy, and filling their places in italy by fresh levies. about ten thousand picked and veteran soldiers were thus obtained, of which the duke of alva was appointed general-in-chief. ferdinando alvarez de toledo, duke of alva, was now in his sixtieth year. he was the most successful and experienced general of spain, or of europe. no man had studied more deeply, or practised more constantly, the military science. in the most important of all arts at that epoch he was the most consummate artist. in the only honorable profession of the age, he was the most thorough and the most pedantic professor. since the days of demetrius poliorcetes, no man had besieged so many cities. since the days of fabius cunctator; no general had avoided so many battles, and no soldier, courageous as he was, ever attained to a more sublime indifference to calumny or depreciation. having proved in his boyhood, at fontarabia, and in his maturity: at muhlberg, that he could exhibit heroism and headlong courage; when necessary, he could afford to look with contempt upon the witless gibes which his enemies had occasionally perpetrated at his expense. conscious of holding his armies in his hand, by the power of an unrivalled discipline, and the magic of a name illustrated by a hundred triumphs, he, could bear with patience and benevolence the murmurs of his soldiers when their battles were denied them. he was born in , of a family which boasted, imperial descent. a palaeologus, brother of a byzantine emperor, had conquered the city of toledo, and transmitted its appellation as a family name. the father of ferdinando, don garcia, had been slain on the isle of gerbes, in battle with the moors, when his son was but four years of age. the child was brought up by his grandfather, don frederic, and trained from his tenderest infancy to arms. hatred to the infidel, and a determination to avenge his father's blood; crying to him from a foreign grave, were the earliest of his instincts. as a youth he was distinguished for his prowess. his maiden sword was fleshed at fontarabia, where, although but sixteen years of age, he was considered, by his constancy in hardship, by his brilliant and desperate courage, and by the example of military discipline which he afforded to the troops, to have contributed in no small degree to the success of the spanish arms. in , he accompanied the emperor in his campaign against the turk. charles, instinctively recognizing the merit of the youth who was destined to be the life-long companion of his toils and glories, distinguished him with his favor at the opening of his career. young, brave, and enthusiastic, ferdinand de toledo at this period was as interesting a hero as ever illustrated the pages of castilian romance. his mad ride from hungary to spain and back again, accomplished in seventeen days, for the sake of a brief visit to his newly-married wife, is not the least attractive episode in the history of an existence which was destined to be so dark and sanguinary. in , he accompanied the emperor on his memorable expedition to tunis. in and he was generalissimo in the war against the smalcaldian league. his most brilliant feat of arms-perhaps the most brilliant exploit of the emperor's reign--was the passage of the elbe and the battle of muhlberg, accomplished in spite of maximilian's bitter and violent reproaches, and the tremendous possibilities of a defeat. that battle had finished the war. the gigantic and magnanimous john frederic, surprised at his devotions in the church, fled in dismay, leaving his boots behind him, which for their superhuman size, were ridiculously said afterwards to be treasured among the trophies of the toledo house. [hist. du due d'albe, i. . brantome, hom. illust., etc. (ch. v.), says that one of the boots was "large enough to hold a camp bedstead," p. . i insert the anecdote only as a specimen of the manner in which similar absurdities, both of great and, of little consequence, are perpetuated by writers in every land and age. the armor of the noble-hearted and unfortunate john frederic may still be seen in dresden. its size indicates a man very much above the average height, while the external length of the iron shoe, on-the contrary, is less than eleven inches.] the rout was total. "i came, i saw, and god conquered," said the emperor, in pious parody of his immortal predecessor's epigram. maximilian, with a thousand apologies for his previous insults, embraced the heroic don ferdinand over and over again, as, arrayed in a plain suit of blue armor, unadorned save with streaks of his enemies' blood, he returned from pursuit of the fugitives. so complete and so sudden was the victory, that it was found impossible to account for it, save on the ground of miraculous interposition. like joshua, in the vale of ajalon, don ferdinand was supposed to have commanded the sun to stand still for a season, and to have been obeyed. otherwise, how could the passage of the river, which was only concluded at six in the evening, and the complete overthrow of the protestant forces, have all been accomplished within the narrow space of an april twilight? the reply of the duke to henry the second of france, who questioned him subsequently upon the subject, is well known. "your majesty, i was too much occupied that evening with what was taking place on the earth beneath, to pay much heed to the evolutions of the heavenly bodies." spared as he had been by his good fortune from taking any part in the algerine expedition, or in witnessing the ignominious retreat from innspruck, he was obliged to submit to the intercalation of the disastrous siege of metz in the long history of his successes. doing the duty of a field-marshal and a sentinel, supporting his army by his firmness and his discipline when nothing else could have supported them, he was at last enabled, after half the hundred thousand men with whom charles had begun the siege had been sacrificed, to induce his imperial master to raise the siege before the remaining fifty thousand had been frozen or starved to death. the culminating career of alva seemed to have closed in the mist which gathered around the setting star of the empire. having accompanied philip to england in , on his matrimonial-expedition, he was destined in the following years, as viceroy and generalissimo of italy, to be placed in a series of false positions. a great captain engaged in a little war, the champion of the cross in arms against the successor of st. peter, he had extricated himself, at last, with his usual adroitness, but with very little glory. to him had been allotted the mortification, to another the triumph. the lustre of his own name seemed to sink in the ocean while that of a hated rival, with new spangled ore, suddenly "flamed in the forehead of the morning sky." while he had been paltering with a dotard, whom he was forbidden to crush, egmont had struck down the chosen troops of france, and conquered her most illustrious commanders. here was the unpardonable crime which could only be expiated by the blood of the victor. unfortunately for his rival, the time was now approaching when the long-deferred revenge was to be satisfied. on the whole, the duke of alva was inferior to no general of his age. as a disciplinarian he was foremost in spain, perhaps in europe. a spendthrift of time, he was an economist of blood, and this was, perhaps, in the eye of humanity, his principal virtue. time and myself are two, was a frequent observation of philip, and his favorite general considered the maxim as applicable to war as to politics. such were his qualities as a military commander. as a statesman, he had neither experience nor talent. as a man his character was simple. he did not combine a great variety of vices, but those which he had were colossal, and he possessed no virtues. he was neither lustful nor intemperate, but his professed eulogists admitted his enormous avarice, while the world has agreed that such an amount of stealth and ferocity, of patient vindictiveness and universal bloodthirstiness, were never found in a savage beast of the forest, and but rarely in a human bosom. his history was now to show that his previous thrift of human life was not derived from any love of his kind. personally he was stern and overbearing. as difficult of access as philip himself, he was even more haughty to those who were admitted to his presence. he addressed every one with the depreciating second person plural. possessing the right of being covered in the presence of the spanish monarch, he had been with difficulty brought to renounce it before the german emperor. he was of an illustrious family; but his territorial possessions were not extensive. his duchy was a small one, furnishing him with not more than fourteen thousand crowns of annual income, and with four hundred soldiers. he had, however, been a thrifty financier all his life, never having been without a handsome sum of ready money at interest. ten years before his arrival in the netherlands, he was supposed to have already increased his income to forty thousand a year by the proceeds of his investments at antwerp. as already intimated, his military character was sometimes profoundly misunderstood. he was often considered rather a pedantic than a practical commander, more capable to discourse of battles than to gain them. notwithstanding that his long life had been an, almost unbroken campaign, the ridiculous accusation of timidity was frequently made against him. a gentleman at the court of the emperor charles once addressed a letter to the duke with the title of "general of his majesty's armies in the duchy of milan in time of peace, and major-domo of the household in the time of war." it was said that the lesson did the duke good, but that he rewarded very badly the nobleman who gave it, having subsequently caused his head to be taken off. in general, however, alva manifested a philosophical contempt for the opinions expressed concerning his military fame, and was especially disdainful of criticism expressed by his own soldiers. "recollect," said he, at a little later period, to don john of austria, "that the first foes with whom one has to contend are one's own troops; with their clamors for an engagement at this moment, and--their murmurs, about results at another; with their 'i thought that the battle should be fought;' or, 'it was my, opinion that the occasion ought not to be lost.' your highness will have opportunity enough to display valor, and will never be weak enough to be conquered by the babble of soldiers." in person he was tall, thin, erect, with a small head, a long visage, lean yellow cheek, dark twinkling eyes, a dust complexion, black bristling hair, and a long sable-silvered beard, descending in two waving streams upon his breast. such being the design, the machinery was well selected. the best man in europe to lead the invading force was placed at the head of ten thousand picked veterans. the privates in this exquisite little army, said the enthusiastic connoisseur brantome, who travelled post into lorraine expressly to see them on their march, all wore engraved or gilded armor, and were in every respect equipped like captains. they were the first who carried muskets, a weapon which very much astonished the flemings when it first rattled in their ears. the musketeers, he observed, might have been mistaken, for princes, with such agreeable and graceful arrogance did they present themselves. each was attended by his servant or esquire, who carried his piece for him, except in battle, and all were treated with extreme deference by the rest of the army, as if they had been officers. the four regiments of lombardy, sardinia, sicily, and naples, composed a total of not quite nine thousand of the best foot soldiers in europe. they were commanded respectively by don sancho de lodiono, don gonzalo de bracamonte, julien romero, and alfonso de ulloa, all distinguished and experienced generals. the cavalry, amounting to about twelve hundred; was under the command of the natural son of the duke, don ferdinando de toledo, prior of the knights of st. john. chiapin vitelli, marquis of cetona, who had served the king in many a campaign, was appointed marechal de camp, and gabriel cerbelloni was placed in command of the artillery. on the way the duke received, as a present from the duke of savoy, the services of the distinguished engineer, pacheco, or paciotti, whose name was to be associated with the most celebrated citadel of the netherlands; and whose dreadful fate was to be contemporaneous with the earliest successes of the liberal party. with an army thus perfect, on a small scale, in all its departments, and furnished, in addition, with a force of two thousand prostitutes, as regularly enrolled, disciplined, and distributed as the cavalry or the artillery, the duke embarked upon his momentous enterprise, on the th of may, at carthagena. thirty-seven galleys, under command of prince andrea doria, brought the principal part of the force to genoa, the duke being delayed a few days at nice by an attack of fever. on the d of june, the army was mustered at alexandria de palla, and ordered to rendezvous again at san ambrosio at the foot of the alps. it was then directed to make its way over mount cenis and through savoy; burgundy, and lorraine, by a regularly arranged triple movement. the second division was each night to encamp on the spot which had been occupied upon the previous night by the vanguard, and the rear was to place itself on the following night in the camp of the corps de bataille. thus coiling itself along almost in a single line by slow and serpentine windings, with a deliberate, deadly, venomous purpose, this army, which was to be the instrument of philip's long deferred vengeance, stole through narrow mountain pass and tangled forest. so close and intricate were many of the defiles through which the journey led them that, had one tithe of the treason which they came to punish, ever existed, save in the diseased imagination of their monarch, not one man would have been left to tell the tale. egmont, had he really been the traitor and the conspirator he was assumed to be, might have easily organized the means of cutting off the troops before they could have effected their entrance into the country which they had doomed to destruction. his military experience, his qualifications for a daring stroke, his great popularity, and the intense hatred entertained for alva, would have furnished him with a sufficient machinery for the purpose. twelve days' march carried the army through burgundy, twelve more through lorraine. during the whole of the journey they were closely accompanied by a force of cavalry and infantry, ordered upon this service by the king of france, who, for fear of exciting a fresh huguenot demonstration, had refused the spaniards a passage through his dominions. this reconnoitring army kept pace with them like their shadow, and watched all their movements. a force of six thousand swiss, equally alarmed and uneasy at the progress of the troops, hovered likewise about their flanks, without, however, offering any impediment to their advance. before the middle of august they had reached thionville, on the luxemburg frontier, having on the last day marched a distance of two leagues through a forest, which seemed expressly arranged to allow a small defensive force to embarrass and destroy an invading army. no opposition, however, was attempted, and the spanish soldiers encamped at last within the territory of the netherlands, having accomplished their adventurous journey in entire safety, and under perfect discipline. the duchess had in her secret letters to philip continued to express her disapprobation of the enterprise thus committed to alva, she had bitterly complained that now when the country had been pacified by her efforts, another should be sent to reap all the glory, or perhaps to undo all that she had so painfully and so successfully done. she stated to her brother, in most unequivocal language, that the name of alva was odious enough to make the whole spanish nation detested in the netherlands. she could find no language sufficiently strong to express her surprise that the king should have decided upon a measure likely to be attended with such fatal consequences without consulting her on the subject, and in opposition to what had been her uniform advice. she also wrote personally to alva, imploring, commanding, and threatening, but with equally ill success. the duke knew too well who was sovereign of the netherlands now; his master's sister or himself. as to the effects of his armed invasion upon the temper of the provinces, he was supremely indifferent. he came as a conqueror not as a mediator. "i have tamed people of iron in my day," said he, contemptuously, "shall i not easily crush these men of butter?" at thionville he was, however, officially waited upon by berlaymont and noircarmes, on the part of the regent. he at this point, moreover, began to receive deputations from various cities, bidding him a hollow and trembling welcome, and deprecating his displeasure for any thing in the past which might seem offensive. to all such embassies he replied in vague and conventional language; saying, however, to his confidential attendants: i am here, so much is certain, whether i am welcome or not is to me a matter of little consequence. at tirlemont, on the d august, he was met by count egmont, who had ridden forth from brussels to show him a becoming respect, as the representative of his sovereign, the count was accompanied by several other noblemen, and brought to the duke a present of several beautiful horses. alva received him, however, but coldly, for he was unable at first to adjust the mask to his countenance as adroitly as was necessary. behold the greatest of all the heretics, he observed to his attendants, as soon as the nobleman's presence was announced, and in a voice loud enough for him to hear. even after they had exchanged salutations, he addressed several remarks to him in a half jesting, half biting tone, saying among other things, that his countship might have spared him the trouble of making this long journey in his old age. there were other observations in a similar strain which might have well aroused the suspicion of any man not determined, like egmont, to continue blind and deaf. after a brief interval, however, alva seems to have commanded himself. he passed his arm lovingly over that stately neck, which he had already devoted to the block, and the count having resolved beforehand to place himself, if possible, upon amicable terms with the new viceroy--the two rode along side by side in friendly conversation, followed by the regiment of infantry and three companies of light horse, which belonged to the duke's immediate command. alva, still attended by egmont, rode soon afterwards through the louvain gate into brussels, where they separated for a season. lodgings had been taken for the duke at the house of a certain madame de jasse, in the neighborhood of egmont's palace. leaving here the principal portion of his attendants, the captain-general, without alighting, forthwith proceeded to the palace to pay his respects to the duchess of parma. for three days the regent had been deliberating with her council as to the propriety of declining any visit from the man whose presence she justly considered a disgrace and an insult to herself. this being the reward of her eight years' devotion to her brother's commands; to be superseded by a subject, and one too who came to carry out a policy which she had urgently deprecated, it could hardly be expected of the emperor's daughter that she should graciously submit to the indignity, and receive her successor with a smiling countenance. in consequence, however, of the submissive language with which the duke had addressed her in his recent communications, offering with true castilian but empty courtesy, to place his guards, his army, and himself at her feet, she had consented to receive his visit with or without his attendants. on his appearance in the court-yard, a scene of violent altercation and almost of bloodshed took place between his body-guard and the archers of the regent's household, who were at last, with difficulty, persuaded to allow the mercenaries of the hated captain-general to pass. presenting himself at three o'clock in the afternoon, after these not very satisfactory preliminaries, in the bedchamber of the duchess, where it was her habit to grant confidential audiences, he met, as might easily be supposed, with a chilling reception: the duchess, standing motionless in the centre of the apartment, attended by berlaymont, the duke of aerachot, and count egmont, acknowledged his salutations with calm severity. neither she nor any one of her attendants advanced a step to meet him. the duke took off his hat, but she, calmly recognizing his right as a spanish grandee, insisted upon his remaining covered. a stiff and formal conversation of half an hour's duration then ensued, all parties remaining upon their feet. the duke, although respectful; found it difficult to conceal his indignation and his haughty sense of approaching triumph. margaret was cold, stately, and forbidding, disguising her rage and her mortification under a veil of imperial pride. alva, in a letter to philip, describing the interview, assured his majesty that he had treated the duchess with as much deference as he could have shown to the queen, but it is probable, from other contemporaneous accounts, that an ill-disguised and even angry arrogance was at times very visible in his demeanor. the state council had advised the duchess against receiving him until he had duly exhibited his powers. this ceremony had been waived, but upon being questioned by the duchess at this interview as to their nature and extent, he is reported to have coolly answered that he really did not exactly remember, but that he would look them over, and send her information at his earliest convenience. the next day, however, his commission was duly exhibited. in this document, which bore date st january, , philip appointed him to be captain-general "in correspondence with his majesty's dear sister of parma, who was occupied with other matters belonging to the government," begged the duchess to co-operate with him and to command obedience for him, and ordered all the cities of the netherlands to receive such garrisons as he should direct. at the official interview between alva and madame de parma, at which these powers were produced, the necessary preliminary arrangements were made regarding the spanish troops, which were now to be immediately quartered in the principal cities. the duke, however, informed the regent that as these matters were not within her province, he should take the liberty of arranging them with the authorities, without troubling her in the matter, and would inform her of the result of his measures at their next interview, which was to take place on the th august. circular letters signed by philip, which alva had brought with him, were now despatched to the different municipal bodies of the country. in these the cities were severally commanded to accept the garrisons, and to provide for the armies whose active services the king hoped would not be required, but which he had sent beforehand to prepare a peaceful entrance for himself. he enjoined the most absolute obedience to the duke of alva until his own arrival, which was to be almost immediate. these letters were dated at madrid on the th february, and were now accompanied by a brief official circular, signed by margaret of parma, in which she announced the arrival of her dear cousin of alva, and demanded unconditional submission to his authority. having thus complied with these demands of external and conventional propriety, the indignant duchess unbosomed herself, in her private italian letters to her brother, of the rage which had been hitherto partially suppressed. she reiterated her profound regret that philip had not yet accepted the resignation which she had so recently and so earnestly offered. she disclaimed all jealousy of the supreme powers now conferred upon alva, but thought that his majesty might have allowed her to leave the country before the duke arrived with an authority which was so extraordinary, as well as so humiliating to herself. her honor might thus have been saved. she was pained to perceive that she was like to furnish a perpetual example to all others, who considering the manner in which she had been treated by the king, would henceforth have but little inducement to do their duty. at no time, on no occasion, could any person ever render him such services as hers had been. for nine years she had enjoyed not a moment of repose. if the king had shown her but little gratitude, she was consoled by the thought that she had satisfied her god, herself, and the world. she had compromised her health, perhaps her life, and now that she had pacified the country, now that the king was more absolute, more powerful than ever before, another was sent to enjoy the fruit of her labors and her sufferings. the duchess made no secret of her indignation at being thus superseded and as she considered the matter, outraged. she openly avowed her displeasure. she was at times almost beside herself with rage. there was universal sympathy with her emotions, for all hated the duke, and shuddered at the arrival of the spaniards. the day of doom for all the crimes which had ever been committed in the course of ages, seemed now to have dawned upon the netherlands. the sword which had so long been hanging over them, seemed now about to descend. throughout the provinces, there was but one feeling of cold and hopeless dismay. those who still saw a possibility of effecting their escape from the fated land, swarmed across the frontier. all foreign merchants deserted the great marts. the cities became as still as if the plague-banner had been unfurled on every house-top. meantime the captain-general proceeded methodically with his work. he distributed his troops through brussels, ghent, antwerp, and other principal cities. as a measure of necessity and mark of the last humiliation, he required the municipalities to transfer their keys to his keeping. the magistrates of ghent humbly remonstrated against the indignity, and egmont was imprudent enough to make himself the mouth-piece of their remonstrance, which, it is needless to add, was unsuccessful. meantime his own day of reckoning had arrived. as already observed, the advent of alva at the head of a foreign army was the natural consequence of all which had gone before. the delusion of the royal visit was still maintained, and the affectation of a possible clemency still displayed, while the monarch sat quietly in his cabinet without a remote intention of leaving spain, and while the messengers of his accumulated and long-concealed wrath were already descending upon their prey. it was the deliberate intention of philip, when the duke was despatched to the netherlands, that all the leaders of the anti-inquisition party, and all who had, at any time or in any way, implicated themselves in opposition to the government, or in censure of its proceedings, should be put to death. it was determined that the provinces should be subjugated to the absolute domination of the council of spain, a small body of foreigners sitting at the other end of europe, a junta in which netherlanders were to have no voice and exercise no influence. the despotic government of the spanish and italian possessions was to be extended to these flemish territories, which were thus to be converted into the helpless dependencies of a foreign and an absolute crown. there was to be a re-organization of the inquisition, upon the same footing claimed for it before the outbreak of the troubles, together with a re-enactment and vigorous enforcement of the famous edicts against heresy. such was the scheme recommended by granvelle and espinosa, and to be executed by alva. as part and parcel of this plan, it was also arranged at secret meetings at the house of espinosa, before the departure of the duke, that all the seigniors against whom the duchess margaret had made so many complaints, especially the prince of orange, with the counts egmont, horn, and hoogstraaten, should be immediately arrested and brought to chastisement. the marquis berghen and the baron montigny, being already in spain, could be dealt with at pleasure. it was also decided that the gentlemen implicated in the confederacy or compromise, should at once be proceeded against for high treason, without any regard to the promise of pardon granted by the duchess. the general features of the great project having been thus mapped out, a few indispensable preliminaries were at once executed. in order that egmont, horn, and other distinguished victims might not take alarm, and thus escape the doom deliberately arranged for them, royal assurances were despatched to the netherlands, cheering their despondency and dispelling their doubts. with his own hand philip wrote the letter, full of affection and confidence, to egmont, to which allusion has already been made. he wrote it after alva had left madrid upon his mission of vengeance. the same stealthy measures were pursued with regard to others. the prince of orange was not capable of falling into the royal trap, however cautiously baited. unfortunately he could not communicate his wisdom to his friends. it is difficult to comprehend so very sanguine a temperament as that to which egmont owed his destruction. it was not the prince of orange alone who had prophesied his doom. warnings had come to the count from every quarter, and they were now frequently repeated. certainly he was not without anxiety, but he had made his decision; determined to believe in the royal word, and in the royal gratitude for his services rendered, not only against montmorency and de thermes, but against the heretics of flanders. he was, however, much changed. he had grown prematurely old. at forty-six years his hair was white, and he never slept without pistols under his pillow. nevertheless he affected, and sometimes felt, a light-heartedness which surprised all around him. the portuguese gentleman robles, seigneur de billy, who had returned early in the summer from spain; whither he had been sent upon a confidential mission by madame de parma, is said to have made repeated communications to egmont as to the dangerous position in which he stood. immediately after his arrival in brussels he had visited the count, then confined to his house by an injury caused by the fall of his horse. "take care to get well very fast," said de billy, "for there are very bad stories told about you in spain." egmont laughed heartily at the observation, as if, nothing could well be more absurd than such a warning. his friend--for de billy is said to have felt a real attachment to the count--persisted in his prophecies, telling him that "birds in the field sang much more sweetly than those in cages," and that he would do well to abandon the country before the arrival of alva. these warnings were repeated almost daily by the same gentleman, and by others, who were more and more astonished at egmont's infatuation. nevertheless, he had disregarded their admonitions, and had gone forth to meet the duke at tirlemont. even then he might have seen, in the coldness of his first reception, and in the disrespectful manner of the spanish soldiers, who not only did not at first salute him, but who murmured audibly that he was a lutheran and traitor, that he was not so great a favorite with the government at madrid as he desired to be. after the first few moments, however, alva's manner had changed, while chiappin vitelli, gabriel de serbelloni, and other principal officers, received the count with great courtesy, even upon his first appearance. the grand prior, ferdinando de toledo, natural son of the duke, and already a distinguished soldier, seems to have felt a warm and unaffected friendship for egmont, whose brilliant exploits in the field had excited his youthful admiration, and of whose destruction he was, nevertheless, compelled to be the unwilling instrument. for a few days, accordingly, after the arrival of the new governor-general all seemed to be going smoothly. the grand prior and egmont became exceedingly intimate, passing their time together in banquets, masquerades, and play, as joyously as if the merry days which had succeeded the treaty of cateau cambreais were returned. the duke, too, manifested the most friendly dispositions, taking care to send him large presents of spanish and italian fruits, received frequently by the government couriers. lapped in this fatal security, egmont not only forgot his fears, but unfortunately succeeded in inspiring count horn with a portion of his confidence. that gentleman had still remained in his solitary mansion at weert, notwithstanding the artful means which had been used to lure him from that "desert." it is singular that the very same person who, according to a well-informed catholic contemporary, had been most eager to warn egmont of his danger, had also been the foremost instrument for effecting the capture of the admiral. the seigneur de billy, on the day after his arrival from madrid, had written to horn, telling him that the king was highly pleased with his services and character. de billy also stated that he had been commissioned by philip to express distinctly the royal gratitude for the count's conduct, adding that his majesty was about to visit the netherlands in august, and would probably be preceded or accompanied by baron montigny. alva and his son don ferdinando had soon afterwards addressed letters from gerverbiller (dated th and th july) to count horn, filled with expressions of friendship and confidence. the admiral, who had sent one of his gentlemen to greet the duke, now responded from weert that he was very sensible of the kindness manifested towards him, but that for reasons which his secretary alonzo de la loo would more fully communicate, he must for the present beg to be excused from a personal visit to brussels. the secretary was received by alva with extreme courtesy. the duke expressed infinite pain that the king had not yet rewarded count horn's services according to their merit, said that a year before he had told his brother montigny how very much he was the admiral's friend, and begged la loo to tell his master that he should not doubt the royal generosity and gratitude. the governor added, that if he could see the count in person he could tell him things which would please him, and which would prove that he had not been forgotten by his friends. la loo had afterward a long conversation with the duke's secretary albornoz, who assured him that his master had the greatest affection for count horn, and that since his affairs were so much embarrassed, he might easily be provided with the post of governor at milan, or viceroy of naples, about to become vacant. the secretary added, that the duke was much hurt at receiving no visits from many distinguished nobles whose faithful friend and servant he was, and that count horn ought to visit brussels, if not to treat of great affairs, at least to visit the captain-general as a friend. "after all this," said honest alonzo, "i am going immediately to weert, to urge his lordship to yield to the duke's desires." this scientific manoeuvring, joined to the urgent representations of egmont, at last produced its effect. the admiral left his retirement at weert to fall into the pit which his enemies had been so skilfully preparing at brussels. on the night of the th september, egmont received another most significative and mysterious warning. a spaniard, apparently an officer of rank, came secretly into his house, and urged him solemnly to effect his escape before the morrow. the countess, who related the story afterwards, always believed, without being certain, that the mysterious visitor was julian romero, marechal de camp. egmont, however, continued as blindly confident as before. on the following day, september th, the grand prior, don ferdinando, gave a magnificent dinner, to which egmont and horn, together with noircarmes, the viscount of ghent, and many other noblemen were invited. the banquet was enlivened by the music of alva's own military band, which the duke sent to entertain the company. at three o'clock he sent a message begging the gentlemen, after their dinner should be concluded, to favor him with their company at his house (the maison de jassey), as he wished to consult them concerning the plan of the citadel, which he proposed erecting at antwerp. at this moment, the grand prior who was seated next to egmont, whispered in his ear; "leave this place, signor count, instantly; take the fleetest horse in your stable and make your escape without a moment's delay." egmont, much troubled, and remembering the manifold prophecies and admonitions which he had passed by unheeded, rose from the table and went into the next room. he was followed by noircarmes and two other gentlemen, who had observed his agitation, and were curious as to its cause. the count repeated to them the mysterious words just whispered to him by the grand prior, adding that he was determined to take the advice without a moment's delay. "ha! count," exclaimed noircarmes, "do not put lightly such implicit confidence in this stranger who is counselling you to your destruction. what will the duke of alva and all the spaniards say of such a precipitate flight? will they not say that your excellency has fled from the consciousness of guilt? will not your escape be construed into a confession of high treason." if these words were really spoken by noircarmes; and that they were so, we have the testimony of a walloon gentleman in constant communication with egmont's friends and with the whole catholic party, they furnish another proof of the malignant and cruel character of the man. the advice fixed forever the fate of the vacillating egmont. he had risen from table determined to take the advice of a noble-minded spaniard, who had adventured his life to save his friend. he now returned in obedience to the counsel of a fellow-countryman, a flemish noble, to treat the well-meant warning with indifference, and to seat himself again at the last banquet which he was ever to grace with his presence. at four o'clock, the dinner being finished, horn and egmont, accompanied by the other gentlemen, proceeded to the "jassy" house, then occupied by alva, to take part in the deliberations proposed. they were received by the duke with great courtesy. the engineer, pietro urbino, soon appeared and laid upon the table a large parchment containing the plan and elevation of the citadel to be erected at antwerp. a warm discussion upon the subject soon arose, egmont, horn, noircarmes and others, together with the engineers urbino and pacheco, all taking part in the debate. after a short time, the duke of alva left the apartment, on pretext of a sudden indisposition, leaving the company still warmly engaged in their argument. the council lasted till near seven in the evening. as it broke up, don sancho d'avila, captain of the duke's guard, requested egmont to remain for a moment after the rest, as he had a communication to make to him. after an insignificant remark or two, the spanish officer, as soon as the two were alone, requested egmont to surrender his sword. the count, agitated, and notwithstanding every thing which had gone before, still taken by surprise, scarcely knew what reply to make. don sancho repeated that he had been commissioned to arrest him, and again demanded his sword. at the same moment the doors of the adjacent apartment were opened, and egmont saw himself surrounded by a company of spanish musqueteers and halberdmen. finding himself thus entrapped, he gave up his sword, saying bitterly, as he did so, that it had at least rendered some service to the king in times which were past. he was then conducted to a chamber, in the upper story of the house, where his temporary prison had been arranged. the windows were barricaded, the daylight excluded, the whole apartment hung with black. here he remained fourteen days (from the th to d september). during this period, he was allowed no communication with his friends. his room was lighted day and night with candles, and he was served in strict silence by spanish attendants, and guarded by spanish soldiers. the captain of the watch drew his curtain every midnight, and aroused him from sleep that he might be identified by the relieving officer. count horn was arrested upon the same occasion by captain salinas, as he was proceeding through the court-yard of the house, after the breaking up of the council. he was confined in another chamber of the mansion, and met with a precisely similar treatment to that experienced by egmont. upon the d september, both were removed under a strong guard to the castle of ghent. on this same day, two other important arrests, included and arranged in the same program, had been successfully accomplished. bakkerzeel, private and confidential secretary of egmont, and antony van straalen, the rich and influential burgomaster of antwerp, were taken almost simultaneously. at the request of alva, the burgomaster had been invited by the duchess of parma to repair on business to brussels. he seemed to have feared an ambuscade, for as he got into his coach to set forth upon the journey, he was so muffed in a multiplicity of clothing, that he was scarcely to be recognized. he was no sooner, however, in the open country and upon a spot remote from human habitations, than he was suddenly beset by a band of forty soldiers under command of don alberic lodron and don sancho de lodrono. these officers had been watching his movements for many days. the capture of bakkerzeel was accomplished with equal adroitness at about the same hour. alva, while he sat at the council board with egmont and horn, was secretly informed that those important personages, bakkerzeel and straalen, with the private secretary of the admiral, alonzo de la loo, in addition, had been thus successfully arrested. he could with difficulty conceal his satisfaction, and left the apartment immediately that the trap might be sprung upon the two principal victims of his treachery. he had himself arranged all the details of these two important arrests, while his natural son, the prior don ferdinando, had been compelled to superintend the proceedings. the plot had been an excellent plot, and was accomplished as successfully as it bad been sagaciously conceived. none but spaniards had been employed in any part of the affair. officers of high rank in his majesty's army had performed the part of spies and policemen with much adroitness, nor was it to be expected that the duty would seem a disgrace, when the prior of the knights of saint john was superintendent of the operations, when the captain-general of the netherlands had arranged the whole plan, and when all, from subaltern to viceroy, had received minute instructions as to the contemplated treachery from the great chief of the spanish police, who sat on the throne of castile and aragon. no sooner were these gentlemen in custody than the secretary albornoz was dispatched to the house of count horn, and to that of bakkerzeel, where all papers were immediately seized, inventoried, and placed in the hands of the duke. thus, if amid the most secret communications of egmont and horn or their correspondents, a single treasonable thought should be lurking, it was to go hard but it might be twisted into a cord strong enough to strangle them all. the duke wrote a triumphant letter to his majesty that very night. he apologized that these important captures had been deferred so long but, stated that he had thought it desirable to secure all these leading personages at a single stroke. he then narrated the masterly manner in which the operations had been conducted. certainly, when it is remembered that the duke had only reached brussels upon the d august, and that the two counts were securely lodged in prison on the th of september, it seemed a superfluous modesty upon his part thus to excuse himself for an apparent delay. at any rate, in the eyes of the world and of posterity, his zeal to carry out the bloody commands of his master was sufficiently swift. the consternation was universal throughout the provinces when the arrests became known. egmont's great popularity and distinguished services placed him so high above the mass of citizens, and his attachment to the catholic religion was moreover so well known, as to make it obvious that no man could now be safe, when men like him were in the power of alva and his myrmidons. the animosity to the spaniards increased hourly. the duchess affected indignation at the arrest of the two nobles, although it nowhere appears that she attempted a word in their defence, or lifted, at any subsequent moment, a finger to save them. she was not anxious to wash her hands of the blood of two innocent men; she was only offended that they had been arrested without her permission. the duke had, it is true, sent berlaymont and mansfeld to give her information of the fact, as soon as the capture had been made, with the plausible excuse that he preferred to save her from all the responsibility and all the unpopularity of the measure, nothing, however, could appease her wrath at this and every other indication of the contempt in which he appeared to hold the sister of his sovereign. she complained of his conduct daily to every one who was admitted to her presence. herself oppressed by a sense of personal indignity, she seemed for a moment to identify herself with the cause of the oppressed provinces. she seemed to imagine herself the champion of their liberties, and the netherlanders, for a moments seemed to participate in the delusion. because she was indignant at the insolence of the duke of alva to her self, the honest citizens began to give her credit for a sympathy with their own wrongs. she expressed herself determined to move about from one city to another, until the answer to her demand for dismissal should arrive. she allowed her immediate attendants to abuse the spaniards in good set terms upon every occasion. even her private chaplain permitted himself, in preaching before her in the palace chapel, to denounce the whole nation as a race of traitors and ravishers, and for this offence was only reprimanded, much against her will, by the duchess, and ordered to retire for a season to his convent. she did not attempt to disguise her dissatisfaction at every step which had been taken by the duke. in all this there was much petulance, but very little dignity, while there was neither a spark of real sympathy for the oppressed millions, nor a throb of genuine womanly emotion for the impending fate of the two nobles. her principal grief was that she had pacified the provinces, and that another had now arrived to reap the glory; but it was difficult, while the unburied bones of many heretics were still hanging, by her decree, on the rafters of their own dismantled churches, for her successfully to enact the part of a benignant and merciful regent. but it is very true that the horrors of the duke's administration have been propitious to the fame of margaret, and perhaps more so to that of cardinal granvelle. the faint and struggling rays of humanity which occasionally illumined the course of their government, were destined to be extinguished in a chaos so profound and dark, that these last beams of light seemed clearer and more bountiful by the contrast. the count of hoogstraaten, who was on his way to brussels, had, by good fortune, injured his hand through the accidental discharge of a pistol. detained by this casualty at cologne, he was informed, before his arrival at the capital, of the arrest of his two distinguished friends, and accepted the hint to betake himself at once to a place of safety. the loyalty of the elder mansfeld was beyond dispute even by alva. his son charles had, however, been imprudent, and, as we have seen, had even affixed his name to the earliest copies of the compromise. he had retired, it is true, from all connexion with the confederates, but his father knew well that the young count's signature upon that famous document would prove his death-warrant, were he found in the country. he therefore had sent him into germany before the arrival of the duke. the king's satisfaction was unbounded when he learned this important achievement of alva, and he wrote immediately to express his approbation in the most extravagant terms. cardinal granvelle, on the contrary, affected astonishment at a course which he had secretly counselled. he assured his majesty that he had never believed egmont to entertain sentiments opposed to the catholic religion, nor to the interests of the crown, up to the period of his own departure from the netherlands. he was persuaded, he said, that the count had been abused by others, although, to be sure, the cardinal had learned with regret what egmont had written on the occasion of the baptism of count hoogstraaten's child. as to the other persons arrested, he said that no one regretted their fate. the cardinal added, that he was supposed to be himself the instigator of these captures, but that he was not disturbed by that, or by other imputations of a similar nature. in conversation with those about him, he frequently expressed regret that the prince of orange had been too crafty to be caught in the same net in which his more simple companions were so inextricably entangled. indeed, on the first arrival of the news, that men of high rank had been arrested in brussels, the cardinal eagerly inquired if the taciturn had been taken, for by that term he always characterized the prince. receiving a negative reply, he expressed extreme disappointment, adding, that if orange had escaped, they had taken nobody; and that his capture would have been more valuable than that of every man in the netherlands. peter titelmann, too, the famous inquisitor, who, retired from active life, was then living upon philip's bounty, and encouraged by friendly letters from that monarch, expressed the same opinion. having been informed that egmont and horn had been captured, he eagerly inquired if "wise william" had also been taken. he was, of course, answered in the negative. "then will our joy be but brief," he observed. "woe unto us for the wrath to come from germany." on the th of july, of this year, philip wrote to granvelle to inquire the particulars of a letter which the prince of orange, according to a previous communication of the cardinal, had written to egmont on the occasion of the baptism of count hoogstraaten's child. on the th of august, the cardinal replied, by setting the king right as to the error which he had committed. the letter, as he had already stated, was not written by orange, but by egmont, and he expressed his astonishment that madame de parma had not yet sent it to his majesty. the duchess must have seen it, because her confessor had shown it to the person who was granvelle's informant. in this letter, the cardinal continued, the statement had been made by egmont to the prince of orange that their plots were discovered, that the king was making armaments, that they were unable to resist him, and that therefore it had become necessary to dissemble and to accommodate themselves as well as possible to the present situation, while waiting for other circumstances under which to accomplish their designs. granvelle advised, moreover, that straalen, who had been privy to the letter, and perhaps the amanuensis, should be forthwith arrested. the cardinal was determined not to let the matter sleep, notwithstanding his protestation of a kindly feeling towards the imprisoned count. against the statement that he knew of a letter which amounted to a full confession of treason, out of egmont's own mouth--a fact which, if proved, and perhaps, if even insinuated, would be sufficient with philip to deprive egmont of twenty thousand lives--against these constant recommendations to his suspicious and sanguinary master, to ferret out this document, if it were possible, it must be confessed that the churchman's vague and hypocritical expressions on the side of mercy were very little worth. certainly these seeds of suspicion did not fall upon a barren soil. philip immediately communicated the information thus received to the duke of alva, charging him on repeated occasions to find out what was written, either by egmont or by straalen, at egmont's instigation, stating that such a letter was written at the time of the hoogstraaten baptism, that it would probably illustrate the opinions of egmont at that period, and that the letter itself, which the confessor of madame de parma had once had in his hands, ought, if possible, to be procured. thus the very language used by granvelle to philip was immediately repeated by the monarch to his representative in the netherlands, at the moment when all egmont's papers were in his possession, and when egmont's private secretary was undergoing the torture, in order that; secrets might be wrenched from him which had never entered his brain. the fact that no such letter was found, that the duchess had never alluded to any such document, and that neither a careful scrutiny of papers, nor the application of the rack, could elicit any satisfactory information on the subject, leads to the conclusion that no such treasonable paper had ever existed, save in the imagination of the cardinal. at any rate, it is no more than just to hesitate before affixing a damning character to a document, in the absence of any direct proof that there ever was such a document at all. the confessor of madame de parma told another person, who told the cardinal, that either count egmont, or burgomaster straalen, by command of count egmont, wrote to the prince of orange thus and so. what evidence was this upon which to found a charge of high treason against a man whom granvelle affected to characterize as otherwise neither opposed to the catholic religion, nor to the true service of the king? what vulpine kind of mercy was it on the part of the cardinal, while making such deadly insinuations, to recommend the imprisoned victim to clemency? the unfortunate envoys, marquis bergen and baron montigny, had remained in spain under close observation. of those doomed victims who, in spite of friendly remonstrances and of ominous warnings, had thus ventured into the lion's den, no retreating footmarks were ever to be seen. their fate, now that alva had at last been despatched to the netherlands, seemed to be sealed, and the marquis bergen, accepting the augury in its most evil sense, immediately afterwards had sickened unto death. whether it were the sickness of hope deferred, suddenly changing to despair, or whether it were a still more potent and unequivocal poison which came to the relief of the unfortunate nobleman, will perhaps never be ascertained with certainty. the secrets of those terrible prison-houses of spain, where even the eldest begotten son, and the wedded wife of the monarch, were soon afterwards believed to have been the victims of his dark revenge, can never perhaps be accurately known, until the grave gives up its dead, and the buried crimes of centuries are revealed. it was very soon after the departure of alva's fleet from carthagena, that the marquis bergen felt his end approaching. he sent for the prince of eboli, with whom he had always maintained intimate relations, and whom he believed to be his disinterested friend. relying upon his faithful breast, and trusting to receive from his eyes alone the pious drops of sympathy which he required, the dying noble poured out his long and last complaint. he charged him to tell the man whom he would no longer call his king, that he had ever been true and loyal, that the bitterness of having been constantly suspected, when he was conscious of entire fidelity, was a sharper sorrow than could be lightly believed, and that he hoped the time would come when his own truth and the artifices of his enemies would be brought to light. he closed his parting message by predicting that after he had been long laid in the grave, the impeachments against his character would be, at last, although too late, retracted. so spake the unhappy envoy, and his friend replied with words of consolation. it is probable that he even ventured, in the king's name, to grant him the liberty of returning to his home; the only remedy, as his physicians had repeatedly stated, which could possibly be applied to his disease. but the devilish hypocrisy of philip, and the abject perfidy of eboli, at this juncture, almost surpass belief. the prince came to press the hand and to close the eyes of the dying man whom he called his friend, having first carefully studied a billet of most minute and secret instructions from his master as to the deportment he was to observe upon this solemn occasion and afterwards. this paper, written in philip's own hand, had been delivered to eboli on the very day of his visit to bergen, and bore the superscription that it was not to be read nor opened till the messenger who brought it had left his presence. it directed the prince, if it should be evident marquis was past recovery, to promise him, in the king's name, the permission of returning to the netherlands. should, however, a possibility of his surviving appear, eboli was only to hold out a hope that such permission might eventually be obtained. in case of the death of bergen, the prince was immediately to confer with the grand inquisitor and with the count of feria, upon the measures to be taken for his obsequies. it might seem advisable, in that event to exhibit the regret which the king and his ministers felt for his death, and the great esteem in which they held the nobles of the netherlands. at the same time, eboli was further instructed to confer with the same personages as to the most efficient means for preventing the escape of baron montigny; to keep a vigilant eye upon his movements, and to give general directions to governors and to postmasters to intercept his flight, should it be attempted. finally, in case of bergen's death, the prince was directed to despatch a special messenger, apparently on his own responsibility, and as if in the absence and without the knowledge of the king, to inform the duchess of parma of the event, and to urge her immediately to take possession of the city of bergen-op-zoom, and of all other property belonging to the marquis, until it should be ascertained whether it were not possible to convict him, after death, of treason, and to confiscate his estates accordingly. such were the instructions of philip to eboli, and precisely in accordance with the program, was the horrible comedy enacted at the death-bed of the envoy. three days after his parting interview with his disinterested friend, the marquis was a corpse.--before his limbs were cold, a messenger was on his way to brussels, instructing the regent to sequestrate his property, and to arrest, upon suspicion of heresy, the youthful kinsman and niece, who, by the will of the marquis, were to be united in marriage and to share his estate. the whole drama, beginning with the death scene, was enacted according to order: before the arrival of alva in the netherlands, the property of the marquis was in the hands of the government, awaiting the confiscation,--which was but for a brief season delayed, while on the other hand, baron montigny, bergen's companion in doom, who was not, however, so easily to be carried off by homesickness, was closely confined in the alcazar of segovia, never to leave a spanish prison alive. there is something pathetic in the delusion in which montigny and his brother, the count horn, both indulged, each believing that the other was out of harm's way, the one by his absence from the netherlands, the other by his absence from spain, while both, involved in the same meshes, were rapidly and surely approaching their fate. in the same despatch of the th september, in which the duke communicated to philip the capture of egmont and horn, he announced to him his determination to establish a new court for the trial of crimes committed during the recent period of troubles. this wonderful tribunal was accordingly created with the least possible delay. it was called the council of troubles, but it soon acquired the terrible name, by which it will be forever known in history, of the 'blood-council'. it superseded all other institutions. every court, from those of the municipal magistracies up to the supreme councils of the provinces, were forbidden to take cognizance in future of any cause growing out of the late troubles. the council of state, although it was not formally disbanded, fell into complete desuetude, its members being occasionally summoned into alva's private chambers in an irregular manner, while its principal functions were usurped by the blood-council. not only citizens of every province, but the municipal bodies and even the sovereign provincial estates themselves, were compelled to plead, like humble individuals, before this new and extraordinary tribunal. it is unnecessary to allude to the absolute violation which was thus committed of all charters, laws and privileges, because the very creation of the council was a bold and brutal proclamation that those laws and privileges were at an end. the constitution or maternal principle of this suddenly erected court was of a twofold nature. it defined and it punished the crime of treason. the definitions, couched in eighteen articles, declared it to be treason to have delivered or signed any petition against the new bishops, the inquisition, or the edicts; to have tolerated public preaching under any circumstances; to have omitted resistance to the image-breaking, to the field-preaching, or to the presentation of the request by the nobles, and "either through sympathy or surprise" to have asserted that the king did not possess the right to deprive all the provinces of their liberties, or to have maintained that this present tribunal was bound to respect in any manner any laws or any charters. in these brief and simple, but comprehensive terms, was the crime of high treason defined. the punishment was still more briefly, simply, and comprehensively stated, for it was instant death in all cases. so well too did this new and terrible engine perform its work, that in less than three months from the time of its erection, eighteen hundred human beings had suffered death by its summary proceedings; some of the highest, the noblest, and the most virtuous in the land among the number; nor had it then manifested the slightest indication of faltering in its dread career. yet, strange to say, this tremendous court, thus established upon the ruins of all the ancient institutions of the country, had not been provided with even a nominal authority from any source whatever. the king had granted it no letters patent or charter, nor had even the duke of alva thought it worth while to grant any commissions either in his own name or as captain-general, to any of the members composing the board. the blood-council was merely an informal club, of which the duke was perpetual president, while the other members were all appointed by himself. of these subordinate councillors, two had the right of voting, subject, however, in all cases to his final decision, while the rest of the number did not vote at all. it had not, therefore, in any sense, the character of a judicial, legislative, or executive tribunal, but was purely a board of advice by which the bloody labors of the duke were occasionally lightened as to detail, while not a feather's weight of power or of responsibility was removed from his shoulders. he reserved for himself the final decision upon all causes which should come before the council, and stated his motives for so doing with grim simplicity. "two reasons," he wrote to the king, "have determined me thus to limit the power of the tribunal; the first that, not knowing its members, i might be easily deceived by them; the second, that the men of law only condemn for crimes which are proved; whereas your majesty knows that affairs of state are governed by very different rules from the laws which they have here." it being, therefore, the object of the duke to compose a body of men who would be of assistance to him in condemning for crimes which could not be proved, and in slipping over statutes which were not to be recognized, it must be confessed that he was not unfortunate in the appointments which he made to the office of councillors. in this task of appointment he had the assistance of the experienced viglius. that learned jurisconsult, with characteristic lubricity, had evaded the dangerous honor for himself, but he nominated a number of persons from whom the duke selected his list. the sacerdotal robes which he had so recently and so "craftily" assumed, furnished his own excuse, and in his letters to his faithful hopper he repeatedly congratulated himself upon his success in keeping himself at a distance from so bloody and perilous a post. it is impossible to look at the conduct of the distinguished frisian at this important juncture without contempt. bent only upon saving himself, his property, and his reputation, he did not hesitate to bend before the "most illustrious duke," as he always denominated him, with fulsome and fawning homage. while he declined to dip his own fingers in the innocent blood which was about to flow in torrents, he did not object to officiate at the initiatory preliminaries of the great netherland holocaust. his decent and dainty demeanor seems even more offensive than the jocularity of the real murderers. conscious that no man knew the laws and customs of the netherlands better than himself, he had the humble effrontery to observe that it was necessary for him at that moment silently to submit his own unskilfulness to the superior judgment and knowledge of others. having at last been relieved from the stone of sisyphus, which, as he plaintively expressed himself, he had been rolling for twenty years; having, by the arrival of tisnacq, obtained his discharge as president of the state council, he was yet not unwilling to retain the emoluments and the rank of president of the privy council, although both offices had become sinecures since the erection of the council of blood. although his life had been spent in administrative and judicial employments, he did not blush upon a matter of constitutional law to defer to the authority of such jurisconsults as the duke of alva and his two spanish bloodhounds, vargas and del rio. he did not like, he observed, in his confidential correspondence, to gainsay the duke, when maintaining, that in cases of treason, the privileges of brabant were powerless, although he mildly doubted whether the brabantines would agree with the doctrine. he often thought, he said, of remedies for restoring the prosperity of the provinces, but in action he only assisted the duke, to the best of his abilities, in arranging the blood-council. he wished well to his country, but he was more anxious for the favor of alva. "i rejoice," said he, in one of his letters, "that the most illustrious duke has written to the king in praise of my obsequiousness; when i am censured here for so reverently cherishing him, it is a consolation that my services to the king and to the governor are not unappreciated there." indeed the duke of alva, who had originally suspected the president's character, seemed at last overcome by his indefatigable and cringing homage. he wrote to the king, in whose good graces the learned doctor was most anxious at that portentous period to maintain himself, that the president was very serviceable and diligent, and that he deserved to receive a crumb of comfort from the royal hand. philip, in consequence, wrote in one of his letters a few lines of vague compliment, which could be shown to viglius, according to alva's suggestion. it is, however, not a little characteristic of the spanish court and of the spanish monarch, that, on the very day before, he had sent to the captain-general a few documents of very different import. in order, as he said, that the duke might be ignorant of nothing which related to the netherlands, he forwarded to him copies of the letters written by margaret of parma from brussels, three years before. these letters, as it will be recollected, contained an account of the secret investigations which the duchess had made as to the private character and opinions of viglius--at the very moment when he apparently stood highest in her confidence--and charged him with heresy, swindling, and theft. thus the painstaking and time-serving president, with all his learning and experience, was successively the dupe of margaret and of alva, whom he so obsequiously courted, and always of philip, whom he so feared and worshipped. with his assistance, the list of blood-councillors was quickly completed. no one who was offered the office refused it. noircarmes and berlaymont accepted with very great eagerness. several presidents and councillors of the different provincial tribunals were appointed, but all the netherlanders were men of straw. two spaniards, del rio and vargas, were the only members who could vote; while their decisions, as already stated, were subject to reversal by alva. del rio was a man without character or talent, a mere tool in the hands of his superiors, but juan de vargas was a terrible reality. no better man could have been found in europe for the post to which he was thus elevated. to shed human blood was, in his opinion, the only important business and the only exhilarating pastime of life. his youth had been stained with other crimes. he had been obliged to retire from spain, because of his violation of an orphan child to whom he was guardian, but, in his manhood, he found no pleasure but in murder. he executed alva's bloody work with an industry which was almost superhuman, and with a merriment which would have shamed a demon. his execrable jests ring through the blood and smoke and death-cries of those days of perpetual sacrifice. he was proud to be the double of the iron-hearted duke, and acted so uniformly in accordance with his views, that the right of revision remained but nominal. there could be no possibility of collision where the subaltern was only anxious to surpass an incomparable superior. the figure of vargas rises upon us through the mist of three centuries with terrible distinctness. even his barbarous grammar has not been forgotten, and his crimes against syntax and against humanity have acquired the same immortality. "heretici fraxerunt templa, boni nihili faxerunt contra, ergo debent omnes patibulare," was the comprehensive but barbarous formula of a man who murdered the latin language as ruthlessly as he slaughtered his contemporaries. among the ciphers who composed the rest of the board, the flemish councillor hessels was the one whom the duke most respected. he was not without talent or learning, but the duke only valued him for his cruelty. being allowed to take but little share in the deliberations, hessels was accustomed to doze away his afternoon hours at the council table, and when awakened from his nap in order that he might express an opinion on the case then before the court, was wont to rub his eyes and to call out "ad patibulum, ad patibulum," ("to the gallows with him, to the gallows with him,") with great fervor, but in entire ignorance of the culprit's name or the merits of the case. his wife, naturally disturbed that her husband's waking and sleeping hours were alike absorbed with this hangman's work, more than once ominously expressed her hope to him, that he, whose head and heart were thus engrossed with the gibbet, might not one day come to hang upon it himself; a gloomy prophecy which the future most terribly fulfilled. the council of blood, thus constituted, held its first session on the th september, at the lodgings of alva. springing completely grown and armed to the teeth from the head of its inventor, the new tribunal--at the very outset in possession of all its vigor--forthwith began to manifest a terrible activity in accomplishing the objects of its existence. the councillors having been sworn to "eternal secrecy as to any thing which should be transacted at the board, and having likewise made oath to denounce any one of their number who should violate the pledge," the court was considered as organized. alva worked therein seven hours daily. it may be believed that the subordinates were not spared, and that their office proved no sinecure. their labors, however, were not encumbered by antiquated forms. as this supreme and only tribunal for all the netherlands had no commission or authority save the will of the captain-general, so it was also thought a matter of supererogation to establish a set of rules and orders such as might be useful in less independent courts. the forms of proceeding were brief and artless. there was a rude organization by which a crowd of commissioners, acting as inferior officers of the council, were spread over the provinces, whose business was to collect information concerning all persons who might be incriminated for participation in the recent troubles. the greatest crime, however, was to be rich, and one which could be expiated by no virtues, however signal. alva was bent upon proving himself as accomplished a financier as he was indisputably a consummate commander, and he had promised his master an annual income of , ducats from the confiscations which were to accompany the executions. it was necessary that the blood torrent should flow at once through the netherlands, in order that the promised golden river, a yard deep, according to his vaunt, should begin to irrigate the thirsty soil of spain. it is obvious, from the fundamental laws which were made to define treason at the same moment in which they established the council, that any man might be at any instant summoned to the court. every man, whether innocent or guilty, whether papist or protestant, felt his head shaking on his shoulders. if he were wealthy, there seemed no remedy but flight, which was now almost impossible, from the heavy penalties affixed by the new edict upon all carriers, shipmasters, and wagoners, who should aid in the escape of heretics. a certain number of these commissioners were particularly instructed to collect information as to the treason of orange, louis nassau, brederode, egmont, horn, culemberg, vanden berg, bergen, and montigny. upon such information the proceedings against those distinguished seigniors were to be summarily instituted. particular councillors of the court of blood were charged with the arrangement of these important suits, but the commissioners were to report in the first instance to the duke himself, who afterwards returned the paper into the hands of his subordinates. with regard to the inferior and miscellaneous cases which were daily brought in incredible profusion before the tribunal, the same preliminaries were observed, by way of aping the proceedings in courts of justice. alva sent the cart-loads of information which were daily brought to him, but which neither he nor any other man had time to read, to be disposed of by the board of councillors. it was the duty of the different subalterns, who, as already stated, had no right of voting, to prepare reports upon the cases. nothing could be more summary. information was lodged against a man, or against a hundred men, in one document. the duke sent the papers to the council, and the inferior councillors reported at once to vargas. if the report concluded with a recommendation of death to the man, or the hundred men in question, vargas instantly approved it, and execution was done upon the man, or the hundred men, within forty-eight hours. if the report had any other conclusion, it was immediately sent back for revision, and the reporters were overwhelmed with reproaches by the president. such being the method of operation, it may be supposed that the councillors were not allowed to slacken in their terrible industry. the register of every city, village, and hamlet throughout the netherlands showed the daily lists of men, women, and children thus sacrificed at the shrine of the demon who had obtained the mastery over this unhappy land. it was not often that an individual was of sufficient importance to be tried--if trial it could be called--by himself. it was found more expeditious to send them in batches to the furnace. thus, for example, on the th of january, eighty-four inhabitants of valenciennes were condemned; on another day, ninety-five miscellaneous individuals, from different places in flanders; on another, forty-six inhabitants of malines; on another, thirty-five persons from different localities, and so on. the evening of shrovetide, a favorite holiday in the netherlands, afforded an occasion for arresting and carrying off a vast number of doomed individuals at a single swoop. it was correctly supposed that the burghers, filled with wine and wassail, to which perhaps the persecution under which they lived lent an additional and horrible stimulus, might be easily taken from their beds in great numbers, and be delivered over at once to the council. the plot was ingenious, the net was spread accordingly. many of the doomed were, however, luckily warned of the terrible termination which was impending over their festival, and bestowed themselves in safety for a season. a prize of about five hundred prisoners was all which rewarded the sagacity of the enterprise. it is needless to add that they were all immediately executed. it is a wearisome and odious task to ransack the mouldy records of three centuries ago, in order to reproduce the obscure names of the thousands who were thus sacrificed.. the dead have buried their dead, and are forgotten. it is likewise hardly necessary to state that the proceedings before the council were all 'ex parte', and that an information was almost inevitably followed by a death-warrant. it sometimes happened even that the zeal of the councillors outstripped the industry of the commissioners. the sentences were occasionally in advance of the docket. thus upon one occasion a man's case was called for trial, but before the investigation was commenced it was discovered that he had been already executed. a cursory examination of the papers proved, moreover, as usual, that the culprit had committed no crime. "no matter for that," said vargas, jocosely, "if he has died innocent, it will be all the better for him when he takes his trial in the other world." but, however the councillors might indulge in these gentle jests among themselves, it was obvious that innocence was in reality impossible, according to the rules which had been laid down regarding treason. the practice was in accordance with the precept, and persons were daily executed with senseless pretexts, which was worse than executions with no pretexts at all. thus peter de witt of amsterdam was beheaded, because at one of the tumults in that city he had persuaded a rioter not to fire upon a magistrate. this was taken as sufficient proof that he was a man in authority among the rebels, and he was accordingly put to death. madame juriaen, who, in , had struck with her slipper a little wooden image of the virgin, together with her maid-servant, who had witnessed without denouncing the crime, were both drowned by the hangman in a hogshead placed on the scaffold. death, even, did not in all cases place a criminal beyond the reach of the executioner. egbert meynartzoon, a man of high official rank, had been condemned, together with two colleagues, on an accusation of collecting money in a lutheran church. he died in prison of dropsy. the sheriff was indignant with the physician, because, in spite of cordials and strengthening prescriptions, the culprit had slipped through his fingers before he had felt those of the hangman. he consoled himself by placing the body on a chair, and having the dead man beheaded in company with his colleagues. thus the whole country became a charnel-house; the deathbell tolled hourly in every village; not a family but was called to mourn for its dearest relatives, while the survivors stalked listlessly about, the ghosts of their former selves, among the wrecks of their former homes. the spirit of the nation, within a few months after the arrival of alva, seemed hopelessly broken. the blood of its best and bravest had already stained the scaffold; the men to whom it bad been accustomed to look for guidance and protection, were dead, in prison, or in exile. submission had ceased to be of any avail, flight was impossible, and the spirit of vengeance had alighted at every fireside. the mourners went daily about the streets, for there was hardly a house which had not been made desolate. the scaffolds, the gallows, the funeral piles, which had been sufficient in ordinary times, furnished now an entirely inadequate machinery for the incessant executions. columns and stakes in every street, the door-posts of private houses, the fences in the fields were laden with human carcasses, strangled, burned, beheaded. the orchards in the country bore on many a tree the hideous fruit of human bodies. thus the netherlands were crushed, and but for the stringency of the tyranny which had now closed their gates, would have been depopulated. the grass began to grow in the streets of those cities which had recently nourished so many artisans. in all those great manufacturing and industrial marts, where the tide of human life had throbbed so vigorously, there now reigned the silence and the darkness of midnight. it was at this time that the learned viglius wrote to his friend hopper, that all venerated the prudence and gentleness of the duke of alva. such were among the first-fruits of that prudence and that gentleness. the duchess of parma had been kept in a continued state of irritation. she had not ceased for many months to demand her release from the odious position of a cipher in a land where she had so lately been sovereign, and she had at last obtained it. philip transmitted his acceptance of her resignation by the same courier who brought alva's commission to be governor-general in her place. the letters to the duchess were full of conventional compliments for her past services, accompanied, however, with a less barren and more acceptable acknowledgment, in the shape of a life income of , ducats instead of the hitherto enjoyed by her highness. in addition to this liberal allowance, of which she was never to be deprived, except upon receiving full payment of , ducats, she was presented with , florins by the estates of brabant, and with , by those of flanders. with these substantial tokens of the success of her nine years' fatigue and intolerable anxiety, she at last took her departure from the netherlands, having communicated the dissolution of her connexion with the provinces by a farewell letter to the estates dated th december, . within a few weeks afterwards, escorted by the duke of alva across the frontier of brabant; attended by a considerable deputation of flemish nobility into germany, and accompanied to her journey's end at parma by the count and countess of mansfeld, she finally closed her eventful career in the netherlands. the horrors of the succeeding administration proved beneficial to her reputation. upon the dark ground of succeeding years the lines which recorded her history seemed written with letters of light. yet her conduct in the netherlands offers but few points for approbation, and many for indignant censure. that she was not entirely destitute of feminine softness and sentiments of bounty, her parting despatch to her brother proved. in that letter she recommended to him a course of clemency and forgiveness, and reminded him that the nearer kings approach to god in station, the more they should endeavor to imitate him in his attributes of benignity. but the language of this farewell was more tender than had been the spirit of her government. one looks in vain, too, through the general atmosphere of kindness which pervades the epistle; for a special recommendation of those distinguished and doomed seigniors, whose attachment to her person and whose chivalrous and conscientious endeavors to fulfil her own orders, had placed them upon the edge of that precipice from which they were shortly to be hurled. the men who had restrained her from covering herself with disgrace by a precipitate retreat from the post of danger, and who had imperilled their lives by obedience to her express instructions, had been long languishing in solitary confinement, never to be terminated except by a traitor's death--yet we search in vain for a kind word in their behalf. meantime the second civil war in france had broken out. the hollow truce by which the guise party and the huguenots had partly pretended to deceive each other was hastened to its end; among other causes, by the march of alva, to the netherlands. the huguenots had taken alarm, for they recognized the fellowship which united their foes in all countries against the reformation, and conde and coligny knew too well that the same influence which had brought alva to brussels would soon create an exterminating army against their followers. hostilities were resumed with more bitterness than ever. the battle of st. denis--fierce, fatal, but indecisive--was fought. the octogenarian hero, montmorency, fighting like a foot soldier, refusing to yield his sword, and replying to the respectful solicitations of his nearest enemy by dashing his teeth down his throat with the butt-end of his pistol, the hero of so many battles, whose defeat at st. quintin had been the fatal point in his career, had died at last in his armor, bravely but not gloriously, in conflict with his own countrymen, led by his own heroic nephew. the military control of the catholic party was completely in the hand of the guises; the chancellor de l'hopital had abandoned the court after a last and futile effort to reconcile contending factions, which no human power could unite; the huguenots had possessed themselves of rochelle and of other strong places, and, under the guidance of adroit statesmen and accomplished generals, were pressing the most christian monarch hard in the very heart of his kingdom. as early as the middle of october, while still in antwerp, alva had received several secret agents of the french monarch, then closely beleaguered in his capital. cardinal lorraine offered to place several strong places of france in the hands of the spaniard, and alva had written to philip that he was disposed to accept the offer, and to render the service. the places thus held would be a guarantee for his expenses, he said, while in case king charles and his brother should die, "their possession would enable philip to assert his own claim to the french crown in right of his wife, the salic law being merely a pleasantry." the queen dowager, adopting now a very different tone from that which characterized her conversation at the bayonne interview, wrote to alva, that, if for want of spanish musketeers, which she requested him to furnish, she should be obliged to succumb, she chose to disculpate herself in advance before god and christian princes for the peace which she should be obliged to make. the duke wrote to her in reply, that it was much better to have a kingdom ruined in preserving it for god and the king by war, than to have it kept entire without war, to the profit of the devil and of his followers. he was also reported on another occasion to have reminded her of the spanish proverb--that the head of one salmon is worth those of a hundred frogs. the hint, if it were really given, was certainly destined to be acted upon. the duke not only furnished catherine with advice, but with the musketeers which she had solicited. two thousand foot and fifteen hundred horse, under the count of aremberg, attended by a choice band of the catholic nobility of the netherlands, had joined the royal camp at paris before the end of the year, to take their part in the brief hostilities by which the second treacherous peace was to be preceded. meantime, alva was not unmindful of the business which had served as a pretext in the arrest of the two counts. the fortifications of the principal cities were pushed on with great rapidity. the memorable citadel of antwerp in particular had already been commenced in october under the superintendence of the celebrated engineers, pacheco and gabriel de cerbelloni. in a few months it was completed, at a cost of one million four hundred thousand florins, of which sum the citizens, in spite of their remonstrances, were compelled to contribute more than one quarter. the sum of four hundred thousand florins was forced from the burghers by a tax upon all hereditary property within the municipality. two thousand workmen were employed daily in the construction of this important fortress, which was erected, as its position most plainly manifested, not to protect, but to control the commercial capital of the provinces. it stood at the edge of the city, only separated from its walls by an open esplanade. it was the most perfect pentagon in europe, having one of its sides resting on the scheld, two turned towards the city, and two towards the open country. five bastions, with walls of hammered stone, connected by curtains of turf and masonry, surrounded by walls measuring a league in circumference, and by an outer moat fed by the scheld, enclosed a spacious enceinte, where a little church with many small lodging-houses, shaded by trees and shrubbery, nestled among the bristling artillery, as if to mimic the appearance of a peaceful and pastoral village. to four of the five bastions, the captain-general, with characteristic ostentation, gave his own names and titles. one was called the duke, the second ferdinando, a third toledo, a fourth alva, while the fifth was baptized with the name of the ill-fated engineer, pacheco. the watergate was decorated with the escutcheon of alva, surrounded by his golden fleece collar, with its pendant lamb of god; a symbol of blasphemous irony, which still remains upon the fortress, to recal the image of the tyrant and murderer. each bastion was honeycombed with casemates and subterranean storehouses, and capable of containing within its bowels a vast supply of provisions, munitions, and soldiers. such was the celebrated citadel built to tame the turbulent spirit of antwerp, at the cost of those whom it was to terrify and to insult. etext editor's bookmarks: conde and coligny furnished, in addition, with a force of two thousand prostitutes he came as a conqueror not as a mediator hope deferred, suddenly changing to despair meantime the second civil war in france had broken out spendthrift of time, he was an economist of blood the greatest crime, however, was to be rich time and myself are two motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley [chapter ii.] orange, count louis, hoogstraaten, and others, cited before the blood-council--charges against them--letter of orange in reply-- position and sentiments of the prince--seizure of count de buren-- details of that transaction--petitions to the council from louvain and other places--sentence of death against the whole population of the netherlands pronounced by the spanish inquisition and proclaimed by philip--cruel inventions against heretics--the wild beggars-- preliminary proceedings of the council against egmont and horn-- interrogatories addressed to them in prison--articles of accusation against them--foreclosure of the cases--pleas to the jurisdiction-- efforts by the countesses egmont and horn, by many knights of the fleece, and by the emperor, in favor of the prisoners--answers of alva and of philip--obsequious behavior of viglius--difficulties arising from the golden fleece statutes set aside--particulars of the charges against count horn and of his defence--articles of accusation against egmont--sketch of his reply--reflections upon the two trials--attitude of orange--his published 'justification'--his secret combinations--his commission to count louis--large sums of money subscribed by the nassau family, by netherland refugees, and others--great personal sacrifices made by the prince--quadruple scheme for invading the netherlands--defeat of the patriots under cocqueville--defeat of millers--invasion of friesland by count louis--measures of alva to oppose him--command of the royalists entreated to aremberg and meghem--the duke's plan for the campaign-- skirmish at dam--detention of meghem--count louis at heiliger--lee-- nature of the ground--advance of aremberg--disposition of the patriot forces--impatience of the spanish troops to engage--battle of heiliger-lee--defeat and death of aremberg--death of adolphus nassau--effects of the battle--anger and severe measures of alva-- eighteen nobles executed at brussels--sentence of death pronounced upon egmont and horn--the bishop of ypres sent to egmont--fruitless intercession by the prelate and the countess--egmont's last night in prison--the "grande place" at brussels--details concerning the execution of egmont and horn--observation upon the characters of the two nobles--destitute condition of egmont's family. late in october, the duke of alva made his triumphant entry into the new fortress. during his absence, which was to continue during the remainder of the year, he had ordered the secretary courteville and the councillor del rio to superintend the commission, which was then actually engaged in collecting materials for the prosecutions to be instituted against the prince of orange and the other nobles who had abandoned the country. accordingly, soon after his return, on the th of january, , the prince, his brother louis of nassau, his brother-in-law, count van den berg, the count hoogstraaten, the count culemburg, and the baron montigny, were summoned in the name of alva to appear before the blood-council, within thrice fourteen days from the date of the proclamation, under pain of perpetual banishment with confiscation of their estates. it is needless to say that these seigniors did not obey the summons. they knew full well that their obedience would be rewarded only by death. the charges against the prince of orange, which were drawn up in ten articles, stated, chiefly and briefly, that he had been, and was, the head and front of the rebellion; that as soon as his majesty had left the netherlands, he had begun his machinations to make himself master of the country and to expel his sovereign by force, if he should attempt to return to the provinces; that he had seduced his majesty's subjects by false pretences that the spanish inquisition was about to be introduced; that he had been the secret encourager and director of brederode and the confederated nobles; and that when sent to antwerp, in the name of the regent, to put down the rebellion, he had encouraged heresy and accorded freedom of religion to the reformers. the articles against hoogstraaten and the other gentlemen mere of similar tenor. it certainly was not a slender proof of the calm effrontery of the government thus to see alva's proclamation charging it as a crime upon orange that he had inveigled the lieges into revolt by a false assertion that the inquisition was about to be established, when letters from the duke to philip, and from granvelle to philip, dated upon nearly the same day, advised the immediate restoration of the inquisition as soon as an adequate number of executions had paved the way for the measure. it was also a sufficient indication of a reckless despotism, that while the duchess, who had made the memorable accord with the religionists, received a flattering letter of thanks and a farewell pension of fourteen thousand ducats yearly, those who, by her orders, had acted upon that treaty as the basis of their negotiations, were summoned to lay down their heads upon the block. the prince replied to this summons by a brief and somewhat contemptuous plea to the jurisdiction. as a knight of the fleece, as a member of the germanic empire, as a sovereign prince in france, as a citizen of the netherlands, he rejected the authority of alva and of his self-constituted tribunal. his innocence he was willing to establish before competent courts and righteous judges. as a knight of the fleece, he said he could be tried only by his peers, the brethren of the order, and, for that purpose, he could be summoned only by the king as head of the chapter, with the sanction of at least six of his fellow-knights. in conclusion, he offered to appear before his imperial majesty, the electors, and other members of the empire, or before the knights of the golden fleece. in the latter case, he claimed the right, under the statutes of that order, to be placed while the trial was pending, not in a solitary prison, as had been the fate of egmont and of horn, but under the friendly charge and protection of the brethren themselves. the letter was addressed to the procurator-general, and a duplicate was forwarded to the duke. from the general tenor of the document, it is obvious both that the prince was not yet ready to throw down the gauntlet to his sovereign, nor to proclaim his adhesion to the new religion: of departing from the netherlands in the spring, he had said openly that he was still in possession of sixty thousand florins yearly, and that he should commence no hostilities against philip, so long as he did not disturb him in his honor or his estates. far-seeing politician, if man ever were, he knew the course whither matters were inevitably tending, but he knew how much strength was derived from putting an adversary irretrievably in the wrong. he still maintained an attitude of dignified respect towards the monarch, while he hurled back with defiance the insolent summons of the viceroy. moreover, the period had not yet arrived for him to break publicly with the ancient faith. statesman, rather than religionist, at this epoch, he was not disposed to affect a more complete conversion than the one which he had experienced. he was, in truth, not for a new doctrine, but for liberty of conscience. his mind was already expanding beyond any dogmas of the age. the man whom his enemies stigmatized as atheist and renegade, was really in favor of toleration, and therefore, the more deeply criminal in the eyes of all religious parties. events, personal to himself, were rapidly to place him in a position from which he might enter the combat with honor. his character had already been attacked, his property threatened with confiscation. his closest ties of family were now to be severed by the hand of the tyrant. his eldest child, the count de buren, torn from his protection, was to be carried into indefinite captivity in a foreign land. it was a remarkable oversight, for a person of his sagacity, that, upon his own departure from the provinces, he should leave his son, then a boy of thirteen years, to pursue his studies at the college of louvain. thus exposed to the power of the government, he was soon seized as a hostage for the good behavior of the father. granvelle appears to have been the first to recommend the step in a secret letter to philip, but alva scarcely needed prompting. accordingly, upon the th of february, , the duke sent the seignior de chassy to louvain, attended by four officers and by twelve archers. he was furnished with a letter to the count de buren, in which that young nobleman was requested to place implicit confidence in the bearer of the despatch, and was informed that the desire which his majesty had to see him educated for his service, was the cause of the communication which the seignior de chassy was about to make. that gentleman was, moreover, minutely instructed as to his method of proceeding in this memorable case of kidnapping. he was to present the letter to the young count in presence of his tutor. he was to invite him to spain in the name of his majesty. he was to assure him that his majesty's commands were solely with a view, to his own good, and that he was not commissioned to arrest, but only to escort him. he was to allow the count to be accompanied only by two valets, two pages, a cook, and a keeper of accounts. he was, however, to induce his tutor to accompany him, at least to the spanish frontier. he was to arrange that the second day after his arrival at louvain, the count should set out for antwerp, where he was to lodge with count lodron, after which they were to proceed to flushing, whence they were to embark for spain. at that city he was to deliver the young prince to the person whom he would find there, commissioned for that purpose by the duke. as soon as he had made the first proposition at louvain to the count, he was, with the assistance of his retinue, to keep the most strict watch over him day and night, but without allowing the supervision to be perceived. the plan was carried out admirably, and in strict accordance with the program. it was fortunate, however, for the kidnappers, that the young prince proved favorably disposed to the plan. he accepted the invitation of his captors with alacrity. he even wrote to thank the governor for his friendly offices in his behalf. he received with boyish gratification the festivities with which lodron enlivened his brief sojourn at antwerp, and he set forth without reluctance for that gloomy and terrible land of spain, whence so rarely a flemish traveller had returned. a changeling, as it were, from his cradle, he seemed completely transformed by his spanish tuition, for he was educated and not sacrificed by philip. when he returned to the netherlands, after a twenty years' residence in spain, it was difficult to detect in his gloomy brow, saturnine character, and jesuistical habits, a trace of the generous spirit which characterized that race of heroes, the house of orange-nassau. philip had expressed some anxiety as to the consequences of this capture upon the governments of germany. alva, however, re-assured his sovereign upon that point, by reason of the extreme docility of the captive, and the quiet manner in which the arrest had been conducted. at that particular juncture, moreover, it would, have been difficult for the government of the netherlands to excite surprise any where, except by an act of clemency. the president and the deputation of professors from the university of louvain waited upon vargas, by whom, as acting president of the blood-council, the arrest had nominally been made, with a remonstrance that the measure was in gross violation of their statutes and privileges. that personage, however, with his usual contempt both for law and latin, answered brutally, "non curamus vestros privilegios," and with this memorable answer, abruptly closed his interview with the trembling pedants. petitions now poured into the council from all quarters, abject recantations from terror-stricken municipalities, humble intercessions in behalf of doomed and imprisoned victims. to a deputation of the magistracy of antwerp, who came with a prayer for mercy in behalf of some of their most distinguished fellow-citizens, then in prison, the duke gave a most passionate and ferocious reply. he expressed his wonder that the citizens of antwerp, that hotbed of treason, should dare to approach him in behalf of traitors and heretics. let them look to it in future, he continued, or he would hang every man in the whole city, to set an example to the rest of the country; for his majesty would rather the whole land should become an uninhabited wilderness, than that a single dissenter should exist within its territory. events now marched with rapidity. the monarch seemed disposed literally to execute the threat of his viceroy. early in the year, the most sublime sentence of death was promulgated which has ever been pronounced since the creation of the world. the roman tyrant wished that his enemies' heads were all upon a single neck, that he might strike them off at a blow; the inquisition assisted philip to place the heads of all his netherland subjects upon a single neck for the same fell purpose. upon the th february, , a sentence of the holy office condemned all the inhabitants of the netherlands to death as heretics. from this universal doom only a few persons, especially named; were excepted. a proclamation of the king, dated ten days later, confirmed this decree of the inquisition, and ordered it to be carried into instant execution, without regard to age, sex, or condition. this is probably the most concise death-warrant that was ever framed. three millions of people, men, women, and children, were sentenced to the scaffold in: three lines; and, as it was well known that these were not harmless thunders, like some bulls of the vatican, but serious and practical measures, which it was intended should be enforced, the horror which they produced may be easily imagined. it was hardly the purpose of government to compel the absolute completion of the wholesale plan in all its length and breadth, yet in the horrible times upon which they had fallen, the netherlanders might be excused for believing that no measure was too monstrous to be fulfilled. at any rate, it was certain that when all were condemned, any might at a moment's warning be carried to the scaffold, and this was precisely the course adopted by the authorities. under this universal decree the industry of the blood-council might, now seem superfluous. why should not these mock prosecutions be dispensed with against individuals, now that a common sentence had swallowed the whole population in one vast grave? yet it may be supposed that if the exertions of the commissioners and councillors served no other purpose, they at least furnished the government with valuable evidence as to the relative wealth and other circumstances of the individual victims. the leading thought of the government being that persecution, judiciously managed, might fructify into a golden harvest,--it was still desirable to persevere in the cause in which already such bloody progress had been made. and under this new decree, the executions certainly did not slacken. men in the highest and the humblest positions were daily and hourly dragged to the stake. alva, in a single letter to philip, coolly estimated the number of executions which were to take place immediately after the expiration of holy week, "at eight hundred heads." many a citizen, convicted of a hundred thousand florins and of no other crime, saw himself suddenly tied to a horse's tail, with his hands fastened behind him, and so dragged to the gallows. but although wealth was an unpardonable sin, poverty proved rarely a protection. reasons sufficient could always be found for dooming the starveling laborer as well as the opulent burgher. to avoid the disturbances created in the streets by the frequent harangues or exhortations addressed to the bystanders by the victims on their way to the scaffold, a new gag was invented. the tongue of each prisoner was screwed into an iron ring, and then seared with a hot iron. the swelling and inflammation which were the immediate result, prevented the tongue from slipping through the ring, and of course effectually precluded all possibility of speech. although the minds of men were not yet prepared for concentrated revolt against the tyranny under which they were languishing, it was not possible to suppress all sentiments of humanity, and to tread out every spark of natural indignation. unfortunately, in the bewilderment and misery of this people, the first development of a forcible and organized resistance was of a depraved and malignant character. extensive bands of marauders and highway robbers sprang into existence, who called themselves the wild beggars, and who, wearing the mask and the symbols of a revolutionary faction, committed great excesses in many parts of the country, robbing, plundering, and murdering. their principal wrath was exercised against religious houses and persons. many monasteries were robbed, many clerical persons maimed and maltreated. it became a habit to deprive priests of their noses or ears, and to tie them to the tails of horses. this was the work of ruffian gangs, whose very existence was engendered out of the social and moral putrescence to which the country was reduced, and who were willing to profit by the deep and universal hatred which was felt against catholics and monks. an edict thundered forth by alva, authorizing and commanding all persons to slay the wild beggars at sight, without trial or hangman, was of comparatively slight avail. an armed force of veterans actively scouring the country was more successful, and the freebooters were, for a time, suppressed. meantime the counts egmont and horn had been kept in rigorous confinement at ghent. not a warrant had been read or drawn up for their arrest. not a single preliminary investigation, not the shadow of an information had preceded the long imprisonment of two men so elevated in rank, so distinguished in the public service. after the expiration of two months, however, the duke condescended to commence a mock process against them. the councillors appointed to this work were vargas and del rio, assisted by secretary praets. these persons visited the admiral on the th, th, th and th of november, and count egmont on the th, th, th, and th, of the same month; requiring them to respond to a long, confused, and rambling collection of interrogatories. they were obliged to render these replies in prison, unassisted by any advocates, on penalty of being condemned 'in contumaciam'. the questions, awkwardly drawn up as they seemed, were yet tortuously and cunningly arranged with a view of entrapping the prisoners into self-contradiction. after this work had been completed, all the papers by which they intended to justify their answers were taken away from them. previously, too, their houses and those of their secretaries, bakkerzeel and alonzo de la loo, had been thoroughly ransacked, and every letter and document which could be found placed in the hands of government. bakkerzeel, moreover, as already stated, had been repeatedly placed upon the rack, for the purpose of extorting confessions which might implicate his master. these preliminaries and precautionary steps having been taken, the counts had again been left to their solitude for two months longer. on the th january, each was furnished with a copy of the declarations or accusations filed against him by the procurator-general. to these documents, drawn up respectively in sixty-three, and in ninety articles, they were required, within five days' time, without the assistance of an advocate, and without consultation with any human being, to deliver a written answer, on pain, as before, of being proceeded against and condemned by default. this order was obeyed within nearly the prescribed period and here, it may be said, their own participation in their trial ceased; while the rest of the proceedings were buried in the deep bosom of the blood-council. after their answers had been delivered, and not till then, the prisoners were, by an additional mockery, permitted to employ advocates. these advocates, however, were allowed only occasional interviews with their clients, and always in the presence of certain persons, especially deputed for that purpose by the duke. they were also allowed commissioners to collect evidence and take depositions, but before the witnesses were ready, a purposely premature day, th of may, was fixed upon for declaring the case closed, and not a single tittle of their evidence, personal or documentary, was admitted.--their advocates petitioned for an exhibition of the evidence prepared by government, and were refused. thus, they were forbidden to use the testimony in their favor, while that which was to be employed against them was kept secret. finally, the proceedings were formally concluded on the st of june, and the papers laid before the duke. the mass of matter relating to these two monster processes was declared, three days afterwards to have been examined--a physical impossibility in itself--and judgment was pronounced upon the th of june. this issue was precipitated by the campaign of louis nassau in friesland, forming a aeries of important events which it will be soon our duty to describe. it is previously necessary, however, to add a few words in elucidation of the two mock trials which have been thus briefly sketched. the proceeding had been carried on, from first to last, under protest by the prisoners, under a threat of contumacy on the part of the government. apart from the totally irresponsible and illegal character of the tribunal before which they were summoned--the blood-council being a private institution of alva's without pretext or commission--these nobles acknowledged the jurisdiction of but three courts. as knights of the golden fleece, both claimed the privilege of that order to be tried by its statutes. as a citizen and noble of brabant, egmont claimed the protection of the "joyeuse entree," a constitution which had been sworn to by philip and his ancestors, and by philip more amply, than by all his ancestors. as a member and count of the holy roman empire, the admiral claimed to be tried by his peers, the electors and princes of the realm. the countess egmont, since her husband's arrest, and the confiscation of his estates before judgment, had been reduced to a life of poverty as well as agony. with her eleven children, all of tender age, she had taken refuge in a convent. frantic with despair, more utterly desolate, and more deeply wronged than high-born lady had often been before, she left no stone unturned to save her husband from his fate, or at least to obtain for him an impartial and competent tribunal. she addressed the duke of alva, the king, the emperor, her brother the elector palatine, and many leading knights of the fleece. the countess dowager of horn, both whose sons now lay in the jaws of death, occupied herself also with the most moving appeals to the same high personages. no pains were spared to make the triple plea to the jurisdiction valid. the leading knights of the fleece, mansfeld, whose loyalty was unquestioned, and hoogstraaten, although himself an outlaw; called upon the king of spain to protect the statutes of the illustrious order of which he was the chief. the estates of brabant, upon the petition of sabina, countess egmont, that they would take to heart the privileges of the province, so that her husband might enjoy that protection of which the meanest citizen in the land could not be justly deprived, addressed a feeble and trembling protest to alva, and enclosed to him the lady's petition. the emperor, on behalf of count horn, wrote personally to philip, to claim for him a trial before the members of the realm. it was all in vain. the conduct of philip and his viceroy coincided in spirit with the honest brutality of vargas. "non curamus vestros privilegios," summed up the whole of the proceedings. non curamus vestros privilegios had been the unanswerable reply to every constitutional argument which had been made against tyranny since philip mounted his father's throne. it was now the only response deemed necessary to the crowd of petitions in favor of the counts, whether they proceeded from sources humble or august. personally, the king remained silent as the grave. in writing to the duke of alva, he observed that "the emperor, the dukes of bavaria and lorraine, the duchess and the duchess-dowager, had written to him many times, and in the most pressing manner, in favor of the counts horn and egmont." he added, that he had made no reply to them, nor to other knights of the fleece who had implored him to respect the statutes of the order, and he begged alva "to hasten the process as fast as possible." to an earnest autograph letter, in which the emperor, on the nd of march, , made a last effort to save the illustrious prisoners, he replied, that "the whole world would at last approve his conduct, but that, at any rate, he would not act differently, even if he should risk the loss of the provinces, and if the sky should fall on his head." but little heed was paid to the remonstrances in behalf of the imperial courts, or the privileges of brabant. these were but cobweb impediments which, indeed, had long been brushed away. president viglius was even pathetic on the subject of madame egmont's petition to the council of brabant. it was so bitter, he said, that the duke was slightly annoyed, and took it ill that the royal servants in that council should have his majesty's interests so little at heart. it seemed indecent in the eyes of the excellent frisian, that a wife pleading for her husband, a mother for her, eleven children, so soon to be fatherless, should indulge in strong language! the statutes of the fleece were obstacles somewhat more serious. as, however, alva had come to the netherlands pledged to accomplish the destruction of these two nobles, as soon as he should lay his hands upon them, it was only a question of form, and even that question was, after a little reflection, unceremoniously put aside. to the petitions in behalf of the two counts, therefore, that they should be placed in the friendly keeping of the order, and be tried by its statutes, the duke replied, peremptorily, that he had undertaken the cognizance of this affair by commission of his majesty, as sovereign of the land, not as head of the golden fleece, that he should carry it through as it had been commenced, and that the counts should discontinue presentations of petitions upon this point. in the embarrassment created by the stringent language of these statutes, doctor viglius found an opportunity to make himself very useful. alva had been turning over the laws and regulations of the order, but could find no loophole. the president, however, came to his rescue, and announced it as his legal opinion that the governor need concern himself no further on the subject, and that the code of the fleece offered no legal impediment to the process. alva immediately wrote to communicate this opinion to philip, adding, with great satisfaction, that he should immediately make it known to the brethren of the order, a step which was the more necessary because egmont's advocate had been making great trouble with these privileges, and had been protesting at every step of the proceedings. in what manner the learned president argued these troublesome statutes out of the way, has nowhere appeared; but he completely reinstated himself in favor, and the king wrote to thank him for his legal exertions. it was now boldly declared that the statutes of the fleece did not extend to such crimes as those with which the prisoner were charged. alva, moreover, received an especial patent, ante-dated eight or nine months, by which philip empowered him to proceed against all persons implicated in the troubles, and particularly against knights of the golden fleece. it is superfluous to observe that these were merely the arbitrary acts of a despot. it is hardly necessary to criticise such proceedings. the execution of the nobles had been settled before alva left spain. as they were inhabitants of a constitutional country, it was necessary to stride over the constitution. as they were knights of the fleece, it was necessary to set aside the statutes of the order. the netherland constitutions seemed so entirely annihilated already, that they could hardly be considered obstacles; but the order of the fleece was an august little republic of which philip was the hereditary chief, of which emperors, kings, and great seigniors were the citizens. tyranny might be embarrassed by such subtle and golden filaments as these, even while it crashed through municipal charters as if they had been reeds and bulrushes. nevertheless, the king's course was taken. although the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth chapters of the order expressly provided for the trial and punishment of brethren who had been guilty of rebellion, heresy, or treason; and although the eleventh chapter; perpetual and immutable, of additions to that constitution by the emperor charles, conferred on the order exclusive jurisdiction over all crimes whatever committed by the knights, yet it was coolly proclaimed by alva, that the crimes for which the admiral and egmont had been arrested, were beyond the powers of the tribunal. so much for the plea to the jurisdiction. it is hardly worth while to look any further into proceedings which were initiated and brought to a conclusion in the manner already narrated. nevertheless, as they were called a process, a single glance at the interior of that mass of documents can hardly be superfluous. the declaration against count horn; upon which, supported by invisible witnesses, he was condemned, was in the nature of a narrative. it consisted in a rehearsal of circumstances, some true and some fictitious, with five inferences. these five inferences amounted to five crimes--high treason, rebellion, conspiracy, misprision of treason, and breach of trust. the proof of these crimes was evolved, in a dim and misty manner, out of a purposely confused recital. no events, however, were recapitulated which have not been described in the course of this history. setting out with a general statement, that the admiral, the prince of orange, count egmont, and other lords had organized a plot to expel his majesty from the netherlands, and to divide the provinces among themselves; the declaration afterwards proceeded to particulars. ten of its sixty-three articles were occupied with the cardinal granvelle, who, by an absurd affectation, was never directly named, but called "a certain personage--a principal personage--a grand personage, of his majesty's state council." none of the offences committed against him were forgotten: the th of march letter, the fool's-cap, the livery, were reproduced in the most violent colors, and the cabal against the minister was quietly assumed to constitute treason against the monarch. the admiral, it was further charged, had advised and consented to the fusion of the finance and privy councils with that of state, a measure which was clearly treasonable. he had, moreover, held interviews with the prince of orange, with egmont, and other nobles, at breda and at hoogstraaten, at which meetings the confederacy and the petition had been engendered. that petition had been the cause of all the evils which had swept the land. "it had scandalously injured the king, by affirming that the inquisition was a tyranny to humanity, which was an infamous and unworthy proposition." the confederacy, with his knowledge and countenance, had enrolled , men. he had done nothing, any more than orange or egmont, to prevent the presentation of the petition. in the consultation at the state-council which ensued, both he and the prince were for leaving brussels at once, while count egmont expressed an intention of going to aix to drink the waters. yet count egmont's appearance (proceeded this indictment against another individual) exhibited not a single sign of sickness. the admiral had, moreover, drank the toast of "vivent leg gueux" on various occasions, at the culemberg house banquet, at the private table of the prince of orange, at a supper at the monastery of saint bernard's, at a dinner given by burgomaster straalen. he had sanctioned the treaties with the rebels at duffel, by which he had clearly rendered himself guilty of high treason. he had held an interview with orange, egmont, and hoogstraaten, at denremonde, for the treasonable purpose of arranging a levy of troops to prevent his majesty's entrance into the netherlands. he had refused to come to brussels at the request of the duchess of parma, when the rebels were about to present the petition. he had written to his secretary that he was thenceforth resolved to serve neither king nor kaiser. he had received from one taffin, with marks of approbation, a paper, stating that the assembling of the states-general was the only remedy for the troubles in the land. he had, repeatedly affirmed that the inquisition and edicts ought to be repealed. on his arrival at tournay in august, , the people had cried "vivent les gueux;" a proof that he liked the cry. all his transactions at tournay, from first to last, had been criminal. he had tolerated reformed preaching, he had forbidden catholics and protestants to molest each other, he had omitted to execute heretics, he had allowed the religionists to erect an edifice for public worship outside the walls. he had said, at the house of prince espinoy, that if the king should come into the provinces with force, he would oppose him with , troops. he had said, if his brother montigny should be detained in spain, he would march to his rescue at the head of , men whom he had at his command. he had on various occasions declared that "men should live according to their consciences"--as if divine and human laws were dead, and men, like wild beasts, were to follow all their lusts and desires. lastly, he had encouraged the rebellion in valenciennes. of all these crimes and misdeeds the procurator declared himself sufficiently informed, and the aforesaid defendant entirely, commonly, and publicly defamed. wherefore, that officer terminated his declaration by claiming "that the cause should be concluded summarily, and without figure or form of process; and that therefore, by his excellency or his sub-delegated judges, the aforesaid defendant should be declared to have in diverse ways committed high treason, should be degraded from his dignities, and should be condemned to death, with confiscation of all his estates." the admiral, thus peremptorily summoned, within five days, without assistance, without documents, and from the walls of a prison, to answer to these charges, 'solos ex vinculis causam dicere', undertook his task with the boldness of innocence. he protested, of course, to the jurisdiction, and complained of the want of an advocate, not in order to excuse any weakness in his defence, but only any inelegance in his statement. he then proceeded flatly to deny some of the facts, to admit others, and to repel the whole treasonable inference. his answer in all essential respects was triumphant. supported by the evidence which, alas was not collected and published till after his death, it was impregnable. he denied that he had ever plotted against his king, to whom he had ever been attached, but admitted that he had desired the removal of granvelle, to whom he had always been hostile. he had, however, been an open and avowed enemy to the cardinal, and had been engaged in no secret conspiracy against his character or against his life. he denied that the livery (for which, however, he was not responsible) had been intended to ridicule the cardinal, but asserted that it was intended to afford an example of economy to an extravagant nobility. he had met orange and egmont at breda and hoogstraaten, and had been glad to do so, for he had been long separated from them. these interviews, however, had been social, not political, for good cheer and merry-making, not for conspiracy and treason. he had never had any connection with the confederacy; he had neither advised nor protected the petition, but, on the contrary, after hearing of the contemplated movement, had written to give notice thereof to the duchess. he was in no manner allied, with brederode, but, on the contrary, for various reasons, was not upon friendly terms with him. he had not entered his house since his return from spain. he had not been a party to the dinner at culemburg house. upon that day he had dined with the prince of orange, with whom he was lodging and, after dinner, they had both gone together to visit mansfeld, who was confined with an inflamed eye. there they had met egmont, and the three had proceeded together to culemburg house in order to bring away hoogstraaten, whom the confederates had compelled to dine with them; and also to warn the nobles not to commit themselves by extravagant and suspicious excesses. they had remained in the house but a few minutes, during which time the company had insisted upon their drinking a single cup to the toast of "vivent le roy et les gueux." they had then retired, taking with them hoogstraaten, and all thinking that they had rendered a service to the government by their visit, instead of having made themselves liable to a charge of treason. as to the cries of "vivent les gueux" at the tables of orange, of the abbot of saint bernard, and at other places, those words had been uttered by simple, harmless fellows; and as he considered, the table a place of freedom, he had not felt himself justified in rebuking the manners of his associates, particularly, in houses where he was himself but a guest. as for committing treason at the duffel meeting, he had not been there at all. he thanked god that, at that epoch, he had been absent from brussels, for had he, as well as orange and egmont, been commissioned by the duchess to arrange those difficult matters, he should have considered it his duty to do as they did. he had never thought of levying troops against his majesty. the denremonde meeting had been held, to consult upon four subjects: the affairs of tournay; the intercepted letters of the french ambassador, alava; the letter of montigny, in which he warned his brother of the evil impression which the netherland matters were making in spain; and the affairs of antwerp, from which city the prince of orange found it necessary at that moment to withdraw.--with regard to his absence from brussels, he stated that he had kept away from the court because he was ruined. he was deeply in debt, and so complete was his embarrassment, that he had been unable in antwerp to raise crowns upon his property, even at an interest of one hundred per cent. so far from being able to levy troops, he was hardly able to pay for his daily bread. with regard to his transactions at tournay, he had, throughout them all, conformed himself to the instructions of madame de parma. as to the cry of "vivent les gueux," he should not have cared at that moment if the populace had cried 'vive comte horn', for his thoughts were then occupied with more substantial matters. he had gone thither under a special commission from the duchess, and had acted under instructions daily received by her own hand. he had, by her orders, effected a temporary compromise between the two religious parties, on the basis of the duffel treaty. he had permitted the public preaching to continue, but had not introduced it for the first time. he had allowed temples to be built outside the gates, but it was by express command of madame, as he could prove by her letters. she had even reproved him before the council, because the work had not been accomplished with sufficient despatch. with regard to his alleged threat, that he would oppose the king's entrance with , men, he answered, with astonishing simplicity, that he did not remember making any such observation, but it was impossible for a man to retain in his mind all the nonsense which he might occasionally utter. the honest admiral thought that his poverty, already pleaded, was so notorious that the charge was not worthy of a serious answer. he also treated the observation which he was charged with having made, relative to his marching to spain with , men to rescue montigny as "frivolous and ridiculous." he had no power to raise a hundred men. moreover he had rejoiced at montigny's detention, for he had thought that to be out of the netherlands was to be out of harm's way. on the whole, he claimed that in all those transactions of his which might be considered anti-catholic, he had been governed entirely by the instructions of the regent, and by her accord with the nobles. that accord, as she had repeatedly stated to him, was to be kept sacred until his majesty, by advice of the states-general, should otherwise ordain. finally, he observed, that law was not his vocation. he was no pettifogger, but he had endeavored loyally to conform himself to the broad and general principles of honor, justice, and truth. in a very few and simple words, he begged his judges to have regard to his deeds, and to a life of loyal service. if he had erred occasionally in those times of tumult, his intentions had ever been faithful and honorable. the charges against count egmont were very similar to those against count horn. the answers of both defendants were nearly identical. interrogations thus addressed to two different persons, as to circumstances which had occurred long before, could not have been thus separately, secretly, but simultaneously answered in language substantially the same, had not that language been the words of truth. egmont was accused generally of plotting with others to expel the king from the provinces, and to divide the territory among themselves. through a long series of ninety articles, he was accused of conspiring against the character and life of cardinal granvelle. he was the inventor, it was charged, of the fool's-cap livery. he had joined in the letters to the king, demanding the prelate's removal. he had favored the fusion of the three councils. he had maintained that the estates-general ought to be forthwith assembled, that otherwise the debts of his majesty and of the country could never be paid, and that the provinces would go to the french, to the germans, or to the devil. he had asserted that he would not be instrumental in burning forty or fifty thousand men, in order that the inquisition and the edicts might be sustained. he had declared that the edicts were rigorous. he had advised the duchess, to moderate them, and remove the inquisition, saying that these measures, with a pardon general in addition, were the only means of quieting the country. he had advised the formation of the confederacy, and promised to it his protection and favor. he had counselled the presentation of the petition. he had arranged all these matters, in consultation with the other nobles, at the interviews at breda and hoogstraaten. he had refused the demand of madame de parma, to take arms in her defence. he had expressed his intention, at a most critical moment, of going to the baths of aix for his health, although his personal appearance gave no indication of any malady whatever. he had countenanced and counselled the proceedings of the rebel nobles at saint trond. he had made an accord with those of "the religion" at ghent, bruges, and other places. he had advised the duchess to grant a pardon to those who had taken up arms. he had maintained, in common with the prince of orange, at a session of the state council, that if madame should leave brussels, they would assemble the states-general of their own authority, and raise a force of forty thousand men. he had plotted treason, and made arrangements for the levy of troops at the interview at denremonde, with horn, hoogstraaten, and the prince of orange. he had taken under his protection on the th april, , the confederacy of the rebels; had promised that they should never be molested, for the future, on account of the inquisition or the edicts, and that so long as they kept within the terms of the petition and the compromise, he would defend them with his own person. he had granted liberty of preaching outside the walls in many cities within his government. he had said repeatedly, that if the king desired to introduce the inquisition into the netherlands, he would sell all his property and remove to another land; thus declaring with how much contempt and detestation he regarded the said inquisition. he had winked at all the proceedings of the sectaries. he had permitted the cry of "vivent les gueux" at his table. he had assisted at the banquet at culemburg house. these were the principal points in the interminable act of accusation. like the admiral, egmont admitted many of the facts, and flatly denied the rest. he indignantly repelled the possibility of a treasonable inference from any of, or all, his deeds. he had certainly desired the removal of granvelle, for he believed that the king's service would profit by his recal. he replied, almost in the same terms as the admiral had done, to the charge concerning the livery, and asserted that its principal object had been to set an example of economy. the fool's-cap and bells had been changed to a bundle of arrows, in consequence of a certain rumor which became rife in brussels, and in obedience to an ordinance of madame de parma. as to the assembling of the states-general, the fusion of the councils, the moderation of the edicts, he had certainly been in favor of these measures, which he considered to be wholesome and lawful, not mischievous or treasonable. he had certainly maintained that the edicts were rigorous, and had advised the duchess, under the perilous circumstances of the country, to grant a temporary modification until the pleasure of his majesty could be known. with regard to the compromise, he had advised all his friends to keep out of it, and many in consequence had kept out of it. as to the presentation of the petition, he had given madame de parma notice thereof, so soon as he had heard that such a step was contemplated. he used the same language as had been employed by horn, with regard to the interview at breda and hoogstraaten--that they had been meetings of "good cheer" and good fellowship. he had always been at every moment at the command of the duchess, save when he had gone to flanders and artois to suppress the tumults, according to her express orders. he had no connexion with the meeting of the nobles at saint trond. he had gone to duffel as special envoy from the duchess, to treat with certain plenipotentiaries appointed at the saint trond meeting. he had strictly conformed to the letter of instructions, drawn up by the duchess, which would be found among his papers, but he had never promised the nobles his personal aid or protection. with regard to the denremonde meeting, he gave almost exactly the same account as horn had given. the prince, the admiral, and himself, had conversed between a quarter past eleven and dinner time, which was twelve o'clock, on various matters, particularly upon the king's dissatisfaction with recent events in the netherlands, and upon a certain letter from the ambassador alava in paris to the duchess of parma. he had, however, expressed his opinion to madame that the letter was a forgery. he had permitted public preaching in certain cities, outside the walls, where it had already been established, because this was in accordance with the treaty which madame had made at duffel, which she had ordered him honorably to maintain. he had certainly winked at the religious exercises of the reformers, because he had been expressly commanded to do so, and because the government at that time was not provided with troops to suppress the new religion by force. he related the visit of horn, orange, and himself to culemburg house, at the memorable banquet, in almost the same words which the admiral had used. he had done all in his power to prevent madame from leaving brussels, in which effort he had been successful, and from which much good had resulted to the country. he had never recommended that a pardon should be granted to those who had taken up arms, but on the contrary, had advised their chastisement, as had appeared in his demeanor towards the rebels at osterwel, tournay, and valenciennes. he had never permitted the cry of "vivent les gueux" at his own table, nor encouraged it in his presence any where else. such were the leading features in these memorable cases of what was called high treason. trial there was none. the tribunal was incompetent; the prisoners were without advocates; the government evidence was concealed; the testimony for the defence was excluded; and the cause was finally decided before a thousandth part of its merits could have been placed under the eyes of the judge who gave the sentence. but it is almost puerile to speak of the matter in the terms usually applicable to state trials. the case had been settled in madrid long before the arrest of the prisoners in brussels. the sentence, signed by philip in blank, had been brought in alva's portfolio from spain. the proceedings were a mockery, and, so far as any effect upon public opinion was concerned, might as well have been omitted. if the gentlemen had been shot in the court-yard of jasse-house, by decree of a drum-head court-martial, an hour after their arrest, the rights of the provinces and the sentiments of humanity would not have been outraged more utterly. every constitutional and natural right was violated from first to last. this certainly was not a novelty. thousands of obscure individuals, whose relations and friends were not upon thrones and in high places, but in booths and cellars, and whose fate therefore did not send a shudder of sympathy throughout europe, had already been sacrificed by the blood tribunal. still this great case presented a colossal emblem of the condition in which the netherlands were now gasping. it was a monumental exhibition of the truth which thousands had already learned to their cost, that law and justice were abrogated throughout the land. the country was simply under martial law--the entire population under sentence of death. the whole civil power was in alva's hand; the whole responsibility in alva's breast. neither the most ignoble nor the most powerful could lift their heads in the sublime desolation which was sweeping the country. this was now proved beyond peradventure. a miserable cobbler or weaver might be hurried from his shop to the scaffold, invoking the 'jus de non evocando' till he was gagged, but the emperor would not stoop from his throne, nor electors palatine and powerful nobles rush to his rescue; but in behalf of these prisoners the most august hands and voices of christendom had been lifted up at the foot of philip's throne; and their supplications had proved as idle as the millions of tears and death-cries which had beep shed or uttered in the lowly places of the land. it was obvious; then, that all intercession must thereafter be useless. philip was fanatically impressed with his mission. his viceroy was possessed by his loyalty as by a demon. in this way alone, that conduct which can never be palliated may at least be comprehended. it was philip's enthusiasm to embody the wrath of god against heretics. it was alva's enthusiasm to embody the wrath of philip. narrow-minded, isolated, seeing only that section of the world which was visible through the loop-hole of the fortress in which nature had imprisoned him for life, placing his glory in unconditional obedience to his superior, questioning nothing, doubting nothing, fearing nothing, the viceroy accomplished his work of hell with all the tranquillity of an angel. an iron will, which clove through every obstacle; adamantine fortitude, which sustained without flinching a mountain of responsibility sufficient to crush a common nature, were qualities which, united to, his fanatical obedience, made him a man for philip's work such as could not have been found again in the world. the case, then, was tried before a tribunal which was not only incompetent, under the laws of the land, but not even a court of justice in any philosophical or legal sense. constitutional and municipal law were not more outraged in its creation, than all national and natural maxims. the reader who has followed step by step the career of the two distinguished victims through the perilous days of margaret's administration, is sufficiently aware of the amount of treason with which they are chargeable. it would be an insult to common sense for us to set forth, in full, the injustice of their sentence. both were guiltless towards the crown; while the hands of one, on the contrary, were deeply dyed in the blood of the people. this truth was so self-evident, that even a member of the blood-council, pierre arsens, president of artois, addressed an elaborate memoir to the duke of alva, criticising the case according to the rules of law, and maintaining that egmont, instead of deserving punishment, was entitled to a signal reward. so much for the famous treason of counts egmont and horn, so far as regards the history of the proceedings and the merits of the case. the last act of the tragedy was precipitated by occurrences which must be now narrated. the prince of orange had at last thrown down the gauntlet. proscribed, outlawed, with his netherland property confiscated, and his eldest child kidnapped, he saw sufficient personal justification for at last stepping into the lists, the avowed champion of a nation's wrongs. whether the revolution was to be successful, or to be disastrously crushed; whether its result would be to place him upon a throne or a scaffold, not even he, the deep-revolving and taciturn politician, could possibly foresee. the reformation, in which he took both a political and a religious interest, might prove a sufficient lever in his hands for the overthrow of spanish power in the netherlands. the inquisition might roll back upon his country and himself, crushing them forever. the chances seemed with the inquisition. the spaniards, under the first chieftain in europe, were encamped and entrenched in the provinces. the huguenots had just made their fatal peace in france, to the prophetic dissatisfaction of coligny. the leading men of liberal sentiments in the netherlands were captive or in exile. all were embarrassed by the confiscations which, in anticipation of sentence, had severed the nerves of war. the country was terror-stricken; paralyzed, motionless, abject, forswearing its convictions, and imploring only life. at this moment william of orange reappeared upon the scene. he replied to the act of condemnation, which had been pronounced against him in default, by a published paper, of moderate length and great eloquence. he had repeatedly offered to place himself, he said, upon trial before a competent court. as a knight of the fleece, as a member of the holy roman empire, as a sovereign prince, he could acknowledge no tribunal save the chapters of the knights or of the realm. the emperor's personal intercession with philip had been employed in vain, to obtain the adjudication of his case by either. it would be both death and degradation on his part to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the infamous council of blood. he scorned, he said, to plead his cause "before he knew not what base knaves, not fit to be the valets of his companions and himself." he appealed therefore to the judgment of the world. he published not an elaborate argument, but a condensed and scathing statement of the outrages which had been practised upon him. he denied that he had been a party to the compromise. he denied that he had been concerned in the request, although he denounced with scorn the tyranny which could treat a petition to government as an act of open war against the sovereign. he spoke of granvelle with unmeasured wrath. he maintained that his own continuance in office had been desired by the cardinal, in order that his personal popularity might protect the odious designs of the government. the edicts, the inquisition, the persecution, the new bishoprics, had been the causes of the tumults. he concluded with a burst of indignation against philip's conduct toward himself. the monarch had forgotten his services and those of his valiant ancestors. he had robbed him of honor, he had robbed him of his son--both dearer to him than life. by thus doing he had degraded himself more than he had injured him, for he had broken all his royal oaths and obligations. the paper was published early in the summer of . at about the same time, the count of hoogstraaten published a similar reply to the act of condemnation with which he had been visited. he defended himself mainly upon the ground, that all the crimes of which he stood arraigned had been committed in obedience to the literal instructions of the duchess of parma, after her accord with the confederates. the prince now made the greatest possible exertions to raise funds and troops. he had many meetings with influential individuals in germany. the protestant princes, particularly the landgrave of hesse and the elector of saxony, promised him assistance. he brought all his powers of eloquence and of diplomacy to make friends for the cause which he had now boldly espoused. the high-born demosthenes electrified large assemblies by his indignant invectives against the spanish philip. he excelled even his royal antagonist in the industrious subtlety with which he began to form a thousand combinations. swift, secret, incapable of fatigue, this powerful and patient intellect sped to and fro, disentangling the perplexed skein where all had seemed so hopelessly confused, and gradually unfolding broad schemes of a symmetrical and regenerated polity. he had high correspondents and higher hopes in england. he was already secretly or openly in league with half the sovereigns of germany. the huguenots of france looked upon him as their friend, and on louis of nassau as their inevitable chieftain, were coligny destined to fall. he was in league with all the exiled and outlawed nobles of the netherlands. by his orders recruits were daily enlisted, without sound of drum. he granted a commission to his brother louis, one of the most skilful and audacious soldiers of the age, than whom the revolt could not have found a more determined partisan, nor the prince a more faithful lieutenant. this commission, which was dated dillenburg, th april, , was a somewhat startling document. it authorized the count to levy troops and wage war against philip, strictly for philip's good. the fiction of loyalty certainly never went further. the prince of orange made known to all "to whom those presents should come," that through the affection which he bore the gracious king, he purposed to expel his majesty's forces from the netherlands. "to show our love for the monarch and his hereditary provinces," so ran the commission, "to prevent the desolation hanging over the country by the ferocity of the spaniards, to maintain the privileges sworn to by his majesty and his predecessors, to prevent the extirpation of all religion by the edicts, and to save the sons and daughters of the land from abject slavery, we have requested our dearly beloved brother louis nassau to enrol as many troops as he shall think necessary." van der bergh, hoogstraaten, and others, provided with similar powers, were also actively engaged in levying troops; but the right hand of the revolt was count louis, as his illustrious brother was its head and heart. two hundred thousand crowns was the sum which the prince considered absolutely necessary for organizing the army with which he contemplated making an entrance into the netherlands. half this amount had been produced by the cities of antwerp, amsterdam, leyden, harlem, middelburg, flushing, and other towns, as well as by refugee merchants in england. the other half was subscribed by individuals. the prince himself contributed , florins, hoogstraaten , , louis of nassau , , culemberg , , van der bergh , , the dowager-countess horn , , and other persons in less proportion. count john of nassau also pledged his estates to raise a large sum for the cause. the prince himself sold all his jewels, plate, tapestry, and other furniture, which were of almost regal magnificence. not an enthusiast, but a deliberate, cautious man, he now staked his all upon the hazard, seemingly so desperate. the splendor of his station has been sufficiently depicted. his luxury, his fortune, his family, his life, his children, his honor, all were now ventured, not with the recklessness of a gambler, but with the calm conviction of a statesman. a private and most audacious attempt to secure the person: of alva and the possession of brussels had failed. he was soon, however, called upon to employ all his energies against the open warfare which was now commenced. according to the plan of the prince, the provinces were to be attacked simultaneously, in three places, by his lieutenants, while he himself was waiting in the neighborhood of cleves, ready for a fourth assault. an army of huguenots and refugees was to enter artois upon the frontier of france; a second, under hoogstraaten, was to operate between the rhine and the meuse; while louis of nassau was to raise the standard of revolt in friesland. the two first adventures were destined to be signally unsuccessful. a force under seigneur de cocqueville, latest of all, took the field towards the end of june. it entered the bailiwick of hesdin in artois, was immediately driven across the frontier by the count de roeulx, and cut to pieces at st. valery by marechal de cossis, governor of picardy. this action was upon the th july. of the men who composed the expedition, scarce escaped. the few netherlanders who were taken prisoners were given to the spanish government, and, of course, hanged. the force under the seigneur de villars was earlier under arms, and the sooner defeated. this luckless gentleman, who had replaced the count of hoogstraaten, crossed the frontier of juliers; in the neighborhood of maestricht, by the th april. his force, infantry and cavalry, amounted to nearly three thousand men. the object of the enterprise was to, raise the country; and, if possible, to obtain a foothold by securing an important city. roermonde was the first point of attack, but the attempts, both by stratagem and by force, to secure the town, were fruitless. the citizens were not ripe for revolt, and refused the army admittance. while the invaders were, therefore, endeavoring to fire the gates, they were driven off by the approach of a spanish force. the duke, so soon as the invasion was known to him, had acted with great promptness. don sancho de lodrono and don sancho de avila, with five vanderas of spanish infantry, three companies of cavalry, and about three hundred pikemen under count eberstein, a force amounting in all to about picked troops, had been at once despatched against villars. the rebel chieftain, abandoning his attempt upon roermonde, advanced towards erkelens. upon the th april, between erkelens and dalem, the spaniards came up with him, and gave him battle. villars lost all his cavalry and two vanderas of his infantry in the encounter. with the remainder of his force, amounting to men, he effected his retreat in good order to dalem. here he rapidly entrenched himself. at four in the afternoon, sancho de lodrono, at the head of infantry, reached the spot. he was unable to restrain the impetuosity of his men, although the cavalry under avila, prevented by the difficult nature of the narrow path through which the rebels had retreated, had not yet arrived. the enemy were two to one, and were fortified; nevertheless, in half an hour the entrenchments were carried, and almost every man in the patriot army put to the sword. villars himself, with a handful of soldiers, escaped into the town, but was soon afterwards taken prisoner, with all his followers. he sullied the cause in which he was engaged by a base confession of the designs formed by the prince of orange--a treachery, however, which did not save him from the scaffold. in the course of this day's work, the spanish lost twenty men, and the rebels nearly . this portion of the liberating forces had been thus disastrously defeated on the eve of the entrance of count louis into friesland. as early as the d april, alva had been informed, by the lieutenant-governor of that province, that the beggars were mustering in great force in the neighborhood of embden. it was evident that an important enterprise was about to be attempted. two days afterwards, louis of nassau entered the provinces, attended by a small body of troops. his banners blazed with patriotic inscriptions. 'nunc aut nunquam, recuperare aut mori', were the watchwords of his desperate adventure: "freedom for fatherland and conscience" was the device which was to draw thousands to his standard. on the western wolds of frisia, he surprised the castle of wedde, a residence of the absent aremberg, stadholder of the province. thence he advanced to appingadam, or dam, on the tide waters of the dollart. here he was met by, his younger brother, the gallant adolphus, whose days were so nearly numbered, who brought with him a small troop of horse. at wedde, at dam, and at slochteren, the standard was set up. at these three points there daily gathered armed bodies of troops, voluntary adventurers, peasants with any rustic weapon which they could find to their hand. lieutenant-governor groesbeck wrote urgently to the duke, that the beggars were hourly increasing in force; that the leaders perfectly understood their game; that they kept their plans a secret, but were fast seducing the heart of the country. on the th may, louis issued a summons to the magistracy of groningen, ordering them to send a deputation to confer with him at dam. he was prepared, he said, to show the commission with which he was provided. he had not entered the country on a mere personal adventure, but had received orders to raise a sufficient army. by the help of the eternal god, he was determined, he said, to extirpate the detestable tyranny of those savage persecutors who had shed so much christian blood. he was resolved to lift up the down-trod privileges, and, to protect the fugitive, terror-stricken christians and patriarchs of the country. if the magistrates were disposed to receive him with friendship, it was well. otherwise, he should, with regret, feel himself obliged to proceed against them, as enemies of his majesty and of the common weal. as the result of this summons, louis received a moderate sum of money, on condition of renouncing for the moment an attack upon the city. with this temporary supply he was able to retain a larger number of the adventurers; who were daily swarming around him. in the mean time alva was not idle. on the th april, he wrote to groesbeck, that he must take care not to be taken napping; that he must keep his eyes well open until the arrival of succor, which was already on the way. he then immediately ordered count aremberg, who had just returned from france on conclusion of hostilities, to hasten to the seat of war. five vanderas of his own regiment; a small body of cavalry, and braccamonte's sardinian legion, making in all a force of nearly men, were ordered to follow him with the utmost expedition. count meghem, stadholder of gueldres, with five vanderas of infantry, three of light horse, and some artillery, composing a total of about men, was directed to co-operate with aremberg. upon this point the orders of the governor-general were explicit. it seemed impossible that the rabble rout under louis nassau could stand a moment before nearly picked and veteran troops, but the duke was earnest in warning his generals not to undervalue the enemy. on the th may, counts meghem and aremberg met and conferred at arnheim, on their way to friesland. it was fully agreed between them, after having heard full reports of the rising in that province, and of the temper throughout the eastern netherlands, that it would be rash to attempt any separate enterprise. on the th, aremberg reached vollenhoven, where he was laid up in his bed with the gout. bodies of men, while he lay sick, paraded hourly with fife and drum before his windows, and discharged pistols and arquebuses across the ditch of the blockhouse where he was quartered. on the th, braccamonte, with his legion, arrived by water at harlingen. not a moment more was lost. aremberg, notwithstanding his gout, which still confined him to a litter, started at once in pursuit of the enemy. passing through groningen, he collected all the troops which could be spared.. he also received six pieces of artillery. six cannon, which the lovers of harmony had baptized with the notes of the gamut, 'ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la', were placed at his disposal by the authorities, and have acquired historical celebrity. it was, however, ordained that when those musical pieces piped, the spaniards were not to dance. on the d, followed by his whole force, consisting of braccamonte's legion, his own four vanderas, and a troop of germans, he came in sight of the enemy at dam. louis of nassau sent out a body of arquebusiers, about one thousand strong, from the city. a sharp skirmish ensued, but the beggars were driven into their entrenchments, with a loss of twenty or thirty men, and nightfall terminated the contest. it was beautiful to see, wrote aremberg to alva, how brisk and eager were the spaniards, notwithstanding the long march which they had that day accomplished. time was soon to show how easily immoderate, valor might swell into a fault. meantime, aremberg quartered his troops in and about wittewerum abbey, close to the little unwalled city of dam. on the other hand, meghem, whose co-operation had been commanded by alva, and arranged personally with aremberg a fortnight before, at arnheim, had been delayed in his movements. his troops, who had received no wages for a long time had mutinied. a small sum of money, however, sent from brussels, quelled this untimely insubordination. meghem then set forth to effect his junction with his colleague, having assured the governor-general that the war would be ended in six days. the beggars had not a stiver, he said, and must disband or be beaten to pieces as soon as aremberg and he had joined forces. nevertheless he admitted that these same "master-beggars," as he called them, might prove too many for either general alone. alva, in reply, expressed his confidence that four or five thousand choice troops of spain would be enough to make a short war of it, but nevertheless warned his officers of the dangers of overweening confidence. he had been informed that the rebels had assumed the red scarf of the spanish uniform. he hoped the stratagem would not save them from broken heads, but was unwilling that his majesty's badge should be altered. he reiterated his commands that no enterprise should be undertaken, except by the whole army in concert; and enjoined the generals incontinently to hang and strangle all prisoners the moment they should be taken. marching directly northward, meghem reached coeverden, some fifty miles from dam, on the night of the d. he had informed aremberg that he might expect him with his infantry and his light horse in the course of the next day. on the following morning, the d, aremberg wrote his last letter to the duke, promising to send a good account of the beggars within a very few hours. louis of nassau had broken up his camp at dam about midnight. falling back, in a southerly direction, along the wold-weg, or forest road, a narrow causeway through a swampy district, he had taken up a position some three leagues from his previous encampment. near the monastery of heiliger lee, or the "holy lion," he had chosen his ground. a little money in hand, ample promises, and the hopes of booty, had effectually terminated the mutiny, which had also broken out in his camp. assured that meghem had not yet effected his junction with aremberg, prepared to strike, at last, a telling blow for freedom and fatherland, louis awaited the arrival of his eager foe. his position was one of commanding strength and fortunate augury. heiliger lee was a wooded eminence, artificially reared by premonstrant monks. it was the only rising ground in that vast extent of watery pastures, enclosed by the ems and lippe--the "fallacious fields" described by tacitus. here hermann, first of teutonic heroes, had dashed out of existence three veteran legions of tyrant rome. here the spectre of varus, begrimed and gory, had risen from the morass to warn germanicus, who came to avenge him, that gothic freedom was a dangerous antagonist. and now, in the perpetual reproductions of history, another german warrior occupied a spot of vantage in that same perilous region. the tyranny with which he contended strove to be as universal as that of rome, and had stretched its wings of conquest into worlds of which the caesars had never dreamed. it was in arms, too, to crush not only the rights of man, but the rights of god. the battle of freedom was to be fought not only for fatherland, but for conscience. the cause was even holier than that which had inspired the arm of hermann. although the swamps of that distant age had been transformed into fruitful pastures, yet the whole district was moist, deceitful, and dangerous. the country was divided into squares, not by hedges but by impassable ditches. agricultural entrenchments had long made the country almost impregnable, while its defences against the ocean rendered almost as good service against a more implacable human foe. aremberg, leading his soldiers along the narrow causeway, in hot pursuit of what they considered a rabble rout of fugitive beggars, soon reached winschoten. here he became aware of the presence of his despicable foe. louis and adolphus of nassau, while sitting at dinner in the convent of the "holy lion," had been warned by a friendly peasant of the approach of the spaniards. the opportune intelligence had given the patriot general time to make his preparations. his earnest entreaties had made his troops ashamed of their mutinous conduct on the preceding day, and they were now both ready and willing to engage. the village was not far distant from the abbey, and in the neighborhood of the abbey louis of nassau was now posted. behind him was a wood, on his left a hill of moderate elevation, before him an extensive and swampy field. in the front of the field was a causeway leading to the abbey. this was the road which aremberg was to traverse. on the plain which lay between the wood and the hill, the main body of the beggars were drawn up. they were disposed in two squares or squadrons, rather deep than wide, giving the idea of a less number than they actually contained. the lesser square, in which were two thousand eight hundred men, was partially sheltered by the hill. both were flanked by musketeers. on the brow of the hill was a large body of light armed troops, the 'enfans perdus' of the army. the cavalry, amounting to not more than three hundred men, was placed in front, facing the road along which aremberg was to arrive. that road was bordered by a wood extending nearly to the front of the hill. as aremberg reached its verge, he brought out his artillery, and opened a fire upon the body of light troops. the hill protected a large part of the enemy's body from this attack. finding the rebels so strong in numbers and position, aremberg was disposed only to skirmish. he knew better than did his soldiers the treacherous nature of the ground in front of the enemy. he saw that it was one of those districts where peat had been taken out in large squares for fuel, and where a fallacious and verdant scum upon the surface of deep pools simulated the turf that had been removed. he saw that the battle-ground presented to him by his sagacious enemy was one great sweep of traps and pitfalls. before he could carry the position, many men must necessarily be engulfed. he paused for an instant. he was deficient in cavalry, having only martinengo's troop, hardly amounting to four hundred men. he was sure of meghem's arrival within twenty-four hours. if, then, he could keep the rebels in check, without allowing them any opportunity to disperse, he should be able, on the morrow, to cut them to pieces, according to the plan agreed upon a fortnight before. but the count had to contend with a double obstacle. his soldiers were very hot, his enemy very cool. the spaniards, who had so easily driven a thousand musketeers from behind their windmill, the evening before, who had seen the whole rebel force decamp in hot haste on the very night of their arrival before dam, supposed themselves in full career of victory. believing that the name alone of the old legions had stricken terror to the hearts of the beggars, and that no resistance was possible to spanish arms, they reviled their general for his caution. his reason for delay was theirs for hurry. why should meghem's loitering and mutinous troops, arriving at the eleventh hour, share in the triumph and the spoil? no man knew the country better than aremberg, a native of the netherlands, the stadholder of the province. cowardly or heretical motives alone could sway him, if he now held them back in the very hour of victory. inflamed beyond endurance by these taunts, feeling his pride of country touched to the quick, and willing to show that a netherlander would lead wherever spaniards dared to follow, aremberg allowed himself to commit the grave error for which he was so deeply to atone. disregarding the dictates of his own experience and the arrangements of his superior, he yielded to the braggart humor of his soldiers, which he had not, like alva, learned to moderate or to despise. in the mean, time, the body of light troops which had received the fire from the musical pieces of groningen was seen to waver. the artillery was then brought beyond the cover of the wood, and pointed more fully upon the two main squares of the enemy. a few shots told. soon afterward the 'enfans perdus' retreated helter-skelter, entirely deserting their position. this apparent advantage, which was only a preconcerted stratagem, was too much for the fiery spaniards. they rushed merrily forward to attack the stationary squares, their general being no longer able, to restrain their impetuosity. in a moment the whole van-guard had plunged into the morass. in a few minutes more they were all helplessly and hopelessly struggling in the pools, while the musketeers of the enemy poured in a deadly fire upon them, without wetting the soles of their own feet. the pikemen, too, who composed the main body of the larger square, now charged upon all who were extricating themselves from their entanglement, and drove them back again to a muddy death. simultaneously, the lesser patriot squadron, which had so long been sheltered, emerged from the cover of the hill, made a detour around its base, enveloped the rear-guard of the spaniards before they could advance to the succor of their perishing comrades, and broke them to pieces almost instantly. gonzalo de braccamonte, the very spanish colonel who had been foremost in denunciation of aremberg, for his disposition to delay the contest, was now the first to fly. to his bad conduct was ascribed the loss of the day. the anger of alva was so high, when he was informed of the incident, that he would have condemned the officer to death but for the intercession of his friends and countrymen. the rout was sudden and absolute. the foolhardiness of the spaniards had precipitated them into the pit which their enemies had dug. the day, was lost. nothing was left for aremberg but to perish with honor. placing himself at the head of his handful of cavalry, he dashed into the melee. the shock was sustained by young adolphus of nassau, at the head of an equal number of riders. each leader singled out the other. they met as "captains of might" should do, in the very midst of the affray. aremberg, receiving and disregarding a pistol shot from his adversary, laid adolphus dead at his feet, with a bullet through his body and a sabre cut on his head. two troopers in immediate attendance upon the young count shared the same fate from the same hand. shortly afterward, the horse of aremberg, wounded by a musket ball, fell to the ground. a few devoted followers lifted the charger to his legs and the bleeding rider to his saddle. they endeavored to bear their wounded general from the scene of action. the horse staggered a few paces and fell dead. aremberg disengaged himself from his body, and walked a few paces to the edge of a meadow near the road. here, wounded in the action, crippled by the disease which had so long tormented him, and scarcely able to sustain longer the burthen of his armor, he calmly awaited his fate. a troop of the enemy advanced soon afterwards, and aremberg fell, covered with wounds, fighting like a hero of homer, single-handed, against a battalion, with a courage worthy a better cause and a better fate. the sword by which he received his final death-blow was that of the seigneur do haultain. that officer having just seen his brother slain before his eyes, forgot the respect due to unsuccessful chivalry. the battle was scarcely finished when an advancing trumpet was heard. the sound caused the victors to pause in their pursuit, and enabled a remnant of the conquered spaniards to escape. meghem's force was thought to be advancing. that general had indeed arrived, but he was alone. he had reached zuidlaren, a village some four leagues from the scene of action, on the noon of that day. here he had found a letter from aremberg, requesting him to hasten. he had done so. his troops, however, having come from coevorden that morning, were unable to accomplish so long a march in addition. the count, accompanied by a few attendants, reached the neighborhood of heiliger lee only in time to meet with some of the camp sutlers and other fugitives, from whom he learned the disastrous news of the defeat. finding that all was lost, he very properly returned to zuidlaren, from which place he made the best of his way to groningen. that important city, the key of friesland, he was thus enabled to secure. the troops which he brought, in addition to the four german vanderas of schaumburg, already quartered there, were sufficient to protect it against the ill-equipped army of louis nassau. the patriot leader had accomplished, after all, but a barren victory. he had, to be sure, destroyed a number of spaniards, amounting, according to the different estimates, from five hundred to sixteen hundred men. he had also broken up a small but veteran army. more than all, he had taught the netherlanders, by this triumphant termination to a stricken field, that the choice troops of spain were not invincible. but the moral effect of the victory was the only permanent one. the count's badly paid troops could with difficulty be kept together. he had no sufficient artillery to reduce the city whose possession would have proved so important to the cause. moreover, in common with the prince of orange and all his brethren, he had been called to mourn for the young and chivalrous adolphus, whose life-blood had stained the laurels of this first patriot victory. having remained, and thus wasted the normal three days upon the battle-field, louis now sat down before groningen, fortifying and entrenching himself in a camp within cannonshot of the city. on the rd we have seen that aremberg had written, full of confidence, to the governor-general, promising soon to send him good news of the beggars. on the th, count meghem wrote that, having spoken with a man who had helped to place aremberg in his coffin, he could hardly entertain any farther doubt as to his fate. the wrath of the duke was even greater than his surprise. like augustus, he called in vain on the dead commander for his legions, but prepared himself to inflict a more rapid and more terrible vengeance than the roman's. recognizing the gravity of his situation, he determined to take the field in person, and to annihilate this insolent chieftain who had dared not only to cope with, but to conquer his veteran regiments. but before he could turn his back upon brussels, many deeds were to be done. his measures now followed each other in breathless succession, fulminating and blasting at every stroke. on the th may, he issued an edict, banishing, on pain of death, the prince of orange, louis nassau, hoogstraaten, van den berg, and others, with confiscation of all their property. at the same time he razed the culemburg palace to the ground, and erected a pillar upon its ruins, commemorating the accursed conspiracy which had been engendered within its walls. on the st june, eighteen prisoners of distinction, including the two barons batenburg, maximilian kock, blois de treslong and others, were executed upon the horse market, in brussels. in the vigorous language of hoogstraaten, this horrible tragedy was enacted directly before the windows of that "cruel animal, noircarmes," who, in company of his friend, berlaymont, and the rest of the blood-council, looked out upon the shocking spectacle. the heads of the victims were exposed upon stakes, to which also their bodies were fastened. eleven of these victims were afterward deposited, uncoffined, in unconsecrated ground; the other seven were left unburied to moulder on the gibbet. on the d june, villars, the leader in the daalem rising, suffered on the scaffold, with three others. on the d, counts egmont and horn were brought in a carriage from ghent to brussels, guarded by ten companies of infantry and one of cavalry. they were then lodged in the "brood-huis" opposite the town hall, on the great square of brussels. on the th, alva having, as he solemnly declared before god and the world, examined thoroughly the mass of documents appertaining to those two great prosecutions which had only been closed three days before, pronounced sentence against the illustrious prisoners. these documents of iniquity signed and sealed by the duke, were sent to the blood-council, where they were read by secretary praets. the signature of philip was not wanting, for the sentences had been drawn upon blanks signed by the monarch, of which the viceroy had brought a whole trunk full from spain. the sentence against egmont declared very briefly that the duke of alva, having read all the papers and evidence in the case, had found the count guilty of high treason. it was proved that egmont had united with the confederates; that he had been a party to the accursed conspiracy of the prince of orange; that he had taken the rebel nobles under his protection, and that he had betrayed the government and the holy catholic church by his conduct in flanders. therefore the duke condemned him to be executed by the sword on the following day, and decreed that his head should be placed on high in a public place, there to remain until the duke should otherwise direct. the sentence against count horn was similar in language and purport. that afternoon the duke sent for the bishop of ypres, the prelate arrived at dusk. as soon as he presented himself, alva informed him of the sentence which had just been pronounced, and ordered him to convey the intelligence to the prisoners. he further charged him with the duty of shriving the victims, and preparing their souls for death. the bishop fell on his knees, aghast at the terrible decree. he implored the governor-general to have mercy upon the two unfortunate nobles. if their lives could not be spared, he prayed him at any rate to grant delay. with tears and earnest supplications the prelate endeavored to avert or to postpone the doom which had been pronounced. it was in vain. the sentence, inflexible as destiny, had been long before ordained. its execution had been but hastened by the temporary triumph of rebellion in friesland. alva told the bishop roughly that he had not been summoned to give advice. delay or pardon was alike impossible. he was to act as confessor to the criminals, not as councillor to the viceroy. the bishop, thus rebuked, withdrew to accomplish his melancholy mission. meanwhile, on the same evening, the miserable countess of egmont had been appalled by rumors, too vague for belief, too terrible to be slighted. she was in the chamber of countess aremberg, with whom she had come to condole for the death of the count, when the order for the immediate execution of her own husband was announced to her. she hastened to the presence of the governor-general. the princess palatine, whose ancestors had been emperors, remembered only that she was a wife and a mother. she fell at the feet of the man who controlled the fate of her husband, and implored his mercy in humble and submissive terms. the duke, with calm and almost incredible irony, reassured the countess by the information that, on the morrow, her husband was certainly to be released. with this ambiguous phrase, worthy the paltering oracles of antiquity, the wretched woman was obliged to withdraw. too soon afterward the horrible truth of the words was revealed to her--words of doom, which she had mistaken for consolation. an hour before midnight the bishop of ypres reached egmont's prison. the count was confined in a chamber on the second story of the brood-huis, the mansion of the crossbowmen's guild, in that corner of the building which rests on a narrow street running back from the great square. he was aroused from his sleep by the approach of his visitor. unable to speak, but indicating by the expression of his features the occurrence of a great misfortune, the bishop, soon after his entrance, placed the paper given to him by alva in egmont's hands. the unfortunate noble thus suddenly received the information that his death-sentence had been pronounced, and that its execution was fixed for the next morning. he read the paper through without flinching, and expressed astonishment rather than dismay at its tidings. exceedingly sanguine by nature, he had never believed, even after his nine months' imprisonment, in a fatal termination to the difficulties in which he was involved. he was now startled both at the sudden condemnation which had followed his lingering trial, and at the speed with which his death was to fulfil the sentence. he asked the bishop, with many expressions of amazement, whether pardon was impossible; whether delay at least might not be obtained? the prelate answered by a faithful narrative of the conversation which had just occurred between alva and himself. egmont, thus convinced of his inevitable doom, then observed to his companion, with exquisite courtesy, that, since he was to die, he rendered thanks both to god and to the duke that his last moments were to be consoled by so excellent a father confessor. afterwards, with a natural burst of indignation, he exclaimed that it was indeed a cruel and unjust sentence. he protested that he had never in his whole life wronged his majesty; certainly never so deeply as to deserve such a punishment. all that he had done had been with loyal intentions. the king's true interest had been his constant aim. nevertheless, if he had fallen into error, he prayed to god that his death might wipe away his misdeeds, and that his name might not be dishonored, nor his children brought to shame. his beloved wife and innocent children were to endure misery enough by his death and the confiscation of his estates. it was at least due to his long services that they should be spared further suffering. he then asked his father confessor what advice he had to give touching his present conduct. the bishop replied by an exhortation, that he should turn himself to god; that he should withdraw his thoughts entirely from all earthly interests, and prepare himself for the world beyond the grave. he accepted the advice, and kneeling before the bishop, confessed himself. he then asked to receive the sacrament, which the bishop administered, after the customary mass. egmont asked what prayer would be most appropriate at the hour of execution. his confessor replied that there was none more befitting than the one which jesus had taught his disciples--our father, which art in heaven. some conversation ensued, in which the count again expressed his gratitude that his parting soul had been soothed by these pious and friendly offices. by a revulsion of feeling, he then bewailed again the sad fate of his wife and of his young children. the bishop entreated him anew to withdraw his mind from such harrowing reflections, and to give himself entirely to god. overwhelmed with grief, egmont exclaimed with natural and simple pathos--"alas! how miserable and frail is our nature, that, when we should think of god only, we are unable to shut out the images of wife and children." recovering from his emotion, and having yet much time, he sat down and wrote with perfect self-possession two letters, one to philip and one to alva. the celebrated letter to the king was as follows: "sire,--i have learned, this evening, the sentence which your majesty has been pleased to pronounce upon me. although i have never had a thought, and believe myself never to have done a deed, which could tend to the prejudice of your majesty's person or service, or to the detriment of our true ancient and catholic religion, nevertheless i take patience to bear that which it has pleased the good god to send. if, during these troubles in the netherlands, i have done or permitted aught which had a different appearance, it has been with the true and good intent to serve god and your majesty, and the necessity of the times. therefore, i pray your majesty to forgive me, and to have compassion on my poor wife, my children, and my servants; having regard to my past services. in which hope i now commend myself to the mercy of god. "from brussels, "ready to die, this th june, , "your majesty's very humble and loyal vassal and servant, "lamoral d'egmont." having thus kissed the murderous hand which smote him, he handed the letter, stamped rather with superfluous loyalty than with christian forgiveness, to the bishop, with a request that he would forward it to its destination, accompanied by a letter from his own hand. this duty the bishop solemnly promised to fulfil. facing all the details of his execution with the fortitude which belonged to his character, he now took counsel with his confessor as to the language proper for him to hold from the scaffold to the assembled people. the bishop, however, strongly dissuaded him from addressing the multitude at all. the persons farthest removed, urged the priest, would not hear the words, while the spanish troops in the immediate vicinity would not understand them. it seemed, therefore, the part of wisdom and of dignity for him to be silent, communing only with his god. the count assented to this reasoning, and abandoned his intention of saying a few farewell words to the people, by many of whom he believed himself tenderly beloved. he now made many preparations for the morrow, in order that his thoughts, in the last moments, might not be distracted by mechanical details, cutting the collar from his doublet and from his shirt with his own hands, in order that those of the hangman might have no excuse for contaminating his person. the rest of the night was passed in prayer and meditation. fewer circumstances concerning the last night of count horn's life have been preserved. it is, however, well ascertained that the admiral received the sudden news of his condemnation with absolute composure. he was assisted at his devotional exercises in prison by the curate of la chapelle. during the night, the necessary preparations for the morning tragedy had been made in the great square of brussels. it was the intention of government to strike terror to the heart of the people by the exhibition of an impressive and appalling spectacle. the absolute and irresponsible destiny which ruled them was to be made manifest by the immolation of these two men, so elevated by rank, powerful connexion, and distinguished service. the effect would be heightened by the character of the, locality where the gloomy show was to be presented. the great square of brussels had always a striking and theatrical aspect. its architectural effects, suggesting in some degree the meretricious union between oriental and a corrupt grecian art, accomplished in the medieval midnight, have amazed the eyes of many generations. the splendid hotel de ville, with its daring spire and elaborate front, ornamented one side of the place; directly opposite was the graceful but incoherent facade of the brood-huis, now the last earthly resting-place of the two distinguished victims, while grouped around these principal buildings rose the fantastic palaces of the archers, mariners, and of other guilds, with their festooned walls and toppling gables bedizened profusely with emblems, statues, and quaint decorations. the place had been alike the scene of many a brilliant tournament and of many a bloody execution. gallant knights had contended within its precincts, while bright eyes rained influence from all those picturesque balconies and decorated windows. martyrs to religious and to political liberty had, upon the same spot, endured agonies which might have roused every stone of its pavement to mutiny or softened them to pity. here egmont himself, in happier days, had often borne away the prize of skill or of valor, the cynosure of every eye; and hence, almost in the noon of a life illustrated by many brilliant actions, he was to be sent, by the hand of tyranny, to his great account. on the morning of the th of june, three thousand spanish troops were drawn up in battle array around a scaffold which had been erected in the centre of the square. upon this scaffold, which was covered with black cloth, were placed two velvet cushions, two iron spikes, and a small table. upon the table was a silver crucifix. the provost-marshal, spelle, sat on horseback below, with his red wand in his hand, little dreaming that for him a darker doom was reserved than that of which he was now the minister. the executioner was concealed beneath the draperies of the scaffold. at eleven o'clock, a company of spanish soldiers, led by julian romero and captain salinas, arrived at egmont's chamber. the count was ready for them. they were about to bind his hands, but he warmly protested against the indignity, and, opening the folds of his robe, showed them that he had himself shorn off his collars, and made preparations for his death. his request was granted. egmont, with the bishop at his side, then walked with a steady step the short distance which separated him from the place of execution. julian romero and the guard followed him. on his way, he read aloud the fifty-first psalm: "hear my cry, o god, and give ear unto my prayer!" he seemed to have selected these scriptural passages as a proof that, notwithstanding the machinations of his enemies, and the cruel punishment to which they had led him, loyalty to his sovereign was as deeply rooted and as religious a sentiment in his bosom as devotion to his god. "thou wilt prolong the king's life; and his years as many generations. he shall abide before god for ever! o prepare mercy and truth which may preserve him." such was the remarkable prayer of the condemned traitor on his way to the block. having ascended the scaffold, he walked across it twice or thrice. he was dressed in a tabard or robe of red damask, over which was thrown a short black mantle, embroidered in gold. he had a black silk hat, with black and white plumes, on his head, and held a handkerchief in his hand. as he strode to and fro, he expressed a bitter regret that he had not been permitted to die, sword in hand, fighting for his country and his king. sanguine to the last, he passionately asked romero, whether the sentence was really irrevocable, whether a pardon was not even then to be granted. the marshal shrugged his shoulders, murmuring a negative reply. upon this, egmont gnashed his teeth together, rather in rage than despair. shortly afterward commanding himself again, he threw aside his robe and mantle, and took the badge of the golden fleece from his neck. kneeling, then, upon one of the cushions, he said the lord's prayer aloud, and requested the bishop, who knelt at his side, to repeat it thrice. after this, the prelate gave him the silver crucifix to kiss, and then pronounced his blessing upon him. this done, the count rose again to his feet, laid aside his hat and handkerchief, knelt again upon the cushion, drew a little cap over his eyes, and, folding his hands together, cried with a loud voice, "lord, into thy hands i commit my spirit." the executioner then suddenly appeared, and severed his head from his shoulders at a single blow. a moment of shuddering silence succeeded the stroke. the whole vast assembly seemed to have felt it in their own hearts. tears fell from the eyes even of the spanish soldiery, for they knew and honored egmont as a valiant general. the french embassador, mondoucet, looking upon the scene from a secret place, whispered that he had now seen the head fall before which france had twice trembled. tears were even seen upon the iron cheek of alva, as, from a window in a house directly opposite the scaffold, he looked out upon the scene. a dark cloth was now quickly thrown over the body and the blood, and, within a few minutes, the admiral was seen advancing through the crowd. his bald head was uncovered, his hands were unbound. he calmly saluted such of his acquaintances as he chanced to recognize upon his path. under a black cloak, which he threw off when he had ascended the scaffold, he wore a plain, dark doublet, and he did not, like egmont, wear the insignia of the fleece. casting his eyes upon the corpse, which lay covered with the dark cloth, he asked if it were the body of egmont. being answered in the affirmative, he muttered a few words in spanish, which were not distinctly audible. his attention was next caught by the sight of his own coat of arms reversed, and he expressed anger at this indignity to his escutcheon, protesting that he had not deserved the insult. he then spoke a few words to the crowd below, wishing them happiness, and begging them to pray for his soul. he did not kiss the crucifix, but he knelt upon the scaffold to pray, and was assisted in his devotions by the bishop of ypres. when they were concluded, he rose again to his feet. then drawing a milan cap completely over his face, and uttering, in latin, the same invocation which egmont had used, he submitted his neck to the stroke. egmont had obtained, as a last favor, that his execution should precede that of his friend. deeming himself in part to blame for horn's reappearance in brussels after the arrival of alva, and for his, death, which was the result, he wished to be spared the pang of seeing him dead. gemma frisius, the astrologer who had cast the horoscope of count horn at his birth, had come to him in the most solemn manner to warn him against visiting brussels. the count had answered stoutly that he placed his trust in god, and that, moreover, his friend egmont was going thither also, who had engaged that no worse fate should befal the one of them than the other. the heads of both sufferers were now exposed for two hours upon the iron stakes. their bodies, placed in coffins, remained during the same interval upon the scaffold. meantime, notwithstanding the presence of the troops, the populace could not be restrained from tears and from execrations. many crowded about the scaffold, and dipped their handkerchiefs in the blood, to be preserved afterwards as memorials of the crime and as ensigns of revenge. the bodies were afterwards delivered to their friends. a stately procession of the guilds, accompanied by many of the clergy, conveyed their coffins to the church of saint gudule. thence the body of egmont was carried to the convent of saint clara, near the old brussels gate, where it was embalmed. his escutcheon and banners were hung upon the outward wall of his residence, by order of the countess. by command of alva they were immediately torn down. his remains were afterwards conveyed to his city of sottegem, in flanders, where they were interred. count horn was entombed at kempen. the bodies had been removed from the scaffold at two o'clock. the heads remained exposed between burning torches for two hours longer. they were then taken down, enclosed in boxes, and, as it was generally supposed, despatched to madrid. the king was thus enabled to look upon the dead faces of his victims without the trouble of a journey to the provinces. thus died philip montmorency, count of horn, and lamoral of egmont, prince of gaveren. the more intense sympathy which seemed to attach itself to the fate of egmont, rendered the misfortune of his companion in arms and in death comparatively less interesting. egmont is a great historical figure, but he was certainly not a great man. his execution remains an enduring monument not only of philip's cruelty and perfidy but of his dullness. the king had everything to hope from egmont and nothing to fear. granvelle knew the man well, and, almost to the last, could not believe in the possibility of so unparalleled a blunder as that which was to make a victim, a martyr, and a popular idol of a personage brave indeed, but incredibly vacillating and inordinately vain, who, by a little management, might have been converted into a most useful instrument for the royal purposes. it is not necessary to recapitulate the events of egmont's career. step by step we have studied his course, and at no single period have we discovered even a germ of those elements which make the national champion. his pride of order rendered him furious at the insolence of granvelle, and caused him to chafe under his dominion. his vanity of high rank and of distinguished military service made him covet the highest place under the crown, while his hatred of those by whom he considered himself defrauded of his claims, converted him into a malcontent. he had no sympathy with the people, but he loved, as a grand seignior, to be looked up to and admired by a gaping crowd. he was an unwavering catholic, held sectaries in utter loathing, and, after the image-breaking, took a positive pleasure in hanging ministers, together with their congregations, and in pressing the besieged christians of valenciennes to extremities. upon more than one occasion he pronounced his unequivocal approval of the infamous edicts, and he exerted himself at times to enforce them within his province. the transitory impression made upon his mind by the lofty nature of orange was easily effaced in spain by court flattery and by royal bribes. notwithstanding the coldness, the rebuffs, and the repeated warnings which might have saved him from destruction, nothing could turn him at last from the fanatic loyalty towards which, after much wavering, his mind irrevocably pointed. his voluntary humiliation as a general, a grandee, a fleming, and a christian before the insolent alva upon his first arrival, would move our contempt were it not for the gentler emotions suggested by the infatuated nobleman's doom. upon the departure of orange, egmont was only too eager to be employed by philip in any work which the monarch could find for him to do. yet this was the man whom philip chose, through the executioner's sword, to convert into a popular idol, and whom poetry has loved to contemplate as a romantic champion of freedom. as for horn, details enough have likewise been given of his career to enable the reader thoroughly to understand the man. he was a person of mediocre abilities and thoroughly commonplace character. his high rank and his tragic fate are all which make him interesting. he had little love for court or people. broken in fortunes, he passed his time mainly in brooding over the ingratitude of charles and philip, and in complaining bitterly of the disappointments to which their policy had doomed him. he cared nothing for cardinalists or confederates. he disliked brederode, he detested granvelle. gloomy and morose, he went to bed, while the men who were called his fellow-conspirators were dining and making merry in the same house with himself: he had as little sympathy with the cry of "vivent les gueux" as for that of "vive le roy." the most interesting features in his character are his generosity toward his absent brother and the manliness with which, as montigny's representative at tournay, he chose rather to confront the anger of the government, and to incur the deadly revenge of philip, than make himself the executioner of the harmless christians in tournay. in this regard, his conduct is vastly more entitled to our respect than that of egmont, and he was certainly more deserving of reverence from the people, even though deserted by all men while living, and left headless and solitary in his coffin at saint gudule. the hatred for alva, which sprang from the graves of these illustrious victims, waxed daily more intense. "like things of another world," wrote hoogstraaten, "seem the cries, lamentations, and just compassion which all the inhabitants of brussels, noble or ignoble, feel for such barbarous tyranny, while this nero of an alva is boasting that he will do the same to all whom he lays his hands upon." no man believed that the two nobles had committed a crime, and many were even disposed to acquit philip of his share in the judicial murder. the people ascribed the execution solely to the personal jealousy of the duke. they discoursed to each other not only of the envy with which the governor-general had always regarded the military triumphs of his rival, but related that egmont had at different times won large sums of alva at games of hazard, and that he had moreover, on several occasions, carried off the prize from the duke in shooting at the popinjay. nevertheless, in spite of all these absurd rumors, there is no doubt that philip and alva must share equally in the guilt of the transaction, and that the "chastisement" had been arranged before alva had departed from spain. the countess egmont remained at the convent of cambre with her eleven children, plunged in misery and in poverty. the duke wrote to philip, that he doubted if there were so wretched a family in the world. he, at the same time, congratulated his sovereign on the certainty that the more intense the effects, the more fruitful would be the example of this great execution. he stated that the countess was considered a most saintly woman, and that there had been scarcely a night in which, attended by her daughters, she had not gone forth bare-footed to offer up prayers for her husband in every church within the city. he added, that it was doubtful whether they had money enough to buy themselves a supper that very night, and he begged the king to allow them the means of supporting life. he advised that the countess should be placed, without delay in a spanish convent, where her daughters might at once take the veil, assuring his majesty that her dower was entirely inadequate to her support. thus humanely recommending his sovereign to bestow an alms on the family which his own hand had reduced from a princely station to beggary, the viceroy proceeded to detail the recent events in friesland, together with the measures which he was about taking to avenge the defeat and death of count aremberg. etext editor's bookmarks: deeply criminal in the eyes of all religious parties he had omitted to execute heretics holy office condemned all the inhabitants of the netherlands not for a new doctrine, but for liberty of conscience questioning nothing, doubting nothing, fearing nothing the perpetual reproductions of history wealth was an unpardonable sin motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley [chapter iii.] preparations of the duke against count louis--precarious situation of louis in friesland--timidity of the inhabitants--alva in friesland--skirmishing near groningen--retreat of the patriots-- error committed by louis--his position at jemmingen--mutinous demonstrations of his troops--louis partially restores order-- attempt to destroy the dykes interrupted by the arrival of alva's forces--artful strategy of the duke--defeat of count louis and utter destruction of his army--outrages committed by the spaniards--alva at utrecht--execution of vrow van diemen--episode of don carlos-- fables concerning him and queen isabella--mystery, concerning his death--secret letters of philip to the pope--the one containing the truth of the transaction still concealed in the vatican--case against philip as related by mathieu, de thou, and others--testimony in the king's favor by the nuncio, the venetian envoy, and others-- doubtful state of the question--anecdotes concerning don carlos--his character. those measures were taken with the precision and promptness which marked the duke's character, when precision and promptness were desirable. there had been a terrible energy in his every step, since the successful foray of louis nassau. having determined to take the field in person with nearly all the spanish veterans, he had at once acted upon the necessity of making the capital secure, after his back should be turned. it was impossible to leave three thousand choice troops to guard count egmont. a less number seemed insufficient to prevent a rescue. he had, therefore, no longer delayed the chastisement which had already been determined, but which the events in the north had precipitated. thus the only positive result of louis nassau's victory was the execution of his imprisoned friends. the expedition under aremberg had failed from two causes. the spanish force had been inadequate, and they had attacked the enemy at a disadvantage. the imprudent attack was the result of the contempt with which they had regarded their antagonist. these errors were not to be repeated. alva ordered count meghem, now commanding in the province of groningen, on no account to hazard hostilities until the game was sure. he also immediately ordered large reinforcements to move forward to the seat of war. the commanders intrusted with this duty were duke eric of brunswick, chiappin vitelli, noircarmes, and count de roeulx. the rendezvous for the whole force was deventer, and here they all arrived on the th july. on the same day the duke of alva himself entered deventer, to take command in person. on the evening of the th july he reached rolden, a village three leagues distant from groningen, at the head of three terzios of spanish infantry, three companies of light horse, and a troop of dragoons. his whole force in and about groningen amounted to fifteen thousand choice troops besides a large but uncertain number of less disciplined soldiery. meantime, louis of nassau, since his victory, had accomplished nothing. for this inactivity there was one sufficient excuse, the total want of funds. his only revenue was the amount of black mail which he was able to levy upon the inhabitants of the province. he repeated his determination to treat them all as enemies, unless they furnished him with the means of expelling their tyrants from the country. he obtained small sums in this manner from time to time. the inhabitants were favorably disposed, but they were timid and despairing. they saw no clear way towards the accomplishment of the result concerning which louis was so confident. they knew that the terrible alva was already on his way. they felt sure of being pillaged by both parties, and of being hanged as rebels, besides, as soon as the governor-general should make his appearance. louis had, however, issued two formal proclamations for two especial contributions. in these documents he had succinctly explained that the houses of all recusants should be forthwith burned about their ears, and in consequence of these peremptory measures, he had obtained some ten thousand florins. alva ordered counter-proclamations to be affixed to church doors and other places, forbidding all persons to contribute to these forced loans of the rebels, on penalty of paying twice as much to the spaniards, with arbitrary punishment in addition, after his arrival. the miserable inhabitants, thus placed between two fires, had nothing for it but to pay one-half of their property to support the rebellion in the first place, with the prospect of giving the other half as a subsidy to tyranny afterwards; while the gibbet stood at the end of the vista to reward their liberality. such was the horrible position of the peasantry in this civil conflict. the weight of guilt thus accumulated upon the crowned head which conceived, and upon the red right hand which wrought all this misery, what human scales can measure? with these precarious means of support, the army of louis of nassau, as may easily be supposed, was anything but docile. after the victory of heiliger lee there had seemed to his german mercenaries a probability of extensive booty, which grew fainter as the slender fruit of that battle became daily more apparent. the two abbots of wittewerum and of heiliger lee, who had followed aremberg's train in order to be witnesses of his victory, had been obliged to pay to the actual conqueror a heavy price for the entertainment to which they had invited themselves, and these sums, together with the amounts pressed from the reluctant estates, and the forced contributions paid by luckless peasants, enabled him to keep his straggling troops together a few weeks longer. mutiny, however, was constantly breaking out, and by the eloquent expostulations and vague promises of the count, was with difficulty suppressed. he had, for a few weeks immediately succeeding the battle, distributed his troops in three different stations. on the approach of the duke, however, he hastily concentrated his whole force at his own strongly fortified camp, within half cannon shot of groningen. his army, such as it was, numbered from , to , men. alva reached groningen early in the morning, and without pausing a moment, marched his troops directly through the city. he then immediately occupied an entrenched and fortified house, from which it was easy to inflict damage upon the camp. this done, the duke, with a few attendants, rode forward to reconnoitre the enemy in person. he found him in a well fortified position, having the river on his front, which served as a moat to his camp, and with a deep trench three hundred yards beyond, in addition. two wooden bridges led across the river; each was commanded by a fortified house, in which was a provision of pine torches, ready at a moment's warning, to set fire to the bridges. having thus satisfied himself, the duke rode back to his army, which had received strict orders not to lift a finger till his return. he then despatched a small force of five hundred musketeers, under robles, to skirmish with the enemy, and, if possible, to draw them from their trenches. the troops of louis, however, showed no greediness to engage. on the contrary, it soon became evident that their dispositions were of an opposite tendency. the count himself, not at that moment trusting his soldiery, who were in an extremely mutinous condition, was desirous of falling back before his formidable antagonist. the duke, faithful, however, to his life-long principles, had no intentions of precipitating the action in those difficult and swampy regions. the skirmishing, therefore, continued for many hours, an additional force of men being detailed from the spanish army. the day was very sultry, however, the enemy reluctant, and the whole action languid. at last, towards evening, a large body, tempted beyond their trenches, engaged warmly with the spaniards. the combat lasted but a few minutes, the patriots were soon routed, and fled precipitately back to their camp. the panic spread with them, and the whole army was soon in retreat. on retiring, they had, however, set fire to the bridges, and thus secured an advantage at the outset of the chase. the spaniards were no longer to be held. vitelli obtained permission to follow with additional troops. the fifteen hundred who had already been engaged, charged furiously upon their retreating foes. some dashed across the blazing bridges, with their garments and their very beards on fire. others sprang into the river. neither fire nor water could check the fierce pursuit. the cavalry dismounting, drove their horses into the stream, and clinging to their tails, pricked the horses forward with their lances. having thus been dragged across, they joined their comrades in the mad chase along the narrow dykes, and through the swampy and almost impassable country where the rebels were seeking shelter. the approach of night, too soon advancing, at last put an end to the hunt. the duke with difficulty recalled his men, and compelled them to restrain their eagerness until the morrow. three hundred of the patriots were left dead upon the field, besides at least an equal number who perished in the river and canals. the army of louis was entirely routed, and the duke considered it virtually destroyed. he wrote to the state council that he should pursue them the next day, but doubted whether he should find anybody to talk with him. in this the governor-general soon found himself delightfully disappointed. five days later, the duke arrived at reyden, on the ems. owing to the unfavorable disposition of the country people, who were willing to protect the fugitives by false information to their pursuers, he was still in doubt as to the position then occupied by the enemy. he had been fearful that they would be found at this very village of reyden. it was a fatal error on the part of count louis that they were not. had he made a stand at this point, he might have held out a long time. the bridge which here crossed the river would have afforded him a retreat into germany at any moment, and the place was easily to be defended in front. thus he might have maintained himself against his fierce but wary foe, while his brother orange, who was at strasburg watching the progress of events, was executing his own long-planned expedition into the heart of the netherlands. with alva thus occupied in friesland, the results of such an invasion might have been prodigious. it was, however, not on the cards for that campaign. the mutinous disposition of the mercenaries under his command had filled louis with doubt and disgust. bold and sanguine, but always too fiery and impatient, he saw not much possibility of paying his troops any longer with promises. perhaps he was not unwilling to place them in a position where they would be obliged to fight or to perish. at any rate, such was their present situation. instead of halting at reyden, he had made his stand at jemmingen, about four leagues distant from that place, and a little further down the river. alva discovered this important fact soon after his arrival at reyden, and could not conceal his delight. already exulting at the error made by his adversary, in neglecting the important position which he now occupied himself, he was doubly delighted at learning the nature of the place which he had in preference selected. he saw that louis had completely entrapped himself. jemmingen was a small town on the left bank of the ems. the stream here very broad and deep, is rather a tide inlet than a river, being but a very few miles from the dollart. this circular bay, or ocean chasm, the result of the violent inundation of the th century, surrounds, with the river, a narrow peninsula. in the corner of this peninsula, as in the bottom of a sack, louis had posted his army. his infantry, as usual, was drawn up in two large squares, and still contained ten thousand men. the rear rested upon the village, the river was upon his left; his meagre force of cavalry upon the right. in front were two very deep trenches. the narrow road, which formed the only entrance to his camp, was guarded by a ravelin on each side, and by five pieces of artillery. the duke having reconnoitred the enemy in person, rode back, satisfied that no escape was possible. the river was too deep and too wide for swimming or wading, and there were but very few boats. louis was shut up between twelve thousand spanish veterans and the river ems. the rebel army, although not insufficient in point of numbers, was in a state of disorganization. they were furious for money and reluctant to fight. they broke out into open mutiny upon the very verge of battle, and swore that they would instantly disband, if the gold, which, as they believed, had been recently brought into the camp, were not immediately distributed among them. such was the state of things on the eventful morning of the st july. all the expostulations of count louis seemed powerless. his eloquence and his patience, both inferior to his valor, were soon exhausted. he peremptorily, refused the money for which they clamored, giving the most cogent of all reasons, an empty coffer. he demonstrated plainly that they were in that moment to make their election, whether to win a victory or to submit to a massacre. neither flight nor surrender was possible. they knew how much quarter they could expect from the lances of the spaniards or the waters of the dollart. their only chance of salvation lay in their own swords. the instinct of self-preservation, thus invoked, exerted a little of its natural effect. meantime, a work which had been too long neglected, was then, if possible, to be performed. in that watery territory, the sea was only held in check by artificial means. in a very short time, by the demolition of a few dykes and the opening of a few sluices, the whole country through which the spaniards had to pass could be laid under water. believing it yet possible to enlist the ocean in his defence, louis, having partially reduced his soldiers to obedience, ordered a strong detachment upon this important service. seizing a spade, he commenced the work himself, and then returned to set his army in battle array. two or three tide gates had been opened, two or three bridges had been demolished, when alva, riding in advance of his army, appeared within a mile or two of jemmingen. it was then eight o'clock in the morning. the patriots redoubled their efforts. by ten o'clock the waters were already knee high, and in some places as deep as to the waist. at that hour, the advanced guard of the spaniards arrived. fifteen hundred musketeers were immediately ordered forward by the duke. they were preceded by a company of mounted carabineers, attended by a small band of volunteers of distinction. this little band threw themselves at once upon the troops engaged in destroying the dykes. the rebels fled at the first onset, and the spaniards closed the gates. feeling the full importance of the moment, count louis ordered a large force of musketeers to recover the position, and to complete the work of inundation. it was too late. the little band of spaniards held the post with consummate tenacity. charge after charge, volley after volley, from the overwhelming force brought against them, failed to loosen the fierce grip with which they held this key to the whole situation. before they could be driven from the dykes, their comrades arrived, when all their antagonists at once made a hurried retreat to their camp. very much the same tactics were now employed by the duke, as in the engagement near selwaert abbey. he was resolved that this affair, also, should be a hunt, not a battle; but foresaw that it was to be a more successful one. there was no loophole of escape, so that after a little successful baiting, the imprisoned victims would be forced to spring from their lurking-place, to perish upon his spears. on his march from reyden that morning, he had taken care to occupy every farm-house, every building of whatever description along the road, with his troops. he had left a strong guard on the bridge at reyden, and had thus closed carefully every avenue. the same fifteen hundred musketeers were now advanced further towards the camp. this small force, powerfully but secretly sustained, was to feel the enemy; to skirmish with him, and to draw him as soon as possible out of his trenches. the plan succeeded. gradually the engagements between them and the troops sent out by count louis grew more earnest. finding so insignificant a force opposed to them, the mutinous rebels took courage. the work waged hot. lodrono and romero, commanders of the musketeers, becoming alarmed, sent to the duke for reinforcements. he sent back word in reply, that if they were not enough to damage the enemy, they could, at least, hold their own for the present. so much he had a right to expect of spanish soldiers. at any rate, he should send no reinforcements. again they were more warmly pressed; again their messenger returned with the same reply. a third time they send the most urgent entreaties for succour. the duke was still inexorable. meantime the result of this scientific angling approached. by noon the rebels, not being able to see how large a portion of the spanish army had arrived, began to think the affair not so serious. count louis sent out a reconnoitring party upon the river in a few boats. they returned without having been able to discover any large force. it seemed probable, therefore, that the inundation had been more successful in stopping their advance than had been supposed. louis, always too rash, inflamed his men with temporary enthusiasm. determined to cut their way out by one vigorous movement, the whole army at last marched forth from their entrenchments, with drums beating, colors flying; but already the concealed reinforcements of their enemies were on the spot. the patriots met with a warmer reception than they had expected. their courage evaporated. hardly had they advanced three hundred yards, when the whole body wavered and then retreated precipitately towards the encampment, having scarcely exchanged a shot with the enemy. count louis, in a frenzy of rage and despair, flew from rank to rank, in vain endeavouring to rally his terror-stricken troops. it was hopeless. the battery which guarded the road was entirely deserted. he rushed to the cannon himself, and fired them all with his own hand. it was their first and last discharge. his single arm, however bold, could not turn the tide of battle, and he was swept backwards with his coward troops. in a moment afterwards, don lope de figueroa, who led the van of the spaniards, dashed upon the battery, and secured it, together with the ravelins. their own artillery was turned against the rebels, and the road was soon swept. the spaniards in large numbers now rushed through the trenches in pursuit of the retreating foe. no resistance was offered, nor quarter given. an impossible escape was all which was attempted. it was not a battle, but a massacre. many of the beggars in their flight threw down their arms; all had forgotten their use. their antagonists butchered them in droves, while those who escaped the sword were hurled into the river. seven spaniards were killed, and seven thousand rebels. [letter of alva to the council of state. correspondanee du duc d'albe, . the same letter is published in igor, iv. , . all writers allow seven thousand to have been killed on the patriot side, and--the number of spaniards slain is not estimated at more than eighty, even by the patriotic meteren, . compare bor, iv. - ; herrera, av. ; hoofd, v, , and mendoza, .] the swift ebb-tide swept the hats of the perishing wretches in such numbers down the stream, that the people at embden knew the result of the battle in an incredibly short period of time. the skirmishing had lasted from ten o'clock till one, but the butchery continued much longer. it took time to slaughter even unresisting victims. large numbers obtained refuge for the night upon an island in the river. at low water next day the spaniards waded to them, and slew every man. many found concealment in hovels, swamps, and thickets, so that the whole of the following day was occupied in ferreting out and despatching them. there was so much to be done, that there was work enough for all. "not a soldier," says, with great simplicity, a spanish historian who fought in the battle, "not a soldier, nor even a lad, who wished to share in the victory, but could find somebody to wound, to kill, to burn, or to drown." the wounding, killing, burning, drowning lasted two days, and very few escaped. the landward pursuit extended for three or four leagues around, so that the roads and pastures were covered with bodies, with corslets, and other weapons. count louis himself stripped off his clothes, and made his escape, when all was over, by swimming across the ems. with the paltry remnant of his troops he again took refuge in germany. the spanish army, two days afterwards, marched back to groningen. the page which records their victorious campaign is foul with outrage and red with blood. none of the horrors which accompany the passage of hostile troops through a defenceless country were omitted. maids and matrons were ravished in multitudes; old men butchered in cold blood. as alva returned, with the rear-guard of his army, the whole sky was red with a constant conflagration; the very earth seemed changed to ashes. every peasant's hovel, every farm-house, every village upon the road had been burned to the ground. so gross and so extensive had been the outrage, that the commander-in-chief felt it due to his dignity to hang some of his own soldiers who had most distinguished themselves in this work. thus ended the campaign of count louis in friesland. thus signally and terribly had the duke of alva vindicated the supremacy of spanish discipline and of his own military skill. on his return to groningen, the estates were summoned, and received a severe lecture for their suspicious demeanour in regard to the rebellion. in order more effectually to control both province and city, the governor-general ordered the construction of a strong fortress, which was soon begun but never completed. having thus furnished himself with a key to this important and doubtful region, he returned by way of amsterdam to utrecht. there he was met by his son frederic with strong reinforcements. the duke reviewed his whole army, and found himself at the head of , infantry and , cavalry. having fully subdued the province, he had no occupation for such a force, but he improved the opportunity by cutting off the head of an old woman in utrecht. the vrow van diemen, eighteen months previously, had given the preacher arendsoon a night's lodging in her house. the crime had, in fact, been committed by her son-in-law, who dwelt under her roof, and who had himself, without her participation, extended this dangerous hospitality to a heretic; but the old lady, although a devout catholic, was rich. her execution would strike a wholesome terror into the hearts of her neighbours. the confiscation of her estates would bring a handsome sum into the government coffers. it would be made manifest that the same hand which could destroy an army of twelve thousand rebels at a blow could inflict as signal punishment on the small delinquencies of obscure individuals. the old lady, who was past eighty-four years of age, was placed in a chair upon the scaffold. she met her death with heroism, and treated her murderers with contempt. "i understand very well," she observed, "why my death is considered necessary. the calf is fat and must be killed." to the executioner she expressed a hope that his sword was sufficiently sharp, "as he was likely to find her old neck very tough." with this grisly parody upon the pathetic dying words of anne boleyn, the courageous old gentlewoman submitted to her fate. the tragedy of don carlos does not strictly belong to our subject, which is the rise of the netherland commonwealth--not the decline of the spanish monarchy, nor the life of philip the second. the thread is but slender which connects the unhappy young prince with the fortunes of the northern republic. he was said, no doubt with truth, to desire the government of flanders. he was also supposed to be in secret correspondence with the leaders of the revolt in the provinces. he appeared, however, to possess very little of their confidence. his name is only once mentioned by william of orange, who said in a letter that "the prince of spain had lately eaten sixteen pounds of fruit, including four pounds of grapes at a single sitting, and had become ill in consequence." the result was sufficiently natural, but it nowhere appears that the royal youth, born to consume the fruits of the earth so largely, had ever given the netherlanders any other proof of his capacity to govern them. there is no doubt that he was a most uncomfortable personage at home, both to himself and to others, and that he hated his father' very cordially. he was extremely incensed at the nomination of alva to the netherlands, because he had hoped that either the king would go thither or entrust the mission to him, in either of which events he should be rid for a time of the paternal authority, or at least of the paternal presence. it seems to be well ascertained that carlos nourished towards his father a hatred which might lead to criminal attempts, but there is no proof that such attempts were ever made. as to the fabulous amours of the prince and the queen, they had never any existence save in the imagination of poets, who have chosen to find a source of sentimental sorrow for the infante in the arbitrary substitution of his father for himself in the marriage contract with the daughter of henry the second. as carlos was but twelve or thirteen years of age when thus deprived of a bride whom he had never seen, the foundation for a passionate regret was but slight. it would hardly be a more absurd fantasy, had the poets chosen to represent philip's father, the emperor charles, repining in his dotage for the loss of "bloody mary," whom he had so handsomely ceded to his son. philip took a bad old woman to relieve his father; he took a fair young princess at his son's expense; but similar changes in state marriages were such matters of course, that no emotions were likely to be created in consequence. there is no proof whatever, nor any reason to surmise; that any love passages ever existed between don carlos and his step-mother. as to the process and the death of the prince, the mystery has not yet been removed, and the field is still open to conjecture. it seems a thankless task to grope in the dark after the truth at a variety of sources; when the truth really exists in tangible shape if profane hands could be laid upon it. the secret is buried in the bosom of the vatican. philip wrote two letters on the subject to pius v. the contents of the first ( st january, ) are known. he informed the pontiff that he had been obliged to imprison his son, and promised that he would, in the conduct of the affair, omit nothing which could be expected of a father and of a just and prudent king. the second letter, in which he narrated, or is supposed to have narrated, the whole course of the tragic proceedings, down to the death and burial of the prince, has never yet been made public. there are hopes that this secret missive, after three centuries of darkness, may soon see the light.--[i am assured by mr. gachard that a copy of this important letter is confidently expected by the commission royale d'histoire.] as philip generally told the truth to the pope, it is probable that the secret, when once revealed, will contain the veritable solution of the mystery. till that moment arrives, it seems idle to attempt fathoming the matter. nevertheless, it may be well briefly to state the case as it stands. as against the king, it rests upon no impregnable, but certainly upon respectable authority. the prince of orange, in his famous apology, calls philip the murderer of his wife and of his son, and says that there was proof of the facts in france. he alludes to the violent death of carlos almost as if it were an indisputable truth. "as for don charles," he says, "was he not our future sovereign? and if the father could allege against his son fit cause for death, was it not rather for us to judge him than for three or four monks or inquisitors of spain?" the historian, p. matthieu, relates that philip assembled his council of conscience; that they recommended mercy; that hereupon philip gave the matter to the inquisition, by which tribunal carlos was declared a heretic on account of his connexion with protestants, and for his attempt against his father's life was condemned to death, and that the sentence was executed by four slaves, two holding the arms, one the feet, while the fourth strangled him. de thou gives the following account of the transaction, having derived many of his details from the oral communications of louis de foix: philip imagined that his son was about to escape from spain, and to make his way to the netherlands. the king also believed himself in danger of assassination from carlos, his chief evidence being that the prince always carried pistols in the pockets of his loose breeches. as carlos wished always to be alone at night without any domestic in his chamber, de foix had arranged for him a set of pulleys, by means of which he could open or shut his door without rising from his bed. he always slept with two pistols and two drawn swords under his pillow, and had two loaded arquebusses in a wardrobe close at hand. these remarkable precautions would seem rather to indicate a profound fear of being himself assassinated; but they were nevertheless supposed to justify philip's suspicions, that the infante was meditating parricide. on christmas eve, however ( ), don carlos told his confessor that he had determined to kill a man. the priest, in consequence, refused to admit him to the communion. the prince demanded, at least, a wafer which was not consecrated, in order that he might seem to the people to be participating in the sacrament. the confessor declined the proposal, and immediately repairing to the king, narrated the whole story. philip exclaimed that he was himself the man whom the prince intended to kill, but that measures should be forthwith taken to prevent such a design. the monarch then consulted the holy office of the inquisition, and the resolution was taken to arrest his son. de foix was compelled to alter the pulleys of the door to the prince's chamber in such a manner that it could be opened without the usual noise, which was almost sure to awaken him. at midnight, accordingly, count lerma entered the room so stealthily that the arms were all, removed from the prince's pillow and the wardrobe, without awakening the sleeper. philip, ruy gomez, the duke de feria, and two other nobles, then noiselessly, crept into the apartment. carlos still slept so profoundly that it was necessary for derma to shake him violently by the arm before he could be aroused. starting from his sleep in the dead of night, and seeing his father thus accompanied, before his bed, the prince cried out that he was a dead man, and earnestly besought the bystanders to make an end of him at once. philip assured him, however, that he was not come to kill him, but to chastise him paternally, and to recal him to his duty. he then read him a serious lecture, caused him to rise from his bed, took away his servants, and placed him under guard. he was made to array himself in mourning habiliments, and to sleep on a truckle bed. the prince was in despair. he soon made various attempts upon his own life. he threw himself into the fire, but was rescued by his guards, with his clothes all in flames. he passed several days without taking any food, and then ate so many patties of minced meat that he nearly died of indigestion. he was also said to have attempted to choke himself with a diamond, and to have been prevented by his guard; to have filled his bed with ice; to have sat in cold draughts; to have gone eleven days without food, the last method being, as one would think, sufficiently thorough. philip, therefore, seeing his son thus desperate, consulted once more with the holy office, and came to the decision that it was better to condemn him legitimately to death than to permit him to die by his own hand. in order, however, to save appearances, the order was secretly carried into execution. don carlos was made to swallow poison in a bowl of broth, of which he died in a few hours. this was at the commencement of his twenty-third year. the death was concealed for several months, and was not made public till after alva's victory at jemmingen. such was the account drawn up by de thou from the oral communications of de foix, and from other sources not indicated. certainly, such a narrative is far from being entitled to implicit credence. the historian was a contemporary, but he was not in spain, and the engineer's testimony is, of course, not entitled to much consideration on the subject of the process and the execution (if there were an execution); although conclusive as to matters which had been within his personal knowledge. for the rest, all that it can be said to establish is the existence of the general rumor, that carlos came to his death by foul means and in consequence of advice given by the inquisition. on the other hand, in all the letters written at the period by persons in madrid most likely, from their position, to know the truth, not a syllable has been found in confirmation of the violent death said to have been suffered by carlos. secretary erasso, the papal nuncio castagna, the venetian envoy cavalli, all express a conviction that the death of the prince had been brought about by his own extravagant conduct and mental excitement; by alternations of starving and voracious eating, by throwing himself into the fire; by icing his bed, and by similar acts of desperation. nearly every writer alludes to the incident of the refusal of the priest to admit carlos to communion, upon the ground of his confessed deadly hatred to an individual whom all supposed to be the king. it was also universally believed that carlos meant to kill his father. the nuncio asked spinosa (then president of castile) if this report were true. "if nothing more were to be feared," answered the priest, "the king would protect himself by other measures," but the matter was worse, if worse could be. the king, however, summoned all the foreign diplomatic body and assured them that the story was false. after his arrest, the prince, according to castagna, attempted various means of suicide, abstaining, at last, many days from food, and dying in consequence, "discoursing, upon his deathbed, gravely and like a man of sense." the historian cabrera, official panegyrist of philip the second, speaks of the death of carlos as a natural one, but leaves a dark kind of mystery about the symptoms of his disease. he states, that the prince was tried and condemned by a commission or junta, consisting of spinosa, ruy gomez, and the licentiate virviesca, but that he was carried off by an illness, the nature of which he does not describe. llorente found nothing in the records of the inquisition to prove that the holy office had ever condemned the prince or instituted any process against him. he states that he was condemned by a commission, but that he died of a sickness which supervened. it must be confessed that the illness was a convenient one, and that such diseases are very apt to attack individuals whom tyrants are disposed to remove from their path, while desirous, at the same time, to save appearances. it would certainly be presumptuous to accept implicitly the narrative of de thou, which is literally followed by hoofd and by many modern writers. on the other hand, it would be an exaggeration of historical scepticism to absolve philip from the murder of his son, solely upon negative testimony. the people about court did not believe in the crime. they saw no proofs of it. of course they saw none. philip would take good care that there should be none if he had made up his mind that the death of the prince should be considered a natural one. and priori argument, which omits the character of the suspected culprit, and the extraordinary circumstances of time and place, is not satisfactory. philip thoroughly understood the business of secret midnight murder. we shall soon have occasion to relate the elaborate and ingenious method by which the assassination of montigny was accomplished and kept a profound secret from the whole world, until the letters of the royal assassin, after three centuries' repose, were exhumed, and the foul mystery revealed. philip was capable of any crime. moreover, in his letter to his aunt, queen catharine of portugal, he distinctly declares himself, like abraham, prepared to go all lengths in obedience to the lord. "i have chosen in this matter," he said, "to make the sacrifice to god of my own flesh and blood, and to prefer his service and the universal welfare to all other human considerations." whenever the letter to pius v. sees the light, it will appear whether the sacrifice which the monarch thus made to his god proceeded beyond the imprisonment and condemnation of his son, or was completed by the actual immolation of the victim. with regard to the prince himself, it is very certain that, if he had lived, the realms of the spanish crown would have numbered one tyrant more. carlos from his earliest youth, was remarkable for the ferocity of his character. the emperor charles was highly pleased with him, then about fourteen years of age, upon their first interview after the abdication. he flattered himself that the lad had inherited his own martial genius together with his name. carlos took much interest in his grandfather's account of his various battles, but when the flight from innspruck was narrated, he repeated many times, with much vehemence, that he never would have fled; to which position he adhered, notwithstanding all the arguments of the emperor, and very much to his amusement. the young prince was always fond of soldiers, and listened eagerly to discourses of war. he was in the habit also of recording the names of any military persons who, according to custom, frequently made offers of their services to the heir apparent, and of causing them to take a solemn oath to keep their engagements. no other indications of warlike talent, however, have been preserved concerning him. "he was crafty, ambitious, cruel, violent," says the envoy suriano, "a hater of buffoons, a lover of soldiers." his natural cruelty seems to have been remarkable from his boyhood. after his return from the chase, he was in the habit of cutting the throats of hares and other animals, and of amusing himself with their dying convulsions. he also frequently took pleasure in roasting them alive. he once received a present of a very large snake from some person who seemed to understand how to please this remarkable young prince. after a time, however, the favorite reptile allowed itself to bite its master's finger, whereupon don carlos immediately retaliated by biting off its head. he was excessively angry at the suggestion that the prince who was expected to spring from his father's marriage with the english queen, would one day reign over the netherlands, and swore he would challenge him to mortal combat in order to prevent such an infringement of his rights. his father and grandfather were both highly diverted with this manifestation of spirit, but it was not decreed that the world should witness the execution of these fraternal intentions against the babe which was never to be born. ferocity, in short, seems to have been the leading characteristic of the unhappy carlos. his preceptor, a man of learning and merit, who was called "the honorable john", tried to mitigate this excessive ardor of temperament by a course of cicero de officiis, which he read to him daily. neither the eloquence of tully, however, nor the precepts of the honorable john made the least impression upon this very savage nature. as he grew older he did not grow wiser nor more gentle. he was prematurely and grossly licentious. all the money which as a boy, he was allowed, he spent upon women of low character, and when he was penniless, he gave them his chains, his medals, even the clothes from his back. he took pleasure in affronting respectable females when he met them in the streets, insulting them by the coarsest language and gestures. being cruel, cunning, fierce and licentious, he seemed to combine many of the worst qualities of a lunatic. that he probably was one is the best defence which can be offered for his conduct. in attempting to offer violence to a female, while he was at the university of alcala, he fell down a stone staircase, from which cause he was laid up for a long time with a severely wounded head, and was supposed to have injured his brain. the traits of ferocity recorded of him during his short life are so numerous that humanity can hardly desire that it should have been prolonged. a few drops of water having once fallen upon his head from a window, as he passed through the street, he gave peremptory orders to his guard to burn the house to the ground, and to put every one of its inhabitants to the sword. the soldiers went forthwith to execute the order, but more humane than their master, returned with the excuse that the holy sacrament of the viaticum had that moment been carried into the house. this appeal to the superstition of the prince successfully suspended the execution of the crimes which his inconceivable malignity had contemplated. on another occasion, a nobleman, who slept near his chamber, failed to answer his bell on the instant. springing upon his dilatory attendant, as soon as he made his appearance, the prince seized him in his arms and was about to throw him from the window, when the cries of the unfortunate chamberlain attracted attention, and procured a rescue. the cardinal espinoza had once accidentally detained at his palace an actor who was to perform a favorite part by express command of don carlos. furious at this detention, the prince took the priest by the throat as soon as he presented himself at the palace, and plucking his dagger from its sheath, swore, by the soul of his father, that he would take his life on the spot. the grand inquisitor fell on his knees and begged for mercy, but it is probable that the entrance of the king alone saved his life. there was often something ludicrous mingled with the atrocious in these ungovernable explosions of wrath. don pedro manuel, his chamberlain, had once, by his command, ordered a pair of boots to be made for the prince. when brought home, they were, unfortunately, too tight. the prince after vainly endeavouring to pull them on, fell into a blazing passion. he swore that it was the fault of don pedro, who always wore tight boots himself, but he at the same time protested that his father was really at the bottom of the affair. he gave the young nobleman a box on the ear for thus conspiring with the king against his comfort, and then ordered the boots to be chopped into little pieces, stewed and seasoned. then sending for the culprit shoemaker, he ordered him to eat his own boots, thus converted into a pottage; and with this punishment the unfortunate mechanic, who had thought his life forfeited, was sufficiently glad to comply. even the puissant alva could not escape his violence. like all the men in whom his father reposed confidence, the duke was odious to the heir apparent. don carlos detested him with the whole force of his little soul. he hated him as only a virtuous person deserved to be hated by such a ruffian. the heir apparent had taken the netherlands under his patronage. he had even formed the design of repairing secretly to the provinces, and could not, therefore, disguise his wrath at the appointment of the duke. it is doubtful whether the country would have benefited by the gratification of his wishes. it is possible that the pranks of so malignant an ape might have been even more mischievous than the concentrated and vigorous tyranny of an alva. when the new captain-general called, before his departure, to pay his respects to the infante, the duke seemed, to his surprise, to have suddenly entered the den of a wild beast. don carlos sprang upon him with a howl of fury, brandishing a dagger in his hand. he uttered reproaches at having been defrauded of the netherland government. he swore that alva should never accomplish his mission, nor leave his presence alive. he was proceeding to make good the threat with his poniard, when the duke closed with him. a violent struggle succeeded. both rolled together on the ground, the prince biting and striking like a demoniac, the duke defending himself as well as he was able, without attempting his adversary's life. before the combat was decided, the approach of many persons put an end to the disgraceful scene. as decent a veil as possible was thrown over the transaction, and the duke departed on his mission. before the end of the year, the prince was in the prison whence he never came forth alive. the figure of don carlos was as misshapen as his mind. his head was disproportionately large, his limbs were rickety, one shoulder was higher, one leg longer than the other. with features resembling those of his father, but with a swarthy instead of a fair complexion, with an expression of countenance both fierce and foolish, and with a character such as we have sketched it, upon the evidence of those who knew him well, it is indeed strange that he should ever have been transformed by the magic of poetry into a romantic hero. as cruel and cunning as his father, as mad as his great-grandmother, he has left a name, which not even his dark and mysterious fate can render interesting. [chapter iv.] continued and excessive barbarity of the government--execution of antony van straalen, of "red--rod" spelle--the prince of orange advised by his german friends to remain quiet--heroic sentiments of orange--his religious opinions--his efforts in favor of toleration-- his fervent piety--his public correspondence with the emperor--his "justification," his "warning," and other papers characterized--the prince, with a considerable army, crosses the rhine--passage of the meuse at stochem--he offers battle to alva--determination of the duke to avoid an engagement--comparison of his present situation with his previous position in friesland--masterly tactics of the duke--skirmish on the geta--defeat of the orangists--death of hoogstraaten--junction with genlis--adherence of alva to his original plan--the prince crosses the frontier of france-- correspondence between charles ix. and orange--the patriot army disbanded at strasburg--comments by granvelle upon the position of the prince--triumphant attitude of alva--festivities at brussels-- colossal statue of alva erected by himself in antwerp citadel-- intercession of the emperor with philip--memorial of six electors to the emperor--mission of the archduke charles to spain--his negotiations with philip--public and private correspondence between the king and emperor--duplicity of maximilian--abrupt conclusion to the intervention--granvelle's suggestions to philip concerning the treaty of passau. the duke having thus crushed the project of count bouts, and quelled the insurrection in friesland, returned in triumph to brussels. far from softened by the success of his arms, he renewed with fresh energy the butchery which, for a brief season, had been suspended during his brilliant campaign in the north. the altars again smoked with victims; the hanging, burning, drowning, beheading, seemed destined to be the perpetual course of his administration, so long as human bodies remained on which his fanatical vengeance could be wreaked. four men of eminence were executed soon after his return to the capital. they had previously suffered such intense punishment on the rack, that it was necessary to carry them to the scaffold and bind them upon chairs, that they might be beheaded. these four sufferers were a frisian nobleman, named galena, the secretaries of egmont and horn, bakkerzeel and la loo, and the distinguished burgomaster of antwerp, antony van straalen. the arrest of the three last-mentioned individuals, simultaneously with that of the two counts, has been related in a previous chapter. in the case of van straalen, the services rendered by him to the provinces during his long and honorable career, had been so remarkable, that even the blood-council, in sending his case to alva for his sentence, were inspired by a humane feeling. they felt so much compunction at the impending fate of a man who, among other meritorious acts, had furnished nearly all the funds for the brilliant campaign in picardy, by which the opening years of philip's reign had been illustrated, as to hint at the propriety of a pardon. but the recommendation to mercy, though it came from the lips of tigers, dripping with human blood, fell unheeded on the tyrant's ear. it seemed meet that the man who had supplied the nerves of war in that unforgiven series of triumphs, should share the fate of the hero who had won the laurels. [bor, cappella, hoofd, ubi sup. the last words of the burgomaster as he bowed his neck to the executioner's stroke were, "voor wel gedaan, kwaclyk beloud,"--"for faithful service, evil recompense." --cappella, .] hundreds of obscure martyrs now followed in the same path to another world, where surely they deserved to find their recompense, if steadfast adherence to their faith, and a tranquil trust in god amid tortures and death too horrible to be related, had ever found favor above. the "red-rod," as the provost of brabant was popularly designated, was never idle. he flew from village to village throughout the province, executing the bloody behests of his masters with congenial alacrity. nevertheless his career was soon destined to close upon the same scaffold where he had so long officiated. partly from caprice, partly from an uncompromising and fantastic sense of justice, his master now hanged the executioner whose industry had been so untiring. the sentence which was affixed to his breast, as he suffered, stated that he had been guilty of much malpractice; that he had executed many persons without a warrant, and had suffered many guilty persons for a bribe, to escape their doom. the reader can judge which of the two clauses constituted the most sufficient reason. during all these triumphs of alva, the prince of orange had not lost his self-possession. one after another, each of his bold, skilfully-conceived and carefully-prepared plans had failed. villers had been entirely discomfited at dalhena, cocqueville had been cut to pieces in picardy, and now the valiant and experienced louis had met with an entire overthrow in friesland. the brief success of the patriots at heiliger zee had been washed out in the blood-torrents of jemmingen. tyranny was more triumphant, the provinces more timidly crouching, than ever. the friends on whom william of orange relied in germany, never enthusiastic in his cause, although many of them true-hearted and liberal, now grew cold and anxious. for months long, his most faithful and affectionate allies, such men as the elector of hesse and the duke of wirtemberg, as well as the less trustworthy augustus of saxony, had earnestly expressed their opinion that, under the circumstances, his best course was to sit still and watch the course of events. it was known that the emperor had written an urgent letter to philip on the subject of his policy in the netherlands in general, and concerning the position of orange in particular. all persons, from the emperor down to the pettiest potentate, seemed now of opinion that the prince had better pause; that he was, indeed, bound to wait the issue of that remonstrance. "your highness must sit still," said landgrave william. "your highness must sit still," said augustus of saxony. "you must move neither hand nor foot in the cause of the perishing provinces," said the emperor. "not a soldier-horse, foot, or dragoon-shall be levied within the empire. if you violate the peace of the realm, and embroil us with our excellent brother and cousin philip, it is at your own peril. you have nothing to do but to keep quiet and await his answer to our letter." but the prince knew how much effect his sitting still would produce upon the cause of liberty and religion. he knew how much effect the emperor's letter was like to have upon the heart of philip. he knew that the more impenetrable the darkness now gathering over that land of doom which he had devoted his life to defend, the more urgently was he forbidden to turn his face away from it in its affliction. he knew that thousands of human souls, nigh to perishing, were daily turning towards him as their only hope on earth, and he was resolved, so long as he could dispense a single ray of light, that his countenance should never be averted. it is difficult to contemplate his character, at this period, without being infected with a perhaps dangerous enthusiasm. it is not an easy task coldly to analyse a nature which contained so much of the self-sacrificing and the heroic, as well as of the adroit and the subtle; and it is almost impossible to give utterance to the emotions which naturally swell the heart at the contemplation of so much active virtue, without rendering oneself liable to the charge of excessive admiration. through the mists of adversity, a human form may dilate into proportions which are colossal and deceptive. our judgment may thus, perhaps, be led captive, but at any rate the sentiment excited is more healthful than that inspired by the mere shedder of blood, by the merely selfish conqueror. when the cause of the champion is that of human right against tyranny, of political ind religious freedom against an all-engrossing and absolute bigotry, it is still more difficult to restrain veneration within legitimate bounds. to liberate the souls and bodies of millions, to maintain for a generous people, who had well-nigh lost their all, those free institutions which their ancestors had bequeathed, was a noble task for any man. but here stood a prince of ancient race, vast possessions, imperial blood, one of the great ones of the earth, whose pathway along the beaten track would have been smooth and successful, but who was ready to pour out his wealth like water, and to coin his heart's blood, drop by drop, in this virtuous but almost desperate cause. he felt that of a man to whom so much had been entrusted, much was to be asked. god had endowed him with an incisive and comprehensive genius, unfaltering fortitude, and with the rank and fortune which enable a man to employ his faculties, to the injury or the happiness of his fellows, on the widest scale. the prince felt the responsibility, and the world was to learn the result. it was about this time that a deep change came over his mind. hitherto, although nominally attached to the communion of the ancient church, his course of life and habits of mind had not led him to deal very earnestly with things beyond the world. the severe duties, the grave character of the cause to which his days were henceforth to be devoted, had already led him to a closer inspection of the essential attributes of christianity. he was now enrolled for life as a soldier of the reformation. the reformation was henceforth his fatherland, the sphere, of his duty and his affection. the religious reformers became his brethren, whether in france, germany, the netherlands, or england. yet his mind had taken a higher flight than that of the most eminent reformers. his goal was not a new doctrine, but religious liberty. in an age when to think was a crime, and when bigotry and a persecuting spirit characterized romanists and lutherans, calvinists and zwinglians, he had dared to announce freedom of conscience as the great object for which noble natures should strive. in an age when toleration was a vice, he had the manhood to cultivate it as a virtue. his parting advice to the reformers of the netherlands, when he left them for a season in the spring of , was to sink all lesser differences in religious union. those of the augsburg confession and those of the calvinistic church, in their own opinion as incapable of commingling as oil and water, were, in his judgment, capable of friendly amalgamation. he appealed eloquently to the good and influential of all parties to unite in one common cause against oppression. even while favoring daily more and more the cause of the purified church, and becoming daily more alive to the corruption of rome, he was yet willing to tolerate all forms of worship, and to leave reason to combat error. without a particle of cant or fanaticism, he had become a deeply religious man. hitherto he had been only a man of the world and a statesman, but from this time forth he began calmly to rely upon god's providence in all the emergencies of his eventful life. his letters written to his most confidential friends, to be read only by themselves, and which have been gazed upon by no other eyes until after the lapse of nearly three centuries, abundantly prove his sincere and simple trust. this sentiment was not assumed for effect to delude others, but cherished as a secret support for himself. his religion was not a cloak to his designs, but a consolation in his disasters. in his letter of instruction to his most confidential agent, john bazius, while he declared himself frankly in favor of the protestant principles, he expressed his extreme repugnance to the persecution of catholics. "should we obtain power over any city or cities," he wrote, "let the communities of papists be as much respected and protected as possible. let them be overcome, not by violence, but with gentle-mindedness and virtuous treatment." after the terrible disaster at jemmingen, he had written to louis, consoling him, in the most affectionate language, for the unfortunate result of his campaign. not a word of reproach escaped from him, although his brother had conducted the operations in friesland, after the battle of heiliger lee, in a manner quite contrary to his own advice. he had counselled against a battle, and had foretold a defeat; but after the battle had been fought and a crushing defeat sustained, his language breathed only unwavering submission to the will of god, and continued confidence in his own courage. "you may be well assured, my brother," he wrote, "that i have never felt anything more keenly than the pitiable misfortune which has happened to you, for many reasons which you can easily imagine. moreover, it hinders us much in the levy which we are making, and has greatly chilled the hearts of those who otherwise would have been ready to give us assistance. nevertheless, since it has thus pleased god, it is necessary to have patience and to lose not courage; conforming ourselves to his divine will, as for my part i have determined to do in everything which may happen, still proceeding onward in our work with his almighty aid. 'soevis tranquillus in undis', he was never more placid than when the storm was wildest and the night darkest. he drew his consolations and refreshed his courage at the never-failing fountains of divine mercy. "i go to-morrow," he wrote to the unworthy anne of saxony; "but when i shall return, or when i shall see you, i cannot, on my honor, tell you with certainty. i have resolved to place myself in the hands of the almighty, that he may guide me whither it is his good pleasure that i should go. i see well enough that i am destined to pass this life in misery and labor, with which i am well content, since it thus pleases the omnipotent, for i know that i have merited still greater chastisement. i only implore him graciously to send me strength to endure with patience." such language, in letters the most private, never meant to be seen by other eyes than those to which they were addressed, gives touching testimony to the sincere piety of his character. no man was ever more devoted to a high purpose, no man had ever more right to imagine himself, or less inclination to pronounce himself, entrusted with a divine mission. there was nothing of the charlatan in his character. his nature was true and steadfast. no narrow-minded usurper was ever more loyal to his own aggrandisement than this large-hearted man to the cause of oppressed humanity. yet it was inevitable that baser minds should fail to recognise his purity. while he exhausted his life for the emancipation of a people, it was easy to ascribe all his struggles to the hope of founding a dynasty. it was natural for grovelling natures to search in the gross soil of self-interest for the sustaining roots of the tree beneath whose branches a nation found its shelter. what could they comprehend of living fountains and of heavenly dews? in may, , the emperor maximilian had formally issued a requisition to the prince of orange to lay down his arms, and to desist from all levies and machinations against the king of spain and the peace of the realm. this summons he was commanded to obey on pain of forfeiting all rights, fiefs, privileges and endowments bestowed by imperial hands on himself or his predecessors, and of incurring the heaviest disgrace, punishment, and penalties of the empire. to this document the prince replied in august, having paid in the meantime but little heed to its precepts. now that the emperor, who at first was benignant, had begun to frown on his undertaking, he did not slacken in his own endeavours to set his army on foot. one by one, those among the princes of the empire who had been most stanch in his cause, and were still most friendly to his person, grew colder as tyranny became stronger; but the ardor of the prince was not more chilled by their despair than by the overthrow at jemmingen, which had been its cause. in august, he answered the letter of the emperor, respectfully but warmly. he still denounced the tyranny of alva and the arts of granvelle with that vigorous eloquence which was always at his command, while, as usual, he maintained a show of almost exaggerated respect for their monarch. it was not to be presumed, he said, that his majesty, "a king debonair and bountiful," had ever intended such cruelties as those which had been rapidly retraced in the letter, but it was certain that the duke of alva had committed them all of his own authority. he trusted, moreover, that the emperor, after he had read the "justification" which the prince had recently published, would appreciate the reason for his taking up arms. he hoped that his majesty would now consider the resistance just, christian, and conformable to the public peace. he expressed the belief that rather than interpose any hindrance, his majesty would thenceforth rather render assistance "to the poor and desolate christians," even as it was his majesty's office and authority to be the last refuge of the injured. the "justification against the false blame of his calumniators by the prince of orange," to which the prince thus referred, has been mentioned in a previous chapter. this remarkable paper had been drawn up at the advice of his friends, landgrave william and elector augustus, but it was not the only document which the prince caused to be published at this important epoch. he issued a formal declaration of war against the duke of alva; he addressed a solemn and eloquent warning or proclamation to all the inhabitants of the netherlands. these documents are all extremely important and interesting. their phraseology shows the intentions and the spirit by which the prince was actuated on first engaging in the struggle. without the prince and his efforts--at this juncture, there would probably have never been a free netherland commonwealth. it is certain, likewise, that without an enthusiastic passion for civil and religious liberty throughout the masses of the netherland people, there would have been no successful effort on the part of the prince. he knew his countrymen; while they, from highest to humblest, recognised in him their saviour. there was, however, no pretence of a revolutionary movement. the prince came to maintain, not to overthrow. the freedom which had been enjoyed in the provinces until the accession of the burgundian dynasty, it was his purpose to restore. the attitude which he now assumed was a peculiar one in history. this defender of a people's cause set up no revolutionary standard. in all his documents he paid apparent reverence to the authority of the king. by a fiction, which was not unphilosophical, he assumed that the monarch was incapable of the crimes which he charged upon the viceroy. thus he did not assume the character of a rebel in arms against his prince, but in his own capacity of sovereign he levied troops and waged war against a satrap whom he chose to consider false to his master's orders. in the interest of philip, assumed to be identical with the welfare of his people, he took up arms against the tyrant who was sacrificing both. this mask of loyalty would never save his head from the block, as he well knew, but some spirits lofty as his own, might perhaps be influenced by a noble sophistry, which sought to strengthen the cause of the people by attributing virtue to the king. and thus did the sovereign of an insignificant little principality stand boldly forth to do battle with the most powerful monarch in the world. at his own expense, and by almost superhuman exertions, he had assembled nearly thirty thousand men. he now boldly proclaimed to the world, and especially to the inhabitants of the provinces, his motives, his purposes, and his hopes. "we, by god's grace prince of orange," said his declaration of st august, , "salute all faithful subjects of his majesty. to few people is it unknown that the spaniards have for a long time sought to govern the land according to their pleasure. abusing his majesty's goodness, they have persuaded him to decree the introduction of the inquisition into the netherlands. they well understood, that in case the netherlanders could be made to tolerate its exercise, they would lose all protection to their liberty; that if they opposed its introduction, they would open those rich provinces as a vast field of plunder. we had hoped that his majesty, taking the matter to heart, would have spared his hereditary provinces from such utter ruin. we have found our hopes futile. we are unable, by reason of our loyal service due to his majesty, and of our true compassion for the faithful lieges, to look with tranquillity any longer at such murders, robberies, outrages, and agony. we are, moreover, certain that his majesty has been badly informed upon netherland matters. we take up arms, therefore, to oppose the violent tyranny of the spaniards, by the help of the merciful god, who is the enemy of all bloodthirstiness. cheerfully inclined to wager our life and all our worldly wealth on the cause, we have now, god be thanked, an excellent army of cavalry, infantry, and artillery, raised all at our own expense. we summon all loyal subjects of the netherlands to come and help us. let them take to heart the uttermost need of the country, the danger of perpetual slavery for themselves and their children, and of the entire overthrow of the evangelical religion. only when alva's blood- thirstiness shall have been at last overpowered, can the provinces hope to recover their pure administration of justice, and a prosperous condition for their commonwealth." in the "warning" or proclamation to all the inhabitants of the netherlands, the prince expressed similar sentiments. he announced his intention of expelling the spaniards forever from the country. to accomplish the mighty undertaking, money was necessary. he accordingly called on his countrymen to contribute, the rich out of their abundance, the poor even out of their poverty, to the furtherance of the cause. to do this, while it was yet time, he solemnly warned them "before god, the fatherland, and the world." after the title of this paper were cited the th, th, and th verses of the tenth chapter of proverbs. the favorite motto of the prince, "pro lege, rege, grege," was also affixed to the document. these appeals had, however, but little effect. of three hundred thousand crowns, promised on behalf of leading nobles and merchants of the netherlands by marcus perez, but ten or twelve thousand came to hand. the appeals to the gentlemen who had signed the compromise, and to many others who had, in times past, been favorable to the liberal party were powerless. a poor anabaptist preacher collected a small sum from a refugee congregation on the outskirts of holland, and brought it, at the peril of his life, into the prince's camp. it came from people, he said, whose will was better than the gift. they never wished to be repaid, he said, except by kindness, when the cause of reform should be triumphant in the netherlands. the prince signed a receipt for the money, expressing himself touched by this sympathy from these poor outcasts. in the course of time, other contributions from similar sources, principally collected by dissenting preachers, starving and persecuted church communities, were received. the poverty-stricken exiles contributed far more, in proportion, for the establishment of civil and religious liberty, than the wealthy merchants or the haughty nobles. late in september, the prince mustered his army in the province of treves, near the monastery of romersdorf. his force amounted to nearly thirty thousand men, of whom nine thousand were cavalry. lumey, count de la marek, now joined him at the head of a picked band of troopers; a bold, ferocious partisan, descended from the celebrated wild boar of ardennes. like civilis, the ancient batavian hero, he had sworn to leave hair and beard unshorn till the liberation of the country was achieved, or at least till the death of egmont, whose blood relation he was, had been avenged. it is probable that the fierce conduct of this chieftain, and particularly the cruelties exercised upon monks and papists by his troops, dishonored the cause more than their valor could advance it. but in those stormy times such rude but incisive instruments were scarcely to be neglected, and the name of lumey was to be forever associated with important triumphs of the liberal cause. it was fated, however, that but few laurels should be won by the patriots in this campaign. the prince crossed the rhine at saint feit, a village belonging to himself. he descended along the banks as far as the neighbourhood of cologne. then, after hovering in apparent uncertainty about the territories of juliers and limburg, he suddenly, on a bright moonlight night, crossed the meuse with his whole army, in the neighbourhood of stochem. the operation was brilliantly effected. a compact body of cavalry, according to the plan which had been more than once adopted by julius caesar, was placed in the midst of the current, under which shelter the whole army successfully forded the river. the meuse was more shallow than usual, but the water was as high as the soldiers' necks. this feat was accomplished on the night and morning of the th and th of october. it was considered so bold an achievement that its fame spread far and wide. the spaniards began to tremble at the prowess of a prince whom they had affected to despise. the very fact of the passage was flatly contradicted. an unfortunate burgher at amsterdam was scourged at the whipping-post, because he mentioned it as matter of common report. the duke of alva refused to credit the tale when it was announced to him. "is the army of the prince of orange a flock of wild geese," he asked, "that it can fly over rivers like the meuse?" nevertheless it was true. the outlawed, exiled prince stood once more on the borders of brabant, with an army of disciplined troops at his back. his banners bore patriotic inscriptions. "pro lege, rege, grege," was emblazoned upon some. a pelican tearing her breast to nourish her young with her life-blood was the pathetic emblem of others. it was his determination to force or entice the duke of alva into a general engagement. he was desirous to wipe out the disgrace of jemmingen. could he plant his victorious standard thus in the very heart of the country, he felt that thousands would rally around it. the country would rise almost to a man, could he achieve a victory over the tyrant, flushed as he was with victory, and sated with blood. with banners flying, drums beating, trumpets sounding, with all the pomp and defiance which an already victorious general could assume, orange marched into brabant, and took up a position within six thousand paces of alva's encampment. his plan was at every hazard to dare or to decoy his adversary into the chances of a stricken field. the governor was entrenched at a place called keiserslager, which julius caesar had once occupied. the city of maestricht was in his immediate neighbourhood, which was thus completely under his protection, while it furnished him with supplies. the prince sent to the duke a herald, who was to propose that all prisoners who might be taken in the coming campaign should be exchanged instead of being executed. the herald, booted and spurred, even as he had dismounted from his horse, was instantly hanged. this was the significant answer to the mission of mercy. alva held no parley with rebels before a battle, nor gave quarter afterwards. in the meantime, the duke had carefully studied the whole position of affairs, and had arrived at his conclusion. he was determined not to fight. it was obvious that the prince would offer battle eagerly, ostentatiously, frequently, but the governor was resolved never to accept the combat. once taken, his resolution was unalterable. he recognized the important difference between his own attitude at present, and that in which he had found himself during the past summer in friesland. there a battle had been necessary, now it was more expedient to overcome his enemy by delay. in friesland, the rebels had just achieved a victory over the choice troops of spain. here they were suffering from the stigma of a crushing defeat. then, the army of louis nassau was swelling daily by recruits, who poured in from all the country round. now, neither peasant nor noble dared lift a finger for the prince. the army of louis had been sustained by the one which his brother was known to be preparing. if their movements had not been checked, a junction would have been effected. the armed revolt would then have assumed so formidable an aspect, that rebellion would seem, even for the timid, a safer choice than loyalty. the army of the prince, on the contrary, was now the last hope of the patriots: the three by which it had been preceded had been successively and signally vanquished. friesland, again, was on the outskirts of the country. a defeat sustained by the government there did not necessarily imperil the possession of the provinces. brabant, on the contrary, was the heart of the netherlands. should the prince achieve a decisive triumph then and there, he would be master of the nation's fate. the viceroy knew himself to be odious, and he reigned by terror. the prince was the object of the people's idolatry, and they would rally round him if they dared. a victory gained by the liberator over the tyrant, would destroy the terrible talisman of invincibility by which alva governed. the duke had sufficiently demonstrated his audacity in the tremendous chastisement which he had inflicted upon the rebels under louis. he could now afford to play that scientific game of which he was so profound a master, without risking any loss of respect or authority. he was no enthusiast. although he doubtless felt sufficiently confident of overcoming the prince in a pitched battle, he had not sufficient relish for the joys of contest to be willing to risk even a remote possibility of defeat. his force, although composed of veterans and of the best musketeers and pikemen in europe, was still somewhat inferior in numbers to that of his adversary. against the twenty thousand foot and eight thousand, horse of orange, he could oppose only fifteen or sixteen thousand foot and fifty-five hundred riders. moreover, the advantage which he had possessed in friesland, a country only favorable to infantry, in which he had been stronger than his opponent, was now transferred to his new enemy. on the plains of brabant, the prince's superiority in cavalry was sure to tell. the season of the year, too, was an important element in the calculation. the winter alone would soon disperse the bands of german mercenaries, whose expenses orange was not able to support, even while in active service. with unpaid wages and disappointed hopes of plunder, the rebel army would disappear in a few weeks as totally as if defeated in the open field. in brief, orange by a victory would gain new life and strength, while his defeat could no more than anticipate, by a few weeks, the destruction of his army, already inevitable. alva, on the contrary, might lose the mastery of the netherlands if unfortunate, and would gain no solid advantage if triumphant. the prince had everything to hope, the duke everything to fear, from the result of a general action. the plan, thus deliberately resolved upon, was accomplished with faultless accuracy. as a work of art, the present campaign of alva against orange was a more consummate masterpiece than the, more brilliant and dashing expedition into friesland. the duke had resolved to hang upon his adversary's skirts, to follow him move by move, to check him at every turn, to harass him in a hundred ways, to foil all his enterprises, to parry all his strokes, and finally to drive him out of the country, after a totally barren campaign, when, as he felt certain, his ill-paid hirelings would vanish in all directions, and leave their patriot prince a helpless and penniless adventurer. the scheme thus sagaciously conceived, his adversary, with all his efforts, was unable to circumvent. the campaign lasted little more than a month. twenty-nine times the prince changed his encampment, and at every remove the duke was still behind him, as close and seemingly as impalpable as his shadow. thrice they were within cannon-shot of each other; twice without a single trench or rampart between them. the country people refused the prince supplies, for they trembled at the vengeance of the governor. alva had caused the irons to be removed from all the mills, so that not a bushel of corn could be ground in the whole province. the country thus afforded but little forage for the thirty thousand soldiers of the prince. the troops, already discontented, were clamorous for pay and plunder. during one mutinous demonstration, the prince's sword was shot from his side, and it was with difficulty that a general outbreak was suppressed. the soldiery were maddened and tantalized by the tactics of alva. they found themselves constantly in the presence of an enemy, who seemed to court a battle at one moment and to vanish like a phantom at the next they felt the winter approaching, and became daily more dissatisfied with the irritating hardships to which they were exposed. upon the night of the th and th of october the prince had crossed the meuse at stochem. thence he had proceeded to tongres, followed closely by the enemy's force, who encamped in the immediate neighbourhood. from tongres he had moved to saint trond, still pursued and still baffled in the same cautious manner. the skirmishing at the outposts was incessant, but the main body was withdrawn as soon as there seemed a chance of its becoming involved. from saint trond, in the neighbourhood of which he had remained several days, he advanced in a southerly direction towards jodoigne. count de genlis, with a reinforcement of french huguenots, for which the prince had been waiting, had penetrated through the ardennes, crossed the meuse at charlemont, and was now intending a junction with him at waveron. the river geta flowed between them. the prince stationed a considerable force upon a hill near the stream to protect the passage, and then proceeded leisurely to send his army across the river. count hoogstraaten, with the rear-guard, consisting of about three thousand men, were alone left upon the hither bank, in order to provoke or to tempt the enemy, who, as usual, was encamped very near. alva refused to attack the main army, but frederic with a force of four thousand men, were alone left on the hither bank, in order to provoke or to tempt the enemy, who as usual, was encamped very near. alva refused to attack the main army but rapidly detached his son, don fredrick, with a force of four thousand foot and three thousand horse, to cut off the rear-guard. the movement was effected in a masterly manner, the hill was taken, the three thousand troops which had not passed the river were cut to pieces, and vitelli hastily despatched a gentleman named barberini to implore the duke to advance with the main body, cross the river, and, once for all, exterminate the rebels in a general combat. alva, inflamed, not with ardor for an impending triumph, but with rage, that his sagely-conceived plans could not be comprehended even by his son and by his favorite officers, answered the eager messenger with peremptory violence. "go back to vitelli," he cried. "is he, or am i, to command in this campaign? tell him not to suffer a single man to cross the river. warn him against sending any more envoys to advise a battle; for should you or any other man dare to bring me another such message, i swear to you, by the head of the king, that you go not hence alive." with this decisive answer the messenger had nothing for it but to gallop back with all haste, in order to participate in what might be left of the butchery of count hoogstraaten's force, and to prevent vitelli and don frederic in their ill-timed ardor, from crossing the river. this was properly effected, while in the meantime the whole rear-guard of the patriots had been slaughtered. a hundred or two, the last who remained, had made their escape from the field, and had taken refuge in a house in the neighbourhood. the spaniards set the buildings on fire, and standing around with lifted lances, offered the fugitives the choice of being consumed in the flames or of springing out upon their spears. thus entrapped some chose the one course, some the other. a few, to escape the fury of the fire and the brutality of the spaniards, stabbed themselves with their own swords. others embraced, and then killed each other, the enemies from below looking on, as at a theatrical exhibition; now hissing and now applauding, as the death struggles were more or less to their taste. in a few minutes all the fugitives were dead. nearly three thousand of the patriots were slain in this combat, including those burned or butchered after the battle was over. the sieur de louverwal was taken prisoner, and soon afterwards beheaded in brussels; but the greatest misfortune sustained by the liberal party upon this occasion was the death of antony de lalaing, count of hoogstraaten. this brave and generous nobleman, the tried friend of the prince of orange, and his colleague during the memorable scenes at antwerp, was wounded in the foot during the action, by an accidental discharge of his own pistol. the injury, although apparently slight, caused his death in a few days. there seemed a strange coincidence in his good and evil fortunes. a casual wound in the hand from his own pistol while he was on his way to brussels, to greet alva upon his first arrival, had saved him from the scaffold. and now in his first pitched battle with the duke, this seemingly trifling injury in the foot was destined to terminate his existence. another peculiar circumstance had marked the event. at a gay supper in the course of this campaign, hoogstraaten had teased count louis, in a rough, soldierly way, with his disaster at jemmingen. he had affected to believe that the retreat upon that occasion had been unnecessary. "we have been now many days in the netherlands;" said he, "and we have seen nothing of the spaniards but their backs."--"and when the duke does break loose," replied louis, somewhat nettled, "i warrant you will see their faces soon enough, and remember them for the rest of your life." the half-jesting remark was thus destined to become a gloomy prophecy. this was the only important action daring the campaign. its perfect success did not warp alva's purpose, and, notwithstanding the murmurs of many of his officers, he remained firm in his resolution. after the termination of the battle on the geta, and the duke's obstinate refusal to pursue his advantage, the baron de chevreau dashed his pistol to the ground, in his presence, exclaiming that the duke would never fight. the governor smiled at the young man's chagrin, seemed even to approve his enthusiasm, but reminded him that it was the business of an officer to fight, of a general to conquer. if the victory were bloodless, so much the better for all. this action was fought on the th of october. a few days afterwards, the prince made his junction with genlis at waveren, a place about three leagues from louvain and from brussels. this auxiliary force was, however, insignificant. there were only five hundred cavalry and three thousand foot, but so many women and children, that it seemed rather an emigrating colony than an invading army. they arrived late. if they had come earlier, it would have been of little consequence, for it had been written that no laurels were to be gathered in that campaign. the fraternal spirit which existed between the reformers in all countries was all which could be manifested upon the occasion. the prince was frustrated in his hopes of a general battle, still more bitterly disappointed by the supineness of the country. not a voice was raised to welcome the deliverer. not a single city opened its gates. all was crouching, silent, abject. the rising, which perhaps would have been universal had a brilliant victory been obtained, was, by the masterly tactics of alva, rendered an almost inconceivable idea. the mutinous demonstrations in the prince's camp became incessant; the soldiers were discontented and weary. what the duke had foretold was coming to pass, for the prince's army was already dissolving. genlis and the other french officers were desirous that the prince should abandon the netherlands for the present, and come to the rescue of the huguenots, who had again renewed the religious war under conde and coligny. the german soldiers, however would listen to no such proposal. they had enlisted to fight the duke of alva in the netherlands, and would not hear of making war against charles ix. in france. the prince was obliged to countermarch toward the rhine. he recrossed the geta, somewhat to alva's astonishment, and proceeded in the direction of the meuse. the autumn rains, however, had much swollen that river since his passage at the beginning of the month, so that it could no longer be forded. he approached the city of liege, and summoned their bishop, as he had done on his entrance into the country, to grant a free passage to his troops. the bishop who stood in awe of alva, and who had accepted his protection again refused. the prince had no time to parley. he was again obliged to countermarch, and took his way along the high-road to france, still watched and closely pursued by alva, between whose troops and his own daily skirmishes took place. at le quesnoy, the prince gained a trifling advantage over the spaniards; at cateau cambresis he also obtained a slight and easy-victory; but by the th of november the duke of alva had entered cateau cambresis, and the prince had crossed the frontier of france. the marechal de cosse, who was stationed on the boundary of france and flanders, now harassed the prince by very similar tactics to those of alva. he was, however, too weak to inflict any serious damage, although strong enough to create perpetual annoyance. he also sent a secretary to the prince, with a formal prohibition, in the name of charles ix., against his entering the french territory with his troops. besides these negotiations, conducted by secretary favelles on the part of marechal de cosse, the king, who was excessively alarmed, also despatched the marechal gaspar de schomberg on the same service. that envoy accordingly addressed to the prince a formal remonstrance in the name of his sovereign. charles ix., it was represented, found it very strange that the prince should thus enter the french territory. the king was not aware that he had ever given him the least cause for hostile proceedings, could not therefore take it in good part that the prince should thus enter france with a "large and puissant army;" because no potentate, however humble, could tolerate such a proceeding, much less a great and powerful monarch. orange was therefore summoned to declare his intentions, but was at the same, time informed, that if he merely desired "to pass amiably through the country," and would give assurance, and request permission to that, effect, under his hand and seal, his majesty would take all necessary measures to secure that amiable passage. the prince replied by a reference to the statements which he had already made to marechal de cosse. he averred that he had not entered france with evil intent, but rather with a desire to render very humble service to his majesty, so far as he could do so with a clear conscience. touching the king's inability to remember having given any occasion to hostile proceedings on the part of the prince, he replied that he would pass that matter by. although he could adduce many, various, and strong reasons for violent measures, he was not so devoid of understanding as not to recognize the futility of attempting anything, by his own personal means, against so great and powerful a king, in comparison with whom he was "but a petty companion." "since the true religion," continued orange, "is a public and general affair, which ought to be preferred to all private matters; since the prince, as a true christian, is held by his honor and conscience to procure, with all his strength, its advancement and establishment in every place whatever; since, on the other hand, according to the edict published in september last by his majesty, attempts have been made to force in their consciences all those who are of the christian religion; and since it has been determined to exterminate the pure word of god, and the entire exercise thereof, and to permit no other religion than the roman catholic, a thing very, prejudicial to the neighbouring nations where there is a free exercise of the christian religion, therefore the prince would put no faith in the assertions of his majesty, that it was not his majesty's intentions to force the consciences of any one." having given this very deliberate and succinct contradiction to the statements of the french king, the prince proceeded to express his sympathy for the oppressed christians everywhere. he protested that he would give them all the aid, comfort, counsel, and assistance that he was able to give them. he asserted his conviction that the men who professed the religion demanded nothing else than the glory of god and the advancement of his word, while in all matters of civil polity they were ready to render obedience to his majesty. he added that all his doings were governed by a christian and affectionate regard for the king and his subjects, whom his majesty must be desirous of preserving from extreme ruin. he averred, moreover, that if he should perceive any indication that those of the religion were pursuing any other object than liberty of conscience and security for life and property, he would not only withdraw his assistance from them, but would use the whole strength of his army to exterminate them. in conclusion, he begged the king to believe that the work which the prince had undertaken was a christian work, and that his intentions were good and friendly towards his majesty. [this very eloquently written letter was dated ciasonne, december rd, . it has never been published. it is in the collection of mss, pivoen concernant, etc., hague archives.] it was, however, in vain that the prince endeavoured to induce his army to try the fortunes of the civil war in france. they had enlisted for the netherlands, the campaign was over, and they insisted upon being led back to germany. schomberg, secretly instructed by the king of france, was active in fomenting the discontent, and the prince was forced to yield. he led his army through champagne and lorraine to strasburg, where they were disbanded. all the money which the prince had been able to collect was paid them. he pawned all his camp equipage, his plate, his furniture. what he could not pay in money he made up in promises, sacredly to be fulfilled, when he should be restored to his possessions. he even solemnly engaged, should he return from france alive, and be still unable to pay their arrears of wages, to surrender his person to them as a hostage for his debt. thus triumphantly for alva, thus miserably for orange, ended the campaign. thus hopelessly vanished the army to which so many proud hopes had attached themselves. eight thousand teen had been slain in paltry encounters, thirty thousand were dispersed, not easily to be again collected. all the funds which the prince could command had been wasted without producing a result. for the present, nothing seemed to afford a ground of hope for the netherlands, but the war of freedom had been renewed in france. a band of twelve hundred mounted men-at-arms were willing to follow the fortunes of the prince. the three brothers accordingly; william, louis, and henry--a lad of eighteen, who had abandoned his studies at the university to obey the chivalrous instincts of his race--set forth early in the following spring to join the banner of conde. cardinal granvelle, who had never taken his eyes or thoughts from the provinces during his residence at rome, now expressed himself with exultation. he had predicted, with cold malice, the immediate results of the campaign, and was sanguine enough to believe the contest over, and the prince for ever crushed. in his letters to philip he had taken due notice of the compliments paid to him by orange in his justification, in his declaration, and in his letter to the emperor. he had declined to make any answer to the charges, in order to enrage the prince the more. he had expressed the opinion, however, that this publication of writings was not the business of brave soldiers, but of cowards. he made the same reflection upon the alleged intrigues by orange to procure an embassy on his own behalf from the emperor to philip--a mission which was sure to end in smoke, while it would cost the prince all credit, not only in germany but the netherlands. he felt sure, he said, of the results of the impending campaign. the duke of alva was a man upon whose administrative prudence and military skill his sovereign could implicitly rely, nor was there a person in the ranks of the rebels capable of, conducting an enterprise of such moment. least of all had the prince of orange sufficient brains for carrying on such weighty affairs, according to the opinion which he had formed of him during their long intercourse in former days. when the campaign had been decided, and the prince had again become an exile, granvelle observed that it was now proved how incompetent he and all his companions were to contend in military skill with the duke of alva. with a cold sneer at motives which he assumed, as a matter of course, to be purely selfish, he said that the prince had not taken the proper road to recover his property, and that he would now be much embarrassed to satisfy his creditors. thus must those ever fall, he moralized, who would fly higher than they ought; adding, that henceforth the prince would have enough to do in taking care of madam his wife, if she did not change soon in humor and character. meantime the duke of alva, having despatched from cateau cambresis a brief account of the victorious termination of the campaign, returned in triumph to brussels. he had certainly amply vindicated his claim to be considered the first warrior of the age. by his lieutenants he had summarily and rapidly destroyed two of the armies sent against him; he had annihilated in person the third, by a brilliantly successful battle, in which he had lost seven men, and his enemies seven thousand; and he had now, by consummate strategy, foiled the fourth and last under the idolized champion of the netherlands, and this so decisively that, without losing a man, he had destroyed eight thousand rebels, and scattered to the four winds the remaining twenty thousand. such signal results might well make even a meeker nature proud. such vast and fortunate efforts to fix for ever an impregnable military tyranny upon a constitutional country, might cause a more modest despot to exult. it was not wonderful that the haughty, and now apparently omnipotent alva, should almost assume the god. on his return to brussels he instituted a succession of triumphant festivals. the people were called upon to rejoice and to be exceeding glad, to strew flowers in his path, to sing hosannas in his praise who came to them covered with the blood of those who had striven in their defence. the holiday was duly called forth; houses, where funeral hatchments for murdered inmates had been perpetually suspended, were decked with garlands; the bells, which had hardly once omitted their daily knell for the victims of an incredible cruelty, now rang their merriest peals; and in the very square where so lately egmont and horn, besides many other less distinguished martyrs, had suffered an ignominious death, a gay tournament was held, day after day, with all the insolent pomp which could make the exhibition most galling. but even these demonstrations of hilarity were not sufficient. the conqueror and tamer of the netherlands felt that a more personal and palpable deification was necessary for his pride. when germanicus had achieved his last triumph over the ancient freedom of those generous races whose descendants, but lately in possession of a better organized liberty, alva had been sent by the second and the worse tiberius to insult and to crush, the valiant but modest roman erected his trophy upon the plains of idistavisus. "the army of tiberius caesar having subdued the nations between the rhine and the elbe, dedicate this monument to mars, to jupiter, and to augustus." so ran the inscription of germanicus, without a word of allusion to his own name. the duke of alva, on his return from the battle-fields of brabant and friesland, reared a colossal statue of himself, and upon its pedestal caused these lines to be engraved: "to ferdinand alvarez de toledo, duke of alva, governor of the netherlands under philip the second, for having extinguished sedition, chastised rebellion, restored religion, secured justice, established peace; to the king's most faithful minister this monument is erected." [bor, iv. , . meteren, . de thou, v. - , who saw it after it was overthrown, and who was "as much struck by the beauty of the work as by the insane pride of him who ordered it to be made."] so pompous a eulogy, even if truthful and merited, would be sufficiently inflated upon a tombstone raised to a dead chieftain by his bereaved admirers. what shall we say of such false and fulsome tribute, not to a god, not to the memory of departed greatness, but to a living, mortal man, and offered not by his adorers but by himself? certainly, self-worship never went farther than in this remarkable monument, erected in alva's honor, by alva's hands. the statue was colossal, and was placed in the citadel of antwerp. its bronze was furnished by the cannon captured at jemmingen. it represented the duke trampling upon a prostrate figure with two heads, four arms, and one body. the two heads were interpreted by some to represent egmont and horn, by others, the two nassaus, william and louis. others saw in them an allegorical presentment of the nobles and commons of the netherlands, or perhaps an impersonation of the compromise and the request. besides the chief inscription on the pedestal, were sculptured various bas-reliefs; and the spectator, whose admiration for the governor-general was not satiated with the colossal statue itself, was at liberty to find a fresh, personification of the hero, either in a torch-bearing angel or a gentle shepherd. the work, which had considerable esthetic merit, was executed by an artist named jacob jongeling. it remained to astonish and disgust the netherlanders until it was thrown down and demolished by alva's successor, requesens. it has already been observed that many princes of the empire had, at first warmly and afterwards, as the storm darkened around him, with less earnestness, encouraged the efforts of orange. they had, both privately and officially, urged the subject upon the attention of the emperor, and had solicited his intercession with philip. it was not an interposition to save the prince from chastisement, however the artful pen of granvelle might distort the facts. it was an address in behalf of religious liberty for the netherlands, made by those who had achieved it in their own persons, and who were at last enjoying immunity from persecution. it was an appeal which they who made it were bound to make, for the netherland commissioners had assisted at the consultations by which the peace of passau had been wrung from the reluctant hand of charles. these applications, however, to the emperor, and through him to the king of spain, had been, as we have seen, accompanied by perpetual advice to the prince of orange, that he should "sit still." the emperor had espoused his cause with apparent frankness, so far as friendly mediation went, but in the meantime had peremptorily commanded him to refrain from levying war upon alva, an injunction which the prince had as peremptorily declined to obey. the emperor had even sent especial envoys to the duke and to the prince, to induce them to lay down their arms, but without effect. orange knew which course was the more generous to his oppressed country; to take up arms, now that hope had been converted into despair by the furious tyranny of alva, or to "sit still" and await the result of the protocols about to be exchanged between king and kaiser. his arms had been unsuccessful indeed, but had he attended the issue of this sluggish diplomacy, it would have been even worse for the cause of freedom. the sympathy of his best friends, at first fervent then lukewarm, had, as disasters thickened around him, grown at last stone-cold. from the grave, too, of queen isabella arose the most importunate phantom in his path. the king of spain was a widower again, and the emperor among his sixteen children had more than one marriageable daughter. to the titles of "beloved cousin and brother-in-law," with which philip had always been greeted in the imperial proclamations, the nearer and dearer one of son-in-law was prospectively added. the ties of wedlock were sacred in the traditions of the habsburg house, but still the intervention was nominally made. as early as august, , the emperor's minister at madrid had addressed a memorial to the king. he had spoken in warm and strong language of the fate of egmont and horn, and had reminded philip that the executions which were constantly taking place in the provinces were steadily advancing the prince of orange's cause. on the nd september, , the six electors had addressed a formal memorial to the emperor. they thanked him for his previous interposition in favor of the netherlands, painted in lively colors the cruelty of alva, and denounced the unheard-of rigor with which he had massacred, not only many illustrious seigniors, but people of every degree. notwithstanding the repeated assurances given by the king to the contrary, they reminded the emperor, that the inquisition, as well as the council of trent, had now been established in the netherlands in full vigor. they maintained that the provinces had been excluded from the augsburg religious peace, to which their claim was perfect. nether germany was entitled to the same privileges as upper germany. they begged the emperor to make manifest his sentiments and their own. it was fitting that his catholic majesty should be aware that the princes of the empire were united for the conservation of fatherland and of tranquillity. to this end they placed in the emperor's hands their estates, their fortunes, and their lives. such was the language of that important appeal to the emperor in behalf of oppressed millions in the netherlands, an appeal which granvelle had coldly characterized as an intrigue contrived by orange to bring about his own restoration to favor! the emperor, in answer, assured the electoral envoys that he had taken the affair to heart, and had resolved to despatch his own brother, the archduke charles, on a special mission to spain. accordingly, on the st october, , the emperor presented his brother with an ample letter of instructions. he was to recal to philip's memory the frequent exhortations made by the emperor concerning the policy pursued in the netherlands. he was to mention the urgent interpellations made to him by the electors and princes of the empire in their recent embassy. he was to state that the emperor had recently deputed commissioners to the prince of orange and the duke of alva, in order to bring about, if possible, a suspension of arms. he was to represent that the great number of men raised by the prince of orange in germany, showed the powerful support which he had found in the country. under such circumstances he was to show that it had been impossible for the emperor to decree the ban against him, as the duke of alva had demanded. the archduke was to request the king's consent to the reconciliation of orange, on honorable conditions. he was to demand the substitution of clemency in for severity, and to insist on the recall of the foreign soldiery from the netherlands. furnished with this very warm and stringent letter, the archduke arrived in madrid on the th december, . a few days later he presented the king with a copy of the instructions; those brave words upon which the prince of orange was expected to rely instead of his own brave heart and the stout arms of his followers. philip having examined the letter, expressed his astonishment that such propositions should be made to him, and by the agency, too, of such a personage as the archduke. he had already addressed a letter to the emperor, expressing his dissatisfaction at the step now taken. he had been disturbed at the honor thus done to the prince of orange, and at this interference with his own rights. it was, in his opinion, an unheard-of proceeding thus to address a monarch of his quality upon matters in which he could accept the law from no man. he promised, however, that a written answer should be given to the letter of instructions. on the th of january, , that answer was placed in the hands of the archduke. it was intimated that the paper was a public one, fit to be laid by the emperor, before the electors; but that the king had also caused a confidential one to be prepared, in which his motives and private griefs were indicated to maximilian. in the more public document, philip observed that he had never considered himself obliged to justify his conduct, in his own affairs, to others. he thought, however, that his example of severity would have been received with approbation by princes whose subjects he had thus taught obedience. he could not admit that, on account of the treaties which constituted the netherlands a circle of the empire, he was obliged to observe within their limits the ordinances of the imperial diet. as to the matter of religion, his principal solicitude, since his accession to the crown, had been to maintain the catholic faith throughout all his states. in things sacred he could admit no compromise. the church alone had the right to prescribe rules to the faithful. as to the chastisement inflicted by him upon the netherland rebels, it would be found that he had not used rigor, as had been charged against him, but, on the, contrary, great clemency and gentleness. he had made no change in the government of the provinces, certainly none in the edicts, the only statutes binding upon princes. he had appointed the duke of alva to the regency, because it was his royal will and pleasure so to appoint him. the spanish soldiery were necessary for the thorough chastisement of the rebels, and could not be at present removed. as to the prince of orange, whose case seemed the principal motive for this embassy, and in whose interest so much had been urged, his crimes were so notorious that it was impossible even to attempt to justify them. he had been, in effect, the author of all the conspiracies, tumults, and seditious which had taken place in the netherlands. all the thefts, sacrileges, violations of temples, and other misdeeds of which these provinces had been the theatre, were, with justice, to be imputed to him. he had moreover, levied an army and invaded his majesty's territories. crimes so enormous had closed the gate to all clemency. notwithstanding his respect for the intercession made by the emperor and the princes of the empire, the king could not condescend to grant what was now asked of him in regard to the prince of orange. as to a truce between him and the duke of alva, his imperial majesty ought to reflect upon the difference between a sovereign and his rebellious vassal, and consider how indecent and how prejudicial to the king's honor such a treaty must be esteemed. so far the public letter, of which the archduke was furnished with a copy, both in spanish and in latin. the private memorandum was intended for the emperor's eyes alone and those of his envoy. in this paper the king expressed himself with more warmth and in more decided language. he was astonished, he said, that the prince of orange, in levying an army for the purpose of invading the states of his natural sovereign, should have received so much aid and comfort in germany. it seemed incredible that this could not have been prevented by imperial authority. he had been pained that commissioners had been sent to the prince. he regretted such a demonstration in his favor as had now been made by the mission of the archduke to madrid. that which, however, had caused the king the deepest sorrow was, that his imperial majesty should wish to persuade him in religious matters to proceed with mildness. the emperor ought to be aware that no human consideration, no regard for his realms, nothing in the world which could be represented or risked, would cause him to swerve by a single hair's breadth from his path in the matter of religion. this path was the same throughout all his kingdoms. he had ever trod in it faithfully, and he meant to keep in it perpetually. he would admit neither counsel nor persuasion to the contrary, and should take it ill if counsel or persuasion should be offered. he could not but consider the terms of the instructions given to the archduke as exceeding the limits of amicable suggestion. they in effect amounted to a menace, and he was astonished that a menace should be employed, because, with princes constituted like himself, such means could have but little success. on the rd of january, , the archduke presented the king with a spirited reply to the public letter. it was couched in the spirit of the instructions, and therefore need not be analysed at length. he did not believe that his imperial majesty would admit any justification of the course pursued in the netherlands. the estates of the empire would never allow philip's reasoning concerning the connexion of those countries with the empire, nor that they were independent, except in the particular articles expressed in the treaty of augsburg. in , when charles the fifth and king ferdinand had settled the religious peace, they had been assisted by envoys from the netherlands. the princes of the empire held the ground, therefore, that the religious peace, which alone had saved a vestige of romanism in germany, should of right extend to the provinces. as to the prince of orange, the archduke would have preferred to say nothing more, but the orders of the emperor did not allow him to be silent. it was now necessary to put an end to this state of things in lower germany. the princes of the empire were becoming exasperated. he recalled the dangers of the smalcaldian war--the imminent peril in which the emperor had been placed by the act of a single elector. they who believed that flanders could be governed in the same manner as italy and spain were greatly mistaken, and charles the fifth had always recognised that error. this was the sum and substance of the archduke's mission to madrid, so far as its immediate objects were concerned. in the course, however, of the interview between this personage and philip, the king took occasion to administer a rebuke to his imperial majesty for his general negligence in religious matters. it was a matter which lay at his heart, he said, that the emperor, although, as he doubted not, a christian and catholic prince, was from policy unaccustomed to make those exterior demonstrations which matters of faith required. he therefore begged the archduke to urge this matter upon the attention of his imperial majesty. the emperor, despite this solemn mission, had become more than indifferent before his envoy had reached madrid. for this indifference there were more reasons than one. when the instructions had been drawn up, the death of the queen of spain had not been known in vienna. the archduke had even been charged to inform philip of the approaching marriages of the two archduchesses, that of anne with the king of france, and that of isabella with the king of portugal. a few days later, however, the envoy received letters from the emperor, authorizing him to offer to the bereaved philip the hand of the archduchess anne. [herrera (lib. xv. ) erroneously states that the archduke was, at the outset, charged with these two commissions by the emperor; namely, to negotiate the marriage of the archduchess anne with philip, and to arrange the affairs of the netherlands. on the contrary, he was empowered to offer anne to the king of france, and had already imparted his instructions to that effect to philip, before he received letters from vienna, written after the death of isabella had become known. at another interview, he presented this new matrimonial proposition to philip. these facts are important, for they indicate how completely the objects of the embassy, the commencement of which was so pretentious, were cast aside, that a more advantageous marriage for one of the seven austrian archduchesses might be secured.--compare correspondance de philippe] the king replied to the archduke, when this proposition was made, that if he had regard only to his personal satisfaction, he should remain as he was. as however he had now no son, he was glad that the proposition had been made, and would see how the affair could be arranged with france. thus the ill success of orange in brabant, so disheartening to the german princes most inclined to his cause, and still more the widowhood of philip, had brought a change over the views of maximilian. on the th of january, , three days before his ambassador had entered upon his negotiations, he had accordingly addressed an autograph letter to his catholic majesty. in this epistle, by a few, cold lines, he entirely annihilated any possible effect which might have been produced by the apparent earnestness of his interposition in favor of the netherlands. he informed the king that the archduke had been sent, not to vex him, but to convince him of his friendship. he assured philip that he should be satisfied with his response, whatever it might be. he entreated only that it might be drawn up in such terms that the princes and electors to whom it must be shown, might not be inspired with suspicion. the archduke left madrid on the th of march, . he retired, well pleased with the results of his mission, not because its ostensible objects had been accomplished, for those had signally failed, but because the king had made him a present of one hundred thousand ducats, and had promised to espouse the archduchess anne. on the th of may, , the emperor addressed a final reply to philip, in which he expressly approved the king's justification of his conduct. it was founded, he thought, in reason and equity. nevertheless, it could hardly be shown, as it was, to the princes and electors, and he had therefore modified many points which he thought might prove offensive. thus ended "in smoke," as granvelle had foretold, the famous mission of archduke charles. the holy roman emperor withdrew from his pompous intervention, abashed by a rebuke, but consoled by a promise. if it were good to be guardian of religious freedom in upper and nether germany, it was better to be father-in-law to the king of spain and both the indies. hence the lame and abrupt conclusion. cardinal granvelle had been very serviceable in this juncture. he had written to philip to assure him that, in his, opinion, the netherlands had no claim, under the transaction of augsburg, to require the observance within their territory of the decrees of the empire. he added, that charles the fifth had only agreed to the treaty of passau to save his brother ferdinand from ruin; that he had only consented to it as emperor, and had neither directly nor indirectly included the netherlands within its provisions. he stated, moreover, that the emperor had revoked the treaty by an act which was never published, in consequence of the earnest solicitations of ferdinand. it has been seen that the king had used this opinion of granvelle in the response presented to the archduke. although he did not condescend to an argument, he had laid down the fact as if it were indisputable. he was still more delighted to find that charles had revoked the treaty of passau, and eagerly wrote to granvelle to inquire where the secret instrument was to be found. the cardinal replied that it was probably among his papers at brussels, but that he doubted whether it would be possible to find it in his absence. whether such a document ever existed, it is difficult to say. to perpetrate such a fraud would have been worthy of charles; to fable its perpetration not unworthy of the cardinal. in either case, the transaction was sufficiently high-handed and exceedingly disgraceful. etext editor's bookmarks: age when toleration was a vice an age when to think was a crime business of an officer to fight, of a general to conquer cruelties exercised upon monks and papists for faithful service, evil recompense pathetic dying words of anne boleyn seven spaniards were killed, and seven thousand rebels the calf is fat and must be killed the illness was a convenient one the tragedy of don carlos motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley - [chapter v.] quarrel between alva and queen elizabeth of england--spanish funds seized by the english government--non-intercourse between england and the netherlands--stringent measures against heresy--continued persecution--individual cases--present of hat and sword to alva from the pope--determination of the governor--general to establish a system of arbitrary taxation in the provinces--assembly of estates at brussels--alva's decrees laid before them--the hundredth, tenth, and fifth pence--opposition of viglius to the project--estates of various provinces give a reluctant consent--determined resistance of utrecht--the city and province cited before the blood council-- sentence of confiscation and disfranchisement against both--appeal to the king--difficulty of collecting the new tax--commutation for two years--projects for a pardon-general--growing disfavour of the duke--his desire to resign his post--secret hostility between the governor and viglius--altered sentiments of the president--opinions expressed by granvelle--the pardon pompously proclaimed by the duke at antwerp--character of the amnesty--dissatisfaction of the people with the act--complaints of alva to the king--fortunes and fate of baron montigny in spain--his confinement at segovia--his attempt to escape--its failure--his mock trial--his wife's appeal to philip-- his condemnation--his secret assassination determined upon--its details, as carefully prescribed and superintended by the king-- terrible inundation throughout the netherlands--immense destruction of life and property in friesland--lowestein castle taken by de ruyter, by stratagem--recapture of the place by the spaniards-- desperate resistance and death of de ruyter. it was very soon after the duke's return to brussels that a quarrel between himself and the queen of england took place. it happened thus. certain vessels, bearing roving commissions from the prince of conde, had chased into the ports of england some merchantmen coming from spain with supplies in specie for the spanish army in the netherlands. the trading ships remained in harbor, not daring to leave for their destination, while the privateers remained in a neighbouring port ready to pounce upon them should they put to sea. the commanders of the merchant fleet complained to the spanish ambassador in london. the envoy laid the case before the queen. the queen promised redress, and, almost as soon as the promise had been made, seized upon all the specie in the vessels, amounting to about eight hundred thousand dollars--[ exchange rate]--and appropriated the whole to her own benefit. the pretext for this proceeding was twofold. in the first place, she assured the ambassador that she had taken the money into her possession in order that it might be kept safe for her royal brother of spain. in the second place, she affirmed that the money did not belong to the spanish government at all, but that it was the property of certain genoese merchants, from whom, as she had a right to do, she had borrowed it for a short period. both these positions could hardly be correct, but either furnished an excellent reason for appropriating the funds to her own use. the duke of alva being very much in want of money, was furious when informed of the circumstance. he immediately despatched councillor d'assonleville with other commissioners on a special embassy to the queen of england. his envoys were refused an audience, and the duke was taxed with presumption in venturing, as if he had been a sovereign, to send a legation to a crowned head. no satisfaction was given to alva, but a secret commissioner was despatched to spain to discuss the subject there. the wrath of alva was not appeased by this contemptuous treatment. chagrined at the loss of his funds, and stung to the quick by a rebuke which his arrogance had merited, he resorted to a high-handed measure. he issued a proclamation commanding the personal arrest of every englishman within the territory of the netherlands, and the seizure of every article of property which could be found belonging to individuals of that nation. the queen retaliated by measures of the same severity against netherlanders in england. the duke followed up his blow by a proclamation (of march st, ), in which the grievance was detailed, and strict non-intercourse with england enjoined. while the queen and the viceroy were thus exchanging blows, the real sufferers were, of course, the unfortunate netherlanders. between the upper and nether millstones of elizabeth's rapacity and alva's arrogance, the poor remains of flemish prosperity were well nigh crushed out of existence. proclamations and commissions followed hard upon each other, but it was not till april , that the matter was definitely arranged. before that day arrived, the commerce of the netherlands had suffered, at the lowest computation, a dead loss of two million florins, not a stiver of which was ever reimbursed to the sufferers by the spanish government. meantime, neither in the complacency of his triumph over william of orange, nor in the torrent of his wrath against the english queen, did the duke for a moment lose sight of the chief end of his existence in the netherlands. the gibbet and the stake were loaded with their daily victims. the records of the period are foul with the perpetually renewed barbarities exercised against the new religion. to the magistrates of the different cities were issued fresh instructions, by which all municipal officers were to be guided in the discharge of their great duty. they were especially enjoined by the duke to take heed that catholic midwives, and none other, should be provided for every parish, duly sworn to give notice within twenty-four hours of every birth which occurred, in order that the curate might instantly proceed to baptism. they were also ordered to appoint certain spies who should keep watch at every administration of the sacraments, whether public or private, whether at the altar or at death-beds, and who should report for exemplary punishment (that is to say, death by fire) all persons who made derisive or irreverential gestures, or who did not pay suitable honor to the said sacraments. furthermore, in order that not even death itself should cheat the tyrant of his prey, the same spies were to keep watch at the couch of the dying, and to give immediate notice to government of all persons who should dare to depart this life without previously receiving extreme unction and the holy wafer. the estates of such culprits, it was ordained, should be confiscated, and their bodies dragged to the public place of execution. an affecting case occurred in the north of holland, early in this year, which, for its peculiarity, deserves brief mention. a poor anabaptist, guilty of no crime but his fellowship with a persecuted sect, had been condemned to death. he had made his escape, closely pursued by an officer of justice, across a frozen lake. it was late in the winter, and the ice had become unsound. it trembled and cracked beneath his footsteps, but he reached the shore in safety. the officer was not so fortunate. the ice gave way beneath him, and he sank into the lake, uttering a cry for succor. there were none to hear him, except the fugitive whom he had been hunting. dirk willemzoon, for so was the anabaptist called, instinctively obeying the dictates of a generous nature, returned, crossed the quaking and dangerous ice, at the peril of his life, extended his hand to his enemy, and saved him from certain death. unfortunately for human nature, it cannot be added that the generosity, of, the action was met by a corresponding heroism. the officer was desirous, it is true, of avoiding the responsibility of sacrificing the preserver of his life, but the burgomaster of asperen sternly reminded him to remember his oath. he accordingly arrested the fugitive, who, on the th of may following, was burned to death under the most lingering tortures. almost at the same time four clergymen, the eldest seventy years of age, were executed at the hague, after an imprisonment of three years. all were of blameless lives, having committed no crime save that of having favored the reformation. as they were men of some local eminence, it was determined that they should be executed with solemnity. they were condemned to the flames, and as they were of the ecclesiastical profession, it was necessary before execution that their personal sanctity should be removed. accordingly, on the th may, attired in the gorgeous robes of high mass, they were brought before the bishop of bois le duc. the prelate; with a pair of scissors, cut a lock of hair from each of their heads. he then scraped their crowns and the tips of their fingers with a little silver knife very gently, and without inflicting the least injury. the mystic oil of consecration was thus supposed to be sufficiently removed. the prelate then proceeded to disrobe the victims, saying to each one as he did so, "eximo tibi vestem justitiae, quem volens abjecisti;" to which the oldest pastor, arent dirkzoon, stoutly replied, "imo vestem injustitiae." the bishop having thus completed the solemn farce of desecration, delivered the prisoners to the blood council, begging that they might be handled very gently. three days afterwards they were all executed at the stake, having, however, received the indulgence of being strangled before being thrown into the flames. it was precisely at this moment, while the agents of the duke's government were thus zealously enforcing his decrees, that a special messenger arrived from the pope, bringing as a present to alva a jewelled hat and sword. it was a gift rarely conferred by the church, and never save upon the highest dignitaries, or upon those who had merited her most signal rewards by the most shining exploits in her defence. the duke was requested, in the autograph letter from his holiness which accompanied the presents, "to remember, when he put the hat upon his head, that he was guarded with it as with a helmet of righteousness, and with the shield of god's help, indicating the heavenly crown which was ready for all princes who support the holy church and the roman catholic faith." the motto on the sword ran as follows, "accipe sanctum gladium, menus a deo in quo dejicies adversarios populi mei israel." the viceroy of philip, thus stimulated to persevere in his master's precepts by the vicegerent of christ, was not likely to swerve from his path, nor to flinch from his work. it was beyond the power of man's ingenuity to add any fresh features of horror to the religious persecution under which the provinces were groaning, but a new attack could be made upon the poor remains of their wealth. the duke had been dissatisfied with the results of his financial arrangements. the confiscation of banished and murdered heretics had not proved the inexhaustible mine he had boasted. the stream of gold which was to flow perennially into the spanish coffers, soon ceased to flow at all. this was inevitable. confiscations must, of necessity, offer but a precarious supply to any treasury. it was only the frenzy of an alva which could imagine it possible to derive a permanent revenue from such a source. it was, however, not to be expected that this man, whose tyranny amounted to insanity, could comprehend the intimate connection between the interests of a people and those of its rulers, and he was determined to exhibit; by still more fierce and ludicrous experiments, how easily a great soldier may become a very paltry financier. he had already informed his royal master that, after a very short time, remittances would no longer be necessary from spain to support the expenses of the array and government in the netherlands. he promised, on the contrary, that at least two millions yearly should be furnished by the provinces, over and above the cost of their administration, to enrich the treasury at home. another peru had already been discovered by his ingenuity, and one which was not dependent for its golden fertility on the continuance of that heresy which it was his mission to extirpate. his boast had been much ridiculed in madrid, where he had more enemies than friends, and he was consequently the more eager to convert it into reality. nettled by the laughter with which all his schemes of political economy had been received at home, he was determined to show that his creative statesmanship was no less worthy of homage than his indisputable genius for destruction. his scheme was nothing more than the substitution of an arbitrary system of taxation by the crown, for the legal and constitutional right of the provinces to tax themselves. it was not a very original thought, but it was certainly a bold one. for although a country so prostrate might suffer the imposition of any fresh amount of tyranny, yet it was doubtful whether she had sufficient strength remaining to bear the weight after it had been imposed. it was certain, moreover, that the new system would create a more general outcry than any which had been elicited even by the religious persecution. there were many inhabitants who were earnest and sincere catholics, and who therefore considered themselves safe from the hangman's hands, while there were none who could hope to escape the gripe of the new tax-gatherers. yet the governor was not the man to be daunted by the probable unpopularity of the measure. courage he possessed in more than mortal proportion. he seemed to have set himself to the task of ascertaining the exact capacity of the country for wretchedness. he was resolved accurately to gauge its width and its depth; to know how much of physical and moral misery might be accumulated within its limits, before it should be full to overflowing. every man, woman, and child in the country had been solemnly condemned to death; and arbitrary executions, in pursuance of that sentence, had been daily taking place. millions of property had been confiscated; while the most fortunate and industrious, as well as the bravest of the netherlanders, were wandering penniless in distant lands. still the blows, however recklessly distributed, had not struck every head. the inhabitants had been decimated, not annihilated, and the productive energy of the country, which for centuries had possessed so much vitality, was even yet not totally extinct. in the wreck of their social happiness, in the utter overthrow of their political freedom, they had still preserved the shadow, at least, of one great bulwark against despotism. the king could impose no tax. the "joyeuse entree" of brabant, as well as the constitutions of flanders, holland, utrecht, and all the other provinces, expressly prescribed the manner in which the requisite funds for government should be raised. the sovereign or his stadholder was to appear before the estates in person, and make his request for money. it was for the estates, after consultation with their constituents, to decide whether or not this petition (bede) should be granted, and should a single branch decline compliance, the monarch was to wait with patience for a more favorable moment. such had been the regular practice in the netherlands, nor had the reigning houses often had occasion to accuse the estates of parsimony. it was, however, not wonderful that the duke of alva should be impatient at the continued existence of this provincial privilege. a country of condemned criminals, a nation whose universal neck might at any moment be laid upon the block without ceremony, seemed hardly fit to hold the purse-strings, and to dispense alms to its monarch. the viceroy was impatient at this arrogant vestige of constitutional liberty. moreover, although he had taken from the netherlanders nearly all the attributes of freemen, he was unwilling that they should enjoy the principal privilege of slaves, that of being fed and guarded at their master's expense. he had therefore summoned a general assembly of the provincial estates in brussels, and on the th of march, , had caused the following decrees to be laid before them. a tax of the hundredth penny, or one per cent., was laid upon all property, real and personal, to be collected instantly. this impost, however, was not perpetual, but only to be paid once, unless, of course, it should suit the same arbitrary power by which it was assessed to require it a second time. a tax of the twentieth penny; or five per cent., was laid upon every transfer of real estate. this imposition was perpetual. thirdly, a tag of the tenth penny, or ten per cent., was assessed upon every article of merchandise or personal-property, to be paid as often as it should be sold. this tax was likewise to be perpetual. the consternation in the assembly when these enormous propositions were heard, can be easily imagined. people may differ about religious dogmas. in the most bigoted persecutions there will always be many who, from conscientious although misguided motives, heartily espouse the cause of the bigot. moreover, although resistance to tyranny in matters of faith, is always the most ardent of struggles, and is supported by the most sublime principle in our nature, yet all men are not of the sterner stuff of which martyrs are fashioned. in questions relating to the world above; many may be seduced from their convictions by interest, or forced into apostasy by violence. human nature is often malleable or fusible, where religious interests are concerned, but in affairs material and financial opposition to tyranny is apt to be unanimous. the interests of commerce and manufacture, when brought into conflict with those of religion, had often proved victorious in the netherlands. this new measure, however--this arbitrary and most prodigious system of taxation, struck home to every fireside. no individual, however adroit or time-serving, could parry the blow by which all were crushed. it was most unanswerably maintained in the assembly, that this tenth and twentieth penny would utterly destroy the trade and the manufactures of the country. the hundredth penny, or the one per cent. assessment on all property throughout the land, although a severe subsidy, might be borne with for once. to pay, however, a twentieth part of the full value of a house to the government as often as the house was sold, was a most intolerable imposition. a house might be sold twenty times in a year, and in the course, therefore, of the year be confiscated in its whole value. it amounted either to a prohibition of all transfers of real estate, or to an eventual surrender of its price. as to the tenth penny upon articles of merchandise, to be paid by the vendor at every sale, the scheme was monstrous. all trade and manufactures must, of necessity, expire, at the very first attempt to put it in execution. the same article might be sold ten times in a week, and might therefore pay one hundred per cent. weekly. an article, moreover, was frequently compounded of ten, different articles, each of which might pay one hundred per cent., and therefore the manufactured article, if ten times transferred, one thousand per cent. weekly. quick transfers and unfettered movements being the nerves and muscles of commerce, it was impossible for it long to survive the paralysis of such a tax. the impost could never be collected, and would only produce an entire prostration of industry. it could by no possibility enrich the government. the king could not derive wealth from the ruin of his subjects; yet to establish such a system was the stern and absurd determination of the governor-general. the infantine simplicity of the effort seemed incredible. the ignorance was as sublime as the tyranny. the most lucid arguments and the most earnest remonstrances were all in vain. too opaque to be illumined by a flood of light, too hard to be melted by a nation's tears, the viceroy held calmly to his purpose. to the keen and vivid representations of viglius, who repeatedly exhibited all that was oppressive and all that was impossible in the tax, he answered simply that it was nothing more nor less than the spanish "alcabala," and that he derived , ducats yearly from its imposition in his own city of alva. viglius was upon this occasion in opposition to the duke. it is but justice to state that the learned jurisconsult manfully and repeatedly confronted the wrath of his superior in many a furious discussion in council upon the subject. he had never essayed to snatch one brand from the burning out of the vast holocaust of religious persecution, but he was roused at last by the threatened destruction of all the material interests of the land. he confronted the tyrant with courage, sustained perhaps by the knowledge that the proposed plan was not the king's, but the governor's. he knew that it was openly ridiculed in madrid, and that philip, although he would probably never denounce it in terms, was certainly not eager for its execution. the president enlarged upon the difference which existed between the condition of a sparsely-peopled country of herdsmen and laborers in spain, and the densely-thronged and bustling cities of the netherlands. if the duke collected , ducats yearly from the alcabala in alva, he could only offer him his congratulations, but could not help assuring him that the tax would prove an impossibility in the provinces. to his argument, that the impost would fall with severity not upon the highest nor the lowest classes of society, neither upon the great nobility and clergy nor on the rustic population, but on the merchants and manufacturers, it was answered by the president that it was not desirable to rob saint peter's altar in order to build one to saint paul. it might have been simpler to suggest that the consumer would pay the tax, supposing it were ever paid at all, but the axiom was not so familiar three centuries ago as now. meantime, the report of the deputies to the assembly on their return to their constituents had created the most intense excitement and alarm. petition after petition, report after report, poured in upon the government. there was a cry of despair, and almost of defiance, which had not been elicited by former agonies. to induce, however, a more favorable disposition on the part of the duke, the hundredth penny, once for all, was conceded by the estates. the tenth and twentieth occasioned--severe and protracted struggles, until the various assemblies of the patrimonial provinces, one after another, exhausted, frightened, and hoping that no serious effort would be made to collect the tax, consented, under certain restrictions, to its imposition.--the principal conditions were a protest against the legality of the proceeding, and the provision that the consent of no province should be valid until that of all had been obtained. holland, too, was induced to give in its adhesion, although the city of amsterdam long withheld its consent; but the city and province of utrecht were inexorable. they offered a handsome sum in commutation, increasing the sum first proposed from , to , florins, but they resolutely refused to be saddled with this permanent tax. their stout resistance was destined to cost them dear. in the course of a few months alva, finding them still resolute in their refusal, quartered the regiment of lombardy upon them, and employed other coercive measures to bring them to reason. the rude, insolent, unpaid and therefore insubordinate soldiery were billeted in every house in the city, so that the insults which the population were made to suffer by the intrusion of these ruffians at their firesides would soon, it was thought, compel the assent of the province to the tax. it was not so, however. the city and the province remained stanch in their opposition. accordingly, at the close of the year ( th. december, ) the estates were summoned to appear within fourteen days before the blood council. at the appointed time the procureur-general was ready with an act of accusation, accompanied, as was usually the case, with a simultaneous sentence of condemnation. the indictment revived and recapitulated all previous offences committed in the city and the province, particularly during the troubles of , and at the epoch of the treaty with duchess margaret. the inhabitants and the magistrates, both in their individual and public capacities, were condemned for heresy, rebellion, and misprision. the city and province were accordingly pronounced guilty of high treason, were deprived of all their charters, laws, privileges, freedoms, and customs, and were declared to have forfeited all their property, real and personal, together with all tolls, rents, excises, and imposts, the whole being confiscated to the benefit of his majesty. the immediate execution of the sentence was, however, suspended, to allow the estates opportunity to reply. an enormous mass of pleadings, replies, replications, rejoinders, and apostilles was the result, which few eyes were destined to read, and least of all those to whom they were nominally addressed. they were of benefit to none save in the shape of fees which they engendered to the gentlemen of the robe. it was six months, however, before the case was closed. as there was no blood to be shed, a summary process was not considered necessary. at last, on the th july, the voluminous pile of documents was placed before vargas. it was the first time he had laid eyes upon them, and they were, moreover, written in a language of which he did not understand a word. such, however, was his capacity for affairs, that a glance only at the outside of the case enabled him to form his decision. within half an hour afterwards, booted and spurred, he was saying mass in the church of saint gudule, on his way to pronounce sentence at antwerp. that judgment was rendered the same day, and confirmed the preceding act of condemnation. vargas went to his task as cheerfully as if it had been murder. the act of outlawry and beggary was fulminated against the city and province, and a handsome amount of misery for others, and of plunder for himself, was the result of his promptness. many thousand citizens were ruined, many millions of property confiscated. thus was utrecht deprived of all its ancient liberties, as a punishment for having dared to maintain them. the clergy, too, of the province, having invoked the bull "in coena domini," by which clerical property was declared exempt from taxation, had excited the wrath of the duke. to wield so slight a bulrush against the man who had just been girded with the consecrated and jewelled sword of the pope, was indeed but a feeble attempt at defence. alva treated the coena domini with contempt, but he imprisoned the printer who had dared to-republish it at this juncture. finding, moreover, that it had been put in press by the orders of no less a person than secretary la torre, he threw that officer also into prison, besides suspending him from his functions for a year. the estates of the province and the magistracy of the city appealed to his majesty from the decision of the duke. the case did not directly concern the interests of religion, for although the heretical troubles of furnished the nominal motives of the condemnation, the resistance to the tenth and twentieth penny was the real crime for which they were suffering. the king, therefore, although far from clement, was not extremely rigorous. he refused the object of the appeal, but he did not put the envoys to death by whom it was brought to madrid. this would have certainly been the case in matters strictly religious, or even had the commissioners arrived two years before, but even philip believed, perhaps, that for the moment almost enough innocent blood had been shed. at any rate he suffered the legates from utrecht to return, not with their petition, granted, but at least with their heads upon their shoulders. early in the following year, the provinces still remaining under martial law, all the utrecht charters were taken into the possession of government, and deposited in the castle of vredenberg. it was not till after the departure of alva, that they were restored; according to royal command, by the new governor, requesens. by the middle of the year , alva wrote to the king, with great cheerfulness of tone, announcing that the estates of the provinces had all consented to the tax. he congratulated his majesty upon the fact that this income might thenceforth be enjoyed in perpetuity, and that it would bring at least two millions yearly into his coffers, over and above the expenses of government. the hundredth penny, as he calculated, would amount to at least five millions. he was, however, very premature in his triumph, for the estates were not long in withdrawing a concession which had either been wrung from them by violence or filched from them by misrepresentation. taking the ground that the assent of all had been stipulated before that of any one should be esteemed valid, every province now refused to enforce or to permit the collection of the tenth or the twentieth penny within their limits. dire were the threatenings and the wrath of the viceroy, painfully protracted the renewed negotiations with the estates. at last, a compromise was effected, and the final struggle postponed. late in the summer it was agreed that the provinces should pay two millions yearly for the two following years, the term to expire in the month of august, . till that period, therefore, there was comparative repose upon the subject. the question of a general pardon had been agitated for more than a year, both in brussels and madrid. viglius, who knew his countrymen better than the viceroy knew them, had written frequently to his friend hopper, on the propriety of at once proclaiming an amnesty. there had also been many conferences between himself and the duke of alva, and he had furnished more than one draught for the proposed measure. the president knew full well that the point had been reached beyond which the force of tyranny could go no further. all additional pressure, he felt sure, could only produce reaction, the effect of which might be to drive the spaniards from the netherlands. there might then be another game to play. the heads of those who had so assiduously served the government throughout its terrible career might, in their turn, be brought to the block, and their estates be made to enrich the treasury. moreover, there were symptoms that alva's favor was on the wane. the king had not been remarkably struck with the merits of the new financial measures, and had expressed much, anxiety lest the trade of the country should suffer. the duke was known to be desirous of his recal. his health was broken, he felt that he was bitterly detested throughout the country, and he was certain that his enemies at madrid were fast undermining his credit. he seemed also to have a dim suspicion that his mission was accomplished in the netherlands; that as much blood had been shed at present as the land could easily absorb. he wrote urgently and even piteously to philip, on the subject of his return. "were your majesty only pleased to take me from this country," he said, "i should esteem it as great a favor as if your majesty had given me life." he swore "by the soul of the duchess," that he "would rather be cut into little pieces" than retire from his post were his presence necessary, but he expressed the opinion that through his exertions affairs had been placed in such train that they were sure to roll on smoothly to the end of time. "at present, and for the future," he wrote, "your majesty is and will be more strictly obeyed than any of your predecessors;" adding, with insane self-complacency, "and all this has been accomplished without violence." he also assured his majesty as to the prosperous condition of financial affairs. his tax was to work wonders. he had conversed with capitalists who had offered him four millions yearly for the tenth penny, but he had refused, because he estimated the product at a much higher figure. the hundredth penny could not be rated lower than five millions. it was obvious, therefore, that instead of remitting funds to the provinces, his majesty would, for the future, derive from them a steady and enormous income. moreover, he assured the king that there was at present no one to inspire anxiety from within or without. the only great noble of note in the country was the duke of aerschot, who was devoted to his majesty, and who, moreover, "amounted to very little," as the king well knew. as for the prince of orange, he would have business enough in keeping out of the clutches of his creditors. they had nothing to fear from germany. england would do nothing as long as germany was quiet; and france was sunk too low to be feared at all. such being the sentiments of the duke, the king was already considering the propriety of appointing his successor. all this was known to the president. he felt instinctively that more clemency was to be expected from that successor, whoever he might be; and he was satisfied, therefore, that he would at least not be injuring his own position by inclining at this late hour to the side of mercy. his opposition to the tenth and twentieth penny had already established a breach between himself and the viceroy, but he felt secretly comforted by the reflection that the king was probably on the same side with himself. alva still spoke of him, to be sure, both in public and private, with approbation; taking occasion to commend him frequently, in his private letters, as a servant upright and zealous, as a living register, without whose universal knowledge of things and persons he should hardly know which way to turn. the president, however, was growing weary of his own sycophancy. he begged his friend joachim to take his part, if his excellency should write unfavorably about his conduct to the king. he seemed to have changed his views of the man concerning whose "prudence and gentleness" he could once turn so many fine periods. he even expressed some anxiety lest doubts should begin to be entertained as to the perfect clemency of the king's character. "here is so much confiscation and bloodshed going on," said he, "that some taint of cruelty or avarice may chance to bespatter the robe of his majesty." he also confessed that he had occasionally read in history of greater benignity than was now exercised against the poor netherlanders. had the learned frisian arrived at these humane conclusions at a somewhat earlier day, it might perhaps have been better for himself and for his fatherland. had he served his country as faithfully as he had served time, and philip, and alva, his lands would not have been so broad, nor his dignities so numerous, but he would not have been obliged, in his old age; to exclaim, with whimsical petulance, that "the faithful servant is always a perpetual ass." it was now certain that an act of amnesty was in contemplation by the king. viglius had furnished several plans, which, however, had been so much disfigured by the numerous exceptions suggested by alva, that the president could scarce recognize his work. granvelle, too, had frequently urged the pardon on the attention of philip. the cardinal was too astute not to perceive that the time had arrived when a continued severity could only defeat its own work. he felt that the country could not be rendered more abject, the spirit of patriotism more apparently extinct. a show of clemency, which would now cost nothing, and would mean nothing, might be more effective than this profuse and wanton bloodshed. he saw plainly that the brutality of alva had already overshot the mark. too politic, however, openly to reprove so powerful a functionary, he continued to speak of him and of his administration to philip in terms of exalted eulogy. he was a "sage seignior," a prudent governor, one on whom his majesty could entirely repose. he was a man of long experience, trained all his life to affairs, and perfectly capable of giving a good account of everything to which he turned his hands. he admitted, however, to other correspondents, that the administration of the sage seignior, on whom his majesty could so implicitly rely, had at last "brought that provinces into a deplorable condition." four different forms of pardon had been sent from madrid, toward the close of . from these four the duke was to select one, and carefully to destroy the other three. it was not, however, till july of the following year that the choice was made, and the viceroy in readiness to announce the pardon. on the th of that month a great festival was held at antwerp, for the purpose of solemnly proclaiming the long expected amnesty. in the morning, the duke, accompanied by a brilliant staff, and by a long procession of clergy in their gorgeous robes, paraded through the streets of the commercial capital, to offer up prayers and hear mass in the cathedral. the bishop of arras then began a sermon upon the blessings of mercy, with a running commentary upon the royal clemency about to be exhibited. in the very outset, however, of his discourse, he was seized with convulsions, which required his removal from the pulpit; an incident which was not considered of felicitous augury. in the afternoon, the duke with his suite appeared upon the square in front of the town house. here a large scaffolding or theatre had been erected. the platform and the steps which led to it were covered with scarlet cloth. a throne, covered with cloth of gold, was arranged in the most elevated position for the duke. on the steps immediately below him were placed two of the most beautiful women in antwerp, clad in allegorical garments to represent righteousness and peace. the staircase and platform were lined with officers, the square was beset with troops, and filled to its utmost verge with an expectant crowd of citizens. toward the close of a summer's afternoon, the duke wearing the famous hat and sword of the pope, took his seat on the throne with all the airs of royalty. after a few preliminary ceremonies, a civil functionary, standing between two heralds; then recited the long-expected act of grace. his reading, however, was so indistinct, that few save the soldiers in the immediate vicinity of the platform could hear a word of the document. this effect was, perhaps, intentional. certainly but little enthusiasm could be expected from the crowd, had the text of the amnesty been heard. it consisted of three parts--a recitation of the wrongs committed, a statement of the terms of pardon, and a long list of exceptions. all the sins of omission and commission, the heresy, the public preaching, the image-breaking, the compromise, the confederacy, the rebellion, were painted in lively colors. pardon, however, was offered to all those who had not rendered themselves liable to positive impeachment, in case they should make their peace with the church before the expiration of two months, and by confession and repentance obtain their absolution. the exceptions, however, occupied the greater part of the document. when the general act of condemnation had been fulminated by which all netherlanders were sentenced to death, the exceptions had been very few, and all the individuals mentioned by name. in the act of pardon, the exceptions comprehended so many classes of inhabitants, that it was impossible for any individual to escape a place in, some one of the categories, whenever it should please the government to take his life. expressly excluded from the benefit of the act were all ministers, teachers, dogmatizers, and all who had favored and harbored such dogmatizers and preachers; all those in the least degree implicated in the image-breaking; all who had ever been individually suspected of heresy or schism; all who had ever signed or favored the compromise or the petition to the regent; all those who had taken up arms, contributed money, distributed tracts; all those in any manner chargeable with misprision, or who had failed to denounce those guilty of heresy. all persons, however, who were included in any of these classes of exceptions might report themselves within six months, when, upon confession of their crime, they might hope for a favorable consideration of their case. such, in brief, and stripped of its verbiage, was this amnesty for which the netherlands had so long been hoping. by its provisions, not a man or woman was pardoned who had ever committed a fault. the innocent alone were forgiven. even they were not sure of mercy, unless they should obtain full absolution from the pope. more certainly than ever would the accustomed rigor be dealt to all who had committed any of those positive acts for which so many had already lost their heads. the clause by which a possibility of pardon was hinted to such criminals, provided they would confess and surrender, was justly regarded as a trap. no one was deceived by it. no man, after the experience of the last three years; would voluntarily thrust his head into the lion's mouth, in order to fix it more firmly upon his shoulders. no man who had effected his escape was likely to play informer against himself, in hope of obtaining a pardon from which all but the most sincere and zealous catholics were in reality excepted. the murmur and discontent were universal, therefore, as soon as the terms of the act became known. alva wrote to the king, to be sure, "that the people were entirely satisfied, save only the demagogues, who could tolerate no single exception from the amnesty; but he could neither deceive his sovereign nor himself by such statements." certainly, philip was totally disappointed in the effect which he had anticipated from the measure. he had thought "it would stop the mouths of many people." on the contrary, every mouth in the netherlands became vociferous to denounce the hypocrisy by which a new act of condemnation had been promulgated under the name of a pardon. viglius, who had drawn up an instrument of much ampler clemency, was far from satisfied with the measure which had been adopted. "certainly," he wrote to his confidant, "a more benignant measure was to be expected from so merciful a prince. after four years have past, to reserve for punishment and for execution all those who during the tumult did not, through weakness of mind, render as much service to government as brave men might have offered, is altogether unexampled." alva could not long affect to believe in the people's satisfaction. he soon wrote to the king, acknowledging that the impression produced by the pardon was far from favorable. he attributed much evil effect to the severe censure which was openly pronounced upon the act by members of the government, both in spain and the netherlands. he complained that hopper had written to viglius, that "the most severe of the four forms of pardon transmitted had been selected;" the fact being, that the most lenient one had been adopted. if this were so, whose imagination is powerful enough to portray the three which had been burned, and which, although more severe than the fierce document promulgated, were still entitled acts of pardon? the duke spoke bitterly of the manner in which influential persons in madrid had openly abominated the cruel form of amnesty which had been decreed. his authority in the netherlands was already sufficiently weakened, he said, and such censure upon his actions from head-quarters did not tend to improve it. "in truth," he added, almost pathetically, "it is not wonderful that the whole nation should be ill-disposed towards me, for i certainly have done nothing to make them love me. at the same time, such language transmitted from madrid does not increase their tenderness." in short, viewed as a measure by which government, without disarming itself of its terrible powers, was to pacify the popular mind, the amnesty was a failure. viewed as a net, by which fresh victims should be enticed to entangle themselves, who had already made their way into the distant atmosphere of liberty, it was equally unsuccessful. a few very obscure individuals made their appearance to claim the benefit of the act, before the six months had expired. with these it was thought expedient to deal gently; but no one was deceived by such clemency. as the common people expressed themselves, the net was not spread on that occasion for finches. the wits of the netherlands, seeking relief from their wretched condition in a still more wretched quibble, transposed two letters of the word pardona, and re-baptized the new measure pandora. the conceit was not without meaning. the amnesty, descending from supernal regions, had been ushered into the presence of mortals as a messenger laden with heavenly gifts. the casket, when opened, had diffused curses instead of blessings. there, however, the classical analogy ended, for it would have puzzled all the pedants of louvain to discover hope lurking, under any disguise, within the clauses of the pardon. very soon after the promulgation of this celebrated act, the new bride of philip, anne of austria, passed through the netherlands, on her way to madrid. during her brief stay in brussels, she granted an interview to the dowager countess of horn. that unhappy lady, having seen her eldest son, the head of her illustrious house, so recently perish on the scaffold, wished to make a last effort in behalf of the remaining one, then closely confined in the prison of segovia. the archduchess solemnly promised that his release should be the first boon which she would request of her royal bridegroom, and the bereaved countess retired almost with a hope. a short digression must here be allowed, to narrate the remaining fortunes of that son, the ill-starred seigneur de montigny. his mission to madrid in company of the marquis berghen has been related in a previous volume. the last and most melancholy scene in the life of his fellow envoy has been described in a recent chapter. after that ominous event, montigny became most anxious to effect his retreat from spain. he had been separated more than a year from his few months' bride. he was not imprisoned, but he felt himself under the most rigid although secret inspection. it was utterly impossible for him to obtain leave to return, or to take his departure without permission. on one occasion, having left the city accidentally for a ride on horseback to an adjoining village, he found himself surrounded by an unexpected escort of forty troopers. still, however, the king retained a smiling mien. to montigny's repeated and urgent requests for dismissal, philip graciously urged his desire for a continuance of his visit. he was requested to remain in order to accompany his sovereign upon that journey to the netherlands which would not be much longer delayed. in his impatience anything seemed preferable to the state of suspense in which he was made to linger. he eagerly offered, if he were accused or suspected of crime, to surrender himself to imprisonment if he only could be brought to trial. soon after alva's arrival in the netherlands, the first part of this offer was accepted. no sooner were the arrests of egmont and horn known in madrid, than montigny was deprived of his liberty, and closely confined in the alcazar of segovia. here he remained imprisoned for eight or nine months in a high tower, with no attendant save a young page, arthur de munter, who had accompanied him from the netherlands. eight men-at-arms were expressly employed to watch over him and to prevent his escape. one day towards the middle of july, , a band of pilgrims, some of them in flemish attire, went through the streets of segovia. they were chanting, as was customary on such occasions, a low, monotonous song, in which montigny, who happened to be listening, suddenly recognized the language of his fatherland. his surprise was still greater when, upon paying closer attention, he distinguished the terrible meaning of the song. the pretended pilgrims, having no other means of communication with the prisoner, were singing for his information the tragic fates of his brother, count horn, and of his friend, count egmont. mingled with the strain were warnings of his own approaching doom; if he were not able to effect his escape before it should be too late. thus by this friendly masquerade did montigny learn the fate of his brother, which otherwise, in that land of terrible secrecy, might have been concealed from him for ever. the hint as to his own preservation was not lost upon him; and he at once set about a plan of escape. he succeeded in gaining over to his interests one of the eight soldiers by whom he was guarded, and he was thus enabled to communicate with many of his own adherents without the prison walls. his major-domo had previously been permitted to furnish his master's table with provisions dressed by his own cook. a correspondence was now carried on by means of letters concealed within the loaves of bread sent daily to the prisoner. in the same way files were provided for sawing through his window-bars. a very delicate ladder of ropes, by which he was to effect his escape into the court below, was also transmitted. the plan had been completely arranged. a certain pole employed in the enterprise was to be at hernani, with horses in readiness to convey them to san sebastian. there a sloop had been engaged, and was waiting their arrival. montigny, accordingly, in a letter enclosed within a loaf of bread--the last, as he hoped, which he should break in prison--was instructed, after cutting off his beard and otherwise disguising his person, to execute his plan and join his confederates at hernani. unfortunately, the major-domo of montigny was in love. upon the eve of departure from spain, his farewell interview with his mistress was so much protracted that the care of sending the bread was left to another. the substitute managed so unskilfully that the loaf was brought to the commandant of the castle, and not to the prisoner. the commandant broke the bread, discovered the letter, and became master of the whole plot. all persons engaged in the enterprise were immediately condemned to death, and the spanish soldier executed without delay. the others being considered, on account of their loyalty to their master as deserving a commutation of punishment, were sent to the galleys. the major-domo, whose ill-timed gallantry had thus cost montigny his liberty, received two hundred lashes in addition. all, however, were eventually released from imprisonment. the unfortunate gentleman was now kept in still closer confinement in his lonely tower. as all his adherents had been disposed of, he could no longer entertain a hope of escape. in the autumn of this year ( ) it was thought expedient by alva to bring his case formally before the blood council. montigny had committed no crime, but he was one of that band of popular, nobles whose deaths had been long decreed. letters were accordingly sent to spain, empowering certain functionaries there to institute that preliminary examination, which, as usual, was to be the only trial vouchsafed. a long list of interrogatories was addressed to him on february th, , in his prison at segovia. a week afterwards, he was again visited by the alcalde, who read over to him the answers which he had made on the first occasion, and required him to confirm them. he was then directed to send his procuration to certain persons in the netherlands, whom he might wish to appear in his behalf. montigny complied by sending several names, with a clause of substitution. all the persons thus appointed, however, declined to act, unless they could be furnished with a copy of the procuration, and with a statement of the articles of accusation. this was positively refused by the blood council. seeing no possibility of rendering service to their friend by performing any part in this mockery of justice, they refused to accept the procuration. they could not defend a case when not only the testimony, but even the charges against the accused were kept secret. an individual was accordingly appointed by government to appear in the prisoner's behalf. thus the forms of justice were observed, and montigny, a close prisoner in the tower of segovia, was put upon trial for his life in brussels. certainly nothing could exceed the irony of such a process. the advocate had never seen his client, thousands of miles away, and was allowed to hold no communication with him by letter. the proceedings were instituted by a summons, addressed by the duke of alva to madame de montigny in brussels. that unhappy lady could only appeal to the king. "convinced," she said, "that her husband was innocent of the charges brought against him, she threw herself, overwhelmed and consumed by tears and misery, at his majesty's feet. she begged the king to remember the past services of montigny, her own youth, and that she had enjoyed his company but four months. by all these considerations, and by the passion of jesus christ, she adjured the monarch to pardon any faults which her husband might have committed." the reader can easily judge how much effect such a tender appeal was like to have upon the heart of philip. from that rock; thus feebly smitten, there flowed no fountain of mercy. it was not more certain that montigny's answers to the interrogatories addressed to him had created a triumphant vindication of his course, than that such vindication would be utterly powerless to save his life. the charges preferred against him were similar to those which had brought egmont and horn to the block, and it certainly created no ground of hope for him, that he could prove himself even more innocent of suspicious conduct than they had done. on the th march, , accordingly, the duke of alva pronounced sentence against him. the sentence declared that his head should be cut off, and afterwards exposed to public view upon the head of a pike. upon the th march, , the duke addressed a requisitory letter to the alcaldes, corregidors, and other judges of castile, empowering them to carry the sentence into execution. on the arrival of this requisition there was a serious debate before the king in council. it seemed to be the general opinion that there had been almost severity enough in the netherlands for the present. the spectacle of the public execution of another distinguished personage, it was thought, might now prove more irritating than salutary. the king was of this opinion himself. it certainly did not occur to him or to his advisers that this consideration should lead them to spare the life of an innocent man. the doubts entertained as to the expediency of a fresh murder were not allowed to benefit the prisoner, who, besides being a loyal subject and a communicant of the ancient church, was also clothed in the white robes of an envoy, claiming not only justice but hospitality, as the deputy of philip's sister, margaret of parma. these considerations probably never occurred to the mind of his majesty. in view, however, of the peculiar circumstances of the case, it was unanimously agreed that there should be no more blood publicly shed. most of the councillors were in favor of slow poison. montigny's meat and drink, they said, should be daily drugged, so that he might die by little and little. philip, however, terminated these disquisitions by deciding that the ends of justice would not thus be sufficiently answered. the prisoner, he had resolved, should be regularly executed, but the deed should be secret, and it should be publicly announced that he had died of a fever. this point having been settled; the king now set about the arrangement of his plan with all that close attention to detail which marked his character. the patient industry which, had god given him a human heart and a love of right, might have made him a useful monarch, he now devoted to a scheme of midnight murder with a tranquil sense of enjoyment which seems almost incredible. there is no exaggeration in calling the deed a murder, for it certainly was not sanctioned by any law, divine or human, nor justified or excused by any of the circumstances which are supposed to palliate homicide. nor, when the elaborate and superfluous luxury of arrangements made by philip for the accomplishment of his design is considered, can it be doubted that he found a positive pleasure in his task. it would almost seem that he had become jealous of alva's achievements in the work of slaughter. he appeared willing to prove to those immediately about him, that however capable might be the viceroy of conducting public executions on a grand and terrifying scale, there was yet a certain delicacy of finish never attained by alva in such business, and which was all his majesty's own. the king was resolved to make the assassination of montigny a masterpiece. on the th august, , he accordingly directed don eugenio de peralta, concierge of the fortress of simancas, to repair to segovia, and thence to remove the seigneur montigny to simancas. here he was to be strictly immured; yet was to be allowed at times to walk in the corridor adjoining his chamber. on the th october following, the licentiate don alonzo de avellano, alcalde of valladolid, was furnished with an order addressed by the king to don eugenio de peralta, requiring him to place the prisoner in the hands of the said licentiate, who was charged with the execution of alva's sentence. this functionary had, moreover, been provided with a minute letter of instructions, which had been drawn up according to the king's directions, on the st october. in these royal instructions, it was stated that, although the sentence was for a public execution, yet the king had decided in favor of a private one within the walls of the fortress. it was to be managed so that no one should suspect that montigny had been executed, but so that, on the contrary, it should be universally said and believed that he had died a natural death. very few persons, all sworn and threatened into secrecy, were therefore to be employed. don alonzo was to start immediately for valladolid; which was within two short leagues of simancas. at that place he would communicate with don eugenio, and arrange the mode, day, and hour of execution. he would leave valladolid on the evening before a holiday, late in the afternoon, so as to arrive a little after dark at simancas. he would take with him a confidential notary, an executioner, and as few servants as possible. immediately upon his entrance to the fortress, he was to communicate the sentence of death to montigny, in presence of don eugenio and of one or two other persons. he would then console him, in which task he would be assisted by don eugenio. he would afterwards leave him with the religious person who would be appointed for that purpose. that night and the whole of the following day, which would be a festival, till after midnight, would be allotted to montigny, that he might have time to confess, to receive the sacraments, to convert himself to god, and to repent. between one and two o'clock in the morning the execution was to take place, in presence of the ecclesiastic, of don eugenio de peralta, of the notary, and of one or two other persons, who would be needed by the executioner. the ecclesiastic was to be a wise and prudent person, and to be informed how little confidence montigny inspired in the article of faith. if the prisoner should wish to make a will, it could not be permitted. as all his property had been confiscated, he could dispose of nothing. should he, however, desire to make a memorial of the debts which he would wish paid; he was to be allowed that liberty. it was, however, to be stipulated that he was to make no allusion, in any memorial or letter which he might write, to the execution which was about to take place. he was to use the language of a man seriously ill, and who feels himself at the point of death. by this infernal ingenuity it was proposed to make the victim an accomplice in the plot, and to place a false exculpation of his assassins in his dying lips. the execution having been fulfilled, and the death having been announced with the dissimulation prescribed, the burial was to take place in the church of saint saviour, in simancas. a moderate degree of pomp, such as befitted a person of montigny's quality, was to be allowed, and a decent tomb erected. a grand mass was also to be celebrated, with a respectable number, "say seven hundred," of lesser masses. as the servants of the defunct were few in number, continued the frugal king, they might be provided each with a suit of mourning. having thus personally arranged all the details of this secret work, from the reading of the sentence to the burial of the prisoner; having settled not only the mode of his departure from life, but of his passage through purgatory, the king despatched the agent on his mission. the royal program was faithfully enacted. don alonzo arrived at valladolid; and made his arrangements with don eugenio. it was agreed that a paper, prepared by royal authority, and brought by don alonzo from madrid, should be thrown into the corridor of montigny's prison. this paper, written in latin, ran as follows: "in the night, as i understand, there will be no chance for your escape. in the daytime there will be many; for you are then in charge of a single gouty guardian, no match in strength or speed for so vigorous a man as you. make your escape from the th to the th of october, at any hour you can, and take the road contiguous to the castle gate through which you entered. you will find robert and john, who will be ready with horses, and with everything necessary. may god favor your undertaking.--r. d. m." the letter, thus designedly thrown into the corridor by one confederate, was soon afterwards picked up by the other, who immediately taxed montigny with an attempt to escape. notwithstanding the vehement protestations of innocence naturally made by the prisoner, his pretended project was made the pretext for a still closer imprisonment in the "bishop's tower." a letter, written at madrid, by philip's orders, had been brought by don alonzo to simancas, narrating by anticipation these circumstances, precisely as they had now occurred. it moreover stated that montigny, in consequence of his close confinement, had fallen grievously ill, and that he would receive all the attention compatible with his safe keeping. this letter, according to previous orders, was now signed by don eugenio de peralta, dated th october, ; and publicly despatched to philip. it was thus formally established that montigny was seriously ill. a physician, thoroughly instructed and sworn to secrecy, was now ostentatiously admitted to the tower, bringing with him a vast quantity of drugs. he duly circulated among the townspeople, on his return, his opinion that the illustrious prisoner was afflicted with a disorder from which it was almost impossible that he should recover. thus, thanks to philip's masterly precautions, not a person in madrid or simancas was ignorant that montigny was dying of a fever, with the single exception of the patient himself. on saturday, the th of october, at nightfall, don alonzo de avellano, accompanied by the prescribed individuals, including fray hernando del, castillo, an ecclesiastic of high reputation, made their appearance at the prison of simancas. at ten in the evening the announcement of the sentence was made to montigny. he was visibly agitated at the sudden intelligence, for it was entirely unexpected by him. he had, on the contrary, hoped much from the intercession of, the queen, whose arrival he had already learned. he soon recovered himself, however, and requested to be left alone with the ecclesiastic. all the night and the following day were passed in holy offices. he conducted himself with great moderation, courage, and tranquillity. he protested his entire innocence of any complicity with the prince of orange, or of any disloyal designs or sentiments at any period of his life. he drew up a memorial, expressing his strong attachment to every point of the catholic faith, from which he had never for an instant swerved. his whole demeanor was noble, submissive, and christian. "in every essential," said fray hernando, "he conducted himself so well that we who remain may bear him envy." he wrote a paper of instructions concerning his faithful and bereaved dependents. he placed his signet ring, attached to a small gold chain, in the hands of the ecclesiastic, to be by him transmitted to his wife. another ring, set with turquois, he sent to his mother-in-law, the princess espinoy, from whom he had received it. about an hour after midnight, on the morning, therefore, of the th of october, fray hernando gave notice that the prisoner was ready to die. the alcalde don alonzo then entered, accompanied by the executioner and the notary. the sentence of alva was now again recited, the alcalde adding that the king, "out of his clemency and benignity," had substituted a secret for a public execution. montigny admitted that the judgment would be just and the punishment lenient, if it were conceded that the charges against him were true. his enemies, however, while he had been thus immured, had possessed the power to accuse him as they listed. he ceased to speak, and the executioner then came forward and strangled him. the alcalde, the notary, and the executioner then immediately started for valladolid, so that no person next morning knew that they had been that night at simancas, nor could guess the dark deed which they had then and there accomplished. the terrible, secret they were forbidden, on pain of death, to reveal. montigny, immediately after his death, was clothed in the habit of saint francis, in order to conceal the marks of strangulation. in the course of the day the body was deposited, according to the king's previous orders, in the church of saint saviour. don eugenio de peralta, who superintended the interment, uncovered the face of the defunct to prove his identity, which was instantly recognised by many sorrowing servants. the next morning the second letter, prepared by philip long before, and brought by don alonzo de avellano to simancas, received the date of th october, , together with the signature of don eugenio de peralta, keeper of simancas fortress, and was then publicly despatched to the king. it stated that, notwithstanding the care given to the seigneur de montigny in his severe illness by the physicians who had attended him, he had continued to grow worse and worse until the previous morning between three and four o'clock, when he had expired. the fray hernando del castillo, who had accidentally happened to be at simancas, had performed the holy offices, at the request of the deceased, who had died in so catholic a frame of mind, that great hopes might be entertained of his salvation. although he possessed no property, yet his burial had been conducted very respectably. on the rd of november, , these two letters, ostensibly written by don eugenio de peralta, were transmitted by philip to the duke of alva. they were to serve as evidence of the statement which the governor-general was now instructed to make, that the seigneur de montigny had died a natural death in the fortress of simancas. by the same courier, the king likewise forwarded a secret memoir, containing the exact history of the dark transaction, from which memoir the foregoing account has been prepared. at the same time the duke was instructed publicly to exhibit the lying letters of don eugenio de peralta, as containing an authentic statement of the affair. the king observed, moreover, in his letter, that there was not a person in spain who doubted that montigny had died of a fever. he added that if the sentiments of the deceased nobleman had been at all in conformity with his external manifestations, according to the accounts received of his last moments, it was to be hoped that god would have mercy upon his soul. the secretary who copied the letter, took the liberty of adding, however, to this paragraph the suggestion, that "if montigny were really a heretic, the devil, who always assists his children in such moments, would hardly have failed him in his dying hour." philip, displeased with this flippancy, caused the passage to be erased. he even gave vent to his royal indignation in a marginal note, to the effect that we should always express favorable judgments concerning the dead--a pious sentiment always dearer to writing masters than to historians. it seemed never to have occurred however to this remarkable moralist, that it was quite as reprehensible to strangle an innocent man as to speak ill of him after his decease. thus perished baron montigny, four years after his arrival in madrid as duchess margaret's ambassador, and three years after the death of his fellow-envoy marquis berghen. no apology is necessary for so detailed an account of this dark and secret tragedy. the great transactions of a reign are sometimes paltry things; great battles and great treaties, after vast consumption of life and of breath, often leave the world where they found it. the events which occupy many of the statelier pages of history, and which have most lived in the mouths of men, frequently contain but commonplace lessons of philosophy. it is perhaps otherwise when, by the resuscitation of secret documents, over which the dust of three centuries has gathered, we are enabled to study the internal working of a system of perfect tyranny. liberal institutions, republican or constitutional governments, move in the daylight; we see their mode of operation, feel the jar of their wheels, and are often needlessly alarmed at their apparent tendencies. the reverse of the picture is not always so easily attainable. when, therefore, we find a careful portrait of a consummate tyrant, painted by his own hand, it is worth our while to pause for a moment, that we may carefully peruse the lineaments. certainly, we shall afterwards not love liberty the less. towards the end of the year , still another and a terrible misfortune descended upon the netherlands. it was now the hand of god which smote the unhappy country, already so tortured by the cruelty of war. an inundation, more tremendous than any which had yet been recorded in those annals so prolific in such catastrophes, now swept the whole coast from flanders to friesland. not the memorable deluge of the thirteenth century, out of which the zuyder zee was born; not that in which the waters of the dollart had closed for ever over the villages and churches of groningen; not one of those perpetually recurring floods by which the inhabitants of the netherlands, year after year, were recalled to an anxious remembrance of the watery chaos out of which their fatherland had been created, and into which it was in daily danger of resolving itself again, had excited so much terror and caused so much destruction. a continued and violent gale from the north-west had long been sweeping the atlantic waters into the north sea, and had now piled them upon the fragile coasts of the provinces. the dykes, tasked beyond their strength, burst in every direction. the cities of flanders, to a considerable distance inland, were suddenly invaded by the waters of the ocean. the whole narrow peninsula of north holland was in imminent danger of being swept away for ever. between amsterdam and meyden, the great diemer dyke was broken through in twelve places. the hand-bos, a bulwark formed of oaken piles, fastened with metal clamps, moored with iron anchors, and secured by gravel and granite, was snapped to pieces like packthread. the "sleeper," a dyke thus called, because it was usually left in repose by the elements, except in great emergencies, alone held firm, and prevented the consummation of the catastrophe. still the ocean poured in upon the land with terrible fury. dort, rotterdam, and many other cities were, for a time, almost submerged. along the coast, fishing vessels, and even ships of larger size, were floated up into the country, where they entangled themselves in groves and orchards, or beat to pieces the roofs and walls of houses. the destruction of life and of property was enormous throughout the maritime provinces, but in friesland the desolation was complete. there nearly all the dykes and sluices were dashed to fragments; the country, far and-wide, converted into an angry sea. the steeples and towers of inland cities became islands of the ocean. thousands of human beings were swept out of existence in a few hours. whole districts of territory, with all their villages, farms, and churches, were rent from their places, borne along by the force of the waves, sometimes to be lodged in another part of the country, sometimes to be entirely engulfed. multitudes of men, women, children, of horses, oxen, sheep, and every domestic animal, were struggling in the waves in every direction. every boat, and every article which could serve as a boat, were eagerly seized upon. every house was inundated; even the grave-yards gave up their dead. the living infant in his cradle, and the long-buried corpse in his coffin, floated side by side. the ancient flood seemed about to be renewed. everywhere, upon the top of trees, upon the steeples of churches, human beings were clustered, praying to god for mercy, and to their fellow-men for assistance. as the storm at last was subsiding, boats began to ply in every direction, saving those who were still struggling in the water, picking fugitives from roofs and tree-tops, and collecting the bodies of those already drowned. colonel robles, seigneur de billy, formerly much hated for his spanish or portuguese blood, made himself very active in this humane work. by his exertions, and those of the troops belonging to groningen, many lives were rescued, and gratitude replaced the ancient animosity. it was estimated that at least twenty thousand persons were destroyed in the province of friesland alone. throughout the netherlands, one hundred thousand persons perished. the damage alone to property, the number of animals engulfed in the sea, were almost incalculable. these events took place on the st and nd november, . the former happened to be the day of all saints, and the spaniards maintained loudly that the vengeance of heaven had descended upon the abode of heretics. the netherlanders looked upon the catastrophe as ominous of still more terrible misfortunes in store for them. they seemed doomed to destruction by god and man. an overwhelming tyranny had long been chafing against their constitutional bulwarks, only to sweep over them at last; and now the resistless ocean, impatient of man's feeble barriers, had at last risen to reclaim his prey. nature, as if disposed to put to the blush the feeble cruelty of man, had thus wrought more havoc in a few hours, than bigotry, however active, could effect in many years. nearly at the close of this year ( ) an incident occurred, illustrating the ferocious courage so often engendered in civil contests. on the western verge of the isle of bommel, stood the castle of lowestein. the island is not in the sea. it is the narrow but important territory which is enclosed between the meuse and the waal. the castle, placed in a slender hook, at the junction of the two rivers, commanded the two cities of gorcum and dorcum, and the whole navigation of the waters. one evening, towards the end of december, four monks, wearing the cowls and robes of mendicant grey friars, demanded hospitality at the castle gate. they were at once ushered into the presence of the commandant, a brother of president tisnacq. he was standing by the fire, conversing with his wife. the foremost monk approaching him, asked whether the castle held for the duke of alva or the prince of orange. the castellian replied that he recognized no prince save philip, king of spain. thereupon the monk, who was no other than herman de ruyter, a drover by trade, and a warm partisan of orange, plucked a pistol from beneath his robe, and shot the commandant through the head. the others, taking advantage of the sudden panic, overcame all the resistance offered by the feeble garrison, and made themselves masters of the place. in the course of the next day they introduced into the castle four or five and twenty men, with which force they diligently set themselves to fortify the place, and secure themselves in its possession. a larger reinforcement which they had reckoned upon, was detained by the floods and frosts, which, for the moment, had made the roads and fivers alike impracticable. don roderigo de toledo, governor of bois le duc, immediately despatched a certain captain perea, at the head of two hundred soldiers, who were joined on the way by a miscellaneous force of volunteers, to recover the fortress as soon as possible. the castle, bathed on its outward walls by the waal and meuse, and having two redoubts, defended by a double interior foss, would have been difficult to take by assaults had the number of the besieged been at all adequate to its defence. as matters stood, however, the spaniards, by battering a breach in the wall with their cannon on the first day, and then escalading the inner works with remarkable gallantry upon the second, found themselves masters of the place within eight and forty hours of their first appearance before its gates. most of the defenders were either slain or captured alive. de ruyter alone had betaken himself to an inner hall of the castle, where he stood at bay upon the threshold. many spaniards, one after another, as they attempted to kill or to secure him, fell before his sword, which he wielded with the strength of a giant. at last, overpowered by numbers, and weakened by the loss of blood, he retreated slowly into the hall, followed by many of his antagonists. here, by an unexpected movement, he applied a match to a train of powder, which he had previously laid along the floor of the apartment. the explosion was instantaneous. the tower, where the contest was taking place, sprang into the air, and de ruyter with his enemies shared a common doom. a part of the mangled remains of this heroic but ferocious patriot were afterwards dug from the ruins of the tower, and with impotent malice nailed upon the gallows at bois le duc. of his surviving companions, some were beheaded, some were broken on the wheel, some were hung and quartered--all were executed. etext editor's bookmarks: constitutional governments, move in the daylight consumer would pay the tax, supposing it were ever paid at all financial opposition to tyranny is apt to be unanimous great battles often leave the world where they found it great transactions of a reign are sometimes paltry things the faithful servant is always a perpetual ass motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley [chapter vi.] orange and count louis in france--peace with the huguenots-- coligny's memoir, presented by request to charles ix., on the subject of invading the netherlands--secret correspondence of orange organized by paul buys--privateering commissions issued by the prince--regulations prescribed by him for the fleets thus created-- impoverished condition of the prince--his fortitude--his personal sacrifices and privations--his generosity--renewed contest between the duke and the estates on the subject of the tenth and twentieth pence--violent disputes in the council--firm opposition of viglius-- edict commanding the immediate collection of the tax--popular tumults--viglius denounced by alva--the duke's fierce complaints to the king--secret schemes of philip against queen elizabeth of england--the ridolphi plot to murder elizabeth countenanced by philip and pius v.--the king's orders to alva to further the plan-- the duke's remonstrances--explosion of the plot--obstinacy of philip--renewed complaints of alva as to the imprudent service required of him--other attempts of philip to murder elizabeth--don john of austria in the levant----battle of lepanto--slothfulness of selim--appointment of medina celi--incessant wrangling in brussels upon the tax--persevering efforts of orange--contempt of alva for the prince--proposed sentence of ignominy against his name--sonoy's mission to germany--remarkable papers issued by the prince--the "harangue"--intense hatred for alva entertained by the highest as well as lower orders--visit of francis de alva to brussels--his unfavourable report to the king--querulous language of the duke-- deputation to spain--universal revolt against the tax--ferocity of alva--execution of eighteen tradesmen secretly ordered--interrupted by the capture of brill--beggars of the sea--the younger wild boar of ardennes--reconciliation between the english government and that of alva--the netherland privateersmen ordered out of english ports-- de la marck's fleet before brill--the town summoned to surrender-- commissioners sent out to the fleet--flight of the magistrates and townspeople--capture of the place--indignation of alva--popular exultation in brussels--puns and caricatures--bossu ordered to recover the town of brill--his defeat--his perfidious entrance into rotterdam--massacre in that city--flushing revolutionized-- unsuccessful attempt of governor de bourgogne to recal the citizens to their obedience--expedition under treslong from brill to assist the town of flushing--murder of paccheco by the patriots--zeraerts appointed governor of walcheren by orange. while such had been the domestic events of the netherlands during the years and , the prince of orange, although again a wanderer, had never allowed himself to despair. during this whole period, the darkest hour for himself and for his country, he was ever watchful. after disbanding his troops at strasburg, and after making the best arrangements possible under the circumstances for the eventual payment of their wages, he had joined the army which the duke of deux ponts had been raising in germany to assist the cause of the huguenots in france. the prince having been forced to acknowledge that, for the moment, all open efforts in the netherlands were likely to be fruitless, instinctively turned his eyes towards the more favorable aspect of the reformation in france. it was inevitable that, while he was thus thrown for the time out of his legitimate employment, he should be led to the battles of freedom in a neighbouring land. the duke of deux ponts, who felt his own military skill hardly adequate to the task which he had assumed, was glad, as it were, to put himself and his army under the orders of orange. meantime the battle of jamac had been fought; the prince of condo, covered with wounds, and exclaiming that it was sweet to die for christ and country, had fallen from his saddle; the whole huguenot army had been routed by the royal forces under the nominal command of anjou, and the body of conde, tied to the back of a she ass, had been paraded through the streets of jarnap in derision. affairs had already grown almost as black for the cause of freedom in france as in the provinces. shortly afterwards william of orange, with a band of twelve hundred horsemen, joined the banners of coligny. his two brothers accompanied him. henry, the stripling, had left the university to follow the fortunes of the prince. the indomitable louis, after seven thousand of his army had been slain, had swum naked across the ems, exclaiming "that his courage, thank god, was as fresh and lively as ever," and had lost not a moment in renewing his hostile schemes against the spanish government. in the meantime he had joined the huguenots in france. the battle of moncontour had succeeded, count peter mansfeld, with five thousand troops sent by alva, fighting on the side of the royalists, and louis nassau on that of the huguenots, atoning by the steadiness and skill with which he covered the retreat, for his intemperate courage, which had precipitated the action, and perhaps been the main cause of coligny's overthrow. the prince of orange, who had been peremptorily called to the netherlands in the beginning of the autumn, was not present at the battle. disguised as a peasant, with but five attendants, and at great peril, he had crossed the enemy's lines, traversed france, and arrived in germany before the winter. count louis remained with the huguenots. so necessary did he seem to their cause, and so dear had he become to their armies, that during the severe illness of coligny in the course of the following summer all eyes were turned upon him as the inevitable successor of that great man, the only remaining pillar of freedom in france. coligny recovered. the deadly peace between the huguenots and the court succeeded. the admiral, despite his sagacity and his suspicions, embarked with his whole party upon that smooth and treacherous current which led to the horrible catastrophe of saint bartholomew. to occupy his attention, a formal engagement was made by the government to send succor to the netherlands. the admiral was to lead the auxiliaries which were to be despatched across the frontier to overthrow the tyrannical government of alva. long and anxious were the colloquies held between coligny and the royalists. the monarch requested a detailed opinion, in writing, from the admiral, on the most advisable plan for invading the netherlands. the result was the preparation of the celebrated memoir, under coligny's directions, by young de mornay, seigneur de plessis. the document was certainly not a paper of the highest order. it did not appeal to the loftier instincts which kings or common mortals might be supposed to possess. it summoned the monarch to the contest in the netherlands that the ancient injuries committed by spain might be avenged. it invoked the ghost of isabella of france, foully murdered, as it was thought, by philip. it held out the prospect of re-annexing the fair provinces, wrested from the king's ancestors by former spanish sovereigns. it painted the hazardous position of philip; with the moorish revolt gnawing at the entrails of his kingdom, with the turkish war consuming its extremities, with the canker of rebellion corroding the very heart of the netherlands. it recalled, with exultation, the melancholy fact that the only natural and healthy existence of the french was in a state of war--that france, if not occupied with foreign campaigns, could not be prevented from plunging its sword into its own vitals. it indulged in refreshing reminiscences of those halcyon days, not long gone by, when france, enjoying perfect tranquillity within its own borders, was calmly and regularly carrying on its long wars beyond the frontier. in spite of this savage spirit, which modern documents, if they did not scorn, would, at least have shrouded, the paper was nevertheless a sagacious one; but the request for the memoir, and the many interviews on the subject of the invasion, were only intended to deceive. they were but the curtain which concealed the preparations for the dark tragedy which was about to be enacted. equally deceived, and more sanguine than ever, louis nassau during this period was indefatigable in his attempts to gain friends for his cause. he had repeated audiences of the king, to whose court he had come in disguise. he made a strong and warm impression upon elizabeth's envoy at the french court, walsingham. it is probable that in the count's impetuosity to carry his point, he allowed more plausibility to be given to certain projects for subdividing the netherlands than his brother would ever have sanctioned. the prince was a total stranger to these inchoate schemes. his work was to set his country free, and to destroy the tyranny which had grown colossal. that employment was sufficient for a lifetime, and there is no proof to be found that a paltry and personal self-interest had even the lowest place among his motives. meantime, in the autumn of , orange had again reached germany. paul buys, pensionary of leyden, had kept him constantly informed of the state of affairs in the provinces. through his means an extensive correspondence was organized and maintained with leading persons in every part of the netherlands. the conventional terms by which different matters and persons of importance were designated in these letters were familiarly known to all friends of the cause, not only in the provinces, but in france, england, germany, and particularly in the great commercial cities. the prince, for example, was always designated as martin willemzoon, the duke of alva as master powels van alblas, the queen of england as henry philipzoon, the king of denmark as peter peterson. the twelve signs of the zodiac were used instead of the twelve months, and a great variety of similar substitutions were adopted. before his visit to france, orange had, moreover, issued commissions, in his capacity of sovereign, to various seafaring persons, who were empowered to cruise against spanish commerce. the "beggars of the sea," as these privateersmen designated themselves, soon acquired as terrible a name as the wild beggars, or the forest beggars; but the prince, having had many conversations with admiral coligny on the important benefits to be derived from the system, had faithfully set himself to effect a reformation of its abuses after his return from france. the seigneur de dolhain, who, like many other refugee nobles, had acquired much distinction in this roving corsair life, had for a season acted as admiral for the prince. he had, however, resolutely declined to render any accounts of his various expeditions, and was now deprived of his command in consequence. gillain de fiennes, seigneur de lumbres, was appointed to succeed him. at the same time strict orders were issued by orange, forbidding all hostile measures against the emperor or any of the princes of the empire, against sweden, denmark, england, or against any potentates who were protectors of the true christian religion. the duke of alva and his adherents were designated as the only lawful antagonists. the prince, moreover, gave minute instructions as to the discipline to be observed in his fleet. the articles of war were to be strictly enforced. each commander was to maintain a minister on board his ship, who was to preach god's word, and to preserve christian piety among the crew. no one was to exercise any command in the fleet save native netherlanders, unless thereto expressly commissioned by the prince of orange. all prizes were to be divided and distributed by a prescribed rule. no persons were to be received on board, either as sailors or soldiers, save "folk of goad name and fame." no man who had ever been punished of justice was to be admitted. such were the principal features in the organization of that infant navy which, in course of this and the following centuries, was to achieve so many triumphs, and to which a powerful and adventurous mercantile marine had already led the way. "of their ships," said cardinal bentivoglio, "the hollanders make houses, of their houses schools. here they are born, here educated, here they learn their profession. their sailors, flying from one pale to the other, practising their art wherever the sun displays itself to mortals, become so skilful that they can scarcely be equalled, certainly not surpassed; by any nation in the civilized world." the prince, however, on his return from france, had never been in so forlorn a condition. "orange is plainly perishing," said one of the friends of the cause. not only had he no funds to organize new levies, but he was daily exposed to the most clamorously-urged claims, growing out of the army which he had been recently obliged to disband. it had been originally reported in the netherlands that he had fallen in the battle of moncontour. "if he have really been taken off," wrote viglius, hardly daring to credit the great news, "we shall all of us have less cause to tremble." after his actual return, however, lean and beggared, with neither money nor credit, a mere threatening shadow without substance or power, he seemed to justify the sarcasm of granvelle. "vana sine viribus ira," quoted the cardinal, and of a verity it seemed that not a man was likely to stir in germany in his behalf, now that so deep a gloom had descended upon his cause. the obscure and the oppressed throughout the provinces and germany still freely contributed out of their weakness and their poverty, and taxed themselves beyond their means to assist enterprizes for the relief of the netherlands. the great ones of the earth, however, those on whom the prince had relied; those to whom he had given his heart; dukes, princes, and electors, in this fatal change of his fortunes fell away like water. still his spirit was unbroken. his letters showed a perfect appreciation of his situation, and of that to which his country was reduced; but they never exhibited a trace of weakness or despair. a modest, but lofty courage; a pious, but unaffected resignation, breathed through--every document, public or private, which fell from his pen during this epoch. he wrote to his brother john that he was quite willing to go, to frankfort, in order to give himself up as a hostage to his troops for the payment of their arrears. at the same time he begged his brother to move heaven and earth to raise at least one hundred thousand thalers. if he could only furnish them with a month's pay, the soldiers would perhaps be for a time contented. he gave directions also concerning the disposition of what remained of his plate and furniture, the greater part of it having been already sold and expended in the cause. he thought it would, on the whole, be better to have the remainder sold, piece by piece, at the fair. more money would be raised by that course than by a more wholesale arrangement. he was now obliged to attend personally to the most minute matters of domestic economy. the man who been the mate of emperors, who was himself a sovereign, had lived his life long in pomp and luxury, surrounded by countless nobles, pages, men-at-arms, and menials, now calmly accepted the position of an outlaw and an exile. he cheerfully fulfilled tasks which had formerly devolved upon his grooms and valets. there was an almost pathetic simplicity in the homely details of an existence which, for the moment, had become so obscure and so desperate. "send by the bearer," he wrote, "the little hackney given me by the admiral; send also my two pair of trunk hose; one pair is at the tailor's to be mended, the other, pair you will please order to be taken from the things which i wore lately at dillenburg. they lie on the table with my accoutrements. if the little hackney be not in condition, please send the grey horse with the cropped ears and tail." he was always mindful, however, not only of the great cause to which he had devoted himself, but of the wants experienced by individuals who had done him service. he never forgot his friends. in the depth of his own misery he remembered favors received from humble persons. "send a little cup, worth at least a hundred florins, to hartmann wolf," he wrote to his brother; "you can take as much silver out of the coffer, in which there is still some of my chapel service remaining."--"you will observe that affenstein is wanting a horse," he wrote on another occasion; "please look him out one, and send it to me with the price. i will send you the money. since he has shown himself so willing in the cause, one ought to do something for him." the contest between the duke and the estates, on the subject of the tenth and twentieth penny had been for a season adjusted. the two years' term, however, during which it had been arranged that the tax should be commuted, was to expire in the autumn of . early therefore in this year the disputes were renewed with greater acrimony than ever. the estates felt satisfied that the king was less eager than the viceroy. viglius was satisfied that the power of alva was upon the wane. while the king was not likely openly to rebuke his recent measures, it seemed not improbable that the governor's reiterated requests to be recalled might be granted. fortified by these considerations, the president, who had so long been the supple tool of the tyrant, suddenly assumed the character of a popular tribune. the wranglings, the contradictions, the vituperations, the threatenings, now became incessant in the council. the duke found that he had exulted prematurely, when he announced to the king the triumphant establishment, in perpetuity, of the lucrative tax. so far from all the estates having given their consent, as he had maintained, and as he had written to philip, it now appeared that not one of those bodies considered itself bound beyond its quota for the two years. this was formally stated in the council by berlaymont and other members. the wrath of the duke blazed forth at this announcement. he berated berlaymont for maintaining, or for allowing it to be maintained, that the consent of the orders had ever been doubtful. he protested that they had as unequivocally agreed to the perpetual imposition of the tag as he to its commutation during two years. he declared, however, that he was sick of quotas. the tax should now be collected forthwith, and treasurer schetz was ordered to take his measures accordingly. at a conference on the th may, the duke asked viglius for his opinion. the president made a long reply, taking the ground that the consent of the orders had been only conditional, and appealing to such members of the finance council as were present to confirm his assertion. it was confirmed by all. the duke, in a passion, swore that those who dared maintain such a statement should be chastised. viglius replied that it had always been the custom for councillors to declare their opinion, and that they had never before been threatened with such consequences. if such, however, were his excellency's sentiments, councillors had better stay at home, hold their tongues, and so avoid chastisement. the duke, controlling himself a little, apologized for this allusion to chastisement, a menace which he disclaimed having intended with reference to councillors whom he had always commended to the king, and of whom his majesty had so high an opinion. at a subsequent meeting the duke took viglius aside, and assured him that he was quite of his own way of thinking. for certain reasons, however, he expressed himself as unwilling that the rest of the council should be aware of the change in his views. he wished, he said, to dissemble. the astute president, for a moment, could not imagine the governor's drift. he afterwards perceived that the object of this little piece of deception had been to close his mouth. the duke obviously conjectured that the president, lulled into security, by this secret assurance, would be silent; that the other councillors, believing the president to have adopted the governor's views, would alter their opinions; and that the opposition of the estates, thus losing its support in the council, would likewise very soon be abandoned. the president, however, was not to be entrapped by this falsehood. he resolutely maintained his hostility to the tax, depending for his security on the royal opinion, the popular feeling, and the judgment of his colleagues. the daily meetings of the board were almost entirely occupied by this single subject. although since the arrival of alva the council of blood had usurped nearly all the functions of the state and finance-councils, yet there now seemed a disposition on the part of alva to seek the countenance, even while he spurned the authority, of other functionaries. he found, however, neither sympathy nor obedience. the president stoutly told him that he was endeavouring to swim against the stream, that the tax was offensive to the people, and that the voice of the people was the voice of god. on the last day of july, however, the duke issued an edict, by which summary collection of the tenth and twentieth pence was ordered. the whole country was immediately in uproar. the estates of every province, the assemblies of every city, met and remonstrated. the merchants suspended all business, the petty dealers shut up their shops. the people congregated together in masses, vowing resistance to the illegal and cruel impost. not a farthing was collected. the "seven stiver people", spies of government, who for that paltry daily stipend were employed to listen for treason in every tavern, in every huckster's booth, in every alley of every city, were now quite unable to report all the curses which were hourly heard uttered against the tyranny of the viceroy. evidently, his power was declining. the councillors resisted him, the common people almost defied him. a mercer to whom he was indebted for thirty thousand florins' worth of goods, refused to open his shop, lest the tax should be collected on his merchandize. the duke confiscated his debt, as the mercer had foreseen, but this being a pecuniary sacrifice, seemed preferable to acquiescence in a measure so vague and so boundless that it might easily absorb the whole property of the country. no man saluted the governor as he passed through the streets. hardly an attempt was made by the people to disguise their abhorrence of his person: alva, on his side, gave daily exhibitions of ungovernable fury. at a council held on th september, , he stated that the king had ordered the immediate enforcement of the edict. viglius observed that there were many objections to its form. he also stoutly denied that the estates had ever given their consent. alva fiercely asked the president if he had not himself once maintained that the consent had been granted! viglius replied that he had never made such an assertion. he had mentioned the conditions and the implied promises on the part of government, by which a partial consent had been extorted. he never could have said that the consent had been accorded, for he had never believed that it could be obtained. he had not proceeded far in his argument when he was interrupted by the duke--"but you said so, you said so, you said so," cried the exasperated governor, in a towering passion, repeating many times this flat contradiction to the president's statements. viglius firmly stood his ground. alva loudly denounced him for the little respect he had manifested for his authority. he had hitherto done the president good offices, he said, with his majesty, but certainly should not feel justified in concealing his recent and very unhandsome conduct. viglius replied that he had always reverently cherished the governor, and had endeavoured to merit his favor by diligent obsequiousness. he was bound by his oath, however; to utter in council that which comported with his own sentiments and his majesty's interests. he had done this heretofore in presence of emperors, kings, queens, and regents, and they had not taken offence. he did not, at this hour, tremble for his grey head, and hoped his majesty would grant him a hearing before condemnation. the firm attitude of the president increased the irritation of the viceroy. observing that he knew the proper means of enforcing his authority he dismissed the meeting. immediately afterwards, he received the visits of his son, don frederic of vargas, and other familiars. to these he recounted the scene which had taken place, raving the while so ferociously against viglius as to induce the supposition that something serious was intended against him. the report flew from mouth to mouth. the affair became the town talk, so that, in the words of the president, it was soon discussed by every barber and old woman in brussels. his friends became alarmed for his safety, while, at the same time, the citizens rejoiced that their cause had found so powerful an advocate. nothing, however, came of these threats and these explosions. on the contrary, shortly afterwards the duke gave orders that the tenth penny should be remitted upon four great articles-corn, meat, wine, and beer. it was also not to be levied upon raw materials used in manufactures. certainly, these were very important concessions. still the constitutional objections remained. alva could not be made to understand why the alcabala, which was raised without difficulty in the little town of alva, should encounter such fierce opposition in the netherlands. the estates, he informed the king, made a great deal of trouble. they withheld their consent at command of their satrap. the motive which influenced the leading men was not the interest of factories or fisheries, but the fear that for the future they might not be able to dictate the law to their sovereign. the people of that country, he observed, had still the same character which had been described by julius caesar. the duke, however, did not find much sympathy at madrid. courtiers and councillors had long derided his schemes. as for the king, his mind was occupied with more interesting matters. philip lived but to enforce what he chose to consider the will of god. while the duke was fighting this battle with the netherland constitutionalists, his master had engaged at home in a secret but most comprehensive scheme. this was a plot to assassinate queen elizabeth of england, and to liberate mary queen of scots, who was to be placed on the throne in her stead. this project, in which was of course involved the reduction of england under the dominion of the ancient church, could not but prove attractive to philip. it included a conspiracy against a friendly sovereign, immense service to the church, and a murder. his passion for intrigue, his love of god, and his hatred of man, would all be gratified at once. thus, although the moorish revolt within the heart of his kingdom had hardly been terminated--although his legions and his navies were at that instant engaged in a contest of no ordinary importance with the turkish empire--although the netherlands, still maintaining their hostility and their hatred, required the flower of the spanish army to compel their submission, he did not hesitate to accept the dark adventure which was offered to him by ignoble hands. one ridolfi, a florentine, long resident in england, had been sent to the netherlands as secret agent of the duke of norfolk. alva read his character immediately, and denounced him to philip as a loose, prating creature, utterly unfit to be entrusted with affairs of importance. philip, however, thinking more of the plot than of his fellow-actors, welcomed the agent of the conspiracy to madrid, listened to his disclosures attentively, and, without absolutely committing himself by direct promises, dismissed him with many expressions of encouragement. on the th of july, , philip wrote to the duke of alva, giving an account of his interview with roberto ridolfi. the envoy, after relating the sufferings of the queen of scotland, had laid before him a plan for her liberation. if the spanish monarch were willing to assist the duke of norfolk and his friends, it would be easy to put upon mary's head the crown of england. she was then to intermarry with norfolk. the kingdom of england was again to acknowledge the authority of rome, and the catholic religion to be everywhere restored. the most favorable moment for the execution of the plan would be in august or september. as queen elizabeth would at that season quit london for the country, an opportunity would be easily found for seizing and murdering her. pius v., to whom ridolfi had opened the whole matter, highly approved the scheme, and warmly urged philip's cooperation. poor and ruined as he was himself; the pope protested that he was ready to sell his chalices, and even his own vestments, to provide funds for the cause. philip had replied that few words were necessary to persuade him. his desire to see the enterprize succeed was extreme, notwithstanding the difficulties by which it was surrounded. he would reflect earnestly upon the subject, in the hope that god, whose cause it was, would enlighten and assist him. thus much he had stated to ridolfi, but he had informed his council afterwards that he was determined to carry out the scheme by certain means of which the duke would soon be informed. the end proposed was to kill or to capture elizabeth, to set at liberty the queen of scotland, and to put upon her head the crown of england. in this enterprize he instructed the duke of alva secretly to assist, without however resorting to open hostilities in his own name or in that of his sovereign. he desired to be informed how many spaniards the duke could put at the disposition of the conspirators. they had asked for six thousand arquebusiers for england, two thousand for scotland, two thousand for ireland. besides these troops, the viceroy was directed to provide immediately four thousand arquebuses and two thousand corslets. for the expenses of the enterprize philip would immediately remit two hundred thousand crowns. alva was instructed to keep the affair a profound secret from his councillors. even hopper at madrid knew nothing of the matter, while the king had only expressed himself in general terms to the nuncio and to ridolfi, then already on his way to the netherlands. the king concluded his letter by saying, that from what he had now written with his own hand, the duke could infer how much he had this affair at heart. it was unnecessary for him to say more, persuaded as he was that the duke would take as profound an interest in it as himself. alva perceived all the rashness of the scheme, and felt how impossible it would be for him to comply with philip's orders. to send an army from the netherlands into england for the purpose of dethroning and killing a most popular sovereign, and at the same time to preserve the most amicable relations with the country, was rather a desperate undertaking. a force of ten thousand spaniards, under chiappin vitelli, and other favorite officers of the duke, would hardly prove a trifle to be overlooked, nor would their operations be susceptible of very friendly explanations. the governor therefore, assured philip that he "highly applauded his master for his plot. he could not help rendering infinite thanks to god for having made him vassal to such a prince." he praised exceedingly the resolution which his majesty had taken. after this preamble, however, he proceeded to pour cold water upon his sovereign's ardor. he decidedly expressed the opinion that philip should not proceed in such an undertaking until at any rate the party of the duke of norfolk had obtained possession of elizabeth's person. should the king declare himself prematurely, he might be sure that the venetians, breaking off their alliance with him, would make their peace with the turk; and that elizabeth would, perhaps, conclude that marriage with the duke of alencon which now seemed but a pleasantry. moreover, he expressed his want of confidence in the duke of norfolk, whom he considered as a poor creature with but little courage. he also expressed his doubts concerning the prudence and capacity of don gueran de espes, his majesty's ambassador at london. it was not long before these machinations became known in england. the queen of scots was guarded more closely than ever, the duke of norfolk was arrested; yet philip, whose share in the conspiracy had remained a secret, was not discouraged by the absolute explosion of the whole affair. he still held to an impossible purpose with a tenacity which resembled fatuity. he avowed that his obligations in the sight of god were so strict that he was still determined to proceed in the sacred cause. he remitted, therefore, the promised funds to the duke of alva, and urged him to act with proper secrecy and promptness. the viceroy was not a little perplexed by these remarkable instructions. none but lunatics could continue to conspire, after the conspiracy had been exposed and the conspirators arrested. yet this was what his catholic majesty expected of his governor-general. alva complained, not unreasonably, of the contradictory demands to which he was subjected. he was to cause no rupture with england, yet he was to send succor to an imprisoned traitor; he was to keep all his operations secret from his council, yet he was to send all his army out of the country, and to organize an expensive campaign. he sneered: at the flippancy of ridolfi, who imagined that it was the work of a moment to seize the queen of england, to liberate the queen of scotland, to take possession of the tower of london, and to burn the fleet in the thames. "were your majesty and the queen of england acting together," he observed, "it would be impossible to execute the plan proposed by ridolfi." the chief danger to be apprehended was from france and germany. were those countries not to interfere, he would undertake to make philip sovereign of england before the winter. their opposition, however, was sufficient to make the enterprise not only difficult, but impossible. he begged his, master not to be precipitate in the; most important affair which had been negotiated by man since christ came upon earth. nothing less, he said, than the existence of the christian faith was at stake, for, should his majesty fail in this undertaking, not one stone of the ancient religion would be left upon another. he again warned the king of the contemptible character, of ridolfi, who had spoken of the affair so freely that it was a common subject of discussion on the bourse, at antwerp, and he reiterated, in all his letters his distrust of the parties prominently engaged in the transaction. such was the general, tenor of the long despatches exchanged between the king and the duke of alva upon this iniquitous scheme. the duke showed himself reluctant throughout the whole affair, although he certainly never opposed his master's project by any arguments founded upon good faith, christian charity, or the sense of honor. to kill the queen of england, subvert the laws of her realm, burn her fleets, and butcher her subjects, while the mask of amity and entire consideration was sedulously preserved--all these projects were admitted to be strictly meritorious in themselves, although objections were taken as to the time and mode of execution. alva never positively refused to accept his share in the enterprise, but he took care not to lift his finger till the catastrophe in england had made all attempts futile. philip, on the other hand, never positively withdrew from the conspiracy, but, after an infinite deal of writing and intriguing, concluded by leaving the whole affair in the hands of alva. the only sufferer for philip's participation in the plot was the spanish envoy at london, don gueran de espes. this gentleman was formally dismissed by queen elizabeth, for having given treacherous and hostile advice to the duke of alva and to philip; but her majesty at the same time expressed the most profound consideration for her brother of spain. towards the close of the same year, however (december, ); alva sent two other italian assassins to england, bribed by the promise of vast rewards, to attempt the life of elizabeth, quietly, by poison or otherwise. the envoy, mondoucet, in apprizing the french monarch of this scheme, added that the duke was so ulcerated and annoyed by the discovery of the previous enterprise, that nothing could exceed his rage. these ruffians were not destined to success, but the attempts of the duke upon the queen's life were renewed from time to time. eighteen months later (august, ), two scotchmen, pensioners of philip, came from spain, with secret orders to consult with alva. they had accordingly much negotiation with the duke and his secretary, albornoz. they boasted that they could easily capture elizabeth, but said that the king's purpose was to kill her. the plan, wrote mondoucet, was the same as it had been before, namely, to murder the queen of england, and to give her crown to mary of scotland, who would thus be in their power, and whose son was to be seized, and bestowed in marriage in such a way as to make them perpetual masters of both kingdoms. it does not belong to this history to discuss the merits, nor to narrate the fortunes, of that bickering and fruitless alliance which had been entered into at this period by philip with venice and the holy see against the turk. the revolt of granada had at last, after a two years' struggle, been subdued, and the remnants of the romantic race which had once swayed the peninsula been swept into slavery. the moors had sustained the unequal conflict with a constancy not to have been expected of so gentle a people. "if a nation meek as lambs could resist so bravely," said the prince of orange, "what ought not to be expected of a hardy people like the netherlanders?" don john of austria having concluded a series of somewhat inglorious forays against women, children, and bed-ridden old men in andalusia and granada; had arrived, in august of this year, at naples, to take command of the combined fleet in the levant. the battle of lepanto had been fought, but the quarrelsome and contradictory conduct of the allies had rendered the splendid victory as barren as the waves: upon which it had been won. it was no less true, however, that the blunders of the infidels had previously enabled philip to extricate himself with better success from the dangers of the moorish revolt than might have been his fortune. had the rebels succeeded in holding granada and the mountains of andalusia, and had they been supported, as they had a right to expect, by the forces of the sultan, a different aspect might have been given to the conflict, and one far less triumphant for spain. had a prince of vigorous ambition and comprehensive policy governed at that moment the turkish empire; it would have cost philip a serious struggle to maintain himself in his hereditary dominions. while he was plotting against the life and throne of elizabeth, he might have had cause to tremble for his own. fortunately, however, for his catholic majesty, selim was satisfied to secure himself in the possession of the isle of venus, with its fruitful vineyards. "to shed the blood" of cyprian vines, in which he was so enthusiastic a connoisseur, was to him a more exhilarating occupation than to pursue, amid carnage and hardships, the splendid dream of a re-established eastern caliphate. on the th sept. , a commission of governor-general of the netherlands was at last issued to john de la cerda, duke of medina coeli. philip, in compliance with the duke's repeated requests, and perhaps not entirely satisfied with the recent course of events in the provinces, had at last, after great hesitation, consented to alva's resignation. his successor; however, was not immediately to take his departure, and in the meantime the duke was instructed to persevere in his faithful services. these services had, for the present, reduced themselves to a perpetual and not very triumphant altercation with his council, with the estates, and with the people, on the subject of his abominable tax. he was entirely alone. they who had stood unflinchingly at his side when the only business of the administration was to burn heretics, turned their backs upon him now that he had engaged in this desperate conflict with. the whole money power of the country. the king was far from cordial in his support, the councillors much too crafty to retain their hold upon the wheel, to which they had only attached themselves in its ascent. viglius and berlaymont; noircarmes and aerschot, opposed and almost defied the man they now thought sinking, and kept the king constantly informed of the vast distress which the financial measures of the duke were causing. quite, at the close of the year, an elaborate petition from the estates of brabant was read before the state council. it contained a strong remonstrance against the tenth penny. its repeal was strongly urged, upon the ground that its collection would involve the country in universal ruin. upon this, alva burst forth in one of the violent explosions of rage to which he was subject. the prosperity of the, netherlands, he protested, was not dearer to the inhabitants than to himself. he swore by the cross, and by the most holy of holies, preserved in the church of saint gudule, that had he been but a private individual, living in spain, he would, out of the love he bore the provinces, have rushed to their defence had their safety been endangered. he felt therefore deeply wounded that malevolent persons should thus insinuate that he had even wished to injure the country, or to exercise tyranny over its citizens. the tenth penny, he continued, was necessary to the defence of the land, and was much preferable to quotas. it was highly improper that every man in the rabble should know how much was contributed, because each individual, learning the gross amount, would imagine that he, had paid it all himself. in conclusion, he observed that, broken in health and stricken in years as he felt himself, he was now most anxious to return, and was daily looking with eagerness for the arrival of the duke of medina coeli. during the course of this same year, the prince of orange had been continuing his preparations. he had sent his agents to every place where a hope was held out to him of obtaining support. money was what he was naturally most anxious to obtain from individuals; open and warlike assistance what he demanded from governments. his funds, little by little, were increasing, owing to the generosity of many obscure persons, and to the daring exploits of the beggars of the sea. his mission, however, to the northern courts had failed. his envoys had been received in sweden and denmark with barren courtesy. the duke of alva, on the other hand, never alluded to the prince but with contempt; knowing not that the ruined outlaw was slowly undermining the very ground beneath the monarch's feet; dreaming not that the feeble strokes which he despised were the opening blows of a century's conflict; foreseeing not that long before its close the chastised province was to expand into a great republic, and that the name of the outlaw was to become almost divine. granvelle had already recommended that the young count de buren should be endowed with certain lands in spain, in exchange for his hereditary estates, in order that the name and fame of the rebel william should be forever extinguished in the netherlands. with the same view, a new sentence against the prince of orange was now proposed by the viceroy. this was, to execute him solemnly in effigy, to drag his escutcheon through the streets at the tails of horses, and after having broken it in pieces, and thus cancelled his armorial bearings, to declare him and his descendants, ignoble, infamous, and incapable of holding property or estates. could a leaf or two of future history have been unrolled to king, cardinal, and governor, they might have found the destined fortune of the illustrious rebel's house not exactly in accordance with the plan of summary extinction thus laid down. not discouraged, the prince continued to send his emissaries in every direction. diedrich sonoy, his most trustworthy agent, who had been chief of the legation to the northern courts, was now actively canvassing the governments and peoples of, germany with the same object. several remarkable papers from the hand of orange were used upon this service. a letter, drawn up and signed by his own hand, recited; in brief and striking language, the history of his campaign in , and of his subsequent efforts in the sacred cause. it was now necessary, he said, that others besides himself should partake of his sacrifices. this he stated plainly and eloquently. the document was in truth a letter asking arms for liberty. "for although all things," said the prince, "are in the hand of god, and although he has created all things out of nought, yet hath he granted to different men different means, whereby, as with various instruments, he accomplishes his, almighty purposes. thereto hath he endowed some with strength of body, others with worldly wealth, others with still different gifts, all of which are to be used by their possessors to his honor and glory, if they wish not to incur the curse of the unworthy steward, who buried his talent in the earth. . . . . now ye may easily see," he continued, "that the prince cannot carry out this great work alone, having lost land, people, and goods, and having already employed in the cause all which had remained to him, besides incurring heavy obligations in addition." similar instructions were given to other agents, and a paper called the harangue, drawn up according to his suggestions, was also extensively circulated. this document is important to all who are interested in his history and character. he had not before issued a missive so stamped with the warm, religious impress of the reforming party. sadly, but without despondency, the harangue recalled the misfortunes of the past; and depicted the gloom of the present. earnestly, but not fanatically, it stimulated hope and solicited aid for the future. "although the appeals made to the prince," so ran a part of the document, "be of diverse natures, and various in their recommendations, yet do they all tend to the advancement of god's glory, and to the liberation of the fatherland. this it is which enables him and those who think with him to endure hunger; thirst, cold, heat, and all the misfortunes which heaven may send. . . . . . our enemies spare neither their money nor their labor; will ye be colder and duller than your foes? let, then, each church congregation set an example to the others. we read that king saul, when he would liberate the men of jabez from the hands of nahad, the ammonite, hewed a yoke of oxen in pieces, and sent them as tokens over all israel, saying, 'ye who will not follow saul and samuel, with them shall be dealt even as with these oxen. and the fear of the lord came upon the people, they came forth, and the men of jabez were delivered.' ye have here the same warning, look to it, watch well ye that despise it, lest the wrath of god, which the men of israel by their speedy obedience escaped, descend upon your heads. ye may say that ye are banished men. 'tis true: but thereby are ye not stripped of all faculty of rendering service; moreover, your assistance is asked for one who will restore ye to your homes. ye may say that ye have been robbed of all your goods; yet many of you have still something remaining, and of that little ye should contribute, each his mite. ye say that you have given much already. 'tis true, but the enemy is again in the field; fierce for your subjugation, sustained by the largess of his supporters. will ye be less courageous, less generous, than your foes." these urgent appeals did not remain fruitless. the strength of the prince was slowly but steadily increasing. meantime the abhorrence with which alva was universally regarded had nearly reached to frenzy. in the beginning of the year , don francis de alava, philip's ambassador in france, visited brussels. he had already been enlightened as to the consequences of the duke's course by the immense immigration of netherland refugees to france, which he had witnessed with his own eyes. on his journey towards brussels he had been met near cambray by noircarmes. even that "cruel animal," as hoogstraaten had called him, the butcher of tournay and valenciennes, had at last been roused to alarm, if not to pity, by the sufferings of the country. "the duke will never disabuse his mind of this filthy tenth penny," said he to alava. he sprang from his chair with great emotion as the ambassador alluded to the flight of merchants and artisans from the provinces. "senor don francis," cried he, "there are ten thousand more who are on the point of leaving the country, if the governor does not pause in his career. god grant that no disaster arise beyond human power to remedy." the ambassador arrived in brussels, and took up his lodgings in the palace. here he found the duke just recovering from a fit of the gout, in a state of mind sufficiently savage. he became much excited as don francis began to speak of the emigration, and he assured him that there was gross deception on the subject. the envoy replied that he could not be mistaken, for it was a matter which, so to speak, he had touched with his own fingers, and seen with his own eyes. the duke, persisting that don francis had been abused and misinformed, turned the conversation to other topics. next day the ambassador received visits from berlaymont and his son, the seigneur de hierges. he was taken aside by each of them, separately. "thank god, you have come hither," said they, in nearly the same words, "that you may fully comprehend the condition of the provinces, and without delay admonish his majesty of the impending danger." all his visitors expressed the same sentiments. don frederic of toledo furnished the only exception, assuring the envoy that his father's financial measures were opposed by noircarmes and others, only because it deprived them of their occupation and their influence. this dutiful language, however, was to be expected in one of whom secretary albornoz had written, that he was the greatest comfort to his father, and the most divine genius ever known. it was unfortunately corroborated by no other inhabitant of the country. on the third day, don francis went to take his leave. the duke begged him to inform his majesty of the impatience with which he was expecting the arrival of his successor. he then informed his guest that they had already begun to collect the tenth penny in brabant, the most obstinate of all the provinces. "what do you say to that, don francis?" he cried, with exultation. alava replied that he thought, none the less, that the tax would encounter many obstacles, and begged him earnestly to reflect. he assured him, moreover, that he should, without reserve, express his opinions fully to the king. the duke used the same language which don frederic had held, concerning the motives of those who opposed the tax. "it may be so," said don francis, "but at any rate, all have agreed to sing to the same tune." a little startled, the duke rejoined, "do you doubt that the cities will keep their promises? depend upon it, i shall find the means to compel them." "god grant it may be so," said alava, "but in my poor judgment you will have need of all your prudence and of all your authority." the ambassador did not wait till he could communicate with his sovereign by word of mouth. he forwarded to spain an ample account of his observations and deductions. he painted to philip in lively colors the hatred entertained by all men for the duke. the whole nation, he assured his majesty, united in one cry, "let him begone, let him begone, let him begone!" as for the imposition of the tenth penny, that, in the opinion of don francis, was utterly impossible. he moreover warned his majesty that alva was busy in forming secret alliances with the catholic princes of europe, which would necessarily lead to defensive leagues among the protestants. while thus, during the earlier part of the year , the prince of orange, discouraged by no defeats, was indefatigable in his exertions to maintain the cause of liberty, and while at the same time the most stanch supporters of arbitrary power were unanimous in denouncing to philip the insane conduct of his viceroy, the letters of alva himself were naturally full of complaints and expostulations. it was in vain, he said, for him to look for a confidential councillor, now that matters which he had wished to be kept so profoundly secret that the very earth should not hear of them, had been proclaimed aloud above the tiles of every housetop. nevertheless, he would be cut into little pieces but his majesty should be obeyed, while he remained alive to enforce the royal commands. there were none who had been ever faithful but berlaymont, he said, and even he had been neutral in the affair of the tax. he had rendered therein neither good nor bad offices, but, as his majesty was aware, berlaymont was entirely ignorant of business, and "knew nothing more than to be a good fellow." that being the case, he recommended hierges, son of the "good fellow," as a proper person to be governor of friesland. the deputations appointed by the different provinces to confer personally with the king received a reprimand upon their arrival, for having dared to come to spain without permission. farther punishment, however, than this rebuke was not inflicted. they were assured that the king was highly displeased with their venturing to bring remonstrances against the tax, but they were comforted with the assurance that his majesty would take the subject of their petition into consideration. thus, the expectations of alva were disappointed, for the tenth penny was not formally confirmed; and the hopes of the provinces frustrated, because it was not distinctly disavowed. matters had reached another crisis in the provinces. "had we money now," wrote the prince of orange, "we should, with the help of god, hope to effect something. this is a time when, with even small sums, more can be effected than at other seasons with ampler funds." the citizens were in open revolt against the tax. in order that the tenth penny should not be levied upon every sale of goods, the natural but desperate remedy was adopted--no goods were sold at all. not only the wholesale commerce oh the provinces was suspended, but the minute and indispensable traffic of daily life was entirely at a stand. the shops were all shut. "the brewers," says a contemporary, "refused to brew, the bakers to bake, the tapsters to tap." multitudes, thrown entirely out of employment, and wholly dependent upon charity, swarmed in every city. the soldiery, furious for their pay, which alva had for many months neglected to furnish, grew daily more insolent; the citizens, maddened by outrage and hardened by despair, became more and more obstinate in their resistance; while the duke, rendered inflexible by opposition and insane by wrath, regarded the ruin which he had caused with a malignant spirit which had long ceased to be human. "the disease is gnawing at our vitals," wrote viglius; "everybody is suffering for the want of the necessaries of life. multitudes are in extreme and hopeless poverty. my interest in the welfare of the commonwealth," he continued, "induces me to send these accounts to spain. for myself, i fear nothing. broken by sickness and acute physical suffering, i should leave life without regret." the aspect of the capital was that of a city stricken with the plague. articles of the most absolute necessity could not be obtained. it was impossible to buy bread, or meat, or beer. the tyrant, beside himself with rage at being thus braved in his very lair, privately sent for master carl, the executioner. in order to exhibit an unexpected and salutary example, he had determined to hang eighteen of the leading tradesmen of the city in the doors of their own shops, with the least possible delay and without the slightest form of trial. master carl was ordered, on the very night of his interview with the duke, to prepare eighteen strong cords, and eighteen ladders twelve feet in length. by this simple arrangement, alva was disposed to make manifest on the morrow, to the burghers of brussels, that justice was thenceforth to be carried to every man's door. he supposed that the spectacle of a dozen and a half of butchers and bakers suspended in front of the shops which they had refused to open, would give a more effective stimulus to trade than any to be expected from argument or proclamation. the hangman was making ready his cords and ladders; don frederic of toledo was closeted with president viglius, who, somewhat against his will, was aroused at midnight to draw the warrants for these impromptu executions; alva was waiting with grim impatience for the dawn upon which the show was to be exhibited, when an unforeseen event suddenly arrested the homely tragedy. in the night arrived the intelligence that the town of brill had been captured. the duke, feeling the full gravity of the situation, postponed the chastisement which he had thus secretly planned to a more convenient season, in order without an instant's hesitation to avert the consequences of this new movement on the part of the rebels. the seizure of brill was the deus ex machina which unexpectedly solved both the inextricable knot of the situation and the hangman's noose. allusion has more than once been made to those formidable partisans of the patriot cause, the marine outlaws. cheated of half their birthright by nature, and now driven forth from their narrow isthmus by tyranny, the exiled hollanders took to the ocean. its boundless fields, long arable to their industry, became fatally fruitful now that oppression was transforming a peaceful seafaring people into a nation of corsairs. driven to outlawry and poverty, no doubt many netherlanders plunged into crime. the patriot party had long sine laid aside the respectful deportment which had provoked the sarcasms of the loyalists. the beggars of the sea asked their alms through the mouths of their cannon. unfortunately, they but too often made their demands upon both friend and foe. every ruined merchant, every banished lord, every reckless mariner, who was willing to lay the commercial world under contribution to repair his damaged fortunes, could, without much difficulty, be supplied with a vessel and crew at some northern port, under color of cruising against the viceroy's government. nor was the ostensible motive simply a pretext. to make war upon alva was the leading object of all these freebooters, and they were usually furnished by the prince of orange, in his capacity of sovereign, with letters of marque for that purpose. the prince, indeed, did his utmost to control and direct an evil which had inevitably grown out of the horrors of the time. his admiral, william de la marck, was however, incapable of comprehending the lofty purposes of his superior. a wild, sanguinary, licentious noble, wearing his hair and beard unshorn, according to ancient batavian custom, until the death of his relative, egmont, should have been expiated, a worthy descendant of the wild boar of ardennes, this hirsute and savage corsair seemed an embodiment of vengeance. he had sworn to wreak upon alva and upon popery the deep revenge owed to them by the netherland nobility, and in the cruelties afterwards practised by him upon monks and priests, the blood council learned that their example had made at least one ripe scholar among the rebels. he was lying, at this epoch, with his fleet on the southern coast of england, from which advantageous position he was now to be ejected in a summary manner. the negotiations between the duke of alva and queen elizabeth had already assumed an amicable tone, and were fast ripening to an adjustment. it lay by no means in that sovereign's disposition to involve herself at this juncture in a war with philip, and it was urged upon her government by alva's commissioners, that the continued countenance afforded by the english people to the netherland cruisers must inevitably lead to that result. in the latter days of march, therefore, a sentence of virtual excommunication was pronounced against de la marck and his rovers. a peremptory order of elizabeth forbade any of her subjects to supply them with meat, bread, or beer. the command being strictly complied with, their farther stay was rendered impossible. twenty-four vessels accordingly, of various sizes, commanded by de la marck, treslong, adam van harem, brand, and other distinguished seamen, set sail from dover in the very last days of march. being almost in a state of starvation, these adventurers were naturally anxious to supply themselves with food. they determined to make a sudden foray upon the coasts of north holland, and accordingly steered for enkbuizen, both because it was a rich sea-port and because it contained many secret partisans of the prince. on palm sunday they captured two spanish merchantmen. soon afterwards, however, the wind becoming contrary, they were unable to double the helder or the texel, and on tuesday, the st of april, having abandoned their original intention, they dropped down towards zealand, and entered the broad mouth of the river meuse. between the town of brill, upon the southern lip of this estuary, and naaslandsluis, about half a league distant, upon the opposite aide, the squadron suddenly appeared at about two o'clock of an april afternoon, to the great astonishment of the inhabitants of both places. it seemed too large a fleet to be a mere collection of trading vessels, nor did they appear to be spanish ships. peter koppelstok, a sagacious ferryman, informed the passengers whom he happened to be conveying across the river, that the strangers were evidently the water beggars. the dreaded name filled his hearers with consternation, and they became eager to escape from so perilous a vicinity. having duly landed his customers, however, who hastened to spread the news of the impending invasion, and to prepare for defence or flight, the stout ferryman, who was secretly favorable to the cause of liberty, rowed boldly out to inquire the destination and purposes of the fleet. the vessel which he first hailed was that commanded by william de blois, seigneur of treslong. this adventurous noble, whose brother had been executed by the duke of alva in , had himself fought by the side of count louis at jemmingen, and although covered with wounds, had been one of the few who escaped alive from that horrible carnage. during the intervening period he had become one of the most famous rebels on the ocean, and he had always been well known in brill, where his father had been governor for the king. he at once recognized koppelstok, and hastened with him on board the admiral's ship, assuring de la marck that the ferryman was exactly the man for their purpose. it was absolutely necessary that a landing should be effected, for the people were without the necessaries of life. captain martin brand had visited the ship of adam van haren, as soon as they had dropped anchor in the meuse, begging for food. "i gave him a cheese," said adam, afterwards relating the occurrence, "and assured him that it was the last article of food to be found in the ship." the other vessels were equally destitute. under the circumstances, it was necessary to attempt a landing. treslong, therefore, who was really the hero of this memorable adventure, persuaded de la marck to send a message to the city of brill, demanding its surrender. this was a bold summons to be made by a handful of men, three or four hundred at most, who were both metaphorically and literally beggars. the city of brill was not populous, but it was well walled and fortified. it was moreover a most commodious port. treslong gave his signet ring to the fisherman, koppelstok, and ordered him, thus accredited as an envoy, to carry their summons to the magistracy. koppelstok, nothing loath, instantly rowed ashore, pushed through the crowd of inhabitants, who overwhelmed him with questions, and made his appearance in the town-house before the assembled magistrates. he informed them that he had been sent by the admiral of the fleet and by treslong, who was well known to them, to demand that two commissioners should be sent out on the part of the city to confer with the patriots. he was bidden, he said, to give assurance that the deputies would be courteously treated. the only object of those who had sent him was to free the land from the tenth penny, and to overthrow the tyranny of alva and his spaniards. hereupon he was asked by the magistrates, how large a force de la marck had under his command, to this question the ferryman carelessly replied, that there might be some five thousand in all. this enormous falsehood produced its effect upon the magistrates. there was now no longer any inclination to resist the invader; the only question discussed being whether to treat with them or to fly. on the whole, it was decided to do both. with some difficulty, two deputies were found sufficiently valiant to go forth to negotiate with the beggars, while in their absence most of the leading burghers and functionaries made their preparations for flight. the envoys were assured by de la marck and treslong that no injury was intended to the citizens or to private property, but that the overthrow of alva's government was to be instantly accomplished. two hours were given to the magistrates in which to decide whether or not they would surrender the town and accept the authority of de la marck as admiral of the prince of orange. they employed the two hours thus granted in making an ignominious escape. their example was followed by most of the townspeople. when the invaders, at the expiration of the specified term, appeared under the walls of the city, they found a few inhabitants of the lower class gazing at them from above, but received no official communication from any source. the whole rebel force was now divided into two parties, one of which under treslong made an attack upon the southern gate, while the other commanded by the admiral advanced upon the northern. treslong after a short struggle succeeded in forcing his entrance, and arrested, in doing so, the governor of the city, just taking his departure. de la marck and his men made a bonfire at the northern gate, and then battered down the half-burned portal with the end of an old mast. thus rudely and rapidly did the netherland patriots conduct their first successful siege. the two parties, not more perhaps than two hundred and fifty men in all, met before sunset in the centre of the city, and the foundation of the dutch republic was laid. the weary spirit of freedom, so long a fugitive over earth and sea, had at last found a resting-place, which rude and even ribald hands had prepared. the panic created by the first appearance of the fleet had been so extensive that hardly fifty citizens had remained in the town. the rest had all escaped, with as much property as they could carry away. the admiral, in the name, of the prince of orange, as lawful stadholder of philip, took formal possession of an almost deserted city. no indignity was offered to the inhabitants of either sex, but as soon, as the conquerors were fairly established in the best houses of the place, the inclination to plunder the churches could no longer be restrained. the altars and images were all destroyed, the rich furniture and gorgeous vestments appropriated to private use. adam van hare appeared on his vessel's deck attired in a magnificent high mass chasuble. treslong thenceforth used no drinking cups in his cabin save the golden chalices of the sacrament. unfortunately, their hatred to popery was not confined to such demonstrations. thirteen unfortunate monks and priests, who had been unable to effect their escape, were arrested and thrown into prison, from whence they were taken a few days later, by order of the ferocious admiral, and executed under circumstances of great barbarity. the news of this important exploit spread with great rapidity. alva, surprised at the very moment of venting his rage on the butchers and grocers of brussels, deferred this savage design in order to deal with the new difficulty. he had certainly not expected such a result from the ready compliance of queen elizabeth with his request. his rage was excessive; the triumph of the people, by whom he was cordially detested, proportionably great. the punsters of brussels were sure not to let such an opportunity escape them, for the name of the captured town was susceptible of a quibble, and the event had taken place upon all fools' day. "on april's fool's day, duke alva's spectacles were stolen away," became a popular couplet. the word spectacles, in flemish, as well as the name of the suddenly surprised city, being brill, this allusion to the duke's loss and implied purblindness was not destitute of ingenuity. a caricature, too, was extensively circulated, representing de la marck stealing the duke's spectacles from his nose, while the governor was supposed to be uttering his habitual expression whenever any intelligence of importance was brought to him: 'no es nada, no es nada--'tis nothing, 'tis nothing. the duke, however, lost not an instant in attempting to repair the disaster. count bossu, who had acted as stadholder of holland and zealand, under alva's authority, since the prince of orange had resigned that office, was ordered at once to recover the conquered sea-port, if possible. hastily gathering a force of some ten companies from the garrison of utrecht, some of which very troops had recently and unluckily for government, been removed from brill to that city, the count crossed the sluis to the island of voorn upon easter day, and sent a summons to the rebel force to surrender brill. the patriots being very few in number, were at first afraid to venture outside the gates to attack the much superior force of their invaders. a carpenter, however, who belonged to the city, but had long been a partisan of orange, dashed into the water with his axe in his hand, and swimming to the niewland sluice, hacked it open with a few vigorous strokes. the sea poured in at once, making the approach to the city upon the north side impossible: bossu then led his spaniards along the niewland dyke to the southern gate, where they were received with a warm discharge of artillery, which completely staggered them. meantime treslong and robol had, in the most daring manner, rowed out to the ships which had brought the enemy to the island, cut some adrift, and set others on fire. the spaniards at the southern gate caught sight of their blazing vessels, saw the sea rapidly rising over the dyke, became panic-struck at being thus enclosed between fire and water, and dashed off in precipitate retreat along the slippery causeway and through the slimy and turbid waters, which were fast threatening to overwhelm them. many were drowned or smothered in their flight, but the greater portion of the force effected their escape in the vessels which still remained within reach. this danger averted, admiral de la marck summoned all the inhabitants, a large number of whom had returned to the town after the capture had been fairly established, and required them, as well as all the population of the island, to take an oath of allegiance to the prince of orange as stadholder for his majesty. the prince had not been extremely satisfied with the enterprise of de la marck. he thought-it premature, and doubted whether it would be practicable to hold the place, as he had not yet completed his arrangements in germany, nor assembled the force with which he intended again to take the field. more than all, perhaps, he had little confidence in the character of his admiral. orange was right in his estimate of de la marck. it had not been that rover's design either to take or to hold the place; and after the descent had been made, the ships victualled, the churches plundered, the booty secured, and a few monks murdered, he had given orders for the burning of the town, and for the departure of the fleet. the urgent solicitations of treslong, however, prevailed, with some difficulty, over de la marck' original intentions. it is to that bold and intelligent noble, therefore, more than to any other individual, that the merit of laying this corner-stone of the batavian commonwealth belongs. the enterprise itself was an accident, but the quick eye of treslong saw the possibility of a permanent conquest, where his superior dreamed of nothing beyond a piratical foray. meantime bossu, baffled in his attempt upon brill, took his way towards rotterdam. it was important that he should at least secure such other cities as the recent success of the rebels might cause to waver in their allegiance. he found the gates of rotterdam closed. the authorities refused to comply with his demand to admit a garrison for the king. professing perfect loyalty, the inhabitants very naturally refused to admit a band of sanguinary spaniards to enforce their obedience. compelled to parley, bossu resorted to a perfidious stratagem. he requested permission for his troops to pass through the city without halting. this was granted by the magistrates, on condition that only a corporal's command should be admitted at a time. to these terms the count affixed his hand and seal. with the admission, however, of the first detachment, a violent onset was made upon the gate by the whole spanish force. the townspeople, not suspecting treachery, were not prepared to make effective resistance. a stout smith, confronting the invaders at the gate, almost singly, with his sledge-hammer, was stabbed to the heart by bossu with his own hand. the soldiers having thus gained admittance, rushed through the streets, putting every man to death who offered the slightest resistance. within a few minutes four hundred citizens were murdered. the fate of the women, abandoned now to the outrage of a brutal soldiery, was worse than death. the capture of rotterdam is infamous for the same crimes which blacken the record of every spanish triumph in the netherlands. the important town of flushing, on the isle of walcheren, was first to vibrate with the patriotic impulse given by the success at brill. the seigneur de herpt, a warm partisan of orange, excited the burghers assembled in the market-place to drive the small remnant of the spanish garrison from the city. a little later upon the same day a considerable reinforcement arrived before the walls. the duke had determined, although too late, to complete the fortress which had been commenced long before to control the possession of this important position at the mouth of the western scheld. the troops who were to resume this too long intermitted work arrived just in time to witness the expulsion of their comrades. de herpt easily persuaded the burghers that the die was cast, and that their only hope lay in a resolute resistance. the people warmly acquiesced, while a half-drunken, half-wined fellow in the crowd valiantly proposed, in consideration of a pot of beer, to ascend the ramparts and to discharge a couple of pieces of artillery at the spanish ships. the offer was accepted, and the vagabond merrily mounting the height, discharged the guns. strange to relate, the shot thus fired by a lunatic's hand put the invading ships to flight. a sudden panic seized the spaniards, the whole fleet stood away at once in the direction of middelburg, and were soon out of sight. the next day, however, antony of bourgoyne, governor under alva for the island of walcheren, made his appearance in flushing. having a high opinion of his own oratorical powers, he came with the intention of winning back with his rhetoric a city which the spaniards had thus far been unable to recover with their cannon. the great bell was rung, the whole population assembled in the marketplace, and antony, from the steps of the town-house, delivered a long oration, assuring the burghers, among other asseverations, that the king, who was the best natured prince in all christendom, would forget and forgive their offences if they returned honestly to their duties. the effect of the governor's eloquence was much diminished, however, by the interlocutory remarks, of de herpt and a group of his adherents. they reminded the people of the king's good nature, of his readiness to forget and to forgive, as exemplified by the fate of horn and egmont, of berghen and montigny, and by the daily and almost hourly decrees of the blood council. each well-rounded period of the governor was greeted with ironical cheers. the oration was unsuccessful. "oh, citizens, citizens!" cried at last the discomfited antony, "ye know not what ye do. your blood be upon your own heads; the responsibility be upon your own hearts for the fires which are to consume your cities and the desolation which is to sweep your land!" the orator at this impressive point was interrupted, and most unceremoniously hustled out of the city. the government remained in the hands of the patriots. the party, however, was not so strong in soldiers as in spirit. no sooner, therefore, had they established their rebellion to alva as an incontrovertible fact, than they sent off emissaries to the prince of orange, and to admiral de la marek at brill. finding that the inhabitants of flushing were willing to provide arms and ammunition, de la marck readily consented to send a small number of men, bold and experienced in partisan warfare, of whom he had now collected a larger number than he could well arm or maintain in his present position. the detachment, two hundred in number, in three small vessels, set sail accordingly from brill for flushing; and a wild crew they were, of reckless adventurers under command of the bold treslong. the expedition seemed a fierce but whimsical masquerade. every man in the little fleet was attired in the gorgeous vestments of the plundered churches, in gold-embroidered cassocks, glittering mass-garments, or the more sombre cowls, and robes of capuchin friars. so sped the early standard bearers of that ferocious liberty which had sprung from the fires in which all else for which men cherish their fatherland had been consumed. so swept that resolute but fantastic band along the placid estuaries of zealand, waking the stagnant waters with their wild beggar songs and cries of vengeance. that vengeance found soon a distinguished object. pacheco, the chief engineer of alva, who had accompanied the duke in his march from italy, who had since earned a world-wide reputation as the architect of the antwerp citadel, had been just despatched in haste to flushing to complete the fortress whose construction had been so long delayed. too late for his work, too soon for his safety, the ill-fated engineer had arrived almost at the same moment with treslong and his crew. he had stepped on shore, entirely ignorant of all which had transpired, expecting to be treated with the respect due to the chief commandant of the place, and to an officer high in the confidence of the governor-general. he found himself surrounded by an indignant and threatening mob. the unfortunate italian understood not a word of the opprobrious language addressed to him, but he easily comprehended that the authority of the duke was overthrown. observing de ryk, a distinguished partisan officer and privateersman of amsterdam, whose reputation for bravery and generosity was known, to him, he approached him, and drawing a seal ring from his finger, kissed it, and handed it to the rebel chieftain. by this dumbshow he gave him to understand that he relied upon his honor for the treatment due to a gentleman. de ryk understood the appeal, and would willingly have assured him, at least, a soldier's death, but he was powerless to do so. he arrested him, that he might be protected from the fury of the rabble, but treslong, who now commanded in flushing, was especially incensed against the founder of the antwerp citadel, and felt a ferocious desire to avenge his brother's murder upon the body of his destroyer's favourite. pacheco was condemned to be hanged upon the very day of his arrival. having been brought forth from his prison, he begged hard but not abjectly for his life. he offered a heavy ransom, but his enemies were greedy for blood, not for money. it was, however, difficult to find an executioner. the city hangman was absent, and the prejudice of the country and the age against the vile profession had assuredly not been diminished during the five horrible years of alva's administration. even a condemned murderer, who lay in the town-gaol, refused to accept his life in recompence for performing the office. it should never be said, he observed, that his mother had given birth to a hangman. when told, however, that the intended victim was a spanish officer, the malefactor consented to the task with alacrity, on condition that he might afterwards kill any man who taunted him with the deed. arrived at the foot of the gallows, pacheco complained bitterly of the disgraceful death designed for him. he protested loudly that he came of a house as noble as that of egmont or horn, and was entitled to as honorable an execution as theirs had been. "the sword! the sword!" he frantically exclaimed, as he struggled with those who guarded him. his language was not understood, but the names of egmont and horn inflamed still more highly the rage of the rabble, while his cry for the sword was falsely interpreted by a rude fellow who had happened to possess himself of pacheco's rapier, at his capture, and who now paraded himself with it at the gallows' foot. "never fear for your sword, seilor," cried this ruffian; "your sword is safe enough, and in good hands. up the ladder with you, senor; you have no further use for your sword." pacheco, thus outraged, submitted to his fate. he mounted the ladder with a steady step, and was hanged between two other spanish officers. so perished miserably a brave soldier, and one of the most distinguished engineers of his time; a man whose character and accomplishments had certainly merited for him a better fate. but while we stigmatize as it deserves the atrocious conduct of a few netherland partisans, we should remember who first unchained the demon of international hatred in this unhappy land, nor should it ever be forgotten that the great leader of the revolt, by word, proclamation, example, by entreaties, threats, and condign punishment, constantly rebuked, and to a certain extent, restrained the sanguinary spirit by which some of his followers disgraced the noble cause which they had espoused. treslong did not long remain in command at flushing. an officer, high in the confidence of the prince, jerome van 't zeraerts, now arrived at flushing, with a commission to be lieutenant-governor over the whole isle of walcheren. he was attended by a small band of french infantry, while at nearly the same time the garrison was further strengthened by the arrival of a large number of volunteers from england. etext editor's bookmarks: beggars of the sea, as these privateersmen designated themselves hair and beard unshorn, according to ancient batavian custom only healthy existence of the french was in a state of war motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley [chapter vii.] municipal revolution throughout holland and zealand--characteristics of the movement in various places--sonoy commissioned by orange as governor of north holland--theory of the provisional government-- instructions of the prince to his officers--oath prescribed--clause of toleration--surprise of mons by count louis--exertions of antony oliver--details of the capture--assembly of the citizens--speeches of genlis and of count louis--effect of the various movements upon alva--don frederic ordered to invest mons--the duke's impatience to retire--arrival of medina coeli--his narrow escape--capture of the lisbon fleet--affectation of cordiality between alva and medina-- concessions by king and viceroy on the subject of the tenth penny-- estates of holland assembled, by summons of orange, at dort--appeals from the prince to this congress for funds to pay his newly levied army--theory of the provisional states' assembly--source and nature of its authority--speech of st. aldegonde--liberality of the estates and the provinces--pledges exchanged between the prince's representative and the congress--commission to de la marck ratified --virtual dictatorship of orange--limitation of his power by his own act--count louis at mons--reinforcements led from france by genlis-- rashness of that officer--his total defeat--orange again in the field--rocrmond taken--excesses of the patriot army--proclamation of orange, commanding respect to all personal and religious rights--his reply to the emperor's summons--his progress in the netherlands-- hopes entertained from france--reinforcements under coligny promised to orange by charles ix.--the massacre of st. bartholomew--the event characterized--effect in england, in rome, and in other parts of europe--excessive hilarity of philip--extravagant encomium bestowed by him upon charles ix.--order sent by philip to put all french prisoners in the netherlands to death--secret correspondence of charles ix. with his envoy in the netherlands--exultation of the spaniards before mons--alva urged by the french envoy, according to his master's commands, to put all the frenchmen in mons, and those already captured, to death--effect of the massacre upon the prince of orange--alva and medina in the camp before mons--hopelessness of the prince's scheme to obtain battle from alva--romero's encamisada --narrow escape of the prince--mutiny and dissolution of his army-- his return to holland--his steadfastness--desperate position of count louis in mons--sentiments of alva--capitulation of mons-- courteous reception of count louis by the spanish generals-- hypocrisy of these demonstrations--nature of the mons capitulation-- horrible violation of its terms--noircarmes at mons--establishment of a blood council in the city--wholesale executions--cruelty and cupidity of noircarmes--late discovery of the archives of these crimes--return of the revolted cities of brabant and flanders to obedience--sack of mechlin by the spaniards--details of that event. the example thus set by brill and flushing was rapidly followed. the first half of the year was distinguished by a series of triumphs rendered still more remarkable by the reverses which followed at its close. of a sudden, almost as it were by accident, a small but important sea-port, the object for which the prince had so long been hoping, was secured. instantly afterward, half the island of walcheren renounced the yoke of alva, next, enkbuizen, the key to the zuyder zee, the principal arsenal, and one of the first commercial cities in the netherlands, rose against the spanish admiral, and hung out the banner of orange on its ramparts. the revolution effected here was purely the work of the people--of the mariners and burghers of the city. moreover, the magistracy was set aside and the government of alva repudiated without shedding one drop of blood, without a single wrong to person or property. by the same spontaneous movement, nearly all the important cities of holland and zealand raised the standard of him in whom they recognized their deliverer. the revolution was accomplished under nearly similar circumstances everywhere. with one fierce bound of enthusiasm the nation shook off its chain. oudewater, dort, harlem, leyden, gorcum, loewenstein, gouda, medenblik, horn, alkmaar, edam, monnikendam, purmerende, as well as flushing, veer, and enkbuizen, all ranged themselves under the government of orange, as lawful stadholder for the king. nor was it in holland and zealand alone that the beacon fires of freedom were lighted. city after city in gelderland, overyssel, and the see of utrecht; all the important towns of friesland, some sooner, some later, some without a struggle, some after a short siege, some with resistance by the functionaries of government, some by amicable compromise, accepted the garrisons of the prince, and formally recognized his authority. out of the chaos which a long and preternatural tyranny had produced, the first struggling elements of a new and a better world began to appear. it were superfluous to narrate the details which marked the sudden restoration of liberty in these various groups of cities. traits of generosity marked the change of government in some, circumstances of ferocity, disfigured the revolution in others. the island of walcheren, equally divided as it was between the two parties, was the scene of much truculent and diabolical warfare. it is difficult to say whether the mutual hatred of race or the animosity of religious difference proved the deadlier venom. the combats were perpetual and sanguinary, the prisoners on both sides instantly executed. on more than one occasion; men were seen assisting to hang with their own hands and in cold blood their own brothers, who had been taken prisoners in the enemy's ranks. when the captives were too many to be hanged, they were tied back to back, two and two, and thus hurled into the sea. the islanders found a fierce pleasure in these acts of cruelty. a spaniard had ceased to be human in their eyes. on one occasion, a surgeon at veer cut the heart from a spanish prisoner, nailed it on a vessel's prow; and invited the townsmen to come and fasten their teeth in it, which many did with savage satisfaction. in other parts of the country the revolution was, on the whole, accomplished with comparative calmness. even traits of generosity were not uncommon. the burgomaster of gonda, long the supple slave of alva and the blood council, fled for his life as the revolt broke forth in that city. he took refuge in the house of a certain widow, and begged for a place of concealment. the widow led him to a secret closet which served as a pantry. "shall i be secure there?" asked the fugitive functionary. "o yes, sir burgomaster," replied the widow, "'t was in that very place that my husband lay concealed when you, accompanied by the officers of justice, were searching the house, that you might bring him to the scaffold for his religion. enter the pantry, your worship; i will be responsible for your safety." thus faithfully did the humble widow of a hunted and murdered calvinist protect the life of the magistrate who had brought desolation to her hearth. not all the conquests thus rapidly achieved in the cause of liberty were destined to endure, nor were any to be, retained without a struggle. the little northern cluster of republics which had now restored its honor to the ancient batavian name was destined, however, for a long and vigorous life. from that bleak isthmus the light of freedom was to stream through many years upon struggling humanity in europe; a guiding pharos across a stormy sea; and harlem, leyden, alkmaar--names hallowed by deeds of heroism such as have not often illustrated human annals, still breathe as trumpet-tongued and perpetual a defiance to despotism as marathon, thermopylae, or salamis. a new board of magistrates had been chosen in all the redeemed cities, by popular election. they were required to take an oath of fidelity to the king of spain, and to the prince of orange as his stadholder; to promise resistance to the duke of alva, the tenth penny, and the inquisition; to support every man's freedom and the welfare of the country; to protect widows, orphans, and miserable persons, and to maintain justice and truth. diedrich sonoy arrived on the nd june at enkbuizen. he was provided by the prince with a commission, appointing him lieutenant-governor of north holland or waterland. thus, to combat the authority of alva was set up the authority of the king. the stadholderate over holland and zealand, to which the prince had been appointed in , he now reassumed. upon this fiction reposed the whole provisional polity of the revolted netherlands. the government, as it gradually unfolded itself, from this epoch forward until the declaration of independence and the absolute renunciation of the spanish sovereign power, will be sketched in a future chapter. the people at first claimed not an iota more of freedom than was secured by philip's coronation oath. there was no pretence that philip was not sovereign, but there was a pretence and a determination to worship god according to conscience, and to reclaim the ancient political "liberties" of the land. so long as alva reigned, the blood council, the inquisition, and martial law, were the only codes or courts, and every charter slept. to recover this practical liberty and these historical rights, and to shake from their shoulders a most sanguinary government, was the purpose of william and of the people. no revolutionary standard was displayed. the written instructions given by the prince to his lieutenant sonoy were to "see that the word of god was preached, without, however, suffering any hindrance to the roman church in the exercise of its religion; to restore fugitives and the banished for conscience sake, and to require of all magistrates and officers of guilds and brotherhoods an oath of fidelity." the prince likewise prescribed the form of that oath, repeating therein, to his eternal honor, the same strict prohibition of intolerance. "likewise," said the formula, "shall those of 'the religion' offer no let or hindrance to the roman churches." the prince was still in germany, engaged in raising troops and providing funds. he directed; however, the affairs of the insurgent provinces in their minutest details, by virtue of the dictatorship inevitably forced upon him both by circumstances and by the people. in the meantime; louis of nassau, the bayard of the netherlands, performed a most unexpected and brilliant exploit. he had been long in france, negotiating with the leaders of the huguenots, and, more secretly, with the court. he was supposed by all the world to be still in that kingdom, when the startling intelligence arrived that he had surprised and captured the important city of mons. this town, the capital of hainault, situate in a fertile, undulating, and beautiful country, protected by lofty walls, a triple moat, and a strong citadel, was one of the most flourishing and elegant places in the netherlands. it was, moreover, from its vicinity to the frontiers of france; a most important acquisition to the insurgent party. the capture was thus accomplished. a native of mons, one antony oliver, a geographical painter, had insinuated himself into the confidence of alva, for whom he had prepared at different times some remarkably well-executed maps of the country. having occasion to visit france, he was employed by the duke to keep a watch upon the movements of louis of nassau, and to make a report as to the progress of his intrigues with the court of france. the painter, however, was only a spy in disguise, being in reality devoted to the cause of freedom, and a correspondent of orange and his family. his communications with louis, in paris, had therefore a far different result from the one anticipated by alva. a large number of adherents within the city of mons had already been secured, and a plan was now arranged between count louis, genlis, de la noue, and other distinguished huguenot chiefs, to be carried out with the assistance of the brave and energetic artist. on the rd of may, oliver appeared at the gates of mons, accompanied by three wagons, ostensibly containing merchandise, but in reality laden with arquebusses. these were secretly distributed among his confederates in the city. in the course of the day count louis arrived in the neighbourhood, accompanied by five hundred horsemen and a thousand foot soldiers. this force he stationed in close concealment within the thick forests between maubeuge and mons. towards evening he sent twelve of the most trusty and daring of his followers, disguised as wine merchants, into the city. these individuals proceeded boldly to a public house, ordered their supper, and while conversing with the landlord, carelessly inquired at what hour next morning the city gates would be opened. they were informed that the usual hour was four in the morning, but that a trifling present to the porter would ensure admission, if they desired it, at an earlier hour. they explained their inquiries by a statement that they had some casks of wine which they wished to introduce into the city before sunrise. having obtained all the information which they needed, they soon afterwards left the tavern. the next day they presented themselves very early at the gate, which the porter, on promise of a handsome "drink-penny," agreed to unlock. no sooner were the bolts withdrawn, however, than he was struck dead, while about fifty dragoons rode through the gate. the count and his followers now galloped over the city in the morning twilight, shouting "france! liberty! the town is ours!" "the prince is coming!" "down with the tenth penny; down with the murderous alva!" so soon as a burgher showed his wondering face at the window, they shot at him with their carbines. they made as much noise, and conducted themselves as boldly as if they had been at least a thousand strong. meantime, however, the streets remained empty; not one of their secret confederates showing himself. fifty men could surprise, but were too few to keep possession of the city. the count began to suspect a trap. as daylight approached the alarm spread; the position of the little band was critical. in his impetuosity, louis had far outstripped his army, but they had been directed to follow hard upon his footsteps, and he was astonished that their arrival was so long delayed. the suspense becoming intolerable, he rode out of the city in quest of his adherents, and found them wandering in the woods, where they had completely lost their way. ordering each horseman to take a foot soldier on the crupper behind him, he led them rapidly back to mons. on the way they were encountered by la noue, "with the iron arm," and genlis, who, meantime, had made an unsuccessful attack to recover valenciennes, which within a few hours had been won and lost again. as they reached the gates of mons, they found themselves within a hair's breadth of being too late; their adherents had not come forth; the citizens had been aroused; the gates were all fast but one--and there the porter was quarrelling with a french soldier about an arquebuss. the drawbridge across the moat was at the moment rising; the last entrance was closing, when guitoy de chaumont, a french officer, mounted on a light spanish barb, sprang upon the bridge as it rose. his weight caused it to sink again, the gate was forced, and louis with all his men rode triumphantly into the town. the citizens were forthwith assembled by sound of bell in the market-place. the clergy, the magistracy, and the general council were all present. genlis made the first speech, in which he disclaimed all intention of making conquests in the interest of france. this pledge having been given, louis of nassau next addressed the assembly: "the magistrates," said he, "have not understoood my intentions. i protest that i am no rebel to the king; i prove it by asking no new oaths from any man. remain bound by your old oaths of allegiance; let the magistrates continue to exercise their functions--to administer justice. i imagine that no person will suspect a brother of the prince of orange capable of any design against the liberties of the country. as to the catholic religion, i take it under my very particular protection. you will ask why i am in mons at the head of an armed force: are any of you ignorant of alva's cruelties? the overthrow of this tyrant is as much the interest of the king as of the people, therefore there is nothing in my present conduct inconsistent with fidelity to his majesty. against alva alone i have taken up arms; 'tis to protect you against his fury that i am here. it is to prevent the continuance of a general rebellion that i make war upon him. the only proposition which i have to make to you is this--i demand that you declare alva de toledo a traitor to the king, the executioner of the people, an enemy to the country, unworthy of the government, and hereby deprived of his authority." the magistracy did not dare to accept so bold a proposition; the general council, composing the more popular branch of the municipal government, were comparatively inclined to favor nassau, and many of its members voted for the downfall of the tyrant. nevertheless the demands of count louis were rejected. his position thus became critical. the civic authorities refused to, pay for his troops, who were, moreover, too few, in number to resist the inevitable siege. the patriotism of the citizens was not to be repressed, however, by the authority, of the magistrates; many rich proprietors of the great cloth and silk manufactories, for which mons was famous, raised, and armed companies at their own expense; many volunteer troops were also speedily organized and drilled, and the fortifications were put in order. no attempt was made to force the reformed religion upon the inhabitants, and even catholics who were discovered in secret correspondence with the enemy were treated with such extreme gentleness by nassau as to bring upon him severe reproaches from many of his own party. a large collection of ecclesiastical plate, jewellery, money, and other valuables, which had been sent to the city for safe keeping from the churches and convents of the provinces, was seized, and thus, with little bloodshed and no violence; was the important city secured for the insurgents. three days afterwards, two thousand infantry, chiefly french, arrived in the place. in the early part of the following month louis was still further strengthened by the arrival of thirteen hundred foot and twelve hundred horsemen, under command of count montgomery, the celebrated officer, whose spear at the tournament had proved fatal to henry the second. thus the duke of alva suddenly found himself exposed to a tempest of revolution. one thunderbolt after another seemed descending around him in breathless succession. brill and flushing had been already lost; middelburg was so closely invested that its fall seemed imminent, and with it would go the whole island of walcheren, the key to all the netherlands. in one morning he had heard of the revolt of enkbuizen and of the whole waterland; two hours later came the news of the valenciennes rebellion, and next day the astonishing capture of mons. one disaster followed hard upon another. he could have sworn that the detested louis of nassau, who had dealt this last and most fatal stroke, was at that moment in paris, safely watched by government emissaries; and now he had, as it were, suddenly started out of the earth, to deprive him of this important city, and to lay bare the whole frontier to the treacherous attacks of faithless france. he refused to believe the intelligence when it was first announced to him, and swore that he had certain information that count louis had been seen playing in the tennis-court at paris, within so short a period as to make his presence in hainault at that moment impossible. forced, at last, to admit the truth of the disastrous news, he dashed his hat upon the ground in a fury, uttering imprecations upon the queen dowager of france, to whose perfidious intrigues he ascribed the success of the enterprise, and pledging himself to send her spanish thistles, enough in return for the florentine lilies which she had thus bestowed upon him. in the midst of the perplexities thus thickening around him, the duke preserved his courage, if not his temper. blinded, for a brief season, by the rapid attacks made upon him, he had been uncertain whither to direct his vengeance. this last blow in so vital a quarter determined him at once. he forthwith despatched don frederic to undertake the siege of mons, and earnestly set about raising large reinforcements to his army. don frederic took possession, without much opposition, of the bethlehem cloister in the immediate vicinity of the city, and with four thousand troops began the investment in due form. alva had, for a long time, been most impatient to retire from the provinces. even he was capable of human emotions. through the sevenfold panoply of his pride he had been pierced by the sharpness of a nation's curse. he was wearied with the unceasing execrations which assailed his ears. "the hatred which the people bear me," said he, in a letter to philip, "because of the chastisement which it has been necessary for me to inflict, although with all the moderation in the world, make all my efforts vain. a successor will meet more sympathy and prove more useful." on the th june, the duke of medina coeli; with a fleet of more than forty sail, arrived off blankenburg, intending to enter the scheld. julian romero, with two thousand spaniards, was also on board the fleet. nothing, of course, was known to the new comers of the altered condition of affairs in the netherlands, nor of the unwelcome reception which they were like to meet in flushing. a few of the lighter craft having been taken by the patriot cruisers, the alarm was spread through all the fleet. medina coeli, with a few transports, was enabled to effect his escape to sluys, whence he hastened to brussels in a much less ceremonious manner than he had originally contemplated. twelve biscayan ships stood out to sea, descried a large lisbon fleet, by a singular coincidence, suddenly heaving in sight, changed their course again, and with a favoring breeze bore boldly up the hond; passed flushing in spite of a severe cannonade from the forts, and eventually made good their entrance into rammekens, whence the soldiery, about one-half of whom had thus been saved, were transferred at a very critical moment to middelburg. the great lisbon fleet followed in the wake of the biscayans, with much inferior success. totally ignorant of the revolution which had occurred in the ise of walclieren, it obeyed the summons of the rebel fort to come to anchor, and, with the exception of three or four, the vessels were all taken. it was the richest booty which the insurgents had yet acquired by sea or land. the fleet was laden with spices, money, jewellery, and the richest merchandize. five hundred thousand crowns of gold were taken, and it was calculated that the plunder altogether would suffice to maintain the war for two years at least. one thousand spanish soldiers, and a good amount of ammunition, were also captured. the unexpected condition of affairs made a pause natural and almost necessary, before the government could be decorously transferred. medina coeli with spanish grandiloquence, avowed his willingness to serve as a soldier, under a general whom he so much venerated, while alva ordered that, in all respects, the same outward marks of respect should be paid to his appointed successor as to himself. beneath all this external ceremony, however, much mutual malice was concealed. meantime, the duke, who was literally "without a single real," was forced at last to smother his pride in the matter of the tenth penny. on the th june, he summoned the estates of holland to assemble on the th of the ensuing month. in the missive issued for this purpose, he formally agreed to abolish the whole tax, on condition that the estates-general of the netherlands would furnish him with a yearly supply of two millions of florins. almost at the same moment the king had dismissed the deputies of the estates from madrid, with the public assurance that the tax was to be suspended, and a private intimation that it was not abolished in terms, only in order to save the dignity of the duke. these healing measures came entirely too late. the estates of holland met, indeed, on the appointed day of july; but they assembled not in obedience to alva, but in consequence of a summons from william of orange. they met, too, not at the hague, but at dort, to take formal measures for renouncing the authority of the duke. the first congress of the netherland commonwealth still professed loyalty to the crown, but was determined to accept the policy of orange without a question. the prince had again assembled an army in germany, consisting of fifteen thousand foot and seven thousand horse, besides a number of netherlanders, mostly walloons, amounting to nearly three thousand more. before taking the field, however, it was necessary that he should guarantee at least three months' pay to his troops. this he could no longer do, except by giving bonds endorsed by certain cities of holland as his securities. he had accordingly addressed letters in his own name to all the principal cities, fervently adjuring them to remember, at last, what was due to him, to the fatherland, and to their own character. "let not a sum of gold," said he in one of these letters, "be so dear to you, that for its sake you will sacrifice your lives, your wives, your children, and all your descendants, to the latest generations; that you will bring sin and shame upon yourselves, and destruction upon us who have so heartily striven to assist you. think what scorn you will incur from foreign nations, what a crime you will commit against the. lord god, what a bloody yoke ye will impose forever upon yourselves and your children, if you now seek for subterfuges; if you now prevent us from taking the field with the troops which we have enlisted. on the other hand, what inexpressible benefits you will confer on your country, if you now help us to rescue that fatherland from the power of spanish vultures and wolves." this and similar missives, circulated throughout the province of holland, produced a deep impression. in accordance with his suggestions, the deputies from the nobility and from twelve cities of that province assembled on the th july, at dort. strictly speaking, the estates or government of holland, the body which represented the whole people, consisted of the nobler and six great cities. on this occasion, however, amsterdam being still in the power of the king, could send no deputies, while, on the other hand, all the small towns were invited to send up their representatives to the congress. eight accepted the proposal; the rest declined to appoint delegates, partly from motives of economy, partly from timidity.' these estates were the legitimate representatives of the people, but they had no legislative powers. the people had never pretended to sovereignty, nor did they claim it now. the source from which the government of the netherlands was supposed to proceed was still the divine mandate. even now the estates silently conceded, as they had ever done, the supreme legislative and executive functions to the land's master. upon philip of spain, as representative of count dirk the first of holland, had descended, through many tortuous channels, the divine effluence originally supplied by charles the simple of france. that supernatural power was not contested, but it was now ingeniously turned against the sovereign. the king's authority was invoked against himself in the person of the prince of orange, to whom, thirteen years before, a portion of that divine right had been delegated. the estates of holland met at dort on the th july, as representatives of the people; but they were summoned by orange, royally commissioned in as stadholder, and therefore the supreme legislative and executive officer of certain provinces. this was the theory of the provisional government. the prince represented the royal authority, the nobles represented both themselves and the people of the open country, while the twelve cities represented the whole body of burghers. together, they were supposed to embody all authority, both divine and human, which a congress could exercise. thus the whole movement was directed against alva and against count bossu, appointed stadholder by alva in the place of orange. philip's name was destined to figure for a long time, at the head of documents by which monies were raised, troops levied, and taxes collected, all to be used in deadly war against himself. the estates were convened on the th july, when paul buys, pensionary of leyden, the tried and confidential friend of orange, was elected advocate of holland. the convention was then adjourned till the th, when saint aldegonde made his appearance, with full powers to act provisionally in behalf of his highness. the distinguished plenipotentiary delivered before the congress a long and very effective harangue. he recalled the sacrifices and efforts of the prince during previous years. he adverted to the disastrous campaign of , in which the prince had appeared full of high hope, at the head of a gallant army, but had been obliged, after a short period, to retire, because not a city had opened its gates nor a netherlander lifted his finger in the cause. nevertheless, he had not lost courage nor closed his heart; and now that, through the blessing of god, the eyes of men had been opened, and so many cities had declared against the tyrant, the prince had found himself exposed to a bitter struggle. although his own fortunes had been ruined in the cause, he had been unable to resist the daily flood of petitions which called upon him to come forward once more. he had again importuned his relations and powerful friends; he had at last set on foot a new and well-appointed army. the day of payment had arrived. over his own head impended perpetual shame, over the fatherland perpetual woe, if the congress should now refuse the necessary supplies. "arouse ye, then," cried the orator, with fervor, "awaken your own zeal and that of your sister cities. seize opportunity by the locks, who never appeared fairer than she does to-day." the impassioned eloquence of st. aldegonde produced a profound impression. the men who had obstinately refused the demands of alva, now unanimously resolved to pour forth their gold and their blood at the call of orange. "truly," wrote the duke, a little later, "it almost drives me mad to see the difficulty with which your majesty's supplies are furnished, and the liberality with which the people place their lives and fortunes at the disposal of this rebel." it seemed strange to the loyal governor that men should support their liberator with greater alacrity than that with which they served their destroyer! it was resolved that the requisite amount should be at once raised, partly from the regular imposts and current "requests," partly by loans from the rich, from the clergy, from the guilds and brotherhoods, partly from superfluous church ornaments and other costly luxuries. it was directed that subscriptions should be immediately opened throughout the land, that gold and silver plate, furniture, jewellery, and other expensive articles should be received by voluntary contributions, for which inventories and receipts should be given by the magistrates of each city, and that upon these money should be raised, either by loan or sale. an enthusiastic and liberal spirit prevailed. all seemed determined rather than pay the tenth to alva to pay the whole to the prince. the estates, furthermore, by unanimous resolution, declared that they recognized the prince as the king's lawful stadholder over holland, zealand, friesland, and utrecht, and that they would use their influence with the other provinces to procure his appointment as protector of all the netherlands during the king's absence. his highness was requested to appoint an admiral, on whom, with certain deputies from the water-cities, the conduct of the maritime war should devolve. the conduct of the military operations by land was to be directed by dort, leyden, and enkbuizen, in conjunction with the count de la marck. a pledge was likewise exchanged between the estates and the pleni-potentiary, that neither party should enter into any treaty with the king, except by full consent and co-operation of the other. with regard to religion, it was firmly established, that the public exercises of divine worship should be permitted not only to the reformed church, but to the roman catholic--the clergy of both being protected from all molestation. after these proceedings, count de la marck made his appearance before the assembly. his commission from orange was read to the deputies, and by them ratified. the prince, in that document, authorized "his dear cousin" to enlist troops, to accept the fealty of cities, to furnish them with garrisons, to re-establish all the local laws, municipal rights, and ancient privileges which had been suppressed. he was to maintain freedom of religion, under penalty of death to those who infringed it; he was to restore all confiscated property; he was, with advice of his council, to continue in office such city magistrates as were favorable, and to remove those adverse to the cause. the prince was, in reality, clothed with dictatorial and even regal powers. this authority had been forced upon him by the prayers of the people, but he manifested no eagerness as he partly accepted the onerous station. he was provisionally the depositary of the whole sovereignty of the northern provinces, but he cared much less for theories of government than for ways and means. it was his object to release the country from the tyrant who, five years long, had been burning and butchering the people. it was his determination to drive out the foreign soldiery. to do this, he must meet his enemy in the field. so little was he disposed to strengthen his own individual power, that he voluntarily imposed limits on himself, by an act, supplemental to the proceedings of the congress of dort. in this important ordinance made by the prince of orange, as a provisional form of government, he publicly announced "that he would do and ordain nothing except by the advice of the estates, by reason that they were best acquainted with the circumstances and the humours of the inhabitants." he directed the estates to appoint receivers for all public taxes, and ordained that all military officers should make oath of fidelity to him, as stadholder, and to the estates of holland, to be true and obedient, in order to liberate the land from the albanian and spanish tyranny, for the service of his royal majesty as count of holland. the provisional constitution, thus made by a sovereign prince and actual dictator, was certainly as disinterested as it was sagacious. meanwhile the war had opened vigorously in hainault. louis of nassau had no sooner found himself in possession of mons than he had despatched genlis to france, for those reinforcements which had been promised by royal lips. on the other hand, don frederic held the city closely beleaguered; sharp combats before the walls were of almost daily occurrence, but it was obvious that louis would be unable to maintain the position into which he had so chivalrously thrown himself unless he should soon receive important succor. the necessary reinforcements were soon upon the way. genlis had made good speed with his levy, and it was soon announced that he was advancing into hainault, with a force of huguenots, whose numbers report magnified to ten thousand veterans. louis despatched an earnest message to his confederate, to use extreme caution in his approach. above all things, he urged him, before attempting to throw reinforcements into the city, to effect a junction with the prince of orange, who had already crossed the rhine with his new army. genlis, full of overweening confidence, and desirous of acquiring singly the whole glory of relieving the city, disregarded this advice. his rashness proved his ruin, and the temporary prostration of the cause of freedom. pushing rapidly forward across the french frontier, he arrived, towards the middle of july, within two leagues of mons. the spaniards were aware of his approach, and well prepared to frustrate his project. on the th, he found himself upon a circular plain of about a league's extent, surrounded with coppices and forests, and dotted with farm-houses and kitchen gardens. here he paused to send out a reconnoitring party. the little detachment was, however, soon driven in, with the information that don frederic of toledo, with ten thousand men, was coming instantly upon them. the spanish force, in reality, numbered four thousand infantry, and fifteen hundred cavalry; but three thousand half-armed boors had been engaged by don frederic, to swell his apparent force. the demonstration produced its effect, and no sooner had the first panic of the intelligence been spread, than noircarmes came charging upon them at the head of his cavalry. the infantry arrived directly afterwards, and the huguenots were routed almost as soon as seen. it was a meeting rather than a battle. the slaughter of the french was very great, while but an insignificant number of the spaniards fell. chiappin vitelli was the hero of the day. it was to his masterly arrangements before the combat, and to his animated exertions upon the field, that the victory was owing. having been severely wounded in the thigh but a few days previously, he caused himself to be carried upon a litter in a recumbent position in front of his troops, and was everywhere seen, encouraging their exertions, and exposing himself, crippled as he was, to the whole brunt of the battle. to him the victory nearly proved fatal; to don frederic it brought increased renown. vitelli's exertions, in his precarious condition, brought on severe inflammation, under which he nearly succumbed, while the son of alva reaped extensive fame from the total overthrow of the veteran huguenots, due rather to his lieutenant and to julian romero. the number of dead left by the french upon the plain amounted to at least twelve hundred, but a much larger number was butchered in detail by the peasantry, among whom they attempted to take refuge, and who had not yet forgotten the barbarities inflicted by their countrymen in the previous war. many officers were taken prisoners, among whom was the commander-in-chief, genlis. that unfortunate gentleman was destined to atone for his rashness and obstinacy with his life. he was carried to the castle of antwerp, where, sixteen months afterwards, he was secretly strangled by command of alva, who caused the report to be circulated that he had died a natural death. about one hundred foot soldiers succeeded in making their entrance into mona, and this was all the succor which count louis was destined to receive from france, upon which country he had built such lofty and such reasonable hopes. while this unfortunate event was occurring, the prince had already put his army in motion. on the th of july he had crossed the rhine at duisburg, with fourteen thousand foot, seven thousand horse, enlisted in germany, besides a force of three thousand walloons. on the rd of july, he took the city of roermond, after a sharp cannonade, at which place his troops already began to disgrace the honorable cause in which they were engaged, by imitating the cruelties and barbarities of their antagonists. the persons and property of the burghers were, with a very few exceptions, respected; but many priests and monks were put to death by the soldiery under circumstances of great barbarity. the prince, incensed at such conduct, but being unable to exercise very stringent authority over troops whose wages he was not yet able to pay in full, issued a proclamation, denouncing such excesses, and commanding his followers, upon pain of death, to respect the rights of all individuals, whether papist or protestant, and to protect religious exercises both in catholic and reformed churches. it was hardly to be expected that the troops enlisted by the prince in the same great magazine of hireling soldiers, germany, from whence the duke also derived his annual supplies, would be likely to differ very much in their propensities from those enrolled under spanish banners; yet there was a vast contrast between the characters of the two commanders. one leader inculcated the practice of robbery, rape, and murder, as a duty, and issued distinct orders to butcher every mother's son in the cities which he captured; the other restrained every excess to, the utmost of his ability, protecting not only life and property, but even the ancient religion. the emperor maximilian had again issued his injunctions against the military operations of orange. bound to the monarch of spain by so many family ties, being at once cousin, brother-in-law, and father-in-law of philip, it was difficult for him to maintain the attitude which became him, as chief of that empire to which the peace of passau had assured religious freedom. it had, however, been sufficiently proved that remonstrances and intercessions addressed to philip were but idle breath. it had therefore become an insult to require pacific conduct from the prince on the ground of any past or future mediation. it was a still grosser mockery to call upon him to discontinue hostilities because the netherlands were included in the empire, and therefore protected by the treaties of passau and augsburg. well did the prince reply to his imperial majesty's summons in a temperate but cogent letter, in which he addressed to him from his camp, that all intercessions had proved fruitless, and that the only help for the netherlands was the sword. the prince had been delayed for a month at roermonde, because, as he expressed it; "he had not a single sou," and because, in consequence, the troops refused to advance into the netherlands. having at last been furnished with the requisite guarantees from the holland cities for three months' pay, on the th of august, the day of the publication of his letter to the emperor, he crossed the meuse and took his circuitous way through diest, tirlemont, sichem, louvain, mechlin, termonde, oudenarde, nivelles. many cities and villages accepted his authority and admitted his garrisons. of these mechlin was the most considerable, in which he stationed a detachment of his troops. its doom was sealed in that moment. alva could not forgive this act of patriotism on the part of a town which had so recently excluded his own troops. "this is a direct permission of god," he wrote, in the spirit of dire and revengeful prophecy, "for us to punish her as she deserves, for the image-breaking and other misdeeds done there in the time of madame de parma, which our lord was not willing to pass over without chastisement." meantime the prince continued his advance. louvain purchased its neutrality for the time with sixteen thousand ducats; brussels obstinately refused to listen to him, and was too powerful to be forcibly attacked at that juncture; other important cities, convinced by the arguments and won by the eloquence of the various proclamations which he scattered as he advanced, ranged themselves spontaneously and even enthusiastically upon his side. how different world have been the result of his campaign but for the unexpected earthquake which at that instant was to appal christendom, and to scatter all his well-matured plans and legitimate hopes. his chief reliance, under providence and his own strong heart, had been upon french assistance. although genlis, by his misconduct, had sacrificed his army and himself, yet the prince as still justly sanguine as to the policy of the french court. the papers which had been found in the possession of genlis by his conquerors all spoke one language. "you would be struck with stupor," wrote alva's secretary, "could you see a letter which is now in my power, addressed by the king of france to louis of nassau." in that letter the king had declared his determination to employ all the forces which god had placed in his hands to rescue the netherlands from the oppression under which they were groaning. in accordance with the whole spirit and language of the french government, was the tone of coligny in his correspondence with orange. the admiral assured the prince that there was no doubt as to the earnestness of the royal intentions in behalf of the netherlands, and recommending extreme caution, announced his hope within a few days to effect a junction with him at the head of twelve thousand french arquebusiers, and at least three thousand cavalry. well might the prince of orange, strong, and soon to be strengthened, boast that the netherlands were free, and that alva was in his power. he had a right to be sanguine, for nothing less than a miracle could now destroy his generous hopes--and, alas! the miracle took place; a miracle of perfidy and bloodshed such as the world, familiar as it had ever been and was still to be with massacre, had not yet witnessed. on the th of august, coligny had written thus hopefully of his movements towards the netherlands, sanctioned and aided by his king. a fortnight from that day occurred the "paris-wedding;" and the admiral, with thousands of his religious confederates, invited to confidence by superhuman treachery, and lulled into security by the music of august marriage bells, was suddenly butchered in the streets of paris by royal and noble hands. the prince proceeded on his march, during which the heavy news had been brought to him, but he felt convinced that, with the very arrival of the awful tidings, the fate of that campaign was sealed, and the fall of mons inevitable. in his own language, he had been struck to the earth "with the blow of a sledge-hammer,"--nor did the enemy draw a different augury from the great event. the crime was not committed with the connivance of the spanish government. on the contrary, the two courts were at the moment bitterly hostile to each other. in the beginning of the summer, charles ix. and his advisers were as false to philip, as at the end of it they were treacherous to coligny and orange. the massacre of the huguenots had not even the merit of being a well-contrived and intelligently executed scheme. we have seen how steadily, seven years before, catharine de medici had rejected the advances of alva towards the arrangement of a general plan for the extermination of all heretics within france and the netherlands at the same moment. we have seen the disgust with which alva turned from the wretched young king at bayonne, when he expressed the opinion that to take arms against his own subjects was wholly out of the question, and could only be followed by general ruin. "'tis easy to see that he has been tutored," wrote alva to his master. unfortunately, the same mother; who had then instilled those lessons of hypocritical benevolence, had now wrought upon her son's cowardly but ferocious nature with a far different intent. the incomplete assassination of coligny, the dread of signal vengeance at the hands of the huguenots, the necessity of taking the lead in the internecine snuggle; were employed with medicean art, and with entire success. the king was lashed into a frenzy. starting to his feet, with a howl of rage and terror, "i agree to the scheme," he cried, "provided not one huguenot be left alive in france to reproach me with the deed." that night the slaughter commenced. the long premeditated crime was executed in a panic, but the work was thoroughly done. the king, who a few days before had written with his own hand to louis of nassau, expressing his firm determination to sustain the protestant cause both in france and the netherlands, who had employed the counsels of coligny in the arrangement, of his plans, and who had sent french troops, under genlis and la none, to assist their calvinist brethren in flanders, now gave the signal for the general massacre of the protestants, and with his own hands, from his own palace windows, shot his subjects with his arquebuss as if they had been wild beasts. between sunday and tuesday, according to one of the most moderate calculations, five thousand parisians of all ranks were murdered. within the whole kingdom, the number of victims was variously estimated at from twenty-five thousand to one hundred thousand. the heart of protestant europe, for an instant, stood still with horror. the queen of england put on mourning weeds, and spurned the apologies of the french envoy with contempt. at rome, on the contrary, the news of the massacre created a joy beyond description. the pope, accompanied by his cardinals, went solemnly to the church of saint mark to render thanks to god for the grace thus singularly vouchsafed to the holy see and to all christendom; and a te deum was performed in presence of the same august assemblage. but nothing could exceed the satisfaction which the event occasioned in the mind of philip the second. there was an end now of all assistance from the french government to the netherland protestants. "the news of the events upon saint bartholomew's day," wrote the french envoy at madrid, saint goard, to charles ix., "arrived on the th september. the king, on receiving the intelligence, showed, contrary to his natural custom, so much gaiety, that he seemed more delighted than with all the good fortune or happy incidents which had ever before occurred to him. he called all his familiars about him in order to assure them that your majesty was his good brother, and that no one else deserved the title of most christian. he sent his secretary cayas to me with his felicitations upon the event, and with the information that he was just going to saint jerome to render thanks to god, and to offer his prayers that your majesty might receive divine support in this great affair. i went to see him next morning, and as soon as i came into his presence he began to laugh, and with demonstrations of extreme contentment, to praise your majesty as deserving your title of most christian, telling me there was no king worthy to be your majesty's companion, either for valor or prudence. he praised the steadfast resolution and the long dissimulation of so great an enterprise, which all the world would not be able to comprehend." "i thanked him," continued the embassador, "and i said that i thanked god for enabling your majesty to prove to his master that his apprentice had learned his trade, and deserved his title of most christian king. i added, that he ought to confess that he owed the preservation of the netherlands to your majesty." nothing certainly could, in philip's apprehension, be more delightful than this most unexpected and most opportune intelligence. charles ix., whose intrigues in the netherlands he had long known, had now been suddenly converted by this stupendous crime into his most powerful ally, while at the same time the protestants of europe would learn that there was still another crowned head in christendom more deserving of abhorrence than himself. he wrote immediately to alva, expressing his satisfaction that the king of france had disembarrassed himself of such pernicious men, because he would now be obliged to cultivate the friendship of spain, neither the english queen nor the german protestants being thenceforth capable of trusting him. he informed the duke, moreover, that the french envoy, saint goard, had been urging him to command the immediate execution of genlis and his companions, who had been made prisoners, as well as all the frenchmen who would be captured in mons; and that he fully concurred in the propriety of the measure. "the sooner," said philip, "these noxious plants are extirpated from the earth, the less fear there is that a fresh crop will spring up." the monarch therefore added, with his own hand, to the letter, "i desire that if you have not already disembarrassed the world of them, you will do it immediately, and inform me thereof, for i see no reason why it should be deferred." this is the demoniacal picture painted by the french ambassador, and by philip's own hand, of the spanish monarch's joy that his "most christian" brother had just murdered twenty-five thousand of his own subjects. in this cold-blooded way, too, did his catholic majesty order the execution of some thousand huguenots additionally, in order more fully to carry out his royal brother's plans; yet philip could write of himself, "that all the world recognized the gentleness of his nature and the mildness of his intentions." in truth, the advice thus given by saint goard on the subject of the french prisoners in alva's possessions, was a natural result of the saint bartholomew. here were officers and soldiers whom charles ix. had himself sent into the netherlands to fight for the protestant cause against philip and alva. already, the papers found upon them had placed him in some embarrassment, and exposed his duplicity to the spanish government, before the great massacre had made such signal reparation for his delinquency. he had ordered mondoucet, his envoy in the netherlands, to use dissimulation to an unstinted amount, to continue his intrigues with the protestants, and to deny stoutly all proofs of such connivance. "i see that the papers found upon genlis;" he wrote twelve days before the massacre, "have been put into the hands of assonleville, and that they know everything done by genlis to have been committed with my consent." [these remarkable letters exchanged between charles ix. and mondoucet have recently been published by m. emile gachet (chef du bureau paleographique aux archives de belgique) from a manuscript discovered by him in the library at rheims.--compte rendu de la com. roy. d'hist., iv. , sqq.] "nevertheless, you will tell the duke of alva that these are lies invented to excite suspicion against me. you will also give him occasional information of the enemy's affairs, in order to make him believe in your integrity. even if he does not believe you, my purpose will be answered, provided you do it dexterously. at the same time you must keep up a constant communication with the prince of orange, taking great care to prevent discovery of your intelligence with king." were not these masterstrokes of diplomacy worthy of a king whom his mother, from boyhood upwards, had caused to study macchiavelli's "prince," and who had thoroughly taken to heart the maxim, often repeated in those days, that the "science of reigning was the science of lying"? the joy in the spanish camp before mons was unbounded. it was as if the only bulwark between the netherland rebels and total destruction had been suddenly withdrawn. with anthems in saint gudule, with bonfires, festive illuminations, roaring artillery, with trumpets also, and with shawms, was the glorious holiday celebrated in court and camp, in honor of the vast murder committed by the most christian king upon his christian subjects; nor was a moment lost in apprising the huguenot soldiers shut up with louis of nassau in the beleaguered city of the great catastrophe which was to render all their valor fruitless. "'t was a punishment," said a spanish soldier, who fought most courageously before mons, and who elaborately described the siege afterwards, "well worthy of a king whose title is 'the most christian,' and it was still more honorable to inflict it with his own hands as he did." nor was the observation a pithy sarcasm, but a frank expression of opinion, from a man celebrated alike for the skill with which he handled both his sword and his pen. the, french envoy in the netherlands was, of course, immediately informed by his sovereign of the great event: charles ix. gave a very pithy account of the transaction. "to prevent the success of the enterprise planned by the admiral," wrote the king on the th of august, with hands yet reeking, and while the havoc throughout france was at its height, "i have been obliged to permit the said guises to rush upon the said admiral,--which they have done, the said admiral having been killed and all his adherents. a very great number of those belonging to the new religion have also been massacred and cut to pieces. it is probable that the fire thus kindled will spread through all the cities of my kingdom, and that all those of the said religion will be made sure of." not often, certainly, in history, has a christian king spoken thus calmly of butchering his subjects while the work was proceeding all around him. it is to be observed, moreover, that the usual excuse for such enormities, religious fanaticism, can not be even suggested on this occasion. catharine, in times past had favored huguenots as much as catholics, while charles had been, up to the very moment of the crime, in strict alliance with the heretics of both france and flanders, and furthering the schemes of orange and nassau. nay, even at this very moment, and in this very letter in which he gave the news of the massacre, he charged his envoy still to maintain the closest but most secret intelligence with the prince of orange; taking great care that the duke of alva should not discover these relations. his motives were, of course, to prevent the prince from abandoning his designs, and from coming to make a disturbance in france. the king, now that the deed was done, was most anxious to reap all the fruits of his crime. "now, m. de mondoucet, it is necessary in such affairs," he continued, "to have an eye to every possible contingency. i know that this news will be most agreeable to the duke of alva, for it is most favorable to his designs. at the same time, i don't desire that he alone should gather the fruit. i don't choose that he should, according to his excellent custom, conduct his affairs in such wise as to throw the prince of orange upon my hands, besides sending back to france genlis and the other prisoners, as well as the french now shut up in mons." this was a sufficiently plain hint, which mondoucet could not well misunderstand. "observe the duke's countenance carefully when you give him this message," added the king, "and let me know his reply." in order, however, that there might be no mistake about the matter, charles wrote again to his ambassador, five days afterwards, distinctly stating the regret which he should feel if alva should not take the city of mons, or if he should take it by composition. "tell the duke," said he, "that it is most important for the service of his master and of god that those frenchmen and others in mons should be cut in pieces." he wrote another letter upon the name day, such was his anxiety upon the subject, instructing the envoy to urge upon alva the necessity of chastising those rebels to the french crown. "if he tells you," continued charles, "that this is tacitly requiring him to put to death all the french prisoners now in hand as well to cut in pieces every man in mons, you will say to him that this is exactly what he ought to do, and that he will be guilty of a great wrong to christianity if he does otherwise." certainly, the duke, having been thus distinctly ordered, both by his own master and by his christian majesty, to put every one of these frenchmen to death, had a sufficiency of royal warrant. nevertheless, he was not able to execute entirely these ferocious instructions. the prisoners already in his power were not destined to escape, but the city of mons, in his own language, "proved to have sharper teeth than he supposed." mondoucet lost no time in placing before alva the urgent necessity of accomplishing the extensive and cold-blooded massacre thus proposed. "the duke has replied," wrote the envoy to his sovereign, "that he is executing his prisoners every day, and that he has but a few left. nevertheless, for some reason which he does not mention, he is reserving the principal noblemen and chiefs." he afterwards informed his master that genlis, jumelles, and the other leaders, had engaged, if alva would grant them a reasonable ransom, to induce the french in mons to leave the city, but that the duke, although his language was growing less confident, still hoped to take the town by assault. "i have urged him," he added, "to put them all to death, assuring him that he would be responsible for the consequences of a contrary course."--"why does not your most christian master," asked alva, "order these frenchmen in mons to come to him under oath to make no disturbance? then my prisoners will be at my discretion and i shall get my city."--"because," answered the envoy, "they will not trust his most christian majesty, and will prefer to die in mons."--[mondoucet to charles ix., th september, .] this certainly was a most sensible reply, but it is instructive to witness the cynicism with which the envoy accepts this position for his master, while coldly recording the results of all these sanguinary conversations. such was the condition of affairs when the prince of orange arrived at peronne, between binche and the duke of alva's entrenchments. the besieging army was rich in notabilities of elevated rank. don frederic of toledo had hitherto commanded, but on the th of august, the dukes of medina coeli and of alva had arrived in the camp. directly afterwards came the warlike archbishop of cologne, at the head of two thousand cavalry. there was but one chance for the prince of orange, and experience had taught him, four years before, its slenderness. he might still provoke his adversary into a pitched battle, and he relied upon god for the result. in his own words, "he trusted ever that the great god of armies was with him, and would fight in the midst of his forces." if so long as alva remained in his impregnable camp, it was impossible to attack him, or to throw reinforcements into mons. the prince soon found, too, that alva was far too wise to hazard his position by a superfluous combat. the duke knew that the cavalry of the prince was superior to his own. he expressed himself entirely unwilling to play into the prince's hands, instead of winning the game which was no longer doubtful. the huguenot soldiers within mons were in despair and mutiny; louis of nassau lay in his bed consuming with a dangerous fever; genlis was a prisoner, and his army cut to pieces; coligny was murdered, and protestant france paralyzed; the troops of orange, enlisted but for three months, were already rebellious, and sure to break into open insubordination when the consequences of the paris massacre should become entirely clear to them; and there were, therefore, even more cogent reasons than in , why alva should remain perfectly still, and see his enemy's cause founder before his eyes. the valiant archbishop of cologne was most eager for the fray. he rode daily at the duke's side, with harness on his back and pistols in his holsters, armed and attired like one of his own troopers, and urging the duke, with vehemence, to a pitched battle with the prince. the duke commended, but did not yield to, the prelate's enthusiasm. "'tis a fine figure of a man, with his corslet and pistols," he wrote to philip, "and he shows great affection for your majesty's service." the issue of the campaign was inevitable. on the th september, don frederic, with a force of four thousand picked men, established himself at saint florian, a village near the havre gate of the city, while the prince had encamped at hermigny, within half a league of the same place, whence he attempted to introduce reinforcements into the town. on the night of the th and th, don frederic hazarded an encamisada upon the enemy's camp, which proved eminently successful, and had nearly resulted in the capture of the prince himself. a chosen band of six hundred arquebussers, attired, as was customary in these nocturnal expeditions, with their shirts outside their armor, that they might recognize each other in the darkness, were led by julian romero, within the lines of the enemy. the sentinels were cut down, the whole army surprised, and for a moment powerless, while, for two hours long, from one o'clock in the morning until three, the spaniards butchered their foes, hardly aroused from their sleep, ignorant by how small a force they had been thus suddenly surprised, and unable in the confusion to distinguish between friend and foe. the boldest, led by julian in person, made at once for the prince's tent. his guards and himself were in profound sleep, but a small spaniel, who always passed the night upon his bed, was a more faithful sentinel. the creature sprang forward, barking furiously at the sound of hostile footsteps, and scratching his master's face with his paws.--there was but just time for the prince to mount a horse which was ready saddled, and to effect his escape through the darkness, before his enemies sprang into the tent. his servants were cut down, his master of the horse and two of his secretaries, who gained their saddles a moment later, all lost their lives, and but for the little dog's watchfulness, william of orange, upon whose shoulders the whole weight of his country's fortunes depended, would have been led within a week to an ignominious death. to his dying day, the prince ever afterwards kept a spaniel of the same race in his bed-chamber. the midnight slaughter still continued, but the spaniards in their fury, set fire to the tents. the glare of the conflagration showed the orangists by how paltry a force they had been surprised. before they could rally, however, romero led off his arquebusiers, every one of whom had at least killed his man. six hundred of the prince's troops had been put to the sword, while many others were burned in their beds, or drowned in the little rivulet which flowed outside their camp. only sixty spaniards lost their lives. this disaster did not alter the plans of the prince, for those plans had already been frustrated. the whole marrow of his enterprise had been destroyed in an instant by the massacre of saint bartholomew. he retreated to wronne and nivelles, an assassin, named heist, a german, by birth, but a french chevalier, following him secretly in his camp, pledged to take his life for a large reward promised by alva--an enterprise not destined, however, to be successful. the soldiers flatly refused to remain an hour longer in the field, or even to furnish an escort for count louis, if, by chance, he could be brought out of the town. the prince was obliged to inform his brother of the desperate state of his affairs, and to advise him to capitulate on the best terms which he could make. with a heavy heart, he left the chivalrous louis besieged in the city which he had so gallantly captured, and took his way across the meuse towards the rhine. a furious mutiny broke out among his troops. his life was, with difficulty, saved from the brutal soldiery--infuriated at his inability to pay them, except in the over-due securities of the holland cities--by the exertions of the officers who still regarded him with veneration and affection. crossing the rhine at orsoy, he disbanded his army and betook himself, almost alone, to holland. yet even in this hour of distress and defeat, the prince seemed more heroic than many a conqueror in his day of triumph. with all his hopes blasted, with the whole fabric of his country's fortunes shattered by the colossal crime of his royal ally, he never lost his confidence in himself nor his unfaltering trust in god. all the cities which, but a few weeks before, had so eagerly raised his standard, now fell off at once. he went to holland, the only province which remained true, and which still looked up to him as its saviour, but he went thither expecting and prepared to perish. "there i will make my sepulchre," was his simple and sublime expression in a private letter to his brother. he had advanced to the rescue of louis, with city after city opening its arms to receive him. he had expected to be joined on the march by coligny, at the head of a chosen army, and he was now obliged to leave his brother to his fate, having the massacre of the admiral and his confederates substituted for their expected army of assistance, and with every city and every province forsaking his cause as eagerly as they had so lately embraced it. "it has pleased god," he said, "to take away every hope which we could have founded upon man; the king has published that the massacre was by his orders, and has forbidden all his subjects, upon pain of death, to assist me; he has, moreover, sent succor to alva. had it not been for this, we had been masters of the duke, and should have made him capitulate at our pleasure." yet even then he was not cast down. nor was his political sagacity liable to impeachment by the extent to which he had been thus deceived by the french court. "so far from being reprehensible that i did not suspect such a crime," he said, "i should rather be chargeable with malignity had i been capable of so sinister a suspicion. 'tis not an ordinary thing to conceal such enormous deliberations under the plausible cover of a marriage festival." meanwhile, count louis lay confined to his couch with a burning fever. his soldiers refused any longer to hold the city, now that the altered intentions of charles ix. were known and the forces of orange withdrawn. alva offered the most honorable conditions, and it was therefore impossible for the count to make longer resistance. the city was so important, and time was at that moment so valuable that the duke was willing to forego his vengeance upon the rebel whom he so cordially detested, and to be satisfied with depriving, him of the prize which he had seized with such audacity. "it would have afforded me sincere pleasure," wrote the duke, "over and above the benefit to god and your majesty, to have had the count of nassau in my power. i would overleap every obstacle to seize him, such is the particular hatred which i bear the man." under, the circumstances, however, he acknowledged that the result of the council of war could only be to grant liberal terms. on the th september, accordingly, articles of capitulation were signed between the distinguished de la none with three others on the one part, and the seigneur de noircarmes and three others on the side of spain. the town was given over to alva, but all the soldiers were to go out with their weapons and property. those of the townspeople who had borne arms against his majesty, and all who still held to the reformed religion, were to retire with the soldiery. the troops were to pledge themselves not to serve in future against the kings of france or spain, but from this provision louis, with his english and german soldiers, was expressly excepted, the count indignantly repudiating the idea of such a pledge, or of discontinuing his hostilities for an instant. it was also agreed that convoys should be furnished, and hostages exchanged, for the due observance of the terms of the treaty. the preliminaries having been thus settled, the patriot forces abandoned the town. count louis, rising from his sick bed, paid his respects in person to the victorious generals, at their request. he was received in alva's camp with an extraordinary show of admiration and esteem. the duke of medina coeli overwhelmed him with courtesies and "basolomanos," while don frederic assured him, in the high-flown language of spanish compliment, that there was nothing which he would not do to serve him, and that he would take a greater pleasure in executing his slightest wish than if he had been his next of kin. as the count next day, still suffering with fever, and attired in his long dressing-gown, was taking his departure from the city, he ordered his carriage to stop at the entrance to don frederic's quarters. that general, who had been standing incognito near the door, gazing with honest admiration at the hero of so many a hard-fought field, withdrew as he approached, that he might not give the invalid the trouble of alighting. louis, however, recognising him, addressed him with the spanish salutation, "perdone vuestra senoria la pesedumbre," and paused at the gate. don frederic, from politeness to his condition, did not present himself, but sent an aid-de-camp to express his compliments and good wishes. having exchanged these courtesies, louis left the city, conveyed, as had been agreed upon, by a guard of spanish troops. there was a deep meaning in the respect with which the spanish generals had treated the rebel chieftain. although the massacre of saint bartholomew met with alva's entire approbation, yet it was his cue to affect a holy horror at the event, and he avowed that he would "rather cut off both his hands than be guilty of such a deed"--as if those hangman's hands had the right to protest against any murder, however wholesale. count louis suspected at once, and soon afterwards thoroughly understood; the real motives of the chivalrous treatment which he had received. he well knew that these very men would have sent him to the scaffold; had he fallen into their power, and he therefore estimated their courtesy at its proper value. it was distinctly stated, in the capitulation of the city, that all the soldiers, as well as such of the inhabitants as had borne arms, should be allowed to leave the city, with all their property. the rest of the people, it was agreed, might remain without molestation to their persons or estates. it has been the general opinion of historians that the articles of this convention were maintained by the conquerors in good faith. never was a more signal error. the capitulation was made late at night, on the th september, without the provision which charles ix. had hoped for: the massacre, namely, of de la none and his companions. as for genlis and those who had been taken prisoners at his defeat, their doom had already been sealed. the city was evacuated on the st september: alva entered it upon the th. most of the volunteers departed with the garrison, but many who had, most unfortunately, prolonged their farewells to their families, trusting to the word of the spanish captain molinos, were thrown into prison. noircarmes the butcher of valenciennes, now made his appearance in mons. as grand bailiff of hainault, he came to the place as one in authority, and his deeds were now to complete the infamy which must for ever surround his name. in brutal violation of the terms upon which the town had surrendered, he now set about the work of massacre and pillage. a commission of troubles, in close imitation of the famous blood council at brussels, was established, the members of the tribunal being appointed by noircarmes, and all being inhabitants of the town. the council commenced proceedings by condemning all the volunteers, although expressly included .in the capitulation. their wives and children were all banished; their property all confiscated. on the th december, the executions commenced. the intrepid de leste, silk manufacturer, who had commanded a band of volunteers, and sustained during the siege the assaults of alva's troops with remarkable courage at a very critical moment, was one of the earliest victims. in consideration "that he was a gentleman, and not among the most malicious," he was executed by sword. "in respect that he heard the mass, and made a sweet and catholic end," it was allowed that he should be "buried in consecrated earth." many others followed in quick succession. some were beheaded, some were hanged, some were burned alive. all who had borne arms or worked at the fortifications were, of course, put to death. such as refused to confess and receive the catholic sacraments perished by fire. a poor wretch, accused of having ridiculed these mysteries, had his tongue torn out before being beheaded. a cobbler, named blaise bouzet, was hanged for having eaten meat-soup upon friday. he was also accused of going to the protestant preachings for the sake of participating in the alms distributed an these occasions, a crime for which many other paupers were executed. an old man of sixty-two was sent to the scaffold for having permitted his son to bear arms among the volunteers. at last, when all pretexts were wanting to justify executions; the council assigned as motives for its decrees an adhesion of heart on the part of the victims to the cause of the insurgents, or to the doctrines of the reformed church. ten, twelve, twenty persons, were often hanged, burned, or beheaded in a single day. gibbets laden with mutilated bodies lined the public highways,--while noircarmes, by frightful expressions of approbation, excited without ceasing the fury of his satellites. this monster would perhaps, be less worthy of execration had he been governed in these foul proceedings by fanatical bigotry or by political hatred; but his motives were of the most sordid description. it was mainly to acquire gold for himself that he ordained all this carnage. with the same pen which signed the death-sentences of the richest victims, he drew orders to his own benefit on their confiscated property. the lion's share of the plunder was appropriated by himself. he desired the estate; of francois de glarges, seigneur d'eslesmes. the gentleman had committed no offence of any kind, and, moreover, lived beyond the french frontier. nevertheless, in contempt of international law, the neighbouring territory was invaded, and d'eslesmes dragged before the blood tribunal of mons. noircarmes had drawn up beforehand, in his own handwriting, both the terms of the accusation and of the sentence. the victim was innocent and a catholic, but he was rich. he confessed to have been twice at the preaching, from curiosity, and to have omitted taking the sacrament at the previous easter. for these offences he was beheaded, and his confiscated estate adjudged at an almost nominal price to the secretary of noircarmes, bidding for his master. "you can do me no greater pleasure," wrote noircarmes to the council, "than to make quick work with all these rebels, and to proceed with the confiscation of their estates, real and personal. don't fail to put all those to the torture out of whom anything can be got." notwithstanding the unexampled docility of the commissioners, they found it difficult to extract from their redoubted chief a reasonable share in the wages of blood. they did not scruple, therefore, to display their, own infamy, and to enumerate their own crimes, in order to justify their demand for higher salaries. "consider," they said, in a petition to this end, "consider closely, all that is odious in our office, and the great number of banishments and of executions which we have pronounced among all our own relations and friends." it may be added, moreover, as a slight palliation for the enormous crimes committed by these men, that, becoming at last weary of their business, they urged noircarmes to desist from the work of proscription. longehaye, one of the commissioners, even waited upon him personally, with a plea for mercy in favor of "the poor people, even beggars, who, although having borne arms during the siege, might then be pardoned." noircarmes, in a rage at the proposition, said that "if he did not know the commissioners to be honest men, he should believe that their palms had been oiled," and forbade any farther words on the subject. when longehaye still ventured to speak in favor of certain persons "who were very poor and simple, not charged with duplicity, and good catholics besides," he fared no better. "away with you!" cried noircarmes in a great fury, adding that he had already written to have execution done upon the whole of them. "whereupon," said poor blood-councillor longehaye, in his letter to his colleagues, "i retired, i leave you to guess how." thus the work went on day after day, month after month. till the th august of the following year ( ) the executioner never rested, and when requesens, successor to alva, caused the prisons of mons to be opened, there were found still seventy-five individuals condemned to the block, and awaiting their fate. it is the most dreadful commentary upon the times in which these transactions occurred, that they could sink so soon into oblivion. the culprits took care to hide the records of their guilt, while succeeding horrors, on a more extensive scale, at other places, effaced the memory of all these comparatively obscure murders and spoliations. the prosperity of mons, one of the most flourishing and wealthy manufacturing towns in the netherlands, was annihilated, but there were so many cities in the same condition that its misery was hardly remarkable. nevertheless, in our own days, the fall of a mouldering tower in the ruined chateau de naast at last revealed the archives of all these crimes. how the documents came to be placed there remains a mystery, but they have at last been brought to light. the spaniards had thus recovered mons, by which event the temporary revolution throughout the whole southern netherlands was at an end. the keys of that city unlocked the gates of every other in brabant and flanders. the towns which had so lately embraced the authority of orange now hastened to disavow the prince, and to return to their ancient, hypocritical, and cowardly allegiance. the new oaths of fidelity were in general accepted by alva, but the beautiful archiepiscopal city of mechlin was selected for an example and a sacrifice. there were heavy arrears due to the spanish troops. to indemnify them, and to make good his blasphemous prophecy of divine chastisement for its past misdeeds, alva now abandoned this town to the licence of his soldiery. by his command don frederic advanced to the gates and demanded its surrender. he was answered by a few shots from the garrison. those cowardly troops, however, having thus plunged the city still more deeply into the disgrace which, in alva's eyes, they had incurred by receiving rebels within their walls after having but just before refused admittance to the spanish forces, decamped during the night, and left the place defenceless. early next morning there issued from the gates a solemn procession of priests, with banner and crozier, followed by a long and suppliant throng of citizens, who attempted by this demonstration to avert the wrath of the victor. while the penitent psalms were resounding, the soldiers were busily engaged in heaping dried branches and rubbish into the moat. before the religious exercises were concluded, thousands had forced the gates or climbed the walls; and entered the city with a celerity which only the hope of rapine could inspire. the sack instantly commenced. the property of friend and foe, of papist and calvinist, was indiscriminately rifled. everything was dismantled and destroyed. "hardly a nail," said a spaniard, writing soon afterwards from brussels, "was left standing in the walls." the troops seemed to imagine themselves in a turkish town, and wreaked the divine vengeance which alva had denounced upon the city with an energy which met with his fervent applause. three days long the horrible scene continued, one day for the benefit of the spaniards, two more for that of the walloons and germans. all the churches, monasteries, religious houses of every kind, were completely sacked. every valuable article which they contained, the ornaments of altars, the reliquaries, chalices, embroidered curtains, and carpets of velvet or damask, the golden robes of the priests, the repositories of the host, the precious vessels of chrism and extreme unction, the rich clothing and jewellery adorning the effigies of the holy virgin, all were indiscriminately rifled by the spanish soldiers. the holy wafers were trampled underfoot, the sacramental wine was poured upon the ground, and, in brief, all the horrors which had been committed by the iconoclasts in their wildest moments, and for a thousandth part of which enormities heretics had been burned in droves, were now repeated in mechlin by the especial soldiers of christ, by roman catholics who had been sent to the netherlands to avenge the insults offered to the roman catholic faith. the motive, too, which inspired the sacrilegious crew was not fanaticism, but the, desire of plunder. the property of romanists was taken as freely as that of calvinists, of which sect there were; indeed, but few in the archiepiscopal city. cardinal granvelle's house was rifled. the pauper funds deposited in the convents were not respected. the beds were taken from beneath sick and dying women, whether lady abbess or hospital patient, that the sacking might be torn to pieces in search of hidden treasure. the iconoclasts of had destroyed millions of property for the sake of an idea, but they had appropriated nothing. moreover, they had scarcely injured a human being; confining their wrath to graven images. the spaniards at mechlin spared neither man nor woman. the murders and outrages would be incredible, were they not attested by most respectable catholic witnesses. men were butchered in their houses, in the streets, at the altars. women were violated by hundreds in churches and in grave-yards. moreover, the deed had been as deliberately arranged as it was thoroughly performed. it was sanctioned by the highest authority. don frederic, son of alva, and general noircarmes were both present at the scene, and applications were in vain made to them that the havoc might be stayed. "they were seen whispering to each other in the ear on their arrival," says an eye-witness and a catholic, "and it is well known that the affair had been resolved upon the preceding day. the two continued together as long as they remained in the city." the work was, in truth, fully accomplished. the ultra-catholic, jean richardot, member of the grand council, and nephew of the bishop of arras, informed the state council that the sack of mechlin had been so horrible that the poor and unfortunate mothers had not a single morsel of bread to put in the mouths of their children, who were dying before their eyes--so insane and cruel had been the avarice of the plunderers. "he could say more," he added, "if his hair did not stand on end, not only at recounting, but even at remembering the scene." three days long the city was abandoned to that trinity of furies which ever wait upon war's footsteps--murder, lust, and rapine--under whose promptings human beings become so much more terrible than the most ferocious beasts. in his letter to his master, the duke congratulated him upon these foul proceedings as upon a pious deed well accomplished. he thought it necessary, however; to excuse himself before the public in a document, which justified the sack of mechlin by its refusal to accept his garrison a few months before, and by the shots which had been discharged at his troops as they approached the city. for these offences, and by his express order, the deed was done. upon his head must the guilt for ever rest. etext editor's bookmarks: hanged for having eaten meat-soup upon friday provided not one huguenot be left alive in france put all those to the torture out of whom anything can be got saint bartholomew's day science of reigning was the science of lying motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley - [chapter viii.] affairs in holland and zealand--siege of tergoes by the patriots-- importance of the place--difficulty of relieving it--its position-- audacious plan for sending succor across the "drowned land"-- brilliant and successful expedition of mondragon--the siege raised-- horrible sack of zutphen--base conduct of count van den berg-- refusal of naarden to surrender--subsequent unsuccessful deputation to make terms with don frederic--don frederic before naarden-- treachery of romero--the spaniards admitted--general massacre of the garrison and burghers--the city burned to the ground--warm reception of orange in holland--secret negotiations with the estates-- desperate character of the struggle between spain and the provinces --don frederic in amsterdam--plans for reducing holland--skirmish on the ice at amsterdam--preparation in harlem for the expected siege-- description of the city--early operations--complete investment-- numbers of besiegers and besieged--mutual barbarities--determined repulse of the first assault--failure of batenburg's expedition-- cruelties in city and camp--mining and countermining--second assault victoriously repelled--suffering and disease in harlem--disposition of don frederic to retire--memorable rebuke by alva--efforts of orange to relieve the place--sonoy's expedition--exploit of john haring--cruel execution of prisoners on both sides--quiryn dirkzoon and his family put to death in the city--fleets upon the lake-- defeat of the patriot armada--dreadful suffering and starvation in the city--parley with the besiegers--despair of the city--appeal to orange--expedition under batenburg to relieve the city--his defeat and death--desperate condition of harlem--its surrender at discretion--sanguinary executions--general massacre--expense of the victory in blood and money--joy of philip at the news. while thus brabant and flanders were scourged back to the chains which they had so recently broken, the affairs of the prince of orange were not improving in zealand. never was a twelvemonth so marked by contradictory fortune, never were the promises of a spring followed by such blight and disappointment in autumn than in the memorable year . on the island of walcheren, middelburg and arnemuyde still held for the king--campveer and flushing for the prince of orange. on the island of south bevelaad, the city of goes or tergoes was still stoutly defended by a small garrison of spanish troops. as long as the place held out, the city of middelburg could be maintained. should that important city fall, the spaniards would lose all hold upon walcheren and the province of zealand. jerome de 't zeraerts, a brave, faithful, but singularly unlucky officer, commanded for the prince in walcheren. he had attempted by various hastily planned expeditions to give employment to his turbulent soldiery, but fortune had refused to smile upon his efforts. he had laid siege to middelburg and failed. he had attempted tergoes and had been compelled ingloriously to retreat. the citizens of flushing, on his return, had shut the gates of the town in his face, and far several days refused to admit him or his troops. to retrieve this disgrace, which had sprung rather from the insubordination of his followers and the dislike which they bore his person than from any want of courage or conduct on his part, he now assembled a force of seven thousand men, marched again to tergoes, and upon the th of august laid siege to the place in forma. the garrison was very insufficient, and although they conducted themselves with great bravery, it was soon evident that unless reinforced they must yield. with their overthrow it was obvious that the spaniards would lose the important maritime province of zealand, and the duke accordingly ordered d'avila, who commanded in antwerp, to throw succor into tergoes without delay. attempts were made, by sea and by land, to this effect, but were all unsuccessful. the zealanders commanded the waters with their fleet,--and were too much at home among those gulfs and shallows not to be more than a match for their enemies. baffled in their attempt to relieve the town by water or by land, the spaniards conceived an amphibious scheme. their plan led to one of the most brilliant feats of arms which distinguishes the history of this war. the scheld, flowing past the city of antwerp and separating the provinces of flanders and brabant, opens wide its two arms in nearly opposite directions, before it joins the sea. between these two arms lie the isles of zealand, half floating upon, half submerged by the waves. the town of tergoes was the chief city of south beveland, the most important part of this archipelago, but south beveland had not always been an island. fifty years before, a tempest, one of the most violent recorded in the stormy annals of that exposed country, had overthrown all barriers, the waters of the german ocean, lashed by a succession of north winds, having been driven upon the low coast of zealand more rapidly than they could be carried off through the narrow straits of dover. the dykes of the island had burst, the ocean had swept over the land, hundreds of villages had been overwhelmed, and a tract of country torn from the province and buried for ever beneath the sea. this "drowned land," as it is called, now separated the island from the main. at low tide it was, however, possible for experienced pilots to ford the estuary, which had usurped the place of the land. the average depth was between four and five feet at low water, while the tide rose and fell at least ten feet; the bottom was muddy and treacherous, and it was moreover traversed by three living streams or channels; always much too deep to be fordable. captain plomaert, a fleming of great experience and bravery, warmly attached to the king's cause, conceived the plan of sending reinforcements across this drowned district to the city of tergoes. accompanied by two peasants of the country, well acquainted with the track, he twice accomplished the dangerous and difficult passage; which, from dry land to dry land, was nearly ten english miles in length. having thus satisfied himself as to the possibility of the enterprise, he laid his plan before the spanish colonel, mondragon. that courageous veteran eagerly embraced the proposal, examined the ground, and after consultation with sancho avila, resolved in person to lead an expedition along the path suggested by plomaert. three thousand picked men, a thousand from each nation,--spaniards, walloons, and germans, were speedily and secretly assembled at bergen op zoom, from the neighbourhood of which city, at a place called aggier, it was necessary that the expedition should set forth. a quantity of sacks were provided, in which a supply of, biscuit and of powder was placed, one to be carried by each soldier upon his head. although it was already late in the autumn, the weather was propitious; the troops, not yet informed: as to the secret enterprise for which they had been selected, were all ready assembled at the edge of the water, and mondragon, who, notwithstanding his age, had resolved upon heading the hazardous expedition, now briefly, on the evening of the th october, explained to them the nature of the service. his statement of the dangers which they were about to encounter, rather inflamed than diminished their ardor. their enthusiasm became unbounded, as he described the importance of the city which they were about to save, and alluded to the glory which would be won by those who thus courageously came forward to its rescue. the time of about half ebb-tide having arrived, the veteran,--preceded only by the guides and plomaert, plunged gaily into the waves, followed by his army, almost in single file. the water was never lowed khan the breast, often higher than the shoulder. the distance to the island, three and a half leagues at least, was to be accomplished within at most, six hours, or the rising tide would overwhelm them for ever. and thus, across the quaking and uncertain slime, which often refused them a footing, that adventurous band, five hours long, pursued their midnight march, sometimes swimming for their lives, and always struggling with the waves which every instant threatened to engulph them. before the tide had risen to more than half-flood, before the day had dawned, the army set foot on dry land again, at the village of irseken. of the whole three thousand, only nine unlucky individuals had been drowned; so much had courage and discipline availed in that dark and perilous passage through the very bottom of the sea. the duke of alva might well pronounce it one of the most brilliant and original achievements in the annals of war. the beacon fires were immediately lighted upon the shore; as agreed upon, to inform sancho d'avila, who was anxiously awaiting the result at bergen op zoom, of the safe arrival of the troops. a brief repose was then allowed. at the approach of daylight, they set forth from irseken, which lay about four leagues from tergoes. the news that a spanish army had thus arisen from the depths of the sea, flew before them as they marched. the besieging force commanded the water with their fleet, the land with their army; yet had these indomitable spaniards found a path which was neither land nor water, and had thus stolen upon them in the silence of night. a panic preceded them as they fell upon a foe much superior in number to their own force. it was impossible for 't zeraerts to induce his soldiers to offer resistance. the patriot army fled precipitately and ignominiously to their ships, hotly pursued by the spaniards, who overtook and destroyed the whole of their rearguard before they could embark. this done, the gallant little garrison which had so successfully held the city, was reinforced with the courageous veterans who had come to their relief his audacious project thus brilliantly accomplished, the "good old mondragon," as his soldiers called him, returned to the province of brabant. after the capture of mons and the sack of mechlin, the duke of alva had taken his way to nimwegen, having despatched his son, don frederic, to reduce the northern and eastern country, which was only too ready to submit to the conqueror. very little resistance was made by any of the cities which had so recently, and--with such enthusiasm, embraced the cause of orange. zutphen attempted a feeble opposition to the entrance of the king's troops, and received a dreadful chastisement in consequence. alva sent orders to his son to leave not a single man alive in the city, and to burn every house to the ground. the duke's command was almost literally obeyed. don frederic entered zutphen, and without a moment's warning put the whole garrison to the sword. the citizens next fell a defenceless, prey; some being, stabbed in the streets, some hanged on the trees which decorated the city, some stripped stark naked; and turned out into the fields to freeze to death in the wintry night. as the work of death became too fatiguing for the butchers, five hundred innocent burghers were tied two and two, back to back, and drowned like dogs in the river yssel. a few stragglers who had contrived to elude pursuit at first, were afterwards taken from their hiding places and hung upon the gallows by the feet, some of which victims suffered four days and nights of agony before death came to their relief. it is superfluous to add that the outrages upon women were no less universal in zutphen than they had been in every city captured or occupied by the spanish troops. these horrors continued till scarcely chastity or life remained, throughout the miserable city. this attack and massacre had been so suddenly executed, that assistance would hardly have been possible, even had there been disposition to render it. there was; however, no such disposition. the whole country was already cowering again, except the provinces of holland and zealand. no one dared approach, even to learn what had occurred within the walls of the town, for days after its doom had been accomplished. "a wail of agony was heard above zutphen last sunday," wrote count nieuwenar, "a sound as of a mighty massacre, but we know not what has taken place." count van, den bergh, another brother-in-law of orange, proved himself signally unworthy of the illustrious race to which he was allied. he had, in the earlier part of the year, received the homage of the cities of gelderland and overyssel, on behalf of the patriot prince. he now basely abandoned the field where he had endeavoured to gather laurels while the sun of success had been shining. having written from kampen, whither he had retired, that he meant to hold the city to the last gasp, he immediately afterwards fled secretly and precipitately from the country. in his flight he was plundered by his own people, while his wife, mary of nassau, then far advanced in pregnancy, was left behind, disguised as a peasant girl, in an obscure village. with the flight of van den bergh, all the cities which, under his guidance, had raised the standard of orange, deserted the cause at once. friesland too, where robles obtained a victory over six thousand patriots, again submitted to the yoke. but if the ancient heart of the free frisians was beating thus feebly, there was still spirit left among their brethren on the other side of the zuyder zee. it was not while william of orange was within her borders, nor while her sister provinces had proved recreant to him, that holland would follow their base example. no rebellion being left, except in the north-western extremities of the netherlands, don frederic was ordered to proceed from zutphen to amsterdam, thence to undertake the conquest of holland. the little city of naarden, on the coast of the zuyder zee, lay in his path, and had not yet formally submitted. on the nd of november a company of one hundred troopers was sent to the city gates to demand its surrender. the small garrison which had been left by the prince was not disposed to resist, but the spirit of the burghers was stouter than, their walls. they answered the summons by a declaration that they had thus far held the city for the king and the prince of orange, and, with god's help, would continue so to do. as the horsemen departed with this reply, a lunatic, called adrian krankhoeft, mounted the ramparts and, discharged a culverine among them. no man was injured, but the words of defiance, and the shot fired by a madman's hand, were destined to be fearfully answered. meanwhile, the inhabitants of the place, which was at best far from strong, and ill provided with arms, ammunition, or soldiers, despatched importunate messages to sonoy, and to ether patriot generals nearest to them, soliciting reinforcements. their messengers came back almost empty handed. they brought a little powder and a great many promises, but not a single man-at-arms, not a ducat, not a piece of artillery. the most influential commanders, moreover, advised an honorable capitulation, if it were still possible. thus baffled, the burghers of the little city found their proud position quite untenable. they accordingly, on the st of december, despatched the burgomaster and a senator to amersfoort, to make terms, if possible, with don frederic. when these envoys reached the place, they were refused admission to the general's presence. the army had already been ordered to move forward to naarden, and they were directed to accompany the advance guard, and to expect their reply at the gates of their own city. this command was sufficiently ominous. the impression which it made upon them was confirmed by the warning voices of their friends in amersfoort, who entreated them not to return to naarden. the advice was not lost upon one of the two envoys. after they had advanced a little distance on their journey, the burgomaster laurentszoon slid privately out of the sledge in which they were travelling, leaving his cloak behind him. "adieu; i think i will not venture back to naarden at present," said he, calmly, as he abandoned his companion to his fate. the other, who could not so easily desert his children, his wife, and his fellow-citizens, in the hour of danger, went forward as calmly to share in their impending doom. the army reached bussem, half a league distant from naarden, in the evening. here don frederic established his head quarters, and proceeded to invest the city. senator gerrit was then directed to return to naarden and to bring out a more numerous deputation on the following morning, duly empowered to surrender the place. the envoy accordingly returned next day, accompanied by lambert hortensius, rector of a latin academy, together with four other citizens. before this deputation had reached bussem, they were met by julian romero, who informed them that he was commissioned to treat with them on the part of don frederic. he demanded the keys of the city, and gave the deputation a solemn pledge that the lives and property of all the inhabitants should be sacredly respected. to attest this assurance don julian gave his hand three several times to lambert hortensius. a soldier's word thus plighted, the commissioners, without exchanging any written documents, surrendered the keys, and immediately afterwards accompanied romero into the city, who was soon followed by five or six hundred musketeers. to give these guests a hospitable reception, all the housewives of the city at once set about preparations for a sumptuous feast, to which the spaniards did ample justice, while the colonel and his officers were entertained by senator gerrit at his own house. as soon as this conviviality had come to an end, romero, accompanied by his host, walked into the square. the great bell had been meantime ringing, and the citizens had been summoned to assemble in the gast huis church, then used as a town hall. in the course of a few minutes five hundred had entered the building, and stood quietly awaiting whatever measures might be offered for their deliberation. suddenly a priest, who had been pacing to and fro before the church door, entered the building, and bade them all prepare for death; but the announcement, the preparation, and the death, were simultaneous. the door was flung open, and a band of armed spaniards rushed across the sacred threshold. they fired a single volley upon the defenceless herd, and then sprang in upon them with sword and dagger. a yell of despair arose as the miserable victims saw how hopelessly they were engaged, and beheld the ferocious faces of their butchers. the carnage within that narrow apace was compact and rapid. within a few minutes all were despatched, and among them senator gerrit, from whose table the spanish commander had but just risen. the church was then set on fire, and the dead and dying were consumed to ashes together. inflamed but not satiated, the spaniards then rushed into the streets, thirsty for fresh horrors. the houses were all rifled of their contents, and men were forced to carry the booty to the camp, who were then struck dead as their reward. the town was then fired in every direction, that the skulking citizens might be forced from their hiding-places. as fast as they came forth they were put to death by their impatient foes. some were pierced with rapiers, some were chopped to pieces with axes, some were surrounded in the blazing streets by troops of laughing soldiers, intoxicated, not with wine but with blood, who tossed them to and fro with their lances, and derived a wild amusement from their dying agonies. those who attempted resistance were crimped alive like fishes, and left to gasp themselves to death in lingering torture. the soldiers becoming more and more insane, as the foul work went on, opened the veins of some of their victims, and drank their blood as if it were wine. some of the burghers were for a time spared, that they might witness the violation of their wives and daughters, and were then butchered in company with these still more unfortunate victims. miracles of brutality were accomplished. neither church nor hearth was sacred: men were slain, women outraged at the altars, in the streets, in their blazing homes. the life of lambert hortensius was spared, out of regard to his learning and genius, but he hardly could thank his foes for the boon, for they struck his only son dead, and tore his heart out before his father's eyes. hardly any man or woman survived, except by accident. a body of some hundred burghers made their escape across the snow into the open country. they were, however, overtaken, stripped stark naked, and hung upon the trees by the feet, to freeze, or to perish by a more lingering death. most of them soon died, but twenty, who happened to be wealthy, succeeded, after enduring much torture, in purchasing their lives of their inhuman persecutors. the principal burgomaster, heinrich lambertszoon, was less fortunate. known to be affluent, he was tortured by exposing the soles of his feet to a fire until they were almost consumed. on promise that his life should be spared, he then agreed to pay a heavy ransom; but hardly had he furnished the stipulated sum when, by express order of don frederic himself, he was hanged in his own doorway, and his dissevered limbs afterwards nailed to the gates of the city. nearly all the inhabitants of naarden, soldiers and citizens, were thus destroyed; and now don frederic issued peremptory orders that no one, on pain of death, should give lodging or food to any fugitive. he likewise forbade to the dead all that could now be forbidden them--a grave. three weeks long did these unburied bodies pollute the streets, nor could the few wretched women who still cowered within such houses as had escaped the flames ever wave from their lurking-places without treading upon the festering remains of what had been their husbands, their fathers, or their brethren. such was the express command of him whom the flatterers called the "most divine genius ever known." shortly afterwards came an order to dismantle the fortifications, which had certainly proved sufficiently feeble in the hour of need, and to raze what was left of the city from the surface of the earth. the work was faithfully accomplished, and for a longtime naarden ceased to exist. alva wrote, with his usual complacency in such cases, to his sovereign, that "they had cut the throats of the burghers and all the garrison, and that they had not left a mother's son alive." the statement was almost literally correct, nor was the cant with which these bloodhounds commented upon their crimes less odious than their guilt. "it was a permission of god," said the duke, "that these people should have undertaken to defend a city, which was so weak that no other persons would have attempted such a thing." nor was the reflection of mendoza less pious. "the sack of naarden," said that really brave and accomplished cavalier, "was a chastisement which must be believed to have taken place by express permission of a divine providence; a punishment for having been the first of the holland towns in which heresy built its nest, whence it has taken flight to all the neighboring cities." it is not without reluctance, but still with a stern determination, that the historian--should faithfully record these transactions. to extenuate would be base; to exaggerate impossible. it is good that the world should not forget how much wrong has been endured by a single harmless nation at the hands of despotism, and in the sacred name of god. there have been tongues and pens enough to narrate the excesses of the people, bursting from time to time out of slavery into madness. it is good, too, that those crimes should be remembered, and freshly pondered; but it is equally wholesome to study the opposite picture. tyranny, ever young and ever old, constantly reproducing herself with the same stony features, with the same imposing mask which she has worn through all the ages, can never be too minutely examined, especially when she paints her own portrait, and when the secret history of her guilt is furnished by the confessions of her lovers. the perusal of her traits will not make us love popular liberty the less. the history of alva's administration in the netherlands is one of those pictures which strike us almost dumb with wonder. why has the almighty suffered such crimes to be perpetrated in his sacred name? was it necessary that many generations should wade through this blood in order to acquire for their descendants the blessings of civil and religious freedom? was it necessary that an alva should ravage a peaceful nation with sword and flame--that desolation should be spread over a happy land, in order that the pure and heroic character of a william of orange should stand forth more conspicuously, like an antique statue of spotless marble against a stormy sky? after the army which the prince had so unsuccessfully led to the relief of mons had been disbanded, he had himself repaired to holland. he had come to kampen shortly before its defection from his cause. thence he had been escorted across the zuyder zee to eukhuyzen. he came to that province, the only one which through good and ill report remained entirely faithful to him, not as a conqueror but as an unsuccessful, proscribed man. but there were warm hearts beating within those cold lagunes, and no conqueror returning from a brilliant series of victories could have been received with more affectionate respect than william in that darkest hour of the country's history. he had but seventy horsemen at his back, all which remained of the twenty thousand troops which he had a second time levied in germany, and he felt that it would be at that period hopeless for him to attempt the formation of a third army. he had now come thither to share the fate of holland, at least, if he could not accomplish her liberation. he went from city to city, advising with the magistracies and with the inhabitants, and arranging many matters pertaining both to peace and war. at harlem the states of the provinces, according to his request, had been assembled. the assembly begged him to lay before them, if it were possible, any schemes and means which he might have devised for further resistance to the duke of alva. thus solicited, the prince, in a very secret session, unfolded his plans, and satisfied them as to the future prospects of the cause. his speech has nowhere been preserved. his strict injunctions as to secrecy, doubtless, prevented or effaced any record of the session. it is probable, however, that he entered more fully into the state of his negotiations with england, and into the possibility of a resumption by count louis of his private intercourse with the french court, than it was safe, publicly, to divulge. while the prince had been thus occupied in preparing the stout-hearted province for the last death-struggle with its foe, that mortal combat was already fast approaching; for the aspect of the contest in the netherlands was not that of ordinary warfare. it was an encounter between two principles, in their nature so hostile to each other that the absolute destruction of one was the only, possible issue. as the fight went on, each individual combatant seemed inspired by direct personal malignity, and men found a pleasure in deeds of cruelty, from which generations not educated to slaughter recoil with horror. to murder defenceless prisoners; to drink, not metaphorically but literally, the heart's blood of an enemy; to exercise a devilish ingenuity in inventions of mutual torture, became not only a duty but a rapture. the liberty of the netherlands had now been hunted to its lair. it had taken its last refuge among the sands and thickets where its savage infancy had been nurtured, and had now prepared itself to crush its tormentor in a last embrace, or to die in the struggle. after the conclusion of the sack and massacre of naarden, don frederic had hastened to amsterdam, where the duke was then quartered, that he might receive the paternal benediction for his well-accomplished work. the royal approbation was soon afterwards added to the applause of his parent, and the duke was warmly congratulated in a letter written by philip as soon as the murderous deed was known, that don frederic had so plainly shown himself to be his father's son. there was now more work for father and son. amsterdam was the only point in holland which held for alva, and from that point it was determined to recover the whole province. the prince of orange was established in the southern district; diedrich sonoy, his lieutenant, was stationed in north holland. the important city of harlem lay between the two, at a spot where the whole breadth of the territory, from sea to sea, was less than an hour's walk. with the fall of that city the province would be cut in twain, the rebellious forces utterly dissevered, and all further resistance, it was thought, rendered impossible. the inhabitants of harlem felt their danger. bossu, alva's stadholder for holland, had formally announced the system hitherto pursued at mechlin, zutphen, and naarden, as the deliberate policy of the government. the king's representative had formally proclaimed the extermination of man, woman; and child in every city which opposed his authority, but the promulgation and practice of such a system had an opposite effect to the one intended. "the hearts of the hollanders were rather steeled to resistance than awed into submission by the fate of naarden." a fortunate event, too, was accepted as a lucky omen for the coming contest. a little fleet of armed vessels, belonging to holland, had been frozen up in the neighbourhood of amsterdam. don frederic on his arrival from naarden, despatched a body of picked men over the ice to attack the imprisoned vessels. the crews had, however, fortified themselves by digging a wide trench around the whole fleet, which thus became from the moment an almost impregnable fortress. out of this frozen citadel a strong band of well-armed and skilful musketeers sallied forth upon skates as the besieging force advanced. a rapid, brilliant, and slippery skirmish succeeded, in which the hollanders, so accustomed to such sports, easily vanquished their antagonists, and drove them off the field, with the loss of several hundred left dead upon the ice. "'t was a thing never heard of before to-day," said alva, "to see a body of arquebusiers thus skirmishing upon a frozen sea." in the course of the next four-and-twenty hours a flood and a rapid thaw released the vessels, which all escaped to enkhuyzen, while a frost, immediately and strangely succeeding, made pursuit impossible. the spaniards were astonished at these novel manoeuvres upon the ice. it is amusing to read their elaborate descriptions of the wonderful appendages which had enabled the hollanders to glide so glibly into battle with a superior force, and so rapidly to glance away, after achieving a signal triumph. nevertheless, the spaniards could never be dismayed, and were always apt scholars, even if an enemy were the teacher. alva immediately ordered seven thousand pairs of skates, and his soldiers soon learned to perform military evolutions with these new accoutrements as audaciously, if not as adroitly, as the hollanders. a portion of the harlem magistracy, notwithstanding the spirit which pervaded the province, began to tremble as danger approached. they were base enough to enter into secret negotiations with alva, and to send three of their own number to treat with the duke at amsterdam. one was wise enough to remain with the enemy. the other two were arrested on their return, and condemned, after an impartial trial, to death. for, while these emissaries of a cowardly magistracy were absent, the stout commandant of the little garrison, ripperda, had assembled the citizens and soldiers in the market-place. he warned them of the absolute necessity to make a last effort for freedom. in startling colors he held up to them the fate of mechlin, of zutphen, of naarden, as a prophetic mirror, in which they might read their own fate should they be base enough to surrender the city. there was no composition possible, he urged, with foes who were as false as they were sanguinary, and whose foul passions were stimulated, not slaked, by the horrors with which they had already feasted themselves. ripperda addressed men who could sympathize with his bold and lofty sentiments. soldiers and citizens cried out for defence instead of surrender, as with one voice, for there were no abject spirits at harlem, save among the magistracy; and saint aldegonde, the faithful minister of orange, was soon sent to harlem by the prince to make a thorough change in that body. harlem, over whose ruins the spanish tyranny intended to make its entrance into holland, lay in the narrowest part of that narrow isthmus which separates the zuyder zee from the german ocean. the distance from sea to sea is hardly five english miles across. westerly from the city extended a slender strip of land, once a morass, then a fruitful meadow; maintained by unflagging fortitude in the very jaws of a stormy ocean. between the north sea and the outer edge of this pasture surged those wild and fantastic downs, heaped up by wind and wave in mimicry of mountains; the long coils of that rope of sand, by which, plaited into additional strength by the slenderest of bulrushes, the waves of the north sea were made to obey the command of man. on the opposite, or eastern aide, harlem looked towards amsterdam. that already flourishing city was distant but ten miles. the two cities were separated by an expanse of inland water, and united by a slender causeway. the harlem lake, formed less than a century before by the bursting of four lesser, meres during a storm which had threatened to swallow the whole peninsula, extended itself on the south and east; a sea of limited dimensions, being only fifteen feet in depth with seventy square miles of surface, but, exposed as it lay to all the winds of heaven, often lashed into storms as dangerous as those of the atlantic. beyond the lake, towards the north, the waters of the y nearly swept across the peninsula. this inlet of the zuyder zee was only separated from the harlem mere by a slender thread of land. over this ran the causeway between the two sister cities, now so unfortunately in arms against each other. midway between the two, the dyke was pierced and closed again with a system of sluice-works, which when opened admitted the waters of the lake into those of the estuary, and caused an inundation of the surrounding country. the city was one of the largest and most beautiful in the netherlands. it was also one of the weakest.--the walls were of antique construction, turreted, but not strong. the extent and feebleness of the defences made a large garrison necessary, but unfortunately, the garrison was even weaker than the walls. the city's main reliance was on the stout hearts of the inhabitants. the streets were, for that day, spacious and regular; the canals planted with limes and poplars. the ancient church of saint bavon, a large imposing structure of brick, stood almost in the centre of the place, the most prominent object, not only of the town but of the province, visible over leagues of sea and of land more level than the sea, and seeming to gather the whole quiet little city under its sacred and protective wings. its tall open-work leaden spire was surmounted by a colossal crown, which an exalted imagination might have regarded as the emblematic guerdon of martyrdom held aloft over the city, to reward its heroism and its agony. it was at once obvious that the watery expanse between harlem and amsterdam would be the principal theatre of the operations about to commence. the siege was soon begun. the fugitive burgomaster, de fries, had the effrontery, with the advice of alva, to address a letter to the citizens, urging them to surrender at discretion. the messenger was hanged--a cruel but practical answer, which put an end to all further traitorous communications. this was in the first week of december. on the th, don frederic, sent a strong detachment to capture the fort and village of sparendam, as an indispensable preliminary to the commencement of the siege. a peasant having shown zapata, the commander of the expedition, a secret passage across the flooded and frozen meadows, the spaniards stormed the place gallantly, routed the whole garrison, killed three hundred, and took possession of the works and village. next day, don frederic appeared before the walls of harlem, and proceeded regularly to invest the place. the misty weather favored his operations, nor did he cease reinforcing himself; until at least thirty thousand men, including fifteen hundred cavalry, had been encamped around the city. the germans, under count overstein, were stationed in a beautiful and extensive grove of limes and beeches, which spread between the southern walls and the shore of harlem lake. don frederic, with his spaniards, took up a position on the opposite side, at a place called the house of kleef, the ruins of which still remain. the walloons, and other regiments were distributed in different places, so as completely to encircle the town. [pierre sterlinckx: eene come waerachtige beschryvinghe van alle geschiedinissen, anschlagen, stormen, schermutsingen oude schieten voor de vroome stadt haerlem in holland gheschicht, etc., etc.-- delft, .--this is by far the best contemporary account of the famous siege. the author was a citizen of antwerp, who kept a daily journal of the events as they occurred at harlem. it is a dry, curt register of horrors, jotted down without passion or comment.-- compare bor, vi. , ; meteren, iv. ; mendoza, viii. , ; wagenaer, vad. hist., vi. , .] on the edge of the mere the prince of orange had already ordered a cluster of forts to be erected, by which the command of its frozen surface was at first secured for harlem. in the course of the siege, however, other forts were erected by don frederic, so that the aspect of things suffered a change. against this immense force, nearly equal in number to that of the whole population of the city, the garrison within the walls never amounted to more than four thousand men. in the beginning it was much less numerous. the same circumstances, however, which assisted the initiatory operations of don frederic, were of advantage to the harlemers. a dense frozen fog hung continually over the surface of the lake. covered by this curtain, large supplies of men, provisions, and ammunition were daily introduced into the city, notwithstanding all the efforts of the besieging force. sledges skimming over the ice, men, women, and even children, moving on their skates as swiftly as the wind, all brought their contributions in the course of the short dark days and long nights of december, in which the wintry siege was opened. the garrison at last numbered about one thousand pioneers or delvers, three thousand fighting men, and about three hundred fighting women. the last was a most efficient corps, all females of respectable character, armed with sword, musket, and dagger. their chief, kenau hasselaer, was a widow of distinguished family and unblemished reputation, about forty-seven years of age, who, at the head of her amazons, participated in many of the most fiercely contested actions of the siege, both within and without the walls. when such a spirit animated the maids and matrons of the city, it might be expected that the men would hardly surrender the place without a struggle. the prince had assembled a force of three or four thousand men at leyden, which he sent before the middle of december towards the city under the command of de la marck. these troops were, however, attacked on the way by a strong detachment under bossu, noircarmes, and romero. after a sharp, action in a heavy snow-storm, de la marek was completely routed. one thousand of his soldiers were cut to pieces, and a large number carried off as prisoners to the gibbets, which were already conspicuously erected in the spanish camp, and which from the commencement to the close of the siege were never bare of victims. among the captives was a gallant officer, baptist van trier, for whom de la marck in vain offered two thousand crowns and nineteen spanish prisoners. the proposition was refused with contempt. van trier was hanged upon the gallows by one leg until he was dead, in return for which barbarity the nineteen spaniards were immediately gibbeted by de la marck. with this interchange of cruelties the siege may be said to have opened. don frederic had stationed himself in a position opposite to the gate of the cross, which was not very strong, but fortified by a ravelin. intending to make a very short siege of it, he established his batteries immediately, and on the th, th, and th december directed a furious cannonade against the cross-gate, the st. john's-gate, and the curtain between the two. six hundred and eighty shots were discharged on the first, and nearly as many on each of the two succeeding days. the walls were much shattered, but men, women, and children worked night and day within the city, repairing the breaches as fast as made. they brought bags of sand; blocks of stone, cart-loads of earth from every quarter, and they stripped the churches of all their statues, which they threw by heaps into the gaps. if they sought thus a more practical advantage from those sculptured saints than they could have gained by only imploring their interposition. the fact, however, excited horror among the besiegers. men who were daily butchering their fellow-beings, and hanging their prisoners in cold blood, affected to shudder at the enormity of the offence thus exercised against graven images. after three days' cannonade, the assault was ordered, don frederic only intending a rapid massacre, to crown his achievements at--zutphen and naarden. the place, he thought, would fall in a week, and after another week of sacking, killing, and ravishing, he might sweep on to "pastures new" until holland was overwhelmed. romero advanced to the breach, followed by a numerous storming party, but met with a resistance which astonished the spaniards. the church bells rang the alarm throughout the city, and the whole population swarmed to the walls. the besiegers were encountered not only with sword and musket, but with every implement which the burghers' hands could find. heavy stones, boiling oil, live coals, were hurled upon the heads of the soldiers; hoops, smeared with pitch and set on fire, were dexterously thrown upon their necks. even spanish courage and spanish ferocity were obliged to shrink before the steady determination of a whole population animated by a single spirit. romero lost an eye in the conflict, many officers were killed and wounded, and three or four hundred soldiers left dead in the breach, while only three or four of the townsmen lost their lives. the signal of recal was reluctantly given, and the spaniards abandoned the assault. don frederic was now aware that harlem would not fall at his feet at the first sound of his trumpet. it was obvious that a siege must precede the massacre. he gave orders therefore that the ravelin should be undermined, and doubted not that, with a few days' delay, the place would be in his hands. meantime, the prince of orange, from his head-quarters at sassenheim, on the southern extremity of the mere, made a fresh effort to throw succor into the place. two thousand men, with seven field-pieces, and many wagon-loads of munitions, were sent forward under batenburg. this officer had replaced de la marck, whom the prince had at last deprived of his commission. the reckless and unprincipled freebooter was no longer to serve a cause which was more sullied by his barbarity than it could be advanced by his desperate valor. batenburg's expedition was, however, not more successful than the one made by his predecessor. the troops, after reaching the vicinity of the city, lost their way in the thick mists, which almost perpetually enveloped the scene. cannons were fired, fog-bells were rung, and beacon fires were lighted on the ramparts, but the party was irretrievably lost. the spaniards fell upon them before they could find their way to the city. many were put to the sword, others made their escape in different directions; a very few succeeded in entering harlem. batenburg brought off a remnant of the forces, but all the provisions so much needed were lost, and the little army entirely destroyed. de koning, the second in command, was among the prisoners. the spaniards cut off his head and threw it over the walls into the city, with this inscription: "this is the head of captain de koning, who is on his way with reinforcements for the good city of harlem." the citizens retorted with a practical jest, which was still more barbarous. they cut off the heads of eleven prisoners and put them into a barrel, which they threw into the spanish camp. a label upon the barrel contained these words: "deliver these ten heads to duke alva in payment of his tenpenny tax, with one additional head for interest." with such ghastly merriment did besieged and besiegers vary the monotonous horror of that winter's siege. as the sallies and skirmishes were of daily occurrence, there was a constant supply of prisoners, upon whom both parties might exercise their ingenuity, so that the gallows in camp or city was perpetually garnished. since the assault of the st december, don frederic had been making his subterranean attack by regular approaches. as fast, however, as the spaniards mined, the citizens countermined. spaniard and netherlander met daily in deadly combat within the bowels of the earth. desperate and frequent were the struggles within gangways so narrow that nothing but daggers could be used, so obscure that the dim lanterns hardly lighted the death-stroke. they seemed the conflicts, not of men but of evil spirits. nor were these hand-to-hand battles all. a shower of heads, limbs, mutilated trunks, the mangled remains of hundreds of human beings, often spouted from the earth as if from an invisible volcano. the mines were sprung with unexampled frequency and determination. still the spaniards toiled on with undiminished zeal, and still the besieged, undismayed, delved below their works, and checked their advance by sword, and spear, and horrible explosions. the prince of orange, meanwhile, encouraged the citizens to persevere, by frequent promises of assistance. his letters, written on extremely small bits of paper; were sent into the town by carrier pigeons. on the th of january he despatched a considerable supply of the two necessaries, powder and bread, on one hundred and seventy sledges across the harlem lake, together with four hundred veteran soldiers. the citizens continued to contest the approaches to the ravelin before the cross-gate, but it had become obvious that they could not hold it long. secretly, steadfastly, and swiftly they had, therefore, during the long wintry nights, been constructing a half moon of solid masonry on the inside of the same portal. old men, feeble women, tender children, united with the able-bodied to accomplish this work, by which they hoped still to maintain themselves after the ravelin had fallen: on the st of january, after two or three days' cannonade against the gates of the cross and of saint john, and the intervening curtains, don frederic ordered a midnight assault. the walls had been much shattered, part of the john's-gate was in ruins; the spaniards mounted the breach in great numbers; the city was almost taken by surprise; while the commander-in-chief, sure of victory, ordered the whole of his forces under arms to cut off the population who were to stream panic-struck from every issue. the attack was unexpected, but the forty or fifty sentinels defended the walls while they sounded the alarm. the tocsin bells tolled, and the citizens, whose sleep was not-apt to be heavy during that perilous winter, soon manned the ramparts again. the daylight came upon them while the fierce struggle was still at its height. the besieged, as before, defended themselves with musket and rapier, with melted pitch, with firebrands, with clubs and stones. meantime, after morning prayers in the spanish camp, the trumpet for a general assault was sounded. a tremendous onset was made upon the gate of the cross, and the ravelin was carried at last. the spaniards poured into this fort, so long the object of their attack, expecting instantly to sweep into the city with sword and fire. as they mounted its wall they became for the first time aware of the new and stronger fortification which had been secretly constructed on the inner side. the reason why the ravelin had been at last conceded was revealed. the half moon, whose existence they had not suspected, rose before them bristling with cannon. a sharp fire was instantly opened upon the besiegers, while at the same instant the ravelin, which the citizens had undermined, blew up with a severe explosion, carrying into the air all the soldiers who had just entered it so triumphantly. this was the turning point. the retreat was sounded, and the spaniards fled to their camp, leaving at least three hundred dead beneath the walls. thus was a second assault, made by an overwhelming force and led by the most accomplished generals of spain, signally and gloriously repelled by the plain burghers of harlem. it became now almost evident that the city could be taken neither by regular approaches nor by sudden attack. it was therefore resolved that it should be reduced by famine. still, as the winter wore on, the immense army without the walls were as great sufferers by that scourge as the population within. the soldiers fell in heaps before the diseases engendered by intense cold and insufficient food, for, as usual in such sieges, these deaths far outnumbered those inflicted by the enemy's hand. the sufferings inside the city necessarily increased day by day, the whole population being put on a strict allowance of food. their supplies were daily diminishing, and with the approach of the spring and the thawing of the ice on the lake, there was danger that they would be entirely cut off. if the possession of the water were lost, they must yield or starve; and they doubted whether the prince would be able to organize a fleet. the gaunt spectre of famine already rose before them with a menace which could not be misunderstood. in their misery they longed for the assaults of the spaniards, that they might look in the face of a less formidable foe. they paraded the ramparts daily, with drums beating, colors flying, taunting the besiegers to renewed attempts. to inflame the religious animosity of their antagonists, they attired themselves in the splendid, gold-embroidered vestments of the priests, which they took from the churches, and moved about in mock procession, bearing aloft images bedizened in ecclesiastical finery, relics, and other symbols, sacred in catholic eyes, which they afterwards hurled from the ramparts, or broke, with derisive shouts, into a thousand fragments. it was, however, at that season earnestly debated by the enemy whether or not to raise the siege. don frederic was clearly of opinion that enough had been done for the honor of the spanish arms. he was wearied with seeing his men perish helplessly around him, and considered the prize too paltry for the lives it must cost. his father thought differently. perhaps he recalled the siege of metz, and the unceasing regret with which, as he believed, his imperial master had remembered the advice received from him. at any rate the duke now sent back don bernardino de mendoza, whom don frederic had despatched to nimwegen, soliciting his father's permission to raise the siege, with this reply: "tell don frederic," said alva, "that if he be not decided to continue the siege till the town be taken, i shall no longer consider him my son, whatever my opinion may formerly have been. should he fall in the siege, i will myself take the field to maintain it, and when we have both perished, the duchess, my wife, shall come from spain to do the same." such language was unequivocal, and hostilities were resumed as fiercely as before. the besieged welcomed them with rapture, and, as usual, made daily the most desperate sallies. in one outbreak the harlemers, under cover of a thick fog, marched up to the enemy's chief battery, and attempted to spike the guns before his face. they were all slain at the cannon's mouth, whither patriotism, not vainglory, had led them, and lay dead around the battery, with their hammers and spikes in their hands. the same spirit was daily manifested. as the spring advanced; the kine went daily out of the gates to their peaceful pasture, notwithstanding, all the turmoil within and around; nor was it possible for the spaniards to capture a single one of these creatures, without paying at least a dozen soldiers as its price. "these citizens," wrote don frederic, "do as much as the best soldiers in the world could do." the frost broke up by the end of february. count bossu, who had been building a fleet of small vessels in amsterdam, soon afterwards succeeded in entering the lake with a few gun-boats, through a breach which he had made in the overtoom, about half a league from that city. the possession of the lake was already imperilled. the prince, however, had not been idle, and he, too, was soon ready to send his flotilla to the mere. at the same time, the city of amsterdam was in almost as hazardous a position as harlem. as the one on the lake, so did the other depend upon its dyke for its supplies. should that great artificial road which led to muyden and utrecht be cut asunder, amsterdam might be starved as soon as harlem. "since i came into the world," wrote alva, "i have never, been in such anxiety. if they should succeed in cutting off the communication along the dykes, we should have to raise the siege of harlem, to surrender, hands crossed, or to starve." orange was fully aware of the position of both places, but he was, as usual, sadly deficient in men and means. he wrote imploringly to his friends in england, in france, in germany. he urged his brother louis to bring a few soldiers, if it were humanly possible. "the whole country longs for you," he wrote to louis, "as if you were the archangel gabriel." the prince, however, did all that it was possible for man, so hampered, to do. he was himself, while anxiously writing, hoping, and waiting for supplies of troops from germany or france, doing his best with such volunteers as he could raise. he was still established at sassenheim, on the south of the city, while sonoy with his slender forces was encamped on the north. he now sent that general with as large a party as he could muster to attack the diemerdyk. his men entrenched themselves as strongly as they could between the diemer and the y, at the same time opening the sluices and breaking through the dyke. during the absence of their commander, who had gone to edam for reinforcements, they were attacked by a large force from amsterdam. a fierce amphibious contest took place, partly in boats, partly on the slippery causeway, partly in the water, resembling in character the frequent combats between the ancient batavians and romans during the wars of civilis. the patriots were eventually overpowered. sonoy, who was on his way to their rescue, was frustrated in his design by the unexpected faint-heartedness of the volunteers whom he had enlisted at edam. braving a thousand perils, he advanced, almost unattended, in his little vessel, but only to witness the overthrow and expulsion of his band. it was too late for him singly to attempt to rally the retreating troops. they had fought well, but had been forced to yield before superior numbers, one individual of the little army having performed prodigies of valor. john haring, of horn, had planted himself entirely alone upon the dyke, where it was so narrow between the y on the one side and the diemer lake on the other, that two men could hardly stand abreast. here, armed with sword and shield, he had actually opposed and held in check one thousand of the enemy, during a period long enough to enable his own men, if they, had been willing, to rally, and effectively to repel the attack. it was too late, the battle was too far lost to be restored; but still the brave soldier held the post, till, by his devotion, he had enabled all those of his compatriots who still remained in the entrenchments to make good their retreat. he then plunged into the sea, and, untouched by spear or bullet, effected his escape. had he been a greek or a roman, an horatius or a chabrias, his name would have been famous in history--his statue erected in the market-place; for the bold dutchman on his dyke had manifested as much valor in a sacred cause as the most classic heroes of antiquity. this unsuccessful attempt to cut off the communication between amsterdam and the country strengthened the hopes of alva. several hundreds of the patriots were killed or captured, and among the slain was antony oliver, the painter, through whose agency louis of nassau had been introduced into mons. his head was cut off by two ensigns in alva's service, who received the price which had been set upon it of two thousand caroli. it was then labelled with its owner's name, and thrown into the city of harlem. at the same time a new gibbet was erected in the spanish camp before the city, in a conspicuous situation, upon which all the prisoners were hanged, some by the neck, some by the heels, in full view of their countrymen. as usual, this especial act of cruelty excited the emulation of the citizens. two of the old board of magistrates, belonging to the spanish party, were still imprisoned at harlem; together with seven other persons, among whom was a priest and a boy of twelve years. they were now condemned to the gallows. the wife of one of the ex-burgomasters and his daughter, who was a beguin, went by his side as he was led to execution, piously exhorting him to sustain with courage the execrations of the populace and his ignominious doom. the rabble, irritated by such boldness, were not satisfied with wreaking their vengeance on the principal victims, but after the execution had taken place they hunted the wife and daughter into the water, where they both perished. it is right to record these instances of cruelty, sometimes perpetrated by the patriots as well as by their oppressors--a cruelty rendered almost inevitable by the incredible barbarity of the foreign invader. it was a war of wolfish malignity. in the words of mendoza, every man within and without harlem "seemed inspired by a spirit of special and personal vengeance." the innocent blood poured out in mechlin, zutphen, naarden, and upon a thousand scaffolds, had been crying too long from the ground. the hollanders must have been more or less than men not to be sometimes betrayed into acts which justice and reason must denounce. [no! it was as evil for one side as the other. d.w.] the singular mood which has been recorded of a high-spirited officer of the garrison, captain corey, illustrated the horror with which such scenes of carnage were regarded by noble natures. of a gentle disposition originally, but inflamed almost to insanity by a contemplation of spanish cruelty, he had taken up the profession of arms, to which he had a natural repugnance. brave to recklessness, he led his men on every daring outbreak, on every perilous midnight adventure. armed only with his rapier, without defensive armor, he was ever found where the battle raged most fiercely, and numerous were the victims who fell before his sword. on returning, however, from such excursions, he invariably shut himself in his quarters, took to his bed, and lay for days, sick with remorse, and bitterly lamenting all that bloodshed in which he had so deeply participated, and which a cruel fate seemed to render necessary. as the gentle mood subsided, his frenzy would return, and again he would rush to the field, to seek new havoc and fresh victims for his rage. the combats before the walls were of almost daily occurrence. on the th march, one thousand of the besieged made a brilliant sally, drove in all the outposts of the enemy, burned three hundred tents, and captured seven cannon, nine standards, and many wagon-loads of provisions, all which they succeeded in bringing with them into the city.--having thus reinforced themselves, in a manner not often practised by the citizens of a beleaguered town, in the very face of thirty thousand veterans--having killed eight hundred of the enemy, which was nearly one for every man engaged, while they lost but four of their own party--the harlemers, on their return, erected a trophy of funereal but exulting aspect. a mound of earth was constructed upon the ramparts, in the form of a colossal grave, in full view of the enemy's camp, and upon it were planted the cannon and standards so gallantly won in the skirmish, with the taunting inscription floating from the centre of the mound "harlem is the graveyard of the spaniards." such were the characteristics of this famous siege during the winter and early spring. alva might well write to his sovereign, that "it was a war such as never before was seen or heard of in any land on earth." yet the duke had known near sixty years of warfare. he informed philip that "never was a place defended with such skill and bravery as harlem, either by rebels or by men fighting for their lawful prince." certainly his son had discovered his mistake in asserting that the city would yield in a week; while the father, after nearly six years' experience, had found this "people of butter" less malleable than even those "iron people" whom he boasted of having tamed. it was seen that neither the skies of greece or italy, nor the sublime scenery of switzerland, were necessary to arouse the spirit of defiance to foreign oppression--a spirit which beat as proudly among the wintry mists and the level meadows of holland as it had ever done under sunnier atmospheres and in more romantic lands. mendoza had accomplished his mission to spain, and had returned with supplies of money within six weeks from the date of his departure. owing to his representations and alva's entreaties, philip had, moreover, ordered requesens, governor of milan, to send forward to the netherlands three veteran spanish regiments, which were now more required at harlem than in italy. while the land force had thus been strengthened, the fleet upon the lake had also been largely increased. the prince of orange had, on the other hand, provided more than a hundred sail of various descriptions, so that the whole surface of the mere was now alive with ships. seafights and skirmishes took place almost daily, and it was obvious that the life and death struggle was now to be fought upon the water. so long as the hollanders could hold or dispute the possession of the lake, it was still possible to succor harlem from time to time. should the spaniards overcome the prince's fleet, the city must inevitably starve. at last, on the th of may, a decisive engagement of the fleets took place. the vessels grappled with each other, and there was a long, fierce, hand-to-hand combat. under bossu were one hundred vessels; under martin brand, admiral of the patriot fleet, nearly one hundred and fifty, but of lesser dimensions. batenhurg commanded the troops on board the dutch vessels. after a protracted conflict, in which several thousands were killed, the victory was decided in favor of the spaniards. twenty-two of the prince's vessels being captured, and the rest totally routed, bossu swept across the lake in triumph. the forts belonging to the patriots were immediately taken, and the harlemers, with their friends, entirely excluded from the lake. this was the beginning of the end. despair took possession of the city. the whole population had been long subsisting upon an allowance of a pound of bread to each man, and half-a-pound for each woman; but the bread was now exhausted, the famine had already begun, and with the loss of the lake starvation was close at their doors. they sent urgent entreaties to, the prince to attempt something in their behalf. three weeks more they assigned as the longest term during which they could possibly hold out. he sent them word by carrier pigeons to endure yet a little time, for he was assembling a force, and would still succeed in furnishing them with supplies. meantime, through the month of june the sufferings of the inhabitants increased hourly. ordinary food had long since vanished. the population now subsisted on linseed and rape-seed; as these supplies were exhausted they devoured cats, dogs, rats, and mice, and when at last these unclean animals had been all consumed, they boiled the hides of horses and oxen; they ate shoe-leather; they plucked the nettles and grass from the graveyards, and the weeds which grew between the stones of the pavement, that with such food they might still support life a little longer, till the promised succor should arrive. men, women, and children fell dead by scores in the streets, perishing of pure starvation, and the survivors had hardly the heart or the strength to bury them out of their sight. they who yet lived seemed to flit like shadows to and fro, envying those whose sufferings had already been terminated by death. thus wore away the month of june. on the st of july the burghers consented to a parley. deputies were sent to confer with the besiegers, but the negotiations were abruptly terminated, for no terms of compromise were admitted by don frederic. on the rd a tremendous cannonade was re-opened upon the city. one thousand and eight balls were discharged--the most which had ever been thrown in one day, since the commencement of the siege. the walls were severely shattered, but the assault was not ordered, because the besiegers were assured that it was physically impossible for the inhabitants to hold out many days longer. a last letter, written in blood, was now despatched to the prince of orange, stating the forlorn condition to which they were reduced. at the same time, with the derision of despair, they flung into the hostile camp the few loaves of bread which yet remained within the city walls. a day or two later, a second and third parley were held, with no more satisfactory result than had attended the first. a black flag was now hoisted on the cathedral tower, the signal of despair to friend and foe, but a pigeon soon afterwards flew into the town with a letter from the prince, begging them to maintain themselves two days longer, because succor was approaching. the prince had indeed been doing all which, under the circumstances, was possible. he assembled the citizens of delft in the market-place, and announced his intention of marching in person to the relief of the city, in the face of the besieging army, if any troops could be obtained. soldiers there were none; but there was the deepest sympathy for harlem throughout its sister cities, delft, rotterdam, gouda. a numerous mass of burghers, many of them persons of station, all people of respectability, volunteered to march to the rescue. the prince highly disapproved of this miscellaneous army, whose steadfastness he could not trust. as a soldier, he knew that for such a momentous enterprise, enthusiasm could not supply the place of experience. nevertheless, as no regular troops could be had, and as the emergency allowed no delay, he drew up a commission, appointing paulus buys to be governor during his absence, and provisional stadholder, should he fall in the expedition. four thousand armed volunteers, with six hundred mounted troopers, under carlo de noot, had been assembled, and the prince now placed himself at their head. there was, however, a universal cry of remonstrance from the magistracies and burghers of all the towns, and from the troops themselves, at this project. they would not consent that a life so precious, so indispensable to the existence of holland, should be needlessly hazarded. it was important to succor harlem, but the prince was of more value than many cities. he at last reluctantly consented, therefore, to abandon the command of the expedition to baron batenburg, the less willingly from the want of confidence which he could not help feeling in the character of the forces. on the th of july, at dusk, the expedition set forth from sassenheim. it numbered nearly five thousand men, who had with them four hundred wagon-loads of provisions and seven field-pieces. among the volunteers, oldenbarneveld; afterwards so illustrious in the history of the republic; marched in the ranks, with his musket on his shoulder. such was a sample of the spirit which pervaded the population of the province. batenburg came to a halt in the woods of nordwyk, on the south aide of the city, where he remained till midnight. all seemed still in the enemy's camp. after prayers, he gave orders to push forward, hoping to steal through the lines of his sleeping adversaries and accomplish the relief by surprise. he was destined to be bitterly disappointed. his plans and his numbers were thoroughly known to the spaniards, two doves, bearing letters which contained the details of the intended expedition, having been shot and brought into don frederic's camp. the citizens, it appeared, had broken through the curtain work on the side where batenburg was expected, in order that a sally might be made in co-operation with the relieving force, as soon as it should appear. signal fires had been agreed upon, by which the besieged were to be made aware of the approach of their friends. the spanish commander accordingly ordered a mass of green branches, pitch, and straw, to be lighted opposite to the gap in the city wall. behind it he stationed five thousand picked troops. five thousand more, with a force of cavalry, were placed in the neighbourhood of the downs, with orders to attack the patriot army on the left. six regiments, under romero, were ordered to move eastward, and assail their right. the dense mass of smoke concealed the beacon lights displayed by batenburg from the observation of the townspeople, and hid the five thousand spaniards from the advancing hollanders. as batenburg emerged from the wood, he found himself attacked by a force superior to his own, while a few minutes later he was entirely enveloped by overwhelming numbers. the whole spanish army was, indeed; under arms, and had been expecting him for two days. the unfortunate citizens alone were ignorant of his arrival. the noise of the conflict they supposed to be a false alarm created by the spaniards, to draw them into their camp; and they declined a challenge which they were in no condition to accept. batenburg was soon slain, and his troops utterly routed. the number killed was variously estimated at from six hundred to two and even three thousand. it is, at any rate, certain that the whole force was entirely destroyed or dispersed, and the attempt to relieve the city completely frustrated. the death of batenburg was the less regretted, because he was accused, probably with great injustice, of having been intoxicated at the time of action, and therefore incapable of properly, conducting the enterprise entrusted to him. the spaniards now cut off the nose and ears of a prisoner and sent him into the city, to announce the news, while a few heads were also thrown over the walls to confirm the intelligence. when this decisive overthrow became known in delft, there was even an outbreak of indignation against orange. according to a statement of alva, which, however, is to be received with great distrust, some of the populace wished to sack the prince's house, and offered him personal indignities. certainly, if these demonstrations were made, popular anger was never more senseless; but the tale rests entirely, upon a vague assertion of the duke, and is entirely, at variance with every other contemporaneous account of these transactions. it had now become absolutely, necessary, however, for the heroic but wretched town to abandon itself to its fate. it was impossible to attempt anything more in its behalf. the lake and its forts were in the hands of the enemy, the best force which could be mustered to make head against the besieging army had been cut to pieces, and the prince of orange, with a heavy heart, now sent word that the burghers were to make the best terms they could with the enemy. the tidings of despair created a terrible commotion in the starving city. there was no hope either in submission or resistance. massacre or starvation was the only alternative. but if there was no hope within the walls, without there was still a soldier's death. for a moment the garrison and the able-bodied citizens resolved to advance from the gates in a solid column, to cut their way through the enemy's camp, or to perish on the field. it was thought that the helpless and the infirm, who would alone be left in the city, might be treated with indulgence after the fighting men had all been slain. at any rate, by remaining the strong could neither protect nor comfort them. as soon, however, as this resolve was known, there was such wailing and outcry of women and children as pierced the hearts of the soldiers and burghers, and caused them to forego the project. they felt that it was cowardly not to die in their presence. it was then determined to form all the females, the sick, the aged, and the children, into a square, to surround them with all the able-bodied men who still remained, and thus arrayed to fight their way forth from the gates, and to conquer by the strength of despair, or at least to perish all together. these desperate projects, which the besieged were thought quite capable of executing, were soon known in the spanish camp. don frederic felt, after what he had witnessed in the past seven months, that there was nothing which the harlemers could not do or dare. he feared lest they should set fire to their city, and consume their houses, themselves, and their children, to ashes together; and he was unwilling that the fruits of his victory, purchased at such a vast expense, should be snatched from his hand as he was about to gather them. a letter was accordingly, by his order, sent to the magistracy and leading citizens, in the name of count overstein, commander of the german forces in the besieging army. this despatch invited a surrender at discretion, but contained the solemn assurance that no punishment should be inflicted except upon those who, in the judgment of the citizens themselves, had deserved it, and promised ample forgiveness if the town should submit without further delay. at the moment of sending this letter, don frederic was in possession of strict orders from his father not to leave a man alive of the garrison, excepting only the germans, and to execute besides a large number of the burghers. these commands he dared not disobey,--even if he had felt any inclination to do so. in consequence of the semi-official letter of overstein, however, the city formally surrendered at discretion on the th july. the great bell was tolled, and orders were issued that all arms in the possession of the garrison or the inhabitants should be brought to the town-house. the men were then ordered to assemble in the cloister of zyl, the women in the cathedral. on the same day, don frederic, accompanied by count bossu and a numerous staff, rode into the city. the scene which met his view might have moved a heart of stone. everywhere was evidence of the misery which had been so bravely endured during that seven months' siege. the smouldering ruins of houses, which had been set on fire by balls, the shattered fortifications, the felled trunks of trees, upturned pavements, broken images and other materials for repairing gaps made by the daily cannonade, strewn around in all directions, the skeletons of unclean animals from which the flesh had been gnawed, the unburied bodies of men and women who had fallen dead in the public thoroughfares--more than all, the gaunt and emaciated forms of those who still survived, the ghosts of their former, selves, all might have induced at least a doubt whether the suffering inflicted already were not a sufficient punishment, even for crimes so deep as heresy and schism. but this was far from being the sentiment of don frederic. he seemed to read defiance as well as despair in the sunken eyes which glared upon him as he entered the place, and he took no thought of the pledge which he had informally but sacredly given. all the officers of the garrison were at once arrested. some of them had anticipated the sentence of their conqueror by a voluntary death. captain bordet, a french officer of distinction, like brutus, compelled his servant to hold the sword upon which he fell, rather than yield himself alive to the vengeance of the spaniards. traits of generosity were not wanting. instead of peter hasselaer, a young officer who had displayed remarkable bravery throughout the siege, the spaniards by. mistake arrested his cousin nicholas. the prisoner was suffering himself to be led away to the inevitable scaffold without remonstrance, when peter hasselaer pushed his way violently through the ranks of the captors. "if you want ensign hasselaer, i am the man. let this innocent person depart," he cried. before the sun set his head had fallen. all the officers were taken to the house of kleef, where they were immediately executed.--captain ripperda, who had so heroically rebuked the craven conduct of the magistracy, whose eloquence had inflamed the soldiers and citizens to resistance, and whose skill and courage had sustained the siege so long, was among the first to suffer. a natural son of cardinal granvelle, who could have easily saved his life by proclaiming a parentage which he loathed, and lancelot brederode, an illegitimate scion of that ancient house, were also among these earliest victims. the next day alva came over to the camp. he rode about the place, examining the condition of the fortifications from the outside, but returned to amsterdam without having entered the city. on the following morning the massacre commenced. the plunder had been commuted for two hundred and forty thousand guilders, which the citizens bound themselves to pay in four instalments; but murder was an indispensable accompaniment of victory, and admitted of no compromise. moreover, alva had already expressed the determination to effect a general massacre upon this occasion. the garrison, during the siege, had been reduced from four thousand to eighteen hundred. of these the germans, six hundred in number, were, by alva's order, dismissed, on a pledge to serve no more against the king. all the rest of the garrison were immediately butchered, with at least as many citizens. drummers went about the city daily, proclaiming that all who harbored persons having, at any former period, been fugitives, were immediately to give them up, on pain of being instantly hanged themselves in their own doors. upon these refugees and upon the soldiery fell the brunt of the slaughter; although, from day to day, reasons were perpetually discovered for putting to death every individual at all distinguished by service, station, wealth, or liberal principles; for the carnage could not be accomplished at once, but, with all the industry and heartiness employed, was necessarily protracted through several days. five executioners, with their attendants, were kept constantly at work; and when at last they were exhausted with fatigue, or perhaps sickened with horror, three hundred wretches were tied two and two, back to back, and drowned in the harlem lake. at last, after twenty-three hundred human creatures had been murdered in cold blood, within a city where so many thousands had previously perished by violent or by lingering deaths; the blasphemous farce of a pardon was enacted. fifty-seven of the most prominent burghers of the place were, however, excepted from the act of amnesty, and taken into custody as security for the future good conduct of the other citizens. of these hostages some were soon executed, some died in prison, and all would have been eventually sacrificed, had not the naval defeat of bossu soon afterwards enabled the prince of orange to rescue the remaining prisoners. ten thousand two hundred and fifty-six shots had been discharged against the walls during the siege. twelve thousand of the besieging army had died of wounds or disease, during the seven months and two days, between the, investment and the surrender. in the earlier part of august, after the executions had been satisfactorily accomplished, don frederic made his triumphal entry, and the first chapter in the invasion of holland was closed. such was the memorable siege of harlem, an event in which we are called upon to wonder equally at human capacity to inflict and to endure misery. the spaniards celebrated a victory, while in utrecht they made an effigy of the prince of orange, which they carried about in procession, broke upon the wheel, and burned. it was, however, obvious, that if the reduction of harlem were a triumph, it was one which the conquerors might well exchange for a defeat. at any rate, it was certain that the spanish empire was not strong enough to sustain many more such victories. if it had required thirty thousand choice troops, among which were three regiments called by alva respectively, the "invincibles," the "immortals," and the "none-such," to conquer the weakest city of holland in seven months, and with the loss of twelve thousand men; how many men, how long a time, and how many deaths would it require to reduce the rest of that little province? for, as the sack of naarden had produced the contrary effect from the one intended, inflaming rather than subduing the spirit of dutch resistance, so the long and glorious defence of harlem, notwithstanding its tragical termination, had only served to strain to the highest pitch the hatred and patriotism of the other cities in the province. even the treasures of the new world were inadequate to pay for the conquest of that little sand-bank. within five years, twenty-five millions of florins had been sent from spain for war expenses in the netherlands.--yet, this amount, with the addition of large sums annually derived from confiscations, of five millions, at which the proceeds of the hundredth penny was estimated, and the two millions yearly, for which the tenth and twentieth pence had been compounded, was insufficient to save the treasury from beggary and the unpaid troops from mutiny. nevertheless, for the moment the joy created was intense. philip was lying dangerously ill at the wood of segovia, when the happy tidings of the reduction of harlem, with its accompanying butchery, arrived. the account of all this misery, minutely detailed to him by alva, acted like magic. the blood of twenty-three hundred of his fellow-creatures--coldly murdered, by his orders, in a single city--proved for the sanguinary monarch the elixir of life: he drank and was refreshed. "the principal medicine which has cured his majesty," wrote secretary cayas from madrid to alva, "is the joy caused to him by the good news which you have communicated of the surrender of harlem." in the height of his exultation, the king forgot how much dissatisfaction he had recently felt with the progress of events in the netherlands; how much treasure had been annually expended with an insufficient result. "knowing your necessity," continued cayas, "his majesty instantly sent for doctor velasco, and ordered him to provide you with funds, if he had to descend into the earth to dig for it." while such was the exultation of the spaniards, the prince of orange was neither dismayed nor despondent. as usual, he trusted to a higher power than man. "i had hoped to send you better news," he wrote, to count louis, "nevertheless, since it has otherwise pleased the good god, we must conform ourselves to his divine will. i take the same god to witness that i have done everything according to my means, which was possible, to succor the city." a few days later, writing in the same spirit, he informed his brother that the zealanders had succeeded in capturing the castle of rammekens, on the isle of walcheren. "i hope," he said, "that this will reduce the pride of our enemies, who, after the surrender of harlem, have thought that they were about to swallow us alive. i assure myself, however, that they will find a very different piece of work from the one which they expect." etext editor's bookmarks: enthusiasm could not supply the place of experience envying those whose sufferings had already been terminated leave not a single man alive in the city, and to burn every house not strong enough to sustain many more such victories oldenbarneveld; afterwards so illustrious sent them word by carrier pigeons three hundred fighting women tyranny, ever young and ever old, constantly reproducing herself wonder equally at human capacity to inflict and to endure misery motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley [chapter ix.] position of alva--hatred entertained for him by elevated personages --quarrels between him and medina coeli--departure of the latter-- complaints to the king by each of the other--attempts at conciliation addressed by government to the people of the netherlands--grotesque character of the address--mutinous demonstration of the spanish troops--secret overtures to orange-- obedience, with difficulty, restored by alva--commencement of the siege of alkmaar--sanguinary menaces of the duke--encouraging and enthusiastic language of the prince--preparations in alkmaar for defence--the first assault steadily repulsed--refusal of the soldiers to storm a second time--expedition of the carpenter-envoy-- orders of the prince to flood the country--the carpenter's despatches in the enemy's hands--effect produced upon the spaniards --the siege raised--negotiations of count louis with france-- uneasiness and secret correspondence of the duke--convention with the english government--objects pursued by orange--cruelty of de la marck--his dismissal from office and subsequent death--negotiations with france--altered tone of the french court with regard to the st. bartholomew--ill effects of the crime upon the royal projects-- hypocrisy of the spanish government--letter of louis to charles ix. --complaints of charles ix.--secret aspirations of that monarch and of philip--intrigues concerning the polish election--renewed negotiations between schomberg and count louis, with consent of orange--conditions prescribed by the prince--articles of secret alliance--remarkable letter of count louis to charles ix.-- responsible and isolated situation of orange--the "address" and the "epistle"--religious sentiments of the prince--naval action on the zuyder zee--captivity of bossu and of saint aldegonde--odious position of alva--his unceasing cruelty--execution of uitenhoove-- fraud practised by alva upon his creditors--arrival of requesens, the new governor-general--departure of alva--concluding remarks upon his administration. for the sake of continuity in the narrative, the siege of harlem has been related until its conclusion. this great event constituted, moreover, the principal stuff in netherland, history, up to the middle of the year . a few loose threads must be now taken up before we can proceed farther. alva had for some time felt himself in a false and uncomfortable position. while he continued to be the object of a popular hatred as intense as ever glowed, he had gradually lost his hold upon those who, at the outset of his career, had been loudest and lowest in their demonstrations of respect. "believe me," wrote secretary albornoz to secretary cayas, "this people abhor our nation worse than they abhor the devil. as for the duke of alva, they foam at the mouth when they hear his name." viglius, although still maintaining smooth relations with the governor, had been, in reality, long since estranged from him. even aerschot, far whom the duke had long maintained an intimacy half affectionate, half contemptuous, now began to treat him with a contumely which it was difficult for so proud a stomach to digest. but the main source of discomfort was doubtless the presence of medina coeli. this was the perpetual thorn in his side, which no cunning could extract. a successor who would not and could not succeed him, yet who attended him as his shadow and his evil genius--a confidential colleague who betrayed his confidence, mocked his projects, derided his authority, and yet complained of ill treatment--a rival who was neither compeer nor subaltern, and who affected to be his censor--a functionary of a purely anomalous character, sheltering himself under his abnegation of an authority which he had not dared to assume, and criticising measures which he was not competent to grasp;--such was the duke of medina coeli in alva's estimation. the bickering between the two dukes became unceasing and disgraceful. of course, each complained to the king, and each, according to his own account, was a martyr to the other's tyranny, but the meekness manifested by alva; in all his relations with the new comer, was wonderful, if we are to believe the accounts furnished by himself and by his confidential secretary. on the other hand, medina coeli wrote to the king, complaining of alva in most unmitigated strains, and asserting that he was himself never allowed to see any despatches, nor to have the slightest information as to the policy of the government. he reproached, the duke with shrinking from personal participation in military operations, and begged the royal forgiveness if he withdrew from a scene where he felt himself to be superfluous. accordingly, towards the end of november, he took his departure, without paying his respects. the governor complained to the king of this unceremonious proceeding, and assured his majesty that never were courtesy and gentleness so ill requited as his had been by this ingrate and cankered duke. "he told me," said alva, "that if i did not stay in the field, he would not remain with me in peaceful cities, and he asked me if i intended to march into holland with the troops which were to winter there. i answered, that i should go wherever it was necessary, even should i be obliged to swim through all the canals of holland." after giving these details, the duke added, with great appearance of candor and meekness, that he was certain medina coeli had only been influenced by extreme zeal for his majesty's service, and that, finding, so little for him to do in the netherlands, he had become dissatisfied with his position. immediately after the fall of harlem, another attempt was made by alva to win back the allegiance of the other cities by proclamations. it had become obvious to the governor that so determined a resistance on the part of the first place besieged augured many long campaigns before the whole province could be subdued. a circular was accordingly issued upon the th july from utrecht, and published immediately afterwards in all the cities of the netherlands. it was a paper of singular character, commingling an affectation of almost ludicrous clemency, with honest and hearty brutality. there was consequently something very grotesque about the document. philip, in the outset, was made to sustain towards his undutiful subjects the characters of the brooding hen and the prodigal's father; a range of impersonation hardly to be allowed him, even by the most abject flattery. "ye are well aware," thus ran the address, "that the king has, over and over again, manifested his willingness to receive his children, in however forlorn a condition the prodigals might return. his majesty assures you once more that your sins, however black they may have been, shall be forgiven and forgotten in the plenitude of royal kindness, if you repent and return in season to his majesty's embrace. notwithstanding your manifold crimes, his majesty still seeks, like a hen calling her chickens, to gather you all under the parental wing. the king hereby warns you once more, therefore, to place yourselves in his royal hands, and not to wait for his rage, cruelty, and fury, and the approach of his army." the affectionate character of the address, already fading towards the end of the preamble, soon changes to bitterness. the domestic maternal fowl dilates into the sanguinary dragon as the address proceeds. "but if," continues the monarch, "ye disregard these offers of mercy, receiving them with closed ears, as heretofore, then we warn you that there is no rigor, nor cruelty, however great, which you are not to expect by laying waste, starvation, and the sword, in such manner that nowhere shall remain a relic of that which at present exists, but his majesty will strip bare and utterly depopulate the land, and cause it to be inhabited again by strangers; since otherwise his majesty could not believe that the will of god and of his majesty had been accomplished." it is almost superfluous to add that this circular remained fruitless. the royal wrath, thus blasphemously identifying itself with divine vengeance, inspired no terror, the royal blandishments no affection. the next point of attack was the city of alkmaar, situate quite at the termination of the peninsula, among the lagunes and redeemed prairies of north holland. the prince of orange had already provided it with a small garrison. the city had been summoned to surrender by the middle of july, and had returned a bold refusal.--meantime, the spaniards had retired from before the walls, while the surrender and chastisement of harlem occupied them during the next succeeding weeks. the month of august, moreover, was mainly consumed by alva in quelling a dangerous and protracted mutiny, which broke out among the spanish soldiers at harlem--between three and four thousand of them having been quartered upon the ill-fated population of that city. unceasing misery was endured by the inhabitants at the hands of the ferocious spaniards, flushed with victory, mutinous for long arrears of pay, and greedy for the booty which had been denied. at times, however, the fury of the soldiery was more violently directed against their own commanders than against the enemy. a project was even formed by the malcontent troops to deliver harlem into the hands of orange. a party of them, disguised as baltic merchants, waited upon the prince at delft, and were secretly admitted to his bedside before he had risen. they declared to him that they were spanish soldiers, who had compassion on his cause, were dissatisfied with their own government, and were ready, upon receipt of forty thousand guilders, to deliver the city into his hands. the prince took the matter into consideration, and promised to accept the offer if he could raise the required sum. this, however, he found himself unable to do within the stipulated time, and thus, for want of so paltry a sum, the offer was of necessity declined. various were the excesses committed by the insubordinate troops in every province in the netherlands upon the long-suffering inhabitants. "nothing," wrote alva, "had given him so much pain during his forty years of service." he avowed his determination to go to amsterdam in order to offer himself as a hostage to the soldiery, if by so doing he could quell the mutiny. he went to amsterdam accordingly, where by his exertions, ably seconded by those of the marquis vitelli, and by the payment of thirty crowns to each soldier--fourteen on account of arrearages and sixteen as his share in the harlem compensation money--the rebellion was appeased, and obedience restored. there was now leisure for the general to devote his whole energies against the little city of alkmaar. on that bank and shoal, the extreme verge of habitable earth, the spirit of holland's freedom stood at bay. the grey towers of egmont castle and of egmont abbey rose between the city and the sea, and there the troops sent by the prince of orange were quartered during the very brief period in which the citizens wavered as to receiving them. the die was soon cast, however, and the prince's garrison admitted. the spaniards advanced, burned the village of egmont to the ground as soon as the patriots had left it, and on the st of august don frederic, appearing before the walls, proceeded formally to invest allanaar. in a few days this had been so thoroughly accomplished that, in alva's language, "it was impossible for a sparrow to enter or go out of the city." the odds were somewhat unequal. sixteen thousand veteran troops constituted the besieging force. within the city were a garrison of eight hundred soldiers, together with thirteen hundred burghers, capable of bearing arms. the rest of the population consisted of a very few refugees, besides the women and children. two thousand one hundred able-bodied men, of whom only about one-third were soldiers, to resist sixteen thousand regulars. nor was there any doubt as to the fate which was reserved for them, should they succumb. the duke was vociferous at the ingratitude with which his clemency had hitherto been requited. he complained bitterly of the ill success which had attended his monitory circulars; reproached himself with incredible vehemence, for his previous mildness, and protested that, after having executed only twenty-three hundred persons at the surrender of harlem, besides a few additional burghers since, he had met with no correspondent demonstrations of affection. he promised himself, however, an ample compensation for all this ingratitude, in the wholesale vengeance which he purposed to wreak upon alkmaar. already he gloated in anticipation over the havoc which would soon be let loose within those walls. such ravings, if invented by the pen of fiction, would seem a puerile caricature; proceeding, authentically, from his own,--they still appear almost too exaggerated for belief. "if i take alkmaar," he wrote to philip, "i am resolved not to leave a single creature alive; the knife shall be put to every throat. since the example of harlem has proved of no use, perhaps an example of cruelty will bring the other cities to their senses." he took occasion also to read a lecture to the party of conciliation in madrid, whose counsels, as he believed, his sovereign was beginning to heed. nothing, he maintained, could be more senseless than the idea of pardon and clemency. this had been sufficiently proved by recent events. it was easy for people at a distance to talk about gentleness, but those upon the spot knew better. gentleness had produced nothing, so far; violence alone could succeed in future. "let your majesty," he said, "be disabused of the impression, that with kindness anything can be done with these people. already have matters reached such a point that many of those born in the country, who have hitherto advocated clemency, are now undeceived, and acknowledge--their mistake. they are of opinion that not a living soul should be left in alkmaar, but that every individual should be put to the sword." at the same time he took occasion, even in these ferocious letters, which seem dripping with blood, to commend his own natural benignity of disposition. "your majesty may be certain," he said, "that no man on earth desires the path of clemency more than i do, notwithstanding my particular hatred for heretics and traitors." it was therefore with regret that he saw himself obliged to take the opposite course, and to stifle all his gentler sentiments. upon diedrich sonoy, lieutenant-governor for orange in the province of north holland, devolved the immediate responsibility of defending this part of the country. as the storm rolled slowly up from the south, even that experienced officer became uneasy at the unequal conflict impending. he despatched a letter to his chief, giving a gloomy picture of his position. all looked instinctively towards the prince, as to a god in their time of danger; all felt as if upon his genius and fortitude depended the whole welfare of the fatherland. it was hoped, too, that some resource had been provided in a secret foreign alliance. "if your princely grace," wrote sonoy, "have made a contract for assistance with any powerful potentate, it is of the highest importance that it should be known to all the cities, in order to put an end to the emigration, and to console the people in their affliction." the answer, of the prince was full of lofty enthusiasm. he reprimanded with gentle but earnest eloquence the despondency and little faith of his lieutenant and other adherents. he had not expected, he said, that they would have so soon forgotten their manly courage. they seemed to consider the whole fate of the country attached to the city of harlem. he took god to witness that--he had spared no pains, and would willingly have spared no drop of his blood to save that devoted city. "but as, notwithstanding our efforts," he continued, "it has pleased god almighty to dispose of harlem according to his divine will, shall we, therefore, deny and deride his holy word? has the strong arm of the lord thereby grown weaker? has his church therefore come to caught? you ask if i have entered into a firm treaty with any great king or potentate, to which i answer, that before i ever took up the cause of the oppressed christians in these provinces, i had entered into a close alliance with the king of kings; and i am firmly convinced that all who put their trust in him shall be saved by his almighty hand. the god of armies will raise up armies for us to do battle with our enemies sad his own." in conclusion, he stated his preparations for attacking the enemy by sea as well as by land, and encouraged his lieutenant and the citizens of the northern quarter to maintain a bold front before the advancing foe. and now, with the dismantled and desolate harlem before their eyes, a prophetic phantom, perhaps, of their own imminent fate, did the handful of people shut up within alkmaar prepare for the worst. their main hope lay in the friendly sea. the vast sluices called the zyp, through which an inundation of the whole northern province could be very soon effected, were but a few miles distant. by opening these gates, and by piercing a few dykes, the ocean might be made to fight for them. to obtain this result, however, the consent of the inhabitants was requisite, as the destruction of all the standing crops would be inevitable. the city was so closely invested, that it was a matter of life and death to venture forth, and it was difficult, therefore, to find an envoy for this hazardous mission. at last, a carpenter in the city, peter van der mey by name, undertook the adventure, and was entrusted with letters to sonoy, to the prince of orange, and to the leading personages, in several cities of the province: these papers were enclosed in a hollow walking-staff, carefully made fast at the top. affairs soon approached a crisis within the beleaguered city. daily skirmishes, without decisive result; had taken place outside the walls. at last, on the th of september, after a steady cannonade of nearly twelve hours, don frederic, at three in the afternoon, ordered an assault. notwithstanding his seven months' experience at harlem, he still believed it certain that he should carry alkmaar by storm. the attack took place at once upon the frisian gate and upon the red tower on the opposite side. two choice regiments, recently arrived from lombardy; led the onset, rending the air with their shouts, and confident of an easy victory. they were sustained by what seemed an overwhelming force of disciplined troops. yet never, even in the recent history of harlem, had an attack been received by more dauntless breasts. every living man was on the walls. the storming parties were assailed with cannon, with musketry, with pistols. boiling water, pitch and oil, molten lead, and unslaked lime, were poured upon them every moment. hundreds of tarred and burning hoops were skilfully quoited around the necks of the soldiers, who struggled in vain to extricate themselves from these fiery ruffs, while as fast as any of the invaders planted foot upon the breach, they were confronted face to face with sword and dagger by the burghers, who hurled them headlong into the moat below. thrice was the attack renewed with ever-increasing rage--thrice repulsed with unflinching fortitude. the storm continued four hours long. during all that period, not one of the defenders left his post, till he dropped from it dead or wounded. the women and children, unscared by the balls flying in every direction, or by the hand-to-hand conflicts on the ramparts; passed steadily to and fro from the arsenals to the fortifications, constantly supplying their fathers, husbands, and brothers with powder and ball. thus, every human being in the city that could walk had become a soldier. at last darkness fell upon the scene. the trumpet of recal was sounded, and the spaniards, utterly discomfited, retired from the walls, leaving at least one thousand dead in the trenches, while only thirteen burghers and twenty-four of the garrison lost their lives. thus was alkmaar preserved for a little longer--thus a large and well-appointed army signally defeated by a handful of men fighting for their firesides and altars. ensign solis, who had mounted the breach for an instant, and miraculously escaped with life, after having been hurled from the battlements, reported that he had seen "neither helmet nor harness," as he looked down into the city: only some plain-looking people, generally dressed like fishermen. yet these plain-looking fishermen had defeated the veterans of alva. the citizens felt encouraged by the results of that day's work. moreover, they already possessed such information concerning the condition of affairs in the camp of the enemy as gave them additional confidence. a spaniard, named jeronimo, had been taken prisoner and brought into the city. on receiving a promise of pardon, he had revealed many secrets concerning the position and intentions of the besieging army. it is painful to add that the prisoner, notwithstanding his disclosures and the promise under which they had been made, was treacherously executed. he begged hard for his life as he was led to the gallows, offering fresh revelations, which, however, after the ample communications already made, were esteemed superfluous. finding this of no avail, he promised his captors, with perfect simplicity, to go down on his knees and worship the devil precisely as they did, if by so doing he might obtain mercy. it may be supposed that such a proposition was not likely to gain additional favor for him in the eyes of these rigid calvinists, and the poor wretch was accordingly hanged. the day following the assault, a fresh cannonade was opened upon the city. seven hundred shots having been discharged, the attack was ordered. it was in vain: neither threats nor entreaties could induce the spaniards, hitherto so indomitable, to mount the breach. the place seemed to their imagination protected by more than mortal powers; otherwise how was it possible that a few half-starved fishermen could already have so triumphantly overthrown the time-honored legions of spain. it was thought, no doubt, that the devil, whom they worshipped, would continue to protect his children. neither the entreaties nor the menaces of don frederic were of any avail. several soldiers allowed themselves to be run through the body by their own officers, rather than advance to the walls; and the assault was accordingly postponed to an indefinite period. meantime, as governor sonoy had opened many of the dykes, the land in the neighbourhood of the camp was becoming plashy, although as yet the threatened inundation had not taken place. the soldiers were already very uncomfortable and very refractory. the carpenter-envoy had not been idle, having, upon the th september, arrived at sonoy's quarters, bearing letters from the prince of orange. these despatches gave distinct directions to sonoy to flood the countlv at all risks; rather than allow alkmaar to, fall into the enemy's hands. the dykes and sluices were to be protected by a strong guard, lest the peasants, in order to save their crops, should repair or close them in the night-time. the letters of orange were copied, and, together with fresh communications from sonoy, delivered to the carpenter. a note on the margin of the prince's letter, directed the citizens to kindle four beacon fires in specified places, as soon as it should prove necessary to resort to extreme measures. when that moment should arrive, it was solemnly promised that an inundation should be created which should sweep the whole spanish army into the sea. the work had, in fact, been commenced. the zyp and other sluices had already been opened, and a vast body of water, driven by a strong north-west wind, had rushed in from the ocean. it needed only that two great dykes should be pierced to render the deluge and the desolation complete. the harvests were doomed to destruction, and a frightful loss of property rendered inevitable, but, at any rate, the spaniards, if this last measure were taken, must fly or perish to a man. this decisive blow having been thus ordered and promised; the carpenter set forth towards the city. he was, however, not so successful in accomplishing his entrance unmolested, as he had been in effecting his departure. he narrowly escaped with his life in passing through the enemy's lines, and while occupied in saving himself was so unlucky, or, as it proved, so fortunate, as to lose the stick in which his despatches were enclosed. he made good his entrance into the city, where, byword of mouth, he encouraged his fellow-burghers as to the intentions of the prince and sonoy. in the meantime his letters were laid before the general of the besieging army. the resolution taken by orange, of which don frederic was thus unintentionally made aware, to flood the country far and near, rather than fail to protect alkmaar, made a profound impression upon his mind. it was obvious that he was dealing with a determined leader and with desperate men. his attempt to carry the place by storm had signally failed, and he could not deceive himself as to the temper and disposition of his troops ever since that repulse. when it should become known that they were threatened with submersion in the ocean, in addition to all the other horrors of war, he had reason to believe that they would retire ignominiously from that remote and desolate sand hook, where, by remaining, they could only find a watery grave. these views having been discussed in a council of officers, the result was reached that sufficient had been already accomplished for the glory of spanish arms. neither honor nor loyalty, it was thought, required that sixteen thousand soldiers should be sacrificed in a contest, not with man but with the ocean. on the th of october, accordingly, the siege, which had lasted seven weeks, was raised, and don frederic rejoined his father in amsterdam. ready to die in the last ditch, and to overwhelm both themselves and their foes in a common catastrophe the hollanders had at last compelled their haughty enemy to fly from a position which he had so insolently assumed. these public transactions and military operations were not the only important events which affected the fate of holland and its sister provinces at this juncture. the secret relations which had already been renewed between louis of nassau, as plenipotentiary of his brother and the french court, had for some time excited great uneasiness in the mind of alva. count louis was known to be as skilful a negotiator as he was valiant and accomplished as a soldier. his frankness and boldness created confidence. the "brave spirit in the loyal breast" inspired all his dealing; his experience and quick perception of character prevented his becoming a dupe of even the most adroit politicians, while his truth of purpose made him incapable either of overreaching an ally or of betraying a trust. his career indicated that diplomacy might be sometimes successful, even although founded upon sincerity. alva secretly expressed to his sovereign much suspicion of france. he reminded him that charles ix.; during the early part of the preceding year, had given the assurance that he was secretly dealing with louis of nassau, only that he might induce the count to pass over to philip's service. at the same time charles had been doing all he could to succor moos, and had written the memorable letter which had fallen into alva's hands on the capture of genlis, and which expressed such a fixed determination to inflict a deadly blow upon the king, whom the writer was thus endeavouring to cajole. all this the governor recalled to the recollection of his sovereign. in view of this increasing repugnance of the english court, alva recommended that fair words should be employed; hinting, however, that it would be by no means necessary for his master to consider himself very strictly bound by any such pledges to elizabeth, if they should happen to become inconveniently pressing. "a monarch's promises," he delicately suggested, "were not to be considered so sacred as those of humbler mortals. not that the king should directly violate his word, but at the same time," continued the duke, "i have thought all my life, and i have learned it from the emperor, your majesty's father, that the negotiations of kings depend upon different principles from those of us private gentlemen who walk the world; and in this manner i always observed that your majesty's father, who was, so great a gentleman and so powerful a prince, conducted his affairs." the governor took occasion, likewise, to express his regrets at the awkward manner in which the ridolfi scheme had been managed. had he been consulted at an earlier day, the affair could have been treated much more delicately; as it was, there could be little doubt but that the discovery of the plot had prejudiced the mind of elizabeth against spain. "from that dust," concluded the duke, "has resulted all this dirt." it could hardly be matter of surprise, either to philip or his viceroy, that the discovery by elizabeth of a plot upon their parts to take her life and place the crown upon the head of her hated rival, should have engendered unamiable feelings in her bosom towards them. for the moment, however, alva's negotiations were apparently successful. on the first of may, , the articles of convention between england and spain, with regard to the netherland difficulty, had been formally published in brussels. the duke, in communicating the termination of these arrangements, quietly recommended his master thenceforth to take the english ministry into his pay. in particular he advised his majesty to bestow an annual bribe upon lord burleigh, "who held the kingdom in his hand; for it has always been my opinion," he continued, "that it was an excellent practice for princes to give pensions to the ministers of other potentates, and to keep those at home who took bribes from nobody." on the other hand, the negotiations of orange with the english court were not yet successful, and he still found it almost impossible to raise the requisite funds for carrying on the war. certainly, his private letters showed that neither he nor his brothers were self-seekers in their negotiations. "you know;" said he in a letter to his brothers, "that my intention has never been to seek my private advantage. i have only aspired for the liberty of the country, in conscience and in polity, which foreigners have sought to oppress. i have no other articles to propose, save that religion, reformed according to the word of god, should be permitted, that then the commonwealth should be restored to its ancient liberty, and, to that end, that the spaniards and other soldiery should be compelled to retire." the restoration of civil and religious liberty, the, establishment of the great principle of toleration in matters of conscience, constituted the purpose to which his days and nights were devoted, his princely fortune sacrificed, his life-blood risked. at the same time, his enforcement of toleration to both religions excited calumny against him among the bigoted adherents of both. by the catholics he was accused of having instigated the excesses which he had done everything in his power to repress. the enormities of de la marck, which had inspired the prince's indignation, were even laid at the door of him who had risked his life to prevent and to chastise them. de la marck had, indeed, more than counterbalanced his great service in the taking of brill, by his subsequent cruelties. at last, father cornelius musius, pastor of saint agatha, at the age of seventy-two, a man highly esteemed by the prince of orange, had been put to torture and death by this barbarian, under circumstances of great atrocity. the horrid deed cost the prince many tears, aroused the indignation of the estates of holland, and produced the dismission of the perpetrator from their service. it was considered expedient, however, in view of his past services, his powerful connexions, and his troublesome character, that he should be induced peaceably to leave the country. it was long before the prince and the estates could succeed in ridding themselves of this encumbrance. he created several riots in different parts of the province, and boasted, that he had many fine ships of war and three thousand men devoted to him, by whose assistance he could make the estates "dance after his pipe." at the beginning of the following year ( ), he was at last compelled to leave the provinces, which he never again troubled with his presence. some years afterwards, he died of the bite of a mad dog; an end not inappropriate to a man of so rabid a disposition. while the prince was thus steadily striving for a lofty and generous purpose, he was, of course, represented by his implacable enemies as a man playing a game which, unfortunately for himself, was a losing one. "that poor prince," said granvelle, "has been ill advised. i doubt now whether he will ever be able to make his peace, and i think we shall rather try to get rid of him and his brother as if they were turks. the marriage with the daughter of maurice, 'unde mala et quia ipse talis', and his brothers have done him much harm. so have schwendi and german intimacies. i saw it all very plainly, but he did not choose to believe me." ill-starred, worse counselled william of orange! had he but taken the friendly cardinal's advice, kept his hand from german marriages and his feet from conventicles--had he assisted his sovereign in burning heretics and hunting rebels, it would not then have become necessary "to treat him like a turk." this is unquestionable. it is equally so that there would have been one great lamp the less in that strait and difficult pathway which leads to the temple of true glory. the main reliance of orange was upon the secret negotiations which his brother louis was then renewing with the french government. the prince had felt an almost insurmountable repugnance towards entertaining any relation with that blood-stained court, since the massacre of saint bartholomew. but a new face had recently been put upon that transaction. instead of glorying, in their crime, the king and his mother now assumed a tone of compunction, and averred that the deed had been unpremeditated; that it had been the result of a panic or an ecstasy of fear inspired by the suddenly discovered designs of the huguenots; and that, in the instinct of self-preservation, the king, with his family and immediate friends, had plunged into a crime which they now bitterly lamented. the french envoys at the different courts of europe were directed to impress this view upon the minds of the monarchs to whom they were accredited. it was certainly a very different instruction from that which they had at first received. their cue had originally been to claim a full meed of praise and thanksgiving in behalf of their sovereign for his meritorious exploit. the salvos of artillery, the illuminations and rejoicings, the solemn processions and masses by which the auspicious event had been celebrated, mere yet fresh in the memory of men. the ambassadors were sufficiently embarrassed by the distinct and determined approbation which they had recently expressed. although the king, by formal proclamation, had assumed the whole responsibility, as he had notoriously been one of the chief perpetrators of the deed, his agents were now to stultify themselves and their monarch by representing, as a deplorable act of frenzy, the massacre which they had already extolled to the echo as a skilfully executed and entirely commendable achievement. to humble the power of spain, to obtain the hand of queen elizabeth for the duke d'alencon, to establish an insidious kind of protectorate over the protestant princes of germany, to obtain the throne of poland for the duke of anjou, and even to obtain the imperial crown for the house of valois--all these cherished projects seemed dashed to the ground by the paris massacre and the abhorrence which it had created. charles and catharine were not slow to discover the false position in which they had placed themselves, while the spanish jocularity at the immense error committed by france was visible enough through the assumed mask of holy horror. philip and alva listened with mischievous joy to the howl of execration which swept through christendom upon every wind. they rejoiced as heartily in the humiliation of the malefactors as they did in the perpetration of the crime. "your majesty," wrote louis of nassau, very bluntly, to king charles, "sees how the spaniard, your mortal enemy, feasts himself full with the desolation of your affairs; how he laughs, to-split his sides, at your misfortunes. this massacre has enabled him to weaken your majesty more than he could have done by a war of thirty years." before the year had revolved, charles had become thoroughly convinced of the fatal impression produced by the event. bitter and almost abject were his whinings at the catholic king's desertion of his cause. "he knows well," wrote charles to saint goard, "that if he can terminate these troubles and leave me alone in the dance, he will have leisure and means to establish his authority, not only in the netherlands but elsewhere; and that he will render himself more grand and formidable than he has ever been. this is the return they render for the good received from me, which is such as every one knows." gaspar de schomberg, the adroit and honorable agent of charles in germany, had at a very early day warned his royal master of the ill effect of the massacre upon all the schemes which he had been pursuing, and especially upon those which referred to the crowns of the empire and of poland. the first project was destined to be soon abandoned. it was reserved neither for charles nor philip to divert the succession in germany from the numerous offspring of maximilian; yet it is instructive to observe the unprincipled avidity with which the prize was sought by both. each was willing to effect its purchase by abjuring what were supposed his most cherished principles. philip of spain, whose mission was to extirpate heresy throughout his realms, and who, in pursuance of that mission, had already perpetrated more crimes, and waded more deeply in the blood of his subjects, than monarch had often done before; philip, for whom his apologists have never found any defence, save that he believed it his duty to god rather to depopulate his territories than to permit a single heretic within their limits--now entered into secret negotiations with the princes of the empire. he pledged himself, if they would confer the crown upon him, that he would withdraw the spaniards from the netherlands; that he would tolerate in those provinces the exercise of the reformed religion; that he would recognize their union with the rest of the german empire, and their consequent claim to the benefits of the passau treaty; that he would restore the prince of orange "and all his accomplices" to their former possessions, dignities, and condition; and that he would cause to be observed, throughout every realm incorporated with the empire, all the edicts and ordinances which had been constructed to secure religious freedom in germany. in brief, philip was willing, in case the crown of charlemagne should be promised him, to undo the work of his life, to reinstate the arch-rebel whom he had hunted and proscribed, and to bow before that reformation whose disciples he had so long burned, and butchered. so much extent and no more had that religious, conviction by which he had for years had the effrontery to excuse the enormities practised in the netherlands. god would never forgive him so long as one heretic remained unburned in the provinces; yet give him the imperial sceptre, and every heretic, without forswearing his heresy, should be purged with hyssop and become whiter than snow. charles ix., too, although it was not possible for him to recal to life the countless victims of the parisian wedding, was yet ready to explain those murders to the satisfaction of every unprejudiced mind. this had become strictly necessary. although the accession of either his most christian or most catholic majesty to the throne of the caesars was a most improbable event, yet the humbler elective, throne actually vacant was indirectly in the gift of the same powers. it was possible that the crown of poland might be secured for the duke of anjou. that key unlocks the complicated policy of this and the succeeding year. the polish election is the clue to the labyrinthian intrigues and royal tergiversations during the period of the interregnum. sigismund augustus, last of the jagellons, had died on the th july; . the prominent candidates to succeed him were the archduke ernest, son of the emperor, and henry of anjou. the prince of orange was not forgotten. a strong party were in favor of compassing his election, as the most signal triumph which protestantism could gain, but his ambition had not been excited by the prospect of such a prize. his own work required all the energies of all his life. his influence, however, was powerful, and eagerly sought by the partisans of anjou. the lutherans and moravians in poland were numerous, the protestant party there and in germany holding the whole balance of the election in their hands. it was difficult for the prince to overcome his repugnance to the very name of the man whose crime had at once made france desolate, and blighted the fair prospects under which he and his brother had, the year before, entered the netherlands. nevertheless; he was willing to listen to the statements by which the king and his ministers endeavoured, not entirely without success, to remove from their reputations, if not from their souls; the guilt of deep design. it was something, that the murderers now affected to expiate their offence in sackcloth and ashes--it was something that, by favoring the pretensions of anjou, and by listening with indulgence to the repentance of charles, the siege of rochelle could be terminated, the huguenots restored to freedom of conscience, and an alliance with a powerful nation established, by aid of which the netherlands might once more lift their heads. the french government, deeply hostile to spain, both from passion and policy, was capable of rendering much assistance to the revolted provinces. "i entreat you most humbly, my good master," wrote schomberg to charles ix., "to beware of allowing the electors to take into their heads that you are favoring the affairs of the king of spain in any manner whatsoever. commit against him no act of open hostility, if you think that imprudent; but look sharp! if you do not wish to be thrown clean out of your saddle. i should split with rage if i should see you, in consequence of the wicked calumnies of your enemies, fail to secure the prize." orange was induced, therefore, to accept, however distrustfully, the expression of a repentance which was to be accompanied with healing measures. he allowed his brother louis to resume negotiations with schomberg, in germany. he drew up and transmitted to him the outlines of a treaty which he was willing to make with charles. the main conditions of this arrangement illustrated the disinterested character of the man. he stipulated that the king of france should immediately make peace with his subjects, declaring expressly that he had been abused by those, who, under pretext of his service, had sought their own profit at the price of ruin to the crown and people. the king should make religion free. the edict to that effect should be confirmed by all the parliaments and estates of the kingdom, and such confirmations should be distributed without reserve or deceit among all the princes of germany. if his majesty were not inclined to make war for the liberation of the netherlands, he was to furnish the prince of orange with one hundred thousand crowns at once, and every three months with another hundred thousand. the prince was to have liberty to raise one thousand cavalry and seven thousand infantry in france. every city or town in the provinces which should be conquered by his arms, except in holland or zealand, should be placed under the sceptre, and in the hands of the king of france. the provinces of holland and zealand should also be placed under his protection, but should be governed by their own gentlemen and citizens. perfect religious liberty and maintenance of the ancient constitutions, privileges, and charters were to be guaranteed "without any cavilling whatsoever." the prince of orange, or the estates of holland or zealand, were to reimburse his christian majesty for the sums which he was to advance. in this last clause was the only mention which the prince made of himself, excepting in the stipulation that he was to be allowed a levy of troops in france. his only personal claims were to enlist soldiers to fight the battles of freedom, and to pay their expense, if it should not be provided for by the estates. at nearly the same period, he furnished his secret envoys, luinbres and doctor taijaert, who were to proceed to paris, with similar instructions. the indefatigable exertions of schomberg, and the almost passionate explanations on the part of the court of france, at length produced their effect. "you will constantly assure the princes," wrote the duke of anjou to schomberg, "that the things written, to you concerning that which had happened in this kingdom are true; that the events occurred suddenly, without having been in any manner premeditated; that neither the king nor myself have ever had any intelligence with, the king of spain, against those of the religion, and that all is utter imposture which is daily said on this subject to the princes." count louis required peremptorily, however, that the royal repentance should bring forth the fruit of salvation for the remaining victims. out of the nettles of these dangerous intrigues his fearless hand plucked the "flower of safety" for his down-trodden cause. he demanded not words, but deeds, or at least pledges. he maintained with the agents of charles and with the monarch himself the same hardy scepticism which was manifested by the huguenot deputies in their conferences with catharine de medicis. "is the word of a king," said the dowager to the commissioners, who were insisting upon guarantees, "is the word of a king not sufficient?"--"no, madam," replied one of them, "by saint bartholomew, no!" count louis told schomberg roundly, and repeated it many times, that he must have in a very few days a categorical response, "not to consist in words alone, but in deeds, and that he could not, and would not, risk for ever the honor of his brother, nor the property; blood, and life of those poor people who favored the cause." on the rd march, , schomberg had an interview with count louis, which lasted seven or eight hours. in that interview the enterprises of the count, "which," said schomberg, "are assuredly grand and beautiful," were thoroughly discussed, and a series of conditions, drawn up partly in the hand of one, partly in that of the other negotiator; definitely agreed upon. these conditions were on the basis of a protectorate over holland and zealand for the king of france, with sovereignty over the other places to be acquired in the netherlands. they were in strict accordance with the articles furnished by the prince of orange. liberty of worship for those of both religions, sacred preservation of municipal charters, and stipulation of certain annual subsidies on the part of france, in case his majesty should not take the field, were the principal features. ten days later, schomberg wrote to his master that the count was willing to use all the influence of his family to procure for anjou the crown of poland, while louis, having thus completed his negotiations with the agent, addressed a long and earnest letter to the royal principal. this remarkable despatch was stamped throughout with the impress of the writer's frank and fearless character. "thus diddest thou" has rarely been addressed to anointed monarch in such unequivocal tones: the letter painted the favorable position in which the king had been placed previously to the fatal summer of . the queen of england was then most amicably disposed towards him, and inclined to a yet closer connexion with his family. the german princes were desirous to elect him king of the romans, a dignity for which his grandfather had so fruitlessly contended. the netherlanders, driven to despair by the tyranny of their own sovereign, were eager to throw themselves into his arms. all this had been owing to his edict of religious pacification. how changed the picture now! who now did reverence to a king so criminal and so fallen? "your majesty to-day," said louis, earnestly and plainly, "is near to ruin. the state, crumbling on every side and almost abandoned, is a prey to any one who wishes to seize upon it; the more so, because your majesty, having, by the late excess and by the wars previously made, endeavoured to force men's consciences, is now so destitute, not only of nobility and soldiery but of that which constitutes the strongest column of the throne, the love and good wishes of the lieges, that your majesty resembles an ancient building propped up, day after, day, with piles, but which it will be impossible long to prevent from falling to the earth." certainly, here were wholesome truths told in straightforward style. the count proceeded to remind the king of the joy which the "spaniard, his mortal enemy," had conceived from the desolation of his affairs, being assured that he should, by the troubles in france, be enabled to accomplish his own purposes without striking a blow. this, he observed, had been the secret of the courtesy with which the writer himself had been treated by the duke of alva at the surrender of mons. louis assured the king, in continuation, that if he persevered in these oppressive courses towards his subjects of the new religion, there was no hope for him, and that his two brothers would, to no purpose, take their departure for england, and, for poland, leaving him with a difficult and dangerous war upon his hands. so long as he maintained a hostile attitude towards the protestants in his own kingdom, his fair words would produce no effect elsewhere. "we are beginning to be vexed," said the count, "with the manner of negotiation practised by france. men do not proceed roundly to business there, but angle with their dissimulation as with a hook." he bluntly reminded the king of the deceit which he had practised towards the admiral--a sufficient reason why no reliance could in future be placed upon his word. signal vengeance on those concerned in the attempted assassination of that great man had been promised, in the royal letters to the prince of orange, just before st. bartholomew. "two days afterwards," said louis, "your majesty took that vengeance, but in rather ill fashion." it was certain that the king was surrounded by men who desired to work his ruin, and who, for their own purposes, would cause him to bathe still deeper than he had done before in the blood of his subjects. this ruin his majesty could still avert; by making peace in his kingdom, and by ceasing to torment his poor subjects of the religion. in conclusion, the count, with a few simple but eloquent phrases, alluded to the impossibility of chaining men's thoughts. the soul, being immortal, was beyond the reach of kings. conscience was not to be conquered, nor the religious spirit imprisoned. this had been discovered by the emperor charles, who had taken all the cities and great personages of germany captive, but who had nevertheless been unable to take religion captive. "that is a sentiment," said louis, "deeply rooted in the hearts of men, which is not to be plucked out by force of arms. let your majesty, therefore not be deceived by the flattery of those who, like bad physicians, keep their patients in ignorance of their disease, whence comes their ruin." it would be impossible, without insight into these private and most important transactions, to penetrate the heart of the mystery which enwrapped at this period the relations of the great powers with each other. enough has been seen to silence for ever the plea, often entered in behalf of religious tyranny, that the tyrant acts in obedience to a sincere conviction of duty; that, in performing his deeds of darkness, he believes himself to be accomplishing the will of heaven. here we have seen philip, offering to restore the prince of orange, and to establish freedom of religion in the netherlands, if by such promises he can lay hold of the imperial diadem. here also we have charles ix. and his mother--their hands reeking with the heretic-blood of st. bartholomew--making formal engagements with heretics to protect heresy everywhere, if by such pledges the crown of the jagellons and the hand of elizabeth can be secured. while louis was thus busily engaged in germany, orange was usually established at delft. he felt the want of his brother daily, for the solitude of the prince, in the midst of such fiery trials, amounted almost to desolation. not often have circumstances invested an individual with so much responsibility and so little power. he was regarded as the protector and father of the country, but from his own brains and his own resources he was to furnish himself with the means of fulfilling those high functions. he was anxious thoroughly to discharge the duties of a dictatorship without grasping any more of its power than was indispensable to his purpose. but he was alone on that little isthmus, in single combat with the great spanish monarchy. it was to him that all eyes turned, during the infinite horrors of the harlem sieges and in the more prosperous leaguer of alkmaar. what he could do he did. he devised every possible means to succor harlem, and was only restrained from going personally to its rescue by the tears of the whole population of holland. by his decision and the spirit which he diffused through the country, the people were lifted to a pitch of heroism by which alkmaar was saved. yet, during all this harassing period, he had no one to lean upon but himself. "our affairs are in pretty good; condition in holland and zealand," he wrote, "if i only had some aid. 'tis impossible for me to support alone so many labors, and the weight of such great affairs as come upon me hourly--financial, military, political. i have no one to help me, not a single man, wherefore i leave you to suppose in what trouble i find myself." for it was not alone the battles and sieges which furnished him with occupation and filled him with anxiety. alone, he directed in secret the politics of the country, and, powerless and outlawed though he seemed, was in daily correspondence not only with the estates of holland and zealand, whose deliberations he guided, but with the principal governments of europe. the estates of the netherlands, moreover, had been formally assembled by alva in september, at brussels, to devise ways and means for continuing the struggle. it seemed to the prince a good opportunity to make an appeal to the patriotism of the whole country. he furnished the province of holland, accordingly, with the outlines of an address which was forthwith despatched in their own and his name, to the general assembly of the netherlands. the document was a nervous and rapid review of the course of late events in the provinces, with a cogent statement of the reasons which should influence them all to unite in the common cause against the common enemy. it referred to the old affection and true-heartedness with which they had formerly regarded each other, and to the certainty that the inquisition would be for ever established in the land, upon the ruins of all their ancient institutions, unless they now united to overthrow it for ever. it demanded of the people, thus assembled through their representatives, how they could endure the tyranny, murders, and extortions of the duke of alva. the princes of flanders, burgundy, brabant, or holland, had never made war or peace, coined money, or exacted a stiver from the people without the consent of the estates. how could the nation now consent to the daily impositions which were practised? had amsterdam and middelburg remained true; had those important cities not allowed themselves to be seduced from the cause of freedom, the northern provinces would have been impregnable. "'tis only by the netherlands that the netherlands are crushed," said the appeal. "whence has the duke of alva the power of which he boasts, but from yourselves--from netherland cities? whence his ships, supplies, money, weapons, soldiers? from the netherland people. why has poor netherland thus become degenerate and bastard? whither has fled the noble spirit of our brave forefathers, that never brooked the tyranny of foreign nations, nor suffered a stranger even to hold office within our borders? if the little province of holland can thus hold at bay the power of spain, what could not all the netherlands--brabant, flanders, friesland, and the rest united accomplish?" in conclusion, the estates-general were earnestly adjured to come forward like brothers in blood, and join hands with holland, that together they might rescue the fatherland and restore its ancient prosperity and bloom. at almost the same time the prince drew up and put in circulation one of the most vigorous and impassioned productions which ever came from his pen. it was entitled, an "epistle, in form of supplication, to his royal majesty of spain, from the prince of orange and the estates of holland and zealand." the document produced a profound impression throughout christendom. it was a loyal appeal to the monarch's loyalty--a demand that the land-privileges should be restored, and the duke of alva removed. it contained a startling picture of his atrocities and the nation's misery, and, with a few energetic strokes, demolished the pretence that these sorrows had been caused by the people's guilt. in this connexion the prince alluded to those acts of condemnation which the governor-general had promulgated under the name of pardons, and treated with scorn the hypothesis that any crimes had been committed for alva to forgive. "we take god and your majesty to witness," said the epistle, "that if we have done such misdeeds as are charged in the pardon, we neither desire nor deserve the pardon. like the most abject creatures which crawl the earth, we will be content to atone for our misdeeds with our lives. we will not murmur, o merciful king, if we be seized one after another, and torn limb from limb, if it can be proved that we have committed the crimes of which we have been accused." after having thus set forth the tyranny of the government and the innocence of the people, the prince, in his own name and that of the estates, announced the determination at which they had arrived. "the tyrant," he continued, "would rather stain every river and brook with our blood, and hang our bodies upon every tree in the country, than not feed to the full his vengeance, and steep himself to the lips in our misery. therefore we have taken up arms against the duke of alva and his adherents, to free ourselves, our wives and children, from his blood-thirsty hands. if he prove too strong nor us, we will rather die an honorable death and leave a praiseworthy fame, than bend our necks, and reduce our dear fatherland to such slavery. herein are all our cities pledged to each other to stand every siege, to dare the utmost, to endure every possible misery, yea, rather to set fire to all our homes, and be consumed with them into ashes together, than ever submit to the decrees of this cruel tyrant." these were brave words, and destined to be bravely fulfilled, as the life and death of the writer and the records of his country proved, from generation unto generation. if we seek for the mainspring of the energy which thus sustained the prince in the unequal conflict to which he had devoted his life, we shall find it in the one pervading principle of his nature--confidence in god. he was the champion of the political rights of his country, but before all he was the defender of its religion. liberty of conscience for his people was his first object. to establish luther's axiom, that thoughts are toll-free, was his determination. the peace of passau, and far more than the peace of passau, was the goal for which he was striving. freedom of worship for all denominations, toleration for all forms of faith, this was the great good in his philosophy. for himself, he had now become a member of the calvinist, or reformed church, having delayed for a time his public adhesion to this communion, in order not to give offence to the lutherans and to the emperor. he was never a dogmatist, however, and he sought in christianity for that which unites rather than for that which separates christians. in the course of october he publicly joined the church at dort. the happy termination of the siege of alkmaar was followed, three days afterwards, by another signal success on the part of the patriots. count bossu, who had constructed or collected a considerable fleet at amsterdam, had, early in october, sailed into the zuyder zee, notwithstanding the sunken wrecks and other obstructions by which the patriots had endeavored to render the passage of the y impracticable. the patriots of north holland had, however, not been idle, and a fleet of five-and-twenty vessels, under admiral dirkzoon, was soon cruising in the same waters. a few skirmishes took place, but bossu's ships, which were larger, and provided with heavier cannon, were apparently not inclined for the close quarters which the patriots sought. the spanish admiral, hollander as he was, knew the mettle of his countrymen in a close encounter at sea, and preferred to trust to the calibre of his cannon. on the th october, however, the whole patriot fleet, favored by a strong easterly, breeze, bore down upon the spanish armada, which, numbering now thirty sail of all denominations, was lying off and on in the neighbourhood of horn and enkhuyzen. after a short and general engagement, nearly all the spanish fleet retired with precipitation, closely pursued by most of the patriot dutch vessels. five of the king's ships were eventually taken, the rest effected their escape. only the admiral remained, who scorned to yield, although his forces had thus basely deserted him. his ship, the "inquisition,"--for such was her insolent appellation, was far the largest and best manned of both the fleets. most of the enemy had gone in pursuit of the fugitives, but four vessels of inferior size had attacked the "inquisition" at the commencement of the action. of these, one had soon been silenced, while the other three had grappled themselves inextricably to her sides and prow. the four drifted together, before wind and tide, a severe and savage action going on incessantly, during which the navigation of the ships was entirely abandoned. no scientific gunnery, no military or naval tactics were displayed or required in such a conflict. it was a life-and-death combat, such as always occurred when spaniard and netherlander met, whether on land or water. bossu and his men, armed in bullet-proof coats of mail, stood with shield and sword on the deck of the "inquisition," ready to repel all attempts to board. the hollander, as usual, attacked with pitch hoops, boiling oil, and molten lead. repeatedly they effected their entrance to the admiral's ship, and as often they were repulsed and slain in heaps, or hurled into the sea. the battle began at three in the afternoon, and continued without intermission through the whole night. the vessels, drifting together, struck on the shoal called the nek, near wydeness. in the heat of the action the occurrence was hardly heeded. in the morning twilight, john haring, of horn, the hero who had kept one thousand soldiers at bay upon the diemer dyke, clambered on board the "inquisition" and hauled her colors down. the gallant but premature achievement cost him his life. he was shot through the body and died on the deck of the ship, which was not quite ready to strike her flag. in the course of the forenoon, however, it became obvious to bossu that further resistance was idle. the ships were aground near a hostile coast, his own fleet was hopelessly dispersed, three quarters of his crew were dead or disabled, while the vessels with which he was engaged were constantly recruited by boats from the shore, which brought fresh men and ammunition, and removed their killed and wounded. at eleven o'clock, admiral bossu surrendered, and with three hundred prisoners was carried into holland. bossu was himself imprisoned at horn, in which city he was received, on his arrival, with great demonstrations of popular hatred. the massacre of rotterdam, due to his cruelty and treachery, had not yet been forgotten or forgiven. this victory, following so hard upon the triumph at alkmaar, was as gratifying to the patriots as it was galling to alva. as his administration drew to a close, it was marked by disaster and disgrace on land and sea. the brilliant exploits by which he had struck terror into the heart of the netherlanders, at jemmingen and in brabant, had been effaced by the valor of a handful of hollanders, without discipline or experience. to the patriots, the opportune capture of so considerable a personage as the admiral and governor of the northern province was of great advantage. such of the hostages from harlem as had not yet been executed, now escaped with their lives. moreover, saint aldegonde, the eloquent patriot and confidential friend of orange, who was taken prisoner a few weeks later, in an action at maeslands-luis, was preserved from inevitable destruction by the same cause. the prince hastened to assure the duke of alva that the same measure would be dealt to bossu as should be meted to saint aldegonde. it was, therefore, impossible for the governor-general to execute his prisoner, and he was obliged to submit to the vexation of seeing a leading rebel and heretic in his power, whom he dared not strike. both the distinguished prisoners eventually regained their liberty. the duke was, doubtless, lower sunk in the estimation of all classes than he had ever been before, during his long and generally successful life. the reverses sustained by his army, the belief that his master had grown cold towards him, the certainty that his career in the netherlands was closing without a satisfactory result, the natural weariness produced upon men's minds by the contemplation of so monotonous and unmitigated a tyranny during so many years, all contributed to diminish his reputation. he felt himself odious alike to princes and to plebeians. with his cabinet councillors he had long been upon unsatisfactory terms. president tisnacq had died early, in the summer, and viglius, much against his will, had been induced, provisionally, to supply his place. but there was now hardly a pretence of friendship between the learned frisian and the governor. each cordially detested the other. alva was weary of flemish and frisian advisers, however subservient, and was anxious to fill the whole council with spaniards of the vargas stamp. he had forced viglius once more into office, only that, by a little delay, he might expel him and every netherlander at the same moment. "till this ancient set of dogmatizers be removed," he wrote to philip, "with viglius, their chief, who teaches them all their lessons, nothing will go right. 'tis of no use adding one or two spaniards to fill vacancies; that is only pouring a flask of good wine into a hogshead of vinegar; it changes to vinegar likewise. your majesty will soon be able to reorganize the council at a blow; so that italians or spaniards, as you choose, may entirely govern the country." such being his private sentiments with regard to his confidential advisers, it may be supposed that his intercourse with his council during the year was not like to be amicable. moreover, he had kept himself, for the most part, at a distance from the seat of government. during the military operations in holland, his head-quarters had been at amsterdam. here, as the year drew to its close, he had become as unpopular as in brussels. the time-serving and unpatriotic burghers, who, at the beginning of the spring, set up his bust in their houses, and would give large sums for his picture in little, now broke his images and tore his portraits from their walls, for it was evident that the power of his name was gone, both with prince and people. yet, certainly, those fierce demonstrations which had formerly surrounded his person with such an atmosphere of terror had not slackened or become less frequent than heretofore. he continued to prove that he could be barbarous, both on a grand and a minute scale. even as in preceding years, he could ordain wholesale massacres with a breath, and superintend in person the executions of individuals. this was illustrated, among other instances, by the cruel fate of uitenhoove. that unfortunate nobleman, who had been taken prisoner in the course of the summer, was accused of having been engaged in the capture of brill, and was, therefore, condemned by the duke to be roasted to death before a slow fire. he was accordingly fastened by a chain, a few feet in length, to a stake, around which the fagots were lighted. here he was kept in slow torture for a long time, insulted by the gibes of the laughing spaniards who surrounded him--until the executioner and his assistants, more humane than their superior, despatched the victim with their spears--a mitigation of punishment which was ill received by alva. the governor had, however, no reason to remain longer in amsterdam. harlem had fallen; alkmaar was relieved; and leyden--destined in its second siege to furnish so signal a chapter to the history of the war--was beleaguered, it was true, but, because known to be imperfectly supplied, was to be reduced by blockade rather than by active operations. don francis valdez was accordingly left in command of the siege, which, however, after no memorable occurrences, was raised, as will soon be related. the duke had contracted in amsterdam an enormous amount of debt, both public and private. he accordingly, early in november, caused a proclamation to be made throughout the city by sound of trumpet, that all persons having demands upon him were to present their claims, in person, upon a specified day. during the night preceding the day so appointed, the duke and his train very noiselessly took their departure, without notice or beat of drum. by this masterly generalship his unhappy creditors were foiled upon the very eve of their anticipated triumph; the heavy accounts which had been contracted on the faith of the king and the governor, remained for the most part unpaid, and many opulent and respectable families were reduced to beggary. such was the consequence of the unlimited confidence which they had reposed in the honor of their tyrant. on the th of november, don luis de requesens y cuniga, grand commander of saint jago, the appointed successor of alva, arrived in brussels, where he was received with great rejoicings. the duke, on the same day, wrote to the king, "kissing his feet" for thus relieving him of his functions. there was, of course, a profuse interchange of courtesy between the departing and the newly-arrived governors. alva was willing to remain a little while, to assist his successor with his advice, but preferred that the grand commander should immediately assume the reins of office. to this requesens, after much respectful reluctance, at length consented. on the th of november he accordingly took the oaths, at brussels, as lieutenant-governor and captain-general, in presence of the duke of aerschot, baron berlaymont, the president of the council, and other functionaries. on the th of december the duke of alva departed from the provinces for ever. with his further career this history has no concern, and it is not desirable to enlarge upon the personal biography of one whose name certainly never excites pleasing emotions. he had kept his bed for the greater part of the time during the last few weeks of his government--partly on account of his gout, partly to avoid being seen in his humiliation, but mainly, it was said, to escape the pressing demands of his creditors. he expressed a fear of travelling homeward through france, on the ground that he might very probably receive a shot out of a window as he went by. he complained pathetically that, after all his labors, he had not "gained the approbation of the king," while he had incurred "the malevolence and universal hatred of every individual in the country." mondoucet, to whom he made the observation, was of the same opinion; and informed his master that the duke "had engendered such an extraordinary hatred in the hearts of all persons in the land, that they would have fireworks in honor of his departure if they dared." on his journey from the netherlands, he is said to have boasted that he had caused eighteen thousand six hundred inhabitants of the provinces to be executed during the period of his government. the number of those who had perished by battle, siege, starvation, and massacre, defied computation. the duke was well received by his royal master, and remained in favor until a new adventure of don frederic brought father and son into disgrace. having deceived and abandoned a maid of honor, he suddenly espoused his cousins in order to avoid that reparation by marriage which was demanded for his offence. in consequence, both the duke and don frederic were imprisoned and banished, nor was alva released till a general of experience was required for the conquest of portugal. thither, as it were with fetters on his legs, he went. after having accomplished the military enterprise entrusted to him, he fell into a lingering fever, at the termination of which he was so much reduced that he was only kept alive by milk, which he drank from a woman's breast. such was the gentle second childhood of the man who had almost literally been drinking blood for seventy years. he died on the th december, . the preceding pages have been written in vain, if an elaborate estimate be now required of his character. his picture has been painted, as far as possible, by his own hand. his deeds, which are not disputed, and his written words, illustrate his nature more fully than could be done by the most eloquent pen. no attempt has been made to exaggerate his crimes, or to extenuate his superior qualities. virtues he had none, unless military excellence be deemed, as by the romans, a virtue. in war, both as a science and a practical art, he excelled all the generals who were opposed to him in the netherlands, and he was inferior to no commander in the world during the long and belligerent period to which his life belonged. louis of nassau possessed high reputation throughout europe as a skilful and daring general. with raw volunteers he had overthrown an army of spanish regulars, led by a netherland chieftain of fame and experience; but when alva took the field in person the scene was totally changed. the duke dealt him such a blow at jemmingen as would have disheartened for ever a less indomitable champion. never had a defeat been more absolute. the patriot army was dashed out of existence, almost to a man, and its leader, naked and beggared, though not disheartened, sent back into germany to construct his force and his schemes anew. having thus flashed before the eyes of the country the full terrors of his name, and vindicated the ancient military renown of his nation, the duke was at liberty to employ the consummate tactics, in which he could have given instruction to all the world, against his most formidable antagonist. the country, paralyzed with fear, looked anxiously but supinely upon the scientific combat between the two great champions of despotism and protestantism which succeeded. it was soon evident that the conflict could terminate in but one way. the prince had considerable military abilities, and enthusiastic courage; he lost none of his well-deserved reputation by the unfortunate issue of his campaign; he measured himself in arms with the great commander of the age, and defied him, day after day, in vain, to mortal combat; but it was equally certain that the duke's quiet game was, played in the most masterly manner. his positions and his encampments were taken with faultless judgment, his skirmishes wisely and coldly kept within the prescribed control, while the inevitable dissolution of the opposing force took place exactly as he had foreseen, and within the limits which he had predicted. nor in the disastrous commencement of the year did the duke less signally manifest his military genius. assailed as he was at every point, with the soil suddenly upheaving all around him, as by an earthquake, he did not lose his firmness nor his perspicacity. certainly, if he had not been so soon assisted by that other earthquake, which on saint bartholomew's day caused all christendom to tremble, and shattered the recent structure of protestant freedom in the netherlands, it might have been worse for his reputation. with mons safe, the flemish frontier guarded; france faithful, and thirty thousand men under the prince of orange in brabant, the heroic brothers might well believe that the duke was "at their mercy." the treason of charles ix. "smote them as with a club," as the prince exclaimed in the bitterness of his spirit. under the circumstances, his second campaign was a predestined failure, and alva easily vanquished him by a renewed application of those dilatory arts which he so well understood. the duke's military fame was unquestionable when he came to the provinces, and both in stricken fields and in long campaigns, he showed how thoroughly it had been deserved; yet he left the netherlands a baffled man. the prince might be many times defeated, but he was not to be conquered. as alva penetrated into the heart of the ancient batavian land he found himself overmatched as he had never been before, even by the most potent generals of his day. more audacious, more inventive, more desperate than all the commanders of that or any other age, the spirit of national freedom, now taught the oppressor that it was invincible; except by annihilation. the same lesson had been read in the same thickets by the nervii to julius caesar, by the batavians to the legions of vespasian; and now a loftier and a purer flame than that which inspired the national struggles against rome glowed within the breasts of the descendants of the same people, and inspired them with the strength which comes, from religious enthusiasm. more experienced, more subtle, more politic than hermann; more devoted, more patient, more magnanimous than civilis, and equal to either in valor and determination, william of orange was a worthy embodiment of the christian, national resistance of the german race to a foreign tyranny. alva had entered the netherlands to deal with them as with conquered provinces. he found that the conquest was still to be made, and he left the land without having accomplished it. through the sea of blood, the hollanders felt that they were passing to the promised land. more royal soldiers fell during the seven months' siege of harlem than the rebels had lost in the defeat of jemmingen, and in the famous campaign of brabant. at alkmaar the rolling waves of insolent conquest were stayed, and the tide then ebbed for ever. the accomplished soldier struggled hopelessly, with the wild and passionate hatred which his tyranny had provoked. neither his legions nor his consummate strategy availed him against an entirely desperate people. as a military commander, therefore, he gained, upon the whole, no additional laurels during his long administration of the netherlands. of all the other attributes to be expected in a man appointed to deal with a free country, in a state of incipient rebellion, he manifested a signal deficiency. as a financier, he exhibited a wonderful ignorance of the first principles of political economy. no man before, ever gravely proposed to establish confiscation as a permanent source of revenue to the state; yet the annual product from the escheated property of slaughtered heretics was regularly relied upon, during his administration, to replenish the king's treasury, and to support the war of extermination against the king's subjects. nor did statesman ever before expect a vast income from the commerce of a nation devoted to almost universal massacre. during the daily decimation of the people's lives, he thought a daily decimation of their industry possible. his persecutions swept the land of those industrious classes which had made it the rich and prosperous commonwealth it had been so lately; while, at the same time, he found a "peruvian mine," as he pretended, in the imposition of a tenth penny upon every one of its commercial transactions. he thought that a people, crippled as this had been by the operations of the blood council; could pay ten per cent., not annually but daily; not upon its income, but upon its capital; not once only, but every time the value constituting the capital changed hands. he had boasted that he should require no funds from spain, but that, on the contrary, he should make annual remittances to the royal treasury at home, from the proceeds of his imposts and confiscations; yet, notwithstanding these resources, and notwithstanding twenty-five millions of gold in five years, sent by philip from madrid, the exchequer of the provinces was barren and bankrupt when his successor arrived. requesens found neither a penny in the public treasury nor the means of raising one. as an administrator of the civil and judicial affairs of the country, alva at once reduced its institutions to a frightful simplicity. in the place of the ancient laws of which the netherlanders were so proud, he substituted the blood council. this tribunal was even more arbitrary than the inquisition. never was a simpler apparatus for tyranny devised, than this great labor-saving machine. never was so great a, quantity of murder and robbery achieved with such despatch and regularity. sentences, executions, and confiscations, to an incredible extent, were turned out daily with appalling precision. for this invention, alva is alone responsible. the tribunal and its councillors were the work and the creatures of his hand, and faithfully did they accomplish the dark purpose of their existence. nor can it be urged, in extenuation of the governor's crimes, that he was but the blind and fanatically loyal slave of his sovereign. a noble nature could not have contaminated itself with such slaughter-house work, but might have sought to mitigate the royal policy, without forswearing allegiance. a nature less rigid than iron, would at least have manifested compunction, as it found itself converted into a fleshless instrument of massacre. more decided than his master, however, he seemed, by his promptness, to rebuke the dilatory genius of philip. the king seemed, at times, to loiter over his work, teasing and tantalising his appetite for vengeance, before it should be gratified: alva, rapid and brutal, scorned such epicureanism. he strode with gigantic steps over haughty statutes and popular constitutions; crushing alike the magnates who claimed a bench of monarchs for their jury, and the ignoble artisans who could appeal only to the laws of their land. from the pompous and theatrical scaffolds of egmont and horn, to the nineteen halters prepared by master karl, to hang up the chief bakers and brewers of brussels on their own thresholds--from the beheading of the twenty nobles on the horse-market, in the opening of the governor's career, to the roasting alive of uitenhoove at its close-from the block on which fell the honored head of antony straalen, to the obscure chair in which the ancient gentlewoman of amsterdam suffered death for an act of vicarious mercy--from one year's end to another's--from the most signal to the most squalid scenes of sacrifice, the eye and hand of the great master directed, without weariness, the task imposed by the sovereign. no doubt the work of almost indiscriminate massacre had been duly mapped out. not often in history has a governor arrived to administer the affairs of a province, where the whole population, three millions strong, had been formally sentenced to death. as time wore on, however, he even surpassed the bloody instructions which he had received. he waved aside the recommendations of the blood council to mercy; he dissuaded the monarch from attempting the path of clemency, which, for secret reasons, philip was inclined at one period to attempt. the governor had, as he assured the king, been using gentleness in vain, and he was now determined to try what a little wholesome severity could effect. these words were written immediately after the massacres at harlem. with all the bloodshed at mons, and naarden, and mechlin, and by the council of tumults, daily, for six years long, still crying from the ground, he taxed himself with a misplaced and foolish tenderness to the people. he assured the king that when alkmaar should be taken, he would, not spare a "living soul among its whole population;" and, as his parting advice, he recommended that every city in the netherlands should be burned to the ground, except a few which could he occupied permanently by the royal troops. on the whole, so finished a picture of a perfect and absolute tyranny has rarely been presented to mankind by history, as in alva's administration of the netherlands. the tens of thousands in those miserable provinces who fell victims to the gallows, the sword, the stake, the living grave, or to living banishment, have never been counted; for those statistics of barbarity are often effaced from human record. enough, however, is known, and enough has been recited in the preceding pages. no mode in which human beings have ever caused their fellow-creatures to suffer, was omitted from daily practice. men, women, and children, old and young, nobles and paupers, opulent burghers, hospital patients, lunatics, dead bodies, all were indiscriminately made to furnish food for-the scaffold and the stake. men were tortured, beheaded, hanged by the neck and by the legs, burned before slow fires, pinched to death with red hot tongs, broken upon the wheel, starved, and flayed alive. their skins stripped from the living body, were stretched upon drums, to be beaten in the march of their brethren to the gallows. the bodies of many who had died a natural death were exhumed, and their festering remains hanged upon the gibbet, on pretext that they had died without receiving the sacrament, but in reality that their property might become the legitimate prey of the treasury. marriages of long standing were dissolved by order of government, that rich heiresses might be married against their will to foreigners whom they abhorred. women and children were executed for the crime of assisting their fugitive husbands and parents with a penny in their utmost need, and even for consoling them with a letter, in their exile. such was the regular course of affairs as administered by the blood council. the additional barbarities committed amid the sack and ruin of those blazing and starving cities, are almost beyond belief; unborn infants were torn from the living bodies of their mothers; women and children were violated by thousands; and whole populations burned and hacked to pieces by soldiers in every mode which cruelty, in its wanton ingenuity, could devise. such was the administration, of which vargas affirmed, at its close, that too much mercy, "nimia misericordia," had been its ruin. even philip, inspired by secret views, became wearied of the governor, who, at an early period, had already given offence by his arrogance. to commemorate his victories, the viceroy had erected a colossal statue, not to his monarch, but to himself. to proclaim the royal pardon, he had seated himself upon a golden throne. such insolent airs could be ill forgiven by the absolute king. too cautious to provoke an open rupture, he allowed the governor, after he had done all his work, and more than all his work, to retire without disgrace, but without a triumph. for the sins of that administration, master and servant are in equal measure responsible. the character of the duke of alva, so far as the netherlands are concerned, seems almost like a caricature. as a creation of fiction, it would seem grotesque: yet even that hardy, historical scepticism, which delights in reversing the judgment of centuries, and in re-establishing reputations long since degraded to the dust, must find it difficult to alter this man's position. no historical decision is final; an appeal to a more remote posterity, founded upon more accurate evidence, is always valid; but when the verdict has been pronounced upon facts which are undisputed, and upon testimony from the criminal's lips, there is little chance of a reversal of the sentence. it is an affectation of philosophical candor to extenuate vices which are not only avowed, but claimed as virtues. [the time is past when it could be said that the cruelty of alva, or the enormities of his administration, have been exaggerated by party violence. human invention is incapable of outstripping the truth upon this subject. to attempt the defence of either the man or his measures at the present day is to convict oneself of an amount of ignorance or of bigotry against which history and argument are alike powerless. the publication of the duke's letters in the correspondence of simancas and in the besancon papers, together with that compact mass of horror, long before the world under the title of "sententien van alva," in which a portion only of the sentences of death and banishment pronounced by him during his reign, have been copied from the official records--these in themselves would be a sufficient justification of all the charges ever brought by the most bitter contemporary of holland or flanders. if the investigator should remain sceptical, however, let him examine the "registre des condamnes et bannia a cause des troubles des pays bas," in three, together with the records of the "conseil des troubles," in forty-three folio volumes, in the royal archives at brussels. after going through all these chronicles of iniquity, the most determined historic, doubter will probably throw up the case.] etext editor's bookmarks: advised his majesty to bestow an annual bribe upon lord burleigh angle with their dissimulation as with a hook luther's axiom, that thoughts are toll-free only kept alive by milk, which he drank from a woman's breast scepticism, which delights in reversing the judgment of centuries so much responsibility and so little power sometimes successful, even although founded upon sincerity we are beginning to be vexed motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley administration of the grand commander part iv. - [chapter i.] previous career of requesens--philip's passion for detail--apparent and real purposes of government--universal desire for peace-- correspondence of leading royalists with orange--bankruptcy of the exchequer at alva's departures--expensive nature of the war-- pretence of mildness on the part of the commander--his private views--distress of mondragon at middelburg--crippled condition of holland--orange's secret negotiations with france--st. aldegonde's views in captivity--expedition to relieve middelburg--counter preparations of orange--defeat of the expedition--capitulation of mondragon--plans of orange and his brothers--an army under count louis crosses the rhine--measures taken by requesens--manoeuvres of avila and of louis--the two armies in face at mook--battle of mook- heath--overthrow and death of count louis--the phantom battle-- character of louis of nassau--painful uncertainty as to his fate-- periodical mutinies of the spanish troops characterized--mutiny after the battle of mook--antwerp attacked and occupied,--insolent and oppressive conduct of the mutineers--offers of requesens refused--mutiny in the citadel--exploits of salvatierra--terms of composition--soldiers' feast on the mere--successful expedition of admiral boisot the horrors of alva's administration had caused men to look back with fondness upon the milder and more vacillating tyranny of the duchess margaret. from the same cause the advent of the grand commander was hailed with pleasure and with a momentary gleam of hope. at any rate, it was a relief that the man in whom an almost impossible perfection of cruelty seemed embodied was at last to be withdrawn it was certain that his successor, however ambitious of following in alva's footsteps, would never be able to rival the intensity and the unswerving directness of purpose which it had been permitted to the duke's nature to attain. the new governor-general was, doubtless, human, and it had been long since the netherlanders imagined anything in common between themselves and the late viceroy. apart from this hope, however, there was little encouragement to be derived from anything positively known of the new functionary, or the policy which he was to represent. don luis de requesens and cuniga, grand commander of castile and late governor of milan, was a man of mediocre abilities, who possessed a reputation for moderation and sagacity which he hardly deserved. his military prowess had been chiefly displayed in the bloody and barren battle of lepanto, where his conduct and counsel were supposed to have contributed, in some measure, to the victorious result. his administration at milan had been characterized as firm and moderate. nevertheless, his character was regarded with anything but favorable eyes in the netherlands. men told each other of his broken faith to the moors in granada, and of his unpopularity in milan, where, notwithstanding his boasted moderation, he had, in reality, so oppressed the people as to gain their deadly hatred. they complained, too, that it was an insult to send, as governor-general of the provinces, not a prince of the blood, as used to be the case, but a simple "gentleman of cloak and sword." any person, however, who represented the royal authority in the provinces was under historical disadvantage. he was literally no more than an actor, hardly even that. it was philip's policy and pride to direct all the machinery of his extensive empire, and to pull every string himself. his puppets, however magnificently attired, moved only in obedience to his impulse, and spoke no syllable but with his voice. upon the table in his cabinet was arranged all the business of his various realms, even to the most minute particulars. plans, petty or vast, affecting the interests of empires and ages, or bounded within the narrow limits of trivial and evanescent detail, encumbered his memory and consumed his time. his ambition to do all the work of his kingdoms was aided by an inconceivable greediness for labor. he loved the routine of business, as some monarchs have loved war, as others have loved pleasure. the object, alike paltry and impossible, of this ambition, bespoke the narrow mind. his estates were regarded by him as private property; measures affecting the temporal and eternal interests of millions were regarded as domestic affairs, and the eye of the master was considered the only one which could duly superintend these estates and those interests. much incapacity to govern was revealed in this inordinate passion to administer. his mind, constantly fatigued by petty labors, was never enabled to survey his wide domains from the height of majesty. in alva, certainly, he had employed an unquestionable reality; but alva, by a fortunate coincidence of character, had seemed his second self. he was now gone, however, and although the royal purpose had not altered, the royal circumstances were changed. the moment had arrived when it was thought that the mask and cothurn might again be assumed with effect; when a grave and conventional personage might decorously make his appearance to perform an interlude of clemency and moderation with satisfactory results. accordingly, the great commander, heralded by rumors of amnesty, was commissioned to assume the government which alva had been permitted to resign. it had been industriously circulated that a change of policy was intended. it was even supposed by the more sanguine that the duke had retired in disgrace. a show of coldness was manifested towards him on his return by the king, while vargas, who had accompanied the governor, was peremptorily forbidden to appear within five leagues of the court. the more discerning, however, perceived much affectation in this apparent displeasure. saint goard, the keen observer of philip's moods and measures, wrote to his sovereign that he had narrowly observed the countenances of both philip and alva; that he had informed himself as thoroughly as possible with regard to the course of policy intended; that he had arrived at the conclusion that the royal chagrin was but dissimulation, intended to dispose the netherlanders to thoughts of an impossible peace, and that he considered the present merely a breathing time, in which still more active preparations might be made for crushing the rebellion. it was now evident to the world that the revolt had reached a stage in which it could be terminated only by absolute conquest or concession. to conquer the people of the provinces, except by extermination, seemed difficult--to judge by the seven years of execution, sieges and campaigns, which had now passed without a definite result. it was, therefore, thought expedient to employ concession. the new governor accordingly, in case the netherlanders would abandon every object for which they had been so heroically contending, was empowered to concede a pardon. it was expressly enjoined upon him, however, that no conciliatory measures should be adopted in which the king's absolute supremacy, and the total prohibition of every form of worship but the roman catholic, were not assumed as a basis. now, as the people had been contending at least ten years long for constitutional rights against prerogative, and at least seven for liberty of conscience against papistry, it was easy to foretell how much effect any negotiations thus commenced were likely to produce. yet, no doubt, in the netherlands there was a most earnest longing for peace. the catholic portion of the population were desirous of a reconciliation with their brethren of the new religion. the universal vengeance which had descended upon heresy had not struck the heretics only. it was difficult to find a fireside, protestant or catholic, which had not been made desolate by execution, banishment, or confiscation. the common people and the grand seigniors were alike weary of the war. not only aerschot and viglius, but noircarmes and berlaymont, were desirous that peace should be at last compassed upon liberal terms, and the prince of orange fully and unconditionally pardoned. even the spanish commanders had become disgusted with the monotonous butchery which had stained their swords. julian romero; the fierce and unscrupulous soldier upon whose head rested the guilt of the naarden massacre, addressed several letters to william of orange, full of courtesy, and good wishes for a speedy termination of the war, and for an entire reconciliation of the prince with his sovereign. noircarmes also opened a correspondence with the great leader of the revolt; and offered to do all in his power to restore peace and prosperity to the country. the prince answered the courtesy of the spaniard with equal, but barren, courtesy; for it was obvious that no definite result could be derived from such informal negotiations. to noircarmes he responded in terms of gentle but grave rebuke, expressing deep regret that a netherland noble of such eminence, with so many others of rank and authority, should so long have supported the king in his tyranny. he, however, expressed his satisfaction that their eyes, however late, had opened to the enormous iniquity which had been practised in the country, and he accepted the offers of friendship as frankly as they had been made. not long afterwards, the prince furnished his correspondent with a proof of his sincerity, by forwarding to him two letters which had been intercepted; from certain agents of government to alva, in which noircarmes and others who had so long supported the king against their own country, were spoken of in terms of menace and distrust. the prince accordingly warned his new correspondent that, in spite of all the proofs of uncompromising loyalty which he had exhibited, he was yet moving upon a dark and slippery-pathway, and might, even like egmont and horn, find a scaffold-as the end and the reward of his career. so profound was that abyss of dissimulation which constituted the royal policy, towards the netherlands, that the most unscrupulous partisans of government could only see doubt and danger with regard to their future destiny, and were sometimes only saved by an opportune death from disgrace and the hangman's hands. such, then, were the sentiments of many eminent personages, even among the most devoted loyalists. all longed for peace; many even definitely expected it, upon the arrival of the great commander. moreover, that functionary discovered, at his first glance into the disorderly state of the exchequer, that at least a short respite was desirable before proceeding with the interminable measures of hostility against the rebellion. if any man had been ever disposed to give alva credit for administrative ability, such delusion must have vanished at the spectacle of confusion and bankruptcy which presented, itself at the termination of his government. he resolutely declined to give his successor any information whatever as to his financial position. so far from furnishing a detailed statement, such as might naturally be expected upon so momentous an occasion, he informed the grand commander that even a sketch was entirely out of the question, and would require more time and labor than he could then afford. he took his departure, accordingly, leaving requesens in profound ignorance as to his past accounts; an ignorance in which it is probable that the duke himself shared to the fullest extent. his enemies stoutly maintained that, however loosely his accounts had been kept, he had been very careful to make no mistakes against himself, and that he had retired full of wealth, if not of honor, from his long and terrible administration. his own letters, on the contrary, accused the king of ingratitude, in permitting an old soldier to ruin himself, not only in health but in fortune, for want of proper recompense during an arduous administration. at any rate it is very certain that the rebellion had already been an expensive matter to the crown. the army in the netherlands numbered more than sixty-two thousand men, eight thousand being spaniards, the rest walloons and germans. forty millions of dollars had already been sunk, and it seemed probable that it would require nearly the whole annual produce of the american mines to sustain the war. the transatlantic gold and silver, disinterred from the depths where they had been buried for ages, were employed, not to expand the current of a healthy, life-giving commerce, but to be melted into blood. the sweat and the tortures of the king's pagan subjects in the primeval forests of the new world, were made subsidiary to the extermination of his netherland people, and the destruction of an ancient civilization. to this end had columbus discovered a hemisphere for castile and aragon, and the new indies revealed their hidden treasures? forty millions of ducats had been spent. six and a half millions of arrearages were due to the army, while its current expenses were six hundred thousand a month. the military expenses alone of the netherlands were accordingly more than seven millions of dollars yearly, and the mines of the new world produced, during the half century of philip's reign, an average of only eleven. against this constantly increasing deficit, there was not a stiver in the exchequer, nor the means of raising one. the tenth penny had been long virtually extinct, and was soon to be formally abolished. confiscation had ceased to afford a permanent revenue, and the estates obstinately refused to grant a dollar. such was the condition to which the unrelenting tyranny and the financial experiments of alva had reduced the country. it was, therefore, obvious to requesens that it would be useful at the moment to hold out hopes of pardon and reconciliation. he saw, what he had not at first comprehended, and what few bigoted supporters of absolutism in any age have ever comprehended, that national enthusiasm, when profound and general, makes a rebellion more expensive to the despot than to the insurgents. "before my arrival," wrote the grand commander to his sovereign, "i did not understand how the rebels could maintain such considerable fleets, while your majesty could not support a single one. it appears, however, that men who are fighting for their lives, their firesides, their property, and their false religion, for their own cause, in short, are contented to receive rations only, without receiving pay." the moral which the new governor drew from his correct diagnosis of the prevailing disorder was, not that this national enthusiasm should be respected, but that it should be deceived. he deceived no one but himself, however. he censured noircarmes and romero for their intermeddling, but held out hopes of a general pacification. he repudiated the idea of any reconciliation between the king and the prince of orange, but proposed at the same time a settlement of the revolt. he had not yet learned that the revolt and william of orange were one. although the prince himself had repeatedly offered to withdraw for ever from the country, if his absence would expedite a settlement satisfactory to the provinces, there was not a patriot in the netherlands who could contemplate his departure without despair. moreover, they all knew better than did requesens, the inevitable result of the pacific measures which had been daily foreshadowed. the appointment of the grand commander was in truth a desperate attempt to deceive the netherlanders. he approved distinctly and heartily of alva's policy, but wrote to the king that it was desirable to amuse the people with the idea of another and a milder scheme. he affected to believe, and perhaps really did believe, that the nation would accept the destruction of all their institutions, provided that penitent heretics were allowed to be reconciled to the mother church, and obstinate ones permitted to go into perpetual exile, taking with them a small portion of their worldly goods. for being willing to make this last and almost incredible concession, he begged pardon sincerely of the king. if censurable, he ought not, he thought, to be too severely blamed, for his loyalty was known. the world was aware how often he had risked his life for his majesty, and how gladly and how many more times he was ready to risk it in future. in his opinion, religion had, after all, but very little to do with the troubles, and so he confidentially informed his sovereign. egmont and horn had died catholics, the people did not rise to assist the prince's invasion in , and the new religion was only a lever by which a few artful demagogues had attempted to overthrow the king's authority. such views as these revealed the measures of the new governor's capacity. the people had really refused to rise in , not because they were without sympathy for orange, but because they were paralyzed by their fear of alva. since those days, however, the new religion had increased and multiplied everywhere, in the blood which had rained upon it. it was now difficult to find a catholic in holland and zealand, who was not a government agent. the prince had been a moderate catholic, in the opening scenes of the rebellion, while he came forward as the champion of liberty for all forms of christianity. he had now become a convert to the new religion without receding an inch from his position in favor of universal toleration. the new religion was, therefore, not an instrument devised by a faction, but had expanded into the atmosphere of the people's daily life. individuals might be executed for claiming to breathe it, but it was itself impalpable to the attacks of despotism. yet the grand commander persuaded himself that religion had little or nothing to do with the state of the netherlands. nothing more was necessary, he thought; or affected to think, in order to restore tranquillity, than once more to spread the net of a general amnesty. the duke of alva knew better. that functionary, with whom, before his departure from the provinces, requesens had been commanded to confer, distinctly stated his opinion that there was no use of talking about pardon. brutally, but candidly, he maintained that there was nothing to be done but to continue the process of extermination. it was necessary, he said, to reduce the country to a dead level of unresisting misery; before an act of oblivion could be securely laid down as the foundation of a new and permanent order of society. he had already given his advice to his majesty, that every town in the country should be burned to the ground, except those which could be permanently occupied by the royal troops. the king, however, in his access of clemency at the appointment of a new administration, instructed the grand commander not to resort to this measure unless it should become strictly necessary.--such were the opposite opinions of the old and new governors with regard to the pardon. the learned viglius sided with alva, although manifestly against his will. "it is both the duke's opinion and my own," wrote the commander, "that viglius does not dare to express his real opinion, and that he is secretly desirous of an arrangement with the rebels." with a good deal of inconsistency, the governor was offended, not only with those who opposed his plans, but with those who favored them. he was angry with viglius, who, at least nominally, disapproved of the pardon, and with noircarmes, aerschot, and others, who manifested a wish for a pacification. of the chief characteristic ascribed to the people by julius caesar, namely, that they forgot neither favors nor injuries, the second half only, in the grand commander's opinion, had been retained. not only did they never forget injuries, but their memory, said he, was so good, that they recollected many which they had never received. on the whole, however, in the embarrassed condition of affairs, and while waiting for further supplies, the commander was secretly disposed to try the effect of a pardon. the object was to deceive the people and to gain time; for there was no intention of conceding liberty of conscience, of withdrawing foreign troops, or of assembling the states-general. it was, however, not possible to apply these hypocritical measures of conciliation immediately. the war was in full career and could not be arrested even in that wintry season. the patriots held mondragon closely besieged in middelburg, the last point in the isle of walcheren which held for the king. there was a considerable treasure in money and merchandise shut up in that city; and, moreover, so deserving and distinguished an officer as mondragon could not be abandoned to his fate. at the same time, famine was pressing him sorely, and, by the end of the year, garrison and townspeople had nothing but rats, mice, dogs, cats, and such repulsive substitutes for food, to support life withal. it was necessary to take immediate measures to relieve the place. on the other hand, the situation of the patriots was not very encouraging. their superiority on the sea was unquestionable, for the hollanders and zealanders were the best sailors in the world, and they asked of their country no payment for their blood, but thanks. the land forces, however, were usually mercenaries, who were apt to mutiny at the commencement of an action if, as was too often the case, their wages could not be paid. holland was entirely cut in twain by the loss of harlem and the leaguer of leyden, no communication between the dissevered portions being possible, except with difficulty and danger. the estates, although they had done much for the cause, and were prepared to do much more, were too apt to wrangle about economical details. they irritated the prince of orange by huckstering about subsidies to a degree which his proud and generous nature could hardly brook. he had strong hopes from france. louis of nassau had held secret interviews with the duke of alencon and the duke of anjou, now king of poland, at blamont. alencon had assured him secretly, affectionately, and warmly, that he would be as sincere a friend to the cause as were his two royal brothers. the count had even received one hundred thousand livres in hand, as an earnest of the favorable intentions of france, and was now busily engaged, at the instance of the prince, in levying an army in germany for the relief of leyden and the rest of holland, while william, on his part, was omitting nothing, whether by representations to the estates or by secret foreign missions and correspondence, to further the cause of the suffering country. at the same time, the prince dreaded the effect--of the promised pardon. he had reason to be distrustful of the general temper of the nation when a man like saint aldegonde, the enlightened patriot and his own tried friend, was influenced, by the discouraging and dangerous position in which he found himself, to abandon the high ground upon which they had both so long and so firmly stood: saint aldegonde had been held a strict prisoner since his capture at maeslandsluis, at the close of alva's administration.--it was, no doubt, a predicament attended with much keen suffering and positive danger. it had hitherto been the uniform policy of the government to kill all prisoners, of whatever rank. accordingly, some had been drowned, some had been hanged--some beheaded some poisoned in their dungeons--all had been murdered. this had been alva's course. the grand commander also highly approved of the system, but the capture of count bossu by the patriots had necessitated a suspension of such rigor. it was certain that bossu's head would fall as soon as saint aldegonde's, the prince having expressly warned the government of this inevitable result. notwithstanding that security, however, for his eventual restoration to liberty, a netherland rebel in a spanish prison could hardly feel himself at ease. there were so many foot-marks into the cave and not a single one coming forth. yet it was not singular, however, that the prince should read with regret the somewhat insincere casuistry with which saint aldegonde sought to persuade himself and his fellow-countrymen that a reconciliation with the monarch was desirable, even upon unworthy terms. he was somewhat shocked that so valiant and eloquent a supporter of the reformation should coolly express his opinion that the king would probably refuse liberty of conscience to the netherlanders, but would, no doubt, permit heretics to go into banishment. "perhaps, after we have gone into exile," added saint aldegonde, almost with baseness, "god may give us an opportunity of doing such good service to the king, that he will lend us a more favorable ear, and, peradventure, permit our return to the country." certainly, such language was not becoming the pen which wrote the famous compromise. the prince himself was, however, not to be induced, even by the captivity and the remonstrances of so valued a friend, to swerve from the path of duty. he still maintained, in public and private, that the withdrawal of foreign troops from the provinces, the restoration of the old constitutional privileges, and the entire freedom of conscience in religious matters, were the indispensable conditions of any pacification. it was plain to him that the spaniards were not ready to grant these conditions; but he felt confident that he should accomplish the release of saint aldegonde without condescending to an ignominious peace. the most pressing matter, upon the great commander's arrival, was obviously to relieve the city of middelburg. mondragon, after so stanch a defence, would soon be obliged to capitulate, unless he should promptly receive supplies. requesens, accordingly, collected seventy-five ships at bergen op zoom; which were placed nominally under the command of admiral de glimes, but in reality under that of julian romero. another fleet of thirty vessels had been assembled at antwerp under sancho d'avila. both, amply freighted with provisions, were destined to make their way to middelburg by the two different passages of the hondo and the eastern scheld. on the other hand, the prince of orange had repaired to flushing to superintend the operations of admiral boisot, who already; in obedience to his orders, had got a powerful squadron in readiness at that place. late in january, , d'avila arrived in the neighbourhood of flushing, where he awaited the arrival of romero's fleet. united, the two commanders were to make a determined attempt to reinforce the starving city of middelburg. at the same time, governor requesens made his appearance in person at bergen op zoom to expedite the departure of the stronger fleet, but it was not the intention of the prince of orange to allow this expedition to save the city. the spanish generals, however valiant, were to learn that their genius was not amphibious, and that the beggars of the sea were still invincible on their own element, even if their brethren of the land had occasionally quailed. admiral boisot's fleet had already moved up the scheld and taken a position nearly opposite to bergen op zoom. on the th of january the prince of orange, embarking from zierick zee, came to make them a visit before the impending action. his galley, conspicuous for its elegant decorations, was exposed for some time to the artillery of the fort, but providentially escaped unharmed. he assembled all the officers of his armada, and, in brief but eloquent language, reminded them how necessary it was to the salvation of the whole country that they should prevent the city of middelburg--the key to the whole of zealand, already upon the point of falling into the hands of the patriots--from being now wrested from their grasp. on the sea, at least, the hollanders and zealanders were at home. the officers and men, with one accord, rent the air with their cheers. they swore that they would shed every drop of blood in their veins but they would sustain the prince and the country; and they solemnly vowed not only to serve, if necessary, without wages, but to sacrifice all that they possessed in the world rather than abandon the cause of their fatherland. having by his presence and his language aroused their valor to so high a pitch of enthusiasm, the prince departed for delft, to make arrangements to drive the spaniards from the siege of leyden. on the th of january, the fleet of romero sailed from bergen, disposed in three divisions, each numbering twenty-five vessels of different sizes. as the grand commander stood on the dyke of schakerloo to witness the departure, a general salute was fired by the fleet in his honor, but with most unfortunate augury. the discharge, by some accident, set fire to the magazines of one of the ships, which blew up with a terrible explosion, every soul on board perishing. the expedition, nevertheless, continued its way. opposite romerswael, the fleet of boisot awaited them, drawn up in battle array. as an indication of the spirit which animated this hardy race, it may be mentioned that schot, captain of the flag-ship, had been left on shore, dying of a pestilential fever. admiral boisot had appointed a flushinger, klaaf klaafzoon, in his place. just before the action, however, schot, "scarcely able to blow a feather from his mouth," staggered on board his ship, and claimed the command. there was no disputing a precedency which he had risen from his death-bed to vindicate. there was, however, a short discussion, as the enemy's fleet approached, between these rival captains regarding the manner in which the spaniards should be received. klaafzoon was of opinion that most of the men should go below till after the enemy's first discharge. schot insisted that all should remain on deck, ready to grapple with the spanish fleet, and to board them without the least delay. the sentiment of schot prevailed, and all hands stood on deck, ready with boarding-pikes and grappling-irons. the first division of romero came nearer, and delivered its first broadside, when schot and klaafzoon both fell mortally wounded. admiral boisot lost an eye, and many officers and sailors in the other vessels were killed or wounded. this was, however, the first and last of the cannonading. as many of romero's vessels as could be grappled within the narrow estuary found themselves locked in close embrace with their enemies. a murderous hand-to-hand conflict succeeded. battle-axe, boarding-pike, pistol, and dagger were the weapons. every man who yielded himself a prisoner was instantly stabbed and tossed into the sea by the remorseless zealanders. fighting only to kill, and not to plunder, they did not even stop to take the gold chains which many spaniards wore on their necks. it had, however, been obvious from the beginning that the spanish fleet were not likely to achieve that triumph over the patriots which was necessary before they could relieve middelburg. the battle continued a little longer; but after fifteen ships had been taken and twelve hundred royalists slain, the remainder of the enemy's fleet retreated into bergen. romero himself, whose ship had grounded, sprang out of a port-hole and swam ashore, followed by such of his men as were able to imitate him. he landed at the very feet of the grand commander, who, wet and cold, had been standing all day upon the dyke of schakerloo, in the midst of a pouring rain, only to witness the total defeat of his armada at last. "i told your excellency," said romero, coolly, as he climbed, all dripping, on the bank, "that i was a land-fighter and not a sailor. if you were to give me the command of a hundred fleets, i believe that none of them would fare better than this has done." the governor and his discomfited, but philosophical lieutenant, then returned to bergen, and thence to brussels, acknowledging that the city of middelburg must fall, while sancho d'avila, hearing of the disaster which had befallen his countrymen, brought his fleet, with the greatest expedition, back to antwerp. thus the gallant mondragon was abandoned to his fate. that fate could no longer be protracted. the city of middelburg had reached and passed the starvation point. still mondragon was determined not to yield at discretion, although very willing to capitulate. the prince of orange, after the victory of bergen, was desirous of an unconditional surrender, believing it to be his right, and knowing that he could not be supposed capable of practising upon middelburg the vengeance which had been wreaked on naarden, zutfen, and harlem. mondragon, however, swore that he would set fire to the city in twenty places, and perish with every soldier and burgher in the flames together, rather than abandon himself to the enemy's mercy. the prince knew that the brave spaniard was entirely capable of executing his threat. he granted honorable conditions, which, on the th february, were drawn up in five articles, and signed. it was agreed that mondragon and his troops should leave the place, with their arms, ammunition, and all their personal property. the citizens who remained were to take oath of fidelity to the prince, as stadholder for his majesty, and were to pay besides a subsidy of three hundred thousand florins. mondragon was, furthermore, to procure the discharge of saint aldegonde, and of four other prisoners of rank, or, failing in the attempt, was to return within two months, and constitute himself prisoner of war. the catholic priests were to take away from the city none of their property but their clothes. in accordance with this capitulation, mondragon, and those who wished to accompany him, left the city on the st of february, and were conveyed to the flemish shore at neuz. it will be seen in the sequel that the governor neither granted him the release of the five prisoners, nor permitted him to return, according to his parole. a few days afterwards, the prince entered the city, re-organized the magistracy, received the allegiance of the inhabitants, restored the ancient constitution, and liberally remitted two-thirds of the sum in which they had been, mulcted. the spaniards had thus been successfully driven from the isle of walcheren, leaving the hollanders and zealanders masters of the sea-coast. since the siege of alkmaar had been raised, however, the enemy had remained within the territory of holland. leyden was closely invested, the country in a desperate condition, and all communication between its different cities nearly suspended. it was comparatively easy for the prince of orange to equip and man his fleets. the genius and habits of the people made them at home upon the water, and inspired them with a feeling of superiority to their adversaries. it was not so upon land. strong to resist, patient to suffer, the hollanders, although terrible in defence; had not the necessary discipline or experience to meet the veteran legions of spain, with confidence in the open field. to raise the siege of leyden, the main reliance of the prince was upon count louis, who was again in germany. in the latter days of alva's administration, william had written to his brothers, urging them speedily to arrange the details of a campaign, of which he forwarded them a sketch. as soon as a sufficient force had been levied in germany, an attempt was to be made upon maestricht. if that failed, louis was to cross the meuse, in the neighbourhood of stochem, make his way towards the prince's own city of gertruidenberg, and thence make a junction with his brother in the neighbourhood of delft. they were then to take up a position together between harlem and leyden. in that case it seemed probable that the spaniards would find themselves obliged to fight at a great disadvantage, or to abandon the country. "in short," said the prince, "if this enterprise be arranged with due diligence and discretion, i hold it as the only certain means for putting a speedy end to the war, and for driving these devils of spaniards out of the country, before the duke of alva has time to raise another army to support them." in pursuance of this plan, louis had been actively engaged all the earlier part of the winter in levying troops and raising supplies. he had been assisted by the french princes with considerable sums of money, as an earnest of what he was in future to expect from that source. he had made an unsuccessful attempt to effect the capture of requesens, on his way to take the government of the netherlands. he had then passed to the frontier of france, where he had held his important interview with catharine de medici and the duke of anjou, then on the point of departure to ascend the throne of poland. he had received liberal presents, and still more liberal promises. anjou had assured him that he would go as far as any of the german princes in rendering active and sincere assistance to the protestant cause in the netherlands. the duc d'alencon--soon, in his brother's absence, to succeed to the chieftainship of the new alliance between the "politiques" and the huguenots--had also pressed his hand, whispering in his ear, as he did so, that the government of france now belonged to him, as it had recently done to anjou, and that the prince might reckon upon his friendship with entire security. these fine words, which cost nothing when whispered in secret, were not destined to fructify into a very rich harvest, for the mutual jealousy of france and england, lest either should acquire ascendency in the netherlands, made both governments prodigal of promises, while the common fear entertained by them of the power of spain rendered both languid; insincere, and mischievous allies. count john, however; was indefatigable in arranging the finances of the proposed expedition, and in levying contributions among his numerous relatives and allies in germany, while louis had profited by the occasion of anjou's passage into poland, to acquire for himself two thousand german and french cavalry, who had served to escort that prince, and who, being now thrown out of employment, were glad to have a job offered them by a general who was thought to be in funds. another thousand of cavalry and six thousand foot were soon assembled from those ever-swarming nurseries of mercenary warriors, the smaller german states. with these, towards the end of february; louis crossed the rhine in a heavy snow-storm, and bent his course towards maestricht. all the three brothers of the prince accompanied this little army, besides duke christopher, son of the elector palatine. before the end of the month the army reached the meuse, and encamped within four miles of maestricht; on the opposite side of the river. the garrison, commanded by montesdoca, was weak, but the news of the warlike preparations in germany had preceded the arrival of count louis. requesens, feeling the gravity of the occasion, had issued orders for an immediate levy of eight thousand cavalry in germany, with a proportionate number of infantry. at the same time he had directed don bernardino de mendoza, with some companies of cavalry, then stationed in breda, to throw himself without delay into maestricht. don sancho d'avila was entrusted with the general care of resisting the hostile expedition. that general had forthwith collected all the troops which could be spared from every town where they were stationed, had strengthened the cities of antwerp, ghent, nimweben, and valenciennes, where there were known to be many secret adherents of orange; and with the remainder of his forces had put himself in motion, to oppose the entrance of louis into brabant, and his junction with his brother in holland. braccamonte had been despatched to leyden, in order instantly to draw off the forces which were besieging the city. thus louis had already effected something of importance by the very hews of his approach. meantime the prince of orange had raised six thousand infantry, whose rendezvous was the isle of bommel. he was disappointed at the paucity of the troops which louis had been able to collect, but he sent messengers immediately to him; with a statement of his own condition, and with directions to join him in the isle of bommel, as soon as maestricht should be reduced. it was, however, not in the destiny of louis to reduce maestricht. his expedition had been marked with disaster from the beginning. a dark and threatening prophecy had, even before its commencement, enwrapped louis, his brethren, and his little army, in a funeral pall. more than a thousand of his men had deserted before he reached the meuse. when he encamped, apposite maestricht, he found the river neither frozen nor open, the ice obstructing the navigation, but being too weak for the weight of an army. while he was thus delayed and embarrassed, mendoza arrived in the city with reinforcements. it seemed already necessary for louis to abandon his hopes of maestricht, but he was at least desirous of crossing the river in that neighbourhood, in order to effect his junction with the prince at the earliest possible moment. while the stream was still encumbered with ice, however, the enemy removed all the boats. on, the rd of march, avila arrived with a large body of troops at maestricht, and on the th mendoza crossed the river in the night, giving the patriots so severe an 'encamisada', that seven hundred were killed, at the expense of only seven of his own party. harassed, but not dispirited by these disasters, louis broke up his camp on the st, and took a position farther down the river, at fauquemont and gulpen, castles in the duchy of limburg. on the rd of april, braccamonite arrived at maestricht, with twenty-five companies of spaniards and three of cavalry, while, on the same day mondragon reached the scene of action with his sixteen companies of veterans. it was now obvious to louis, not only that he should not take maestricht, but that his eventual junction with his brother was at least doubtful, every soldier who could possibly be spared seeming in motion to oppose his progress. he was, to be sure, not yet outnumbered, but the enemy was increasing, and his own force diminishing daily. moreover, the spaniards were highly disciplined and experienced troops; while his own soldiers were mercenaries, already clamorous and insubordinate. on the th of april he again shifted his encaampment, and took his course along the right bank of the meuse, between that river and the rhine, in the direction of nimwegen. avila promptly decided to follow him upon the opposite bank of the meuse, intending to throw himself between louis and the prince of orange, and by a rapid march to give the count battle, before he could join his brother. on the th of april, at early dawn, louis had left the neighbourhood of maestricht, and on the th he encamped at the village of mook near the confines of cleves. sending out his scouts, he learned to his vexation, that the enemy had outmarched him, and were now within cannonshot. on the th, avila had constructed a bridge of boats, over which he had effected the passage of the meuse with his whole army, so that on the count's arrival at mook, he found the enemy facing him, on the same side of the river, and directly in his path. it was, therefore, obvious that, in this narrow space between the waal and the meuse, where they were now all assembled, louis must achieve a victory, unaided, or abandon his expedition, and leave the hollanders to despair. he was distressed at the position in which he found himself, for he had hoped to reduce maestricht, and to join, his brother in holland. together, they could, at least, have expelled the spaniards from that territory, in which case it was probable that a large part of the population in the different provinces would have risen. according to present aspects, the destiny of the country, for some time to come, was likely to hang upon the issue of a battle which he had not planned, and for which he was not fully prepared. still he was not the man to be disheartened; nor had he ever possessed the courage to refuse a battle when: offered. upon this occasion it would be difficult to retreat without disaster and disgrace, but it was equally difficult to achieve a victory. thrust, as he was, like a wedge into the very heart of a hostile country, he was obliged to force his way through, or to remain in his enemy's power. moreover, and worst of all, his troops were in a state of mutiny for their wages. while he talked to them of honor, they howled to him for money. it was the custom of these mercenaries to mutiny on the eve of battle--of the spaniards, after it had been fought. by the one course, a victory was often lost which might have been achieved; by the other, when won it was rendered fruitless. avila had chosen his place of battle with great skill. on the right bank of the meuse, upon a narrow plain which spread from the river to a chain of hills within cannon-shot on the north, lay the little village of mook. the spanish general knew that his adversary had the superiority in cavalry, and that within this compressed apace it would not be possible to derive much advantage from the circumstance. on the th, both armies were drawn up in battle array at earliest dawn, louis having strengthened his position by a deep trench, which extended from mook, where he had stationed ten companies of infantry, which thus rested on the village and the river. next came the bulk of his infantry, disposed in a single square. on their right was his cavalry, arranged in four squadrons, as well as the narrow limits of the field would allow. a small portion of them, for want of apace, were stationed on the hill side. opposite, the forces of don sancho were drawn up in somewhat similar fashion. twenty-five companies of spaniards were disposed in four bodies of pikemen and musketeers; their right resting on the river. on their left was the cavalry, disposed by mendoza in the form of a half moon-the horns garnished by two small bodies of sharpshooters. in the front ranks of the cavalry were the mounted carabineers of schenk; behind were the spanish dancers. the village of mook lay between the two armies. the skirmishing began at early dawn, with an attack upon the trench, and continued some hours, without bringing on a general engagement. towards ten o'clock, count louis became impatient. all the trumpets of the patriots now rang out a challenge to their adversaries, and the spaniards were just returning the defiance, and preparing a general onset, when the seigneur de hierges and baron chevreaux arrived on the field. they brought with them a reinforcement of more than a thousand men, and the intelligence that valdez was on his way with nearly five thousand more. as he might be expected on the following morning, a short deliberation was held as to the expediency of deferring the action. count louis was at the head of six thousand foot and two thousand cavalry. avila mustered only four thousand infantry and not quite a thousand horse. this inferiority would be changed on the morrow into an overwhelming superiority. meantime, it was well to remember the punishment endured by aremberg at heiliger lee, for not waiting till meghen's arrival. this prudent counsel was, however, very generally scouted, and by none more loudly than by hierges and chevreaux, who had brought the intelligence. it was thought that at this juncture nothing could be more indiscreet than discretion. they had a wary and audacious general to deal with. while they were waiting for their reinforcements, he was quite capable of giving them the slip. he might thus effect the passage of the stream and that union with his brother which--had been thus far so successfully prevented. this reasoning prevailed, and the skirmishing at the trench was renewed with redoubled vigour, an additional: force being sent against it. after a short and fierce struggle it was carried, and the spaniards rushed into the village, but were soon dislodged by a larger detachment of infantry, which count louis sent to the rescue. the battle now became general at this point. nearly all the patriot infantry were employed to defend the post; nearly all the spanish infantry were ordered to assail it. the spaniards, dropping on their knees, according to custom, said a paternoster and an ave mary, and then rushed, in mass, to the attack. after a short but sharp conflict, the trench was again carried, and the patriots completely routed. upon this, count louis charged with all his cavalry upon the enemy's horse, which had hitherto remained motionless. with the first shock the mounted arquebusiers of schenk, constituting the vanguard, were broken, and fled in all directions. so great was their panic, as louis drove them before him, that they never stopped till they had swum or been drowned in the river; the survivors carrying the news to grave and to other cities that the royalists had been completely routed. this was, however, very far from the truth. the patriot cavalry, mostly carabineers, wheeled after the first discharge, and retired to reload their pieces, but before they were ready for another attack, the spanish lancers and the german black troopers, who had all remained firm, set upon them with great spirit: a fierce, bloody, and confused action succeeded, in which the patriots were completely overthrown. count louis, finding that the day was lost, and his army cut to pieces, rallied around him a little band of troopers, among whom were his brother, count henry, and duke christopher, and together they made a final and desperate charge. it was the last that was ever seen of them on earth. they all went down together, in the midst of the fight, and were never heard of more. the battle terminated, as usual in those conflicts of mutual hatred, in a horrible butchery, hardly any of the patriot army being left to tell the tale of their disaster. at least four thousand were killed, including those who were slain on the field, those who were suffocated in the marshes or the river, and those who were burned in the farm-houses where they had taken refuge. it was uncertain which of those various modes of death had been the lot of count louis, his brother, and his friend. the mystery was never solved. they had, probably, all died on the field; but, stripped of their clothing, with their, faces trampled upon by the hoofs of horses, it was not possible to distinguish them from the less illustrious dead. it was the opinion of, many that they had been drowned in the river; of others, that they had been burned. [meteren, v. . bor, vii. , . hoofd, bentivoglio, ubi sup. the walloon historian, occasionally cited in these pages, has a more summary manner of accounting for the fate of these distinguished personages. according to his statement, the leaders of the protestant forces dined and made merry at a convent in the neighbourhood upon good friday, five days before the battle, using the sacramental chalices at the banquet, and mixing consecrated wafers with their wine. as a punishment for this sacrilege, the army was utterly overthrown, and the devil himself flew away with the chieftains, body and soul.] there was a vague tale that louis, bleeding but not killed, had struggled forth from the heap of corpses where he had been thrown, had crept to the, river-side, and, while washing his wounds, had been surprised and butchered by a party of rustics. the story was not generally credited, but no man knew, or was destined to learn, the truth. a dark and fatal termination to this last enterprise of count louis had been anticipated by many. in that superstitious age, when emperors and princes daily investigated the future, by alchemy, by astrology, and by books of fate, filled with formula; as gravely and precisely set forth as algebraical equations; when men of every class, from monarch to peasant, implicitly believed in supernatural portents and prophecies, it was not singular that a somewhat striking appearance, observed in the sky some weeks previously to the battle of mookerheyde, should have inspired many persons with a shuddering sense of impending evil. early in february five soldiers of the burgher guard at utrecht, being on their midnight watch, beheld in the sky above them the representation of a furious battle. the sky was extremely dark, except directly over: their heads; where, for a space equal in extent to the length of the city, and in breadth to that of an ordinary chamber, two armies, in battle array, were seen advancing upon each other. the one moved rapidly up from the north-west, with banners waving; spears flashing, trumpets sounding; accompanied by heavy artillery and by squadrons of cavalry. the other came slowly forward from the southeast; as if from an entrenched camp, to encounter their assailants. there was a fierce action for a few moments, the shouts of the combatants, the heavy discharge of cannon, the rattle of musketry; the tramp of heavy-aimed foot soldiers, the rush of cavalry, being distinctly heard. the firmament trembled with the shock of the contending hosts, and was lurid with the rapid discharges of their artillery. after a short, fierce engagement, the north-western army was beaten back in disorder, but rallied again, after a breathing-time, formed again into solid column, and again advanced. their foes, arrayed, as the witnesses affirmed, in a square and closely serried grove of spears' and muskets, again awaited the attack. once more the aerial cohorts closed upon each other, all the signs and sounds of a desperate encounter being distinctly recognised by the eager witnesses. the struggle seemed but short. the lances of the south-eastern army seemed to snap "like hemp-stalks," while their firm columns all went down together in mass, beneath the onset of their enemies. the overthrow was complete, victors and vanquished had faded, the clear blue space, surrounded by black clouds, was empty, when suddenly its whole extent, where the conflict had so lately raged, was streaked with blood, flowing athwart the sky in broad crimson streams; nor was it till the five witnesses had fully watched and pondered over these portents that the vision entirely vanished. so impressed were the grave magistrates of utrecht with the account given next day by the sentinels, that a formal examination of the circumstances was made, the deposition of each witness, under oath, duly recorded, and a vast deal of consultation of soothsayers' books and other auguries employed to elucidate the mystery. it was universally considered typical of the anticipated battle between count louis and the spaniards. when, therefore, it was known that the patriots, moving from the south-east, had arrived at mookerheyde, and that their adversaries, crossing the meuse at grave, had advanced upon them from the north-west, the result of the battle was considered inevitable; the phantom battle of utrecht its infallible precursor. thus perished louis of nassau in the flower of his manhood, in the midst of a career already crowded with events such as might suffice for a century of ordinary existence. it is difficult to find in history a more frank and loyal character. his life was noble; the elements of the heroic and the genial so mixed in him that the imagination contemplates him, after three centuries, with an almost affectionate interest. he was not a great man. he was far from possessing the subtle genius or the expansive views of his brother; but, called as he was to play a prominent part in one of the most complicated and imposing dramas ever enacted by man, he, nevertheless, always acquitted himself with honor. his direct, fearless and energetic nature commanded alike the respect of friend and foe. as a politician, a soldier, and a diplomatist, he was busy, bold, and true. he, accomplished by sincerity what many thought could only be compassed by trickery. dealing often with the most adroit and most treacherous of princes and statesmen, he frequently carried his point, and he never stooped to flattery. from the time when, attended by his "twelve disciples," he assumed the most prominent part in the negotiations with margaret of parma, through all the various scenes of the revolution, through, all the conferences with spaniards, italians, huguenots. malcontents, flemish councillors, or german princes, he was the consistent and unflinching supporter of religious liberty and constitutional law. the battle of heiliger lee and the capture of mons were his most signal triumphs, but the fruits of both were annihilated by subsequent disaster. his headlong courage was his chief foible. the french accused him of losing the battle of moncontour by his impatience to engage; yet they acknowledged that to his masterly conduct it was owing that their retreat was effected in so successful, and even so brilliant a manner. he was censured for rashness and precipitancy in this last and fatal enterprise, but the reproach seems entirely without foundation. the expedition as already stated, had been deliberately arranged, with the full co-operation of his brother, and had been preparing several months. that he was able to set no larger force on foot than that which he led into gueldres was not his fault. but for the floating ice which barred his passage of the meuse, he would have surprised maestricht; but for the mutiny, which rendered his mercenary soldiers cowards, he might have defeated avila at mookerheyde. had he done so he would have joined his brother in the isle of bommel in triumph; the spaniards would, probably, have been expelled from holland, and leyden saved the horrors of that memorable siege which she was soon called, upon to endure. these results were not in his destiny. providence had decreed that he should perish in the midst of his usefulness; that the prince, in his death,'should lose the right hand which had been so swift to execute his various plans, and the faithful fraternal heart which had always responded so readily to every throb of his own. in figure, he was below the middle height, but martial and noble in his bearing. the expression of his countenance was lively; his manner frank and engaging. all who knew him personally loved him, and he was the idol of his gallant brethren: his mother always addressed him as her dearly beloved, her heart's-cherished louis. "you must come soon to me," she wrote in the last year of his life, "for i have many matters to ask your advice upon; and i thank you beforehand, for you have loved me as your mother all the days of your life; for which may god almighty have you in his holy keeping." it was the doom of this high-born, true-hearted dame to be called upon to weep oftener for her children than is the usual lot of mothers. count adolphus had already perished in his youth on the field of heiliger lee, and now louis and his young brother henry, who had scarcely attained his twenty-sixth year, and whose short life had been passed in that faithful service to the cause of freedom which was the instinct of his race, had both found a bloody and an unknown grave. count john, who had already done so much for the cause, was fortunately spared to do much more. although of the expedition, and expecting to participate in the battle, he had, at the urgent solicitation of all the leaders, left the army for a brief, season, in order to obtain at cologne a supply of money, for the mutinous troops: he had started upon this mission two days before the action in which he, too, would otherwise have been sacrificed. the young duke christopher, "optimm indolis et magnee spei adolescens," who had perished on the same field, was sincerely mourned by the lovers of freedom. his father, the elector, found his consolation in the scriptures, and in the reflection that his son had died in the bed of honor, fighting for the cause of god. "'t was better thus," said that stern calvinist, whose dearest wish was to "calvinize the world," than to have passed his time in idleness, "which is the devil's pillow." vague rumors of the catastrophe had spread far and wide. it was soon certain that louis had been defeated, but, for a long time, conflicting reports were in circulation as to the fate of the leaders. the prince of orange, meanwhile, passed days of intense anxiety, expecting hourly to hear from his brothers, listening to dark rumors, which he refused to credit and could not contradict, and writing letters, day after day, long after the eyes which should have read the friendly missives were closed. the victory of the king's army at mookerheyde had been rendered comparatively barren by the mutiny which broke forth the day after the battle. three years' pay were due to the spanish troops, and it was not surprising that upon this occasion one of those periodic rebellions should break forth, by which the royal cause was frequently so much weakened, and the royal governors so intolerably perplexed. these mutinies were of almost regular occurrence, and attended by as regular a series of phenomena. the spanish troops, living so far from their own country, but surrounded by their women, and constantly increasing swarms of children, constituted a locomotive city of considerable population, permanently established on a foreign soil. it was a city walled in by bayonets, and still further isolated from the people around by the impassable moat of mutual hatred. it was a city obeying the articles of war, governed by despotic authority, and yet occasionally revealing, in full force, the irrepressible democratic element. at periods which could almost be calculated, the military populace were wont to rise upon the privileged classes, to deprive them of office and liberty, and to set up in their place commanders of their own election. a governor-in-chief, a sergeant-major, a board of councillors and various other functionaries, were chosen by acclamation and universal suffrage. the eletto, or chief officer thus appointed, was clothed with supreme power, but forbidden to exercise it. he was surrounded by councillors, who watched his every motion, read all his correspondence, and assisted at all his conferences, while the councillors were themselves narrowly watched by the commonalty. these movements were, however, in general, marked by the most exemplary order. anarchy became a system of government; rebellion enacted and enforced the strictest rules of discipline; theft, drunkenness, violence to women, were severely punished. as soon as the mutiny broke forth, the first object was to take possession of the nearest city, where the eletto was usually established in the town-house, and the soldiery quartered upon the citizens. nothing in the shape of food or lodging was too good for these marauders. men who had lived for years on camp rations--coarse knaves who had held the plough till compelled to handle the musket, now slept in fine linen, and demanded from the trembling burghers the daintiest viands. they ate the land bare, like a swarm of locusts. "chickens and partridges," says the thrifty chronicler of antwerp, "capons and pheasants, hares and rabbits, two kinds of wines;--for sauces, capers and olives, citrons and oranges, spices and sweetmeats; wheaten bread for their dogs, and even wine, to wash the feet of their horses;"--such was the entertainment demanded and obtained by the mutinous troops. they were very willing both to enjoy the luxury of this forage, and to induce the citizens, from weariness of affording compelled hospitality, to submit to a taxation by which the military claims might be liquidated. a city thus occupied was at the mercy of a foreign soldiery, which had renounced all authority but that of self-imposed laws. the king's officers were degraded, perhaps murdered; while those chosen to supply their places had only a nominal control. the eletto, day by day, proclaimed from the balcony of the town-house the latest rules and regulations. if satisfactory, there was a clamor of applause; if objectionable, they were rejected with a tempest of hisses, with discharges of musketry; the eletto did not govern: he was a dictator who could not dictate, but could only register decrees. if too honest, too firm, or too dull for his place, he was deprived of his office and sometimes of his life. another was chosen in his room, often to be succeeded by a series of others, destined to the same fate. such were the main characteristics of those formidable mutinies, the result of the unthriftiness and dishonesty by which the soldiery engaged in these interminable hostilities were deprived of their dearly earned wages. the expense of the war was bad enough at best, but when it is remembered that of three or four dollars sent from spain, or contributed by the provinces for the support of the army, hardly one reached the pockets of the soldier, the frightful expenditure which took place may be imagined. it was not surprising that so much peculation should engender revolt. the mutiny which broke out after the defeat of count louis was marked with the most pronounced and inflammatory of these symptoms. three years' pay was due, to the spaniards, who, having just achieved a signal victory, were-disposed to reap its fruits, by fair means or by force. on receiving nothing but promises, in answer to their clamorous demands, they mutinied to a man, and crossed the meuse to grave, whence, after accomplishing the usual elections, they took their course to antwerp. being in such strong force, they determined to strike at the capital. rumour flew before them. champagny, brother of granvelle, and royal governor of the city, wrote in haste to apprise requesens of the approaching danger. the grand commander, attended only by vitelli, repaired instantly to antwerp. champagny advised throwing up a breastwork with bales of merchandize, upon the esplanade, between the citadel and the town, for it was at this point, where the connection between the fortifications of the castle and those of the city had never been thoroughly completed, that the invasion might be expected. requesens hesitated. he trembled at a conflict with his own soldiery. if successful, he could only be so by trampling upon the flower of his army. if defeated, what would become of the king's authority, with rebellious troops triumphant in rebellious provinces? sorely perplexed, the commander, could think of no expedient. not knowing what to do, he did nothing. in the meantime, champagny, who felt himself odious to the soldiery, retreated to the newtown, and barricaded himself, with a few followers, in the house of the baltic merchants. on the th of april, the mutinous troops in perfect order, marched into the city, effecting their entrance precisely at the weak point where they had been expected. numbering at least three thousand, they encamped on the esplanade, where requesens appeared before them alone on horseback, and made them an oration. they listened with composure, but answered briefly and with one accord, "dineros y non palabras," dollars not speeches. requesens promised profusely, but the time was past for promises. hard silver dollars would alone content an army which, after three years of bloodshed and starvation, had at last taken the law into their own hands. requesens withdrew to consult the broad council of the city. he was without money himself, but he demanded four hundred thousand crowns of the city. this was at first refused, but the troops knew the strength of their position, for these mutinies were never repressed, and rarely punished. on this occasion the commander was afraid to employ force, and the burghers, after the army had been quartered upon them for a time, would gladly pay a heavy ransom to be rid of their odious and expensive guests. the mutineers foreseeing that the work might last a few weeks, and determined to proceed leisurely; took possession of the great square. the eletto, with his staff of councillors, was quartered in the town-house, while the soldiers distributed themselves among the houses of the most opulent citizens, no one escaping a billet who was rich enough to receive such company: bishop or burgomaster, margrave or merchant. the most famous kitchens were naturally the most eagerly sought, and sumptuous apartments, luxurious dishes, delicate wines, were daily demanded. the burghers dared not refuse. the six hundred walloons, who had been previously quartered in the city, were expelled, and for many days, the mutiny reigned paramount. day after day the magistracy, the heads of guilds, all the representatives of the citizens were assembled in the broad council. the governor-general insisted on his demand of four hundred thousand crowns, representing, with great justice, that the mutineers would remain in the city until they had eaten and drunk to that amount, and that there would still be the arrearages; for which the city would be obliged to raise the funds. on the th of may, the authorities made an offer, which was duly communicated to the eletto. that functionary stood forth on a window-sill of the town-house, and addressed the soldiery. he informed them that the grand commander proposed to pay ten months' arrears in cash, five months in silks and woollen cloths, and the balance in promises, to be fulfilled within a few days. the terms were not considered satisfactory, and were received with groans of derision. the eletto, on the contrary, declared them very liberal, and reminded the soldiers of the perilous condition in which they stood, guilty to a man of high treason, with a rope around every neck. it was well worth their while to accept the offer made them, together with the absolute pardon for the past, by which it was accompanied. for himself, he washed his hands of the consequences if the offer were rejected. the soldiers answered by deposing the eletto and choosing another in his room. three days after, a mutiny broke out in the citadel--an unexampled occurrence. the rebels ordered sancho d'avila, the commandant, to deliver the keys of the fortress. he refused to surrender them but with his life. they then contented themselves with compelling his lieutenant to leave the citadel, and with sending their eletto to confer with the grand commander, as well as with the eletto of the army. after accomplishing his mission, he returned, accompanied by chiappin vitelli, as envoy of the governor-general. no sooner, however, had the eletto set foot on the drawbridge than he was attacked by ensign salvatierra of the spanish garrison, who stabbed him to the heart and threw him into the moat. the ensign, who was renowned in the army for his ferocious courage, and who wore embroidered upon his trunk hose the inscription, "el castigador de los flamencos," then rushed upon the sergeant-major of the mutineers, despatched him in the same way, and tossed him likewise into the moat. these preliminaries being settled, a satisfactory arrangement was negotiated between vitelli and the rebellious garrison. pardon for the past, and payment upon the same terms as those offered in the city, were accepted, and the mutiny of the citadel was quelled. it was, however, necessary that salvatierra should conceal himself for a long time, to escape being torn to pieces by the incensed soldiery. meantime, affairs in the city were more difficult to adjust. the mutineers raised an altar of chests and bales upon the public square, and celebrated mass under the open sky, solemnly swearing to be true to each other to the last. the scenes of carousing and merry-making were renewed at the expense of the citizens, who were again exposed to nightly alarms from the boisterous mirth and ceaseless mischief-making of the soldiers. before the end of the month; the broad council, exhausted by the incubus which had afflicted them so many weeks, acceded to the demand of requesens. the four hundred thousand crowns were furnished, the grand commander accepting them as a loan, and giving in return bonds duly signed and countersigned, together with a mortgage upon all the royal domains. the citizens received the documents, as a matter of form, but they had handled such securities before, and valued them but slightly. the mutineers now agreed to settle with the governor-general, on condition of receiving all their wages, either in cash or cloth, together with a solemn promise of pardon for all their acts of insubordination. this pledge was formally rendered with appropriate religious ceremonies, by requesens, in the cathedral. the payments were made directly afterwards, and a great banquet was held on the same day, by the whole mass of the soldiery, to celebrate the event. the feast took place on the place of the meer, and was a scene of furious revelry. the soldiers, more thoughtless than children, had arrayed themselves in extemporaneous costumes, cut from the cloth which they had at last received in payment of their sufferings and their blood. broadcloths, silks, satins, and gold-embroidered brocades, worthy of a queen's wardrobe, were hung in fantastic drapery around the sinewy forms and bronzed faces of the soldiery, who, the day before, had been clothed in rags. the mirth was fast and furious; and scarce was the banquet finished before every drum-head became a gaming-table, around which gathered groups eager to sacrifice in a moment their dearly-bought gold. the fortunate or the prudent had not yet succeeded in entirely plundering their companions, when the distant booming of cannon was heard from the river. instantly, accoutred as they were in their holiday and fantastic costumes, the soldiers, no longer mutinous, were summoned from banquet and gaming-table, and were ordered forth upon the dykes. the patriot admiral boisot, who had so recently defeated the fleet of bergen, under the eyes of the grand commander, had unexpectedly sailed up the scheld, determined to destroy the, fleet of antwerp, which upon that occasion had escaped. between, the forts of lillo and callao, he met with twenty-two vessels under the command of vice-admiral haemstede. after a short and sharp action, he was completely victorious. fourteen of the enemy's ships were burned or sunk, with all their crews, and admiral haemstede was taken prisoner. the soldiers opened a warm fire of musketry upon boisot from the dyke, to which he responded with his cannon. the distance of the combatants, however, made the action unimportant; and the patriots retired down the river, after achieving a complete victory. the grand commander was farther than ever from obtaining that foothold on the sea, which as he had informed his sovereign, was the only means by which the netherlands could be reduced. [chapter ii.] first siege of leyden--commencement of the second--description of the city--preparations for defence--letters of orange--act of amnesty issued by requesens--its conditions--its reception by the hollanders--correspondence of the glippers--sorties and fierce combats beneath the walls of leyden--position of the prince--his project of relief magnanimity of the people--breaking of the dykes-- emotions in the city and the besieging camp--letter of the estates of holland--dangerous illness of the prince--the "wild zealanders"-- admiral boisot commences his voyage--sanguinary combat on the land-- scheiding--occupation of that dyke and of the green way--pauses and progress of the flotilla--the prince visits the fleet--horrible sufferings in the city--speech of van der werf--heroism of the inhabitants--the admiral's letters--the storm--advance of boisot-- lammen fortress----an anxious night--midnight retreat of the spaniards--the admiral enters the city--thanksgiving in the great church the prince in leyden--parting words of valdez--mutiny--leyden university founded--the charter--inauguration ceremonies. the invasion of louis of nassau had, as already stated, effected the raising of the first siege of leyden. that leaguer had lasted from the st of october, , to the st of march, , when the soldiers were summoned away to defend the frontier. by an extraordinary and culpable carelessness, the citizens, neglecting the advice of the prince, had not taken advantage of the breathing time thus afforded them to victual the city and strengthen the garrison. they seemed to reckon more confidently upon the success of count louis than he had even done himself; for it was very probable that, in case of his defeat, the siege would be instantly resumed. this natural result was not long in following the battle of mookerheyde. on the th of may, valdez reappeared before the place, at the head of eight thousand walloons and germans, and leyden was now destined to pass through a fiery ordeal. this city was one of the most beautiful in the netherlands. placed in the midst of broad and fruitful pastures, which had been reclaimed by the hand of industry from the bottom of the sea; it was fringed with smiling villages, blooming gardens, fruitful orchards. the ancient and, at last, decrepit rhine, flowing languidly towards its sandy death-bed, had been multiplied into innumerable artificial currents, by which the city was completely interlaced. these watery streets were shaded by lime trees, poplars, and willows, and crossed by one hundred and forty-five bridges, mostly of hammered stone. the houses were elegant, the squares and streets spacious, airy and clean, the churches and public edifices imposing, while the whole aspect, of the place suggested thrift, industry, and comfort. upon an artificial elevation, in the centre of the city, rose a ruined tower of unknown antiquity. by some it was considered to be of roman origin, while others preferred to regard it as a work of the anglo-saxon hengist, raised to commemorate his conquest of england. [guicciardini, descript. holl, et zelandire. bor, vii. . bentivoglio, viii. "putatur engistus britanno orbe redus posuisse victor," etc., etc. according to the celebrated poem of john von der does, the accomplished and valiant commandant of the city. the tower, which is doubtless a roman one, presents, at the present day, almost precisely the same appearance as that described by the contemporaneous historians of the siege. the verses of the commandant show the opinion, that the anglo-saxon conquerors of britain went from holland, to have been a common one in the sixteenth century.] surrounded by fruit trees, and overgrown in the centre with oaks, it afforded, from its mouldering battlements, a charming prospect over a wide expanse of level country, with the spires of neighbouring cities rising in every direction. it was from this commanding height, during the long and terrible summer days which were approaching, that many an eye was to be strained anxiously seaward, watching if yet the ocean had begun to roll over the land. valdez lost no time in securing himself in the possession of maeslandsluis, vlaardingen, and the hague. five hundred english, under command of colonel edward chester, abandoned the fortress of valkenburg, and fled towards leyden. refused admittance by the citizens, who now, with reason, distrusted them, they surrendered to valdez, and were afterwards sent back to england. in the course of a few days, leyden was thoroughly invested, no less than sixty-two redoubts, some of them having remained undestroyed from the previous siege, now girdling the city, while the besiegers already numbered nearly eight thousand, a force to be daily increased. on the other hand, there were no troops in the town, save a small corps of "freebooters," and five companies of the burgher guard. john van der does, seigneur of nordwyck, a gentleman of distinguished family, but still more distinguished for his learning, his poetical genius, and his valor, had accepted the office of military commandant. the main reliance of the city, under god, was on the stout hearts of its inhabitants within the walls, and on, the sleepless energy of william the silent without. the prince, hastening to comfort and encourage the citizens, although he had been justly irritated by their negligence in having omitted to provide more sufficiently against the emergency while there had yet been time, now reminded them that they were not about to contend for themselves alone, but that the fate of their country and of unborn generations would, in all human probability, depend on the issue about to be tried. eternal glory would be their portion if they manifested a courage worthy of their race and of the sacred cause of religion and liberty. he implored them to hold out at least three months, assuring them that he would, within that time, devise the means of their deliverance. the citizens responded, courageously and confidently, to these missives, and assured the prince of their firm confidence in their own fortitude and his exertions. and truly they had a right to rely on that calm and unflinching soul, as on a rock of adamant. all alone, without a being near him to consult, his right arm struck from him by the death of louis, with no brother left to him but the untiring and faithful john, he prepared without delay for the new task imposed upon him. france, since the defeat and death of louis, and the busy intrigues which had followed the accession of henry iii., had but small sympathy for the netherlands. the english government, relieved from the fear of france; was more cold and haughty than ever. an englishman employed by requesens to assassinate the prince of orange, had been arrested in zealand, who impudently pretended that he had undertaken to perform the same office for count john, with the full consent and privity of queen elizabeth. the provinces of holland and zealand were stanch and true, but the inequality of the contest between a few brave men, upon that handsbreadth of territory, and the powerful spanish empire, seemed to render the issue hopeless. moreover, it was now thought expedient to publish the amnesty which had been so long in preparation, and this time the trap was more liberally baited. the pardon, which had: passed the seals upon the th of march, was formally issue: by the grand commander on the th of june. by the terms of this document the king invited all his erring and repentant subjects, to return to his arms; and to accept a full forgiveness for their past offences, upon the sole condition that they should once more throw themselves upon the bosom of the mother church. there were but few exceptions to the amnesty, a small number of individuals, all mentioned by name, being alone excluded; but although these terms were ample, the act was liable to a few stern objections. it was easier now for the hollanders to go to their graves than to mass, for the contest, in its progress, had now entirely assumed the aspect of a religious war. instead of a limited number of heretics in a state which, although constitutional was catholic, there was now hardly a papist to be found among the natives. to accept the pardon then was to concede the victory, and the hollanders had not yet discovered that they were conquered. they were resolved, too, not only to be conquered, but annihilated, before the roman church should be re-established on their soil, to the entire exclusion of the reformed worship. they responded with steadfast enthusiasm to the sentiment expressed by the prince of orange, after the second siege of leyden had been commenced; "as long as there is a living man left in the country, we will contend for our liberty and our religion." the single condition of the amnesty assumed, in a phrase; what spain had fruitlessly striven to establish by a hundred battles, and the hollanders had not faced their enemy on land and sea for seven years to succumb to a phrase at last. moreover, the pardon came from the wrong direction. the malefactor gravely extended forgiveness to his victims. although the hollanders had not yet disembarrassed their minds of the supernatural theory of government, and felt still the reverence of habit for regal divinity, they naturally considered themselves outraged by the trick now played before them. the man who had violated all his oaths, trampled upon all their constitutional liberties, burned and sacked their cities, confiscated their wealth, hanged, beheaded, burned, and buried alive their innocent brethren, now came forward, not to implore, but to offer forgiveness. not in sackcloth, but in royal robes; not with ashes, but with a diadem upon his head, did the murderer present himself vicariously upon the scene of his crimes. it may be supposed that, even in the sixteenth century, there were many minds which would revolt at such blasphemy. furthermore, even had the people of holland been weak enough to accept the pardon, it was impossible to believe that the promise would be fulfilled. it was sufficiently known how much faith was likely to be kept with heretics, notwithstanding that the act was fortified by a papal bull, dated on the th of april, by which gregory xiii. promised forgiveness to those netherland sinners who duly repented and sought absolution for their crimes, even although they had sinned more than seven times seven. for a moment the prince had feared lest the pardon might produce some effect upon men wearied by interminable suffering, but the event proved him wrong. it was received with universal and absolute contempt. no man came forward to take advantage of its conditions, save one brewer in utrecht, and the son of a refugee peddler from leyden. with these exceptions, the only ones recorded, holland remained deaf to the royal voice. the city of leyden was equally cold to the messages of mercy, which were especially addressed to its population by valdez and his agents. certain netherlanders, belonging to the king's party, and familiarly called "glippers," despatched from the camp many letters to their rebellious acquaintances in the city. in these epistles the citizens of leyden were urgently and even pathetically exhorted to submission by their loyal brethren, and were implored "to take pity upon their poor old fathers, their daughters, and their wives." but the burghers of leyden thought that the best pity which they could show to those poor old fathers, daughters, and wives, was to keep them from the clutches of the spanish soldiery; so they made no answer to the glippers, save by this single line, which they wrote on a sheet of paper, and forwarded, like a letter, to valdez: "fistula dulce canit, volucrem cum decipit auceps." according to the advice early given by the prince of orange, the citizens had taken an account of their provisions of all kinds, including the live stock. by the end of june, the city was placed on a strict allowance of food, all the provisions being purchased by the authorities at an equitable price. half a pound of meat and half a pound of bread was allotted to a full grown man, and to the rest, a due proportion. the city being strictly invested, no communication, save by carrier pigeons, and by a few swift and skilful messengers called jumpers, was possible. sorties and fierce combats were, however, of daily occurrence, and a handsome bounty was offered to any man who brought into the city gates the head of a spaniard. the reward was paid many times, but the population was becoming so excited and so apt, that the authorities felt it dangerous to permit the continuance of these conflicts. lest the city, little by little, should lose its few disciplined defenders, it was now proclaimed, by sound of church bell, that in future no man should leave the gates. the prince had his head-quarters at delft and at rotterdam. between those two cities, an important fortress, called polderwaert, secured him in the control of the alluvial quadrangle, watered on two sides by the yssel and the meuse. on the th june, the spaniards, feeling its value, had made an unsuccessful effort to carry this fort by storm. they had been beaten off, with the loss of several hundred men, the prince remaining in possession of the position, from which alone he could hope to relieve leyden. he still held in his hand the keys with which he could unlock the ocean gates and let the waters in upon the land, and he had long been convinced that nothing could save the city but to break the dykes. leyden was not upon the sea, but he could send the sea to. leyden, although an army fit to encounter the besieging force under valdez could not be levied. the battle of mookerheyde had, for the, present, quite settled the question, of land relief, but it was possible to besiege the besiegers, with the waves of the ocean. the spaniards occupied the coast from the hague to vlaardingen, but the dykes along the meuse and yssel were in possession of the prince. he determined, that these should be pierced, while, at the same time, the great sluices at rotterdam, schiedam, and delftshaven should be opened. the damage to the fields, villages, and growing crops would be enormous, but he felt that no other course could rescue leyden, and with it the whole of holland from destruction. his clear expositions and impassioned eloquence at last overcame all resistance. by the middle of july the estates consented to his plan, and its execution was immediately undertaken. "better a drowned land than a lost land," cried the patriots, with enthusiasm, as they devoted their fertile fields to desolation. the enterprise for restoring their territory, for a season, to the waves, from which it had been so patiently rescued, was conducted with as much regularity as if it had been a profitable undertaking. a capital was formally subscribed, for which a certain number of bonds were issued, payable at a long date. in addition to this preliminary fund, a monthly allowance of forty-five guldens was voted by the estates, until the work should be completed, and a large sum was contributed by the ladies of the land, who freely furnished their plate, jewellery, and costly furniture to the furtherance of the scheme. meantime, valdez, on the th july; issued most urgent and ample offers of pardon to the citizens, if they would consent to open their gates and accept the king's authority, but his overtures were received with silent contempt, notwithstanding that the population was already approaching the starvation point. although not yet fully informed of the active measures taken by the prince, yet they still chose to rely upon his energy and their own fortitude, rather than upon the honied words which had formerly been heard at the gates of harlem and of naarden. on the rd of august, the prince; accompanied by paul buys, chief of the commission appointed to execute the enterprise, went in person along the yssel; as far as kappelle, and superintended the rupture of the dykes in sixteen places. the gates at schiedam and rotterdam were, opened, and the ocean began to pour over the land. while waiting for the waters to rise, provisions were rapidly, collected, according to an edict of the prince, in all the principal towns of the neighbourhood, and some two hundred vessels, of various sizes, had also been got ready at rotterdam, delftshaven, and other ports. the citizens of leyden were, however, already becoming impatient, for their bread was gone, and of its substitute malt cake, they had but slender provision. on the th of august they received a letter from the prince, encouraging them to resistance, and assuring them of a speedy relief, and on the st they addressed a despatch to him in reply, stating that they had now fulfilled their original promise, for they had held out two months with food, and another month without food. if not soon assisted, human strength could do no more; their malt cake would last but four days, and after that was gone, there was nothing left but starvation. upon the same day, however, they received a letter, dictated by the prince, who now lay in bed at rotterdam with a violent fever, assuring them that the dykes were all pierced, and that the water was rising upon the "land-scheiding," the great outer barrier which separated the city from the sea. he said nothing however of his own illness, which would have cast a deep shadow over the joy which now broke forth among the burghers. the letter was read publicly in the market-place, and to increase the cheerfulness, burgomaster van der werf, knowing the sensibility of his countrymen to music, ordered the city musicians to perambulate the streets, playing lively melodies and martial airs. salvos of cannon were likewise fired, and the starving city for a brief space put on the aspect of a holiday, much to the astonishment of the besieging forces, who were not yet aware of the prince's efforts. they perceived very soon, however, as the water everywhere about leyden had risen to the depth of ten inches, that they stood in a perilous position. it was no trifling danger to be thus attacked by the waves of the ocean, which seemed about to obey with docility the command of william the silent. valdez became anxious and uncomfortable at the strange aspect of affairs, for the besieging army was now in its turn beleaguered, and by a stronger power than man's. he consulted with the most experienced of his officers, with the country people, with the most distinguished among the glippers, and derived encouragement from their views concerning the prince's plan. they pronounced it utterly futile and hopeless: the glippers knew the country well, and ridiculed the desperate project in unmeasured terms. even in the city itself, a dull distrust had succeeded to the first vivid gleam of hope, while the few royalists among the population boldly taunted their fellow-citizens to their faces with the absurd vision of relief which they had so fondly welcomed. "go up to the tower, ye beggars," was the frequent and taunting cry, "go up to the tower, and tell us if ye can see the ocean coming over the dry land to your relief"--and day after day they did go, up to the ancient tower of hengist, with heavy heart and anxious eye, watching, hoping, praying, fearing, and at last almost despairing of relief by god or man. on the th they addressed a desponding letter to the estates, complaining that the city had been forgotten in, its utmost need, and on the same day a prompt and warm-hearted reply was received, in which the citizens were assured that every human effort was to be made for their relief. "rather," said the estates, "will we see our whole land and all our possessions perish in the waves, than forsake thee, leyden. we know full well, moreover, that with leyden, all holland must perish also." they excused themselves for not having more frequently written, upon the, ground that the whole management of the measures for their relief had been entrusted to the prince, by whom alone all the details had been administered, and all the correspondence conducted. the fever of the prince had, meanwhile, reached its height. he lay at rotterdam, utterly prostrate in body, and with mind agitated nearly to delirium, by the perpetual and almost unassisted schemes which he was constructing. relief, not only for leyden, but for the whole country, now apparently sinking into the abyss, was the vision which he pursued as he tossed upon his restless couch. never was illness more unseasonable. his attendants were in despair, for it was necessary that his mind should for a time be spared the agitation of business. the physicians who attended him agreed, as to his disorder, only in this, that it was the result of mental fatigue and melancholy, and could be cured only by removing all distressing and perplexing subjects from his thoughts, but all the physicians in the world could not have succeeded in turning his attention for an instant from the great cause of his country. leyden lay, as it were, anxious and despairing at his feet, and it was impossible for him to close his ears to her cry. therefore, from his sick bed he continued to dictate; words of counsel and encouragement to the city; to admiral boisot, commanding, the fleet, minute directions and precautions. towards the end of august a vague report had found its way into his sick chamber that leyden had fallen, and although he refused to credit the tale, yet it served to harass his mind, and to heighten fever. cornelius van mierop, receiver general of holland, had occasion to visit him at rotterdam, and strange to relate, found the house almost deserted. penetrating, unattended, to the prince's bed-chamber, he found him lying quite alone. inquiring what had become, of all his attendants, he was answered by the prince, in a very feeble voice, that he had sent them all away. the receiver-general seems, from this, to have rather hastily arrived at the conclusion that the prince's disorder was the pest, and that his servants and friends had all deserted him from cowardice. this was very far from being the case. his private secretary and his maitre d'hotel watched, day and night, by his couch, and the best physicians of the city were in constant attendance. by a singular accident; all had been despatched on different errands, at the express desire of their master, but there had never been a suspicion that his disorder was the pest, or pestilential. nerves of steel, and a frame of adamant could alone have resisted the constant anxiety and the consuming fatigue to which he had so long been exposed. his illness had been aggravated by the, rumor of leyden's fall, a fiction which cornelius mierop was now enabled flatly to contradict. the prince began to mend from that hour. by the end of the first week of september, he wrote along letter to his brother, assuring him of his convalescence, and expressing, as usual; a calm confidence in the divine decrees--"god will ordain for me," said he, "all which is necessary for my good and my salvation. he will load me with no more afflictions than the fragility of this nature can sustain." the preparations for the relief of leyden, which, notwithstanding his exertions, had grown slack during his sickness, were now vigorously resumed. on the st of september, admiral boisot arrived out of zealand with a small number of vessels, and with eight hundred veteran sailors. a wild and ferocious crew were those eight hundred zealanders. scarred, hacked, and even maimed, in the unceasing conflicts in which their lives had passed; wearing crescents in their caps, with the inscription, "rather turkish than popish;" renowned far and wide, as much for their ferocity as for their nautical skill; the appearance of these wildest of the "sea-beggars" was both eccentric and terrific. they were known never to give nor to take quarter, for they went to mortal combat only, and had sworn to spare neither noble nor simple, neither king, kaiser, nor pope, should they fall into their power. more than two hundred-vessels had been assembled, carrying generally ten pieces of cannon, with from ten to eighteen oars, and manned with twenty-five hundred veterans, experienced both on land and water. the work was now undertaken in earnest. the distance from leyden to the outer dyke, over whose ruins the ocean had already been admitted, was nearly fifteen miles. this reclaimed territory, however, was not maintained against the sea by these external barriers alone. the flotilla made its way with ease to the land-scheiding, a strong dyke within five miles of leyden, but here its progress was arrested. the approach to the city was surrounded by many strong ramparts, one within the other, by which it was defended against its ancient enemy, the ocean, precisely like the circumvallations by means of which it was now assailed by its more recent enemy, the spaniard. to enable the fleet, however, to sail over the land; it was necessary to break through this two fold series of defences. between the land-scheiding and leyden were several dykes, which kept out the water; upon the level, were many villages, together with a chain of sixty-two forts, which completely occupied the land. all these villages and fortresses were held by the veteran, troops of the king; the besieging force, being about four times as strong as that which was coming to the rescue. the prince had given orders that the land-scheiding, which was still one-and-a-half foot above water, should be taken possession of; at every hazard. on the night of the th and th of september this was accomplished; by surprise; and in a masterly manner. the few spaniards who had been stationed upon the dyke were all, despatched or driven off, and the patriots fortified themselves upon it, without the loss of a man. as the day dawned the spaniards saw the fatal error which they had committed in leaving thus bulwark so feebly defended, and from two villages which stood close to the dyke, the troops now rushed inconsiderable force to recover what they had lost. a hot action succeeded, but the patriots had too securely established themselves. they completely defeated the enemy, who retired, leaving hundreds of dead on the field, and the patriots in complete possession of the land-scheiding. this first action was sanguinary and desperate. it gave a earnest of what these people, who came to relieve; their brethren, by sacrificing their, property and their lives; were determined to effect. it gave a revolting proof, too, of the intense hatred which nerved their arms. a zealander; having struck down a spaniard on the dyke, knelt on his bleeding enemy, tore his heart from his bosom; fastened his teeth in it for an instant, and then threw it to a dog, with the exclamation, "'tis too bitter." the spanish heart was, however, rescued, and kept for years, with the marks of the soldier's teeth upon it, a sad testimonial of the ferocity engendered by this war for national existence. the great dyke having been thus occupied, no time was lost in breaking it through in several places, a work which was accomplished under the very eyes of the enemy. the fleet sailed through the gaps, but, after their passage had been effected in good order, the admiral found, to his surprise, that it was not the only rampart to be carried. the prince had been informed, by those who claimed to know, the country, that, when once the land-scheiding had been passed, the water would flood the country as far as leyden, but the "green-way," another long dyke three-quarters of a mile farther inward, now rose at least a foot above the water, to oppose their further progress. fortunately, by, a second and still more culpable carelessness, this dyke had been left by the spaniards in as unprotected a state as the first had been, promptly and audaciously admiral boisot took possession of this barrier also, levelled it in many places, and brought his flotilla, in triumph, over its ruins. again, however, he was doomed to disappointment. a large mere, called the freshwater lake, was known to extend itself directly in his path about midway between the land-scheiding and the city. to this piece of water, into which he expected to have instantly floated, his only passage lay through one deep canal. the sea which had thus far borne him on, now diffusing itself over a very wide surface, and under the influence of an adverse wind, had become too shallow for his ships. the canal alone was deep enough, but it led directly towards a bridge, strongly occupied by the enemy. hostile troops, moreover, to the amount of three thousand occupied both sides of the canal. the bold boisot, nevertheless, determined to force his passage, if possible. selecting a few of his strongest vessels, his heaviest artillery, and his bravest sailors, he led the van himself, in a desperate attempt to make his way to the mere. he opened a hot fire upon the bridge, then converted into a fortress, while his men engaged in hand-to-hand combat with a succession of skirmishers from the troops along the canal. after losing a few men, and ascertaining the impregnable position of the enemy, he was obliged to withdraw, defeated, and almost despairing. a week had elapsed since the great dyke had been pierced, and the flotilla now lay motionless--in shallow water, having accomplished less than two miles. the wind, too, was easterly, causing the sea rather to sink than to rise. everything wore a gloomy aspect, when, fortunately, on the th, the wind shifted to the north-west, and for three days blew a gale. the waters rose rapidly, and before the second day was closed the armada was afloat again. some fugitives from zoetermeer village now arrived, and informed the admiral that, by making a detour to the right, he could completely circumvent the bridge and the mere. they guided him, accordingly, to a comparatively low dyke, which led between the villages of zoetermeer and benthuyzen: a strong force of spaniards was stationed in each place, but, seized with a panic, instead of sallying to defend the barrier, they fled inwardly towards leyden, and halted at the village of north aa. it was natural that they should be amazed. nothing is more appalling to the imagination than the rising ocean tide, when man feels himself within its power; and here were the waters, hourly deepening and closing around them, devouring the earth beneath their feet, while on the waves rode a flotilla, manned by a determined race; whose courage and ferocity were known throughout the world. the spanish soldiers, brave as they were on land, were not sailors, and in the naval contests which had taken place between them and the hollanders had been almost invariably defeated. it was not surprising, in these amphibious skirmishes, where discipline was of little avail, and habitual audacity faltered at the vague dangers which encompassed them, that the foreign troops should lose their presence of mind. three barriers, one within the other, had now been passed, and the flotilla, advancing with the advancing waves, and driving the enemy steadily before it, was drawing nearer to the beleaguered city. as one circle after another was passed, the besieging army found itself compressed within a constantly contracting field. the "ark of delft," an enormous vessel, with shot-proof bulwarks, and moved by paddle-wheels turned by a crank, now arrived at zoetermeer, and was soon followed by the whole fleet. after a brief delay, sufficient to allow the few remaining villagers to escape, both zoetermeer and benthuyzen, with the fortifications, were set on fire, and abandoned to their fate. the blaze lighted up the desolate and watery waste around, and was seen at leyden, where it was hailed as the beacon of hope. without further impediment, the armada proceeded to north aa; the enemy retreating from this position also, and flying to zoeterwoude, a strongly fortified village but a mile and three quarters from the city walls. it was now swarming with troops, for the bulk of the besieging army had gradually been driven into a narrow circle of forts, within the immediate neighbourhood of leyden. besides zoeterwoude, the two posts where they were principally established were lammen and leyderdorp, each within three hundred rods of the town. at leyderdorp were the head-quarters of valdez; colonel borgia commanded in the very strong fortress of lammen. the fleet was, however, delayed at north aa by another barrier, called the "kirk-way." the waters, too, spreading once more over a wider space, and diminishing under an east wind, which had again arisen, no longer permitted their progress, so that very soon the whole armada was stranded anew. the, waters fell to the depth of nine inches; while the vessels required eighteen and twenty. day after day the fleet lay motionless upon the shallow sea. orange, rising from his sick bed as soon as he could stand, now came on board the fleet. his presence diffused universal joy; his words inspired his desponding army with fresh hope. he rebuked the impatient spirits who, weary of their compulsory idleness, had shown symptoms of ill-timed ferocity, and those eight hundred mad zealanders, so frantic in their hatred to the foreigners, who had so long profaned their land, were as docile as children to the prince. he reconnoitred the whole ground, and issued orders for the immediate destruction of the kirkway, the last important barrier which separated the fleet from leyden. then, after a long conference with admiral boisot, he returned to delft. meantime, the besieged city was at its last gasp. the burghers had been in a state of uncertainty for many days; being aware that the fleet had set forth for their relief, but knowing full well the thousand obstacles which it, had to surmount. they had guessed its progress by the illumination from, the blazing villages; they had heard its salvos of artillery, on its arrival at north aa; but since then, all had been dark and mournful again, hope and fear, in sickening alternation, distracting every breast. they knew that the wind was unfavorable, and at the dawn of each day every eye was turned wistfully to the vanes of the, steeples. so long as the easterly breeze prevailed, they felt, as they anxiously stood on towers and housetops; that they must look in vain for the welcome ocean. yet, while thus patiently waiting, they were literally starving; for even the misery endured at harlem had not reached that depth and intensity of agony to which leyden was now reduced. bread, malt-cake, horseflesh, had entirely disappeared; dogs, cats, rats, and other vermin, were esteemed luxuries: a small number of cows, kept as long as possible, for their milk, still remained; but a few were killed from day to day; and distributed in minute proportions, hardly sufficient to support life among the famishing population. starving wretches swarmed daily around the shambles where these cattle were slaughtered, contending for any morsel which might fall, and lapping eagerly the blood as it ran along the pavement; while the hides; chopped and boiled, were greedily devoured. women and children, all day long, were seen searching gutters and dunghills for morsels of food, which they disputed fiercely with the famishing dogs. the green leaves were stripped from the trees, every living herb was converted into human food, but these expedients could not avert starvation. the daily mortality was frightful infants starved to death on the maternal breasts, which famine had parched and withered; mothers dropped dead in the streets, with their dead children in their arms. in many a house the watchmen, in their rounds, found a whole family of corpses, father, mother, and children, side by side, for a disorder called the plague, naturally engendered of hardship and famine, now came, as if in kindness, to abridge the agony of the people. the pestilence stalked at noonday through the city, and the doomed inhabitants fell like grass beneath its scythe. from six thousand to eight thousand human beings sank before this scourge alone, yet the people resolutely held out--women and men mutually encouraging each other to resist the entrance of their foreign foe--an evil more horrible than pest or famine. the missives from valdez, who saw more vividly than the besieged could do, the uncertainty of his own position, now poured daily into the city, the enemy becoming more prodigal of his vows, as he felt that the ocean might yet save the victims from his grasp. the inhabitants, in their ignorance, had gradually abandoned their hopes of relief, but they spurned the summons to surrender. leyden was sublime in its despair. a few murmurs were, however, occasionally heard at the steadfastness of the magistrates, and a dead body was placed at the door of the burgomaster, as a silent witness against his inflexibility. a party of the more faint-hearted even assailed the heroic adrian van der werf with threats and reproaches as he passed through the streets. a crowd had gathered around him, as he reached a triangular place in the centre of the town, into which many of the principal streets emptied themselves, and upon one side of which stood the church of saint pancras, with its high brick tower surmounted by two pointed turrets, and with two ancient lime trees at its entrance. there stood the burgomaster, a tall, haggard, imposing figure, with dark visage, and a tranquil but commanding eye. he waved his broadleaved felt hat for silence, and then exclaimed, in language which has been almost literally preserved, what would ye, my friends? why do ye murmur that we do not break our vows and surrender the city to the spaniards? a fate more horrible than the agony which she now endures. i tell you i have made an oath to hold the city, and may god give me strength to keep my oath! i can die but once; whether by your hands, the enemy's, or by the hand of god. my own fate is indifferent to me, not so that of the city intrusted to my care. i know that we shall starve if not soon relieved; but starvation is preferable to the dishonored death which is the only alternative. your menaces move me not; my life is at your disposal; here is my sword, plunge it into my breast, and divide my flesh among you. take my body to appease your hunger, but expect no surrender, so long as i remain alive. the words of the stout burgomaster inspired a new courage in the hearts of those who heard him, and a shout of applause and defiance arose from the famishing but enthusiastic crowd. they left the place, after exchanging new vows of fidelity with their magistrate, and again ascended tower and battlement to watch for the coming fleet. from the ramparts they hurled renewed defiance at the enemy. "ye call us rat-eaters and dog-eaters," they cried, "and it is true. so long, then, as ye hear dog bark or cat mew within the walls, ye may know that the city holds out. and when all has perished but ourselves, be sure that we will each devour our left arms, retaining our right to defend our women, our liberty, and our religion, against the foreign tyrant. should god, in his wrath, doom us to destruction, and deny us all relief, even then will we maintain ourselves for ever against your entrance. when the last hour has come, with our own hands we will set fire to the city and perish, men, women, and children together in the flames, rather than suffer our homes to be polluted and our liberties to be crushed." such words of defiance, thundered daily from the battlements, sufficiently informed valdez as to his chance of conquering the city, either by force or fraud, but at the same time, he felt comparatively relieved by the inactivity of boisot's fleet, which still lay stranded at north aa. "as well," shouted the spaniards, derisively, to the citizens, "as well can the prince of orange pluck the stars from the sky as bring the ocean to the walls of leyden for your relief." on the th of september, a dove flew into the city, bringing a letter from admiral boisot. in this despatch, the position of the fleet at north aa was described in encouraging terms, and the inhabitants were assured that, in a very few days at furthest, the long-expected relief would enter their gates. the letter was read publicly upon the market-place, and the bells were rung for joy. nevertheless, on the morrow, the vanes pointed to the east, the waters, so far from rising, continued to sink, and admiral boisot was almost in despair. he wrote to the prince, that if the spring-tide, now to be expected, should not, together with a strong and favorable wind, come immediately to their relief, it would be in pain to attempt anything further, and that the expedition would, of necessity, be abandoned. the tempest came to their relief. a violent equinoctial gale, on the night of the st and nd of october, came storming from the north-west, shifting after a few hours full eight points, and then blowing still more violently from the south-west. the waters of the north sea were piled in vast masses upon the southern coast of holland, and then dashed furiously landward, the ocean rising over the earth, and sweeping with unrestrained power across the ruined dykes. in the course of twenty-four hours, the fleet at north aa, instead of nine inches, had more than two feet of water. no time was lost. the kirk-way, which had been broken through according to the prince's instructions, was now completely overflowed, and the fleet sailed at midnight, in the midst of the storm and darkness. a few sentinel vessels of the enemy challenged them as they steadily rowed towards zoeterwoude. the answer was a flash from boisot's cannon; lighting up the black waste of waters. there was a fierce naval midnight battle; a strange spectacle among the branches of those quiet orchards, and with the chimney stacks of half-submerged farmhouses rising around the contending vessels. the neighboring village of zoeterwoude shook with the discharges of the zealanders' cannon, and the spaniards assembled in that fortress knew that the rebel admiral was at last, afloat and on his course. the enemy's vessels were soon sunk, their crews hurled into the waves. on went the fleet, sweeping over the broad waters which lay between zoeterwoude and zwieten. as they approached some shallows, which led into the great mere, the zealanders dashed into the sea, and with sheer strength shouldered every vessel through. two obstacles lay still in their path--the forts of zoeterwoude and lammen, distant from the city five hundred and two hundred and fifty yards respectively. strong redoubts, both well supplied with troops and artillery, they were likely to give a rough reception to the light flotilla, but the panic; which had hitherto driven their foes before the advancing patriots; had reached zoeterwoude. hardly was the fleet in sight when the spaniards in the early morning, poured out from the fortress, and fled precipitately to the left, along a road which led in a westerly direction towards the hague. their narrow path was rapidly vanishing in the waves, and hundreds sank beneath the constantly deepening and treacherous flood. the wild zealanders, too, sprang from their vessels upon the crumbling dyke and drove their retreating foes into the sea. they hurled their harpoons at them, with an accuracy acquired in many a polar chase; they plunged into the waves in the keen pursuit, attacking them with boat-hook and dagger. the numbers who thus fell beneath these corsairs, who neither gave nor took quarter, were never counted, but probably not less than a thousand perished. the rest effected their escape to the hague. the first fortress was thus seized, dismantled, set on fire, and passed, and a few strokes of the oars brought the whole fleet close to lammen. this last obstacle rose formidable and frowning directly across their path. swarming as it was with soldiers, and bristling with artillery, it seemed to defy the armada either to carry it by storm or to pass under its guns into the city. it appeared that the enterprise was, after all, to founder within sight of the long expecting and expected haven. boisot anchored his fleet within a respectful distance, and spent what remained of the day in carefully reconnoitring the fort, which seemed only too strong. in conjunction with leyderdorp, the head-quarters of valdez, a mile and a half distant on the right, and within a mile of the city, it seemed so insuperable an impediment that boisot wrote in despondent tone to the prince of orange. he announced his intention of carrying the fort, if it were possible, on the following morning, but if obliged to retreat, he observed, with something like despair, that there would be nothing for it but to wait for another gale of wind. if the waters should rise sufficiently to enable them to make a wide detour, it might be possible, if, in the meantime, leyden did not starve or surrender, to enter its gates from the opposite side. meantime, the citizens had grown wild with expectation. a dove had been despatched by boisot, informing them of his precise position, and a number of citizens accompanied the burgomaster, at nightfall, toward the tower of hengist. yonder, cried the magistrate, stretching out his hand towards lammen, "yonder, behind that fort, are bread and meat, and brethren in thousands. shall all this be destroyed by the spanish guns, or shall we rush to the rescue of our friends?"--"we will tear the fortress to fragments with our teeth and nails," was the reply, "before the relief, so long expected, shall be wrested from us." it was resolved that a sortie, in conjunction with the operations of boisot, should be made against lammen with the earliest dawn. night descended upon the scene, a pitch dark night, full of anxiety to the spaniards, to the armada, to leyden. strange sights and sounds occurred at different moments to bewilder the anxious sentinels. a long procession of lights issuing from the fort was seen to flit across the black face of the waters, in the dead of night, and the whole of the city wall, between the cow-gate and the tower of burgundy, fell with a loud crash. the horror-struck citizens thought that the spaniards were upon them at last; the spaniards imagined the noise to indicate, a desperate sortie of the citizens. everything was vague and mysterious. day dawned, at length, after the feverish, night, and, the admiral prepared for the assault. within the fortress reigned a death-like stillness, which inspired a sickening suspicion. had the city, indeed, been carried in the night; had the massacre already commenced; had all this labor and audacity been expended in vain? suddenly a man was descried, wading breast-high through the water from lammen towards the fleet, while at the same time, one solitary boy was seen to wave his cap from the summit of the fort. after a moment of doubt, the happy mystery was solved. the spaniards had fled, panic struck, during the darkness. their position would still have enabled them, with firmness, to frustrate the enterprise of the patriots, but the hand of god, which had sent the ocean and the tempest to the deliverance of leyden, had struck her enemies with terror likewise. the lights which had been seen moving during the night were the lanterns of the retreating spaniards, and the boy who was now waving his triumphant signal from the battlements had alone witnessed the spectacle. so confident was he in the conclusion to which it led him, that he had volunteered at daybreak to go thither all alone. the magistrates, fearing a trap, hesitated for a moment to believe the truth, which soon, however, became quite evident. valdez, flying himself from leyderdorp, had ordered colonel borgia to retire with all his troops from lammen. thus, the spaniards had retreated at the very moment that an extraordinary accident had laid bare a whole side of the city for their entrance. the noise of the wall, as it fell, only inspired them with fresh alarm for they believed that the citizens had sallied forth in the darkness, to aid the advancing flood in the work of destruction. all obstacles being now removed, the fleet of boisot swept by lammen, and entered the city on the morning of the rd of october. leyden was relieved. the quays were lined with the famishing population, as the fleet rowed through the canals, every human being who could stand, coming forth to greet the preservers of the city. bread was thrown from every vessel among the crowd. the poor creatures who, for two months had tasted no wholesome human food, and who had literally been living within the jaws of death, snatched eagerly the blessed gift, at last too liberally bestowed. many choked themselves to death, in the greediness with which they devoured their bread; others became ill with the effects of plenty thus suddenly succeeding starvation; but these were isolated cases, a repetition of which was prevented. the admiral, stepping ashore, was welcomed by the magistracy, and a solemn procession was immediately formed. magistrates and citizens, wild zealanders, emaciated burgher guards, sailors, soldiers, women, children, nearly every living person within the walls, all repaired without delay to the great church, stout admiral boisot leading the way. the starving and heroic city, which had been so firm in its resistance to an earthly king, now bent itself in humble gratitude before the king of kings. after prayers, the whole vast congregation joined in the thanksgiving hymn. thousands of voices raised the-song, but few were able to carry it to its conclusion, for the universal emotion, deepened by the music, became too full for utterance. the hymn was abruptly suspended, while the multitude wept like children. this scene of honest pathos terminated; the necessary measures for distributing the food and for relieving the sick were taken by the magistracy. a note dispatched to the prince of orange, was received by him at two o'clock, as he sat in church at delft. it was of a somewhat different purport from that of the letter which he had received early in the same day from boisot; the letter in which the admiral had, informed him that the success of the enterprise depended; after-all, upon the desperate assault upon a nearly impregnable fort. the joy of the prince may be easily imagined, and so soon as the sermon was concluded; he handed the letter just received to the minister, to be read to the congregation. thus, all participated in his joy, and united with him in thanksgiving. the next day, notwithstanding the urgent entreaties of his friends, who were anxious lest his life should be endangered by breathing, in his scarcely convalescent state; the air of the city where so many thousands had been dying of the pestilence, the prince repaired to leyden. he, at least, had never doubted his own or his country's fortitude. they could, therefore, most sincerely congratulate each other, now that the victory had been achieved. "if we are doomed to perish," he had said a little before the commencement of the siege, "in the name of god, be it so! at any rate, we shall have the honor to have done what no nation ever, did before us, that of having defended and maintained ourselves, unaided, in so small a country, against the tremendous efforts of such powerful enemies. so long as the poor inhabitants here, though deserted by all the world, hold firm, it will still cost the spaniards the half of spain, in money and in men, before they can make an end of us." the termination of the terrible siege of leyden was a convincing proof to the spaniards that they had not yet made an end of the hollanders. it furnished, also, a sufficient presumption that until they had made an end of them, even unto the last hollander, there would never be an end of the struggle in which they were engaged. it was a slender consolation to the governor-general, that his troops had been vanquished, not by the enemy, but by the ocean. an enemy whom the ocean obeyed with such docility might well be deemed invincible by man. in the head-quarters of valdez, at leyderdorp, many plans of leyden and the neighbourhood were found lying in confusion about the room. upon the table was a hurried farewell of that general to the scenes of his, discomfiture, written in a latin worthy of juan vargas: "vale civitas, valete castelli parvi, qui relicti estis propter aquam et non per vim inimicorum!" in his precipitate retreat before the advancing rebels, the commander had but just found time for this elegant effusion, and, for his parting instructions to colonel borgia that the fortress of lammen was to be forthwith abandoned. these having been reduced to writing, valdez had fled so speedily as to give rise to much censure and more scandal. he was even accused of having been bribed by the hollanders to desert his post, a tale which many repeated, and a few believed. on the th of october, the day following that on which the relief of the city was effected, the wind shifted to the north-east, and again blew a tempest. it was as if the waters, having now done their work, had been rolled back to the ocean by an omnipotent hand, for in the course of a few days, the land was bare again, and the work of reconstructing the dykes commenced. after a brief interval of repose, leyden had regained its former position. the prince, with advice of the estates, had granted the city, as a reward for its sufferings, a ten days' annual fair, without tolls or taxes, and as a further manifestation of the gratitude entertained by the people of holland and zealand for the heroism of the citizens, it was resolved that an academy or university should be forthwith established within their walls. the university of leyden, afterwards so illustrious, was thus founded in the very darkest period of the country's struggle. the university was endowed with a handsome revenue, principally derived from the ancient abbey of egmont, and was provided with a number of professors, selected for their genius, learning, and piety among all the most distinguished scholars of the netherlands. the document by which the institution was founded was certainly a masterpiece of ponderous irony, for as the fiction of the king's sovereignty was still maintained, philip was gravely made to establish the university, as a reward to leyden for rebellion to himself. "considering," said this wonderful charter, "that during these present wearisome wars within our provinces of holland and zealand, all good instruction of youth in the sciences and liberal arts is likely to come into entire oblivion. . . . . considering the differences of religion--considering that we are inclined to gratify our city of leyden, with its burghers, on account of the heavy burthens sustained by them during this war with such faithfulness--we have resolved, after ripely deliberating with our dear cousin, william, prince of orange, stadholder, to erect a free public school and university," etc., etc., etc. so ran the document establishing this famous academy, all needful regulations for the government and police of the institution being entrusted by philip to his "above-mentioned dear cousin of orange." the university having been founded, endowed, and supplied with its, teachers, it was solemnly consecrated in the following winter, and it is agreeable to contemplate this scene of harmless pedantry, interposed, as it was, between the acts of the longest and dreariest tragedy of modern time. on the th of february, , the city of leyden, so lately the victim of famine and pestilence, had crowned itself with flowers. at seven in the morning, after a solemn religious celebration in the church of st. peter, a grand procession was formed. it was preceded by a military escort, consisting of the burgher militia and the five companies of infantry stationed in the city. then came, drawn by four horses, a splendid triumphal chariot, on which sat a female figure, arrayed in snow-white garments. this was the holy gospel. she was attended by the four evangelists, who walked on foot at each side of her chariot. next followed justice, with sword and scales, mounted; blindfold, upon a unicorn, while those learned doctors, julian, papinian, ulpian, and tribonian, rode on either side, attended by two lackeys and four men at arms. after these came medicine, on horseback, holding in one hand a treatise of the healing art, in the other a garland of drugs. the curative goddess rode between the four eminent physicians, hippocrates, galen, dioscorides, and theophrastus, and was attended by two footmen and four pike-bearers. last of the allegorical personages came minerva, prancing in complete steel, with lance in rest, and bearing her medusa shield. aristotle and plato, cicero and virgil, all on horseback, with attendants in antique armor at their back, surrounded the daughter of jupiter, while the city band, discoursing eloquent music from hautboy and viol, came upon the heels of the allegory. then followed the mace-bearers and other officials, escorting the orator of the day, the newly-appointed professors and doctors, the magistrates and dignitaries, and the body of the citizens generally completing the procession. marshalled in this order, through triumphal arches, and over a pavement strewed with flowers, the procession moved slowly up and down the different streets, and along the quiet canals of the city. as it reached the nuns' bridge, a barge of triumph, gorgeously decorated, came floating slowly down the sluggish rhine. upon its deck, under a canopy enwreathed with laurels and oranges, and adorned with tapestry, sat apollo, attended by the nine muses, all in classical costume; at the helm stood neptune with his trident. the muses executed some beautiful concerted pieces; apollo twanged his lute. having reached the landing-place, this deputation from parnassus stepped on shore, and stood awaiting the arrival of the procession. each professor, as he advanced, was gravely embraced and kissed by apollo and all the nine muses in turn, who greeted their arrival besides with the recitation of an elegant latin poem. this classical ceremony terminated, the whole procession marched together to the cloister of saint barbara, the place prepared for the new university, where they listened to an eloquent oration by the rev. caspar kolhas, after which they partook of a magnificent banquet. with this memorable feast, in the place where famine had so lately reigned, the ceremonies were concluded. etext editor's bookmarks: crescents in their caps: rather turkish than popish ever-swarming nurseries of mercenary warriors weep oftener for her children than is the usual lot of mothers etext editor's bookmarks, the dutch republic - , complete , the last year of peace advised his majesty to bestow an annual bribe upon lord burleigh age when toleration was a vice an age when to think was a crime angle with their dissimulation as with a hook beggars of the sea, as these privateersmen designated themselves business of an officer to fight, of a general to conquer conde and coligny constitutional governments, move in the daylight consumer would pay the tax, supposing it were ever paid at all crescents in their caps: rather turkish than popish cruelties exercised upon monks and papists deeply criminal in the eyes of all religious parties dissenters were as bigoted as the orthodox enthusiasm could not supply the place of experience envying those whose sufferings had already been terminated ever-swarming nurseries of mercenary warriors financial opposition to tyranny is apt to be unanimous for faithful service, evil recompense furnished, in addition, with a force of two thousand prostitutes god save the king! it was the last time great transactions of a reign are sometimes paltry things great battles often leave the world where they found it hair and beard unshorn, according to ancient batavian custom hanged for having eaten meat-soup upon friday having conjugated his paradigm conscientiously he had omitted to execute heretics he came as a conqueror not as a mediator holy office condemned all the inhabitants of the netherlands hope deferred, suddenly changing to despair if he had little, he could live upon little incur the risk of being charged with forwardness than neglect indignant that heretics had been suffered to hang insane cruelty, both in the cause of the wrong and the right leave not a single man alive in the city, and to burn every house luther's axiom, that thoughts are toll-free meantime the second civil war in france had broken out not for a new doctrine, but for liberty of conscience not to let the grass grow under their feet not strong enough to sustain many more such victories oldenbarneveld; afterwards so illustrious only kept alive by milk, which he drank from a woman's breast only healthy existence of the french was in a state of war pathetic dying words of anne boleyn provided not one huguenot be left alive in france put all those to the torture out of whom anything can be got questioning nothing, doubting nothing, fearing nothing saint bartholomew's day scepticism, which delights in reversing the judgment of centuries science of reigning was the science of lying sent them word by carrier pigeons seven spaniards were killed, and seven thousand rebels sick and wounded wretches were burned over slow fires slender stock of platitudes so much responsibility and so little power sometimes successful, even although founded upon sincerity spendthrift of time, he was an economist of blood the time for reasoning had passed the calf is fat and must be killed the perpetual reproductions of history the greatest crime, however, was to be rich the faithful servant is always a perpetual ass the tragedy of don carlos the illness was a convenient one three hundred fighting women time and myself are two tyranny, ever young and ever old, constantly reproducing herself we are beginning to be vexed wealth was an unpardonable sin weep oftener for her children than is the usual lot of mothers who loved their possessions better than their creed wonder equally at human capacity to inflict and to endure misery motley's history of the netherlands the rise of the dutch republic, volume iii. by john lothrop motley - [chapter iii.] latter days of the blood council--informal and insincere negotiations for peace--characteristics of the negotiators and of their diplomatic correspondence--dr. junius--secret conferences between dr. leoninus and orange--steadfastness of the prince-- changes in the internal government of the northern provinces-- generosity and increasing power of the municipalities--incipient jealousy in regard to orange rebuked--his offer of resignation refused by the estates--his elevation to almost unlimited power-- renewed mediation of maximilian--views and positions of the parties --advice of orange--opening of negotiations at breda--propositions and counter-propositions--adroitness of the plenipotentiaries on both sides--insincere diplomacy and unsatisfactory results--union of holland and zealand under the prince of orange--act defining his powers--charlotte de bourbon--character, fortunes, and fate of anna of saxony--marriage of orange with mademoiselle de bourbon-- indignation thereby excited--horrible tortures inflicted upon papists by sonoy in north holland--oudewater and schoonoven taken by hierges--the isles of zealand--a submarine expedition projected-- details of the adventure--its entire success--death of chiappin vitelli--deliberations in holland and zealand concerning the renunciation of philip's authority--declaration at delft--doubts as to which of the great powers the sovereignty should be offered-- secret international relations--mission to england--unsatisfactory negotiations with elizabeth--position of the grand commander--siege of zieriekzee--generosity of count john--desperate project of the prince--death and character of requesens. the council of troubles, or, as it will be for ever denominated in history, the council of blood, still existed, although the grand commander, upon his arrival in the netherlands, had advised his sovereign to consent to the immediate abolition of so odious an institution. philip accepting the advice of his governor and his cabinet, had accordingly authorized him by a letter of the th of march, , to take that step if he continued to believe it advisable. requesens had made use of this permission to extort money from the obedient portion of the provinces. an assembly of deputies was held at brussels on the th of june, , and there was a tedious interchange of protocols, reports, and remonstrances. the estates, not satisfied with the extinction of a tribunal which had at last worn itself out by its own violence, and had become inactive through lack of victims, insisted on greater concessions. they demanded the departure of the spanish troops, the establishment of a council of netherlanders in spain for netherland affairs, the restoration to offices in the provinces of natives and natives only; for these drawers of documents thought it possible, at that epoch, to recover by pedantry what their brethren of holland and zealand were maintaining with the sword. it was not the moment for historical disquisition, citations from solomon, nor chopping of logic; yet with such lucubrations were reams of paper filled, and days and weeks occupied. the result was what might have been expected. the grand commander obtained but little money; the estates obtained none of their demands; and the blood council remained, as it were, suspended in mid-air. it continued to transact business at intervals during the administration of requesens, and at last, after nine years of existence, was destroyed by the violent imprisonment of the council of state at brussels. this event, however, belongs to a subsequent page of this history. noircarmes had argued, from the tenor of saint aldegonde's letters, that the prince would be ready to accept his pardon upon almost any terms. noircarmes was now dead, but saint aldegonde still remained in prison, very anxious for his release, and as well disposed as ever to render services in any secret negotiation. it will be recollected that, at the capitulation of middelburg, it had been distinctly stipulated by the prince that colonel mondragon should at once effect the liberation of saint aldegonde, with certain other prisoners, or himself return into confinement. he had done neither the one nor the other. the patriots still languished in prison, some of them being subjected to exceedingly harsh treatment, but mondragon, although repeatedly summoned as an officer and a gentleman, by the prince, to return to captivity, had been forbidden by the grand commander to redeem his pledge. saint aldegonde was now released from prison upon parole, and despatched on a secret mission to the prince and estates. as before, he was instructed that two points were to be left untouched--the authority of the king and the question of religion. nothing could be more preposterous than to commence a negotiation from which the two important points were thus carefully eliminated. the king's authority and the question of religion covered the whole ground upon which the spaniards and the hollanders had been battling for six years, and were destined to battle for three-quarters of a century longer. yet, although other affairs might be discussed, those two points were to be reserved for the more conclusive arbitration of gunpowder. the result of negotiations upon such a basis was easily to be foreseen. breath, time, and paper were profusely wasted and nothing gained. the prince assured his friend, as he had done secret agents previously sent to him, that he was himself ready to leave the land, if by so doing he could confer upon it the blessing of peace; but that all hopes of reaching a reasonable conclusion from the premises established was futile. the envoy treated also with the estates, and received from them in return an elaborate report, which was addressed immediately to the king. the style of this paper was bold and blunt, its substance bitter and indigestible. it informed philip what he had heard often enough before, that the spaniards must go and the exiles come back, the inquisition be abolished and the ancient privileges restored, the roman catholic religion renounce its supremacy, and the reformed religion receive permission to exist unmolested, before he could call himself master of that little hook of sand in the north sea. with this paper, which was entrusted to saint aldegonde, by him to be delivered to the grand commander, who was, after reading it, to forward it to its destination, the negotiator returned to his prison. thence he did not emerge again till the course of events released him, upon the th of october, . this report was far from agreeable to the governor, and it became the object of a fresh correspondence between his confidential agent, champagny, and the learned and astute junius de jonge, representative of the prince of orange and governor of yeere. the communication of de jonge consisted of a brief note and a long discourse. the note was sharp and stinging, the discourse elaborate and somewhat pedantic. unnecessarily historical and unmercifully extended, it was yet bold, bitter, and eloquent: the presence of foreigners was proved to have been, from the beginning of philip's reign, the curse of the country. doctor sonnius, with his batch of bishops, had sowed the seed of the first disorder. a prince, ruling in the netherlands, had no right to turn a deaf ear to the petitions of his subjects. if he did so, the hollanders would tell him, as the old woman had told the emperor adrian, that the potentate who had no time to attend to the interests of his subjects, had not leisure enough to be a sovereign. while holland refused to bow its neck to the inquisition, the king of spain dreaded the thunder and lightning of the pope. the hollanders would, with pleasure, emancipate philip from his own thraldom, but it was absurd that he, who was himself a slave to another potentate, should affect unlimited control over a free people. it was philip's councillors, not the hollanders, who were his real enemies; for it was they who held him in the subjection by which his power was neutralized and his crown degraded. it may be supposed that many long pages, conceived in this spirit and expressed with great vigor, would hardly smooth the way for the more official negotiations which were soon to take place, yet doctor junius fairly and faithfully represented the sentiment of his nation. towards the close of the year, doctor elbertus leoninus, professor of louvain, together with hugo bonte, ex-pensionary of middelburg, was commissioned by the grand commander to treat secretly with the prince. he was, however, not found very tractable when the commissioners opened the subject of his own pardon and reconciliation with the king, and he absolutely refused to treat at all except with the cooperation of the estates. he, moreover, objected to the use of the word "pardon" on the ground that he had never done anything requiring his majesty's forgiveness. if adversity should visit him, he cared but little for it; he had lived long enough, he said, and should die with some glory, regretting the disorders and oppressions which had taken place, but conscious that it had not been in his power to remedy them. when reminded by the commissioners of the king's power, he replied that he knew his majesty to be very mighty, but that there was a king more powerful still--even god the creator, who, as he humbly hoped, was upon his side. at a subsequent interview with hugo bonte, the prince declared it almost impossible for himself or the estates to hold any formal communication with the spanish government, as such communications were not safe. no trust could be reposed either in safe conducts or hostages. faith had been too often broken by the administration. the promise made by the duchess of parma to the nobles, and afterwards violated, the recent treachery of mondragon, the return of three exchanged prisoners from the hague, who died next day of poison administered before their release, the frequent attempts upon his own life--all such constantly recurring crimes made it doubtful, in the opinion of the prince, whether it would be possible to find commissioners to treat with his majesty's government. all would fear assassination, afterwards to be disavowed by the king and pardoned by the pope. after much conversation in this vein, the prince gave the spanish agents warning that he might eventually be obliged to seek the protection of some foreign power for the provinces. in this connection he made use of the memorable metaphor, so often repeated afterwards, that "the country was a beautiful damsel, who certainly did not lack suitors able and willing to accept her and defend her against the world." as to the matter of religion, he said he was willing to leave it to be settled by the estates-general; but doubted whether anything short of entire liberty of worship would ever satisfy the people. subsequently there were held other conferences, between the prince and doctor leoninus, with a similar result, all attempts proving fruitless to induce him to abandon his position upon the subject of religion, or to accept a pardon on any terms save the departure of the foreign troops, the assembling of the estates-general, and entire freedom of religion. even if he were willing to concede the religious question himself, he observed that it was idle to hope either from the estates or people a hand's-breadth of concession upon that point. leoninus was subsequently admitted to a secret conferenc with the estates of holland, where his representations were firmly met by the same arguments as those already used by the prince. these proceedings on the part of saint aldegonde, champagny, junius, and elbertus leoninus extended through the whole summer and autumn of , and were not terminated until january of the following year. changes fast becoming necessary in the internal government of the provinces, were also undertaken during this year. hitherto the prince had exercised his power under the convenient fiction of the king's authority, systematically conducting the rebellion in the name of his majesty, and as his majesty's stadholder. by this process an immense power was lodged in his hands; nothing less, indeed, than the supreme executive and legislative functions of the land; while since the revolt had become, as it were, perpetual, ample but anomalous functions had been additionally thrust upon him by the estates and by the general voice of the people. the two provinces, even while deprived of harlem and amsterdam, now raised two hundred and ten thousand florins monthly, whereas alva had never been able to extract from holland more than two hundred and seventy-one thousand florins yearly. they paid all rather than pay a tenth. in consequence of this liberality, the cities insensibly acquired a greater influence in the government. the coming contest between the centrifugal aristocratic principle, represented by these corporations, and the central popular authority of the stadholder, was already foreshadowed, but at first the estates were in perfect harmony with the prince. they even urged upon him more power than he desired, and declined functions which he wished them to exercise. on the th of september, , it had been formally proposed by the general council to confer a regular and unlimited dictatorship upon him, but in the course of a year from that time, the cities had begun to feel their increasing importance. moreover, while growing more ambitious, they became less liberal. the prince, dissatisfied with the conduct of the cities, brought the whole subject before an assembly of the estates of holland on the th october, . he stated the inconveniences produced by the anomalous condition of the government. he complained that the common people had often fallen into the error that the money raised for public purposes had been levied for his benefit only, and that they had, therefore, been less willing to contribute to the taxes. as the only remedy for these evils, he tendered his resignation of all the powers with which he was clothed, so that the estates might then take the government, which they could exercise without conflict or control. for himself, he had never desired power, except as a means of being useful to his country, and he did not offer his resignation from unwillingness to stand by the cause, but from a hearty desire to save it from disputes among its friends. he was ready, now as ever, to shed the last drop of his blood to maintain the freedom of the land. this straightforward language produced an instantaneous effect. the estates knew that they were dealing with a man whose life was governed by lofty principles, and they felt that they were in danger of losing him through their own selfishness and low ambition. they were embarrassed, for they did not like to, relinquish the authority which they had begun to relish, nor to accept the resignation of a man who was indispensable. they felt that to give up william of orange at that time was to accept the spanish yoke for ever. at an assembly held at delft on the th of november, , they accordingly requested him "to continue in his blessed government, with the council established near him," and for this end, they formally offered to him, "under the name of governor or regent," absolute power, authority, and sovereign command. in particular, they conferred on him the entire control of all the ships of war, hitherto reserved to the different cities, together with the right to dispose of all prizes and all monies raised for the support of fleets. they gave him also unlimited power over the domains; they agreed that all magistracies, militia bands, guilds, and communities, should make solemn oath to contribute taxes and to receive garrisons, exactly as the prince, with his council, should ordain; but they made it a condition that the estates should be convened and consulted upon requests, impositions, and upon all changes in the governing body. it was also stipulated that the judges of the supreme court and of the exchequer, with other high officers, should be appointed by and with the consent of the estates. the prince expressed himself willing to accept the government upon these terms. he, however, demanded an allowance of forty-five thousand florins monthly for the army expenses and other current outlays. here, however, the estates refused their consent. in a mercantile spirit, unworthy the occasion and the man with whom they were dealing, they endeavoured to chaffer where they should have been only too willing to comply, and they attempted to reduce the reasonable demand of the prince to thirty thousand florins. the prince, who had poured out his own wealth so lavishly in the cause--who, together with his brothers, particularly the generous john of nassau, had contributed all which they could raise by mortgage, sales of jewellery and furniture, and by extensive loans, subjecting themselves to constant embarrassment, and almost to penury, felt himself outraged by the paltriness of this conduct. he expressed his indignation, and denounced the niggardliness of the estates in the strongest language, and declared that he would rather leave the country for ever, with the maintenance of his own honor, than accept the government upon such disgraceful terms. the estates, disturbed by his vehemence, and struck with its justice, instantly, and without further deliberation, consented to his demand. they granted the forty-five thousand florins monthly, and the prince assumed the government, thus remodelled. during the autumn and early winter of the year , the emperor maximilian had been actively exerting himself to bring about a pacification of the netherlands. he was certainly sincere, for an excellent reason. "the emperor maintains," said saint goard, french ambassador at madrid, "that if peace is not made with the beggars, the empire will depart from the house of austria, and that such is the determination of the electors." on the other hand, if philip were not weary of the war, at any rate his means for carrying it on were diminishing daily. requesens could raise no money in the netherlands; his secretary wrote to spain, that the exchequer was at its last gasp, and the cabinet of madrid was at its wits' end, and almost incapable of raising ways and means. the peace party was obtaining the upper hand; the fierce policy of alva regarded with increasing disfavor. "the people here," wrote saint goard from madrid, "are completely desperate, whatever pains they take to put a good face on the matter. they desire most earnestly to treat, without losing their character." it seemed, nevertheless, impossible for philip to bend his neck. the hope of wearing the imperial crown had alone made his bigotry feasible. to less potent influences it was adamant; and even now, with an impoverished exchequer, and, after seven years of unsuccessful warfare, his purpose was not less rigid than at first. "the hollanders demand liberty of conscience," said saint goard, "to which the king will never consent, or i am much mistaken." as for orange, he was sincerely in favor of peace--but not a dishonorable peace, in which should be renounced all the objects of the war. he was far from sanguine on the subject, for he read the signs of the times and the character of philip too accurately to believe much more in the success of the present than in that of the past efforts of maximilian. he was pleased that his brother-in-law, count schwartzburg, had been selected as the emperor's agent in the affair, but expressed his doubts whether much good would come of the proposed negotiations. remembering the many traps which in times past had been set by philip and his father, he feared that the present transaction might likewise prove a snare. "we have not forgotten the words i 'ewig' and 'einig' in the treaty with landgrave philip," he wrote; "at the same time we beg to assure his imperial majesty that we desire nothing more than a good peace, tending to the glory of god, the service of the king of spain, and the prosperity of his subjects." this was his language to his brother, in a letter which was meant to be shown to the emperor. in another, written on the same day, he explained himself with more clearness, and stated his distrust with more energy. there were no papists left, except a few ecclesiastics, he said; so much had the number of the reformers been augmented, through the singular grace of god. it was out of the question to suppose, therefore, that a measure, dooming all who were not catholics to exile, could be entertained. none would change their religion, and none would consent, voluntarily, to abandon for ever their homes, friends, and property. "such a peace," he said, "would be poor and pitiable indeed." these, then, were the sentiments of the party now about to negotiate. the mediator was anxious for a settlement, because the interests of the imperial house required it. the king of spain was desirous of peace, but was unwilling to concede a hair. the prince of orange was equally anxious to terminate the war, but was determined not to abandon the objects for which it had been undertaken. a favorable result, therefore, seemed hardly possible. a whole people claimed the liberty to stay at home and practice the protestant religion, while their king asserted the right to banish them for ever, or to burn them if they remained. the parties seemed too far apart to be brought together by the most elastic compromise. the prince addressed an earnest appeal to the assembly of holland, then in session at dort, reminding them that, although peace was desirable, it might be more dangerous than war, and entreating them, therefore, to conclude no treaty which should be inconsistent with the privileges of the country and their duty to god. it was now resolved that all the votes of the assembly should consist of five: one for the nobles and large cities of holland, one for the estates of zealand, one for the small cities of holland, one for the cities bommel and buren, and the fifth for william of orange. the prince thus effectually held in his hands three votes: his own, that of the small cities, which through his means only had been admitted to the assembly, and thirdly, that of buren, the capital of his son's earldom. he thus exercised a controlling influence over the coming deliberations. the ten commissioners, who were appointed by the estates for the peace negotiations, were all his friends. among them were saint aldegonde, paul buis, charles boisot, and doctor junius. the plenipotentiaries of the spanish government were leoninus, the seigneur de rassinghem, cornelius suis, and arnold sasbout. the proceedings were opened at breda upon the rd of march, . the royal commissioners took the initiative, requesting to be informed what complaints the estates had to make, and offering to remove, if possible, all grievances which they might be suffering. the states' commissioners replied that they desired nothing, in the first place, but an answer to the petition which they had already presented to the king. this was the paper placed in the hands of saint aldegonde during the informal negotiations of the preceding year. an answer was accordingly given, but couched in such vague and general language as to be quite without meaning. the estates then demanded a categorical reply to the two principal demands in the petition, namely, the departure of the foreign troops and the assembling of the states-general. they, were asked what they understood by foreigners and by the assembly of states-general. they replied that by foreigners they meant those who were not natives, and particularly the spaniards. by the estates-general they meant the same body before which, in , charles had resigned his sovereignty to philip. the royal commissioners made an extremely unsatisfactory answer, concluding with a request that all cities, fortresses, and castles, then in the power of the estates, together with all their artillery and vessels of war, should be delivered to the king. the roman catholic worship, it was also distinctly stated, was to be re-established at once exclusively throughout the netherlands; those of the reformed religion receiving permission, for that time only, to convert their property into cash within a certain time, and to depart the country. orange and the estates made answer on the st march. it could not be called hard, they said, to require the withdrawal of the spanish troops, for this had been granted in , for less imperious reasons. the estates had, indeed, themselves made use of foreigners, but those foreigners had never been allowed to participate in the government. with regard to the assembly of the states-general, that body had always enjoyed the right of advising with the sovereign on the condition of the country, and on general measures of government. now it was only thought necessary to summon them, in order that they might give their consent to the king's "requests." touching the delivery of cities and citadels, artillery and ships, the proposition was, pronounced to resemble that made by the wolves to the sheep, in the fable--that the dogs should be delivered up, as a preliminary to a lasting peace. it was unreasonable to request the hollanders to abandon their religion or their country. the reproach of heresy was unjust, for they still held to the catholic apostolic church, wishing only to purify, it of its abuses. moreover, it was certainly more cruel to expel a whole population than to dismiss three or four thousand spaniards who for seven long years had been eating their fill at the expense of the provinces. it would be impossible for the exiles to dispose of their property, for all would, by the proposed measure, be sellers, while there would be no purchasers. the royal plenipotentiaries, making answer to this communication upon the st of april, signified a willingness that the spanish soldiers should depart, if the states would consent to disband their own foreign troops. they were likewise in favor of assembling the states-general, but could not permit any change in the religion of the country. his majesty had sworn to maintain the true worship at the moment of assuming the sovereignty. the dissenters might, however, be allowed a period of six months in which to leave the land, and eight or ten years for the sale of their property. after the heretics had all departed, his majesty did not doubt that trade and manufactures would flourish again, along with the old religion. as for the spanish inquisition, there was not, and there never had been, any intention of establishing it in the netherlands. no doubt there was something specious in this paper. it appeared to contain considerable concessions. the prince and estates had claimed the departure of the spaniards. it was now promised that they should depart. they had demanded the assembling of the states-general. it was now promised that they should assemble. they had denounced the inquisition. it was now averred that the spanish inquisition was not to be established. nevertheless, the commissioners of the prince were not deceived by such artifices. there was no parity between the cases of the spanish soldiery and of the troops in service of the estates. to assemble the estates-general was idle, if they were to be forbidden the settlement of the great question at issue. with regard to the spanish inquisition, it mattered little whether the slaughter-house were called spanish or flemish, or simply the blood-council. it was, however, necessary for the states' commissioners to consider their reply very carefully; for the royal plenipotentiaries had placed themselves upon specious grounds. it was not enough to feel that the king's government was paltering with them; it was likewise necessary for the states' agents to impress this fact upon the people. there was a pause in the deliberations. meantime, count schwartzburg, reluctantly accepting the conviction that the religious question was an insurmountable obstacle to a peace, left the provinces for germany. the last propositions of the government plenipotentiaries had been discussed in the councils of the various cities, so that the reply of the prince, and estates was delayed until the st of june. they admitted, in this communication, that the offer to restore ancient privileges had an agreeable sound; but regretted that if the whole population were to be banished, there would be but few to derive advantage from the restoration. if the king would put an end to religious persecution, he would find as much loyalty in the provinces as his forefathers had found. it was out of the question, they said, for the states to disarm and to deliver up their strong places, before the spanish soldiery had retired, and before peace had been established. it was their wish to leave the question of religion, together with all other disputed matters, to the decision of the assembly. were it possible, in the meantime, to devise any effectual method for restraining hostilities, it would gladly be embraced. on the th of july, the royal commissioners inquired what guarantee the states would be willing to give, that the decision of the general assembly, whatever it might be, should be obeyed. the demand was answered by another, in which the king's agents were questioned as to their own guarantees. hereupon it was stated that his majesty would give his word and sign manual, together with the word and signature of the emperor into the bargain. in exchange for these promises, the prince and estates were expected to give their own oaths and seals, together with a number of hostages. over and above this, they were requested to deliver up the cities of brill and enkhuizen, flushing and arnemuyde. the disparity of such guarantees was ridiculous. the royal word, even when strengthened by the imperial promise, and confirmed by the autographs of philip and maximilian, was not so solid a security, in the opinion of netherlanders, as to outweigh four cities in holland and zealand, with all their population and wealth. to give collateral pledges and hostages upon one side, while the king offered none, was to assign a superiority to the royal word, over that of the prince and the estates which there was no disposition to recognize. moreover, it was very cogently urged that to give up the cities was to give as security for the contract, some of the principal contracting parties. this closed the negotiations. the provincial plenipotentiaries took their leave by a paper dated th july, , which recapitulated the main incidents of the conference. they expressed their deep regret that his majesty should insist so firmly on the banishment of the reformers, for it was unjust to reserve the provinces to the sole use of a small number of catholics. they lamented that the proposition which had been made, to refer the religious question to the estates, had neither been loyally accepted, nor candidly refused. they inferred, therefore, that the object of the royal government had, been to amuse the states, while tine was thus gained for reducing the country into a slavery more abject than any which had yet existed. on the other hand, the royal commissioners as solemnly averred that the whole responsibility for the failure of the negotiations belonged to the, estates. it was the general opinion in the insurgent provinces that the government had been insincere from the beginning, and had neither expected nor desired to conclude a peace. it is probable, however, that philip was sincere; so far as it could be called sincerity to be willing to conclude a peace, if the provinces would abandon the main objects of the war. with his impoverished exchequer, and ruin threatening his whole empire, if this mortal combat should be continued many years longer, he could have no motive for further bloodshed, provided all heretics should consent to abandon the country. as usual, however, he left his agents in the dark as to his real intentions. even requesens was as much in doubt as to the king's secret purposes as margaret of parma had ever been in former times. [compare the remarks of groen v. prinst., archives, etc., v - ; bor, viii. , ; meteren, v. ; hoofd, g. .--count john of nassau was distrustful and disdainful from the beginning. against his brother's loyalty and the straightforward intentions of the estates, he felt that the whole force of the macchiavelli system of policy would be brought to bear with great effect. he felt that the object of the king's party was to temporize, to confuse, and to deceive. he did not believe them capable of conceding the real object in dispute, but he feared lest they might obscure the judgment of the plain and well meaning people with whom they had to deal. alluding to the constant attempts made to poison himself and his brother, he likens the pretended negotiations to venetian drugs, by which eyesight, hearing, feeling, and intellect were destroyed. under this pernicious influence, the luckless people would not perceive the fire burning around them, but would shrink at a rustling leaf. not comprehending then the tendency of their own acts, they would "lay bare their own backs to the rod, and bring faggots for their own funeral pile."-archives, etc., v. - .] moreover, the grand commander and the government had, after all, made a great mistake in their diplomacy. the estates of brabant, although strongly desirous that the spanish troops should be withdrawn, were equally stanch for the maintenance of the catholic religion, and many of the southern provinces entertained the same sentiments. had the governor, therefore, taken the states' commissioners at their word, and left the decision of the religious question to the general assembly, he might perhaps have found the vote in his favor. in this case, it is certain that the prince of orange and his party would have been placed in a very awkward position. the internal government of the insurgent provinces had remained upon the footing which we have seen established in the autumn of , but in the course of this summer ( ), however, the foundation was laid for the union of holland and zealand, under the authority of orange. the selfish principle of municipal aristocracy, which had tended to keep asunder these various groups of cities, was now repressed by the energy of the prince and the strong determination of the people. in april, , certain articles of union between holland and zealand were proposed, and six commissioners appointed to draw up an ordinance for the government of the two provinces. this ordinance was accepted in general assembly of both. it was in twenty articles. it declared that, during the war the prince as sovereign, should have absolute power in all matters concerning the defence of the country. he was to appoint military officers, high and low, establish and remove garrisons, punish offenders against the laws of war. he was to regulate the expenditure of all money voted by the estates. he was to maintain the law, in the king's name, as count of holland, and to appoint all judicial officers upon nominations by the estates. he was, at the usual times, to appoint and renew the magistracies of the cities, according to their constitutions. he was to protect the exercise of the evangelical reformed religion, and to suppress the exercise of the roman religion, without permitting, however, that search should be made into the creed of any person. a deliberative and executive council, by which the jealousy of the corporations had intended to hamper his government, did not come into more than nominal existence. the articles of union having been agreed upon, the prince, desiring an unfettered expression of the national will, wished the ordinance to be laid before the people in their primary assemblies. the estates, however, were opposed to this democratic proceeding. they represented that it had been customary to consult; after the city magistracies, only the captains of companies and the deans of guilds on matters of government. the prince, yielding the point, the captains of companies and deans of guilds accordingly alone united with the aristocratic boards in ratifying the instrument by which his authority over the two united provinces was established. on the th of june this first union was solemnized. upon the th of july, the prince formally accepted the government. he, however, made an essential change in a very important clause of the ordinance. in place of the words, the "roman religion," he insisted that the words, "religion at variance with the gospel," should be substituted in the article by which he was enjoined to prohibit the exercise of such religion. this alteration rebuked the bigotry which had already grown out of the successful resistance to bigotry, and left the door open for a general religious toleration. early in this year the prince had despatched saint aldegonde on a private mission to the elector palatine. during some of his visits to that potentate he had seen at heidelberg the princess charlotte of bourbon. that lady was daughter of the due de montpensier, the most ardent of the catholic princes of france, and the one who at the conferences of bayonne had been most indignant at the queen dowager's hesitation to unite heartily with the, schemes of alva and philip for the extermination of the huguenots. his daughter, a woman of beauty, intelligence, and virtue, forced before the canonical age to take the religious vows, had been placed in the convent of joliarrs, of which she had become abbess. always secretly inclined to the reformed religion, she had fled secretly from her cloister, in the year of horrors , and had found refuge at the court of the elector palatine, after which step her father refused to receive her letters, to contribute a farthing to her support, or even to acknowledge her claims upon him by a single line or message of affection. under these circumstances the outcast princess, who had arrived at the years of maturity, might be considered her own mistress, and she was neither morally nor legally bound, when her hand was sought in marriage by the great champion of the reformation, to ask the consent of a parent who loathed her religion and denied her existence. the legality of the divorce from anne of saxony had been settled by a full expression of the ecclesiastical authority which she most respected; [acte de, cinq ministres du st. evangile par lequel ils declarent le mariage du prince d'orange etre legitime.--archives, etc., v. - .] the facts upon which the divorce had been founded having been proved beyond peradventure. nothing, in truth, could well be more unfortunate in its results than the famous saxon marriage, the arrangements for which had occasioned so much pondering to philip, and so much diplomatic correspondence on the part of high personages in germany, the netherlands, and spain. certainly, it was of but little consequence to what church the unhappy princess belonged, and they must be lightly versed in history or in human nature who can imagine these nuptials to have exercised any effect upon the religious or political sentiments of orange. the princess was of a stormy, ill-regulated nature; almost a lunatic from the beginning. the dislike which succeeded to her fantastic fondness for the prince, as well as her general eccentricity, had soon become the talk of all the court at brussels. she would pass week after week without emerging from her chamber, keeping the shutters closed and candles burning, day and night. she quarrelled violently, with countess egmont for precedence, so that the ludicrous contentions of the two ladies in antechambers and doorways were the theme and the amusement of society. her insolence, not only in private but in public, towards her husband became intolerable: "i could not do otherwise than bear it with sadness and patience," said the prince, with great magnanimity, "hoping that with age would come improvement." nevertheless, upon one occasion, at a supper party, she had used such language in the presence of count horn and many other nobles, "that all wondered that he could endure the abusive terms which she applied to him." when the clouds gathered about him, when he had become an exile and a wanderer, her reproaches and her violence increased. the sacrifice of their wealth, the mortgages and sales which he effected of his estates, plate, jewels, and furniture, to raise money for the struggling country, excited her bitter resentment. she separated herself from him by degrees, and at last abandoned him altogether. her temper became violent to ferocity. she beat her servants with her hands and with clubs; she threatened the lives of herself, of her attendants, of count john of nassau, with knives and daggers, and indulged in habitual profanity and blasphemy, uttering frightful curses upon all around. her original tendency to intemperance had so much increased, that she was often unable to stand on her feet. a bottle of wine, holding more than a quart, in the morning, and another in the evening, together with a pound of sugar, was her usual allowance. she addressed letters to alva complaining that her husband had impoverished himself "in his good-for-nothing beggar war," and begging the duke to furnish her with a little ready money and with the means of arriving at the possession of her dower. an illicit connexion with a certain john rubens, an exiled magistrate of antwerp, and father of the celebrated painter, completed the list of her delinquencies, and justified the marriage of the prince with charlotte de bourbon. it was therefore determined by the elector of saxony and the landgrave william to remove her from the custody of the nassaus. this took place with infinite difficulty, at the close of the year . already, in ; augustus had proposed to the landgrave that she should be kept in solitary confinement, and that a minister should preach to her daily through the grated aperture by which her, food was to be admitted. the landgrave remonstrated at so inhuman a proposition, which was, however, carried into effect. the wretched princess, now completely a lunatic, was imprisoned in the electoral palace, in a chamber where the windows were walled up and a small grating let into the upper part of the door. through this wicket came her food, as well as the words of the holy man appointed to preach daily for her edification. two years long, she endured this terrible punishment, and died mad, on the th of december, . on the following day, she was buried in the electoral tomb at meissen; a pompous procession of "school children, clergy, magistrates, nobility, and citizens" conducting her to that rest of which she could no longer be deprived by the cruelty of man nor her own violent temperament. [it can certainly be considered no violation of the sanctity of archives to make these slender allusions to a tale, the main features of which have already been published, not only by mm. groan v. prinsterer and bakhuyzen, in holland, but by the saxon professor bottiger, in germany. it is impossible to understand the character and career of orange, and his relations with germany, without a complete view of the saxon marriage. the extracts from the "geomantic letters" of elector augustus, however, given in bottiger (hist. taschenb. , p. - ), with their furious attacks upon the prince and upon charlotte of bourbon, seem to us too obscene to be admitted, even in a note to these pages, and in a foreign language.] so far, therefore, as the character of mademoiselle de bourbon and the legitimacy of her future offspring were concerned, she received ample guarantees. for the rest, the prince, in a simple letter, informed her that he was already past his prime, having reached his forty-second year, and that his fortune was encumbered not only with settlements for his, children by previous marriages, but by debts contracted in the cause of his oppressed country. a convention of doctors and bishops of france; summoned by the duc de montpensier, afterwards confirmed the opinion that the conventual vows of the princess charlotte had been conformable neither to the laws of france nor to the canons of the trent council. she was conducted to brill by saint aldegonde, where she was received by her bridegroom, to whom she was united on the th of june. the wedding festival was held at dort with much revelry and holiday making, "but without dancing." in this connexion, no doubt the prince consulted his inclination only. eminently domestic in his habits, he required the relief of companionship at home to the exhausting affairs which made up his life abroad. for years he had never enjoyed social converse, except at long intervals, with man or woman; it was natural, therefore, that he should contract this marriage. it was equally natural that he should make many enemies by so impolitic a match. the elector palatine, who was in place of guardian to the bride, decidedly disapproved, although he was suspected of favoring the alliance. the landgrave of hesse for a time was furious; the elector of saxony absolutely delirious with rage. the diet of the empire was to be held within a few weeks at frankfort, where it was very certain that the outraged and influential elector would make his appearance, overflowing with anger, and determined to revenge upon the cause of the netherland reformation the injury which he had personally received. even the wise, considerate, affectionate brother, john of nassau, considered the marriage an act of madness. he did what he could, by argument and entreaty, to dissuade the prince from its completion; although he afterwards voluntarily confessed that the princess charlotte had been deeply calumniated, and was an inestimable treasure to his brother. the french government made use of the circumstance to justify itself in a still further alienation from the cause of the prince than it had hitherto manifested, but this was rather pretence than reality. it was not in the nature of things, however, that the saxon and hessian indignation could be easily allayed. the landgrave was extremely violent. "truly, i cannot imagine," he wrote to the elector of saxony, "quo consilio that wiseacre of an aldegonde, and whosoever else has been aiding and abetting, have undertaken this affair. nam si pietatem respicias, it is to be feared that, considering she is a frenchwoman, a nun, and moreover a fugitive nun, about whose chastity there has been considerable question, the prince has got out of the frying-pan into the fire. si formam it is not to be supposed that it was her beauty which charmed him, since, without doubt, he must be rather frightened than delighted, when he looks upon her. si spem prolis, the prince has certainly only too many heirs already, and ought to wish that he had neither wife nor children. si amicitiam, it is not to be supposed, while her father expresses himself in such threatening language with regard to her, that there will be much cordiality of friendship on his part. let them look to it, then, lest it fare with them no better than with the admiral, at his paris wedding; for those gentlemen can hardly forgive such injuries, sine mercurio et arsenico sublimato." the elector of saxony was frantic with choler, and almost ludicrous in the vehemence of its expression. count john was unceasing in his exhortations to his brother to respect the sensitiveness of these important personages, and to remember how much good and how much evil it was in their power to compass, with regard to himself and to the great cause of the protestant religion. he reminded him, too, that the divorce had not been, and would not be considered impregnable as to form, and that much discomfort and detriment was likely to grow out of the whole proceeding, for himself and his family. the prince, however, was immovable in his resolution, and from the whole tone of his correspondence and deportment it was obvious that his marriage was one rather of inclination than of policy. "i can assure you, my brother," he wrote to count john, "that my character has always tended to this--to care neither for words nor menaces in any matter where i can act with a clear conscience, and without doing injury to my neighbour. truly, if i had paid regard to the threats of princes, i should never have embarked in so many dangerous affairs, contrary to the will of the king, my master, in times past, and even to the advice of many of my relatives and friends." the evil consequences which had been foreseen were not slow to manifest themselves. there was much discussion of the prince's marriage at the diet of frankfort, and there was even a proposition, formally to declare the calvinists excluded in germany from the benefits of the peace of passau. the archduke rudolph was soon afterwards elected king of the romans and of bohemia, although hitherto, according to the policy of the prince of orange, and in the expectation of benefit to the cause of the reformation in germany and the netherlands, there has been a strong disposition to hold out hopes to henry the third, and to excite the fears of maximilian. while these important affairs, public and private, had been occurring in the south of holland and in germany, a very nefarious transaction had disgraced the cause of the patriot party in the northern quarter. diedrich sonoy, governor of that portion of holland, a man of great bravery but of extreme ferocity of character, had discovered an extensive conspiracy among certain of the inhabitants, in aid of an approaching spanish invasion. bands of land-loupers had been employed, according to the intimation which he had received or affected to have received, to set fire to villages and towns in every direction, to set up beacons, and to conduct a series of signals by which the expeditions about to be organized were to be furthered in their objects. the governor, determined to show that the duke of alva could not be more prompt nor more terrible than himself, improvised, of his own authority, a tribunal in imitation of the infamous blood-council. fortunately for the character of the country, sonoy was not a hollander, nor was the jurisdiction of this newly established court allowed to extend beyond very narrow limits. eight vagabonds were, however, arrested and doomed to tortures the most horrible, in order to extort from them confessions implicating persons of higher position in the land than themselves. seven, after a few turns of the pulley and the screw, confessed all which they were expected to confess, and accused all whom they were requested to accuse. the eighth was firmer, and refused to testify to the guilt of certain respectable householders, whose names he had, perhaps, never heard, and against whom there was no shadow of evidence. he was, however, reduced by three hours and a half of sharp torture to confess, entirely according to their orders, so that accusations and evidence were thus obtained against certain influential gentlemen of the province, whose only crime was a secret adherence to the catholic faith. the eight wretches who had been induced by promises of unconditional pardon upon one hand, and by savage torture on the other, to bear this false witness, were condemned to be burned alive, and on their way to the stake, they all retracted the statements which had only been extorted from them by the rack. nevertheless, the individuals who had been thus designated, were arrested. charged with plotting a general conflagration of the villages and farmhouses, in conjunction with an invasion by hierges and other papist generals, they indignantly protested their innocence; but two of them, a certain kopp corneliszoon, and his son, nanning koppezoon, were selected to undergo the most cruel torture which had yet been practised in the netherlands. sonoy, to his eternal shame, was disposed to prove that human ingenuity to inflict human misery had not been exhausted in the chambers of the blood council, for it was to be shown that reformers were capable of giving a lesson even to inquisitors in this diabolical science. kopp, a man advanced in years, was tortured during a whole day. on the following morning he was again brought to the rack, but the old man was too weak to endure all the agony which his tormentors had provided for him. hardly had he been placed upon the bed of torture than he calmly expired, to the great indignation of the tribunal. "the devil has broken his neck and carried him off to hell," cried they ferociously. "nevertheless, that shall not prevent him from being hung and quartered." this decree of impotent vengeance was accordingly executed. the son of kopp, however, nanning koppezoon, was a man in the full vigor of his years. he bore with perfect fortitude a series of incredible tortures, after which, with his body singed from head to heel, and his feet almost entirely flayed, he was left for six weeks to crawl about his dungeon on his knees. he was then brought back to the torture-room, and again stretched upon the rack, while a large earthen vessel, made for the purpose, was placed, inverted, upon his naked body. a number of rats were introduced under this cover, and hot coals were heaped upon the vessel, till the rats, rendered furious by the heat, gnawed into the very bowels of the victim, in their agony to escape. [bor (viii. ) conscientiously furnishes diagrams of the machinery by aid of which this devilish cruelty was inflicted. the rats were sent by the governor himself.--vide letter of the commissioners to sonoy, apud bor, viii. , . the whole letter is a wonderful monument of barbarity. the incredible tortures to which the poor creatures had been subjected are detailed in a business-like manner, as though the transactions were quite regular and laudable, the commissioners conclude with pious wishes for the governor's welfare: "noble, wise, virtuous, and very discreet sir," they say, "we have wished to apprise you of the foregoing, and we now pray that god almighty may spare you in a happy, healthy and long-continued government"--it will be seen, however, that the wise, virtuous, and very discreet governor, who thus caused his fellow- citizens bowels to be gnawed by rats, was not allowed to remain much longer in his "happy and healthy government"] the holes thus torn in his bleeding flesh were filled with red-hot coals. he was afterwards subjected to other tortures too foul to relate; nor was it till he had endured all this agony, with a fortitude which seemed supernatural, that he was at last discovered to be human. scorched; bitten, dislocated in every joint, sleepless, starving, perishing with thirst, he was at last crushed into a false confession, by a promise of absolute forgiveness. he admitted everything which was brought to his charge, confessing a catalogue of contemplated burnings and beacon firings of which he had never dreamed, and avowing himself in league with other desperate papists, still more dangerous than himself. notwithstanding the promises of pardon, nanning was then condemned to death. the sentence ordained that his heart should be torn from his living bosom, and thrown in his face, after which his head was to be taken off and exposed on the church steeple of his native village. his body was then to be cut in four, and a quarter fastened upon different towers of the city of alkmaar, for it was that city, recently so famous for its heroic resistance to the spanish army, which was now sullied by all this cold-blooded atrocity. when led to execution, the victim recanted indignantly the confessions forced from him by weakness of body, and exonerated the persons whom he had falsely accused. a certain clergyman, named jurian epeszoon, endeavored by loud praying to drown his voice, that the people might not rise with indignation, and the dying prisoner with his last breath solemnly summoned this unworthy pastor of christ jo meet him within three days before the judgment-seat of god. it is a remarkable and authentic fact, that the clergyman thus summoned, went home pensively from the place of execution, sickened immediately and died upon the appointed day. notwithstanding this solemn recantation, the, persons accused were arrested, and in their turn subjected to torture, but the affair now reached the ears of orange. his peremptory orders, with the universal excitement produced in the neighbourhood, at last checked the course of the outrage, and the accused persons were remanded to prison, where they remained till liberated by the pacification of ghent. after their release they commenced legal proceedings against sonoy, with a view of establishing their own innocence, and of bringing the inhuman functionary to justice. the process languished, however, and was finally abandoned, for the powerful governor had rendered such eminent service in the cause of liberty, that it was thought unwise to push him to extremity. it is no impeachment upon the character of the prince that these horrible crimes were not prevented. it was impossible for him to be omnipresent. neither is it just to consider the tortures and death thus inflicted upon innocent men an indelible stain upon the cause of liberty. they were the crimes of an individual who had been useful, but who, like the count de la marck, had now contaminated his hand with the blood of the guiltless. the new tribunal never took root, and was abolished as soon as its initiatory horrors were known. on the th of july, oudewater, entirely unprepared for such an event, was besieged by hierges, but the garrison and the population, although weak, were brave. the town resisted eighteen days, and on the th of august was carried by assault, after which the usual horrors were fully practised, after which the garrison was put to the sword, and the townspeople fared little better. men, women, and children were murdered in cold blood, or obliged to purchase their lives by heavy ransoms, while matrons and maids were sold by auction to the soldiers at two or three dollars each. almost every house in the city was burned to the ground, and these horrible but very customary scenes having been enacted, the army of hierges took its way to schoonhoven. that city, not defending itself, secured tolerable terms of capitulation, and surrendered on the th of august. the grand commander had not yet given up the hope of naval assistance from spain, notwithstanding the abrupt termination to the last expedition which had been organized. it was, however, necessary that a foothold should be recovered upon the seaboard, before a descent from without could be met with proper co-operation from the land forces withal; and he was most anxious, therefore, to effect the reconquest of some portion of zealand. the island of tholen was still spanish, and had been so since the memorable expedition of mondragon to south beveland. from this interior portion of the archipelago the governor now determined to attempt an expedition against the outer and more important territory. the three principal islands were tholen; duiveland, and sehouwen. tholen was the first which detached itself from the continent. neat, and separated from it by a bay two leagues in width, was duiveland, or the isle of doves. beyond, and parted by a narrower frith, was schouwen, fronting directly upon the ocean, fortified by its strong capital city; zieriekzee, and containing other villages of inferior consequence. requesens had been long revolving in his mind the means of possessing himself of this important, island. he had caused to be constructed, a numerous armada of boats and light vessels of various dimensions, and he now came to tholew to organize the expedition. his prospects were at first not flattering, for the gulfs and estuaries swarmed with zealand vessels, manned by crews celebrated for their skill and audacity. traitors, however, from zealand itself now came forward to teach the spanish commander how to strike at the heart of their own country. these refugees explained to requesens that a narrow flat extended under the sea from philipsland, a small and uninhabited islet situate close to tholen, as far as the shore of duiveland. upon this submerged tongue of land the water, during ebb-tide, was sufficiently shallow to be waded, and it would therefore be possible for a determined band, under cover of the night, to make the perilous passage. once arrived at duiveland, they could more easily cross the intervening creek to schouwen, which was not so deep and only half as wide, so that a force thus, sent through these dangerous shallows, might take possession of duiveland and lay siege to zierickzee, in the very teeth of the zealand fleet, which would be unable to sail near enough to intercept their passage. the commander determined that the enterprise should be attempted. it was not a novelty, because mondragon, as we have seen, had already most brilliantly conducted a very similar expedition. the present was, however, a much more daring scheme. the other exploit, although sufficiently hazardous, and entirely, successful, had been a victory gained over the sea alone. it had been a surprise, and had been effected without any opposition from human enemies. here, however, they were to deal, not only with the ocean and darkness, but with a watchful and determined foe. the zealanders were aware that the enterprise was in contemplation, and their vessels lay about the contiguous waters in considerable force. nevertheless, the determination of the grand commander was hailed with enthusiasm by his troops. having satisfied himself by personal experiment that the enterprise was possible, and that therefore his brave soldiers could accomplish it, he decided that the glory of the achievement should be fairly shared, as before, among the different nations which served the king. after completing his preparations, requesens came to tholen, at which rendezvous were assembled three thousand infantry, partly spaniards, partly germans, partly walloons. besides these, a picked corps of two hundred sappers and miners was to accompany the expedition, in order that no time might be lost in fortifying themselves as soon as they had seized possession of schouwen. four hundred mounted troopers were, moreover, stationed in the town of tholen, while the little fleet, which had been prepared at antwerp; lay near that city ready to co-operate with the land force as soon as they, should complete their enterprise. the grand commander now divided the whole force into two parts: one half was to remain in the boats, under the command of mondragon; the other half, accompanied by the two hundred pioneers, were to wade through the sea from philipsland to duiveland and schouwen. each soldier of this detachment was provided with a pair of shoes, two pounds of powder, and rations for three days in a canvas bag suspended at his neck. the leader of this expedition was don osorio d'ulloa, an officer distinguished for his experience and bravery. on the night selected for the enterprise, that of the th september, the moon was a day old in its fourth quarter, and rose a little before twelve. it was low water at between four and five in the morning. the grand commander, at the appointed hour of midnight, crossed to philipsland, and stood on the shore to watch the setting forth of the little army. he addressed a short harangue to them, in which he skillfully struck the chords of spanish chivalry, and the national love of glory, and was answered with loud and enthusiastic cheers. don osorio d'ulloa then stripped and plunged into the sea immediately after the guides. he was followed by the spaniards, after whom came the germans and then the walloons. the two hundred sappers and miners came next, and don gabriel peralta, with his spanish company; brought up the rear. it was a wild night. incessant lightning, alternately revealed and obscured the progress of the midnight march through the black waters, as the anxious commander watched the expedition from the shore, but the soldiers were quickly swallowed up in the gloom. as they advanced cautiously, two by two, the daring adventurers found themselves soon nearly up to their necks in the waves, while so narrow was the submerged bank along which they were marching, that a misstep to the right or left was fatal. luckless individuals repeatedly sank to rise no more. meantime, as the sickly light, of the waning moon came forth at intervals through the stormy clouds the soldiers could plainly perceive the files of zealand vessels through which they were to march, and which were anchored as close to the flat as the water would allow. some had recklessly stranded themselves, in their eagerness to interrupt the passage, of the troops, and the artillery played unceasingly from the larger vessels. discharges of musketry came continually from all, but the fitful lightning rendered the aim difficult and the fire comparatively harmless while the spaniards were, moreover, protected, as to a large part of their bodies, by the water in which they were immersed. at times; they halted for breath, or to engage in fierce skirmishes with their nearest assailants. standing breast-high in the waves, and surrounded at intervals by total darkness, they were yet able to pour an occasional well-directed volley into the hostile ranks. the zealanders, however, did, not assail them with fire-arms alone. they transfixed some with their fatal harpoons; they dragged others from the path with boathooks; they beat out the brains of others with heavy flails. many were the mortal duels thus fought in the darkness, and, as it were, in the bottom of the sea; many were the deeds of audacity which no eye was to mark save those by whom they were achieved. still, in spite of all impediments and losses, the spaniards steadily advanced. if other arms proved less available, they were attached by the fierce taunts and invectives of their often invisible foes who reviled them as water-dogs, fetching and carrying for a master who despised them; as mercenaries who coined their blood for gold, and were employed by tyrants for the basest uses. if stung by these mocking voices, they turned in the darkness to chastise their unseen tormentors, they were certain to be trampled upon by their comrades, and to be pushed from their narrow pathway into the depths of the sea. thus many perished. the night wore on, and the adventurers still fought it out manfully, but very slowly, the main body of spaniards, germans, and walloons, soon after daylight, reaching the opposite shore, having sustained considerable losses, but in perfect order. the pioneers were not so fortunate. the tide rose over them before they could effect their passage, and swept nearly every one away. the rearguard, under peralta, not surprised, like the pioneers, in the middle of their passage, by the rising tide, but prevented, before it was too late; from advancing far beyond the shore from which they had departed were fortunately enabled to retrace their steps. don osorio, at the head of the successful adventurers, now effected his landing upon duiveland. reposing themselves but for an instant after this unparalleled march through the water, of more than six hours, they took a slight refreshment, prayed to the virgin mary and to saint james, and then prepared to meet their new enemies on land. ten companies of french, scotch, and english auxiliaries lay in duiveland, under the command of charles van boisot. strange to relate, by an inexplicable accident, or by treason, that general was slain by his own soldiers, at the moment when the royal troops landed. the panic created by this event became intense, as the enemy rose suddenly, as it were, out of the depths of the ocean to attack them. they magnified the numbers of their assailants, and fled terror-stricken in every direction. same swam to the zealand vessels which lay in the neighbourhood; others took refuge in the forts which had been constructed on the island; but these were soon carried by the spaniards, and the conquest of duiveland was effected. the enterprise was not yet completed, but the remainder was less difficult and not nearly so hazardous, for the creek which separated duiveland from schouwen was much narrower than the estuary which they had just traversed. it was less than a league in width, but so encumbered by rushes and briers that, although difficult to wade, it was not navigable for vessels of any kind. this part of the expedition was accomplished with equal resolution, so that, after a few hours' delay, the soldiers stood upon the much-coveted island of schouwen. five companies of states' troops, placed to oppose their landing, fled in the most cowardly manner at the first discharge of the spanish muskets, and took refuge in the city of zierickzee, which was soon afterwards beleaguered. the troops has been disembarked upon duiveland from the armada, which had made its way to the scene of action, after having received, by signal, information that the expedition through the water had been successful. brouwershaven, on the northern side of schouwen, was immediately reduced, but bommenede resisted till the th of october, when it was at last carried by assault, and delivered over to fire and sword. of the whole population and garrison not twenty were left alive. siege was then laid to zierickzee, and colonel mondragon was left in charge of the operations. requesens himself came to schouwen to give directions concerning this important enterprise. chiapin vitelli also came thither in the middle of the winter, and was so much injured by a fall from his litter, while making the tour of the island, that he died on shipboard during his return to antwerp. this officer had gained his laurels upon more than one occasion, his conduct in the important action near mons, in which the huguenot force under genlis was defeated, having been particularly creditable. he was of a distinguished umbrian family, and had passed his life in camps, few of the generals who had accompanied alva to the netherlands being better known or more odious to the inhabitants. he was equally distinguished for his courage, his cruelty, and his corpulence. the last characteristic was so remarkable that he was almost monstrous in his personal appearance. his protuberant stomach was always supported in a bandage suspended from his neck, yet in spite of this enormous impediment, he was personally active on the battle-field, and performed more service, not only as a commander but as a subaltern, than many a younger and lighter man. the siege of zierickzee was protracted till the following june, the city holding out with firmness. want of funds caused the operations to be, conducted with languor, but the same cause prevented the prince from accomplishing its relief. thus the expedition from philipsland, the most brilliant military exploit of the whole war, was attended with important results. the communication between walcheren and the rest of zealand was interrupted; the province cut in two; a foothold on the ocean; for a brief interval at least, acquired by spain. the prince was inexpressibly chagrined by these circumstances, and felt that the moment had arrived when all honorable means were to be employed to obtain foreign assistance. the hollanders and zealanders had fought the battles of freedom alone hitherto, and had fought them well, but poverty was fast rendering them incapable of sustaining much longer the unequal conflict. offers of men, whose wages the states were to furnish, were refused; as worse than fruitless. henry of navarre, who perhaps deemed it possible to acquire the sovereignty of the provinces by so barren a benefit, was willing to send two or three thousand men, but not at his own expense. the proposition was respectfully declined. the prince and his little country, were all alone. "even if we should not only see ourselves deserted by all the world, but also all the world against us," he said, "we should not cease to defend ourselves even to the last man. knowing the justice of our cause, we repose, entirely in the mercy of god." he determined, however, once more to have recourse to the powerful of the earth, being disposed to test the truth of his celebrated observation, that "there would be no lack of suitors for the bride that he had to bestow." it was necessary, in short, to look the great question of formally renouncing philip directly in the face. hitherto the fiction of allegiance had been preserved, and, even by the enemies of the prince, it, was admitted: that it had been retained with no disloyal intent. the time however, had come when it was necessary to throw off allegiance, provided another could be found strong enough and frank enough to accept the authority which philip had forfeited. the question was, naturally, between france and england; unless the provinces could effect their re-admission into the body of the germanic empire. already in june the prince had laid the proposition formally before the states, "whether they should not negotiate with the empire on the subject of their admission, with maintenance of their own constitutions," but it was understood that this plan was not to be carried out, if the protection of the empire could be obtained under easier conditions. nothing came of the proposition at that time. the nobles and the deputies of south holland now voted, in the beginning of the ensuing month, "that it was their duty to abandon the king, as a tyrant who sought to oppress and destroy his subjects; and that it behooved them to seek another protector." this was while the breda negotiations were still pending, but when their inevitable result was very visible. there was still a reluctance at taking the last and decisive step in the rebellion, so that the semblance of loyalty was still retained; that ancient scabbard, in which the sword might yet one day be sheathed. the proposition was not adopted at the diet. a committee of nine was merely appointed to deliberate with the prince upon the "means of obtaining foreign assistance, without accepting foreign authority, or severing their connexion with his majesty." the estates were, however, summoned a few months later, by the prince, to deliberate on this important matter at rotterdam. on the st of october he then formally proposed, either to make terms with their enemy, and that the sooner the better, or else, once for all, to separate entirely from the king of spain, and to change their sovereign, in order, with the assistance and under protection of another christian potentate, to maintain the provinces against their enemies. orange, moreover, expressed the opinion that upon so important a subject it was decidedly incumbent upon them all to take the sense of the city governments. the members for the various municipalities acquiesced in the propriety of this suggestion, and resolved to consult their constituents, while the deputies of the nobility also desired to consult with their whole body. after an adjournment of a few days, the diet again assembled at delft, and it was then unanimously resolved by the nobles and the cities, "that they would forsake the king and seek foreign assistance; referring the choice to the prince, who, in regard to the government, was to take the opinion of the estates." thus, the great step was taken, by which two little provinces declared themselves independent of their ancient master. that declaration, although taken in the midst of doubt and darkness, was not destined to be cancelled, and the germ of a new and powerful commonwealth was planted. so little, however, did these republican fathers foresee their coming republic, that the resolution to renounce one king was combined with a proposition to ask for the authority of another. it was not imagined that those two slender columns, which were all that had yet been raised of the future stately peristyle, would be strong enough to stand alone. the question now arose, to what foreign power application should be made. but little hope was to be entertained from germany, a state which existed only in name, and france was still in a condition of religious and intestine discord. the attitude of revolt maintained by the duc d'alencon seemed to make it difficult and dangerous to enter into negotiations with a country where the civil wars had assumed so complicated a character, that loyal and useful alliance could hardly be made with any party. the queen of england, on the other hand; dreaded the wrath of philip, by which her perpetual dangers from the side of scotland would be aggravated, while she feared equally the extension of french authority in the netherlands, by which increase her neighbour would acquire an overshadowing power. she was also ashamed openly to abandon the provinces to their fate, for her realm was supposed to be a bulwark of the protestant religion. afraid to affront philip, afraid to refuse the suit of the netherlands, afraid to concede as aggrandizement to france, what course was open to the english queen. that which, politically and personally, she loved the best--a course of barren coquetry. this the prince of orange foresaw; and although not disposed to leave a stone unturned in his efforts to find assistance for his country, he on the whole rather inclined for france. he, however, better than any man, knew how little cause there was for sanguine expectation from either source. it was determined, in the name of his highness and the estates, first to send a mission to england, but there had already been negotiations this year of an unpleasant character with that power. at the request of the spanish envoy, the foremost netherland rebels, in number about fifty, including by name the prince of orange, the counts of berg and culemburg, with saint aldegonde, boisot, junius, and others, had been formally forbidden by queen elizabeth to enter her realm. the prince had, in consequence, sent aldegonde and junius on a secret mission to france, and the queen; jealous and anxious, had thereupon sent daniel rogers secretly to the prince. at the same tine she had sent an envoy to the grand commander, counselling, conciliatory measures; and promising to send a special mission to spain with the offer of her mediation, but it was suspected by those most in the confidence of the spanish government at brussels, that there was a great deal of deception in these proceedings. a truce for six months having now been established between the duc d'alencon and his brother, it was supposed, that an alliance between france and england, and perhaps between alencon and elizabeth, was on the carpet, and that a kingdom of the netherlands was to be the wedding present of the bride to her husband. these fantasies derived additional color from the fact that, while the queen was expressing the most amicable intentions towards spain, and the greatest jealousy of france, the english residents at antwerp and other cities of the netherlands, had received private instructions to sell out their property as fast as possible, and to retire from the country. on the whole, there was little prospect either of a final answer, or of substantial assistance from the queen. the envoys to england were advocate buis and doctor francis maalzon, nominated by the estates, and saint aldegonde, chief of the mission, appointed by the prince. they arrived in england at christmas-tide. having represented to the queen the result of the breda negotiations, they stated that the prince and the estates, in despair of a secure peace, had addressed themselves to her as an upright protector of the faith, and as a princess descended from the blood of holland. this allusion to the intermarriage of edward iii. of england with philippa, daughter of count william iii. of hainault and holland, would not, it was hoped, be in vain. they furthermore offered to her majesty, in case she were willing powerfully to assist the states, the sovereignty over holland and zealand, under certain conditions. the queen listened graciously to the envoys, and appointed commissioners to treat with them on the subject. meantime, requesens sent champagny to england, to counteract the effect of this embassy of the estates, and to beg the queen to give no heed to the prayers of the rebels, to enter into no negotiations with them, and to expel them at once from her kingdom. the queen gravely assured champagny "that the envoys were no rebels, but faithful subjects of his majesty." there was certainly some effrontery in such a statement, considering the solemn offer which had just been made by the envoys. if to renounce allegiance to philip and to propose the sovereignty to elizabeth did not constitute rebellion, it would be difficult to define or to discover rebellion anywhere. the statement was as honest, however, as the diplomatic grimace with which champagny had reminded elizabeth of the ancient and unbroken friendship which had always, existed between herself and his catholic majesty. the attempt of philip to procure her dethronement and assassination but a few years before was, no doubt, thought too trifling a circumstance to have for a moment interrupted those harmonious relations. nothing came of the negotiations on either side. the queen coquetted, as was her custom. she could not accept the offer of the estates; she could not say them nay. she would not offend philip; she would not abandon the provinces; she would therefore negotiate--thus there was an infinite deal of diplomatic nothing spun and unravelled, but the result was both to abandon the provinces and to offend philip. in the first answer given by her commissioners to the states' envoys, it was declared, "that her majesty considered it too expensive to assume the protection of both provinces." she was willing to protect them in name, but she should confer the advantage exclusively on walcheren in reality. the defence of holland must be maintained at the expense of the prince and the estates. this was certainly not munificent, and the envoys insisted upon more ample and liberal terms. the queen declined, however, committing herself beyond this niggardly and inadmissible offer. the states were not willing to exchange the sovereignty over their country for so paltry a concession. the queen declared herself indisposed to go further, at least before consulting parliament. the commissioners waited for the assembling of parliament. she then refused to lay the matter before that body, and forbade the hollanders taking any steps for that purpose. it was evident that she was disposed to trifle with the provinces, and had no idea of encountering the open hostility of philip. the envoys accordingly begged for their passports. these were granted in april, , with the assurance on the part of her majesty that "she would think more of the offer made to her after she had done all in her power to bring about an arrangement between the provinces and philip." after the result of the negotiations of breda, it is difficult to imagine what method she was likely to devise for accomplishing such a purpose. the king was not more disposed than during the preceding summer to grant liberty of religion, nor were the hollanders more ready than they had been before to renounce either their faith or their fatherland. the envoys, on parting, made a strenuous effort to negotiate a loan, but the frugal queen considered the proposition quite inadmissible. she granted them liberty to purchase arms and ammunition, and to levy a few soldiers with their own money, and this was accordingly done to a limited extent. as it was not difficult to hire soldiers or to buy gunpowder anywhere, in that warlike age, provided the money were ready, the states had hardly reason to consider themselves under deep obligation for this concession. yet this was the whole result of the embassy. plenty of fine words had, been bestowed, which might or might not have meaning, according to the turns taken by coming events. besides these cheap and empty civilities, they received permission to defend holland at their own expense; with the privilege, of surrendering its sovereignty, if they liked, to queen elizabeth-and this was all. on the th of april, the envoys returned to their country, and laid before the estates the meagre result of their negotiations. very soon afterwards, upon an informal suggestion from henry iii. and the queen mother, that a more favorable result might be expected, if the same applications were made to the duc d'alencon which had been received in so unsatisfactory a manner by elizabeth, commissioners were appointed to france. it proved impossible, however, at that juncture, to proceed with the negotiations, in consequence of the troubles occasioned by the attitude of the duke. the provinces were still, even as they had been from the beginning, entirely alone. requesens was more than ever straitened for funds, wringing, with increasing difficulty, a slender subsidy, from time to time, out of the reluctant estates of brabant, flanders, and the other obedient provinces. while he was still at duiveland, the estates-general sent him a long remonstrance against the misconduct of the soldiery, in answer to his demand for supplies. "oh, these estates! these estates!" cried the grand commander, on receiving such vehement reproaches instead of his money; "may the lord deliver me from these estates!" meantime, the important siege of zierickzee continued, and it was evident that the city must fall. there was no money at the disposal of the prince. count john, who was seriously embarrassed by reason of the great obligations in money which he, with the rest of his family, had incurred on behalf of the estates, had recently made application to the prince for his influence towards procuring him relief. he had forwarded an account of the great advances made by himself and his brethren in money, plate, furniture, and endorsements of various kinds, for which a partial reimbursement was almost indispensable to save him from serious difficulties. the prince, however, unable to procure him any assistance, had been obliged him once more to entreat him to display the generosity and the self-denial which the country had never found wanting at his hands or at those of his kindred. the appeal had not been, in vain, but the count was obviously not in a condition to effect anything more at that moment to relieve the financial distress of the states. the exchequer was crippled. [the contributions of holland and zealand for war expenses amounted to one hundred and fifty thousand florins monthly. the pay of a captain was eighty florins monthly; that of a lieutenant, forty; that of a corporal, fifteen; that of a drummer, fifer, or minister, twelve; that of a common soldier, seven and a half. a captain had also one hundred and fifty florins each month to distribute among the most meritorious of his company. each soldier was likewise furnished with food; bedding, fire, light, and washing.--renom de france ms, vol. ii. c. ,] holland and zealand were cut in twain by the occupation of schouwen and the approaching fall of its capital. germany, england, france; all refused to stretch out their hands to save the heroic but exhaustless little provinces. it was at this moment that a desperate but sublime resolution took possession of the prince's mind. there seemed but one way left to exclude the spaniards for ever from holland and zealand, and to rescue the inhabitants from impending ruin. the prince had long brooded over the scheme, and the hour seemed to have struck for its fulfilment. his project was to collect all the vessels, of every description, which could be obtained throughout the netherlands. the whole population of the two provinces, men, women, and children, together with all the moveable property of the country, were then to be embarked on board this numerous fleet, and to seek a new home beyond the seas. the windmills were then to be burned, the dykes pierced, the sluices opened in every direction, and the country restored for ever to the ocean, from which it had sprung. it is difficult to say whether the resolution, if providence had permitted its fulfilment, would have been, on the whole, better or worse for humanity and civilization. the ships which would have borne the heroic prince and his fortunes might have taken the direction of the newly-discovered western hemisphere. a religious colony, planted by a commercial and liberty-loving race, in a virgin soil, and directed by patrician but self-denying hands, might have preceded, by half a century, the colony which a kindred race, impelled by similar motives, and under somewhat similar circumstances and conditions, was destined to plant upon the stern shores of new england. had they directed their course to the warm and fragrant islands of the east, an independent christian commonwealth might have arisen among those prolific regions, superior in importance to any subsequent colony of holland, cramped from its birth by absolute subjection to a far distant metropolis. the unexpected death of requesens suddenly dispelled these schemes. the siege of zierickzee had occupied much of the governor's attention, but he had recently written to his sovereign, that its reduction was now certain. he had added an urgent request for money, with a sufficient supply of which he assured philip that he should be able to bring the war to an immediate conclusion. while waiting for these supplies, he had, contrary to all law or reason, made an unsuccessful attempt to conquer the post of embden, in germany. a mutiny had at about the same time, broken out among his troops in harlem, and he had furnished the citizens with arms to defend themselves, giving free permission to use them against the insurgent troops. by this means the mutiny had been quelled, but a dangerous precedent established. anxiety concerning this rebellion is supposed to have hastened the grand commander's death. a violent fever seized him on the st, and terminated his existence on the th of march, in the fifty-first year of his life. it is not necessary to review elaborately his career, the chief incidents of which have been sufficiently described. requesens was a man of high position by birth and office, but a thoroughly commonplace personage. his talents either for war or for civil employments were not above mediocrity. his friends disputed whether he were greater in the field or in the council, but it is certain that he was great in neither. his bigotry was equal to that of alva, but it was impossible to rival the duke in cruelty. moreover, the condition of the country, after seven years of torture under his predecessor, made it difficult for him, at the time of his arrival, to imitate the severity which had made the name of alva infamous. the blood council had been retained throughout his administration, but its occupation was gone, for want of food for its ferocity. the obedient provinces had been purged of protestants; while crippled, too, by confiscation, they offered no field for further extortion. from holland and zealand, whence catholicism had been nearly excluded, the king of spain was nearly excluded also. the blood council which, if set up in that country, would have executed every living creature of its population, could only gaze from a distance at those who would have been its victims. requesens had been previously distinguished in two fields of action: the granada massacres and the carnage of lepanto. upon both occasions he had been the military tutor of don john of austria, by whom he was soon to be succeeded in the government of the netherlands. to the imperial bastard had been assigned the pre-eminence, but it was thought that the grand commander had been entitled to a more than equal share of the glory. we have seen how much additional reputation was acquired by requesens in the provinces. the expedition against duiveland and schouwen, was, on the whole, the most brilliant feat of arms during the war, and its success reflects an undying lustre on the hardihood and discipline of the spanish, german, and walloon soldiery. as an act of individual audacity in a bad cause, it has rarely been equalled. it can hardly be said, however, that the grand commander was entitled to any large measure of praise for the success of the expedition. the plan was laid by zealand traitors. it was carried into execution by the devotion of the spanish, walloon, and german troops; while requesens was only a spectator of the transaction. his sudden death arrested, for a moment, the ebb-tide in the affairs of the netherlands, which was fast leaving the country bare and desolate, and was followed by a train of unforeseen transactions, which it is now our duty to describe. etext editor's bookmarks: as the old woman had told the emperor adrian beautiful damsel, who certainly did not lack suitors breath, time, and paper were profusely wasted and nothing gained care neither for words nor menaces in any matter distinguished for his courage, his cruelty, and his corpulence he had never enjoyed social converse, except at long intervals human ingenuity to inflict human misery peace was desirable, it might be more dangerous than war proposition made by the wolves to the sheep, in the fable rebuked the bigotry which had already grown reformers were capable of giving a lesson even to inquisitors result was both to abandon the provinces and to offend philip suppress the exercise of the roman religion the more conclusive arbitration of gunpowder motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothop motley chapter iv. assumption of affairs by the state council at brussels--hesitation at madrid--joachim hopper--mal-administration--vigilance of orange-- the provinces drawn more closely together--inequality of the conflict--physical condition of holland--new act of union between holland and zealand--authority of the prince defined and enlarged-- provincial polity characterized--generous sentiments of the prince-- his tolerant spirit--letters from the king--attitude of the great powers towards the netherlands--correspondence and policy of elizabeth--secret negotiations with france and alencon--confused and menacing aspect of germany--responsible, and laborious position of orange--attempt to relieve zierickzee--death of admiral boisot-- capitulation of the city upon honourable terms--mutiny of the spanish troops in schouwen--general causes of discontent--alarming increase of the mutiny--the rebel regiments enter brabant--fruitless attempts to pacify them--they take possession of alost--edicts, denouncing them, from the state council--intense excitement in brussels and antwerp--letters from philip brought by marquis havre-- the king's continued procrastination--ruinous royal confirmation of the authority assumed by the state council--united and general resistance to foreign military oppression--the german troops and the antwerp garrison, under avila, join the revolt--letter of verdugo-- a crisis approaching--jerome de roda in the citadel--the mutiny universal. the death of requesens, notwithstanding his four days' illness, occurred so suddenly, that he had not had time to appoint his successor. had he exercised this privilege, which his patent conferred upon him, it was supposed that he would have nominated count mansfeld to exercise the functions of governor-general, until the king should otherwise ordain. in the absence of any definite arrangement, the council of state, according to a right which that body claimed from custom, assumed the reins of government. of the old board, there were none left but the duke of aerschot, count berlaymont, and viglins. to these were soon added, however, by royal diploma, the spaniard, jerome de roda, and the netherlanders, assonleville, baron rassenghiem and arnold sasbout. thus, all the members, save one, of what had now become the executive body, were natives of the country. roda was accordingly looked askance upon by his colleagues. he was regarded by viglius as a man who desired to repeat the part which had been played by juan vargas in the blood council, while the other members, although stanch catholics, were all of them well-disposed to vindicate the claim of netherland nobles to a share in the government of the netherlands. for a time, therefore, the transfer of authority seemed to have been smoothly accomplished. the council of state conducted the administration of the country. peter ernest mansfeld was entrusted with the supreme military command, including the government of brussels; and the spanish commanders; although dissatisfied that any but a spaniard should be thus honored, were for a time quiescent. when the news reached madrid, philip was extremely disconcerted. the death of requesens excited his indignation. he was angry with him, not for dying, but for dying at so very inconvenient a moment. he had not yet fully decided either upon his successor, or upon the policy to be enforced by his successor. there were several candidates for the vacant post; there was a variety of opinions in the cabinet as to the course of conduct to be adopted. in the impossibility of instantly making up his mind upon this unexpected emergency, philip fell, as it were, into a long reverie, than which nothing could be more inopportune. with a country in a state of revolution and exasperation, the trance, which now seemed to come over the government, was like to be followed by deadly effects. the stationary policy, which the death of requesens had occasioned, was allowed to prolong itself indefinitely, and almost for the first time in his life, joachim hopper was really consulted about the affairs of that department over which he imagined himself, and was generally supposed by others, to preside at madrid. the creature of viglius, having all the subserviency, with none of the acuteness of his patron, he had been long employed as chief of the netherland bureau, while kept in profound ignorance of the affairs which were transacted in his office. he was a privy councillor, whose counsels were never heeded, a confidential servant in whom the king reposed confidence, only on the ground that no man could reveal secrets which he did not know. this deportment of the king's showed that he had accurately measured the man, for hopper was hardly competent for the place of a chief clerk. he was unable to write clearly in any language, because incapable of a fully developed thought upon any subject. it may be supposed that nothing but an abortive policy, therefore, would be produced upon the occasion thus suddenly offered. "'tis a devout man, that poor master hopper," said granvelle, "but rather fitted for platonic researches than for affairs of state." it was a proof of this incompetency, that now, when really called upon for advice in an emergency, he should recommend a continuance of the interim. certainly nothing worse could be devised. granvelle recommended a reappointment of the duchess margaret. others suggested duke eric of brunswick, or an archduke of the austrian house; although the opinion held by most of the influential councillors was in favor of don john of austria. in the interests of philip and his despotism, nothing, at any rate, could be more fatal than delay. in the condition of affairs which then existed, the worst or feeblest governor would have been better than none at all. to leave a vacancy was to play directly into the hands of orange, for it was impossible that so skilful an adversary should not at once perceive the fault, and profit by it to the utmost. it was strange that philip did not see the danger of inactivity at such a crisis. assuredly, indolence was never his vice, but on this occasion indecision did the work of indolence. unwittingly, the despot was assisting the efforts of the liberator. viglius saw the position of matters with his customary keenness, and wondered at the blindness of hopper and philip. at the last gasp of a life, which neither learning nor the accumulation of worldly prizes and worldly pelf could redeem from intrinsic baseness, the sagacious but not venerable old man saw that a chasm was daily widening; in which the religion and the despotism which he loved might soon be hopelessly swallowed. "the prince of orange and his beggars do not sleep," he cried, almost in anguish; "nor will they be quiet till they have made use of this interregnum to do us some immense grievance." certainly the prince of orange did not sleep upon this nor any other great occasion of his life. in his own vigorous language, used to stimulate his friends in various parts of the country, he seized the swift occasion by the forelock. he opened a fresh correspondence with many leading gentlemen in brussels and other places in the netherlands; persons of influence, who now, for the first time, showed a disposition to side with their country against its tyrants. hitherto the land had been divided into two very unequal portions. holland and zealand were devoted to the prince; their whole population, with hardly an individual exception, converted to the reformed religion. the other fifteen provinces were, on the whole, loyal to the king; while the old religion had, of late years, taken root so rapidly again, that perhaps a moiety of their population might be considered as catholic. at the same time, the reign of terror under alva, the paler, but not less distinct tyranny of requesens, and the intolerable excesses of the foreign soldiery, by which the government of foreigners was supported, had at last maddened all the inhabitants of the seventeen provinces. notwithstanding, therefore, the fatal difference of religious opinion, they were all drawn into closer relations with each other; to regain their ancient privileges, and to expel the detested foreigners from the soil, being objects common to all. the provinces were united in one great hatred and one great hope. the hollanders and zealanders, under their heroic leader, had well nigh accomplished both tasks, so far as those little provinces were concerned. never had a contest, however, seemed more hopeless at its commencement. cast a glance at the map. look at holland--not the republic, with its sister provinces beyond the zuyder zee--but holland only, with the zealand archipelago. look at that narrow tongue of half-submerged earth. who could suppose that upon that slender sand-bank, one hundred and twenty miles in length, and varying in breadth from four miles to forty, one man, backed by the population of a handful of cities, could do battle nine years long with the master of two worlds, the "dominator of asia, africa, and america"--the despot of the fairest realms of europe--and conquer him at last. nor was william even entirely master of that narrow shoal where clung the survivors of a great national shipwreck. north and south holland were cut in two by the loss of harlem, while the enemy was in possession of the natural capital of the little country, amsterdam. the prince affirmed that the cause had suffered more from the disloyalty of amsterdam than from all the efforts of the enemy. moreover, the country was in a most desolate condition. it was almost literally a sinking ship. the destruction of the bulwarks against the ocean had been so extensive, in consequence of the voluntary inundations which have been described in previous pages, and by reason of the general neglect which more vital occupations had necessitated, that an enormous outlay, both of labor and money, was now indispensable to save the physical existence of the country. the labor and the money, notwithstanding the crippled and impoverished condition of the nation, were, however, freely contributed; a wonderful example of energy and patient heroism was again exhibited. the dykes which had been swept away in every direction were renewed at a vast expense. moreover, the country, in the course of recent events, had become almost swept bare of its cattle, and it was necessary to pass a law forbidding, for a considerable period, the slaughter of any animals, "oxen, cows, calves, sheep, or poultry." it was, unfortunately, not possible to provide by law against that extermination of the human population which had been decreed by philip and the pope. such was the physical and moral condition of the provinces of holland and zealand. the political constitution of both assumed, at this epoch, a somewhat altered aspect. the union between the two states; effected in june, , required improvement. the administration of justice, the conflicts of laws, and more particularly the levying of monies and troops in equitable proportions, had not been adjusted with perfect smoothness. the estates of the two provinces, assembled in congress at delft, concluded, therefore, a new act of union, which was duly signed upon the th of april, . those estates, consisting of the knights and nobles of holland, with the deputies from the cities and countships of holland and zealand, had been duly summoned by the prince of orange. they as fairly included all the political capacities, and furnished as copious a representation of the national will, as could be expected, for it is apparent upon every page of his history, that the prince, upon all occasions, chose to refer his policy to the approval and confirmation of as large a portion of the people as any man in those days considered capable or desirous of exercising political functions. the new, union consisted of eighteen articles. it was established that deputies from all the estates should meet, when summoned by the prince of orange or otherwise, on penalty of fine, and at the risk of measures binding upon them being passed by the rest of the congress. freshly arising causes of litigation were to be referred to the prince. free intercourse and traffic through the united provinces was guaranteed. the confederates were mutually to assist each other in preventing all injustice, wrong, or violence, even towards an enemy. the authority of law and the pure administration of justice were mutually promised by the contracting states. the common expenses were to be apportioned among the different provinces, "as if they were all included in the republic of a single city." nine commissioners, appointed by the prince on nomination by the estates, were to sit permanently, as his advisers, and as assessors and collectors of the taxes. the tenure of the union was from six months to six months, with six weeks notice. the framers of this compact having thus defined the general outlines of the confederacy, declared that the government, thus constituted, should be placed under a single head. they accordingly conferred supreme authority on the prince, defining his powers in eighteen articles. he was declared chief commander by land and sea. he was to appoint all officers, from generals to subalterns, and to pay them at his discretion. the whole protection of the land was devolved upon him. he was to send garrisons or troops into every city and village at his pleasure, without advice or consent of the estates, magistrates of the cities, or any other persons whatsoever. he was, in behalf of the king as count of holland and zealand, to cause justice to be administered by the supreme court. in the same capacity he was to provide for vacancies in all political and judicial offices of importance, choosing, with the advice of the estates, one officer for each vacant post out of three candidates nominated to him by that body. he was to appoint and renew, at the usual times, the magistracies in the cities, according to the ancient constitutions. he was to make changes in those boards, if necessary, at unusual times, with consent of the majority of those representing the great council and corpus of the said cities. he was to uphold the authority and pre-eminence of all civil functionaries, and to prevent governors and military officers from taking any cognizance of political or judicial affairs. with regard to religion, he was to maintain the practice of the reformed evangelical religion, and to cause to surcease the exercise of all other religions contrary to the gospel. he was, however, not to permit that inquisition should be made into any man's belief or conscience, or that any man by cause thereof should suffer trouble, injury, or hindrance. the league thus concluded was a confederation between a group of virtually independent little republics. each municipality, was, as it were, a little sovereign, sending envoys to a congress to vote and to sign as plenipotentiaries. the vote of each city was, therefore, indivisible, and it mattered little, practically, whether there were one deputy or several. the nobles represented not only their own order, but were supposed to act also in behalf of the rural population. on the whole, there was a tolerably fair representation of the whole nation. the people were well and worthily represented in the government of each city, and therefore equally so in the assembly of the estates. it was not till later that the corporations, by the extinction of the popular element, and by the usurpation of the right of self-election, were thoroughly stiffened into fictitious personages which never died, and which were never thoroughly alive. at this epoch the provincial liberties, so far as they could maintain themselves against spanish despotism, were practical and substantial. the government was a representative one, in which all those who had the inclination possessed, in one mode or another, a voice. although the various members of the confederacy were locally and practically republics or self-governed little commonwealths, the general government which they, established was, in form, monarchical. the powers conferred upon orange constituted him a sovereign ad interim, for while the authority of the spanish monarch remained suspended, the prince was invested, not only with the whole executive and appointing power, but even with a very large share in the legislative functions of the state. the whole system was rather practical than theoretical, without any accurate distribution of political powers. in living, energetic communities, where the blood of the body politic circulates swiftly, there is an inevitable tendency of the different organs to sympathize and commingle more closely than a priori philosophy would allow. it is usually more desirable than practicable to keep the executive, legislative, and judicial departments entirely independent of each other. certainly, the prince of orange did not at that moment indulge in speculations concerning the nature and origin of government. the congress of delft had just clothed him with almost regal authority. in his hands were the powers of war and peace, joint control of the magistracies and courts of justice, absolute supremacy over the army and the fleets. it is true that these attributes had been conferred upon him ad interim, but it depended only upon himself to make the sovereignty personal and permanent. he was so thoroughly absorbed in his work, however, that he did not even see the diadem which he put aside. it was small matter to him whether they called him stadholder or guardian, prince or king. he was the father of his country and its defender. the people, from highest to lowest, called him "father william," and the title was enough for him. the question with him was not what men should call him, but how he should best accomplish his task. so little was he inspired by the sentiment of self-elevation, that he was anxiously seeking for a fitting person--strong, wise, and willing enough--to exercise the sovereignty which was thrust upon himself, but which he desired to exchange against an increased power to be actively useful to his country. to expel the foreign oppressor; to strangle the inquisition; to maintain the ancient liberties of the nation; here was labor enough for his own hands. the vulgar thought of carving a throne out of the misfortunes of his country seems not to have entered his mind. upon one point, however, the prince had been peremptory. he would have no persecution of the opposite creed. he was requested to suppress the catholic religion, in terms. as we have seen, he caused the expression to be exchanged for the words, "religion at variance with the gospel." he resolutely stood out against all meddling with men's consciences, or inquiring into their thoughts. while smiting the spanish inquisition into the dust, he would have no calvinist inquisition set up in its place. earnestly a convert to the reformed religion, but hating and denouncing only what was corrupt in the ancient church, he would not force men, with fire and sword, to travel to heaven upon his own road. thought should be toll-free. neither monk nor minister should burn, drown, or hang his fellow-creatures, when argument or expostulation failed to redeem them from error. it was no small virtue, in that age, to rise to such a height. we know what calvinists, zwinglians, lutherans, have done in the netherlands, in germany, in switzerland, and almost a century later in new england. it is, therefore, with increased veneration that we regard this large and truly catholic mind. his tolerance proceeded from no indifference. no man can read his private writings, or form a thorough acquaintance with his interior life, without recognizing him as a deeply religious man. he had faith unfaltering in god. he had also faith in man and love for his brethren. it was no wonder that in that age of religious bigotry he should have been assaulted on both sides. while the pope excommunicated him as a heretic, and the king set a price upon his head as a rebel, the fanatics of the new religion denounced him as a godless man. peter dathenus, the unfrocked monk of poperingen, shrieked out in his pulpit that the "prince of orange cared nothing either for god or for religion." the death of requesens had offered the first opening through which the watchful prince could hope to inflict a wound in the vital part of spanish authority in the netherlands. the languor of philip and the procrastinating counsel of the dull hopper unexpectedly widened the opening. on the th of march letters were written by his majesty to the states-general, to the provincial estates, and to the courts of justice, instructing them that, until further orders, they were all to obey the council of state. the king was confident that all would do their utmost to assist that body in securing the holy catholic faith and the implicit obedience of the country to its sovereign. he would, in the meantime, occupy himself with the selection of a new governor-general, who should be of his family and blood. this uncertain and perilous condition of things was watched with painful interest in neighbouring countries. the fate of all nations was more or less involved in the development of the great religious contest now waging in the netherlands. england and france watched each other's movements in the direction of the provinces with intense jealousy. the protestant queen was the natural ally of the struggling reformers, but her despotic sentiments were averse to the fostering of rebellion against the lord's anointed. the thrifty queen looked with alarm at the prospect of large subsidies which would undoubtedly be demanded of her. the jealous queen could as ill brook the presence of the french in the netherlands as that of the spaniards whom they were to expel. she therefore embarrassed, as usual, the operations of the prince by a course of stale political coquetry. she wrote to him, on the th of march, soon after the news of the grand commander's death, saying that she could not yet accept the offer which had been made to her, to take the provinces of holland and zealand under her safe keeping, to assume, as countess, the sovereignty over them, and to protect the inhabitants against the alleged tyranny of the king of spain. she was unwilling to do so until she had made every effort to reconcile them with that sovereign. before the death of requesens she had been intending to send him an envoy, proposing a truce, for the purpose of negotiation. this purpose she still retained. she should send commissioners to the council of state and to the new governor, when he should arrive. she should also send a special envoy to the king of spain. she doubted not that the king would take her advice, when he heard her speak in such straightforward language. in the meantime, she hoped that they would negotiate with no other powers. this was not very satisfactory. the queen rejected the offers to herself, but begged that they might, by no means, be made to her rivals. the expressed intention of softening the heart of philip by the use of straightforward language seemed but a sorry sarcasm. it was hardly worth while to wait long for so improbable a result. thus much for england at that juncture. not inimical, certainly; but over-cautious, ungenerous, teasing, and perplexing, was the policy of the maiden queen. with regard to france, events there seemed to favor the hopes of orange. on the th of may, the "peace of monsieur," the treaty by which so ample but so short-lived a triumph was achieved by the huguenots, was signed at paris. everything was conceded, but nothing was secured. rights of worship, rights of office, political and civil, religious enfranchisement, were recovered, but not guaranteed. it seemed scarcely possible that the king could be in earnest then, even if a medicean valois could ever be otherwise than treacherous. it was almost, certain, therefore, that a reaction would take place; but it is easier for us, three centuries after the event, to mark the precise moment of reaction, than it was for the most far-seeing contemporary to foretell how soon it would occur. in the meantime, it was the prince's cue to make use of this sunshine while it lasted. already, so soon as the union of th of april had been concluded between holland and zealand, he had forced the estates to open negotiations with france. the provinces, although desirous to confer sovereignty upon him, were indisposed to renounce their old allegiance to their king in order to place it at the disposal of a foreigner. nevertheless, a resolution, at the reiterated demands of orange, was passed by the estates, to proceed to the change of master, and, for that, purpose, to treat with the king of france, his brother, or any other foreign potentate, who would receive these provinces of holland and zealand under his government and protection. negotiations were accordingly opened with the duke-of-anjou, the dilettante leader of the huguenots at that remarkable juncture. it was a pity that no better champion could be looked for among the anointed of the earth than the false, fickle, foolish alencon, whose career, everywhere contemptible, was nowhere so flagitious as in the netherlands. by the fourteenth article of the peace of paris, the prince was reinstated and secured in his principality of orange; and his other possessions in france. the best feeling; for the time being, was manifested between the french court and the reformation. thus much for england and france. as for germany, the prospects of the netherlands were not flattering. the reforming spirit had grown languid, from various causes. the self-seeking motives of many protestant princes had disgusted the nobles. was that the object of the bloody wars of religion, that a few potentates should be enabled to enrich themselves by confiscating the broad lands and accumulated treasures of the church? had the creed of luther been embraced only for such unworthy ends? these suspicions chilled the ardor of thousands, particularly among the greater ones of the land. moreover, the discord among the reformers themselves waxed daily, and became more and more mischievous. neither the people nor their leaders could learn that, not a new doctrine, but a wise toleration for all christian doctrines was wanted. of new doctrines there was no lack. lutherans, calvinists, flaccianists, majorists, adiaphorists, brantianists, ubiquitists, swarmed and contended pell-mell. in this there would have been small harm, if the reformers had known what reformation meant. but they could not invent or imagine toleration. all claimed the privilege of persecuting. there were sagacious and honest men among the great ones of the country, but they were but few. wise william of hesse strove hard to effect a concordia among the jarring sects; count john of nassau, though a passionate calvinist, did no less; while the elector of saxony, on the other hand, raging and roaring like a bull of bashan, was for sacrificing the interest of millions on the altar of his personal spite. cursed was his tribe if he forgave the prince. he had done what he could at the diet of ratisbon to exclude all calvinists from a participation in the religious peace of germany, and he redoubled his efforts to prevent the extension of any benefits to the calvinists of the netherlands. these determinations had remained constant and intense. on the whole, the political appearance of germany was as menacing as that of france seemed for a time favorable to the schemes of orange. the quarrels of the princes, and the daily widening schism between lutherans and calvinists, seemed to bode little good to the cause of religious freedom. the potentates were perplexed and at variance, the nobles lukewarm and discontented. among the people, although subdivided into hostile factions, there was more life. here, at least, were heartiness of love and hate, enthusiastic conviction, earnestness and agitation. "the true religion," wrote count john, "is spreading daily among the common men. among the powerful, who think themselves highly learned, and who sit in roses, it grows, alas, little. here and there a nicodemus or two may be found, but things will hardly go better here than in france or the netherlands." thus, then, stood affairs in the neighbouring countries. the prospect was black in germany, more encouraging in france, dubious, or worse, in england. more work, more anxiety, more desperate struggles than ever, devolved upon the prince. secretary brunynck wrote that his illustrious chief was tolerably well in health, but so loaded with affairs, sorrows, and travails, that, from morning till night, he had scarcely leisure to breathe. besides his multitudinous correspondence with the public bodies, whose labors he habitually directed; with the various estates of the provinces, which he was gradually moulding into an organised and general resistance to the spanish power; with public envoys and with secret agents to foreign cabinets, all of whom received their instructions from him alone; with individuals of eminence and influence, whom he was eloquently urging to abandon their hostile position to their fatherland; and to assist him in the great work which he was doing; besides these numerous avocations, he was actively and anxiously engaged during the spring of , with the attempt to relieve the city of zierickzee. that important place, the capital of schouwen, and the key to half zealand, had remained closely invested since the memorable expedition to duiveland. the prince had passed much of his time in the neighbourhood, during the month of may, in order to attend personally to the contemplated relief, and to correspond daily with the beleaguered garrison. at last, on the th of may, a vigorous effort was made to throw in succor by sea. the brave admiral boisot, hero of the memorable relief of leyden, had charge of the expedition. mondragon had surrounded the shallow harbor with hulks and chains, and with a loose submerged dyke of piles and rubbish. against this obstacle boisot drove his ship, the 'red lion,' with his customary audacity, but did not succeed in cutting it through. his vessel, the largest of the feet, became entangled: he was, at the same time, attacked from a distance by the besiegers. the tide ebbed and left his ship aground, while the other vessels had been beaten back by the enemy. night approached; and there was no possibility of accomplishing the enterprise. his ship was hopelessly stranded. with the morning's sun his captivity was certain. rather than fall into the hands of his enemy, he sprang into the sea; followed by three hundred of his companions, some of whom were fortunate enough to effect their escape. the gallant admiral swam a long time, sustained by a broken spar. night and darkness came on before assistance could be rendered, and he perished. thus died louis boisot, one of the most enterprising of the early champions of netherland freedom--one of the bravest precursors of that race of heroes, the commanders of the holland navy. the prince deplored his loss deeply, as that of a "valiant gentleman, and one well affectioned to the common cause." his brother, charles boisot, as will be remembered, had perished by treachery at the first landing of the spanish troops; after their perilous passage from duiveland.--thus both the brethren had laid down their lives for their country, in this its outer barrier, and in the hour of its utmost need. the fall of the beleaguered town could no longer be deferred. the spaniards were, at last, to receive the prize of that romantic valor which had led them across the bottom of the sea to attack the city. nearly nine months had, however, elapsed since that achievement; and the grand commander, by whose orders it had been undertaken, had been four months in his grave. he was permitted to see neither the long-delayed success which crowded the enterprise, nor the procession of disasters and crimes which were to mark it as a most fatal success. on the st of june, , zierickzee, instructed by the prince of orange to accept honorable terms, if offered, agreed to surrender. mondragon, whose soldiers were in a state of suffering, and ready to break out in mutiny, was but too happy to grant an honorable capitulation. the garrison were allowed to go out with their arms and personal baggage. the citizens were permitted to retain or resume their privileges and charters, on payment of two hundred thousand guldens. of, sacking and burning there was, on this occasion, fortunately, no question; but the first half of the commutation money was to be paid in cash. there was but little money in the impoverished little town, but mint-masters were appointed by the: magistrates to take their seats at once an in the hotel de ville. the citizens brought their spoons and silver dishes; one after another, which were melted and coined into dollars and half-dollars, until the payment was satisfactorily adjusted. thus fell zierickzee, to the deep regret of the prince. "had we received the least succor in the world from any side," he wrote; "the poor city should never have fallen. i could get nothing from france or england, with all my efforts. nevertheless, we do not lose courage, but hope that, although abandoned by all the world, the lord god will extend his right hand over us." the enemies were not destined to go farther. from their own hand now came the blow which was to expel them from the soil which they had so long polluted. no sooner was zierickzee captured than a mutiny broke forth among several companies of spaniards and walloons, belonging, to the army in schouwen. a large number of the most influential officers had gone to brussels, to make arrangements, if possible; for the payment of the troops. in their absence there was more scope for the arguments of the leading mutineers; arguments assuredly, not entirely destitute of justice or logical precision. if ever laborers were worthy of their hire, certainly it was the spanish soldiery. had they not done the work of demons for nine years long? could philip or alva have found in the wide world men to execute their decrees with more unhesitating docility, with more sympathizing eagerness? what obstacle had ever given them pause in their career of duty? what element had they not braved? had not they fought within the bowels of the earth, beneath the depths of the sea, within blazing cities, and upon fields of ice? where was the work which had been too dark and bloody for their performance? had they not slaughtered unarmed human beings by townfuls, at the word of command? had they not eaten the flesh, and drank the hearts' blood of their enemies? had they not stained the house of god with wholesale massacre? what altar and what hearthstone had they not profaned? what fatigue, what danger, what crime, had ever checked them for a moment? and for all this obedience, labor, and bloodshed, were they not even to be paid such wages as the commonest clown, who only tore the earth at home, received? did philip believe that a few thousand spaniards were to execute his sentence of death against three millions of netherlanders, and be cheated of their pay at last? it was in vain that arguments and expostulations were addressed to soldiers who were suffering from want, and maddened by injustice. they determined to take their cause into their own hand, as they had often done before. by the th of july, the mutiny was general on the isle of schouwen. promises were freely offered, both of pay and pardon; appeals were made to their old sense of honor and loyalty; but they had had enough of promises, of honor, and of work. what they wanted now were shoes and jerkins, bread and meat, and money. money they would have, and that at once. the king of spain was their debtor. the netherlands belonged to the king of spain. they would therefore levy on the netherlands for payment of their debt. certainly this was a logical deduction. they knew by experience that this process had heretofore excited more indignation in the minds of the netherland people than in that of their master. moreover, at this juncture, they cared little for their sovereign's displeasure, and not at all for that of the netherlanders. by the middle of july, then, the mutineers, now entirely beyond control, held their officers imprisoned within their quarters at zierickzee. they even surrounded the house of mondtagon, who had so often led them to victory, calling upon him with threats and taunts to furnish them with money. the veteran, roused to fury by their insubordination and their taunts, sprang from his house into the midst of the throng. baring his breast before them, he fiercely invited and dared their utmost violence. of his life-blood, he told them bitterly, he was no niggard, and it was at their disposal. his wealth, had he possessed any, would have been equally theirs. shamed into temporary respect, but not turned from their purpose by the choler of their chief, they left him to himself. soon afterwards, having swept schouwen island bare of every thing which could be consumed, the mutineers swarmed out of zealand into brabant, devouring as they went. it was their purpose to hover for a time in the neighbourhood of the capital, and either to force the council of state to pay them their long arrears, or else to seize and sack the richest city upon which they could lay their hands. the compact, disciplined mass, rolled hither and thither, with uncertainty of purpose, but with the same military precision of movement which had always characterized these remarkable mutinies. it gathered strength daily. the citizens of brussels contemplated with dismay the eccentric and threatening apparition. they knew that rapine, murder, and all the worst evils which man can inflict on his brethren were pent within it, and would soon descend. yet, even with all their past experience, did they not foresee the depth of woe which was really impending. the mutineers had discarded such of their officers as they could not compel to obedience, and had, as usual, chosen their eletto. many straggling companies joined them as they swept to and fro. they came to herenthals, where they were met by count mansfeld, who was deputed by the council of state to treat with them, to appeal to them; to pardon them, to offer, them everything but money. it may be supposed that the success of the commander-in-chief was no better than that of mondragon and his subalterns. they laughed him to scorn when he reminded them how their conduct was tarnishing the glory which they had acquired by nine years of heroism. they answered with their former cynicism, that glory could be put neither into pocket nor stomach. they had no use for it; they had more than enough of it. give them money, or give them a city, these were their last terms. sorrowfully and bodingly mansfeld withdrew to consult again with the state council. the mutineers then made a demonstration upon mechlin, but that city having fortunately strengthened its garrison, was allowed to escape. they then hovered for a time outside the walls of brussels. at grimsberg, where they paused for a short period, they held a parley with captain montesdocca, whom they received with fair words and specious pretences. he returned to brussels with the favourable tidings, and the mutineers swarmed off to assche. thither montesdoeca was again despatched, with the expectation that he would be able to bring them to terms, but they drove him off with jeers and threats, finding that he brought neither money nor the mortgage of a populous city. the next day, after a feint or two in a different direction, they made a sudden swoop upon alost, in flanders. here they had at last made their choice, and the town was carried by storm. all the inhabitants who opposed them were butchered, and the mutiny, at last established in a capital, was able to treat with the state council upon equal terms. they were now between two and three thousand strong, disciplined, veteran troops, posted in a strong and wealthy city. one hundred parishes belonged to the jurisdiction of alost, all of which were immediately laid under contribution. the excitement was now intense in brussels. anxiety and alarm had given place to rage, and the whole population rose in arms to defend the capital, which was felt to be in imminent danger. this spontaneous courage of the burghers prevented the catastrophe, which was reserved for a sister city. meantime, the indignation and horror excited by the mutiny were so universal that the council of state could not withstand the pressure. even the women and children demanded daily in the streets that the rebel soldiers should be declared outlaws. on the th of july, accordingly, the king of spain was made to pronounce, his spaniards traitors and murderers. all men were enjoined to slay one or all of them, wherever they should be found; to refuse them bread, water, and fire, and to assemble at sound of bell; in every city; whenever the magistrates should order an assault upon them. a still more stringent edict was issued on the nd of august; and so eagerly had these degrees been expected, that they were published throughout flanders and brabant almost as soon as issued. hitherto the leading officers of the spanish army had kept aloof from the insurgents, and frowned upon their proceedings. the spanish member of the state council, jerome de roda, had joined without opposition in the edict. as, however, the mutiny gathered strength on the outside, the indignation waxed daily within the capital. the citizens of brussels, one and all, stood to their arms. not a man could enter or leave without their permission. the spaniards who were in the town, whether soldiers or merchants, were regarded with suspicion and abhorrence. the leading spanish officers, romero, montesdocca, verdugo, and others, who had attempted to quell the mutiny, had been driven off with threats and curses, their soldiers defying them and brandishing their swords in their very faces. on the other hand, they were looked upon with ill-will by the netherlanders. the most prominent spanish personages in brussels were kept in a state of half-imprisonment. romero, roda, verdugo, were believed to favor at heart the cause of their rebellious troops, and the burghers of brabant had come to consider all the king's army in a state of rebellion. believing the state council powerless to protect them from the impending storm, they regarded that body with little respect, keeping it, as it were, in durance, while the spaniards were afraid to walk the streets of brussels for fear of being murdered. a retainer of rods, who had ventured to defend the character and conduct of his master before a number of excited citizens, was slain on the spot. in antwerp, champagny, brother of granvelle, and governor of the city, was disposed to cultivate friendly relations with the prince of orange. champagny hated the spaniards, and the hatred seemed to establish enough of sympathy between himself and the liberal party to authorize confidence in him. the prince dealt with him, but regarded him warily. fifteen companies of german troops, under colonel altaemst, were suspected of a strong inclination to join the mutiny. they were withdrawn from antwerp, and in their room came count uberstein, with his regiment, who swore to admit no suspicious person inside the gates, and in all things to obey the orders of champagny. in the citadel, however, matters were very threatening. sancho d'avila, the governor, although he had not openly joined the revolt, treated the edict of outlawry against the rebellious soldiery with derision. he refused to publish a decree which he proclaimed infamous, and which had been extorted, in his opinion, from an impotent and trembling council. even champagny had not desired or dared to publish the edict within the city. the reasons alleged were his fears of irritating and alarming the foreign merchants, whose position was so critical and friendship so important at that moment. on the other hand, it was loudly and joyfully published in most other towns of flanders and brabant. in brussels there were two parties, one holding the decree too audacious for his majesty to pardon; the other clamoring for its instantaneous fulfilment. by far the larger and more influential portion of the population favored the measure, and wished the sentence of outlawry and extermination to be extended at once against all spaniards and other foreigners in the service of the king. it seemed imprudent to wait until all the regiments had formally accepted the mutiny, and concentrated themselves into a single body. at this juncture, on the last day of july, the marquis off havre, brother to the duke of aerschot, arrived out of spain. he was charged by the king with conciliatory but unmeaning phrases to the estates. the occasion was not a happy one. there never was a time when direct and vigorous action had been more necessary. it was probably the king's desire then, as much as it ever had been his desire at all, to make up the quarrel with his provinces. he had been wearied with the policy which alva had enforced, and for which he endeavoured at that period to make the duke appear responsible. the barren clemency which the grand commander had been instructed to affect, had deceived but few persons, and had produced but small results. the king was, perhaps, really inclined at this juncture to exercise clemency--that is to say he was willing to pardon his people for having contended for their rights, provided they were now willing to resign them for ever. so the catholic religion and his own authority, were exclusively and inviolably secured, he was willing to receive his disobedient provinces into favor. to accomplish this end, however, he had still no more fortunate conception than to take the advice of hopper. a soothing procrastination was the anodyne selected for the bitter pangs of the body politic--a vague expression of royal benignity the styptic to be applied to its mortal wounds. an interval of hesitation was to bridge over the chasm between the provinces and their distant metropolis. "the marquis of havre has been sent," said the king, "that he may expressly witness to you of our good intentions, and of our desire, with the grace of god, to bring about a pacification." alas, it was well known whence those pavements of good intentions had been taken, and whither they would lead. they were not the material for a substantial road to reconciliation. "his majesty," said the marquis; on delivering his report to the state council, "has long been pondering over all things necessary to the peace of the land. his majesty, like a very gracious and bountiful prince, has ever been disposed, in times past, to treat these, his subjects, by the best and sweetest means." there being, however, room for an opinion that so bountiful a prince might have discovered sweeter means, by all this pondering, than to burn and gibbet his subjects by thousands, it was thought proper to insinuate that his orders had been hitherto misunderstood. alva and requesens had been unfaithful agents, who did not know their business, but it was to be set right in future. "as the good-will and meaning of his majesty has, by no means been followed," continued the envoy, "his majesty has determined to send councillor hopper, keeper of the privy seal, and myself, hitherwards, to execute the resolutions of his majesty." two such personages as poor, plodding, confused; time-serving hopper, and flighty, talkative havre, whom even requesens despised, and whom don john, while shortly afterwards recommending him for a state councillor, characterized, to philip as "a very great scoundrel;" would hardly be able, even if royally empowered, to undo the work of two preceding administrations. moreover, councillor hopper, on further thoughts, was not despatched at all to the netherlands. the provinces were, however, assured by the king's letters to the brabant estates, to the state council, and other, public bodies, as well as by the report of the marquis, that efficacious remedies were preparing in madrid. the people were only too wait patiently till they should arrive. the public had heard before of these nostrums, made up by the royal prescriptions in spain; and were not likely to accept them as a panacea for their present complicated disorders. never, in truth, had conventional commonplace been applied more unseasonably. here was a general military mutiny flaming in the very centre of the land. here had the intense hatred of race, which for years had been gnawing at the heart of the country, at last broken out into most malignant manifestation. here was nearly the whole native population of every province, from grand seigneur to plebeian, from catholic prelate to anabaptist artisan, exasperated alike by the excesses of six thousand foreign brigands, and united by a common hatred, into a band of brethren. here was a state council too feeble to exercise the authority which it had arrogated, trembling between the wrath of its sovereign, the menacing cries of the brussels burghers, and the wild threats of the rebellious army; and held virtually, captive in the capital which it was supposed to govern. certainly, the confirmation of the council in its authority, for an indefinite, even if for a brief period, was a most unlucky step at this juncture. there were two parties in the provinces, but one was far the most powerful upon the great point of the spanish soldiery. a vast majority were in favor of a declaration of outlawry against the whole army, and it was thought desirable to improve the opportunity by getting rid of them altogether. if the people could rise en masse, now that the royal government was in abeyance, and, as it were, in the nation's hands, the incubus might be cast off for ever. if any of the spanish officers had been sincere in their efforts to arrest the mutiny, the sincerity was not believed. if any of the foreign regiments of the king appeared to hesitate at joining the alost crew, the hesitation was felt to be temporary. meantime, the important german regiments of fugger, fronsberger, and polwiller, with their colonels and other officers, had openly joined the rebellion, while there was no doubt of the sentiments of sancho d'avila and the troops under his command. thus there were two great rallying-places for the sedition, and the most important fortress of the country, the key which unlocked the richest city in the world, was in the hands of the mutineers. the commercial capital of europe, filled to the brim with accumulated treasures, and with the merchandize of every clime; lay at the feet of this desperate band of brigands. the horrible result was but too soon to be made manifest. meantime, in brussels, the few spaniards trembled for their lives. the few officers shut up there were in imminent danger. "as the devil does not cease to do his work," wrote colonel verdugo, "he has put it into the heads of the brabanters to rebel, taking for a pretext the mutiny of the spaniards. the brussels men have handled their weapons so well against those who were placed there to protect them, that they have begun to kill the spaniards, threatening likewise the council of state. such is their insolence, that they care no more for these great lords than for so many varlets." the writer, who had taken refuge, together with jerome de roda and other spaniards, or "hispaniolized" persons, in antwerp citadel, proceeded to sketch the preparations which were going on in brussels, and the counter measures which were making progress in antwerp. "the states," he wrote, "are enrolling troops, saying 'tis to put down the mutiny; but i assure you 'tis to attack the army indiscriminately. to prevent such a villainous undertaking, troops of all nations are assembling here, in order to march straight upon brussels, there to enforce everything which my lords of the state council shall ordain." events were obviously hastening to a crisis--an explosion, before long, was inevitable. "i wish i had my horses here," continued the colonel, "and must beg you to send them. i see a black cloud hanging over our heads. i fear that the brabantines will play the beasts so much, that they will have all the soldiery at their throats." jerome de roda had been fortunate enough to make his escape out of brussels, and now claimed to be sole governor of the netherlands, as the only remaining representative of the state council. his colleagues were in durance at the capital. their authority was derided. although not yet actually imprisoned, they were in reality bound hand and foot, and compelled to take their orders either from the brabant estates or from the burghers of brussels. it was not an illogical proceeding, therefore, that roda, under the shadow of the antwerp citadel, should set up his own person as all that remained of the outraged majesty of spain. till the new governor, don juan, should arrive, whose appointment the king had already communicated to the government, and who might be expected in the netherlands before the close of the autumn, the solitary councillor claimed to embody the whole council. he caused a new seal to be struck--a proceeding very unreasonably charged as forgery by the provincials--and forthwith began to thunder forth proclamations and counter-proclamations in the king's name and under the royal seal. it is difficult to see any technical crime or mistake in such a course. as a spaniard, and a representative of his majesty, he could hardly be expected to take any other view of his duty. at any rate, being called upon to choose between rebellious netherlanders and mutinous spaniards, he was not long in making up his mind. by the beginning of september the, mutiny was general. all the spanish army, from general to pioneer, were united. the most important german troops had taken side with them. sancho d'avila held the citadel of antwerp, vowing vengeance, and holding open communication with the soldiers at alost. the council of state remonstrated with him for his disloyalty. he replied by referring to his long years of service, and by reproving them for affecting an authority which their imprisonment rendered ridiculous. the spaniards were securely established. the various citadels which had been built by charles and philip to curb the country now effectually did their work. with the castles of antwerp, valenciennes, ghent, utrecht, culemburg, viane, alost, in the hands of six thousand veteran spaniards, the country seemed chained in every limb. the foreigner's foot was on its neck. brussels was almost the only considerable town out of holland and zealand which was even temporarily safe. the important city of maestricht was held by a spanish garrison, while other capital towns and stations were in the power of the walloon and german mutineers. the depredations committed in the villages, the open country, and the cities were incessant--the spaniards treating every netherlander as their foe. gentleman and peasant, protestant and catholic, priest and layman, all were plundered, maltreated, outraged. the indignation became daily more general and more intense. there were frequent skirmishes between the soldiery and promiscuous bands of peasants, citizens, and students; conflicts in which the spaniards were invariably victorious. what could such half-armed and wholly untrained partisans effect against the bravest and most experienced troops in the whole world? such results only increased the general exasperation, while they impressed upon the whole people the necessity of some great and general effort to throw off the incubus. - [chapter v.] religious and political sympathies and antipathies in the seventeen provinces--unanimous hatred for the foreign soldiery--use made by the prince of the mutiny--his correspondence--necessity of union enforced--a congress from nearly all the provinces meets at ghent-- skirmishes between the foreign troops and partisan bands--slaughter at tisnacq--suspicions entertained of the state-council--arrest of the state-council--siege of ghent citadel--assistance sent by orange--maestricht lost and regained--wealthy and perilous condition of antwerp--preparations of the mutineers under the secret superintendence of avila--stupidity of oberstein--duplicity of don sancho--reinforcements of walloons under havre, egmont, and others, sent to for the expected assault of antwerp--governor champagny's preparations the mutineers--insubordination, incapacity, and negligence of all but him--concentration of all the mutineers from different points, in the citadel--the attack--the panic--the flight --the massacre--the fire--the sack--and other details of the "spanish fury"--statistics of murder and robbery--letter of orange to the states-general--surrender of ghent citadel--conclusion of the "ghent pacification"--the treaty characterized--forms of ratification--fall of zierickzee and recovery of zealand. meantime, the prince of orange sat at middelburg, watching the storm. the position of holland and zealand with regard to the other fifteen provinces was distinctly characterized. upon certain points there was an absolute sympathy, while upon others there was a grave and almost fatal difference. it was the task of the prince to deepen the sympathy, to extinguish the difference. in holland and zealand, there was a warm and nearly universal adhesion to the reformed religion, a passionate attachment to the ancient political liberties. the prince, although an earnest calvinist himself, did all in his power to check the growing spirit of intolerance toward the old religion, omitted no opportunity of strengthening the attachment which the people justly felt for their liberal institutions. on the other hand, in most of the other provinces, the catholic religion had been regaining its ascendency. even in , the estates assembled at brussels declared to requesens "that they would rather die the death than see any change in their religion." that feeling had rather increased than diminished. although there was a strong party attached to the new faith, there was perhaps a larger, certainly a more influential body, which regarded the ancient church with absolute fidelity. owing partly to the persecution which had, in the course of years, banished so many thousands of families from the soil, partly to the coercion, which was more stringent in the immediate presence of the crown's representative, partly to the stronger infusion of the celtic element, which from the earliest ages had always been so keenly alive to the more sensuous and splendid manifestations of the devotional principle--owing to those and many other causes, the old religion, despite of all the outrages which had been committed in its name, still numbered a host of zealous adherents in the fifteen provinces. attempts against its sanctity were regarded with jealous eyes. it was believed, and with reason, that there was a disposition on the part of the reformers to destroy it root and branch. it was suspected that the same enginery of persecution would be employed in its extirpation, should the opposite party gain the supremacy, which the papists had so long employed against the converts to the new religion. as to political convictions, the fifteen provinces differed much less from their two sisters. there was a strong attachment to their old constitutions; a general inclination to make use of the present crisis to effect their restoration. at the same time, it had not come to be the general conviction, as in holland and zealand, that the maintenance of those liberties was incompatible with the continuance of philip's authority. there was, moreover, a strong aristocratic faction which was by no means disposed to take a liberal view of government in general, and regarded with apprehension the simultaneous advance of heretical notions both in church and, state. still there were, on the whole, the elements of a controlling constitutional party throughout the fifteen provinces the great bond of sympathy, however, between all the seventeen was their common hatred to the foreign soldiery. upon this deeply imbedded, immovable fulcrum of an ancient national hatred, the sudden mutiny of the whole spanish army served as a lever of incalculable power. the prince seized it as from the hand of god. thus armed, he proposed to himself the task of upturning the mass of oppression under which the old liberties of the country had so long been crushed. to effect this object, adroitness was as requisite as courage. expulsion of the foreign soldiery, union of the seventeen provinces, a representative constitution, according to the old charters, by the states-general, under an hereditary chief, a large religious toleration, suppression of all inquisition into men's consciences--these were the great objects to which the prince now devoted himself with renewed energy. to bring about a general organization and a general union, much delicacy of handling was necessary. the sentiment of extreme catholicism and monarchism was not to be suddenly scared into opposition. the prince, therefore, in all his addresses and documents was careful to disclaim any intention of disturbing the established religion, or of making any rash political changes. "let no man think," said he, to the authorities of brabant, "that, against the will of the estates, we desire to bring about any change in religion. let no one suspect us capable of prejudicing the rights of any man. we have long since taken up arms to maintain a legal and constitutional freedom, founded upon law. god forbid that we should now attempt to introduce novelties, by which the face of liberty should be defiled." in a brief and very spirited letter to count lalain, a catholic and a loyalist, but a friend of his country and fervent hater of foreign oppression, he thus appealed to his sense of chivalry and justice: "although the honorable house from which you spring," he said, "and the virtue and courage of your ancestors have always impressed me with the conviction that you would follow in their footsteps, yet am i glad to have received proofs that my anticipations were correct. i cannot help, therefore, entreating you to maintain the same high heart, and to accomplish that which you have so worthily begun. be not deluded by false masks, mumming faces, and borrowed titles, which people assume for their own profit, persuading others that the king's service consists in the destruction of his subjects." while thus careful to offend no man's religious convictions, to startle no man's loyalty, he made skillful use of the general indignation felt at, the atrocities of the mutinous army. this chord he struck boldly, powerfully, passionately, for he felt sure of the depth and strength of its vibrations. in his address to the estates of gelderland, he used vigorous language, inflaming and directing to a practical purpose the just wrath which was felt in that, as in every other province. "i write to warn you," he said, "to seize this present opportunity. shake from your necks the yoke of the godless spanish tyranny, join yourselves at once to the lovers of the fatherland, to the defenders of freedom. according to the example of your own ancestors and ours, redeem for the country its ancient laws, traditions, and privileges. permit no longer, to your shame and ours, a band of spanish landloupers and other foreigners, together with three or four self-seeking enemies of their own land, to keep their feet upon our necks. let them no longer, in the very wantonness of tyranny, drive us about like a herd of cattle--like a gang of well-tamed slaves." thus, day after day, in almost countless addresses to public bodies and private individuals, he made use of the crisis to pile fresh fuel upon the flames. at the same time, while thus fanning the general indignation, he had the adroitness to point out that the people had already committed themselves. he represented to them that the edict, by which they had denounced his majesty's veterans as outlaws, and had devoted them to the indiscriminate destruction which such brigands deserved, was likely to prove an unpardonable crime in the eyes of majesty. in short, they had entered the torrent. if they would avoid being dashed over the precipice, they must struggle manfully with the mad waves of civil war into which they had plunged. "i beg you, with all affection," he said to the states of brabant, "to consider the danger in which you have placed yourselves. you have to deal with the proudest and most overbearing race in the world. for these qualities they are hated by all other nations. they are even hateful to themselves. 'tis a race which seeks to domineer wheresoever it comes. it particularly declares its intention to crush and to tyrannize you, my masters, and all the land. they have conquered you already, as they boast, for the crime of lese-majesty has placed you at their mercy. i tell you that your last act, by which you have declared this army to be rebels, is decisive. you have armed and excited the whole people against them, even to the peasants and the peasants' children, and the insults and injuries thus received, however richly deserved and dearly avenged, are all set down to your account. therefore, 'tis necessary for you to decide now, whether to be utterly ruined, yourselves and your children, or to continue firmly the work which you have begun boldly, and rather to die a hundred thousand deaths than to make a treaty with them, which can only end in your ruin. be assured that the measure dealt to you will be ignominy as well as destruction. let not your leaders expect the honorable scaffolds of counts egmont and horn. the whipping-post and then the gibbet will be their certain fate." having by this and similar language, upon various occasions, sought to impress upon his countrymen the gravity of the position, he led them to seek the remedy in audacity and in union. he familiarized them with his theory, that the legal, historical government of the provinces belonged to the states-general, to a congress of nobles, clergy, and commons, appointed from each of the seventeen provinces. he maintained, with reason, that the government of the netherlands was a representative constitutional government, under the hereditary authority of the king. to recover this constitution, to lift up these down-trodden rights, he set before them most vividly the necessity of union, "'tis impossible," he said, "that a chariot should move evenly having its wheels unequally proportioned; and so must a confederation be broken to pieces, if there be not an equal obligation on all to tend to a common purpose." union, close, fraternal, such as became provinces of a common origin and with similar laws, could alone save them from their fate. union against a common tyrant to save a common fatherland. union; by which differences of opinion should be tolerated, in order that a million of hearts should beat for a common purpose, a million hands work out, invincibly, a common salvation. "'tis hardly necessary," he said "to use many words in recommendation of union. disunion has been the cause of all our woes. there is no remedy, no hope, save in the bonds of friendship. let all particular disagreements be left to the decision of the states-general, in order that with one heart and one will we may seek the disenthralment of the fatherland from the tyranny of strangers." the first step to a thorough union among all the provinces was the arrangement of a closer connection between the now isolated states of holland and zealand on the one side, and their fifteen sisters on the other. the prince professed the readiness of those states which he might be said to represent in his single person, to draw as closely as possible the bonds of fellowship. it was almost superfluous for him to promise his own ready co-operation. "nothing remains to us," said he, "but to discard all jealousy and distrust. let us, with a firm resolution and a common accord, liberate these lands from the stranger. hand to hand let us accomplish a just and general peace. as for myself, i present to you, with very, good affection, my person and all which i possess, assuring you that i shall regard all my labors and pains in times which are past, well bestowed, if god now grant me grace to see the desired end. that this end will be reached, if you hold fast your resolution and take to heart the means which god presents to you, i feel to be absolutely certain." such were the tenor and the motives of the documents which he scattered--broadcast at this crisis. they were addressed to the estates of nearly every province. those bodies were urgently implored to appoint deputies to a general congress, at which a close and formal union between holland and zealand with the other provinces might be effected. that important measure secured, a general effort might, at the same time, be made to expel the spaniard from the soil. this done, the remaining matters could be disposed of by the assembly of the estates-general. his eloquence and energy were not without effect. in the course of the autumn, deputies were appointed from the greater number of the provinces, to confer with the representatives of holland and zealand, in a general congress. the place appointed for the deliberations was the city of ghent. here, by the middle of october, a large number of delegates were already assembled. events were rapidly rolling together from every quarter, and accumulating to a crisis. a congress--a rebellious congress, as the king might deem it--was assembling at ghent; the spanish army, proscribed, lawless, and terrible, was strengthening itself daily for some dark and mysterious achievement; don john of austria, the king's natural brother, was expected from spain to assume the government, which the state council was too timid to wield and too loyal to resign, while, meantime, the whole population of the netherlands, with hardly an exception, was disposed to see the great question of the foreign soldiery settled, before the chaos then existing should be superseded by a more definite authority. everywhere, men of all ranks and occupations--the artisan in the city, the peasant in the fields--were deserting their daily occupations to furbish helmets, handle muskets, and learn the trade of war. skirmishes, sometimes severe and bloody, were of almost daily occurrence. in these the spaniards were invariably successful, for whatever may be said of their cruelty and licentiousness, it cannot be disputed that their prowess was worthy of their renown. romantic valor, unflinching fortitude, consummate skill, characterized them always. what could half-armed artisans achieve in the open plain against such accomplished foes? at tisnacq, between louvain and tirlemont, a battle was attempted by a large miscellaneous mass of students, peasantry, and burghers, led by country squires. it soon changed to a carnage, in which the victims were all on one side. a small number of veterans, headed by vargas, mendoza, tassis, and other chivalrous commanders, routed the undisciplined thousands at a single charge. the rude militia threw away their arms, and fled panic-struck in all directions, at the first sight of their terrible foe. two spaniards lost their lives and two thousand netherlanders. it was natural that these consummate warriors should despise such easily slaughtered victims. a single stroke of the iron flail, and the chaff was scattered to the four winds; a single sweep of the disciplined scythe, and countless acres were in an instant mown. nevertheless, although beaten constantly, the netherlanders were not conquered. holland and zealand had read the foe a lesson which he had not forgotten, and although on the open fields, and against the less vigorous population of the more central provinces, his triumphs had been easier, yet it was obvious that the spirit of resistance to foreign oppression was growing daily stronger, notwithstanding daily defeats. meantime, while these desultory but deadly combats were in daily progress, the council of state was looked upon with suspicion by the mass of the population. that body, in which resided provisionally the powers of government, was believed to be desirous of establishing relations with the mutinous army. it was suspected of insidiously provoking the excesses which it seemed to denounce. it was supposed to be secretly intriguing with those whom its own edicts had outlawed. its sympathies were considered, spanish. it was openly boasted by the spanish army that, before long, they would descend from their fastnesses upon brussels, and give the city to the sword. a shuddering sense of coming evil pervaded the population, but no man could say where the blow would first be struck. it was natural that the capital should be thought exposed to imminent danger. at the same time, while every man who had hands was disposed to bear arms to defend the city, the council seemed paralyzed. the capital was insufficiently garrisoned, yet troops were not enrolling for its protection. the state councillors obviously omitted to provide for defence, and it was supposed that they were secretly assisting the attack. it was thought important, therefore, to disarm, or, at least, to control this body which was impotent for protection, and seemed powerful only for mischief. it was possible to make it as contemptible as it was believed to be malicious. an unexpected stroke was therefore suddenly levelled against the council in full session. on the th of september, the seigneur de heze, a young gentleman of a bold, but unstable character, then entertaining close but secret relations with the prince of orange, appeared before the doors of the palace. he was attended by about five hundred troops, under the immediate command of the seigneur de glimes, bailiff of walloon brabant. he demanded admittance, in the name of the brabant estates, to the presence of the state council, and was refused. the doors were closed and bolted. without further ceremony the soldiers produced iron bars brought with them for the purpose, forced all the gates from the hinges, entered the hall of session, and at a word from their commander, laid hands upon the councillors, and made every one prisoner. the duke of aerschot, president of the council, who was then in close alliance with the prince, was not present at the meeting, but lay forewarned, at home, confined to his couch by a sickness assumed for the occasion. viglius, who rarely participated in the deliberations of the board, being already afflicted with the chronic malady under which he was ere long to succumb, also escaped the fate of his fellow-senators. the others were carried into confinement. berlaymont and mansfeld were imprisoned in the brood-huys, where the last mortal hours of egmont and horn had been passed. others were kept strictly guarded in their own houses. after a few weeks, most of them were liberated. councillor del rio was, however, retained in confinement, and sent to holland, where he was subjected to a severe examination by the prince of orange, touching his past career, particularly concerning the doings of the famous blood council. the others were set free, and even permitted to resume their functions, but their dignity was gone, their authority annihilated. thenceforth the states of brabant and the community of brussels were to govern for an interval, for it was in their name that the daring blow against the council had been struck. all individuals and bodies, however, although not displeased with the result, clamorously disclaimed responsibility for the deed. men were appalled at the audacity of the transaction, and dreaded the vengeance of the king: the abbot van perch, one of the secret instigators of the act, actually died of anxiety for its possible consequences. there was a mystery concerning the affair. they in whose name it had been accomplished, denied having given any authority to the perpetrators. men asked each other what unseen agency had been at work, what secret spring had been adroitly touched. there is but little doubt, however, that the veiled but skilful hand which directed the blow, was the same which had so long been guiding the destiny of the netherlands. it had been settled that the congress was to hold its sessions in ghent, although the citadel commanding that city was held by the spaniards. the garrison was not very strong, and mondragon, its commander, was absent in zealand, but the wife of the veteran ably supplied his place, and stimulated the slender body of troops to hold out with heroism, under the orders of his lieutenant, avilos maldonado. the mutineers, after having accomplished their victory at tisnacq, had been earnestly solicited to come to the relief of this citadel. they had refused and returned to alost. meantime, the siege was warmly pressed by the states. there being, however, a deficiency of troops, application for assistance was formally made to the prince of orange. count reulx, governor of flanders; commissioned the seigneur d'haussy, brother of count bossu, who, to obtain the liberation of that long-imprisoned and distinguished nobleman, was about visiting the prince in zealand, to make a request for an auxiliary force. it was, however, stipulated that care should be taken lest any prejudice should be done to the roman catholic religion or the authority of the king. the prince readily acceded to the request, and agreed to comply with the conditions under which only it could be accepted. he promised to send twenty-eight companies. in his letter announcing this arrangement, he gave notice that his troops would receive strict orders to do no injury to person or property, catholic or protestant, ecclesiastic or lay, and to offer no obstruction to the roman religion or the royal dignity. he added, however, that it was not to be taken amiss, if his soldiers were permitted to exercise their own religious rites, and to sing their protestant hymns within their own quarters. he moreover, as security for the expense and trouble, demanded the city of sluys. the first detachment of troops, under command of colonel vander tympel, was, however, hardly on its way, before an alarm was felt among the catholic party at this practical alliance with the rebel prince. an envoy, named ottingen, was despatched to zealand, bearing a letter from the estates of hainault, brabant, and flanders, countermanding the request for troops, and remonstrating categorically upon the subject of religion and loyalty. orange deemed such tergiversation paltry, but controlled his anger. he answered the letter in liberal terms, for he was determined that by no fault of his should the great cause be endangered. he reassured the estates as to the probable behaviour of his troops. moreover, they had been already admitted into the city, while the correspondence was proceeding. the matter of the psalm-singing was finally arranged to the satisfaction of both parties, and it was agreed that niewport, instead of sluys, should be given to the prince as security. the siege of the citadel was now pressed vigorously, and the deliberations of the congress were opened under the incessant roar of cannon. while the attack was thus earnestly maintained upon the important castle of ghent, a courageous effort was made by the citizens of maestricht to wrest their city from the hands of the spaniards. the german garrison having been gained by the burghers, the combined force rose upon the spanish troops, and drove them from the city, montesdocca, the commander, was arrested and imprisoned, but the triumph was only temporary. don francis d'ayala, montesdocca's lieutenant, made a stand, with a few companies, in wieck, a village on the opposite side of the meuse, and connected with the city by a massive bridge of stone. from this point he sent information to other commanders in the neighbourhood. don ferdinand de toledo soon arrived with several hundred troops from dalem. the spaniards, eager to wipe out the disgrace to their arms, loudly demanded to be led back to the city. the head of the bridge, however, over which they must pass, was defended by a strong battery, and the citizens were seen clustering in great numbers to defend their firesides against a foe whom they had once expelled. to advance across the bridge seemed certain destruction to the little force. even spanish bravery recoiled at so desperate an undertaking, but unscrupulous ferocity supplied an expedient where courage was at fault. there were few fighting men present among the population of wieck, but there were many females. each soldier was commanded to seize a woman, and, placing her before his own body, to advance across the bridge. the column, thus bucklered, to the shame of spanish chivalry, by female bosoms, moved in good order toward the battery. the soldiers leveled their muskets with steady aim over the shoulders or under the arms of the women whom they thus held before them. on the other hand, the citizens dared not discharge their cannon at their own townswomen, among whose numbers many recognized mothers, sisters, or wives. the battery was soon taken, while at the same time alonzj vargas, who had effected his entrance from the land side by burning down the brussels gate, now entered the city at the head of a band of cavalry. maestricht was recovered, and an indiscriminate slaughter instantly avenged its temporary loss. the plundering, stabbing, drowning, burning, ravishing; were so dreadful that, in the words of a cotemporary historian, "the burghers who had escaped the fight had reason to think themselves less fortunate than those who had died with arms in their hands." this was the lot of maestricht on the th of october. it was instinctively felt to be the precursor of fresh disasters. vague, incoherent, but widely disseminated rumors had long pointed to antwerp and its dangerous situation. the spaniards, foiled in their views upon brussels, had recently avowed an intention of avenging themselves in the commercial capital. they had waited long enough, and accumulated strength enough. such a trifling city as alost could no longer content their cupidity, but in antwerp there was gold enough for the gathering. there was reason for the fears of the inhabitants, for the greedy longing of their enemy. probably no city in christendom could at that day vie with antwerp in wealth and splendor. its merchants lived in regal pomp and luxury. in its numerous, massive warehouses were the treasures of every clime. still serving as the main entrepot of the world's traffic, the brabantine capital was the centre of that commercial system which was soon to be superseded by a larger international life. in the midst of the miseries which had so long been raining upon the netherlands, the stately and egotistical city seemed to have taken stronger root and to flourish more freshly than ever. it was not wonderful that its palaces and its magazines, glittering with splendor and bursting with treasure, should arouse the avidity of a reckless and famishing soldiery. had not a handful of warriors of their own race rifled the golden indies? had not their fathers, few in number, strong in courage and discipline, revelled in the plunder of a new world? here were the indies in a single city. here were gold and silver, pearls and diamonds, ready and portable; the precious fruit dropping, ripened, from the bough. was it to be tolerated that base, pacific burghers should monopolize the treasure by which a band of heroes might be enriched? a sense of coming evil diffused itself through the atmosphere. the air seemed lurid with the impending storm, for the situation was one of peculiar horror. the wealthiest city in christendom lay at the mercy of the strongest fastness in the world; a castle which had been built to curb, not to protect, the town. it was now inhabited by a band of brigands, outlawed by government, strong in discipline, furious from penury, reckless by habit, desperate in circumstance--a crew which feared not god, nor man, nor devil. the palpitating quarry lay expecting hourly the swoop of its trained and pitiless enemy, for the rebellious soldiers were now in a thorough state of discipline. sancho d'avila, castellan of the citadel, was recognized as the chief of the whole mutiny, the army and the mutiny being now one. the band, entrenched at alost, were upon the best possible understanding with their brethren in the citadel, and accepted without hesitation the arrangements of their superior. on the aide of the scheld, opposite antwerp, a fortification had been thrown up by don sancho's orders, and held by julian romero. lier, breda, as well as alost, were likewise ready to throw their reinforcements into the citadel at a moment's warning. at the signal of their chief, the united bands might sweep from their impregnable castle with a single impulse. the city cried aloud for help, for it had become obvious that an attack might be hourly expected. meantime an attempt, made by don sancho d'avila to tamper with the german troops stationed within the walls, was more than partially, successful. the forces were commanded by colonel van ende and count oberatein. van ende, a crafty traitor to his country, desired no better than to join the mutiny on so promising an occasion, and his soldiers, shared his sentiments. oberatein, a brave, but blundering german, was drawn into the net of treachery by the adroitness of the spaniard and the effrontery of his comrade. on the night of the th of october, half-bewildered and half-drunk, he signed a treaty with sancho d'avilat and the three colonels--fugger, frondsberger, and polwiller. by this unlucky document, which was of course subscribed also by van ende, it was agreed that the antwerp burghers should be forthwith disarmed; that their weapons should be sent into the citadel; that oberstein should hold the city at the disposition of sancho d'avila; that he should refuse admittance to all troops which might be sent into the city, excepting by command of don sancho, and that he should decline compliance with any orders which he might receive from individuals calling themselves the council of state, the states-general, or the estates of brabant. this treaty was signed, moreover; by don jeronimo de rods, then established in the citadel, and claiming to represent exclusively his majesty's government. hardly had this arrangement been concluded than the count saw the trap into which he had fallen. without intending to do so, he had laid the city at the mercy of its foe, but the only remedy which suggested itself to his mind was an internal resolution not to keep his promises. the burghers were suffered to retain their arms, while, on the other hand, don sancho lost no time in despatching messages to alost, to lier, to breda, and even to maestricht, that as large a force as possible might be assembled for the purpose of breaking immediately the treaty of peace which he had just concluded. never was a solemn document, regarded with such perfectly bad faith by all its signers as the accord, of the th of october. three days afterwards, a large force of walloons and germans was despatched from brussels to the assistance of antwerp. the command of these troops was entrusted to the marquis of havre, whose brother, the duke of aerschot; had been recently appointed chief superintendent of military affairs by the deputies assembled at ghent. the miscellaneous duties comprehended under this rather vague denomination did not permit the duke to take charge of the expedition in person, and his younger brother, a still more incompetent and unsubstantial character, was accordingly appointed to the post. a number of young men, of high rank but of lamentably low capacity, were associated with him. foremost among them was philip, count of egmont, a youth who had inherited few of his celebrated father's qualities, save personal courage and a love of personal display. in character and general talents he was beneath mediocrity. beside these were the reckless but unstable de heze, who had executed the coup; d'etat against the state council, de berselen, de capres, d'oyngies, and others, all vaguely desirous of achieving distinction in those turbulent times, but few of them having any political or religious convictions, and none of them possessing experience or influence enough, to render them useful--at the impending crisis. on friday morning, the nd of november, the troops appeared under the walls of antwerp. they consisted of twenty-three companies of infantry and fourteen of cavalry, amounting to five thousand foot and twelve hundred horse. they were nearly all walloons, soldiers who had already seen much active service, but unfortunately of a race warlike and fiery indeed, but upon whose steadiness not much more dependence could be placed at that day than in the age of civilis. champagny, brother of granvelle, was governor of the city. he was a sincere catholic, but a still more sincere hater of the spaniards. he saw in the mutiny a means of accomplishing their expulsion, and had already offered to the prince of orange his eager co-operation towards this result. in other matters there could be but small sympathy between william the silent and the cardinal's brother; but a common hatred united them, for a time at least, in a common purpose. when the troops first made their appearance before the walls, champagny was unwilling to grant them admittance. the addle-brained oberstein had confessed to him the enormous blunder which he had committed in his midnight treaty, and at the same time ingenuously confessed his intention of sending it to the winds. the enemy had extorted from his dulness or his drunkenness a promise, which his mature and sober reason could not consider binding. it is needless to say that champagny rebuked him for signing, and applauded him for breaking the treaty. at the same time its ill effects were already seen in the dissensions which existed among the german troops. where all had been tampered with, and where the commanders had set the example of infidelity, it would have been strange if all had held firm. on the whole, however, oberstein thought he could answer for his own troops: upon van ende's division, although the crafty colonel dissembled his real intentions; very little reliance was placed. thus there was distraction within the walls. among those whom the burghers had been told to consider their defenders, there were probably many who were ready to join with their mortal foes at a moment's warning. under these circumstances, champagny hesitated about admitting these fresh troops from brussels. he feared lest the germans, who knew themselves doubted, might consider themselves doomed. he trembled, lest an irrepressible outbreak should occur within the walls, rendering the immediate destruction of the city by the spaniards from without inevitable. moreover, he thought it more desirable that this auxiliary force should be disposed at different points outside, in order to intercept the passage of the numerous bodies of spaniards and other mutineers, who from various quarters would soon be on their way to the citadel. havre, however, was so peremptory, and the burghers were so importunate, that champagny was obliged to recede from his opposition before twenty-four hours had elapsed. unwilling to take the responsibility of a farther refusal, he admitted the troops through the burgherhout gate, on saturday, the rd of november, at ten o'clock in the morning. the marquis of havre, as commander-in-chief, called a council of war. it assembled at count oberstein's quarters, and consulted at first concerning a bundle of intercepted letters which havre had brought with him. these constituted a correspondence between sancho d'avila with the heads of the mutiny at alost, and many other places. the letters were all dated subsequently to don sancho's treaty with oberstein, and contained arrangements for an immediate concentration of the whole available spanish force at the citadel. the treachery was so manifest, that oberstein felt all self-reproach for his own breach of faith to be superfluous. it was however evident that the attack was to be immediately expected. what was to be done? all the officers counselled the immediate erection of a bulwark on the side of the city exposed to the castle, but there were no miners nor engineers. champagny, however, recommended a skilful and experienced engineer to superintend; the work in the city; and pledged himself that burghers enough would volunteer as miners. in less than an hour, ten or twelve thousand persons, including multitudes of women of all ranks, were at work upon the lines marked out by the engineer. a ditch and breast-work extending from the gate of the beguins to the street of the abbey saint michael, were soon in rapid progress. meantime, the newly arrived troops, with military insolence, claimed the privilege of quartering themselves in the best houses which they could find. they already began to, insult and annoy the citizens whom they had been sent to defend; nor were they destined to atone, by their subsequent conduct in the face of the enemy, for the brutality with which they treated their friends. champagny, however; was ill-disposed to brook their licentiousness. they had been sent to protect the city and the homes of antwerp from invasion. they were not to establish themselves, at every fireside on their first arrival. there was work enough for them out of doors, and they were to do that work at once. he ordered them to prepare for a bivouac in, the streets, and flew from house to house, sword in hand; driving forth the intruders at imminent peril of his life. meantime, a number of italian and spanish merchants fled from the city, and took refuge in the castle. the walloon soldiers were for immediately plundering their houses, as if plunder had been the object for which they had been sent to antwerp. it was several hours before champagny, with all his energy, was able to quell these disturbances. in the course of the day, oberstein received a letter from don sandra d'avila, calling solemnly upon him to fulfil his treaty of the th of october. the german colonels from the citadel had, on the previous afternoon, held a personal interview with oberstein beneath the walls, which had nearly ended in blows, and they had been obliged to save themselves by flight from the anger of the count's soldiers, enraged at the deceit by which their leader had been so nearly entrapped. this summons of ridiculous solemnity to keep a treaty which had already been torn to shreds by both parties, oberstein answered with defiance and contempt. the reply was an immediate cannonade from the batteries of the citadel; which made the position of those erecting the ramparts excessively dangerous. the wall was strengthened with bales of merchandise, casks of earth, upturned wagons, and similar bulky objects, hastily piled together. in, some places it was sixteen feet high; in others less than six. night fell before the fortification was nearly completed. unfortunately it was bright moonlight. the cannon from the fortress continued to play upon the half-finished works. the walloons, and at last the citizens, feared to lift their heads above their frail rampart. the senators, whom champagny had deputed to superintend the progress of the enterprise, finding the men so indisposed, deserted their posts. they promised themselves that, in the darkest hour of the following night, the work should be thoroughly completed. alas! all hours of the coming night were destined to be dark enough, but in them was to be done no manner of work for defence. on champagny alone seemed devolved an the labor and all the responsibility. he did his duty well, but he was but one man. alone, with a heart full of anxiety, he wandered up and down all the night. with his own hands, assisted only by a few citizens and his own servants, he planted all the cannon with which they were provided, in the "fencing court," at a point where the battery might tell upon the castle. unfortunately, the troops from brussels had brought no artillery with them, and the means of defence against the strongest fortress in europe were meagre indeed. the rampart had been left very weak at many vital points. a single upturned wagon was placed across the entrance to the important street of the beguins. this negligence was to cost the city dear. at daybreak, there was a council held in oberstein's quarters. nearly all champagny's directions had been neglected. he had desired that strong detachments should be posted during the night at various places of security on the outskirts of the town, for the troops which were expected to arrive in small bodies at the citadel from various parts, might have thus been cut off before reaching their destination. not even scouts had been stationed in sufficient numbers to obtain information of what was occurring outside. a thick mist hung over the city that eventful morning. through its almost impenetrable veil, bodies of men had been seen moving into the castle, and the tramp of cavalry had been distinctly heard, and the troops of romero, vargas, oliveira, and valdez had already arrived from lier, breda, maestricht, and from the forts on the scheld. the whole available force in the city was mustered without delay. havre had claimed for his post the defence of the lines opposite the citadel, the place of responsibility and honor. here the whole body of walloons were stationed, together with a few companies of germans. the ramparts, as stated, were far from impregnable, but it was hoped that this living rampart of six thousand men, standing on their own soil, and in front of the firesides and altars of their own countrymen; would prove a sufficient bulwark even against spanish fury. unhappily, the living barrier proved more frail than the feeble breastwork which the hands of burghers and women had constructed. six thousand men were disposed along the side of the city opposite the fortress. the bulk of the german troops was stationed at different points on the more central streets and squares. the cavalry was posted on the opposite side of the city, along the horse-market, and fronting the "new-town." the stars were still in the sky when champagny got on horseback and rode through the streets, calling on the burghers to arm and assemble at different points. the principal places of rendezvous were the cattlemarket and the exchange. he rode along the lines of the walloon regiments, conversing with the officers, egmont, de heze, and others, and encouraging the men, and went again to the fencing court, where he pointed the cannon with his own hand, and ordered their first discharge at the fortress. thence he rode to the end of the beguin street, where he dismounted and walked out upon the edge of the esplanade which stretched between the city and the castle. on this battle-ground a combat was even then occurring between a band of burghers and a reconnoitring party from the citadel. champagny saw with satisfaction that the antwerpers were victorious. they were skirmishing well with their disciplined foe, whom they at last beat back to the citadel. his experienced eye saw, however, that the retreat was only the signal for a general onslaught, which was soon to follow; and he returned into the city to give the last directions. at ten o'clock, a moving wood was descried, approaching the citadel from the south-west. the whole body of the mutineers from alost, wearing green branches in their helmets--had arrived under command of their eletto, navarrete. nearly three thousand in number, they rushed into the castle, having accomplished their march of twenty-four miles since three o'clock in the morning. they were received with open arms. sancho d'avila ordered food and refreshments to be laid before them, but they refused everything but a draught of wine. they would dine in paradise, they said, or sup in antwerp. finding his allies in such spirit, don sancho would not balk their humor. since early morning, his own veterans had been eagerly awaiting his signal, "straining upon the start." the troops of romero, vargas, valdez, were no less impatient. at about an hour before noon, nearly every living man in the citadel was mustered for the attack, hardly men enough being left behind to guard the gates. five thousand veteran foot soldiers, besides six hundred cavalry, armed to the teeth, sallied from the portals of alva's citadel. in the counterscarp they fell upon their knees, to invoke, according to custom, the blessing of god upon the devil's work, which they were about to commit. the bletto bore a standard, one side of which was emblazoned with the crucified saviour, and the other with the virgin mary. the image of him who said, "love-your enemies," and the gentle face of the madonna, were to smile from heaven upon deeds which might cause a shudder in the depths of hell. their brief orisons concluded, they swept forward to the city. three thousand spaniards, under their eletto, were to enter by the street of saint michael; the germans, and the remainder of the spanish foot, commanded by romero, through that of saint george. champagny saw them coming, and spoke a last word of encouragement to the walloons. the next moment the compact mass struck the barrier, as the thunderbolt descends from the cloud. there was scarcely a struggle. the walloons, not waiting to look their enemy in the face, abandoned the posts which whey had themselves claimed. the spaniards crashed through the bulwark, as though it had been a wall of glass. the eletto was first to mount the rampart; the next instant he was shot dead, while his followers, undismayed, sprang over his body, and poured into the streets. the fatal gap, due to timidity and carelessness, let in the destructive tide. champagny, seeing that the enemies had all crossed the barrier; leaped over a garden wall, passed through a house into a narrow lane, and thence to the nearest station of the german troops. hastily collecting a small force, he led them in person to the rescue. the germans fought well, died well, but they could not reanimate the courage of the walloons, and all were now in full retreat, pursued by the ferocious spaniards. in vain champagny stormed among them; in vain he strove to rally their broken ranks. with his own hand he seized a banner from a retreating ensign, and called upon the nearest soldiers to make's stand against the foe. it was to bid the flying clouds pause before the tempest. torn, broken, aimless, the scattered troops whirled through the streets before the pursuing wrath. champagny, not yet despairing, galloped hither and thither, calling upon the burghers everywhere to rise in defence of their homes, nor did he call in vain. they came forth from every place of rendezvous, from every alley, from every house. they fought as men fight to defend their hearths and altars, but what could individual devotion avail, against the compact, disciplined, resistless mass of their foes? the order of defence was broken, there was no system, no concert, no rallying point, no authority. so soon as it was known that the spaniards had crossed the rampart, that its six thousand defenders were in full retreat, it was inevitable that a panic should seize the city. their entrance once effected, the spanish force had separated; according to previous arrangement, into two divisions, one half charging up the long street of saint michael, the other forcing its way through the street of saint joris. "santiago, santiago! espana, espana! a sangre, a carne, a fuego, a sacco!" saint james, spain, blood, flesh, fire, sack!!--such were the hideous cries which rang through every quarter of the city, as the savage horde advanced. van ende, with his german troops, had been stationed by the marquis of havre to defend the saint joris gate, but no sooner, did the spaniards under vargas present themselves, than he deserted to them instantly with his whole force. united with the spanish cavalry, these traitorous defenders of antwerp dashed in pursuit of those who had only been fainthearted. thus the burghers saw themselves attacked by many of their friends, deserted by more. whom were they to trust? nevertheless, oberstein's germans were brave and faithful, resisting to the last, and dying every man in his harness. the tide of battle flowed hither and thither, through every street and narrow lane. it poured along the magnificent place de meer, where there was an obstinate contest. in front of the famous exchange, where in peaceful hours, five thousand merchants met daily, to arrange the commercial affairs of christendom, there was a determined rally, a savage slaughter. the citizens and faithful germans, in this broader space, made a stand against their pursuers. the tesselated marble pavement, the graceful, cloister-like arcades ran red with blood. the ill-armed burghers faced their enemies clad in complete panoply, but they could only die for their homes. the massacre at this point was enormous, the resistance at last overcome. meantime, the spanish cavalry had cleft its way through the city. on the side farthest removed from the: castle; along the horse-market, opposite the new-town, the states dragoons and the light horse of beveren had been posted, and the flying masses of pursuers and pursued swept at last through this outer circle. champagny was already there. he essayed, as his last hope, to rally the cavalry for a final stand, but the effort was fruitless. already seized by the panic, they had attempted to rush from the city through the gate of eeker. it was locked; they then turned and fled towards the red-gate, where they were met face to face by don pedro tassis, who charged upon them with his dragoons. retreat seemed hopeless. a horseman in complete armor, with lance in rest, was seen to leap from the parapet of the outer wall into the moat below, whence, still on horseback, he escaped with life. few were so fortunate. the confused mob of fugitives and conquerors, spaniards, walloons, germans, burghers, struggling, shouting, striking, cursing, dying, swayed hither and thither like a stormy sea. along the spacious horse-market, the fugitives fled toward towards the quays. many fell beneath the swords of the spaniards, numbers were trodden to death by the hoofs of horses, still greater multitudes were hunted into the scheld. champagny, who had thought it possible, even at the last moment, to make a stand in the newtown, and to fortify the palace of the hansa, saw himself deserted. with great daring and presence of mind, he effected his escape to the fleet of the prince of orange in the river. the marquis of havre, of whom no deeds of valor on that eventful day have been recorded, was equally successful. the unlucky oberstein, attempting to leap into a boat, missed his footing, and oppressed by the weight of his armor, was drowned. meantime, while the short november day was fast declining, the combat still raged in the interior of the city. various currents of conflict, forcing their separate way through many streets, had at last mingled in the grande place. around this irregular, not very spacious square, stood the gorgeous hotel de ville, and the tall, many storied, fantastically gabled, richly decorated palaces of the guilds, here a long struggle took place. it was terminated for a time by the cavalry of vargas, who, arriving through the streets of saint joris, accompanied by the traitor van ende, charged decisively into the melee. the masses were broken, but multitudes of armed men found refuge in the buildings, and every house became a fortress. from, every window and balcony a hot fire was poured into the square, as, pent in a corner, the burghers stood at last at bay. it was difficult to carry the houses by storm, but they were soon set on fire. a large number of sutlers and other varlets had accompanied the spaniards from the citadel, bringing torches and kindling materials for the express purpose of firing the town. with great dexterity, these means were now applied, and in a brief interval, the city-hall, and other edifices on the square were in flames. the conflagration spread with rapidity, house after house, street after street, taking fire. nearly a thousand buildings, in the most splendid and wealthy quarter of the city, were soon in a blaze, and multitudes of human beings were burned with them. in the city-hall many were consumed, while others, leaped from the windows to renew the combat below. the many tortuous, streets which led down a slight descent from the rear of the town house to the quays were all one vast conflagration. on the other side, the magnificent cathedral, separated from the grande place by a single row of buildings, was lighted up, but not attacked by the flames. the tall spire cast its gigantic shadow across the last desperate conflict. in the street called the canal au sucre, immediately behind the town-house, there was a fierce struggle, a horrible massacre. a crowd of burghers; grave magistrates, and such of the german soldiers as remained alive, still confronted the ferocious spaniards. there amid the flaming desolation, goswyn verreyck, the heroic margrave of the city, fought with the energy of hatred and despair. the burgomaster, van der meere, lay dead at his feet; senators, soldiers, citizens, fell fast around him, and he sank at last upon a heap of slain. with him effectual resistance ended. the remaining combatants were butchered, or were slowly forced downward to perish in the scheld. women, children, old men, were killed in countless numbers, and still, through all this havoc, directly over the heads of the struggling throng, suspended in mid-air above the din and smoke of the conflict, there sounded, every half-quarter of every hour, as if in gentle mockery, from the belfry of the cathedral, the tender and melodious chimes. never was there a more monstrous massacre, even in the blood-stained history of the netherlands. it was estimated that, in the course of this and the two following days, not less than eight thousand human beings were murdered. the spaniards seemed to cast off even the vizard of humanity. hell seemed emptied of its fiends. night fell upon the scene before the soldiers were masters of the city; but worse horrors began after the contest was ended. this army of brigands had come thither with a definite, practical purpose, for it was not blood-thirst, nor lust, nor revenge, which had impelled them, but it was avarice, greediness for gold. for gold they had waded through all this blood and fire. never had men more simplicity of purpose, more directness in its execution. they had conquered their india at last; its golden mines lay all before them, and every sword should open a shaft. riot and rape might be deferred; even murder, though congenial to their taste, was only subsidiary to their business. they had come to take possession of the city's wealth, and they set themselves faithfully to accomplish their task. for gold, infants were dashed out of existence in their mothers' arms; for gold, parents were tortured in their children's presence; for gold, brides were scourged to death before their husbands' eyes. wherever, treasure was suspected, every expedient which ingenuity; sharpened by greediness, could suggest, was employed to-extort it from its possessors. the fire, spreading more extensively and more rapidly than had been desired through the wealthiest quarter of the city, had unfortunately devoured a vast amount of property. six millions, at least, had thus been swallowed; a destruction by which no one had profited. there was, however, much left. the strong boxes of the merchants, the gold, silver, and precious jewelry, the velvets, satins, brocades, laces, and similar well concentrated and portable plunder, were rapidly appropriated. so far the course was plain and easy, but in private houses it was more difficult. the cash, plate, and other valuables of individuals were not so easily discovered. torture was, therefore; at once employed to discover the hidden treasures. after all had been, given, if the sum seemed too little, the proprietors were brutally punished for their poverty or their supposed dissimulation. a gentlewoman, named fabry, with her aged mother and other females of the family, had taken refuge in the cellar of her mansion. as the day was drawing to a close, a band of plunderers entered, who, after ransacking the house, descended to the cellarage. finding the door barred, they forced it open with gunpowder. the mother, who was nearest the entrance, fell dead on the threshold. stepping across her mangled body, the brigands sprang upon her daughter, loudly demanding the property which they believed to be concealed. they likewise insisted on being informed where the master of the house had taken refuge. protestations of ignorance as to hidden treasure, or the whereabouts of her husband, who, for aught she knew, was lying dead in the streets, were of no avail. to make her more communicative, they hanged her on a beam in the cellar, and after a few moments cut her down before life was extinct. still receiving no satisfactory reply, where a satisfactory reply was impossible, they hanged her again. again, after another brief interval they gave her a second release, and a fresh interrogatory. this barbarity they repeated several times, till they were satisfied that there was nothing to be gained by it, while, on, the other hand, they were losing much valuable time. hoping to be more successful elsewhere, they left her hanging for the last time, and trooped off to fresher fields. strange to relate, the person thus horribly tortured, survived. a servant in her family, married to a spanish soldier, providentially entered the house in time to rescue her perishing mistress. she was restored to existence, but never to reason. her brain was hopelessly crazed, and she passed the remainder of her life wandering about her house, or feebly digging in her garden for the buried treasure which she had been thus fiercely solicited to reveal. a wedding-feast was rudely interrupted. two young persons, neighbours of opulent families, had been long betrothed, and the marriage day had been fixed for sunday, the fatal th of november. the guests were assembled, the ceremony concluded, the nuptial banquet in progress, when the horrible outcries in the streets proclaimed that the spaniards had broken loose. hour after hour of trembling expectation succeeded. at last, a thundering at the gate proclaimed the arrival of a band of brigands. preceded by their captain, a large number of soldiers forced their way into the house, ransacking every chamber, no opposition being offered by the family and friends, too few and powerless to cope with this band of well-armed ruffians. plate chests, wardrobes, desks, caskets of jewelry, were freely offered, eagerly accepted, but not found sufficient, and to make the luckless wretches furnish more than they possessed, the usual brutalities were employed. the soldiers began by striking the bridegroom dead. the bride fell shrieking into her mother's arms, whence she was torn by the murderers, who immediately put the mother to death, and an indiscriminate massacre then followed the fruitless attempt to obtain by threats and torture treasure which did not exist. the bride, who was of remarkable beauty, was carried off to the citadel. maddened by this last outrage, the father, who was the only man of the party left alive, rushed upon the spaniards. wresting a sword from one of the crew, the old man dealt with it so fiercely, that he stretched more than one enemy dead at his feet, but it is needless to add that he was soon despatched. meantime, while the party were concluding the plunder of the mansion, the bride was left in a lonely apartment of the fortress. without wasting time in fruitless lamentation, she resolved to quit the life which a few hours had made so desolate. she had almost succeeded in hanging herself with a massive gold chain which she wore, when her captor entered the apartment. inflamed, not with lust, but with avarice, excited not by her charms, but by her jewelry; he rescued her from her perilous position. he then took possession of her chain and the other trinkets with which her wedding-dress was adorned, and caused her; to be entirely stripped of her clothing. she was then scourged with rods till her beautiful body was bathed in blood, and at last alone, naked, nearly mad, was sent back into the city. here the forlorn creature wandered up and down through the blazing streets, among the heaps of dead and dying, till she was at last put out of her misery by a gang of soldiers. such are a few isolated instances, accidentally preserved in their details, of the general horrors inflicted on this occasion. others innumerable have sunk into oblivion. on the morning of the th of november, antwerp presented a ghastly sight. the magnificent marble town-house, celebrated as a "world's wonder," even in that age and country, in which so much splendour was lavished on municipal palaces, stood a blackened ruin--all but the walls destroyed, while its archives, accounts, and other valuable contents, had perished. the more splendid portion of the city had been consumed; at least five hundred palaces, mostly of marble or hammered stone, being a smouldering mass of destruction. the dead bodies of those fallen in the massacre were on every side, in greatest profusion around the place de meer, among the gothic pillars of the exchange, and in the streets near the town-house. the german soldiers lay in their armor, some with their heads burned from their bodies, some with legs and arms consumed by the flames through which they had fought. the margrave goswyn verreyck, the burgomaster van der meere, the magistrates lancelot van urselen, nicholas van boekholt, and other leading citizens, lay among piles of less distinguished slain. they remained unburied until the overseers of the poor, on whom the living had then more importunate claims than the dead, were compelled by roda to bury them out of the pauper fund. the murderers were too thrifty to be at funeral charges for their victims. the ceremony was not hastily performed, for the number of corpses had not been completed. two days longer the havoc lasted in the city. of all the crimes which men can commit, whether from deliberate calculation or in the frenzy of passion, hardly one was omitted, for riot, gaming, rape, which had been postponed to the more stringent claims of robbery and murder, were now rapidly added to the sum of atrocities. history has recorded the account indelibly on her brazen tablets; it can be adjusted only at the judgment-seat above. of all the deeds of darkness yet compassed in the netherlands, this was the worst. it was called the spanish fury, by which dread name it has been known for ages. the city, which had been a world of wealth and splendor, was changed to a charnel-house, and from that hour its commercial prosperity was blasted. other causes had silently girdled the yet green and flourishing tree, but the spanish fury was the fire which consumed it to ashes. three thousand dead bodies were discovered in the streets, as many more were estimated to have perished in the scheld, and nearly an equal number were burned or destroyed in other ways. eight thousand persons undoubtedly were put to death. six millions of property were destroyed by the fire, and at least as much more was obtained by the spaniards. in this enormous robbery no class of people was respected. foreign merchants, living under the express sanction and protection of the spanish monarch, were plundered with as little reserve as flemings. ecclesiastics of the roman church were compelled to disgorge their wealth as freely as calvinists. the rich were made to contribute all their abundance, and the poor what could be wrung from their poverty. neither paupers nor criminals were safe. captain caspar ortis made a brilliant speculation by taking possession of the stein, or city prison, whence he ransomed all the inmates who could find means to pay for their liberty. robbers, murderers, even anabaptists, were thus again let loose. rarely has so small a band obtained in three days' robbery so large an amount of wealth. four or five millions divided among five thousand soldiers made up for long arrearages, and the spaniards had reason to congratulate themselves upon having thus taken the duty of payment into their own hands. it is true that the wages of iniquity were somewhat unequally distributed, somewhat foolishly squandered. a private trooper was known to lose ten thousand crowns in one day in a gambling transaction at the bourse, for the soldiers, being thus handsomely in funds, became desirous of aping the despised and plundered merchants, and resorted daily to the exchange, like men accustomed to affairs. the dearly purchased gold was thus lightly squandered by many, while others, more prudent, melted their portion into sword-hilts, into scabbards, even into whole suits of armor, darkened, by precaution, to appear made entirely of iron. the brocades, laces, and jewelry of antwerp merchants were converted into coats of mail for their destroyers. the goldsmiths, however, thus obtained an opportunity to outwit their plunderers, and mingled in the golden armor which they were forced to furnish much more alloy than their employers knew. a portion of the captured booty was thus surreptitiously redeemed. in this spanish fury many more were massacred in antwerp than in the saint bartholomew at paris. almost as many living human beings were dashed out of existence now as there had been statues destroyed in the memorable image-breaking of antwerp, ten years before, an event which had sent such a thrill of horror through the heart of catholic christendom. yet the netherlanders and the protestants of europe may be forgiven, if they regarded this massacre of their brethren with as much execration as had been bestowed upon that fury against stocks and stones. at least, the image-breakers, had been actuated by an idea, and their hands were polluted neither with blood nor rapine. perhaps the spaniards had been. governed equally by religious fanaticism.--might not they believe they were meriting well of their mother church while they were thus disencumbering infidels of their wealth and earth of its infidels? had not the pope and his cardinals gone to church in solemn procession, to render thanks unto god for the massacre of paris? had not cannon thundered and beacons blazed to commemorate that auspicious event? why should not the antwerp executioners claim equal commendation? even if in their delirium they had confounded friend with foe, catholic with calvinist, and church property with lay, could they not point to an equal number of dead bodies, and to an incredibly superior amount of plunder? marvellously few spaniards were slain in these eventful days. two hundred killed is the largest number stated. the discrepancy seems monstrous, but it is hardly more than often existed between the losses inflicted and sustained by the spaniards in such combats. their prowess was equal to their ferocity, and this was enough to make them seem endowed with preterhuman powers. when it is remembered, also, that the burghers were insufficiently armed, that many of their defenders turned against them, that many thousands fled in the first moments of the encounter--and when the effect of a sudden and awful panic is duly considered, the discrepancy between the number of killed on the two sides will not seem so astonishing. a few officers of distinction were taken, alive and carried to the castle. among these were the seigneur de capres and young count egmont. the councillor jerome de roda was lounging on a chair in an open gallery when these two gentlemen were brought before him, and capres was base enough to make a low obeisance to the man who claimed to represent the whole government of his majesty. the worthy successor of vargas replied to his captive's greeting by a "kick in his stomach," adding, with a brutality which his prototype might have envied, "ah puto tradidor,--whoreson traitor, let me have no salutations from such as you." young egmont, who had been captured, fighting bravely at the head of coward troops, by julian romero, who nine years before had stood on his father's scaffold, regarded this brutal scene with haughty indignation. this behaviour had more effect upon roda than the suppleness of capres. "i am sorry for your misfortune, count," said the councillor, without however rising from his chair; "such is the lot of those who take arms against their king." this was the unfortunate commencement of philip egmont's career, which was destined to be inglorious, vacillating, base, and on more than one occasion unlucky. a shiver ran through the country as the news of the horrible crime was spread, but it was a shiver of indignation, not of fear. already the negotiations at ghent between the representatives of the prince and of holland and zealand with the deputies of the other provinces were in a favorable train, and the effect of this event upon their counsels was rather quickening than appalling. a letter from jerome de roda to the king was intercepted, giving an account of the transaction. in that document the senator gave the warmest praise to sancho d'avila, julian romero, alonzo de vargas, francis verdugo, as well as to the german colonels fugger, frondsberger, polwiller, and others who had most exerted themselves in the massacre. "i wish your majesty much good of this victory," concluded the councillor, "'tis a very great one, and the damage to the city is enormous." this cynical view was not calculated to produce a soothing effect on the exasperated minds of the people. on the other hand, the estates of brabant addressed an eloquent appeal to the states-general, reciting their wrongs, and urging immediate action. "'tis notorious," said the remonstrants, "that antwerp was but yesterday the first and principal ornament of all europe; the refuge of all the nations of the world; the source and supply of countless treasure; the nurse of all arts and industry; the protectress of the roman catholic religion; the guardian of science and virtue; and, above all these preeminences; more than faithful and obedient to her sovereign prince and lord. the city is now changed to a gloomy cavern, filled with robbers and murderers, enemies of god, the king, and all good subjects." they then proceeded to recite the story of the massacre, whereof the memory shall be abominable so long as the world stands, and concluded with an urgent appeal for redress. they particularly suggested that an edict should forthwith be passed, forbidding the alienation of property and the exportation of goods in any form from antwerp, together with concession of the right to the proprietors of reclaiming their stolen property summarily, whenever and wheresoever it might be found. in accordance with these instructions, an edict was passed, but somewhat tardily, in the hope of relieving some few of the evil consequences by which the antwerp fury had been attended. at about the same time the prince of orange addressed a remarkable letter to the states-general then assembled at ghent, urging them to hasten the conclusion of the treaty. the news of the massacre, which furnished an additional and most vivid illustration of the truth of his letter, had not then reached him at middelburg, but the earnestness of his views, taken in connexion with this last dark deed, exerted a powerful and indelible effect. the letter was a masterpiece, because it was necessary, in his position, to inflame without alarming; to stimulate the feelings which were in unison, without shocking those which, if aroused, might prove discordant. without; therefore, alluding in terms to the religious question, he dwelt upon the necessity of union, firmness, and wariness. if so much had been done by holland and zealand, how much more might be hoped when all the provinces were united? "the principal flower of the spanish army has fallen," he said, "without having been able to conquer one of those provinces from those whom they call, in mockery, poor beggars; yet what is that handful of cities compared to all the provinces which might join us in the quarrel?" he warned the states of the necessity of showing a strong and united front; the king having been ever led to consider the movement in the netherlands a mere conspiracy of individuals. "the king told me himself; in ," said orange, "that if the estates had no pillars to lean upon, they would not talk so loud." it was, therefore, "necessary to show that prelates, abbots, monks, seigniors, gentlemen, burghers, and peasants, the whole people in short, now cried with one voice, and desired with one will. to such a demonstration the king would not dare oppose himself. by thus preserving a firm and united front, sinking all minor differences, they would, moreover, inspire their friends and foreign princes with confidence. the princes of germany, the lords and gentlemen of france, the queen of england, although sympathizing with the misfortunes of the netherlanders, had been unable effectually to help them, so long as their disunion prevented them from helping themselves; so long as even their appeal to arms seemed merely a levy of bucklers, an emotion of the populace, which, like a wave of the sea, rises and sinks again as soon as risen." while thus exciting to union and firmness, he also took great pains to instil the necessity of wariness. they were dealing with an artful foe. intercepted letters had already proved that the old dissimulation was still to be employed; that while don john of austria was on his way, the netherlanders were to be lulled into confidence by glozing speeches. roda was provided by the king with a secret programme of instructions for the new governor's guidance and don sancho d'avila, for his countenance to the mutineers of alost, had been applauded to the echo in spain. was not this applause a frequent indication of the policy to be adopted by don john, and a thousand times more significative one than the unmeaning phrases of barren benignity with which public documents might be crammed? "the old tricks are again brought into service," said the prince; "therefore 'tis necessary to ascertain your veritable friends, to tear off the painted masks from those who, under pretence-of not daring to displease the king, are seeking to swim between two waters. 'tis necessary to have a touchstone; to sign a declaration in such wise that you may know whom to trust, and whom to suspect." the massacre at antwerp and the eloquence of the prince produced a most quickening effect upon the congress at ghent. their deliberations had proceeded with decorum and earnestness, in the midst of the cannonading against the citadel, and the fortress fell on the same day which saw the conclusion of the treaty. this important instrument, by which the sacrifices and exertions of the prince were, for a brief season, at least, rewarded, contained twenty-five articles. the prince of orange, with the estates of holland and zealand, on the one side, and the provinces signing, or thereafter to sign the treaty, on the other, agreed that there should be a mutual forgiving and forgetting, as regarded the past. they vowed a close and faithful friendship for the future. they plighted a mutual promise to expel the spaniards from the netherlands without delay. as soon as this great deed should be done, there was to be a convocation of the states-general, on the basis of that assembly before which the abdication of the emperor had taken place. by this congress, the affairs of religion in holland and zealand should be regulated, as well as the surrender of fortresses and other places belonging to his majesty. there was to be full liberty of communication and traffic between the citizens of the one side and the other. it should not be legal, however, for those of holland and zealand to attempt anything outside their own territory against the roman catholic religion, nor for cause hereof to injure or irritate any one, by deed or word. all the placards and edicts on the subject of heresy, together with the criminal ordinances made by the duke of alva, were suspended, until the states-general should otherwise ordain. the prince was to remain lieutenant, admiral, and general for his majesty in holland, zealand, and the associated places, till otherwise provided by the states-general; after the departure of the spaniards. the cities and places included in the prince's commission, but not yet acknowledging his authority, should receive satisfaction from him, as to the point of religion and other matters, before subscribing to the union. all prisoners, and particularly the comte de bossu, should be released without ransom. all estates and other property not already alienated should be restored, all confiscations since being declared null and void. the countess palatine, widow of brederode, and count de buren, son of the prince of orange, were expressly named in this provision. prelates and ecclesiastical persons; having property in holland and zealand, should be reinstated, if possible; but in case of alienation, which was likely to be generally the case; there should be reasonable compensation. it was to be decided by the states-general whether the provinces should discharge the debts incurred by the prince of orange in his two campaigns. provinces and cities should not have the benefit of this union until they had signed the treaty, but they should be permitted to sign it when they chose. this memorable document was subscribed at ghent, on the th of november, by saint aldegonde, with eight other commissioners appointed by the prince of orange and the estates of holland on the one side, and by elbertus leoninus and other deputies appointed by brabant, flanders, artois, hainault, valenciennes, lille, douay, orchies, namur, tournay, utrecht, and mechlin on the other side. the arrangement was a masterpiece of diplomacy on the part of the prince, for it was as effectual a provision for the safety of the reformed religion as could be expected under the circumstances. it was much, considering the change which had been wrought of late years in the fifteen provinces, that they should consent to any treaty with their two heretic sisters. it was much more that the pacification should recognize the new religion as the established creed of holland and zealand, while at the same time the infamous edicts of charles were formally abolished. in the fifteen catholic provinces, there was to be no prohibition of private reformed worship, and it might be naturally expected that with time and the arrival of the banished religionists, a firmer stand would be taken in favor of the reformation. meantime, the new religion was formally established in two provinces, and tolerated, in secret, in the other fifteen; the inquisition was for ever abolished, and the whole strength of the nation enlisted to expel the foreign soldiery from the soil. this was the work of william the silent, and the great prince thus saw the labor of years crowned with, at least, a momentary success. his satisfaction was very great when it was announced to him, many days before the exchange of the signatures, that the treaty had been concluded. he was desirous that the pacification should be referred for approval, not to the municipal magistrates only, but to the people itself. in all great emergencies, the man who, in his whole character, least resembled a demagogue, either of antiquity or of modern times, was eager for a fresh expression of the popular will. on this occasion, however, the demand for approbation was superfluous. the whole country thought with his thoughts, and spoke with his words, and the pacification, as soon as published, was received with a shout of joy. proclaimed in the marketplace of every city and village, it was ratified, not by votes, but by hymns of thanksgiving, by triumphal music, by thundering of cannon, and by the blaze of beacons, throughout the netherlands. another event added to the satisfaction of the hour. the country so recently, and by deeds of such remarkable audacity, conquered by the spaniards in the north, was recovered almost simultaneously with the conclusion of the ghent treaty. it was a natural consequence of the great mutiny. the troops having entirely deserted mondragon, it became necessary for that officer to abandon zierickzee, the city which had been won with so much valor. in the beginning of november, the capital, and with it the whole island of schouwen, together with the rest of zealand, excepting tholen, was recovered by count hohenlo, lieutenant-general of the prince of orange, and acting according to his instructions. thus, on this particular point of time, many great events had been crowded. at the very same moment zealand had been redeemed, antwerp ruined, and the league of all the netherlands against the spaniards concluded. it now became known that another and most important event had occurred at the same instant. on the day before the antwerp massacre, four days before the publication of the ghent treaty, a foreign cavalier, attended by a moorish slave and by six men-at-arms, rode into the streets of luxemburg. the cavalier was don ottavio gonzaga, brother of the prince of melfi. the moorish slave was don john of austria, the son of the emperor, the conqueror of granada, the hero of lepanto. the new governor-general had traversed spain and france in disguise with great celerity, and in the romantic manner which belonged to his character. he stood at last on the threshold of the netherlands, but with all his speed he had arrived a few days too late. etext editor's bookmarks: a common hatred united them, for a time at least a most fatal success all claimed the privilege of persecuting blessing of god upon the devil's work daily widening schism between lutherans and calvinists dying at so very inconvenient a moment eight thousand human beings were murdered everything was conceded, but nothing was secured fanatics of the new religion denounced him as a godless man glory could be put neither into pocket nor stomach he would have no calvinist inquisition set up in its place he would have no persecution of the opposite creed in character and general talents he was beneath mediocrity indecision did the work of indolence insinuate that his orders had been hitherto misunderstood king set a price upon his head as a rebel no man could reveal secrets which he did not know of high rank but of lamentably low capacity pope excommunicated him as a heretic preventing wrong, or violence, even towards an enemy they could not invent or imagine toleration uunmeaning phrases of barren benignity motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley part v. don john of austria. - [chapter i.] birth and parentage of don john--barbara blomberg--early education and recognition by philip--brilliant military career--campaign against the moors--battle of lepanto--extravagant ambition--secret and rapid journey of the new governor to the netherlands--contrast between don john and william of orange--secret instructions of philip and private purposes of the governor--cautious policy and correspondence of the prince--preliminary, negotiations with don john at luxemburg characterized--union of brussels--resumption of negotiations with the governor at huy--the discussions analyzed and characterized--influence of the new emperor rudolph ii. and of his envoys--treaty of marche en famine, or the perpetual edict, signed-- remarks upon that transaction--views and efforts of orange in opposition to the treaty--his letter, in name of holland and zealand, to the states-general--anxiety of the royal government to gain over the prince--secret mission of leoninus--his instructions from don john--fruitless attempts to corrupt the prince--secret correspondence between don john and orange--don john at louvain--his efforts to ingratiate himself with the netherlanders--his incipient popularity--departure of the spanish troops--duke of aerschot appointed governor of antwerp citadel--his insincere character. don john of austria was now in his thirty-second year, having been born in ratisbon on the th of february, . his father was charles the fifth, emperor of germany, king of spain, dominator of asia, africa, and america; his mother was barbara blomberg, washerwoman of ratisbon. introduced to the emperor, originally, that she might alleviate his melancholy by her singing, she soon exhausted all that was harmonious in her nature, for never was a more uncomfortable, unmanageable personage than barbara in her after life. married to one pyramus kegell, who was made a military commissary in the netherlands, she was left a widow in the beginning of alva's administration. placed under the especial superintendence of the duke, she became the torment of that warrior's life. the terrible governor, who could almost crush the heart out of a nation of three millions, was unable to curb this single termagant. philip had expressly forbidden her to marry again, but alva informed him that she was surrounded by suitors. philip had insisted that she should go into a convent, but alva, who, with great difficulty, had established her quietly in ghent, assured his master that she would break loose again at the bare suggestion of a convent. philip wished her to go to spain, sending her word that don john was mortified by the life his mother was leading, but she informed the governor that she would be cut to pieces before she would go to spain. she had no objection to see her son, but she knew too well how women were treated in that country. the duke complained most pathetically to his majesty of the life they all led with the ex-mistress of the emperor. never, he frequently observed, had woman so terrible a head. she was obstinate, reckless, abominably extravagant. she had been provided in ghent with a handsome establishment: "with a duenna, six other women, a major domo, two pages, one chaplain, an almoner, and four men-servants," and this seemed a sufficiently liberal scheme of life for the widow of a commissary. moreover, a very ample allowance had been made for the education of her only legitimate son, conrad, the other having perished by an accident on the day of his father's death. while don john of austria was, gathering laurels in granada, his half-brother, pyramus junior, had been ingloriously drowned in a cistern at ghent. barbara's expenses were exorbitant; her way of life scandalous. to send her money, said alva, was to throw it into the sea. in two days she would have spent in dissipation and feasting any sums which the king might choose to supply. the duke, who feared nothing else in the world, stood in mortal awe of the widow kegell. "a terrible animal, indeed, is an unbridled woman," wrote secretary gayas, from madrid, at the close of alva's administration for, notwithstanding every effort to entice, to intimidate, and to kidnap her from the netherlands, there she remained, through all vicissitudes, even till the arrival of don john. by his persuasions or commands she was, at last, induced to accept an exile for the remainder of her days, in spain, but revenged herself by asserting. that he was quite mistaken: in supposing himself the emperor's child; a point, certainly, upon which her, authority might be thought conclusive. thus there was a double mystery about don john. he might be the issue of august parentage on one side; he was; possibly, sprung of most ignoble blood. base-born at best, he was not sure whether to look for the author of his being in the halls of the caesara or the booths of ratisbon mechanics. [cabrera, xii. . an absurd rumor had existed that barbara blomberg had only been employed to personate don john's mother. she died at an estate called arronjo de molinos, four leagues from madrid, some years after the death of don john.] whatever might be the heart of the mystery, it is certain that it was allowed to enwrap all the early life of don john. the emperor, who certainly never doubted his responsibility for the infant's existence, had him conveyed instantly to spain, where he was delivered to louis quixada, of the imperial household, by whom he was brought up in great retirement at villa-garcia. magdalen ulloa, wife of quixada, watched over his infancy with maternal and magnanimous care, for her husband's extreme solicitude for the infant's welfare had convinced her that he was its father. on one occasion, when their house was in flames, quixada rescued the infant before he saved his wife, "although magdalen knew herself to be dearer to him than the apple of his eye." from that time forth she altered her opinion, and believed the mysterious child to be of lofty origin. the boy grew up full of beauty, grace, and agility, the leader of all his companions in every hardy sport. through the country round there were none who could throw the javelin, break a lance, or ride at the ring like little juan quixada. in taming unmanageable horses he was celebrated for his audacity and skill. these accomplishments, however, were likely to prove of but slender advantage in the ecclesiastical profession, to which he had been destined by his imperial father. the death of charles occurred before clerical studies had been commenced, and philip, to whom the secret had been confided at the close of the emperor's life, prolonged the delay thus interposed. juan had already reached his fourteenth year, when one day his supposed father quixada invited him to ride towards valladolid to see the royal hunt. two horses stood at the door--a splendidly caparisoned charger and a common hackney. the boy naturally mounted the humbler steed, and they set forth for the mountains of toro, but on hearing the bugles of the approaching huntsmen, quixada suddenly halted, and bade his youthful companion exchange horses with himself. when this had been done, he seized the hand of the wondering boy and kissing it respectfully, exclaimed, "your highness will be informed as to the meaning of my conduct by his majesty, who is even now approaching." they had proceeded but a short distance before they encountered the royal hunting party, when both quixada and young juan dismounted, and bent the knee to their monarch. philip, commanding the boy to rise, asked him if he knew his father's name. juan replied, with a sigh, that he had at that moment lost the only father whom he had known, for quixada had just disowned him. "you have the same father as myself," cried the king; "the emperor charles was the august parent of us both." then tenderly embracing him, he commanded him to remount his horse, and all returned together to valladolid, philip observing with a sentimentality that seems highly apocryphal, that he had never brought home such precious game from any hunt before. this theatrical recognition of imperial descent was one among the many romantic incidents of don john's picturesque career, for his life was never destined to know the commonplace. he now commenced his education, in company with his two nephews, the duchess margaret's son, and don carlos, prince-royal of spain. they were all of the same age, but the superiority of don john was soon recognized. it was not difficult to surpass the limping, malicious, carlos, either in physical graces or intellectual accomplishments; but the graceful; urbane, and chivalrous alexander, destined afterwards to such wide celebrity, was a more formidable rival, yet even the professed panegyrist of the farnese family, exalts the son of barbara blomberg over the grandson of margaret van geest. still destined for the clerical profession, don john, at the age of eighteen, to avoid compliance with philip's commands, made his escape to barcelona. it was his intention to join the maltese expedition. recalled peremptorily by philip, he was for a short time in disgrace; but afterwards made his peace with the monarch by denouncing some of the mischievous schemes of don carlos. between the prince-royal and the imperial bastard, there had always been a deep animosity, the infante having on one occasion saluted him with the most vigorous and offensive appellation which his illegitimate birth could suggest. "base-born or not," returned don john, "at any rate i had a better father than yours." the words were probably reported to philip and doubtless rankled in his breast, but nothing appeared on the surface, and the youth rose rapidly in favor. in his twenty-third year, he was appointed to the command of the famous campaign against the insurgent moors of granada. here he reaped his first laurels, and acquired great military celebrity. it is difficult to be dazzled by such glory. he commenced his operations by the expulsion of nearly all the moorish inhabitants of granada, bed-ridden men, women, and children, together, and the cruelty inflicted, the sufferings patiently endured in that memorable deportation, were enormous. but few of the many thousand exiles survived the horrid march, those who were so unfortunate as to do so being sold into slavery by their captors. still a few moors held out in their mountain fastnesses, and two years long the rebellion of this handful made head against the, power of spain. had their envoys to the porte succeeded in their negotiation, the throne of philip might have trembled; but selim hated the republic of venice as much as he loved the wine of cyprus. while the moors were gasping out their last breath in granada and ronda, the turks had wrested the island of venus from the grasp of the haughty republic fainagosta had fallen; thousands of venetians had been butchered with a ferocity which even christians could not have surpassed; the famous general bragadino had been flayed; stuffed, and sent hanging on the yard-arm of a frigate; to constantinople, as a present to the commander of the faithful; and the mortgage of catherine cornaro, to the exclusion of her husband's bastards, had been thus definitely cancelled. with such practical enjoyments, selim was indifferent to the splendid but shadowy vision of the occidental caliphate--yet the revolt of the moors was only terminated, after the departure of don john, by the duke of arcos. the war which the sultan had avoided in the west, came to seek him in the east. to lift the crucifix against the crescent, at the head of the powerful but quarrelsome alliance between venice, spain, and rome, don john arrived at naples. he brought with him more than a hundred ships and twenty-three thousand men, as the spanish contingent:--three months long the hostile fleets had been cruising in the same waters without an encounter; three more were wasted in barren manoeuvres. neither mussulman nor christian had much inclination for the conflict, the turk fearing the consequences of a defeat, by which gains already secured might be forfeited; the allies being appalled at the possibility of their own triumph. nevertheless, the ottomans manoeuvred themselves at last into the gulf of lepanto, the christians manoeuvred themselves towards its mouth as the foe was coming forth again. the conflict thus rendered inevitable, both turk and christian became equally eager for the fray, equally confident of, victory. six hundred vessels of war met face to face. rarely in history had so gorgeous a scene of martial array been witnessed. an october sun gilded the thousand beauties of an ionian landscape. athens and corinth were behind the combatants, the mountains of alexander's macedon rose in the distance; the rock of sappho and the heights of actium, were before their eyes. since the day when the world had been lost and won beneath that famous promontory, no such combat as the one now approaching had been fought upon the waves. the chivalrous young commander despatched energetic messages to his fellow chieftains, and now that it was no longer possible to elude the encounter, the martial ardor of the allies was kindled. the venetian high-admiral replied with words of enthusiasm. colonna, lieutenant of the league, answered his chief in the language of st. peter; "though i die, yet will i not deny thee." the fleet was arranged in three divisions. the ottomans, not drawn up in crescent form, as usual, had the same triple disposition. barbarigo and the other venetians commanded on the left, john andrew doria on the right, while don john himself and colonna were in the centre, crucifix in hand, the high-admiral rowed from ship to ship exhorting generals and soldiers to show themselves worthy of a cause which he had persuaded himself was holy. fired by his eloquence and by the sight of the enemy, his hearers answered with eager shouts, while don john returned to his ship; knelt upon the quarter-deck, and offered a prayer. he then ordered the trumpets to sound the assault, commanded his sailing-master to lay him alongside the turkish admiral, and the battle began. the venetians, who were first attacked, destroyed ship after ship of their assailants after a close and obstinate contest, but barliarigo fell dead ere the sunset, with an arrow through his brain. meantime the action, immediately after the first onset, had become general. from noon till evening the battle raged, with a carnage rarely recorded in history. don john's own ship lay yard-arm and yard-arm with the turkish admiral, and exposed to the fire of seven large vessels besides. it was a day when personal, audacity, not skilful tactics, was demanded, and the imperial bastard showed the metal he was made of. the turkish admiral's ship was destroyed, his head exposed from don john's deck upon a pike, and the trophy became the signal for a general panic and a complete victory. by sunset the battle had been won. of nearly three hundred turkish galleys, but fifty made their escape. from twenty-five to thirty thousand turks were slain, and perhaps ten thousand christians. the galley-slaves on both sides fought well, and the only beneficial result of the victory was the liberation of several thousand christian captives. it is true that their liberty was purchased with the lives of a nearly equal number of christian soldiers, and by the reduction to slavery of almost as many thousand mussulmen, duly distributed among the christian victors. many causes--contributed to this splendid triumph. the turkish ships, inferior in number, were also worse manned than those of their adversaries; and their men were worse armed. every bullet of the christians told on muslin turbans and embroidered tunics, while the arrows of the moslems fell harmless on the casques and corslets of their foes. the turks, too, had committed the fatal error of fighting upon a lee shore. having no sea room, and being repelled in their first onset, many galleys were driven upon the rocks, to be destroyed with all their crews. [cabrera says that thirty thousand turks were slain, ten thousand made prisoners, ten thousand christians killed, and fifteen thousand christian prisoners liberated, ix. . de thou's estimate is twenty-five thousand turks killed, three thousand prisoners, and ten thousand christians killed, vi. . brantome states the number of turks killed at thirty thousand, without counting those who were drowned or who died afterwards of their wounds; six thousand prisoners, twelve thousand christian prisoners liberated, and ten thousand christians killed. hoofd, vi. , gives the figures at twenty-five thousand turks and ten thousand christians slain. bor, v. , makes a minute estimate, on the authority of pietro contareno, stating the number of christians killed at seven thousand six hundred and fifty, that of turks at twenty-five thousand one hundred and fifty, turkish prisoners at three thousand eight hundred and forty-six, and christians liberated at twelve thousand; giving the number of turkish ships destroyed at eighty, captured fifty. according to the "relation cierta y verdadera," (which was drawn up a few days after the action,) the number of turks slain was thirty thousand and upwards, besides many prisoners, that of christians killed was seven thousand, of christian slaves liberated twelve thousand, of ottoman ships taken or destroyed two hundred and thirty. documentos ineditos, iii. . philip sent an express order, forbidding the ransoming of even the captive officers. the turkish slaves were divided among the victors in the proportion of one-half to philip and one-half to the pope and venice. the other booty was distributed on the same principle. out of the pope's share don john received, as a present, one hundred and seventy-four slaves (documentos ineditos, iii. ). alexander of parma received thirty slaves; requesens thirty. to each general of infantry was assigned six slaves; to each colonel four; to each ship's captain one. the number of "slaves in chains" (esclavos de cadena) allotted to philip was thirty-six hundred (documentoa ineditos, ). seven thousand two hundred turkish slaves, therefore, at least, were divided among christians. this number of wretches, who were not fortunate enough to die with their twenty- five thousand comrades, must be set off against the twelve thousand christian slaves liberated, in the general settlement of the account with humanity.] but whatever the cause of the victory, its consequence was to spread the name and fame of don john of austria throughout the world. alva wrote, with enthusiasm, to congratulate him; pronouncing the victory the most brilliant one ever achieved by christians, and don john the greatest general since the death of julius caesar. at the same time, with a sarcastic fling at the erection of the escorial, he advised philip to improve this new success in some more practical way than by building a house for the lord and a sepulchre for the dead. "if," said the duke, "the conquests of spain be extended in consequence of this triumph, then, indeed, will the cherubim and seraphim sing glory to god." a courier, despatched post haste to spain, bore the glorious news, together with the, sacred, standard of the prophet, the holy of holies, inscribed with the name of allah twenty-eight thousand nine hundred times, always kept in mecca during peace, and never since the conquest of constantinople lost in battle before. the king was at vespers in the escorial. entering the sacred precincts, breathless, travel-stained, excited, the messenger found philip impassible as marble to the wondrous news. not a muscle of the royal visage was moved, not a syllable escaped the royal lips, save a brief order to the clergy to continue the interrupted vespers. when the service had been methodically concluded, the king made known the intelligence and requested a te deum. the youthful commander-in-chief obtained more than his full mead of glory. no doubt he had fought with brilliant courage, yet in so close and murderous a conflict, the valor of no single individual could decide the day, and the result was due to the combined determination of all. had don john remained at naples, the issue might have easily been the same. barbarigo, who sealed the victory with his blood; colonna, who celebrated a solemn triumph on his return to rome; parma, doria, giustiniani, venieri, might each as well have claimed a monopoly of the glory, had not the pope, at philip's entreaty, conferred the baton of command upon don john. the meagre result of the contest is as notorious as the victory. while constantinople was quivering with apprehension, the rival generals were already wrangling with animosity. had the christian fleet advanced, every soul would have fled from the capital, but providence had ordained otherwise, and don john sailed westwardly with his ships. he made a descent on the barbary coast, captured tunis, destroyed biserta, and brought king amidas and his two sons prisoners to italy. ordered by philip to dismantle the fortifications of tunis, he replied by repairing them thoroughly, and by placing a strong garrison within the citadel. intoxicated with his glory, the young adventurer already demanded a crown, and the pope was disposed to proclaim him king of tunis, for the queen of the lybian seas was to be the capital of his empire, the new carthage which he already dreamed. philip thought it time to interfere, for he felt that his own crown might be insecure, with such a restless and ambitious spirit indulging in possible and impossible chimeras. he removed john de soto, who had been don john's chief councillor and emissary to the pope, and substituted in his place the celebrated and ill-starred escovedo. the new secretary, however, entered as heartily but secretly into all these romantic schemes. disappointed of the empire which he had contemplated on the edge of the african desert, the champion of the cross turned to the cold islands of the northern seas. there sighed, in captivity, the beauteous mary of scotland, victim of the heretic elizabeth. his susceptibility to the charms of beauty--a characteristic as celebrated as his courage--was excited, his chivalry aroused. what holier triumph for the conqueror of the saracens than the subjugation of these northern infidels? he would dethrone the proud elizabeth; he would liberate and espouse the queen of scots, and together they would reign over, the two united realms. all that the pope could do with bulls and blessings, letters of excommunication, and patents of investiture, he did with his whole heart. don john was at liberty to be king of england and scotland as soon as he liked; all that was left to do was to conquer the kingdoms. meantime, while these schemes were flitting through his brain, and were yet kept comparatively secret by the pope, escovedo, and himself, the news reached him in italy that he had been appointed governor-general of the netherlands. nothing could be more opportune. in the provinces were ten thousand veteran spaniards, ripe for adventure, hardened by years of warfare, greedy for gold, audacious almost beyond humanity, the very instruments for his scheme. the times were critical in the netherlands, it was true; yet he would soon pacify those paltry troubles, and then sweep forward to his prize. yet events were rushing forward with such feverish rapidity, that he might be too late for his adventure. many days were lost in the necessary journey from italy into spain to receive the final instructions of the king. the news from the provinces, grew more and more threatening. with the impetuosity and romance of his temperament, he selected his confidential friend ottavio gonzaga, six men-at-arms, and an adroit and well-experienced swiss courier who knew every road of france. it was no light adventure for the catholic governor-general of the netherlands to traverse the kingdom at that particular juncture. staining his bright locks and fair face to the complexion of a moor, he started on his journey, attired as the servant of gonzaga. arriving at paris, after a rapid journey, he descended at a hostelry opposite the residence of the spanish ambassador, don diego de cuniga. after nightfall he had a secret interview with that functionary, and learning, among other matters, that there was to be a great ball that night at the louvre, he determined to go thither in disguise. there, notwithstanding his hurry, he had time to see and to become desperately enamored of "that wonder of beauty," the fair and frail margaret of valois, queen of navarre. her subsequent visit to her young adorer at namur, to be recorded in a future page of this history, was destined to mark the last turning point in his picturesque career. on his way to the netherlands he held a rapid interview with the duke of guise, to arrange his schemes for the liberation and espousal of that noble's kinswoman, the scottish queen; and on the rd of november he arrived at luxemburg. there stood the young conqueror of lepanto, his brain full of schemes, his heart full of hopes, on the threshhold of the netherlands, at the entrance to what he believed the most brilliant chapter of his life--schemes, hopes, and visions--doomed speedily to fade before the cold reality with which he was to be confronted. throwing off his disguise after reaching luxemburg, the youthful paladin stood confessed. his appearance was as romantic as his origin and his exploits. every contemporary chronicler, french, spanish, italian, flemish, roman, have dwelt upon his personal beauty and the singular fascination of his manner. symmetrical features, blue eyes of great vivacity, and a profusion of bright curling hair, were combined with a person not much above middle height; but perfectly well proportioned. owing to a natural peculiarity of his head, the hair fell backward from the temples, and he had acquired the habit of pushing it from his brows. the custom became a fashion among the host of courtiers, who were but too happy to glass themselves in so brilliant a mirror. as charles the fifth, on his journey to italy to assume the iron crown, had caused his hair to be clipped close, as a remedy for the headaches with which, at that momentous epoch, he was tormented, bringing thereby close shaven polls into extreme fashion; so a mass of hair pushed backward from the temples, in the style to which the name of john of austria was appropriated, became the prevailing mode wherever the favorite son of the emperor appeared. such was the last crusader whom the annals of chivalry were to know; the man who had humbled the crescent as it had not been humbled since the days of the tancreds, the baldwins, the plantagenets--yet, after all, what was this brilliant adventurer when weighed against the tranquil christian champion whom he was to meet face to face? the contrast was striking between the real and the romantic hero. don john had pursued and achieved glory through victories with which the world was ringing; william was slowly compassing a country's emancipation through a series of defeats. he moulded a commonwealth and united hearts with as much contempt for danger as don john had exhibited in scenes of slave driving and carnage. amid fields of blood, and through web's of tortuous intrigue, the brave and subtle son of the emperor pursued only his own objects. tawdry schemes of personal ambition, conquests for his own benefit, impossible crowns for his own wearing, were the motives which impelled, him, and the prizes which he sought. his existence was feverish, fitful, and passionate. "tranquil amid the raging billows," according to his favorite device, the father of his country waved aside the diadem which for him had neither charms nor meaning. their characters were as contrasted as their persons. the curled-darling of chivalry seemed a youth at thirty-one. spare of figure, plain in apparel, benignant, but haggard of countenance, with temples bared by anxiety as much as by his helmet, earnest, almost devout in manner, in his own words, "calvus et calvinists," william of orange was an old man at forty-three. perhaps there was as much good faith on the part of don john, when he arrived in luxemburg, as could be expected of a man coming directly from the cabinet of philip. the king had secretly instructed him to conciliate the provinces, but to concede nothing, for the governor was only a new incarnation of the insane paradox that benignity and the system of charles the fifth were one. he was directed to restore the government, to its state during the imperial epoch. seventeen provinces, in two of which the population were all dissenters, in all of which the principle of mutual toleration had just been accepted by catholics and protestants, were now to be brought back to the condition according to which all protestants were beheaded, burned, or buried alive. so that the inquisition, the absolute authority of the monarch, and the exclusive worship of the roman church were preserved intact, the king professed himself desirous of "extinguishing the fires of rebellion, and of saving the people from the last desperation." with these slight exceptions, philip was willing to be very benignant. "more than this," said he, "cannot and ought not be conceded." to these brief but pregnant instructions was added a morsel of advice, personal in its nature, but very characteristic of the writer. don john was recommended to take great care of his soul, and also to be very cautious in the management of his amours. thus counselled and secretly directed, the new captain-general had been dismissed to the unhappy netherlands. the position, however, was necessarily false. the man who was renowned for martial exploits, and notoriously devoured by ambition, could hardly inspire deep confidence in the pacific dispositions of the government. the crusader of granada and lepanto, the champion of the ancient church, was not likely to please the rugged zealanders who had let themselves be hacked to pieces rather than say one paternoster, and who had worn crescents in their caps at leyden, to prove their deeper hostility to the pope than to the turk. the imperial bastard would derive but alight consideration from his paternal blood, in a country where illegitimate birth was more unfavorably regarded than in most other countries, and where a brabantine edict, recently issued in name of the king; deprived all political or civil functionaries not born in wedlock; of their offices. yet he had received instructions, at his departure, to bring about a pacification, if possible, always maintaining, however, the absolute authority of the crown and the exclusive exercise of the catholic religion. how the two great points of his instructions were to be made entirely palatable, was left to time and chance. there was a vague notion that with the new governor's fame, fascinating manners, and imperial parentage, he might accomplish a result which neither fraud nor force--not the arts of granvelle, nor the atrocity of alva, nor the licentiousness of a buccaneering soldiery had been able to effect. as for don john himself, he came with no definite plans for the netherlanders, but with very daring projects of his own, and to pursue these misty visions was his main business on arriving in the provinces. in the meantime he was disposed to settle the netherland difficulty in some showy, off-hand fashion, which should cost him but little trouble, and occasion no detriment to the cause of papacy or absolutism. unfortunately for these rapid arrangements, william of orange was in zealand, and the pacification had just been signed at ghent. it was, naturally, with very little satisfaction that the prince beheld the arrival of don john. his sagacious combinations would henceforth be impeded, if not wholly frustrated. this he foresaw. he knew that there could be no intention of making any arrangement in which holland and zealand could be included. he was confident that any recognition of the reformed religion was as much out of the question now as ever. he doubted not that there were many catholic magnates, wavering politicians, aspirants for royal favor, who would soon be ready to desert the cause which had so recently been made a general cause, and who would soon be undermining the work of their own hands. the pacification of ghent would never be maintained in letter and spirit by the vicegerent of philip; for however its sense might be commented upon or perverted, the treaty, while it recognized catholicism as the state religion, conceded, to a certain extent, liberty of conscience. an immense stride had been taken, by abolishing the edicts, and prohibiting persecution. if that step were now retraced, the new religion was doomed, and the liberties of holland and zealand destroyed. "if they make an arrangement with don john, it will be for us of the religion to run," wrote the prince to his brother, "for their intention is to suffer no person of that faith to have a fixed domicile in the netherlands." it was, therefore, with a calm determination to counteract and crush the policy of the youthful governor that william the silent awaited his antagonist. were don john admitted to confidence, the peace of holland and zealand was gone. therefore it was necessary to combat him both openly and secretly--by loud remonstrance and by invisible stratagem. what chance had the impetuous and impatient young hero in such an encounter with the foremost statesman of the age? he had arrived, with all the self-confidence of a conqueror; he did not know that he was to be played upon like a pipe--to be caught in meshes spread by his own hands--to struggle blindly--to rage impotently--to die ingloriously. the prince had lost no time in admonishing the states-general as to the course which should now be pursued. he was of opinion that, upon their conduct at this crisis depended the future destinies of the netherlands. "if we understand how to make proper use of the new governor's arrival," said he, "it may prove very advantageous to us; if not, it will be the commencement of our total ruin." the spirit of all his communications was to infuse the distrust which he honestly felt, and which he certainly took no pains to disguise; to impress upon his countrymen the importance of improving the present emergency by the enlargement, instead of the threatened contraction of their liberties, and to enforce with all his energy the necessity of a firm union. he assured the estates that don john had been sent, in this simple manner, to the country, because the king and cabinet had begun to despair of carrying their point by force. at the same time he warned them that force would doubtless be replaced by fraud. he expressed his conviction that so soon as don john should attain the ascendency which he had been sent to secure, the gentleness which now smiled upon the surface would give place to the deadlier purposes which lurked below. he went so far as distinctly to recommend the seizure of don john's person. by so doing, much bloodshed might be saved; for such was the king's respect for the emperor's son that their demands would be granted rather than that his liberty should be permanently endangered. in a very striking and elaborate letter which he addressed from middelburg to the estates-general, he insisted on the expediency of seizing the present opportunity in order to secure and to expand their liberties, and urged them to assert broadly the principle that the true historical polity of the netherlands was a representative, constitutional government, don john, on arriving at luxemburg, had demanded hostages for his own security, a measure which could not but strike the calmest spectator as an infraction of all provincial rights. "he asks you to disarm," continued william of orange; "he invites you to furnish hostages, but the time has been when the lord of the land came unarmed and uncovered, before the estates-general, and swore to support the constitutions before his own sovereignty could be recognized." he reiterated his suspicions as to the honest intentions of the government, and sought, as forcibly as possible, to infuse an equal distrust into the minds of those he addressed. "antwerp," said he, "once the powerful and blooming, now the most forlorn and desolate city of christendom, suffered because she dared to exclude the king's troops. you may be sure that you are all to have a place at the same banquet. we may forget the past, but princes never forget, when the means of vengeance are placed within their hands. nature teaches them to arrive at their end by fraud, when violence will not avail them. like little children, they whistle to the birds they would catch. promises and pretences they will furnish in plenty." he urged them on no account to begin any negotiation with the governor, except on the basis of the immediate departure of the soldiery. "make no agreement with him; unless the spanish and other foreign troops have been sent away beforehand; beware, meantime, of disbanding your own, for that were to put the knife into his hands to cut your own throats withal." he then proceeded to sketch the out lines of a negotiation, such as he could recommend. the plan was certainly sufficiently bold, and it could hardly cause astonishment, if it were not immediately accepted by don john; as the basis of an arrangement. "remember this is not play", said the prince, "and that you have to choose between the two, either total ruin or manly self-defence. don john must command the immediate departure of the spaniards. all our privileges must be revised, and an oath to maintain them required. new councils of state and finance must be appointed by the estates. the general assembly ought to have power to come together twice or thrice yearly, and, indeed, as often as they choose. the states-general must administer and regulate all affairs. the citadels must be demolished everywhere. no troops ought to be enlisted, nor garrisons established, without the consent of the estates." in all the documents, whether public memorials or private letters, which came at this period from the hand of the prince, he assumed, as a matter of course, that in any arrangement with the new governor the pacification of ghent was to be maintained. this, too, was the determination of almost every man in the country. don john, soon after his arrival at luxemburg, had despatched messengers to the states-general, informing them of his arrival. it was not before the close of the month of november that the negotiations seriously began. provost fonck, on the part of the governor, then informed them of don john's intention to enter namur, attended by fifty mounted troopers. permission, however, was resolutely refused, and the burghers of namur were forbidden to render oaths of fidelity until the governor should have complied with the preliminary demands of the estates. to enunciate these demands categorically, a deputation of the estates-general came to luxemburg. these gentlemen were received with courtesy by don john, but their own demeanour was not conciliatory. a dislike to the spanish government; a disloyalty to the monarch with whose brother and representative they were dealing, pierced through all their language. on the other hand, the ardent temper of don john was never slow to take offence. one of the deputies proposed to the governor, with great coolness, that he should assume the government in his own name, and renounce the authority of philip. were he willing to do so, the patriotic gentleman pledged himself that the provinces would at once acknowledge him as sovereign, and sustain his government. don john, enraged at the insult to his own loyalty which the proposition implied, drew his dagger and rushed towards the offender. the deputy would, probably, have paid for his audacity with his life had there not been by-standers enough to prevent the catastrophe. this scene was an unsatisfactory prelude to the opening negotiations. on the th of december the deputies presented to the governor at luxemburg a paper, containing their demands, drawn up in eight articles, and their concessions in ten. the states insisted on the immediate removal of the troops, with the understanding that they were never to return, but without prohibition of their departure by sea; they demanded the immediate release of all prisoners; they insisted on the maintenance of the ghent treaty, there being nothing therein which did not tend to the furtherance of the catholic religion; they claimed an act of amnesty; they required the convocation of the states-general, on the basis of that assembly before which took place the abdication of charles the fifth; they demanded an oath, on the part of don john, to maintain all the charters and customs of the country. should these conditions be complied: with, the deputies consented on the part of the estates, that he should be acknowledged as governor, and that the catholic religion and the authority of his majesty should be maintained. they agreed that all foreign leagues should be renounced, their own foreign soldiery disbanded, and a guard of honor, native netherlanders, such as his majesty was contented with at his "blythe entrance," provided. a truce of fifteen days, for negotiations, was furthermore proposed. don john made answers to these propositions by adding a brief comment, as apostille, upon each of the eighteen articles, in succession. he would send away the troops, but, at the same time, the states must disband their own. he declined engaging himself not to recal his foreign soldiery, should necessity require their service. with regard to the ghent pacification, he professed himself ready for a general peace negotiation, on condition that the supremacy of the catholic church and the authority of his majesty were properly secured. he would settle upon some act of amnesty after due consultation with the state council. he was willing that the states should be convoked in general assembly, provided sufficient security were given him that nothing should be there transacted prejudicial to the catholic religion and the king's sovereignty. as for their privileges, he would govern as had been done in the time of his imperial father. he expressed his satisfaction with most of the promises offered by the estates, particularly with their expression in favor of the church and of his majesty's authority; the two all-important points to secure which he had come thither unattended, at the peril of his life, but he received their offer of a body-guard, by which his hirelings were to be superseded, with very little gratitude. he was on the point, he said, of advancing as far as marche en famine, and should take with him as strong a guard as he considered necessary, and composed of such troops as he had at hand. nothing decisive came of this first interview. the parties had taken the measures of their mutual claims, and after a few days, fencing with apostilles, replies, and rejoinders, they separated, their acrimony rather inflamed than appeased. the departure of the troops and the ghent treaty were the vital points in the negotiation. the estates had originally been content that the troops should go by sea. their suspicions were, however, excited by the pertinacity with which don john held to this mode of removal. although they did not suspect the mysterious invasion of england, a project which was the real reason why the governor objected to their departure by land, yet they soon became aware--that he had been secretly tampering with the troops at every point. the effect of these secret negotiations with the leading officers of the army was a general expression of their unwillingness, on account of the lateness of the season, the difficult and dangerous condition of the roads and mountain-passes, the plague in italy, and other pretexts, to undertake so long a journey by land. on the other hand, the states, seeing the anxiety and the duplicity of don john upon this particular point, came to the resolution to thwart him at all hazards, and insisted on the land journey. too long a time, too much money, too many ships would be necessary, they said, to forward so large a force by sea, and in the meantime it would be necessary to permit them to live for another indefinite period at the charge of the estates. with regard to the ghent pacification, the estates, in the course of december, procured: an express opinion from the eleven professors of theology, and doctors utriusque juris of louvain, that the treaty contained nothing which conflicted with the supremacy of the catholic religion. the various bishops, deacons, abbots, and pastors of the netherlands made a similar decision. an elaborate paper, drawn, up by the state-council, at the request of the states-general, declared that there was nothing in the pacification derogatory to the supreme authority of his majesty. thus fortified; with opinions which, it must be confessed, were rather dogmatically than argumentatively drawn up, and which it would have been difficult very logically to, defend, the states looked forward confidently to the eventual acceptance by don john of the terms proposed. in the meantime, while there was still an indefinite pause in the negotiations, a remarkable measure came to aid the efficacy of the ghent pacification. early in january, , the celebrated "union of brussels" was formed. this important agreement was originally signed by eight leading personages, the abbot of saint gertrude, the counts lalain and bossu, and the seigneur de champagny being among the number. its tenor was to engage its signers to compass the immediate expulsion of the spaniards and the execution of the ghent pacification, to maintain the catholic religion and the king's authority, and to defend the fatherland and all its constitutions. its motive was to generalize the position assumed by the ghent treaty. the new act was to be signed, not by a few special deputies alone, like a diplomatic convention, but by all the leading individuals of all the provinces, in order to exhibit to don john such an array of united strength that he would find himself forced to submit to the demands of the estates. the tenor, motive, and effect were all as had been proposed and foreseen. the agreement to expel the spaniards, under the catholic and loyal manifestations indicated, passed from hand to hand through all the provinces. it soon received the signature and support of all the respectability, wealth, and intelligence of the whole country. nobles, ecclesiastics, citizens, hastened to give to it their adhesion. the states-general had sent it, by solemn resolution, to every province, in order that every man might be forced to range himself either upon the side of the fatherland or of despotism. two copies of the signatures procured in each province were ordered, of which one was to be deposited in its archives, and the other forwarded to brussels. in a short time, every province, with the single exception of luxemburg, had loaded the document with signatures. this was a great step in advance. the ghent pacification, which was in the nature of a treaty between the prince and the estates of holland and zealand on the one side, and a certain number of provinces on the other, had only been signed by the envoys of the contracting parties. though received with deserved and universal acclamation, it had not the authority of a popular document. this, however, was the character studiously impressed upon the "brussels union." the people, subdivided according to the various grades of their social hierarchy, had been solemnly summoned to council, and had deliberately recorded their conviction. no restraint had been put upon their freedom of action, and there was hardly a difference of opinion as to the necessity of the measure. a rapid revolution in friesland, groningen, and the dependencies, had recently restored that important country to the national party. the portuguese de billy had been deprived of his authority as king's stadholder, and count hoogstraaten's brother, baron de ville, afterwards as count renneberg infamous for his, treason to the cause of liberty, had been appointed by the estates in his room. in all this district the "union of brussels" was eagerly signed by men of every degree. holland and zealand, no less than the catholic provinces of the south willingly accepted the compromise which was thus laid down, and which was thought to be not only an additional security for the past, not only a pillar more for the maintenance of the ghent pacification, but also a sure precursor of a closer union in the future. the union of brussels became, in fact, the stepping-stone to the "union of utrecht," itself the foundation-stone of a republic destined to endure more than two centuries. on the other hand, this early union held the seed, of its own destruction within itself. it was not surprising, however, that a strong declaration in favor of the catholic religion should be contained in a document intended for circulation through all the provinces. the object was to unite as large a force, and to make as striking a demonstration before the eyes of the governor general as was practicable under the circumstances. the immediate purpose was answered, temporary union was formed, but it was impossible that a permanent crystallization should take place where so strong a dissolvent as the catholic clause had been admitted. in the sequel, therefore, the union fell asunder precisely at this fatal flaw. the next union was that which definitely separated the provinces into protestant, and catholic, into self-governing republics, and the dependencies of a distant despotism. the immediate effect, however, of the "brussels union" was to rally all lovers of the fatherland and haters of a foreign tyranny upon one vital point--the expulsion of the stranger from the land. the foot of the spanish soldier should no longer profane their soil. all men were forced to pronounce themselves boldly and unequivocally, in order that the patriots might stand shoulder to shoulder, and the traitors be held up to infamy. this measure was in strict accordance with the advice given more than once by the prince of orange, and was almost in literal fulfilment of the compromise, which he had sketched before the arrival of don john. the deliberations were soon resumed with the new governor, the scene being shifted from luxemburg to huy. hither came a fresh deputation from the states-general--many signers of the brussels union among them--and were received by don john with stately courtesy: they had, however, come, determined to carry matters with a high and firm hand, being no longer disposed to brook his imperious demeanour, nor to tolerate his dilatory policy. it is not surprising, therefore, that the courtesy soon changed to bitterness, and that attack and recrimination usurped the place of the dignified but empty formalities which had characterized the interviews at luxemburg. the envoys, particularly sweveghem and champagny, made no concealment of their sentiments towards the spanish soldiery and the spanish nation, and used a freedom of tone and language which the petulant soldier had not been accustomed to hear. he complained, at the outset, that the netherlanders seemed new-born--that instead of bending the knee, they seemed disposed to grasp the sceptre. insolence had taken the place of pliancy, and the former slave now applied the chain and whip to his master. with such exacerbation of temper at the commencement of negotiations, their progress was of necessity stormy and slow. the envoys now addressed three concise questions to the governor. was he satisfied that the ghent pacification contained nothing conflicting with the roman religion and the king's authority? if so, was he willing to approve that treaty in all its articles? was he ready to dismiss his troops at once, and by land, the sea voyage being liable to too many objections? don john answered these three questions--which, in reality, were but three forms of a single question--upon the same day, the th of january. his reply was as complex as the demand had been simple. it consisted of a proposal in six articles, and a requisition in twenty-one, making in all twenty-seven articles. substantially he proposed to dismiss the foreign troops--to effect a general pacification of the netherlands--to govern on the basis of the administration in his imperial father's reign--to arrange affairs in and with regard to the assembly-general as the king should judge to be fitting--to forgive and forget past offences--and to release all prisoners. on the other hand he required the estates to pay the troops before their departure, and to provide ships enough to transport them, as the spaniards did not choose to go by land, and as the deputies, at luxemburg had consented to their removal by sea. furthermore, he demanded that the states should dismiss their own troops. he required ecclesiastical authority to prove the ghent pacification not prejudicial to the catholic religion; legal authority that it was not detrimental to his majesty's supremacy; and an oath from the states-general to uphold both points inviolably, and to provide for their maintenance in holland and zealand. he claimed the right to employ about his person soldiers and civil functionaries of any nation he might choose, and he exacted from the states a promise to prevent the prince of orange from removing his son, count van buren, forcibly or fraudulently, from his domicile in spain. the deputies were naturally indignant at this elaborate trifling. they had, in reality, asked him but one question, and that a simple one--would he maintain the treaty of ghent? here were twenty-seven articles in reply, and yet no answer to that question. they sat up all night, preparing a violent protocol, by which the governor's claims were to be utterly demolished. early in the morning, they waited upon his highness, presented the document, and at the same time asked him plainly, by word of mouth, did he or did he not intend to uphold the treaty. thus pressed into a corner in presence of the deputies, the members of the state council who were in attendance from brussels, and the envoys whom the emperor had recently sent to assist at these deliberations, the governor answered, no. he would not and could not maintain the treaty, because the spanish troops were in that instrument denounced as rebels, because he would not consent to the release of count van buren--and on account of various other reasons not then specified. hereupon ensued a fierce debate, and all day long the altercation lasted, without a result being reached. at ten o'clock in the evening, the deputies having previously retired for a brief interval, returned with a protest that they were not to be held responsible for the, termination of the proceedings, and that they washed their hands of the bloodshed which might follow the rupture. upon reading this document; don john fell into a blazing passion. he vehemently denounced the deputies as traitors. he swore that men who came to him thus prepared with ready-made protests in their pockets, were rebels from the commencement, and had never intended any agreement with him. his language and gestures expressed unbounded fury. he was weary of their ways, he said. they had better look to themselves, for the king would never leave their rebellion unpunished. he was ready to draw the sword at once--not his own, but his majesty's, and they might be sure that the war which they were thus provoking, should be the fiercest ever, waged. more abusive language in this strain was uttered, but it was not heard with lamb-like submission. the day had gone by when the deputies of the states-general were wont to quail before the wrath of vicarious royalty. the fiery words of don john were not oil to troubled water, but a match to a mine. the passions of the deputies exploded in their turn, and from hot words they had nearly come to hard blows. one of the deputies replied with so much boldness and vehemence that the governor, seizing a heavy silver bell which stood on the table, was about to hurl it at the offender's head, when an energetic and providential interference on the part of the imperial envoys, prevented the unseemly catastrophe. the day thus unprofitably spent, had now come to its close, and the deputies left the presence of don john with tempers as inflamed as his own. they were, therefore, somewhat surprised at being awakened in their beds, after midnight, by a certain father trigoso, who came to them with a conciliatory message from the governor. while they were still rubbing their eyes with sleep and astonishment, the duke of aerschot, the bishop of liege, and several councillors of state, entered the room. these personages brought the news that don john had at last consented to maintain the pacification of ghent, as would appear by a note written in his own hand, which was then delivered. the billet was eagerly read, but unfortunately did not fulfil the anticipations which had been excited. "i agree," said don john, "to approve the peace made between the states and the prince of orange, on condition that nothing therein may seem detrimental to the authority of his majesty and the supremacy of the catholic religion, and also with reservation of the points mentioned in my last communication." men who had gone to bed in a high state of indignation were not likely to wake in much better humour, when suddenly aroused in their first nap, to listen to such a message as this. it seemed only one piece of trifling the more. the deputies had offered satisfactory opinions of divines and jurisconsults, as to the two points specified which concerned the ghent treaty. it was natural, therefore, that this vague condition concerning them, the determination of which was for the governor's breast alone, should be instantly rejected, and that the envoys should return to their disturbed slumbers with an increase of ill-humour. on the morrow, as the envoys, booted and spurred, were upon the point of departure for brussels, another communication was brought to them from don john. this time, the language of the governor seemed more to the purpose. "i agree," said he, "to maintain the peace concluded between the states and the prince of orange, on condition of receiving from the ecclesiastical authorities, and from the university of louvain, satisfactory assurance that the said treaty contains nothing derogatory to the catholic religion--and similar assurance from the state council, the bishop of liege, and the imperial envoys, that the treaty is in no wise prejudicial to the authority of his majesty." here seemed, at last, something definite. these conditions could be complied with. they had, in fact, been already complied with. the assurances required as to the two points had already been procured, as the deputies and as don john well knew. the pacification of ghent was, therefore, virtually admitted. the deputies waited upon the governor accordingly, and the conversation was amicable. they vainly endeavoured, however, to obtain his consent to the departure of the troops by land--the only point then left in dispute. don john, still clinging to his secret scheme, with which the sea voyage of the troops was so closely connected, refused to concede. he reproached the envoys, on the contrary, with their importunity in making a fresh demand, just as he had conceded the ghent treaty, upon his entire responsibility and without instructions. mentally resolving that this point should still be wrung from the governor, but not suspecting his secret motives for resisting it so strenuously, the deputies took an amicable farewell of the governor, promising a favorable report upon the proceedings, so soon as they should arrive in brussels. don john, having conceded so much, was soon obliged to concede the whole. the emperor rudolph had lately succeeded his father, maximilian. the deceased potentate, whose sentiments on the great subject of religious toleration were so much in harmony with those entertained by the prince of orange, had, on the whole, notwithstanding the ties of relationship and considerations of policy, uniformly befriended the netherlands, so far as words and protestations could go, at the court of philip. active co-operation; practical assistance, he had certainly not rendered. he had unquestionably been too much inclined to accomplish the impossibility of assisting the states without offending the king--an effort which, in the homely language of hans jenitz; was "like wishing his skin washed without being wet." he had even interposed many obstacles to the free action of the prince, as has been seen in the course of this history, but nevertheless, the cause of the netherlands, of religion, and of humanity had much to lose by his death. his eldest son and successor, rudolph the second, was an ardent catholic, whose relations with a proscribed prince and a reformed population could hardly remain long in a satisfactory state. the new emperor had, however, received the secret envoys of orange with bounty, and was really desirous of accomplishing the pacification of the provinces. his envoys had assisted at all the recent deliberations between the estates and don john, and their vivid remonstrances removed, at this juncture, the last objection on the part of the governor-general. with a secret sigh, he deferred the darling and mysterious hope which had lighted him to the netherlands, and consented to the departure of the troops by land. all obstacles having been thus removed, the memorable treaty called the perpetual edict was signed at marche en famine on the th, and at brussels on the th of february, . this document, issued in the name of the king, contained nineteen articles. it approved and ratified the peace of ghent, in consideration that the prelates and clergy, with the doctors 'utriusque juris' of louvain, had decided that nothing in that treaty conflicted either with the supremacy of the catholic church or the authority of the king, but, on the contrary, that it advanced the interests of both. it promised that the soldiery should depart "freely, frankly, and without delay; by land, never to return except in case of foreign war"--the spaniards to set forth within forty days, the germans and others so soon as arrangements had been made by the states-general for their payment. it settled that all prisoners, on both sides, should be released, excepting the count van buren, who was to be set free so soon as the states-general having been convoked, the prince of orange should have fulfilled the resolutions to be passed by that assembly. it promised the maintenance of all the privileges, charters, and constitutions of the netherlands. it required of the states all oath to maintain the catholic religion. it recorded their agreement to disband their troops. it settled that don john should be received as governor-general, immediately upon the departure of the spaniards, italians, and burgundians from the provinces. these were the main provisions of this famous treaty, which was confirmed a few weeks afterwards by philip, in a letter addressed to the states of brabant, and by an edict issued at madrid. it will be seen that everything required by the envoys of the states, at the commencement of their negotiations, had been conceded by don john. they had claimed the departure of the troops, either by land or sea. he had resisted the demand a long time, but had at last consented to despatch them by sea. their departure by land had then been insisted upon. this again he had most reluctantly conceded. the ratification of the ghent treaty, he had peremptorily refused. he had come to the provinces, at the instant of its conclusion, and had, of course, no instructions on the subject. nevertheless, slowly receding, he had agreed, under certain reservations, to accept the treaty. those reservations relating to the great points of catholic and royal supremacy, he insisted upon subjecting to his own judgment alone. again he was overruled. most unwillingly he agreed to accept, instead of his own conscientious conviction, the dogmas of the state council and of the louvain doctors. not seeing very clearly how a treaty which abolished the edicts of charles the fifth and the ordinances of alva--which removed the religious question in holland and zealand from the king's jurisdiction to that of the states-general--which had caused persecution to surcease--had established toleration--and which moreover, had confirmed the arch rebel and heretic of all the netherlands in the government of the two rebellious and heretic provinces, as stadholder for the king--not seeing very clearly how such a treaty was "advantageous rather than prejudicial to royal absolutism and an exclusive catholicism," he naturally hesitated at first. the governor had thus disconcerted the prince of orange, not by the firmness of his resistance, but by the amplitude of his concessions. the combinations of william the silent were, for an instant, deranged. had the prince expected such liberality, he would have placed his demands upon a higher basis, for it is not probable that he contemplated or desired a pacification. the duke of aerschot and the bishop of liege in vain essayed to prevail upon his deputies at marche en famine, to sign the agreement of the th january, upon which was founded the perpetual edict. they refused to do so without consulting the prince and the estates. meantime, the other commissioners forced the affair rapidly forward. the states sent a deputation to the prince to ask his opinion, and signed the agreement before it was possible to receive his reply. this was to treat him with little courtesy, if not absolutely with bad faith. the prince was disappointed and indignant. in truth, as appeared from all his language and letters, he had no confidence in don john. he believed him a consummate hypocrite, and as deadly a foe to the netherlands as the duke of alva, or philip himself. he had carefully studied twenty-five intercepted letters from the king, the governor, jerome de roda, and others, placed recently in his hands by the duke of aerschot, and had found much to confirm previous and induce fresh suspicion. only a few days previously to the signature of the treaty, he had also intercepted other letters from influential personages, alonzo de vargas and others, disclosing extensive designs to obtain possession of the strong places in the country, and then to reduce the land to absolute subjection. he had assured the estates, therefore, that the deliberate intention of the government, throughout the whole negotiation, was to deceive, whatever might be the public language of don john and his agents. he implored them, therefore, to, have "pity upon the poor country," and to save the people from falling into the trap which was laid for them. from first to last, he had expressed a deep and wise distrust, and justified it by ample proofs. he was, with reason, irritated, therefore, at the haste with which the states had concluded the agreement with don john--at the celerity with which, as he afterwards expressed it, "they had rushed upon the boar-spear of that sanguinary heart." he believed that everything had been signed and sworn by the governor, with the mental reservation that such agreements were valid only until he should repent having made them. he doubted the good faith and the stability of the grand seigniors. he had never felt confidence in the professions of the time-serving aerschot, nor did he trust even the brave champagny, notwithstanding his services at the sack of antwerp. he was especially indignant that provision had been made, not for demolishing but for restoring to his majesty those hateful citadels, nests of tyranny, by which the flourishing cities of the land were kept in perpetual anxiety. whether in the hands of king, nobles, or magistrates, they were equally odious to him, and he had long since determined that they should be razed to the ground. in short, he believed that the estates had thrust their heads into the lion's mouth, and he foresaw the most gloomy consequences from the treaty which had just been concluded. he believed, to use his own language, "that the only difference between don john and alva or requesens was, that he was younger and more foolish than his predecessors, less capable of concealing his venom, more impatient, to dip his hands in blood." in the pacification of ghent, the prince had achieved the prize of his life-long labors. he had banded a mass of provinces by the ties of a common history, language, and customs, into a league against a foreign tyranny. he had grappled holland and zealand to their sister provinces by a common love for their ancient liberties, by a common hatred to a spanish soldiery. he had exorcised the evil demon of religious bigotry by which the body politic had been possessed so many years; for the ghent treaty, largely interpreted, opened the door to universal toleration. in the perpetual edict the prince saw his work undone. holland and zealand were again cut adrift from the other fifteen provinces, and war would soon be let loose upon that devoted little territory. the article stipulating the maintenance of the ghent treaty he regarded as idle wind; the solemn saws of the state council and the quiddities from louvain being likely to prove but slender bulwarks against the returning tide of tyranny. either it was tacitly intended to tolerate the reformed religion, or to hunt it down. to argue that the ghent treaty, loyally interpreted, strengthened ecclesiastical or royal despotism, was to contend that a maniac was more dangerous in fetters than when armed with a sword; it was to be blind to the difference between a private conventicle and a public scaffold. the perpetual edict, while affecting to sustain the treaty, would necessarily destroy it at a blow, while during the brief interval of repose, tyranny would have renewed its youth like the eagles. was it possible, then, for william of orange to sustain the perpetual edict, the compromise with don john? ten thousand ghosts from the lake of harlem, from the famine and plague-stricken streets of leyden, from the smoking ruins of antwerp, rose to warn him against such a composition with a despotism as subtle as it was remorseless. it was, therefore, not the policy of william of orange, suspecting, as he did, don john, abhorring philip, doubting the netherland nobles, confiding only in the mass of the citizens, to give his support to the perpetual edict. he was not the more satisfied because the states had concluded the arrangement without his sanction, and against his express, advice. he refused to publish or recognize the treaty in holland and zealand. a few weeks before, he had privately laid before the states of holland and zealand a series of questions, in order to test their temper, asking them, in particular, whether they were prepared to undertake a new and sanguinary war for the sake of their religion, even although their other privileges should be recognised by the new government, and a long and earnest debate had ensued, of a satisfactory nature, although no positive resolution was passed upon the subject. as soon as the perpetual edict had been signed, the states-general had sent to the prince, requesting his opinion and demanding his sanction. orange, in the name of holland and zealand, instantly returned an elaborate answer, taking grave exceptions to the whole tenor of the edict. he complained that the constitution of the land was violated, because the ancient privilege of the states-general to assemble at their pleasure, had been invaded, and because the laws of every province were set at nought by the continued imprisonment of count van buren, who had committed no crime, and whose detention proved that no man, whatever might be promised, could expect security for life or liberty. the ratification of the ghent treaty, it was insisted, was in no wise distinct and categorical, but was made dependent on a crowd of deceitful subterfuges. he inveighed bitterly against the stipulation in the edict, that the states should pay the wages of the soldiers, whom they had just proclaimed to be knaves and rebels, and at whose hands they had suffered such monstrous injuries. he denounced the cowardice which could permit this band of hirelings to retire with so much jewelry, merchandize, and plate, the result of their robberies. he expressed, however, in the name of the two provinces, a willingness to sign the edict, provided the states-general would agree solemnly beforehand, in case the departure of the spaniards did not take place within the stipulated tune, to abstain from all recognition of, or communication with, don john, and themselves to accomplish the removal of the troops by force of arms. such was the first and solemn manifesto made by the prince in reply to the perpetual edict; the states of holland and zealand uniting heart and hand in all that he thought, wrote, and said. his private sentiments were in strict accordance with the opinions thus publicly recorded. "whatever appearance don john may assume to the contrary," wrote the prince to his brother, "'tis by no means his intention to maintain the pacification, and less still to cause the spaniards to depart, with whom he keeps up the most strict correspondence possible." on the other hand, the governor was most anxious to conciliate the prince. he was most earnest to win the friendship of the man without whom every attempt to recover holland and zealand, and to re-establish royal and ecclesiastical tyranny, he knew to be hopeless. "this is the pilot," wrote don john to philip, "who guides the bark. he alone can destroy or save it. the greatest obstacles would be removed if he could be gained." he had proposed, and philip had approved the proposition, that the count van buren should be clothed with his father's dignities, on condition that the prince should himself retire into germany. it was soon evident, however, that such a proposition would meet with little favor, the office of father of his country and protector of her liberties not being transferable. while at louvain, whither he had gone after the publication of the perpetual edict, don john had conferred with the duke of aerschot, and they had decided that it would be well to send doctor leoninus on a private mission to the prince. previously to his departure on this errand, the learned envoy had therefore a full conversation with the governor. he was charged to represent to the prince the dangers to which don john had exposed himself in coming from spain to effect the pacification of the netherlands. leoninus was instructed to give assurance that the treaty just concluded should be maintained, that the spaniards should depart, that all other promises should be inviolably kept, and that the governor would take up arms against all who should oppose the fulfilment of his engagements. he was to represent that don john, in proof of his own fidelity, had placed himself in the power of the states. he was to intimate to the prince that an opportunity was now offered him to do the crown a service, in recompence for which he would obtain, not only pardon for his faults, but the favor of the monarch, and all the honors which could be desired; that by so doing he would assure the future prosperity of his family; that don john would be his good friend, and, as such; would do more for him than he could imagine. the envoy was also to impress upon the prince, that if he persisted in his opposition every man's hand would be against him, and the ruin of his house inevitable. he was to protest that don john came but to forgive and to forget, to restore the ancient government and the ancient prosperity, so that, if it was for those objects the prince had taken up arms, it was now his duty to lay them down, and to do his utmost to maintain peace and the catholic religion. finally, the envoy was to intimate that if he chose to write to don john, he might be sure to receive a satisfactory answer. in these pacific instructions and friendly expressions, don john was sincere. "the name of your majesty," said he, plainly, in giving an account of this mission to the king, "is as much abhorred and despised in the netherlands as that of the prince of orange is loved and feared. i am negotiating with him, and giving him every security, for i see that the establishment of peace, as well as the maintenance of the catholic religion, and the obedience to your majesty, depend now upon him. things have reached that pass that 'tis necessary to make a virtue of necessity. if he lend an ear to my proposals, it will be only upon very advantageous conditions, but to these it will be necessary to submit, rather than to lose everything." don john was in earnest; unfortunately he was not aware that the prince was in earnest also. the crusader, who had sunk thirty thousand paynims at a blow, and who was dreaming of the queen of scotland and the throne of england, had not room in his mind to entertain the image of a patriot. royal favors, family prosperity, dignities, offices, orders, advantageous conditions, these were the baits with which the governor angled for william of orange. he did not comprehend that attachment to a half-drowned land and to a despised religion, could possibly stand in the way of those advantageous conditions and that brilliant future. he did not imagine that the rebel, once assured not only of pardon but of advancement, could hesitate to refuse the royal hand thus amicably offered. don john had not accurately measured his great antagonist. the results of the successive missions which he despatched to the prince were destined to enlighten him. in the course of the first conversation between leoninus and the prince at middelburg, the envoy urged that don john had entered the netherlands without troops, that he had placed himself in the power of the duke of aerschot, that he had since come to louvain without any security but the promise of the citizens and of the students; and that all these things proved the sincerity of his intentions. he entreated the prince not to let slip so favorable an opportunity for placing his house above the reach of every unfavorable chance, spoke to him of marius, sylla, julius caesar, and other promoters of civil wars, and on retiring for the day, begged him to think gravely on what he had thus suggested, and to pray that god might inspire him with good resolutions. next day, william informed the envoy that, having prayed to god for assistance, he was more than ever convinced of his obligation to lay the whole matter before the states, whose servant he was. he added, that he could not forget the deaths of egmont and horn, nor the manner in which the promise made to the confederate nobles by the duchess of parma, had been visited, nor the conduct of the french monarch towards admiral coligny. he spoke of information which he had received from all quarters, from spain, france, and italy, that there was a determination to make war upon him and upon the states of holland and zealand. he added that they were taking their measures in consequence, and that they were well aware that a papal nuncio had arrived in the netherlands, to intrigue against them. in the evening, the prince complained that the estates had been so precipitate in concluding their arrangement with don john. he mentioned several articles in the treaty which were calculated to excite distrust; dwelling particularly on the engagement entered into by the estates to maintain the catholic religion. this article he declared to be in direct contravention to the ghent treaty, by which this point was left to the decision of a future assembly of the estates-general. leoninus essayed, as well as he could, to dispute these positions. in their last interview, the prince persisted in his intention of laying the whole matter before the states of holland and zealand. not to do so, he said, would be to expose himself to ruin on one side, and on the other, to the indignation of those who might suspect him of betraying them. the envoy begged to be informed if any hope could be entertained of a future arrangement. orange replied that he had no expectation of any, but advised doctor leoninus to be present at dort when the estates should assemble. notwithstanding the unfavorable result, of this mission, don john did not even yet despair of bending the stubborn character of the prince. he hoped that, if a personal interview between them could be arranged, he should be able to remove many causes of suspicion from the mind of his adversary. "in such times as these," wrote the governor to philip, "we can make no election, nor do i see any remedy to preserve the state from destruction, save to gain over this man, who has so much influence with the nation." the prince had, in truth, the whole game in his hands. there was scarcely a living creature in holland and zealand who was not willing to be bound by his decision in every emergency. throughout the rest of the provinces, the mass of the people looked up to him with absolute confidence, the clergy and the prominent nobles respecting and fearing him, even while they secretly attempted to thwart his designs. possessing dictatorial power in two provinces, vast influences in the other fifteen, nothing could be easier for him than to betray his country. the time was singularly propitious. the revengeful king was almost on his knees to the denounced rebel. everything was proffered: pardon, advancement, power. an indefinite vista was opened. "you cannot imagine," said don john, "how much it will be within my ability to do for you." the governor was extremely anxious to purchase the only enemy whom philip feared. the prince had nothing personally to gain by a continuance of the contest. the ban, outlawry, degradation, pecuniary ruin, assassination, martyrdom--these were the only guerdons he could anticipate. he had much to lose: but yesterday loaded with dignities, surrounded by pomp and luxury, with many children to inherit his worldly gear, could he not recover all; and more than all, to-day? what service had he to render in exchange? a mere nothing. he had but to abandon the convictions of a lifetime, and to betray a million or two of hearts which trusted him. as to the promises made by the governor to rule the country with gentleness, the prince could not do otherwise than commend the intention, even while distrusting the fulfilment. in his reply to the two letters of don john, he thanked his highness, with what seemed a grave irony, for the benign courtesy and signal honor which he had manifested to him, by inviting him so humanely and so carefully to a tranquil life, wherein, according to his highness, consisted the perfection of felicity in this mortal existence, and by promising him so liberally favor and grace. he stated, however, with earnestness, that the promises in regard to the pacification of the poor netherland people were much more important. he had ever expected, he said, beyond all comparison, the welfare and security of the public before his own; "having always placed his particular interests under his foot, even as he was still resolved to do, as long as life should endure." thus did william of orange receive the private advances made by the government towards himself. meantime, don john of austria came to louvain. until the preliminary conditions of the perpetual edict had been fulfilled, and the spanish troops sent out of the country, he was not to be received as governor-general, but it seemed unbecoming for him to remain longer upon the threshold of the provinces. he therefore advanced into the heart of the country, trusting himself without troops to the loyalty of the people, and manifesting a show of chivalrous confidence which he was far from feeling. he was soon surrounded by courtiers, time-servers, noble office-seekers. they who had kept themselves invisible, so long as the issue of a perplexed negotiation seemed doubtful, now became obsequious and inevitable as his shadow. one grand seignior wanted a regiment, another a government, a third a chamberlain's key; all wanted titles, ribbons, offices, livery, wages. don john distributed favors and promises with vast liberality. the object with which philip had sent him to the netherlands, that he might conciliate the hearts of its inhabitants by the personal graces which he had inherited from his imperial father, seemed in a fair way of accomplishment, for it was not only the venal applause of titled sycophants that he strove to merit, but he mingled gaily and familiarly with all classes of citizens. everywhere his handsome face and charming manner produced their natural effect. he dined and supped with the magistrates in the town-house, honored general banquets of the burghers with his presence, and was affable and dignified, witty, fascinating, and commanding, by turns. at louvain, the five military guilds held a solemn festival. the usual invitations were sent to the other societies, and to all the martial brotherhoods, the country round. gay and gaudy processions, sumptuous banquets, military sports, rapidly succeeded each other. upon the day of the great trial of skill; all the high functionaries of the land were, according to custom, invited, and the governor was graciously pleased to honor the solemnity with his presence. great was the joy of the multitude when don john, complying with the habit of imperial and princely personages in former days, enrolled himself, cross-bow in hand, among the competitors. greater still was the enthusiasm, when the conqueror of lepanto brought down the bird, and was proclaimed king of the year, amid the tumultuous hilarity of the crowd. according to custom, the captains of the guild suspended a golden popinjay around the neck of his highness, and placing themselves in procession, followed him to the great church. thence, after the customary religious exercises, the multitude proceeded to the banquet, where the health of the new king of the cross-bowmen was pledged in deep potations. long and loud was the merriment of this initiatory festival, to which many feasts succeeded during those brief but halcyon days, for the good-natured netherlanders already believed in the blessed advent of peace. they did not dream that the war, which had been consuming the marrow of their commonwealth for ten flaming years, was but in its infancy, and that neither they nor their children were destined to see its close. for the moment, however, all was hilarity at louvain. the governor, by his engaging deportment, awoke many reminiscences of the once popular emperor. he expressed unbounded affection for the commonwealth, and perfect confidence in the loyalty of the inhabitants. he promised to maintain their liberties, and to restore their prosperity. moreover, he had just hit the popinjay with a skill which his imperial father might have envied, and presided at burgher banquets with a grace which charles could have hardly matched. his personal graces, for the moment, took the rank of virtues. "such were the beauty and vivacity of his eyes," says his privy councillor, tassis, "that with a single glance he made all hearts his own," yet, nevertheless, the predestined victim secretly felt himself the object of a marksman who had no time for painted popinjays, but who rarely missed his aim. "the whole country is at the devotion of the prince, and nearly every one of its inhabitants;" such was his secret language to his royal brother, at the very moment of the exuberant manifestations which preceded his own entrance to brussels. while the governor still tarried at louvain, his secretary, escovedo, was busily engaged in arranging the departure of the spaniards, for, notwithstanding his original reluctance and the suspicions of orange, don john loyally intended to keep his promise. he even advanced twenty-seven thousand florins towards the expense of their removal, but to raise the whole amount required for transportation and arrears, was a difficult matter. the estates were slow in providing the one hundred and fifty thousand florins which they had stipulated to furnish. the king's credit, moreover, was at a very low, ebb. his previous bonds had not been duly honored, and there had even been instances of royal repudiation, which by no means lightened the task of the financier, in effecting the new loans required. escovedo was very blunt in his language upon this topic, and both don john and himself urged punctuality in all future payments. they entreated that the bills drawn in philip's name upon lombardy bankers, and discounted at a heavy rate of interest, by the fuggers of antwerp, might be duly provided for at maturity. "i earnestly beg," said escovedo, "that your majesty will see to the payment of these bills, at all events;" adding, with amusing simplicity, "this will be a means of recovering your majesty's credit, and as for my own; i don't care to lose it, small though it be." don john was even more solicitous. "for the love of god, sire," he wrote, "do not be delinquent now. you must reflect upon the necessity of recovering your credit. if this receives now the final blow, all will desert your majesty, and the soldiers too will be driven to desperation." by dint of great diligence on the part of escovedo, and through the confidence reposed in his character, the necessary funds were raised in the course of a few weeks. there was, however, a difficulty among the officers, as to the right of commanding the army on the homeward march. don alonzo de vargas, as chief of the cavalry, was appointed to the post by the governor, but valdez, romero, and other veterans, indignantly refused to serve under one whom they declared their inferior officer. there was much altercation and heartburning, and an attempt was made to compromise the matter by the appointment of count mansfeld to the chief command. this was, however, only adding fuel to the flames. all were dissatisfied with the superiority accorded to a foreigner, and alonzo de vargas, especially offended, addressed most insolent language to the governor. nevertheless, the arrangement was maintained, and the troops finally took their departure from the country, in the latter days of april. a vast concourse of citizens witnessed their departure, and could hardly believe their eyes, as they saw this incubus at last rolling off, by which the land had so many years been crushed. their joy, although extravagant, was, however, limited by the reflection that ten thousand germans still remained in the provinces, attached to the royal service, and that there was even yet a possibility that the departure of the spaniards was a feint. in truth, escovedo, although seconding the orders of don john, to procure the removal of these troops, did not scruple to express his regret to the king, and his doubts as to the result. he had been ever in hopes that an excuse might be found in the condition of affairs in france, to justify the retention of the forces near that frontier. he assured the king that he felt very doubtful as to what turn matters might take, after the soldiers were gone, seeing the great unruliness which even their presence had been insufficient completely to check. he had hoped that they might be retained in the neighbourhood, ready to seize the islands at the first opportunity. "for my part," he wrote, "i care nothing for the occupation of places within the interior, but the islands must be secured. to do this," he continued, with a deceitful allusion to the secret projects of don john, "is, in my opinion, more difficult than to effect the scheme upon england. if the one were accomplished, the other would be easily enough managed, and would require but moderate means. let not your majesty suppose that i say this as favoring the plan of don john, for this i put entirely behind me." notwithstanding these suspicions on the part of the people, this reluctance on the part of then government, the troops readily took up their line of march, and never paused till they reached lombardy. don john wrote repeatedly to the king, warmly urging the claims of these veterans, and of their distinguished officers, romero, avila, valdez, montesdocca, verdugo, mondragon, and others, to his bountiful consideration. they had departed in very ill humour, not having received any recompense for their long and arduous services. certainly, if unflinching endurance, desperate valor, and congenial cruelty, could atone in the monarch's eyes for the mutiny, which had at last compelled their withdrawal, then were these laborers worthy of their hire. don john had pacified them by assurances that they should receive adequate rewards on their arrival in lombardy, and had urged the full satisfaction of their claims and his promises in the strongest language. although don alonzo de vargas had abused him "with-flying colors," as he expressed himself, yet he hastened to intercede for him with the king in the most affectionate terms. "his impatience has not surprised me," said the governor, "although i regret that he has been offended, far i love and esteem him much. he has served many years with great distinction, and i can certify that his character for purity and religion is something extraordinary." the first scene in the withdrawal of the troops had been the evacuation of the citadel of antwerp, and it had been decided that the command of this most important fortress should be conferred upon the duke of aerschot. his claims as commander-in-chief, under the authority of the state council, and as chief of the catholic nobility, could hardly be passed over, yet he was a man whom neither party trusted. he was too visibly governed by interested motives. arrogant where he felt secure of his own, or doubtful as to another's position, he could be supple and cringing when the relations changed. he refused an interview with william of orange before consulting with don john, and solicited one afterwards when he found that every effort was to be made to conciliate the prince. he was insolent to the governor-general himself in february, and respectful in march. he usurped the first place in the church, before don john had been acknowledged governor, and was the first to go forth to welcome him after the matter had been arranged. he made a scene of virtuous indignation in the state council, because he was accused of place-hunting, but was diligent to secure an office of the highest dignity which the governor could bestow. whatever may have been his merits, it is certain that he inspired confidence neither in the adherents of the king nor of the prince; while he by turns professed the warmest regard both to the one party and the other. spaniards and patriots, protestants and catholics, suspected the man at the same moment, and ever attributed to his conduct a meaning which was the reverse of the apparent. such is often the judgment passed upon those who fish in troubled waters only to fill their own nets. the duke, however, was appointed governor of the citadel. sancho d'avila, the former constable, refused, with castillian haughtiness, to surrender the place to his successor, but appointed his lieutenant, martin d'oyo, to perform that ceremony. escovedo, standing upon the drawbridge with aerschot, administered the oath: "i, philip, duke of aerschot," said the new constable, "solemnly swear to hold this castle for the king, and for no others." to which escovedo added, "god help you, with all his angels, if you keep your oath; if not, may the devil carry you away, body and soul." the few bystanders cried amen; and with this hasty ceremony, the keys were delivered, the prisoners, egmont, capres, goignies, and others, liberated, and the spaniards ordered to march forth. etext editor's bookmarks: a terrible animal, indeed, is an unbridled woman agreements were valid only until he should repent all protestants were beheaded, burned, or buried alive arrive at their end by fraud, when violence will not avail them attachment to a half-drowned land and to a despised religion barbara blomberg, washerwoman of ratisbon believed in the blessed advent of peace compassing a country's emancipation through a series of defeats don john of austria don john was at liberty to be king of england and scotland ferocity which even christians could not have surpassed happy to glass themselves in so brilliant a mirror his personal graces, for the moment, took the rank of virtues necessary to make a virtue of necessity one-half to philip and one-half to the pope and venice (slaves) quite mistaken: in supposing himself the emperor's child sentimentality that seems highly apocryphal she knew too well how women were treated in that country those who fish in troubled waters only to fill their own nets worn crescents in their caps at leyden motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley [chapter ii.] triumphal entrance of don john into brussels--reverse of the picture --analysis of the secret correspondence of don john and escovedo with antonio perez--plots against the governor's liberty--his desponding language and gloomy anticipations--recommendation of severe measures--position and principles of orange and his family-- his private views on the question of peace and war--his toleration to catholics and anabaptists censured by his friends--death of viglius--new mission from the governor to orange--details of the gertruydenberg conferences--nature and results of these negotiations--papers exchanged between the envoys and orange--peter panis executed for heresy--three parties in the netherlands-- dissimulation of don john--his dread of capture. as already narrated, the soldiery had retired definitely from the country at the end of april, after which don john made his triumphal entrance into brussels on the st of may. it was long since so festive a may-day had gladdened the hearts of brabant. so much holiday magnificence had not been seen in the netherlands for years. a solemn procession of burghers, preceded by six thousand troops, and garnished by the free companies of archers and musketeers, in their picturesque costumes, escorted the young prince along the streets of the capital. don john was on horseback, wrapped in a long green cloak, riding between the bishop of liege and the papal nuncio. he passed beneath countless triumphal arches. banners waved before him, on which the battle of lepanto, and other striking scenes in his life, were emblazoned. minstrels sang verses, poets recited odes, rhetoric clubs enacted fantastic dramas in his honor, as he rode along. young virgins crowned him with laurels. fair women innumerable were clustered at every window, roof, and balcony, their bright robes floating like summer clouds above him. "softly from those lovely clouds," says a gallant chronicler, "descended the gentle rain of flowers." garlands were strewed before his feet, laurelled victory sat upon his brow. the same conventional enthusiasm and decoration which had characterized the holiday marches of a thousand conventional heroes were successfully produced. the proceedings began with the church, and ended with the banquet, the day was propitious, the populace pleased, and after a brilliant festival, don john of austria saw himself governor-general of the provinces. three days afterwards, the customary oaths, to be kept with the customary conscientiousness, were rendered at the town house, and for a brief moment all seemed smiling and serene. there was a reverse to the picture. in truth, no language can describe the hatred which don john entertained for the netherlands and all the inhabitants. he had come to the country only as a stepping-stone to the english throne, and he never spoke, in his private letters, of the provinces or the people but in terms of abhorrence. he was in a "babylon of disgust," in a "hell," surrounded by "drunkards," "wineskins," "scoundrels," and the like. from the moment of his arrival he had strained every nerve to retain the spanish troops, and to send them away by sea when it should be no longer feasible to keep them. escovedo shared in the sentiments and entered fully into the schemes of his chief. the plot, the secret enterprise, was the great cause of the advent of don john in the uncongenial clime of flanders. it had been, therefore, highly important, in his estimation, to set, as soon as possible, about the accomplishment of this important business. he accordingly entered into correspondence with antonio perez, the king's most confidential secretary of state at that period. that the governor was plotting no treason is sufficiently obvious from the context of his letters: at the same time, with the expansiveness of his character, when he was dealing with one whom he deemed has close and trusty friend, he occasionally made use of expressions which might be made to seem equivocal. this was still more the case with poor escovedo. devoted to his master, and depending most implicitly upon the honor of perez, he indulged in language which might be tortured into a still more suspicious shape when the devilish arts of perez and the universal distrust of philip were tending steadily to that end. for perez--on the whole, the boldest, deepest, and most unscrupulous villain in that pit of duplicity, the spanish court--was engaged at that moment with philip, in a plot to draw from don john and escovedo, by means of this correspondence, the proofs of a treason which the king and minister both desired to find. the letters from spain were written with this view--those from flanders were interpreted to that end. every confidential letter received by perez was immediately laid by him before the king, every letter which the artful demon wrote was filled with hints as to the danger of the king's learning the existence of the correspondence, and with promises of profound secrecy upon his own part, and was then immediately placed in philip's hands, to receive his comments and criticisms, before being copied and despatched to the netherlands. the minister was playing a bold, murderous, and treacherous game, and played it in a masterly manner. escovedo was lured to his destruction, don john was made to fret his heart away, and philip--more deceived than all--was betrayed in what he considered his affections, and made the mere tool of a man as false as himself and infinitely more accomplished. almost immediately after the arrival of don john in the netherlands; he had begun to express the greatest impatience for escovedo, who had not been able to accompany his master upon his journey, but without whose assistance the governor could accomplish none of his undertakings. "being a man, not an angel, i cannot do all which i have to do," said he to perez, "without a single person in whom i can confide." he protested that he could do no more than he was then doing. he went to bed at twelve and rose at seven, without having an hour in the day in which to take his food regularly; in consequence of all which he had already had three fevers. he was plunged into a world of distrust. every man suspected him, and he had himself no confidence in a single individual throughout that whole babylon of disgusts. he observed to perez that he was at liberty to show his letters to the king, or to read them in the council, as he meant always to speak the truth in whatever he should write. he was sure that perez would do all for the best; and there is something touching in these expressions of an honest purpose towards philip, and of generous confidence in perez, while the two were thus artfully attempting to inveigle him into damaging revelations. the netherlanders certainly had small cause to love or trust their new governor, who very sincerely detested and suspected them, but philip had little reason to complain of his brother. "tell me if my letters are read in council, and what his majesty says about them," he wrote; "and, above all, send money. i am driven to desperation at finding myself sold to this people, utterly unprovided as i am, and knowing the slow manner in which all affairs are conducted in spain." he informed the king that there was but one man in the netherlands, and that he was called the prince of orange. to him everything was communicated, with him everything was negotiated, opinions expressed by him were implicitly followed. the governor vividly described the misgivings with which he had placed himself in the power of the states by going to louvain, and the reluctance with which he had consented to send away the troops. after this concession, he complained that the insolence of the states had increased. "they think that they can do and undo what they like, now that i am at their mercy," he wrote to philip. "nevertheless, i do what you command without regarding that i am sold, and that i am in great danger of losing, my liberty, a loss which i dread more than anything in the world, for i wish to remain justified before god and men." he expressed, however, no hopes as to the result. disrespect and rudeness could be pushed no further than it had already gone, while the prince of orange, the actual governor of the country, considered his own preservation dependent upon maintaining things as they then were. don john, therefore, advised the king steadily to make preparations for "a rude and terrible war," which was not to be avoided, save by a miracle, and which ought not--to find him in this unprepared state. he protested that it was impossible to exaggerate the boldness which the people felt at seeing him thus defenseless. "they say publicly," he continued, "that your majesty is not to be feared, not being capable of carrying on a war, and having consumed and exhausted every resource. one of the greatest injuries ever inflicted upon us was by marquis havre, who, after his return from spain, went about publishing everywhere the poverty of the royal exchequer. this has emboldened them to rise, for they believe that, whatever the disposition, there is no strength to chastise them. they see a proof of the correctness of their reasoning in the absence of new levies, and in the heavy arrearages due to the old troops." he protested that he desired, at least, to be equal to the enemy, without asking, as others had usually done, for double the amount of the hostile force. he gave a glance at the foreign complications of the netherlands, telling philip that the estates were intriguing both with france and england. the english envoy had expressed much uneasiness at the possible departure of the spanish troops from the netherlands by sea, coupling it with a probable attempt to liberate the queen of scots. don john, who had come to the provinces for no other purpose, and whose soul had been full of that romantic scheme, of course stoutly denied and ridiculed the idea. "such notions," he had said to the envoy, "were subjects for laughter. if the troops were removed from the country, it was to strengthen his majesty's force in the levant." mr. rogers, much comforted, had expressed the warm friendship which elizabeth entertained both for his majesty and his majesty's representative; protestations which could hardly seem very sincere, after the series of attempts at the queen's life, undertaken so recently by his majesty and his majesty's former representative. nevertheless, don john had responded with great cordiality, had begged for elizabeth's portrait, and had expressed the intention, if affairs went as he hoped, to go privately to england for the purpose of kissing her royal hand. don john further informed the king, upon the envoy's authority, that elizabeth had refused assistance to the estates, saying, if she stirred it would be to render aid to philip, especially if france should meddle in the matter. as to france, the governor advised philip to hold out hopes to alencon of espousing the infanta, but by no means ever to fulfil such a promise, as the duke, "besides being the shield of heretics, was unscrupulously addicted to infamous vices." a month later, escovedo described the downfall of don john's hopes and his own in dismal language.--"you are aware," he wrote to perez, "that a throne--a chair with a canopy--is our intention and our appetite, and all the rest is good for nothing. having failed in our scheme, we are desperate and like madmen. all is now weariness and death." having expressed himself in such desponding accents, he continued, a few days afterwards, in the same lugubrious vein, "i am ready to hang myself," said he, "and i would have done it already, if it were not for keeping myself as executioner for those who have done us so much harm. ah, senor antonio perez!" he added, "what terrible pertinacity have those devils shown in making us give up our plot. it seems as though hell were opened and had sent forth heaps of demons to oppose our schemes." after these vigorous ejaculations he proceeded to inform his friend that the english envoy and the estates, governed by the prince of orange, in whose power were the much-coveted ships, had prevented the departure of the troops by sea. "these devils complain of the expense," said he; "but we would willingly swallow the cost if we could only get the ships." he then described don john as so cast down by his disappointment as to be fit for nothing, and most desirous of quitting the netherlands as soon as possible. he had no disposition to govern these wineskins. any one who ruled in the provinces was obliged to do exactly what they ordered him to do. such rule was not to the taste of don john. without any comparison, a woman would answer the purpose better than any man, and escovedo accordingly suggested the empress dowager, or madame de parma, or even madame de lorraine. he further recommended that the spanish troops, thus forced to leave the netherlands by land, should be employed against the heretics in france. this would be a salve for the disgrace of removing them. "it would be read in history," continued the secretary, "that the troops went to france in order to render assistance in a great religious necessity; while, at the same time, they will be on hand to chastise these drunkards, if necessary. to have the troops in france is almost as well as to keep them here." he begged to be forgiven if he spoke incoherently. 't was no wonder that he should do so, for his reason had been disordered by the blow which had been received. as for don john, he was dying to leave the country, and although the force was small for so great a general, yet it would be well for him to lead these troops to france in person. "it would sound well in history," said poor escovedo, who always thought of posterity, without ever dreaming that his own private letters would be destined, after three centuries, to comment and earnest investigation; "it would sound well in history, that don john went to restore, the french kingdom and to extirpate heretics, with six thousand foot and two thousand horse. 'tis a better employment, too, than to govern such vile creatures as these." if, however, all their plans should fail, the secretary suggested to his friend antonio, that he must see and make courtiers of them. he suggested that a strong administration might be formed in spain, with don john, the marquis de los velez, and the duke of sesa. "with such chiefs, and with anthony and john--[viz., john of escovedo and antony perez.]--for acolytes," he was of opinion that much good work might be done, and that don john might become "the staff for his majesty's old age." he implored perez, in the most urgent language, to procure philip's consent that his brother should leave the provinces. "otherwise," said he, "we shall see the destruction of the friend whom we so much love! he will become seriously ill, and if so, good night to him! his body is too delicate." escovedo protested that he would rather die himself. "in the catastrophe of don john's death," he continued, "adieu the court, adieu the world!" he would incontinently bury himself among the mountains of san sebastian, "preferring to dwell among wild animals than among courtiers." escovedo, accordingly, not urged by the most disinterested motives certainly, but with as warm a friendship for his master as princes usually inspire, proceeded to urge upon perez the necessity of, aiding the man who was able to help them. the first step was to get him out of the netherlands. that was his constant thought, by day and night. as it would hardly be desirable for him to go alone, it seemed proper that escovedo should, upon some pretext, be first sent to spain. such a pretext would be easily found, because, as don john had accepted the government, "it would be necessary for him to do all which the rascals bade him." after these minute statements, the secretary warned his correspondent of the necessity of secrecy, adding that he especially feared "all the court ladies, great and small, but that he in everything confided entirely in perez." nearly at the same time, don john wrote to perez in a similar tone. "ah, senor antonio," he exclaimed, "how certain is my disgrace and my misfortune. ruined is our enterprise, after so much labor and such skilful management." he was to have commenced the work with the very spanish soldiers who were now to be sent off by land, and he had nothing for it but to let them go, or to come to an open rupture with the states. "the last, his conscience, his duty, and the time, alike forbade." he was therefore obliged to submit to the ruin of his plans, and "could think of nothing save to turn hermit, a condition in which a man's labors, being spiritual, might not be entirely in vain." he was so overwhelmed by the blow, he said, that he was constantly thinking of an anchorite's life. that which he had been leading had become intolerable. he was not fitted for the people of the netherlands, nor they for him. rather than stay longer than was necessary in order to appoint his successor, there was no resolution he might not take, even to leaving everything and coming upon them when they least expected him, although he were to receive a bloody punishment in consequence. he, too, suggested the empress, who had all the qualities which he lacked himself, or madame de parma, or madame de lorraine, as each of them was more fit to govern the provinces than he pretended to be. "the people," said he, plainly, "are beginning to abhor me, and i abhor them already." he entreated perez to get him out of the country by fair means or foul, "per fas aut per nefas." his friends ought to procure his liberation, if they wished to save him from the sin of disobedience, and even of infamy. he expressed the most unbounded confidence in the honor of his correspondent, adding that if nothing else could procure his release, the letter might be shown to the king. in general, the governor was always willing that perez should make what changes he thought advisable in the letters for his majesty, altering or softening whatever seemed crude or harsh, provided always the main point--that of procuring his recal--were steadily kept in view, in this, said the governor, vehemently, my life, my honor, and my soul are all at stake; for as to the two first, i shall forfeit them both certainly, and, in my desperate condition, i shall run great risk of losing the last. on the other hand, perez was profuse in his professions of friendship both to don john and to escovedo; dilating in all his letters upon the difficulty of approaching the king upon the subject of his brother's recal, but giving occasional information that an incidental hint had been ventured which might not remain without effect. all these letters, were, however, laid before philip, for his approval, before being despatched, and the whole subject thoroughly and perpetually discussed between them, about which perez pretended that he hardly dared breathe a syllable to his majesty. he had done what he could, he said, while reading, piece by piece, to the king, during a fit of the gout, the official despatches from the netherlands, to insinuate such of the arguments used by the governor and escovedo as might seem admissible, but it was soon obvious that no impression could be made upon the royal mind. perez did not urge the matter, therefore, "because," said he, "if the king should suspect that we had any other object than his interests, we should all be lost." every effort should be made by don john and all his friends to secure his majesty's entire confidence, since by that course more progress would be made in their secret plans, than by proceedings concerning which the governor wrote "with such fury and anxiety of heart." perez warned his correspondent, therefore, most solemnly, against the danger of "striking the blow without hitting the mark," and tried to persuade him that his best interests required him to protract his residence in the provinces for a longer period. he informed don john that his disappointment as to the english scheme had met with the warmest sympathy of the king, who had wished his brother success. "i have sold to him, at as high a price as i could," said perez, "the magnanimity with which your highness had sacrificed, on that occasion, a private object to his service." the minister held the same language, when writing, in a still more intimate and expansive style, to escovedo. "we must avoid, by a thousand--leagues, the possibility of the king's thinking us influenced by private motives," he observed; "for we know the king and the delicacy of these matters. the only way to gain the good-will of the man is carefully to accommodate ourselves to his tastes, and to have the appearance of being occupied solely with his interests." the letter, like all the rest, being submitted to "the man" in question before being sent, was underlined by him at this paragraph and furnished with the following annotation: "but you must enlarge upon the passage which i have marked--say more, even if you are obliged to copy the letter, in order that we may see the nature of the reply." in another letter to escovedo, perez enlarged upon the impropriety, the impossibility of don john's leaving the netherlands at that time. the king was so resolute upon that point, he said, that 'twas out of the question to suggest the matter. "we should, by so doing, only lose all credit with him in other things. you know what a terrible man he is; if he should once suspect us of having a private end in view, we should entirely miss our mark." especially the secretary was made acquainted with the enormous error which would be committed by don john in leaving his post. perez "had ventured into the water" upon the subject, he said, by praising the governor warmly to his majesty. the king had responded by a hearty eulogium, adding that the greatest comfort in having such a brother was, that he might be where his majesty could not be. therefore, it was out of the question for don john to leave the provinces. the greatest tact was necessary, urged perez, in dealing with the king. if he should once "suspect that we have a private purpose, we are lost, and no demosthenes or cicero would be able to influence him afterwards." perez begged that his ardent attachment to don john might be represented in the strongest colors to that high personage, who was to be assured that every effort would be made to place him at the head of affairs in spain, according to the suggestion of escovedo. "it would never do, however," he continued, "to let our man see that we desire it, for then we should never succeed. the only way to conquer him is to make him believe that things are going on as he wishes, not as his highness may desire, and that we have none of us any will but the king's." upon this passage the "terrible man" made a brief annotation: "this paragraph does admirably," he said, adding, with characteristic tautology, "and what you say in it is also excellent." "therefore," continued the minister, "god forbid, master escovedo, that you should come hither now; for we should all be lost. in the english matter, i assure you that his majesty was extremely anxious that the plan should succeed, either through the pope, or otherwise. that puts me in mind," added perez, "to say, body of god! senor escovedo! how the devil came you to send that courier to rome about the english plot without giving me warning?" he then proceeded to state that the papal nuncio in spain had been much troubled in mind upon the subject, and had sent for him. "i went," said perez, "and after he, had closed the door, and looked through the keyhole to see that there were no listeners, he informed me that he had received intelligence from the pope as to the demands made by don john upon his holiness for bulls, briefs, and money to assist him in his english scheme, and that eighty thousand ducats had already been sent to him in consequence." perez added that the nuncio was very anxious to know how the affair should best be communicated to the king, without prejudice to his highness. he had given him the requisite advice, he continued, and had himself subsequently told the king that, no doubt, letters had been written by don john to his majesty, communicating these negotiations at rome, but that probably the despatches had been forgotten. thus, giving himself the appearance of having smoothed the matter with the king, perez concluded with a practical suggestion of much importance--the necessity, namely, of procuring the assassination of the prince of orange as soon as possible. "let it never be absent from your mind," said he, "that a good occasion must be found for finishing orange, since, besides the service which will thus be rendered to our master, and to the states, it will be worth something to ourselves." no apology is necessary for laying a somewhat extensive analysis of this secret correspondence before the reader. if there be any value in the examples of history, certainly few chronicles can furnish a more instructive moral. here are a despotic king and his confidential minister laying their heads together in one cabinet; the viceroy of the most important provinces of the realm, with his secretary, deeply conferring in another, not as to the manner of advancing the great interests, moral or material, of the people over whom god has permitted them to rule, but as to the best means of arranging conspiracies against the throne and life of a neighboring sovereign, with the connivance and subsidies of the pope. in this scheme, and in this only, the high conspirators are agreed. in every other respect, mutual suspicion and profound deceit characterize the scene. the governor is filled with inexpressible loathing for the whole nation of "drunkards and wineskins" who are at the very moment strewing flowers in his path, and deafening his ears with shouts of welcome; the king, while expressing unbounded confidence in the viceroy, is doing his utmost, through the agency of the subtlest intriguer in the world, to inveigle him into confessions of treasonable schemes, and the minister is filling reams of paper with protestations of affection for the governor and secretary, with sneers at the character of the king, and with instructions as to the best method of deceiving him, and then laying the despatches before his majesty for correction and enlargement. to complete the picture, the monarch and his minister are seen urging the necessity of murdering the foremost man of the age upon the very dupe who, within a twelvemonth, was himself to be assassinated by the self-same pair; while the arch-plotter who controls the strings of all these complicated projects is equally false to king, governor, and secretary, and is engaging all the others in these blind and tortuous paths, for the accomplishment of his own secret and most ignoble aims. in reply to the letters of perez, don john constantly expressed the satisfaction and comfort which he derived from them in the midst of his annoyances. "he was very disconsolate," he said, "to be in that hell, and to be obliged to remain in it," now that the english plot had fallen to the ground, but he would nevertheless take patience, and wait for a more favorable conjuncture. escovedo expressed the opinion, however, notwithstanding all the suggestions of perez, that the presence of don john in the provinces had become entirely superfluous. "an old woman with her distaff," suggested the secretary, "would be more appropriate; for there would be nothing to do, if the states had their way, save to sign everything which they should command." if there should be war, his highness would, of course, not abandon his post; even if permitted to do so; but otherwise, nothing could be gained by a prolonged residence. as to the scheme of assassinating the prince of orange, escovedo prayed perez to believe him incapable of negligence on the subject. "you know that the finishing of orange is very near my heart," wrote the poor dupe to the man by whom he was himself so soon to be finished. "you may believe that i have never forgotten it, and never will forget it, until it be done. much, and very much artifice is, however, necessary to accomplish this object. a proper person to undertake a task fraught with such well-known danger, is hard to find. nevertheless, i will not withdraw my attention from the subject till such a person be procured, and the deed be done." a month later, escovedo wrote that he was about to visit spain. he complained that he required rest in his old age, but that perez could judge how much rest he could get in such a condition of affairs. he was, unfortunately, not aware, when he wrote, how soon his correspondent was to give him a long repose. he said, too, that the pleasure of visiting his home was counterbalanced by the necessity of travelling back to the netherlands; but he did not know that perez was to spare him that trouble, and to send him forth upon a much longer journey. the governor-general, had, in truth, not inspired the popular party or its leader with confidence, nor did he place the least reliance upon them. while at louvain, he had complained that a conspiracy had been formed against his life and liberty. two french gentlemen, bonnivet and bellangreville, had been arrested on suspicion of a conspiracy to secure his person, and to carry him off a prisoner to rochelle. nothing came of the examination which followed; the prisoners were released, and an apology was sent by the states-general to the duke of alencon, as well for the indignity which had been offered to two of his servants, as for the suspicion which had been cast upon himself, don john, however, was not satisfied. he persisted in asserting the existence of the conspiracy, and made no secret of his belief that the prince of orange was acquainted with the arrangement. as may be supposed, nothing was discovered in the course of the investigation to implicate that astute politician. the prince had indeed secretly recommended that the governor should be taken into custody on his first arrival, not for the purpose of assassination or personal injury, but in order to extort better terms from philip, through the affection or respect which he might be supposed to entertain for his brother. it will be remembered that unsuccessful attempts had also been made to capture the duke of alva and the commander requesens. such achievements comported with the spirit of the age, and although it is doubtful whether any well-concerted plot existed against the liberty of the governor, it is certain that he entertained no doubt on the subject himself. in addition to these real or suspected designs, there was an ever-present consciousness in the mind of don john that the enthusiasm which greeted his presence was hollow, that no real attachment was felt for his person, that his fate was leading him into a false position, that the hearts of the people were fixed upon another, and that they were never to be won by himself. instinctively he seemed to feel a multitude of invisible threads twining into a snare around him, and the courageous heart and the bounding strength became uneasily conscious of the act in which they were to be held captive till life should be wasted quite away. the universal affection for the rebel prince, and the hopeless abandonment of the people to that deadliest of sins, the liberty of conscience, were alike unquestionable. "they mean to remain free, sire," wrote escovedo to philip, "and to live as they please. to that end they would be willing that the turk should come to be master of the country. by the road which they are travelling, however, it will be the prince of orange--which comes to quite the same thing." at the same time, however, it was hoped that something might be made of this liberty of conscience. all were not equally sunk in the horrible superstition, and those who were yet faithful to church and king might be set against their besotted brethren. liberty of conscience might thus be turned to account. while two great parties were "by the ears, and pulling out each other's hair, all might perhaps be reduced together." his majesty was warned, nevertheless, to expect the worst, and to believe that the country could only be cared with fire and blood. the position of the governor was painful and perplexing. "don john," said escovedo, "is thirty years old. i promise your majesty nothing, save that if he finds himself without requisite assistance, he will take himself off when your majesty is least thinking of such a thing." nothing could be more melancholy than the tone of the governor's letters. he believed himself disliked, even in the midst of affectionate demonstrations. he felt compelled to use moderate counsels, although he considered moderation of no avail. he was chained to his post, even though the post could, in his opinion, be more advantageously filled by another. he would still endeavour to gain the affections of the people, although he believed them hopelessly alienated. if patience would cure the malady of the country, he professed himself capable of applying the remedy, although the medicine had so far done but little good, and although he had no very strong hopes as to its future effects. "thus far, however," said he, "i am but as one crying in the wilderness." he took occasion to impress upon his majesty, in very strong language, the necessity of money. secret agents, spies, and spies upon spies, were more necessary than ever, and were very expensive portions of government machinery. never was money more wanted. nothing could be more important than, to attend faithfully to the financial suggestions of escovedo, and don john, therefore, urged his majesty, again and again, not to dishonor their drafts. "money is the gruel," said he, "with which we must cure this sick man;" and he therefore prayed all those who wished well to his efforts, to see that his majesty did not fail him in this important matter. notwithstanding, however, the vigor of his efforts, and the earnestness of his intentions, he gave but little hope to his majesty of any valuable fruit from the pacification just concluded. he saw the prince of orange strengthening himself, "with great fury," in holland and zealand; he knew that the prince was backed by the queen of england, who, notwithstanding her promises to philip and himself, had offered her support to the rebels in case the proposed terms of peace were rejected in holland, and he felt that "nearly the whole people was at the devotion of the prince." don john felt more and more convinced, too, that a conspiracy was on foot against his liberty. there were so many of the one party, and so few of the other, that if he were once fairly "trussed," he affirmed that not a man among the faithful would dare to budge an inch. he therefore informed his majesty that he was secretly meditating a retreat to some place of security; judging very properly that, if he were still his own master, he should be able to exert more influence over those who were still well disposed, than if he should suffer himself to be taken captive. a suppressed conviction that he could effect nothing, except with his sword, pierced through all his more prudent reflections. he maintained that, after all, there was no remedy for the body but to cut off the diseased parts at once, and he therefore begged his majesty for the means of performing the operation handsomely. the general expressions which he had previously used in favor of broths and mild treatment hardly tallied with the severe amputation thus recommended. there was, in truth, a constant struggle going on between the fierceness of his inclinations and the shackles which had been imposed upon him. he already felt entirely out of place, and although he scorned to fly from his post so long as it seemed the post of danger, he was most anxious that the king should grant him his dismissal, so soon as his presence should no longer be imperiously required. he was sure that the people would never believe in his majesty's forgiveness until the man concerning whom they entertained so much suspicion should be removed; for they saw in him only the "thunderbolt of his majesty's wrath." orange and england confirmed their suspicions, and sustained their malice. should he be compelled, against his will, to remain, he gave warning that he might do something which would be matter of astonishment to everybody. meantime, the man in whose hands really lay the question of war and peace, sat at middelburg, watching the deep current of events as it slowly flowed towards the precipice. the whole population of holland and zealand hung on his words. in approaching the realms of william the silent, don john felt that he had entered a charmed, circle, where the talisman of his own illustrious name lost its power, where his valor was paralyzed, and his sword rusted irrevocably in its sheath. "the people here," he wrote, "are bewitched by the prince of orange. they love him, they fear him, and wish to have him for their master. they inform him of everything, and take no resolution without consulting him." while william was thus directing and animating the whole nation with his spirit, his immediate friends became more and more anxious concerning the perils to which he was exposed. his mother, who had already seen her youngest-born, henry, her adolphus, her chivalrous louis, laid in their bloody graves for the cause of conscience, was most solicitous for the welfare of her "heart's-beloved lord and son," the prince of orange. nevertheless, the high-spirited old dame was even more alarmed at the possibility of a peace in which that religious liberty for which so much dear blood had been, poured forth should be inadequately secured. "my heart longs for certain tidings from my lord," she wrote to william, "for methinks the peace now in prospect will prove but an oppression for soul and conscience. i trust my heart's dearly-beloved lord and son will be supported by divine grace to do nothing against god and his own soul's salvation. 'tis better to lose the temporal than the eternal." thus wrote the mother of william, and we can feel the sympathetic thrill which such tender and lofty words awoke in his breast. his son, the ill-starred philip, now for ten years long a compulsory sojourner in spain, was not yet weaned from his affection for his noble parent, but sent messages of affection to him whenever occasion offered, while a less commendable proof of his filial affection he had lately afforded, at the expense of the luckless captain of his spanish guard. that officer having dared in his presence to speak disrespectfully of his father, was suddenly seized about the waist by the enraged young count, hurled out of the window, and killed stone-dead upon the spot. after this exhibition of his natural feelings, the spanish government thought it necessary to take more subtle means to tame so turbulent a spirit. unfortunately they proved successful. count john of nassau, too, was sorely pressed for money. six hundred thousand florins; at least, had been advanced by himself and brothers to aid the cause of netherland freedom. louis and himself had, unhesitatingly and immediately, turned into that sacred fund the hundred thousand crowns which the king of france had presented them for their personal use, for it was not the prince of orange alone who had consecrated his wealth and his life to the cause, but the members of his family, less immediately interested in the country, had thus furnished what may well be called an enormous subsidy, and one most disproportioned to their means. not only had they given all the cash which they could command by mortgaging their lands and rents, their plate and furniture, but, in the words of count john himself, "they had taken the chains and jewels from the necks of their wives, their children, and their mother, and had hawked them about, as if they had themselves been traders and hucksters." and yet, even now, while stooping under this prodigious debt, count john asked not for present repayment. he only wrote to the prince to signify his extreme embarrassment, and to request some obligation or recognition from the cities of holland and zealand, whence hitherto no expression of gratitude or acknowledgment had proceeded. the prince consoled and assured, as best he could, his mother, son, wife, and brother, even at the same moment that he comforted his people. he also received at this time a second and more solemn embassy from don john. no sooner had the governor exchanged oaths at brussels, and been acknowledged as the representative of his majesty, than he hastened to make another effort to conciliate the prince. don john saw before him only a grand seignior of lofty birth and boundless influence, who had placed himself towards the crown in a false position, from which he might even yet be rescued; for to sacrifice the whims of a reforming and transitory religious fanaticism, which had spun itself for a moment about so clear a brain, would, he thought, prove but a trifling task for so experienced a politician as the prince. william of orange, on the other hand, looked upon his young antagonist as the most brilliant impersonation which had yet been seen of the foul spirit of persecution. it will be necessary to follow, somewhat more in detail than is usually desirable, the interchange of conversations, letters, and protocols, out of which the brief but important administration of don john was composed; for it was exactly in such manifestations that the great fight was really proceeding. don john meant peace, wise william meant war, for he knew that no other issue was possible. peace, in reality, was war in its worst shape. peace would unchain every priestly tongue, and unsheath every knightly sword in the fifteen provinces against little holland and zealand. he had been able to bind all the provinces together by the hastily forged chain of the ghent treaty, and had done what he could to strengthen that union by the principle of mutual religious respect. by the arrival of don john that work had been deranged. it had, however, been impossible for the prince thoroughly to infuse his own ideas on the subject of toleration into the hearts of his nearest associates. he could not hope to inspire his deadly enemies with a deeper sympathy. was he not himself the mark of obloquy among the reformers, because of his leniency to catholics? nay more, was not his intimate councillor, the accomplished saint aldegonde, in despair because the prince refused to exclude the anabaptists of holland from the rights of citizenship? at the very moment when william was straining every nerve to unite warring sects, and to persuade men's hearts into a system by which their consciences were to be laid open to god alone--at the moment when it was most necessary for the very existence of the fatherland that catholic and protestant should mingle their social and political relations, it was indeed a bitter disappointment for him to see wise statesmen of his own creed unable to rise to the idea of toleration. "the affair of the anabaptists," wrote saint aldegonde, "has been renewed. the prince objects to exclude them from citizenship. he answered me sharply, that their yea was equal to our oath, and that we should not press this matter, unless we were willing to confess that it was just for the papists to compel us to a divine service which was against our conscience." it seems hardly credible that this sentence, containing so sublime a tribute to the character of the prince, should have been indited as a bitter censure, and that, too, by an enlightened and accomplished protestant. "in short," continued saint aldegonde, with increasing vexation, "i don't see how we can accomplish our wish in this matter. the prince has uttered reproaches to me that our clergy are striving to obtain a mastery over consciences. he praised lately the saying of a monk who was not long ago here, that our pot had not gone to the fire as often as that of our antagonists, but that when the time came it would be black enough. in short, the prince fears that after a few centuries the clerical tyranny on both sides will stand in this respect on the same footing." early in the month of may, doctor leoninus and caspar schetz, seigneur de grobbendonck, had been sent on a mission from the states-general to the prince of orange. while their negotiations were still pending, four special envoys from don john arrived at middelburg. to this commission was informally adjoined leoninus, who had succeeded to the general position of viglius. viglius was dead. since the memorable arrest of the state council, he had not appeared on the scene of public affairs. the house-arrest, to which he had been compelled by a revolutionary committee, had been indefinitely prolonged by a higher power, and after a protracted illness he had noiselessly disappeared from the stage of life. there had been few more learned doctors of both laws than he. there had been few more adroit politicians, considered from his point of view. his punning device was "vita mortalium vigilia," and he acted accordingly, but with a narrow interpretation. his life had indeed been a vigil, but it must be confessed that the vigils had been for viglius. [bor, x. . meteren, vi. .--another motto of his was, "en groot jurist een booser christ;" that is to say, a good lawyer is a bad christian.--unfortunately his own character did not give the lie satisfactorily to the device.] the weatherbeaten palinurus, as he loved to call himself, had conducted his own argosy so warily that he had saved his whole cargo; and perished in port at last, while others, not sailing by his compass, were still tossed by the tempest. the agents of don john were the duke of aerschot, the seigneur de hierges, seigneur de willerval, and doctor meetkercke, accompanied by doctor andrew gaill, one of the imperial commissioners. the two envoys from the states-general, leoninus and schetz, being present at gertruydenberg were added to the deputation. an important conference took place, the details of which have been somewhat minutely preserved. the prince of orange, accompanied by saint aldegonde and four other councillors, encountered the seven champions from brussels in a long debate, which was more like a passage of arms or a trial of skill than a friendly colloquy with a pacific result in prospect; for it must be remembered that the prince of orange did not mean peace. he had devised the pacification of ghent as a union of the other provinces with holland and zealand, against philip. he did not intend that it should be converted into a union of the other provinces with philip, against holland and zealand. meetkercke was the first to speak. he said that the governor had despatched them to the prince, to express his good intentions, to represent the fidelity with which his promises had thus far been executed, and to entreat the prince, together with the provinces of holland and zealand, to unite with their sister provinces in common allegiance to his majesty. his highness also proposed to advise with them concerning the proper method of convoking the states-general. as soon as meetkercke had finished his observations, the prince demanded that the points and articles should be communicated to him in writing. now this was precisely what the envoys preferred to omit. it was easier, and far more agreeable to expatiate in a general field of controversy,--than to remain tethered to distinct points. it was particularly in these confused conferences, where neither party was entirely sincere, that the volatile word was thought preferable to the permanent letter. already so many watery lines had been traced, in the course of these fluctuating negotiations, that a few additional records would be if necessary, as rapidly effaced as the rest. the commissioners, after whispering in each other's, ears for a few minutes, refused to put down anything in writing. protocols, they said, only engendered confusion. "no, no," said the .prince, in reply, "we will have nothing except in black and white. otherwise things will be said on both sides, which will afterwards be interpreted in different ways. nay, it will be denied that some important points have been discussed at all. we know that by experience. witness the solemn treaty of ghent, which ye have tried to make fruitless, under pretence that some points, arranged by word of mouth, and not stated particularly in writing, had been intended in a different sense from the obvious one. governments given by royal commission, for example; what point could be clearer? nevertheless, ye have hunted up glosses and cavils to obscure the intention of the contracting parties. ye have denied my authority over utrecht, because not mentioned expressly in the treaty of ghent." "but," said one of the envoys, interrupting at this point, "neither the council of state nor the court of mechlin consider utrecht as belonging to your excellency's government." "neither the council of state," replied the prince, "nor the court of mechlin have anything to do with the matter. 'tis in my commission, and all the world knows it." he added that instead of affairs being thrown into confusion by being reduced to writing, he was of opinion, on the contrary, that it was by that means alone they could be made perfectly clear. leoninus replied, good naturedly, that there should be no difficulty upon that score, and that writings should be exchanged. in the meantime, however, he expressed the hope that the prince would honor them with some preliminary information as to the points in which he felt aggrieved, as well as to the pledges which he and the states were inclined to demand. "and what reason have we to hope," cried the prince, "that your pledges, if made; will be redeemed? that which was promised so solemnly at ghent, and ratified by don john and his majesty, has not been fulfilled." "of what particular point do you complain?" asked schetz. "wherein has the pacification been violated?" hereupon the prince launched forth upon a flowing stream of invective. he spoke to them of his son detained in distant captivity--of his own property at breda withheld--of a thousand confiscated estates--of garrisons of german mercenaries--of ancient constitutions annihilated--of the infamous edicts nominally suspended, but actually in full vigor. he complained bitterly that the citadels, those nests and dens of tyranny, were not yet demolished. "ye accuse me of distrust," he cried; "but while the castles of antwerp, ghent, namur, and so many more are standing, 'tis yourselves who show how utterly ye are without confidence in any permanent and peaceful arrangement." "and what," asked a deputy, smoothly, "is the point which touches you most nearly? what is it that your excellency most desires? by what means will it be possible for the government fully to give you contentment?" "i wish," he answered, simply, "the full execution of the ghent pacification. if you regard the general welfare of the land, it is well, and i thank you. if not, 'tis idle to make propositions, for i regard my country's profit, not my own." afterwards, the prince simply repeated his demand that the ghent treaty should be executed; adding, that after the states-general should have been assembled, it would be time to propose the necessary articles for mutual security. hereupon doctor leoninus observed that the assembly of the states-general could hardly be without danger. he alluded to the vast number of persons who would thus be convoked, to the great discrepancy of humors which would thus be manifested. many men would be present neither discreet nor experienced. he therefore somewhat coolly suggested that it might be better to obviate the necessity of holding any general assembly at all. an amicable conference, for the sake of settling doubtful questions, would render the convocation superfluous, and save the country from the dangers by which the step would be attended. the doctor concluded by referring to the recent assemblies of france, the only result of which had been fresh dissensions. it thus appeared that the proposition on the part of don john meant something very different from its apparent signification. to advise with the prince as to the proper method of assembling the estates really meant, to advise with him as to the best means of preventing any such assembly. here, certainly, was a good reason for the preference expressed by the deputies, in favor of amicable discussions over formal protocols. it might not be so easy in a written document to make the assembly, and the prevention of the assembly, appear exactly the same thing. the prince replied that there was a wide difference between the condition of france and of the netherlands. here, was one will and one intention. there, were many factions, many partialities, many family intrigues. since it had been agreed by the ghent treaty that certain points should be provisionally maintained and others settled by a speedy convocation of the states-general, the plainest course was to maintain the provisional points, and to summon the states-general at once. this certainly was concise and logical. it is doubtful, however, whether he were really as anxious for the assembly-general as he appeared to be. both parties were fencing at each other, without any real intention of carrying their points, for neither wished the convocation, while both affected an eagerness for that event. the conversation proceeded. "at least," said an envoy, "you can tell beforehand in what you are aggrieved, and what you have to propose." "we are aggrieved in nothing, and we have nothing to propose," answered the prince, "so long as you maintain the pacification. we demand no other pledge, and are willing to refer everything afterwards to the assembly." "but," asked schetz, "what security do you offer us that you will yourselves maintain the pacification?" "we are not bound to give assurances," answered the prince. "the pacification is itself an assurance. 'tis a provisional arrangement, to be maintained by both parties, until after the decision of the assembly. the pacification must therefore be maintained or disavowed. choose between the two. only, if you mean still to acknowledge it, you must keep its articles. this we mean to do, and if up to the present time you have any complaint to make of our conduct, as we trust you have not, we are ready to give you satisfaction." "in short," said an envoy, "you mean, after we shall have placed in your hands the government of utrecht, amsterdam: and other places, to deny us any pledges on your part to maintain the pacification." "but," replied the prince, "if we are already accomplishing the pacification, what more do you wish?" "in this fashion," cried the others, "after having got all that you ask, and having thus fortified yourselves more than you were ever fortified before, you will make war upon us." "war?" cried the prince, "what are you afraid of? we are but a handful of people; a worm compared to the king of spain. moreover, ye are fifteen provinces to two. what have you to fear?" "ah," said meetkercke, "we have seen what you could do, when you were masters of the sea. don't make yourselves out quite so little." "but," said the prince, "the pacification of ghent provides for all this. your deputies were perfectly satisfied with the guarantees it furnished. as to making war upon you, 'tis a thing without foundation or appearance of probability. had you believed then that you had anything to fear, you world not have forgotten to demand pledges enough. on the contrary, you saw how roundly we were dealing with you then, honestly disgarnishing the country, even before the peace had been concluded. for ourselves, although we felt the right to demand guarantees, we would not do it, for we were treating with you on terms of confidence. we declared expressly that had we been dealing with the king, we should have exacted stricter pledges. as to demanding them of us at the moment, 'tis nonsense. we have neither the means of assailing you, nor do we deem it expedient to do so." "to say the truth," replied schetz, "we are really confident that you will not make war upon us. on the other hand, however, we see you spreading your religion daily, instead of keeping it confined within your provinces. what assurance do you give us that, after all your demand shall have been accorded, you will make no innovation in religion." "the assurance which we give you," answered the prince, "is that we will really accomplish the pacification." "but," persisted schetz, "do you fairly, promise to submit to all which the states-general shall ordain, as well on this point of religious exercise in holland and zealand, as on all the others?" this was a home thrust. the prince parried it for a while. in his secret thoughts he had no expectation or desire that the states-general, summoned in a solemn manner by the governor-general, on the basis of the memorable assembly before which was enacted the grand ceremony of the imperial abdication, would ever hold their session, and although he did not anticipate the prohibition by such assembly, should it take place, of the reformed worship in holland and zealand, he did not intend to submit to it, even should it be made. "i cannot tell," said he, accordingly, in reply to the last question, "for ye have yourselves already broken and violated the pacification; having made an accord with don john without our consent, and having already received him as governor." "so that you don't mean," replied schetz, "to accept the decision of the states?" "i don't say that," returned the prince, continuing to parry; "it is possible that we might accept it; it is possible that we might not. we are no longer in our entire rights, as we were at the time of our first submission at ghent." "but we will make you whole," said schetz. "that you cannot do," replied the prince, "for you have broken the pacification all to pieces. we have nothing, therefore, to expect from the states, but to be condemned off-hand. "you don't mean, then," repeated schetz, "to submit to the estates touching the exercise of religion?" "no, we do not!" replied the prince, driven into a corner at last, and striking out in his turn. "we certainly do not. to tell you the truth, we see that you intend our extirpation, and we don't mean to be extirpated." "ho!" said the duke of aerschot, "there is nobody who wishes that." "indeed, but you do," said the prince. "we have submitted ourselves to you in good faith, and you now would compel us and all the world to maintain exclusively the catholic religion. this cannot be done except by extirpating us." a long, learned, vehement discussion upon abstract points, between saint aldegonde, leoninus, and doctor gaill, then ensued, during which the prince, who had satisfied himself as to the result of the conference, retired from the apartment. he afterwards had a private convention with schetz and leoninus, in which he reproached them with their inclination to reduce their fatherland to slavery. he also took occasion to remark to hiergea, that it was a duty to content the people; that whatever might be accomplished for them was durable, whereas the will of kings was perishing. he told the duke of aerschot that if utrecht were not restored, he would take it by force. he warned the duke that to trust the king was to risk his head. he, at least, would never repose confidence in him, having been deceived too often. the king cherished the maxim, 'hereticis non est servanda fides;' as for himself he was 'calbo y calbanista,' and meant to die so. the formal interchange of documents soon afterwards took place. the conversation thus held between the different parties shows, however, the exact position of, affairs. there was no change in the intentions of either; reformers or royalists. philip and his representatives still contended for two points, and claimed the praise of moderation that their demands were so few in number. they were willing to concede everything, save the unlimited authority of the king and the exclusive maintenance of the catholic religion. the prince of orange, on his side, claimed two points also--the ancient constitutions of the country and religious freedom. it was obvious enough that the contest was, the same in reality, as it had ever been. no approximation had been made towards reconciling absolutism with national liberty, persecution with toleration. the pacification of ghent had been a step in advance. that treaty opened the door to civil and religious liberty, but it was an agreement among the provinces, not a compact between the people and the monarch. by the casuists of brussels and the licentiates of louvain, it had, to be sure, been dogmatically pronounced orthodox, and had been confirmed by royal edict. to believe, however, that his catholic majesty had faith in the dogmas propounded, was as absurd as to believe in the dogmas themselves. if the ghent pacification really had made no breach in royal and roman infallibility, then the efforts of orange and the exultation of the reformers had indeed been idle. the envoys accordingly, in obedience to their instructions, made a formal statement to the prince of orange and the states of holland and zealand, on the part of don john. they alluded to the departure of the spaniards, as if that alone had fulfilled every duty and authorized every claim. they therefore demanded the immediate publication in holland and zealand of the perpetual edict. they insisted on the immediate discontinuance of all hostile attempts to reduce amsterdam to the jurisdiction of orange; required the prince to abandon his pretensions to utrecht, and denounced the efforts making by him and his partisans to diffuse their heretical doctrines through the other provinces. they observed, in conclusion, that the general question of religion was not to be handled, because reserved for the consideration of the states-general, according to the treaty of ghent. the reply, delivered on the following day by the prince of orange and the deputies, maintained that the perpetual edict was widely different from the pacification of ghent, which it affected to uphold; that the promises to abstain from all violation of the ancient constitutions had not been kept; that the german troops had not been dismissed, that the property of the prince in the netherlands and burgundy had not been restored, that his son was detained in captivity, that the government of utrecht was withheld from him, that the charters and constitution of the country, instead of being extended, had been contracted, and that the governor had claimed the right to convoke the states-general at his pleasure, in violation of the ancient right to assemble at their own. the document further complained that the adherents of the reformed religion were not allowed to frequent the different provinces in freedom, according to the stipulations of ghent; that don john, notwithstanding all these short-comings, had been acknowledged as governor-general, without the consent of the prince; that he was surrounded with a train of spaniards italians, and other foreigners--gonzaga, escovedo, and the like--as well as by renegade netherlanders like tassis, by whom he was unduly influenced against the country and the people, and by whom a "back door was held constantly open" to the admission of evils innumerable. finally, it was asserted that, by means of this last act of union, a new form of inquisition had been introduced, and one which was much more cruel than the old system; inasmuch as the spanish inquisition did not take information against men: except upon suspicion, whereas, by the new process, all the world would be examined as to their conscience and religion, under pretence of maintaining the union. such was the result of this second mission to the prince of orange on the part of the governor-general. don john never sent another. the swords were now fairly measured between the antagonists, and the scabbard was soon to be thrown away. a few weeks afterwards, the governor wrote to philip that there was nothing in the world which william of orange so much abhorred as his majesty; adding, with castillian exaggeration, that if the prince could drink the king's blood he would do so with great pleasure. don john, being thus seated in the saddle, had a moment's leisure to look around him. it was but a moment, for he had small confidence in the aspect of affairs, but one of his first acts after assuming the government afforded a proof of the interpretation which he had adopted of the ghent pacification. an edict was issued, addressed to all bishops, "heretic-masters," and provincial councils, commanding the strict enforcement of the canons of trent, and other ecclesiastical decrees. these authorities were summoned instantly to take increased heed, of the flocks under their charge, "and to protect them from the ravening wolves which were seeking to devour them." the measure bore instant fruit. a wretched tailor of mechlin, peter penis by name, an honest man, but a heretic, was arrested upon the charge of having preached or exhorted at a meeting in that city. he confessed that he had been present at the meeting, but denied that he had preached. he was then required to denounce the others who had been present, and the men who had actually officiated. he refused, and was condemned to death. the prince of orange, while the process was pending, wrote an earnest letter to the council of mechlin, imploring them not now to rekindle the fires of religious persecution. his appeal was in vain. the poor tailor was beheaded at mechlin on the th of june, the conqueror of lepanto being present at the execution, and adding dignity to the scene. thus, at the moment when william of orange was protecting the anabaptists of middelburg in their rights of citizenship, even while they refused its obligations, the son of the emperor was dipping his hands in the blood of a poor wretch who had done no harm but to listen to a prayer without denouncing the preacher. the most intimate friends of the prince were offended with his liberality. the imperial shade of don john's father might have risen to approve the son who had so dutifully revived his bloody edicts and his ruthless policy. three parties were now fairly in existence: the nobles, who hated the spaniards, but who were disposed to hold themselves aloof from the people; the adherents of don john, commonly called "johanists;" and the partisans of the prince of orange--for william the silent had always felt the necessity of leaning for support on something more substantial than the court party, a reed shaken by the wind, and failing always when most relied upon. his efforts were constant to elevate the middle class, to build up a strong third party which should unite much of the substantial wealth and intelligence of the land, drawing constantly from the people, and deriving strength from national enthusiasm--a party which should include nearly all the political capacity of the country; and his efforts were successful. no doubt the governor and his secretary were right when they said the people of the netherlands were inclined to brook the turk as easily as the spaniard for their master, and that their hearts were in reality devoted to the prince of orange. as to the grandees, they were mostly of those who "sought to swim between two waters," according to the prince's expression. there were but few unswerving supporters of the spanish rule, like the berlaymont and the tassis families. the rest veered daily with the veering wind. aerschot, the great chief of the catholic party, was but a cringing courtier, false and fawning both to don john and the prince. he sought to play a leading part in a great epoch; he only distinguished himself by courting and betraying all parties, and being thrown away by all. his son and brother were hardly more respectable. the prince knew how little dependence could be placed on such allies, even although they had signed and sworn the ghent pacification. he was also aware how little it was the intention of the governor to be bound by that famous treaty. the spanish troops had been, indeed, disbanded, but there were still, between ten and fifteen thousand german mercenaries in the service of the king; these were stationed in different important places, and held firm possession of the citadels. the great keys of the country were still in the hands of the spaniards. aerschot, indeed, governed the castle of antwerp, in room of sancho d'avila, but how much more friendly would aerschot be than avila, when interest prompted him to sustain don john against the prince? meanwhile; the estates, according to their contract, were straining every nerve to raise the requisite sum for the payment of the german troops. equitable offers were made, by which the soldiers were to receive a certain proportion of the arrears due to them in merchandize, and the remainder in cash. the arrangement was rejected, at the secret instance of don john. while the governor affected an ingenuous desire to aid the estates in their efforts to free themselves from the remaining portion of this incumbrance, he was secretly tampering with the leading german officers, in order to prevent their acceptance of any offered terms. he persuaded these military chiefs that a conspiracy existed, by which they were not only to be deprived of their wages but of their lives. he warned them to heed no promises, to accept no terms. convincing them that he, and he only, was their friend, he arranged secret plans by which they should assist him in taking the fortresses of the country into still more secure possession, for he was not more inclined to trust to the aerschots and the havres than was the prince himself. the governor lived in considerable danger, and in still greater dread of capture, if not of assassination. his imagination, excited by endless tales of ambush and half-discovered conspiracies, saw armed soldiers behind every bush; a pitfall in every street. had not the redoubtable alva been nearly made a captive? did not louis of nassau nearly entrap the grand commander? no doubt the prince of orange was desirous of accomplishing a feat by which he would be placed in regard to philip on the vantage ground which the king had obtained by his seizure of count van buren, nor did don john need for warnings coming from sources far from obscure. in may, the viscount de gand had forced his way to his bedside in the dead of night; and wakening him from his sleep, had assured him, with great solemnity, that his life was not worth a pin's purchase if he remained in brussels. he was aware, he said, of a conspiracy by which both his liberty and his life were endangered, and assured him that in immediate flight lay his only safety. the governor fled to mechlin, where the same warnings were soon afterwards renewed, for the solemn sacrifice of peter panis, the poor preaching tailor of that city, had not been enough to strike terror to the hearts of all the netherlanders. one day, toward the end of june, the duke of aerschot, riding out with don john, gave him a circumstantial account of plots, old and new, whose existence he had discovered or invented, and he showed a copy of a secret letter, written by the prince of orange to the estates, recommending the forcible seizure of his highness. it is true that the duke was, at that period and for long after, upon terms of the most "fraternal friendship" with the prince, and was in the habit of signing himself "his very affectionate brother and cordial friend to serve him," yet this did not prevent him from accomplishing what he deemed his duty, in secretly denouncing his plans, it is also true that he, at the same time, gave the prince private information concerning the government, and sent him intercepted letters from his enemies, thus easing his conscience on both sides, and trimming his sails to every wind which might blow. the duke now, however, reminded his highness of the contumely with which he had been treated at brussels, of the insolent threats with which the citizens had pursued his servants and secretaries even to the very door of his palace. he assured him that the same feeling existed at mechlin, and that neither himself nor family were much safer there than in the capital, a plot being fully organized for securing his person. the conspirators, he said, were openly supported by a large political party who called themselves anti-johanists, and who clothed themselves in symbolic costume, as had been done by the disaffected in the days of cardinal granvelle. he assured the governor that nearly all the members of the states-general were implicated in these schemes. "and what becomes, then, of their promises?" asked don john. "that for their promises!" cried the duke, snapping his fingers; "no man in the land feels bound by engagements now." the governor demanded the object of the states in thus seeking to deprive him of his liberty. the duke informed him that it was to hold him in captivity until they had compelled him to sign every paper which they chose to lay before him. such things had been done in the netherlands in former days, the duke observed, as he proceeded to narrate how a predecessor of his highness and a prince of the land, after having been compelled to sign innumerable documents, had been, in conclusion, tossed out of the windows of his own palace, with all his retinue, to perish upon the pikes of an insurgent mob below. the governor protested that it did not become the son of charles the fifth and the representative of his catholic majesty to hear such intimations a second time. after his return, he brooded over what had been said to him for a few days, and he then broke up his establishment at mechlin, selling off his superfluous furniture and even the wine in his cellars. thus showing that his absence, both from brussels and mechlin, was to be a prolonged one, he took advantage of an unforeseen occurrence again to remove his residence. etext editor's bookmarks: a good lawyer is a bad christian claimed the praise of moderation that their demands were so few confused conferences, where neither party was entirely sincere customary oaths, to be kept with the customary conscientiousness deadliest of sins, the liberty of conscience i regard my country's profit, not my own made no breach in royal and roman infallibility neither wished the convocation, while both affected an eagerness our pot had not gone to the fire as often peace, in reality, was war in its worst shape those who "sought to swim between two waters" volatile word was thought preferable to the permanent letter motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley chapter iii. the city of namur--margaret of valois--her intrigues in hainault in favour of alencon--her reception by don john at namur--festivities in her, honor--seizure of namur citadel by don john--plan for seizing that of antwerp--letter of the estates to philip, sent by escovedo--fortunes and fate of escovedo in madrid--repairing of dykes--the prince's visit to holland--his letter to the estates-- general on the subject of namur citadel--his visit to utrecht-- correspondence and commissioners between don john and the estates-- acrimonious and passionate character of these colloquies--attempt of treslong upon antwerp citadel frustrated by de bourse--fortunate panic of the german mercenaries--antwerp evacuated by the foreign troops--renewed correspondence--audacity of the governor's demands-- letters of escovedo and others intercepted--private schemes of don john not understood by the estates--his letter to the empress dowager--more correspondence with the estates--painful and false position of the governor--demolition, in part, of antwerp citadel, and of other fortresses by the patriots statue of alva--letter of estates-general to the king. there were few cities of the netherlands more picturesque in situation, more trimly built, and more opulent of aspect than the little city of namur. seated at the confluence of the sombre with the meuse, and throwing over each river a bridge of solid but graceful structure, it lay in the lap of a most fruitful valley. abroad crescent-shaped plain, fringed by the rapid meuse, and enclosed by gently rolling hills cultivated to their crests, or by abrupt precipices of limestone crowned with verdure, was divided by numerous hedgerows, and dotted all over with corn-fields, vineyards, and flower gardens. many eyes have gazed with delight upon that well-known and most lovely valley, and many torrents of blood have mingled with those glancing waters since that long buried and most sanguinary age which forms our theme; and still placid as ever is the valley, brightly as ever flows the stream. even now, as in that vanished, but never-forgotten time, nestles the little city in the angle of the two rivers; still directly over its head seems to hang in mid-air the massive and frowning fortress, like the gigantic helmet-in the fiction, as if ready to crush the pigmy town below. it was this famous citadel, crowning an abrupt precipice five hundred feet above the river's bed, and placed near the frontier of france, which made the city so important, and which had now attracted don john's attention in this hour of his perplexity. the unexpected visit of a celebrated personage, furnished him with the pretext which he desired. the beautiful margaret of valois, queen of navarre, was proceeding to the baths of spa, to drink the waters. her health was as perfect as her beauty, but she was flying from a husband whom she hated, to advance the interest of a brother whom she loved with a more than sisterly fondness--for the worthless duke of alencon was one of the many competitors for the netherland government; the correspondence between himself and his brother with orange and his agents being still continued. the hollow truce with the huguenots in france had, however, been again succeeded by war. henry of valois had already commenced operations in gascony against henry of navarre, whom he hated, almost as cordially as margaret herself could do, and the duke of alencon was besieging issoire. meantime, the beautiful queen came to mingle he golden thread of her feminine intrigues with the dark woof of the netherland destinies. few spirits have been more subtle, few faces so fatal as hers. true child of the medicean mother, worthy sister of charles, henry; and francis--princes for ever infamous in the annals of france--she possessed more beauty and wit than mary of scotland, more learning and accomplishments than elizabeth of england. in the blaze of her beauty, according to the inflated language of her most determined worshiper, the wings of all rivals were melted. heaven required to be raised higher and earth made wider, before a full sweep could be given to her own majestic flight. we are further informed that she was a minerva for eloquence, that she composed matchless poems which she sang most exquisitely to the sound of her lute, and that her familiar letters were so full of genius, that "poor cicero" was but a fool to her in the same branch of composition. the world has shuddered for ages at the dark tragedy of her nuptials. was it strange that hatred, incest, murder, should follow in the train of a wedding thus hideously solemnized? don john, as in his moorish disguise he had looked upon her perfections, had felt in danger of becoming really the slave he personated--"her beauty is more divine than human," he had cried, "but fitter to destroy men's souls than to bless them;" and now the enchantress was on her way to his dominions. her road led through namur to liege, and gallantry required that he should meet her as she passed. attended by a select band of gentlemen and a few horsemen of his body-guard, the governor came to namur. meantime the queen crossed the frontier, and was courteously received at cambray. the bishop-of the loyal house of berlaymont--was a stanch supporter of the king, and although a fleming, was spanish to the core. on him the cajolery of the beautiful queen was first essayed, but was found powerless. the prelate gave her a magnificent ball, but resisted her blandishments. he retired with the appearance of the confections, but the governor of the citadel, the seigneur d'inchy remained, with whom margaret was more successful. she found him a cordial hater of spain, a favorer of france, and very impatient under the authority of the bishop. he obtained permission to accompany the royal visitor a few stages of her journey, and returned to cambray, her willing slave; holding the castle in future, neither for king nor bishop, but for margaret's brother, alencon, alone. at mons she was received with great state by the count lalain, who was governor of hainault, while his countess governed him. a week of festivities graced the advent of the queen, during which period the hearts of both lalain and his wife were completely subjugated. they agreed that flanders had been too long separated from the parental france to which it of right belonged. the count was a stanch catholic, but he hated spain. he was a relative of egmont, and anxious to avenge his death, but he was no lover of the people, and was jealous of orange. moreover, his wife had become entirely fascinated by the designing. queen. so warm a friendship had sprung up between the two fair ladies as to make it indispensable that flanders and hainault should be annexed to france. the count promised to hold his whole government at the service of alencon, and recommended that an attempt should be made to gain over the incorruptible governor of cambray. margaret did not inform him that she had already turned that functionary round her finger, but she urged lalain and his wife to seduce him from his allegiance, if possible. the count, with a retinue of mounted men, then accompanied her on her way towards namur, but turned as the distant tramp of don john's cavalcade was heard approaching, for it was not desirable for lalain, at that moment, to find himself face to face with the governor. don john stood a moment awaiting the arrival of the queen. he did not dream of her political intrigues, nor see in the fair form approaching him one mortal enemy the more. margaret travelled in a splendid litter with gilt pillars, lined with scarlet velvet, and entirely enclosed in glass, which was followed by those of the princess de la roche sur yon, and of madame de tournon. after these came ten ladies of honor on horseback, and six chariots filled with female domestics. these, with the guards and other attendants, made up the retinue. on meeting the queen's litter, don john sprang from his horse and presented his greetings. the queen returned his salutation, in the french fashion, by offering her cheek to his embrace, extending the same favor to the duke of aerschot and the marquis of havre. the cavaliers then remounted and escorted the queen to namur, don john riding by the side of the litter and conversing with her all the way. it was late in the evening when the procession arrived in the city. the streets had, however, been brilliantly illuminated; houses and shops, though it was near midnight, being in a blaze of light. don john believing that no attentions could be so acceptable at that hour as to provide for the repose of his guest, conducted the queen at once to the lodgings prepared for her. margaret was astonished at the magnificence of the apartments into which she was ushered. a spacious and stately hall, most gorgeously furnished, opened into a series of chambers and cabinets, worthy, in their appointments, of a royal palace. the tent and bed coverings prepared for the queen were exquisitely embroidered in needlework with scenes representing the battle of lepanto. the great hall was hung with gorgeous tapestry of satin and velvet, ornamented with columns of raised silver work, and with many figures in antique costume, of the same massive embroidery. the rest of the furniture was also of satin, velvet, cloth of gold, and brocade. the queen was dazzled with so much magnificence, and one of the courtiers could not help expressing astonishment at the splendor of the apartments and decorations, which, as he observed to the duke of aerschot; seemed more appropriate to the palace of a powerful monarch than to the apartments of a young bachelor prince. the duke replied by explaining that the expensive embroidery which they saw was the result, not of extravagance, but of valor and generosity. after the battle of lepanto, don john had restored the two sons, who had been taken prisoners, of a powerful turkish bashaw. the father; in gratitude had sent this magnificent tapestry as a present to the conqueror, and don john had received it, at milan; in which city, celebrated for the taste of its upholsterers; it had been arranged for furniture. the next morning a grand mass with military music was performed, followed by a sumptuous banquet in the grand hall. don john and the queen sat at a table three feet apart from the rest, and ottavio gonzaga served them wine upon his knees. after the banquet came, as usual; the ball, the festivities continuing till late in the night, and don john scarcely quitting his fair guest for a moment. the next afternoon, a festival had been arranged upon an island in the river. the company embarked upon the meuse, in a fleet of gaily-scarfed; and painted vessels, many of which were filled with musicians. margaret reclined in her gilded barge, under a richly embroidered canopy. a fairer and falser queen than "egypt," had bewitched the famous youth who had triumphed not, lost the world, beneath the heights of actium. the revellers landed on the island, where the banquet was already spread within a spacious bower of ivy, and beneath umbrageous elms. the dance upon the sward was protracted to a late hour, and the summer stars had been long in the sky when the company returned to their barges. don john, more than ever enthralled by the bride of st. bartholomew, knew not that her sole purpose in visiting his dominion had been to corrupt his servants and to undermine his authority. his own purpose, however, had been less to pay court to the queen than to make, use of her presence to cover his own designs. that purpose he proceeded instantly to execute. the queen next morning pursued her voyage by the river to liege, and scarcely had she floated out of his sight than he sprang upon his horse and, accompanied by a few trusty attendants, galloped out of the gate and across the bridge which led to the citadel. he had already despatched the loyal berlaymont, with his four equally loyal sons, the seigneurs de meghen, floyon, hierges, and haultepenne to that fortress. these gentlemen had informed the castellan that the governor was about to ride forth hunting, and that it would be proper to offer him the hospitalities of the castle as he passed on his way. a considerable number of armed men had been concealed in the woods and thickets of the neighbourhood. the seigneur de froymont, suspecting nothing, acceded to the propriety of the suggestion made by the berlaymonts. meantime, with a blast of his horn, don john appeared at the castle gate. he entered the fortress with the castellan, while one of the gentlemen watched outside, as the ambushed soldiers came toiling up the precipice. when all was ready the gentleman returned to the hall, and made a signal to don john, as he sat at breakfast with the constable. the governor sprang from the table and drew his sword; berlaymont and his four sons drew their pistols, while at the same instant, the soldiers entered. don john, exclaiming that this was the first day of his government, commanded the castellan to surrender. de froymont, taken by surprise, and hardly understanding this very melo-dramatic attack upon a citadel by its own lawful governor, made not much difficulty in complying. he was then turned out of doors, along with his garrison, mostly feeble old men and invalids. the newly arrived soldiers took their places, at command of the governor, and the stronghold of namur was his own. there was little doubt that the representative of philip had a perfect right to possess himself of any fortress within his government; there could be as little that the sudden stratagem by which he had thus made himself master of this citadel would prove offensive to the estates, while it could hardly be agreeable to the king; and yet it is not certain that he could have accomplished his purpose in any other way. moreover, the achievement was one of a projected series by which he meant to re-vindicate his dwindling authority. he was weary of playing the hypocrite, and convinced that he and his monarch were both abhorred by the netherlanders. peace was impossible--war was forbidden him. reduced almost to a nullity by the prince of orange, it was time for him to make a stand, and in this impregnable fastness his position at least was a good one. many months before, the prince of orange had expressed his anxious desire that this most important town and citadel should be secured-for the estates. "you know," he had written to bossu in december, "the evil and the dismay which the loss of the city and fortress of namur would occasion to us. let me beseech you that all possible care be taken to preserve them." nevertheless, their preservation had been entrusted to a feeble-minded old constable, at the head of a handful of cripples. we know how intense had been the solicitude of the prince, not only to secure but to destroy these citadels, "nests of tyranny," which had been built by despots to crush, not protect, the towns at their feet. these precautions had been neglected, and the consequences were displaying themselves, for the castle of namur was not the only one of which don john felt himself secure. although the duke of aerschot seemed so very much his humble servant, the governor did not trust him, and wished to see the citadel of antwerp in more unquestionable keeping. he had therefore withdrawn, not only the duke, but his son, the prince of chimay, commander of the castle in his father's absence, from that important post, and insisted upon their accompanying him to namur. so gallant a courtier as aerschot could hardly refuse to pay his homage to so illustrious a princess as margaret of valois, while during the absence of the duke and prince the keys of antwerp-citadel had been, at the command of don john, placed in the keeping of the seigneur de treslong, an unscrupulous and devoted royalist. the celebrated colonel van ende, whose participation, at the head of his german cavalry, in the terrible sack of that city, which he had been ordered to defend, has been narrated, was commanded to return to antwerp. he was to present himself openly to the city authorities, but he was secretly directed by the governor-general to act in co-operation with the colonels fugger, frondsberger, and polwiller, who commanded the forces already stationed in the city. these distinguished officers had been all summer in secret correspondence with don john, for they were the instruments with which he meant by a bold stroke to recover his almost lost authority. while he had seemed to be seconding the efforts of the states-general to pay off and disband these mercenaries, nothing had in reality been farther from his thoughts; and the time had now come when his secret plans were to be executed, according to the agreement between himself and the german colonels. he wrote to them, accordingly, to delay no longer the accomplishment of the deed--that deed being the seizure of antwerp citadel, as he had already successfully mastered that of namur. the duke of aerschot, his brother, and son, were in his power, and could do nothing to prevent the co-operation of the colonels in the city with treslong in the castle; so that the governor would thus be enabled, laying his head tranquilly upon "the pillow of the antwerp citadel," according to the reproachful expression subsequently used by the estates, to await the progress of events. the current of his adventurous career was not, however, destined to run thus smoothly. it is true that the estates had not yet entirely lost their confidence in his character; but the seizure of namur, and the attempt upon antwerp, together with the contents of the intercepted letters written by himself and escovedo to philip, to perez, to the empress, to the colonels frondsberger and fugger, were soon destined to open their eyes. in the meantime, almost exactly at the moment when don john was executing his enterprise against namur, escovedo had taken an affectionate farewell of the estates at brussels for it had been thought necessary, as already intimated, both for the apparent interests and the secret projects of don john; that the secretary should make a visit to spain. at the command of the governor-general he had offered to take charge of any communication for his majesty which the estates might be disposed to entrust to him, and they had accordingly addressed a long epistle to the king, in which they gave ample expression to their indignation and their woe. they remonstrated with the king concerning the continued presence of the german mercenaries, whose knives were ever at their throats, whose plunder and insolence impoverished and tortured the people. they reminded him of the vast sums which the provinces had contributed in times past to the support of government, and they begged assistance from his bounty now. they recalled to his vision the melancholy spectacle of antwerp, but lately the "nurse of europe, the fairest flower in his royal garland, the foremost and noblest city of the earth, now quite desolate and forlorn," and with additional instructions to escovedo, that he should not fail, in his verbal communications, to represent the evil consequences of the course hitherto pursued by his majesty's governors in the netherlands, they dismissed him with good wishes, and with "crowns for convoy" in his purse to the amount of a revenue of two thousand yearly. his secret correspondence was intercepted and made known a few weeks after his departure for that terrible spain whence so few travellers returned. for a moment we follow him thither. with a single word in anticipation, concerning the causes and the consummation of this celebrated murder, which was delayed till the following year, the unfortunate escovedo may be dismissed from these pages. it has been seen how artfully antonio perez, secretary of state, paramour of princess eboli, and ruling councillor at that day of philip, had fostered in the king's mind the most extravagant suspicions as to the schemes of don john, and of his confidential secretary. he had represented it as their fixed and secret intention, after don john should be finally established on the throne of england, to attack philip himself in spain, and to deprive him of his crown, escovedo being represented as the prime instigator and controller of this astounding plot, which lunatics only could have engendered, and which probably never had existence. no proof of the wild design was offered. the language which escovedo was accused by perez of having held previously to his departure for flanders--that it was the intention of don john and himself to fortify the rock of mogio, with which, and with the command of the city of santander, they could make themselves masters of spain after having obtained possession of england,--is too absurd to have been uttered by a man of escovedo's capacity. certainly, had perez been provided with the least scrap of writing from the hands of don john or escovedo which could be tortured into evidence upon this point, it would have been forthcoming, and would have rendered such fictitious hearsay superfluous. perez in connivance with philip, had been systematically conducting his correspondence with don john and escovedo, in order to elicit some evidence of the imputed scheme. "'t was the only way," said perez to philip, "to make them unbare their bosoms to the sword."--"i am quite of the same opinion," replied philip to perez, "for, according to my theology, you would do your duty neither to god nor the world, unless you did as you are doing." yet the excellent pair of conspirators at madrid could wring no damning proofs from the lips of the supposititious conspirators in flanders, save that don john, after escovedo's arrival in madrid, wrote, impatiently and frequently, to demand that he should be sent back, together with the money which he had gone to spain to procure. "money, more money, and escovedo," wrote the governor, and philip was quite willing to accept this most natural exclamation as evidence of his brother's designs against his crown. out of these shreds and patches--the plot against england, the pope's bull, the desire expressed by don john to march into france as a simple adventurer, with a few thousand men at his back--perez, according to his own statement, drew up a protocol, afterwards formally approved by philip, which concluded with the necessity of taking escovedo's life, instantly but privately, and by poison. the marquis de los velos, to whom the memorial was submitted for his advice, averred that if the death-bed wafer were in his own lips, he should vote for the death of the culprit. philip had already jumped to the same conclusion; perez joyfully undertook the business, having received carte blanche from the king, and thus the unfortunate secretary was doomed. immediately after the arrival of escovedo in madrid, he addressed a letter to the king. philip filed it away among other despatches, with this annotation: "the 'avant courier' has arrived--it is necessary to make great haste, and to despatch him before he murders us." the king, having been thus artfully inflamed against his brother and his unfortunate secretary, became clamorous for the blood of escovedo. at the same time, that personage, soon after his return to spain, was shocked by the discovery of the amour of perez with the princess eboli. he considered it his duty, both towards the deceased prince and the living king, to protest against this perfidy. he threatened to denounce to the king, who seemed the only person about the court ignorant of the affair, this double treason of his mistress and his minister. perez and anna of eboli, furious at escovedo's insolence, and anxious lest he should execute his menace determined to disembarrass themselves of so meddlesome a person. philip's rage against don john was accordingly turned to account, and perez received the king's secret orders to procure escovedo's assassination. thus an imaginary conspiracy of don john against, the crown of philip was the pretext, the fears and rage of eboli and her paramour were the substantial reason, for the crime now projected. the details of the murder were arranged and executed by perez, but it must be confessed in justice to philip, with much inferior nicety to that of his, own performances in the same field. many persons were privy to the plot. there was much blundering, there was great public scandal in madrid, and no one ever had a reasonable doubt as to the instigators and the actual perpetrators of the crime. two attempts to poison escovedo were made by perez, at his own table, through the agency of antonio enriquez, a confidential servant or page. both were unsuccessful. a third was equally so, but suspicions were aroused. a female slave in the household of escovedo, was in consequence arrested, and immediately hanged in the public square, for a pretended attempt to murder her master. a few days afterwards (on the st of march, ) the deed was accomplished at nightfall in the streets of madrid, by six conspirators. they consisted of the majordomo of perez, a page in his household, the page's brother from the country, an ex-scullion from the royal kitchens, juan rubio by name, who had been the unsuccessful agent in the poisoning scheme, together with two professional bravos, hired for the occasion. it was insausti, one of this last-mentioned couple, who despatched escovedo with a single stab, the others aiding and abetting, or keeping watch in the neighbourhood. the murderers effected their escape, and made their report to perez, who for the sake of appearances, was upon a visit in the country. suspicion soon tracked the real culprits, who were above the reach of justice; nor, as to the motives which had prompted the murders, were many ignorant, save only the murderer himself. philip had ordered the, assassination; but he was profoundly deceived as to the causes of its accomplishment. he was the dupe of a subtler villain than himself, and thought himself sacrificing a conspirator against his crown, while he had really only crushed a poor creature who had been but too solicitous for what he thought his master's honor. the assassins were, of course, protected from prosecution, and duly recompensed. miguel bosque, the country boy, received one hundred crowns in gold, paid by a clerk of perez. mesa, one of the bravos, was rewarded with a gold chain, fifty doubloons of eight, and a silver cup, besides receiving from the fair hand of princess eboli herself a certificate as under-steward upon her estates. the second bravo, insausti, who had done the deed, the page enriquez, and the scullion, were all appointed ensigns in his majesty's army, with twenty gold crowns of annual pension besides. their commissions were signed by philip on the th of april, . such were the wages of murder at that day in spain; gold chains, silver cups, doubloons, annuities, and commissions in the army! the reward of fidelity, as in poor escovedo's case, was oftener the stiletto. was it astonishing that murder was more common than fidelity? with the subsequent career of antonio perez--his famous process, his banishment, his intrigues, his innuendos, his long exile, and his miserable death, this history has no concern. we return from our brief digression. before narrating the issue of the plot against antwerp citadel, it is necessary to recur for a moment to the prince of orange. in the deeds and the written words of that one man are comprised nearly all the history of the reformation in the netherlands--nearly the whole progress of the infant republic. the rest, during this period, is made up of the plottings and counter-plottings, the mutual wranglings and recriminations of don john and the estates. in the brief breathing-space now afforded them, the inhabitants of holland and zealand had been employing themselves in the extensive repairs of their vast system of dykes. these barriers, which protected their country against the ocean, but which their own hands had destroyed to preserve themselves against tyranny, were now thoroughly reconstructed, at a great expense, the prince everywhere encouraging the people with his presence, directing them by his experience, inspiring them with his energy. the task accomplished was stupendous and worthy, says a contemporary, of eternal memory. at the popular request, the prince afterwards made a tour through the little provinces, honoring every city with a brief visit. the spontaneous homage which went up to him from every heart was pathetic and simple. there were no triumphal arches, no martial music, no banners, no theatrical pageantry nothing but the choral anthem from thousands of grateful hearts. "father william has come! father william has come!" cried men, women, and children to each other, when the news of his arrival in town or village was announced. he was a patriarch visiting his children, not a conqueror, nor a vulgar potentate displaying himself to his admirers. happy were they who heard his voice, happier they who touched his hands, for his words were full of tenderness, his hand was offered to all. there were none so humble as to be forbidden to approach him, none so ignorant as not to know his deeds. all knew that to combat in their cause he had descended from princely station, from luxurious ease, to the position of a proscribed and almost beggared outlaw. for them he had impoverished himself and his family, mortgaged his estates, stripped himself of jewels, furniture, almost of food and raiment. through his exertions the spaniards had been banished from their little territory, the inquisition crushed within their borders, nearly all the sister provinces but yesterday banded into a common cause. he found time, notwithstanding congratulating crowds who thronged his footsteps, to direct the labors of the states-general, who still looked more than ever to his guidance, as their relations with don john became more complicated and unsatisfactory. in a letter addressed to them, on the th of june from harlem, he warned them most eloquently to hold to the ghent pacification as to their anchor in the storm. he assured them, if it was, torn from them, that their destruction was inevitable. he reminded them that hitherto they had got but the shadow, not the substance of the treaty; that they had been robbed of that which was to have been its chief fruit--union among themselves. he and his brothers, with their labor, their wealth, and their blood, had laid down the bridge over which the country had stepped to the pacification of ghent. it was for the nation to maintain what had been so painfully won; yet he proclaimed to them that the government were not acting in good faith, that secret, preparations were making to annihilate the authority of the states; to restore the edicts, to put strangers into high places, and to set up again the scaffold and the whole machinery of persecution. in consequence of the seizure of namur castle, and the accusations made by don john against orange, in order to justify that act, the prince had already despatched taffin and saint aldegonde to the states-general with a commission to declare his sentiments upon the subject. he addressed, moreover, to the same body a letter full of sincere and simple eloquence. "the seigneur don john," said he, "has accused me of violating the peace, and of countenancing attempts against his life, and in endeavouring to persuade you into joining him in a declaration of war against me and against holland and zealand; but i pray you, most affectionately, to remember our mutual and solemn obligations to maintain the treaty of ghent." he entreated the states, therefore, to beware of the artifices employed to seduce them from the only path which led to the tranquillity of their common country, and her true splendor and prosperity. "i believe there is not one of you," he continued, "who can doubt me, if he will weigh carefully all my actions, and consider closely the course which i am pursuing and have always pursued. let all these be confronted with the conduct of don john, and any man will perceive that all my views of happiness, both for my country and myself, imply a peaceable enjoyment of the union, joined with the legitimate restoration of our liberties, to which all good patriots aspire, and towards which all my designs have ever tended. as all the grandeur of don john, on the contrary, consists in war, as there is nothing which he so much abhors as repose, as he has given ample proof of these inclinations in all his designs and enterprises, both before and after the treaty of marche en famine, both within the country and beyond its borders, as it is most manifest that his purpose is, and ever has been, to embroil us with our neighbours of england and scotland in new dissensions, as it must be evident to every one of you that his pretended accusations against me are but colors and shadows to embellish and to shroud his own desire for war, his appetite for vengeance, and his hatred not only to me but to yourselves, and as his determination is, in the words of escovedo, to chastise some of us by means of the rest, and to excite the jealousy of one portion of the country against the other--therefore, gentlemen, do i most affectionately exhort you to found your decision, as to these matters, not upon words but upon actions. examine carefully my conduct in the points concerning which the charges are made; listen attentively to what my envoys will communicate to you in my behalf; and then, having compared it with all the proceedings of seigneur don john, you will be able to form a resolution worthy the rank which you occupy, and befitting your obligations to the whole people, of whom you have been chosen chiefs and protectors, by god and by men. put away all considerations which might obscure your clear eye-sight; maintain with magnanimity, and like men, the safety of yourselves, your wives, your children, your estates, your liberties; see that this poor people, whose eyes are fixed upon you, does not perish; preserve them from the greediness of those who would grow great at your expense; guard them from the yoke of miserable servitude; let not all our posterity lament that, by our pusillanimity, they have lost the liberties which our ancestors had conquered for them, and bequeathed to them as well as to us, and that they have been subjugated by the proud tyranny of strangers. "trusting," said the prince, in conclusion, "that you will accord faith and attention to my envoys, i will only add an expression of my sincere determination to employ myself incessantly in your service, and for the welfare of the whole people, without sparing any means in my power, nor my life itself." the vigilant prince was indeed not slow to take advantage of the governor's false move. while in reality intending peace, if it were possible, don john had thrown down the gauntlet; while affecting to deal openly and manfully, like a warrior and an emperor's son, he had involved himself in petty stratagems and transparent intrigues, by all which he had gained nothing but the character of a plotter, whose word could not be trusted. saint aldegonde expressed the hope that the seizure of namur castle would open the eyes of the people, and certainly the prince did his best to sharpen their vision. while in north holland, william of orange received an urgent invitation from the magistracy and community of utrecht to visit that city. his authority, belonging to him under his ancient commission, had not yet been recognized over that province, but there was no doubt that the contemplated convention of "satisfaction" was soon to be; arranged, for his friends there were numerous and influential. his princess, charlotte de bourbon, who accompanied him on his tour, trembled at the danger to which her husband would expose himself by venturing thus boldly into a territory which might be full of his enemies, but the prince determined to trust the loyalty of a province which he hoped would be soon his own. with anxious forebodings, the princess followed her husband to the ancient episcopal city. as they entered its gates, where an immense concourse was waiting to receive him, a shot passed through the carriage window, and struck the prince upon the breast. the affrighted lady threw her arms about his neck; shrieking that they were betrayed, but the prince, perceiving that the supposed shot was but a wad from one of the cannon, which were still roaring their welcome to him, soon succeeded in calming her fears. the carriage passed lowly through the streets, attended by the vociferous greetings of the multitude; for the whole population had come forth to do him honor. women and children clustered upon every roof and balcony, but a painful incident again marred the tranquillity of the occasion. an apothecary's child, a little girl of ten years, leaning eagerly from a lofty balcony, lost her balance and fell to the ground, directly before the horses of the prince's carriage. she was killed stone dead by the fall. the procession stopped; the prince alighted, lifted the little corpse in his arms, and delivered it, with gentle words and looks of consolation, to the unhappy parents. the day seemed marked with evil omens, which were fortunately destined to prove fallacious. the citizens of utrecht became more than ever inclined to accept the dominion of the prince, whom they honored and whom they already regarded as their natural chief. they entertained him with banquets and festivities during his brief visit, and it was certain before he took his departure that the treaty of "satisfaction" would not be long delayed. it was drawn up, accordingly, in the autumn of the same year, upon the basis of that accepted by harlem and amsterdam--a basis wide enough to support both religions, with a nominal supremacy to the ancient church. meantime, much fruitless correspondence had taken place between don john and the states envoys; despatched by the two parties to each other, had indulged in bitterness and recrimination. as soon as the governor, had taken: possession of namur castle, he had sent the seigneur, de rassinghem to the states-general. that gentleman carried with him copies of two anonymous letters, received by don john upon the th and st of july, , in which a conspiracy against his life and liberty was revealed. it was believed by the governor that count lalain, who had secretly invited him to a conference, had laid an ambush for him. it was known that the country was full of disbanded soldiers, and the governor asserted confidently that numbers of desperadoes were lying in wait for him in every village alehouse of hainault and flanders. he called on the states to ferret out these conspirators, and to inflict condign punishment upon their more guilty chiefs; he required that the soldiers, as well as the citizens, should be disarmed at brussels and throughout brabant, and he justified his seizure of namur, upon the general ground that his life was no longer safe, except in a fortress. in reply to the letter of the governor, which was dated the th of july, the states despatched marolles, archdeacon of ypres, and the seigneur de bresse, to namur, with a special mission to enter into the whole subject of these grievances. these gentlemen, professing the utmost devotion to the cause of his majesty's authority and the catholic religion, expressed doubts as to the existence of the supposed conspiracy. they demanded that don john should denounce the culprits, if any such were known, in order that proper chastisement might be instantly inflicted. the conversation which ensued was certainly unsatisfactory. the governor used lofty and somewhat threatening language, assuring marolles that he was at that moment in possession, not only of namur but of antwerp citadel; and the deputies accordingly departed, having accomplished very little by their journey. their backs were scarcely turned, when don john, on his part, immediately appointed another commission, consisting of rassinghem and grobbendonck, to travel from namur to brussels. these envoys carried a long letter of grievances, enclosing a short list of demands. the letter reiterated his complaints about conspiracies, and his protestations of sincerity. it was full of censure upon the prince of orange; stigmatized his intrigues to obtain possession of amsterdam without a proper "satisfaction," and of utrecht, to which he had no claim at all. it maintained that the hollanders and zealanders were bent upon utterly exterminating the catholic religion, and that they avowed publicly their intention to refuse obedience to the assembly-general, should it decree the maintenance of the ancient worship only. his chief demands were that the states should send him a list of persons qualified to be members of the general assembly, that he might see whether there were not individuals among them whom he might choose to reject. he further required that, if the prince of orange did not instantly fulfil the treaty of ghent, the states should cease to hold any communication with him. he also summoned the states to provide him forthwith with a suitable body-guard. to these demands and complaints, the estates replied by a string of resolutions. they made their usual protestations of attachment to his majesty and the catholic faith, and they granted willingly a foot-guard of three hundred archers. they, however, stoutly denied the governor's right to make eliminations in their lists of deputies, because, from time immemorial, these representatives had been chosen by the clergy, nobles, cities, and boroughs. the names might change daily, nor were there any suspicious ones among them, but it was a matter with which the governor had no concern. they promised that every effort should be made to bring about the execution of the treaty by the prince of orange. they begged don john; however, to abandon the citadel of namur, and gave him to understand that his secret practices had been discovered, a large packet of letters having recently been intercepted in the neighbourhood of bourdeaux, and sent to the prince of orange. among them were some of the despatches of don john and escovedo, to his majesty and to antonio perez, to which allusion has already been made. count bossu, de bresse, and meetkercke were the envoys deputed to convey these resolutions to namur. they had a long and bitter conversation with don john, who complained, more furiously than ever of the conspiracies against his person, and of the intrigues of orange. he insisted that this arch-traitor had been sowing the seed of his damnable doctrines broadcast through the netherlands; that the earth was groaning with a daily ripening harvest of rebellion and heresy. it was time, he cried, for the states to abandon the prince, and rally round their king. patience had been exhausted. he had himself done all, and more than could have been demanded. he had faithfully executed the ghent pacification, but his conduct had neither elicited gratitude nor inspired confidence. the deputies replied, that to the due execution of the ghent treaty it was necessary that he should disband the german troops, assemble the states-general, and carry out their resolutions. until these things, now undone, had been accomplished, he had no right to plead his faithful fulfilment of the pacification. after much conversation--in which the same grievances were repeated, the same statements produced and contradicted, the same demands urged and evaded, and the same menaces exchanged as upon former occasions--the deputies returned to brussels. immediately after their departure, don john learned the result of his project upon antwerp castle. it will be remembered that he had withdrawn aerschot, under pretext of requiring his company on the visit to queen margaret, and that he had substituted treslong, an unscrupulous partisan of his own, in the government of the citadel. the temporary commander soon found, however, that he had undertaken more than he could perform. the troops under van ende were refused admittance into the town, although permission to quarter them there had been requested by the governor-general. the 'authorities had been assured that the troops were necessary for the protection of their city, but the magistrates had learned, but too recently, the nature of the protection which van ende, with his mercenaries, would afford. a detachment of states troops under de yers, champagny's nephew, encountered the regiment of van ende, and put it to flight with considerable loss. at the same time, an officer in the garrison of the citadel itself, captain de bours, undertook secretly to carry the fortress for the estates. his operations were secret and rapid. the seigneur de liedekerke had succeeded champagny in the government of the city. this appointment had been brought about by the agency of the greffier martini, a warm partisan of orange. the new governor was known to be very much the prince's friend, and believed to be at heart a convert to the reformed religion. with martini and liedekerke, de bours arranged his plot. he was supplied with a large sum of money, readily furnished in secret by the leading mercantile houses of the city. these funds were successfully invested in gaining over the garrison, only one company holding firm for treslong. the rest, as that officer himself informed don john, were ready at any moment "to take him by the throat." on the st of august, the day firmed upon in concert with the governor and greffier, he was, in fact, taken by the throat. there was but a brief combat, the issue of which became accidentally doubtful in the city. the white-plumed hat of de bours had been struck from his head in the struggle, and had fallen into the foss. floating out into the river, it had been recognized by the scouts sent out by the personages most interested, and the information was quickly brought to liedekerke, who was lying concealed in the house of martini, awaiting the result. their dismay was great, but martini, having more confidence than the governor, sallied forth to learn the whole truth. scarcely had he got into the streets than he heard a welcome cry, "the beggars have the castle! the beggars have the castle!" shouted a hundred voices. he soon met a lieutenant coming straight from the fortress, who related to him the whole affair. learning that de bours was completely victorious, and that treslong was a prisoner, martini hastened with the important intelligence to his own home, where liedekerke lay concealed. that functionary now repaired to the citadel, whither the magistrates, the leading citizens, and the chief merchants were instantly summoned. the castle was carried, but the city was already trembling with apprehension lest the german mercenaries quartered within its walls, should rise with indignation or panic, and repeat the horrid tragedy of the antwerp fury. in truth, there seemed danger of such a catastrophe. the secret correspondence of don john with the colonels was already discovered, and it was seen how warmly he had impressed upon the men with whom he had been tampering, "that the die was cast," and that all their art was necessary to make it turn up successfully. the castle was carried, but what would become of the city? a brief and eager consultation terminated in an immediate offer of three hundred thousand crowns by the leading merchants. this money was to be employed in amicably satisfying, if possible, the german soldiers, who had meanwhile actually come to arms, and were assembled in the place de meer. feeling unsafe; however, in this locality, their colonels had led them into the new town. here, having barricaded themselves with gun-carriages, bales, and boxes, they awaited, instead of initiating, the events which the day might bring forth. a deputation soon arrived with a white flag from the castle, and commissioners were appointed by the commanding officers of the soldiery. the offer was made to pay over the arrears of their wages, at least to a very large amount, on condition that the troops should forthwith and for ever evacuate the city. one hundred and fifty thousand crowns were offered on the nail. the merchants stood on the bridge leading from the old town-to the new, in full sight of the soldiers. they held in their hands their purses, filled with the glittering gold. the soldiers were frantic with the opportunity, and swore that they would have their officers' lives, if the tempting and unexpected offer should be declined. nevertheless, the commissioners went to and fro, ever finding something to alter or arrange. in truth, the merchants had agreed to furnish; if necessary, three hundred thousand browns; but the thrifty negotiators were disposed, if diplomacy could do it, to save the moiety of that sum. day began to sink, ere the bargain was completed, when suddenly sails were descried in the distance, and presently a large fleet of war vessels, with, banner and pennon flying before a favoring breeze; came sailing up the scheld. it was a squadron of the prince's ships, under command of admiral haultain. he had been sent against tholen, but, having received secret intelligence, had, with happy audacity, seized the opportunity of striking a blow in the cause which he had served so faithfully. a shot or two fired from the vessels among the barricades had a quickening effect. a sudden and astounding panic seized the soldiers. "the beggars are coming! the beggars are coming!" they yelled in dismay; for the deeds of the ocean-beggars had not become less appalling since the memorable siege of leyden. the merchants still stood on the bridge with their purses in their hand. the envoys from the castle still waved their white flags. it was too late. the horror inspired by the wild zealanders overpowered the hope of wages, extinguished all confidence in the friendship of the citizens. the mercenaries, yielding to a violent paroxysm of fear, fled hither and thither, panting, doubling, skulking, like wolves before the hounds. their flight was ludicrous. without staying to accept the money which the merchants were actually offering, without packing up their own property, in many cases even throwing away their arms, they fled, helter skelter, some plunging into the scheid, some skimming along the dykes, some rushing across the open fields. a portion of them under colonel fugger, afterwards shut themselves up in bergen op zoom, where they were at once besieged by champagny, and were soon glad to compromise the matter by surrendering their colonel and laying down their arms. the remainder retreated to breda, where they held out for two months, and were at length overcome by a neat stratagem of orange. a captain, being known to be in the employment of don john, was arrested on his way to breda. carefully sewed up in his waistband was found a letter, of a finger's breadth, written in cipher, and sealed with the governor-general's seal. colonel frondsberger, commanding in breda, was in this missive earnestly solicited to hold out two months longer, within which time a certain relief was promised. in place of this letter, deciphered with much difficulty, a new one was substituted, which the celebrated printer, william sylvius, of antwerp, prepared with great adroitness, adding the signature and seal of don john. in this counterfeit epistle; the colonel was directed to do the best he could for himself, by reason that don john was himself besieged, and unable to render him assistance. the same captain who had brought the real letter was bribed to deliver the counterfeit. this task he faithfully performed, spreading the fictitious intelligence besides, with such ardor through the town, that the troops rose upon their leader, and surrendered him with the city and their own arms, into the custody of the estates. such was the result of the attempt by don john to secure the citadel--of antwerp. not only was the fortress carried for the estates, but the city itself, for the first time in twelve years, was relieved from a foreign soldiery. the rage and disappointment of the governor-general were excessive. he had boasted to marolles a day too soon. the prize which he thought already in his grasp had slipped through his fingers, while an interminable list of demands which he dreamed not of, and which were likely to make him bankrupt, were brought to his door. to the states, not himself, the triumph seemed for the moment decreed. the "dice" had taken a run against him, notwithstanding his pains in loading and throwing. nevertheless, he did not yet despair of revenge. "these rebels," he wrote to the empress-dowager, his sister, "think that fortune is all smiles for them now, and that all is ruin for me. the wretches are growing proud enough, and forget that their chastisement, some fine morning, will yet arrive." on the th of august he addressed another long letter to the estates. this document was accompanied, as usual, by certain demands, drawn up categorically in twenty-three articles. the estates considered his terms hard and strange, for in their opinion it was themselves, not the governor, who were masters of the situation. nevertheless, he seemed inclined to treat as if he had gained, not missed, the citadel of antwerp; as if the troops with whom he had tampered were mustered in the field, not shut up in distant towns, and already at the mercy of the states party. the governor demanded that all the forces of the country should be placed under his own immediate control; that count bossu, or some other person nominated by himself, should be appointed to the government of friesland; that the people of brabant and flanders should set themselves instantly to hunting, catching, and chastising all vagrant heretics and preachers. he required, in particular, that saint aldegonde and theron, those most mischievous rebels, should be prohibited from setting their foot in any city of the netherlands. he insisted that the community of brussels should lay down their arms, and resume their ordinary handicrafts. he demanded that the prince of orange should be made to execute the ghent treaty; to suppress the exercise of the reformed religion in harlem, schoonhoven, and other places; to withdraw his armed vessels from their threatening stations, and to restore nieuport, unjustly detained by him. should the prince persist in his obstinacy, don john summoned them to take arms against him, and to support their lawful governor. he, moreover, required the immediate restitution of antwerp citadel, and the release of treslong from prison. although, regarded from the spanish point of view, such demands might seem reasonable, it was also natural that their audacity should astonish the estates. that the man who had violated so openly the ghent treaty should rebuke the prince for his default--that the man who had tampered with the german mercenaries until they were on the point of making another antwerp fury, should now claim the command over them and all other troops--that the man who had attempted to gain antwerp citadel by a base stratagem should now coolly demand its restoration, seemed to them the perfection of insolence. the baffled conspirator boldly claimed the prize which was to have rewarded a successful perfidy. at the very moment when the escovedo letters and the correspondence with the german colonels had been laid before their eyes, it was a little too much that the double-dealing bastard of the double-dealing emperor should read them a lecture upon sincerity. it was certain that the perplexed, and outwitted warrior had placed himself at last in a very false position. the prince of orange, with his usual adroitness, made the most of his adversary's false moves. don john had only succeeded in digging a pitfall for himself. his stratagems against namur and antwerp had produced him no fruit, saving the character, which his antagonist now fully succeeded in establishing for him, of an unscrupulous and artful schemer. this reputation was enhanced by the discovery of the intercepted letters, and by the ingenuity and eagerness with which they were turned to account against him by the prince, by saint aldegonde, and all the anti-catholic party. the true key to his reluctance against despatching the troops by land, the states had not obtained. they did not dream of his romantic designs upon england, and were therefore excusable in attributing a still deeper perfidy to his arrangements. even had he been sent to the netherlands in the full possession of his faculties, he would have been no match in political combinations for his powerful antagonists. hoodwinked and fettered, suspected by his master, baffled, bewildered, irritated by his adversary, what could he do but plunge from one difficulty to another and oscillate between extravagant menace, and desponding concession, until his hopes and life were wasted quite away. his instructions came from philip through perez, and that most profound dissembler, as we have seen, systematically deceived the governor, with the view of eliciting treasonable matters, philip wishing, if possible, to obtain proofs of don john's secret designs against his own crown. thus every letter from spain was filled with false information and with lying persuasions. no doubt the governor considered himself entitled to wear a crown, and meant to win it, if not in africa, then in england, or wherever fate might look propitiously upon him. he was of the stuff of which crusaders and dynasty founders had been made, at a somewhat earlier epoch. who could have conquered the holy sepulchre, or wrested a crown from its lawful wearer, whether in italy, muscovy, the orient, or in the british ultima thule, more bravely than this imperial bastard, this valiant and romantic adventurer? unfortunately, he came a few centuries too late. the days when dynasties were founded, and european thrones appropriated by a few foreign freebooters, had passed, and had not yet returned. he had come to the netherlands desirous of smoothing over difficulties and of making a peaceful termination to that rebellion a steppingstone to his english throne. he was doomed to a profound disappointment, a broken heart, and a premature grave, instead of the glittering baubles which he pursued. already he found himself bitterly deceived in his hopes. the obstinate netherlanders would not love him, notwithstanding the good wishes he had manifested. they would not even love the king of spain, notwithstanding the blessings which his majesty was declared to have heaped upon them. on the contrary, they persisted in wasting their perverse affections upon the pestilent prince of orange. that heretic was leading them to destruction, for he was showing them the road to liberty, and nothing, in the eyes of the governor, could be more pitiable than to behold an innocent people setting forth upon such a journey. "in truth," said he, bitterly, in his memorable letter to his sister the empress, "they are willing to recognize neither god nor king. they pretend to liberty in all things: so that 'tis a great pity to see how they are going on; to see the impudence and disrespect with which they repay his majesty for the favors which he has shown them, and me for the labors, indignities, and dangers which i have undergone for their sakes." nothing, indeed, in the governor's opinion, could surpass the insolence of the netherlanders, save their ingratitude. that was the serpent's tooth which was ever wounding the clement king and his indignant brother. it seemed so bitter to meet with thanklessness, after seven years of alva and three of requesens; after the labors of the blood council, the massacres of naarden, zutphen, and harlem, the siege of leyden, and the fury of antwerp. "little profit there has been," said the governor to his sister, "or is like to be from all the good which we have done to these bad people. in short, they love and obey in all things the most perverse and heretic tyrant and rebel in the whole world, which is this damned prince of orange, while, on the contrary, without fear of god or shame before men, they abhor and dishonor the name and commandments of their natural sovereign." therefore, with a doubting spirit, and almost with a broken heart, had the warrior shut himself up in namur castle, to await the progress of events, and to escape from the snares of his enemies. "god knows how much i desire to avoid extremities," said he, "but i know not what to do with men who show themselves so obstinately rebellious." thus pathetically don john bewailed his fate. the nation had turned from god, from philip, from himself; yet he still sat in his castle, determined to save them from destruction and his own hands from bloodshed, if such an issue were yet possible. nor was he entirely deserted, for among the faithless a few were faithful still. although the people were in open revolt, there was still a handful of nobles resolved to do their duty towards their god and king. "this little band," said the governor, "has accompanied me hither, like gentlemen and chevaliers of honor." brave berlaymont and his four sons were loyal to the last, but others of this limited number of gentlemen and chevaliers of honor were already deserting him. as soon as the result of the enterprise against antwerp citadel was known, and the storm was gathering most darkly over the royal cause, aerschot and havre were first to spread their wings and flutter away in search of a more congenial atmosphere. in september, the duke was again as he had always professed himself to be, with some important interval of exception--"the affectionate brother and cordial friend of the prince of orange." the letter addressed by don john to the states upon the th of august, had not yet been answered. feeling, soon afterwards, more sensible of his position, and perhaps less inflamed with indignation; he addressed another communication to them, upon the th of the same month. in this epistle he expressed an extreme desire for peace, and a hearty desire to be relieved, if possible, from his most painful situation. he protested, before god and man, that his intentions were most honest, and that he abhorred war more than anything else in the world. he averred that, if his person was as odious to them as it seemed, he was only too ready to leave the land, as soon as the king should appoint his successor. he reminded them that the question of peace or war lay not with himself, but with them; and that the world would denounce as guilty those with whom rested the responsibility. he concluded with an observation which, in its humility, seemed sufficiently ironical, that if they had quite finished the perusal of the despatches from madrid to his address, which they had intercepted, he should be thankful for an opportunity of reading them himself. he expressed a hope, therefore, that they would be forwarded to namur. this letter was answered at considerable length, upon the second day. the states made their customary protestations of attachment to his majesty, their fidelity to the catholic church, their determination to maintain both the ghent treaty and the perpetual edict. they denied all responsibility for the present disastrous condition of the relations between themselves and government, having disbanded nearly all their own troops, while the governor had been strengthening his forces up to the period of his retreat into namur. he protested, indeed, friendship and a sincere desire for peace, but the intercepted letters of escovedo and his own had revealed to them the evil counsels to which he had been listening, and the intrigues which he had been conducting. they left it to his conscience whether they could reasonably believe, after the perusal of these documents, that it was his intention to maintain the ghent treaty, or any treaty; and whether they were not justified in their resort to the natural right of self-defence. don john was already fully aware of the desperate error which he had committed. in seizing namur and attempting antwerp, he had thrown down the gauntlet. wishing peace, he had, in a panic of rage and anxiety; declared and enacted war. the bridge was broken behind him, the ships burned, a gulf opened, a return to peace rendered almost impossible. yet it is painful to observe the almost passionate longings which at times seemed to possess him for accommodating the quarrel, together with his absolute incapacity to appreciate his position. the prince was triumphant; the governor in a trap. moreover, it was a trap which he had not only entered voluntarily, but which he had set himself; he had played into the prince's hands, and was frantic to see his adversary tranquilly winning the game. it was almost melancholy to observe the gradation of his tone from haughty indignation to dismal concession. in an elaborate letter which he addressed "to the particular states, bishops, councillors, and cities of the netherlands," he protested as to the innocence of his intentions, and complained bitterly of the calumnies circulated to his discredit by the prince of orange. he denied any intention of recalling the troops which he had dismissed, except in case of absolute necessity: he affirmed that his majesty sincerely desired peace. he averred that the country was either against the king, against the catholic religion, against himself, or against all three together. he bitterly asked what further concessions were required. had he not done all he had ever promised? had he not discharged the spaniards, placed the castles in the hands of natives, restored the privileges, submitted to insults and indecencies? yet, in spite of all which had passed, he declared his readiness to resign, if another prince or princess of the blood more acceptable to them could be appointed. the letter to the states was followed by a proposition for a cessation of hostilities, and for the appointment of a commission to devise means for faithfully executing the ghent treaty. this proposition was renewed, a few days later, together with an offer for an exchange of hostages. it was not difficult for the estates to answer the letters of the governor. indeed, there was but little lack of argument on either side throughout this unhappy controversy. it is dismal to contemplate the interminable exchange of protocols, declarations, demands, apostilles, replications and rejoinders, which made up the substance of don john's administration. never was chivalrous crusader so out of place. it was not a soldier that was then required for philip's exigency, but a scribe. instead of the famous sword of lepanto, the "barbarous pen" of hopperus had been much more suitable for the work required. scribbling joachim in a war-galley, yard-arm and yard-arm with the turkish capitan pacha, could have hardly felt less at ease than did the brilliant warrior thus condemned to scrawl and dissemble. while marching from concession to concession, he found the states conceiving daily more distrust, and making daily deeper encroachments. moreover, his deeds up to the time when he seemed desirous to retrace his steps had certainly been, at the least, equivocal. therefore, it was natural for the estates, in reply to the questions in his letter, to observe that he had indeed dismissed the spaniards, but that he had tampered with and retained the germans; that he had indeed placed the citadels in the hands of natives, but that he had tried his best to wrest them away again; that he had indeed professed anxiety for peace, but that his intercepted letters proved his preparations for war. already there were rumors of spanish troops returning in small detachments out of france. already the governor was known to be enrolling fresh mercenaries to supply the place of those whom he had unsuccessfully endeavoured to gain to his standard. as early as the th of july, in fact, the marquis d'ayamonte in milan, and don juan de idiaquez in genoa, had received letters from don john of austria, stating that, as the provinces had proved false to their engagements, he would no longer be held by his own, and intimating his desire that the veteran troops which had but so recently been dismissed from flanders, should forthwith return. soon afterwards, alexander farnese, prince of parma, received instructions from the king to superintend these movements, and to carry the aid of his own already distinguished military genius to his uncle in the netherlands. on the other hand, the states felt their strength daily more sensibly. guided, as usual, by orange, they had already assumed a tone in their correspondence which must have seemed often disloyal, and sometimes positively insulting, to the governor. they even answered his hints of resignation in favor of some other prince of the blood, by expressing their hopes that his successor, if a member of the royal house at all, would at least be a legitimate one. this was a severe thrust at the haughty chieftain, whose imperial airs rarely betrayed any consciousness of barbara blomberg and the bend sinister on his shield. he was made to understand, through the medium of brabantine bluntness, that more importance was attached to the marriage, ceremony in the netherlands than he seemed to imagine. the categorical demands made by the estates seemed even more indigestible than such collateral affronts; for they had now formally affirmed the views of orange as to the constitutional government of the provinces. in their letter of th august, they expressed their willingness, notwithstanding the past delinquencies of the governor, to yield him their, confidence again; but at the same time; they enumerated conditions which, with his education and views, could hardly seem to him admissible. they required him to disband all the soldiers in his service, to send the germans instantly out of the country, to dismiss every foreigner from office, whether civil or military, and to renounce his secret league with the duke of guise. they insisted that he should thenceforth govern only with the advice and consent of the state council, that he should execute that which should by a majority of votes be ordained there, that neither measures nor despatches should be binding or authentic unless drawn up at that board. these certainly were views of administration which, even if consonant with a sound historical view of the netherland constitutions, hardly tallied with his monarch's instructions, his own opinions, or the practice under alva and requesens, but the country was still in a state of revolution, and the party of the prince was gaining the upper hand. it was the determination of that great statesman, according to that which he considered the legitimate practice of the government, to restore the administration to the state council, which executive body ought of right to be appointed by the states-general. in the states-general, as in the states-particular, a constant care was to be taken towards strengthening the most popular element, the "community" of each city, the aggregate, that is to say, of its guild-representatives and its admitted burghers. this was, in the opinion of the prince, the true theory of the government--republican in all but form--under the hereditary protection, not the despotic authority, of a family, whose rights were now nearly forfeited. it was a great step in advance that these views should come to be thus formally announced, not in holland and zealand only, but by the deputies of the states-general, although such a doctrine, to the proud stomach of don john, seemed sufficiently repulsive. not less so was the cool intimation with which the paper concluded, that if he should execute his threat of resigning, the country would bear his loss with fortitude, coupled as was that statement with a declaration that, until his successor should be appointed, the state council would consider itself charged ad interim with the government. in the meantime, the governor was requested not to calumniate the estates to foreign governments, as he had so recently done in his intercepted letter to the empress-dowager. upon receiving this letter, "don john," says a faithful old chronicler, "found that the cranes had invited the frog to dinner." in truth, the illustrious soldier was never very successful in his efforts, for which his enemies gave him credit, to piece out the skin of the lion with that of the fox. he now felt himself exposed and outwitted, while he did not feel conscious of any very dark design. he answered the letter of the states by a long communication, dated from namur castle, th of august. in style, he was comparatively temperate, but the justification which he attempted of his past conduct was not very happy. he noticed the three different points which formed the leading articles of the accusation brought against him, the matter, namely, of the intercepted letters, of the intrigues with the german colonels, and the seizure of namur. he did not deny the authorship of the letters, but contented himself with a reference to their date, as if its priority to his installation as governor furnished a sufficient palliation of the bad faith which the letters revealed. as to the despatches of escovedo, he denied responsibility for any statements or opinions which they might contain. as the secretary, however, was known to be his most confidential friend, this attempt to shuffle off his own complicity was held to be both lame and unhandsome. as for the correspondence with the colonels, his defence was hardly more successful, and rested upon a general recrimination upon the prince of orange. as that personage was agitating and turbulent, it was not possible, the governor urged, that he should himself remain quiet. it was out of his power to execute the treaty and the edict, in the face of a notorious omission on the part of his adversary to enforce the one or to publish the other. it comported neither with his dignity nor his safety to lay down his weapons while the prince and his adherents were arming. he should have placed himself "in a very foolish position," had he allowed himself unarmed to be dictated to by the armed. in defence of himself on the third point, the seizure of namur castle, he recounted the various circumstances with which the reader is already acquainted. he laid particular stress upon the dramatic manner in which the vicomte de gand had drawn his curtains at the dead of night; he narrated at great length the ominous warning which he had likewise received from the duke of aerschot in brussels, and concluded with a circumstantial account of the ambush which he believed to have been laid for him by count de lalain. the letter concluded with a hope for an arrangement of difficulties, not yet admitted by the governor to be insurmountable, and with a request for a formal conference, accompanied by an exchange of hostages. while this correspondence was proceeding between namur and brussels, an event was occurring in antwerp which gave much satisfaction to orange. the spanish fury, and the recent unsuccessful attempt of don john to master the famous citadel, had determined the authorities to take the counsel which the prince had so often given in vain, and the fortress of antwerp was at length razed to the ground, on the side towards the city.--it would be more correct to say that it was not the authorities, but the city itself which rose at last and threw off the saddle by which it had so long been galled. more than ten thousand persons were constantly at work, morning, noon, and night, until the demolition was accomplished. grave magistrates, great nobles, fair ladies, citizens and their wives, beggars and their children, all wrought together pell-mell. all were anxious to have a hand in destroying the nest where so many murders had been hatched, whence so much desolation had flown. the task was not a long one for workmen so much in earnest, and the fortress was soon laid low in the quarter where it could be injurious to the inhabitants. as the work proceeded, the old statue of alva was discovered in a forgotten crypt, where it had lain since it had been thrown down by the order of requesens. amid the destruction of the fortress, the gigantic phantom of its founder seemed to start suddenly from the gloom, but the apparition added fresh fuel to the rage of the people. the image of the execrated governor was fastened upon with as much fierceness as if the bronze effigy could feel their blows, or comprehend their wrath. it was brought forth from its dark hiding-place into the daylight. thousands of hands were ready to drag it through the streets for universal inspection and outrage. a thousand sledge-hammers were ready to dash it to pieces, with a slight portion, at least, of the satisfaction with which those who wielded them would have dealt the same blows upon the head of the tyrant himself. it was soon reduced to a shapeless mass. small portions were carried away and preserved for generations in families as heirlooms of hatred. the bulk was melted again and reconverted, by a most natural metamorphosis, into the cannon from which it had originally sprung. the razing of the antwerp citadel set an example which was followed in other places; the castle of ghent, in particular, being immediately levelled, amid demonstrations of universal enthusiasm. meantime, the correspondence between don john and the estates at brussels dragged its slow length along, while at the same time, two elaborate letters were addressed to the king, on the th of august and the th of september, by the estates-general of the netherlands. these documents, which were long and able, gave a vigorous representation of past evils and of the present complication of disorders under which the commonwealth was laboring. they asked, as usual, for a royal remedy; and expressed their doubts whether there could be any sincere reconciliation so long as the present governor, whose duplicity and insolence they represented in a very strong light, should remain in office. should his majesty, however, prefer to continue don john in the government, they signified their willingness, in consideration of his natural good qualities, to make the best of the matter. should, however, the estrangement between themselves and the governor seem irremediable, they begged that another and a legitimate prince of the blood might be appointed in his place. etext editor's bookmarks: country would bear his loss with fortitude its humility, seemed sufficiently ironical not upon words but upon actions perfection of insolence was it astonishing that murder was more common than fidelity? motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley chapter iv. orange invited to visit brussels--his correspondence upon the subject with the estates--general--triumphant journey of the prince to the capital----stop put by him to the negotiations with don john --new and stringent demands made upon the governor--his indignation --open rupture--intrigue of netherland grandees with archduke matthias--policy of orange--attitude of queen elizabeth--flight of matthias from vienna--anxiety of elizabeth--adroitness of the prince--the office of reward--election of orange to that dignity-- his complaints against the great nobles--aerschot governor of flanders--a storm brewing in ghent--ryhove and imbize--blood- councillor hessels--arrogance of the aristocratic party in flanders --ryhove's secret interview with orange--outbreak at ghent--arrest of aerschot, hessels, and others of the reactionary party--the duke liberated at demand of orange--the prince's visit to ghent-- rhetorical demonstrations--the new brussels union characterized-- treaty with england--articles by which matthias is nominally constituted governor-general--his inauguration at brussels-- brilliant and fantastic ceremonies--letter of don john to the emperor--his anger with england--an army collecting--arrival of alexander farnese--injudicious distribution of offices in the states' army--the states' army fall back upon gemblours, followed by don john--tremendous overthrow of the patriots--wonderful disparity in the respective losses of the two armies. while these matters were in progress, an important movement was made by the estates-general. the prince of orange was formally and urgently invited to come to brussels to aid them with his counsel and presence. the condemned traitor had not set foot in the capital for eleven years. we have narrated the circumstance of his departure, while the advancing trumpets of alva's army were almost heard in the distance. his memorable and warning interview with egmont has been described. since that period, although his spirit had always been manifesting itself in the capital like an actual presence; although he had been the magnet towards which the states throughout all their, oscillations had involuntarily vibrated, yet he had been ever invisible. he had been summoned by the blood council to stand his trial, and had been condemned to death by default. he answered the summons by a defiance, and the condemnation by two campaigns, unsuccessful in appearance, but which had in reality prostrated the authority of the sovereign. since that period, the representative of royalty had sued the condemned traitor for forgiveness. the haughty brother of philip had almost gone upon his knees, that the prince might name his terms, and accept the proffered hand of majesty. the prince had refused, not from contumely, but from distrust. he had spurned the supplications, as he had defied the proscription of the king. there could be no friendship between the destroyer and the protector of a people. had the prince desired only the reversal of his death-sentence, and the infinite aggrandizement of his family, we have seen how completely he had held these issues in his power. never had it been more easy, plausible, tempting, for a proscribed patriot to turn his back upon an almost sinking cause. we have seen how his brave and subtle batavian prototype, civilis, dealt with the representative of roman despotism. the possible or impossible netherland republic of the first century of our era had been reluctantly abandoned, but the modern civilis had justly more confidence in his people. and now again the scene was changed. the son of the emperor, the king's brother, was virtually beleaguered; the proscribed rebel had arrived at victory through a long series of defeats. the nation everywhere acknowledged him master, and was in undisguised revolt against the anointed sovereign. the great nobles, who hated philip on the one hand, and the reformed religion on the other, were obliged, in obedience to the dictates of a people with whom they had little sympathy, to accept the ascendency of the calvinist prince, of whom they were profoundly jealous. even the fleeting and incapable aerschot was obliged to simulate adhesion; even the brave champagny, cordial hater of spaniards, but most devotedly catholic, "the chiefest man of wysedome and stomach at that tyme in brussels," so envoy wilson wrote to burghley, had become "brabantized," as his brother granvelle expressed himself, and was one of the commissioners to invite the great rebel to brussels. the other envoys were the abbot of saint gertrude, dr. leoninus, and the seigneur de liesvelt. these gentlemen, on arriving at gertruydenberg, presented a brief but very important memorial to the prince. in that document they informed him that the states-general, knowing how efficacious would be his presence, by reason of his singular prudence, experience, and love for the welfare and repose of the country, had unanimously united in a supplication that he would incontinently transport himself to the city of brussels, there to advise with them concerning the necessities of the land; but, as the principal calumny employed by their adversaries was that all the provinces and leading personages intended to change both sovereign and religion, at the instigation of his excellency, it was desirable to disprove such fictions. they therefore very earnestly requested the prince to make some contrary demonstration, by which it might be manifest to all that his excellency, together with the estates of holland and zealand, intended faithfully to keep what they had promised. they prayed, therefore, that the prince, permitting the exercise of the roman catholic religion in the places which had recently accepted his authority, would also allow its exercise in holland and zealand. they begged, further, that he would promise by a new and authentic act, that the provinces of holland and zealand, would not suffer the said exercise to be impugned, or any new worship to be introduced, in the other provinces of the netherlands. this letter might almost be regarded as a trap, set by the catholic nobles. certainly the ghent pacification forbade the reformed religion in form, and as certainly, winked at its exercise in fact. the proof was, that the new worship was spreading everywhere, that the exiles for conscience' sake were returning in swarms, and that the synod of the reformed churches, lately held at dort, had been, publicly attended by the ministers and deacons of numerous dissenting churches established in many different, places throughout all the provinces. the pressure of the edicts, the horror of the inquisition being removed, the down-trodden religion had sprung from the earth more freshly than ever. the prince was not likely to fall into the trap, if a trap had really been intended. he answered the envoys loyally, but with distinct reservations. he did not even accept the invitation, save on condition that his visit to brussels should be expressly authorized by holland and zealand. notwithstanding his desire once more to behold his dear country, and to enjoy the good company of his best friends and brothers, he felt it his duty to communicate beforehand with the states of those two provinces, between which, and himself there had been such close and reciprocal obligations, such long-tried and faithful affection. he therefore begged to refer the question to the assembly of the said provinces about to be held at gouda, where, in point of fact, the permission for his journey was, not without considerable difficulty, a few days afterwards obtained. with regard to the more difficult requests addressed to him in the memorial, he professed generally his intention to execute the treaty of ghent. he observed, however, that the point of permitting the exercise of the roman catholic religion in holland and zealand regarded principally the estates of these provinces, which had contracted for no innovation in this matter, at least till the assembling of the states-general. he therefore suggested that he neither could, nor ought to, permit any innovation, without the knowledge and consent of those estates. as to promising by authentic act, that neither he nor the two provinces would suffer the exercise of the catholic religion to be in any wise impugned in the rest of the netherlands, the prince expressed himself content to promise that, according to the said ghent pacification, they would suffer no attempt to be made against the public repose or against the catholic worship. he added that, as he had no intention of usurping any superiority over the states-general assembled at brussels, he was content to leave the settlement of this point to their free-will and wisdom, engaging himself neither to offer nor permit any hindrance to their operations. with this answer the deputies are said to have been well pleased. if they were so, it must be confessed that they were thankful for small favors. they had asked to have the catholic religion introduced into holland and zealand. the prince had simply referred them to the estates of these provinces. they had asked him to guarantee that the exercise of the reformed religion should not be "procured" in the rest of the country. he had merely promised that the catholic worship should not be prevented. the difference between the terms of the request and the reply was sufficiently wide. the consent to his journey was with difficulty accorded by the estates of holland and zealand, and his wife, with many tears and anxious forebodings, beheld him depart for a capital where the heads of his brave and powerful friends had fallen, and where still lurked so many of his deadly foes. during his absence, prayers were offered daily for his safety in all the churches of holland and zealand, by command of the estates. he arrived at antwerp on the th of september, and was received with extraordinary enthusiasm. the prince, who had gone forth alone, without even a bodyguard, had the whole population of the great city for his buckler. here he spent five days, observing, with many a sigh, the melancholy changes which had taken place in the long interval of his absence. the recent traces of the horrible "fury," the blackened walls of the hotel de ville, the prostrate ruins of the marble streets, which he had known as the most imposing in europe, could be hardly atoned for in his eyes even by the more grateful spectacle of the dismantled fortress. on the rd of september he was attended by a vast concourse of citizens to the new canal which led to brussels, where three barges were in waiting for himself and suite. in one a banquet was spread; in the second, adorned with emblematic devices and draped with the banners of the seventeen provinces, he was to perform the brief journey; while the third had been filled by the inevitable rhetoric societies, with all the wonders of their dramatic and plastic ingenuity. rarely had such a complication of vices and virtues, of crushed dragons, victorious archangels, broken fetters, and resurgent nationalities, been seen before, within the limits of a single canal boat. the affection was, however, sincere, and the spirit noble, even though the taste which presided at these remonstrations may have been somewhat pedantic. the prince was met several miles before the gates of brussels by a procession of nearly half the inhabitants of the city, and thus escorted, he entered the capital in the afternoon of the rd of september. it was the proudest day of his life. the representatives of all the provinces, supported by the most undeniable fervor of the united netherland people, greeted "father william." perplexed, discordant, hating, fearing, doubting, they could believe nothing, respect nothing, love nothing, save the "tranquil" prince. his presence at that moment in brussels was the triumph of the people and of religious toleration. he meant to make use of the crisis to extend and to secure popular rights, and to establish the supremacy of the states-general under the nominal sovereignty of some prince, who was yet to be selected, while the executive body was to be a state-council, appointed by the states-general. so far as appears, he had not decided as to the future protector, but he had resolved that it should be neither himself nor philip of spain. the outlaw came to brussels prepared at last to trample out a sovereignty which had worked its own forfeiture. so far as he had made any election within his breast, his choice inclined to the miserable duke of anjou; a prince whom he never came to know as posterity has known him, but whom he at least learned to despise. thus far the worthless and paltry intriguer still wore the heroic mask, deceiving even such far seeing politicians as saint aldegonde and the prince. william's first act was to put a stop to the negotiations already on foot with don john. he intended that they should lead to war, because peace was impossible, except a peace for which civil and religious liberty would be bartered, for it was idle, in his opinion, to expect the maintenance by the spanish governor of the ghent pacification, whatever promises might be extorted from his fears. a deputation, in the name of the states, had already been sent with fresh propositions to don john, at namur. the envoys were caspar schetz and the bishop of bruges. they had nearly come to an amicable convention with the governor, the terms of which had been sent to the states-general for approval, at the very moment of the prince's arrival in brussels. orange, with great promptness, prevented the ratification of these terms, which the estates had in reality already voted to accept. new articles were added to those which had originally been laid before don john. it was now stipulated that the ghent treaty and the perpetual edict should be maintained. the governor was required forthwith to abandon namur castle, and to dismiss the german troops. he was to give up the other citadels and strong places, and to disband all the soldiers in his service. he was to command the governors of every province to prohibit the entrance of all foreign levies. he was forthwith to release captives, restore confiscated property, and reinstate officers who had been removed; leaving the details of such restorations to the council of mechlin and the other provincial tribunals. he was to engage that the count van buren should be set free within two months. he was himself, while waiting for the appointment of his successor, to take up his residence in luxemburg, and while there, he was to be governed entirely by the decision of the state council, expressed by a majority of its members. furthermore, and as not the least stinging of these sharp requisitions, the queen of england--she who had been the secret ally of orange, and whose crown the governor had secretly meant to appropriate--was to be included in the treaty. it could hardly excite surprise that don john, receiving these insolent propositions at the very moment in which he heard of the triumphant entrance into brussels of the prince, should be filled with rage and mortification. never was champion of the cross thus braved by infidels before. the ghent treaty, according to the orange interpretation, that is to say, heresy made legitimate, was to be the law of the land. his majesty was to surrender--colors and cannon--to his revolted subjects. the royal authority was to be superseded by that of a state council, appointed by the states-general, at the dictation of the prince. the governor-general himself, brother of his catholic majesty, was to sit quietly with folded arms in luxemburg, while the arch-heretic and rebel reigned supreme in brussels. it was too much to expect that the choleric soldier would be content with what he could not help regarding as a dishonorable capitulation. the arrangement seemed to him about as reasonable as it would have been to invite sultan selim to the escorial, and to send philip to reside at bayonne. he could not but regard the whole proposition as an insolent declaration of war. he was right. it was a declaration of war; as much so as if proclaimed by trump of herald. how could don john refuse the wager of battle thus haughtily proffered? smooth schetz, lord of grobbendonck, and his episcopal colleague, in vain attempted to calm the governor's wrath, which now flamed forth, in defiance of all considerations. they endeavored, without success, to palliate the presence of orange, and the circumstances of his reception, for it was not probable that their eloquence would bring the governor to look at the subject with their eyes. three days were agreed upon for the suspension of hostilities, and don john was highly indignant that the estates would grant no longer a truce. the refusal was, however, reasonable enough on their part, for they were aware that veteran spaniards and italians were constantly returning to him, and that he was daily strengthening his position. the envoys returned to brussels, to give an account of the governor's rage, which they could not declare to be unnatural, and to assist in preparations for the war, which was now deemed inevitable. don john, leaving a strong garrison in the citadel of namur, from which place he, despatched a final communication to the estates-general, dated the nd of october, retired to luxemburg. in this letter, without exactly uttering defiance, he unequivocally accepted the hostilities which had been pressed upon him, and answered their hollow professions of attachment to the catholic religion and his majesty's authority, by denouncing their obvious intentions to trample upon both. he gave them, in short, to understand that he perceived their intentions, and meant them to comprehend his own. thus the quarrel was brought to an issue, and don john saw with grim complacency, that the pen was at last to be superseded by the sword. a remarkable pamphlet was now published, in seven different languages, latin, french, flemish, german, italian, spanish; and english, containing a succinct account of the proceedings between the governor and the estates, together with copies of the intercepted letters of don john and escovedo to the king, to perez, to the german colonels, and to the empress. this work, composed and published by order of the estates-general, was transmitted with an accompanying address to every potentate in christendom. it was soon afterwards followed by a counter-statement, prepared by order of don john, and containing his account of the same matters, with his recriminations against the conduct of the estates. another important movement had, meanwhile, been made by the third party in this complicated game. the catholic nobles, jealous of the growing influence of orange, and indignant at the expanding power of the people, had opened secret negotiations with the archduke matthias, then a mild, easy-tempered youth of twenty, brother of the reigning emperor, rudolph. after the matter had been discussed some time in secret, it was resolved, towards the end of september, to send a messenger to vienna, privately inviting the young prince to brussels, but much to the surprise of these nobles, it was discovered that some fifteen or sixteen of the grandees of the land, among them aerschot, havre, champagny, de ville, lalain, de heze, and others, had already taken .the initiative in the matter. on the th of august, the seigneur de maalsteede had set forth, by their appointment, for vienna. there is no doubt that this step originated in jealousy felt towards orange, but at the same time it is certain that several of the leaders in the enterprise were still his friends. some, like champagny, and de heze, were honestly so; others, like aerschot, havrd, and de ville, always traitors in heart to the national cause, loyal to nothing but their own advancement, were still apparently upon the best terms with him. moreover, it is certain that he had been made aware of the scheme, at least, before the arrival of the archduke in the netherlands, for the marquis havre, on his way to england, as special envoy from the estates, had a conference with him at gertruydenberg. this was in the middle of september, and before his departure for brussels. naturally, the proposition seemed, at first, anything but agreeable; but the marquis represented himself afterwards as having at last induced the prince to look upon it with more favorable eyes. nevertheless, the step had been taken before the consultation was held; nor was it the first time that the advice, of orange had been asked concerning the adoption of a measure after the measure had been adopted. whatever may have been his original sentiments upon the subject; however, he was always less apt to complain of irrevocable events than quick to reconcile them with his own combinations, and it was soon to be discovered that the new stumbling-block which his opponents had placed in his path, could be converted into an additional stepping-stone towards his goal. meanwhile, the secret invitation to the archduke was regarded by the people and by foreign spectators as a plot devised by his enemies. davison, envoy from queen elizabeth, was then in brussels, and informed his royal mistress, whose sentiments and sympathies were unequivocally in favor of orange, of the intrigues against the prince. the efforts of england were naturally to counteract the schemes of all who interfered with his policy, the queen especially, with her customary sagacity, foreseeing the probable inclination of the catholic nobles towards the protectorate of alencon. she did not feel certain as to the precise plans of orange, and there was no course better adapted to draw her from barren coquetry into positive engagements; than to arouse her jealousy of the french influence in the provinces. at this moment, she manifested the warmest friendship for the prince. costly presents were transmitted by her to his wife; among others, an ornament, of which a sculptured lizard formed a part. the princess, in a graceful letter to her husband, desiring that her acknowledgments should be presented to her english majesty, accepted the present as significative. "tis the fabled virtue of the lizard (she said) to awaken sleepers whom a serpent is about to sting. you are the lizard, and the netherlands the sleepers,--pray heaven they may escape the serpent's bite." the prince was well aware, therefore, of the plots which were weaving against him. he had small faith in the great nobles, whom he trusted "as he would adders fanged," and relied only upon the communities, upon the mass of burghers. they deserved his confidence, and watched over his safety with jealous care. on one occasion, when he was engaged at the state council till a late hour, the citizens conceived so much alarm, that a large number of them spontaneously armed themselves, and repaired to the palace. the prince, informed of the circumstance, threw open a window and addressed them, thanking them for their friendship and assuring them of his safety. they were not satisfied, however, to leave him alone, but remained under arms below till the session was terminated, when they escorted him with affectionate respect to his own hotel. the secret envoy arrived in vienna, and excited the ambition of the youthful matthias. it must be confessed that the offer could hardly be a very tempting one, and it excites our surprise that the archduke should have thought the adventure worth the seeking. a most anomalous position in the netherlands was offered to him by a slender and irresponsible faction of netherlanders. there was a triple prospect before him: that of a hopeless intrigue against the first politician in europe, a mortal combat with the most renowned conqueror of the age, a deadly feud with the most powerful and revengeful monarch in the world. into this threefold enterprise he was about to plunge without any adequate resources, for the archduke possessed no experience, power, or wealth. he brought, therefore, no strength to a cause which was itself feeble. he could hope for no protection, nor inspire any confidence. nevertheless, he had courage, pliability, and a turn for political adventure. visions of the discomfited philip conferring the hand of his daughter, with the netherlands as her dowry, upon the enterprising youth who, at this juncture, should succeed in overturning the spanish authority in that country, were conjured up by those who originated the plot, and he was weak enough to consider such absurdities plausible, and to set forth at once to take possession of this castle in the air. on the evening of october rd, , he retired to rest at eight o'clock feigning extreme drowsiness. after waiting till his brother, maximilian, who slept in another bed in the same chamber, was asleep, he slipped from his couch and from the room in his night apparel, without even putting on his slippers. he was soon after provided by the companions of his flight with the disguise of a servant, arrayed in which, with his face blackened, he made his escape by midnight from vienna, but it is doubtful whether rudolph were as ignorant as he affected to be of the scheme. [it was the opinion of languet that the emperor affected ignorance of the plot at its commencement, that he afterwards affected an original connivance, and that he was equally disingenuous in both pretences.] the archduke arrived at cologne, attended only by two gentlemen and a few servants. the governor was beside himself with fury; the queen of england was indignant; the prince only, against whom the measure was mainly directed, preserved his usual tranquillity. secretary walsingham, as soon as the news reached england, sent for meetkercke, colleague of marquis havre in the mission from the estates. he informed that functionary of the great perplexity and excitement which, according to information received from the english resident, davison, were then prevailing in brussels, on account of the approach of the archduke. some, he said, were for receiving him at one place, some at another; others were in favor of forbidding his entrance altogether. things had been sufficiently complicated before, without this additional cause of confusion. don john was strengthening himself daily, through the secret agency of the duke of guise and his party. his warlike genius was well known, as well as the experience of the soldiers who were fast rallying under his banner. on the other hand, the duke of alencon had come to la fere, and was also raising troops, while to oppose this crowd of rival enemies, to deal with this host of impending disasters, there was but one man in the netherlands. on the prince of orange alone could the distracted states rely. to his prudence and valor only could the queen look with hopeful eyes. the secretary proceeded to inform the envoy, therefore, that her majesty would feel herself compelled to withdraw all succor from the states if the prince of orange were deprived of his leadership; for it was upon that leadership only that she had relied for obtaining a successful result. she was quite indisposed to encounter indefinite risk with an impossibility of profit. meetkercke replied to the secretary by observing, that the great nobles of the land had been unanimous in desiring a new governor-general at this juncture. they had thought matthias, with a strong council of state, composed of native netherlanders, to control him, likely to prove a serviceable candidate for the post. they had reason to believe that, after he should be received, the emperor would be reconciled to the measure, and that by his intercession the king of spain would be likewise induced to acquiesce. he alluded, moreover, to the conference between the marquis of havre and orange at gertruydenberg, and quoted the opinion of the prince that it would be unwise, after the invitation had been given, to insult the archduke and his whole imperial house, by beating him with indignity upon his arrival. it was inevitable, said the envoy, that differences of opinion should exist in large assemblies, but according to information which he had recently received from marquis havre, then in brussels, affairs had already become smooth again. at the conclusion of the conference, walsingham repeated emphatically that the only condition upon which the queen would continue her succor to the netherlands was, that the prince should be forthwith appointed lieutenant-general for the archduke. the immediate result of this movement was, that matthias was received at antwerp by orange at the head of two thousand cavalry, and attended by a vast concourse of inhabitants. had the prince chosen a contrary course, the archduke might have been compelled to return, somewhat ridiculously, to vienna; but, at the same time, the anger of the emperor and of all germany would have been aroused against orange and the cause he served. had the prince, on the contrary, abandoned the field himself, and returned to holland, he would have left the game in the hands of his adversaries. ever since he had made what his brother john called that "dangerous gallows journey" to brussels, his influence had been culminating daily, and the jealousy of the great nobles rising as rapidly. had he now allowed himself to be driven from his post, he would have exactly fulfilled their object. by remaining, he counteracted their schemes. by taking matthias wholly into his own possession, he obtained one piece the more in the great game which he was playing against his antagonist in the escorial. by making adroit use of events as they arose, he made the very waves which were to sink him, carry his great cause triumphantly onward. the first result of the invitation to matthias was the election of orange as ruward of brabant. this office was one of great historical dignity, but somewhat anomalous in its functions. the province of brabant, having no special governor, was usually considered under the immediate superintendence of the governor-general. as the capital of brabant was the residence of that functionary, no inconvenience from this course had been felt since the accession of the house of burgundy. at present, however, the condition of affairs was so peculiar--the seat of government being empty without having been permanently vacated--that a special opportunity was offered for conferring both honor and power on the prince. a ruward was not exactly dictator, although his authority was universal. he was not exactly protector, nor governor, nor stadholder. his functions were unlimited as to time--therefore superior to those of an ancient dictator; they were commonly conferred on the natural heir to the sovereignty--therefore more lofty than those of ordinary stadholders. the individuals who had previously held the office in the netherlands had usually reigned afterwards in their own right. duke albert, of the bavarian line; for example, had been ruward of hainault and holland, for thirty years, during the insanity of his brother, and on the death of duke william had succeeded to his title. philip of burgundy had declared himself ruward of brabant in , and had shortly afterwards deprived jacqueline of all her titles and appropriated them to himself. in the one case the regent, in the second case the usurper, had become reigning prince. thus the movement of the jealous nobles against the prince had for its first effect his immediate appointment to an office whose chief characteristic was, that it conducted to sovereignty. the election was accomplished thus. the "members," or estates of brussels, together with the deans, guilds, and other of the principal citizens of antwerp, addressed a request to the states of brabant, that william of orange should be appointed ruward, and after long deliberation the measure was carried. the unsolicited honor was then solemnly offered to him. he refused, and was only, after repeated and urgent entreaties, induced to accept the office. the matter was then referred to the states-general, who confirmed the dignity, after some demur, and with the condition that it might be superseded by the appointment of a governor-general. he was finally confirmed as ruward on the d of october, to the boundless satisfaction of the people, who celebrated the event by a solemn holiday in antwerp, brussels, and other cities. his friends, inspired by the intrigues of his enemies, had thus elevated the prince to almost unlimited power; while a strong expression in favor of his government had been elicited from the most important ally of the netherlands-england. it soon rested with himself only to assume the government of flanders, having been elected stadholder, not once only, but many times, by the four estates of that important province, and having as constantly refused the dignity. with holland and zealand devoted to him, brabant and flanders formally under his government, the netherland capital lavishing testimonials of affection upon him, and the mass of the people almost worshipping him, it would not have been difficult for the prince to play a game as selfish as it had hitherto been close and skilful. he might have proved to the grand seigniors that their suspicions were just, by assuming a crown which they had been intriguing to push from his brows. certainly the nobles deserved their defeat. they had done their best to circumvent orange, in all ways and at all times. they had paid their court to power when it was most powerful, and had sought to swim on the popular tide when it was rising. he avenged himself upon their perfidy only by serving his country more faithfully than ever, but it was natural that he should be indignant at the conduct of these gentlemen, "children of good houses," (in his own words,) "issue of worthy, sires," whose fathers, at least, he had ever loved and honored. "they serve the duke of alva and the grand commander like varlets," he cried; "they make war upon me to the knife. afterwards they treat with me, they reconcile themselves with me, they are sworn foes of the spaniard. don john arrives, and they follow him; they intrigue for my ruin. don john fails in his enterprise upon antwerp citadel; they quit him incontinently and call upon me. no sooner do i come than, against their oath and without previous communication with the states or myself, they call upon the archduke matthias. are the waves of the sea more inconstant--is euripus more uncertain than the counsels of such men?" while these events were occurring at brussels and antwerp, a scene of a different nature was enacting at ghent. the duke of aerschot had recently been appointed to the government of flanders by the state council, but the choice was exceedingly distasteful to a large number of the inhabitants. although, since the defeat of don john's party in antwerp, aerschot had again become "the affectionate brother" of orange, yet he was known to be the head of the cabal which had brought matthias from vienna. flanders, moreover, swarmed with converts to the reformed religion, and the duke's strict romanism was well known. the people, therefore, who hated the pope and adored the prince, were furious at the appointment of the new governor, but by dint of profuse promises regarding the instant restoration of privileges and charters which had long lain dormant, the friends of aerschot succeeded in preparing the way for his installation. on the th of october, attended by twenty-three companies of infantry and three hundred horse, he came to ghent. that famous place was still one of the most powerful and turbulent towns in europe. although diminished in importance since the commercial decline which had been the inevitable result of philip's bloody government, it, was still swarming with a vigorous and dangerous population and it had not forgotten the days when the iron tongue of roland could call eighty thousand fighting men to the city banner. even now, twenty thousand were secretly pledged to rise at the bidding of certain chieftains resident among them; noble by birth, warmly attached to the reformed religion, and devoted to orange. these gentlemen were perfectly conscious that a reaction was to be attempted in favor of don john and of catholicism, through the agency of the newly-appointed governor of flanders. aerschot was trusted or respected by neither party. the only difference in the estimates formed of him was, that some considered him a deep and dangerous traitor; others that he was rather foolish than malicious, and more likely to ruin a good cause than to advance the interests of a bad one. the leaders of the popular party at ghent believed him dangerous. they felt certain that it was the deeply laid design of the catholic nobles foiled as they had been in the objects with which they had brought matthias from vienna, and enraged as they were that the only result of that movement had been to establish the power of orange upon a firmer basis--to set up an opposing influence in ghent. flanders, in the possession of the catholics, was to weigh up brabant, with its recent tendencies to toleration. aerschot was to counteract the schemes of orange. matthias was to be withdrawn from the influence of the great heretic, and be yet compelled to play the part set down for him by those who had placed him upon the stage. a large portion, no doubt, of the schemes here suggested, was in agitation, but the actors were hardly equal to the drama which they were attempting. the intrigue was, however, to be frustrated at once by the hand of orange, acting as it often did from beneath a cloud. of all the chieftains possessing influence with the inhabitants of ghent, two young nobles, named ryhove and imbize, were the most conspicuous. both were of ancient descent and broken fortunes, both were passionately attached to the prince, both were inspired with an intense hatred for all that was catholic or spanish. they had travelled further on the reforming path than many had done in that day, and might even be called democratic in their notions. their heads were filled with visions of greece and rome; the praise of republics was ever on their lips; and they avowed to their intimate associates that it was already feasible to compose a commonwealth like that of the swiss cantons out of the seventeen netherlands. they were regarded as dreamers by some, as desperadoes by others. few had confidence in their capacity or their purity; but orange, who knew mankind, recognized in them useful instruments for any hazardous enterprise. they delighted in stratagems and sudden feats of arms. audacious and cruel by temperament, they were ever most happy in becoming a portion of the desolation which popular tumults engender. there were several excited meetings of the four estates of flanders immediately after the arrival of the duke of aerschot in ghent. his coming had been preceded by extensive promises, but it soon became obvious that their fulfilment was to be indefinitely deferred. there was a stormy session on the th of october, many of the clergy and nobility being present, and comparatively few members of the third estate. very violent speeches were made, and threats openly uttered, that the privileges, about which so much noise had been heard, would be rather curtailed than enlarged under the new administration. at the same session, the commission of aerschot was formally presented by champagny and sweveghem, deputed by the state council for that purpose. champagny was in a somewhat anomalous position. there was much doubt in men's minds concerning him. he had seemed lately the friend of orange, but he was certainly the brother of granvelle. his splendid but fruitless services during the antwerp fury had not been forgotten, but he was known to be a determined catholic. he was a hater of spaniards, but no lover of popular liberty. the nature of his sentiments towards orange was perhaps unjustly suspected. at any rate, two or three days after the events which now occupy our attention, he wrote him a private letter, in which he assured him of his attachment. in reference to the complaints, of the prince, that he had not been seconded as he ought to have been, he said, moreover, that he could solemnly swear never to have seen a single individual who did not hold the prince in admiration, and who was not affectionately devoted to him, not only, by public profession, but by private sentiment. there was little doubt entertained as to the opinions held by the rest of the aristocratic party, then commencing their manoeuvres in ghent. their sentiments were uttered with sufficient distinctness in this remarkable session. hessels, the old blood councillor, was then resident in ghent; where he discharged high governmental functions. it was he, as it will be remembered, who habitually fell asleep at that horrible council board, and could only start from his naps to-shout "ad patibulum," while the other murderers had found their work less narcotic. a letter from hessels to count de reux, late royal governor of flanders, was at the present juncture intercepted. perhaps it was invented, but genuine or fictitious, it was circulated extensively among the popular leaders, and had the effect of proving madame de hessels a true prophet. it precipitated the revolution in flanders, and soon afterwards cost the councillor his life. "we have already brought many notable magistrates of flanders over to the aide of his highness don john," wrote hessels. "we hope, after the duke of aerschot is governor; that we shall fully carry out the intentions of his majesty and the plans of his highness. we shall also know how to circumvent the scandalous heretic with all his adherents and followers." certainly, if this letter were true, it was high time for the friends of the "scandalous heretic" to look about them. if it were a forgery, which is highly probable, it was ingeniously imagined, and did the work of truth. the revolutionary party, being in a small minority in the assembly, were advised by their leaders to bow before the storm. they did so, and the bluster of the reactionary party grew louder as they marked the apparent discomfiture of their foes. they openly asserted that the men who were clamoring for privileges should obtain nothing but halters. the buried charters should never be resuscitated; but the spirit of the dead emperor, who had once put a rope around the necks of the insolent ghenters, still lived in that of his son. there was no lack of denunciation. don john and the duke of aerschot would soon bring the turbulent burghers to their senses, and there would then be an end to this renewed clamor about musty parchments. much indignation was secretly excited in the assembly by such menaces. without doors the subterranean flames spread rapidly, but no tumult occurred that night. before the session was over, ryhove left the city, pretending a visit to tournay. no sooner had he left the gates, however, than he turned his horse's head in the opposite direction, and rode off post haste to antwerp. there he had a conference with william of orange, and painted in lively colors the alarming position of affairs. "and what do you mean to do in the matter?" asked the prince, rather drily. ryhove was somewhat disconcerted. he had expected a violent explosion; well as he knew the tranquil personage whom he was addressing. "i know no better counsel," he replied, at length, "than to take the duke, with his bishops, councillors, lords, and the whole nest of them, by the throat, and thrust them all out together." "rather a desperate undertaking, however?" said the prince; carelessly, but interrogatively. "i know no other remedy," answered ryhove; "i would rather make the attempt, relying upon god alone, and die like a man if needful, than live in eternal slavery. like an ancient roman," continued the young republican noble, in somewhat bombastic vein, "i am ready to wager my life, where my fatherland's welfare is at stake." "bold words!" said the prince, looking gravely at ryhove; "but upon what force do you rely for your undertaking?" "if i can obtain no assistance from your excellency," was the reply, "i shall throw myself on the mass of the citizens. i can arouse them in the name of their ancient liberties, which must be redeemed now or never." the prince, believing probably that the scheme, if scheme there were, was but a wild one, felt little inclination to compromise himself with the young conspirator. he told him he could do nothing at present, and saying that he must at least sleep upon the matter, dismissed him for the night. next morning, at daybreak, ryhove was again closeted with him. the prince asked his sanguine partisan if he were still determined to carry out his project, with no more definite support than he had indicated? ryhove assured him, in reply, that he meant to do so; or to die in the attempt. the prince shrugged his shoulders, and soon afterwards seemed to fall into a reverie. ryhove continued talking, but it was soon obvious that his highness was not listening; and he therefore took his leave somewhat abruptly. hardly had he left the house, however, when the prince despatched saint aldegonde in search of him. that gentleman, proceeding to his hotel, walked straight into the apartment of ryhove, and commenced a conversation with a person whom he found there, but to his surprise he soon discovered, experienced politician though he was, that he had made an egregious blunder. he had opened a dangerous secret to an entire stranger, and ryhove coming into the apartment a few minutes afterwards, was naturally surprised to find the prince's chief councillor in close conversation about the plot with van rooyen, the burgomaster of denremonde. the flemish noble, however, always prompt in emergencies, drew his rapier, and assured the astonished burgomaster that he would either have his life on the instant, or his oath never to reveal a syllable of what he had heard. that functionary, who had neither desired the young noble's confidence, nor contemplated the honor of being run through the body as a consequence of receiving it, was somewhat aghast at the rapid manner in which these gentlemen transacted business. he willingly gave the required pledge, and was permitted to depart. the effect of the conference between saint aldegonde and ryhove was to convince the young partisan that the prince would neither openly countenance his project, nor be extremely vexed should it prove successful. in short, while, as in the case of the arrest of the state council, the subordinates were left to appear the principals in the transactions, the persons most intimate with william of orange were allowed to form satisfactory opinions as to his wishes, and to serve as instruments to his ends. "vive qui vince!" cried saint-aldegonde, encouragingly, to ryhove, shaking hands with him at parting. the conspirator immediately mounted, and rode off towards ghent. during his absence there had been much turbulence, but no decided outbreak, in that city. imbize had accosted the duke of aerschot in the street, and demanded when and how he intended to proclaim the restoration of the ancient charters. the haughty duke had endeavoured to shake off his importunate questioner, while imbize persisted, with increasing audacity, till aerschot lost his temper at last: "charters, charters!" he cried in a rage; "you shall learn soon, ye that are thus howling for charters, that we have still the old means of making you dumb, with a rope on your throats. i tell you this--were you ever so much hounded on by the prince of orange." the violence of the new governor excited the wrath of imbize. he broke from him abruptly, and rushed to a rendezvous of his confederates, every man of whom was ready for a desperate venture. groups of excited people were seen vociferating in different places. a drum was heard to rattle from time to time. nevertheless, the rising tumult seemed to subside again after a season, owing partly to the exertions of the magistrates, partly to the absence of ryhove. at four in the afternoon that gentleman entered the town, and riding directly to the head-quarters of the conspiracy, was incensed to hear that the work, which had begun so bravely, had been allowed to cool. "tis a time," he cried, "for vigilance. if we sleep now, we shall be dead in our beds before morning. better to fan the fire which has begun to blaze in the people's heart. better to gather the fruit while it is ripe. let us go forward, each with his followers, and i pledge myself to lead the way. let us scuttle the old ship of slavery; let us hunt the spanish inquisition, once for all, to the hell from whence it came!" "there spoke the voice of a man!" cried the flemish captain, mieghem, one of the chief conspirators; "lead on, ryhove, i swear to follow you as far as our legs will carry us." thus encouraged, ryhove, rushed about the city, calling upon the people everywhere to rise. they rose almost to a man. arming and mustering at different points, according to previous arrangements, a vast number assembled by toll of bell, after nightfall, on the public square, whence, under command of ryhove, they swept to the residence of aerschot at saint bavon. the guards, seeing the fierce mob approaching, brandishing spears and waving, torches, had scarce time to close the gates; as the people loudly demanded entrance and the delivery to them of the governor. both claims were refused. "let us burn the birds in their nests," cried ryhove, without hesitation. pitch, light wood, and other combustibles, were brought at his command, and in a few moments the palace would have been in flames, had not aerschot, seeing that the insurgents were in earnest, capitulated. as soon as the gates were open, the foremost of the mob rushed upon him, and would have torn him limb from limb, had not ryhove resolutely interfered, and twice protected the life of the governor, at the peril of his own. the duke was then made a prisoner, and, under a strong guard, was conveyed, still in his night-gown, and bare-footed, to the mansion of ryhove. all the other leading members of the catholic party were captured, the arrests proceeding till a late hour in the night. rassinghem, sweveghem, fisch, de la porta, and other prominent members of the flemish estates or council, were secured, but champagny was allowed to make his escape. the bishops of bruges and ypres were less fortunate. blood-councillor hessels, whose letter--genuine or counterfeited--had been so instrumental in hastening this outbreak, was most carefully guarded, and to him and to senator fisch the personal consequences of that night's work were to be very tragic. thus audaciously, successfully, and hitherto without bloodshed, was the anti-catholic revolution commenced in flanders. the event was the first of a long and most signal series. the deed was done. the provisional government was established, at the head of which was placed ryhove, to whom oaths of allegiance were rendered, subject to the future arrangements of the states-general and orange: on the th of november, the nobles, notables, and community of ghent published an address, in which they elaborately defended the revolution which had been effected and the arrests which had taken place; while the catholic party, with aerschot at its head, was declared to be secretly in league with don john to bring back the spanish troops, to overthrow the prince of orange, to deprive him of the protectorate of brabant, to set at nought the ghent treaty, and to suppress the reformed religion. the effect of this sudden rising of the popular party was prodigious throughout the netherlands. at the same time, the audacity of such extreme proceedings could hardly be countenanced by any considerable party in the states-general. champagny wrote to the prince of orange that, even if the letter of hessels were genuine, it proved nothing against aerschot, and he urged the necessity of suppressing such scene of licence immediately, through the influence of those who could command the passions of the mob. otherwise, he affirmed that all legitimate forms of justice would disappear, and that it would be easy to set the bloodhounds upon any game whatever. saint aldegonde wrote to the prince, that it would be a great point, but a very difficult one, to justify the ghent transaction; for there was little doubt that the hessels letter was a forgery. it was therefore as well, no doubt, that the prince had not decidedly committed himself to ryhove's plot; and thus deprived himself of the right to interfere afterwards, according to what seemed the claims of justice and sound policy. he now sent arend van dorp to ghent, to remonstrate with the leaders of the insurrection upon the violence of their measures, and to demand the liberation of the prisoners--a request which was only complied with in the case of aerschot. that nobleman was liberated on the th of november, under the condition that he would solemnly pledge himself to forget and forgive the treatment which he had received, but the other prisoners were retained in custody for a much longer period. a few weeks afterwards, the prince of orange visited ghent, at the earnest request of the four estates of flanders, and it was hoped that his presence would contribute to the restoration of tranquillity. this visit was naturally honored by a brilliant display of "rhetorical" spectacles and tableaux vivants; for nothing could exceed the passion of the netherlanders of that century for apologues and charades. in allegory they found an ever-present comforter in their deepest afflictions. the prince was escorted from the town-gate to the jacob's church amid a blaze of tar-barrels and torches, although it was mid-day, where a splendid exhibition had been arranged by that sovereign guild of rhetoric, "jesus with the balsam flower." the drama was called judas maccabaeus, in compliment to the prince. in the centre of the stage stood the hebrew patriot, in full armor, symbolizing the illustrious guest doing battle for his country. he was attended by the three estates of the country, ingeniously personified by a single individual, who wore the velvet bonnet of a noble, the cassock of a priest, end the breeches of a burgher. groups of allegorical personages were drawn up on the right and left;--courage, patriotism, freedom, mercy, diligence, and other estimable qualities upon one side, were balanced by murder, rapine, treason, and the rest of the sisterhood of crime on the other. the inquisition was represented as a lean and hungry hag. the "ghent pacification" was dressed in cramoisy satin, and wore a city on her head for a turban; while; tied to her apron-strings were catholicism and protestantism, bound in a loving embrace by a chain of seventeen links, which she was forging upon an anvil. under the anvil was an individual in complete harness, engaged in eating his heart; this was discord. in front of the scene stood history and rhetoric, attired as "triumphant maidens, in white garments," each with a laurel crown and a burning torch. these personages, after holding a rhymed dialogue between themselves, filled with wonderful conceits and quibbles, addressed the prince of orange and maccabaeus, one after the other, in a great quantity of very detestable verses. after much changing of scenes and groups, and an enormous quantity of flemish-woven poetry, the "ghent peace" came forward, leading a lion in one hand, and holding a heart of pure gold in the other. the heart, upon which was inscribed sinceritas, was then presented to the real prince, as he sat "reposing after the spectacle," and perhaps slightly yawning, the gift being accompanied by another tremendous discharge of complimentary verses. after this, william of orange was permitted to proceed towards the lodgings provided for him, but the magistrates and notables met him upon the threshold, and the pensionary made him a long oration. even after the prince was fairly housed, he had not escaped the fangs of allegory; for, while he sat at supper refreshing his exhausted frame after so much personification and metaphor, a symbolical personage, attired to represent the town corporation made his appearance, and poured upon him a long and particularly dull heroic poem. fortunately, this episode closed the labors of the day. on the th of december, , the states-general formally declared that don john was no longer stadholder, governor, nor captain-general, but an infractor of the peace which he had sworn to maintain, and an enemy of the fatherland. all natives of the country who should show him favor or assistance were declared rebels and traitors; and by a separate edict, issued the same day, it was ordained that an inventory of the estates of such persons should forthwith be taken. thus the war, which had for a brief period been suspended during the angry, tortuous, and hopeless negotiations which succeeded the arrival of don john, was once more to be let loose. to this point had tended all the policy of orange-faithful as ever to the proverb with which he had broken off the breda conferences, "that war was preferable to a doubtful peace." even, however, as his policy had pointed to a war as the necessary forerunner of a solid peace with spain, so had his efforts already advanced the cause of internal religious concord within the provinces themselves. on the th of december, a new act of union was signed at brussels, by which those of the roman church and those who had retired from that communion bound themselves to respect and to protect each other with mutual guarantees against all enemies whatsoever. here was a step beyond the ghent pacification, and in the same direction. the first treaty tacitly introduced toleration by suppressing the right of persecution, but the new union placed the reformed religion on a level with the old. this was the result of the prince's efforts; and, in truth, there was no lack of eagerness among these professors of a faith which had been so long under ban, to take advantage of his presence. out of dark alleys, remote thickets, subterranean conventicles, where the dissenters had so long been trembling for their lives, the oppressed now came forth into the light of day. they indulged openly in those forms of worship which persecution had affected to regard with as much holy horror as the badahuennan or hercynian mysteries of celtic ages could inspire, and they worshipped boldly the common god of catholic and puritan, in the words most consonant to their tastes, without dreading the gibbet as an inevitable result of their audacity. in truth, the time had arrived for bringing the northern and southern, the celtic and german, the protestant and catholic, hearts together, or else for acquiescing in their perpetual divorce. if the sentiment of nationality, the cause of a common fatherland, could now overcome the attachment to a particular form of worship--if a common danger and a common destiny could now teach the great lesson of mutual toleration, it might yet be possible to create a united netherland, and defy for ever the power of spain. since the union of brussels, of january, , the internal cancer of religious discord had again begun to corrode the body politic. the pacification of ghent had found the door open to religious toleration. it had not opened, but had left it open. the union of brussels had closed the door again. contrary to the hopes of the prince of orange and of the patriots who followed in his track, the sanction given to the roman religion had animated the catholics to fresh arrogance and fresh persecution. in the course of a few months, the only fruits of the new union, from which so much had been hoped, were to be seen in imprisonments, confiscations, banishments, executions. the perpetual edict, by which the fifteen provinces had united in acknowledging don john while the protestant stronghold of holland and zealand had been placed in a state of isolation by the wise distrust of orange, had widened the breach between catholics and protestants. the subsequent conduct of don john had confirmed the suspicions and demonstrated the sagacity of the prince. the seizure of namur and the open hostility avowed by the governor once more forced the provinces together. the suppressed flames of nationality burst forth again. catholic and protestant, fleming and hollander, instinctively approached each other, and felt the necessity of standing once more shoulder to shoulder in defence of their common rights. the prince of orange was called for by the unanimous cry of the whole country. he came to brussels. his first step, as already narrated, was to break off negotiations which had been already ratified by the votes of the states-general. the measure was reconsidered, under pretence of adding certain amendments. those amendments were the unconditional articles of surrender proposed for don john's signature on the th of september--articles which could only elicit words of defiance from his lips. thus far the prince's object was accomplished. a treacherous peace, which would have ensured destruction, was averted, but a new obstacle to the development of his broad and energetic schemes arose in the intrigue which brought the archduke from vienna. the cabals of orange's secret enemies were again thwarted with the same adroitness to which his avowed antagonists were forced to succumb. matthias was made the exponent of the new policy, the standard-bearer of the new union which the prince now succeeded in establishing; for his next step was immediately to impress upon the provinces which had thus united in casting down the gauntlet to a common enemy the necessity of uniting in a permanent league. one province was already lost by the fall of namur. the bonds of a permanent union for the other sixteen could be constructed of but one material--religious toleration, and for a moment, the genius of orange, always so far beyond his age, succeeded in raising the mass of his countrymen to the elevation upon which he had so long stood alone. the "new or nearer union of brussels" was signed on the th of december, eleven months after the formation of the first union. this was the third and, unfortunately, the last confederation of all the netherlands. the original records have been lost, but it is known that the measure was accepted unanimously in the estates-general as soon as presented. the leading catholic nobles were with the army, but a deputation, sent to the camp, returned with their signatures and hearty approval; with the signatures and approval of such determined catholics as the lalains, meluns, egmont, and la motte. if such men could unite for the sake of the fatherland in an act of religious toleration, what lofty hopes for the future was not the prince justified in forming; for it was the prince alone who accomplished this victory of reason over passion. as a monument, not only of his genius, but of the elevated aspirations of a whole people in an age of intolerance, the "closer union of brussels" deserves especial place in the history of human progress. unfortunately, it was destined to a brief existence. the battle of gemblours was its death-blow, and before the end of a month, the union thus hopefully constructed was shattered for ever. the netherland people was never united again. by the union of utrecht, seven states subsequently rescued their existence, and lived to construct a powerful republic. the rest were destined to remain for centuries in the condition of provinces to a distant metropolis, to be shifted about as make-weights in political balances, and only in our own age to come into the honorable rank of independent constitutional states. the prince had, moreover, strengthened himself for the coming struggle by an alliance with england. the thrifty but politic queen, fearing the result of the secret practices of alencon--whom orange, as she suspected, still kept in reserve to be played off, in case of need, against matthias and don john--had at last consented to a treaty of alliance and subsidy. on the th of january, , the marquis havre, envoy from the estates, concluded an arrangement in london, by which the queen was to lend them her credit--in other words, to endorse their obligations, to the amount of one hundred thousand pounds sterling. the money was to be raised wherever the states might be able to negotiate the bills, and her liability was to cease within a year. she was likewise to be collaterally secured by pledges from certain cities in the netherlands. this amount was certainly not colossal, while the conditions were sufficiently parsimonious. at the same time a beginning was made, and the principle of subsidy was established. the queen, furthermore, agreed to send five thousand infantry and one thousand cavalry to the provinces, under the command of an officer of high rank, who was to have a seat and vote in the netherland council of state. these troops were to be paid by the provinces, but furnished by the queen. the estates were to form no treaty without her knowledge, nor undertake any movement of importance without her consent. in case she should be herself attacked by any foreign power, the provinces were to assist her to the same extent as the amount of aid now afforded to themselves; and in case of a naval war, with a fleet of at least forty ships. it had already been arranged that the appointment of the prince of orange as lieutenant-general for matthias was a 'sine qua non' in any treaty of assistance with england. soon after the conclusion of this convention, sir thomas wilkes was despatched on a special mission to spain, and mr. leyton sent to confer privately with don john. it was not probable, however, that the diplomatic skill of either would make this new arrangement palatable to philip or his governor. within a few days after their signature of this important treaty, the prince had, at length, wholly succeeded in conquering the conflicting passions in the states-general, and in reconciling them, to a certain extent, with each other. the closer union had been accepted, and now thirty articles, which had been prepared under his superintendence, and had already on the th of december been accepted by matthias, were established as the fundamental terms, according to which the archduke was to be received as governor-general. no power whatever was accorded to the young man, who had come so far with eager and ambitious views. as the prince had neither solicited nor desired a visit which had, on the contrary, been the result of hostile machinations, the archduke could hardly complain that the power accorded him was but shadowy, and that his presence was rendered superfluous. it was not surprising that the common people gave him the name of greffier, or registering clerk to the prince; for his functions were almost limited to the signing of acts which were countersigned by orange. according to the stipulations of the queen of england, and the views of the whole popular party, the prince remained ruward of brabant, notwithstanding the appointment of a nominal governor-general, by whom his own duties were to be superseded. the articles which were laid down as the basis upon which the archduke was to be accepted; composed an ample representative constitution, by which all the legislative and many of the executive powers of government were bestowed upon the states-general or upon the council by them to be elected. to avoid remaining in the condition of a people thus left without a head, the states declared themselves willing to accept matthias as governor-general, on condition of the king's subsequent approbation, and upon the general basis of the ghent treaty. the archduke, moreover, was to take an oath of allegiance to the king and to the states-general at the same time. he was to govern the land by the advice of a state council, the members of which were to be appointed by the states-general, and were "to be native netherlanders, true patriots; and neither ambitious nor greedy." in all matters discussed before the state council, a majority of votes was to decide. the governor-general, with his council of state, should conclude nothing concerning the common affairs of the nation--such as requests, loans, treaties of peace or declarations of war, alliances or confederacies with foreign nations--without the consent of the states-general. he was to issue no edict or ordinance, and introduce no law, without the consent of the same body duly assembled, and representing each individual province. a majority of the members was declared necessary to a quorum of the council. all acts and despatches were to be drawn up by a member of the board. the states-general were to assemble when, where, and as often as, and remain in session as long as, they might think it expedient. at the request of any individual province, concerning matters about which a convention of the generality was customary, the other states should be bound to assemble without waiting for directions from the governor-general. the estates of each particular province were to assemble at their pleasure. the governor and council, with advice of the states-general, were to appoint all the principal military officers. troops were to be enrolled and garrisons established by and with the consent of the states. governors of provinces were to be appointed by the governor-general, with advice of his council, and with the consent of the estates of the province interested. all military affairs were to be conducted during war by the governor, with advice of his council, while the estates were to have absolute control over the levying and expenditure of the common funds of the country. it is sufficiently plain from this brief summary, that the powers thus conferred upon matthias alone, were absolutely null, while those which he might exercise in conjunction with the state council, were not much more extensive. the actual force of the government--legislative, executive, and, administrative--was lodged in the general assembly, while no authority was left to the king, except the nominal right to approve these revolutionary proceedings, according to the statement in the preamble. such a reservation in favor of his majesty seemed a superfluous sarcasm. it was furthermore resolved that the prince of orange should be appointed lieutenant-general for matthias, and be continued in his office of ruward. this constitution, drawn up under the superintendence of the prince, had been already accepted by matthias, while still at antwerp, and upon the th of january, , the ceremony of his inauguration took place. it was the third triumphal procession which brussels had witnessed within nine months. it was also the most brilliant of all; for the burghers, as if to make amends to the archduke for the actual nullity to which he had been reduced, seemed resolved to raise him to the seventh heaven of allegory. by the rhetorical guilds he was regarded as the most brilliant constellation of virtues which had yet shone above the flemish horizon. a brilliant cavalcade, headed by orange, accompanied by count john of nassau, the prince de chimay and other notables, met him at vilvoorde, and escorted him to the city gate. on an open field, outside the town, count bossu had arranged a review of troops, concluding with a sham-fight, which, in the words of a classical contemporary, seemed as "bloody a rencontre as that between duke miltiades of athens and king darius upon the plains of attics." the procession entered the louvain gate, through a splendid triumphal arch, filled with a band of invisible musicians. "i believe that orpheus had never played so melodiously on his harp," says the same authority, "nor apollo on his lyre, nor pan on his lute, as the city waits then performed." on entering the gates, matthias was at once delivered over to the hands of mythology, the burghers and rhetoricians taking possession of their illustrious captive, and being determined to outdo themselves in demonstrations of welcome. the representatives of the "nine nations" of brussels met him in the ritter-street, followed by a gorgeous retinue. although it was mid-day, all bore flaming torches. although it was january, the streets were strewed with flowers. the houses were festooned with garlands, and hung with brilliant silks and velvets. the streets were thronged with spectators, and encumbered with triumphal arches. on the grande place always the central scene in brussels, whether for comedies, or tournaments, or executions, the principal dramatic effects had been accumulated. the splendid front of the hotel de ville was wreathed with scarfs and banners; its windows and balconies, as well as those of the picturesque houses which formed the square, were crowded with gaily-dressed women. upon the area of the place, twenty-four theatres had been erected, where a aeries of magnificent living pictures were represented by the most beautiful young females that could be found in the city. all were attired in brocades, embroideries, and cloth of gold. the subjects of the tableaux vivants were, of course, most classic, for the netherlanders were nothing, if not allegorical; yet, as spectacles, provided by burghers and artisans for the amusement of their fellow-citizens, they certainly proved a considerable culture in the people who could thus be amused. all the groups were artistically arranged. upon one theatre stood juno with her peacock, presenting matthias with the city of brussels, which she held, beautifully modelled, in her hand. upon another, cybele gave him the keys, reason handed him a bridle, hebe a basket of flowers, wisdom a looking-glass and two law books, diligence a pair of spurs; while constancy, magnanimity, prudence, and other virtues, furnished him with a helmet; corslet, spear, and shield. upon other theatres, bellona presented him with several men-at-arms, tied in a bundle; fame gave him her trumpet, and glory her crown. upon one stage quintus curtius, on horseback, was seen plunging into the yawning abyss; upon six others scipio africanus was exhibited, as he appeared in the most picturesque moments of his career. the beardless archduke had never achieved anything, save his nocturnal escape from vienna in his night-gown; but the honest flemings chose to regard him as a re-incarnation of those two eminent romans. carried away by their own learning, they already looked upon him as a myth; and such indeed he was destined to remain throughout his netherland career. after surveying all these wonders, matthias was led up the hill again to the ducal palace, where, after hearing speeches and odes till he was exhausted, he was at last allowed to eat his supper and go to bed. meantime the citizens feasted in the streets. bonfires were blazing everywhere, at which the people roasted "geese, pigs, capons, partridges, and chickens," while upon all sides were the merriest piping and dancing. of a sudden, a fiery dragon was seen flying through the air. it poised for a while over the heads of the revelling crowd in the grande place, and then burst with a prodigious explosion, sending forth rockets and other fireworks in every direction. this exhibition, then a new one, so frightened the people, that they all took to their heels, "as if a thousand soldiers had assaulted them," tumbling over each other in great confusion, and so dispersing to their homes. the next day matthias took the oaths as governor-general, to support the new constitution, while the prince of orange was sworn in as lieutenant-general and governor of brabant. upon the next a splendid banquet was given them in the grand ball of the hotel de ville, by the states-general, and when the cloth was removed, rhetoric made her last and most ingenious demonstration, through the famous guild of "mary with the flower garland." two individuals--the one attired as a respectable burgher; the other as a clerical personage in gown and bands-made their appearance upon a stage, opposite the seats of their highnesses, and pronounced a long dialogue in rhyme. one of the speakers rejoiced in the appellation of the "desiring heart," the other was called "common comfort." common sense might have been more to the purpose, but appeared to have no part in the play. desiring heart, being of an inquisitive disposition, propounded a series of puzzling questions, mythological in their nature, which seemed like classical conundrums, having reference, mainly, to the proceedings of venus, neptune, juno, and other divinities. they appeared to have little to do with matthias or the matter in hand, but common comfort knew better. that clerical personage, accordingly, in a handsome allowance of rhymes, informed his despairing colleague that everything would end well; that jupiter, diana, venus, and the rest of them would all do their duty, and that belgica would be relieved from all her woes, at the advent of a certain individual. whereupon cried desiring heart, oh common comfort who is he? his name, and of what family? to which comfort responded by mentioning the archduke, in a poetical and highly-complimentary strain, with handsome allusions to the inevitable quintus curtius and scipio africanus. the concluding words of the speech were not spoken, but were taken as the cue for a splendid charade; the long-suffering scipio again making his appearance, in company with alexander and hannibal; the group typifying the future government of matthias. after each of these, heroic individuals had spouted a hundred lines or so, the play was terminated, and rhetoric took her departure. the company had remained at table during this long representation, and now the dessert was served, consisting of a "richly triumphant banquet of confectionary, marmalade, and all kinds of genteelnesses in sugar." meanwhile, don john sat chafing and almost frenzied with rage at namur. certainly he had reasons enough for losing his temper. never since the days of maximilian had king's brother been so bearded by rebels. the cross was humbled in the dust, the royal authority openly derided, his majesty's representative locked up in a fortress, while "the accursed prince of orange" reigned supreme in brussels, with an imperial archduke for his private secretary. the governor addressed a long, private, and most bitter letter to the emperor, for the purpose of setting himself right in the opinion of that potentate, and of giving him certain hints as to what was expected of the imperial court by philip and himself. he expressed confidence that the imperial commissioners would have some effect in bringing about the pacification of the netherlands, and protested his own strong desire for such a result, provided always that the two great points of the catholic religion and his majesty's authority were preserved intact. "in the hope that those articles would be maintained," said he, "i have emptied cities and important places of their garrisons, when i might easily have kept the soldiers, and with the soldiers the places, against all the world, instead of consigning them to the care of men who at this hour have arms in their hand against their natural prince." he declared vehemently that in all his conduct, since his arrival in the provinces, he had been governed exclusively by the interests of philip, an object which he should steadily pursue to the end. he urged, too, that the emperor, being of the same house as philip, and therefore more obliged than all others to sustain his quarrel, would do well to espouse his cause with all the warmth possible. "the forgetfulness by vassals," said don john, "of the obedience due to their sovereign is so dangerous, that all princes and potentates, even those at the moment exempt from trouble; should assist in preparing the remedy, in order that their subjects also may not take it into their heads to do the like, liberty being a contagious disease, which goes on infecting one neighbour after another, if the cure be not promptly applied." it was, he averred, a desperate state of things for monarchs, when subjects having obtained such concessions as the netherlanders had obtained, nevertheless loved him and obeyed him so little. they showed, but too clearly, that the causes alleged by them had been but pretexts, in order to effect designs, long ago conceived, to overthrow the ancient constitution of the country, and to live thenceforward in unbridled liberty. so many indecent acts had been committed prejudicial to religion and to his majesty's grandeur, that the governor avowed his, determination to have no farther communication with the provinces without fresh commands to that effect. he begged the emperor to pay no heed to what the states said, but to observe what they did. he assured him that nothing could be more senseless than the reports that philip and his governor-general in the netherlands were negotiating with france, for the purpose of alienating the provinces from the austrian crown. philip, being chief of the family, and sovereign of the netherlands, could not commit the absurdity of giving away his own property to other people, nor would don john choose to be an instrument in so foolish a transaction. the governor entreated the emperor, therefore, to consider such fables as the invention of malcontents and traitors, of whom there were no lack at his court, and to remember that nothing was more necessary for the preservation of the greatness of his family than to cultivate the best relations with all its members. "therefore," said he, with an absurd affectation of candor, "although i make no doubt whatever that the expedition hitherwards of the archduke matthias has been made with the best intentions; nevertheless, many are of opinion that it would have been better altogether omitted. if the archduke," he continued, with hardly dissembled irony, "be desirous of taking charge of his majesty's affairs, it would be preferable to employ himself in the customary manner. your majesty would do a laudable action by recalling him from this place, according to your majesty's promise to me to that effect." in conclusion, don john complained that difficulties had been placed in his way for making levies of troops in the empire, while every facility had been afforded to the rebels. he therefore urgently insisted that so unnatural and unjust a condition of affairs should be remedied. don john was not sorry in his heart that the crisis was at last come. his chain was broken. his wrath exploded in his first interview with leyton, the english envoy, whom queen elizabeth had despatched to calm, if possible, his inevitable anger at her recent treaty with the states. he knew nothing of england, he said, nor of france, nor of the emperor. his catholic majesty had commissioned him now to make war upon these rebellious provinces. he would do it with all his heart. as for the emperor, he would unchain the turks upon him for his perfidy. as for the burghers of brussels, they would soon feel his vengeance. it was very obvious that these were not idle threats. war had again broken loose throughout these doomed provinces. a small but well-appointed army had been rapidly collecting under the banner of don john at luxemburg, peter ernest mansfeld had brought many well-trained troops from france, and prince alexander of parma had arrived with several choice and veteran regiments of italy and spain. the old schoolfellow, playmate and comrade of don john, was shocked-on his arrival, to witness the attenuated frame and care-worn features of his uncle. the son of charles the fifth, the hero of lepanto, seemed even to have lost the air of majesty which was so natural to him, for petty insults, perpetual crosses, seemed to have left their squalid traces upon his features. nevertheless, the crusader was alive again, at the notes of warlike preparations which now resounded throughout the land. on the th of january he issued a proclamation, couched in three languages--french, german, and flemish. he declared in this document that he had not come to enslave the provinces, but to protect them. at the same time he meant to re-establish his majesty's authority, and the down-trod religion of rome. he summoned all citizens and all soldiers throughout the provinces to join his banners, offering them pardon for their past offences, and protection against heretics and rebels. this declaration was the natural consequence of the exchange of defiances which had already taken place, and it was evident also that the angry manifesto was soon to be followed up by vigorous blows. the army of don john already numbered more than twenty thousand well-seasoned and disciplined veterans. he was himself the most illustrious chieftain in europe. he was surrounded by lieutenants cf the most brilliant reputation. alexander of parma, who had fought with distinction at lepanto, was already recognised as possessing that signal military genius which was soon to stamp him as the first soldier of his age, while mansfeld, mondragon, mendoza, and other distinguished officers, who had already won so much fame in the netherlands, had now returned to the scene of their former achievements. on the other hand, the military affairs of the states were in confusion. troops in nearly equal numbers to those of the royal army had been assembled, but the chief offices had been bestowed, by a mistaken policy, upon the great nobles. already the jealousy of orange, entertained by their whole order was painfully apparent. notwithstanding the signal popularity which had made his appointment as lieutenant-general inevitable it was not easy for him always to vindicate his authority over captious and rival magnates. he had every wish to conciliate the affections of men whom he could not in his heart respect, and he went as far in gratifying their ambition as comported with his own dignity; perhaps farther than was consistent with the national interests. he was still willing to trust lalain, of whose good affection to the country he felt sure. re had even been desirous of declining the office of lieutenant-general, in order to avoid giving that nobleman the least occasion to think "that he would do him, or any other gentleman of the army, prejudice in any single matter in the world." this magnanimity had, not been repaid with corresponding confidence. we have already seen that lalain had been secretly in the interest of anjou ever since his wife and himself had lost their hearts to margaret of navarre; yet the count was chief commander of the infantry in the states' army then assembled. robert melun, vicomte de gand, was commander of the cavalry, but he had recently been private envoy from don john to the english queen. both these gentlemen, together with pardieu de la motte, general of the artillery, were voluntarily absent from the forces, under pretext of celebrating the wedding of the seigneur de bersel with the niece and heiress of the unfortunate marquis of bergen. the ghost of that ill-starred noble might almost have seemed to rise at the nuptial banquet of his heiress, to warn the traitors of the signal and bloody massacre which their treachery was soon to occasion. philip egmont, eldest son of the famous lamoral, was with the army, as was the seigneur de heze, hero of the state council's arrest, and the unstable havre. but little was to be hoped from such leaders. indeed, the affairs of the states continued to be in as perplexed a condition as that which honest john of nassau had described some weeks before. "there were very few patriots," he had said, "but plenty of priests, with no lack of inexperienced lads--some looking for distinction, and others for pelf." the two armies had been mustered in the latter days of january. the pope had issued a bull for the benefit of don john, precisely similar to those formerly employed in the crusades against the saracens. authority was given him to levy contributions upon ecclesiastical property, while full absolution, at the hour of death, for all crimes committed during a whole lifetime, was proclaimed to those who should now join the standard of the cross. there was at least no concealment. the crescent-wearing zealanders had been taken at their word, and the whole nation of netherlanders were formally banned as unbelievers. the forces of don john were mustered at marche in luxemburg; those of the states in a plain within a few miles of namur. both armies were nearly equal in number, amounting to nearly twenty thousand each, including a force of two thousand cavalry on each side. it had been the original intention of the patriots to attack don john in namur. having learned, however, that he purposed marching forth himself to offer battle, they decided to fall back upon gemblours, which was nine miles distant from that city. on the last day of january, they accordingly broke up their camp at saint martius, before dawn, and marched towards gemblours. the chief commander was de goignies, an old soldier of charles the fifth, who had also fought at saint quintin. the states' army was disposed in three divisions. the van consisted of the infantry regiments of de heze and montigny, flanked by a protective body of light horse. the centre, composed of the walloon and german regiments, with a few companies of french, and thirteen companies of scotch and english under colonel balfour, was commanded by two most distinguished officers, bossu and champagny. the rear, which, of course, was the post of responsibility and honor, comprised all the heavy cavalry, and was commanded by philip egmont and lumey de la marck. the marquis havre and the general-in-chief, goignies, rode to and fro, as the army proceeded, each attended by his staff. the troops of don john broke up from before namur with the earliest dawn, and marched in pursuit of the retiring foe. in front was nearly the whole of the cavalry-carabineers, lancers, and heavy dragoons. the centre, arranged in two squares, consisted chiefly of spanish infantry, with a lesser number of germans. in the rear came the walloons, marching also in a square, and protecting the baggage and ammunition. charles mansfeld had been left behind with a reserved force, stationed on the meuse; ottavio gonzaga commanded in front, ernest mansfeld brought up the rear; while in the centre rode don john himself, attended by the prince of parma. over his head streamed the crucifix-emblazoned banner, with its memorable inscription--in hoc signo vici turcos, in hoc haereticos vincam. small detachments of cavalry had been sent forward; under olivera and acosta, to scour the roads and forests, and to disturb all ambuscades which might have been prepared. from some stragglers captured by these officers, the plans of the retreating generals were learned. the winter's day was not far advanced, when the rearward columns of the states' army were descried in the distance. don john, making a selection of some six hundred cavalry, all picked men, with a thousand infantry, divided the whole into two bodies, which he placed under command of gonzaga and the famous old christopher mondragon. these officers received orders to hang on the rear of the enemy, to harass him, and to do him all possible damage consistent with the possibility of avoiding a general engagement, until the main army under parma and don john should arrive. the orders were at first strictly obeyed. as the skirmishing grew hotter, however, goazaga observed that a spirited cavalry officer, named perotti, had already advanced, with a handful of men, much further within the reach of the hostile forces than was deemed expedient. he sent hastily to recal the too eager chieftain. the order, delivered in a tone more peremptory than agreeable, was flatly disobeyed. "tell ottavio gonzaga," said perotti, "that i never yet turned my back on the enemy, nor shall i now begin. moreover, were i ever so much inclined to do so, retreat is impossible." the retiring army was then proceeding along the borders of a deep ravine, filled with mire and water, and as broad and more dangerous than a river. in the midst of the skirmishing, alexander of parma rode up to reconnoitre. he saw at once that the columns of the enemy were marching unsteadily to avoid being precipitated into this creek. he observed the waving of their spears, the general confusion of their ranks, and was quick to take advantage of the fortunate moment. pointing out to the officers about him the opportunity thus offered of attacking the retiring army unawares in flank, he assembled, with great rapidity, the foremost companies of cavalry already detached from the main body. mounting a fresh and powerful horse, which camillo monte held in readiness for him, he signified his intention of dashing through the dangerous ravine, and dealing a stroke where it was least expected, "tell don john of austria," he cried to an officer whom he sent back to the commander-in-chief, "that alexander of parma has plunged into the abyss, to perish there, or to come-forth again victorious." the sudden thought was executed with lightning-like celerity. in an instant the bold rider was already struggling through the dangerous swamp; in another, his powerful charger had carried him across. halting for a few minutes, lance in rest, till his troops had also forced their passage, gained the level ground unperceived, and sufficiently breathed their horses, he drew up his little force in a compact column. then, with a few words of encouragement, he launched them at the foe. the violent and entirely unexpected shock was even more successful than the prince had anticipated. the hostile cavalry reeled and fell into hopeless confusion, egmont in vain striving to rally them to resistance. that name had lost its magic. goignies also attempted, without success, to restore order among the panic-struck ranks. the sudden conception of parma, executed as suddenly and in so brilliant a manner, had been decisive. assaulted in flank and rear at the same moment, and already in temporary confusion, the cavalry of the enemy turned their backs and fled. the centre of the states' army thus left exposed, was now warmly attacked by parma. it had, moreover, been already thrown into disorder by the retreat of its own horse, as they charged through them in rapid and disgraceful panic. the whole army bloke to pieces at once, and so great was the trepidation, that the conquered troops had hardly courage to run away. they were utterly incapable of combat. not a blow was struck by the fugitives. hardly a man in the spanish ranks was wounded; while, in the course of an hour and a half, the whole force of the enemy was exterminated. it is impossible to state with accuracy the exact numbers slain. some accounts spoke of ten thousand killed, or captive, with absolutely no loss on the royal side. moreover, this slaughter was effected, not by the army under don john, but by so small a fragment of it, that some historians have even set down the whole number of royalists engaged at the commencement of the action, at six hundred, increased afterwards to twelve hundred. by this calculation, each spaniard engaged must have killed ten enemies with his own hand; and that within an hour and a half's space! other historians more wisely omit the exact statistics of the massacre, and allow that a very few--ten or eleven, at most--were slain within the spanish ranks. this, however, is the utmost that is claimed by even the netherland historians, and it is, at any rate, certain that the whole states' army was annihilated. rarely had a more brilliant exploit been performed by a handful of cavalry. to the distinguished alexander of parma, who improvised so striking and complete a victory out of a fortuitous circumstance, belonged the whole credit of the day, for his quick eye detected a passing weakness of the enemy, and turned it to terrible account with the promptness which comes from genius alone. a whole army was overthrown. everything belonging to the enemy fell into the hands of the spaniards. thirty-four standards, many field-pieces, much camp equipage, and ammunition, besides some seven or eight thousand dead bodies, and six hundred living prisoners, were the spoils of that winter's day. of the captives, some were soon afterwards hurled off the bridge at namur, and drowned like dogs in the meuse, while the rest were all hanged, none escaping with life. don john's clemency was not superior to that of his sanguinary predecessors. and so another proof was added--if proofs were still necessary of spanish prowess. the netherlanders may be pardoned if their foes seemed to them supernatural, and almost invulnerable. how else could these enormous successes be accounted for? how else could thousands fall before the spanish swords, while hardly a single spanish corpse told of effectual resistance? at jemmingen, alva had lost seven soldiers, and slain seven thousand; in the antwerp fury, two hundred spaniards, at most, had fallen, while eight thousand burghers and states' troops had been butchered; and now at gemblours, six, seven, eight, ten--heaven knew how many--thousand had been exterminated, and hardly a single spaniard had been slain! undoubtedly, the first reason for this result was the superiority of the spanish soldiers. they were the boldest, the best disciplined, the most experienced in the world. their audacity, promptness, and ferocity made them almost invincible. in this particular action, at least half the army of don john was composed of spanish or spanish-italian veterans. moreover, they were commanded by the most renowned captains of the age--by don john himself, and alexander of parma, sustained by such veterans as mondragon, the hero of the memorable submarine expeditions; mendoza, the accomplished cavalry officer, diplomatist, and historian; and mansfeld, of whom don john had himself written to the king that his majesty had not another officer of such account in all the netherlands. such officers as these, besides gonzaga, camillo monte, mucio pagano, at the head of such troops as fought that day under the banner of the cross, might go far in accounting for this last and most tremendous victory of the inquisition. on the other hand, although bossu and champagny were with the states' army, yet their hearts were hardly with the cause. both had long been loyal, and had earned many laurels against the rebels, while champagny was still devoutly a papist, and wavered painfully between his hatred to heresy and to spain. egmont and de heze were raw, unpractised lads, in whom genius did not come to supply the place of experience. the commander, de goignies, was a veteran, but a veteran who had never gained much glory, and the chiefs of the cavalry, infantry, and artillery, were absent at the brussels wedding. the news of this additional massacre inflicted upon a nation, for which berghen and montigny had laid down their lives, was the nuptial benediction for berghen's heiress; for it was to the chief wedding guests upon, that occasion that the disaster was justly attributed. the rank and file of the states' army were mainly mercenaries, with whom the hope of plunder was the prevailing motive; the chief commanders were absent; while those officers who were with the troops were neither heartily friendly to their own flag nor sufficiently experienced to make it respected. etext editor's bookmarks: absurd affectation of candor always less apt to complain of irrevocable events imagined, and did the work of truth judas maccabaeus neither ambitious nor greedy superfluous sarcasm motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley chapter v. towns taken by don john--wrath excited against the aristocratic party by the recent defeat--attempts upon amsterdam--"satisfaction" of amsterdam and its effects--de selles sent with royal letters from spain--terms offered by philip--proclamation of don john-- correspondence between de selles and the states-general--between the king and the governor-general--new forces raised by the states--st. aldegonde at the diet--municipal revolution in amsterdam--the prince's letter on the subject of the anabaptists of middelburg-- the two armies inactive--de la none--action at rijnemants--john casimir--perverse politics of queen elizabeth--alencon in the netherlands--portrait of the duke--orange's position in regard to him--avowed and supposed policy of the french court--anger of elizabeth--terms arranged between alencon and the estates--renewed negotiations with don john--severe terms offered him--interview of the english envoys with the governor--despondency of don john-- orange's attempts to enforce a religious peace--his isolation in sentiment--the malcontent party--count john governor of gelderland --proposed form of religious peace--proclamation to that effect by orange, in antwerp--a petition in favor of the roman church presented by champagny and other catholic nobles to the states-- general--consequent commotion in brussels--champagny and others imprisoned--indolence and poverty of the two armies--illness and melancholy of don john--his letters to doria, to mendoza, and to the king--death of don john--suspicions of poison--pompous burial-- removal of his body to spain--concluding remarks upon his character. don john having thus vindicated his own military fame and the amazing superiority of the spanish arms, followed up his victory by the rapid reduction of many towns of second-rate importance louvain, judoigne, tirlemont, aerschot, bauvignes, sichem, nivelle, roeux, soignies, binch, beaumont, walcourt, tviaubeuge, and chimay, either submitted to their conqueror, or were taken after short sieges. the usual atrocities were inflicted upon the unfortunate inhabitants of towns where resistance was attempted. the commandant of sichem was hanged out of his own window, along with several chief burghers and officers, while the garrison was put to the sword, and the bodies cast into the denver. the only crime committed by these unfortunates was to have ventured a blow or two in behalf of the firesides which they were employed to protect. in brussels, on the other hand, there was less consternation excited by these events than boundless rage against the aristocratic party, for the defeat of gemblours was attributed, with justice, to the intrigues and the incapacity of the catholic magnates. it was with difficulty that orange, going about by night from house to house, from street to street, succeeded in calming the indignation of the people, and in preventing them from sweeping in a mass to the residence of the leading nobles, in order to inflict summary vengeance on the traitors. all looked to the prince as their only saviour, not a thought nor a word being wasted upon matthias. not a voice was raised in the assembly to vindicate the secret proceedings of the catholic party, nor to oppose the measures which the prince might suggest. the terrible disaster had taught the necessity of union. all parties heartily joined in the necessary steps to place the capital in a state of complete defence, and to assemble forthwith new troops to take the place of the army just annihilated. the victor gained nothing by his victory, in comparison with the profit acquired by the states through their common misfortune. nor were all the towns which had recently fallen into the hands of don john at all comparable in importance to the city of amsterdam, which now, by a most timely arrangement, furnished a rich compensation to the national party for the disaster of gemblours. since the conclusion of the ghent pacification, it had been the most earnest wish of the prince, and of holland and zealand, to recover possession of this most important city. the wish was naturally shared by every true patriot in the states-general. it had, however, been extremely difficult to arrange the terms of the "satisfaction." every fresh attempt at an amicable compromise was wrecked upon the obstinate bigotry of the leading civic authorities. they would make no agreement to accept the authority of orange, except, as saint aldegonde expressed himself; upon terms which would enable them "to govern their governor." the influence of the monks, who were resident in large numbers within the city, and of the magistrates, who were all stanch catholics, had been hitherto sufficient to outweigh the efforts made by the large masses of the reformed religionists composing the bulk of the population. it was, however, impossible to allow amsterdam to remain in this isolated and hostile attitude to the rest of holland. the prince, having promised to use no coercion, and loyally adhering to his pledge, had only with extreme difficulty restrained the violence of the hollanders and zealanders, who were determined, by fair means or foul, to restore the capital city to its natural place within his stadholderate. he had been obliged, on various occasions, particularly on the st of october of the preceding year, to address a most decided and peremptory letter to the estates of holland and zealand, forbidding the employment of hostile measures against amsterdam. his commands had been reluctantly, partially, and only temporarily obeyed. the states desisted from their scheme of reducing the city by famine, but they did not the less encourage the secret and unofficial expeditions which were daily set on foot to accomplish the annexation by a sudden enterprise. late in november, a desperate attempt had been made by colonel helling, in conjunction with governor sonoy, to carry the city by surprise. the force which the adventurer collected for the purpose was inadequate, and his plans were unskilfully arranged. he was himself slain in the streets, at the very commencement of the action; whereupon, in the quaint language of the contemporary chronicler, "the hearts of his soldiers sank in their shoes," and they evacuated the city with much greater rapidity than they had entered it. the prince was indignant at these violent measures, which retarded rather than advanced the desired consummation. at the same time it was an evil of immense magnitude--this anomalous condition of his capital. ceaseless schemes were concerted by the municipal and clerical conspirators within its walls, and various attempts were known, at different times, to have been contemplated by don john, to inflict a home-thrust upon the provinces of holland and zealand at the most vulnerable and vital point. the "satisfaction" accepted by utrecht, in the autumn of , had, however, paved the way for the recovery of amsterdam; so that upon february the th, , certain deputies from utrecht succeeded at last in arranging terms, which were accepted by the sister city. the basis of the treaty was, as usual, the nominal supremacy of the catholic religion, with toleration for the reformed worship. the necessary effect would be, as in harlem, utrecht, and other places, to establish the new religion upon an entire equality with the old. it was arranged that no congregations were to be disturbed in their religious exercises in the places respectively assigned to them. those of the reformed faith were to celebrate their worship without the walls. they were, however, to enjoy the right of burying their dead within these precincts, and it is singular how much importance was attached at that day to a custom, at which the common sentiment and the common sense of modern times revolt. "to bury our dead within our own cities is a right hardly to be denied to a dog," said the prince of orange; and accordingly this right was amply secured by the new satisfaction of amsterdam. it was, however, stipulated that the funerals should be modest, and attended by no more than twenty-four persons at once. the treaty was hailed with boundless joy in holland and zealand, while countless benedictions were invoked upon the "blessed peace-makers," as the utrecht deputies walked through the streets of amsterdam. there is no doubt that the triumph thus achieved by the national party far counterbalanced the governor-general's victory at gemblours. meantime, the seigneur de selles, brother of the deceased noircarmes, had arrived from spain. he was the special bearer of a letter from the king to the states-general, written in reply to their communications of the th of august and th of september of the previous year. the tone of the royal despatch was very affectionate, the substance such as entirely to justify the whole policy of orange. it was obvious that the penetrating and steadfast statesman had been correct in refusing to be moved to the right or the left by the specious language of philip's former letters, or by the apparent frankness of don john. no doubt the governor had been sincere in his desire for peace, but the prince knew very well his incapacity to confer that blessing. the prince knew--what no man else appeared fully to comprehend at that epoch--that the mortal combat between the inquisition and the reformation was already fully engaged. the great battle between divine reason and right divine, on which the interests of unborn generations were hanging, was to be fought out, before the eyes of all christendom, on the plain of the netherlands. orange was willing to lay down his arms if he could receive security for the reformed worship. he had no desire to exterminate the ancient religion, but he meant also to protect the new against extermination. such security, he felt, would never be granted, and he had therefore resolutely refused to hearken to don john, for he was sure that peace with him was impossible. the letters now produced by de selles confirmed his positions completely. the king said not a word concerning the appointment of a new governor-general, but boldly insisted upon the necessity of maintaining the two cardinal points--his royal supremacy, and the catholic religion upon the basis adopted by his father, the emperor charles the fifth. this was the whole substance of his communication: the supremacy of royalty and of papacy as in the time of charles the fifth. these cabalistic words were repeated twice in the brief letter to the estates. they were repeated five times in the instructions furnished by his majesty to de selles. the letter and the instructions indeed contained nothing else. two simples were offered for the cure of the body politic, racked by the fever and convulsion of ten horrible years--two simples which the patient could hardly be so unreasonable as to reject--unlimited despotism and religious persecution. the whole matter lay in a nut-shell, but it was a nut-shell which enclosed the flaming edicts of charles the fifth, with their scaffolds, gibbets, racks, and funeral piles. the prince and the states-general spurned such pacific overtures, and preferred rather to gird themselves for the combat. that there might be no mistake about the matter, don john, immediately after receiving the letter, issued a proclamation to enforce the king's command. he mentioned it as an acknowledged fact that the states-general had long ago sworn the maintenance of the two points of royal and catholic supremacy, according to the practice under the emperor charles. the states instantly published an indignant rejoinder, affirming the indisputable truth, that they had sworn to the maintenance of the ghent pacification, and proclaiming the assertion of don john an infamous falsehood. it was an outrage upon common sense, they said, that the ghent treaty could be tortured into sanctioning the placards and the inquisition, evils which that sacred instrument had been expressly intended to crush. a letter was then formally addressed to his majesty, in the name of the archduke matthias--and of the estates, demanding the recal of don john and the, maintenance of the ghent pacification. de seller, in reply, sent a brief, deprecatory paper, enclosing a note from don john, which the envoy acknowledged might seem somewhat harsh in its expressions. the letter contained, indeed, a sufficiently fierce and peremptory summons to the states to obey the king's commands with regard to the system of charles the fifth, according to their previous agreement, together with a violent declaration of the governor's displeasure that they had dared to solicit the aid of foreign princes. on the th of february came a proposition from de seller that the prince, of orange should place himself in the hands of don john, while the prince of parma, alone and without arms, would come before the assembly, to negotiate with them upon these matters. the reply returned by the states-general to this absurd suggestion expressed their regret that the son of the duchess margaret should have taken part with the enemy of the netherlanders, complained of the bull by which the pope had invited war against them as if they had been saracens, repeated their most unanswerable argument--that the ghent pacification had established a system directly the reverse of that which existed under charles the fifth--and affirmed their resolution never more to submit to spanish armies, executioners, edicts, or inquisitions, and never more to return to the principles of the emperor and of alva. to this diplomatic correspondence succeeded a war of words and of pamphlets, some of them very inflammatory and very eloquent. meantime, the preparations for active hostilities were proceeding daily. the prince of orange, through his envoys in england, had arranged for subsidies in the coming campaign, and for troops which were to be led to the netherlands, under duke casimir of the palatinate. he sent commissioners through the provinces to raise the respective contributions agreed upon, besides an extraordinary quota of four hundred thousand guilders monthly. he also negotiated a loan of a hundred and twenty thousand guilders from the citizens of antwerp. many new taxes were imposed by his direction, both upon income and upon consumption. by his advice, however, and with the consent of the states-general, the provinces of holland and zealand held no community of burthens with the other provinces, but of their own free will contributed more than the sums for which they would have been assessed. mr. leyton, who was about to return from his unsuccessful mission from elizabeth to don john, was requested by the states-general to convey to her majesty a faithful report of the recent correspondence, and especially of the language held by the governor-general. he was also urged to use his influence with the queen, to the end that her promises of assistance might be speedily fulfilled. troops were rapidly enrolled, and again, by the same honest but mistaken policy, the chief offices were conferred upon the great nobles--aerschot, champagny, bossu, egmont, lalain, the viscount of ghent, baron de ville, and many others, most of whom were to desert the cause in the hour of its need. on the other hand, don john was proceeding with his military preparations upon an extensive scale. the king had recently furnished him with one million nine hundred thousand dollars, and had promised to provide him with two hundred thousand more, monthly. with these funds his majesty estimated that an army of thirty thousand foot, sixteen thousand cavalry, and thirty pieces of artillery, could be levied and kept on foot. if more remittances should prove to be necessary, it was promised that they should be forthcoming. this was the result of many earnest remonstrances made by the governor concerning the dilatory policy of the king. wearied with being constantly ordered "to blow hot and cold with the same, breath," he had insisted that his majesty should select the hot or the cold, and furnish him with the means of enforcing the choice. for himself, don john assured his brother that the hottest measures were most to his taste, and most suitable to the occasion. fire and sword could alone save the royal authority, for all the provinces had "abandoned themselves, body and soul, to the greatest heretic and tyrant that prince ever had for vassal." unceasing had been the complaints and entreaties of the captain-general, called forth by the apathy or irresolution of philip. it was--only by assuring him that the netherlands actually belonged to orange, that the monarch could be aroused. "his they are; and none other's," said the governor, dolefully. the king had accordingly sent back de billy, don john's envoy; with decided injunctions to use force and energy to put down the revolt at once, and with an intimation that funds might be henceforth more regularly depended upon, as the indian fleets were expected in july. philip also advised his brother to employ a portion of his money in purchasing the governors and principal persons who controlled the cities and other strong places belonging to the states. meantime, don john thundered forth a manifesto which had been recently prepared in madrid, by which the estates, both general and particular, were ordered forthwith to separate, and forbidden to assemble again, except by especial licence. all commissions, civil or military, granted by states' authority, were moreover annulled, together with a general prohibition of any act of obedience to such functionaries, and of contribution to any imposts which might be levied by their authority. such thunders were now comparatively harmless, for the states had taken their course, and were busily engaged, both at home and abroad, in arming for the conflict. saint aldegonde was deputed to attend the imperial diet, then in session at worms, where he delivered an oration, which was very celebrated in its day as a composition, but, which can hardly be said to have produced much practical effect. the current was setting hard in germany against the reformed religion and against the netherland cause, the augsburg confessionists showing hardly more sympathy with dutch calvinists than with spanish papists. envoys from don john also attended the diet, and requested saint aldegonde to furnish them with a copy of his oration. this he declined to do. while in germany, saint aldegonde was informed by john casimir that duke charles of sweden, had been solicited to furnish certain ships of war for a contemplated operation against amsterdam. the duke had himself given information of this plot to the prince palatine. it was therefore natural that saint aldegonde should forthwith despatch the intelligence to his friends in the netherlands, warning them of the dangers still to be apprehended from the machinations of the catholic agents and functionaries in amsterdam; for although the reformation had made rapid progress in that important city since the conclusion of the satisfaction, yet the magistracy remained catholic. william bardez, son of a former high-sheriff, a warm partisan of orange and of the "religion," had already determined to overthrow that magistracy and to expel the friars who infested the city. the recent information despatched by saint aldegonde confirmed him in his purpose. there had been much wrangling between the popish functionaries and those of the reformed religion concerning the constitution of the burgher guard. the calvinists could feel no security for their own lives, or the repose of the commonwealth of holland, unless they were themselves allowed a full participation in the government of those important bands. they were, moreover, dissatisfied with the assignment which had been made of the churchyards to the members of their communion. these causes of discord had maintained a general irritation among the body of the inhabitants, and were now used as pretexts by bardez for his design. he knew the city to be ripe for the overthrow of the magistracy, and he had arranged with governor sonoy to be furnished with a sufficient number of well-tried soldiers, who were to be concealed in the houses of the confederates. a large number of citizens were also ready to appear at his bidding with arms in their hands. on the th of may, he wrote to sonoy, begging him to hold himself in readiness, as all was prepared within the city. at the same time, he requested the governor to send him forthwith a "morion and a buckler of proof;" for, he intended to see the matter fairly through. sonoy answered encouragingly, and sent him the armor, as directed. on the th of may, bardez, with four confederates, went to the council-room, to remonstrate with the senate concerning the grievances which had been so often discussed. at about mid-day, one of the confederates, upon leaving the council-room, stepped out for a moment upon the balcony, which looked towards the public square. standing there for a moment, he gravely removed his hat, and then as gravely replaced it upon his head. this was a preconcerted signal. at the next instant a sailor was seen to rush across the square, waving a flag in both hands. "all ye who love the prince of orange, take heart and follow me!" he shouted. in a moment the square was alive. soldiers and armed citizens suddenly sprang forth, as if from the bowels of the earth. bardez led a strong force directly into the council-chamber, and arrested every one of the astonished magistrates. at the same time, his confederates had scoured the town and taken every friar in the city into custody. monks and senators were then marched solemnly down towards the quay, where a vessel was in readiness to receive them. "to the gallows with them--to the gallows with them!" shouted the populace, as they passed along. "to the gibbet, whither they have brought many a good fellow before his time!" such were the openly, expressed desires of their fellow-citizens, as these dignitaries and holy men proceeded to what they believed their doom. although treated respectfully by those who guarded them, they were filled with trepidation, for they believed the execrations of the populace the harbingers of their fate. as they entered the vessel, they felt convinced that a watery death had been substituted for the gibbet. poor old heinrich dirckzoon, ex-burgomaster, pathetically rejected a couple of clean shirts which his careful wife had sent him by the hands of the housemaid. "take them away; take them home again," said the rueful burgomaster; "i shall never need clean shirts again in this world." he entertained no doubt that it was the intention of his captors to scuttle the vessel as soon as they had put a little out to sea, and so to leave them to their fate. no such tragic end was contemplated, however, and, in fact, never was a complete municipal revolution accomplished in so good-natured and jocose a manner. the catholic magistrates and friars escaped with their fright. they were simply turned out of town, and forbidden, for their lives, ever to come back again. after the vessel had proceeded a little distance from the city, they were all landed high and dry upon a dyke, and so left unharmed within the open country. a new board of magistrates, of which stout william bardez was one, was soon appointed; the train-bands were reorganized, and the churches thrown open to the reformed worship--to the exclusion, at first, of the catholics. this was certainly contrary to the ghent treaty, and to the recent satisfaction; it was also highly repugnant to the opinions of orange. after a short time, accordingly, the catholics were again allowed access to the churches, but the tables had now been turned for ever in the capital of holland, and the reformation was an established fact throughout that little province. similar events occurring upon the following day at harlem, accompanied with some bloodshed--for which, however, the perpetrator was punished with death--opened the great church of that city to the reformed congregations, and closed them for a time to the catholics. thus, the cause of the new religion was triumphant in holland and zealand, while it was advancing with rapid strides through the other provinces. public preaching was of daily occurrence everywhere. on a single sunday; fifteen different ministers of the reformed religion preached in different places in antwerp. "do you think this can be put down?" said orange to the remonstrating burgomaster of that city. "'tis for you to repress it," said the functionary, "i grant your highness full power to do so." "and do you think," replied the prince, "that i can do at this late moment, what the duke of alva was unable to accomplish in the very plenitude of his power?" at the same time, the prince of orange was more than ever disposed to rebuke his own church for practising persecution in her turn. again he lifted his commanding voice in behalf of the anabaptists of middelburg. he reminded the magistrates of that city that these peaceful burghers were always perfectly willing to bear their part in all the common burthens, that their word was as good as their oath, and that as to the matter of military service, although their principles forbade them to bear arms, they had ever been ready to provide and pay for substitutes. "we declare to you therefore," said he, "that you have no right to trouble yourselves with any man's conscience, so long as nothing is done to cause private harm or public scandal. we therefore expressly ordain that you desist from molesting these baptists, from offering hindrance to their handicraft and daily trade, by which they can earn bread for their wives and children, and that you permit them henceforth to open their shops and to do their work, according to the custom of former days. beware, therefore, of disobedience and of resistance to the ordinance which we now establish." meantime, the armies on both sides had been assembled, and had been moving towards each other. don john was at the head of nearly thirty thousand troops, including a large proportion of spanish and italian veterans. the states' army hardly numbered eighteen thousand foot and two thousand cavalry, under the famous francois de la none, surnamed bras de fer, who had been recently appointed marechal de camp, and, under count bossu, commander-in-chief. the muster-place of the provincial forces was in the plains between herenthals and lier. at this point they expected to be reinforced by duke casimir, who had been, since the early part of the summer, in the country of zutfen, but who was still remaining there inglorious and inactive, until he could be furnished with the requisite advance-money to his troops. don john was determined if possible, to defeat the states army, before duke casimir, with his twelve thousand germans, should effect his juncture with bossu. the governor therefore crossed the demer, near aerschot, towards the end of july, and offered battle, day after day, to the enemy. a series of indecisive skirmishes was the result, in the last of which, near rijnemants, on the first day of august, the royalists were worsted and obliged to retire, after a desultory action of nearly eight hours, leaving a thousand dead upon the field. their offer of "double or quits," the following morning was steadily refused by bossu, who, secure within his intrenchments, was not to be induced at that moment to encounter the chances of a general engagement. for this he was severely blamed by the more violent of the national party. his patriotism, which was of such recent origin, was vehemently suspected; and his death, which occurred not long afterwards, was supposed to have alone prevented his deserting the states to fight again under spanish colours. these suspicions were probably unjust. bossu's truth of character had been as universally recognized as was his signal bravery. if he refused upon this occasion a general battle, those who reflected upon the usual results to the patriot banner of such engagements, might confess, perhaps, that one disaster the more had been avoided. don john, finding it impossible to accomplish his purpose, and to achieve another gemblours victory, fell back again to the neighbourhood of namur. the states' forces remained waiting for the long-promised succor of john casimir. it was the th of august, however, before the duke led his twelve thousand men to the neighbourhood of mechlin, where bossu was encamped. this young prince possessed neither the ability nor the generosity which were requisite for the heroic part which he was ambitious to perform in the netherland drama. he was inspired by a vague idea of personal aggrandizement, although he professed at the same time the utmost deference to william of orange. he expressed the hope that he and the prince "should be but two heads under one hat;" but he would have done well to ask himself whether his own contribution to this partnership of brains would very much enrich the silent statesman. orange himself regarded him with respectful contempt, and considered his interference with netherland matters but as an additional element of mischief. the duke's right hand man, however, peter peutterich, the "equestrian doctor"--as sir philip sydney called him--equally skilful with the sword as with the pen, had succeeded, while on a mission to england, in acquiring the queen's favor for his master. to casimir, therefore, had been entrusted the command of the levies, and the principal expenditure of the subsidies which she had placed at the disposition of the states. upon casimir she relied, as a counterweight to the duke of alencon, who, as she knew, had already entered the provinces at the secret solicitation of a large faction among the nobles. she had as much confidence as ever in orange, but she imagined herself to be strengthening his cause by providing him with such a lieutenant. casimir's immediate friends had but little respect for his abilities. his father-in-law, augustus of saxony, did not approve his expedition. the landgrave william, to whom he wrote for counsel, answered, in his quaint manner, that it was always difficult for one friend to advise another in three matters--to wit, in taking a wife, going to sea, and going to war; but that, nevertheless, despite the ancient proverb, he would assume the responsibility of warning casimir not to plunge into what he was pleased to call the "'confusum chaos' of netherland politics." the duke felt no inclination, however, to take the advice which he had solicited. he had been stung by the sarcasm which alva had once uttered, that the german potentates carried plenty of lions, dragons, eagles, and griffins on their shields; but that these ferocious animals were not given to biting or scratching. he was therefore disposed, once for all, to show that the teeth and claws of german princes could still be dangerous. unfortunately, he was destined to add a fresh element of confusion to the chaos, and to furnish rather a proof than a refutation of the correctness of alva's gibe. this was the hero who was now thrust, head and shoulders as it were, into the entangled affairs of the netherlanders, and it was elizabeth of england, more than ever alarmed at the schemes of alencon, who had pushed forward this protestant champion, notwithstanding the disinclination of orange. the queen was right in her uneasiness respecting the french prince. the catholic nobles, relying upon the strong feeling still rife throughout the walloon country against the reformed religion, and inflamed more than ever by their repugnance to orange, whose genius threw them so completely into the shade, had already drawn closer to the duke. the same influences were at work to introduce alencon, which had formerly been employed to bring matthias from vienna. now that the archduke, who was to have been the rival, had become the dependent of william, they turned their attention to the son of catherine de medici, orange himself having always kept the duke in reserve, as an instrument to overcome the political coquetry of elizabeth. that great princess never manifested less greatness than in her earlier and most tormenting connexion with the netherlands. having allured them for years with bright but changeful face, she still looked coldly down upon the desolate sea where they were drifting she had promised much; her performance had been nothing. her jealousy of french influence had at length been turned to account; a subsidy and a levy extorted from her fears. her ministers and prominent advisers were one and all in favor of an open and generous support to the provinces. walsingham, burleigh, knollys, davidson, sidney, leicester, fleetwood, wilson, all desired that she should frankly espouse their cause. a bold policy they believed to be the only prudent one in this case; yet the queen considered it sagacious to despatch envoys both to philip and to don john, as if after what they knew of her secret practices, such missions could effect any useful purpose. better, therefore, in the opinion of the honest and intrepid statesmen of england, to throw down the gauntlet at once in the cause of the oppressed than to shuffle and palter until the dreaded rival should cross the frontier. a french netherlands they considered even mere dangerous than a spanish, and elizabeth partook of their sentiments, although incapable of their promptness. with the perverseness which was the chief blot upon her character, she was pleased that the duke should be still a dangler for her hand, even while she was intriguing against his political hopes. she listened with undisguised rapture to his proposal of love, while she was secretly thwarting the plans of his ambition. meanwhile, alencon had arrived at mons, and we have seen already the feminine adroitness with which his sister of navarre had prepared his entrance. not in vain had she cajoled the commandant of cambray citadel; not idly had she led captive the hearts of lalain and his countess, thus securing the important province of hainault for the duke. don john might, indeed, gnash his teeth with rage, as he marked the result of all the feasting and flattery, the piping and dancing at namur. francis duke of alencon, and since the accession of his brother henry to the french throne--duke of anjou was, upon the whole, the most despicable personage who had ever entered the netherlands. his previous career at home had, been so flagrantly false that he had forfeited the esteem of every honest man in europe, catholic or lutheran, huguenot or malcontent. the world has long known his character. history will always retain him as an example, to show mankind the amount of mischief which may be perpetrated by a prince, ferocious without courage, ambitious without talent, and bigoted without opinions. incapable of religious convictions himself, he had alternately aspired to be a commander of catholic and of huguenot zealots, and he had acquired nothing by his vacillating course, save the entire contempt of all parties and of both religions. scared from the aide of navarre and conde by the menacing attitude of the "league," fearing to forfeit the succession to the throne, unless he made his peace with the court, he had recently resumed his place among the catholic commanders. nothing was easier for him than to return shamelessly to a party which he had shamelessly deserted, save perhaps to betray it again, should his interest prompt him to do so, on the morrow. since the peace of , it had been evident that the protestants could not count upon his friendship, and he had soon afterwards been placed at the head of the army which was besieging the huguenots of issoire. he sought to atone for having commanded the troops of the new religion by the barbarity with which he now persecuted its votaries. when issoire fell into his hands, the luckless city was spared none of the misery which can be inflicted by a brutal and frenzied soldiery. its men were butchered, its females outraged; its property plundered with a thoroughness which rivalled the netherland practice of alva, or frederic toledo, or julian romero. the town was sacked and burned to ashes by furious catholics, under the command of francis alencon,--almost at the very moment when his fair sister, margaret, was preparing the way in the netherlands for the fresh treason--which he already meditated to the catholic cause. the treaty of bergerac, signed in the autumn of , again restored a semblance of repose to france, and again afforded an opportunity for alencon to change his politics, and what he called his religion. reeking with the blood of the protestants of issoire, he was now at leisure to renew his dalliance with the queen of protestant england, and to resume his correspondence with the great-chieftain of the reformation in the netherlands. it is perhaps an impeachment upon the perspicacity of orange, that he could tolerate this mischievous and worthless "son of france," even for the grave reasons which influenced him. nevertheless, it must be remembered that he only intended to keep him in reserve, for the purpose of irritating the jealousy and quickening the friendship of the english queen. those who see anything tortuous in such politics must beware of judging the intriguing age of philip and catherine de' medici by the higher standard of later, and possibly more candid times. it would have been puerile for a man of william the silent's resources, to allow himself to be outwitted by the intrigues of all the courts and cabinets in europe. moreover, it must be remembered that, if he alone could guide himself and his country through the perplexing labyrinth in which they were involved; it was because he held in his hand the clue of an honest purpose. his position in regard to the duke of alencon, had now become sufficiently complicated, for the tiger that he had led in a chain had been secretly unloosed by those who meant mischief. in the autumn of the previous year, the aristocratic and catholic party in the states-general had opened their communications with a prince, by whom they hoped to be indemnified for their previous defeat. the ill effects of elizabeth's coquetry too plainly manifested themselves at last, and alencon had now a foothold in the netherlands. precipitated by the intrigues of the party which had always been either openly or secretly hostile to orange, his advent could no longer be delayed. it only remained for the prince to make himself his master, as he had already subdued each previous rival. this he accomplished with his customary adroitness. it was soon obvious, even to so dull and so base a nature as that of the duke, that it was his best policy to continue to cultivate so powerful a friendship. it cost him little to crouch, but events were fatally, to prove at a later day, that there are natures too malignant to be trusted or to be tamed. for the present, however, alencon professed the most friendly sentiments towards the prince. solicited by so ardent and considerable a faction, the duke was no longer to be withheld from trying the venture, and if, he could not effect his entrance by fair means, was determined to do so by force.--he would obtrude his assistance, if it were declined. he would do his best to dismember the provinces, if only a portion of them would accept his proffered friendship. under these circumstances, as the prince could no longer exclude him from the country, it became necessary to accept his friendship, and to hold him in control. the duke had formally offered his assistance to the states-general, directly after the defeat of gemblours, and early in july had made his appearance in mons. hence he despatched his envoys, des pruneaux and rochefort, to deal with the states-general and with orange, while he treated matthias with contempt, and declared that he had no intention to negotiate with him. the archduke burst into tears when informed of this slight; and feebly expressed a wish that succor might be found in germany which would render this french alliance unnecessary. it was not the first nor the last mortification which the future emperor was to undergo. the prince was addressed with distinguished consideration; des pruneaux protesting that he desired but three things--the glory of his master, the glory of god, and the glory of william of orange. the french king was naturally supposed to be privy to his brother's schemes, for it was thought ridiculous to suggest that henry's own troops could be led by his own brother, on this foreign expedition, without his connivance. at the same time, private letters, written by him at this epoch, expressed disapprobation of the schemes of alencon, and jealousy of his aggrandizement. it was, perhaps, difficult to decide as to the precise views of a monarch who was too weak to form opinions for himself, and too false to maintain those with which he had been furnished by others. with the medicean mother it was different, and it was she who was believed to be at the bottom of the intrigue. there was even a vague idea that the spanish sovereign himself might be privy to the plot, and that a possible marriage between alencon and the infanta might be on the cards. in truth, however, philip felt himself outraged by the whole proceedings. he resolutely refused to accept the excuses proffered by the french court, or to doubt the complicity of the queen dowager, who, it was well known, governed all her sons. she had, to be sure, thought proper to read the envoys of the states-general a lecture upon the impropriety of subjects opposing the commands of their lawful prince, but such artifices were thought too transparent to deceive. granvelle scouted the idea of her being ignorant of anjou's scheme, or opposed to its success. as for william of hesse, while he bewailed more than ever the luckless plunge into "confusum chaos" which casimir had taken, he unhesitatingly expressed his conviction that the invasion of alencon was a master-piece of catherine. the whole responsibility of the transaction he divided, in truth, between the dowager and the comet, which just then hung over the world, filling the soul of the excellent landgrave with dismal apprehension. the queen of england was highly incensed by the actual occurrence of the invasion which she had so long dreaded. she was loud in her denunciations of the danger and dishonor which would be the result to the provinces of this french alliance. she threatened not only to withdraw herself from their cause, but even to take arms against a commonwealth which had dared to accept alencon for its master. she had originally agreed to furnish one hundred thousand pounds by way of loan. this assistance had been afterwards commuted into a levy of three thousand foot and-two thousand horse, to be added to the forces of john casimir, and to be placed under his command. it had been stipulated; also, that the palatine should have the rank and pay of an english general-in-chief, and be considered as the queen's lieutenant. the money had been furnished and the troops enrolled. so much had been already bestowed, and could not be recalled, but it was not probable that, in her present humor, the queen would be induced to add to her favors. the prince, obliged by the necessity of the case, had prescribed the terms and the title under which alencon should be accepted. upon the th of august the duke's envoy concluded a convention in twenty-three articles; which were afterwards subscribed by the duke himself, at mons, upon the twentieth of the same month. the substance of this arrangement was that alencon should lend his assistance to the provinces against the intolerable tyranny of the spaniards and the unjustifiable military invasion of don john. he was, moreover, to bring into the field ten thousand foot and two thousand horse for three months. after the expiration of this term, his forces might be reduced to three thousand foot and five hundred horse. the states were to confer upon him the title of "defender of the liberty of the netherlands against the tyranny of the spaniards and their adherents." he was to undertake no hostilities against queen elizabeth. the states were to aid him, whenever it should become necessary, with the same amount of force with which he now assisted them. he was to submit himself contentedly to the civil government of the country, in everything regarding its internal polity. he was to make no special contracts or treaties with any cities or provinces of the netherlands. should the states-general accept another prince as sovereign, the duke was to be preferred to all others, upon conditions afterwards to be arranged. all cities which might be conquered within the territory of the united provinces were to belong to the states. such places not in that territory, as should voluntarily surrender, were to be apportioned, by equal division, between the duke and the states. the duke was to bring no foreign troops but french into the provinces. the month of august was reserved, during which the states were, if possible, to make a composition with don john. these articles were certainly drawn up with skill. a high-sounding but barren title, which gratified the duke's vanity and signified nothing, had been conferred upon him, while at the same time he was forbidden to make conquests or contracts, and was obliged to submit himself to the civil government of the country: in short, he was to obey the prince of orange in all things--and so here was another plot of the prince's enemies neutralized. thus, for the present at least, had the position of anjou been defined. as the month of august, during which it was agreed that negotiations with the governor-general should remain open, had already half expired, certain articles, drawn up by the states-general, were at once laid before don john. lord cobham and sir francis walsingham were then in the netherlands, having been sent by elizabeth for the purpose of effecting a pacification of the estates with the governor, if possible. they had also explained--so far as an explanation was possible--the assistance which the english government had rendered to the rebels, upon the ground that the french invasion could be prevented in no other way. this somewhat lame apology had been passed over in silence rather than accepted by don john. in the same interview the envoys made an equally unsuccessful effort to induce the acceptance by the governor of the terms offered by the states. a further proposition, on their part, for an "interim," upon the plan attempted by charles the fifth in germany, previously to the peace of passau, met with no more favor than it merited, for certainly that name--which became so odious in germany that cats and dogs were called "interim" by the common people, in derision--was hardly a potent word to conjure with, at that moment, in the netherlands. they then expressed their intention of retiring to england, much grieved at the result of their mission. the governor replied that they might do as they liked, but that he, at least, had done all in his power to bring about a peace, and that the king had been equally pacific in his intentions. he then asked the envoys what they themselves thought of the terms proposed. "indeed, they are too hard, your highness," answered walsingham, "but 'tis only by pure menace that we have extorted them from the states, unfavorable though they, seem." "then you may tell them," replied the governor, "to keep their offers to themselves. such terms will go but little way in any negotiation with me." the envoys shrugged their shoulders. "what is your own opinion on the whole affair?" resumed don john. "perhaps your advice may yet help me to a better conclusion." the envoys continued silent and pensive. "we can only answer," said walsingham, at length, "by imitating the physician, who would prescribe no medicine until he was quite sure that the patient was ready to swallow it. 'tis no use wasting counsel or drugs." the reply was not satisfactory, but the envoys had convinced themselves that the sword was the only surgical instrument likely to find favor at that juncture. don john referred, in vague terms, to his peaceable inclinations, but protested that there was no treating with so unbridled a people as the netherlanders. the ambassadors soon afterwards took their leave. after this conference, which was on the th of august, , walsingham and cobham addressed a letter to the states-general, deploring the disingenuous and procrastinating conduct of the governor, and begging that the failure to effect a pacification might not be imputed to them. they then returned to england. the imperial envoy, count schwartzburg, at whose urgent solicitation this renewed attempt at a composition had been made, was most desirous that the governor should accept the articles. they formed, indeed, the basis of a liberal, constitutional, representative government, in which the spanish monarch was to retain only a strictly limited sovereignty. the proposed convention required don john, with all his troops and adherents, forthwith to leave the land after giving up all strongholds and cities in his possession. it provided that the archduke matthias should remain as governor general, under the conditions according to which he had been originally accepted. it left the question of religious worship to the decision of the states-general. it provided for the release of all prisoners, the return of all exiles, the restoration of all confiscated property. it stipulated that upon the death or departure of matthias, his majesty was not to appoint a governor-general without the consent of the states-general. when count schwartzburg waited upon the governor with these astonishing propositions--which walsingham might well call somewhat hard--he found him less disposed to explode with wrath than he had been in previous conferences. already the spirit of the impetuous young soldier was broken, both by the ill health which was rapidly undermining his constitution and by the helpless condition in which he had been left while contending with the great rebellion. he had soldiers, but no money to pay them withal; he had no means of upholding that supremacy of crown and church which he was so vigorously instructed to maintain; and he was heartily wearied of fulminating edicts which he had no power to enforce. he had repeatedly solicited his recal, and was growing daily more impatient that his dismissal did not arrive. moreover, the horrible news of escovedo's assassination had sickened him to the soul. the deed had flashed a sudden light into the abyss of dark duplicity in which his own fate was suspended. his most intimate and confidential friend had been murdered by royal command, while he was himself abandoned by philip, exposed to insult, left destitute of defence. no money was forthcoming, in spite of constant importunities and perpetual promises. plenty of words were sent him; he complained, as if he possessed the art of extracting gold from them, or as if war could be carried on with words alone. being in so desponding a mood, he declined entering into any controversy with regard to the new propositions, which, however, he characterized as most iniquitous. he stated merely that his majesty had determined to refer the netherland matters to the arbitration of the emperor; that the duke de terra nova would soon be empowered to treat upon the subject at the imperial court; and that, in the meantime, he was himself most anxiously awaiting his recal. a synod of the reformed churches had been held, during the month of june, at dort. there they had laid down a platform of their principles of church government in one hundred and one articles. in the same month, the leading members of the reformed church had drawn up an ably reasoned address to matthias and the council of state on the subject of a general peace of religion for the provinces. william of orange did his utmost to improve the opportunity. he sketched a system of provisional toleration, which he caused to be signed by the archduke matthias, and which, at least for a season, was to establish religious freedom. the brave; tranquil, solitary man still held his track across the raging waves, shedding as much light as one clear human soul could dispense; yet the dim lantern, so far in advance, was swallowed in the mist, ere those who sailed in his wake could shape their course by his example. no man understood him. not even his nearest friends comprehended his views, nor saw that he strove to establish not freedom for calvinism, but freedom for conscience. saint aldegonde complained that the prince would not persecute the anabaptists, peter dathenus denounced him as an atheist, while even count john; the only one left of his valiant and generous brothers, opposed the religious peace--except where the advantage was on the side of the new religion. where the catholics had been effectually put down, as in holland and zealand, honest john saw so reason for allowing them to lift themselves up again. in the popish provinces, on the other hand, he was for a religious peace. in this bigoted spirit he was followed by too many of the reforming mass, while, on their part, the walloons were already banding themselves together in the more southern provinces, under the name of malcontents. stigmatized by the calvinists as "paternoster jacks," they were daily drawing closer their alliance with alencon; and weakening the bands which united them with their protestant brethren. count john had at length become a permanent functionary in the netherlands. urgently solicited by the leaders and the great multitude of the reformers, he had long been unwilling to abandon his home, and to neglect the private affairs which his devotion to the netherland cause had thrown into great confusion. the landgrave, too, whose advice he had asked, had strongly urged him not to "dip his fingers into the olla podrida." the future of the provinces was, in his opinion, so big with disaster, that the past, with all its horrors; under alva and requesens, had only furnished the "preludia" of that which was to ensue. for these desperate views his main reason, as usual, was the comet; that mischievous luminary still continuing to cast a lurid glare across the landgrave's path. notwithstanding these direful warnings from a prince of the reformation, notwithstanding the "olla podrida" and the "comet," count john had nevertheless accepted the office of governor of gelderland, to which he had been elected by the estates of that province on the th of march. that important bulwark of holland, zealand, and utrecht on the one side, and of groningen and friesland on the other--the main buttress, in short, of the nascent republic, was now in hands which would defend it to the last. as soon as the discussion came up in the states-general on the subject of the dort petitions, orange requested that every member who had formed his opinions should express them fully and frankly. all wished, however, to be guided and governed by the sentiments of the prince. not a man spoke, save to demand their leader's views, and to express adhesion in advance to the course which his wisdom might suggest. the result was a projected convention, a draft for a religious peace, which, if definitely established, would have healed many wounds and averted much calamity. it was not, however, destined to be accepted at that time by the states of the different provinces where it was brought up for discussion; and several changes were made, both of form and substance, before the system was adopted at all. meantime, for the important city of antwerp, where religious broils were again on the point of breaking out, the prince preferred a provisional arrangement, which he forthwith carried into execution. a proclamation, in the name of the archduke matthias and of the state council, assigned five special places in the city where the members of the "pretended reformed religion" should have liberty to exercise their religious worship, with preaching, singing, and the sacraments. the churchyards of the parochial churches were to be opened for the burial of their dead, but the funerals were to be unaccompanied with exhortation, or any public demonstration which might excite disturbance. the adherents of one religion were forbidden to disturb, to insult, or in any way to interfere with the: solemnities of the other. all were to abstain from mutual jeerings--by pictures, ballads, books, or otherwise--and from all injuries to ecclesiastical property. every man, of whatever religion, was to be permitted entrance to the churches of either religion, and when there, all were to conform to the regulations of the church with modesty and respect. those of the new religion were to take oaths of obedience to the authorities, and to abstain from meddling with the secular administration of affairs. preachers of both religions were forbidden to preach out of doors, or to make use of language tending to sedition. all were to bind themselves to assist the magistrates in quelling riots, and in sustaining the civil government. this example of religious peace, together with the active correspondence thus occasioned with the different state assemblies, excited the jealousy of the catholic leaders and of the walloon population. champagny, who despite his admirable qualities and brilliant services, was still unable to place himself on the same platform of toleration with orange, now undertook a decided movement against the policy of the prince. catholic to the core, he drew up a petition, remonstrating most vigorously against the draft for a religions peace, then in circulation through the provinces. to this petition he procured many signatures among the more ardent catholic nobles. de heze, de glimes, and others of the same stamp, were willing enough to follow the lead of so distinguished a chieftain. the remonstrance was addressed to the archduke, the prince of orange, the state council, and the states-general, and called upon them all to abide by their solemn promises to permit no schism in the ancient church. should the exercise of the new religion be allowed, the petitioners insisted that the godless licentiousness of the netherlands would excite the contempt of all peoples and potentates. they suggested, in conclusion, that all the principal cities of france--and in particular the city of paris--had kept themselves clear of the exercise of the new religion, and that repose and prosperity had been the result. this petition was carried with considerable solemnity by champagny, attended by many of his confederates, to the hotel-de ville, and presented to the magistracy of brussels. these functionaries were requested to deliver it forthwith to the archduke and council. the magistrates demurred. a discussion ensued, which grew warmer and warmer as it proceeded. the younger nobles permitted themselves abusive language, which the civic dignitaries would not brook. the session was dissolved, and the magistrates, still followed by the petitioners, came forth into the street. the confederates, more inflamed than ever, continued to vociferate and to threaten. a crowd soon collected in the square. the citizens were naturally curious to know why their senators were thus browbeaten and insulted by a party of insolent young catholic nobles. the old politician at their head, who, in spite of many services, was not considered a friend to the nation, inspired them with distrust. being informed of the presentation of the petition, the multitude loudly demanded that the document should be read. this was immediately done. the general drift of the remonstrance was anything but acceptable, but the allusion to paris, at the close, excited a tempest of indignation. "paris! paris! saint bartholomew! saint bartholomew! are we to have paris weddings in brussels also?" howled the mob, as is often the case, extracting but a single idea, and that a wrong one; from the public lecture which had just been made. "are we to have a paris massacre, a paris blood-bath here in the netherland capital? god forbid! god forbid! away with the conspirators! down with the papists!" it was easily represented to the inflamed imaginations of the populace that a brussels saint bartholomew had been organized, and that champagny, who stood there before them, was its originator and manager. the ungrateful netherlanders forgot the heroism with which the old soldier had arranged the defence of antwerp against the "spanish fury" but two years before. they heard only the instigations of his enemies; they remembered only that he was the hated granvelle's brother; they believed only that there was a plot by which, in some utterly incomprehensible manner, they were all to be immediately engaged in cutting each others throats and throwing each other out of the windows, as had been done half a dozen years before in paris. such was the mischievous intention ascribed to a petition, which champagny and his friends had as much right to offer--however narrow and mistaken their, opinions might now be considered--as had the, synod of dort to present their remonstrances. never was a more malignant or more stupid perversion of a simple and not very alarming phrase. no allusion had been made to saint bartholomew, but all its horrors were supposed to be concealed in the sentence which referred to paris. the nobles were arrested on the spot and hurried to prison, with the exception of champagny, who made his escape at first, and lay concealed for several days. he was, however, finally ferreted out of his hiding-place and carried off to ghent. there he was thrown into strict confinement, being treated in all respects as the accomplice of aerschot and the other nobles who had been arrested in the time of ryhove's revolution. certainly, this conduct towards a brave and generous gentleman was ill calculated to increase general sympathy for the cause, or to merit the approbation of orange. there was, however, a strong prejudice against champagny. his brother granvelle had never been forgotten by the netherlanders, and, was still regarded as their most untiring foe, while champagny was supposed to be in close league with the cardinal. in these views the people were entirely wrong. while these events were taking place in brussels and antwerp, the two armies of the states and of don john were indolently watching each other. the sinews of war had been cut upon both sides. both parties were cramped by the most abject poverty. the troops under bossu and casimir, in the camp sear mechlin, were already discontented, for want of pay. the one hundred thousand pounds of elizabeth had already been spent, and it was not probable that the offended queen would soon furnish another subsidy. the states could with difficulty extort anything like the assessed quotas from the different provinces. the duke of alencon was still at mons, from which place he had issued a violent proclamation of war against don john--a manifesto which had, however, not been followed up by very vigorous demonstrations. don john himself was in his fortified camp at bouge, within a league of namur, but the here was consuming with mental and with bodily fever. he was, as it were, besieged. he was left entirely without funds, while his royal brother obstinately refused compliance with his earnest demands to be recalled, and coldly neglected his importunities for pecuniary assistance. compelled to carry on a war against an armed rebellion with such gold only as could be extracted from loyal swords; stung to the heart by the suspicion of which he felt himself the object at home, and by the hatred with which he was regarded in the provinces; outraged in his inmost feelings by the murder of escovedo; foiled, outwitted, reduced to a political nullity by the masterly tactics of the "odious heretic of heretics" to whom he had originally offered his patronage and the royal forgiveness, the high-spirited soldier was an object to excite the tenderness even of religious and political opponents. wearied with the turmoil of camps without battle and of cabinets without counsel, he sighed for repose, even if it could be found only in a cloister or the grave. "i rejoice to see by your letter," he wrote, pathetically, to john andrew doria, at genoa, "that your life is flowing on with such calmness, while the world around me is so tumultuously agitated. i consider you most fortunate that you are passing the remainder of your days for god and yourself; that you are not forced to put yourself perpetually in the scales of the world's events, nor to venture yourself daily on its hazardous games." he proceeded to inform his friend of his own painful situation, surrounded by innumerable enemies, without means of holding out more than three months, and cut off from all assistance by a government which could not see that if the present chance were lost all was lost. he declared it impossible for him to fight in the position to which he was reduced, pressed as he was within half a mile of the point which he had always considered as his last refuge. he stated also that the french were strengthening themselves in hainault, under alencon, and that the king of france was in readiness to break in through burgundy, should his brother obtain a firm foothold in the provinces. "i have besought his majesty over and over again," he continued, "to send to me his orders; if they come they shall be executed, unless they arrive too late. they have cut of our hands and we have now nothing for it but to stretch forth our heads also to the axe. i grieve to trouble you with my sorrows, but i trust to your sympathy as a man and a friend. i hope that you will remember me in your prayers, for you can put your trust where, in former days, i never could place my own." the dying crusader wrote another letter, in the same mournful strain, to another intimate friend, don pedro mendoza, spanish envoy in genoa. it was dated upon the same day from his camp near namur, and repeated the statement that the king of france was ready to invade the netherlands, so soon as alencon should prepare an opening. "his majesty," continued don john, "is resolved upon nothing; at least, i am kept in ignorance of his intentions. our life is doled out to us here by moments. i cry aloud, but it profits me little. matters will soon be disposed, through our negligence, exactly as the devil would best wish them. it is plain that we are left here to pine away till our last breath. god direct us all as he may see fit; in his hands are all things." four days later he wrote to the king, stating that he was confined to his chamber with a fever, by which he was already as much reduced as if he had been ill for a month. "i assure your majesty," said he "that the work here is enough to destroy any constitution and any life." he reminded philip how often he had been warned by him as to the insidious practices of the french. those prophecies had now become facts. the french had entered the country, while some of the inhabitants were frightened, others disaffected. don john declared himself in a dilemma. with his small force, hardly enough to make head against the enemy immediately in front, and to protect the places which required guarding, 'twas impossible for him to leave his position to attack the enemy in burgundy. if he remained stationary, the communications were cut off through which his money and supplies reached him. "thus i remain," said he, "perplexed and confused, desiring, more than life, some decision on your majesty's part, for which i have implored so many times." he urged the king most vehemently to send him instructions as to the course to be pursued, adding that it wounded him to the soul to find them so long delayed. he begged to be informed whether he was to attack the enemy in burgundy, whether he should await where he then was the succor of his majesty, or whether he was to fight, and if so with which of his enemies: in fine, what he was to do; because, losing or winning, he meant to conform to his majesty's will. he felt deeply pained, he said, at being disgraced and abandoned by the king, having served him, both as a brother, and a man, with love and faith and heartiness. "our lives," said he, "are at stake upon this game, and all we wish is to lose them honorably." he begged the king to send a special envoy to france, with remonstrances on the subject of alencon, and another to the pope to ask for the duke's excommunication. he protested that he would give his blood rather than occasion so much annoyance to the king, but that he felt it his duty to tell the naked truth. the pest was ravaging his little army. twelve hundred were now in hospital, besides those nursed in private houses, and he had no means or money to remedy the evil. moreover, the enemy, seeing that they were not opposed in the open field, had cut off the passage into liege by the meuse, and had advanced to nivelles and chimay for the sake of communications with france, by the same river. ten days after these pathetic passages had been written, the writer was dead. since the assassination of escovedo, a consuming melancholy had settled upon his spirits, and a burning fever came, in the month of september, to destroy his physical strength. the house where he lay was a hovel, the only chamber of which had been long used as a pigeon-house. this wretched garret was cleansed, as well as it could be of its filth, and hung with tapestry emblazoned with armorial bearings. in that dovecot the hero of lepanto was destined to expire. during the last few, days of his illness, he was delirious. tossing upon his uneasy couch, he again arranged in imagination, the combinations of great battles, again shouted his orders to rushing squadrons, and listened with brightening eye to the trumpet of victory. reason returned, however, before the hour of death, and permitted him, the opportunity to make the dispositions rendered necessary by his condition. he appointed his nephew, alexander of parma, who had been watching assiduously over his deathbed, to succeed him, provisionally, in the command of the army and in his other dignities, received the last sacraments with composure, and tranquilly breathed his last upon the first day of october, the month which, since the battle of lepanto, he had always considered a festive and a fortunate one. it was inevitable that suspicion of poison should be at once excited by his decease. those suspicions have been never set at rest, and never proved. two englishmen, ratcliff and gray by name, had been arrested and executed on a charge of having been employed by secretary walsingham to assassinate the governor. the charge was doubtless an infamous falsehood; but had philip, who was suspected of being the real criminal, really compassed the death of his brother, it was none the less probable that an innocent victim or two would be executed, to save appearances. now that time has unveiled to us many mysteries, now that we have learned from philip's own lips and those of his accomplices the exact manner in which montigny and escovedo were put to death, the world will hardly be very charitable with regard to other imputations. it was vehemently suspected that don john had been murdered by the command of philip; but no such fact was ever proved. the body, when opened that it might be embalmed, was supposed to offer evidence of poison. the heart was dry, the other internal organs were likewise so desiccated as to crumble when touched, and the general color of the interior was of a blackish brown, as if it had been singed. various persona were mentioned as the probable criminals; various motives assigned for the commission of the deed. nevertheless, it must be admitted that there were causes, which were undisputed, for his death, sufficient to render a search for the more mysterious ones comparatively superfluous. a disorder called the pest was raging in his camp, and had carried off a thousand of his soldiers within a few days, while his mental sufferings had been acute enough to turn his heart to ashes. disappointed, tormented by friend and foe, suspected, insulted, broken spirited, it was not strange that he should prove an easy victim to a pestilent disorder before which many stronger men were daily falling. on the third day after his decease, the funeral rites were celebrated. a dispute between the spaniards, germans, and netherlanders in the army arose, each claiming precedence in the ceremony, on account of superior national propinquity to the illustrious deceased. all were, in truth, equally near to him, for different reasons, and it was arranged that all should share equally in the obsequies. the corpse disembowelled and embalmed, was laid upon a couch of state. the hero was clad in complete armor; his swords helmet, and steel gauntlets lying at his feet, a coronet, blazing with precious stones, upon his head, the jewelled chain and insignia of the golden fleece about his neck, and perfumed gloves upon his hands. thus royally and martially arrayed, he was placed upon his bier and borne forth from the house where he had died, by the gentlemen of his bedchamber. from them he was received by the colonels of the regiments stationed next his own quarters. these chiefs, followed by their troops with inverted arms and mined drums, escorted the body to the next station, where it was received by the commanding officers of other national regiments, to be again transmitted to those of the third. thus by soldiers of the three nations, it was successively conducted to the gates of namur, where it was received by the civic authorities. the pall-bearers, old peter ernest mansfeld, ottavio gonzaga, the marquis de villa franca, and the count de reux, then bore it to the church, where it was deposited until the royal orders should be received from spain. the heart of the hero was permanently buried beneath the pavement of the little church, and a monumental inscription, prepared by alexander farnese, still indicates the spot where that lion heart returned to dust. it had been don john's dying request to philip that his remains might be buried in the escorial by the side of his imperial father, and the prayer being granted, the royal order in due time arrived for the transportation of the corpse to spain. permission had been asked and given for the passage of a small number of spanish troops through france. the thrifty king had, however, made no allusion to the fact that those soldiers were to bear with them the mortal remains of lepanto's hero, for he was disposed to save the expense which a public transportation of the body and the exchange of pompous courtesies with the authorities of every town upon the long journey would occasion. the corpse was accordingly divided into three parts, and packed in three separate bags; and thus the different portions, to save weight, being suspended at the saddle-bows of different troopers, the body of the conqueror was conveyed to its distant resting-place. "expende hannibalem: quot libras in duce summo invenies?". . . . . . . . . . thus irreverently, almost blasphemously, the disjointed relics of the great warrior were hurried through france; france, which the romantic saracen slave had traversed but two short years before, filled with high hopes, and pursuing extravagant visions. it has been recorded by classic historians, that the different fragments, after their arrival in spain, were re-united, and fastened together with wire; that the body was then stuffed, attired in magnificent habiliments, placed upon its feet, and supported by a martial staff, and that thus prepared for a royal interview, the mortal remains of don john were presented to his most catholic majesty. philip is said to have manifested emotion at sight of the hideous spectre--for hideous and spectral, despite of jewels, balsams, and brocades, must have been that unburied corpse, aping life in attitude and vestment, but standing there only to assert its privilege of descending into the tomb. the claim was granted, and don john of austria at last found repose by the side of his imperial father. a sufficient estimate of his character has been apparent in the course of the narrative. dying before he had quite completed his thirty-third year, he excites pity and admiration almost as much as censure. his military career was a blaze of glory. commanding in the moorish wars at twenty-three, and in the turkish campaigns at twenty-six, he had achieved a matchless renown before he had emerged from early youth; but his sun was destined to go down at noon. he found neither splendor nor power in the netherlands, where he was deserted by his king and crushed by the superior genius of the prince of orange. although he vindicated his martial skill at gemblours, the victory was fruitless. it was but the solitary sprig of the tiger from his jungle, and after that striking conflict his life was ended in darkness and obscurity. possessing military genius of a high order, with extraordinary personal bravery, he was the last of the paladins and the crusaders. his accomplishments were also considerable, and he spoke italian, german, french, and spanish with fluency. his beauty was remarkable; his personal fascinations acknowledged by either sex; but as a commander of men, excepting upon the battle-field, he possessed little genius. his ambition was the ambition of a knight-errant, an adventurer, a norman pirate; it was a personal and tawdry ambition. vague and contradictory dreams of crowns, of royal marriages, of extemporized dynasties, floated ever before him; but he was himself always the hero of his own romance. he sought a throne in africa or in britain; he dreamed of espousing mary of scotland at the expense of elizabeth, and was even thought to aspire secretly to the hand of the great english queen herself. thus, crusader and bigot as he was, he was willing to be reconciled with heresy, if heresy could furnish him with a throne. it is superfluous to state that he was no match, by mental endowments, for william of orange; but even had he been so, the moral standard by which each measured himself placed the conqueror far below the father of a people. it must be admitted that don john is entitled to but small credit for his political achievements in the netherlands. he was incapable of perceiving that the great contest between the reformation and the inquisition could never be amicably arranged in those provinces, and that the character of william of orange was neither to be softened by royal smiles, nor perverted by appeals to sordid interests. it would have been perhaps impossible for him, with his education and temperament, to have embraced what seems to us the right cause, but it ought, at least, to have been in his power to read the character of his antagonist, and to estimate his own position with something like accuracy. he may be forgiven that he did not succeed in reconciling hostile parties, when his only plan to accomplish such a purpose was the extermination of the most considerable faction; but although it was not to be expected that he would look on the provinces with the eyes of william the silent, he might have comprehended that the netherland chieftain was neither to be purchased nor cajoled. the only system by which the two religions could live together in peace had been discovered by the prince; but toleration, in the eyes of catholics, and of many protestants, was still thought the deadliest heresy of all. etext editor's bookmarks: difficult for one friend to advise another in three matters establish not freedom for calvinism, but freedom for conscience taxes upon income and upon consumption toleration thought the deadliest heresy of all motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley part vi. alexander of parma - . chapter i. birth, education, marriage, and youthful character of alexander farnese--his private adventures--exploits at lepanto and at gemblours--he succeeds to the government--personal appearance and characteristics--aspect of affairs--internal dissensions--anjou at mons--john casimir's intrigues at ghent--anjou disbands his soldiers--the netherlands ravaged by various foreign troops--anarchy and confusion in ghent--imbize and ryhove--fate of hessels and visch--new pacification drawn up by orange--representations of queen elizabeth--remonstrance of brussels riots and image-breaking in ghent--displeasure of orange--his presence implored at ghent, where he establishes a religious peace--painful situation of john casimir --sharp rebukes of elizabeth--he takes his departure--his troops apply to farnese, who allows them to leave the country--anjou's departure and manifesto--elizabeth's letters to the states-general with regard to him--complimentary addresses by the estates to the duke--death of bossu--calumnies against orange--venality of the malcontent grandees--la motte's treason--intrigues of the prior of renty--saint aldegonde at arras--the prior of st. vaast's exertions --opposition of the clergy in the walloon provinces to the taxation of the general government--triangular contest--municipal revolution in arras led by gosson and others--counter-revolution--rapid trials and executions--"reconciliation" of the malcontent chieftains-- secret treaty of mount st. eloi: mischief made by the prior of renty--his accusations against the reconciled lords--vengeance taken upon him--counter movement by the liberal party--union of utrecht-- the act analyzed and characterized. a fifth governor now stood in the place which had been successively vacated by margaret of parma, by alva, by the grand commander, and by don john of austria. of all the eminent personages to whom philip had confided the reins of that most difficult and dangerous administration, the man who was now to rule was by far the ablest and the best fitted for his post. if there were living charioteer skilful enough to guide the wheels of state, whirling now more dizzily than ever through "confusum chaos," alexander farnese was the charioteer to guide--his hand the only one which could control. he was now in his thirty-third year--his uncle don john, his cousin don carlos, and himself, having all been born within a few months of each other. his father was ottavio farnese, the faithful lieutenant of charles the fifth, and grandson of pope paul the third; his mother was margaret of parma, first regent of the netherlands after the departure of philip from the provinces. he was one of the twins by which the reunion of margaret and her youthful husband had been blessed, and the only one that survived. his great-grandfather, paul, whose secular name of alexander he had received, had placed his hand upon the new-born infant's head, and prophesied that he would grow up to become a mighty warrior. the boy, from his earliest years, seemed destined to verify the prediction. though apt enough at his studies, he turned with impatience from his literary tutors to military exercises and the hardiest sports. the din of arms surrounded his cradle. the trophies of ottavio, returning victorious from beyond the alps, had dazzled the eyes of his infancy, and when but six years of age he had witnessed the siege of his native parma, and its vigorous defence by his martial father. when philip was in the netherlands--in the years immediately succeeding the abdication of the emperor--he had received the boy from his parents as a hostage for their friendship. although but eleven years of age, alexander had begged earnestly to be allowed to serve as a volunteer on the memorable day of saint quentin, and had wept bitterly when the amazed monarch refused his request.--his education had been, completed at alcala, and at madrid, under the immediate supervision of his royal uncle, and in the companionship of the infante carlos and the brilliant don john. the imperial bastard was alone able to surpass, or even to equal the italian prince in all martial and manly pursuits. both were equally devoted to the chase and to the tournay; both longed impatiently for the period when the irksome routine of monkish pedantry, and the fictitious combats which formed their main recreation, should be exchanged for the substantial delights of war. at the age of twenty he had been affianced to maria of portugal; daughter of prince edward, granddaughter of king emanuel, and his nuptials with that peerless princess were; as we have seen, celebrated soon afterwards with much pomp in brussels. sons and daughters were born to him in due time, during his subsequent residence in parma. here, however, the fiery and impatient spirit of the future illustrious commander was doomed for a time to fret under restraint, and to corrode in distasteful repose. his father, still in the vigor of his years, governing the family duchies of parma and piacenza, alexander had no occupation in the brief period of peace which then existed. the martial spirit, pining for a wide and lofty sphere of action, in which alone its energies could be fitly exercised, now sought delight in the pursuits of the duellist and gladiator. nightly did the hereditary prince of the land perambulate the streets of his capital, disguised, well armed, alone, or with a single confidential attendant. every chance passenger of martial aspect whom he encountered in the midnight streets was forced to stand and measure swords with an unknown, almost unseen but most redoubtable foe, and many were the single combats which he thus enjoyed, so long as his incognito was preserved. especially, it was his wont to seek and defy every gentleman whose skill or bravery had ever been commended in his hearing: at last, upon one occasion it was his fortune to encounter a certain count torelli, whose reputation as a swordsman and duellist was well established in parma. the blades were joined, and the fierce combat had already been engaged in the darkness, when the torch of an accidental passenger gashed full in the face of alexander. torelli, recognising thus suddenly his antagonist, dropped his sword and implored forgiveness, for the wily italian was too keen not to perceive that even if the death of neither combatant should be the result of the fray, his own position was, in every event, a false one. victory would ensure him the hatred, defeat the contempt of his future sovereign. the unsatisfactory issue and subsequent notoriety of this encounter put a termination to these midnight joys of alexander, and for a season he felt obliged to assume more pacific habits, and to solace himself with the society of that "phoenix of portugal," who had so long sat brooding on his domestic hearth. at last the holy league was formed, the new and last crusade proclaimed, his uncle and bosom friend appointed to the command of the united troops of rome, spain, and venice. he could no longer be restrained. disdaining the pleadings of his mother and of his spouse, he extorted permission from philip, and flew to the seat of war in the levant. don john received him with open arms, just before the famous action of lepanto, and gave him an, excellent position in the very front of the battle, with the command of several genoese galleys. alexander's exploits on that eventful day seemed those of a fabulous hero of romance. he laid his galley alongside of the treasure-ship of the turkish fleet, a vessel, on account of its importance, doubly manned and armed. impatient that the crescent was not lowered, after a few broadsides, he sprang on board the enemy alone, waving an immense two-handed sword--his usual weapon--and mowing a passage right and left through the hostile ranks for the warriors who tardily followed the footsteps of their vehement chief. mustapha bey, the treasurer and commander of the ship, fell before his sword, besides many others, whom he hardly saw or counted. the galley was soon his own, as well as another, which came to the rescue of the treasure-ship only to share its defeat. the booty which alexander's crew secured was prodigious, individual soldiers obtaining two and three thousand ducats each. don john received his nephew after the battle with commendations, not, however, unmingled with censure. the successful result alone had justified such insane and desperate conduct, for had he been slain or overcome, said the commander-in-chief, there would have been few to applaud his temerity. alexander gaily replied by assuring his uncle that he had felt sustained by a more than mortal confidence, the prayers which his saintly wife was incessantly offering in his behalf since he went to the wars being a sufficient support and shield in even greater danger than he had yet confronted. this was alexander's first campaign, nor was he permitted to reap any more glory for a few succeeding years. at last, philip was disposed to send both his mother and himself to the netherlands; removing don john from the rack where he had been enduring such slow torture. granvelle's intercession proved fruitless with the duchess, but alexander was all eagerness to go where blows were passing current, and he gladly led the reinforcements which were sent to don john at the close of the year . he had reached luxemburg, on the th of december of that year, in time, as we have seen, to participate, and, in fact, to take the lead in the signal victory of gemblours. he had been struck with the fatal change which disappointment and anxiety had wrought upon the beautiful and haughty features of his illustrious kinsman. he had since closed his eyes in the camp, and erected a marble tablet over his heart in the little church. he now governed in his stead. his personal appearance corresponded with his character. he had the head of a gladiator, round; compact, combative, with something alert and snake-like in its movements. the black, closely-shorn hair was erect and bristling. the forehead was lofty and narrow. the features were, handsome, the nose regularly aquiline, the eyes well opened, dark piercing, but with something dangerous and sinister in their expression. there was an habitual look askance; as of a man seeking to parry or inflict a mortal blow--the look of a swordsman and professional fighter. the lower part of the face was swallowed in a bushy beard; the mouth and chin being quite invisible. he was of middle stature, well formed, and graceful in person, princely in demeanor, sumptuous and stately in apparel. his high ruff of point lace, his badge of the golden fleece, his gold-inlaid milan armor, marked him at once as one of high degree. on the field of battle he possessed the rare gift of inspiring his soldiers with his own impetuous and chivalrous courage. he ever led the way upon the most dangerous and desperate ventures, and, like his uncle and his imperial grandfather, well knew how to reward the devotion of his readiest followers with a poniard, a feather, a riband, a jewel, taken with his own hands from his own attire. his military, abilities--now for the first time to be largely called into employment--were unquestionably superior to those of don john; whose name had been surrounded with such splendor by the world-renowned battle of lepanto. moreover, he possessed far greater power for governing men, whether in camp or cabinet. less attractive and fascinating, he was more commanding than his kinsman. decorous and self-poised, he was only passionate before the enemy, but he rarely permitted a disrespectful look or word to escape condign and deliberate chastisement. he was no schemer or dreamer. he was no knight errant. he would not have crossed seas and mountains to rescue a captive queen, nor have sought to place her crown on his own head as a reward for his heroism. he had a single and concentrated kind of character. he knew precisely the work which philip required, and felt himself to be precisely the workman that had so long been wanted. cool, incisive, fearless, artful, he united the unscrupulous audacity of a condottiere with the wily patience of a jesuit. he could coil unperceived through unsuspected paths, could strike suddenly, sting mortally. he came prepared, not only to smite the netherlanders in the open field, but to cope with them in tortuous policy; to outwatch and outweary them in the game to which his impatient predecessor had fallen a baked victim. he possessed the art and the patience--as time was to prove--not only to undermine their most impregnable cities, but to delve below the intrigues of their most accomplished politicians. to circumvent at once both their negotiators and their men-at-arms was his appointed task. had it not been for the courage, the vigilance, and the superior intellect of a single antagonist, the whole of the netherlands would have shared the fate which was reserved for the more southern portion. had the life of william of orange been prolonged, perhaps the evil genius of the netherlands might have still been exorcised throughout the whole extent of the country. as for religion, alexander farnese was, of course, strictly catholic, regarding all seceders from romanism as mere heathen dogs. not that he practically troubled himself much with sacred matters--for, during the life-time of his wife, he had cavalierly thrown the whole burden of his personal salvation upon her saintly shoulders. she had now flown to higher spheres, but alexander was, perhaps, willing to rely upon her continued intercessions in his behalf. the life of a bravo in time of peace--the deliberate project in war to exterminate whole cities full of innocent people, who had different notions on the subject of image-worship and ecclesiastical ceremonies from those entertained at rome, did not seem to him at all incompatible with the precepts of jesus. hanging, drowning, burning and butchering heretics were the legitimate deductions of his theology. he was no casuist nor pretender to holiness: but in those days every man was devout, and alexander looked with honest horror upon the impiety of the heretics, whom he persecuted and massacred. he attended mass regularly--in the winter mornings by torch-light--and would as soon have foregone his daily tennis as his religious exercises. romanism was the creed of his caste. it was the religion of princes and gentlemen of high degree. as for lutheranism, zwinglism, calvinism, and similar systems, they were but the fantastic rites of weavers, brewers, and the like--an ignoble herd whose presumption in entitling themselves christian, while rejecting the pope; called for their instant extermination. his personal habits were extremely temperate. he was accustomed to say that he ate only to support life; and he rarely finished a dinner without having risen three or four times from table to attend to some public business which, in his opinion, ought not to be deferred. his previous connections in the netherlands were of use to him, and he knew how to turn them to immediate account. the great nobles, who had been uniformly actuated by jealousy of the prince of orange, who had been baffled in their intrigue with matthias, whose half-blown designs upon anjou had already been nipped in the bud, were now peculiarly in a position to listen to the wily tongue of alexander farnese. the montignys, the la mottes, the meluns, the egmonts, the aerschots, the havres, foiled and doubly foiled in all their small intrigues and their base ambition, were ready to sacrifice their country to the man they hated, and to the ancient religion which they thought that they loved. the malcontents ravaging the land of hainault and threatening ghent, the "paternoster jacks" who were only waiting for a favorable opportunity and a good bargain to make their peace with spain, were the very instruments which parma most desired to use at this opening stage of his career. the position of affairs was far more favorable for him than it had been for don john when he first succeeded to power. on the whole, there seemed a bright prospect of success. it seemed quite possible that it would be in parma's power to reduce, at last, this chronic rebellion, and to reestablish the absolute supremacy of church and king. the pledges of the ghent treaty had been broken, while in the unions of brussels which had succeeded, the fatal religious cause had turned the instrument of peace into a sword. the "religion-peace" which had been proclaimed at antwerp had hardly found favor anywhere. as the provinces, for an instant, had seemingly got the better of their foe, they turned madly upon each other, and the fires of religious discord, which had been extinguished by the common exertions of a whole race trembling for the destruction of their fatherland, were now re-lighted with a thousand brands plucked from the sacred domestic hearth. fathers and children, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, were beginning to wrangle, and were prepared to persecute. catholic and protestant, during the momentary relief from pressure, forgot their voluntary and most blessed pacification, to renew their internecine feuds. the banished reformers, who had swarmed back in droves at the tidings of peace and good-will to all men, found themselves bitterly disappointed. they were exposed in the walloon provinces to the persecutions of the malcontents, in the frisian regions to the still powerful coercion of the royal stadholders. persecution begat counter-persecution. the city of ghent became the centre of a system of insurrection, by which all the laws of god and man were outraged under the pretence of establishing a larger liberty in civil and religious matters. it was at ghent that the opening scenes, in parma's administration took place. of the high-born suitors for the netherland bride, two were still watching each other with jealous eyes. anjou was at mons, which city he had secretly but unsuccessfully attempted to master for, his, own purposes. john casimir was at ghent, fomenting an insurrection which he had neither skill to guide, nor intelligence to comprehend. there was a talk of making him count of flanders,--and his paltry ambition was dazzled by the glittering prize. anjou, who meant to be count of flanders himself, as well as duke or count of all the other netherlands, was highly indignant at this report, which he chose to consider true. he wrote to the estates to express his indignation. he wrote to ghent to offer his mediation between the burghers and the malcontents. casimir wanted money for his troops. he obtained a liberal supply, but he wanted more. meantime, the mercenaries were expatiating on their own account throughout the southern provinces; eating up every green leaf, robbing and pillaging, where robbery and pillage had gone so often that hardly anything was left for rapine. thus dealt the soldiers in the open country, while their master at ghent was plunging into the complicated intrigues spread over that unfortunate city by the most mischievous demagogues that ever polluted a sacred cause. well had cardinal granvelle, his enemy, william of hesse, his friend and kinsman, understood the character of john casimir. robbery and pillage were his achievements, to make chaos more confounded was his destiny. anjou--disgusted with the temporary favor accorded to a rival whom he affected to despise--disbanded his troops in dudgeon, and prepared to retire to france. several thousand of these mercenaries took service immediately with the malcontents under montigny, thus swelling the ranks of the deadliest foes to that land over which anjou had assumed the title of protector. the states' army, meanwhile, had been rapidly dissolving. there were hardly men enough left to make a demonstration in the field, or properly to garrison the more important towns. the unhappy provinces, torn by civil and religious dissensions, were overrun by hordes of unpaid soldiers of all nations, creeds, and tongues-spaniards, italians, burgundians, walloons, germans, scotch and english; some who came to attack and others to protect, but who all achieved nothing and agreed in nothing save to maltreat and to outrage the defenceless peasantry and denizens of the smaller towns. the contemporary chronicles are full of harrowing domestic tragedies, in which the actors are always the insolent foreign soldiery and their desperate victims. ghent energetic, opulent, powerful, passionate, unruly ghent--was now the focus of discord, the centre from whence radiated not the light and warmth of reasonable and intelligent liberty, but the bale-fires of murderous licence and savage anarchy. the second city of the netherlands, one of the wealthiest and most powerful cities of christendom, it had been its fate so often to overstep the bounds of reason and moderation in its devotion to freedom, so often to incur ignominious chastisement from power which its own excesses had made more powerful, that its name was already becoming a bye-word. it now, most fatally and for ever, was to misunderstand its true position. the prince of orange, the great architect of his country's fortunes, would have made it the keystone of the arch which he was laboring to construct. had he been allowed to perfect his plan, the structure might have endured for ages, a perpetual bulwark against, tyranny and wrong. the temporary and slender frame by which the great artist had supported his arch while still unfinished, was plucked away by rude and ribald hands; the keystone plunged into the abyss, to be lost for ever, and the great work of orange remained a fragment from its commencement. the acts of demagogues, the conservative disgust at licence, the jealousy of rival nobles, the venality of military leaders, threw daily fresh stumbling-blocks in his heroic path. it was not six months after the advent of farnese to power, before that bold and subtle chieftain had seized the double-edged sword of religious dissension as firmly as he had grasped his celebrated brand when he boarded the galley of muatapha bey, and the netherlands were cut in twain, to be re-united nevermore. the separate treaty of the walloon provinces was soon destined to separate the celtic and romanesque elements from the batavian and frisian portion of a nationality, which; thoroughly fused in all its parts, would have formed as admirable a compound of fire and endurance as history has ever seen. meantime, the grass was growing and the cattle were grazing in the streets of ghent, where once the tramp of workmen going to and from their labor was like the movement of a mighty army. the great majority of the burghers were of the reformed religion, and disposed to make effectual resistance to the malcontents, led by the disaffected nobles. the city, considering itself the natural head of all the southern country, was indignant that the walloon provinces should dare to reassert that supremacy of romanism which had been so effectually suppressed, and to admit the possibility of friendly relations with a sovereign who had been virtually disowned. there were two parties, however, in ghent. both were led by men of abandoned and dangerous character. imbize, the worse of the two demagogues, was inconstant, cruel, cowardly, and treacherous, but possessed of eloquence and a talent for intrigue. ryhove was a bolder ruffian--wrathful, bitter, and unscrupulous. imbize was at the time opposed to orange, disliking his moderation, and trembling at his firmness. ryhove considered himself the friend of the prince. we have seen that he had consulted him previously to his memorable attack upon aerschot, in the autumn of the preceding year, and we know the result of that conference. the prince, with the slight dissimulation which belonged less to his character than to his theory of politics, and which was perhaps not to be avoided, in that age of intrigue, by any man who would govern his fellow-men, whether for good or evil, had winked at a project which he would not openly approve. he was not thoroughly acquainted, however, with the desperate character of the man, for he would have scorned an instrument so thoroughly base as ryhove subsequently proved. the violence of that personage on the occasion of the arrest of aerschot and his colleagues was mildness compared with the deed with which he now disgraced the cause of freedom. he had been ordered out from ghent to oppose a force of malcontents which was gathering in the neighbourhood of courtray; but he swore that he would not leave the gates so long as two of the gentlemen whom he had arrested on the twenty-eighth of the previous october, and who yet remained in captivity, were still alive. these two prisoners were ex-procurator visch and blood-councillor hessels. hessels, it seemed, had avowed undying hostility to ryhove for the injury sustained at his hands, and he had sworn, "by his grey beard," that the ruffian should yet hang for the outrage. ryhove, not feeling very safe in the position of affairs which then existed, and knowing that he could neither trust imbize, who had formerly been his friend, nor the imprisoned nobles, who had ever been his implacable enemies, was resolved to make himself safe in one quarter at least, before he set forth against the malcontents. accordingly, hessels and visch, as they sat together in their prison, at chess, upon the th of october, , were suddenly summoned to leave the house, and to enter a carriage which stood at the door. a force of armed men brought the order, and were sufficiently strong to enforce it. the prisoners obeyed, and the coach soon rolled slowly through the streets, left the courtray gate, and proceeded a short distance along the road towards that city. after a few minutes a halt was made. ryhove then made his appearance at the carriage-window, and announced to the astonished prisoners that, they were forthwith to be hanged upon a tree which stood by the road-side. he proceeded to taunt the aged hessels with his threat against himself, and with his vow "by his grey beard." "such grey beard shalt thou never live thyself to wear, ruffian," cried hessels, stoutly-furious rather than terrified at the suddenness of his doom. "there thou liest, false traitor!" roared ryhove in reply; and to prove the falsehood, he straightway tore out a handful of the old man's beard, and fastened it upon his own cap like a plume. his action was imitated by several of his companions, who cut for themselves locks from the same grey beard, and decorated themselves as their leader had done. this preliminary ceremony having been concluded, the two aged prisoners were forthwith hanged on a tree, without-the least pretence of trial or even sentence. such was the end of the famous councillor who had been wont to shout "ad patibulum" in his sleep. it was cruel that the fair face of civil liberty showing itself after years of total eclipse, should be insulted by such bloody deeds on the part of her votaries. it was sad that the crimes of men like imbize and ryhove should have cost more to the cause of religious and political freedom than the lives of twenty thousand such ruffians were worth. but for the influence of demagogues like these, counteracting the lofty efforts and pure life of orange, the separation might never have occurred between the two portions of the netherlands. the prince had not power enough, however, nor the nascent commonwealth sufficient consistency, to repress the disorganizing tendency of a fanatical romanism on the one side, and a retaliatory and cruel ochlocracy on the other. such events, with the hatred growing daily more intense between the walloons and the ghenters, made it highly important that some kind of an accord should be concluded, if possible. in the country, the malcontents, under pretence of protecting the catholic clergy, were daily abusing and plundering the people, while in ghent the clergy were maltreated, the cloisters pillaged, under the pretence of maintaining liberty. in this emergency the eyes of all honest men turned naturally to orange. deputies went to and fro between antwerp and ghent, three points were laid down by the prince as indispensable to any arrangement--firstly, that the catholic clergy should be allowed the free use of their property; secondly, that they should not be disturbed in the exercise of their religion; thirdly, that the gentlemen kept in prison since the memorable twenty-eighth of october should be released. if these points should be granted, the archduke matthias, the states-general, and the prince of orange would agree to drive off the walloon soldiery, and to defend ghent against all injury. the two first points were granted, upon condition that sufficient guarantees should be established for the safety of the reformed religion. the third was rejected, but it was agreed that the prisoners, champagny, sweveghem, and the rest--who, after the horrid fate of hessels and visch, might be supposed to be sufficiently anxious as to their own doom--should have legal trial, and be defended in the meantime from outrage. on the rd of november, , a formal act of acceptance of these terms was signed at antwerp. at the same time, there was murmuring at ghent, the extravagant portion of the liberal party averring that they had no intention of establishing the "religious peace" when they agreed not to molest the catholics. on the th of november, the prince of orange sent messengers to ghent in the name of the archduke and the states-general, summoning the authorities to a faithful execution of the act of acceptance. upon the same day the english envoy, davidson, made an energetic representation to the same magistrates, declaring that the conduct of the ghenters was exciting regret throughout the world, and affording a proof that it was their object to protract, not suppress, the civil war which had so long been raging. such proceedings, he observed, created doubts whether they were willing to obey any law or any magistracy. as, however, it might be supposed that the presence of john casimir in ghent at that juncture was authorized by queen elizabeth--inasmuch as it was known that he had received a subsidy from her--the envoy took occasion to declare that her majesty entirely disavowed his proceedings. he observed further that, in the opinion of her majesty, it was still possible to maintain peace by conforming to the counsels of the prince of orange and of the states-general. this, however, could be done only by establishing the three points which he had laid down. her majesty likewise warned the ghenters that their conduct would soon compel her to abandon the country's cause altogether, and, in conclusion, she requested, with characteristic thriftiness, to be immediately furnished with a city bond for forty-five thousand pounds sterling. two days afterwards, envoys arrived from brussels to remonstrate, in their turn, with the sister city, and to save her, if possible, from the madness which had seized upon her. they recalled to the memory of the magistrates the frequent and wise counsels of the prince of orange. he had declared that he knew of no means to avert the impending desolation of the fatherland save union of all the provinces and obedience to the general government. his own reputation, and the honor of his house, he felt now to be at stake; for, by reason of the offices which he now held, he had been ceaselessly calumniated as the author of all the crimes which had been committed at ghent. against these calumnies he had avowed his intention of publishing his defence. after thus citing the opinion of the prince, the envoys implored the magistrates to accept the religious peace which he had proposed, and to liberate the prisoners as he had demanded. for their own part, they declared that the inhabitants of brussels would never desert him; for, next to god, there was no one who understood their cause so entirely, or who could point out the remedy so intelligently. thus reasoned the envoys from the states-general and from brussels, but even while they were reasoning, a fresh tumult occurred at ghent. the people had been inflamed by demagogues, and by the insane howlings of peter dathenus, the unfrocked monk of poperingen, who had been the servant and minister both of the pope and of orange, and who now hated each with equal fervor. the populace, under these influences, rose in its wrath upon the catholics, smote all their images into fragments, destroyed all their altar pictures, robbed them of much valuable property, and turned all the papists themselves out of the city. the riot was so furious that it seemed, says a chronicler, as if all the inhabitants had gone raving mad. the drums beat the alarm, the magistrates went forth to expostulate, but no commands were heeded till the work of destruction had been accomplished, when the tumult expired at last by its own limitation. affairs seemed more threatening than ever. nothing more excited the indignation of the prince of orange than such senseless iconomachy. in fact, he had at one time procured an enactment by the ghent authorities, making it a crime punishable with death. he was of luther's opinion, that idol-worship was to be eradicated from the heart, and that then the idols in the churches would fall of themselves. he felt too with landgrave william, that "the destruction of such worthless idols was ever avenged by torrents of good human blood." therefore it may be well supposed that this fresh act of senseless violence, in the very teeth of his remonstrances, in the very presence of his envoys, met with his stern disapprobation. he was on the point of publishing his defence against the calumnies which his toleration had drawn upon him from both catholic and calvinist. he was deeply revolving the question, whether it were not better to turn his back at once upon a country which seemed so incapable of comprehending his high purposes, or seconding his virtuous efforts. from both projects he was dissuaded; and although bitterly wronged by both friend and foe, although, feeling that even in his own holland, there were whispers against his purity, since his favorable inclinations towards anjou had become the general topic, yet he still preserved his majestic tranquillity, and smiled at the arrows which fell harmless at his feet. "i admire his wisdom, daily more and more," cried hubert languet; "i see those who profess themselves his friends causing him more annoyance than his foes; while, nevertheless, he ever remains true to himself, is driven by no tempests from his equanimity, nor provoked by repeated injuries to immoderate action." the prince had that year been chosen unanimously by the four "members" of flanders to be governor of that province, but had again declined the office. the inhabitants, notwithstanding the furious transactions at ghent, professed attachment to his person, and respect for his authority. he was implored to go to the city. his presence, and that alone, would restore the burghers to their reason, but the task was not a grateful one. it was also not unattended with danger; although this was a consideration which never influenced him, from the commencement of his career to its close. imbize and his crew were capable of resorting to any extremity or any ambush; to destroy the man whom they feared and hated. the presence of john casimir was an additional complication; for orange, while he despised the man, was unwilling to offend his friends. moreover, casimir had professed a willingness to assist the cause, and to, defer to the better judgment of the prince: he had brought an army into the field, with which, however, he had accomplished nothing except a thorough pillaging of the peasantry, while, at the same time, he was loud in his demands upon the states to pay his soldiers' wages. the soldiers of the different armies who now overran the country, indeed, vied with each other in extravagant insolence. "their outrages are most execrable," wrote marquis havre; "they demand the most exquisite food, and drink champagne and burgundy by the bucketfull." nevertheless, on the th of december, the prince came to ghent. he held constant and anxious conferences with the magistrates. he was closeted daily with john casimir, whose vanity and extravagance of temper he managed with his usual skill. he even dined with imbue, and thus, by smoothing difficulties and reconciling angry passions, he succeeded at last in obtaining the consent of all to a religious peace, which was published on the th of december, . it contained the same provisions as those of the project prepared and proposed during the previous summer throughout the netherlands. exercise of both religions was established; mutual insults and irritations--whether by word, book, picture, song, or gesture--were prohibited, under severe penalties, while all persons were sworn to protect the common tranquillity by blood, purse, and life. the catholics, by virtue of this accord, re-entered into possession of their churches and cloisters, but nothing could be obtained in favor of the imprisoned gentlemen. the walloons and malcontents were now summoned to lay down their arms; but, as might be supposed, they expressed dissatisfaction with the religious peace, proclaiming it hostile to the ghent treaty and the brussels union. in short, nothing would satisfy them but total suppression of the reformed religion; as nothing would content imbize and his faction but the absolute extermination of romanism. a strong man might well seem powerless in the midst of such obstinate and worthless fanatics. the arrival of the prince in ghent was, on the whole, a relief to john casimir. as usual, this addle-brained individual had plunged headlong into difficulties, out of which he was unable to extricate himself. he knew not what to do, or which way to turn. he had tampered with imbue and his crew, but he had found that they were not the men for a person of his quality to deal with. he had brought a large army into the field, and had not a stiver in his coffers. he felt bitterly the truth of the landgrave's warning--"that 'twas better to have thirty thousand devils at one's back than thirty thousand german troopers, with no money to give them;" it being possible to pay the devils with the sign of the cross, while the soldiers could be discharged only with money or hard knocks. queen elizabeth, too, under whose patronage he had made this most inglorious campaign, was incessant in her reproofs, and importunate in her demands for reimbursement. she wrote to him personally, upbraiding him with his high pretensions and his shortcomings. his visit to ghent, so entirely unjustified and mischievous; his failure to effect that junction of his army with the states' force under bossu, by which the royal army was to have been surprised and annihilated; his having given reason to the common people to suspect her majesty and the prince of orange of collusion with his designs, and of a disposition to seek their private advantage and not the general good of the whole netherlands; the imminent danger, which he had aggravated, that the walloon provinces, actuated by such suspicions, would fall away from the "generality" and seek a private accord with parma; these and similar sins of omission and commission were sharply and shrewishly set forth in the queen's epistle. 'twas not for such marauding and intriguing work that she had appointed him her lieutenant, and furnished him with troops and subsidies. she begged him forthwith to amend his ways, for the sake of his name and fame, which were sufficiently soiled in the places where his soldiers had been plundering the country which they came to protect. the queen sent daniel rogers with instructions of similar import to the states-general, repeatedly and expressly disavowing casimir's proceedings and censuring his character. she also warmly insisted on her bonds. in short, never was unlucky prince more soundly berated by his superiors, more thoroughly disgraced by his followers. in this contemptible situation had casimir placed himself by his rash ambition to prove before the world that german princes could bite and scratch like griffins and tigers as well as carry them in their shields. from this position orange partly rescued him. he made his peace with the states-general. he smoothed matters with the extravagant reformers, and he even extorted from the authorities of ghent the forty-five thousand pounds bond, on which elizabeth had insisted with such obduracy. casimir repaid these favors of the prince in the coin with which narrow minds and jealous tempers are apt to discharge such obligations--ingratitude. the friendship which he openly manifested at first grew almost immediately cool. soon afterwards he left ghent and departed for germany, leaving behind him a long and tedious remonstrance, addressed to the states-general, in which document he narrated the history of his exploits, and endeavored to vindicate the purity of his character. he concluded this very tedious and superfluous manifesto by observing that--for reasons which he thought proper to give at considerable length--he felt himself "neither too useful nor too agreeable to the provinces." as he had been informed, he said, that the states-general had requested the queen of england to procure his departure, he had resolved, in order to spare her and them inconvenience, to return of his own accord, "leaving the issue of the war in the high and mighty hand of god." the estates answered this remonstrance with words of unlimited courtesy; expressing themselves "obliged to all eternity" for his services, and holding out vague hopes that the monies which he demanded on behalf of his troops should ere long be forthcoming. casimir having already answered queen elizabeth's reproachful letter by throwing the blame of his apparent misconduct upon the states-general, and having promised soon to appear before her majesty in person, tarried accordingly but a brief season in germany, and then repaired to england. here he was feasted, flattered, caressed, and invested with the order of the garter. pleased with royal blandishments, and highly enjoying the splendid hospitalities of england he quite forgot the "thirty thousand devils" whom he had left running loose in the netherlands, while these wild soldiers, on their part, being absolutely in a starving condition--for there was little left for booty in a land which had been so often plundered--now had the effrontery to apply to the prince of parma for payment of their wages. alexander farnese laughed heartily at the proposition, which he considered an excellent jest. it seemed in truth, a jest, although but a sorry one. parma replied to the messenger of maurice of saxony who had made the proposition, that the germans must be mad to ask him for money, instead of offering to pay him, a heavy sum for permission to leave the country. nevertheless, he was willing to be so far indulgent as to furnish them with passports, provided they departed from the netherlands instantly. should they interpose the least delay, he would set upon them without further preface, and he gave them notice, with the arrogance becoming a spanish general; that the courier was already waiting to report to spain the number of them left alive after the encounter. thus deserted by their chief, and hectored by the enemy, the mercenaries, who had little stomach for fight without wages, accepted the passports proffered by parma. they revenged themselves for the harsh treatment which they had received from casimir and from the states-general, by singing, everywhere as they retreated, a doggerel ballad--half flemish, half german--in which their wrongs were expressed with uncouth vigor. casimir received the news of the departure of his ragged soldiery on the very day which witnessed his investment with the garter by the fair hands of elizabeth herself. a few days afterwards he left england, accompanied by an escort of lords and gentlemen, especially appointed for that purpose by the queen. he landed in flushing, where he was received with distinguished hospitality, by order of the prince of orange, and on the th of february, , he passed through utrecht. here he conversed freely at his lodgings in the "german house" on the subject of his vagabond troops, whose final adventures and departure seemed to afford him considerable amusement; and he, moreover, diverted his company by singing, after supper, a few verses of the ballad already mentioned. o, have you been in brabant, fighting for the states? o, have you brought back anything except your broken pates? o, i have been in brabant, myself and all my mates. we'll go no more to brabant, unless our brains were addle, we're coming home on foot, we went there in the saddle; for there's neither gold nor glory got, in fighting for the states. the duke of anjou, meantime, after disbanding his troops, had lingered for a while near the frontier. upon taking his final departure, he sent his resident minister, des pruneaux, with a long communication to the states-general, complaining that they had not published their contract with himself, nor fulfilled its conditions. he excused, as well as he could, the awkward fact that his disbanded troops had taken refuge with the walloons, and he affected to place his own departure upon the ground of urgent political business in france, to arrange which his royal brother had required his immediate attendance. he furthermore most hypocritically expressed a desire for a speedy reconciliation of the provinces with their sovereign, and a resolution that--although for their sake he had made himself a foe to his catholic majesty--he would still interpose no obstacle to so desirable a result. to such shallow discourse the states answered with infinite urbanity, for it was the determination of orange not to make enemies, at that juncture, of france and england in the same breath. they had foes enough already, and it seemed obvious at that moment, to all persons most observant of the course of affairs, that a matrimonial alliance was soon to unite the two crowns. the probability of anjou's marriage with elizabeth was, in truth, a leading motive with orange for his close alliance with the duke. the political structure, according to which he had selected the french prince as protector of the netherlands, was sagaciously planned; but unfortunately its foundation was the shifting sandbank of female and royal coquetry. those who judge only by the result, will be quick to censure a policy which might have had very different issue. they who place themselves in the period anterior to anjou's visit to england, will admit that it was hardly human not to be deceived by the apolitical aspects of that moment. the queen, moreover, took pains to upbraid the states-general, by letter, with their disrespect and ingratitude towards the duke of anjou--behaviour with which he had been "justly scandalized." for her own part, she assured them of her extreme displeasure at learning that such a course of conduct had been held with a view to her especial contentment--"as if the person of monsieur, son of france, brother of the king, were disagreeable to her, or as if she wished him ill;" whereas, on the contrary, they would best satisfy her wishes by showing him all the courtesy to which his high degree and his eminent services entitled him. the estates, even before receiving this letter, had, however, acted in its spirit. they had addressed elaborate apologies and unlimited professions to the duke. they thanked him heartily for his achievements, expressed unbounded regret at his departure, with sincere hopes for his speedy return, and promised "eternal remembrance" of his heroic virtues. they assured him, moreover, that should the first of the following march arrive without bringing with it an honorable peace with his catholic majesty, they should then feel themselves compelled to declare that the king had forfeited his right to the sovereignty of these provinces. in this case they concluded that, as the inhabitants would be then absolved from their allegiance to the spanish monarch, it would then be in their power to treat with his highness of anjou concerning the sovereignty, according to the contract already existing. these assurances were ample, but the states, knowing the vanity of the man, offered other inducements, some of which seemed sufficiently puerile. they promised that "his statue, in copper, should be placed in the public squares of antwerp and brussels, for the eternal admiration of posterity," and that a "crown of olive-leaves should be presented to him every year." the duke--not inexorable to such courteous solicitations--was willing to achieve both immortality and power by continuing his friendly relations with the states, and he answered accordingly in the most courteous terms. the result of this interchange of civilities it will be soon our duty to narrate. at the close of the year the count of bossu died, much to the regret of the prince of orange, whose party--since his release from prison by virtue of the ghent treaty--he had warmly espoused. "we are in the deepest distress in the world," wrote the prince to his brother, three days before the count's death, "for the dangerous malady of m. de bossu. certainly, the country has much to lose in his death, but i hope that god will not so much afflict us." yet the calumniators of the day did not scruple to circulate, nor the royalist chroniclers to perpetuate, the most senseless and infamous fables on the subject of this nobleman's death. he died of poison, they said, administered to him "in oysters," by command of the prince of orange, who had likewise made a point of standing over him on his death-bed, for the express purpose of sneering at the catholic ceremonies by which his dying agonies were solaced. such were the tales which grave historians have recorded concerning the death of maximilian of bossu, who owed so much to the prince. the command of the states' army, a yearly pension of five thousand florins, granted at the especial request of orange but a few months before, and the profound words of regret in the private letter jest cited, are a sufficient answer to such slanders. the personal courage and profound military science of parma were invaluable to the royal cause; but his subtle, unscrupulous, and subterranean combinations of policy were even more fruitful at this period. no man ever understood the art of bribery more thoroughly or practised it more skillfully. he bought a politician, or a general, or a grandee, or a regiment of infantry, usually at the cheapest price at which those articles could be purchased, and always with the utmost delicacy with which such traffic could be conducted. men conveyed themselves to government for a definite price--fixed accurately in florins and groats, in places and pensions--while a decent gossamer of conventional phraseology was ever allowed to float over the nakedness of unblushing treason. men high in station, illustrious by ancestry, brilliant in valor, huckstered themselves, and swindled a confiding country for as ignoble motives as ever led counterfeiters or bravoes to the gallows, but they were dealt with in public as if actuated only by the loftiest principles. behind their ancient shields, ostentatiously emblazoned with fidelity to church and king, they thrust forth their itching palms with the mendicity which would be hardly credible, were it not attested by the monuments more perennial than brass, of their own letters and recorded conversations. already, before the accession of parma to power, the true way to dissever the provinces had been indicated by the famous treason of the seigneur de la motte. this nobleman commanded a regiment in the service of the states-general, and was governor of gravelines. on promise of forgiveness for all past disloyalty, of being continued in the same military posts under philip which he then held for the patriots, and of a "merced" large enough to satisfy his most avaricious dreams, he went over to the royal government. the negotiation was conducted by alonzo curiel, financial agent of the king, and was not very nicely handled. the paymaster, looking at the affair purely as a money transaction--which in truth it was--had been disposed to drive rather too hard a bargain. he offered only fifty thousand crowns for la motte and his friend baron montigny, and assured his government that those gentlemen, with the soldiers under their command, were very dear at the price. la motte higgled very hard for more, and talked pathetically of his services and his wounds--for he had been a most distinguished and courageous campaigner--but alonzo was implacable. moreover, one robert bien-aime, prior of renty, was present at all the conferences. this ecclesiastic was a busy intriguer, but not very adroit. he was disposed to make himself useful to government, for he had set his heart upon putting the mitre of saint omer upon his head, and he had accordingly composed a very ingenious libel upon the prince of orange, in which production, "although the prior did not pretend to be apelles or lysippus," he hoped that the governor-general would recognize a portrait colored to the life. this accomplished artist was, however, not so successful as he was picturesque and industrious. he was inordinately vain of his services, thinking himself, said alonzo, splenetically, worthy to be carried in a procession like a little saint, and as he had a busy brain, but an unruly tongue, it will be seen that he possessed a remarkable faculty of making himself unpleasant. this was not the way to earn his bishopric. la motte, through the candid communications of the prior, found himself the subject of mockery in parma's camp and cabinet, where treachery to one's country and party was not, it seemed, regarded as one of the loftier virtues, however convenient it might be at the moment to the royal cause. the prior intimated especially that ottavio gonzaga had indulged in many sarcastic remarks at la motte's expense. the brave but venal warrior, highly incensed at thus learning the manner in which his conduct was estimated by men of such high rank in the royal service, was near breaking off the bargain. he was eventually secured, however, by still larger offers--don john allowing him three hundred florins a month, presenting him with the two best horses in his stable, and sending him an open form, which he was to fill out in the most stringent language which he could devise, binding the government to the payment of an ample and entirely satisfactory "merced." thus la motte's bargain was completed a crime which, if it had only entailed the loss of the troops under his command, and the possession of gravelines, would have been of no great historic importance. it was, however, the first blow of a vast and carefully sharpened treason, by which the country was soon to be cut in twain for ever--the first in a series of bargains by which the noblest names of the netherlands were to be contaminated with bribery and fraud. while the negotiations with la notte were in progress, the government of the states-general at brussels had sent saint aldegonde to arras. the states of artois, then assembled in that city, had made much difficulty in acceding to an assessment of seven thousand florins laid upon them by the central authority. the occasion was skillfully made use of by the agents of the royal party to weaken the allegiance of the province, and of its sister walloon provinces, to the patriot cause. saint aldegonde made his speech before the assembly, taking the ground boldly, that the war was made for liberty of conscience and of fatherland, and that all were bound, whether catholic or protestant, to contribute to the sacred fund. the vote passed, but it was provided that a moiety of the assessment should be paid by the ecclesiastical branch, and the stipulation excited a tremendous uproar. the clerical bench regarded the tax as both a robbery and an affront. "we came nearly to knife-playing," said the most distinguished priest in the assembly, "and if we had done so, the ecclesiastics would not have been the first to cry enough." they all withdrew in a rage, and held a private consultation upon "these exorbitant and more than turkish demands." john sarrasin, prior of saint yaast, the keenest, boldest, and most indefatigable of the royal partisans of that epoch, made them an artful harangue. this man--a better politician than the other prior--was playing for a mitre too, and could use his cards better. he was soon to become the most invaluable agent in the great treason preparing. no one could, be more delicate, noiseless, or unscrupulous, and he was soon recognized both by governor-general and king as the individual above all others to whom the re-establishment of the royal authority over the walloon provinces was owing. with the shoes of swiftness on his feet, the coat of darkness on his back, and the wishing purse in his hand, he sped silently and invisibly from one great malcontent chieftain to another, buying up centurions, and captains, and common soldiers; circumventing orangists, ghent democrats, anjou partisans; weaving a thousand intrigues, ventilating a hundred hostile mines, and passing unharmed through the most serious dangers and the most formidable obstacles. eloquent, too, at a pinch, he always understood his audience, and upon this occasion unsheathed the most incisive, if not the most brilliant weapon which could be used in the debate. it was most expensive to be patriotic, he said, while silver was to be saved, and gold to be earned by being loyal. they ought to keep their money to defend themselves, not give it to the prince of orange, who would only put it into his private pocket on pretence of public necessities. the ruward would soon be slinking back to his lair, he observed, and leave them all in the fangs of their enemies. meantime, it was better to rush into the embrace of a bountiful king, who was still holding forth his arms to them. they were approaching a precipice, said the prior; they were entering a labyrinth; and not only was the "sempiternal loss of body and soul impending over them, but their property was to be taken also, and the cat to be thrown against their legs." by this sudden descent into a very common proverbial expression, sarrasin meant to intimate that they were getting themselves into a difficult position, in which they were sure to reap both danger and responsibility. the harangue had much effect upon his hearers, who were now more than ever determined to rebel against the government which they had so recently accepted, preferring, in the words of the prior, "to be maltreated by their prince, rather than to be barbarously tyrannized over by a heretic." so much anger had been excited in celestial minds by a demand of thirty-five hundred florins. saint aldegonde was entertained in the evening at a great banquet, followed by a theological controversy, in which john sarrasin complained that "he had been attacked upon his own dunghill." next day the distinguished patriot departed on a canvassing tour among the principal cities; the indefatigable monk employing the interval of his absence in aggravating the hostility of the artesian orders to the pecuniary demands of the general government. he was assisted in his task by a peremptory order which came down from brussels, ordering, in the name of matthias, a levy upon the ecclesiastical property, "rings, jewels, and reliquaries," unless the clerical contribution should be forthcoming. the rage of the bench was now intense, and by the time of saint aldegonde's return a general opposition had been organized. the envoy met with a chilling reception; there were no banquets anymore--no discussions of any kind. to his demands for money, "he got a fine nihil," said saint vaast; and as for polemics, the only conclusive argument for the country would be, as he was informed on the same authority, the "finishing of orange and of his minister along with him." more than once had the prior intimated to government--as so many had done before him--that to "despatch orange, author of all the troubles," was the best preliminary to any political arrangement. from philip and his governor-general, down to the humblest partisan, this conviction had been daily strengthening. the knife or bullet of an assassin was the one thing needful to put an end to this incarnated rebellion. thus matters grew worse and worse in artois. the prior, busier than ever in his schemes, was one day arrested along with other royal emissaries, kept fifteen days "in a stinking cellar, where the scullion washed the dishes," and then sent to antwerp to be examined by the states-general. he behaved with great firmness, although he had good reason to tremble for his neck. interrogated by leoninus on the part of the central government, he boldly avowed that these pecuniary demands upon the walloon estates, and particularly upon their ecclesiastical branches, would never be tolerated. "in alva's time," said sarrasin, "men were flayed, but not shorn." those who were more attached to their skin than their fleece might have thought the practice in the good old times of the duke still more objectionable. such was not the opinion of the prior and the rest of his order. after an unsatisfactory examination and a brief duresse, the busy ecclesiastic was released; and as his secret labors had not been detected, he resumed them after his return more ardently than ever. a triangular intrigue was now fairly established in the walloon country. the duke of alencon's head-quarters were at mons; the rallying-point of the royalist faction was with la motte at gravelines; while the ostensible leader of the states' party, viscount ghent, was governor of artois, and supposed to be supreme in arras. la motte was provided by government with a large fund of secret-service money, and was instructed to be very liberal in his bribes to men of distinction; having a tender regard, however, to the excessive demands of this nature now daily made upon the royal purse. the "little count," as the prior called lalain, together with his brother, baron montigny, were considered highly desirable acquisitions for government, if they could be gained. it was thought, however, that they had the "fleur-de-lys imprinted too deeply upon their hearts," for the effect produced upon lalain, governor of hainault, by margaret of valois, had not yet been effaced. his brother also had been disposed to favor the french prince, but his mind was more open to conviction. a few private conferences with la motte, and a course of ecclesiastical tuition from the prior--whose golden opinions had irresistible resonance--soon wrought a change in the malcontent chieftain's mind. other leading seigniors were secretly dealt with in the same manner. lalain, heze, havre, capres, egmont, and even the viscount of ghent, all seriously inclined their ears to the charmer, and looked longingly and lovingly as the wily prior rolled in his tangles before them--"to mischief swift." few had yet declared themselves; but of the grandees who commanded large bodies of troops, and whose influence with their order was paramount, none were safe for the patriot cause throughout the walloon country. the nobles and ecclesiastics were ready to join hands in support of church and king, but in the city of arras, the capital of the whole country, there was a strong orange and liberal party. gosson, a man of great wealth, one of the most distinguished advocates in the netherlands, and possessing the gift of popular eloquence to a remarkable degree, was the leader of this burgess faction. in the earlier days of parma's administration, just as a thorough union of the walloon provinces in favor of the royal government had nearly been formed, these orangists of arras risked a daring stroke. inflamed by the harangues of gosson, and supported by five hundred foot soldiers and fifty troopers under one captain ambrose, they rose against the city magistracy, whose sentiments were unequivocally for parma, and thrust them all into prison. they then constituted a new board of fifteen, some catholics and some protestants, but all patriots, of whom gosson was chief. the stroke took the town by surprise; and was for a moment successful. meantime, they depended upon assistance from brussels. the royal and ecclesiastical party was, however, not so easily defeated, and an old soldier, named bourgeois, loudly denounced captain ambrose, the general of the revolutionary movement, as a vile coward, and affirmed that with thirty good men-at-arms he would undertake to pound the whole rebel army to powder--" a pack of scarecrows," he said, "who were not worth as many owls for military purposes." three days after the imprisonment of the magistracy, a strong catholic rally was made in their behalf in the fishmarket, the ubiquitous prior of saint vaast flitting about among the malcontents, blithe and busy as usual when storms were brewing. matthew doucet, of the revolutionary faction--a man both martial and pacific in his pursuits, being eminent both as a gingerbread baker and a swordplayer--swore he would have the little monk's life if he had to take him from the very horns of the altar; but the prior had braved sharper threats than these. moreover, the grand altar would have been the last place to look fox him on that occasion. while gosson was making a tremendous speech in favor of conscience and fatherland at the hotel de ville, practical john sarrasin, purse in hand, had challenged the rebel general, ambrose to private combat. in half an hour, that warrior was routed, and fled from the field at the head of his scarecrows, for there was no resisting the power before which the montignys and the la mottes had succumbed. eloquent gosson was left to his fate. having the catholic magistracy in durance, and with nobody to guard them, he felt, as was well observed by an ill-natured contemporary, like a man holding a wolf by the ears, equally afraid to let go or to retain his grasp. his dilemma was soon terminated. while he was deliberating with his colleagues--mordacq, an old campaigner, crugeot, bertoul, and others--whether to stand or, fly, the drums and trumpets of the advancing royalists were heard. in another instant the hotel de ville was swarming with men-at-arms, headed by bourgeois, the veteran who had expressed so alighting an opinion as to the prowess of captain ambrose. the tables were turned, the miniature revolution was at an end, the counter-revolution effected. gosson and his confederates escaped out of a back door, but were soon afterwards arrested. next morning, baron capres, the great malcontent seignior, who was stationed with his regiment in the neighbourhood, and who had long been secretly coquetting with the prior and parma, marched into the city at the head of a strong detachment, and straightway proceeded to erect a very tall gibbet in front of the hotel de ville. this looked practical in the eyes of the liberated and reinstated magistrates, and gosson, crugeot, and the rest were summoned at once before them. the advocate thought, perhaps, with a sigh, that his judges, so recently his prisoners, might have been the fruit for another gallowstree, had he planted it when the ground was his own; but taking heart of grace, he encouraged his colleagues--now his fellow-culprits. crugeot, undismayed, made his appearance before the tribunal, arrayed in a corslet of proof, with a golden hilted sword, a scarf embroidered with pearls and gold, and a hat bravely plumaged with white, blue, and, orange feathers--the colors of william the silent--of all which finery he was stripped, however, as soon as he entered the court. the process was rapid. a summons from brussels was expected every hour from the general government, ordering the cases to be brought before the federal tribunal; and as the walloon provinces were not yet ready for open revolt, the order would be an inconvenient one. hence the necessity for haste. the superior court of artois, to which an appeal from the magistrates lay, immediately held a session in another chamber of the hotel de ville while the lower court was trying the prisoners, and bertoul, crugeot, mordacq, with several others, were condemned in a few hours to the gibbet. they were invited to appeal, if they chose, to the council of artois, but hearing that the court was sitting next door, so that there was no chance of a rescue in the streets, they declared themselves satisfied with the sentence. gosson had not been tried, his case being reserved for the morrow. meantime, the short autumnal day had drawn to a close. a wild, stormy, rainy night then set in, but still the royalist party--citizens and soldiers intermingled--all armed to the teeth, and uttering fierce cries, while the whole scene was fitfully illuminated with the glare of flambeaux and blazing tar-barrels, kept watch in the open square around the city hall. a series of terrible rembrandt-like nightpieces succeeded--grim, fantastic, and gory. bertoul, an old man, who for years had so surely felt himself predestined to his present doom that he had kept a gibbet in his own house to accustom himself to the sight of the machine, was led forth the first, and hanged at ten in the evening. he was a good man, of perfectly blameless life, a sincere catholic, but a warm partisan of orange. valentine de mordacq, an old soldier, came from the hotel de ville to the gallows at midnight. as he stood on the ladder, amid the flaming torches, he broke forth into furious execrations, wagging his long white beard to and fro, making hideous grimaces, and cursing the hard fate which, after many dangers on the battle-field and in beleaguered cities, had left him to such a death. the cord strangled his curses. crugeot was executed at three in the morning, having obtained a few hours' respite in order to make his preparations, which he accordingly occupied himself in doing as tranquilly as if he had been setting forth upon an agreeable journey. he looked like a phantom, according to eye-witnesses, as he stood under the gibbet, making a most pious and, catholic address to the crowd. the whole of the following day was devoted to the trial of gosson. he was condemned at nightfall, and heard by appeal before the superior court directly afterwards. at midnight, of the th of october, , he was condemned to lose his head, the execution to take place without delay. the city guards and the infantry under capres still bivouacked upon the square; the howling storm still continued, but the glare of fagots and torches made the place as light as day. the ancient advocate, with haggard eyes and features distorted by wrath, walking between the sheriff and a franciscan monk, advanced through the long lane of halberdiers, in the grand hall of the town house, and thence emerged upon the scaffold erected before the door. he shook his fists with rage at the released magistrates, so lately his prisoners, exclaiming that to his misplaced mercy it was owing that his head, instead of their own, was to be placed upon the block. he bitterly reproached the citizens for their cowardice in shrinking from dealing a blow for their fatherland, and in behalf of one who had so faithfully served them. the clerk of the court then read the sentence amid a silence so profound that every syllable he uttered, and, every sigh and ejaculation of the victim were distinctly heard in the most remote corner of the square. gosson then, exclaiming that he was murdered without cause, knelt upon the scaffold. his head fell while an angry imprecation was still upon his lips. several other persons of lesser note were hanged daring the week-among others, matthew doucet, the truculent man of gingerbread, whose rage had been so judiciously but so unsuccessfully directed against the prior of saint vaast. captain ambrose, too, did not live long to enjoy the price of his treachery. he was arrested very soon afterwards by the states' government in antwerp, put to the torture, hanged and quartered. in troublous times like those, when honest men found it difficult to keep their heads upon their shoulders, rogues were apt to meet their deserts, unless they had the advantage of lofty lineage and elevated position. "ille crucem sceleris pretium tulit, hic diadema." this municipal revolution and counter-revolution, obscure though they seem, were in reality of very grave importance. this was the last blow struck for freedom in the walloon country. the failure of the movement made that scission of the netherlands certain, which has endured till our days, for the influence of the ecclesiastics in the states of artois and hainault, together with the military power of the malcontent grandees, whom parma and john sarrasin had purchased, could no longer be resisted. the liberty of the celtic provinces was sold, and a few high-born traitors received the price. before the end of the year ( ) montigny had signified to the duke of alencon that a prince who avowed himself too poor to pay for soldiers was no master for him. the baron, therefore, came, to an understanding with la motte and sarrasin, acting for alexander farnese, and received the command of the infantry in the walloon provinces, a merced of four thousand crowns a year, together with as large a slice of la motte's hundred thousand florins for himself and soldiers, as that officer could be induced to part with. baron capres, whom sarrasin--being especially enjoined to purchase him--had, in his own language, "sweated blood and water" to secure, at last agreed to reconcile himself with the king's party upon condition of receiving the government-general of artois, together with the particular government of hesdin--very lucrative offices, which the viscount of ghent then held by commission of the states-general. that politic personage, however, whose disinclination to desert the liberty party which had clothed him with such high functions, was apparently so marked that the prior had caused an ambush to be laid both for him and the marquis havre, in-order to obtain bodily possession of two such powerful enemies, now, at the last moment, displayed his true colors. he consented to reconcile himself also, on condition of receiving the royal appointment to the same government which he then held from the patriot authorities, together with the title of marquis de richebourg, the command of all the cavalry in the royalist provinces, and certain rewards in money besides. by holding himself at a high mark, and keeping at a distance, he had obtained his price. capres, for whom philip, at parma's suggestion, had sent the commission as governor of artois and of hesdin, was obliged to renounce those offices, notwithstanding his earlier "reconciliation," and the "blood and water" of john sarrasin. ghent was not even contented with these guerdons, but insisted upon the command of all the cavalry, including the band of ordnance which, with handsome salary, had been assigned to lalain as a part of the wages for his treason, while the "little count"--fiery as his small and belligerent cousin whose exploits have been recorded in the earlier pages of this history--boldly taxed parma and the king with cheating him out of his promised reward, in order to please a noble whose services had been less valuable than those of the lalain family. having thus obtained the lion's share, due, as he thought, to his well known courage and military talents, as well as to the powerful family influence, which he wielded--his brother, the prince of espinoy, hereditary seneschal of hainault, having likewise rallied to the king's party--ghent jocosely intimated to parma his intention of helping himself to the two best horses in the prince's stables in exchange for those lost at gemblours, in which disastrous action he had commanded the cavalry for the states. he also sent two terriers to farnese, hoping that they would "prove more useful than beautiful." the prince might have thought, perhaps, as much of the viscount's treason. john sarrasin, the all-accomplished prior, as the reward of his exertions, received from philip the abbey of saint vaast, the richest and most powerful ecclesiastical establishment in the netherlands. at a subsequent period his grateful sovereign created him archbishop of cambray. thus the "troubles of arras"--as they were called--terminated. gosson the respected, wealthy, eloquent, and virtuous advocate; together with his colleagues--all catholics, but at the same time patriots and liberals--died the death of felons for their unfortunate attempt to save their fatherland from an ecclesiastical and venal conspiracy; while the actors in the plot, having all performed well their parts, received their full meed of prizes and applause. the private treaty by which the walloon provinces of artois, hainault, lille, douay, and orchies, united themselves in a separate league was signed upon the th of january, ; but the final arrangements for the reconciliation of the malcontent nobles and their soldiers were not completed until april th, upon which day a secret paper was signed at mount saint eloi. the secret current of the intrigue had not, however, flowed on with perfect smoothness until this placid termination. on the contrary, here had been much bickering, heart-burning, and mutual suspicions and recriminations. there had been violent wranglings among the claimants of the royal rewards. lalain and capres were not the only malcontents who had cause to complain of being cheated of the promised largess. montigny, in whose favor parma had distinctly commanded la motte to be liberal of the king's secret-service money, furiously charged the governor of gravelines with having received a large supply of gold from spain, and of "locking the rascal counters from his friends," so that parma was obliged to quiet the baron, and many other barons in the same predicament, out of his own purse. all complained bitterly, too, that the king, whose promises had been so profuse to the nobles while the reconciliation was pending, turned a deaf ear to their petitions and left their letters unanswered; after the deed was accomplished. the unlucky prior of renty, whose disclosures to la motte concerning the spanish sarcasms upon his venality, had so nearly caused the preliminary negotiation with that seignior to fail, was the cause of still further mischief through the interception of alonzo curiel's private letters. such revelations of corruption, and of contempt on the part of the corrupters, were eagerly turned to account by the states' government. a special messenger was despatched to montigny with the intercepted correspondence, accompanied by an earnest prayer that he would not contaminate his sword and his noble name by subserviency to men who despised even while they purchased traitors. that noble, both confounded and exasperated, was for a moment inclined to listen to the voice of honor and patriotism, but reflection and solitude induced him to pocket up his wrongs and his "merced" together. the states-general also sent the correspondence to the walloon provincial authorities, with an eloquent address, begging them to study well the pitiful part which la motte had enacted in the private comedy then performing, and to behold as in a mirror their own position, if they did not recede ere it was too late. the only important effect produced by the discovery was upon the prior of renty himself. ottavio gonzaga, the intimate friend of don john, and now high in the confidence of parma, wrote to la motte, indignantly denying the truth of bien aime's tattle, and affirming that not a word had ever been uttered by himself or by any gentleman in his presence to the disparagement of the governor of gravelines. he added that if the prior had worn another coat, and were of quality equal to his own, he would have made him eat his words or a few inches of steel. in the same vehement terms he addressed a letter to bien aime himself. very soon afterwards, notwithstanding his coat and his quality, that unfortunate ecclesiastic found himself beset one dark night by two soldiers, who left him, severely wounded and bleeding nearly to death upon the high road, but escaping with life, he wrote to parma, recounting his wrongs and the "sword-thrust in his left thigh," and made a demand for a merced. the prior recovered from this difficulty only to fall into another, by publishing what he called an apologue, in which he charged that the reconciled nobles were equally false to the royal and to the rebel government, and that, although "the fatted calf had been killed for them, after they had so long been feeding with perverse heretical pigs," they were, in truth, as mutinous as ever, being bent upon establishing an oligarchy in the netherlands, and dividing the territory among themselves, to the exclusion of the sovereign. this naturally excited the wrath of the viscount and others. the seigneur d'auberlieu, in a letter written in what the writer himself called the "gross style of a gendarme," charged the prior with maligning honorable lords and--in the favorite colloquial phrase of the day--with attempting "to throw the cat against their legs." the real crime of the meddling priest, however, was to have let that troublesome animal out of the bag. he was accordingly waylaid again, and thrown into prison by count lalain. while in durance he published an abject apology for his apologue, explaining that his allusions to "returned prodigals," "heretic swine," and to "sodom and gomorrah," had been entirely misconstrued. he was, however, retained in custody until parma ordered his release on the ground that the punishment had been already sufficient for the offence. he then requested to be appointed bishop of saint omer, that see being vacant. parma advised the king by no means to grant the request--the prior being neither endowed with the proper age nor discretion for such a dignity--but to bestow some lesser reward, in money or otherwise, upon the discomfited ecclesiastic, who had rendered so many services and incurred so many dangers. the states-general and the whole national party regarded, with prophetic dismay, the approaching dismemberment of their common country. they sent deputation on deputation to the walloon states, to warn them of their danger, and to avert, if possible, the fatal measure. meantime, as by the already accomplished movement, the "generality" was fast disappearing, and was indeed but the shadow of its former self, it seemed necessary to make a vigorous effort to restore something like unity to the struggling country. the ghent pacification had been their outer wall, ample enough and strong enough to enclose and to protect all the provinces. treachery and religious fanaticism had undermined the bulwark almost as soon as reared. the whole beleaguered country was in danger of becoming utterly exposed to a foe who grew daily more threatening. as in besieged cities, a sudden breastwork is thrown up internally, when the outward defences are crumbling--so the energy of orange had been silently preparing the union of utrecht, as a temporary defence until the foe should be beaten back, and there should be time to decide on their future course of action. during the whole month of december, an active correspondence had been carried on by the prince and his brother john with various agents in gelderland, friesland, and groningen, as well as with influential personages in the more central provinces and cities. gelderland, the natural bulwark to holland and zealand, commanding the four great rivers of the country, had been fortunately placed under the government of the trusty john of nassau, that province being warmly in favor of a closer union with its sister provinces, and particularly with those more nearly allied to itself in religion and in language. already, in december ( ), count john, in behalf of his brother, had laid before the states of holland and zealand, assembled at gorcum, the project of a new union with "gelderland, ghent, friesland, utrecht, overyssel, and groningen." the proposition had been favorably entertained, and commissioners had been appointed to confer with other commissioners at utrecht, whenever they should be summoned by count john. the prince, with the silence and caution which belonged to his whole policy, chose not to be the ostensible mover in the plan himself. he did not choose to startle unnecessarily the archduke matthias--the cipher who had been placed by his side, whose sudden subtraction would occasion more loss than his presence had conferred benefit. he did not choose to be cried out upon as infringing the ghent pacification, although the whole world knew that treaty to be hopelessly annulled. for these and many other weighty motives, he proposed that the new union should be the apparent work of other hands, and only offered to him and to the country, when nearly completed. january, the deputies of gelderland and zutfelt, with count john, stadholder of these provinces, at their head, met with the deputies of holland, zealand, and the provinces between the ems and the lauwers, early in january, , and on the rd of that month, without waiting longer for the deputies of the other provinces, they agreed provisionally upon a treaty of union which was published afterwards on the th, from the town house of utrecht. this memorable document--which is ever regarded as the foundation of the netherland republic--contained twenty-six articles. the preamble stated the object of the union. it was to strengthen, not to forsake the ghent pacification, already nearly annihilated by the force of foreign soldiery. for this purpose, and in order more conveniently to defend themselves against their foes, the deputies of gelderland, zutfen, holland, zealand, utrecht, and the frisian provinces, thought it desirable to form a still closer union. the contracting provinces agreed to remain eternally united, as if they were but one province. at the same time, it was understood that each was to retain its particular privileges, liberties, laudable and traditionary customs, and other laws. the cities, corporations, and inhabitants of every province were to be guaranteed as to their ancient constitutions. disputes concerning these various statutes and customs were to be decided by the usual tribunals, by "good men," or by amicable compromise. the provinces, by virtue of the union, were to defend each other "with life, goods, and blood," against all force brought against them in the king's name or behalf. they were also to defend each other against all foreign or domestic potentates, provinces, or cities, provided such defence were controlled by the "generality" of the union. for the expense occasioned by the protection of the provinces, certain imposts and excises were to be equally assessed and collected. no truce or peace was to be concluded, no war commenced, no impost established affecting the "generality," but by unanimous advice and consent of the provinces. upon other matters the majority was to decide; the votes being taken in the manner then customary in the assembly of states-general. in case of difficulty in coming to a unanimous vote when required, the matter was to be referred to the stadholders then in office. in case cf their inability to agree, they were to appoint arbitrators, by whose decision the parties were to be governed. none of the united provinces, or of their cities or corporations, were to make treaties with other potentates or states, without consent of their confederates. if neighbouring princes, provinces, or cities, wished to enter into this confederacy, they were to be received by the unanimous consent of the united provinces. a common currency was to be established for the confederacy. in the matter of divine worship, holland and zealand were to conduct themselves as they should think proper. the other provinces of the union, however, were either to conform to the religious peace already laid down by archduke matthias and his council, or to make such other arrangements as each province should for itself consider appropriate for the maintenance of its internal tranquillity--provided always that every individual should remain free in his religion, and that no man should be molested or questioned on the subject of divine worship, as had been already established by the ghent pacification. as a certain dispute arose concerning the meaning of this important clause, an additional paragraph was inserted a few days afterwards. in this it was stated that there was no intention of excluding from the confederacy any province or city which was wholly catholic, or in which the number of the reformed was not sufficiently large to entitle them, by the religious peace, to public worship. on the contrary, the intention was to admit them, provided they obeyed the articles of union, and conducted themselves as good patriots; it being intended that no province or city should interfere with another in the matter of divine service. disputes between two provinces were to be decided by the others, or--in case the generality were concerned--by the provisions of the ninth article. the confederates were to assemble at utrecht whenever summoned by those commissioned for that purpose. a majority of votes was to decide on matters then brought before them, even in case of the absence of some members of the confederacy, who might, however, send written proxies. additions or amendments to these articles could only be made by unanimous consent. the articles were to be signed by the stadholders, magistrates, and principal officers of each province and city, and by all the train-bands, fraternities, and sodalities which might exist in the cities or villages of the union. such were the simple provisions of that instrument which became the foundation of the powerful commonwealth of the united netherlands. on the day when it was concluded, there were present deputies from five provinces only. count john of nassau signed first, as stadholder of gelderland and zutfen. his signature was followed by those of four deputies from that double province; and the envoys of holland, zealand, utrecht and the frisian provinces, then signed the document. the prince himself, although in reality the principal director of the movement, delayed appending his signature until may the rd, . herein he was actuated by the reasons already stated, and by the hope which he still entertained that a wider union might be established, with matthias for its nominal chief. his enemies, as usual, attributed this patriotic delay to baser motives. they accused him of a desire to assume the governor-generalship himself, to the exclusion of the archduke--an insinuation which the states of holland took occasion formally to denounce as a calumny. for those who have studied the character and history of the man, a defence against such slander is superfluous. matthias was but the shadow, orange the substance. the archduke had been accepted only to obviate the evil effects of a political intrigue, and with the express condition that the prince should be his lieutenant-general in name, his master in fact. directly after his departure in the following year, the prince's authority, which nominally departed also, was re-established in his own person, and by express act of the states-general. the union of utrecht was the foundation-stone of the netherland republic; but the framers of the confederacy did not intend the establishment of a republic, or of an independent commonwealth of any kind. they had not forsworn the spanish monarch. it was not yet their intention to forswear him. certainly the act of union contained no allusion to such an important step. on the contrary, in the brief preamble they expressly stated their intention to strengthen the ghent pacification, and the ghent pacification acknowledged obedience to the king. they intended no political innovation of any kind. they expressly accepted matters as they were. all statutes, charters, and privileges of provinces, cities, or corporations were to remain untouched. they intended to form neither an independent state nor an independent federal system. no doubt the formal renunciation of allegiance, which was to follow within two years, was contemplated by many as a future probability; but it could not be foreseen with certainty. the simple act of union was not regarded as the constitution of a commonwealth. its object was a single one--defence against a foreign oppressor. the contracting parties bound themselves together to spend all their treasure and all their blood in expelling the foreign soldiery from their soil. to accomplish this purpose, they carefully abstained from intermeddling with internal politics and with religion. every man was to worship god according to the dictates of his conscience. every combination of citizens, from the provincial states down to the humblest rhetoric club, was to retain its ancient constitution. the establishment of a republic, which lasted two centuries, which threw a girdle of rich dependencies entirely round the globe, and which attained so remarkable a height of commercial prosperity and political influence, was the result of the utrecht union; but, it was not a premeditated result. a state, single towards the rest of the world, a unit in its external relations, while permitting internally a variety of sovereignties and institutions--in many respects the prototype of our own much more extensive and powerful union--was destined to spring from the act thus signed by the envoys of five provinces. those envoys were acting, however, under the pressure of extreme necessity, and for what was believed an evanescent purpose. the future confederacy was not to resemble the system of the german empire, for it was to acknowledge no single head. it was to differ from the achaian league, in the far inferior amount of power which it permitted to its general assembly, and in the consequently greater proportion of sovereign attributes which were retained by the individual states. it was, on the other hand, to furnish a closer and more intimate bond than that of the swiss confederacy, which was only a union for defence and external purposes, of cantons otherwise independent. it was, finally, to differ from the american federal commonwealth in the great feature that it was to be merely a confederacy of sovereignties, not a representative republic. its foundation was a compact, not a constitution. the contracting parties were states and corporations, who considered themselves as representing small nationalities 'dejure et de facto', and as succeeding to the supreme power at the very instant in which allegiance to the spanish monarch was renounced. the general assembly was a collection of diplomatic envoys, bound by instructions from independent states. the voting was not by heads, but by states. the deputies were not representatives of the people, but of the states; for the people of the united states of the netherlands never assembled--as did the people of the united states of america two centuries later--to lay down a constitution, by which they granted a generous amount of power to the union, while they reserved enough of sovereign attributes to secure that local self-government which is the life-blood of liberty. the union of utrecht; narrowed as it was to the nether portion of that country which, as a whole, might have formed a commonwealth so much more powerful, was in origin a proof of this lamentable want of patriotism. could the jealousy of great nobles, the rancour of religious differences, the catholic bigotry of the walloon population, on the one side, contending with the democratic insanity of the ghent populace on the other, have been restrained within bounds by the moderate counsels of william of orange, it would have been possible to unite seventeen provinces instead of seven, and to save many long and blighting years of civil war. the utrecht union was, however, of inestimable value. it was time for some step to be taken, if anarchy were not to reign until the inquisition and absolutism were restored. already, out of chaos and night, the coming republic was assuming substance and form. the union, if it created nothing else, at least constructed a league against a foreign foe whose armed masses were pouring faster and faster into the territory of the provinces. farther than this it did not propose to go. it maintained what it found. it guaranteed religious liberty, and accepted the civil and political constitutions already in existence. meantime, the defects of those constitutions, although visible and sensible, had not grown to the large proportions which they were destined to attain. thus by the union of utrecht on the one hand, and the fast approaching reconciliation of the walloon provinces on the other, the work of decomposition and of construction went land in hand. etext editor's bookmarks: are apt to discharge such obligations--(by) ingratitude like a man holding a wolf by the ears local self-government which is the life-blood of liberty no man ever understood the art of bribery more thoroughly not so successful as he was picturesque plundering the country which they came to protect presumption in entitling themselves christian protect the common tranquillity by blood, purse, and life republic, which lasted two centuries throw the cat against their legs worship god according to the dictates of his conscience motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley chapter ii. parma's feint upon antwerp--he invests maestricht--deputation and letters from the states-general, from brussels, and from parma, to the walloon provinces--active negotiations by orange and by farnese --walloon envoys in parma's camp before maestricht--festivities--the treaty of reconciliation--rejoicings of the royalist party--comedy enacted at the paris theatres--religious tumults in antwerp, utrecht, and other cities--religious peace enforced by orange-- philip egmont's unsuccessful attempt upon brussels--siege of maestricht--failure at the tongres gate--mining and countermining-- partial destruction of the tongres ravelin--simultaneous attack upon the tongres and bolls-le-duo gates--the spaniards repulsed with great loss--gradual encroachments of the besiegers--bloody contests --the town taken--horrible massacre--triumphal entrance and solemn thanksgiving--calumnious attacks upon orange--renewed troubles in ghent--imbue and dathenus--the presence of the prince solicited-- coup d'etat of imbue--order restored, and imbue expelled by orange the political movements in both directions were to be hastened by the military operations of the opening season. on the night of the nd of march, , the prince of parma made a demonstration against antwerp. a body of three thousand scotch and english, lying at borgerhout, was rapidly driven in, and a warm skirmish ensued, directly under the walls of the city. the prince of orange, with the archduke matthias, being in antwerp at the time, remained on the fortifications; superintending the action, and parma was obliged to retire after an hour or two of sharp fighting, with a loss of four hundred men. this demonstration was, however, only a feint. his real design was upon maestricht; before which important city he appeared in great force, ten days afterwards, when he was least expected. well fortified, surrounded by a broad and deep moat; built upon both sides of the meuse, upon the right bank of which river, however, the portion of the town was so inconsiderable that it was merely called the village of wyk, this key to the german gate of the netherlands was, unfortunately, in brave but feeble hands. the garrison was hardly one thousand strong; the trained bands of burghers amounted to twelve hundred more; while between three and four thousand peasants; who had taken refuge within the city walls, did excellent service as sappers and miners. parma, on the other hand, had appeared before the walls with twenty thousand men; to which number he received constant reinforcements. the bishop of liege, too, had sent him four thousand pioneers--a most important service; for mining and countermining was to decide the fate of maestricht. early in january the royalists had surprised the strong chateau of carpen, in the neighbourhood of the city, upon which occasion the garrison were all hanged by moonlight on the trees in the orchard. the commandant shared their fate; and it is a curious fact that he had, precisely a year previously, hanged the royalist captain, blomaert, on the same spot, who, with the rope around his neck, had foretold a like doom to his destroyer. the prince of orange, feeling the danger of maestricht, lost no time in warning the states to the necessary measures, imploring them "not to fall asleep in the shade of a peace negotiation," while meantime parma threw two bridges over the meuse, above and below the city, and then invested the place so closely that all communication was absolutely suspended. letters could pass to and fro only at extreme peril to the messengers, and all possibility of reinforcing the city at the moment was cut off. while this eventful siege was proceeding, the negotiations with the walloons were ripening. the siege and the conferences went hand in hand. besides the secret arrangements already described for the separation of the walloon provinces, there had been much earnest and eloquent remonstrance on the part of the states-general and of orange--many solemn embassies and public appeals. as usual, the pacification of ghent was the two-sided shield which hung between the parties to cover or to justify the blows which each dealt at the other. there is no doubt as to the real opinion entertained concerning that famous treaty by the royal party. "through the peace of ghent," said saint vaast, "all our woes have been brought upon us." la motte informed parma that it was necessary to pretend a respect for the pacification, however, on account of its popularity, but that it was well understood by the leaders of the walloon movement, that the intention was to restore the system of charles the fifth. parma signified his consent to make use of that treaty as a basis, "provided always it were interpreted healthily, and not dislocated by cavillations and sinister interpolations, as had been done by the prince of orange." the malcontent generals of the walloon troops were inexpressibly anxious lest the cause of religion should be endangered; but the arguments by which parma convinced those military casuists as to the compatibility of the ghent peace with sound doctrine have already been exhibited. the influence of the reconciled nobles was brought to bear with fatal effect upon the states of artois, hainault, and of a portion of french flanders. the gallic element in their blood, and an intense attachment to the roman ceremonial, which distinguished the walloon population from their batavian brethren, were used successfully by the wily parma to destroy the unity of the revolted netherlands. moreover, the king offered good terms. the monarch, feeling safe on the religious point, was willing to make liberal promises upon the political questions. in truth, the great grievance of which the walloons complained was the insolence and intolerable outrages of the foreign soldiers. this, they said, had alone made them malcontent. it was; therefore, obviously the cue of parma to promise the immediate departure of the troops. this could be done the more easily, as he had no intention of keeping the promise. meantime the efforts of orange, and of the states-general, where his influence was still paramount, were unceasing to counteract the policy of parma. a deputation was appointed by the generality to visit the estates of the walloon provinces. another was sent by the authorities of brussels. the marquis of havre, with several colleagues on behalf of the states-general, waited upon the viscount of ghent, by whom they were received with extreme insolence. he glared upon them, without moving, as they were admitted to his presence; "looking like a dead man, from whom the soul had entirely departed." recovering afterwards from this stony trance of indignation, he demanded a sight of their instructions. this they courteously refused, as they were accredited not to him, but to the states of artois. at this he fell into a violent passion, and threatened them with signal chastisement for daring to come thither with so treasonable a purpose. in short, according to their own expression; he treated them "as if they had been rogues and vagabonds." the marquis of havre, high-born though he was, had been sufficiently used to such conduct. the man who had successively served and betrayed every party, who had been the obsequious friend and the avowed enemy of don john within the same fortnight, and who had been able to swallow and inwardly digest many an insult from that fiery warrior, was even fain to brook the insolence of robert melun. the papers which the deputation had brought were finally laid before the states of artois, and received replies as prompt and bitter as the addresses were earnest and eloquent. the walloons, when summoned to hold to that aegis of national unity, the ghent peace, replied that it was not they, but the heretic portion of the states-general, who were for dashing it to the ground. the ghent treaty was never intended to impair the supremacy of the catholic religion, said those provinces, which were already on the point of separating for ever from the rest. the ghent treaty was intended expressly to destroy the inquisition and the placards, answered the national-party. moreover, the "very marrow of that treaty" was the-departure of the foreign soldiers, who were even then overrunning the land. the walloons answered that alexander had expressly conceded the withdrawal of the troops. "believe not the fluting and the piping of the crafty foe," urged the patriots. "promises are made profusely enough--but only to lure you to perdition. your enemies allow you to slake your hunger and thirst with this idle hope of the troops' departure, but you are still in fetters, although the chain be of spanish pinchbeck, which you mistake for gold." "'tis not we," cried the walloons, "who wish to separate from the generality; 'tis the generality which separates from us. we had rather die the death than not maintain the union. in the very same breath, however, they boasted of the excellent terms which the monarch was offering, and of their strong inclination to accept them." "kings, struggling to recover a lost authority, always promise golden mountains and every sort of miracles," replied the patriots; but the warning was uttered in vain. meantime the deputation from the city of brussels arrived on the th of march at mons, in hainault, where they were received with great courtesy by count de lalain, governor of the province. the enthusiasm with which he had espoused the cause of queen margaret and her brother anjou had cooled, but the count received the brussels envoys with a kindness in marked contrast with the brutality of melun. he made many fine speeches--protesting his attachment to, the union, for which he was ready to shed the last drop of his blood--entertained the deputies at dinner, proposed toasts to the prosperity of the united provinces, and dismissed his guests at last with many flowery professions. after dancing attendance for a few days, however, upon the estates of the walloon provinces, both sets of deputies were warned to take their instant departure as mischief-makers and rebels. they returned, accordingly, to brussels, bringing the written answers which the estates had vouchsafed to send. the states-general, too, inspired by william of orange, addressed a solemn appeal to their sister provinces, thus about to abjure the bonds of relationship for ever. it seemed right, once for all, to grapple with the ghent pacification for the last time, and to strike a final blow in defence of that large statesmanlike interpretation, which alone could make the treaty live. this was done eloquently and logically. the walloons were reminded that at the epoch of the ghent peace the number of reformers outside of holland and zealand was supposed small. now the new religion had spread its roots through the whole land, and innumerable multitudes desired its exercise. if holland and zealand chose to reestablish the catholic worship within their borders, they could manifestly do so without violating the treaty of ghent. why then was it not competent to other provinces, with equal allegiance to the treaty, to sanction the reformed religion within their limits? parma, on his part, publicly invited the states-general, by letter, to sustain the ghent treaty by accepting the terms offered to the walloons, and by restoring the system of the emperor charles, of very lofty memory. to this superfluous invitation the states-general replied, on the th of march, that it had been the system of the emperor charles; of lofty memory, to maintain the supremacy of catholicism and of majesty in the netherlands by burning netherlanders--a custom which the states, with common accord, had thought it desirable to do away with. in various fervently-written appeals by orange, by the states-general, and by other bodies, the wavering provinces were warned against seduction. they were reminded that the prince of parma was using this minor negotiation "as a second string to his bow;" that nothing could be more puerile than to suppose the spaniards capable, after securing maestricht, of sending away their troops thus "deserting the bride in the midst of the honeymoon." they expressed astonishment at being invited to abandon the great and general treaty which had been made upon the theatre of the whole world by the intervention of the principal princes of christendom, in order to partake in underhand negotiation with the commissioners of parma-men, "who, it would not be denied, were felons and traitors." they warned their brethren not to embark on the enemy's ships in the dark, for that, while chaffering as to the price of the voyage, they would find that the false pilots had hoisted sail and borne them away in the night. in vain would they then seek to reach the shore again. the example of la motte and others, "bird-limed with spanish gold," should be salutary for all-men who were now driven forward with a whip, laughed to scorn by their new masters, and forced to drink the bitter draught of humiliation along with the sweet poison of bribery. they were warned to study well the intercepted letters of curiel, in order fully to fathom the deep designs and secret contempt of the enemy. such having been the result of the negotiations between the states-general and the walloon provinces, a strong deputation now went forth from those provinces, towards the end of april, to hold a final colloquy with parma, then already busied with the investment of maestricht. they were met upon the road with great ceremony, and escorted into the presence of farnese with drum, trumpet, and flaunting banners. he received them with stately affability, in a magnificently decorated pavilion, carelessly inviting them to a repast, which he called an afternoon's lunch, but which proved a most sumptuous and splendidly appointed entertainment. this "trifling foolish banquet" finished, the deputies were escorted, with great military parade, to the lodgings which had been provided for them in a neighbouring village. during the period of their visit, all the chief officers of the army and the household were directed to entertain the walloons with showy festivals, dinners, suppers, dances, and carousals of all kinds. at one of the most brilliant of these revels--a magnificent ball, to which all the matrons and maids of the whole country round had been bidden--the prince of parma himself unexpectedly made his appearance. he gently rebuked the entertainers for indulging in such splendid hospitality without, at least, permitting him to partake of it. charmingly affable to the ladies assembled in the ball-room, courteous, but slightly reserved, towards the walloon envoys, he excited the admiration of all by the splendid decorum of his manners. as he moved through the halls, modulating his steps in grave cadence to the music, the dignity and grace of his deportment seemed truly majestic; but when he actually danced a measure himself the enthusiasm was at its height. they should, indeed, be rustics, cried the walloon envoys in a breath, not to give the hand of fellowship at once to a prince so condescending and amiable. the exclamation seemed to embody the general wish, and to foreshadow a speedy conclusion. very soon afterwards a preliminary accord was signed between the king's government and the walloon provinces. the provisions on his majesty's part were sufficiently liberal. the religious question furnishing no obstacle, it was comparatively easy for philip to appear benignant. it was stipulated that the provincial privileges should be respected; that a member of the king's own family, legitimately born, should always be governor-general, and that the foreign troops should be immediately withdrawn. the official exchange and ratification of this treaty were delayed till the th of the following september, but the news that, the reconciliation had been definitely settled soon spread through the country. the catholics were elated, the patriots dismayed. orange-the "prince of darkness," as the walloons of the day were fond of calling him--still unwilling to despair, reluctant to accept this dismemberment, which he foresaw was to be a perpetual one, of his beloved country, addressed the most passionate and solemn adjurations to the walloon provinces, and to their military chieftains. he offered all his children as hostages for his good faith in keeping sacredly any covenant which his catholic countrymen might be willing to close with him. it was in vain. the step was irretrievably taken; religious bigotry, patrician jealousy, and wholesale bribery, had severed the netherlands in twain for ever. the friends of romanism, the enemies of civil and religious liberty, exulted from one end of christendom to the other, and it was recognized that parma had, indeed, achieved a victory which although bloodless, was as important to the cause of absolutism as any which even his sword was likely to achieve. the joy of the catholic party in paris manifested itself in a variety of ways. at the principal theatre an uncouth pantomime was exhibited, in which his catholic majesty was introduced upon the stage, leading by a halter a sleek cow, typifying the netherlands. the animal by a sudden effort, broke the cord, and capered wildly about. alexander of parma hastened to fasten the fragments together, while sundry personages, representing the states-general, seized her by the horns, some leaping upon her back, others calling upon the bystanders to assist in holding the restive beast. the emperor, the king of france, and the queen of england--which last personage was observed now to smile upon one party, now to affect deep sympathy with the other--remained stationary; but the duke of alencon rushed upon the stage, and caught the cow by the tail. the prince of orange and hans casimir then appeared with a bucket, and set themselves busily to milk her, when alexander again seized the halter. the cow gave a plunge, upset the pail, prostrated casimir with one kick and orange with another, and then followed parma with docility as he led her back to philip. this seems not very "admirable fooling," but it was highly relished by the polite parisians of the sixteenth century, and has been thought worthy of record by classical historians. the walloon accord was an auspicious prelude, in the eyes of the friends of absolutism, to the negotiations which were opened in the month of may, at cologne. before sketching, as rapidly as possible, those celebrated but barren conferences, it is necessary, for the sake of unity in the narrative, to cast a glance at certain synchronical events in different parts of the netherlands. the success attained by the catholic party in the walloon negotiations had caused a corresponding bitterness in the hearts of the reformers throughout the country. as usual, bitterness had begot bitterness; intolerance engendered intolerance. on the th of may, , as the catholics of antwerp were celebrating the ommegang--the same festival which had been the exciting cause of the memorable tumults of the year sixty-five--the irritation of the populace could not be repressed. the mob rose in its wrath to put down these demonstrations--which, taken in connection with recent events, seemed ill-timed and insolent--of a religion whose votaries then formed but a small minority of the antwerp citizens. there was a great tumult. two persons were killed. the archduke matthias, who was himself in the cathedral of notre dame assisting at the ceremony, was in danger of his life. the well known cry of "paapen uit" (out with the papists) resounded through the streets, and the priests and monks were all hustled out of town amid a tempest of execrations. orange did his utmost to quell the mutiny, nor were his efforts fruitless--for the uproar, although seditious and disgraceful, was hardly sanguinary. next day the prince summoned the magistracy, the monday council, the guild officers, with all the chief municipal functionaries, and expressed his indignation in decided terms. he protested that if such tumults, originating in that very spirit of intolerance which he most deplored, could not be repressed for the future, he was determined to resign his offices, and no longer to affect authority in a city where his counsels were derided. the magistrates, alarmed at his threats, and sympathizing with his anger, implored him not to desert them, protesting that if he should resign his offices, they would instantly lay down their, own. an ordinance was then drawn up and immediately, proclaimed at the town house, permitting the catholics to re-enter the city, and to enjoy the privileges of religious worship. at the same time, it was announced that a new draft of a religious peace would be forthwith issued for the adoption of every city. a similar tumult, arising from the same cause, at utrecht, was attended with the like result. on the other hand, the city of brussels was astonished by a feeble and unsuccessful attempts at treason, made by a youth who bore an illustrious name. philip, count of egmont, eldest son of the unfortunate lamoral, had command of a regiment in the service of the states. he had, besides, a small body of cavalry in immediate attendance upon his person. he had for some time felt inclined--like the lalains, meluns, la mottes, and others to reconcile himself with the crown, and he wisely thought that the terms accorded to him would be more liberal if he could bring the capital of brabant with him as a peace offering to his majesty. his residence was in brussels. his regiment was stationed outside the gates, but in the immediate neighbourhood of the city. on the morning of the th of june he despatched his troopers--as had been frequently his custom--on various errands into the country. on their return, after having summoned the regiment, they easily mastered and butchered the guard at the gate through which they had re-entered, supplying their place with men from their own ranks. the egmont regiment then came marching through the gate in good order--count philip at their head--and proceeded to station themselves upon the grande place in the centre of the city. all this was at dawn of day. the burghers, who looked forth from their houses, were astounded and perplexed by this movement at so unwonted an hour, and hastened to seize their weapons. egmont sent a detachment to take possession of the palace. he was too late. colonel van der tympel, commandant of the city, had been beforehand with him, had got his troops under arms, and now secured the rebellious detachment. meantime, the alarm had spread. armed burghers came from every house, and barricades were hastily thrown up across every one of the narrow streets leading to the square. every issue was closed. not a man of egmont's adherents--if he indeed had adherents among the townsmen--dared to show his face. the young traitor and his whole regiment, drawn up on the grande place, were completely entrapped. he had not taken brussels, but assuredly brussels had taken him. all day long he was kept in his self-elected prison and pillory, bursting with rage and shame. his soldiers, who were without meat or drink, became insolent and uproarious, and he was doomed also to hear the bitter and well-merited taunts of the towns-people. a thousand stinging gibes, suggested by his name and the locality, were mercilessly launched upon him. he was asked if he came thither to seek his father's head. he was reminded that the morrow was the anniversary of that father's murder upon that very spot--by those with whom the son would now make his treasonable peace. he was bidden to tear up but a few stones from the pavement beneath his feet, that the hero's blood might cry out against him from the very ground. tears of shame and fury sprang from the young man's eyes as he listened to these biting sarcasms, but the night closed upon that memorable square, and still the count was a prisoner. eleven years before, the summer stars had looked down upon a more dense array of armed men within that place. the preparations for the pompous and dramatic execution, which on the morrow was to startle all europe, had been carried out in the midst of a hushed and overawed population; and now, on the very anniversary of the midnight in which that scaffold had risen, should not the grand spectre of the victim have started from the grave to chide his traitorous son? thus for a whole day and night was the baffled conspirator compelled to remain in the ignominious position which he had selected for himself. on the morning of the th of june he was permitted to depart, by a somewhat inexplicable indulgence, together with all his followers. he rode out of the gate at early dawn, contemptible and crest-fallen, at the head of his regiment of traitors, and shortly afterwards--pillaging and levying black mail as he went--made his way to montigny's quarters. it might have seemed natural, after such an exhibition, that philip egmont should accept his character of renegade, and confess his intention of reconciling himself with the murderers of his father. on the contrary, he addressed a letter to the magistracy of brussels, denying with vehemence "any intention of joining the party of the pernicious spaniards," warmly protesting his zeal and affection for the states, and denouncing the "perverse inventors of these calumnies against him as the worst enemies of the poor afflicted country." the magistrates replied by expressing their inability to comprehend how the count, who had suffered villainous wrongs from the spaniards, such as he could never sufficiently deplore or avenge, should ever be willing to enslave himself, to those tyrants. nevertheless, exactly at the moment of this correspondence, egmont was in close negotiation with spain, having fifteen days before the date of his letter to the brussels senate, conveyed to parma his resolution to "embrace the cause of his majesty and the ancient religion"--an intention which he vaunted himself to have proved "by cutting the throats of three companies of states' soldiers at nivelle, grandmont, and ninove." parma had already written to communicate the intelligence to the king, and to beg encouragement for the count. in september, the monarch wrote a letter to egmont, full of gratitude and promises, to which the count replied by expressing lively gratification that his majesty was pleased with his little services, by avowing profound attachment to church and king, and by asking eagerly for money, together with the government of alost. he soon became singularly importunate for rewards and promotion, demanding, among other posts, the command of the "band of ordnance," which had been his father's. parma, in reply, was prodigal of promises, reminding the young noble "that he was serving a sovereign who well knew how to reward the distinguished exploits of his subjects." such was the language of philip the second and his governor to the son of the headless hero of saint quentin; such was the fawning obsequiousness with which egmont could kiss that royal hand reeking with his father's blood. meanwhile the siege of maestricht had been advancing with steady precision. to military minds of that epoch--perhaps of later ages--this achievement of parma seemed a masterpiece of art. the city commanded the upper meuse, and was the gate into germany. it contained thirty-four thousand inhabitants. an army, numbering almost as many souls, was brought against it; and the number of deaths by which its capture was at last effected, was probably equal to that of a moiety of the population. to the technical mind, the siege no doubt seemed a beautiful creation of human intelligence. to the honest student of history, to the lover of human progress, such a manifestation of intellect seems a sufficiently sad exhibition. given, a city with strong walls and towers, a slender garrison and a devoted population on one side; a consummate chieftain on the other, with an army of veterans at his back, no interruption to fear, and a long season to work in; it would not seem to an unsophisticated mind a very lofty exploit for the soldier to carry the city at the end of four months' hard labor. the investment of maestricht was commenced upon the th of march, . in the city, besides the population, there were two thousand peasants, both men and women, a garrison of one thousand soldiers; and a trained burgher guard; numbering about twelve hundred. the name of the military commandant was melchior. sebastian tappin, a lorraine officer of much experience and bravery, was next in command, and was, in truth, the principal director of the operations. he had been despatched thither by the prince of orange, to serve under la none, who was to have commanded in maestricht, but had been unable to enter the city. feeling that the siege was to be a close one, and knowing how much depended upon the issue, sebastian lost no time in making every needful preparation for coming events. the walls were strengthened everywhere; shafts were sunk, preparatory to the countermining operations which were soon to become necessary; the moat was deepened and cleared, and the forts near the gates were put in thorough repair. on the other hand, alexander had encircled the city, and had thrown two bridges, well fortified, across the river. there were six gates to the town, each provided with ravelins, and there was a doubt in what direction the first attack should be made. opinions wavered between the gate of bois-le-duc, next the river, and that of tongres on the south-western side, but it was finally decided to attempt the gate of tongres. over against that point the platforms were accordingly constructed, and after a heavy cannonade from forty-six great guns continued for several days, it was thought, by the th of march, that an impression had been made upon the city. a portion of the brick curtain had crumbled, but through the breach was seen a massive terreplein, well moated, which, after six thousand shots already delivered on the outer wall--still remained uninjured. it was recognized that the gate of tongres was not the most assailable, but rather the strongest portion of the defences, and alexander therefore determined to shift his batteries to the gate of bois-le-duc. at the same time, the attempt upon that of tongres was to be varied, but not abandoned. four thousand miners, who had passed half their lives in burrowing for coal in that anthracite region, had been furnished by the bishop of liege, and this force was now set to their subterranean work. a mine having been opened at a distance, the besiegers slowly worked their way towards the tongres gate, while at the same time the more ostensible operations were in the opposite direction. the besieged had their miners also, for the peasants in the city had been used to work with mattock and pickaxe. the women, too, enrolled themselves into companies, chose their officers--or "mine-mistresses," as they were called--and did good service daily in the caverns of the earth. thus a whole army of gnomes were noiselessly at work to destroy and defend the beleaguered city. the mine advanced towards the gate; the besieged delved deeper, and intersected it with a transverse excavation, and the contending forces met daily, in deadly encounter, within these sepulchral gangways. many stratagems were, mutually employed. the citizens secretly constructed a dam across the spanish mine, and then deluged their foe with hogsheads of boiling water. hundreds were thus scalded to death. they heaped branches and light fagots in the hostile mine, set fire to the pile, and blew thick volumes of smoke along the passage with organ-bellows brought from the churches for the purpose. many were thus suffocated. the discomfited besiegers abandoned the mine where they had met with such able countermining, and sunk another shaft, at midnight, in secret, at a long distance from the tongres gate. still towards that point, however, they burrowed in the darkness; guiding themselves to their destination with magnet, plumbline and level, as the mariner crosses the trackless ocean with compass and chart. they worked their way, unobstructed, till they arrived at their subterranean port, directly beneath the doomed ravelin. here they constructed a spacious chamber, supporting it with columns, and making all their architectural arrangements with as much precision and elegance as if their object had been purely esthetic. coffers full of powder, to an enormous amount, were then placed in every direction across the floor, the train was laid, and parma informed that all was ready. alexander, having already arrayed the troops destined for the assault, then proceeded in person to the mouth of the shaft, and gave orders to spring the mine. the explosion was prodigious; a part of the tower fell with the concussion, and the moat was choked with heaps of rubbish. the assailants sprang across the passage thus afforded, and mastered the ruined portion of the fort. they were met in the breach, however, by the unflinching defenders of the city, and, after a fierce combat of some hours, were obliged to retire; remaining masters, however, of the moat, and of the ruined portion of the ravelin. this was upon the rd of april. five days afterwards, a general assault was ordered. a new mine having been already constructed towards the tongres ravelin, and a faithful cannonade having been kept up for a fortnight against the bois-le-duc gate, it was thought advisable to attack at both points at once. on the th of april, accordingly, after uniting in prayer, and listening to a speech from alexander farnese, the great mass of the spanish army advanced to the breach. the moat had been rendered practicable in many places by the heaps of rubbish with which it had been encumbered, and by the fagots and earth with which it had been filled by the besiegers. the action at the bois-le-duc gate was exceedingly warm. the tried veterans of spain, italy, and burgundy, were met face to face by the burghers of maestricht, together with their wives and children. all were armed to the teeth, and fought with what seemed superhuman valor. the women, fierce as tigresses defending their young, swarmed to the walls, and fought in the foremost rank. they threw pails of boiling water on the besiegers, they hurled firebrands in their faces; they quoited blazing pitch-hoops with, unerring dexterity about their necks. the rustics too, armed with their ponderous flails, worked as cheerfully at this bloody harvesting as if thrashing their corn at home. heartily did they winnow the ranks of the royalists who came to butcher them, and thick and fast fell the invaders, fighting bravely, but baffled by these novel weapons used by peasant and woman, coming to the aid of the sword; spear, and musket of trained soldiery. more than a thousand had fallen at the bois-le-duc gate, and still fresh besiegers mounted the breach, only to be beaten back, or to add to the mangled heap of the slain. at the tongres gate, meanwhile, the assault had fared no better. a herald had been despatched thither in hot haste, to shout at the top of his lungs, "santiago! santiago! the lombards have the gate of bois-le-duc!" while the same stratagem was employed to persuade the invaders on the other side of the town that their comrades had forced the gate of tongres. the soldiers, animated by this fiction, and advancing with fury against the famous ravelin; which had been but partly destroyed, were received with a broadside from the great guns of the unshattered portion, and by a rattling discharge of musketry from the walls. they wavered a little. at the same instant the new mine--which was to have been sprung between the ravelin and the gate, but which had been secretly countermined by the townspeople, exploded with a horrible concussion, at a moment least expected by the besiegers. five hundred royalists were blown into the air. ortiz, a spanish captain of engineers, who had been inspecting the excavations, was thrown up bodily from the subterranean depth. he fell back again instantly into the same cavern, and was buried by the returning shower of earth which had spouted from the mine. forty-five years afterwards, in digging for the foundations of a new wall, his skeleton was found. clad in complete armor, the helmet and cuirass still sound, with his gold chain around his neck, and his mattock and pickaxe at his feet, the soldier lay unmutilated, seeming almost capable of resuming his part in the same war which--even after his half century's sleep--was still ravaging the land. five hundred of the spaniards, perished by the explosion, but none of the defenders were injured, for they, had been prepared. recovering from the momentary panic, the besiegers again rushed to the attack. the battle raged. six hundred and seventy officers, commissioned or non-commissioned, had already fallen, more than half mortally wounded. four thousand royalists, horribly mutilated, lay on the ground. it was time that the day's work should be finished, for maastricht was not to be carried upon that occasion. the best and bravest of the surviving officers besought parma to put an end to the carnage by recalling the troops; but the gladiator heart of the commander was heated, not softened, by the savage spectacle. "go back to the breach," he cried, "and tell the soldiers that alexander is coming to lead them into the city in triumph, or to perish with his comrades." he rushed forward with the fury which had marked him when he boarded mustapha's galley at lepanto; but all the generals who were near him threw themselves upon his path, and implored him to desist from such insensate rashness. their expostulations would have probably been in vain, had not his confidential friend, serbelloni, interposed with something like paternal authority, reminding him of the strict commands contained in his majesty's recent letters, that the governor-general, to whom so much was entrusted, should refrain, on pain of the royal displeasure, from exposing his life like a common fighter. alexander reluctantly gave the signal of recal at last, and accepted the defeat. for the future he determined to rely more upon the sapper and miner, and less upon the superiority of veterans to townsmen and rustics in open fight. sure to carry the city at last, according to line and rule, determined to pass the whole summer beneath the walls, rather than abandon his purpose, he calmly proceeded to complete his circumvallations. a chain of eleven forts upon the left, and five upon the right side of the meuse, the whole connected by a continuous wall, afforded him perfect security against interruptions, and allowed him to continue the siege at leisure. his numerous army was well housed and amply supplied, and he had built a strong and populous city in order to destroy another. relief was impossible. but a few thousand men were now required to defend farnese's improvised town, while the bulk of his army could be marched at any moment against an advancing foe. a force of seven thousand, painfully collected by the prince of orange, moved towards the place, under command of hohenlo and john of nassau, but struck with wonder at what they saw, the leaders recognized the hopelessness of attempting relief. maestricht was surrounded by a second maestricht. the efforts of orange were now necessarily directed towards obtaining, if possible, a truce of a few weeks from the negotiators at cologne. parma was too crafty, however, to allow terranova to consent, and as the duke disclaimed any power over the direct question of peace and war, the siege proceeded. the gates of bois-le-duc and tongres having thus far resisted the force brought against them, the scene was changed to the gate of brussels. this adjoined that of tongres, was farthest from the river, and faced westwardly towards the open country. here the besieged had constructed an additional ravelin, which they had christened, in derision, "parma," and against which the batteries of parma were now brought to bear. alexander erected a platform of great extent and strength directly opposite the new work, and after a severe and constant cannonade from this elevation, followed by a bloody action, the "parma" fort was carried. one thousand, at least, of the defenders fell, as, forced gradually from one defence to another, they saw the triple walls of their ravelin crumble successively before their eyes. the tower was absolutely annihilated before they abandoned its ruins, and retired within their last defences. alexander being now master of the fosa and the defences of the brussels gate, drew up a large force on both aides of that portal, along the margin of the moat, and began mining beneath the inner wall of the city. meantime, the garrison had been reduced to four hundred soldiers, nearly all of whom were wounded: wearied and driven to despair, these soldiers were willing to treat. the townspeople, however, answered the proposition with a shout of fury, and protested that they would destroy the garrison with their own hands if such an insinuation were repeated. sebastian tappin, too, encouraged them with the hope of speedy relief, and held out to them the wretched consequences of trusting to the mercy of their foes. the garrison took heart again, while that of the burghers and their wives had, never faltered. their main hope now was in a fortification which they had been constructing inside the brussels gate--a demilune of considerable strength. behind it was a breastwork of turf and masonry, to serve as a last bulwark when every other defence should be forced. the whole had been surrounded by a foss thirty feet in depth, and the besiegers, as they mounted upon the breaches which they had at last effected in the outer curtain, near the brussels gate, saw for the first time this new fortification. the general condition of the defences, and the disposition of the inhabitants, had been revealed to alexander by a deserter from the town. against this last fortress the last efforts of the foe were now directed. alexander ordered a bridge to be thrown across the city moat. as it was sixty feet wide and as many deep, and lay directly beneath the guns of the new demilune, the enterprise was sufficiently hazardous. alexander led the way in person, with a mallet in one hand and a mattockin the other. two men fell dead instantly, one on his right hand and his left, while he calmly commenced, in his own person, the driving of the first piles for the bridge. his soldiers fell fast around him. count berlaymont was shot dead, many officers of distinction were killed or wounded, but no soldier dared recoil while their chieftain wrought amid the bullets like a common pioneer. alexander, unharmed, as by a miracle, never left the spot till the bridge had been constructed, and till ten great guns had been carried across it, and pointed against the demilune. the battery was opened, the mines previously excavated were sprung, a part of the demilune was blown into the air, and the assailants sprang into the breach. again a furious hand-to-hand conflict succeeded; again, after an obstinate resistance, the townspeople were forced to yield. slowly abandoning the shattered fort, they retired behind the breastwork in its rear--their innermost and last defence. to this barrier they clung as to a spar in shipwreck, and here at last they stood at bay, prepared dearly to sell their lives. the breastwork, being still strong, was not attempted upon that day. the assailants were recalled, and in the mean time a herald was sent by parma, highly applauding the courage of the defenders, and begging them to surrender at discretion. they answered the messenger with words of haughty defiance, and, rushing in a mass to the breastwork, began with spade, pickax, and trowel, to add to its strength. here all the able-bodied men of the town took up their permanent position, and here they ate, drank, and slept upon their posts, while their food was brought to them by the women and children. a little letter, "written in a fine neat handwriting," now mysteriously arrived in the city, encouraging them in the name of the archduke and the prince of orange, and assuring them of relief within fourteen days. a brief animation was thus produced, attended by a corresponding languor upon the part of the besiegers, for alexander had been lying ill with a fever since the day when the demilune had been carried. from his sick bed he rebuked his officers severely that a temporary breastwork, huddled together by boors and burghers in the midst of a siege, should prove an insurmountable obstacle to men who had carried everything before them. the morrow was the festival of saint peter and saint paul, and it was meet that so sacred a day should be hallowed by a christian and apostolic victory. saint peter would be there with, his keys to open the gate; saint paul would lead them to battle with his invincible sword. orders were given accordingly, and the assault was assigned for the following morning. meantime, the guards were strengthened and commanded to be more than usually watchful. the injunction had a remarkable effect. at the dead of night, a soldier of the watch was going his rounds on the outside of the breastwork, listening, if perchance he might catch, as was not unusual, a portion of the conversation among the beleaguered burghers within. prying about on every side, he at last discovered a chink in the wall, the result, doubtless, of the last cannonade, and hitherto overlooked. he enlarged the gap with his fingers, and finally made an opening wide enough to admit his person. he crept boldly through, and looked around in the clear starlight. the sentinels were all slumbering at their posts. he advanced stealthily in the dusky streets. not a watchman was going his rounds. soldiers, burghers, children, women, exhausted by incessant fatigue, were all asleep. not a footfall was heard; not a whisper broke the silence; it seemed a city of the dead. the soldier crept back through the crevice, and hastened to apprise his superiors of his adventure. alexander, forthwith instructed as to the condition of the city, at once ordered the assault, and the last wall was suddenly stormed before the morning broke. the soldiers forced their way through the breach or sprang over the breastwork, and surprised at last--in its sleep--the city which had so long and vigorously defended itself. the burghers, startled from their slumber, bewildered, unprepared, found themselves engaged in unequal conflict with alert and savage foes. the battle, as usual when netherland towns were surprised by philip's soldiers, soon changed to a massacre. the townspeople rushed hither and thither, but there was neither escape, nor means of resisting an enemy who now poured into the town by thousands upon thousands. an indiscriminate slaughter succeeded: women, old men, and children, had all been combatants; and all, therefore, had incurred the vengeance of the conquerors. a cry of agony arose which was distinctly heard at the distance of a league. mothers took their infants in their arms, and threw themselves by hundreds into the meuse--and against women the blood-thirst of the assailants was especially directed. females who had fought daily in the trenches, who had delved in mines and mustered on the battlements, had unsexed themselves in the opinion of those whose comrades they had helped to destroy. it was nothing that they had laid aside the weakness of women in order to defend all that was holy and dear to them on earth. it was sufficient that many a spanish, burgundian, or italian mercenary had died by their hands. women were pursued from house to house, and hurled from roof and window. they were hunted into the river; they were torn limb from limb in the streets. men and children fared no better; but the heart sickens at the oft-repeated tale. horrors, alas, were commonplaces in the netherlands. cruelty too monstrous for description, too vast to be believed by a mind not familiar with the outrages practised by the soldiers of spain and italy upon their heretic fellow-creatures, were now committed afresh in the streets of maestricht. on the first day four thousand men and women were slaughtered. the massacre lasted two days longer; nor would it be an exaggerated estimate, if we assume that the amount of victims upon the two last days was equal to half the number sacrificed on the first. it was said that not four hundred citizens were left alive after the termination of the siege. these soon wandered away, their places being supplied by a rabble rout of walloon sutlers and vagabonds. maestricht was depopulated as well as captured. the booty obtained after the massacre was very large, for the city had been very thriving, its cloth manufacture extensive and important. sebastian tappin, the heroic defender of the place, had been shot through the shoulder at the taking of the parma ravelin, and had been afterwards severely injured at the capture of the demilune. at the fall of the city he was mortally wounded, and carried a prisoner to the hostile camp, only to expire. the governor, swartsenberg, also lost his life. alexander, on the contrary, was raised from his sick bed with the joyful tidings of victory, and as soon as he could be moved, made his appearance in the city. seated in a splendid chair of state, borne aloft on the shoulders of his veterans, with a golden canopy above his head to protect him from the summer's sun, attended by the officers of his staff, who were decked by his special command in, their gayest trappings, escorted by his body-guard, followed by his "plumed troops," to the number of twenty thousand, surrounded by all the vanities of war, the hero made his stately entrance into the town. his way led through deserted streets of shattered houses. the pavement ran red with blood. headless corpses, mangled limbs--an obscene mass of wretchedness and corruption, were spread on every side, and tainted the summer air. through the thriving city which, in the course of four months alexander had converted into a slaughter-house and a solitude, the pompous procession took its course to the church of saint servais. here humble thanks were offered to the. god of love, and to jesus of nazareth, for this new victory. especially was gratitude expressed to the apostles paul and peter; upon whose festival, and by whose sword and key the crowning mercy had been accomplished,--and by whose special agency eight thousand heretics now lay unburied in the streets. these acts of piety performed, the triumphal procession returned to the camp, where, soon afterwards, the joyful news of alexander farnese's entire convalescence was proclaimed. the prince of orange, as usual, was blamed for the tragical termination to this long drama. all that one man could do, he had done to awaken his countrymen to the importance of the siege. he had repeatedly brought the subject solemnly before the assembly, and implored for maestricht, almost upon his knees. lukewarm and parsimonious, the states had responded to his eloquent appeals with wrangling addressee and insufficient votes. with a special subsidy obtained in april and may, he had organized the slight attempt at relief, which was all which he had been empowered to make, but which proved entirely unsuccessful. now that the massacre to be averted was accomplished, men were loud in reproof, who had been silent, and passive while there was yet time to speak and to work. it was the prince, they said, who had delivered so many thousands of his fellow-countrymen to, butchery. to save himself, they insinuated he was now plotting to deliver the land into the power of the treacherous frenchman, and he alone, they asserted, was the insuperable obstacle to an honorable peace with spain. a letter, brought by an unknown messenger, was laid before the states' assembly, in full session, and sent to the clerk's table, to be read aloud. after the first few sentences, that functionary faltered in his recital. several members also peremptorily ordered him to stop; for the letter proved to be a violent and calumnious libel upon orange, together with a strong appeal in favor of the peace propositions then under debate at cologne. the prince alone, of all the assembly, preserving his tranquillity, ordered the document to be brought to him, and forthwith read it aloud himself, from beginning to end. afterwards, he took occasion to express his mind concerning the ceaseless calumnies of which he was the mark. he especially alluded to the oft-repeated accusation that he was the only obstacle to peace, and repeated that he was ready at that moment to leave the land, and to close his lips for ever, if by so doing he could benefit his country, and restore her to honorable repose. the outcry, with the protestations of attachment and confidence which at once broke from the assembly, convinced him, however, that he was deeply rooted in the hearts of all patriotic netherlanders, and that it was beyond the power of slanderers to loosen his hold upon their affection. meantime, his efforts had again and again been demanded to restore order in that abode of anarchy, the city of ghent. after his visit during the previous winter, and the consequent departure of john casimir to the palatinate, the pacific arrangements made by the prince had for a short time held good. early in march, however, that master of misrule, john van imbize, had once more excited the populace to sedition. again the property of catholics, clerical and lay, was plundered; again the persons of catholics, of every degree, were maltreated. the magistrates, with first senator imbize at their head, rather encouraged than rebuked the disorder; but orange, as soon as he received official intelligence of the event, hastened to address them in the words of earnest warning and wisdom. he allowed that the inhabitants of the province had reason to be discontented with the presence and the misconduct of the walloon soldiery. he granted that violence and the menaces of a foreign tyranny made it difficult for honest burghers to gain a livelihood. at the same time he expressed astonishment that reasonable men should seek a remedy for such evils in tumults which would necessarily bring utter destruction upon the land. "it was," he observed, "as if a patient should from impatience, tear the bandages from his wounds, and, like a maniac, instead of allowing himself to be cured, plunge a dagger into his own heart." these exhortations exerted a wholesome effect for a moment, but matters soon went from bad to worse. imbize, fearing the influence of the prince, indulged in open-mouthed abuse of a man whose character he was unable even to comprehend, he accused him of intriguing with france for his own benefit, of being a papist in disguise, of desiring to establish what he called a "religious peace," merely to restore roman idolatry. in all these insane ravings, the demagogue was most ably seconded by the ex-monk. incessant and unlicensed were the invectives hurled by peter dathenus from his pulpit upon william the silent's head. he denounced him--as he had often done before--as an atheist in heart; as a man who changed his religion as easily as his garments; as a man who knew no god but state expediency, which was the idol of his worship; a mere politician who would tear his shirt from his back and throw it in the fire, if he thought it were tainted with religion. such witless but vehement denunciation from a preacher who was both popular and comparatively sincere, could, not but affect the imagination of the weaker portion of his, healers. the faction of imbize became triumphant. ryhove--the ruffian whose hands were stained with the recent blood of visch and hessels--rather did damage than service to the cause of order. he opposed himself to the demagogue who was prating daily of greece, rome, and geneva, while his clerical associate was denouncing william of orange, but he opposed himself in vain. an attempt to secure the person of imbize failed, but by the influence of ryhove, however, a messenger was despatched to antwerp in the name of a considerable portion of the community of ghent. the counsel and the presence of the man to whom all hearts in every part of the netherlands instinctively turned in the hour of need, were once more invoked. the prince again addressed them in language which none but he could employ with such effect. he told them that his life, passed in service and sacrifice, ought to witness sufficiently for his fidelity. nevertheless, he thought it necessary--in view of the calumnies which were circulated--to repeat once more his sentiment that no treaty of peace, war, or alliance, ought to be negotiated, save with the consent of the people. his course in holland and zealand had proved, he said, his willingness always to consult the wishes of his countrymen. as for the matter of religion it was almost incredible that there should be any who doubted the zeal which he bore the religion for which he had suffered so much. "i desire," he continued, fervently, "that men should compare that which has been done by my accusers during ten years past with that which i have done. in that which touches the true advancement of religion, i will yield to no man. they who so boldly accuse me have no liberty of speech, save that which has been acquired for them by the blood of my kindred, by my labors, and my excessive expenditures. to me they owe it that they dare speak at all." this letter, (which was dated on the th of july, ) contained an assurance that the writer was about to visit ghent. on the following day, imbize executed a coup d'etat. having a body of near two thousand soldiers at his disposal, he suddenly secured the persons of all the magistrates and other notable individuals not friendly to his policy, and then, in violation of all law, set up a new board of eighteen irresponsible functionaries, according to a list prepared by himself alone. this was his way of enforcing the democratic liberty of greece, rome, and geneva, which was so near to his heart. a proclamation, in fourteen articles, was forthwith issued, justifying this arbitrary proceeding. it was declared that the object of the somewhat irregular measure "was to prevent the establishment of the religious peace, which was merely a method of replanting uprooted papistry and the extirpated tyranny of spain." although the arrangement's had not been made in strict accordance with formal usage and ceremony, yet they were defended upon the ground that it had been impossible, by other means, to maintain their ancient liberties and their religious freedom. at the same time a pamphlet, already prepared for the occasion by dathenus, was extensively circulated. in this production the arbitrary revolution effected by a demagogue was defended with effrontery, while the character, of orange, was loaded with customary abuse. to prevent the traitor from coming to ghent, and establishing what he called his religious peace, these irregular measures, it was urged, had been wisely taken. such were the efforts of john imbize--such the calumnies of peter dathenus--in order to counteract the patriotic endeavors of the prince; but neither the ruffianism of john nor the libels of peter were destined upon this occasion to be successful. william the silent treated the slanders of the scolding monk with dignified contempt. "having been informed," said he to the magistrates of ghent, "that master peter dathenns has been denouncing me as a man without religion or fidelity, and full of ambition, with other propositions hardly becoming his cloth; i do not think it worth while to answer more at this time than that i willingly refer myself to the judgment of all who know me." the prince came to ghent, great as had been the efforts of imbize and his partisans to prevent his coming. his presence was like magic. the demagogue and his whole flock vanished like unclean birds at the first rays of the sun. imbize dared not look the father of his country in the face. orange rebuked the populace in the strong and indignant language that public and private virtue, energy, and a high purpose enabled such a leader of the people to use. he at once set aside the board of eighteen--the grecian-roman-genevese establishment of imbize--and remained in the city until the regular election, in conformity with the privileges, had taken place. imbize, who had shrunk at his approach, was meantime discovered by his own companions. he had stolen forth secretly on the night before the prince's arrival, and was found cowering in the cabin of a vessel, half dead with fear, by an ale-house keeper who had been his warm partisan. "no skulking," cried the honest friend; seizing the tribune of the people by the shoulder; "no sailing away in the night-time. you have got us all into this bog, and must come back, and abide the issue with your supporters." in this collapsed state was the windy demagogue, who had filled half flanders with his sound and fury, conveyed before the patriot prince. he met with grave and bitter rebukes, but felt sufficiently relieved when allowed to depart unharmed. judging of his probable doom by the usual practice of himself and his fellows in similar cases, he had anticipated nothing short of the gibbet. that punishment, however, was to be inflicted at a later period, by other hands, and not until he had added treason to his country and a shameless recantation of all his violent professions in favor of civil and religious liberty to the list of his crimes. on the present occasion he was permitted to go free. in company with his clerical companion, peter dathenus, he fled to the abode of his excellent friend, john casimir, who received both with open arms, and allowed them each a pension. order being thus again restored in ghent by the exertions of the prince, when no other human hand could have dispelled the anarchy which seemed to reign supreme, william the silent, having accepted the government of flanders, which had again and again been urged upon him, now returned to antwerp. chapter iii. the cologne conferences--intentions of the parties--preliminary attempt by government to purchase the prince of orange--offer and rejection of various articles among the plenipotentiaries--departure of the imperial commissionere--ultimatum of the states compared with that of the royal government--barren negotiations terminated-- treason of de bours, governor of mechlin--liberal theories concerning the nature of government--abjuration of philip imminent-- self-denial of orange--attitude of germany--of england--marriage negotiations between elizabeth and anjou--orange favors the election of the duke as sovereign--address and speeches of the prince-- parsimony and interprovincial jealousy rebuked----secret correspondence of count renneberg with the royal government-- his treason at groningen. since the beginning of may, the cologne negotiations had been dragging their slow length along. few persons believed that any good was likely to result from these stately and ponderous conferences; yet men were so weary of war, so desirous that a termination might be put to the atrophy under which the country was languishing, that many an eager glance was turned towards the place where the august assembly was holding its protracted session. certainly, if wisdom were to be found in mitred heads--if the power to heal angry passions and to settle the conflicting claims of prerogative and conscience were to be looked for among men of lofty station, then the cologne conferences ought to have made the rough places smooth and the crooked paths straight throughout all christendom. there was the archbishop of rossano, afterwards pope urban vii, as plenipotentiary from rome; there was charles of aragon, duke of terranova, supported by five councillors, as ambassador from his catholic majesty; there were the duke of aerschot, the abbot of saint gertrude, the abbot of marolles, doctor bucho aytta, caspar schetz, lord of grobbendonck, that learned frisian, aggeus van albada, with seven other wise men, as envoys from the states-general: there were their serene highnesses the elector and archbishops of cologne and treves, with the bishop of wurtzburg. there was also a numerous embassy from his imperial majesty, with count otto de schwartzenburg at its head. here then were holiness, serenity, dignity, law, and learning in abundance. here was a pope 'in posse', with archbishops, princes, dukes, jurisconsults, and doctors of divinity 'in esse', sufficient to remodel a world, if worlds were to be remodelled by such instruments. if protocols, replications, annotations, apostilles, could heal a bleeding country, here were the physicians to furnish those drugs in unlimited profusion. if reams of paper, scrawled over with barbarous technicalities, could smother and bury a quarrel which had its origin in the mutual antagonism of human elements, here were the men to scribble unflinchingly, till the reams were piled to a pyramid. if the same idea presented in many aspects could acquire additional life, here were the word-mongers who, could clothe one shivering thought in a hundred thousand garments, till it attained all the majesty which decoration could impart. in truth, the envoys came from spain, rome, and vienna, provided with but two ideas. was it not a diplomatic masterpiece, that from this frugal store they could contrive to eke out seven mortal months of negotiation? two ideas--the supremacy of his majesty's prerogative, the exclusive exercise of the roman catholic religion--these were the be-all and the end-all of their commission. upon these two strings they were to harp, at least till the walls of maestricht had fallen. the envoys did their duty well; they were sent to enact a solemn comedy, and in the most stately manner did they walk through their several parts. not that the king was belligerent; on, the contrary, he was heartily weary of the war. prerogative was weary--romanism was weary--conscience was weary--the spirit of freedom was weary but the prince of orange was not weary. blood and treasure had been pouring forth so profusely during twelve flaming years, that all but that one tranquil spirit were beginning to flag. at the same time, neither party had more disposition to concede than stomach to fight. certainly the royal party had no inclination to yield. the king had granted easy terms to the walloons, because upon the one great point of religion there was, no dispute, and upon the others there was no intention of keeping faith. with regard to the present negotiation, it was desirable to gain a little time. it was thought probable that the religious difference, judiciously managed at this juncture, might be used to effect a permanent severance of the provinces so lately banded together in a common union. "to, divide them," wrote tassis, in a very confidential letter, "no better method can be found than to amuse them with this peace negotiation. some are ready for a pacification from their desire of repose, some from their fear of war, some from the differences which exist among themselves, and which it is especially important to keep alive." above all things, it was desirable to maintain the religious distraction till maestricht had been taken. that siege was the key to the whole situation. if the separate walloon accord could be quietly made in a corner, while parma was battering that stronghold on the meuse, and while decorous negotiation was smoothly holding its course on the rhine, much disorganization, it was hoped, would be handsomely accomplished before the end of the year. "as for a suspension of arms," wrote alexander to terranova, on the st of may, "the longer 'tis deferred the better. with regard to maestricht, everything depends upon it that we possess, or desire to possess. truly, if the prince of orange can relieve the city he will do it. if he does so, neither will this expedition of ours, nor any other expedition, be brought to a good end. as soon as men are aware that our affairs are looking badly, they will come again to a true union, and all will join together, in hope to accomplish their boasts." therefore, it was natural that the peace-wrights of cologne should industriously ply their task. it is not desirable to disturb much of that learned dust, after its three centuries' repose. a rapid sketch of the course of the proceedings, with an indication of the spirit which animated the contending parties, will be all that is necessary. they came and they separated with precisely opposite views. "the desires of terranova and of the estates," says the royalist, tassis, "were diametrically contrary, to each other. the king wished that the exercise of the roman catholic religion should be exclusively established, and the absolute prerogative preserved in its integrity." on the other hand, the provinces desired their charters and a religious' peace. in these perpetual lines and curves ran the asymptotical negotiation from beginning to end--and so it might have run for two centuries, without hope of coincidence. neither party was yet vanquished. the freshly united provinces were no readier now than before to admit that the holy office formed part of their national institutions. the despotic faction was not prepared to renounce that establishment. foiled, but not disheartened, sat the inquisition, like a beldame, upon the border, impotently threatening the land whence she had been for ever excluded; while industrious as the parcae, distaff in hand, sat, in cologne, the inexorable three--spain, the empire, and rome--grimly, spinning and severing the web of mortal destinies. the first step in the proceedings had been a secret one. if by any means the prince of orange could be detached from his party--if by bribery, however enormous, he could be induced--to abandon a tottering cause, and depart for the land of his birth--he was distinctly but indirectly given to understand that he had but to name his terms. we have seen the issue of similar propositions made by don john of austria. probably there was no man living who would care to make distinct application of this dishonorable nature to the father of his country. the aerschots, the meluns, the lalains, and a swarm of other nobles, had their price, and were easily transferable from one to another, but it was not easy to make a direct offer to william of orange. they knew--as he said shortly afterwards in his famous apology--that "neither for property nor for life, neither for wife nor for children, would he mix in his cup a single drop of treason." nevertheless, he was distinctly given to understand that "there was nothing he could demand for himself personally that would not be granted." all his confiscated property, restoration of his imprisoned son, liberty of worship for himself, payment of all his debts, reimbursement of all his past expenses, and anything else which he could desire, were all placed within his reach. if he chose to retire into another land, his son might be placed in possession of all his cities, estates, and dignities, and himself indemnified in germany; with a million of money over and above as a gratuity. the imperial envoy, count schwartzenburg, pledged his personal honor and reputation that every promise which might be made to the prince should be most sacredly fulfilled. it was all in vain. the indirect applications of the imperial commissioners made to his servants and his nearest relations were entirely unsuccessful. the prince was not to be drawn into a negotiation in his own name or for his own benefit. if the estates were satisfied, he was satisfied. he wanted no conditions but theirs; "nor would he directly, or indirectly," he said, "separate himself from the cause on which hung all his evil or felicity." he knew that it was the object of the enemy to deprive the country of its head, and no inducements were sufficient to make him a party to the plot. at the same time, he was unwilling to be an obstacle, in his own person, to the conclusion of an honorable peace. he would resign his offices which he held at the solicitation of the whole country, if thus a negotiation were likely to be more successful. "the prince of parma and the disunited provinces," said he to the states-general, "affect to consider this war as one waged against me and in my name--as if the question alone concerned the name and person of the general. if it be so, i beg you to consider whether it is not because i have been ever faithful to the land. nevertheless, if i am an obstacle, i am ready to remove it. if you, therefore, in order to deprive the enemy of every right to inculpate us, think proper to choose another head and conductor of your affairs, i promise you to serve and to be obedient to him with all my heart. thus shall we leave the enemy no standing-place to work dissensions among us." such was his language to friend and foe, and here, at least, was one man in history whom kings were not rich enough to purchase. on the th of may, the states' envoys at cologne presented fourteen articles, demanding freedom of religion and the ancient political charters. religion, they said, was to be referred; not to man, but to god. to him the king was subject as well as the people. both king and people--"and by people was meant every individual in the land"--were bound to serve god according to their conscience. the imperial envoys found such language extremely reprehensible, and promptly refused, as umpires, to entertain the fourteen articles. others drawn up by terranova and colleagues, embodying the claims of the royal and roman party, were then solemnly presented, and as promptly rejected. then the imperial umpires came forward with two bundles of proposisitions--approved beforehand by the spanish plenipotentiaries. in the political bundle; obedience due to the king was insisted upon, "as in the time of the emperor charles." the religious category declared that "the roman religion--all others excluded--should thenceforth be exercised in all the provinces." both these categories were considered more objectionable by the states' envoys than the terms of terranova, and astonishment was expressed that "mention should again be made of the edicts--as if blood enough had not been shed already in the cause of religion." the netherland envoys likewise gave the imperial commissioners distinctly to understand that--in case peace were not soon made--"the states would forthwith declare the king fallen from his sovereignty;" would for ever dispense the people from their oaths of allegiance to him, and would probably accept the duke of anjou in his place. the states-general, to which body the imperial propositions had been sent, also rejected the articles in a logical and historical argument of unmerciful length. an appeal secretly made by the imperial and spanish commissioners, from the states' envoys to the states themselves, and even to the people of the various provinces, had excited the anger of the plenipotentiaries. they complained loudly of this violation of all diplomatic etiquette, and the answer of the states-general, fully confirming the views of their ambassadors, did not diminish their wrath. on the th of november, , the states' envoys were invited into the council chamber of the imperial commissioners, to hear the last solemn commonplaces of those departing, functionaries. seven months long they had been waiting in vain, they said, for the states' envoys to accede to moderate demands. patience was now exhausted. moreover, their mediatory views had been the subject of bitter lampooning throughout the country, while the authorities of many cities had publicly declared that all the inhabitants would rather, die the death than accept such terms. the peace-makers, accordingly, with endless protestations as to, their own purity, wisdom, and benevolence, left the whole "in the hands of god and the parties concerned." the reply to this elaborate farewell was curt and somewhat crusty. "had they known," said the states' envoys, "that their transparencies and worthinesses had no better intention, and the duke of terranova no ampler commission, the whole matter might have been despatched, not in six months, but in six days." thus ended the conferences, and the imperial commissioners departed. nevertheless, schwartzenburg remained yet a little time at cologne, while five of the states' envoys also protracted their stay, in order to make their private peace with the king. it is hardly necessary to observe that the chief of these penitents was the duke of aerschot. the ultimatum of the states was deposited by the departing envoys with schwartzenburg, and a comparison of its terms with those offered by the imperial mediators, as the best which could be obtained from spain, shows the hopelessness of the pretended negotiation. departure of the foreign troops, restitution of all confiscated property, unequivocal recognition of the ghent treaty and the perpetual edict, appointment to office of none but natives, oaths of allegiance to the king and the states-general, exercise of the reformed religion and of the confession of augsburg in all places where it was then publicly practised: such were the main demands of the patriot party. in the secret instructions furnished by the states to their envoys, they were told to urge upon his majesty the absolute necessity, if he wished to retain the provinces, of winking at the exercise of the reformed and the augsburg creeds. "the new religion had taken too deep root," it was urged, "ever to be torn forth, save with the destruction of the whole country." thus, after seven dreary months of negotiation, after protocols and memoranda in ten thousand folia, the august diplomatists had travelled round to the points from which they had severally started. on the one side, unlimited prerogative and exclusive catholicism; on the other, constitutional liberty, with freedom of conscience for catholic and protestant alike: these were the claims which each party announced at the commencement, and to which they held with equal firmness at the close of the conferences. the congress had been expensive. though not much had been accomplished for the political or religious advancement of mankind, there had been much excellent eating and drinking at cologne during the seven months. those drouthy deliberations had needed moistening. the bishop of wurtzburg had consumed "eighty hogsheads of rhenish wine and twenty great casks of beer." the expense of the states' envoys were twenty-four thousand guldens. the archbishop of cologne had expended forty thousand thalers. the deliberations were, on the whole, excessively detrimental to the cause of the provinces, "and a great personage" wrote to the states-general, that the king had been influenced by no motive save to cause dissension. this was an exaggeration, for his majesty would have been well pleased to receive the whole of the country on the same terms which had been accepted by the walloons. meantime, those southern provinces had made their separate treaty, and the netherlands were permanently dissevered. maestricht had fallen. disunion and dismay had taken possession of the country. during the course of the year other severe misfortunes had happened to the states. treachery, even among the men who had done good service to the cause of freedom, was daily showing her hateful visage. not only the great chieftains who had led the malcontent walloon party, with the fickle aerschot and the wavering havre besides, had made their separate reconciliation with parma, but the epidemic treason had mastered such bold partisans as the seigneur de bours, the man whose services in rescuing the citadel of antwerp had been so courageous and valuable. he was governor of mechlin; count renneberg was governor of friesland. both were trusted implicitly by orange and by the estates; both were on the eve of repaying the confidence reposed in them by the most venal treason. it was already known that parma had tampered with de bours; but renneberg was still unsuspected. "the prince," wrote count john, "is deserted by all the noblemen; save the stadholder of friesland and myself, and has no man else in whom he can repose confidence." the brothers were doomed to be rudely awakened from the repose with regard to renneberg, but previously the treason of a less important functionary was to cause a considerable but less lasting injury to the national party. in mechlin was a carmelite friar, of audacious character and great eloquence; a man who, "with his sweet, poisonous tongue, could ever persuade the people to do his bidding." this dangerous monk, peter lupus, or peter wolf, by name, had formed the design of restoring mechlin to the prince of parma, and of obtaining the bishopric of namur as the reward of his services. to this end he had obtained a complete mastery over the intellect of the bold but unprincipled de bours. a correspondence was immediately opened between parma and the governor, and troops were secretly admitted into the city. the prince of orange, in the name of the archduke and the estates, in vain endeavoured to recal the infatuated governor to his duty. in vain he conjured him, by letter after letter, to be true to his own bright fame so nobly earned. an old friend of de bours, and like himself a catholic, was also employed to remonstrate with him. this gentleman, de fromont by name, wrote him many letters; but de bours expressed his surprise that fromont, whom he had always considered a good catholic and a virtuous gentleman, should wish to force him into a connection with the prince of orange and his heretic supporters. he protested that his mind was quite made up, and that he had been guaranteed by parma not only the post which he now held, but even still farther advancement. de fromont reminded him, in reply, of the frequent revolutions of fortune's wheel, and warned him that the advancement of which he boasted would probably be an entire degradation. he bitterly recalled to the remembrance of the new zealot for romanism his former earnest efforts to establish calvinism. he reproached him, too, with having melted up the silver images of the mechlin churches, including even the renowned shrine of saint rombout, which the prince of orange had always respected. "i don't say how much you took of that plunder for your own share," continued the indignant de fromont, "for the very children cry it in your ears as you walk the streets. 'tis known that if god himself had been changed into gold you would have put him in your pocket." this was plain language, but as just as it was plain. the famous shrine of saint rombout--valued at seventy thousand guldens, of silver gilt, and enriched with precious stones--had been held sacred alike by the fanatical iconoclasts and the greedy spaniards who had successively held the city. it had now been melted up, and appropriated by peter lupin; the carmelite, and de bours, the catholic convert, whose mouths were full of devotion to the ancient church and of horror for heresy. the efforts of orange and of the states were unavailing. de bours surrendered the city, and fled to parma, who received him with cordiality, gave him five thousand florins--the price promised for his treason, besides a regiment of infantry--but expressed surprise that he should have reached the camp alive. his subsequent career was short, and he met his death two years afterwards, in the trenches before tournay. the archiepiscopal city was thus transferred to the royal party, but the gallant van der tympel, governor of brussels, retook it by surprise within six months of its acquisition by parma, and once more restored it to the jurisdiction of the states. peter lupus, the carmelite, armed to the teeth, and fighting fiercely at the head of the royalists, was slain in the street, and thus forfeited his chance for the mitre of namur. during the weary progress of the cologne negotiations, the prince had not been idle, and should this august and slow-moving congress be unsuccessful in restoring peace, the provinces were pledged to an act of abjuration. they would then be entirely without a head. the idea of a nominal republic was broached by none. the contest had not been one of theory, but of facts; for the war had not been for revolution, but for conservation, so far as political rights were concerned. in religion, the provinces had advanced from one step to another, till they now claimed the largest liberty--freedom of conscience--for all. religion, they held, was god's affair, not man's, in which neither people nor king had power over each other, but in which both were subject to god alone. in politics it was different. hereditary sovereignty was acknowledged as a fact, but at the same time, the spirit of freedom was already learning its appropriate language. it already claimed boldly the natural right of mankind to be governed according to the laws of reason and of divine justice. if a prince were a shepherd, it was at least lawful to deprive him of his crook when he butchered the flock which he had been appointed to protect. "what reason is there," said the states-general, "why the provinces should suffer themselves to be continually oppressed by their sovereign, with robbings, burnings, stranglings, and murderings? why, being thus oppressed, should they still give their sovereign--exactly as if he were well conducting himself--the honor and title of lord of the land?" on the other hand, if hereditary rule were an established fact, so also were ancient charters. to maintain, not to overthrow, the political compact, was the purpose of the states. "je maintiendrai" was the motto of orange's escutcheon. that a compact existed between prince and people, and that the sovereign held office only on condition of doing his duty, were startling truths which men were beginning, not to whisper to each other in secret, but to proclaim in the market-place. "'tis well known to all," said the famous declaration of independence, two years afterwards, "that if a prince is appointed by god over the land, 'tis to protect them from harm, even as a shepherd to the guardianship of his flock. the subjects are not appointed by god for the behoof of the prince, but the prince for his subjects, without whom he is no prince. should he violate the laws, he is to be forsaken by his meanest subject, and to be recognized no longer as prince." william of orange always recognized these truths, but his scheme of government contemplated a permanent chief, and as it was becoming obvious that the spanish sovereign would soon be abjured, it was necessary to fix upon a substitute. "as to governing these provinces in the form of a republic," said he, speaking for the states-general, "those who know the condition, privileges, and ordinances of the country, can easily understand that 'tis hardly possible to dispense with a head or superintendent." at the same time, he plainly intimated that this "head or superintendent" was to be, not a monarch--a one-ruler--but merely the hereditary chief magistrate of a free commonwealth. where was this hereditary chief magistrate to be found? his own claims he absolutely withdrew. the office was within his grasp, and he might easily have constituted himself sovereign of all the netherlands. perhaps it would have been better at that time had he advanced his claims and accepted the sovereignty which philip had forfeited. as he did not believe in the possibility of a republic, he might honestly have taken into his own hands the sceptre which he considered indispensable. his self-abnegation was, however, absolute. not only did he decline sovereignty, but he repeatedly avowed his readiness to, lay down all the offices which he held, if a more useful substitute could be found. "let no man think," said he, in a remarkable speech to the states-general," that my good-will is in any degree changed or diminished. i agree to obey--as the least of the lords or gentlemen of the land could do--whatever person it may, please you to select. you have but to command my services wheresoever they are most wanted; to guard a province or a single city, or in any capacity in which i may be found most useful. i promise to do my duty, with all my strength and skill, as god and my conscience are witnesses that i have done it hitherto." the negotiations pointed to a speedy abjuration of philip; the republic was contemplated by none; the prince of orange absolutely refused to stretch forth his own hand; who then was to receive the sceptre which was so soon to be bestowed? a german prince--had been tried--in a somewhat abnormal position--but had certainly manifested small capacity for aiding the provinces. nothing could well be more insignificant than the figure of matthias; and, moreover, his imperial brother was anything but favorably disposed. it was necessary to manage rudolph. to treat the archduke with indignity, now that he had been partly established in the netherlands, would be to incur the emperor's enmity. his friendship, however, could hardly be secured by any advancement bestowed upon his brother; for rudolph's services against prerogative and the pope were in no case to be expected. nor was there much hope from the protestant princes of germany. the day had passed for generous sympathy with those engaged in the great struggle which martin luther had commenced. the present generation of german protestants were more inclined to put down the calvinistic schism at home than to save it from oppression abroad. men were more disposed to wrangle over the thrice-gnawed bones of ecclesiastical casuistry, than to assist their brethren in the field. "i know not," said gaultherus, "whether the calamity of the netherlands, or the more than bestial stupidity of the germans, be most deplorable. to the insane contests on theological abstractions we owe it that many are ready to breathe blood and slaughter against their own brethren. the hatred of the lutherans has reached that point that they can rather tolerate papists than ourselves." in england, there was much sympathy for the provinces and there--although the form of government was still arbitrary--the instincts for civil and religious freedom, which have ever characterized the anglo-saxon race, were not to be repressed. upon many a battle-field for liberty in the netherlands, "men whose limbs were made in england" were found contending for the right. the blood and treasure of englishmen flowed freely in the cause of their relatives by religion and race, but these were the efforts of individuals. hitherto but little assistance had been rendered by the english queen, who had, on the contrary, almost distracted the provinces by her fast-and-loose policy, both towards them and towards anjou. the political rivalry between that prince and herself in the netherlands had, however, now given place to the memorable love-passage from which important results were expected, and it was thought certain that elizabeth would view with satisfaction any dignity conferred upon her lover. orange had a right to form this opinion. at the same time, it is well known that the chief councillors of elizabeth--while they were all in favor of assisting the provinces--looked with anything but satisfaction upon the anjou marriage. "the duke," wrote davidson to walsingham in july, , "seeks, forsooth, under a pretext of marriage with her highness, the rather to espouse the low countries--the chief ground and object of his pretended love, howsoever it be disguised." the envoy believed both elizabeth and the provinces in danger of taking unto themselves a very bad master. "is there any means," he added, "so apt to sound the very bottom of our estate, and to hinder and breake the neck of all such good purpose as the necessity of the tyme shall set abroch?" the provinces of holland and zealand, notwithstanding the love they bore to william of orange, could never be persuaded by his arguments into favoring anjou. indeed, it was rather on account of the love they bore the prince--whom they were determined to have for their sovereign--that they refused to listen to any persuasion in favor of his rival, although coming from his own lips. the states-general, in a report to the states of holland, drawn up under the superintendence of the prince, brought forward all the usual arguments for accepting the french duke, in case the abjuration should take place. they urged the contract with anjou (of august th, ), the great expenses he had already incurred in their behalf; the danger of offending him; the possibility that in such case he would ally himself with spain; the prospect that, in consequence of such a result, there would be three enemies in the field against them--the walloons, the spaniards, and the french, all whose forces would eventually be turned upon holland and zealand alone. it was represented that the selection of anjou would, on the other hand, secure the friendship of france--an alliance which would inspire both the emperor and the spanish monarch with fear; for they could not contemplate without jealousy a possible incorporation of the provinces with that kingdom. moreover, the geographical situation of france made its friendship inexpressibly desirable. the states of holland and zealand were, therefore, earnestly invited to send deputies to an assembly of the states-general, in order to conclude measures touching the declaration of independence to be made against the king, and concerning the election of the duke of anjou. the official communications by speech or writing of orange to the different corporations and assemblies, were at this period of enormous extent. he was moved to frequent anger by the parsimony, the inter-provincial jealousy, the dull perception of the different estates, and he often expressed his wrath in unequivocal language. he dealt roundly with all public bodies. his eloquence was distinguished by a bold, uncompromising, truth-telling spirit, whether the words might prove palatable or bitter to his audience. his language rebuked his hearers more frequently than it caressed them, for he felt it impossible, at all times, to consult both the humors and the high interests of the people, and he had no hesitation, as guardian of popular liberty, in denouncing the popular vices by which it was endangered. by both great parties, he complained, his shortcomings were all noted, the good which he had accomplished passed over in silence. [letter to the states-general, august, , apud bor, xiv. , sqq. this was the opinion frequently expressed by languet: "cherish the friendship of the prince, i beseech you," he writes to sir philip sydney, "for there is no man like him in all christendom. nevertheless, his is the lot of all men of prudence--to be censured by all parties. the people complain that he despises them; the nobility declare that it is their order which he hates; and this is as sensible as if you were to tell me that you were the son of a clown."] he solemnly protested that he desired, out of his whole heart, the advancement of that religion which he publicly professed, and with god's blessing, hoped to profess to the end of his life, but nevertheless, he reminded the states that he had sworn, upon taking office as lieutenant-general, to keep "all the subjects of the land equally under his protection," and that he had kept his oath. he rebuked the parsimony which placed the accepted chief of the provinces in a sordid and contemptible position. "the archduke has been compelled," said he, in august, to the states-general, "to break up housekeeping, for want of means. how shameful and disreputable for the country, if he should be compelled, for very poverty, to leave the land!" he offered to lay down all the power with which he had himself been clothed, but insisted, if he were to continue in office, upon being provided with, larger means of being useful. "'twas impossible," he said, "for him to serve longer on the same footing as heretofore; finding himself without power or authority, without means, without troops, without money, without obedience." he reminded the states-general that the enemy--under pretext of peace negotiations--were ever circulating calumnious statements to the effect that he was personally the only obstacle to peace. the real object of these hopeless conferences was to sow dissension through the land, to set burgher against burgher, house against house. as in italy, guelphs and ghibellines--as in florence, the neri and bianchi--as in holland, the hooks and cabbeljaws had, by their unfortunate quarrels, armed fellow countrymen and families against each other--so also, nothing was so powerful as religious difference to set friend against friend, father against son, husband against wife. he warned the states against the peace propositions of the enemy. spain had no intention to concede, but was resolved to extirpate. for himself; he had certainly everything to lose by continued war. his magnificent estates were withheld, and--added he with simplicity--there is no man who does not desire to enjoy his own. the liberation of his son, too, from his foreign captivity, was, after the glory of god and the welfare of the fatherland, the dearest object of his heart. moreover, he was himself approaching the decline of life. twelve years he had spent in perpetual anxiety and labor for the cause. as he approached old age, he had sufficient reason to desire repose. nevertheless, considering the great multitude of people who were leaning upon him, he should account himself disgraced if, for the sake of his own private advantage, he were to recommend a peace which was not perfectly secure. as regarded his own personal interests, he could easily place himself beyond danger--yet it would be otherwise with the people. the existence of the religion which, through the mercy of god he professed, would be sacrificed, and countless multitudes of innocent men would, by his act, be thrown bodily into the hands of the blood-thirsty inquisitors who, in times past, had murdered so many persons, and so utterly desolated the land. in regard to the ceaseless insinuations against his character which men uttered "over their tables and in the streets," he observed philosophically, that "mankind were naturally inclined to calumny, particularly against those who exercised government over them. his life was the best answer to those slanders. being overwhelmed with debt, he should doubtless do better in a personal point of view to accept the excellent and profitable offers which were daily made to him by the enemy." he might be justified in such a course, when it was remembered how many had deserted him and forsworn their religion. nevertheless, he had ever refused, and should ever refuse to listen to offers by which only his own personal interests were secured. as to the defence of the country, he had thus far done all in his power, with the small resources placed at his command. he was urged by the "nearer-united states" to retain the poet of lieutenant-general. he was ready to consent. he was, however, not willing to hold office a moment, unless he had power to compel cities to accept garrisons, to enforce the collection of needful supplies throughout the provinces, and in general to do everything which he judged necessary for the best interests of the country. three councils were now established--one to be in attendance upon the archduke and the prince of orange, the two others to reside respectively in flanders and in utrecht. they were to be appointed by matthias and the prince, upon a double nomination from the estates of the united provinces. their decisions were to be made according to a majority of votes,--and there was to be no secret cabinet behind and above their deliberations. it was long, however, before these councils were put into working order. the fatal jealousy of the provincial authorities, the, small ambition of local magistrates, interposed daily obstacles to the vigorous march of the generality. never was jealousy more mischievous, never circumspection more misapplied. it was not a land nor a crisis in which there was peril of centralization: local municipal government was in truth the only force left. there was no possibility of its being merged in a central authority which did not exist. the country was without a centre. there was small chance of apoplexy where there was no head. the danger lay in the mutual repulsiveness of these atoms of sovereignty--in the centrifugal tendencies which were fast resolving a nebulous commonwealth into chaos. disunion and dissension would soon bring about a more fatal centralization--that of absorption in a distant despotism. at the end of november, , orange made another remarkable speech in the states-general at antwerp. he handled the usual topics with his customary vigor, and with that grace and warmth of delivery which always made his eloquence so persuasive and impressive. he spoke of the countless calumnies against himself, the chaffering niggardliness of the provinces, the slender result produced by his repeated warnings. he told them bluntly the great cause of all their troubles. it was the absence of a broad patriotism; it was the narrow power grudged rather than given to the deputies who sat in the general assembly. they were mere envoys, tied by instructions. they were powerless to act, except after tedious reference to the will of their masters, the provincial boards. the deputies of the union came thither, he said, as advocates of their provinces or their cities, not as councillors of a commonwealth--and sought to further those narrow interests, even at the risk of destruction to their sister states. the contributions, he complained, were assessed unequally, and expended selfishly. upon this occasion, as upon all occasions, he again challenged inquiry into the purity of his government, demanded chastisement, if any act of mal-administration on his part could be found, and repeated his anxious desire either to be relieved from his functions, or to be furnished with the means of discharging them with efficiency. on the th of december, , he again made a powerful speech in the states-general. upon the th of january , following, he made an elaborate address upon the state of the country, urging the necessity of raising instantly a considerable army of good and experienced soldiers. he fixed the indispensable number of such a force at twelve thousand foot, four thousand horse, and at least twelve hundred pioneers. "weigh well the matters," said he, in conclusion; "which i have thus urged, and which are of the most extreme necessity. men in their utmost need are daily coming to me for refuge, as if i held power over all things in my hand." at the same time he complained that by reason of the dilatoriness of the states, he was prevented from alleviating misery when he knew the remedy to be within reach. "i beg you, however, my masters," he continued, "to believe that this address of mine is no simple discourse. 'tis a faithful presentment of matters which, if not reformed, will cause the speedy and absolute ruin of the land. whatever betide, however, i pray you to hold yourselves assured, that with god's help, i am determined to live with you or to die with you." early in the year , the prince was doomed to a bitter disappointment, and the provinces to a severe loss, in the treason of count renneberg, governor of friesland. this young noble was of the great lalain family. he was a younger brother of: anthony, count of hoogstraaten--the unwavering friend of orange. he had been brought up in the family of his cousin, the count de lalain, governor of hainault, and had inherited the title of renneberg from an uncle, who was a dignitary of the church. for more than a year there had been suspicions of his fidelity. he was supposed to have been tampered with by the duke of terranova, on the first arrival of that functionary in the netherlands. nevertheless, the prince of orange was unwilling to listen to the whispers against him. being himself the mark of calumny, and having a tender remembrance of the elder brother, he persisted in reposing confidence in a man who was in reality unworthy of his friendship. george lalain, therefore, remained stadholder of friesland and drenthe, and in possession of the capital city, groningen. the rumors concerning him proved correct. in november, , he entered into a formal treaty with terranova, by which he was to receive--as the price of "the virtuous resolution which he contemplated"--the sum of ten thousand crowns in hand, a further sum of ten thousand crowns within three months, and a yearly pension of ten thousand florins. moreover, his barony of ville was to be erected into a marquisate, and he was to receive the order of the golden fleece at the first vacancy. he was likewise to be continued in the same offices under the king which he now held from the estates. the bill of sale, by which he agreed with a certain quislain le bailly to transfer himself to spain, fixed these terms with the technical scrupulousness of any other mercantile transaction. renneberg sold himself as one would sell a yoke of oxen, and his motives were no whit nobler than the cynical contract would indicate. "see you not," said he in a private letter to a friend, "that this whole work is brewed by the nassaus for the sake of their own greatness, and that they are everywhere provided with the very best crumbs. they are to be stadholders of the principal provinces; we are to content ourselves with overyssel and drente. therefore i have thought it best to make my peace with the king, from whom more benefits are to be got." jealousy and selfishness; then, were the motives of his "virtuous resolution." he had another, perhaps a nobler incentive. he was in love with the countess meghen, widow of lancelot berlaymont, and it was privately stipulated that the influence of his majesty's government should be employed to bring about his marriage with the lady. the treaty, however, which renneberg had made with quislain le bailly was not immediately carried out. early in february, , his sister and evil genius, cornelia lalain, wife of baron monceau, made him a visit at groningen. she implored him not to give over his soul to perdition by oppressing the holy church. she also appealed to his family pride, which should keep him, she said, from the contamination of companionship with "base-born weavers and furriers." she was of opinion that to contaminate his high-born fingers with base bribes were a lower degradation. the pension, the crowns in hand, the marquisate, the collar of the golden fleece, were all held before his eyes again. he was persuaded, moreover, that the fair hand of the wealthy widow would be the crowning prize of his treason, but in this he was destined to disappointment. the countess was reserved for a more brilliant and a more bitter fate. she was to espouse a man of higher rank, but more worthless character, also a traitor to the cause of freedom, to which she was herself devoted, and who was even accused of attempting her life in her old age, in order to supply her place with a younger rival. the artful eloquence of cornelia de lalain did its work, and renneberg entered into correspondence with parma. it is singular with how much indulgence his conduct and character were regarded both before and subsequently to his treason. there was something attractive about the man. in an age when many german and netherland nobles were given to drunkenness and debauchery, and were distinguished rather for coarseness of manner and brutality of intellect than for refinement or learning, count renneberg, on the contrary, was an elegant and accomplished gentleman--the sydney of his country in all but loyalty of character. he was a classical scholar, a votary of music and poetry, a graceful troubadour, and a valiant knight. he was "sweet and lovely of conversation," generous and bountiful by nature. with so many good gifts, it was a thousand pities that the gift of truth had been denied him. never did treason look more amiable, but it was treason of the blackest die. he was treacherous, in the hour of her utmost need, to the country which had trusted him. he was treacherous to the great man who had leaned upon his truth, when all others had abandoned him. he was treacherous from the most sordid of motives jealousy of his friend and love of place and pelf; but his subsequent remorse and his early death have cast a veil over the blackness of his crime. while cornelia de lalain was in groningen, orange was in holland. intercepted letters left no doubt of the plot, and it was agreed that the prince, then on his way to amsterdam, should summon the count to an interview. renneberg's trouble at the proximity of orange could not be suppressed. he felt that he could never look his friend in the face again. his plans were not ripe; it was desirable to dissemble for a season longer; but how could he meet that tranquil eye which "looked quite through the deeds of men?" it was obvious to renneberg that his deed was to be done forthwith, if he would escape discomfiture. the prince would soon be in groningen, and his presence would dispel the plots which had been secretly constructed. on the evening of march the rd, , the count entertained a large number of the most distinguished families of the place at a ball and banquet. at the supper-table, hildebrand, chief burgomaster of the city, bluntly interrogated his host concerning the calumnious reports which were in circulation, expressing the hope that there was no truth in these inventions of his enemies. thus summoned, renneberg, seizing the hands of hildebrand in both his own, exclaimed, "oh; my father! you whom i esteem as my father, can you suspect me of such guilt? i pray you, trust me, and fear me not!" with this he restored the burgomaster and all the other guests to confidence. the feast and dance proceeded, while renneberg was quietly arranging his plot. during the night all the leading patriots were taken out of their beds, and carried to prison, notice being at the same time given to the secret adherents of renneberg. before dawn, a numerous mob of boatmen and vagrants, well armed, appeared upon the public square. they bore torches and standards, and amazed the quiet little city with their shouts. the place was formally taken into possession, cannon were planted in front of the town house to command the principal streets, and barricades erected at various important points. just at daylight, renneberg himself, in complete armor, rode into the square, and it was observed that he looked ghastly as a corpse. he was followed by thirty troopers, armed like himself, from head to foot. "stand by me now," he cried to the assembled throng; "fail me not at this moment, for now i am for the first time your stadholder." while he was speaking, a few citizens of the highest class forced their way through the throng and addressed the mob in tones of authority. they were evidently magisterial persons endeavoring to quell the riot. as they advanced, one of renneberg's men-at-arms discharged his carabine at the foremost gentleman, who was no other than burgomaster hildebrand. he fell dead at the feet of the stadholder--of the man who had clasped his hands a few hours before, called him father, and implored him to entertain no suspicions of his honor. the death of this distinguished gentleman created a panic, during which renneberg addressed his adherents, and stimulated them to atone by their future zeal in the king's service for their former delinquency. a few days afterwards the city was formally reunited to the royal government; but the count's measures had been precipitated to such an extent, that he was unable to carry the province with him, as he had hoped. on the contrary, although he had secured the city, he had secured nothing else. he was immediately beleaguered by the states' force in the province under the command of barthold entes, hohenlo, and philip louis nassau, and it was necessary to send for immediate assistance from parma. the prince of orange, being thus bitterly disappointed by the treachery of his friend, and foiled in his attempt to avert the immediate consequences, continued his interrupted journey to amsterdam. here he was received with unbounded enthusiasm. etext editor's bookmarks: all the majesty which decoration could impart amuse them with this peace negotiation conflicting claims of prerogative and conscience it is not desirable to disturb much of that learned dust logical and historical argument of unmerciful length mankind were naturally inclined to calumny men were loud in reproof, who had been silent more easily, as he had no intention of keeping the promise not to fall asleep in the shade of a peace negotiation nothing was so powerful as religious difference on the first day four thousand men and women were slaughtered power grudged rather than given to the deputies the disunited provinces there is no man who does not desire to enjoy his own to hear the last solemn commonplaces word-mongers who, could clothe one shivering thought motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley chapter iv. captivity of la noue--cruel propositions of philip--siege of groningen--death of barthold enter--his character--hohenlo commands in the north--his incompetence--he is defeated on hardenberg heath-- petty operations--isolation of orange--dissatisfaction and departure of count john--remonstrance of archduke matthias--embassy to anjou-- holland and zealand offer the sovereignty to orange--conquest of portugal--granvelle proposes the ban against the prince--it is published--the document analyzed--the apology of orange analyzed and characterized--siege of steenwyk by renneberg--forgeries--siege relieved--death of renneberg--institution of the "land-council"-- duchess of parma sent to the netherlands--anger of alexander-- prohibition of catholic worship in antwerp, utrecht, and elsewhere-- declaration of independence by the united provinces--negotiations with anjou--the sovereignty of holland and zealand provisionally accepted by orange--tripartition of the netherlands--power of the prince described--act of abjuration analyzed--philosophy of netherland politics.--views of the government compact--acquiescence by the people in the action of the estates--departure of archduke matthias. the war continued in a languid and desultory manner in different parts of the country. at an action near ingelmunster, the brave and accomplished de la noue was made prisoner. this was a severe loss to the states, a cruel blow to orange, for he was not only one of the most experienced soldiers, but one of the most accomplished writers of his age. his pen was as celebrated as his sword. in exchange for the illustrious frenchman the states in vain offered count egmont, who had been made prisoner a few weeks before, and de belles, who was captured shortly afterwards. parma answered contemptuously, that he would not give a lion for two sheep. even champagny was offered in addition, but without success. parma had written to philip, immediately upon the capture, that, were it not for egmont, seller, and others, then in the power of oranges he should order the execution of la noue. under the circumstances, however, he had begged to be in formed as to his majesty's pleasure, and in the meantime had placed the prisoner in the castle of limburg, under charge of de billy. [strada, d. , iii. , . parma is said to have hinted to philip that de billy would willingly undertake, the private assassination of la noue.--popeliniere, hist. des pays bas; - .] his majesty, of course, never signified his pleasure, and the illustrious soldier remained for five years in a loathsome dungeon more befitting a condemned malefactor than a prisoner of war. it was in the donjon keep of the castle, lighted only by an aperture in the roof, and was therefore exposed to the rain and all inclemencies of the sky, while rats, toads, and other vermin housed in the miry floor. here this distinguished personage, francis with the iron arm, whom all frenchmen, catholic or huguenot, admired far his genius, bravery, and purity of character, passed five years of close confinement. the government was most anxious to take his life, but the captivity of egmont and others prevented the accomplishment of their wishes. during this long period, the wife and numerous friends of la noue were unwearied in, their efforts to effect his ransom or exchange, but none of the prisoners in the hands of the patriots were considered a fair equivalent. the hideous proposition was even made by philip the second to la noue, that he should receive his liberty if he would permit his eyes to be put out, as a preliminary condition. the fact is attested by several letters written by la noue to his wife. the prisoner, wearied, shattered in health, and sighing for air and liberty, was disposed and even anxious to accept the infamous offer, and discussed the matter philosophically in his letters. that lady, however, horror-struck at the suggestion, implored him to reject the condition, which he accordingly consented to do. at last, in june, , he was exchanged, on extremely rigorous terms, for egmont. during his captivity in this vile dungeon, he composed not only his famous political and military discourses, but several other works, among the rest; annotations upon plutarch and upon the histories of guicciardini. the siege of groningen proceeded, and parma ordered some forces under martin schenck to advance to its relief. on the other hand, the meagre states' forces under sonoy, hohenlo, entes, and count john of nassau's young son, william louis, had not yet made much impression upon the city. there was little military skill to atone for the feebleness of the assailing army, although there was plenty of rude valor. barthold entes, a man of desperate character, was impatient at the dilatoriness of the proceedings. after having been in disgrace with the states, since the downfall of his friend and patron, the count de la marck, he had recently succeeded to a regiment in place of colonel ysselstein, "dismissed for a homicide or two." on the th of may, he had been dining at rolda, in company with hohenlo and the young count of nassau. returning to the trenches in a state of wild intoxication, he accosted a knot of superior officers, informing them that they were but boys, and that he would show them how to carry the faubourg of groningen on the instant. he was answered that the faubourg, being walled and moated, could be taken only by escalade or battery. laughing loudly, he rushed forward toward the counterscarp, waving his sword, and brandishing on his left arm the cover of a butter firkin, which he had taken instead of his buckler. he had advanced, however, but a step, when a bullet from the faubourg pierced his brain, and he fell dead without a word. so perished one of the wild founders of the netherland commonwealth--one of the little band of reckless adventurers who had captured the town of brill in , and thus laid the foundation stone of a great republic, which was to dictate its laws to the empire of charles the fifth. he was in some sort a type. his character was emblematical of the worst side of the liberating movement. desperate, lawless, ferocious--a robber on land, a pirate by sea--he had rendered great service in the cause of his fatherland, and had done it much disgrace. by the evil deeds of men like himself, the fair face of liberty had been profaned at its first appearance. born of a respectable family, he had been noted, when a student in this very groningen where he had now found his grave, for the youthful profligacy of his character. after dissipating his partrimony, he had taken to the sea, the legalized piracy of the mortal struggle with spain offering a welcome refuge to spendthrifts like himself. in common with many a banished noble of ancient birth and broken fortunes, the riotous student became a successful corsair, and it is probable that his prizes were made as well among the friends as the enemies of his country. he amassed in a short time one hundred thousand crowns--no contemptible fortune in those days. he assisted la marck in the memorable attack upon brill, but behaved badly and took to flight when mondragon made his memorable expedition to relieve tergoes. he had subsequently been imprisoned, with la marck for insubordination, and during his confinement had dissipated a large part of his fortune. in , after the violation of the ghent treaty, he had returned to, his piratical pursuits, and having prospered again as rapidly as he had done during his former cruises, had been glad to exchange the ocean for more honorable service on shore. the result was the tragic yet almost ludicrous termination which we have narrated. he left a handsome property, the result of his various piracies, or, according to the usual euphemism, prizes. he often expressed regret at the number of traders whom he had cast into the sea, complaining, in particular, of one victim whom he had thrown overboard, who would never sink, but who for years long ever floated in his wake, and stared him in the face whenever he looked over his vessel's side. a gambler, a profligate, a pirate, he had yet rendered service to the cause of freedom, and his name--sullying the purer and nobler ones of other founders of the commonwealth--"is enrolled in the capitol." count philip hohenlo, upon whom now, devolved the, entire responsibility of the groningen siege and of the friesland operations, was only a few degrees superior to this northern corsair. a noble of high degree, nearly connected with the nassau family, sprung of the best blood in germany, handsome and dignified in appearance, he was, in reality only a debauchee and a drunkard. personal bravery was his main qualification for a general; a virtue which he shared with many of his meanest soldiers. he had never learned the art of war, nor had he the least ambition to acquire it. devoted to his pleasures, he depraved those under his command, and injured the cause for which he was contending. nothing but defeat and disgrace were expected by the purer patriots from such guidance. "the benediction of god," wrote albada, "cannot be hoped for under this chieftain, who by life and manners is fitter to drive swine than to govern pious and honorable men." the event justified the prophecy. after a few trifling operations before groningen, hohenlo was summoned to the neighbourhood of coewerden, by the reported arrival of martin schenck, at the head of a considerable force. on the th of june, the count marched all night and a part of the follow morning, in search of the enemy. he came up with them upon hardenberg heath, in a broiling summer forenoon. his men were jaded by the forced march, overcame with the heat, tormented with thirst, and unable to procure even a drop of water. the royalists were fresh so that the result of the contest was easily to be foreseen. hohenlo's army was annihilated in an hour's time, the whole population fled out of coewerden, the siege of groningen was raised; renneberg was set free to resume his operations on a larger scale, and the fate of all the north-eastern provinces was once more swinging in the wind. the boors of drenthe and friesland rose again. they had already mustered in the field at an earlier season of the year, in considerable force. calling themselves "the desperates," and bearing on their standard an eggshell with the yolk running out--to indicate that, having lost the meat they were yet ready to fight for the shell--they had swept through the open country, pillaging and burning. hohenlo had defeated them in two enchanters, slain a large number of their forces, and reduced them for a time to tranquillity. his late overthrow once more set them loose. renneberg, always apt to be over-elated in prosperity, as he was unduly dejected in adversity, now assumed all the airs of a conqueror. he had hardly eight thousand men under his orders, but his strength lay in the weakness of his adversaries. a small war now succeeded, with small generals, small armies, small campaigns, small sieges. for the time, the prince of orange was even obliged to content himself with such a general as hohenlo. as usual, he was almost alone. "donec eris felix," said he, emphatically-- "multos numerabis amicos, tempera cum erunt nubila, nullus erit," and he was this summer doomed to a still harder deprivation by the final departure of his brother john from the netherlands. the count had been wearied out by petty miseries. his stadholderate of gelderland had overwhelmed him with annoyance, for throughout the north-eastern provinces there was neither system nor subordination. the magistrates could exercise no authority over an army which they did not pay, or a people whom they did not protect. there were endless quarrels between the various boards of municipal and provincial government--particularly concerning contributions and expenditures. [when the extraordinary generosity of the count himself; and the altogether unexampled sacrifices of the prince are taken into account, it may well be supposed that the patience of the brothers would be sorely tried by the parsimony of the states. it appears by a document laid before the states-general in the winter of - , that the count had himself advanced to orange , florins in the cause. the total of money spent by the prince himself for the sake of netherland liberty was , , . these vast sums had been raised in various ways and from various personages. his estates were deeply hypothecated, and his creditors so troublesome, that, in his own language, he was unable to attend properly to public affairs, so frequent and so threatening were the applications made upon him for payment. day by day he felt the necessity advancing more closely upon him of placing himself personally in the hands of his creditors and making over his estates to their mercy until the uttermost farthing should be paid. in his two campaigns against alva ( and ) he had spent , , florins. he owed the elector palatine , florins, the landgrave , , count john , , and other sums to other individuals.] during this wrangling, the country was exposed to the forces of parma, to the private efforts of the malcontents, to the unpaid soldiery of the states, to the armed and rebellious peasantry. little heed was paid to the admonitions of count john, who was of a hotter temper than was the tranquil prince. the stadholder gave way to fits of passion at the meanness and the insolence to which he was constantly exposed. he readily recognized his infirmity, and confessed himself unable to accommodate his irascibility to the "humores" of the inhabitants. there was often sufficient cause for his petulance. never had praetor of a province a more penurious civil list. "the baker has given notice," wrote count john, in november, "that he will supply no more bread after to-morrow, unless he is paid." the states would furnish no money to pay the, bill. it was no better with the butcher. "the cook has often no meat to roast," said the count, in the same letter, "so that we are often obliged to go supperless to bed." his lodgings were a half-roofed, half-finished, unfurnished barrack, where the stadholder passed his winter days and evenings in a small, dark, freezing-cold chamber, often without fire-wood. such circumstances were certainly not calculated to excite envy. when in addition to such wretched parsimony, it is remembered that the count was perpetually worried by the quarrels of the provincial authorities with each other and with himself, he may be forgiven for becoming thoroughly exhausted at last. he was growing "grey and grizzled" with perpetual perplexity. he had been fed with annoyance, as if--to use his own homely expression--"he had eaten it with a spoon." having already loaded himself with a debt of six hundred thousand florins, which he had spent in the states' service, and having struggled manfully against the petty tortures of his situation, he cannot be severely censured for relinquishing his post. the affairs of his own countship were in great confusion. his children--boys and girls--were many, and needed their fathers' guidance, while the eldest, william louis, was already in arms for the-netherlands, following the instincts of his race. distinguished for a rash valor, which had already gained the rebuke of his father and the applause of his comrades, he had commenced his long and glorious career by receiving a severe wound at coewerden, which caused him to halt for life. leaving so worthy a representative, the count was more justified in his departure. his wife, too, had died in his absence, and household affairs required his attention. it must be confessed, however, that if the memory of his deceased spouse had its claims, the selection of her successor was still more prominent among his anxieties. the worthy gentleman had been supernaturally directed as to his second choice, ere that choice seemed necessary, for before the news of his wife's death had reached him, the count dreamed that he was already united in second nuptials to the fair cunigunda, daughter of the deceased elector palatine--a vision which was repeated many times. on the morrow he learned, to his amazement, that he was a widower, and entertained no doubt that he had been specially directed towards the princess seen in his slumbers, whom he had never seen in life. his friends were in favor of his marrying the electress dowager, rather than her daughter, whose years numbered less than half his own. the honest count, however, "after ripe consideration," decidedly preferred the maid to the widow. "i confess," he said, with much gravity, "that the marriage with the old electress, in respect of her god-fearing disposition, her piety, her virtue, and the like, would be much more advisable. moreover, as she hath borne her cross, and knows how to deal with gentlemen, so much the better would it be for me. nevertheless, inasmuch as she has already had two husbands, is of a tolerable age, and is taller of stature than myself, my inclination is less towards her than towards her daughter." for these various considerations, count john, notwithstanding the remonstrances of his brother, definitely laid down his government of gelderland, and quitted the netherlands about midsummer. enough had not been done, in the opinion of the prince, so long as aught remained to do, and he could not bear that his brother should desert the country in the hour of its darkness, or doubt the almighty when his hand was veiled in clouds. "one must do one's best," said he, "and believe that when such misfortunes happen, god desires to prove us. if he sees that we do not lose our courage, he will assuredly help us. had we thought otherwise, we should never have pierced the dykes on a memorable occasion, for it was an uncertain thing and a great sorrow for the poor people; yet did god bless the undertaking. he will bless us still, for his arm hath not been shortened." on the nd of july, , the archduke matthias, being fully aware of the general tendency of affairs, summoned a meeting of the generality in antwerp. he did not make his appearance before the assembly, but requested that a deputation might wait upon him at his lodgings, and to this committee he unfolded his griefs. he expressed his hope that the states were not--in violation of the laws of god and man--about to throw themselves into the arms of a foreign prince. he reminded them of their duty to the holy catholic religion to the illustrious house of austria, while he also pathetically called their attention to the necessities of his own household, and hoped that they would, at least, provide for the arrears due to his domestics. the states-general replied with courtesy as to the personal claims of the archduke. for the rest, they took higher grounds, and the coming declaration of independence already pierced through the studied decorum of their language. they defended their negotiation with anjou on the ground of necessity, averring that the king of spain had proved inexorable to all intercession, while, through the intrigues of their bitterest enemies, they had been entirely forsaken by the empire. soon afterwards, a special legation, with saint aldegonde at its head, was despatched to france to consult with the duke of anjou, and settled terms of agreement with him by the treaty of plessis les tours (on the th of september, ), afterwards definitely ratified by the convention of bordeaux, signed on the rd of the following january. the states of holland and zealand, however, kept entirely aloof from this transaction, being from the beginning opposed to the choice of anjou. from the first to the last, they would have no master but orange, and to him, therefore, this year they formally offered the sovereignty of their provinces; but they offered it in vain. the conquest of portugal had effected a diversion in the affairs of the netherlands. it was but a transitory one. the provinces found the hopes which they had built upon the necessity of spain for large supplies in the peninsula--to their own consequent relief--soon changed into fears, for the rapid success of alva in portugal gave his master additional power to oppress the heretics of the north. henry, the cardinal king, had died in , after succeeding to the youthful adventurer, don sebastian, slain during his chivalrous african campaign ( th of august, ). the contest for the succession which opened upon the death of the aged monarch was brief, and in fifty-eight days, the bastard antonio, philip's only formidable competitor, had been utterly defeated and driven forth to lurk, like 'a hunted wild beast, among rugged mountain caverns, with a price of a hundred thousand crowns upon his head. in the course of the succeeding year, philip received homage at lisbon as king of portugal. from the moment of this conquest, he was more disposed, and more at leisure than ever, to vent his wrath against the netherlands, and against the man whom he considered the incarnation of their revolt. cardinal granvelle had ever whispered in the king's ear the expediency of taking off the prince by assassination. it has been seen how subtly distilled, and how patiently hoarded, was this priest's venom against individuals, until the time arrived when he could administer the poison with effect. his hatred of orange was intense and of ancient date. he was of opinion, too, that the prince might be scared from the post of duty, even if the assassin's hand were not able to reach his heart. he was in favor of publicly setting a price upon his head-thinking that if the attention of all the murderers in the world were thus directed towards the illustrious victim, the prince would tremble at the dangers which surrounded him. "a sum of money would be well employed in this way," said the cardinal, "and, as the prince of orange is a vile coward, fear alone will throw him into confusion." again, a few months later, renewing the subject, he observed, "'twould be well to offer a reward of thirty or forty thousand crowns to any one who will deliver the prince, dead or alive; since from very fear of it--as he is pusillanimous--it would not be unlikely that he should die of his own accord." it was insulting even to philip's intelligence to insinuate that the prince would shrink before danger, or die of fear. had orange ever been inclined to bombast, he might have answered the churchman's calumny, as caesar the soothsayer's warning:-- "-----------------danger knows full well that caesar is more dangerous than he--" and in truth, philip had long trembled on his throne before the genius of the man who had foiled spain's boldest generals and wiliest statesmen. the king, accepting the priest's advice, resolved to fulminate a ban against the prince, and to set a price upon his head. "it will be well," wrote philip to parma, "to offer thirty thousand crowns or so to any one who will deliver him dead or alive. thus the country may be rid of a man so pernicious; or at any rate he will be held in perpetual fear, and therefore prevented from executing leisurely his designs." in accordance with these suggestions and these hopes, the famous ban was accordingly drawn up, and dated on the th of march, . it was, however, not formally published in the netherlands until the month of june of the same year. this edict will remain the most lasting monument to the memory of cardinal granvelle. it will be read when all his other state-papers and epistles--able as they incontestably are--shall have passed into oblivion. no panegyric of friend, no palliating magnanimity of foe, can roll away this rock of infamy from his tomb. it was by cardinal granvelle and by philip that a price was set upon the head of the foremost man of his age, as if he had been a savage beast, and that admission into the ranks of spain's haughty nobility was made the additional bribe to tempt the assassin. the ban consisted of a preliminary narrative to justify the penalty with which it was concluded. it referred to the favors conferred by philip and his father upon the prince; to his-signal ingratitude and dissimulation. it accused him of originating the request, the image-breaking, and the public preaching. it censured his marriage with an abbess--even during the lifetime of his wife; alluded to his campaigns against alva, to his rebellion in holland, and to the horrible massacres committed by spaniards in that province--the necessary consequences of his treason. it accused him of introducing liberty of conscience, of procuring his own appointment as ruward, of violating the ghent treaty, of foiling the, efforts of don john, and of frustrating the counsels of the cologne commissioners by his perpetual distrust. it charged him with a newly-organized conspiracy, in the erection of the utrecht union; and for these and similar crimes--set forth, with involutions, slow, spiral, and cautious as the head and front of the indictment was direct and deadly--it denounced the chastisement due to the "wretched hypocrite" who had committed such offences. "for these causes," concluded the ban, "we declare him traitor and miscreant, enemy of ourselves and of the country. as such we banish him perpetually from all our realms, forbidding all our subjects, of whatever quality, to communicate with him openly or privately--to administer to him victuals, drink, fire, or other necessaries. we allow all to injure him in property or life. we expose the, said william nassau, as an enemy of the human-race--giving his property to all who may; seize it. and if anyone of our subjects or any stranger should be found sufficiently generous of heart to rid us of this pest, delivering him to us, alive or dead, or taking his life, we will cause to be furnished to him immediately after the deed shall have been done, the sum of twenty-five thousand crowns; in gold. if he have committed any crime, however heinous, we promise to pardon him; and if he be not already noble, we will ennoble him for his valor." such was the celebrated ban against the prince of orange. it was answered before the end of the year by the memorable "apology of the prince of orange" one of the moat startling documents in history. no defiance was ever thundered forth in the face of a despot in more terrible tones. it had become sufficiently manifest to the royal party that the prince was not to be purchased by "millions of money," or by unlimited family advancement--not to be cajoled by flattery or offers of illustrious friendship. it had been decided, therefore, to terrify him into retreat, or to remove him by murder. the government had been thoroughly convinced that the only way to finish the revolt, was to "finish orange," according to the ancient advice of antonio perez. the mask was thrown off. it had been decided to forbid the prince bread, water, fire, and shelter; to give his wealth to the fisc, his heart to the assassin, his soul, as it was hoped, to the father of evil. the rupture being thus complete, it was right that the "wretched hypocrite" should answer ban with ban, royal denunciation with sublime scorn. he had ill-deserved, however, the title of hypocrite, he said. when the friend of government, he had warned them that by their complicated and perpetual persecutions they were twisting the rope of their own ruin. was that hypocrisy? since becoming their enemy, there had likewise been little hypocrisy found in him--unless it were hypocrisy to make open war upon government, to take their cities, to expel their armies from the country. the proscribed rebel, towering to a moral and even social superiority over the man who affected to be his master by right divine, swept down upon his antagonist with crushing effect. he repudiated the idea of a king in the netherlands. the word might be legitimate in castillo, or naples, or the indies, but the provinces knew no such title. philip had inherited in those countries only the power of duke or count--a power closely limited by constitutions more ancient than his birthright. orange was no rebel then--philip no legitimate monarch. even were the prince rebellious, it was no more than philip's ancestor, albert of austria, had been towards his anointed sovereign, emperor adolphus of nassau, ancestor of william. the ties of allegiance and conventional authority being, severed, it had become idle for the king to affect superiority of lineage to the man whose family had occupied illustrious stations when the habsburgs were obscure squires in switzerland, and had ruled as sovereign in the netherlands before that overshadowing house had ever been named. but whatever the hereditary claims of philip in the country, he had forfeited them by the violation of his oaths, by his tyrannical suppression of the charters of the land; while by his personal crimes he had lost all pretension to sit in judgment upon his fellow man. was a people not justified in rising against authority when all their laws had been trodden under foot, "not once only, but a million of times?"--and was william of orange, lawful husband of the virtuous charlotte de bourbon, to be denounced for moral delinquency by a lascivious, incestuous, adulterous, and murderous king? with horrible distinctness he laid before the monarch all the crimes of which he believed him guilty, and having thus told philip to his beard, "thus diddest thou," he had a withering word for the priest who stood at his back. "tell me," he cried, "by whose command cardinal granvelle administered poison to the emperor maximilian? i know what the emperor told me, and how much fear he felt afterwards for the king and for all spaniards." he ridiculed the effrontery of men like philip and granvelle; in charging "distrust" upon others, when it was the very atmosphere of their own existence. he proclaimed that sentiment to be the only salvation for the country. he reminded philip of the words which his namesake of macedon--a schoolboy in tyranny, compared to himself--had heard from the lips of demosthenes--that the strongest fortress of a free people against a tyrant was distrust. that sentiment, worthy of eternal memory, the prince declared that he had taken from the "divine philippic," to engrave upon the heart, of the nation, and he prayed god that he might be more readily believed than the great orator had been by his people. he treated with scorn the price set upon his head, ridiculing this project to terrify him, for its want of novelty, and asking the monarch if he supposed the rebel ignorant of the various bargains which had frequently been made before with cutthroats and poisoners to take away his life. "i am in the hand of god," said william of orange; "my worldly goods and my life have been long since dedicated to his service. he will dispose of them as seems best for his glory and my salvation." on the contrary, however, if it could be demonstrated, or even hoped, that his absence would benefit the cause of the country, he proclaimed himself ready to go into exile. "would to god," said he, in conclusion, that my perpetual banishment, or even my death, could bring you a true deliverance from so many calamities. oh, how consoling would be such banishment--how sweet such a death! for why have i exposed my property? was it that i might enrich myself? why have i lost my brothers? was it that i might find new; ones? why have i left my son so long a prisoner? can you give me another? why have i put my life so often in, danger? what reward, can i hope after my long services, and the almost total wreck, of my earthly fortunes, if not the prize, of having acquired, perhaps at the expense of my life, your liberty?--if then, my masters, if you judge that my absence or my death can serve you, behold me ready to obey. command me--send me to the ends of the earth--i will obey. here is my head, over which no prince, no monarch, has power but yourselves. dispose of it for your good, for the preservation of your republic, but if you judge that the moderate amount of experience and industry which is in me, if you judge that the remainder of my property and of my life can yet be of service to you, i dedicate them afresh to you and to the country." his motto--most appropriate to his life and character--"je maintiendrai," was the concluding phrase of the document. his arms and signature were also formally appended, and the apology, translated into most modern languages, was sent, to nearly every potentate in christendom. it had been previously, on the th of december, , read before the assembly of the united states at delft, and approved as cordially as the ban was indignantly denounced. during the remainder of the year , and the half of the following year, the seat of hostilities was mainly in the northeast-parma, while waiting the arrival of fresh troops, being inactive. the operations, like the armies and the generals, were petty. hohenlo was opposed to renneberg. after a few insignificant victories, the latter laid siege to steenwyk, a city in itself of no great importance, but the key to the province of drenthe. the garrison consisted of six hundred soldiers, and half as many trained burghers. renneberg, having six thousand foot and twelve hundred horse, summoned the place to surrender, but was answered with defiance. captain cornput, who had escaped from groningen, after unsuccessfully warning the citizens of renneberg's meditated treason, commanded in steenwyk, and his courage and cheerfulness sustained the population of the city during a close winter siege. tumultuous mobs in the streets demanding that the place should be given over ere it was too late, he denounced to their faces as "flocks of gabbling geese," unworthy the attention of brave men. to a butcher who, with the instinct of his craft, begged to be informed what the population were to eat when the meat was all gone, he coolly observed, "we will eat you, villain, first of all, when the time comes; so go home and rest assured that you, at least, are not to die of starvation." with such rough but cheerful admonitions did the honest soldier, at the head of his little handful, sustain the courage of the beleaguered city. meantime renneberg pressed it hard. he bombarded it with red-hot balls, a new invention introduced five years before by stephen bathor, king of poland, at the siege of dantzig. many houses were consumed, but still cornput and the citizens held firm. as the winter advanced, and the succor which had been promised still remained in the distance, renneberg began to pelt the city with sarcasms, which, it was hoped, might prove more effective than the red-hot balls. he sent a herald to know if the citizens had eaten all their horses yet; a question which was answered by an ostentatious display of sixty starving hacks--all that could be mustered-upon the heights. he sent them on another occasion, a short letter, which ran as follows: "most honorable, most steadfast,--as, during the present frost, you have but little exercise in the trenches--as you cannot pass your time in twirling your finger-rings, seeing that they have all been sold to pay your soldiers' wages--as you have nothing to rub your teeth upon, nor to scour your stomachs withal, and as, nevertheless, you require something if only to occupy your minds, i send you the enclosed letter, in hope it may yield amusement.--january , ." the enclosure was a letter from the prince of orange to the duke of anjou, which, as it was pretended, had been intercepted. it was a clumsy forgery, but it answered the purpose of more skilful counterfeiting, at a period when political and religious enmity obscured men's judgment. "as to the point of religion," the prince was made to observe, for example, to his illustrious correspondent, "that is all plain and clear. no sovereign who hopes to come to any great advancement ought to consider religion, or hold it in regard. your highness, by means of the garrisons, and fortresses, will be easily master of the principal cities in flanders and brabant, even if the citizens were opposed to you. afterwards you will compel them without difficulty to any religion which may seem most conducive to the interests of your highness." odious and cynical as was the whole tone of the letter, it was extensively circulated. there were always natures base and brutal enough to accept the calumny and to make it current among kindred souls. it may be doubted whether renneberg attached faith to the document; but it was natural that he should take a malicious satisfaction in spreading this libel against the man whose perpetual scorn he had so recently earned. nothing was more common than such forgeries, and at that very moment a letter, executed with equal grossness, was passing from hand to hand, which purported to be from the count himself to parma. history has less interest in contradicting the calumnies against a man like renneberg. the fictitious epistle of orange, however, was so often republished, and the copies so carefully distributed, that the prince had thought it important to add an express repudiation of its authorship, by way of appendix to his famous apology. he took the occasion to say, that if a particle of proof could be brought that he had written the letter, or any letter resembling it, he would forthwith leave the netherlands, never to show his face there again. notwithstanding this well known denial, however, renneberg thought it facetious to send the letter into steenvayk, where it produced but small effect upon the minds' of the burghers. meantime, they had received intimation that succor was on its way. hollow balls containing letters were shot into the town, bringing the welcome intelligence that the english colonel, john norris, with six thousand states' troops, would soon make his appearance for their relief, and the brave cornput added his cheerful exhortations to heighten the satisfaction thus produced. a day or two afterwards, three quails were caught in the public square, and the commandant improved the circumstance by many quaint homilies. the number three, he observed, was typical of the holy trinity, which had thus come symbolically to their relief. the lord had sustained the fainting israelites with quails. the number three indicated three weeks, within which time the promised succor was sure to arrive. accordingly, upon the nd of february, , at the expiration of the third week, norris succeeded in victualling the town, the merry and steadfast cornput was established as a true prophet, and count renneberg abandoned the siege in despair. the subsequent career of that unhappy nobleman was brief. on the th of july his troops were signally defeated by sonny--and norris, the fugitive royalists retreating into groningen at the very moment when their general, who had been prevented by illness from commanding them, was receiving the last sacraments. remorse, shame, and disappointment had literally brought renneberg to his grave. "his treason," says a contemporary, "was a nail in his coffin, and on his deathbed he bitterly bemoaned his crime. 'groningen! groningen!' would that i had never seen thy walls!" he cried repeatedly in his last hours. he refused to see his sister, whose insidious counsels had combined with his own evil passions to make him a traitor; and he died on the rd of july, , repentant and submissive. his heart, after his decease, was found "shrivelled to the dimensions of a walnut," a circumstance attributed to poison by some, to remorse by others. his regrets; his early death, and his many attractive qualities, combined to: save his character from universal denunciation, and his name, although indelibly stained by treason, was ever mentioned with pity rather than with rancor. great changes, destined to be perpetual, were steadily preparing in the internal condition of the provinces. a preliminary measure of an important character had been taken early this year by the assembly of the united provinces held in the month of january at delft. this was the establishment of a general executive council. the constitution of the board was arranged on the th of the month, and was embraced in eighteen articles. the number of councillors was fixed at thirty, all to be native netherlanders; a certain proportion to be appointed from each province by its estates. the advice and consent of this body as to treaties with foreign powers were to be indispensable, but they were not to interfere with the rights and duties of the states-general, nor to interpose any obstacle to the arrangements with the duke of anjou. while this additional machine for the self-government of the provinces was in the course of creation; the spanish monarch, on the other hand, had made another effort to recover the authority which he felt slipping from his grasp. philip was in portugal, preparing for his coronation in, that, new kingdom--an event to be nearly contemporaneous with his deposition from the netherland sovereignty, so solemnly conferred upon him a quarter of a century before in brussels; but although thus distant, he was confident that he could more wisely govern the netherlands than the inhabitants could do, and unwilling as ever to confide in the abilities of those to whom he had delegated his authority. provided; as he unquestionably was at that moment, with a more energetic representative than any who had before exercised the functions of royal governor in the provinces, he was still disposed to harass, to doubt, and to interfere. with the additional cares of the portuguese conquest upon his hands, he felt as irresistibly impelled as ever to superintend the minute details of provincial administration. to do this was impossible. it was, however, not impossible, by attempting to do it, to produce much mischief. "it gives me pain," wrote granvelle, "to see his majesty working as before--choosing to understand everything and to do everything. by this course, as i have often said before, he really accomplishes much less." the king had, moreover, recently committed the profound error of sending the duchess margaret of parma to the netherlands again. he had the fatuity to believe her memory so tenderly cherished in the provinces as to ensure a burst of loyalty at her reappearance, while the irritation which he thus created in the breast of her son he affected to disregard. the event was what might have been foreseen. the netherlanders were very moderately excited by the arrival of their former regent, but the prince of parma was furious. his mother actually arrived at namur in the month of august, , to assume the civil administration of the provinces,--and he was himself, according to the king's request, to continue in the command of the army. any one who had known human nature at all, would have recognized that alexander farnese was not the man to be put into leading strings. a sovereign who was possessed of any administrative sagacity, would have seen the absurdity of taking the reins of government at that crisis from the hands of a most determined and energetic man, to confide them to the keeping of a woman. a king who was willing to reflect upon the consequences of his own acts, must have foreseen the scandal likely to result from an open quarrel for precedence between such a mother and son. margaret of parma was instantly informed, however, by alexander, that a divided authority like that proposed was entirely out of the question. both offered to resign; but alexander was unflinching in his determination to retain all the power or none. the duchess, as docile to her son after her arrival as she had been to the king on undertaking the journey, and feeling herself unequal to the task imposed upon her, implored philip's permission to withdraw, almost as soon as she had reached her destination. granvelle's opinion was likewise opposed to this interference with the administration of alexander, and the king at last suffered himself to be overruled. by the end of the year , letters arrived confirming the prince of parma in his government, but requesting the duchess of parma to remain, privately in the netherlands. she accordingly continued to reside there under an assumed name until the autumn of , when she was at last permitted to return to italy. during the summer of , the same spirit of persecution which had inspired the catholics to inflict such infinite misery upon those of the reformed faith in the netherlands, began to manifest itself in overt acts against the papists by those who had at last obtained political. ascendency over them. edicts were published in antwerp, in utrecht, and in different cities of holland, suspending the exercise of the roman worship. these statutes were certainly a long way removed in horror from those memorable placards which sentenced the reformers by thousands to the axe; the cord, and the stake, but it was still melancholy to see the persecuted becoming persecutors in their turn. they were excited to these stringent measures by the noisy zeal of certain dominican monks in brussels, whose extravagant discourses were daily inflaming the passions of the catholics to a dangerous degree. the authorities of the city accordingly thought it necessary to suspend, by proclamation, the public exercise of the ancient religion, assigning, as their principal reason for this prohibition, the shocking jugglery by which simple-minded persons were constantly deceived. they alluded particularly to the practice of working miracles by means of relics, pieces of the holy cross, bones of saints, and the perspiration of statues. they charged that bits of lath were daily exhibited as fragments of the cross; that the bones of dogs and monkeys were held up for adoration as those of saints; and that oil was poured habitually into holes drilled in the heads of statues, that the populace might believe in their miraculous sweating. for these reasons, and to avoid the tumult and possible bloodshed to which the disgust excited by such charlatanry might give rise, the roman catholic worship was suspended until the country should be restored to greater tranquillity. similar causes led to similar proclamations in other cities. the prince of orange lamented the intolerant spirit thus showing itself among those who had been its martyrs, but it was not possible at that moment to keep it absolutely under control. a most important change was now to take place in his condition, a most vital measure was to be consummated by the provinces. the step, which could never be retraced was, after long hesitation, finally taken upon the th of july, , upon which day the united provinces, assembled at the hague, solemnly declared their independence of philip, and renounced their allegiance for ever. this act was accomplished with the deliberation due to its gravity. at the same time it left the country in a very divided condition. this was inevitable. the prince had done all that one man could do to hold the netherlands together and unite them perpetually into one body politic, and perhaps, if he had been inspired by a keener personal ambition, this task might have been accomplished.--the seventeen provinces might have accepted his dominion, but they would agree to that of no other sovereign. providence had not decreed that the country, after its long agony, should give birth to a single and perfect commonwealth. the walloon provinces had already fallen off from the cause, notwithstanding the entreaties of the prince. the other netherlands, after long and tedious negotiation with anjou, had at last consented to his supremacy, but from this arrangement holland and zealand held themselves aloof. by a somewhat anomalous proceeding, they sent deputies along with those of the other provinces, to the conferences with the duke, but it was expressly understood that they would never accept him as sovereign. they were willing to contract with him and with their sister provinces--over which he was soon to exercise authority--a firm and perpetual league, but as to their own chief, their hearts were fixed. the prince of orange should be their lord and master, and none other. it lay only in his self-denying character that he had not been clothed with this dignity long before. he had, however, persisted in the hope that all the provinces might be brought to acknowledge the duke of anjou as their sovereign, under conditions which constituted a free commonwealth with an hereditary chief, and in this hope he had constantly refused concession to the wishes of the northern provinces. he in reality exercised sovereign power over nearly the whole population, of the netherlands. already in , at the assembly held in april, the states of holland had formally requested him to assume the full sovereignty over them, with the title of count of holland and zealand forfeited by philip. he had not consented, and the proceedings had been kept comparatively secret. as the negotiations with anjou advanced, and as the corresponding abjuration of philip was more decisively indicated, the consent of the prince to this request was more warmly urged. as it was evident that the provinces thus bent upon placing him at their head, could by no possibility be induced to accept the sovereignty of anjou--as, moreover; the act of renunciation of philip could no longer be deferred, the prince of orange reluctantly and provisionally accepted the supreme power over holland and zealand. this arrangement was finally accomplished upon the th of july, , and the act of abjuration took place two days afterwards. the offer of the sovereignty over the other united provinces had been accepted by anjou six months before. thus, the netherlands were divided into three portions--the reconciled provinces, the united provinces under anjou, and the northern provinces under orange; the last division forming the germ, already nearly developed, of the coming republic. the constitution, or catalogue of conditions, by which the sovereignty accorded to anjou was reduced to such narrow limits as to be little more than a nominal authority, while the power remained in the hands of the representative body of the provinces, will be described, somewhat later, together with the inauguration of the duke. for the present it is necessary that the reader should fully understand the relative position of the prince and of the northern provinces. the memorable act of renunciation--the netherland declaration of independence--will then be briefly explained. on the th of march, , a resolution passed the assembly of holland and zealand never to make peace or enter into any negotiations with the king of spain on the basis of his sovereignty. the same resolution provided that his name--hitherto used in all public acts--should be for ever discarded, that his seal should be broken, and that the name and seal of the prince of orange should be substituted in all commissions and public documents. at almost the same time the states of utrecht passed a similar resolution. these offers were, however, not accepted, and the affair was preserved profoundly secret. on the th of july, , "the knights, nobles, and cities of holland and zealand," again, in an urgent and solemn manner, requested the prince to accept the "entire authority as sovereign and chief of the land, as long as the war should continue." this limitation as to time was inserted most reluctantly by the states, and because it was perfectly well understood that without it the prince would not accept the sovereignty at all. the act by which this dignity was offered, conferred full power to command all forces by land and sea, to appoint all military officers, and to conduct all warlike operations, without the control or advice of any person whatsoever. it authorized him, with consent of the states, to appoint all financial and judicial officers, created him the supreme executive chief, and fountain of justice and pardon, and directed him "to maintain the exercise only of the reformed evangelical religion, without, however, permitting that inquiries should be made into any man's belief or conscience, or that any injury or hindrance should be offered to any man on account of his religion." the sovereignty thus pressingly offered, and thus limited as to time, was finally accepted by william of orange, according to a formal act dated at the hague, th of july, , but it will be perceived that no powers were conferred by this new instrument beyond those already exercised by the prince. it was, as it were, a formal continuance of the functions which he had exercised since as the king's stadholder, according to his old commission of , although a vast, difference existed in reality. the king's name was now discarded and his sovereignty disowned, while the proscribed rebel stood in his place, exercising supreme functions, not vicariously, but in his own name. the limitation as to time was, moreover, soon afterwards secretly, and without the knowledge of orange, cancelled by the states. they were determined that the prince should be their sovereign--if they could make him so--for the term of his life. the offer having thus been made and accepted upon the th of july, oaths of allegiance and fidelity were exchanged between the prince and the estates upon the th of the same month. in these solemnities, the states, as representing the provinces, declared that because the king of spain, contrary to his oath as count of holland and zealand, had not only not protected these provinces, but had sought with all his might to reduce them to eternal slavery, it had been found necessary to forsake him. they therefore proclaimed every inhabitant absolved from allegiance, while at the same time, in the name of the population, they swore fidelity to the prince of orange, as representing the supreme authority. two days afterwards, upon the th of july, , the memorable declaration of independence was issued by the deputies of the united provinces, then solemnly assembled at the hague. it was called the act of abjuration. it deposed philip from his sovereignty, but was not the proclamation of a new form of government, for the united provinces were not ready to dispense with an hereditary chief. unluckily, they had already provided themselves with a very bad one to succeed philip in the dominion over most of their territory, while the northern provinces were fortunate enough and wise enough to take the father of the country for their supreme magistrate. the document by which the provinces renounced their allegiance was not the most felicitous of their state papers. it was too prolix and technical. its style had more of the formal phraseology of legal documents than befitted this great appeal to the whole world and to all time. nevertheless, this is but matter of taste. the netherlanders were so eminently a law-abiding people, that, like the american patriots of the eighteenth century, they on most occasions preferred punctilious precision to florid declamation. they chose to conduct their revolt according to law. at the same time, while thus decently wrapping herself in conventional garments, the spirit of liberty revealed none the less her majestic proportions. at the very outset of the abjuration, these fathers of the republic laid down wholesome truths, which at that time seemed startling blasphemies in the ears of christendom. "all mankind know," said the preamble, "that a prince is appointed by god to cherish his subjects, even as a shepherd to guard his sheep. when, therefore, the prince--does not fulfil his duty as protector; when he oppresses his subjects, destroys their ancient liberties, and treats them as slaves, he is to be considered, not a prince, but a tyrant. as such, the estates of the land may lawfully and reasonably depose him, and elect another in his room." having enunciated these maxims, the estates proceeded to apply them to their own case, and certainly never was an ampler justification for renouncing a prince since princes were first instituted. the states ran through the history of the past quarter of a century, patiently accumulating a load of charges against the monarch, a tithe of which would have furnished cause for his dethronement. without passion or exaggeration, they told the world their wrongs. the picture was not highly colored. on the contrary, it was rather a feeble than a striking portrait of the monstrous iniquity which had so long been established over them. nevertheless, they went through the narrative conscientiously and earnestly. they spoke of the king's early determination to govern the netherlands, not by natives but by spaniards; to treat them not as constitutional countries, but as conquered provinces; to regard the inhabitants not as liege subjects, but as enemies; above all, to supersede their ancient liberty by the spanish inquisition, and they alluded to the first great step in this scheme--the creation of the new bishoprics, each with its staff of inquisitors. they noticed the memorable petition, the mission of berghen and montigny, their imprisonment and taking off, in violation of all national law, even that which had ever been held sacred by the most cruel and tyrannical princes. they sketched the history of alva's administration; his entrapping the most eminent nobles by false promises, and delivering them to the executioner; his countless sentences of death, outlawry, and confiscation; his erection of citadels to curb, his imposition of the tenth and twentieth penny to exhaust the land; his blood council and its achievements; and the immeasurable, woe produced by hanging, burning, banishing, and plundering, during his seven years of residence. they adverted to the grand commander, as having been sent, not to improve the condition of the country, but to pursue the same course of tyranny by more concealed ways. they spoke of the horrible mutiny which broke forth at his death; of the antwerp fury; of the express approbation rendered to that great outrage by the king, who had not only praised the crime, but promised to recompense the criminals. they alluded to don john of austria and his duplicity; to his pretended confirmation of the ghent treaty; to his attempts to divide the country against itself; to the escovedo policy; to the intrigues with the german regiments. they touched upon the cologne negotiations, and the fruitless attempt of the patriots upon that occasion to procure freedom of religion, while the object of the royalists was only to distract and divide the nation. finally, they commented with sorrow and despair upon that last and crowning measure of tyranny--the ban against the prince of orange. they calmly observed, after this recital, that they were sufficiently justified in forsaking a sovereign who for more than twenty years had forsaken them. obeying the law of nature--desirous of maintaining the rights, charters, and liberties of their fatherland--determined to escape from slavery to spaniards--and making known their decision to the world, they declared the king of spain deposed from his sovereignty, and proclaimed that they should recognize thenceforth neither his title nor jurisdiction. three days afterwards, on the th of july, the assembly adopted a formula, by which all persons were to be required to signify their abjuration. such were the forms by which the united provinces threw off their allegiance to spain, and ipso facto established a republic, which was to flourish for two centuries. this result, however, was not exactly foreseen by the congress which deposed philip. the fathers of the commonwealth did not baptize it by the name of republic. they did not contemplate a change in their form of government. they had neither an aristocracy nor a democracy in their thoughts. like the actors in our own great national drama, these netherland patriots were struggling to sustain, not to overthrow; unlike them, they claimed no theoretical freedom for humanity--promulgated no doctrine of popular sovereignty: they insisted merely on the fulfilment of actual contracts, signed sealed, and sworn to by many successive sovereigns. acting, upon the principle that government should be for the benefit of the governed, and in conformity to the dictates of reason and justice, they examined the facts by those divine lights, and discovered cause to discard their ruler. they did not object to being ruled. they were satisfied with their historical institutions, and preferred the mixture of hereditary sovereignty with popular representation, to which they were accustomed. they did not devise an a priori constitution. philip having violated the law of reason and the statutes of the land, was deposed, and a new chief magistrate was to be elected in his stead. this was popular sovereignty in fact, but not in words. the deposition and election could be legally justified only by the inherent right of the people to depose and to elect; yet the provinces, in their declaration of independence, spoke of the divine right of kings, even while dethroning, by popular right, their own king! so also, in the instructions given by the states to their envoys charged to justify the abjuration before the imperial diet held at augsburg, twelve months later, the highest ground was claimed for the popular right to elect or depose the sovereign, while at the same time, kings were spoken of as "appointed by god." it is true that they were described, in the same clause, as "chosen by the people"--which was, perhaps, as exact a concurrence in the maxim of vox populi, vox dei, as the boldest democrat of the day could demand. in truth, a more democratic course would have defeated its own ends. the murderous and mischievous pranks of imbize, ryhove, and such demagogues, at ghent and elsewhere, with their wild theories of what they called grecian, roman, and helvetian republicanism, had inflicted damage enough on the cause of freedom, and had paved the road for the return of royal despotism. the senators assembled at the hague gave more moderate instructions to their delegates at augsburg. they were to place the king's tenure upon contract--not an implied one, but a contract as literal as the lease of a farm. the house of austria, they were to maintain, had come into the possession of the seventeen netherlands upon certain express conditions, and with the understanding that its possession was to cease with the first condition broken. it was a question of law and fact, not of royal or popular right. they were to take the ground, not only that the contract had been violated, but that the foundation of perpetual justice upon which it rested; had likewise been undermined. it was time to vindicate both written charters and general principles. "god has given absolute power to no mortal man," said saint aldegonde, "to do his own will against all laws and all reason." "the contracts which the king has broken are no pedantic fantasies," said the estates, "but laws planted by nature in the universal heart of mankind, and expressly acquiesced in by prince and people." all men, at least, who speak the english tongue, will accept the conclusion of the provinces, that when laws which protected the citizen against arbitrary imprisonment and guaranteed him a trial in his own province--which forbade the appointment of foreigners to high office--which secured the property of the citizen from taxation, except by the representative body--which forbade intermeddling on the part of the sovereign with the conscience of the subject in religious matters--when such laws had been subverted by blood tribunals, where drowsy judges sentenced thousands to stake and scaffold without a hearing by excommunication, confiscation, banishment-by hanging, beheading, burning, to such enormous extent and with such terrible monotony that the executioner's sword came to be looked upon as the only symbol of justice--then surely it might be said, without exaggeration, that the complaints of the netherlanders were "no pedantic fantasies," and that the king had ceased to perform his functions as dispenser of god's justice. the netherlanders dealt with facts. they possessed a body of laws, monuments of their national progress, by which as good a share of individual liberty was secured to the citizen as was then enjoyed in any country of the world. their institutions admitted of great improvement, no doubt; but it was natural that a people so circumstanced should be unwilling to exchange their condition for the vassalage of "moors or indians." at the same time it may be doubted whether the instinct for political freedom only would have sustained them in the long contest, and whether the bonds which united them to the spanish crown would have been broken, had it not been for the stronger passion for religious liberty, by which so large a portion of the people was animated. boldly as the united states of the netherlands laid down their political maxima, the quarrel might perhaps have been healed if the religious question had admitted of a peaceable solution. philip's bigotry amounting to frenzy, and the netherlanders of "the religion" being willing, in their own words, "to die the death" rather than abandon the reformed faith, there was upon this point no longer room for hope. in the act of abjuration, however, it was thought necessary to give offence to no class of the inhabitants, but to lay down such principles only as enlightened catholics would not oppose. all parties abhorred the inquisition, and hatred to that institution is ever prominent among the causes assigned for the deposition of the monarch. "under pretence of maintaining the roman religion," said the estates, "the king has sought by evil means to bring into operation the whole strength of the placards and of the inquisition--the first and true cause of all our miseries." without making any assault upon the roman catholic faith, the authors of the great act by which philip was for ever expelled from the netherlands showed plainly enough that religious persecution had driven them at last to extremity. at the same time, they were willing--for the sake of conciliating all classes of their countrymen--to bring the political causes of discontent into the foreground, and to use discreet language upon the religious question. such, then, being the spirit which prompted the provinces upon this great occasion, it may be asked who were the men who signed a document of such importance? in whose-name and by what authority did they act against the sovereign? the signers of the declaration of independence acted in the name and by the authority of the netherlands people. the estates were the constitutional representatives of that people. the statesmen of that day discovering, upon cold analysis of facts, that philip's sovereignty was, legally forfeited; formally proclaimed that forfeiture. then inquiring what had become of the sovereignty, they found it not in the mass of the people, but in the representative body, which actually personated the people. the estates of the different provinces--consisting of the knights, nobles, and burgesses of each--sent, accordingly, their deputies to the general assembly at the hague; and by this congress the decree of abjuration was issued. it did, not occur to any one to summon the people in their primary assemblies, nor would the people of that day, have comprehended the objects of such a summons. they were accustomed to the action of the estates, and those bodies represented as large a number of political capacities as could be expected of assemblies chosen then upon general principles. the hour had not arrived for more profound analysis of the social compact. philip was accordingly deposed justly, legally formally justly, because it had become necessary to abjur a monarch who was determined not only to oppress; but to exterminate his people; legally, because he had habitually violated the constitutions which he had sworn to support; formally, because the act was done in the name of the people, by the body historically representing the people. what, then, was the condition of the nation, after this great step had been taken? it stood, as it were, with its sovereignty in its hand, dividing it into two portions, and offering it, thus separated, to two distinct individuals. the sovereignty of holland and zealand had been reluctantly accepted by orange. the sovereignty of the united provinces had been offered to anjou, but the terms of agreement with that duke had not yet been ratified. the movement was therefore triple, consisting of an abjuration and of two separate elections of hereditary chiefs; these two elections being accomplished in the same manner, by the representative bodies respectively of the united provinces, and of holland and zealand. neither the abjuration nor the elections were acted upon beforehand by the communities, the train-bands, or the guilds of the cities--all represented, in fact, by the magistrates and councils of each; nor by the peasantry of the open country--all supposed to be represented by the knights and nobles. all classes of individuals, however; arranged in various political or military combinations, gave their acquiescence afterwards, together with their oaths of allegiance. the people approved the important steps taken by their representatives. without a direct intention on the part of the people or its leaders to establish a republic, the republic established itself. providence did not permit the whole country, so full of wealth intelligence, healthy political action--so stocked with powerful cities and an energetic population, to be combined into one free and prosperous commonwealth. the factious ambition of a few grandees, the cynical venality of many nobles, the frenzy of the ghent democracy, the spirit of religious intolerance, the consummate military and political genius of alexander farnese, the exaggerated self-abnegation and the tragic fate of orange, all united to dissever this group of flourishing and kindred provinces. the want of personal ambition on the part of william the silent inflicted perhaps a serious damage upon his country. he believed a single chief requisite for the united states; he might have been, but always refused to become that chief; and yet he has been held up for centuries by many writers as a conspirator and a self-seeking intriguer. "it seems to me," said he, with equal pathos and truth, upon one occasion, "that i was born in this bad planet that all which i do might be misinterpreted." the people worshipped him, and there was many an occasion when his election would have been carried with enthusiasm. "these provinces," said john of nassau, "are coming very unwillingly into the arrangement with the duke of alencon, the majority feel much more inclined to elect the prince, who is daily, and without intermission, implored to give his consent. his grace, however, will in no wise agree to this; not because he fears the consequences, such as loss of property or increased danger, for therein he is plunged as deeply as he ever could be;--on the contrary, if he considered only the interests of his race and the grandeur of his house, he could expect nothing but increase of honor, gold, and gear, with all other prosperity. he refuses only on this account that it may not be thought that, instead of religious freedom for the country, he has been seeking a kingdom for himself and his own private advancement. moreover, he believes that the connexion with france will be of more benefit to the country and to christianity than if a peace should be made with spain, or than if he should himself accept the sovereignty, as he is desired to do." the unfortunate negotiations with anjou, to which no man was more opposed than count john, proceeded therefore. in the meantime, the sovereignty over the united provinces was provisionally held by the national council, and, at the urgent solicitation of the states-general, by the prince. the archduke matthias, whose functions were most unceremoniously brought to an end by the transactions which we have been recording, took his leave of the states, and departed in the month of october. brought to the country a beardless boy, by the intrigues of a faction who wished to use him as a tool against william of orange, he had quietly submitted, on the contrary, to serve as the instrument of that great statesman. his personality during his residence was null, and he had to expiate, by many a petty mortification, by many a bitter tear, the boyish ambition which brought him to the netherlands. he had certainly had ample leisure to repent the haste with which he had got out of his warm bed in vienna to take his bootless journey to brussels. nevertheless, in a country where so much baseness, cruelty, and treachery was habitually practised by men of high position, as was the case in the netherlands; it is something in favor of matthias that he had not been base, or cruel, or treacherous. the states voted him, on his departure, a pension of fifty thousand guldens annually, which was probably not paid with exemplary regularity. chapter v. policy of electing anjou as sovereign--commode et incommode--views of orange--opinions at the french court,--anjou relieves cambray-- parma besieges tourney--brave defence by the princess of espinoy-- honorable capitulation--anjou's courtship in england--the duke's arrival in the netherlands--portrait of anjou--festivities in flushing--inauguration at antwerp--the conditions or articles subscribed to by the duke--attempt upon the life of orange--the assassin's papers--confession of venero--gaspar anastro--his escape --execution of venero and zimmermann--precarious condition of the prince--his recovery--death of the princess--premature letters of parma--further negotiations with orange as to the sovereignty of holland and zealand--character of the revised constitution-- comparison of the positions of the prince before and after his acceptance of the countship. thus it was arranged that, for the--present, at least, the prince should exercise sovereignty over holland and zealand; although he had himself used his utmost exertions to induce those provinces to join the rest of the united netherlands in the proposed election of anjou. this, however, they sternly refused to do. there was also a great disinclination felt by many in the other states to this hazardous offer of their allegiance, and it was the personal influence of orange that eventually carried the measure through. looking at the position of affairs and at the character of anjou, as they appear to us now, it seems difficult to account for the prince's policy. it is so natural to judge only by the result, that we are ready to censure statesmen for consequences which beforehand might seem utterly incredible, and for reading falsely human characters whose entire development only a late posterity has had full opportunity to appreciate. still, one would think that anjou had been sufficiently known to inspire distrust. there was but little, too, in the aspect of the french court to encourage hopes of valuable assistance from that quarter. it was urged, not without reason, that the french were as likely to become as dangerous as the spaniards; that they would prove nearer and more troublesome masters; that france intended the incorporation of the netherlands into her own kingdom; that the provinces would therefore be dispersed for ever from the german empire; and that it was as well to hold to the tyrant under whom they had been born, as to give themselves voluntarily to another of their own making. in short, it was maintained, in homely language, that "france and spain were both under one coverlid." it might have been added that only extreme misery could make the provinces take either bedfellow. moreover, it was asserted, with reason, that anjou would be a very expensive master, for his luxurious and extravagant habits were notorious--that he was a man in whom no confidence could be placed, and one who would grasp at arbitrary power by any means which might present themselves. above all, it was urged that he was not of the true religion, that he hated the professors of that faith in his heart, and that it was extremely unwise for men whose dearest interests were their religious ones, to elect a sovereign of opposite creed to their own. to these plausible views the prince of orange and those who acted with him, had, however; sufficient answers. the netherlands had waited long enough for assistance from other quarters. germany would not lift a finger in the cause; on the contrary, the whole of germany, whether protestant or catholic, was either openly or covertly hostile. it was madness to wait till assistance came to them from unseen sources. it was time for them to assist themselves, and to take the best they could get; for when men were starving they could not afford to be dainty. they might be bound, hand and foot, they might be overwhelmed a thousand times before they would receive succor from germany, or from any land but france. under the circumstances in which they found themselves, hope delayed was but a cold and meagre consolation. "to speak plainly," said orange, "asking us to wait is very much as if you should keep a man three days without any food in the expectation of a magnificent banquet, should persuade him to refuse bread, and at the end of three days should tell him that the banquet was not ready, but that a still better one was in preparation. would it not be better, then, that the poor man, to avoid starvation, should wait no longer, but accept bread wherever he might find it? such is our case at present." it was in this vein that he ever wrote and spoke: the netherlands were to rely upon their own exertions, and to procure the best alliance, together with the most efficient protection possible. they were not strong enough to cope singlehanded with their powerful tyrant, but they were strong enough if they used the instruments which heaven offered. it was not trusting but tempting providence to wait supinely, instead of grasping boldly at the means of rescue within reach. it became the character of brave men to act, not to expect. "otherwise," said the prince, "we may climb to the top of trees, like the anabaptists of munster, and expect god's assistance to drop from the clouds." it is only by listening to these arguments so often repeated, that we can comprehend the policy of orange at thin period. "god has said that he would furnish the ravens with food, and the lions with their prey," said he; "but the birds and the lions do not, therefore, sit in their nests and their lairs waiting for their food to descend from heaven, but they seek it where it is to be found." so also, at a later day, when events seemed to have justified the distrust so, generally felt in anjou, the prince; nevertheless, held similar language. "i do not," said he, calumniate those who tell us to put our trust in god. that is my opinion also. but it is trusting god to use the means which he places in our hands, and to ask that his blessings may come upon them. there was a feeling entertained by the more sanguine that the french king would heartily assist the netherlands, after his brother should be fairly installed. he had expressly written to that effect, assuring anjou that he would help him with all his strength, and would enter into close alliance with those netherlands which should accept him as prince and sovereign. in another and more private letter to the duke, the king promised to assist his brother, "even to his last shirt." there is no doubt that it was the policy of the statesmen of france to assist the netherlands, while the "mignons" of the worthless king were of a contrary opinion. many of them were secret partizans of spain; and found it more agreeable to receive the secret pay of philip than to assist his revolted provinces. they found it easy to excite the jealousy of the monarch against his brother--a passion which proved more effective than the more lofty ambition of annexing the low countries, according to the secret promptings of many french politicians. as for the queen mother, she was fierce in her determination to see fulfilled in this way the famous prediction of nostradamus. three of her sons had successively worn the crown of france. that she might be "the mother of four kings," without laying a third child in the tomb, she was greedy for this proffered sovereignty to her youngest and favorite son. this well-known desire of catherine de medici was duly insisted upon by the advocates of the election; for her influence, it was urged, would bring the whole power of france to support the netherlands. at any rate, france could not be worse--could hardly be so bad--as their present tyranny. "better the government of the gaul, though suspect and dangerous," said everard reyd, "than the truculent dominion of the spaniard. even thus will the partridge fly to the hand of man, to escape the talons of the hawk." as for the individual character of anjou, proper means would be taken, urged the advocates of his sovereignty, to keep him in check, for it was intended so closely to limit the power conferred upon him, that it would be only supreme in name. the netherlands were to be, in reality, a republic, of which anjou was to be a kind of italian or frisian podesta. "the duke is not to act according to his pleasure," said one of the negotiators, in a private letter to count john; "we shall take care to provide a good muzzle for him." how conscientiously the "muzzle" was prepared, will appear from the articles by which the states soon afterwards accepted the new sovereign. how basely he contrived to slip the muzzle--in what cruel and cowardly fashion he bathed his fangs in the blood of the flock committed to him, will also but too soon appear. as for the religious objection to anjou, on which more stress was laid than upon any other, the answer was equally ready. orange professed himself "not theologian enough" to go into the subtleties brought forward. as it was intended to establish most firmly a religious peace, with entire tolerance for all creeds, he did not think it absolutely essential to require a prince of the reformed faith. it was bigotry to dictate to the sovereign, when full liberty in religious matters was claimed for the subject. orange was known to be a zealous professor of the reformed worship himself; but he did not therefore reject political assistance, even though offered by a not very enthusiastic member of the ancient church. "if the priest and the levite pass us by when we are fallen among thieves," said he, with much aptness and some bitterness, "shall we reject the aid proffered by the samaritan, because he is of a different faith from the worthy fathers who have left us to perish?" in short, it was observed with perfect truth that philip had been removed, not because he was a catholic, but because he was a tyrant; not because his faith was different from that of his subjects, but because he was resolved to exterminate all men whose religion differed from his own. it was not, therefore, inconsistent to choose another catholic for a sovereign, if proper guarantees could be obtained that he would protect and not oppress the reformed churches. "if the duke have the same designs as the king," said saint aldegonde, "it would be a great piece of folly to change one tyrant and persecutor for another. if, on the contrary, instead of oppressing our liberties, he will maintain them, and in place of extirpating the disciples of the true religion, he will protect them, then are all the reasons of our opponents without vigor." by midsummer the duke of anjou made his appearance in the western part of the netherlands. the prince of parma had recently come before cambray with the intention of reducing that important city. on the arrival of anjou, however, at the head of five thousand cavalry--nearly all of them gentlemen of high degree, serving as volunteers--and of twelve thousand infantry, alexander raised the siege precipitately, and retired towards tournay. anjou victualled the city, strengthened the garrison, and then, as his cavalry had only enlisted for a summer's amusement, and could no longer be held together, he disbanded his forces. the bulk of the infantry took service for the states under the prince of espinoy, governor of tournay. the duke himself, finding that, notwithstanding the treaty of plessis les tours and the present showy demonstration upon his part, the states were not yet prepared to render him formal allegiance, and being, moreover, in the heyday of what was universally considered his prosperous courtship of queen elizabeth, soon afterwards took his departure for england. parma; being thus relieved of his interference, soon afterwards laid siege to the important city of tournay. the prince of espinoy was absent with the army in the north, but the princess commanded in his absence. she fulfilled her duty in a manner worthy of the house from which she sprang, for the blood of count horn was in her veins. the daughter of mary, de montmorency, the admiral's sister, answered the summons of parma to surrender at discretion with defiance. the garrison was encouraged by her steadfastness. the princess appeared daily among her troops, superintending the defences, and personally directing the officers. during one of the assaults, she is said, but perhaps erroneously; to have been wounded in the arm, notwithstanding which she refused to retire. the siege lasted two months. meantime, it became impossible for orange and the estates, notwithstanding their efforts, to raise a sufficient force to drive parma from his entrenchments. the city was becoming gradually and surely undermined from without, while at the same time the insidious art of a dominican friar, father gery by name, had been as surely sapping the fidelity of the garrison from within. an open revolt of the catholic population being on the point of taking place, it became impossible any longer to hold the city. those of the reformed faith insisted that the place should be surrendered; and the princess, being thus deserted by all parties, made an honorable capitulation with parma. she herself, with all her garrison, was allowed to retire with personal property, and with all the honors of war, while the sack of the city was commuted for one hundred thousand crowns, levied upon the inhabitants: the princess, on leaving the gates, was received with such a shout of applause from the royal army that she seemed less like a defeated commander than a conqueror. upon the th november, parma accordingly entered the place which he had been besieging since the st of october. by the end of the autumn, the prince of orange, more than ever dissatisfied with the anarchical condition of affairs, and with the obstinate jealousy and parsimony of the different provinces, again summoned the country in the most earnest language to provide for the general defence, and to take measures for the inauguration of anjou. he painted in sombre colors the prospect which lay before them, if nothing was done to arrest the progress of the internal disorders and of the external foe, whose forces were steadily augmenting: had the provinces followed his advice, instead of quarreling among themselves, they would have had a powerful army on foot to second the efforts of anjou, and subsequently to save tournay. they had remained supine and stolid, even while the cannonading against these beautiful cities was in their very ears. no man seemed to think himself interested in public affair, save when his own province or village was directly attacked. the general interests of the commonwealth were forgotten, in local jealousy. had it been otherwise, the enemy would have long since been driven over the meuse. "when money," continued the prince, "is asked for to carry on the war, men answer as if they were talking with the dead emperor. to say, however, that they will pay no more, is as much as to declare that they will give up their land and their religion both. i say this, not because i have any desire to put my hands into the common purse. you well know that i have never touched the public money, but it is important that you should feel that there is no war in the country except the one which concerns you all." the states, thus shamed and stimulated, set themselves in earnest to obey the mandates of the prince, and sent a special mission to england, to arrange with the duke of anjou for his formal installation as sovereign. saint aldegonde and other commissioners were already there. it was the memorable epoch in the anjou wooing, when the rings were exchanged between elizabeth and the duke, and when the world thought that the nuptials were on the point of being celebrated. saint aldegonde wrote to the prince of orange on the nd of november, that the marriage had been finally settled upon that day. throughout the netherlands, the auspicious tidings were greeted with bonfires, illuminations, and cannonading, and the measures for hailing the prince, thus highly favored by so great a queen, as sovereign master of the provinces, were pushed forward with great energy. nevertheless, the marriage ended in smoke. there were plenty of tournays, pageants, and banquets; a profusion of nuptial festivities, in short, where nothing was omitted but the nuptials. by the end of january, , the duke was no nearer the goal than upon his arrival three months before. acceding, therefore, to the wishes of the netherland envoys, he prepared for a visit to their country, where the ceremony of his joyful entrance as duke of brabant and sovereign of the other provinces was to take place. no open rupture with elizabeth occurred. on the contrary, the queen accompanied the duke, with a numerous and stately retinue, as far as canterbury, and sent a most brilliant train of her greatest nobles and gentlemen to escort him to the netherlands, communicating at the same time, by special letter, her wishes to the estates-general, that he should be treated with as much honor "as if he were her second self." on the th of february, fifteen large vessels cast anchor at flushing. the duke of anjou, attended by the earl of leicester, the lords hunsdon, willoughby, sheffield, howard, sir philip sidney, and many other personages of high rank and reputation, landed from this fleet. he was greeted on his arrival by the prince of orange, who, with the prince of espinoy and a large deputation of the states-general, had been for some days waiting to welcome him. the man whom the netherlands had chosen for their new master stood on the shores of zealand. francis hercules, son of france, duke of alencon and anjou, was at that time just twenty-eight years of age; yet not even his flatterers, or his "minions," of whom he had as regular a train as his royal brother, could claim for him the external graces of youth or of princely dignity. he was below the middle height, puny and ill-shaped. his hair and eyes were brown, his face was seamed with the small-pox, his skin covered with blotches, his nose so swollen and distorted that it seemed to be double. this prominent feature did not escape the sarcasms of his countrymen, who, among other gibes, were wont to observe that the man who always wore two faces, might be expected to have two noses also. it was thought that his revolting appearance was the principal reason for the rupture of the english marriage, and it was in vain that his supporters maintained that if he could forgive her age, she might, in return, excuse his ugliness. it seemed that there was a point of hideousness beyond which even royal princes could not descend with impunity, and the only wonder seemed that elizabeth, with the handsome robert dudley ever at her feet, could even tolerate the addresses of francis valois. his intellect was by no means contemptible. he was not without a certain quickness of apprehension and vivacity of expression which passed current, among his admirers for wit and wisdom. even the experienced. saint aldegonde was deceived in his character, and described him after an hour and half's interview, as a prince overflowing with bounty, intelligence, and sincerity. that such men as saint aldegonde and the prince of orange should be at fault in their judgment, is evidence not so much of their want of discernment, as of the difference between the general reputation of the duke at that period, and that which has been eventually established for him in history. moreover, subsequent events were to exhibit the utter baseness of his character more signally than it had been displayed during his previous career, however vacillating. no more ignoble yet more dangerous creature had yet been loosed upon the devoted soil of the netherlands. not one of the personages who had hitherto figured in the long drama of the revolt had enacted so sorry a part. ambitious but trivial, enterprising but cowardly, an intriguer and a dupe, without religious convictions or political principles, save that he was willing to accept any creed or any system which might advance his own schemes, he was the most unfit protector for a people who, whether wrong or right; were at least in earnest, and who were accustomed to regard truth as one of the virtues. he was certainly not deficient in self-esteem. with a figure which was insignificant, and a countenance which was repulsive, he had hoped to efface the impression made upon elizabeth's imagination by the handsomest man in europe. with a commonplace capacity, and with a narrow political education, he intended to circumvent the most profound statesman of his age. and there, upon the pier at flushing, he stood between them both; between the magnificent leicester, whom he had thought to outshine, and the silent prince of orange, whom he was determined to outwit. posterity has long been aware how far he succeeded in the one and the other attempt. the duke's arrival was greeted with the roar of artillery, the ringing of bells, and the acclamations of a large concourse of the inhabitants; suitable speeches were made by the magistrates of the town, the deputies of zealand, and other functionaries, and a stately banquet was provided, so remarkable "for its sugar-work and other delicacies, as to entirely astonish the french and english lords who partook thereof." the duke visited middelburg, where he was received with great state, and to the authorities of which he expressed his gratification at finding two such stately cities situate so close to each other on one little island. on the th of february, he set sail for antwerp. a fleet of fifty-four vessels, covered with flags and streamers, conveyed him and his retinue, together with the large deputation which had welcomed him at flushing, to the great commercial metropolis. he stepped on shore at kiel within a bowshot of the city--for, like other dukes of brabant, he was not to enter antwerp until he had taken the oaths to respect the constitution--and the ceremony of inauguration was to take place outside the walls. a large platform had been erected for this purpose, commanding a view of the stately city, with its bristling fortifications and shady groves. a throne, covered with velvet and gold, was prepared, and here the duke took his seat, surrounded by a brilliant throng, including many of the most distinguished personages in europe. it was a bright winter's morning. the gaily bannered fleet lay conspicuous in the river, while an enormous concourse of people were thronging from all sides to greet the new sovereign. twenty thousand burgher troops, in bright uniforms, surrounded the platform, upon the tapestried floor of which stood the magistrates of antwerp, the leading members of the brabant estates, with the prince of orange at their head, together with many other great functionaries. the magnificence everywhere displayed, and especially the splendid costumes of the military companies, excited the profound astonishment of the french, who exclaimed that every soldier seemed a captain, and who regarded with vexation their own inferior equipments. andrew hesaels, 'doctor utriusque juris', delivered a salutatory oration, in which, among other flights of eloquence, he expressed the hope of the provinces that the duke, with the beams of his greatness, wisdom, and magnanimity, would disipate all the mists, fogs, and other exhalations which were pernicious to their national prosperity, and that he would bring back the sunlight of their ancient glory. anjou answered these compliments with equal courtesy, and had much to say of his willingness to shed every drop of his blood in defence of the brabant liberties; but it might have damped the enthusiasm of the moment could the curtain of the not very distant future have been lifted. the audience, listening to these promises, might have seen that it was not so much his blood as theirs which he was disposed to shed, and less, too, in defence than in violation of those same liberties which he was swearing to protect. orator hessels then read aloud the articles of the joyous entry, in the flemish language, and the duke was asked if he required any explanations of that celebrated constitution. he replied that he had thoroughly studied its provisions, with the assistance of the prince of orange, during his voyage from flushing, and was quite prepared to swear to maintain them. the oaths, according to the antique custom, were then administered. afterwards, the ducal hat and the velvet mantle, lined with ermine, were brought, the prince of orange assisting his highness to assume this historical costume of the brabant dukes, and saying to him, as he fastened the button at the throat, "i must secure this robe so firmly, my lord, that no man may ever tear it from your shoulders." thus arrayed in his garment of sovereignty, anjou was compelled to listen to another oration from, the pensionary of antwerp, john van der werken. he then exchanged oaths with the magistrates of the city, and received the keys, which he returned for safe-keeping to the burgomaster. meanwhile the trumpets sounded, largess of gold and silver coins was scattered among the people, and the heralds cried aloud, "long live the duke of brabant." a procession was then formed to escort the new duke to his commercial capital. a stately and striking procession it was. the hanseatic merchants in ancient german attires the english merchants in long velvet cassocks, the heralds is their quaint costume, the long train of civic militia with full, bands of music, the chief functionaries of city and province in their black mantles and gold chains, all marching under emblematical standards or time-honored blazons, followed each other in dignified order. then came the duke himself on a white barbary horse, caparisoned with cloth of gold. he was surrounded with english, french, and netherland grandees, many of them of world-wide reputation. there was the stately leicester; sir philip sidney, the mirror of chivalry; the gaunt and imposing form of william the silent; his son; count maurice of nassau, destined to be the first captain of his age, then a handsome, dark-eyed lad of fifteen; the dauphin of auvergne; the marechal de biron and his sons; the prince of espinoy; the lords sheffield; willoughby, howard; hunsdon, and many others of high degree and distinguished reputation. the ancient guilds of the crossbow-men; and archers of brabant, splendidly accoutred; formed the bodyguard of the duke, while his french cavaliers, the life-guardsmen of the prince of orange, and the troops of they line; followed in great numbers, their glittering uniforms all, gaily intermingled, "like the flowers de luce upon a royal mantle!" the procession, thus gorgeous and gay, was terminated by, a dismal group of three hundred malefactors, marching in fetters, and imploring pardon of the duke, a boon which was to be granted at evening. great torches, although it was high noon were burning along the road, at intervals of four or five feet, in a continuous line reaching from the platform at kiel to the portal of saint joris, through which the entrance to the city was to be made. inside the gate a stupendous allegory was awaiting the approach of the new sovereign. a huge gilded car, crowded with those emblematical and highly bedizened personages so dear to the netherlanders, obstructed the advance of the procession. all the virtues seemed to have come out for an airing in one chariot, and were now waiting to offer their homage to francis hercules valois. religion in "red satin," holding the gospel in her hand, was supported by justice, "in orange velvet," armed with blade and beam. prudence and fortitude embraced each other near a column enwreathed by serpents "with their tails in their ears to typify deafness to flattery," while patriotism as a pelican, and patience as a brooding hen, looked benignantly upon the scene. this greeting duly acknowledged, the procession advanced into the city. the streets were lined with troops and with citizens; the balconies were filled with fair women; "the very gables," says an enthusiastic contemporary, "seemed to laugh with ladies' eyes." the market-place was filled with waxen torches and with blazing tar barrels, while in its centre stood the giant antigonus--founder of the city thirteen hundred years before the christian era--the fabulous personage who was accustomed to throw the right hands of all smuggling merchants into the scheld. this colossal individual, attired in a "surcoat of sky-blue," and holding a banner emblazoned with the arms of spain, turned its head as the duke entered the square, saluted the new sovereign, and then dropping the spanish scutcheon upon the ground, raised aloft another bearing the arms of anjou. and thus, amid exuberant outpouring of confidence, another lord and master had made his triumphal entrance into the netherlands. alas how often had this sanguine people greeted with similar acclamations the advent of their betrayers and their tyrants! how soon were they to discover that the man whom they were thus receiving with the warmest enthusiasm was the most treacherous tyrant of all. it was nightfall before the procession at last reached the palace of saint michael, which had been fitted up for the temporary reception of the duke. the next day was devoted to speech-making; various deputations waiting upon the new duke of brabant with congratulatory addresses. the grand pensionary delivered a pompous oration upon a platform hung with sky-blue silk, and carpeted with cloth of gold. a committee of the german and french reformed churches made a long harangue, in which they expressed the hope that the lord would make the duke "as valiant as david, as wise as solomon, and as pious as hezekiah." a roman catholic deputation informed his highness that for eight months the members of the ancient church had been forbidden all religious exercises, saving baptism, marriage, visitation of the sick, and burials. a promise was therefore made that this prohibition, which had been the result of the disturbances recorded in a preceding chapter, should be immediately modified, and on the th of march, accordingly, it was arranged, by command of the magistrates, that all catholics should have permission to attend public worship, according to the ancient ceremonial, in the church of saint michael, which had been originally designated for the use of the new duke of brabant. it was, however, stipulated that all who desired to partake of this privilege should take the oath of abjuration beforehand, and go to the church without arms. here then had been oaths enough, orations enough, compliments enough, to make any agreement steadfast, so far as windy suspirations could furnish a solid foundation for the social compact. bells, trumpets, and the brazen throats of men and of cannons had made a sufficient din, torches and tar-barrels had made a sufficient glare, to confirm--so far as noise and blazing pitch could confirm--the decorous proceedings of church and town-house, but time was soon to show the value of such demonstrations. meantime, the "muzzle" had been fastened with solemnity and accepted with docility. the terms of the treaty concluded at plessis lea tours and bordeaux were made public. the duke had subscribed to twenty-seven articles; which made as stringent and sensible a constitutional compact as could be desired by any netherland patriot. these articles, taken in connection with the ancient charters which they expressly upheld, left to the new sovereign no vestige of arbitrary power. he was merely the hereditary president of a representative republic. he was to be duke, count, margrave, or seignior of the different provinces on the same terms which his predecessors had accepted. he was to transmit the dignities to his children. if there were more than one child, the provinces were to select one of the number for their sovereign. he was to maintain all the ancient privileges, charters, statutes, and customs, and to forfeit his sovereignty at the first violation. he was to assemble the states-general at least once a year. he was always to reside in the netherlands. he was to permit none but natives to hold office. his right of appointment to all important posts was limited to a selection from three candidates, to be proposed by the estates of the province concerned, at each vacancy. he was to maintain "the religion" and the religious peace in the same state in which they then were, or as should afterwards be ordained by the estates of each province, without making any innovation on his own part. holland and zealand were to remain as they were, both in the matter of religion and otherwise. his highness was not to permit that any one should be examined or molested in his house, or otherwise, in the matter or under pretext of religion. he was to procure the assistance of the king of france for the netherlands. he was to maintain a perfect and a perpetual league, offensive and defensive, between that kingdom and the provinces; without; however, permitting any incorporation of territory. he was to carry on the war against spain with his own means and those furnished by his royal brother, in addition to a yearly, contribution by the estates of two million four hundred thousand guldens. he was to dismiss all troops at command of the states-general. he was to make no treaty with spain without their consent. it would be superfluous to point out the great difference between the notions entertained upon international law in the sixteenth century and in our own. a state of nominal peace existed between spain, france and england; yet here was the brother of the french monarch, at the head of french troops, and attended by the grandees of england solemnly accepting the sovereignty over the revolted provinces of spain. it is also curious to observe that the constitutional compact, by which the new sovereign of the netherlands was admitted to the government, would have been repudiated as revolutionary and republican by the monarchs of france or england, if an attempt had been made to apply it to their own realms, for the ancient charters--which in reality constituted a republican form of government--had all been re-established by the agreement with anjou. the first-fruits of the ban now began to display themselves. sunday, th of march, , was the birthday of the duke of anjou, and a great festival had been arranged, accordingly, for the evening, at the palace of saint michael, the prince of orange as well as all the great french lords being of course invited. the prince dined, as usual, at his house in the neighbourhood of the citadel, in company with the counts hohenlo and laval, and the two distinguished french commissioners, bonnivet and des pruneaux. young maurice of nassau, and two nephews of the prince, sons of his brother john, were also present at table. during dinner the conversation was animated, many stories being related of the cruelties which had been practised by the spaniards in the provinces. on rising from the table, orange led the way from the dining room to his own apartments, showing the noblemen in his company as he passed along, a piece of tapestry upon which some spanish soldiers were represented. at this moment, as he stood upon the threshold of the ante-chamber, a youth of small stature, vulgar mien, and pale dark complexion, appeared from among the servants and offered him a petition. he took the paper, and as he did so, the stranger suddenly drew a pistol and discharged it at the head of the prince. the ball entered the neck under the right ear, passed through the roof of the mouth, and came out under the left jaw-bone, carrying with it two teeth. the pistol had been held so near, that the hair and beard of the prince were set on fire by the discharge. he remained standing, but blinded, stunned, and for a moment entirely ignorant of what had occurred. as he afterwards observed, he thought perhaps that a part of the house had suddenly fallen. finding very soon that his hair and beard were burning, he comprehended what had occurred; and called out quickly, "do not kill him--i forgive him my death!" and turning to the french noblemen present, he added, "alas! what a faithful servant does his highness lose in me!" these were his first words, spoken when, as all believed, he had been mortally wounded. the, message of mercy came, however, too late; for two of the gentlemen present, by an irresistible impulse, had run the assassin through with their rapiers. the halberdiers rushed upon him immediately after wards, so that he fell pierced in thirty-two vital places. the prince, supported by his friends, walked to his chamber, where he was put to bed, while the surgeons examined and bandaged the wound. it was most dangerous in appearance, but a very strange circumstance gave more hope than could otherwise have been entertained. the flame from the pistol had been so close that it had actually cauterized the wound inflicted by the ball. but for this, it was supposed that the flow of blood from the veins which had been shot through would have proved fatal before the wound could be dressed. the prince, after the first shock, had recovered full possession of his senses, and believing himself to be dying, he expressed the most unaffected sympathy for the condition in which the duke of anjou would be placed by his death. "alas, poor prince!" he cried frequently; "alas, what troubles will now beset thee!" the surgeons enjoined and implored his silence, as speaking might cause the wound to prove immediately fatal. he complied, but wrote incessantly. as long as his heart could beat, it was impossible for him not to be occupied with his country. lion petit, a trusty captain of the city guard, forced his way to the chamber, it being, absolutely necessary, said the honest burgher, for him to see with his own eyes that the prince was living, and report the fact to the townspeople otherwise, so great was the excitement, it was impossible to say what might be the result. it was in fact believed that the prince was already dead, and it was whispered that he had been assassinated by the order of anjou. this horrible suspicion was flying through the city, and producing a fierce exasperation, as men talked of the murder of coligny, of saint bartholomew, of the murderous propensities of the valois race. had the attempt taken place in the evening, at the birth-night banquet of anjou, a horrible massacre would have been the inevitable issue. as it happened, however, circumstances soon, occurred to remove, the suspicion from the french, and to indicate the origin of the crime. meantime, captain petit was urged by the prince, in writing, to go forth instantly with the news that he yet survived, but to implore the people, in case god should call him to himself, to hold him in kind remembrance, to make no tumult, and to serve the duke obediently and faithfully. meantime, the youthful maurice of nassau was giving proof of that cool determination which already marked his character. it was natural that a boy of fifteen should be somewhat agitated at seeing such a father shot through the head before his eyes. his situation was rendered doubly grave by the suspicions which were instantly engendered as to the probable origin of the attempt. it was already whispered in the hall that the gentlemen who had been so officious in slaying the assassin, were his accomplices, who--upon the principle that dead men would tell no tales--were disposed, now that the deed was done, to preclude inconvenient revelations as to their own share in the crime. maurice, notwithstanding these causes for perturbation, and despite his grief at his father's probable death, remained steadily by the body of the murderer. he was determined, if possible, to unravel the plot, and he waited to possess himself of all papers and other articles which might be found upon the person of the deceased. a scrupulous search was at once made by the attendants, and everything placed in the young count's own hands. this done, maurice expressed a doubt lest some of the villain's accomplices might attempt to take the articles from him, whereupon a faithful old servant of his father came forward, who with an emphatic expression of the importance of securing such important documents, took his young master under his cloak, and led him to a retired apartment of the house. here, after a rapid examination, it was found that the papers were all in spanish, written by spaniards to spaniards, so that it was obvious that the conspiracy, if one there were, was not a french conspiracy. the servant, therefore, advised maurice to go to his father, while he would himself instantly descend to the hall with this important intelligence. count hohenlo had, from the instant of the murder, ordered the doors to be fastened, and had permitted no one to enter or to leave the apartment without his permission. the information now brought by the servant as to the character of the papers caused great relief to the minds of all; for, till that moment, suspicion had even lighted upon men who were the firm friends of the prince. saint aldegonde, who had meantime arrived, now proceeded, in company of the other gentlemen, to examine the papers and other articles taken from the assassin. the pistol with which he had done the deed was lying upon the floor; a naked poniard, which he would probably have used also, had his thumb not been blown off by the discharge of the pistol, was found in his trunk hose. in his pockets were an agnus dei, a taper of green wax, two bits of hareskin, two dried toads--which were supposed to be sorcerer's charms--a, crucifix, a jesuit catechism, a prayer-book, a pocket-book containing two spanish bills of exchange--one for two thousand, and one for eight hundred and seventy-seven crowns--and a set of writing tablets. these last were covered with vows and pious invocations, in reference to the murderous affair which the writer had in hand. he had addressed fervent prayers to the "virgin mary, to the angel gabriel, to the saviour, and to the saviour's son as if," says the antwerp chronicler, with simplicity, "the lord jesus had a son"--that they might all use their intercession with the almighty towards the certain and safe accomplishment of the contemplated deed. should he come off successful and unharmed, he solemnly vowed to fast a week on bread and water. furthermore, he promised to christ a "new coat of costly pattern;" to the mother of god, at guadalupe, a new gown; to our lady of montserrat, a crown, a gown, and a lamp; and so on through along list of similar presents thus contemplated for various shrines. the poor fanatical fool had been taught by deeper villains than himself that his pistol was to rid the world of a tyrant, and to open his own pathway to heaven, if his career should be cut short on earth. to prevent so undesirable a catastrophe to himself, however, his most natural conception had been to bribe the whole heavenly host, from the virgin mary downwards, for he had been taught that absolution for murder was to be bought and sold like other merchandise. he had also been persuaded that, after accomplishing the deed, he would become invisible. saint aldegonde hastened to lay the result of this examination before the duke of anjou. information was likewise instantly conveyed to the magistrates at the town house, and these measures were successful in restoring confidence throughout the city as to the intentions of the new government. anjou immediately convened the state council, issued a summons for an early meeting of the states-general, and published a proclamation that all persons having information to give concerning the crime which had just been committed, should come instantly forward, upon pain of death. the body of the assassin was forthwith exposed upon the public square, and was soon recognized as that of one juan jaureguy, a servant in the employ of gaspar d'anastro, a spanish merchant of antwerp. the letters and bills of exchange had also, on nearer examination at the town house, implicated anastro in the affair. his house was immediately searched, but the merchant had taken his departure, upon the previous tuesday, under pretext of pressing affairs at calais. his cashier, venero, and a dominican friar, named antony zimmermann, both inmates of his family, were, however, arrested upon suspicion. on the following day the watch stationed at the gate carried the foreign post-bags, as soon as they arrived, to the magistracy, when letters were found from anastro to venero, which made the affair quite plain. after they had been thoroughly studied, they were shown to venero, who, seeing himself thus completely ruined, asked for pen and ink, and wrote a full confession. it appeared that the crime was purely a commercial speculation on the part of anastro. that merchant, being on the verge of bankruptcy, had entered with philip into a mutual contract, which the king had signed with his hand and sealed with his seal, and according to which anastro, within a certain period, was to take the life of william of orange, and for so doing was to receive eighty thousand ducats, and the cross of santiago. to be a knight companion of spain's proudest order of chivalry was the guerdon, over and above the eighty thousand pieces of silver, which spain's monarch promised the murderer, if he should succeed. as for anastro himself, he was too frugal and too wary to risk his own life, or to lose much of the premium. with, tears streaming down his cheeks, he painted to his faithful cashier the picture which his master would present, when men should point at him and say, "behold yon bankrupt!" protesting, therefore, that he would murder orange and secure the reward, or perish in the attempt. saying this, he again shed many tears. venero, seeing his master thus disconsolate, wept bitterly likewise; and begged him not to risk his own precious life. after this pathetic commingling of their grief, the merchant and his book-keeper became more composed, and it was at last concerted between them that john jaureguy should be entrusted with the job. anastro had intended--as he said in a letter afterwards intercepted--"to accomplish the deed with his own hand; but, as god had probably reserved him for other things, and particularly to be of service to his very affectionate friends, he had thought best to entrust the execution of the design to his servant." the price paid by the master to the man, for the work, seems to have been but two thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven crowns. the cowardly and crafty principal escaped. he had gone post haste to dunkirk, pretending that the sudden death of his agent in calais required his immediate presence in that city. governor sweveseel, of dunkirk, sent an orderly to get a passport for him from la motte, commanding at gravelingen. anastro being on tenter-hooks lest the news should arrive that the projected murder had been consummated before he had crossed the border, testified extravagant joy on the arrival of the passport, and gave the messenger who brought it thirty pistoles. such conduct naturally excited a vague suspicion in the mind of the governor, but the merchant's character was good, and he had brought pressing letters from admiral treslong. sweveseel did not dare to arrest him without cause, and he neither knew that any crime had been committed; nor that the man before him was the criminal. two hours after the traveller's departure, the news arrived of the deed, together with orders to arrest anastro, but it was too late. the merchant had found refuge within the lines of parma. meanwhile, the prince lay in a most critical condition. believing that his end was fast approaching; he dictated letters to the states-general, entreating them to continue in their obedience to the duke, than whom he affirmed that he knew no better prince for the government of the provinces. these letters were despatched by saint aldegonde to the assembly, from which body a deputation, in obedience to the wishes of orange, was sent to anjou, with expressions of condolence and fidelity. on wednesday a solemn fast was held, according to proclamation, in antwerp, all work and all amusements being prohibited, and special prayers commanded in all the churches for the recovery of the prince. "never, within men's memory," says an account published at the moment, in antwerp, "had such crowds been seen in the churches, nor so many tears been shed." the process against venero and zimmermann was rapidly carried through, for both had made a full confession of their share in the crime. the prince had enjoined from his sick bed, however, that the case should be conducted with strict regard to justice, and, when the execution could no longer be deferred, he had sent a written request, by the hands of saint aldegonde, that they should be put to death in the least painful manner. the request was complied with, but there can be no doubt that the criminals, had it not been made, would have expiated their offence by the most lingering tortures. owing to the intercession of the man who was to have been their victim, they were strangled, before being quartered, upon a scaffold erected in the market-place, opposite the town house. this execution took place on wednesday, the th of march. the prince, meanwhile, was thought to be mending, and thanksgivings began to be mingled with the prayers offered almost every hour in the churches; but for eighteen days he lay in a most precarious state. his wife hardly left his bedside, and his sister, catharine countess of schwartzburg, was indefatigable in her attentions. the duke of anjou visited him daily, and expressed the most filial anxiety for his recovery, but the hopes, which had been gradually growing stronger, were on the th of april exchanged for the deepest apprehensions. upon that day the cicatrix by which the flow of blood from the neck had been prevented, almost from the first infliction of the wound, fell off. the veins poured forth a vast quantity of blood; it seemed impossible to check the haemorrhage, and all hope appeared to vanish. the prince resigned himself to his fate, and bade his children "good night for ever," saying calmly, "it is now all over with me." it was difficult, without suffocating the patient, to fasten a bandage tightly enough to staunch the wound, but leonardo botalli, of asti, body physician of anjou, was nevertheless fortunate enough to devise a simple mechanical expedient, which proved successful. by his advice; a succession of attendants, relieving each other day and night, prevented the flow of blood by keeping the orifice of the wound slightly but firmly compressed with the thumb. after a period of anxious expectation, the wound again closed; and by the end of the month the prince was convalescent. on the nd of may he went to offer thanksgiving in the great cathedral, amid the joyful sobs of a vast and most earnest throng. the prince, was saved, but unhappily the murderer had yet found an illustrious victim. the princess of orange; charlotte de bourbon--the devoted wife who for seven years, had so faithfully shared his joys and sorrows--lay already on her death-bed. exhausted by anxiety, long watching; and the alternations of hope and fear during the first eighteen days, she had been prostrated by despair at the renewed haemorrhage. a violent fever seized her, under which she sank on the th of may, three days after the solemn thanksgiving for her husband's recovery. the prince, who loved her tenderly, was in great danger of relapse upon the sad event, which, although not sudden, had not been anticipated. she was laid in her grave on the th of may, amid the lamentations of the whole country, for her virtues were universally known and cherished. she was a woman of rare intelligence, accomplishment, and gentleness of disposition; whose only offence had been to break, by her marriage, the church vows to which she had been forced in her childhood, but which had been pronounced illegal by competent authority, both ecclesiastical and lay. for this, and for the contrast which her virtues afforded to the vices of her predecessor, she was the mark of calumny and insult. these attacks, however, had cast no shadow upon the serenity of her married life, and so long as she lived she was the trusted companion and consoler of her husband. "his highness," wrote count john in , "is in excellent health, and, in spite of adversity, incredible labor, perplexity, and dangers, is in such good spirits that, it makes me happy to witness it. no doubt a chief reason is the consolation he derives from the pious and highly-intelligent wife whom, the lord has given him--a woman who ever conforms to his wishes, and is inexpressibly dear to him." the princess left six daughters--louisa juliana, elizabeth, catharina belgica, flandrina, charlotta brabantica, and emilia secunda. parma received the first intelligence of the attempt from the mouth of anastro himself, who assured him that the deed had been entirely successful, and claimed the promised reward. alexander, in consequence, addressed circular letters to the authorities of antwerp, brussels, bruges, and other cities, calling upon them, now that they had been relieved of their tyrant and their betrayer, to return again to the path of their duty and to the ever open arms of their lawful monarch. these letters were premature. on the other hand, the states of holland and zealand remained in permanent session, awaiting with extreme anxiety the result of the prince's wound. "with the death of his excellency, if god should please to take him to himself," said the magistracy of leyden, "in the death of the prince we all foresee our own death." it was, in truth, an anxious moment, and the revulsion of feeling consequent on his recovery was proportionately intense. in consequence of the excitement produced by this event, it was no longer possible for the prince to decline accepting the countship of holland and zealand, which he had refused absolutely two years before, and which he had again rejected, except for a limited period, in the year . it was well understood, as appears by the treaty with anjou, and afterwards formally arranged, "that the duke was never, to claim sovereignty over holland and zealand," and the offer of the sovereign countship of holland was again made to the prince of orange in most urgent terms. it will be recollected that he had accepted the sovereignty on the th of july, , only for the term of the war. in a letter, dated bruges, th of august, , he accepted the dignity without limitation. this offer and acceptance, however, constituted but the preliminaries, for it was further necessary that the letters of "renversal" should be drawn up, that they should be formally delivered, and that a new constitution should be laid down, and confirmed by mutual oaths. after these steps had been taken, the ceremonious inauguration or rendering of homage was to be celebrated. all these measures were duly arranged, except the last. the installation of the new count of holland was prevented by his death, and the northern provinces remained a republic, not only in fact but in name. in political matters; the basis of the new constitution was the "great privilege" of the lady mary, the magna charta of the country. that memorable monument in the history of the netherlands and of municipal progress had, been overthrown by mary's son, with the forced acquiescence of the states, and it was therefore stipulated by the new article, that even such laws and privileges as had fallen into disuse should be revived. it was furthermore provided that the little state should be a free countship, and should thus silently sever its connexion with the empire. with regard to the position of the prince, as hereditary chief of the little commonwealth, his actual power was rather diminished than increased by his new dignity. what was his position at the moment? he was sovereign during the war, on the general basis of the authority originally bestowed upon him by the king's commission of stadholder. in , his majesty had been abjured and the stadholder had become sovereign. he held in his hands the supreme power, legislative, judicial, executive. the counts of holland--and philip as their successor--were the great fountains of that triple stream. concessions and exceptions had become so extensive; no doubt, that the provincial charters constituted a vast body of "liberties" by which the whole country was reasonably well supplied. at the same time, all the power not expressly granted away remained in the breast of the count. if ambition, then, had been william's ruling principle, he had exchanged substance for shadow, for the new state now constituted was a free commonwealth--a republic in all but name. by the new constitution he ceased to be the source of governmental life, or to derive his own authority from above by right divine. the sacred oil which had flowed from charles the simple's beard was dried up. orange's sovereignty was from the estates; as legal representatives of the people; and, instead of exercising all the powers not otherwise granted away, he was content with those especially conferred upon him. he could neither declare war nor conclude peace without the co-operation of the representative body. the appointing power was scrupulously limited. judges, magistrates, governors, sheriffs, provincial and municipal officers, were to be nominated by the local authorities or by the estates, on the triple principle. from these triple nominations he had only the right of selection by advice and consent of his council. he was expressly enjoined to see that the law was carried to every man's door, without any distinction of persons; to submit himself to its behests, to watch against all impedimenta to the even flow of justice, to prevent false imprisonments, and to secure trials for every accused person by the local tribunals. this was certainly little in accordance with the arbitrary practice of the past quarter of a century. with respect to the great principle of taxation, stricter bonds even were provided than those which already existed. not only the right of taxation remained with the states, but the count was to see that, except for war purposes, every impost was levied by a unanimous vote. he was expressly forbidden to tamper with the currency. as executive head, save in his capacity as commander-in-chief by land or sea, the new sovereign was, in short, strictly limited by self-imposed laws. it had rested with him to dictate or to accept a constitution. he had in his memorable letter of august, , from bruges, laid down generally the articles prepared at plessia and bourdeaux, for anjou-together with all applicable provisions of the joyous entry of brabant--as the outlines of the constitution for the little commonwealth then forming in the north. to these provisions he was willing to add any others which, after ripe deliberation, might be thought beneficial to the country. thus limited were his executive functions. as to his judicial authority it had ceased to exist. the count of holland was now the guardian of the laws, but the judges were to administer them. he held the sword of justice to protect and to execute, while the scales were left in the hands which had learned to weigh and to measure. as to the count's legislative authority, it had become coordinate with, if not subordinate to, that of the representative body. he was strictly prohibited from interfering with the right of the separate or the general states to assemble as often as they should think proper; and he was also forbidden to summon them outside their own territory. this was one immense step in the progress of representative liberty, and the next was equally important. it was now formally stipulated that the estates were to deliberate upon all measures which "concerned justice and polity," and that no change was to be made--that is to say, no new law was to pass without their consent as well as that of the council. thus, the principle was established of two legislative chambers, with the right, but not the exclusive right, of initiation on the part of government, and in the sixteenth century one would hardly look for broader views of civil liberty and representative government. the foundation of a free commonwealth was thus securely laid, which had william lived, would have been a representative monarchy, but which his death converted into a federal republic. it was necessary for the sake of unity to give a connected outline of these proceedings with regard to the sovereignty of orange. the formal inauguration, only remained, and this, as will be seen, was for ever interrupted. etext editor's bookmarks: character of brave men to act, not to expect colonel ysselstein, "dismissed for a homicide or two" god has given absolute power to no mortal man hope delayed was but a cold and meagre consolation natural to judge only by the result no authority over an army which they did not pay unduly dejected in adversity motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley chapter vi. parma recals the foreign troops--siege of oudenarde--coolness of alexander--capture of the city and of nineve--inauguration of anjou at ghent--attempt upon his life and that of orange--lamoral egmont's implication in the plot--parma's unsuccessful attack upon ghent-- secret plans of anjou--dunkirk, ostend, and other towns surprised by his adherents--failure at bruges--suspicions at antwerp--duplicity of anjou--the "french fury"--details of that transaction-- discomfiture and disgrace of the duke--his subsequent effrontery-- his letters to the magistracy of antwerp, to, the estates, and to orange--extensive correspondence between anjou and the, french court with orange and the estates--difficult position of the prince--his policy--remarkable letter to the states-general--provisional arrangement with anjou--marriage of the archbishop of cologne-- marriage of orange with louisa de coligny--movements in holland, brabant, flanders, and other provinces, to induce the prince to accept sovereignty over the whole country--his steady refusal-- treason of van den berg in gueldres--intrigues of prince chimay and imbize in flanders--counter efforts of orange and the patriot party --fate of imbize--reconciliation of bruges--death of anjou during the course of the year , the military operations on both sides had been languid and desultory, the prince of parma, not having a large force at his command, being comparatively inactive. in consequence, however, of the treaty concluded between the united states and anjou, parma had persuaded the walloon provinces that it had now become absolutely necessary for them to permit the entrance of fresh italian and spanish troops. this, then, was the end of the famous provision against foreign soldiery in the walloon treaty of reconciliation. the abbot of saint vaast was immediately despatched on a special mission to spain, and the troops, by midsummer, had already begun to pour, into the netherlands. in the meantime, farnese, while awaiting these reinforcements, had not been idle, but had been quietly picking up several important cities. early in the spring he had laid siege to oudenarde, a place of considerable importance upon the scheld, and celebrated as the birthplace of his grandmother, margaret van geest. the burghers were obstinate; the defence was protracted; the sorties were bold; the skirmishes frequent and sanguinary: alexander commanded personally in the trenches, encouraging his men by his example, and often working with the mattock, or handling a spear in the assault, like a private pioneer or soldier. towards the end of the siege, he scarcely ever left the scene of operation, and he took his meals near the outer defences, that he might lose no opportunity of superintending the labors of his troops. one day his dinner was laid for himself and staff in the open air, close to the entrenchment. he was himself engaged in planting a battery against a weak point in the city wall, and would on no account withdraw for all instant. the tablecloth was stretched over a number of drum-heads, placed close together, and several, nobles of distinction--aremberg, montigny, richebourg, la motte, and others, were his guests at dinner. hardly had the repast commenced, when a ball came flying over the table, taking off the head of a, young walloon officer who was sitting near parma, and, who was earnestly requesting a foremost place in the morrow's assault. a portion of his skull struck out the eye of another gentleman present. a second ball from the town fortifications, equally well directed, destroyed two more of the guests as they sat at the banquet--one a german captain, the other the judge-advocate-general. the blood and brains of these unfortunate individuals were strewn over the festive board, and the others all started to their feet, having little appetite left for their dinner. alexander alone remained in his seat, manifesting no discomposure. quietly ordering the attendants to remove the dead bodies, and to bring a clean tablecloth, he insisted that his guests should resume their places at the banquet which had been interrupted in such ghastly fashion. he stated with very determined aspect that he could not allow the heretic burghers of oudenarde the triumph of frightening him from his dinner, or from the post of danger. the other gentlemen could, of course, do no less than imitate the impassibility of their chief, and the repast was accordingly concluded without further interruption. not long afterwards, the city, close pressed by so determined a commander, accepted terms, which were more favorable by reason of the respect which alexander chose to render to his mother's birthplace. the pillage was commuted for thirty thousand, crowns, and on the th of july the place was surrendered to parma almost under the very eyes of anjou, who was making a demonstration of relieving the siege. ninove, a citadel then belonging to the egmont family, was next reduced. here, too, the defence was more obstinate than could have been expected from the importance of the place, and as the autumn advanced, parma's troops were nearly starved in their trenches, from the insufficient supplies furnished them. they had eaten no meat but horseflesh for weeks, and even that was gone. the cavalry horses were all consumed, and even the chargers of the officers were not respected. an aid-de-camp of parma fastened his steed one day at the door of the prince's tent, while he entered to receive his commander's instructions. when he came out again, a few minutes afterwards, he found nothing but the saddle and bridle hanging where he had fastened the horse. remonstrance was useless, for the animal had already been cut into quarters, and the only satisfaction offered to the aid-de-camp was in the shape of a steak. the famine was long familiarly known as the "ninove starvation," but notwithstanding this obstacle, the place was eventually surrendered. an attempt upon lochum, an important city, in gelderland, was unsuccessful, the place being relieved by the duke of anjou's forces, and parma's troops forced to abandon the siege. at steenwyk, the royal arms were more successful, colonel tassis, conducted by a treacherous frisian peasant, having surprised the city which had so, long and so manfully sustained itself against renneberg during the preceding winter. with this event the active operations under parma closed for the year. by the end of the autumn, however, he had the satisfaction of numbering, under his command, full sixty thousand well-appointed and disciplined troops, including the large reinforcements recently despatched: from spain and italy. the monthly expense of this army-half of which was required for garrison duty, leaving only the other moiety for field operations--was estimated at six hundred and fifty thousand florins. the forces under anjou and the united provinces were also largely increased, so that the marrow of the land was again in fair way of being thoroughly exhausted by its defenders and its foes. the incidents of anjou's administration, meantime, during the year , had been few and of no great importance. after the pompous and elaborate "homage-making" at antwerp, he had, in the month of july, been formally accepted, by writing, as duke of guelders and lord of friesland. in the same month he had been ceremoniously, inaugurated at bruges as count of flanders--an occasion upon which the prince of orange had been present. in that ancient and stately city there had been, accordingly, much marching about under triumphal arches, much cannonading and haranguing, much symbol work of suns dispelling fogs, with other cheerful emblems, much decoration of ducal shoulders with velvet robes lined with weasel skin, much blazing of tar-barrels and torches. in the midst of this event, an attempt was made upon the lives both of orange and anjou. an italian, named basa, and a spaniard, called salseda, were detected in a scheme to administer poison to both princes, and when arrested, confessed that they had been hired by the prince of parma to compass this double assassination. basa destroyed himself in prison. his body was, however, gibbeted, with an inscription that he had attempted, at the instigation of parma, to take the lives of orange and anjou. salseda, less fortunate, was sent to paris, where he was found guilty, and executed by being torn to pieces by four horses. sad to relate, lamoral egmont, younger son and namesake of the great general, was intimate with salseda, and implicated in this base design. his mother, on her death-bed, had especially recommended the youth to the kindly care of orange. the prince had ever recognized the claim, manifesting uniform tenderness for the son of his ill-started friend; and now the youthful lamoral--as if the name of egmont had not been sufficiently contaminated by the elder brother's treason at brussels--had become the comrade of hired conspirators against his guardian's life. the affair was hushed up, but the story was current and generally believed that egmont had himself undertaken to destroy the prince at his own table by means of poison which he kept concealed in a ring. saint aldegonde was to have been taken off in the same way, and a hollow ring filled with poison was said to have been found in egmont's lodgings. the young noble was imprisoned; his guilt was far from doubtful; but the powerful intercessions of orange himself, combined with egmont's near relationship to the french queen saved his life, and he was permitted, after a brief captivity, to take his departure for france. the duke of anjou, a month later, was received with equal pomp, in the city of ghent. here the ceremonies were interrupted in another manner. the prince of parma, at the head of a few regiments of walloons, making an attack on a body of troops by which anjou had been escorted into flanders, the troops retreated in good order, and without much loss, under the walls of ghent, where a long and sharp action took place, much to the disadvantage of parma, the prince, of orange and the duke; of anjou were on the city walls during the whole skirmish giving orders and superintending the movements of their troops, and at nightfall parma was forced, to retire, leaving a large number of dead behind him. the th day of december, in this year was celebrated according to the new ordinance of gregory the thirteenth--as christmas. it was the occasion of more than usual merry-making among the catholics of antwerp, who had procured, during the preceding summer, a renewed right of public worship from anjou and the estates. many nobles of high rank came from france, to pay their homage to the new duke of brabant. they secretly expressed their disgust, however, at the close constitutional bonds in which they found their own future sovereign imprisoned by the provinces. they thought it far beneath the dignity of the "son of france" to play the secondary part of titular duke of brabant, count of flanders, lord of friesland, and the like, while the whole power of government was lodged with the states. they whispered that it was time to take measures for the incorporation of the netherlands into france, and they persuaded the false and fickle anjou that there would never be any hope of his royal brother's assistance, except upon the understanding that the blood and treasure of frenchmen were to be spent to increase the power, not of upstart and independent provinces, but of the french crown. they struck the basest chords of the duke's base nature by awakening his jealousy of orange. his whole soul vibrated to the appeal. he already hated the man by whose superior intellect he was overawed, and by whose pure character he was shamed. he stoutly but secretly swore that he would assert his own rights; and that he would no longer serve as a shadow, a statue, a zero, a matthias. it is needless to add, that neither in his own judgment nor in that of his mignons, were the constitutional articles which he had recently sworn to support, or the solemn treaty which he had signed and sealed at bordeaux, to furnish any obstacles to his seizure of unlimited power, whenever the design could be cleverly accomplished. he rested not, day or night, in the elaboration of his plan. early in january, , he sent one night for several of his intimate associates, to consult with him after he had retired to bed. he complained of the insolence of the states, of the importunity of the council which they had forced upon him, of the insufficient sums which they furnished both for him and his troops, of the daily insults offered to the catholic religion. he protested that he should consider himself disgraced in the eyes of all christendom, should he longer consent to occupy his present ignoble position. but two ways were open to him, he observed; either to retire altogether from the nether lands, or to maintain his authority with the strong hand, as became a prince. the first course would cover him with disgrace. it was therefore necessary for him to adopt the other. he then unfolded his plan to his confidential friends, la fougere, de fazy, palette, the sons of marechal biron, and others. upon the same day, if possible, he was determined to take possession, with his own troops, of the principal cities in flanders. dunkirk, dixmuyde, denremonde, bruges, ghent, vilvoorde, alost, and other important places, were to be simultaneously invaded, under pretext of quieting tumults artfully created and encouraged between the burghers and the garrisons, while antwerp was reserved for his own especial enterprise. that important capital he would carry by surprise at the same moment in which the other cities were to be secured by his lieutenants. the plot was pronounced an excellent one by the friends around his bed--all of them eager for catholic supremacy, for the establishment of the right divine on the part of france to the netherlands, and for their share in the sacking of so many wealthy cities at once. these worthless mignons applauded their weak master to the echo; whereupon the duke leaped from his bed, and kneeling on the floor in his night-gown, raised his eyes and his clasped hands to heaven, and piously invoked the blessing of the almighty upon the project which he had thus announced. he added the solemn assurance that; if favored with success in his undertaking, he would abstain in future from all unchastity, and forego the irregular habits by which his youth had been stained. having thus bribed the deity, and received the encouragement of his flatterers, the duke got into bed again. his next care was to remove the seigneur du plessis, whom he had observed to be often in colloquy with the prince of orange, his suspicious and guilty imagination finding nothing but mischief to himself in the conjunction of two such natures. he therefore dismissed du plessis, under pretext of a special mission to his sister, margaret of navarre; but in reality, that he might rid himself of the presence of an intelligent and honorable countryman. on the a th january, , the day fixed for the execution of the plot, the french commandant of dunkirk, captain chamois, skillfully took advantage of a slight quarrel between the citizens and the garrison, to secure that important frontier town. the same means were employed simultaneously, with similar results, at ostend, dixmuyde, denremonde, alost, and vilvoorde, but there was a fatal delay at one important city. la fougere, who had been with chamois at dunkirk, was arrested on his way to bruges by some patriotic citizens who had got wind of what had just been occurring in the other cities, so that when palette, the provost of anjou, and colonel la rebours, at the head of fifteen hundred french troops, appeared before the gates, entrance was flatly refused. de grijse, burgomaster of bruges, encouraged his fellow townsmen by words and stout action, to resist the nefarious project then on foot against religious liberty and free government, in favor of a new foreign tyranny. he spoke to men who could sympathize with, and second his courageous resolution, and the delay of twenty-four hours, during which the burghers had time to take the alarm, saved the city. the whole population was on the alert, and the baffled frenchmen were forced to retire from the gates, to avoid being torn to pieces by the citizens whom they had intended to surprise. at antwerp, meanwhile, the duke of anjou had been rapidly maturing his plan, under pretext of a contemplated enterprise against the city of endhoven, having concentrated what he esteemed a sufficient number of french troops at borgerhout, a village close to the walls of antwerp. on the th of january, suspicion was aroused in the city. a man in a mask entered the main guard-house in the night, mysteriously gave warning that a great crime was in contemplation, and vanished before he could be arrested. his accent proved him to be a frenchman. strange rumors flew about the streets. a vague uneasiness pervaded the whole population as to the intention of their new master, but nothing was definitely known, for of course there was entire ignorance of the events which were just occurring in other cities. the colonels and captains of the burgher guard came to consult the prince of orange. he avowed the most entire confidence in the duke of anjou, but, at the same time; recommended that the chains should be drawn, the lanterns hung out, and the drawbridge raised an hour earlier than usual, and that other precautions; customary in the expectation of an attack, should be duly taken. he likewise sent the burgomaster of the interior, dr. alostanus, to the duke of anjou, in order to communicate the suspicions created in the minds of the city authorities by the recent movements of troops. anjou, thus addressed, protested in the most solemn manner that nothing was farther from his thoughts than any secret enterprise against antwerp. he was willing, according to the figure of speech which he had always ready upon every emergency, "to shed every drop of his blood in her defence." he swore that he would signally punish all those who had dared to invent such calumnies against himself and his faithful frenchmen, declaring earnestly, at the same time, that the troops had only been assembled in the regular course of their duty. as the duke was so loud and so fervent; as he, moreover, made no objections to the precautionary measures which had been taken; as the burgomaster thought, moreover, that the public attention thus aroused would render all evil designs futile, even if any had been entertained; it was thought that the city might sleep in security for that night at least. on the following, morning, as vague suspicions were still entertained by many influential persons, a deputation of magistrates and militia officers waited upon the duke, the prince of orange--although himself still feeling a confidence which seems now almost inexplicable--consenting to accompany them. the duke was more vehement than ever in his protestations of loyalty to his recent oaths, as well as of deep affection for the netherlands--for brabant in particular, and for antwerp most of all, and he made use of all his vivacity to persuade the prince, the burgomasters, and the colonels, that they had deeply wronged him by such unjust suspicions. his assertions were accepted as sincere, and the deputation withdrew, anjou having first solemnly promised--at the suggestion of orange--not to leave the city during the whole day, in order that unnecessary suspicion might be prevented. this pledge the duke proceeded to violate almost as soon as made. orange returned with confidence to his own house, which was close to the citadel, and therefore far removed from the proposed point of attack, but he had hardly arrived there when he received a visit from the duke's private secretary, quinsay, who invited him to accompany his highness on a visit to the camp. orange declined the request, and sent an earnest prayer to the duke not to leave the city that morning. the duke dined as usual at noon. while at dinner he received a letter; was observed to turn pale on reading it, and to conceal it hastily in a muff which he wore on his left arm. the repast finished, the duke ordered his horse. the animal was restive, and so, strenuously resisted being mounted that, although it was his usual charger; it was exchanged for another. this second horse started in such a flurry that the duke lost his cloak, and almost his seat. he maintained his self-possession, however, and placing himself at the head of his bodyguard and some troopers, numbering in all three hundred mounted men, rode out of the palace-yard towards the kipdorp gate. this portal opened on the road towards borgerhout, where his troops were stationed, and at the present day bears the name of that village: it is on the side of the city farthest removed from and exactly opposite the river. the town was very quiet, the streets almost deserted; for it was one o'clock, the universal dinner-hour, and all suspicion had been disarmed by the energetic protestations of the duke. the guard at the gate looked listlessly upon the cavalcade as it approached, but as soon as anjou had crossed the first drawbridge, he rose in his stirrups and waved his hand. "there is your city, my lads," said he to the troopers behind him; "go and take possession of it!" at the same time he set spurs to his horse, and galloped off towards the camp at borgerhout. instantly afterwards; a gentleman of his suite, count bochepot, affected to have broken his leg through the plunging of his horse, a circumstance by which he had been violently pressed, against the wall as he entered the gate. kaiser, the commanding officer at the guard-house, stepped kindly forward to render him assistance, and his reward was a desperate thrust from the frenchman's rapier. as he wore a steel cuirass, he fortunately escaped with a slight wound. the expression, "broken leg," was the watch-word, for at one and the same instant, the troopers and guardsmen of anjou set upon the burgher watch at the gate, and butchered every man. a sufficient force was left to protect the entrance thus easily mastered, while the rest of the frenchmen entered the town at full gallop, shrieking "ville gaignee, ville gaignee! vive la messe! vive le due d'anjou!" they were followed by their comrades from the camp outside, who now poured into the town at the preconcerted signal, at least six hundred cavalry and three thousand musketeers, all perfectly appointed, entering antwerp at once. from the kipdorp gate two main arteries--the streets called the kipdorp and the meer--led quite through the heart of the city, towards the townhouse and the river beyond. along these great thoroughfares the french soldiers advanced at a rapid pace; the cavalry clattering furiously in the van, shouting "ville gaignee, ville gaignee! vive la messe, vive la messe! tue, tue, tue!" the burghers coming to door and window to look for the cause of all this disturbance, were saluted with volleys of musketry. they were for a moment astonished, but not appalled, for at first they believed it to be merely an accidental tumult. observing, however, that the soldiers, meeting with but little effective resistance, were dispersing into dwellings and warehouses, particularly into the shops of the goldsmiths and lapidaries, the citizens remembered the dark suspicions which had been so rife, and many recalled to mind that distinguished french officers had during, the last few days been carefully examining the treasures of the jewellers, under pretext of purchasing, but, as it now appeared, with intent to rob intelligently. the burghers, taking this rapid view of their position, flew instantly to arms. chains and barricades were stretched across the streets; the trumpets sounded through the city; the municipal guards swarmed to the rescue. an effective rally was made, as usual, at the bourse, whither a large detachment of the invaders had forced their way. inhabitants of all classes and conditions, noble and simple, catholic and protestant, gave each other the hand, and swore to die at each other's side in defence of the city against the treacherous strangers. the gathering was rapid and enthusiastic. gentlemen came with lance and cuirass, burghers with musket and bandoleer, artisans with axe, mallet, and other implements of their trade. a bold baker, standing by his oven-stark naked, according to the custom of bakers at that day--rushed to the street as the sound of the tumult reached his ear. with his heavy bread shovel, which he still held in his hand, he dealt a french cavalry, officer, just riding and screaming by, such a hearty blow that he fell dead from his horse. the baker seized the officer's sword, sprang all unattired as he was, upon his steed, and careered furiously through the streets, encouraging his countrymen everywhere to the attack, and dealing dismay through the ranks of the enemy. his services in that eventful hour were so signal that he was publicly thanked afterwards by the magistrates for his services, and rewarded with a pension of three hundred florins for life. the invaders had been forced from the bourse, while another portion of them had penetrated as far as the market-place. the resistance which they encountered became every instant more formidable, and fervacques, a leading french officer, who was captured on the occasion, acknowledged that no regular troops could have fought more bravely than did these stalwart burghers. women and children mounted to roof and window, whence they hurled, not only tiles and chimney pots, but tables, ponderous chairs, and other bulky articles, upon the heads of the assailants, while such citizens as had used all their bullets, loaded their pieces with the silver buttons from their doublets, or twisted gold and silver coins with their teeth into ammunition. with a population so resolute, the four thousand invaders, however audacious, soon found themselves swallowed up. the city had closed over them like water, and within an hour nearly a third of their whole number had been slain. very few of the burghers had perished, and fresh numbers were constantly advancing to the attack. the frenchmen, blinded, staggering, beaten, attempted to retreat. many threw themselves from the fortifications into the moat. the rest of the survivors struggled through the streets--falling in large numbers at every step-towards the point at which they had so lately entered the city. here at the kipdorp gate was a ghastly spectacle, the slain being piled up in the narrow passage full ten feet high, while some of the heap, not quite dead, were striving to extricate a hand or foot, and others feebly thrust forth their heads to gain a mouthful of air. from the outside, some of anjou's officers were attempting to climb over this mass of bodies in order to enter the city; from the interior, the baffled and fugitive remnant of their comrades were attempting to force their passage through the same horrible barrier; while many dropped at, every instant upon the heap of slain, under the blows of the unrelenting burghers. on the other hand, count rochepot himself, to whom the principal command of the enterprise had been entrusted by anjou, stood directly in the path of his fugitive soldiers, not only bitterly upbraiding them with their cowardice, but actually slaying ten or twelve of them with his own hands, as the most effectual mode of preventing their retreat. hardly an hour had elapsed from the time when the duke of anjou first rode out of the kipdorp gate, before nearly the whole of the force which he had sent to accomplish his base design was either dead or captive. two hundred and fifty nobles of high rank and illustrious name were killed; recognized at once as they lay in the streets by their magnificent costume. a larger number of the gallant chivalry of france had been sacrificed--as anjou confessed--in this treacherous and most shameful enterprise, than had often fallen upon noble and honorable fields. nearly two thousand of the rank and file had perished, and the rest were prisoners. it was at first asserted that exactly fifteen hundred and eighty-three frenchmen had fallen, but this was only because this number happened to be the date of the year, to which the lovers of marvellous coincidences struggled very hard to make the returns of the dead correspond. less than one hundred burghers lost their lives. anjou, as he looked on at a distance, was bitterly reproached for his treason by several of the high-minded gentlemen about his person, to whom he had not dared to confide his plot. the duke of montpensier protested vehemently that he washed his hands of the whole transaction, whatever might be the issue. he was responsible for the honor of an illustrious house, which should never be stained, he said, if he could prevent it, with such foul deeds. the same language was held by laval, by rochefoucauld, and by the marechal de biron, the last gentleman, whose two sons were engaged in the vile enterprise, bitterly cursing the duke to his face, as he rode through the gate after revealing his secret undertaking. meanwhile, anjou, in addition to the punishment of hearing these reproaches from men of honor, was the victim of a rapid and violent fluctuation of feeling. hope, fear, triumph, doubt, remorse, alternately swayed him. as he saw the fugitives leaping from the walls, he shouted exultingly, without accurately discerning what manner of men they were, that the city was his, that four thousand of his brave soldiers were there, and were hurling the burghers from the battlements. on being made afterwards aware of his error, he was proportionably depressed; and when it was obvious at last that the result of the enterprise was an absolute and disgraceful failure, together with a complete exposure of his treachery, he fairly mounted his horse, and fled conscience-stricken from the scene. the attack had been so unexpected, in consequence of the credence that had been rendered by orange and the magistracy to the solemn protestations of the duke, that it had been naturally out of any one's power to prevent the catastrophe. the prince was lodged in apart of the town remote from the original scene of action, and it does not appear that information had reached him that anything unusual was occurring, until the affair was approaching its termination. then there was little for him to do. he hastened, however, to the scene, and mounting the ramparts, persuaded the citizens to cease cannonading the discomfited and retiring foe. he felt the full gravity of the situation, and the necessity of diminishing the rancor of the inhabitants against their treacherous allies, if such a result were yet possible. the burghers had done their duty, and it certainly would have been neither in his power nor his inclination to protect the french marauders from expulsion and castigation. such was the termination of the french fury, and it seems sufficiently strange that it should have been so much less disastrous to antwerp than was the spanish fury of , to which men could still scarcely allude without a shudder. one would have thought the french more likely to prove successful in their enterprise than the spaniards in theirs. the spaniards were enemies against whom the city had long been on its guard. the french were friends in whose sincerity a somewhat shaken confidence had just been restored. when the spanish attack was made, a large force of defenders was drawn up in battle array behind freshly strengthened fortifications. when the french entered at leisure through a scarcely guarded gate, the whole population and garrison of the town were quietly eating their dinners. the numbers of the invading forces on the two occasions did not materially differ; but at the time of the french fury there was not a large force of regular troops under veteran generals to resist the attack. perhaps this was the main reason for the result, which seems at first almost inexplicable. for protection against the spanish invasion, the burghers relied on mercenaries, some of whom proved treacherous, while the rest became panic-struck. on the present occasion the burghers relied on themselves. moreover, the french committed the great error of despising their enemy. recollecting the ease with which the spaniards had ravished the city, they believed that they had nothing to do but to enter and take possession. instead of repressing their greediness, as the spaniards had done, until they had overcome resistance, they dispersed almost immediately into by-streets, and entered warehouses to search for plunder. they seemed actuated by a fear that they should not have time to rifle the city before additional troops should be sent by anjou to share in the spoil. they were less used to the sacking of netherland cities than were the spaniards, whom long practice had made perfect in the art of methodically butchering a population at first, before attention should be diverted to plundering, and supplementary outrages. at any rate, whatever the causes, it is certain that the panic, which upon such occasions generally decides the fate of the day, seized upon the invaders and not upon the invaded, almost from the very first. as soon as the marauders faltered in their purpose and wished to retreat, it was all over with them. returning was worse than advance, and it was the almost inevitable result that hardly a man escaped death or capture. the duke retreated the same day in the direction of denremonde, and on his way met with another misfortune, by which an additional number of his troops lost their lives. a dyke was cut by the mechlin citizens to impede his march, and the swollen waters of the dill, liberated and flowing across the country which he was to traverse, produced such an inundation, that at least a thousand of his followers were drowned. as soon as he had established himself in a camp near berghem, he opened a correspondence with the prince of orange, and with the authorities of antwerp. his language was marked by wonderful effrontery. he found himself and soldiers suffering for want of food; he remembered that he had left much plate and valuable furniture in antwerp; and he was therefore desirous that the citizens, whom he had so basely outraged, should at once send him supplies and restore his property. he also reclaimed the prisoners who still remained in the city, and to obtain all this he applied to the man whom he had bitterly deceived, and whose life would have been sacrificed by the duke, had the enterprise succeeded. it had been his intention to sack the city, to re-establish exclusively the roman catholic worship, to trample upon the constitution which he had so recently sworn to maintain, to deprive orange, by force, of the renversal by which the duke recognized the prince as sovereign of holland; zealand; and utrecht, yet notwithstanding that his treason had-been enacted in broad daylight, and in a most deliberate manner, he had the audacity to ascribe the recent tragic occurrences to chance. he had the farther originality to speak of himself as an aggrieved person, who had rendered great services to the netherlands, and who had only met with ingratitude in return. his envoys, messieurs landmater and escolieres, despatched on the very day of the french fury to the burgomasters and senate of antwerp, were instructed to remind those magistrates that the duke had repeatedly exposed his life in the cause of the netherlands. the affronts, they were to add, which he had received, and the approaching ruin of the country, which he foresaw, had so altered his excellent nature, as to engender the present calamity, which he infinitely regretted. nevertheless, the senate was to be assured that his affection for the commonwealth was still so strong, as to induce a desire on his part to be informed what course was now to be pursued with, regard to him. information upon that important point was therefore to be requested, while at the same time the liberation of the prisoners at antwerp, and the restaration of the duke's furniture and papers, were to be urgently demanded. letters of similar, import were also despatched by the duke to the states of the union, while to the prince of orange; his application was brief but brazen. "you know well,--my cousin," said he "the just and frequent causes of offence which this people has given me. the insults which i, this morning experienced cut me so deeply to the heart that they are the only reasons of the misfortune which has happened today. nevertheless, to those who desire my friendship i shall show equal friendship and affection. herein i shall follow the counsel you have uniformly given me, since i know it comes from one who has always loved me. therefore i beg that you will kindly bring it to pass, that i may obtain some decision, and that no injury may be inflicted upon my people. otherwise the land shall pay for it dearly." to these appeals, neither the prince nor the authorities of antwerp answered immediately in their own names. a general consultation was, however, immediately held with the estates-general, and an answer forthwith despatched to the duke by the hands of his envoys. it was agreed to liberate the prisoners, to restore the furniture, and to send a special deputation for the purpose of making further arrangements with the duke by word of mouth, and for this deputation his highness was requested to furnish a safe conduct. anjou was overjoyed when he received this amicable communication. relieved for a time from his fears as to the result of his crime, he already assumed a higher ground. he not only spoke to the states in a paternal tone, which was sufficiently ludicrous, but he had actually the coolness to assure them of his forgiveness. "he felt hurt," he said, "that they should deem a safe conduct necessary for the deputation which they proposed to send. if they thought that he had reason on account of the past, to feel offended, he begged them to believe that he had forgotten it all, and that he had buried the past in its ashes, even as if it had never been." he furthermore begged them--and this seemed the greatest insult of all--"in future to trust to his word, and to believe that if any thing should be attempted to their disadvantage, he would be the very first to offer himself for their protection." it will be observed that in his first letters the duke had not affected to deny his agency in the outrage--an agency so flagrant that all subterfuge seemed superfluous. he in fact avowed that the attempt had been made by his command, but sought to palliate the crime on the ground that it had been the result of the ill-treatment which he had experienced from the states. "the affronts which i have received," said he, both to the magistrates of antwerp and to orange, "have engendered the present calamity." so also, in a letter written at the same time to his brother, henry the third, he observed that "the indignities which were put upon him, and the manifest intention of the states to make a matthias of him, had been the cause of the catastrophe." he now, however, ventured a step farther. presuming upon the indulgence which he had already experienced; and bravely assuming the tone of injured innocence, he ascribed the enterprise partly to accident, and partly to the insubordination of his troops. this was the ground which he adopted in his interviews with the states' commissioners. so also, in a letter addressed to van der tympel, commandant of brussels, in which he begged for supplies for his troops, he described the recent invasion of antwerp as entirely unexpected by himself, and beyond his control. he had been intending, he said, to leave the city and to join his army. a tumult had accidentally arisen between his soldiers and the guard at the gate. other troops rushing in from without, had joined in the affray, so that to, his great sorrow, an extensive disorder had arisen. he manifested the same christian inclination to forgive, however, which he had before exhibited. he observed that "good men would never grow cold in his regard, or find his affection diminished." he assured van der tympel, in particular, of his ancient goodwill, as he knew him to be a lover of the common weal. in his original communications he had been both cringing and threatening but, at least, he had not denied truths which were plain as daylight. his new position considerably damaged his cause. this forgiving spirit on the part of the malefactor was a little more than the states could bear, disposed as they felt, from policy, to be indulgent, and to smooth over the crime as gently as possible. the negotiations were interrupted, and the authorities of antwerp published a brief and spirited defence of their own conduct. they denied that any affront or want of respect on their part could have provoked the outrage of which the duke had been guilty. they severely handled his self-contradiction, in ascribing originally the recent attempt to his just vengeance for past injuries, and in afterwards imputing it to accident or sudden mutiny, while they cited the simultaneous attempts at bruges, denremonde, alost, digmuyde, newport, ostend, vilvoorde, and dunkirk, as a series of damning proofs of a deliberate design. the publication of such plain facts did not advance the negotiations when resumed. high and harsh words were interchanged between his highness and the commissioners, anjou complaining, as usual, of affronts and indignities, but when pushed home for particulars, taking refuge in equivocation. "he did not wish," he said, "to re-open wounds which had been partially healed." he also affected benignity, and wishing to forgive and to forget, he offered some articles as the basis of a fresh agreement. of these it is sufficient to state that they were entirely different from the terms of the bordeaux treaty, and that they were rejected as quite inadmissible. he wrote again to the prince of orange, invoking his influence to bring about an arrangement. the prince, justly indignant at the recent treachery and the present insolence of the man whom he had so profoundly trusted, but feeling certain that the welfare of the country depended at present upon avoiding, if possible, a political catastrophe, answered the duke in plain, firm, mournful, and appropriate language. he had ever manifested to his highness, he said, the most uniform and sincere friendship. he had, therefore, the right to tell him that affairs were now so changed that his greatness and glory had departed. those men in the netherlands, who, but yesterday, had been willing to die at the feet of his highness, were now so exasperated that they avowedly preferred an open enemy to a treacherous protector. he had hoped, he said, that after what had happened in so many cities at the same moment, his highness would have been pleased to give the deputies a different and a more becoming answer. he had hoped for some response which might lead to an arrangement. he, however, stated frankly, that the articles transmitted by his highness were so unreasonable that no man in the land would dare open his mouth to recommend them. his highness, by this proceeding, had much deepened the distrust. he warned the duke accordingly, that he was not taking the right course to reinstate himself in a position of honor and glory, and he begged him, therefore, to adopt more appropriate means. such a step was now demanded of him, not only by the country, but by all christendom. this moderate but heartfelt appeal to the better nature of the duke, if he had a better nature, met with no immediate response. while matters were in this condition, a special envoy arrived out of france, despatched by the king and queen-mother, on the first reception of the recent intelligence from antwerp. m. de mirambeau, the ambassador, whose son had been killed in the fury, brought letters of credence to the states of the; union and to the prince of orange. he delivered also a short confidential note, written in her own hand, from catherine de medici to the prince, to the following effect: "my cousin,--the king, my son, and myself, send you monsieur de mirambeau, to prove to you that we do not believe--for we esteem you an honorable man--that you would manifest ingratitude to my son, and to those who have followed him for the welfare of your country. we feel that you have too much affection for one who has the support of so powerful a prince as the king of france, as to play him so base a trick. until i learn the truth, i shall not renounce the good hope which i have always indulged--that you would never have invited my son to your country, without intending to serve him faithfully. as long as you do this, you may ever reckon on the support of all who belong to him. "your good cousin, "catherine." it would have been very difficult to extract much information or much comfort from this wily epistle. the menace was sufficiently plain, the promise disagreeably vague. moreover, a letter from the same catherine de medici, had been recently found in a casket at the duke's lodgings in antwerp. in that communication, she had distinctly advised her son to re-establish the roman catholic religion, assuring him that by so doing, he would be enabled to marry the infanta of spain. nevertheless, the prince, convinced that it was his duty to bridge over the deep and fatal chasm which had opened between the french prince and the provinces, if an honorable reconciliation were possible, did not attach an undue importance either to the stimulating or to the upbraiding portion of the communication from catherine. he was most anxious to avert the chaos which he saw returning. he knew that while the tempers of rudolph, of the english queen, and of the protestant princes of germany, and the internal condition of the netherlands remained the same, it were madness to provoke the government of france, and thus gain an additional enemy, while losing their only friend. he did not renounce the hope of forming all the netherlands--excepting of course the walloon provinces already reconciled to philip--into one independent commonwealth, freed for ever from spanish tyranny. a dynasty from a foreign house he was willing to accept, but only on condition that the new royal line should become naturalized in the netherlands, should, conform itself to the strict constitutional compact established, and should employ only natives in the administration of netherland affairs. notwithstanding, therefore, the recent treachery of anjou, he was willing to treat with him upon the ancient basis. the dilemma was a very desperate one, for whatever might be his course, it was impossible that it should escape censure. even at this day, it is difficult to decide what might have been the result of openly braving the french government, and expelling anjou. the prince of parma--subtle, vigilant, prompt with word and blow--was waiting most anxiously to take advantage of every false step of his adversary. the provinces had been already summoned in most eloquent language, to take warning by the recent fate of antwerp, and to learn by the manifestation just made by anjou, of his real intentions; that their only salvation lay in a return to the king's arms. anjou himself, as devoid of shame as of honor, was secretly holding interviews with parma's agents, acosta and flaminio carnero, at the very moment when he was alternately expressing to the states his resentment that they dared to doubt his truth, or magnanimously extending to them his pardon for their suspicions. he was writing letters full of injured innocence to orange and to the states, while secretly cavilling over the terms of the treaty by which he was to sell himself to spain. scruples as to enacting so base a part did not trouble the "son of france." he did not hesitate at playing this doubly and trebly false game with the provinces, but he was anxious to drive the best possible bargain for himself with parma. he, offered to restore dunkirk, dixmuyde, and the other cities which he had so recently filched from the states, and to enter into a strict alliance with philip; but he claimed that certain netherland cities on the french frontier, should be made over to him in exchange. he required; likewise; ample protection for his retreat from a country which was likely to be sufficiently exasperated. parma and his agents smiled, of course, at such exorbitant terms. nevertheless, it was necessary to deal cautiously with a man who, although but a poor baffled rogue to-day, might to-morrow be seated on the throne of france. while they were all secretly haggling over the terms of the bargain, the prince of orange discovered the intrigue. it convinced him of the necessity of closing with a man whose baseness was so profound, but whose position made his enmity, on the whole, more dangerous than his friendship. anjou, backed by so astute and unscrupulous a politician as parma, was not to be trifled with. the feeling of doubt and anxiety was spreading daily through the country: many men, hitherto firm, were already wavering, while at the same time the prince had no confidence in the power of any of the states, save those of holland and utrecht; to maintain a resolute attitude of defiance, if not assisted from without. he therefore endeavored to repair the breach, if possible, and thus save the union. mirambeau, in his conferences with the estates, suggested, on his part, all that words could effect. he expressed the hope that the estates would use their discretion "in compounding some sweet and friendly medicine" for the present disorder; and that they would not judge the duke too harshly for a fault which he assured them did not come from his natural disposition. he warned them that the enemy would be quick to take advantage of the present occasion to bring about, if possible, their destruction, and he added that he was commissioned to wait upon the duke of anjou, in order to assure him that, however alienated he might then be from the netherlands, his majesty was determined to effect an entire reconciliation. the envoy conferred also with the prince of orange, and urged him most earnestly to use his efforts to heal the rupture. the prince, inspired by the sentiments already indicated, spoke with perfect sincerity. his highness, he said, had never known a more faithful and zealous friend than himself, he had begun to lose his own credit with the people by reason of the earnestness with which he had ever advocated the duke's cause, and he could not flatter himself that his recommendation would now be of any advantage to his highness. it would be more injurious than his silence. nevertheless, he was willing to make use of all the influence which was left to him for the purpose of bringing about a reconciliation, provided that the duke were acting in good faith. if his highness were now sincerely desirous of conforming to the original treaty, and willing to atone for the faults committed by him on the same day in so many cities--offences which could not be excused upon the ground of any affronts which he might have received from the citizens of antwerp--it might even now be possible to find a remedy for the past. he very bluntly told the envoy, however, that the frivolous excuses offered by the duke caused more bitterness than if he had openly acknowledged his fault. it were better, he said, to express contrition, than to excuse himself by laying blame on those to whom no blame belonged, but who, on the contrary, had ever shown themselves faithful servants of his highness. the estates of the union, being in great perplexity as to their proper course, now applied formally, as they always did in times of danger and doubt, to the prince, for a public expression of his views. somewhat reluctantly, he complied with their wishes in one of the most admirable of his state papers. he told the states-that he felt some hesitation in expressing his views. the blame of the general ill success was always laid upon his shoulders; as if the chances of war could be controlled even by a great potentate with ample means at his disposal. as for himself, with so little actual power that he could never have a single city provided with what he thought a sufficient garrison, it could not be expected that he could command fortune. his advice, he said, was always asked, but ever judged good or evil according to the result, as if the issue were in any hands but god's. it did not seem advisable for a man of his condition and years, who had so often felt the barb of calumny's tongue, to place his honor, again in the judgment scale of mankind, particularly as he was likely to incur fresh censure for another man's crime. nevertheless, he was willing, for the love he bore the land, once more to encounter this danger. he then rapidly reviewed the circumstances which had led to the election of anjou, and reminded the estates that they had employed sufficient time to deliberate concerning that transaction. he recalled to their remembrance his frequent assurances of support and sympathy if they would provide any other means of self-protection than the treaty with the french prince. he thought it, therefore, unjust, now that calamity had sprung from the measure, to ascribe the blame entirely to him, even had the injury been greater than the one actually sustained. he was far from palliating the crime, or from denying that the duke's rights under the treaty of bordeaux had been utterly forfeited. he was now asked what was to be done. of three courses, he said, one must be taken: they must make their peace with the king, or consent to a reconciliation with anjou, or use all the strength which god had given them to resist, single-handed, the enemy. with regard to the first point, he resumed the argument as to the hopelessness of a satisfactory arrangement with the monarch of spain. the recent reconciliation of the walloon provinces and its shameful infraction by parma in the immediate recal of large masses of spanish and italian troops, showed too plainly the value of all solemn stipulations with his catholic majesty. moreover, the time was unpropitious. it was idle to look, after what had recently occurred, for even fair promises. it was madness then to incur the enmity of two such powers at once. the french could do the netherlands more harm as enemies than the spaniards. the spaniards would be more dangerous as friends, for in cases of a treaty with philip the inquisition would be established in the place of a religious peace. for these reasons the prince declared himself entirely opposed to any negotiations with the crown of spain. as to the second point, he admitted that anjou had gained little honor by his recent course; and that it would be a mistake on their part to stumble a second time over the same stone. he foresaw, nevertheless, that the duke--irritated as he was by the loss of so many of his nobles, and by the downfall of all his hopes in the netherlands--would be likely to inflict great injuries upon their cause. two powerful nations like france and spain would be too much to have on their hands at once. how much danger, too, would be incurred by braving at once the open wrath of the french king, and, the secret displeasure of the english queen. she had warmly recommended the duke of anjou. she had said--that honors to him were rendered to herself; and she was now entirely opposed to their keeping the present quarrel alive. if france became their enemy, the road was at once opened through that kingdom for spain. the estates were to ponder well whether they possessed the means to carry on such a double war without assistance. they were likewise to remember how many cities still remained in the hands of anjou, and their possible fate if the duke were pushed to extremity. the third point was then handled with vigor. he reminded the states of the perpetual difficulty of raising armies, of collecting money to pay for troops, of inducing cities to accept proper garrisons, of establishing a council which could make itself respected. he alluded briefly and bitterly to the perpetual quarrels of the states among themselves; to their mutual jealousy; to their obstinate parsimony; to their jealousy of the general government; to their apathy and inertness before impending ruin. he would not calumniate those, he said, who counselled trust in god. that was his sentiment also: to attempt great affairs, however, and, through avarice, to-withhold sufficient means, was not trusting, but tempting god.--on the contrary, it was trusting god to use the means which he offered to their hands. with regard, then, to the three points, he rejected the first. reconciliation with the king of spain was impossible. for his own part, he would much prefer the third course. he had always been in favor of their maintaining independence by their own means and the assistance of the almighty. he was obliged, however, in sadness; to confess that the narrow feeling of individual state rights, the general tendency to disunion, and the constant wrangling, had made this course a hopeless one. there remained, therefore, only the second, and they must effect an honorable reconciliation with anjou. whatever might be their decision, however, it was meet that it should be a speedy one. not an hour was to be lost. many fair churches of god, in anjou's power, were trembling on the issue, and religious and political liberty was more at stake than ever. in conclusion, the prince again expressed his determination, whatever might be their decision, to devote the rest of his days to the services of his country. the result of these representations by the prince--of frequent letters from queen elizabeth, urging a reconciliation--and of the professions made by the duke and the french envoys, was a provisional arrangement, signed on the th and th of march. according to the terms of this accord, the duke was to receive thirty thousand florins for his troops, and to surrender the cities still in his power. the french prisoners were to be liberated, the duke's property at antwerp was to be restored, and the duke himself was to await at dunkirk the arrival of plenipotentiaries to treat with him as to a new and perpetual arrangement. the negotiations, however, were languid. the quarrel was healed on the surface, but confidence so recently and violently uprooted was slow to revive. on the th of june, the duke of anjou left dunkirk for paris, never to return to the netherlands, but he exchanged on his departure affectionate letters with the prince and the estates. m. des pruneaux remained as his representative, and it was understood that the arrangements for re-installing him as soon as possible in the sovereignty which he had so basely forfeited, were to be pushed forward with earnestness. in the spring of the same year, gerard truchses, archbishop of cologne, who had lost his see for the love of agnes mansfeld, whom he had espoused in defiance of the pope; took refuge with the prince of orange at delft. a civil war in germany broke forth, the protestant princes undertaking to support the archbishop, in opposition to ernest of bavaria, who had been appointed in his place. the palatine, john casimir, thought it necessary to mount and ride as usual. making his appearance at the head of a hastily collected force, and prepared for another plunge into chaos, he suddenly heard, however, of his elder brother's death at heidelberg. leaving his men, as was his habit, to shift for themselves, and baron truchses, the archbishop's brother, to fall into the hands of the enemy, he disappeared from the scene with great rapidity, in order that his own interests in the palatinate and in the guardianship of the young palatines might not suffer by his absence. at this time, too, on the th of april, the prince of orange was married, for the fourth time, to louisa, widow of the seigneur de teligny, and daughter of the illustrious coligny. in the course of the summer, the states of holland and zealand, always bitterly opposed to the connection with anjou, and more than ever dissatisfied with the resumption of negotiations since the antwerp catastrophe, sent a committee to the prince in order to persuade him to set his face against the whole proceedings. they delivered at the same time a formal remonstrance, in writing ( th of august, ), in which they explained how odious the arrangement with the duke had ever been to them. they expressed the opinion that even the wisest might be sometimes mistaken, and that the prince had been bitterly deceived by anjou and by the french court. they besought him to rely upon the assistance of the almighty, and upon the exertions of the nation, and they again hinted at the propriety of his accepting that supreme sovereignty over all the united provinces which would be so gladly conferred, while, for their own parts, they voluntarily offered largely to increase the sums annually contributed to the common defence. very soon afterwards, in august, , the states of the united provinces assembled at middelburg formally offered the general government--which under the circumstances was the general sovereignty--to the prince, warmly urging his acceptance of the dignity. he manifested, however, the same reluctance which he had always expressed, demanding that the project should beforehand be laid before the councils of all the large cities, and before the estates of certain provinces which had not been represented at the middelburg diet. he also made use of the occasion to urge the necessity of providing more generously for the army expenses and other general disbursements. as to ambitious views, he was a stranger to them, and his language at this moment was as patriotic and self-denying as at any previous period. he expressed his thanks to the estates for this renewed proof of their confidence in his character, and this additional approbation of his course,--a sentiment which he was always ready "as a good patriot to justify by his most faithful service." he reminded them, however, that he was no great monarch, having in his own hands the means to help and the power to liberate them; and that even were he in possession of all which god had once given him, he should be far from strong enough to resist, single-handed, their powerful enemy. all that was left to him, he said, was an "honest and moderate experience in affairs." with this he was ever ready to serve them to the utmost; but they knew very well that the means to make that experience available were to be drawn from the country itself. with modest simplicity, he observed that he had been at work fifteen or sixteen years, doing his best, with the grace of god, to secure the freedom of the fatherland and to resist tyranny of conscience; that he alone--assisted by his brothers and some friends and relatives--had borne the whole burthen in the beginning, and that he had afterwards been helped by the states of holland and zealand, so that he could not but render thanks to god for his great mercy in thus granting his blessing to so humble an instrument, and thus restoring so many beautiful provinces to their ancient freedom and to the true religion. the prince protested that this result was already a sufficient reward for his labors--a great consolation in his sufferings. he had hoped, he said, that the estates, "taking into consideration his long-continued labors, would have been willing to excuse him from a new load of cares, and would have granted him some little rest in his already advanced age;" that they would have selected "some other person more fitted for the labor, whom he would himself faithfully promise to assist to the best of his abilities, rendering him willing obedience proportionate to the authority conferred upon him." like all other attempts to induce the acceptance, by the prince, of supreme authority, this effort proved ineffectual, from the obstinate unwillingness of his hand to receive the proffered sceptre. in connection with this movement, and at about the same epoch, jacob swerius, member of the brabant council, with other deputies, waited upon orange, and formally tendered him the sovereign dukedom of brabant, forfeited and vacant by the late crime of anjou. the prince, however, resolutely refused to accept the dignity, assuring the committee that he had not the means to afford the country as much protection as they had a right to expect from their sovereign. he added that "he would never give the king of spain the right-to say that the prince of orange had been actuated by no other motives in his career than the hope of self-aggrandizement, and the desire to deprive his majesty of the provinces in order to appropriate them to himself." accordingly, firmly refusing to heed the overtures of the united states, and of holland in particular, he continued to further the re-establishment of anjou--a measure in which, as he deliberately believed, lay the only chance of union and in dependence. the prince of parma, meantime, had not been idle. he had been unable to induce the provinces to listen to his wiles, and to rush to the embrace of the monarch whose arms he described as ever open to the repentant. he had, however, been busily occupied in the course of the summer in taking up many of the towns which the treason of anjou had laid open to his attacks. eindhoven, diest, dunkirk, newport, and other places, were successively surrendered to royalist generals. on the nd of september, , the city of zutfen, too, was surprised by colonel tassis, on the fall of which most important place, the treason of orange's brother-in-law, count van den berg, governor of gueldres, was revealed. his fidelity had been long suspected, particularly by count john of nassau, but always earnestly vouched for by his wife and by his sons. on the capture of zutfen, however, a document was found and made public, by which van den berg bound himself to deliver the principal cities of gueldres and zutfen, beginning with zutfen itself, into the hands of parma, on condition of receiving the pardon and friendship of the king. not much better could have been expected of van den berg. his pusillanimous retreat from his post in alva's time will be recollected; and it is certain that the prince had never placed implicit confidence in his character. nevertheless, it was the fate of this great man to be often deceived by the friends whom he trusted, although never to be outwitted by his enemies. van den berg was arrested, on the th of november, carried to the hague, examined and imprisoned for a time in delftshaven. after a time he was, however, liberated, when he instantly, with all his sons, took service under the king. while treason was thus favoring the royal arms in the north, the same powerful element, to which so much of the netherland misfortunes had always been owing was busy in flanders. towards the end of the year , the prince of chimay, eldest son of the duke of aerschot, had been elected governor of that province. this noble was as unstable in character, as vain, as unscrupulous, and as ambitious as his father and uncle. he had been originally desirous of espousing the eldest daughter of the prince of orange, afterwards the countess of hohenlo, but the duchess of aerschot was too strict a catholic to consent to the marriage, and her son was afterwards united to the countess of meghem, widow of lan celot berlaymont. as affairs seemed going on prosperously for the states in the beginning, of this year, the prince of chimay had affected a strong inclination for the reformed religion, and as governor of bruges, he had appointed many members of that church to important offices, to the exclusion of catholics. by so decided a course, he acquired the confidence of the patriot party and at the end of the year he became governor of flanders. no sooner was he installed in this post, than he opened a private correspondence with parma, for it was his intention to make his peace with the king, and to purchase pardon and advancement by the brilliant service which he now undertook, of restoring this important province to the royal authority. in the arrangement of his plans he was assisted by champagny, who, as will be recollected, had long been a prisoner in ghent, but whose confinement was not so strict as to prevent frequent intercourse with his friends without. champagny was indeed believed to be the life of the whole intrigue. the plot was, however, forwarded by imbize, the roaring demagogue whose republicanism could never reconcile itself with what he esteemed the aristocratic policy of orange, and whose stern puritanism could be satisfied with nothing short of a general extermination of catholics. this man, after having been allowed to depart, infamous and contemptible, from the city which he had endangered, now ventured after five years, to return, and to engage in fresh schemes which were even more criminal than his previous enterprises. the uncompromising foe to romanism, the advocate of grecian and genevan democracy, now allied himself with champagny and with chimay, to effect a surrender of flanders to philip and to the inquisition. he succeeded in getting himself elected chief senator in ghent, and forthwith began to use all his influence to further the secret plot. the joint efforts and intrigues of parma, champagny, chimay, and imbize, were near being successful. early, in the spring of a formal resolution was passed by the government of ghent, to open negotiations with parma. hostages were accordingly exchanged, and a truce of three weeks was agreed upon, during which an animated correspondence was maintained between the authorities of ghent and the prince of chimay on the one side, and the united states-general, the magistracy of antwerp, the states of brabant, and other important bodies on the other. the friends of the union and of liberty used all their eloquence to arrest the city of ghent in its course, and to save the province of flanders from accepting the proposed arrangement with parma. the people of ghent were reminded that the chief promoter of this new negotiation was champagny, a man who owed a deep debt of hatred to their city, for the long, and as he believed, the unjust confinement which he had endured within its walls. moreover, he was the brother of granvelle, source of all their woes. to take counsel with champagny, was to come within reach of a deadly foe, for "he who confesses himself to a wolf," said the burgomasters of antwerp, "will get wolf's absolution." the flemings were warned by all their correspondents that it was puerile to hope for faith in philip; a monarch whose first principle was, that promises to heretics were void. they were entreated to pay no heed to the "sweet singing of the royalists," who just then affected to disapprove of the practice adopted by the spanish inquisition, that they might more surely separate them from their friends. "imitate not," said the magistrates of brussels, "the foolish sheep who made with the wolves a treaty of perpetual amity, from which the faithful dogs were to be excluded." it was affirmed--and the truth was certainly beyond peradventure--that religious liberty was dead at the moment when the treaty with parma should be signed. "to look for political privilege or evangelical liberty," said the antwerp authorities, "in any arrangement with the spaniards, is to look for light in darkness, for fire in water." "philip is himself the slave of the inquisition," said the states-general, "and has but one great purpose in life--to cherish the institution everywhere, and particularly in the netherlands. before margaret of parma's time, one hundred thousand netherlanders had been burned or strangled, and alva had spent seven years in butchering and torturing many thousands more." the magistrates of brussells used similar expressions. "the king of spain," said they to their brethren of ghent, "is fastened to the inquisition. yea, he is so much in its power, that even if he desired, he is unable to maintain his promises." the prince of orange too, was indefatigable in public and private efforts to counteract the machinations of parma and the spanish party in ghent. he saw with horror the progress which the political decomposition of that most important commonwealth was making, for he considered the city the keystone to the union of the provinces, for he felt with a prophetic instinct that its loss would entail that of all the southern provinces, and make a united and independent netherland state impossible. already in the summer of , he addressed a letter full of wisdom and of warning to the authorities of ghent, a letter in which he set fully before them the iniquity and stupidity of their proceedings, while at the same time he expressed himself with so much dexterity and caution as to avoid giving offence, by accusations which he made, as it were, hypothetically, when, in truth, they were real ones. these remonstrances were not fruitless, and the authorities and citizens of ghent once more paused ere they stepped from the precipice. while they were thus wavering, the whole negotiation with parma was abruptly brought to a close by a new incident, the demagogue imbize having been discovered in a secret attempt to obtain possession of the city of denremonde, and deliver it to parma. the old acquaintance, ally, and enemy of imbize, the seigneur de ryhove, was commandant of the city, and information was privately conveyed to him of the design, before there had been time for its accomplishment. ryhove, being thoroughly on his guard, arrested his old comrade, who was shortly afterwards brought to trial, and executed at ghent. john van imbize had returned to the city from which the contemptuous mercy of orange had permitted him formerly to depart, only to expiate fresh turbulence and fresh treason by a felon's death. meanwhile the citizens: of ghent; thus warned by word and deed, passed an earnest resolution to have no more intercourse with parma, but to abide faithfully by the union. their example was followed by the other flemish cities, excepting, unfortunately, bruges, for that important town, being entirely in the power of chimay, was now surrendered by him to the royal government. on the th of may, , baron montigny, on the part of parma, signed an accord with the prince of chimay, by which the city was restored to his majesty, and by which all inhabitants not willing to abide by the roman catholic religion were permitted to leave the land. the prince was received with favor by parma, on conclusion of the transaction, and subsequently met with advancement from the king, while the princess, who had embraced the reformed religion, retired to holland. the only other city of importance gained on this occasion by the government was ypres, which had been long besieged, and was, soon afterwards forced to yield. the new bishop, on taking possession, resorted to instant measures for cleansing a place which had been so long in the hands of the infidels, and as the first step in this purification, the bodies of many heretics who had been buried for years were taken from their graves, and publicly hanged in their coffins. all living adherents to the reformed religion were instantly expelled from the place. ghent and the rest of flanders were, for the time, saved from the power of spain, the inhabitants being confirmed in their resolution of sustaining their union with the other provinces by the news from france. early in the spring the negotiations between anjou and the states-general had been earnestly renewed, and junius, mouillerie, and. asseliers, had been despatched on a special mission to france, for the purpose of arranging a treaty with the duke. on the th of april, , they arrived in delft, on their return, bringing warm letters from the french court, full of promises to assist the netherlands; and it was understood that a constitution, upon the basis of the original arrangement of bordeaux, would be accepted by the duke. these arrangements were, however, for ever terminated by the death of anjou, who had been ill during the whole course of the negotiations. on the th of june, , he expired at chateau thierry, in great torture, sweating blood from every pore, and under circumstances which, as usual, suggested strong suspicions of poison. chapter vii. various attempts upon the life of orange--delft--mansion of the prince described--francis guion or balthazar girard--his antecedents--his correspondence and interviews with parma and with d'assonleville--his employment in france--his return to delft and interview with orange--the crime--the confession--the punishment-- the consequences--concluding remarks. it has been seen that the ban against the prince of orange had not been hitherto without fruits, for although unsuccessful, the efforts to take his life and earn the promised guerdon had been incessant. the attempt of jaureguy, at antwerp, of salseda and baza at bruges, have been related, and in march, , moreover, one pietro dordogno was executed in antwerp for endeavoring to assassinate the prince. before his death, he confessed that he had come from spain solely for the purpose, and that he had conferred with la motte, governor of gravelines, as to the best means of accomplishing his design. in april, , hans hanzoon, a merchant of flushing, had been executed for attempting to destroy the prince by means of gunpowder, concealed under his house in that city, and under his seat in the church. he confessed that he had deliberately formed the intention of performing the deed, and that he had discussed the details of the enterprise with the spanish ambassador in paris. at about the same time, one le goth, a captive french officer, had been applied to by the marquis de richebourg, on the part of alexander of parma, to attempt the murder of the prince. le goth had consented, saying that nothing could be more easily done; and that he would undertake to poison him in a dish of eels, of which he knew him to be particularly fond. the frenchman was liberated with this understanding; but being very much the friend of orange, straightway told him the whole story, and remained ever afterwards a faithful servant of the states. it is to be presumed that he excused the treachery to which he owed his escape from prison on the ground that faith was no more to be kept with murderers than with heretics. thus within two years there had been five distinct attempts to assassinate the prince, all of them, with the privity of the spanish government. a sixth was soon to follow. in the summer of , william of orange was residing at delft, where his wife, louisa de coligny, had given birth, in the preceding winter, to a son, afterwards the celebrated stadholder, frederic henry. the child had received these names from his two godfathers, the kings of denmark and of navarre, and his baptism had been celebrated with much rejoicing on the th of june, in the place of his birth. it was a quiet, cheerful, yet somewhat drowsy little city, that ancient burgh of delft. the placid canals by which it was intersected in every direction were all planted with whispering, umbrageous rows of limes and poplars, and along these watery highways the traffic of the place glided so noiselessly that the town seemed the abode of silence and tranquillity. the streets were clean and airy, the houses well built, the whole aspect of the place thriving. one of the principal thoroughfares was called the old delftstreet. it was shaded on both sides by lime trees, which in that midsummer season covered the surface of the canal which flowed between them with their light and fragrant blossoms. on one side of this street was the "old kirk," a plain, antique structure of brick, with lancet windows, and with a tall, slender tower, which inclined, at a very considerable angle, towards a house upon the other side of the canal. that house was the mansion of william the silent. it stood directly opposite the church, being separated by a spacious courtyard from the street, while the stables and other offices in the rear extended to the city wall. a narrow lane, opening out of delft-street, ran along the side of the house and court, in the direction of the ramparts. the house was a plain, two-storied edifice of brick, with red-tiled roof, and had formerly been a cloister dedicated to saint agatha, the last prior of which had been hanged by the furious lumey de la merck. the news of anjou's death had been brought to delft by a special messenger from the french court. on sunday morning, the th of july, , the prince of orange, having read the despatches before leaving his bed, caused the man who had brought them to be summoned, that he might give some particular details by word of mouth concerning the last illness of the duke. the courier was accordingly admitted to the prince's bed-chamber, and proved to be one francis guion, as he called himself. this man had, early in the spring, claimed and received the protection of orange, on the ground of being the son of a protestant at besancon, who had suffered death for--his religion, and of his own ardent attachment to the reformed faith. a pious, psalm-singing, thoroughly calvinistic youth he seemed to be having a bible or a hymn-book under his arm whenever he walked the street, and most exemplary in his attendance at sermon and lecture. for, the rest, a singularly unobtrusive personage, twenty-seven years of age, low of stature, meagre, mean-visaged, muddy complexioned, and altogether a man of no account--quite insignificant in the eyes of all who looked upon him. if there were one opinion in which the few who had taken the trouble to think of the puny, somewhat shambling stranger from burgundy at all coincided, it was that he was inoffensive but quite incapable of any important business. he seemed well educated, claimed to be of respectable parentage and had considerable facility of speech, when any person could be found who thought it worth while to listen to him; but on the whole he attracted little attention. nevertheless, this insignificant frame locked up a desperate and daring character; this mild and inoffensive nature had gone pregnant seven years with a terrible crime, whose birth could not much longer be retarded. francis guion, the calvinist, son of a martyred calvinist, was in reality balthazar gerard, a fanatical catholic, whose father and mother were still living at villefans in burgundy. before reaching man's estate, he had formed the design of murdering the prince of orange, "who, so long as he lived, seemed like to remain a rebel against the catholic king, and to make every effort to disturb the repose of the roman catholic apostolic religion." when but twenty years of age, he had struck his dagger with all his might into a door, exclaiming, as he did so, "would that the blow had been in the heart of orange!" for this he was rebuked by a bystander, who told him it was not for him to kill princes, and that it was not desirable to destroy so good a captain as the prince, who, after all, might one day reconcile himself with the king. as soon as the ban against orange was published, balthazar, more anxious than ever to execute his long-cherished design, left dole and came to luxemburg. here he learned that the deed had already been done by john jaureguy. he received this intelligence at first with a sensation of relief, was glad to be excused from putting himself in danger, and believing the prince dead, took service as clerk with one john duprel, secretary to count mansfeld, governor of luxemburg. ere long, the ill success of jaureguy's attempt becoming known, the "inveterate determination" of gerard aroused itself more fiercely than ever. he accordingly took models of mansfeld's official seals in wax, in order that he might make use of them as an acceptable offering to the orange party, whose confidence he meant to gain. various circumstances detained him, however. a sum of money was stolen, and he was forced to stay till it was found, for fear of being arrested as the thief. then his cousin and employer fell sick, and gerard was obliged to wait for his recovery. at last, in march, , "the weather, as he said, appearing to be fine," balthazar left luxemburg and came to treves. while there, he confided his scheme to the regent of the jesuit college--a "red-haired man" whose name has not been preserved. that dignitary expressed high approbation of the plan, gave gerard his blessing, and promised him that, if his life should be sacrificed in achieving his purpose, he should be enrolled among the martyrs. another jesuit, however, in the same college, with whom he likewise communicated, held very different language, making great efforts to turn the young man from his design, on the ground of the inconveniences which might arise from the forging of mansfeld's seals--adding, that neither he nor any of the jesuits liked to meddle with such affairs, but advising that the whole matter should be laid before the prince of parma. it does not appear that this personage, "an excellent man and a learned," attempted to dissuade the young man from his project by arguments, drawn from any supposed criminality in the assassination itself, or from any danger, temporal or eternal, to which the perpetrator might expose himself. not influenced, as it appears, except on one point, by the advice of this second ghostly confessor, balthazar came to tournay, and held council with a third--the celebrated franciscan, father gery--by whom he was much comforted and strengthened in his determination. his next step was to lay the project before parma, as the "excellent and learned" jesuit at treves had advised. this he did by a letter, drawn up with much care, and which he evidently thought well of as a composition. one copy of this letter he deposited with the guardian of the franciscan convent at tournay; the other he presented with his own hand to the prince of parma. "the vassal," said he, "ought always to prefer justice and the will of the king to his own life." that being the case, he expressed his astonishment that no man had yet been found to execute the sentence against william of nassau, "except the gentle biscayan, since defunct." to accomplish the task, balthazar observed, very judiciously, that it was necessary to have access, to the person of the prince--wherein consisted the difficulty. those who had that advantage, he continued, were therefore bound to extirpate the pest at once, without obliging his majesty to send to rome for a chevalier, because not one of them was willing to precipitate himself into the venomous gulf, which by its contagion infected and killed the souls and bodies, of all poor abused subjects, exposed to its influence. gerard avowed himself to have been so long goaded and stimulated by these considerations--so extremely nettled with displeasure and bitterness at seeing the obstinate wretch still escaping his just judgment--as to have formed the design of baiting a trap for the fox, hoping thus to gain access to him, and to take him unawares. he added--without explaining the nature of the trap and the bait--that he deemed it his duty to lay the subject before the most serene prince of parma, protesting at the same time that he did not contemplate the exploit for the sake of the reward mentioned in the sentence, and that he preferred trusting in that regard to the immense liberality of his majesty. parma had long been looking for a good man to murder orange, feeling--as philip, granvelle, and all former governors of the netherlands had felt--that this was the only means of saving the royal authority in any part of the provinces. many unsatisfactory assassins had presented themselves from time to time, and alexander had paid money in hand to various individuals--italians, spaniards, lorrainers; scotchmen, englishmen, who had generally spent the sums received without attempting the job. others were supposed to be still engaged in the enterprise; and at that moment there were four persons--each unknown to the others, and of different nations--in the city of delft, seeking to compass the death of william the silent. shag-eared, military, hirsute ruffians--ex-captains of free companies and such marauders--were daily offering their services; there was no lack of them, and they had done but little. how should parma, seeing this obscures undersized, thin-bearded, runaway clerk before him, expect pith and energy from him? he thought him quite unfit for an enterprise of moment, and declared as much to his secret councillors and to the king. he soon dismissed him, after receiving his letters; and it may be supposed that the bombastic style of that epistle would not efface the unfavorable impression produced by balthazar's exterior. the representations of haultepenne and others induced him so far to modify his views as to send his confidential councillor, d'assonleville, to the stranger, in order to learn the details of the scheme. assonleville had accordingly an interview with gerard, in which he requested the young man to draw up a statement of his plan in writing, ani this was done upon the th of april, . in this letter gerard explained his plan of introducing himself to the notice of orange, at delft, as the son of an executed calvinist; as himself warmly, though secretly, devoted to the reformed faith, and as desirous, therefore, of placing himself in the prince's service, in order to avoid the insolence of the papists. having gained the confidence of those about the prince, he would suggest to them the great use which might be made of mansfeld's signet in forging passports for spies and other persons whom it might be desirous to send into the territory of the royalists. "with these or similar feints and frivolities," continued gerard, "he should soon obtain access to the person of the said nassau," repeating his protestation that nothing had moved him to his enterprise "save the good zeal which he bore to the faith and true religion guarded by the holy mother church catholic, apostolic, and roman, and to the service of his majesty." he begged pardon for having purloined the impressions of the seals--a turpitude which he would never have committed, but would sooner have suffered a thousand deaths, except for the great end in view. he particularly wished forgiveness for that crime before going to his task, "in order that he might confess, and receive the holy communion at the coming easter, without scruples of conscience." he likewise begged the prince of parma to obtain for him absolution from his holiness for this crime of pilfering--the more so "as he was about to keep company for some time with heretics and atheists, and in some sort to conform himself to their customs." from the general tone of the letters of gerard, he might be set down at once as a simple, religious fanatic, who felt sure that, in executing the command of philip publicly issued to all the murderers of europe, he was meriting well of god and his king. there is no doubt that he was an exalted enthusiast, but not purely an enthusiast. the man's character offers more than one point of interest, as a psychological phenomenon. he had convinced himself that the work which he had in hand was eminently meritorious, and he was utterly without fear of consequences. he was, however, by no means so disinterested as he chose to represent himself in letters which, as he instinctively felt, were to be of perennial interest. on the contrary, in his interviews with assonleville, he urged that he was a poor fellow, and that he had undertaken this enterprise in order to acquire property--to make himself rich--and that he depended upon the prince of parma's influence in obtaining the reward promised by the ban to the individual who should put orange to death. this second letter decided parma so far that he authorized assonleville to encourage the young man in his attempt, and to promise that the reward should be given to him in case of success, and to his heirs in the event of his death. assonleville, in the second interview, accordingly made known these assurances in the strongest manner to gerard, warning him, at the same time, on no account; if arrested, to inculpate the prince of parma. the councillor, while thus exhorting the stranger, according to alexander's commands, confined himself, however, to generalities, refusing even to advance fifty crowns, which balthazar had begged from the governor-general in order to provide for the necessary expenses of his project. parma had made similar advances too often to men who had promised to assassinate the prince and had then done little, and he was resolute in his refusal to this new adventurer, of whom he expected absolutely nothing. gerard, notwithstanding this rebuff, was not disheartened. "i will provide myself out of my own purse," said he to assonleville, "and within six weeks you will hear of me."--"go forth, my son," said assonleville, paternally, upon this spirited reply, "and if you succeed in your enterprise, the king will fulfil all his promises, and you will gain an immortal name beside." the "inveterate deliberation," thus thoroughly matured, gerard now proceeded to carry into effect. he came to delft; obtained a hearing of millers, the clergyman and intimate friend of orange, showed him the mansfeld seals, and was, somewhat against his will, sent to france, to exhibit them to marechal biron, who, it was thought, was soon to be appointed governor of cambray. through orange's recommendation, the burgundian was received into the suite of noel de caron, seigneur de schoneval, then setting forth on a special mission to the duke of anjou. while in france, gerard could rest neither by day nor night, so tormented was he by the desire of accomplishing his project, and at length he obtained permission, upon the death of the duke, to carry this important intelligence to the prince of orange. the despatches having been entrusted to him, he travelled posthaste to delft, and, to his astonishment, the letters had hardly been delivered before he was summoned in person to the chamber of the prince. here was an opportunity such as he had never dared to hope for. the arch-enemy to the church and to the human race, whose death, would confer upon his destroyer wealth and nobility in this world, besides a crown of glory in the next, lay unarmed, alone, in bed, before the man who had thirsted seven long years for his blood. balthazar could scarcely control his emotions sufficiently to answer the questions which the prince addressed to him concerning the death of anjou, but orange, deeply engaged with the despatches, and with the reflections which their deeply-important contents suggested, did not observe the countenance of the humble calvinist exile, who had been recently recommended to his patronage by millers. gerard, had, moreover, made no preparation for an interview so entirely unexpected, had come unarmed, and had formed no plan for escape. he was obliged to forego his prey when most within his reach, and after communicating all the information which the prince required, he was dismissed from the chamber. it was sunday morning, and the bells were tolling for church. upon leaving the house he loitered about the courtyard, furtively examining the premises, so that a sergeant of halberdiers asked him why he was waiting there. balthazar meekly replied that he was desirous of attending divine worship in the church opposite, but added, pointing to, his shabby and travel-stained attire, that, without at least a new pair of shoes and stockings, he was unfit to join the congregation. insignificant as ever, the small, pious, dusty stranger excited no suspicion in the mind of the good-natured sergeant. he forthwith spoke of the wants of gerard to an officer, by whom they were communicated to orange himself, and the prince instantly ordered a sum of money to be given him. thus balthazar obtained from william's charity what parma's thrift had denied--a fund for carrying out his purpose. next morning, with the money thus procured he purchased a pair of pistols, or small carabines, from a soldier, chaffering long about the price because the vender could not supply a particular kind of chopped bullets or slugs which he desired. before the sunset of the following day that soldier had stabbed himself to the heart, and died despairing, on hearing for what purpose the pistols had been bought. on tuesday, the th of july, , at about half-past twelve, the prince, with his wife on his arm, and followed by the ladies and gentlemen of his family, was going to the dining-room. william the silent was dressed upon that day, according to his usual custom, in very plain fashion. he wore a wide-leaved, loosely-shaped hat of dark felt; with a silken cord round the crown-such as had been worn by the beggars in the early days of the revolt. a high ruff encircled his neck, from which also depended one of the beggar's medals, with the motto, "fideles au roy jusqu'a la besace," while a loose surcoat of grey frieze cloth, over a tawny leather doublet, with wide, slashed underclothes completed his costume. gerard presented himself at the doorway, and demanded a passport. the princess, struck with the pale and agitated countenance of the man, anxiously questioned her husband concerning the stranger. the prince carelessly observed that "it was merely a person who came for a passport," ordering, at the same time, a secretary forthwith to prepare one. the princess, still not relieved, observed in an under-tone that "she had never seen so villainous a countenance." orange, however, not at all impressed with the appearance of gerard, conducted himself at table with his usual cheerfulness, conversing much with the burgomaster of leewarden, the only guest present at the family dinner, concerning the political and religious aspects of friesland. at two o'clock the company rose from table. the prince led the way, intending to pass to his private apartments above. the dining-room, which was on the ground floor, opened into a little square vestibule, which communicated, through an arched passageway, with the main entrance into the court-yard. this vestibule was also directly at the foot of the wooden staircase leading to the next floor, and was scarcely six feet in width. upon its left side, as one approached the stairway, was an, obscure arch, sunk deep in the wall, and completely in the shadow of the door. behind this arch a portal opened to the narrow lane at the side of the house. the stairs themselves were completely lighted by a large window, half way up the flight. the prince came from the dining-room, and began leisurely to ascend. he had only reached the second stair, when a man emerged from the sunken arch, and, standing within a foot or two of him, discharged a pistol full at his heart. three balls entered his body, one of which, passing quite through him, struck with violence against the wall beyond. the prince exclaimed in french, as he felt the wound, "o my god; have mercy upon my soul! o my god, have mercy upon this poor people." these were the last words he ever spoke, save that when his sister, catherine of schwartzburg, immediately afterwards asked him if he commended his soul to jesus christ, he faintly answered, "yes." his master of the horse, jacob van maldere, had caught him in his arms as the fatal shot was fired. the prince was then placed on the stairs for an instant, when he immediately began to swoon. he was afterwards laid upon a couch in the dining-room, where in a few minutes, he breathed his last in the arms of his wife and sister. the murderer succeeded in making his escape through the side door, and sped swiftly up the narrow lane. he had almost reached the ramparts, from which he intended to spring into the moat, when he stumbled over a heap of rubbish. as he rose, he was seized by several pages and halberdiers, who had pursued him from the house. he had dropped his pistols upon the spot where he had committed the crime, and upon his person were found a couple, of bladders, provided with apiece of pipe with which he had intended to assist himself across the moat, beyond which a horse was waiting for him. he made no effort to deny his identity, but boldly avowed himself and his deed. he was brought back to the house, where he immediately underwent a preliminary examination before the city magistrates. he was afterwards subjected to excruciating tortures; for the fury against the wretch who had destroyed the father of the country was uncontrollable, and william the silent was no longer alive to intercede--as he had often done before--in behalf of those who assailed his life. the organization of balthazar gerard would furnish a subject of profound study, both for the physiologist and the metaphysician. neither wholly a fanatic, nor entirely a ruffian, he combined the most dangerous elements of both characters. in his puny body and mean exterior were enclosed considerable mental powers and accomplishments, a daring ambition, and a courage almost superhuman. yet those qualities led him only to form upon the threshold of life a deliberate determination to achieve greatness by the assassin's trade. the rewards held out by the ban, combining with his religious bigotry and his passion for distinction, fixed all his energies with patient concentration upon the one great purpose for which he seemed to have been born, and after seven years' preparation, he had at last fulfilled his design. upon being interrogated by the magistrates, he manifested neither despair nor contrition, but rather a quiet exultation. "like david," he said, "he had slain goliath of gath." when falsely informed that his victim was not dead, he showed no credulity or disappointment. he had discharged three poisoned balls into the prince's stomach, and he knew that death must have already ensued. he expressed regret, however, that the resistance of the halberdiers had prevented him from using his second pistol, and avowed that if he were a thousand leagues away he would return in order to do the deed again, if possible. he deliberately wrote a detailed confession of his crime, and of the motives and manner of its commission, taking care, however, not to implicate parma in the transaction. after sustaining day after day the most horrible tortures, he subsequently related his interviews with assonleville and with the president of the jesuit college at treves adding that he had been influenced in his work by the assurance of obtaining the rewards promised by the ban. during the intervals of repose from the rack he conversed with ease, and even eloquence, answering all questions addressed to him with apparent sincerity. his constancy in suffering so astounded his judges that they believed him supported by witchcraft. "ecce homo!" he exclaimed, from time to time, with insane blasphemy, as he raised his blood-streaming head from the bench. in order to destroy the charm which seemed to render him insensible to pain, they sent for the shirt of a hospital patient, supposed to be a sorcerer. when clothed in this garment, however, balthazar was none the less superior to the arts of the tormentors, enduring all their inflictions, according to an eye-witness, "without once exclaiming, ah me!" and avowing that he would repeat his enterprise, if possible, were he to die a thousand deaths in consequence. some of those present refused to believe that he was a man at all. others asked him how long since he had sold himself to the devil? to which he replied, mildly, that he had no acquaintance whatever with the devil. he thanked the judges politely for the food which he received in prison, and promised to recompense them for the favor. upon being asked how that was possible, he replied; that he would serve as their advocate in paradise. the sentence pronounced against the assassin was execrable--a crime against the memory of the great man whom it professed to avenge. it was decreed that the right hand of gerard should be burned off with a red-hot iron, that his flesh should be torn from his bones with pincers in six different places, that he should be quartered and disembowelled alive, that his heart should be torn from his bosom and flung in his face, and that, finally, his head should be taken off. not even his horrible crime, with its endless consequences, nor the natural frenzy of indignation which it had excited, could justify this savage decree, to rebuke which the murdered hero might have almost risen from the sleep of death. the sentence was literally executed on the th of july, the criminal supporting its horrors with the same astonishing fortitude. so calm were his nerves, crippled and half roasted as he was ere he mounted the scaffold, that when one of the executioners was slightly injured in the ear by the flying from the handle of the hammer with which he was breaking the fatal pistol in pieces, as the first step in the execution--a circumstance which produced a general laugh in the crowd--a smile was observed upon balthazar's face in sympathy with the general hilarity. his lips were seen to move up to the moment when his heart was thrown in his face--"then," said a looker-on, "he gave up the ghost." the reward promised by philip to the man who should murder orange was paid to the heirs of gerard. parma informed his sovereign that the "poor man" had been executed, but that his father and mother were still living; to whom he recommended the payment of that "merced" which "the laudable and generous deed had so well deserved." this was accordingly done, and the excellent parents, ennobled and enriched by the crime of their son, received instead of the twenty-five thousand crowns promised in the ban, the three seignories of lievremont, hostal, and dampmartin in the franche comte, and took their place at once among the landed aristocracy. thus the bounty of the prince had furnished the weapon by which his life was destroyed, and his estates supplied the fund out of which the assassin's family received the price of blood. at a later day, when the unfortunate eldest son of orange returned from spain after twenty-seven years' absence, a changeling and a spaniard, the restoration of those very estates was offered to him by philip the second, provided he would continue to pay a fixed proportion of their rents to the family of his father's murderer. the education which philip william had received, under the king's auspices, had however, not entirely destroyed all his human feelings, and he rejected the proposal with scorn. the estates remained with the gerard family, and the patents of nobility which they had received were used to justify their exemption from certain taxes, until the union of franche comte, with france, when a french governor tore the documents in pieces and trampled them under foot. william of orange, at the period of his death, was aged fifty-one years and sixteen days. he left twelve children. by his first wife, anne of egmont, he had one son, philip, and one daughter, mary, afterwards married to count hohenlo. by his second wife, anna of saxony; he had one son, the celebrated maurice of nassau, and two daughters, anna, married afterwards to her cousin, count william louis, and emilie, who espoused the pretender of portugal, prince emanuel. by charlotte of bourbon, his third wife, he had six daughters; and by his fourth, louisa de coligny, one son, frederic william, afterwards stadholder of the republic in her most palmy days. the prince was entombed on the rd of august, at delft, amid the tears of a whole nation. never was a more extensive, unaffected, and legitimate sorrow felt at the death of any human being. the life and labors of orange had established the emancipated common-wealth upon a secure foundation, but his death rendered the union of all the netherlands into one republic hopeless. the efforts of the malcontent nobles, the religious discord, the consummate ability, both political and military, of parma, all combined with the lamentable loss of william the silent to separate for ever the southern and catholic provinces from the northern confederacy. so long as the prince remained alive, he was the father of the whole country; the netherlands--saving only the two walloon provinces--constituting a whole. notwithstanding the spirit of faction and the blight of the long civil war, there was at least one country; or the hope of a country, one strong heart, one guiding head, for the patriotic party throughout the land. philip and granvelle were right in their estimate of the advantage to be derived from the prince's death, in believing that an assassin's hand could achieve more than all the wiles which spanish or italian statesmanship could teach, or all the armies which spain or italy could muster. the pistol of the insignificant gerard destroyed the possibility of a united netherland state, while during the life of william there was union in the policy, unity in the history of the country. in the following year, antwerp, hitherto the centre around which all the national interests and historical events group themselves, fell before the scientific efforts of parma. the city which had so long been the freest, as well as the most opulent, capital in europe, sank for ever to the position of a provincial town. with its fall, combined with other circumstances, which it is not necessary to narrate in anticipation, the final separation of the netherlands was completed. on the other hand, at the death of orange, whose formal inauguration as sovereign count had not yet taken place, the states of holland and zealand reassumed the sovereignty. the commonwealth which william had liberated for ever from spanish tyranny continued to exist as a great and flourishing republic during, more than two centuries, under the successive stadholderates of his sons and descendants. his life gave existence to an independent country--his death defined its limits. had he lived twenty years longer, it is probable that the seven provinces would have been seventeen; and that the spanish title would have been for ever extinguished both in nether germany and celtic gaul. although there was to be the length of two human generations more of warfare ere spain acknowledged the new government, yet before the termination of that period the united states had become the first naval power and one of the most considerable commonwealths in the world; while the civil and religious liberty, the political independence of the land, together with the total expulsion of the ancient foreign tyranny from the soil, had been achieved ere the eyes of william were closed. the republic existed, in fact, from the moment of the abjuration in . the most important features of the polity which thus assumed a prominent organization have been already indicated. there was no revolution, no radical change. the ancient rugged tree of netherland liberty--with its moss-grown trunk, gnarled branches, and deep-reaching roots--which had been slowly growing for ages, was still full of sap, and was to deposit for centuries longer its annual rings of consolidated and concentric strength. though lopped of some luxuriant boughs, it was sound at the core, and destined for a still larger life than even in the healthiest moments of its mediveval existence. the history of the rise of the netherland republic has been at the same time the biography of william the silent. this, while it gives unity to the narrative, renders an elaborate description of his character superfluous. that life was a noble christian epic; inspired with one great purpose from its commencement to its close; the stream flowing ever from one fountain with expanding fulness, but retaining all its original pity. a few general observations are all which are necessary by way of conclusion. in person, orange was above the middle height, perfectly well made and sinewy, but rather spare than stout. his eyes, hair, beard, and complexion were brown. his head was small, symmetrically-shaped, combining the alertness and compactness characteristic of the soldier; with the capacious brow furrowed prematurely with the horizontal lines of thought, denoting the statesman and the sage. his physical appearance was, therefore, in harmony, with his organization, which was of antique model. of his moral qualities, the most prominent was his piety. he was more than anything else a religious man. from his trust in god, he ever derived support and consolation in the darkest hours. implicitly relying upon almighty wisdom and goodness, he looked danger in the face with a constant smile, and endured incessant labors and trials with a serenity which seemed more than human. while, however, his soul was full of piety, it was tolerant of error. sincerely and deliberately himself a convert to the reformed church, he was ready to extend freedom of worship to catholics on the one hand, and to anabaptists on the other, for no man ever felt more keenly than he, that the reformer who becomes in his turn a bigot is doubly odious. his firmness was allied to his piety. his constancy in bearing the whole weight of struggle as unequal as men have ever undertaken, was the theme of admiration even to his enemies. the rock in the ocean, "tranquil amid raging billows," was the favorite emblem by which his friends expressed, their sense of his firmness. from the time when, as a hostage in france, he first discovered the plan of philip to plant the inquisition in the netherlands, up to the last moment of his life, he never faltered in his determination to resist that iniquitous scheme. this resistance was the labor of his life. to exclude the inquisition; to maintain the ancient liberties of his country, was the task which he appointed to himself when a youth of three-and-twenty. never speaking a word concerning a heavenly mission, never deluding himself or others with the usual phraseology of enthusiasts, he accomplished the task, through danger, amid toils, and with sacrifices such as few men have ever been able to make on their country's altar; for the disinterested benevolence of the man was as prominent as his fortitude. a prince of high rank, and, with royal revenues, he stripped himself of station, wealth, almost at times of the common necessaries of life, and became, in his country's cause, nearly a beggar as well as an outlaw. nor was he forced into his career by an accidental impulse from which there was no recovery. retreat was ever open to him. not only pardon but advancement was urged upon him again and again. officially and privately, directly and circuitously, his confiscated estates, together with indefinite and boundless favors in addition, were offered to him on every great occasion. on the arrival of don john, at the breda negotiations, at the cologne conferences, we have seen how calmly these offers were waved aside, as if their rejection was so simple that it hardly required many words for its signification, yet he had mortgaged his estates so deeply that his heirs hesitated at accepting their inheritance, for fear it should involve them in debt. ten years after his death, the account between his executors and his brother john amounted to one million four hundred thousand florins--due to the count, secured by various pledges of real and personal property; and it was finally settled upon this basis. he was besides largely indebted to every one of his powerful relatives, so that the payment of the incumbrances upon his estate very nearly justified the fears of his children. while on the one hand, therefore, he poured out these enormous sums like water, and firmly refused a hearing to the tempting offers of the royal government, upon the other hand he proved the disinterested nature of his services by declining, year after year, the sovereignty over the provinces; and by only accepting, in the last days of his life, when refusal had become almost impossible, the limited, constitutional supremacy over that portion of them which now makes the realm of his descendants. he lived and died, not for himself, but for his country: "god pity this poor people!" were his dying words. his intellectual faculties were various and of the highest order. he had the exact, practical, and combining qualities which make the great commander, and his friends claimed that, in military genius, he was second to no captain in europe. this was, no doubt, an exaggeration of partial attachment, but it is certain that the emperor charles had an exalted opinion of his capacity for the field. his fortification of philippeville and charlemont, in the face of the enemy his passage of the meuse in alva's sight--his unfortunate but well-ordered campaign against that general--his sublime plan of relief, projected and successfully directed at last from his sick bed, for the besieged city of leyden--will always remain monuments of his practical military skill. of the soldier's great virtues--constancy in disaster, devotion to duty, hopefulness in defeat--no man ever possessed a larger share. he arrived, through a series of reverses, at a perfect victory. he planted a free commonwealth under the very battery of the inquisition, in defiance of the most powerful empire existing. he was therefore a conqueror in the loftiest sense, for he conquered liberty and a national existence for a whole people. the contest was long, and he fell in the struggle, but the victory was to the dead hero, not to the living monarch. it is to be remembered, too, that he always wrought with inferior instruments. his troops were usually mercenaries, who were but too apt to mutiny upon the eve of battle, while he was opposed by the most formidable veterans of europe, commanded successively by the first captains of the age. that, with no lieutenant of eminent valor or experience, save only his brother louis, and with none at all after that chieftain's death, william of orange should succeed in baffling the efforts of alva, requesens, don john of austria, and alexander farnese--men whose names are among the most brilliant in the military annals of the world--is in itself, sufficient evidence of his warlike ability. at the period of his death he had reduced the number of obedient provinces to two; only artois and hainault acknowledging philip, while the other fifteen were in open revolt, the greater part having solemnly forsworn their sovereign. the supremacy of his political genius was entirely beyond question. he was the first statesman of the age. the quickness of his perception was only equalled by the caution which enabled him to mature the results of his observations. his knowledge of human nature was profound. he governed the passions and sentiments of a great nation as if they had been but the keys and chords of one vast instrument; and his hand rarely failed to evoke harmony even out of the wildest storms. the turbulent city of ghent, which could obey no other master, which even the haughty emperor could only crush without controlling, was ever responsive to the master-hand of orange. his presence scared away imbize and his bat-like crew, confounded the schemes of john casimir, frustrated the wiles of prince chimay, and while he lived, ghent was what it ought always to have remained, the bulwark, as it had been the cradle, of popular liberty. after his death it became its tomb. ghent, saved thrice by the policy, the eloquence, the self-sacrifices of orange, fell within three months of his murder into the hands of parma. the loss of this most important city, followed in the next year by the downfall of antwerp, sealed the fate of the southern netherlands. had the prince lived, how different might have been the country's fate! if seven provinces could dilate, in so brief a space, into the powerful commonwealth which the republic soon became, what might not have been achieved by the united seventeen; a confederacy which would have united the adamantine vigor of the batavian and frisian races with the subtler, more delicate, and more graceful national elements in which the genius of the frank, the roman, and the romanized celt were so intimately blended. as long as the father of the country lived, such a union was possible. his power of managing men was so unquestionable, that there was always a hope, even in the darkest hour, for men felt implicit reliance, as well on his intellectual resources as on his integrity. this power of dealing with his fellow-men he manifested in the various ways in which it has been usually exhibited by statesmen. he possessed a ready eloquence--sometimes impassioned, oftener argumentative, always rational. his influence over his audience was unexampled in the annals of that country or age; yet he never condescended to flatter the people. he never followed the nation, but always led her in the path of duty and of honor, and was much more prone to rebuke the vices than to pander to the passions of his hearers. he never failed to administer ample chastisement to parsimony, to jealousy, to insubordination, to intolerance, to infidelity, wherever it was due, nor feared to confront the states or the people in their most angry hours, and to tell them the truth to their faces. this commanding position he alone could stand upon, for his countrymen knew the generosity which had sacrificed his all for them, the self-denial which had eluded rather than sought political advancement, whether from king or people, and the untiring devotion which had consecrated a whole life to toil and danger in the cause of their emancipation. while, therefore, he was ever ready to rebuke, and always too honest to flatter, he at the same time possessed the eloquence which could convince or persuade. he knew how to reach both the mind and the heart of his hearers. his orations, whether extemporaneous or prepared--his written messages to the states-general, to the provincial authorities, to the municipal bodies--his private correspondence with men of all ranks, from emperors and kings down to secretaries, and even children--all show an easy flow of language, a fulness of thought, a power of expression rare in that age, a fund of historical allusion, a considerable power of imagination, a warmth of sentiment, a breadth of view, a directness of purpose--a range of qualities, in short, which would in themselves have stamped him as one of the master-minds of his century, had there been no other monument to his memory than the remains of his spoken or written eloquence. the bulk of his performances in this department was prodigious. not even philip was more industrious in the cabinet. not even granvelle held a more facile pen. he wrote and spoke equally well in french german, or flemish; and he possessed, besides; spanish, italian, latin. the weight of his correspondence alone would have almost sufficed for the common industry of a lifetime, and although many volumes of his speeches and, letters have been published, there remain in the various archives of the netherlands and germany many documents from his hand which will probably never see the light. if the capacity for unremitted intellectual labor in an honorable cause be the measure of human greatness, few minds could be compared to the "large composition" of this man. the efforts made to destroy the netherlands by the most laborious and painstaking of tyrants were counteracted by the industry of the most indefatigable of patriots. thus his eloquence, oral or written, gave him almost boundless power over his countrymen. he possessed, also, a rare perception of human character, together with an iron memory which never lost a face, a place, or an event, once seen or known. he read the minds even the faces of men, like printed books. no man could overreach him, excepting only those to whom he gave his heart. he might be mistaken where he had confided, never where he had been distrustful or indifferent. he was deceived by renneberg, by his brother-in-law van den berg, by the duke of anjou. had it been possible for his brother louis or his brother john to have proved false, he might have been deceived by them. he was never outwitted by philip, or granvelle, or don john, or alexander of parma. anna of saxony was false to him; and entered into correspondence with the royal governors and with the king of spain; charlotte of bourbon or louisa de coligny might have done the same had it been possible for their natures also to descend to such depths of guile. as for the aerschots, the havres, the chimays, he was never influenced either by their blandishments or their plots. he was willing to use them when their interest made them friendly, or to crush them when their intrigues against his policy rendered them dangerous. the adroitness with which he converted their schemes in behalf of matthias, of don john, of anjou, into so many additional weapons for his own cause, can never be too often studied. it is instructive to observe the wiles of the macchiavelian school employed by a master of the craft, to frustrate, not to advance, a knavish purpose. this character, in a great measure, marked his whole policy. he was profoundly skilled in the subtleties of italian statesmanship, which he had learned as a youth at the imperial court, and which he employed in his manhood in the service, not of tyranny, but of liberty. he fought the inquisition with its own weapons. he dealt with philip on his own ground. he excavated the earth beneath the king's feet by a more subtle process than that practised by the most fraudulent monarch that ever governed the spanish empire, and philip, chain-mailed as he was in complicated wiles, was pierced to the quick by a keener policy than his own. ten years long the king placed daily his most secret letters in hands which regularly transmitted copies of the correspondence to the prince of orange, together with a key to the ciphers and every other illustration which might be required. thus the secrets of the king were always as well known to orange as to himself; and the prince being as prompt as philip was hesitating, the schemes could often be frustrated before their execution had been commenced. the crime of the unfortunate clerk, john de castillo, was discovered in the autumn of the year , and he was torn to pieces by four horses. perhaps his treason to the monarch whose bread he was eating, while he received a regular salary from the king's most determined foe, deserved even this horrible punishment, but casuists must determine how much guilt attaches to the prince for his share in the transaction. this history is not the eulogy of orange, although, in discussing his character, it is difficult to avoid the monotony of panegyric. judged by a severe moral standard, it cannot be called virtuous or honorable to suborn treachery or any other crime, even to accomplish a lofty purpose; yet the universal practice of mankind in all ages has tolerated the artifices of war, and no people has ever engaged in a holier or more mortal contest than did the netherlands in their great struggle with spain. orange possessed the rare quality of caution, a characteristic by which he was distinguished from his youth. at fifteen he was the confidential counsellor, as at twenty-one he became the general-in-chief, to the most politic, as well as the most warlike potentate of his age, and if he at times indulged in wiles which modern statesmanship, even while it practises, condemns, he ever held in his hand the clue of an honorable purpose to guide him through the tortuous labyrinth. it is difficult to find any other characteristic deserving of grave censure, but his enemies have adopted a simpler process. they have been able to find few flaws in his nature, and therefore have denounced it in gross. it is not that his character was here and there defective, but that the eternal jewel was false. the patriotism was counterfeit; the self-abnegation and the generosity were counterfeit. he was governed only by ambition--by a desire of personal advancement. they never attempted to deny his talents, his industry, his vast sacrifices of wealth and station; but they ridiculed the idea that he could have been inspired by any but unworthy motives. god alone knows the heart of man. he alone can unweave the tangled skein of human motives, and detect the hidden springs of human action, but as far as can be judged by a careful observation of undisputed facts, and by a diligent collation of public and private documents, it would seem that no man--not even washington--has ever been inspired by a purer patriotism. at any rate, the charge of ambition and self-seeking can only be answered by a reference to the whole picture which these volumes have attempted to portray. the words, the deeds of the man are there. as much as possible, his inmost soul is revealed in his confidential letters, and he who looks in a right spirit will hardly fail to find what he desires. whether originally of a timid temperament or not, he was certainly possessed of perfect courage at last. in siege and battle--in the deadly air of pestilential cities--in the long exhaustion of mind and body which comes from unduly protracted labor and anxiety--amid the countless conspiracies of assassins--he was daily exposed to death in every shape. within two years, five different attempts against his life had been discovered. rank and fortune were offered to any malefactor who would compass the murder. he had already been shot through the head, and almost mortally wounded. under such circumstances even a brave man might have seen a pitfall at every step, a dagger in every hand, and poison in every cup. on the contrary, he was ever cheerful, and hardly took more precaution than usual. "god in his mercy," said he, with unaffected simplicity, "will maintain my innocence and my honor during my life and in future ages. as to my fortune and my life, i have dedicated both, long since, to his service. he will do therewith what pleases him for his glory and my salvation." thus his suspicions were not even excited by the ominous face of gerard, when he first presented himself at the dining-room door. the prince laughed off his wife's prophetic apprehension at the sight of his murderer, and was as cheerful as usual to the last. he possessed, too, that which to the heathen philosopher seemed the greatest good--the sound mind in the sound body. his physical frame was after death found so perfect that a long life might have been in store for him, notwithstanding all which he had endured. the desperate illness of , the frightful gunshot wound inflicted by jaureguy in , had left no traces. the physicians pronounced that his body presented an aspect of perfect health. his temperament was cheerful. at table, the pleasures of which, in moderation, were his only relaxation, he was always animated and merry, and this jocoseness was partly natural, partly intentional. in the darkest hours of his country's trial, he affected a serenity which he was far from feeling, so that his apparent gaiety at momentous epochs was even censured by dullards, who could not comprehend its philosophy, nor applaud the flippancy of william the silent. he went through life bearing the load of a people's sorrows upon his shoulders with a smiling face. their name was the last word upon his lips, save the simple affirmative, with which the soldier who had been battling for the right all his lifetime, commended his soul in dying "to his great captain, christ." the people were grateful and affectionate, for they trusted the character of their "father william," and not all the clouds which calumny could collect ever dimmed to their eyes the radiance of that lofty mind to which they were accustomed, in their darkest calamities, to look for light. as long as he lived, he was the guiding-star of a whole brave nation, and when he died the little children cried in the streets. etext editor's bookmarks: bribed the deity forgiving spirit on the part of the malefactor great error of despising their enemy mistake to stumble a second time over the same stone modern statesmanship, even while it practises, condemns preferred an open enemy to a treacherous protector reformer who becomes in his turn a bigot is doubly odious unremitted intellectual labor in an honorable cause usual phraseology of enthusiasts writing letters full of injured innocence etext editor's bookmarks, rise of the dutch republic, - a terrible animal, indeed, is an unbridled woman a good lawyer is a bad christian a most fatal success a common hatred united them, for a time at least absurd affectation of candor agreements were valid only until he should repent all the majesty which decoration could impart all protestants were beheaded, burned, or buried alive all claimed the privilege of persecuting always less apt to complain of irrevocable events amuse them with this peace negotiation are apt to discharge such obligations--(by) ingratitude arrive at their end by fraud, when violence will not avail them as the old woman had told the emperor adrian attachment to a half-drowned land and to a despised religion barbara blomberg, washerwoman of ratisbon beautiful damsel, who certainly did not lack suitors believed in the blessed advent of peace blessing of god upon the devil's work breath, time, and paper were profusely wasted and nothing gained bribed the deity care neither for words nor menaces in any matter character of brave men to act, not to expect claimed the praise of moderation that their demands were so few colonel ysselstein, "dismissed for a homicide or two" compassing a country's emancipation through a series of defeats conflicting claims of prerogative and conscience confused conferences, where neither party was entirely sincere country would bear his loss with fortitude customary oaths, to be kept with the customary conscientiousness daily widening schism between lutherans and calvinists deadliest of sins, the liberty of conscience difficult for one friend to advise another in three matters distinguished for his courage, his cruelty, and his corpulence don john of austria don john was at liberty to be king of england and scotland dying at so very inconvenient a moment eight thousand human beings were murdered establish not freedom for calvinism, but freedom for conscience everything was conceded, but nothing was secured fanatics of the new religion denounced him as a godless man ferocity which even christians could not have surpassed forgiving spirit on the part of the malefactor glory could be put neither into pocket nor stomach god has given absolute power to no mortal man great error of despising their enemy happy to glass themselves in so brilliant a mirror he had never enjoyed social converse, except at long intervals he would have no calvinist inquisition set up in its place he would have no persecution of the opposite creed his personal graces, for the moment, took the rank of virtues hope delayed was but a cold and meagre consolation human ingenuity to inflict human misery i regard my country's profit, not my own imagined, and did the work of truth in character and general talents he was beneath mediocrity indecision did the work of indolence insinuate that his orders had been hitherto misunderstood it is not desirable to disturb much of that learned dust its humility, seemed sufficiently ironical judas maccabaeus king set a price upon his head as a rebel like a man holding a wolf by the ears local self-government which is the life-blood of liberty logical and historical argument of unmerciful length made no breach in royal and roman infallibility mankind were naturally inclined to calumny men were loud in reproof, who had been silent mistake to stumble a second time over the same stone modern statesmanship, even while it practises, condemns more easily, as he had no intention of keeping the promise natural to judge only by the result necessary to make a virtue of necessity neither wished the convocation, while both affected an eagerness neither ambitious nor greedy no man ever understood the art of bribery more thoroughly no authority over an army which they did not pay no man could reveal secrets which he did not know not so successful as he was picturesque not upon words but upon actions not to fall asleep in the shade of a peace negotiation nothing was so powerful as religious difference of high rank but of lamentably low capacity on the first day four thousand men and women were slaughtered one-half to philip and one-half to the pope and venice (slaves) our pot had not gone to the fire as often peace was desirable, it might be more dangerous than war peace, in reality, was war in its worst shape perfection of insolence plundering the country which they came to protect pope excommunicated him as a heretic power grudged rather than given to the deputies preferred an open enemy to a treacherous protector presumption in entitling themselves christian preventing wrong, or violence, even towards an enemy proposition made by the wolves to the sheep, in the fable protect the common tranquillity by blood, purse, and life quite mistaken: in supposing himself the emperor's child rebuked the bigotry which had already grown reformer who becomes in his turn a bigot is doubly odious reformers were capable of giving a lesson even to inquisitors republic, which lasted two centuries result was both to abandon the provinces and to offend philip sentimentality that seems highly apocryphal she knew too well how women were treated in that country superfluous sarcasm suppress the exercise of the roman religion taxes upon income and upon consumption the disunited provinces the more conclusive arbitration of gunpowder there is no man who does not desire to enjoy his own they could not invent or imagine toleration those who "sought to swim between two waters" those who fish in troubled waters only to fill their own nets throw the cat against their legs to hear the last solemn commonplaces toleration thought the deadliest heresy of all unduly dejected in adversity unremitted intellectual labor in an honorable cause usual phraseology of enthusiasts uunmeaning phrases of barren benignity volatile word was thought preferable to the permanent letter was it astonishing that murder was more common than fidelity? word-mongers who, could clothe one shivering thought worn crescents in their caps at leyden worship god according to the dictates of his conscience writing letters full of injured innocence etext editor's bookmarks the dutch republic, - , complete: , the last year of peace a country disinherited by nature of its rights a pleasantry called voluntary contributions or benevolences a good lawyer is a bad christian a terrible animal, indeed, is an unbridled woman a common hatred united them, for a time at least a most fatal success absolution for incest was afforded at thirty-six livres absurd affectation of candor achieved the greatness to which they had not been born advancing age diminished his tendency to other carnal pleasures advised his majesty to bestow an annual bribe upon lord burleigh affecting to discredit them age when toleration was a vice agreements were valid only until he should repent all offices were sold to the highest bidder all denounced the image-breaking all his disciples and converts are to be punished with death all the majesty which decoration could impart all reading of the scriptures (forbidden) all protestants were beheaded, burned, or buried alive all claimed the privilege of persecuting altercation between luther and erasmus, upon predestination always less apt to complain of irrevocable events amuse them with this peace negotiation an hereditary papacy, a perpetual pope-emperor an inspiring and delightful recreation (auto-da-fe) an age when to think was a crime angle with their dissimulation as with a hook announced his approaching marriage with the virgin mary annual harvest of iniquity by which his revenue was increased anxiety to do nothing wrong, the senators did nothing at all are apt to discharge such obligations--(by) ingratitude arrested on suspicion, tortured till confession arrive at their end by fraud, when violence will not avail them as ready as papists, with age, fagot, and excommunication as the old woman had told the emperor adrian attachment to a half-drowned land and to a despised religion attacking the authority of the pope attempting to swim in two waters barbara blomberg, washerwoman of ratisbon batavian legion was the imperial body guard beating the netherlanders into christianity beautiful damsel, who certainly did not lack suitors before morning they had sacked thirty churches beggars of the sea, as these privateersmen designated themselves believed in the blessed advent of peace bigotry which was the prevailing characteristic of the age bishop is a consecrated pirate blessing of god upon the devil's work bold reformer had only a new dogma in place of the old ones breath, time, and paper were profusely wasted and nothing gained brethren, parents, and children, having wives in common bribed the deity burned alive if they objected to transubstantiation burned, strangled, beheaded, or buried alive ( , ) business of an officer to fight, of a general to conquer care neither for words nor menaces in any matter character of brave men to act, not to expect charles the fifth autocrat of half the world claimed the praise of moderation that their demands were so few colonel ysselstein, "dismissed for a homicide or two" compassing a country's emancipation through a series of defeats conde and coligny condemning all heretics to death conflicting claims of prerogative and conscience confused conferences, where neither party was entirely sincere consign to the flames all prisoners whatever (papal letter) constitutional governments, move in the daylight consumer would pay the tax, supposing it were ever paid at all country would bear his loss with fortitude courage of despair inflamed the french craft meaning, simply, strength crescents in their caps: rather turkish than popish criminal whose guilt had been established by the hot iron criminals buying paradise for money cruelties exercised upon monks and papists crusades made great improvement in the condition of the serfs customary oaths, to be kept with the customary conscientiousness daily widening schism between lutherans and calvinists deadliest of sins, the liberty of conscience decrees for burning, strangling, and burying alive deeply criminal in the eyes of all religious parties democratic instincts of the ancient german savages denies the utility of prayers for the dead despot by birth and inclination (charles v.) difference between liberties and liberty difficult for one friend to advise another in three matters dispute between luther and zwingli concerning the real presence dissenters were as bigoted as the orthodox dissimulation and delay distinguished for his courage, his cruelty, and his corpulence divine right don john of austria don john was at liberty to be king of england and scotland drank of the water in which, he had washed dying at so very inconvenient a moment eight thousand human beings were murdered endure every hardship but hunger english puritans enormous wealth (of the church) which engendered the hatred enriched generation after generation by wealthy penitence enthusiasm could not supply the place of experience envying those whose sufferings had already been terminated erasmus encourages the bold friar erasmus of rotterdam establish not freedom for calvinism, but freedom for conscience even for the rape of god's mother, if that were possible ever-swarming nurseries of mercenary warriors everything was conceded, but nothing was secured excited with the appearance of a gem of true philosophy executions of huss and jerome of prague fable of divine right is invented to sanction the system fanatics of the new religion denounced him as a godless man felix mants, the anabaptist, is drowned at zurich ferocity which even christians could not have surpassed few, even prelates were very dutiful to the pope fiction of apostolic authority to bind and loose fifty thousand persons in the provinces (put to death) financial opposition to tyranny is apt to be unanimous fishermen and river raftsmen become ocean adventurers for myself i am unworthy of the honor (of martyrdom) for faithful service, evil recompense for women to lament, for men to remember forbids all private assemblies for devotion force clerical--the power of clerks forgiving spirit on the part of the malefactor furious fanaticism furnished, in addition, with a force of two thousand prostitutes gallant and ill-fated lamoral egmont gaul derided the roman soldiers as a band of pigmies german finds himself sober--he believes himself ill glory could be put neither into pocket nor stomach god has given absolute power to no mortal man god save the king! it was the last time govern under the appearance of obeying great privilege, the magna charta of holland great transactions of a reign are sometimes paltry things great science of political equilibrium great error of despising their enemy great battles often leave the world where they found it guarantees of forgiveness for every imaginable sin habeas corpus hair and beard unshorn, according to ancient batavian custom halcyon days of ban, book and candle hanged for having eaten meat-soup upon friday happy to glass themselves in so brilliant a mirror having conjugated his paradigm conscientiously he did his best to be friends with all the world he came as a conqueror not as a mediator he would have no persecution of the opposite creed he would have no calvinist inquisition set up in its place he had never enjoyed social converse, except at long intervals he knew men, especially he knew their weaknesses he had omitted to execute heretics heresy was a plant of early growth in the netherlands his imagination may have assisted his memory in the task his personal graces, for the moment, took the rank of virtues history shows how feeble are barriers of paper holland, england, and america, are all links of one chain holy office condemned all the inhabitants of the netherlands hope delayed was but a cold and meagre consolation hope deferred, suddenly changing to despair human ingenuity to inflict human misery i would carry the wood to burn my own son withal i regard my country's profit, not my own if he had little, he could live upon little imagined, and did the work of truth in holland, the clergy had neither influence nor seats in character and general talents he was beneath mediocrity incur the risk of being charged with forwardness than neglect indecision did the work of indolence indignant that heretics had been suffered to hang informer, in case of conviction, should be entitled to one half inquisition was not a fit subject for a compromise inquisition of the netherlands is much more pitiless insane cruelty, both in the cause of the wrong and the right insinuate that his orders had been hitherto misunderstood insinuating suspicions when unable to furnish evidence invented such christian formulas as these (a curse) inventing long speeches for historical characters it is not desirable to disturb much of that learned dust its humility, seemed sufficiently ironical judas maccabaeus july st, two augustine monks were burned at brussels king set a price upon his head as a rebel king of zion to be pinched to death with red-hot tongs labored under the disadvantage of never having existed learn to tremble as little at priestcraft as at swordcraft leave not a single man alive in the city, and to burn every house let us fool these poor creatures to their heart's content licences accorded by the crown to carry slaves to america like a man holding a wolf by the ears little grievances would sometimes inflame more than vast local self-government which is the life-blood of liberty logical and historical argument of unmerciful length long succession of so many illustrious obscure look through the cloud of dissimulation luther's axiom, that thoughts are toll-free lutheran princes of germany, detested the doctrines of geneva made no breach in royal and roman infallibility made to swing to and fro over a slow fire maintaining the attitude of an injured but forgiving christian man had only natural wrongs (no natural rights) mankind were naturally inclined to calumny many greedy priests, of lower rank, had turned shop-keepers meantime the second civil war in france had broken out men were loud in reproof, who had been silent mistake to stumble a second time over the same stone modern statesmanship, even while it practises, condemns monasteries, burned their invaluable libraries more accustomed to do well than to speak well more easily, as he had no intention of keeping the promise natural to judge only by the result necessary to make a virtue of necessity neither wished the convocation, while both affected an eagerness neither ambitious nor greedy no qualities whatever but birth and audacity to recommend him no man could reveal secrets which he did not know no law but the law of the longest purse no calumny was too senseless to be invented no one can testify but a householder no man ever understood the art of bribery more thoroughly no authority over an army which they did not pay not strong enough to sustain many more such victories not to fall asleep in the shade of a peace negotiation not for a new doctrine, but for liberty of conscience not to let the grass grow under their feet not so successful as he was picturesque not upon words but upon actions not of the stuff of which martyrs are made (erasmus) nothing was so powerful as religious difference notre dame at antwerp nowhere was the persecution of heretics more relentless obstinate, of both sexes, to be burned of high rank but of lamentably low capacity often much tyranny in democracy oldenbarneveld; afterwards so illustrious on the first day four thousand men and women were slaughtered one-half to philip and one-half to the pope and venice (slaves) one golden grain of wit into a sheet of infinite platitude only kept alive by milk, which he drank from a woman's breast only healthy existence of the french was in a state of war orator was, however, delighted with his own performance others go to battle, says the historian, these go to war our pot had not gone to the fire as often panegyrists of royal houses in the sixteenth century pardon for crimes already committed, or about to be committed pardon for murder, if not by poison, was cheaper pathetic dying words of anne boleyn paying their passage through, purgatory peace, in reality, was war in its worst shape peace was desirable, it might be more dangerous than war perfection of insolence perpetually dropping small innuendos like pebbles persons who discussed religious matters were to be put to death petty passion for contemptible details philip, who did not often say a great deal in a few words planted the inquisition in the netherlands plundering the country which they came to protect poisoning, for example, was absolved for eleven ducats pope and emperor maintain both positions with equal logic pope excommunicated him as a heretic power to read and write helped the clergy to much wealth power grudged rather than given to the deputies preferred an open enemy to a treacherous protector premature zeal was prejudicial to the cause presumption in entitling themselves christian preventing wrong, or violence, even towards an enemy procrastination was always his first refuge promises which he knew to be binding only upon the weak proposition made by the wolves to the sheep, in the fable protect the common tranquillity by blood, purse, and life provided not one huguenot be left alive in france purchased absolution for crime and smoothed a pathway to heaven put all those to the torture out of whom anything can be got questioning nothing, doubting nothing, fearing nothing quite mistaken: in supposing himself the emperor's child rashness alternating with hesitation readiness to strike and bleed at any moment in her cause rearing gorgeous temples where paupers are to kneel rebuked the bigotry which had already grown reformer who becomes in his turn a bigot is doubly odious reformers were capable of giving a lesson even to inquisitors repentant females to be buried alive repentant males to be executed with the sword republic, which lasted two centuries result was both to abandon the provinces and to offend philip revocable benefices or feuds ruinous honors saint bartholomew's day sale of absolutions was the source of large fortunes to the priests same conjury over ignorant baron and cowardly hind scaffold was the sole refuge from the rack scepticism, which delights in reversing the judgment of centuries schism which existed in the general reformed church science of reigning was the science of lying scoffing at the ceremonies and sacraments of the church secret drowning was substituted for public burning sent them word by carrier pigeons sentimentality that seems highly apocryphal seven spaniards were killed, and seven thousand rebels sharpened the punishment for reading the scriptures in private she knew too well how women were treated in that country sick and wounded wretches were burned over slow fires slavery was both voluntary and compulsory slender stock of platitudes so much responsibility and so little power soldier of the cross was free upon his return sometimes successful, even although founded upon sincerity sonnets of petrarch sovereignty was heaven-born, anointed of god spendthrift of time, he was an economist of blood st. bartholomew was to sleep for seven years longer st. peter's dome rising a little nearer to the clouds storm by which all these treasures were destroyed (in days) superfluous sarcasm suppress the exercise of the roman religion tanchelyn taxation upon sin taxes upon income and upon consumption ten thousand two hundred and twenty individuals were burned that vile and mischievous animal called the people the noblest and richest temple of the netherlands was a wreck the gaul was singularly unchaste the vivifying becomes afterwards the dissolving principle the bad duke of burgundy, philip surnamed "the good," the greatest crime, however, was to be rich the more conclusive arbitration of gunpowder the disunited provinces the faithful servant is always a perpetual ass the time for reasoning had passed the perpetual reproductions of history the egg had been laid by erasmus, hatched by luther the illness was a convenient one the calf is fat and must be killed the tragedy of don carlos there is no man who does not desire to enjoy his own these human victims, chained and burning at the stake they could not invent or imagine toleration they had at last burned one more preacher alive those who "sought to swim between two waters" those who fish in troubled waters only to fill their own nets thousands of burned heretics had not made a single convert three hundred fighting women throw the cat against their legs thus hand-werpen, hand-throwing, became antwerp time and myself are two to think it capable of error, is the most devilish heresy of all to hear the last solemn commonplaces to prefer poverty to the wealth attendant upon trade toleration thought the deadliest heresy of all torquemada's administration (of the inquisition) tranquillity of despotism to the turbulence of freedom two witnesses sent him to the stake, one witness to the rack tyrannical spirit of calvinism tyranny, ever young and ever old, constantly reproducing herself understood the art of managing men, particularly his superiors unduly dejected in adversity unremitted intellectual labor in an honorable cause upon one day twenty-eight master cooks were dismissed usual phraseology of enthusiasts uunmeaning phrases of barren benignity villagers, or villeins volatile word was thought preferable to the permanent letter was it astonishing that murder was more common than fidelity? we believe our mothers to have been honest women we are beginning to be vexed wealth was an unpardonable sin weep oftener for her children than is the usual lot of mothers when the abbot has dice in his pocket, the convent will play who loved their possessions better than their creed william of nassau, prince of orange wiser simply to satisfy himself wonder equally at human capacity to inflict and to endure misery word-mongers who, could clothe one shivering thought worn crescents in their caps at leyden worship god according to the dictates of his conscience would not help to burn fifty or sixty thousand netherlanders writing letters full of injured innocence history of the united netherlands, - , complete from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce volume i. by john lothrop motley preface. the indulgence with which the history of the rise of the dutch republic was received has encouraged me to prosecute my task with renewed industry. a single word seems necessary to explain the somewhat increased proportions which the present work has assumed over the original design. the intimate connection which was formed between the kingdom of england and the republic of holland, immediately after the death of william the silent, rendered the history and the fate of the two commonwealths for a season almost identical. the years of anxiety and suspense during which the great spanish project for subjugating england and reconquering the netherlands, by the same invasion, was slowly matured, were of deepest import for the future destiny of those two countries, and for the cause of national liberty. the deep-laid conspiracy of spain and rome against human rights deserves to be patiently examined, for it is one of the great lessons of history. the crisis was long and doubtful, and the health--perhaps the existence--of england and holland, and, with them, of a great part of christendom, was on the issue. history has few so fruitful examples of the dangers which come from superstition and despotism, and the blessings which flow from the maintenance of religious and political freedom, as those afforded by the struggle between england and holland on the one side, and spain and rome on the other, during the epoch which i have attempted to describe. it is for this reason that i have thought it necessary to reveal, as minutely as possible, the secret details of this conspiracy of king and priest against the people, and to show how it was baffled at last by the strong self-helping energy of two free nations combined. the period occupied by these two volumes is therefore a short one, when counted by years, for it begins in and ends with the commencement of . when estimated by the significance of events and their results for future ages, it will perhaps be deemed worthy of the close examination which it has received. with the year the crisis was past; england was safe, and the new dutch commonwealth was thoroughly organized. it is my design, in two additional volumes, which, with the two now published, will complete the present work, to carry the history of the republic down to the synod of dort. after this epoch the thirty years' war broke out in germany; and it is my wish, at a future day, to retrace the history of that eventful struggle, and to combine with it the civil and military events in holland, down to the epoch when the thirty years' war and the eighty years' war of the netherlands were both brought to a close by the peace of westphalia. the materials for the volumes now offered to the public were so abundant that it was almost impossible to condense them into smaller compass without doing injustice to the subject. it was desirable to throw full light on these prominent points of the history, while the law of historical perspective will allow long stretches of shadow in the succeeding portions, in which less important objects may be more slightly indicated. that i may not be thought capable of abusing the reader's confidence by inventing conversations, speeches, or letters, i would take this opportunity of stating--although i have repeated the remark in the foot-notes--that no personage in these pages is made to write or speak any words save those which, on the best historical evidence, he is known to have written or spoken. a brief allusion to my sources of information will not seem superfluous: i have carefully studied all the leading contemporary chronicles and pamphlets of holland, flanders, spain, france, germany, and england; but, as the authorities are always indicated in the notes, it is unnecessary to give a list of them here. but by far my most valuable materials are entirely unpublished ones. the archives of england are especially rich for the history of the sixteenth century; and it will be seen, in the course of the narrative, how largely i have drawn from those mines of historical wealth, the state paper office and the ms. department of the british museum. although both these great national depositories are in admirable order, it is to be regretted that they are not all embraced in one collection, as much trouble might then be spared to the historical student, who is now obliged to pass frequently from the one place to the other, in order to, find different portions of the same correspondence. from the royal archives of holland i have obtained many most important, entirely unpublished documents, by the aid of which i have endeavoured to verify, to illustrate, or sometimes to correct, the recitals of the elder national chroniclers; and i have derived the greatest profit from the invaluable series of archives and correspondence of the orange-nassau family, given to the world by m. groen van prinsterer. i desire to renew to that distinguished gentleman, and to that eminent scholar m. bakhuyzen van den brink, the expression of my gratitude for their constant kindness and advice during my residence at the hague. nothing can exceed the courtesy which has been extended to me in holland, and i am deeply grateful for the indulgence with which my efforts to illustrate the history of the country have been received where that history is best known. i have also been much aided by the study of a portion of the archives of simancas, the originals of which are in the archives de l'empire in paris, and which were most liberally laid before me through the kindness of m. le comte de la borde. i have, further; enjoyed an inestimable advantage in the perusal of the whole correspondence between philip ii., his ministers, and governors, relating to the affairs of the netherlands, from the epoch at which this work commences down to that monarch's death. copies of this correspondence have been carefully made from the originals at simancas by order of the belgian government, under the superintendence of the eminent archivist m. gachard, who has already published a synopsis or abridgment of a portion of it in a french translation. the translation and abridgment of so large a mass of papers, however, must necessarily occupy many years, and it may be long, therefore, before the whole of the correspondence--and particularly that portion of it relating to the epoch occupied by these volumes sees the light. it was, therefore, of the greatest importance for me to see the documents themselves unabridged and untranslated. this privilege has been accorded me, and i desire to express my thanks to his excellency m. van de weyer, the distinguished representative of belgium at the english court, to whose friendly offices i am mainly indebted for the satisfaction of my wishes in this respect. a letter from him to his excellency m. rogier, minister of the interior in belgium--who likewise took the most courteous interest in promoting my views--obtained for me the permission thoroughly to study this correspondence; and i passed several months in brussels, occupied with reading the whole of it from the year to the end of the reign of philip ii. i was thus saved a long visit to the archives of simancas, for it would be impossible conscientiously to write the history of the epoch without a thorough examination of the correspondence of the king and his ministers. i venture to hope, therefore--whatever judgment may be passed upon my own labours--that this work may be thought to possess an intrinsic value; for the various materials of which it is composed are original, and--so far as i am aware--have not been made use of by any historical writer. i would take this opportunity to repeat my thanks to m. gachard, archivist of the kingdom of belgium, for the uniform courtesy and kindness which i have received at his-hands, and to bear my testimony to the skill and critical accuracy with which he has illustrated so many passages of belgian and spanish history. , hertford-street, may-fair, november llth . the united netherlands. chapter i. murder of orange--extension of protestantism--vast power of spain-- religious origin of the revolt--disposal of the sovereignty--courage of the estates of holland--children of william the silent-- provisional council of state--firm attitude of holland and zeeland-- weakness of flanders--fall of ghent--adroitness of alexander farnese. william the silent, prince of orange, had been murdered on the th of july, . it is difficult to imagine a more universal disaster than the one thus brought about by the hand of a single obscure fanatic. for nearly twenty years the character of the prince had been expanding steadily as the difficulties of his situation increased. habit, necessity, and the natural gifts of the man, had combined to invest him at last with an authority which seemed more than human. there was such general confidence in his sagacity, courage, and purity, that the nation had come to think with his brain and to act with his hand. it was natural that, for an instant, there should be a feeling as of absolute and helpless paralysis. whatever his technical attributes in the polity of the netherlands--and it would be difficult to define them with perfect accuracy--there is no doubt that he stood there, the head of a commonwealth, in an attitude such as had been maintained by but few of the kings, or chiefs, or high priests of history. assassination, a regular and almost indispensable portion of the working machinery of philip's government, had produced, in this instance, after repeated disappointments, the result at last which had been so anxiously desired. the ban of the pope and the offered gold of the king had accomplished a victory greater than any yet achieved by the armies of spain, brilliant as had been their triumphs on the blood-stained soil of the netherlands. had that "exceeding proud, neat, and spruce" doctor of laws, william parry, who had been busying himself at about the same time with his memorable project against the queen of england, proved as successful as balthazar gerard, the fate of christendom would have been still darker. fortunately, that member of parliament had made the discovery in time--not for himself, but for elizabeth--that the "lord was better pleased with adverbs than nouns;" the well-known result being that the traitor was hanged and the sovereign saved. yet such was the condition of europe at that day. a small, dull, elderly, imperfectly-educated, patient, plodding invalid, with white hair and protruding under jaw, and dreary visage, was sitting day after day; seldom speaking, never smiling, seven or eight hours out of every twenty-four, at a writing table covered with heaps of interminable despatches, in a cabinet far away beyond the seas and mountains, in the very heart of spain. a clerk or two, noiselessly opening and shutting the door, from time to time, fetching fresh bundles of letters and taking away others--all written and composed by secretaries or high functionaries--and all to be scrawled over in the margin by the diligent old man in a big schoolboy's hand and style--if ever schoolboy, even in the sixteenth century, could write so illegibly or express himself so awkwardly; couriers in the court-yard arriving from or departing for the uttermost parts of earth-asia, africa america, europe-to fetch and carry these interminable epistles which contained the irresponsible commands of this one individual, and were freighted with the doom and destiny of countless millions of the world's inhabitants--such was the system of government against which the netherlands had protested and revolted. it was a system under which their fields had been made desolate, their cities burned and pillaged, their men hanged, burned, drowned, or hacked to pieces; their women subjected to every outrage; and to put an end to which they had been devoting their treasure and their blood for nearly the length of one generation. it was a system, too, which, among other results, had just brought about the death of the foremost statesman of europe, and had nearly effected simultaneously the murder of the most eminent sovereign in the world. the industrious philip, safe and tranquil in the depths of the escorial, saying his prayers three times a day with exemplary regularity, had just sent three bullets through the body of william the silent at his dining-room door in delft. "had it only been done two years earlier," observed the patient old man, "much trouble might have been spared me; but 'tis better late than never." sir edward stafford, english envoy in paris, wrote to his government--so soon as the news of the murder reached him--that, according to his information out of the spanish minister's own house, "the same practice that had been executed upon the prince of orange, there were practisers more than two or three about to execute upon her majesty, and that within two months." without vouching for the absolute accuracy of this intelligence, he implored the queen to be more upon her guard than ever. "for there is no doubt," said the envoy, "that she is a chief mark to shoot at; and seeing that there were men cunning enough to inchant a man and to encourage him to kill the prince of orange, in the midst of holland, and that there was a knave found desperate enough to do it, we must think hereafter that anything may be done. therefore god preserve her majesty." invisible as the grand lama of thibet, clothed with power as extensive and absolute as had ever been wielded by the most imperial caesar, philip the prudent, as he grew older and feebler in mind and body seemed to become more gluttonous of work, more ambitious to extend his sceptre over lands which he had never seen or dreamed of seeing, more fixed in his determination to annihilate that monster protestantism, which it had been the business of his life to combat, more eager to put to death every human creature, whether anointed monarch or humble artizan, that defended heresy or opposed his progress to universal empire. if this enormous power, this fabulous labour, had, been wielded or performed with a beneficent intention; if the man who seriously regarded himself as the owner of a third of the globe, with the inhabitants thereof, had attempted to deal with these extensive estates inherited from his ancestors with the honest intention of a thrifty landlord, an intelligent slave-owner, it would have yet been possible for a little longer to smile at the delusion, and endure the practice. but there was another old man, who lived in another palace in another remote land, who, in his capacity of representative of saint peter, claimed to dispose of all the kingdoms of the earth--and had been willing to bestow them upon the man who would go down and worship him. philip stood enfeoffed, by divine decree, of all america, the east indies, the whole spanish peninsula, the better portion of italy, the seventeen netherlands, and many other possessions far and near; and he contemplated annexing to this extensive property the kingdoms of france, of england, and ireland. the holy league, maintained by the sword of guise, the pope's ban, spanish ducats, italian condottieri, and german mercenaries, was to exterminate heresy and establish the spanish dominion in france. the same machinery, aided by the pistol or poniard of the assassin, was to substitute for english protestantism and england's queen the roman catholic religion and a foreign sovereign. "the holy league," said duplessis-mornay, one of the noblest characters of the age, "has destined us all to the name sacrifice. the ambition of the spaniard, which has overleaped so many lands and seas, thinks nothing inaccessible." the netherland revolt had therefore assumed world-wide proportions. had it been merely the rebellion of provinces against a sovereign, the importance of the struggle would have been more local and temporary. but the period was one in which the geographical land-marks of countries were almost removed. the dividing-line ran through every state, city, and almost every family. there was a country which believed in the absolute power of the church to dictate the relations between man and his maker, and to utterly exterminate all who disputed that position. there was another country which protested against that doctrine, and claimed, theoretically or practically, a liberty of conscience. the territory of these countries was mapped out by no visible lines, but the inhabitants of each, whether resident in france, germany, england, or flanders, recognised a relationship which took its root in deeper differences than those of race or language. it was not entirely a question of doctrine or dogma. a large portion of the world had become tired of the antiquated delusion of a papal supremacy over every land, and had recorded its determination, once for all, to have done with it. the transition to freedom of conscience became a necessary step, sooner or later to be taken. to establish the principle of toleration for all religions was an inevitable consequence of the dutch revolt; although thus far, perhaps only one conspicuous man in advance of his age had boldly announced that doctrine and had died in its defence. but a great true thought never dies--though long buried in the earth--and the day was to come, after long years, when the seed was to ripen into a harvest of civil and religious emancipation, and when the very word toleration was to sound like an insult and an absurdity. a vast responsibility rested upon the head of a monarch, placed as philip ii. found himself, at this great dividing point in modern history. to judge him, or any man in such a position, simply from his own point of view, is weak and illogical. history judges the man according to its point of view. it condemns or applauds the point of view itself. the point of view of a malefactor is not to excuse robbery and murder. nor is the spirit of the age to be pleaded in defence of the evil-doer at a time when mortals were divided into almost equal troops. the age of philip ii. was also the age of william of orange and his four brethren, of sainte aldegonde, of olden-barneveldt, of duplessis-mornay, la noue, coligny, of luther, melancthon, and calvin, walsingham, sidney, raleigh, queen elizabeth, of michael montaigne, and william shakspeare. it was not an age of blindness, but of glorious light. if the man whom the maker of the universe had permitted to be born to such boundless functions, chose to put out his own eyes that he might grope along his great pathway of duty in perpetual darkness, by his deeds he must be judged. the king perhaps firmly believed that the heretics of the netherlands, of france, or of england, could escape eternal perdition only by being extirpated from the earth by fire and sword, and therefore; perhaps, felt it his duty to devote his life to their extermination. but he believed, still more firmly, that his own political authority, throughout his dominions, and his road to almost universal empire, lay over the bodies of those heretics. three centuries have nearly past since this memorable epoch; and the world knows the fate of the states which accepted the dogma which it was philip's life-work to enforce, and of those who protested against the system. the spanish and italian peninsulas have had a different history from that which records the career of france, prussia, the dutch commonwealth, the british empire, the transatlantic republic. yet the contest between those seven meagre provinces upon the sand-banks of the north sea, and--the great spanish empire, seemed at the moment with which we are now occupied a sufficiently desperate one. throw a glance upon the map of europe. look at the broad magnificent spanish peninsula, stretching across eight degrees of latitude and ten of longitude, commanding the atlantic and the mediterranean, with a genial climate, warmed in winter by the vast furnace of africa, and protected from the scorching heats of summer by shady mountain and forest, and temperate breezes from either ocean. a generous southern territory, flowing with wine and oil, and all the richest gifts of a bountiful nature-splendid cities--the new and daily expanding madrid, rich in the trophies of the most artistic period of the modern world--cadiz, as populous at that day as london, seated by the straits where the ancient and modern systems of traffic were blending like the mingling of the two oceans--granada, the ancient wealthy seat of the fallen moors--toledo, valladolid, and lisbon, chief city of the recently-conquered kingdom of portugal, counting, with its suburbs, a larger population than any city, excepting paris, in europe, the mother of distant colonies, and the capital of the rapidly-developing traffic with both the indies--these were some of the treasures of spain herself. but she possessed sicily also, the better portion of italy, and important dependencies in africa, while the famous maritime discoveries of the age had all enured to her aggrandizement. the world seemed suddenly to have expanded its wings from east to west, only to bear the fortunate spanish empire to the most dizzy heights of wealth and power. the most accomplished generals, the most disciplined and daring infantry the world has ever known, the best-equipped and most extensive navy, royal and mercantile, of the age, were at the absolute command of the sovereign. such was spain. turn now to the north-western corner of europe. a morsel of territory, attached by a slight sand-hook to the continent, and half-submerged by the stormy waters of the german ocean--this was holland. a rude climate, with long, dark, rigorous, winters, and brief summers, a territory, the mere wash of three great rivers, which had fertilized happier portions of europe only to desolate and overwhelm this less-favoured land, a soil so ungrateful, that if the whole of its four hundred thousand acres of arable land had been sowed with grain, it could not feed the labourers alone, and a population largely estimated at one million of souls--these were the characteristics of the province which already had begun to give its name to the new commonwealth. the isles of zeeland--entangled in the coils of deep slow-moving rivers, or combating the ocean without--and the ancient episcopate of utrecht, formed the only other provinces that had quite shaken off the foreign yoke. in friesland, the important city of groningen was still held for the king, while bois-le-duc, zutphen, besides other places in gelderland and north brabant, also in possession of the royalists, made the position of those provinces precarious. the limit of the spanish or "obedient" provinces, on the one hand, and of the united provinces on the other, cannot, therefore, be briefly and distinctly stated. the memorable treason--or, as it was called, the "reconciliation" of the walloon provinces in the year - --had placed the provinces of hainault, arthois, douay, with the flourishing cities arran, valenciennes, lille, tournay, and others--all celtic flanders, in short-in the grasp of spain. cambray was still held by the french governor, seigneur de balagny, who had taken advantage of the duke of anjou's treachery to the states, to establish himself in an unrecognized but practical petty sovereignty, in defiance both of france and spain; while east flanders and south brabant still remained a disputed territory, and the immediate field of contest. with these limitations, it may be assumed, for general purposes, that the territory of the united states was that of the modern kingdom of the netherlands, while the obedient provinces occupied what is now the territory of belgium. such, then, were the combatants in the great eighty years' war for civil and religious liberty; sixteen of which had now passed away. on the one side, one of the most powerful and, populous world-empires of history, then in the zenith of its prosperity; on the other hand, a slender group of cities, governed by merchants and artisans, and planted precariously upon a meagre, unstable soil. a million and a half of souls against the autocrat of a third part of the known world. the contest seemed as desperate as the cause was certainly sacred; but it had ceased to be a local contest. for the history which is to occupy us in these volumes is not exclusively the history of holland. it is the story of the great combat between despotism, sacerdotal and regal, and the spirit of rational human liberty. the tragedy opened in the netherlands, and its main scenes were long enacted there; but as the ambition of spain expanded, and as the resistance to the principle which she represented became more general, other nations were, of necessity, involved in the struggle. there came to be one country, the citizens of which were the leaguers; and another country, whose inhabitants were protestants. and in this lay the distinction between freedom and absolutism. the religious question swallowed all the others. there was never a period in the early history of the dutch revolt when the provinces would not have returned to their obedience, could they have been assured of enjoying liberty of conscience or religious peace; nor was there ever a single moment in philip ii.'s life in which he wavered in his fixed determination never to listen to such a claim. the quarrel was in its nature irreconcilable and eternal as the warfare between wrong and right; and the establishment of a comparative civil liberty in europe and america was the result of the religious war of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. the struggle lasted eighty years, but the prize was worth the contest. the object of the war between the netherlands and spain was not, therefore, primarily, a rebellion against established authority for the maintenance of civil rights. to preserve these rights was secondary. the first cause was religion. the provinces had been fighting for years against the inquisition. had they not taken arms, the inquisition would have been established in the netherlands, and very probably in england, and england might have become in its turn a province of the spanish empire. the death of william the silent produced a sudden change in the political arrangements of the liberated netherlands. during the year , the united provinces had elected francis, duke of anjou, to be duke of brabant and sovereign of the whole country, under certain constitutional provisions enumerated in articles of solemn compact. that compact had been grossly violated. the duke had made a treacherous attempt to possess himself of absolute power and to seize several important cities. he had been signally defeated in antwerp, and obliged to leave the country, covered with ignominy. the states had then consulted william of orange as to the course to be taken in the emergency. the prince had told them that their choice was triple. they might reconcile themselves with spain, and abandon the contest for religious liberty which they had so long been waging; they might reconcile themselves with anjou, notwithstanding that he had so utterly forfeited all claims to their consideration; or they might fight the matter out with spain single-handed. the last course was, in his opinion, the most eligible one, and he was ready to sacrifice his life to its furtherance. it was, however, indispensable, should that policy be adopted, that much larger supplies should be voted than had hitherto been raised, and, in general, that a much more extensive and elevated spirit of patriotism should manifest itself than had hitherto been displayed. it was, on the whole, decided to make a second arrangement with the duke of anjou, queen elizabeth warmly urging that course. at the same time, however, that articles of agreement were drawn up for the installation of anjou as sovereign of the united provinces, the prince had himself consented to accept the title of count of holland, under an ample constitutional charter, dictated by his own lips. neither anjou nor orange lived to be inaugurated into the offices thus bestowed upon them. the duke died at chateau-thierry on the th june, and the prince was assassinated a month later at delft. what now was the political position of the united provinces at this juncture? the sovereignty which had been held by the estates, ready to be conferred respectively upon anjou and orange, remained in the hands of the estates. there was no opposition to this theory. no more enlarged view of the social compact had yet been taken. the people, as such, claimed no sovereignty. had any champion claimed it for them they would hardly have understood him. the nation dealt with facts. after abjuring philip in --an act which had been accomplished by the estates--the same estates in general assembly had exercised sovereign power, and had twice disposed of that sovereign power by electing a hereditary ruler. their right and their power to do this had been disputed by none, save by the deposed monarch in spain. having the sovereignty to dispose of, it seemed logical that the estates might keep it, if so inclined. they did keep it, but only in trust. while orange lived, he might often have been elected sovereign of all the provinces, could he have been induced to consent. after his death, the estates retained, ex necessitate, the sovereignty; and it will soon be related what they intended to do with it. one thing is very certain, that neither orange, while he lived, nor the estates, after his death, were actuated in their policy by personal ambition. it will be seen that the first object of the estates was to dispossess themselves of the sovereignty which had again fallen into their hands. what were the estates? without, at the present moment, any farther inquiries into that constitutional system which had been long consolidating itself, and was destined to exist upon a firmer basis for centuries longer, it will be sufficient to observe, that the great characteristic of the netherland government was the municipality. each province contained a large number of cities, which were governed by a board of magistrates, varying in number from twenty to forty. this college, called the vroedschap (assembly of sages), consisted of the most notable citizens, and was a self-electing body--a close corporation--the members being appointed for life, from the citizens at large. whenever vacancies occurred from death or loss of citizenship, the college chose new members--sometimes immediately, sometimes by means of a double or triple selection of names, the choice of one from among which was offered to the stadtholder of the province. this functionary was appointed by the count, as he was called, whether duke of bavaria or of burgundy, emperor, or king. after the abjuration of philip, the governors were appointed by the estates of each province. the sage-men chose annually a board of senators, or schepens, whose functions were mainly judicial; and there were generally two, and sometimes three, burgomasters, appointed in the same way. this was the popular branch of the estates. but, besides this body of representatives, were the nobles, men of ancient lineage and large possessions, who had exercised, according to the general feudal law of europe, high, low, and intermediate jurisdiction upon their estates, and had long been recognized as an integral part of the body politic, having the right to appear, through delegates of their order, in the provincial and in the general assemblies. regarded as a machine for bringing the most decided political capacities into the administration of public affairs, and for organising the most practical opposition to the system of religious tyranny, the netherland constitution was a healthy, and, for the age, an enlightened one. the officeholders, it is obvious, were not greedy for the spoils of office; for it was, unfortunately, often the case that their necessary expenses in the service of the state were not defrayed. the people raised enormous contributions for carrying on the war; but they could not afford to be extremely generous to their faithful servants. thus constituted was the commonwealth upon the death of william the silent. the gloom produced by that event was tragical. never in human history was a more poignant and universal sorrow for the death of any individual. the despair was, for a brief season, absolute; but it was soon succeeded by more lofty sentiments. it seemed, after they had laid their hero in the tomb, as though his spirit still hovered above the nation which he had loved so well, and was inspiring it with a portion of his own energy and wisdom. even on the very day of the murder, the estates of holland, then sitting at delft, passed a resolution "to maintain the good cause, with god's help, to the uttermost, without sparing gold or blood." this decree was communicated to admiral de warmont, to count hohenlo, to william lewis of nassau, and to other commanders by land and sea. at the same time, the sixteen members--for no greater number happened to be present at the session--addressed letters to their absent colleagues, informing them of the calamity which had befallen them, summoning them at once to conference, and urging an immediate convocation of the estates of all the provinces in general assembly. they also addressed strong letters of encouragement, mingled with manly condolence, upon the common affliction, to prominent military and naval commanders and civil functionaries, begging them to "bear themselves manfully and valiantly, without faltering in the least on account of the great misfortune which had occurred, or allowing themselves to be seduced by any one from the union of the states." among these sixteen were van zuylen, van nyvelt, the seigneur de warmont, the advocate of holland, paul buys, joost de menin, and john van olden-barneveldt. a noble example was thus set at once to their fellow citizens by these their representatives--a manful step taken forward in the path where orange had so long been leading. the next movement, after the last solemn obsequies had been rendered to the prince was to provide for the immediate wants of his family. for the man who had gone into the revolt with almost royal revenues, left his estate so embarrassed that his carpets, tapestries, household linen--nay, even his silver spoons, and the very clothes of his wardrobe were disposed of at auction for the benefit of his creditors. he left eleven children--a son and daughter by the first wife, a son and daughter by anna of saxony, six daughters by charlotte of bourbon, and an infant, frederic henry, born six months before his death. the eldest son, philip william, had been a captive in spain for seventeen years, having been kidnapped from school, in leyden, in the year . he had already become so thoroughly hispaniolized under the masterly treatment of the king and the jesuits, that even his face had lost all resemblance to the type of his heroic family, and had acquired a sinister, gloomy, forbidding expression, most painful to contemplate. all of good that he had retained was a reverence for his father's name--a sentiment which he had manifested to an extravagant extent on a memorable occasion in madrid, by throwing out of window, and killing on the spot a spanish officer who had dared to mention the great prince with insult. the next son was maurice, then seventeen years of age, a handsome youth, with dark blue eyes, well-chiselled features, and full red lips, who had already manifested a courage and concentration of character beyond his years. the son of william the silent, the grandson of maurice of saxony, whom he resembled in visage and character, he was summoned by every drop of blood in his veins to do life-long battle with the spirit of spanish absolutism, and he was already girding himself for his life's work. he assumed at once for his device a fallen oak, with a young sapling springing from its root. his motto, "tandem fit surculus arbor," "the twig shall yet become a tree"--was to be nobly justified by his career. the remaining son, then a six months' child, was also destined to high fortunes, and to win an enduring name in his country's history. for the present he remained with his mother, the noble louisa de coligny, who had thus seen, at long intervals, her father and two husbands fall victims to the spanish policy; for it is as certain that philip knew beforehand, and testified his approbation of, the massacre of st. bartholomew, as that he was the murderer of orange. the estates of holland implored the widowed princess to remain in their territority, settling a liberal allowance upon herself and her child, and she fixed her residence at leyden. but her position was most melancholy. married in youth to the seigneur de teligny, a young noble of distinguished qualities, she had soon become both a widow and an orphan in the dread night of st. bartholomew. she had made her own escape to switzerland; and ten years afterwards she had united herself in marriage with the prince of orange. at the age of thirty-two, she now found herself desolate and wretched in a foreign land, where she had never felt thoroughly at home. the widow and children of william the silent were almost without the necessaries of life. "i hardly know," wrote the princess to her brother-in-law, count john, "how the children and i are to maintain ourselves according to the honour of the house. may god provide for us in his bounty, and certainly we have much need of it." accustomed to the more luxurious civilisation of france, she had been amused rather than annoyed, when, on her first arrival in holland for her nuptials, she found herself making the journey from rotterdam to delft in an open cart without springs, instead of the well-balanced coaches to which she had been used, arriving, as might have been expected, "much bruised and shaken." such had become the primitive simplicity of william the silent's household. but on his death, in embarrassed circumstances, it was still more straightened. she had no cause either to love leyden, for, after the assassination of her husband, a brutal preacher, hakkius by name, had seized that opportunity for denouncing the french marriage, and the sumptuous christening of the infant in january, as the deeds which had provoked the wrath of god and righteous chastisement. to remain there in her widowhood, with that six months' child, "sole pledge of her dead lord, her consolation and only pleasure," as she pathetically expressed herself, was sufficiently painful, and she had been inclined to fix her residence in flushing, in the edifice which had belonged to her husband, as marquis of vere. she had been persuaded, however, to remain in holland, although "complaining, at first, somewhat of the unkindness of the people." a small well-formed woman, with delicate features, exquisite complexion, and very beautiful dark eyes, that seemed in after-years, as they looked from beneath her coif, to be dim with unshed tears; with remarkable powers of mind, angelic sweetness of disposition, a winning manner, and a gentle voice, louisa de coligny became soon dear to the rough hollanders, and was ever a disinterested and valuable monitress both to her own child and to his elder brother maurice. very soon afterwards the states general established a state council, as a provisional executive board, for the term of three months, for the provinces of holland, zeeland, utrecht, friesland, and such parts of flanders and brabant as still remained in the union. at the head of this body was placed young maurice, who accepted the responsible position, after three days' deliberation. the young man had been completing his education, with a liberal allowance from holland and zeeland, at the university of leyden; and such had been their tender care for the child of so many hopes, that the estates had given particular and solemn warning, by resolution, to his governor during the previous summer, on no account to allow him to approach the sea-shore, lest he should be kidnapped by the prince of parma, who had then some war-vessels cruising on the coast. the salary of maurice was now fixed at thirty thousand florins a year, while each of the councillors was allowed fifteen hundred annually, out of which stipend he was to support at least one servant; without making any claim for travelling or other incidental expenses. the council consisted of three members from brabant, two from flanders, four from holland, three from zeeland, two from utrecht, one from mechlin, and three from friesland--eighteen in all. they were empowered and enjoined to levy troops by land and sea, and to appoint naval and military officers; to establish courts of admiralty, to expend the moneys voted by the states, to maintain the ancient privileges of the country, and to see that all troops in service of the provinces made oath of fidelity to the union. diplomatic relations, questions of peace and war, the treaty-making power, were not entrusted to the council, without the knowledge and consent of the states general, which body was to be convoked twice a year by the state council. thus the provinces in the hour of danger and darkness were true to themselves, and were far from giving way to a despondency which under the circumstances would not have been unnatural. for the waves of bitterness were rolling far and wide around them. a medal, struck in holland at this period, represented a dismasted hulk reeling through the tempest. the motto, "incertum quo fate ferent" (who knows whither fate is sweeping her?) expressed most vividly the ship wrecked condition of the country. alexander of parma, the most accomplished general and one of the most adroit statesmen of the age, was swift to take advantage of the calamity which had now befallen the rebellious provinces. had he been better provided with men and money, the cause of the states might have seemed hopeless. he addressed many letters to the states general, to the magistracies of various cities, and to individuals, affecting to consider that with the death of orange had died all authority, as well as all motive for continuing the contest with spain. he offered easy terms of reconciliation with the discarded monarch--always reserving, however, as a matter of course, the religious question--for it was as well known to the states as to parma that there was no hope of philip making concessions upon that important point. in holland and zeeland the prince's blandishments were of no avail. his letters received in various towns of those provinces, offered, said one who saw them, "almost every thing they would have or demand, even till they should repent." but the bait was not taken. individuals and municipalities were alike stanch, remembering well that faith was not to be kept with heretics. the example was followed by the estates of other provinces, and all sent in to the general assembly, soon in session at delft, "their absolute and irrevocable authority to their deputies to stand to that which they, the said states general, should dispose of as to their persons, goods and country; a resolution and agreement which never concurred before among them, to this day, in what age or government soever." it was decreed that no motion of agreement "with the tyrant of spain" should be entertained either publicly or privately, "under pain to be reputed ill patriots." it was also enacted in the city of dort that any man that brought letter or message from the enemy to any private person "should be forthwith hanged." this was expeditious and business-like. the same city likewise took the lead in recording its determination by public act, and proclaiming it by sound of trumpet, "to live and die in the cause now undertaken." in flanders and brabant the spirit was less noble. those provinces were nearly lost already. bruges seconded parma's efforts to induce its sister-city ghent to imitate its own baseness in surrendering without a struggle; and that powerful, turbulent, but most anarchical little commonwealth was but too ready to listen to the voice of the tempter. "the ducats of spain, madam, are trotting about in such fashion," wrote envoy des pruneaux to catherine de medici, "that they have vanquished a great quantity of courages. your majesties, too, must employ money if you wish to advance one step." no man knew better than parma how to employ such golden rhetoric to win back a wavering rebel to his loyalty, but he was not always provided with a sufficient store of those practical arguments. he was, moreover, not strong in the field, although he was far superior to the states at this contingency. he had, besides his garrisons, something above , men. the provinces had hardly foot and horse, and these were mostly lying in the neighbourhood of zutphen. alexander was threatening at the same time ghent, dendermonde, mechlin, brussels, and antwerp. these five powerful cities lie in a narrow circle, at distances varying from six miles to thirty, and are, as it were, strung together upon the scheldt, by which river, or its tributary, the senne, they are all threaded. it would have been impossible for parma, with , men at his back, to undertake a regular and simultaneous siege of these important places. his purpose was to isolate them from each other and from the rest of the country, by obtaining the control of the great river, and so to reduce them by famine. the scheme was a masterly one, but even the consummate ability of farnese would have proved inadequate to the undertaking, had not the preliminary assassination of orange made the task comparatively easy. treason, faint-heartedness, jealousy, were the fatal allies that the governor-general had reckoned upon, and with reason, in the council-rooms of these cities. the terms he offered were liberal. pardon, permission for soldiers to retreat with technical honour, liberty to choose between apostacy to the reformed religion or exile, with a period of two years granted to the conscientious for the winding up of their affairs; these were the conditions, which seemed flattering, now that the well-known voice which had so often silenced the flemish palterers and intriguers was for ever hushed. upon the th august ( ) dendermonde surrendered, and no lives were taken save those of two preachers, one of whom was hanged, while the other was drowned. upon the th september vilvoorde capitulated, by which event the water-communication between brussels and antwerp was cut off. ghent, now thoroughly disheartened, treated with parma likewise; and upon the th september made its reconciliation with the king. the surrender of so strong and important a place was as disastrous to the cause of the patriots as it was disgraceful to the citizens themselves. it was, however, the result of an intrigue which had been long spinning, although the thread had been abruptly, and, as it was hoped, conclusively, severed several months before. during the early part of the year, after the reconciliation of bruges with the king--an event brought about by the duplicity and adroitness of prince chimay--the same machinery had been diligently and almost successfully employed to produce a like result in ghent. champagny, brother of the famous cardinal granvelle, had been under arrest for six years in that city. his imprisonment was not a strict one however; and he avenged himself for what he considered very unjust treatment at the hands of the patriots, by completely abandoning a cause which he had once begun to favour. a man of singular ability, courage, and energy, distinguished both for military and diplomatic services, he was a formidable enemy to the party from which he was now for ever estranged. as early as april of this year, secret emissaries of parma, dealing with champagny in his nominal prison, and with the disaffected burghers at large, had been on the point of effecting an arrangement with the royal governor. the negotiation had been suddenly brought to a close by the discovery of a flagrant attempt by imbue, one of the secret adherents of the king, to sell the city of dendermonde, of which he was governor, to parma. for this crime he had been brought to ghent for trial, and then publicly beheaded. the incident came in aid of the eloquence of orange, who, up to the latest moment of his life, had been most urgent in his appeals to the patriotic hearts of ghent, not to abandon the great cause of the union and of liberty. william the silent knew full well, that after the withdrawal of the great keystone-city of ghent, the chasm between the celtic-catholic and the flemish-calvinist netherlands could hardly be bridged again. orange was now dead. the negotiations with france, too, on which those of the ghenters who still held true to the national cause had fastened their hopes, had previously been brought to a stand-still by the death of anjou; and champagny, notwithstanding the disaster to imbize, became more active than ever. a private agent, whom the municipal government had despatched to the french court for assistance, was not more successful than his character and course of conduct would have seemed to warrant; for during his residence in paris, he had been always drunk, and generally abusive. this was not good diplomacy, particularly on the part of an agent from a weak municipality to a haughty and most undecided government. "they found at this court," wrote stafford to walsingham, "great fault with his manner of dealing that was sent from gaunt. he was scarce sober from one end of the week to the other, and stood so much on his tiptoes to have present answer within three days, or else that they of gaunt could tell where to bestow themselves. they sent him away after keeping him three weeks, and he went off in great dudgeon, swearing by yea and nay that he will make report thereafter." accordingly, they of ghent did bestow themselves very soon thereafter upon the king of spain. the terms were considered liberal, but there was, of course, no thought of conceding the great object for which the patriots were contending--religious liberty. the municipal privileges--such as they might prove to be worth under the interpretation of a royal governor and beneath the guns of a citadel filled with spanish troops--were to be guaranteed; those of the inhabitants who did not choose to go to mass were allowed two years to wind up their affairs before going into perpetual exile, provided they behaved themselves "without scandal;" while on the other hand, the king's authority as count of flanders was to be fully recognised, and all the dispossessed monks and abbots to be restored to their property. accordingly, champagny was rewarded for his exertions by being released from prison and receiving the appointment of governor of the city: and, after a very brief interval, about one-half of the population, the most enterprising of its merchants and manufacturers, the most industrious of its artizans, emigrated to holland and zeeland. the noble city of ghent--then as large as paris, thoroughly surrounded with moats, and fortified with bulwarks, ravelins, and counterscarps, constructed of earth, during the previous two years, at great expense, and provided with bread and meat, powder and shot, enough to last a year--was ignominiously surrendered. the population, already a very reduced and slender one for the great extent of the place and its former importance, had been estimated at , . the number of houses was , , so that as the inhabitants were soon farther reduced to one-half, there remained but one individual to each house. on the other hand, the twenty-five monasteries and convents in the town were repeopled--with how much advantage as a set-off to the thousands of spinners and weavers who had wandered away, and who in the flourishing days of ghent had sent gangs of workmen through the streets "whose tramp was like that of an army"--may be sufficiently estimated by the result. the fall of brussels was deferred till march, and that of mechlin ( th july, ) and of antwerp ( th august, ), till midsummer of the following year; but, the surrender of ghent ( th march ) foreshadowed the fate of flanders and brabant. ostend and sluys, however, were still in the hands of the patriots, and with them the control of the whole flemish coast. the command of the sea was destined to remain for centuries with the new republic. the prince of parma, thus encouraged by the great success of his intrigues, was determined to achieve still greater triumphs with his arms, and steadily proceeded with his large design of closing the scheldt--and bringing about the fall of antwerp. the details of that siege-one of the most brilliant military operations of the age and one of the most memorable in its results--will be given, as a connected whole, in a subsequent series of chapters. for the present, it will be better for the reader who wishes a clear view of european politics at this epoch, and of the position of the netherlands, to give his attention to the web of diplomatic negotiation and court-intrigue which had been slowly spreading over the leading states of christendom, and in which the fate of the world was involved. if diplomatic adroitness consists mainly in the power to deceive, never were more adroit diplomatists than those of the sixteenth century. it would, however, be absurd to deny them a various range of abilities; and the history of no other age can show more subtle, comprehensive, indefatigable--but, it must also be added, often unscrupulous--intellects engaged in the great game of politics in which the highest interests of millions were the stakes, than were those of several leading minds in england, france, germany, and spain. with such statesmen the burgher-diplomatists of the new-born commonwealth had to measure themselves; and the result was to show whether or not they could hold their own in the cabinet as on the field, for the present, however, the new state was unconscious of its latent importance, the new-risen republic remained for a season nebulous, and ready to unsphere itself so soon as the relative attraction of other great powers should determine its absorption. by the death of anjou and of orange the united netherlands had became a sovereign state, an independent republic; but they stood with that sovereignty in their hands, offering it alternately, not to the highest bidder, but to the power that would be willing to accept their allegiance, on the sole condition of assisting them in the maintenance of their religious freedom. chapter ii. relations of the republic to france--queen's severity towards catholics and calvinists--relative positions of england and france-- timidity of germany--apathy of protestant germany--indignation of the netherlanders--henry iii. of france--the king and his minions-- henry of guise--henry of navarre--power of france--embassy of the states to france--ignominious position of the envoys--views of the french huguenots--efforts to procure annexation--success of des pruneaux. the prince of orange had always favoured a french policy. he had ever felt a stronger reliance upon the support of france than upon that of any other power. this was not unreasonable, and so long as he lived, the tendency of the netherlands had been in that direction. it had never been the wish of england to acquire the sovereignty of the provinces. in france on the contrary, the queen dowager, catharine de' medici had always coveted that sovereignty for her darling francis of alencon; and the design had been favoured, so far as any policy could be favoured, by the impotent monarch who occupied the french throne. the religion of the united netherlands was calvinistic. there were also many anabaptists in the country. the queen of england hated anabaptists, calvinists, and other sectarians, and banished them from her realms on pain of imprisonment and confiscation of property. as firmly opposed as was her father to the supremacy of the bishop of rome, she felt much of the paternal reluctance to accept the spirit of the reformation. henry tudor hanged the men who believed in the pope, and burnt alive those who disbelieved in transubstantiation, auricular confession, and the other 'six articles.' his daughter, whatever her secret religious convictions, was stanch in her resistance to rome, and too enlightened a monarch not to see wherein the greatness and glory of england were to be found; but she had no thought of tolerating liberty of conscience. all opposed to the church of england, whether papists or puritans, were denounced as heretics, and as such imprisoned or banished. "to allow churches with contrary rites and ceremonies," said elizabeth, "were nothing else but to sow religion out of religion, to distract good men's minds, to cherish factious men's humours, to disturb religion and commonwealth, and mingle divine and human things; which were a thing in deed evil, in example worst of all; to our own subjects hurtful, and to themselves--to whom it is granted, neither greatly commodious, nor yet at all safe."--[camden] the words were addressed, it is true, to papists, but there is very little doubt that anabaptists or any other heretics would have received a similar reply, had they, too, ventured to demand the right of public worship. it may even be said that the romanists in the earlier days of elizabeth's reign fared better than the calvinists. the queen neither banished nor imprisoned the catholics. she did not enter their houses to disturb their private religious ceremonies, or to inquire into their consciences. this was milder treatment than the burning alive, burying alive, hanging, and drowning, which had been dealt out to the english and the netherland heretics by philip and by mary, but it was not the spirit which william the silent had been wont to manifest in his measures towards anabaptists and papists alike. moreover, the prince could hardly forget that of the nine thousand four hundred catholic ecclesiastics who held benefices at the death of queen mary, all had renounced the pope on the accession of queen elizabeth, and acknowledged her as the head of the church, saving only one hundred and eighty-nine individuals. in the hearts of the nine thousand two hundred and eleven others, it might be thought perhaps that some tenderness for the religion from which they had so suddenly been converted, might linger, while it could hardly be hoped that they would seek to inculcate in the minds of their flocks or of their sovereign any connivance with the doctrines of geneva. when, at a later period, the plotting of catholics, suborned by the pope and philip, against the throne and person of the queen, made more rigorous measures necessary; when it was thought indispensable to execute as traitors those roman seedlings--seminary priests and their disciples--who went about preaching to the queen's subjects the duty of carrying out the bull by which the bishop of rome had deposed and excommunicated their sovereign, and that "it was a meritorious act to kill such princes as were excommunicate," even then, the men who preached and practised treason and murder experienced no severer treatment than that which other "heretics" had met with at the queen's hands. jesuits and popish priests were, by act of parliament, ordered to depart the realm within forty days. those who should afterwards return to the kingdom were to be held guilty of high treason. students in the foreign seminaries were commanded to return within six months and recant, or be held guilty of high treason. parents and guardians supplying money to such students abroad were to incur the penalty of a preamunire--perpetual exile, namely, with loss of all their goods. many seminary priests and others were annually executed in england under these laws, throughout the queen's reign, but nominally at least they were hanged not as papists, but as traitors; not because they taught transubstantiation, ecclesiastical celibacy, auricular confession, or even papal supremacy, but because they taught treason and murder--because they preached the necessity of killing the queen. it was not so easy, however, to defend or even comprehend the banishment and imprisonment of those who without conspiring against the queen's life or throne, desired to see the church of england reformed according to the church of geneva. yet there is no doubt that many sectaries experienced much inhuman treatment for such delinquency, both in the early and the later years of elizabeth's reign. there was another consideration, which had its due weight in this balance, and that was the respective succession to the throne in the two kingdoms of france and england. mary stuart, the catholic, the niece of the guises, emblem and exponent of all that was most roman in europe, the sworn friend of philip, the mortal foe to all heresy, was the legitimate successor to elizabeth. although that sovereign had ever refused to recognize that claim; holding that to confirm mary in the succession was to "lay her own winding sheet before her eyes, yea, to make her, own grave, while she liveth and looketh on;" and although the unfortunate claimant of two thrones was a prisoner in her enemy's hands, yet, so long as she lived, there was little security for protestantism, even in elizabeth's lifetime, and less still in case of her sudden death. on the other hand, not only were the various politico-religious forces of france kept in equilibrium by their action upon each other--so that it was reasonable to believe that the house of valois, however catholic itself, would be always compelled by the fast-expanding strength of french calvinism, to observe faithfully a compact to tolerate the netherland churches--but, upon the death of henry iii. the crown would be legitimately placed upon the head of the great champion and chief of the huguenots, henry of navarre. it was not unnatural, therefore, that the prince of orange, a calvinist himself, should expect more sympathy with the netherland reformers in france than in england. a large proportion of the population of that kingdom, including an influential part of the nobility, was of the huguenot persuasion, and the religious peace, established by royal edict, had endured so long, that the reformers of france and the netherlands had begun to believe in the royal clemency, and to confide in the royal word. orange did not live to see the actual formation of the holy league, and could only guess at its secrets. moreover, it should be remembered that france at that day was a more formidable state than england, a more dangerous enemy, and, as it was believed, a more efficient protector. the england of the period, glorious as it was for its own and all future ages, was, not the great british empire of to-day. on the contrary, it was what would now be considered, statistically speaking, a rather petty power. the england of elizabeth, walsingham, burghley, drake, and raleigh, of spenser and shakspeare, hardly numbered a larger population than now dwells in its capital and immediate suburbs. it had neither standing army nor considerable royal navy. it was full of conspirators, daring and unscrupulous, loyal to none save to mary of scotland, philip of spain, and the pope of rome, and untiring in their efforts to bring about a general rebellion. with ireland at its side, nominally a subject province, but in a state of chronic insurrection--a perpetual hot-bed for spanish conspiracy and stratagem; with scotland at its back, a foreign country, with half its population exasperated enemies of england, and the rest but doubtful friends, and with the legitimate sovereign of that country, "the daughter of debate, who discord still did sow,"--[sonnet by queen elizabeth.]--a prisoner in elizabeth's hands, the central point around which treason was constantly crystallizing itself, it was not strange that with the known views of the queen on the subject of the reformed dutch religion, england should seem less desirable as a protector for the netherlands than the neighbouring kingdom of france. elizabeth was a great sovereign, whose genius orange always appreciated, in a comparatively feeble realm. henry of valois was the contemptible monarch of a powerful state, and might be led by others to produce incalculable mischief or considerable good. notwithstanding the massacre of st. bartholomew, therefore, and the more recent "french fury" of antwerp, orange had been willing to countenance fresh negociations with france. elizabeth, too, it should never be forgotten, was, if not over generous, at least consistent and loyal in her policy towards the provinces. she was not precisely jealous of france, as has been unjustly intimated on distinguished authority, for she strongly advocated the renewed offer of the sovereignty to anjou, after his memorable expulsion from the provinces. at that period, moreover, not only her own love-coquetries with anjou were over, but he was endeavouring with all his might, though in secret, to make a match with the younger infanta of spain. elizabeth furthered the negociation with france, both publicly and privately. it will soon be narrated how those negociations prospered. if then england were out of the, question, where, except in france, should the netherlanders, not deeming themselves capable of standing alone, seek for protection and support? we have seen the extensive and almost ubiquitous power of spain. where she did not command as sovereign, she was almost equally formidable as an ally. the emperor of germany was the nephew and the brother-in-law of philip, and a strict catholic besides. little aid was to be expected from him or the lands under his control for the cause of the netherland revolt. rudolph hated his brother-in-law, but lived in mortal fear of him. he was also in perpetual dread of the grand turk. that formidable potentate, not then the "sick man" whose precarious condition and territorial inheritance cause so much anxiety in modern days, was, it is true, sufficiently occupied for the moment in persia, and had been sustaining there a series of sanguinary defeats. he was all the more anxious to remain upon good terms with philip, and had recently sent him a complimentary embassy, together with some rather choice presents, among which were "four lions, twelve unicorns, and two horses coloured white, black, and blue." notwithstanding these pacific manifestations towards the west, however, and in spite of the truce with the german empire which the turk had just renewed for nine years,--rudolph and his servants still trembled at every report from the east. "he is much deceived," wrote busbecq, rudolph's ambassador in paris, "who doubts that the turk has sought any thing by this long persian war, but to protect his back, and prepare the way, after subduing that enemy, to the extermination of all christendom, and that he will then, with all his might, wage an unequal warfare with us, in which the existence of the empire will be at stake." the envoy expressed, at the same period, however, still greater awe of spain. "it is to no one," he wrote, "endowed with good judgment, in the least obscure, that the spanish nation, greedy of empire, will never be quiet, even with their great power, but will seek for the dominion of the rest of christendom. how much remains beyond what they have already acquired? afterwards, there will soon be no liberty, no dignity, for other princes and republics. that single nation will be arbiter of all things, than which nothing can be more miserable, nothing more degrading. it cannot be doubted that all kings, princes, and states, whose safety or dignity is dear to them, would willingly associate in arms to extinguish the common conflagration. the death of the catholic king would seem the great opportunity 'miscendis rebus'." unfortunately neither busbecq's master nor any other king or prince manifested any of this commendable alacrity to "take up arms against the conflagration." germany was in a shiver at every breeze from east or west-trembling alike before philip and amurath. the papists were making rapid progress, the land being undermined by the steady and stealthy encroachments of the jesuits. lord burghley sent many copies of his pamphlet, in latin, french, and italian, against the seminaries, to gebhard truchsess; and the deposed archbishop made himself busy in translating that wholesome production into german, and in dispersing it "all germany over." the work, setting duly forth "that the executions of priests in england were not for religion but for treason," was "marvellously liked" in the netherlands. "in uttering the truth," said herle, "'tis likely to do great good;" and he added, that duke augustus of saxony "did now see so far into the sect of jesuits, and to their inward mischiefs, as to become their open enemy, and to make friends against them in the empire." the love of truchsess for agnes mansfeld had created disaster not only for himself but for germany. the whole electorate of cologne had become the constant seat of partisan warfare, and the resort of organised bands of brigands. villages were burned and rifled, highways infested, cities threatened, and the whole country subjected to perpetual black mail (brandschatzung)--fire-insurance levied by the incendiaries in person--by the supporters of the rival bishops. truchsess had fled to delft, where he had been countenanced and supported by orange. two cities still held for him, rheinberg and neuss. on the other hand, his rival, ernest of bavaria; supported by philip ii., and the occasional guest of alexander of parma, had not yet succeeded in establishing a strong foothold in the territory. two pauper archbishops, without men or means of their own, were thus pushed forward and back, like puppets, by the contending highwaymen on either side; while robbery and murder, under the name of protestantism or catholicism, were for a time the only motive or result of the contest. thus along the rhine, as well as the maas and the scheldt, the fires of civil war were ever burning. deeper within the heart of germany, there was more tranquillity; but it was the tranquillity rather of paralysis than of health. a fearful account was slowly accumulating, which was evidently to be settled only by one of the most horrible wars which history has ever recorded. meantime there was apathy where there should have been enthusiasm; parsimony and cowardice where generous and combined effort were more necessary than ever; sloth without security. the protestant princes, growing fat and contented on the spoils of the church, lent but a deaf ear to the moans of truchsess, forgetting that their neighbour's blazing roof was likely soon to fire their own. "they understand better, 'proximus sum egomet mild'," wrote lord willoughby from kronenburg, "than they have learned, 'humani nihid a me alienum puto'. these german princes continue still in their lethargy, careless of the state of others, and dreaming of their ubiquity, and some of them, it is thought, inclining to be spanish or popish more of late than heretofore." the beggared archbishop, more forlorn than ever since the death of his great patron, cried woe from his resting-place in delft, upon protestant germany. his tones seemed almost prophetic of the thirty years' wrath to blaze forth in the next generation. "courage is wanting to the people throughout germany," he wrote to william lewis of nassau. "we are becoming the laughing-stock of the nations. make sheep of yourselves, and the wolf will eat you. we shall find our destruction in our immoderate desire for peace. spain is making a papistical league in germany. therefore is assonleville despatched thither, and that's the reason why our trash of priests are so insolent in the empire. 'tis astonishing how they are triumphing on all sides. god will smite them. thou dear god! what are our evangelists about in germany? asleep on both ears. 'dormiunt in utramque aurem'. i doubt they will be suddenly enough awakened one day, and the cry will be, 'who'd have thought it?' then they will be for getting oil for the lamp, for shutting the stable-door when the steed is stolen," and so on, with a string of homely proverbs worthy of sancho panza, or landgrave william of hesse. in truth, one of the most painful features is the general aspect of affairs was the coldness of the german protestants towards the netherlands. the enmity between lutherans and calvinists was almost as fatal as that between protestants and papists. there was even a talk, at a little later period, of excluding those of the "reformed" church from the benefits of the peace of passau. the princes had got the augsburg confession and the abbey-lands into the bargain; the peasants had got the augsburg confession without the abbey-lands, and were to believe exactly what their masters believed. this was the german-lutheran sixteenth-century idea of religious freedom. neither prince nor peasant stirred in behalf of the struggling christians in the united provinces, battling, year after year, knee-deep in blood, amid blazing cities and inundated fields, breast to breast with the yellow jerkined pikemen of spain and italy, with the axe and the faggot and the rack of the holy inquisition distinctly visible behind them. such were the realities which occupied the netherlanders in those days, not watery beams of theological moonshine, fantastical catechism-making, intermingled with scenes of riot and wantonness, which drove old john of nassau half frantic; with banquetting and guzzling, drinking and devouring, with unchristian flaunting and wastefulness of apparel, with extravagant and wanton dancing, and other lewd abominations; all which, the firm old reformer prophesied, would lead to the destruction of germany. for the mass, slow moving but apparently irresistible, of spanish and papistical absolutism was gradually closing over christendom. the netherlands were the wedge by which alone the solid bulk could be riven asunder. it was the cause of german, of french, of english liberty, for which the provinces were contending. it was not surprising that they were bitter, getting nothing in their hour of distress from the land of luther but dogmas and augsburg catechisms instead of money and gunpowder, and seeing german reiters galloping daily to reinforce the army of parma in exchange for spanish ducats. brave old la noue, with the iron arm, noblest of frenchmen and huguenots--who had just spent five years in spanish bondage, writing military discourses in a reeking dungeon, filled with toads and vermin, after fighting the battle of liberty for a life-time, and with his brave son already in the netherlands emulating his father's valour on the same field--denounced at a little later day, the lukewarmness of protestant germany with whimsical vehemence:--"i am astounded," he cried, "that these princes are not ashamed of themselves; doing nothing while they see the oppressed cut to pieces at their gates. when will god grant me grace to place me among those who are doing their duty, and afar from those who do nothing, and who ought to know that the cause is a common one. if i am ever caught dancing the german cotillon, or playing the german flute, or eating pike with german sauce, i hope it may be flung in my teeth." the great league of the pope and philip was steadily consolidating itself, and there were but gloomy prospects for the counter-league in germany. there was no hope but in england and france. for the reasons already indicated, the prince of orange, taking counsel with the estates, had resolved to try the french policy once more. the balance of power in europe, which no man in christendom so well understood as he, was to be established by maintaining (he thought) the equilibrium between france and spain. in the antagonism of those two great realms lay the only hope for dutch or european liberty. notwithstanding the treason of anjou, therefore, it had been decided to renew negociations with that prince. on the death of the duke, the envoys of the states were accordingly instructed to make the offer to king henry iii. which had been intended for his brother. that proposition was the sovereignty of all the netherlands, save holland and zeeland, under a constitution maintaining the reformed religion and the ancient laws and privileges of the respective provinces. but the death of francis of anjou had brought about a considerable change in french policy. it was now more sharply defined than ever, a right-angled triangle of almost mathematical precision. the three henrys and their partizans divided the realm into three hostile camps--threatening each other in simulated peace since the treaty of fleig ( ), which had put an end to the "lover's war" of the preceding year,--henry of valois, henry of guise, and henry of navarre. henry iii., last of the valois line, was now thirty-three years of age. less than king, less even than man, he was one of those unfortunate personages who seem as if born to make the idea of royalty ridiculous, and to test the capacity of mankind to eat and drink humiliation as if it were wholesome food. it proved how deeply engraved in men's minds of that century was the necessity of kingship, when the hardy netherlanders, who had abjured one tyrant, and had been fighting a generation long rather than return to him, were now willing to accept the sovereignty of a thing like henry of valois. he had not been born without natural gifts, such as heaven rarely denies to prince or peasant; but the courage which he once possessed had been exhausted on the field of moncontour, his manhood had been left behind him at venice, and such wit as heaven had endowed him withal was now expended in darting viperous epigrams at court-ladies whom he was only capable of dishonouring by calumny, and whose charms he burned to outrival in the estimation of his minions. for the monarch of france was not unfrequently pleased to attire himself like a woman and a harlot. with silken flounces, jewelled stomacher, and painted face, with pearls of great price adorning his bared neck and breast, and satin-slippered feet, of whose delicate shape and size he was justly vain, it was his delight to pass his days and nights in a ceaseless round of gorgeous festivals, tourneys, processions; masquerades, banquets, and balls, the cost of which glittering frivolities caused the popular burthen and the popular execration to grow, from day to day, more intolerable and more audible. surrounded by a gang of "minions," the most debauched and the most desperate of france, whose bedizened dresses exhaled perfumes throughout paris, and whose sanguinary encounters dyed every street in blood, henry lived a life of what he called pleasure, careless of what might come after, for he was the last of his race. the fortunes of his minions rose higher and higher, as their crimes rendered them more and more estimable in the eyes of a king who took a woman's pride in the valour of such champions to his weakness, and more odious to a people whose miserable homes were made even more miserable, that the coffers of a few court-favourites might be filled: now sauntering, full-dressed, in the public promenades, with ghastly little death's heads strung upon his sumptuous garments, and fragments of human bones dangling among his orders of knighthood--playing at cup and ball as he walked, and followed by a few select courtiers who gravely pursued the same exciting occupation--now presiding like a queen of beauty at a tournament to assign the prize of valour, and now, by the advice of his mother, going about the streets in robes of penitence, telling his beads as he went, that the populace might be edified by his piety, and solemnly offering up prayers in the churches that the blessing of an heir might be vouchsafed to him,--henry of valois seemed straining every nerve in order to bring himself and his great office into contempt. as orthodox as he was profligate, he hated the huguenots, who sought his protection and who could have saved his throne, as cordially as he loved the jesuits, who passed their lives in secret plottings against his authority and his person, or in fierce denunciations from the paris pulpits against his manifold crimes. next to an exquisite and sanguinary fop, he dearly loved a monk. the presence of a friar, he said, exerted as agreeable an effect upon his mind as the most delicate and gentle tickling could produce upon his body; and he was destined to have a fuller dose of that charming presence than he coveted. his party--for he was but the nominal chief of a faction, 'tanquam unus ex nobis'--was the party in possession--the office-holders' party; the spoilsmen, whose purpose was to rob the exchequer and to enrich themselves. his minions--for the favourites were called by no other name--were even more hated, because less despised than the king. attired in cloth of gold--for silk and satin were grown too coarse a material for them--with their little velvet porringer-caps stuck on the sides of their heads, with their long hair stiff with pomatum, and their heads set inside a well-starched ruff a foot wide, "like st. john's head in a charger," as a splenetic contemporary observed, with a nimbus of musk and violet-powder enveloping them as they passed before vulgar mortals, these rapacious and insolent courtiers were the impersonation of extortion and oppression to the parisian populace. they were supposed, not unjustly, to pass their lives in dancing, blasphemy, dueling, dicing, and intrigue, in following the king about like hounds, fawning at his feet, and showing their teeth to all besides; and for virtues such as these they were rewarded by the highest offices in church, camp, and state, while new taxes and imposts were invented almost daily to feed their avarice and supply their extravagance. france, doomed to feel the beak and talons of these harpies in its entrails, impoverished by a government that robbed her at home while it humiliated her abroad, struggled vainly in its misery, and was now on the verge of another series of internecine combats--civil war seeming the only alternative to a voluptuous and licentious peace. "we all stood here at gaze," wrote ambassador stafford to walsingham, "looking for some great matter to come of this sudden journey to lyons; but, as far as men can find, 'parturient montes', for there hath been nothing but dancing and banquetting from one house to another, bravery in apparel, glittering like the sun." he, mentioned that the duke of epernon's horse, taking fright at a red cloak, had backed over a precipice, breaking his own neck, while his master's shoulder merely was put out of joint. at the same time the duke of joyeuse, coming over mount cenis, on his return from savoy, had broken his wrist. the people, he said, would rather they had both broken their necks "than any other joint, the king having racked the nation for their sakes, as he hath-done." stafford expressed much compassion for the french in the plight in which they found themselves. "unhappy people!" he cried, "to have such a king, who seeketh nothing but to impoverish them to enrich a couple, and who careth not what cometh after his death, so that he may rove on while he liveth, and careth neither for doing his own estate good nor his neighbour's state harm." sir edward added, however, in a philosophizing vein, worthy of corporal nym, that, "seeing we cannot be so happy as to have a king to concur with us to do us any good, yet we are happy to have one that his humour serveth him not to concur with others to do us harm; and 'tis a wisdom for us to follow these humours, that we may keep him still in that humour, and from hearkening to others that may egg him on to worse." it was a dark hour for france, and rarely has a great nation been reduced to a lower level by a feeble and abandoned government than she was at that moment under the distaff of henry iii. society was corrupted to its core. "there is no more truth, no more justice, no more mercy," moaned president l'etoile. "to slander, to lie, to rob, to wench, to steal; all things are permitted save to do right and to speak the truth." impiety the most cynical, debauchery the most unveiled, public and unpunished homicides, private murders by what was called magic, by poison, by hired assassins, crimes natural, unnatural, and preternatural, were the common characteristics of the time. all posts and charges were venal. great offices of justice were sold to the highest bidder, and that which was thus purchased by wholesale was retailed in the same fashion. unhappy the pauper client who dreamed of justice at the hands of law. the great ecclesiastical benefices were equally matter of merchandise, and married men, women, unborn children, enjoyed revenues as dignitaries of the church. infants came into the world, it was said, like the mitre-fish, stamped with the emblems of place. "'twas impossible," said l'etoile, "to find a crab so tortuous and backsliding as the government." this was the aspect of the first of the three factions in france. such was the henry at its head, the representative of royalty. henry with the scar, duke of guise, the well-known chief of the house of lorraine, was the chief of the extreme papistical party. he was now thirty-four years of age, tall, stately, with a dark, martial face and dangerous eyes, which antonio moro loved to paint; a physiognomy made still more expressive by the arquebus-shot which had damaged his left cheek at the fight near chateau-thierry and gained him his name of balafre. although one of the most turbulent and restless plotters of that plotting age, he was yet thought more slow and heavy in character than subtle, teutonic rather than italian. he was the idol of the parisian burghers. the grocers, the market-men, the members of the arquebus and crossbow clubs, all doated on him. the fishwomen worshipped him as a god. he was the defender of the good old religion under which paris and the other cities of france had thriven, the uncompromising opponent of the new-fangled doctrines which western clothiers, and dyers, and tapestry-workers, had adopted, and which the nobles of the mountain-country, the penniless chevaliers of bearn and gascony and guienne, were ceaselessly taking the field and plunging france into misery and bloodshed to support. but for the balafre and madam league--as the great spanish catholic conspiracy against the liberties of france, and of england, and of all europe, was affectionately termed by the paris populace--honest catholics would fare no better in france than they did in england, where, as it was well known, they were every day subjected to fearful tortures: the shopwindows were filled with coloured engravings, representing, in exaggerated fashion, the sufferings of the english catholics under bloody elizabeth, or jezebel, as she was called; and as the gaping burghers stopped to ponder over these works of art, there were ever present, as if by accident, some persons of superior information who would condescendingly explain the various pictures, pointing out with a long stick the phenomena most worthy of notice. these caricatures proving highly successful, and being suppressed by order of government, they were repeated upon canvas on a larger scale, in still more conspicuous situations, as if in contempt of the royal authority, which sullied itself by compromise with calvinism! the pulpits, meanwhile, thundered denunciations on the one hand against the weak and wicked king, who worshipped idols, and who sacrificed the dearly-earned pittance of his subjects to feed the insolent pomp of his pampered favourites; and on the other, upon the arch-heretic, the arch-apostate, the bearnese huguenot, who, after the death of the reigning monarch, would have the effrontery to claim his throne, and to introduce into france the persecutions and the horrors under which unhappy england was already groaning. the scarce-concealed instigator of these assaults upon the royal and upon the huguenot faction was, of course, the duke of guise,--the man whose most signal achievement had been the massacre of st. bartholomew--all the preliminary details of that transaction having been arranged by his skill. so long as charles ix. was living, the balafre had created the confusion which was his element, by entertaining and fomenting the perpetual intrigues of anjou and alencon against their brother; while the altercations between them and the queen mother and the furious madman who then sat upon the throne, had been the cause of sufficient disorder and calamity for france. on the death of charles ix. guise had sought the intimacy of henry of navarre, that by his means he might frustrate the hopes of alencon for the succession. during the early period of the bearnese's residence at the french court the two had been inseparable, living together, going to the same festivals, tournaments, and masquerades, and even sleeping in the same bed. "my master," was ever guise's address to henry; "my gossip," the young king of navarre's reply. but the crafty bearnese had made use of the intimacy only to read the secrets of the balafre's heart; and on navarre's flight from the court, and his return to huguenotism, guise knew that he had been played upon by a subtler spirit than his own. the simulated affection was now changed into undisguised hatred. moreover, by the death of alencon, navarre now stood next the throne, and guise's plots became still more extensive and more open as his own ambition to usurp the crown on the death of the childless henry iii. became more fervid. thus, by artfully inflaming the populace of paris, and through his organized bands of confederates--that of all the large towns of france, against the huguenots and their chief, by appeals to the religious sentiment; and at the same time by stimulating the disgust and indignation of the tax-payers everywhere at the imposts and heavy burthens which the boundless extravagance of the court engendered, guise paved the way for the advancement of the great league which he represented. the other two political divisions were ingeniously represented as mere insolent factions, while his own was the true national and patriotic party, by which alone the ancient religion and the cherished institutions of france could be preserved. and the great chief of this national patriotic party was not henry of guise, but the industrious old man who sat writing despatches in the depths of the escorial. spanish counsels, spanish promises, spanish ducats--these were the real machinery by which the plots of guise against the peace of france and of europe were supported. madam league was simply philip ii. nothing was written, officially or unofficially, to the french government by the spanish court that was not at the same time communicated to "mucio"--as the duke of guise was denominated in the secret correspondence of philip, and mucio was in philip's pay, his confidential agent, spy, and confederate, long before the actual existence of the league was generally suspected. the queen-mother, catharine de' medici, played into the duke's hands. throughout the whole period of her widowhood, having been accustomed to govern her sons, she had, in a certain sense, been used to govern the kingdom. by sowing dissensions among her own children, by inflaming party against party, by watching with care the oscillations of france--so than none of the great divisions should obtain preponderance--by alternately caressing and massacring the huguenots, by cajoling or confronting philip, by keeping, as she boasted, a spy in every family that possessed the annual income of two thousand livres, by making herself the head of an organized system of harlotry, by which the soldiers and politicians of france were inveigled, their secrets faithfully revealed to her by her well-disciplined maids of honour, by surrounding her unfortunate sons with temptation from earliest youth, and plunging them by cold calculation into deepest debauchery, that their enervated faculties might be ever forced to rely in political affairs on the maternal counsel, and to abandon the administration to the maternal will; such were the arts by which catharine had maintained her influence, and a great country been governed for a generation--machiavellian state-craft blended with the more simple wiles of a procuress. now that alencon was dead, and henry iii. hopeless of issue, it was her determination that the children of her daughter, the duchess of lorraine, should succeed to the throne. the matter was discussed as if the throne were already vacant, and guise and the queen-mother, if they agreed in nothing else, were both cordial in their detestation of henry of navarre. the duke affected to support the schemes in favour of his relatives, the princes of lorraine, while he secretly informed the spanish court that this policy was only a pretence. he was not likely, he said, to advance the interests of the younger branch of a house of which he was himself the chief, nor were their backs equal to the burthen. it was necessary to amuse the old queen, but he was profoundly of opinion that the only sovereign for france, upon the death of henry, was philip ii. himself. this was the duke's plan of arriving, by means of spanish assistance, at the throne of france; and such was henry le balafre, chief of the league. and the other henry, the huguenot, the bearnese, henry of bourbon, henry of navarre, the chieftain of the gascon chivalry, the king errant, the hope and the darling of the oppressed protestants in every land--of him it is scarce needful to say a single word. at his very name a figure seems to leap forth from the mist of three centuries, instinct with ruddy vigorous life. such was the intense vitality of the bearnese prince, that even now he seems more thoroughly alive and recognizable than half the actual personages who are fretting their hour upon the stage. we see, at once, a man of moderate stature, light, sinewy, and strong; a face browned with continual exposure; small, mirthful, yet commanding blue eyes, glittering from beneath an arching brow, and prominent cheekbones; a long hawk's nose, almost resting upon a salient chin, a pendent moustache, and a thick, brown, curly beard, prematurely grizzled; we see the mien of frank authority and magnificent good humour, we hear the ready sallies of the shrewd gascon mother-wit, we feel the electricity which flashes out of him, and sets all hearts around him on fire, when the trumpet sounds to battle. the headlong desperate charge, the snow-white plume waving where the fire is hottest, the large capacity for enjoyment of the man, rioting without affectation in the 'certaminis gaudia', the insane gallop, after the combat, to lay its trophies at the feet of the cynthia of the minute, and thus to forfeit its fruits; all are as familiar to us as if the seven distinct wars, the hundred pitched battles, the two hundred sieges; in which the bearnese was personally present, had been occurrences of our own day. he at least was both king and man, if the monarch who occupied the throne was neither. he was the man to prove, too, for the instruction of the patient letter-writer of the escorial, that the crown of france was to be won with foot in stirrup and carbine in hand, rather than to be caught by the weaving and casting of the most intricate nets of diplomatic intrigue, though thoroughly weighted with mexican gold. the king of navarre was now thirty-one years old; for the three henrys were nearly of the same age. the first indications of his existence had been recognized amid the cannon and trumpets of a camp in picardy, and his mother had sung a gay bearnese song as he was coming into the world at pau. thus, said his grandfather, henry of navarre, thou shalt not bear to us a morose and sulky child. the good king, without a kingdom, taking the child, as soon as born, in the lappel of his dressing-gown, had brushed his infant lips with a clove of garlic, and moistened them with a drop of generous gascon wine. thus, said the grandfather again, shall the boy be both merry and bold. there was something mythologically prophetic in the incidents of his birth. the best part of navarre had been long since appropriated by ferdinand of aragon. in france there reigned a young and warlike sovereign with four healthy boys. but the new-born infant had inherited the lilies of france from st. louis, and a later ancestor had added to the escutcheon the motto "espoir." his grandfather believed that the boy was born to revenge upon spain the wrongs of the house of albret, and henry's nature seemed ever pervaded with robert of clermont's device. the same sensible grandfather, having different views on the subject of education from those manifested by catherine de medici towards her children, had the boy taught to run about bare-headed and bare-footed, like a peasant, among the mountains and rocks of bearn, till he became as rugged as a young bear, and as nimble as a kid. black bread, and beef, and garlic, were his simple fare; and he was taught by his mother and his grandfather to hate lies and liars, and to read the bible. when he was fifteen, the third religious war broke out. both his father and grandfather were dead. his mother, who had openly professed the reformed faith, since the death of her husband, who hated it, brought her boy to the camp at rochelle, where he was received as the chief of the huguenots. his culture was not extensive. he had learned to speak the truth, to ride, to shoot, to do with little sleep and less food. he could also construe a little latin, and had read a few military treatises; but the mighty hours of an eventful life were now to take him by the hand, and to teach him much good and much evil, as they bore him onward. he now saw military treatises expounded practically by professors, like his uncle condo, and admiral coligny, and lewis nassau, in such lecture-rooms as laudun, and jarnac, and montcontour, and never was apter scholar. the peace of arnay-le-duc succeeded, and then the fatal bartholomew marriage with the messalina of valois. the faith taught in the mountains of bearn was no buckler against the demand of "the mass or death," thundered at his breast by the lunatic charles, as he pointed to thousands of massacred huguenots. henry yielded to such conclusive arguments, and became a catholic. four years of court imprisonment succeeded, and the young king of navarre, though proof to the artifices of his gossip guise, was not adamant to the temptations spread for him by catherine de' medici. in the harem entertained for him in the louvre many pitfalls entrapped him; and he became a stock-performer in the state comedies and tragedies of that plotting age. a silken web of palace-politics, palace-diplomacy, palace revolutions, enveloped him. schemes and counter-schemes, stratagems and conspiracies, assassinations and poisonings; all the state-machinery which worked so exquisitely in fair ladies' chambers, to spread havoc and desolation over a kingdom, were displayed before his eyes. now campaigning with one royal brother against huguenots, now fighting with another on their side, now solicited by the queen-mother to attempt the life of her son, now implored by henry iii. to assassinate his brother, the bearnese, as fresh antagonisms, affinities; combinations, were developed, detected, neutralized almost daily, became rapidly an adept in medicean state-chemistry. charles ix. in his grave, henry iii. on the throne, alencon in the huguenot camp--henry at last made his escape. the brief war and peace of monsieur succeeded, and the king of navarre formally abjured the catholic creed. the parties were now sharply defined. guise mounted upon the league, henry astride upon the reformation, were prepared to do battle to the death. the temporary "war of the amorous" was followed by the peace of fleix. four years of peace again; four fat years of wantonness and riot preceding fourteen hungry famine-stricken years of bloodiest civil war. the voluptuousness and infamy of the louvre were almost paralleled in vice, if not in splendour, by the miniature court at pau. henry's spartan grandfather would scarce have approved the courses of the youth, whose education he had commenced on so simple a scale. for margaret of valois, hating her husband, and living in most undisguised and promiscuous infidelity to him, had profited by her mother's lessons. a seraglio of maids of honour ministered to henry's pleasures, and were carefully instructed that the peace and war of the kingdom were playthings in their hands. while at paris royalty was hopelessly sinking in a poisonous marsh, there was danger that even the hardy nature of the bearnese would be mortally enervated by the atmosphere in which he lived. the unhappy henry iii., baited by the guises, worried by alencon and his mother, implored the king of navarre to return to paris and the catholic faith. m. de segur, chief of navarre's council, who had been won over during a visit to the capital, where he had made the discovery that "henry iii. was an angel, and his ministers devils," came back to pau, urging his master's acceptance of the royal invitation. henry wavered. bold d'aubigne, stanchest of huguenots, and of his friends, next day privately showed segur a palace-window opening on a very steep precipice over the bayae, and cheerfully assured him that he should be flung from it did he not instantly reverse his proceedings, and give his master different advice. if i am not able to do the deed myself, said d'aubigne, here are a dozen more to help me. the chief of the council cast a glance behind him, saw a number of grim puritan soldiers, with their hats plucked down upon their brows, looking very serious; so made his bow, and quite changed his line of conduct. at about the same time, philip ii. confidentially offered henry of navarre four hundred thousand crowns in hand, and twelve hundred thousand yearly, if he would consent to make war upon henry iii. mucio, or the duke of guise, being still in philip's pay, the combination of leaguers and huguenots against the unfortunate valois would, it was thought, be a good triangular contest. but henry--no longer the unsophisticated youth who had been used to run barefoot among the cliffs of coarasse--was grown too crafty a politician to be entangled by spanish or medicean wiles. the duke of anjou was now dead. of all the princes who had stood between him and the throne, there was none remaining save the helpless, childless, superannuated youth, who was its present occupant. the king of navarre was legitimate heir to the crown of france. "espoir" was now in letters of light upon his shield, but he knew that his path to greatness led through manifold dangers, and that it was only at the head of his huguenot chivalry that he could cut his way. he was the leader of the nobles of gascony, and dauphins, and guienne, in their mountain fastnesses, of the weavers, cutlers, and artizans, in their thriving manufacturing and trading towns. it was not spanish gold, but carbines and cutlasses, bows and bills, which could bring him to the throne of his ancestors. and thus he stood the chieftain of that great austere party of huguenots, the men who went on, their knees before the battle, beating their breasts with their iron gauntlets, and singing in full chorus a psalm of david, before smiting the philistines hip and thigh. their chieftain, scarcely their representative--fit to lead his puritans on the battle-field, was hardly a model for them elsewhere. yet, though profligate in one respect, he was temperate in every other. in food, wine, and sleep, he was always moderate. subtle and crafty in self-defence, he retained something of his old love of truth, of his hatred for liars. hardly generous perhaps, he was a friend of justice, while economy in a wandering king, like himself, was a necessary virtue, of which france one day was to feel the beneficent action. reckless and headlong in appearance, he was in truth the most careful of men. on the religious question, most cautious of all, he always left the door open behind him, disclaimed all bigotry of opinion, and earnestly implored the papists to seek, not his destruction, but his instruction. yet prudent as he was by nature in every other regard, he was all his life the slave of one woman or another, and it was by good luck rather than by sagacity that he did not repeatedly forfeit the fruits of his courage and conduct, in obedience to his master-passion. always open to conviction on the subject of his faith, he repudiated the appellation of heretic. a creed, he said, was not to be changed like a shirt, but only on due deliberation, and under special advice. in his secret heart he probably regarded the two religions as his chargers, and was ready to mount alternately the one or the other, as each seemed the more likely to bear him safely in the battle. the bearnese was no puritan, but he was most true to himself and to his own advancement. his highest principle of action was to reach his goal, and to that principle he was ever loyal. feeling, too, that it was the interest of france that he should succeed, he was even inspired--compared with others on the stage--by an almost lofty patriotism. amiable by nature and by habit, he had preserved the most unimpaired good-humour throughout the horrible years which succeeded st. bartholomew, during which he carried his life in his hand, and learned not to wear his heart upon his sleeve. without gratitude, without resentment, without fear, without remorse, entirely arbitrary, yet with the capacity to use all men's judgments; without convictions, save in regard to his dynastic interests, he possessed all the qualities, necessary to success. he knew how to use his enemies. he knew how to use his friends, to abuse them, and to throw them away. he refused to assassinate francis alencon at the bidding of henry iii., but he attempted to procure the murder of the truest of his own friends, one of the noblest characters of the age--whose breast showed twelve scars received in his services--agrippa d'aubigne, because the honest soldier had refused to become his pimp--a service the king had implored upon his knees. beneath the mask of perpetual careless good-humour, lurked the keenest eye, a subtle, restless, widely combining brain, and an iron will. native sagacity had been tempered into consummate elasticity by the fiery atmosphere in which feebler natures had been dissolved. his wit was as flashing and as quickly unsheathed as his sword. desperate, apparently reckless temerity on the battle-field was deliberately indulged in, that the world might be brought to recognise a hero and chieftain in a king. the do-nothings of the merovingian line had been succeeded by the pepins; to the effete carlovingians had come a capet; to the impotent valois should come a worthier descendant of st. louis. this was shrewd gascon calculation, aided by constitutional fearlessness. when despatch-writing, invisible philips, stargazing rudolphs, and petticoated henrys, sat upon the thrones of europe, it was wholesome to show the world that there was a king left who could move about in the bustle and business of the age, and could charge as well as most soldiers at the head of his cavalry; that there was one more sovereign fit to reign over men, besides the glorious virgin who governed england. thus courageous, crafty, far-seeing, consistent, untiring, imperturbable, he was born to command, and had a right to reign. he had need of the throne, and the throne had still more need of him. this then was the third henry, representative of the third side of the triangle, the reformers of the kingdom. and before this bubbling cauldron of france, where intrigues, foreign and domestic, conflicting ambitions, stratagems, and hopes, were whirling in never-ceasing tumult, was it strange if the plain netherland envoys should stand somewhat aghast? yet it was necessary that they should ponder well the aspect of affairs; for all their hopes, the very existence of themselves and of their religion, depended upon the organization which should come of this chaos. it must be remembered, however, that those statesmen--even the wisest or the best-informed of them--could not take so correct a view of france and its politics as it is possible for us, after the lapse of three centuries, to do. the interior leagues, subterranean schemes, conflicting factions, could only be guessed at; nor could the immediate future be predicted, even by such far-seeing politicians as william of orange; at a distance, or henry of navarre, upon the spot. it was obvious to the netherlanders that france, although torn by faction, was a great and powerful realm. there had now been, with the brief exception of the lovers' war in , a religious peace of eight years' duration. the huguenots had enjoyed tranquil exercise of their worship during that period, and they expressed perfect confidence in the good faith of the king. that the cities were inordinately taxed to supply the luxury of the court could hardly be unknown to the netherlanders. nevertheless they knew that the kingdom was the richest and most populous of christendom, after that of spain. its capital, already called by contemporaries the "compendium of the world," was described by travellers as "stupendous in extent and miraculous for its numbers." it was even said to contain eight hundred thousand souls; and although, its actual population did not probably exceed three hundred and twenty thousand, yet this was more than double the number of london's inhabitants, and thrice as many as antwerp could then boast, now that a great proportion of its foreign denizens had been scared away. paris was at least by one hundred thousand more populous than any city of europe, except perhaps the remote and barbarous moscow, while the secondary cities of france, rouen in the north, lyons in the centre, and marseilles in the south, almost equalled in size, business, wealth, and numbers, the capitals of other countries. in the whole kingdom were probably ten or twelve millions of inhabitants, nearly as many as in spain, without her colonies, and perhaps three times the number that dwelt in england. in a military point of view, too, the alliance of france was most valuable to the contiguous netherlands. a few regiments of french troops, under the command of one of their experienced marshals, could block up the spaniards in the walloon provinces, effectually stop their operations against ghent, antwerp, and the other great cities of flanders and brabant, and, with the combined action of the united provinces on the north, so surround and cripple the forces of parma, as to reduce the power of philip, after a few vigorous and well-concerted blows, to an absolute nullity in, the low countries. as this result was of as vital importance to the real interests of france and of europe, whether protestant or catholic, as it was to the provinces, and as the french government had privately manifested a strong desire to oppose the progress of spain towards universal empire, it was not surprising that the states general, not feeling capable of standing alone, should make their application to france. this they had done with the knowledge and concurrence of the english government. what lay upon the surface the netherland statesmen saw and pondered well. what lurked beneath, they surmised as shrewdly as they could, but it was impossible, with plummet and fathom-line ever in hand, to sound the way with perfect accuracy, where the quicksands were ever shifting, and the depth or shallowness of the course perpetually varying. it was not easy to discover the intentions of a government which did not know its own intentions, and whose changing policy was controlled by so many hidden currents. moreover, as already indicated, the envoys and those whom they represented had not the same means of arriving at a result as are granted to us. thanks to the liberality of many modern governments of europe, the archives where the state-secrets of the buried centuries have so long mouldered, are now open to the student of history. to him who has patience and industry many mysteries are thus revealed, which no political sagacity or critical acumen could have divined. he leans over the shoulder of philip the second at his writing-table, as the king spells patiently out, with cipher-key in hand, the most concealed hieroglyphics of parma or guise or mendoza. he reads the secret thoughts of "fabius,"--[the name usually assigned to philip himself in the paris-simancas correspondence.]--as that cunctative roman scrawls his marginal apostilles on each despatch; he pries into all the stratagems of camillus, hortensius, mucius, julius, tullius, and the rest of those ancient heroes who lent their names to the diplomatic masqueraders of the th century; he enters the cabinet of the deeply-pondering burghley, and takes from the most private drawer the memoranda which record that minister's unutterable doubtings; he pulls from the dressing-gown folds of the stealthy, softly-gliding walsingham the last secret which he has picked from the emperor's pigeon-holes, or the pope's pocket, and which, not hatton, nor buckhurst, nor leicester, nor the lord treasurer, is to see; nobody but elizabeth herself; he sits invisible at the most secret councils of the nassaus and barneveldt and buys, or pores with farnese over coming victories, and vast schemes of universal conquest; he reads the latest bit of scandal, the minutest characteristic of king or minister, chronicled by the gossiping venetians for the edification of the forty; and, after all this prying and eavesdropping, having seen the cross-purposes, the bribings, the windings, the fencings in the dark, he is not surprised, if those who were systematically deceived did not always arrive at correct conclusions. noel de caron, seigneur de schoneval, had been agent of the states at the french court at the time of the death of the duke of anjou. upon the occurrence of that event, la mouillerie and asseliers were deputed by the provinces to king henry iii., in order to offer him the sovereignty, which they had intended to confer upon his brother. meantime that brother, just before his death, and with the privity of henry, had been negotiating for a marriage with the younger daughter of philip ii.--an arrangement somewhat incompatible with his contemporaneous scheme to assume the sovereignty of philip's revolted provinces. an attempt had been made at the same time to conciliate the duke of savoy, and invite him to the french court; but the duc de joyeuse, then on his return from turin, was bringing the news, not only that the match with anjou was not favored--which, as anjou was dead, was of no great consequence--but that the duke of savoy was himself to espouse the infanta, and was therefore compelled to decline the invitation to paris, for fear of offending his father-in-law. other matters were in progress, to be afterwards indicated, very much interfering with the negotiations of the netherland envoys. when la mouillerie and asseliers arrived at rouen, on their road from dieppe to paris, they received a peremptory order from the queen-mother to proceed no farther. this prohibition was brought by an unofficial personage, and was delivered, not to them, but to des pruneaux, french envoy to the states general, who had accompanied the envoys to france. after three weeks' time, during which they "kept themselves continually concealed in rouen," there arrived in that city a young nephew of secretary brulart, who brought letters empowering him to hear what they had in charge for the king. the envoys, not much flattered by such cavalier treatment on the part of him to, whom they were offering a crown, determined to digest the affront as they best might, and, to save time, opened the whole business to this subordinate stripling. he received from them accordingly an ample memoir to be laid before his majesty, and departed by the post the same night. then they waited ten days longer, concealed as if they had been thieves or spies, rather than the representatives of a friendly power, on a more than friendly errand. at last, on the th july , after the deputies had been thus shut up a whole month, secretary brulart himself arrived from fontainebleau. he stated that the king sent his royal thanks to the states for the offer which they had made him, and to the deputies in particular for taking the trouble of so long a journey; but that he did not find his realm in condition to undertake a foreign war so inopportunely. in every other regard, his majesty offered the states "all possible favours and pleasures." certainly, after having been thus kept in prison for a month, the ambassadors had small cause to be contented with this very cold communication. to be forbidden the royal presence, and to be turned out of the country without even an official and accredited answer to a communication in which they had offered the sovereignty of their fatherland, was not flattering to their dignity. "we little thought," said they to brulart, after a brief consultation among themselves, "to receive such a reply as this. it displeases us infinitely that his majesty will not do us the honour to grant us an audience. we must take the liberty of saying, that 'tis treating the states, our masters, with too much contempt. who ever heard before of refusing audience to public personages? kings often grant audience to mere letter-carriers. even the king of spain never refused a hearing to the deputies from the netherlands when they came to spain to complain of his own government. the states general have sent envoys to many other kinds and princes, and they have instantly granted audience in every case. his majesty, too, has been very ill-informed of the contracts which we formerly made with the duke of anjou, and therefore a personal interview is the more necessary." as the envoys were obstinate on the point of paris, brulart said "that the king, although he should himself be at lyons, would not prevent any one from going to the capital on his own private affairs; but would unquestionably take it very ill if, they should visit that city in a public manner, and as deputies." des pruneaux professed himself "very grievous at this result, and desirous of a hundred deaths in consequence." they stated that they should be ready within a month to bring an army of , horse and , foot into the field for the relief of ghent, besides their military operations against zutphen; and that the enemy had recently been ignominiously defeated in his attack upon fort lille, and had lost , of his best soldiers. here were encouraging facts; and it certainly was worth the while of the french sovereign to pause a moment before rejecting without a hearing, the offer of such powerful and conveniently-situated provinces. des pruneaux, a man of probity and earnestness, but perhaps of insufficient ability to deal with such grave matters as now fell almost entirely upon his shoulders, soon afterwards obtained audience of the king. being most sincerely in favour of the annexation of the netherlands to france, and feeling that now or never was the opportunity of bringing it about, he persuaded the king to send him back to the provinces, in order to continue the negotiation directly with the states general. the timidity and procrastination of the court could be overcome no further. the two dutch envoys, who had stolen secretly to paris, were indulged in a most barren and unmeaning interview with the queen-mother. before their departure from france, however, they had the advantage of much conversation with leading members of the royal council, of the parliaments of paris and rouen, and also with various persons professing the reformed religion. they endeavoured thus to inform themselves, as well as they could, why the king made so much difficulty in accepting their propositions, and whether, and by what means, his majesty could be induced to make war in their behalf upon the king of spain. they were informed that, should holland and zeeland unite with the rest of the netherlands, the king "without any doubt would undertake the cause most earnestly." his councillors, also--even those who had been most active in dissuading his majesty from such a policy--would then be unanimous in supporting the annexation of the provinces and the war with spain. in such a contingency, with the potent assistance of holland and zeeland, the king would have little difficulty, within a very short time, in chasing every single spaniard out of the netherlands. to further this end, many leading personages in france avowed to the envoys their determination "to venture their lives and their fortunes, and to use all the influence which they possessed at court." the same persons expressed their conviction that the king, once satisfied by the provinces as to conditions and reasons, would cheerfully go into the war, without being deterred by any apprehension as to the power of spain. it was, however, fitting that each province should chaffer as little as possible about details, but should give his majesty every reasonable advantage. they should remember that they were dealing with "a great, powerful monarch, who was putting his realm in jeopardy, and not with a duke of anjou, who had every thing to gain and nothing to lose." all the huguenots, with whom the envoys conversed, were excessively sanguine. could the king be once brought they said, to promise the netherlands his protection, there was not the least fear but that he would keep his word. he would use all the means within his power; "yea, he would take the crown from his head," rather than turn back. although reluctant to commence a war with so powerful a sovereign, having once promised his help, he would keep his pledge to the utmost, "for he was a king of his word," and had never broken and would never break his faith with those of the reformed religion. thus spoke the leading huguenots of france, in confidential communication with the netherland envoys, not many months before the famous edict of extermination, published at nemours. at that moment the reformers were full of confidence; not foreseeing the long procession of battles and sieges which was soon to sweep through the land. notwithstanding the urgency of the papists for their extirpation, they extolled loudly the liberty of religious worship which calvinists, as well as catholics, were enjoying in france, and pointed to the fact that the adherents of both religions were well received at court, and that they shared equally in offices of trust and dignity throughout the kingdom. the netherland envoys themselves bore testimony to the undisturbed tranquillity and harmony in which the professors of both religions were living and worshipping side by side "without reproach or quarrel" in all the great cities which they had visited. they expressed the conviction that the same toleration would be extended to all the provinces when under french dominion; and, so far as their ancient constitutions and privileges were concerned, they were assured that the king of france would respect and maintain them with as much fidelity as the states could possibly desire. des pruneaux, accompanied by the two states' envoys, departed forthwith for the netherlands. on the th august, he delivered a discourse before the states general, in which he disclosed, in very general terms, the expectations of henry iii., and intimated very clearly that the different provinces were to lose no time in making an unconditional offer to that monarch. with regard to holland and zeeland he observed that he was provided with a special commission to those estates. it was not long before one province after the other came to the conclusion to offer the sovereignty to the king without written conditions, but with a general understanding that their religious freedom and their ancient constitutions were to be sacredly respected. meantime, des pruneaux made his appearance in holland and zeeland, and declared the king's intentions of espousing the cause of the states, and of accepting the sovereignty of all the provinces. he distinctly observed, however, that it was as sovereign, not as protector, that his majesty must be recognised in holland and zeeland, as well as in the rest of the country. upon this grave question there was much debate and much difference of opinion. holland and zeeland had never contemplated the possibility of accepting any foreign sovereignty, and the opponents of the present scheme were loud and angry, but very reasonable in their remarks. the french, they said, were no respecters of privileges nor of persons. the duke of anjou had deceived william of orange and betrayed the provinces. could they hope to see farther than that wisest and most experienced prince? had not the stout hearts of the antwerp burghers proved a stronger defence to brabant liberties than the "joyous entry" on the dread day of the "french fury," it would have fared ill then and for ever with the cause of freedom and religion in the netherlands. the king of france was a papist, a jesuit. he was incapable of keeping his pledges. should they make the arrangement now proposed and confer the sovereignty upon him, he would forthwith make peace with spain, and transfer the provinces back to that crown in exchange for the duchy of milan, which france had ever coveted. the netherlands, after a quarter of a century of fighting in defence of their hearths and altars, would find themselves handed over again, bound and fettered, to the tender mercies of the spanish inquisition. the kings of france and of spain always acted in concert, for religion was the most potent of bonds. witness the sacrifice of thousands of french soldiers to alva by their own sovereign at mons, witness the fate of genlis, witness the bloody night of st. bartholomew, witness the antwerp fury. men cited and relied upon the advice of william of orange as to this negotiation with france. but orange never dreamed of going so far as now proposed. he was ever careful to keep the provinces of holland and zeeland safe from every foreign master. that spot was to be holy ground. not out of personal ambition. god forbid that they, should accuse his memory of any such impurity, but because he wished one safe refuge for the spirit of freedom. many years long they had held out by land and sea against the spaniards, and should they now, because this des pruneaux shrugged his shoulders, be so alarmed as to open the door to the same spaniard wearing the disguise of a frenchman? prince maurice also made a brief representation to the states' assembly of holland, in which, without distinctly opposing the negotiation with france, he warned them not to proceed too hastily with so grave a matter. he reminded them how far they had gone in the presentation of the sovereignty to his late father, and requested them, in their dealings with france, not to forget his interests and those of his family. he reminded them of the position of that family, overladen with debt contracted in their service alone. he concluded by offering most affectionately his service in any way in which he, young and inexperienced as he knew himself to be, might be thought useful; as he was long since resolved to devote his life to the welfare of his country. these passionate appeals were answered with equal vehemence by those who had made up their minds to try the chances of the french sovereignty. des pruneaux, meanwhile, was travelling from province to province, and from city to city, using the arguments which have already been sufficiently indicated, and urging a speedy compliance with the french king's propositions. at the same time, in accordance with his instructions, he was very cautious to confine himself to generalities, and to avoid hampering his royal master with the restrictions which had proved so irksome to the duke of anjou. "the states general demanded a copy of my speech," he wrote the day after that harangue had been delivered, "but i only gave them a brief outline; extending myself [ th august, ] as little as i possibly could, according to the intention and command of your majesty. when i got here, i found them without hope of our assistance, and terribly agitated by the partizans of spain. there was some danger of their going over in a panic to the enemy. they are now much changed again, and the spanish partizans are beginning to lose their tongues. i invite them, if they intend to address your majesty, to proceed as they ought towards a veritably grand monarch, without hunting up any of their old quibbles, or reservations of provinces, or any thing else which could inspire suspicion. i have sent into gelderland and friesland, for i find i must stay here in holland and zeeland myself. these two provinces are the gates and ramparts through which we must enter. 'tis, in my opinion, what could be called superb, to command all the sea, thus subject to the crown of france. and france, too, with assistance of this country, will command the land as well. they are much astonished here, however, that i communicate nothing of the intention of your majesty. they say that if your majesty does not accept this offer of their country, your majesty puts the rope around their necks." the french envoy was more and more struck with the brilliancy of the prize offered to his master. "if the king gets these provinces," said he to catharine, "'t will be the most splendid inheritance which prince has ever conquered." in a very few weeks the assiduity of the envoy and of the french party was successful. all the other provinces had very soon repeated the offer which they had previously made through asseliers and la mouillerie. by the beginning of october the opposition of holland was vanquished. the estates of that province--three cities excepted, however--determined "to request england and france to assume a joint protectorate over the netherlands. in case the king of france should refuse this proposition, they were then ready to receive him as prince and master, with knowledge and consent of the queen of england, and on such conditions as the united states should approve." immediately afterwards, the general assembly of all the states determined to offer the sovereignty to king henry "on conditions to be afterwards settled." des pruneaux, thus triumphant, received a gold chain of the value of two thousand florins, and departed before the end of october for france. the departure of the solemn embassy to that country, for the purpose of offering the sovereignty to the king, was delayed till the beginning of january. meantime it is necessary to cast a glance at the position of england in relation to these important transactions. etext editor's bookmarks: diplomatic adroitness consists mainly in the power to deceive enmity between lutherans and calvinists find our destruction in our immoderate desire for peace german-lutheran sixteenth-century idea of religious freedom intentions of a government which did not know its own intentions lord was better pleased with adverbs than nouns make sheep of yourselves, and the wolf will eat you necessity of kingship neighbour's blazing roof was likely soon to fire their own nor is the spirit of the age to be pleaded in defence pauper client who dreamed of justice at the hands of law seem as if born to make the idea of royalty ridiculous shutting the stable-door when the steed is stolen string of homely proverbs worthy of sancho panza the very word toleration was to sound like an insult there was apathy where there should have been enthusiasm tranquillity rather of paralysis than of health write so illegibly or express himself so awkwardly history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, - chapter iii. policy of england--schemes of the pretender of portugal--hesitation of the french court--secret wishes of france--contradictory views as to the opinions of netherlanders--their love for england and elizabeth--prominent statesmen of the provinces--roger williams the welshman views of walsingham, burghley, and the queen--an embassy to holland decided upon--davison at the hague--cautious and secret measures of burghley--consequent dissatisfaction of walsingham-- english and dutch suspicion of france--increasing affection of holland for england. the policy of england towards the provinces had been somewhat hesitating, but it had not been disloyal. it was almost inevitable that there should be timidity in the councils of elizabeth, when so grave a question as that of confronting the vast power of spain was forcing itself day by day more distinctly upon the consideration of herself and her statesmen. it was very clear, now that orange was dead, that some new and decided step would be taken. elizabeth was in favour of combined action by the french and english governments, in behalf of the netherlands--a joint protectorate of the provinces, until such time as adequate concessions on the religious question could be obtained from spain. she was unwilling to plunge into the peril and expense of a war with the strongest power in the world. she disliked the necessity under which she should be placed of making repeated applications to her parliament, and of thus fostering the political importance of the commons; she was reluctant to encourage rebellious subjects in another land, however just the cause of their revolt. she felt herself vulnerable in ireland and on the scottish border. nevertheless, the spanish power was becoming so preponderant, that if the netherlands were conquered, she could never feel a moment's security within her own territory. if the provinces were annexed to france, on the other hand, she could not contemplate with complacency the increased power thus placed in the hands of the treacherous and jesuitical house of valois. the path of the queen was thickly strewed with peril: her advisers were shrewd, far-seeing, patriotic, but some of them were perhaps over cautious. the time had, however, arrived when the danger was to be faced, if the whole balance of power in europe were not to come to an end, and weak states, like england and the netherlands, to submit to the tyranny of an overwhelming absolutism. the instinct of the english sovereign, of english statesmen, of the english nation, taught them that the cause of the netherlands was their own. nevertheless, they were inclined to look on yet a little longer, although the part of spectator had become an impossible one. the policy of the english government was not treacherous, although it was timid. that of the french court was both the one and the other, and it would have been better both for england and the provinces, had they more justly appreciated the character of catharine de' medici and her son. the first covert negotiations between henry and the states had caused much anxiety among the foreign envoys in france. don bernardino de mendoza, who had recently returned from spain after his compulsory retreat from his post of english ambassador, was now established in paris, as representative of philip. he succeeded tasais--a netherlander by birth, and one of the ablest diplomatists in the spanish service--and his house soon became the focus of intrigue against the government to which he was accredited--the very head-quarters of the league. his salary was large, his way of living magnificent, his insolence intolerable. "tassis is gone to the netherlands," wrote envoy busbecq to the emperor, "and thence is to proceed to spain. don bernardino has arrived in his place. if it be the duty of a good ambassador to expend largely, it would be difficult to find a better one than he; for they say 'tis his intention to spend sixteen thousand dollars yearly in his embassy. i would that all things were in correspondence; and that he were not in other respects so inferior to tassis." it is, however, very certain that mendoza was not only a brave soldier, but a man of very considerable capacity in civil affairs, although his inordinate arrogance interfered most seriously with his skill as a negotiator. he was, of course, watching with much fierceness the progress of these underhand proceedings between the french court and the rebellious subjects of his master, and using threats and expostulations in great profusion. "mucio," too, the great stipendiary of philip, was becoming daily more dangerous, and the adherents of the league were multiplying with great celerity. the pretender of portugal, don antonio, prior of crato, was also in paris; and it was the policy of both the french and the english governments to protect his person, and to make use of him as a rod over the head of philip. having escaped, after the most severe sufferings, in the mountains of spain, where he had been tracked like a wild beast, with a price of thirty thousand crowns placed upon his head, he was now most anxious to stir the governments of europe into espousing his cause, and into attacking spain through the recently acquired kingdom of portugal. meantime, he was very desirous of some active employment, to keep himself from starving, and conceived the notion, that it would be an excellent thing for the netherlands and himself, were he to make good to them the loss of william the silent. "don antonio," wrote stafford, "made a motion to me yesterday, to move her majesty, that now upon the prince of orange's death, as it is a necessary thing for them to have a governor and head, and him to be at her majesty's devotion, if her majesty would be at the means to work it for him, she should be assured nobody should be more faithfully tied in devotion to her than he. truly you would pity the poor man's case, who is almost next door to starving in effect." a starving condition being, however, not the only requisite in a governor and head to replace the prince of orange, nothing came of this motion. don antonio remained in paris, in a pitiable plight, and very much environed by dangers; for the duke of guise and his brother had undertaken to deliver him into the hands of philip the second, or those of his ministers, before the feast of st. john of the coming year. fifty thousand dollars were to be the reward of this piece of work, combined with other services; "and the sooner they set about it the better," said philip, writing a few months later, "for the longer they delay it, the less easy will they find it."' the money was never earned, however, and meantime don antonio made himself as useful as he could, in picking up information for sir edward stafford and the other opponents of spanish policy in paris. the english envoy was much embarrassed by the position of affairs. he felt sure that the french monarch would never dare to enter the lists against the king of spain, yet he was accurately informed of the secret negotiations with the netherlands, while in the dark as to the ultimate intentions of his own government. "i was never set to school so much," he wrote to walsingham ( th july, ), "as i have been to decipher the cause of the deputies of the low countries coming hither, the offers that they made the king here, and the king's manner of dealing with them!" he expressed great jealousy at the mystery which enveloped the whole transaction; and much annoyance with noel de caron, who "kept very secret, and was angry at the motion," when he endeavoured to discover the business in which they were engaged. yet he had the magnanimity to request walsingham not to mention the fact to the queen, lest she should be thereby prejudiced against the states. "for my part," said he, "i would be glad in any thing to further them, rather than to hinder them--though they do not deserve it--yet for the good the helping them at this time may bring ourselves." meantime, the deputies went away from france, and the king went to lyons, where he had hoped to meet both the duke of savoy and the king of navarre. but joyeuse, who had been received at chambery with "great triumphs and tourneys," brought back only a broken wrist, without bringing the duke of savoy; that potentate sending word that the "king of spain had done him the honour to give him his daughter, and that it was not fit for him to do any thing that might bring jealousy." henry of navarre also, as we have seen, declined the invitation sent him, m. de segur not feeling disposed for the sudden flight out of window suggested by agrippa d' aubigne; so that, on the whole, the king and his mother, with all the court, returned from lyons in marvellous ill humour. "the king storms greatly," said stafford, "and is in a great dump." it was less practicable than ever to discover the intentions of the government; for although it was now very certain that active exertions were making by des pruneaux in the provinces, it was not believed by the most sagacious that a serious resolution against spain had been taken in france. there was even a talk of a double matrimonial alliance, at that very moment, between the two courts. "it is for certain here said," wrote stafford, "that the king of spain doth presently marry the dowager of france, and 'tis thought that if the king of spain marry, he will not live a year. whensoever the marriage be," added the envoy, "i would to god the effect were true, for if it be not by some such handy work of god, i am afraid things will not go so well as i could wish." there was a lull on the surface of affairs, and it was not easy to sound the depths of unseen combinations and intrigues. there was also considerable delay in the appointment and the arrival of the new deputies from the netherlands; and stafford was as doubtful as ever as to the intentions of his own government. "they look daily here for the states," he wrote to walsingham ( th dec. ), "and i pray that i may hear from you as soon as you may, what course i shall take when they be here, either hot or cold or lukewarm in the matter, and in what sort i shall behave myself. some badly affected have gone about to put into the king's head, that they never meant to offer the sovereignty, which, though the king be not thoroughly persuaded of, yet so much is won by this means that the king hearkeneth to see the end, and then to believe as he seeth cause, and in the meantime to speak no more of any such matter than if it had never been moved." while his majesty was thus hearkening in order to see more, according to sir edward's somewhat hibernian mode of expressing himself, and keeping silent that he might see the better, it was more difficult than ever for the envoy to know what course to pursue. some persons went so far as to suggest that the whole negotiation was a mere phantasmagoria devised by queen elizabeth--her purpose being to breed a quarrel between henry and philip for her own benefit; and "then, seeing them together by the ears, as her accustomed manner was, to let them go alone, and sit still to look on." the king did not appear to be much affected by these insinuations against elizabeth; but the doubt and the delay were very harrassing. "i would to god," wrote the english envoy, "that if the states mean to do anything here with the king, and if her. majesty and the council think it fit, they would delay no time, but go roundly either to an agreement or to a breach with the king. otherwise, as the matter now sleepeth, so it will die, for the king must be taken in his humour when he begins to nibble at any bait, for else he will come away, and never bite a full bite while he liveth." there is no doubt that the bait, at which henry nibbled with much avidity, was the maritime part of the netherlands. holland and zeeland in the possession of either england or spain, was a perpetual inconvenience to france. the king, or rather the queen-mother and her advisers--for henry himself hardly indulged in any profound reflections on state-affairs,--desired and had made a sine qua non of those provinces. it had been the french policy, from the beginning, to delay matters, in order to make the states feel the peril of their position to the full. "the king, differing and temporising," wrote herle to the queen, "would have them fall into that necessity and danger, as that they should offer unto him simply the possession of all their estates. otherwise, they were to see, as in a glass, their evident and hasty ruin." even before the death of orange, henry had been determined, if possible, to obtain possession of the island of walcheren, which controlled the whole country. "to give him that," said herle, "would be to turn the hot end of the poker towards themselves, and put the cold part in the king's hand. he had accordingly made a secret offer to william of orange, through the princess, of two millions of livres in ready money, or, if he preferred it, one hundred thousand livres yearly of perpetual inheritance, if he would secure to him the island of walcheren. in that case he promised to declare war upon the king of spain, to confirm to the states their privileges, and to guarantee to the prince the earldoms of holland and zeeland, with all his other lands and titles." it is superfluous to say that such offers were only regarded by the prince as an affront. it was, however, so necessary, in his opinion; to maintain the cause of the reformed churches in france, and to keep up the antagonism between that country and spain, that the french policy was not abandoned, although the court was always held in suspicion. but on the death of william, there was a strong reaction against france and in favour of england. paul buys, one of the ablest statesmen of the netherlands, advocate of holland, and a confidential friend of william the silent up to the time of his death, now became the leader of the english party, and employed his most strenuous efforts against the french treaty-having "seen the scope of that court." with regard to the other leading personages, there was a strong inclination in favour of queen elizabeth, whose commanding character inspired great respect. at the same time warmer sentiments of adhesion seem to have been expressed towards the french court, by the same individuals, than the, mere language of compliment justified. thus, the widowed princess of orange was described by des pruneaux to his sovereign, as "very desolate, but nevertheless doing all in her power to advance his interests; the count maurice, of gentle hopes, as also most desirous of remaining his majesty's humble servant, while elector truchsess was said to be employing himself, in the same cause, with very great affection." a french statesman resident in the provinces, whose name has not been preserved, but who was evidently on intimate terms with many eminent netherlanders, declared that maurice, "who had a mind entirely french, deplored infinitely the misfortunes of france, and regretted that all the provinces could not be annexed to so fair a kingdom. i do assure you," he added, "that he is in no wise english." of count hohenlo, general-in-chief of the states' army under prince maurice, and afterwards his brother-in-law, the same gentleman spoke with even greater confidence. "count d'oloc," said he (for by that ridiculous transformation of his name the german general was known to french and english), "with whom i have passed three weeks on board the fleet of the states, is now wholly french, and does not love the english at all. the very first time i saw him, he protested twice or thrice, in presence of members of the states general and of the state council, that if he had no frenchmen he could never carry on the war. he made more account," he said, "of two thousand french than of six thousand others, english, or germans." yet all these distinguished persons--the widowed princess of orange, count maurice, ex-elector truchsess, count holenlo--were described to queen elizabeth by her confidential agent, then employed in the provinces, as entirely at that sovereign's devotion. "count maurice holds nothing of the french, nor esteems them," said herle, "but humbly desired me to signify unto your majesty that he had in his mind and determination faithfully vowed his service to your majesty, which should be continued in his actions with all duty, and sealed with his blood; for he knew how much his father and the cause were beholden ever to your highness's goodness." the princess, together with her sister-in-law countess schwartzenburg, and the young daughters of the late prince were described on the same occasion "as recommending their service unto her majesty with a most tender affection, as to a lady of all ladies." "especially," said herle, "did the two princesses in most humble and wise sort, express a certain fervent devotion towards your majesty." elector truchsess was spoken of as "a prince well qualified and greatly devoted to her majesty; who, after many grave and sincere words had of her majesty's virtue, calling her 'la fille unique de dieu, and le bien heureuse princesse', desired of god that he might do her service as she merited." and, finally, count hollock--who seemed to "be reformed in sundry things, if it hold" (a delicate allusion to the count's propensity for strong potations), was said "to desire humbly to be known for one that would obey the commandment of her majesty more than of any earthly prince living besides." there can be no doubt that there was a strong party in favour of an appeal to england rather than to france. the netherlanders were too shrewd a people not to recognize the difference between the king of a great realm, who painted his face and wore satin petticoats, and the woman who entertained ambassadors, each in his own language, on gravest affairs of state, who matched in her wit and wisdom the deepest or the most sparkling intellects of her council, who made extemporaneous latin orations to her universities, and who rode on horseback among her generals along the lines of her troops in battle-array, and yet was only the unmarried queen of a petty and turbulent state. "the reverend respect that is borne to your majesty throughout these countries is great," said william herle. they would have thrown themselves into her arms, heart and soul, had they been cordially extended at that moment of their distress; but she was coy, hesitating, and, for reasons already sufficiently indicated, although not so conclusive as they seemed, disposed to temporize and to await the issue of the negotiations between the provinces and france. in holland and zeeland especially, there was an enthusiastic feeling in favour of the english alliance. "they recommend themselves," said herleo "throughout the country in their consultations and assemblies, as also in their common and private speeches, to the queen of england's only favour and goodness, whom they call their saviour, and the princess of greatest perfection in wisdom and sincerity that ever governed. notwithstanding their treaty now on foot by their deputies with france, they are not more disposed to be governed by the french than to be tyrannized over by the spaniard; concluding it to be alike; and even 'commutare non sortem sed servitutem'." paul buys was indefatigable in his exertions against the treaty with france, and in stimulating the enthusiasm for england and elizabeth. he expressed sincere and unaffected devotion to the queen on all occasions, and promised that no negotiations should take place, however secret and confidential, that were not laid before her majesty. "he has the chief administration among the states," said herle, "and to his credit and dexterity they attribute the despatch of most things. he showed unto me the state of the enemy throughout the provinces, and of the negotiation in france, whereof he had no opinion at all of success, nor any will of his own part but to please the prince of orange in his life-time." it will be seen in the sequel whether or not the views of this experienced and able statesman were lucid and comprehensive. it will also be seen whether his strenuous exertions in favour of the english alliance were rewarded as bountifully as they deserved, by those most indebted to him. meantime he was busily employed in making the english government acquainted with the capacity, disposition, and general plans of the netherlanders. "they have certain other things in consultation amongst the states to determine of," wrote herle, "which they were sworn not to reveal to any, but buys protested that nothing should pass but to your liking and surety, and the same to be altered and disposed as should seem good to your highness's own authority; affirming to me sincerely that holland and zeeland, with the rest of the provinces, for the estimation they had of your high virtue and temperancy, would yield themselves absolutely to your majesty and crown for ever, or to none other (their liberties only reserved), whereof you should have immediate possession, without reservation of place or privilege." the important point of the capability of the provinces to defend themselves, about which elizabeth was most anxious to be informed, was also fully elucidated by the advocate. "the means should be such, proceeding from the provinces," said he, "as your majesty might defend your interest therein with facility against the whole world." he then indicated a plan, which had been proposed by the states of brabant to the states general, according to which they were to keep on foot an army of , foot and horse, with which they should be able, "to expulse the enemy and to reconquer their towns and country lost, within three months." of this army they hoped to induce the queen to furnish english footmen and horse, to be paid monthly by a treasurer of her own; and for the assistance thus to be furnished they proposed to give ostend and sluys as pledge of payment. according to this scheme the elector palatine, john casimir, had promised to furnish, equip, and pay cavalry, taking the town of maestricht and the country of limburg, when freed from the enemy, in pawn for his disbursements; while antwerp and brabant had agreed to supply , crowns in ready money for immediate use. many powerful politicians opposed this policy, however, and urged reliance upon france, "so that this course seemed to be lame in many parts."--[letter of herle]. agents had already been sent both to england and france, to procure, if possible, a levy of troops for immediate necessity. the attempt was unsuccessful in france, but the dutch community of the reformed religion in london subscribed nine thousand and five florins. this sum, with other contributions, proved sufficient to set morgan's regiment on foot, which soon after began to arrive in the netherlands by companies. "but if it were all here at once," said stephen le sieur, "'t would be but a breakfast for the enemy." the agent for the matter in england was de griyse, formerly bailiff of bruges; and although tolerably successful in his mission, he was not thought competent for so important a post, nor officially authorised for the undertaking. while procuring this assistance in english troops he had been very urgent with the queen to further the negotiations between the states and france; and paul buys was offended with him as a mischief-maker and an intriguer. he complained of him as having "thrust himself in, to deal and intermeddle in the affairs of the low countries unavowed," and desired that he might be closely looked after. after the advocate, the next most important statesman in the provinces was, perhaps, meetkerk, president of the high court of flanders, a man of much learning, sincerity, and earnestness of character; having had great experience in the diplomatic service of the country on many important occasions. "he stands second in reputation here," said herle, "and both buys and he have one special care in all practises that are discovered, to examine how near anything may concern your person or kingdom, whereof they will advertise as matter shall fall out in importance." john van olden-barneveldt, afterwards so conspicuous in the history of the country, was rather inclined, at this period, to favour the french party; a policy which was strenuously furthered by villiers and by sainte aldegonde. besides the information furnished to the english government, as to the state of feeling and resources of the netherlands, by buys, meetkerk, and william herle, walsingham relied much upon the experienced eye and the keen biting humour of roger williams. a frank open-hearted welshman, with no fortune but his sword, but as true as its steel, he had done the states much important service in the hard-fighting days of grand commander requesens and of don john of austria. with a shrewd welsh head under his iron morion, and a stout welsh heart under his tawny doublet, he had gained little but hard knocks and a dozen wounds in his campaigning, and had but recently been ransomed, rather grudgingly by his government, from a spanish prison in brabant. he was suffering in health from its effects, but was still more distressed in mind, from his sagacious reading of the signs of the times. fearing that england was growing lukewarm, and the provinces desperate, he was beginning to find himself out of work, and was already casting about him for other employment. poor, honest, and proud, he had repeatedly declined to enter the spanish service. bribes, such as at a little later period were sufficient to sully conspicuous reputations and noble names, among his countrymen in better circumstances than his own, had been freely but unsuccessfully offered him. to serve under any but the english or states' flag in the provinces he scorned; and he thought the opportunity fast slipping away there for taking the papistical party in europe handsomely by the beard. he had done much manful work in the netherlands, and was destined to do much more; but he was now discontented, and thought himself slighted. in more remote regions of the world, the, thrifty soldier thought that there might be as good harvesting for his sword as in the thrice-trampled stubble of flanders. "i would refuse no hazard that is possible to be done in the queen's service," he said to walsingham; "but i do persuade myself she makes no account of me. had it not been for the duty that nature bound me towards her and my country, i needed not to have been in that case that i am in. perhaps i could have fingered more pistoles than mr. newell, the late latiner, and had better usage and pension of the spaniards than he. some can tell that i refused large offers, in the misery of alost, of the prince of parma. last of all, verdugo offered me very fair, being in loccum, to quit the states' service, and accept theirs, without treachery or betraying of place or man." not feeling inclined to teach latin in spain, like the late mr. newell, or to violate oaths and surrender fortresses, like brave soldiers of fortune whose deeds will be afterwards chronicled, he was disposed to cultivate the "acquaintance of divers pollacks," from which he had received invitations. "find i nothing there," said he, "duke matthias has promised me courtesy if i would serve in hungary. if not, i will offer service to one of the turk's bashaws against the persians." fortunately, work was found for the trusty welshman in the old fields. his brave honest face often reappeared; his sharp sensible tongue uttered much sage counsel; and his ready sword did various solid service, in leaguer, battle-field, and martial debate, in flanders, holland, spain, and france. for the present, he was casting his keen glances upon the negotiations in progress, and cavilling at the general policy which seemed predominant. he believed that the object of the french was to trifle with the states, to protract interminably their negotiations, to prevent the english government from getting any hold upon the provinces, and then to leave them to their fate. he advised walsingham to advance men and money, upon the security of sluys and ostend. "i dare venture my life," said he, with much energy, "that were norris, bingham, yorke, or carlisle, in those ports, he would keep them during the spanish king's life." but the true way to attack spain--a method soon afterwards to be carried into such brilliant effect by the naval heroes of england and the netherlands--the long-sighted welshman now indicated; a combined attack, namely, by sea upon the colonial possessions of philip. "i dare be bound," said he, "if you join with treslong, the states admiral, and send off, both, three-score sail into his indies, we will force him to retire from conquering further, and to be contented to let other princes live as well as he." in particular, williams urged rapid action, and there is little doubt, that had the counsels of prompt, quick-witted, ready-handed soldiers like himself, and those who thought with him, been taken; had the stealthy but quick-darting policy of walsingham prevailed over the solemn and stately but somewhat ponderous proceedings of burghley, both ghent and antwerp might have been saved, the trifling and treacherous diplomacy of catharine de' medici neutralized, and an altogether more fortunate aspect given at once to the state of protestant affairs. "if you mean to do anything," said he, "it is more than time now. if you will send some man of credit about it, will it please your honour, i will go with him, because i know the humour of the people, and am acquainted with a number of the best. i shall be able to show him a number of their dealings, as well with the french as in other affairs, and perhaps will find means to send messengers to ghent, and to other places, better than the states; for the message of one soldier is better than twenty boors." it was ultimately decided--as will soon be related--to send a man of credit to the provinces. meantime, the policy of england continued to be expectant and dilatory, and advocate buys, after having in vain attempted to conquer the french influence, and bring about the annexation of the provinces to england, threw down his office in disgust, and retired for a time from the contest. he even contemplated for a moment taking service in denmark, but renounced the notion of abandoning his country, and he will accordingly be found, at a later period, conspicuous in public affairs. the deliberations in the english councils were grave and anxious, for it became daily more obvious that the netherland question was the hinge upon which the, whole fate of christendom was slowly turning. to allow the provinces to fall back again into the grasp of philip, was to offer england herself as a last sacrifice to the spanish inquisition. this was felt by all the statesmen in the land; but some of them, more than the rest, had a vivid perception of the danger, and of the necessity of dealing with it at once. to the prophetic eye of walsingham, the mists of the future at times were lifted; and the countless sails of the invincible armada, wafting defiance and destruction to england, became dimly visible. he felt that the great netherland bulwark of protestantism and liberty was to be defended at all hazards, and that the death-grapple could not long be deferred. burghley, deeply pondering, but less determined, was still disposed to look on and to temporize. the queen, far-seeing and anxious, but somewhat hesitating, still clung to the idea of a joint protectorate. she knew that the reestablishment of spanish authority in the low countries would be fatal to england, but she was not yet prepared to throw down the gauntlet to philip. she felt that the proposed annexation of the provinces to france would be almost as formidable; yet she could not resolve, frankly and fearlessly, to assume, the burthen of their protection. under the inspiration of burghley, she was therefore willing to encourage the netherlanders underhand; preventing them at every hazard from slackening in their determined hostility to spain; discountenancing, without absolutely forbidding, their proposed absorption by france; intimating, without promising, an ultimate and effectual assistance from herself. meantime, with something of feline and feminine duplicity, by which the sex of the great sovereign would so often manifest itself in the most momentous affairs, she would watch and wait, teasing the provinces, dallying with the danger, not quite prepared as yet to abandon the prize to henry or philip, or to seize it herself. the situation was rapidly tending to become an impossible one. late in october a grave conference was held council, "upon the question whether her majesty should presently relieve the states of the low countries." it was shown, upon one side, that the "perils to the queen and to the realm were great, if the king of spain should recover holland and zeeland, as he had the other countries, for lack of succour in seasonable time, either by the french king or the queen's majesty." on the other side, the great difficulties in the way of effectual assistance by england, were "fully remembered." "but in the end, and upon comparison made," said lord burghley, summing up, "betwixt the perils on the one part, and the difficulties on the other," it was concluded that the queen would be obliged to succumb to the power of spain, and the liberties of england be hopelessly lost, if philip were then allowed to carry out his designs, and if the provinces should be left without succour at his mercy. a "wise person" was accordingly to be sent into holland; first, to ascertain whether the provinces had come to an actual agreement with the king of france, and, if such should prove to be the case, to enquire whether that sovereign had pledged himself to declare war upon philip. in this event, the wise person was to express her majesty's satisfaction that the provinces were thus to be "relieved from the tyranny of the king of spain." on the other hand, if it should appear that no such conclusive arrangements had been made, and that the provinces were likely to fall again victims to the "spanish tyranny," her majesty would then "strain herself as far as, with preservation of her own estate, she might, to succour them at this time." the agent was then to ascertain "what conditions the provinces would require" upon the matter of succour, and, if the terms seemed reasonable, he would assure them that "they should not be left to the cruelties of the spaniards." and further, the wise person, "being pressed to answer, might by conference of speeches and persuasions provoke them to offer to the queen the ports of flushing and middelburg and the brill, wherein she meant not to claim any property, but to hold them as gages for her expenses, and for performances of their covenants." he was also to make minute inquiries as to the pecuniary resources of the provinces, the monthly sums which they would be able to contribute, the number of troops and of ships of war that they would pledge themselves to maintain. these investigations were very important, because the queen, although very well disposed to succour them, "so nevertheless she was to consider how her power might be extended, without ruin or manifest peril to her own estate." it was also resolved, in the same conference, that a preliminary step of great urgency was to "procure a good peace with the king of scots." whatever the expense of bringing about such a pacification might be, it was certain that a "great deal more would be expended in defending the realm against scotland," while england was engaged in hostilities with spain. otherwise, it was argued that her majesty would be "so impeached by scotland in favour of the king of spain, that her action against that king would be greatly weakened." other measures necessary to be taken in view of the spanish war were also discussed. the ex-elector of cologne, "a man of great account in germany," was to be assisted with money to make head against his rival supported by the troops of philip. duke casimir of the palatinate was to be solicited to make a diversion in gelderland. the king of france was to be reminded of his treaty with england for mutual assistance in case of the invasion by a foreign power of either realm, and to be informed "not only of the intentions of the spaniards to invade england, upon their conquest of the netherlands, but of their actual invasion of ireland." it was "to be devised how the king of navarre and don antonio of portugal, for their respective titles, might be induced to offend and occupy the king of spain, whereby to diminish his forces bent upon the low countries." it was also decided that parliament should be immediately summoned, in which, besides the request of a subsidy, many other necessary, provisions should be made for her majesty's safety. "the conclusions of the whole," said lord burghley, with much earnestness, "was this. although her majesty should hereby enter into a war presently, yet were she better to do it now, while she may make the same out of her realm, having the help of the people of holland, and before the king of spain shall have consummated his conquests in those countries, whereby he shall be so provoked with pride, solicited by the pope, and tempted by the queen's own subjects, and shall be so strong by sea, and so free from all other actions and quarrels,--yea, shall be so formidable to all the rest of christendom, as that her majesty shall no wise be able, with her own power, nor with aid of any other, neither by sea nor land, to withstand his attempts, but shall be forced to give place to his insatiable malice, which is most terrible to be thought of, but miserable to suffer." thus did the lord treasurer wisely, eloquently, and well, describe the danger by which england was environed. through the shield of holland the spear was aimed full at the heart of england. but was it a moment to linger? was that buckler to be suffered to fall to the ground, or to be raised only upon the arm of a doubtful and treacherous friend? was it an hour when the protection of protestantism and of european liberty against spain was to be entrusted to the hand of a feeble and priest-ridden valois? was it wise to indulge any longer in doubtings and dreamings, and in yet a little more folding of the arms to sleep, while that insatiable malice, so terrible to be thought of, so miserable to feel, was bowing hourly more formidable, and approaching nearer and nearer? early in december, william davison, gentleman-in-ordinary of her majesty's household, arrived at the hague; a man painstaking, earnest, and zealous, but who was fated, on more than one great occasion, to be made a scape-goat for the delinquencies of greater personages than himself. he had audience of the states general on the th december. he then informed that body that the queen had heard, with, sorrowful heart, of the great misfortunes which the united provinces had sustained since the death of the prince of orange; the many cities which they had lost, and the disastrous aspect of the common cause. moved by the affection which she had always borne the country, and anxious for its preservation, she had ordered her ambassador stafford to request the king of france to undertake, jointly with herself, the defence of the provinces against the king of spain. not till very lately, however, had that envoy succeeded in obtaining an audience, and he had then received "a very cold answer." it being obvious to her majesty, therefore, that the french government intended to protract these matters indefinitely, davison informed the states that she had commissioned him to offer them "all possible assistance, to enquire into the state of the country, and to investigate the proper means of making that assistance most useful." he accordingly requested the appointment of a committee to confer with him upon the subject; and declared that the queen did not desire to make herself mistress of the provinces, but only to be informed how she best could aid their cause. a committee was accordingly appointed, and a long series of somewhat concealed negotiations was commenced. as the deputies were upon the eve of their departure for france, to offer the sovereignty of the provinces to henry, these proceedings were necessarily confused, dilatory, and at tines contradictory. after the arrival of the deputies in france, the cunctative policy inspired by the lord treasurer was continued by england. the delusion of a joint protectorate was still clung to by the queen, although the conduct of france was becoming very ambiguous, and suspicion growing darker as to the ultimate and secret purport of the negotiations in progress. the anxiety and jealousy of elizabeth were becoming keener than ever. if the offers to the king were unlimited; he would accept them, and would thus become as dangerous as philip. if they were unsatisfactory, he would turn his back upon the provinces, and leave them a prey to philip. still she would not yet renounce the hope of bringing the french king over to an ingenuous course of action. it was thought, too, that something might be done with the great malcontent nobles of flanders, whose defection from the national cause had been so disastrous, but who had been much influenced in their course, it was thought, by their jealousy of william the silent. now that the prince was dead, it was thought probable that the arschots, and havres, chimays, and lalaings, might arouse themselves to more patriotic views than they had manifested when they espoused the cause of spain. it would be desirable to excite their jealousy of french influence, and, at the same time, to inspire throughout the popular mind the fear of another tyranny almost as absolute as that of spain. "and if it be objected," said burghley, "that except they shall admit the french king to the absolute dominion, he will not aid them, and they, for lack of succour, be forced to yield to the spaniard, it may be answered that rather than they should be wholly subjected to the french, or overcome by the spaniard, her majesty would yield unto them as much as, with preservation of her estate, and defence of her own country, might be demanded." the real object kept in view by the queen's government was, in short, to obtain for the provinces and for the general cause of liberty the greatest possible amount of assistance from henry, and to allow him to acquire in return the least possible amount of power. the end proposed was a reasonable one, but the means employed savoured too much of intrigue. "it may be easily made probable to the states," said the lord treasurer, "that the government of the french is likely to prove as cumbersome and perilous as that of the spaniards; and likewise it may probably be doubted how the french will keep touch and covenants with them, when any opportunity shall be offered to break them; so that her majesty thinketh no good can be looked for to those countries by yielding this large authority to the french. if they shall continue their title by this grant to be absolute lords, there is no end, for a long time, to be expected of this war; and, contrariwise, if they break off, there is an end of any good composition with the king of spain." shivering and shrinking, but still wading in deeper and deeper, inch by inch, the cautious minister was fast finding himself too far advanced to retreat. he was rarely decided, however, and never lucid; and least of all in emergencies, when decision and lucidity would have been more valuable than any other qualities. deeply doubting, painfully balancing, he at times drove the unfortunate davison almost distraught. puzzled himself and still more puzzling to others, he rarely permitted the netherlanders, or even his own agents, to perceive his drift. it was fair enough, perhaps, to circumvent the french government by its own arts, but the netherlanders meanwhile were in danger of sinking into despair. "thus," wrote the lord treasurer to the envoy, "i have discoursed to you of these uncertainties and difficulties, things not unknown to yourself, but now being imparted to you by her majesty's commandment, you are, by your wisdom, to consider with whom to deal for the stay of this french course, and yet, so to use it (as near as you may) that they of the french faction there be not able to charge you therewith, by-advertising into france. for it hath already appeared, by some speeches past between our ambassador there and des pruneaux, that you are had in some jealousy as a hinderer of this french course, and at work for her majesty to have some entrance and partage in that country. nevertheless our ambassador; by his answer, hath satisfied them to think the contrary." they must have been easily satisfied, if they knew as much of the dealings of her majesty's government as the reader already knows. to inspire doubt of the french, to insinuate the probability of their not "keeping touch and covenant," to represent their rule as "cumbersome and perilous," was wholesome conduct enough towards the netherlanders--and still more so, had it been accompanied with frank offers of assistance--but it was certainly somewhat to "hinder the courses of the french." but in truth all parties were engaged for a season in a round game of deception, in which nobody was deceived. walsingham was impatient, almost indignant at this puerility. "your doings, no doubt of it," he wrote to davison, "are observed by the french faction, and therefore you cannot proceed so closely but it will be espied. howsoever it be, seeing direction groweth from hence, we cannot but blame ourselves, if the effects thereof do not fall out to our liking." that sagacious statesman was too well informed, and too much accustomed to penetrate the designs of his antagonists, to expect anything from the present intrigues. to loiter thus, when mortal blows should be struck, was to give the spanish government exactly that of which it was always most gluttonous--time; and the netherlanders had none of it to spare. "with time and myself, there are two of us," was philip ii.'s favourite observation; and the prince of parma was at this moment sorely perplexed by the parsimony and the hesitations of his own government, by which his large, swift and most creative genius was so often hampered. thus the spanish soldiers, deep in the trenches, went with bare legs and empty stomachs in january; and the dutchmen, among their broken dykes, were up to their ears in mud and water; and german mercenaries, in the obedient provinces, were burning the peasants' houses in order to sell the iron to buy food withal; while grave-visaged statesmen, in comfortable cabinets, wagged their long white beards at each other from a distance, and exchanged grimaces and protocols which nobody heeded. walsingham was weary of this solemn trifling. "i conclude," said he to davison, "that her majesty--with reverence be it spoken--is ill advised, to direct you in a course that is like to work so great peril. i know you will do your best endeavour to keep all things upright, and yet it is hard--the disease being now come to this state, or, as the physicians term it, crisis--to carry yourself in such sort, but that it will, i fear, breed a dangerous alteration in the cause." he denounced with impatience, almost with indignation, the insincerity and injustice of these intolerable hesitations. "sorry am i," said he, "to see the course that is taken in this weighty cause, for we will neither help those poor countries ourselves, nor yet suffer others to do it. i am not ignorant that in time to come the annexing of these countries to the crown of france may prove prejudicial to england, but if france refuse to deal with them, and the rather for that we shall minister some cause of impediment by a kind of dealing underhand, then shall they be forced to return into the hands of spain, which is like to breed such a present peril towards her majesty's self, as never a wise man that seeth it, and loveth her, but lamenteth it from the bottom of his heart." walsingham had made up his mind that it was england, not france, that should take up the cause of the provinces, and defend them at every hazard. he had been overruled, and the queen's government had decided to watch the course of the french negotiation, doing what it could, underhand, to prevent that negotiation from being successful. the secretary did not approve of this disingenuous course. at the same time he had no faith in the good intentions of the french court. "i could wish," said he, "that the french king were carried with that honourable mind into the defence of these countries that her majesty is, but france has not been used to do things for god's sake; neither do they mean to use our advice or assistance in making of the bargain. for they still hold a jealous conceit that when spain and they are together by the ears, we will seek underhand to work our own peace." walsingham, therefore, earnestly deprecated the attitude provisionally maintained by england. meantime, early in january, (jan. , ) the deputation from the provinces had arrived in france. the progress of their negotiation will soon be related, but, before its result was known, a general dissatisfaction had already manifested itself in the netherlands. the factitious enthusiasm which had been created in favour of france, as well as the prejudice against england, began to die out. it became probable in the opinion of those most accustomed to read the signs of the times, that the french court was acting in connivance with philip, and that the negotiation was only intended to amuse the netherlanders, to circumvent the english, and to gain time both for france and spain. it was not believed that the character of henry or the policy of his mother was likely to the cause of any substantial aid to the cause of civil liberty or protestant principles. "they look for no better fruit from the commission to france," wrote davison, who surveyed the general state of affairs with much keenness and breadth of vision, "than a dallying entertainment of the time, neither leaving them utterly hopeless, nor at full liberty to seek for relief elsewhere, especially in england, or else some pleasing motion of peace, wherein the french king will offer his mediation with spain. meantime the people, wearied with the troubles, charges, and hazard of the war, shall be rocked asleep, the provision for their defence neglected, some provinces nearest the danger seduced, the rest by their defection astonished, and the enemy by their decay and confusions, strengthened. this is the scope whereto the doings of the french king, not without intelligence with the spanish sovereign, doth aim, whatever is pretended." there was a wide conviction that the french king was dealing falsely with the provinces. it seemed certain that he must be inspired by intense jealousy of england, and that he was unlikely, for the sake of those whose "religion, popular liberty, and rebellion against their sovereign," he could not but disapprove, to allow queen elizabeth to steal a march upon him, and "make her own market with spain to his cost and disadvantage." in short, it was suspected--whether justly or not will be presently shown--that henry iii. "was seeking to blear the eyes of the world, as his brother charles did before the massacre of st. bartholomew." as the letters received from the dutch envoys in france became less and less encouraging, and as the queen was informed by her ambassador in paris of the tergiversations in paris, she became the more anxious lest the states should be driven to despair. she therefore wrote to davison, instructing him "to nourish in them underhand some hope--as a thing proceeding from himself--that though france should reject them, yet she would not abandon them." he was directed to find out, by circuitous means, what towns they would offer to her as security for any advances she might be induced to make, and to ascertain the amount of monthly contributions towards the support of the war that they were still capable of furnishing. she was beginning to look with dismay at the expatriation of wealthy merchants and manufacturers going so rapidly forward, now that ghent had fallen and brussels and antwerp were in such imminent peril. she feared that, while so much valuable time had been thrown away, the provinces had become too much impoverished to do their own part in their own defence; and she was seriously alarmed at rumours which had become prevalent of a popular disposition towards treating for a peace at any price with spain. it soon became evident that these rumours were utterly without foundation, but the other reasons for elizabeth's anxiety were sufficiently valid. on the whole, the feeling in favour of england was rapidly gaining ground. in holland especially there was general indignation against the french party. the letters of the deputies occasioned "murmur and mislike" of most persons, who noted them to contain "more ample report of ceremonies and compliments than solid argument of comfort." sir edward stafford, who looked with great penetration into the heart of the mysterious proceedings at paris, assured his government that no better result was to be looked for, "after long dalliance and entertainment, than either a flat refusal or such a masked embracing of their cause, as would rather tend to the increasing of their miseries and confusion than relief for their declining estate." while "reposing upon a broken reed," they were, he thought, "neglecting other means more expedient for their necessities." this was already the universal opinion in holland. men now remembered, with bitterness, the treachery of the duke of anjou, which they had been striving so hard to forget, but which less than two years ago had nearly proved fatal to the cause of liberty in the provinces. a committee of the states had an interview with the queen's envoy at the hague; implored her majesty through him not to abandon their cause; expressed unlimited regret for the course which had been pursued, and avowed a determination "to pluck their heads out of the collar," so soon as the opportunity should offer. they stated, moreover, that they had been directed by the assembly to lay before him the instructions for the envoys to france, and the articles proposed for the acceptance of the king. the envoy knew his business better than not to have secretly provided himself with copies of these documents, which he had already laid before his own government. he affected, however, to feel hurt that he had been thus kept in ignorance of papers which he really knew by heart. "after some pretended quarrel," said he, "for their not acquainting me therewith sooner, i did accept them, as if. i had before neither seen nor heard of them." this then was the aspect of affairs in the provinces during the absence of the deputies in france. it is now necessary to shift the scene to that country. chapter iv. reception of the dutch envoys at the louvre--ignominious result of the embassy--secret influences at work--bargaining between the french and spanish courts--claims of catharine de' medici upon portugal--letters of henry and catharine--secret proposal by france to invade england--states' mission to henry of navarre--subsidies of philip to guise--treaty of joinville--philip's share in the league denied by parma--philip in reality its chief--manifesto of the league--attitude of henry iii. and of navarre--the league demands a royal decree--designs of france and spain against england --secret interview of mendoza and villeroy--complaints of english persecution--edict of nemours--excommunication of navarre and his reply. the king, notwithstanding his apparent reluctance, had, in sir edward stafford's language, "nibbled at the bait." he had, however, not been secured at the first attempt, and now a second effort was to be made, under what were supposed to be most favourable circumstances. in accordance with his own instructions, his envoy, des pruneaux, had been busily employed in the states, arranging the terms of a treaty which should be entirely satisfactory. it had been laid down as an indispensable condition that holland and zeeland should unite in the offer of sovereignty, and, after the expenditure of much eloquence, diplomacy, and money, holland and zeeland had given their consent. the court had been for some time anxious and impatient for the arrival of the deputies. early in december, des pruneaux wrote from paris to count maurice, urging with some asperity, the necessity of immediate action. "when i left you," he said, "i thought that performance would follow promises. i have been a little ashamed, as the time passed by, to hear nothing of the deputies, nor of any excuse on the subject. it would seem as though god had bandaged the eyes of those who have so much cause to know their own adversity." to the states his language was still more insolent. "excuse me, gentlemen," he said, "if i tell you that i blush at hearing nothing from you. i shall have the shame and you the damage. i regret much the capture of de teligny, and other losses which are occasioned by your delays and want of resolution." thus did the french court, which a few months before had imprisoned, and then almost ignominiously dismissed the envoys who came to offer the sovereignty of the provinces, now rebuke the governments which had ever since been strenuously engaged in removing all obstacles to the entire fulfillment of the king's demands. the states were just despatching a solemn embassy to renew that offer, with hardly any limitation as to terms. the envoys arrived on january rd, , at boulogne, after a stormy voyage from brielle. yet it seems incredible to relate, that, after all the ignominy heaped upon the last, there was nothing but solemn trifling in reserve for the present legation; although the object of both embassies was to offer a crown. the deputies were, however, not kept in prison, upon this occasion, nor treated like thieves or spies. they were admirably lodged, with plenty of cooks and lacqueys to minister to them; they fared sumptuously every day, at henry's expense, and, after they had been six weeks in the kingdom, they at last succeeded in obtaining their first audience. on the th february the king sent five "very splendid, richly-gilded, court-coach-waggons" to bring the envoys to the palace. at one o'clock they arrived at the louvre, and were ushered through four magnificent antechambers into the royal cabinet. the apartments through which they passed swarmed with the foremost nobles, court-functionaries, and ladies of france, in blazing gala costume, who all greeted the envoys with demonstrations of extreme respect: the halls and corridors were lined with archers, halbardiers, swiss guards, and grooms "besmeared with gold," and it was thought that all this rustle of fine feathers would be somewhat startling to the barbarous republicans, fresh from the fens of holland. henry received them in his cabinet, where he was accompanied only by the duke of joyeuse--his foremost and bravest "minion"--by the count of bouscaige, m. de valette, and the count of chateau vieux. the most christian king was neatly dressed, in white satin doublet and hose, and well-starched ruff, with a short cloak on his shoulders, a little velvet cap on the side of his head, his long locks duly perfumed and curled, his sword at his side, and a little basket, full of puppies, suspended from his neck by a broad ribbon. he held himself stiff and motionless, although his face smiled a good-humoured welcome to the ambassadors; and he moved neither foot, hand, nor head, as they advanced. chancellor leoninus, the most experienced, eloquent, and tedious of men, now made an interminable oration, fertile in rhetoric and barren in facts; and the king made a short and benignant reply, according to the hallowed formula in such cases provided. and then there was a presentation to the queen, and to the queen-mother, when leoninus was more prolix than before, and catharine even more affectionate than her son; and there were consultations with chiverny and villeroy, and brulart and pruneaux, and great banquets at the royal expense, and bales of protocols, and drafts of articles, and conditions and programmes and apostilles by the hundred weight, and at last articles of annexation were presented by the envoys, and pruneaux looked at and pronounced them "too raw and imperative," and the envoys took them home again, and dressed them and cooked them till there was no substance left in them; for whereas the envoys originally offered the crown of their country to france, on condition that no religion but the reformed religion should be tolerated there, no appointments made but by the states, and no security offered for advances to be made by the christian king, save the hearts and oaths of his new subjects--so they now ended by proposing the sovereignty unconditionally, almost abjectly; and, after the expiration of nearly three months, even these terms were absolutely refused, and the deputies were graciously permitted to go home as they came. the annexation and sovereignty were definitely declined. henry regretted and sighed, catharine de' medici wept--for tears were ever at her command--chancellor chiverny and secretary brulart wept likewise, and pruneaux was overcome with emotion at the parting interview of the ambassadors with the court, in which they were allowed a last opportunity for expressing what was called their gratitude. and then, on the lath march, m. d'oignon came to them, and presented, on the part of the king, to each of the envoys a gold chain weighing twenty-one ounces and two grains. des pruneaux, too--des pruneaux who had spent the previous summer in the netherlands, who had travelled from province to province, from city to city, at the king's command, offering boundless assistance, if they would unanimously offer their sovereignty; who had vanquished by his importunity the resistance of the stern hollanders, the last of all the netherlanders to yield to the royal blandishments--des pruneaux, who had "blushed"--des pruneaux who had wept--now thought proper to assume an airy tone, half encouragement, half condolence. "man proposes, gentlemen," said he "but god disposes. we are frequently called on to observe that things have a great variety of times and terms. many a man is refused by a woman twice, who succeeds the third time," and so on, with which wholesome apothegms des pruneaux faded away then and for ever from the page of netherland history. in a few days afterwards the envoys took shipping at dieppe, and arrived early in april at the hague. and thus terminated the negotiation of the states with france. it had been a scene of elaborate trifling on the king's part from beginning to end. yet the few grains of wheat which have thus been extracted from the mountains of diplomatic chaff so long mouldering in national storehouses, contain, however dry and tasteless, still something for human nourishment. it is something to comprehend the ineffable meanness of the hands which then could hold the destiny of mighty empires. here had been offered a magnificent prize to france; a great extent of frontier in the quarter where expansion was most desirable, a protective network of towns and fortresses on the side most vulnerable, flourishing, cities on the sea-coast where the marine traffic was most lucrative, the sovereignty of a large population, the most bustling, enterprising, and hardy in europe--a nation destined in a few short years to become the first naval and commercial power in the world--all this was laid at the feet of henry valois and catharine de' medici, and rejected. the envoys, with their predecessors, had wasted eight months of most precious time; they had heard and made orations, they had read and written protocols, they had witnessed banquets, masquerades, and revels of stupendous frivolity, in honour of the english garter, brought solemnly to the valois by lord derby, accompanied by one hundred gentlemen "marvellously, sumptuously, and richly accoutred," during that dreadful winter when the inhabitants of brussels, antwerp, mechlin--to save which splendid cities and to annex them to france, was a main object of the solemn embassy from the netherlands--were eating rats, and cats, and dogs, and the weeds from the pavements, and the grass from the churchyards; and were finding themselves more closely pressed than ever by the relentless genius of farnese; and in exchange for all these losses and all this humiliation, the ambassadors now returned to their constituents, bringing an account of chiverny's magnificent banquets and long orations, of the smiles of henry iii., the tears of catharine de' medici, the regrets of m. des pruneaux, besides sixteen gold chains, each weighing twenty-one ounces and two grains. it is worth while to go for a moment behind the scene; we have seen the actors, with mask and cothurn and tinsel crown, playing their well-conned parts upon the stage. let us hear them threaten, and whimper, and chaffer among themselves. so soon as it was intimated that henry iii. was about to grant the netherland, envoys an audience, the wrath of ambassador mendoza was kindled. that magniloquent spaniard instantly claimed an interview with the king, before whom, according to the statement of his colleagues, doing their best to pry into these secrets, he blustered and bounced, and was more fantastical in his insolence than even spanish envoy had ever been before. "he went presently to court," so walsingham was informed by stafford, "and dealt very passionately with the king and queen-mother to deny them audience, who being greatly offended with his presumptuous and malapert manner of proceeding, the king did in choler and with some sharp speeches, let him plainly understand that he was an absolute king, bound to yield account of his doings to no man, and that it was lawful for him to give access to any man within his own realm. the queen-mother answered him likewise very roundly, whereupon he departed for the time, very much discontented." brave words, on both sides, if they had ever been spoken, or if there had been any action corresponding to their spirit. but, in truth, from the beginning, henry and his mother saw in the netherland embassy only the means of turning a dishonest penny. since the disastrous retreat of anjou from the provinces, the city of cambray had remained in the hands of the seigneur de balagny, placed there by the duke. the citadel, garrisoned by french troops, it was not the intention of catharine de' medici to restore to philip, and a truce on the subject had been arranged provisionally for a year. philip, taking parma's advice to prevent the french court, if possible, from "fomenting the netherland rebellion," had authorized the prince to conclude that truce, as if done on his own responsibility, and not by royal order. meantime, balagny was gradually swelling into a petty potentate, on his own account, making himself very troublesome to the prince of parma, and requiring a great deal of watching. cambray was however apparently acquired for france. but, besides this acquisition, there was another way of earning something solid, by turning this netherland matter handsomely to account. philip ii. had recently conquered portugal. among the many pretensions to that crown, those of catherine de' medici had been put forward, but had been little heeded. the claim went back more than three hundred years, and to establish its validity would have been to convert the peaceable possession of a long line of sovereigns into usurpation. to ascend to alphonso iii. was like fetching, as it was said, a claim from evander's grandmother. nevertheless, ever since philip had been upon the portuguese throne, catherine had been watching the opportunity, not of unseating that sovereign, but of converting her claim into money. the netherland embassy seemed to offer the coveted opportunity. there was, therefore, quite as much warmth at the outset, on the part of mendoza, in that first interview after the arrival of the deputies, as had been represented. there was however less dignity and more cunning on the part of henry and catherine than was at all suspected. even before that conference the king had been impatiently expecting overtures from the spanish envoy, and had been disappointed. "he told me," said henry, "that he would make proposals so soon as tassis should be gone, but he has done nothing yet. he said to gondi that all he meant was to get the truce of cambray accomplished. i hope, however, that my brother, the king of spain, will do what is right in regard to madam my mother's pretensions. 'tis likely that he will be now incited thereto, seeing that the deputies of all the netherland provinces are at present in my kingdom, to offer me carte blanche. i shall hear what they have to say, and do exactly what the good of my own affairs shall seem to require. the queen of england, too, has been very pressing and urgent with me for several months on this subject. i shall hear, too, what she has to say, and i presume, if the king of spain will now disclose himself, and do promptly what he ought, that we may set christendom at rest." henry then instructed his ambassador in spain to keep his eyes wide open, in order to penetrate the schemes of philip, and to this end ordered him an increase of salary by a third, that he might follow that monarch on his journey to arragon. meanwhile mendoza had audience of his majesty. "he made a very pressing remonstrance," said the king, "concerning the arrival of these deputies, urging me to send them back at once; denouncing them as disobedient rebels and heretics. i replied that my kingdom was free, and that i should hear from them all that they had to say, because i could not abandon madam my mother in her pretensions, not only for the filial obedience which i owe her, but because i am her only heir. mendoza replied that he should go and make the same remonstrance to the queen-mother, which he accordingly did, and she will herself write you what passed between them. if they do not act up to their duty down there i know how to take my revenge upon them." this is the king's own statement--his veriest words--and he was surely best aware of what occurred between himself and mendoza, under their four eyes only. the ambassador is not represented as extremely insolent, but only pressing; and certainly there is little left of the fine periods on henry's part about listening to the cry of the oppressed, or preventing the rays of his ancestors' diadem from growing pale, with which contemporary chronicles are filled. there was not one word of the advancement and glory of the french nation; not a hint of the fame to be acquired by a magnificent expansion of territory, still less of the duty to deal generously or even honestly with an oppressed people, who in good faith were seeking an asylum in exchange for offered sovereignty, not a syllable upon liberty of conscience, of religious or civil rights; nothing but a petty and exclusive care for the interests of his mother's pocket, and of his own as his mother's heir. this farthing-candle was alone to guide the steps of "the high and mighty king," whose reputation was perpetually represented as so precious to him in all the conferences between his ministers and the netherland deputies. was it possible for those envoys to imagine the almost invisible meanness of such childish tricks? the queen-mother was still more explicit and unblushing throughout the whole affair. "the ambassador of spain," she said, "has made the most beautiful remonstrances he could think of about these deputies from the netherlands. all his talk, however, cannot persuade me to anything else save to increase my desire to have reparation for the wrong that has been done me in regard to my claims upon portugal, which i am determined to pursue by every means within my power. nevertheless i have told don bernardino that i should always be ready to embrace any course likely to bring about a peaceful conclusion. he then entered into a discussion of my rights, which, he said, were not thought in spain to be founded in justice. but when i explained to him the principal points (of which i possess all the pieces of evidence and justification), he hardly knew what to say, save that he was astounded that i had remained so long without speaking of my claims. in reply, i told him ingenuously the truth." the truth which the ingenuous catharine thus revealed was, in brief, that all her predecessors had been minors, women, and persons in situations not to make their rights valid. finding herself more highly placed, she had advanced her claims, which had been so fully recognized in portugal, that she had been received as infanta of the kingdom. all pretensions to the throne being now through women only, hers were the best of any. at all this don bernardino expressed profound astonishment, and promised to send a full account to his master of "the infinite words" which had passed between them at this interview! "i desire," said catharine, "that the lord king of spain should open his mind frankly and promptly upon the recompense which he is willing to make me for portugal, in order that things may pass rather with gentleness than otherwise." it was expecting a great deal to look for frankness and promptness from the lord king of spain, but the queen-mother considered that the netherland envoys had put a whip into her hand. she was also determined to bring philip up to the point, without showing her own game. "i will never say," said catharine--ingenuous no longer--"i will never say how much i ask, but, on the contrary, i shall wait for him to make the offer. i expect it to be reasonable, because he has seen fit to seize and occupy that which i declare to be my property." this is the explanation of all the languor and trifling of the french court in the netherland negotiation. a deep, constant, unseen current was running counter to all the movement which appeared upon the surface. the tergiversations of the spanish cabinet in the portugal matter were the cause of the shufflings of the french ministers on the subject of the provinces. "i know well," said henry a few days later, "that the people down there, and their ambassador here, are leading us on with words, as far as they can, with regard to the recompense of madam my mother for her claims upon portugal. but they had better remember (and i think they will), that out of the offers which these sixteen deputies of the netherlands are bringing me--and i believe it to be carte blanche--i shall be able to pay myself. 'twill be better to come promptly to a good bargain and a brief conclusion, than to spin the matter out longer." "don bernardino," said the queen-mother on the same day, "has been keeping us up to this hour in hopes of a good offer, but 'tis to be feared, for the good of christendom, that 'twill be too late. the deputies are come, bringing carte blanche. nevertheless, if the king of spain is willing to be reasonable, and that instantly, it will be well, and it would seem as if god had been pleased to place this means in our hands." after the conferences had been fairly got under way between the french government and the envoys, the demands upon philip for a good bargain and a handsome offer became still more pressing. "i have given audience to the deputies from the provinces," wrote henry, "and the queen-mother has done the same. chancellor chiverny, villequier, bellievre, and brulart, will now confer with them from day today. i now tell you that it will be well, before things go any farther, for the king of spain to come to reason about the pretensions of madam mother. this will be a means of establishing the repose of christendom. i shall be very willing to concur in such an arrangement, if i saw any approximation to it on the part of the king or his ministers. but i fear they will delay too long, and so you had better tell them. push them to the point as much as possible, without letting them suspect that i have been writing about it, for that would make them rather draw back than come forward." at the same time, during this alternate threatening and coaxing between the french and the spanish court, and in the midst of all the solemn and tedious protocolling of the ministry and the dutch envoys, there was a most sincere and affectionate intercourse maintained between henry iii. and the prince of parma. the spanish governor-general was assured that nothing but the warmest regard was entertained for him and his master on the part of the french court. parma had replied, however, that so many french troops had in times past crossed the frontier to assist the rebels, that he hardly knew what to think. he expressed the hope, now that the duke of anjou was dead, that his christian majesty would not countenance the rebellion, but manifest his good-will. "how can your highness doubt it," said malpierre, henry's envoy, "for his majesty has given proof enough of his good will, having prevented all enterprises in this regard, and preferred to have his own subjects cut into pieces rather than that they should carry out their designs. had his majesty been willing merely to connive at these undertakings, 'tis probable that the affairs of your highness would not have succeeded so well as they have done." with regard to england, also, the conduct of henry and his mother in these negotiations was marked by the same unfathomable duplicity. there was an appearance of cordiality on the surface; but there was deep plotting, and bargaining, and even deadly hostility lurking below. we have seen the efforts which elizabeth's government had been making to counteract the policy which offered the sovereignty of the provinces to the french monarch. at the same time there was at least a loyal disposition upon the queen's part to assist the netherlands, in concurrence with henry. the demeanour of burghley and his colleagues was frankness itself, compared with the secret schemings of the valois; for at least peace and good-will between the "triumvirate" of france, england and the netherlands, was intended, as the true means of resisting the predominant influence of spain. yet very soon after the solemn reception by henry of the garter brought by lord derby, and in the midst of the negotiations between the french court and the united provinces, the french king was not only attempting to barter the sovereignty offered him by the netherlanders against a handsome recompense for the portugal claim, but he was actually proposing to the king of spain to join with him in an invasion of england! even philip himself must have admired and respected such a complication of villany on the part of his most christian brother. he was, however, not disposed to put any confidence in his schemes. "with regard to the attempt against england," wrote philip to mendoza, "you must keep your eyes open--you must look at the danger of letting them, before they have got rid of their rivals and reduced their heretics, go out of their own house and kingdom, and thus of being made fools of when they think of coming back again. let them first exterminate the heretics of france, and then we will look after those of england; because 'tis more important to finish those who are near than those afar off. perhaps the queen-mother proposes this invasion in order to proceed more feebly with matters in her own kingdom; and thus mucio (duke of guise) and his friends will not have so safe a game, and must take heed lest they be deceived." thus it is obvious that henry and catharine intended, on the whole, to deceive the english and the netherlanders, and to get as good a bargain and as safe a friendship from philip as could be manufactured out of the materials placed in the french king's hands by the united provinces. elizabeth honestly wished well to the states, but allowed burghley and those who acted with him to flatter themselves with the chimera that henry could be induced to protect the netherlands without assuming the sovereignty of that commonwealth. the provinces were fighting for their existence, unconscious of their latent strength, and willing to trust to france or to england, if they could only save themselves from being swallowed by spain. as for spain itself, that country was more practised in duplicity even than the government of the medici-valois, and was of course more than a match at the game of deception for the franker politicians of england and holland. the king of navarre had meanwhile been looking on at a distance. too keen an observer, too subtle a reasoner to doubt the secret source of the movements then agitating france to its centre, he was yet unable to foresee the turn that all these intrigues were about to take. he could hardly doubt that spain was playing a dark and desperate game with the unfortunate henry iii.; for, as we have seen, he had himself not long before received a secret and liberal offer from philip ii., if he would agree to make war upon the king. but the bearnese was not the man to play into the hands of spain, nor could he imagine the possibility of the valois or even of his mother taking so suicidal a course. after the netherland deputies had received their final dismissal from the king, they sent calvart, who had been secretary to their embassy, on a secret mission to henry of navarre, then resident at chartres. the envoy communicated to the huguenot chief the meagre result of the long negotiation with the french court. henry bade him be of good cheer, and assured him of his best wishes for their cause. he expressed the opinion that the king of france would now either attempt to overcome the guise faction by gentle means, or at once make war upon them. the bishop of acqs had strongly recommended the french monarch to send the king of navarre, with a strong force, to the assistance of the netherlands, urging the point with much fervid eloquence and solid argument. henry for a moment had seemed impressed, but such a vigorous proceeding was of course entirely beyond his strength, and he had sunk back into his effeminate languor so soon as the bold bishop's back was turned. the bearnese had naturally conceived but little hope that such a scheme would be carried into effect; but he assured calvart, that nothing could give him greater delight than to mount and ride in such a cause. "notwithstanding," said the bearnese, "that the villanous intentions of the guises are becoming plainer and plainer, and that they are obviously supplied with spanish dollars, i shall send a special envoy to the most christian king, and, although 'tis somewhat late, implore him to throw his weight into the scale, in order to redeem your country from its misery. meantime be of good heart, and defend as you have done your hearths, your liberty, and the honour of god." he advised the states unhesitatingly to continue their confidence in the french king, and to keep him informed of their plans and movements; expressing the opinion that these very intrigues of the guise party would soon justify or even force henry iii. openly to assist the netherlands. so far, at that very moment, was so sharp a politician as the bearnese from suspecting the secret schemes of henry of valois. calvart urged the king of navarre to assist the states at that moment with some slight subsidy. antwerp was in such imminent danger as to fill the hearts of all true patriots with dismay; and a timely succour, even if a slender one, might be of inestimable value. henry expressed profound regret that his own means were so limited, and his own position so dangerous, as to make it difficult for him to manifest in broad daylight the full affection which he bore the provinces. "to my sorrow," said he, "your proposition is made in the midst of such dark and stormy weather, that those who have clearest sight are unable to see to what issue these troubles of france are tending." nevertheless, with much generosity and manliness, he promised calvart to send two thousand soldiers, at his own charges, to the provinces without delay; and authorised that envoy to consult with his agent at the court of the french king, in order to obtain the royal permission for the troops to cross the frontier. the crownless and almost houseless king had thus, at a single interview, and in exchange for nothing but good wishes, granted what the most christian monarch of france had refused, after months of negotiation, and with sovereignty as the purchase-money. the envoy, well pleased, sped as swiftly as possible to paris; but, as may easily be imagined, henry of valois forbade the movement contemplated by henry of navarre. "his majesty," said villeroy, secretary of state, "sees no occasion, in so weighty a business, thus suddenly to change his mind; the less so, because he hopes to be able ere long to smooth over these troubles which have begun in france. should the king either openly or secretly assist the netherlands or allow them to be assisted, 'twould be a reason for all the catholics now sustaining his majesty's party to go over to the guise faction. the provinces must remain firm, and make no pacification with the enemy. meantime the queen of england is the only one to whom god has given means to afford you succour. one of these days, when the proper time comes, his majesty will assist her in affording you relief." calvart, after this conference with the king of navarre, and subsequently with the government, entertained a lingering hope that the french king meant to assist the provinces. "i know well who is the author of these troubles," said the unhappy monarch, who never once mentioned the name of guise in all those conferences, "but, if god grant me life, i will give him as good as he sends, and make him rue his conduct." they were not aware after how many strange vacillations henry was one day to wreak this threatened vengeance. as for navarre, he remained upon the watch, good humoured as ever, more merry and hopeful as the tempest grew blacker; manifesting the most frank and friendly sentiments towards the provinces, and writing to queen elizabeth in the chivalrous style so dear to the heart of that sovereign, that he desired nothing better than to be her "servant and captain-general against the common enemy." but, indeed, the french king was not so well informed as he imagined himself to be of the authorship of these troubles. mucio, upon whose head he thus threatened vengeance, was but the instrument. the concealed hand that was directing all these odious intrigues, and lighting these flames of civil war which were so long to make france a scene of desolation, was that of the industrious letter-writer in the escorial. that which henry of navarre shrewdly suspected, when he talked of the spanish dollars in the balafre's pocket, that which was dimly visible to the bishop of acqs when he told henry iii. that the "tagus had emptied itself into the seine and loire, and that the gold of mexico was flowing into the royal cabinet," was much more certain than they supposed. philip, in truth, was neglecting his own most pressing interests that he might direct all his energies towards entertaining civil war in france. that france should remain internally at peace was contrary to all his plans. he had therefore long kept guise and his brother, the cardinal de lorraine, in his pay, and he had been spending large sums of money to bribe many of the most considerable functionaries in the kingdom. the most important enterprises in the netherlands were allowed to languish, that these subterranean operations of the "prudent" monarch of spain should be pushed forward. the most brilliant and original genius that philip had the good fortune to have at his disposal, the genius of alexander farnese, was cramped and irritated almost to madness, by the fetters imposed upon it, by the sluggish yet obstinate nature of him it was bound to obey. farnese was at that moment engaged in a most arduous military undertaking, that famous siege of antwerp, the details of which will be related in future chapters, yet he was never furnished with men or money enough to ensure success to a much more ordinary operation. his complaints, subdued but intense, fell almost unheeded on his master's ear. he had not "ten dollars at his command," his cavalry horses were all dead of hunger or had been eaten by their riders, who were starving to death themselves, his army had dwindled to a "handful," yet he still held on to his purpose, in spite of famine, the desperate efforts of indefatigable enemies, and all the perils and privations of a deadly winter. he, too, was kept for a long time in profound ignorance of philip's designs. meantime, while the spanish soldiers were starving in flanders, philip's dollars were employed by mucio and his adherents in enlisting troops in switzerland and germany, in order to carry on the civil war in france. the french king was held systematically up to ridicule or detestation in every village-pulpit in his own kingdom, while the sister of mucio, the duchess of montpensier, carried the scissors at her girdle, with which she threatened to provide henry with a third crown, in addition to those of france and poland, which he had disgraced--the coronal tonsure of a monk. the convent should be, it was intimated, the eventual fate of the modern childeric, but meantime it was more important than ever to supersede the ultimate pretensions of henry of navarre. to prevent that heretic of heretics, who was not to be bought with spanish gold, from ever reigning, was the first object of philip and mucio. accordingly, on the last day of the year , a secret treaty had been signed at joinville between henry of guise and his brother the duc de mayenne, holding the proxies of their brother the cardinal and those of their uncles, aumale and elbeuf, on the one part, and john baptist tassis and commander moreo, on the other, as representatives of philip. this transaction, sufficiently well known now to the most superficial student of history, was a profound mystery then, so far as regarded the action of the spanish king. it was not a secret, however, that the papistical party did not intend that the bearnese prince should ever come to the throne, and the matter of the succession was discussed, precisely as if the throne had been vacant. it was decided that charles, paternal uncle to henry of navarre, commonly called the cardinal bourbon, should be considered successor to the crown, in place of henry, whose claim was forfeited by heresy. moreover, a great deal of superfluous money and learning was expended in ordering some elaborate legal arguments to be prepared by venal jurisconsults, proving not only that the uncle ought to succeed before the nephew, but that neither the one nor the other had any claim to succeed at all. the pea having thus been employed to do the work which the sword alone could accomplish, the poor old cardinal was now formally established by the guise faction as presumptive heir to the crown. a man of straw, a superannuated court-dangler, a credulous trifler, but an earnest papist as his brother antony had been, sixty-six years old, and feeble beyond his years, who, his life long, had never achieved one manly action, and had now one foot in the grave; this was the puppet placed in the saddle to run a tilt against the bearnese, the man with foot ever in the stirrup, with sword rarely in its sheath. the contracting parties at joinville agreed that the cardinal should succeed on the death of the reigning king, and that no heretic should ever ascend the throne, or hold the meanest office in the kingdom. they agreed further that all heretics should be "exterminated" without distinction throughout france and the netherlands. in order to procure the necessary reforms among the clergy, the council of trent was to be fully carried into effect. philip pledged himself to furnish at least fifty thousand crowns monthly, for the advancement of this holy league, as it was denominated, and as much more as should prove necessary. the sums advanced were to be repaid by the cardinal on his succeeding to the throne. all the great officers of the crown, lords and gentlemen, cities, chapters, and universities, all catholics, in short, in the kingdom, were deemed to be included in the league. if any foreign catholic prince desired to enter the union, he should be admitted with the consent of both parties. neither his catholic majesty nor the confederated princes should treat with the most christian king, either directly or indirectly. the compact was to remain strictly secret--one copy of it being sent to philip, while the other was to be retained by cardinal bourbon and his fellow leaguers. and now--in accordance with this program--philip proceeded stealthily and industriously to further the schemes of mucio, to the exclusion of more urgent business. noiseless and secret himself, and delighting in clothing so much as to glide, as it were, throughout europe, wrapped in the mantle of invisibility, he was perpetually provoked by the noise, the bombast, and the bustle, which his less prudent confederates permitted themselves. while philip for a long time hesitated to confide the secret of the league to parma, whom it most imported to understand these schemes of his master, the confederates were openly boasting of the assistance which they were to derive from parma's cooperation. even when the prince had at last been informed as to the state of affairs, he stoutly denied the facts of which the leaguers made their vaunt; thus giving to mucio and his friends a lesson in dissimulation." "things have now arrived at a point," wrote philip to tassis, th march, , "that this matter of the league cannot and ought not to be concealed from those who have a right to know it. therefore you must speak clearly to the prince of parma, informing him of the whole scheme, and enjoining the utmost secrecy. you must concert with him as to the best means of rendering aid to this cause, after having apprised him of the points which regarded him, and also that of the security of cardinal de bourbon, in case of necessity." the prince was anything but pleased, in the midst of his anxiety and his almost superhuman labour in the antwerp siege, to be distracted, impoverished, and weakened, in order to carry out these schemes against france; but he kept the secret manfully. to malpierre, the french envoy in brussels--for there was the closest diplomatic communication between henry iii. and philip, while each was tampering with the rebellious subjects of the other--to malpierre parma flatly contradicted all complicity on the part of the spanish king or himself with the holy league, of which he knew philip to be the originator and the chief. "if i complain to the prince of parma," said the envoy, "of the companies going from flanders to assist the league, he will make me no other reply than that which the president has done--that there is nothing at all in it--until they are fairly arrived in france. the president (richardot) said that if the catholic king belonged to the league, as they insinuate, his majesty would declare the fact openly." and a few days later, the prince himself averred, as malpierre had anticipated, that "as to any intention on the part of himself or his catholic majesty, to send succour to the league, according to the boast of these gentlemen, he had never thought of such a thing, nor had received any order on the subject from his master. if the king intended to do anything of the kind, he would do it openly. he protested that he had never seen anything, or known anything of the league." here was a man who knew how to keep a secret, and who had no scruples in the matter of dissimulation, however enraged he might be at seeing men and money diverted from his own masterly combinations in order to carry out these schemes of his master. mucio, on the contrary, was imprudent and inclined to boast. his contempt for henry iii, made him blind to the dangers to be apprehended from henry of navarre. he did little, but talked a great deal. philip was very anxious that the work should be done both secretly and thoroughly. "let the business be finished before saint john's day," said he to tassis, when sending fifty thousand dollars for the use of the brothers guise. "tell iniquez to warn them not to be sluggish. let them not begin in a lukewarm manner, but promise them plenty of assistance from me, if they conduct themselves properly. let them beware of wavering, or of falling into plans of conciliation. if they do their duty, i will do mine." but the guise faction moved slowly despite of philip's secret promptings. the truth is, that the means proposed by the spanish monarch were ludicrously inadequate to his plans, and it was idle to suppose that the world was to be turned upside down for his benefit, at the very low price which he was prepared to pay. nothing less than to exterminate all the heretics in christendom, to place himself on the thrones of france and of england, and to extinguish the last spark of rebellion in the netherlands, was his secret thought, and yet it was very difficult to get fifty thousand dollars from him from month to month. procrastinating and indolent himself, he was for ever rebuking the torpid movements of the guises. "let mucio set his game well at the outset," said he; "let him lay the axe to the root of the tree, for to be wasting time fruitlessly is sharpening the knife for himself." this was almost prophetic. when after so much talking and tampering, there began to be recrimination among the leaguers, philip was very angry with his subordinate. "here is mucio," said he, "trying to throw the blame of all the difficulties, which have arisen, upon us. not hastening, not keeping his secret, letting the execution of the enterprise grow cold, and lending an ear to suggestions about peace, without being sure of its conclusion, he has turned his followers into cowards, discredited his cause, and given the king of france opportunity to strengthen his force and improve his party. these are all very palpable things. i am willing to continue my friendship for them, but not, if, while they accept it, they permit themselves to complain, instead of manifesting gratitude." on the whole, however, the affairs of the league seemed prosperous. there was doubtless too much display among the confederates, but there was a growing uneasiness among the royalists. cardinal bourbon, discarding his ecclesiastical robes and scarlet stockings, paraded himself daily in public, clothed in military costume, with all the airs of royalty. many persons thought him mad. on the other hand, epergnon, the haughty minion-in-chief, who governed henry iii., and insulted all the world, was becoming almost polite. "the progress of the league," said busbecq, "is teaching the duc d' epergnon manners. 'tis a youth of such insolence, that without uncovering he would talk with men of royal descent, while they were bareheaded. 'tis a common jest now that he has found out where his hat is." thus, for a long time, a network of secret political combinations had been stretching itself over christendom. there were great movements of troops throughout germany, switzerland, the netherlands, slowly concentrating themselves upon france; yet, on the whole, the great mass of the populations, the men and women who were to pay, to fight, to starve, to be trampled upon, to be outraged, to be plundered, to be burned out of houses and home, to bleed, and to die, were merely ignorant, gaping spectators. that there was something very grave in prospect was obvious, but exactly what was impending they knew no more than the generation yet unborn. very noiselessly had the patient manager who sat in the escorial been making preparations for that european tragedy in which most of the actors had such fatal parts assigned them, and of which few of the spectators of its opening scenes were doomed to witness the conclusion. a shifting and glancing of lights, a vision of vanishing feet, a trampling and bustling of unseen crowds, movements of concealed machinery, a few incoherent words, much noise and confusion vague and incomprehensible, till at last the tinkling of a small bell, and a glimpse of the modest manager stealing away as the curtain was rising--such was the spectacle presented at midsummer , and in truth the opening picture was effective. sixteen black-robed, long-bearded netherland envoys stalking away, discomfited and indignant upon one side; catharine de' medici on the other, regarding them with a sneer, painfully contorted into a pathetic smile; henry the king, robed in a sack of penitence, trembling and hesitating, leaning on the arm of epergnon, but quailing even under the protection of that mighty swordsman; mucio, careering, truncheon in hand, in full panoply, upon his war-horse, waving forward a mingled mass of german lanzknechts, swiss musketeers, and lorraine pikemen; the redoubtable don bernardino de mendoza, in front, frowning and ferocious, with his drawn sword in his hand; elizabeth of england, in the back ground, with the white-bearded burghley and the monastic walsingham, all surveying the scene with eyes of deepest meaning; and, somewhat aside, but in full view, silent, calm, and imperturbably good-humoured, the bold bearnese, standing with a mischievous but prophetic smile glittering through his blue eyes and curly beard--thus grouped were the personages of the drama in the introductory scenes. the course of public events which succeeded the departure of the netherland deputies is sufficiently well known. the secret negotiations and intrigues, however, by which those external facts were preceded or accompanied rest mainly in dusty archives, and it was therefore necessary to dwell somewhat at length upon them in the preceding pages. the treaty of joinville was signed on the last day of the year . we have seen the real nature of the interview of ambassador mendoza with henry iii. and his mother, which took place early in january, . immediately after that conference, don bernardino betook himself to the duke of guise, and lost no time in stimulating his confederate to prompt but secret action. the netherland envoys had their last audience on the th march, and their departure and disappointment was the signal for the general exhibition and explosion. the great civil war began, and the man who refused to annex the netherlands to the french kingdom soon ceased to be regarded as a king. on the st march, the heir presumptive, just manufactured by the guises, sent forth his manifesto. cardinal bourbon, by this document, declared that for twenty-four years past no proper measures had been taken to extirpate the heresy by which france was infested. there was no natural heir to the king. those who claimed to succeed at his death had deprived themselves, by heresy, of their rights. should they gain their ends, the ancient religion would be abolished throughout the kingdom, as it had been in england, and catholics be subjected to the same frightful tortures which they were experiencing there. new men, admitted to the confidence of the crown, clothed with the highest honours, and laden with enormous emoluments, had excluded the ancient and honoured functionaries of the state, who had been obliged to sell out their offices to these upstart successors. these new favourites had seized the finances of the kingdom, all of which were now collected into the private coffers of the king, and shared by him with his courtiers. the people were groaning under new taxes invented every day, yet they knew nothing of the distribution of the public treasure, while the king himself was so impoverished as to be unable to discharge his daily debts. meantime these new advisers of the crown had renewed to the protestants of the kingdom the religious privileges of which they had so justly been deprived, yet the religious peace which had followed had not brought with it the promised diminution of the popular burthens. never had the nation been so heavily taxed or reduced to such profound misery. for these reasons, he, cardinal bourbon, with other princes of the blood, peers, gentlemen, cities, and universities, had solemnly bound themselves by oath to extirpate heresy down to the last root, and to save the people from the dreadful load under which they were languishing. it was for this that they had taken up arms, and till that purpose was accomplished they would never lay them down. the paper concluded with the hope that his majesty would not take these warlike demonstrations amiss; and a copy of the document was placed in the royal hands. it was very obvious to the most superficial observer, that the manifesto was directed almost as much against the reigning sovereign as against henry of navarre. the adherents of the guise faction, and especially certain theologians in their employ, had taken very bold grounds upon the relations between king and subjects, and had made the public very familiar with their doctrines. it was a duty, they said, "to depose a prince who did not discharge his duty. authority ill regulated was robbery, and it was as absurd to call him a king who knew not how to govern, as it was to take a blind man for a guide, or to believe that a statue could influence the movements of living men." yet to the faction, inspired by such rebellious sentiments, and which was thundering in his face such tremendous denunciations, the unhappy henry could not find a single royal or manly word of reply. he threw himself on his knees, when, if ever, he should have assumed an attitude of command. he answered the insolence of the men, who were parading their contempt for his authority, by humble excuses, and supplications for pardon. he threw his crown in the dust before their feet, as if such humility would induce them to place it again upon his head. he abandoned the minions who had been his pride, his joy, and his defence, and deprecated, with an abject whimper, all responsibility for the unmeasured ambition and the insatiable rapacity of a few private individuals. he conjured the party-leaders, who had hurled defiance in his face, to lay down their arms, and promised that they should find in his wisdom and bounty more than all the advantages which they were seeking to obtain by war. henry of navarre answered in a different strain. the gauntlet had at last been thrown down to him, and he came forward to take it up; not insolently nor carelessly, but with the cold courtesy of a christian knight and valiant gentleman. he denied the charge of heresy. he avowed detestation of all doctrines contrary to the word of god, to the decrees of the fathers of the church, or condemned by the councils. the errors and abuses which had from time to time crept into the church, had long demanded, in the opinion of all pious persons, some measures of reform. after many bloody wars, no better remedy had been discovered to arrest the cause of these dire religious troubles, whether in france or germany, than to permit all men to obey the dictates of their own conscience. the protestants had thus obtained in france many edicts by which the peace of the kingdom had been secured. he could not himself be denounced as a heretic, for he had always held himself ready to receive instruction, and to be set right where he had erred. to call him "relapsed" was an outrage. were it true, he were indeed unworthy of the crown, but the world knew that his change at the massacre of st. bartholomew had been made under duresse, and that he had returned to the reformed faith when he had recovered his liberty. religious toleration had been the object of his life. in what the tyranny of the popes and the violence of the spaniards had left him of his kingdom of navarre, catholics and protestants enjoyed a perfect religious liberty. no man had the right, therefore, to denounce him as an enemy of the church, or a disturber of the public repose, for he had ever been willing to accept all propositions of peace which left the rights of conscience protected. he was a frenchman, a prince of france, a living member of the kingdom; feeling with its pains, and bleeding with its wounds. they who denounced him were alien to france, factitious portions of her body, feeling no suffering, even should she be consuming with living fire. the leaguers were the friends and the servants of the spaniards, while he had been born the enemy, and with too good reason, of the whole spanish race. "let the name of papist and of huguenot," he said, "be heard no more among us. those terms were buried in the edict of peace. let us speak only of frenchmen and of spaniards. it is the counter-league which we must all unite to form, the natural union of the head with all its members." finally, to save the shedding of so much innocent blood, to spare all the countless miseries of civil war, he implored the royal permission to terminate this quarrel in person, by single combat with the duke of guise, one to one, two to two, or in as large a number as might be desired, and upon any spot within or without the kingdom that should be assigned. "the duke of guise," said henry of navarre, "cannot but accept my challenge as an honour, coming as it does from a prince infinitely his superior in rank; and thus, may god defend the right." this paper, drawn up by the illustrious duplessis-mornay, who was to have been the second of the king of navarre in the proposed duel, was signed june . the unfortunate henry iii., not so dull as to doubt that the true object of the guise party was to reduce him to insignificance, and to open their own way to the throne, was too impotent of purpose to follow the dictates which his wisest counsellors urged and his own reason approved. his choice had lain between open hostility with his spanish enemy and a more terrible combat with that implacable foe wearing the mask of friendship. he had refused to annex to his crown the rich and powerful netherlands, from dread of a foreign war; and he was now about to accept for himself and kingdom all the horrors of a civil contest, in which his avowed antagonist was the first captain of the age, and his nominal allies the stipendiaries of philip ii. villeroy, his prime minister, and catharine de' medici, his mother, had both devoted him to disgrace and ruin. the deputies from the netherlands had been dismissed, and now, notwithstanding the festivities and exuberant demonstrations of friendship with which the earl of derby's splendid embassy had been greeted, it became necessary to bind henry hand and foot to the conspirators, who had sworn the destruction of that queen, as well as his own, and the extirpation of heresy and heretics in every realm of christendom. on the th june the league demanded a royal decree, forbidding the practice of all religion but the roman catholic, on pain of death. in vain had the clear-sighted bishop of acqs uttered his eloquent warnings. despite such timely counsels, which he was capable at once of appreciating and of neglecting, henry followed slavishly the advice of those whom he knew in his heart to be his foes, and authorised the great conspiracy against elizabeth, against protestantism, and against himself. on the th june villeroy had expressed a wish for a very secret interview with mendoza, on the subject of the invasion of england. "it needed not this overture," said that magniloquent spaniard, "to engender in a person of my talents, and with the heart of a mendoza, venom enough for vengeance. i could not more desire than i did already to assist in so holy a work; nor could i aspire to greater honour than would be gained in uniting those crowns (of france and spain) in strict friendship, for the purpose of extirpating heresy throughout europe, and of chastising the queen of england--whose abominations i am never likely to forget, having had them so long before my eyes--and of satisfying my just resentment for the injuries she has inflicted on myself. it was on this subject," continued the ambassador, "that monsieur de villeroy wished a secret interview with me, pledging himself--if your majesty would deign to unite yourself with this king, and to aid him with your forces--to a successful result." mendoza accordingly expressed a willingness to meet the ingenuous secretary of state--who had so recently been assisting at the banquets and rejoicings with lord derby and his companions, which had so much enlivened the french capital--and assured him that his most catholic majesty would be only too glad to draw closer the bonds of friendship with the most christian king, for the service of god and the glory of his church. the next day the envoy and the secretary of state met, very secretly, in the house of the signor gondi. villeroy commenced his harangue by an allusion to the current opinion, that mendoza had arrived in france with a torch in his hand, to light the fires of civil war in that kingdom, as he had recently done in england. "i do not believe," replied mendoza, "that discreet and prudent persons in france attribute my actions to any such motives. as for the ignorant people of the kingdom, they do not appal me, although they evidently imagine that i have imbibed, during my residence in england, something of the spirit of the enchanter merlin, that, by signs and cabalistic words alone, i am thought capable of producing such commotions." after this preliminary flourish the envoy proceeded to complain bitterly of the most christian king and his mother, who, after the propositions which they had made him, when on his way to spain, had, since his return, become so very cold and dry towards him. and on this theme he enlarged for some time. villeroy replied, by complaining, in his turn, about the dealings of the most catholic king, with the leaguers and the rebels of france; and mendoza rejoined by an intimation that harping upon past grievances and suspicions was hardly the way to bring about harmony in present matters. struck with the justice of this remark, the french secretary of state entered at once upon business. he made a very long speech upon the tyranny which "that englishwoman" was anew inflicting upon the catholics in her kingdom, upon the offences which she had committed against the king of spain, and against the king of france and his brothers, and upon the aliment which she had been yielding to the civil war in the netherlands and in france for so many years. he then said that if mendoza would declare with sincerity, and "without any of the duplicity of a minister"--that philip would league himself with henry for the purpose of invading england, in order to reduce the three kingdoms to the catholic faith, and to place their crowns on the head of the queen of scotland, to whom they of right belonged; then that the king, his master, was most ready to join in so holy an enterprise. he begged mendoza to say with what number of troops the invasion could be made; whether philip could send any from flanders or from spain; how many it would be well to send from france, and under what chieftain; in what manner it would be best to communicate with his most catholic majesty; whether it were desirable to despatch a secret envoy to him, and of what quality such agent ought to be. he also observed that the most christian king could not himself speak to mendoza on the subject before having communicated the matter to the queen-mother, but expressed a wish that a special carrier might be forthwith despatched to spain; for he might be sure that, on an affair of such weight, he would not have permitted himself to reveal the secret wishes of his master, except by his commands. mendoza replied, by enlarging with much enthusiasm on the facility with which england could be conquered by the combined power of france and spain. if it were not a very difficult matter before--even with the jealousy between the two crowns--how much less so, now that they could join their fleets and armies; now that the arming by the one prince would not inspire the other with suspicion; now that they would be certain of finding safe harbour in each other's kingdoms, in case of unfavourable weather and head-winds, and that they could arrange from what ports to sail, in what direction, and under what commanders. he disapproved, however, of sending a special messenger to spain, on the ground of wishing to keep the matter entirely secret, but in reality--as he informed philip--because he chose to keep the management in his own hands; because he could always let slip mucio upon them, in case they should play him false; because he feared that the leaking out of the secret might discourage the leaguers, and because he felt that the bolder and more lively were the cardinal of bourbon and his confederates, the stronger was the party of the king, his master, and the more intimidated and dispirited would be the mind and the forces of the most christian king. "and this is precisely the point," said the diplomatist, "at which a minister of your majesty should aim at this season." thus the civil war in france--an indispensable part of philip's policy--was to be maintained at all hazards; and although the ambassador was of opinion that the most christian king was sincere in his proposition to invade england, it would never do to allow any interval of tranquillity to the wretched subjects of that christian king. "i cannot doubt," said mendoza, "that the making of this proposal to me with so much warmth was the especial persuasion of god, who, hearing the groans of the catholics of england, so cruelly afflicted, wished to force the french king and his minister to feel, in the necessity which surrounds them, that the offending him, by impeding the grandeur of your majesty, would be their total ruin, and that their only salvation is to unite in sincerity and truth with your majesty for the destruction of the heretics." therefore, although judging from the nature of the french--he might imagine that they were attempting to put him to sleep, mendoza, on the whole, expressed a conviction that the king was in earnest, having arrived at the conclusion that he could only get rid of the guise faction by sending them over to england. "seeing that he cannot possibly eradicate the war from his kingdom," said the envoy, "because of the boldness with which the leaguers maintain it, with the strong assistance of your majesty, he has determined to embrace with much fervour, and without any deception at all, the enterprise against england, as the only remedy to quiet his own dominions. the subjugation of those three kingdoms, in order to restore them to their rightful owner, is a purpose so holy, just, and worthy of your majesty, and one which you have had so constantly in view, that it is superfluous for me to enlarge upon the subject. your majesty knows that its effects will be the tranquillity and preservation of all your realms. the reasons for making the attempt, even without the aid of france, become demonstrations now that she is unanimously in favour of the scheme. the most christian king is resolutely bent--so far as i can comprehend the intrigues of villeroy--to carry out this project on the foundation of a treaty with the guise party. it will not take much time, therefore, to put down the heretics here; nor will it consume much more to conquer england with the armies of two such powerful princes. the power of that island is of little moment, there being no disciplined forces to oppose us, even if they were all unanimous in its defence; how much less then, with so many catholics to assist the invaders, seeing them so powerful. if your majesty, on account of your netherlands, is not afraid of putting arms into the hands of the guise family in france, there need be less objection to sending one of that house into england, particularly as you will send forces of your own into that kingdom, by the reduction of which the affairs of flanders will be secured. to effect the pacification of the netherlands the sooner, it would be desirable to conquer england as early as october." having thus sufficiently enlarged upon the sincerity of the french king and his prime minister, in their dark projects against a friendly power, and upon the ease with which that friendly power could be subjected, the ambassador begged for a reply from his royal master without delay. he would be careful, meantime, to keep the civil war alive in france--thus verifying the poetical portrait of himself, the truth of which he had just been so indignantly and rhetorically denying--but it was desirable that the french should believe that this civil war was not philip's sole object. he concluded by drawing his master's attention to the sufferings of the english catholics. "i cannot refrain," he said, "from placing before your eyes the terrible persecutions which the catholics are suffering in england; the blood of the martyrs flowing in so many kinds of torments; the groans of the prisoners, of the widows and orphans; the general oppression and servitude, which is the greatest ever endured by a people of god, under any tyrant whatever. your majesty, into whose hands god is now pleased to place the means, so long desired, of extirpating and totally destroying the heresies of our time, can alone liberate them from their bondage." the picture of these kings, prime ministers, and ambassadors, thus plotting treason, stratagem, and massacre, is a dark and dreary one. the description of english sufferings for conscience' sake, under the protestant elizabeth, is even more painful; for it had unfortunately too much, of truth, although as wilfully darkened and exaggerated as could be done by religious hatred and spanish bombast. the queen was surrounded by legions of deadly enemies. spain, the pope, the league, were united in one perpetual conspiracy against her; and they relied on the cooperation of those subjects of hers whom her own cruelty was converting into traitors. we read with a shudder these gloomy secrets of conspiracy and wholesale murder, which make up the diplomatic history of the sixteenth century, and we cease to wonder that a woman, feeling herself so continually the mark at which all the tyrants and assassins of europe were aiming--although not possessing perhaps the evidences of her peril so completely as they have been revealed to us--should come to consider every english papist as a traitor and an assassin. it was unfortunate that she was not able to rise beyond the vile instincts of the age, and by a magnanimous and sublime toleration, to convert her secret enemies into loyal subjects. and now henry of valois was to choose between league and counter-league, between henry of guise and henry of navarre, between france and spain. the whole chivalry of gascony and guienne, the vast swarm of industrious and hardy huguenot artisans, the netherland rebels, the great english queen, stood ready to support the cause of french nationality, and of all nationalities, against a threatening world-empire, of religious liberty against sacerdotal absolutism, and the crown of a king, whose only merit had hitherto been to acquiesce in a religious toleration dictated to him by others, against those who derided his authority and insulted his person. the bold knight-errant of christendom, the champion to the utterance against spain, stood there with lance in rest, and the king scarcely hesitated. the league, gliding so long unheeded, now reared its crest in the very palace of france, and full in the monarch's face. with a single shudder the victim fell into its coils. the choice was made. on the th of july ( ) the edict of nemours was published, revoking all previous edicts by which religious peace had been secured. death and confiscation of property were now proclaimed as the penalty of practising any religious rites save those of the roman catholic church. six months were allowed to the nonconformists to put their affairs in order, after which they were to make public profession of the catholic religion, with regular attendance upon its ceremonies, or else go into perpetual exile. to remain in france without abjuring heresy was thenceforth a mortal crime, to be expiated upon the gallows. as a matter of course, all huguenots were instantaneously incapacitated from public office, the mixed chambers of justice were abolished, and the cautionary towns were to be restored. on the other hand, the guise faction were to receive certain cities into their possession, as pledges that this sanguinary edict should be fulfilled. thus did henry iii. abjectly kiss the hand which smote him. his mother, having since the death of anjou no further interest in affecting to favour the huguenots, had arranged the basis of this treaty with the spanish party. and now the unfortunate king had gone solemnly down to the parliament of paris, to be present at the registration of the edict. the counsellors and presidents were all assembled, and as they sat there in their crimson robes, they seemed, to the excited imagination of those who loved their country, like embodiments of the impending and most sanguinary tragedy. as the monarch left the parliament-house a faint cry of 'god save the king' was heard in the street. henry hung his head, for it was long since that cry had met his ears, and he knew that it was a false and languid demonstration which had been paid for by the leaguers. and thus was the compact signed--an unequal compact. madam league was on horseback, armed in proof, said a contemporary; the king was on foot, and dressed in a shirt of penitence. the alliance was not an auspicious one. not peace, but a firebrand--'facem, non pacem'--had the king held forth to his subjects. when the news came to henry of navarre that the king had really promulgated this fatal edict, he remained for a time, with amazement and sorrow, leaning heavily upon a table, with his face in his right hand. when he raised his head again--so he afterwards asserted--one side of his moustachio had turned white. meantime gregory xiii., who had always refused to sanction the league, was dead, and cardinal peretti, under the name of sixtus v., now reigned in his place. born of an illustrious house, as he said--for it was a house without a roof--this monk of humble origin was of inordinate ambition. feigning a humility which was but the cloak to his pride, he was in reality as grasping, self-seeking, and revengeful, as he seemed gentle and devout. it was inevitable that a pontiff of this character should seize the opportunity offered him to mimic hildebrand, and to brandish on high the thunderbolts of the church. with a flaming prelude concerning the omnipotence delegated by almighty god to st. peter and his successors--an authority infinitely superior to all earthly powers--the decrees of which were irresistible alike by the highest and the meanest, and which hurled misguided princes from their thrones into the abyss, like children of beelzebub, the pope proceeded to fulminate his sentence of excommunication against those children of wrath, henry of navarre and henry of conde. they were denounced as heretics, relapsed, and enemies of god ( th aug. ). the king was declared dispossessed of his principality of bearne, and of what remained to him of navarre. he was stripped of all dignities, privileges, and property, and especially proclaimed incapable of ever ascending the throne of france. the bearnese replied by a clever political squib. a terse and spirited paper found its way to rome, and was soon affixed, to the statutes of pasquin and marforio, and in other public places of that city, and even to the gates of the papal palace. without going beyond his own doors, his holiness had the opportunity of reading, to his profound amazement, that mr. sixtus, calling himself pope, had foully and maliciously lied in calling the king of navarre a heretic. this henry offered to prove before any free council legitimately chosen. if the pope refused to submit to such decision, he was himself no better than excommunicate and antichrist, and the king of navarre thereby declared mortal and perpetual war upon him. the ancient kings of france had known how to chastise the insolence of former popes, and he hoped, when he ascended the throne, to take vengeance on mr. sixtus for the insult thus offered to all the kings of christendom--and so on, in a vein which showed the bearnese to be a man rather amused than blasted by these papal fireworks. sixtus v., though imperious, was far from being dull. he knew how to appreciate a man when he found one, and he rather admired the cheerful attitude maintained by navarre, as he tossed back the thunderbolts. he often spoke afterwards of henry with genuine admiration, and declared that in all the world he knew but two persons fit to wear a crown--henry of navarre and elizabeth of england. "'twas pity," he said, "that both should be heretics." and thus the fires of civil war had been lighted throughout christendom, and the monarch of france had thrown himself head foremost into the flames. etext editor's bookmarks: hibernian mode of expressing himself his inordinate arrogance his insolence intolerable humility which was but the cloak to his pride longer they delay it, the less easy will they find it oration, fertile in rhetoric and barren in facts round game of deception, in which nobody was deceived wasting time fruitlessly is sharpening the knife for himself with something of feline and feminine duplicity 'twas pity, he said, that both should be heretics history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history of the united netherlands, alexander farnese, the duke of parma chapter v., part . position and character of farnese--preparations for antwerp siege-- its characteristics--foresight of william the silent--sainte aldegonde, the burgomaster--anarchy in antwerp--character of sainte aldegonde--admiral treslong--justinus de nassau--hohenlo--opposition to the plan of orange--liefkenshoek--head--quarters of parma at kalloo--difficulty of supplying the city--results of not piercing the dykes--preliminaries of the siege--successes of the spaniards-- energy of farnese with sword and pen--his correspondence with the antwerpers--progress of the bridge--impoverished condition of parma --patriots attempt bois-le-duc--their misconduct--failure of the enterprise--the scheldt bridge completed--description of the structure the negotiations between france and the netherlands have been massed, in order to present a connected and distinct view of the relative attitude of the different countries of europe. the conferences and diplomatic protocolling had resulted in nothing positive; but it is very necessary for the reader to understand the negative effects of all this dissimulation and palace-politics upon the destiny of the new commonwealth, and upon christendom at large. the league had now achieved a great triumph; the king of france had virtually abdicated, and it was now requisite for the king of navarre, the netherlands, and queen elizabeth, to draw more closely together than before, if the last hope of forming a counter-league were not to be abandoned. the next step in political combination was therefore a solemn embassy of the states-general to england. before detailing those negotiations, however, it is proper to direct attention to the external public events which had been unrolling themselves in the provinces, contemporaneously with the secret history which has been detailed in the preceding chapters. by presenting in their natural groupings various distinct occurrences, rather than by detailing them in strict chronological order, a clearer view of the whole picture will be furnished than could be done by intermingling personages, transactions, and scenery, according to the arbitrary command of time alone. the netherlands, by the death of orange, had been left without a head. on the other hand, the spanish party had never been so fortunate in their chief at any period since the destiny of the two nations had been blended with each other. alexander farnese, prince of parma, was a general and a politician, whose character had been steadily ripening since he came into the command of the country. he was now thirty-seven years of age--with the experience of a sexagenarian. no longer the impetuous, arbitrary, hot-headed youth, whose intelligence and courage hardly atoned for his insolent manner and stormy career, he had become pensive, modest, almost gentle. his genius was rapid in conception, patient in combination, fertile in expedients, adamantine in the endurance or suffering; for never did a heroic general and a noble army of veterans manifest more military virtue in the support of an infamous cause than did parma and his handful of italians and spaniards. that which they considered to be their duty they performed. the work before them they did with all their might. alexander had vanquished the rebellion in the celtic provinces, by the masterly diplomacy and liberal bribery which have been related in a former work. artois, hainault, douay, orchies, with the rich cities of lille, tournay, valenciennes, arras, and other important places, were now the property of philip. these unhappy and misguided lands, however, were already reaping the reward of their treason. beggared, trampled upon, plundered, despised, they were at once the prey of the spaniards, and the cause that their sister-states, which still held out, were placed in more desperate condition than ever. they were also, even in their abject plight, made still more forlorn by the forays of balagny, who continued in command of cambray. catharine de' medici claimed that city as her property, by will of the duke of anjou. a strange title--founded upon the treason and cowardice of her favourite son--but one which, for a time, was made good by the possession maintained by balagny. that usurper meantime, with a shrewd eye to his own interests, pronounced the truce of cambray, which was soon afterwards arranged, from year to year, by permission of philip, as a "most excellent milch-cow;" and he continued to fill his pails at the expense of the "reconciled" provinces, till they were thoroughly exhausted. this large south-western section of the netherlands being thus permanently re-annexed to the spanish crown, while holland, zeeland, and the other provinces, already constituting the new dutch republic, were more obstinate in their hatred of philip than ever, there remained the rich and fertile territory of flanders and brabant as the great debateable land. here were the royal and political capital, brussels, the commercial capital, antwerp, with mechlin, dendermonde, vilvoorde, and other places of inferior importance, all to be struggled for to the death. with the subjection of this district the last bulwark between the new commonwealth and the old empire would be overthrown, and spain and holland would then meet face to face. if there had ever been a time when every nerve in protestant christendom should be strained to weld all those provinces together into one great commonwealth, as a bulwark for european liberty, rather than to allow them to be broken into stepping-stones, over which absolutism could stride across france and holland into england, that moment had arrived. every sacrifice should have been cheerfully made by all netherlanders, the uttermost possible subsidies and auxiliaries should have been furnished by all the friends of civil and religious liberty in every land to save flanders and brabant from their impending fate. no man felt more keenly the importance of the business in which he was engaged than parma. he knew his work exactly, and he meant to execute it thoroughly. antwerp was the hinge on which the fate of the whole country, perhaps of all christendom, was to turn. "if we get antwerp," said the spanish soldiers--so frequently that the expression passed into a proverb--"you shall all go to mass with us; if you save antwerp, we will all go to conventicle with you." alexander rose with the difficulty and responsibility of his situation. his vivid, almost poetic intellect formed its schemes with perfect distinctness. every episode in his great and, as he himself termed it, his "heroic enterprise," was traced out beforehand with the tranquil vision of creative genius; and he was prepared to convert his conceptions into reality, with the aid of an iron nature that never knew fatigue or fear. but the obstacles were many. alexander's master sat in his cabinet with his head full of mucio, don antonio, and queen elizabeth; while alexander himself was left neglected, almost forgotten. his army was shrinking to a nullity. the demands upon him were enormous, his finances delusive, almost exhausted. to drain an ocean dry he had nothing but a sieve. what was his position? he could bring into the field perhaps eight or ten thousand men over and above the necessary garrisons. he had before him brussels, antwerp, mechlin, ghent, dendermonde, and other powerful places, which he was to subjugate. here was a problem not easy of solution. given an army of eight thousand, more or less, to reduce therewith in the least possible time, half-a-dozen cities; each containing fifteen or twenty thousand men able to bear arms. to besiege these places in form was obviously a mere chimera. assault, battery, and surprises--these were all out of the question. yet alexander was never more truly heroic than in this position of vast entanglement. untiring, uncomplaining, thoughtful of others, prodigal of himself, generous, modest, brave; with so much intellect and so much devotion to what he considered his duty, he deserved to be a patriot and a champion of the right, rather than an instrument of despotism. and thus he paused for a moment--with much work already accomplished, but his hardest life-task before him; still in the noon of manhood, a fine martial figure, standing, spear in hand, full in the sunlight, though all the scene around him was wrapped in gloom--a noble, commanding shape, entitled to the admiration which the energetic display of great powers, however unscrupulous, must always command. a dark, meridional physiognomy, a quick; alert, imposing head; jet black, close-clipped hair; a bold eagle's face, with full, bright, restless eye; a man rarely reposing, always ready, never alarmed; living in the saddle, with harness on his back--such was the prince of parma; matured and mellowed, but still unharmed by time. the cities of flanders and brabant he determined to reduce by gaining command of the scheldt. the five principal ones ghent, dendermonde, mechlin, brussels antwerp, lie narrow circle, at distances from each other varying from five miles to thirty, and are all strung together by the great netherland river or its tributaries. his plan was immensely furthered by the success of balthasar gerard, an ally whom alexander had despised and distrusted, even while he employed him. the assassination of orange was better to parma than forty thousand men. a crowd of allies instantly started up for him, in the shape of treason, faintheartedness, envy, jealousy, insubordination, within the walls of every beleaguered city. alexander knew well how to deal with those auxiliaries. letters, artfully concocted, full of conciliation and of promise, were circulated in every council-room, in almost every house. the surrender of ghent--brought about by the governor's eloquence, aided by the golden arguments which he knew so well how to advance--had by the middle of september ( th sept. ), put him in possession of west flanders, with the important exception of the coast. dendermonde capitulated at a still earlier day; while the fall of brussels, which held out till many persons had been starved to death, was deferred till the th march of the following year, and that of mechlin till midsummer. the details of the military or political operations, by which the reduction of most of these places were effected, possess but little interest. the siege of antwerp, however, was one of the most striking events of the age; and although the change in military tactics and the progress of science may have rendered this leaguer of less technical importance than it possessed in the sixteenth century, yet the illustration that it affords of the splendid abilities of parma, of the most cultivated mode of warfare in use at that period, and of the internal politics by which the country was then regulated, make it necessary to dwell upon the details of an episode which must ever possess enduring interest. it is agreeable to reflect, too, that the fame of the general is not polluted with the wholesale butchery, which has stained the reputation of other spanish commanders so indelibly. there was no killing for the mere love of slaughter. with but few exceptions, there was no murder in cold blood; and the many lives that were laid down upon those watery dykes were sacrificed at least in bold, open combat; in a contest, the ruling spirits of which were patriotism, or at least honour. it is instructive, too, to observe the diligence and accuracy with which the best lights of the age were brought to bear upon the great problem which parma had undertaken to solve. all the science then at command was applied both by the prince and by his burgher antagonists to the advancement of their ends. hydrostatics, hydraulics, engineering, navigation, gunnery, pyrotechnics, mining, geometry, were summoned as broadly, vigorously, and intelligently to the destruction or preservation of a trembling city, as they have ever been, in more commercial days, to advance a financial or manufacturing purpose. land converted into water, and water into land, castles built upon the breast of rapid streams, rivers turned from their beds and taught new courses; the distant ocean driven across ancient bulwarks, mines dug below the sea, and canals made to percolate obscene morasses--which the red hand of war, by the very act, converted into blooming gardens--a mighty stream bridged and mastered in the very teeth of winter, floating ice-bergs, ocean-tides, and an alert and desperate foe, ever ready with fleets and armies and batteries--such were the materials of which the great spectacle was composed; a spectacle which enchained the attention of europe for seven months, and on the result of which, it was thought, depended the fate of all the netherlands, and perhaps of all christendom. antwerp, then the commercial centre of the netherlands and of europe, stands upon the scheldt. the river, flowing straight, broad, and full along the verge of the city, subtends the arc into which the place arranges itself as it falls back from the shore. two thousand ships of the largest capacity then known might easily find room in its ample harbours. the stream, nearly half a mile in width, and sixty feet in depth, with a tidal rise and fall of eleven feet, moves, for a few miles, in a broad and steady current between the provinces of brabant and flanders. then, dividing itself into many ample estuaries, and gathering up the level isles of zeeland into its bosom, it seems to sweep out with them into the northern ocean. here, at the junction of the river and the sea, lay the perpetual hope of antwerp, for in all these creeks and currents swarmed the fleets of the zeelanders, that hardy and amphibious race, with which few soldiers or mariners could successfully contend, on land or water. even from the beginning of the year parma had been from time to time threatening antwerp. the victim instinctively felt that its enemy was poising and hovering over head, although he still delayed to strike. early in the summer sainte aldegonde, recorder martini, and other official personages, were at delft, upon the occasion of the christening ceremonies of frederic henry, youngest child of orange. the prince, at that moment, was aware of the plans of parma, and held a long conversation with his friends upon the measures which he desired to see immediately undertaken. unmindful of his usual hospitality, he insisted that these gentlemen should immediately leave for antwerp. alexander farnese, he assured them, had taken the firm determination to possess himself of that place, without further delay. he had privately signified his purpose of laying the axe at once to the root of the tree, believing that with the fall of the commercial capital the infant confederacy of the united states would fall likewise. in order to accomplish this object, he would forthwith attempt to make himself master of the banks of the scheldt, and would even throw a bridge across the stream, if his plans were not instantly circumvented. william of orange then briefly indicated his plan; adding that he had no fears for the result; and assuring his friends, who expressed much anxiety on the subject, that if parma really did attempt the siege of antwerp it should be his ruin. the plan was perfectly simple. the city stood upon a river. it was practicable, although extremely hazardous, for the enemy to bridge that river, and by so doing ultimately to reduce the place. but the ocean could not be bridged; and it was quite possible to convert antwerp, for a season, into an ocean-port. standing alone upon an island, with the sea flowing around it, and with full and free marine communication with zeeland and holland, it might safely bid defiance to the land-forces, even of so great a commander as parma. to the furtherance of this great measure of defence, it was necessary to destroy certain bulwarks, the chief of ( th june, ) which was called the blaw-garen dyke; and sainte aldegonde was therefore requested to return to the city, in order to cause this task to be executed without delay. nothing could be more judicious than this advice. the low lands along the scheldt were protected against marine encroachments, and the river itself was confined to its bed, by a magnificent system of dykes, which extended along its edge towards the ocean, in parallel lines. other barriers of a similar nature ran in oblique directions, through the wide open pasture lands, which they maintained in green fertility, against the ever-threatening sea. the blaw-garen, to which the prince mainly alluded, was connected with the great dyke upon the right bank of the scheldt. between this and the city, another bulwark called the kowenstyn dyke, crossed the country at right angles to the river, and joined the other two at a point, not very far from lillo, where the states had a strong fortress. the country in this neighbourhood was low, spongy, full of creeks, small meres, and the old bed of the scheldt. orange, therefore, made it very clear, that by piercing the great dyke just described, such a vast body of water would be made to pour over the land as to submerge the kowenstyn also, the only other obstacle in the passage of fleets from zeeland to antwerp. the city would then be connected with the sea and its islands, by so vast an expanse of navigable water, that any attempt on parma's part to cut off supplies and succour would be hopeless. antwerp would laugh the idea of famine to scorn; and although this immunity would be purchased by the sacrifice of a large amount of agricultural territory the price so paid was but a slender one, when the existence of the capital, and with it perhaps of the whole confederacy was at stake. sainte aldegonde and martini suggested, that, as there would be some opposition to the measure proposed, it might be as well to make a similar attempt on the flemish side, in preference, by breaking through the dykes in the neighbourhood of saftingen. orange replied, by demonstrating that the land in the region which he had indicated was of a character to ensure success, while in the other direction there were certain very unfavourable circumstances which rendered the issue doubtful. the result was destined to prove the sagacity of the prince, for it will be shown in the sequel, that the saftingen plan, afterwards really carried out, was rather advantageous than detrimental to the enemy's projects. sainte aldegonde, accordingly, yielded to the arguments and entreaties of his friend, and repaired without delay to antwerp. the advice of william the silent--as will soon be related--was not acted upon; and, within a few weeks after it had been given, he was in his grave. nowhere was his loss more severely felt than in antwerp. it seemed, said a contemporary, that with his death had died all authority. the prince was the only head which the many-membered body of that very democratic city ever spontaneously obeyed. antwerp was a small republic--in time of peace intelligently and successfully administered--which in the season of a great foreign war, amid plagues, tumults, famine, and internal rebellion, required the firm hand and the clear brain of a single chief. that brain and hand had been possessed by orange alone. before his death he had desired that sainte aldegonde should accept the office of burgomaster of the city. nominally, the position was not so elevated as were many of the posts which that distinguished patriot had filled. in reality, it was as responsible and arduous a place as could be offered to any man's acceptance throughout the country. sainte aldegonde consented, not without some reluctance. he felt that there was odium to be incurred; he knew that much would be expected of him, and that his means would be limited. his powers would be liable to a constant and various restraint. his measures were sure to be the subject of perpetual cavil. if the city were besieged, there were nearly one hundred thousand mouths to feed, and nearly one hundred thousand tongues to dispute about furnishing the food. for the government of antwerp had been degenerating from a well-organised municipal republicanism into anarchy. the clashing of the various bodies exercising power had become incessant and intolerable. the burgomaster was charged with the chief executive authority, both for peace and war. nevertheless he had but a single vote in the board of magistrates, where a majority decided. moreover, he could not always attend the sessions, because he was also member of the council of brabant. important measures might therefore be decided by the magistracy, not only against his judgment, but without his knowledge. then there was a variety of boards or colleges, all arrogating concurrent--which in truth was conflicting-authority. there was the board of militia-colonels, which claimed great powers. here, too, the burgomaster was nominally the chief, but he might be voted down by a majority, and of course was often absent. then there were sixteen captains who came into the colonels' sessions whenever they liked, and had their word to say upon all subjects broached. if they were refused a hearing, they were backed by eighty other captains, who were ready at any moment to carry every disputed point before the "broadcouncil." there were a college of ward-masters, a college of select men, a college of deacons, a college of ammunition, of fortification, of ship-building, all claiming equal authority, and all wrangling among themselves; and there was a college of "peace-makers," who wrangled more than all the rest together. once a week there was a session of the board or general council. dire was the hissing and confusion, as the hydra heads of the multitudinous government were laid together. heads of colleges, presidents of chambers, militia-chieftains; magistrates, ward-masters, deans of fishmongers, of tailors, gardeners, butchers, all met together pell-mell; and there was no predominant authority. this was not a convenient working machinery for a city threatened with a siege by the first captain of the age. moreover there was a deficiency of regular troops: the burgher-militia were well trained and courageous, but not distinguished for their docility. there was also a regiment of english under colonel morgan, a soldier of great experience, and much respected; but, as stephen le sieur said, "this force, unless seconded with more, was but a breakfast for the enemy." unfortunately, too, the insubordination, which was so ripe in the city, seemed to affect these auxiliaries. a mutiny broke out among the english troops. many deserted to parma, some escaped to england, and it was not until morgan had beheaded captain lee and captain powell, that discipline could be restored. and into this scene of wild and deafening confusion came philip de marnix, lord of sainte aldegonde. there were few more brilliant characters than he in all christendom. he was a man, of a most rare and versatile genius. educated in geneva at the very feet of calvin, he had drunk, like mother's milk, the strong and bitter waters of the stern reformer's, creed; but he had in after life attempted, although hardly with success, to lift himself to the height of a general religious toleration. he had also been trained in the severe and thorough literary culture which characterised that rigid school. he was a scholar, ripe and rare; no holiday trifler in the gardens of learning. he spoke and wrote latin like his native tongue. he could compose poignant greek epigrams. he was so familiar with hebrew, that he had rendered the psalms of david out of the original into flowing flemish verse, for the use of the reformed churches. that he possessed the modern tongues of civilized europe, spanish, italian, french, and german, was a matter of course. he was a profound jurisconsult, capable of holding debate against all competitors upon any point of theory or practice of law, civil, municipal, international. he was a learned theologian, and had often proved himself a match for the doctors, bishops, or rabbin of europe, in highest argument of dogma, creed, or tradition. he was a practised diplomatist, constantly employed in delicate and difficult negotiations by william the silent, who ever admired his genius, cherished his friendship, and relied upon his character. he was an eloquent orator, whose memorable harangue, beyond all his other efforts, at the diet of worms, had made the german princes hang their heads with shame, when, taking a broad and philosophical view of the netherland matter, he had shown that it was the great question of europe; that nether germany was all germany; that protestantism could not be unravelled into shreds; that there was but one cause in christendom--that of absolutism against national liberty, papacy against the reform; and that the seventeen provinces were to be assisted in building themselves into an eternal barrier against spain, or that the "burning mark of shame would be branded upon the forehead of germany;" that the war, in short, was to be met by her on the threshold; or else that it would come to seek her at home--a prophecy which the horrible thirty years' war was in after time most signally to verify. he was a poet of vigour and originality, for he had accomplished what has been achieved by few; he had composed a national hymn, whose strophes, as soon as heard, struck a chord in every netherland heart, and for three centuries long have rung like a clarion wherever the netherland tongue is spoken. "wilhelmus van nassouwe," regarded simply as a literary composition, has many of the qualities which an ode demands; an electrical touch upon the sentiments, a throb of patriotism, sympathetic tenderness, a dash of indignation, with rhythmical harmony and graceful expression; and thus it has rung from millions of lips, from generation to generation. he was a soldier, courageous, untiring, prompt in action, useful in council, and had distinguished himself in many a hard-fought field. taken prisoner in the sanguinary skirmish at maaslandssluys, he had been confined a year, and, for more than three months, had never laid his head, as he declared, upon the pillow without commending his soul as for the last time to his maker, expecting daily the order for his immediate execution, and escaping his doom only because william the silent proclaimed that the proudest head among the spanish prisoners should fall to avenge his death; so that he was ultimately exchanged against the veteran mondragon. from the incipient stages of the revolt he had been foremost among the patriots. he was supposed to be the author of the famous "compromise of the nobles," that earliest and most conspicuous of the state-papers of the republic, and of many other important political documents; and he had contributed to general literature many works of european celebrity, of which the 'roman bee-hive' was the most universally known. scholar, theologian, diplomatist, swordsman, orator, poet, pamphleteer, he had genius for all things, and was eminent in all. he was even famous for his dancing, and had composed an intelligent and philosophical treatise upon the value of that amusement, as an agent of civilisation, and as a counteractor of the grosser pleasures of the table to which upper and nether germans were too much addicted. of ancient savoyard extraction, and something of a southern nature, he had been born in brussels, and was national to the heart's core. a man of interesting, sympathetic presence; of a physiognomy where many of the attaching and attractive qualities of his nature revealed themselves; with crisp curling hair, surmounting a tall, expansive forehead--full of benevolence, idealism, and quick perceptions; broad, brown, melancholy eyes, overflowing with tenderness; a lean and haggard cheek, a rugged flemish nose; a thin flexible mouth; a slender moustache, and a peaked and meagre beard; so appeared sainte aldegonde in the forty-seventh year of his age, when he came to command in antwerp. yet after all--many-sided, accomplished, courageous, energetic, as he was--it may be doubted whether he was the man for the hour or the post. he was too impressionable; he had too much of the temperament of genius. without being fickle, he had, besides his versatility of intellect, a character which had much facility in turning; not, indeed, in the breeze of self-interest, but because he seemed placed in so high and clear an atmosphere of thought that he was often acted upon and swayed by subtle and invisible influences. at any rate his conduct was sometimes inexplicable. he had been strangely fascinated by the ignoble duke of anjou, and, in the sequel, it will be found that he was destined to experience other magnetic or magical impulses, which were once thought suspicious, and have remained mysterious even to the present day. he was imaginative. he was capable of broad and boundless hopes. he was sometimes prone to deep despair. his nature was exquisitely tempered; too fine and polished a blade to be wielded among those hydra-heads by which he was, now surrounded; and for which the stunning sledgehammer of arbitrary force was sometimes necessary. he was perhaps deficient in that gift, which no training and no culture can bestow, and which comes from above alone by birth-right divine--that which men willingly call master, authority; the effluence which came so naturally from the tranquil eyes of william the silent. nevertheless, sainte aldegonde was prepared to do his best, and all his best was to be tasked to the utmost. his position was rendered still more difficult by the unruly nature of some of his coordinates. "from the first day to the last," said one who lived in antwerp during the siege, "the mistakes committed in the city were incredible." it had long been obvious that a siege was contemplated by parma. a liberal sum of money had been voted by the states-general, of which holland and zeeland contributed a very large proportion (two hundred thousand florins); the city itself voted another large subsidy, and an order was issued to purchase at once and import into the city at least a year's supply of every kind of provisions of life and munitions of war. william de blois, lord of treslong, admiral of holland and zeeland, was requested to carry out this order, and superintend the victualling of antwerp. but treslong at once became troublesome. he was one of the old "beggars of the sea," a leader in the wild band who had taken possession of the brill, in the teeth of alva, and so laid the foundation of the republic. an impetuous noble, of wealthy family, high connections, and refractory temper--a daring sailor, ever ready for any rash adventure, but possessed of a very moderate share of prudence or administrative ability, he fell into loose and lawless courses on the death of orange, whose firm hand was needed to control him. the french negotiation had excited his profound disgust, and knowing sainte aldegonde to be heart and soul in favour of that alliance, he was in no haste whatever to carry out his orders with regard to antwerp. he had also an insignificant quarrel with president meetkerk. the prince of parma--ever on the watch for such opportunities--was soon informed of the admiral's discontent, and had long been acquainted with his turbulent character. alexander at once began to inflame his jealousy and soothe his vanity by letters and messengers, urging upon him the propriety of reconciling himself with the king, and promising him large rewards and magnificent employments in the royal service. even the splendid insignia of the golden fleece were dangled before his eyes. it is certain that the bold hollander was not seduced by these visions, but there is no doubt that he listened to the voice of the tempter. he unquestionably neglected his duty. week after week he remained, at ostend, sneering at the french and quaffing huge draughts in honour of queen elizabeth. at last, after much time had elapsed, he agreed to victual antwerp if he could be furnished with thirty krom-stevens,--a peculiar kind of vessel, not to be found in zeeland. the krom-stevens were sent to him from holland. then, hearing that his negligence had been censured by the states-general, he became more obstinate than ever, and went up and down proclaiming that if people made themselves disagreeable to him he would do that which should make all the women and children in the netherlands shriek and tremble. what this nameless horror was to be he never divulged, but meantime he went down to middelburg, and swore that not a boat-load of corn should go up to antwerp until two members of the magistracy, whom he considered unpleasant, had been dismissed from their office. wearied with all this bluster, and imbued with grave suspicion as to his motives, the states at last rose upon their high admiral and threw him into prison. he was accused of many high crimes and misdemeanours, and, it was thought, would be tried for his life. he was suspected and even openly accused of having been tampered with by spain, but there was at any rate a deficiency of proof. "treslong is apprehended," wrote davison to burghley, "and, is charged to have been the cause that the fleet passed not up to antwerp. he is suspected to have otherwise forgotten himself, but whether justly or not will appear by his trial. meantime he is kept in the common prison of middelburg, a treatment which it is thought they would not offer him if they had not somewhat of importance against him." he was subsequently released at the intercession of queen elizabeth, and passed some time in england. he was afterwards put upon trial, but no accuser appearing to sustain the charges against him, he was eventually released. he never received a command in the navy again, but the very rich sinecures of grand falconer and chief forester of holland were bestowed upon him, and he appears to have ended his days in peace and plenty. he was succeeded in the post of admiral of holland and zeeland by justinus de nassau, natural son of william the silent, a young man of much promise but of little experience. general count hohenlo, too, lieutenant for young maurice, and virtual commander-in-chief of the states' forces, was apt to give much trouble. a german noble, of ancient descent and princely rank; brave to temerity, making a jest of danger; and riding into a foray as if to a merry-making; often furiously intoxicated, and always turbulent and uncertain; a handsome, dissipated cavalier, with long curls floating over his shoulders, an imposing aristocratic face, and a graceful, athletic figure, he needed some cool brain and steady hand to guide him--valuable as he was to fulfil any daring project but was hardly willing to accept the authority of a burgomaster. while the young maurice yet needed tutelage, while "the sapling was growing into the tree," hohenlo was a dangerous chieftain and a most disorderly lieutenant. with such municipal machinery and such coadjutors had sainte aldegonde to deal, while, meantime, the delusive french negociation was dragging its slow length along, and while parma was noiselessly and patiently proceeding with his preparations. the burgomaster--for sainte aldegonde, in whom vulgar ambition was not a foible, had refused the dignity and title of margrave of antwerp, which had been tendered him--had neglected no effort towards carrying into effect the advice of orange, given almost with his latest breath. the manner in which that advice was received furnished a striking illustration of the defective machinery which has been pourtrayed. upon his return from delft, sainte aldegonde had summoned a meeting of the magistracy of antwerp. he laid before the board the information communicated by orange as to parma's intentions. he also explained the scheme proposed for their frustration, and urged the measures indicated with so much earnestness that his fellow-magistrates were convinced. the order was passed for piercing the blauw-garen dyke, and sainte aldegonde, with some engineers, was requested to view the locality, and to take order for the immediate fulfilment of the plan. unfortunately there were many other boards in session besides that of the schepens, many other motives at work besides those of patriotism. the guild of butchers held a meeting, so soon as the plan suggested was known, and resolved with all their strength to oppose its execution. the butchers were indeed furious. twelve thousand oxen grazed annually upon the pastures which were about to be submerged, and it was represented as unreasonable that all this good flesh and blood should be sacrificed. at a meeting of the magistrates on the following day, sixteen butchers, delegates from their guild, made their appearance, hoarse with indignation. they represented the vast damage which would be inflicted upon the estates of many private individuals by the proposed inundation, by this sudden conversion of teeming meadows, fertile farms, thriving homesteads, prolific orchards, into sandy desolation. above all they depicted, in glowing colours and with natural pathos, the vast destruction of beef which was imminent, and they urged--with some show of reason--that if parma were really about to reduce antwerp by famine, his scheme certainly would not be obstructed by the premature annihilation of these wholesome supplies. that the scheldt could be, closed in any manner was, however, they said, a preposterous conception. that it could be bridged was the dream of a lunatic. even if it were possible to construct a bridge, and probable that the zeelanders and antwerpers would look on with folded arms while the work proceeded, the fabric, when completed, would be at the mercy of the ice-floods of the winter and the enormous power of the ocean-tides. the prince of orange himself, on a former occasion, when antwerp was spanish, had attempted to close the river with rafts, sunken piles, and other obstructions, but the whole had been swept away, like a dam of bulrushes, by the first descent of the ice-blocks of winter. it was witless to believe that parma contemplated any such measure, and utterly monstrous to believe in its success. thus far the butchers. soon afterwards came sixteen colonels of militia, as representatives of their branch of the multiform government. these personages, attended by many officers of inferior degree, sustained the position of the butchers with many voluble and vehement arguments. not the least convincing of their conclusions was the assurance that it would be idle for the authorities to attempt the destruction of the dyke, seeing that the municipal soldiery itself would prevent the measure by main force, at all hazards, and without regard to their own or others' lives. the violence of this opposition, and the fear of a serious internecine conflict at so critical a juncture, proved fatal to the project. much precious time was lost, and when at last the inhabitants of the city awoke from their delusion, it was to find that repentance, as usual, had come many hours too late. for parma had been acting while his antagonists had been wrangling. he was hampered in his means, but he was assisted by what now seems the incredible supineness of the netherlanders. even sainte aldegonde did not believe in the possibility of erecting the bridge; not a man in antwerp seemed to believe it. "the preparations," said one who lived in the city, "went on before our very noses, and every one was ridiculing the spanish commander's folly." a very great error was, moreover, committed in abandoning herenthals to the enemy. the city of antwerp governed brabant, and it would have been far better for the authorities of the commercial capital to succour this small but important city, and, by so doing, to protract for a long time their own defence. mondragon saw and rejoiced over the mistake. "now 'tis easy to see that the prince of orange is dead," said the veteran, as he took possession, in the icing's name, of the forsaken herenthals. early in the summer, parma's operations had been, of necessity, desultory. he had sprinkled forts up and down the scheldt, and had gradually been gaining control of the navigation upon that river. thus ghent and dendermonde, vilvoorde, brussels, and antwerp, had each been isolated, and all prevented from rendering mutual assistance. below antwerp, however, was to be the scene of the great struggle. here, within nine miles of the city, were two forts belonging to the states, on opposite sides of the stream, lille, and liefkenshoek. it was important for the spanish commander to gain possession of both; before commencing his contemplated bridge. unfortunately for the states, the fortifications of liefkenshoek, on the flemish side of the river, had not been entirely completed. eight hundred men lay within it, under colonel john pettin of arras, an old patriotic officer of much experience. parma, after reconnoitring the place in person, despatched the famous viscount of ghent--now called marquis of roubaix and richebourg--to carry it by assault. the marquis sent one hundred men from his walloon legion, under two officers, in whom he had confidence, to attempt a surprise, with orders, if not successful, to return without delay. they were successful. the one hundred gained entrance into the fort at a point where the defences had not been put into sufficient repair. they were immediately followed by richebourg, at the head of his regiment. the day was a fatal one. it was the th july, and william of orange was falling at delft by the hand of balthazar gerard. liefkenshoek was carried at a blow. of the eight hundred patriots in the place, scarcely a man escaped. four hundred were put to the sword, the others were hunted into the river, when nearly all were drowned. of the royalists a single man was killed, and two or three more were wounded. "our lord was pleased," wrote parma piously to philip, that we "should cut the throats of four hundred of them in a single instant, and that a great many more should be killed upon the dykes; so that i believe very few to have escaped with life. we lost one man, besides two or three wounded." a few were taken prisoners, and among them was the commander john pettin. he was at once brought before richebourg, who was standing in the presence of the prince of parma. the marquis drew his sword, walked calmly up to the captured colonel, and ran him through the body. pettin fell dead upon the spot. the prince was displeased. "too much choler, marquis, too much choler,"--said he reprovingly. "troppa colera, signor marchese, a questa." but richebourg knew better. he had, while still viscount of ghent, carried on a year previously a parallel intrigue with the royalists and the patriots. the prince of parma had bid highest for his services, and had, accordingly, found him a most effectual instrument in completing the reduction of the walloon provinces. the prince was not aware, however, that his brave but venal ally had, at the very same moment, been secretly treating with william of orange; and as it so happened that colonel pettin had been the agent in the unsuccessful negotiation, it was possible that his duplicity would now be exposed. the marquis had, therefore, been prompt to place his old confederate in the condition wherein men tell no tales, and if contemporary chronicles did not bely him, it was not the first time that he had been guilty of such cold-blooded murder. the choler had not been superfluous. the fortress of lille was garrisoned by the antwerp volunteers, called the "young bachelors." teligny, the brave son of the illustrious "iron-armed" la none, commanded in chief: and he had, besides the militia, a company of french under captain gascoigne, and four hundred scotchmen under colonel morgan--perhaps two thousand men in all. mondragon, hero of the famous submarine expeditions of philipsland and zierickzee, was ordered by parma to take the place at every hazard. with five thousand men--a large proportion of the spanish effective force at that moment--the veteran placed himself before the fort, taking possession, of the beautiful country-house and farm of lille, where he planted his batteries, and commenced a regular cannonade. the place was stronger than liefkenshoek, however, and teligny thoroughly comprehended the importance of maintaining it for the states. mondragon dug mines, and teligny countermined. the spanish daily cannonade was cheerfully responded to by the besieged, and by the time mondragon had shot away fifty thousand pounds of powder, he found that he had made no impression upon the fortress, while the number of his troops had been diminishing with great rapidity. mondragon was not so impetuous as he had been on many former occasions. he never ventured an assault. at last teligny made a sortie at the head of a considerable force. a warm action succeeded, at the conclusion of which, without a decided advantage on either side, the sluice-gate in the fortress was opened, and the torrent of the scheldt, swollen by a high tide, was suddenly poured upon the spaniards. assailed at once by the fire from the lillo batteries, and by the waters of the river, they were forced to a rapid retreat. this they effected with great loss, but with signal courage; struggling breast high in the waves, and bearing off their field-pieces in their arms in the very face of the enemy. three weeks long mondragon had been before fort lille, and two thousand of his soldiers had been slain in the trenches. the attempt was now abandoned. parma directed permanent batteries to be established at lillo-house, at oordam, and at other places along the river, and proceeded quietly with his carefully-matured plan for closing the river. his own camp was in the neighbourhood of the villages of beveren, kalloo, and borght. of the ten thousand foot and seventeen hundred horse, which composed at the moment his whole army, about one-half lay with him, while the remainder were with count peter ernest mansfield, in the neighbourhood of stabroek. thus the prince occupied a position on the left bank of the scheldt, nearly opposite antwerp, while mansfield was stationed upon the right bank, and ten miles farther down the river. from a point in the neighbourhood of kalloo, alexander intended to throw a fortified bridge to the opposite shore. when completed, all traffic up the river from zeeland would be cut off; and as the country on the land-side; abut antwerp, had been now reduced, the city would be effectually isolated. if the prince could hold his bridge until famine should break the resistance of the burghers, antwerp would fall into his hands. his head-quarters were at kalloo, and this obscure spot soon underwent a strange transformation. a drowsy placid little village--with a modest parish spire peeping above a clump of poplars, and with half a dozen cottages, with storks nests on their roofs, sprinkled here and there among pastures and orchards--suddenly saw itself changed as it were into a thriving bustling town; for, saving the white tents which dotted the green turf in every direction, the aspect of the scene was, for a time, almost pacific. it was as if, some great manufacturing enterprise had been set on foot, and the world had suddenly awoke to the hidden capabilities of the situation. a great dockyard and arsenal suddenly revealed themselves--rising like an exhalation--where ship-builders, armourers, blacksmiths, joiners, carpenters, caulkers, gravers, were hard at work all day long. the din and hum of what seemed a peaceful industry were unceasing. from kalloo, parma dug a canal twelve miles long to a place called steeken, hundreds of pioneers being kept constantly at work with pick and spade till it was completed. through this artificial channel--so soon as ghent and dendermonde had fallen--came floats of timber, fleets of boats laden with provisions of life and munitions of death, building-materials, and every other requisite for the great undertaking, all to be disembarked at kalloo. the object was a temporary and destructive one, but it remains a monument of the great general's energy and a useful public improvement. the amelioration of the fenny and barren soil, called the waesland, is dated from that epoch; and the spot in europe which is the most prolific, and which nourishes the largest proportion of inhabitants to the square mile, is precisely the long dreary swamp which the prince thus drained for military purposes, and converted into a garden. drusus and corbulo, in the days of the roman empire, had done the same good service for their barbarian foes. at kalloo itself, all the shipwrights, cutlers, masons, brass-founders, rope-makers, anchor-forgers, sailors, boatmen, of flanders and brabant, with a herd of bakers, brewers, and butchers, were congregated by express order of parma. in the little church itself the main workshop was established, and all day long, week after week, month after month, the sound of saw and hammer, adze and plane, the rattle of machinery, the cry of sentinels, the cheers of mariners, resounded, where but lately had been heard nothing save the drowsy homily and the devout hymn of rustic worship. nevertheless the summer and autumn wore on, and still the bridge was hardly commenced. the navigation of the river--although impeded and rendered dangerous by the forts which parma held along the banks--was still open; and, so long as the price of corn in antwerp remained three or four times as high as the sum for which it could be purchased in holland and zeeland, there were plenty of daredevil skippers ready to bring cargoes. fleets of fly-boats, convoyed by armed vessels, were perpetually running the gauntlet. sharp actions on shore between the forts of the patriots and those of parma, which were all intermingled promiscuously along the banks, and amphibious and most bloody encounters on ship-board, dyke, and in the stream itself, between the wild zeelanders and the fierce pikemen of italy and spain, were of repeated occurrence. many a lagging craft fell into the enemy's hands, when, as a matter of course, the men, women, and children, on board, were horribly mutilated by the spaniards, and were then sent drifting in their boat with the tide--their arms, legs, and ears lopped off up to the city, in order that--the dangerous nature of this provision-trade might be fully illustrated. yet that traffic still went on. it would have continued until antwerp had been victualled for more than a year, had not the city authorities, in the plentitude of their wisdom, thought proper to issue orders for its regulation. on the th october ( ) a census was taken, when the number of persons inside the walls was found to be ninety thousand. for this population it was estimated that , veertell, or about , bushels of corn, would be required annually. the grain was coming in very fast, notwithstanding the perilous nature of the trade; for wheat could be bought in holland for fifty florins the last, or about fifteen pence sterling the bushel, while it was worth five or six florins the veertel, or about four shillings the bushel, in antwerp. the magistrates now committed a folly more stupendous than it seemed possible for human creatures, under such circumstances, to compass. they established a maximum upon corn. the skippers who had run their cargoes through the gauntlet, all the way from flushing to antwerp, found on their arrival, that, instead of being rewarded, according to the natural laws of demand and supply, they were required to exchange their wheat, rye, butter, and beef, against the exact sum which the board of schepens thought proper to consider a reasonable remuneration. moreover, in order to prevent the accumulation of provisions in private magazines, it was enacted, that all consumers of grain should be compelled to make their purchases directly from the ships. these two measures were almost as fatal as the preservation of the blaw-garen dyke, in the interest of the butchers. winter and famine were staring the city in the face, and the maximum now stood sentinel against the gate, to prevent the admission of food. the traffic ceased without a struggle. parma himself could not have better arranged the blockade. meantime a vast and almost general inundation had taken place. the aspect of the country for many miles around was strange and desolate. the sluices had been opened in the neighbourhood of saftingen, on, the flemish side, so that all the way from hulst the waters were out, and flowed nearly to the gates of antwerp. a wide and shallow sea rolled over the fertile plains, while church-steeples, the tops of lofty trees, and here and there the turrets of a castle, scarcely lifted themselves above the black waters; the peasants' houses, the granges, whole rural villages, having entirely disappeared. the high grounds of doel, of kalloo, and beveren, where alexander was established, remained out of reach of the flood. far below, on the opposite side of the river, other sluices had been opened, and the sea had burst over the wide, level plain. the villages of wilmerdonk, orderen, ekeren, were changed to islands in the ocean, while all the other hamlets, for miles around, were utterly submerged. still, however, the blaw-garen dyke and its companion the kowenstyn remained obstinately above the waters, forming a present and more fatal obstruction to the communication between antwerp and zeeland than would be furnished even by the threatened and secretly-advancing bridge across the scheldt. had orange's prudent advice been taken, the city had been safe. over the prostrate dykes, whose destruction he had so warmly urged, the ocean would have rolled quite to the gates of antwerp, and it would have been as easy to bridge the north sea as to control the free navigation of the patriots over so wide a surface. when it was too late, the butchers, and colonels, and captains, became penitent enough. an order was passed, by acclamation, in november, to do what orange had recommended in june. it was decreed that the blaw-garen and the kowenstyn should be pierced. alas, the hour had long gone by. alexander of parma was not the man to undertake the construction of a bridge across the river, at a vast expense, and at the same time to permit the destruction of the already existing barrier. there had been a time for such a deed. the seigneur de kowenstyn, who had a castle and manor on and near the dyke which bore his name, had repeatedly urged upon the antwerp magistracy the propriety of piercing this bulwark, even after their refusal to destroy the outer barrier. sainte aldegonde, who vehemently urged the measure, protested that his hair had stood on end, when he found, after repeated entreaty, that the project was rejected. the seigneur de kowenstyn, disgusted and indignant, forswore his patriotism, and went over to parma. the dyke fell into the hands of the enemy. and now from stabroek, where old mansfeid lay with his army, all the way across the flooded country, ran the great bulwark, strengthened with new palisade-work and block-houses, bristling with spanish cannon, pike, and arquebus, even to the bank of the scheldt, in the immediate vicinity of fort lille. at the angle of its junction with the main dyke of the river's bank, a strong fortress called holy cross (santa cruz) had been constructed. that fortress and the whole line of the kowenstyn were held in the iron grip of mondragon. to wrench it from him would be no child's play. five new strong redoubts upon the dyke, and five or six thousand spaniards established there, made the enterprise more formidable than it would have been in june. it had been better to sacrifice the twelve thousand oxen. twelve thousand hollanders might now be slaughtered, and still the dyke remain above the waves. here was the key to the fate of antwerp. on the other hand, the opening of the saftingen sluice had done parma's work for him. even there, too, orange had been prophetic. kalloo was high and dry, but alexander had experienced some difficulty in bringing a fleet of thirty vessels, laden with cannon and other valuable materials, from ghent along the scheldt, into his encampment, because it was necessary for them, before reaching their destination, to pass in front of antwerp. the inundation, together with a rupture in the dyke of borght, furnished him with a watery road; over which his fleet completely avoided the city, and came in triumph to kalloo. sainte aldegonde, much provoked by this masterly movement on the part of parma, had followed the little squadron closely with some armed vessels from the city. a sharp action had succeeded, in which the burgomaster, not being properly sustained by the zeeland ships on which he relied, had been defeated. admiral jacob jacobzoon behaved with so little spirit on the occasion that he acquired with the antwerp populace the name of "run-away jacob," "koppen gaet loppen;" and sainte aldegonde declared, that, but for his cowardice, the fleet of parma would have fallen into their hands. the burgomaster himself narrowly escaped becoming a prisoner, and owed his safety only to the swiftness of his barge, which was called the "flying devil." the patriots, in order to counteract similar enterprises in future, now erected a sconce, which they called fort teligny; upon the ruptured dyke of borght, directly in front of the borght blockhouse, belonging to the spaniards, and just opposite fort hoboken. here, in this narrow passage, close under the walls of antwerp, where friends and foes were brought closely, face to face, was the scene of many a sanguinary skirmish, from the commencement of the siege until its close. still the bridge was believed to be a mere fable, a chimaera. parma, men said, had become a lunatic from pride. it was as easy to make the netherlands submit to the yoke of the inquisition as to put a bridle on the scheldt. its depth; breadth, the ice-floods of a northern winter, the neighbourhood of the zeeland fleets, the activity of the antwerp authorities, all were pledges that the attempt would be signally frustrated. and they should have been pledges--more than enough. unfortunately, however, there was dissension within, and no chieftain in the field, no sage in the council, of sufficient authority to sustain the whole burthen of the war, and to direct all the energies of the commonwealth. orange was dead. his son, one day to become the most illustrious military commander in europe, was a boy of seventeen, nominally captain-general, but in reality but a youthful apprentice to his art. hohenlo was wild, wilful, and obstinate. young william lewis nassau, already a soldier of marked abilities, was fully occupied in friesland, where he was stadholder, and where he had quite enough to do in making head against the spanish governor and general, the veteran verdugo: military operations against zutphen distracted the attention of the states, which should have been fixed upon antwerp. admiral treslong, as we have seen, was refractory, the cause of great delinquency on the part of the fleets, and of infinite disaster to the commonwealth. more than all, the french negotiation was betraying the states into indolence and hesitation; and creating a schism between the leading politicians of the country. several thousand french troops, under monsieur d'allaynes, were daily expected, but never arrived; and thus, while english and french partisans were plotting and counter-plotting, while a delusive diplomacy was usurping the place of lansquenettes and gun-boats--the only possible agents at that moment to preserve antwerp--the bridge of parma was slowly advancing. before the winter had closed in, the preparatory palisades had been finished. between kalloo and ordam, upon the opposite side, a sandbar had been discovered in the river's bed, which diminished the depth of the stream, and rendered the pile-driving comparatively easy. the breadth of the scheldt at this passage was twenty-four hundred feet; its depth, sixty feet. upon the flemish side, near kalloo, a strong fort was erected, called saint mary, in honour of the blessed virgin, to whom the whole siege of antwerp had been dedicated from the beginning. on the opposite bank was a similar fort, flamed philip, for the king. from each of these two points, thus fortified, a framework of heavy timber, supported upon huge piles, had been carried so far into the stream on either side that the distance between the ends had at last been reduced to thirteen hundred feet. the breadth of the roadway--formed of strong sleepers firmly bound together--was twelve feet, along which block-houses of great thickness were placed to defend the whole against assault. thus far the work had been comparatively easy. to bridge the remaining open portion of the river, however, where its current was deepest and strongest, and where the action of tide, tempest, and icebergs, would be most formidable, seemed a desperate undertaking; for as the enterprise advanced, this narrow open space became the scene of daily amphibious encounters between the soldiers and sailors of parma and the forces of the states. unfortunately for the patriots, it was only skirmishing. had a strong, concerted attack, in large force, from holland and zeeland below and from the city above, been agreed upon, there was hardly a period, until very late in the winter, when it might not have had the best chances of success. with a vigorous commander against him, parma, weak in men, and at his wits' end for money, might, in a few hours, have seen the labour of several months hopelessly annihilated. on the other hand, the prince was ably seconded by his lieutenant, marquis richebourg, to whom had been delegated the immediate superintendence of the bridge-building in its minutest details. he was never idle. audacious, indefatigable, ubiquitous, he at least atoned by energy and brilliant courage for his famous treason of the preceding year, while his striking and now rapidly approaching doom upon the very scene of his present labours, made him appear to have been building a magnificent though fleeting monument to his own memory. sainte aldegonde, shut up in antwerp, and hampered by dissension within and obstinate jealousy without the walls, did all in his power to frustrate the enemy's enterprise and animate the patriots. through the whole of the autumn and early winter, he had urged the states of holland and zeeland to make use of the long winter nights, when moonless and stormy, to attempt the destruction of parma's undertaking, but the fatal influences already indicated were more efficient against antwerp than even the genius of farnese; and nothing came of the burgomaster's entreaties save desultory skirmishing and unsuccessful enterprises. an especial misfortune happened in one of these midnight undertakings. teligny ventured forth in a row-barge, with scarcely any companions, to notify the zeelanders of a contemplated movement, in which their co-operation was desired. it was proposed that the antwerp troops should make a fictitious demonstration upon fort ordam, while at the same moment the states' troops from fort lillo should make an assault upon the forts on kowenstyn dyke; and in this important enterprise the zeeland vessels were requested to assist. but the brave teligny nearly forfeited his life by his rashness, and his services were, for a long time, lost to the cause of liberty. it had been better to send a less valuable officer upon such hazardous yet subordinate service. the drip of his oars was heard in the darkness. he was pursued by a number of armed barges, attacked, wounded severely in the shoulder, and captured. he threw his letters overboard, but they were fished out of the water, carried to parma, and deciphered, so that the projected attack upon the kowenstyn was discovered, and, of necessity, deferred. as for teligny, he was taken, as a most valuable prize, into the enemy's camp, and was soon afterwards thrust into prison at tournay, where he remained six years--one year longer than the period which his illustrious father had been obliged to consume in the infamous dungeon at mons. few disasters could have been more keenly felt by the states than the loss of this brilliant and devoted french chieftain, who, young as he was, had already become very dear to the republic; and sainte aldegonde was severely blamed for sending so eminent a personage on that dangerous expedition, and for sending him, too, with an insufficient convoy. still alexander felt uncertain as to the result. he was determined to secure antwerp, but he yet thought it possible to secure it by negotiation. the enigmatical policy maintained by france perplexed him; for it did not seem possible that so much apparent solemnity and earnestness were destined to lead to an impotent and infamous conclusion. he was left, too, for a long time in ignorance of his own master's secret schemes, he was at liberty to guess, and to guess only, as to the projects of the league, he was without adequate means to carry out to a certain triumph his magnificent enterprise, and he was in constant alarm lest he should be suddenly assailed by an overwhelming french force. had a man sat upon the throne of henry iii., at that moment, parma's bridge-making and dyke-fortifying skilful as they were--would have been all in vain. meantime, in uncertainty as to the great issue, but resolved to hold firmly to his purpose, he made repeated conciliatory offers to the states with one hand, while he steadily prosecuted his aggressive schemes with the other. parma had become really gentle, almost affectionate, towards the netherlanders. he had not the disposition of an alva to smite and to blast, to exterminate the rebels and heretics with fire and sword, with the axe, the rack, and the gallows. provided they would renounce the great object of the contest, he seemed really desirous that they should escape further chastisement; but to admit the worship of god according to the reformed creed, was with him an inconceivable idea. to do so was both unrighteous and impolitic. he had been brought up to believe that mankind could be saved from eternal perdition only by believing in the infallibility of the bishop of rome; that the only keys to eternal paradise were in the hands of st. peter's representative. moreover, he instinctively felt that within this religious liberty which the netherlanders claimed was hidden the germ of civil liberty; and though no bigger than a grain of mustard-seed, it was necessary to destroy it at once; for of course the idea of civil liberty could not enter the brain of the brilliant general of philip ii. on the th of november he addressed a letter to the magistracy and broad-council of antwerp. he asserted that the instigators of the rebellion were not seeking to further the common weal, but their own private ends. especially had this been the ruling motive with the prince of orange and the duke of anjou, both of whom god had removed from the world, in order to manifest to the states their own weakness, and the omnipotence of philip, whose, prosperity the lord was constantly increasing. it was now more than time for the authorities of the country to have regard for themselves, and for the miseries of the poor people. the affection which he had always felt for the provinces from which he had himself sprung and the favours which he had received from them in his youth, had often moved him to propose measures, which, before god and his conscience, he believed adequate to the restoration of peace. but his letters had been concealed or falsely interpreted by the late prince of orange, who had sought nothing but to spread desolation over the land, and to shed the blood of the innocent. he now wrote once more, and for the last time, in all fervour and earnestness, to implore them to take compassion on their own wives and children and forlorn fatherland, to turn their eyes backward on the peace and prosperity which they had formerly enjoyed when obedient to his majesty, and to cast a glance around them upon the miseries which were so universal since the rebellion. he exhorted them to close their ears to the insidious tongues of those who were leading them into delusion as to the benevolence and paternal sweetness of their natural lord and master, which were even now so boundless that he did not hesitate once more to offer them his entire forgiveness. if they chose to negotiate, they would find everything granted that with right and reason could be proposed. the prince concluded by declaring that he made these advances not from any doubt as to the successful issue of the military operations in which he was engaged, but simply out of paternal anxiety for the happiness of the provinces. did they remain obstinate, their ultimate conditions would be rendered still more severe, and themselves, not he, would be responsible for the misery and the bloodshed to ensue. ten days afterwards, the magistrates, thus addressed--after communication with the broad-council--answered parma's. rd nov., letter manfully, copiously, and with the customary but superfluous historical sketch. they begged leave to entertain a doubt as to the paternal sweetness of a king who had dealt so long in racks and gibbets. with parma's own mother, as they told the prince, the netherlanders had once made a treaty, by which the right to worship god according to their consciences had been secured; yet for maintaining that treaty they had been devoted to indiscriminate destruction, and their land made desolate with fire and sword. men had been massacred by thousands, who had never been heard in their own defence, and who had never been accused of any crime, "save that they had assembled together in the name of god, to pray to him through their only mediator and advocate jesus christ, according to his command." the axis of the revolt was the religious question; and it was impossible to hope anything from a monarch who was himself a slave of the inquisition, and who had less independence of action than that enjoyed by jews and turks, according to the express permission of the pope. therefore they informed parma that they had done with philip for ever, and that in consequence of the extraordinary wisdom, justice, and moderation, of the french king, they had offered him the sovereignty of their land, and had implored his protection. they paid a tribute to the character of farnese, who after gaining infinite glory in arms, had manifested so much gentleness and disposition to conciliate. they doubted not that he would, if he possessed the power, have guided the royal councils to better and more generous results, and protested that they would not have delayed to throw themselves into his arms, had they been assured that he was authorized to admit that which alone could form the basis of a successful negotiation--religious freedom. they would in such case have been willing to close with him, without talking about other conditions than such as his highness in his discretion and sweetness might think reasonable. moreover, as they observed in conclusion, they were precluded, by their present relations with france, from entering into any other negotiation; nor could they listen to any such proposals without deserving to be stigmatized as the most lewd, blasphemous, and thankless mortals, that ever cumbered the earth. being under equal obligations both to the union and to france, they announced that parma's overtures would be laid before the french government and the assembly of the states-general. a day was to come, perhaps, when it would hardly seem lewdness and blasphemy for the netherlanders to doubt the extraordinary justice and wisdom of the french king. meantime, it cannot be denied that they were at least loyal to their own engagements, and long-suffering where they had trusted and given their hearts. parma replied by another letter, dated december rd. he assured the citizens that henry iii. was far too discreet, and much too good a friend to philip ii., to countenance this rebellion. if he were to take up their quarrel, however, the king of spain had a thousand means of foiling all his attempts. as to the religious question--which they affirmed to be the sole cause of the war--he was not inclined to waste words upon that subject; nevertheless, so far as he in his simplicity could understand the true nature of a christian, he could not believe that it comported with the doctrines of jesus, whom they called their only mediator, nor with the dictates of conscience, to take up arms against their lawful king, nor to burn, rob, plunder, pierce dykes, overwhelm their fatherland, and reduce all things to misery and chaos, in the name of religion. thus moralizing and dogmatizing, the prince concluded his letter, and so the correspondence terminated. this last despatch was communicated at once both to the states-general and to the french government, and remained unanswered. soon afterwards the netherlands and england, france and spain, were engaged in that vast game of delusion which has been described in the preceding chapters. meantime both antwerp and parma remained among the deluded, and were left to fight out their battle on their own resources. having found it impossible to subdue antwerp by his rhetoric, alexander proceeded with his bridge. it is impossible not to admire the steadiness and ingenuity with which the prince persisted in his plans, the courage with which he bore up against the parsimony and neglect of his sovereign, the compassionate tenderness which he manifested for his patient little army. so much intellectual energy commands enthusiasm, while the supineness on the other side sometimes excites indignation. there is even a danger of being entrapped into sympathy with tyranny, when the cause of tyranny is maintained by genius; and of being surprised into indifference for human liberty, when the sacred interests of liberty are endangered by self-interest, perverseness, and folly. even sainte aldegonde did not believe that the bridge could be completed. his fears were that the city would be ruined rather by the cessation of its commerce than by want of daily food. already, after the capture of liefkenshoek and the death of orange, the panic among commercial people had been so intense that seventy or eighty merchants, representing the most wealthy mercantile firms in antwerp, made their escape from the place, as if it had been smitten with pestilence, or were already in the hands of parma. all such refugees were ordered to return on peril of forfeiting their property. few came back, however, for they had found means of converting and transferring their funds to other more secure places, despite the threatened confiscation. it was insinuated that holland and zeeland were indifferent to the fate of antwerp, because in the sequel the commercial cities of those provinces succeeded to the vast traffic and the boundless wealth which had been forfeited by the brabantine capital. the charge was an unjust one. at the very commencement of the siege the states of holland voted two hundred thousand florins for its relief; and, moreover, these wealthy refugees were positively denied admittance into the territory of the united states, and were thus forced to settle in germany or england. this cessation of traffic was that which principally excited the anxiety of aldegonde. he could not bring himself to believe in the possibility of a blockade, by an army of eight or ten thousand men, of a great and wealthy city, where at least twenty thousand citizens were capable of bearing arms. had he thoroughly understood the deprivations under which alexander was labouring, perhaps he would have been even more confident as to the result. "with regard to the affair of the river scheldt," wrote parma to philip, "i should like to send your majesty a drawing of the whole scheme; for the work is too vast to be explained by letters. the more i examine it, the more astonished i am that it should have been conducted to this point; so many forts, dykes, canals, new inventions, machinery, and engines, have been necessarily required." he then proceeded to enlighten the king--as he never failed to do in all his letters--as to his own impoverished, almost helpless condition. money, money, men! this was his constant cry. all would be in vain, he said, if he were thus neglected. "'tis necessary," said he, "for your majesty fully to comprehend, that henceforth the enterprise is your own. i have done my work faithfully thus far; it is now for your majesty to take it thoroughly to heart; and embrace it with the warmth with which an affair involving so much of your own interests deserves to be embraced." he avowed that without full confidence in his sovereign's sympathy he would never have conceived the project. "i confess that the enterprise is great," he said, "and that by many it will be considered rash. certainly i should not have undertaken it, had i not felt certain of your majesty's full support." but he was already in danger of being forced to abandon the whole scheme--although so nearly carried into effect--for want of funds. "the million promised," he wrote, "has arrived in bits and morsels, and with so many ceremonies, that i haven't ten crowns at my disposal. how i am to maintain even this handful of soldiers--for the army is diminished to such a mere handful that it would astonish your majesty--i am unable to imagine. it would move you to witness their condition. they have suffered as much as is humanly possible." many of the troops, indeed, were deserting, and making their escape, beggared and desperate, into france, where, with natural injustice, they denounced their general, whose whole heart was occupied with their miseries, for the delinquency of his master, whose mind was full of other schemes. "there past this way many spanish soldiers," wrote stafford from paris, "so poor and naked as i ever saw any. there have been within this fortnight two hundred at a time in this town, who report the extremity of want of victuals in their camp, and that they have been twenty-four months without pay. they exclaim greatly upon the prince of parma. mendoza seeks to convey them away, and to get money for them by all means he can." stafford urged upon his government the propriety of being at least as negligent as philip had showed himself to be of the spaniards. by prohibiting supplies to the besieging army, england might contribute, negatively, if not otherwise, to the relief of antwerp. "there is no place," he wrote to walsingham, "whence the spaniards are so thoroughly victualled as from us. english boats go by sixteen and seventeen into dunkirk, well laden with provisions." this was certainly not in accordance with the interests nor the benevolent professions of the english ministers. these supplies were not to be regularly depended upon however. they were likewise not to be had without paying a heavy price for them, and the prince had no money in his coffer. he lived from hand to mouth, and was obliged to borrow from every private individual who had anything to lend. merchants, nobles, official personages, were all obliged to assist in eking out the scanty pittance allowed by the sovereign. "the million is all gone," wrote parma to his master; "some to verdugo in friesland; some to repay the advances of marquis richebourg and other gentlemen. there is not a farthing for the garrisons. i can't go on a month longer, and, if not supplied, i shall be obliged to abandon the work. i have not money enough to pay my sailors, joiners, carpenters, and other mechanics, from week to week, and they will all leave me in the lurch, if i leave them unpaid. i have no resource but to rely on your majesty. otherwise the enterprise must wholly fail." in case it did fail, the prince wiped his hands of the responsibility. he certainly had the right to do so. one of the main sources of supply was the city of hertogenbosch, or bois-le-duc. it was one of the four chief cities of brabant, and still held for the king, although many towns in its immediate neighbourhood had espoused the cause of the republic. the states had long been anxious to effect a diversion for the relief of antwerp, by making an attack on bois-le-duc. could they carry the place, parma would be almost inevitably compelled to abandon the siege in which he was at present engaged, and he could moreover spare no troops for its defence. bois-le-duc was a populous, wealthy, thriving town, situate on the deeze, two leagues above its confluence with the meuse, and about twelve leagues from antwerp. it derived its name of `duke's wood' from a magnificent park and forest, once the favourite resort and residence of the old dukes of brabant, of which some beautiful vestiges still remained. it was a handsome well-built city, with two thousand houses of the better class, besides more humble tenements. its citizens were celebrated for their courage and belligerent skill, both on foot and on horseback. they were said to retain more of the antique belgic ferocity which caesar had celebrated than that which had descended to most of their kinsmen. the place was, moreover, the seat of many prosperous manufactures. its clothiers sent the products of their looms over all christendom, and its linen and cutlery were equally renowned. it would be a most fortunate blow in the cause of freedom to secure so, thriving and conspicuous a town, situated thus in the heart of what seemed the natural territory of the united states; and, by so doing, to render nugatory the mighty preparations of parma against antwerp. moreover, it was known that there was no spanish or other garrison within its walls, so that there was no opposition to be feared, except from the warlike nature of the citizens. count hohenlo was entrusted, early in january, with this important enterprise. he accordingly collected a force of four thousand infantry, together with two hundred mounted lancers; having previously reconnoitered the ground. he relied very much, for the success of the undertaking, on captain kleerhagen, a brussels nobleman, whose wife was a native of bois-le-duc, and who was thoroughly familiar with the locality. one dark winter's night, kleerhagen, with fifty picked soldiers, advanced to the antwerp gate of bois-le-duc, while hohenlo, with his whole force, lay in ambuscade as near as possible to the city. between the drawbridge and the portcullis were two small guard-houses, which, very carelessly, had been left empty. kleerhagen, with his fifty followers, successfully climbed into these lurking-places, where they quietly ensconced themselves for the night. at eight o'clock of the following morning ( th january) the guards of the gate drew up the portcullis, and reconnoitered. at the same instant, the ambushed fifty sprang from their concealment, put them to the sword, and made themselves masters of the gate. none of the night-watch escaped with life, save one poor old invalided citizen, whose business had been to draw up the portcullis, and who was severely wounded, and left for dead. the fifty immediately summoned all of rohenlo's ambuscade that were within hearing, and then, without waiting for them, entered the town pell-mell in the best of spirits, and shouting victory! victory! till they were hoarse. a single corporal, with two men, was left to guard the entrance. meantime, the old wounded gate-opener, bleeding and crippled, crept into a dark corner, and laid himself down, unnoticed, to die. soon afterwards hohenlo galloped into the town, clad in complete armour, his long curls floating in the wind, with about two hundred troopers clattering behind him, closely followed by five hundred pike-men on foot. very brutally, foolishly, and characteristically, he had promised his followers the sacking of the city so soon as it should be taken. they accordingly set about the sacking, before it was taken. hardly had the five or six hundred effected their entrance, than throwing off all control, they dispersed through the principal streets, and began bursting open the doors of the most opulent households. the cries of "victory!" "gained city!" "down with the spaniards!" resounded on all sides. many of the citizens, panic-struck, fled from their homes, which they thus abandoned to pillage, while, meantime, the loud shouts of the assailants reached the ears of the sergeant and his two companies who had been left in charge of the gate. fearing that they should be cheated of their rightful share in the plunder, they at once abandoned their post, and set forth after their comrades, as fast as their legs could carry them. now it so chanced--although there was no garrison in the town--that forty burgundian and italian lancers, with about thirty foot-soldiers, had come in the day before to escort a train of merchandise. the seigneur de haultepenne, governor of breda, a famous royalist commander--son of old count berlaymont, who first gave the name of "beggars" to the patriots-had accompanied them in the expedition. the little troop were already about to mount their horses to depart, when they became aware of the sudden tumult. elmont, governor of the city, had also flown to the rescue, and had endeavoured to rally the burghers. not unmindful of their ancient warlike fame, they had obeyed his entreaties. elmont, with a strong party of armed citizens, joined himself to haultepenne's little band of lancers. they fired a few shots at straggling parties of plunderers, and pursued others up some narrow streets. they were but an handful in comparison with the number of the patriots, who had gained entrance to the city. they were, however, compact, united, and resolute. the assailants were scattered, disorderly, and bent only upon plunder. when attacked by an armed and regular band, they were amazed. they had been told that there was no garrison; and behold a choice phalanx of spanish lancers, led on by one of the most famous of philip's netherland chieftains. they thought themselves betrayed by kleerhagen, entrapped into a deliberately arranged ambush. there was a panic. the soldiers, dispersed and doubtful, could not be rallied. hohenlo, seeing that nothing was to be done with his five hundred, galloped furiously out of the gate, to bring in the rest of his troops who had remained outside the walls. the prize of the wealthy city of bois-le-duc was too tempting to be lightly abandoned; but he had much better have thought of making himself master of it himself before he should present it as a prey to his followers. during his absence the panic spread. the states' troops, bewildered, astonished, vigorously assaulted, turned their backs upon their enemies, and fled helter-skelter towards the gates, through which they had first gained admittance. but unfortunately for them, so soon as the corporal had left his position, the wounded old gate-opener, in a dying condition, had crawled forth on his hands and knees from a dark hole in the tower, cut, with a pocket-knife, the ropes of the portcullis, and then given up the ghost. most effective was that blow struck by a dead man's hand. down came the portcullis. the flying plunderers were entrapped. close behind them came the excited burghers--their antique belgic ferocity now fully aroused--firing away with carbine and matchlock, dealing about them with bludgeon and cutlass, and led merrily on by haultepenne and elmont armed in proof, at the head of their squadron of lancers. the unfortunate patriots had risen very early in the morning only to shear the wolf. some were cut to pieces in the streets; others climbed the walls, and threw themselves head foremost into the moat. many were drowned, and but a very few effected their escape. justinus de nassau. sprang over the parapet, and succeeded in swimming the ditch. kleerhagen, driven into the holy cross tower, ascended to its .roof, leaped, all accoutred as he was, into the river, and with the assistance of a scotch soldier, came safe to land. ferdinand truchsess, brother of the ex-elector of cologne, was killed. four or five hundred of the assailants--nearly all who had entered the city--were slain, and about fifty of the burghers. hohenlo soon came back, with colonel ysselstein, and two thousand fresh troops. but their noses, says a contemporary, grew a hundred feet long with surprise when they saw the gate shut in their faces. it might have occurred to the count, when he rushed out of the town for reinforcements, that it would be as well to replace the guard, which--as he must have seen--had abandoned their post. cursing his folly, he returned, mavellously discomfited, and deservedly censured, to gertruydenberg. and thus had a most important enterprise; which had nearly been splendidly successful, ended in disaster and disgrace. to the recklessness of the general, to the cupidity which he had himself awakened in his followers, was the failure alone to be attributed. had he taken possession of the city with a firm grasp at the head of his four thousand men, nothing could have resisted him; haultepenne, and his insignificant force, would have been dead, or his prisoners; the basis of parma's magnificent operations would have been withdrawn; antwerp would have been saved. "infinite gratitude," wrote parma to philip, "should be rendered to the lord. great thanks are also due to haultepenne. had the rebels succeeded in their enterprise against bolduc, i should have been compelled to abandon the siege of antwerp. the town; by its strength and situation, is of infinite importance for the reduction both of that place and of brussels, and the rebels in possession of bolduc would have cut off my supplies." the prince recommended haultepenne most warmly to the king as deserving of a rich "merced." the true hero of the day, however--at least the chief agent in the victory was the poor, crushed, nameless victim who had cut the ropes of the portcullis at the antwerp gate. hohenlo was deeply stung by the disgrace which he had incurred. for a time he sought oblivion in hard drinking; but--brave and energetic, though reckless--he soon became desirous of retrieving his reputation by more successful enterprises. there was no lack of work, and assuredly his hands were rarely idle. "hollach (hohenlo) is gone from hence on friday last," wrote davison to walsingham, "he will do what he may to recover his reputation lost in the attempt, of bois-le-duc; which, for the grief and trouble he hath conceived thereof, hath for the time greatly altered him." meantime the turbulent scheldt, lashed by the storms of winter, was becoming a more formidable enemy to parma's great enterprise than the military demonstrations of his enemies, or the famine which was making such havoc, with his little army. the ocean-tides were rolling huge ice-blocks up and down, which beat against his palisade with the noise of thunder, and seemed to threaten its immediate destruction. but the work stood firm. the piles supporting the piers, which had been thrust out from each bank into the stream, had been driven fifty feet into the river's bed, and did their duty well. but in the space between, twelve hundred and forty feet in width, the current was too deep for pile-driving and a permanent bridge was to be established upon boats. and that bridge was to be laid across the icy and tempestuous flood, in the depth of winter, in the teeth of a watchful enemy, with the probability of an immediate invasion from france, where the rebel envoys were known to be negotiating on express invitation of the king--by half-naked, half-starving soldiers and sailors, unpaid for years, and for the sake of a master who seemed to have forgotten their existence. "thank god," wrote alexander, "the palisade stands firm in spite of the ice. now with the favour of the lord, we shall soon get the fruit we have been hoping, if your majesty is not wanting in that to which your grandeur, your great christianity, your own interests, oblige you. in truth 'tis a great and heroic work, worthy the great power of your majesty." "for my own part," he continued, "i have done what depended upon me. from your own royal hand must emanate the rest;--men, namely, sufficient to maintain the posts, and money enough to support them there." he expressed himself in the strongest language concerning the danger to the royal cause from the weak and gradually sinking condition of the army. even without the french intrigues with the rebels, concerning which, in his ignorance of the exact state of affairs, he expressed much anxiety, it would be impossible, he said, to save the royal cause without men and money. "i have spared myself," said the prince, "neither day nor night. let not your majesty impute the blame to me if we fail. verdugo also is uttering a perpetual cry out of friesland for men--men and money." yet, notwithstanding all these obstacles, the bridge was finished at last. on the th february, ( ) the day sacred to saint matthew, and of fortunate augury to the emperor charles, father of philip and grandfather of alexander, the scheldt was closed. as already stated, from fort saint mary on the kalloo side, and from fort philip, not far from ordain on the brabant shore of the scheldt, strong structures, supported upon piers, had been projected, reaching, respectively, five hundred feet into the stream. these two opposite ends were now connected by a permanent bridge of boats. there were thirty-two of these barges, each of them sixty-two feet in length and twelve in breadth, the spaces between each couple being twenty-two feet wide, and all being bound together, stem, stern, and midships, by quadruple hawsers and chains. each boat was anchored at stem and stern with loose cables. strong timbers, with cross rafters, were placed upon the boats, upon which heavy frame-work the planked pathway was laid down. a thick parapet of closely-fitting beams was erected along both the outer edges of the whole fabric. thus a continuous and well-fortified bridge, two thousand four hundred feet in length, was stretched at last from shore to shore. each of the thirty-two boats on which the central portion of the structure reposed, was a small fortress provided with two heavy pieces of artillery, pointing, the one up, the other down the stream, and manned by thirty-two soldiers and four sailors, defended by a breastwork formed of gabions of great thickness. the forts of saint philip and st. mary, at either end of the bridge, had each ten great guns, and both were filled with soldiers. in front of each fort, moreover, was stationed a fleet of twenty armed vessels, carrying heavy pieces of artillery; ten anchored at the angle towards antwerp, and as many looking down the river. one hundred and seventy great guns, including the armaments of the boats under the bridge of the armada and the forts, protected the whole structure, pointing up and down the stream. but, besides these batteries, an additional precaution had been taken. on each side, above and below the bridge, at a moderate distance--a bow shot--was anchored a heavy, raft floating upon empty barrels. each raft was composed of heavy timbers, bound together in bunches of three, the spaces between being connected by ships' masts and lighter spar-work, and with a tooth-like projection along the whole outer edge, formed of strong rafters, pointed and armed with sharp prongs and hooks of iron. thus a serried phalanx, as it were, of spears stood ever on guard to protect the precious inner structure. vessels coming from zeeland or antwerp, and the floating ice-masses, which were almost as formidable, were obliged to make their first attack upon these dangerous outer defences. each raft; floating in the middle of the stream, extended twelve hundred, and fifty-two feet across, thus protecting the whole of the bridge of boats and a portion of that resting upon piles. such was the famous bridge of parma. the magnificent undertaking has been advantageously compared with the celebrated rhine-bridge of julius caesar. when it is remembered; however; that the roman work was performed in summer, across a river only half as broad as the scheldt, free from the disturbing, action of the tides; and flowing through an unresisting country; while the whole character of the structure; intended only to, serve for the single passage of an army, was far inferior to the massive solidity of parma's bridge; it seems not unreasonable to assign the superiority to the general who had surmounted all the obstacles of a northern winter, vehement ebb and flow from the sea, and enterprising and desperate enemies at every point. when the citizens, at last, looked upon the completed fabric, converted from the "dream," which they had pronounced it to be, into a terrible reality; when they saw the shining array of spanish and italian legions marching and counter-marching upon their new road; and trampling, as it were; the turbulent river beneath their feet; when they witnessed the solemn military spectacle with which the governor-general celebrated his success, amid peals of cannon and shouts of triumph from his army, they bitterly bewailed their own folly. yet even then they could hardly believe that the work had been accomplished by human agency, but they loudly protested that invisible demons had been summoned to plan and perfect this fatal and preter-human work. they were wrong. there had been but one demon--one clear, lofty intelligence, inspiring a steady and untiring hand. the demon was the intellect of alexander farnese; but it had been assisted in its labour by the hundred devils of envy, covetousness, jealousy, selfishness, distrust, and discord, that had housed, not, in his camp, but in the ranks of those who were contending for their hearths and altars. and thus had the prince arrived at success in spite of every obstacle. he took a just pride in the achievement, yet he knew by how many dangers he was still surrounded, and he felt hurt at his sovereign's neglect. "the enterprise at antwerp," he wrote to philip on the day the bridge was completed, "is so great and heroic that to celebrate it would require me to speak more at large than i like, to do, for fear of being tedious to your majesty. what i will say, is that the labours and difficulties have been every day so, great, that if your majesty knew them, you would estimate, what we have done more highly than-you do; and not forget us so utterly, leaving us to die of hunger." he considered the fabric in itself almost impregnable, provided he were furnished with the means to maintain what he had so painfully constructed. "the whole is in such condition," said he, "that in opinion of all competent military judges it would stand though all holland and zeeland should come to destroy our, palisades. their attacks must be made at immense danger, and disadvantage, so severely can we play upon them with our artillery and musketry. every boat is, garnished with the most dainty captains and soldiers, so that if the enemy should attempt to assail us now, they would come back with broken heads." yet in the midst of his apparent triumph he had, at times, almost despair in his heart. he felt really at the last gasp. his troops had dwindled to the mere shadow of an army, and they were forced to live almost upon air. the cavalry had nearly vanished. the garrisons in the different cities were starving. the burghers had no food for the soldiers nor for themselves. "as for the rest of the troops," said alexander, "they are stationed where they have nothing to subsist upon, save salt water and the dykes, and if the lord does not grant a miracle, succour, even if sent by your majesty, will arrive too late." he assured his master, that he could not go on more than five or six days longer, that he had been feeding his soldiers for a long time from hand to mouth, and that it would soon be impossible for him to keep his troops together. if he did not disband them they would run away. his pictures were most dismal, his supplications for money very moving but he never alluded to himself. all his anxiety, all his tenderness, were for his soldiers. "they must have food," he said: "'tis impossible to sustain them any longer by driblets, as i have done for a long time. yet how can i do it without money? and i have none at all, nor do i see where to get a single florin." but these revelations were made only to his master's most secret ear. his letters, deciphered after three centuries, alone make manifest the almost desperate condition in which the apparently triumphant general was placed, and the facility with which his antagonists, had they been well guided and faithful to themselves, might have driven him into the sea. but to those adversaries he maintained an attitude of serene and smiling triumph. a spy, sent from the city to obtain intelligence for the anxious burghers, had gained admission into his lines, was captured and brought before the prince. he expected, of course, to be immediately hanged. on the contrary, alexander gave orders that he should be conducted over every part of the encampment. the forts, the palisades, the bridge, were all to be carefully exhibited and explained to him as if he had been a friendly visitor entitled to every information. he was requested to count the pieces of artillery in the forts, on the bridge, in the armada. after thoroughly studying the scene he was then dismissed with a safe-conduct to the city. "go back to those who sent you," said the prince. "convey to them the information in quest of which you came. apprize them of every thing which you have inspected, counted, heard explained. tell them further, that the siege will never be abandoned, and that this bridge will be my sepulcher or my pathway into antwerp." and now the aspect of the scene was indeed portentous. the chimera had become a very visible bristling reality. there stood the bridge which the citizens had ridiculed while it was growing before their faces. there scowled the kowenstyn--black with cannon, covered all over with fortresses which the butchers had so sedulously preserved. from parma's camp at beveren and kalloo a great fortified road led across the river and along the fatal dyke all the way to the entrenchments at stabroek, where mansfeld's army lay. grim mondragon held the "holy cross" and the whole kowenstyn in his own iron grasp. a chain of forts, built and occupied by the contending hosts of the patriots and the spaniards, were closely packed together along both banks of the scheldt, nine miles long from antwerp to lillo, and interchanged perpetual cannonades. the country all around, once fertile as a garden, had been changed into a wild and wintry sea where swarms of gun-boats and other armed vessels manoeuvred and contended with each other over submerged villages and orchards, and among half-drowned turrets and steeples. yet there rose the great bulwark--whose early destruction would have made all this desolation a blessing--unbroken and obstinate; a perpetual obstacle to communication between antwerp and zeeland. the very spirit of the murdered prince of orange seemed to rise sadly and reproachfully out of the waste of waters, as if to rebuke the men who had been so deaf to his solemn warnings. brussels, too, wearied and worn, its heart sick with hope deferred, now fell into despair as the futile result of the french negotiation became apparent. the stately and opulent city had long been in a most abject condition. many of its inhabitants attempted to escape from the horrors of starving by flying from its walls. of the fugitives, the men were either scourged back by the spaniards into the city, or hanged up along the road-side. the women were treated, leniently, even playfully, for it was thought an excellent jest to cut off the petticoats of the unfortunate starving creatures up to their knees, and then command them to go back and starve at home with their friends and fellow-citizens. a great many persons literally died of hunger. matrons with large families poisoned their children and themselves to avoid the more terrible death by starving. at last, when vilvoorde was taken, when the baseness of the french king was thoroughly understood, when parma's bridge was completed and the scheldt bridled, brussels capitulated on as favourable terms as could well have been expected. etext editor's bookmarks: college of "peace-makers," who wrangled more than all military virtue in the support of an infamous cause not distinguished for their docility repentance, as usual, had come many hours too late history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, alexander farnese, the duke of parma chapter v., part . position of alexander and his army--la motte attempts in vain ostend--patriots gain liefkenshoek--projects of gianibelli--alarm on the bridge--the fire ships--the explosion--its results--death of the viscount of ghent--perpetual anxiety of farnese--impoverished state of the spaniards--intended attack of the kowenstyn--second attack of the kowenstyn--a landing effected--a sharp combat--the dyke pierced --rally of the spaniards--parma comes to the rescue--fierce struggle on the dyke--the spaniards successful--premature triumph at antwerp --defeat of the patriots--the ship war's end--despair of the citizens notwithstanding these triumphs, parma was much inconvenienced by not possessing the sea-coast of flanders. ostend was a perpetual stumbling-block to him. he therefore assented, with pleasure to a proposition made by la motte, one of the most experienced and courageous of the walloon royalist, commanders, to attempt the place by surprise. and la motte; at the first blow; was more than half successful. on the night of the th march, ( ) with two thousand foot and twelve hundred cavalry, he carried the whole of the old port of ostend. leaving a walloon officer, in whom he had confidence, to guard the position already gained, he went back in person for reinforcements. during his advance, the same ill luck attended his enterprise which had blasted hohenlo's achievement at bois-le-duc. the soldiers he left behind him deserted their posts for the sake of rifling the town. the officer in command, instead of keeping them to their duty, joined in the chase. the citizens roused themselves, attacked their invaders, killed many of them, and put the rest to flight. when la motte returned; he found the panic general. his whole force, including the fresh soldiers just brought to the rescue, were beside themselves with fear. he killed several with his own hand, but the troops were not to be rallied. his quick triumph was changed into an absolute defeat. parma, furious at the ignominious result of a plan from which so much had been expected, ordered the walloon captain, from whose delinquency so much disaster had resulted, to be forthwith hanged. "such villainy," said he, "must never go unpunished." it was impossible for the prince to send a second expedition to attempt the reduction of ostend, for the patriots were at last arousing themselves to the necessity of exertion. it was very obvious--now that the bridge had been built, and the kowenstyn fortified--that one or the other was to be destroyed, or antwerp abandoned to its fate. the patriots had been sleeping, as it were, all the winter, hugging the delusive dream of french sovereignty and french assistance. no language can exaggerate the deadly effects from the slow poison of that negotiation. at any rate, the negotiation was now concluded. the dream was dispelled. antwerp must now fall, or a decisive blow must be struck by the patriots themselves, and a telling blow had been secretly and maturely meditated. certain preparatory steps were however necessary. the fort of liefkenshoek, "darling's corner," was a most important post. the patriots had never ceased to regret that precious possession, lost, as we have seen, in so tragical a manner on the very day of orange's death. fort lillo, exactly opposite, on the brabant shore of the scheldt, had always been securely held by them; and was their strongest position. were both places in their power, the navigation of the river, at least as far as the bridge, would be comparatively secure. a sudden dash was made upon liefkenshoek. a number of armed vessels sailed up from zeeland, under command of justinus de nassau. they were assisted from fort lillo by a detachment headed by count hohenlo. these two officers were desirous of retrieving the reputation which they had lost at bois-le-duc. they were successful, and the "darling" fort was carried at a blow. after a brief cannonade, the patriots made a breach, effected a landing, and sprang over the ramparts. the walloons and spaniards fled in dismay; many of them were killed in the fort, and along the dykes; others were hurled into the scheldt. the victors followed up their success by reducing, with equal impetuosity, the fort of saint anthony, situate in the neighbourhood farther down the river. they thus gained entire command of all the high ground, which remained in that quarter above the inundation, and was called the doel. the dyke, on which liefkenshoek stood, led up the river towards kalloo, distant less than a league. there were parma's head-quarters and the famous bridge. but at fort saint mary; where the flemish head of that bridge rested, the dyke was broken. upon that broken end the commanders of the expedition against liefkenshoek were ordered to throw up an entrenchment, without loss of a moment, so soon as they should have gained the fortresses which they were ordered first to assault. sainte aldegonde had given urgent written directions to this effect. from a redoubt situated thus, in the very face of saint mary's, that position, the palisade-work, the whole bridge, might be battered with all the artillery that could be brought from zeeland. but parma was beforehand with them. notwithstanding his rage and mortification that spanish soldiers should have ignominiously lost the important fortress which richebourg had conquered so brilliantly nine months before, he was not the man to spend time in unavailing regrets. his quick eye instantly, detected the flaw which might soon be fatal. in the very same night of the loss of liefkenshoek, he sent as strong a party as could be spared, with plenty of sappers and miners, in flat-bottomed boats across from kalloo. as the morning dawned, an improvised fortress, with the spanish flag waving above its bulwarks, stood on the broken end of the dyke. that done, he ordered one of the two captains who had commanded in liefkenshoek and saint anthony to be beheaded on the same dyke. the other was dismissed with ignominy. ostend was, of course, given up; "but it was not a small matter," said parma, "to fortify ourselves that very night upon the ruptured place, and so prevent the rebels from doing it, which would have been very mal-a-propos." nevertheless, the rebels had achieved a considerable success; and now or never the telling blow, long meditated, was to be struck. there lived in antwerp a subtle mantuan, gianibelli by name, who had married and been long settled in the city. he had made himself busy with various schemes for victualling the place. he had especially urged upon the authorities, at an early period of the siege, the propriety of making large purchases of corn and storing it in magazines at a time when famine-price had by no means been reached. but the leading men had then their heads full of a great ship, or floating castle, which they were building, and which they had pompously named the 'war's end,' 'fin de la guerre.' we shall hear something of this phenomenon at a later period. meanwhile, gianibelli, who knew something of shipbuilding, as he did of most other useful matters, ridiculed the design, which was likely to cost, in itself before completion, as much money as would keep the city in bread for a third of a year. gianibelli was no patriot. he was purely a man of science and of great acquirements, who was looked upon by the ignorant populace alternately as a dreamer and a wizard. he was as indifferent to the cause of freedom as of despotism, but he had a great love for chemistry. he was also a profound mechanician, second to no man of his age in theoretic and practical engineering. he had gone from italy to spain that he might offer his services to philip, and give him the benefit of many original and ingenious inventions. forced to dance attendance, day after day, among sneering courtiers and insolent placemen, and to submit to the criticism of practical sages and philosophers of routine, while, he was constantly denied an opportunity of explaining his projects, the quick-tempered italian had gone away at last, indignant. he had then vowed revenge upon the dulness by which his genius had been slighted, and had sworn that the next time the spaniards heard the name of the man whom they had dared to deride, they should hear it with tears. he now laid before the senate of antwerp a plan for some vessels likely to prove more effective than the gigantic 'war's end,' which he had prophesied would prove a failure. with these he pledged himself to destroy the bridge. he demanded three ships which he had selected from the city fleet; the 'orange,' the 'post,' and the 'golden lion,' measuring, respectively, one hundred and fifty, three hundred and fifty, and five hundred tons. besides these, he wished sixty flat-bottomed scows, which he proposed to send down the river, partially submerged, disposed in the shape of a half moon, with innumerable anchors and grapnel's thrusting themselves out of the water at every point. this machine was intended to operate against the raft. ignorance and incredulity did their work, as usual, and gianbelli's request was refused. as a quarter-measure, nevertheless, he was allowed to take two smaller vessels of seventy and eighty tons. the italian was disgusted with parsimony upon so momentous an occasion, but he at the same time determined, even with these slender materials, to give an exhibition of his power. not all his the glory, however, of the ingenious project. associated with him were two skilful artizans of antwerp; a clockmaker named bory, and a mechanician named timmerman--but gianibelli was the chief and superintendent of the whole daring enterprise. he gave to his two ships the cheerful names of the 'fortune' and the 'hope,' and set himself energetically to justify their titles by their efficiency. they were to be marine volcanos, which, drifting down the river with tide, were to deal destruction where the spaniards themselves most secure. in the hold of each vessel, along the whole length, was laid down a solid flooring of brick and mortar, one foot thick and five feet wide. upon this was built a chamber of marble mason-work, forty feet long, three and a half feet broad, as many high, and with side-walks [walls? d.w.] five feet in thickness. this was the crater. it was filled with seven thousand of gunpowder, of a kind superior to anything known, and prepared by gianibelli himself. it was covered with a roof, six feet in thickness, formed of blue tombstones, placed edgewise. over this crater, rose a hollow cone, or pyramid, made of heavy marble slabs, and filled with mill-stones, cannon balls, blocks of marble, chain-shot, iron hooks, plough-coulters, and every dangerous missile that could be imagined. the spaces between the mine and the sides of each ship were likewise filled with paving stones, iron-bound stakes, harpoons, and other projectiles. the whole fabric was then covered by a smooth light flooring of planks and brick-work, upon which was a pile of wood: this was to be lighted at the proper time, in order that the two vessels might present the appearance of simple fire-ships, intended only to excite a conflagration of the bridge. on the 'fortune' a slow match, very carefully prepared, communicated with the submerged mine, which was to explode at a nicely-calculated moment. the eruption of the other floating volcano was to be regulated by an ingenious piece of clock-work, by which, at the appointed time, fire, struck from a flint, was to inflame the hidden mass of gunpowder below. in addition to these two infernal machines, or "hell-burners," as they were called, a fleet of thirty-two smaller vessels was prepared. covered with tar, turpentine, rosin, and filled with inflammable and combustible materials, these barks were to be sent from antwerp down the river in detachments of eight every half hour with the ebb tide. the object was to clear the way, if possible, of the raft, and to occupy the attention of the spaniards, until the 'fortune' and the `hope' should come down upon the bridge. the th april, ( ) being the day following that on which the successful assault upon liefkenshoek and saint anthony had taken place, was fixed for the descent of the fire-ships. so soon as it should be dark, the thirty-two lesser burning-vessels, under the direction of admiral jacob jacobzoon, were to be sent forth from the neighborhood of the 'boor's sconce'--a fort close to the city walls--in accordance with the italian's plan. "run-a-way jacob," however, or "koppen loppen," had earned no new laurels which could throw into the shade that opprobrious appellation. he was not one of holland's naval heroes, but, on the whole, a very incompetent officer; exactly the man to damage the best concerted scheme which the genius of others could invent. accordingly, koppen-loppen began with a grave mistake. instead of allowing the precursory fire-ships to drift down the stream, at the regular intervals agreed upon, he despatched them all rapidly, and helter skelter, one after another, as fast as they could be set forth on their career. not long afterwards, he sent the two "hellburners," the 'fortune' and the 'hope,' directly in their wake. thus the whole fiery fleet had set forth, almost at once, upon its fatal voyage. it was known to parma that preparations for an attack were making at antwerp, but as to the nature of the danger he was necessarily in the dark. he was anticipating an invasion by a fleet from the city in combination with a squadron of zeelanders coming up from below. so soon as the first vessels, therefore, with their trains not yet lighted, were discovered bearing down from the city, he was confirmed in his conjecture. his drama and trumpets instantly called to arms, and the whole body of his troops was mustered upon the bridge; the palisades, and in the nearest forts. thus the preparations to avoid or to contend with the danger, were leading the spaniards into the very jaws of destruction. alexander, after crossing and recrossing the river, giving minute directions for repelling the expected assault, finally stationed himself in the block-house at the point of junction, on the flemish aide, between the palisade and the bridge of boats. he was surrounded by a group of superior officers, among whom richebourg, billy, gaetano, cessis, and the englishman sir rowland yorke, were conspicuous. it was a dark, mild evening of early spring. as the fleet of vessels dropped slowly down the river, they suddenly became luminous, each ship flaming out of the darkness, a phantom of living fire. the very waves of the scheldt seemed glowing with the conflagration, while its banks were lighted up with a preternatural glare. it was a wild, pompous, theatrical spectacle. the array of soldiers on both aides the river, along the dykes and upon the bridge, with banners waving, and spear and cuirass glancing in the lurid light; the demon fleet, guided by no human hand, wrapped in flames, and flitting through the darkness, with irregular movement; but portentous aspect, at the caprice of wind and tide; the death-like silence of expectation, which had succeeded the sound of trumpet and the shouts of the soldiers; and the weird glow which had supplanted the darkness-all combined with the sense of imminent and mysterious danger to excite and oppress the imagination. presently, the spaniards, as they gazed from the bridge, began to take heart again. one after another, many of the lesser vessels drifted blindly against the raft, where they entangled themselves among the hooks and gigantic spearheads, and burned slowly out without causing any extensive conflagration. others grounded on the banks of the river, before reaching their destination. some sank in the stream. last of all came the two infernal ships, swaying unsteadily with the current; the pilots of course, as they neared the bridge, having noiselessly effected their escape in the skiffs. the slight fire upon the deck scarcely illuminated the dark phantom-like hulls. both were carried by the current clear of the raft, which, by a great error of judgment, as it now appeared, on the part of the builders, had only been made to protect the floating portion of the bridge. the 'fortune' came first, staggering inside the raft, and then lurching clumsily against the dyke, and grounding near kalloo, without touching the bridge. there was a moment's pause of expectation. at last the slow match upon the deck burned out, and there was a faint and partial explosion, by which little or no damage was produced. parma instantly called for volunteers to board the mysterious vessel. the desperate expedition was headed by the bold roland york, a londoner, of whom one day there was more to be heard in netherland history. the party sprang into the deserted and now harmless volcano, extinguishing the slight fires that were smouldering on the deck, and thrusting spears and long poles into the hidden recesses of the hold. there was, however, little time to pursue these perilous investigations, and the party soon made their escape to the bridge. the troops of parma, crowding on the palisade, and looking over the parapets, now began to greet the exhibition with peals of derisive laughter. it was but child's play, they thought, to threaten a spanish army, and a general like alexander farnese, with such paltry fire-works as these. nevertheless all eyes were anxiously fixed upon the remaining fire-ship, or "hell-burner," the 'hope,' which had now drifted very near the place of its destination. tearing her way between the raft and the shore, she struck heavily against the bridge on the kalloo side, close to the block-house at the commencement of the floating portion of the bridge. a thin wreath of smoke was seen curling over a slight and smouldering fire upon her deck. marquis richebourg, standing on the bridge, laughed loudly at the apparently impotent conclusion of the whole adventure. it was his last laugh on earth. a number of soldiers, at parma's summons, instantly sprang on board this second mysterious vessel, and occupied themselves, as the party on board the 'fortune' had done, in extinguishing, the flames, and in endeavoring to ascertain the nature of the machine. richebourg boldly directed from the bridge their hazardous experiments. at the same moment a certain ensign de vega, who stood near the prince of parma, close to the block-house, approached him with vehement entreaties that he should retire. alexander refused to stir from the spot, being anxious to learn the result of these investigations. vega, moved by some instinctive and irresistible apprehension, fell upon his knees, and plucking the general earnestly by the cloak, implored him with such passionate words and gestures to leave the place, that the prince reluctantly yielded. it was not a moment too soon. the clockwork had been better adjusted than the slow match in the 'fortune.' scarcely had alexander reached the entrance of saint mary's fort, at the end of the bridge, when a horrible explosion was heard. the 'hope' disappeared, together with the men who had boarded her, and the block-house, against which she had struck, with all its garrison, while a large portion of the bridge, with all the troops stationed upon it, had vanished into air. it was the work of a single instant. the scheldt yawned to its lowest depth, and then cast its waters across the dykes, deep into the forts, and far over the land. the earth shook as with the throb of a volcano. a wild glare lighted up the scene for one moment, and was then succeeded by pitchy darkness. houses were toppled down miles away, and not a living thing, even in remote places, could keep its feet. the air was filled with a rain of plough-shares, grave-stones, and marble balls, intermixed with the heads, limbs, and bodies, of what had been human beings. slabs of granite, vomited by the flaming ship, were found afterwards at a league's distance, and buried deep in the earth. a thousand soldiers were destroyed in a second of time; many of them being torn to shreds, beyond even the semblance of humanity. richebourg disappeared, and was not found until several days later, when his body was discovered; doubled around an iron chain, which hung from one of the bridge-boats in the centre of the river. the veteran robles, seigneur de billy, a portuguese officer of eminent service and high military rank, was also destroyed. months afterwards, his body was discovered adhering to the timber-work of the bridge, upon the ultimate removal of that structure, and was only recognized by a peculiar gold chain which he habitually wore. parma himself was thrown to the ground, stunned by a blow on the shoulder from a flying stake. the page, who was behind him, carrying his helmet, fell dead without a wound, killed by the concussion of the air. several strange and less tragical incidents occurred. the viscomte de bruxelles was blown out of a boat on the flemish side, and descended safe and, sound into another in the centre of the stream. captain tucci, clad in complete armour, was whirled out of a fort, shot perpendicularly into the air, and then fell back into the river. being of a cool temperament, a good swimmer, and very pious, he skilfully divested himself of cuirass and helmet, recommended himself to the blessed virgin, and swam safely ashore. another young officer of parma's body-guard, francois de liege by name, standing on the kalloo end of the bridge, rose like a feather into the clouds, and, flying quite across the river, alighted on the opposite bank with no further harm than a contused shoulder. he imagined himself (he said afterwards) to have been changed into a cannon-ball, as he rushed through the pitchy atmosphere, propelled by a blast of irresistible fury. [the chief authorities used in the foregoing account of this famous enterprise are those already cited on a previous page, viz.: the ms. letters of the prince of parma in the archives of simancas; bor, ii. , ; strada, h. seq.; meteren, xii. ; hoofd vervolgh, ; baudartii polemographia, ii. - ; bentivoglio, etc., i have not thought it necessary to cite them step by step; for all the accounts, with some inevitable and unimportant discrepancies, agree with each other. the most copious details are to be found in strada and in bor.] it had been agreed that admiral jacobzoon should, immediately after the explosion of the fire-ships, send an eight-oared barge to ascertain the amount of damage. if a breach had been effected, and a passage up to the city opened, he was to fire a rocket. at this signal, the fleet stationed at lillo, carrying a heavy armament, laden with provisions enough to relieve antwerp from all anxiety, and ready to sail on the instant, was at once to force its way up the river. the deed was done. a breach, two hundred feet in width was made. had the most skilful pilot in zeeland held the helm of the 'hope,' with a choice crew obedient to his orders, he could not have guided her more carefully than she had been directed by wind and tide. avoiding the raft which lay in her way, she had, as it were, with the intelligence of a living creature, fulfilled the wishes of the daring genius that had created her; and laid herself alongside the bridge, exactly at the most telling point. she had then destroyed herself, precisely at the right moment. all the effects, and more than all, that had been predicted by the mantuan wizard had come to pass. the famous bridge was cleft through and through, and a thousand picked men--parma's very "daintiest"--were blown out of existence. the governor-general himself was lying stark and stiff upon the bridge which he said should be his triumphal monument or his tomb. his most distinguished officers were dead, and all the survivors were dumb and blind with astonishment at the unheard of, convulsion. the passage was open for the fleet, and the fleet, lay below with sails spread, and oars in the rowlocks, only waiting for the signal to bear up at once to the scene of action, to smite out of existence all that remained of the splendid structure, and to carry relief and triumph into antwerp. not a soul slept in the city. the explosion had shook its walls, and thousands of people thronged the streets, their hearts beating high with expectation. it was a moment of exquisite triumph. the 'hope,' word of happy augury, had not been relied upon in vain, and parma's seven months of patient labour had been annihilated in a moment. sainte aldegonde and gianibelli stood in the 'boors' sconce' on the edge of the river. they had felt and heard the explosion, and they were now straining their eyes through the darkness to mark the flight of the welcome rocket. that rocket never rose. and it is enough, even after the lapse of three centuries, to cause a pang in every heart that beats for human liberty to think of the bitter disappointment which crushed these great and legitimate hopes. the cause lay in the incompetency and cowardice of the man who had been so unfortunately entrusted with a share in a noble enterprise. admiral jacobzoon, paralyzed by the explosion, which announced his own triumph, sent off the barge, but did not wait for its return. the boatmen, too, appalled by the sights and sounds which they had witnessed, and by the murky darkness which encompassed them, did not venture near the scene of action, but, after rowing for a short interval hither and thither, came back with the lying report that nothing had been accomplished, and that the bridge remained unbroken. sainte aldegonde and gianibelli were beside themselves with rage, as they surmised the imbecility of the admiral, and devoted him in their hearts to the gallows, which he certainly deserved. the wrath of the keen italian may be conceived, now that his ingenious and entirely successful scheme was thus rendered fruitless by the blunders of the incompetent fleming. on the other side, there was a man whom no danger could appall. alexander had been thought dead, and the dismay among his followers was universal. he was known to have been standing an instant before the explosion on the very block-house where the 'hope' had struck. after the first terrible moments had passed, his soldiers found their general lying, as if in a trance, on the threshold of st. mary's fort, his drawn sword in his hand, with cessis embracing his knees, and gaetano extended at his side, stunned with a blow upon the head. recovering from his swoon, parma was the first to spring to his feet. sword in hand, he rushed at once upon the bridge to mark the extent of the disaster. the admirable structure, the result of so much patient and intelligent energy, was fearfully shattered; the bridge, the river, and the shore, strewed with the mangled bodies of his soldiers. he expected, as a matter of certainty, that the fleet from below would instantly force its passage, destroy, the remainder of his troops-stunned as they were with the sudden catastrophe complete the demolition of the bridge, and then make its way to antwerp, with ample reinforcements and supplies. and alexander saw that the expedition would be successful. momently expecting the attack, he maintained his courage and semblance of cheerfulness, with despair in his heart. his winter's work seemed annihilated, and it was probable that he should be obliged to raise the siege. nevertheless, he passed in person from rank to rank, from post to post, seeing that the wounded were provided for, encouraging those that remained unhurt, and endeavouring to infuse a portion of his own courage into the survivors of his panic-stricken army. nor was he entirely unsuccessful, as the night wore on and the expected assault was still delayed. without further loss of time, he employed his men to collect the drifting boats, timber, and spar-work, and to make a hasty and temporary restoration--in semblance at least--of the ruined portion of his bridge. and thus he employed himself steadily all the night, although expecting every instant to hear the first broadside of the zeeland cannon. when morning broke, and it became obvious that the patriots were unable or unwilling to follow up their own success, the governor-general felt as secure as ever. he at once set about the thorough repairs of his great work, and--before he could be again molested--had made good the damage which it had sustained. it was not till three days afterwards that the truth was known in antwerp. hohenlo then sent down a messenger, who swam, under the bridge, ascertained the exact state of affairs, and returned, when it was too late, with the first intelligence of the triumph which had been won and lost. the disappointment and mortification were almost intolerable. and thus had. run-a-way jacob, 'koppen loppen,' blasted the hopes of so many wiser and braver spirits than his own. the loss to parma and to the royalist cause in marquis richebourg, was very great. the death of de billy, who was a faithful, experienced, and courageous general, was also much lamented. "the misfortune from their death," said parma, "is not to be exaggerated. each was ever ready to do his duty in your majesty's service, and to save me much fatigue in all my various affairs. nevertheless," continued the prince, with great piety, "we give the lord thanks for all, and take as a favour everything which comes from his hand." alexander had indeed reason to deplore the loss of robert de melun, viscount of ghent, marquis of roubaix and richebourg. he was a most valuable officer. his wealth was great. it had been recently largely increased by the confiscation of his elder brother's estates for his benefit, a measure which at parma's intercession had been accorded by the king. that brother was the patriotic prince of espinoy, whom we have recently seen heading the legation of the states to france. and richebourg was grateful to alexander, for besides these fraternal spoils, he had received two marquisates through his great patron, in addition to the highest military offices. insolent, overbearing, truculent to all the world, to parma he was ever docile, affectionate, watchful, obsequious. a man who knew not fatigue, nor fear, nor remorse, nor natural affection, who could patiently superintend all the details of a great military work, or manage a vast political intrigue by alternations of browbeating and bribery, or lead a forlorn hope, or murder a prisoner in cold blood, or leap into the blazing crater of what seemed a marine volcano, the marquis of richebourg had ever made himself most actively and unscrupulously useful to his master. especially had he rendered invaluable services in the reduction, of the walloon provinces, and in the bridging of the scheldt, the two crowning triumphs of alexander's life. he had now passed from the scene where he had played so energetic and dazzling a part, and lay doubled round an iron cable beneath the current of the restless river. and in this eventful night, parma, as always, had been true to himself and to his sovereign. "we expected," said he, "that the rebels would instantly attack us on all sides after the explosion. but all remained so astonished by the unheard-of accident, that very few understood what was going on. it seemed better that i--notwithstanding the risk of letting myself be seen--should encourage the people not to run away. i did so, and remedied matters a little but not so much as that--if the enemy had then attacked us--we should not have been in the very greatest risk and peril. i did not fail to do what i am obliged to do, and always hope to do; but i say no more of what passed, or what was done by myself, because it does not become me to speak of these things." notwithstanding this discomfiture, the patriots kept up heart, and were incessantly making demonstrations against parma's works. their proceedings against the bridge, although energetic enough to keep the spanish commander in a state of perpetual anxiety, were never so efficient however as on the memorable occasion when the mantuan engineer and the dutch watchmaker had exhausted all their ingenuity. nevertheless, the rebel barks swarmed all over the submerged territory, now threatening this post, and now that, and effecting their retreat at pleasure; for nearly the whole of parma's little armada was stationed at the two extremities of his bridge. many fire-ships were sent down from time to time, but alexander had organized a systematic patrol of a few sentry-boats, armed with scythes and hooks, which rowed up and down in front of the rafts, and protected them against invasion. some little effect was occasionally produced, but there was on the whole more anxiety excited than damage actually inflicted. the perturbation of spirit among the spaniards when any of these 'demon fine-ships,' as they called them, appeared bearing down upon their bridge, was excessive. it could not be forgotten, that the `hope' had sent into space a thousand of the best soldiers of the little army within one moment of time. such rapid proceedings had naturally left an uneasy impression on the minds of the survivors. the fatigue of watching was enormous. hardly an officer or soldier among the besieging forces knew what it was to sleep. there was a perpetual exchanging of signals and beacon-fires and rockets among the patriots--not a day or night, when a concerted attack by the antwerpers from above, and the hollanders from below, with gun-boats and fire-ships, and floating mines, and other devil's enginry, was not expected. "we are always upon the alert," wrote parma, "with arms in our hands. every one must mount guard, myself as well as the rest, almost every night, and the better part of every day." he was quite aware that something was ever in preparation; and the nameless, almost sickening apprehension which existed among his stout-hearted veterans, was a proof that the mantuan's genius--notwithstanding the disappointment as to the great result--had not been exercised entirely in vain. the image of the antwerp devil-ships imprinted itself indelibly upon the spanish mind, as of something preternatural, with which human valour could only contend at a disadvantage; and a day was not very far distant--one of the memorable days of the world's history, big with the fate of england, spain, holland, and all christendom--when the sight of a half-dozen blazing vessels, and the cry of "the antwerp fireships," was to decide the issue of a most momentous enterprise. the blow struck by the obscure italian against antwerp bridge, although ineffective then, was to be most sensibly felt after a few years had passed, upon a wider field. meantime the uneasiness and the watchfulness in the biesieging army were very exhausting. "they are never idle in the city," wrote parma. "they are perpetually proving their obstinacy and pertinacity by their industrious genius and the machines which they devise. every day we are expecting some new invention. on our side we endeavour to counteract their efforts by every human means in our power. nevertheless, i confess that our merely human intellect is not competent to penetrate the designs of their diabolical genius. certainly, most wonderful and extraordinary things have been exhibited, such as the oldest soldiers here have never before witnessed." moreover, alexander saw himself growing weaker and weaker. his force had dwindled to a mere phantom of an army. his soldiers, ill-fed, half-clothed, unpaid, were fearfully overworked. he was obliged to concentrate all the troops at his disposal around antwerp. diversions against ostend, operations in friesland and gelderland, although most desirable, had thus been rendered quite impossible. "i have recalled my cavalry and infantry from ostend," he wrote, "and don juan de manrique has fortunately arrived in stabroek with a thousand good german folk. the commissary-general of the cavalry has come in, too, with a good lot of the troops that had been encamped in the open country. nevertheless, we remain wretchedly weak--quite insufficient to attempt what ought to be done. if the enemy were more in force, or if the french wished to make trouble, your majesty would see how important it had been to provide in time against such contingencies. and although our neighbours, crestfallen, and rushing upon their own destruction, leave us in quiet, we are not without plenty of work. it would be of inestimable advantage to make diversions in gelderland and friesland, because, in that case, the hollanders, seeing the enemy so near their own borders, would be obliged to withdraw their assistance from antwerp. 'tis pity to see how few spaniards your majesty has left, and how diminished is our army. now, also, is the time to expect sickness, and this affair of antwerp is obviously stretching out into large proportions. unless soon reinforced, we must inevitably go to destruction. i implore your majesty to ponder the matter well, and not to defer the remedy." his majesty was sure to ponder the matter well, if that had been all. philip was good at pondering; but it was equally certain that the remedy would be deferred. meantime alexander and his starving but heroic little army were left to fight their battles as they could. his complaints were incessant, most reasonable, but unavailing. with all the forces he could muster, by withdrawing from the neighbourhood of ghent, brussels, vilvoorde, and from all the garrisons, every man that could be spared, he had not strength enough to guard his own posts. to attempt to win back the important forts recently captured by the rebels on the doel, was quite out of the question. the pictures he painted of his army were indeed most dismal. the spaniards were so reduced by sickness that it was pitiful to see them. the italians were not in much better condition, nor the germans. "as for the walloons," said he, "they are deserting, as they always do. in truth, one of my principal dangers is that the french civil wars are now tempting my soldiers across the frontier; the country there is so much richer, and offers so much more for the plundering." during the few weeks which immediately followed them famous descent of the 'hope' and the 'fortune,' there had accordingly been made a variety of less elaborate, but apparently mischievous, efforts against the bridge. on the whole, however, the object was rather to deceive and amuse the royalists, by keeping their attention fixed in that quarter, while a great attack was, in reality, preparing against the kowenstyn. that strong barrier, as repeatedly stated, was even a more formidable obstacle than the bridge to the communication between the beleagured city and their allies upon the outside. its capture and demolition, even at this late period, would open the navigation to all the fleets of zeeland. in the undertaking of the th of april all had been accomplished that human ingenuity could devise; yet the triumph had been snatched away even at the very moment when it was complete. a determined and vigorous effort was soon to be made upon the kowenstyn, in the very face of parma; for it now seemed obvious that the true crisis was to come upon that fatal dyke. the great bulwark was three miles long. it reached from stabroek in brabant, near which village mansfeld's troops were encamped, across the inundated country, up to the line of the scheldt. thence, along the river-dyke, and across the bridge to kalloo and beveren, where parma's forces lay, was a continuous fortified road some three leagues in length; so that the two divisions of the besieging army, lying four leagues apart, were all connected by this important line. could the kowenstyn be pierced, the water, now divided by that great bulwark into two vast lakes, would flow together in one continuous sea. moreover the scheldt, it was thought, would, in that case, return to its own cannel through brabant, deserting its present bed, and thus leaving the famous bridge high and dry. a wide sheet of navigable water would then roll between antwerp and the zeeland coasts, and parma's bridge, the result of seven months' labour, would become as useless as a child's broken toy. alexander had thoroughly comprehended the necessity of maintaining the kowenstyn. all that it was possible to do with the meagre forces at his disposal, he had done. he had fringed both its margins, along its whole length, with a breastwork of closely-driven stakes. he had strengthened the whole body of the dyke with timber-work and piles. upon its river-end, just at the junction with the great scheldt dyke, a strong fortress, called the holy cross, had been constructed, which was under the special command of mondragon. besides this, three other forts had been built, at intervals of about a mile, upon the dyke. the one nearest to mondragon was placed at the kowenstyn manor-house, and was called saint james. this was entrusted to camillo bourbon del monte, an italian officer, who boasted the blood royal of france in his veins, and was disposed on all occasions to vindicate that proud pedigree by his deeds. the next fort was saint george's, sometimes called the black sconce. it had been built by la motte, but it was now in command of the spanish officer, benites. the third was entitled the fort of the palisades, because it had been necessary to support it by a stockade-work in the water, there being absolutely not earth enough to hold the structure. it was placed in the charge of captain gamboa. these little castles had been created, as it were, out of water and upon water, and under a hot fire from the enemy's forts and fleets, which gave the pioneers no repose. "'twas very hard work," said parma, "our soldiers are so exposed during their labour, the rebels playing upon them perpetually from their musket-proof vessels. they fill the submerged land with their boats, skimming everywhere as they like, while we have none at all. we have been obliged to build these three forts with neither material nor space; making land enough for the foundation by bringing thither bundles of hurdles and of earth. the fatigue and anxiety are incredible. not a man can sleep at night; not an officer nor soldier but is perpetually mounting guard. but they are animated to their hard work by seeing that i share in it, like one of themselves. we have now got the dyke into good order, so far as to be able to give them a warm reception, whenever they choose to come." quite at the farther or land end of the kowenstyn, was another fort, called the stabroek, which commanded and raked the whole dyke, and was in the neighbourhood of mansfeld's head-quarters. placed as were these little citadels upon a slender, and--at brief distance--invisible thread of land, with the dark waters rolling around them far and near, they presented an insubstantial dream-like aspect, seeming rather like castles floating between air and ocean than actual fortifications--a deceptive mirage rather than reality. there was nothing imaginary, however, in the work which they were to perform. a series of attacks, some serious, others fictitious, had been made, from time to time, upon both bridge and dyke; but alexander was unable to inspire his soldiers with his own watchfulness. upon the th of may a more determined attempt was made upon the kowenstyn, by the fleet from lillo. hohenlo and colonel ysselstein conducted the enterprise. the sentinels at the point selected--having recently been so often threatened by an enemy, who most frequently made a rapid retreat, as to have grown weary and indifferent-were surprised, at dawn of day, and put to the sword. "if the truth must be told," said parma, "the sentries were sound asleep." five hundred zeelanders, with a strong party of sappers and miners, fairly established themselves upon the dyke, between st. george's and fort palisade. the attack, although spirited at its commencement, was doomed to be unsuccessful. a co-operation, agreed upon by the fleet from antwerp, failed through a misunderstanding. sainte aldegonde had stationed certain members of the munition-chamber in the cathedral tower, with orders to discharge three rockets, when they should perceive a beacon-fire which he should light in fort tholouse. the watchmen mistook an accidental camp-fire in the neighbourhood for the preconcerted signal, and sent up the rockets. hohenlo understanding, accordingly, that the expedition was on the point of starting from antwerp, hastened to perform his portion of the work, and sailed up from lillo. he did his duty faithfully and well, and established himself upon the dyke, but found himself alone and without sufficient force to maintain his position. the antwerp fleet never sailed. it was even whispered that the delinquency was rather intended than accidental; the antwerpers being supposed desirous to ascertain the result of hohenlo's attempt before coming forth to share his fate. such was the opinion expressed by farnese in his letters to philip, but it seems probable that he was mistaken. whatever the cause, however, the fact of the zeelanders' discomfiture was certain. the st. george battery and that of the palisade were opened at once upon them, the balls came plunging among the sappers and miners before they had time to throw up many spade-fulls of earth, and the whole party were soon dead or driven from the dyke. the survivors effected their retreat as they best could, leaving four of their ships behind them and three or four hundred men. "forty rebels lay dead on the dyke," said parma, "and one hundred and fifty more, at least, were drowned. the enemy confess a much larger loss than the number i state, but i am not a friend of giving details larger than my ascertained facts; nor do i know how many were killed in the boats." this enterprise was but a prelude, however, to the great undertaking which had now been thoroughly matured. upon the th may, another and most determined attack was to be made upon the kowenstyn, by the antwerpers and hollanders acting in concert. this time, it was to be hoped, there would be no misconception of signals. "it was a determination," said parma, "so daring and desperate that there was no substantial reason why we should believe they would carry it out; but they were at last solemnly resolved to die or to effect their purpose." two hundred ships in all had been got ready, part of them under hohenlo and justinus de nassau, to sail up from zeeland; the others to advance from antwerp under sainte aldegonde. their destination was the kowenstyn dyke. some of the vessels were laden with provisions, others with gabions, hurdles, branches, sacks of sand and of wool, and with other materials for the rapid throwing up of fortifications. it was two o'clock, half an hour before the chill dawn of a may morning, sunday, the th of the month. the pale sight of a waning moon was faintly perceptible in the sky. suddenly the sentinels upon the kowenstyn--this time not asleep--descried, as they looked towards lillo, four fiery apparitions gliding towards them across the waves. the alarm was given, and soon afterwards the spaniards began to muster, somewhat reluctantly, upon the dyke, filled as they always were with the mysterious dread which those demon-vessels never failed to inspire. the fire-ships floated slowly nearer, and at last struck heavily against the stockade-work. there, covered with tar, pitch, rosin, and gunpowder, they flamed, flared, and exploded, during a brief period, with much vigour, and then burned harmlessly out. one of the objects for which they had been sent--to set fire to the palisade--was not accomplished. the other was gained; for the enemy, expecting another volcanic shower of tombstones and plough-coulters, and remembering the recent fate of their comrades on the bridge, had retired shuddering into the forts. meantime, in the glare of these vast torches, a great swarm of gunboats and other vessels, skimming across the leaden-coloured waters, was seen gradually approaching the dyke. it was the fleet of hohenlo and justinus de nassau, who had been sailing and rowing since ten o'clock of the preceding night. the burning ships lighted them on their way, while it had scared the spaniards from their posts. the boats ran ashore in the mile-long space between forts st. george and the palisade, and a party of zeelanders, admiral haultain, governor of walcheren, at their head, sprang upon the dyke. meantime, however, the royalists, finding that the fire-ships had come to so innocent an end, had rallied and emerged from their forts. haultain and his zeelanders, by the time they had fairly mounted the dyke, found themselves in the iron embrace of several hundred spaniards. after a brief fierce struggle, face to face, and at push of pike, the patriots reeled backward down the bank, and took refuge in their boats. admiral haultain slipped as he left the shore, missed a rope's end which was thrown to him, fell into the water, and, borne down by the weight of his armour, was drowned. the enemy, pursuing them, sprang to the waist in the ooze on the edge of the dyke, and continued the contest. the boats opened a hot fire, and there was a severe skirmish for many minutes, with no certain result. it was, however, beginning to go hard with the zeelanders, when, just at the critical moment, a cheer from the other side of the dyke was heard, and the antwerp fleet was seen coming swiftly to the rescue. the spaniards, taken between the two bands of assailants, were at a disadvantage, and it was impossible to prevent the landing of these fresh antagonists. the antwerpers sprang ashore. among the foremost was sainte aldegonde, poet, orator, hymn-book maker, burgomaster, lawyer, polemical divine--now armed to the teeth and cheering on his men, in the very thickest of the fight. the diversion was successful, and sainte aldegonde gallantly drove the spaniards quite off the field. the whole combined force from antwerp and zeeland now effected their landing. three thousand men occupied all the space between fort george and the palisade. with sainte aldegonde came the unlucky koppen loppen, and all that could be spared of the english and scotch troops in antwerp, under balfour and morgan. with hohenlo and justinus de nassau came reinier kant, who had just succeeded paul buys as advocate of holland. besides these came two other men, side by side, perhaps in the same boat, of whom the world was like to hear much, from that time forward, and whose names are to be most solemnly linked together, so long as netherland history shall endure; one, a fair-faced flaxen-haired boy of eighteen, the other a square-visaged, heavy-browed man of forty--prince maurice and john of olden-barneveldt. the statesman had been foremost to urge the claim of william the silent's son upon the stadholderate of holland and zeeland, and had been, as it were, the youth's political guardian. he had himself borne arms more than once before, having shouldered his matchlock under batenburg, and marched on that officer's spirited but disastrous expedition for the relief of haarlem. but this was the life of those dutch rebels. quill-driving, law-expounding, speech-making, diplomatic missions, were intermingled with very practical business in besieged towns or open fields, with italian musketeers and spanish pikemen. and here, too, young maurice was taking his first solid lesson in the art of which he was one day to be so distinguished a professor. it was a sharp beginning. upon this ribband of earth, scarce six paces in breadth, with miles of deep water on both sides--a position recently fortified by the first general of the age, and held by the famous infantry of spain and italy--there was likely to be no prentice-work. to assault such a position was in truth, as alexander had declared it to be, a most daring and desperate resolution on the part of the states. "soldiers, citizens, and all," said parma, "they are obstinate as dogs to try their fortune." with wool-sacks, sand-bags, hurdles, planks, and other materials brought with them, the patriots now rapidly entrenched themselves in the position so brilliantly gained; while, without deferring for an instant the great purpose which they had come to effect, the sappers and miners fastened upon the ironbound soil of the dyke, tearing it with pick, mattock, and shovel, digging, delving, and throwing up the earth around them, busy as human beavers, instinctively engaged in a most congenial task. but the beavers did not toil unmolested. the large and determined force of antwerpers and english, hollanders and zeelanders, guarded the fortifications as they were rapidly rising, and the pioneers as they were so manfully delving; but the enemy was not idle. from fort saint james, next beyond saint george, camillo del monte led a strong party to the rescue. there was a tremendous action, foot to foot, breast to breast, with pike and pistol, sword and dagger. never since the beginning of the war had there been harder fighting than now upon that narrow isthmus. "'twas an affair of most brave obstinacy on both sides," said parma, who rarely used strong language. "soldiers, citizens, and all--they were like mad bulldogs." hollanders, italians, scotchmen, spaniards, englishmen, fell thick and fast. the contest was about the entrenchments before they were completed, and especially around the sappers and miners, in whose picks and shovels lay the whole fate of antwerp. many of the dyke-breakers were digging their own graves, and rolled, one after another, into the breach which they were so obstinately creating. upon that slender thread of land the hopes of many thousands were hanging. to tear it asunder, to roll the ocean-waves up to antwerp, and thus to snatch the great city triumphantly from the grasp of philip--to accomplish this, the three thousand had come forth that may morning. to prevent it, to hold firmly that great treasure entrusted to them, was the determination of the spaniards. and so, closely pent and packed, discharging their carbines into each other's faces, rolling, coiled together, down the slimy sides of the dyke into the black waters, struggling to and fro, while the cannon from the rebel fleet and from the royal forts mingled their roar with the sharp crack of the musketry, catholics and patriots contended for an hour, while still, through all the confusion and uproar, the miners dug and delved. at last the patriots were victorious. they made good their entrenchments, drove the spaniards, after much slaughter, back to the fort of saint george on the one side, and of the palisade on the other, and cleared the whole space between the two points. the centre of the dyke was theirs; the great kowenstyn, the only key by which the gates of antwerp could be unlocked, was in the deliverers' hands. they pursued their victory, and attacked the palisade fort. gamboa, its commandant, was severely wounded; many other officers dead or dying; the outworks were in the hands of the hollanders; the slender piles on which the fortress rested in the water were rudely shaken; the victory was almost complete. and now there was a tremendous cheer of triumph. the beavers had done their work, the barrier was bitten through and through, the salt water rushed like a river through the ruptured dyke. a few moments later, and a zeeland barge, freighted with provisions, floated triumphantly into the waters beyond, now no longer an inland sea. the deed was done--the victory achieved. nothing more was necessary than to secure it, to tear the fatal barrier to fragments, to bury it, for its whole length, beneath the waves. then, after the isthmus had been utterly submerged, when the scheldt was rolled back into its ancient bed, when parma's famous bridge had become useless, when the maritime communication between antwerp and holland had been thoroughly established, the spaniards would have nothing left for it but to drown like rats in their entrenchments or to abandon the siege in despair. all this was in the hands of the patriots. the kowenstyn was theirs. the spaniards were driven from the field, the batteries of their forts silenced. for a long period the rebels were unmolested, and felt themselves secure. "we remained thus some three hours," says captain james, an english officer who fought in the action, and described it in rough, soldierly fashion to walsingham the same day, "thinking all things to be secure." yet in the very supreme moment of victory, the leaders, both of the hollanders and of the antwerpers, proved themselves incompetent to their position. with deep regret it must be admitted, that not only the reckless hohenlo, but the all-accomplished sainte aldegonde, committed the gravest error. in the hour of danger, both had comported themselves with perfect courage and conduct. in the instant of triumph, they gave way to puerile exultation. with a celerity as censurable as it seems incredible, both these commanders sprang into the first barge which had thus floated across the dyke, in order that they might, in person, carry the news of the victory to antwerp, and set all the bells ringing and the bonfires blazing. they took with them ferrante spinola, a mortally-wounded italian officer of rank, as a trophy of their battle, and a boatload of beef and flour, as an earnest of the approaching relief. while the conquerors were thus gone to enjoy their triumph, the conquered, though perplexed and silenced, were not yet disposed to accept their defeat. they were even ignorant that they were conquered. they had been forced to abandon the field, and the patriots had entrenched themselves upon the dyke, but neither fort saint george nor the palisade had been carried, although the latter was in imminent danger. old count peter ernest mansfeld--a grizzled veteran, who had passed his childhood, youth, manhood, and old age, under fire--commanded at the land-end of the dyke, in the fortress of stabroek, in which neighbourhood his whole division was stationed. seeing how the day was going, he called a council of war. the patriots had gained a large section of the dyke. so much was certain. could they succeed in utterly demolishing that bulwark in the course of the day? if so, how were they to be dislodged before their work was perfected? it was difficult to assault their position. three thousand hollanders, antwerpers, englishmen--"mad bulldogs all," as parma called them--showing their teeth very mischievously, with one hundred and sixty zeeland vessels throwing in their broadsides from both margins of the dyke, were a formidable company to face. "oh for one half hour of alexander in the field!" sighed one of the spanish officers in council. but alexander was more than four leagues away, and it was doubtful whether he even knew of the fatal occurrence. yet how to send him a messenger. who could reach him through that valley of death? would it not be better to wait till nightfall? under the cover of darkness something might be attempted, which in the daylight would be hopeless. there was much anxiety, and much difference of opinion had been expressed, when camillo capizucca, colonel of the italian legion, obtained a hearing. a man bold in words as in deeds, he vehemently denounced the pusillanimity which would wait either for parma or for nightfall. "what difference will it make," he asked, "whether we defer our action until either darkness or the general arrives? in each case we give the enemy time enough to destroy the dyke, and thoroughly to relieve the city. that done, what good can be accomplished by our arms? then our disheartened soldiers will either shrink from a fruitless combat or march to certain death." having thus, very warmly but very sagaciously, defined the position in which all were placed, he proceeded to declare that he claimed, neither for himself nor for his legion, any superiority over the rest of the army. he knew not that the italians were more to be relied upon than others in the time of danger, but this he did know, that no man in the world was so devoted as he was to the prince of parma. to show that devotion by waiting with folded arms behind a wall until the prince should arrive to extricate his followers, was not in his constitution. he claimed the right to lead his italians against the enemy at once--in the front rank, if others chose to follow; alone, if the rest preferred to wait till a better leader should arrive. the words of the italian colonel sent a thrill through all who heard him. next in command under capizucca was his camp-marshal, an officer who bore the illustrious name of piccolomini--father of the duke ottavio, of whom so much was to be heard at a later day throughout the fell scenes of that portion of the eighty years' tragedy now enacting, which was to be called the thirty years' war of germany. the camp-marshal warmly seconded the proposition of his colonel. mansfeld, pleased with such enthusiasm among his officers, yielded to their wishes, which were, in truth, his own. six companies of the italian legion were in his encampment while the remainder were stationed, far away, upon the bridge, under command of his son, count charles. early in the morning, before the passage across the dyke had been closed the veteran condottiere, pricking his ears as he snuffed the battle from afar, had contrived to send a message to his son. "charles, my boy," were his words, "to-day we must either beat them or burst." old peter ernest felt that the long-expected, long-deferred assault was to be made that morning in full force, and that it was necessary for the royalists, on both bridge and dyke, to hold their own. piccolomini now drew up three hundred of his italians, picked veterans all, and led them in marching order to mansfeld. that general at the same moment, received another small but unexpected reinforcement. a portion of the spanish legion, which had long been that of pedro pacchi, lay at the extreme verge of the stabroek encampment, several miles away. aroused by the distant cannonading, and suspecting what had occurred, don juan d'aquila, the colonel in command, marched without a moment's delay to mansfeld's head-quarters, at the head of all the force he could muster--about two hundred strong. with him came cardona, gonzales de castro, toralva, and other distinguished officers. as they arrived, capizucca was just setting forth for the field. there arose a dispute for precedence between the italians and the spaniards. capizucca had first demanded the privilege of leading what seemed a forlorn hope, and was unwilling to yield his claim to the new comer. on the other hand, the spaniards were not disposed to follow where they felt entitled to lead. the quarrel was growing warm, when aquila, seizing his italian rival by the hand, protested that it was not a moment for friends to wrangle for precedence. "shoulder to shoulder," said he, "let us go into this business, and let our blows rather fall on our enemies' heads than upon each other's." this terminated the altercation. the italians and spaniards--in battle array as they were--all dropped on their knees, offered a brief prayer to the holy virgin, and then, in the best possible spirits, set forth along the dyke. next to fort stabroek--whence they issued--was the palisade fort, nearly a mile removed, which the patriots had nearly carried, and between which and st. george, another mile farther on, their whole force was established. the troops under capizucca and aquila soon reached the palisade, and attacked the besiegers, while the garrison, cheered by the unexpected relief, made a vigorous sortie. there was a brief sharp contest, in which many were killed on both sides; but at last the patriots fell back upon their own entrenchments, and the fort was saved. its name was instantly changed to fort victory, and the royalists then prepared to charge the fortified camp of the rebels, in the centre of which the dyke-cutting operations were still in progress. at the same moment, from the opposite end of the bulwark, a cry was heard along the whole line of the dyke. from fort holy cross, at the scheldt end, the welcome intelligence was suddenly communicated--as if by a magnetic impulse--that alexander was in the field! it was true. having been up half the night, as usual, keeping watch along his bridge, where he was ever expecting a fatal attack, he had retired for a few hours' rest in his camp at beveren. aroused at day-break by the roar of the cannon, he had hastily thrown on his armour, mounted his horse, and, at the head of two hundred pikemen, set forth for the scene of action. detained on the bridge by a detachment of the antwerp fleet, which had been ordered to make a diversion in that quarter, he had, after beating off their vessels with his boat-artillery, and charging count charles mansfeld to heed well the brief injunction of old peter ernest, made all the haste he could to the kowenstyn. arriving at fort holy cross, he learned from mondragon how the day was going. three thousand rebels, he learned, were established on the dyke, fort palisade was tottering, a fleet from both sides was cannonading the spanish entrenchments, the salt water was flowing across the breach already made. his seven months' work, it seemed, had come to nought. the navigation was already open from the sea to antwerp, the lowenstyn was in the rebels' hands. but alexander was not prone to premature despair. "i arrived," said he to philip in a letter written on the same evening, "at the very nick of time." a less hopeful person might have thought that he had arrived several hours too late. having brought with him every man that could be spared from beveren and from the bridge, he now ordered camillo del monte to transport some additional pieces of artillery from holy cross and from saint james to fort saint georg. at the same time a sharp cannonade was to be maintained upon the rebel fleet from all the forts. mondragon, with a hundred musketeers and pikemen, was sent forward likewise as expeditiously as possible to saint george. no one could be more alert. the battered veteran, hero of some of the most remarkable military adventures that history has ever recorded,' fought his way on foot, in the midst of the fray, like a young ensign who had his first laurels to win. and, in truth, the day was not one for cunning manoeuvres, directed, at a distance, by a skillful tactician. it was a brisk close contest, hand to hand and eye to eye--a homeric encounter, in which the chieftains were to prove a right to command by their personal prowess. alexander, descending suddenly--dramatically, as it were--when the battle seemed lost--like a deity from the clouds-was to justify, by the strength of his arm, the enthusiasm which his name always awakened. having, at a glance, taken in the whole situation, he made his brief arrangements, going from rank to rank, and disposing his troops in the most effective manner. he said but few words, but his voice had always a telling effect. "the man who refuses, this day, to follow me," he said, "has never had regard to his own honour, nor has god's cause or the king's ever been dear to his heart." his disheartened spaniards and italians--roused as by a magic trumpet--eagerly demanded to be led against the rebels. and now from each end of the dyke, the royalists were advancing toward the central position occupied by the patriots. while capizucca and aquila were occupied at fort victory, parma was steadily cutting his way from holy cross to saint george. on foot, armed with sword and shield, and in coat of mail, and marching at the head of his men along the dyke, surrounded by bevilacqua, bentivoglio, manriquez, sforza, and other officers of historic name and distinguished courage, now upon the summit of the causeway, now on its shelving banks, now breast-high in the waters, through which lay the perilous path, contending at every inch with the scattered bands of the patriots, who slowly retired to their entrenched camp, and with the antwerp and zeeland vessels, whose balls tore through the royalist ranks, the general at last reached saint george. on the preservation of that post depended the whole fortune of the day, for parma had already received the welcome intelligence that the palisade--now fort victory--had been regained. he instantly ordered an outer breast-work of wool-sacks and sand-bags to be thrown up in front of saint george, and planted a battery to play point-blank at the enemy's entrenchments. here the final issue was to be made. the patriots and spaniards were thus all enclosed in the mile-long space between st. george and the palisade. upon that narrow strip of earth, scarce six paces in width, more than five thousand men met in mortal combat--a narrow arena for so many gladiators, hemmed in on both sides by the sea. the patriots had, with solemn ceremony, before starting upon their enterprise, vowed to destroy the dyke and relieve antwerp, or to perish in the attempt. they were true to their vow. not the ancient batavians or nervii had ever manifested more tenacity against the roman legions than did their descendants against the far-famed spanish infantry upon this fatal day. the fight on the kowenstyn was to be long remembered in the military annals of spain and holland. never, since the curtain first rose upon the great netherland tragedy, had there been a fiercer encounter. flinching was impossible. there was scant room for the play of pike and dagger, and, close packed as were the combatants, the dead could hardly fall to the ground. it was a mile-long series of separate mortal duels, and the oozy dyke was soon slippery with blood. from both sides, under capizucca and aquila on the one band, and under alexander on the other, the entrenchments of the patriots were at last assaulted, and as the royalists fell thick and fast beneath the breast-work which they were storming, their comrades clambered upon their bodies, and attempted, from such vantage-ground, to effect an entrance. three times the invaders were beaten back with heavy loss, and after each repulse the attack was renewed with fresh vigour, while within the entrenchments the pioneers still plied the pick and shovel, undismayed by the uproar around them. a fourth assault, vigorously made, was cheerfully repelled by the antwerpers and hollanders, clustering behind their breast-works, and looking steadily into their enemies' eyes. captain heraugiere--of whom more was to be heard one day--had led two hundred men into action, and now found himself at the head of only thirteen. the loss had been as severe among many other patriot companies, as well as in the spanish ranks, and again the pikemen of spain and italy faltered before the iron visages and cordial blows of the hollanders. this work had lasted a good hour and a half, when at last, on the fifth assault, a wild and mysterious apparition renewed the enthusiasm of the spaniards. the figure of the dead commander of the old spanish legion, don pedro pacchi, who had fallen a few months before at the siege of dendermonde was seen charging in front of his regiment, clad in his well-known armour, and using the gestures which had been habitual with him in life. no satisfactory explanation was ever made of this singular delusion, but it was general throughout the ranks, and in that superstitious age was as effective as truth. the wavering spaniards rallied once more under the guidance of their phantom leader, and again charged the breast-work of the patriots. toralva, mounting upon the back of one of his soldiers, was first to vault into the entrenchments. at the next instant he lay desperately wounded on the ground, but was close followed by capizucca, sustained by a determined band. the entrenchment was carried, but the furious conflict still continued. at nearly the same moment, however, several of the patriot vessels were observed to cast off their moorings, and to be drifting away from the dyke. a large number of the rest had been disabled by the hot fire, which by alexander's judicious orders had been directed upon the fleet. the ebbing tide left no choice to the commander of the others but to retreat or to remain and fall into the enemy's hands, should he gain the day. had they risked the dangerous alternative, it might have ensured the triumph of the whole enterprise, while their actual decision proved most disastrous in the end. "we have conquered," cried alexander, stretching his arm towards the receding waters. "the sea deserts the impious heretics. strike from them now their last hope, and cut off their retreat to the departing ships." the spaniards were not slow to perceive their advantage, while the courage of the patriots at last began to ebb with the tide. the day was lost. in the hour of transitory triumph the leaders of the expedition had turned their backs on their followers, and now, after so much heroism had been exhibited, fortune too had averted her face. the grim resistance changed to desperate panic, and a mad chase began along the blood-stained dyke. some were slain with spear and bullet, others were hunted into the sea, many were smothered in the ooze along the edge of the embankment. the fugitives, making their way to the retreating vessels, were pursued by the spaniards, who swam after them, with their swords in their teeth, and engaged them in mortal combat in the midst of the waves. "and so we cut all their throats," said parma, "the rebels on every side remaining at our mercy, and i having no doubt that my soldiers would avenge the loss of their friends." the english and the scotch, under balfour and morgan, were the very last to abandon the position which they had held so manfully seven hours long. honest captain james, who fought to the last, and described the action the same night in the fewest possible words, was of opinion that the fleet had moved away only to obtain a better position. "they put off to have more room to play on the enemy," said he; "but the hollanders and zeelanders, seeing the enemy come on so hotly, and thinking our galleys would leave them, abandoned their string. the scots, seeing them to retire, left their string. the enemy pursued very hotly; the englishmen stood to repulse, and are put most to the sword. in this shameful retreat there were slain or drowned to the number of two thousand." the blunt englishman was justly indignant that an enterprise, so nearly successful, had been ruined by the desertion of its chiefs. "we had cut the dyke in three places," said he; "but left it most shamefully for want of commandment." poor koppen loppen--whose blunders on former occasions had caused so much disaster--was now fortunate enough to expiate them by a soldier's death. admiral haultain had, as we have seen, been drowned at the commencement of the action. justinus de nassau, at its close, was more successful in his retreat to the ships. he, too, sprang into the water when the overthrow was absolute; but, alighting in some shallows, was able to conceal himself among weeds and waterlilies till he had divested himself of his armour, when he made his escape by swimming to a boat, which conveyed him to lillo. roelke van deest, an officer of some note, was so horribly wounded in the face, that he was obliged to wear a mask for the remainder of his life. parma, overjoyed at his victory, embraced capizucca before the whole army, with warm expressions of admiration for his conduct. both the italian colonel and his spanish rival aquila were earnestly recommended to philip for reward and promotion. the wounded toralva was carried to alexander's own quarters, and placed in alexander's own bed, where he remained till his recovery, and was then presented--a distinction which he much valued--with the armour which the prince had worn on the day of the battle. parma himself, so soon as the action was concluded, went with his chief officers straight from the field to the little village-church of stabroek, where he fell upon his knees and offered up fervent thanks for his victory. he next set about repairing the ruptured dyke, damaged in many places but not hopelessly ruined, and for this purpose the bodies of the rebels, among other materials, were cast by hundreds into the ditches which their own hands had dug. thus ended the eight hours' fight on the kowenstyn. "the feast lasted from seven to eight hours," said parma, "with the most brave obstinacy on both sides that has been seen for many a long day." a thousand royalists were killed and twice as many patriots, and the issue of the conflict was most uncertain up to the very last. "our loss is greater than i wish it was," wrote alexander to philip: "it was a very close thing, and i have never been more anxious in my life as to the result for your majesty's service. the whole fate of the battle was hanging all the time by a thread." more than ever were reinforcements necessary, and it was only by a miracle that the victory had at last been gained with such slender resources. "'tis a large, long, laborious, expensive, and most perilous war," said parma, when urging the claims of capizucca and aquila, "for we have to fight every minute; and there are no castles and other rewards, so that if soldiers are not to have promotion, they will lose their spirit." thirty-two of the rebel vessels grounded, and fell into the hands of the spaniards, who took from them many excellent pieces of artillery. the result was most conclusive and most disheartening for the patriots. meantime--as we have seen--hohenlo and sainte aldegonde had reached antwerp in breathless haste to announce their triumph. they had been met on the quay by groups of excited citizens, who eagerly questioned the two generals arriving thus covered with laurels from the field of battle, and drank with delight all the details of the victory. the poor dying spinola was exhibited in triumph, the boat-load of breadstuffs received with satisfaction, and vast preparations were made to receive, on wharves and in storehouses, the plentiful supplies about to arrive. beacons and bonfires were lighted, the bells from all the steeples rang their merriest peals, cannon thundered in triumph not only in antwerp itself, but subsequently at amsterdam and other more distant cities. in due time a magnificent banquet was spread in the town-house to greet the conquering hohenlo. immense gratification was expressed by those of the reformed religion; dire threats were uttered against the catholics. some were for hanging them all out of hand, others for throwing them into the scheldt; the most moderate proposed packing them all out of town so soon as the siege should be raised--an event which could not now be delayed many days longer. hohenlo, placed on high at the head of the banquet-table, assumed the very god of war. beside and near him sat the loveliest dames of antwerp, rewarding his bravery with their brightest smiles. the count drained huge goblets to their health, to the success of the patriots, and to the confusion of the royalists, while, as he still drank and feasted, the trumpet, kettle-drum, and cymbal, and merry peal of bell without, did honour to his triumph. so gay and gallant was the victor, that he announced another banquet on the following day, still further to celebrate the happy release of antwerp, and invited the fair ladies around him again to grace the board. it is recorded that the gentlewoman next him responded with a sigh, that, if her presentiments were just, the morrow would scarcely be so joyful as the present day had been, and that she doubted whether the triumph were not premature. hardly had she spoken when sinister sounds were heard in the streets. the first few stragglers, survivors of the deadly fight, had arrived with the fatal news that all was lost, the dyke regained, the spaniards victorious, the whole band of patriots cut to pieces. a few frightfully-wounded and dying sufferers were brought into the banqueting-hall. hohenlo sprang from the feast--interrupted in so ghastly a manner--pursued by shouts and hisses. howls of execration, saluted him in the streets, and he was obliged to conceal himself for a time, to escape the fury of the populace. on the other hand, parma was, not unnaturally, overjoyed at the successful issue to the combat, and expressed himself on the subject in language of (for him) unusual exultation. "to-day, sunday, th of june," said he, in a letter to philip, despatched by special courier on the very same night, "the lord has been pleased to grant to your majesty a great and most signal victory. in this conjuncture of so great importance it may be easily conceived that the best results that can be desired will be obtained if your majesty is now ready to do what is needful. i congratulate your majesty very many times on this occasion, and i desire to render infinite thanks to divine providence." he afterwards proceeded, in a rapid and hurried manner, to give his majesty the outlines of the battle, mentioning, with great encomium, capizucca and aquila, mondragon and vasto, with many other officers, and recommending them for reward and promotion; praising, in short, heartily and earnestly, all who had contributed to the victory, except himself, to whose personal exertions it was chiefly due. "as for good odd mansfeld," said he, "he bore himself like the man he is, and he deserves that your majesty should send him a particular mark of your royal approbation, writing to him yourself pleasantly in spanish, which is that which will be most highly esteemed by him." alexander hinted also that philip would do well to bestow upon mansfeld the countship of biart, as a reward for his long years of faithful service! this action on the kowenstyn terminated the effective resistance of antwerp. a few days before, the monster-vessel, in the construction of which so much time and money had been consumed, had at last been set afloat. she had been called the war's end, and, so far as antwerp was concerned, the fates that presided over her birth seemed to have been paltering in a double sense when the ominous name was conferred. she was larger than anything previously known in naval architecture; she had four masts and three helms. her bulwarks were ten feet thick; her tops were musket-proof. she had twenty guns of largest size, besides many other pieces of artillery of lesser calibre, the lower tier of which was almost at the water's level. she was to carry one thousand men, and she was so supported on corks and barrels as to be sure to float under any circumstances. thus she was a great swimming fortress which could not be sunk, and was impervious to shot. unluckily, however, in spite of her four masts and three helms, she would neither sail nor steer, and she proved but a great, unmanageable and very ridiculous tub, fully justifying all the sarcasms that had been launched upon her during the period of her construction, which had been almost as long as the siege itself. the spaniards called her the bugaboo--a monster to scare children withal. the patriots christened her the elephant, the antwerp folly, the lost penny, with many similar appellations. a small army might have been maintained for a month, they said, on the money she had cost, or the whole city kept in bread for three months. at last, late in may, a few days before the battle of the kowenstyn, she set forth from antwerp, across the submerged land, upon her expedition to sweep all the spanish forts out of existence, and to bring the war to its end. she came to her own end very briefly, for, after drifting helplessly about for an hour, she stuck fast in the sand in the neighbourhood of ordam, while the crew and soldiers made their escape, and came back to the city to share in the ridicule which, from first to last, had attached itself to the monster-ship. two days after the kowenstyn affair, alexander sent an expedition under count charles mansfeld to take possession of the great bugaboo. the boat, in which were count charles, count aremberg, his brother de barbancon, and other noble volunteers, met with an accident: a keg of gun powder accidentally exploding, blowing aremberg into the water, whence he escaped unharmed by swimming, and frightfully damaging mansfeld in the face. this indirect mischief--the only injury ever inflicted by the war's end upon the enemy--did not prevent the rest of the party in the boats from taking possession of the ship, and bringing her in triumph to the prince of parma. after being thoroughly examined and heartily laughed at by the spaniards, she was broken up--her cannon, munitions, and other valuable materials, being taken from her--and then there was an end of the war's end. this useless expenditure-against the judgment and entreaties of many leading personages--was but a type of the difficulties with which sainte aldegonde had been obliged to contend from the first day of the siege to the last. every one in the city had felt himself called on to express an opinion as to the proper measures for defence. diversity of humours, popular license, anarchy, did not constitute the best government for a city beleagured by alexander farnese. we have seen the deadly injury inflicted upon the cause at the outset by the brutality of the butchers, and the manful struggle which sainte aldegonde had maintained against their cupidity and that of their friends. he had dealt with the thousand difficulties which rose up around him from day to day, but his best intentions were perpetually misconstrued, his most strenuous exertions steadily foiled. it was a city where there was much love of money, and where commerce--always timid by nature, particularly when controlled by alien residents--was often the cause of almost abject cowardice. from time to time there had been threatening demonstrations made against the burgomaster, who, by protracting the resistance of antwerp, was bringing about the absolute destruction of a worldwide trade, and the downfall of the most opulent capital in christendom. there were also many popular riots--very easily inflamed by the catholic portion of the inhabitants--for bread. "bread, bread, or peace!" was hoarsely shouted by ill-looking mischievous crowds, that dogged the steps and besieged the doors of sainte aldegonde; but the burgomaster had done his best by eloquence of tongue and personal courage, both against mobs and against the enemy, to inspire the mass of his fellow-citizens with his own generous spirit. he had relied for a long time on the negotiation with france, and it would be difficult to exaggerate the disastrous effects produced by the treachery of the valois court. the historian le petit, a resident of antwerp at the time of the siege, had been despatched on secret mission to paris, and had communicated to the states' deputies sainte aldegonde's earnest adjurations that they should obtain, if possible, before it should be too late, an auxiliary force and a pecuniary subsidy. an immediate assistance, even if slight, might be sufficient to prevent antwerp and its sister cities from falling into the hands of the enemy. on that messenger's return, the burgomaster, much encouraged by his report, had made many eloquent speeches in the senate, and for a long time sustained the sinking spirits of the citizens. the irritating termination to the triumph actually achieved against the bridge, and the tragical result to the great enterprise against the kowenstyn, had now thoroughly broken the heart of antwerp. for the last catastrophe sainte aldegonde himself was highly censurable, although the chief portion of the blame rested on the head of hohenlo. nevertheless the states of holland were yet true to the cause of the union and of liberty. notwithstanding their heavy expenditures, and their own loss of men, they urged warmly and earnestly the continuance of the resistance, and promised, within at latest three months' time, to raise an army of twelve thousand foot and seven thousand horse, with which they pledged themselves to relieve the city, or to perish in the endeavour. at the same time, the legation, which had been sent to england to offer the sovereignty to queen elizabeth, sent encouraging despatches to antwerp, assuring the authorities that arrangements for an auxiliary force had been effected; while elizabeth herself wrote earnestly upon the subject with her own hand. "i am informed," said that princess, "that through the closing of the scheldt you are likely to enter into a treaty with the prince of parma, the issue of which is very much to be doubted, so far as the maintenance of your privileges is concerned. remembering the warm friendship which has ever existed between this crown and the house of burgundy, in the realms of which you are an important member, and considering that my subjects engaged in commerce have always met with more privilege and comity in the netherlands than in any other country, i have resolved to send you at once, assistance, comfort, and aid. the details of the plan will be stated by your envoys; but be assured that by me you will never be forsaken or neglected." the negotiations with queen elizabeth--most important for the netherlands, for england, and for the destinies of europe--which succeeded the futile diplomatic transactions with france, will be laid before the reader in a subsequent chapter. it is proper that they should be massed by themselves, so that the eye can comprehend at a single glance their whole progress and aspect, as revealed both by public and official, and by secret and hitherto unpublished records. meantime, so far as regards antwerp, those negotiations had been too deliberately conducted for the hasty and impatient temper of the citizens. the spirit of the commercial metropolis, long flagging, seemed at last broken. despair was taking possession of all hearts. the common people did nothing but complain, the magistrates did nothing but wrangle. in the broad council the debates and dissensions were discouraging and endless. six of the eight militia-colonels were for holding out at all hazards, while a majority of the eighty captains were for capitulation. the populace was tumultuous and threatening, demanding peace and bread at any price. holland sent promises in abundance, and holland was sincere; but there had been much disappointment, and there was now infinite bitterness. it seemed obvious that a crisis was fast approaching, and--unless immediate aid should come from holland or from england--that a surrender was inevitable. la none, after five years' imprisonment, had at last been exchanged against count philip egmont. that noble, chief of an ancient house, cousin of the queen of france, was mortified at being ransomed against a simple huguenot gentleman--even though that gentleman was the illustrious "iron-armed" la noue--but he preferred to sacrifice his dignity for the sake of his liberty. he was still more annoyed that one hundred thousand crowns as security were exacted from la noue--for which the king of navarre became bondsman--that he would never again bear arms in the netherlands except in obedience to the french monarch, while no such pledges were required of himself. la none visited the prince of parma at antwerp, to take leave, and was received with the courtesy due to his high character and great distinction. alexander took pleasure in showing him all his fortifications, and explaining to him the whole system of the siege, and la noue was filled with honest amazement. he declared afterwards that the works were superb and impregnable; and that if he had been on the outside at the head of twelve thousand troops, he should have felt obliged to renounce the idea of relieving the city. "antwerp cannot escape you," confessed the veteran huguenot, "but must soon fall into your hands. and when you enter, i would counsel you to hang up your sword at its gate, and let its capture be the crowning trophy in your list of victories." "you are right," answered parma, "and many of my friends have given me the same advice; but how am i to retire, engaged as i am for life in the service of my king?" such was the opinion of la none, a man whose love for the reformed religion and for civil liberty can be as little doubted as his competency to form an opinion upon great military subjects. as little could he be suspected just coming as he did from an infamous prison, whence he had been at one time invited by philip ii. to emerge, on condition of allowing his eyes to be put out--of any partiality for that monarch or his representative. moreover, although the states of holland and the english government were earnestly desirous of relieving the city, and were encouraging the patriots with well-founded promises, the zeeland authorities were lukewarm. the officers of the zeeland navy, from which so much was expected, were at last discouraged. they drew up, signed, and delivered to admiral justinus de nassau, a formal opinion to the effect that the scheldt had now so many dry and dangerous places, and that the tranquil summer-nights--so different from those long, stormy ones of winter--were so short as to allow of no attempt by water likely to be successful to relieve the city. here certainly was much to discourage, and sainte aldegonde was at length discouraged. he felt that the last hope of saving antwerp was gone, and with it all possibility of maintaining the existence of a united netherland commonwealth. the walloon provinces were lost already; ghent, brussels, mechlin, had also capitulated, and, with the fall of antwerp, flanders and brabant must fall. there would be no barrier left even to save holland itself. despair entered the heart of the burgomaster, and he listened too soon to its treacherous voice. yet while he thought a free national state no longer a possibility, he imagined it practicable to secure religious liberty by negotiation with philip ii. he abandoned with a sigh one of the two great objects for which he had struggled side by side with orange for twenty years, but he thought it possible to secure the other. his purpose was now to obtain a favourable capitulation for antwerp, and at the same time to bring about the submission of holland, zeeland, and the other united provinces, to the king of spain. here certainly was a great change of face on the part of one so conspicuous, and hitherto so consistent, in the ranks of netherland patriots, and it is therefore necessary, in order thoroughly to estimate both the man and the crisis, to follow carefully his steps through the secret path of negotiation into which he now entered, and in which the antwerp drama was to find its conclusion. in these transactions, the chief actors are, on the one side, the prince of parma, as representative of absolutism and the papacy; on the other, sainte aldegonde, who had passed his life as the champion of the reformation. no doubt the pressure upon the burgomaster was very great. tumults were of daily occurrence. crowds of rioters beset his door with cries of denunciations and demands for bread. a large and turbulent mob upon one occasion took possession of the horse-market, and treated him with personal indignity and violence, when he undertook to disperse them. on the other hand, parma had been holding out hopes of pardon with more reasonable conditions than could well be expected, and had, with a good deal of art, taken advantage of several trivial circumstances to inspire the burghers with confidence in his good-will. thus, an infirm old lady in the city happened to imagine herself so dependent upon asses milk as to have sent her purveyor out of the city, at the peril of his life, to procure a supply from the neighbourhood. the young man was captured, brought to alexander, from whose hands he very naturally expected the punishment of a spy. the prince, however, presented him, not only with his liberty, but with a she-ass; and loaded the animal with partridges and capons, as a present for the invalid. the magistrates, hearing of the incident, and not choosing to be outdone in courtesy, sent back a waggon-load of old wine and remarkable confectionary as an offering to alexander, and with this interchange of dainties led the way to the amenities of diplomacy. etext editor's bookmarks: courage and semblance of cheerfulness, with despair in his heart demanding peace and bread at any price not a friend of giving details larger than my ascertained facts history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, v , alexander farnese, the duke of parma chapter v., part . sainte aldegonde discouraged--his critical position--his negotiations with the enemy--correspondence with richardot-- commotion in the city--interview of marnix with parma--suspicious conduct of marnix--deputation to the prince--oration of marnix-- private views of parma--capitulation of antwerp--mistakes of marnix --philip on the religious question--triumphal entrance of alexander-- rebuilding of the citadel--gratification of philip--note on sainte aldegonde sainte aldegonde's position had become a painful one. the net had been drawn closely about the city. the bridge seemed impregnable, the great kowenstyn was irrecoverably in the hands of the enemy, and now all the lesser forts in the immediate vicinity of antwerp-borght, hoboken, cantecroix, stralen, berghen, and the rest--had likewise fallen into his grasp. an account of grain, taken on the st of june, gave an average of a pound a-head for a month long, or half a pound for two months. this was not the famine-point, according to the standard which had once been established in leyden; but the courage of the burghers had been rapidly oozing away, under the pressure of their recent disappointments. it seemed obvious to the burgomaster, that the time for yielding had arrived. "i had maintained the city," he said, "for a long period, without any excessive tumult or great effusion of blood--a city where there was such a multitude of inhabitants, mostly merchants or artisans deprived of all their traffic, stripped of their manufactures, destitute of all commodities and means of living. i had done this in the midst of a great diversity of humours and opinions, a vast popular license, a confused anarchy, among a great number of commanders, most of them inexperienced in war; with very little authority of my own, with slender forces of ships, soldiers, and sailors; with alight appearance of support from king or prince without, or of military garrison within; and under all these circumstances i exerted myself to do my uttermost duty in preserving the city, both in regard to its internal government, and by force of arms by land and sea, without sparing myself in any labour or peril. "i know very well that there are many persons, who, finding themselves quite at their ease, and far away from the hard blows that are passing, are pleased to exhibit their wisdom by sitting in judgment upon others, founding their decision only upon the results. but i demand to be judged by equity and reason, when passion has been set aside. i claim that my honour shall be protected against my calumniators; for all should remember that i am not the first man, nor shall i be the last, that has been blamed unjustly. all persons employed in public affairs are subject to such hazards, but i submit myself to him who knows all hearts, and who governs all. i take him to witness that in the affair of antwerp, as in all my other actions since my earliest youth, i have most sincerely sought his glory and the, welfare of his poor people, without regard to my own private interests." for it is not alone the fate of antwerp that is here to be recorded. the fame of sainte aldegonde was now seriously compromised. the character of a great man must always be closely scanned and scrutinised; protected, if needful, against calumny, but always unflinchingly held up to the light. names illustrious by genius and virtue are history's most precious treasures, faithfully to be guarded by her, jealously to be watched; but it is always a misfortune when her eyes are deceived by a glitter which is not genuine. sainte aldegonde was a man of unquestionable genius. his character had ever been beyond the reproach of self-seeking or ignoble ambition. he had multiplied himself into a thousand forms to serve the cause of the united netherland states, and the services so rendered had been brilliant and frequent. a great change in his conduct and policy was now approaching, and it is therefore the more necessary to examine closely at this epoch his attitude and his character. early in june, richardot, president of the council of artois, addressed a letter to sainte aldegonde, by command of alexander of parma, suggesting a secret interview between the burgomaster and the prince. on the th of june, sainte aldegonde replied, in favourable terms, as to the interview; but observed, that, as he was an official personage, it was necessary for him to communicate the project to the magistracy of the city. he expressed likewise the hope that parma would embrace the present opportunity for making a general treaty with all the provinces. a special accord with antwerp, leaving out holland and zeeland, would, he said, lead to the utter desolation of that city, and to the destruction of its commerce and manufactures, while the occasion now presented itself to the prince of "winning praise and immortal glory by bringing back all the country to a voluntary and prompt obedience to his majesty." he proposed, that, instead of his coming alone, there should be a number of deputies sent from antwerp to confer with alexander. on the th june, richardot replied by expressing, his own regrets and those of the prince, that the interview could not have been with the burgomaster alone, but acknowledging the weight of his reasons, and acquiescing in the proposition to send a larger deputation. three days afterwards, sainte aldegonde, on private consultation with some confidential personages, changed his ground; announced his preference for a private interview, under four eyes, with parma; and requested that a passport might be sent. the passport was accordingly forwarded the same day, with an expression of alexander's gratification, and with the offer, on the part of richardot, to come himself to antwerp as hostage during the absence of the burgomaster in parma's camp at beveren. sainte aldegonde was accordingly about to start on the following day ( th of june), but meantime the affair had got wind. a secret interview, thus projected, was regarded by the citizens as extremely suspicious. there was much bitter insinuation against the burgomaster--many violent demonstrations. "aldegonde, they say, is going to see parma," said one of the burghers, "which gives much dissatisfaction, because, 'tis feared that he will make a treaty according to the appetite and pleasure of his highness, having been gained over to the royal cause by money. he says that it would be a misfortune to send a large number of burghers. last sunday ( th june) there was a meeting of the broad council. the preachers came into the assembly and so animated the citizens by demonstrations of their religion, that all rushed from the council-house, crying with loud voices that they did not desire peace but war." this desire was a healthy and a reasonable one; but, unfortunately, the antwerpers had not always been so vigorous or so united in their resistance to parma. at present, however, they were very furious, so soon as the secret purpose of sainte aldegonde became generally known. the proposed capitulation, which great mobs had been for weeks long savagely demanding at the hands of the burgomaster, was now ascribed to the burgomaster's unblushing corruption. he had obviously, they thought, been purchased by spanish ducats to do what he had hitherto been so steadily refusing. a certain van werne had gone from antwerp into holland a few days before upon his own private affairs, with a safe-conduct from parma. sainte aldegonde had not communicated to him the project then on foot, but he had permitted him to seek a secret interview with count mansfeld. if that were granted, van werne was to hint that in case the provinces could promise themselves a religious peace it would be possible, in the opinion of sainte aldegonde, to induce holland and zealand and all the rest of the united provinces, to return to their obedience. van werne, on his return to antwerp, divulged these secret negotiations, and so put a stop to sainte aldegonde's scheme of going alone to parma. "this has given a bad suspicion to the people," wrote the burgomaster to richardot, "so much so that i fear to have trouble. the broad council has been in session, but i don't know what has taken place there, and i do not dare to ask." sainte aldegonde's motive, as avowed by himself, for seeking a private interview, was because he had received no answer to the main point in his first letter, as to the proposition for a general accord. in order therefore to make the deliberations more rapid, he had been disposed to discuss that preliminary question in secret. "but now," said he to richardot, "as the affair had been too much divulged, as well by diverse reports and writings sown about, very inopportunely, as by the arrival of m. van werne, i have not found it practicable to set out upon my road, without communication with the members of the government. this has been done, however, not in the way of consultation, but as the announcement of a thing already resolved upon." he proceeded to state, that great difficulties had arisen, exactly as he had foreseen. the magistrates would not hear of a general accord, and it was therefore necessary that a delay should be interposed before it would be possible for him to come. he begged richardot to persuade alexander, that he was not trifling with him. "it is not," said he, "from lightness, or any other passion, that i am retarding this affair. i will do all in my power to obtain leave to make a journey to the camp of his highness, at whatever price it may cost and i hope before long to arrive at my object. if i fail, it must be ascribed to the humours of the people; for my anxiety to restore all the provinces to obedience to his majesty is extreme." richardot, in reply, the next day, expressed regret, without astonishment, on the part of alexander and himself, at the intelligence thus received. people had such difference of humour, he said, and all men were not equally capable of reason. nevertheless the citizens were warned not to misconstrue parma's gentleness, because he was determined to die, with his whole army, rather than not take antwerp. "as for the king," said richardot, "he will lay down all his crowns sooner than abandon this enterprise." van werne was represented as free from blame, and sincerely desirous of peace. richardot had only stated to him, in general terms, that letters had been received from sainte aldegonde, expressing an opinion in favour of peace. as for the royalists, they were quite innocent of the reports and writings that had so inopportunely been circulated in the city. it was desirable, however, that the negotiation should not too long be deferred, for otherwise antwerp might perish, before a general accord with holland and zeeland could be made. he begged sainte aldegonde to banish all anxiety as to parma's sentiments towards himself or the community. "put yourself, sir, quite at your ease," said he. "his highness is in no respects dissatisfied with you, nor prone to conceive any indignation against this poor people." he assured the burgomaster that he was not suspected of lightness, nor of a wish to delay matters, but he expressed solicitude with regard to the threatening demonstrations which had been made against him in antwerp. "for," said he, "popular governments are full of a thousand hazards, and it would be infinitely painful to me, if you should come to harm." thus it would appear that it was sainte aldegonde who was chiefly anxious to effect the reconciliation of holland and zeeland with the king. the initiative of this project to include all the united provinces in one scheme with the reduction of antwerp came originally from him, and was opposed, at the outset, by the magistrates of that city, by the prince of parma and his councillors, and, by the states of holland and zeeland. the demonstrations on the part of the preachers, the municipal authorities, and the burghers, against sainte aldegonde and his plan for a secret interview, so soon as it was divulged, made it impossible to carry that project into effect. "aldegonde, who governs antwerp," wrote parma to philip, "was endeavouring, eight days ago, to bring about some kind of negotiation for an accord. he manifested a desire to come hither for the sake of a personal interview with me, which i permitted. it was to have taken place last sunday, th of this month, but by reason of a certain popular tumult, which arose out of these circumstances, it has been necessary to defer the meeting." there was much disappointment felt by the royalist at this unsatisfactory result. "these bravadoes and impertinent demonstrations on the part of some of your people," wrote richardot, ten days later, "will be the destruction of the whole country, and will convert the prince's gentleness into anger. 'tis these good and zealous patriots, trusting to a little favourable breeze that blew for a few days past, who have been the cause of all this disturbance, and who are ruining their miserable country--miserable, i say, for having produced such abortions as themselves." notwithstanding what had passed, however, richardot intimated that alexander was still ready to negotiate. "and if you, sir," he concluded, in his letter to aldegonde, "concerning whom many of our friends have at present a sinister opinion, as if your object was to circumvent us, are willing to proceed roundly and frankly, as i myself firmly believe that you will do, we may yet hope for a favourable issue." thus the burgomaster was already the object of suspicion to both parties. the antwerpers denounced him as having been purchased by spanish gold; the royalists accused him of intending to overreach the king. it was not probable therefore that all were correct in their conjectures. at last it was arranged that deputies should be appointed by the broad council to commence a negotiation with parma. sainte aldegonde informed richardot, that he would ( th july, ) accompany them, if his affairs should permit. he protested his sincerity and frankness throughout the whole affair. "they try to calumniate me," he said, "as much on one side as on the other, but i will overcome by my innocence all the malice of my slanderers. if his highness should be pleased to grant us some liberty for our religion, i dare to promise such faithful service as will give very great satisfaction." four days later, sainte aldegonde himself, together with m. de duffel, m. de schoonhoven, and adrian hesselt, came to parma's camp at beveren, as deputies on the part of the antwerp authorities. they were courteously received by the prince, and remained three days as his guests. during the period of this visit, the terms of a capitulation were thoroughly discussed, between alexander and his councillors upon one part, and the four deputies on the other. the envoys endeavoured, with all the arguments at their command, to obtain the consent of the prince to three preliminary points which they laid down as indispensable. religious liberty must be granted, the citadel must not be reconstructed, a foreign garrison must not be admitted; they said. as it was the firm intention of the king, however, not to make the slightest concession on any one of these points, the discussion was not a very profitable one. besides the public interviews at which all the negotiators were present, there was a private conference between parma and sainte aldegonde which lasted more than four hours, in which each did his best to enforce his opinions upon the other. the burgomaster endeavoured to persuade the prince with all the eloquence for which he was so renowned, that the hearts not of the antwerpers only, but of the hollanders and zeelanders, were easily to be won at that moment. give them religious liberty, and attempt to govern them by gentleness rather than by spanish garrisons, and the road was plain to a complete reconciliation of all the provinces with his majesty. alexander, who knew his master to be inexorable upon these three points, was courteous but peremptory in his statements. he recommended that the rebels should take into consideration their own declining strength, the inexhaustible resources of the king, the impossibility of obtaining succour from france, and the perplexing dilatoriness of england, rather than waste their time in idle expectations of a change in the spanish policy. he also intimated, obliquely but very plainly, to sainte aldegonde, that his own fortune would be made, and that he had everything to hope from his majesty's bounty, if he were now willing to make himself useful in carrying into effect the royal plans. the prince urged these views with so much eloquence, that he seemed, in his own words, to have been directly inspired by the lord for this special occasion! sainte aldegonde, too, was signally impressed by alexander's language, and thoroughly fascinated-magnetized, as it were--by his character. he subsequently declared, that he had often conversed familiarly with many eloquent personages, but that he had never known a man more powerful or persuasive than the prince of parma. he could honestly say of him--as hasdrubal had said of scipio--that farnese was even more admirable when seen face to face, than he had seemed when one only heard of his glorious achievements. "the burgomaster and three deputies," wrote parma to philip, "were here until the th july. we discussed ( th july, ) the points and form of a capitulation, and they have gone back thoroughly satisfied. sainte aldegonde especially was much pleased with the long interview which he had with me, alone, and which lasted more than three hours. i told him, as well as my weakness and suffering from the tertian fever permitted, all that god inspired me to say on our behalf." nevertheless, if sainte aldegonde and his colleagues went away thoroughly satisfied, they had reason, soon after their return, to become thoroughly dejected. the magistrates and burghers would not listen to a proposition to abandon the three points, however strongly urged to do so by arguments drawn from the necessity of the situation, and by representations of parma's benignity. as for the burgomaster, he became the target for calumny, so soon as his three hours' private interview became known; and the citizens loudly declared that his head ought to be cut off, and sent in a bag, as a present, to philip, in order that the traitor might meet the sovereign with whom he sought a reconciliation, face to face, as soon as possible. the deputies, immediately after their return, made their report to the magistrates, as likewise to the colonels and captains, and to the deans of guilds. next day, although it was sunday, there was a session of the broad council, and sainte aldegonde made a long address, in which--as he stated in a letter to richardot--he related everything that had passed in his private conversation with alexander. an answer was promised to parma on the following tuesday, but the burgomaster spoke very discouragingly as to the probability of an accord. "the joy with which our return was greeted," he said, "was followed by a general disappointment and sadness, so soon as the result was known. the want of a religious toleration, as well as the refusal to concede on the other two points, has not a little altered the hearts of all, even of the catholics. a citadel and a garrison are considered ruin and desolation to a great commercial city. i have done what i can to urge the acceptance of such conditions as the prince is willing to give, and have spoken in general terms of his benign intentions. the citizens still desire peace. had his highness been willing to take both religions under his protection, he might have won all hearts, and very soon all the other provinces would have returned to their obedience, while the clemency and magnanimity of his majesty would thus have been rendered admirable throughout the world." the power to form an accurate conception as to the nature of philip and of other personages with whom he was dealing, and as to the general signs of his times, seems to have been wanting in the character of the gifted aldegonde. he had been dazzled by the personal presence of parma, and he now spoke of philip ii., as if his tyranny over the netherlands--which for twenty years had been one horrible and uniform whole--were the accidental result of circumstances, not the necessary expression of his individual character, and might be easily changed at will--as if nero, at a moment's warning, might transform himself into trajan. it is true that the innermost soul of the spanish king could by no possibility be displayed to any contemporary, as it reveals itself, after three centuries, to those who study the record of his most secret thoughts; but, at any rate, it would seem that his career had been sufficiently consistent, to manifest the amount of "clemency and magnanimity" which he might be expected to exercise. "had his majesty," wrote sainte aldegonde, "been willing, since the year sixty-six, to pursue a course of toleration, the memory of his reign would have been sacred to all posterity, with an immortal praise of sapience, benignity, and sovereign felicity." this might be true, but nevertheless a tolerating philip, in the year , ought to have seemed to sainte aldegonde an impossible idea. "the emperors," continued the burgomaster, "who immediately succeeded tiberius were the cause of the wisdom which displayed itself in the good trajan--also a spaniard--and in antoninus, verus, and the rest: if you think that this city, by the banishment of a certain number of persons, will be content to abandon the profession of the reformed faith, you are much mistaken. you will see, with time, that the exile of this religion will be accompanied by a depopulation and a sorrowful ruin and desolation of this flourishing city. but this will be as it pleases god. meantime i shall not fail to make all possible exertions to induce the citizens to consent to a reconciliation with his majesty. the broad council will soon give their answer, and then we shall send a deputation. we shall invite holland and zeeland to join with us, but there is little hope of their consent." certainly there was little hope of their consent. sainte aldegonde was now occupied in bringing about the capitulation of antwerp, without any provision for religious liberty--a concession which parma had most distinctly refused--and it was not probable that holland and zeeland, after twenty years of hard fighting, and with an immediate prospect of assistance from england--could now be induced to resign the great object of the contest without further struggle. it was not until a month had elapsed that the authorities of antwerp sent their propositions to the prince of parma. on the th august, however, sainte aldegonde, accompanied by the same three gentlemen who had been employed on the first mission, and by seventeen others besides, proceeded with safe-conduct to the camp at beveren. here they were received with great urbanity, and hospitably entertained by alexander, who received their formal draft of articles for a capitulation, and referred it to be reported upon to richardot, pamel, and vanden burgh. meantime there were many long speeches and several conferences, sometimes between all the twenty-one envoys and the prince together; on other occasions, more secret ones, at which only aldegonde and one or two of his colleagues were present. it had been obvious, from the date of the first interview, in the preceding month, that the negotiation would be of no avail until the government of antwerp was prepared to abandon all the conditions which they had originally announced as indispensable. alexander had not much disposition and no authority whatever to make concessions. "so far as i can understand," parma had written on the th july, "they are very far from a conclusion. they have most exorbitant ideas, talking of some kind of liberty of conscience, besides refusing on any account to accept of garrisons, and having many reasons to allege on such subjects." the discussions, therefore, after the deputies had at last arrived, though courteously conducted, could scarcely be satisfactory to both parties. "the articles were thoroughly deliberated upon," wrote alexander, "by all the deputies, nor did i fail to have private conferences with aldegonde, that most skilful and practised lawyer and politician, as well as with two or three of the others. i did all in my power to bring them to a thorough recognition of their errors, and to produce a confidence in his majesty's clemency, in order that they might concede what was needful for the interests of the catholic religion and the security of the city. they heard all i had to say without exasperating themselves, and without interposing any strong objections, except in the matter of religion, and, still more, in the matter of the citadel and the garrison. aldegonde took much pains to persuade me that it would be ruinous for a great, opulent, commercial city to submit to a foreign military force. even if compelled by necessity to submit now, the inhabitants would soon be compelled by the same necessity to abandon the place entirely, and to leave in ruins one of the most splendid and powerful cities in the world, and in this opinion catholics and heretics unanimously concurred. the deputies protested, with one accord, that so pernicious and abominable a thing as a citadel and garrison could not even be proposed to their constituents. i answered, that, so long as the rebellion of holland and zeeland lasted, it would be necessary for your majesty to make sure of antwerp, by one or the other of those means, but promised that the city should be relieved of the incumbrance so soon as those islands should be reduced. "sainte aldegonde was not discouraged by this statement, but in the hope of convincing others, or with the wish of showing that he had tried his best, desired that i would hear him before the council of state. i granted the request, and sainte aldegonde then made another long and very elegant oration, intended to divert me from my resolution." it must be confessed--if the reports, which have come down to us of that long and elegant oration be correct--that the enthusiasm of the burgomaster for alexander was rapidly degenerating into idolatry. "we are not here, o invincible prince," he said, "that we may excuse, by an anxious legation, the long defence which we have made of our homes. who could have feared any danger to the most powerful city in the netherlands from so moderate a besieging force? you would yourself have rather wished for, than approved of, a greater facility on our part, for the brave cannot love the timid. we knew the number of your troops, we had discovered the famine in your camp, we were aware of the paucity of your ships, we had heard of the quarrels in your army, we were expecting daily to hear of a general mutiny among your soldiers. were we to believe that with ten or eleven thousand men you would be able to block up the city by land and water, to reduce the open country of brabant, to cut off all aid as well from the neighbouring towns as from the powerful provinces of holland and zeeland, to oppose, without a navy, the whole strength of our fleets, directed against the dyke? truly, if you had been at the head of fifty thousand soldiers, and every soldier had possessed one hundred hands, it would have seemed impossible for you to meet so many emergencies in so many places, and under so many distractions. what you have done we now believe possible to do, only because we see that it has been done. you have subjugated the scheldt, and forced it to bear its bridge, notwithstanding the strength of its current, the fury of the ocean-tides, the tremendous power of the icebergs, the perpetual conflicts with our fleets. we destroyed your bridge, with great slaughter of your troops. rendered more courageous by that slaughter, you restored that mighty work. we assaulted the great dyke, pierced it through and through, and opened a path for our ships. you drove us off when victors, repaired the ruined bulwark, and again closed to us the avenue of relief. what machine was there that we did not employ? what miracles of fire did we not invent? what fleets and floating cidadels did we not put in motion? all that genius, audacity, and art, could teach us we have executed, calling to our assistance water, earth, heaven, and hell itself. yet with all these efforts, with all this enginry, we have not only failed to drive you from our walls, but we have seen you gaining victories over other cities at the same time. you have done a thing, o prince, than which there is nothing greater either in ancient or modern story. it has often occurred, while a general was besieging one city that he lost another situate farther off. but you, while besieging antwerp, have reduced simultaneously dendermonde, ghent, nymegen, brussels, and mechlin." all this, and much more, with florid rhetoric, the burgomaster pronounced in honour of farnese, and the eulogy was entirely deserved. it was hardly becoming, however, for such lips, at such a moment, to sound the praise of him whose victory had just decided the downfall of religious liberty, and of the national independence of the netherlands. his colleagues certainly must have winced, as they listened to commendations so lavishly bestowed upon the representative of philip, and it is not surprising that sainte aldegonde's growing unpopularity should, from that hour, have rapidly increased. to abandon the whole object of the siege, when resistance seemed hopeless, was perhaps pardonable, but to offer such lip-homage to the conqueror was surely transgressing the bounds of decorum. his conclusion, too, might to alexander seem as insolent as the whole tenor of his address had been humble; for, after pronouncing this solemn eulogy upon the conqueror, he calmly proposed that the prize of the contest should be transferred to the conquered. "so long as liberty of religion, and immunity from citadel and garrison can be relied upon," he said, "so long will antwerp remain the most splendid and flourishing city in christendom; but desolation will ensue if the contrary policy is to prevail." but it was very certain that liberty of religion, as well as immunity from citadel and garrison, were quite out of the question. philip and parma had long been inexorably resolved upon all the three points. "after the burgomaster had finished his oration," wrote alexander to his sovereign, "i discussed the matter with him in private, very distinctly and minutely." the religious point was soon given up, sainte aldegonde finding it waste of breath to say anything more about freedom of conscience. a suggestion was however made on the subject of the garrison, which the prince accepted, because it contained a condition which it would be easy to evade. "aldegonde proposed," said parma, "that a garrison might be admissible if i made my entrance into the city merely with infantry and cavalry of nations which were acceptable--walloons, namely, and germans--and in no greater numbers than sufficient for a body-guard. i accepted, because, in substance, this would amount to a garrison, and because, also, after the magistrates shall have been changed, i shall have no difficulty in making myself master of the people, continuing the garrison, and rebuilding the citadel." the prince proceeded to give his reasons why he was willing to accept the capitulation on what he considered so favourable terms to the besieged. autumn was approaching. already the fury of the storms had driven vessels clean over the dykes; the rebels in holland and zeeland were preparing their fleets--augmented by many new ships of war and fire-machines--for another desperate attack upon the palisades, in which there was great possibility of their succeeding; an auxiliary force from england was soon expected; so that, in view of all these circumstances, he had resolved to throw himself at his majesty's feet and implore his clemency. "if this people of antwerp, as the head, is gained," said he, "there will be tranquillity in all the members." these reasons were certainly conclusive; nor is it easy to believe, that, under the circumstances thus succinctly stated by alexander, it would have been impossible for the patriots to hold out until the promised succour from holland and from england should arrive. in point of fact, the bridge could not have stood the winter which actually ensued; for it was the repeatedly expressed opinion of the spanish officers in antwerp, that the icebergs which then filled the scheldt must inevitably have shattered twenty bridges to fragments, had there been so many. it certainly was superfluous for the prince to make excuses to philip for accepting the proposed capitulation. all the prizes of victory had been thoroughly secured, unless pillage, massacre, and rape, which had been the regular accompaniments of alva's victories, were to be reckoned among the indispensable trophies of a spanish triumph. nevertheless, the dearth in the city had been well concealed from the enemy; for, three days after the surrender, not a loaf of bread was to be had for any money in all antwerp, and alexander declared that he would never have granted such easy conditions had he been aware of the real condition of affairs. the articles of capitulation agreed upon between parma and the deputies were brought before the broad council on the th august. there was much opposition to them, as many magistrates and other influential personages entertained sanguine expectations from the english negotiation, and were beginning to rely with confidence upon the promises of queen elizabeth. the debate was waxing warm, when some of the councillors, looking out of window of the great hall, perceived that a violent mob had collected in the streets. furious cries for bread were uttered, and some meagre-looking individuals were thrust forward to indicate the famine which was prevailing, and the necessity of concluding the treaty without further delay. thus the municipal government was perpetually exposed to democratic violence, excited by diametrically opposite influences. sometimes the burgomaster was denounced for having sold himself and his country to the spaniards, and was assailed with execrations for being willing to conclude a sudden and disgraceful peace. at other moments he was accused of forging letters containing promises of succour from the queen of england and from the authorities of holland, in order to protract the lingering tortures of the war. upon this occasion the peace-mob carried its point. the councillors, looking out of window, rushed into the hall with direful accounts of the popular ferocity; the magistrates and colonels who had been warmest in opposition suddenly changed their tone, and the whole body of the broad council accepted the articles of capitulation by a unanimous vote. the window was instantly thrown open, and the decision publicly announced. the populace, wild with delight, rushed through the streets, tearing down the arms of the duke of anjou, which had remained above the public edifices since the period of that personage's temporary residence in the netherlands, and substituting, with wonderful celerity, the escutcheon of philip the second. thus suddenly could an antwerp mob pass from democratic insolence to intense loyalty. the articles, on the whole, were as liberal as could have been expected. the only hope for antwerp and for a great commonwealth of all the netherlands was in holding out, even to the last gasp, until england and holland, now united, had time to relieve the city. this was, unquestionably, possible. had antwerp possessed the spirit of leyden, had william of orange been alive, that spanish escutcheon, now raised with such indecent haste, might have never been seen again on the outside wall of any netherland edifice. belgium would have become at once a constituent portion of a great independent national realm, instead of languishing until our own century, the dependency of a distant and a foreign metropolis. nevertheless, as the antwerpers were not disposed to make themselves martyrs, it was something that they escaped the nameless horrors which had often alighted upon cities subjected to an enraged soldiery. it redounds to the eternal honour of alexander farnese--when the fate of naarden and haarlem and maestricht, in the days of alva, and of antwerp itself in the horrible "spanish fury," is remembered--that there were no scenes of violence and outrage in the populous and wealthy city, which was at length at his mercy after having defied him so long. civil and religious liberty were trampled in the dust, commerce and manufactures were destroyed, the most valuable portion of the citizens sent into hopeless exile, but the remaining inhabitants were not butchered in cold blood. the treaty was signed on the th august. antwerp was to return to its obedience. there was to be an entire amnesty and oblivion for the past, without a single exception. royalist absentees were to be reinstated in their possessions. monasteries, churches, and the king's domains were to be restored to their former proprietors. the inhabitants of the city were to practise nothing but the catholic religion. those who refused to conform were allowed to remain two years for the purpose of winding up their affairs and selling out their property, provided that during that period they lived "without scandal towards the ancient religion"--a very vague and unsatisfactory condition. all prisoners were to be released excepting teligny. four hundred thousand florins were to be paid by the authorities as a fine. the patriot garrison was to leave the city with arms and baggage and all the honours of war. this capitulation gave more satisfaction to the hungry portion of the antwerpers than to the patriot party of the netherlands. sainte aldegonde was vehemently and unsparingly denounced as a venal traitor. it is certain, whatever his motives, that his attitude had completely changed. for it was not antwerp alone that he had reconciled or was endeavouring to reconcile with the king of spain, but holland and zeeland as well, and all the other independent provinces. the ancient champion of the patriot army, the earliest signer of the 'compromise,' the bosom friend of william the silent, the author of the 'wilhelmus' national song, now avowed his conviction, in a published defence of his conduct against the calumnious attacks upon it, "that it was impossible, with a clear conscience, for subjects, under any circumstances, to take up arms against philip, their king." certainly if he had always entertained that opinion he must have suffered many pangs of remorse during his twenty years of active and illustrious rebellion. he now made himself secretly active in promoting the schemes of parma and in counteracting the negotiation with england. he flattered himself, with an infatuation which it is difficult to comprehend, that it would be possible to obtain religious liberty for the revolting provinces, although he had consented to its sacrifice in antwerp. it is true that he had not the privilege of reading philip's secret letters to parma, but what was there in the character of the king--what intimation had ever been given by the governor-general--to induce a belief in even the possibility of such a concession? whatever sainte aldegonde's opinions, it is certain that philip had no intention of changing his own policy. he at first suspected the burgomaster of a wish to protract the negotiations for a perfidious purpose. "necessity has forced antwerp," he wrote on the th of august--the very day on which the capitulation was actually signed--"to enter into negotiation. i understand the artifice of aldegonde in seeking to prolong and make difficult the whole affair, under pretext of treating for the reduction of holland and zeeland at the same time. it was therefore very adroit in you to defeat this joint scheme at once, and urge the antwerp matter by itself, at the same time not shutting the door on the others. with the prudence and dexterity with which this business has thus far been managed i am thoroughly satisfied." the king also expressed his gratification at hearing from parma that the demand for religious liberty in the netherlands would soon be abandoned. "in spite of the vehemence," he said, "which they manifest in the religious matter, desiring some kind of liberty, they will in the end, as you say they will, content themselves with what the other cities, which have returned to obedience, have obtained. this must be done in all cases without flinching, and without permitting any modification." what "had been obtained" by brussels, mechlin, ghent, was well known. the heretics had obtained the choice of renouncing their religion or of going into perpetual exile, and this was to be the case "without flinching" in holland and zeeland, if those provinces chose to return to obedience. yet sainte aldegonde deluded himself with the thought of a religious peace. in another and very important letter of the same date philip laid down his policy very distinctly. the prince of parma, by no means such a bigot as his master, had hinted at the possibility of tolerating the reformed religion in the places recovered from the rebels, sub silentio, for a period not defined, and long enough for the heretics to awake from their errors. "you have got an expression of opinion, i see," wrote the king to alexander, "of some grave men of wisdom and conscience, that the limitation of time, during which the heretics may live without scandal, may be left undefined; but i feel very keenly the danger of such a proposition. with regard to holland and zeeland, or any other provinces or towns, the first step must be for them to receive and maintain alone the exercise of the catholic religion, and to subject themselves to the roman church, without tolerating the exercise of any other religion, in city, village, farm-house, or building thereto destined in the fields, or in any place whatsoever; and in this regulation there is to be no flaw, no change, no concession by convention or otherwise of a religious peace, or anything of the sort. they are all to embrace the roman catholic religion, and the exercise of that is alone to be permitted." this certainly was distinct enough, and nothing had been ever said in public to induce a belief in any modification of the principles on which philip had uniformly acted. that monarch considered himself born to suppress heresy, and he had certainly been carrying out this work during his whole lifetime. the king was willing, however, as alexander had intimated in his negotiations with antwerp, and previously in the capitulation of brussels, ghent, and other places, that there should be an absence of investigation into the private chambers of the heretics, during the period allotted them for choosing between the papacy and exile. "it may be permitted," said philip, "to abstain from inquiring as to what the heretics are doing within their own doors, in a private way, without scandal, or any public exhibition of their rites during a fixed time. but this connivance, and the abstaining from executing the heretics, or from chastising them, even although they may be living very circumspectly, is to be expressed in very vague terms." being most anxious to provide against a second crop of heretics to succeed the first, which he was determined to uproot, he took pains to enjoin with his own hand upon parma the necessity of putting in catholic schoolmasters and mistresses to the exclusion of reformed teachers into all the seminaries of the recovered provinces, in order that all the boys and girls might grow up in thorough orthodoxy. yet this was the man from whom sainte aldegonde imagined the possibility of obtaining a religious peace. ten days after the capitulation, parma made his triumphal entrance into antwerp; but, according to his agreement, he spared the citizens the presence of the spanish and italian soldiers, the military procession being composed of the germans and walloons. escorted by his body-guard, and surrounded by a knot of magnates and veterans, among whom the duke of arschot, the prince of chimay, the counts mansfeld, egmont, and aremberg, were conspicuous, alexander proceeded towards the captured city. he was met at the keyser gate by a triumphal chariot of gorgeous workmanship, in which sat the fair nymph antwerpia, magnificently bedizened, and accompanied by a group of beautiful maidens. antwerpia welcomed the conqueror with a kiss, recited a poem in his honour, and bestowed upon him the keys of the city, one of which was in gold. this the prince immediately fastened to the chain around his neck, from which was suspended the lamb of the golden fleece, with which order he had just been, amid great pomp and ceremony, invested. on the public square called the mere, the genoese merchants had erected two rostral columns, each surmounted by a colossal image, representing respectively alexander of macedon and alexander of parma. before the house of portugal was an enormous phoenix, expanding her wings quite across the street; while, in other parts of the town, the procession was met by ships of war, elephants, dromedaries, whales, dragons, and other triumphal phenomena. in the market-place were seven statues in copper, personifying the seven planets, together with an eighth representing bacchus; and perhaps there were good mythological reasons why the god of wine, together with so large a portion of our solar system, should be done in copper by jacob jongeling, to honour the triumph of alexander, although the key to the enigma has been lost. the cathedral had been thoroughly fumigated with frankincense, and besprinkled with holy water, to purify the sacred precincts from their recent pollution by the reformed rites; and the protestant pulpits which had been placed there, had been soundly beaten with rods, and then burned to ashes. the procession entered within its walls, where a magnificent te deum was performed, and then, after much cannon-firing, bell-ringing, torch-light exhibition, and other pyrotechnics, the prince made his way at last to the palace provided for him. the glittering display, by which the royalists celebrated their triumph, lasted three days' long, the city being thronged from all the country round with eager and frivolous spectators, who were never wearied with examining the wonders of the bridge and the forts, and with gazing at the tragic memorials which still remained of the fight on the kowenstyn. during this interval, the spanish and italian soldiery, not willing to be outdone in demonstrations of respect to their chief, nor defrauded of their rightful claim to a holiday amused themselves with preparing a demonstration of a novel character. the bridge, which, as it was well known, was to be destroyed within a very few days, was adorned with triumphal arches, and decked with trees and flowering plants; its roadway was strewed with branches; and the palisades, parapets, and forts, were garnished with wreaths, emblems, and poetical inscriptions in honour of the prince. the soldiers themselves, attired in verdurous garments of foliage and flower-work, their swart faces adorned with roses and lilies, paraded the bridge and the dyke in fantastic procession with clash of cymbal and flourish of trumpet, dancing, singing, and discharging their carbines, in all the delirium of triumph. nor was a suitable termination to the festival wanting, for alexander, pleased with the genial character of these demonstrations, repaired himself to the bridge, where he was received with shouts of rapture by his army, thus whimsically converted into a horde of fauns and satyrs. afterwards, a magnificent banquet was served to the soldiers upon the bridge. the whole extent of its surface, from the flemish to the brabant shore--the scene so lately of deadly combat, and of the midnight havoc caused by infernal enginery--was changed, as if by the stroke of a wand, into a picture of sylvan and arcadian merry-making, and spread with tables laden with delicate viands. here sat that host of war--bronzed figures, banqueting at their ease, their heads crowned with flowers, while the highest magnates of the army, humouring them in their masquerade, served them with dainties, and filled their goblets with wine. after these festivities had been concluded, parma set himself to practical business. there had been a great opposition, during the discussion of the articles of capitulation to the reconstruction of the famous citadel. that fortress had been always considered, not as a defence of the place against a foreign enemy, but as an instrument to curb the burghers themselves beneath a hostile power. the city magistrates, however, as well as the dean and chief officers in all the guilds and fraternities, were at once changed by parma--catholics being uniformly substituted for heretics. in consequence, it was not difficult to bring about a change of opinion in the broad council. it is true that neither papists nor calvinists regarded with much satisfaction the prospect of military violence being substituted for civic rule, but in the first effusion of loyalty, and in the triumph of the ancient religion, they forgot the absolute ruin to which their own action was now condemning their city. champagny, who had once covered himself with glory by his heroic though unsuccessful efforts to save antwerp from the dreadful "spanish fury" which had descended from that very citadel, was now appointed governor of the town, and devoted himself to the reconstruction of the hated fortress. "champagny has particularly aided me," wrote parma, "with his rhetoric and clever management, and has brought the broad council itself to propose that the citadel should be rebuilt. it will therefore be done, as by the burghers themselves, without your majesty or myself appearing to desire it." this was, in truth, a triumph of "rhetoric and clever management," nor could a city well abase itself more completely, kneeling thus cheerfully at its conqueror's feet, and requesting permission to put the yoke upon its own neck. "the erection of the castle has thus been determined upon," said parma, "and i am supposed to know nothing of the resolution." a little later he observed that they, were "working away most furiously at the citadel, and that within a month it would be stronger than it ever had been before." the building went on, indeed, with astonishing celerity, the fortress rising out of its ruins almost as rapidly, under the hands of the royalists, as it had been demolished, but a few years before, by the patriots. the old foundations still remained, and blocks of houses, which had been constructed out of its ruins, were thrown down that the materials might be again employed in its restoration. the citizens, impoverished and wretched, humbly demanded that the expense of building the citadel might be in part defrayed by the four hundred thousand florins in which they had been mulcted by the capitulation. "i don't marvel at this," said parma, "for certainly the poor city is most forlorn and poverty-stricken, the heretics having all left it." it was not long before it was very satisfactorily established, that the presence of those same heretics and liberty of conscience for all men, were indispensable conditions for the prosperity of the great capital. its downfall was instantaneous. the merchants and industrious artisans all wandered away from the place which had been the seat of a world-wide traffic. civilisation and commerce departed, and in their stead were the citadel and the jesuits. by express command of philip, that order, banished so recently, was reinstated in antwerp, as well as throughout the obedient provinces; and all the schools and colleges were placed under its especial care. no children could be thenceforth instructed except by the lips of those fathers. here was a curb more efficacious even than the citadel. that fortress was at first garrisoned with walloons and germans. "i have not yet induced the citizens," said parma, "to accept a spanish garrison, nor am i surprised; so many of them remembering past events (alluding to the 'spanish fury,' but not mentioning it by name), and observing the frequent mutinies at the present time. before long, i expect, however, to make the spaniards as acceptable and agreeable as the inhabitants of the country themselves." it may easily be supposed that philip was pleased with the triumphs that had thus been achieved. he was even grateful, or affected to be grateful, to him who had achieved them. he awarded great praise to alexander for his exertions, on the memorable occasions of the attack upon the bridge, and the battle of the kowenstyn; but censured him affectionately for so rashly exposing his life. "i have no words," he said, "to render the thanks which are merited for all that you have been doing. i recommend you earnestly however to have a care for the security of your person, for that is of more consequence than all the rest." after the news of the reduction of the city, he again expressed gratification, but in rather cold language. "from such obstinate people," said he, "not more could be extracted than has been extracted; therefore the capitulation is satisfactory." what more he wished to extract it would be difficult to say, for certainly the marrow had been extracted from the bones, and the dead city was thenceforth left to moulder under the blight of a foreign garrison and an army of jesuits. "perhaps religious affairs will improve before long," said philip. they did improve very soon, as he understood the meaning of improvement. a solitude of religion soon brought with it a solitude in every other regard, and antwerp became a desert, as sainte aldegonde had foretold would be the case. the king had been by no means so calm, however, when the intelligence of the capitulation first reached him at madrid. on the contrary, his oldest courtiers had never seen him exhibit such marks of hilarity. when he first heard of the glorious victory at lepanto, his countenance had remained impassive, and he had continued in the chapel at the devotional exercises which the messenger from don john had interrupted. only when the news of the massacre of st. bartholomew first reached him, had he displayed an amount of cheerfulness equal to that which he manifested at the fall of antwerp. "never," said granvelle, "had the king been so radiant with joy as when he held in his hand the despatches which announced the capitulation." the letters were brought to him after he had retired to rest, but his delight was so great that he could not remain in his bed. rushing from his chamber, so soon as he had read them, to that of his dearly-beloved daughter, clara isabella, he knocked loudly at the door, and screaming through the keyhole the three words, "antwerp is ours," returned precipitately again to his own apartment. it was the general opinion in spain, that the capture of this city had terminated the resistance of the netherlands. holland and zeeland would, it was thought, accept with very little hesitation the terms which parma had been offering, through the agency of sainte aldegonde; and, with the reduction of those two provinces, the spanish dominion over the whole country would of course become absolute. secretary idiaquez observed, on drawing up instructions for carlo coloma, a spanish financier then departing on special mission for the provinces, that he would soon come back to spain, for the prince of parma was just putting an end to the whole belgic war. time was to show whether holland and zeeland were as malleable as antwerp, and whether there would not be a battle or two more to fight before that belgic war would come to its end. meantime antwerp was securely fettered, while the spirit of commerce--to which its unexampled prosperity had been due--now took its flight to the lands where civil and religious liberty had found a home. ===================================== note on marnix de sainte aldegonde. as every illustration of the career and character of this eminent personage excites constant interest in the netherlands, i have here thrown together, in the form of an appendix, many important and entirely unpublished details, drawn mainly from the archives of simancas, and from the state paper office and british museum in london. the ex-burgomaster seemed determined to counteract the policy of those netherlanders who wished to offer the sovereignty of the provinces to the english queen. he had been earnestly in favour of annexation to france, for his sympathies and feelings were eminently french. he had never been a friend to england, and he was soon aware that a strong feeling of indignation--whether just or unjust--existed against him both in that country and in the netherlands, on account of the surrender of antwerp. "i have had large conference with villiers," wrote sir john norris to walsingham, "he condemneth ste. aldegonde's doings, but will impute it to fear and not to malice. ste. aldegonde, notwithstanding that he was forbidden to come to holland, and laid for at the fleet, yet stole secretly to dort, where they say he is staid, but i doubt he will be heard speak, and then assuredly he will do great hurt." it was most certainly sainte aldegonde's determination, so soon as the capitulation of antwerp had been resolved upon, to do his utmost to restore all the independent provinces to their ancient allegiance. rather spanish than english was his settled resolution. liberty of religion, if possible--that was his cherished wish--but still more ardently, perhaps, did he desire to prevent the country from falling into the hands of elizabeth. "the prince of parma hath conceived such an assured hope of the fidelity of aldegonde," wrote one of walsingham's agents, richard tomson, "in reducing the provinces, yet enemies, into a perfect subjection, that the spaniards are so well persuaded of the man as if he had never been against them. they say, about the middle of this month, he departed for zeeland and holland, to prosecute the effect of his promises, and i am the more induced to believe that he is become altogether spanish, for that the common bruit goeth that he hastened the surrendering of the town of antwerp, after he had intelligence of the coming of the english succours." there was naturally much indignation felt in the independent provinces, against all who had been thought instrumental in bringing about the reduction of the great cities of flanders. famars, governor of mechlin, van den tympel, governor of brussels, martini, who had been active in effecting the capitulation of antwerp, were all arrested in holland. "from all that i can hear," said parma, "it is likely that they will be very severely handled, which is the reason why ste. aldegonde, although he sent his wife and children to holland, has not ventured thither himself: it appears that they threaten him there, but he means now to go, under pretext of demanding to justify himself from the imputations against him. although he tells me freely that, without some amplification of the concessions hitherto made on the point of religion, he hopes for no good result, yet i trust that he will do good offices in the meantime, in spite of the difficulties which obstruct his efforts. on my part, every exertion will be made, and not without hope of some fruit, if not before, at least after, these people have become as tired of the english as they were of the french." of this mutual ill-feeling between the english and the burgomaster, there can be no doubt whatever. the queen's government was fully aware of his efforts to counteract its negotiation with the netherlands, and to bring about their reconciliation with spain. when the earl of leicester--as will soon be related--arrived in the provinces, he was not long in comprehending his attitude and his influence. "i wrote somewhat of sir aldegonde in putting his case," wrote leicester, "but this is certain, i have the copy of his very letters sent hither to practise the peace not two days before i came, and this day one hath told me that loves him well, that he hates our countrymen unrecoverably. i am sorry for it." on the other hand, the queen was very indignant with the man whom she looked upon as the paid agent of spain. she considered him a renegade, the more dangerous because his previous services had been so illustrious. "her majesty's mislike towards ste. aldegonde continueth," wrote walsingham to leicester, "and she taketh offence that he was not restrained of his liberty by your lordship's order." it is unquestionable that the exburgomaster intended to do his best towards effecting the reconciliation of all the provinces with spain; and it is equally certain that the king had offered to pay him well, if he proved successful in his endeavours. there is no proof, however, and no probability that sainte aldegonde ever accepted or ever intended to accept the proffered bribe. on the contrary, his whole recorded career ought to disprove the supposition. yet it is painful, to find him, at this crisis, assiduous in his attempts to undo the great work of his own life, and still more distressing to find that great rewards were distinctly offered to him for such service. immense promises had been frequently made no doubt to william the silent; nor could any public man, in such times, be so pure that an attempt to tamper with him might not be made: but when the personage, thus solicited, was evidently acting in the interests of the tempters, it is not surprising that he should become the object of grave suspicion. "it does not seem to me bad," wrote philip to parma, "this negotiation which you have commenced with ste. aldegonde, in order to gain him, and thus to employ his services in bringing about a reduction of the islands (holland and zeeland). in exchange for this work, any thing which you think proper to offer to him as a reward, will be capital well invested; but it must not be given until the job is done." but the job was hard to do, and sainte aldegonde cared nothing for the offered bribe. he was, however, most strangely confident of being able to overcome, on the one hand, the opposition of holland and zeeland to the hated authority of spain, and, on the other, the intense abhorrence entertained by philip to liberty of conscience. soon after the capitulation, he applied for a passport to visit those two provinces. permission to come was refused him. honest men from antwerp, he was informed, would be always welcome, but there was no room for him. there was, however--or parma persuaded himself that there was--a considerable party in those countries in favour of reconciliation with spain. if the ex-burgomaster could gain a hearing, it was thought probable that his eloquence would prove very effective. "we have been making efforts to bring about negotiations with holland and zeeland," wrote alexander to philip. "gelderland and overyssel likewise show signs of good disposition, but i have not soldiers enough to animate the good and terrify the bad. as for holland and zeeland, there is a strong inclination on the part of the people to a reconciliation, if some concession could be made on the religious question, but the governors oppose it, because they are perverse, and are relying on assistance from england. could this religious concession be made, an arrangement could, without doubt, be accomplished, and more quickly than people think. nevertheless, in such a delicate matter, i am obliged to await your majesty's exact instructions and ultimatum." he then proceeded to define exactly the position and intentions of the burgomaster. "the government of holland and zeeland," he said, "have refused a passport to ste. aldegonde, and express dissatisfaction with him for having surrendered antwerp so soon. they know that he has much credit with the people and with the ministers of the sects, and they are in much fear of him because he is inclined for peace, which is against their interests. they are, therefore, endeavouring to counteract my negotiations with him. these have been, thus far, only in general terms. i have sought to induce him to perform the offices required, without giving him reason to expect any concession as to the exercise of religion. he persuades himself that, in the end, there will be some satisfaction obtained upon this point, and, under this impression he considers the peace as good as concluded, there remaining no doubt as to other matters. he has sent his wife to zeeland, and is himself going to germany, where, as he says, he will do all the good service that he can. he hopes that very shortly the provinces will not only invite, but implore him to come to them; in which case, he promises me to perform miracles." alexander then proceeded to pay a distinct tribute to sainte aldegonde's motives; and, when it is remembered that the statement thus made is contained in a secret despatch, in cipher, to the king, it may be assumed to convey the sincere opinion of the man most qualified to judge correctly as to this calumniated person's character. "ste. aldegonde offers me wonders," he said, "and i have promised him that he shall be recompensed very largely; yet, although he is poor, i do not find him influenced by mercenary or selfish considerations, but only very set in opinions regarding his religion." the prince had however no doubt of sainte aldegonde's sincerity, for sincerity was a leading characteristic of the man. his word, once given, was sacred, and he had given his word to do his best towards effecting a reconciliation of the provinces with spain, and frustrating the efforts of england. "through the agency of ste. aldegonde and that of others" wrote parma, "i shall watch, day and night, to bring about a reduction of holland and zeeland, if humanly possible. i am quite persuaded that they will soon be sick of the english, who are now arriving, broken down, without arms or money, and obviously incapable of holding out very long. doubtless, however, this english alliance, and the determination of the queen to do her utmost against us, complicates matters, and assists the government of holland and zeeland in opposing the inclinations of their people." nothing ever came of these intended negotiations. the miracles were never wrought, and even had sainte aldegonde been as venal as he was suspected of being--which we have thus proof positive that he was not--he never could have obtained the recompense, which, according to philip's thrifty policy, was not to be paid until it had been earned. sainte aldegonde's hands were clean. it is pity that we cannot render the same tribute to his political consistency of character. it is also certain that he remained--not without reason--for a long time under a cloud. he became the object of unbounded and reckless calumny. antwerp had fallen, and the necessary consequence of its reduction was the complete and permanent prostration of its commerce and manufactures. these were transferred to the new, free, national, independent, and prosperous commonwealth that had risen in the "islands" which parma and sainte aldegonde had vainly hoped to restore to their ancient servitude. in a very few years after the subjugation of antwerp, it appeared by statistical documents that nearly all the manufactures of linen, coarse and fine cloths, serges, fustians, tapestry, gold-embroidery, arms-work, silks, and velvets, had been transplanted to the towns of holland and zeeland, which were flourishing and thriving, while the flemish and brabantine cities had become mere dens of thieves and beggars. it was in the mistaken hope of averting this catastrophe--as melancholy as it was inevitable and in despair of seeing all the netherlands united, unless united in slavery, and in deep-rooted distrust of the designs and policy of england, that this statesman, once so distinguished, had listened to the insidious tongue of parma. he had sought to effect a general reconciliation with spain, and the only result of his efforts was a blight upon his own illustrious name. he published a defence of his conduct, and a detailed account of the famous siege. his apology, at the time, was not considered conclusive, but his narrative remains one of the clearest and most trustworthy sources for the history of these important transactions. he was never brought to trial, but he discovered, with bitterness, that he had committed a fatal error, and that his political influence had passed away. he addressed numerous private epistles to eminent persons, indignantly denying the imputations against his character, and demanding an investigation. among other letters he observed in one to count hohenlo, that he was astonished and grieved to find that all his faithful labours and sufferings in the cause of his fatherland had been forgotten in an hour. in place of praise and gratitude, he had reaped nothing but censure and calumny; because men ever judged, not by the merits, but by the issue. that common people should be so unjust, he said, was not to be wondered at, but of men like hohenlo be had hoped better things. he asserted that he had saved antwerp from another "spanish fury," and from impending destruction--a city in which there was not a single regular soldier, and in which his personal authority was so slight that he was unable to count the number of his masters. if a man had ever performed a service to his country, he claimed to have done so in this capitulation. nevertheless, he declared that he was the same philip marnix, earnestly devoted to the service of god, the true religion, and the fatherland; although he avowed himself weary of the war, and of this perpetual offering of the netherland sovereignty to foreign potentates. he was now going, he said, to his estates in zeeland; there to turn farmer again; renouncing public affairs, in the administration of which he had experienced so much ingratitude from his countrymen. count maurice and the states of holland and zeeland wrote to him, however, in very plain language, describing the public indignation as so strong as to make it unsafe for him to visit the country. the netherlands and england--so soon as they were united in policy--were, not without reason, indignant with the man who had made such strenuous efforts to prevent that union. the english were, in truth, deeply offended. he had systematically opposed their schemes, and to his prejudice against their country, and distrust of their intentions, they attributed the fall of antwerp. envoy davison, after his return to holland, on the conclusion of the english treaty, at once expressed his suspicions of the ex-burgomaster, and the great dangers to be apprehended from his presence in the free states. "here is some working underhand," said he to walsingham, "to draw hither sainte aldegonde, under a pretext of his justification, which--as it has hitherto been denied him--so is the sequel suspected, if he should obtain it before they were well settled here, betwixt her majesty and them, considering the manifold presumptions that the subject of his journey should be little profitable or advantageous to the state of these poor countries, as tending, at the best, to the propounding of some general reconcilement." it was certainly not without substantial grounds that the english and hollanders, after concluding their articles of alliance, felt uneasy at the possibility of finding their plans reversed by the intrigues of a man whom they knew to be a mediator between spain and her revolted provinces, and whom they suspected of being a venal agent of the catholic king. it was given out that philip had been induced to promise liberty of religion, in case of reconciliation. we have seen that parma was at heart in favour of such a course, and that he was very desirous of inducing marnix to believe in the possibility of obtaining such a boon, however certain the prince had been made by the king's secret letters, that such a belief was a delusion. "martini hath been examined," wrote davison, "who confesseth both for himself and others, to become hither by direction of the prince of parma and intelligence of sainte aldegonde, from whom he was first addressed by villiers and afterwards to others for advice and assistance. that the scope of this direction was to induce them here to hearken to a peace, wherein the prince of parma promiseth them toleration of religion, although he confesseth yet to have no absolute power in that behalf, but hath written thereof to the king expressly, and holdeth himself assured thereof by the first post, as i have likewise been advertised from rowland york, which if it had been propounded openly here before things had been concluded with her majesty, and order taken for her assurance, your honour can judge what confusion it must of necessity have brought forth." at last, when marnix had become convinced that the toleration would not arrive "by the very next mail from spain," and that, in truth, such a blessing was not to be expected through the post-office at all, he felt an inward consciousness of the mistake which he had committed. too credulously had he inclined his ear to the voice of parma; too obstinately had he steeled his heart against elizabeth, and he was now the more anxious to clear himself at least from the charges of corruption so clamorously made against him by holland and by england. conscious of no fault more censurable than credulity and prejudice, feeling that his long fidelity to the reformed religion ought to be a defence for him against his calumniators, he was desirous both to clear his own honour, and to do at least a tardy justice to england. he felt confident that loyal natures, like those of davison and his colleagues at home, would recognize his own loyalty. he trusted, not without cause, to english honour, and coming to his manor-house of zoubourg, near flushing, he addressed a letter to the ambassador of elizabeth, in which the strong desire to vindicate his aspersed integrity is quite manifest. "i am very joyous," said he, "that coming hither in order to justify myself against the false and malignant imputations with which they charge me, i have learned your arrival here on the part of her majesty, as well as the soon expected coming of the earl of leicester. i see, in truth, that the lord god is just, and never abandons his own. i have never spared myself in the service of my country, and i would have sacrificed my life, a thousand times, had it been possible, in her cause. now, i am receiving for all this a guerdon of blame and calumny, which is cast upon me in order to cover up faults which have been committed by others in past days. i hope, however, to come soon to give you welcome, and to speak more particularly to you of all these things. meantime demanding my justification before these gentlemen, who ought to have known me better than to have added faith to such villanous imputations, i will entreat you that my definite justification, or condemnation, if i have merited it, may be reserved till the arrival of lord leicester." this certainly was not the language of a culprit, nevertheless, his words did not immediately make a deep impression on the hearts of those who heard him. he had come secretly to his house at zoubourg, having previously published his memorable apology; and in accordance with the wishes of the english government, he was immediately confined to his own house. confidence in the intention of a statesman, who had at least committed such grave errors of judgment, and who had been so deeply suspected of darker faults, was not likely very soon to revive. so far from shrinking from an investigation which would have been dangerous, even to his life, had the charges against his honour been founded in fact, he boldly demanded to be confronted with his accusers, in order that he might explain his conduct before all the world. "sir, yesternight, at the shutting of the gates," wrote davison to walsingham, transmitting the little note from marnix, which has just been cited--"i was advertised that ste. aldegonde was not an hour before secretly landed at the head on the other side the rammekens, and come to his house at zoubourg, having prepared his way by an apology, newly published in his defence, whereof i have as yet recovered one only copy, which herewith i send your honour. this day, whilst i was at dinner, he sent his son unto me, with a few lines, whereof i send you the copy, advertising me of his arrival (which he knew i understood before), together with the desire he had to see me, and speak with me, if the states, before whom he was to come to purge himself of the crimes wherewith he stood, as he with, unjustly charged, would vouchsafe him so much liberty. the same morning, the council of zeeland, taking knowledge of his arrival, sent unto him the pensioner of middelburgh and this town, to sound the causes of his coming, and to will him, in their behalf, to keep his house, and to forbear all meddling by word or writing, with any whatsoever, till they should further advise and determine in his cause. in defence thereof, he fell into large and particular discourse with the deputies, accusing his enemies of malice and untruth, offering himself to any trial, and to abide what punishment the laws should lay upon him, if he were found guilty of the crimes imputed to him. touching the cause of his coming, he pretended and protested that he had no other end than his simple justification, preferring any hazard he might incur thereby, to his honour and good fame." as to the great question at issue, marnix had at last become conscious that he had been a victim to spanish dissimulation, and that alexander fainese was in reality quite powerless to make that concession of religious liberty, without which a reconciliation between holland and philip was impossible. "whereas," said davison, "it was supposed that ste. aldegonde had commission from the prince of parma to make some offer of peace, he assured them of the contrary as a thing which neither the prince had any power to yield unto with the surety of religion, or himself would, in conscience, persuade without it; with a number of other particularities in his excuse; amongst the rest, allowing and commending in his speech, the course they had taken with her majesty, as the only safe way of deliverance for these afflicted countries--letting them understand how much the news thereof--specially since the entry of our garrison into this place (which before they would in no sort believe), hath troubled the enemy, who doth what he may to suppress the bruit thereof, and yet comforteth himself with the hope that between the factions and partialities nourished by his industry, and musters among the towns, especially in holland and zeeland (where he is persuaded to find some pliable to a reconcilement) and the disorders and misgovernment of our people, there will be yet occasion offered him to make his profit and advantage. i find that the gentleman hath here many friends indifferently persuaded of his innocency, notwithstanding the closing up of his apology doth make but little for him. howsoever it be, it falleth out the better that the treaty with her majesty is finished, and the cautionary towns assured before his coming, which, if he be ill affected, will i hope either reform his judgment or restrain his will. i will not forget to do the best i can to sift and decipher him yet more narrowly and particularly." thus, while the scales had at length fallen from the eyes of marnix, it was not strange that the confidence which he now began to entertain in the policy of england, should not be met, at the outset, with a corresponding sentiment on the part of the statesman by whom that policy was regulated. "howsoever ste. aldegonde would seem to purge himself," said davison, "it is suspected that his end is dangerous. i have done what i may to restrain him, so nevertheless as it may not seem to come from me." and again--"ste. aldegonde," he wrote, "contimieth still our neighbor at his house between this and middelburg; yet unmolested. he findeth many favourers, and, i fear, doth no good offices. he desireth to be reserved till the coming of my lord of leicester, before whom he pretends a desired trial." this covert demeanour on the part of the ambassador was in accordance with, the wishes of his government. it was thought necessary that sainte aldegonde should be kept under arrest until the arrival of the earl, but deemed preferable that the restraint should proceed from the action of the states rather than from the order of the queen. davison was fulfilling orders in attempting, by underhand means, to deprive marnix, for a time, of his liberty. "let him, i pray you, remain in good safety in any wise," wrote leicester, who was uneasy at the thought of so influential, and, as he thought, so ill-affected a person being at large, but at the same time disposed to look dispassionately upon his past conduct, and to do justice, according to the results of an investigation. "it is thought meet," wrote walsingham to davison, "that you should do your best endeavour to procure that ste. aldegonde may be restrained, which in mine opinion were fit to be handled in such sort, as the restraint might rather proceed from themselves than by your solicitation. and yet rather than he should remain at liberty to practise underhand, whereof you seem to stand in great doubt, it is thought meet that you should make yourself a partizan, to seek by all the means that you may to have him restrained under the guard of some well affected patriot until the earl's coming, at what time his cause may receive examination." this was, however, a result somewhat difficult to accomplish; for twenty years of noble service in the cause of liberty had not been utterly in vain, and there were many magnanimous spirits to sympathize with a great man struggling thus in the meshes of calumny. that the man who challenged rather than shunned investigation, should be thrown into prison, as if he were a detected felon upon the point of absconding, seemed a heartless and superfluous precaution. yet davison and others still feared the man whom they felt obliged to regard as a baffled intriguer. "touching the restraint of ste. aldegonde," wrote davison to lord burghley, "which i had order from mr. secretary to procure underhand, i find the difficulty will be great in regard of his many friends and favourers, preoccupied with some opinion of his innocence, although i have travailled with divers of them underhand, and am promised that some order shall be taken in that behalf, which i think will be harder to execute as long as count maurice is here. for ste. aldegonde's affection, i find continual matter to suspect it inclined to a peace, and that as one notably prejudging our scope and proceeding in this cause, doth lie in wait for an occasion to set it forward, being, as it seems, fed with a hope of 'telle quelle liberte de conscience,' which the prince of parma and others of his council have, as he confesseth, earnestly solicited at the king's hands. this appeareth, in truth, the only apt and easy way for them to prevail both against religion and the liberty of these poor countries, having thereby once recovered the authority which must necessarily follow a peace, to renew and alter the magistrates of the particular towns, which, being at their devotion, may turn, as we say, all upside down, and so in an instant being under their servitude, if not wholly, at the least in a great part of the country, leaving so much the less to do about the rest, a thing confessed and looked for of all men of any judgment here, if the drift of our peace-makers may take effect." sainte aldegonde had been cured of his suspicions of england, and at last the purity of his own character shone through the mists. one winter's morning, two days after christmas, , colonel morgan, an ingenuous welshman, whom we have seen doing much hard fighting on kowenstyn dyke, and at other places, and who now commanded the garrison at flushing, was taking a walk outside the gates, and inhaling the salt breezes from the ocean. while thus engaged he met a gentleman coming along, staff in hand, at a brisk pace towards the town, who soon proved to be no other than the distinguished and deeply suspected sainte aldegonde. the two got at once into conversation. "he began," said morgan, "by cunning insinuations, to wade into matters of state, and at the last fell to touching the principal points, to wit, her majesty's entrance into the cause now in hand, which, quoth he, was an action of high importance, considering how much it behoved her to go through the same, as well in regard of the hope that thereby was given to the distressed people of these parts, as also in consideration of that worthy personage whom she hath here placed, whose estate and credit may not be suffered to quail, but must be upholden as becometh the lieutenant of such a princess as her majesty." "the opportunity thus offered," continued honest morgan, "and the way opened by himself, i thought good to discourse with him to the full, partly to see the end and drift of his induced talk, and consequently to touch his quick in the suspected cause of antwerp." and thus, word for word, taken down faithfully the same day, proceeded the dialogue that wintry morning, near three centuries ago. from that simple record--mouldering unseen and unthought of for ages, beneath piles of official dust--the forms of the illustrious fleming and the bold welsh colonel, seem to start, for a brief moment, out of the three hundred years of sleep which have succeeded their energetic existence upon earth. and so, with the bleak winds of december whistling over the breakers of the north sea, the two discoursed together, as they paced along the coast. morgan.--"i charge you with your want of confidence in her majesty's promised aid. 'twas a thing of no small moment had it been embraced when it was first most graciously offered." sainte aldegonde.--"i left not her prince-like purpose unknown to the states, who too coldly and carelessly passed over the benefit thereof, until it was too late to put the same in practice. for my own part, i acknowledge that indeed i thought some further advice would either alter or at least detract from the accomplishment of her determination. i thought this the rather because she had so long been wedded to peace, and i supposed it impossible to divorce her from so sweet a spouse. but, set it down that she were resolute, yet the sickness of antwerp was so dangerous, as it was to be doubted the patient would be dead before the physician could come. i protest that the state of the town was much worse than was known to any but myself and some few private persons. the want of victuals was far greater than they durst bewray, fearing lest the common people, perceiving the plague of famine to be at hand, would rather grow desperate than patiently expect some happy event. for as they were many in number, so were they wonderfully divided: some being martinists, some papists, some neither the one nor the other, but generally given to be factious, so that the horror at home was equal to the hazard abroad." morgan.--"but you forget the motion made by the martial men for putting out of the town such as were simple artificers, with women and children, mouths that consumed meat, but stood in no stead for defence." sainte aldegonde.--"alas, alas! would you have had me guilty of the slaughter of so many innocents, whose lives were committed to my charge, as well as the best? or might i have answered my god when those massacred creatures should have stood up against me, that the hope of antwerp's deliverance was purchased with the blood of so many simple souls? no, no. i should have found my conscience such a hell and continual worm as the gnawing thereof would have been more painful and bitter than the possession of the whole world would have been pleasant." morgan continued to press the various points which had created suspicion as to the character and motives of marnix, and point by point marnix answered his antagonist, impressing him, armed as he had been in distrust, with an irresistible conviction as to the loftiness of the nature which had been so much calumniated. sainte aldegonde (with vehemence).--"i do assure you, in conclusion, that i have solemnly vowed service and duty to her majesty, which i am ready to perform where and when it may best like her to use the same. i will add moreover that i have oftentimes determined to pass into england to make my own purgation, yet fearing lest her highness would mislike so bold a resolution, i have checked that purpose with a resolution to tarry the lord's leisure, until some better opportunity might answer my desire. for since i know not how i stand in her grace, unwilling i am to attempt her presence without permission; but might it please her to command my attendance, i should not only most joyfully accomplish the same, but also satisfy her of and in all such matters as i stand charged with, and afterwards spend life, land, and goods, to witness my duty towards her highness." morgan.--"i tell you plainly, that if you are in heart the same man that you seem outwardly to be, i doubt not but her majesty might easily be persuaded to conceive a gracious opinion of you. for mine own part, i will surely advertise sir francis walsingham of as much matter as this present conference hath ministered. "hereof," said the colonel--when, according to his promise, faithfully recording the conversation in all its details for mr. secretary's benefit, "he seemed not only content but most glad. therefore i beseech your honour to vouchsafe some few lines herein, that i may return him some part of your mind. i have already written thereof to sir philip sidney, lord governor of flushing, with request that his excellency the earl of leicester may presently be made acquainted with the cause." indeed the brave welshman was thoroughly converted from his suspicions by the earnest language and sympathetic presence of the fallen statesman. this result of the conference was creditable to the ingenuous character of both personages. "thus did he," wrote morgan to sir francis, "from point to point, answer all objections from the first to the last, and that in such sound and substantial manner, with a strong show of truth, as i think his very enemies, having heard his tale, would be satisfied. and truly, sir, as heretofore i have thought hardly of him, being led by a superficial judgment of things as they stood in outward appearance; so now, having pierced deep, and weighed causes by a sounder and more deliberate consideration, i find myself somewhat changed in conceit--not so much carried away by the sweetness of his speech, as confirmed by the force of his religious profession, wherein he remaineth constant, without wavering--an argument of great strength to set him free from treacherous attempts; but as i am herein least able and most unworthy to yield any censure, much less to give advice, so i leave the man and the matter to your honour's opinion. only (your graver judgment reserved) thus i think, that it were good either to employ him as a friend, or as an enemy to remove him farther from us, being a man of such action as the world knoweth he is. and to conclude," added morgan, "this was the upshot between us." nevertheless, he remained in this obscurity for a long period. when, towards the close of the year , the english government was established in holland, he was the object of constant suspicion. "here is aldegonde," wrote sir philip sidney to lord leicester from flushing, "a man greatly suspected, but by no man charged. he lives restrained to his own house, and for aught i can find, deals with nothing, only desiring to have his cause wholly referred to your lordship, and therefore, with the best heed i can to his proceedings, i will leave him to his clearing or condemning, when your lordship shall hear him." in another letter, sir philip again spoke of sainte aldegonde as "one of whom he kept a good opinion, and yet a suspicious eye." leicester himself was excessively anxious on the subject, deeply fearing the designs of a man whom he deemed so mischievous, and being earnestly desirous that he should not elude the chastisement which he seemed to deserve. "touching ste. aldegonde," he wrote to davison, "i grieve that he is at his house without good guard. i do earnestly pray you to move such as have power presently to commit a guard about him, for i know he is a dangerous and a bold man, and presumes yet to carry all, for he hath made many promises to the prince of parma. i would he were in fort rammekyns, or else that mr. russell had charge of him, with a recommendation from me to russell to look well to him till i shall arrive. you must have been so commanded in this from her majesty, for she thinks he is in close and safe guard. if he is not, look for a turn of all things, for he hath friends, i know." but very soon after his arrival, the earl, on examining into the matter, saw fit to change his opinions and his language. persuaded, in spite of his previous convictions, even as the honest welsh colonel had been, of the upright character of the man, and feeling sure that a change had come over the feelings of marnix himself in regard to the english alliance, leicester at once interested himself in removing the prejudices entertained towards him by the queen. "now a few words for ste. aldegonde," said he in his earliest despatches from holland; "i will beseech her majesty to stay her judgment till i write next. if the man be as he now seemeth, it were pity to lose him, for he is indeed marvellously friended. her majesty will think, i know, that i am easily pacified or led in such a matter, but i trust so to deal as she shall give me thanks. once if he do offer service it is sure enough, for he is esteemed that way above all the men in this country for his word, if he give it. his worst enemies here procure me to win him, for sure, just matter for his life there is none. he would fain come into england, so far is he come already, and doth extol her majesty for this work of hers to heaven, and confesseth, till now an angel could not make him believe it." here certainly was a noble tribute paid unconsciously, as it were, to the character of the maligned statesman. "above all the men in the country for his word, if he give it." what wonder that orange had leaned upon him, that alexander had sought to gain him, and how much does it add to our bitter regret that his prejudices against england should not have been removed until too late for antwerp and for his own usefulness. had his good angel really been present to make him believe in that "work of her majesty," when his ear was open to the seductions of parma, the destiny of belgium and his own subsequent career might have been more fortunate than they became. the queen was slow to return from her prejudices. she believed--not without reason--that the opposition of ste. aldegonde to her policy had been disastrous to the cause both of england and the netherlands; and it had been her desire that he should be imprisoned, and tried for his life. her councillors came gradually to take a more favourable view of the case, and to be moved by the pathetic attitude of the man who had once been so conspicuous. "i did acquaint sir christopher hatton," wrote walsingham to leicester, "with the letter which ste. aldegonde wrote to your lordship, which, carrying a true picture of an afflicted mind, cannot but move an honest heart, weighing the rare parts the gentleman is endowed withal, to pity his distressed estate, and, to procure him relief and comfort, which mr. vice-chamberlain (hatton) bath promised on his part to perform. i thought good to send ste. aldegonde's letter unto the lord treasurer (burghley), who heretofore has carried a hard conceit of the gentleman, hoping that the view of his letter will breed some remorse towards him. i have also prayed his lordship, if he see cause, to acquaint her majesty with the said letter." but his high public career was closed. he lived down calumny; and put his enemies to shame, but the fatal error which he had committed, in taking the side of spain rather than of england at so momentous a crisis, could never be repaired. he regained the good opinion of the most virtuous and eminent personages in europe, but in the noon of life he voluntarily withdrew from public affairs. the circumstances just detailed had made him impossible as a political leader, and it was equally impossible for him to play a secondary part. he occasionally consented to be employed in special diplomatic missions, but the serious avocations of his life now became theological and literary. he sought--in his own words--to penetrate himself still more deeply than ever with the spirit of the reformation, and to imbue the minds of the young with that deep love for the reformed religion which had been the guiding thought of his own career. he often spoke with a sigh of his compulsory exile from the field where he had been so conspicuous all his lifetime; he bitterly lamented the vanished dream of the great national union between belgium and holland, which had flattered his youth and his manhood; and he sometimes alluded with bitterness to the calumny which had crippled him of his usefulness. he might have played a distinguished part in that powerful commonwealth which was so steadily and splendidly arising out of the lagunes of zeeland and holland, but destiny and calumny and his own error had decided otherwise. "from the depth of my exile--" he said, "for i am resolved to retire, i know not where, into germany, perhaps into sarmatia, i shall look from afar upon the calamities of my country. that which to me is most mournful is no longer to be able to assist my fatherland by my counsels and my actions." he did not go into exile, but remained chiefly at his mansion of zoubourg, occupied with agriculture and with profound study. many noble works conspicuous in the literature of the epoch--were the results of his learned leisure; and the name of marnix of sainte aldegonde will be always as dear to the lovers of science and letters as to the believers in civil and religious liberty. at the request of the states of holland he undertook, in , a translation of the scriptures from the original, and he was at the same time deeply engaged with a history of christianity, which he intended for his literary master-piece. the man whose sword had done knightly service on many a battle-field for freedom, whose tongue had controlled mobs and senates, courts and councils, whose subtle spirit had metamorphosed itself into a thousand shapes to do battle with the genius of tyranny, now quenched the feverish agitation of his youth and manhood in hebrew and classical lore. a grand and noble figure always: most pathetic when thus redeeming by vigorous but solitary and melancholy hard labor, the political error which had condemned him to retirement. to work, ever to work, was the primary law of his nature. repose in the other world, "repos ailleurs" was the device which he assumed in earliest youth, and to which he was faithful all his days. a great and good man whose life had been brim-full of noble deeds, and who had been led astray from the path, not of virtue, but of sound policy, by his own prejudices and by the fascination of an intellect even more brilliant than his own, he at least enjoyed in his retirement whatever good may come from hearty and genuine labor, and from the high regard entertained for him by the noblest spirits among his contemporaries. "they tell me," said la noue, "that the seigneur de ste. aldegonde has been suspected by the hollanders and the english. i am deeply grieved, for 'tis a personage worthy to be employed. i have always known him to be a zealous friend of his religion and his country, and i will bear him this testimony, that his hands and his heart are clean. had it been otherwise, i must have known it. his example has made me regret the less the promise i was obliged to make, never to bear arms again in the netherlands. for i have thought that since this man, who has so much credit and authority among your people, after having done his duty well, has not failed to be calumniated and ejected from service, what would they have done with me, who am a stranger, had i continued in their employment? the consul terentius varro lost, by his fault, the battle of canna; nevertheless, when he returned to rome, offering the remainder of his life in the cause of his republic reduced to extremity, he was not rejected, but well received, because he hoped well for the country. it is not to be imputed as blame to ste. aldegonde that he lost antwerp, for he surrendered when it could not be saved. what i now say is drawn from me by the compassion i feel when persons of merit suffer without cause at the hands of their fellow citizens. in these terrible tempests, as it is a duty rigorously to punish the betrayers of their country, even so it is an obligation upon us to honor good patriots, and to support them in venial errors, that we may all encourage each other to do the right." strange too as it may now seem to us, a reconciliation of the netherlands with philip was not thought an impossibility by other experienced and sagacious patriots, besides marnix. even olden-barneveld, on taking office as holland's advocate, at this period, made it a condition that his service was to last only until the reunion of the provinces with spain. there was another illustrious personage in a foreign land who ever rendered homage to the character of the retired netherland statesman. amid the desolation of france, duplessis mornay often solaced himself by distant communion with that kindred and sympathizing spirit. "plunged in public annoyances," he wrote to sainte aldegonde, "i find no consolation, except in conference with the good, and among the good i hold you for one of the best. with such men i had rather sigh profoundly than laugh heartily with others. in particular, sir, do me the honor to love me, and believe that i honor you singularly. impart to me something from your solitude, for i consider your deserts to be more fruitful and fertile than our most cultivated habitations. as for me, think of me as of a man drowning in the anxieties of the time, but desirous, if possible, of swimming to solitude." thus solitary, yet thus befriended,--remote from public employment, yet ever employed, doing his daily work with all his soul and strength, marnix passed the fifteen years yet remaining to him. death surprised him at last, at leyden, in the year , while steadily laboring upon his flemish translation of the old testament, and upon the great political, theological, controversial, and satirical work on the differences of religion, which remains the most stately, though unfinished, monument of his literary genius. at the age of sixty he went at last to the repose which he had denied to himself on earth. "repos ailleurs." etext editor's bookmarks: honor good patriots, and to support them in venial errors possible to do, only because we see that it has been done repose in the other world, "repos ailleurs" soldiers enough to animate the good and terrify the bad to work, ever to work, was the primary law of his nature when persons of merit suffer without cause history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter vi., part . policy of england--diplomatic coquetry--dutch envoys in england-- conference of ortel and walsingham--interview with leicester-- private audience of the queen--letters of the states--general-- ill effects of gilpin's despatch--close bargaining of the queen and states--guarantees required by england--england's comparative weakness--the english characterised--paul hentzner--the envoys in london--their characters--olden-barneveldt described--reception at greenwich--speech of menin--reply of the queen--memorial of the envoys--discussions with the ministers--second speech of the queen --third speech of the queen england as we have seen--had carefully watched the negotiations between france and the netherlands. although she had--upon the whole, for that intriguing age--been loyal in her bearing towards both parties, she was perhaps not entirely displeased with the result. as her cherished triumvirate was out of the question, it was quite obvious that, now or never, she must come forward to prevent the provinces from falling back into the hands of spain. the future was plainly enough foreshadowed, and it was already probable, in case of a prolonged resistance on the part of holland, that philip would undertake the reduction of his rebellious subjects by a preliminary conquest of england. it was therefore quite certain that the expense and danger of assisting the netherlands must devolve upon herself, but, at the same time it was a consolation that her powerful next-door neighbour was not to be made still more powerful by the annexation to his own dominion of those important territories. accordingly, so soon as the deputies in france had received their definite and somewhat ignominious repulse from henry iii. and his mother, the english government lost no time in intimating to the states that they were not to be left without an ally. queen elizabeth was however resolutely averse from assuming that sovereignty which she was not unwilling to see offered for her acceptance; and her accredited envoy at the hague, besides other more secret agents, were as busily employed in the spring of --as des pruneaux had been the previous winter on the part of france--to bring about an application, by solemn embassy, for her assistance. there was, however, a difference of view, from the outset, between the leading politicians of the netherlands and the english queen. the hollanders were extremely desirous of becoming her subjects; for the united states, although they had already formed themselves into an independent republic, were quite ignorant of their latent powers. the leading personages of the country--those who were soon to become the foremost statesmen of the new commonwealth--were already shrinking from the anarchy which was deemed inseparable from a non-regal form of government, and were seeking protection for and against the people under a foreign sceptre. on the other hand, they were indisposed to mortgage large and important fortified towns, such as flushing, brill, and others, for the repayment of the subsidies which elizabeth might be induced to advance. they preferred to pay in sovereignty rather than in money. the queen, on the contrary, preferred money to sovereignty, and was not at all inclined to sacrifice economy to ambition. intending to drive a hard bargain with the states, whose cause was her own, and whose demands for aid she; had secretly prompted, she meant to grant a certain number of soldiers for as brief a period as possible, serving at her expense, and to take for such outlay a most ample security in the shape of cautionary towns. too intelligent a politician not to feel the absolute necessity of at last coming into the field to help the netherlanders to fight her own battle, she was still willing, for a season longer, to wear the mask of coyness and coquetry, which she thought most adapted to irritate the netherlanders into a full compliance with her wishes. her advisers in the provinces were inclined to take the same view. it seemed obvious, after the failure in france, that those countries must now become either english or spanish; yet elizabeth, knowing the risk of their falling back, from desperation, into the arms of her rival, allowed them to remain for a season on the edge of destruction--which would probably have been her ruin also--in the hope of bringing them to her feet on her own terms. there was something of feminine art in this policy, and it was not without the success which often attends such insincere manoeuvres. at the same time, as the statesmen of the republic knew that it was the queen's affair, when so near a neighbour's roof was blazing, they entertained little doubt of ultimately obtaining her alliance. it was pity--in so grave an emergency--that a little frankness could not have been substituted for a good deal of superfluous diplomacy. gilpin, a highly intelligent agent of the english government in zeeland, kept sir francis walsingham thoroughly informed of the sentiments entertained by the people of that province towards england. mixing habitually with the most influential politicians, he was able to render material assistance to the english council in the diplomatic game which had been commenced, and on which a no less important stake than the crown of england was to be hazarded. "in conference," he said, "with particular persons that bear any rule or credit, i find a great inclination towards her majesty, joined notwithstanding with a kind of coldness. they allege that matters of such importance are to be maturely and thoroughly pondered, while some of them harp upon the old string, as if her majesty, for the security of her own estate, was to have the more care of theirs here." he was also very careful to insinuate the expediency of diplomatic coquetry into the mind of a princess who needed no such prompting. "the less by outward appearance," said he, "this people shall perceive that her majesty can be contented to take the protection of them upon her, the forwarder they will be to seek and send unto her, and the larger conditions in treaty may be required. for if they see it to come from herself, then do they persuade themselves that it is for the greater security of our own country and her highness to fear the king of spain's greatness. but if they become seekers unto her majesty, and if they may, by outward show, deem that she accounteth not of the said king's might, but able and sufficient to defend her own realms, then verily i think they may be brought to whatsoever points her majesty may desire." certainly it was an age of intrigue, in which nothing seemed worth getting at all unless it could be got by underhand means, and in which it was thought impossible for two parties to a bargain to meet together except as antagonists, who believed that one could not derive a profit from the transaction unless the other had been overreached. this was neither good morality nor sound diplomacy, and the result of such trifling was much loss of time and great disaster. in accordance with this crafty system, the agent expressed the opinion that it would "be good and requisite for the english government somewhat to temporise," and to dally for a season longer, in order to see what measures the states would take to defend themselves, and how much ability and resources they would show for belligerent purposes. if the queen were too eager, the provinces would become jealous, "yielding, as it were, their power, and yet keeping the rudder in their own hands." at the same time gilpin was favourably impressed with the character both of the country and the nation, soon to be placed in such important relations with england. "this people," he said, "is such as by fair means they will be won to yield and grant any reasonable motion or demand. what these islands of zeeland are her majesty and all my lords of her council do know. yet for their government thus much i must write; that during these troubles it never was better than now. they draw, in a manner, one line, long and carefully in their resolution; but the same once taken and promises made, they would perform them to the uttermost." such then was the character of the people, for no man was better enabled to form an opinion on the subject than was gilpin. had it not been as well, then, for englishmen--who were themselves in that age, as in every other, apt to "perform to the uttermost promises once taken and made," and to respect those endowed with the same wholesome characteristic--to strike hands at once in a cause which was so vital to both nations? so soon as the definite refusal of henry iii, was known in england, leicester and walsingham wrote at once to the netherlands. the earl already saw shining through the distance a brilliant prize for his own ambition, although he was too haughty, perhaps too magnanimous, but certainly far too crafty, to suffer such sentiments as yet to pierce to the surface. "mr. davison," he wrote, "you shall perceive by mr. secretary's letters how the french have dealt with these people. they are well enough served; but yet i think, if they will heartily and earnestly seek it, the lord hath appointed them a far better defence. but you must so use the matter as that they must seek their own good, although we shall be partakers thereof also. they may now, if they will effectually and liberally deal, bring themselves to a better end than ever france would have brought them." at that moment there were two diplomatic agents from the states resident in england--jacques de gryze; whom paul buys had formerly described as having thrust himself head and shoulders into the matter without proper authority, and joachim ortel, a most experienced and intelligent man, speaking and writing english like a native, and thoroughly conversant with english habits and character. so soon as the despatches from france arrived, walsingham, th march, , sent for ortel, and the two held a long conference. walsingham.--"we have just received letters from lord derby and sir edward stafford, dated the th march. they inform us that your deputies--contrary to all expectation and to the great hopes that had been hold out to them--have received, last sunday, their definite answer from the king of france. he tells them, that, considering the present condition of his kingdom, he is unable to undertake the protection of the netherlands; but says that if they like, and if the queen of england be willing to second his motion, he is disposed to send a mission of mediation to spain for the purpose of begging the king to take the condition of the provinces to heart, and bringing about some honourable composition, and so forth, and so forth. "moreover the king of france has sent monsieur de bellievre to lord derby and mr. stafford, and bellievre has made those envoys a long oration. he explained to them all about the original treaty between the states and monsieur, the king's brother, and what had taken place from that day to this, concluding, after many allegations and divers reasons, that the king could not trouble himself with the provinces at present; but hoped her majesty would make the best of it, and not be offended with him. "the ambassadors say further, that they have had an interview with your deputies, who are excessively provoked at this most unexpected answer from the king, and are making loud complaints, being all determined to take themselves off as fast as possible. the ambassadors have recommended that some of the number should come home by the way of england." ortel.--"it seems necessary to take active measures at once, and to leave no duty undone in this matter. it will be advisable to confer, so soon as may be, with some of the principal counsellors of her majesty, and recommend to them most earnestly the present condition of the provinces. they know the affectionate confidence which the states entertain towards england, and must now, remembering the sentiments of goodwill which they have expressed towards the netherlands, be willing to employ their efforts with her majesty in this emergency." walsingham (with much show of vexation).--"this conduct on the part of the french court has been most pernicious. your envoys have been delayed, fed with idle hopes, and then disgracefully sent away, so that the best part of the year has been consumed, and it will be most difficult now, in a great hurry, to get together a sufficient force of horse and foot folk, with other necessaries in abundance. on the contrary, the enemy, who knew from the first what result was to be expected in france, has been doing his best to be beforehand with you in the field: add, moreover, that this french negotiation has given other princes a bad taste in their mouths. this is the case with her majesty. the queen is, not without reason, annoyed that the states have not only despised her friendly and good-hearted offers, but have all along been endeavouring to embark her in this war, for the defence of the provinces, which would have cost her several millions, without offering to her the slightest security. on the contrary, others, enemies of the religion, who are not to be depended upon--who had never deserved well of the states or assisted them in their need, as she has done--have received this large offer of sovereignty without any reserve whatever." ortel (not suffering himself to be disconcerted at this unjust and somewhat insidious attack).--"that which has been transacted with france was not done except with the express approbation and full foreknowledge of her majesty, so far back as the lifetime of his excellency (william of orange), of high and laudable memory. things had already gone so far, and the provinces had agreed so entirely together, as to make it inexpedient to bring about a separation in policy. it was our duty to hold together, and, once for all, thoroughly to understand what the king of france, after such manifold presentations through monsieur des pruneaulx and others, and in various letters of his own, finally intended to do. at the same time, notwithstanding these negotiations, we had always an especial eye upon her majesty. we felt a hopeful confidence that she would never desert us, leaving us without aid or counsel, but would consider that these affairs do not concern the provinces alone or even especially, but are just as deeply important to her and to all other princes of the religion." after this dialogue, with much more conversation of a similar character, the secretary and the envoy set themselves frankly and manfully to work. it was agreed between them that every effort should be made with the leading members of the council to induce the queen "in this terrible conjuncture, not to forsake the provinces, but to extend good counsel and prompt assistance to them in their present embarrassments." there was, however, so much business in parliament just then, that it was impossible to obtain immediately the desired interviews. on the th, ortel and de gryze had another interview with walsingham at the palace of greenwich. the secretary expressed the warmest and most sincere affection for the provinces, and advised that one of the two envoys should set forth at once for home in order to declare to the states, without loss of time, her majesty's good inclination to assume the protection of the land, together with the maintenance of the reformed religion and the ancient privileges. not that she was seeking her own profit, or wished to obtain that sovereignty which had just been offered to another of the contrary religion, but in order to make manifest her affectionate solicitude to preserve the protestant faith and to support her old allies and neighbours. nevertheless, as she could not assume this protectorate without embarking in a dangerous war with the king of spain, in which she would not only be obliged to spend the blood of her subjects, but also at least two millions of gold, there was the more reason that the states should give her certain cities as security. those cities would be held by certain of her gentlemen, nominated thereto, of quality, credit, and religion, at the head of good, true, and well-paid garrisons, who should make oath never to surrender them to the king of spain or to any one else without consent of the states. the provinces were also reciprocally to bind themselves by oath to make no treaty with the king, without the advice and approval of her majesty. it was likewise thoroughly to be understood that such cautionary towns should be restored to the states so soon as payment should be made of all moneys advanced during the war. next day the envoys had an interview with the earl of leicester, whom they found as amicably disposed towards their cause as secretary walsingham had been. "her majesty," said the earl, "is excessively indignant with the king of france, that he should so long have abused the provinces, and at last have dismissed their deputies so contemptuously. nevertheless," he continued, "'tis all your own fault to have placed your hopes so entirely upon him as to entirely forget other princes, and more especially her majesty. notwithstanding all that has passed, however, i find her fully determined to maintain the cause of the provinces. for my own part, i am ready to stake my life, estates, and reputation, upon this issue, and to stand side by side with other gentlemen in persuading her majesty to do her utmost for the assistance of your country." he intimated however, as walsingham had done, that the matter of cautionary towns would prove an indispensable condition, and recommended that one of the two envoys should proceed homeward at once, in order to procure, as speedily as possible, the appointment of an embassy for that purpose to her majesty. "they must bring full powers," said the earl, "to give her the necessary guarantees, and make a formal demand for protection; for it would be unbecoming, and against her reputation, to be obliged to present herself, unsought by the other party." in conclusion, after many strong expressions of good-will, leicester promised to meet them next day at court, where he would address the queen personally on the subject, and see that they spoke with her as well. meantime he sent one of his principal gentlemen to keep company with the envoys, and make himself useful to them. this personage, being "of good quality and a member of parliament," gave them much useful information, assuring them that there was a strong feeling in england in favour of the netherlands, and that the matter had been very vigorously taken up in the national legislature. that assembly had been strongly encouraging her majesty boldly to assume the protectorate, and had manifested a willingness to assist her with the needful. "and if," said he, "one subsidy should not be enough, she shall have three, four, five, or six, or as much as may be necessary." the same day, the envoys had an interview with lord treasurer burghley, who held the same language as walsingham and leicester had done. "the queen, to his knowledge," he said, "was quite ready to assume the protectorate; but it was necessary that it should be formally offered, with the necessary guarantees, and that without further loss of time." on the nd march, according to agreement, ortel and de gryze went to the court at greenwich. while waiting there for the queen, who had ridden out into the country, they had more conversation with walsingham, whom they found even more energetically disposed in their favour than ever, and who assured them that her majesty was quite ready to assume the protectorate so soon as offered. "within a month," he said, "after the signing of a treaty, the troops would be on the spot, under command of such a personage of quality and religion as would be highly satisfactory." while they were talking, the queen rode into the court-yard, accompanied by the earl of leicester and other gentlemen. very soon afterwards the envoys were summoned to her presence, and allowed to recommend the affairs of the provinces to her consideration. she lamented the situation of their country, and in a few words expressed her inclination to render assistance, provided the states would manifest full confidence in her. they replied by offering to take instant measures to gratify all her demands, so soon as those demands should be made known; and the queen finding herself surrounded by so many gentlemen and by a crowd of people, appointed them accordingly to come to her private apartments the same afternoon. at that interview none were present save walsingham and lord chamberlain howard. the queen showed herself "extraordinarily resolute" to take up the affairs of the provinces. "she had always been sure," she said, "that the french negotiation would have no other issue than the one which they had just seen. she was fully aware what a powerful enemy she was about to make--one who could easily create mischief for her in scotland and ireland; but she was nevertheless resolved, if the states chose to deal with her frankly and generously, to take them under her protection. she assured the envoys that if a deputation with full powers and reasonable conditions should be immediately sent to her, she would not delay and dally with them, as had been the case in france, but would despatch them back again at the speediest, and would make her good inclination manifest by deeds as well as words. as she was hazarding her treasure together with the blood and repose of her subjects, she was not at liberty to do this except on receipt of proper securities." accordingly de gryze went to the provinces, provided with complimentary and affectionate letters from the queen, while ortel remained in england. so far all was plain and above-board; and walsingham, who, from the first, had been warmly in favour of taking up the netherland cause, was relieved by being able to write in straightforward language. stealthy and subtle, where the object was to get within the guard of an enemy who menaced a mortal blow, he was, both by nature and policy, disposed to deal frankly with those he called his friends. "monsieur de gryze repaireth presently," he wrote to davison, "to try if he can induce the states to send their deputies hither, furnished with more ample instructions than they had to treat with the french king, considering that her majesty carryeth another manner of princely disposition than that sovereign. meanwhile, for that she doubteth lest in this hard estate of their affairs, and the distrust they have conceived to be relieved from hence, they should from despair throw themselves into the course of spain, her pleasure therefore is--though by burnham i sent you directions to put them in comfort of relief, only as of yourself--that you shall now, as it were, in her name, if you see cause sufficient, assure some of the aptest instruments that you shall make choice of for that purpose, that her majesty, rather than that they should perish, will be content to take them under her protection." he added that it was indispensable for the states, upon their part, to offer "such sufficient cautions and assurances as she might in reason demand." matters were so well managed that by the nd april the states-general addressed a letter to the queen, in which they notified her, that the desired deputation was on the point of setting forth. "recognizing," they said, "that there is no prince or potentate to whom they are more obliged than they are to your majesty, we are about to request you very humbly to accept the sovereignty of these provinces, and the people of the same for your very humble vassals and subjects." they added that, as the necessity of the case was great, they hoped the queen would send, so soon as might be, a force of four or five thousand men for the purpose of relieving the siege of antwerp. a similar letter was despatched by the same courier to the earl of leicester. on the st of may, ortel had audience of the queen, to deliver the letters from the states-general. he found that despatches, very encouraging and agreeable in their tenor, had also just arrived from davison. the queen was in good humour. she took the letter from ortel, read it attentively, and paused a good while. then she assured him that her good affection towards the provinces was not in the least changed, and that she thanked the states for the confidence in her that they were manifesting. "it is unnecessary," said the queen, "for me to repeat over and over again sentiments which i have so plainly declared. you are to assure the states that they shall never be disappointed in the trust that they have reposed in my good intentions. let them deal with me sincerely, and without holding open any back-door. not that i am seeking the sovereignty of the provinces, for i wish only to maintain their privileges and ancient liberties, and to defend them in this regard against all the world. let them ripely consider, then, with what fidelity i am espousing their cause, and how, without fear of any one, i am arousing most powerful enemies." ortel had afterwards an interview with leicester, in which the earl assured him that her majesty had not in the least changed in her sentiments towards the provinces. "for myself," said he, "i am ready, if her majesty choose to make use of me, to go over there in person, and to place life, property, and all the assistance i can gain from my friends, upon the issue. yea, with so good a heart, that i pray the lord may be good to me, only so far as i serve faithfully in this cause." he added a warning that the deputies to be appointed should come with absolute powers, in order that her majesty's bountiful intentions might not be retarded by their own fault. ortel then visited walsingham at his house, barn-elms, where he was confined by illness. sir francis assured the envoy that he would use every effort, by letter to her majesty and by verbal instructions to his son-in-law, sir philip sidney, to further the success of the negotiation, and that he deeply regretted his enforced absence from the court on so important an occasion. matters were proceeding most favourably, and the all-important point of sending an auxiliary force of englishmen to the relief of antwerp--before it should be too late, and in advance of the final conclusion of the treaty between the countries-had been nearly conceded. just at that moment, however, "as ill-luck would have it," said ortel, "came a letter from gilpin. i don't think he meant it in malice, but the effect was most pernicious. he sent the information that a new attack was to be made by the th may upon the kowenstyn, that it was sure to be successful, and that the siege of antwerp was as good as raised. so lord burghley informed me, in presence of lord leicester, that her majesty was determined to await the issue of this enterprise. it was quite too late to get troops in readiness; to co-operate with the states' army, so soon as the th may, and as antwerp was so sure to be relieved, there was no pressing necessity for haste. i uttered most bitter complaints to these lords and to other counsellors of the queen, that she should thus draw back, on account of a letter from a single individual, without paying sufficient heed to the despatches from the states-general, who certainly knew their own affairs and their own necessities better than any one else could do, but her majesty sticks firm to her resolution." here were immense mistakes committed on all sides. the premature shooting up of those three rockets from the cathedral-tower, on the unlucky th may, had thus not only ruined the first assault against the kowenstyn, but also the second and the more promising adventure. had the four thousand bold englishmen there enlisted, and who could have reached the provinces in time to cooperate in that great enterprise, have stood side by side with the hollanders, the zeelanders, and the antwerpers, upon that fatal dyke, it is almost a certainty that antwerp would have been relieved, and the whole of flanders and brabant permanently annexed to the independent commonwealth, which would have thus assumed at once most imposing proportions. it was a great blunder of sainte aldegonde to station in the cathedral, on so important an occasion, watchmen in whose judgment he could not thoroughly rely. it was a blunder in gilpin, intelligent as he generally showed himself, to write in such sanguine style before the event. but it was the greatest blunder of all for queen elizabeth to suspend her cooperation at the very instant when, as the result showed, it was likely to prove most successful. it was a chapter of blunders from first to last, but the most fatal of all the errors was the one thus prompted by the great queen's most traitorous characteristic, her obstinate parsimony. and now began a series of sharp chafferings on both sides, not very much to the credit of either party. the kingdom of england, and the rebellious provinces of spain, were drawn to each other by an irresistible law of political attraction. their absorption into each other seemed natural and almost inevitable; and the weight of the strong protestant organism, had it been thus completed, might have balanced the great catholic league which was clustering about spain. it was unfortunate that the two governments of england and the netherlands should now assume the attitude of traders driving a hard bargain with each other, rather than that of two important commonwealths, upon whose action, at that momentous epoch, the weal and wo of christendom was hanging. it is quite true that the danger to england was great, but that danger in any event was to be confronted--philip was to be defied, and, by assuming the cause of the provinces to be her own, which it unquestionably was, elizabeth was taking the diadem from her head--as the king of sweden well observed--and adventuring it upon the doubtful chance of war. would it not have been better then--her mind being once made up--promptly to accept all the benefits, as well as all the hazards, of the bold game to which she was of necessity a party? but she could not yet believe in the incredible meanness of henry iii. "i asked her majesty" ( rd may, ), said ortel, "whether, in view of these vast preparations in france, it did not behove her to be most circumspect and upon her guard. for, in the opinion of many men, everything showed one great scheme already laid down--a general conspiracy throughout christendom against the reformed religion. she answered me, that thus far she could not perceive this to be the case; 'nor could she believe,' she said, 'that the king of france could be so faint-hearted as to submit to such injuries from the guises.'" time was very soon to show the nature of that unhappy monarch with regard to injuries, and to prove to elizabeth the error she had committed in doubting his faint-heartedness. meanwhile, time was passing, and the netherlands were shivering in the storm. they, needed the open sunshine which her caution kept too long behind the clouds. for it was now enjoined upon walsingham to manifest a coldness upon the part of the english government towards the states. davison was to be allowed to return; "but," said sir francis, "her majesty would not have you accompany the commissioners who are coming from the low countries; but to come over, either before them or after them, lest it be thought they come over by her majesty's procurement." as if they were not coming over by her majesty's most especial procurement, and as if it would matter to philip--the union once made between england and holland--whether the invitation to that union came first from the one party or the other! "i am retired for my health from the court to mine own house," said walsingham, "but i find those in whose judgment her majesty reposeth greatest trust so coldly affected unto the cause, as i have no great hope of the matter; and yet, for that the hearts of princes are in the hands of god, who both can will and dispose them at his pleasure, i would be loath to hinder the repair of the commissioners." here certainly, had the sun gone most suddenly into a cloud. sir francis would be loath to advise the commissioners to stay at home, but he obviously thought them coming on as bootless an errand as that which had taken their colleagues so recently into france. the cause of the trouble was flushing. hence the tears, and the coldness, and the scoldings, on the part of the imperious and the economical queen. flushing was the patrimony--a large portion of that which was left to him--of count maurice. it was deeply mortgaged for the payment of the debts of william the silent, but his son maurice, so long as the elder brother philip william remained a captive in spain, wrote himself marquis of flushing and kampveer, and derived both revenue and importance from his rights in that important town. the states of zeeland, while desirous of a political fusion of the two countries, were averse from the prospect of converting, by exception, their commercial, capital into an english city, the remainder of the provinces remaining meanwhile upon their ancient footing. the negociations on the subject caused a most ill-timed delay. the states finding the english government cooling, affected to grow tepid themselves. this was the true mercantile system, perhaps, for managing a transaction most thriftily, but frankness and promptness would have been more statesmanlike at such a juncture. "i am sorry to understand," wrote walsingham, "that the states are not yet grown to a full resolution for the delivering of the town of flushing into her majesty's hands. the queen finding the people of that island so wavering and inconstant, besides that they can hardly, after the so long enjoying a popular liberty, bear a regal authority, would be loath to embark herself into so dangerous a war without some sufficient caution received from them. it is also greatly to be doubted, that if, by practice and corruption, that town might be recovered by the spaniards, it would put all the rest of the country in peril. i find her majesty, in case that town may be gotten, fully resolved to receive them into her protection, so as it may also be made probable unto her that the promised three hundred thousand guilders the month will be duly paid." a day or two after writing this letter, walsingham sent one afternoon, in a great hurry, for ortel, and informed him very secretly, that, according to information just received, the deputies from the states were coming without sufficient authority in regard to this very matter. thus all the good intentions of the english government were likely to be frustrated, and the provinces to be reduced to direful extremity. "what can we possibly advise her majesty to do?" asked walsingham, "since you are not willing to put confidence in her intentions. you are trying to bring her into a public war, in which she is to risk her treasure and the blood of her subjects against the greatest potentates of the world, and you hesitate meantime at giving her such security as is required for the very defence of the provinces themselves. the deputies are coming hither to offer the sovereignty to her majesty, as was recently done in france, or, if that should not prove acceptable, they are to ask assistance in men and money upon a mere 'taliter qualiter' guaranty. that's not the way. and there are plenty of ill-disposed persons here to take advantage of this position of affairs to ruin the interest of the provinces now placed on so good a footing. moreover, in this perpetual sending of despatches back and forth, much precious time is consumed; and this is exactly what our enemies most desire." in accordance with walsingham's urgent suggestions, ortel wrote at once to his constituents, imploring them to remedy this matter. do not allow," he said, any, more time to be wasted. let us not painfully, build a wall only to knock our own heads against it, to the dismay of our friends and the gratification of our enemies." it was at last arranged that an important blank should be left in the articles to be brought by the deputies, upon which vacant place the names of certain cautionary towns, afterwards to be agreed upon, were to be inscribed by common consent. meantime the english ministers were busy in preparing to receive the commissioners, and to bring the netherland matter handsomely before the legislature. the integrity, the caution, the thrift, the hesitation, which characterized elizabeth's government, were well pourtrayed in the habitual language of the lord treasurer, chief minister of a third-rate kingdom now called on to play a first-rate part, thoroughly acquainted with the moral and intellectual power of the nation whose policy he directed, and prophetically conscious of the great destinies which were opening upon her horizon. lord burghley could hardly be censured--least of all ridiculed--for the patient and somewhat timid attributes of his nature: the ineffable ponderings, which might now be ludicrous, on the part of a minister of the british empire, with two hundred millions of subjects and near a hundred millions of revenue, were almost inevitable in a man guiding a realm of four millions of people with half a million of income. it was, on the whole, a strange negotiation, this between england and holland. a commonwealth had arisen, but was unconscious of the strength which it was to find in the principle of states' union, and of religious equality. it sought, on the contrary, to exchange its federal sovereignty for provincial dependence, and to imitate, to a certain extent, the very intolerance by which it had been driven into revolt. it was not unnatural that the netherlanders should hate the roman catholic religion, in the name of which they had endured such infinite tortures, but it is, nevertheless, painful to observe that they requested queen elizabeth, whom they styled defender, not of "the faith" but of the "reformed religion," to exclude from the provinces, in case she accepted the sovereignty, the exercise of all religious rites except those belonging to the reformed church. they, however, expressly provided against inquisition into conscience. private houses were to be sacred, the, papists free within their own walls, but the churches were to be closed to those of the ancient faith. this was not so bad as to hang, burn, drown, and bury alive nonconformists, as had been done by philip and the holy inquisition in the name of the church of rome; nor is it very surprising that the horrible past should have caused that church to be regarded with sentiments of such deep-rooted hostility as to make the hollanders shudder at the idea of its re-establishment. yet, no doubt, it was idle for either holland or england, at that day, to talk of a reconciliation with rome. a step had separated them, but it was a step from a precipice. no human power could bridge the chasm. the steep contrast between the league and the counter-league, between the systems of philip and mucio, and that of elizabeth and olden-barneveld, ran through the whole world of thought, action, and life. but still the negociation between holland and england was a strange one. holland wished to give herself entirely, and england feared to accept. elizabeth, in place of sovereignty, wanted mortgages; while holland was afraid to give a part, although offering the whole. there was no great inequality between the two countries. both were instinctively conscious, perhaps, of standing on the edge of a vast expansion. both felt that they were about to stretch their wings suddenly for a flight over the whole earth. yet each was a very inferior power, in comparison with the great empires of the past or those which then existed. it is difficult, without a strong effort of the imagination, to reduce the english empire to the slender proportions which belonged to her in the days of elizabeth. that epoch was full of light and life. the constellations which have for centuries been shining in the english firmament were then human creatures walking english earth. the captains, statesmen, corsairs, merchant-adventurers, poets, dramatists, the great queen herself, the cecils, raleigh, walsingham, drake, hawkins, gilbert, howard, willoughby, the norrises, essex, leicester, sidney, spenser, shakspeare and the lesser but brilliant lights which surrounded him; such were the men who lifted england upon an elevation to which she was not yet entitled by her material grandeur. at last she had done with rome, and her expansion dated from that moment. holland and england, by the very condition of their existence, were sworn foes to philip. elizabeth stood excommunicated of the pope. there was hardly a month in which intelligence was not sent by english agents out of the netherlands and france, that assassins, hired by philip, were making their way to england to attempt the life of the queen. the netherlanders were rebels to the spanish monarch, and they stood, one and all, under death-sentence by rome. the alliance was inevitable and wholesome. elizabeth was, however, consistently opposed to the acceptance of a new sovereignty. england was a weak power. ireland was at her side in a state of chronic rebellion--a stepping-stone for spain in its already foreshadowed invasion. scotland was at her back with a strong party of catholics, stipendiaries of philip, encouraged by the guises and periodically inflamed to enthusiasm by the hope of rescuing mary stuart from her imprisonment, bringing her rival's head to the block, and elevating the long-suffering martyr upon the throne of all the british islands. and in the midst of england itself, conspiracies were weaving every day. the mortal duel between the two queens was slowly approaching its termination. in the fatal form of mary was embodied everything most perilous to england's glory and to england's queen. mary stuart meant absolutism at home, subjection to rome and spain abroad. the uncle guises were stipendiaries of philip, philip was the slave of the pope. mucio had frightened the unlucky henry iii. into submission, and there was no health nor hope in france. for england, mary stuart embodied the possible relapse into sloth, dependence, barbarism. for elizabeth, mary stuart embodied sedition, conspiracy, rebellion, battle, murder, and sudden death. it was not to be wondered at that the queen thus situated should be cautious, when about throwing down the gauntlet to the greatest powers of the earth. yet the commissioners from the united states were now on their way to england to propose the throwing of that gauntlet. what now was that england? its population was, perhaps, not greater than the numbers which dwell to-day within its capital and immediate suburbs. its revenue was perhaps equal to the sixtieth part of the annual interest on the present national debt. single, highly-favoured individuals, not only in england but in other countries cis-and trans-atlantic, enjoy incomes equal to more than half the amount of elizabeth's annual budget. london, then containing perhaps one hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, was hardly so imposing a town as antwerp, and was inferior in most material respects to paris and lisbon. forty-two hundred children were born every year within its precincts, and the deaths were nearly as many. in plague years, which were only too frequent, as many as twenty and even thirty thousand people had been annually swept away. at the present epoch there are seventeen hundred births every week, and about one thousand deaths. it is instructive to throw a glance at the character of the english people as it appeared to intelligent foreigners at that day; for the various parts of the world were not then so closely blended, nor did national colours and characteristics flow so liquidly into each other, as is the case in these days of intimate juxta-position. "the english are a very clever, handsome, and well-made people," says a learned antwerp historian and merchant, who had resided a long time in london, "but, like all islanders, by nature weak and tender. they are generally fair, particularly the women, who all--even to the peasant women--protect their complexions from the sun with fans and veils, as only the stately gentlewomen do in germany and the netherlands. as a people they are stout-hearted, vehement, eager, cruel in war, zealous in attack, little fearing: death; not revengeful, but fickle, presumptuous, rash, boastful, deceitful, very suspicious, especially of strangers, whom they despise. they are full of courteous and hypocritical gestures and words, which they consider to imply good manners, civility, and wisdom. they are well spoken, and very hospitable. they feed well, eating much meat, which-owing to the rainy climate and the ranker character of the grass--is not so firm and succulent as the meat of france and the netherlands. the people are not so laborious as the french and hollanders, preferring to lead an indolent life, like the spaniards. the most difficult and ingenious of the handicrafts are in the hands of foreigners, as is the case with the lazy inhabitants of spain. they feed many sheep, with fine wool, from which, two hundred years ago, they learned to make cloth. they keep many idle servants, and many wild animals for their pleasure, instead of cultivating the sail. they have many ships, but they do not even catch fish enough for their own consumption, but purchase of their neighbours. they dress very elegantly. their costume is light and costly, but they are very changeable and capricious, altering their fashions every year, both the men and the women. when they go away from home, riding or travelling, they always wear their best clothes, contrary to the habit of other nations. the english language is broken dutch, mixed with french and british terms and words, but with a lighter pronunciation. they do not speak from the chest, like the germans, but prattle only with the tongue." here are few statistical facts, but certainly it is curious to see how many national traits thus photographed by a contemporary, have quite vanished, and have been exchanged for their very opposites. certainly the last physiological criticism of all would indicate as great a national metamorphosis, during the last three centuries, as is offered by many other of the writer's observations. "with regard to the women," continues the same authority, "they are entirely in the power of the men, except in matters of life and death, yet they are not kept so closely and strictly as in spain and elsewhere. they are not locked up, but have free management of their household, like the netherlanders and their other neighbours. they are gay in their clothing, taking well their ease, leaving house-work to the servant-maids, and are fond of sitting, finely-dressed, before their doors to see the passers-by and to be seen of them. in all banquets and dinner-parties they have the most honour, sitting at the upper end of the board, and being served first. "their time is spent in riding, lounging, card-playing, and making merry with their gossips at child-bearings, christenings, churchings, and buryings; and all this conduct the men wink at, because such are the customs of the land. they much commend however the industry and careful habits of the german and netherland women, who do the work which in england devolves upon the men. hence, england is called the paradise of married women, for the unmarried girls are kept much more strictly than upon the continent. the women are, handsome, white, dressy, modest; although they go freely about the streets without bonnet, hood, or veil; but lately learned to cover their faces with a silken mask or vizard with a plumage of feathers, for they change their fashions every year, to the astonishment of many." paul hentzner, a tourist from germany at precisely the same epoch, touches with equal minuteness on english characteristics. it may be observed, that, with some discrepancies, there is also much similarity, in the views of the two critics. "the english," says the whimsical paul, are serious, like the germans, lovers of show, liking to be followed, wherever they go, by troops of servants, who wear their master's arms, in silver, fastened to their left sleeves, and are justly ridiculed for wearing tails hanging down their backs. they excel in dancing and music, for they are active and lively, although they are of thicker build than the germans. they cut their hair close on the forehead, letting it hang down on either side. they are good sailors, and better pirates, cunning, treacherous, thievish. three hundred and upwards are hanged annually in london. hawking is the favourite sport of the nobility. the english are more polite in eating than the french, devouring less bread, but more meat, which they roast in perfection. they put a great deal of sugar in their drink. their beds are covered with tapestry, even those of farmers. they are powerful in the field, successful against their enemies, impatient of anything like slavery, vastly fond of great ear-filling noises, such as cannon-firing, drum-beating, and bell-ringing; so that it is very common for a number of them, when they have got a cup too much in their heads, to go up to some belfry, and ring the bells for an hour together, for the sake of the amusement. if they see a foreigner very well made or particularly handsome, they will say "'tis pity he is not an englishman." it is also somewhat amusing, at the present day, to find a german elaborately explaining to his countrymen the mysteries of tobacco-smoking, as they appeared to his unsophisticated eyes in england. "at the theatres and everywhere else," says the traveller, "the english are constantly smoking tobacco in the following manner. they have pipes, made on purpose, of clay. at the further end of these is a bowl. into the bowl they put the herb, and then setting fire to it, they draw the smoke into their mouths, which they puff out again through their nostrils, like funnels," and so on; conscientious explanations which a german tourist of our own times might think it superfluous to offer to his compatriots. it is also instructive to read that the light-fingered gentry of the metropolis were nearly as adroit in their calling as they are at present, after three additional centuries of development for their delicate craft; for the learned tobias salander, the travelling companion of paul hentzner, finding himself at a lord mayor's show, was eased of his purse, containing nine crowns, as skilfully as the feat could have been done by the best pickpocket of the nineteenth century, much to that learned person's discomfiture. into such an england and among such english the netherland envoys had now been despatched on their most important errand. after twice putting back, through stress of weather, the commissioners, early in july, arrived at london, and were "lodged and very worshipfully appointed at charges of her majesty in the clothworkers' hall in pynchon-lane, near tower-street." about the tower and its faubourgs the buildings were stated to be as elegant as they were in the city itself, although this was hardly very extravagant commendation. from this district a single street led along the river's strand to westminster, where were the old and new palaces, the famous hall and abbey, the parliament chambers, and the bridge to southwark, built of stone, with twenty arches, sixty feet high, and with rows of shops and dwelling-houses on both its sides. thence, along the broad and beautiful river, were dotted here and there many stately mansions and villas, residences of bishops and nobles, extending farther and farther west as the city melted rapidly into the country. london itself was a town lying high upon a hill--the hill of lud--and consisted of a coil of narrow, tortuous, unseemly streets, each with a black, noisome rivulet running through its centre, and with rows of three-storied, leaden-roofed houses, built of timber-work filled in with lime, with many gables, and with the upper stories overhanging and darkening the basements. there were one hundred and twenty-one churches, small and large, the most conspicuous of which was the cathedral. old saint paul's was not a very magnificent edifice--but it was an extremely large one, for it was seven hundred and twenty feet long, one hundred and thirty broad, and had a massive quadrangular tower, two hundred and sixty feet high. upon this tower had stood a timber-steeple, rising, to a height of five hundred and thirty-four feet from the ground, but it had been struck by lightning in the year , and consumed to the stone-work. the queen's favourite residence was greenwich palace, the place of her birth, and to this mansion, on the th of july, the netherland envoys were conveyed, in royal barges, from the neighbourhood of pynchon-lane, for their first audience. the deputation was a strong one. there was falck of zeeland, a man of consummate adroitness, perhaps not of as satisfactory integrity; "a shrewd fellow and a fine," as lord leicester soon afterwards characterised him. there was menin, pensionary of dort, an eloquent and accomplished orator, and employed on this occasion as chief spokesman of the legation--"a deeper man, and, i think, an honester," said the same personage, adding, with an eye to business, "and he is but poor, which you must consider, but with great secrecy." there was paul buys, whom we have met with before; keen, subtle, somewhat loose of life, very passionate, a most most energetic and valuable friend to england, a determined foe to france, who had resigned the important post of holland's advocate, when the mission offering sovereignty to henry iii. had been resolved upon, and who had since that period been most influential in procuring the present triumph of the english policy. through his exertions the province of holland had been induced at an early moment to furnish the most ample instructions to the commissioners for the satisfaction of queen elizabeth in the great matter of the mortgages. "judge if this paul buys has done his work well," said a french agent in the netherlands, who, despite the infamous conduct of his government towards the provinces, was doing his best to frustrate the subsequent negotiation with england, "and whether or no he has holland under his thumb." the same individual had conceived hopes from falck of zeeland. that province, in which lay the great bone of contention between the queen and the states--the important town of flushing--was much slower than holland to agree to the english policy. it is to be feared that falck was not the most ingenuous and disinterested politician that could be found even in an age not distinguished for frankness or purity; for even while setting forth upon the mission to elizabeth, he was still clingihg, or affecting to cling, to the wretched delusion of french assistance. "i regret infinitely," said falck to the french agent just mentioned, "that i am employed in this affair, and that it is necessary in our present straits to have recourse to england. there is--so to speak--not a person in our province that is inclined that way, all recognizing very well that france is much more salutary for us, besides that we all bear her a certain affection. indeed, if i were assured that the king still felt any goodwill towards us, i would so manage matters that neither the queen of england, nor any other prince whatever except his most christian-majesty should take a bite at this country, at least at this province, and with that view, while waiting for news from france, i will keep things in suspense, and spin them out as long as it is possible to do." the news from france happened soon to be very conclusive, and it then became difficult even for falek to believe--after intelligence received of the accord between henry iii. and the guises--that his christian majesty, would be inclined for a bite at the netherlands. this duplicity on the part of so leading a personage furnishes a key to much of the apparent dilatoriness on the part of the english government: it has been seen that elizabeth, up to the last moment, could not fairly comprehend the ineffable meanness of the french monarch. she told ortel that she saw no reason to believe in that great catholic conspiracy against herself and against all protestantism which was so soon to be made public by the king's edict of july, promulgated at the very instant of the arrival in england of the netherland envoys. then that dread fiat had gone forth, the most determined favourer of the french alliance could no longer admit its possibility, and falck became the more open to that peculiar line of argument which leicester had suggested with regard to one of the other deputies. "i will do my best," wrote walsingham, "to procure that paul buys and falck shall receive underhand some reward." besides menin, falck, and buys, were noel de caron, an experienced diplomatist; the poet-soldier, van der does; heroic defender of leyden; de gryze, hersolte, francis maalzoon, and three legal frisians of pith and substance, feitsma, aisma, and jongema; a dozen dutchmen together--as muscular champions as ever little republic sent forth to wrestle with all comers in the slippery ring of diplomacy. for it was instinctively felt that here were conclusions to be tried with a nation of deep, solid thinkers, who were aware that a great crisis in the world's history had occurred, and would put forth their most substantial men to deal with it: burghley and walsingham, the great queen herself, were no feather-weights like the frivolous henry iii., and his minions. it was pity, however, that the discussions about to ensue presented from the outset rather the aspect of a hard hitting encounter of antagonists than that of a frank and friendly congress between two great parties whose interests were identical. since the death of william the silent, there was no one individual in the netherlands to impersonate the great struggle of the provinces with spain and rome, and to concentrate upon his own head a poetical, dramatic, and yet most legitimate interest. the great purpose of the present history must be found in its illustration of the creative power of civil and religious freedom. here was a little republic, just born into the world, suddenly bereft of its tutelary saint, left to its own resources, yet already instinct with healthy vigorous life, and playing its difficult part among friends and enemies with audacity, self-reliance, and success. to a certain extent its achievements were anonymous, but a great principle manifested itself through a series of noble deeds. statesmen, soldiers, patriots, came forward on all sides to do the work which was to be done, and those who were brought into closest contact with the commonwealth acknowledged in strongest language the signal ability with which, self-guided, she steered her course. nevertheless, there was at this moment one netherlander, the chief of the present mission to england, already the foremost statesman of his country, whose name will not soon be effaced from the record of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. that man was john of olden-barneveld. he was now in his thirty-eighth year, having been born at amersfoot on the th of september, . he bore an imposing name, for the olden-barnevelds of gelderland were a race of unquestionable and antique nobility. his enemies, however, questioned his right to the descent which he claimed. they did not dispute that the great grandfather, class van olden-barneveld, was of distinguished lineage and allied to many illustrious houses, but they denied that class was really the great grandfather of john. john's father, gerritt, they said, was a nameless outcast, a felon, a murderer, who had escaped the punishment due to his crimes, but had dragged out a miserable existence in the downs, burrowing like a rabbit in the sand. they had also much to say in disparagement of all john's connections. not only was his father a murderer, but his wife, whom he had married for money, was the child of a most horrible incest, his sisters were prostitutes, his sons and brothers were debauchees and drunkards, and, in short, never had a distinguished man a more uncomfortable and discreditable family-circle than that which surrounded barneveld, if the report of his enemies was to be believed. yet it is agreeable to reflect that, with all the venom which they had such power of secreting, these malignant tongues had been unable to destroy the reputation of the man himself. john's character was honourable and upright, his intellectual power not disputed even by those who at a later period hated him the most bitterly. he had been a profound and indefatigable student from his earliest youth. he had read law at leyden, in france, at heidelberg. here, in the head-quarters of german calvinism, his youthful mind had long pondered the dread themes of foreknowledge, judgment absolute, free will, and predestination: to believe it worth the while of a rational and intelligent deity to create annually several millions of thinking beings, who were to struggle for a brief period on earth, and to consume in perpetual brimstone afterwards, while others were predestined to endless enjoyment, seemed to him an indifferent exchange for a faith in the purgatory and paradise of rome. perplexed in the extreme, the youthful john bethought himself of an inscription over the gateway of his famous but questionable great grandfather's house at amersfort--'nil scire tutissima fides.' he resolved thenceforth to adopt a system of ignorance upon matters beyond the flaming walls of the world; to do the work before him manfully and faithfully while he walked the earth, and to trust that a benevolent creator would devote neither him nor any other man to eternal hellfire. for this most offensive doctrine he was howled at by the strictly pious, while he earned still deeper opprobrium by daring to advocate religious toleration: in face of the endless horrors inflicted by the spanish inquisition upon his native land, he had the hardihood--although a determined protestant himself--to claim for roman catholics the right to exercise their religion in the free states on equal terms with those of the reformed faith. "anyone," said his enemies, "could smell what that meant who had not a wooden nose." in brief, he was a liberal christian, both in theory and practice, and he nobly confronted in consequence the wrath of bigots on both sides. at a later period the most zealous calvinists called him pope john, and the opinions to which he was to owe such appellations had already been formed in his mind. after completing his very thorough legal studies, he had practised as an advocate in holland and zeeland. an early defender of civil and religious freedom, he had been brought at an early day into contact with william the silent, who recognized his ability. he had borne a snap-hance on his shoulder as a volunteer in the memorable attempt to relieve haarlem, and was one of the few survivors of that bloody night. he had stood outside the walls of leyden in company of the prince of orange when that magnificent destruction of the dykes had taken place by which the city had been saved from the fate impending over it. at a still more recent period we have seen him landing from the gun-boats upon the kowenstyn, on the fatal th may. these military adventures were, however, but brief and accidental episodes in his career, which was that of a statesman and diplomatist. as pensionary of rotterdam, he was constantly a member of the general assembly, and had already begun to guide the policy of the new commonwealth. his experience was considerable, and he was now in the high noon of his vigour and his usefulness. he was a man of noble and imposing presence, with thick hair pushed from a broad forehead rising dome-like above a square and massive face; a strong deeply-coloured physiognomy, with shaggy brow, a chill blue eye, not winning but commanding, high cheek bones, a solid, somewhat scornful nose, a firm mouth and chin, enveloped in a copious brown beard; the whole head not unfitly framed in the stiff formal ruff of the period; and the tall stately figure well draped in magisterial robes of velvet and sable--such was john of olden-barneveld. the commissioners thus described arrived at greenwich stairs, and were at once ushered into the palace, a residence which had been much enlarged and decorated by henry viii. they were received with stately ceremony. the presence-chamber was hung with gobelin tapestry, its floor strewn with rushes. fifty-gentlemen pensioners, with gilt battle-ages, and a throng of 'buffetiers', or beef-eaters, in that quaint old-world garb which has survived so many centuries, were in attendance, while the counsellors of the queen, in their robes of state, waited around the throne. there, in close skull-cap and dark flowing gown, was the subtle, monastic-looking walsingham, with long, grave, melancholy face and spanish eyes. there too, white staff in hand, was lord high treasurer burghley, then sixty-five years of age, with serene blue eye, large, smooth, pale, scarce-wrinkled face and forehead; seeming, with his placid, symmetrical features, and great velvet bonnet, under which such silver hairs as remained were soberly tucked away, and with his long dark robes which swept the ground, more like a dignified gentlewoman than a statesman, but for the wintery beard which lay like a snow-drift on his ancient breast. the queen was then in the fifty-third year of her age, and considered herself in the full bloom of her beauty. her, garments were of satin and velvet, with fringes of pearl as big as beans. a small gold crown was upon her head, and her red hair, throughout its multiplicity of curls, blazed with diamonds and emeralds. her forehead was tall, her face long, her complexion fair, her eyes small, dark, and glittering, her nose high and hooked, her lips thin, her teeth black, her bosom white and liberally exposed. as she passed through the ante-chamber to the presence-hall, supplicants presented petitions upon their knees. wherever she glanced, all prostrated themselves on the ground. the cry of "long live queen elizabeth" was spontaneous and perpetual; the reply; "i thank you, my good people," was constant and cordial. she spoke to various foreigners in their respective languages, being mistress, besides the latin and greek, of french, spanish, italian, and german. as the commissioners were presented to her by lord buckhurst it was observed that she was perpetually gloving and ungloving, as if to attract attention to her hand, which was esteemed a wonder of beauty. she spoke french with purity and elegance, but with a drawling, somewhat affected accent, saying "paar maa foi; paar le dieeu vivaant," and so forth, in a style which was ridiculed by parisians, as she sometimes, to her extreme annoyance, discovered. joos de menin, pensionary of dort, in the name of all the envoys, made an elaborate address. he expressed the gratitude which the states entertained for her past kindness, and particularly for the good offices rendered by ambassador davison after the death of the prince of orange, and for the deep regret expressed by her majesty for their disappointment in the hopes they had founded upon france. "since the death of the prince of orange," he said, "the states have lost many important cities, and now, for the preservation of their existence, they have need of a prince and sovereign lord to defend them against the tyranny and iniquitous oppression of the spaniards and their adherents, who are more and more determined utterly to destroy their country, and reduce the poor people to a perpetual slavery worse than that of indians, under the insupportable and detestable yoke of the spanish inquisition. we have felt a confidence that your majesty will not choose to see us perish at the hands of the enemy against whom we have been obliged to sustain this long and cruel war. that war we have undertaken in order to preserve for the poor people their liberty, laws, and franchises, together with the exercise of the true christian religion, of which your majesty bears rightfully the title of defender, and against which the enemy and his allies have made so many leagues and devised so many ambushes and stratagems, besides organizing every day so many plots against the life of your majesty and the safety of your realms--schemes which thus far the good god has averted for the good of christianity and the maintenance of his churches. for these reasons, madam, the states have taken a firm resolution to have recourse to your majesty, seeing that it is an ordinary thing for all oppressed nations to apply in their calamity to neighbouring princes, and especially to such as are endowed with piety, justice, magnanimity, and other kingly virtues. for this reason we have been deputed to offer to your majesty the sovereignty over these provinces, under certain good and equitable conditions, having reference chiefly to the maintenance of the reformed religion and of our ancient liberties and customs. and although, in the course of these long and continued wars, the enemy has obtained possession of many cities and strong places within our couniry, nevertheless the provinces of holland, zeeland, utrecht, and friesland, are, thank god, still entire. and in those lands are many large and stately cities, beautiful and deep rivers, admirable seaports, from which your majesty and your successors can derive much good fruit and commodity, of which it is scarcely, necessary to make a long recital. this point, however, beyond the rest, merits a special consideration; namely, that the conjunction of those provinces of holland, zeeland, utrecht, and friesland, together with the cities of sluys and ostend, with the kingdoms of your majesty, carries with it the absolute empire of the great ocean, and consequently an assurance of perpetual felicity for your subjects. we therefore humbly entreat you to agree to our conditions, to accept the sovereign seignory of these provinces, and consequently to receive the people of the same as your very humble and obedient subjects, under the perpetual safeguard of your crown--a people certainly as faithful and loving towards their princes and sovereign lords, to speak without boasting, as any in all christendom. "so doing, madam, you will preserve many beautiful churches which it has pleased god to raise up in these lands, now much afflicted and shaken, and you will deliver this country and people--before the iniquitous invasion of the spaniards, so rich and flourishing by the great commodity of the sea, their ports and rivers, their commerce and manufactures, for all which they have such natural advantages--from ruin and perpetual slavery of body and soul. this will be a truly excellent work, agreeable to god, profitable to christianity, worthy of immortal praise, and comporting with the heroic virtues of your majesty, and ensuring the prosperity of your country and people. with this we present to your majesty our articles and conditions, and pray that the king of kings may preserve you from all your enemies and ever have you in his holy keeping." the queen listened intently and very courteously to the delivery of this address, and then made answer in french to this effect:--"gentlemen,--had i a thousand tongues i should not be able to express my obligation to you for the great and handsome offers which you have just made. i firmly believe that this proceeds from the true zeal, devotion, and affection, which you have always borne me, and i am certain that you have ever preferred me to all the princes and potentates in the world. even when you selected the late duke of anjou, who was so dear to me, and to whose soul i hope that god has been merciful, i know that you would sooner have offered your country to me if i had desired that you should do so. certainly i esteem it a great thing that you wish to be governed by me, and i feel so much obliged to you in consequence that i will never abandon you, but, on the contrary, assist you till the last sigh of my life. i know very well that your princes have treated you ill, and that the spaniards are endeavouring to ruin you entirely; but i will come to your aid, and i will consider what i can do, consistently with my honour, in regard to the articles which you have brought me. they shall be examined by the members of my council, and i promise that i will not keep you three or four months, for i know very well that your affairs require haste, and that they will become ruinous if you are not assisted. it is not my custom to procrastinate, and upon this occasion i shall not dally, as others have done, but let you have my answer very soon." certainly, if the provinces needed a king, which they had most unequivocally declared to be the case, they might have wandered the whole earth over, and, had it been possible, searched through the whole range of history, before finding a monarch with a more kingly spirit than the great queen to whom they had at last had recourse. unfortunately, she was resolute in her refusal to accept the offered sovereignty. the first interview terminated with this exchange of addresses, and the deputies departed in their barges for their lodgings in pynchon-lane. the next two days were past in perpetual conferences, generally at lord burghley's house, between the envoys and the lords of the council, in which the acceptance of the sovereignty was vehemently urged on the part of the netherlanders, and steadily declined in the name of her majesty. "her highness," said burghley, "cannot be induced, by any writing or harangue that you can make, to accept the principality or proprietorship as sovereign, and it will therefore be labour lost for you to exhibit any writing for the purpose of changing her intention. it will be better to content yourselves with her majesty's consent to assist you, and to take you under her protection." nevertheless, two days afterwards, a writing was exhibited, drawn up by menin, in which another elaborate effort was made to alter the queen's determination. this anxiety, on the part of men already the principal personages in a republic, to merge the independent existence of their commonwealth in another and a foreign political organism, proved, at any rate; that they were influenced by patriotic motives alone. it is also instructive to observe the intense language with which the necessity of a central paramount sovereignty for all the provinces, and the inconveniences of the separate states' right principle were urged by a deputation, at the head of which stood olden-barneveld. "although it is not becoming in us," said they, "to enquire into your majesty's motives for refusing the sovereignty of our country, nevertheless, we cannot help observing that your consent would be most profitable, as well to your majesty, and your successors, as to the provinces themselves. by your acceptance of the sovereignty the two peoples would be, as it were, united in one body. this would cause a fraternal benevolence between them, and a single reverence, love, and obedience to your majesty.--the two peoples being thus under the government of the same sovereign prince, the intrigues and practices which the enemy could attempt with persons under a separate subjection, would of necessity surcease. moreover, those provinces are all distinct duchies, counties, seignories, governed by their own magistrates, laws, and ordinances; each by itself, without any authority or command to be exercised by one province over another. to this end they have need of a supreme power and of one sovereign prince or seignor, who may command all equally, having a constant regard to the public weal--considered as a generality, and not with regard to the profit of the one or the other individual province--and, causing promptly and universally to be executed such ordinances as may be made in the matter of war or police, according to various emergencies. each province, on the contrary, retaining its sovereignty over its own inhabitants, obedience will not be so promptly and completely rendered to the commands of the lieutenant-general of your majesty, and many, a good enterprise and opportunity, will be lost. where there is not a single authority it is always found that one party endeavours to usurp power over another, or to escape doing his duty so thoroughly as the others. and this has notoriously been the case in the matter of contributions, imposts, and similar matters." thus much, and more of similar argument, logically urged, made it sufficiently evident that twenty years of revolt and of hard fighting against one king, had not destroyed in the minds of the leading netherlanders their conviction of the necessity of kingship. if the new commonwealth was likely to remain a republic, it was, at that moment at any rate, because they could not find a king. certainly they did their best to annex themselves to england, and to become loyal subjects of england's elizabeth. but the queen, besides other objections to the course proposed by the provinces, thought that she could do a better thing in the way of mortgages. in this, perhaps, there was something of the penny-wise policy, which sprang from one great defect in her character. at any rate much mischief was done by the mercantile spirit which dictated the hard chaffering on both sides the channel at this important juncture; for during this tedious flint-paring, antwerp, which might have been saved, was falling into the hands of philip. it should never be forgotten, however, that the queen had no standing army, and but a small revenue. the men to be sent from england to the netherland wars were first to be levied wherever it was possible to find them. in truth, many were pressed in the various wards of london, furnished with red coats and matchlocks at the expense of the citizens, and so despatched, helter-skelter, in small squads as opportunity offered. general sir john norris was already superintending these operations, by command of the queen, before the present formal negotiation with the states had begun. subsequently to the th july, on which day the second address had been made to elizabeth, the envoys had many conferences with leicester, burghley, walsingham, and other councillors, without making much progress. there was perpetual wrangling about figures and securities. "what terms will you pledge for the repayment of the monies to be advanced?" asked burghley and walsingham. "but if her majesty takes the sovereignty," answered the deputies, "there will be no question of guarantees. the queen will possess our whole land, and there will be no need of any repayment." "and we have told you over and over again," said the lord treasurer, "that her majesty will never think of accepting the sovereignty. she will assist you in money and men, and must be repaid to the last farthing when the war is over; and, until that period, must have solid pledges in the shape of a town in each province." then came interrogatories as to the amount of troops and funds to be raised respectively by the queen and the states for the common cause. the provinces wished her majesty to pay one-third of the whole expense, while her majesty was reluctant to pay one-quarter. the states wished a permanent force to be kept on foot in the netherlands of thirteen thousand infantry and two thousand cavalry for the field, and twenty-three thousand for garrisons. the councillors thought the last item too much. then there were queries as to the expense of maintaining a force in the provinces. the envoys reckoned one pound sterling, or ten florins, a month for the pay of each foot soldier, including officers; and for the cavalry, three times as much. this seemed reasonable, and the answers to the inquiries touching the expense of the war-vessels and sailors were equally satisfactory. nevertheless it was difficult to bring the queen up to the line to which the envoys had been limited by their instructions. five thousand foot and one thousand horse serving at the queen's expense till the war should be concluded, over and above the garrisons for such cautionary towns as should be agreed upon; this was considered, by the states, the minimum. the queen held out for giving only four thousand foot and four hundred horse, and for deducting the garrisons even from this slender force. as guarantee for the expense thus to be incurred, she required that flushing and brill should be placed in her hands. moreover the position of antwerp complicated the negotiation. elizabeth, fully sensible of the importance of preserving that great capital, offered four thousand soldiers to serve until that city should be relieved, requiring repayment within three months after the object should have been accomplished. as special guarantee for such repayment she required sluys and ostend. this was sharp bargaining, but, at any rate, the envoys knew that the queen, though cavilling to the ninth-part of a hair, was no trifler, and that she meant to perform whatever she should promise. there was another exchange of speeches at the palace of nonesuch, on the th august; and the position of affairs and the respective attitudes of the queen and envoys were plainly characterized by the language then employed. after an exordium about the cruelty of the spanish tyranny and the enormous expense entailed by the war upon the netherlands, menin, who, as usual, was the spokesman, alluded to the difficulty which the states at last felt in maintaining themselves. "five thousand foot and one thousand horse," he said, "over and above the maintenance of garrisons in the towns to be pledged as security to your majesty, seemed the very least amount of succour that would be probably obtained from your royal bounty. considering the great demonstrations of affection and promises of support, made as well by your majesty's own letters as by the mouth of your ambassador davison, and by our envoys de gryse and ortel, who have all declared publicly that your majesty would never forsake us, the states sent us their deputies to this country in full confidence that such reasonable demands as we had been authorized to make would be satisfied." the speaker then proceeded to declare that the offer made by the royal councillors of four thousand foot and four hundred horse, to serve during the war, together with a special force of four thousand for the relief of antwerp, to be paid for within three months after the siege should be raised, against a concession of the cities of flushing, brill, sluys, and ostend, did not come within the limitations of the states-general. they therefore begged the queen to enlarge her offer to the number of five thousand foot and one thousand horse, or at least to allow the envoys to conclude the treaty provisionally, and subject to approval of their constituents. so soon as menin had concluded his address, her majesty instantly replied, with much earnestness and fluency of language. "gentlemen," she said, "i will answer you upon the first point, because it touches my honour. you say that i promised you, both by letters and through my agent davison, and also by my own lips, to assist you and never to abandon you, and that this had moved you to come to me at present. very well, masters, do you not think i am assisting you when i am sending you four thousand foot and four hundred horse to serve during the war? certainly, i think yes; and i say frankly that i have never been wanting to my word. no man shall ever say, with truth, that the queen of england had at any time and ever so slightly failed in her promises, whether to the mightiest monarch, to republics, to gentlemen, or even to private persons of the humblest condition. am i, then, in your opinion, forsaking you when i send you english blood, which i love, and which is my own blood, and which i am bound to defend? it seems to me, no. for my part i tell you again that i will never forsake you. "'sed de modo?' that is matter for agreement. you are aware, gentlemen, that i have storms to fear from many quarters--from france, scotland, ireland, and within my own kingdom. what would be said if i looked only on one side, and if on that side i employed all my resources. no, i will give my subjects no cause for murmuring. i know that my counsellors desire to manage matters with prudence; 'sed aetatem habeo', and you are to believe, that, of my own motion, i have resolved not to extend my offer of assistance, at present, beyond the amount already stated. but i don't say that at another time i may not be able to do more for you. for my intention is never to abandon your cause, always to assist you, and never more to suffer any foreign nation to have dominion over you. "it is true that you present me with two places in each of your provinces. i thank you for them infinitely, and certainly it is a great offer. but it will be said instantly, the queen of england wishes to embrace and devour everything; while, on the contrary, i only wish to render you assistance. i believe, in truth, that if other monarchs should have this offer, they would not allow such an opportunity to escape. i do not let it slip because of fears that i entertain for any prince whatever. for to think that i am not aware--doing what i am doing--that i am embarking in a war against the king of spain, is a great mistake. i know very well that the succour which i am affording you will offend him as much as if i should do a great deal more. but what care i? let him begin, i will answer him. for my part, i say again, that never did fear enter my heart. we must all die once. i know very well that many princes are my enemies, and are seeking my ruin; and that where malice is joined with force, malice often arrives at its ends. but i am not so feeble a princess that i have not the means and the will to defend myself against them all. they are seeking to take my life, but it troubles me not. he who is on high has defended me until this hour, and will keep me still, for in him do i trust. "as to the other point, you say that your powers are not extensive enough to allow your acceptance of the offer i make you. nevertheless, if i am not mistaken, i have remarked in passing--for princes look very close to words--that you would be content if i would give you money in place of men, and that your powers speak only of demanding a certain proportion of infantry and another of cavalry. i believe this would be, as you say, an equivalent, 'secundum quod'. but i say this only because you govern yourselves so precisely by the measure of your instructions. nevertheless i don't wish to contest these points with you. for very often 'dum romae disputatur saguntum perit.' nevertheless, it would be well for you to decide; and, in any event, i do not think it good that you should all take your departure, but that, on the contrary, you should leave some of your number here. otherwise it would at once be said that all was broken off, and that i had chosen to nothing for you; and with this the bad would comfort themselves, and the good would be much discouraged. "touching the last point of your demand--according to which you desire a personage of quality--i know, gentlemen, that you do not always agree very well among yourselves, and that it would be good for you to have some one to effect such agreement. for this reason i have always intended, so soon as we should have made our treaty, to send a lord of name and authority to reside with you, to assist you in governing, and to aid, with his advice, in the better direction of your affairs. "would to god that antwerp were relieved! certainly i should be very glad, and very well content to lose all that i am now expending if that city could be saved. i hope, nevertheless, if it can hold out six weeks longer, that we shall see something good. already the two thousand men of general norris have crossed, or are crossing, every day by companies. i will hasten the rest as much as possible; and i assure you, gentlemen, that i will spare no diligence. nevertheless you may, if you choose, retire with my council, and see if together you can come to some good conclusion." thus spoke elizabeth, like the wise, courageous, and very parsimonious princess that she was. alas, it was too true, that saguntum was perishing while the higgling went on at rome. had those two thousand under sir john norris and the rest of the four thousand but gone a few weeks earlier, how much happier might have been the result! nevertheless, it was thought in england that antwerp would still hold out; and, meantime, a treaty for its relief, in combination with another for permanent assistance to the provinces, was agreed upon between the envoys and the lords of council. on the th august, menin presented himself at nonesuch at the head of his colleagues, and, in a formal speech, announced the arrangement which had thus been entered into, subject to the approval of the states. again elizabeth, whose "tongue," in the homely phrase of the netherlanders, "was wonderfully well hung," replied with energy and ready eloquence. "you see, gentlemen," she said, "that i have opened the door; that i am embarking once for all with you in a war against the king of spain. very well, i am not anxious about the matter. i hope that god will aid us, and that we shall strike a good blow in your cause. nevertheless, i pray you, with all my heart, and by the affection you bear me, to treat my soldiers well; for they are my own englishmen, whom i love as i do myself. certainly it would be a great cruelty, if you should treat them ill, since they are about to hazard their lives so freely in your defence, and i am sure that my request in this regard will be received by you as it deserves. "in the next place, as you know that i am sending, as commander of these english troops, an honest gentleman, who deserves most highly for his experience in arms, so i am also informed that you have on your side a gentleman of great valour. i pray you, therefore, that good care be taken lest there be misunderstanding between these two, which might prevent them from agreeing well together, when great exploits of war are to be taken in hand. for if that should happen--which god forbid--my succour would be rendered quite useless to you. i name count hohenlo, because him alone have i heard mentioned. but i pray you to make the same recommendation to all the colonels and gentlemen in your army; for i should be infinitely sad, if misadventures should arise from such a cause, for your interest and my honour are both at stake. "in the third place, i beg you, at your return, to make a favourable report of me, and to thank the states, in my behalf, for their great offers, which i esteem so highly as to be unable to express my thanks. tell them that i shall remember them for ever. i consider it a great honour, that from the commencement, you have ever been so faithful to me, and that with such great constancy you have preferred me to all other princes, and have chosen me for your queen. and chiefly do i thank the gentlemen of holland and zeeland, who, as i have been informed, were the first who so singularly loved me. and so on my own part i will have a special care of them, and will do my best to uphold them by every possible means, as i will do all the rest who have put their trust in me. but i name holland and zeeland more especially, because they have been so constant and faithful in their efforts to assist the rest in shaking off the yoke of the enemy. "finally, gentlemen, i beg you to assure the states that i do not decline the sovereignty of your country from any dread of the king of spain. for i take god to witness that i fear him not; and i hope, with the blessing of god, to make such demonstrations against him, that men shall say the queen of england does not fear the spaniards." elizabeth then smote herself upon the breast, and cried, with great energy, "'illa que virgo viri;' and is it not quite the same to you, even if i do not assume the sovereignty, since i intend to protect you, and since therefore the effects will be the same? it is true that the sovereignty would serve to enhance my grandeur, but i am content to do without it, if you, upon your own part, will only do your duty. "for myself, i promise you, in truth, that so long as i live, and even to my last sigh, i will never forsake you. go home and tell this boldly to the states which sent you hither." menin then replied with fresh expressions of thanks and compliments, and requested, in conclusion, that her majesty would be pleased to send, as soon as possible, a personage of quality to the netherlands. "gentlemen," replied elizabeth, "i intend to do this, so soon as our treaty shall be ratified, for, in contrary case, the king of spain, seeing your government continue on its present footing, would do nothing but laugh at us. certainly i do not mean this year to provide him with so fine a banquet." etext editor's bookmarks: anarchy which was deemed inseparable from a non-regal form dismay of our friends and the gratification of our enemies her teeth black, her bosom white and liberally exposed (eliz.) holland was afraid to give a part, although offering the whole resolved thenceforth to adopt a system of ignorance say "'tis pity he is not an englishman" seeking protection for and against the people three hundred and upwards are hanged annually in london we must all die once wrath of bigots on both sides history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter vi., part . sir john norris sent to holland--parsimony of elizabeth--energy of davison--protracted negotiations--friendly sentiments of count maurice--letters from him and louisa de coligny--davison vexed by the queen's caprice--dissatisfaction of leicester--his vehement complaints--the queen's avarice--perplexity of davison--manifesto of elizabeth--sir philip sidney--his arrival at flushing. the envoys were then dismissed, and soon afterwards a portion of the deputation took their departure from the netherlands with the proposed treaty. it was however, as we know, quite too late for saguntum. two days after the signing of the treaty, the remaining envoys were at the palace of nonesuch, in conference with the earl of leicester, when a gentleman rushed suddenly into the apartment, exclaiming with great manifestations of anger: "antwerp has fallen! a treaty has been signed with the prince of parma. aldegonde is the author of it all. he is the culprit, who has betrayed us;" with many more expressions of vehement denunciation. the queen was disappointed, but stood firm. she had been slow in taking her resolution, but she was unflinching when her mind was made up. instead of retreating from her, position, now that it became doubly dangerous, she advanced several steps nearer towards her allies. for it was obvious, if more precious time should be lost, that holland and zeeland would share the fate of antwerp. already the belief, that, with the loss of that city, all had been lost, was spreading both in the provinces and in england, and elizabeth felt that the time had indeed come to confront the danger. meantime the intrigues of the enemy in the independent provinces were rife. blunt roger williams wrote in very plain language to walsingham, a very few days after the capitulation of antwerp: "if her majesty means to have holland and zeeland," said he, "she must resolve presently. aldegonde hath promised the enemy to bring them to compound. here arrived already his ministers which knew all his dealings about antwerp from first to last. count maurice is governed altogether by villiers, and villiers was never worse for the english than at this hour. to be short, the people say in general, they will accept a peace, unless her majesty do sovereign them presently. all the men of war will be at her highness' devotion, if they be in credit in time. what you do, it must be done presently, for i do assure your honour there is large offers presented unto them by the enemies. if her majesty deals not roundly and resolutely with them now, it will be too late two months hence." her majesty meant to deal roundly and resolutely. her troops had already gone in considerable numbers. she wrote encouraging letters with her own hand to the states, imploring them not to falter now, even though the great city had fallen. she had long since promised never to desert them, and she was, if possible, more determined than ever to redeem her pledge. she especially recommended to their consideration general norris, commander of the forces that had been despatched to the relief of antwerp. a most accomplished officer, sprung of a house renowned for its romantic valour, sir john was the second of the six sons of lord norris of rycot, all soldiers of high reputation, "chickens of mars," as an old writer expressed himself. "such a bunch of brethren for eminent achievement," said he, "was never seen. so great their states and stomachs that they often jostled with others." elizabeth called their mother, "her own crow;" and the darkness of her hair and visage was thought not unbecoming to her martial issue, by whom it had been inherited. daughter of lord williams of tame, who had been keeper of the tower in the time of elizabeth's imprisonment, she had been affectionate and serviceable to the princess in the hour of her distress, and had been rewarded with her favour in the days of her grandeur. we shall often meet this crow-black norris, and his younger brother sir edward--the most daring soldiers of their time, posters of sea and land--wherever the buffeting was closest, or adventure the wildest on ship-board or shore, for they were men who combined much of the knight-errantry of a vanishing age with the more practical and expansive spirit of adventure that characterized the new epoch. nor was he a stranger in the netherlands. "the gentleman to whom we have committed the government of the forces going to the relief of antwerp," said elizabeth, "has already given you such proofs of his affection by the good services he has rendered you, that without recommendation on our part, he should stand already recommended. nevertheless, in respect for his quality, the house from which he is descended, and the valour which he has manifested in your own country, we desire to tell you that we hold him dear, and that he deserves also to be dear to you." when the fall of antwerp was certain, the queen sent davison, who had been for a brief period in england, back again to his post. "we have learned," she said in the letter which she sent by that envoy; "with very great regret of the surrender of antwerp. fearing lest some apprehension should take possession of the people's mind in consequence, and that some dangerous change might ensue, we send you our faithful and well-beloved davison to represent to you how much we have your affairs at heart, and to say that we are determined to forget nothing that may be necessary to your preservation. assure yourselves that we shall never fail to accomplish all that he may promise you in our behalf." yet, notwithstanding the gravity of the situation, the thorough discussion that had taken place of the whole matter, and the enormous loss which had resulted from the money-saving insanity upon both sides, even then the busy devil of petty economy was not quite exorcised. several precious weeks were wasted in renewed chafferings. the queen was willing that the permanent force should now be raised to five thousand foot and one thousand horse--the additional sixteen, hundred men being taken from the antwerp relieving-force--but she insisted that the garrisons for the cautionary towns should be squeezed out of this general contingent. the states, on the contrary, were determined to screw these garrisons out of her grip, as an additional subsidy. each party complained with reason of the other's closeness. no doubt the states were shrewd bargainers, but it would have been difficult for the sharpest hollander that ever sent a cargo of herrings to cadiz, to force open elizabeth's beautiful hand when she chose to shut it close. walsingham and leicester were alternately driven to despair by the covetousness of the one party or the other. it was still uncertain what "personage of quality" was to go to the netherlands in the queen's name, to help govern the country. leicester had professed his readiness to risk his life, estates, and reputation, in the cause, and the states particularly desired his appointment. "the name of your excellency is so very agreeable to this people," said they in a letter to the earl, "as to give promise of a brief and happy end to this grievous and almost immortal war." the queen was, or affected to be, still undecided as to the appointment. while waiting week after week for the ratifications of the treaty from holland, affairs were looking gloomy at home, and her majesty was growing very uncertain in her temper. "i see not her majesty disposed to use the service of the earl of leicester," wrote walsingham. "i suppose the lot of government will light on lord gray. i would to god the ability of his purse were answerable to his sufficiency otherwise." this was certainly a most essential deficiency on the part of lord gray, and it will soon be seen that the personage of quality to be selected as chief in the arduous and honourable enterprise now on foot, would be obliged to rely quite as much on that same ability of purse as upon the sufficiency of his brain or arm. the queen did not mean to send her favourite forth to purchase anything but honour in the netherlands; and it was not the provinces only that were likely to struggle against her parsimony. yet that parsimony sprang from a nobler motive than the mere love of pelf. dangers encompassed her on every side, and while husbanding her own exchequer, she was saving her subjects' resources. "here we are but book-worms," said walsingham, "yet from sundry quarters we hear of great practices against this poor crown. the revolt in scotland is greatly feared, and that out of hand." scotland, france, spain, these were dangerous enemies and neighbours to a maiden queen, who had a rebellious ireland to deal with on one side the channel, and alexander of parma on the other. davison experienced great inconvenience and annoyance before the definite arrangements could be made. there is no doubt that the spanish party had made great progress since the fall of antwerp. roger williams was right in advising the queen to deal "roundly and resolutely" with the states, and to "sovereign them presently." they had need of being sovereigned, for it must be confessed that the self-government which prevailed at that moment was very like no government. the death of orange, the treachery of henry iii., the triumphs of parma, disastrous facts, treading rapidly upon each other, had produced a not very unnatural effect. the peace-at-any-price party was struggling hard for the ascendancy, and the spanish partizans were doing their best to hold up to suspicion the sharp practice of the english queen. she was even accused of underhand dealing with spain, to the disadvantage of the provinces; so much had slander, anarchy, and despair, been able to effect. the states were reluctant to sign those articles with elizabeth which were absolutely necessary to their salvation. "in how doubtful and uncertain terms i found things at my coming hither," wrote davison to burghley, "how thwarted and delayed since for a resolution, and with what conditions, and for what reasons i have been finally drawn to conclude with them as i have done, your lordship may perceive by that i have written to mr. secretary. the chief difficulty has rested upon the point of entertaining the garrisons within the towns of assurance, over and besides the five thousand footmen and one thousand horse." this, as davison proceeded to observe, was considered a 'sine qua non' by the states, so that, under the perilous circumstances in which both countries were placed, he had felt it his duty to go forward as far as possible to meet their demands. davison always did his work veraciously, thoroughly, and resolutely; and it was seldom that his advice, in all matters pertaining to netherland matters, did not prove the very best that could be offered. no man knew better than he the interests and the temper of both countries. the imperious elizabeth was not fond of being thwarted, least of all by any thing savouring of the democratic principle, and already there was much friction between the tudor spirit of absolutism and the rough "mechanical" nature with which it was to ally itself in the netherlands. the economical elizabeth was not pleased at being overreached in a bargain; and, at a moment when she thought herself doing a magnanimous act, she was vexed at the cavilling with which her generosity was received. "'tis a manner of proceeding," said walsingham, "not to be allowed of, and may very well be termed mechanical, considering that her majesty seeketh no interest in that country--as monsieur and the french king did--but only their good and benefit, without regard had of the expenses of her treasure and the hazard of her subjects' lives; besides throwing herself into a present war for their sakes with the greatest prince and potentate in europe. but seeing the government of those countries resteth in the hands of merchants and advocates--the one regarding profit, the other standing upon vantage of quirks--there is no better fruit to be looked to from them." yet it was, after all, no quirk in those merchants and advocates to urge that the queen was not going to war with the great potentate for their sakes alone. to elizabeth's honour, she did thoroughly comprehend that the war of the netherlands was the war of england, of protestantism, and of european liberty, and that she could no longer, without courting her own destruction, defer taking a part in active military operations. it was no quirk, then, but solid reasoning, for the states to regard the subject in the same light. holland and england were embarked in one boat, and were to sink or swim together. it was waste of time to wrangle so fiercely over pounds and shillings, but the fault was not to be exclusively imputed to the one side or the other. there were bitter recriminations, particularly on the part of elizabeth, for it was not safe to touch too closely either the pride or the pocket of that frugal and despotic heroine. "the two thousand pounds promised by the states to norris upon the muster of the two thousand volunteers," said walsingham, "were not paid. her majesty is not a little offended therewith, seeing how little care they have to yield her satisfaction, which she imputeth to proceed rather from contempt, than from necessity. if it should fall out, however, to be such as by them is pretended, then doth she conceive her bargain to be very ill made, to join her fortune with so weak and broken an estate." already there were indications that the innocent might be made to suffer for the short-comings of the real culprits; nor would it be, the first time, or by any means the last, for davison to appear in the character of a scape-goat. "surely, sir," continued mr. secretary, "it is a thing greatly to be feared that the contributions they will yield will fall not more true in paper than in payment; which if it should so happen, it would turn some to blame, whereof you among others are to bear your part." and thus the months of september and of october wore away, and the ratifications of the treaty had not arrived from the netherlands. elizabeth became furious, and those of the netherland deputation who had remained in england were at their wits' end to appease her choler. no news arrived for many weeks. those were not the days of steam and magnetic telegraphs--inventions by which the nature of man and the aspect of history seem altered--and the queen had nothing for it but to fret, and the envoys to concert with her ministers expedients to mitigate her spleen. towards the end of the month, the commissioners chartered a vessel which they despatched for news to holland. on his way across the sea the captain was hailed on the th october by a boat, in which one hans wyghans was leisurely proceeding to england with netherland despatches dated on the th of the same month. this was the freshest intelligence that had yet been received. so soon as the envoys were put in possession of the documents, they obtained an audience of the queen. this was the last day of october. elizabeth read her letters, and listened to the apologies made by the deputies for the delay with anything but a benignant countenance. then, with much vehemence of language, and manifestations of ill-temper, she expressed her displeasure at the dilatoriness of the states. having sent so many troops, and so many gentlemen of quality, she had considered the whole affair concluded. "i have been unhandsomely treated," she said, "and not as comports with a prince of my quality. my inclination for your support--because you show yourselves unworthy of so great benefits--will be entirely destroyed, unless you deal with me and mine more worthily for the future than you have done in the past. through my great and especial affection for your welfare, i had ordered the earl of leicester to proceed to the netherlands, and conduct your affairs; a man of such quality as all the world knows, and one whom i love, as if he were my own brother. he was getting himself ready in all diligence, putting himself in many perils through the practices of the enemy, and if i should have reason to believe that he would not be respected there according to his due, i should be indeed offended. he and many others are not going thither to advance their own affairs, to make themselves rich, or because they have not means enough to live magnificently at home. they proceed to the netherlands from pure affection for your cause. this is the case, too, with many other of my subjects, all dear to me, and of much worth. for i have sent a fine heap of folk thither--in all, with those his excellency is taking with him, not under ten thousand soldiers of the english nation. this is no small succour, and no little unbaring of this realm of mine, threatened as it is with war from many quarters. yet i am seeking no sovereignty, nor anything else prejudicial to the freedom of your country. i wish only, in your utmost need, to help you out of this lamentable war, to maintain for you liberty of conscience, and to see that law and justice are preserved." all this, and more, with great eagerness of expression and gesture, was urged by the queen, much to the discomfiture of the envoys. in vain they attempted to modify and to explain. their faltering excuses were swept rapidly away upon the current of royal wrath; until at last elizabeth stormed herself into exhaustion and comparative tranquillity. she then dismissed them with an assurance that her goodwill towards the states was not diminished, as would be found to be the case, did they not continue to prove themselves unworthy of her favour that a permanent force of five thousand foot and one thousand horse should serve in the provinces at the queen's expense; and that the cities of flushing and brill should be placed in her majesty's hands until the entire reimbursement of the debt thus incurred by the states. elizabeth also--at last overcoming her reluctance--agreed that the force necessary to garrison these towns should form an additional contingent, instead of being deducted from the general auxiliary force. count maurice of nassau had been confirmed by the states of holland and zeeland as permanent stadholder of those provinces. this measure excited some suspicion on the part of leicester, who, as it was now understood, was the "personage of quality" to be sent to the netherlands as representative of the queen's authority. "touching the election of count maurice," said the earl, "i hope it will be no impairing of the authority heretofore allotted to me, for if it will be, i shall tarry but awhile." nothing, however, could be more frank or chivalrously devoted than the language of maurice to the queen. "madam, if i have ever had occasion," he wrote, "to thank god for his benefits, i confess that it was when, receiving in all humility the letters with which it pleased your majesty to honour me, i learned that the great disaster of my lord and father's death had not diminished the debonaire affection and favour which it has always pleased your majesty to manifest to my father's house. it has been likewise grateful to me to learn that your majesty, surrounded by so many great and important affairs, had been pleased to approve the command which the states-general have conferred upon me. i am indeed grieved that my actions cannot correspond with the ardent desire which i feel to serve your majesty and these provinces, for which i hope that my extreme youth will be accepted as an excuse. and although i find myself feeble enough for the charge thus imposed upon me, yet god will assist my efforts to supply by diligence and sincere intention the defect of the other qualities requisite for my thorough discharge of my duty to the contentment of your majesty. to fulfil these obligations, which are growing greater day by day, i trust to prove by my actions that i will never spare either my labour or life." when it was found that the important town of flushing was required as part of the guaranty to the queen, maurice, as hereditary seignor and proprietor of the place--during the captivity of his elder brother in spain--signified his concurrence in the transfer, together with the most friendly feelings towards the earl of leicester, and to sir philip sidney, appointed english governor of the town. he wrote to davison, whom he called "one of the best and most certain friends that the house of nassau possessed in england," begging that he would recommend the interests of the family to the queen, "whose favour could do more than anything else in the world towards maintaining what remained of the dignity of their house." after solemn deliberation with his step-mother, louisa de coligny, and the other members of his family, he made a formal announcement of adhesion on the part of the house of nassau to the arrangements concluded with the english government, and asked the benediction of god upon the treaty. while renouncing, for the moment, any compensation for his consent to the pledging of flushing his "patrimonial property, and a place of such great importance"--he expressed a confidence that the long services of his father, as well as those which he himself hoped to render, would meet in time with "condign recognition." he requested the earl of leicester to consider the friendship which had existed between himself and the late prince of orange, as an hereditary affection to be continued to the children, and he entreated the earl to do him the honour in future to hold him as a son, and to extend to him counsel and authority; declaring, on his part, that he should ever deem it an honour to be allowed to call him father. and in order still more strongly to confirm his friendship, he begged sir philip sidney to consider him as his brother, and as his companion in arms, promising upon his own part the most faithful friendship. in the name of louisa de coligny, and of his whole family, he also particularly recommended to the queen the interests of the eldest brother of the house, philip william, "who had been so long and so iniquitously detained captive in spain," and begged that, in case prisoners of war of high rank should fall into the hands of the english commanders, they might be employed as a means of effecting the liberation of that much-injured prince. he likewise desired the friendly offices of the queen to protect the principality of orange against the possible designs of the french monarch, and intimated that occasions might arise in which the confiscated estates of the family in burgundy might be recovered through the influence of the swiss cantons, particularly those of the grisons and of berne. and, in conclusion, in case the queen should please--as both count maurice and the princess of orange desired with all their hearts--to assume the sovereignty of these provinces, she was especially entreated graciously to observe those suggestions regarding the interests of the house of nassau, which had been made in the articles of the treaty. thus the path had been smoothed, mainly through the indefatigable energy of davison. yet that envoy was not able to give satisfaction to his imperious and somewhat whimsical mistress, whose zeal seemed to cool in proportion to the readiness with which the obstacles to her wishes were removed. davison was, with reason, discontented. he had done more than any other man either in england or the provinces, to bring about a hearty cooperation in the common cause, and to allay mutual heart-burnings and suspicions. he had also, owing to the negligence of the english treasurer for the netherlands, and the niggardliness of elizabeth, been placed in a position, of great financial embarrassment. his situation was very irksome. "i mused at the sentence you sent me," he wrote, "for i know no cause her majesty hath to shrink at her charges hitherto. the treasure she hath yet disbursed here is not above five or six thousand pounds, besides that which i have been obliged to take up for the saving of her honour, and necessity of her service, in danger otherwise of some notable disgrace. i will not, for shame, say how i have been left here to myself." the delay in the formal appointment of leicester, and, more particularly, of the governors for the cautionary towns, was the cause of great confusion and anarchy in the transitional condition of the country. "the burden i am driven to sustain," said davison, "doth utterly weary me. if sir philip sidney were here, and if my lord of leicester follow not all the sooner, i would use her majesty's liberty to return home. if her majesty think me worthy the reputation of a poor, honest, and loyal servant, i have that contents me. for the rest, i wish 'vivere sine invidia, mollesque inglorius annos egigere, amicitias et mihi jungere pares.'" there was something almost prophetic in the tone which this faithful public servant--to whom, on more than one occasion, such hard measure was to be dealt--habitually adopted in his private letters and conversation. he did his work, but he had not his reward; and he was already weary of place without power, and industry without recognition. "for mine own particular," he said, "i will say with the poet, 'crede mihi, bene qui latuit bene vixit, et intra fortunam debet quisque manere suam.'" for, notwithstanding the avidity with which elizabeth had sought the cautionary towns, and the fierceness with which she had censured the tardiness of the states, she seemed now half inclined to drop the prize which she had so much coveted, and to imitate the very languor which she had so lately rebuked. "she hath what she desired," said davison, "and might yet have more, if this content her not. howsoever you value the places at home, they are esteemed here, by such as know them best, no little increase to her majesty's honour, surety, and greatness, if she be as careful to keep them as happy in getting them. of this, our cold beginning doth already make me jealous." sagacious and resolute princess as she was, she showed something of feminine caprice upon this grave occasion. not davison alone, but her most confidential ministers and favourites at home, were perplexed and provoked by her misplaced political coquetries. but while the alternation of her hot and cold fits drove her most devoted courtiers out of patience, there was one symptom that remained invariable throughout all her paroxysms, the rigidity with which her hand was locked. walsingham, stealthy enough when an advantage was to be gained by subtlety, was manful and determined in his dealings with his friends; and he had more than once been offended with elizabeth's want of frankness in these transactions. "i find you grieved, and not without cause," he wrote to davison, "in respect to the over thwart proceedings as well there as here. the disorders in those countries would be easily redressed if we could take a thoroughly resolute course here--a matter that men may rather pray for than hope for. it is very doubtful whether the action now in hand will be accompanied by very hard success, unless they of the country there may be drawn to bear the greatest part of the burden of the wars." and now the great favourite of all had received the appointment which he coveted. the earl of leicester was to be commander-in-chief of her majesty's forces in the netherlands, and representative of her authority in those countries, whatever that office might prove to be. the nature of his post was anomalous from the beginning. it was environed with difficulties, not the least irritating of which proceeded from the captious spirit of the queen. the earl was to proceed in great pomp to holland, but the pomp was to be prepared mainly at his own expense. besides the auxiliary forces that had been shipped during the latter period of the year, leicester was raising a force of lancers, from four to eight hundred in number; but to pay for that levy he was forced to mortgage his own property, while the queen not only refused to advance ready money, but declined endorsing his bills. it must be confessed that the earl's courtship of elizabeth was anything at that moment but a gentle dalliance. in those thorny regions of finance were no beds of asphodel or amaranthine bowers. there was no talk but of troopers, saltpetre, and sulphur, of books of assurance, and bills of exchange; and the aspect of elizabeth, when the budget was under discussion, must effectually have neutralized for the time any very tender sentiment. the sharpness with which she clipped leicester's authority, when authority was indispensable to his dignity, and the heavy demands upon his resources that were the result of her avarice, were obstacles more than enough to the calm fruition of his triumphs. he had succeeded, in appearance at least, in the great object of his ambition, this appointment to the netherlands; but the appointment was no sinecure, and least of all a promising pecuniary speculation. elizabeth had told the envoys, with reason, that she was not sending forth that man--whom she loved as a brother--in order that he might make himself rich. on the contrary, the earl seemed likely to make himself comparatively poor before he got to the provinces, while his political power, at the moment, did not seem of more hopeful growth. leicester had been determined and consistent in this great enterprize from the beginning. he felt intensely the importance of the crisis. he saw that the time had come for swift and uncompromising action, and the impatience with which he bore the fetters imposed upon him may be easily conceived. "the cause is such," he wrote to walsingham, "that i had as lief be dead as be in the case i shall be in if this restraint hold for taking the oath there, or if some more authority be not granted than i see her majesty would i should have. i trust you all will hold hard for this, or else banish me england withal. i have sent you the books to be signed by her majesty. i beseech you return them with all haste, for i get no money till they be under seal." but her majesty would not put them under her seal, much to the favourite's discomfiture. "your letter yieldeth but cold answer," he wrote, two days afterwards. "above all things yet that her majesty doth stick at, i marvel most at her refusal to sign my book of assurance; for there passeth nothing in the earth against her profit by that act, nor any good to me but to satisfy the creditors, who were more scrupulous than needs. i did complain to her of those who did refuse to lend me money, and she was greatly offended with them. but if her majesty were to stay this, if i were half seas over, i must of necessity come back again, for i may not go without money. i beseech, if the matter be refused by her, bestow a post on me to harwich. i lie this night at sir john peters', and but for this doubt i had been to-morrow at harwich. i pray god make you all that be counsellors plain and direct to the furtherance of all good service for her majesty and the realm; and if it be the will of god to plague us that go, and you that tarry, for our sins, yet let us not be negligent to seek to please the lord." the earl was not negligent at any rate in seeking to please the queen, but she was singularly hard to please. she had never been so uncertain in her humours as at this important crisis. she knew, and had publicly stated as much, that she was "embarking in a war with the greatest potentate in europe;" yet now that the voyage had fairly commenced, and the waves were rolling around her, she seemed anxious to put back to the shore. for there was even a whisper of peace-negotiations, than which nothing could have been more ill-timed. "i perceive by your message," said leicester to walsingham, "that your peace with spain will go fast on, but this is not the way." unquestionably it was not the way, and the whisper was, for the moment at least, suppressed. meanwhile leicester had reached harwich, but the post "bestowed on him," contained, as usual, but cold comfort. he was resolved, however, to go manfully forward, and do the work before him, until the enterprise should prove wholly impracticable. it is by the light afforded by the secret never-published correspondence of the period with which we are now occupied, that the true characteristics of elizabeth, the earl of leicester, and other prominent personages, must be scanned, and the study is most important, for it was by those characteristics, in combination with other human elements embodied in distant parts of christendom, that the destiny of the world was determined. in that age, more than in our own perhaps, the influence of the individual was widely and intensely felt. historical chymistry is only rendered possible by a detection of the subtle emanations, which it was supposed would for ever elude analysis, but which survive in those secret, frequently ciphered intercommunications. philip ii., william of orange, queen elizabeth, alexander farnese, robert dudley, never dreamed--when disclosing their inmost thoughts to their trusted friends at momentous epochs--that the day would come on earth when those secrets would be no longer hid from the patient enquirer after truth. well for those whose reputations before the judgment-seat of history appear even comparatively pure, after impartial comparison of their motives with their deeds. "for mine own part, mr. secretary," wrote leicester, "i am resolved to do that which shall be fit for a poor man's honour, and honestly to obey her majesty's commandment. let the rest fall out to others, it shall not concern me. i mean to assemble myself to the camp, where my authority must wholly lie, and will there do that which in good reason and duty i shall be bound to do. i am sorry that her majesty doth deal in this sort, and if content to overthrow so willingly her own cause. if there can be means to salve this sore, i will. if not,--i tell you what shall become of me, as truly as god lives." yet it is remarkable, that, in spite of this dark intimation, the earl, after all, did not state what was to become of him if the sore was not salved. he was, however, explicit enough as to the causes of his grief, and very vehement in its manifestations. "another matter which shall concern me deeply," he said, "and all the subjects there, is now by you to be carefully considered, which is--money. i find that the money is already gone, and this now given to the treasurer will do no more than pay to the end of the month. i beseech you look to it, for by the lord! i will bear no more so miserable burdens; for if i have no money to pay them, let them come home, or what else. i will not starve them, nor stay them. there was never gentleman nor general so sent out as i am; and if neither queen nor council care to help it, but leave men desperate, as i see men shall be, that inconvenience will follow which i trust in the lord i shall be free of." he then used language about himself, singularly resembling the phraseology employed by elizabeth concerning him, when she was scolding the netherland commissioners for the dilatoriness and parsimony of the states. "for mine own part," he said, "i have taken upon me this voyage, not as a desperate nor forlorn man, but as one as well contented with his place and calling at home as any subject was ever. my cause was not, nor is, any other than the lord's and the queen's. if the queen fail, yet must i trust in the lord, and on him, i see, i am wholly to depend. i can say no more, but pray to god that her majesty never send general again as i am sent. and yet i will do what i can for her and my country." the earl had raised a choice body of lancers to accompany him to the netherlands, but the expense of the levy had come mainly upon his own purse. the queen had advanced five thousand pounds, which was much less than the requisite amount, while for the balance required, as well as for other necessary expenses, she obstinately declined to furnish leicester with funds, even refusing him, at last, a temporary loan. she violently accused him of cheating her, reclaimed money which he had wrung from her on good security, and when he had repaid the sum, objected to give him a discharge. as for receiving anything by way of salary, that was quite out of the question. at that moment he would have been only too happy to be reimbursed for what he was already out of pocket. whether elizabeth loved leicester as a brother, or better than a brother, may be a historical question, but it is no question at all that she loved money better than she did leicester. unhappy the man, whether foe or favourite, who had pecuniary transactions with her highness. "i am sorry," said the earl, "that her majesty hath so hard a conceit of me, that i should go about to cozen her, as though i had got a fee simple from her, and had it not before, or that i had not had her full release for payment of the money i borrowed. i pray god, any that did put such scruple in her, have not deceived her more than i have done. i thank god i have a clear conscience for deceiving her, and for money matters. i think i may justly say i have been the only cause of more gain to her coffers than all her chequer-men have been. but so is the hap of some, that all they do is nothing, and others that do nothing, do all, and have all the thanks. but i would this were all the grief i carry with me; but god is my comfort, and on him i cast all, for there is no surety in this world beside. what hope of help can i have, finding her majesty so strait with myself as she is? i did trust that--the cause being hers and this realm's--if i could have gotten no money of her merchants, she would not have refused to have lent money on so easy prized land as mine, to have been gainer and no loser by it. her majesty, i see, will make trial of me how i love her, and what will discourage me from her service. but resolved am i that no worldly respect shall draw me back from my faithful discharge of my duty towards her, though she shall show to hate me, as it goeth very near; for i find no love or favour at all. and i pray you to remember that i have not had one penny of her majesty towards all these charges of mine--not one penny-and, by all truth, i have already laid out above five thousand pounds. her majesty appointed eight thousand pounds for the levy, which was after the rate of four hundred horse, and, upon my fidelity, there is shipped, of horse of service, eight hundred, so that there ought eight thousand more to have been paid me. no general that ever went that was not paid to the uttermost of these things before he went, but had cash for his provision, which her majesty would not allow me--not one groat. well, let all this go, it is like i shall be the last shall bear this, and some must suffer for the people. good mr. secretary, let her majesty know this, for i deserve god-a-mercy, at the least." leicester, to do him justice, was thoroughly alive to the importance of the crisis. on political principle, at any rate, he was a firm supporter of protestantism, and even of puritanism; a form of religion which elizabeth detested, and in which, with keen instinct, she detected a mutinous element against the divine right of kings. the earl was quite convinced of the absolute necessity that england should take up the netherland matter most vigorously, on pain of being herself destroyed. all the most sagacious counsellors of elizabeth were day by day more and more confirmed in this opinion, and were inclined heartily to support the new lieutenant-general. as for leicester himself, while fully conscious of his own merits, and of his firm intent to do his duty, he was also grateful to those who were willing to befriend him in his arduous enterprise. "i have received a letter from my lord willoughby," he said, "to my seeming, as wise a letter as i have read a great while, and not unfit for her majesty's sight. i pray god open her eyes, that they may behold her present estate indeed, and the wonderful means that god doth offer unto her. if she lose these opportunities, who can look for other but dishonour and destruction? my lord treasurer hath also written me a most hearty and comfortable letter touching this voyage, not only in showing the importance of it, both for her majesty's own safety and the realm's, but that the whole state of religion doth depend thereon, and therefore doth faithfully promise his whole and best assistance for the supply of all wants. i was not a little glad to receive such a letter from him at this time." and from on board the 'amity,' ready to set sail, he expressed his thanks to burghley, at finding him so "earnestly bent for the good supply and maintenance of us poor men sent in her majesty's service and our country's." as for walsingham, earnestly a defender of the netherland cause from the beginning, he was wearied and disgusted with fighting against the queen's parsimony and caprice. "he is utterly discouraged," said leicester to burghley, "to deal any more in these causes. i pray god your lordship grow not so too; for then all will to the ground; on my poor side especially." and to sir francis himself, he wrote, even as his vessel was casting off her moorings:--"i am sorry, mr. secretary," he said, "to find you so discouraged, and that her majesty doth deem you so partial. and yet my suits to her majesty have not of late been so many nor great, while the greatest, i am sure, are for her majesty's own service. for my part, i will discharge my duty as far as my poor ability and capacity shall serve, and if i shall not have her gracious and princely support and supply, the lack will be to us, for the present, but the shame and dishonour will be hers." and with these parting words the earl committed himself to the december seas. davison had been meantime doing his best to prepare the way in the netherlands for the reception of the english administration. what man could do, without money and without authority, he had done. the governors for flushing and the brill, sir philip sidney and sir thomas cecil, eldest son of lord burghley, had been appointed, but had not arrived. their coming was anxiously looked for, as during the interval the condition of the garrisons was deplorable. the english treasurer--by some unaccountable and unpardonable negligence, for which it is to be feared the queen was herself to blame--was not upon the spot, and davison was driven out of his wits to devise expedients to save the soldiers from starving. "your lordship has seen by my former letters," wrote the ambassador to burghley from flushing, "what shift i have been driven to for the relief of this garrison here, left 'a l'abandon;' without which means they had all fallen into wild and shameful disorder, to her majesty's great disgrace and overthrow of her service. i am compelled, unless i would see the poor men famish, and her majesty dishonoured, to try my poor credit for them." general sir john norris was in the betuwe, threatening nvymegen, a town which he found "not so flexible as he had hoped;" and, as he had but two thousand men, while alexander farnese was thought to be marching upon him with ten thousand, his position caused great anxiety. meantime, his brother, sir edward, a hot-headed and somewhat wilful young man, who "thought that all was too little for him," was giving the sober davison a good deal of trouble. he had got himself into a quarrel, both with that envoy and with roger williams, by claiming the right to control military matters in flushing until the arrival of sidney. "if sir thomas and sir philip," said davison, "do not make choice of more discreet, staid, and expert commanders than those thrust into these places by mr. norris, they will do themselves a great deal of worry, and her majesty a great deal of hurt." as might naturally be expected, the lamentable condition of the english soldiers, unpaid and starving--according to the report of the queen's envoy himself--exercised anything but a salutary influence upon the minds of the netherlanders and perpetually fed the hopes of the spanish partizans that a composition with philip and parma would yet take place. on the other hand, the states had been far more liberal in raising funds than the queen had shown herself to be, and were somewhat indignant at being perpetually taunted with parsimony by her agents. davison was offended by the injustice of norris in this regard. "the complaints which the general hath made of the states to her majesty," said he, "are without cause, and i think, when your lordship shall examine it well, you will find it no little sum they have already disbursed unto him for their part. wherein, nevertheless, if they had been looked into, they were somewhat the more excusable, considering how ill our people at her majesty's entertainment were satisfied hitherto--a thing that doth much prejudice her reputation, and hurt her service." at last, however, the die had been cast. the queen, although rejecting the proposed sovereignty of the netherlands, had espoused their cause, by solemn treaty of alliance, and thereby had thrown down the gauntlet to spain. she deemed it necessary, therefore, out of respect for the opinions of mankind, to issue a manifesto of her motives to the world. the document was published, simultaneously in dutch, french, english, and italian. in this solemn state-paper she spoke of the responsibility of princes to the almighty, of the ancient friendship between england and the netherlands, of the cruelty and tyranny of the spaniards, of their violation of the liberties of the provinces, of their hanging, beheading, banishing without law and against justice, in the space of a few months, so many of the highest nobles in the land. although in the beginning of the cruel persecution, the pretext had been the maintenance of the catholic religion, yet it was affirmed they had not failed to exercise their barbarity upon catholics also, and even upon ecclesiastics. of the principal persons put to death, no one, it was asserted, had been more devoted to the ancient church than was the brave count egmont, who, for his famous victories in the service of spain, could never be forgotten in veracious history any more than could be the cruelty of his execution. the land had been made desolate, continued the queen, with fire, sword, famine, and murder. these misfortunes had ever been bitterly deplored by friendly nations, and none could more truly regret such sufferings than did the english, the oldest allies, and familiar neighbours of the provinces, who had been as close to them in the olden time by community of connexion and language, as man and wife. she declared that she had frequently, by amicable embassies, warned her brother of spain--speaking to him like a good, dear sister and neighbour--that unless he restrained the cruelty of his governors and their soldiers, he was sure to force his provinces into allegiance to some other power. she expressed the danger in which she should be placed if the spaniards succeeded in establishing their absolute government in the netherlands, from which position their attacks upon england would be incessant. she spoke of the enterprise favoured and set on foot by the pope and by spain, against the kingdom of ireland. she alluded to the dismissal of the spanish envoy, don bernardino de mendoza, who had been treated by her with great regard for a long time, but who had been afterwards discovered in league with certain ill-disposed and seditious subjects of hers, and with publicly condemned traitors. that envoy had arranged a plot according to which, as appeared by his secret despatches, an invasion of england by a force of men, coming partly from spain, and partly from the netherlands, might be successfully managed, and he had even noted down the necessary number of ships and men, with various other details. some of the conspirators had fled, she observed, and were now consorting with mendoza, who, after his expulsion from england, had been appointed ambassador in paris; while some had been arrested, and had confessed the plot. so soon as this envoy had been discovered to be the chief of a rebellion and projected invasion, the queen had requested him, she said, to leave the kingdom within a reasonable time, as one who was the object of deadly hatred to the english people. she had then sent an agent to spain, in order to explain the whole transaction. that agent had not been allowed even to deliver despatches to the king. when the french had sought, at a previous period, to establish their authority in scotland, even as the spaniards had attempted to do in the netherlands, and through the enormous ambition of the house of guise, to undertake the invasion of her kingdom, she had frustrated their plots, even as she meant to suppress these spanish conspiracies. she spoke of the prince of parma as more disposed by nature to mercy and humanity, than preceding governors had been, but as unable to restrain the blood-thirstiness of spaniards, increased by long indulgence. she avowed, in assuming the protection of the netherlands, and in sending her troops to those countries, but three objects: peace, founded upon the recognition of religious freedom in the provinces, restoration of their ancient political liberties, and security for england. never could there be tranquillity, for her own realm until these neighbouring countries were tranquil. these were her ends and aims, despite all that slanderous tongues might invent. the world, she observed, was overflowing with blasphemous libels, calumnies, scandalous pamphlets; for never had the devil been so busy in supplying evil tongues with venom against the professors of the christian religion. she added that in a pamphlet, ascribed to the archbishop of milan, just published, she had been accused of ingratitude to the king of spain, and of plots to take the life of alexander farnese. in answer to the first charge, she willingly acknowledged her obligations to the king of spain during the reign of her sister. she pronounced it, however, an absolute falsehood that he had ever saved her life, as if she had ever been condemned to death. she likewise denied earnestly the charge regarding the prince of parma. she protested herself incapable of such a crime, besides declaring that he had never given her offence. on the contrary, he was a man whom she had ever honoured for the rare qualities that she had noted in him, and for which he had deservedly acquired a high reputation. such, in brief analysis, was the memorable declaration of elizabeth in favour of the netherlands--a document which was a hardly disguised proclamation of war against philip. in no age of the world could an unequivocal agreement to assist rebellious subjects, with men and money, against their sovereign, be considered otherwise than as a hostile demonstration. the king of spain so regarded the movement, and forthwith issued a decree, ordering the seizure of all english as well as all netherland vessels within his ports, together with the arrest of persons, and confiscation of property. subsequently to the publication of the queen's memorial, and before the departure of the earl of leicester, sir philip sidney, having received his appointment, together with the rank of general of cavalry, arrived in the isle of walcheren, as governor of flushing, at the head of a portion of the english contingent. it is impossible not to contemplate with affection so radiant a figure, shining through the cold mists of that zeeland winter, and that distant and disastrous epoch. there is hardly a character in history upon which the imagination can dwell with more unalloyed delight. not in romantic fiction was there ever created a more attractive incarnation of martial valour, poetic genius, and purity of heart. if the mocking spirit of the soldier of lepanto could "smile chivalry away," the name alone of his english contemporary is potent enough to conjure it back again, so long as humanity is alive to the nobler impulses. "i cannot pass him over in silence," says a dusty chronicler, "that glorious star, that lively pattern of virtue, and the lovely joy of all the learned sort. it was god's will that he should be born into the world, even to show unto our age a sample of ancient virtue." the descendant of an ancient norman race, and allied to many of the proudest nobles in england, sidney himself was but a commoner, a private individual, a soldier of fortune. he was now in his thirty second year, and should have been foremost among the states men of elizabeth, had it not been, according to lord bacon, a maxim of the cecils, that "able men should be by design and of purpose suppressed." whatever of truth there may have been in the bitter remark, it is certainly strange that a man so gifted as sidney--of whom his father-in-law walsingham had declared, that "although he had influence in all countries, and a hand upon all affairs, his philip did far overshoot him with his own bow"--should have passed so much of his life in retirement, or in comparatively insignificant employments. the queen, as he himself observed, was most apt to interpret everything to his disadvantage. among those who knew him well, there seems never to have been a dissenting voice. his father, sir henry sidney, lord-deputy of ireland, and president of wales, a states man of accomplishments and experience, called him "lumen familiae suae," and said of him, with pardonable pride, "that he had the most virtues which he had ever found in any man; that he was the very formular that all well-disposed young gentlemen do form their manners and life by." the learned hubert languet, companion of melancthon, tried friend of william the silent, was his fervent admirer and correspondent. the great prince of orange held him in high esteem, and sent word to queen elizabeth, that having himself been an actor in the most important affairs of europe, and acquainted with her foremost men, he could "pledge his credit that her majesty had one of the ripest and greatest councillors of state in sir philip sidney that lived in europe." the incidents of his brief and brilliant life, up to his arrival upon the fatal soil of the netherlands, are too well known to need recalling. adorned with the best culture that, in a learned age, could be obtained in the best seminaries of his native country, where, during childhood and youth, he had been distinguished for a "lovely and familiar gravity beyond his years," he rapidly acquired the admiration of his comrades and the esteem of all his teachers. travelling for three years, he made the acquaintance and gained the personal regard of such opposite characters as charles ix. of france, henry of navarre, don john of austria, and william of orange, and perfected his accomplishments by residence and study, alternately, in courts, camps, and learned universities. he was in paris during the memorable days of august, , and narrowly escaped perishing in the st. bartholomew massacre. on his return, he was, for a brief period, the idol of the english court, which, it was said, "was maimed without his company." at the age of twenty-one he was appointed special envoy to vienna, ostensibly for the purpose of congratulating the emperor rudolph upon his accession, but in reality that he might take the opportunity of sounding the secret purposes of the protestant princes of germany, in regard to the great contest of the age. in this mission, young as he was, he acquitted himself, not only to the satisfaction, but to the admiration of walsingham, certainly a master himself in that occult science, the diplomacy of the sixteenth century. "there hath not been," said he, "any gentleman, i am sure, that hath gone through so honourable a charge with as great commendations as he." when the memorable marriage-project of queen elizabeth with anjou seemed about to take effect, he denounced the scheme in a most spirited and candid letter, addressed to her majesty; nor is it recorded that the queen was offended with his frankness. indeed we are informed that "although he found a sweet stream of sovereign humours in that well-tempered lady to run against him, yet found he safety in herself against that selfness which appeared to threaten him in her." whatever this might mean, translated out of euphuism into english, it is certain that his conduct was regarded with small favour by the court-grandees, by whom "worth, duty, and justice, were looked upon with no other eyes than lamia's." the difficulty of swimming against that sweet stream of sovereign humours in the well-tempered elizabeth, was aggravated by his quarrel, at this period, with the magnificent oxford. a dispute at a tennis-court, where many courtiers and foreigners were looking on, proceeded rapidly from one extremity to another. the earl commanded sir philip to leave the place. sir philip responded, that if he were of a mind that he should go, he himself was of a mind that he should remain; adding that if he had entreated, where he had no right to command, he might have done more than "with the scourge of fury."--"this answer," says fulke greville, in a style worthy of don adriano de armado, "did, like a bellows, blowing up the sparks of excess already kindled, make my lord scornfully call sir philip by the name of puppy. in which progress of heat, as the tempest grew more and more vehement within, so did their hearts breathe out their perturbations in a more loud and shrill accent;" and so on; but the impending duel was the next day forbidden by express command of her majesty. sidney, not feeling the full force of the royal homily upon the necessity of great deference from gentlemen to their superiors in rank, in order to protect all orders from the insults of plebeians, soon afterwards retired from the court. to his sylvan seclusion the world owes the pastoral and chivalrous romance of the 'arcadia' and to the pompous earl, in consequence, an emotion of gratitude. nevertheless, it was in him to do, rather than to write, and humanity seems defrauded, when forced to accept the 'arcadia,' the `defence of poesy,' and the 'astrophel and stella,' in discharge of its claims upon so great and pure a soul. notwithstanding this disagreeable affair, and despite the memorable letter against anjou, sir philip suddenly flashes upon us again, as one of the four challengers in a tournament to honour the duke's presence in england. a vision of him in blue gilded armour--with horses caparisoned in cloth of gold, pearl-embroidered, attended by pages in cloth of silver, venetian hose, laced hats, and by gentlemen, yeomen, and trumpeters, in yellow velvet cassocks, buskins, and feathers--as one of "the four fostered children of virtuous desire" (to wit, anjou) storming "the castle of perfect beauty" (to wit, queen elizabeth, aetatis ) rises out of the cloud-dusts of ancient chronicle for a moment, and then vanishes into air again. "having that day his hand, his horse, his lance, guided so well that they attained the prize both in the judgment of our english eyes, but of some sent by that sweet enemy, france," as he chivalrously sings, he soon afterwards felt inclined for wider fields of honourable adventure. it was impossible that knight-errant so true should not feel keenest sympathy with an oppressed people struggling against such odds, as the netherlanders were doing in their contest with spain. so soon as the treaty with england was arranged, it was his ambition to take part in the dark and dangerous enterprise, and, being son-in-law to walsingham and nephew to leicester, he had a right to believe that his talents and character would, on this occasion, be recognised. but, like his "very friend," lord willoughby, he was "not of the genus reptilia, and could neither creep nor crouch," and he failed, as usual, to win his way to the queen's favour. the governorship of flushing was denied him, and, stung to the heart by such neglect, he determined to seek his fortune beyond the seas. "sir philip hath taken a very hard resolution," wrote walsingham to davison, "to accompany sir francis drake in this voyage, moved thereto for that he saw her majesty disposed to commit the charge of flushing unto some other; which he reputed would fall out greatly to his disgrace, to see another preferred before him, both for birth and judgment inferior unto him. the despair thereof and the disgrace that he doubted he should receive have carried him into a different course." the queen, however, relenting at last, interfered to frustrate his design. having thus balked his ambition in the indian seas, she felt pledged to offer him the employment which he had originally solicited, and she accordingly conferred upon him the governorship of flushing, with the rank of general of horse, under the earl of leicester. in the latter part of november, he cast anchor, in the midst of a violent storm, at rammekins, and thence came to the city of his government. young, and looking even younger than his years--"not only of an excellent wit, but extremely beautiful of face"--with delicately chiselled anglo-norman features, smooth fair cheek, a faint moustache, blue eyes, and a mass of amber-coloured hair; such was the author of 'arcadia' and the governor of flushing. and thus an anglo-norman representative of ancient race had come back to the home of his ancestors. scholar, poet, knight-errant, finished gentleman, he aptly typified the result of seven centuries of civilization upon the wild danish pirate. for among those very quicksands of storm-beaten walachria that wondrous normandy first came into existence whose wings were to sweep over all the high places of christendom. out of these creeks, lagunes, and almost inaccessible sandbanks, those bold freebooters sailed forth on their forays against england, france, and other adjacent countries, and here they brought and buried the booty of many a wild adventure. here, at a later day, rollo the dane had that memorable dream of leprosy, the cure of which was the conversion of north gaul into normandy, of pagans into christians, and the subsequent conquest of every throne in christendom from ultima thule to byzantium. and now the descendant of those early freebooters had come back to the spot, at a moment when a wider and even more imperial swoop was to be made by their modern representatives. for the sea-kings of the sixteenth century--the drakes, hawkinses, frobishers, raleighs, cavendishes--the de moors, heemskerks, barendts--all sprung of the old pirate-lineage, whether called englanders or hollanders, and instinct with the same hereditary love of adventure, were about to wrestle with ancient tyrannies, to explore the most inaccessible regions, and to establish new commonwealths in worlds undreamed of by their ancestors--to accomplish, in short, more wondrous feats than had been attempted by the knuts, and rollos, rurics, ropers, and tancreds, of an earlier age. the place which sidney was appointed to govern was one of great military and commercial importance. flushing was the key to the navigation of the north seas, ever since the disastrous storm of a century before, in which a great trading city on the outermost verge of the island had been swallowed bodily by the ocean. the emperor had so thoroughly recognized its value, as to make special mention of the necessity for its preservation, in his private instructions to philip, and now the queen of england had confided it to one who was competent to appreciate and to defend the prize. "how great a jewel this place (flushing) is to the crown of england," wrote sidney to his uncle leicester, "and to the queen's safety, i need not now write it to your lordship, who knows it so well. yet i must needs say, the better i know it, the more i find the preciousness of it." he did not enter into his government, however, with much pomp and circumstance, but came afoot into flushing in the midst of winter and foul weather. "driven to land at rammekins," said he, "because the wind began to rise in such sort as from thence our mariners durst not enter the town, i came with as dirty a walk as ever poor governor entered his charge withal." but he was cordially welcomed, nor did he arrive by any means too soon. "i find the people very glad of our coming," he said, "and promise myself as much surety in keeping this town, as popular good-will, gotten by light hopes, and by as slight conceits, may breed; for indeed the garrison is far too weak to command by authority, which is pity . . . . i think, truly, that if my coming had been longer delayed, some alteration would have followed; for the truth is, this people is weary of war, and if they do not see such a course taken as may be likely to defend them, they will in a sudden give over the cause. . . . all will be lost if government be not presently used." he expressed much anxiety for the arrival of his uncle, with which sentiments he assured the earl that the netherlanders fully sympathized. "your lordship's coming," he said, "is as much longed for as messias is of the jews. it is indeed most necessary that your lordship make great speed to reform both the dutch and english abuses." etext editor's bookmarks: able men should be by design and of purpose suppressed he did his work, but he had not his reward matter that men may rather pray for than hope for not of the genus reptilia, and could neither creep nor crouch others that do nothing, do all, and have all the thanks peace-at-any-price party the busy devil of petty economy thought that all was too little for him weary of place without power history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , - chapter vii., part . the earl of leicester--his triumphal entrance into holland--english spies about him--importance of holland to england--spanish schemes for invading england--letter of the grand commander--perilous position of england--true nature of the contest--wealth and strength of the provinces--power of the dutch and english people--affection of the hollanders for the queen--secret purposes of leicester-- wretched condition of english troops--the nassaus and hohenlo--the earl's opinion of them--clerk and killigrew--interview with the states government general offered to the earl--discussions on the subject--the earl accepts the office--his ambition and mistakes--his installation at the hague--intimations of the queen's displeasure-- deprecatory letters of leicester--davison's mission to england-- queen's anger and jealousy--her angry letters to the earl and the states--arrival of davison--stormy interview with the queen--the second one is calmer--queen's wrath somewhat mitigated--mission of heneago to the states--shirley sent to england by the earl--his interview with elizabeth at last the earl of leicester came. embarking at harwich, with a fleet of fifty ships, and attended "by the flower and chief gallants of england"--the lords sheffield, willoughby, north, burroughs, sir gervase clifton, sir william russell, sir robert sidney, and others among the number--the new lieutenant-general of the english forces in the netherlands arrived on the th december, , at flushing. his nephew, sir philip sidney, and count maurice of nassau, with a body of troops and a great procession of civil functionaries; were in readiness to receive him, and to escort him to the lodgings prepared for him. robert dudley, earl of leicester, was then fifty-four years of age. there are few personages in english history whose adventures, real or fictitious, have been made more familiar to the world than his have been, or whose individuality has been presented in more picturesque fashion, by chronicle, tragedy, or romance. born in the same day of the month and hour of the day with the queen, but two years before her birth, the supposed synastry of their destinies might partly account, in that age of astrological superstition, for the influence which he perpetually exerted. they had, moreover, been fellow-prisoners together, in the commencement of the reign of mary, and it is possible that he may have been the medium through which the indulgent expressions of philip ii. were conveyed to the princess elizabeth. his grandfather, john dudley, that "caterpillar of the commonwealth," who lost his head in the first year of henry viii. as a reward for the grist which he brought to the mill of henry vii.; his father, the mighty duke of northumberland, who rose out of the wreck of an obscure and ruined family to almost regal power, only to perish, like his predecessor, upon the scaffold, had bequeathed him nothing save rapacity, ambition, and the genius to succeed. but elizabeth seemed to ascend the throne only to bestow gifts upon her favourite. baronies and earldoms, stars and garters, manors and monopolies, castles and forests, church livings and college chancellorships, advowsons and sinecures, emoluments and dignities, the most copious and the most exalted, were conferred upon him in breathless succession. wine, oil, currants, velvets, ecclesiastical benefices, university headships, licences to preach, to teach, to ride, to sail, to pick and to steal, all brought "grist to his mill." his grandfather, "the horse leach and shearer," never filled his coffers more rapidly than did lord robert, the fortunate courtier. of his early wedlock with the ill-starred amy robsart, of his nuptial projects with the queen, of his subsequent marriages and mock-marriages with douglas sheffield and lettice of essex, of his plottings, poisonings, imaginary or otherwise, of his countless intrigues, amatory and political--of that luxuriant, creeping, flaunting, all-pervading existence which struck its fibres into the mould, and coiled itself through the whole fabric, of elizabeth's life and reign--of all this the world has long known too much to render a repetition needful here. the inmost nature and the secret deeds of a man placed so high by wealth and station, can be seen but darkly through the glass of contemporary record. there was no tribunal to sit upon his guilt. a grandee could be judged only when no longer a favourite, and the infatuation of elizabeth for leicester terminated only with his life. he stood now upon the soil of the netherlands in the character of a "messiah," yet he has been charged with crimes sufficient to send twenty humbler malefactors to the gibbet. "i think," said a most malignant arraigner of the man, in a published pamphlet, "that the earl of leicester hath more blood lying upon his head at this day, crying for vengeance, than ever had private man before, were he never so wicked." certainly the mass of misdemeanours and infamies hurled at the head of the favourite by that "green-coated jesuit," father parsons, under the title of 'leycester's commonwealth,' were never accepted as literal verities; yet the value of the precept, to calumniate boldly, with the certainty that much of the calumny would last for ever, was never better illustrated than in the case of robert dudley. besides the lesser delinquencies of filling his purse by the sale of honours and dignities, by violent ejectments from land, fraudulent titles, rapacious enclosures of commons, by taking bribes for matters of justice, grace, and supplication to the royal authority, he was accused of forging various letters to the queen, often to ruin his political adversaries, and of plottings to entrap them into conspiracies, playing first the comrade and then the informer. the list of his murders and attempts to murder was almost endless. "his lordship hath a special fortune," saith the jesuit, "that when he desireth any woman's favour, whatsoever person standeth in his way hath the luck to die quickly." he was said to have poisoned alice drayton, lady lennox, lord sussex, sir nicholas throgmorton, lord sheffield, whose widow he married and then poisoned, lord essex, whose widow he also married, and intended to poison, but who was said to have subsequently poisoned him--besides murders or schemes for murder of various other individuals, both french and english. "he was a rare artist in poison," said sir robert naunton, and certainly not caesar borgia, nor his father or sister, was more accomplished in that difficult profession than was dudley, if half the charges against him could be believed. fortunately for his fame, many of them were proved to be false. sir henry sidney, lord deputy of ireland, at the time of the death of lord essex, having caused a diligent inquiry to be made into that dark affair, wrote to the council that it was usual for the earl to fall into a bloody flux when disturbed in his mind, and that his body when opened showed no signs of poison. it is true that sir henry, although an honourable man, was leicester's brother-in-law, and that perhaps an autopsy was not conducted at that day in ireland on very scientific principles. his participation in the strange death of his first wife was a matter of current belief among his contemporaries. "he is infamed by the death of his wife," said burghley, and the tale has since become so interwoven with classic and legendary fiction, as well as with more authentic history, that the phantom of the murdered amy robsart is sure to arise at every mention of the earl's name. yet a coroner's inquest--as appears from his own secret correspondence with his relative and agent at cumnor--was immediately and persistently demanded by dudley. a jury was impaneled--every man of them a stranger to him, and some of them enemies. antony forster, appleyard, and arthur robsart, brother-in-law and brother of the lady, were present, according to dudley's special request; "and if more of her friends could have been sent," said he, "i would have sent them;" but with all their minuteness of inquiry, "they could find," wrote blount, "no presumptions of evil," although he expressed a suspicion that "some of the jurymen were sorry that they could not." that the unfortunate lady was killed by a fall down stairs was all that could be made of it by a coroner's inquest, rather hostile than otherwise, and urged to rigorous investigation by the supposed culprit himself. nevertheless, the calumny has endured for three centuries, and is likely to survive as many more. whatever crimes dudley may have committed in the course of his career, there is no doubt whatever that he was the most abused man in europe. he had been deeply wounded by the jesuit's artful publication, in which all the misdeeds with which he was falsely or justly charged were drawn up in awful array, in a form half colloquial, half judicial. "you had better give some contentment to my lord leicester," wrote the french envoy from london to his government, "on account of the bitter feelings excited in him by these villainous books lately written against him." the earl himself ascribed these calumnies to the jesuits, to the guise faction, and particularly to--the queen of scots. he was said, in consequence, to have vowed an eternal hatred to that most unfortunate and most intriguing princess. "leicester has lately told a friend," wrote charles paget, "that he will persecute you to the uttermost, for that he supposeth your majesty to be privy to the setting forth of the book against him." nevertheless, calumniated or innocent he was at least triumphant over calumny. nothing could shake his hold upon elizabeth's affections. the queen scorned but resented the malignant attacks upon the reputation of her favourite. she declared "before god and in her conscience, that she knew the libels against him to be most scandalous, and such as none but an incarnate devil himself could dream to be true." his power, founded not upon genius nor virtue, but upon woman's caprice, shone serenely above the gulf where there had been so many shipwrecks. "i am now passing into another world," said sussex, upon his death-bed, to his friends, "and i must leave you to your fortunes; but beware of the gipsy, or he will be too hard for you. you know not the beast so well as i do." the "gipsy," as he had been called from his dark complexion, had been renowned in youth for the beauty of his person, being "tall and singularly well-featured, of a sweet aspect, but high foreheaded, which was of no discommendation," according to naunton. the queen, who had the passion of her father for tall and proper men, was easier won by externals, from her youth even to the days of her dotage, than befitted so very sagacious a personage. chamberlains, squires of the body, carvers, cup-bearers, gentlemen-ushers, porters, could obtain neither place nor favour at court, unless distinguished for stature, strength, or extraordinary activity. to lose a tooth had been known to cause the loss of a place, and the excellent constitution of leg which helped sir christopher hatton into the chancellorship, was not more remarkable perhaps than the success of similar endowments in other contemporaries. leicester, although stately and imposing, had passed his summer solstice. a big bulky man, with a long red face, a bald head, a defiant somewhat sinister eye, a high nose, and a little torrent of foam-white curly beard, he was still magnificent in costume. rustling in satin and feathers, with jewels in his ears, and his velvet toque stuck as airily as ever upon the side of his head, he amazed the honest hollanders, who had been used to less gorgeous chieftains. "every body is wondering at the great magnificence and splendour of his clothes," said the plain chronicler of utrecht. for, not much more than a year before, fulke greville had met at delft a man whose external adornments were simpler; a somewhat slip-shod personage, whom he thus pourtrayed: "his uppermost garment was a gown," said the euphuistic fulke, "yet such as, i confidently affirm, a mean-born student of our inns of court would not have been well disposed to walk the streets in. unbuttoned his doublet was, and of like precious matter and form to the other. his waistcoat, which showed itself under it, not unlike the best sort of those woollen knit ones which our ordinary barge-watermen row us in. his company about him, the burgesses of that beerbrewing town. no external sign of degree could have discovered the inequality of his worth or estate from that multitude. nevertheless, upon conversing with him, there was an outward passage of inward greatness." of a certainty there must have been an outward passage of inward greatness about him; for the individual in unbuttoned doublet and bargeman's waistcoat, was no other than william the silent. a different kind of leader had now descended among those rebels, yet it would be a great mistake to deny the capacity or vigorous intentions of the magnificent earl, who certainly was like to find himself in a more difficult and responsible situation than any he had yet occupied. and now began a triumphal progress through the land, with a series of mighty banquets and festivities, in which no man could play a better part than leicester. from flushing he came to middelburg, where, upon christmas eve (according to the new reckoning), there was an entertainment, every dish of which has been duly chronicled. pigs served on their feet, pheasants in their feathers, and baked swans with their necks thrust through gigantic pie-crust; crystal castles of confectionery with silver streams flowing at their base, and fair virgins leaning from the battlements, looking for their new english champion, "wine in abundance, variety of all sorts, and wonderful welcomes "--such was the bill of fare. the next day the lieutenant-general returned the compliment to the magistrates of middelburg with a tremendous feast. then came an interlude of unexpected famine; for as the earl sailed with his suite in a fleet of two hundred vessels for dort--a voyage of not many hours' usual duration--there descended a mighty frozen fog upon the waters, and they lay five whole days and nights in their ships, almost starved with hunger and cold--offering in vain a "pound of silver for a pound of bread." emerging at last from this dismal predicament, he landed at dort, and so went to rotterdam and delft, everywhere making his way through lines of musketeers and civic functionaries, amid roaring cannon, pealing bells, burning cressets, blazing tar-barrels, fiery winged dragons, wreaths of flowers, and latin orations. the farther he went the braver seemed the country, and the better beloved his. lordship. nothing was left undone, in the language of ancient chronicle, to fill the bellies and the heads of the whole company. at the close of the year he came to the hague, where the festivities were unusually magnificent. a fleet of barges was sent to escort him. peter, james, and john, met him upon the shore, while the saviour appeared walking upon the waves, and ordered his disciples to cast their nets, and to present the fish to his excellency. farther on, he was confronted by mars and bellona, who recited latin odes in his honour. seven beautiful damsels upon a stage, representing the united states, offered him golden keys; seven others equally beautiful, embodying the seven sciences, presented him with garlands, while an enthusiastic barber adorned his shop with seven score of copper basins, with a wax-light in each, together with a rose, and a latin posy in praise of queen elizabeth. then there were tiltings in the water between champions mounted upon whales, and other monsters of the deep-representatives of siege, famine, pestilence, and murder--the whole interspersed with fireworks, poetry, charades, and matthias, nor anjou, nor king philip, nor the emperor charles, in their triumphal progresses, had been received with more spontaneous or more magnificent demonstrations. never had the living pictures been more startling, the allegories more incomprehensible, the banquets more elaborate, the orations more tedious. beside himself with rapture, leicester almost assumed the god. in delft, a city which he described as "another london almost for beauty and fairness," he is said so far to have forgotten himself as to declare that his family had--in the person of lady jane grey, his father, and brother--been unjustly deprived of the crown of england; an indiscretion which caused a shudder in all who heard him. it was also very dangerous for the lieutenant-general to exceed the bounds of becoming modesty at that momentous epoch. his power, as we shall soon have occasion to observe, was anomalous, and he was surrounded by enemies. he was not only to grapple with a rapidly developing opposition in the states, but he was surrounded with masked enemies, whom he had brought with him from england. every act and word of his were liable to closest scrutiny, and likely to be turned against him. for it was most characteristic of that intriguing age, that even the astute walsingham, who had an eye and an ear at every key-hole in europe, was himself under closest domestic inspection. there was one poley, a trusted servant of lady sidney, then living in the house of her father walsingham, during sir philip's absence, who was in close communication with lord montjoy's brother, blount, then high in favour of queen elizabeth--"whose grandmother she might be for his age and hers"--and with another brother christopher blount, at that moment in confidential attendance upon lord leicester in holland. now poley, and both the blounts, were, in reality, papists, and in intimate correspondence with the agents of the queen of scots, both at home and abroad, although "forced to fawn upon leicester, to see if they might thereby live quiet." they had a secret "alphabet," or cipher, among them, and protested warmly, that they "honoured the ground whereon queen mary trod better than leicester with all his generation; and that they felt bound to serve her who was the only saint living on the earth." it may be well understood then that the earl's position was a slippery one, and that great assumption might be unsafe. "he taketh the matter upon him," wrote morgan to the queen of scots, "as though he were an absolute king; but he hath many personages about him of good place out of england, the best number whereof desire nothing more than his confusion. some of them be gone with him to avoid the persecution for religion in england. my poor advice and labour shall not be wanting to give leicester all dishonour, which will fall upon him in the end with shame enough; though for the present he be very strong." many of these personages of good place, and enjoying "charge and credit" with the earl had very serious plans in their heads. some of them meant "for the service of god, and the advantage of the king of spain, to further the delivery of some notable towns in holland and zeeland to the said king and his ministers," and we are like to hear of these individuals again. meantime, the earl of leicester was at the hague. why was he there? what was his work? why had elizabeth done such violence to her affection as to part with her favourite-in-chief; and so far overcome her thrift, as to furnish forth, rather meagrely to be sure, that little army of englishmen? why had the flower of england's chivalry set foot upon that dark and bloody ground where there seemed so much disaster to encounter, and so little glory to reap? why had england thrown herself so heroically into the breach, just as the last bulwarks were falling which protected holland from the overwhelming onslaught of spain? it was because holland was the threshold of england; because the two countries were one by danger and by destiny; because the naval expedition from spain against england was already secretly preparing; because the deposed tyrant of spain intended the provinces, when again subjugated, as a steppingstone to the conquest of england; because the naval and military forces of holland--her numerous ships, her hardy mariners, her vast wealth, her commodious sea-ports, close to the english coast--if made spanish property would render philip invincible by sea and land; and because the downfall of holland and of protestantism would be death to elizabeth, and annihilation to england. there was little doubt on the subject in the minds of those engaged in this expedition. all felt most keenly the importance of the game, in which the queen was staking her crown, and england its national existence. "i pray god," said wilford, an officer much in walsingham's confidence, "that i live not to see this enterprise quail, and with it the utter subversion of religion throughout all christendom. it may be i may be judged to be afraid of my own shadow. god grant it be so. but if her majesty had not taken the helm in hand, and my lord of leicester sent over, this country had been gone ere this. . . . this war doth defend england. who is he that will refuse to spend his life and living in it? if her majesty consume twenty thousand men in the cause, the experimented men that will remain will double that strength to the realm." this same wilford commanded a company in ostend, and was employed by leicester in examining the defences of that important place. he often sent information to the secretary, "troubling him with the rude stile of a poor soldier, being driven to scribble in haste." he reiterated, in more than one letter, the opinion, that twenty thousand men consumed in the war would be a saving in the end, and his own determination--although he had intended retiring from the military profession--to spend not only his life in the cause, but also the poor living that god had given him. "her highness hath now entered into it," he said; "the fire is kindled; whosoever suffers it to go out, it will grow dangerous to that side. the whole state of religion is in question, and the realm of england also, if this action quail. god grant we never live to see that doleful day. her majesty hath such footing now in these parts, as i judge it impossible for the king to weary her out, if every man will put to the work his helping hand, whereby it may be lustily followed, and the war not suffered to cool. the freehold of england will be worth but little, if this action quail, and therefore i wish no subject to spare his purse towards it." spain moved slowly. philip the prudent was not sudden or rash, but his whole life had proved, and was to prove, him inflexible in his purposes, and patient in his attempts to carry them into effect, even when the purposes had become chimerical, and the execution impossible. before the fall of antwerp he had matured his scheme for the invasion of england, in most of its details--a necessary part of which was of course the reduction of holland and zeeland. "surely no danger nor fear of any attempt can grow to england," wrote wilford, "so long as we can hold this country good." but never was honest soldier more mistaken than he, when he added:--"the papists will make her highness afraid of a great fleet now preparing in spain. we hear it also, but it is only a scare-crow to cool the enterprise here." it was no scare-crow. on the very day on which wilford was thus writing to walsingham, philip the second was writing to alexander farnese. "the english," he said, "with their troops having gained a footing in the islands (holland and zeeland) give me much anxiety. the english catholics are imploring me with much importunity to relieve them from the persecution they are suffering. when you sent me a plan, with the coasts, soundings, quicksands, and ports of england, you said that the enterprise of invading that country should be deferred till we had reduced the isles; that, having them, we could much more conveniently attack england; or that at least we should wait till we had got antwerp. as the city is now taken, i want your advice now about the invasion of england. to cut the root of the evils constantly growing up there, both for god's service and mine, is desirable. so many evils will thus be remedied, which would not be by only warring with the islands. it would be an uncertain and expensive war to go to sea for the purpose of chastising the insolent english corsairs, however much they deserve chastisement. i charge you to be secret, to give the matter your deepest attention, and to let me have your opinions at once." philip then added a postscript, in his own hand, concerning the importance of acquiring a sea-port in holland, as a basis of operations against england. "without a port," he said, "we can do nothing whatever." a few weeks later, the grand commander of castile, by philip's orders, and upon subsequent information received from the prince of parma, drew up an elaborate scheme for the invasion of england, and for the government of that country afterwards; a program according to which the king was to shape his course for a long time to come. the plot was an excellent plot. nothing could be more artistic, more satisfactory to the prudent monarch; but time was to show whether there might not be some difficulty in the way of its satisfactory development. "the enterprise," said the commander, "ought certainly to be undertaken as serving the cause of the lord. from the pope we must endeavour to extract a promise of the largest aid we can get for the time when the enterprise can be undertaken. we must not declare that time however, in order to keep the thing a secret, and because perhaps thus more will be promised, under the impression that it will never take effect. he added that the work could not well be attempted before august or september of the following year; the only fear of such delay being that the french could hardly be kept during all that time in a state of revolt." for this was a uniform portion of the great scheme. france was to be kept, at philip's expense, in a state of perpetual civil war; its every city and village to be the scene of unceasing conflict and bloodshed--subjects in arms against king, and family against family; and the netherlands were to be ravaged with fire and sword; all this in order that the path might be prepared for spanish soldiers into the homes of england. so much of misery to the whole human race was it in the power of one painstaking elderly valetudinarian to inflict, by never for an instant neglecting the business of his life. troops and vessels for the english invasion ought, in the commander's opinion, to be collected in flanders, under colour of an enterprise against holland and zeeland, while the armada to be assembled in spain, of galleons, galeazas, and galleys, should be ostensibly for an expedition to the indies. then, after the conquest, came arrangements for the government of england. should philip administer his new kingdom by a viceroy, or should he appoint a king out of his own family? on the whole the chances for the prince of parma seemed the best of any. "we must liberate the queen of scotland," said the grand commander, "and marry her to some one or another, both in order to put her out of love with her son, and to conciliate her devoted adherents. of course the husband should be one of your majesty's nephews, and none could be so appropriate as the prince of parma, that great captain, whom his talents, and the part he has to bear in the business, especially indicate for that honour." then there was a difficulty about the possible issue of such a marriage. the farneses claimed portugal; so that children sprung from the bloodroyal of england blended with that of parma, might choose to make those pretensions valid. but the objection was promptly solved by the commander:--"the queen of scotland is sure to have no children," he said. that matter being adjusted, parma's probable attitude as king of england was examined. it was true his ambition might cause occasional uneasiness, but then he might make himself still more unpleasant in the netherlands. "if your majesty suspects him," said the commander, "which, after all, is unfair, seeing the way, in which he has been conducting himself--it is to be remembered that in flanders are similar circumstances and opportunities, and that he is well armed, much beloved in the country, and that the natives are of various humours. the english plan will furnish an honourable departure for him out of the provinces; and the principle of loyal obligation will have much influence over so chivalrous a knight as he, when he is once placed on the english throne. moreover, as he will be new there, he will have need of your majesty's favour to maintain himself, and there will accordingly be good correspondence with holland and the islands. thus your majesty can put the infanta and her husband into full possession of all the netherlands; having provided them with so excellent a neighbour in england, and one so closely bound and allied to them. then, as he is to have no english children" (we have seen that the commander had settled that point) "he will be a very good mediator to arrange adoptions, especially if you make good provision for his son rainuccio in italy. the reasons in favour of this plan being so much stronger than those against it, it would be well that your majesty should write clearly to the prince of parma, directing him to conduct the enterprise" (the english invasion), "and to give him the first offer for this marriage (with queen mary) if he likes the scheme. if not, he had better mention which of the archdukes should be substituted in his place." there happened to be no lack of archdukes at that period for anything comfortable that might offer--such as a throne in england, holland, or france--and the austrian house was not remarkable for refusing convenient marriages; but the immediate future only could show whether alexander i. of the house of farnese was to reign in england, or whether the next king of that country was to be called matthias, maximilian, or ernest of hapsburg. meantime the grand commander was of opinion that the invasion-project was to be pushed forward as rapidly and as secretly as possible; because, before any one of philip's nephews could place himself upon the english throne, it was first necessary to remove elizabeth from that position. before disposing of the kingdom, the preliminary step of conquering it was necessary. afterwards it would be desirable, without wasting more time than was requisite, to return with a large portion of the invading force out of england, in order to complete the conquest of holland. for after all, england was to be subjugated only as a portion of one general scheme; the main features of which were the reannexation of holland and "the islands," and the acquisition of unlimited control upon the seas. thus the invasion of england was no "scarecrow," as wilford imagined, but a scheme already thoroughly matured. if holland and zeeland should meantime fall into the hands of philip, it was no exaggeration on that soldier's part to observe that the "freehold of england would be worth but little." to oppose this formidable array against the liberties of europe stood elizabeth tudor and the dutch republic. for the queen, however arbitrary her nature, fitly embodied much of the nobler elements in the expanding english national character. she felt instinctively that her reliance in the impending death-grapple was upon the popular principle, the national sentiment, both in her own country and in holland. that principle and that sentiment were symbolized in the netherland revolt; and england, although under a somewhat despotic rule, was already fully pervaded with the instinct of self-government. the people held the purse and the sword. no tyranny could be permanently established so long as the sovereign was obliged to come every year before parliament to ask for subsidies; so long as all the citizens and yeomen of england had weapons in their possession, and were carefully trained to use them; so long, in short, as the militia was the only army, and private adventurers or trading companies created and controlled the only navy. war, colonization, conquest, traffic, formed a joint business and a private speculation. if there were danger that england, yielding to purely mercantile habits of thought and action, might degenerate from the more martial standard to which she had been accustomed, there might be virtue in that netherland enterprise, which was now to call forth all her energies. the provinces would be a seminary for english soldiers. "there can be no doubt of our driving the enemy out of the country through famine and excessive charges," said the plain-spoken english soldier already quoted, who came out with leicester, "if every one of us will put our minds to go forward without making a miserable gain by the wars. a man may see, by this little progress journey, what this long peace hath wrought in us. we are weary of the war before we come where it groweth, such a danger hath this long peace brought us into. this is, and will be, in my opinion, a most fit school and nursery to nourish soldiers to be able to keep and defend our country hereafter, if men will follow it." wilford was vehement in denouncing the mercantile tendencies of his countrymen, and returned frequently to that point in his communications with walsingham and other statesmen. "god hath stirred up this action," he repeated again, "to be a school to breed up soldiers to defend the freedom of england, which through these long times of peace and quietness is brought into a most dangerous estate, if it should be attempted. our delicacy is such that we are already weary, yet this journey is naught in respect to the misery and hardship that soldiers must and do endure." he was right in his estimate of the effect likely to be produced by the war upon the military habits of englishmen; for there can be no doubt that the organization and discipline of english troops was in anything but a satisfactory state at that period. there was certainly vast room for improvement. nevertheless he was wrong in his views of the leading tendencies of his age. holland and england, self-helping, self-moving, were already inaugurating a new era in the history of the world. the spirit of commercial maritime enterprise--then expanding rapidly into large proportions--was to be matched against the religious and knightly enthusiasm which had accomplished such wonders in an age that was passing away. spain still personified, and had ever personified, chivalry, loyalty, piety; but its chivalry, loyalty, and piety, were now in a corrupted condition. the form was hollow, and the sacred spark had fled. in holland and england intelligent enterprise had not yet degenerated into mere greed for material prosperity. the love of danger, the thirst for adventure, the thrilling sense of personal responsibility and human dignity--not the base love for land and lucre--were the governing sentiments which led those bold dutch and english rovers to circumnavigate the world in cockle-shells, and to beard the most potent monarch on the earth, both at home and abroad, with a handful of volunteers. this then was the contest, and this the machinery by which it was to be maintained. a struggle for national independence, liberty of conscience, freedom of the seas, against sacerdotal and world-absorbing tyranny; a mortal combat of the splendid infantry of spain and italy, the professional reiters of germany, the floating castles of a world-empire, with the militiamen and mercantile-marine of england and holland united. holland had been engaged twenty years long in the conflict. england had thus far escaped it; but there was no doubt, and could be none, that her time had come. she must fight the battle of protestantism on sea and shore, shoulder to shoulder, with the netherlanders, or await the conqueror's foot on her own soil. what now was the disposition and what the means of the provinces to do their part in the contest? if the twain as holland wished, had become of one flesh, would england have been the loser? was it quite sure that elizabeth--had she even accepted the less compromising title which she refused--would not have been quite as much the protected as the "protectress?" it is very certain that the english, on their arrival in the provinces, were singularly impressed by the opulent and stately appearance of the country and its inhabitants. notwithstanding the tremendous war which the hollanders had been waging against spain for twenty years, their commerce had continued to thrive, and their resources to increase. leicester was in a state of constant rapture at the magnificence which surrounded him, from his first entrance into the country. notwithstanding the admiration expressed by the hollanders for the individual sumptuousness of the lieutenant-general; his followers, on their part, were startled by the general luxury of their new allies. "the realm is rich and full of men," said wilford, "the sums men exceed in apparel would bear the brunt of this war;" and again, "if the excess used in sumptuous apparel were only abated, and that we could convert the same to these wars, it would stop a great gap." the favourable view taken by the english as to the resources and inclination of the netherland commonwealth was universal. "the general wish and desire of these countrymen," wrote sir thomas shirley, "is that the amity begun between england and this nation may be everlasting, and there is not any of our company of judgment but wish the same. for all they that see the goodliness and stateliness of these towns, strengthened both with fortification and natural situation, all able to defend themselves with their own abilities, must needs think it too fair a prey to be let pass, and a thing most worthy to be embraced." leicester, whose enthusiasm continued to increase as rapidly as the queen's zeal seemed to be cooling, was most anxious lest the short-comings of his own government should work irreparable evil. "i pray you, my lord," he wrote to burghley, "forget not us poor exiles; if you do, god must and will forget you. and great pity it were that so noble provinces and goodly havens, with such infinite ships and mariners, should not be always as they may now easily be, at the assured devotion of england. in my opinion he can neither love queen nor country that would not wish and further it should be so. and seeing her majesty is thus far entered into the cause, and that these people comfort themselves in full hope of her favour, it were a sin and a shame it should not be handled accordingly, both for honour and surety." sir john conway, who accompanied the earl through the whole of his "progress journey," was quite as much struck as he by the flourishing aspect and english proclivities of the provinces. "the countries which we have passed," he said, "are fertile in their nature; the towns, cities, buildings, of snore state and beauty, to such as have travelled other countries, than any they have ever seen. the people the most industrious by all means to live that be in the world, and, no doubt, passing rich. they outwardly show themselves of good heart, zeal, and loyalty, towards the queen our mistress. there is no doubt that the general number of them had rather come under her majesty's regiment, than to continue under the states and burgomasters of their country. the impositions which they lay in defence of their state is wonderful. if her highness proceed in this beginning, she may retain these parts hers, with their good love, and her great glory and gain. i would she might as perfectly see the whole country, towns, profits, and pleasures thereof, in a glass, as she may her own face; i do then assure myself she would with careful consideration receive them, and not allow of any man's reason to the contrary . . . . the country is worthy any prince in the world, the people do reverence the queen, and in love of her do so believe that the grace of leicester is by god and her sent among them for her good. and they believe in him for the redemption of their bodies, as they do in god for their souls. i dare pawn my soul, that if her majesty will allow him the just and rightful mean to manage this cause, that he will so handle the manner and matter as shall highly both please and profit her majesty, and increase her country, and his own honour." lord north, who held a high command in the auxiliary force, spoke also with great enthusiasm. "had your lordship seen," he wrote to burghley, "with what thankful hearts these countries receive all her majesty's subjects, what multitudes of people they be, what stately cities and buildings they have, how notably fortified by art, how strong by nature, flow fertile the whole country, and how wealthy it is, you would, i know, praise the lord that opened your lips to undertake this enterprise, the continuance and good success whereof will eternise her majesty, beautify her crown, with the most shipping, with the most populous and wealthy countries, that ever prince added to his kingdom, or that is or can be found in europe. i lack wit, good my lord, to dilate this matter." leicester, better informed than some of those in his employment, entertained strong suspicions concerning philip's intentions with regard to england; but he felt sure that the only way to laugh at a spanish invasion was to make holland and england as nearly one as it was possible to do. "no doubt that the king of spain's preparations by sea be great," he, said; "but i know that all that he and his friends can make are not able to match with her majesty's forces, if it please her to use the means that god hath given her. but besides her own, if she need; i will undertake to furnish her from hence, upon two months' warning, a navy for strong and tall ships, with their furniture and mariners, that the king of spain, and all that he can make, shall not be able to encounter with them. i think the bruit of his preparations is made the greater to terrify her majesty and this country people. but, thanked be god, her majesty hath little cause to fear him. and in this country they esteem no more of his power by sea than i do of six fisher-boats off rye." thus suggestive is it to peep occasionally behind the curtain. in the calm cabinet of the escorial, philip and his comendador mayor are laying their heads together, preparing the invasion of england; making arrangements for king alexander's coronation in that island, and--like sensible, farsighted persons as they are--even settling the succession to the throne after alexander's death, instead of carelessly leaving such distant details to chance, or subsequent consideration. on the other hand, plain dutch sea-captains, grim beggars of the sea, and the like, denizens of a free commonwealth and of the boundless ocean-men who are at home on blue water, and who have burned gunpowder against those prodigious slave-rowed galleys of spain--together with their new allies, the dauntless mariners of england--who at this very moment are "singeing the king of spain's beard," as it had never been singed before--are not so much awestruck with the famous preparations for invasion as was perhaps to be expected. there may be a delay, after all, before parma can be got safely established in london, and elizabeth in orcus, and before the blood-tribunal of the inquisition can substitute its sway for that of the "most noble, wise, and learned united states." certainly, philip the prudent would have been startled, difficult as he was to astonish, could he have known that those rebel hollanders of his made no more account of his slowly-preparing invincible armada than of six fisher-boats off rye. time alone could show where confidence had been best placed. meantime it was certain, that it well behoved holland and england to hold hard together, nor let "that enterprise quail." the famous expedition of sir francis drake was the commencement of a revelation. "that is the string," said leicester, "that touches the king indeed." it was soon to be made known to the world that the ocean was not a spanish lake, nor both the indies the private property of philip. "while the riches of the indies continue," said leicester, "he thinketh he will be able to weary out all other princes; and i know, by good means, that he more feareth this action of sir francis than he ever did anything that has been attempted against him." with these continued assaults upon the golden treasure-houses of spain, and by a determined effort to maintain the still more important stronghold which had been wrested from her in the netherlands, england might still be safe. "this country is so full of ships and mariners," said leicester, "so abundant in wealth, and in the means to make money, that, had it but stood neutral, what an aid had her majesty been deprived of. but if it had been the enemy's also, i leave it to your consideration what had been likely to ensue. these people do now honour and love her majesty in marvellous sort." there was but one feeling on this most important subject among the english who went to the netherlands. all held the same language. the question was plainly presented to england whether she would secure to herself the great bulwark of her defence, or place it in the hands of her mortal foe? how could there be doubt or supineness on such a momentous subject? "surely, my lord," wrote richard cavendish to burghley, "if you saw the wealth, the strength, the shipping, and abundance of mariners, whereof these countries stand furnished, your heart would quake to think that so hateful an enemy as spain should again be furnished with such instruments; and the spaniards themselves do nothing doubt upon the hope of the consequence hereof, to assure themselves of the certain ruin of her majesty and the whole estate." and yet at the very outset of leicester's administration, there was a whisper of peace-overtures to spain, secretly made by elizabeth in her own behalf, and in that of the provinces. we shall have soon occasion to examine into the truth of these rumours, which, whether originating in truth or falsehood, were most pernicious in their effects. the hollanders were determined never to return to slavery again, so long as they could fire a shot in their own defence. they earnestly wished english cooperation, but it was the cooperation of english matchlocks and english cutlasses, not english protocols and apostilles. it was military, not diplomatic machinery that they required. if they could make up their minds to submit to philip and the inquisition again, philip and the holy office were but too ready to receive the erring penitents to their embrace without a go-between. it was war, not peace, therefore, that holland meant by the english alliance. it was war, not peace, that philip intended. it was war, not peace, that elizabeth's most trusty counsellors knew to be inevitable. there was also, as we have shown, no doubt whatever as to the good disposition, and the great power of the republic to bear its share in the common cause. the enthusiasm of the hollanders was excessive. "there was such a noise, both in delft, rotterdam, and dort," said leicester, "in crying 'god save the queen!' as if she had been in cheapside." her own subjects could not be more loyal than were the citizens and yeomen of holland. "the members of the states dare not but be queen elizabeth's," continued the earl, "for by the living god! if there should fall but the least unkindness through their default, the people would kill them. all sorts of people, from highest to lowest, assure themselves, now that they have her majesty's good countenance, to beat all the spaniards out of their country. never was there people in such jollity as these be. i could be content to lose a limb, could her majesty see these countries and towns as i have done." he was in truth excessively elated, and had already, in imagination, vanquished alexander farnese, and eclipsed the fame of william the silent. "they will serve under me," he observed, "with a better will than ever they served under the prince of orange. yet they loved him well, but they never hoped of the liberty of this country till now." thus the english government had every reason to be satisfied with the aspect of its affairs in the netherlands. but the nature of the earl's authority was indefinite. the queen had refused the sovereignty and the protectorate. she had also distinctly and peremptorily forbidden leicester to assume any office or title that might seem at variance with such a refusal on her part. yet it is certain that, from the very first, he had contemplated some slight disobedience to these prohibitions. "what government is requisite"--wrote he in a secret memorandum of "things most necessary to understand"--"to be appointed to him that shall be their governor? first, that he have as much authority as the prince of orange, or any other governor or captain-general, hath had heretofore." now the prince of orange hath been stadholder of each of the united provinces, governor-general, commander-in-chief, count of holland in prospect, and sovereign, if he had so willed it. it would doubtless have been most desirable for the country, in its confused condition, had there been a person competent to wield, and willing to accept, the authority once exercised by william i. but it was also certain that this was exactly the authority which elizabeth had forbidden leicester to assume. yet it is difficult to understand what position the queen intended that her favourite should maintain, nor how he was to carry out her instructions, while submitting to her prohibitions. he was directed to cause the confused government of the provinces to be redressed, and a better form of polity to be established. he was ordered, in particular, to procure a radical change in the constitution, by causing the deputies to the general assembly to be empowered to decide upon important matters, without, as had always been the custom, making direct reference to the assemblies of the separate provinces. he was instructed to bring about, in some indefinite way, a complete reform in financial matters, by compelling the states-general to raise money by liberal taxation, according to the "advice of her majesty, delivered unto them by her lieutenant." and how was this radical change in the institutions of the provinces to be made by an english earl, whose only authority was that of commander-in-chief over five thousand half-starved, unpaid, utterly-forlorn english troops? the netherland envoys in england, in their parting advice, most distinctly urged him "to hale authority with the first, to declare himself chief head and governor-general" of the whole country,--for it was a political head that was wanted in order to restore unity of action--not an additional general, where there were already generals in plenty. sir john norris, valiant, courageous, experienced--even if not, as walsingham observed, a "religious soldier," nor learned in anything "but a kind of licentious and corrupt government"--was not likely to require the assistance of the new lieutenant-general in field operations nor could the army be brought into a state of thorough discipline and efficiency by the magic of leicester's name. the rank and file of the english army--not the commanders-needed strengthening. the soldiers required shoes and stockings, bread and meat, and for these articles there were not the necessary funds, nor would the title of lieutenant-general supply the deficiency. the little auxiliary force was, in truth, in a condition most pitiable to behold: it was difficult to say whether the soldiers who had been already for a considerable period in the netherlands, or those who had been recently levied in the purlieus of london, were in the most unpromising plight. the beggarly state in which elizabeth had been willing that her troops should go forth to the wars was a sin and a disgrace. well might her lieutenant-general say that her "poor subjects were no better than abjects." there were few effective companies remaining of the old force. "there is but a small number of the first bands left," said sir john conway, "and those so pitiful and unable ever to serve again, as i leave to speak further of theirs, to avoid grief to your heart. a monstrous fault there hath been somewhere." leicester took a manful and sagacious course at starting. those who had no stomach for the fight were ordered to depart. the chaplain gave them sermons; the lieutenant-general, on st. stephen's day, made them a "pithy and honourable" oration, and those who had the wish or the means to buy themselves out of the adventure, were allowed to do so: for the earl was much disgusted with the raw material out of which he was expected to manufacture serviceable troops. swaggering ruffians from the disreputable haunts of london, cockney apprentices, brokendown tapsters, discarded serving men; the bardolphs and pistols, mouldys, warts, and the like--more at home in tavern-brawls or in dark lanes than on the battle-field--were not the men to be entrusted with the honour of england at a momentous crisis. he spoke with grief and shame of the worthless character and condition of the english youths sent over to the netherlands. "believe me," said he, "you will all repent the cockney kind of bringing up at this day of young men. they be gone hence with shame enough, and too many, that i will warrant, will make as many frays with bludgeons and bucklers as any in london shall do; but such shall never have credit with me again. our simplest men in show have been our best men, and your gallant blood and ruffian men the worst of all others." much winnowed, as it was, the small force might in time become more effective; and the earl spent freely of his own substance to supply the wants of his followers, and to atone for the avarice of his sovereign. the picture painted however by muster-master digger of the plumed troops that had thus come forth to maintain the honour of england and the cause of liberty, was anything but imposing. none knew better than digges their squalid and slovenly condition, or was more anxious to effect a reformation therein. "a very wise, stout fellow he is," said the earl, "and very careful to serve thoroughly her majesty." leicester relied much upon his efforts. "there is good hope," said the muster-master, "that his excellency will shortly establish such good order for the government and training of our nation, that these weak, bad-furnished, ill-armed, and worse-trained bands, thus rawly left unto him, shall within a few months prove as well armed, trained, complete, gallant companies as shall be found elsewhere in europe." the damage they were likely to inflict upon the enemy seemed very problematical, until they should have been improved by some wholesome ball-practice. "they are so unskilful," said digger, "that if they should be carried to the field no better trained than yet they are, they would prove much more dangerous to their own leaders and companies than any ways serviceable on their enemies. the hard and miserable estate of the soldiers generally, excepting officers, hath been such, as by the confessions of the captains themselves, they have been offered by many of their soldiers thirty and forty pounds a piece to be dismissed and sent away; whereby i doubt not the flower of the pressed english bands are gone, and the remnant supplied with such paddy persons as commonly, in voluntary procurements, men are glad to accept." even after the expiration of four months the condition of the paddy persons continued most destitute. the english soldiers became mere barefoot starving beggars in the streets, as had never been the case in the worst of times, when the states were their paymasters. the little money brought from the treasury by the earl, and the large sums which he had contributed out of his own pocket, had been spent in settling, and not fully settling, old scores. "let me entreat you," wrote leicester to walsingham, "to be a mean to her majesty, that the poor soldiers be not beaten for my sake. there came no penny of treasure over since my coming hither. that which then came was most part due before it came. there is much still due. they cannot get a penny, their credit is spent, they perish for want of victuals and clothing in great numbers. the whole are ready to mutiny. they cannot be gotten out to service, because they cannot discharge the debts they owe in the places where they are. i have let of my own more than i may spare."--"there was no soldier yet able to buy himself a pair of hose," said the earl again, "and it is too, too great shame to see how they go, and it kills their hearts to show themselves among men." there was no one to dispute the earl's claims. the nassau family was desperately poor, and its chief, young maurice, although he had been elected stadholder of holland and zeeland, had every disposition--as sir philip upon his arrival in flushing immediately informed his uncle--to submit to the authority of the new governor. louisa de coligny, widow of william the silent, was most anxious for the english alliance, through which alone she believed that the fallen fortunes of the family could be raised. it was thus only, she thought, that the vengeance for which she thirsted upon the murderers of her father and her husband could be obtained. "we see now," she wrote to walsingham, in a fiercer strain than would seem to comport with so gentle a nature--deeply wronged as the daughter of coligny and the wife of orange had been by papists--"we see now the effects of our god's promises. he knows when it pleases him to avenge the blood of his own; and i confess that i feel most keenly the joy which is shared in by the whole church of god. there is none that has received more wrong from these murderers than i have done, and i esteem myself happy in the midst of my miseries that god has permitted me to see some vengeance. these beginnings make me hope that i shall see yet more, which will be not less useful to the good, both in your country and in these isles." there was no disguise as to the impoverished condition to which the nassau family had been reduced by the self-devotion of its chief. they were obliged to ask alms of england, until the "sapling should become a tree."--"since it is the will of god," wrote the princess to davison, "i am not ashamed to declare the necessity of our house, for it is in his cause that it has fallen. i pray you, sir, therefore to do me and these children the favour to employ your thoughts in this regard." if there had been any strong french proclivities on their part--as had been so warmly asserted--they were likely to disappear. villiers, who had been a confidential friend of william the silent, and a strong favourer of france, in vain endeavoured to keep alive the ancient sentiments towards that country, although he was thought to be really endeavouring to bring about a submission of the nassaus to spain. "this villiers," said leicester, "is a most vile traitorous knave, and doth abuse a young nobleman here extremely, the count maurice. for all his religion, he is a more earnest persuader secretly to have him yield to a reconciliation than sainte aldegonde was. he shall not tarry ten days neither in holland nor zeeland. he is greatly hated here of all sorts, and it shall go hard but i will win the young count." as for hohenlo, whatever his opinions might once have been regarding the comparative merits of frenchmen and englishmen, he was now warmly in favour of england, and expressed an intention of putting an end to the villiers' influence by simply drowning villiers. the announcement of this summary process towards the counsellor was not untinged with rudeness towards the pupil. "the young count," said leicester, "by villiers' means, was not willing to have flushing rendered, which the count hollock perceiving, told the count maurice, in a great rage, that if he took any course than that of the queen of england, and swore by no beggars, he would drown his priest in the haven before his face, and turn himself and his mother-in-law out of their house there, and thereupon went with mr. davison to the delivery of it." certainly, if hohenlo permitted himself such startling demonstrations towards the son and widow of william the silent, it must have been after his habitual potations had been of the deepest. nevertheless it was satisfactory for the new chieftain to know that the influence of so vehement a partisan was secured for england. the count's zeal deserved gratitude upon leicester's part, and leicester was grateful. "this man must be cherished," said the earl; "he is sound and faithful, and hath indeed all the chief holds in his hands, and at his commandment. ye shall do well to procure him a letter of thanks, taking knowledge in general of his good-will to her majesty. he is a right almayn in manner and fashion, free of his purse and of his drink, yet do i wish him her majesty's pensioner before any prince in germany, for he loves her and is able to serve her, and doth desire to be known her servant. he hath been laboured by his nearest kinsfolk and friends in germany to have left the states and to have the king of spain's pension and very great reward; but he would not. i trust her majesty will accept of his offer to be her servant during his life, being indeed a very noble soldier." the earl was indeed inclined to take so cheerful view of matters as to believe that he should even effect a reform in the noble soldier's most unpleasant characteristic. "hollock is a wise gallant gentleman," he said, "and very well esteemed. he hath only one fault, which is drinking; but good hope that he will amend it. some make me believe that i shall be able to do much with him, and i mean to do my best, for i see no man that knows all these countries, and the people of all sorts, like him, and this fault overthrows all." accordingly, so long as maurice continued under the tutelage of this uproarious cavalier--who, at a later day, was to become his brother-in-law-he was not likely to interfere with leicester's authority. the character of the young count was developing slowly. more than his father had ever done, he deserved the character of the taciturn. a quiet keen observer of men and things, not demonstrative nor talkative, nor much given to writing--a modest, calm, deeply-reflecting student of military and mathematical science--he was not at that moment deeply inspired by political ambition. he was perhaps more desirous of raising the fallen fortunes of his house than of securing the independence of his country. even at that early age, however, his mind was not easy to read, and his character was somewhat of a puzzle to those who studied it. "i see him much discontented with the states," said leicester; "he hath a sullen deep wit. the young gentleman is yet to be won only to her majesty, i perceive, of his own inclination. the house is marvellous poor and little regarded by the states, and if they get anything it is like to be by her majesty, which should be altogether, and she may easily, do for him to win him sure. i will undertake it." yet the earl was ever anxious about some of the influences which surrounded maurice, for he thought him more easily guided than he wished him to be by any others but himself. "he stands upon making and marring," he said, "as he meets with good counsel." and at another time he observed, "the young gentleman hath a solemn sly wit; but, in troth, if any be to be doubted toward the king of spain, it is he and his counsellors, for they have been altogether, so far, french, and so far in mislike with england as they cannot almost hide it." and there was still another member of the house of nassau who was already an honour to his illustrious race. count william lewis, hardly more than a boy in years, had already served many campaigns, and had been desperately wounded in the cause for which so much of the heroic blood of his race had been shed. of the five nassau brethren, his father count john was the sole survivor, and as devoted as ever to the cause of netherland liberty. the other four had already laid down their lives in its defence. and william lewis, was worthy to be the nephew of william and lewis, henry and adolphus, and the son of john. not at all a beautiful or romantic hero in appearance, but an odd-looking little man, with a round bullet-head, close-clipped hair, a small, twinkling, sagacious eye, rugged, somewhat puffy features screwed whimsically awry, with several prominent warts dotting, without ornamenting, all that was visible of a face which was buried up to the ears in a furzy thicket of yellow-brown beard, the tough young stadholder of friesland, in his iron corslet, and halting upon his maimed leg, had come forth with other notable personages to the hague. he wished to do honour heartily and freely to queen elizabeth and her representative. and leicester was favourably impressed with his new acquaintance. "here is another little fellow," he said, "as little as may be, but one of the gravest and wisest young men that ever i spake withal; it is the count guilliam of nassau. he governs friesland; i would every province had such another." thus, upon the great question which presented itself upon the very threshold--the nature and extent of the authority to be exercised by leicester--the most influential netherlanders were in favour of a large and liberal interpretation of his powers. the envoys in england, the nassau family hohenlo, the prominent members of the states, such as the shrewd, plausible menin, the "honest and painful" falk, and the chancellor of gelderland--"that very great, wise, old man leoninus," as leicester called him,--were all desirous that he should assume an absolute governor-generalship over the whole country. this was a grave and a delicate matter, and needed to be severely scanned, without delay. but besides the natives, there were two englishmen--together with ambassador davison--who were his official advisers. bartholomew clerk, ll.d., and sir henry killigrew had been appointed by the queen to be members of the council of the united states, according to the provisions of the august treaty. the learned bartholomew hardly seemed equal to his responsible position among those long-headed dutch politicians. philip sidney--the only blemish in whose character was an intolerable tendency to puns--observed that "doctor clerk was of those clerks that are not always the wisest, and so my lord too late was finding him." the earl himself, who never undervalued the intellect of the netherlanders whom he came to govern, anticipated but small assistance from the english civilian. "i find no great stuff in my little colleague," he said, "nothing that i looked for. it is a pity you have no more of his profession, able men to serve. this man hath good will, and a pretty scholar's wit; but he is too little for these big fellows, as heavy as her majesty thinks them to be. i would she had but one or two, such as the worst of half a score be here." the other english statecounsellor seemed more promising. "i have one here," said the earl, "in whom i take no small comfort; that is little hal killigrew. i assure you, my lord, he is a notable servant, and more in him than ever i heretofore thought of him, though i always knew him to be an honest man and an able." but of all the men that stood by leicester's side, the most faithful, devoted, sagacious, experienced, and sincere of his counsellors, english or flemish, was envoy davison. it is important to note exactly the opinion that had been formed of him by those most competent to judge, before events in which he was called on to play a prominent and responsible though secondary part, had placed him in a somewhat false position. "mr. davison," wrote sidney, "is here very careful in her majesty's causes, and in your lordship's. he takes great pains and goes to great charges for it." the earl himself was always vehement in his praise. "mr. davison," said he at another time, "has dealt most painfully and chargeably in her majesty's service here, and you shall find him as sufficiently able to deliver the whole state of this country as any man that ever was in it, acquainted with all sorts here that are men of dealing. surely, my lord, you shall do a good deed that he may be remembered with her majesty's gracious consideration, for his being here has been very chargeable, having kept a very good countenance, and a very good table, all his abode here, and of such credit with all the chief sort, as i know no stranger in any place hath the like. as i am a suitor to you to be his good friend to her majesty, so i must heartily pray you, good my lord, to procure his coming hither shortly to me again, for i know not almost how to do without him. i confess it is a wrong to the gentleman, and i protest before god, if it were for mine own particular respect, i would not require it for l . but your lordship doth little think how greatly i have to do, as also how needful for her majesty's service his being here will, be. wherefore, good my lord, if it may not offend her majesty, be a mean for this my request, for her own service' sake wholly." such were the personages who surrounded the earl on his arrival in the netherlands, and such their sentiments respecting the position that it was desirable for him to assume. but there was one very important fact. he had studiously concealed from davison that the queen had peremptorily and distinctly forbidden his accepting the office of governor-general. it seemed reasonable, if he came thither at all, that he should come in that elevated capacity. the staten wished it. the earl ardently longed for it. the ambassador, who knew more of netherland politics and netherland humours than any man did, approved of it. the interests of both england and holland seemed to require it. no one but leicester knew that her majesty had forbidden it. accordingly, no sooner had the bell-ringing, cannon-explosions, bonfires, and charades, come to an end, and the earl got fairly housed in the hague, than the states took the affair of government seriously in hand. on the th january, chancellor leoninus and paul buys waited upon davison, and requested a copy of the commission granted by the queen to the earl. the copy was refused, but the commission was read; by which it appeared that he had received absolute command over her majesty's forces in the netherlands by land and sea, together with authority to send for all gentlemen and other personages out of england that he might think useful to him. on the th the states passed a resolution to offer him the governor-generalship over all the provinces. on the same day another committee waited upon his "excellency"--as the states chose to denominate the earl, much to the subsequent wrath of the queen--and made an appointment for the whole body to wait upon him the following morning. upon that day accordingly--new year's day, by the english reckoning, th january by the new style--the deputies of all the states at an early hour came to his lodgings, with much pomp, preceded by a herald and trumpeters. leicester, not expecting them quite so soon, was in his dressing-room, getting ready for the solemn audience, when, somewhat to his dismay, a flourish of trumpets announced the arrival of the whole body in his principal hall of audience. hastening his preparations as much as possible, he descended to that apartment, and was instantly saluted by a flourish of rhetoric still more formidable; for that "very great, and wise old leoninus," forthwith began an oration, which promised to be of portentous length and serious meaning. the earl was slightly flustered, when, fortunately; some one whispered in his ear that they had come to offer him the much-coveted prize of the stadholderate-general. thereupon he made bold to interrupt the flow of the chancellor's eloquence in its first outpourings. "as this is a very private matter," said he, "it will be better to treat of it in a more private place i pray you therefore to come into my chamber, where these things may be more conveniently discussed." "you hear what my lord says," cried leoninus, turning to his companions; "we are to withdraw into his chamber." accordingly they withdrew, accompanied by the earl, and by five or six select counsellors, among whom were davison and dr. clerk. then the chancellor once more commenced his harangue, and went handsomely through the usual forms of compliment, first to the queen, and then to her representative, concluding with an earnest request that the earl--although her majesty had declined the sovereignty "would take the name and place of absolute governor and general of all their forces and soldiers, with the disposition of their whole revenues and taxes." so soon as the oration was concluded, leicester; who did not speak french, directed davison to reply in that language. the envoy accordingly, in name of the earl, expressed the deepest gratitude for this mark of the affection and confidence of the states-general towards the queen. he assured them that the step thus taken by them would be the cause of still more favour and affection on the part of her majesty, who would unquestionably, from day to day, augment the succour that she was extending to the provinces in order to relieve men from their misery. for himself, the earl protested that he could never sufficiently recompense the states for the honour which had thus been conferred upon him, even if he should live one hundred lives. although he felt himself quite unable to sustain the weight of so great an office, yet he declared that they might repose with full confidence on his integrity and good intentions. nevertheless, as the authority thus offered to him was very arduous, and as the subject required deep deliberation, he requested that the proposition should be reduced to writing, and delivered into his hands. he might then come to a conclusion thereupon, most conducive to the glory of god and the welfare of the land. three days afterwards, th january, the offer, drawn up formally in writing, was presented to envoy davison, according to the request of leicester. three days latter, th january, his excellency having deliberated upon the proposition, requested a committee of conference. the conference took place the same day, and there was some discussion upon matters of detail, principally relating to the matter of contributions. the earl, according to the report of the committee, manifested no repugnance to the acceptance of the office, provided these points could be satisfactorily adjusted. he seemed, on the contrary, impatient, rather than reluctant; for, on the day following the conference, he sent his secretary gilpin with a somewhat importunate message. "his excellency was surprised," said the secretary, "that the states were so long in coming to a resolution on the matters suggested by him in relation to the offer of the government-general; nor could his excellency imagine the cause of the delay." for, in truth, the delay was caused by an excessive, rather than a deficient, appetite for power on the part of his excellency. the states, while conferring what they called the "absolute" government, by which it afterwards appeared that they meant absolute, in regard to time, not to function--were very properly desirous of retaining a wholesome control over that government by means of the state-council. they wished not only to establish such a council, as a check upon the authority of the new governor, but to share with him at least in the appointment of the members who were to compose the board. but the aristocratic earl was already restive under the thought of any restraint--most of all the restraint of individuals belonging to what he considered the humbler classes. "cousin, my lord ambassador," said he to davison, "among your sober companions be it always remembered, i beseech you, that your cousin have no other alliance but with gentle blood. by no means consent that he be linked in faster bonds than their absolute grant may yield him a free and honourable government, to be able to do such service as shall be meet for an honest man to perform in such a calling, which of itself is very noble. but yet it is not more to be embraced, if i were to be led in alliance by such keepers as will sooner draw my nose from the right scent of the chace, than to lead my feet in the true pace to pursue the game i desire to reach. consider, i pray you, therefore, what is to be done, and how unfit it will be in respect of my poor self, and how unacceptable to her majesty, and how advantageous to enemies that will seek holes in my coat, if i should take so great a name upon me, and so little power. they challenge acceptation already, and i challenge their absolute grant and offer to me, before they spoke of any instructions; for so it was when leoninus first spoke to me with them all on new years day, as you heard--offering in his speech all manner of absolute authority. if it please them to confirm this, without restraining instructions, i will willingly serve the states, or else, with such advising instructions as the dowager of hungary had." this was explicit enough, and davison, who always acted for leicester in the negotiations with the states, could certainly have no doubt as to the desires of the earl, on the subject of "absolute" authority. he did accordingly what he could to bring the states to his excellency's way of thinking; nor was he unsuccessful. on the nd january, a committee of conference was sent by the states to leyden, in which city leicester was making a brief visit. they were instructed to procure his consent, if possible, to the appointment, by the states themselves, of a council consisting of members from each province. if they could not obtain this concession, they were directed to insist as earnestly as possible upon their right to present a double. list of candidates, from which he was to make nominations. and if the one and the other proposition should be refused, the states were then to agree that his excellency should freely choose and appoint a council of state, consisting of native residents from every province, for the period of one year. the committee was further authorised to arrange the commission for the governor, in accordance with these points; and to draw up a set of instructions for the state-council, to the satisfaction of his excellency. the committee was also empowered to conclude the matter at once, without further reference to the states. certainly a committee thus instructed was likely to be sufficiently pliant. it had need to be, in order to bend to the humour of his excellency, which was already becoming imperious. the adulation which he had received; the triumphal marches, the latin orations, the flowers strewn in his path, had produced their effect, and the earl was almost inclined to assume the airs of royalty. the committee waited upon him at leyden. he affected a reluctance to accept the "absolute" government, but his coyness could not deceive such experienced statesmen as the "wise old leoliinus," or menin, maalzoon, florin thin, or aitzma, who composed the deputation. it was obvious enough to them that it was not a king log that had descended among them, but it was not a moment for complaining. the governor elect insisted, of course, that the two englishmen, according to the treaty with her majesty, should be members of, the council. he also, at once, nominated leoninus, meetkerk, brederode, falck, and paul buys, to the same office; thinking, no doubt, that these were five keepers--if keepers he must have--who would not draw his nose off the scent, nor prevent his reaching the game he hunted, whatever that game might be. it was reserved for the future, however, to show, whether, the five were like to hunt in company with him as harmoniously as he hoped. as to the other counsellors, he expressed a willingness that candidates should be proposed for him, as to whose qualifications he would make up his mind at leisure. this matter being satisfactorily adjusted-and certainly unless the game pursued by the earl was a crown royal, he ought to have been satisfied with his success--the states received a letter from their committee at leyden, informing them that his excellency, after some previous protestations, had accepted the government ( th january, ). it was agreed that he should be inaugurated governor-general of the united provinces of gelderland and zutphen, flanders, holland, zeeland, utrecht, friesland, and all others in confederacy with them. he was to have supreme military command by land and sea. he was to exercise supreme authority in matters civil and political, according to the customs prevalent in the reign of the emperor charles v. all officers, political, civil, legal, were to be appointed by him out of a double or triple nomination made by the states of the provinces in which vacancies might occur. the states-general were to assemble whenever and wherever he should summon them. they were also--as were the states of each separate province--competent to meet together by their own appointment. the governor-general was to receive an oath of fidelity from the states, and himself to swear the maintenance of the ancient laws, customs, and privileges of the country. the deed was done. in vain had an emissary of the french court been exerting his utmost to prevent the consummation of this close alliance. for the wretched government of henry iii., while abasing itself before philip ii., and offering the fair cities and fertile plains of france as a sacrifice to that insatiable ambition which wore the mask of religious bigotry, was most anxious that holland and england should not escape the meshes by which it was itself enveloped. the agent at the hague came nominally upon some mercantile affairs, but in reality, according to leicester, "to impeach the states from binding themselves to her majesty." but he was informed that there was then no leisure for his affairs; "for the states would attend to the service of the queen of england, before all princes in the world." the agent did not feel complimented by the coolness of this reception; yet it was reasonable enough, certainly, that the hollanders should remember with bitterness the contumely, which they had experienced the previous year in france. the emissary was; however, much disgusted. "the fellow," said leicester, "took it in such snuff, that he came proudly to the states and offered his letters, saying; 'now i trust you have done all your sacrifices to the queen of england, and may yield me some leisure to read my masters letters.'"--"but they so shook him, up," continued the earl, "for naming her majesty in scorn--as they took it--that they hurled him his letters; and bid him content himself;" and so on, much to the agent's discomfiture, who retired in greater "snuff" than ever. so much for the french influence. and now leicester had done exactly what the most imperious woman in the world, whose favour was the breath of his life, had expressly forbidden him to do. the step having been taken, the prize so tempting to his ambition having been snatched, and the policy which had governed the united action of the states and himself seeming so sound, what ought he to have done in order to avert the tempest which he must have foreseen? surely a man who knew so much of woman's nature and of elizabeth's nature as he did, ought to have attempted to conciliate her affections, after having so deeply wounded her pride. he knew his power. besides the graces of his person and manner--which few women, once impressed by them, could ever forget--he possessed the most insidious and flattering eloquence, and, in absence, his pen was as wily as his tongue. for the earl was imbued with the very genius of courtship. none was better skilled than he in the phrases of rapturous devotion, which were music to the ear both of the woman and the queen; and he knew his royal mistress too well not to be aware that the language of passionate idolatry, however extravagant, had rarely fallen unheeded upon her soul. it was strange therefore, that in this emergency, he should not at once throw himself upon her compassion without any mediator. yet, on the contrary, he committed the monstrous error of entrusting his defence to envoy davison, whom he determined to despatch at once with instructions to the queen, and towards whom he committed the grave offence of concealing from him her previous prohibitions. but how could the earl fail to perceive that it was the woman, not the queen, whom he should have implored for pardon; that it was robert dudley, not william davison, who ought to have sued upon his knees. this whole matter of the netherland sovereignty and the leicester stadholderate, forms a strange psychological study, which deserves and requires some minuteness of attention; for it was by the characteristics of these eminent personages that the current history was deeply stamped. certainly, under the peculiar circumstances of the case, the first letter conveying intelligence so likely to pique the pride of elizabeth, should have been a letter from leicester. on the contrary, it proved to be a dull formal epistle from the states. and here again the assistance of the indispensable davison was considered necessary. on the rd february the ambassador--having announced his intention of going to england, by command of his excellency, so soon as the earl should have been inaugurated, for the purpose of explaining all these important transactions to her majesty--waited upon the states with the request that they should prepare as speedily as might be their letter to the queen, with other necessary documents, to be entrusted to his care. he also suggested that the draft or minute of their proposed epistle should be submitted to him for advice--"because the humours of her majesty were best known to him." now the humours of her majesty were best known to leicester of all men in the whole world, and it is inconceivable that he should have allowed so many days and weeks to pass without taking these humours properly into account. but the earl's head was slightly turned by his sudden and unexpected success. the game that he had been pursuing had fallen into his grasp, almost at the very start, and it is not astonishing that he should have been somewhat absorbed in the enjoyment of his victory. three days later ( th february) the minute of a letter to elizabeth, drawn up by menin, was submitted to the ambassador; eight days after that ( th february) mr. davison took leave of the states, and set forth for the brill on his way to england; and three or four days later yet, he was still in that sea-port, waiting for a favourable wind. thus from the th january, n.s., upon which day the first offer of the absolute government had been made to leicester, nearly forty days had elapsed, during which long period the disobedient earl had not sent one line, private or official, to her majesty on this most important subject. and when at last the queen was to receive information of her favourite's delinquency, it was not to be in his well-known handwriting and accompanied by his penitent tears and written caresses, but to be laid before her with all the formality of parchment and sealingwax, in the stilted diplomatic jargon of those "highly-mighty, very learned, wise, and very foreseeing gentlemen, my lords the states-general." nothing could have been managed with less adroitness. meantime, not heeding the storm gathering beyond the narrow seas, the new governor was enjoying the full sunshine of power. on the th february the ceremony of his inauguration took place, with great pomp and ceremony at the hague. the beautiful, placid, village-capital of holland wore much the same aspect at that day as now. clean, quiet, spacious streets, shaded with rows of whispering poplars and umbrageous limes, broad sleepy canals--those liquid highways alone; which glided in phantom silence the bustle, and traffic, and countless cares of a stirring population--quaint toppling houses, with tower and gable; ancient brick churches, with slender spire and musical chimes; thatched cottages on the outskirts, with stork-nests on the roofs--the whole without fortification save the watery defences which enclosed it with long-drawn lines on every side; such was the count's park, or 's graven haage, in english called the hague. it was embowered and almost buried out of sight by vast groves of oaks and beeches. ancient badahuennan forests of sanguinary druids, the "wild wood without mercy" of saxon savages, where, at a later period, sovereign dirks and florences, in long succession of centuries, had ridden abroad with lance in rest, or hawk on fist; or under whose boughs, in still nearer days, the gentle jacqueline had pondered and wept over her sorrows, stretched out in every direction between the city and the neighbouring sea. in the heart of the place stood the ancient palace of the counts, built in the thirteenth century by william ii. of holland, king of the romans, with massive brick walls, cylindrical turrets, pointed gable and rose-shaped windows, and with spacious coup-yard, enclosed by feudal moat, drawbridge, and portcullis. in the great banqueting-hall of the ancient palace, whose cedarn-roof of magnificent timber-work, brought by crusading counts from the holy land, had rung with the echoes of many a gigantic revel in the days of chivalry--an apartment one hundred and fifty feet long and forty feet high--there had been arranged an elevated platform, with a splendid chair of state for the "absolute" governor, and with a great profusion of gilding and velvet tapestry, hangings, gilt emblems, complimentary devices, lions, unicorns, and other imposing appurtenances. prince maurice, and all the members of his house, the states-general in full costume, and all the great functionaries, civil and military, were assembled. there was an elaborate harangue by orator menin, in which it was proved; by copious citations from holy writ and from ancient chronicle, that the lord never forsakes his own; so that now, when the provinces were at their last gasp by the death of orange and the loss of antwerp, the queen of england and the earl of leicester had suddenly descended, as if from heaven; to their rescue. then the oaths of mutual fidelity were exchanged between the governor and the states, and, in conclusion, dr. bartholomew clerk ventured to measure himself with the "big fellows," by pronouncing an oration which seemed to command universal approbation. and thus the earl was duly installed governor-general of the united states of the netherlands. but already the first mutterings of the storm were audible. a bird in the air had whispered to the queen that her favourite was inclined to disobedience. "some flying tale hath been told me here," wrote leicester to walsingham, "that her majesty should mislike my name of excellency. but if i had delighted, or would have received titles, i refused a title higher than excellency, as mr. davison, if you ask him, will tell you; and that i, my own self, refused most earnestly that, and, if i might have done it, this also." certainly, if the queen objected to this common form of address, which had always been bestowed upon leicester, as he himself observed, ever since she had made him an earl, it might be supposed that her wrath would mount high when she should hear of him as absolute governor-general. it is also difficult to say what higher title he had refused, for certainly the records show that he had refused nothing, in the way of power and dignity, that it was possible for him to obtain. but very soon afterwards arrived authentic intelligence that the queen had been informed of the proposition made on new year's-day (o.s.), and that, although she could not imagine the possibility of his accepting, she was indignant that he had not peremptorily rejected the offer. "as to the proposal made to you," wrote burghley, "by the mouth of leoninus, her majesty hath been informed that you had thanked them in her name, and alledged that there was no such thing in the contract, and that therefore you could not accept nor knew how to answer the same." now this information was obviously far from correct, although it had been furnished by the earl himself to burghley. we have seen that leicester had by no means rejected, but very gratefully entertained, the proposition as soon as made. nevertheless the queen was dissatisfied, even without suspecting that she had been directly disobeyed. "her majesty," continued the lord-treasurer; "is much offended with this proceeding. she allows not that you should give them thanks, but findeth it very strange that you did not plainly declare to them that they did well know how often her majesty had refused to have any one for her take any such government there, and that she had always so answered peremptorily. therefore there might be some suspicion conceived that by offering on their part, and refusal on hers, some further mischief might be secretly hidden by some odd person's device to the hurt of the cause. but in that your lordship did not flatly say to them that yourself did know her majesty's mind therein, that she never meant, in this sort, to take the absolute government, she is offended considering, as she saith, that none knew her determination therein better than yourself. for at your going hence, she did peremptorily charge you not to accept any such title and office; and therefore her straight commandment now is that you shall not accept the same, for she will never assent thereto, nor avow you with any such title." if elizabeth was so wrathful, even while supposing that the offer had been gratefully declined, what were likely to be her emotions when she should be informed that it had been gratefully accepted. the earl already began to tremble at the probable consequences of his mal-adroitness. grave was the error he had committed in getting himself made governor-general against orders; graver still, perhaps fatal, the blunder of not being swift to confess his fault, and cry for pardon, before other tongues should have time to aggravate his offence. yet even now he shrank from addressing the queen in person, but hoped to conjure the rising storm by means of the magic wand of the lord-treasurer. he implored his friend's interposition to shield him in the emergency, and begged that at least her majesty and the lords of council would suspend their judgment until mr. davison should deliver those messages and explanations with which, fully freighted, he was about to set sail from the brill. "if my reasons seem to your wisdoms," said he, "other than such as might well move a true and a faithful careful man to her majesty to do as i have done, i do desire, for my mistaking offence, to bear the burden of it; to be disavowed with all displeasure and disgrace; a matter of as great reproach and grief as ever can happen to any man." he begged that another person might be sent as soon as possible in his place-protesting, however, by his faith in christ, that he had done only what he was bound to do by his regard for her majesty's service--and that when he set foot in the country he had no more expected to be made governor of the netherlands than to be made king of spain. certainly he had been paying dear for the honour, if honour it was, and he had not intended on setting forth for the provinces to ruin himself, for the sake of an empty title. his motives--and he was honest, when he so avowed them--were motives of state at least as much as of self-advancement. "i have no cause," he said, "to have played the fool thus far for myself; first, to have her majesty's displeasure, which no kingdom in the world could make me willingly deserve; next, to undo myself in my later days; to consume all that should have kept me all my life in one half year. but i must thank god for all, and am most heartily grieved at her majesty's heavy displeasure. i neither desire to live, nor to see my country with it." and at this bitter thought, he began to sigh like furnace, and to shed the big tears of penitence. "for if i have not done her majesty good service at this time," he said, "i shall never hope to do her any, but will withdraw me into some out-corner of the world, where i will languish out the rest of my few-too many-days, praying ever for her majesty's long and prosperous life, and with this only comfort to live an exile, that this disgrace hath happened for no other cause but for my mere regard for her majesty's estate." having painted this dismal picture of the probable termination to his career--not in the hope of melting burghley but of touching the heart of elizabeth--he proceeded to argue the point in question with much logic and sagacity. he had satisfied himself on his arrival in the provinces, that, if he did not take the governor-generalship some other person would; and that it certainly was for the interest of her majesty that her devoted servant, rather than an indifferent person, should be placed in that important position. he maintained that the queen had intimated, to him, in private, her willingness that he should accept the office in question provided the proposition should come from the states and not from her; he reasoned that the double nature of his functions--being general and counsellor for her, as well as general and counsellor for the provinces--made his acceptance of the authority conferred on him almost indispensable; that for him to be merely commander over five thousand english troops, when an abler soldier than himself, sir john norris, was at their head, was hardly worthy her majesty's service or himself, and that in reality the queen had lost nothing, by his appointment, but had gained much benefit and honour by thus having the whole command of the provinces, of their forces by land and sea, of their towns and treasures, with knowledge of all their secrets of state. then, relapsing into a vein of tender but reproachful melancholy, he observed, that, if it had been any man but himself that had done as he had done, he would have been thanked, not censured. "but such is now my wretched case," he said, "as for my faithful, true, and loving heart to her majesty and my country, i have utterly undone myself. for favour, i have disgrace; for reward, utter spoil and ruin. but if this taking upon me the name of governor is so evil taken as it hath deserved dishonour, discredit, disfavour, with all griefs that may be laid upon a man, i must receive it as deserved of god and not of my queen, whom i have reverenced with all humility, and whom i have loved with all fidelity." this was the true way, no doubt, to reach the heart of elizabeth, and leicester had always plenty of such shafts in his quiver. unfortunately he had delayed too long, and even now he dared not take a direct aim. he feared to write to the queen herself, thinking that his so doing, "while she had such conceipts of him, would only trouble her," and he therefore continued to employ the lord-treasurer and mr. secretary as his mediators. thus he committed error upon error. meantime, as if there had not been procrastination enough, davison was loitering at the brill, detained by wind and weather. two days after the letter, just cited, had been despatched to walsingham, leicester sent an impatient message to the envoy. "i am heartily sorry, with all my heart," he said, "to hear of your long stay at brill, the wind serving so fair as it hath done these two days. i would have laid any wager that you had been in england ere this. i pray you make haste, lest our cause take too great a prejudice there ere you come, although i cannot fear it, because it is so good and honest. i pray you imagine in what care i dwell till i shall hear from you, albeit some way very resolute." thus it was obvious that he had no secret despair of his cause when it should be thoroughly laid before the queen. the wonder was that he had added the offence of long silence to the sin of disobedience. davison had sailed, however, before the receipt of the earl's letter. he had been furnished with careful instructions upon the subject of his mission. he was to show how eager the states had been to have leicester for their absolute governor--which was perfectly true--and how anxious the earl had been to decline the proffered honour--which was certainly false, if contemporary record and the minutes of the states-general are to be believed. he was to sketch the general confusion which had descended upon the country, the quarrelling of politicians, and the discontent of officers and soldiers, from out of all which chaos one of two results was sure to arise: the erection of a single chieftain, or a reconciliation of the provinces with spain. that it would be impossible for the earl to exercise the double functions with which he was charged--of general of her majesty's forces, and general and chief counsellor of the states--if any other man than himself should be appointed governor; was obvious. it was equally plain that the provinces could only be kept at her majesty's disposition by choosing the course which, at their own suggestion, had been adopted. the offer of the government by the states, and its acceptance by the earl, were the logical consequence of the step which the queen had already taken. it was thus only that england could retain her hold upon the country, and even upon the cautionary towns. as to a reconciliation of the provinces with spain--which would have been the probable result of leicester's rejection of the proposition made by the stateait was unnecessary to do more than allude to such a catastrophe. no one but a madman could doubt that, in such an event, the subjugation of england was almost certain. but before the arrival of the ambassador, the queen had been thoroughly informed as to the whole extent of the earl's delinquency. dire was the result. the wintry gales which had been lashing the north sea, and preventing the unfortunate davison from setting forth on his disastrous mission, were nothing to the tempest of royal wrath which had been shaking the court-world to its centre. the queen had been swearing most fearfully ever since she read the news, which leicester had not dared to communicate directly, to herself. no one was allowed to speak a word in extenuation of the favourite's offence. burghley, who lifted up his voice somewhat feebly to appease her wrath, was bid, with a curse, to hold his peace. so he took to his bed-partly from prudence, partly from gout--and thus sheltered himself for a season from the peltings of the storm. walsingham, more manful, stood to his post, but could not gain a hearing. it was the culprit that should have spoken, and spoken in time. "why, why did you not write yourself?" was the plaintive cry of all the earl's friends, from highest to humblest. "but write to her now," they exclaimed, "at any rate; and, above all, send her a present, a love-gift." "lay out two or three hundred crowns in some rare thing, for a token to her majesty," said christopher hatton. strange that his colleagues and his rivals should have been obliged to advise leicester upon the proper course to pursue; that they--not himself--should have been the first to perceive that it was the enraged woman, even more than the offended sovereign, who was to be propitiated and soothed. in truth, all the woman had been aroused in elizabeth's bosom. she was displeased that her favourite should derive power and splendour from any source but her own bounty. she was furious that his wife, whom she hated, was about to share in his honours. for the mischievous tongues of court-ladies had been collecting or fabricating many unpleasant rumours. a swarm of idle but piquant stories had been buzzing about the queen's ears, and stinging her into a frenzy of jealousy. the countess--it was said--was on the point of setting forth for the netherlands, to join the earl, with a train of courtiers and ladies, coaches and side-saddles, such as were never seen before--where the two were about to establish themselves in conjugal felicity, as well as almost royal state. what a prospect for the jealous and imperious sovereign! "coaches and side-saddles! she would show the upstarts that there was one queen, and that her name was elizabeth, and that there was no court but hers." and so she continued to storm and swear, and threaten unutterable vengeance, till all her courtiers quaked in their shoes. thomas dudley, however, warmly contradicted the report, declaring, of his own knowledge, that the countess had no wish to go to the provinces, nor the earl any intention of receiving her there. this information was at once conveyed to the queen, "and," said dudley, "it did greatly pacify her stomach." his friends did what they could to maintain the governor's cause; but burghley, walsingham, hatton, and the rest of them, were all "at their wits end," and were nearly distraught at the delay in davison's arrival. meantime the queen's stomach was not so much pacified but that she was determined to humiliate the earl with the least possible delay. having waited sufficiently long for his explanations, she now appointed sir thomas heneage as special commissioner to the states, without waiting any longer. her wrath vented itself at once in the preamble to the instructions for this agent. "whereas," she said, "we have been given to understand that the earl of leicester hath in a very contemptuous sort--contrary to our express commandment given unto him by ourself, accepted of an offer of a more absolute government made by the states unto him, than was agreed on between us and their commissioners--which kind of contemptible manner of proceeding giveth the world just cause to think that there is not that reverent respect carried towards us by our subjects as in duty appertaineth; especially seeing so notorious a contempt committed by one whom we have raised up and yielded in the eye of the world, even from the beginning of our reign, as great portion of our favour as ever subject enjoyed at any prince's hands; we therefore, holding nothing dearer than our honour, and considering that no one thing could more touch our reputation than to induce so open and public a faction of a prince, and work a greater reproach than contempt at a subject's hand, without reparation of our honour, have found it necessary to send you unto him, as well to charge him with the said contempt, as also to execute such other things as we think meet to be done, for the justifying of ourselves to the world, as the repairing of the indignity cast upon us by his undutiful manner of proceeding towards us. . . . and for that we find ourselves also not well dealt withal by the states, in that they have pressed the said earl, without our assent or privity, to accept of a more absolute government than was agreed on between us and their commissioners, we have also thought meet that you shall charge them therewith, according to the directions hereafter ensuing. and to the end there may be no delay used in the execution of that which we think meet to be presently done, you shall charge the said states, even as they tender the continuance of our good-will towards them, to proceed to the speedy execution of our request." after this trumpet-like preamble it may be supposed that the blast which followed would be piercing and shrill. the instructions, in truth, consisted in wild, scornful flourishes upon one theme. the word contempt had occurred five times in the brief preamble. it was repeated in almost every line of the instructions. "you shall let the earl" (our cousin no longer) "understand," said the queen, "how highly and justly we are offended with his acceptation of the government, which we do repute to be a very great and strange contempt, least looked for at our hands, being, as he is, a creature of our own." his omission to acquaint her by letter with the causes moving him "so contemptuously to break" her commandment, his delay in sending davison "to answer the said contempt," had much "aggravated the fault," although the queen protested herself unable to imagine any "excuse for so manifest a contempt." the states were to be informed that she "held it strange" that "this creature of her own" should have been pressed by them to "commit so notorious a contempt" against her, both on account of this very exhibition of contempt on leicester's part, and because they thereby "shewed themselves to have a very slender and weak conceit of her judgment, by pressing a minister of hers to accept that which she had refused, as: though her long experience in government had not taught her to discover what was fit to do in matters of state." as the result of such a proceeding would be to disgrace her in the eyes of mankind, by inducing an opinion that her published solemn declaration on this great subject had been intended to abuse the, world, he was directed--in order to remove the hard conceit justly to be taken by the world, "in consideration of the said contempt,"--to make a public and open resignation of the government in the place where he had accepted the same. thus it had been made obvious to the unlucky "creature of her own," that the queen did not easily digest "contempt." nevertheless these instructions to heneage were gentle, compared with the fierce billet which she addressed directly to the earl: it was brief, too, as the posy of a ring; and thus it ran: "to my lord of leicester, from the queen, by sir thomas heneage. how contemptuously we conceive ourself to have been used by you, you shall by this bearer understand, whom we have expressly sent unto you to charge you withal. we could never have imagined, had we not seen it fall out in experience, that a man raised up by ourself, and extraordinarily favoured by us above any other subject of this land, would have, in so contemptible a sort, broken our commandment, in a cause that so greatly toucheth us in honour; whereof, although you have showed yourself to make but little account, in most undutiful a sort, you may not therefore think that we have so little care of the reparation thereof as we mind to pass so great a wrong in silence unredressed. and therefore our express pleasure and commandment is, that--all delays and excuses laid apart--you do presently, upon the duty of your allegiance, obey and fulfil whatsoever the bearer hereof shall direct you to do in our name. whereof fail not, as you will answer the contrary at your uttermost peril." here was no billing and cooing, certainly, but a terse, biting phraseology, about which there could be no misconception. by the same messenger the queen also sent a formal letter to the states-general; the epistle--'mutatis mutandis'--being also addressed to the state-council. in this document her majesty expressed her great surprise that leicester should have accepted their offer of the absolute government, "both for police and war," when she had so expressly rejected it herself. "to tell the truth," she observed, "you seem to have treated us with very little respect, and put a too manifest insult upon us, in presenting anew to one of, our subjects the same proposition which we had already declined, without at least waiting for our answer whether we should like it or no; as if we had not sense enough to be able to decide upon what we ought to accept or refuse." she proceeded to express her dissatisfaction with the course pursued, because so repugnant to her published declaration, in which she had stated to the world her intention of aiding the provinces, without meddling in the least with the sovereignty of the country. "the contrary would now be believed," she said, "at least by those who take the liberty of censuring, according to their pleasure, the actions of princes." thus her honour was at stake. she signified her will, therefore, that, in order to convince the world of her sincerity, the authority conferred should be revoked, and that "the earl," whom she had decided to recall very soon, should, during his brief residence there, only exercise the power agreed upon by the original contract. she warmly reiterated her intention, however, of observing inviolably the promise of assistance which she had given to the states. "and if," she said, "any malicious or turbulent spirits should endeavour, perchance, to persuade the people that this our refusal proceeds from lack of affection or honest disposition to assist you--instead of being founded only on respect for our honour, which is dearer to us than life--we beg you, by every possible means, to shut their mouths, and prevent their pernicious designs." thus, heavily laden with the royal wrath, heneage was on the point of leaving london for the netherlands, on the very day upon which davison arrived, charged with deprecatory missives from that country. after his long detention he had a short passage, crossing from the brill to margate in a single night. coming immediately to london, he sent to walsingham to inquire which way the wind was blowing at court, but received a somewhat discouraging reply. "your long detention by his lordship," said the secretary, "has wounded the whole cause;" adding, that he thought her majesty would not speak with him. on the other hand, it seemed indispensable for him to go to the court, because if the queen should hear of his arrival before he had presented himself, she was likely to be more angry than ever. so, the same afternoon, davison waited upon walsingham, and found him in a state of despondency. "she takes his lordship's acceptance of the, government most haynously," said sir francis, "and has resolved to send sir thomas heneage at once, with orders for him to resign the office. she has been threatening you and sir philip sidney, whom she considers the chief actors and persuaders in the matter, according to information received from some persons about my lord of leicester." davison protested himself amazed at the secretary's discourse, and at once took great pains to show the reasons by which all parties had been influenced in the matter of the government. he declared roundly that if the queen should carry out her present intentions, the earl would be most unworthily disgraced, the cause utterly overthrown, the queen's honour perpetually stained, and that her kingdom would incur great disaster. directly after this brief conversation, walsingham went up stairs to the queen, while davison proceeded to the apartments of sir christopher hatton. thence he was soon summoned to the royal presence, and found that he had not been misinformed as to the temper of her majesty. the queen was indeed in a passion, and began swearing at davison so soon as he got into the chamber; abusing leicester for having accepted the offer of the states, against her many times repeated commandment, and the ambassador for not having opposed his course. the thing had been done, she said, in contempt of her, as if her consent had been of no consequence, or as if the matter in no way concerned her. so soon as she paused to take breath, the envoy modestly, but firmly, appealed to her reason, that she would at any rate lend him a patient and favourable ear, in which case he doubted not that she would form a more favourable opinion of the case than she had hitherto done: he then entered into a long discourse upon the state of the netherlands before the arrival of leicester, the inclination in many quarters for a peace, the "despair that any sound and good fruit would grow of her majesty's cold beginning," the general unpopularity of the states' government, the "corruption, partiality, and confusion," which were visible everywhere, the perilous condition of the whole cause, and the absolute necessity of some immediate reform. "it was necessary," said davison, "that some one person of wisdom and authority should take the helm. among the netherlanders none was qualified for such a charge. lord maurice is a child, poor, and of but little respect among them. elector truchsess, count hohenlo, meurs, and the rest, strangers and incapable of the burden. these considerations influenced the states to the step which had been taken; without which all the rest of her benevolence was to little purpose." although the contract between the commissioners and the queen had not literally provided for such an arrangement, yet it had always been contemplated by the states, who had left themselves without a head until the arrival of the earl. "under one pretext or another," continued the envoy, "my lord of leicester had long delayed to satisfy them,"--(and in so stating he went somewhat further in defence of his absent friend than the facts would warrant), "for he neither flatly refused it, nor was willing to accept, until your majesty's pleasure should be known." certainly the records show no reservation of his acceptance until the queen had been consulted; but the defence by davison of the offending earl was so much the more courageous. "at length, wearied by their importunity, moved with their reasons, and compelled by necessity, he thought it better to take the course he did," proceeded the diplomatist, "for otherwise he must have been an eye-witness of the dismemberment of the whole country, which could not be kept together but by a reposed hope in her majesty's found favour, which had been utterly despaired of by his refusal. he thought it better by accepting to increase the honour, profit; and surety, of her majesty, and the good of the cause, than, by refusing, to utterly hazard the one, and overthrow the other." to all this and more, well and warmly urged by davison; the queen listened by fits and starts, often interrupting his discourse by violent abuse of leicester, accusing him of contempt for her, charging him with thinking more of his own particular greatness than of her honour and service, and then "digressing into old griefs," said the envoy, "too long and tedious to write." she vehemently denounced davison also for dereliction of duty in not opposing the measure; but he manfully declared that he never deemed so meanly of her majesty or of his lordship as to suppose that she would send him, or that he would go to the provinces, merely, "to take command of the relics of mr. norris's worn and decayed troops." such a change, protested davison, was utterly unworthy a person of the earl's quality, and utterly unsuited to the necessity of the time and state. but davison went farther in defence of leicester. he had been present at many of the conferences with the netherland envoys during the preceding summer in england, and he now told the queen stoutly to her face that she herself, or at any rate one of her chief counsellors, in her hearing and his, had expressed her royal determination not to prevent the acceptance of whatever authority the states might choose to confer, by any one whom she might choose to send. she had declined to accept it in person, but she had been willing that it should be wielded by her deputy; and this remembrance of his had been confirmed by that of one of the commissioners since their return. she had never--davison maintained--sent him one single line having any bearing on the subject. under such circumstances, "i might have been accused of madness,", said he, "to have dissuaded an action in my poor opinion so necessary and expedient for your majesty's honour, surety, and greatness." if it were to do over again, he avowed, and "were his opinion demanded, he could give no other advice than that which he had given, having received no contrary, commandment from her highness." and so ended the first evening's long and vehement debate, and davison departed, "leaving her," as he said, "much qualified, though in many points unsatisfied." she had however, absolutely refused to receive a letter from leicester, with which he had been charged, but which, in her opinion, had better have been written two months before. the next day, it seemed, after all, that heneage was to be despatched, "in great heat," upon his mission. davison accordingly requested an immediate audience. so soon as admitted to the presence he burst into tears, and implored the queen to pause before she should inflict the contemplated disgrace on one whom she had hitherto so highly esteemed, and, by so doing, dishonour herself and imperil both countries. but the queen was more furious than ever that morning, returning at every pause in the envoy's discourse to harp upon the one string--"how dared he come to such a decision without at least imparting it to me?"--and so on, as so many times before. and again davison, with all the eloquence and with every soothing art he had at command; essayed to pour oil upon the waves. nor was he entirely unsuccessful; for presently the queen became so calm again that he ventured once more to present the rejected letter of the earl. she broke the seal, and at sight of the well-known handwriting she became still more gentle; and so soon as she had read the first of her favourite's honied phrases she thrust the precious document into her pocket, in order to read it afterwards, as davison observed, at her leisure. the opening thus successfully made, and the envoy having thus, "by many insinuations," prepared her to lend him a "more patient and willing ear than she had vouchsafed before," he again entered into a skilful and impassioned argument to show the entire wisdom of the course pursued by the earl. it is unnecessary to repeat the conversation. since to say that no man could have more eloquently and faithfully supported an absent friend under difficulties than davison now defended the earl. the line of argument is already familiar to the reader, and, in truth, the queen had nothing to reply, save to insist upon the governor's delinquency in maintaining so long and inexplicable a silence. and--at this thought, in spite of the envoy's eloquence, she went off again in a paroxysm of anger, abusing the earl, and deeply censuring davison for his "peremptory and partial dealing." "i had conceived a better opinion of you," she said, "and i had intended more good to you than i now find you worthy of." "i humbly thank your highness," replied the ambassador, "but i take yourself to witness that i have never affected or sought any such grace at your hands. and if your majesty persists in the dangerous course on which you are now entering, i only pray your leave, in recompense for all my travails, to retire myself home, where i may spend the rest of my life in praying for you, whom salvation itself is not able to save, if these purposes are continued. henceforth, madam, he is to be deemed happiest who is least interested in the public service." and so ended the second day's debate. the next day the lord-treasurer, who, according to davison, employed himself diligently--as did also walsingham and hatton--in dissuading the queen from the violent measures which she had resolved upon, effected so much of a change as to procure the insertion of those qualifying clauses in heneage's instructions which had been previously disallowed. the open and public disgrace of the earl, which was to have been peremptorily demanded, was now to be deferred, if such a measure seemed detrimental to the public service. her majesty, however, protested herself as deeply offended as ever, although she had consented to address a brief, somewhat mysterious, but benignant letter of compliment to the states. soon after this davison retired for a few days from the court, having previously written to the earl that "the heat of her majesty's offence to his lordship was abating every day somewhat, and that she was disposed both to hear and to speak more temperately of him." he implored him accordingly to a "more diligent entertaining of her by wise letters and messages, wherein his slackness hitherto appeared to have bred a great part of this unkindness." he observed also that the "traffic of peace was still going on underhand; but whether to use it as a second string to our bow, if the first should fail, or of any settled inclination thereunto, he could not affirm." meantime sir thomas heneage was despatched on his mission to the staten, despite all the arguments and expostulations of walsingham, burghley, hatton, and davison. all the queen's counsellors were unequivocally in favour of sustaining leicester; and heneage was not a little embarrassed as to the proper method of conducting the affair. everything, in truth, was in a most confused condition. he hardly understood to what power he was accredited. "heneage writes even now unto me," said walsingham to davison, "that he cannot yet receive any information who be the states, which he thinketh will be a great maimer unto him in his negotiation. i have told him that it is an assembly much like that of our burgesses that represent the state, and that my lord of leicester may cause some of them to meet together, unto whom he may deliver his letters and messages." thus the new envoy was to request the culprit to summon the very assembly by which his downfall and disgrace were to be solemnized, as formally as had been so recently his elevation to the height of power. the prospect was not an agreeable one, and the less so because of his general want of familiarity with the constitutional forms of the country he was about to visit. davison accordingly, at the request of sir francis, furnished heneage with much valuable information and advice upon the subject. thus provided with information, forewarned of danger, furnished with a double set of letters from the queen to the states--the first expressed in language of extreme exasperation, the others couched in almost affectionate terms--and laden with messages brimfull of wrathful denunciation from her majesty to one who was notoriously her majesty's dearly-beloved, sir thomas heneage set forth on his mission. these were perilous times for the davisons and the heneages, when even leicesters and burghleys were scarcely secure. meantime the fair weather at court could not be depended upon from one day to another, and the clouds were perpetually returning after the rain. "since my second and third day's audience," said davison, "the storms i met with at my arrival have overblown and abated daily. on saturday again she fell into some new heat, which lasted not long. this day i was myself at the court, and found her in reasonable good terms, though she will not yet seem satisfied to me either with the matter or manner of your proceeding, notwithstanding all the labour i have taken in that behalf. yet i find not her majesty altogether so sharp as some men look, though her favour has outwardly cooled in respect both of this action and of our plain proceeding with her here in defence thereof." the poor countess--whose imaginary exodus, with the long procession of coaches and side-saddles, had excited so much ire--found herself in a most distressing position. "i have not seen my lady these ten or twelve days," said davison. "to-morrow i hope to do my duty towards her. i found her greatly troubled with tempestuous news she received from court, but somewhat comforted when she understood how i had proceeded with her majesty . . . . but these passions overblown, i hope her majesty will have a gracious regard both towards myself and the cause." but the passions seemed not likely to blow over so soon as was desirable. leicester's brother the earl of warwick took a most gloomy view of the whole transaction, and hoarser than the raven's was his boding tone. "well, our mistress's extreme rage doth increase rather than diminish," he wrote, "and she giveth out great threatening words against you. therefore make the best assurance you can for yourself, and trust not her oath, for that her malice is great and unquenchable in the wisest of their opinions here, and as for other friendships, as far as i can learn, it is as doubtful as the other. wherefore, my good brother, repose your whole trust in god, and he will defend you in despite of all your enemies. and let this be a great comfort to you, and so it is likewise to myself and all your assured friends, and that is, that you were never so honoured and loved in your life amongst all good people as you are at this day, only for dealing so nobly and wisely in this action as you have done; so that, whatsoever cometh of it, you have done your part. i praise god from my heart for it. once again, have great care of yourself, i mean for your safety, and if she will needs revoke you, to the overthrowing of the cause, if i were as you, if i could not be assured there, i would go to the farthest part of christendom rather than ever come into england again. take heed whom you trust, for that you have some false boys about you." and the false boys were busy enough, and seemed likely to triumph in the result of their schemes. for a glance into the secret correspondence of mary of scotland has already revealed the earl to us constantly surrounded by men in masks. many of those nearest his person, and of highest credit out of england, were his deadly foes, sworn to compass his dishonour, his confusion, and eventually his death, and in correspondence with his most powerful adversaries at home and abroad. certainly his path was slippery and perilous along those icy summits of power, and he had need to look well to his footsteps. before heneage had arrived in the netherlands, sir thomas shirley, despatched by leicester to england with a commission to procure supplies for the famishing soldiers, and, if possible, to mitigate the queen's wrath, had, been admitted more than once to her majesty's presence. he had fought the earl's battle as manfully as davison had done, and, like that envoy, had received nothing in exchange for his plausible arguments but bitter words and big oaths. eight days after his arrival he was introduced by hatton into the privy chamber, and at the moment of his entrance was received with a volley of execrations. "i did expressly and peremptorily forbid his acceptance of the absolute government, in the hearing of divers of my council," said the queen. shirley.--"the necessity of the case was imminent, your highness. it was his lordship's intent to do all for your majesty's service. those countries did expect him as a governor at his first landing, and the states durst do no other than satisfy the people also with that opinion. the people's mislike of their present government is such and so great as that the name of states is grown odious amongst them. therefore the states, doubting the furious rage of the people, conferred the authority upon his lordship with incessant suit to him to receive it. notwithstanding this, however, he did deny it until he saw plainly both confusion and ruin of that country if he should refuse. on the other hand, when he had seen into their estates, his lordship found great profit and commodity like to come unto your majesty by your acceptance of it. your highness may now have garrisons of english in as many towns as pleaseth you, without any more charge than you are now at. nor can any peace be made with spain at any time hereafter, but through you: and by you. your majesty should remember, likewise, that if a man of another nation had been chosen governor it might have wrought great danger. moreover it would have been an indignity that your lieutenant-general should of necessity be under him that so should have been elected. finally, this is a stop to any other that may affect the place of government there." queen (who has manifested many signs of impatience during this discourse).--"your speech is all in vain. his lordship's proceeding is sufficient to make me infamous to all princes, having protested the contrary, as i have done, in a book which is translated into divers and sundry languages. his lordship, being my servant, a creature of my own, ought not, in duty towards me, have entered into this course without my knowledge and good allowance." shirley.--"but the world hath conceived a high judgment of your majesty's great wisdom and providence; shown by your assailing the king of spain at one time both in the low countries and also by sir francis drake. i do assure myself that the same judgment which did first cause you to take this in hand must continue a certain knowledge in your majesty that one of these actions must needs stand much better by the other. if sir frances do prosper, then all is well. and though he should not prosper, yet this hold that his lordship hath taken for you on the low countries must always assure an honourable peace at your highness's pleasure. i beseech your majesty to remember that to the king of spain the government of his lordship is no greater matter than if he were but your lieutenant-general there; but the voyage of sir francis is of much greater offence than all." queen (interrupting).--"i can very well answer for sir francis. moreover, if need be, the gentleman careth not if i should disavow him." shirley.--"even so standeth my lord, if your disavowing of him may also stand with your highness's favour towards him. nevertheless; should this bruit of your mislike of his lordship's authority there come unto the ears of those people; being a nation both sudden and suspicious, and having been heretofore used to stratagem--i fear it may work some strange notion in them, considering that, at this time, there is an increase of taxation raised upon them, the bestowing whereof perchance they know not of. his lordship's giving; up of the government may leave them altogether without government, and in worse case than they were ever in before. for now the authority of the states is dissolved, and his lordship's government is the only thing that holdeth them together. i do beseech your highness, then, to consider well of it, and if there be any private cause for which you take grief against his lordship, nevertheless, to have regard unto the public cause, and to have a care of your own safety, which in many wise men's opinions, standeth much upon the good maintenance and upholding of this matter." queen.--"i believe nothing of, what you say concerning the dissolving of the authority of the states. i know well enough that the states do remain states still. i mean not to do harm to the cause, but only to reform that which his lordship hath done beyond his warrant from me." and with this the queen swept suddenly from the apartment. sir thomas, at different stages of the conversation, had in vain besought her to accept a letter from the earl which had been entrusted to his care. she obstinately refused to touch it. shirley had even had recourse to stratagem: affecting ignorance on many points concerning which the queen desired information, and suggesting that doubtless she would find those matters fully explained in his lordship's letter. the artifice was in vain, and the discussion was, on the whole, unsatisfactory. yet there is no doubt that the queen had had the worst of the argument, and she was far too sagacious a politician not to feel the weight of that which had been urged so often in defence of the course pursued. but it was with her partly a matter of temper and offended pride, perhaps even of wounded affection. on the following morning shirley saw the queen walking in the garden of the palace, and made bold to accost her. thinking, as he said, "to test her affection to lord leicester by another means," the artful sir thomas stepped up to her, and observed that his lordship was seriously ill. "it is feared," he said, "that the earl is again attacked by the disease of which dr. goodrowse did once cure him. wherefore his lordship is now a humble suitor to your highness that it would please you to spare goodrowse, and give him leave to go thither for some time." the queen was instantly touched. "certainly--with all my heart, with all my heart, he shall have him," she replied, "and sorry i am that his lordship hath that need of him." "and indeed," returned sly sir thomas, "your highness is a very gracious prince, who are pleased not to suffer his lordship to perish in health, though otherwise you remain deeply offended with him." "you know my mind," returned elizabeth, now all the queen again, and perhaps suspecting the trick; "i may not endure that any man should alter my commission and the authority that i gave him, upon his own fancies and without me." with this she instantly summoned one of her gentlemen, in order to break off the interview, fearing that shirley was about to enter again upon a discussion of the whole subject, and again to attempt the delivery of the earl's letter. in all this there was much of superannuated coquetry, no doubt, and much of tudor despotism, but there was also a strong infusion of artifice. for it will soon be necessary to direct attention to certain secret transactions of an important nature in which the queen was engaged, and which were even hidden from the all-seeing eye of walsingham--although shrewdly suspected both by that statesman and by leicester--but which were most influential in modifying her policy at that moment towards the netherlands. there could be no doubt, however, of the stanch and strenuous manner in which the delinquent earl was supported by his confidential messengers and by some of his fellow-councillors. his true friends were urgent that the great cause in which he was engaged should be forwarded sincerely and without delay. shirley had been sent for money; but to draw money from elizabeth was like coining her life-blood, drachma by drachma. "your lordship is like to have but a poor supply of money at this time," said sir thomas. "to be plain with you, i fear she groweth weary of the charge, and will hardly be brought to deal thoroughly in the action." he was also more explicit than he might have been--had he been better informed as to the disposition of the chief personages of the court, concerning whose temper the absent earl was naturally anxious. hatton was most in favour at the moment, and it was through hatton that the communications upon netherland matters passed; "for," said shirley, "she will hardly endure mr. secretary (walsingham) to speak unto her therein." "and truly, my lord," he continued, "as mr. secretary is a noble, good, and true friend unto you, so doth mr. vice-chamberlain show himself an honourable, true, and faithful gentleman, and doth carefully and most like a good friend for your lordship." and thus very succinctly and graphically had the envoy painted the situation to his principal. "your lordship now sees things just as they stand," he moralized. "your lordship is exceeding wise. you know the queen and her nature best of any man. you know all men here. your lordship can judge the sequel by this that you see: only this i must tell your lordship, i perceive that fears and doubts from thence are like to work better effects here than comforts and assurance. i think it my part to send your lordship this as it is, rather than to be silent." and with these rather ominous insinuations the envoy concluded for the time his narrative. etext editor's bookmarks: intolerable tendency to puns new years day in england, th january by the new style peace and quietness is brought into a most dangerous estate history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter vii., part . leicester's letters to his friends--paltry conduct of the earl to davison--he excuses himself at davison's expense--his letter to burghley--effect of the queen's letters to the states--suspicion and discontent in holland--states excuse their conduct to the queen-- leicester discredited in holland--evil consequences to holland and england--magic: effect of a letter from leicester--the queen appeased--her letters to the states and the earl--she permits the granted authority----unhappy results of the queen's course--her variable moods--she attempts to deceive walsingham--her injustice to heneage--his perplexity and distress--humiliating position of leicester--his melancholy letters to the queen--he receives a little consolation--and writes more cheerfully--the queen is more benignant--the states less contented than the earl--his quarrels with them begin. while these storms were blowing and "overblowing" in england, leicester remained greatly embarrassed and anxious in holland. he had sown the wind more extensively than he had dreamed of when accepting the government, and he was now awaiting, with much trepidation, the usual harvest: and we have seen that it was rapidly ripening. meantime, the good which he had really effected in the provinces by the course he had taken was likely to be neutralized by the sinister rumours as to his impending disgrace, while the enemy was proportionally encouraged. "i understand credibly," he said, "that the prince of parma feels himself in great jollity that her majesty doth rather mislike than allow of our doings here, which; if it be true, let her be sure her own sweet self shall first smart." moreover; the english troops were, as we have seen, mere shoeless, shivering, starving vagabonds. the earl had generously advanced very large sums of money from his own pocket to relieve their necessity. the states, on the other hand, had voluntarily increased the monthly contribution of , florins, to which their contract with elizabeth obliged them, and were more disposed than ever they had been since the death of orange to proceed vigorously and harmoniously against the common enemy of christendom. under such circumstances it may well be imagined that there was cause on leicester's part for deep mortification at the tragical turn which the queen's temper seemed to be taking. "i know not," he said, "how her majesty doth mean to dispose of me. it hath grieved me more than i can express that for faithful and good service she should so deeply conceive against me. god knows with what mind i have served her highness, and perhaps some others might have failed. yet she is neither tied one jot by covenant or promise by me in any way, nor at one groat the more charges, but myself two or three thousand pounds sterling more than now is like to be well spent. i will desire no partial speech in my favour. if my doings be ill for her majesty and the realm, let me feel the smart of it. the cause is now well forward; let not her majesty suffer it to quail. if you will have it proceed to good effect, send away sir william pelham with all the haste you can. i mean not to complain, but with so weighty a cause as this is, few men have been so weakly assisted. her majesty hath far better choice for my place, and with any that may succeed me let sir william pelham be first that may come. i speak from my soul for her majesty's service. i am for myself upon an hour's warning to obey her good pleasure." thus far the earl had maintained his dignity. he had yielded to the solicitations of the states, and had thereby exceeded his commission, and gratified his ambition, but he had in no wise forfeited his self-respect. but--so soon as the first unquestionable intelligence of the passion to which the queen had given way at his misdoings reached him--he began to whimper, the straightforward tone which davison had adopted in his interviews with elizabeth, and the firmness with which he had defended the cause of his absent friend, at a moment when he had plunged himself into disgrace, was worthy of applause. he deserved at least a word of honest thanks. ignoble however was the demeanor of the earl towards the man--for whom he had but recently been unable to invent eulogies sufficiently warm--so soon as he conceived the possibility of sacrificing his friend as the scape-goat for his own fault. an honest schoolboy would have scorned to leave thus in the lurch a comrade who had been fighting his battles so honestly. "how earnest i was," he wrote to the lords of the council, th march, , "not only to acquaint her majesty, but immediately upon the first motion made by the states, to send mr. davison over to her with letters, i doubt not but he will truly affirm for me; yea, and how far against my will it was, notwithstanding any reasons delivered me, that he and others persisted in, to have me accept first of this place. . . . the extremity of the case, and my being persuaded that mr. davison might have better satisfied her majesty, than i perceive he can, caused, me-neither arrogantly nor contemptuously, but even merely and faithfully--to do her majesty the best service." he acknowledged, certainly, that davison had been influenced by honest motives, although his importunities had been the real cause of the earl's neglect of his own obligations. but he protested that he had himself, only erred through an excessive pliancy to the will of others. "my yielding was my own fault," he admitted, "whatsoever his persuasions; but far from a contemptuous heart, or else god pluck out both heart and bowels with utter shame." so soon as sir thomas heneage had presented himself, and revealed the full extent of the queen's wrath, the earl's disposition to cast the whole crime on the shoulders of davison became quite undisguised. "i thank you for your letters," wrote leicester to walsingham, "though you can send me no comfort. her majesty doth deal hardly to believe so ill of me. it is true i faulted, but she doth not consider what commodities she hath withal, and herself no way engaged for it, as mr. davison might have better declared it, if it had pleased him. and i must thank him only for my blame, and so he will confess to you, for, i protest before god, no necessity here could have made me leave her majesty unacquainted with the cause before i would have accepted of it, but only his so earnest pressing me with his faithfull assured promise to discharge me, however her majesty should take it. for you all see there she had no other cause to be offended but this, and, by the lord, he was the only cause; albeit it is no sufficient allegation, being as i am . . . . . he had, i think, saved all to have told her, as he promised me. but now it is laid upon me, god send the cause to take no harm, my grief must be the less. "how far mr. heneage's commission shall deface me i know not. he is wary to observe his commission, and i consent withal. i know the time will be her majesty will be sorry for it. in the meantime i am too, too weary of the high dignity. i would that any that could serve her majesty were placed in it, and i to sit down with all my losses." in more manful strain he then alluded to the sufferings of his army. "whatsoever become of me," he said, "give me leave to speak for the poor soldiers. if they be not better maintained, being in this strange country, there will be neither good service done, nor be without great dishonour to her majesty. . . . well, you see the wants, and it is one cause that will glad me to be rid of this heavy high calling, and wish me at my poor cottage again, if any i shall find. but let her majesty pay them well, and appoint such a man as sir william pelham to govern them, and she never wan more honour than these men here will do, i am persuaded." that the earl was warmly urged by all most conversant with netherland politics to assume the government was a fact admitted by all. that he manifested rather eagerness than reluctance on the subject, and that his only hesitation arose from the proposed restraints upon the power, not from scruples about accepting the power, are facts upon record. there is nothing save his own assertion to show any backwardness on his part to snatch the coveted prize; and that assertion was flatly denied by davison, and was indeed refuted by every circumstance in the case. it is certain that he had concealed from davison the previous prohibitions of the queen. he could anticipate much better than could davison, therefore, the probable indignation of the queen. it is strange then that he should have shut his eyes to it so wilfully, and stranger still that he should have relied on the envoy's eloquence instead of his own to mitigate that emotion. had he placed his defence simply upon its true basis, the necessity of the case, and the impossibility of carrying out the queen's intentions in any other way, it would be difficult to censure him; but that he should seek to screen himself by laying the whole blame on a subordinate, was enough to make any honest man who heard him hang his head. "i meant not to do it, but davison told me to do it, please your majesty, and if there was naughtiness in it, he said he would make it all right with your majesty." such, reduced to its simplest expression, was the defence of the magnificent earl of leicester. and as he had gone cringing and whining to his royal mistress, so it was natural that he should be brutal and blustering to his friend. "by your means," said he, "i have fallen into her majesty's deep displeasure . . . . if you had delivered to her the truth of my dealing, her highness never could have conceived, as i perceive she doth . . . . nor doth her majesty know how hardly i was drawn to accept this place before i had acquainted her--as to which you promised you would not only give her full satisfaction, but would, procure me great thanks. . . . you did chiefly persuade me to take this charge upon me . . . . you can remember how many treaties you and others had with the states, before i agreed; for all yours and their persuasion to take it. . . . you gave me assurance to satisfy her majesty, but i see not that you have done anything . . . . i did not hide from you the doubt i had of her majesty's ill taking it . . . . you chiefly brought me into it . . . . and it could no way have been heavy to you, though you had told the uttermost of your own doing, as you faithfully promised you would . . . . i did very unwillingly come into the matter, doubting that to fall out which is come to pass . . . . and it doth so fall out by your negligent carelessness, whereof i many hundred times told you that you would both mar the goodness of the matter, and breed me her majesty's displeasure. . . . thus fare you well, and except your embassages have better success, i shall have no cause to commend them." and so was the unfortunate davison ground into finest dust between the upper and lower millstones of royal wrath and loyal subserviency. meantime the other special envoy had made his appearance in the netherlands; the other go-between between the incensed queen and the backsliding favourite. it has already been made sufficiently obvious, by the sketch given of his instructions, that his mission was a delicate one. in obedience to those instructions, heneage accordingly made his appearance before the council, and, in leicester's presence, delivered to them the severe and biting reprimand which elizabeth had chosen to inflict upon the states and upon the governor. the envoy performed his ungracious task as daintily, as he could, and after preliminary consultation with leicester; but the proud earl was deeply mortified." the fourteenth day of this month of march," said he, "sir thomas heneage delivered a very sharp letter from her majesty to the council of estate, besides his message--myself being, present, for so was her majesty's pleasure, as he said, and i do think he did but as he was commanded. how great a grief it must be to an honest heart and a true, faithful servant, before his own face, to a company of very wise and grave counsellors, who had conceived a marvellous opinion before of my credit with her majesty, to be charged now with a manifest and wilful contempt! matter enough to have broken any man's heart, that looked rather for thanks, as god doth know i did when i first heard of mr. heneage's arrival--i must say to your lordship, for discharge of my duty, i can be no fit man to serve here--my disgrace is too great--protesting to you that since that day i cannot find it in my heart to come into that place, where, by my own sufferings torn, i was made to be thought so lewd a person." he then comforted himself--as he had a right to do--with the reflection that this disgrace inflicted was more than he deserved, and that such would be the opinion of those by whom he was surrounded. "albeit one thing," he said, "did greatly comfort me, that they all best knew the wrong was great i had, and that her majesty was very wrongfully informed of the state of my cause. i doubt not but they can and will discharge me, howsoever they shall satisfy her majesty. and as i would rather wish for death than justly to deserve her displeasure; so, good my lord, this disgrace not coming for any ill service to her, pray procure me a speedy resolution, that i may go hide me and pray for her. my heart is broken, though thus far i can quiet myself, that i know i have done her majesty as faithful and good service in these countries as ever she had done her since she was queen of england . . . . under correction, my good lord, i have had halifax law--to be condemned first and inquired upon after. i pray god that no man find this measure that i have done, and deserved no worse." he defended himself--as davison had already defended him--upon the necessities of the case. "i, a poor gentleman," he said, "who have wholly depended upon herself alone--and now, being commanded to a service of the greatest importance that ever her majesty employed any servant in, and finding the occasion so serving me, and the necessity of time such as would not permit such delays, flatly seeing that if that opportunity were lost, the like again for her service and the good of the realm was never, to be looked for, presuming upon the favour of my prince, as many servants have done, exceeding somewhat thereupon, rather than breaking any part of my commission, taking upon me a place whereby i found these whole countries could be held at her best devotion, without binding her majesty to any such matter as she had forbidden to the states before finding, i say, both the time and opportunity to serve, and no lack but to trust to her gracious acceptation, i now feel that how good, how honourable, how profitable soever it be, it is turned to a worse part than if i had broken all her commissions and commandments, to the greatest harm, and dishonour, and danger, that may be imagined against her person, state, and dignity." he protested, not without a show of reason, that he was like to be worse punished "for well-doing than any man that had committed a most heinous or traitorous offence," and he maintained that if he had not accepted the government, as he had done, "the whole state had been gone and wholly lost." all this--as we have seen--had already been stoutly urged by davison, in the very face of the tempest, but with no result, except to gain the, enmity of both parties to the quarrel. the ungrateful leicester now expressed confidence that the second go-between would be more adroit than the first had proved. "the causes why," said he, "mr. davison could have told--no man better--but mr. heneage can now tell, who hath sought to the uttermost the bottom of all things. i will stand to his report, whether glory or vain desire of title caused me to step one foot forward in the matter. my place was great enough and high enough before, with much less trouble than by this, besides the great indignation of her majesty . . . . if i had overslipt the good occasion then in danger, i had been worthy to be hanged, and to be taken for a most lewd servant to her majesty, and a dishonest wretch to my country." but diligently as heneage had sought to the bottom of all things, he had not gained the approbation of sidney. sir philip thought that the new man had only ill botched a piece of work that had been most awkwardly contrived from the beginning. "sir thomas heneage," said he, "hath with as much honesty, in my opinion done as much hurt as any man this twelve-month hath done with naughtiness. but i hope in god, when her majesty finds the truth of things, her graciousness will not utterly, overthrow a cause so behooveful and costly unto her." he briefly warned the government that most disastrous effects were likely to ensue, if the earl should be publicly disgraced, and the recent action of the states reversed. the penny-wise economy, too, of the queen, was rapidly proving a most ruinous extravagance. "i only cry for flushing;" said sidney, "but, unless the monies be sent over, there will some terrible accident follow, particularly to the cautionary towns, if her majesty mean to have them cautions." the effect produced by the first explosion of the queen's wrath was indeed one of universal suspicion and distrust. the greatest care had been taken, however, that the affair should be delicately handled, for heneage, while, doing as much hurt by honesty as, others by naughtiness, had modified his course as much as he dared in deference to the opinions of the earl himself, and that of his english counsellors. the great culprit himself, assisted by his two lawyers, clerk and killigrew--had himself drawn the bill of his own indictment. the letters of the queen to the states, to the council, and to the earl himself, were, of necessity, delivered, but the reprimand which heneage had been instructed to fulminate was made as harmless as possible. it was arranged that he should make a speech before the council; but abstain from a protocol. the oration was duly pronounced, and it was, of necessity, stinging. otherwise the disobedience to the queen, would have been flagrant. but the pain inflicted was to disappear with the first castigation. the humiliation was to be public and solemn, but it was not to be placed on perpetual record. "we thought best," said leicester, heneage, clerk, and killigrew--"in according to her majesty's secret instructions--to take that course which might least endanger the weak estate of the provinces--that is to say, to utter so much in words as we hoped might satisfy her excellent majesty's expectation, and yet leave them nothing in writing to confirm that which was secretly spread in many places to the hindrance of the good course of settling these affairs. which speech, after sir thomas heneage had devised, and we both perused and allowed, he, by our consent and advice, pronounced to the council of state. this we did think needful--especially because every one of the council that was present at the reading of her majesty's first letters, was of the full mind, that if her majesty should again show the least mislike of the present government, or should not by her next letters confirm it, they, were all undone--for that every man would cast with himself which way to make his peace." thus adroitly had the "poor gentleman, who could not find it in his heart to come again into the place, where--by his own sufferings torn--he was made to appear so lewd a person"--provided that there should remain no trace of that lewdness and of his sovereign's displeasure, upon the record of the states. it was not long, too, before the earl was enabled to surmount his mortification; but the end was not yet. the universal suspicion, consequent on these proceedings, grew most painful. it pointed to one invariable quarter. it was believed by all that the queen was privately treating for peace, and that the transaction was kept a secret not only from the states but from her own most trusted counsellors also. it would be difficult to exaggerate the pernicious effects of this suspicion. whether it was a well-grounded one or not, will be shown in a subsequent chapter, but there is no doubt that the vigour of the enterprise was thus sapped at a most critical moment. the provinces had never been more heartily banded together since the fatal th of july, , than they were in the early spring of . they were rapidly organizing their own army, and, if the queen had manifested more sympathy with her own starving troops, the united englishmen and hollanders would have been invincible even by alexander farnese. moreover, they had sent out nine war-vessels to cruise off the cape verd islands for the homeward-bound spanish treasure fleet from america, with orders, if they missed it, to proceed to the west indies; so that, said leicester, "the king of spain will have enough to do between these men and drake." all parties had united in conferring a generous amount of power upon the earl, who was, in truth, stadholder-general, under grant from the states--and both leicester and the provinces themselves were eager and earnest for the war. in war alone lay the salvation of england and holland. peace was an impossibility. it seemed to the most experienced statesmen of both countries even an absurdity. it may well be imagined, therefore, that the idea of an underhand negotiation by elizabeth would cause a frenzy in the netherlands. in leicester's opinion, nothing short of a general massacre of the english would be the probable consequence. "no doubt," said he, "the very way it is to put us all to the sword here. for mine own part it would be happiest for me, though i wish and trust to lose my life in better sort." champagny, however, was giving out mysterious hints that the king of spain could have peace with england when he wished for it. sir thomas cecil, son of lord burghley, on whose countenance the states especially relied, was returning on sick-leave from his government of the brill, and this sudden departure of so eminent a personage, joined with the public disavowal of the recent transaction between leicester and the provinces, was producing a general and most sickening apprehension as to the queen's good faith. the earl did not fail to urge these matters most warmly on the consideration of the english council, setting forth that the states were stanch for the war, but that they would be beforehand with her if she attempted by underhand means to compass a peace. "if these men once smell any such matter," wrote leicester to burghley, "be you sure they will soon come before you, to the utter overthrow of her majesty and state for ever." the earl was suspecting the "false boys," by whom he was surrounded, although it was impossible for him to perceive, as we have been enabled to do, the wide-spread and intricate meshes by which he was enveloped. "your papists in england," said he, "have sent over word to some in this company, that all that they ever hoped for is come to pass; that my lord of leicester shall be called away in greatest indignation with her majesty, and to confirm this of champagny, i have myself seen a letter that her majesty is in hand with a secret peace. god forbid! for if it be so, her majesty, her realm, and we, are all undone." the feeling in the provinces was still sincerely loyal towards england. "these men," said leicester, "yet honour and most dearly love her majesty, and hardly, i know, will be brought to believe ill of her any way." nevertheless these rumours, to the discredit of her good faith, were doing infinite harm; while the earl, although keeping his eyes and ears wide open, was anxious not to compromise himself any further with his sovereign, by appearing himself to suspect her of duplicity. "good, my lord," he besought burghley, "do not let her majesty know of this concerning champagny as coming from me, for she will think it is done for my own cause, which, by the lord god, it is not, but even on the necessity of the case for her own safety, and the realm, and us all. good my lord, as you will do any good in the matter, let not her majesty understand any piece of it to come from me." the states-general, on the th march, n.s., addressed a respectful letter to the queen, in reply to her vehement chidings. they expressed their deep regret that her majesty should be so offended with the election of the earl of leicester as absolute governor. they confessed that she had just cause of displeasure, but hoped that when she should be informed of the whole matter she would rest better satisfied with their proceedings. they stated that the authority was the same which had been previously bestowed upon governors-general; observing that by the word "absolute," which had been used in designation of that authority, nothing more had been intended than to give to the earl full power to execute his commission, while the sovereignty of the country was reserved to the people. this commission, they said, could not be without danger revoked. and therefore they most humbly besought her majesty to approve what had been done, and to remember its conformity with her own advice to them, that a multitude of heads, whereby confusion in the government is bred, should be avoided. leicester, upon the same occasion, addressed a letter to burghley and walsingham, expressing himself as became a crushed and contrite man, never more to raise his drooping head again, but warmly and manfully urging upon the attention of the english government--for the honour and interest of the queen herself--"the miserable state of the poor soldiers." the necessity of immediate remittances in order to keep them from starving, was most imperious. for himself, he was smothering his wretchedness until he should learn her majesty's final decision, as to what was to become of him. "meantime," said he, "i carry my grief inward, and will proceed till her majesty's full pleasure come with as little discouragement to the cause as i can. i pray god her majesty may do that may be best for herself. for my own part my, heart is broken, but not by the enemy." there is no doubt that the public disgrace thus inflicted upon the broken-hearted governor, and the severe censure administered to the states by the queen were both ill-timed and undeserved. whatever his disingenuousness towards davison, whatever his disobedience to elizabeth, however ambitious his own secret motives may, have been, there is no doubt at all that thus far he had borne himself well in his great office. richard cavendish--than whom few had better opportunities of judging--spoke in strong language on the subject. "it is a thing almost incredible," said he, "that the care and diligence of any, one man living could, in so small time; have so much repaired so disjointed and loose an estate as my lord found this country, in. but lest he should swell in pride of that his good success, your lordship knoweth that god hath so tempered the cause with the construction thereof, as may well hold him in good consideration of human things." he alluded with bitterness--as did all men in the netherlands who were not open or disguised papists--to the fatal rumours concerning the peace-negotiation in connection with the recall of leicester. "there be here advertisements of most fearful instance," he said, "namely, that champagny doth not spare most liberally to bruit abroad that he hath in his hands the conditions of peace offered by her majesty unto the king his master, and that it is in his power to conclude at pleasure--which fearful and mischievous plot, if in time it be not met withal by some notable encounter, it cannot but prove the root of great ruin." the "false boys" about leicester were indefatigable in spreading these rumours, and in taking advantage--with the assistance of the papists in the obedient provinces and in england--of the disgraced condition in which the queen had placed the favourite. most galling to the haughty earl--most damaging to the cause of england, holland, and, liberty--were the tales to his discredit, which circulated on the bourse at antwerp, middelburg, amsterdam, and in all the other commercial centres. the most influential bankers and merchants, were assured--by a thousand chattering--but as it were invisible--tongues, that the queen had for a long time disliked leicester; that he was a man of no account among the statesmen of england; that he was a beggar and a bankrupt; that, if he had waited two months longer, he would have made his appearance in the provinces with one man and one boy for his followers; that the queen had sent him thither to be rid of him; that she never intended him to have more authority than sir john norris had; that she could not abide the bestowing the title of excellency upon him, and that she had not disguised her fury at his elevation to the post of governor-general. all who attempted a refutation of these statements were asked, with a sneer, whether her majesty had ever written a line to him, or in commendation of him, since his arrival. minute inquiries were made by the dutch merchants of their commercial correspondents, both in their own country and in england, as to leicester's real condition and character. at home. what was his rank, they asked, what his ability, what: his influence at court? why, if he were really of so high quality as had been reported, was he thus neglected, and at last disgraced? had he any landed property in england? had he really ever held any other office but that of master of the horse? "and then," asked one particular busy body, who made himself very unpleasant on the amsterdam exchange, "why has her majesty forbidden all noblemen and gentlemen from coming hither, as was the case at the beginning? is it because she is hearkening to a peace? and if it be so, quoth he, we are well handled; for if her majesty hath sent a disgraced man to amuse us, while she is secretly working a peace for herself, when we--on the contrary--had broken off all our negotiations, upon confidence of her majesty's goodness; such conduct will be remembered to the end of the world, and the hollanders will never abide the name of england again." on such a bed of nettles there was small chance of repose for the governor. some of the rumours were even more stinging. so incomprehensible did it seem that the proud sovereign of england should send over her subjects to starve or beg in the streets of flushing and ostend, that it was darkly intimated that leicester had embezzled the funds, which, no doubt, had been remitted for the poor soldiers. this was the most cruel blow of all. the earl had been put to enormous charges. his household at the hague cost him a thousand pounds a month. he had been paying and furnishing five hundred and fifty men out of his own purse. he had also a choice regiment of cavalry, numbering seven hundred and fifty horse; three hundred and fifty of which number were over and above those allowed for by the queen, and were entirely at his expense. he was most liberal in making presents of money to every gentleman in his employment. he had deeply mortgaged his estates in order to provide for these heavy demands upon him, and professed his willingness "to spend more, if he might have got any more money for his land that was left;" and in the face of such unquestionable facts--much to the credit certainly of his generosity--he was accused of swindling a queen whom neither jew nor gentile had ever yet been sharp enough to swindle; while he was in reality plunging forward in a course of reckless extravagance in order to obviate the fatal effects of her penuriousness. yet these sinister reports were beginning to have a poisonous effect. already an alteration of mien was perceptible in the states-general. "some buzzing there is amongst them," said leicester, "whatsoever it be. they begin to deal very strangely within these few days." moreover the industry of the poleys, blunts, and pagets, had turned these unfavourable circumstances to such good account that a mutiny had been near breaking out among the english troops. "and, before the lord i speak it," said the earl, "i am sure some of these good towns had been gone ere this, but for my money. as for the states, i warrant you, they see day at a little hole. god doth know what a forward and a joyful country here was within a month. god send her majesty to recover it so again, and to take care of it, on the condition she send me after sir francis drake to the indies, my service here being no more acceptable." such was the aspect of affairs in the provinces after the first explosion of the queen's anger had become known. meanwhile the court-weather was very changeable in england, being sometimes serene, sometimes cloudy,--always treacherous. mr. vavasour, sent by the earl with despatches to her majesty and the council, had met with a sufficiently benignant reception. she accepted the letters, which, however, owing to a bad cold with a defluxion in the eyes, she was unable at once to read; but she talked ambiguously with the messenger. yavasour took pains to show the immediate necessity of sending supplies, so that the armies in the netherlands might take the field at the, earliest possible moment. "and what," said she, "if a peace should come in the mean time?" "if your majesty desireth a convenient peace," replied vavasour, "to take the field is the readiest way to obtain it; for as yet the king of spain hath had no reason to fear you. he is daily expecting that your own slackness may give your majesty an overthrow. moreover, the spaniards are soldiers, and are not to be moved by-shadows." but the queen had no ears for these remonstrances, and no disposition to open her coffers. a warrant for twenty-four thousand pounds had been signed by her at the end of the month of march, and was about to be sent, when vavasour arrived; but it was not possible for him, although assisted by the eloquence of walsingham and burghley, to obtain an enlargement of the pittance. "the storms are overblown," said walsingham, "but i fear your lordship shall receive very scarce measure from hence. you will not believe how the sparing humour doth increase upon us." nor were the storms so thoroughly overblown but that there were not daily indications of returning foul weather. accordingly--after a conference with vavasour--burghley, and walsingham had an interview with the queen, in which the lord treasurer used bold and strong language. he protested to her that he was bound, both by his duty to himself and his oath as her councillor, to declare that the course she was holding to lord leicester was most dangerous to her own honour, interest and safety. if she intended to continue in this line of conduct, he begged to resign his office of lord treasurer; wishing; before god and man, to wash his bands of the shame and peril which he saw could not be avoided. the queen, astonished at the audacity of burghley's attitude and language, hardly knew whether to chide him for his presumption or to listen to his arguments. she did both. she taxed him with insolence in daring to address her so roundly, and then finding he was speaking even in 'amaritudine animae' and out of a clear conscience, she became calm again, and intimated a disposition to qualify her anger against the absent earl. next day, to their sorrow, the two councillors found that the queen had again changed her mind--"as one that had been by some adverse counsel seduced." she expressed the opinion that affairs would do well enough in the netherlands, even though leicester were displaced. a conference followed between walsingham, hatton, and burghley, and then the three went again to her majesty. they assured her that if she did not take immediate steps to satisfy the states and the people of the provinces, she would lose those countries and her own honour at the same time; and that then they would prove a source of danger to her instead of protection and glory. at this she was greatly troubled, and agreed to do anything they might advise consistently with her honour. it was then agreed that leicester should be continued in the government which he had accepted until the matter should be further considered, and letters to that effect were at once written. then came messenger from sir thomas heneage, bringing despatches from that envoy, and a second and most secret one from the earl himself. burghley took the precious letter which the favourite had addressed to his royal mistress, and had occasion to observe its magical effect. walsingham and the lord treasurer had been right in so earnestly remonstrating with him on his previous silence. "she read your letter," said burghley, "and, in very truth, i found her princely heart touched with favourable interpretation of your actions; affirming them to be only offensive to her, in that she was not made privy to them; not now misliking that you had the authority." such, at fifty-three, was elizabeth tudor. a gentle whisper of idolatry from the lips of the man she loved, and she was wax in his hands. where now were the vehement protestations of horror that her public declaration of principles and motives had been set at nought? where now were her vociferous denunciations of the states, her shrill invectives against leicester, her big oaths, and all the 'hysterica passio,' which had sent poor lord burghley to bed with the gout, and inspired the soul of walsingham with dismal forebodings? her anger had dissolved into a shower of tenderness, and if her parsimony still remained it was because that could only vanish when she too should cease to be. and thus, for a moment, the grave diplomatic difference between the crown of england and their high mightinesses the united states--upon the solution of which the fate of christendom was hanging--seemed to shrink to the dimensions of a lovers' quarrel. was it not strange that the letter had been so long delayed? davison had exhausted argument in defence of the acceptance by the earl of the authority conferred by the states and had gained nothing by his eloquence, save abuse from the queen, and acrimonious censure from the earl. he had deeply offended both by pleading the cause of the erring favourite, when the favourite should have spoken for himself. "poor mr. davison," said walsingham, "doth take it very grievously that your lordship should conceive so hardly of him as you do. i find the conceit of your lordship's disfavour hath greatly dejected him. but at such time as he arrived her majesty was so incensed, as all the arguments and orators in the world could not have wrought any satisfaction." but now a little billet-doux had done what all the orators in the world could not do. the arguments remained the same, but the queen no longer "misliked that leicester should have the authority." it was natural that the lord treasurer should express his satisfaction at this auspicious result. "i did commend her princely nature," he said, "in allowing your good intention, and excusing you of any spot of evil meaning; and i thought good to hasten her resolution, which you must now take to come from a favourable good mistress. you must strive with your nature to throw over your shoulder that which is past." sir walter raleigh, too, who had been "falsely and pestilently" represented to the earl as an enemy, rather than what he really was, a most ardent favourer of the netherland cause, wrote at once to congratulate him on the change in her majesty's demeanour. "the queen is in very good terms with you now," he said, "and, thanks be to god, well pacified, and you are again her 'sweet robin.'" sir walter wished to be himself the bearer of the comforting despatches to leicester, on the ground that he had been represented as an "ill instrument against him," and in order that he might justify himself against the charge, with his own lips. the queen, however, while professing to make use of shirley as the messenger, bade walsingham declare to the earl, upon her honour, that raleigh had done good offices for him, and that, in the time of her anger, he had been as earnest in his defence as the best friend could be. it would have been--singular, indeed, had it been otherwise. "your lordship," said sir walter, "doth well understand my affection toward spain, and how i have consumed the best part of my fortune, hating the tyrannous prosperity of that state. it were strange and monstrous that i should now become an enemy to my country and conscience. all that i have desired at your lordship's hands is that you will evermore deal directly with me in all matters--of suspect doubleness, and so ever esteem me as you shall find me deserving good or bad. in the mean time, let no poetical scribe work your lordship by any device to doubt that i am a hollow or cold servant to the action." it was now agreed that letters should be drawn, up authorizing leicester to continue in the office which he held, until the state-council should devise some modification in his commission. as it seemed, however, very improbable that the board would devise anything of the kind, burghley expressed the belief that the country was like to continue in the earl's government without any change whatever. the lord treasurer was also of opinion that the queen's letters to leicester would convey as much comfort as he had received discomfort; although he admitted that there was a great difference: the former letters he knew had deeply wounded his heart, while the new ones could not suddenly sink so low as the wound. the despatch to the states-general was benignant, elaborate, slightly diffuse. the queen's letter to 'sweet robin' was caressing, but argumentative. "it is always thought," said she, "in the opinion of the world, a hard bargain when both parties are losers, and so doth fall out in the case between us two. you, as we hear, are greatly grieved in respect of the great displeasure you find we have conceived against you. we are no less grieved that a subject of ours of that quality that you are, a creature of our own, and one that hath always received an extraordinary portion of our favour above all our subjects, even from the beginning of our reign, should deal so carelessly, not to say contemptuously, as to give the world just cause to think that we are had in contempt by him that ought most to respect and reverence us, which, we do assure you, hath wrought as great grief in us as anyone thing that ever happened unto us. "we are persuaded that you, that have so long known us, cannot think that ever we could have been drawn to have taken so hard a course therein had we not been provoked by an extraordinary cause. but for that your grieved and wounded mind hath more need of comfort than reproof, who, we are persuaded, though the act of contempt can no ways be excused, had no other meaning and intent than to advance our service, we think meet to forbear to dwell upon a matter wherein we ourselves do find so little comfort, assuring you that whosoever professeth to love you best taketh not more comfort of your well doing, or discomfort of your evil doing than ourself." after this affectionate preface she proceeded to intimate her desire that the earl should take the matter as nearly as possible into his own hands. it was her wish that he should retain the authority of absolute governor, but--if it could be so arranged--that he should dispense with the title, retaining only that of her lieutenant-general. it was not her intention however, to create any confusion or trouble in the provinces, and she was therefore willing that the government should remain upon precisely the same footing as that on which it then stood, until circumstances should permit the change of title which she suggested. and the whole matter was referred to the wisdom of leicester, who was to advise with heneage and such others as he liked to consult, although it was expressly stated that the present arrangement was to be considered a provisional and not a final one. until this soothing intelligence could arrive in the netherlands the suspicions concerning the underhand negotiations with spain grew daily more rife, and the discredit cast upon the earl more embarrassing. the private letters which passed between the earl's enemies in holland and in england contained matter more damaging to himself and to the cause which he had at heart than the more public reports of modern days can disseminate, which, being patent to all, can be more easily contradicted. leicester incessantly warned his colleagues of her majesty's council against the malignant manufacturers of intelligence. "i pray you, my lords, as you are wise," said he, "beware of them all. you shall find them here to be shrewd pick-thinks, and hardly worth the hearkening unto." he complained bitterly of the disgrace that was heaped upon him, both publicly and privately, and of the evil consequences which were sure to follow from the course pursued. "never was man so villanously handled by letters out of england as i have been," said he, "not only advertising her majesty's great dislike with me before this my coming over, but that i was an odious man in england, and so long as i tarried here that no help was to be looked for, that her majesty would send no more men or money, and that i was used here but for a time till a peace were concluded between her majesty and the prince of parma. what the continuance of a man's discredit thus will turn out is to be thought of, for better i were a thousand times displaced than that her majesty's great advantage of so notable provinces should be hindered." as to the peace-negotiations--which, however cunningly managed, could not remain entirely concealed--the earl declared them to be as idle as they were disingenuous. "i will boldly pronounce that all the peace you can make in the world, leaving these countries," said he to burghley, "will never prove other than a fair spring for a few days, to be all over blasted with a hard storm after." two days later her majesty's comforting letters arrived, and the earl began to raise his drooping head. heneage, too, was much relieved, but he was, at the same time, not a little perplexed. it was not so easy to undo all the mischief created by the queen's petulance. the "scorpion's sting"--as her majesty expressed herself--might be balsamed, but the poison had spread far beyond the original wound. "the letters just brought in," wrote heneage to burghley, "have well relieved a most noble and sufficient servant, but i fear they will not restore the much-repaired wrecks of these far-decayed noble countries into the same state i found them in. a loose, disordered, and unknit state needs no shaking, but propping. a subtle and fearful kind of people--should not be made more distrustful, but assured." he then expressed annoyance at the fault already found with him, and surely if ever man had cause to complain of reproof administered him, in quick succession; for not obeying contradictory directions following upon each other as quickly, that man was sir thomas heneage. he had been, as he thought, over cautious in administering the rebuke to the earl's arrogance, which he had been expressly sent over to administer but scarcely had he accomplished his task, with as much delicacy as he could devise, when he found himself censured;--not for dilatoriness, but for haste. "fault i perceive," said he to burghley, "is found in me, not by your lordship, but by some other, that i did not stay proceeding if i found the public cause might take hurt. it is true i had good warrant for the manner, the, place, and the persons, but, for the matter none, for done it must be. her majesty's offence must be declared. yet if i did not all i possibly could to uphold the cause, and to keep the tottering cause upon the wheels, i deserve no thanks, but reproof." certainly, when the blasts of royal rage are remembered, by which the envoy had been, as it were, blown out of england into holland, it is astonishing to find his actions censured for undue precipitancy. but it was not the, first, nor was it likely to be the last time, for comparatively subordinate agents in elizabeth's government to be, distressed by, contradictory commands, when the sovereign did not know or did not chose to make known, her own mind on important occasions. "well, my lord," said plaintive sir thomas, "wiser men may serve more pleasingly and happily, but never shall any serve her majesty more, faithfully and heartily. and so i cannot be persuaded her majesty thinketh; for from herself i find nothing but most sweet and--gracious, favour, though by others' censures i may gather otherwise of her judgment; which i confess, doth cumber me." he was destined to be cumbered more than once before these negotiations should be concluded; but meantime; there was a brief gleam of sunshine. the english friends of leicester in the netherlands were enchanted with the sudden change in the queen's humour; and to lord burghley, who was not, in reality, the most stanch of the absent earl's defenders, they poured themselves out in profuse and somewhat superfluous gratitude. cavendish, in strains exultant, was sure that burghley's children, grand-children, and remotest posterity, would rejoice that their great ancestor, in such a time of need had been "found and felt to be indeed a 'pater patria,' a good-father to a happy land." and, although unwilling to "stir up the old adam" in his lordship's soul, he yet took the liberty of comparing the lord treasurer, in his old and declining years with mary magdalen; assuring him, that for ever after; when the tale of the preservation of the church of god, of her majesty; and of the netherland cause; which were all one, should be told; his name and well-doing would be held in memory also. and truly there was much of honest and generous enthusiasm, even if couched in language somewhat startling to the ears of a colder and more material age; in the hearts of these noble volunteers. they were fighting the cause of england, of the netherland republic, and of human liberty; with a valour worthy the best days of english' chivalry, against manifold obstacles, and they were certainly; not too often cheered by the beams of royal favour. it was a pity that a dark cloud was so soon again to sweep over the scene: for the temper of elizabeth at this important juncture seemed as capricious: as the: april weather in which the scenes were enacting. we have seen the genial warmth of her letters and messages to leicester, to heneage,--to the states-general; on the first of the month. nevertheless it was hardly three weeks after they had been despatched when walsingham and burghley found, her majesty one morning a towering passion, because, the earl had not already laid down the government. the lord treasurer ventured to remonstrate, but was bid to bold his tongue. ever variable and mutable as woman, elizabeth was perplexing and baffling to her counsellors, at this epoch, beyond all divination. the "sparing humour" was increasing fearfully, and she thought it would be easier for her to slip out of the whole expensive enterprise, provided leicester were merely her lieutenant-general, and not stadholder for the provinces. moreover the secret negotiations for peace were producing a deleterious effect upon her mind. upon this subject, the queen and burghley, notwithstanding his resemblance to mary magdalen, were better informed than the secretary, whom, however, it had been impossible wholly to deceive. the man who could read secrets so far removed as the vatican, was not to be blinded to intrigues going on before his face. the queen, without revealing more than she could help, had been obliged to admit that informal transactions were pending, but had authorised the secretary to assure the united states that no treaty would be made without their knowledge and full concurrence. "she doth think," wrote walsingham to leicester, "that you should, if you shall see no cause to the contrary, acquaint the council of state there that certain overtures of peace are daily made unto her, but that she meaneth not to proceed therein without their good liking and privity, being persuaded that there can no peace be made profitable or sure for her that shall not also stand with their safety; and she doth acknowledge hers to be so linked with theirs as nothing can fall out to their prejudice, but she must be partaker of their harm." this communication was dated on the st april, exactly three weeks after the queen's letter to heneage, in which she had spoken of the "malicious bruits" concerning the pretended peace-negotiations; and the secretary was now confirming, by her order, what she had then stated under her own hand, that she would "do nothing that might concern them without their own knowledge and good liking." and surely nothing could be more reasonable. even if the strict letter of the august treaty between the queen and the states did not provide against any separate negotiations by the one party without the knowledge of the other, there could be no doubt at all that its spirit absolutely forbade the clandestine conclusion of a peace with spain by england alone, or by the netherlands alone, and that such an arrangement would be disingenuous, if not positively dishonourable. nevertheless it would almost seem that elizabeth had been taking advantage of the day when she was writing her letter to heneage on the st of april. never was painstaking envoy more elaborately trifled with. on the th of the month--and only five days after the communication by walsingham just noticed--the queen was furious that any admission should have been made to the states of their right to participate with her in peace-negotiations. "we find that sir thomas heneage," said she to leicester, "hath gone further--in assuring the states that we would make no peace without their privity and assent--than he had commission; for that our direction was--if our meaning had been well set down, and not mistaken by our secretary--that they should have been only let understand that in any treaty that might pass between us and spain, they might be well assured we would have no less care of their safety than of our own." secretary walsingham was not likely to mistake her majesty's directions in this or any other important affair of state. moreover, it so happened that the queen had, in her own letter to heneage, made the same statement which she now chose to disavow. she had often a convenient way of making herself misunderstood, when she thought it desirable to shift responsibility from her own shoulders upon those of others; but upon this occasion she had been sufficiently explicit. nevertheless, a scape-goat was necessary, and unhappy the subordinate who happened to be within her majesty's reach when a vicarious sacrifice was to be made. sir francis walsingham was not a man to be brow-beaten or hood-winked, but heneage was doomed to absorb a fearful amount of royal wrath. "what phlegmatical reasons soever were made you," wrote the queen, who but three weeks before had been so gentle and affectionate to her, ambassador, "how happeneth it that you will not remember, that when a man hath faulted and committed by abettors thereto, neither the one nor the other will willingly make their own retreat. jesus! what availeth wit, when it fails the owner at greatest need? do that you are bidden, and leave your considerations for your own affairs. for in some things you had clear commandment, which you did not, and in others none, and did. we princes be wary enough of our bargains. think you i will be bound by your own speech to make no peace for mine own matters without their consent? it is enough that i injure not their country nor themselves in making peace for them without their consent. i am assured of your dutiful thoughts, but i am utterly at squares with this childish dealing." blasted by this thunderbolt falling upon his head out of serenest sky, the sad. sir. thomas remained, for a time, in a state of political annihilation. 'sweet robin' meanwhile, though stunned, was unscathed--thanks to the convenient conductor at his side. for, in elizabeth's court, mediocrity was not always golden, nor was it usually the loftiest mountains that the lightnings smote. the earl was deceived by his royal mistress, kept in the dark as to important transactions, left to provide for his famishing' soldiers as he best might; but the, queen at that moment, though angry, was not disposed, to trample upon him. now that his heart was known to be broken, and his sole object in life to be retirement to remote regions--india or elsewhere--there to languish out the brief remainder of his days in prayers for elizabeth's happiness, elizabeth was not inclined very bitterly to upbraid him. she had too recently been employing herself in binding up his broken heart, and pouring balm into the "scorpion's sting," to be willing so soon to deprive him of those alleviations. her tone--was however no longer benignant, and her directions were extremely peremptory. on the st of april she had congratulated leicester, heneage, the states, and all the world, that her secret commands had been staid, and that the ruin which would have followed, had, those decrees been executed according to her first violent wish, was fortunately averted. heneage was even censured, not by herself, but by courtiers in her confidence, and with her concurrence, for being over hasty in going before the state-council, as he had done, with her messages and commands. on the th of april she expressed astonishment that heneage had dared to be so dilatory, and that the title of governor had not been laid down by leicester "out of hand." she marvelled greatly, and found it very strange that "ministers in matters of moment should presume to do things of their own head without direction." she accordingly gave orders that there should be no more dallying, but that the earl should immediately hold a conference with the state-council in order to arrange a modification in his commission. it was her pleasure that he should retain all the authority granted to him by the states, but as already intimated by her, that he should abandon the title of "absolute governor," and retain only that of her lieutenant-general. was it strange that heneage, placed in so responsible a situation, and with the fate of england, of holland, and perhaps of all christendom, hanging in great measure upon this delicate negotiation, should be amazed at such contradictory orders, and grieved by such inconsistent censures? "to tell you my griefs and my lacks," said he to walsingham, "would little please you or help me. therefore i will say nothing, but think there was never man in so great a service received so little comfort and so contrarious directions. but 'dominus est adjutor in tribulationibus.' if it be possible, let me receive some certain direction, in following which i shall not offend her majesty, what good or hurt soever i do besides." this certainly seemed a loyal and reasonable request, yet it was not one likely to be granted. sir thomas, perplexed, puzzled, blindfolded, and brow-beaten, always endeavoring to obey orders, when he could comprehend them, and always hectored and lectured whether he obeyed them or not--ruined in purse by the expenses, of a mission on which he had been sent without adequate salary--appalled at the disaffection waging more formidable every hour in provinces which were recently so loyal to her majesty, but which were now pervaded by a suspicion that there was double-dealing upon her part became quite sick of his life. he fell seriously ill, and was disappointed, when, after a time, the physicians declared him convalescent. for when when he rose from his sick-bed, it was only to plunge once more, without a clue, into the labyrinth where he seemed to be losing his reason. "it is not long," said he to walsingham, "since i looked to have written you no more letters, my extremity was so great. . . but god's will is best, otherwise i could have liked better to have cumbered the earth no longer, where i find myself contemned, and which i find no reason to see will be the better in the wearing . . . it were better for her majesty's service that the directions which come were not contrarious one to another, and that those you would have serve might know what is meant, else they cannot but much deceive you, as well as displease you." public opinion concerning the political morality of the english court was not gratifying, nor was it rendered more favourable by these recent transactions. "i fear," said heneage, "that the world will judge what champagny wrote in one of his letters out of england (which i have lately seen) to be over true. his words be these, 'et de vray, c'est le plus fascheux et le plus incertain negocier de ceste court, que je pense soit au monde.'" and so "basting," as he said, "with a weak body and a willing mind; to do, he feared, no good work," he set forth from middelburgh to rejoin leicester at arnheim, in order to obey, as well as he could, the queen's latest directions. but before he could set to work there came more "contrarious" orders. the last instructions, both to leicester and himself, were that the earl should resign the post of governor absolute "out of hand," and the queen had been vehement in denouncing any delay on such an occasion. he was now informed, that, after consulting with leicester and with the state-council, he was to return to england with the result of such deliberations. it could afterwards be decided how the earl could retain all the authority of governor absolute, while bearing only the title of the queen's lieutenant general. "for her meaning is not," said walsingham, "that his lord ship should presently give it over, for she foreseeth in her princely judgment that his giving over the government upon a sudden, and leaving those countries without a head or director, cannot but breed a most dangerous alteration there." the secretary therefore stated the royal wish at present to be that the "renunciation of the title" should be delayed till heneage could visit england, and subsequently return to holland with her majesty's further directions. even the astute walsingham was himself puzzled, however, while conveying these ambiguous orders; and he confessed that he was doubtful whether he had rightly comprehended the queen's intentions. burghley, however, was better at guessing riddles than he was, and so heneage was advised to rely chiefly upon burghley. but heneage had now ceased to be interested in any enigmas that might be propounded by the english court, nor could he find comfort, as walsingham had recommended he should do, in railing. "i wish i could follow your counsel," he said, "but sure the uttering of my choler doth little ease my grief or help my case." he rebuked, however, the inconsistency and the tergiversations of the government with a good deal of dignity. "this certainly shall i tell her majesty," he said, "if i live to see her, that except a more constant course be taken with this inconstant people, it is not the blaming of her ministers will advance her highness's service, or better the state of things. and shall i tell you what they now say here of us--i fear not without some cause--even as lipsius wrote of the french, 'de gallis quidem enigmata veniunt, non veniunt, volunt, holunt, audent, timent, omnia, ancipiti metu, suspensa et suspecta.' god grant better, and ever keep you and help me." he announced to burghley that he was about to attend a meeting of the state-council the next day, for the purpose of a conference on these matters at arnheim, and that he would then set forth for england to report proceedings to her majesty. he supposed, on the whole, that this was what was expected of him, but acknowledged it hopeless to fathom the royal intentions. yet if he went wrong, he was always, sure to make mischief, and though innocent, to be held accountable for others' mistakes. "every prick i make," said he, "is made a gash; and to follow the words of my directions from england is not enough, except i likewise see into your minds. and surely mine eyesight is not so good. but i will pray to god for his help herein. with all the wit i have, i will use all the care i can--first, to satisfy her majesty, as god knoweth i have ever most desired; then, not to hurt this cause, but that i despair of." leicester, as maybe supposed, had been much discomfited and perplexed during the course of these contradictory and perverse directions. there is no doubt whatever that his position bad been made discreditable and almost ridiculous, while he was really doing his best, and spending large sums out of his private fortune to advance the true interests of the queen. he had become a suspected man in the netherlands, having been, in the beginning of the year, almost adored as a messiah. he had submitted to the humiliation which had been imposed upon him, of being himself the medium to convey to the council the severe expressions of the queen's displeasure at the joint action of the states-general and himself. he had been comforted by the affectionate expressions with which that explosion of feminine and royal wrath had been succeeded. he was now again distressed by the peremptory command to do what was a disgrace to him, and an irreparable detriment to the cause, yet he was humble and submissive, and only begged to be allowed, as a remedy for all his anguish, to return to the sunlight of elizabeth's presence. he felt that her course; if persisted in, would lead to the destruction of the netherland commonwealth, and eventually to the downfall of england; and that the provinces, believing themselves deceived by the queen; were ready to revolt against an authority to which, but a short time before, they were so devotedly loyal nevertheless, he only wished to know what his sovereign's commands distinctly were, in order to set himself to their fulfilment. he had come from the camp before nymegen in order to attend the conference with the state-council at arnheim, and he would then be ready and anxious to, despatch heneage to england, to learn her majesty's final determination. he protested to the queen that he had come upon this arduous and perilous service only, because he, considered her throne in danger, and that this was the only means of preserving it; that, in accepting the absolute government, he had been free from all ambitious motives, but deeply impressed with the idea that only by so doing could he conduct the enterprise entrusted to him to the desired consummation; and he declared with great fervour that no advancement to high office could compensate him for this enforced absence from her. to be sent back even in disgrace would still be a boon to him, for he should cease to be an exile from her sight. he knew that his enemies had been busy in defaming him, while he had been no longer there to defend himself, but his conscience acquitted him of any thought which was not for her happiness and glory. "yet grievous it is to me," said he in, a tone of tender reproach, "that having left all--yea, all that may be imagined--for you, you have left me for very little, even to the uttermost of all hard fortune. for what have i, unhappy man, to do here either with cause or country but for you?" he stated boldly that his services had not been ineffective, that the enemy had never been in worse plight than now, that he had lost at least five thousand men in divers overthrows, and that, on the other hand, the people and towns of the seven provinces had been safely preserved. "since my arrival," he said, "god hath blessed the action which you have taken in hand, and committed to the charge of me your poor unhappy servant. i have good cause to say somewhat for myself, for that i think i have as few friends to speak for me as any man." nevertheless--as he warmly protested--his only wish was to return; for the country in which he had lost her favour, which was more precious than life, had become odious to him. the most lowly office in her presence was more to be coveted than the possession of unlimited power away from her. it was by these tender and soft insinuations, as the earl knew full well, that he was sure to obtain what he really coveted--her sanction for retaining the absolute government in the provinces. and most artfully did he strike the key. "most dear and gracious lady," he cried, "my care and service here do breed me nothing but grief and unhappiness. i have never had your majesty's good favour since i came into this charge--a matter that from my first beholding your eyes hath been most dear unto me above all earthly treasures. never shall i love that place or like that soil which shall cause the lack of it. most gracious lady, consider my long, true, and faithful heart toward you. let not this unfortunate place here bereave me of that which, above all the world, i esteem there, which is your favodr and your presence. i see my service is not acceptable, but rather more and more disliketh you. here i can do your majesty no service; there i can do you some, at the least rub your horse's heels--a service which shall be much more welcome to me than this, with all that these men may give me. i do, humbly and from my heart, prostrate at your feet, beg this grace at your sacred hands, that you will be pleased to let me return to my home-service, with your favour, let the revocation be used in what sort shall please and like you. but if ever spark of favour was in your majesty toward your old servant, let me obtain this my humble suit; protesting before the majesty of all majesties, that there was no cause under heaven but his and yours, even for your own special and particular cause, i say, could have made me take this absent journey from you in hand. if your majesty shall refuse me this, i shall think all grace clean gone from me, and i know: my days will not be long." she must melt at this, thought 'sweet robin' to himself; and meantime accompanied by heneage; he proceeded with the conferences in the state-council-chamber touching the modification of the title and the confirmation of his authority. this, so far as walsingham could divine, and burghley fathom, was the present intention of the queen. he averred that he had ever sought most painfully to conform his conduct to her instructions as fast as they were received, and that he should continue so to do. on the whole it was decided by the conference to let matters stand as, they were for a little longer, and until: after heneage should have time once more to go and come. "the same manner of proceeding that was is now," said leicester, "your pleasure is declared to the council here as you have willed it. how it will fall out again in your majesty's construction, the lord knoweth." leicester might be forgiven for referring to higher powers, for any possible interpretation of her majesty's changing humour; but meantime; while sir. thomas was getting ready, for his expedition to england, the earl's heart was somewhat gladdened by more gracious messages from the queen. the alternation of emotions would however prove too much for him, he feared, and he was reluctant to open his heart to so unwonted a tenant as joy. "but that my fear is such, most dear and gracious lady," he said, "as my unfortunate destiny will hardly permit; whilst i remain here; any good-acceptation of so simple a service as, mine, i should, greatly rejoice and comfort myself with the hope of your majesty's most prayed-for favour. but of late, being by your own sacred hand lifted even up into heaven with joy of your favour, i was bye and bye without any new desert or offence at all, cast down and down: again into the depth of all grief. god doth know, my dear and dread sovereign, that after i first received your resolute pleasure by sir thomas heneage, i made neither stop nor stay nor any excuse to be rid of this place, and to satisfy your command. . . . so much i mislike this place and fortune of mine; as i desire nothing in the world so much, as to be delivered, with your favours from all charge here, fearing still some new cross of your displeasure to fall upon me, trembling continually with the fear thereof, in such sort as till i may be fully confirmed in my new regeneration of your wonted favour i cannot receive that true comfort which doth appertain to so great a hope. yet i will not only acknowledge with all humbleness and dutiful thanks the exceeding joy these last blessed lines brought to my long-wearied heart, but will, with all true loyal affection, attend that further joy from your sweet self which may utterly, extinguish all consuming fear away." poor heneage--who likewise received a kind word or two after having been so capriciously and petulantly dealt with was less extravagant in his expressions of gratitude. "the queen hath sent me a paper-plaister which must please for a time," he said. "god almighty bless her majesty ever, and best direct her." he was on the point of starting for england, the bearer of the states' urgent entreaties that leicester might retain the, government, and of despatches; announcing the recent success of the allies before grave. "god prospereth the action in these countries beyond all expectation," he said, "which all amongst you will not be over glad of, for somewhat i know." the intrigues of grafigni, champagny, and bodman, with croft, burghley, and the others were not so profound a secret as they could wish. the tone adopted by leicester has been made manifest in his letters to the queen. he had held the same language of weariness and dissatisfaction in his communications to his friends. he would not keep the office, he avowed, if they should give him "all holland and zeeland, with all their appurtenances," and he was ready to resign at any moment. he was not "ceremonious for reputation," he said, but he gave warning that the netherlanders would grow desperate if they found her majesty dealing weakly or carelessly with them. as for himself he had already had enough of government. "i am weary, mr. secretary," he plaintively exclaimed, "indeed i am weary; but neither of pains nor travail. my ill hap that i can please her majesty no better hath quite discouraged me." he had recently, however--as we have seen--received some comfort, and he was still further encouraged, upon the eve of heneage's departure, by receiving another affectionate epistle from the queen. amends seemed at last to be offered for her long and angry silence, and the earl was deeply grateful. "if it hath not been, my most dear and gracious lady," said he in reply, "no small comfort to your poor old servant to receive but one line of your blessed hand-writing in many months, for the relief of a most grieved, wounded heart, how far more exceeding joy must it be, in the midst of all sorrow, to receive from the same sacred hand so many comfortable lines as my good friend mr. george hath at once brought me. pardon me, my sweet lady, if they cause me to forget myself. only this i do say, with most humble dutiful thanks, that the scope of all my service hath ever been to content and please you; and if i may do that, then is all sacrifice, either of life or whatsoever, well offered for you." the matter of the government absolute having been so fully discussed during the preceding four months, and the last opinions of the state-council having been so lucidly expounded in the despatches to be carried by heneage to england, the matter might be considered as exhausted. leicester contented himself, therefore, with once more calling her majesty's attention to the fact that if he had not himself accepted the office thus conferred upon him by the states, it would have been bestowed upon some other personage. it would hardly have comported with her dignity, if count maurice of nassau, or count william, or count moeurs, had been appointed governor absolute, for in that case the earl, as general of the auxiliary english force, would have been subject to the authority of the chieftain thus selected. it was impossible, as the state-council had very plainly shown, for leicester to exercise supreme authority, while merely holding the military office of her majesty's lieutenant-general. the authority of governor or stadholder could only be derived from the supreme power of the country. if her majesty had chosen to accept the sovereignty, as the states had ever desired, the requisite authority could then have been derived from her, as from the original fountain. as she had resolutely refused that offer however, his authority was necessarily to be drawn from the states-general, or else the queen must content herself with seeing him serve as an english military officer, only subject to the orders of the supreme power, wherever that power might reside. in short, elizabeth's wish that her general might be clothed with the privileges of her viceroy, while she declined herself to be the sovereign, was illogical, and could not be complied with. very soon after inditing these last epistles to the provinces, the queen became more reasonable on the subject; and an elaborate communication was soon received by the state-council, in which the royal acquiescence was signified to the latest propositions of the states. the various topics, suggested in previous despatches from leicester and from the council, were reviewed, and the whole subject was suddenly placed in a somewhat different light from that in which it seemed to have been previously regarded by her majesty. she alluded to the excuse, offered by the state-council, which had been drawn from the necessity of the case, and from their "great liking for her cousin of leicester," although in violation of the original contract. "as you acknowledge, however," she said, "that therein you were justly to be blamed, and do crave pardon for the same, we cannot, upon this acknowledgment of your fault, but remove our former dislike." nevertheless it would now seem that her "mistake" had proceeded, not from the excess, but from the insufficiency of the powers conferred upon the earl, and she complained, accordingly, that they had given him shadow rather than substance. simultaneously with this royal communication, came a joint letter to leicester, from burghley, walsingham; and hatton, depicting the long and strenuous conflict which they had maintained in his behalf with the rapidly varying inclinations of the queen. they expressed a warm sympathy with the difficulties of his position, and spoke in strong terms of the necessity that the netherlands and england should work heartily together. for otherwise, they said, "the cause will fall, the enemy will rise, and we must stagger." notwithstanding the secret negotiations with the enemy, which leicester and walsingham suspected, and which will be more fully examined in a subsequent chapter, they held a language on that subject, which in the secretary's mouth at least was sincere. "whatsoever speeches be blown abroad of parleys of peace," they said, "all will be but smoke, yea fire will follow." they excused themselves for their previous and enforced silence by the fact that they had been unable to communicate any tidings but messages of distress, but they now congratulated the earl that her majesty, as he would see by her letter to the council, was firmly resolved, not only to countenance his governorship, but to sustain him in the most thorough manner. it would be therefore quite out of the question for them to listen to his earnest propositions to be recalled. moreover, the lord treasurer had already apprized leicester that heneage had safely arrived in england, that he, had made his report to the queen, and that her majesty was "very well contented with him and his mission." it may be easily believed that the earl would feel a sensation of relief, if not of triumph, at this termination to the embarrassments under which he had been labouring ever since, he listened to the oration of the wise leoninus upon new years' day. at last the queen had formally acquiesced in the action of the states, and in his acceptance of their offer. he now saw himself undisputed "governor absolute," having been six months long a suspected, discredited, almost disgraced man. it was natural that he should express himself cheerfully. "my great comfort received, oh my most gracious lady," he said, "by your most favourable lines written by your own sacred hand, i did most humbly acknowledge by my former letter; albeit i can no way make testimony of enough of the great joy i took thereby. and seeing my wounded heart is by this means almost made whole, i do pray unto god that either i may never feel the like again from you, or not be suffered to live, rather than i should fall again into those torments of your displeasure. most gracious queen, i beseech you, therefore, make perfect that which you have begun. let not the common danger, nor any ill, incident to the place i serve you in, be accompanied with greater troubles and fears indeed than all the horrors of death can bring me. my strong hope doth now so assure me, as i have almost won the battle against despair, and i do arm myself with as many of those wonted comfortable conceits as may confirm my new revived spirits, reposing myself evermore under the shadow of those blessed beams that must yield the only nourishment to this disease." but however nourishing the shade of those blessed beams might prove to leicester's disease, it was not so easy to bring about a very sunny condition in the provinces. it was easier for elizabeth to mend the broken heart of the governor than to repair the damage which had been caused to the commonwealth by her caprice and her deceit. the dispute concerning the government absolute had died away, but the authority of the earl had got a "crack in it" which never could be handsomely made whole. the states, during the long period of leicester's discredit--feeling more and more doubtful as to the secret intentions of elizabeth--disappointed in the condition of the auxiliary troops and in the amount of supplies furnished from england, and, above all, having had time to regret their delegation of a power which they began to find agreeable to exercise with their own hands, became indisposed to entrust the earl with the administration and full inspection of their resources. to the enthusiasm which had greeted the first arrival of elizabeth's representative had succeeded a jealous, carping, suspicious sentiment. the two hundred thousand florins monthly were paid, according to the original agreement, but the four hundred thousand of extra service-money subsequently voted were withheld, and withheld expressly on account of heneage's original mission to disgrace the governor." "the late return of sir thomas heneage," said lord north, "hath put such busses in their heads, as they march forward with leaden heels and doubtful hearts." in truth, through the discredit cast by the queen upon the earl in this important affair, the supreme authority was forced back into the hands of the states, at the very moment when they had most freely divested themselves of power. after the queen had become more reasonable, it was too late to induce them to part, a second time, so freely with the immediate control of their own affairs. leicester had become, to a certain extent, disgraced and disliked by the estates. he thought himself, by the necessity of the case, forced to appeal to the people against their legal representatives, and thus the foundation of a nominally democratic party, in opposition to the municipal one, was already laid. nothing could be more unfortunate at that juncture; for we shall, in future, find the earl in perpetual opposition to the most distinguished statesmen in the provinces; to the very men indeed who had been most influential in offering the sovereignty to england, and in placing him in the position which he had so much coveted. no sooner therefore had he been confirmed by elizabeth in that high office than his arrogance broke forth, and the quarrels between himself and the representative body became incessant. "i stand now in somewhat better terms than i did," said he; "i was not in case till of late to deal roundly with them as i have now done. i have established a chamber of finances, against some of their wills, whereby i doubt not to procure great benefit to increase our ability for payments hereafter. the people i find still best devoted to her majesty, though of late many lewd practices have been used to withdraw their good wills. but it will not be; they still pray god that her majesty may be their sovereign. she should then see what a contribution they will all bring forth. but to the states they will never return, which will breed some great mischief, there is such mislike of the states universally. i would your lordship had seen the case i had lived in among them these four months, especially after her majesty's mislike was found. you would then marvel to see how i have waded, as i have done, through no small obstacles, without help, counsel, or assistance." thus the part which he felt at last called upon to enact was that of an aristocratic demagogue, in perpetual conflict with the burgher-representative body. it is now necessary to lift a corner of the curtain, by which some international--or rather interpalatial--intrigues were concealed, as much as possible, even from the piercing eyes of walsingham. the secretary was, however, quite aware--despite the pains taken to deceive him--of the nature of the plots and of the somewhat ignoble character of the actors concerned in them. etext editor's bookmarks: a hard bargain when both parties are losers condemned first and inquired upon after disordered, and unknit state needs no shaking, but propping upper and lower millstones of royal wrath and loyal subserviency uttering of my choler doth little ease my grief or help my case history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history of the united netherlands, volume , chapter viii. forlorn condition of flanders--parma's secret negotiations with the queen--grafigni and bodman--their dealings with english counsellors --duplicity of farnese--secret offers of the english peace-party-- letters and intrigues of de loo--drake's victories and their effect --parma's perplexity and anxiety--he is relieved by the news from england--queen's secret letters to parma--his letters and instructions to bodman--bodman's secret transactions at greenwich-- walsingham detects and exposes the plot--the intriguers baffled-- queen's letter to parma and his to the king--unlucky results of the peace--intrigues--unhandsome treatment of leicester--indignation of the earl and walsingham--secret letter of parma to philip--invasion of england recommended--details of the project. alexander farnese and his heroic little army had been left by their sovereign in as destitute a condition as that in which lord leicester and his unfortunate "paddy persons" had found themselves since their arrival in the netherlands. these mortal men were but the weapons to be used and broken in the hands of the two great sovereigns, already pitted against each other in mortal combat. that the distant invisible potentate, the work of whose life was to do his best to destroy all european nationality, all civil and religious freedom, should be careless of the instruments by which his purpose was to be effected, was but natural. it is painful to reflect that the great champion of liberty and of protestantism was almost equally indifferent to the welfare of the human creatures enlisted in her cause. spaniards and italians, english and irish, went half naked and half starving through the whole inclement winter, and perished of pestilence in droves, after confronting the less formidable dangers of battlefield and leaguer. manfully and sympathetically did the earl of leicester--while whining in absurd hyperbole over the angry demeanour of his sovereign towards himself-represent the imperative duty of an english government to succour english troops. alexander farnese was equally plain-spoken to a sovereign with whom plain-speaking was a crime. in bold, almost scornful language, the prince represented to philip the sufferings and destitution of the little band of heroes, by whom that magnificent military enterprise, the conquest of antwerp, had just been effected. "god will be weary of working miracles for us," he cried, "and nothing but miracles can save the troops from starving." there was no question of paying them their wages, there was no pretence at keeping them reasonably provided with lodging and clothing, but he asserted the undeniable proposition that they "could not pass their lives without eating," and he implored his sovereign to send at least money enough to buy the soldiers shoes. to go foodless and barefoot without complaining, on the frozen swamps of flanders, in january, was more than was to be expected from spaniards and italians. the country itself was eaten bare. the obedient provinces had reaped absolute ruin as the reward of their obedience. bruges, ghent, and the other cities of brabant and flanders, once so opulent and powerful, had become mere dens of thieves and paupers. agriculture, commerce, manufactures--all were dead. the condition of antwerp was most tragical. the city, which had been so recently the commercial centre of the earth, was reduced to absolute beggary. its world-wide traffic was abruptly terminated, for the mouth of its great river was controlled by flushing, and flushing was in the firm grasp of sir philip sidney, as governor for the english queen. merchants and bankers, who had lately been possessed of enormous resources, were stripped of all. such of the industrial classes as could leave the place had wandered away to holland and england. there was no industry possible, for there was no market for the products of industry. antwerp was hemmed in by the enemy on every side, surrounded by royal troops in a condition of open mutiny, cut off from the ocean, deprived of daily bread, and yet obliged to contribute out of its poverty to the maintenance of the spanish soldiers, who were there for its destruction. its burghers, compelled to furnish four hundred thousand florins, as the price of their capitulation, and at least six hundred thousand more for the repairs of the dykes, the destruction of which, too long deferred, had only spread desolation over the country without saving the city, and over and above all forced to rebuild, at their own expense, that fatal citadel, by which their liberty and lives were to be perpetually endangered, might now regret at leisure that they had not been as stedfast during their siege as had been the heroic inhabitants of leyden in their time of trial, twelve years before. obedient antwerp was, in truth, most forlorn. but there was one consolation for her and for philip, one bright spot in the else universal gloom. the ecclesiastics assured parma, that, notwithstanding the frightful diminution in the population of the city, they had confessed and absolved more persons that easter than they had ever done since the commencement of the revolt. great was philip's joy in consequence. "you cannot imagine my satisfaction," he wrote, "at the news you give me concerning last easter." with a ruined country, starving and mutinous troops, a bankrupt exchequer, and a desperate and pauper population, alexander farnese was not unwilling to gain time by simulated negotiations for peace. it was strange, however, that so sagacious a monarch as the queen of england should suppose it for her interest to grant at that moment the very delay which was deemed most desirable by her antagonist. yet it was not wounded affection alone, nor insulted pride, nor startled parsimony, that had carried the fury of the queen to such a height on the occasion of leicester's elevation to absolute government. it was still more, because the step was thought likely to interfere with the progress of those negotiations into which the queen had allowed herself to be drawn. a certain grafigni--a genoese merchant residing much in london and in antwerp, a meddling, intrusive, and irresponsible kind of individual, whose occupation was gone with the cessation of flemish trade--had recently made his appearance as a volunteer diplomatist. the principal reason for accepting or rather for winking at his services, seemed to be the possibility of disavowing him, on both sides, whenever it should be thought advisable. he had a partner or colleague, too, named bodman, who seemed a not much more creditable negotiator than himself. the chief director of the intrigue was, however, champagny, brother of cardinal granvelle, restored to the king's favour and disposed to atone by his exuberant loyalty for his heroic patriotism on a former and most memorable occasion. andrea de loo, another subordinate politician, was likewise employed at various stages of the negotiation. it will soon be perceived that the part enacted by burghley, hatton, croft, and other counsellors, and even by the queen herself, was not a model of ingenuousness towards the absent leicester and the states-general. the gentlemen sent at various times to and from the earl and her majesty's government; davison, shirley, vavasor, heneage, and the rest--had all expressed themselves in the strongest language concerning the good faith and the friendliness of the lord-treasurer and the vice-chamberlain, but they were not so well informed as they would have been, had they seen the private letters of parma to philip ii. walsingham, although kept in the dark as much as it was possible, discovered from time to time the mysterious practices of his political antagonists, and warned the queen of the danger and dishonour she was bringing upon herself. elizabeth, when thus boldly charged, equivocated and stormed alternately. she authorized walsingham to communicate the secrets--which he had thus surprised--to the states-general, and then denied having given any such orders. in truth, walsingham was only entrusted with such portions of the negotiations as he had been able, by his own astuteness, to divine; and as he was very much a friend to the provinces and to leicester, he never failed to keep them instructed, to the best of his ability. it must be confessed, however, that the shuffling and paltering among great men and little men, at that period, forms a somewhat painful subject of contemplation at the present day. grafigni having some merchandise to convey from antwerp to london, went early in the year to the prince of parma, at brussels, in order to procure a passport. they entered into some conversation upon the misery of the country, and particularly concerning the troubles to which the unfortunate merchants had been exposed. alexander expressed much sympathy with the commercial community, and a strong desire that the ancient friendship between his master and the queen of england might be restored. grafigni assured the prince--as the result of his own observation in england--that the queen participated in those pacific sentiments: "you are going to england," replied the prince, "and you may say to the ministers of her majesty, that, after my allegiance to my king, i am most favourably and affectionately inclined towards her. if it pleases them that i, as alexander farnese, should attempt to bring about an accord, and if our commissioners could be assured of a hearing in england, i would take care that everything should be conducted with due regard to the honour and reputation of her majesty." grafigni then asked for a written letter of credence. "that cannot be," replied alexander; "but if you return to me i shall believe your report, and then a proper person can be sent, with authority from the king to treat with her majesty." grafigni proceeded to england, and had an interview with lord cobham. a few days later that nobleman gave the merchant a general assurance that the queen had always felt a strong inclination to maintain firm friendship with the house of burgundy. nevertheless, as he proceeded to state, the bad policy of the king's ministers, and the enterprises against her majesty, had compelled her to provide for her own security and that of her realm by remedies differing in spirit from that good inclination. being however a christian princess, willing to leave vengeance to the lord and disposed to avoid bloodshed, she was ready to lend her ear to a negotiation for peace, if it were likely to be a sincere and secure one. especially she was pleased that his highness of parma should act as mediator of such a treaty, as she considered him a most just and honourable prince in all his promises and actions. her majesty would accordingly hold herself in readiness to receive the honourable commissioners alluded to, feeling sure that every step taken by his highness would comport with her honour and safety. at about the same time the other partner in this diplomatic enterprise, william bodman, communicated to alexander, the result of his observations in england. he stated that lords burghley, buckhurst, and cobham, sir christopher hatton, and comptroller croft, were secretly desirous of peace with spain and that they had seized the recent opportunity of her pique against the earl of leicester to urge forward these underhand negotiations. some progress had been made; but as no accredited commissioner arrived from the prince of parma, and as leicester was continually writing earnest letters against peace, the efforts of these counsellors had slackened. bodman found them all, on his arrival, anxious as he said, "to get their necks out of the matter;" declaring everything which had been done to be pure matter of accident, entirely without the concurrence of the queen, and each seeking to outrival the other in the good graces of her majesty. grafigni informed bodman, however, that lord cobham was quite to be depended upon in the affair, and would deal with him privately, while lord burghley would correspond with andrea de loo at antwerp. moreover, the servant of comptroller croft would direct bodman as to his course, and would give him daily instructions. now it so happened that this servant of croft, norris by name, was a papist, a man of bad character, and formerly a spy of the duke of anjou. "if your lordship or myself should use such instruments as this," wrote walsingham to leicester, "i know we should bear no small reproach; but it is the good hap of hollow and doubtful men to be best thought of." bodman thought the lords of the peace-faction and their adherents not sufficiently strong to oppose the other party with success. he assured farnese that almost all the gentlemen and the common people of england stood ready to risk their fortunes and to go in person to the field to maintain the cause of the queen and religious liberty; and that the chance of peace was desperate unless something should turn the tide, such as, for example, the defeat of drake, or an invasion by philip of ireland or scotland. as it so happened that drake was just then engaged in a magnificent career of victory, sweeping the spanish main and startling the nearest and the most remote possessions of the king with english prowess, his defeat was not one of the cards to be relied on by the peace-party in the somewhat deceptive game which they had commenced. yet, strange to say, they used, or attempted to use, those splendid triumphs as if they had been disasters. meantime there was an active but very secret correspondence between lord cobham, lord burghley, sir james croft, and various subordinate personages in england, on the one side, and champagny, president richardot, la motte, governor of gravelines, andrea de loo, grafigni, and other men in the obedient provinces, more or less in alexander's confidence, on the other side. each party was desirous of forcing or wheedling the antagonist to show his hand. "you were employed to take soundings off the english coast in the duke of norfolk's time," said cobham to la motte: "you remember the duke's fate. nevertheless, her majesty hates war, and it only depends on the king to have a firm and lasting peace." "you must tell lord cobham," said richardot to la motte, "that you are not at liberty to go into a correspondence, until assured of the intentions of queen elizabeth. her majesty ought to speak first, in order to make her good-will manifest," and so on. "the 'friend' can confer with you," said richardot to champagny; "but his highness is not to appear to know anything at all about it. the queen must signify her intentions." "you answered champagny correctly," said burghley to de loo, "as to what i said last winter concerning her majesty's wishes in regard to a pacification. the netherlands must be compelled to return to obedience to the king; but their ancient privileges are to be maintained. you omitted, however, to say a word about toleration, in the provinces, of the reformed religion. but i said then, as i say now, that this is a condition indispensable to peace." this was a somewhat important omission on the part of de loo, and gives the measure of his conscientiousness or his capacity as a negotiator. certainly for the lord-treasurer of england to offer, on the part of her majesty, to bring about the reduction of her allies under the yoke which they had thrown off without her assistance, and this without leave asked of them, and with no provision for the great principle of religious liberty, which was the cause of the revolt, was a most flagitious trifling with the honour of elizabeth and of england. certainly the more this mysterious correspondence is examined, the more conclusive is the justification of the vague and instinctive jealousy felt by leicester and the states-general as to english diplomacy during the winter and spring of . burghley summoned de loo, accordingly, to recall to his memory all that had been privately said to him on the necessity of protecting the reformed religion in the provinces. if a peace were to be perpetual, toleration was indispensable, he observed, and her majesty was said to desire this condition most earnestly. the lord-treasurer also made the not unreasonable suggestion, that, in case of a pacification, it would be necessary to provide that english subjects--peaceful traders, mariners, and the like--should no longer be shut up in the inquisition prisons of spain and portugal, and there starved to death, as, with great multitudes, had already been the case. meantime alexander, while encouraging and directing all these underhand measures, was carefully impressing upon his master that he was not, in the least degree; bound by any such negotiations. "queen elizabeth," he correctly observed to philip, "is a woman: she is also by no means fond of expense. the kingdom, accustomed to repose, is already weary of war therefore, they are all pacifically inclined." "it has been intimated to me," he said, "that if i would send a properly qualified person, who should declare that your majesty had not absolutely forbidden the coming of lord leicester, such an agent would be well received, and perhaps the earl would be recalled." alexander then proceeded, with the coolness befitting a trusted governor of philip ii., to comment upon the course which he was pursuing. he could at any time denounce the negotiations which he was secretly prompting. meantime immense advantages could be obtained by the deception practised upon an enemy whose own object was to deceive. the deliberate treachery of the scheme was cynically enlarged upon, and its possible results mathematically calculated: philip was to proceed with the invasion while alexander was going on with the negotiation. if, meanwhile, they could receive back holland and zeeland from the hands of england, that would be an immense success. the prince intimated a doubt, however, as to so fortunate a result, because, in dealing with heretics and persons of similar quality, nothing but trickery was to be expected. the chief good to be hoped for was to "chill the queen in her plots, leagues, and alliances," and during the chill, to carry forward their own great design. to slacken not a whit in their preparations, to "put the queen to sleep," and, above all, not to leave the french for a moment unoccupied with internal dissensions and civil war; such was the game of the king and the governor, as expounded between themselves. president richardot, at the same time, stated to cardinal granvelle that the english desire for peace was considered certain at brussels. grafigni had informed the prince of parma and his counsellors that the queen was most amicably disposed, and that there would be no trouble on the point of religion, her majesty not wishing to obtain more than she would herself be willing to grant. "in this," said richardot, "there is both hard and soft;" for knowing that the spanish game was deception, pure and simple, the excellent president could not bring himself to suspect a possible grain of good faith in the english intentions. much anxiety was perpetually felt in the french quarter, her majesty's government being supposed to be secretly preparing an invasion of the obedient netherlands across the french frontier, in combination, not with the bearnese, but with henry iii. so much in the dark were even the most astute politicians. "i can't feel satisfied in this french matter," said the president: "we mustn't tickle ourselves to make ourselves laugh." moreover, there was no self-deception nor self-tickling possible as to the unmitigated misery of the obedient netherlands. famine was a more formidable foe than frenchmen, hollanders, and englishmen combined; so that richardot avowed that the "negotiation would be indeed holy," if it would restore holland and zeeland to the king without fighting. the prospect seemed on the whole rather dismal to loyal netherlanders like the old leaguing, intriguing, hispamolized president of the privy council. "i confess," said he plaintively, "that england needs chastisement; but i don't see how we are to give it to her. only let us secure holland and zeeland, and then we shall always find a stick whenever we like to beat the dog." meantime andrea de loo had been bustling and buzzing about the ears of the chief counsellors at the english court during all the early spring. most busily he had been endeavouring to efface the prevalent suspicion that philip and alexander were only trifling by these informal negotiations. we have just seen whether or not there was ground for that suspicion. de loo, being importunate, however--"as he usually was," according to his own statement--obtained in burghley's hand a confirmation, by order of the queen, of de loo's--letter of the th december. the matter of religion gave the worthy merchant much difficulty, and he begged lord buckhurst, the lord treasurer, and many other counsellors, not to allow this point of toleration to ruin the whole affair; "for," said he, "his majesty will never permit any exercise of the reformed religion." at last buckhurst sent for him, and in presence of comptroller croft, gave him information that he had brought the queen to this conclusion: firstly, that she would be satisfied with as great a proportion of religious toleration for holland, zeeland, and the other united provinces, as his majesty could concede with safety to his conscience and his honour; secondly, that she required an act of amnesty; thirdly, that she claimed reimbursement by philip for the money advanced by her to the states. certainly a more wonderful claim was never made than this--a demand upon an absolute monarch for indemnity for expenses incurred in fomenting a rebellion of his own subjects. the measure of toleration proposed for the provinces--the conscience, namely, of the greatest bigot ever born into the world--was likely to prove as satisfactory as the claim for damages propounded by the most parsimonious sovereign in christendom. it was, however, stipulated that the nonconformists of holland and zeeland, who should be forced into exile, were to have their property administered by papist trustees; and further, that the spanish inquisition was not to be established in the netherlands. philip could hardly demand better terms than these last, after a career of victory. that they should be offered now by elizabeth was hardly compatible with good faith to the states. on account of lord burghley's gout, it was suggested that the negotiators had better meet in england, as it would be necessary for him to take the lead in the matters and as he was but an indifferent traveller. thus, according to de loo, the queen was willing to hand over the united provinces to philip, and to toss religious toleration to the winds, if she could only get back the seventy thousand pounds--more or less--which she had invested in an unpromising speculation. a few weeks later, and at almost the very moment when elizabeth had so suddenly overturned her last vial of wrath upon the discomfited heneage for having communicated--according to her express command--the fact of the pending negotiations to the netherland states; at that very instant parma was writing secretly, and in cipher, to philip. his communication--could sir thomas have read it--might have partly explained her majesty's rage. parma had heard, he said, through bodman, from comptroller croft, that the queen would willingly receive a proper envoy. it was very easy to see, he observed, that the english counsellors were seeking every means of entering into communication with spain, and that they were doing so with the participation of the queen! lord-treasurer burghley and comptroller croft had expressed surprise that the prince had not yet sent a secret agent to her majesty, under pretext of demanding explanations concerning lord leicester's presence in the provinces, but in reality to treat for peace. such an agent, it had been intimated, would be well received. the lord-treasurer and the comptroller would do all in their power to advance the negotiation, so that, with their aid and with the pacific inclination of the queen, the measures proposed in favour of leicester would be suspended, and perhaps the earl himself and all the english would be recalled. the queen was further represented as taking great pains to excuse both the expedition of sir francis drake to the indies, and the mission of leicester to the provinces. she was said to throw the whole blame of these enterprises upon walsingham and other ill-intentioned personages, and to avow that she now understood matters better; so that, if parma would at once send an envoy, peace would, without question, soon be made. parma had expressed his gratification at these hopeful dispositions on the part of burghley and croft, and held out hopes of sending an agent to treat with them, if not directly with her majesty. for some time past--according to the prince--the english government had not seemed to be honestly seconding the earl of leicester, nor to correspond with his desires. "this makes me think," he said, "that the counsellors before-mentioned, being his rivals, are trying to trip him up." in such a caballing, prevaricating age, it is difficult to know which of all the plotters and counterplotters engaged in these intrigues could accomplish the greatest amount of what--for the sake of diluting in nine syllables that which could be more forcibly expressed in one--was then called diplomatic dissimulation. it is to be feared, notwithstanding her frequent and vociferous denials, that the robes of the "imperial votaress" were not so unsullied as could be wished. we know how loudly leicester had complained--we have seen how clearly walsingham could convict; but elizabeth, though convicted, could always confute: for an absolute sovereign, even without resorting to philip's syllogisms of axe and faggot, was apt in the sixteenth century to have the best of an argument with private individuals. the secret statements of parma-made, not for public effect, but for the purpose of furnishing his master with the most accurate information he could gather as to english policy--are certainly entitled to consideration. they were doubtless founded upon the statements of individuals rejoicing in no very elevated character; but those individuals had no motive to deceive their patron. if they clashed with the vehement declarations of very eminent personages, it must be admitted, on the other hand, that they were singularly in accordance with the silent eloquence of important and mysterious events. as to alexander farnese--without deciding the question whether elizabeth and burghley were deceiving walsingham and leicester, or only trying to delude philip and himself--he had no hesitation, of course, on his part, in recommending to philip the employment of unlimited dissimulation. nothing could be more ingenuous than the intercourse between the king and his confidential advisers. it was perfectly understood among them that they were always to deceive every one, upon every occasion. only let them be false, and it was impossible to be wholly wrong; but grave mistakes might occur from occasional deviations into sincerity. it was no question at all, therefore, that it was parma's duty to delude elizabeth and burghley. alexander's course was plain. he informed his master that he would keep these difficulties alive as much as it was possible. in order to "put them all to sleep with regard to the great enterprise of the invasion," he would send back bodman to burghley and croft, and thus keep this unofficial negotiation upon its legs. the king was quite uncommitted, and could always disavow what had been done. meanwhile he was gaining, and his adversaries losing, much precious time. "if by this course," said parma, "we can induce the english to hand over to us the places which they hold in holland and zeeland, that will be a great triumph." accordingly he urged the king not to slacken, in the least, his preparations for invasion, and, above all, to have a care that the french were kept entangled and embarrassed among themselves, which was a most substantial point. meantime europe was ringing with the american successes of the bold corsair drake. san domingo, porto rico, santiago, cartliagena, florida, were sacked and destroyed, and the supplies drawn so steadily from the oppression of the western world to maintain spanish tyranny in europe, were for a time extinguished. parma was appalled at these triumphs of the sea-king--"a fearful man to the king of spain"--as lord burghley well observed. the spanish troops were starving in flanders, all flanders itself was starving, and philip, as usual, had sent but insignificant remittances to save his perishing soldiers. parma had already exhausted his credit. money was most difficult to obtain in such a forlorn country; and now the few rich merchants and bankers of antwerp that were left looked very black at these crushing news from america. "they are drawing their purse-strings very tight," said alexander, "and will make no accommodation. the most contemplative of them ponder much over this success of drake, and think that your majesty will forget our matters here altogether." for this reason he informed the king that it would be advisable to drop all further negotiation with england for the time, as it was hardly probable that, with such advantages gained by the queen, she would be inclined to proceed in the path which had been just secretly opened. moreover, the prince was in a state of alarm as to the intentions of france. mendoza and tassis had given him to understand that a very good feeling prevailed between the court of henry and of elizabeth, and that the french were likely to come to a pacification among themselves. in this the spanish envoys were hardly anticipating so great an effect as we have seen that they had the right to do from their own indefatigable exertions; for, thanks to their zeal, backed by the moderate subsidies furnished by their master, the civil war in france already seemed likely to be as enduring as that of the netherlands. but parma--still quite in the dark as to french politics--was haunted by the vision of seventy thousand foot and six thousand horses ready to be let slip upon him at any, moment, out of a pacified and harmonious france; while he had nothing but a few starving and crippled regiments to withstand such an invasion. when all these events should have taken place, and france, in alliance with england, should have formally declared war against spain, alexander protested that he should have learned nothing new. the prince was somewhat mistaken as to political affairs; but his doubts concerning his neighbours, blended with the forlorn condition of himself and army, about which there was no doubt at all, showed the exigencies of his situation. in the midst of such embarrassments it is impossible not to admire his heroism as a military chieftain, and his singular adroitness as a diplomatist. he had painted for his sovereign a most faithful and horrible portrait of the obedient provinces. the soil was untilled; the manufactories had all stopped; trade had ceased to exist. it was a pity only to look upon the raggedness of his soldiers. no language could describe the misery of the reconciled provinces--artois, hainault, flanders. the condition of bruges would melt the hardest heart; other cities were no better; antwerp was utterly ruined; its inhabitants were all starving. the famine throughout the obedient netherlands was such as had not been known for a century. the whole country had been picked bare by the troops, and the plough was not put into the ground. deputations were constantly with him from bruges, dendermonde, bois-le-duc, brussels, antwerp, nymegen, proving to him by the most palpable evidence that the whole population of those cities had almost literally nothing to eat. he had nothing, however, but exhortations to patience to feed them withal. he was left without a groat even to save his soldiers from starving, and he wildly and bitterly, day after day, implored his sovereign for aid. these pictures are not the sketches of a historian striving for effect, but literal transcripts from the most secret revelations of the prince himself to his sovereign. on the other hand, although leicester's complaints of the destitution of the english troops in the republic were almost as bitter, yet the condition of the united provinces was comparatively healthy. trade, external and internal, was increasing daily. distant commercial and military expeditions were fitted out, manufactures were prosperous, and the war of independence was gradually becoming--strange to say--a source of prosperity to the new commonwealth. philip--being now less alarmed than his nephew concerning french affairs, and not feeling so keenly the misery of the obedient provinces, or the wants of the spanish army--sent to alexander six hundred thousand ducats, by way of genoa. in the letter submitted by his secretary recording this remittance, the king made, however, a characteristic marginal note:--"see if it will not be as well to tell him something concerning the two hundred thousand ducats to be deducted for mucio, for fear of more mischief, if the prince should expect the whole six hundred thousand." accordingly mucio got the two hundred thousand. one-third of the meagre supply destined for the relief of the king's starving and valiant little army in the netherlands was cut off to go into the pockets of the intriguing duke of guise. "we must keep the french," said philip, "in a state of confusion at home, and feed their civil war. we must not allow them to come to a general peace, which would be destruction for the catholics. i know you will put a good face on the matter; and, after all, 'tis in the interest of the netherlands. moreover, the money shall be immediately refunded." alexander was more likely to make a wry face, notwithstanding his views of the necessity of fomenting the rebellion against the house of valois. certainly if a monarch intended to conquer such countries as france, england, and holland, without stirring from his easy chair in the escorial, it would have been at least as well--so alexander thought--to invest a little more capital in the speculation. no monarch ever dreamed of arriving at universal empire with less personal fatigue or exposure, or at a cheaper rate, than did philip ii. his only fatigue was at his writing-table. but even here his merit was of a subordinate description. he sat a great while at a time. he had a genius for sitting; but he now wrote few letters himself. a dozen words or so, scrawled in hieroglyphics at the top, bottom, or along the margin of the interminable despatches of his secretaries, contained the suggestions, more or less luminous, which arose in his mind concerning public affairs. but he held firmly to his purpose: he had devoted his life to the extermination of protestantism, to the conquest of france and england, to the subjugation of holland. these were vast schemes. a king who should succeed in such enterprises, by his personal courage and genius, at the head of his armies, or by consummate diplomacy, or by a masterly system of finance-husbanding and concentrating the resources of his almost boundless realms--might be in truth commended for capacity. hitherto however philip's triumph had seemed problematical; and perhaps something more would be necessary than letters to parma, and paltry remittances to mucio, notwithstanding alexander's splendid but local victories in flanders. parma, although in reality almost at bay, concealed his despair, and accomplished wonders in the field. the military events during the spring and summer of will be sketched in a subsequent chapter. for the present it is necessary to combine into a complete whole the subterranean negotiations between brussels and england. much to his surprise and gratification, parma found that the peace-party were not inclined to change their views in consequence of the triumphs of drake. he soon informed the king that--according to champagny and bodman--the lord treasurer, the comptroller, lord cobham, and sir christopher hatton, were more pacific than they had ever been. these four were represented by grafigni as secretly in league against leicester and walsingham, and very anxious to bring about a reconciliation between the crowns of england and spain. the merchant-diplomatist, according to his own statement, was expressly sent by queen elizabeth to the prince of parma, although without letter of credence or signed instructions, but with the full knowledge and approbation of the four counsellors just mentioned. he assured alexander that the queen and the majority of her council felt a strong desire for peace, and had manifested much repentance for what had been done. they had explained their proceedings by the necessity of self-defence. they had avowed--in case they should be made sure of peace--that they should, not with reluctance and against their will, but, on the contrary, with the utmost alacrity and at once, surrender to the king of spain the territory which they possessed in the netherlands, and especially the fortified towns in holland and zeeland; for the english object had never been conquest. parma had also been informed of the queen's strong desire that he should be employed as negotiator, on account of her great confidence in his sincerity. they had expressed much satisfaction on hearing that he was about to send an agent to england, and had protested themselves rejoiced at drake's triumphs, only because of their hope that a peace with spain would thus be rendered the easier of accomplishment. they were much afraid, according to grafigni, of philip's power, and dreaded a spanish invasion of their country, in conjunction with the pope. they were now extremely anxious that parma--as he himself informed the king--should send an agent of good capacity, in great secrecy, to england. the comptroller had said that he had pledged himself to such a result, and if it failed, that they would probably cut off his head. the four counsellors were excessively solicitous for the negotiation, and each of them was expecting to gain favour by advancing it to the best of his ability. parma hinted at the possibility that all these professions were false, and that the english were only intending to keep the king from the contemplated invasion. at the same time he drew philip's attention to the fact that burghley and his party had most evidently been doing everything in their power to obstruct leicester's progress in the netherlands and to keep back the reinforcements of troops and money which he so much required. no doubt these communications of parma to the king were made upon the faith of an agent not over-scrupulous, and of no elevated or recognised rank in diplomacy. it must be borne in mind, however, that he had been made use of by both parties; perhaps because it would be easy to throw off, and discredit, him whenever such a step should be convenient; and that, on the other hand, coming fresh from burghley and the rest into the presence of the keen-eyed farnese, he would hardly invent for his employer a budget of falsehoods. that man must have been a subtle negotiator who could outwit such a statesman as burghley--and the other counsellors of elizabeth, and a bold one who could dare to trifle on a momentous occasion with alexander of parma. leicester thought burghley very much his friend, and so thought davison and heneage; and the lord-treasurer had, in truth, stood stoutly by the earl in the affair of the absolute governorship;--"a matter more severe and cumbersome to him and others," said burghley, "than any whatsoever since he was a counsellor." but there is no doubt that these negotiations were going forward all the spring and summer, that they were most detrimental to leicester's success, and that they were kept--so far as it was possible--a profound secret from him, from walsingham, and from the states-general. nothing was told them except what their own astuteness had discovered beforehand; and the game of the counsellors--so far as their attitude towards leicester and walsingham was concerned--seems both disingenuous and impolitic. parma, it was to be feared, was more than a match for the english governor-general in the field; and it was certainly hopeless for poor old comptroller croft, even though backed by the sagacious burghley, to accomplish so great an amount of dissimulation in a year as the spanish cabinet, without effort, could compass in a week. nor were they attempting to do so. it is probable that england was acting towards philip in much better faith than he deserved, or than parma believed; but it is hardly to be wondered at that leicester should think himself injured by being kept perpetually in the dark. elizabeth was very impatient at not receiving direct letters from parma, and her anxiety on the subject explains much of her caprice during the quarrel about the governor-generalahip. many persons in the netherlands thought those violent scenes a farce, and a farce that had been arranged with leicester beforehand. in this they were mistaken; for an examination of the secret correspondence of the period reveals the motives--which to contemporaries were hidden--of many strange transactions. the queen was, no doubt, extremely anxious, and with cause, at the tempest slowly gathering over her head; but the more the dangers thickened, the more was her own official language to those in high places befitting the sovereign of england. she expressed her surprise to farnese that he had not written to her on the subject of the grafigni and bodman affair. the first, she said, was justified in all which he had narrated, save in his assertion that she had sent him. the other had not obtained audience, because he had not come provided with any credentials, direct or indirect. having now understood from andrea de loo and the seigneur de champagny that parma had the power to conclude a peace, which he seemed very much to desire, she observed that it was not necessary for him to be so chary in explaining the basis of the proposed negotiations. it was better to enter into a straightforward path, than by ambiguous words to spin out to great length matters which princes should at once conclude. "do not suppose," said the queen, "that i am seeking what belongs to others. god forbid. i seek only that which is mine own. but be sure that i will take good heed of the sword which threatens me with destruction, nor think that i am so craven-spirited as to endure a wrong, or to place myself at the mercy of my enemy. every week i see advertisements and letters from spain that this year shall witness the downfall of england; for the spaniards--like the hunter who divided, with great liberality, among his friends the body and limbs of the wolf, before it had been killed--have partitioned this kingdom and that of ireland before the conquest has been effected. but my royal heart is no whit appalled by such threats. i trust, with the help of the divine hand--which has thus far miraculously preserved me--to smite all these braggart powers into the dust, and to preserve my honour, and the kingdoms which he has given me for my heritage. "nevertheless, if you have authority to enter upon and to conclude this negotiation, you will find my ears open to hear your propositions; and i tell you further, if a peace is to be made, that i wish you to be the mediator thereof. such is the affection i bear you, notwithstanding that some letters, written by your own hand, might easily have effaced such sentiments from my mind." soon afterwards, bodman was again despatched to england, grafigni being already there. he was provided with unsigned instructions, according to which he was to say that the prince, having heard of the queen's good intentions, had despatched him and grafigni to her court. they were to listen to any suggestions made by the queen to her ministers; but they were to do nothing but listen. if the counsellors should enter into their grievances against his majesty, and ask for explanations, the agents were to say that they had no authority or instructions to speak for so great and christian a monarch. thus they were to cut the thread of any such discourse, or any other observations not to the purpose. silence, in short, was recommended, first and last, as the one great business of their mission; and it was unlucky that men whose talent for taciturnity was thus signally relied upon should be somewhat remarkable for loquacity. grafigni was also the bearer of a letter from alexander to the queen--of which bodman received a copy--but it was strictly enjoined upon them to keep the letter, their instructions, and the objects of their journey, a secret from all the world. the letter of the prince consisted mainly of complimentary flourishes. he had heard, he said, all that agostino grafigni had communicated, and he now begged her majesty to let him understand the course which it was proper to take; assuring her of his gratitude for her good opinion touching his sincerity, and his desire to save the effusion of blood, and so on; concluding of course with expressions of most profound consideration and devotion. early in july bodman arrived in london. he found grafigni in very low spirits. he had been with lord cobham, and was much disappointed with his reception, for cobham--angry that grafigni had brought no commission from the king--had refused to receive parma's letter to the queen, and had expressed annoyance that bodman should be employed on this mission, having heard that lie was very ill-tempered and passionate. the same evening, he had been sent for by lord burghley--who had accepted the letter for her majesty without saying a word--and on the following morning, he had been taken to task, by several counsellors, on the ground that the prince, in that communication, had stated that the queen had expressed a desire for peace. it has just been shown that there was no such intimation at all in the letter; but as neither grafigni nor bodman had read the epistle itself, but only the copy furnished them, they could merely say that such an assertion; if made by the prince, had been founded on no statement of theirs. bodman consoled his colleague, as well as he could, by assurances that when the letter was fairly produced, their vindication would be complete, and grafigni, upon that point, was comforted. he was, however, very doleful in general, and complained bitterly of burghley and the other english counsellors. he said that they had forced him, against his will, to make this journey to brussels, that they had offered him presents, that they would leave him no rest in his own house, but had made him neglect all his private business, and caused him a great loss of time and money, in order that he might serve them. they had manifested the strongest desire that parma should open this communication, and had led him to expect a very large recompense for his share in the transaction. "and now," said grafigni to his colleague, with great bitterness, "i find no faith nor honour in them at all. they don't keep their word, and every one of them is trying to slide out of the very business, in which each was, but the other day, striving to outrival the other, in order that it might be brought to a satisfactory conclusion." after exploding in this way to bodman, he went back to cobham, and protested, with angry vehemence, that parma had never written such a word to the queen, and that so it would prove, if the letter were produced. next day, bodman was sent for to greenwich, where her majesty was, as usual, residing. a secret pavilion was indicated to him, where he was to stay until sunset. when that time arrived, lord cobham's secretary came with great mystery, and begged the emissary to follow him, but at a considerable distance, towards the apartments of lord burghley in the palace. arriving there, they found the lord treasurer accompanied by cobham and croft. burghley instantly opened the interview by a defence of the queen's policy in sending troops to the netherlands, and in espousing their cause, and then the conversation proceeded to the immediate matter in hand. bodman (after listening respectfully to the lord-treasurer's observations).--"his highness has, however, been extremely surprised that my lord leicester should take an oath, as governor-general of the king's provinces. he is shocked likewise by the great demonstrations of hostility on the part of her majesty." burghley.--"the oath was indispensable. the queen was obliged to tolerate the step on account of the great urgency of the states to have a head. but her majesty has commanded us to meet you on this occasion, in order to hear what you have to communicate on the part of the prince of parma." bodman (after a profusion of complimentary phrases).--"i have no commission to say anything. i am only instructed to listen to anything that may be said to me, and that her majesty may be pleased to command." burghley.--"'tis very discreet to begin thus. but time is pressing, and it is necessary to be brief. we beg you therefore to communicate, without further preface, that which you have been charged to say." bodman.--"i can only repeat to your lordship, that i have been charged to say nothing." after this barmecide feast of diplomacy, to partake of which it seemed hardly necessary that the guests should have previously attired themselves in such garments of mystery, the parties separated for the night. in spite of their care, it would seem that the argus-eyed walsingham had been able to see after sunset; for, the next evening--after bodman had been introduced with the same precautions to the same company, in the same place--burghley, before a word had been spoken, sent for sir francis. bodman was profoundly astonished, for he had been expressly informed that walsingham was to know nothing of the transaction. the secretary of state could not so easily be outwitted, however, and he was soon seated at the table, surveying the scene, with his grave melancholy eyes, which had looked quite through the whole paltry intrigue. burghley.--"her majesty has commanded us to assemble together, in order that, in my presence, it may be made clear that she did not commence this negotiation. let grafigni be summoned." grafigni immediately made his appearance. burghley.--"you will please to explain how you came to enter into this business." grafigni.--"the first time i went to the states, it was on my private affairs; i had no order from any one to treat with the prince of parma. his highness, having accidentally heard, however, that i resided in england, expressed a wish to see me. i had an interview with the prince. i told him, out of my own head, that the queen had a strong inclination to hear propositions of peace, and that--as some of her counsellors were of the same opinion--i believed that if his highness should send a negotiator, some good would be effected. the prince replied that he felt by no means sure of such a result; but that, if i should come back from england, sent by the queen or her council, he would then despatch a person with a commission to treat of peace. this statement, together with other matters that had passed between us, was afterwards drawn up in writing by command of his highness." burghley.--"who bade you say, after your second return to brussels, that you came on the part of the queen? for you well know that her majesty did not send you." grafigni.--"i never said so. i stated that my lord cobham had set down in writing what i was to say to the prince of parma. it will never appear that i represented the queen as desiring peace. i said that her majesty would lend her ears to peace. bodman knows this too; and he has a copy of the letter of his highness." walsingham to bodman.--"have you the copy still?" bodman.--"yes, mr. secretary." walsingham.--"please to produce it, in order that this matter may be sifted to the bottom." bodman.--"i supplicate your lorships to pardon me, but indeed that cannot be. my instructions forbid my showing the letter." walsingham (rising).--"i will forthwith go to her majesty, and fetch the original." a pause. mr. secretary returns in a few minutes, having obtained the document, which the queen, up to that time, had kept by her, without showing it to any one. walsingham (after reading the letter attentively, and aloud).--"there is not such a word, as that her majesty is desirous of peace, in the whole paper." burghley (taking the letter, and slowly construing it out of italian into english).--"it would seem that his highness hath written this, assuming that the signor grafigni came from the queen, although he had received his instructions from my lord cobham. it is plain, however, that the negotiation was commenced accidentally." comptroller croft (nervously, and with the air of a man fearful of getting into trouble).--"you know very well, mr. bodman, that my servant came to dunkirk only to buy and truck away horses; and that you then, by chance, entered into talk with him, about the best means of procuring a peace between the two kingdoms. my servant told you of the good feeling that prevailed in england. you promised to write on the subject to the prince, and i immediately informed the lord-treasurer of the whole transaction." burghley.--"that is quite true." croft.--"my servant subsequently returned to the provinces in order to learn what the prince might have said on the subject." bodman (with immense politeness, but very decidedly).--"pardon me, mr. comptroller; but, in this matter, i must speak the truth, even if the honour and life of my father were on the issue. i declare that your servant norris came to me, directly commissioned for that purpose by yourself, and informed me from you, and upon your authority, that if i would solicit the prince of parma to send a secret agent to england, a peace would be at once negotiated. your servant entreated me to go to his highness at brussels. i refused, but agreed to consider the proposition. after the lapse of several days, the servant returned to make further enquiries. i told him that the prince had come to no decision. norris continued to press the matter. i excused myself. he then solicited and obtained from me a letter of introduction to de loo, the secretary of his highness. armed with this, he went to brussels and had an interview--as i found, four days later--with the prince. in consequence of the representations of norris, those of signor grafigni, and those by way of antwerp, his highness determined to send me to england." burghley to croft.--"did you order your servant to speak with andrea de loo?" croft.--"i cannot deny it." burghley.--"the fellow seems to have travelled a good way out of his commission. his master sends him to buy horses, and he commences a peace-negotiation between two kingdoms. it would be well he were chastised. as regards the antwerp matter, too, we have had many letters, and i have, seen one from the seigneur de champagny, the same effect as that of all the rest." walsingham.--"i see not to what end his highness of parma has sent mr. bodman hither. the prince avows that he hath no commission from spain." bodman.--"his highness was anxious to know what was her majesty's pleasure. so soon as that should be known, the prince could obtain ample authority. he would never have proceeded so far without meaning a good end." walsingham.--"very like. i dare say that his highness will obtain the commission. meantime, as prince of parma, he writes these letters, and assists his sovereign perhaps more than he doth ourselves." here the interview terminated. a few days later, bodman had another conversation with burghley and cobham. reluctantly, at their urgent request, he set down in writing all that he had said concerning his mission. the lord treasurer said that the queen and her counsellors were "ready to embrace peace when it was treated of sincerely." meantime the queen had learned that the prince had been sending letters to the cautionary towns in holland and zeeland, stating that her majesty was about to surrender them to the king of spain. these were tricks to make mischief, and were very detrimental to the queen. bodman replied that these were merely the idle stories of quidnuncs; and that the prince and all his counsellors were dealing with the utmost sincerity. burghley answered that he had intercepted the very letters, and had them in his possession. a week afterwards, bodman saw walsingham alone, and was informed by him that the queen had written an answer to parma's letter, and that negotiations for the future were to be carried on in the usual form, or not at all. walsingham, having thus got the better of his rivals, and delved below their mines, dismissed the agent with brief courtesy. afterwards the discomfited mr. comptroller wished a private interview with bodman. bodman refused to speak with him except in presence of lord cobham. this croft refused. in the same way bodman contrived to get rid, as he said, of lord burghley and lord cobham, declining to speak with either of them alone. soon afterwards he returned to the provinces! the queen's letter to parma was somewhat caustic. it was obviously composed through the inspiration of walsingham rather than that of burghley. the letter, brought by a certain grafigni and a certain bodman, she said, was a very strange one, and written under a delusion. it was a very grave error, that, in her name, without her knowledge, contrary to her disposition, and to the prejudice of her honour, such a person as this grafigni, or any one like him, should have the audacity to commence such a business, as if she had, by messages to the prince, sought a treaty with his king, who had so often returned evil for her good. grafigni, after representing the contrary to his highness, had now denied in presence of her counsellors having received any commission from the queen. she also briefly gave the result of bodman's interviews with burghley and the others, just narrated. that agent had intimated that parma would procure authority to treat for peace, if assured that the queen would lend her ear to any propositions. she replied by referring to her published declarations, as showing her powerful motives for interfering in these affairs. it was her purpose to save her own realm and to rescue her ancient neighbours from misery and from slavery. to this end she should still direct her actions, notwithstanding the sinister rumours which had been spread that she was inclined to peace before providing for the security and liberty of her allies. she was determined never to separate their cause from her own. propositions tending to the security of herself and of her neighbours would always be favourably received. parma, on his part, informed his master that there could be no doubt that the queen and the majority of her council abhorred the war, and that already much had been gained by the fictitious negotiation. lord-treasurer burghley had been interposing endless delays and difficulties in the way of every measure proposed for the relief of lord leicester, and the assistance rendered him had been most lukewarm. meantime the prince had been able, he said, to achieve much success in the field, and the english had done nothing to prevent it. since the return of grafigni and bodman, however, it was obvious that the english government had disowned these non-commissioned diplomatists. the whole negotiation and all the negotiators were now discredited, but there was no doubt that there had been a strong desire to treat, and great disappointment at the result. grafigni and andrea de loo had been publishing everywhere in antwerp that england would consider the peace as made, so soon as his majesty should be willing to accept any propositions. his majesty, meanwhile, sat in his cabinet, without the slightest intention of making or accepting any propositions save those that were impossible. he smiled benignantly at his nephew's dissimulation and at the good results which it had already produced. he approved of gaining time, he said, by fictitious negotiations and by the use of a mercantile agent; for, no doubt, such a course would prevent the proper succours from being sent to the earl of leicester. if the english would hand over to him the cautionary towns held by them in holland and zeeland, promise no longer to infest the seas, the indies, and the isles, with their corsairs, and guarantee the complete obedience to their king and submission to the holy catholic church of the rebellious provinces, perhaps something might be done with them; but, on the whole, he was inclined to think that they had been influenced by knavish and deceitful motives from the beginning. he enjoined it upon parma, therefore, to proceed with equal knavery--taking care, however, not to injure his reputation--and to enter into negotiations wherever occasion might serve, in order to put the english off their guard and to keep back the reinforcements so imperatively required by leicester. and the reinforcements were indeed kept back. had burghley and croft been in the pay of philip ii. they could hardly have served him better than they had been doing by the course pursued. here then is the explanation of the shortcomings of the english government towards leicester and the states during the memorable spring and summer of . no money, no soldiers, when most important operations in the field were required. the first general of the age was to be opposed by a man who had certainly never gained many laurels as a military chieftain, but who was brave and confident, and who, had he been faithfully supported by the government which sent him to the netherlands, would have had his antagonist at a great disadvantage. alexander had scarcely eight thousand effective men. famine, pestilence, poverty, mutiny, beset and almost paralyzed him. language could not exaggerate the absolute destitution of the country. only miracles could save the king's cause, as farnese repeatedly observed. a sharp vigorous campaign, heartily carried on against him by leicester and hohenlo, with plenty of troops and money at command, would have brought the heroic champion of catholicism to the ground. he was hemmed in upon all sides; he was cut off from the sea; he stood as it were in a narrowing circle, surrounded by increasing dangers. his own veterans, maddened by misery, stung by their king's ingratitude, naked, starving, ferocious, were turning against him. mucio, like his evil genius, was spiriting away his supplies just as they were reaching his hands; a threatening tempest seemed rolling up from france; the whole population of the provinces which he had "reconciled"--a million of paupers--were crying to him for bread; great commercial cities, suddenly blasted and converted into dens of thieves and beggars, were cursing the royal author of their ruin, and uttering wild threats against his vicegerent; there seemed, in truth, nothing left for alexander but to plunge headlong into destruction, when, lo! mr. comptroller croft, advancing out of the clouds, like a propitious divinity, disguised in the garb of a foe--and the scene was changed. the feeble old man, with his shufing, horse-trucking servant, ex-spy of monsieur, had accomplished more work for philip and alexander than many regiments of spaniards and walloons could have done. the arm of leicester was paralyzed upon the very threshold of success. the picture of these palace-intrigues has been presented with minute elaboration, because, however petty and barren in appearance, they were in reality prolific of grave results. a series of victories by parma was substituted for the possible triumphs of elizabeth and the states. the dissimulation of the spanish court was fathomless. the secret correspondence of the times reveals to us that its only purpose was to deceive the queen and her counsellors, and to gain time to prepare the grand invasion of england and subjugation of holland--that double purpose which philip could only abandon with life. there was never a thought, on his part, of honest negotiation. on the other hand, the queen was sincere; burghley and hatton and cobham were sincere; croft was sincere, so far as spain was concerned. at least they had been sincere. in the private and doleful dialogues between bodman and grafigni which we have just been overhearing, these intriguers spoke the truth, for they could have no wish to deceive each other, and no fear of eaves-droppers not to be born till centuries afterwards. these conversations have revealed to us that the lord treasurer and three of his colleagues had been secretly doing their best to cripple leicester, to stop the supplies for the netherlands, and to patch up a hurried and unsatisfactory, if not a disgraceful peace; and this, with the concurrence of her majesty. after their plots had been discovered by the vigilant secretary of state, there was a disposition to discredit the humbler instruments in the cabal. elizabeth was not desirous of peace. far from it. she was qualmish at the very suggestion. dire was her wrath against bodman, de loo, graafigni, and the rest, at their misrepresentations on the subject. but she would "lend her ear." and that royal ear was lent, and almost fatal was the distillment poured into its porches. the pith and marrow of the great netherland enterprise was sapped by the slow poison of the ill-timed negotiation. the fruit of drake's splendid triumphs in america was blighted by it. the stout heart of the vainglorious but courageous leicester was sickened by it, while, meantime, the maturing of the great armada-scheme, by which the destruction of england was to be accomplished, was furthered, through the unlimited procrastination so precious to the heart of philip. fortunately the subtle walsingham was there upon the watch to administer the remedy before it was quite too late; and to him england and the netherlands were under lasting obligations. while alexander and philip suspected a purpose on the part of the english government to deceive them, they could not help observing that the earl of leicester was both deserted and deceived. yet it had been impossible for the peace-party in the government wholly to conceal their designs, when such prating fellows as grafigni and de loo were employed in what was intended to be a secret negotiation. in vain did the friends of leicester in the netherlands endeavour to account for the neglect with which he was treated, and for the destitution of his army. hopelessly did they attempt to counteract those "advertisements of most fearful instance," as richard cavendish expressed himself, which were circulating everywhere. thanks to the babbling of the very men, whose chief instructions had been to hold their tongues, and to listen with all their ears, the secret negotiations between parma and the english counsellors became the town-talk at antwerp, the hague, amsterdam, brussels, london. it is true that it was impossible to know what was actually said and done; but that there was something doing concerning which leicester was not to be informed was certain. grafigni, during one of his visits to the obedient provinces, brought a brace of greyhounds and a couple of horses from england, as a present to alexander, and he perpetually went about, bragging to every one of important negotiations which he was conducting, and of his intimacy with great personages in both countries. leicester, on the other hand, was kept in the dark. to him grafigni made no communications, but he once sent him a dish of plums, "which," said the earl, with superfluous energy, "i will boldly say to you, by the living god, is all that i have ever had since i came into these countries." when it is remembered that leicester had spent many thousand pounds in the netherland cause, that he had deeply mortgaged his property in order to provide more funds, that he had never received a penny of salary from the queen, that his soldiers were "ragged and torn like rogues-pity to see them," and were left without the means of supporting life; that he had been neglected, deceived, humiliated, until he was forced to describe himself as a "forlorn man set upon a forlorn hope," it must be conceded that grafigni's present of a dish of plums could hardly be sufficient to make him very happy. from time to time he was enlightened by sir francis, who occasionally forced his adversaries' hands, and who always faithfully informed the earl of everything he could discover. "we are so greedy of a peace, in respect of the charges of the wars," he wrote in april, "as in the procuring thereof we weigh neither honour nor safety. somewhat here is adealing underhand, wherein there is great care taken that i should not be made acquainted withal." but with all their great care, the conspirators, as it has been seen, were sometimes outwitted by the secretary, and, when put to the blush, were forced to take him into half-confidence. "your lordship may see," he wrote, after getting possession of parma's letter to the queen, and unravelling croft's intrigues, "what effects are wrought by such weak ministers. they that have been the employers of them are ashamed of the matter." unutterable was the amazement, as we have seen, of bodman and grafigni when they had suddenly found themselves confronted in burghley's private apartments in greenwich palace, whither they had been conducted so mysteriously after dark from the secret pavilion--by the grave secretary of state, whom they had been so anxious to deceive; and great was the embarrassment of croft and cobham, and even of the imperturbable burghley. and thus patiently did walsingham pick his course, plummet in hand, through the mists and along the quicksands, and faithfully did he hold out signals to his comrade embarked on the same dangerous voyage. as for the earl himself, he was shocked at the short-sighted policy of his mistress, mortified by the neglect to which he was exposed, disappointed in his ambitious schemes. vehemently and judiciously he insisted upon the necessity of vigorous field operations throughout the spring and summer thus frittered away in frivolous negotiations. he was for peace, if a lasting and honourable peace could be procured; but he insisted that the only road to such a result was through a "good sharp war." his troops were mutinous for want of pay, so that he had been obliged to have a few of them executed, although he protested that he would rather have "gone a thousand miles a-foot" than have done so; and he was crippled by his government at exactly the time when his great adversary's condition was most forlorn. was it strange that the proud earl should be fretting his heart away when such golden chances were eluding his grasp? he would "creep upon the ground," he said, as far as his hands and knees would carry him, to have a good peace for her majesty, but his care was to have a peace indeed, and not a show of it. it was the cue of holland and england to fight before they could expect to deal upon favourable terms with their enemy. he was quick enough to see that his false colleagues at home were playing into the enemy's hands. victory was what was wanted; victory the earl pledged himself, if properly seconded, to obtain; and, braggart though he was, it is by no means impossible that he might have redeemed his pledge. "if her majesty will use her advantage," he said, "she shall bring the king, and especially this prince of parma, to seek peace in other sort than by way of merchants." of courage and confidence the governor had no lack. whether he was capable of outgeneralling alexander farnese or no, will be better seen, perhaps, in subsequent chapters; but there is no doubt that he was reasonable enough in thinking, at that juncture, that a hard campaign rather than a "merchant's brokerage" was required to obtain an honourable peace. lofty, indeed, was the scorn of the aristocratic leicester that "merchants and pedlars should be paltering in so weighty a cause," and daring to send him a dish of plums when he was hoping half a dozen regiments from the queen; and a sorry business, in truth, the pedlars had made of it. never had there been a more delusive diplomacy, and it was natural that the lieutenant-general abroad and the statesman at home should be sad and indignant, seeing england drifting to utter shipwreck while pursuing that phantom of a pacific haven. had walsingham and himself tampered with the enemy, as some counsellors he could name had done, leicester asserted that the gallows would be thought too good for them; and yet he hoped he might be hanged if the whole spanish faction in england could procure for the queen a peace fit for her to accept. certainly it was quite impossible for the spanish-faction to bring about a peace. no human power could bring it about. even if england had been willing and able to surrender holland, bound hand and foot, to philip, even then she could only have obtained a hollow armistice. philip had sworn in his inmost soul the conquest of england and the dethronement of elizabeth. his heart was fixed. it was only by the subjugation of england that he hoped to recover the netherlands. england was to be his stepping-stone to holland. the invasion was slowly but steadily maturing, and nothing could have diverted the king from his great purpose. in the very midst of all these plots and counterplots, bodmans and grafignis, english geldings and irish greyhounds, dishes of plums and autograph letters of her majesty and his highness, the prince was deliberately discussing all the details of the invasion, which, as it was then hoped, would be ready by the autumn of the year . although he had sent a special agent to philip, who was to state by word of mouth that which it was deemed unsafe to write, yet alexander, perpetually urged by his master, went at last more fully into particulars than he had ever ventured to do before; and this too at the very moment when elizabeth was most seriously "lending her ear" to negotiation, and most vehemently expressing her wrath at sir thomas heneage for dealing candidly with the states-general. the prince observed that when, two or three years before, he had sent his master an account of the coasts, anchoring-places, and harbours of england, he had then expressed the opinion that the conquest of england was an enterprise worthy of the grandeur and christianity of his majesty, and not so difficult as to be considered altogether impossible. to make himself absolutely master of the business, however, he had then thought that the king should have no associates in the scheme, and should make no account of the inhabitants of england. since that time the project had become more difficult of accomplishment, because it was now a stale and common topic of conversation everywhere--in italy, germany, and france--so that there could be little doubt that rumours on the subject were daily reaching the ears of queen elizabeth and of every one in her kingdom. hence she had made a strict alliance with sweden, denmark, the protestant princes of germany, and even with the turks and the french. nevertheless, in spite of these obstacles, the king, placing his royal hand to the work, might well accomplish the task; for the favour of the lord, whose cause it was, would be sure to give him success. being so christian and catholic a king, philip naturally desired to extend the area of the holy church, and to come to the relief of so many poor innocent martyrs in england, crying aloud before the lord for help. moreover elizabeth had fomented rebellion in the king's provinces for a long time secretly, and now, since the fall of antwerp, and just as holland and zeeland were falling into his grasp, openly. thus, in secret and in public, she had done the very worst she could do; and it was very clear that the lord, for her sins; had deprived her of understanding, in order that his majesty might be the instrument of that chastisement which she so fully deserved. a monarch of such great prudence, valour, and talent as philip, could now give all the world to understand that those who dared to lose a just and decorous respect for him, as this good lady had done, would receive such chastisement as royal power guided by prudent counsel could inflict. parma assured his sovereign, that, if the conquest of england were effected, that of the netherlands would be finished with much facility and brevity; but that otherwise, on account of the situation, strength and obstinacy of those people, it would be a very long, perilous, and at best doubtful business. "three points," he said, "were most vital to the invasion of england--secrecy, maintenance of the civil war in france, and judicious arrangement of matters in the provinces." the french, if unoccupied at home, would be sure to make the enterprise so dangerous as to become almost impossible; for it might be laid down as a general maxim that that nation, jealous of philip's power, had always done and would always do what it could to counteract his purposes. with regard to the netherlands, it would be desirable to leave a good number of troops in those countries--at least as many as were then stationed there--besides the garrisons, and also to hold many german and swiss mercenaries in "wartgeld." it would be further desirable that alexander should take most of the personages of quality and sufficiency in the provinces over with him to england, in order that they should not make mischief in his absence. with regard to the point of secrecy, that was, in parma's opinion, the most important of all. all leagues must become more or less public, particularly those contrived at or with rome. such being the case, the queen of england would be well aware of the spanish projects, and, besides her militia at home, would levy german infantry and cavalry, and provide plenty of vessels, relying therein upon holland and zeeland, where ships and sailors were in such abundance. moreover, the english and the netherlanders knew the coasts, currents, tides, shallows, quicksands, ports, better than did the pilots of any fleets that the king could send thither. thus, having his back assured, the enemy would meet them in front at a disadvantage. although, notwithstanding this inequality, the enemy would be beaten, yet if the engagement should be warm, the spaniards would receive an amount of damage which could not fail to be inconvenient, particularly as they would be obliged to land their troops, and to give battle to those who would be watching their landing. moreover the english would be provided with cavalry, of which his majesty's forces would have very little, on account of the difficulty of its embarkation. the obedient netherlands would be the proper place in which to organize the whole expedition. there the regiments could be filled up, provisions collected, the best way of effecting the passage ascertained, and the force largely increased without exciting suspicion; but with regard to the fleet, there were no ports there capacious enough for large vessels. antwerp had ceased to be a seaport; but a large number of flat-bottomed barges, hoys, and other barks, more suitable for transporting soldiers, could be assembled in dunkirk, gravelines, and newport, which, with some five-and-twenty larger vessels, would be sufficient to accompany the fleet. the queen, knowing that there were no large ships, nor ports to hold them in the obedient provinces, would be unauspicious, if no greater levies seemed to be making than the exigencies of the netherlands might apparently require. the flat-bottomed boats, drawing two or three feet of water, would be more appropriate than ships of war drawing twenty feet. the passage across, in favourable weather, might occupy from eight to twelve hours. the number of troops for the invading force should be thirty thousand infantry, besides five hundred light troopers, with saddles, bridles, and lances, but without horses, because, in alexander's opinion, it would be easier to mount them in england. of these thirty thousand there should be six thousand spaniards, six thousand italians, six thousand walloons, nine thousand germans, and three thousand burgundians. much money would be required; at least three hundred thousand dollars the month for the new force, besides the regular one hundred and fifty thousand for the ordinary provision in the netherlands; and this ordinary provision would be more necessary than ever, because a mutiny breaking forth in the time of the invasion would be destruction to the spaniards both in england and in the provinces. the most appropriate part of the coast for a landing would, in alexander's opinion, be between dover and margate, because the spaniards, having no footing in holland and zeeland, were obliged to make their starting-point in flanders. the country about dover was described by parma as populous, well-wooded, and much divided by hedges; advantageous for infantry, and not requiring a larger amount of cavalry than the small force at his disposal, while the people there were domestic in their habits, rich, and therefore less warlike, less trained to arms, and more engrossed by their occupations and their comfortable ways of life. therefore, although some encounters would take place, yet after the commanders of the invading troops had given distinct and clear orders, it would be necessary to leave the rest in the, "hands of god who governs all things, and from whose bounty and mercy it was to be hoped that he would favour a cause so eminently holy, just, and his own." it would be necessary to make immediately for london, which city, not being fortified, would be very easily taken. this point gained, the whole framework of the business might be considered as well put together. if the queen should fly--as, being a woman, she probably would do--everything would be left in such confusion, as, with the blessing of god, it might soon be considered that the holy and heroic work had been accomplished: her majesty, it was suggested, would probably make her escape in a boat before she could be captured; but the conquest would be nevertheless effected. although, doubtless, some english troops might be got together to return and try their fortune, yet it would be quite useless; for the invaders would have already planted themselves upon the soil, and then, by means of frequent excursions and forays hither and thither about the island, all other places of importance would be gained, and the prosperous and fortunate termination of the adventure assured. as, however, everything was to be provided for, so, in case the secret could not be preserved, it would be necessary for philip, under pretext of defending himself against the english and french corsairs, to send a large armada to sea, as doubtless the queen would take the same measure. if the king should prefer, however, notwithstanding alexander's advice to the contrary, to have confederates in the enterprise,--then, the matter being public, it would be necessary to prepare a larger and stronger fleet than any which elizabeth, with the assistance of her french and netherland allies, could oppose to him. that fleet should be well provided with vast stores of provisions, sufficient to enable the invading force, independently of forage, to occupy three or four places in england at once, as the enemy would be able to come from various towns and strong places to attack them. as for the proper season for the expedition, it would be advisable to select the month of october of the current year, because the english barns would then be full of wheat and other forage, and the earth would have been sown for the next year--points of such extreme importance, that if the plan could not be executed at that time, it would be as well to defer it until the following october. the prince recommended that the negotiations with the league should be kept spinning, without allowing them to come to a definite conclusion; because there would be no lack of difficulties perpetually offering themselves, and the more intricate and involved the policy of france, the better it would be for the interests of spain. alexander expressed the utmost confidence that his majesty, with his powerful arm, would overcome all obstacles in the path of his great project, and would show the world that he "could do a little more than what was possible." he also assured his master, in adding in this most extravagant language, of his personal devotion, that it was unnecessary for him to offer his services in this particular enterprise, because, ever since his birth, he had dedicated and consecrated himself to execute his royal commands. he further advised that old peter ernest mansfeld should be left commander-in-chief of the forces in the netherlands during his own absence in england. "mansfeld was an honourable cavalier," he said, "and a faithful servant of the king;" and although somewhat ill-conditioned at times, yet he had essential good qualities, and was the only general fit to be trusted alone. the reader, having thus been permitted to read the inmost thoughts of philip and alexander, and to study their secret plans for conquering england in october, while their frivolous yet mischievous negotiations with the queen had been going on from april to june, will be better able than before to judge whether leicester were right or no in doubting if a good peace could be obtained by a "merchant's brokerage." and now, after examining these pictures of inter-aulic politics and back-stairs diplomacy, which represent so large and characteristic a phasis of european history during the year , we must throw a glance at the external, more stirring, but not more significant public events which were taking place during the same period. etext editor's bookmarks: could do a little more than what was possible elizabeth, though convicted, could always confute he sat a great while at a time. he had a genius for sitting mistakes might occur from occasional deviations into sincerity nine syllables that which could be more forcibly expressed in on they were always to deceive every one, upon every occasion we mustn't tickle ourselves to make ourselves laugh etext editor's bookmarks of the history of the united netherlands - a hard bargain when both parties are losers able men should be by design and of purpose suppressed anarchy which was deemed inseparable from a non-regal form college of "peace-makers," who wrangled more than all condemned first and inquired upon after could do a little more than what was possible courage and semblance of cheerfulness, with despair in his heart demanding peace and bread at any price diplomatic adroitness consists mainly in the power to deceive dismay of our friends and the gratification of our enemies disordered, and unknit state needs no shaking, but propping elizabeth, though convicted, could always confute enmity between lutherans and calvinists find our destruction in our immoderate desire for peace german-lutheran sixteenth-century idea of religious freedom he sat a great while at a time. he had a genius for sitting he did his work, but he had not his reward her teeth black, her bosom white and liberally exposed (eliz.) hibernian mode of expressing himself his inordinate arrogance his insolence intolerable holland was afraid to give a part, although offering the whole honor good patriots, and to support them in venial errors humility which was but the cloak to his pride intentions of a government which did not know its own intentions intolerable tendency to puns longer they delay it, the less easy will they find it lord was better pleased with adverbs than nouns make sheep of yourselves, and the wolf will eat you matter that men may rather pray for than hope for military virtue in the support of an infamous cause mistakes might occur from occasional deviations into sincerity necessity of kingship neighbour's blazing roof was likely soon to fire their own new years day in england, th january by the new style nine syllables that which could be more forcibly expressed in on nor is the spirit of the age to be pleaded in defence not a friend of giving details larger than my ascertained facts not of the genus reptilia, and could neither creep nor crouch not distinguished for their docility oration, fertile in rhetoric and barren in facts others that do nothing, do all, and have all the thanks pauper client who dreamed of justice at the hands of law peace and quietness is brought into a most dangerous estate peace-at-any-price party possible to do, only because we see that it has been done repentance, as usual, had come many hours too late repose in the other world, "repos ailleurs" resolved thenceforth to adopt a system of ignorance round game of deception, in which nobody was deceived seeking protection for and against the people seem as if born to make the idea of royalty ridiculous shutting the stable-door when the steed is stolen soldiers enough to animate the good and terrify the bad string of homely proverbs worthy of sancho panza the very word toleration was to sound like an insult the busy devil of petty economy there was apathy where there should have been enthusiasm they were always to deceive every one, upon every occasion thought that all was too little for him three hundred and upwards are hanged annually in london tis pity he is not an englishman to work, ever to work, was the primary law of his nature tranquillity rather of paralysis than of health twas pity, he said, that both should be heretics upper and lower millstones of royal wrath and loyal subserviency uttering of my choler doth little ease my grief or help my case wasting time fruitlessly is sharpening the knife for himself we must all die once we mustn't tickle ourselves to make ourselves laugh weary of place without power when persons of merit suffer without cause with something of feline and feminine duplicity wrath of bigots on both sides write so illegibly or express himself so awkwardly history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- volume ii. by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, chapter ix. military plans in the netherlands--the elector and electorate of cologne--martin schenk--his career before serving the states-- franeker university founded--parma attempts grave--battle on the meuse--success and vainglory of leicester--st. george's day triumphantly kept at utrecht--parma not so much appalled as it was thought--he besieges and reduces grave--and is master of the meuse-- leicester's rage at the surrender of grave--his revenge--parma on the rhine--he besieges aid assaults neusz--horrible fate of the garrison and city--which leicester was unable to relieve--asel surprised by maurice and sidney--the zeeland regiment given to sidney--condition of the irish and english troops--leicester takes the field--he reduces doesburg--he lays siege to zutphen--which parma prepares to relieve--the english intercept the convoy--battle of warnsfeld--sir philip sidney wounded--results of the encounter-- death of sidney at arnheim--gallantry of edward stanley. five great rivers hold the netherland territory in their coils. three are but slightly separated--the yssel, waal, and ancient rhine, while the scheldt and, meuse are spread more widely asunder. along each of these streams were various fortified cities, the possession of which, in those days, when modern fortification was in its infancy, implied the control of the surrounding country. the lower part of all the rivers, where they mingled with the sea and became wide estuaries, belonged to the republic, for the coasts and the ocean were in the hands of the hollanders and english. above, the various strong places were alternately in the hands of the spaniards and of the patriots. thus antwerp, with the other scheldt cities, had fallen into parma's power, but flushing, which controlled them all, was held by philip sidney for the queen and states. on the meuse, maastricht and roermond were spanish, but yenloo, grave, meghem, and other towns, held for the commonwealth. on the waal, the town of nymegen had, through the dexterity of martin schenk, been recently transferred to the royalists, while the rest of that river's course was true to the republic. the rhine, strictly so called, from its entrance into netherland, belonged to the rebels. upon its elder branch, the yssel, zutphen was in parma's hands, while, a little below, deventer had been recently and adroitly saved by leicester and count meurs from falling into the same dangerous grasp. thus the triple rhine, after it had crossed the german frontier, belonged mainly, although not exclusively, to the states. but on the edge of the batavian territory, the ancient river, just before dividing itself into its three branches, flowed through a debatable country which was even more desolate and forlorn, if possible, than the land of the obedient provinces. this unfortunate district was the archi-episcopal electorate of cologne. the city of cologne itself, neusz, and rheinberg, on the river, werll and other places in westphalia and the whole country around, were endangered, invaded, ravaged, and the inhabitants plundered, murdered, and subjected to every imaginable outrage, by rival bands of highwaymen, enlisted in the support of the two rival bishops--beggars, outcasts, but high-born and learned churchmen both--who disputed the electorate. at the commencement of the year a portion of the bishopric was still in the control of the deposed protestant elector gebhard truchsess, assisted of course by the english and the states. the city of cologne was held by the catholic elector, ernest of bavaria, bishop of liege; but neusz and rheinberg were in the hands of the dutch republic. the military operations of the year were, accordingly, along the meuse, where the main object of parma was to wrest grave from the netherlands; along the waal, where, on the other hand, the patriots wished to recover nymegen; on the yssel, where they desired to obtain the possession of zutphen; and in the cologne electorate, where the spaniards meant, if possible, to transfer neusz and rheinberg from truchsess to elector ernest. to clear the course of these streams, and especially to set free that debatable portion of the river-territory which hemmed him in from neutral germany, and cut off the supplies from his starving troops, was the immediate design of alexander farnese. nothing could be more desolate than the condition of the electorate. ever since gebhard truchsess had renounced the communion of the catholic church for the love of agnes mansfeld, and so gained a wife and lost his principality, he had been a dependant upon the impoverished nassaus, or a supplicant for alms to the thrifty elizabeth. the queen was frequently implored by leicester, without much effect, to send the ex-elector a few hundred pounds to keep him from starving, as "he had not one groat to live upon," and, a little later, he was employed as a go-between, and almost a spy, by the earl, in his quarrels with the patrician party rapidly forming against him in the states. at godesberg--the romantic ruins of which stronghold the traveller still regards with interest, placed as it is in the midst of that enchanting region where drachenfels looks down on the crumbling tower of roland and the convent of nonnenwerth--the unfortunate gebhard had sustained a conclusive defeat. a small, melancholy man, accomplished, religious, learned, "very poor but very wise," comely, but of mean stature, altogether an unlucky and forlorn individual, he was not, after all, in very much inferior plight to that in which his rival, the bavarian bishop, had found himself. prince ernest, archbishop of liege and cologne, a hangeron of his brother, who sought to shake him off, and a stipendiary of philip, who was a worse paymaster than elizabeth, had a sorry life of it, notwithstanding his nominal possession of the see. he was forced to go, disguised and in secret, to the prince of parma at brussels, to ask for assistance, and to mention, with lacrymose vehemence, that both his brother and himself had determined to renounce the episcopate, unless the forces of the spanish king could be employed to recover the cities on the rhine. if neusz and rheinberg were not wrested from the rebels; cologne itself would soon be gone. ernest represented most eloquently to alexander, that if the protestant archbishop were reinstated in the ancient see, it would be a most perilous result for the ancient church throughout all northern europe. parma kept the wandering prelate for a few days in his palace in brussels, and then dismissed him, disguised and on foot, in the dusk of the evening, through the park-gate. he encouraged him with hopes of assistance, he represented to his sovereign the importance of preserving the rhenish territory to bishop ernest and to catholicism, but hinted that the declared intention of the bavarian to resign the dignity, was probably a trick, because the archi-episcopate was no such very bad thing after all. the archi-episcopate might be no very bad thing, but it was a most uncomfortable place of residence, at the moment, for prince or peasant. overrun by hordes of brigands, and crushed almost out of existence by that most deadly of all systems of taxations, the 'brandschatzung,' it was fast becoming a mere den of thieves. the 'brandschatzung' had no name in english, but it was the well-known impost, levied by roving commanders, and even by respectable generals of all nations. a hamlet, cluster of farm-houses, country district, or wealthy city, in order to escape being burned and ravaged, as the penalty of having fallen into a conqueror's hands, paid a heavy sum of ready money on the nail at command of the conqueror. the free companions of the sixteenth century drove a lucrative business in this particular branch of industry; and when to this was added the more direct profits derived from actual plunder, sack, and ransoming, it was natural that a large fortune was often the result to the thrifty and persevering commander of free lances. of all the professors of this comprehensive art, the terrible martin schenk was preeminent; and he was now ravaging the cologne territory, having recently passed again to the service of the states. immediately connected with the chief military events of the period which now occupies us, he was also the very archetype of the marauders whose existence was characteristic of the epoch. born in of an ancient and noble family of gelderland, martin schenk had inherited no property but a sword. serving for a brief term as page to the seigneur of ysselstein, he joined, while yet a youth, the banner of william of orange, at the head of two men-at-arms. the humble knight-errant, with his brace of squires, was received with courtesy by the prince and the estates, but he soon quarrelled with his patrons. there was a castle of blyenbeek, belonging to his cousin, which he chose to consider his rightful property, because he was of the same race, and because it was a convenient and productive estate and residence, the courts had different views of public law, and supported the ousted cousin. martin shut himself up in the castle, and having recently committed a rather discreditable homicide, which still further increased his unpopularity with the patriots, he made overtures to parma. alexander was glad to enlist so bold a soldier on his side, and assisted schenk in his besieged stronghold. for years afterwards, his services under the king's banner were most brilliant, and he rose to the highest military command, while his coffers, meantime, were rapidly filling with the results of his robberies and 'brandschatzungs.' "'tis a most courageous fellow," said parma, "but rather a desperate highwayman than a valiant soldier." martin's couple of lances had expanded into a corps of free companions, the most truculent, the most obedient, the most rapacious in christendom. never were freebooters more formidable to the world at large, or more docile to their chief, than were the followers of general schenk. never was a more finished captain of highwaymen. he was a man who was never sober, yet who never smiled. his habitual intoxication seemed only to increase both his audacity and his taciturnity, without disturbing his reason. he was incapable of fear, of fatigue, of remorse. he could remain for days and nights without dismounting-eating, drinking, and sleeping in the saddle; so that to this terrible centaur his horse seemed actually a part of himself. his soldiers followed him about like hounds, and were treated by him like hounds. he habitually scourged them, often took with his own hand the lives of such as displeased him, and had been known to cause individuals of them to jump from the top of church steeples at his command; yet the pack were ever stanch to his orders, for they knew that he always led them where the game was plenty. while serving under parma he had twice most brilliantly defeated hohenlo. at the battle of hardenberg heath he had completely outgeneralled that distinguished chieftain, slaying fifteen hundred of his soldiers at the expense of only fifty or sixty of his own. by this triumph he had preserved the important city of groningen for philip, during an additional quarter of a century, and had been received in that city with rapture. several startling years of victory and rapine he had thus run through as a royalist partisan. he became the terror and the scourge of his native gelderland, and he was covered with wounds received in the king's service. he had been twice captured and held for ransom. twice he had effected his escape. he had recently gained the city of nymegen. he was the most formidable, the most unscrupulous, the most audacious netherlander that wore philip's colours; but he had received small public reward for his services, and the wealth which he earned on the high-road did not suffice for his ambition. he had been deeply disgusted, when, at the death of count renneberg, verdugo, a former stable-boy of mansfeld, a spaniard who had risen from the humblest rank to be a colonel and general, had been made governor of friesland. he had smothered his resentment for a time however, but had sworn within himself to desert at the most favourable opportunity. at last, after he had brilliantly saved the city of breda from falling into the hands of the patriots, he was more enraged than he had ever been before, when haultepenne, of the house of berlapmont, was made governor of that place in his stead. on the th of may, , at an hour after midnight, he had a secret interview with count meurs, stadholder for the states of gelderland, and agreed to transfer his mercenary allegiance to the republic. he made good terms. he was to be lieutenant-governor of gelderland, and he was to have rank as marshal of the camp in the states' army, with a salary of twelve hundred and fifty guilders a month. he agreed to resign his famous castle of blyenbeek, but was to be reimbursed with estates in holland and zeeland, of the annual value of four thousand florins. after this treaty, martin and his free lances served the states faithfully, and became sworn foes to parma and the king. he gave and took no quarter, and his men, if captured, "paid their ransom with their heads." he ceased to be the scourge of gelderland, but he became the terror of the electorate. early in , accompanied by herman kloet, the young and daring dutch commandant of neusz, he had swept down into the westphalian country, at the head of five hundred foot and five hundred horse. on the th of march he captured the city of werll by a neat stratagem. the citizens, hemmed in on all sides by marauders, were in want of many necessaries of life, among other things, of salt. martin had, from time to time, sent some of his soldiers into the place, disguised as boors from the neighbourhood, and carrying bags of that article. a pacific trading intercourse had thus been established between the burghers within and the banditti without the gates. agreeable relations were formed within the walls, and a party of townsmen had agreed to cooperate with the followers of schenk. one morning a train of waggons laden with soldiers neatly covered with salt, made their appearance at the gate. at the same time a fire broke out most opportunely within the town. the citizens busily employed themselves in extinguishing the flames. the salted soldiers, after passing through the gateway, sprang from the waggons, and mastered the watch. the town was. carried at a blow. some of the inhabitants were massacred as a warning to the rest; others were taken prisoners and held for ransom; a few, more fortunate, made their escape to the citadel. that fortress was stormed in vain, but the city was thoroughly sacked. every house was rifled of its contents. meantime haultepenne collected a force of nearly four thousand men, boors, citizens, and soldiers, and came to besiege schenk in the town, while, at the same time, attacks were made upon him from the castle. it was impossible for him to hold the city, but he had completely robbed it of every thing valuable. accordingly he loaded a train of waggons with his booty, took with him thirty of the magistrates as hostages, with other wealthy citizens, and marching in good order against haultepenne, completely routed him, killing a number variously estimated at from five hundred to two thousand, and effected his retreat, desperately wounded in the thigh, but triumphant, and laden with the spoils to venlo on the meuse, of which city he was governor. "surely this is a noble fellow, a worthy fellow," exclaimed leicester, who was filled with admiration at the bold marauder's progress, and vowed that he was "the only soldier in truth that they had, for he was never idle, and had succeeded hitherto very happily." and thus, at every point of the doomed territory of the little commonwealth, the natural atmosphere in which the inhabitants existed was one of blood and rapine. yet during the very slight lull, which was interposed in the winter of - to the eternal clang of arms in friesland, the estates of that province, to their lasting honour, founded the university of franeker. a dozen years before, the famous institution at leyden had been established, as a reward to the burghers for their heroic defence of the city. and now this new proof was given of the love of netherlanders, even in the midst of their misery and their warfare, for the more humane arts. the new college was well endowed from ancient churchlands, and not only was the education made nearly gratuitous, while handsome salaries were provided for the professors, but provision was made by which the, poorer scholars could be fed and boarded at a very moderate expense. there was a table provided at an annual cost to the student of but fifty florins, and a second and third table at the very low price of forty and thirty florins respectively. thus the sum to be paid by the poorer class of scholars for a year's maintenance was less than three pounds sterling a year [ exchange rate d.w.]. the voice with which this infant seminary of the muses first made itself heard above the din of war was but feeble, but the institution was destined to thrive, and to endow the world, for many successive generations, with the golden fruits of science and genius. early in the spring, the war was seriously taken in hand by farnese. it has already been seen that the republic had been almost entirely driven out of flanders and brabant. the estates, however, still held grave, megem, batenburg, and venlo upon the meuse. that river formed, as it were, a perfect circle of protection for the whole province of brabant, and farnese determined to make himself master of this great natural moat. afterwards, he meant to possess himself of the rhine, flowing in a parallel course, about twenty-five miles further to the east. in order to gain and hold the meuse, the first step was to reduce the city of grave. that town, upon the left or brabant bank, was strongly fortified on its land-side, where it was surrounded by low and fertile pastures, while, upon the other, it depended upon its natural toss, the river. it was, according to lord north and the earl of leicester, the "strongest town in all the low countries, though but a little one." baron hemart, a young gueldrian noble, of small experience in military affairs, commanded in the city, his garrison being eight hundred soldiers, and about one thousand burgher guard. as early as january, farnese had ordered count mansfeld to lay siege to the place. five forts had accordingly been constructed, above and below the town, upon the left bank of the river, while a bridge of boats thrown across the stream led to a fortified camp on the opposite side. mansfeld, mondragon, bobadil, aquila, and other distinguished veterans in philip's service, were engaged in the enterprise. a few unimportant skirmishes between schenk and the spaniards had taken place, but the city was already hard pressed, and, by the series of forts which environed it, was cut off from its supplies. it was highly important, therefore, that grave should be relieved, with the least possible delay. early in easter week, a force of three thousand men, under hohenlo and sir john norris, was accordingly despatched by leicester, with orders, at every hazard, to throw reinforcements and provisions into the place. they took possession, at once, of a stone sconce, called the mill-fort, which was guarded by fifty men, mostly boors of the country. these were nearly all hanged for "using malicious words," and for "railing against queen elizabeth," and--a sufficient number of men being left to maintain the fort--the whole relieving force marched with great difficulty--for the river was rapidly rising, and flooding the country--along the right bank of the meuse, taking possession of batenburg and ravenstein castles, as they went. a force of four or five hundred englishmen was then pushed forward to a point almost exactly opposite grave, and within an english mile of the head of the bridge constructed by the spaniards. here, in the night of easter tuesday, they rapidly formed an entrenched camp, upon the dyke along the river, and, although molested by some armed vessels, succeeded in establishing themselves in a most important position. on the morning of easter wednesday, april , mansfeld, perceiving that the enemy had thus stolen a march upon him, ordered one thousand picked troops, all spaniards, under aquila, casco and other veterans, to assault this advanced post. a reserve of two thousand was placed in readiness to support the attack. the spaniards slowly crossed the bridge, which was swaying very dangerously with the current, and then charged the entrenched camp at a run. a quarrel between the different regiments as to the right of precedence precipitated the attack, before the reserve, consisting of some picked companies of mondragon's veterans, had been able to arrive. coming in breathless and fatigued, the first assailants were readily repulsed in their first onset. aquila then opportunely made his appearance, and the attack was renewed with great vigour: the defenders of the camp yielded at the third charge and fled in dismay, while the spaniards, leaping the barriers, scattered hither and thither in the ardour of pursuit. the routed englishmen fled swiftly along the oozy dyke, in hopes of joining the main body of the relieving party, who were expected to advance, with the dawn, from their position six miles farther down the river. two miles long the chace lasted, and it seemed probable that the fugitives would be overtaken and destroyed, when, at last, from behind a line of mounds which stretched towards batenburg and had masked their approach, appeared count hohenlo and sir john norris, at the head of twenty-five hundred englishmen and hollanders. this force, advanced as rapidly as the slippery ground and the fatigue of a two hours' march would permit to the rescue of their friends, while the retreating english rallied, turned upon their pursuers, and drove them back over the path along which they had just been charging in the full career of victory. the fortune of the day was changed, and in a few minutes hohenlo and norris would have crossed the river and entered grave, when the spanish companies of bobadil and other commanders were seen marching along the quaking bridge. three thousand men on each side now met at push of pike on the bank of the meuse. the rain-was pouring in torrents, the wind was blowing a gale, the stream was rapidly rising, and threatening to overwhelm its shores. by a tacit and mutual consent, both armies paused for a few moments in full view of each other. after this brief interval they closed again, breast to breast, in sharp and steady conflict. the ground, slippery with rain and with blood, which was soon flowing almost as fast as the rain, afforded an unsteady footing to the combatants. they staggered like drunken men, fell upon their knees, or upon their backs, and still, kneeling or rolling prostrate, maintained the deadly conflict. for the space of an hour and a half the fierce encounter of human passion outmastered the fury of the elements. norris and hohenlo fought at the head of their columns, like paladins of old. the englishman was wounded in the mouth and breast, the count was seen to gallop past one thousand musketeers and caliver-men of the enemy, and to escape unscathed. but as the strength of the soldiers exhausted itself, the violence of the tempest increased. the floods of rain and the blasts of the hurricane at last terminated the affray. the spaniards, fairly conquered, were compelled to a retreat, lest the rapidly rising river should sweep away the frail and trembling bridge, over which they had passed to their unsuccessful assault. the english and netherlanders remained masters of the field. the rising flood, too, which was fast converting the meadows into a lake, was as useful to the conquerors as it was damaging to the spaniards. in the course of the few following days, a large number of boats was despatched before the very eyes of parma, from batenburg into grave; hohenlo, who had "most desperately adventured his person" throughout the whole affair, entering the town himself. a force of five hundred men, together with provisions enough to last a year, was thrown into the city, and the course of the meuse was, apparently, secured to the republic. in this important action about one hundred and fifty dutch and english were killed, and probably four hundred spaniards, including several distinguished officers. the earl of leicester was incredibly elated so soon as the success of this enterprise was known. "oh that her majesty knew," he cried, "how easy a match now she hath with the king of spain, and what millions of aficted people she hath relieved in these, countries. this summer, this summer, i say, would make an end to her immortal glory." he was no friend to his countryman, the gallant sir john norris--whom, however, he could not help applauding on this occasion,--but he was in raptures with hohenlo. next to god, he assured the queen's government that the victory was owing to the count. "he is both a valiant man and a wise man, and the painfullest that ever i knew," he said; adding--as a secret--that "five hundred englishmen of the best flemish training had flatly and shamefully run away," when the fight had been renewed by hohenlo and norris. he recommended that her majesty should, send her picture to the count, worth two hundred pounds, which he would value at more than one thousand pounds in money, and he added that "for her sake the count had greatly left his drinking." as for the prince of parma, leicester looked upon him as conclusively beaten. he spoke of him as "marvellously appalled" by this overthrow of his forces; but he assured the government that if the prince's "choler should press him to seek revenge," he should soon be driven out of the country. the earl would follow him "at an inch," and effectually frustrate all his undertakings. "if the spaniard have such a may as he has had an april," said lord north, "it will put water in his wine." meantime, as st. george's day was approaching, and as the earl was fond of banquets and ceremonies, it was thought desirable to hold a great triumphal feast at utrecht. his journey to that city from the hague was a triumphal procession. in all the towns through which he passed he was entertained with military display, pompous harangues, interludes, dumb shows, and allegories. at amsterdam--a city which he compared to venice for situation and splendour, and where one thousand ships were constantly lying--he was received with "sundry great whales and other fishes of hugeness," that gambolled about his vessel, and convoyed him to the shore. these monsters of the deep presented him to the burgomaster and magistrates who were awaiting him on the quay. the burgomaster made him a latin oration, to which dr. bartholomew clerk responded, and then the earl was ushered to the grand square, upon which, in his honour, a magnificent living picture was exhibited, in which he figured as moses, at the head of the israelites, smiting the philistines hip and thigh. after much mighty banqueting in amsterdam, as in the other cities, the governor-general came to utrecht. through the streets of this antique and most picturesque city flows the palsied current of the rhine, and every barge and bridge were decorated with the flowers of spring. upon this spot, where, eight centuries before the anglo-saxon, willebrod had first astonished the wild frisians with the pacific doctrines of jesus, and had been stoned to death as his reward, stood now a more arrogant representative of english piety. the balconies were crowded with fair women, and decorated with scarves and banners. from the earl's residence--the ancient palace of the knights of rhodes--to the cathedral, the way was lined with a double row of burgher guards, wearing red roses on their arms, and apparelled in the splendid uniforms for which the netherlanders were celebrated. trumpeters in scarlet and silver, barons, knights, and great officers, in cloth of gold and silks of all colours; the young earl of essex, whose career was to be so romantic, and whose fate so tragic; those two ominous personages, the deposed little archbishop-elector of cologne, with his melancholy face, and the unlucky don antonio, pretender of portugal, for whom, dead or alive, thirty thousand crowns and a dukedom were perpetually offered by philip ii.; young maurice of nassau, the future controller of european destinies; great counsellors of state, gentlemen, guardsmen, and portcullis-herald, with the coat of arms of elizabeth, rode in solemn procession along. then great leicester himself, "most princelike in the robes of his order," guarded by a troop of burghers, and by his own fifty halberd-men in scarlet cloaks trimmed with white and purple velvet, pranced gorgeously by. the ancient cathedral, built on the spot where saint willebrod had once ministered, with its light, tapering, brick tower, three hundred and sixty feet in height, its exquisitely mullioned windows, and its elegantly foliaged columns, soon received the glittering throng. hence, after due religious ceremonies, and an english sermon from master knewstubs, leicester's chaplain, was a solemn march back again to the palace, where a stupendous banquet was already laid in the great hall. on the dais at the upper end of the table, blazing with plate and crystal, stood the royal chair, with the queen's plate and knife and fork before it, exactly as if she had been present, while leicester's trencher and stool were set respectfully quite at the edge of the board. in the neighbourhood of this post of honour sat count maurice, the elector, the pretender, and many illustrious english personages, with the fair agnes mansfeld, princess chimay, the daughters of william the silent, and other dames of high degree. before the covers were removed, came limping up to the dais grim-visaged martin schenk, freshly wounded, but triumphant, from the sack of werll, and black john norris, scarcely cured of the spearwounds in his face and breast received at the relief of grave. the sword of knighthood was laid upon the shoulder of each hero, by the earl of leicester, as her majesty's vicegerent; and then the ushers marshalled the mighty feast. meats in the shape of lions, tigers, dragons, and leopards, flanked by peacocks, swans, pheasants, and turkeys "in their natural feathers as in their greatest pride," disappeared, course after course, sonorous metal blowing meanwhile the most triumphant airs. after the banquet came dancing, vaulting, tumbling; together with the "forces of hercules, which gave great delight to the strangers," after which the company separated until evensong. then again, "great was the feast," says the chronicler,--a mighty supper following hard upon the gigantic dinner. after this there was tilting at the barriers, the young earl of essex and other knights bearing themselves more chivalrously than would seem to comport with so much eating and drinking. then, horrible to relate, came another "most sumptuous banquet of sugar-meates for the men-at-arms and the ladies," after which, it being now midnight, the lord of leicester bade the whole company good rest, and the men-at-arms and ladies took their leave. but while all this chivalrous banqueting and holiday-making was in hand, the prince of parma was in reality not quite so much "appalled" by the relief of grave as his antagonist had imagined. the earl, flushed with the success of hohenlo, already believed himself master of the country, and assured his government, that, if he should be reasonably well supplied, he would have antwerp back again and bruges besides before mid june. never, said he, was "the prince of parma so dejected nor so melancholy since he came into these countries, nor so far out of courage." and it is quite true that alexander had reason to be discouraged. he had but eight or nine thousand men, and no money to pay even this little force. the soldiers were perishing daily, and nearly all the survivors were described by their chief, as sick or maimed. the famine in the obedient provinces was universal, the whole population was desperate with hunger; and the merchants, frightened by drake's successes, and appalled by the ruin all around them, drew their purse-strings inexorably. "i know not to what saint to devote myself," said alexander. he had been compelled, by the movement before grave, to withdraw haultepenne from the projected enterprise against neusz, and he was quite aware of the cheerful view which leicester was inclined to take of their relative positions. "the english think they are going to do great things," said he; "and consider themselves masters of the field." nevertheless, on the th may, the dejected melancholy man had left brussels, and joined his little army, consisting of three thousand spaniards and five thousand of all other nations. his veterans, though unpaid; ragged, and half-starved were in raptures to, have their idolized commander among them again, and vowed that under his guidance there was nothing which they could not accomplish. the king's honour, his own, that of the army, all were pledged to take the city. on the success of, that enterprise, he said, depended all his past conquests, and every hope for the future. leicester and the, english, whom he called the head and body of the rebel forces, were equally pledged to relieve the place, and were bent upon meeting him in the field. the earl had taken some forts in the batavia--betuwe; or "good meadow," which he pronounced as fertile and about as large as herefordshire,--and was now threatening nymegen, a city which had been gained for philip by the last effort of schenk, on the royalist side. he was now observing alexander's demonstrations against grave; but, after the recent success in victualling that place, he felt a just confidence in its security. on the st may the trenches were commenced, and on the th june the batteries were opened. the work went rapidly forward when farnese was in the field. "the prince of parma doth batter it like a prince," said lord north, admiring the enemy with the enthusiasm of an honest soldier: on the th of june, as alexander rode through the camp to reconnoitre, previous to an attack. a well-directed cannon ball carried away the hinder half, of his horse. the prince fell to the ground, and, for a moment, dismay was in the spanish ranks. at the next instant, though somewhat bruised, he was on his feet again, and, having found the breach sufficiently promising, he determined on the assault. as a preliminary measure, he wished to occupy a tower which had been battered nearly to ruins, situate near the river. captain de solis was ordered, with sixty veterans, to take possession of this tower, and to "have a look at the countenance of the enemy, without amusing himself with anything else." the tower was soon secured, but solis, in disobedience to his written instructions led his men against the ravelin, which was still in a state of perfect defence. a musket-ball soon stretched him dead beneath the wall, and his followers, still attempting to enter the impracticable breach, were repelled by a shower of stones and blazing pitch-hoops. hot sand; too, poured from sieves and baskets, insinuated itself within the armour of the spaniards, and occasioned such exquisite suffering, that many threw themselves into the river to allay the pain. emerging refreshed, but confused, they attempted in vain to renew the onset. several of the little band were slain, the assault was quite unsuccessful, and the trumpet sounded a recal. so completely discomfited were the spaniards by this repulse, and so thoroughly at their ease were the besieged, that a soldier let himself down from the ramparts of the town for the sake of plundering the body of captain solis, who was richly dressed, and, having accomplished this feat, was quietly helped back again by his comrades from above. to the surprise of the besiegers, however, on the very next morning came a request from the governor of the city, baron hemart, to negotiate for a surrender. alexander was, naturally, but too glad to grant easy terms, and upon the th of june the garrison left the town with colours displayed and drums beating, and the prince of parma marched into it, at the head of his troops. he found a year's provision there for six thousand men, while, at the same time, the walls had suffered so little, that he must have been obliged to wait long for a practicable breach. "there was no good reason even for women to have surrendered the place," exclaimed leicester, when he heard the news. and the earl had cause to be enraged at such a result. he had received a letter only the day before, signed by hemart himself and by all the officers in grave, asserting their determination and ability to hold the place for a good five months, or for an indefinite period, and until they should be relieved. and indeed all the officers, with three exceptions, had protested against the base surrender. but at the bottom of the catastrophe--of the disastrous loss of the city and the utter ruin of young hemart--was a woman. the governor was governed by his mistress, a lady of good family in the place, but of spanish inclinations, and she, for some mysterious reasons, had persuaded him thus voluntarily to capitulate. parma lost no time, however, in exulting over his success. upon the same day the towns of megen and batenburg surrendered to him, and immediately afterwards siege was laid to venlo, a town of importance, lying thirty miles farther up the meuse. the wife and family of martin schenk were in the city, together with two hundred horses, and from forty to one hundred thousand crowns in money, plate; and furniture belonging to him. that bold partisan, accompanied by the mad welshman, roger williams, at the head of one hundred and thirty english lances and thirty of schenk's men, made a wild nocturnal attempt to cut their way through the besieging force, and penetrate to the city. they passed through the enemy's lines, killed all the corps-de-garde, and many spanish troopers--the terrible martin's own hand being most effective in this midnight slaughter--and reached the very door of parma's tent, where they killed his secretary and many of his guards. it was even reported; and generally believed, that farnese himself had been in imminent danger, that schenk had fired his pistol at him unsuccessfully, and had then struck him on the head with its butt-end, and that the prince had only saved his life by leaping from his horse, and scrambling through a ditch. but these seem to have been fables. the alarm at last became general, the dawn of a summer's day was fast approaching; the drums beat to arms, and the bold marauders were obliged to effect their retreat, as they best might, hotly pursued by near two thousand men. having slain many of, the spanish army, and lost nearly half their own number, they at last obtained shelter in wachtendonk. soon afterwards the place capitulated without waiting for a battery, upon moderate terms. schenk's wife was sent away ( june ) courteously with her family, in a coach and four, and with as much "apparel" as might be carried with her. his property was confiscated, for "no fair wars could be made with him." thus, within a few weeks after taking the field, the "dejected, melancholy" man, who was so "out of courage," and the soldiers who were so "marvellously beginning to run away"--according to the earl of leicester--had swept their enemy from every town on the meuse. that river was now, throughout its whole course, in the power of the spaniards. the province of brabant became thoroughly guarded again by its foes, and the enemy's road was opened into the northern provinces. leicester, meantime, had not distinguished himself. it must be confessed that he had been sadly out-generalled. the man who had talked of following the enemy inch by inch, and who had pledged himself not only to protect grave, and any other place that might be attacked, but even to recover antwerp and bruges within a few weeks, had wasted the time in very desultory operations. after the st. george feasting, knewstub sermons, and forces of hercules, were all finished, the earl had taken the field with five thousand foot and fifteen hundred horse. his intention was to clear the yssel; by getting possession of doesburg and zutphen, but, hearing of parma's demonstrations upon grave, he abandoned the contemplated siege of those cities, and came to arnheim. he then crossed the rhine into the isle of batavia, and thence, after taking a few sconces of inferior importance--while schenk, meanwhile, was building on the island of gravenweert, at the bifurcation of the rhine and waal, the sconce so celebrated a century later as 'schenk's fort' (schenkenschans)---he was preparing to pass the waal in order to attack farnese, when he heard to his astonishment, of the surrender of grave. he could therefore--to his chagrin--no longer save that important city, but he could, at least, cut off the head of the culprit. leicester was in bommel when he heard of baron hemart's faint-heartedness or treachery, and his wrath was extravagant in proportion to the exultation with which his previous success had inspired him. he breathed nothing but revenge against the coward and the traitor, who had delivered up the town in "such lewd and beastly sort." "i will never depart hence," he said, "till by the goodness of god i be satisfied someway of this villain's treachery." there could be little doubt that hemart deserved punishment. there could be as little that leicester would mete it out to him in ample measure. "the lewd villain who gave up grave," said he, "and the captains as deep in fault as himself, shall all suffer together." hemart came boldly to meet him. "the honest man came to me at bommel," said leicester, and he assured the government that it was in the hope of persuading the magistrates of that and other towns to imitate his own treachery. but the magistrates straightway delivered the culprit to the governor-general, who immediately placed him under arrest. a court-martial was summoned, th of june, at utrecht, consisting of hohenlo, essex, and other distinguished officers. they found that the conduct of the prisoner merited death, but left it to the earl to decide whether various extenuating circumstances did not justify a pardon. hohenlo and norris exerted themselves to procure a mitigation of the young man's sentence, and they excited thereby the governor's deep indignation. norris, according to leicester, was in love with the culprit's aunt, and was therefore especially desirous of saving his life. moreover, much use was made of the discredit which had been thrown by the queen on the earl's authority, and it was openly maintained, that, being no longer governor-general, he had no authority to order execution upon a netherland officer. the favourable circumstances urged in the case, were, that hemart was a young man, without experience in military matters, and that he had been overcome by the supplications and outcries of the women, panic-struck after the first assault. there were no direct proofs of treachery, or even of personal cowardice. he begged hard for a pardon, not on account of his life, but for the sake of his reputation. he earnestly implored permission to serve under the queen of england, as a private soldier, without pay, on land or sea, for as many years as she should specify, and to be selected for the most dangerous employments, in order that, before he died, he might wipe out the disgrace, which, through his fault, in an hour of weakness, had come upon an ancient and honourable house. much interest was made for him--his family connection being powerful--and a general impression prevailing that he had erred through folly rather than deep guilt. but leicester beating himself upon the breast--as he was wont when excited--swore that there should be no pardon for such a traitor. the states of holland and zeeland, likewise, were decidedly in favour of a severe example. hemart was accordingly led to the scaffold on the th june. he spoke to the people with great calmness, and, in two languages, french and flemish, declared that he was guiltless of treachery, but that the terror and tears of the women, in an hour of panic, had made a coward of him. he was beheaded, standing. the two captains, du ban and koeboekum, who had also been condemned, suffered with him. a third captain, likewise convicted, was, "for very just cause,", pardoned by leicester. the earl persisted in believing that hemart had surrendered the city as part of a deliberate plan, and affirmed that in such a time, when men had come to think no more of giving up a town than of abandoning a house, it was highly necessary to afford an example to traitors and satisfaction to the people. and the people were thoroughly satisfied, according to the governor, and only expressed their regret that three or four members of the states-general could not have their heads cut off as well, being as arrant knaves as henlart; "and so i think they be," added leicester. parma having thus made himself master of the meuse, lost no time in making a demonstration upon the parallel course of the rhine, thirty miles farther east. schenk, kloet; and other partisans, kept that portion of the archi-episcopate and of westphalia in a state of perpetual commotion. early in the, preceding year, count de meurs had, by a fortunate stratagem, captured the town of neusz for the deposed elector, and herman kloet, a young and most determined geldrian soldier, now commanded in the place. the elector ernest had made a visit in disguise to the camp of parma, and had represented the necessity of recovering the city. it had become the stronghold of heretics, rebels, and banditti. the rhine was in their hands, and with it the perpetual power of disturbing the loyal netherlands. it was as much the interest of his catholic majesty as that of the archbishop that neusz should be restored to its lawful owner. parma had felt the force of this reasoning, and had early in the year sent haultepenne to invest the city. he had been obliged to recal that commander during the siege of grave. the place being reduced, alexander, before the grass could grow beneath his feet advanced to the rhine in person. early in july he appeared before the walls of neusz with eight thousand foot and two thousand horse. the garrison under kloet numbered scarcely more than sixteen hundred effective soldiers, all netherlanders and germans, none being english. the city is twenty-miles below cologne. it was so well fortified that a century before it had stood a year's siege from the famous charles the bold, who, after all, had been obliged to retire. it had also resisted the strenuous efforts of charles the fifth; and was now stronger than it ever had been. it was thoroughly well provisioned, so that it was safe enough "if those within it," said leicester, "be men." the earl expressed the opinion, however, that "those fellows were not good to defend towns, unless the besiegers were obliged to swim to the attack." the issue was to show whether the sarcasm were just or not. meantime the town was considered by the governor-general to be secure, "unless towns were to be had for the asking." neusz is not immediately upon the rhine, but that river, which sweeps away in a north-easterly direction from the walls, throws out an arm which completely encircles the town. a part of the place, cut into an island by the erpt, was strengthened by two redoubts. this island was abandoned, as being too weak to hold, and the spaniards took possession of it immediately. there were various preliminary and sanguinary sorties and skirmishes, during which the spaniards after having been once driven from the island, again occupied that position. archbishop ernest came into the camp, and, before proceeding to a cannonade, parma offered to the city certain terms of capitulation, which were approved by that prelate. kloet replied to this proposal, that he was wedded to the town and to his honour, which were as one. these he was incapable of sacrificing, but his life he was ready to lay down. there was, through some misapprehension, a delay in reporting this answer to farnese. meantime that general became impatient, and advanced to the battery of the italian regiment. pretending to be a plenipotentiary from the commander-in-chief, he expostulated in a loud voice at the slowness of their counsels. hardly had he begun to speak, when a shower of balls rattled about him. his own soldiers were terrified at his danger, and a cry arose in the town that "holofernese"--as the flemings and germans were accustomed to nickname farnese--was dead. strange to relate, he was quite unharmed, and walked back to his tent with dignified slowness and a very frowning face. it was said that this breach of truce had been begun by the spaniards, who had fired first, and had been immediately answered by the town. this was hotly denied, and parma sent colonel tasais with a flag of truce to the commander, to rebuke and to desire an explanation of this dishonourable conduct. the answer given, or imagined, was that commander kloet had been sound asleep, but that he now much regretted this untoward accident. the explanation was received with derision, for it seemed hardly probable that so young and energetic a soldier would take the opportunity to refresh himself with slumber at a moment when a treaty for the capitulation of a city under his charge was under discussion. this terminated the negotiation. a few days afterwards, the feast of st james was celebrated in the spanish camp, with bonfires and other demonstrations of hilarity. the townsmen are said to have desecrated the same holiday by roasting alive in the market-place two unfortunate soldiers, who had been captured in a sortie a few days before; besides burning the body of the holy saint quirinus, with other holy relics. the detestable deed was to be most horribly avenged. a steady cannonade from forty-five great guns was kept up from a.m. of july until the dawn of the following day; the cannoneers--being all provided with milk and vinegar to cool the pieces. at daybreak the assault was ordered. eight separate attacks were made with the usual impetuosity of spaniards, and were steadily repulsed. at the ninth, the outer wall was carried, and the spaniards shouting "santiago" poured over it, bearing back all resistance. an italian knight of the sepulchre, cesar guidiccioni by name, and a spanish ensign, one alphonao de mesa, with his colours in one hand and a ladder in the other, each claimed the honour of having first mounted the breach. both being deemed equally worthy of reward, parma, after the city had been won, took from his own cap a sprig of jewels and a golden wheat-ear ornamented with a gem, which he had himself worn in place of a plume, and thus presented each with a brilliant token of his regard. the wall was then strengthened against the inner line of fortification, and all night long a desperate conflict was maintained in the dark upon the narrow space between the two barriers. before daylight kloet, who then, as always, had led his men in the moat desperate adventures, was carried into the town, wounded in five places, and with his leg almost severed at the thigh. "'tis the bravest man," said the enthusiastic lord north, "that was ever heard of in the world."--"he is but a boy," said alexander farnese, "but a commander of extraordinary capacity and valour." early in the morning, when this mishap was known, an officer was sent to the camp of the besiegers to treat. the soldiers received him with furious laughter, and denied him access to the general. "commander kloet had waked from his nap at a wrong time," they said, "and the prince of parma was now sound asleep, in his turn." there was no possibility of commencing a negotiation. the spaniards, heated by the conflict, maddened by opposition, and inspired by the desire to sack a wealthy city, overpowered all resistance. "my little soldiers were not to be restrained," said farnese, and so compelling a reluctant consent on the part of the commander-in-chief to an assault, the italian and spanish legions poured into the town at two opposite gates; which were no longer strong enough to withstand the enemy. the two streams met in the heart of the place, and swept every living thing in their, path out of existence. the garrison was butchered to a man, and subsequently many of the inhabitants--men, women, and children-also, although the women; to the honour of alexander, had been at first secured from harm in some of the churches, where they had been ordered to take refuge. the first blast of indignation was against the commandant of the place. alexander, who had admired, his courage, was not unfavourably disposed towards him, but archbishop ernest vehemently, demanded his immediate death, as a personal favour to himself. as the churchman was nominally sovereign of the city although in reality a beggarly dependant on philip's alms, farnese felt bound to comply. the manner in which it was at first supposed that the bishop's christian request had; been complied, with, sent a shudder through every-heart in the netherlands. "they took kloet, wounded as he was," said lord north, "and first strangled, him, then smeared him with pitch, and burnt him with gunpowder; thus, with their holiness, they, made a tragical end of an heroical service. it is wondered that the prince would suffer so great an outrage to be done to so noble a soldier, who did but his duty." but this was an error. a jesuit priest was sent to the house of the commandant, for a humane effort was thought necessary in order to save the soul of the man whose life was forfeited for the crime of defending his city. the culprit was found lying in bed. his wife, a woman of remarkable beauty, with her sister, was in attendance upon him. the spectacle of those two fair women, nursing a wounded soldier fallen upon the field of honour, might have softened devils with sympathy. but the jesuit was closely followed by a band of soldiers, who, notwithstanding the supplications of the women, and the demand of kloet to be indulged with a soldier's death, tied a rope round the commandant's necks dragged him from his bed, and hanged him from his own window. the calvinist clergyman, fosserus of oppenheim, the deacons of the congregation, two military officers, and--said parma--"forty other rascals," were murdered in the same way at the same time. the bodies remained at the window till they were devoured by the flames, which soon consumed the house. for a vast conflagration, caused none knew whether by accident, by the despair of the inhabitants; by the previous, arrangements of the commandant, by the latest-arrived bands of the besiegers enraged that the italians and spaniards had been beforehand with them in the spoils, or--as farnese more maturely believed--by the special agency of the almighty, offended with the burning of saint quirinus,--now came to complete the horror of the scene. three-quarters of the town were at once in a blaze. the churches, where the affrighted women had been cowering during the sack and slaughter, were soon on fire, and now, amid the crash of falling houses and the uproar of the drunken soldiery, those unhappy victims were seen flitting along the flaming streets; seeking refuge against the fury of the elements in the more horrible cruelty of man. the fire lasted all day and night, and not one stone would have been left upon another, had not the body of a second saint, saved on a former occasion from the heretics by the piety of a citizen, been fortunately deposited in his house. at this point the conflagration was stayed--for the flames refused to consume these holy relics--but almost the whole of the town was destroyed, while at least four thousand people, citizens and soldiers, had perished by sword or fire. three hundred survivors of the garrison took refuge in a tower. its base was surrounded, and, after brief parley, they descended as prisoners. the prince and haultepenne attempted in vain to protect them against the fury of the soldiers, and every man of them was instantly put to death. the next day, alexander gave orders that the wife and sister of the commandant should be protected--for they had escaped, as if by miracle, from all the horrors of that day and night--and sent, under escort, to their friends! neusz had nearly ceased to exist, for according to contemporaneous accounts, but eight houses had escaped destruction. and the reflection was most painful to leicester and to every generous englishman or netherlander in the country, that this important city and its heroic defenders might have been preserved, but for want of harmony and want of money. twice had the earl got together a force of four thousand men for the relief of the place, and twice had he been obliged to disband them again for the lack of funds to set them in the field. he had pawned his plate and other valuables, exhausted his credit, and had nothing for it but to wait for the queen's tardy remittances, and to wrangle with the states; for the leaders of that body were unwilling to accord large supplies to a man who had become personally suspected by them, and was the representative of a deeply-suspected government. meanwhile, one-third at least of the money which really found its way from time to time out of england, was filched from the "poor starved wretches," as leicester called his soldiers, by the dishonesty of norris, uncle of sir john and army-treasurer. this man was growing so rich on his peculations, on his commissions, and on his profits from paying the troops in a depreciated coin, that leicester declared the whole revenue of his own landed estates in england to be less than that functionary's annual income. thus it was difficult to say whether the "ragged rogues" of elizabeth or the maimed and neglected soldiers of philip were in the more pitiable plight. the only consolation in the recent reduction of neusz was to be found in the fact that parma had only gained a position, for the town had ceased to exist; and in the fiction that he had paid for his triumph by the loss of six thousand soldiers, killed and wounded. in reality not more than five hundred of farnese's army lost their lives, and although the town, excepting some churches, had certainly been destroyed; yet the prince was now master of the rhine as far as cologne, and of the meuse as far as grave. the famine which pressed so sorely upon him, might now be relieved, and his military communications with germany be considered secure. the conqueror now turned his attention to rheinberg, twenty-five miles farther down the river. sir philip sidney had not been well satisfied by the comparative idleness in which, from these various circumstances; he had been compelled to remain. early in the spring he had been desirous of making an attack upon flanders by capturing the town of steenberg. the faithful roger williams had strongly seconded the proposal. "we wish to show your excellency," said he to leicester, "that we are not sound asleep." the welshman was not likely to be accused of somnolence, but on this occasion sidney and himself had been overruled. at a later moment, and during the siege of neusz, sir philip had the satisfaction of making a successful foray into flanders. the expedition had been planned by prince maurice of nassau, and was his. earliest military achievement. he proposed carrying by surprise, the city of axel, a well-built, strongly-fortified town on the south-western edge of the great scheldt estuary, and very important from its position. its acquisition would make the hold of the patriots and the english upon sluys and ostend more secure, and give them many opportunities of annoying the enemy in flanders. early in july, maurice wrote to the earl of leicester, communicating the particulars of his scheme, but begging that the affair might be "very secretly handled," and kept from every one but sidney. leicester accordingly sent his nephew to maurice that they might consult together upon the enterprise, and make sure "that there was no ill intent, there being so much treachery in the world." sidney found no treachery in young maurice, but only, a noble and intelligent love of adventure, and the two arranged their plans in harmony. leicester, then, in order to deceive the enemy, came to bergen-op-zoom, with five hundred men, where he remained two days, not sleeping a wink, as he averred, during the whole time. in the night of tuesday, th of july, the five hundred english soldiers were despatched by water, under charge of lord willoughby, "who," said the earl, "would needs go with them." young hatton, too, son of sir christopher, also volunteered on the service, "as his first nursling." sidney had, five hundred of his own zeeland regiment in readiness, and the rendezvous was upon the broad waters of the scheldt, opposite flushing. the plan was neatly carried out, and the united flotilla, in a dark, calm, midsummer's night, rowed across the smooth estuary and landed at ter neuse, about a league from axel. here they were joined by maurice with some netherland companies, and the united troops, between two and three thousand strong, marched at once to the place proposed. before two in the morning they had reached axel, but found the moat very deep. forty soldiers immediately plunged in, however, carrying their ladders with them, swam across, scaled the rampart, killed, the guard, whom they found asleep in their beds, and opened the gates for their comrades. the whole force then marched in, the dutch companies under colonel pyion being first, lord willoughby's men being second, and sir philip with his zeelanders bringing up the rear. the garrison, between five and six hundred in number, though surprised, resisted gallantly, and were all put to the sword. of the invaders, not a single man lost his life. sidney most generously rewarded from his own purse the adventurous soldiers who had swum the moat; and it was to his care and intelligence that the success of prince maurice's scheme was generally attributed. the achievement was hailed with great satisfaction, and it somewhat raised the drooping spirits of the patriots after their severe losses at grave and venlo. "this victory hath happened in good time," wrote thomas cecil to his father, "and hath made us somewhat to lift up our heads." a garrison of eight hundred, under colonel pyron, was left in axel, and the dykes around were then pierced. upwards of two millions' worth of property in grass, cattle, corn, was thus immediately destroyed in the territory of the obedient netherlands. after an unsuccessful attempt to surprise gravelines, the governor of which place, the veteran la motte, was not so easily taken napping; sir philip having gained much reputation by this conquest of axel, then joined the main body of the army, under leicester, at arnheim. yet, after all, sir philip had not grown in favour with her majesty during his service in the low countries. he had also been disappointed in the government of zeeland, to which post his uncle had destined him. the cause of leicester's ambition had been frustrated by the policy of barneveld and buys, in pursuance of which count or prince maurice--as he was now purposely designated, in order that his rank might surpass that of the earl--had become stadholder and captain general both of holland and zeeland. the earl had given his nephew, however, the colonelcy of the zeeland regiment, vacant by the death of admiral haultain on the kowenstyn dyke. this promotion had excited much anger among the high officers in the netherlands who, at the instigation of count hohenlo, had presented a remonstrance upon the subject to the governor-general. it had always been the custom, they said, with the late prince of orange, to confer promotion according to seniority, without regard to social rank, and they were therefore unwilling that a young foreigner, who had just entered the service; should thus be advanced over the heads of veterans who had been campaigning there so many weary years. at the same time the gentlemen who signed the paper protested to sir philip, in another letter, "with all the same hands," that they had no personal feeling towards him, but, on the contrary, that they wished him all honour. young maurice himself had always manifested the most friendly feelings toward sidney, although influenced in his action by the statesmen who were already organizing a powerful opposition to leicester. "count maurice showed himself constantly, kind in the matter of the regiment," said sir philip, "but mr. paul buss has so many busses in his head, such as you shall find he will be to god and man about one pitch. happy is the communication of them that join in the fear of god." hohenlo, too, or hollock, as he was called by the french and english, was much governed by buys and olden-barneveld. reckless and daring, but loose of life and uncertain of purpose, he was most dangerous, unless under safe guidance. roger williams--who vowed that but for the love he bore to sidney and leicester, he would not remain ten days in the netherlands--was much disgusted by hohenlo's conduct in regard to the zeeland regiment. "'tis a mutinous request of hollock," said he, "that strangers should not command netherlanders. he and his alemaynes are farther born from zeeland than sir philip is. either you must make hollock assured to you, or you must disgrace him. if he will not be yours, i will show you means to disinherit him of all his commands at small danger. what service doth he, count solms, count overatein, with their almaynes, but spend treasure and consume great contributions?" it was, very natural that the chivalrous sidney, who had come to the netherlands to win glory in the field, should be desirous of posts that would bring danger and distinction with them. he was not there merely that he might govern flushing, important as it was, particularly as the garrison was, according to his statement, about as able to maintain the town, "as the tower was to answer for london." he disapproved of his wife's inclination to join him in holland, for he was likely--so he wrote to her father, walsingham--"to run such a course as would not be fit for any of the feminine gender." he had been, however; grieved to the heart, by the spectacle which was perpetually exhibited of the queen's parsimony, and of the consequent suffering of the soldiers. twelve or fifteen thousand englishmen were serving in the netherlands--more than two thirds of them in her majesty's immediate employment. no troops had ever fought better, or more honourably maintained the ancient glory of england. but rarely had more ragged and wretched warriors been seen than they, after a few months' campaigning. the irish kernes--some fifteen hundred of whom were among the auxiliaries--were better off, for they habitually dispensed with clothing; an apron from waist to knee being the only protection of these wild kelts, who fought with the valour, and nearly, in the costume of homeric heroes. fearing nothing, needing nothing, sparing nothing, they stalked about the fens of zeeland upon their long stilts, or leaped across running rivers, scaling ramparts, robbing the highways, burning, butchering, and maltreating the villages and their inhabitants, with as little regard for the laws of christian warfare as for those of civilized costume. other soldiers, more sophisticated as to apparel, were less at their ease. the generous sidney spent all his means, and loaded himself with debt, in order to relieve the necessities of the poor soldiers. he protested that if the queen would not pay her troops, she would lose her troops, but that no living man should say the fault was in him. "what relief i can do them i will," he wrote to his father-in-law; "i will spare no danger, if occasion serves. i am sure that no creature shall lay injustice to my charge." very soon it was discovered that the starving troops had to contend not only with the queen's niggardliness but with the dishonesty of her agents. treasurer norris was constantly accused by leicester and sidney of gross peculation. five per cent., according to sir philip, was lost to the zeeland soldiers in every payment, "and god knows," he said, "they want no such hindrance, being scarce able to keep life with their entire pay. truly it is but poor increase to her majesty, considering what loss it is to the miserable soldier." discipline and endurance were sure to be sacrificed, in the end, to such short-sighted economy. "when soldiers," said sidney, "grow to despair, and give up towns, then it is too late to buy with hundred thousands what might have been saved with a trifle." this plain dealing, on the part of sidney, was anything but agreeable to the queen, who was far from feeling regret that his high-soaring expectations had been somewhat blighted in the provinces. he often expressed his mortification that her majesty was disposed to interpret everything to, his disadvantage. "i understand," said he, "that i am called ambitious, and very proud at home, but certainly, if they knew my heart, they would not altogether so judge me." elizabeth had taken part with hohenlo against sir philip in the matter of the zeeland regiment, and in this perhaps she was not entirely to be blamed. but she inveighed needlessly against his ambitious seeking of the office, and--as walsingham observed--"she was very apt, upon every light occasion, to find fault with him." it is probable that his complaints against the army treasurer, and his manful defence of the "miserable soldiers," more than counterbalanced, in the queen's estimation, his chivalry in the field. nevertheless he had now the satisfaction of having gained an important city in flanders; and on subsequently joining the army under his uncle, he indulged the hope of earning still greater distinction. martin schenk had meanwhile been successfully defending rheinberg, for several weeks, against parma's forces. it was necessary, however, that leicester, notwithstanding the impoverished condition of his troops, should make some diversion, while his formidable antagonist was thus carrying all before him. he assembled, accordingly, in the month of august, all the troops that could be brought into the field, and reviewed them, with much ceremony, in the neighbourhood of arnheim. his army--barely numbered seven thousand foot and two thousand horse, but he gave out, very extensively, that he had fourteen thousand under his command, and he was moreover expecting a force of three thousand reiters, and as many pikemen recently levied in germany. lord essex was general of the cavalry, sir william pelham--a distinguished soldier, who had recently arrived out of england, after the most urgent solicitations to the queen, for that end, by leicester--was lord-marshal of the camp, and sir john norris was colonel-general of the infantry. after the parade, two sermons were preached upon the hillside to the soldiers, and then there was a council of war: it was decided--notwithstanding the earl's announcement of his intentions to attack parma in person--that the condition of the army did not warrant such an enterprise. it was thought better to lay siege to zutphen. this step, if successful, would place in the power of the republic and her ally a city of great importance and strength. in every event the attempt would probably compel farnese to raise the siege of berg. leicester, accordingly, with "his brave troop of able and likely men"--five thousand of the infantry being english--advanced as far as doesburg. this city, seated at the confluence of the ancient canal of drusus and the yssel, five miles above zutphen, it was necessary, as a preliminary measure, to secure. it was not a very strong place, being rather slightly walled with brick, and with a foss drawing not more than three feet of water. by the th august it had been completely invested. on the same night, at ten o'clock, sir william pelham, came to the earl to tell him "what beastly pioneers the dutchmen were." leicester accordingly determined, notwithstanding the lord-marshal's entreaties, to proceed to the trenches in person. there being but faint light, the two lost their way, and soon found themselves nearly, at the gate of the town. here, while groping about in the dark; and trying to effect their retreat, they were saluted with a shot, which struck sir william in the stomach. for an instant; thinking himself mortally injured, he expressed his satisfaction that he had been, between the commander-in-chief and the blow, and made other "comfortable and resolute speeches." very fortunately, however, it proved that the marshal was not seriously hurt, and, after a few days, he was about his work as usual, although obliged--as the earl of leicester expressed it--"to carry a bullet in his belly as long as he should live." roger williams, too, that valiant adventurer--"but no, more valiant than wise, and worth his weight in gold," according to the appreciative leicester--was shot through the arm. for the dare-devil welshman, much to the earl's regret, persisted in running up and down the trenches "with a great plume of feathers in his gilt morion," and in otherwise making a very conspicuous mark of himself "within pointblank of a caliver." notwithstanding these mishaps, however, the siege went successfully forward. upon the nd september the earl began to batter, and after a brisk cannonade, from dawn till two in the afternoon, he had considerably damaged the wall in two places. one of the breaches was eighty feet wide, the other half as large, but the besieged had stuffed them full of beds, tubs, logs of wood, boards, and "such like trash," by means whereof the ascent was not so easy as it seemed. the soldiers were excessively eager for the assault. sir john norris came to leicester to receive his orders as to the command of the attacking party. the earl referred the matter to him. "there is no man," answered sir john, "fitter for that purpose than myself; for i am colonel-general of the infantry." but leicester, not willing to indulge so unreasonable a proposal, replied that he would reserve him for service of less hazard and greater importance. norris being, as usual, "satis prodigus magnae animae," was out of humour at the refusal, and ascribed it to the earl's persistent hostility to him and his family. it was then arranged that the assault upon the principal breach should be led by younger officers, to be supported by sir john and other veterans. the other breach was assigned to the dutch and scotch-black norris scowling at them the while with jealous eyes; fearing that they might get the start of the english party, and be first to enter the town. a party of noble volunteers clustered about sir john-lord burgh, sir thomas cecil, sir philip sidney, and his brother robert among the rest--most impatient for the signal. the race was obviously to be a sharp one. the governor-general forbade these violent demonstrations, but lord burgh, "in a most vehement passion, waived the countermand," and his insubordination was very generally imitated. before the signal was given, however, leicester sent a trumpet to summon the town to surrender, and could with difficulty restrain his soldiers till the answer should be returned. to the universal disappointment, the garrison agreed to surrender. norris himself then stepped forward to the breach, and cried aloud the terms, lest the returning herald, who had been sent back by leicester, should offer too favourable a capitulation. it was arranged that the soldiers should retire without arms, with white wands in their hands--the officers remaining prisoners--and that the burghers, their lives, and property, should be at leicester's disposal. the earl gave most peremptory orders that persons and goods should be respected, but his commands were dis obeyed. sir william stanley's men committed frightful disorders, and thoroughly, rifled the town." "and because," said norris, "i found fault herewith, sir william began to quarrel with me, hath braved me extremely, refuseth to take any direction from me, and although i have sought for redress, yet it is proceeded in so coldly, that he taketh encouragement rather to increase the quarrel than to leave it." notwithstanding therefore the decree of leicester, the expostulations and anger of norris, and the energetic efforts of lord essex and other generals, who went about smiting the marauders on the head, the soldiers sacked the city, and committed various disorders, in spite of the capitulation. doesburg having been thus reduced, the earl now proceeded toward the more important city which he had determined to besiege. zutphen, or south-fen, an antique town of wealth and elegance, was the capital of the old landgraves of zutphen. it is situate on the right bank of the yssel, that branch of the rhine which flows between gelderland and overyssel into the zuyder-zee. the ancient river, broad, deep, and languid, glides through a plain of almost boundless extent, till it loses itself in the flat and misty horizon. on the other side of the stream, in the district called the veluwe, or bad meadow, were three sconces, one of them of remarkable strength. an island between the city and the shore was likewise well fortified. on the landward side the town was protected by a wall and moat sufficiently strong in those infant days of artillery. near the hospital-gate, on the east, was an external fortress guarding the road to warnsfeld. this was a small village, with a solitary slender church-spire, shooting up above a cluster of neat one-storied houses. it was about an english mile from zutphen, in the midst of a wide, low, somewhat fenny plain, which, in winter, became so completely a lake, that peasants were not unfrequently drowned in attempting to pass from the city to the village. in summer, the vague expanse of country was fertile and cheerful of aspect. long rows of poplars marking the straight highways, clumps of pollard willows scattered around the little meres, snug farm-houses, with kitchen-gardens and brilliant flower-patches dotting the level plain, verdant pastures sweeping off into seemingly infinite distance, where the innumerable cattle seemed to swarm like insects, wind-mills swinging their arms in all directions, like protective giants, to save the country from inundation, the lagging sail of market-boats shining through rows of orchard trees--all gave to the environs of zutphen a tranquil and domestic charm. deventer and kampen, the two other places on the river, were in the hands of the states. it was, therefore, desirable for the english and the patriots, by gaining possession of zutphen, to obtain control of the yssel; driven, as they had been, from the meuse and rhine. sir john norris, by leicester's direction, took possession of a small rising-ground, called 'gibbet dill' on the land-side; where he established a fortified camp, and proceeded to invest the city. with him were count lewis william of nassau, and sir philip sidney, while the earl himself, crossing the yssel on a bridge of boats which he had constructed, reserved for himself the reduction of the forts upon the veluwe side. farnese, meantime, was not idle; and leicester's calculations proved correct. so soon as the prince was informed of this important demonstration of the enemy he broke up--after brief debate with his officers--his camp before rheinberg, and came to wesel. at this place he built a bridge over the rhine, and fortified it with two block-houses. these he placed under command of claude berlot, who was ordered to watch strictly all communication up the river with the city of rheinberg, which he thus kept in a partially beleaguered state. alexander then advanced rapidly by way of groll and burik, both which places he took possession of, to the neighbourhood of zutphen. he was determined, at every hazard, to relieve that important city; and although, after leaving necessary detachments on the, way; he had but five thousand men under his command, besides fifteen hundred under verdugo--making sixty-five hundred in all--he had decided that the necessity of the case, and his own honour; required him to seek the enemy, and to leave, as he said, the issue with the god of battles, whose cause it was. tassis, lieutenant-governor of gelderland, was ordered into the city with two cornets of horse and six hundred foot. as large a number, had already been stationed there. verdugo, who had been awaiting the arrival of the prince at borkelo, a dozen miles from zutphen, with four hundred foot and two hundred horse, now likewise entered the city. on the night of th august alexander himself entered zutphen for the purpose of encouraging the garrison by promise of-relief, and of ascertaining the position of the enemy by personal observation. his presence as it always did, inspired the soldiers with enthusiasm, so that they could with difficulty be restrained from rushing forth to assault the besiegers. in regard to the enemy he found that gibbet hill was still occupied by sir john norris, "the best soldier, in his opinion, that they had," who had entrenched himself very strongly, and was supposed to have thirty-five hundred men under his command. his position seemed quite impregnable. the rest of the english were on the other side of the river, and alexander observed, with satisfaction, that they had abandoned a small redoubt, near the leper-house, outside the loor-gate, through which the reinforcements must enter the city. the prince determined to profit by this mistake, and to seize the opportunity thus afforded of sending those much needed supplies. during the night the enemy were found to be throwing up works "most furiously," and skirmishing parties were sent out of the town to annoy them. in the darkness nothing of consequence was effected, but a scotch officer was captured, who informed the spanish commander that the enemy was fifteen thousand strong--a number which was nearly double that of leicester's actual force. in the morning alexander returned to his camp at borkelo--leaving tassis in command of the veluwe forts, and verdugo in the city itself--and he at once made rapid work in collecting victuals. he had soon wheat and other supplies in readiness, sufficient to feed four thousand mouths for three months, and these he determined to send into the city immediately, and at every hazard. the great convoy which was now to be despatched required great care and a powerful escort. twenty-five hundred musketeers and pikemen, of whom one thousand were spaniards, and six hundred cavalry, epirotes; spaniards, and italians, under hannibal gonzaga, george crescia, bentivoglio, sesa, and others, were accordingly detailed for this expedition. the marquis del vasto, to whom was entrusted the chief command, was ordered to march from borkelo at midnight on wednesday, october (st. nov.) [n.s.]. it was calculated that he would reach a certain hillock not far from warnsfeld by dawn of day. here he was to pause, and send forward an officer towards the town, communicating his arrival, and requesting the cooperation of verdugo, who was to make a sortie with one thousand men, according to alexander's previous arrangements. the plan was successfully carried out. the marquis arrived by daybreak at the spot indicated, and despatched captain de vega who contrived to send intelligence of the fact. a trooper, whom parma had himself sent to verdugo with earlier information of the movement, had been captured on the way. leicester had therefore been apprized, at an early moment, of the prince's intentions, but he was not aware that the convoy would be accompanied by so strong a force as had really been detailed. he had accordingly ordered sir john norris, who commanded on the outside of the town near the road which the spaniards must traverse, to place an ambuscade in his way. sir john, always ready for adventurous enterprises, took a body of two hundred cavalry, all picked men, and ordered sir william stanley, with three hundred pikemen, to follow. a much stronger force of infantry was held in reserve and readiness, but it was not thought that it would be required. the ambuscade was successfully placed, before the dawn of thursday morning, in the neighbourhood of warnsfeld church. on the other hand, the earl of leicester himself, anxious as to the result, came across the river just at daybreak. he was accompanied by the chief gentlemen in his camp, who could never be restrained when blows were passing current. the business that morning was a commonplace and practical though an important, one--to "impeach" a convoy of wheat and barley, butter, cheese, and beef--but the names of those noble and knightly volunteers, familiar throughout christendom, sound like the roll-call for some chivalrous tournament. there were essex and audley, stanley, pelham, russell, both the sidneys, all the norrises, men whose valour had been. proved on many a hard-fought battle-field. there, too, was the famous hero of british ballad whose name was so often to ring on the plains of the netherlands-- "the brave lord willoughby, of courage fierce and fell, who would not give one inch of way for all the devils in hell." twenty such volunteers as these sat on horseback that morning around the stately earl of leicester. it seemed an incredible extravagance to send a handful of such heroes against an army. but the english commander-in-chief had been listening to the insidious tongue of roland york--that bold, plausible, unscrupulous partisan, already twice a renegade, of whom more was ere long to be heard in the netherlands and england. of the man's courage there could be no doubt, and he was about to fight that morning in the front rank at the head of his company. but he had, for some mysterious reason, been bent upon persuading the earl that the spaniards were no match for englishmen at a hand-to-hand contest. when they could ride freely up and down, he said, and use their lances as they liked, they were formidable. but the english were stronger men, better riders, better mounted, and better armed. the spaniards hated helmets and proof armour, while the english trooper, in casque, cuirass, and greaves, was a living fortress impregnable to spanish or italian light horsemen. and leicester seemed almost convinced by his reasoning. it was five o'clock of a chill autumn morning. it was time for day to break, but the fog was so thick that a man at the distance of five yards was quite invisible. the creaking of waggon-wheels and the measured tramp of soldiers soon became faintly audible however to sir john norris and his five hundred as they sat there in the mist. presently came galloping forward in hot haste those nobles and gentlemen, with their esquires, fifty men in all--sidney, willoughby, and the rest--whom leicester had no longer been able to restrain from taking part in the adventure. a force of infantry, the amount of which cannot be satisfactorily ascertained, had been ordered by the earl to cross the bridge at a later moment. sidney's cornet of horse was then in deventer, to which place it had been sent in order to assist in quelling an anticipated revolt, so that he came, like most of his companions, as a private volunteer and knight-errant. the arrival of the expected convoy was soon more distinctly heard, but no scouts or outposts had been stationed to give timely notice, of the enemy's movements. suddenly the fog, which had shrouded the scene so closely, rolled away like a curtain, and in the full light of an october morning the englishmen found themselves face to face with a compact body of more than three thousand men. the marquis del vasto rode at the head of the forces surrounded by a band of mounted arquebus men. the cavalry, under the famous epirote chief george crescia, hannibal gonzaga, bentivoglio, sesa, conti, and other distinguished commanders, followed; the columns of pikemen and musketeers lined the, hedge-rows on both sides the causeway; while between them the long train of waggons came slowly along under their protection. the whole force had got in motion after having sent notice of their arrival to verdugo, who, with one or two thousand men, was expected to sally forth almost immediately from the city-gate. there was but brief time for deliberation. notwithstanding the tremendous odds there was no thought of retreat. black norris called to sir william stanley, with whom he had been at variance so lately at doesburg. "there hath been ill-blood between us," he said. "let us be friends together this day, and die side by side, if need be, in her majesty's cause." "if you see me not serve my prince with faithful courage now," replied stanley, "account, me for ever a coward. living or dying i will stand err lie by you in friendship." as they were speaking these words the young earl of essex, general of the horse, cried to his, handful of troopers: "follow me, good fellows, for the honour of england and of england's queen!" as he spoke he dashed, lance in rest, upon the enemy's cavalry, overthrew the foremost man, horse and rider, shivered his own spear to splinters, and then, swinging his cartel-axe, rode merrily forward. his whole little troop, compact, as an arrow-head, flew with an irresistible shock against the opposing columns, pierced clean through them, and scattered them in all directions. at the very first charge one hundred english horsemen drove the spanish and albanian cavalry back upon the musketeers and pikemen. wheeling with rapidity, they retired before a volley of musket-shot, by which many horses and a few riders were killed; and then formed again to renew the attack. sir philip sidney, an coming to the field, having met sir william pelham, the veteran lord marshal, lightly armed, had with chivalrous extravagance thrown off his own cuishes, and now rode to the battle with no armour but his cuirass. at the second charge his horse was shot under him, but, mounting another, he was seen everywhere, in the thick of the fight, behaving himself with a gallantry which extorted admiration even from the enemy. for the battle was a series of personal encounters in which high officers were doing the work of private, soldiers. lord north, who had been lying "bed-rid" with a musket-shot in the leg, had got himself put on horseback, and with "one boot on and one boot off," bore himself, "most lustily" through the whole affair. "i desire that her majesty may know;" he said, "that i live but to, serve her. a better barony than i have could not hire the lord north to live, on meaner terms." sir william russell laid about him with his curtel-axe to such purpose that the spaniards pronounced him a devil and not a man. "wherever," said an eye-witness, "he saw five or six of the enemy together; thither would he, and with his hard knocks soon separated their friendship." lord willoughby encountered george crescia, general of the famed albanian cavalry, unhorsed him at the first shock, and rolled him into the ditch. "i yield me thy prisoner," called out the epirote in french, "for thou art a 'preux chevalier;'" while willoughby, trusting to his captive's word, galloped onward, and with him the rest of the little troop, till they seemed swallowed up by the superior numbers of the enemy. his horse was shot under him, his basses were torn from his legs, and he was nearly taken a prisoner, but fought his way back with incredible strength and good fortune. sir william stanley's horse had seven bullets in him, but bore his rider unhurt to the end of the battle. leicester declared sir william and "old reads" to be "worth their, weight in pearl." hannibal gonzaga, leader of the spanish cavalry, fell mortally wounded a the marquis del vasto, commander of the expedition, nearly met the same fate. an englishman was just cleaving his head with a battle-axe, when a spaniard transfixed the soldier with his pike. the most obstinate struggle took place about the train of waggons. the teamsters had fled in the beginning of the action, but the english and spanish soldiers, struggling with the horses, and pulling them forward and backward, tried in vain to get exclusive possession of the convoy which was the cause of the action. the carts at last forced their way slowly nearer and nearer to the town, while the combat still went on, warm as ever, between the hostile squadrons. the action, lasted an hour and a half, and again and again the spanish horsemen wavered and broke before the handful of english, and fell back upon their musketeers. sir philip sidney, in the last charge, rode quite through the enemy's ranks till he came upon their entrenchments, when a musket-ball from the camp struck him upon the thigh, three inches above the knee. although desperately wounded in a part which should have been protected by the cuishes which he had thrown aside, he was not inclined to leave the field; but his own horse had been shot under him at the-beginning of the action, and the one upon which he was now mounted became too restive for him, thus crippled, to control. he turned reluctantly away, and rode a mile and a half back to the entrenchments, suffering extreme pain, for his leg was dreadfully shattered. as he past along the edge of the battle-field his attendants brought him a bottle of water to quench his raging thirst. at, that moment a wounded english soldier, "who had eaten his last at the same feast," looked up wistfully, in his face, when sidney instantly handed him the flask, exclaiming, "thy necessity is even greater than mine." he then pledged his dying comrade in a draught, and was soon afterwards met by his uncle. "oh, philip," cried leicester, in despair, "i am truly grieved to see thee in this plight." but sidney comforted him with manful words, and assured him that death was sweet in the cause of his queen and country. sir william russell, too, all blood-stained from the fight, threw his arms around his friend, wept like a child, and kissing his hand, exclaimed, "oh! noble sir philip, never did man attain hurt so honourably or serve so valiantly as you." sir william pelham declared "that sidney's noble courage in the face of our enemies had won him a name of continuing honour." the wounded gentleman was borne back to the camp, and thence in a barge to arnheim. the fight was over. sir john norris bade lord leicester "be merry, for," said he, "you have had the honourablest day. a handful of men has driven the enemy three times to retreat." but, in truth, it was now time for the english to retire in their turn. their reserve never arrived. the whole force engaged against the thirty-five hundred spaniards had never exceeded two hundred and fifty horse and three hundred foot, and of this number the chief work had beer done by the fifty or sixty volunteers and their followers. the heroism which had been displayed was fruitless, except as a proof--and so leicester wrote to the palatine john casimir--"that spaniards were not invincible." two thousand men now sallied from the loor gate under verdugo and tassis, to join the force under vasto, and the english were forced to retreat. the whole convoy was then carried into the city, and the spaniards remained masters of the field. thirteen troopers and twenty-two foot soldiers; upon the english side, were killed. the enemy lost perhaps two hundred men. they were thrice turned from their position, and thrice routed, but they succeeded at last in their attempt to carry their convoy into zutphen. upon that day, and the succeeding ones, the town was completely victualled. very little, therefore, save honour, was gained by the display of english valour against overwhelming numbers; five hundred against, near, four thousand. never in the whole course of the war had there been such fighting, for the troops upon both sides were picked men and veterans. for a long time afterwards it was the custom of spaniards and netherlanders, in characterising a hardly-contested action, to call it as warm as the fight at zutphen. "i think i may call it," said leicester, "the most notable encounter that hath been in our age, and it will remain to our posterity famous." nevertheless it is probable that the encounter would have been forgotten by posterity but for the melancholy close upon that field to sidney's bright career. and perhaps the queen of england had as much reason to blush for the incompetency of her general and favourite as to be proud. of the heroism displayed by her officers and soldiers. "there were too many indeed at this skirmish of the better sort," said leicester; "only a two hundred and fifty horse, and most of them the best of this camp, and unawares to me. i was offended when i knew it, but could not fetch them back; but since they all so well escaped (save my dear nephew), i would not for ten thousand pounds but they had been there, since they have all won that honour they have. your lordship never heard of such desperate charges as they gave upon the enemies in the face of their muskets." he described sidney's wound as "very dangerous, the bone being broken in pieces;" but said that the surgeons were in good hope. "i pray god to save his life," said the earl, "and i care not how lame he be." sir philip was carried to arnheim, where the best surgeons were immediately in attendance upon him. he submitted to their examination and the pain which they inflicted, with great cheerfulness, although himself persuaded that his wound was mortal. for many days the result was doubtful, and messages were sent day by day to england that he was convalescent--intelligence which was hailed by the queen and people as a matter not of private but of public rejoicing. he soon began to fail, however. count hohenlo was badly wounded a few days later before the great fort of zutphen. a musket-ball entered his mouth; and passed through his cheek, carrying off a jewel which hung in his ear. notwithstanding his own critical condition, however, hohenlo sent his surgeon, adrian van den spiegel, a man of great skill, to wait upon sir philip, but adrian soon felt that the case was hopeless. meantime fever and gangrene attacked the count himself; and those in attendance upon him, fearing for his life, sent for his surgeon. leicester refused to allow adrian to depart, and hohenlo very generously acquiescing in the decree, but, also requiring the surgeon's personal care, caused himself to be transported in a litter to arnheim. sidney was first to recognise the symptoms of mortification, which made a fatal result inevitable. his demeanour during his sickness and upon his death-bed was as beautiful as his life. he discoursed with his friends concerning the immortality of the soul, comparing the doctrines of plato and of other ancient philosophers, whose writings were so familiar to him, with the revelations of scripture and with the dictates of natural religion. he made his will with minute and elaborate provisions, leaving bequests, remembrances, and rings, to all his friends. then he indulged himself with music, and listened particularly to a strange song which he had himself composed during his illness, and which he had entitled 'la cuisse rompue.' he took leave of the friends around him with perfect calmness; saying to his brother robert, "love my memory. cherish my friends. above all, govern your will and affections by the will and word of your creator; in me beholding the end of this world with all her vanities." and thus this gentle and heroic spirit took its flight. parma, after thoroughly victualling zutphen, turned his attention to the german levies which leicester was expecting under the care of count meurs. "if the enemy is reinforced by these six thousand fresh troops," said alexander; "it will make him master of the field." and well he might hold this opinion, for, in the meagre state of both the spanish and the liberating armies, the addition of three thousand fresh reiters and as many infantry would be enough to turn the scale. the duke of parma--for, since the recent death of his father, farnese had succeeded to his title--determined in person to seek the german troops, and to destroy them if possible. but they never gave him the chance. their muster-place was bremen, but when they heard that the terrible 'holofernese' was in pursuit of them, and that the commencement of their service would be a pitched battle with his spaniards and italians, they broke up and scattered about the country. soon afterwards the duke tried another method of effectually dispersing them, in case they still retained a wish to fulfil their engagement with leicester. he sent a messenger to treat with them, and in consequence two of their rittmeisters; paid him a visit. he offered to give them higher pay, and "ready money in place of tricks and promises." the mercenary heroes listened very favourably to his proposals, although they had already received--besides the tricks and promises--at least one hundred thousand florins out of the states' treasury. after proceeding thus far in the negotiation, however, parma concluded, as the season was so far advanced, that it was sufficient to have dispersed them, and to have deprived the english and patriots of their services. so he gave the two majors a gold chain a-piece, and they went their way thoroughly satisfied. "i have got them away from the enemy for this year," said alexander; "and this i hold to be one of the best services that has been rendered for many a long day to your majesty." during the period which intervened between the action at warnsfeld and the death of sidney, the siege-operations before zutphen had been continued. the city, strongly garrisoned and well supplied with provisions, as it had been by parma's care, remained impregnable; but the sconces beyond the river and upon the island fell into leicester's hands. the great fortress which commanded the veluwe, and which was strong enough to have resisted count hohenlo on a former, occasion for nearly a whole year, was the scene of much hard fighting. it was gained at last by the signal valour of edward stanley, lieutenant to sir william. that officer, at the commencement of an assault upon a not very practicable breach, sprang at the long pike of a spanish soldier, who was endeavoring to thrust him from the wall, and seized it with both hands. the spaniard struggled to maintain his hold of the weapon, stanley to wrest it from his grasp. a dozen other soldiers broke their pikes upon his cuirass or shot at him with their muskets. conspicuous by his dress, being all in yellow but his corslet, he was in full sight of leicester and of fire thousand men. the earth was so shifty and sandy that the soldiers who were to follow him were not able to climb the wall. still stanley grasped his adversary's pike, but, suddenly changing his plan, he allowed the spaniard to lift him from the ground. then, assisting himself with his feet against the wall, he, much to the astonishment of the spectators, scrambled quite over the parapet, and dashed sword in hand among the defenders of the fort. had he been endowed with a hundred lives it seemed impossible for him to escape death. but his followers, stimulated by his example, made ladders for themselves of each others' shoulders, clambered at last with great exertion over the broken wall, overpowered the garrison, and made themselves masters of the sconce. leicester, transported with enthusiasm for this noble deed of daring, knighted edward stanley upon the spot, besides presenting him next day with forty pounds in gold and an annuity of one hundred marks, sterling for life. "since i was born, i did never see any man behave himself as he did," said the earl. "i shall never forget it, if i live a thousand year, and he shall have a part of my living for it as long as i live." the occupation of these forts terminated the military operations of the year, for the rainy season, precursor of the winter, had now set in. leicester, leaving sir william stanley, with twelve hundred english and irish horse, in command of deventer; sir john burrowes, with one thousand men, in doesburg; and sir robert yorke, with one thousand more, in the great sconce before zutphen; took his departure for the hague. zutphen seemed so surrounded as to authorize the governor to expect ere long its capitulation. nevertheless, the results of the campaign had not been encouraging. the states had lost ground, having been driven from the meuse and rhine, while they had with difficulty maintained themselves on the flemish coast and upon the yssel. it is now necessary to glance at the internal politics of the republic during the period of leicester's administration and to explain the position in which he found himself at the close of the year. etext editor's bookmarks: and thus this gentle and heroic spirit took its flight five great rivers hold the netherland territory in their coils high officers were doing the work of private, soldiers i did never see any man behave himself as he did there is no man fitter for that purpose than myself history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history of the united netherlands, volume , chapter x. should elizabeth accept the sovereignty?--the effects of her anger-- quarrels between the earl and the staten--the earl's three counsellors--leicester's finance--chamber--discontent of the mercantile classes--paul buys and the opposition--been insight of paul buys--truchsess becomes a spy upon him--intrigues of buys with denmark--his imprisonment--the earl's unpopularity--his quarrels with the states--and with the norrises--his counsellors wilkes and clerke--letter from the queen to leicester--a supper party at hohenlo's--a drunken quarrel--hohenlo's assault upon edward norris-- ill effects of the riot. the brief period of sunshine had been swiftly followed by storms. the governor absolute had, from the outset, been placed in a false position. before he came to the netherlands the queen had refused the sovereignty. perhaps it was wise in her to decline so magnificent an offer; yet certainly her acceptance would have been perfectly honourable. the constituted authorities of the provinces formally made the proposition. there is no doubt whatever that the whole population ardently desired to become her subjects. so far as the netherlands were concerned, then, she would have been fully justified in extending her sceptre over a free people, who, under no compulsion and without any, diplomatic chicane, had selected her for their hereditary chief. so far as regarded england, the annexation to that country of a continental cluster of states, inhabited by a race closely allied to it by blood, religion, and the instinct for political freedom, seemed, on the whole, desirable. in a financial point of view, england would certainly lose nothing by the union. the resources of the provinces were at leant equal to her own. we have seen the astonishment which the wealth and strength of the netherlands excited in their english visitors. they were amazed by the evidences of commercial and manufacturing prosperity, by the spectacle of luxury and advanced culture, which met them on every side. had the queen--as it had been generally supposed--desired to learn whether the provinces were able and willing to pay the expenses of their own defence before she should definitely decide on, their offer of sovereignty, she was soon thoroughly enlightened upon the subject. her confidential agents all--held one language. if she would only, accept the sovereignty, the amount which the provinces would pay was in a manner boundless. she was assured that the revenue of her own hereditary realm was much inferior to that of the possessions thus offered to her sway. in regard to constitutional polity, the condition of the netherlands was at least, as satisfactory as that of england. the great amount of civil freedom enjoyed by those countries--although perhaps an objection--in the eyes of elizabeth tudor--should certainly have been a recommendation to her liberty-loving subjects. the question of defence had been satisfactorily answered. the provinces, if an integral part of the english empire, could protect themselves, and would become an additional element of strength--not a troublesome encumbrance. the difference of language was far, less than that which already existed between the english and their irish fellow-subjects, while it was counterbalanced by sympathy, instead of being aggravated by mutual hostility in the matter of religion. with regard to the great question of abstract sovereignty, it was certainly impolitic for an absolute monarch to recognize the right of a nation to repudiate its natural allegiance. but elizabeth had already countenanced that step by assisting the rebellion against philip. to allow the rebels to transfer their obedience from the king of spain to herself was only another step in the same direction. the queen, should she annex the provinces, would certainly be accused by the world of ambition; but the ambition was a noble one, if, by thus consenting to the urgent solicitations of a free people, she extended the region of civil and religious liberty, and raised up a permanent bulwark against sacerdotal and royal absolutism. a war between herself and spain was inevitable if she accepted the sovereignty, but peace had been already rendered impossible by the treaty of alliance. it is true that the queen imagined the possibility of combining her engagements towards the states with a conciliatory attitude towards their ancient master, but it was here that she committed the gravest error. the negotiations of parma and his sovereign with the english court were a masterpiece of deceit on the part of spain. we have shown, by the secret correspondence, and we shall in the sequel make it still clearer, that philip only intended to amuse his antagonists; that he had already prepared his plan for the conquest of england, down to the minutest details; that the idea of tolerating religious liberty had never entered his mind; and that his fixed purpose was not only thoroughly to chastise the dutch rebels, but to deprive the heretic queen who had fostered their rebellion both of throne and life. so far as regarded the spanish king, then, the quarrel between him and elizabeth was already mortal; while in a religious, moral, political, and financial point of view, it would be difficult to show that it was wrong, or imprudent for england to accept the sovereignty over his ancient subjects. the cause of human, freedom seemed likely to gain by the step, for the states did not consider themselves strong enough to maintain the independent republic which had already risen. it might be a question whether, on the whole, elizabeth made a mistake in declining the sovereignty. she was certainly wrong, however, in wishing the lieutenant-general of her six thousand auxiliary troops to be clothed, as such, with vice-regal powers. the states-general, in a moment of enthusiasm, appointed him governor absolute, and placed in his hands, not only the command of the forces, but the entire control of their revenues, imposts, and customs, together with the appointment of civil and military officers. such an amount of power could only be delegated by the sovereign. elizabeth had refused the sovereignty: it then rested with the states. they only, therefore, were competent to confer the power which elizabeth wished her favourite to exercise simply as her lieutenant-general. her wrathful and vituperative language damaged her cause and that of the netherlands more severely than can now be accurately estimated. the earl was placed at once in a false, a humiliating, almost a ridiculous position. the authority which the states had thus a second time offered to england was a second time and most scornfully thrust back upon them. elizabeth was indignant that "her own man" should clothe himself in the supreme attributes which she had refused. the states were forced by the violence of the queen to take the authority into their own hands again, and leicester was looked upon as a disgraced man. then came the neglect with which the earl was treated by her majesty and her ill-timed parsimony towards the cause. no letters to him in four months, no remittances for the english troops, not a penny of salary for him. the whole expense of the war was thrown for the time upon their hands, and the english soldiers seemed only a few thousand starving, naked, dying vagrants, an incumbrance instead of an aid. the states, in their turn, drew the purse-strings. the two hundred thousand florins monthly were paid. the four hundred thousand florins which had been voted as an additional supply were for a time held back, as leicester expressly stated, because of the discredit which had been thrown upon him from home. [strangely enough, elizabeth was under the impression that the extra grant of , florins (l , ) for four months was four hundred thousand pounds sterling. "the rest that was granted by the states, as extraordinary to levy an army, which was , florins, not pounds, as i hear your majesty taketh it. it is forty thousand pounds, and to be paid in march, april, may, and june last," &c. leicester to the queen, oct. . (s. p. office ms.)] the military operations were crippled for want of funds, but more fatal than everything else were the secret negotiations for peace. subordinate individuals, like grafigni and de loo, went up and down, bringing presents out of england for alexander farnese, and bragging that parma and themselves could have peace whenever they liked to make it, and affirming that leicester's opinions were of no account whatever. elizabeth's coldness to the earl and to the netherlands was affirmed to be the prince of parma's sheet-anchor; while meantime a house was ostentatiously prepared in brussels by their direction for the reception of an english ambassador, who was every moment expected to arrive. under such circumstances it was in, vain for the governor-general to protest that the accounts of secret negotiations were false, and quite natural that the states should lose their confidence in the queen. an unfriendly and suspicious attitude towards her representative was a necessary result, and the demonstrations against the common enemy became still more languid. but for these underhand dealings, grave, venlo, and neusz, might have been saved, and the current 'of the meuse and rhine have remained in the hands of the patriots. the earl was industrious, generous, and desirous of playing well his part. his personal courage was undoubted, and, in the opinion of his admirers--themselves, some of them, men of large military experience--his ability as a commander was of a high order. the valour displayed by the english nobles and gentlemen who accompanied him was magnificent, worthy the descendants of the victors at crecy, poitiers, and agincourt; and the good behaviour of their followers--with a few rare exceptions--had been equally signal. but now the army was dwindling to a ghastly array of scarecrows, and the recruits, as they came from england, were appalled by the spectacle presented by their predecessors. "our old ragged rogues here have so discouraged our new men," said leicester; "as i protest to you they look like dead men." out of eleven hundred freshly-arrived englishmen, five hundred ran away in two days. some were caught and hanged, and all seemed to prefer hanging to remaining in the service, while the earl declared that he would be hanged as well rather than again undertake such a charge without being assured payment for his troops beforehand! the valour of sidney and essex, willoughby and pelham, roger williams and martin schenk, was set at nought by such untoward circumstances. had not philip also left his army to starve and alexander farnese to work miracles, it would have fared still worse with holland and england, and with the cause of civil and religious liberty in the year . the states having resumed, as much as possible; their former authority, were on very unsatisfactory terms with the governor-general. before long, it was impossible for the, twenty or thirty individuals called the states to be in the same town with the man whom, at the commencement of the, year, they had greeted so warmly. the hatred between the leicester faction and the municipalities became intense, for the foundation of the two great parties which were long to divide the netherland commonwealth was already laid. the mercantile patrician interest, embodied in the states of holland and zeeland and inclined to a large toleration in the matter of religion, which afterwards took the form of arminianism, was opposed by a strict calvinist party, which desired to subject the political commonwealth to the reformed church; which nevertheless indulged in very democratic views of the social compact; and which was controlled by a few refugees from flanders and brabant, who had succeeded in obtaining the confidence of leicester. thus the earl was the nominal head of the calvinist democratic party; while young maurice of nassau; stadholder of holland and zeeland, and guided by barneveld, buys, and other leading statesmen of these provinces; was in an attitude precisely the reverse of the one which he was destined at a later and equally memorable epoch to assume. the chiefs of the faction which had now succeeded in gaining the confidence of leicester were reingault, burgrave, and deventer, all refugees. the laws of holland and of the other united states were very strict on the subject of citizenship, and no one but a native was competent to hold office in each province. doubtless, such regulations were narrow-spirited; but to fly in the face of them was the act of a despot, and this is what leicester did. reingault was a fleming. he was a bankrupt merchant, who had been taken into the protection of lamoral egmont, and by that nobleman recommended to granvelle for an office under the cardinal's government. the refusal of this favour was one of the original causes of egmont's hostility to granvelle. reingault subsequently entered the service of the cardinal, however, and rewarded the kindness of his former benefactor by great exertions in finding, or inventing, evidence to justify the execution of that unfortunate nobleman. he was afterwards much employed by the duke of alva and by the grand commander requesens; but after the pacification of ghent he had been completely thrown out of service. he had recently, in a subordinate capacity, accompanied the legations of the states to france and to england, and had now contrived to ingratiate himself with the earl of leicester. he affected great zeal for the calvinistic religion--an exhibition which, in the old servant of granvelle and alva, was far from edifying--and would employ no man or maid-servant in his household until their religious principles had been thoroughly examined by one or two clergymen. in brief, he was one of those, who, according to a homely flemish proverb, are wont to hang their piety on the bell-rope; but, with the exception of this brief interlude in his career, he lived and died a papist. gerard proninck, called deventer, was a respectable inhabitant of bois-le-duc, who had left that city after it had again become subject to the authority of spain. he was of decent life and conversation, but a restless and ambitious demagogue. as a brabantine, he was unfit for office; and yet, through leicester's influence and the intrigues of the democratic party, he obtained the appointment of burgomaster in the city of utrecht. the states-general, however, always refused to allow him to appear at their sessions as representative of that city. daniel de burgrave was a flemish mechanic, who, by the exertion of much energy and talent, had risen to the poet of procureur-general of flanders. after the conquest of the principal portion of that province by parma, he had made himself useful to the english governor-general in various ways, and particularly as a linguist. he spoke english--a tongue with which few netherlanders of that day were familiar--and as the earl knew no other, except (very imperfectly) italian, he found his services in speaking and writing a variety of languages very convenient. he was the governor's private secretary, and, of course, had no entrance to the council of state, but he was accused of frequently thrusting himself into their hall of sessions, where, under pretence of arranging the earl's table, or portfolio, or papers, he was much addicted to whispering into his master's ear, listening to conversation,--to eaves-dropping; in short, and general intrusiveness. "a most faithful, honest servant is burgrave," said leicester; "a substantial, wise man. 'tis as sufficient a man as ever i met withal of any nation; very well learned, exceeding wise, and sincere in religion. i cannot commend the man too much. he is the only comfort i have had of any of this nation." these three personages were the leaders of the leicester faction. they had much, influence with all the refugees from flanders, brabant, and the walloon provinces. in utrecht, especially, where the earl mainly resided, their intrigues were very successful. deventer was appointed, as already stated, to the important post of burgomaster; many, of the influential citizens were banished, without cause or, trial; the upper branch of the municipal government, consisting of the clerical delegates of the colleges, was in an arbitrary manner abolished; and, finally, the absolute sovereignty of, the province, without condition, was offered to the queen, of england. leicester was now determined to carry out one of the great objects which the queen had in view when she sent him to the netherlands. she desired thoroughly to ascertain the financial resources of the provinces, and their capacity to defend themselves. it was supposed by the states, and hoped by the earl and by a majority of the netherland people, that she would, in case the results were satisfactory, accept, after all, the sovereignty. she certainly was not to be blamed that she wished to make this most important investigation, but it was her own fault that any new machinery had been rendered necessary. the whole control of the finances had, in the beginning of the year, been placed in the earl's hands, and it was only by her violently depriving him of his credit and of the confidence of the country that he had not retained it. he now established a finance-chamber, under the chief control of reingault, who promised him mountains of money, and who was to be chief treasurer. paul buys was appointed by leicester to fill a subordinate position in the new council. he spurned the offer with great indignation, saying that reingault was not fit to be his clerk, and that he was not likely himself, therefore, to accept a humble post under the administration of such an individual. this scornful refusal filled to the full the hatred of leicester against the ex-advocate of holland. the mercantile interest at once took the alarm, because it was supposed that the finance-chamber, was intended to crush the merchants. early in april an act had been passed by the state-council, prohibiting commerce with the spanish possessions. the embargo was intended to injure the obedient provinces and their sovereign, but it was shown that its effect would be to blast the commerce of holland. it forbade the exportation from the republic not only of all provisions and munitions of war, but of all goods and merchandize whatever, to spain, portugal, the spanish netherlands, or any other of philip's territories, either in dutch or neutral vessel. it would certainly seem, at first sight, that such an act was reasonable, although the result would really be, not to deprive the enemy of supplies, but to throw the whole baltic trade into the hands of the bremen, hamburg, and "osterling" merchants. leicester expected to derive a considerable revenue by granting passports and licenses to such neutral traders, but the edict became so unpopular that it was never thoroughly enforced, and was before long rescinded. the odium of the measure was thrown upon the governor-general, yet he had in truth opposed it in the state-council, and was influential in procuring its repeal. another important act had been directed against the mercantile interest, and excited much general discontent. the netherlands wished the staple of the english cloth manufacture to be removed from emden--the petty, sovereign of which place was the humble servant of spain--to amsterdam or delft. the desire was certainly, natural, and the dutch merchants sent a committee to confer with leicester. he was much impressed with their views, and with the sagacity of their chairman, one mylward, "a wise fellow and well languaged, an ancient man and very, religious," as the earl pronounced him to be. notwithstanding the wisdom however, of this well-languaged fellow, the queen, for some strange reason, could not be induced to change the staple from emden, although it was shown that the public revenue of the netherlands would gain twenty thousand pounds a year by the measure. "all holland will cry out for it," said leicester; "but i had rather they cried than that england should weep." thus the mercantile community, and especially the patrician families of holland and zeeland, all engaged in trade, became more and more hostile to the governor-general and to his financial trio, who were soon almost as unpopular as the famous consults of cardinal granvelle had been. it was the custom of the states to consider the men who surrounded the earl as needy and unprincipled renegades and adventurers. it was the policy of his advisers to represent the merchants and the states--which mainly consisted of, or were controlled by merchants--as a body of corrupt, selfish, greedy money-getters. the calumnies put in circulation against the states by reingault and his associates grew at last so outrageous, and the prejudice created in the mind of leicester and his immediate english adherents so intense, that it was rendered necessary for the states, of holland and zeeland to write to their agent ortell in london, that he might forestall the effect of these perpetual misrepresentations on her majesty's government. leicester, on the other hand, under the inspiration; of his artful advisers, was vehement in his entreaties that ortell should be sent away from england. the ablest and busiest of the opposition-party, the "nimblest head" in the states-general was the ex-advocate of holland; paul buys. this man was then the foremost statesman in, the netherlands. he had been the firmest friend to the english alliance; he had resigned his office when the states were-offering the sovereignty to france, and had been on the point of taking service in denmark. he had afterwards been prominent in the legation which offered the sovereignty to elizabeth, and, for a long time, had been the most firm, earnest, and eloquent advocate of the english policy. leicester had originally courted him, caressed him, especially recommended him to the queen's favour, given him money--as he said, "two hundred pounds sterling thick at a time"--and openly pronounced him to be "in ability above all men." "no man hath ever sought a man," he said, "as i have sought p. b." the period of their friendship was, however, very brief. before many weeks had passed there was no vituperative epithet that leicester was not in the daily habit of bestowing upon paul. the earl's vocabulary of abuse was not a limited one, but he exhausted it on the head of the advocate. he lacked at last words and breath to utter what was like him. he pronounced his former friend "a very dangerous man, altogether hated of the people and the states;"--"a lewd sinner, nursled in revolutions; a most covetous, bribing fellow, caring for nothing but to bear the sway and grow rich;"--"a man who had played many parts, both lewd and audacious;"--"a very knave, a traitor to his country;"--"the most ungrateful wretch alive, a hater of the queen and of all the english; a most unthankful man to her majesty; a practiser to make himself rich and great, and nobody else;"--"among all villains the greatest;"--"a bolsterer of all papists and ill men, a dissembler, a devil, an atheist," a "most naughty man, and a most notorious drunkard in the worst degree." where the earl hated, his hatred was apt to be deadly, and he was determined, if possible, to have the life of the detested paul. "you shall see i will do well enough with him, and that shortly," he said. "i will course him as he was not so this twenty year. i will warrant him hanged and one or two of his fellows, but you must not tell your shirt of this yet;" and when he was congratulating the government on his having at length procured the execution of captain hemart, the surrenderer of grave, he added, pithily, "and you shall hear that mr. p. b. shall follow." yet the earl's real griefs against buys may be easily summed up. the lewd sinner, nursled in revolutions, had detected the secret policy of the queen's government, and was therefore perpetually denouncing the intrigues going on with spain. he complained that her majesty was tired of having engaged in the netherland enterprise; he declared that she would be glad to get fairly out of it; that her reluctance to spend a farthing more in the cause than she was obliged to do was hourly increasing upon her; that she was deceiving and misleading the states-general; and that she was hankering after a peace. he said that the earl had a secret intention to possess himself of certain towns in holland, in which case the whole question of peace and war would be in the hands of the queen, who would also have it thus in her power to reimburse herself at once for all expenses that she had incurred. it would be difficult to show that there was anything very calumnious in these charges, which, no doubt, paul was in the habit of making. as to the economical tendencies of her majesty, sufficient evidence has been given already from leicester's private letters. "rather than spend one hundred pounds," said walsingham, "she can be content to be deceived of five thousand." that she had been concealing from the staten, from walsingham, from leicester, during the whole summer, her secret negotiations with spain, has also been made apparent. that she was disgusted with the enterprise in which she had embarked, walsingham, burghley, hatton, and all the other statesmen of england, most abundantly testified. whether leicester had really an intention to possess himself of certain cities in holland--a charge made by paul buys, and denounced as especially slanderous by the earl--may better appear from his own private statements. "this i will do," he wrote to the queen, "and i hope not to fail of it, to get into my hands three or four most principal places in north holland; which will be such a strength and assurance for your majesty, as you shall see you shall both rule these men and make war or peace as you list, always provided--whatsoever you hear, or is--part not with the brill; and having these places in your hands, whatsoever should chance to these countries, your majesty, i will warrant sure enough to make what peace you will in an hour, and to have your debts and charges readily answered." at a somewhat later moment it will be seen what came of these secret designs. for the present, leicester was very angry with paul for daring to suspect him of such treachery. the earl complained, too, that the influence of buys with hohenlo and young maurice of nassau was most pernicious. hohenlo had formerly stood high in leicester's opinion. he was a "plain, faithful soldier, a most valiant gentleman," and he was still more important, because about to marry mary of nassau; eldest slaughter, of william the silent, and coheiress with philip william, to the buren property. but he had been tampered with by the intriguing paul buys, and had then wished to resign his office under leicester. being pressed for reasons, he had "grown solemn," and withdrawn himself almost entirely. maurice; with his "solemn, sly wit," also gave the earl much trouble, saying little; but thinking much, and listening to the insidious paul. he "stood much on making or marring," so leicester thought, "as he met with good counsel." he had formerly been on intimate terms with the governor-general, who affected to call him his son; but he had subsequently kept aloof, and in three months had not come near him. the earl thought that money might do much, and was anxious for sir francis drake to come home from the indies with millions of gold, that the queen might make both hohenlo and maurice a handsome present before it should be too late. meantime he did what he could with elector truchsess to lure them back again. that forlorn little prelate was now poorer and more wretched than ever. he was becoming paralytic, though young, and his heart was broken through want. leicester, always generous as the sun, gave him money, four thousand florins at a time, and was most earnest that the queen should put him on her pension list. "his wisdom, his behaviour, his languages, his person," said the earl, "all would like her well. he is in great melancholy for his town of neusz, and for his poverty, having a very noble mind. if, he be lost, her majesty had better lose a hundred thousand pounds." the melancholy truchsess now became a spy and a go-between. he insinuated himself into the confidence of paul buys, wormed his secrets from him, and then communicated them to hohenlo and to leicester; "but he did it very wisely," said the earl, "so that he was not mistrusted." the governor always affected, in order to screen the elector from suspicion, to obtain his information from persons in utrecht; and he had indeed many spies in that city; who diligently reported paul's table-talk. nevertheless, that "noble gentleman, the elector," said leicester, "hath dealt most deeply with him, to seek out the bottom." as the ex-advocate of holland was very communicative in his cups, and very bitter against the governor-general, there was soon such a fund of information collected on the subject by various eaves-droppers, that leicester was in hopes of very soon hanging mr. paul buys, as we have already seen. the burthen of the charges against the culprit was his statement that the provinces would be gone if her majesty did not declare herself, vigorously and generously, in their favour; but, as this was the perpetual cry of leicester himself, there seemed hardly hanging matter in that. that noble gentleman, the elector, however, had nearly saved the hangman his trouble, having so dealt with hohenlo as to "bring him into as good a mind as ever he was;" and the first fruits of this good mind were, that the honest count--a man of prompt dealings--walked straight to paul's house in order to kill him on the spot. something fortunately prevented the execution of this plan; but for a time at least the energetic count continued to be "governed greatly" by the ex-archbishop, and "did impart wholly unto him his most secret heart." thus the "deep wise truxy," as leicester called him, continued to earn golden opinions, and followed up his conversion of hohenlo by undertaking to "bring maurice into tune again also," and the young prince was soon on better terms with his "affectionate father" than he had ever been before. paul buys was not so easily put down, however, nor the two magnates so thoroughly gained over. before the end of the season maurice stood in his old position, the nominal head of the holland or patrician party, chief of the opposition to leicester, while hohenlo had become more bitter than ever against the earl. the quarrel between himself and edward norris, to which allusion will soon be made, tended to increase the dissatisfaction, although he singularly misunderstood leicester's sentiments throughout the whole affair. hohenlo recovered of his wound before zutphen; but, on his recovery, was more malcontent than ever. the earl was obliged at last to confess that "he was a very dangerous man, inconstant, envious; and hateful to all our nation, and a very traitor to the cause. there is no dealing to win him," he added, "i have sought it to my cost. his best friends tell me he is not to be trusted." meantime that lewd sinner, the indefatigable paul, was plotting desperately--so leicester said and believed--to transfer the sovereignty of the provinces to the king of denmark. buys, who was privately of opinion that the states required an absolute head, "though it were but an onion's head," and that they would thankfully continue under leicester as governor absolute if elizabeth would accept the sovereignty, had made up his mind that the queen would never take that step. he was therefore disposed to offer the crown to the king of denmark, and was believed to have brought maurice--who was to espouse that king's daughter--to the same way of thinking. young count rantzan, son of a distinguished danish statesman, made a visit to the netherlands in order to confer with buys. paul was also anxious to be appointed envoy to denmark, ostensibly to arrange for the two thousand cavalry, which the king had long before promised for the assistance of the provinces, but in reality, to examine the details of this new project; and leicester represented to the queen very earnestly how powerful the danish monarch would become, thus rendered master of the narrow seas, and how formidable to england. in the midst of these plottings, real or supposed, a party of armed men, one fine summer's morning, suddenly entered paul's bedroom as he lay asleep at the house of the burgomaster, seized his papers, and threw him: into prison in the wine-cellar of the town-house. "oh my papers, oh my papers!" cried the unfortunate politician, according to leicester's statement, "the queen of england will for ever hate me." the earl disavowed all, participation in the arrest; but he was not believed. he declared himself not sorry that the measure had been taken, and promised that he would not "be hasty to release him," not doubting that "he would be found faulty enough." leicester maintained that there was stuff enough discovered to cost paul his head; but he never lost his head, nor was anything treasonable or criminal ever found against him. the intrigue with denmark--never proved--and commenced, if undertaken at all, in utter despair of elizabeth's accepting the sovereignty, was the gravest charge. he remained, however, six months in prison, and at the beginning of was released, without trial or accusation, at the request of the english queen. the states could hardly be blamed for their opposition to the earl's administration, for he had thrown himself completely into the arms of a faction, whose object was to vilipend and traduce them, and it was now difficult for him to recover the functions of which the queen had deprived him. "the government they had given from themselves to me stuck in their stomachs always," he said. thus on the one side, the states were, "growing more stately than ever," and were-always "jumbling underhand," while the aristocratic earl, on, his part, was resolute not to be put down by "churls and tinkers." he was sure that the people were with him, and that, "having always been governed by some prince, they, never did nor could consent to be ruled by bakers, brewers, and hired advocates. i know they hate them," said this high-born tribune of the people. he was much disgusted with the many-headed chimaera, the monstrous republic, with which he found himself in such unceasing conflict, and was disposed to take a manful stand. "i have been fain of late," he said, "to set the better leg foremost, to handle some of my masters somewhat plainly; for they thought i would droop; and whatsoever becomes of me, you shall hear i will keep my reputation, or die for it." but one great accusation, made against the churls and tinkers, and bakers and hired advocates, and mr. paul buys at their head, was that they were liberal towards the papists. they were willing that catholics should remain in the country and exercise the rights of citizens, provided they, conducted themselves like good citizens. for this toleration--a lesson which statesmen like buys and barneveld had learned in the school of william the silent--the opposition-party were denounced as bolsterers of papists, and papists themselves at heart, and "worshippers of idolatrous idols." from words, too, the government of leicester passed to acts. seventy papists were banished from the city of utrecht at the time of the arrest of buys. the queen had constantly enforced upon leicester the importance of dealing justly with the catholics in the netherlands, on the ground that they might be as good patriots and were as much interested in the welfare of their country as were the protestants; and he was especially enjoined "not to meddle in matters of religion." this wholesome advice it would have been quite impossible for the earl, under the guidance of reingault, burgrave, and stephen perret, to carry out. he protested that he should have liked to treat papists and calvinists "with indifference," but that it had proved impossible; that the catholics were perpetually plotting with the spanish faction, and that no towns were safe except those in which papists had been excluded from office. "they love the pope above all," he said, "and the prince of parma hath continual intelligence with them." nor was it catholics alone who gave the governor trouble. he was likewise very busy in putting down other denominations that differed from the calvinists. "your majesty will not believe," he said, "the number of sects that are in most towns; especially anabaptists, families of love, georgians; and i know not what. the godly and good ministers were molested by them in many places, and ready to give over; and even such diversities grew among magistrates in towns, being caused by some sedition-sowers here." it is however, satisfactory to reflect that the anabaptists and families of love, although discouraged and frowned upon, were not burned alive, buried alive, drowned in dungeons, and roasted at slow fires, as had been the case with them and with every other species of protestants, by thousands and tens of thousands, so long as charles v. and philip ii. had ruled the territory of that commonwealth. humanity had acquired something by the war which the netherlanders had been waging for twenty years, and no man or woman was ever put to death for religious causes after the establishment of the republic. with his hands thus full of business, it was difficult for the earl to obey the queen's command not to meddle in religious matters; for he was not of the stature of william the silent, and could not comprehend that the great lesson taught by the sixteenth century was that men were not to meddle with men in matters of religion. but besides his especial nightmare--mr. paul buys--the governor-general had a whole set of incubi in the norris family. probably no two persons ever detested each other more cordially than did leicester and sir john norris. sir john had been commander of the forces in the netherlands before leicester's arrival, and was unquestionably a man of larger experience than the earl. he had, however, as walsingham complained, acquired by his services in "countries where neither discipline military nor religion carried any sway," a very rude and licentious kind of government. "would to god," said the secretary, "that, with his value and courage, he carried the mind and reputation of a religious soldier." but that was past praying for. sir john was proud, untractable, turbulent, very difficult to manage. he hated leicester, and was furious with sir william pelham, whom leicester had made marshal of the camp. he complained, not unjustly, that from the first place in the army, which he had occupied in the netherlands, he had been reduced to the fifth. the governor-general--who chose to call sir john the son of his ancient enemy, the earl of sussex--often denounced him in good set terms. "his brother edward is as ill as he," he said, "but john is right the late earl of sussex' son; he will so dissemble and crouch, and so cunningly carry his doings, as no man living would imagine that there were half the malice or vindictive mind that plainly his words prove to be." leicester accused him of constant insubordination, insolence, and malice, complained of being traduced by him everywhere in the netherlands and in england, and declared that he was followed about by "a pack of lewd audacious fellows," whom the earl vowed he would hang, one and all, before he had done with them. he swore openly, in presence of all his camp, that he would hang sir john likewise; so that both the brothers, who had never been afraid of anything since they had been born into the world, affected to be in danger of their lives. the norrises were on bad terms with many officers--with sir william pelham of course, with "old reade," lord north, roger williams, hohenlo, essex, and other nobles--but with sir philip sidney, the gentle and chivalrous, they were friends. sir john had quarrelled in former times--according to leicester--with hohenlo and even with the "good and brave" la none, of the iron arm; "for his pride," said the earl, "was the spirit of the devil." the governor complained every day of his malignity, and vowed that he "neither regarded the cause of god, nor of his prince, nor country." he consorted chiefly with sir thomas cecil, governor of brill, son of lord burghley, and therefore no friend to leicester; but the earl protested that "master thomas should bear small rule," so long as he was himself governor-general. "now i have pelham and stanley, we shall do well enough," he said, "though my young master would countenance him. i will be master while i remain here, will they, nill they." edward norris, brother of sir john, gave the governor almost as much trouble as he; but the treasurer norris, uncle to them both, was, if possible, more odious to him than all. he was--if half leicester's accusations are to be believed--a most infamous peculator. one-third of the money sent by the queen for the soldiers stuck in his fingers. he paid them their wretched four-pence a-day in depreciated coin, so that for their "naughty money they could get but naughty ware." never was such "fleecing of poor soldiers," said leicester. on the other hand, sir john maintained that his uncle's accounts were always ready for examination, and earnestly begged the home-government not to condemn that functionary without a hearing. for himself, he complained that he was uniformly kept in the background, left in ignorance of important enterprises, and sent on difficult duty with inadequate forces. it was believed that leicester's course was inspired by envy, lest any military triumph that might be gained should redound to the glory of sir john, one of the first commanders of the age, rather than to that of the governor-general. he was perpetually thwarted, crossed, calumniated, subjected to coarse and indecent insults, even from such brave men as lord north and roger williams, and in the very presence of the commander-in-chief, so that his talents were of no avail, and he was most anxious to be gone from the country. thus with the tremendous opposition formed to his government in the states-general, the incessant bickerings with the norrises, the peculations of the treasurer, the secret negotiations with spain, and the impossibility of obtaining money from home for himself or for his starving little army, the earl was in anything but a comfortable position. he was severely censured in england; but he doubted, with much reason, whether there were many who would take his office, and spend twenty thousand pounds sterling out of their own pockets, as he had done. the earl was generous and brave as man could be, full of wit, quick of apprehension; but inordinately vain, arrogant, and withal easily led by designing persons. he stood up manfully for the cause in which he was embarked, and was most strenuous in his demands for money. "personally he cared," he said, "not sixpence for his post; but would give five thousand sixpences, and six thousand shillings beside, to be rid of it;" but it was contrary to his dignity to "stand bucking with the states" for his salary. "is it reason," he asked, "that i, being sent from so great a prince as our sovereign is, must come to strangers to beg my entertainment: if they are to pay me, why is there no remembrance made of it by her majesty's letters, or some of the lords?" the earl and those around him perpetually and vehemently urged upon the queen to reconsider her decision, and accept the sovereignty of the provinces at once. there was no other remedy for the distracted state of the country--no other safeguard for england. the netherland people anxiously, eagerly desired it. her majesty was adored by all the inhabitants, who would gladly hang the fellows called the states. lord north was of this opinion--so was cavendish. leicester had always held it. "sure i am," he said, "there is but one way for our safety, and that is, that her majesty may take that upon her which i fear she will not." thomas wilkes, who now made his appearance on the scene, held the same language. this distinguished civilian had been sent by the queen, early in august, to look into the state of netherland affairs. leicester having expressly urged the importance of selecting as wise a politician as could be found--because the best man in england would hardly be found a match for the dullards and drunkards, as it was the fashion there to call the dutch statesmen--had selected wilkes. after fulfilling this important special mission, he was immediately afterwards to return to the netherlands as english member of the state-council, at forty shillings a-day, in the place of "little hal killigrew," whom leicester pronounced a "quicker and stouter fellow" than he had at first taken him for, although he had always thought well of him. the other english counsellor, dr. bartholomew clerk, was to remain, and the earl declared that he too, whom he had formerly undervalued, and thought to have "little stuff in him," was now "increasing greatly in understanding." but notwithstanding this intellectual progress, poor bartholomew, who was no beginner, was most anxious to retire. he was a man of peace, a professor, a doctor of laws, fonder of the learned leisure and the trim gardens of england than of the scenes which now surrounded him. "i beseech your good lordship to consider," he dismally observed to burghley, "what a hard case it is for a man that these fifteen years hath had vitam sedentariam, unworthily in a place judicial, always in his long robe, and who, twenty-four years since, was a public reader in the university (and therefore cannot be young), to come now among guns and drums, tumbling up and down, day and night, over waters and banks, dykes and ditches, upon every occasion that falleth out; hearing many insolences with silence, bearing many hard measures with patience--a course most different from my nature, and most unmeet for him that hath ever professed learning." wilkes was of sterner stuff. always ready to follow the camp and to face the guns and drums with equanimity, and endowed beside with keen political insight, he was more competent than most men to unravel the confused skein of netherland politics. he soon found that the queen's secret negotiations with spain, and the general distrust of her intentions in regard to the provinces, were like to have fatal consequences. both he and leicester painted the anxiety of the netherland people as to the intention of her majesty in vivid colours. the queen could not make up her mind--in the very midst of the greenwich secret conferences, already described--to accept the netherland sovereignty. "she gathereth from your letter," wrote walsingham, "that the only salve for this sore is to make herself proprietary of the country, and to put in such an army as may be able to make head to the enemy. these two things being so contrary to her majesty's disposition--the one, for that it breedeth a doubt of a perpetual war, the other, for that it requireth an increase of charges--do marvellously distract her, and make her repent that ever she entered into the action." upon the great subject of the sovereignty, therefore, she was unable to adopt the resolution so much desired by leicester and by the people of the provinces; but she answered the earl's communications concerning maurice and hohenlo, sir john norris and the treasurer, in characteristic but affectionate language. and thus she wrote: "rob, i am afraid you will suppose, by my wandering writings, that a midsummer's moon hath taken large possession of my brains this month; but you must needs take things as they come in my head, though order be left behind me. when i remember your request to have a discreet and honest man that may carry my mind, and see how all goes there, i have chosen this bearer (thomas wilkes), whom you know and have made good trial of. i have fraught him full of my conceipts of those country matters, and imparted what way i mind to take and what is fit for you to use. i am sure you can credit him, and so i will be short with these few notes. first, that count maurice and count hollock (hohenlo) find themselves trusted of you, esteemed of me, and to be carefully regarded, if ever peace should happen, and of that assure them on my word, that yet never deceived any. and for norris and other captains that voluntarily, without commandment, have many years ventured their lives and won our nation honour and themselves fame, let them not be discouraged by any means, neither by new-come men nor by old trained soldiers elsewhere. if there be fault in using of soldiers, or making of profit by them, let them hear of it without open shame, and doubt not i will well chasten them therefore. it frets me not a little that the poor soldiers that hourly venture life should want their due, that well deserve rather reward; and look, in whom the fault may truly be proved, let them smart therefore. and if the treasurer be found untrue or negligent, according to desert he shall be used. but you know my old wont, that love not to discharge from office without desert. god forbid! i pray you let this bearer know what may be learned herein, and for the treasure i have joined sir thomas shirley to see all this money discharged in due sort, where it needeth and behoveth. "now will i end, that do imagine i talk still with you, and therefore loathly say farewell one hundred thousand times; though ever i pray god bless you from all harm, and save you from all foes. with my million and legion of thanks for all your pains and cares, "as you know ever the same, "e. r. "p. s. let wilkes see that he is acceptable to you. if anything there be that w. shall desire answer of be such as you would have but me to know, write it to myself. you know i can keep both others' counsel and mine own. mistrust not that anything you would have kept shall be disclosed by me, for although this bearer ask many things, yet you may answer him such as you shall think meet, and write to me the rest." thus, not even her favourite leicester's misrepresentations could make the queen forget her ancient friendship for "her own crow;" but meantime the relations between that "bunch of brethren," black norris and the rest, and pelham, hollock, and other high officers in leicester's army, had grown worse than ever. one august evening there was a supper-party at count hollock's quarters in gertruydenberg. a military foray into brabant had just taken place, under the lead of the count, and of the lord marshal, sir william pelham. the marshal had requested lord willoughby, with his troop of horse and five hundred foot, to join in the enterprise, but, as usual, particular pains had been taken that sir john norris should know nothing of the affair. pelham and hollock--who was "greatly in love with mr. pelham"--had invited several other gentlemen high in leicester's confidence to accompany the expedition; and, among the rest, sir philip sidney, telling him that he "should see some good service." sidney came accordingly, in great haste, from flushing, bringing along with him edward norris--that hot-headed young man, who, according to leicester, "greatly governed his elder brother"--but they arrived at gertruydenberg too late. the foray was over, and the party--"having burned a village, and killed some boors"--were on their return. sidney, not perhaps much regretting the loss of his share in this rather inglorious shooting party, went down to the water-side, accompanied by captain norris, to meet hollock and the other commanders. as the count stepped on shore he scowled ominously, and looked very much out of temper. "what has come to hollock?" whispered captain patton, a scotchman, to sidney. "has he a quarrel with any of the party? look at his face! he means mischief to somebody." but sidney was equally amazed at the sudden change in the german general's countenance, and as unable to explain it. soon afterwards, the whole party, hollock, lewis william of nassau, lord carew, lord essex, lord willoughby, both the sidneys, roger williams, pelham, edward norris, and the rest, went to the count's lodgings, where they supped, and afterwards set themselves seriously to drinking. norris soon perceived that he was no welcome guest; for he was not--like sidney--a stranger to the deep animosity which had long existed between sir john norris and sir william pelham and his friends. the carouse was a tremendous one, as usually was the case where hollock was the amphitryon, and, as the potations grew deeper, an intention became evident on the part of some of the company to behave unhandsomely to norris. for a time the young captain ostentatiously restrained himself, very much after the fashion of those meek individuals who lay their swords on the tavern-table, with "god grant i may have no need of thee!" the custom was then prevalent at banquets for the revellers to pledge each other in rotation, each draining a great cup, and exacting the same feat from his neighbour, who then emptied his goblet as a challenge to his next comrade. the lord marshal took a beaker, and called out to edward norris. "i drink to the health of my lord norris, and of my lady; your mother." so saying, he emptied his glass. the young man did not accept the pledge. "your lordship knows," he said somewhat sullenly, "that i am not wont to drink deep. mr. sidney there can tell you that, for my health's sake, i have drank no wine these eight days. if your lordship desires the pleasure of seeing me drunk, i am not of the same mind. i pray you at least to take a smaller glass." sir william insisted on the pledge. norris then, in no very good humour, emptied his cup to the earl of essex. essex responded by draining a goblet to count hollock. "a norris's father," said the young earl; as he pledged the count, who was already very drunk, and looking blacker than ever. "an 'orse's father--an 'orse's father!" growled' hollock; "i never drink to horses, nor to their fathers either:" and with this wonderful witticism he declined the pledge. essex explained that the toast was lord norris, father of the captain; but the count refused to understand, and held fiercely, and with damnable iteration, to his jest. the earl repeated his explanation several times with no better success. norris meanwhile sat swelling with wrath, but said nothing. again the lord marshal took the same great glass, and emptied it to the young captain. norris, not knowing exactly what course to take, placed the glass at the side of his plate, and glared grimly at sir william. pelham was furious. reaching over the table, he shoved the glass towards norris with an angry gesture. "take your glass, captain norris," he cried; "and if you have a mind to jest, seek other companions. i am not to be trifled with; therefore, i say, pledge me at once." "your lordship shall not force me to drink more wine than i list," returned the other. "it is your pleasure to take advantage of your military rank. were we both at home, you would be glad to be my companion." norris was hard beset, and although his language was studiously moderate, it was not surprising that his manner should be somewhat insolent. the veteran lord marshal, on the other hand, had distinguished himself on many battle-fields, but his deportment at this banqueting-table was not much to his credit. he paused a moment, and norris, too, held his peace, thinking that his enemy would desist. it was but for a moment. "captain norris," cried pelham, "i bid you pledge me without more ado. neither you nor your best friends shall use me as you list. i am better born than you and your brother, the colonel-general, and the whole of you." "i warn you to say nothing disrespectful against my brother," replied the captain. "as for yourself, i know how to respect your age and superior rank." "drink, drink, drink!" roared the old marshal. "i tell you i am better born than the best of you. i have advanced you all too, and you know it; therefore drink to me." sir william was as logical as men in their cups are prone to be. "indeed, you have behaved well to my brother thomas," answered norris, suddenly becoming very courteous, "and for this i have ever loved your lordship, and would, do you any service." "well, then," said the marshal, becoming tender in his turn, "forget what hath past this night, and do as you would have done before." "very well said, indeed!" cried sir philip sidney, trying to help the natter into the smoother channel towards which it was tending. norris, seeing that the eyes of the whole company were upon them; took the glass accordingly, and rose to his feet. "my lord marshal," he said, "you have done me more wrong this night than you can easily make satisfaction for. but i am unwilling that any trouble or offence should grow through me. therefore once more i pledge you." he raised the cup to his lips. at that instant hollock, to whom nothing had been said, and who had spoken no word since his happy remark about the horse's father, suddenly indulged in a more practical jest; and seizing the heavy gilt cover of a silver vase, hurled it at the head of norris. it struck him full on the forehead, cutting him to the bone. the captain, stunned for a moment, fell back in his chair, with the blood running down his eyes and face. the count, always a man of few words, but prompt in action, now drew his dagger, and strode forward, with the intention of despatching him upon the spot. sir philip sidney threw his arms around hollock, however, and, with the assistance of others in the company, succeeded in dragging him from the room. the affair was over in a few seconds. norris, coming back to consciousness, sat for a moment as one amazed, rubbing the blood out of his eyes; then rose from the table to seek his adversary; but he was gone. soon afterwards he went to his lodgings. the next morning he was advised to leave the town as speedily as possible; for as it was under the government of hollock, and filled with his soldiers, he was warned that his life would not be safe there an hour. accordingly he went to his boat, accompanied only by his man and his page, and so departed with his broken head, breathing vengeance against hollock, pelham, leicester, and the whole crew, by whom he had been thus abused. the next evening there was another tremendous carouse at the count's, and, says the reporter of the preceding scene, "they were all on such good terms, that not one of the company had falling band or ruff left about his neck. all were clean torn away, and yet there was no blood drawn." edward norris--so soon as might be afterwards--sent a cartel to the count, demanding mortal combat with sword and dagger. sir philip sidney bore the message. sir john norris, of course warmly and violently espoused the cause of his brother, and was naturally more incensed against the lord marshal than ever, for sir william pelham was considered the cause of the whole affray. "even if the quarrel is to be excused by drink," said an eye-witness, "'tis but a slender defence for my lord to excuse himself by his cups; and often drink doth bewray men's humours and unmask their malice. certainly the count hollock thought to have done a pleasure to the company in killing him." nothing could be more ill-timed than this quarrel, or more vexatious to leicester. the count--although considering himself excessively injured at being challenged by a simple captain and an untitled gentleman, whom he had attempted to murder--consented to waive his privilege, and grant the meeting. leicester interposed, however, to delay, and, if possible, to patch up the affair. they were on the eve of active military operations, and it was most vexatious for the commander-in-chief to see, as he said, "the quarrel with the enemy changed to private revenge among ourselves." the intended duel did not take place; for various influential personages succeeded in deferring the meeting. then came the battle of zutphen. sidney fell, and hollock was dangerously wounded in the attack which was soon afterwards made upon the fort. he was still pressed to afford the promised satisfaction, however, and agreed to do so whenever he should rise from his bed. strange to say, the count considered leicester, throughout the whole business, to have taken part against him. yet there is no doubt whatever that the earl--who detested the norrises, and was fonder of pelham than of any man living--uniformly narrated the story most unjustly, to the discredit of the young captain. he considered him extremely troublesome, represented him as always quarrelling with some one--with colonel morgan, roger williams, old reade, and all the rest--while the lord marshal, on the contrary, was depicted as the mildest of men. "this i must say," he observed, "that all present, except my two nephews (the sidneys), who are not here yet, declare the greatest fault to be in edward norris, and that he did most arrogantly use the marshal." it is plain, however, that the old marshal, under the influence of wine, was at least quite as much to blame as the young captain; and sir philip sidney sufficiently showed his sense of the matter by being the bearer of edward norris's cartel. after sidney's death, sir john norris, in his letter of condolence to walsingham for the death of his illustrious son-in-law, expressed the deeper regret at his loss because sir philip's opinion had been that the norrises were wronged. hollock had conducted himself like a lunatic, but this he was apt to do whether in his cups or not. he was always for killing some one or another on the slightest provocation, and, while the dog-star of was raging, it was not his fault if he had not already despatched both edward norris and the objectionable "mr. p. b." for these energetic demonstrations against leicester's enemies he considered himself entitled to the earl's eternal gratitude, and was deeply disgusted at his apparent coldness. the governor was driven almost to despair by these quarrels. his colonel-general, his lord marshal, his lieutenant-general, were all at daggers drawn. "would god i were rid of this place!" he exclaimed. "what man living would go to the field and have his officers divided almost into mortal quarrel? one blow but by any of their lackeys brings us altogether by the ears." it was clear that there was not room enough on the netherland soil for the earl of leicester and the brothers norris. the queen, while apparently siding with the earl, intimated to sir john that she did not disapprove his conduct, that she should probably recall him to england, and that she should send him back to the provinces after the earl had left that country. such had been the position of the governor-general towards the queen, towards the states-general, and towards his own countrymen, during the year . etext editor's bookmarks: are wont to hang their piety on the bell-rope arminianism as logical as men in their cups are prone to be tolerating religious liberty had never entered his mind history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter. xi drake in the netherlands--good results of his visit--the babington conspiracy--leicester decides to visit england--exchange of parting compliments. late in the autumn of the same year an englishman arrived in the netherlands, bearer of despatches from the queen. he had been entrusted by her majesty with a special mission to the states-general, and he had soon an interview with that assembly at the hague. he was a small man, apparently forty-five years of age, of a fair but somewhat weather-stained complexion, with light-brown, closely-curling hair, an expansive forehead, a clear blue eye, rather commonplace features, a thin, brown, pointed beard, and a slight moustache. though low of stature, he was broad-chested, with well-knit limbs. his hands, which were small and nervous, were brown and callous with the marks of toil. there was something in his brow and glance not to be mistaken, and which men willingly call master; yet he did not seem, to have sprung of the born magnates of the earth. he wore a heavy gold chain about his neck, and it might be observed that upon the light full sleeves of his slashed doublet the image of a small ship on a terrestrial globe was curiously and many times embroidered. it was not the first time that he had visited the netherlands. thirty years before the man had been apprentice on board a small lugger, which traded between the english coast and the ports of zeeland. emerging in early boyhood from his parental mansion--an old boat, turned bottom upwards on a sandy down he had naturally taken to the sea, and his master, dying childless not long afterwards, bequeathed to him the lugger. but in time his spirit, too much confined by coasting in the narrow seas, had taken a bolder flight. he had risked his hard-earned savings in a voyage with the old slave-trader, john hawkins--whose exertions, in what was then considered an honourable and useful vocation, had been rewarded by queen elizabeth with her special favour, and with a coat of arms, the crest whereof was a negro's head, proper, chained--but the lad's first and last enterprise in this field was unfortunate. captured by spaniards, and only escaping with life, he determined to revenge himself on the whole spanish nation; and this was considered a most legitimate proceeding according to the "sea divinity" in which he, had been schooled. his subsequent expeditions against the spanish possessions in the west indies were eminently successful, and soon the name of francis drake rang through the world, and startled philip in the depths of his escorial. the first englishman, and the second of any nation, he then ploughed his memorable "furrow round the earth," carrying amazement and, destruction to the spaniards as he sailed, and after three years brought to the queen treasure enough, as it was asserted, to maintain a war with the spanish king for seven years, and to pay himself and companions, and the merchant-adventurers who had participated in his enterprise, forty-seven pounds sterling for every pound invested in the voyage. the speculation had been a fortunate one both, for himself and for the kingdom. the terrible sea-king was one of the great types of the sixteenth century. the self-helping private adventurer, in his little vessel the 'golden hind,' one hundred tons burthen, had waged successful war against a mighty empire, and had shown england how to humble philip. when he again set foot on his native soil he was followed by admiring crowds, and became the favourite hero of romance and ballad; for it was not the ignoble pursuit of gold alone, through toil and peril, which had endeared his name to the nation. the popular instinct recognized that the true means had been found at last for rescuing england and protestantism from the overshadowing empire of spain. the queen visited him in his 'golden hind,' and gave him the honour of knighthood. the treaty between the united netherlands and england had been followed by an embargo upon english vessels, persons, and property, in the ports of spain; and after five years of unwonted repose, the privateersman again set forth with twenty-five small vessels--of which five or six only were armed--under his command, conjoined with that of general carlisle. this time the voyage was undertaken with full permission and assistance of the queen who, however, intended to disavow him, if she should find such a step convenient. this was the expedition in which philip sidney had desired to take part. the queen watched its result with intense anxiety, for the fate of her netherland adventure was thought to be hanging on the issue. "upon drake's voyage, in very truth, dependeth the life and death of the cause, according to man's judgment," said walsingham. the issue was encouraging, even, if the voyage--as a mercantile speculation--proved not so brilliant as the previous enterprises of sir francis had been. he returned in the midsummer of , having captured and brandschatzed st. domingo and carthagena; and burned st. augustine. "a fearful man to the king of spain is sir francis drake," said lord burghley. nevertheless, the queen and the lord-treasurer--as we have shown by the secret conferences at greenwich--had, notwithstanding these successes, expressed a more earnest desire for peace than ever. a simple, sea-faring englishman, with half-a-dozen miserable little vessels, had carried terror, into the spanish possessions all over the earth: but even then the great queen had not learned to rely on the valour of her volunteers against her most formidable enemy. drake was, however, bent on another enterprise. the preparations for philip's great fleet had been going steadily forward in lisbon, cadiz, and other ports of spain and portugal, and, despite assurances to the contrary, there was a growing belief that england was to be invaded. to destroy those ships before the monarch's face, would be, indeed, to "singe his beard." but whose arm was daring enough for such a stroke? whose but that of the devonshire skipper who had already accomplished so much? and so sir francis, "a man true to his word, merciful to those under him, and hating nothing so much as idleness," had come to the netherlands to talk over his project with the states-general, and with the dutch merchants and sea-captains. his visit was not unfruitful. as a body the assembly did nothing; but they recommended that in every maritime city of holland and zeeland one or two ships should be got ready, to participate in all the future enterprises of sir francis and his comrades. the martial spirit of volunteer sailors, and the keen instinct of mercantile speculation, were relied upon--exactly as in england--to furnish men, ships, and money, for these daring and profitable adventures. the foundation of a still more intimate connection between england and holland was laid, and thenceforth dutchmen and englishmen fought side by side, on land and sea, wherever a blow was to be struck in the cause of human freedom against despotic spain. the famous babington conspiracy, discovered by walsingham's "travail and cost," had come to convince the queen and her counsellors--if further proof were not superfluous--that her throne and life were both incompatible with philip's deep designs, and that to keep that monarch out of the netherlands, was as vital to her as to keep him out of england. "she is forced by this discovery to countenance the cause by all outward means she may," said walsingham, "for it appeareth unto her most plain, that unless she had entered into the action, she had been utterly undone, and that if she do not prosecute the same she cannot continue." the secretary had sent leicester information at an early day of the great secret, begging his friend to "make the letter a heretic after he had read the same," and expressing the opinion that "the matter, if well handled, would break the neck of all dangerous practices during her majesty's reign." the tragedy of mary stuart--a sad but inevitable portion of the vast drama in which the emancipation of england and holland, and, through them, of half christendom, was accomplished--approached its catastrophe; and leicester could not restrain his anxiety for her immediate execution. he reminded walsingham that the great seal had been put upon a warrant for her execution for a less crime seventeen years before, on the occasion of the northumberland and westmorland rebellion. "for who can warrant these villains from her," he said, "if that person live, or shall live any time? god forbid! and be you all stout and resolute in this speedy execution, or be condemned of all the world for ever. it is most. certain, if you will have your majesty safe, it must be done, for justice doth crave it beside policy." his own personal safety was deeply compromised. "your lordship and i," wrote burghley, "were very great motes in the traitors' eyes; for your lordship there and i here should first, about one time, have been killed. of your lordship they thought rather of poisoning than slaying. after us two gone, they purposed her majesty's death." but on this great affair of state the earl was not swayed by such personal considerations. he honestly thought--as did all the statesmen who governed england--that english liberty, the very existence of the english commonwealth, was impossible so long as mary stuart lived. under these circumstances he was not impatient, for a time at least, to leave the netherlands. his administration had not been very successful. he had been led away by his own vanity, and by the flattery of artful demagogues, but the immense obstacles with which he had to contend in the queen's wavering policy, and in the rivalry of both english and dutch politicians have been amply exhibited. that he had been generous, courageous, and zealous, could not be denied; and, on the whole, he had accomplished as much in the field as could have been expected of him with such meagre forces, and so barren an exchequer. it must be confessed, however, that his leaving the netherlands at that moment was a most unfortunate step, both for his own reputation and for the security of the provinces. party-spirit was running high, and a political revolution was much to be dreaded in so grave a position of affairs, both in england and holland. the arrangements--and particularly the secret arrangements which he made at his departure--were the most fatal measures of all; but these will be described in the following chapter. on the st october; the earl announced to the state-council his intention of returning to england, stating, as the cause of this sudden determination, that he had been summoned to attend the parliament then sitting in westminster. wilkes, who was of course present, having now succeeded killigrew as one of the two english members, observed that "the states and council used but slender entreaty to his excellency for his stay and countenance there among them, whereat his excellency and we that were of the council for her majesty did not a little marvel." some weeks later, however, upon the st november, leicester summoned barneveld, and five other of the states general, to discuss the necessary measures for his departure, when those gentlemen remonstrated very earnestly upon the step, pleading the danger and confusion of affairs which must necessarily ensue. the earl declared that he was not retiring from the country because he was offended, although he had many causes for offence: and he then alluded to the, navigation act, to the establishment council, and spoke of the finance of burgrave and reingault, for his employment of which individuals so much obloquy had been heaped upon his, head. burgrave he pronounced, as usual, a substantial, wise, faithful, religious personage, entitled to fullest confidence; while reingault--who had been thrown into prison by the states on charges of fraud, peculation, and sedition--he declared to be a great financier, who had promised, on penalty of his head, to bring "great sums into the treasury for carrying on the war, without any burthen to the community." had he been able to do this, he had certainly claim to be considered the greatest of financiers; but the promised "mountains of gold" were never discovered, and reingault was now awaiting his trial. the deputies replied that the concessions upon the navigation act had satisfied the country, but that reingault was a known instrument of the spaniards, and burgrave a mischief-making demagogue, who consorted with malignants, and sent slanderous reports concerning the states and the country to her majesty. they had in consequence felt obliged to write private despatches to envoy ortel in england, not because they suspected the earl, but in order to counteract the calumnies of his chief advisers. they had urged the agent to bring the imprisonment of paul buys before her majesty, but for that transaction leicester boldly disclaimed all responsibility. it was agreed between the earl and the deputies that, during his absence, the whole government, civil and military, should devolve upon the state-council, and that sir john norris should remain in command of the english forces. two days afterwards leicester, who knew very well that a legation was about to proceed to england, without any previous concurrence on his part, summoned a committee of the states-general, together with barneveld, into the state-council. counsellor wilkes on his behalf then made a speech, in which he observed that more ample communications on the part of the states were to be expected. they had in previous colloquies touched upon comparatively unimportant matters, but he now begged to be informed why these commissioners were proceeding to england, and what was the nature of their instructions. why did not they formally offer the sovereignty of the provinces to the queen without conditions? that step had already been taken by utrecht. the deputies conferred apart for a little while, and then replied that the proposition made by utrecht was notoriously factious, illegal, and altogether futile. without the sanction of all the united states, of what value was the declaration of utrecht? moreover the charter of that province had been recklessly violated, its government overthrown, and its leading citizens banished. the action of the province under such circumstances was not deserving of comment; but should it appear that her majesty was desirous of assuming the sovereignty of the provinces upon reasonable conditions, the states of holland and of zeeland would not be found backward in the business. leicester proposed that prince maurice of nassau should go with him to england, as nominal chief of the embassy, and some of the deputies favoured the suggestion. it was however, vigorously and successfully opposed by barneveld, who urged that to leave the country without a head in such a dangerous position of affairs, would be an act of madness. leicester was much annoyed when informed of this decision. he was suspected of a design, during his absence, of converting maurice entirely to his own way of thinking. if unsuccessful, it was believed by the advocate and by many others that the earl would cause the young prince to be detained in england as long as philip william, his brother, had been kept in spain. he observed peevishly that he knew how it had all been brought about. words, of course, and handsome compliments were exchanged between the governor and the states-general on his departure. he protested that he had never pursued any private ends during his administration, but had ever sought to promote the good of the country and the glory of the queen, and that he had spent three hundred thousand florins of his own money in the brief period of his residence there. the advocate, on part of the states, assured him that they were all aware that in the friendship of england lay their only chance of salvation, but that united action was the sole means by which that salvation could be effected, and the one which had enabled the late prince of orange to maintain a contest unequalled by anything recorded in history. there was also much disquisition on the subject of finance--the advocate observing that the states now raised as much in a month as the provinces in the time of the emperor used to levy in a year--and expressed the hope that the queen would increase her contingent to ten thousand foot, and two thousand horse. he repudiated, in the name of the states-general and his own, the possibility of peace-negotiations; deprecated any allusion to the subject as fatal to their religion, their liberty, their very existence, and equally disastrous to england and to protestantism, and implored the earl, therefore, to use all his influence in opposition to any pacific overtures to or from spain. on the th november, acts were drawn up and signed by the earl, according to which the supreme government of the united netherlands was formally committed to the state-council during his absence. decrees were to be pronounced in the name of his excellency, and countersigned by maurice of nassau. on the following day, leicester, being somewhat indisposed, requested a deputation of the states-general to wait upon him in his own house. this was done, and a formal and affectionate farewell was then read to him by his secretary, mr. atye. it was responded to in complimentary fashion by advocate barneveld, who again took occasion at this parting interview to impress upon the governor the utter impossibility, in his own opinion and that of the other deputies, of reconciling the provinces with spain. leicester received from the states--as a magnificent parting present--a silver gilt vase "as tall as a man," and then departed for flushing to take shipping for england. chapter xii. ill-timed interregnum in the provinces--firmness of the english and dutch people--factions during leicester's government--democratic theories of the leicestriana--suspicions as to the earl's designs-- extreme views of the calvinists--political ambition of the church-- antagonism of the church and states--the states inclined to tolerance--desolation of the obedient provinces--pauperism and famine--prosperity of the republic--the year of expectation. it was not unnatural that the queen should desire the presence of her favourite at that momentous epoch, when the dread question, "aut fer aut feri," had at last demanded its definite solution. it was inevitable, too, that leicester should feel great anxiety to be upon the spot where the great tragedy, so full of fate to all christendom, and in which his own fortunes were so closely involved, was to be enacted. but it was most cruel to the netherlands--whose well-being was nearly as important to elizabeth as that of her own realm--to plunge them into anarchy at such a moment. yet this was the necessary result of the sudden retirement of leicester. he did not resign his government. he did not bind himself to return. the question of sovereignty was still unsettled, for it was still hoped by a large and influential party, that the english queen would accept the proposed annexation. it was yet doubtful, whether, during the period of abeyance, the states-general or the states-provincial, each within their separate sphere, were entitled to supreme authority. meantime, as if here were not already sufficient elements of dissension and doubt, came a sudden and indefinite interregnum, a provisional, an abnormal, and an impotent government. to the state-council was deputed the executive authority. but the state-council was a creature of the states-general, acting in concert with the governor-general, and having no actual life of its own. it was a board of consultation, not of decision, for it could neither enact its own decrees nor interpose a veto upon the decrees of the governor. certainly the selection of leicester to fill so important a post had not been a very fortunate one; and the enthusiasm which had greeted him, "as if he had been a messiah," on his arrival, had very rapidly dwindled away, as his personal character became known. the leading politicians of the country had already been aware of the error which they had committed in clothing with almost sovereign powers the delegate of one who had refused the sovereignty. they, were too adroit to neglect the opportunity, which her majesty's anger offered them, of repairing what they considered their blunder. when at last the quarrel, which looked so much like a lovers' quarrel, between elizabeth and 'sweet robin,' had been appeased to the satisfaction of robin, his royal mistress became more angry with the states for circumscribing than she had before been for their exaggeration of his authority. hence the implacable hatred of leicester to paul buys and barneveld. those two statesmen, for eloquence, learning, readiness, administrative faculty, surpassed by few who have ever wielded the destinies of free commonwealths, were fully equal to the task thrown upon their hands by the progress of events. that task was no slight one, for it was to the leading statesmen of holland and england, sustained by the indomitable resistance to despotism almost universal in the english and dutch nations, that the liberty of europe was entrusted at that, momentous epoch. whether united under one crown, as the netherlands ardently desired, or closely allied for aggression and defence, the two peoples were bound indissolubly together. the clouds were rolling up from the fatal south, blacker and more portentous than ever; the artificial equilibrium of forces, by which the fate of france was kept in suspense, was obviously growing every day more uncertain; but the prolonged and awful interval before the tempest should burst over the lands of freedom and protestantism, gave at least time for the prudent to prepare. the armada was growing every day in the ports of spain and portugal, and walsingham doubted, as little as did buys or barneveld, toward what shores that invasion was to be directed. england was to be conquered in order that the rebellious netherlands might be reduced; and 'mucio' was to be let slip upon the unhappy henry iii. so soon as it was thought probable that the bearnese and the valois had sufficiently exhausted each other. philip was to reign in paris, amsterdam, london, and edinburgh, without stirring from the escorial. an excellent programme, had there not been some english gentlemen, some subtle secretaries of state, some devonshire skippers, some dutch advocates and merchants, some zeeland fly-boatsmen, and six million men, women, and children, on the two sides of the north sea, who had the power of expressing their thoughts rather bluntly than otherwise, in different dialects of old anglo-saxon speech. certainly it would be unjust and ungracious to disparage the heroism of the great queen when the hour of danger really came, nor would it be legitimate for us, who can scan that momentous year of expectation, , by the light of subsequent events and of secret contemporaneous record, to censure or even sharply to criticise the royal hankering for peace, when peace had really become impossible. but as we shall have occasion to examine rather closely the secrets of the spanish, french, english, and dutch councils, during this epoch, we are likely to find, perhaps, that at least as great a debt is due to the english and dutch people, in mass, for the preservation of european liberty at that disastrous epoch as to any sovereign, general, or statesman. for it was in the great waters of the sixteenth century that the nations whose eyes were open, discovered the fountain of perpetual youth, while others, who were blind, passed rapidly onward to decrepitude. england was, in many respects, a despotism so far as regarded governmental forms; and no doubt the catholics were treated with greater rigour than could be justified even by the perpetual and most dangerous machinations of the seminary priests and their instigators against the throne and life of elizabeth. the word liberty was never musical in tudor ears, yet englishmen had blunt tongues and sharp weapons which rarely rusted for want of use. in the presence of a parliament, and the absence of a standing army, a people accustomed to read the bible in the vernacular, to handle great questions of religion and government freely, and to bear arms at will, was most formidable to despotism. there was an advance on the olden time. a francis drake, a john hawkins, a roger williams, might have been sold, under the plantagenets, like an ox or an ass. a 'female villain' in the reign of henry iii. could have been purchased for eighteen shillings--hardly the price of a fatted pig, and not one-third the value of an ambling palfrey--and a male villain, such an one as could in elizabeth's reign circumnavigate the globe in his own ship, or take imperial field-marshals by the beard, was worth but two or three pounds sterling in the market. here was progress in three centuries, for the villains were now become admirals and generals in england and holland, and constituted the main stay of these two little commonwealths, while the commanders who governed the 'invincible' fleets and armies of omnipotent spain, were all cousins of emperors, or grandees of bluest blood. perhaps the system of the reformation would not prove the least effective in the impending crisis. it was most important, then, that these two nations should be united in council, and should stand shoulder to shoulder as their great enemy advanced. but this was precisely what had been rendered almost impossible by the course of events during leicester's year of administration, and by his sudden but not final retirement at its close. the two great national parties which had gradually been forming, had remained in a fluid state during the presence of the governor-general. during his absence they gradually hardened into the forms which they were destined to retain for centuries. in the history of civil liberty, these incessant contests, these oral and written disquisitions, these sharp concussions of opinion, and the still harder blows, which, unfortunately, were dealt on a few occasions by the combatants upon each other, make the year a memorable one. the great questions of the origin of government, the balance of dynastic forces, the distribution of powers, were dealt with by the ablest heads, both dutch and english, that could be employed in the service of the kingdom and republic. it was a war of protocols, arguments, orations, rejoinders, apostilles, and pamphlets; very wholesome for the cause of free institutions and the intellectual progress of mankind. the reader may perhaps be surprised to see with how much vigour and boldness the grave questions which underlie all polity, were handled so many years before the days of russell and sidney, of montesquieu and locke, franklin, jefferson, rousseau, and voltaire; and he may be even more astonished to find exceedingly democratic doctrines propounded, if not believed in, by trained statesmen of the elizabethan school. he will be also apt to wonder that a more fitting time could not be found for such philosophical debate than the epoch at which both the kingdom and the republic were called upon to strain every sinew against the most formidable and aggressive despotism that the world had known since the fall of the roman empire. the great dividing-line between the two parties, that of leicester and that of holland, which controlled the action of the states-general, was the question of sovereignty. after the declaration of independence and the repudiation of philip, to whom did the sovereignty belong? to the people, said the leicestrians. to the states-general and the states-provincial, as legitimate representatives of the people, said the holland party. without looking for the moment more closely into this question, which we shall soon find ably discussed by the most acute reasoners of the time, it is only important at present to make a preliminary reflection. the earl of leicester, of all men is the world, would seem to have been precluded by his own action, and by the action of his queen, from taking ground against the states. it was the states who, by solemn embassy, had offered the sovereignty to elizabeth. she had not accepted the offer, but she had deliberated on the subject, and certainly she had never expressed a doubt whether or not the offer had been legally made. by the states, too, that governor-generalship had been conferred upon the earl, which had been so thankfully and eagerly accepted. it was strange, then, that he should deny the existence of the power whence his own authority was derived. if the states were not sovereigns of the netherlands, he certainly was nothing. he was but general of a few thousand english troops. the leicester party, then, proclaimed extreme democratic principles as to the origin of government and the sovereignty of the people. they sought to strengthen and to make almost absolute the executive authority of their chief, on the ground that such was the popular will; and they denounced with great acrimony the insolence of the upstart members of the states, half a dozen traders, hired advocates, churls, tinkers, and the like--as leicester was fond of designating the men who opposed him--in assuming these airs of sovereignty. this might, perhaps, be philosophical doctrine, had its supporters not forgotten that there had never been any pretence at an expression of the national will, except through the mouths of the states. the states-general and the states-provincial, without any usurpation, but as a matter of fact and of great political convenience, had, during fifteen years, exercised the authority which had fallen from philip's hands. the people hitherto had acquiesced in their action, and certainly there had not yet been any call for a popular convention, or any other device to ascertain the popular will. it was also difficult to imagine what was the exact entity of this abstraction called the "people" by men who expressed such extreme contempt for "merchants, advocates, town-orators, churls, tinkers, and base mechanic men, born not to command but to obey." who were the people when the educated classes and the working classes were thus carefully eliminated? hardly the simple peasantry--the boors--who tilled the soil. at that day the agricultural labourers less than all others dreamed of popular sovereignty, and more than all others submitted to the mild authority of the states. according to the theory of the netherland constitutions, they were supposed--and they had themselves not yet discovered the fallacies to which such doctrines could lead--to be represented by the nobles and country-squires who maintained in the states of each province the general farming interests of the republic. moreover, the number of agricultural peasants was comparatively small. the lower classes were rather accustomed to plough the sea than the land, and their harvests were reaped from that element, which to hollanders and zeelanders was less capricious than the solid earth. almost every inhabitant of those sea-born territories was, in one sense or another, a mariner; for every highway was a canal; the soil was percolated by rivers and estuaries, pools and meres; the fisheries were the nurseries in which still more daring navigators rapidly learned their trade, and every child took naturally to the ocean as to its legitimate home. the "people," therefore, thus enthroned by the leicestrians over all the inhabitants of the country, appeared to many eyes rather a misty abstraction, and its claim of absolute sovereignty a doctrine almost as fantastic as that of the divine right of kings. the netherlanders were, on the whole, a law-abiding people, preferring to conduct even a revolution according to precedent, very much attached to ancient usages and traditions, valuing the liberties, as they called them, which they had wrested from what had been superior force, with their own right hands, preferring facts to theories, and feeling competent to deal with tyrants in the concrete rather than to annihilate tyranny in the abstract by a bold and generalizing phraseology. moreover the opponents of the leicester party complained that the principal use to which this newly discovered "people" had been applied, was to confer its absolute sovereignty unconditionally upon one man. the people was to be sovereign in order that it might immediately abdicate in favour of the earl. utrecht, the capital of the leicestrians, had already been deprived of its constitution. the magistracy was, according to law, changed every year. a list of candidates was furnished by the retiring board, an equal number of names was added by the governor of the province, and from the catalogue thus composed the governor with his council selected the new magistrates for the year. but de villiers, the governor of the province, had been made a prisoner by the enemy in the last campaign; count moeurs had been appointed provisional stadholder by the states; and, during his temporary absence on public affairs, the leicestrians had seized upon the government, excluded all the ancient magistrates, banished many leading citizens from the town, and installed an entirely new board, with gerard proninck, called deventer, for chief burgomaster, who was a brabantine refugee just arrived in the province, and not eligible to office until after ten years' residence. it was not unnatural that the netherlanders, who remembered the scenes of bloodshed and disorder produced by the memorable attempt of the duke of anjou to obtain possession of antwerp and other cities, should be suspicious of leicester. anjou, too, had been called to the provinces by the voluntary action of the states. he too had been hailed as a messiah and a deliverer. in him too had unlimited confidence been reposed, and he had repaid their affection and their gratitude by a desperate attempt to obtain the control of their chief cities by the armed hand, and thus to constitute himself absolute sovereign of the netherlands. the inhabitants had, after a bloody contest, averted the intended massacre and the impending tyranny; but it was not astonishing that--so very, few years having elapsed since those tragical events--they should be inclined to scan severely the actions of the man who had already obtained by unconstitutional means the mastery of a most important city, and was supposed to harbour designs upon all the cities. no, doubt it was a most illiberal and unwise policy for the inhabitants of the independent states to exclude from office the wanderers, for conscience' sake, from the obedient provinces. they should have been welcomed heart and hand by those who were their brethren in religion and in the love of freedom. moreover, it was notorious that hohenlo, lieutenant-general under maurice of nassau, was a german, and that by the treaty with england, two foreigners sat in the state council, while the army swarmed with english, irish, end german officers in high command. nevertheless, violently to subvert the constitution of a province, and to place in posts of high responsibility men who were ineligible--some whose characters were suspicious, and some who were known to be dangerous, and to banish large numbers of respectable burghers--was the act of a despot. besides their democratic doctrines, the leicestrians proclaimed and encouraged an exclusive and rigid calvinism. it would certainly be unjust and futile to detract from the vast debt which the republic owed to the geneva church. the reformation had entered the netherlands by the walloon gate. the earliest and most eloquent preachers, the most impassioned converts, the sublimest martyrs, had lived, preached, fought, suffered, and died with the precepts of calvin in their hearts. the fire which had consumed the last vestige of royal and sacerdotal despotism throughout the independent republic, had been lighted by the hands of calvinists. throughout the blood-stained soil of france, too, the men who were fighting the same great battle as were the netherlanders against philip ii. and the inquisition, the valiant cavaliers of dauphiny and provence, knelt on the ground, before the battle, smote their iron breasts with their mailed hands, uttered a calvinistic prayer, sang a psalm of marot, and then charged upon guise, or upon joyeuse, under the white plume of the bearnese. and it was on the calvinist weavers and clothiers of rochelle that the great prince relied in the hour of danger as much as on his mountain chivalry. in england too, the seeds of liberty, wrapped up in calvinism and hoarded through many trying years, were at last destined to float over land and sea, and to bear large harvests of temperate freedom for great commonwealths, which were still unborn. nevertheless there was a growing aversion in many parts of the states for the rigid and intolerant spirit of the reformed religion. there were many men in holland who had already imbibed the true lesson--the only, one worth learning of the reformation--liberty of thought; but toleration in the eyes of the extreme calvinistic party was as great a vice as it could be in the estimation of papists. to a favoured few of other habits of thought, it had come to be regarded as a virtue; but the day was still far distant when men were to scorn the very word toleration as an insult to the dignity of man; as if for any human being or set of human beings, in caste, class, synod, or church, the right could even in imagination be conceded of controlling the consciences of their fellow-creatures. but it was progress for the sixteenth century that there were individuals, and prominent individuals, who dared to proclaim liberty of conscience for all. william of orange was a calvinist, sincere and rigid, but he denounced all oppression of religion, and opened wide the doors of the commonwealth to papists, lutherans, and anabaptists alike. the earl of leicester was a calvinist, most rigid in tenet, most edifying of conversation, the acknowledged head of the puritan party of england, but he was intolerant and was influenced only by the most intolerant of his sect. certainly it would have required great magnanimity upon his part to assume a friendly demeanour towards the papists. it is easier for us, in more favoured ages, to rise to the heights of philosophical abstraction, than for a man, placed as was leicester, in the front rank of a mighty battle, in which the triumph of either religion seemed to require the bodily annihilation of all its adversaries. he believed that the success of a catholic conspiracy against the life of elizabeth or of a spanish invasion of england, would raise mary to the throne and consign himself to the scaffold. he believed that the subjugation of the independent netherlands would place the spaniards instantly in england, and he frequently received information, true or false, of popish plots that were ever hatching in various parts of the provinces against the english queen. it was not surprising, therefore, although it was unwise, that he should incline his ear most seriously to those who counselled severe measures not only against papists, but against those who were not persecutors of papists, and that he should allow himself to be guided by adventurers, who wore the mask of religion only that they might plunder the exchequer and rob upon the highway. under the administration of this extreme party, therefore, the papists were maltreated, disfranchised, banished, and plundered. the distribution of the heavy war-taxes, more than two-thirds of which were raised in holland only, was confided to foreigners, and regulated mainly at utrecht, where not one-tenth part of the same revenue was collected. this naturally excited the wrath of the merchants and manufacturers of holland and the other provinces, who liked not that these hard-earned and lavishly-paid subsidies should be meddled with by any but the cleanest hands. the clergy, too, arrogated a direct influence in political affairs. their demonstrations were opposed by the anti-leicestrians, who cared not to see a geneva theocracy in the place of the vanished papacy. they had as little reverence in secular affairs for calvinistic deacons as for the college of cardinals, and would as soon accept the infallibility of sixtus v. as that of herman modet. the reformed clergy who had dispossessed and confiscated the property of the ancient ecclesiastics who once held a constitutional place in the estates of utrecht--although many of those individuals were now married and had embraced the reformed religion who had demolished, and sold at public auction, for , florins, the time-honoured cathedral where the earliest christians of the netherlands had worshipped, and st. willibrod had ministered, were roundly rebuked, on more than one occasion, by the blunt matters beyond their sphere. the party of the states-general, as opposed to the leicester party, was guided by the statesmen of holland. at a somewhat later period was formed the states-right party, which claimed sovereignty for each province, and by necessary consequence the hegemony throughout the confederacy, for holland. at present the doctrine maintained was that the sovereignty forfeited by philip had naturally devolved upon the states-general. the statesmen of this party repudiated the calumny that it had therefore lapsed into the hands of half a dozen mechanics and men of low degree. the states of each province were, they maintained, composed of nobles and country-gentlemen, as representing the agricultural interest, and of deputies from the 'vroedschappen,' or municipal governments, of every city and smallest town. such men as adrian van der werff, the heroic burgomaster of leyden during its famous siege, john van der does, statesman, orator, soldier, poet, adolphus meetkerke, judge, financier, politician, carl roorda, noel de carom diplomatist of most signal ability, floris thin, paul buys, and olden-barneveld, with many others, who would have done honour to the legislative assemblies and national councils in any country or any age, were constantly returned as members of the different vroedschaps in the commonwealth. so far from its being true then that half a dozen ignorant mechanics had usurped the sovereignty of the provinces, after the abjuration of the spanish king, it may be asserted in general terms, that of the eight hundred thousand inhabitants of holland at least eight hundred persons were always engaged in the administration of public affairs, that these individuals were perpetually exchanged for others, and that those whose names became most prominent in the politics of the day were remarkable for thorough education, high talents, and eloquence with tongue and pen. it was acknowledged by the leading statesmen of england and france, on repeated occasions throughout the sixteenth century, that the diplomatists and statesmen of the netherlands were even more than a match for any politicians who were destined to encounter them, and the profound respect which leicester expressed for these solid statesmen, these "substantial, wise, well-languaged" men, these "big fellows," so soon as he came in contact with them, and before he began to hate them for outwitting him, has already appeared. they were generally men of the people, born without any of the accidents of fortune; but, the leaders had studied in the common schools, and later in the noble universities of a land where to be learned and eloquent was fast becoming almost as great an honour as to be wealthy or high born. the executive, the legislative, and the judiciary departments were more carefully and scientifically separated than could perhaps have been expected in that age. the lesser municipal courts, in which city-senators presided, were subordinate to the supreme court of holland, whose officers were appointed by the stadholders and council; the supplies were in the hands of the states-provincial, and the supreme administrative authority was confided to a stadholder appointed by the states. the states-general were constituted of similar materials to those of which the states-provincial were constructed, and the same individuals were generally prominent in both. they were deputies appointed by the provincial estates, were in truth rather more like diplomatic envoys than senators, were generally bound very strictly by instructions, and were often obliged, by the jealousy springing from the states-right principle, to refer to their constituents, on questions when the times demanded a sudden decision, and when the necessary delay was inconvenient and dangerous. in religious matters, the states-party, to their honour, already leaned to a wide toleration. not only catholics were not burned, but they were not banished, and very large numbers remained in the territory, and were quite undisturbed in religious matters, within their own doors. there were even men employed in public affairs who were suspected of papistical tendencies, although their hostility, to spain and their attachment to their native land could not fairly be disputed. the leaders of the states-party had a rooted aversion to any political influence on the part of the clergy of any denomination whatever. disposed to be lenient to all forms of worship, they were disinclined to an established church, but still more opposed to allowing church-influence in secular affairs. as a matter of course, political men with such bold views in religious matters were bitterly assailed by their rigid opponents. barneveld, with his "nil scire tutissima fides," was denounced as a disguised catholic or an infidel, and as for paul buys, he was a "bolsterer of papists, an atheist, a devil," as it has long since been made manifest. nevertheless these men believed that they understood the spirit of their country and of the age. in encouragement to an expanding commerce, the elevation and education of the masses, the toleration of all creeds, and a wide distribution of political functions and rights, they looked for the salvation of their nascent republic from destruction, and the maintenance of the true interests of the people. they were still loyal to queen elizabeth, and desirous that she should accept the sovereignty of the provinces. but they were determined that the sovereignty should be a constitutional one, founded upon and limited by the time-honoured laws and traditions of their commonwealth; for they recognised the value of a free republic with an hereditary chief, however anomalous it might in theory appear. they knew that in utrecht the leicestrian party were about to offer the queen the sovereignty of their province, without conditions, but they were determined that neither queen elizabeth nor any other monarch should ever reign in the netherlands, except under conditions to be very accurately defined and well secured. thus, contrasted, then, were the two great parties in the netherlands, at the conclusion of leicester's first year of administration. it may easily be understood that it was not an auspicious moment to leave the country without a chief. the strength of the states-party lay in holland, zeeland, friesland. the main stay of the democratic or leicester faction was in the city of utrecht, but the earl had many partizans in gelderland, friesland, and in overyssel, the capital of which province, the wealthy and thriving deventer, second only in the republic to amsterdam for commercial and political importance, had been but recently secured for the provinces by the vigorous measures of sir william pelham. the condition of the republic and of the spanish provinces was, at that moment, most signally contrasted. if the effects of despotism and of liberty could ever be exhibited at a single glance, it was certainly only necessary to look for a moment at the picture of the obedient and of the rebel netherlands. since the fall of antwerp, the desolation of brabant, flanders, and of the walloon territories had become complete. the king had recovered the great commercial capital, but its commerce was gone. the scheldt, which, till recently, had been the chief mercantile river in the world, had become as barren as if its fountains had suddenly dried up. it was as if it no longer flowed to the ocean, for its mouth was controlled by flushing. thus antwerp was imprisoned and paralyzed. its docks and basins, where ships had once been counted, were empty, grass was growing in its streets, its industrious population had vanished, and the jesuits had returned in swarms. and the same spectacle was presented by ghent, bruges, valenciennes, tournay, and those other fair cities, which had once been types of vigorous industry and tumultuous life. the sea-coast was in the hands of two rising commercial powers, the great and free commonwealths of the future. those powers were acting in concert, and commanding the traffic of the world, while the obedient provinces were excluded from all foreign intercourse and all markets, as the result of their obedience. commerce, manufactures, agriculture; were dying lingering deaths. the thrifty farms, orchards, and gardens, which had been a proverb and wonder of industry were becoming wildernesses. the demand for their produce by the opulent and thriving cities, which had been the workshops of the world, was gone. foraging bands of spanish and italian mercenaries had succeeded to the famous tramp of the artizans and mechanics, which had often been likened to an army, but these new customers were less profitable to the gardeners and farmers. the clothiers, the fullers, the tapestry-workers, the weavers, the cutlers, had all wandered away, and the cities of holland, friesland, and of england, were growing skilful and rich by the lessons and the industry of the exiles to whom they afforded a home. there were villages and small towns in the spanish netherlands that had been literally depopulated. large districts of country had gone to waste, and cane-brakes and squalid morasses usurped the place of yellow harvest-fields. the fog, the wild boar, and the wolf, infested the abandoned homes of the peasantry; children could not walk in safety in the neighbourhood even of the larger cities; wolves littered their young in the deserted farm-houses; two hundred persons, in the winter of - , were devoured by wild beasts in the outskirts of ghent. such of the remaining labourers and artizans as had not been converted into soldiers, found their most profitable employment as brigands, so that the portion of the population spared by war and emigration was assisting the enemy in preying upon their native country. brandschatzung, burglary, highway-robbery, and murder, had become the chief branches of industry among the working classes. nobles and wealthy burghers had been changed to paupers and mendicants. many a family of ancient lineage, and once of large possessions, could be seen begging their bread, at the dusk of evening, in the streets of great cities, where they had once exercised luxurious hospitality; and they often begged in vain. for while such was the forlorn aspect of the country--and the portrait, faithfully sketched from many contemporary pictures, has not been exaggerated in any of its dark details--a great famine smote the land with its additional scourge. the whole population, soldiers and brigands, spaniards and flemings, beggars and workmen, were in danger of perishing together. where the want of employment had been so great as to cause a rapid depopulation, where the demand for labour had almost entirely ceased, it was a necessary result, that during the process, prices should be low, even in the presence of foreign soldiery, and despite the inflamed' profits, which such capitalists as remained required, by way not only of profit but insurance, in such troublous times. accordingly, for the last year or two, the price of rye at antwerp and brussels had been one florin for the veertel (three bushels) of one hundred and twenty pounds; that of wheat, about one-third of a florin more. five pounds of rye, therefore, were worth, one penny sterling, reckoning, as was then usual, two shillings to the florin. a pound weight of wheat was worth about one farthing. yet this was forty-one years after the discovery of the mines of potosi (a.d. ), and full sixteen years after the epoch; from which is dated that rapid fall in the value of silver, which in the course of seventy years, caused the average price of corn and of all other commodities, to be tripled or even quadrupled. at that very moment the average cost of wheat in england was sixty-four shillings the quarter, or about seven and sixpence sterling the bushel, and in the markets of holland, which in truth regulated all others, the same prices prevailed. a bushel of wheat in england was equal therefore to eight bushels in brussels. thus the silver mines, which were the spanish king's property, had produced their effect everywhere more signally than within the obedient provinces. the south american specie found its way to philip's coffers, thence to the paymasters of his troops in flanders, and thence to the commercial centres of holland and england. those countries, first to feel and obey the favourable expanding impulse of the age, were moving surely and steadily on before it to greatness. prices were rising with unexampled rapidity, the precious metals were comparatively a drug, a world-wide commerce, such as had never been dreamed of, had become an every-day concern, the arts and sciences and a most generous culture in famous schools and universities, which had been founded in the midst of tumult and bloodshed, characterized the republic, and the golden age of english poetry, which was to make the elizabethan era famous through all time, had already begun. in the spanish netherlands the newly-found treasure served to pay the only labourers required in a subjugated and almost deserted country, the pikemen of spain and italy, and the reiters of germany. prices could not sustain themselves in the face of depopulation. where there was no security for property, no home-market, no foreign intercourse, industrial pursuits had become almost impossible. the small demand for labour had caused it, as it were, to disappear, altogether. all men had become beggars, brigands, or soldiers. a temporary reaction followed. there were no producers. suddenly it was discovered that no corn had been planted, and that there was no harvest. a famine was the inevitable result. prices then rose with most frightful rapidity. the veertel of rye, which in the previous year had been worth one florin at brussels and antwerp, rose in the winter of - to twenty, twenty-two, and even twenty-four florins; and wheat advanced from one and one-third florin to thirty-two florins the veertel. other articles were proportionally increased in market-value; but it is worthy of remark that mutton was quoted in the midst of the famine at nine stuyvers (a little more than ninepence sterling) the pound, and beef at fivepence, while a single cod-fish sold for twenty-two florins. thus wheat was worth sixpence sterling the pound weight (reckoning the veertel of one hundred and twenty pounds at thirty florins), which was a penny more than the price of a pound of beef; while an ordinary fish was equal in value to one hundred and six pounds of beef. no better evidence could be given that the obedient provinces were relapsing into barbarism, than that the only agricultural industry then practised was to allow what flocks and herds were remaining to graze at will over the ruined farms and gardens, and that their fishermen were excluded from the sea. the evil cured itself, however, and, before the expiration of another year, prices were again at their previous level. the land was sufficiently cultivated to furnish the necessaries of life for a diminishing population, and the supply of labour was more than enough, for the languishing demand. wheat was again at tenpence the bushel, and other commodities valued in like proportion, and far below the market-prices in holland and england. on the other, hand, the prosperity of the republic was rapidly increasing. notwithstanding the war, which had beer raging for a terrible quarter of a century without any interruption, population was increasing, property rapidly advancing in value, labour in active demand. famine was impossible to a state which commanded the ocean. no corn grew in holland and zeeland, but their ports were the granary of the world. the fisheries were a mine of wealth almost equal to the famous potosi, with which the commercial world was then ringing. their commerce with the baltic nations was enormous. in one month eight hundred vessels left their havens for the eastern ports alone. there was also no doubt whatever--and the circumstance was a source of constant complaint and of frequent ineffective legislation--that the rebellious provinces were driving a most profitable trade with spain and the spanish possessions, in spite of their revolutionary war. the mines of peru and mexico were as fertile for the hollanders and zeelanders as for the spaniards themselves. the war paid for the war, one hundred large frigates were constantly cruising along the coasts to protect the fast-growing traffic, and an army of twenty thousand foot soldiers and two thousand cavalry were maintained on land. there were more ships and sailors at that moment in holland and zeeland than in the whole kingdom of england. while the sea-ports were thus rapidly increasing in importance, the towns in the interior were advancing as steadily. the woollen manufacture, the tapestry, the embroideries of gelderland, and friesland, and overyssel, were becoming as famous as had been those of tournay, ypres, brussels, and valenciennes. the emigration from the obedient provinces and from other countries was very great. it was difficult to obtain lodgings in the principal cities; new houses, new streets, new towns, were rising every day. the single province of holland furnished regularly, for war-expenses alone, two millions of florins (two hundred thousand pounds) a year, besides frequent extraordinary grants for the same purpose, yet the burthen imposed upon the vigorous young commonwealth seemed only to make it the more elastic. "the coming generations may see," says a contemporary historian, "the fortifications erected at that epoch in the cities, the costly and magnificent havens, the docks, the great extension of the cities; for truly the war had become a great benediction to the inhabitants." such a prosperous commonwealth as this was not a prize to be lightly thrown away. there is no doubt whatever that a large majority of the inhabitants, and of the states by whom the people were represented, ardently and affectionately desired to be annexed to the english crown. leicester had become unpopular, but elizabeth was adored, and there was nothing unreasonable in the desire entertained by the provinces of retaining their ancient constitutions, and of transferring their allegiance to the english queen. but the english queen could not resolve to take the step. although the great tragedy which was swiftly approaching its inevitable catastrophe, the execution of the scottish queen, was to make peace with philip impossible--even if it were imaginable before--elizabeth, during the year , was earnestly bent on peace. this will be made manifest in subsequent pages, by an examination of the secret correspondence of the court. her most sagacious statesmen disapproved her course, opposed it, and were often overruled, although never convinced; for her imperious will would have its way. the states-general loathed the very name of peace with spain. the people loathed it. all knew that peace with spain meant the exchange of a thriving prosperous commonwealth, with freedom of religion, constitutional liberty, and self-government, for provincial subjection to the inquisition and to despotism: to dream of any concession from philip on the religious point was ridiculous. there was a mirror ever held up before their eyes by the obedient provinces, in which they might see their own image, should, they too return to obedience. and there was never a pretence, on the part of any honest adviser of queen elizabeth in the netherlands, whether englishman or hollander, that the idea of peace-negotiation could be tolerated for a moment by states or people. yet the sum of the queen's policy, for the year , may be summed up in one word--peace; peace for the provinces, peace for herself, with their implacable enemy. in france, during the same year of expectation, we shall see the long prologue to the tragic and memorable slowly enacting; the same triangular contest between the three henrys and their partizans still proceeding. we shall see the misguided and wretched valois lamenting over his victories, and rejoicing over his defeats; forced into hollow alliance with his deadly enemy; arrayed in arms against his only protector and the true champion of the realm; and struggling vainly in the toils of his own mother and his own secretary of state, leagued with his most powerful foes. we shall see 'mucio,' with one 'hand extended in mock friendship toward the king, and with the other thrust backward to grasp the purse of , crowns held forth to aid his fellow-conspirator's dark designs against their common victim; and the bearnese, ever with lance in rest, victorious over the wrong antagonist, foiled of the fruits of victory, proclaiming himself the english queen's devoted knight, but railing at her parsimony; always in the saddle, always triumphant, always a beggar, always in love, always cheerful, and always confident to outwit the guises and philip, parma and the pope. and in spain we shall have occasion to look over the king's shoulder, as he sits at his study-table, in his most sacred retirement; and we shall find his policy for the year summed up in two words--invasion of england. sincerely and ardently as elizabeth meant peace with philip, just so sincerely did philip intend war with england, and the dethronement and destruction of the queen. to this great design all others were now subservient, and it was mainly on account of this determination that there was sufficient leisure in the republic for the leicestrians and the states-general to fight out so thoroughly their party-contests. etext editor's bookmarks: acknowledged head of the puritan party of england (leicester) geneva theocracy in the place of the vanished papacy hankering for peace, when peace had really become impossible hating nothing so much as idleness mirror ever held up before their eyes by the obedient provinces rigid and intolerant spirit of the reformed religion scorn the very word toleration as an insult the word liberty was never musical in tudor ears history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter xiii. barneveld's influence in the provinces--unpopularity of leicester intrigues--of his servants--gossip of his secretary-- its mischievous effects--the quarrel of norris and hollock-- the earl's participation in the affair--his increased animosity to norris--seizure of deventer--stanley appointed its governor--york and stanley--leicester's secret instructions--wilkes remonstrates with stanley--stanley's insolence and equivocation--painful rumours as to him and york--duplicity of york--stanley's banquet at deventer--he surrenders the city to tassis--terms of the bargain-- feeble defence of stanley's conduct--subsequent fate of stanley and york--betrayal of gelder to parma--these treasons cast odium on the english--miserable plight of the english troops--honesty and energy of wilkes--indignant discussion in the assembly. the government had not been laid down by leicester on his departure. it had been provisionally delegated, as already mentioned to the state-council. in this body-consisting of eighteen persons--originally appointed by the earl, on nomination by the states, several members were friendly to the governor, and others were violently opposed to him. the staten of holland, by whom the action of the states-general was mainly controlled, were influenced in their action by buys and barneveld. young maurice of nassau, nineteen years of age, was stadholder of holland and zeeland. a florid complexioned, fair-haired young man, of sanguine-bilious temperament; reserved, quiet, reflective, singularly self-possessed; meriting at that time, more than his father had ever done, the appellation of the taciturn; discreet, sober, studious. "count maurice saith but little, but i cannot tell what he thinketh," wrote leicester's eaves-dropper-in-chiefs. mathematics, fortification, the science of war--these were his daily pursuits. "the sapling was to become the tree," and meantime the youth was preparing for the great destiny which he felt, lay before him. to ponder over the works and the daring conceptions of stevinus, to build up and to batter the wooden blocks of mimic citadels; to arrange in countless combinations, great armies of pewter soldiers; these were the occupations of his leisure-hours. yet he was hardly suspected of bearing within him the germs of the great military commander. "small desire hath count maurice to follow the wars," said one who fancied himself an acute observer at exactly this epoch. "and whereas it might be supposed that in respect to his birth and place, he would affect the chief military command in these countries, it is found by experience had of his humour, that there is no chance of his entering into competition with the others." a modest young man, who could bide his time--but who, meanwhile, under the guidance of his elders, was doing his best, both in field and cabinet, to learn the great lessons of the age--he had already enjoyed much solid practical instruction, under such a desperate fighter as hohenlo, and under so profound a statesman as barneveld. for at this epoch olden-barneveld was the preceptor, almost the political patron of maurice, and maurice, the official head of the holland party, was the declared opponent of the democratic-calvinist organization. it is not necessary, at this early moment, to foreshadow the changes which time was to bring. meantime it would be seen, perhaps ere long, whether or no, it would be his humour to follow the wars. as to his prudent and dignified deportment there was little doubt. "count maurice behaveth himself very discreetly all this while," wrote one, who did not love him, to leicester, who loved him less: "he cometh every day to the council, keeping no company with count hollock, nor with any of them all, and never drinks himself full with any of them, as they do every day among themselves." certainly the most profitable intercourse that maurice could enjoy with hohenlo was upon the battle-field. in winter-quarters, that hard-fighting, hard-drinking, and most turbulent chieftain, was not the best mentor for a youth whose destiny pointed him out as the leader of a free commonwealth. after the campaigns were over--if they ever could be over--the count and other nobles from the same country were too apt to indulge in those mighty potations, which were rather characteristic of their nation and the age. "since your excellency's departure," wrote leicester's secretary, "there hath been among the dutch counts nothing but dancing and drinking, to the grief of all this people; which foresee that there can come no good of it. specially count hollock, who hath been drunk almost a fortnight together." leicester had rendered himself unpopular with the states-general, and with all the leading politicians and generals; yet, at that moment, he had deeply mortgaged his english estates in order to raise funds to expend in the netherland cause. thirty thousand pounds sterling--according to his own statement--he was already out of pocket, and, unless the queen would advance him the means to redeem his property; his broad lands were to be brought to the hammer. but it was the queen, not the states-general, who owed the money; for the earl had advanced these sums as a portion of the royal contingent. five hundred and sixty thousand pounds sterling had been the cost of one year's war during the english governor's administration; and of this sum one hundred and forty thousand had been paid by england. there was a portion of the sum, over and above their monthly levies; for which the states had contracted a debt, and they were extremely desirous to obtain, at that moment, an additional loan of fifty thousand pounds from elizabeth; a favour which--elizabeth was very firmly determined not to grant. it was this terror at the expense into which the netherland war was plunging her, which made the english sovereign so desirous for peace, and filled the anxious mind of walsingham with the most painful forebodings. leicester, in spite of his good qualities--such as they were--had not that most necessary gift for a man in his position, the art of making friends. no man made so many enemies. he was an excellent hater, and few men have been more cordially hated in return. he was imperious, insolent, hot-tempered. he could brook no equal. he had also the fatal defect of enjoying the flattery, of his inferiors in station. adroit intriguers burned incense to him as a god, and employed him as their tool. and now he had mortally offended hohenlo, and buys, and barneveld, while he hated sir john norris with a most passionate hatred. wilkes, the english representative, was already a special object of his aversion. the unvarnished statements made by the stiff counsellor, of the expense of the past year's administration, and the various errors committed, had inspired leicester with such ferocious resentment, that the friends of wilkes trembled for his life. ["it is generally bruited here," wrote henry smith to his brother- in-law wilkes, "of a most heavy displeasure conceived by my lord of leicester against you, and it is said to be so great as that he hath protested to be revenged of you; and to procure you the more enemies, it is said he hath revealed to my lord treasurer, and secretary davison some injurious speeches (which i cannot report) you should have used of them to him at your last being with him. furthermore some of the said lord's secretaries have reported here that it were good for you never to return hither, or, if their lord be appointed to go over again, it will be too hot for you to tarry there. these things thus coming to the ears of your friends have stricken a great fear and grief into the minds of such as love you, lest the wonderful force and authority of this man being bent against you, should do you hurt, while there is none to answer for you." smith to wilkes, jan. . (s. p. office ms.)] cordiality between the governor-general and count maurice had become impossible. as for willoughby and sir william pelham, they were both friendly to him, but willoughby was a magnificent cavalry officer, who detested politics, and cared little for the netherlands, except as the best battle-field in europe, and the old marshal of the camp--the only man that leicester ever loved--was growing feeble in health, was broken down by debt, and hardly possessed, or wished for, any general influence. besides deventer of utrecht, then, on whom, the earl chiefly relied during his, absence, there were none to support him cordially, except two or three members of the state-council. "madame de brederode hath sent unto you a kind of rose," said his intelligencer, "which you have asked for, and beseeches you to command anything she has in her garden, or whatsoever. m. meetkerke, m. brederode, and mr. dorius, wish your return with all, their hearts. for the rest i cannot tell, and will not swear. but mr. barneveld is not your very great friend, whereof i can write no more at this time." this certainly was a small proportion out of a council of eighteen, when all the leading politicians of the country were in avowed hostility to the governor. and thus the earl was, at this most important crisis, to depend upon the subtle and dangerous deventer, and upon two inferior personages, the "fellow junius" and a non-descript, whom hohenlo characterized as a "long lean englishman, with a little black beard." this meagre individual however seems to have been of somewhat doubtful nationality. he called himself otheman, claimed to be a frenchman, had lived much in england, wrote with great fluency and spirit, both in french and english, but was said, in reality, to be named robert dale. it was not the best policy for the representative of the english queen to trust to such counsellors at a moment when the elements of strife between holland and england were actively at work; and when the safety, almost the existence, of the two commonwealths depended upon their acting cordially in concert. "overyssel, utrecht, friesland, and gelderland, have agreed to renew the offer of sovereignty to her majesty," said leicester. "i shall be able to make a better report of their love and good inclination than i can of holland." it was thought very desirable by the english government that this great demonstration should be made once more, whatever might be the ultimate decision of her majesty upon so momentous a measure. it seemed proper that a solemn embassy should once more proceed to england in order to confer with elizabeth; but there was much delay in regard to the step, and much indignation, in consequence, on the part of the earl. the opposition came, of course, from the barneveld party. "they are in no great haste to offer the sovereignty," said wilkes. "first some towns of holland made bones thereat, and now they say that zeeland is not resolved." the nature and the causes of the opposition offered by barneveld and the states of holland have been sufficiently explained. buys, maddened by his long and unjustifiable imprisonment, had just been released by the express desire of hohenlo; and that unruly chieftain, who guided the german and dutch magnates; such as moeurs and overstein, and who even much influenced maurice and his cousin count lewis william, was himself governed by barneveld. it would have been far from impossible for leicester, even then, to conciliate the whole party. it was highly desirable that he should do so, for not one of the provinces where he boasted his strength was quite secure for england. count moeurs, a potent and wealthy noble, was governor of utrecht and gelderland, and he had already begun to favour the party in holland which claimed for that province a legal jurisdiction over the whole ancient episcopate. under these circumstances common prudence would have suggested that as good an understanding as possible might be kept up with the dutch and german counts, and that the breach might not be rendered quite irreparable. yet, as if there had not been administrative blunders enough committed in one year, the unlucky lean englishman, with the black beard, who was the earl's chief representative, contrived--almost before his master's back was turned--to draw upon himself the wrath of all the fine ladies in holland. that this should be the direful spring of unutterable disasters, social and political, was easy to foretell. just before the governor's departure otheman came to pay his farewell respects, and receive his last commands. he found leicester seated at chess with sir francis drake. "i do leave you here, my poor otheman," said the earl, "but so soon as i leave you i know very well that nobody will give you a good look." "your excellency was a true prophet," wrote the secretary a few weeks later, "for, my good lord, i have been in as great danger of my life as ever man was. i have been hunted at delft from house to house, and then besieged in my lodgings four or five hours, as though i had been the greatest thief, murderer, and traitor in the land." and why was the unfortunate otheman thus hunted to his lair? because he had chosen to indulge in 'scandalum magnatum,' and had thereby excited the frenzy of all the great nobles whom it was most important for the english party to conciliate. there had been gossip about the princess of chimay and one calvaert, who lived in her house, much against the advice of all her best friends. one day she complained bitterly to master otheman of the spiteful ways of the world. "i protest," said she, "that i am the unhappiest lady upon earth to have my name thus called in question." so said otheman, in order to comfort her: "your highness is aware that such things are said of all. i am sure i hear every day plenty of speeches about lords and ladies, queens and princesses. you have little cause to trouble yourself for such matters, being known to live honestly, and like a good christian lady. your highness is not the only lady spoken of." the princess listened with attention. "think of the stories about the queen of england and my lord of leicester!" said otheman, with infinite tact. "no person is exempted from the tongues of evil, speakers; but virtuous and godly men do put all such foolish matter under their feet. then there is the countess of hoeurs, how much evil talk does one hear about her!" the princess seemed still more interested and even excited; and the adroit otheman having thus, as he imagined, very successfully smoothed away her anger, went off to have a little more harmless gossip about the princess and the countess, with madame de meetkerke, who had sent leicester the rose from her garden. but, no sooner, had he gone, than away went her highness to madame de moeurs, "a marvellous wise and well-spoken gentlewoman and a grave," and informed her and the count, with some trifling exaggeration, that the vile englishman, secretary to the odious leicester, had just been there, abusing and calumniating the countess in most lewd and abominable fashion. he had also, she protested, used "very evil speeches of all the ladies in the country." for her own part the princess avowed her determination to have him instantly murdered. count moeurs was quite of the same mind, and desired nothing better than to be one of his executioners. accordingly, the next sunday, when the babbling secretary had gone down to delft to hear the french sermon, a select party, consisting of moeurs, lewis william of nassau, count overstein, and others, set forth for that city, laid violent hands on the culprit, and brought him bodily before princess chimay. there, being called upon to explain his innuendos, he fell into much trepidation, and gave the names of several english captains, whom he supposed to be at that time in england. "for if i had denied the whole matter," said he, "they would have given me the lie, and used me according to their evil mind." upon this they relented, and released their prisoner, but, the next day they made another attack upon him, hunted him from house to house, through the whole city of delft, and at last drove him to earth in his own lodgings, where they kept him besieged several hours. through the intercession of wilkes and the authority of the council of state, to which body he succeeded in conveying information of his dangerous predicament, he was, in his own language, "miraculously preserved," although remaining still in daily danger of his life. "i pray god keep me hereafter from the anger of a woman," he exclaimed, "quia non est ira supra iram mulieris." he was immediately examined before the council, and succeeded in clearing and justifying himself to the satisfaction of his friends. his part was afterwards taken by the councillors, by all the preachers and godly men, and by the university of leyden. but it was well understood that the blow and the affront had been levelled at the english governor and the english nation. "all your friends do see," said otheman, "that this disgrace is not meant so much to me as to your excellency; the dutch earls having used such speeches unto me, and against all law, custom, and reason, used such violence to me, that your excellency shall wonder to hear of it." now the princess chimay, besides being of honourable character, was a sincere and exemplary member of the calvinist church, and well inclined to the leicestrians. she was daughter of count meghem, one of the earliest victims of philip ii., in the long tragedy of netherland independence, and widow of lancelot berlaymont. count moeurs was governor of utrecht, and by no means, up to that time, a thorough supporter of the holland party; but thenceforward he went off most abruptly from the party of england, became hand and glove with hohenlo, accepted the influence of barneveld, and did his best to wrest the city of utrecht from english authority. such was the effect of the secretary's harmless gossip. "i thought count moeurs and his wife better friends to your excellency than i do see them to be," said otheman afterwards. "but he doth now disgrace the english nation many ways in his speeches--saying that they are no soldiers, that they do no good to this country, and that these englishmen that are at arnheim have an intent to sell and betray the town to the enemy." but the disgraceful squabble between hohenlo and edward norris had been more unlucky for leicester than any other incident during the year, for its result was to turn the hatred of both parties against himself. yet the earl of all men, was originally least to blame for the transaction. it has been seen that sir philip sidney had borne norris's cartel to hohenlo, very soon after the outrage had been committed. the count had promised satisfaction, but meantime was desperately wounded in the attack on fort zutphen. leicester afterwards did his best to keep edward norris employed in distant places, for he was quite aware that hohenlo, as lieutenant-general and count of the empire, would consider himself aggrieved at being called to the field by a simple english captain, however deeply he might have injured him. the governor accordingly induced the queen to recall the young man to england, and invited him--much as he disliked his whole race--to accompany him on his departure for that country. the captain then consulted with his brother sir john, regarding the pending dispute with hohenlo. his brother advised that the count should be summoned to keep his promise, but that lord leicester's permission should previously be requested. a week before the governor's departure, accordingly, edward norris presented himself one morning in the dining-room, and, finding the earl reclining on a window-seat, observed to him that "he desired his lordship's favour towards the discharging of his reputation." "the count hollock is now well," he proceeded, "and is fasting and banqueting in his lodgings, although he does not come abroad." "and what way will you take?" inquired leicester, "considering that he keeps his house." "'twill be best, i thought," answered norris, "to write unto him, to perform his promise he made me to answer me in the field." "to whom did he make that promise?" asked the earl. "to sir philip sidney," answered the captain. "to my nephew sidney," said leicester, musingly; "very well; do as you think best, and i will do for you what i can." and the governor then added many kind expressions concerning the interest he felt in the young man's reputation. passing to other matters, morris then spoke of the great charges he had recently been put to by reason of having exchanged out of the states' service in order to accept a commission from his lordship to levy a company of horse. this levy had cost him and his friends three hundred pounds, for which he had not been able to "get one groat." "i beseech your lordship to stand good for me," said he; "considering the meanest captain in all the country hath as good entertainment as i." "i can do but little for you before my departure," said leicester; "but at my return i will advise to do more." after this amicable conversation morris thanked his lordship, took his leave, and straightway wrote his letter to count hollock. that personage, in his answer, expressed astonishment that norris should summon him, in his "weakness and indisposition;" but agreed to give him the desired meeting; with sword and dagger, so soon as he should be sufficiently recovered. morris, in reply, acknowledged his courteous promise, and hoped that he might be speedily restored to health. the state-council, sitting at the hague, took up the matter at once however, and requested immediate information of the earl. he accordingly sent for norris and his brother sir john, who waited upon him in his bed-chamber, and were requested to set down in writing the reasons which had moved them in the matter. this statement was accordingly furnished, together with a copy of the correspondence. the earl took the papers, and promised to allow most honourably of it in the council. such is the exact narrative, word for word, as given by sir john and edward norris, in a solemn memorial to the lords of her majesty's privy council, as well as to the state-council of the united provinces. a very few days afterwards leicester departed for england, taking edward norris with him. count hohenlo was furious at the indignity, notwithstanding the polite language in which he had accepted the challenge. "'t was a matter punishable with death," he said, "in all kingdoms and countries, for a simple captain to send such a summons to a man of his station, without consent of the supreme authority. it was plain," he added, "that the english governor-general had connived at the affront," for norris had been living in his family and dining at his table. nay, more, lord leicester had made him a knight at flushing just before their voyage to england. there seems no good reason to doubt the general veracity of the brothers norris, although, for the express purpose of screening leicester, sir john represented at the time to hohenlo and others that the earl had not been privy to the transaction. it is very certain, however, that so soon as the general indignation of hohenlo and his partizans began to be directed against leicester, he at once denied, in passionate and abusive language, having had any knowledge whatever of norris's intentions. he protested that he learned, for the first time, of the cartel from information furnished to the council of state. the quarrel between hohenlo and norris was afterwards amicably arranged by lord buckhurst, during his embassy to the states, at the express desire of the queen. hohenlo and sir john norris became very good friends, while the enmity between them and leicester grew more deadly every day. the earl was frantic with rage whenever he spoke of the transaction, and denounced sir john norris as "a fool, liar, and coward" on all occasions, besides overwhelming his brother, buckhurst, wilkes, and every other person who took their part, with a torrent of abuse; and it is well known that the earl was a master of billingsgate. "hollock says that i did procure edward norris to send him his cartel," observed leicester on one occasion, "wherein i protest before the lord, i was as ignorant as any man in england. his brother john can tell whether i did not send for him to have committed him for it; but that, in very truth, upon the perusing of it" (after it had been sent), "it was very reasonably written, and i did consider also the great wrong offered him by the count, and so forbore it. i was so careful for the count's safety after the brawl between him and norris, that i charged sir john, if any harm came to the count's person by any of his or under him, that he should answer it. therefore, i take the story to be bred in the bosom of some much like a thief or villain, whatsoever he were." and all this was doubtless true so far as regarded the earl's original exertions to prevent the consequences of the quarrel, but did not touch the point of the second correspondence preceded by the conversation in the dining-room, eight days before the voyage to england. the affair, in itself of slight importance, would not merit so much comment at this late day had it not been for its endless consequences. the ferocity with which the earl came to regard every prominent german, hollander, and englishman, engaged in the service of the states, sprang very much from the complications of this vulgar brawl. norris, hohenlo, wilkes, buckhurst, were all denounced to the queen as calumniators, traitors, and villains; and it may easily be understood how grave and extensive must have been the effects of such vituperation upon the mind of elizabeth, who, until the last day of his life, doubtless entertained for the earl the deepest affection of which her nature was susceptible. hohenlo, with count maurice, were the acknowledged chiefs of the anti-english party, and the possibility of cordial cooperation between the countries may be judged of by the entanglement which had thus occurred. leicester had always hated sir john norris, but he knew that the mother had still much favour with the queen, and he was therefore the more vehement in his denunciations of the son the more difficulty he found in entirely destroying his character, and the keener jealousy he felt that any other tongue but his should influence her majesty. "the story of john norris about the cartel is, by the lord god, most false," he exclaimed; "i do beseech you not to see me so dealt withal, but that especially her majesty may understand these untruths, who perhaps, by the mother's fair speeches and the son's smooth words, may take some other conceit of my doings than i deserve." he was most resolute to stamp the character of falsehood upon both the brothers, for he was more malignant towards sir john than towards any man in the world, not even excepting wilkes. to the queen, to the lords of the privy council, to walsingham, to burghley, he poured forth endless quantities of venom, enough to destroy the characters of a hundred honest men. "the declaration of the two norrises for the cartel is most false, as i am a christian," he said to walsingham. "i have a dozen witnesses, as good and some better than they, who will testify that they were present when i misliked the writing of the letter before ever i saw it. and by the allegiance i owe to her majesty, i never knew of the letter, nor gave consent to it, nor heard of it till it was complained of from count hollock. but, as they are false in this, so you will find j. n. as false in his other answers; so that he would be ashamed, but that his old conceit hath made him past shame, i fear. his companions in ireland, as in these countries, report that sir john norris would often say that he was but an ass and a fool, who, if a lie would serve his turn, would spare it. i remember i have heard that the earl of sussex would say so; and indeed this gentleman doth imitate him in divers things." but a very grave disaster to holland and england was soon the fruit of the hatred borne by leicester to sir john norris. immediately after the battle of zutphen and the investment of that town by the english and netherlanders, great pains were taken to secure the city of deventer. this was, after amsterdam and antwerp, the most important mercantile place in all the provinces. it was a large prosperous commercial and manufacturing capital, a member of the hanseatic league, and the great centre of the internal trade of the netherlands with the baltic nations. there was a strong catholic party in the town, and the magistracy were disposed to side with parma. it was notorious that provisions and munitions were supplied from thence to the beleaguered zutphen; and leicester despatched sir william pelham, accordingly, to bring the inhabitants to reason. the stout marshal made short work of it. taking sir william stanley and the greater part of his regiment with him, he caused them, day by day, to steal into the town, in small parties of ten and fifteen. no objection was made to this proceeding on the part of the city government. then stanley himself arrived in the morning, and the marshal in the evening, of the th of october. pelham ordered the magistrates to present themselves forthwith at his lodgings, and told them, with grim courtesy, that the earl of leicester excused himself from making them a visit, not being able, for grief at the death of sir philip sidney, to come so soon near the scene of his disaster. his excellency had therefore sent him to require the town to receive an english garrison. "so make up your minds, and delay not," said pelham; "for i have many important affairs on my hands, and must send word to his excellency at once. to-morrow morning, at eight o'clock, i shall expect your answer." next day, the magistrates were all assembled in the townhouse before six. stanley had filled the great square with his troops, but he found that the burghers-five thousand of whom constituted the municipal militia--had chained the streets and locked the gates. at seven o'clock pelham proceeded, to the town-house, and, followed by his train, made his appearance before the magisterial board. then there was a knocking at the door, and sir william stanley entered, having left a strong guard of soldiers at the entrance to the hall. "i am come for an answer," said the lord marshal; "tell me straight." the magistrates hesitated, whispered, and presently one of them slipped away. "there's one of you gone," cried the marshal. "fetch him straight back; or, by the living god, before whom i stand, there is not one of you shall leave this place with life." so the burgomasters sent for the culprit, who returned. "now, tell me," said pelham, "why you have, this night, chained your streets and kept such strong watch while your friends and defenders were in the town? do you think we came over here to spend our lives and our goods, and to leave all we have, to be thus used and thus betrayed by you? nay, you shall find us trusty to our friends, but as politic as yourselves. now, then; set your hands to this document," he proceeded, as he gave them a new list of magistrates, all selected from stanch protestants. "give over your government to the men here nominated, straight; dally not!" the burgomasters signed the paper. "now," said pelham, "let one of you go to the watch, discharge the guard, bid them unarm, and go home to their lodgings." a magistrate departed on the errand. "now fetch me the keys of the gate," said pelham, "and that straightway, or, before god, you shall die." the keys were brought, and handed to the peremptory old marshal. the old board of magistrates were then clapped into prison, the new ones installed, and deventer was gained for the english and protestant party. there could be no doubt that a city so important and thus fortunately secured was worthy to be well guarded. there could be no doubt either that it would be well to conciliate the rich and influential papists in the place, who, although attached to the ancient religion, were not necessarily disloyal to the republic; but there could be as little that, under the circumstances of this sudden municipal revolution, it would be important to place a garrison of protestant soldiers there, under the command of a protestant officer of known fidelity. to the astonishment of the whole commonwealth, the earl appointed sir william stanley to be governor of the town, and stationed in it a garrison of twelve hundred wild irishmen. sir william was a cadet of one of the noblest english houses. he was the bravest of the brave. his gallantry at the famous zutphen fight had attracted admiration, where nearly all had performed wondrous exploits, but he was known to be an ardent papist and a soldier of fortune, who had fought on various sides, and had even borne arms in the netherlands under the ferocious alva. was it strange that there should be murmurs at the appointment of so dangerous a chief to guard a wavering city which had so recently been secured? the irish kernes--and they are described by all contemporaries, english and flemish, in the same language--were accounted as the wildest and fiercest of barbarians. there was something grotesque, yet appalling, in the pictures painted of these rude, almost naked; brigands, who ate raw flesh, spoke no intelligible language, and ranged about the country, burning, slaying, plundering, a terror to the peasantry and a source of constant embarrassment to the more orderly troops in the service of the republic. "it seemed," said one who had seen them, "that they belonged not to christendom, but to brazil." moreover, they were all papists, and, however much one might be disposed to censure that great curse of the age, religious intolerance--which was almost as flagrant in the councils of queen elizabeth as in those of philip--it was certainly a most fatal policy to place such a garrison, at that critical juncture, in the newly-acquired city. yet leicester, who had banished papists from utrecht without cause and without trial, now placed most notorious catholics in deventer. zutphen, which was still besieged by the english and the patriots, was much crippled by the loss of the great fort, the capture of which, mainly through the brilliant valour of stanley's brother edward, has already been related. the possession of deventer and of this fort gave the control of the whole north-eastern territory to the patriots; but, as if it were not enough to place deventer in the hands of sir william stanley, leicester thought proper to confide the government of the fort to roland york. not a worse choice could be made in the whole army. york was an adventurer of the most audacious and dissolute character. he was a londoner by birth, one of those "ruing blades" inveighed against by the governor-general on his first taking command of the forces. a man of desperate courage, a gambler, a professional duellist, a bravo, famous in his time among the "common hacksters and swaggerers" as the first to introduce the custom of foining, or thrusting with the rapier in single combats--whereas before his day it had been customary among the english to fight with sword and shield, and held unmanly to strike below the girdle--he had perpetually changed sides, in the netherland wars, with the shameless disregard to principle which characterized all his actions. he had been lieutenant to the infamous john van imbyze, and had been concerned with him in the notorious attempt to surrender dendermonde and ghent to the enemy, which had cost that traitor his head. york had been thrown into prison at brussels, but there had been some delay about his execution, and the conquest of the city by parma saved him from the gibbet. he had then taken service under the spanish commander-in-chief, and had distinguished himself, as usual, by deeds of extraordinary valour, having sprung on board the, burning volcano-ship at the siege of antwerp. subsequently returning to england, he had, on leicester's appointment, obtained the command of a company in the english contingent, and had been conspicuous on the field of warnsveld; for the courage which he always displayed under any standard was only equalled by the audacity with which he was ever ready to desert from it. did it seem credible that the fort of zutphen should be placed in the hands of roland york? remonstrances were made by the states-general at once. with regard to stanley, leicester maintained that he was, in his opinion, the fittest man to take charge of the whole english army, during his absence in england. in answer to a petition made by the states against the appointment of york, "in respect to his perfidious dealings before," the earl replied that he would answer for his fidelity as for his own brother; adding peremptorily--"do you trust me? then trust york." but, besides his other qualifications for high command, stanley possessed an inestimable one in leicester's eyes. he was, or at least had been, an enemy of sir john norris. to be this made a papist pardonable. it was even better than to be a puritan. but the earl did more than to appoint the traitor york and the papist stanley to these important posts. on the very day of his departure, and immediately after his final quarrel with sir john about the hohenlo cartel, which had renewed all the ancient venom, he signed a secret paper, by which he especially forbade the council of state to interfere with or set aside any appointments to the government of towns or forts, or to revoke any military or naval commissions, without his consent. now supreme executive authority had been delegated to the state-council by the governor-general during his absence. command in chief over all the english forces, whether in the queen's pay or the state's pay, had been conferred upon norris, while command over the dutch and german troops belonged to hohenlo; but, by virtue of the earl's secret paper, stanley and york were now made independent of all authority. the evil consequences natural to such a step were not slow in displaying themselves. stanley at once manifested great insolence towards norris. that distinguished general was placed in a most painful position. a post of immense responsibility was confided to him. the honour of england's queen and of england's soldiers was entrusted to his keeping; at a moment full of danger, and in a country where every hour might bring forth some terrible change; yet he knew himself the mark at which the most powerful man in england was directing all his malice, and that the queen, who was wax in her great favourite's hands, was even then receiving the most fatal impressions as to his character and conduct. "well i know," said he to burghley, "that the root of the former malice borne me is not withered, but that i must look for like fruits therefrom as before;" and he implored the lord-treasurer, that when his honour and reputation should be called in question, he might be allowed to return to england and clear himself. "for myself," said he, "i have not yet received any commission, although i have attended his lordship of leicester to his ship. it is promised to be sent me, and in the meantime i understand that my lord hath granted separate commissions to sir william stanley and roland york, exempting them from obeying of me. if this be true, 'tis only done to nourish factions, and to interrupt any better course in our doings than before hath been." he earnestly requested to be furnished with a commission directly from her majesty. "the enemy is reinforcing," he added. "we are very weak, our troops are unpaid these three months, and we are grown odious, to our friends." honest councillor wilkes, who did his best to conciliate all parties, and to do his duty to england and holland, to leicester and to norris, had the strongest sympathy with sir john. "truly, besides the value, wisdom, and many other good parts that are in him," he said, "i have noted wonderful patience and modesty in the man, in bearing many apparent injuries done unto him, which i have known to be countenanced and nourished, contrary to all reason, to disgrace him. please therefore continue your honourable opinion of him in his absence, whatsoever may be maliciously reported to his disadvantage, for i dare avouch, of my own poor skill, that her majesty hath not a second subject of his place and quality able to serve in those countries as he . . . . i doubt not god will move her majesty, in despite of the devil, to respect him as he deserves." sir john disclaimed any personal jealousy in regard to stanley's appointment, but, within a week or two of the earl's departure, he already felt strong anxiety as to its probable results. "if it prove no hindrance to the service," he said, "it shall nothing trouble me. i desire that my doings may show what i am; neither will i seek, by indirect means to calumniate him or any other, but will let them show themselves." early in december he informed the lord-treasurer that stanley's own men were boasting that their master acknowledged no superior authority to his own, and that he had said as much himself to the magistracy of deventer. the burghers had already complained, through the constituted guardians of their liberties, of his insolence and rapacity, and of the turbulence of his troops, and had appealed to sir john; but the colonel-general's remonstrances had been received by sir william with contumely and abuse, and by daunt that he had even a greater commission than any he had yet shown. "three sheep, an ox, and a whole hog," were required weekly of the peasants for his table, in a time of great scarcity, and it was impossible to satisfy the rapacious appetites of the irish kernes. the paymaster-general of the english forces was daily appealed to by stanley for funds--an application which was certainly not unreasonable, as her majesty's troops had not received any payment for three months--but there "was not a denier in the treasury," and he was therefore implored to wait. at last the states-general sent him a month's pay for himself and all his troops, although, as he was in the queen's service, no claim could justly be made upon them. wilkes, also, as english member of the state council, faithfully conveyed to the governor-general in england the complaints which came up to all the authorities of the republic, against sir william stanley's conduct in deventer. he had seized the keys of the gates, he kept possession of the towers and fortifications, he had meddled with the civil government, he had infringed all their privileges. yet this was the board of magistrates, expressly set up by leicester, with the armed hand, by the agency of marshal pelham and this very colonel stanley--a board of calvinist magistrates placed but a few weeks before in power to control a city of catholic tendencies. and here was a papist commander displaying leicester's commission in their faces, and making it a warrant for dealing with the town as if it were under martial law, and as if he were an officer of the duke of parma. it might easily be judged whether such conduct were likely to win the hearts of netherlanders to leicester and to england. "albeit, for my own part," said wilkes, "i do hold sir william stanley to be a wise and a discreet gent., yet when i consider that the magistracy is such as was established by your lordship, and of the religion, and well affected to her majesty, and that i see how heavily the matter is conceived of here by the states and council, i do fear that all is not well. the very bruit of this doth begin to draw hatred upon our nation. were it not that i doubt some dangerous issue of this matter, and that i might be justly charged with negligence, if i should not advertise you beforehand, i would, have forborne to mention this dissension, for the states are about to write to your lordship and to her majesty for reformation in this matter." he added that he had already written earnestly to sir william, "hoping to persuade him to carry a mild hand over the people." thus wrote councillor wilkes, as in duty bound, to lord leicester, so early as the th december, and the warning voice of norris had made itself heard in england quite as soon. certainly the governor-general, having, upon his own responsibility; and prompted, it would seem, by passion more than reason, made this dangerous appointment, was fortunate in receiving timely and frequent notice of its probable results. and the conscientious wilkes wrote most earnestly, as he said he had done, to the turbulent stanley. "good sir william," said he, "the magistrates and burgesses of deventer complain to this council, that you have by violence wrested from them the keys of one of their gates, that you assemble your garrison in arms to terrify them, that you have seized one of their forts, that the irish soldiers do commit many extortions and exactions upon the inhabitants, that you have imprisoned their burgesses, and do many things against their laws and privileges, so that it is feared the best affected, of the inhabitants towards her majesty will forsake the town. whether any of these things be true, yourself doth best know, but i do assure you that the apprehension thereof here doth make us and our government hateful. for mine own part, i have always known you for a gentleman of value, wisdom; and judgment, and therefore should hardly believe any such thing. . . . . i earnestly require you to take heed of consequences, and to be careful of the honour of her majesty and the reputation of our nation. you will consider that the gaining possession of the town grew by them that are now in office, who being of the religion, and well affected to his excellency's government, wrought his entry into the same . . . . i know that lord leicester is sworn to maintain all the inhabitants of the provinces in their ancient privileges and customs. i know further that your commission carreeth no authority to warrant you to intermeddle any further than with the government of the soldiers and guard of the town. well, you may, in your own conceipt, confer some words to authorize you in some larger sort, but, believe me, sir, they will not warrant you sufficiently to deal any further than i have said, for i have perused a copy of your commission for that purpose. i know the name itself of a governor of a town is odious to this people, and hath been ever since the remembrance of the spanish government, and if we, by any lack of foresight, should give the like occasion, we should make ourselves as odious as they are; which god forbid. "you are to consider that we are not come into these countries for their defence only, but for the defence of her majesty and our own native country, knowing that the preservation of both dependeth altogether upon the preserving of these. wherefore i do eftsoons intreat and require you to forbear to intermeddle any further. if there shall follow any dangerous effect of your proceedings, after this my friendly advice, i shall be heartily sorry for your sake, but i shall be able to testify to her majesty that i have done my duty in admonishing you." thus spake the stiff councillor, earnestly and well, in behalf of england's honour and the good name of england's queen. but the brave soldier, whose feet were fast sliding into the paths of destruction, replied, in a tone of indignant innocence, more likely to aggravate than to allay suspicion. "finding," said stanley, "that you already threaten, i have gone so far as to scan the terms of my commission, which i doubt not to execute, according to his excellency's meaning and mine honour. first, i assure you that i have maintained justice, and that severely; else hardly would the soldiers have been contented with bread and bare cheese." he acknowledged possessing himself of the keys of the town, but defended it on the ground of necessity; and of the character of the people, "who thrust out the spaniards and almaynes, and afterwards never would obey the prince and states." "i would be," he said, "the sorriest man that lives, if by my negligence the place should be lost. therefore i thought good to seize the great tower and ports. if i meant evil, i needed no keys, for here is force enough." with much effrontery, he then affected to rely for evidence of his courteous and equitable conduct towards the citizens, upon the very magistrates who had been petitioning the states-general, the state-council, and the english queen, against his violence: "for my courtesy and humanity," he said, "i refer me unto the magistrates themselves. but i think they sent rhetoricians, who could, allege of little grief, and speak pitiful, and truly i find your ears have been as pitiful in so timorously condemning me. i assure you that her majesty hath not a better servant than i nor a more faithful in these parts. this i will prove with my flesh and blood. although i know there be divers flying reports spread by my enemies, which are come to my ears, i doubt not my virtue and truth will prove them calumniators and men of little. so, good mr. wilkes, i pray you, consider gravely, give ear discreetly, and advertise into england soundly. for me, i have been and am your friend, and glad to hear any admonition from one so wise as yourself." he then alluded ironically to the "good favour and money" with which he had been so contented of late, that if mr. wilkes would discharge him of his promise to lord leicester, he would take his leave with all his heart. captain, officers, and soldiers, had been living on half a pound of cheese a day. for himself, he had received but one hundred and twenty pounds in five months, and was living at three pounds by the day. "this my wealth will not long hold out," he observed, "but yet i will never fail of my promise to his excellency, whatsoever i endure. it is for her majesty's service and for the love i bear to him." he bitterly complained of the unwillingness of the country-people to furnish vivers, waggons, and other necessaries, for the fort before zutphen. "had it not been," he said, "for the travail extraordinary of myself, and patience of my brother, yorke, that fort would have been in danger. but, according to his desire and forethought, i furnished that place with cavalry and infantry; for i know the troops there be marvellous weak." in reply, wilkes stated that the complaints had been made "by no rhetorician," but by letter from the magistrates themselves (on whom he relied so confidently) to the state-council. the councillor added, rather tartly, that since his honest words of defence and of warning, had been "taken in so scoffing a manner," sir william might be sure of not being troubled with any more of his letters. but, a day or two before thus addressing him, he had already enclosed to leicester very important letters addressed by the council of gelderland to count moeurs, stadholder of the province, and by him forwarded to the state-council. for there were now very grave rumours concerning the fidelity of "that patient and foreseeing brother york," whom stanley had been so generously strengthening in fort zutphen. the lieutenant of york, a certain mr. zouch, had been seen within the city of zutphen, in close conference with colonel tassis, spanish governor of the place. moreover there had been a very frequent exchange of courtesies--by which the horrors of war seemed to be much mitigated--between york on the outside and tassis within. the english commander sent baskets of venison, wild fowl, and other game, which were rare in the market of a besieged town. the spanish governor responded with baskets of excellent wine and barrels of beer. a very pleasant state of feeling, perhaps, to contemplate--as an advance in civilization over the not very distant days of the haarlem and leyden sieges, when barrels of prisoners' heads, cut off, a dozen or two at a time, were the social amenities usually exchanged between spaniards and dutchmen--but somewhat suspicious to those who had grown grey in this horrible warfare. the irish kernes too, were allowed to come to mass within the city, and were received there with as much fraternity by, the catholic soldiers of tassis as the want of any common dialect would allow--a proceeding which seemed better perhaps for the salvation of their souls, than--for the advancement of the siege. the state-council had written concerning these rumours to roland york, but the patient man had replied in a manner which wilkes characterized as "unfit to have been given to such as were the executors of the earl of leicester's authority." the councillor implored the governor-general accordingly to send some speedy direction in this matter, as well to roland york as to sir william stanley; for he explicitly and earnestly warned him, that those personages would pay no heed to the remonstrances of the state-council. thus again and again was leicester--on whose head rested, by his own deliberate act, the whole responsibility--forewarned that some great mischief was impending. there was time enough even then--for it was but the th december--to place full powers in the hands of the state-council, of norris, or of hohenlo, and secretly and swiftly to secure the suspected persons, and avert the danger. leicester did nothing. how could he acknowledge his error? how could he manifest confidence in the detested norris? how appeal to the violent and deeply incensed hohenlo? three weeks more rolled by, and the much-enduring roland york was still in confidential correspondence with leicester and walsingham, although his social intercourse with the spanish governor of zutphen continued to be upon the most liberal and agreeable footing. he was not quite satisfied with the general, aspect of the queen's cause in the netherlands, and wrote to the secretary of state in a tone of despondency, and mild expostulation. walsingham would have been less edified by these communications, had he been aware that york, upon first entering leicester's service, had immediately opened a correspondence with the duke of parma, and had secretly given him to understand that his object was to serve the cause of spain. this was indeed the fact, as the duke informed the king, "but then he is such a scatter-brained, reckless dare-devil," said parma, "that i hardly expected much of him." thus the astute sir francis had been outwitted, by the adventurous roland, who was perhaps destined also to surpass the anticipations of the spanish commander-in-chief. meantime york informed his english patrons, on the th january, that matters were not proceeding so smoothly in the political world as he could wish. he had found "many cross and indirect proceedings," and so, according to lord leicester's desire, he sent him a "discourse" on the subject, which he begged sir francis to "peruse, add to, or take away from," and then to inclose to the earl. he hoped he should be forgiven if the style of the production was not quite satisfactory; for, said he, "the place where i am doth too much torment my memory, to call every point to my remembrance." it must, in truth, have been somewhat a hard task upon his memory, to keep freshly in mind every detail of the parallel correspondence which he was carrying on with the spanish and with the english government. even a cool head like roland's might be forgiven for being occasionally puzzled. "so if there be anything hard to be understood," he observed to walsingham, "advertise me, and i will make it plainer." nothing could be more ingenuous. he confessed, however, to being out of pocket. "please your honour," said he, "i have taken great pains to make a bad place something, and it has cost me all the money i had, and here i can receive nothing but discontentment. i dare not write you all lest you should think it impossible," he added--and it is quite probable that even walsingham would have been astonished, had roland written all. the game playing by york and stanley was not one to which english gentlemen were much addicted. "i trust the bearer, edward stanley; a discreet, brave gentleman," he said, "with details." and the remark proves that the gallant youth who had captured this very fort zutphen in, so brilliant a manner was not privy to the designs of his brother and of york; for the object of the "discourse" was to deceive the english government. "i humbly beseech that you will send for me home," concluded roland, "for true as i humbled my mind to please her majesty, your honour, and the dead, now am i content to humble myself lower to please myself, for now, since his, excellency's departure, there is no form of proceeding neither honourably nor honestly." three other weeks passed over, weeks of anxiety and dread throughout the republic. suspicion grew darker than ever, not only as to york and stanley, but as to all the english commanders, as to the whole english nation. an anjou plot, a general massacre, was expected by many, yet there were no definite grounds for such dark anticipations. in vain had painstaking, truth-telling wilkes summoned stanley to his duty, and called on leicester, time after time, to interfere. in vain did sir john norris, sir john conway, the members of the state-council, and all others who should have had authority, do their utmost to avert a catastrophe. their hands were all tied by the fatal letter of the th november. most anxiously did all implore the earl of leicester to return. never was a more dangerous moment than this for a country to be left to its fate. scarcely ever in history was there a more striking exemplification of the need of a man--of an individual--who should embody the powers and wishes, and concentrate in one brain and arm, the whole energy, of a commonwealth. but there was no such man, for the republic had lost its chief when orange died. there was much wisdom and patriotism now. olden-barneveld was competent, and so was buys, to direct the councils of the republic, and there were few better soldiers than norris and hohenlo to lead her armies against spain. but the supreme authority had been confided to leicester. he had not perhaps proved himself extraordinarily qualified for his post, but he was the governor-in-chief, and his departure, without resigning his powers, left the commonwealth headless, at a moment when singleness of action was vitally important. at last, very late in january, one hugh overing, a haberdasher from ludgate hill, was caught at rotterdam, on his way to ireland, with a bundle of letters from sir william stanley, and was sent, as a suspicious character, to the state-council at the hague. on the same day, another englishman, a small youth, "well-favoured," rejoicing in a "very little red beard, and in very ragged clothes," unknown by name; but ascertained to be in the service of roland york and to have been the bearer of letters to brussels, also passed through rotterdam. by connivance of the innkeeper, one joyce, also an englishman, he succeeded in making his escape. the information contained in the letters thus intercepted was important, but it came too late, even if then the state-council could have acted without giving mortal offence to elizabeth and to leicester. on the evening of th january (n. s.), sir william stanley entertained the magistrates of deventer at a splendid banquet. there was free conversation at table concerning the idle suspicions which had been rife in the provinces as to his good intentions and the censures which had been cast upon him for the repressive measures which he had thought necessary to adopt for the security of the city. he took that occasion to assure his guests that the queen of england had not a more loyal subject than himself, nor the netherlands a more devoted friend. the company expressed themselves fully restored to confidence in his character and purposes, and the burgomasters, having exchanged pledges of faith and friendship with the commandant in flowing goblets, went home comfortably to bed, highly pleased with their noble entertainer and with themselves. very late that same night, stanley placed three hundred of his wild irish in the noorenberg tower, a large white structure which commanded the zutphen gate, and sent bodies of chosen troops to surprise all the burgher-guards at their respective stations. strong pickets of cavalry were also placed in all the principal thoroughfares of the city. at three o'clock in the following morning he told his officers that he was about to leave deventer for a few hours, in order to bring in some reinforcements for which he had sent, as he had felt much anxiety for some time past as to the disposition of the burghers. his officers, honest englishmen, suspecting no evil and having confidence in their chief, saw nothing strange in this proceeding, and sir william rode deliberately out of zutphen. after he had been absent an hour or two, the clatter of hoofs and the tramp of infantry was heard without, and presently the commandant returned, followed by a thousand musketeers and three or four hundred troopers. it was still pitch dark; but, dimly lighted by torches, small detachments of the fresh troops picked their way through the black narrow streets, while the main body poured at once upon the brink, or great square. here, quietly and swiftly, they were marshalled into order, the cavalry, pikemen, and musketeers, lining all sides of the place, and a chosen band--among whom stood sir william stanley, on foot, and an officer of high rank on horseback--occupying the central space immediately in front of the town-house. the drums then beat, and proclamation went forth through the city that all burghers, without any distinction--municipal guards and all--were to repair forthwith to the city-hall, and deposit their arms. as the inhabitants arose from their slumbers, and sallied forth into the streets to inquire the cause of the disturbance, they soon discovered that they had, in some mysterious manner, been entrapped. wild irishmen, with uncouth garb, threatening gesture, and unintelligible jargon, stood gibbering at every corner, instead of the comfortable flemish faces of the familiar burgher-guard. the chief burgomaster, sleeping heavily after sir william's hospitable banquet, aroused himself at last, and sent a militia-captain to inquire the cause of the unseasonable drum-beat and monstrous proclamation. day was breaking as the trusty captain made his way to the scene of action. the wan light of a cold, drizzly january morning showed him the wide, stately square--with its leafless lime-trees and its tall many storied, gable-ended houses rising dim and spectral through the mist-filled to overflowing with troops, whose uniforms and banners resembled nothing that he remembered in dutch and english regiments. fires were lighted at various corners, kettles were boiling, and camp-followers and sutlers were crouching over them, half perished with cold--for it had been raining dismally all night--while burghers, with wives and children, startled from their dreams by the sudden reveillee, stood gaping about, with perplexed faces and despairing gestures. as he approached the town-house--one of those magnificent, many-towered, highly-decorated, municipal palaces of the netherlands--he found troops all around it; troops guarding the main entrance, troops on the great external staircase leading to the front balcony, and officers, in yellow jerkin and black bandoleer, grouped in the balcony itself. the flemish captain stood bewildered, when suddenly the familiar form of stanley detached itself from the central group and advanced towards him. taking him by the hand with much urbanity, sir william led the militia-man through two or three ranks of soldiers, and presented him to the strange officer on horseback. "colonel tassis," said he, "i recommend to you a very particular friend of mine. let me bespeak your best offices in his behalf." "ah god!" cried the honest burgher, "tassis! tassis! then are we indeed most miserably betrayed." even the spanish colonel who was of flemish origin, was affected by the despair of the netherlander. "let those look to the matter of treachery whom it concerns," said he; "my business here is to serve the king, my master." "render unto caesar the things which are caesar's, and unto god the things which are god's," said stanley, with piety. the burgher-captain was then assured that no harm was intended to the city, but that it now belonged to his most catholic majesty of spain--colonel stanley, to whom its custody had been entrusted, having freely and deliberately restored it to its lawful owner. he was then bid to go and fetch the burgomasters and magistrates. presently they appeared--a dismal group, weeping and woe-begone--the same board of strict calvinists forcibly placed in office but three months before by leicester, through the agency of this very stanley, who had so summarily ejected their popish predecessors, and who only the night before had so handsomely feasted themselves. they came forward, the tears running down their cheeks, crying indeed so piteously that even stanley began to weep bitterly himself. "i have not done this," he sobbed, "for power or pelf. not the hope of reward, but the love of god hath moved me." presently some of the ex-magistrates made their appearance, and a party of leading citizens went into a private house with tassis and stanley to hear statements and explanations--as if any satisfactory ones were possible. sir william, still in a melancholy tone, began to make a speech, through an interpreter, and again to protest that he had not been influenced by love of lucre. but as he stammered and grew incoherent as he approached the point, tassis suddenly interrupted the conference. "let us look after our soldiers," said he, "for they have been marching in the foul weather half the night." so the spanish troops, who had been, standing patiently to be rained upon after their long march, until the burghers had all deposited their arms in the city-hall, were now billeted on the townspeople. tassis gave peremptory orders that no injury should be offered to persons or property on pain of death; and, by way of wholesome example, hung several hibernians the same day who had been detected in plundering the inhabitants. the citizens were, as usual in such cases, offered the choice between embracing the catholic religion or going into exile, a certain interval being allowed them to wind up their affairs. they were also required to furnish stanley and his regiment full pay for the whole period of their service since coming to the provinces, and to tassis three months' wages for his spaniards in advance. stanley offered his troops the privilege of remaining with him in the service of spain, or of taking their departure unmolested. the irish troops were quite willing to continue under their old chieftain, particularly as it was intimated to them that there was an immediate prospect of a brisk campaign in their native island against the tyrant elizabeth, under the liberating banners of philip. and certainly, in an age where religion constituted country, these fervent catholics could scarcely be censured for taking arms against the sovereign who persecuted their religion and themselves. these honest barbarians had broken no oath, violated no trust, had never pretended sympathy with freedom; or affection for their queen. they had fought fiercely under the chief who led them into battle--they had robbed and plundered voraciously as opportunity served, and had been occasionally hanged for their exploits; but deventer and fort zutphen had not been confided to their keeping; and it was a pleasant thought to them, that approaching invasion of ireland. "i will ruin the whole country from holland to friesland," said stanley to captain newton, "and then i will play such a game in ireland as the queen has never seen the like all the days of her life." newton had already been solicited by roland york to take service under parma, and had indignantly declined. sir edmund carey and his men, four hundred in all, refused, to a man, to take part in the monstrous treason, and were allowed to leave the city. this was the case with all the english officers. stanley and york were the only gentlemen who on this occasion sullied the honour of england. captain henchman, who had been taken prisoner in a skirmish a few days before the surrender of deventer, was now brought to that city, and earnestly entreated by tassis and by stanley to seize this opportunity of entering the service of spain. "you shall have great advancement and preferment," said tassis. "his catholic majesty has got ready very many ships for ireland, and sir william stanley is to be general of the expedition." "and you shall choose your own preferment," said stanley, "for i know you to be a brave man." "i would rather," replied henchman, "serve my prince in loyalty as a beggar, than to be known and reported a rich traitor, with breach of conscience." "continue so," replied stanley, unabashed; "for this is the very principle of my own enlargement: for, before, i served the devil, and now i am serving god." the offers and the arguments of the spaniard and the renegade were powerless with the blunt captain, and notwithstanding "divers other traitorous alledgements by sir william for his most vile facts," as henchman expressed it, that officer remained in poverty and captivity until such time as he could be exchanged. stanley subsequently attempted in various ways to defend his character. he had a commission from leicester, he said, to serve whom he chose--as if the governor-general had contemplated his serving philip ii. with that commission; he had a passport to go whither he liked--as if his passport entitled him to take the city of deventer along with him; he owed no allegiance to the states; he was discharged from his promise to the earl; he was his own master; he wanted neither money nor preferment; he had been compelled by his conscience and his duty to god to restore the city to its lawful master, and so on, and so on. but whether he owed the states allegiance or not, it is certain that he had accepted their money to relieve himself and his troops eight days before his treason. that leicester had discharged him from his promises to such an extent as to justify his surrendering a town committed to his honour for safe keeping, certainly deserved no answer; that his duty to conscience required him to restore the city argued a somewhat tardy awakening of that monitor in the breast of the man who three months before had wrested the place with the armed hand from men suspected of catholic inclinations; that his first motive however was not the mere love of money, was doubtless true. attachment to his religion, a desire to atone for his sins against it, the insidious temptings of his evil spirit, york, who was the chief organizer of the conspiracy, and the prospect of gratifying a wild and wicked ambition--these were the springs that moved him. sums--varying from l , to a pension of pistolets a year--were mentioned, as the stipulated price of his treason, by norris, wilkes, conway, and others; but the duke of parma, in narrating the whole affair in a private letter to the king, explicitly stated that he had found stanley "singularly disinterested." "the colonel was only actuated by religious motives," he said, "asking for no reward, except that he might serve in his majesty's army thenceforth--and this is worthy to be noted." at the same time it appears from this correspondence, that the duke, recommended, and that the king bestowed, a "merced," which stanley did not refuse; and it was very well known that to no persons in, the world was philip apt to be so generous as to men of high rank, flemish, walloon, or english, who deserted the cause of his rebellious subjects to serve under his own banners. yet, strange to relate, almost at the very moment that stanley was communicating his fatal act of treason, in order that he might open a high career for his ambition, a most brilliant destiny was about to dawn upon him. the queen had it in contemplation, in recompense for his distinguished services, and by advice of leicester, to bestow great honors and titles upon him, and to appoint him viceroy of ireland--of that very country which he was now proposing, as an enemy to his sovereign and as the purchased tool of a foreign despot, to invade. stanley's subsequent fate was obscure. a price of florins was put by the states upon his head and upon that of york. he went to spain, and afterwards returned to the provinces. he was even reported to have become, through the judgment of god, a lunatic, although the tale wanted confirmation; and it is certain that at the close of the year he had mustered his regiment under farnese, prepared to join the duke in the great invasion of england. roland york, who was used to such practices, cheerfully consummated his crime on the same day that witnessed the surrender of deventer. he rode up to the gates of that city on the morning of the th january, inquired quietly whether tassis was master of the place, and then galloped furiously back the ten miles to his fort. entering, he called his soldiers together, bade them tear in pieces the colours of england, and follow him into the city of zutphen. two companies of states' troops offered resistance, and attempted to hold the place; but they were overpowered by the english and irish, assisted by a force of spaniards, who, by a concerted movement, made their appearance from the town. he received a handsome reward, having far surpassed the duke of parma's expectations, when he made his original offer of service. he died very suddenly, after a great banquet at deventer, in the course of the sane year, not having succeeded in making his escape into spain to live at ease on his stipend. it was supposed that he was poisoned; but the charge in those days was a common one, and nobody cared to investigate the subject. his body was subsequently exhumed when deventer came into the hands of the patriots--and with impotent and contemptible malice hanged upon a gibbet. this was the end of roland york. parma was highly gratified, as may be imagined, at such successful results. "thus fort zutphen," said he, "about which there have been so many fisticuffs, and deventer--which was the real object of the last campaign, and which has cost the english so much blood and money, and is the safety of groningen and of all those provinces--is now your majesty's. moreover, the effect of this treason must be to sow great distrust between the english and the rebels, who will henceforth never know in whom they can confide." parma was very right in this conjuncture. moreover, there was just then a fearful run against the states. the castle of wauw, within a league of bergen-op-zoom, which had been entrusted to one le marchand, a frenchman in the service of the republic, was delivered by him to parma for , florins. "'tis a very important post," said the duke, "and the money was well laid out." the loss of the city of gelder, capital of the province of the same name, took place in the summer. this town belonged to the jurisdiction of martin schenk, and was, his chief place of deposit for the large and miscellaneous property acquired by him during his desultory, but most profitable, freebooting career. the famous partisan was then absent, engaged in a lucrative job in the way of his profession. he had made a contract--in a very-business-like way--with the states, to defend the city of rheinberg and all the country, round against the duke of parma, pledging himself to keep on foot for that purpose an army of foot and horse. for this extensive and important operation, he was to receive , florins a month from the general exchequer; and in addition he was to be allowed the brandschatz--the black-mail, that is to say--of the whole country-side, and the taxation upon all vessels going up and down the river before rheinberg; an ad valorem duty, in short, upon all river-merchandise, assessed and collected in summary fashion. a tariff thus enforced was not likely to be a mild one; and although the states considered that they had got a "good penny-worth" by the job, it was no easy thing to get the better, in a bargain, of the vigilant martin, who was as thrifty a speculator as he was a desperate fighter. a more accomplished highwayman, artistically and enthusiastically devoted to his pursuit, never lived. nobody did his work more thoroughly--nobody got himself better paid for his work--and thomas wilkes, that excellent man of business, thought the states not likely to make much by their contract. nevertheless, it was a comfort to know that the work would not be neglected. schenk was accordingly absent, jobbing the rheinberg siege, and in his place one aristotle patton, a scotch colonel in the states' service, was commandant of gelders. now the thrifty scot had an eye to business, too, and was no more troubled with qualms of conscience than rowland york himself. moreover, he knew himself to be in great danger of losing his place, for leicester was no friend to him, and intended to supersede him. patton had also a decided grudge against schenk, for that truculent personage had recently administered to him a drubbing, which no doubt he had richly deserved. accordingly, when; the duke of parma made a secret offer to him of , florins if he would quietly surrender the city entrusted to him, the colonel jumped at so excellent an opportunity of circumventing leicester, feeding his grudge against martin, and making a handsome fortune for himself. he knew his trade too well, however, to accept the offer too eagerly, and bargained awhile for better terms, and to such good purpose, that it was agreed he should have not only the , florins, but all the horses, arms, plate, furniture, and other moveables in the city belonging to schenk, that he could lay his hands upon. here were revenge and solid damages for the unforgotten assault and battery--for schenk's property alone made no inconsiderable fortune--and accordingly the city, towards midsummer, was surrendered to the seigneur d'haultepenne. moreover, the excellent patton had another and a loftier motive. he was in love. he had also a rival. the lady of his thoughts was the widow of pontus de noyelle, seigneur de bours, who had once saved the citadel of antwerp, and afterwards sold that city and himself. his rival was no other than the great seigneur de champagny, brother of cardinal granvelle, eminent as soldier, diplomatist, and financier, but now growing old, not in affluent circumstances, and much troubled with the gout. madame de bours had, however, accepted his hand, and had fixed the day for the wedding, when the scotchman, thus suddenly enriched, renewed a previously unsuccessful suit. the widow then, partially keeping her promise, actually celebrated her nuptials on the appointed evening; but, to the surprise of the provinces, she became not the 'haulte et puissante dame de champagny,' but mrs. aristotle patton. for this last treason neither leicester nor the english were responsible. patton was not only a scot, but a follower of hohenlo, as leicester loudly protested. le merchant was a frenchman. but deventer and zutphen were places of vital importance, and stanley an englishman of highest consideration, one who had been deemed worthy of the command in chief in leicester's absence. moreover, a cornet in the service of the earl's nephew, sir robert sidney, had been seen at zutphen in conference with tassis; and the horrible suspicion went abroad that even the illustrious name of sidney was to be polluted also. this fear was fortunately false, although the cornet was unquestionably a traitor, with whom the enemy had been tampering; but the mere thought that sir robert sidney could betray the trust reposed in him was almost enough to make the still unburied corpse of his brother arise from the dead. parma was right when he said that all confidence of the netherlanders in the englishmen would now be gone, and that the provinces would begin to doubt their best friends. no fresh treasons followed, but they were expected every day. an organized plot to betray the country was believed in, and a howl of execration swept through the land. the noble deeds of sidney and willoughby, and norris and pelham, and roger williams, the honest and valuable services of wilkes, the generosity and courage of leicester, were for a season forgotten. the english were denounced in every city and village of the netherlands as traitors and miscreants. respectable english merchants went from hostelry to hostelry, and from town to town, and were refused a lodging for love or money. the nation was put under ban. a most melancholy change from the beginning of the year, when the very men who were now loudest in denunciation and fiercest in hate, had been the warmest friends of elizabeth, of england, and of leicester. at hohenlo's table the opinion was loudly expressed, even in the presence of sir roger williams, that it was highly improbable, if a man like stanley, of such high rank in the kingdom of england, of such great connections and large means, could commit such a treason, that he could do so without the knowledge and consent of her majesty. barneveld, in council of state, declared that leicester, by his restrictive letter of th november, had intended to carry the authority over the republic into england, in order to dispose of everything at his pleasure, in conjunction with the english cabinet-council, and that the country had never been so cheated by the french as it had now been by the english, and that their government had become insupportable. councillor carl roorda maintained at the table of elector truchsess that the country had fallen 'de tyrannide in tyrrannidem;' and--if they had spurned the oppression of the spaniards and the french--that it was now time to, rebel against the english. barneveld and buys loudly declared that the provinces were able to protect themselves without foreign assistance, and that it was very injurious to impress a contrary opinion upon the public mind. the whole college of the states-general came before the state-council, and demanded the name of the man to whom the earl's restrictive letter had been delivered--that document by which the governor had dared surreptitiously to annul the authority which publicly he had delegated to that body, and thus to deprive it of the power of preventing anticipated crimes. after much colloquy the name of brackel was given, and, had not the culprit fortunately been absent, his life might have, been in danger, for rarely had grave statesmen been so thoroughly infuriated. no language can exaggerate the consequences of this wretched treason. unfortunately, too; the abject condition to which the english troops had been reduced by the niggardliness of their sovereign was an additional cause of danger. leicester was gone, and since her favourite was no longer in the netherlands, the queen seemed to forget that there was a single englishman upon that fatal soil. in five months not one penny had been sent to her troops. while the earl had been there one hundred and forty thousand pounds had been sent in seven or eight months. after his departure not five thousand pounds were sent in one half year. the english soldiers, who had fought so well in every flemish battle-field of freedom, had become--such as were left of them--mere famishing half naked vagabonds and marauders. brave soldiers had been changed by their sovereign into brigands, and now the universal odium which suddenly attached itself to the english name converted them into outcasts. forlorn and crippled creatures swarmed about the provinces, but were forbidden to come through the towns, and so wandered about, robbing hen-roosts and pillaging the peasantry. many deserted to the enemy. many begged their way to england, and even to the very gates of the palace, and exhibited their wounds and their misery before the eyes of that good queen bess who claimed to be the mother of her subjects,--and begged for bread in vain. the english cavalry, dwindled now to a body of five hundred, starving and mutinous, made a foray into holland, rather as highwaymen than soldiers. count maurice commanded their instant departure, and hohenlo swore that if the order were not instantly obeyed, he would put himself at the head of his troops and cut every man of them to pieces. a most painful and humiliating condition for brave men who had been fighting the battles of their queen and of the republic, to behold themselves--through the parsimony of the one and the infuriated sentiment of the other--compelled to starve, to rob, or to be massacred by those whom they had left their homes to defend. at last, honest wilkes, ever watchful of his duty, succeeded in borrowing eight hundred pounds sterling for two months, by "pawning his own carcase" as he expressed himself. this gave the troopers about thirty shillings a man, with which relief they became, for a time, contented and well disposed. is this picture exaggerated? is it drawn by pencils hostile to the english nation or the english queen? it is her own generals and confidential counsellors who have told a story in all its painful details, which has hardly found a place in other chronicles. the parsimony of the great queen must ever remain a blemish on her character, and it was never more painfully exhibited than towards her brave soldiers in flanders in the year . thomas wilkes, a man of truth, and a man of accounts, had informed elizabeth that the expenses of one year's war, since leicester had been governor-general, had amounted to exactly five hundred and seventy-nine thousand three hundred and sixty pounds and nineteen shillings, of which sum one hundred and forty-six thousand three hundred and eighty-six pounds and eleven shillings had been spent by her majesty, and the balance had been paid, or was partly owing by the states. these were not agreeable figures, but the figures of honest accountants rarely flatter, and wilkes was not one of those financiers who have the wish or the gift to make things pleasant. he had transmitted the accounts just as they had been delivered, certified by the treasurers of the states and by the english paymasters, and the queen was appalled at the sum-totals. she could never proceed with such a war as that, she said, and she declined a loan of sixty thousand pounds which the states requested, besides stoutly refusing to advance her darling robin a penny to pay off the mortgages upon two-thirds of his estates, on which the equity of redemption was fast expiring, or to give him the slightest help in furnishing him forth anew for the wars. yet not one of her statesmen doubted that these netherland battles were english battles, almost as much as if the fighting-ground had been the isle of wight or the coast of kent, the charts of which the statesmen and generals of spain were daily conning. wilkes, too, while defending leicester stoutly behind his back, doing his best, to explain his short-comings, lauding his courage and generosity, and advocating his beloved theory of popular sovereignty with much ingenuity and eloquence, had told him the truth to his face. although assuring him that if he came back soon, he might rule the states "as a schoolmaster doth his boys," he did not fail to set before him the disastrous effects of his sudden departure and of his protracted absence; he had painted in darkest colours the results of the deventer treason, he had unveiled the cabals against his authority, he had repeatedly and vehemently implored his return; he had, informed the queen, that notwithstanding some errors of, administration, he was much the fittest man to represent her in the netherlands, and, that he could accomplish, by reason of his experience, more in three months than any other man could do in a year. he bad done his best to reconcile the feuds which existed between him and important personages in the netherlands, he had been the author of the complimentary letters sent to him in the name of the states-general--to the great satisfaction of the queen--but he had not given up his friendship with sir john norris, because he said "the virtues of the man made him as worthy of love as any one living, and because the more he knew him, the more he had cause to affect and to admire him." this was the unpardonable offence, and for this, and for having told the truth about the accounts, leicester denounced wilkes to the queen as a traitor and a hypocrite, and threatened repeatedly to take his life. he had even the meanness to prejudice burghley against him--by insinuating to the lord-treasurer that he too had been maligned by wilkes--and thus most effectually damaged the character of the plain-spoken councillor with the queen and many of her advisers; notwithstanding that he plaintively besought her to "allow him to reiterate his sorry song, as doth the cuckoo, that she would please not condemn her poor servant unheard." immediate action was taken on the deventer treason, and on the general relations between the states-general and the english government. barneveld immediately drew up a severe letter to the earl of leicester. on the nd february wilkes came by chance into the assembly of the states-general, with the rest of the councillors, and found barneveld just demanding the public reading of that document. the letter was read. wilkes then rose and made a few remarks. "the letter seems rather sharp upon his excellency," he observed. "there is not a word in it," answered barneveld curtly, "that is not perfectly true;" and with this he cut the matter short, and made a long speech upon other matters which were then before the assembly. wilkes, very anxious as to the effect of the letter, both upon public feeling in england and upon his own position as english councillor, waited immediately upon count maurice, president van der myle, and upon villiers the clergyman, and implored their interposition to prevent the transmission of the epistle. they promised to make an effort to delay its despatch or to mitigate its tone. a fortnight afterwards, however, wilkes learned with dismay, that the document (the leading passages of which will be given hereafter) had been sent to its destination. meantime, a consultation of civilians and of the family council of count maurice was held, and it was determined that the count should assume the title of prince more formally than he had hitherto done, in order that the actual head of the nassaus might be superior in rank to leicester or to any man who could be sent from england. maurice was also appointed by the states, provisionally, governor-general, with hohenlo for his lieutenant-general. that formidable personage, now fully restored to health, made himself very busy in securing towns and garrisons for the party of holland, and in cashiering all functionaries suspected of english tendencies. especially he became most intimate with count moeurs, stadholder of utrecht--the hatred of which individual and his wife towards leicester and the english nation; springing originally from the unfortunate babble of otheman, had grown more intense than ever,--"banquetting and feasting" with him all day long, and concocting a scheme; by which, for certain considerations, the province of utrecht was to be annexed to holland under the perpetual stadholderate of prince maurice. etext editor's bookmarks: defect of enjoying the flattery, of his inferiors in station the sapling was to become the tree history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter xiv. leicester in england--trial of the queen of scots--fearful perplexity at the english court--infatuation and obstinacy of the queen--netherland envoys in england--queen's bitter invective against them--amazement of the envoys--they consult with her chief councillors--remarks of burghley and davison--fourth of february letter from the states--its severe language towards leicester-- painful position of the envoys at court--queen's parsimony towards leicester. the scene shifts, for a brief interval, to england. leicester had reached the court late in november. those "blessed beams," under whose shade he was wont to find so much "refreshment and nutrition," had again fallen with full radiance upon him. "never since i was born," said he, "did i receive a more gracious welcome."--[leicester to 'wilkes, dec. . (s. p. office ms)]--alas, there was not so much benignity for the starving english soldiers, nor for the provinces, which were fast growing desperate; but although their cause was so intimately connected with the "great cause," which then occupied elizabeth, almost to the exclusion of other matter, it was, perhaps, not wonderful, although unfortunate, that for a time the netherlands should be neglected. the "daughter of debate" had at last brought herself, it was supposed, within the letter of the law, and now began those odious scenes of hypocrisy on the part of elizabeth, that frightful comedy--more melancholy even than the solemn tragedy which it preceded and followed--which must ever remain the darkest passage in the history of the queen. it is unnecessary, in these pages, to make more than a passing allusion to the condemnation and death of the queen of scots. who doubts her participation in the babington conspiracy? who doubts that she was the centre of one endless conspiracy by spain and rome against the throne and life of elizabeth? who doubts that her long imprisonment in england was a violation of all law, all justice, all humanity? who doubts that the fineing, whipping, torturing, hanging, embowelling of men, women, and children, guilty of no other crime than adhesion to the catholic faith, had assisted the pope and philip, and their band of english, scotch, and irish conspirators, to shake elizabeth's throne and endanger her life? who doubts that; had the english sovereign been capable of conceiving the great thought of religious toleration, her reign would have been more glorious than, it was, the cause of protestantism and freedom more triumphant, the name of elizabeth tudor dearer to human hearts? who doubts that there were many enlightened and noble spirits among her protestant subjects who lifted up their voices, over and over again, in parliament and out of it, to denounce that wicked persecution exercised upon their innocent catholic brethren, which was fast converting loyal englishmen, against their will, into traitors and conspirators? yet who doubts that it would have required, at exactly that moment, and in the midst of that crisis; more elevation of soul than could fairly be predicated of any individual, for elizabeth in to pardon mary, or to relax in the severity of her legislation towards english papists? yet, although a display of sublime virtue, such as the world has rarely seen, was not to be expected, it was reasonable to look for honest and royal dealing, from a great sovereign, brought at last face to face with a great event. the "great cause" demanded, a great, straightforward blow. it was obvious, however, that it would be difficult, in the midst of the tragedy and the comedy, for the netherland business to come fairly before her majesty. "touching the low country causes," said leicester; "very little is done yet, by reason of the continued business we have had about the queen of scots' matters. all the speech i have had with her majesty hitherto touching those causes hath been but private."--[leicester to wilkes, des . (s. p. office ms.)]--walsingham, longing for retirement, not only on account of his infinite grief for the death of sir philip sidney, "which hath been the cause;" he said, "that i have ever since betaken myself into solitariness, and withdrawn; from public affairs," but also by reason of the perverseness an difficulty manifested in the gravest affairs by the sovereign he so faithfully served, sent information, that, notwithstanding the arrival of some of the states' deputies, leicester was persuading her majesty to proceed first in the great cause. "certain principal persons, chosen as committees," he said, "of both houses are sent as humble suitors, to her majesty to desire that she would be pleased to give order for the execution of the scottish queen. her majesty made answer that she was loath to proceed in so violent a course against the said queen; as the taking away of her life, and therefore prayed them to think of some other way which might be for her own and their safety. they replied, no other way but her execution. her majesty, though she yielded no answer to this their latter reply, is contented to give order that the proclamation be published, and so also it is hoped that she, will be moved by this, their earnest instance to proceed to the thorough ending of the cause." and so the cause went slowly on to its thorough ending. and when "no other way" could be thought of but to take mary's life, and when "no other way of taking that life could be devised," at elizabeth's suggestion, except by public execution, when none of the gentlemen "of the association," nor paulet, nor drury--how skilfully soever their "pulses had been felt" by elizabeth's command--would commit assassination to serve a queen who was capable of punishing them afterwards for the murder, the great cause came to its inevitable conclusion, and mary stuart was executed by command of elizabeth tudor. the world may continue to differ as to the necessity of the execution but it has long since pronounced a unanimous verdict as to the respective display of royal dignity by the two queens upon that great occasion. during this interval the netherland matter, almost as vital to england as the execution of mary, was comparatively neglected. it was not absolutely in abeyance, but the condition of the queen's mind coloured every state-affair with its tragic hues. elizabeth, harassed, anxious, dreaming dreams, and enacting a horrible masquerade, was in the worst possible temper to be approached by the envoys. she was furious with the netherlanders for having maltreated her favourite. she was still more furious because their war was costing so much money. her disposition became so uncertain, her temper so ungovernable, as to drive her counsellors to their wit's ends. burghley confessed himself "weary of his miserable life," and protested "that the only desire he had in the world was to be delivered from the ungrateful burthen of service, which her majesty laid upon him so very heavily." walsingham wished himself "well established in basle." the queen set them all together by the ears. she wrangled spitefully over the sum-totals from the netherlands; she worried leicester, she scolded burghley for defending leicester, and leicester abused burghley for taking part against him. the lord-treasurer, overcome with "grief which pierced both his body and his heart," battled his way--as best he could--through the throng of dangers which beset the path of england in that great crisis. it was most obvious to every statesman in the realm that this was not the time--when the gauntlet had been thrown full in the face of philip and sixtus and all catholicism, by the condemnation of mary--to leave the netherland cause "at random," and these outer bulwarks of her own kingdom insufficiently protected. "your majesty will hear," wrote parma to philip, "of the disastrous, lamentable, and pitiful end of the, poor queen of scots. although for her it will be immortal glory, and she will be placed among the number of the many martyrs whose blood has been shed in the kingdom of england, and be crowned in heaven with a diadem more precious than the one she wore on earth, nevertheless one cannot repress one's natural emotions. i believe firmly that this cruel deed will be the concluding crime of the many which that englishwoman has committed, and that our lord will be pleased that she shall at last receive the chastisement which she has these many long years deserved, and which has been reserved till now, for her greater ruin and confusion."--[parma to philip il, march. . (arch. de simancas, ms.)]--and with this, the duke proceeded to discuss the all important and rapidly-preparing invasion of england. farnese was not the man to be deceived by the affected reluctance of elizabeth before mary's scaffold, although he was soon to show that he was himself a master in the science of grimace. for elizabeth--more than ever disposed to be friends with spain and rome, now that war to the knife was made inevitable--was wistfully regarding that trap of negotiation, against which all her best friends were endeavouring to warn her. she was more ill-natured than ever to the provinces, she turned her back upon the warnese, she affronted henry iii. by affecting to believe in the fable of his envoy's complicity in the stafford conspiracy against her life. "i pray god to open her eyes," said walsingham, "to see the evident peril of the course she now holdeth . . . . if it had pleased her to have followed the advice given her touching the french ambassador, our ships had been released . . . . but she has taken a very strange course by writing a very sharp letter unto the french king, which i fear will cause him to give ear to those of the league, and make himself a party with them, seeing so little regard had to him here. your lordship may see that our courage doth greatly increase, for that we make no difficulty to fall out with all the world . . . . i never saw her worse affected to the poor king of navarre, and yet doth she seek in no sort to yield contentment to the french king. if to offend all the world;" repeated the secretary bitterly, "be it good cause of government, then can we not do amiss . . . . i never found her less disposed to take a course of prevention of the approaching mischiefs toward this realm than at this present. and to be plain with you, there is none here that hath either credit or courage to deal effectually with her in any of her great causes." thus distracted by doubts and dangers, at war with her best friends, with herself, and with all-the world, was elizabeth during the dark days and months which, preceded and followed the execution of the scottish queen. if the great fight was at last to be fought triumphantly through, it was obvious that england was to depend upon englishmen of all ranks and classes, upon her prudent and far-seeing statesmen, upon her nobles and her adventurers, on her anglo-saxon and anglo-norman blood ever mounting against, oppression, on howard and essex, drake and williams, norris, and willoughby, upon high-born magnates, plebeian captains, london merchants, upon yeomen whose limbs were made in england, and upon hollanders and zeelanders whose fearless mariners were to swarm to the protection of her coasts, quite as much in that year of anxious expectation as upon the great queen herself. unquestionable as were her mental capacity and her more than woman's courage, when fairly, brought face, to face with the danger, it was fortunately not on one man or woman's brain and arm that england's salvation depended in that crisis of her fate. as to the provinces, no one ventured to speak very boldly in their defence. "when i lay before her the peril," said walsingham, "she scorneth at it. the hope of a peace with spain has put her into a most dangerous security." nor would any man now assume responsibility. the fate of davison--of the man who had already in so detestable a manner been made the scape-goat for leicester's sins in the netherlands, and who had now been so barbarously sacrificed by the queen for faithfully obeying her orders in regard to the death-warrant, had sickened all courtiers and counsellors for the time. "the late severe, dealing used by her highness towards mr. secretary davison," said walsingham to wilkes, "maketh us very circumspect and careful not to proceed in anything but wherein we receive direction from herself, and therefore you must not find it strange if we now be more sparing than heretofore hath been accustomed." such being the portentous state of the political atmosphere, and such the stormy condition of the royal mind, it may be supposed that the interviews of the netherland envoys with her majesty during this period were not likely to be genial. exactly at the most gloomy moment--thirteen days before the execution of mary--they came first into elizabeth's presence at greenwich. the envoys were five in number, all of them experienced and able statesmen--zuylen van nyvelt, joos de menyn, nicasius de silla, jacob valck, and vitus van kammings. the queen was in the privy council-chamber, attended by the admiral of england, lord thomas howard, lord hunsdon, great-chamberlain, sir christopher hatton, vice-chamberlain, secretary davison, and many other persons of distinction. the letters of credence were duly presented, but it was obvious from the beginning of the interview that the queen was ill-disposed toward the deputies, and had not only been misinformed as to matters of fact, but as to the state of feeling of the netherlanders and of the states-general towards herself. menyu, however, who was an orator by profession--being pensionary of dort--made, in the name of his colleagues, a brief but pregnant speech, to which the queen listened attentively, although, with frequent indications of anger and impatience. he commenced by observing that the united provinces still entertained the hope that her majesty would conclude, upon further thoughts, to accept the sovereignty over them, with reasonable conditions; but the most important passages of his address were those relating to the cost of the war. "besides our stipulated contributions," said the pensionary, "of , florins the month, we have furnished , as an extraordinary grant; making for the year , , florins, and this over and above the particular and special expenditures of the provinces, and other sums for military purposes. we confess, madam, that the succour of your majesty is a truly royal one, and that there have been few princes in history who have given such assistance to their neighbours unjustly oppressed. it is certain that by means of that help, joined with the forces of the united provinces, the earl of leicester has been able to arrest the course of the duke of parma's victories and to counteract his designs. nevertheless, it appears, madam, that these forces have not been sufficient to drive the enemy out of the country. we are obliged, for regular garrison work and defence of cities, to keep; up an army of at least , foot and horse. of this number your majesty pays foot and horse, and we are now commissioned, madam, humbly to request an increase of your regular succour during the war to , foot and horse. we also implore the loan of l , sterling, in order to assist us in maintaining for the coming season a sufficient force in the field." such, in brief, was the oration of pensionary menyn, delivered in the french language. he had scarcely concluded, when the queen--evidently in a great passion--rose to her feet, and without any hesitation, replied in a strain of vehement eloquence in the same tongue. "now i am not deceived, gentlemen," she said, "and that which i have been fearing has occurred. our common adage, which we have in england, is a very good one. when one fears that an evil is coming, the sooner it arrives the better. here is a quarter of a year that i have been expecting you, and certainly for the great benefit i have conferred on you, you have exhibited a great ingratitude, and i consider myself very ill treated by you. 'tis very strange that you should begin by soliciting still greater succour without rendering me any satisfaction for your past actions, which have been so extraordinary, that i swear by the living god i think it impossible to find peoples or states more ungrateful or ill-advised than yourselves. "i have sent you this year fifteen, sixteen, aye seventeen or eighteen thousand men. you have left them without payment, you have let some of them die of hunger, driven others to such desperation that they have deserted to the enemy. is it not mortifying for the english nation and a great shame for you that englishmen should say that they have found more courtesy from spaniards than from netherlanders? truly, i tell you frankly that i will never endure such indignities. rather will i act according to my will, and you may do exactly, as you think best. "if i chose, i could do something very good without you, although some persons are so fond of saying that it was quite necessary for the queen of england to do what she does for her own protection. no, no! disabuse yourselves of that impression. these are but false persuasions. believe boldly that i can play an excellent game without your assistance, and a better one than i ever did with it! nevertheless, i do not choose to do that, nor do i wish you so much harm. but likewise do i not choose that you should hold such language to me. it is true that i should not wish the spaniard so near me if he should be my enemy. but why should i not live in peace, if we were to be friends to each other? at the commencement of my reign we lived honourably together, the king of spain and i, and he even asked me to, marry him, and, after that, we lived a long time very peacefully, without any attempt having been made against my life. if we both choose, we can continue so to do. "on the other hand, i sent you the earl of leicester, as lieutenant of my forces, and my intention was that he should have exact knowledge of your finances and contributions. but, on the contrary, he has never known anything about them, and you have handled them in your own manner and amongst yourselves. you have given him the title of governor, in order, under this name, to cast all your evils on his head. that title he accepted against my will, by doing which he ran the risk of losing his life, and his estates, and the grace and favour of his princess, which was more important to him than all. but he did it in order to maintain your tottering state. and what authority, i pray you, have you given him? a shadowy authority, a purely imaginary one. this is but mockery. he is, at any rate, a gentleman, a man of honour and of counsel. you had no right to treat him thus. if i had accepted the title which you wished to give me, by the living god, i would not have suffered you so to treat me. "but you are so badly advised that when there is a man of worth who discovers your tricks you wish him ill, and make an outcry against him; and yet some of you, in order to save your money, and others in the hope of bribes, have been favouring the spaniard, and doing very wicked work. no, believe me that god will punish those who for so great a benefit wish to return me so much evil. believe, boldly too, that the king of spain will never trust men who have abandoned the party to which they belonged, and from which they have received so many benefits, and will never believe a word of what they promise him. yet, in order to cover up their filth, they spread the story that the queen of england is thinking of treating for peace without their knowledge. no, i would rather be dead than that any one should have occasion to say that i had not kept my promise. but princes must listen to both sides, and that can be done without breach of faith. for they transact business in a certain way, and with a princely intelligence, such as private persons cannot imitate. "you are states, to be sure, but private individuals in regard to princes. certainly, i would never choose to do anything without your knowledge, and i would never allow the authority which you have among yourselves, nor your privileges, nor your statutes, to be infringed. nor will i allow you to be perturbed in your consciences. what then would you more of me? you have issued a proclamation in your country that no one is to talk of peace. very well, very good. but permit princes likewise to do as they shall think best for the security of their state, provided it does you no injury. among us princes we are not wont to make such long orations as you do, but you ought to be content with the few words that we bestow upon you, and make yourself quiet thereby. "if i ever do anything for you again, i choose to be treated more honourably. i shall therefore appoint some personages of my council to communicate with you. and in the first place i choose to hear and see for myself what has taken place already, and have satisfaction about that, before i make any reply to what you have said to me as to greater assistance. and so i will leave you to-day, without troubling you further." with this her majesty swept from the apartment, leaving the deputies somewhat astounded at the fierce but adroit manner in which the tables had for a moment been turned upon them. it was certainly a most unexpected blow, this charge of the states having left the english soldiers--whose numbers the queen had so suddenly multiplied by three--unpaid and unfed. those englishmen who, as individuals, had entered the states' service, had been--like all the other troops regularly paid. this distinctly appeared from the statements of her own counsellors and generals. on the other hand, the queen's contingent, now dwindled to about half their original number, had been notoriously unpaid for nearly six months. this has already been made sufficiently clear from the private letters of most responsible persons. that these soldiers were starving, deserting; and pillaging, was, alas! too true; but the envoys of the states hardly expected to be censured by her majesty, because she had neglected to pay her own troops. it was one of the points concerning which they had been especially enjoined to complain, that the english cavalry, converted into highwaymen by want of pay, had been plundering the peasantry, and we have seen that thomas wilkes had "pawned his carcase" to provide for their temporary relief. with regard to the insinuation that prominent personages in the country had been tampered with by the enemy, the envoys were equally astonished by such an attack. the great deventer treason had not yet been heard of in england for it had occurred only a week before this first interview--but something of the kind was already feared; for the slippery dealings of york and stanley with tassis and parma, had long been causing painful anxiety, and had formed the subject of repeated remonstrances on the part of the 'states' to leicester and to the queen. the deputies were hardly, prepared therefore to defend their own people against dealing privately with the king of spain. the only man suspected of such practices was leicester's own favourite and financier, jacques ringault, whom the earl had persisted in employing against the angry remonstrances of the states, who believed him to be a spanish spy; and the man was now in prison, and threatened with capital punishment. to suppose that buys or barneveld, roorda, meetkerk, or any other leading statesman in the netherlands, was contemplating a private arrangement with philip ii., was as ludicrous a conception as to imagine walsingham a pensioner of the pope, or cecil in league with the duke of guise. the end and aim of the states' party was war. in war they not only saw the safety of the reformed religion, but the only means of maintaining the commercial prosperity of the commonwealth. the whole correspondence of the times shows that no politician in the country dreamed of peace, either by public or secret negotiation. on the other hand--as will be made still clearer than ever--the queen was longing for peace, and was treating for peace at that moment through private agents, quite without the knowledge of the states, and in spite of her indignant disavowals in her speech to the envoys. yet if elizabeth could have had the privilege of entering--as we are about to do--into the private cabinet of that excellent king of spain, with whom, she had once been such good friends, who had even sought her hand in marriage, and with whom she saw no reason whatever why she should not live at peace, she might have modified her expressions an this subject. certainly, if she could have looked through the piles of papers--as we intend to do--which lay upon that library-table, far beyond the seas and mountains, she would have perceived some objections to the scheme of living at peace with that diligent letter-writer. perhaps, had she known how the subtle farnese was about to express himself concerning the fast-approaching execution of mary, and the as inevitably impending destruction of "that englishwoman" through the schemes of his master and himself, she would have paid less heed to the sentiments couched in most exquisite italian which alexander was at the same time whispering in her ear, and would have taken less offence at the blunt language of the states-general. nevertheless, for the present, elizabeth would give no better answer than the hot-tempered one which had already somewhat discomfited the deputies. two days afterwards, the five envoys had an interview with several members of her majesty's council, in the private apartment of the lord-treasurer in greenwich palace. burghley, being indisposed, was lying upon his bed. leicester, admiral lord howard, lord hunsden, sir christopher hatton, lord buckhurst, and secretary davison, were present, and the lord-treasurer proposed that the conversation should be in latin, that being the common language most familiar to them all. then, turning over the leaves of the report, a copy of which lay on his bed, he asked the envoys, whether, in case her majesty had not sent over the assistance which she had done under the earl of leicester, their country would not have been utterly ruined. "to all appearance, yes," replied menyn. "but," continued burghley, still running through the pages of the document, and here and there demanding an explanation of an obscure passage or two, "you are now proposing to her majesty to send , foot and horse, and to lend l , . this is altogether monstrous and excessive. nobody will ever dare even to speak to her majesty on the subject. when you first came in , you asked for , men, but you were fully authorized to accept . no doubt that is the case now." "on that occasion," answered menyn, "our main purpose was to induce her majesty to accept the sovereignty, or at least the perpetual protection of our country. failing in that we broached the third point, and not being able to get , soldiers we compounded for , the agreement being subject to ratification by our principals. we gave ample security in shape of the mortgaged cities. but experience has shown us that these forces and this succour are insufficient. we have therefore been sent to beg her majesty to make up the contingent to the amount originally requested." "but we are obliged to increase the garrisons in the cautionary towns," said one of the english councillors, "as men in a city like flushing are very little." "pardon me," replied valck, "the burghers are not enemies but friends to her majesty and to the english nation. they are her dutiful subjects like all the inhabitants of the netherlands." "it is quite true," said burghley, after having made some critical remarks upon the military system of the provinces, "and a very common adage, 'quod tunc tua res agitur, paries cum proximus ardet,' but, nevertheless, this war principally concerns you. therefore you are bound to do your utmost to meet its expenses in your own country, quite as much as a man who means to build a house is expected to provide the stone and timber himself. but the states have not done their best. they have not at the appointed time come forward with their extraordinary contributions for the last campaign. how many men," he asked, "are required for garrisons in all the fortresses and cities, and for the field?" "but," interposed lord hunsden, "not half so many men are needed in the garrisons; for the burghers ought to be able to defend their own cities. moreover it is probable that your ordinary contributions might be continued and doubled and even tripled." "and on the whole," observed the lord admiral, "don't you think that the putting an army in the field might be dispensed with for this year? her majesty at present must get together and equip a fleet of war vessels against the king of spain, which will be an excessively large pennyworth, besides the assistance which she gives her neighbours." "yes, indeed," said secretary davison, "it would be difficult to exaggerate the enormous expense which her majesty must encounter this year for defending and liberating her own kingdoms against the king of spain. that monarch is making great naval preparations, and is treating all englishmen in the most hostile manner. we are on the brink of declared war with spain, with the french king, who is arresting all english persons and property within his kingdom, and with scotland, all which countries are understood to have made a league together on account of the queen of scotland, whom it will be absolutely necessary to put to death in order to preserve the life of her majesty, and are about to make war upon england. this matter then will cost us, the current year, at least eight hundred thousand pounds sterling. nevertheless her majesty is sure to assist you so far as her means allow; and i, for my part, will do my best to keep her majesty well disposed to your cause, even as i have ever done, as you well know." thus spoke poor davison, but a few days before the fatal th of february, little dreaming that the day for his influencing the disposition of her majesty would soon be gone, and that he was himself to be crushed for ever by the blow which was about to destroy the captive queen. the political combinations resulting from the tragedy were not to be exactly as he foretold, but there is little doubt that in him the netherlands, and leicester, and the queen of england, were to lose an honest, diligent, and faithful friend. "well, gentlemen," said the lord-treasurer, after a few more questions concerning the financial abilities of the states had been asked and answered, "it is getting late into the evening, and time for you all to get back to london. let me request you, as soon as may be, to draw up some articles in writing, to which we will respond immediately." menyn then, in the name of the deputies, expressed thanks for the urbanity shown them in the conference, and spoke of the deep regret with which they had perceived, by her majesty's answer two days before, that she was so highly offended with them and with the states-general. he then, notwithstanding burghley's previous hint as to the lateness of the hour, took up the queen's answer, point by point, contradicted all its statements, appealing frequently to lord leicester for confirmation of what he advanced, and concluded by begging the councillors to defend the cause of the netherlands to her majesty, burghley requested them to make an excuse or reply to the queen in writing, and send it to him to present. thus the conference terminated, and the envoys returned to london. they were fully convinced by the result of, these interviews, as they told their constituents, that her majesty, by false statements and reports of persons either grossly ignorant or not having the good of the commonwealth before their eyes, had been very incorrectly informed as to the condition of the provinces, and of the great efforts made by the states-general to defend their country against the enemy: it was obvious, they said, that their measures had been exaggerated in order to deceive the queen and her council. and thus statements and counter-statements, protocols and apostilles, were glibly exchanged; the heap of diplomatic rubbish was rising higher and higher, and the councillors and envoys, pleased with their work, were growing more and more amicable, when the court was suddenly startled by the news of the deventer and zutphen treason. the intelligence was accompanied by the famous th of february letter, which descended, like a bombshell, in the midst of the, decorous council-chamber. such language had rarely been addressed to the earl of leicester, and; through him; to the imperious sovereign herself, as the homely truths with which barneveld, speaking with the voice of the states-general, now smote the delinquent governor. "my lord," said he, "it is notorious; and needs no illustration whatever, with what true confidence and unfeigned affection we received your excellency in our land; the states-general, the states-provincial, the magistrates, and the communities of the chief cities in the united provinces, all uniting to do honour to her serene majesty of england and to yourself, and to confer upon you the government-general over us. and although we should willingly have placed some limitations upon the authority thus bestowed on you; in, order that by such a course your own honour and the good and constitutional condition of the country might be alike preserved, yet finding your excellency not satisfied with those limitations, we postponed every objection, and conformed ourselves to your pleasure. yet; before coming to that decision, we had well considered that by doing so we might be opening a door to many ambitious, avaricious, and pernicious persons, both of these countries and from other nations, who might seize the occasion to advance their own private profits, to the detriment of the country and the dishonour of your excellency. "and, in truth, such persons have done their work so efficiently as to inspire you with distrust against the most faithful and capable men in the provinces, against the estates general and provincial, magistrates, and private persons, knowing very well that they could never arrive at their own ends so long as you were guided by the constitutional authorities of the country. and precisely upon the distrust; thus created as a foundation, they raised a back-stairs council, by means of which they were able to further their ambitious, avaricious, and seditious practices, notwithstanding the good advice and remonstrances of the council of state, and the states general and provincial." he proceeded to handle the subjects of the english rose-noble; put in circulation by leicester's finance or back-stairs council at two florins above its value, to the manifest detriment of the provinces, to the detestable embargo which had prevented them from using the means bestowed upon them by god himself to defend their country, to the squandering and embezzlement of the large sums contributed by the province; and entrusted to the earl's administration; to the starving condition of the soldiers; maltreated by government, and thus compelled to prey upon the inhabitants--so that troops in the states' service had never been so abused during the whole war, although the states had never before voted such large contributions nor paid them so promptly--to the placing in posts of high honour and trust men of notoriously bad character and even spanish spies; to the taking away the public authority from those to whom it legitimately belonged, and conferring it on incompetent and unqualified persons; to the illegal banishment of respectable citizens, to the violation of time-honoured laws and privileges, to the shameful attempts to repudiate the ancient authority of the states, and to usurp a control over the communities and nobles by them represented, and to the perpetual efforts to foster dissension, disunion, and rebellion among the inhabitants. having thus drawn up a heavy bill of indictment, nominally against the earl's illegal counsellors, but in reality against the earl himself, he proceeded to deal with the most important matter of all. "the principal cities and fortresses in the country have been placed in hands of men suspected by the states on legitimate grounds, men who had been convicted of treason against these provinces, and who continued to be suspected, notwithstanding that your excellency had pledged your own honour for their fidelity. finally, by means of these scoundrels, it was brought to pass, that the council of state having been invested by your excellency with supreme authority during your absence--a secret document, was brought to light after your departure, by which the most substantial matters, and those most vital to the defence of the country, were withdrawn from the disposition of that council. and now, alas, we see the effects of these practices! "sir william stanley, by you appointed governor of deventer, and rowland york, governor of fort zutphen, have refused, by virtue of that secret document, to acknowledge any authority in this country. and notwithstanding that since your departure they and their soldiers have been supported at our expense, and had just received a full month's pay from the states, they have traitorously and villainously delivered the city and the fortress to the enemy, with a declaration made by stanley that he did the deed to ease his conscience, and to render to the king of spain the city which of right was belonging to him. and this is a crime so dishonourable, scandalous, ruinous, and treasonable, as that, during this, whole war, we have never seen the like. and we are now, in daily fear lest the english commanders in bergen-op-zoom, ostend, and other cities, should commit the same crime. and although we fully suspected the designs of stanley and york, yet your excellency's secret document had deprived us of the power to act. "we doubt not that her majesty and your excellency will think this strange language. but we can assure you, that we too think it strange and grievous that those places should have been confided to such men, against our repeated remonstrances, and that, moreover, this very stanley should have been recommended by your excellency for general of all the forces. and although we had many just and grave reasons for opposing your administration--even as our ancestors were often wont to rise against the sovereigns of the country--we have, nevertheless, patiently suffered for a long time, in order not to diminish your authority, which we deemed so important to our welfare, and in the hope that you would at last be moved by the perilous condition of the commonwealth, and awake to the artifices of your advisers. "but at last-feeling that the existence of the state can no longer be preserved without proper authority, and that the whole community is full of emotion and distrust, on account of these great treasons--we, the states-general, as well as the states-provincial, have felt constrained to establish such a government as we deem meet for the emergency. and of this we think proper to apprize your excellency." he then expressed the conviction that all these evil deeds had been accomplished against the intentions of the earl and the english government, and requested his excellency so to deal with her majesty that the contingent of horse and foot hitherto accorded by her "might be maintained in good order, and in better pay." here, then, was substantial choleric phraseology, as good plain speaking as her majesty had just been employing, and with quite as sufficient cause. here was no pleasant diplomatic fencing, but straightforward vigorous thrusts. it was no wonder that poor wilkes should have thought the letter "too sharp," when he heard it read in the assembly, and that he should have done his best to prevent it from being despatched. he would have thought it sharper could he have seen how the pride of her majesty and of leicester was wounded by it to the quick. her list of grievances against the states seem to vanish into air. who had been tampering with the spaniards now? had that "shadowy and imaginary authority" granted to leicester not proved substantial enough? was it the states-general, the state-council, or was it the "absolute governor"--who had carried off the supreme control of the commonwealth in his pocket--that was responsible for the ruin effected by englishmen who had scorned all "authority" but his own? the states, in another blunt letter to the queen herself, declared the loss of deventer to be more disastrous to them than even the fall of antwerp had been; for the republic had now been split asunder, and its most ancient and vital portions almost cut away. nevertheless they were not "dazzled nor despairing," they said, but more determined than ever to maintain their liberties, and bid defiance to the spanish tyrant. and again they demanded of, rather than implored; her majesty to be true to her engagements with them. the interviews which followed were more tempestuous than ever. "i had intended that my lord of leicester should return to you," she said to the envoys. "but that shall never be. he has been treated with gross ingratitude, he has served the provinces with ability, he has consumed his own property there, he has risked his life, he has lost his near kinsman, sir philip sidney, whose life i should be glad to purchase with many millions, and, in place of all reward, he receives these venomous letters, of which a copy has been sent to his sovereign to blacken him with her." she had been advising him to return, she added, but she was now resolved that he should "never set foot in the provinces again." here the earl, who, was present, exclaimed--beating himself on the breast--"a tali officio libera nos, domine!" but the states, undaunted by these explosions of wrath, replied that it had ever been their custom, when their laws and liberties were invaded, to speak their mind boldly to kings and governors, and to procure redress of their grievances, as became free men. during that whole spring the queen was at daggers drawn with all her leading counsellors, mainly in regard to that great question of questions--the relations of england with the netherlands and spain. walsingham--who felt it madness to dream of peace, and who believed it the soundest policy to deal with parma and his veterans upon the soil of flanders, with the forces of the republic for allies, rather than to await his arrival in london--was driven almost to frenzy by what he deemed the queen's perverseness. "our sharp words continue," said the secretary, "which doth greatly disquiet her majesty, and discomfort her poor servants that attend her. the lord-treasurer remaineth still in disgrace, and, behind my back, her majesty giveth out very hard speeches of myself, which i the rather credit, for that i find, in dealing with her, i am nothing gracious; and if her majesty could be otherwise served, i know i should not be used . . . . . her majesty doth wholly lend herself to devise some further means to disgrace her poor council, in respect whereof she neglecteth all other causes . . . . the discord between her majesty and her council hindereth the necessary consultations that were to be destined for the preventing of the manifold perils that hang over this realm. . . . sir christopher hatton hath dealt very plainly and dutifully with her, which hath been accepted in so evil part as he is resolved to retire for a time. i assure you i find every man weary of attendance here. . . . i would to god i could find as good resolution in her majesty to proceed in a princely course in relieving the united provinces, as i find an honorable disposition in your lordship to employ yourself in their service." the lord-treasurer was much puzzled, very wretched, but philosophically resigned. "why her majesty useth me thus strangely, i know not," he observed. "to some she saith that she meant not i should have gone from the court; to some she saith, she may not admit me, nor give me contentment. i shall dispose myself to enjoy god's favour, and shall do nothing to deserve her disfavour. and if i be suffered to be a stranger to her affairs, i shall have a quieter life." leicester, after the first burst of his anger was over, was willing to return to the provinces. he protested that he had a greater affection for the netherland people--not for the governing powers--even than he felt for the people of england.--"there is nothing sticks in my stomach," he said, "but the good-will of that poor afflicted people, for whom, i take god to record, i could be content to lose any limb i have to do them good." but he was crippled with debt, and the queen resolutely refused to lend him a few thousand pounds, without which he could not stir. walsingham in vain did battle with her parsimony, representing how urgently and vividly the necessity of his return had been depicted by all her ministers in both countries, and how much it imported to her own safety and service. but she was obdurate. "she would rather," he said bitterly to leicester, "hazard the increase of confusion there--which may put the whole country in peril--than supply your want. the like course she holdeth in the rest of her causes, which maketh me to wish myself from the helm." at last she agreed to advance him ten thousand pounds, but on so severe conditions, that the earl declared himself heart-broken again, and protested that he would neither accept the money, nor ever set foot in the netherlands. "let norris stay there," he said in a fury; "he will do admirably, no doubt. only let it not be supposed that i can be there also. not for one hundred thousand pounds would i be in that country with him." meantime it was agreed that lord buckhurst should be sent forth on what wilkes termed a mission of expostulation, and a very ill-timed one. this new envoy was to inquire into the causes of the discontent, and to do his best to remove them: as if any man in england or in holland doubted as to the causes, or as to the best means of removing them; or as if it were not absolutely certain that delay was the very worst specific that could be adopted--delay--which the netherland statesmen, as well as the queen's wisest counsellors, most deprecated, which alexander and philip most desired, and by indulging in which her majesty was most directly playing into her adversary's hand. elizabeth was preparing to put cards upon the table against an antagonist whose game was close, whose honesty was always to be suspected, and who was a consummate master in what was then considered diplomatic sleight of hand. so lord buckhurst was to go forth to expostulate at the hague, while transports were loading in cadiz and lisbon, reiters levying in germany, pikemen and musketeers in spain and italy, for a purpose concerning which walsingham and barneveld had for a long time felt little doubt. meantime lord leicester went to bath to drink the waters, and after he had drunk the waters, the queen, ever anxious for his health, was resolved that he should not lose the benefit of those salubrious draughts by travelling too soon, or by plunging anew into the fountains of bitterness which flowed perennially in the netherlands. chapter xv. buckhurst sent to the netherlands--alarming state of affairs on his arrival--his efforts to conciliate--democratic theories of wilkes-- sophistry of the argument--dispute between wilkes and barneveld-- religious tolerance by the states--their constitutional theory-- deventer's bad counsels to leicester--their pernicious effect--real and supposed plots against hohenlo--mutual suspicion and distrust-- buckhurst seeks to restore good feeling--the queen angry and vindictive--she censures buckhurst's course--leicester's wrath at hohenlo's charges of a plot by the earl to murder him--buckhurst's eloquent appeals to the queen--her perplexing and contradictory orders--despair of wilkes--leicester announces his return--his instructions--letter to junius--barneveld denounces him in the states. we return to the netherlands. if ever proof were afforded of the influence of individual character on the destiny of nations and of the world, it certainly was seen in the year . we have lifted the curtain of the secret council-chamber at greenwich. we have seen all elizabeth's advisers anxious to arouse her from her fatal credulity, from her almost as fatal parsimony. we have seen leicester anxious to return, despite all fancied indignities, walsingham eager to expedite the enterprise, and the queen remaining obdurate, while month after month of precious time was melting away. in the netherlands, meantime, discord and confusion had been increasing every day; and the first great cause of such a dangerous condition of affairs was the absence of the governor. to this all parties agreed. the leicestrians, the anti-leicestriana, the holland party, the utrecht party, the english counsellors, the english generals, in private letter, in solemn act, all warned the queen against the lamentable effects resulting from leicester's inopportune departure and prolonged absence. on the first outbreak of indignation after the deventer affair, prince maurice was placed at the head of the general government, with the violent hohenlo as his lieutenant. the greatest exertions were made by these two nobles and by barneveld, who guided the whole policy of the party, to secure as many cities as possible to their cause. magistrates and commandants of garrisons in many towns willingly gave in their adhesion to the new government; others refused; especially diedrich sonoy, an officer of distinction, who was governor of enkhuyzen, and influential throughout north holland, and who remained a stanch partisan of leicester. utrecht, the stronghold of the leicestrians, was wavering and much torn by faction; hohenlo and moeurs had "banquetted and feasted" to such good purpose that they had gained over half the captains of the burgher-guard, and, aided by the branch of nobles, were making a good fight against the leicester magistracy and the clerical force, enriched by the plunder of the old catholic livings, who denounced as papistical and hispaniolized all who favoured the party of maurice and barneveld. by the end of march the envoys returned from london, and in their company came lord buckhurst, as special ambassador from the queen. thomas sackville, lord buckhurst--afterwards earl of dorset and lord-treasurer--was then fifty-one years of age. a man of large culture-poet, dramatist, diplomatist-bred to the bar; afterwards elevated to the peerage; endowed with high character and strong intellect; ready with tongue and pen; handsome of person, and with a fascinating address, he was as fit a person to send on a mission of expostulation as any man to be found in england. but the author of the 'induction to the mirror for magistrates' and of 'gorboduc,' had come to the netherlands on a forlorn hope. to expostulate in favour of peace with a people who knew that their existence depended on war, to reconcile those to delay who felt that delay was death, and to, heal animosities between men who were enemies from their cradles to their graves, was a difficult mission. but the chief ostensible object of buckhurst was to smooth the way for leicester, and, if possible, to persuade the netherlanders as to the good inclinations of the english government. this was no easy task, for they knew that their envoys had been dismissed, without even a promise of subsidy. they had asked for twelve thousand soldiers and sixty thousand pounds, and had received a volley of abuse. over and over again, through many months, the queen fell into a paroxysm of rage when even an allusion was made to the loan of fifty or sixty thousand pounds; and even had she promised the money, it would have given but little satisfaction. as count moeurs observed, he would rather see one english rose-noble than a hundred royal promises. so the hollanders and zeelanders--not fearing leicester's influence within their little morsel of a territory--were concentrating their means of resistance upon their own soil, intending to resist spain, and, if necessary, england, in their last ditch, and with the last drop of their blood. while such was the condition of affairs, lord buckhurst landed at flushing--four months after the departure of leicester--on the th march, having been tossing three days and nights at sea in a great storm, "miserably sick and in great danger of drowning." sir william russell, governor of flushing, informed him of the progress making by prince maurice in virtue of his new authority. he told him that the zeeland regiment, vacant by sidney's death, and which the queen wished bestowed upon russell himself, had been given to count solms; a circumstance which was very sure to exite her majesty's ire; but that the greater number, and those of the better sort; disliked the alteration of government, and relied entirely upon the queen. sainte aldegonde visited him at middelburgh, and in a "long discourse" expressed the most friendly sentiments towards england, with free offers of personal service. "nevertheless," said buckhurst, cautiously, "i mean to trust the effect, not his words, and so i hope he will not much deceive me. his opinion is that the earl of leicester's absence hath chiefly caused this change, and that without his return it will hardly be restored again, but that upon his arrival all these clouds will prove but a summershower." as a matter of course the new ambassador lifted up his voice, immediately after setting foot on shore, in favour of the starving soldiers of his queen. "'tis a most lamentable thing," said he, "to hear the complaints of soldiers and captains for want of pay." . . . . whole companies made their way into his presence, literally crying aloud for bread. "for jesus' sake," wrote buckhurst, "hasten to send relief with all speed, and let such victuallers be appointed as have a conscience not to make themselves rich with the famine of poor soldiers. if her majesty send not money, and that with speed, for their payment, i am afraid to think what mischief and miseries are like to follow." then the ambassador proceeded to the hague, holding interviews with influential personages in private, and with the states-general in public. such was the charm of his manner, and so firm the conviction of sincerity and good-will which he inspired, that in the course of a fortnight there was already a sensible change in the aspect of affairs. the enemy, who, at the time of their arrival, had been making bonfires and holding triumphal processions for joy of the great breach between holland and england, and had been "hoping to swallow them all up, while there were so few left who knew how to act," were already manifesting disappointment. in a solemn meeting of the states-general with the state-council, buckhurst addressed the assembly upon the general subject of her majesty's goodness to the netherlands. he spoke of the gracious assistance rendered by her, notwithstanding her many special charges for the common cause, and of the mighty enmities which she had incurred for their sake. he sharply censured the hollanders for their cruelty to men who had shed their blood in their cause, but who were now driven forth from their towns; and left to starve on the highways, and hated for their nation's sake; as if the whole english name deserved to be soiled "for the treachery of two miscreants." he spoke strongly of their demeanour towards the earl of leicester, and of the wrongs they had done him, and told them, that, if they were not ready to atone to her majesty for such injuries, they were not to wonder if their deputies received no better answer at her hands. "she who embraced your cause," he said, "when other mighty princes forsook you, will still stand fast unto you, yea, and increase her goodness, if her present state may suffer it." after being addressed in this manner the council of state made what counsellor clerk called a "very honest, modest, and wise answer;" but the states-general, not being able "so easily to discharge that which had so long boiled within them," deferred their reply until the following day. they then brought forward a deliberate rejoinder, in which they expressed themselves devoted to her majesty, and, on the whole, well disposed to the earl. as to the th february letter, it had been written "in amaritudine cordis," upon hearing the treasons of york and stanley, and in accordance with "their custom and liberty used towards all princes, whereby they had long preserved their estate," and in the conviction that the real culprits for all the sins of his excellency's government were certain "lewd persons who sought to seduce his lordship, and to cause him to hate the states." buckhurst did not think it well to reply, at that moment, on the ground that there had been already crimination and recrimination more than enough, and that "a little bitterness more had rather caused them to determine dangerously than solve for the best." they then held council together--the envoys and the state-general, as to the amount of troops absolutely necessary--casting up the matter "as pinchingly as possibly might be." and the result was, that , foot and horse for garrison work, and an army of , foot, horse, and pioneers, for a campaign of five or six months, were pronounced indispensable. this would require all their l , sterling a-year, regular contribution, her majesty's contingent of l , , and an extra sum of l , sterling. of this sum the states requested her majesty should furnish two-thirds, while they agreed to furnish the other third, which would make in all l , for the queen, and l , for the states. as it was understood that the english subsidies were only a loan, secured by mortgage of the cautionary towns, this did not seem very unreasonable, when the intimate blending of england's welfare with that of the provinces was considered. thus it will be observed that lord buckhurst--while doing his best to conciliate personal feuds and heart-burnings--had done full justice to the merits of leicester, and had placed in strongest light the favours conferred by her majesty. he then proceeded to utrecht, where he was received with many demonstrations of respect, "with solemn speeches" from magistrates and burgher-captains, with military processions, and with great banquets, which were, however, conducted with decorum, and at which even count moeurs excited universal astonishment by his sobriety. it was difficult, however, for matters to go very smoothly, except upon the surface. what could be more disastrous than for a little commonwealth--a mere handful of people, like these netherlanders, engaged in mortal combat with the most powerful monarch in the world, and with the first general of the age, within a league of their borders--thus to be deprived of all organized government at a most critical moment, and to be left to wrangle with their allies and among themselves, as to the form of polity to be adopted, while waiting the pleasure of a capricious and despotic woman? and the very foundation of the authority by which the spanish yoke had been abjured, the sovereignty offered to elizabeth, and the government-general conferred on leicester, was fiercely assailed by the confidential agents of elizabeth herself. the dispute went into the very depths of the social contract. already wilkes, standing up stoutly for the democratic views of the governor, who was so foully to requite him, had assured the english government that the "people were ready to cut the throats" of the staten-general at any convenient moment. the sovereign people, not the deputies, were alone to be heeded, he said, and although he never informed the world by what process he had learned the deliberate opinion of that sovereign, as there had been no assembly excepting those of the states-general and states-provincial--he was none the less fully satisfied that the people were all with leicester, and bitterly opposed to the states. "for the sovereignty, or supreme authority," said he, through failure of a legitimate prince, belongs to the people, and not to you, gentlemen, who are only servants, ministers, and deputies of the people. you have your commissions or instructions surrounded by limitations--which conditions are so widely different from the power of sovereignty, as the might of the subject is in regard to his prince, or of a servant in, respect to his master. for sovereignty is not limited either as to power or as to time. still less do you represent the sovereignty; for the people, in giving the general and absolute government to the earl of leicester, have conferred upon him at once the exercise of justice, the administration of polity, of naval affairs, of war, and of all the other points of sovereignty. of these a governor-general is however only the depositary or guardian, until such time as it may please the prince or people to revoke the trust; there being no other in this state who can do this; seeing that it was the people, through the instrumentality of your offices--through you as its servants--conferred on his excellency, this power, authority, and government. according to the common rule law, therefore, 'quo jure quid statuitur, eodem jure tolli debet.' you having been fully empowered by the provinces and cities, or, to speak more correctly, by your masters and superiors, to confer the government on his excellency, it follows that you require a like power in order to take it away either in whole or in part. if then you had no commission to curtail his authority, or even that of the state-council, and thus to tread upon and usurp his power as governor general and absolute, there follows of two things one: either you did not well understand what you were doing, nor duly consider how far that power reached, or--much more probably--you have fallen into the sin of disobedience, considering how solemnly you swore allegiance to him. thus subtly and ably did wilkes defend the authority of the man who had deserted his post at a most critical moment, and had compelled the states, by his dereliction, to take the government into their own hands. for, after all, the whole argument of the english counsellor rested upon a quibble. the people were absolutely sovereign, he said, and had lent that sovereignty to leicester. how had they made that loan? through the machinery of the states-general. so long then as the earl retained the absolute sovereignty, the states were not even representatives of the sovereign people. the sovereign people was merged into one english earl. the english earl had retired--indefinitely--to england. was the sovereign people to wait for months, or years, before it regained its existence? and if not, how was it to reassert its vitality? how but through the agency of the states-general, who--according to wilkes himself--had been fully empowered by the provinces and cities to confer the government on the earl? the people then, after all, were the provinces and cities. and the states-general were at that moment as much qualified to represent those provinces and cities as they ever had been, and they claimed no more. wilkes, nor any other of the leicester party, ever hinted at a general assembly of the people. universal suffrage was not dreamed of at that day. by the people, he meant, if he meant anything, only that very small fraction of the inhabitants of a country, who, according to the english system, in the reign of elizabeth, constituted its commons. he chose, rather from personal and political motives than philosophical ones, to draw a distinction between the people and the states, but it is quite obvious, from the tone of his private communications, that by the 'states' he meant the individuals who happened, for the time-being, to be the deputies of the states of each province. but it was almost an affectation to accuse those individuals of calling or considering themselves 'sovereigns;' for it was very well known that they sat as envoys, rather than as members of a congress, and were perpetually obliged to recur to their constituents, the states of each province, for instructions. it was idle, because buys and barneveld, and roorda, and other leaders, exercised the influence due to their talents, patriotism, and experience, to stigmatize them as usurpers of sovereignty, and to hound the rabble upon them as tyrants and mischief-makers. yet to take this course pleased the earl of leicester, who saw no hope for the liberty of the people, unless absolute and unconditional authority over the people, in war, naval affairs, justice, and policy, were placed in his hands. this was the view sustained by the clergy of the reformed church, because they found it convenient, through such a theory, and by leicester's power, to banish papists, exercise intolerance in matters of religion, sequestrate for their own private uses the property of the catholic church, and obtain for their own a political power which was repugnant to the more liberal ideas of the barneveld party. the states of holland--inspired as it were by the memory of that great martyr to religious and political liberty, william the silent--maintained freedom of conscience. the leicester party advocated a different theory on the religious question. they were also determined to omit no effort to make the states odious. "seeing their violent courses," said wilkes to leicester, "i have not been negligent, as well by solicitations to the ministers, as by my letters to such as have continued constant in affection to your lordship, to have the people informed of the ungrateful and dangerous proceedings of the states. they have therein travailed with so good effect, as the people are now wonderfully well disposed, and have delivered everywhere in speeches, that if, by the overthwart dealings of the states, her majesty shall be drawn to stay her succours and goodness to them, and that thereby your lordship be also discouraged to return, they will cut their throats." who the "people" exactly were, that had been so wonderfully well disposed to throat-cutting by the ministers of the gospel, did not distinctly appear. it was certain, however, that they were the special friends of leicester, great orators, very pious, and the sovereigns of the country. so much could not be gainsaid. "your lordship would wonder," continued the councillor, "to see the people--who so lately, by the practice of the said states and the accident of deventer, were notably alienated--so returned to their former devotion towards her majesty, your lordship, and our nation." wilkes was able moreover to gratify the absent governor-general with the intelligence--of somewhat questionable authenticity however--that the states were very "much terrified with these threats of the people." but barneveld came down to the council to inquire what member of that body it was who had accused the states of violating the earl's authority. "whoever he is," said the advocate, "let him deliver his mind frankly, and he shall be answered." the man did not seem much terrified by the throat-cutting orations. "it is true," replied wilkes, perceiving himself to be the person intended, "that you have very injuriously, in many of your proceedings, derogated from and trodden the authority of his lordship and of this council under your feet." and then he went into particulars, and discussed, 'more suo,' the constitutional question, in which various leicestrian counsellors seconded him. but barneveld grimly maintained that the states were the sovereigns, and that it was therefore unfit that the governor, who drew his authority from them, should call them to account for their doings. "it was as if the governors in the time of charles v.," said the advocate, "should have taxed that emperor for any action of his done in the government." in brief, the rugged barneveld, with threatening voice, and lion port, seemed to impersonate the staten, and to hold reclaimed sovereignty in his grasp. it seemed difficult to tear it from him again. "i did what i could," said wilkes, "to beat them from this humour of their sovereignty, showing that upon that error they had grounded the rest of their wilful absurdities." next night, he drew up sixteen articles, showing the disorders of the states, their breach of oaths, and violations of the earl's authority; and with that commenced a series of papers interchanged by the two parties, in which the topics of the origin of government and the principles of religious freedom were handled with much ability on both sides, but at unmerciful length. on the religious question, the states-general, led by barneveld and by francis franck, expressed themselves manfully, on various occasions, during the mission of buckhurst. "the nobles and cities constituting the states," they said, "have been denounced to lord leicester as enemies of religion, by the self-seeking mischief-makers who surround him. why? because they had refused the demand of certain preachers to call a general synod, in defiance of the states-general, and to introduce a set of ordinances, with a system of discipline, according to their arbitrary will. this the late prince of orange and the states-general had always thought detrimental both to religion and polity. they respected the difference in religious opinions, and leaving all churches in their freedom, they chose to compel no man's conscience--a course which all statesmen, knowing the diversity of human opinions, had considered necessary in order to maintain fraternal harmony." such words shine through the prevailing darkness of the religious atmosphere at that epoch, like characters of light. they are beacons in the upward path of mankind. never before, had so bold and wise a tribute to the genius of the reformation been paid by an organized community. individuals walking in advance of their age had enunciated such truths, and their voices had seemed to die away, but, at last, a little, struggling, half-developed commonwealth had proclaimed the rights of conscience for all mankind--for papists and calvinists, jews and anabaptists--because "having a respect for differences in religious opinions, and leaving all churches in their freedom, they chose to compel no man's conscience." on the constitutional question, the states commenced by an astounding absurdity. "these mischief-makers, moreover," said they, "have not been ashamed to dispute, and to cause the earl of leicester to dispute, the lawful constitution of the provinces; a matter which has not been disputed for eight hundred years." this was indeed to claim a respectable age for their republic. eight hundred years took them back to the days of charlemagne, in whose time it would have been somewhat difficult to detect a germ of their states-general and states-provincial. that the constitutional government--consisting of nobles and of the vroedschaps of chartered cities--should have been in existence four hundred and seventeen years before the first charter had ever been granted to a city, was a very loose style of argument. thomas wilkes, in reply; might as well have traced the english parliament to hengist and horsa. "for eight hundred years;" they said, "holland had been governed by counts and countesses, on whom the nobles and cities, as representing the states, had legally conferred sovereignty." now the first incorporated city of holland and zeeland that ever existed was middelburg, which received its charter from count william i. of holland and countess joan of flanders; in the year . the first count that had any legal recognized authority was dirk the first to whom charles the simple presented the territory of holland, by letters-patent, in . yet the states-general, in a solemn and eloquent document, gravely dated their own existence from the year , and claimed the regular possession and habitual delegation of sovereignty from that epoch down! after this fabulous preamble, they proceeded to handle the matter of fact with logical precision. it was absurd, they said, that mr. wilkes and lord leicester should affect to confound the persons who appeared in the assembly with the states themselves; as if those individuals claimed or exercised sovereignty. any man who had observed what had been passing during the last fifteen years, knew very well that the supreme authority did not belong to the thirty or forty individuals who came to the meetings . . . . the nobles, by reason of their ancient dignity and splendid possessions, took counsel together over state matters, and then, appearing at the assembly, deliberated with the deputies of the cities. the cities had mainly one form of government--a college of counsellors; or wise men, , , , or in number, of the most respectable out of the whole community. they were chosen for life, and vacancies were supplied by the colleges themselves out of the mass of citizens. these colleges alone governed the city, and that which had been ordained by them was to be obeyed by all the inhabitants--a system against which there had never been any rebellion. the colleges again, united with those of the nobles, represented the whole state, the whole body of the population; and no form of government could be imagined, they said, that could resolve, with a more thorough knowledge of the necessities of the country, or that could execute its resolves with more unity of purpose and decisive authority. to bring the colleges into an assembly could only be done by means of deputies. these deputies, chosen by their colleges, and properly instructed, were sent to the place of meeting. during the war they had always been commissioned to resolve in common on matters regarding the liberty of the land. these deputies, thus assembled, represented, by commission, the states; but they are not, in their own persons, the states; and no one of them had any such pretension. "the people of this country," said the states, "have an aversion to all ambition; and in these disastrous times, wherein nothing but trouble and odium is to be gathered by public employment, these commissions are accounted 'munera necessaria'. . . . this form of government has, by god's favour, protected holland and zeeland, during this war, against a powerful foe, without lose of territory, without any popular outbreak, without military mutiny, because all business has been transacted with open doors; and because the very smallest towns are all represented, and vote in the assembly." in brief, the constitution of the united provinces was a matter of fact. it was there in good working order, and had, for a generation of mankind, and throughout a tremendous war, done good service. judged by the principles of reason and justice, it was in the main a wholesome constitution, securing the independence and welfare of the state, and the liberty and property of the individual, as well certainly as did any polity then existing in the world. it seemed more hopeful to abide by it yet a little longer than to adopt the throat-cutting system by the people, recommended by wilkes and leicester as an improvement on the old constitution. this was the view of lord buckhurst. he felt that threats of throat-cutting were not the best means of smoothing and conciliating, and he had come over to smooth and conciliate. "to spend the time," said he, "in private brabbles and piques between the states and lord leicester, when we ought to prepare an army against the enemy, and to repair the shaken and torn state, is not a good course for her majesty's service." letters were continually circulating from hand to hand among the antagonists of the holland party, written out of england by leicester, exciting the ill-will of the populace against the organized government. "by such means to bring the states into hatred," said buckhurst, "and to stir up the people against them; tends to great damage and miserable end. this his lordship doth full little consider, being the very way to dissolve all government, and so to bring all into confusion, and open the door for the enemy. but oh, how lamentable a thing it is, and how doth my lord of leicester abuse her majesty, making her authority the means to uphold and justify, and under her name to defend and maintain, all his intolerable errors. i thank god that neither his might nor his malice shall deter me from laying open all those things which my conscience knoweth, and which appertaineth to be done for the good of this cause and of her majesty's service. herein, though i were sure to lose my life, yet will i not offend neither the one nor the other, knowing very well that i must die; and to die in her majesty's faithful service, and with a good conscience, is far more happy than the miserable life that i am in. if leicester do in this sort stir up the people against the states to follow his revenge against them, and if the queen do yield no better aid, and the minds of count maurice and hohenlo remain thus in fear and hatred of him, what good end or service can be hoped for here?"--[buckhurst to walsingham, th june, . (brit. mus. galba, d. i. p. , ms.)] buckhurst was a man of unimpeached integrity and gentle manners. he had come over with the best intentions towards the governor-general, and it has been seen that he boldly defended him in, his first interviews with the states. but as the intrigues and underhand plottings of the earl's agents were revealed to him, he felt more and more convinced that there was a deep laid scheme to destroy the government, and to constitute a virtual and absolute sovereignty for leicester. it was not wonderful that the states were standing vigorously on the defensive. the subtle deventer, leicester's evil genius, did not cease to poison the mind of the governor, during his protracted absence, against all persons who offered impediments to the cherished schemes of his master and himself. "your excellency knows very well," he said, "that the state of this country is democratic, since, by failure of a prince, the sovereign disposition of affairs has returned to the people. that same people is everywhere so incredibly affectionate towards you that the delay in your return drives them to extreme despair. any one who would know the real truth has but to remember the fine fear the states-general were in when the news of your displeasure about the th february letter became known." had it not been for the efforts of lord buckhurst in calming the popular rage, deventer assured the earl that the writers of the letter would "have scarcely saved their skins;" and that they had always continued in great danger. he vehemently urged upon leicester, the necessity of his immediate return--not so much for reasons drawn from the distracted state of the country, thus left to a provisional government and torn by faction--but because of the facility with which he might at once seize upon arbitrary power. he gratified his master by depicting in lively colours the abject condition into which barneveld, maurice, hohenlo, and similar cowards, would be thrown by his sudden return. "if," said he, "the states' members and the counts, every one of them, are so desperately afraid of the people, even while your excellency is afar off, in what trepidation will they be when you are here! god, reason, the affection of the sovereign people, are on your side. there needs, in a little commonwealth like ours, but a wink of the eye, the slightest indication of dissatisfaction on your part, to take away all their valour from men who are only brave where swords are too short. a magnanimous prince like yourself should seek at once the place where such plots are hatching, and you would see the fury of the rebels change at once to cowardice. there is more than one man here in the netherlands that brags of what he will do against the greatest and most highly endowed prince in england, because he thinks he shall never see him again, who, at the very first news of your return, my lord, would think only of packing his portmanteau, greasing his boots, or, at the very least, of sneaking back into his hole." but the sturdy democrat was quite sure that his excellency, that most magnanimous prince of england would not desert his faithful followers--thereby giving those "filthy rascals," his opponents, a triumph, and "doing so great an injury to the sovereign people, who were ready to get rid of them all at a single blow, if his excellency would but say the word." he then implored the magnanimous prince to imitate the example of moses, joshua, david, and that of all great emperors and captains, hebrew, greek, and roman, to come at once to the scene of action, and to smite his enemies hip and thigh. he also informed his excellency, that if the delay should last much longer, he would lose all chance of regaining power, because the sovereign people had quite made up their mind to return to the dominion of spain within three months, if they could not induce his excellency to rule over them. in that way at least, if in no other, they could circumvent those filthy rascals whom they so much abhorred, and frustrate the designs of maurice, hohenlo, and sir john norris, who were represented as occupying the position of the triumvirs after the death of julius caesar. to place its neck under the yoke of philip ii. and the inquisition, after having so handsomely got rid of both, did not seem a sublime manifestation of sovereignty on the part of the people, and even deventer had some misgivings as to the propriety of such a result. "what then will become of our beautiful churches?" he cried, "what will princes say, what will the world in general say, what will historians say, about the honour of the english nation?" as to the first question, it is probable that the prospect of the reformed churches would not have been cheerful, had the inquisition been re-established in holland and utrecht, three months after that date. as to the second, the world and history were likely to reply, that the honour of the english nation was fortunately not entirely, entrusted at that epoch to the "magnanimous prince" of leicester, and his democratic, counsellor-in-chief, burgomaster deventer. these are but samples of the ravings which sounded incessantly in the ears of the governor-general. was it strange that a man, so thirsty for power, so gluttonous of flattery, should be influenced by such passionate appeals? addressed in strains of fulsome adulation, convinced that arbitrary power was within his reach, and assured that he had but to wink his eye to see his enemies scattered before him, he became impatient of all restraint; and determined, on his return, to crush the states into insignificance. thus, while buckhurst had been doing his best as a mediator to prepare the path for his return, leicester himself end his partisans had been secretly exerting themselves to make his arrival the signal for discord; perhaps of civil war. the calm, then, immediately succeeding the mission of buckhurst was a deceitful one, but it seemed very promising. the best feelings were avowed and perhaps entertained. the states professed great devotion to her majesty and friendly regard for the governor. they distinctly declared that the arrangements by which maurice and hohenlo had been placed in their new positions were purely provisional ones, subject to modifications on the arrival of the earl. "all things are reduced to a quiet calm," said buckhurst, "ready to receive my lord of leicester and his authority, whenever he cometh." the quarrel of hohenlo with sir edward norris had been, by the exertions of buckhurst, amicably arranged: the count became an intimate friend of sir john, "to the gladding of all such as wished well to, the country;" but he nourished a deadly hatred to the earl. he ran up and down like a madman whenever his return was mentioned. "if the queen be willing to take the sovereignty," he cried out at his own dinner-table to a large company, "and is ready to proceed roundly in this action, i will serve her to the last drop of my blood; but if she embrace it in no other sort than hitherto she hath done, and if leicester is to return, then am i as good a man as leicester, and will never be commanded by him. i mean to continue on my frontier, where all who love me can come and find me." he declared to several persons that he had detected a plot on the part of leicester to have him assassinated; and the assertion seemed so important, that villiers came to councillor clerk to confer with him on the subject. the worthy bartholomew, who had again, most reluctantly, left his quiet chambers in the temple to come again among the guns and drums, which his soul abhorred, was appalled by such a charge. it was best to keep it a secret, he said, at least till the matter could be thoroughly investigated. villiers was of the same opinion, and accordingly the councillor, in the excess of his caution, confided the secret only--to whom? to mr. atye, leicester's private secretary. atye, of course, instantly told his master--his master in a frenzy of rage, told the queen, and her majesty, in a paroxysm of royal indignation at this new insult to her favourite, sent furious letters to her envoys, to the states-general, to everybody in the netherlands--so that the assertion of hohenlo became the subject of endless recrimination. leicester became very violent, and denounced the statement as an impudent falsehood, devised wilfully in order to cast odium upon him and to prevent his return. unquestionably there was nothing in the story but table-talk; but the count would have been still more ferocious towards leicester than he was, had he known what was actually happening at that very moment. while buckhurst was at utrecht, listening to the "solemn-speeches" of the militia-captains and exchanging friendly expressions at stately banquets with moeurs, he suddenly received a letter in cipher from her majesty. not having the key, he sent to wilkes at the hague. wilkes was very ill; but the despatch was marked pressing and immediate, so he got out of bed and made the journey to utrecht. the letter, on being deciphered, proved to be an order from the queen to decoy hohenlo into some safe town, on pretence of consultation and then to throw him into prison, on the ground that he had been tampering with the enemy, and was about to betray the republic to philip. the commotion which would have been excited by any attempt to enforce this order, could be easily imagined by those familiar with hohenlo and with the powerful party in the netherlands of which he was one of the chiefs. wilkes stood aghast as he deciphered the letter. buckhurst felt the impossibility of obeying the royal will. both knew the cause, and both foresaw the consequences of the proposed step. wilkes had heard some rumours of intrigues between parma's agents at deventer and hohenlo, and had confided them to walsingham, hoping that the secretary would keep the matter in his own breast, at least till further advice. he was appalled at the sudden action proposed on a mere rumour, which both buckhurst and himself had begun to consider an idle one. he protested, therefore, to walsingham that to comply with her majesty's command would not only be nearly impossible, but would, if successful, hazard the ruin of the republic. wilkes was also very anxious lest the earl of leicester should hear of the matter. he was already the object of hatred to that powerful personage, and thought him capable of accomplishing his destruction in any mode. but if leicester could wreak his vengeance upon his enemy wilkes by the hand of his other deadly enemy hohenlo, the councillor felt that this kind of revenge would have a double sweetness for him. the queen knows what i have been saying, thought wilkes, and therefore leicester knows it; and if leicester knows it, he will take care that hohenlo shall hear of it too, and then wo be unto me. "your honour knoweth," he said to walsingham, "that her majesty can hold no secrets, and if she do impart it to leicester, then am i sped." nothing came of it however, and the relations of wilkes and buckhurst with hohenlo continued to be friendly. it was a lesson to wilkes to be more cautious even with the cautious walsingham. "we had but bare suspicions," said buckhurst, "nothing fit, god knoweth, to come to such a reckoning. wilkes saith he meant it but for a premonition to you there; but i think it will henceforth be a premonition to himself--there being but bare presumptions, and yet shrewd presumptions." here then were deventer and leicester plotting to overthrow the government of the states; the states and hohenlo arming against leicester; the extreme democratic party threatening to go over to the spaniards within three months; the earl accused of attempting the life of hohenlo; hohenlo offering to shed the last drop of his blood for queen elizabeth; queen elizabeth giving orders to throw hohenlo into prison as a traitor; councillor wilkes trembling for his life at the hands both of leicester and hohenlo; and buckhurst doing his best to conciliate all parties, and imploring her majesty in vain to send over money to help on the war, and to save her soldiers from starving. for the queen continued to refuse the loan of fifty thousand pounds which the provinces solicited, and in hope of which the states had just agreed to an extra contribution of a million florins (l , ), a larger sum than had been levied by a single vote since the commencement of the war. it must be remembered, too, that the whole expense of the war fell upon holland and zeeland. the province of utrecht, where there was so strong a disposition to confer absolute authority upon leicester, and to destroy the power of the states-general contributed absolutely nothing. since the loss of deventer, nothing could be raised in the provinces of utrecht, gelderland or overyssel; the spaniards levying black mail upon the whole territory, and impoverishing the inhabitants till they became almost a nullity. was it strange then that the states of holland and zeeland, thus bearing nearly the whole; burden of the war, should be dissatisfied with the hatred felt toward them by their sister provinces so generously protected by them? was it unnatural that barneveld, and maurice, and hohenlo, should be disposed to bridle the despotic inclinations of leicester, thus fostered by those who existed, as it were, at their expense? but the queen refused the l , , although holland and zeeland had voted the l , . "no reason that breedeth charges," sighed walsingham, "can in any sort be digested." it was not for want of vehement entreaty on the part of the secretary of state and of buckhurst that the loan was denied. at least she was entreated to send over money for her troops, who for six months past were unpaid. "keeping the money in your coffers," said buckhurst, "doth yield no interest to you, and--which is above all earthly, respects--it shall be the means of preserving the lives of many of your faithful subjects which otherwise must needs, daily perish. their miseries, through want of meat and money, i do protest to god so much moves, my soul with commiseration of that which is past, and makes my heart tremble to think of the like to come again, that i humbly beseech your majesty, for jesus christ sake, to have compassion on their lamentable estate past, and send some money to prevent the like hereafter." these were moving words,--but the money did not come--charges could not be digested. "the eternal god," cried buckhurst, "incline your heart to grant the petition of the states for the loan of the l , , and that speedily, for the dangerous terms of the state here and the mighty and forward preparation of the enemy admit no minute of delay; so that even to grant it slowly is to deny it utterly." he then drew a vivid picture of the capacity of the netherlands to assist the endangered realm of england, if delay were not suffered to destroy both commonwealths, by placing the provinces in an enemy's hand. "their many and notable good havens," he said, "the great number of ships and mariners, their impregnable towns, if they were in the hands of a potent prince that would defend them, and, lastly, the state of this shore; so near and opposite unto the land and coast of england--lo, the sight of all this, daily in mine eye, conjoined with the deep, enrooted malice of that your so mighty enemy who seeketh to regain them; these things entering continually into the, meditations of my heart--so much do they import the safety of yourself and your estate--do enforce me, in the abundance of my love and duty to your majesty, most earnestly to speak, write, and weep unto you, lest when the occasion yet offered shall be gone by, this blessed means of your defence, by god's provident goodness thus put into your hand, will then be utterly lost, lo; never, never more to be recovered again." it was a noble, wise, and eloquent appeal, but it was muttered in vain. was not leicester--his soul filled with petty schemes of reigning in utrecht, and destroying the constitutional government of the provinces--in full possession of the royal ear? and was not the same ear lent, at most critical moment, to the insidious alexander farnese, with his whispers of peace, which were potent enough to drown all the preparations for the invincible armada? six months had rolled away since leicester had left the netherlands; six months long, the provinces, left in a condition which might have become anarchy, had been saved by the wise government of the states-general; six months long the english soldiers had remained unpaid by their sovereign; and now for six weeks the honest, eloquent, intrepid, but gentle buckhurst had done his best to conciliate all parties, and to mould the netherlanders into an impregnable bulwark for the realm of england. but his efforts were treated with scorn by the queen. she was still maddened by a sense of the injuries done by the states to leicester. she was indignant that her envoy should have accepted such lame apologies for the th of february letter; that he should have received no better atonement for their insolent infringements of the earl's orders during his absence; that he should have excused their contemptuous proceedings and that, in short, he should have been willing to conciliate and forgive when he should have stormed and railed. "you conceived, it seemeth," said her majesty, "that a more sharper manner of proceeding would have exasperated matters to the prejudice of the service, and therefore you did think it more fit to wash the wounds rather with water than vinegar, wherein we would rather have wished, on the other side, that you had better considered that festering wounds had more need of corrosives than lenitives. your own judgment ought to have taught that such a alight and mild kind of dealing with a people so ingrate and void of consideration as the said estates have showed themselves toward us, is the ready way to increase their contempt." the envoy might be forgiven for believing that at any rate there would be no lack of corrosives or vinegar, so long as the royal tongue or pen could do their office, as the unfortunate deputies had found to their cost in their late interviews at greenwich, and as her own envoys in the netherlands were perpetually finding now. the queen was especially indignant that the estates should defend the tone of their letters to the earl on the ground that he had written a piquant epistle to them. "but you can manifestly see their untruths in naming it a piquant letter," said elizabeth, "for it has no sour or sharp word therein, nor any clause or reprehension, but is full of gravity and gentle admonition. it deserved a thankful answer, and so you may maintain it to them to their reproof." the states doubtless thought that the loss of deventer and, with it, the almost ruinous condition of three out of the seven provinces, might excuse on their part a little piquancy of phraseology, nor was it easy for them to express gratitude to the governor for his grave and gentle admonitions, after he had, by his secret document of th november, rendered himself fully responsible for the disaster they deplored. she expressed unbounded indignation with hohenlo, who, as she was well aware, continued to cherish a deadly hatred for leicester. especially she was exasperated, and with reason, by the assertion the count had made concerning the governor's murderous designs upon him. "'tis a matter," said the queen, "so foul and dishonourable that doth not only touch greatly the credit of the earl, but also our own honour, to have one who hath been nourished and brought up by us, and of whom we have made show to the world to have extraordinarily favoured above any other of our own subjects, and used his service in those countries in a place of that reputation he held there, stand charged with so horrible and unworthy a crime. and therefore our pleasure is, even as you tender the continuance of our favour towards you, that you seek, by all the means you may, examining the count hollock, or any other party in this matter, to discover and to sift out how this malicious imputation hath been wrought; for we have reason to think that it hath grown out of some cunning device to stay the earl's coming, and to discourage him from the continuance of his service in those countries." and there the queen was undoubtedly in the right. hohenlo was resolved, if possible, to make the earl's government of the netherlands impossible. there was nothing in the story however; and all that by the most diligent "sifting" could ever be discovered, and all that the count could be prevailed upon to confess, was an opinion expressed by him that if he had gone with leicester to england, it might perhaps have fared ill with him. but men were given to loose talk in those countries. there was great freedom of tongue and pen; and as the earl, whether with justice or not, had always been suspected of strong tendencies to assassination, it was not very wonderful that so reckless an individual as hohenlo should promulgate opinions on such subjects, without much reserve. "the number of crimes that have been imputed to me," said leicester, "would be incomplete, had this calumny not been added to all preceding ones." it is possible that assassination, especially poisoning, may have been a more common-place affair in those days than our own. at any rate, it is certain that accusations of such crimes were of ordinary occurrence. men were apt to die suddenly if they had mortal enemies, and people would gossip. at the very same moment, leicester was deliberately accused not only of murderous intentions towards hohenlo, but towards thomas wilkes and count lewis william of nassau likewise. a trumpeter, arrested in friesland, had just confessed that he had been employed by the spanish governor of that province, colonel verdugo, to murder count lewis, and that four other persons had been entrusted with the same commission. the count wrote to verdugo, and received in reply an indignant denial of the charge. "had i heard of such a project," said the spaniard, "i would, on the contrary, have given you warning. and i give you one now." he then stated, as a fact known to him on unquestionable authority, that the earl of leicester had assassins at that moment in his employ to take the life of count lewis, adding that as for the trumpeter, who had just been hanged for the crime suborned by the writer, he was a most notorious lunatic. in reply, lewis, while he ridiculed this plea of insanity set up for a culprit who had confessed his crime succinctly and voluntarily, expressed great contempt for the counter-charge against leicester. "his excellency," said the sturdy little count, "is a virtuous gentleman, the most pious and god-fearing i have ever known. i am very sure that he could never treat his enemies in the manner stated, much less his friends. as for yourself, may god give me grace, in requital of your knavish trick, to make such a war upon you as becomes an upright soldier and a man of honour." thus there was at least one man--and a most important, one--in the opposition--party who thoroughly believed in the honour of the governor-general. the queen then proceeded to lecture lord buckhurst very severely for having tolerated an instant the states' proposition to her for a loan of l , . "the enemy," she observed, "is quite unable to attempt the siege of any town." buckhurst was, however, instructed, in case the states' million should prove insufficient to enable the army to make head against the enemy, and in the event of "any alteration of the good-will of the people towards her, caused by her not yielding, in this their necessity, some convenient support," to let them then understand, "as of himself, that if they would be satisfied with a loan of ten or fifteen thousand pounds, he, would do his best endeavour to draw her majesty to yield unto the furnishing of such a sum, with assured hope to obtaining the same at her hands." truly walsingham was right in saying that charges of any kind were difficult of digestion: yet, even at that moment, elizabeth had no more attached subjects in england than sere the burghers of the netherlands; who were as anxious ever to annex their territory to her realms. 'thus, having expressed an affection for leicester which no one doubted, having once more thoroughly brow-beaten the states, and having soundly lectured buckhurst--as a requital for his successful efforts to bring about a more wholesome condition of affairs--she gave the envoy a parting stab, with this postscript;--"there is small disproportion," she said "twist a fool who useth not wit because he hath it not, and him that useth it not when it should avail him." leicester, too, was very violent in his attacks upon buckhurst. the envoy had succeeded in reconciling hohenlo with the brothers norris, and had persuaded sir john to offer the hand of friendship to leicester, provided it were sure of being accepted. yet in this desire to conciliate, the earl found renewed cause for violence. "i would have had more regard of my lord of buckhurst," he said, "if the case had been between him and norris, but i must regard my own reputation the more that i see others would impair it. you have deserved little thanks of me, if i must deal plainly, who do equal me after this sort with him, whose best place is colonel under me, and once my servant, and preferred by me to all honourable place he had." and thus were enterprises of great moment, intimately affecting the, safety of holland, of england, of all protestantism, to be suspended between triumph and ruin, in order that the spleen of one individual--one queen's favourite--might be indulged. the contempt of an insolent grandee for a distinguished commander--himself the son, of a baron, with a mother the dear friend of her sovereign--was to endanger the existence of great commonwealths. can the influence of the individual, for good or bad, upon the destinies of the race be doubted, when the characters and conduct of elizabeth and leicester, burghley and walsingham, philip and parma, are closely scrutinized and broadly traced throughout the wide range of their effects? "and i must now, in your lordship's sight," continued leicester, "be made a counsellor with this companion, who never yet to this day hath done so much as take knowledge of my mislike of him; no, not to say this much, which i think would well become his better, that he was sorry, to hear i had mislike to him, that he desired my suspension till he might either speak with me, or be charged from me, and if then he were not able to satisfy me, he would acknowledge his fault, and make me any honest satisfaction. this manner of dealing would have been no disparagement to his better. and even so i must think that your lordship doth me wrong, knowing what you do, to make so little difference between john norris, my man not long since, and now but my colonel under me, as though we were equals. and i cannot but more than marvel at this your proceeding, when i remember your promises of friendship, and your opinions resolutely set down . . . . you were so determined before you went hence, but must have become wonderfully enamoured of those men's unknown virtues in a few days of acquaintance, from the alteration that is grown by their own commendations of themselves. you know very well that all the world should not make me serve with john norris. your sudden change from mislike to liking has, by consequence, presently cast disgrace upon me. but all is not gold that glitters, nor every shadow a perfect representation . . . . you knew he should not serve with me, but either you thought me a very inconstant man, or else a very simple soul, resolving with you as i did, for you to take the course you have done." he felt, however, quite strong in her majesty's favour. he knew himself her favourite, beyond all chance or change, and was sure, so long as either lived, to thrust his enemies, by her aid, into outer darkness. woe to buckhurst, and norris, and wilkes, and all others who consorted with his enemies. let them flee from the wrath to come! and truly they were only too anxious to do so, for they knew that leicester's hatred was poisonous. "he is not so facile to forget as ready to revenge," said poor wilkes, with neat alliteration. "my very heavy and mighty adversary will disgrace and undo me. "it sufficeth," continued leicester, "that her majesty both find my dealings well enough, and so, i trust will graciously use me. as for the reconciliations and love-days you have made there, truly i have liked well of it; for you did sow me your disposition therein before, and i allowed of it, and i had received letters both from count maurice and hohenlo of their humility and kindness, but now in your last letters you say they have uttered the cause of their mislike towards me, which you forbear to write of, looking so speedily for my return." but the earl knew well enough what the secret was, for had it not been specially confided by the judicious bartholomew to atye, who had incontinently told his master? "this pretense that i should kill hohenlo," cried leicester, "is a matter properly foisted in to bring me to choler. i will not suffer it to rest, thus. its authors shall be duly and severely punished. and albeit i see well enough the plot of this wicked device, yet shall it not work the effect the devisers have done it for. no, my lord, he is a villain and a false lying knave whosoever he be, and of what, nation soever that hath forged this device. count hohenlo doth know i never gave him cause to fear me so much. there were ways and means offered me to have quitted him of the country if i had so liked. this new monstrous villany which is now found out i do hate and detest, as i would look for the right judgment of god to fall upon myself, if i had but once imagined it. all this makes good proof of wilkes's good dealing with me, that hath heard of so vile and villainous a reproach of me, and never gave me knowledge. but i trust your lordship shall receive her majesty's order for this, as for a matter that toucheth herself in honour, and me her poor servant and minister, as dearly as any matter can do; and i will so take it and use it to the uttermost." we have seen how anxiously buckhurst had striven to do his duty upon a most difficult mission. was it unnatural that so fine a nature as his should be disheartened, at reaping nothing but sneers and contumely from the haughty sovereign he served, and from the insolent favourite who controlled her councils? "i beseech your lordship," he said to burghley, "keep one ear for me, and do not hastily condemn me before you hear mine answer. for if i ever did or shall do any acceptable service to her majesty, it was in, the stay and appeasing of these countries, ever ready at my coming to have cast off all good respect towards us, and to have entered even into some desperate cause. in the meantime i am hardly thought of by her majesty, and in her opinion condemned before mine answer be understood. therefore i beseech you to help me to return, and not thus to lose her majesty's favour for my good desert, wasting here my mind, body, my wits, wealth, and all; with continual toils, taxes, and troubles, more than i am able to endure." but besides his instructions to smooth and expostulate, in which he had succeeded so well, and had been requited so ill; buckhurst had received a still more difficult commission. he had been ordered to broach the subject of peace, as delicately as possible, but without delay; first sounding the leading politicians, inducing them to listen to the queen's suggestions on the subject, persuading them that they ought to be satisfied with the principles of the pacification of ghent, and that it was hopeless for the provinces to continue the war with their mighty adversary any longer. most reluctantly had buckhurst fulfilled his sovereign's commands in this disastrous course. to talk to the hollanders of the ghent pacification seemed puerile. that memorable treaty, ten years before, had been one of the great landmarks of progress, one of the great achievements of william the silent. by its provisions, public exercise of the reformed religion had been secured for the two provinces of holland and zeeland, and it had been agreed that the secret practice of those rites should be elsewhere winked at, until such time as the states-general, under the auspices of philip ii., should otherwise ordain. but was it conceivable that now, after philip's authority had been solemnly abjured, and the reformed worship had become the, public, dominant religion, throughout all the provinces,--the whole republic should return to the spanish dominion, and to such toleration as might be sanctioned by an assembly professing loyalty to the most catholic king? buckhurst had repeatedly warned the queen, in fervid and eloquent language, as to the intentions of spain. "there was never peace well made," he observed, "without a mighty war preceding, and always, the sword in hand is the best pen to write the conditions of peace." "if ever prince had cause," he continued, "to think himself beset with doubt and danger, you, sacred queen, have most just cause not only to think it, but even certainly to believe it. the pope doth daily plot nothing else but how he may bring to pass your utter overthrow; the french king hath already sent you threatenings of revenge, and though for that pretended cause i think little will ensue, yet he is blind that seeth not the mortal dislike that boileth deep in his heart for other respects against you. the scottish king, not only in regard of his future hope, but also by reason of some over conceit in his heart, may be thought a dangerous neighbour to you. the king of spain armeth and extendeth all his power to ruin both you and your estate. and if the indian gold have corrupted also the king of denmark, and made him likewise spanish, as i marvellously fear; why will not your majesty, beholding the flames of your enemies on every side kindling around, unlock all your coffers and convert your treasure for the advancing of worthy men, and for the arming of ships and men-of-war that may defend you, since princes' treasures serve only to that end, and, lie they never so fast or so full in their chests, can no ways so defend them? "the eternal god, in whose hands the hearts of kings do rest, dispose and guide your sacred majesty to do that which may be most according to his blessed will, and best for you, as i trust he will, even for his mercy's sake, both toward your majesty and the whole realm of england, whose desolation is thus sought and compassed." was this the language of a mischievous intriguer, who was sacrificing the true interest of his country, and whose proceedings were justly earning for him rebuke and disgrace at the hands of his sovereign? or was it rather the noble advice of an upright statesman, a lover of his country, a faithful servant of his queen, who had looked through the atmosphere of falsehood in which he was doing his work, and who had detected, with rare sagacity, the secret purposes of those who were then misruling the world? buckhurst had no choice, however, but to obey. his private efforts were of course fruitless, but he announced to her majesty that it was his intention very shortly to bring the matter--according to her wish--before the assembly. but elizabeth, seeing that her counsel had been unwise and her action premature, turned upon her envoy, as she was apt to do, and rebuked him for his obedience, so soon as obedience had proved inconvenient to herself. "having perused your letters," she said, "by which you at large debate unto us what you have done in the matter of peace . . . . we find it strange that you should proceed further. and although we had given you full and ample direction to proceed to a public dealing in that cause, yet our own discretion, seeing the difficulties and dangers that you yourself saw in the propounding of the matter, ought to have led you to delay till further command from us." her majesty then instructed her envoy, in case he had not yet "propounded the matter in the state-house to the general assembly," to pause entirely until he heard her further pleasure. she concluded, as usual, with a characteristic postcript in her own hand. "oh weigh deeplier this matter," she said, "than, with so shallow a judgment, to spill the cause, impair my honour, and shame yourself, with all your wit, that once was supposed better than to lose a bargain for the handling." certainly the sphinx could have propounded no more puzzling riddles than those which elizabeth thus suggested to buckhurst. to make war without an army, to support an army without pay, to frame the hearts of a whole people to peace who were unanimous for war, and this without saying a word either in private or public; to dispose the netherlanders favourably to herself and to leicester, by refusing them men and money, brow-beating them for asking for it, and subjecting them to a course of perpetual insults, which she called "corrosives," to do all this and more seemed difficult. if not to do it, were to spill the cause and to lose the bargain, it was more than probable that they would be spilt and lost. but the ambassador was no oedipus--although a man of delicate perceptions and brilliant intellect--and he turned imploringly to a wise counsellor for aid against the tormentor who chose to be so stony-faced and enigmatical. "touching the matter of peace," said he to walsingham, "i have written somewhat to her majesty in cipher, so as i am sure you will be called for to decipher it. if you did know how infinitely her majesty did at my departure and before--for in this matter of peace she hath specially used me this good while--command me, pray me, and persuade me to further and hasten the same with all the speed possible that might be, and how, on the other side, i have continually been the man and the mean that have most plainly dehorted her from such post-haste, and that she should never make good peace without a puissant army in the field, you would then say that i had now cause to fear her displeasure for being too slow, and not too forward. and as for all the reasons which in my last letters are set down, her majesty hath debated them with me many times." and thus midsummer was fast approaching, the commonwealth was without a regular government, leicester remained in england nursing his wrath and preparing his schemes, the queen was at greenwich, corresponding with alexander farnese, and sending riddles to buckhurst, when the enemy--who, according to her majesty, was "quite unable to attempt the, siege of any town" suddenly appeared in force in flanders, and invested sluy's. this most important seaport, both for the destiny of the republic and of england at that critical moment, was insufficiently defended. it was quite time to put an army in the field, with a governor-general to command it. on the th june there was a meeting of the state-council at the hague. count maurice, hohenlo, and moeurs were present, besides several members of the states-general. two propositions were before the council. the first was that it was absolutely necessary to the safety of the republic, now that the enemy had taken the field, and the important city of sluy's was besieged, for prince maurice to be appointed captain-general, until such time as the earl of leicester or some other should be sent by her majesty. the second was to confer upon the state-council the supreme government in civil affairs, for the same period, and to repeal all limitations and restrictions upon the powers of the council made secretly by the earl. chancellor leoninus, "that grave, wise old man," moved the propositions. the deputies of the states were requested to withdraw. the vote of each councillor was demanded. buckhurst, who, as the queen's representative--together with wilkes and john norris--had a seat in the council, refused to vote. "it was a matter," he discreetly observed with which "he had not been instructed by her majesty to intermeddle." norris and wilkes also begged to be excused from voting, and, although earnestly urged to do so by the whole council, persisted in their refusal. both measures were then carried. no sooner was the vote taken, than an english courier entered the council-chamber, with pressing despatches from lord leicester. the letters were at once read. the earl announced his speedy arrival, and summoned both the states-general and the council to meet him at dort, where his lodgings were already taken. all were surprised, but none more than buckhurst, wilkes, and norris; for no intimation of this sudden resolution had been received by them, nor any answer given to various propositions, considered by her majesty as indispensable preliminaries to the governor's visit. the council adjourned till after dinner, and buckhurst held conference meantime with various counsellors and deputies. on the reassembling of the board, it was urged by barneveld, in the name of the states, that the election of prince maurice should still hold good. "although by these letters," said he, "it would seem that her majesty had resolved upon the speedy return of his excellency, yet, inasmuch as the counsels and resolutions of princes are often subject to change upon new occasion, it does not seem fit that our late purpose concerning prince maurice should receive any interruption." accordingly, after brief debate, both resolutions, voted in the morning, were confirmed in the afternoon. "so now," said wilkes, "maurice is general of all the forces, 'et quid sequetur nescimus.'" but whatever else was to follow, it was very certain that wilkes would not stay. his great enemy had sworn his destruction, and would now take his choice, whether to do him to death himself, or to throw him into the clutch of the ferocious hohenlo. "as for my own particular," said the counsellor, "the word is go, whosoever cometh or cometh not," and he announced to walsingham his intention of departing without permission, should he not immediately receive it from england. "i shall stay to be dandled with no love-days nor leave-takings," he observed. but leicester had delayed his coming too long. the country felt that it-had been trifled with by his: absence--at so critical a period--of seven months. it was known too that the queen was secretly treating with the enemy, and that buckhurst had been privately sounding leading personages upon that subject, by her orders. this had caused a deep, suppressed indignation. over and over again had the english government been warned as to the danger of delay. "your length in resolving;" wilkes had said, "whatsoever your secret purposes may be--will put us to new plunges before long." the mission of buckhurst was believed to be "but a stale, having some other intent than was expressed." and at last, the new plunge had been fairly taken. it seemed now impossible for leicester to regain the absolute authority, which he coveted; and which he had for a brief season possessed. the states-general, under able leaders, had become used to a government which had been forced upon them, and which they had wielded with success. holland and zeeland, paying the whole expense of the war, were not likely to endure again the absolute sovereignty of a foreigner, guided by a back stairs council of reckless politicians--most of whom were unprincipled, and some of whom had been proved to be felons--and established, at utrecht, which contributed nothing to the general purse. if leicester were really-coming, it seemed certain that he would be held to acknowledge the ancient constitution, and to respect the sovereignty of the states-general. it was resolved that he should be well bridled. the sensations of barneveld and his party may therefore be imagined, when a private letter of leicester, to his secretary "the fellow named junius," as hohenlo called him--having been intercepted at this moment, gave them an opportunity of studying the earl's secret thoughts. the earl informed his correspondent that he was on the point of starting for the netherlands. he ordered him therefore to proceed at once to reassure those whom he knew well disposed as to the good intentions of her majesty and of the governor-general. and if, on the part of lord buckhurst or others, it should be intimated that the queen was resolved to treat for peace with the king of spain; and wished to have the opinion of the netherlanders on that subject, he was to say boldly that lord buckhurst never had any such charge, and that her majesty had not been treating at all. she had only been attempting to sound the king's intentions towards the netherlands, in case of any accord. having received no satisfactory assurance on the subject, her majesty was determined to proceed with the defence of these countries. this appeared by the expedition of drake against spain, and by the return of the earl, with a good cumber of soldiers paid by her majesty, over and above her ordinary subsidy. "you are also;" said the earl, "to tell those who have the care of the people" (the ministers of the reformed church and others), "that i am returning, in the confidence that they will, in future, cause all past difficulties to cease, and that they will yield to me a legitimate authority, such as befits for administering the sovereignty of the provinces, without my being obliged to endure all the oppositions and counter-minings of the states, as in times past. the states must content themselves with retaining the power which they claim to have exercised under the governors of the emperor and the king--without attempting anything farther during my government--since i desire to do nothing of importance without the advice of the council, which will be composed legitimately of persons of the country. you will also tell them that her majesty commands me to return unless i can obtain from the states the authority which is necessary, in order not to be governor in appearance only and on paper. and i wish that those who are good may be apprized of all this, in order that nothing may happen to their prejudice and ruin, and contrary to their wishes." there were two very obvious comments to be made upon this document. firstly, the states--de jure, as they claimed, and de facto most unquestionably--were in the position of the emperor and king. they were the sovereigns. the earl wished them to content themselves with the power which they exercised under the emperor's governors. this was like requesting the emperor, when in the netherlands, to consider himself subject to his own governor. the second obvious reflection was that the earl, in limiting his authority by a state-council, expected, no doubt, to appoint that body himself--as he had done before--and to allow the members only the right of talking, and of voting,--without the power of enforcing their decisions. in short, it was very plain that leicester meant to be more absolute than ever. as to the flat contradiction given to buckhurst's proceedings in the matter of peace, that statement could scarcely deceive any one who had seen her majesty's letters and instructions to her envoy. it was also a singularly deceitful course to be adopted by leicester towards buckhurst and towards the netherlands, because his own private instructions, drawn up at the same moment, expressly enjoined him to do exactly what buckhurst had been doing. he was most strictly and earnestly commanded to deal privately with all such persons as bad influence with the "common sort of people," in order that they should use their influence with those common people in favour of peace, bringing vividly before them the excessive burthens of the war, their inability to cope with so potent a prince as philip, and the necessity the queen was under of discontinuing her contributions to their support. he was to make the same representations to the states, and he was further most explicitly to inform all concerned, that, in case they were unmoved by these suggestions, her majesty had quite made up her mind to accept the handsome offers of peace held out by the king of spain, and to leave them to their fate. it seemed scarcely possible that the letter to junius and the instructions for the earl should have been dated the same week, and should have emanated from the same mind; but such was the fact. he was likewise privately to assure maurice and hohenlo--in order to remove their anticipated opposition to the peace--that such care should be taken in providing for them, as that "they should have no just cause to dislike thereof, but to rest satisfied withal." with regard to the nature of his authority, he was instructed to claim a kind of dictatorship in everything regarding the command of the forces, and the distribution of the public treasure. all offices were to be at his disposal. every florin contributed by the states was to be placed in his hands, and spent according to his single will. he was also to have plenary power to prevent the trade in victuals with the enemy by death and confiscation. if opposition to any of these proposals were made by the states-general, he was to appeal to the states of each province; to the towns and communities, and in case it should prove impossible for him "to be furnished with the desired authority," he was then instructed to say that it was "her majesty's meaning to leave them to their own counsel and defence, and to withdraw the support that she had yielded to them: seeing plainly that the continuance of the confused government now reigning among them could not but work their ruin." both these papers came into barneveld's hands, through the agency of ortel, the states' envoy in england, before the arrival of the earl in the netherlands. of course they soon became the topics of excited conversation and of alarm in every part of the country. buckhurst, touched to the quick by the reflection upon those--proceedings of his which had been so explicitly enjoined upon him, and so reluctantly undertaken--appealed earnestly to her majesty. he reminded her, as delicately as possible, that her honour, as well as his own, was at stake by leicester's insolent disavowals of her authorized ambassador. he besought her to remember "what even her own royal hand had written to the duke of parma;" and how much his honour was interested "by the disavowing of his dealings about the peace begun by her majesty's commandment." he adjured her with much eloquence to think upon the consequences of stirring up the common and unstable multitude against their rulers; upon the pernicious effects of allowing the clergy to inflame the passions of the people against the government. "under the name of such as have charge over the people," said buckhurst, "are understood the ministers and chaplains of the churches in every town, by the means of whom it, seems that his lordship tendeth his whole purpose to attain to his desire of the administration of the sovereignty." he assured the queen that this scheme of leicester to seize virtually upon that sovereignty, would be a disastrous one. "the states are resolved," said he, "since your majesty doth refuse the sovereignty, to lay it upon no creature else, as a thing contrary to their oath and allegiance to their country." he reminded her also that the states had been dissatisfied with the earl's former administration, believing that he had exceeded his commission, and that they were determined therefore to limit his authority at his return. "your sacred majesty may consider," he said, "what effect all this may work among the common and ignorant people, by intimating that, unless they shall procure him the administration of such a sovereignty as he requireth, their ruin may ensue." buckhurst also informed her that he had despatched councillor wilkes to england, in order that he might give more ample information on all these affairs by word of mouth than could well be written. it need hardly be stated that barneveld came down to the states'-house with these papers in his hand, and thundered against the delinquent and intriguing governor till the general indignation rose to an alarming height. false statements of course were made to leicester as to the substance of the advocate's discourse. he was said to have charged upon the english government an intention to seize forcibly upon their cities, and to transfer them to spain on payment of the sums due to the queen from the states, and to have declared that he had found all this treason in the secret instructions of the earl. but barneveld had read the instructions, to which the attention of the reader has just been called, and had strictly stated the truth which was damaging enough, without need of exaggeration. etext editor's bookmarks: all business has been transacted with open doors beacons in the upward path of mankind been already crimination and recrimination more than enough casting up the matter "as pinchingly as possibly might be" disposed to throat-cutting by the ministers of the gospel during this, whole war, we have never seen the like even to grant it slowly is to deny it utterly evil is coming, the sooner it arrives the better fool who useth not wit because he hath it not guilty of no other crime than adhesion to the catholic faith individuals walking in advance of their age never peace well made, he observed, without a mighty war rebuked him for his obedience respect for differences in religious opinions sacrificed by the queen for faithfully obeying her orders succeeded so well, and had been requited so ill sword in hand is the best pen to write the conditions of peace their existence depended on war they chose to compel no man's conscience torturing, hanging, embowelling of men, women, and children universal suffrage was not dreamed of at that day waiting the pleasure of a capricious and despotic woman who the "people" exactly were history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter xvi. situation of sluys--its dutch and english garrison--williams writes from sluys to the queen--jealousy between the earl and states-- schemes to relieve sluys--which are feeble and unsuccessful--the town capitulates--parma enters--leicester enraged--the queen angry with the anti-leicestrians--norris, wilkes, and buckhurst punished-- drake sails for spain--his exploits at cadiz and lisbon--he is rebuked by elizabeth. when dante had passed through the third circle of the inferno--a desert of red-hot sand, in which lay a multitude of victims of divine wrath, additionally tortured by an ever-descending storm of fiery flakes--he was led by virgil out of this burning wilderness along a narrow causeway. this path was protected, he said, against the showers of flame, by the lines of vapour which rose eternally from a boiling brook. even by such shadowy bulwarks, added the poet, do the flemings between kadzand and bruges protect their land against the ever-threatening sea. it was precisely among these slender dykes between kadzand and bruges that alexander farnese had now planted all the troops that he could muster in the field. it was his determination to conquer the city of sluys; for the possession of that important sea-port was necessary for him as a basis for the invasion of england, which now occupied all the thoughts of his sovereign and himself. exactly opposite the city was the island of kadzand, once a fair and fertile territory, with a city and many flourishing villages upon its surface, but at that epoch diminished to a small dreary sand-bank by the encroachments of the ocean. a stream of inland water, rising a few leagues to the south of sluys, divided itself into many branches just before reaching the city, converted the surrounding territory into a miniature archipelago--the islands of which were shifting treacherous sand-banks at low water, and submerged ones at flood--and then widening and deepening into a considerable estuary, opened for the city a capacious harbour, and an excellent although intricate passage to the sea. the city, which was well built and thriving, was so hidden in its labyrinth of canals and streamlets, that it seemed almost as difficult a matter to find sluys as to conquer it. it afforded safe harbour for five hundred large vessels; and its possession, therefore, was extremely important for parma. besides these natural defences, the place was also protected by fortifications; which were as well constructed as the best of that period. there was a strong rampire and many towers. there was also a detached citadel of great strength, looking towards the sea, and there was a ravelin, called st. anne's, looking in the direction of bruges. a mere riband of dry land in that quarter was all of solid earth to be found in the environs of sluys. the city itself stood upon firm soil, but that soil had been hollowed into a vast system of subterranean magazines, not for warlike purposes, but for cellars, as sluys had been from a remote period the great entrepot of foreign wines in the netherlands. while the eternal disputes between leicester and the states were going on both in holland and in england, while the secret negotiations between alexander farnese and queen slowly proceeding at brussels and greenwich, the duke, notwithstanding the destitute condition of his troops, and the famine which prevailed throughout the obedient provinces, had succeeded in bringing a little army of five thousand foot, and something less than one thousand horse, into the field. a portion of this force he placed under the command of the veteran la motte. that distinguished campaigner had assured the commander-in-chief that the reduction of the city would be an easy achievement. alexander soon declared that the enterprise was the most difficult one that he had ever undertaken. yet, two years before, he had carried to its triumphant conclusion the famous siege of antwerp. he stationed his own division upon the isle of kadzand, and strengthened his camp by additionally fortifying those shadowy bulwarks, by which the island, since the age of dante, had entrenched itself against the assaults of ocean. on the other hand, la motte, by the orders of his chief, had succeeded, after a sharp struggle, in carrying the fort of st. anne. a still more important step was the surprising of blankenburg, a small fortified place on the coast, about midway between ostend and sluys, by which the sea-communications with the former city for the relief of the beleaguered town were interrupted. parma's demonstrations against sluys had commenced in the early days of june. the commandant of the place was arnold de groenevelt, a dutch noble of ancient lineage and approved valour. his force was, however, very meagre, hardly numbering more than eight hundred, all netherlanders, but counting among its officers several most distinguished personages-nicholas de maulde, adolphus de meetkerke and his younger brother, captain heraugiere, and other well-known partisans. on the threatening of danger the commandant had made application to sir william russell, the worthy successor of sir philip sidney in the government of flushing. he had received from him, in consequence, a reinforcement of eight hundred english soldiers, under several eminent chieftains, foremost among whom were the famous welshman roger williams, captain huntley, baskerville, sir francis vere, ferdinando gorges, and captain hart. this combined force, however, was but a slender one; there being but sixteen hundred men to protect two miles and a half of rampart, besides the forts and ravelins. but, such as it was, no time was lost in vain regrets. the sorties against the besiegers were incessant and brilliant. on one occasion sir francis vere--conspicuous in the throng, in his red mantilla, and supported only by one hundred englishmen and dutchmen, under captain baskerville--held at bay eight companies of the famous spanish legion called the terzo veijo, at push of pike, took many prisoners, and forced the spaniards from the position in which they were entrenching themselves. on the other hand, farnese declared that he had never in his life witnessed anything so unflinching as the courage of his troops; employed as they were in digging trenches where the soil was neither land nor water, exposed to inundation by the suddenly-opened sluices, to a plunging fire from the forts, and to perpetual hand-to-hand combats with an active and fearless foe, and yet pumping away in the coffer-dams-which they had invented by way of obtaining a standing-ground for their operations--as steadily and sedately as if engaged in purely pacific employments. the besieged here inspired by a courage equally remarkable. the regular garrison was small enough, but the burghers were courageous, and even the women organized themselves into a band of pioneers. this corps of amazons, led by two female captains, rejoicing in the names of 'may in the heart' and 'catherine the rose,' actually constructed an important redoubt between the citadel and the rampart, which received, in compliment to its builders, the appellation of 'fort venus.' the demands of the beleaguered garrison, however, upon the states and upon leicester were most pressing. captain hart swam thrice out of the city with letters to the states, to the governor-general, and to queen elizabeth; and the same perilous feat was performed several times by a netherland officer. the besieged meant to sell their lives dearly, but it was obviously impossible for them, with so slender a force, to resist a very long time. "our ground is great and our men not so many," wrote roger williams to his sovereign, "but we trust in god and our valour to defend it. . . . we mean, with god's help, to make their downs red and black, and to let out every acre of our ground for a thousand of their lives, besides our own." the welshman was no braggart, and had proved often enough that he was more given to performances than promises. "we doubt not your majesty will succour us," he said, "for our honest mind and plain dealing toward your royal person and dear country;" adding, as a bit of timely advice, "royal majesty, believe not over much your peacemakers. had they their mind, they will not only undo your friend's abroad, but, in the end, your royal estate." certainly it was from no want of wholesome warning from wise statesmen and blunt soldiers that the queen was venturing into that labyrinth of negotiation which might prove so treacherous. never had been so inopportune a moment for that princess to listen to the voice of him who was charming her so wisely, while he was at the same moment battering the place, which was to be the basis of his operations against her realm. her delay in sending forth leicester, with at least a moderate contingent, to the rescue, was most pernicious. the states--ignorant of the queen's exact relations with spain, and exaggerating her disingenuousness into absolute perfidy became on their own part exceedingly to blame. there is no doubt whatever that both hollanders and english men were playing into the hands of parma as adroitly as if he had actually directed their movements. deep were the denunciations of leicester and his partisans by the states' party, and incessant the complaints of the english and dutch troops shut up in sluys against the inactivity or treachery of maurice and hohenlo. "if count maurice and his base brother, the admiral (justinus de nassau), be too young to govern, must holland and zeeland lose their countries and towns to make them expert men of war?" asked roger williams.' a pregnant question certainly, but the answer was, that by suspicion and jealousy, rather than by youth and inexperience, the arms were paralyzed which should have saved the garrison. "if these base fellows (the states) will make count hollock their instrument," continued the welshman; "to cover and maintain their folly and lewd dealing, is it necessary for her royal majesty to suffer it? these are too great matters to be rehearsed by me; but because i am in the town, and do resolve to, sign with my blood my duty in serving my sovereign and country, i trust her majesty will pardon me." certainly the gallant adventurer on whom devolved at least half the work of directing the defence of the city, had a right to express his opinions. had he known the whole truth, however, those opinions would have been modified. and he wrote amid the smoke and turmoil of daily and nightly battle. "yesterday was the fifth sally we made," he observed: "since i followed the wars i never saw valianter captains, nor willinger soldiers. at eleven o'clock the enemy entered the ditch of our fort, with trenches upon wheels, artillery-proof. we sallied out, recovered their trenches, slew the governor of dam, two spanish captains, with a number of others, repulsed them into their artillery, kept the ditch until yesternight, and will recover it, with god's help, this night, or else pay dearly for it. . . . i care not what may become of me in this world, so that her majesty's honour,--with the rest of honourable good friends, will think me an honest man." no one ever doubted the simple-hearted welshman's honesty, any more than his valour; but he confided in the candour of others who were somewhat more sophisticated than himself. when he warned her, royal majesty against the peace-makers, it was impossible for him to know that the great peace-maker was elizabeth herself. after the expiration of a month the work had become most fatiguing. the enemy's trenches had been advanced close to the ramparts, and desperate conflicts were of daily occurrence. the spanish mines, too, had been pushed forward towards the extensive wine-caverns below the city, and the danger of a vast explosion or of a general assault from beneath their very feet, seemed to the inhabitants imminent. eight days long, with scarcely an intermission, amid those sepulchral vaults, dimly-lighted with torches, dutchmen, englishmen, spaniards, italians, fought hand to hand, with pike, pistol, and dagger, within the bowels of the earth. meantime the operations of the states were not commendable. the ineradicable jealousy between the leicestrians and the barneveldians had done its work. there was no hearty effort for the relief of sluys. there were suspicions that, if saved, the town would only be taken possession of by the earl of leicester, as an additional vantage-point for coercing the country into subjection to his arbitrary authority. perhaps it would be transferred to philip by elizabeth as part of the price for peace. there was a growing feeling in holland and zeeland that as those provinces bore all the expense of the war, it was an imperative necessity that they should limit their operations to the defence of their own soil. the suspicions as to the policy of the english government were sapping the very foundations of the alliance, and there was small disposition on the part of the hollanders, therefore, to protect what remained of flanders, and thus to strengthen the hands of her whom they were beginning to look upon as an enemy. maurice and hohenlo made, however, a foray into brabant, by way of diversion to the siege of sluys, and thus compelled farnese to detach a considerable force under haultepenne into that country, and thereby to weaken himself. the expedition of maurice was not unsuccessful. there was some sharp skirmishing between hohenlo and haultepenne, in which the latter, one of the most valuable and distinguished generals on the royal side, was defeated and slain; the fort of engel, near bois-le-duc, was taken, and that important city itself endangered; but, on the other hand, the contingent on which leicester relied from the states to assist in relieving sluys was not forthcoming. for, meantime, the governor-general had at last been sent back by his sovereign to the post which he had so long abandoned. leaving leicester house on the th july (n. s.), he had come on board the fleet two days afterwards at margate. he was bringing with him to the netherlands three thousand fresh infantry, and thirty thousand pounds, of which sum fifteen thousand pounds had been at last wrung from elizabeth as an extra loan, in place of the sixty thousand pounds which the states had requested. as he sailed past ostend and towards flushing, the earl was witness to the constant cannonading between the besieged city and the camp of farnese, and saw that the work could hardly be more serious; for in one short day more shots were fired than had ever been known before in a single day in all parma's experience. arriving at flushing, the governor-general was well received by the inhabitants; but the mischief, which had been set a-foot six months before, had done its work. the political intrigues, disputes, and the conflicting party-organizations, have already been set in great detail before the reader, in order that their effect might now be thoroughly understood without--explanation. the governor-general came to flushing at a most critical moment. the fate of all the spanish netherlands, of sluys, and with it the whole of philip and parma's great project, were, in farnese's own language, hanging by a thread. it would have been possible--had the transactions of the past six months, so far as regarded holland and england, been the reverse of what they had been--to save the city; and, by a cordial and united effort, for the two countries to deal the spanish power such a blow, that summer, as would have paralyzed it for a long time to come, and have placed both commonwealths in comparative security. instead of all this, general distrust and mutual jealousy prevailed. leicester had, previously to his departure from england, summoned the states to meet him at dort upon his arrival. not a soul appeared. such of the state-councillors as were his creatures came to him, and count maurice made a visit of ceremony. discussions about a plan for relieving the siege became mere scenes of bickering and confusion. the officers within sluys were desirous that a fleet should force its way into the harbour, while, at the same time, the english army, strengthened by the contingent which leicester had demanded from the states, should advance against the duke of parma by land. it was, in truth, the only way to succour the place. the scheme was quite practicable. leicester recommended it, the hollanders seemed to favour it, commandant groenevelt and roger williams urged it. "i do assure you," wrote the honest welshman to leicester, "if you will come afore this town, with as many galliots and as many flat-bottomed boats as can cause two men-of-war to enter, they cannot stop their passage, if, your mariners will do a quarter of their duty, as i saw them do divers times. before, they make their entrance, we will come with our boats, and fight with the greatest part, and show them there is no such great danger. were it not for my wounded arm, i would be, in your first boat to enter. notwithstanding, i and other englishmen will approach their boats in such sort, that we will force them to give their saker of artillery upon us. if, your excellency will give ear unto those false lewd fellows (the captain meant the states-general), you shall lose great opportunity. within ten or twelve days the enemy will make his bridge from kadzand unto st. anne, and force you to hazard battle before you succour this town. let my lord willoughby and sir william russell land at terhoven, right against kadzand, with , and entrench hard by the waterside, where their boats can carry them victual and munition. they may approach by trenches without engaging any dangerous fight . . . . we dare not show the estate of this town more than we have done by captain herte. we must fight this night within our rampart in the fort. you may sure the world here are no hamerts, but valiant captains and valiant soldiers, such as, with god's help, had rather be buried in the place than be disgraced in any point that belongs to such a number of men-of-war." but in vain did the governor of the place, stout arnold froenevelt, assisted by the rough and direct eloquence of roger williams, urge upon the earl of leicester and the states-general the necessity and the practicability of the plan proposed. the fleet never entered the harbour. there was no william of orange to save antwerp and sluys, as leyden had once been saved, and his son was not old enough to unravel the web of intrigue by which he was surrounded, or to direct the whole energies of the commonwealth towards an all-important end. leicester had lost all influence, all authority, nor were his military abilities equal to the occasion, even if he had been cordially obeyed. ten days longer the perpetual battles on the ramparts and within the mines continued, the plans conveyed by the bold swimmer, captain hart, for saving the place were still unattempted, and the city was tottering to its fall. "had captain hart's words taken place," wrote williams, bitterly, "we had been succoured, or, if my letters had prevailed, our pain had been, no peril: all wars are best executed in sight of the enemy . . . . the last night of june ( th july, n. s.) the enemy entered the ditches of our fort in three several places, continuing in fight in mine and on rampart for the space of eight nights. the ninth; he battered us furiously, made a breach of five score paces suitable for horse and man. that day be attempted us in all, places with a general, assault for the space of almost five hours." the citadel was now lost. it had been gallantly defended; and it was thenceforth necessary to hold the town itself, in the very teeth of an overwhelming force. "we were forced to quit the fort," said-sir roger, "leaving nothing behind us but bare earth. but here we do remain resolutely to be buried, rather than to be dishonoured in the least point." it was still possible for the fleet to succour the city. "i do assure you," said-williams, "that your captains and mariners do not their duty unless they enter with no great loss; but you must consider that no wars may be made without danger. what you mean to do, we beseech you to do with expedition, and persuade yourself that we will die valiant, honest-men. your excellency will do well to thank the old president de meetkerk far the honesty and valour of his son." count maurice and his natural brother, the admiral, now undertook the succour by sea; but, according to the leicestrians, they continued dilatory and incompetent. at any rate, it is certain that they did nothing. at last, parma had completed the bridge; whose construction, was so much dreaded: the haven was now enclosed by a strong wooden structure, resting an boats, on a plan similar to that of the famous bridge with which he had two years before bridled the scheldt, and sluys was thus completely shut in from the sea. fire-ships were now constructed, by order of leicester--feeble imitations: of the floating volcanoes of gianihelli--and it was agreed that they should be sent against the bridge with the first flood-tide. the propitious moment never seemed to arrive, however, and, meantime, the citizens of flushing, of their own accord, declared that they would themselves equip and conduct a fleet into the harbour of sluys. but the nassaus are said to have expressed great disgust that low-born burghers should presume to meddle with so important an enterprise, which of right belonged to their family. thus, in the midst of these altercations and contradictory schemes; the month of july wore away, and the city was reduced to its last gasp. for the cannonading had thoroughly done its work. eighteen days long the burghers and what remained of the garrison had lived upon the ramparts, never leaving their posts, but eating, sleeping, and fighting day and night. of the sixteen hundred dutch and english but seven hundred remained. at last a swimming messenger was sent out by the besieged with despatches for the states, to the purport that the city could hold out no longer. a breach in the wall had been effected wide enough to admit a hundred men abreast. sluys had, in truth, already fallen, and it was hopeless any longer to conceal the fact. if not relieved within a day or two, the garrison would be obliged to surrender; but they distinctly stated, that they had all pledged themselves, soldiers and burghers, men, women, and all, unless the most honourable terms were granted, to set fire to the city in a hundred places, and then sally, in mass, from the gates, determined to fight their way through, or be slain in the attempt. the messenger who carried these despatches was drowned, but the letters were saved, and fell into parma's hands. at the same moment, leicester was making, at last, an effort to raise the siege. he brought three or four thousand men from flushing, and landed them at ostend; thence he marched to blanckenburg. he supposed that if he could secure that little port, and thus cut the duke completely off from the sea, he should force the spanish commander to raise (or at least suspend) the siege in order to give him battle. meantime, an opportunity would be afforded for maurice and hohenlo to force an entrance into the harbour of sluys, in this conjecture he was quite correct; but unfortunately he did not thoroughly carry out his own scheme. if the earl had established himself at blanckenburg, it would have been necessary for parma--as he himself subsequently declared-to raise the siege. leicester carried the outposts of the place successfully; but, so soon as farnese was aware of this demonstration, he detached a few companies with orders to skirmish with the enemy until the commander-in-chief, with as large a force as he could spare, should come in person to his support. to the unexpected gratification of farnese, however, no sooner did the advancing spaniards come in sight, than the earl, supposing himself invaded by the whole of the duke's army, under their famous general, and not feeling himself strong enough for such an encounter, retired, with great precipitation, to his boats, re-embarked his troops with the utmost celerity, and set sail for ostend. the next night had been fixed for sending forth the fireships against the bridge, and for the entrance of the fleet into the harbour. one fire-ship floated a little way towards the bridge and exploded ingloriously. leicester rowed in his barge about the fleet, superintending the soundings and markings of the channel, and hastening the preparations; but, as the decisive moment approached, the pilots who had promised to conduct the expedition came aboard his pinnace and positively refused to have aught to do with the enterprise, which they now declared an impossibility. the earl was furious with the pilots, with maurice, with hohenlo, with admiral de nassau, with the states, with all the world. he stormed and raged and beat his breast, but all in vain. his ferocity would have been more useful the day before, in face of the spaniards, than now, against the zeeland mariners: but the invasion by the fleet alone, unsupported by a successful land-operation, was pronounced impracticable, and very soon the relieving fleet was seen by the distressed garrison sailing away from the neighbourhood, and it soon disappeared beneath the horizon. their fate was sealed. they entered into treaty with parma, who, secretly instructed, as has been seen, of their desperate intentions, in case any but the most honourable conditions were offered, granted those conditions. the garrison were allowed to go out with colours displayed, lighted matches, bullet in mouth, and with bag and baggage. such burghers as chose to conform to the government of spain and the church of rome; were permitted to remain. those who preferred to depart were allowed reasonable time to make their necessary arrangements. "we have hurt and slain very near eight hundred," said sir roger williams. "we had not powder to fight two hours. there was a breach of almost four hundred paces, another of three score, another of fifty, saltable for horse and men. we had lain continually eighteen nights all on the breaches. he gave us honourable composition. had the state of england lain on it, our lives could not defend the place, three hours, for half the rampires were his, neither had we any pioneers but ourselves. we were sold by their negligence who are now angry with us." on the th august parma entered the city. roger williams with his gilt morion rather battered, and his great plume of feathers much bedraggled-was a witness to the victor's entrance. alexander saluted respectfully an officer so well known to him by reputation, and with some complimentary remarks urged him to enter the spanish service, and to take the field against the turks. "my sword," replied the doughty welshman, "belongs to her royal majesty, queen elizabeth, above and before all the world. when her highness has no farther use for it, it is at the service of the king of navarre." considering himself sufficiently answered, the duke then requested sir roger to point out captain baskerville--very conspicuous by a greater plume of feathers than even that of the welshman himself--and embraced that officer; when presented to him, before all his staff. "there serves no prince in europe a braver man than this englishman," cried alexander, who well knew how to appreciate high military qualities, whether in his own army or in that of his foes. the garrison then retired, sluy's became spanish, and a capacious harbour, just opposite the english coast, was in parma's hands. sir roger williams was despatched by leicester to bear the melancholy tidings to his government, and the queen was requested to cherish the honest welshman, and at least to set him on horseback; for he was of himself not rich enough to buy even a saddle. it is painful to say that the captain did not succeed in getting the horse. the earl was furious in his invectives against hohenlo, against maurice, against the states, uniformly ascribing the loss of sluy's to negligence and faction. as for sir john norris, he protested that his misdeeds in regard to this business would, in king henry viii.'s time, have "cost him his pate." the loss of sluys was the beginning and foreshadowed the inevitable end of leicester's second administration. the inaction of the states was one of the causes of its loss. distrust of leicester was the cause of the inaction. sir william russell, lord willoughby, sir william pelham, and other english officers, united in statements exonerating the earl from all blame for the great failure to relieve the place. at the same time, it could hardly be maintained that his expedition to blanckenburg and his precipitate retreat on the first appearance of the enemy were proofs of consummate generalship. he took no blame to himself for the disaster; but he and his partisans were very liberal in their denunciations of the hollanders, and leicester was even ungrateful enough to censure roger williams, whose life had been passed, as it were, at push of pike with the spaniards, and who was one of his own most devoted adherents. the queen was much exasperated when informed of the fall of the city. she severely denounced the netherlanders, and even went so far as to express dissatisfaction with the great leicester himself. meantime, farnese was well satisfied with his triumph, for he had been informed that "all england was about to charge upon him," in order to relieve the place. all england, however, had been but feebly represented by three thousand raw recruits with a paltry sum of l , to help pay a long bill of arrears. wilkes and norris had taken their departure from the netherlands before the termination of the siege, and immediately after the return of leicester. they did not think it expedient to wait upon the governor before leaving the country, for they had very good reason to believe that such an opportunity of personal vengeance would be turned to account by the earl. wilkes had already avowed his intention of making his escape without being dandled with leave-takings, and no doubt he was right. the earl was indignant when he found that they had given him the slip, and denounced them with fresh acrimony to the queen, imploring her to wreak full measure of wrath upon their heads; and he well knew that his entreaties would meet with the royal attention. buckhurst had a parting interview with the governor-general, at which killigrew and beale, the new english counsellors who had replaced wilkes and clerk, were present. the conversation was marked by insolence on the part of leicester, and by much bitterness on that of buckhurst. the parting envoy refused to lay before the earl a full statement of the grievances between the states-general and the governor, on the ground that leicester had no right to be judge in his own cause. the matter, he said, should be laid before the queen in council, and by her august decision he was willing to abide. on every other subject he was ready to give any information in his power. the interview lasted a whole forenoon and afternoon. buckhurst, according to his own statement, answered, freely all questions put to him by leicester and his counsellors; while, if the report of those personages is to be trusted, he passionately refused to make any satisfactory communication. under the circumstances, however, it may well be believed that no satisfactory communication was possible. on arriving in england, sir john norris was forbidden to come into her majesty's presence, wilkes was thrown into the fleet prison, and buckhurst was confined in his own country house. norris had done absolutely nothing, which, even by implication, could be construed into a dereliction of duty; but it was sufficient that he was hated by leicester, who had not scrupled, over and over again, to denounce this first general of england as a fool, a coward, a knave, and a liar. as for wilkes, his only crime was a most conscientious discharge of his duty, in the course of which he had found cause to modify his abstract opinions in regard to the origin of sovereignty, and had come reluctantly to the conviction that leicester's unpopularity had made perhaps another governor-general desirable. but this admission had only been made privately and with extreme caution; while, on the other hand, he had constantly defended the absent earl, with all the eloquence at his command. but the hatred cf leicester was sufficient to consign this able and painstaking public servant to a prison; and thus was a man of worth, honour, and talent, who had been placed in a position of grave responsibility and immense fatigue, and who had done his duty like an upright, straight-forward englishman, sacrificed to the wrath of a favourite. "surely, mr. secretary," said the earl, "there was never a falser creature, a more seditious wretch, than wilkes. he is a villain, a devil, without faith or religion." as for buckhurst himself, it is unnecessary to say a word in his defence. the story of his mission has been completely detailed from the most authentic and secret documents, and there is not a single line written to the queen, to her ministers, to the states, to any public body or to any private friend, in england or elsewhere, that does not reflect honour on his name. with sagacity, without passion, with unaffected sincerity, he had unravelled the complicated web of netherland politics, and, with clear vision, had penetrated the designs of the mighty enemy whom england and holland had to encounter in mortal combat. he had pointed out the errors of the earl's administration--he had fearlessly, earnestly, but respectfully deplored the misplaced parsimony of the queen--he had warned her against the delusions which had taken possession of her keen intellect--he had done--his best to place the governor-general upon good terms with the states and with his sovereign; but it had been impossible for him to further his schemes for the acquisition of a virtual sovereignty over the netherlands, or to extinguish the suspicions of the states that the queen was secretly negotiating with the spaniard, when he knew those suspicions to be just. for deeds, such as these, the able and high-minded ambassador, the accomplished statesman and poet, was forbidden to approach his sovereign's presence, and was ignominiously imprisoned in his own house until the death of leicester. after that event, buckhurst emerged from confinement, received the order of the garter and the earldom of dorset, and on the death of burghley succeeded that statesman in the office of lord-treasurer. such was the substantial recognition of the merits of a man who was now disgraced for the conscientious discharge of the most important functions that had yet been confided to him. it would be a thankless and superfluous task to give the details of the renewed attempt, during a few months, made by leicester to govern the provinces. his second administration consisted mainly of the same altercations with the states, on the subject of sovereignty, the same mutual recriminations and wranglings, that had characterized the period of his former rule. he rarely met the states in person, and almost never resided at the hague, holding his court at middleburg, dort, or utrecht, as his humour led him. the one great feature of the autumn of was the private negotiation between elizabeth and the duke of parma. before taking a glance at the nature of those secrets, however, it is necessary to make a passing allusion to an event which might have seemed likely to render all pacific communications with spain, whether secret or open, superfluous. for while so much time had been lost in england and holland, by misunderstandings and jealousies, there was one englishman who had not been losing time. in the winter and early spring of , the devonshire skipper had organized that expedition which he had come to the netherlands, the preceding autumn, to discuss. he meant to aim a blow at the very heart of that project which philip was shrouding with so much mystery, and which elizabeth was attempting to counteract by so much diplomacy. on the nd april, francis drake sailed from plymouth with four ships belonging to the queen, and with twenty-four furnished by the merchants of london, and other private individuals. it was a bold buccaneering expedition--combining chivalrous enterprise with the chance of enormous profit--which was most suited to the character of english adventurers at that expanding epoch. for it was by england, not by elizabeth, that the quarrel with spain was felt to be a mortal one. it was england, not its sovereign, that was instinctively arming, at all points, to grapple with the great enemy of european liberty. it was the spirit of self-help, of self-reliance, which was prompting the english nation to take the great work of the age into its own hands. the mercantile instinct of the nation was flattered with the prospect of gain, the martial quality of its patrician and of its plebeian blood was eager to confront danger, the great protestant mutiny. against a decrepit superstition in combination with an aggressive tyranny, all impelled the best energies of the english people against spain, as the embodiment of all which was odious and menacing to them, and with which they felt that the life and death struggle could not long be deferred. and of these various tendencies, there were no more fitting representatives than drake and frobisher, hawkins and essex, cavendish and grenfell, and the other privateersmen of the sixteenth century. the same greed for danger, for gold, and for power, which, seven centuries before, had sent the norman race forth to conquer all christendom, was now sending its anglo-saxon and anglo-norman kindred to take possession of the old world and the new. "the wind commands me away," said drake on the nd april, ; "our ship is under sail. god grant that we may so live in his fear, that the enemy may have cause to say that god doth fight for her majesty abroad as well as at home." but he felt that he was not without enemies behind him, for the strong influence brought to bear against the bold policy which walsingham favoured, was no secret to drake. "if we deserve ill," said he, "let us be punished. if we discharge our duty, in doing our best, it is a hard measure to be reported ill by those who will either keep their fingers out of the fire; or who too well affect that alteration in our government which i hope in god they shall never live to see." in latitude deg. he spoke two zeeland ships, homeward bound, and obtained information of great warlike stores accumulating in cadiz and lisbon. his mind was instantly made up. fortunately, the pinnace which the queen despatched with orders to stay his hand in the very act of smiting her great adversary, did not sail fast enough to overtake the swift corsair and his fleet. sir francis had too promptly obeyed the wind, when it "commanded him away," to receive the royal countermand. on the th april, the english ships entered the harbour of cadiz, and destroyed ten thousand tons of shipping, with their contents, in the very face of a dozen great galleys, which the nimble english vessels soon drove under their forts for shelter. two nights and a day, sir francis, that "hater of idleness," was steadily doing his work; unloading, rifling, scuttling, sinking, and burning those transportships which contained a portion of the preparations painfully made by philip for his great enterprise. pipe-staves and spikes, horse-shoes and saddles, timber and cutlasses, wine, oil, figs, raisins, biscuits, and flour, a miscellaneous mass of ingredients long brewing for the trouble of england, were emptied into the harbour, and before the second night, the blaze of a hundred and fifty burning vessels played merrily upon the grim walls of philip's fortresses. some of these ships were of the largest size then known. there was one belonging to marquis santa cruz of tons, there was a biscayan of , there were several others of , , and of nearly equal dimensions. thence sailing for lisbon, sir francis, captured and destroyed a hundred vessels more, appropriating what was portable of the cargoes, and annihilating the rest. at lisbon, marquis santa cruz, lord high admiral of spain and generalissimo of the invasion, looked on, mortified and amazed, but offering no combat, while the plymouth privateersman swept the harbour of the great monarch of the world. after thoroughly accomplishing his work, drake sent a message to santa cruz, proposing to exchange his prisoners for such englishmen as might then be confined in spain. but the marquis denied all prisoners. thereupon sir francis decided to sell his captives to the moors, and to appropriate the proceeds of the sale towards the purchase of english slaves put of the same bondage. such was the fortune of war in the sixteenth century. having dealt these great blows, drake set sail again from lisbon, and, twenty leagues from st. michaels, fell in with one of those famous spanish east indiamen, called carracks, then the great wonder of the seas. this vessel, san felipe by name, with a cargo of extraordinary value, was easily captured, and sir francis now determined to return. he had done a good piece of work in a few weeks, but he was by no means of opinion that he had materially crippled the enemy. on the contrary, he gave the government warning as to the enormous power and vast preparations of spain. "there would be forty thousand men under way ere long," he said, "well equipped and provisioned;" and he stated, as the result of personal observation, that england could not be too energetic in, its measures of resistance. he had done something with his little fleet, but he was no braggart, and had no disposition to underrate the enemy's power. "god make us all thankful again and again," he observed, "that we have, although it be little, made a beginning upon the coast of spain." and modestly as he spoke of what he had accomplished, so with quiet self-reliance did he allude to the probable consequences. it was certain, he intimated, that the enemy would soon seek revenge with all his strength, and "with all the devices and traps he could devise." this was a matter which could not be doubted. "but," said sir francis, "i thank them much that they have staid so long, and when they come they shall be but the sons of mortal men." perhaps the most precious result of the expedition, was the lesson which the englishmen had thus learned in handling the great galleys of spain. it might soon stand them in stead. the little war-vessels which had come from plymouth, had sailed round and round these vast unwieldy hulks, and had fairly driven them off the field, with very slight damage to themselves. sir francis had already taught the mariners of england, even if he had done nothing else by this famous cadiz expedition, that an armada, of spain might not be so invincible as men imagined. yet when the conqueror returned from his great foray, he received no laurels. his sovereign met him, not with smiles, but with frowns and cold rebukes. he had done his duty, and helped to save her endangered throne, but elizabeth was now the dear friend of alexander farnese, and in amicable correspondence with his royal master. this "little" beginning on the coast of spain might not seem to his catholic majesty a matter to be thankful for, nor be likely to further a pacification, and so elizabeth hastened to disavow her plymouth captain.' ["true it is, and i avow it on my faith, her majesty did send a ship expressly before he went to cadiz with a message by letters charging sir francis drake not to show any act of hostility, which messenger by contrary winds could never come to the place where he was, but was constrained to come home, and hearing of sir f. drake's actions, her majesty commanded the party that returned to have been punished, but that he acquitted himself by the oaths of himself and all his company. and so unwitting yea unwilling to her majesty those actions were committed by sir f. drake, for the which her majesty is as yet greatly offended with him." burghley to andreas de loo, july, . flanders correspondence.' (s. p. office ms.)] etext editor's bookmarks: the blaze of a hundred and fifty burning vessels we were sold by their negligence who are now angry with us history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter xvii. secret treaty between queen and parma--excitement and alarm in the states--religious persecution in england--queen's sincerity toward spain--language and letters of parma--negotiations of de loo-- english commissioners appointed--parma's affectionate letter to the queen--philip at his writing-table--his plots with parma against england--parma's secret letters to the king--philip's letters to parma wonderful duplicity of philip--his sanguine views as to england--he is reluctant to hear of the obstacles--and imagines parma in england--but alexander's difficulties are great--he denounces philip's wild schemes--walsingham aware of the spanish plot--which the states well understand--leicester's great unpopularity--the queen warned against treating--leicester's schemes against barneveld--leicestrian conspiracy at leyden--the plot to seize the city discovered--three ringleaders sentenced to death-- civil war in france--victory gained by navarre, and one by guise-- queen recalls leicester--who retires on ill terms with the states-- queen warned as to spanish designs--result's of leicester's administration. the course of elizabeth towards the provinces, in the matter of the peace, was certainly not ingenuous, but it was not absolutely deceitful. she concealed and denied the negotiations, when the netherland statesmen were perfectly aware of their existence, if not of their tenour; but she was not prepared, as they suspected, to sacrifice their liberties and their religion, as the price of her own reconciliation with spain. her attitude towards the states was imperious, over-bearing, and abusive. she had allowed the earl of leicester to return, she said, because of her love for the poor and oppressed people, but in many of her official and in all her private communications, she denounced the men who governed that people as ungrateful wretches and impudent liars! these were the corrosives and vinegar which she thought suitable for the case; and the earl was never weary in depicting the same statesmen as seditious, pestilent, self-seeking, mischief-making traitors. these secret, informal negotiations, had been carried on during most of the year . it was the "comptroller's peace;", as walsingham contemptuously designated the attempted treaty; for it will be recollected that sir james croft, a personage of very mediocre abilities, had always been more busy than any other english politician in these transactions. he acted; however, on the inspiration of burghley, who drew his own from the fountainhead. but it was in vain for the queen to affect concealment. the states knew everything which was passing, before leicester knew. his own secret instructions reached the netherlands before he did. his secretary, junius, was thrown into prison, and his master's letter taken from him, before there had been any time to act upon its treacherous suggestions. when the earl wrote letters with, his own hand to his sovereign, of so secret a nature that he did not even retain a single copy for himself, for fear of discovery, he found, to his infinite disgust, that the states were at once provided with an authentic transcript of every line that he had written. it was therefore useless, almost puerile, to deny facts which were quite as much within the knowledge of the netherlanders as of himself. the worst consequence of the concealment was, that a deeper treachery was thought possible than actually existed. "the fellow they call barneveld," as leicester was in the habit of designating one of the first statesmen in europe, was perhaps justified, knowing what he did, in suspecting more. being furnished with a list of commissioners, already secretly agreed upon between the english and spanish governments, to treat for peace, while at the same time the earl was beating his breast, and flatly denying that there was any intention of treating with parma at all, it was not unnatural that he should imagine a still wider and deeper scheme than really existed, against the best interests of his country. he may have expressed, in private conversation, some suspicions of this nature, but there is direct evidence that he never stated in public anything which was not afterwards proved to be matter of fact, or of legitimate inference from the secret document which had come into his hands. the queen exhausted herself in opprobious language against those who dared to impute to her a design to obtain possession of the cities and strong places of the netherlands, in order to secure a position in which to compel the provinces into obedience to her policy. she urged, with much logic, that as she had refused the sovereignty of the whole country when offered to her, she was not likely to form surreptitious schemes to make herself mistress of a portion of it. on the other hand, it was very obvious, that to accept the sovereignty of philip's rebellious provinces, was to declare war upon philip; whereas, had she been pacifically inclined towards that sovereign, and treacherously disposed towards the netherlands, it would be a decided advantage to her to have those strong places in her power. but the suspicions as to her good faith were exaggerated. as to the intentions of leicester, the states were justified in their almost unlimited distrust. it is very certain that both in , and again, at this very moment, when elizabeth was most vehement in denouncing such aspersions on her government, he had unequivocally declared to her his intention of getting possession, if possible, of several cities, and of the whole island of walcheren, which, together with the cautionary towns already in his power, would enable the queen to make good terms for herself with spain, "if the worst came to the, worst." it will also soon be shown that he did his best to carry these schemes into execution. there is no evidence, however, and no probability, that he had received the royal commands to perpetrate such a crime. the states believed also, that in those secret negotiations with parma the queen was disposed to sacrifice the religious interests of the netherlands. in this they were mistaken. but they had reason for their mistake, because the negotiator de loo, had expressly said, that, in her overtures to farnese, she had abandoned that point altogether. if this had been so, it would have simply been a consent on the part of elizabeth, that the catholic religion and the inquisition should be re-established in the provinces, to the exclusion of every other form of worship or polity. in truth, however, the position taken by her majesty on the subject was as fair as could be reasonably expected. certainly she was no advocate for religious liberty. she chose that her own subjects should be protestants, because she had chosen to be a protestant herself, and because it was an incident of her supremacy, to dictate uniformity of creed to all beneath her sceptre. no more than her father, who sent to the stake or gallows heretics to transubstantiation as well as believers in the pope, had elizabeth the faintest idea of religious freedom. heretics to the english church were persecuted, fined, imprisoned, mutilated, and murdered, by sword, rope, and fire. in some respects, the practice towards those who dissented from elizabeth was more immoral and illogical, even if less cruel, than that to which those were subjected who rebelled against sixtus. the act of uniformity required papists to assist at the protestant worship, but wealthy papists could obtain immunity by an enormous fine. the roman excuse to destroy bodies in order to save souls, could scarcely be alleged by a church which might be bribed into connivance at heresy, and which derived a revenue from the very nonconformity for which humbler victims were sent to the gallows. it would, however, be unjust in the extreme to overlook the enormous difference in the amount of persecution, exercised respectively by the protestant and the roman church. it is probable that not many more than two hundred catholics were executed as such, in elizabeth's reign, and this was ten score too many. but what was this against eight hundred heretics burned, hanged, and drowned, in one easter week by alva, against the eighteen thousand two hundred went to stake and scaffold, as he boasted during his administration, against the vast numbers of protestants, whether they be counted by tens or by hundreds of thousands, who perished by the edicts of charles v., in the netherlands, or in the single saint bartholomew massacre in france? moreover, it should never be forgotten--from undue anxiety for impartiality--that most of the catholics who were executed in england, suffered as conspirators rather than as heretics. no foreign potentate, claiming to be vicegerent of christ, had denounced philip as a bastard and, usurper, or had, by means of a blasphemous fiction, which then was a terrible reality, severed the bonds of allegiance by which his subjects were held, cut him off from all communion with his fellow-creatures, and promised temporal rewards and a crown of glory in heaven to those who should succeed in depriving him of throne and life. yet this was the position of elizabeth. it was war to the knife between her and rome, declared by rome itself; nor was there any doubt whatever that the seminary priests--seedlings transplanted from foreign nurseries, which were as watered gardens for the growth of treason--were a perpetually organized band of conspirators and assassins, with whom it was hardly an act of excessive barbarity to deal in somewhat summary fashion. doubtless it would have been a more lofty policy, and a far more intelligent one, to extend towards the catholics of england, who as a body were loyal to their country, an ample toleration. but it could scarcely be expected that elizabeth tudor, as imperious and absolute by temperament as her father had ever been, would be capable of embodying that great principle. when, in the preliminaries to the negotiations of , therefore, it was urged on the part of spain, that the queen was demanding a concession of religious liberty from philip to the netherlanders which she refused to english heretics, and that he only claimed the same right of dictating a creed to his subjects which she exercised in regard to her own, lord burghley replied that the statement was correct. the queen permitted--it was true--no man to profess any religion but the one which she professed. at the same time it was declared to be unjust, that those persons in the netherlands who had been for years in the habit of practising protestant rites, should be suddenly compelled, without instruction, to abandon that form of worship. it was well known that many would rather die than submit to such oppression, and it was affirmed that the exercise of this cruelty would be resisted by her to the uttermost. there was no hint of the propriety--on any logical basis--of leaving the question of creed as a matter between man and his maker, with which any dictation on the part of crown or state was an act of odious tyranny. there was not even a suggestion that the protestant doctrines were true, and the catholic doctrines false. the matter was merely taken up on the 'uti possidetis' principle, that they who had acquired the fact of protestant worship had a right to retain it, and could not justly be deprived of it, except by instruction and persuasion. it was also affirmed that it was not the english practice to inquire into men's consciences. it would have been difficult, however, to make that very clear to philip's comprehension, because, if men, women, and children, were scourged with rods, imprisoned and hanged, if they refused to conform publicly to a ceremony at which their consciences revolted-unless they had money enough to purchase non-conformity--it seemed to be the practice to inquire very effectively into their consciences. but if there was a certain degree of disingenuousness on the part of elizabeth towards the states, her attitude towards parma was one of perfect sincerity. a perusal of the secret correspondence leaves no doubt whatever on that point. she was seriously and fervently desirous of peace with spain. on the part of farnese and his master, there was the most unscrupulous mendacity, while the confiding simplicity and truthfulness of the queen in these negotiations was almost pathetic. especially she declared her trust in the loyal and upright character of parma, in which she was sure of never being disappointed. it is only doing justice to alexander to say that he was as much deceived by her frankness as she by his falsehood. it never entered his head that a royal personage and the trusted counsellors of a great kingdom could be telling the truth in a secret international transaction, and he justified the industry with which his master and himself piled fiction upon fiction, by their utter disbelief in every word which came to them from england. the private negotiations had been commenced, or rather had been renewed, very early in february of this year. during the whole critical period which preceded and followed the execution of mary, in the course of which the language of elizabeth towards the states had been so shrewish, there had been the gentlest diplomatic cooing between farnese and herself. it was--dear cousin, you know how truly i confide in your sincerity, how anxious i am that this most desirable peace should be arranged; and it was--sacred majesty, you know how much joy i feel in your desire for the repose of the world, and for a solid peace between your highness and the king my master; how much i delight in concord--how incapable i am by ambiguous words of spinning out these transactions, or of deceiving your majesty, and what a hatred i feel for steel, fire, and blood.' four or five months rolled on, during which leicester had been wasting time in england, farnese wasting none before sluys, and the states doing their best to counteract the schemes both of their enemy and of their ally. de loo made a visit, in july, to the camp of the duke of parma, and received the warmest assurances of his pacific dispositions. "i am much pained," said alexander, "with this procrastination. i am so full of sincerity myself, that it seems to me a very strange matter, this hostile descent by drake upon the coasts of spain. the result of such courses will be, that the king will end by being exasperated, and i shall be touched in my honour--so great is the hopes i have held out of being able to secure a peace. i have ever been and i still am most anxious for concord, from the affection i bear to her sacred majesty. i have been obliged, much against my will, to take the field again. i could wish now that our negotiations might terminate before the arrival of my fresh troops, namely, spaniards and italians, which, with walloons, germans, and lorrainers, will give me an effective total of , soldiers. of this i give you my word as a gentleman. go, then, andrew de loo," continued the duke, "write to her sacred majesty, that i desire to make peace; and to serve her faithfully; and that i shall not change my mind, even in case of any great success, for i like to proceed rather by the ways of love than of rigour and effusion of bleed." "i can assure you, oh, most serene duke," replied andrew, "that the most serene queen is in the very same dispositions with yourself." "excellent well then," said the duke, "we shall come to an agreement at once, and the sooner the deputies on both sides are appointed the better." a feeble proposition was then made, on the part of the peace-loving andrew, that the hostile operations against sluy's should be at once terminated. but this did not seem so clear to the most serene duke. he had gone to great expense in that business; and he had not built bridges, erected forts, and dug mines, only to abandon them for a few fine words, fine words were plenty, but they raised no sieges. meantime these pacific and gentle murmurings from farnese's camp had lulled the queen into forgetfulness of roger williams and arnold groenevelt and their men, fighting day and night in trench and mine during that critical midsummer. the wily tongue of the duke had been more effective than his batteries in obtaining the much-coveted city. the queen obstinately held back her men and money, confident of effecting a treaty, whether sluys fell or not. was it strange that the states should be distrustful of her intentions, and, in their turn, become neglectful of their duty? and thus summer wore into autumn, sluys fell, the states and their governor-general were at daggers-drawn, the netherlanders were full of distrust with regard to england, alexander hinted doubts as to the queen's sincerity; the secret negotiations, though fertile in suspicions, jealousies, delays, and such foul weeds, had produced no wholesome fruit, and the excellent de loo became very much depressed. at last a letter from burghley relieved his drooping spirits. from the most disturbed and melancholy man in the world, he protested, he had now become merry and quiet. he straightway went off to the duke of parma, with the letter in his pocket, and translated it to him by candlelight, as he was careful to state, as an important point in his narrative. and farnese was fuller of fine phrases than ever. "there is no cause whatever," said he, in a most loving manner, "to doubt my sincerity. yet the lord-treasurer intimates that the most serene queen is disposed so to do. but if i had not the very best intentions, and desires for peace, i should never have made the first overtures. if i did not wish a pacific solution, what in the world forced me to do what i have done? on the contrary, it is i that have reason to suspect the other parties with their long delays, by which they have made me lose the best part of the summer." he then commented on the strong expressions in the english letters, as to the continuance of her majesty in her pious resolutions; observed that he was thoroughly advised of the disputes between the earl of leicester and the states; and added that it was very important for the time indicated by the queen. "whatever is to be done," said he, in conclusion, "let it be done quickly;" and with that he said he would go and eat a bit of supper. "and may i communicate lord burghley's letter to any one else?" asked de loo. "yes, yes, to the seigneur de champagny, and to my secretary cosimo," answered his highness. so the merchant negotiator proceeded at once to the mansion of champagny, in company with the secretary cosimo. there was a long conference, in which de loo was informed of many things which he thoroughly believed, and faithfully transmitted to the court of elizabeth. alexander had done his best, they said, to delay the arrival of his fresh troops. he had withdrawn from the field, on various pretexts, hoping, day after day, that the english commissioners would arrive, and that a firm and perpetual peace would succeed to the miseries of war. but as time wore away, and there came no commissioners, the duke had come to the painful conclusion that he had been trifled with. his forces would now be sent into holland to find something to eat; and this would ensure the total destruction of all that territory. he had also written to command all the officers of the coming troops to hasten their march, in order that he might avoid incurring still deeper censure. he was much ashamed, in truth, to have been wheedled into passing the whole fine season in idleness. he had been sacrificing himself for her sacred majesty, and to, serve her best interests; and now he found himself the object of her mirth. those who ought to be well informed had assured him that the queen was only waiting to see how the king of navarre was getting on with the auxiliary force just, going to him from germany, that she had no intention whatever to make peace, and that, before long, he might expect all these german mercenaries upon his shoulders in the netherlands. nevertheless he was prepared to receive them with , good infantry, a splendid cavalry force, and plenty of money.' all this and more did the credulous andrew greedily devour; and he lost no time in communicating the important intelligence to her majesty and the lord-treasurer. he implored her, he said, upon his bare knees, prostrate on the ground, and from the most profound and veritable centre of his heart and with all his soul and all his strength, to believe in the truth of the matters thus confided to him. he would pledge his immortal soul, which was of more value to him--as he correctly observed--than even the crown of spain, that the king, the duke, and his counsellors, were most sincerely desirous of peace, and actuated by the most loving and benevolent motives. alexander farnese was "the antidote to the duke of alva," kindly sent by heaven, 'ut contraria contrariis curenter,' and if the entire security of the sacred queen were not now obtained, together with a perfect reintegration of love between her majesty and the king of spain, and with the assured tranquillity and perpetual prosperity of the netherlands, it would be the fault of england; not of spain. and no doubt the merchant believed all that was told him, and--what was worse--that he fully impressed his own convictions upon her majesty and lord burghley, to say nothing of the comptroller, who, poor man, had great facility in believing anything that came from the court of the most catholic king: yet it is painful to reflect, that in all these communications of alexander and his agents, there was not one single word of truth.--it was all false from beginning to end, as to the countermanding of the troops,--as to the pacific intentions of the king and duke, and as to the proposed campaign in friesland, in case of rupture; and all the rest. but this will be conclusively proved a little later. meantime the conference had been most amicable and satisfactory. and when business was over, champagny--not a whit the worse for the severe jilting which he had so recently sustained from the widow de bours, now mrs. aristotle patton--invited de loo and secretary cosimo to supper. and the three made a night of it, sitting up late, and draining such huge bumpers to the health of the queen of england, that--as the excellent andrew subsequently informed lord burghley--his head ached most bravely next morning. and so, amid the din of hostile preparation not only in cadiz and lisbon, but in ghent and sluys and antwerp, the import of which it seemed difficult to mistake, the comedy of, negotiation was still rehearsing, and the principal actors were already familiar with their respective parts. there were the earl of derby, knight of the garter, and my lord cobham; and puzzling james croft, and other englishmen, actually believing that the farce was a solemn reality. there was alexander of parma thoroughly aware of the contrary. there was andrew de loo, more talkative, more credulous, more busy than ever, and more fully impressed with the importance of his mission, and there was the white-bearded lord-treasurer turning complicated paragraphs; shaking his head and waving his wand across the water, as if, by such expedients, the storm about to burst over england could, be dispersed. the commissioners should come, if only the duke of parma would declare on his word of honour, that these hostile preparations with which all christendom was ringing; were not intended against england; or if that really were the case--if he would request his master to abandon all such schemes, and if philip in consequence would promise on the honour of a prince, to make no hostile attempts against that country. there would really seem an almost arcadian simplicity in such demands, coming from so practised a statesman as the lord-treasurer, and from a woman of such brilliant intellect as elizabeth unquestionably possessed. but we read the history of , not only by the light of subsequent events, but by the almost microscopic revelations of sentiments and motives, which a full perusal of the secret documents in those ancient cabinets afford. at that moment it was not ignorance nor dulness which was leading england towards the pitfall so artfully dug by spain. there was trust in the plighted word of a chivalrous soldier like alexander farnese, of a most religious and anointed monarch like philip ii. english frankness, playing cards upon the table, was no match for italian and spanish legerdemain, a system according to which, to defraud the antagonist by every kind of falsehood and trickery was the legitimate end of diplomacy and statesmanship. it was well known that there were great preparations in spain, portugal, and the obedient netherlands, by land and sea. but sir robert sidney was persuaded that the expedition was intended for africa; even the pope was completely mystified--to the intense delight of philip--and burghley, enlightened by the sagacious de loo, was convinced, that even in case of a rupture, the whole strength of the spanish arms was to be exerted in reducing friesland and overyssel. but walsingham was never deceived; for he had learned from demosthenes a lesson with which william the silent, in his famous apology, had made the world familiar, that the only citadel against a tyrant and a conqueror was distrust. alexander, much grieved that doubts should still be felt as to his sincerity, renewed the most exuberant expressions of that sentiment, together with gentle complaints against the dilatoriness which had proceeded from the doubt. her majesty had long been aware, he said, of his anxiety to bring about a perfect reconciliation; but he had waited, month after month, for her commissioners, and had waited in vain. his hopes had been dashed to the ground. the affair had been indefinitely spun out, and he could not resist the conviction that her majesty had changed her mind. nevertheless, as andrew de loo was again proceeding to england, the duke seized the opportunity once more to kiss her hand, and--although he had well nigh resolved to think no more on the subject--to renew his declarations, that, if the much-coveted peace were not concluded, the blame could not be imputed to him, and that he should stand guiltless before god and the world. he had done, and was still ready to do, all which became a christian and a man desirous of the public welfare and tranquillity. when burghley read these fine phrases, he was much impressed; and they were pronounced at the english court to be "very princely and christianly." an elaborate comment too was drawn up by the comptroller on every line of the letter. "these be very good words," said the comptroller. but the queen was even more pleased with the last proof of the duke's sincerity, than even burghley and croft had been. disregarding all the warnings of walsingham, she renewed her expressions of boundless confidence in the wily italian. "we do assure you," wrote the lords, "and so you shall do well to avow it to the duke upon our honours, that her majesty saith she thinketh both their minds to accord upon one good and christian meaning, though their ministers may perchance sound upon a discord." and she repeated her resolution to send over her commissioners, so soon as the duke had satisfied her as to the hostile preparations. we have now seen the good faith of the english queen towards the spanish government. we have seen her boundless trust in the sincerity of farnese and his master. we have heard the exuberant professions of an honest intention to bring about a firm and lasting peace, which fell from the lips of farnese and of his confidential agents. it is now necessary to glide for a moment into the secret cabinet of philip, in order to satisfy ourselves as to the value of all those professions. the attention of the reader is solicited to these investigations, because the year was a most critical period in the history of english, dutch, and european liberty. the coming year had been long spoken of in prophecy, as the year of doom, perhaps of the destruction of the world, but it was in , the year of expectation and preparation, that the materials were slowly combining out of which that year's history was to be formed. and there sat the patient letter-writer in his cabinet, busy with his schemes. his grey head was whitening fast. he was sixty years of age. his frame was slight, his figure stooping, his digestion very weak, his manner more glacial and sepulchral than ever; but if there were a hard-working man in europe, that man was philip ii. and there he sat at his table, scrawling his apostilles. the fine innumerable threads which stretched across the surface of christendom, and covered it as with a net, all converged in that silent cheerless cell. france was kept in a state of perpetual civil war; the netherlands had been converted into a shambles; ireland was maintained in a state of chronic rebellion; scotland was torn with internal feuds, regularly organized and paid for by philip; and its young monarch--"that lying king of scots," as leicester called him--was kept in a leash ready to be slipped upon england, when his master should give the word; and england herself was palpitating with the daily expectation of seeing a disciplined horde of brigands let loose upon her shores; and all this misery, past, present, and future, was almost wholly due to the exertions of that grey-haired letter-writer at his peaceful library-table. at the very beginning of the year the king of denmark had made an offer to philip of mediation. the letter, entrusted to a young count de rantzan, had been intercepted by the states--the envoy not having availed himself, in time, of his diplomatic capacity, and having in consequence been treated, for a moment, like a prisoner of war. the states had immediately addressed earnest letters of protest to queen elizabeth, declaring that nothing which the enemy could do in war was half so horrible to them as the mere mention of peace. life, honour, religion, liberty, their all, were at stake, they said, and would go down in one universal shipwreck, if peace should be concluded; and they implored her majesty to avert the proposed intercession of the danish king. wilkes wrote to walsingham denouncing that monarch and his ministers as stipendiaries of spain, while, on the other hand, the duke of parma, after courteously thanking the king for his offer of mediation, described him to philip as such a dogged heretic, that no good was to be derived from him, except by meeting his fraudulent offers with an equally fraudulent response. there will be nothing lost, said alexander, by affecting to listen to his proposals, and meantime your majesty must proceed with the preparations against england. this was in the first week of the year . in february, and almost on the very day when parma was writing those affectionate letters to elizabeth, breathing nothing but peace, he was carefully conning philip's directions in regard to the all-important business of the invasion. he was informed by his master, that one hundred vessels, forty of them of largest size, were quite ready, together with , spanish infantry, including of the old legion, and that there were volunteers more than enough. philip had also taken note, he said, of alexander's advice as to choosing the season when the crops in england had just been got in, as the harvest of so fertile a country would easily support an invading force; but he advised nevertheless that the army should be thoroughly victualled at starting. finding that alexander did not quite approve of the irish part of the plan, he would reconsider the point, and think more of the isle of wight; but perhaps still some other place might be discovered, a descent upon which might inspire that enemy with still greater terror and confusion. it would be difficult for him, he said, to grant the men asked for by the scotch malcontents, without seriously weakening his armada; but there must be no positive refusal, for a concerted action with the scotch lords and their adherents was indispensable. the secret, said the king, had been profoundly kept, and neither in spain nor in rome had anything been allowed to transpire. alexander was warned therefore to do his best to maintain the mystery, for the enemy was trying very hard to penetrate their actions and their thoughts. and certainly alexander did his best. he replied to his master, by transmitting copies of the letters he had been writing with his own hand to the queen, and of the, pacific messages he had sent her through champagny. and de loo. she is just now somewhat confused, said he, and those of her counsellors who desire peace, are more eager, than ever for negotiation. she is very much afflicted with the loss of deventer, and is quarrelling with the french ambassador about the new conspiracy for her assassination. the opportunity is a good one, and if she writes an answer to my letter, said alexander, we can keep the negotiation, alive, while, if she does not, 'twill be a proof that she has contracted leagues with other parties. but, in any event, the duke fervently implored philip not to pause in his preparations for the great enterprise which he had conceived in his royal breast. so urgent for the invasion was the peace-loving general. he alluded also to the supposition that the quarrel between her majesty and the french envoy was a mere fetch, and only one of the results of bellievre's mission. whether that diplomatist had been sent to censure, or in reality to approve, in the name of his master, of the scottish queen's execution, alexander would leave to be discussed by don bernardino de mendoza, the spanish ambassador in paris; but he was of opinion that the anger of the queen with france was a fiction, and her supposed league with france and germany against spain a fact. upon this point, as it appears from secretary walsingham's lamentations, the astute farnese was mistaken. in truth he was frequently, led into error to the english policy the same serpentine movement and venomous purpose which characterized his own; and we have already seen; that elizabeth was ready, on the contrary, to quarrel with the states, with france, with all the world, if she could only secure the good-will of philip. the french-matter, indissolubly connected in that monarch's schemes, with his designs upon england and holland, was causing alexander much anxiety. he foresaw great difficulty in maintaining that, indispensable civil war in france, and thought that a peace might, some fine day, be declared between henry iii. and the huguenots, when least expected. in consequence, the duke of guise was becoming very importunate for philip's subsidies. "mucio comes begging to me," said parma, "with the very greatest earnestness, and utters nothing but lamentations and cries of misery. he asked for , of the , ducats promised him. i gave them. soon afterwards he writes, with just as much anxiety, for , more. these i did not give; firstly, because i had them not," (which would seem a sufficient reason) "and secondly, because i wished to protract matters as much as possible. he is constantly reminding me of your majesty's promise of , ducats, in case he comes to a rupture with the king of france, and i always assure him that your majesty will keep all promises." philip, on his part, through the months of spring, continued to assure his generalissimo of his steady preparations--by sea and land. he had ordered mendoza to pay the scotch lords the sum demanded by them, but not till after they had done the deed as agreed upon; and as to the men, he felt obliged, he said, to defer that matter for the moment; and to leave the decision upon it to the duke. farnese kept his sovereign minutely informed of the negociations carried on through champagny and de loo, and expressed his constant opinion that the queen was influenced by motives as hypocritical as his own. she was only seeking, he said, to deceive, to defraud, to put him to sleep, by those feigned negotiations, while, she was making her combinations with france and germany, for the ruin of spain. there was no virtue to be expected from her, except she was compelled thereto by pure necessity. the english, he said, were hated and abhorred by the natives of holland and zeeland, and it behoved philip to seize so favourable an opportunity for urging on his great plan with all the speed in the world. it might be that the queen, seeing these mighty preparations, even although not suspecting that she herself was to be invaded, would tremble for her safety, if the netherlands should be crushed. but if she succeeded in deceiving spain, and putting philip and parma to sleep, she might well boast of having made fools of them all. the negotiations for peace and the preparations for the invasion should go simultaneously forward therefore, and the money would, in consequence, come more sparingly to the provinces from the english coffers, and the disputes between england and the states would be multiplied. the duke also begged to be informed whether any terms could be laid down, upon which the king really would conclude peace; in order that he might make no mistake for want of instructions or requisite powers. the condition of france was becoming more alarming every day, he said. in other words, there was an ever-growing chance of peace for that distracted country. the queen of england was cementing a strong league between herself, the french king, and the huguenots; and matters were looking very serious. the impending peace in france would never do, and philip should prevent it in time, by giving mucio his money. unless the french are entangled and at war among themselves, it is quite clear, said alexander, that we can never think of carrying out our great scheme of invading england. the king thoroughly concurred in all that was said and done by his faithful governor and general. he had no intention of concluding a peace on any terms whatever, and therefore could name no conditions; but he quite approved of a continuance of the negotiations. the english, he was convinced, were utterly false on their part, and the king of denmark's proposition to-mediate was part and parcel of the same general fiction. he was quite sensible of the necessity of giving mucio the money to prevent a pacification in france, and would send letters of exchange on agostino spinola for the , ducats. meantime farnese was to go on steadily with his preparations for the invasion. the secretary-of-state, don juan de idiaquez, also wrote most earnestly on the great subject to the duke. "it is not to be exaggerated", he said, "how set his majesty is in the all-important business. if you wish to manifest towards him the most flattering obedience on earth, and to oblige him as much as you could wish, give him this great satisfaction this year. since you have money, prepare everything out there, conquer all difficulties, and do the deed so soon as the forces of spain and italy arrive, according to the plan laid down by your excellency last year. make use of the negotiations for peace for this one purpose, and no more, and do the business like the man you are. attribute the liberty of this advice to my desire to serve you more than any other, to my knowledge of how much you will thereby gratify his majesty, and to my fear of his resentment towards you, in the contrary case." and, on the same day, in order that there might be no doubt of the royal sentiments, philip expressed himself at length on the whole subject. the dealings of farnese with the english, and his feeding them with hopes of peace, would have given him more satisfaction, he observed, if it had caused their preparations to slacken; but, on the contrary, their boldness had increased. they had perpetrated the inhuman murder of the queen of scots, and moreover, not content with their piracies at sea and in the indies, they had dared to invade the ports of spain, as would appear in the narrative transmitted to farnese of the late events at cadiz. and although that damage was small, said philip; there resulted a very great obligation to take them 'seriously in hand.' he declined sending fill powers for treating; but in order to make use of the same arts employed by the english, he preferred that alexander should not undeceive them, but desired him to express, as out of his own head; to the negotiators, his astonishment that while they were holding such language they should commit such actions. even their want of prudence in thus provoking the king; when their strength was compared to his, should be spoken of by farnese as--wonderful, and he was to express the opinion that his majesty would think him much wanting in circumspection, should he go on negotiating while they were playing such tricks. "you must show yourself very sensitive, about this event," continued philip, "and you must give them to understand that i am quite as angry as you. you must try to draw from them some offer of satisfaction--however false it will be in reality--such as a proposal to recall the fleet, or an, assertion that the deeds of drake in cadiz were without the knowledge and contrary to the will of the queen, and that she very much regrets them, or something of that sort." it has already been shown that farnese was very successful in eliciting from the queen, through the mouth of lord' burghley, as ample a disavowal and repudiation of sir francis drake as the king could possibly desire. whether it would have the desired effect--of allaying the wrath of philip; might have been better foretold, could the letter, with which we are now occupied, have been laid upon the greenwich council-board. "when you have got, such a disavowal," continued his majesty, "you are to act as if entirely taken in and imposed upon by them, and, pretending to believe everything they tell you, you must renew the negotiations, proceed to name commissioners, and propose a meeting upon neutral territory. as for powers; say that you, as my governor-general, will entrust them to your deputies, in regard to the netherlands. for all other matters, say that you have had full powers for many months, but that you cannot exhibit them until conditions worthy of my acceptance have been offered.--say this only for the sake of appearance. this is the true way to take them in, and so the peace-commissioners may meet. but to you only do i declare that my intention is that this shall never lead to any result, whatever conditions maybe offered by them. on the contrary, all this is done--just as they do--to deceive them, and to cool them in their preparations for defence, by inducing them to believe that such preparations will be unnecessary. you are well aware that the reverse of all this is the truth, and that on our part there is to be no slackness, but the greatest diligence in our efforts for the invasion of england, for which we have already made the most abundant provision in men, ships, and money, of which you are well aware." is it strange that the queen of england was deceived? is it matter of surprise, censure, or shame, that no english statesman was astute enough or base enough to contend with such diplomacy, which seemed inspired only by the very father of lies? "although we thus enter into negotiations," continued the king--unveiling himself, with a solemn indecency, not agreeable to contemplate--"without any intention of concluding them, you can always get out of them with great honour, by taking umbrage about the point of religion and about some other of the outrageous propositions which they are like to propose, and of which there are plenty, in the letters of andrew de loo. your commissioners must be instructed; to refer all important matters to your personal decision. the english will be asking for damages for money, spent in assisting my rebels; your commissioners will contend that damages are rather due to me. thus, and in other ways, time will be agent. your own envoys are not to know the secret any more than the english themselves. i tell it to you only. thus you will proceed with the negotiations, now, yielding on one point, and now insisting on another, but directing all to the same object--to gain time while proceeding with the preparation for the invasion, according to the plan already agreed upon." certainly the most catholic king seemed, in this remarkable letter to have outdone himself; and farnese--that sincere farnese, in whose loyal, truth-telling, chivalrous character, the queen and her counsellors placed such implicit reliance--could thenceforward no longer be embarrassed as to the course he was to adopt. to lie daily, through, thick, and thin, and with every variety of circumstance and detail which; a genius fertile in fiction could suggest, such was the simple rule prescribed by his sovereign. and the rule was implicitly obeyed, and the english sovereign thoroughly deceived. the secret confided only, to the faithful breast of alexander was religiously kept. even the pope was outwitted. his holiness proposed to, philip the invasion of england, and offered a million to further the plan. he was most desirous to be informed if the project was, resolved upon, and, if so, when it was to be accomplished. the king took the pope's million, but refused the desired information. he answered evasively. he had a very good will to invade the country, he said, but there were great difficulties in the way. after a time, the pope again tried to pry into the matter, and again offered the million which philip had only accepted for the time when it might be wanted; giving him at the same time, to understand that it was not necessary at that time, because there were then great impediments. "thus he is pledged to give me the subsidy, and i am not pledged for the time," said philip, "and i keep my secret, which is the most important of all." yet after all, farnese did not see his way clear towards the consummation of the plan. his army had wofully dwindled, and before he could seriously set about ulterior matters, it would be necessary to take the city of sluys. this was to prove--as already seen--a most arduous enterprise. he complained to philip' of his inadequate supplies both in men and money. the project conceived in the royal breast was worth spending millions for, he said, and although by zeal and devotion he could accomplish something, yet after all he was no more than a man, and without the necessary means the scheme could not succeed. but philip, on the contrary, was in the highest possible spirits. he had collected more money, he declared than had ever been seen before in the world. he had two million ducats in reserve, besides the pope's million; the french were in a most excellent state of division, and the invasion should be made this year without fail. the fleet would arrive in the english channel by the end of the summer; which would be exactly in conformity with alexander's ideas. the invasion was to be threefold: from scotland, under the scotch earls and their followers, with the money and troops furnished by philip; from the netherlands, under parma; and by the great spanish armada itself, upon the isle of wight. alexander must recommend himself to god, in whose cause he was acting, and then do his duty; which lay very plain before him. if he ever wished to give his sovereign satisfaction in his life; he was to do the deed that year, whatever might betide. never could there be so fortunate a conjunction of circumstances again. france was in a state of revolution, the german levies were weak, the turk was fully occupied in persia, an enormous mass of money, over and above the pope's million, had been got together, and although the season was somewhat advanced, it was certain that the duke would conquer all impediments, and be the instrument by which his royal master might render to god that service which he was so anxious to perform. enthusiastic, though gouty, philip grasped the pen in order to scrawl a few words with his own royal hand. "this business is of such importance," he said, "and it is so necessary that it should not be delayed, that i cannot refrain from urging it upon you as much as i can. i should do it even more amply; if this hand would allow me, which has been crippled with gout these several days, and my feet as well, and although it is unattended with pain, yet it is an impediment to writing." struggling thus against his own difficulties, and triumphantly, accomplishing a whole paragraph with disabled hand, it was natural that the king should expect alexander, then deep in the siege of sluy's, to vanquish all his obstacles as successfully; and to effect the conquest of england so soon as the harvests of that kingdom should be garnered. sluy's was surrendered at last, and the great enterprise seemed opening from hour to hour. during the months of autumn; upon the very days when those loving messages, mixed with gentle reproaches, were sent by alexander to elizabeth, and almost at the self-same hours in which honest andrew de loo was getting such head-aches by drinking the queen's health with cosimo, and champagny, the duke and philip were interchanging detailed information as to the progress of the invasion. the king calculated that by the middle of september alexander would have , men in the netherlands ready for embarcation.--marquis santa cruz was announced as nearly ready to, sail for the english channel with , more, among whom were to be , seasoned spanish infantry. the marquis was then to extend the hand to parma, and protect that passage to england which the duke was at once to effect. the danger might be great for so large a fleet to navigate the seas at so late a season of the year; but philip was sure that god, whose cause it was, would be pleased to give good weather. the duke was to send, with infinite precautions of secrecy, information which the marquis would expect off ushant, and be quite ready to act so soon as santa cruz should arrive. most earnestly and anxiously did the king deprecate any, thought of deferring the expedition to another year. if delayed, the obstacles of the following summer--a peace in france, a peace between the turk and persia, and other contingencies--would cause the whole project to fail, and philip declared, with much iteration, that money; reputation, honour, his own character and that of farnese, and god's service, were all at stake. he was impatient at suggestions of difficulties occasionally, ventured by the duke, who was reminded that he had been appointed chief of the great enterprise by the spontaneous choice of his master, and that all his plans had been minutely followed. "you are the author of the whole scheme," said philip, "and if it, is all to vanish into space, what kind of a figure shall we cut the coming year?" again and again he referred to the immense sum collected--such as never before had been seen since the world was made-- , , ducats with , , in reserve, of which he was authorized to draw for , in advance, to say nothing of the pope's million. but alexander, while straining every nerve to obey his master's wishes about the invasion, and to blind the english by the fictitious negotiations, was not so sanguine as his sovereign. in truth, there was something puerile in the eagerness which philip manifested. he had made up his mind that england was to be conquered that autumn, and had endeavoured--as well as he could--to comprehend, the plans which his illustrious general had laid down for accomplishing that purpose. of, course; to any man of average intellect, or, in truth, to any man outside a madhouse; it would seem an essential part of the conquest that the armada should arrive. yet--wonderful to relate-philip, in his impatience, absolutely suggested that the duke might take possession of england without waiting for santa cruz and his armada. as the autumn had been wearing away, and there had been unavoidable delays about the shipping in spanish ports, the king thought it best not to defer matters till, the winter. "you are, doubtless, ready," he said to farnese. "if you think you can make the passage to england before the fleet from spain arrives, go at once. you maybe sure that it will come ere long to support, you. but if, you prefer, to wait, wait. the dangers of winter, to the fleet and to your own person are to be regretted; but god, whose cause it is; will protect you." it was, easy to sit quite out of harm's way, and to make such excellent, arrangements for smooth weather in the wintry channel, and for the. conquest of a maritime and martial kingdom by a few flat bottoms. philip had little difficulty on that score, but the affairs of france were not quite to his mind. the battle of coutras, and the entrance of the german and swiss mercenaries into that country, were somewhat perplexing. either those auxiliaries of the huguenots would be defeated, or they would be victorious, or both parties would come to an agreement. in the first event, the duke, after sending a little assistance to mucio, was to effect his passage to england at once. in the second case, those troops, even though successful, would doubtless be so much disorganized that it might be still safe for farnese to go on. in the third contingency--that of an accord--it would be necessary for him to wait till the foreign troops had disbanded and left france. he was to maintain all his forces in perfect readiness, on pretext of the threatening aspect of french matters and, so soon as the swiss and germane were dispersed, he was to proceed to business without delay. the fleet would be ready in spain in all november, but as sea-affairs were so doubtful, particularly in winter, and as the armada could not reach the channel till mid-winter; the duke was not to wait for its arrival. "whenever you see a favourable opportunity," said philip, "you must take care not to lose it, even if the fleet has not made its appearance. for you may be sure that it will soon come to give you assistance, in one way or another." farnese had also been strictly enjoined to deal gently with the english, after the conquest, so that they would have cause to love their new master. his troops were not to forget discipline after victory. there was to be no pillage or rapine. the catholics were to be handsomely rewarded and all the inhabitants were to be treated with so much indulgence that, instead of abhorring parma and his soldiers, they would conceive a strong affection for them all, as the source of so many benefits. again the duke was warmly commended for the skill with which he had handled the peace negotiation. it was quite right to appoint commissioners, but it was never for an instant to be forgotten that the sole object of treating was to take the english unawares. "and therefore do you guide them to this end," said the king with pious unction, "which is what you owe to god, in whose service i have engaged in this enterprise, and to whom i have dedicated the whole." the king of france, too--that unfortunate henry iii., against whose throne and life philip maintained in constant pay an organized band of conspirators--was affectionately adjured, through the spanish envoy in paris, mendoza,--to reflect upon the advantages to france of a catholic king and kingdom of england, in place of the heretics now in power. but philip, growing more and more sanguine, as those visions of fresh crowns and conquered kingdoms rose before him in his solitary cell, had even persuaded himself that the deed was already done. in the early days of december, he expressed a doubt whether his th november letter had reached the duke, who by that time was probably in england. one would have thought the king addressing a tourist just starting on a little pleasure-excursion. and this was precisely the moment when alexander had been writing those affectionate phrases to the queen which had been considered by the counsellors at greenwich so "princely and christianly," and which croft had pronounced such "very good words." if there had been no hostile, fleet to prevent, it was to be hoped, said philip, that, in the name of god, the passage had been made. "once landed there," continued the king, "i am persuaded that you will give me a good account of yourself, and, with the help of our lord, that you will do that service which i desire to render to him, and that he will guide our cause, which is his own, and of such great importance to his church." a part of the fleet would soon after arrive and bring six thousand spaniards, the pope's million, and other good things, which might prove useful to parma, presupposing that they would find him established on the enemy's territory. this conviction that the enterprise had been already accomplished grew stronger in the king's breast every day. he was only a little disturbed lest farnese should have misunderstood that th november letter. philip--as his wont was--had gone into so many petty and puzzling details, and had laid down rules of action suitable for various contingencies, so easy to put comfortably upon paper, but which might become perplexing in action, that it was no wonder he should be a little anxious. the third contingency suggested by him had really occurred. there had been a composition between the foreign mercenaries and the french king. nevertheless they had also been once or twice defeated, and this was contingency number two. now which of the events would the duke consider as having really occurred. it was to be hoped that he would have not seen cause for delay, for in truth number three was not exactly the contingency which existed. france was still in a very satisfactory state of discord and rebellion. the civil war was by no means over. there was small fear of peace that winter. give mucio his pittance with frugal hand, and that dangerous personage would ensure tranquillity for philip's project, and misery for henry iii. and his subjects for an indefinite period longer. the king thought it improbable that farnese could have made any mistake. he expressed therefore a little anxiety at having received no intelligence from him, but had great confidence that, with the aid of the lord and of with his own courage he had accomplished the great exploit. philip had only, recommended delay in event of a general peace in france--huguenots, royalists, leaguers, and all. this had not happened. "therefore, i trust," said the king; "that you--perceiving that this is not contingency number three which was to justify a pause--will have already executed the enterprise, and fulfilled my desire. i am confident that the deed is done, and that god has blessed it, and i am now expecting the news from hour to hour." but alexander had not yet arrived in england. the preliminaries for the conquest caused him more perplexity than the whole enterprise occasioned to philip. he was very short of funds. the five millions were not to be touched, except for the expenses of the invasion. but as england was to be subjugated, in order that rebellious holland might be recovered, it was hardly reasonable to go away leaving such inadequate forces in the netherlands as to ensure not only independence to the new republic, but to hold out temptation for revolt to the obedient provinces. yet this was the dilemma in which the duke was placed. so much money had been set aside for the grand project that there was scarcely anything for the regular military business. the customary supplies had not been sent. parma had leave to draw for six hundred thousand ducats, and he was able to get that draft discounted on the antwerp exchange by consenting to receive five hundred thousand, or sacrificing sixteen per cent. of the sum. a good number of transports, and scows had been collected, but there had been a deficiency of money for their proper equipment, as the five millions had been very slow in coming, and were still upon the road. the whole enterprise was on the point of being sacrificed, according to farnese, for want of funds. the time for doing the deed had arrived, and he declared himself incapacitated by poverty. he expressed his disgust and resentment in language more energetic than courtly; and protested that he was not to blame. "i always thought," said he bitterly, "that your majesty would provide all that was necessary even in superfluity, and not limit me beneath the ordinary. i did not suppose, when it was most important to have ready money, that i should be kept short, and not allowed to draw certain sums by anticipation, which i should have done had you not forbidden." this was, through life, a striking characteristic of philip. enormous schemes were laid out with utterly inadequate provision for their accomplishment, and a confident expectation entertained that wild, visions were; in some indefinite way, to be converted into substantial realities, without fatigue or personal exertion on his part, and with a very trifling outlay of ready money. meantime the faithful farnese did his best. he was indefatigable night and day in getting his boats together and providing his munitions of war. he dug a canal from sas de gand--which was one of his principal depots--all the way to sluys, because the water-communication between those two points was entirely in the hands of the hollanders and zeelanders. the rebel cruisers swarmed in the scheldt, from, flushing almost to antwerp, so that it was quite impossible for parma's forces to venture forth at all; and it also seemed hopeless to hazard putting to sea from sluys. at the same, time he had appointed his, commissioners to treat with the english envoys already named by the queen. there had been much delay in the arrival of those deputies, on account of the noise raised by barneveld and his followers; but burghley was now sanguine that the exposure of what he called the advocate's seditious, false, and perverse proceedings, would enable leicester to procure the consent of the states to a universal peace. and thus, with these parallel schemes of invasion and negotiation, spring; summer, and autumn, had worn away. santa cruz was still with his fleet in lisbon, cadiz, and the azores; and parma was in brussels, when philip fondly imagined him established in greenwich palace. when made aware of his master's preposterous expectations, alexander would have been perhaps amused, had he not been half beside himself with indignation. such folly seemed incredible. there was not the slightest appearance of a possibility of making a passage without the protection of the spanish fleet, he observed. his vessels were mere transport-boats, without the least power of resisting an enemy. the hollanders and zeelanders, with one hundred and forty cruisers, had shut him up in all directions. he could neither get out from antwerp nor from sluys. there were large english ships, too, cruising in the channel, and they were getting ready in the netherlands and in england "most furiously." the delays had been so great, that their secret had been poorly kept, and the enemy was on his guard. if santa cruz had come, alexander declared that he should have already been in england. when he did come he should still be prepared to make the passage; but to talk of such an attempt without the armada was senseless, and he denounced the madness of that proposition to his majesty in vehement and unmeasured terms. his army, by sickness and other causes, had been reduced to one-half the number considered necessary for the invasion, and the rebels had established regular squadrons in the scheldt, in the very teeth of the forts, at lillo, liefkenshoek, saftingen, and other points close to antwerp. there were so many of these war-vessels, and all in such excellent order, that they were a most notable embarrassment to him, he observed, and his own flotilla would run great risk of being utterly destroyed. alexander had been personally superintending matters at sluys, ghent, and antwerp, and had strengthened with artillery the canal which he had constructed between sas and sluys. meantime his fresh troops had been slowly arriving, but much sickness prevailed among them. the italians were dying fast, almost all the spaniards were in hospital, and the others were so crippled and worn out that it was most pitiable to behold them; yet it was absolutely necessary that those who were in health should accompany him to england, since otherwise his spanish force would be altogether too weak to do the service expected. he had got together a good number of transports. not counting his antwerp fleet--which could not stir from port, as he bitterly complained, nor be of any use, on account of the rebel blockade--he had between dunkerk and newport seventy-four vessels of various kinds fit for sea-service, one hundred and fifty flat-bottoms (pleytas), and seventy riverhoys, all which were to be assembled at sluys, whence they would--so soon as santa cruz should make his appearance--set forth for england. this force of transports he pronounced sufficient, when properly protected by the spanish armada, to carry himself and his troops across the channel. if, therefore, the matter did not become publicly known, and if the weather proved favourable, it was probable that his majesty's desire would soon be fulfilled according to the plan proposed. the companies of light horse and of arquebusmen, with which he meant to make his entrance into london, had been clothed, armed, and mounted, he said, in a manner delightful to contemplate, and those soldiers at least might be trusted--if they could only effect their passage--to do good service, and make matters quite secure. but craftily as the king and duke had been dealing, it had been found impossible to keep such vast preparations entirely secret. walsingham was in full possession of their plans down to the most minute details. the misfortune was that he was unable to persuade his sovereign, lord burghley, and others of the peace-party, as to the accuracy of his information. not only was he thoroughly instructed in regard to the number of men, vessels, horses, mules, saddles, spurs, lances, barrels of beer and tons of biscuit, and other particulars of the contemplated invasion, but he had even received curious intelligence as to the gorgeous equipment of those very troops, with which the duke was just secretly announcing to the king his intention of making his triumphal entrance into the english capital. sir francis knew how many thousand yards of cramoisy velvet, how many hundredweight of gold and silver embroidery, how much satin and feathers, and what quantity of pearls and diamonds; farnese had been providing himself withal. he knew the tailors, jewellers, silversmiths, and haberdashers, with whom the great alexander--as he now began to be called--had been dealing; ["there is provided for lights a great number of torches, and so tempered that no water can put them out. a great number of little mills for grinding corn, great store of biscuit baked and oxen salted, great number of saddles and boots also there is made pair of velvet shoes-red, crimson velvet, and in every cloister throughout the country great quantity of roses made of silk, white and red, which are to be badges for divers of his gentlemen. by reason of these roses it is expected he is going for england. there is sold to the prince by john angel, pergaman, ten hundred-weight of velvet, gold and silver to embroider his apparel withal. the covering to his mules is most gorgeously embroidered with gold and silver, which carry his baggage. there is also sold to him by the italian merchants at least pieces of velvet to apparel him and his train. every captain has received a gift from the prince to make himself brave, and for captain corralini, an italian, who hath one cornet of horse, i have seen with my eyes a saddle with the trappings of his horse, his coat and rapier and dagger, which cost , french crowns. (!!) all their lances are painted of divers colours, blue and white, green and white, and most part blood-red-- so there is as great preparation for a triumph as for war. a great number of english priests come to antwerp from all places. the commandment is given to all the churches to read the litany daily for the prosperity of the prince in his enterprise." john giles to walsingham, dec. .(s. p. office ms.) the same letter conveyed also very detailed information concerning the naval preparations by the duke, besides accurate intelligence in regard to the progress of the armada in cadiz and lisbon. sir william russet wrote also from flushing concerning these preparations in much the same strain; but it is worthy of note that he considered farnese to be rather intending a movement against france. "the prince of parma," he said, "is making great preparations for war, and with all expedition means to march a great army, and for a triumph, the coats and costly, apparel for his own body doth exceed for embroidery, and beset with jewels; for all the embroiderers and diamond-cutters work both night and day, such haste is made. five hundred velvet coats of one sort for lances, and a great number of brave new coats made for horsemen; , men are ready, and gather in brabant and flanders. it is said that there shall be in two days , to do some great exploit in these parts, and , to march with the prince into france, and for certain it is not known what way or how they shall march, but all are ready at an hour's warning -- , saddles, lances. , pairs of boots, , barrels of beer, biscuit sufficient for a camp of , men, &c. the prince hath received a marvellous costly garland or crown from the pope, and is chosen chief of the holy league..."] but when he spoke at the council-board, it was to ears wilfully deaf. nor was much concealed from the argus-eyed politicians in the republic. the states were more and more intractable. they knew nearly all the truth with regard to the intercourse between the queen's government and farnese, and they suspected more than the truth. the list of english commissioners privately agreed upon between burghley and de loo was known to barneveld, maurice, and hohenlo, before it came to the ears of leicester. in june, buckhurst had been censured by elizabeth for opening the peace matter to members of the states, according to her bidding, and in july leicester was rebuked for exactly the opposite delinquency. she was very angry that he had delayed the communication of her policy so long, but she expressed her anger only when that policy had proved so transparent as to make concealment hopeless. leicester, as well as buckhurst, knew that it was idle to talk to the netherlanders of peace, because of their profound distrust in every word that came from spanish or italian lips; but leicester, less frank than buckhurst, preferred to flatter his sovereign, rather than to tell her unwelcome truths. more fortunate than buckhurst, he was rewarded for his flattery by boundless affection, and promotion to the very highest post in england when the hour of england's greatest peril had arrived, while the truth-telling counsellor was consigned to imprisonment and disgrace. when the queen complained sharply that the states were mocking her, and that she was touched in honour at the prospect of not keeping her plighted word to farnese, the earl assured her that the netherlanders were fast changing their views; that although the very name of peace had till then been odious and loathsome, yet now, as coming from her majesty, they would accept it with thankful hearts. the states, or the leading members of that assembly, factious fellows, pestilent and seditious knaves, were doing their utmost, and were singing sirens' songs' to enchant and delude the people, but they were fast losing their influence--so warmly did the country desire to conform to her majesty's pleasure. he expatiated, however, upon the difficulties in his path. the knowledge possessed by the pestilent fellows as to the actual position of affairs, was very mischievous. it was honey to maurice and hohenlo, he said, that the queen's secret practices with farnese had thus been discovered. nothing could be more marked than the jollity with which the ringleaders hailed these preparations for peace-making, for they now felt certain that the government of their country had been fixed securely in their own hands. they were canonized, said the earl, for their hostility to peace. should not this conviction, on the part of men who had so many means of feeling the popular pulse, have given the queen's government pause? to serve his sovereign in truth, leicester might have admitted a possibility at least of honesty on the part of men who were so ready to offer up their lives for their country. for in a very few weeks he was obliged to confess that the people were no longer so well disposed to acquiesce in her majesty's policy. the great majority, both of the states and the people, were in favour, he agreed, of continuing the war. the inhabitants of the little province of holland alone, he said, had avowed their determination to maintain their rights--even if obliged to fight single-handed--and to shed the last drop in their veins, rather than to submit again to spanish tyranny. this seemed a heroic resolution, worthy the sympathy of a brave englishman, but the earl's only comment upon it was, that it proved the ringleaders "either to be traitors or else the most blindest asses in the world." he never scrupled, on repeated occasions, to insinuate that barneveld, hohenlo, buys, roorda, sainte aldegonde, and the nassaus, had organized a plot to sell their country to spain. of this there was not the faintest evidence, but it was the only way in which he chose to account for their persistent opposition to the peace-negotiations, and to their reluctance to confer absolute power on himself. "'tis a crabbed, sullen, proud kind of people," said he, "and bent on establishing a popular government,"--a purpose which seemed somewhat inconsistent with the plot for selling their country to spain, which he charged in the same breath on the same persons. early in august, by the queen's command, he had sent a formal communication respecting the private negotiations to the states, but he could tell them no secret. the names of the commissioners, and even the supposed articles of a treaty already concluded, were flying from town to town, from mouth to mouth, so that the earl pronounced it impossible for one, not on the spot, to imagine the excitement which existed. he had sent a state-counsellor, one bardesius, to the hague, to open the matter; but that personage had only ventured to whisper a word to one or two members of the states, and was assured that the proposition, if made, would raise such a tumult of fury, that he might fear for his life. so poor bardesius came back to leicester, fell on his knees, and implored him; at least to pause in these fatal proceedings. after an interval, he sent two eminent statesmen, valk and menin, to lay the subject before the assembly. they did so, and it was met by fierce denunciation. on their return, the earl, finding that so much violence had been excited, pretended that they had misunderstood his meaning, and that he had never meant to propose peace-negotiations. but valk and menin were too old politicians to be caught in such a trap, and they produced a brief, drawn up in italian--the foreign language best understood by the earl--with his own corrections and interlineations, so that he was forced to admit that there had been no misconception. leicester at last could no longer doubt that he was universally odious in the provinces. hohenlo, barneveld, and the rest, who had "championed the country against the peace," were carrying all before them. they had persuaded the people, that the "queen was but a tickle stay for them," and had inflated young maurice with vast ideas of his importance, telling him that he was "a natural patriot, the image of his noble father, whose memory was yet great among them, as good reason, dying in their cause, as he had done." the country was bent on a popular government, and on maintaining the war. there was no possibility, he confessed, that they would ever confer the authority on him which they had formerly bestowed. the queen had promised, when he left england the second time, that his absence should be for but three months, and he now most anxiously claimed permission to depart. above all things, he deprecated being employed as a peace-commissioner. he was, of all men, the most unfit for such a post. at the same time he implored the statesmen at home to be wary in selecting the wisest persons for that arduous duty, in order that the peace might be made for queen elizabeth, as well as for king philip. he strongly recommended, for that duty, beale, the councillor, who with killigrew had replaced the hated wilkes and the pacific bartholomew clerk. "mr. beale, brother-in-law to walsingham, is in my books a prince," said the earl. "he was drowned in england, but most useful in the netherlands. without him i am naked." and at last the governor told the queen what buckhurst and walsingham had been perpetually telling her, that the duke of parma meant mischief; and he sent the same information as to hundreds of boats preparing, with six thousand shirts for camisados, pairs of wading boots, and saddles, stirrups, and spurs, enough for a choice band of men. a shrewd troop, said the earl, of the first soldiers in christendom, to be landed some fine morning in england. and he too had heard of the jewelled suits of cramoisy velvet, and all the rest of the finery with which the triumphant alexander was intending to astonish london. "get horses enough, and muskets enough in england," exclaimed leicester, "and then our people will not be beaten, i warrant you, if well led." and now, the governor--who, in order to soothe his sovereign and comply with her vehement wishes, had so long misrepresented the state of public feeling--not only confessed that papists and protestants, gentle and simple, the states and the people, throughout the republic, were all opposed to any negotiation with the enemy, but lifted up his own voice, and in earnest language expressed his opinion of the queen's infatuation. "oh, my lord, what a treaty is this for peace," said he to burghley, "that we must treat, altogether disarmed and weakened, and the king having made his forces stronger than ever he had known in these parts, besides what is coming out, of spain, and yet we will presume of good conditions. it grieveth me to the heart. but i fear you will all smart for it, and i pray god her majesty feel it not, if it be his blessed will. she meaneth well and sincerely to have peace, but god knows that this is not the way. well, god almighty defend us and the realm, and especially her majesty. but look for a sharp war, or a miserable peace, to undo others and ourselves after." walsingham, too, was determined not to act as a commissioner. if his failing health did not serve as an excuse, he should be obliged to refuse, he said, and so forfeit her majesty's favour, rather than be instrumental in bringing about her ruin, and that of his country. never for an instant had the secretary of state faltered in his opposition to the timid policy of burghley. again and again he had detected the intrigues of the lord-treasurer and sir james croft, and ridiculed the "comptroller's peace." and especially did walsingham bewail the implicit confidence which the queen placed in the sugary words of alexander, and the fatal parsimony which caused her to neglect defending herself against scotland; for he was as well informed as was farnese himself of philip's arrangements with the scotch lords, and of the subsidies in men and money by which their invasion of england was to be made part of the great scheme. "no one thing," sighed walsingham, "doth more prognosticate an alteration of this estate, than that a prince of her majesty's judgment should neglect, in respect of a little charges, the stopping of so dangerous a gap. . . . the manner of our cold and careless proceeding here, in this time of peril, maketh me to take no comfort of my recovery of health, for that i see, unless it shall please god in mercy and miraculously to preserve us, we cannot long stand." leicester, finding himself unable to counteract the policy of barneveld and his party, by expostulation or argument, conceived a very dangerous and criminal project before he left the country. the facts are somewhat veiled in mystery; but he was suspected, on weighty evidence, of a design to kidnap both maurice and barneveld, and carry them off to england. of this intention, which was foiled at any rate, before it could be carried into execution, there is perhaps not conclusive proof, but it has already been shown, from a deciphered letter, that the queen had once given buckhurst and wilkes peremptory orders to seize the person of hohenlo, and it is quite possible that similar orders may have been received at a later moment with regard to the young count and the advocate. at any rate, it is certain that late in the autumn, some friends of barneveld entered his bedroom, at the hague, in the dead of night, and informed him that a plot was on foot to lay violent hands upon him, and that an armed force was already on its way to execute this purpose of leicester, before the dawn of day. the advocate, without loss of time, took his departure for delft, a step which was followed, shortly afterwards, by maurice. nor was this the only daring--stroke which the earl had meditated. during the progress of the secret negotiations with parma, he had not neglected those still more secret schemes to which he had occasionally made allusion. he had determined, if possible, to obtain possession of the most important cities in holland and zeeland. it was very plain to him, that he could no longer hope, by fair means, for the great authority once conferred upon him by the free will of the states. it was his purpose, therefore, by force and stratagem to recover his lost power. we have heard the violent terms in which both the queen and the earl denounced the men who accused the english government of any such intention. it had been formally denied by the states-general that barneveld had ever used the language in that assembly with which he had been charged. he had only revealed to them the exact purport of the letter to junius, and of the queen's secret instructions to leicester. whatever he may have said in private conversation, and whatever deductions he may have made among his intimate friends, from the admitted facts in the case, could hardly be made matters of record. it does not appear that he, or the statesmen who acted with him, considered the earl capable of a deliberate design to sell the cities, thus to be acquired, to spain, as the price of peace for england. certainly elizabeth would have scorned such a crime, and was justly indignant at rumours prevalent to that effect; but the wrath of the queen and of her favourite were, perhaps, somewhat simulated, in order to cover their real mortification at the discovery of designs on the part of the earl which could not be denied. not only had they been at last compelled to confess these negotiations, which for several months had been concealed and stubbornly denied, but the still graver plots of the earl to regain his much-coveted authority had been, in a startling manner, revealed. the leaders of the states-general had a right to suspect the english earl of a design to reenact the part of the duke of anjou, and were justified in taking stringent measures to prevent a calamity, which, as they believed, was impending over their little commonwealth. the high-handed dealings of leicester in the city of utrecht have been already described. the most respectable and influential burghers of the place had been imprisoned and banished, the municipal government wrested from the hands to which it legitimately belonged, and confided to adventurers, who wore the cloak of calvinism to conceal their designs, and a successful effort had been made, in the name of democracy, to eradicate from one ancient province the liberty on which it prided itself. in the course of the autumn, an attempt was made to play the same game at amsterdam. a plot was discovered, before it was fairly matured, to seize the magistrates of that important city, to gain possession of the arsenals, and to place the government in the hands of well-known leicestrians. a list of fourteen influential citizens, drawn up in the writing of burgrave, the earl's confidential secretary, was found, all of whom, it was asserted, had been doomed to the scaffold. the plot to secure amsterdam had failed, but, in north holland, medenblik was held firmly for leicester, by diedrich sonoy, in the very teeth of the states. the important city of enkhuyzen, too, was very near being secured for the earl, but a still more significant movement was made at leyden. that heroic city, ever since the famous siege of , in which the spaniard had been so signally foiled, had distinguished itself by great liberality of sentiment in religious matters. the burghers were inspired by a love of country, and a hatred of oppression, both civil and, ecclesiastical; and papists and protestants, who had fought side by side against the common foe, were not disposed to tear each other to pieces, now that he had been excluded from their gates. meanwhile, however, refugee flemings and brabantines had sought an asylum in the city, and being, as usual, of the strictest sect of the calvinists were shocked at the latitudinarianism which prevailed. to the honour of the city--as it seems to us now--but, to their horror, it was even found that one or two papists had seats in the magistracy. more than all this, there was a school in the town kept by a catholic, and adrian van der werff himself--the renowned burgomaster, who had sustained the city during the dreadful leaguer of , and who had told the famishing burghers that they might eat him if they liked, but that they should never surrender to the spaniards while he remained alive--even adrian van der werff had sent his son to this very school? to the clamour made by the refugees against this spirit of toleration, one of the favourite preachers in the town, of arminian tendencies, had declared in the pulpit, that he would as lieve see the spanish as the calvinistic inquisition established over his country; using an expression, in regard to the church of geneva, more energetic than decorous. it was from leyden that the chief opposition came to a synod, by which a great attempt was to be made towards subjecting the new commonwealth to a masked theocracy; a scheme which the states of holland had resisted with might and main. the calvinistic party, waxing stronger in leyden, although still in a minority, at last resolved upon a strong effort to place the city in the hands of that great representative of calvinism, the earl of leicester. jacques volmar, a deacon of the church, cosmo de pescarengis, a genoese captain of much experience in the service of the republic, adolphus de meetkerke, former president of flanders, who had been, by the states, deprived of the seat in the great council to which the earl had appointed him; doctor saravia, professor of theology in the university, with other deacons, preachers, and captains, went at different times from leyden to utrecht, and had secret interviews with leicester. a plan was at last agreed upon, according to which, about the middle of october, a revolution should be effected in leyden. captain nicholas de maulde, who had recently so much distinguished himself in the defence of sluys, was stationed with two companies of states' troops in the city. he had been much disgusted--not without reason--at the culpable negligence through which the courageous efforts of the sluys garrison had been set at nought, and the place sacrificed, when it might so easily have been relieved; and he ascribed the whole of the guilt to maurice, hohenlo, and the states, although it could hardly be denied that at least an equal portion belonged to leicester and his party. the young captain listened, therefore, to a scheme propounded to him by colonel cosine, and deacon volmar, in the name of leicester. he agreed, on a certain day, to muster his company, to leave the city by the delft gate--as if by command of superior authority--to effect a junction with captain heraugiere, another of the distinguished malcontent defenders of sluys, who was stationed, with his command, at delft, and then to re-enter leyden, take possession of the town-hall, arrest all the magistrates, together with adrian van der werff, ex-burgomaster, and proclaim lord leicester, in the name of queen elizabeth, legitimate master of the city. a list of burghers, who were to be executed, was likewise agreed upon, at a final meeting of the conspirators in a hostelry, which bore the ominous name of 'the thunderbolt.' a desire had been signified by leicester, in the preliminary interviews at utrecht, that all bloodshed, if possible, should be spared, but it was certainly an extravagant expectation, considering the, temper, the political convictions, and the known courage of the leyden burghers, that the city would submit, without a struggle, to this invasion of all their rights. it could hardly be doubted that the streets would run red with blood, as those of antwerp had done, when a similar attempt, on the part of anjou, had been foiled. unfortunately for the scheme, a day or two before the great stroke was to be hazarded, cosmo de pescarengis had been accidentally arrested for debt. a subordinate accomplice, taking alarm, had then gone before the magistrate and revealed the plot. volmar and de maulde fled at once, but were soon arrested in the neighbourhood. president de meetkerke, professor saravia, the preacher van der wauw, and others most compromised, effected their escape. the matter was instantly laid before the states of holland by the magistracy of leyden, and seemed of the gravest moment. in the beginning of the year, the fatal treason of york and stanley had implanted a deep suspicion of leicester in the hearts of almost all the netherlanders, which could not be eradicated. the painful rumours concerning the secret negotiations with spain, and the design falsely attributed to the english queen, of selling the chief cities of the republic to philip as the price of peace, and of reimbursement for expenses incurred by her, increased the general excitement to fever. it was felt by the leaders of the states that as mortal a combat lay before them with the earl of leicester, as with the king of spain, and that it was necessary to strike a severe blow, in order to vindicate their imperilled authority. a commission was appointed by the high court of holland, acting in conjunction with the states of the provinces, to try the offenders. among the commissioners were adrian van der werff, john van der does, who had been military commandant of leyden during the siege, barneveld, and other distinguished personages, over whom count maurice presided. the accused were subjected to an impartial trial. without torture, they confessed their guilt. it is true, however, that cosmo was placed within sight of the rack. he avowed that his object had been to place the city under the authority of leicester, and to effect this purpose, if possible, without bloodshed. he declared that the attempt was to be made with the full knowledge and approbation of the earl, who had promised him the command of a regiment of twelve companies, as a recompense for his services, if they proved successful. leicester, said cosmo, had also pledged himself, in case the men, thus executing his plans, should be discovered and endangered, to protect and rescue them, even at the sacrifice of all his fortune, and of the office he held. when asked if he had any written statement from his excellency to that effect, cosmo replied, no, nothing but his princely word which he had voluntarily given. volmar made a similar confession. he, too, declared that he had acted throughout the affair by express command of the earl of leicester. being asked if he had any written evidence of the fact, he, likewise, replied in the negative. "then his excellency will unquestionably deny your assertion," said the judges. "alas, then am i a dead man," replied volmar, and the unfortunate deacon never spoke truer words. captain de maulde also confessed his crime. he did not pretend, however, to have had any personal communication with leicester, but said that the affair had been confided to him by colonel cosmo, on the express authority of the earl, and that he had believed himself to be acting in obedience to his excellency's commands. on the th october, after a thorough investigation, followed by a full confession on the part of the culprits, the three were sentenced to death. the decree was surely a most severe one. they had been guilty of no actual crime, and only in case of high treason could an intention to commit a crime be considered, by the laws of the state, an offence punishable with death. but it was exactly because it was important to make the crime high treason that the prisoners were condemned. the offence was considered as a crime not against leyden, but as an attempt to levy war upon a city which was a member of the states of holland and of the united states. if the states were sovereign, then this was a lesion of their sovereignty. moreover, the offence had been aggravated by the employment of united states' troops against the commonwealth of the united states itself. to cut off the heads of these prisoners was a sharp practical answer to the claims of sovereignty by leicester, as representing the people, and a terrible warning to all who might, in future; be disposed to revive the theories of deventer and burgrave. in the case of de maulde the punishment seemed especially severe. his fate excited universal sympathy, and great efforts were made to obtain his pardon. he was a universal favourite; he was young; he was very handsome; his manners were attractive; he belonged to an ancient and honourable race. his father, the seigneur de mansart, had done great services in the war of independence, had been an intimate friend of the great prince of orange, and had even advanced large sums of money to assist his noble efforts to liberate the country. two brothers of the young captain had fallen in the service of the republic. he, too, had distinguished himself at ostend, and his gallantry during the recent siege of sluys had been in every mouth, and had excited the warm applause of so good a judge of soldiership as the veteran roger williams. the scars of the wounds received in the desperate conflicts of that siege were fresh upon his breast. he had not intended to commit treason, but, convinced by the sophistry of older soldiers than himself, as well as by learned deacons and theologians, he had imagined himself doing his duty, while obeying the earl of leicester. if there were ever a time for mercy, this seemed one, and young maurice of nassau might have remembered, that even in the case of the assassins who had attempted the life of his father, that great-hearted man had lifted up his voice--which seemed his dying one--in favour of those who had sought his life. but they authorities were inexorable. there was no hope of a mitigation of punishment, but a last effort was made, under favour of a singular ancient custom, to save the life of de maulde. a young lady of noble family in leyden--uytenbroek by name--claimed the right of rescuing the condemned malefactor, from the axe, by appearing upon the scaffold, and offering to take him for her husband. intelligence was brought to the prisoner in his dungeon, that the young, lady had made the proposition, and he was told to be of good cheer: but he refused to be comforted. he was slightly acquainted with the gentle-woman, he observed; and doubted much whether her request would be granted. moreover if contemporary chronicle can be trusted he even expressed a preference for the scaffold, as the milder fate of the two. the lady, however, not being aware of those uncomplimentary sentiments, made her proposal to the magistrates, but was dismissed with harsh rebukes. she had need be ashamed, they said; of her willingness to take a condemned traitor for her husband. it was urged, in her behalf, that even in the cruel alva's time, the ancient custom had been respected, and that victims had been saved from the executioners, on a demand in marriage made even by women of abandoned character. but all was of no avail. the prisoners were executed on the th october, the same day on which the sentence had been pronounced. the heads of volmar and cosmo were exposed on one of the turrets of the city. that of maulde was interred with his body. the earl was indignant when he heard of the event. as there had been no written proof of his complicity in the conspiracy, the judges had thought it improper to mention his name in the sentences. he, of course, denied any knowledge of the plot, and its proof rested therefore only on the assertion of the prisoners themselves, which, however, was circumstantial, voluntary, and generally believed! france, during the whole of this year of expectation, was ploughed throughout its whole surface by perpetual civil war. the fatal edict of june, , had drowned the unhappy land in blood. foreign armies, called in by the various contending factions, ravaged its-fair territory, butchered its peasantry, and changed its fertile plains to a wilderness. the unhappy creature who wore the crown of charlemagne and of hugh capet, was but the tool in the hands of the most profligate and designing of his own subjects, and of foreigners. slowly and surely the net, spread by the hands of his own mother, of his own prime minister, of the duke of guise, all obeying the command and receiving the stipend of philip, seemed closing over him. he was without friends, without power to know his friends, if he had them. in his hatred to the reformation, he had allowed himself to be made the enemy of the only man who could be his friend, or the friend of france. allied with his mortal foe, whose armies were strengthened by contingents from parma's forces, and paid for by spanish gold, he was forced to a mock triumph over the foreign mercenaries who came to save his crown, and to submit to the defeat of the flower of his chivalry, by the only man who could rescue france from ruin, and whom france could look up to with respect. for, on the th october, henry of navarre had at last gained a victory. after twenty-seven years of perpetual defeat, during which they had been growing stronger and stronger, the protestants had met the picked troops of henry iii., under the due de joyeuse, near the burgh of contras. his cousins conde and soissons each commanded a wing in the army of the warnese. "you are both of my family," said henry, before the engagement, "and the lord so help me, but i will show you that i am the eldest born." and during that bloody day the white plume was ever tossing where the battle, was fiercest. "i choose to show myself. they shall see the bearnese," was his reply to those who implored him to have a care for his personal safety. and at last, when the day was done, the victory gained, and more french nobles lay dead on the field, as catharine de' medici bitterly declared, than had fallen in a battle for twenty years; when two thousand of the king's best troops had been slain, and when the bodies of joyeuse and his brother had been laid out in the very room where the conqueror's supper, after the battle, was served, but where he refused, with a shudder, to eat, he was still as eager as before--had the wretched valois been possessed of a spark of manhood, or of intelligence--to shield him and his kingdom from the common enemy.' for it could hardly be doubtful, even to henry iii., at that moment, that philip ii. and his jackal, the duke of guise, were pursuing him to the death, and that, in his breathless doublings to escape, he had been forced to turn upon his natural protector. and now joyeuse was defeated and slain. "had it been my brother's son," exclaimed cardinal de bourbon, weeping and wailing, "how much better it would have been." it was not easy to slay the champion of french protestantism; yet, to one less buoyant, the game, even after the brilliant but fruitless victory of contras, might have seemed desperate. beggared and outcast, with literally scarce a shirt to his back, without money to pay a corporal's guard, how was he to maintain an army? but 'mucio' was more successful than joyeuse had been, and the german and swiss mercenaries who had come across the border to assist the bearnese, were adroitly handled by philip's great stipendiary. henry of valois, whose troops had just been defeated at contras, was now compelled to participate in a more fatal series of triumphs. for alas, the victim had tied himself to the apron-string of "madam league," and was paraded by her, in triumph, before the eyes of his own subjects and of the world. the passage of the loire by the auxiliaries was resisted; a series of petty victories was gained by guise, and, at last, after it was obvious that the leaders of the legions had been corrupted with spanish ducats, henry allowed them to depart, rather than give the balafre opportunity for still farther successes. then came the triumph in paris--hosannahs in the churches, huzzas in the public places--not for the king, but for guise. paris, more madly in love with her champion than ever, prostrated herself at his feet. for him paeans as to a deliverer. without him the ark would have fallen into the hands of the philistines. for the valois, shouts of scorn from the populace, thunders from the pulpit, anathemas from monk and priest, elaborate invectives from all the pedants of the sorbonne, distant mutterings of excommunication from rome--not the toothless beldame of modern days, but the avenging divinity of priest-rid monarchs. such were the results of the edicts of june. spain and the pope had trampled upon france, and the populace in her capital clapped their hands and jumped for joy. "miserable country miserable king," sighed an illustrious patriot, "whom his own countrymen wish rather to survive, than to die to defend him! let the name of huguenot and of papist be never heard of more. let us think only of the counter-league. is france to be saved by opening all its gates to spain? is france to be turned out of france, to make a lodging for the lorrainer and the spaniard?" pregnant questions, which could not yet be answered, for the end was not yet. france was to become still more and more a wilderness. and well did that same brave and thoughtful lover, of his: country declare, that he who should suddenly awake from a sleep of twenty-five years, and revisit that once beautiful land, would deem himself transplanted to a barbarous island of cannibals.--[duplessis mornay, 'mem.' iv. - .] it had now become quite obvious that the game of leicester was played out. his career--as it has now been fully exhibited--could have but one termination. he had made himself thoroughly odious to the nation whom he came to govern. he had lost for ever the authority once spontaneously bestowed; and he had attempted in vain, both by fair means and foul, to recover that power. there was nothing left him but retreat. of this he was thoroughly convinced. he was anxious to be gone, the republic most desirous to be rid of him, her majesty impatient to have her favourite back again. the indulgent queen, seeing nothing to blame in his conduct, while her indignation, at the attitude maintained by the provinces was boundless, permitted him, accordingly, to return; and in her letter to the states, announcing this decision, she took a fresh opportunity of emptying her wrath upon their heads. she told them, that, notwithstanding her frequent messages to them, signifying her evil contentment with their unthankfulness for her exceeding great benefits, and with their gross violations of their contract with herself and with leicester, whom they had, of their own accord, made absolute governor without her instigation; she had never received any good answer to move, her to commit their sins to oblivion, nor had she remarked, any amendment in their conduct. on the contrary, she complained: that they daily increased their offences, most notoriously in the sight of--the world and in so many points that she lacked words to express them in one letter. she however thought it worth while to allude to some of their transgressions. she, declared that their sinister, or rather barbarous interpretation of her conduct had been notorious in perverting and falsifying her princely and christian intentions; when she imparted to them the overtures that had been made to her for a treaty of peace for herself and for them with the king of spain. yet although she had required their allowance, before she would give her assent, she had been grieved that the world should see what impudent untruths had been forged upon her, not only by their. sufferance; but by their special permission for her christian good meaning towards them. she denounced the statements as to her having concluded a treaty, not only without their knowledge; but with the sacrifice of their liberty and religion, as utterly false, either for anything done in act, or intended in thought, by her. she complained that upon this most false ground had been heaped a number of like untruths and malicious slanders against her cousin leicester, who had hazarded his life, spend his substance, left his native country, absented himself from her, and lost his time, only for their service. it had been falsely stated among them, she said, that the earl had come over the last time, knowing that peace had been secretly concluded. it was false that he had intended to surprise divers of their towns, and deliver them to the king of spain. all such untruths contained matter so improbable, that it was most, strange that any person; having any sense, could imagine them correct. having thus slightly animadverted upon their wilfulness, unthankfulness, and bad government, and having, in very plain english, given them the lie, eight distinct and separate times upon a single page, she proceeded to inform them that she had recalled her cousin leicester, having great cause to use his services in england, and not seeing how, by his tarrying there, he could either profit them or herself. nevertheless she protested herself not void of compassion for their estate, and for the pitiful condition of the great multitude of kind and godly people, subject to the miseries which, by the states government, were like to fall upon them, unless god should specially interpose; and she had therefore determined, for the time, to continue her subsidies, according to the covenant between them. if, meantime, she should conclude a peace with spain, she promised to them the same care for their country as for her own. accordingly the earl, after despatching an equally ill-tempered letter to the states, in which he alluded, at unmerciful length, to all the old grievances, blamed them for the loss of sluys, for which place he protested that they had manifested no more interest than if it had been san domingo in hispaniola, took his departure for flushing. after remaining there, in a very moody frame of mind, for several days, expecting that the states would, at least, send a committee to wait upon him and receive his farewells, he took leave of them by letter. "god send me shortly a wind to blow me from them all," he exclaimed--a prayer which was soon granted--and before the end of the year he was safely landed in england. "these legs of mine," said he, clapping his hands upon them as he sat in his chamber at margate, "shall never go again into holland. let the states get others to serve their mercenary turn, for me they shall not have." upon giving up the government, he caused a medal to be struck in his own honour. the device was a flock of sheep watched by an english mastiff. two mottoes--"non gregem aed ingratos," and "invitus desero"--expressed his opinion of dutch ingratitude and his own fidelity. the hollanders, on their part, struck several medals to commemorate the same event, some of which were not destitute of invention. upon one of them, for instance, was represented an ape smothering her young ones to death in her embrace, with the device, "libertas ne its chara ut simiae catuli;" while upon the reverse was a man avoiding smoke and falling into the fire, with the inscription, "fugiens fumum, incidit in ignem." leicester found the usual sunshine at greenwich. all the efforts of norris, wilkes, and buckhurst, had been insufficient to raise even a doubt in elizabeth's mind as to the wisdom and integrity by which his administration of the provinces had been characterised from beginning to end. those who had appealed from his hatred to the justice of their sovereign, had met with disgrace and chastisement. but for the great earl; the queen's favour was a rock of adamant. at a private interview he threw himself at her feet, and with tears and sobs implored her not to receive him in disgrace whom she had sent forth in honour. his blandishments prevailed, as they had always done. instead, therefore, of appearing before the council, kneeling, to answer such inquiries as ought surely to have been instituted, he took his seat boldly among his colleagues, replying haughtily to all murmurs by a reference to her majesty's secret instructions. the unhappy english soldiers, who had gone forth under his banner in midsummer, had been returning, as they best might, in winter, starving, half-naked wretches, to beg a morsel of bread at the gates of greenwich palace, and to be driven away as vagabonds, with threats of the stock. this was not the fault of the earl, for he had fed them with his own generous hand in the netherlands, week after week, when no money for their necessities could be obtained from the paymasters. two thousand pounds had been sent by elizabeth to her soldiers when sixty-four thousand pounds arrearage were due, and no language could exaggerate the misery to which these outcasts, according to eye-witnesses of their own nation, were reduced. lord willoughby was appointed to the command, of what remained of these unfortunate troops, upon--the earl's departure. the sovereignty of the netherlands remained undisputed with the states. leicester resigned his, commission by an instrument dated / december, which, however, never reached the netherlands till april of the following year. from that time forth the government of the republic maintained the same forms which the assembly had claimed for it in the long controversy with the governor-general, and which have been sufficiently described. meantime the negotiations for a treaty, no longer secret, continued. the queen; infatuated as ever, still believed in the sincerity of farnese, while that astute personage and his master were steadily maturing their schemes. a matrimonial alliance was secretly projected between the king of scots and philip's daughter, the infants isabella, with the consent of the pope and the whole college of cardinals; and james, by the whole force of the holy league, was to be placed upon the throne of elizabeth. in the case of his death, without issue, philip was to succeed quietly to the crowns of england, scotland, and ireland. nothing could be simpler or more rational, and accordingly these arrangements were the table-talk at rome, and met with general approbation. communications to this effect; coming straight from the colonna palace, were thought sufficiently circumstantial to be transmitted to the english government. maurice of nassau wrote with his own hand to walsingham, professing a warm attachment to the cause in which holland and england were united, and perfect personal devotion to the english queen. his language, was not that of a youth, who, according to leicester's repeated insinuations, was leagued with the most distinguished soldiers and statesmen of the netherlands to sell their country to spain. but elizabeth was not to be convinced. she thought it extremely probable that the provinces would be invaded, and doubtless felt some anxiety for england. it was unfortunate that the possession of sluys had given alexander such a point of vantage; and there was moreover, a fear that he might take possession of ostend. she had, therefore, already recommended that her own troops should be removed from that city, that its walls should be razed; its marine bulwarks destroyed, and that the ocean. should be let in to swallow the devoted city forever--the inhabitants having been previously allowed to take their departure. for it was assumed by her majesty that to attempt resistance would be idle, and that ostend could never stand a siege. the advice was not taken; and before the end of her reign elizabeth was destined to see this indefensible city--only fit, in her judgment, to be abandoned to the waves--become memorable; throughout all time, for the longest; and, in many respects, the most remarkable siege which modern history has recorded, the famous leaguer, in which the first european captains of the coming age were to take their lessons, year after year, in the school of the great dutch soldier, who was now but a "solemn, sly youth," just turned of twenty. the only military achievement which characterized the close of the year, to the great satisfaction of the provinces and the annoyance of parma, was the surprise of the city of bonn. the indefatigable martin schenk--in fulfilment of his great contract with the states-general, by which the war on the rhine had been farmed out to him on such profitable terms:--had led his mercenaries against this important town. he had found one of its gates somewhat insecurely guarded, placed a mortar under it at night, and occupied a neighbouring pig-stye with a number of his men, who by chasing, maltreating, and slaughtering the swine, had raised an unearthly din, sufficient to drown the martial operations at the gate. in brief, the place was easily mastered, and taken possession of by martin, in the name of the deposed elector, gebhard truchsess--the first stroke of good fortune which had for a long time befallen that melancholy prelate. the administration of leicester has been so minutely pictured, that it would be superfluous to indulge in many concluding reflections. his acts and words have been made to speak for themselves. his career in the country has been described with much detail, because the period was a great epoch of transition. the republic of the netherlands, during those years, acquired consistency and permanent form. it seemed possible, on the earl's first advent, that the provinces might become part and parcel of the english realm. whether such a consummation would have been desirable or not, is a fruitless enquiry. but it is certain that the selection of such a man as leicester made that result impossible. doubtless there were many errors committed by all parties. the queen was supposed by the netherlands to be secretly desirous of accepting the sovereignty of the provinces, provided she were made sure, by the earl's experience, that they were competent to protect themselves. but this suspicion was unfounded. the result of every investigation showed the country so full of resources, of wealth, and of military and naval capabilities, that, united with england, it would have been a source of great revenue and power, not a burthen and an expense. yet, when convinced of such facts, by the statistics which were liberally laid before her by her confidential agents, she never manifested, either in public or private, any intention of accepting the sovereignty. this being her avowed determination, it was an error on the part of the states, before becoming thoroughly acquainted with the man's character, to confer upon leicester the almost boundless authority which they granted on, his first arrival. it was a still graver mistake, on the part of elizabeth, to give way to such explosions of fury, both against the governor and the states, when informed of the offer and acceptance of that authority. the earl, elevated by the adulation of others, and by his own vanity, into an almost sovereign attitude, saw himself chastised before the world, like an aspiring lackey, by her in whose favour he had felt most secure. he found, himself, in an instant, humbled and ridiculous. between himself and the queen it was, something of a lovers' quarrel, and he soon found balsam in the hand that smote him. but though reinstated in authority, he was never again the object of reverence in the land he was attempting to rule. as he came to know the netherlanders better, he recognized the great capacity which their statesmen concealed under a plain and sometimes a plebeian exterior, and the splendid grandee hated, where at first he had only despised. the netherlanders, too, who had been used to look up almost with worship to a plain man of kindly manners, in felt hat and bargeman's woollen jacket, whom they called "father william," did not appreciate, as they ought, the magnificence of the stranger who had been sent to govern them. the earl was handsome, quick-witted, brave; but he was, neither wise in council nor capable in the field. he was intolerably arrogant, passionate, and revengeful. he hated easily, and he hated for life. it was soon obvious that no cordiality of feeling or of action could exist between him and the plain, stubborn hollanders. he had the fatal characteristic of loving only the persons who flattered him. with much perception of character, sense of humour, and appreciation of intellect, he recognized the power of the leading men in the nation, and sought to gain them. so long as he hoped success, he was loud in their praises. they were all wise, substantial, well-languaged, big fellows, such as were not to be found in england or anywhere else. when they refused to be made his tools, they became tinkers, boors, devils, and atheists. he covered them with curses and devoted them to the gibbet. he began by warmly commending buys and barneveld, hohenlo and maurice, and endowing them with every virtue. before he left the country he had accused them of every crime, and would cheerfully, if he could, have taken the life of every one of them. and it was quite the same with nearly every englishman who served with or under him. wilkes and buckhurst, however much the objects of his previous esteem; so soon as they ventured to censure or even to criticise his proceedings, were at once devoted to perdition. yet, after minute examination of the record, public and private, neither wilkes nor buckhurst can be found guilty of treachery or animosity towards him, but are proved to have been governed, in all their conduct, by a strong sense of duty to their sovereign, the netherlands, and leicester himself. to sir john norris, it must be allowed, that he was never fickle, for he had always entertained for that distinguished general an honest, unswerving, and infinite hatred, which was not susceptible of increase or diminution by any act or word. pelham, too, whose days were numbered, and who was dying bankrupt and broken-hearted, at the close of the, earl's administration, had always been regarded by him with tenderness and affection. but pelham had never thwarted him, had exposed his life for him, and was always proud of being his faithful, unquestioning, humble adherent. with perhaps this single exception, leicester found himself at the end of his second term in the provinces, without a single friend and with few respectable partisans. subordinate mischievous intriguers like deventer, junius, and otheman, were his chief advisers and the instruments of his schemes. with such qualifications it was hardly possible--even if the current of affairs had been flowing smoothly--that he should prove a successful governor of the new republic. but when the numerous errors and adventitious circumstances are considered--for some of which he was responsible, while of others he was the victim--it must be esteemed fortunate that no great catastrophe occurred. his immoderate elevation; his sudden degradation, his controversy in regard to the sovereignty, his abrupt departure for england, his protracted absence, his mistimed return, the secret instructions for his second administration, the obstinate parsimony and persistent ill-temper of the queen--who, from the beginning to the end of the earl's government, never addressed a kindly word to the netherlanders, but was ever censuring and brow beating them in public state-papers and private epistles--the treason of york and stanley, above all, the disastrous and concealed negotiations with parma, and the desperate attempts upon amsterdam and leyden--all placed him in a most unfortunate position from first to last. but he was not competent for his post under any circumstances. he was not the statesman to deal in policy with buys, barneveld, ortel, sainte aldegonde; nor the soldier to measure himself against alexander farnese. his administration was a failure; and although he repeatedly hazarded his life, and poured out his wealth in their behalf with an almost unequalled liberality, he could never gain the hearts of the netherlanders. english valour, english intelligence, english truthfulness, english generosity, were endearing england more and more to holland. the statesmen of both countries were brought into closest union, and learned to appreciate and to respect each other, while they recognized that the fate of their respective commonwealths was indissolubly united. but it was to the efforts of walsingham, drake, raleigh, wilkes, buckburst, norris, willoughby, williams, vere, russell, and the brave men who fought under their banners or their counsels, on every battle-field, and in every beleaguered town in the netherlands, and to the universal spirit and sagacity of the english nation, in this grand crisis of its fate, that these fortunate results were owing; not to the earl of leicester, nor--during the term of his administration--to queen elizabeth herself. in brief, the proper sphere of this remarkable personage, and the one in which he passed the greater portion of his existence, was that of a magnificent court favourite, the spoiled darling, from youth to his death-bed, of the great english queen; whether to the advantage or not of his country and the true interests of his sovereign, there can hardly be at this day any difference of opinion. etext editor's bookmarks: act of uniformity required papists to assist as lieve see the spanish as the calvinistic inquisition elizabeth (had not) the faintest idea of religious freedom god, whose cause it was, would be pleased to give good weather heretics to the english church were persecuted look for a sharp war, or a miserable peace loving only the persons who flattered him not many more than two hundred catholics were executed only citadel against a tyrant and a conqueror was distrust stake or gallows (for) heretics to transubstantiation states were justified in their almost unlimited distrust undue anxiety for impartiality wealthy papists could obtain immunity by an enormous fine history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter xviii. part . prophecies as to the year --distracted condition of the dutch republic--willoughby reluctantly takes command--english commissioners come to ostend--secretary gamier and robert cecil-- cecil accompanies dale to ghent--and finds the desolation complete-- interview of dale and cecil with parma--his fervent expressions in favour of peace--cecil makes a tour in flanders--and sees much that is remarkable--interviews of dr. rogers with parma--wonderful harangues of the envoy--extraordinary amenity of alexander--with which rogers is much touched--the queen not pleased with her envoy-- credulity of the english commissioners--ceremonious meeting of all the envoys--consummate art in wasting time--long disputes about commissions--the spanish commissions meant to deceive--disputes about cessation of arms--spanish duplicity and procrastination-- pedantry and credulity of dr. dale--the papal bull and dr. allen's pamphlet--dale sent to ask explanations--parma denies all knowledge of either--croft believes to the last in alexander. the year had at last arrived--that fatal year concerning which the german astrologers--more than a century before had prognosticated such dire events. as the epoch approached it was firmly believed by many that the end of the world was at hand, while the least superstitious could not doubt that great calamities were impending over the nations. portents observed during the winter and in various parts of europe came to increase the prevailing panic. it rained blood in sweden, monstrous births occurred in france, and at weimar it was gravely reported by eminent chroniclers that the sun had appeared at mid-day holding a drawn sword in his mouth--a warlike portent whose meaning could not be mistaken. but, in truth, it needed no miracles nor prophecies to enforce the conviction that a long procession of disasters was steadily advancing. with france rent asunder by internal convulsions, with its imbecile king not even capable of commanding a petty faction among his own subjects, with spain the dark cause of unnumbered evils, holding italy in its grasp, firmly allied with the pope, already having reduced and nearly absorbed france, and now, after long and patient preparation, about to hurl the concentrated vengeance and hatred of long years upon the little kingdom of england, and its only ally--the just organized commonwealth of the netherlands--it would have been strange indeed if the dullest intellect had not dreamed of tragical events. it was not encouraging that there should be distraction in the counsels of the two states so immediately threatened; that the queen of england should be at variance with her wisest and most faithful statesmen as to their course of action, and that deadly quarrels should exist between the leading men of the dutch republic and the english governor, who had assumed the responsibility of directing its energies against the common enemy. the blackest night that ever descended upon the netherlands--more disappointing because succeeding a period of comparative prosperity and triumph--was the winter of - , when leicester had terminated his career by his abrupt departure for england, after his second brief attempt at administration. for it was exactly at this moment of anxious expectation, when dangers were rolling up from the south till not a ray of light or hope could pierce the universal darkness, that the little commonwealth was left without a chief. the english earl departed, shaking the dust from his feet; but he did not resign. the supreme authority--so far as he could claim it--was again transferred,--with his person, to england. the consequences were immediate and disastrous. all the leicestrians refused to obey the states-general. utrecht, the stronghold of that party, announced its unequivocal intention to annex itself, without any conditions whatever, to the english crown, while, in holland, young maurice was solemnly installed stadholder, and captain-general of the provinces, under the guidance of hohenlo and barneveld. but his authority was openly defied in many important cities within his jurisdiction by military chieftains who had taken the oaths of allegiance to leicester as governor, and who refused to renounce fidelity to the man who had deserted their country, but who had not resigned his authority. of these mutineers the most eminent was diedrich sonoy, governor of north holland, a soldier of much experience, sagacity, and courage, who had rendered great services to the cause of liberty and protestantism, and had defaced it by acts of barbarity which had made his name infamous. against this refractory chieftain it was necessary for hohenlo and maurice to lead an armed force, and to besiege him in his stronghold--the important city of medenblik--which he resolutely held for leicester, although leicester had definitely departed, and which he closed against maurice, although maurice was the only representative of order and authority within the distracted commonwealth. and thus civil war had broken out in the little scarcely-organized republic, as if there were not dangers and bloodshed enough impending over it from abroad. and the civil war was the necessary consequence of the earl's departure. the english forces--reduced as they were by sickness, famine, and abject poverty--were but a remnant of the brave and well-seasoned bands which had faced the spaniards with success on so many battle-fields. the general who now assumed chief command over them--by direction of leicester, subsequently confirmed by the queen--was lord willoughby. a daring, splendid dragoon, an honest, chivalrous, and devoted servant of his queen, a conscientious adherent of leicester, and a firm believer in his capacity and character, he was, however, not a man of sufficient experience or subtlety to perform the various tasks imposed upon him by the necessities of such a situation. quick-witted, even brilliant in intellect, and the bravest of the brave on the battle-field, he was neither a sagacious administrator nor a successful commander. and he honestly confessed his deficiencies, and disliked the post to which he had been elevated. he scorned baseness, intrigue, and petty quarrels, and he was impatient of control. testy, choleric, and quarrelsome, with a high sense of honour, and a keen perception of insult, very modest and very proud, he was not likely to feed with wholesome appetite upon the unsavoury annoyances which were the daily bread of a chief commander in the netherlands. "i ambitiously affect not high titles, but round dealing," he said; "desiring rather to be a private lance with indifferent reputation, than a colonel-general spotted or defamed with wants." he was not the politician to be matched against the unscrupulous and all-accomplished farnese; and indeed no man better than willoughby could illustrate the enormous disadvantage under which englishmen laboured at that epoch in their dealings with italians and spaniards. the profuse indulgence in falsehood which characterized southern statesmanship, was more than a match for english love of truth. english soldiers and negotiators went naked into a contest with enemies armed in a panoply of lies. it was an unequal match, as we have already seen, and as we are soon more clearly to see. how was an english soldier who valued his knightly word--how were english diplomatists--among whom one of the most famous--then a lad of twenty, secretary to lord essex in the netherlands--had poetically avowed that "simple truth was highest skill,"--to deal with the thronging spanish deceits sent northward by the great father of lies who sat in the escorial? "it were an ill lesson," said willoughby, "to teach soldiers the, dissimulations of such as follow princes' courts, in italy. for my own part, it is my only end to be loyal and dutiful to my sovereign, and plain to all others that i honour. i see the finest reynard loses his best coat as well as the poorest sheep." he was also a strong leicestrian, and had imbibed much of the earl's resentment against the leading politicians of the states. willoughby was sorely in need of council. that shrewd and honest welshman--roger williams--was, for the moment, absent. another of the same race and character commanded in bergen-op-zoom, but was not more gifted with administrative talent than the general himself. "sir thomas morgan is a very sufficient, gallant gentleman," said willoughby, "and in truth a very old soldier; but we both have need of one that can both give and keep counsel better than ourselves. for action he is undoubtedly very able, if there were no other means to conquer but only to give blows." in brief, the new commander of the english forces in the netherlands was little satisfied with the states, with the enemy, or with himself; and was inclined to take but a dismal view of the disjointed commonwealth, which required so incompetent a person as he professed himself to be to set it right. "'tis a shame to show my wants," he said, "but too great a fault of duty that the queen's reputation be frustrate. what is my slender experience! what an honourable person do i succeed! what an encumbered popular state is left! what withered sinews, which it passes my cunning to restore! what an enemy in head greater than heretofore! and wherewithal should i sustain this burthen? for the wars i am fitter to obey than to command. for the state, i am a man prejudicated in their opinion, and not the better liked of them that have earnestly followed the general, and, being one that wants both opinion and experience with them i have to deal, and means to win more or to maintain that which is left, what good may be looked for?" the supreme authority--by the retirement of leicester--was once more the subject of dispute. as on his first departure, so also on this his second and final one, he had left a commission to the state-council to act as an executive body during his absence. but, although he--nominally still retained his office, in reality no man believed in his return; and the states-general were ill inclined to brook a species of guardianship over them, with which they believed themselves mature enough to dispense. moreover the state-council, composed mainly of leicestrians, would expire, by limitation of its commission, early in february of that year. the dispute for power would necessarily terminate, therefore, in favour of the states-general. meantime--while this internal revolution was taking place in the polity of the commonwealth-the gravest disturbances were its natural consequence. there were mutinies in the garrisons of heusden, of gertruydenberg, of medenblik, as alarming, and threatening to become as chronic in their character, as those extensive military rebellions which often rendered the spanish troops powerless at the most critical epochs. the cause of these mutinies was uniformly, want of pay, the pretext, the oath to the earl of leicester, which was declared incompatible with the allegiance claimed by maurice in the name of the states-general. the mutiny of gertruydenberg was destined to be protracted; that of medenblik, dividing, as it did, the little territory of holland in its very heart, it was most important at once to suppress. sonoy, however--who was so stanch a leicestrian, that his spanish contemporaries uniformly believed him to be an englishman--held out for a long time, as will be seen, against the threats and even the armed demonstrations of maurice and the states. meantime the english sovereign, persisting in her delusion, and despite the solemn warnings of her own wisest counsellors; and the passionate remonstrances of the states-general of the netherlands, sent her peace-commissioners to the duke of parma. the earl of derby, lord cobham, sir james croft, valentine dale, doctor of laws, and former ambassador at vienna, and dr. rogers, envoys on the part of the queen, arrived in the netherlands in february. the commissioners appointed on the part of farnese were count aremberg, champagny, richardot, jacob maas, and secretary garnier. if history has ever furnished a lesson, how an unscrupulous tyrant, who has determined upon enlarging his own territories at the expense of his neighbours, upon oppressing human freedom wherever it dared to manifest itself, with fine phrases of religion and order for ever in his mouth, on deceiving his friends and enemies alike, as to his nefarious and almost incredible designs, by means of perpetual and colossal falsehoods; and if such lessons deserve to be pondered, as a source of instruction and guidance for every age, then certainly the secret story of the negotiations by which the wise queen of england was beguiled, and her kingdom brought to the verge of ruin, in the spring of , is worthy of serious attention. the english commissioners arrived at ostend. with them came robert cecil, youngest son of lord-treasurer burghley, then twenty-five years of age.--he had no official capacity, but was sent by his father, that he might improve his diplomatic talents, and obtain some information as to the condition of the netherlands. a slight, crooked, hump-backed young gentleman, dwarfish in stature, but with a face not irregular in feature, and thoughtful and subtle in expression, with reddish hair, a thin tawny beard, and large, pathetic, greenish-coloured eyes, with a mind and manners already trained to courts and cabinets, and with a disposition almost ingenuous, as compared to the massive dissimulation with which it was to be contrasted, and with what was, in aftertimes, to constitute a portion of his own character, cecil, young as he was, could not be considered the least important of the envoys. the queen, who loved proper men, called him "her pigmy;" and "although," he observed with whimsical courtliness, "i may not find fault with the sporting name she gives me, yet seem i only not to mislike it, because she gives it." the strongest man among them was valentine dale, who had much shrewdness, experience, and legal learning, but who valued himself, above all things, upon his latinity. it was a consolation to him, while his adversaries were breaking priscian's head as fast as the duke, their master, was breaking his oaths, that his own syntax was as clear as his conscience. the feeblest commissioner was james-a-croft, who had already exhibited himself with very anile characteristics, and whose subsequent manifestations were to seem like dotage. doctor rogers, learned in the law, as he unquestionably was, had less skill in reading human character, or in deciphering the physiognomy of a farnese, while lord derby, every inch a grandee, with lord cobham to assist him, was not the man to cope with the astute richardot, the profound and experienced champagny, or that most voluble and most rhetorical of doctors of law, jacob maas of antwerp. the commissioners, on their arrival, were welcomed by secretary garnier, who had been sent to ostend to greet them. an adroit, pleasing, courteous gentleman, thirty-six years of age, small, handsome, and attired not quite as a soldier, nor exactly as one of the long robe, wearing a cloak furred to the knee, a cassock of black velvet, with plain gold buttons, and a gold chain about his neck, the secretary delivered handsomely the duke of parma's congratulations, recommended great expedition in the negotiations, and was then invited by the earl of derby to dine with the commissioners. he was accompanied by a servant in plain livery, who--so soon as his master had made his bow to the english envoys--had set forth for a stroll through the town. the modest-looking valet, however, was a distinguished engineer in disguise, who had been sent by alexander for the especial purpose of examining the fortifications of ostend--that town being a point much coveted, and liable to immediate attack by the spanish commander. meanwhile secretary gamier made himself very agreeable, showing wit, experience, and good education; and, after dinner, was accompanied to his lodgings by dr. rogers and other gentlemen, with whom--especially with cecil--he held much conversation. knowing that this young gentleman "wanted not an honourable father," the secretary was very desirous that he should take this opportunity to make a tour through the provinces, examine the cities, and especially "note the miserable ruins of the poor country and people." he would then feelingly perceive how much they had to answer for, whose mad rebellion against their sovereign lord and master had caused so great an effusion of blood, and the wide desolation of such goodly towns and territories. cecil probably entertained a suspicion that the sovereign lord and master, who had been employed, twenty years long, in butchering his subjects and in ravaging their territory to feed his executioners and soldiers, might almost be justified in treating human beings as beasts and reptiles, if they had not at last rebelled. he simply and diplomatically answered, however, that he could not but concur with the secretary in lamenting the misery of the provinces and people so utterly despoiled and ruined, but, as it might be matter of dispute; "from what head this fountain of calamity was both fed and derived, he would not enter further therein, it being a matter much too high for his capacity." he expressed also the hope that the king's heart might sympathize with that of her majesty, in earnest compassion for all this suffering, and in determination to compound their differences. on the following day there was some conversation with gamier, on preliminary and formal matters, followed in the evening by a dinner at lord cobham's lodgings--a banquet which the forlorn condition of the country scarcely permitted to be luxurious. "we rather pray here for satiety," said cecil, "than ever think of variety." it was hoped by the englishmen that the secretary would take his departure after dinner; for the governor of ostend, sir john conway, had an uneasy sensation, during his visit, that the unsatisfactory condition of the defences would attract his attention, and that a sudden attack by farnese might be the result. sir john was not aware however, of the minute and scientific observations then making at the very moment when mr. garnier was entertaining the commissioners with his witty and instructive conversation--by the unobtrusive menial who had accompanied the secretary to ostend. in order that those observations might be as thorough as possible, rather than with any view to ostensible business, the envoy of parma now declared that--on account of the unfavourable state of the tide--he had resolved to pass another night at ostend. "we could have spared his company," said cecil, "but their lordships considered it convenient that he should be used well." so mr. comptroller croft gave the affable secretary a dinner-invitation for the following day. here certainly was a masterly commencement on the part of the spanish diplomatists. there was not one stroke of business during the visit of the secretary. he had been sent simply to convey a formal greeting, and to take the names of the english commissioners--a matter which could have been done in an hour as well as in a week. but it must be remembered, that, at that very moment, the duke was daily expecting intelligence of the sailing of the armada, and that philip, on his part, supposed the duke already in england, at the head of his army. under these circumstances, therefore--when the whole object of the negotiation, so far as parma and his master were, concerned, was to amuse and to gain time--it was already ingenious in garnier to have consumed several days in doing nothing; and to have obtained plans and descriptions of ostend into the bargain. garnier--when his departure could no longer, on any pretext, be deferred--took his leave, once more warmly urging robert cecil to make a little tour in the obedient netherlands, and to satisfy himself, by personal observation, of their miserable condition. as dr. dale purposed making a preliminary visit to the duke of parma at ghent, it was determined accordingly that he should be accompanied by cecil. that young gentleman had already been much impressed by the forlorn aspect of the country about ostend--for, although the town was itself in possession of the english, it was in the midst of the enemy's territory. since the fall of sluys the spaniards were masters of all flanders, save this one much-coveted point. and although the queen had been disposed to abandon that city, and to suffer the ocean to overwhelm it, rather than that she should be at charges to defend it, yet its possession was of vital consequence to the english-dutch cause, as time was ultimately to show. meanwhile the position was already a very important one, for--according to the predatory system of warfare of the day--it was an excellent starting-point for those marauding expeditions against persons and property, in which neither the dutch nor english were less skilled than the flemings or spaniards. "the land all about here," said cecil, "is so devastated, that where the open country was wont to be covered with kine and sheep, it is now fuller of wild boars and wolves; whereof many come so nigh the town that the sentinels--three of whom watch every night upon a sand-hill outside the gates--have had them in a dark night upon them ere they were aware." but the garrison of ostend was quite as dangerous to the peasants and the country squires of flanders, as were the wolves or wild boars; and many a pacific individual of retired habits, and with a remnant of property worth a ransom, was doomed to see himself whisked from his seclusion by conway's troopers, and made a compulsory guest at the city. prisoners were brought in from a distance of sixty miles; and there was one old gentlemen, "well-languaged," who "confessed merrily to cecil, that when the soldiers fetched him out of his own mansion-house, sitting safe in his study, he was as little in fear of the garrison of ostend as he was of the turk or the devil." [and doctor rogers held very similar language: "the most dolorous and heavy sights in this voyage to ghent, by me weighed," he said; "seeing the countries which, heretofore; by traffic of merchants, as much as any other i have seen flourish, now partly drowned, and, except certain great cities, wholly burned, ruined, and desolate, possessed i say, with wolves, wild boars, and foxes--a great, testimony of the wrath of god," &c. &c. dr. rogers to the queen,- april, . (s. p. office ms.)] three days after the departure of garnier, dr. dale and his attendants started upon their expedition from ostend to ghent--an hour's journey or so in these modern times.--the english envoys, in the sixteenth century, found it a more formidable undertaking. they were many hours traversing the four miles to oudenburg, their first halting-place; for the waters were out, there having been a great breach of the sea-dyke of ostend, a disaster threatening destruction to town and country. at oudenburg, a "small and wretched hole," as garnier had described it to be, there was, however, a garrison of three thousand spanish soldiers, under the marquis de renti. from these a convoy of fifty troopers was appointed to protect the english travellers to bruges. here they arrived at three o'clock, were met outside the gates by the famous general la motte, and by him escorted to their lodgings in the "english house," and afterwards handsomely entertained at supper in his own quarters. the general's wife; madame de la motte, was, according to cecil, "a fair gentlewoman of discreet and modest behaviour, and yet not unwilling sometimes to hear herself speak;" so that in her society, and in that of her sister--"a nun of the order of the mounts, but who, like the rest of the sisterhood, wore an ordinary dress in the evening, and might leave the convent if asked in marriage"--the supper passed off very agreeably. in the evening cecil found that his father had formerly occupied the same bedroom of the english hotel in which he was then lodged; for he found that lord burghley had scrawled his name in the chimney-corner--a fact which was highly gratifying to the son. the next morning, at seven o'clock, the travellers set forth for ghent. the journey was a miserable one. it was as cold and gloomy weather as even a flemish month of march could furnish. a drizzling rain was falling all day long, the lanes were foul and miry, the frequent thickets which overhung their path were swarming with the freebooters of zeeland, who were "ever at hand," says cecil, "to have picked our purses, but that they descried our convoy, and so saved themselves in the woods." sitting on horseback ten hours without alighting, under such circumstances as these, was not luxurious for a fragile little gentleman like queen elizabeth's "pigmy;" especially as dr. dale and himself had only half a red herring between them for luncheon, and supped afterwards upon an orange. the envoy protested that when they could get a couple of eggs a piece, while travelling in flanders, "they thought they fared like princes." nevertheless cecil and himself fought it out manfully, and when they reached ghent, at five in the evening, they were met by their acquaintance garnier, and escorted to their lodgings. here they were waited upon by president richardot, "a tall gentleman," on behalf of the duke of parma, and then left to their much-needed repose. nothing could be more forlorn than the country of the obedient netherlands, through which their day's journey had led them. desolation had been the reward of obedience. "the misery of the inhabitants," said cecil, "is incredible, both without the town, where all things are wasted, houses spoiled, and grounds unlaboured, and also, even in these great cities, where they are for the most part poor beggars even in the fairest houses." and all this human wretchedness was the elaborate work of one man--one dull, heartless bigot, living, far away, a life of laborious ease and solemn sensuality; and, in reality, almost as much removed from these fellow-creatures of his, whom he called his subjects, as if he had been the inhabitant of another planet. has history many more instructive warnings against the horrors of arbitrary government--against the folly of mankind in ever tolerating the rule of a single irresponsible individual, than the lesson furnished by the life-work of that crowned criminal, philip the second? the longing for peace on the part of these unfortunate obedient flemings was intense. incessant cries for peace reached the ears of the envoys on every side. alas, it would have been better for these peace-wishers, had they stood side by side with their brethren, the noble hollanders and zeelanders, when they had been wresting, if not peace, yet independence and liberty, from philip, with their own right hands. now the obedient flemings were but fuel for the vast flame which the monarch was kindling for the destruction of christendom--if all christendom were not willing to accept his absolute dominion. the burgomasters of ghent--of ghent, once the powerful, the industrious, the opulent, the free, of all cities in the world now the most abject and forlorn--came in the morning to wait upon elizabeth's envoy, and to present him, according to ancient custom, with some flasks of wine. they came with tears streaming down their cheeks, earnestly expressing the desire of their hearts for peace, and their joy that at least it had now "begun to be thought on." "it is quite true," replied dr. dale, "that her excellent majesty the queen--filled with compassion for your condition, and having been informed that the duke of parma is desirous of peace--has vouchsafed to make this overture. if it take not the desired effect, let not the blame rest upon her, but upon her adversaries." to these words the magistrates all said amen, and invoked blessings on her majesty. and most certainly, elizabeth was sincerely desirous of peace; even at greater sacrifices than the duke could well have imagined; but there was something almost diabolic in the cold dissimulation by which her honest compassion was mocked, and the tears of a whole people in its agony made the laughingstock of a despot and his tools. on saturday morning, richardot and garnier waited upon the envoy to escort him to the presence of the duke. cecil, who accompanied him, was not much impressed with the grandeur of alexander's lodgings; and made unfavourable and rather unreasonable comparisons between them and the splendour of elizabeth's court. they passed through an ante-chamber into a dining-room, thence into an inner chamber, and next into the duke's room. in the ante-chamber stood sir william stanley, the deventer traitor, conversing with one mockett, an englishman, long resident in flanders. stanley was meanly dressed, in the spanish fashion, and as young cecil, passing through the chamber, looked him in the face, he abruptly turned from him, and pulled his hat over his eyes. "'twas well he did so," said that young gentleman, "for his taking it off would hardly have cost me mine." cecil was informed that stanley was to have a commandery of malta, and was in good favour with the duke, who was, however, quite weary of his mutinous and disorderly irish regiment. in the bed-chamber, farnese--accompanied by the marquis del guasto, the marquis of renty, the prince of aremberg, president richardot, and secretary cosimo--received the envoy and his companion. "small and mean was the furniture of the chamber," said cecil; "and although they attribute this to his love of privacy, yet it is a sign that peace is the mother of all honour and state, as may best be perceived by the court of england, which her majesty's royal presence doth so adorn, as that it exceedeth this as far as the sun surpasseth in light the other stars of the firmament." here was a compliment to the queen and her upholsterers drawn in by the ears. certainly, if the first and best fruit of the much-longed-for peace were only to improve the furniture of royal and ducal apartments, it might be as well perhaps for the war to go on, while the queen continued to outshine all the stars in the firmament. but the budding courtier and statesman knew that a personal compliment to elizabeth could never be amiss or ill-timed. the envoy delivered the greetings of her majesty to the duke, and was heard with great attention. alexander attempted a reply in french, which was very imperfect, and, apologizing, exchanged that tongue for italian. he alluded with great fervour to the "honourable opinion concerning his sincerity and word," expressed to him by her majesty, through the mouth of her envoy. "and indeed," said he, "i have always had especial care of keeping my word. my body and service are at the commandment of the king, my lord and master, but my honour is my own, and her majesty may be assured that i shall always have especial regard of my word to so great and famous a queen as her majesty." the visit was one of preliminaries and of ceremony. nevertheless farnese found opportunity to impress the envoy and his companions with his sincerity of heart. he conversed much with cecil, making particular and personal inquiries, and with appearance of deep interest, in regard to queen elizabeth. "there is not a prince in the world--" he said, "reserving all question between her majesty and my royal master--to whom i desire more to do service. so much have i heard of her perfections, that i wish earnestly that things might so fall out, as that it might be my fortune to look upon her face before my return to my own country. yet i desire to behold her, not as a servant to him who is not able still to maintain war, or as one that feared any harm that might befall him; for in such matters my account was made long ago, to endure all which god may send. but, in truth, i am weary to behold the miserable estate of this people, fallen upon them through their own folly, and methinks that he who should do the best offices of peace would perform a 'pium et sanctissimum opus.' right glad am i that the queen is not behind me in zeal for peace." he then complimented cecil in regard to his father, whom he understood to be the principal mover in these negotiations. the young man expressed his thanks, and especially for the good affection which the duke had manifested to the queen and in the blessed cause of peace. he was well aware that her majesty esteemed him a prince of great honour and virtue, and that for this good work, thus auspiciously begun, no man could possibly doubt that her majesty, like himself, was most zealously affected to bring all things to a perfect peace. the matters discussed in this first interview were only in regard to the place to be appointed for the coming conferences, and the exchange of powers. the queen's commissioners had expected to treat at ostend. alexander, on the contrary, was unable to listen to such a suggestion, as it would be utter dereliction of his master's dignity to send envoys to a city of his own, now in hostile occupation by her majesty's forces. the place of conference, therefore, would be matter of future consideration. in respect to the exchange of powers, alexander expressed the hope that no man would doubt as to the production on his commissioners' part of ample authority both from himself and from the king. yet it will be remembered, that, at this moment, the duke had not only no powers from the king, but that philip had most expressly refused to send a commission, and that he fully expected the negotiation to be superseded by the invasion, before the production of the powers should become indispensable. and when farnese was speaking thus fervently in favour of peace, and parading his word and his honour, the letters lay in his cabinet in that very room, in which philip expressed his conviction that his general was already in london, that the whole realm of england was already at the mercy of a spanish soldiery, and that the queen, upon whose perfection alexander had so long yearned to gaze, was a discrowned captive, entirely in her great enemy's power. thus ended the preliminary interview. on the following monday, th march, dr. dale and his attendants made the best of their way back to ostend, while young cecil, with a safe conduct from champagny, set forth on a little tour in flanders. the journey from ghent to antwerp was easy, and he was agreeably surprised by the apparent prosperity of the country. at intervals of every few miles; he was refreshed with the spectacle of a gibbet well garnished with dangling freebooters; and rejoiced, therefore, in comparative security. for it seemed that the energetic bailiff of waasland had levied a contribution upon the proprietors of the country, to be expended mainly in hanging brigands; and so well had the funds been applied, that no predatory bands could make their appearance but they were instantly pursued by soldiers, and hanged forthwith, without judge or trial. cecil counted twelve such places of execution on his road between ghent and antwerp. on his journey he fell in with an italian merchant,--lanfranchi by name, of a great commercial house in antwerp, in the days when antwerp had commerce, and by him, on his arrival the same evening in that town, he was made an honoured guest, both for his father's sake and his queen's. "'tis the pleasantest city that ever i saw," said cecil, "for situation and building; but utterly left and abandoned now by those rich merchants that were wont to frequent the place." his host was much interested in the peace-negotiations, and indeed, through his relations with champagny and andreas de loo, had been one of the instruments by which it had been commenced. he inveighed bitterly against the spanish captains and soldiers, to whose rapacity and ferocity he mainly ascribed the continuance of the war;--and he was especially incensed with stanley and other--english renegades, who were thought fiercer haters of england than were the spaniards themselves: even in the desolate and abject condition of antwerp and its neighbourhood, at that moment, the quick eye of cecil detected the latent signs of a possible splendour. should peace be restored, the territory once more be tilled, and the foreign merchants attracted thither again, he believed that the governor of the obedient netherlands might live there in more magnificence than the king of spain himself, exhausted as were his revenues by the enormous expense of this protracted war: eight hundred thousand dollars monthly; so lanfranchi informed cecil, were the costs of the forces on the footing then established. this, however, was probably an exaggeration, for the royal account books showed a less formidable sum, although a sufficiently large one to appal a less obstinate bigot than philip. but what to him were the, ruin of the netherlands; the impoverishment of spain, and the downfall of her ancient grandeur compared to the glory of establishing the inquisition in england and holland? while at dinner in lanfranchi's house; cecil was witness to another characteristic of the times, and one which afforded proof of even more formidable freebooters abroad than those for whom the bailiff of waasland had erected his gibbets. a canal-boat had left antwerp for brussels that morning, and in the vicinity of the latter city had been set upon by a detachment from the english garrison of bergen-op-zoom, and captured, with twelve prisoners and a freight of , florins in money. "this struck the company at the dinner-table all in a dump;" said cecil. and well it might; for the property mainly belonged to themselves, and they forthwith did their best to have the marauders waylaid on their return. but cecil, notwithstanding his gratitude for the hospitality of lanfranchi, sent word next day to the garrison of bergen of the designs against them, and on his arrival at the place had the satisfaction of being informed by lord willoughby that the party had got safe home with their plunder. "and, well worthy they are of it," said young robert, "considering how far they go for it." the traveller, on, leaving antwerp, proceeded down the river to bergen-op-zoom, where he was hospitably entertained by that doughty old soldier sir william reade, and met lord willoughby, whom he accompanied to brielle on a visit to the deposed elector truchsess, then living in that neighbourhood. cecil--who was not passion's slave--had small sympathy with the man who could lose a sovereignty for the sake of agnes mansfeld. "'tis a very goodly gentleman," said he, "well fashioned, and of good speech, for which i must rather praise him than for loving a wife better than so great a fortune as he lost by her occasion." at brielle he was handsomely entertained by the magistrates, who had agreeable recollections of his brother thomas, late governor of that city. thence he proceeded by way of delft--which, like all english travellers, he described as "the finest built town that ever he saw"--to the hague, and thence to fushing, and so back by sea to ostend.--he had made the most of his three weeks' tour, had seen many important towns both in the republic and in the obedient netherlands, and had conversed with many "tall gentlemen," as he expressed himself, among the english commanders, having been especially impressed by the heroes of sluys, baskerville and that "proper gentleman francis vere." he was also presented by lord willoughby to maurice of nassau, and was perhaps not very benignantly received by the young prince. at that particular moment, when leicester's deferred resignation, the rebellion of sonoy in north holland, founded on a fictitious allegiance to the late governor-general, the perverse determination of the queen to treat for peace against the advice of all the leading statesmen of the netherlands, and the sharp rebukes perpetually administered by her, in consequence, to the young stadholder and all his supporters, had not tended to produce the most tender feelings upon their part towards the english government, it was not surprising that the handsome soldier should look askance at the crooked little courtier, whom even the great queen smiled at while she petted him. cecil was very angry with maurice. "in my life i never saw worse behaviour," he said, "except it were in one lately come from school. there is neither outward appearance in him of any noble mind nor inward virtue." although cecil had consumed nearly the whole month of march in his tour, he had been more profitably employed than were the royal commissioners during the same period at ostend. never did statesmen know better how not to do that which they were ostensibly occupied in doing than alexander farnese and his agents, champagny, richardot, jacob maas, and gamier. the first pretext by which much time was cleverly consumed was the dispute as to the place of meeting. doctor dale had already expressed his desire for ostend as the place of colloquy. "'tis a very slow old gentleman, this doctor dale," said alexander; "he was here in the time of madam my mother, and has also been ambassador at vienna. i have received him and his attendants with great courtesy, and held out great hopes of peace. we had conversations about the place of meeting. he wishes ostend: i object. the first conference will probably be at some point between that place and newport." the next opportunity for discussion and delay was afforded by the question of powers. and it must be ever borne in mind that alexander was daily expecting the arrival of the invading fleets and armies of spain, and was holding himself in readiness to place himself at their head for the conquest of england. this was, of course, so strenuously denied by himself and those under his influence, that queen elizabeth implicitly. believed him, burghley was lost in doubt, and even the astute walsingham began to distrust his own senses. so much strength does a falsehood acquire in determined and skilful hands. "as to the commissions, it will be absolutely necessary for, your majesty to send them," wrote alexander at the moment when he was receiving the english envoy at ghent, "for unless the armada arrive soon--it will be indispensable for me, to have them, in order to keep the negotiation alive. of course they will never broach the principal matters without exhibition of powers. richardot is aware of the secret which your majesty confided to me, namely, that the negotiations are only intended to deceive the queen and to gain time for the fleet; but the powers must be sent in order that we may be able to produce them; although your secret intentions will be obeyed." the duke commented, however, on the extreme difficulty of carrying out the plan, as originally proposed. "the conquest of england would have been difficult," he said, "even although the country had been taken by surprise. now they are strong and armed; we are comparatively weak. the danger and the doubt are great; and the english deputies, i think, are really desirous of peace. nevertheless i am at your majesty's disposition--life and all--and probably, before the answer arrives to this letter, the fleet will have arrived, and i shall have undertaken the passage to england." after three weeks had thus adroitly been frittered away, the english commissioners became somewhat impatient, and despatched doctor rogers to the duke at ghent. this was extremely obliging upon their part, for if valentine dale were a "slow old gentleman," he was keen, caustic, and rapid, as compared to john rogers. a formalist and a pedant, a man of red tape and routine, full of precedents and declamatory commonplaces which he mistook for eloquence, honest as daylight and tedious as a king, he was just the time-consumer for alexander's purpose. the wily italian listened with profound attention to the wise saws in which the excellent diplomatist revelled, and his fine eyes often filled with tears at the doctor's rhetoric. three interviews--each three mortal hours long--did the two indulge in at ghent, and never, was high-commissioner better satisfied with himself than was john rogers upon those occasions. he carried every point; he convinced, he softened, he captivated the great duke; he turned the great duke round his finger. the great duke smiled, or wept, or fell into his arms, by turns. alexander's military exploits had rung through the world, his genius for diplomacy and statesmanship had never been disputed; but his talents as a light comedian were, in these interviews, for the first time fully revealed. on the th march the learned doctor made his first bow and performed his first flourish of compliments at ghent. "i assure your majesty," said he, "his highness followed my compliments of entertainment with so much honour, as that--his highness or i, speaking of the queen of england--he never did less than uncover his head; not covering the same, unless i was covered also." and after these salutations had at last been got through with, thus spake the doctor of laws to the duke of parma:-- "almighty god, the light of lights, be pleased to enlighten the understanding of your alteza, and to direct the same to his glory, to the uniting of both their majesties and the finishing of these most bloody wars, whereby these countries, being in the highest degree of misery desolate, lie as it were prostrate before the wrathful presence of the most mighty god, most lamentably beseeching his divine majesty to withdraw his scourge of war from them, and to move the hearts of princes to restore them unto peace, whereby they might attain unto their ancient flower and dignity. into the hands of your alteza are now the lives of many thousands, the destruction of cities, towns, and countries, which to put to the fortune of war how perilous it were, i pray consider. think ye, ye see the mothers left alive tendering their offspring in your presence, 'nam matribus detestata bells,'" continued the orator. "think also of others of all sexes, ages, and conditions, on their knees before your alteza, most humbly praying and crying most dolorously to spare their lives, and save their property from the ensanguined scourge of the insane soldiers," and so on, and so on. now philip ii. was slow in resolving, slower in action. the ponderous three-deckers of biscay were notoriously the dullest sailers ever known, nor were the fettered slaves who rowed the great galleys of portugal or of andalusia very brisk in their movements; and yet the king might have found time to marshal his ideas and his squadrons, and the armada had leisure to circumnavigate the globe and invade england afterwards, if a succession of john rogerses could have entertained his highness with compliments while the preparations were making. but alexander--at the very outset of the doctor's eloquence--found it difficult to suppress his feelings. "i can assure your majesty," said rogers, "that his eyes--he has a very large eye--were moistened. sometimes they were thrown upward to heaven, sometimes they were fixed full upon me, sometimes they were cast downward, well declaring how his heart was affected." honest john even thought it necessary to mitigate the effect of his rhetoric, and to assure his highness that it was, after all, only he doctor rogers, and not the minister plenipotentiary of the queen's most serene majesty, who was exciting all this emotion. "at this part of my speech," said he, "i prayed his highness not to be troubled, for that the same only proceeded from doctor rogers, who, it might please him to know, was so much moved with the pitiful case of these countries, as also that which of war was sure to ensue, that i wished, if my body were full of rivers of blood, the same to be poured forth to satisfy any that were blood-thirsty, so there might an assured peace follow." his highness, at any rate, manifesting no wish to drink of such sanguinary streams--even had the doctor's body contained them--rogers became calmer. he then descended from rhetoric to jurisprudence and casuistry, and argued at intolerable length the propriety of commencing the conferences at ostend, and of exhibiting mutually the commissions. it is quite unnecessary to follow him as closely as did farnese. when he had finished the first part of his oration, however, and was "addressing himself to the second point," alexander at last interrupted the torrent of his eloquence. "he said that my divisions and subdivisions," wrote the doctor, "were perfectly in his remembrance, and that he would first answer the first point, and afterwards give audience to the second, and answer the same accordingly." accordingly alexander put on his hat, and begged the envoy also to be covered. then, "with great gravity, as one inwardly much moved," the duke took up his part in the dialogue. "signor ruggieri," said he, "you have propounded unto me speeches of two sorts: the one proceeds from doctor ruggieri, the other from the lord ambassador of the most serene queen of england. touching the first, i do give you my hearty thanks for your godly speeches, assuring you that though, by reason i have always followed the wars, i cannot be ignorant of the calamities by you alleged, yet you have so truly represented the same before mine eyes as to effectuate in me at this instant, not only the confirmation of mine own disposition to have peace, but also an assurance that this treaty shall take good and speedy end, seeing that it hath pleased god to raise up such a good instrument as you are." "many are the causes," continued the duke, "which, besides my disposition, move me to peace. my father and mother are dead; my son is a young prince; my house has truly need of my presence. i am not ignorant how ticklish a thing is the fortune of war, which--how victorious soever i have been--may in one moment not only deface the same, but also deprive me of my life. the king, my master, is now, stricken in years, his children are young, his dominions in trouble. his desire is to live, and to leave his posterity in quietness. the glory of god, the honor of both their majesties, and the good of these countries, with the stay of the effusion of christian blood, and divers other like reasons, force him to peace." thus spoke alexander, like an honest christian gentleman, avowing the most equitable and pacific dispositions on the part of his master and himself. yet at that moment he knew that the armada was about to sail, that his own nights and days were passed in active preparations for war, and that no earthly power could move philip by one hair's-breadth from his purpose to conquer england that summer. it would be superfluous to follow the duke or the doctor through their long dialogue on the place of conference, and the commissions. alexander considered it "infamy" on his name if he should send envoys to a place of his master's held by the enemy. he was also of opinion that it was unheard of to exhibit commissions previous to a preliminary colloquy. both propositions were strenuously contested by rogers. in regard to the second point in particular, he showed triumphantly, by citations from the "polonians, prussians, and lithuanians," that commissions ought to be previously exhibited. but it was not probable that even the doctor's learning and logic would persuade alexander to produce his commission; because, unfortunately, he had no commission to produce. a comfortable argument on the subject, however, would, none the less, consume time. three hours of this work brought them, exhausted and hungry; to the hour of noon and of dinner alexander, with profuse and smiling thanks for the envoy's plain dealing and eloquence, assured him that there would have been peace long ago "had doctor rogers always been the instrument," and regretted that he was himself not learned enough to deal creditably with him. he would, however, send richardot to bear him company at table, and chop logic with him afterwards. next day, at the same, hour, the duke and doctor had another encounter. so soon as the envoy made his appearance, he found himself "embraced most cheerfully and familiarly by his alteza," who, then entering at once into business, asked as to the doctor's second point. the doctor answered with great alacrity. "certain expressions have been reported to her majesty," said he, "as coming both from your highness and from richardot, hinting at a possible attempt by the king of spain's forces against the queen. her majesty, gathering that you are going about belike to terrify her, commands me to inform you very clearly and very expressly that she does not deal so weakly in her government, nor so improvidently, but that she is provided for anything that might be attempted against her by the king, and as able to offend him as he her majesty." alexander--with a sad countenance, as much offended, his eyes declaring miscontentment--asked who had made such a report. "upon the honour of a gentleman," said he, "whoever has said this has much abused me, and evil acquitted himself. they who know me best are aware that it is not my manner to let any word pass my lips that might offend any prince." then, speaking most solemnly, he added, "i declare really and truly (which two words he said in spanish), that i know not of any intention of the king of spain against her majesty or her realm." at that moment the earth did not open--year of portents though it was--and the doctor, "singularly rejoicing" at this authentic information from the highest source, proceeded cheerfully with the conversation. "i hold myself," he exclaimed, "the man most satisfied in the world, because i may now write to her majesty that i have heard your highness upon your honour use these words." "upon my honour, it is true," repeated the duke; "for so honourably do i think of her majesty, as that, after the king, my master, i would honour and serve her before any prince in christendom." he added many earnest asseverations of similar import. "i do not deny, however," continued alexander, "that i have heard of certain ships having been armed by the king against that draak"--he pronounced the "a" in drake's name very broadly, or "doric" who has committed so many outrages; but i repeat that i have never heard of any design against her majesty or against england." the duke then manifested much anxiety to know by whom he had been so misrepresented. "there has been no one with me but dr. dale," said, he, "and i marvel that he should thus wantonly have injured me." "dr. dale," replied ropers, "is a man of honour, of good years, learned, and well experienced; but perhaps he unfortunately misapprehended some of your alteza's words, and thought himself bound by his allegiance strictly to report them to her majesty." "i grieve that i should be misrepresented and injured," answered farnese, "in a manner so important to my honour. nevertheless, knowing the virtues with which her majesty is endued, i assure myself that the protestations i am now making will entirely satisfy her." he then expressed the fervent hope that the holy work of negotiation now commencing would result in a renewal of the ancient friendship between the houses of burgundy and of england, asserting that "there had never been so favourable a time as the present." under former governments of the netherlands there had been many mistakes and misunderstandings. "the duke of alva," said he, "has learned by this time, before the judgment-seat of god, how he discharged his functions, succeeding as he did my mother, the duchess of parma who left the provinces in so flourishing a condition. of this, however, i will say no more, because of a feud between the houses of farnese and of alva. as for requesens, he was a good fellow, but didn't understand his business. don john of austria again, whose soul i doubt not is in heaven, was young and poor, and disappointed in all his designs; but god has never offered so great a hope of assured peace as might now be accomplished by her majesty." finding the duke in so fervent and favourable a state of mind, the envoy renewed his demand that at least the first meeting of the commissioners might be held at ostend. "her majesty finds herself so touched in honour upon this point, that if it be not conceded--as i doubt not it will be, seeing the singular forwardness of your highness"--said the artful doctor with a smile, "we are no less than commanded to return to her majesty's presence." "i sent richardot to you yesterday," said alexander; "did he not content you?" "your highness, no," replied ropers. "moreover her majesty sent me to your alteza, and not to richardot. and the matter is of such importance that i pray you to add to all your graces and favours heaped upon me, this one of sending your commissioners to ostend." his highness could hold out no longer; but suddenly catching the doctor in his arms, and hugging him "in most honourable and amiable manner," he cried-- "be contented, be cheerful; my lord ambassador. you shall be satisfied upon this point also." "and never did envoy depart;" cried the lord ambassador, when he could get his breath, "more bound to you; and more resolute to speak honour of your highness than i do." "to-morrow we will ride together towards bruges;" said the duke, in conclusion. "till then farewell." upon, this he again heartily embraced the envoy, and the friends parted for the day. next morning; th march, the duke, who was on his way to bruges and sluys to look after his gun-boats, and, other naval, and military preparations, set forth on horseback, accompanied by the marquis del vasto, and, for part of the way, by rogers. they conversed on the general topics of the approaching negotiations; the duke, expressing the opinion that the treaty of peace would be made short work with; for it only needed to renew the old ones between the houses of england and burgundy. as for the hollanders and zeelanders, and their accomplices, he thought there would be no cause of stay on their account; and in regard to the cautionary towns he felt sure that her majesty had never had any intention of appropriating them to herself, and would willingly surrender them to the king. rogers thought it a good opportunity to put in a word for the dutchmen; who certainly, would not have thanked him for his assistance at that moment. "not, to give offence to your highness," he said, "if the hollanders and zeelanders, with their confederates, like to come into this treaty, surely your highness would not object?" alexander, who had been riding along quietly during this conversation; with his right, hand, on, his hip, now threw out his arm energetically: "let them come into it; let them treat, let them conclude," he exclaimed, "in the name of almighty god! i have always been well disposed to peace, and am now more so than ever. i could even, with the loss of my life, be content to have peace made at this time." nothing more, worthy of commemoration, occurred during this concluding interview; and the envoy took his leave at bruges, and returned to ostend. i have furnished the reader with a minute account of these conversations, drawn entirely, from the original records; not so much because the interviews were in themselves of vital importance; but because they afford a living and breathing example--better than a thousand homilies--of the easy victory which diplomatic or royal mendacity may always obtain over innocence and credulity. certainly never was envoy more thoroughly beguiled than the excellent john upon this occasion. wiser than a serpent, as he imagined himself to be, more harmless than a dove; as alexander found him, he could not, sufficiently congratulate himself upon the triumphs of his eloquence and his adroitness; and despatched most glowing accounts of his proceedings to the queen. his ardour was somewhat damped, however, at receiving a message from her majesty in reply, which was anything but benignant. his eloquence was not commended; and even his preamble, with its touching allusion to the live mothers tendering their offspring--the passage: which had brought the tears into the large eyes of alexander--was coldly and cruelly censured. "her majesty can in no sort like such speeches"--so ran the return-despatch--"in which she is made to beg for peace. the king of spain standeth in as great need of peace as her self; and she doth greatly mislike the preamble of dr. rogers in his address to the duke at ghent, finding it, in very truth quite fond and vain. i am commanded by a particular letter to let him understand how much her majesty is offended with him." alexander, on his part, informed his royal master of these interviews, in which there had been so much effusion of sentiment, in very brief fashion. "dr. rogers, one of the queen's commissioners, has been here," he said, "urging me with all his might to let all your majesty's deputies go, if only for one hour, to ostend. i refused, saying, i would rather they should go to england than into a city of your majesty held by english troops. i told him it ought to be satisfactory that i had offered the queen, as a lady, her choice of any place in the provinces, or on neutral ground. rogers expressed regret for all the, bloodshed and other consequences if the negotiations should fall through for so trifling a cause; the more so as in return for this little compliment to the queen she would not only restore to your majesty everything that she holds in the netherlands, but would assist you to recover the part which remains obstinate. to quiet him and to consume time, i have promised that president richardot shall go and try to satisfy them. thus two or three weeks more will be wasted. but at last the time will come for exhibiting the powers. they are very anxious to see mine; and when at last they find i have none, i fear that they will break off the negotiations." could the queen have been informed of this voluntary offer on the part of her envoy to give up the cautionary towns, and to assist in reducing the rebellion, she might have used stronger language of rebuke. it is quite possible, however, that farnese--not so attentively following the doctor's eloquence as he had appeared to do-had somewhat inaccurately reported the conversations, which, after all, he knew to be of no consequence whatever, except as time-consumers. for elizabeth, desirous of peace as she was, and trusting to farnese's sincerity as she was disposed to do, was more sensitive than ever as to her dignity. "we charge you all," she wrote with her own hand to the commissioners, "that no word he overslipt by them, that may, touch our honour and greatness, that be not answered with good sharp words. i am a king that will be ever known not to fear any but god." it would have been better, however, had the queen more thoroughly understood that the day for scolding had quite gone by, and that something sharper than the sharpest words would soon be wanted to protect england and herself from impending doom. for there was something almost gigantic in the frivolities with which weeks and months of such precious time were now squandered. plenary powers--"commission bastantissima"--from his sovereign had been announced by alexander as in his possession; although the reader has seen that he had no such powers at all. the mission of rogers had quieted the envoys at ostend for a time, and they waited quietly for the visit of richardot to ostend, into which the promised meeting of all the spanish commissioners in that city had dwindled. meantime there was an exchange of the most friendly amenities between the english and their mortal enemies. hardly a day passed that la motte, or renty, or aremberg, did not send lord derby, or cobham, or robert cecil, a hare, or a pheasant, or a cast of hawks, and they in return sent barrel upon barrel of ostend oysters, five or six hundred at a time. the englishmen, too; had it in their power to gratify alexander himself with english greyhounds, for which he had a special liking. "you would wonder," wrote cecil to his father, "how fond he is of english dogs." there was also much good preaching among other occupations, at ostend. "my lord of derby's two chaplains," said cecil, "have seasoned this town better with sermons than it had been before for a year's apace." but all this did not expedite the negotiations, nor did the duke manifest so much anxiety for colloquies as for greyhounds. so, in an unlucky hour for himself, another "fond and vain" old gentleman--james croft, the comptroller who had already figured, not much to his credit, in the secret negotiations between the brussels and english courts--betook himself, unauthorized and alone; to the duke at bruges. here he had an interview very similar in character to that in which john rogers had been indulged, declared to farnese that the queen was most anxious for peace, and invited him to send a secret envoy to england, who would instantly have ocular demonstration of the fact. croft returned as triumphantly as the excellent doctor had done; averring that there was no doubt as to the immediate conclusion of a treaty. his grounds of belief were very similar to those upon which rogers had founded his faith. "tis a weak old man of seventy," said parma, "with very little sagacity. i am inclined to think that his colleagues are taking him in, that they may the better deceive us. i will see that they do nothing of the kind." but the movement was purely one of the comptroller's own inspiration; for sir james had a singular facility for getting himself into trouble, and for making confusion. already, when he had been scarcely a day in ostend, he had insulted the governor of the place, sir john conway, had given him the lie in the hearing of many of his own soldiers, had gone about telling all the world that he had express authority from her majesty to send him home in disgrace, and that the queen had called him a fool, and quite unfit for his post. and as if this had not been mischief-making enough, in addition to the absurd de loo and bodman negotiations of the previous year, in which he had been the principal actor, he had crowned his absurdities by this secret and officious visit to ghent. the queen, naturally very indignant at this conduct, reprehended him severely, and ordered him back to england. the comptroller was wretched. he expressed his readiness to obey her commands, but nevertheless implored his dread sovereign to take merciful consideration of the manifold misfortunes, ruin, and utter undoing, which thereby should fall upon him and his unfortunate family. all this he protested he would "nothing esteem if it tended to her majesty's pleasure or service," but seeing it should effectuate nothing but to bring the aged carcase of her poor vassal to present decay, he implored compassion upon his hoary hairs, and promised to repair the error of his former proceedings. he avowed that he would not have ventured to disobey for a moment her orders to return, but "that his aged and feeble limbs did not retain sufficient force, without present death, to comply with her commandment." and with that he took to his bed, and remained there until the queen was graciously pleased to grant him her pardon. at last, early in may--instead of the visit of richardot--there was a preliminary meeting of all the commissioners in tents on the sands; within a cannon-shot of ostend, and between that place and newport. it was a showy and ceremonious interview, in which no business was transacted. the commissioners of philip were attended by a body of one hundred and fifty light horse, and by three hundred private gentlemen in magnificent costume. la motte also came from newport with one thousand walloon cavalry while the english commissioners, on their part were escorted from ostend by an imposing array of english and dutch troops.' as the territory was spanish; the dignity of the king was supposed to be preserved, and alexander, who had promised dr. rogers that the first interview should take place within ostend itself, thought it necessary to apologize to his sovereign for so nearly keeping his word as to send the envoys within cannon-shot of the town. "the english commissioners," said he, "begged with so much submission for this concession, that i thought it as well to grant it." the spanish envoys were despatched by the duke of parma, well provided with full powers for himself, which were not desired by the english government, but unfurnished with a commission from philip, which had been pronounced indispensable. there was, therefore, much prancing of cavalry, flourishing of trumpets, and eating of oysters; at the first conference, but not one stroke of business. as the english envoys had now been three whole months in ostend, and as this was the first occasion on which they had been brought face to face with the spanish commissioners, it must be confessed that the tactics of farnese had been masterly. had the haste in the dock-yards of lisbon and cadiz been at all equal to the magnificent procrastination in the council-chambers of bruges and ghent, medina sidonia might already have been in the thames. but although little ostensible business was performed, there was one man who had always an eye to his work. the same servant in plain livery, who had accompanied secretary garnier, on his first visit to the english commissioners at ostend, had now come thither again, accompanied by a fellow-lackey. while the complimentary dinner, offered in the name of the absent farnese to the queen's representatives, was going forward, the two menials strayed off together to the downs, for the purpose of rabbit-shooting. the one of them was the same engineer who had already, on the former occasion, taken a complete survey of the fortifications of ostend; the other was no less a personage than the duke of parma himself. the pair now made a thorough examination of the town and its neighbourhood, and, having finished their reconnoitring, made the best of their way back to bruges. as it was then one of alexander's favourite objects to reduce the city of ostend, at the earliest possible moment, it must be allowed that this preliminary conference was not so barren to himself as it was to the commissioners. philip, when informed of this manoeuvre, was naturally gratified at such masterly duplicity, while he gently rebuked his nephew for exposing his valuable life; and certainly it would have been an inglorious termination to the duke's splendid career; had he been hanged as a spy within the trenches of ostend. with the other details of this first diplomatic colloquy philip was delighted. "i see you understand me thoroughly," he said. "keep the negotiation alive till my armada appears, and then carry out my determination, and replant the catholic religion on the soil of england." the queen was not in such high spirits. she was losing her temper very fast, as she became more and more convinced that she had been trifled with. no powers had been yet exhibited, no permanent place of conference fixed upon, and the cessation of arms demanded by her commissioners for england, spain, and all the netherlands, was absolutely refused. she desired her commissioners to inform the duke of parma that it greatly touched his honour--as both before their coming and afterwards, he had assured her that he had 'comision bastantissima' from his sovereign--to clear himself at once from the imputation of insincerity. "let not the duke think," she wrote with her own hand, "that we would so long time endure these many frivolous and unkindly dealings, but that we desire all the world to know our desire of a kingly peace, and that we will endure no more the like, nor any, but will return you from your charge." accordingly--by her majesty's special command--dr. dale made another visit to bruges, to discover, once for all, whether there was a commission from philip or not; and, if so, to see it with his own eyes. on the th may he had an interview with the duke. after thanking his highness for the honourable and stately manner in which the conferences had been, inaugurated near ostend, dale laid very plainly before him her majesty's complaints of the tergiversations and equivocations concerning the commission, which had now lasted three months long. in answer, alexander made a complimentary harangue; confining himself entirely to the first part of the envoy's address, and assuring him in redundant phraseology, that he should hold himself very guilty before the world, if he had not surrounded the first colloquy between the plenipotentiaries of two such mighty princes, with as much pomp as the circumstances of time and place would allow. after this superfluous rhetoric had been poured forth, he calmly dismissed the topic which dr. dale had come all the way from. ostend to discuss, by carelessly observing that president richardot would confer with him on the subject of the commission. "but," said the envoy, "tis no matter of conference or dispute. i desire simply to see the commission." "richardot and champagny shall deal with you in the afternoon," repeated alexander; and with this reply, the doctor was fair to be contented. dale then alluded to the point of cessation of arms. "although," said he, "the queen might justly require that the cessation should be general for all the king's dominion, yet in order not to stand on precise points, she is content that it should extend no further than to the towns of flushing; brief, ostend, and bergen-op-zoom." "to this he said nothing," wrote the envoy, "and so i went no further." in the afternoon dale had conference with champagny and richardot. as usual, champagny was bound hand and foot by the gout, but was as quick-witted and disputatious as ever. again dale made an earnest harangue, proving satisfactorily--as if any proof were necessary on such a point--that a commission from philip ought to be produced, and that a commission had been promised, over and over again. after a pause, both the representatives of parma began to wrangle with the envoy in very insolent fashion. "richardot is always their mouth-piece," said dale, "only champagny choppeth in at every word, and would do so likewise in ours if we would suffer it." "we shall never have done with these impertinent demands," said the president. "you ought to be satisfied with the duke's promise of ratification contained in his commission. we confess what you say concerning the former requisitions and promises to be true, but when will you have done? have we not showed it to mr. croft, one of your own colleagues? and if we show it you now, another may come to-morrow, and so we shall never have an end." "the delays come from yourselves," roundly replied the englishman, "for you refuse to do what in reason and law you are bound to do. and the more demands the more 'mora aut potius culpa' in you. you, of all men, have least cause to hold such language, who so confidently and even disdainfully answered our demand for the commission, in mr. cecil's presence, and promised to show a perfect one at the very first meeting. as for mr. comptroller croft, he came hither without the command of her majesty and without the knowledge of his colleagues." richardot then began to insinuate that, as croft had come without authority, so--for aught they could tell--might dale also. but champagny here interrupted, protested that the president was going too far, and begged him to show the commission without further argument. upon this richardot pulled out the commission from under his gown, and placed it in dr. dale's hands! it was dated th april, , signed and sealed by the king, and written in french, and was to the effect, that as there had been differences between her majesty and himself; as her majesty had sent ambassadors into the netherlands, as the duke of parma had entered into treaty with her majesty, therefore the king authorised the duke to appoint commissioners to treat, conclude, and determine all controversies and misunderstandings, confirmed any such appointments already made, and promised to ratify all that might be done by them in the premises.' dr. dale expressed his satisfaction with the tenor of this document, and begged to be furnished with a copy of it, but his was peremptorily refused. there was then a long conversation--ending, as usual, in nothing--on the two other points, the place for the conferences, namely, and the cessation of arms. nest morning dale, in taking leave of the duke of parma, expressed the gratification which he felt, and which her majesty was sure to feel at the production of the commission. it was now proved, said the envoy, that the king was as earnestly in favour of peace as the duke was himself. dale then returned, well satisfied, to ostend. in truth the commission had arrived just in time. "had i not received it soon enough to produce it then," said alexander, "the queen would have broken off the negotiations. so i ordered richardot, who is quite aware of your majesty's secret intentions, from which we shall not swerve one jot, to show it privately to croft, and afterwards to dr. dale, but without allowing a copy of it to be taken." "you have done very well," replied philip, "but that commission is, on no account, to be used, except for show. you know my mind thoroughly." thus three months had been consumed, and at last one indispensable preliminary to any negotiation had, in appearance, been performed. full powers on both sides had been exhibited. when the queen of england gave the earl of derby and his colleagues commission to treat with the king's envoys, and pledged herself beforehand to, ratify all their proceedings, she meant to perform the promise to which she had affixed her royal name and seal. she could not know that the spanish monarch was deliberately putting his name to a lie, and chuckling in secret over the credulity of his english sister, who was willing to take his word and his bond. of a certainty the english were no match for southern diplomacy. but elizabeth was now more impatient than ever that the other two preliminaries should be settled, the place of conferences, and the armistice. "be plain with the duke," she wrote to her envoys, "that we have tolerated so many weeks in tarrying a commission, that i will never endure more delays. let him know he deals with a prince who prizes her honour more than her life: make yourselves such as stand of your reputations." sharp words, but not sharp enough to prevent a further delay of a month; for it was not till the th june that the commissioners at last came together at bourbourg, that "miserable little hole," on the coast between ostend and newport, against which gamier had warned them. and now there was ample opportunity to wrangle at full length on the next preliminary, the cessation of arms. it would be superfluous to follow the altercations step by step--for negotiations there were none--and it is only for the sake of exhibiting at full length the infamy of diplomacy, when diplomacy is unaccompanied by honesty, that we are hanging up this series of pictures at all. those bloodless encounters between credulity and vanity upon one side, and gigantic fraud on the other, near those very sands of newport, and in sight of the northern ocean, where, before long, the most terrible battles, both by land and sea, which the age had yet witnessed, were to occur, are quite as full of instruction and moral as the most sanguinary combats ever waged. at last the commissioners exchanged copies of their respective powers. after four months of waiting and wrangling, so much had been achieved--a show of commissions and a selection of the place for conference. and now began the long debate about the cessation of arms. the english claimed an armistice for the whole dominion of philip and elizabeth respectively, during the term of negotiation, and for twenty days after. the spanish would grant only a temporary truce, terminable at six days' notice, and that only for the four cautionary towns of holland held by the queen. thus philip would be free to invade england at his leisure out of the obedient netherlands or spain. this was inadmissible, of course, but a week was spent at the outset in reducing the terms to writing; and when the duke's propositions were at last produced in the french tongue, they were refused by the queen's commissioners, who required that the documents should be in latin. great was the triumph of dr. dale, when, after another interval, he found their latin full of barbarisms and blunders, at which a school-boy would have blushed. the king's commissioners, however, while halting in their syntax, had kept steadily to their point. "you promised a general cessation of aims at our coming," said dale, at a conference on the / june, "and now ye have lingered five times twenty days, and nothing done at all. the world may see the delays come of you and not of us, and that ye are not so desirous of peace as ye pretend." "but as far your invasion of england," stoutly observed the earl of derby, "ye shall find it hot coming thither. england was never so ready in any former age,--neither by sea nor by land; but we would show your unreasonableness in proposing a cessation of arms by which ye would bind her majesty to forbear touching all the low countries, and yet leave yourselves at liberty to invade england." while they were thus disputing, secretary gamier rushed into the room, looking very much frightened, and announced that lord henry seymour's fleet of thirty-two ships of war was riding off gravelines, and that he had sent two men on shore who were now waiting in the ante-chamber. the men being accordingly admitted, handed letters to the english commissioners from lord henry, in which he begged to be informed in what terms they were standing, and whether they needed his assistance or countenance in the cause in which they were engaged. the envoys found his presence very "comfortable," as it showed the spanish commissioners that her majesty was so well provided as to make a cessation of arms less necessary to her than it was to the king. they therefore sent their thanks to the lord admiral, begging him to cruise for a time off dunkirk and its neighbourhood, that both their enemies and their friends might have a sight of the english ships. great was the panic all along the coast at this unexpected demonstration. the king's commissioners got into their coaches, and drove down to the coast to look at the fleet, and--so soon as they appeared--were received with such a thundering cannonade an hour long, by way of salute, as to convince them, in the opinion of the english envoys, that the queen had no cause to be afraid of any enemies afloat or ashore. but these noisy arguments were not much more effective than the interchange of diplomatic broadsides which they had for a moment superseded. the day had gone by for blank cartridges and empty protocols. nevertheless lord henry's harmless thunder was answered, the next day, by a "quintuplication" in worse latin than ever, presented to dr. dale and his colleagues by richardot and champagny, on the subject of the armistice. and then there was a return quintuplication, in choice latin, by the classic dale, and then there was a colloquy on the quintuplication, and everything that had been charged, and truly charged, by the english; was now denied by the king's commissioners; and champagny--more gouty and more irascible than ever--"chopped in" at every word spoken by king's envoys or queen's, contradicted everybody, repudiated everything said or done by andrew de loo, or any of the other secret negotiators during the past year, declared that there never had been a general cessation of arms promised, and that, at any rate, times were now changed, and such an armistice was inadmissible! then the english answered with equal impatience, and reproached the king's representatives with duplicity and want of faith, and censured them for their unseemly language, and begged to inform champagny and richardot that they had not then to deal with such persons as they might formerly have been in the habit of treating withal, but with a "great prince who did justify the honour of her actions," and they confuted the positions now assumed by their opponents with official documents and former statements from those very opponents' lips. and then, after all this diplomatic and rhetorical splutter, the high commissioners recovered their temper and grew more polite, and the king's "envoys excused themselves in a mild, merry manner," for the rudeness of their speeches, and the queen's envoys accepted their apologies with majestic urbanity, and so they separated for the day in a more friendly manner than they had done the day before.' "you see to what a scholar's shift we have been driven for want of resolution," said valentine dale. "if we should linger here until there should be broken heads, in what case we should be god knoweth. for i can trust champagny and richardot no farther than i can see them." and so the whole month of june passed by; the english commissioners "leaving no stone unturned to get a quiet cessation of arms in general terms," and being constantly foiled; yet perpetually kept in hope that the point would soon be carried. at the same time the signs of the approaching invasion seemed to thicken. "in my opinion," said dale, "as phormio spake in matters of wars, it were very requisite that my lord harry should be always on this coast, for they will steal out from hence as closely as they can, either to join with the spanish navy or to land, and they may be very easily scattered, by god's grace." and, with the honest pride of a protocol-maker, he added, "our postulates do trouble the king's commissioners very much, and do bring them to despair." the excellent doctor had not even yet discovered that the king's commissioners were delighted with his postulates; and that to have kept them postulating thus five months in succession, while naval and military preparations were slowly bringing forth a great event--which was soon to strike them with as much amazement as if the moon had fallen out of heaven--was one of the most decisive triumphs ever achieved by spanish diplomacy. but the doctor thought that his logic had driven the king of spain to despair. at the same time he was not insensible to the merits of another and more peremptory style of rhetoric,--"i pray you," said he to walsingham, "let us hear some arguments from my lord harry out of her majesty's navy now and then. i think they will do more good than any bolt that we can shoot here. if they be met with at their going out, there is no possibility for them to make any resistance, having so few men that can abide the sea; for the rest, as you know, must be sea-sick at first." but the envoys were completely puzzled. even at the beginning of july, sir james croft was quite convinced of the innocence of the king and the duke; but croft was in his dotage. as for dale, he occasionally opened his eyes, and his ears, but more commonly kept them well closed to the significance of passing events; and consoled himself with his protocols and his classics, and the purity of his own latin. "'tis a very wise saying of terence," said he, "omnibus nobis ut res dant sese; ita magni aut humiles sumus.' when the king's commissioners hear of the king's navy from spain, they are in such jollity that they talk loud. . . . in the mean time--as the wife of bath sath in chaucer by her husband, we owe them not a word. if we should die tomorrow; i hope her majesty will find by our writings that the honour of the cause, in the opinion of the world, must be with her majesty; and that her commissioners are, neither of such imperfection in their reasons, or so barbarous in language, as they who fail not, almost in every line, of some barbarism not to be borne in a grammar-school, although in subtleness and impudent affirming of untruths and denying of truths, her commissioners are not in any respect to match with champagny and richardot, who are doctors in that faculty." it might perhaps prove a matter of indifference to elizabeth and to england, when the queen should be a state-prisoner in spain and the inquisition quietly established in her kingdom, whether the world should admit or not, in case of his decease, the superiority of dr. dale's logic and latin to those of his antagonists. and even if mankind conceded the best of the argument to the english diplomatists, that diplomacy might seem worthless which could be blind to the colossal falsehoods growing daily before its eyes. had the commissioners been able to read the secret correspondence between parma and his master--as we have had the opportunity of doing--they would certainly not have left their homes in february, to be made fools of until july; but would, on their knees, have implored their royal mistress to awake from her fatal delusion before it should be too late. even without that advantage, it seems incredible that they should have been unable to pierce through the atmosphere of duplicity which surrounded them, and to obtain one clear glimpse of the destruction so, steadily advancing upon england. for the famous bull of sixtus v. had now been fulminated. elizabeth had bean again denounced as a bastard and usurper, and her kingdom had been solemnly conferred upon philip, with title of defender of the christian, faith, to have and to hold as tributary and feudatory of rome. the so-called queen had usurped the crown contrary to the ancient treaties between the apostolic stool and the kingdom of england, which country, on its reconciliation with the head of the church after the death of st. thomas of canterbury, had recognised the necessity of the pope's. consent in the succession to its throne; she had deserved chastisement for the terrible tortures inflicted by her upon english catholics and god's own saints; and it was declared an act of virtue, to be repaid with plenary indulgence and forgiveness of all sins, to lay violent hands on the usurper, and deliver her into the hands of the catholic party. and of the holy league against the usurper, philip was appointed the head, and alexander of parma chief commander. this document was published in large numbers in antwerp in the english tongue. the pamphlet of dr. allen, just named cardinal, was also translated in the same city, under the direction of the duke of parma, in-order to be distributed throughout england, on the arrival in that kingdom of the catholic troops. the well-known 'admonition to the nobility and people of england and ireland' accused the queen of every crime and vice which can pollute humanity; and was filled with foul details unfit for the public eye in these more decent days. so soon as the intelligence of these publications reached england, the queen ordered her commissioners at bourbourg to take instant cognizance of them, and to obtain a categorical explanation on the subject from alexander himself: as if an explanation were possible, as if the designs of sixtus, philip, and alexander, could any longer be doubted, and as if the duke were more likely now than before to make a succinct statement of them for the benefit of her majesty. "having discovered," wrote elizabeth on the th july (n.s.), "that this treaty of peace is entertained only to abuse us, and being many ways given to understand that the preparations which have so long been making, and which now are consummated, both in spain and the low countries, are purposely to be employed against us and our country; finding that, for the furtherance of these exploits, there is ready to be published a vile, slanderous, and blasphemous book, containing as many lies as lines, entitled, 'an admonition,' &c., and contrived by a lewd born-subject of ours, now become an arrant traitor, named dr. allen, lately made, a cardinal at rome; as also a bull of the pope, whereof we send you a copy, both very lately brought into those low countries, the one whereof is already printed at antwerp, in a great multitude; in the english tongue, and the other ordered to be printed, only to stir up our subjects, contrary to the laws of god and their allegiance, to join with such foreign purposes as are prepared against us and our realm, to come out of those low countries and out of spain; and as it appears by the said bull that the duke of parma is expressly named and chosen by the pope and the king of spain to be principal executioner of these intended enterprises, we cannot think it honourable for us to continue longer the treaty of peace with them that, under colour of treaty, arm themselves with all the power they can to a bloody war." accordingly the queen commanded dr. dale, as one of the commissioners, to proceed forthwith to the duke, in order to obtain explanations as to his contemplated conquest of her realm, and as to his share in the publication of the bull and pamphlet, and to "require him, as he would be accounted a prince of honour, to let her plainly understand what she might think thereof." the envoy was to assure him that the queen would trust implicitly to his statement, to adjure him to declare the truth, and, in case he avowed the publications and the belligerent intentions suspected, to demand instant safe-conduct to england for her commissioners, who would, of course, instantly leave the netherlands. on the other hand, if the duke disavowed those infamous documents, he was to be requested to punish the printers, and have the books burned by the hangman? dr. dale, although suffering from cholic, was obliged to set forth, at once upon what he felt would be a bootless journey. at his return--which was upon the nd of july (n.s.)the shrewd old gentleman had nearly arrived at the opinion that her majesty might as well break off the negotiations. he had a "comfortless voyage and a ticklish message;" found all along the road signs of an approaching enterprise, difficult to be mistaken; reported , veteran spaniards, to which force stanley's regiment was united; italians, germans, all with pikes, corselets, and slash swords complete; besides , walloons. the transports for the cavalry at gravelingen he did not see, nor was he much impressed with what he heard as to the magnitude of the naval preparations at newport. he was informed that the duke was about making a foot-pilgrimage from brussels to our lady of halle, to implore victory for his banners, and had daily evidence of the soldier's expectation to invade and to "devour england." all this had not tended to cure him of the low spirits with which he began the journey. nevertheless, although he was unable--as will be seen--to report an entirely satisfactory answer from farnese to the queen upon the momentous questions entrusted to him, he, at least, thought of a choice passage in 'the aeneid,' so very apt to the circumstances, as almost to console him for the "pangs of his cholic" and the terrors of the approaching invasion. "i have written two or three verses out of virgil for the queen to read," said he, "which i pray your lordship to present unto her. god grant her to weigh them. if your lordship do read the whole discourse of virgil in that place, it will make your heart melt. observe the report of the ambassadors that were sent to diomedes to make war against the trojans, for the old hatred that he, being a grecian, did bear unto them; and note the answer of diomedes dissuading them from entering into war with the trojans, the perplexity of the king, the miseries of the country, the reasons of drances that spake against them which would have war, the violent persuasions of turnus to war; and note, i pray you; one word, 'nec te ullius violentia frangat.' what a lecture could i make with mr. cecil upon that passage in virgil!" the most important point for the reader to remark is the date of this letter. it was received in the very last days of the month of july. let him observe--as he will soon have occasion to do--the events which were occurring on land and sea, exactly at the moment when this classic despatch reached its destination, and judge whether the hearts of the queen and lord burghley would be then quite at leisure to melt at the sorrows of the trojan war. perhaps the doings of drake and howard, medina sidonia, and ricalde, would be pressing as much on their attention as the eloquence of diomede or the wrath of turnus. yet it may be doubted whether the reports of these grecian envoys might not in truth, be almost as much to the purpose as the despatches of the diplomatic pedant, with his virgil and his cholic, into whose hands grave matters of peace and war were entrusted in what seemed the day of england's doom. "what a lecture i could make with mr. cecil on the subject!--" an english ambassador, at the court of philip ii.'s viceroy, could indulge himself in imaginary prelections on the aeneid, in the last days of july, of the year of our lord ! the doctor, however--to do him justice--had put the questions categorically, to his highness as he had been instructed to do. he went to bruges so mysteriously; that no living man, that side the sea, save lord derby and lord cobham, knew the cause of his journey. poor-puzzling james croft, in particular, was moved almost to tears, by being kept out of the secret. on the / july dale had audience of the duke at bruges. after a few commonplaces, he was invited by the duke to state what special purpose had brought him to bruges. "there is a book printed at antwerp," said dale, "and set forth by a fugitive from england, who calleth himself a cardinal." upon this the duke began diligently to listen. "this book," resumed dale, "is an admonition to the nobility and people of england and ireland touching the execution of the sentence of the pope against the queen which the king catholic hath entrusted to your highness as chief of the enterprise. there is also a bull of the pope declaring my sovereign mistress illegitimate and an usurper, with other matters too odious for any prince or gentleman to name or hear. in this bull the pope saith that he hath dealt with the most catholic king to employ all the means in his power to the deprivation and deposition of my sovereign, and doth charge her subjects to assist the army appointed by the king catholic for that purpose, under the conduct of your highness. therefore her majesty would be satisfied from your highness in that point, and will take satisfaction of none other; not doubting but that as you are a prince of word and credit; you will deal plainly with her majesty. whatsoever it may be, her majesty will not take it amiss against your highness, so she may only be informed by you of the truth. wherefore i do require you to satisfy the queen." "i am glad," replied the duke, "that her majesty and her commissioners do take in good part my good-will towards them. i am especially touched by the good opinion her majesty hath of my sincerity, which i should be glad always to maintain. as to the book to which you refer, i have never read it, nor seen it, nor do i take heed of it. it may well be that her majesty, whom it concerneth, should take notice of it; but, for my part, i have nought to do with it, nor can i prevent men from writing or printing at their pleasure. i am at the commandment of my master only." as alexander made no reference to the pope's bull, dr. dale observed, that if a war had been, of purpose, undertaken at the instance of the pope, all this negotiation had been in vain, and her majesty would be obliged to withdraw her commissioners, not doubting that they would receive safe-conduct as occasion should require. "yea, god forbid else," replied alexander; "and further, i know nothing of any bull of the pope, nor do i care for any, nor do i undertake anything for him. but as for any misunderstanding (mal entendu) between my master and her majesty, i must, as a soldier, act at the command of my sovereign. for my part, i have always had such respect for her majesty, being so noble a queen, as that i would never hearken to anything that might be reproachful to her. after my master, i would do most to serve your queen, and i hope she will take my word for her satisfaction on that point. and for avoiding of bloodshed and the burning of houses and such other calamities as do follow the wars, i have been a petitioner to my sovereign that all things might be ended quietly by a peace. that is a thing, however," added the duke; "which you have more cause to desire than we; for if the king my master, should lose a battle, he would be able to recover it well enough, without harm to himself, being far enough off in spain, while, if the battle be lost on your side, you may lose kingdom and all." "by god's sufferance," rejoined the doctor, "her majesty is not without means to defend her crown, that hath descended to her from so long a succession of ancestors. moreover your highness knows very well that one battle cannot conquer a kingdom in another country." "well," said the duke, "that is in god's hand." "so it is," said the doctor. "but make an end of it," continued alexander quietly, "and if you have anything to put into writing; you will do me a pleasure by sending it to me." dr. valentine dale was not the man to resist the temptation to make a protocol, and promised one for the next day. "i am charged only to give your highness satisfaction," he said, "as to her majesty's sincere intentions, which have already been published to the world in english, french, and italian, in the hope that you may also satisfy the queen upon this other point. i am but one of her commissioners, and could not deal without my colleagues. i crave leave to depart to-morrow morning, and with safe-convoy, as i had in coming." after the envoy had taken leave, the duke summoned andrea de loo, and related to him the conversation which had taken place. he then, in the presence of that personage, again declared--upon his honour and with very constant affirmations, that he had never seen nor heard of the book--the 'admonition' by cardinal allen--and that he knew nothing of any bull, and had no regard to it.' the plausible andrew accompanied the doctor to his lodgings, protesting all the way of his own and his master's sincerity, and of their unequivocal intentions to conclude a peace. the next day the doctor, by agreement, brought a most able protocol of demands in the name of all the commissioners of her majesty; which able protocol the duke did not at that moment read, which he assuredly never read subsequently, and which no human soul ever read afterwards. let the dust lie upon it, and upon all the vast heaps of protocols raised mountains high during the spring and summer of . "dr. dale has been with me two or three, times," said parma, in giving his account of these interviews to philip. "i don't know why he came, but i think he wished to make it appear, by coming to bruges, that the rupture, when it occurs, was caused by us, not by the english. he has been complaining of cardinal allen's book, and i told him that i didn't understand a word of english, and knew nothing whatever of the matter." it has been already seen that the duke had declared, on his word of honour, that he had never heard of the famous pamphlet. yet at that very moment letters were lying in his cabinet, received more than a fortnight before from philip, in which that monarch thanked alexander for having had the cardinal's book translated at antwerp! certainly few english diplomatists could be a match for a highness so liberal of his word of honour. but even dr. dale had at last convinced himself--even although the duke knew nothing of bull or pamphlet--that mischief was brewing against england. the sagacious man, having seen large bodies of spaniards and walloons making such demonstrations of eagerness to be led against his country, and "professing it as openly as if they were going to a fair or market," while even alexander himself could "no more hide it than did henry viii. when he went to boulogne," could not help suspecting something amiss. his colleague, however, comptroller croft, was more judicious, for he valued himself on taking a sound, temperate, and conciliatory view of affairs. he was not the man to offend a magnanimous neighbour--who meant nothing unfriendly by regarding his manoeuvres with superfluous suspicion. so this envoy wrote to lord burghley on the nd august (n.s.)--let the reader mark the date--that, "although a great doubt had been conceived as to the king's sincerity, . . . . yet that discretion and experience induced him--the envoy--to think, that besides the reverent opinion to be had of princes' oaths, and the general incommodity which will come by the contrary, god had so balanced princes' powers in that age, as they rather desire to assure themselves at home, than with danger to invade their neighbours." perhaps the mariners of england--at that very instant exchanging broadsides off the coast of devon and dorset with the spanish armada, and doing their best to protect their native land from the most horrible calamity which had ever impended over it--had arrived at a less reverent opinion of princes' oaths; and it was well for england in that supreme hour that there were such men as howard and drake, and winter and frobisher, and a whole people with hearts of oak to defend her, while bungling diplomatists and credulous dotards were doing their best to imperil her existence. etext editor's bookmarks: bungling diplomatists and credulous dotards fitter to obey than to command full of precedents and declamatory commonplaces i am a king that will be ever known not to fear any but god infamy of diplomacy, when diplomacy is unaccompanied by honesty mendacity may always obtain over innocence and credulity never did statesmen know better how not to do pray here for satiety, (said cecil) than ever think of variety simple truth was highest skill strength does a falsehood acquire in determined and skilful hand that crowned criminal, philip the second history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter xviii. part . dangerous discord in north holland--leicester's resignation arrives --enmity of willoughby and maurice--willoughby's dark picture of affairs--hatred between states and leicestrians--maurice's answer to the queen's charges--end of sonoy's rebellion--philip foments the civil war in france--league's threats and plots against henry--mucio arrives in paris--he is received with enthusiasm--the king flies, and spain triumphs in paris--states expostulate with the queen-- english statesmen still deceived--deputies from netherland churches --hold conference with the queen--and present long memorials--more conversations with the queen--national spirit of england and holland--dissatisfaction with queen's course--bitter complaints of lord howard--want of preparation in army and navy--sanguine statements of leicester--activity of parma--the painful suspense continues. but it is necessary-in order to obtain a complete picture of that famous year , and to understand the cause from which such great events were springing--to cast a glance at the internal politics of the states most involved in philip's meshes. certainly, if there had ever been a time when the new commonwealth of the netherlands should be both united in itself and on thoroughly friendly terms with england, it was exactly that epoch of which we are treating. there could be no reasonable doubt that the designs of spain against england were hostile, and against holland revengeful. it was at least possible that philip meant to undertake the conquest of england, and to undertake it as a stepping-stone to the conquest of holland. both the kingdom and the republic should have been alert, armed, full of suspicion towards the common foe, full of confidence in each other. what decisive blows might have been struck against parma in the netherlands, when his troops were starving, sickly, and mutinous, if the hollanders and englishmen had been united under one chieftain, and thoroughly convinced of the impossibility of peace! could the english and dutch statesmen of that day have read all the secrets of their great enemy's heart, as it is our privilege at this hour to do, they would have known that in sudden and deadly strokes lay their best chance of salvation. but, without that advantage, there were men whose sagacity told them that it was the hour for deeds and not for dreams. for to leicester and walsingham, as well as to paul buys and barneveld, peace with spain seemed an idle vision. it was unfortunate that they were overruled by queen elizabeth and burghley, who still clung to that delusion; it was still more disastrous that the intrigues of leicester had done so much to paralyze the republic; it was almost fatal that his departure, without laying down his authority, had given the signal for civil war. during the winter, spring, and summer of , while the duke--in the face of mighty obstacles--was slowly proceeding with his preparations in flanders, to co-operate with the armaments from spain, it would have been possible by a combined movement to destroy his whole plan, to liberate all the netherlands, and to avert, by one great effort, the ruin impending over england. instead of such vigorous action, it was thought wiser to send commissioners, to make protocols, to ask for armistices, to give profusely to the enemy that which he was most in need of--time. meanwhile the hollanders and english could quarrel comfortably among themselves, and the little republic, for want of a legal head, could come as near as possible to its dissolution. young maurice--deep thinker for his years and peremptory in action--was not the man to see his great father's life-work annihilated before his eyes, so long as he had an arm and brain of his own. he accepted his position at the head of the government of holland and zeeland, and as chief of the war-party. the council of state, mainly composed of leicester's creatures, whose commissions would soon expire by their own limitation, could offer but a feeble resistance to such determined individuals as maurice, buys, and barneveld. the party made rapid progress. on the other hand, the english leicestrians did their best to foment discord in the provinces. sonoy was sustained in his rebellion in north holland, not only by the earl's partizans, but by elizabeth herself. her rebukes to maurice, when maurice was pursuing the only course which seemed to him consistent with honour and sound policy, were sharper than a sword. well might duplessis mornay observe, that the commonwealth had been rather strangled than embraced by the english queen. sonoy, in the name of leicester, took arms against maurice and the states; maurice marched against him; and lord willoughby, commander-in-chief of the english forces, was anxious to march against maurice. it was a spectacle to make angels weep, that of englishmen and hollanders preparing to cut each other's throats, at the moment when philip and parma were bending all their energies to crush england and holland at once. indeed, the interregnum between the departure of leicester and his abdication was diligently employed by his more reckless partizans to defeat and destroy the authority of the states. by prolonging the interval, it was hoped that no government would be possible except the arbitrary rule of the earl, or of a successor with similar views: for a republic--a free commonwealth--was thought an absurdity. to entrust supreme power to advocates; merchants, and mechanics, seemed as hopeless as it was vulgar. willoughby; much devoted to leicester and much detesting barneveld, had small scruple in fanning the flames of discord. there was open mutiny against the states by the garrison of gertruydenberg, and willoughby's brother-in-law, captain wingfield, commanded in gertruydenberg. there were rebellious demonstrations in naarden, and willoughby went to naarden. the garrison was troublesome, but most of the magistrates were firm. so willoughby supped with the burgomasters, and found that paul buys had been setting the people against queen elizabeth, leicester, and the whole english nation, making them all odious. colonel dorp said openly that it was a shame for the country to refuse their own natural-born count for strangers. he swore that he would sing his song whose bread he had eaten. a "fat militia captain" of the place, one soyssons, on the other hand, privately informed willoughby that maurice and barneveld were treating underhand with spain. willoughby was inclined to believe the calumny, but feared that his corpulent friend would lose his head for reporting it. meantime the english commander did his best to strengthen the english party in their rebellion against the states. "but how if they make war upon us?" asked the leicestrians. "it is very likely," replied willoughby, "that if they use violence you will have her majesty's assistance, and then you who continue constant to the end will be rewarded accordingly. moreover, who would not rather be a horse-keeper to her majesty, than a captain to barneveld or buys?" when at last the resignation of leicester--presented to the states by killegrew on the st march--seemed to promise comparative repose to the republic, the vexation of the leicestrians was intense. their efforts to effect a dissolution of the government had been rendered unsuccessful, when success seemed within their grasp. "albeit what is once executed cannot be prevented," said captain champernoun; "yet 'tis thought certain that if the resignation of lord leicester's commission had been deferred yet some little time; the whole country and towns would have so revolted and mutinied against the government and authority of the states, as that they should have had no more credit given them by the people than pleased her majesty. most part of the people could see--in consequence of the troubles, discontent, mutiny of garrisons, and the like, that it was most necessary for the good success of their affairs that the power of the states should be abolished, and the whole government of his excellency erected. as these matters were busily working into the likelihood of some good effect, came the resignation of his excellency's commission and authority, which so dashed the proceedings of it, as that all people and commanders well affected unto her majesty and my lord of leicester are utterly discouraged. the states, with their adherents, before they had any lord's resignations were much perplexed what course to take, but now begin to hoist their heads." the excellent leicestrian entertained hopes, however; that mutiny and intrigue might still carry the day. he had seen the fat militiaman of naarden and other captains, and, hoped much mischief from their schemes. "the chief mutineers of gertruydenberg," he said, "maybe wrought to send unto 'the states, that if they do not procure them some english governor, they will compound with the enemy, whereon the states shall be driven to request her majesty to accept the place, themselves entertaining the garrison. i know certain captains discontented with the states for arrears of pay, who will contrive to get into naarden with their companies, with the states consent, who, once entered, will keep the place for their satisfaction, pay their soldiers out of the contributions of the country; and yet secretly hold the place at her majesty's command." this is not an agreeable picture; yet it is but one out of many examples of the intrigues by which leicester and his party were doing their best to destroy the commonwealth of the netherlands at a moment when its existence was most important to that of england. to foment mutiny in order to subvert the authority of maurice, was not a friendly or honourable course of action either towards holland or england; and it was to play into the hands of philip as adroitly as his own stipendiaries could have done. with mischief-makers like champernoun in every city, and with such diplomatists at ostend as croft and ropers and valentine dale, was it wonderful that the king and the duke of parma found time to mature their plans for the destruction of both countries? lord willoughby, too, was extremely dissatisfied with his own position. he received no commission from the queen for several months. when it at last reached him, it seemed inadequate, and he became more sullen than ever. he declared that he would rather serve the queen as a private soldier, at his own expense--"lean as his purse was"--than accept the limited authority conferred on him. he preferred to show his devotion "in a beggarly state, than in a formal show." he considered it beneath her majesty's dignity that he should act in the field under the states, but his instructions forbade his acceptance of any office from that body but that of general in their service. he was very discontented, and more anxious than ever to be rid of his functions. without being extremely ambitious, he was impatient of control. he desired not "a larger-shaped coat," but one that fitted him better. "i wish to shape my garment homely, after my cloth," he said, "that the better of my parish may not be misled by my sumptuousness. i would live quietly, without great noise, my poor roof low and near the ground, not subject to be overblown with unlooked-for storms, while the sun seems most shining." being the deadly enemy of the states and their leaders, it was a matter of course that he should be bitter against maurice. that young prince, bold, enterprising, and determined, as he was, did not ostensibly meddle with political affairs more than became his years; but he accepted the counsels of the able statesmen in whom his father had trusted. riding, hunting, and hawking, seemed to be his chief delight at the hague, in the intervals of military occupations. he rarely made his appearance in the state-council during the winter, and referred public matters to the states-general, to the states of holland, to barneveld, buys, and hohenlo. superficial observers like george gilpin regarded him as a cipher; others, like robert cecil, thought him an unmannerly schoolboy; but willoughby, although considering him insolent and conceited, could not deny his ability. the peace partisans among the burghers--a very small faction--were furious against him, for they knew that maurice of nassau represented war. they accused of deep designs against the liberties of their country the youth who was ever ready to risk his life in their defence. a burgomaster from friesland, who had come across the zuyder zee to intrigue against the states' party, was full of spleen at being obliged to dance attendance for a long time at the hague. he complained that count maurice, green of years, and seconded by greener counsellors, was meditating the dissolution of the state-council, the appointment of a new board from his own creatures, the overthrow of all other authority, and the assumption of the, sovereignty of holland and zeeland, with absolute power. "and when this is done;" said the rueful burgomaster, "he and his turbulent fellows may make what terms they like with spain, to the disadvantage of the queen and of us poor wretches." but there was nothing farther from the thoughts of the turbulent fellows than any negotiations with spain. maurice was ambitious enough, perhaps, but his ambition ran in no such direction. willoughby knew better; and thought that by humouring the petulant young man it might be possible to manage him. "maurice is young," he said, "hot-headed; coveting honour. if we do but look at him through our fingers, without much words, but with providence enough, baiting his hook a little to his appetite, there is no doubt but he might be caught and kept in a fish-pool; while in his imagination he may judge it a sea. if not, 'tis likely he will make us fish in troubled waters." maurice was hardly the fish for a mill-pond even at that epoch, and it might one day be seen whether or not he could float in the great ocean of events. meanwhile, he swam his course without superfluous gambols or spoutings. the commander of her majesty's forces was not satisfied with the states, nor their generals, nor their politicians. "affairs are going 'a malo in pejus,'" he said. "they embrace their liberty as apes their young. to this end are counts hollock and maurice set upon the stage to entertain the popular sort. her majesty and my lord of leicester are not forgotten. the counts are in holland, especially hollock, for the other is but the cipher. and yet i can assure you maurice hath wit and spirit too much for his time." as the troubles of the interregnum increased willoughby was more dissatisfied than ever with the miserable condition of the provinces, but chose to ascribe it to the machinations of the states' party, rather than to the ambiguous conduct of leicester. "these evils," he said, "are especially, derived from the childish ambition of the young count maurice, from the covetous and furious counsels of the proud hollanders, now chief of the states-general, and, if with pardon it may be said, from our slackness and coldness to entertain our friends. the provident and wiser sort--weighing what a slender ground the appetite of a young man is, unfurnished with the sinews of war to manage so great a cause--for a good space after my lord of leicester's departure, gave him far looking on, to see him play has part on the stage." willoughby's spleen caused him to mix his metaphors more recklessly than strict taste would warrant, but his violent expressions painted the relative situation of parties more vividly than could be done by a calm disquisition. maurice thus playing his part upon the stage--as the general proceeded to observe--"was a skittish horse, becoming by little and little assured of what he had feared, and perceiving the harmlessness thereof; while his companions, finding no safety of neutrality in so great practices, and no overturning nor barricado to stop his rash wilded chariot, followed without fear; and when some of the first had passed the bog; the rest, as the fashion is, never started after. the variable democracy; embracing novelty, began to applaud their prosperity; the base and lewdest sorts of men, to whom there is nothing more agreeable than change of estates, is a better monture to degrees than their merit, took present hold thereof. hereby paul buys, barneveld, and divers others, who were before mantled with a tolerable affection, though seasoned with a poisoned intention, caught the occasion, and made themselves the beelzebubs of all these mischiefs, and, for want of better angels, spared not to let fly our golden-winged ones in the name of guilders, to prepare the hearts and hands that hold money more dearer than honesty, of which sort, the country troubles and the spanish practices having suckled up many, they found enough to serve their purpose. as the breach is safely saltable where no defence is made, so they, finding no head, but those scattered arms that were disavowed, drew the sword with peter, and gave pardon with the pope, as you shall plainly perceive by the proceedings at horn. thus their force; fair words, or corruption, prevailing everywhere, it grew to this conclusion--that the worst were encouraged with their good success, and the best sort assured of no fortune or favour." out of all this hubbub of stage-actors, skittish horses, rash wilded chariots, bogs, beelzebubs, and golden-winged angels, one truth was distinctly audible; that beelzebub, in the shape of barneveld, had been getting the upper hand in the netherlands, and that the lecestrians were at a disadvantage. in truth those partisans were becoming extremely impatient. finding themselves deserted by their great protector, they naturally turned their eyes towards spain, and were now threatening to sell themselves to philip. the earl, at his departure, had given them privately much encouragement. but month after month had passed by while they were waiting in vain for comfort. at last the "best"--that is to say, the unhappy leicestrians--came to willoughby, asking his advice in their "declining and desperate cause." "well nigh a month longer," said that general, "i nourished them with compliments, and assured them that my lord of leicester would take care of them." the diet was not fattening. so they began to grumble more loudly than ever, and complained with great bitterness of the miserable condition in which they had been left by the earl, and expressed their fears lest the queen likewise meant to abandon them. they protested that their poverty, their powerful foes, and their slow friends, would compel them either to make their peace with the states' party, or "compound with the enemy." it would have seemed that real patriots, under such circumstances, would hardly hesitate in their choice, and would sooner accept the dominion of "beelzebub," or even paul buys, than that of philip ii. but the leicestrians of utrecht and friesland--patriots as they were--hated holland worse than they hated the inquisition. willoughby encouraged them in that hatred. he assured him of her majesty's affection for them, complained of the factious proceedings of the states, and alluded to the unfavourable state of the weather, as a reason why--near four months long--they had not received the comfort out of england which they had a right to expect. he assured them that neither the queen nor leicester would conclude this honourable action, wherein much had been hazarded, "so rawly and tragically" as they seemed to fear, and warned them, that "if they did join with holland, it would neither ease nor help them, but draw them into a more dishonourable loss of their liberties; and that, after having wound them in, the hollanders would make their own peace with the enemy." it seemed somewhat unfair-while the queen's government was straining every nerve to obtain a peace from philip, and while the hollanders were obstinately deaf to any propositions for treating--that willoughby should accuse them of secret intentions to negotiate. but it must be confessed that faction has rarely worn a more mischievous aspect than was presented by the politics of holland and england in the winter and spring of . young maurice was placed in a very painful position. he liked not to be "strangled in the great queen's embrace;" but he felt most keenly the necessity of her friendship, and the importance to both countries of a close alliance. it was impossible for him, however, to tolerate the rebellion of sonoy, although sonoy was encouraged by elizabeth, or to fly in the face of barneveld, although barneveld was detested by leicester. so with much firmness and courtesy, notwithstanding the extravagant pictures painted by willoughby, he suppressed mutiny in holland, while avowing the most chivalrous attachment to the sovereign of england. her majesty expressed her surprise and her discontent, that, notwithstanding his expressions of devotion to herself, he should thus deal with sonoy, whose only crime was an equal devotion. "if you do not behave with more moderation in future," she said, "you may believe that we are not a princess of so little courage as not to know how to lend a helping hand to those who are unjustly oppressed. we should be sorry if we had cause to be disgusted with your actions, and if we were compelled to make you a stranger to the ancient good affection which we bore to your late father, and have continued towards yourself." but maurice maintained a dignified attitude, worthy of his great father's name. he was not the man to crouch like leicester, when he could no longer refresh himself in the "shadow of the queen's golden beams," important as he knew her friendship to be to himself and his country. so he defended himself in a manly letter to the privy council against the censures of elizabeth. he avowed his displeasure, that, within his own jurisdiction, sonoy should give a special oath of obedience to leicester; a thing never done before in the country, and entirely illegal. it would not even be tolerated in england, he said, if a private gentleman should receive a military appointment in warwickshire or norfolk without the knowledge of the lord-lieutenant of the shire. he had treated the contumacious sonoy with mildness during a long period, but without effect. he had abstained from violence towards him, out of reverence to the queen, under whose sacred name he sheltered himself. sonoy had not desisted, but had established himself in organized rebellion at medenblik, declaring that he would drown the whole country, and levy black-mail upon its whole property, if he were not paid one hundred thousand crowns. he had declared that he would crush holland like a glass beneath his feet. having nothing but religion in his mouth, and protecting himself with the queen's name, he had been exciting all the cities of north holland to rebellion, and bringing the poor people to destruction. he had been offered money enough to satisfy the most avaricious soldier in the world, but he stood out for six years' full pay for his soldiers, a demand with which it was impossible to comply. it was necessary to prevent him from inundating the land and destroying the estates of the country gentlemen and the peasants. "this gentlemen," said maurice, "is the plain truth; nor do i believe that you will sustain against me a man who was under such vast obligations to my late father, and who requites his debt by daring to speak of myself as a rascal; or that you will countenance his rebellion against a country to which he brought only, his cloak and sword, and, whence he has filched one hundred thousand crowns. you will not, i am sure, permit a simple captain, by his insubordination to cause such mischief, and to set on fire this and other provinces. "if, by your advice," continued the count; "the queen should appoint fitting' personages to office here--men who know what honour is; born of illustrious and noble-race, or who by their great virtue have been elevated to the honours of the kingdom--to them i will render an account of my actions. and it shall appear that i have more ability and more desire to do my duty, to her majesty than those who render her lip-service only, and only make use of her sacred name to fill their purses, while i and, mine have been ever ready to employ our lives, and what remains of our fortunes, in the cause of god, her majesty, and our country." certainly no man had a better right: to speak with consciousness of the worth of race than the son of william the silent, the nephew of lewis, adolphus, and henry of nassau, who had all laid down their lives for the liberty of their country. but elizabeth continued to threaten the states-general, through the mouth of willoughby, with the loss of her protection, if they should continue thus to requite her favours with ingratitude and insubordination: and maurice once more respectfully but firmly replied that sonoy's rebellion could not and would not be tolerated; appealing boldly to her sense of justice, which was the noblest attribute of kings. at last the queen informed willoughby, that--as the cause of sonoy's course seemed to be his oath of obedience to leicester, whose resignation of office had not yet been received in the netherlands--she had now ordered councillor killigrew to communicate the fact of that resignation. she also wrote to sonoy, requiring him to obey the states and count maurice, and to accept a fresh commission from them, or at least to surrender medenblik, and to fulfil all their orders with zeal and docility. this act of abdication by leicester, which had been received on the nd of january by the english envoy, herbert, at the moment of his departure from the netherlands, had been carried back by him to england, on the ground that its communication to the states at that moment would cause him inconveniently to postpone his journey. it never officially reached the states-general until the st of march, so that this most dangerous crisis was protracted nearly five months long--certainly without necessity or excuse--and whether through design, malice, wantonness, or incomprehensible carelessness, it is difficult to say. so soon as the news reached sonoy, that contumacious chieftain found his position untenable, and he allowed the states' troops to take possession of medenblik, and with it the important territory of north holland. maurice now saw himself undisputed governor. sonoy was in the course of the summer deprived of all office, and betook himself to england. here he was kindly received by the queen, who bestowed upon him a ruined tower, and a swamp among the fens of lincolnshire. he brought over some of his countrymen, well-skilled in such operations, set himself to draining and dyking, and hoped to find himself at home and comfortable in his ruined tower. but unfortunately, as neither he nor his wife, notwithstanding their english proclivities, could speak a word of the language; they found their social enjoyments very limited. moreover, as his work-people were equally without the power of making their wants understood, the dyking operations made but little progress. so the unlucky colonel soon abandoned his swamp, and retired to east friesland, where he lived a morose and melancholy life on a pension of one thousand florins, granted him by the states of holland, until the year , when he lost his mind, fell into the fire, and thus perished. and thus; in the netherlands, through hollow negotiations between enemies and ill-timed bickerings among friends, the path of philip and parma had been made comparatively smooth during the spring and early summer of . what was the aspect of affairs in germany and france? the adroit capture of bonn by martin schenk had given much trouble. parma was obliged to detach a strong force; under prince chimay, to attempt the recovery of that important place, which--so long as it remained in the power of the states--rendered the whole electorate insecure and a source of danger to the spanish party. farnese endeavoured in vain to win back the famous partizan by most liberal offers, for he felt bitterly the mistake he had made in alienating so formidable a freebooter. but the truculent martin remained obdurate and irascible. philip, much offended that the news of his decease had proved false, ordered rather than requested the emperor rudolph to have a care that nothing was done in germany to interfere with the great design upon england. the king gave warning that he would suffer no disturbance from that quarter, but certainly the lethargic condition of germany rendered such threats superfluous. there were riders enough, and musketeers enough, to be sold to the highest bidder. german food for powder was offered largely in the market to any foreign consumer, for the trade in their subjects', lives was ever a prolific source of revenue to the petty sovereigns--numerous as the days of the year--who owned germany and the germans. the mercenaries who had so recently been, making their inglorious campaign in france had been excluded from that country at the close of , and furious were the denunciations of the pulpits and the populace of paris that the foreign brigands who had been devastating the soil of france, and attempting to oppose the decrees of the holy father of rome, should; have made their escape so easily. rabid lincestre and other priests and monks foamed with rage, as they execrated and anathematized the devil-worshipper henry of valois, in all the churches of that monarch's capital. the spanish ducats were flying about, more profusely than ever, among the butchers and porters, and fishwomen, of the great city; and madam league paraded herself in the day-light with still increasing insolence. there was scarcely a pretence at recognition of any authority, save that of philip and sixtus. france had become a wilderness--an uncultivated, barbarous province of spain. mucio--guise had been secretly to rome, had held interviews with the pope and cardinals, and had come back with a sword presented by his holiness, its hilt adorned with jewels, and its blade engraved with tongues of fire. and with this flaming sword the avenging messenger of the holy father was to smite the wicked, and to drive them into outer darkness. and there had been fresh conferences among the chiefs of the sacred league within the lorraine territory, and it was resolved to require of the valois an immediate extermination of heresy and heretics throughout the kingdom, the publication of the council of trent, and the formal establishment of the holy inquisition in every province of france. thus, while doing his spanish master's bidding, the great lieutenant of the league might, if he was adroit enough, to outwit philip, ultimately carve out a throne for himself. yet philip felt occasional pangs of uneasiness lest there should, after all, be peace in france, and lest his schemes against holland and england might be interfered with from that quarter. even farnese, nearer the scene, could, not feel completely secure that a sudden reconciliation among contending factions might not give rise to a dangerous inroad across the flemish border. so guise was plied more vigourously than ever by the duke with advice and encouragement, and assisted with such walloon carabineers as could be spared, while large subsidies and larger promises came from philip, whose prudent policy was never to pay excessive sums, until the work contracted for was done. "mucio must do the job long since agreed upon," said philip to farnese, "and you and mendoza must see that he prevents the king of france from troubling me in my enterprize against england." if the unlucky henry iii. had retained one spark of intelligence, he would have seen that his only chance of rescue lay in the arm of the bearnese, and in an honest alliance with england. yet so strong was his love for the monks, who were daily raving against him, that he was willing to commit any baseness, in order to win back their affection. he was ready to exterminate heresy and to establish the inquisition, but he was incapable of taking energetic measures of any kind, even when throne and life were in imminent peril. moreover, he clung to epernon and the 'politiques,' in whose swords he alone found protection, and he knew that epernon and the 'politiques' were the objects of horror to paris and to the league. at the same time he looked imploringly towards england and towards the great huguenot chieftain, elizabeth's knight-errant. he had a secret interview with sir edward stafford, in the garden of the bernardino convent, and importuned that envoy to implore the queen to break off her negotiations with philip, and even dared to offer the english ambassador a large reward, if such a result could be obtained. stafford was also earnestly, requested to beseech the queen's influence with henry of navarre, that he should convert himself to catholicism, and thus destroy the league. on the other hand, the magniloquent mendoza, who was fond of describing himself as "so violent and terrible to the french that they wished to be rid of him," had--as usual--been frightening the poor king, who, after a futile attempt at dignity, had shrunk before the blusterings of the ambassador. "this king," said don bernardino, "thought that he could impose, upon me and silence me, by talking loud, but as i didn't talk softly to him, he has undeceived himself . . . . i have had another interview with him, and found him softer than silk, and he made me many caresses, and after i went out, he said that i was a very skilful minister." it was the purpose of the league to obtain possession of the king's person, and, if necessary, to dispose of the 'politiques' by a general massacre, such as sixteen years before had been so successful in the case of coligny and the huguenots. so the populace--more rabid than ever--were impatient that their adored balafre should come to paris and begin the holy work. he came as far as gonesse to do the job he had promised to philip, but having heard that henry had reinforced himself with four thousand swiss from the garrison of lagny, he fell back to soissons. the king sent him a most abject message, imploring him not to expose his sovereign to so much danger, by setting his foot at that moment in the capital. the balafre hesitated, but the populace raved and roared for its darling. the queen-mother urged her unhappy son to yield his consent, and the montpensier--fatal sister of guise, with the famous scissors ever at her girdle--insisted that her brother had as good a right as any man to come to the city. meantime the great chief of the 'politiques,' the hated and insolent epernon, had been appointed governor of normandy, and henry had accompanied his beloved minion a part of the way towards rouen. a plot contrived by the montpensier to waylay the monarch on his return, and to take him into the safe-keeping of the league, miscarried, for the king reentered the city before the scheme was ripe. on the other hand, nicholas poulain, bought for twenty thousand crowns by the 'politiques,' gave the king and his advisers-full information of all these intrigues, and, standing in henry's cabinet, offered, at peril of his life, if he might be confronted with the conspirators--the leaders of the league within the city--to prove the truth of the charges which he had made. for the whole city was now thoroughly organized. the number of its districts had been reduced from sixteen to five, the better to bring it under the control of the league; and, while it could not be denied that mucio, had, been doing his master's work very thoroughly, yet it was still in the power of the king--through the treachery of poulain--to strike a blow for life and freedom, before he was quite, taken in the trap. but he stood helpless, paralyzed, gazing in dreamy stupor--like one fascinated at the destruction awaiting him. at last, one memorable may morning, a traveller alighted outside the gate of saint martin, and proceeded on foot through the streets of paris. he was wrapped in a large cloak, which he held carefully over his face. when he had got as far as the street of saint denis, a young gentleman among the passers by, a good leaguer, accosted the stranger, and with coarse pleasantry, plucked the cloak from his face, and the hat from his head. looking at the handsome, swarthy features, marked with a deep scar, and the dark, dangerous eyes which were then revealed, the practical jester at once recognized in the simple traveller the terrible balafre, and kissed the hem of his garments with submissive rapture. shouts of "vive guise" rent the air from all the bystanders, as the duke, no longer affecting concealment, proceeded with a slow and stately step toward the residence of catharine de' medici.' that queen of compromises and of magic had been holding many a conference with the leaders of both parties; had been increasing her son's stupefaction by her enigmatical counsels; had been anxiously consulting her talisman of goat's and human blood, mixed with metals melted under the influence of the star of her nativity, and had been daily visiting the wizard ruggieri, in whose magic circle--peopled with a thousand fantastic heads--she had held high converse with the world of spirits, and derived much sound advice as to the true course of action to be pursued between her son and philip, and between the politicians and the league. but, in spite of these various sources of instruction, catharine--was somewhat perplexed, now that decisive action seemed necessary--a dethronement and a new massacre impending, and judicious compromise difficult. so after a hurried conversation with mucio, who insisted on an interview with the king, she set forth for the louvre, the duke lounging calmly by the aide of her, sedan chair, on foot, receiving the homage of the populace, as men, women, and children together, they swarmed around him as he walked, kissing his garments, and rending the air with their shouts. for that wolfish mob of paris, which had once lapped the blood of ten thousand huguenots in a single night, and was again rabid with thirst, was most docile and fawning to the great balafre. it grovelled before him, it hung upon his look, it licked his hand, and, at the lifting of his finger, or the glance of his eye, would have sprung at the throat of king or queen-mother, minister, or minion, and devoured them all before his eyes. it was longing for the sign, for, much as paris adored and was besotted with guise and the league, even more, if possible, did it hate those godless politicians, who had grown fat on extortions from the poor, and who had converted their substance into the daily bread of luxury. nevertheless the city was full of armed men, swiss and german mercenaries, and burgher guards, sworn to fidelity to the throne. the place might have been swept clean, at that moment, of rebels who were not yet armed or fortified in their positions. the lord had delivered guise into henry's hands. "oh, the madman!"--cried sixtus v., when he heard that the duke had gone to paris, "thus to put himself into the clutches of the king whom he had so deeply offended!" and, "oh, the wretched coward, the imbecile?" he added, when he heard how the king had dealt with his great enemy. for the monarch was in his cabinet that may morning, irresolutely awaiting the announced visit of the duke. by his aide stood alphonse corse, attached as a mastiff to his master, and fearing not guise nor leaguer, man nor devil. "sire, is the duke of guise your friend or enemy?" said alphonse. the king answered by an expressive shrug. "say the word, sire," continued alphonse, "and i pledge myself to bring his head this instant, and lay it at your feet." and he would have done it. even at the side of catharine's sedan chair, and in the very teeth of the worshipping mob, the corsican would have had the balafre's life, even though he laid down his own. but henry--irresolute and fascinated--said it was not yet time for such a blow. soon afterward; the duke was announced. the chief of the league and the last of the valois met, face to face; but not for the last time. the interview--was coldly respectful on the part of mucio, anxious and embarrassed on that of the king. when the visit, which was merely one of ceremony, was over, the duke departed as he came, receiving the renewed homage of the populace as he walked to his hotel. that night precautions were taken. all the guards were doubled around the palace and through the streets. the hotel de ville and the place de la greve were made secure, and the whole city was filled with troops. but the place maubert was left unguarded, and a rabble rout--all night long--was collecting in that distant spot. four companies of burgher-guards went over to the league at three o'clock in the morning. the rest stood firm in the cemetery of the innocents, awaiting the orders of the king. at day-break on the th the town was still quiet. there was an awful pause of expectation. the shops remained closed all the morning, the royal troops were drawn up in battle-array, upon the greve and around the hotel de ville, but they stood motionless as statues, until the populace began taunting them with cowardice, and then laughing them to scorn. for their sovereign lord and master still sat paralyzed in his palace. the mob had been surging through all the streets and lanes, until, as by a single impulse, chains were stretched across the streets, and barricades thrown up in all the principal thoroughfares. about noon the duke of guise, who had been sitting quietly in his hotel, with a very few armed followers, came out into the street of the hotel montmorency, and walked calmly up and down, arm-in-aim with the archbishop of lyons, between a double hedge-row of spectators and admirers, three or four ranks thick. he was dressed in a white slashed doublet and hose, and wore a very large hat. shouts of triumph resounded from a thousand brazen throats, as he moved calmly about, receiving, at every instant, expresses from the great gathering in the place maubert. "enough, too much, my good friends," he said, taking off the great hat--("i don't know whether he was laughing in it," observed one who was looking on that day)--"enough of 'long live guise!' cry 'long live the king!'" there was no response, as might be expected, and the people shouted more hoarsely than ever for madam league and the balafre. the duke's face was full of gaiety; there was not a shadow of anxiety upon it in that perilous and eventful moment. he saw that the day was his own. for now, the people, ripe, ready; mustered, armed, barricaded; awaited but a signal to assault the king's mercenaries, before rushing to the palace: on every house-top missiles were provided to hurl upon their heads. there seemed no escape for henry or his germans from impending doom, when guise, thoroughly triumphant, vouchsafed them their lives. "you must give me these soldiers as a present, my friends," said he to the populace. and so the armed swiss, french, and german troopers and infantry, submitted to be led out of paris, following with docility the aide-de-camp of guise, captain st. paul, who walked quietly before them, with his sword in its scabbard, and directing their movements with a cane. sixty of them were slain by the mob, who could not, even at the command of their beloved chieftain, quite forego their expected banquet. but this was all the blood shed on the memorable day of barricades, when another bartholomew massacre had been, expected. meantime; while guise was making his promenade through the city, exchanging embraces with the rabble; and listening to the coarse congratulations and obscene jests of the porters and fishwomen, the poor king sat crying all day long in the louvre. the queen-mother was with him, reproaching him bitterly with his irresolution and want of confidences in her, and scolding him for his tears. but the unlucky henry only wept the more as he cowered in a corner. "these are idle tears," said catherine. "this is no time for crying. and for myself, though women weep so easily; i feel my heart too deeply wrung for tears. if they came to my eyes they would be tears of blood." next day the last valois walked-out, of the louvre; as if for a promenade in, the tuileries, and proceeded straightway to the stalls, where his horse stood saddled. du halde, his equerry, buckled his master's spurs on upside down. "no; matter;" said henry; "i am not riding to see my mistress. i have a longer journey before me." and so, followed by a rabble rout of courtiers, without boots or cloaks; and mounted on, sorry hacks--the king-of france rode forth from his capital post-haste, and turning as he left the gates, hurled back impotent imprecations upon paris and its mob. thenceforth, for a long interval, there: was no king in that country. mucio had done his work, and earned his wages, and philip ii. reigned in paris. the commands of the league were now complied with. heretics were doomed to extermination. the edict of th july, , was published with the most exclusive and stringent provisions that the most bitter romanist could imagine, and, as a fair beginning; two young girls, daughters of jacques forcade, once 'procureur au parlement,' were burned in paris, for the crime, of protestantism. the duke of guise was named generalissimo of the kingdom ( th august, ). henry gave in his submission to the council of trent, the edicts, the inquisition, and the rest of the league's infernal machinery, and was formally reconciled to guise, with how much sincerity time was soon to show. [the king bound himself by oath to extirpate heresy, to remove all persons suspected of that crime from office, and never to lay down arms so long as a single, heretic remained. by secret articles,'two armies against the huguenots were agreed upon, one under the duke of mayenne, the other under some general to be appointed by the grog. the council of trent was forthwith to be proclaimed, and by a refinement of malice the league stipulated that all officers appointed in paris by the duke of guise on the day after the barricades should resign their powers, and be immediately re- appointed by the king himself (dethou, x. . , pp. - .)] meantime philip, for whom and at whose expense all this work had been done by he hands of the faithful mucio, was constantly assuring his royal brother of france, through envoy longlee, at madrid, of his most affectionate friendship, and utterly repudiating all knowledge of these troublesome and dangerous plots. yet they had been especially organized--as we have seen--by himself and the balafre, in order that france might be kept a prey to civil war, and thus rendered incapable of offering any obstruction to his great enterprise against england. any complicity of mendoza, the spanish ambassador in paris, or, of the duke of parma, who were important agents in all these proceedings, with the duke of guise, was strenuously--and circumstantially--denied; and the balafre, on the day of the barricades, sent brissac to elizabeth's envoy, sir edward stafford, to assure him as to his personal safety; and as to the deep affection with which england and its queen were regarded by himself and all his friends. stafford had also been advised to accept a guard for his house of embassy. his reply was noble. "i represent the majesty of england," he said, "and can take no safeguard from a subject of the sovereign to whom i am accredited." to the threat of being invaded, and to the advice to close his gates, he answered, "do you see these two doors? now, then, if i am attacked, i am determined to defend myself to the last drop of my blood, to serve as an example to the universe of the law of nations, violated in my person. do not imagine that i shall follow your advice. the gates of an ambassador shall be open to all the world." brissac returned with this answer to guise, who saw that it was hopeless to attempt making a display in the eyes of queen elizabeth, but gave private orders that the ambassador should not be molested. such were the consequences of the day of the barricades--and thus the path of philip was cleared of all obstructions on, the part of france. his mucio was now, generalissimo. henry was virtually deposed. henry of navarre, poor and good-humoured as ever, was scarcely so formidable at that moment as he might one day become. when the news of the day of barricades was brought at night to that cheerful monarch, he started from his couch. "ha," he exclaimed with a laugh, "but they havn't yet caught the bearnese!" and it might be long before the league would catch the bearnese; but, meantime, he could render slight assistance to queen elizabeth. in england there had been much fruitless negotiation between the government of that country and the commissioners from the states-general. there was perpetual altercation on the subject of utrecht, leyden, sonoy, and the other causes of contention; the queen--as usual--being imperious and choleric, and the envoys, in her opinion, very insolent. but the principal topic of discussion was the peace-negotiations, which the states-general, both at home and through their delegation in england, had been doing their best to prevent; steadily refusing her majesty's demand that commissioners, on their part, should be appointed to participate in the conferences at ostend. elizabeth promised that there should be as strict regard paid to the interests of holland as to those of england, in case of a pacification, and that she would never forget her duty to them, to herself, and to the world, as the protectress of the reformed religion. the deputies, on the other hand, warned her that peace with spain was impossible; that the intention of the spanish court was to deceive her, while preparing her destruction and theirs; that it was hopeless to attempt the concession of any freedom of conscience from philip ii.; and that any stipulations which might be made upon that, or any other subject, by the spanish commissioners, would be tossed to the wind. in reply to the queen's loud complaints that the states had been trifling with her, and undutiful to her, and that they had kept her waiting seven months long for an answer to her summons to participate in the negotiations, they replied, that up to the th october of the previous year, although there had been flying rumours of an intention on the part of her majesty's government to open those communications with the enemy, it had, "nevertheless been earnestly and expressly, and with high words and oaths, denied that there was any truth in those rumours." since that time the states had not once only, but many times, in private letters, in public documents, and in conversations with lord leicester and other eminent personages, deprecated any communications whatever with spain, asserting uniformly their conviction that such proceedings would bring ruin on their country, and imploring her majesty not to give ear to any propositions whatever. and not only were the envoys, regularly appointed by the states-general, most active in england, in their, attempts to prevent the negotiations, but delegates from the netherland churches were also sent to the queen, to reason with her on the subject, and to utter solemn warnings that the cause of the reformed religion would be lost for ever, in case of a treaty on her part with spain. when these clerical envoys reached england the queen was already beginning to wake from her delusion; although her commissioners were still--as we have seen--hard at work, pouring sand through their sieves at ostend, and although the steady protestations, of the duke of parma, and the industrious circulation of falsehoods by spanish emissaries, had even caused her wisest statesmen, for a time, to participate in that delusion. for it is not so great an impeachment on the sagacity of the great queen of england, as it would now appear to those who judge by the light of subsequent facts, that she still doubted whether the armaments, notoriously preparing in spain and flanders, were intended against herself; and that even if such were the case--she still believed in the possibility of averting the danger by negotiation. so late as the beginning of may, even the far-seeing and anxious walsingham could say, that in england "they were doing nothing but honouring st. george, of whom the spanish armada seemed to be afraid. we hear," he added, "that they will not be ready to set forward before the midst of may, but i trust that it will be may come twelve months. the king of spain is too old and too sickly to fall to conquer kingdoms. if he be well counselled, his best course will be to settle his own kingdoms in his own hands." and even much later, in the middle of july--when the mask was hardly, maintained--even then there was no certainty as to the movements of the armada; and walsingham believed, just ten days before the famous fleet was to appear off plymouth, that it had dispersed and returned to spain, never to re-appear. as to parma's intentions, they were thought to lie rather in the direction: of ostend than of england; and elizabeth; on the th july, was more anxious for that city than for her own kingdom. "mr. ned, i am persuaded," she wrote to morris, "that if a spanish fleet break, the prince of parma's enterprise for england will fall to the ground, and then are you to look to ostend. haste your works." all through the spring and early summer, stafford, in paris, was kept in a state of much perplexity as to the designs of spain--so contradictory were the stories circulated--and so bewildering the actions of men known to be hostile to england. in, the last days of april he intimated it as a common opinion in paris, that these naval preparations of philip were an elaborate farce; "that the great elephant would bring forth but a mouse--that the great processions, prayers, and pardons, at rome, for the prosperous success of the armada against england; would be of no effect; that the king of spain was laughing in his sleeve at the pope, that he could make such a fool of him; and that such an enterprise was a thing the king never durst think of in deed, but only in show to feed the world." thus, although furnished with minute details as to these, armaments, and as to the exact designs of spain against his country, by the ostentatious statements of the; spanish ambassador in paris himself, the english, envoy was still inclined to believe that these statements were a figment, expressly intended to deceive. yet he was aware that lord westmoreland, lord paget, sir charles paget, morgan, and other english refugees, were constantly meeting with mendoza, that they were told to get themselves in readiness, and to go down--as well appointed as might be--to the duke of parma; that they had been "sending for their tailor to make them apparel, and to put themselves in equipage;" that, in particular, westmoreland had been assured of being restored by philip to his native country in better condition than before. the catholic and spanish party in paris were however much dissatisfied with the news from scotland, and were getting more and more afraid that king james would object to the spaniards getting a foot-hold in his country, and that "the scots would soon be playing them a scottish trick." stafford was plunged still more inextricably into doubt by the accounts from longlee in madrid. the diplomatist, who had been completely convinced by philip as to his innocence of any participation in the criminal enterprise of guise against henry iii., was now almost staggered by the unscrupulous mendacity of that monarch with regard to any supposed designs against england. although the armada was to be ready by the th may, longlee was of opinion--notwithstanding many bold announcements of an attack upon elizabeth--that the real object of the expedition was america. there had recently been discovered, it was said, "a new country, more rich in gold and silver than any yet found, but so full of stout people that they could not master them." to reduce these stout people beyond the atlantic, therefore, and to get possession of new gold mines, was the real object at which philip was driving, and longlee and stafford were both very doubtful whether it were worth the queen's while to exhaust her finances in order to protect herself against an imaginary invasion. even so late as the middle of july, six to one was offered on the paris exchange that the spanish fleet would never be seen in the english seas, and those that offered the bets were known to be well-wishers to the spanish party. thus sharp diplomatists and statesmen like longlee, stafford, and walsingham, were beginning to lose their fear of the great bugbear by which england had so long been haunted. it was, therefore no deep stain on the queen's sagacity that she, too, was willing to place credence in the plighted honour of alexander farnese, the great prince who prided himself on his sincerity, and who, next to the king his master, adored the virgin queen of england. the deputies of the netherland churches had come, with the permission of count maurice and of the states general; but they represented more strongly than any other envoys could do, the english and the monarchical party. they were instructed especially to implore the queen to accept the sovereignty of their country; to assure her that the restoration of philip--who had been a wolf instead of a shepherd to his flock--was an impossibility, that he had been solemnly and for ever deposed, that under her sceptre only could the provinces ever recover their ancient prosperity; that ancient and modern history alike made it manifest that a free republic could never maintain itself, but that it must, of necessity, run its course through sedition, bloodshed, and anarchy, until liberty was at last crushed by an absolute despotism; that equality of condition, the basis of democratic institutions, could never be made firm; and that a fortunate exception, like that of switzerland, whose historical and political circumstances were peculiar, could never serve as a model to the netherlands, accustomed as those provinces had ever been to a monarchical form of government; and that the antagonism of aristocratic and democratic elements in the states had already produced discord, and was threatening destruction to the whole country. to avert such dangers the splendour of royal authority was necessary, according to the venerable commands of holy writ; and therefore the netherland churches acknowledged themselves the foster-children of england, and begged that in political matters also the inhabitants of the provinces might be accepted as the subjects of her majesty. they also implored the queen to break off these accursed negotiations with spain, and to provide that henceforth in the netherlands the reformed religion might be freely exercised, to the exclusion of any other. thus it was very evident that these clerical envoys, although they were sent by permission of the states, did not come as the representatives of the dominant party. for that 'beelzebub,' barneveld, had different notions from theirs as to the possibility of a republic, and as to the propriety of tolerating other forms of worship than his own. but it was for such pernicious doctrines, on religious matters in particular, that he was called beelzebub, pope john, a papist in disguise, and an atheist; and denounced, as leading young maurice and the whole country to destruction. on the basis of these instructions, the deputies drew up a memorial of pitiless length, filled with astounding parallels between their own position and that of the hebrews, assyrians, and other distinguished nations of antiquity. they brought it to walsingham on the th july, , and the much enduring man heard it read from beginning to end. he expressed his approbation of its sentiments, but said it was too long. it must be put on one sheet of paper, he said, if her majesty was expected to read it. "moreover," said the secretary of state, "although your arguments are full of piety, and your examples from holy writ very apt, i must tell you the plain truth. great princes are not always so zealous in religious matters as they might be. political transactions move them more deeply, and they depend too much on worldly things. however there is no longer much danger, for our envoys will return from flanders in a few days." "but," asked a deputy, "if the spanish fleet does not succeed in its enterprise, will the peace-negotiations be renewed?" "by no means," said walsingham; "the queen can never do that, consistently with her honour. they have scattered infamous libels against her--so scandalous, that you would be astounded should you read them. arguments drawn from honour are more valid with princes than any other." he alluded to the point in their memorial touching the free exercise of the reformed religion in the provinces. "'tis well and piously said," he observed; "but princes and great lords are not always very earnest in such matters. i think that her majesty's envoys will not press for the free exercise of the religion so very much; not more than for two or three years. by that time--should our negotiations succeed--the foreign troops will have evacuated the netherlands on condition that the states-general shall settle the religious question." "but," said daniel de dieu, one of the deputies, "the majority of the states is popish." "be it so," replied sir francis; "nevertheless they will sooner permit the exercise of the reformed religion than take up arms and begin the war anew." he then alluded to the proposition of the deputies to exclude all religious worship but that of the reformed church--all false religion--as they expressed themselves. "her majesty," said he, "is well disposed to permit some exercise of their religion to the papists. so far as regards my own feelings, if we were now in the beginning, of the reformation, and the papacy were still entire, i should willingly concede such exercise; but now that the papacy has been overthrown, i think it would not be safe to give such permission. when we were disputing, at the time of the pacification of ghent, whether the popish religion should be partially permitted, the prince of orange was of the affirmative opinion; but i, who was then at antwerp, entertained the contrary conviction." "but," said one of the deputies--pleased to find that walsingham was more of their way of thinking on religious toleration than the great prince of orange had been, or than maurice and barneveld then were--"but her majesty will, we hope, follow the advice of her good and faithful counsellors." "to tell you the truth," answered sir francis, "great princes are not always inspired with a sincere and upright zeal;"--it was the third time he had made this observation"--although, so far as regards the maintenance of the religion in the netherlands, that is a matter of necessity. of that there is no fear, since otherwise all the pious would depart, and none would remain but papists, and, what is more, enemies of england. therefore the queen is aware that the religion must be maintained." he then advised the deputies to hand in the memorial to her majesty, without any long speeches, for which there was then no time or opportunity; and it was subsequently arranged that they should be presented to the queen as she would be mounting her horse at st. james's to ride to richmond. accordingly on the th july, as her majesty came forth at the gate, with a throng of nobles and ladies--some about to accompany her and some bidding her adieu--the deputies fell on their knees before her. notwithstanding the advice of walsingham, daniel de dieu was bent upon an oration. "oh illustrious queen!" he began, "the churches of the united netherlands----" he had got no further, when the queen, interrupting, exclaimed, "oh! i beg you--at another time--i cannot now listen to a speech. let me see the memorial." daniel de dieu then humbly presented that document, which her majesty graciously received, and then, getting on horseback, rode off to richmond.' the memorial was in the nature of an exhortation to sustain the religion, and to keep clear of all negotiations with idolaters and unbelievers; and the memorialists supported themselves by copious references to deuteronomy, proverbs, isaiah, timothy, and psalms, relying mainly on the case of jehosaphat, who came to disgrace and disaster through his treaty with the idolatrous king ahab. with regard to any composition with spain, they observed, in homely language, that a burnt cat fears the fire; and they assured the queen that, by following their advice, she would gain a glorious and immortal name, like those of david, ezekiel, josiah, and others, whose fragrant memory, even as precious incense from the apothecary's, endureth to the end of the world. it was not surprising that elizabeth, getting on horseback on the th july, , with her head full of tilbury fort and medina sidonia, should have as little relish for the affairs of ahab and jehosophat, as for those melting speeches of diomede and of turnus, to which dr. valentine dale on his part was at that moment invoking her attention. on the th july, the deputies were informed by leicester that her majesty would grant them an interview, july , and that they must come into his quarter of the palace and await her arrival. between six and seven in the evening she came into the throne-room, and the deputies again fell on their knees before her. she then seated herself--the deputies remaining on their knees on her right side and the earl of leicester standing at her left--and proceeded to make many remarks touching her earnestness in the pending negotiations to provide for their religious freedom. it seemed that she must have received a hint from walsingham on the subject. "i shall provide," she said, "for the maintenance of the reformed worship." de dieu--"the enemy will never concede it." the queen.--"i think differently." de dieu.--"there is no place within his dominions where he has permitted the exercise of the pure religion. he has never done so." the queen.--"he conceded it in the pacification of ghent." de dieu.--"but he did not keep his agreement. don john had concluded with the states, but said he was not held to his promise, in case he should repent; and the king wrote afterwards to our states, and said that he was no longer bound to his pledge." the queen.--"that is quite another thing." de dieu.--"he has very often broken his faith." the queen.--"he shall no longer be allowed to do so. if he does not keep his word, that is my affair, not yours. it is my business to find the remedy. men would say, see in what a desolation the queen of england has brought this poor people. as to the freedom of worship, i should have proposed three or four years' interval--leaving it afterwards to the decision of the states." de dieu.--"but the majority of the states is popish." the queen.--"i mean the states-general, not the states of any particular province." de dieu.--"the greater part of the states-general is popish." the queen.--"i mean the three estates--the clergy, the nobles, and the cities." the queen--as the deputies observed--here fell into an error. she thought that prelates of the reformed church, as in england, had seats in the states-general. daniel de dieu explained that they had no such position. the queen.--"then how were you sent hither?" de dieu.--"we came with the consent of count maurice of nassau." the queen.--"and of the states?" de dieu.--"we came with their knowledge." the queen.--"are you sent only from holland and zeeland? is there no envoy from utrecht and the other provinces?" helmichius.--"we two," pointing to his colleague sossingius, "are from utrecht." the queen.--"what? is this young man also a minister?" she meant helmichius, who had a very little beard, and looked young. sossingius.--"he is not so young as he looks." the queen.--"youths are sometimes as able as old men." de dieu.--"i have heard our brother preach in france more than fourteen years ago." the queen.--"he must have begun young. how old were you when you first became a preacher?" helmichius.--"twenty-three or twenty-four years of age." the queen.--"it was with us, at first, considered a scandal that a man so young as that should be admitted to the pulpit. our antagonists reproached us with it in a book called 'scandale de l'angleterre,' saying that we had none but school-boys for ministers. i understand that you pray for me as warmly as if i were your sovereign princess. i think i have done as much for the religion as if i were your queen." helmichius.--"we are far from thinking otherwise. we acknowledge willingly your majesty's benefits to our churches." the queen.--"it would else be ingratitude on your part." helmichius.--"but the king of spain will never keep any promise about the religion." the queen.--"he will never come so far: he does nothing but make a noise on all sides. item, i don't think he has much confidence in himself." de dieu.--"your majesty has many enemies. the lord hath hitherto supported you, and we pray that he may continue to uphold your majesty." the queen.--"i have indeed many enemies; but i make no great account of them. is there anything else you seek?" de dieu.--"there is a special point: it concerns our, or rather your majesty's, city of flushing. we hope that russelius--(so he called sir william russell)--may be continued in its government, although he wishes his discharge." "aha!" said the queen, laughing and rising from her seat, "i shall not answer you; i shall call some one else to answer you." she then summoned russell's sister, lady warwick. "if you could speak french," said the queen to that gentlewoman, "i should bid you reply to these gentlemen, who beg that your brother may remain in flushing, so very agreeable has he made himself to them." the queen was pleased to hear this good opinion of sir william, and this request that he might continue to be governor of flushing, because he had uniformly supported the leicester party, and was at that moment in high quarrel with count maurice and the leading members of the states. as the deputies took their leave, they requested an answer to their memorial, which was graciously promised. three days afterwards, walsingham gave them a written answer to their memorial--conceived in the same sense as had been the expressions of her majesty and her counsellors. support to the netherlands and stipulations for the free exercise of their religion were promised; but it was impossible for these deputies of the churches to obtain a guarantee from england that the popish religion should be excluded from the provinces, in case of a successful issue to the queen's negotiation with spain. and thus during all those eventful days-the last weeks of july and the first weeks of august--the clerical deputation remained in england, indulging in voluminous protocols and lengthened conversations with the queen and the principal members of her government. it is astonishing, in that breathless interval of history, that so much time could be found for quill-driving and oratory. nevertheless, both in holland and england, there had been other work than protocolling. one throb of patriotism moved the breast of both nations. a longing to grapple, once for all, with the great enemy of civil and religious liberty inspired both. in holland, the states-general and all the men to whom the people looked for guidance, had been long deprecating the peace-negotiations. extraordinary supplies--more than had ever been granted before--were voted for the expenses of the campaign; and maurice of nassau, fitly embodying the warlike tendencies of his country and race, had been most importunate with queen elizabeth that she would accept his services and his advice. armed vessels of every size, from the gun-boat to the galleon of tons--then the most imposing ship in those waters--swarmed in all the estuaries and rivers, and along the dutch and flemish coast, bidding defiance to parma and his armaments; and offers of a large contingent from the fleets of jooat de moor and justinua de nassau, to serve under seymour and howard, were freely made to the states-general. it was decided early in july, by the board of admiralty, presided over by prince maurice, that the largest square-rigged vessels of holland and zeeland should cruise between england and the flemish coast, outside the banks; that a squadron of lesser ships should be stationed within the banks; and that a fleet of sloops and fly-boats should hover close in shore, about flushing and rammekens. all the war-vessels of the little republic were thus fully employed. but, besides this arrangement, maurice was empowered to lay an embargo--under what penalty he chose and during his pleasure--on all square-rigged vessels over tons, in order that there might be an additional supply in case of need. ninety ships of war under warmond, admiral, and van der does, vice-admiral of holland; and justinus de nassau, admiral, and joost de moor, vice-admiral of zeeland; together with fifty merchant-vessels of the best and strongest, equipped and armed for active service, composed a formidable fleet. the states-general, a month before, had sent twenty-five or thirty good ships, under admiral rosendael, to join lord henry seymour, then cruising between dover and calais. a tempest, drove them back, and their absence from lord henry's fleet being misinterpreted by the english, the states were censured for ingratitude and want of good faith. but the injustice of the accusation was soon made manifest, for these vessels, reinforcing the great dutch fleet outside the banks, did better service than they could have done; in the straits. a squadron of strong well-armed vessels, having on board, in addition to their regular equipment, a picked force of twelve hundred musketeers, long accustomed to this peculiar kind of naval warfare, with crews of, grim zeelanders, who had faced alva, and valdez in their day, now kept close watch over farnese, determined that he should never thrust his face out of any haven or nook on the coast so long as they should be in existence to prevent him. and in england the protracted diplomacy at ostend, ill-timed though it was, had not paralyzed the arm or chilled the heart of the nation. when the great queen, arousing herself from the delusion in which the falsehoods of farnese and of philip had lulled her, should once more. represent--as no man or woman better than elizabeth tudor could represent--the defiance of england to foreign insolence; the resolve of a whole people to die rather than yield; there was a thrill of joy through the national heart. when the enforced restraint was at last taken off, there was one bound towards the enemy. few more magnificent spectacles have been seen in history than the enthusiasm which pervaded the country as the great danger, so long deferred, was felt at last to be closely approaching. the little nation of four millions, the merry england of the sixteenth century, went forward to the death-grapple with its gigantic antagonist as cheerfully as to a long-expected holiday. spain was a vast empire, overshadowing the world; england, in comparison, but a province; yet nothing could surpass the steadiness with which the conflict was awaited. for, during all the months of suspense; the soldiers and sailors, and many statesman of england, had deprecated, even as the hollanders had been doing, the dangerous delays of ostend. elizabeth was not embodying the national instinct, when she talked of peace; and shrank penuriously from the expenses of war. there was much disappointment, even indignation, at the slothfulness with which the preparations for defence went on, during the period when there was yet time to make them. it was feared with justice that england, utterly unfortified as were its cities, and defended only by its little navy without, and by untaught enthusiasm within, might; after all, prove an easier conquest than holland and zeeland, every town, in whose territory bristled with fortifications. if the english ships--well-trained and swift sailors as they were--were unprovided with spare and cordage, beef and biscuit, powder and shot, and the militia-men, however enthusiastic, were neither drilled nor armed, was it so very certain, after all, that successful resistance would be made to the great armada, and to the veteran pikemen and musketeers of farnese, seasoned on a hundred, battlefields, and equipped as for a tournament? there was generous confidence and chivalrous loyalty on the part of elizabeth's naval and military commanders; but there had been deep regret and disappointment at her course. hawkins was anxious, all through the winter and spring, to cruise with a small squadron off the coast of spain. with a dozen vessels he undertook to "distress anything that went through the seas." the cost of such a squadron, with eighteen hundred men, to be relieved every four months, he estimated at two thousand seven hundred pounds sterling the month, or a shilling a day for each man; and it would be a very unlucky month, he said, in which they did not make captures to three times that amount; for they would see nothing that would not be presently their own. "we might have peace, but not with god," said the pious old slave-trader; "but rather than serve baal, let us die a thousand deaths. let us have open war with these jesuits, and every man will contribute, fight, devise, or do, for the liberty of our country." and it was open war with the jesuits for which those stouthearted sailors longed. all were afraid of secret mischief. the diplomatists--who were known to be flitting about france, flanders, scotland, and england--were birds of ill omen. king james was beset by a thousand bribes and expostulations to avenge his mother's death; and although that mother had murdered his father, and done her best to disinherit himself, yet it was feared that spanish ducats might induce him to be true to his mother's revenge, and false to the reformed religion. nothing of good was hoped for from france. "for my part," said lord admiral howard, "i have made of the french king, the scottish king, and the king of spain, a trinity that i mean never to trust to be saved by, and i would that others were of my opinion." the noble sailor, on whom so much responsibility rested, yet who was so trammelled and thwarted by the timid and parsimonious policy of elizabeth and of burghley, chafed and shook his chains like a captive. "since england was england," he exclaimed, "there was never such a stratagem and mask to deceive her as this treaty of peace. i pray god that we do not curse for this a long grey beard with a white head witless, that will make all the world think us heartless. you know whom i mean." and it certainly was not difficult to understand the allusion to the pondering lord-treasurer. "'opus est aliquo daedalo,' to direct us out of the maze," said that much puzzled statesman; but he hardly seemed to be making himself wings with which to lift england and himself out of the labyrinth. the ships were good ships, but there was intolerable delay in getting a sufficient number of them as ready for action as was the spirit of their commanders. "our ships do show like gallants here," said winter; "it would do a man's heart good to behold them. would to god the prince of parma were on the seas with all his forces, and we in sight of them. you should hear that we would make his enterprise very unpleasant to him." and howard, too, was delighted not only with his own little flag-ship the ark-royal--"the odd ship of the world for all conditions,"--but with all of his fleet that could be mustered. although wonders were reported, by every arrival from the south, of the coming armada, the lord-admiral was not appalled. he was perhaps rather imprudent in the defiance he flung to the enemy. "let me have the four great ships and twenty hoys, with but twenty men a-piece, and each with but two iron pieces, and her majesty shall have a good account of the spanish forces; and i will make the king wish his galleys home again. few as we are, if his forces be not hundreds, we will make good sport with them." but those four great ships of her majesty, so much longed for by howard, were not forthcoming. he complained that the queen was "keeping them to protect chatham church withal, when they should be serving their turn abroad." the spanish fleet was already reported as numbering from sail, with , men,' to or ships, and , soldiers and mariners; and yet drake was not ready with his squadron. "the fault is not in him," said howard, "but i pray god her majesty do not repent her slack dealing. we must all lie together, for we shall be stirred very shortly with heave ho! i fear ere long her majesty will be sorry she hath believed some so much as she hath done." howard had got to sea, and was cruising all the stormy month of march in the channel with his little unprepared squadron; expecting at any moment--such was the profound darkness which, enveloped the world at that day--that the sails of the armada might appear in the offing. he made a visit to the dutch coast, and was delighted with the enthusiasm with which he was received. five thousand people a day came on board his ships, full of congratulation and delight; and he informed the queen that she was not more assured of the isle of sheppey than of walcheren. nevertheless time wore on, and both the army and navy of england were quite unprepared, and the queen was more reluctant than ever to incur the expense necessary to the defence of her kingdom. at least one of those galleys, which, as howard bitterly complained, seemed destined to defend chatham church, was importunately demanded; but it was already easter-day ( th april), and she was demanded in vain. "lord! when should she serve," said the admiral, "if not at such a time as this? either she is fit now to serve, or fit for the fire. i hope never in my time to see so great a cause for her to be used. i dare say her majesty will look that men should fight for her, and i know they will at this time. the king of spain doth not keep any ship at home, either of his own or any other, that he can get for money. well, well, i must pray heartily for peace," said howard with increasing spleen, "for i see the support of an honourable, war will never appear. sparing and war have no affinity together." in truth elizabeth's most faithful subjects were appalled at the ruin which she seemed by her mistaken policy to be rendering inevitable. "i am sorry," said the admiral, "that her majesty is so careless of this most dangerous time. i fear me much, and with grief i think it, that she relieth on a hope that will deceive her, and greatly endanger her, and then it will not be her money nor her jewels that will help; for as they will do good in time, so they will help nothing for the redeeming of time." the preparations on shore were even more dilatory than those on the sea. we have seen that the duke of parma, once landed, expected to march directly upon london; and it was notorious that there were no fortresses to oppose a march of the first general in europe and his veterans upon that unprotected and wealthy metropolis. an army had been enrolled--a force of , foot, and , cavalry; but it was an army on paper merely. even of the , , only , were set down as trained; and it is certain that the training had been of the most meagre and unsatisfactory description. leicester was to be commander-in-chief; but we have already seen that nobleman measuring himself, not much to his advantage, with alexander farnese, in the isle of bommel, on the sands of blankenburg, and at the gates of sluys. his army was to consist of , infantry, and horse; yet at midsummer it had not reached half that number. lord chamberlain hunsdon was to protect the queen's person with another army of , ; but this force, was purely an imaginary one; and the lord-lieutenant of each county was to do his best with the militia. but men were perpetually escaping out of the general service, in order to make themselves retainers for private noblemen, and be kept at their expense. "you shall hardly believe," said leicester, "how many new liveries be gotten within these six weeks, and no man fears the penalty. it would be better that every nobleman did as lord dacres, than to take away from the principal service such as are set down to serve." of enthusiasm and courage, then, there was enough, while of drill and discipline, of powder and shot, there was a deficiency. no braver or more competent soldier could be found than sir edward stanley--the man whom we have seen in his yellow jerkin, helping himself into fort zutphen with the spanish soldier's pike--and yet sir edward stanley gave but a sorry account of the choicest soldiers of chester and lancashire, whom he had been sent to inspect. "i find them not," he said, "according to your expectation, nor mine own liking. they were appointed two years past to have been trained six days by the year or more, at the discretion of the muster-master, but, as yet, they have not been trained one day, so that they have benefited nothing, nor yet know their leaders. there is now promise of amendment, which, i doubt, will be very slow, in respect to my lord derby's absence." my lord derby was at that moment, and for many months afterwards, assisting valentine dale in his classical prolusions on the sands of bourbourg. he had better have been mustering the trainbands of lancashire. there was a general indisposition in the rural districts to expend money and time in military business, until the necessity should become imperative. professional soldiers complained bitterly of the canker of a long peace. "for our long quietness, which it hath pleased god to send us," said stanley, "they think their money very ill bestowed which they expend on armour or weapon, for that they be in hope they shall never have occasion to use it, so they may pass muster, as they have done heretofore. i want greatly powder, for there is little or none at all." the day was fast approaching when all the power in england would be too little for the demand. but matters had not very much mended even at midsummer. it is true that leicester, who was apt to be sanguine-particularly in matters under his immediate control--spoke of the handful of recruits assembled at his camp in essex, as "soldiers of a year's experience, rather than a month's camping;" but in this opinion he differed from many competent authorities, and was somewhat in contradiction to himself. nevertheless he was glad that the queen had determined to visit him, and encourage his soldiers. "i have received in secret," he said, "those news that please me, that your majesty doth intend to behold the poor and bare company that lie here in the field, most willingly to serve you, yea, most ready to die for you. you shall, dear lady, behold as goodly, loyal, and as able men as any prince christian can show you, and yet but a handful of your own, in comparison of the rest you have. what comfort not only these shall receive who shall be the happiest to behold yourself i cannot express; but assuredly it will give no small comfort to the rest, that shall be overshined with the beams of so gracious and princely a party, for what your royal majesty shall do to these will be accepted as done to all. good sweet queen, alter not your purpose, if god give you health. it will be your pain for the time, but your pleasure to behold such people. and surely the place must content you, being as fair a soil and as goodly a prospect as may be seen or found, as this extreme weather hath made trial, which doth us little annoyance, it is so firm and dry a ground. your usher also liketh your lodging--a proper, secret, cleanly house. your camp is a little mile off, and your person will be as sure as at st. james's, for my life." but notwithstanding this cheerful view of the position expressed by the commander-in-chief, the month of july had passed, and the early days of august had already arrived; and yet the camp was not formed, nor anything more than that mere handful of troops mustered about tilbury, to defend the road from dover to london. the army at tilbury never, exceeded sixteen or seventeen thousand men. the whole royal navy-numbering about thirty-four vessels in all--of different sizes, ranging from and tons to , had at last been got ready for sea. its aggregate tonnage was , ; not half so much as at the present moment--in the case of one marvellous merchant-steamer--floats upon a single keel. these vessels carried. guns and men. but the navy was reinforced by the patriotism and liberality of english merchants and private gentlemen. the city of london having been requested to furnish ships of war and men, asked two days for deliberation, and then gave ships and , men of which number were seamen. other cities, particularly plymouth, came forward with proportionate liberality, and private individuals, nobles, merchants, and men of humblest rank, were enthusiastic in volunteering into the naval service, to risk property and life in defence of the country. by midsummer there had been a total force of vessels manned, and partially equipped, with an aggregate of , tons, and , seamen. of this fleet a very large number were mere coasters of less than tons each; scarcely ten ships were above , and but one above tons--the triumph, captain frobisher, of tons, guns, and sailors. lord howard of effingham, lord high-admiral of england, distinguished for his martial character, public spirit, and admirable temper, rather than for experience or skill as a seaman, took command of the whole fleet, in his "little odd ship for all conditions," the ark-royal, of tons, sailors, and guns. next in rank was vice-admiral drake, in the revenge, of tons, men and guns. lord henry seymour, in the rainbow, of precisely the same size and strength, commanded the inner squadron, which cruised in the neighbourhood of the french and flemish coast. the hollanders and zeelanders had undertaken to blockade the duke of parma still more closely, and pledged themselves that he should never venture to show himself upon the open sea at all. the mouth of the scheldt, and the dangerous shallows off the coast of newport and dunkirk, swarmed with their determined and well-seasoned craft, from the flybooter or filibuster of the rivers, to the larger armed vessels, built to confront every danger, and to deal with any adversary. farnese, on his part, within that well-guarded territory, had, for months long, scarcely slackened in his preparations, day or night. whole forests had been felled in the land of waas to furnish him with transports and gun-boats, and with such rapidity, that--according to his enthusiastic historiographer--each tree seemed by magic to metamorphose itself into a vessel at the word of command. shipbuilders, pilots, and seamen, were brought from the baltic, from hamburgh, from genoa. the whole surface of the obedient netherlands, whence wholesome industry had long been banished, was now the scene of a prodigious baleful activity. portable bridges for fording the rivers of england, stockades for entrenchments, rafts and oars, were provided in vast numbers, and alexander dug canals and widened natural streams to facilitate his operations. these wretched provinces, crippled, impoverished, languishing for peace, were forced to contribute out of their poverty, and to find strength even in their exhaustion, to furnish the machinery for destroying their own countrymen, and for hurling to perdition their most healthful neighbour. and this approaching destruction of england--now generally believed in--was like the sound of a trumpet throughout catholic europe. scions of royal houses, grandees of azure blood, the bastard of philip ii., the bastard of savoy, the bastard of medici, the margrave of burghaut, the archduke charles, nephew of the emperor, the princes of ascoli and of melfi, the prince of morocco, and others of illustrious name, with many a noble english traitor, like paget, and westmoreland, and stanley, all hurried to the camp of farnese, as to some famous tournament, in which it was a disgrace to chivalry if their names were not enrolled. the roads were trampled with levies of fresh troops from spain, naples, corsica, the states of the church, the milanese, germany, burgundy. blas capizucca was sent in person to conduct reinforcements from the north of italy. the famous terzio of naples, under carlos pinelo, arrived strong--the most splendid regiment ever known in the history of war. every man had an engraved corslet and musket-barrel, and there were many who wore gilded armour, while their waving plumes and festive caparisons made them look like holiday-makers, rather than real campaigners, in the eyes of the inhabitants of the various cities through which their road led them to flanders. by the end of april the duke of parma saw himself at the head of , men, at a monthly expense of , crowns or dollars. yet so rapid was the progress of disease--incident to northern climates--among those southern soldiers, that we shall find the number woefully diminished before they were likely to set foot upon the english shore. thus great preparations, simultaneously with pompous negotiations, had been going forward month after month, in england, holland, flanders. nevertheless, winter, spring, two-thirds of summer, had passed away, and on the th july, , there remained the same sickening uncertainty, which was the atmosphere in which the nations had existed for a twelvemonth. howard had cruised for a few weeks between england and spain, without any results, and, on his return, had found it necessary to implore her majesty, as late as july, to "trust no more to judas' kisses, but to her sword, not her enemy's word." etext editor's bookmarks: a burnt cat fears the fire a free commonwealth--was thought an absurdity baiting his hook a little to his appetite canker of a long peace englishmen and hollanders preparing to cut each other's throats faction has rarely worn a more mischievous aspect hard at work, pouring sand through their sieves she relieth on a hope that will deceive her sparing and war have no affinity together the worst were encouraged with their good success trust her sword, not her enemy's word history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter xix. part . philip second in his cabinet--his system of work and deception--his vast but vague schemes of conquest--the armada sails--description of the fleet--the junction with parma unprovided for--the gale off finisterre--exploits of david gwynn--first engagements in the english channel--considerable losses of the spaniards--general engagement near portland--superior seamanship of the english it is now time to look in upon the elderly letter-writer in the escorial, and see how he was playing his part in the drama. his counsellors were very few. his chief advisers were rather like private secretaries than cabinet ministers; for philip had been withdrawing more and more into seclusion and mystery as the webwork of his schemes multiplied and widened. he liked to do his work, assisted by a very few confidential servants. the prince of eboli, the famous ruy gomez, was dead. so was cardinal granvelle. so were erasso and delgado. his midnight council--junta de noche--for thus, from its original hour of assembling, and the all of secrecy in which it was enwrapped, it was habitually called--was a triumvirate. don juan de idiaquez was chief secretary of state and of war; the count de chinchon was minister for the household, for italian affairs, and for the kingdom of aragon; don cristoval de moura, the monarch's chief favourite, was at the head of the finance department, and administered the affairs of portugal and castile! the president of the council of italy, after granvelle's death, was quiroga, cardinal of toledo, and inquisitor-general. enormously long letters, in the king's: name, were prepared chiefly by the two secretaries, idiaquez and moura. in their hands was the vast correspondence with mendoza and parma, and olivarez at rome, and with mucio; in which all the stratagems for the subjugation of protestant europe were slowly and artistically contrived. of the great conspiracy against human liberty, of which the pope and philip were the double head, this midnight triumvirate was the chief executive committee. these innumerable despatches, signed by philip, were not the emanations of his own mind. the king had a fixed purpose to subdue protestantism and to conquer the world; but the plans for carrying the purpose into effect were developed by subtler and more comprehensive minds than his own. it was enough for him to ponder wearily over schemes which he was supposed to dictate, and to give himself the appearance of supervising what he scarcely comprehended. and his work of supervision was often confined to pettiest details. the handwriting of spain and italy at that day was beautiful, and in our modern eyes seems neither antiquated nor ungraceful. but philip's scrawl was like that of 'a' clown just admitted to a writing-school, and the whole margin of a fairly penned despatch perhaps fifty pages long; laid before him for comment and signature by idiaquez or moura, would be sometimes covered with a few awkward sentences, which it was almost impossible to read, and which, when deciphered, were apt to reveal suggestions of astounding triviality. thus a most important despatch--in which the king, with his own hand, was supposed to be conveying secret intelligence to mendoza concerning the armada, together with minute directions for the regulation of guise's conduct at the memorable epoch of the barricades--contained but a single comment from the monarch's own pen. "the armada has been in lisbon about a month--quassi un mes"--wrote the secretary. "there is but one s in quasi," said philip. again, a despatch of mendoza to the king contained the intelligence that queen elizabeth was, at the date of the letter, residing at st. james's. philip, who had no objection to display his knowledge of english affairs--as became the man who had already been almost sovereign of england, and meant to be entirely so--supplied a piece of information in an apostille to this despatch. "st. james is a house of recreation," he said, "which was once a monastery. there is a park between it, and the palace which is called huytal; but why it is called huytal, i am sure i don't know." his researches in the english language had not enabled him to recognize the adjective and substantive out of which the abstruse compound white-hall (huyt-al), was formed. on another occasion, a letter from england containing important intelligence concerning the number of soldiers enrolled in that country to resist the spanish invasion, the quantity of gunpowder and various munitions collected, with other details of like nature, furnished besides a bit of information of less vital interest. "in the windows of the queen's presence-chamber they have discovered a great quantity of lice, all clustered together," said the writer. such a minute piece of statistics could not escape the microscopic eye of philip. so, disregarding the soldiers and the gunpowder, he commented only on this last-mentioned clause of the letter; and he did it cautiously too, as a king surnamed the prudent should:-- "but perhaps they were fleas," wrote philip. such examples--and many more might be given--sufficiently indicate the nature of the man on whom such enormous responsibilities rested, and who had been, by the adulation of his fellow-creatures, elevated into a god. and we may cast a glance upon him as he sits in his cabinet-buried among those piles of despatches--and receiving methodically, at stated hours, idiaquez, or moura, or chincon, to settle the affairs of so many millions of the human race; and we may watch exactly the progress of that scheme, concerning which so many contradictory rumours were circulating in europe. in the month of april a walsingham could doubt, even in august an ingenuous comptroller could disbelieve, the reality of the great project, and the pope himself, even while pledging himself to assistance, had been systematically deceived. he had supposed the whole scheme rendered futile by the exploit of drake at cadiz, and had declared that "the queen of england's distaff was worth more than philip's sword, that the king was a poor creature, that he would never be able to come to a resolution, and that even if he should do so, it would be too late;" and he had subsequently been doing his best, through his nuncio in france, to persuade the queen to embrace the catholic religion, and thus save herself from the impending danger. henry iii. had even been urged by the pope to send a special ambassador to her for this purpose--as if the persuasions of the wretched valois were likely to be effective with elizabeth tudor--and burghley had, by means of spies in rome, who pretended to be catholics, given out intimations that the queen was seriously contemplating such a step. thus the pope, notwithstanding cardinal allan, the famous million, and the bull, was thought by mendoza to be growing lukewarm in the spanish cause, and to be urging upon the "englishwoman" the propriety of converting herself, even at the late hour of may, . but philip, for years, had been maturing his scheme, while reposing entire confidence--beyond his own cabinet doors--upon none but alexander farnese; and the duke--alone of all men--was perfectly certain that the invasion would, this year, be attempted. the captain-general of the expedition was the marquis of santa cruz, a man of considerable naval experience, and of constant good fortune, who, in thirty years, had never sustained a defeat. he had however shown no desire to risk one when drake had offered him the memorable challenge in the year , and perhaps his reputation of the invincible captain had been obtained by the same adroitness on previous occasions. he was no friend to alexander farnese, and was much disgusted when informed of the share allotted to the duke in the great undertaking. a course of reproach and perpetual reprimand was the treatment to which he was, in consequence, subjected, which was not more conducive to the advancement of the expedition than it was to the health of the captain-general. early in january the cardinal archduke was sent to lisbon to lecture him, with instructions to turn a deaf ear to all his remonstrances, to deal with him peremptorily, to forbid his writing letters on the subject to his majesty, and to order him to accept his post or to decline it without conditions, in which latter contingency he was to be informed that his successor was already decided upon. this was not the most eligible way perhaps for bringing the captain-general into a cheerful mood; particularly as he was expected to be ready in january to sail to the flemish coast. nevertheless the marquis expressed a hope to accomplish his sovereign's wishes; and great had been the bustle in all the dockyards of naples, sicily, and spain; particularly in the provinces of guipuzcoa, biscay, and andalusia, and in the four great cities of the coast. war-ships of all dimensions, tenders, transports, soldiers, sailors, sutlers, munitions of war, provisions, were all rapidly concentrating in lisbon as the great place of rendezvous; and philip confidently believed, and as confidently informed the duke of parma, that he, might be expecting the armada at any time after the end of january. perhaps in the history of mankind there has never been a vast project of conquest conceived and matured in so protracted and yet so desultory a manner, as was this famous spanish invasion. there was something almost puerile in the whims rather than schemes of philip for carrying out his purpose. it was probable that some resistance would be offered, at least by the navy of england, to the subjugation of that country, and the king had enjoyed an opportunity, the preceding summer, of seeing the way in which english sailors did their work. he had also appeared to understand the necessity of covering the passage of farnese from the flemish ports into the thames, by means of the great spanish fleet from lisbon. nevertheless he never seemed to be aware that farnese could not invade england quite by himself, and was perpetually expecting to hear that he had done so. "holland and zeeland," wrote alexander to philip, "have been arming with their accustomed promptness; england has made great preparations. i have done my best to make the impossible possible; but your letter told me to wait for santa cruz, and to expect him very shortly. if, on the contrary, you had told me to make the passage without him, i would have made the attempt, although we had every one of us perished. four ships of war could sink every one of my boats. nevertheless i beg to be informed of your majesty's final order. if i am seriously expected to make the passage without santa cruz, i am ready to do it, although i should go all alone in a cock-boat." but santa cruz at least was not destined to assist in the conquest of england; for, worn out with fatigue and vexation, goaded by the reproaches and insults of philip, santa cruz was dead. he was replaced in the chief command of the fleet by the duke of medina sidonia, a grandee of vast wealth, but with little capacity and less experience. to the iron marquis it was said that a golden duke had succeeded; but the duke of gold did not find it easier to accomplish impossibilities than his predecessor had done. day after day, throughout the months of winter and spring, the king had been writing that the fleet was just on the point of sailing, and as frequently he had been renewing to alexander farnese the intimation that perhaps, after all, he might find an opportunity of crossing to england, without waiting for its arrival. and alexander, with the same regularity, had been informing his master that the troops in the netherlands had been daily dwindling from sickness and other causes, till at last, instead of the , effective infantry, with which it had been originally intended to make the enterprise, he had not more than , in the month of april. the spaniards, whom he was to receive from the fleet of medina sidonia, would therefore be the very mainspring of his army. after leaving no more soldiers in the netherlands than were absolutely necessary for the defence of the obedient provinces against the rebels, he could only take with him to england , men, even after the reinforcements from medina. "when we talked of taking england by surprise," said alexander, "we never thought of less than , . now that she is alert and ready for us, and that it is certain we must fight by sea and by land, , would be few." he almost ridiculed the king's suggestion that a feint might be made by way of besieging some few places in holland or zeeland. the whole matter in hand, he said, had become as public as possible, and the only efficient blind was the peace-negotiation; for many believed, as the english deputies were now treating at ostend, that peace would follow. at last, on the th, th, and th may, , the fleet, which had been waiting at lisbon more than a month for favourable weather, set sail from that port, after having been duly blessed by the cardinal archduke albert, viceroy of portugal. there were rather more than one hundred and thirty ships in all, divided into ten squadrons. there was the squadron of portugal, consisting of ten galleons, and commanded by the captain-general, medina sidonia. in the squadron of castile were fourteen ships of various sizes, under general diego flores de valdez. this officer was one of the most experienced naval officers in the spanish service, and was subsequently ordered, in consequence, to sail with the generalissimo in his flag-ship. in the squadron of andalusia were ten galleons and other vessels, under general pedro de valdez. in the squadron of biscay were ten galleons and lesser ships, under general juan martinet de recalde, upper admiral of the fleet. in the squadron of guipuzcoa were ten galleons, under general miguel de oquendo. in the squadron of italy were ten ships, under general martin de bertendona. in the squadron of urcas, or store-ships, were twenty-three sail, under general juan gomez de medina. the squadron of tenders, caravels, and other vessels, numbered twenty-two sail, under general antonio hurtado de mendoza. the squadron of four galeasses was commanded by don hugo de moncada. the squadron of four galeras, or galleys, was in charge of captain diego de medrado. next in command to medina sidonia was don alonzo de leyva, captain-general of the light horse of milan. don francisco de bobadilla was marshal-general of the camp. don diego de pimentel was marshal of the camp to the famous terzio or legion of sicily. the total tonnage of the fleet was , : the number of guns was . of spanish troops there were , on board: there were sailors and galley-slaves. besides these, there was a force of noble volunteers, belonging to the most illustrious houses of spain, with their attendants amounting to nearly in all. there was also don martin alaccon, administrator and vicar-general of the holy inquisition, at the head of some monks of the mendicant orders, priests and familiars. the grand total of those embarked was about , . the daily expense of the fleet was estimated by don diego de pimentel at , ducats a-day, and the daily cost of the combined naval and military force under farnese and medina sidonia was stated at , ducats. the size of the ships ranged from tons to . the galleons, of which there were about sixty, were huge round-stemmed clumsy vessels, with bulwarks three or four feet thick, and built up at stem and stern, like castles. the galeasses of which there were four--were a third larger than the ordinary galley, and were rowed each by three hundred galley-slaves. they consisted of an enormous towering fortress at the stern; a castellated structure almost equally massive in front, with seats for the rowers amidships. at stem and stern and between each of the slaves' benches were heavy cannon. these galeasses were floating edifices, very wonderful to contemplate. they were gorgeously decorated. there were splendid state-apartments, cabins, chapels, and pulpits in each, and they were amply provided with awnings, cushions, streamers, standards, gilded saints, and bands of music. to take part in an ostentatious pageant, nothing could be better devised. to fulfil the great objects of a war-vessel--to sail and to fight--they were the worst machines ever launched upon the ocean. the four galleys were similar to the galeasses in every respect except that of size, in which they were by one-third inferior. all the ships of the fleet--galeasses, galleys, galleons, and hulks--were so encumbered with top-hamper, so overweighted in proportion to their draught of water, that they could bear but little canvas, even with smooth seas and light and favourable winds. in violent tempests, therefore, they seemed likely to suffer. to the eyes of the th century these vessels seemed enormous. a ship of tons was then a monster rarely seen, and a fleet, numbering from to sail, with an aggregate tonnage of , , seemed sufficient to conquer the world, and to justify the arrogant title, by which it had baptized itself, of the invincible. such was the machinery which philip had at last set afloat, for the purpose of dethroning elizabeth and establishing the inquisition in england. one hundred and forty ships, eleven thousand spanish veterans, as many more recruits, partly spanish, partly portuguese, grandees, as many galley-slaves, and three hundred barefooted friars and inquisitors. the plan was simple. medina sidonia was to proceed straight from lisbon to calais roads: there he was to wait: for the duke of parma, who was to come forth from newport, sluys, and dunkerk, bringing with him his , veterans, and to assume the chief command of the whole expedition. they were then to cross the channel to dover, land the army of parma, reinforced with spaniards from the fleet, and with these , men alexander was to march at once upon london. medina sidonia was to seize and fortify the isle of wight, guard the entrance of the harbours against any interference from the dutch and english fleets, and--so soon as the conquest of england had been effected--he was to proceed to ireland. it had been the wish of sir william stanley that ireland should be subjugated first, as a basis of operations against england; but this had been overruled. the intrigues of mendoza and farnese, too, with the catholic nobles of scotland, had proved, after all, unsuccessful. king james had yielded to superior offers of money and advancement held out to him by elizabeth, and was now, in alexander's words, a confirmed heretic. there was no course left, therefore, but to conquer england at once. a strange omission had however been made in the plan from first to last. the commander of the whole expedition was the duke of parma: on his head was the whole responsibility. not a gun was to be fired--if it could be avoided--until he had come forth with his veterans to make his junction with the invincible armada off calais. yet there was no arrangement whatever to enable him to come forth--not the slightest provision to effect that junction. it would almost seem that the letter-writer of the escorial had been quite ignorant of the existence of the dutch fleets off dunkerk, newport, and flushing, although he had certainly received information enough of this formidable obstacle to his plan. "most joyful i shall be," said farnese--writing on one of the days when he had seemed most convinced by valentine dale's arguments, and driven to despair by his postulates--"to see myself with these soldiers on english ground, where, with god's help, i hope to accomplish your majesty's demands." he was much troubled however to find doubts entertained at the last moment as to his spaniards; and certainly it hardly needed an argument to prove that the invasion of england with but , soldiers was a somewhat hazardous scheme. yet the pilot moresini had brought him letters from medina sidonia, in which the duke expressed hesitation about parting with these veterans; unless the english fleet should have been previously destroyed, and had also again expressed his hope that parma would be punctual to the rendezvous. alexander immediately combated these views in letters to medina and to the king. he avowed that he would not depart one tittle from the plan originally laid down. the men, and more if possible, were to be furnished him, and the spanish armada was to protect his own flotilla, and to keep the channel clear of enemies. no other scheme was possible, he said, for it was clear that his collection of small flat-bottomed river-boats and hoys could not even make the passage, except in smooth weather. they could not contend with a storm, much less with the enemy's ships, which would destroy them utterly in case of a meeting, without his being able to avail himself of his soldiers--who would be so closely packed as to be hardly moveable--or of any human help. the preposterous notion that he should come out with his flotilla to make a junction with medina off calais, was over and over again denounced by alexander with vehemence and bitterness, and most boding expressions were used by him as to the probable result, were such a delusion persisted in. every possible precaution therefore but one had been taken. the king of france--almost at the same instant in which guise had been receiving his latest instructions from the escorial for dethroning and destroying that monarch--had been assured by philip of his inalienable affection; had been informed of the object of this great naval expedition--which was not by any means, as mendoza had stated to henry, an enterprise against france or england, but only a determined attempt to clear the sea, once for all, of these english pirates who had done so much damage for years past on the high seas--and had been requested, in case any spanish ship should be driven by stress of weather into french ports, to afford them that comfort and protection to which the vessels of so close and friendly an ally were entitled. thus there was bread, beef, and powder enough--there were monks and priests enough--standards, galley-slaves, and inquisitors enough; but there were no light vessels in the armada, and no heavy vessels in parma's fleet. medina could not go to farnese, nor could farnese come to medina. the junction was likely to be difficult, and yet it had never once entered the heads of philip or his counsellors to provide for that difficulty. the king never seemed to imagine that farnese, with , or , soldiers in the netherlands, a fleet of transports, and power to dispose of very large funds for one great purpose, could be kept in prison by a fleet of dutch skippers and corsairs. with as much sluggishness as might have been expected from their clumsy architecture, the ships of the armada consumed nearly three weeks in sailing from lisbon to the neighbourhood of cape finisterre. here they were overtaken by a tempest, and were scattered hither and thither, almost at the mercy of the winds and waves; for those unwieldy hulks were ill adapted to a tempest in the bay of biscay. there were those in the armada, however, to whom the storm was a blessing. david gwynn, a welsh mariner, had sat in the spanish hulks a wretched galley-slave--as prisoner of war for more than eleven years, hoping, year after year, for a chance of escape from bondage. he sat now among the rowers of the great galley, the trasana, one of the humblest instruments by which the subjugation of his native land to spain and rome was to be effected. very naturally, among the ships which suffered most in the gale were the four huge unwieldy galleys--a squadron of four under don diego de medrado--with their enormous turrets at stem and stern, and their low and open waists. the chapels, pulpits, and gilded madonnas proved of little avail in a hurricane. the diana, largest of the four, went down with all hands; the princess was labouring severely in the trough of the sea, and the trasana was likewise in imminent danger. so the master of this galley asked the welsh slave, who had far more experience and seamanship than he possessed himself, if it were possible to save the vessel. gwynn saw an opportunity for which he had been waiting eleven years. he was ready to improve it. he pointed out to the captain the hopelessness of attempting to overtake the armada. they should go down, he said, as the diana had already done, and as the princess was like at any moment to do, unless they took in every rag of sail, and did their best with their oars to gain the nearest port. but in order that the rowers might exert themselves to the utmost, it was necessary that the soldiers, who were a useless incumbrance on deck, should go below. thus only could the ship be properly handled. the captain, anxious to save his ship and his life, consented. most of the soldiers were sent beneath the hatches: a few were ordered to sit on the benches among the slaves. now there had been a secret understanding for many days among these unfortunate men, nor were they wholly without weapons. they had been accustomed to make toothpicks and other trifling articles for sale out of broken sword-blades and other refuse bits of steel. there was not a man among them who had not thus provided himself with a secret stiletto. at first gwynn occupied himself with arrangements for weathering the gale. so soon however as the ship had been made comparatively easy, he looked around him, suddenly threw down his cap, and raised his hand to the rigging. it was a preconcerted signal. the next instant he stabbed the captain to the heart, while each one of the galley-slaves killed the soldier nearest him; then, rushing below, they surprised and overpowered the rest of the troops, and put them all to death. coming again upon deck, david gwynn descried the fourth galley of the squadron, called the royal, commanded by commodore medrado in person, bearing down upon them, before the wind. it was obvious that the vasana was already an object of suspicion. "comrades," said gwynn, "god has given us liberty, and by our courage we must prove ourselves worthy of the boon." as he spoke there came a broadside from the galley royal which killed nine of his crew. david, nothing daunted; laid his ship close alongside of the royal, with such a shock that the timbers quivered again. then at the head of his liberated slaves, now thoroughly armed, he dashed on board the galley, and, after a furious conflict, in which he was assisted by the slaves of the royal, succeeded in mastering the vessel, and putting all the spanish soldiers to death. this done, the combined rowers, welcoming gwynn as their deliverer from an abject slavery which seemed their lot for life, willingly accepted his orders. the gale had meantime abated, and the two galleys, well conducted by the experienced and intrepid welshman, made their way to the coast of france, and landed at bayonne on the st, dividing among them the property found on board the two galleys. thence, by land, the fugitives, four hundred and sixty-six in number--frenchmen, spaniards, englishmen, turks, and moors, made their way to rochelle. gwynn had an interview with henry of navarre, and received from that chivalrous king a handsome present. afterwards he found his way to england, and was well commended by the queen. the rest of the liberated slaves dispersed in various directions. this was the first adventure of the invincible armada. of the squadron of galleys, one was already sunk in the sea, and two of the others had been conquered by their own slaves. the fourth rode out the gale with difficulty, and joined the rest of the fleet, which ultimately re-assembled at coruna; the ships having, in distress, put in at first at vivera, ribadeo, gijon, and other northern ports of spain. at the groyne--as the english of that day were accustomed to call coruna--they remained a month, repairing damages and recruiting; and on the nd of july (n.s.) the armada set sail: six days later, the spaniards took soundings, thirty leagues from the scilly islands, and on--friday, the th of july, off the lizard, they had the first glimpse of the land of promise presented them by sixtus v., of which they had at last come to take possession. [the dates in the narrative will be always given according to the new style, then already adopted by spain, holland, and france, although not by england. the dates thus given are, of course, ten days later than they appear in contemporary english records.] on the same day and night the blaze and smoke of ten thousand beacon-fires from the land's end to margate, and from the isle of wight to cumberland, gave warning to every englishman that the enemy was at last upon them. almost at that very instant intelligence had been brought from the court to the lord-admiral at plymouth, that the armada, dispersed and shattered by the gales of june, was not likely to make its appearance that year; and orders had consequently been given to disarm the four largest ships, and send them into dock. even walsingham, as already stated, had participated in this strange delusion. before howard had time to act upon this ill-timed suggestion--even had he been disposed to do so--he received authentic intelligence that the great fleet was off the lizard. neither he nor francis drake were the men to lose time in such an emergency, and before that friday, night was spent, sixty of the best english ships had been warped out of plymouth harbour. on saturday, th july, the wind was very light at southwest, with a mist and drizzling rain, but by three in the afternoon the two fleets could descry and count each other through the haze. by nine o'clock, st july, about two miles from looe, on the cornish coast, the fleets had their first meeting. there were sail of the spaniards, of which ninety were large ships, and sixty-seven of the english. it was a solemn moment. the long-expected armada presented a pompous, almost a theatrical appearance. the ships seemed arranged for a pageant, in honour of a victory already won. disposed in form of a crescent, the horns of which were seven miles asunder, those gilded, towered, floating castles, with their gaudy standards and their martial music, moved slowly along the channel, with an air of indolent pomp. their captain-general, the golden duke, stood in his private shot-proof fortress, on the--deck of his great galleon the saint martin, surrounded by generals of infantry, and colonels of cavalry, who knew as little as he did himself of naval matters. the english vessels, on the other hand--with a few exceptions, light, swift, and easily handled--could sail round and round those unwieldy galleons, hulks, and galleys rowed by fettered slave-gangs. the superior seamanship of free englishmen, commanded by such experienced captains as drake, frobisher, and hawkins--from infancy at home on blue water--was manifest in the very, first encounter. they obtained the weather-gage at once, and cannonaded the enemy at intervals with considerable effect, easily escaping at will out of range of the sluggish armada, which was incapable of bearing sail in pursuit, although provided with an armament which could sink all its enemies at close quarters. "we had some small fight with them that sunday afternoon," said hawkins. medina sidonia hoisted the royal standard at the fore, and the whole fleet did its utmost, which was little, to offer general battle. it was in vain. the english, following at the heels of the enemy, refused all such invitations, and attacked only the rear-guard of the armada, where recalde commanded. that admiral, steadily maintaining his post, faced his nimble antagonists, who continued to teaze, to maltreat, and to elude him, while the rest of the fleet proceeded slowly up the channel closely, followed by the enemy. and thus the running fight continued along the coast, in full view of plymouth, whence boats with reinforcements and volunteers were perpetually arriving to the english ships, until the battle had drifted quite out of reach of the town. already in this first "small fight" the spaniards had learned a lesson, and might even entertain a doubt of their invincibility. but before the sun set there were more serious disasters. much powder and shot had been expended by the spaniards to very little purpose, and so a master-gunner on board admiral oquendo's flag-ship was reprimanded for careless ball-practice. the gunner, who was a fleming, enraged with his captain, laid a train to the powder-magazine, fired it, and threw himself into the sea. two decks blew up. the into the clouds, carrying with it the paymaster-general of the fleet, a large portion of treasure, and nearly two hundred men.' the ship was a wreck, but it was possible to save the rest of the crew. so medina sidonia sent light vessels to remove them, and wore with his flag-ship, to defend oquendo, who had already been fastened upon by his english pursuers. but the spaniards, not being so light in hand as their enemies, involved themselves in much embarrassment by this manoeuvre; and there was much falling foul of each other, entanglement of rigging, and carrying away of yards. oquendo's men, however, were ultimately saved, and taken to other ships. meantime don pedro de valdez, commander of the andalusian squadron, having got his galleon into collision with two or three spanish ships successively, had at last carried away his fore-mast close to the deck, and the wreck had fallen against his main-mast. he lay crippled and helpless, the armada was slowly deserting him, night was coming on, the sea was running high, and the english, ever hovering near, were ready to grapple with him. in vain did don pedro fire signals of distress. the captain-general, even as though the unlucky galleon had not been connected with the catholic fleet--calmly fired a gun to collect his scattered ships, and abandoned valdez to his fate. "he left me comfortless in sight of the whole fleet," said poor pedro, "and greater inhumanity and unthankfulness i think was never heard of among men." yet the spaniard comported himself most gallantly. frobisher, in the largest ship of the english fleet, the triumph, of tons, and hawkins in the victory, of , cannonaded him at a distance, but, night coming on, he was able to resist; and it was not till the following morning that he surrendered to the revenge. drake then received the gallant prisoner on board his flagship--much to the disgust and indignation of frobisher and hawkins, thus disappointed of their prize and ransom-money--treated him with much courtesy, and gave his word of honour that he and his men should be treated fairly like good prisoners of war. this pledge was redeemed, for it was not the english, as it was the spanish custom, to convert captives into slaves, but only to hold them for ransom. valdez responded to drake's politeness by kissing his hand, embracing him, and overpowering him with magnificent compliments. he was then sent on board the lord-admiral, who received him with similar urbanity, and expressed his regret that so distinguished a personage should have been so coolly deserted by the duke of medina. don pedro then returned to the revenge, where, as the guest of drake, he was a witness to all subsequent events up to the th of august, on which day he was sent to london with some other officers, sir francis claiming his ransom as his lawful due. here certainly was no very triumphant beginning for the invincible armada. on the very first day of their being in presence of the english fleet--then but sixty-seven in number, and vastly their inferior in size and weight of metal--they had lost the flag ships of the guipuzcoan and of the andalusian squadrons, with a general-admiral, officers and, men, and some , ducats of treasure. they had been out-manoeuvred, out-sailed, and thoroughly maltreated by their antagonists, and they had been unable to inflict a single blow in return. thus the "small fight" had been a cheerful one for the opponents of the inquisition, and the english were proportionably encouraged. on monday, st of august, medina sidonia placed the rear-guard-consisting of the galeasses, the galleons st. matthew, st. luke, st. james, and the florence and other ships, forty-three in all--under command of don antonio de leyva. he was instructed to entertain the enemy--so constantly hanging on the rear--to accept every chance of battle, and to come to close quarters whenever it should be possible. the spaniards felt confident of sinking every ship in the english navy, if they could but once come to grappling; but it was growing more obvious every hour that the giving or withholding battle was entirely in the hands of their foes. meantime--while the rear was thus protected by leyva's division--the vanguard and main body of the armada, led by the captain-general, would steadily pursue its way, according to the royal instructions, until it arrived at its appointed meeting-place with the duke of parma. moreover, the duke of medina--dissatisfied with the want of discipline and of good seamanship hitherto displayed in his fleet--now took occasion to send a serjeant-major, with written sailing directions, on board each ship in the armada, with express orders to hang every captain, without appeal or consultation, who should leave the position assigned him; and the hangmen were sent with the sergeant-majors to ensure immediate attention to these arrangements. juan gil was at the name time sent off in a sloop to the duke of parma, to carry the news of the movements of the armada, to request information as to the exact spot and moment of the junction, and to beg for pilots acquainted with the french and flemish coasts. "in case of the slightest gale in the world," said medina, "i don't know how or where to shelter such large ships as ours." disposed in this manner; the spaniards sailed leisurely along the english coast with light westerly breezes, watched closely by the queen's fleet, which hovered at a moderate distance to windward, without offering, that day, any obstruction to their course. by five o'clock on tuesday morning, nd of august, the armada lay between portland bill and st. albans' head, when the wind shifted to the north-east, and gave the spaniards the weather-gage. the english did their beat to get to windward, but the duke, standing close into the land with the whole armada, maintained his advantage. the english then went about, making a tack seaward, and were soon afterwards assaulted by the spaniards. a long and spirited action ensued. howard in his little ark-royal--"the odd ship of the world for all conditions"--was engaged at different times with bertendona, of the italian squadron, with alonzo de leyva in the batta, and with other large vessels. he was hard pressed for a time, but was gallantly supported by the nonpareil, captain tanner; and after a long and confused combat, in which the st. mark, the st. luke, the st. matthew, the st. philip, the st. john, the st. james, the st. john baptist, the st. martin, and many other great galleons, with saintly and apostolic names, fought pellmell with the lion, the bear, the bull, the tiger, the dreadnought, the revenge, the victory, the triumph, and other of the more profanely-baptized english ships, the spaniards were again baffled in all their attempts to close with, and to board, their ever-attacking, ever-flying adversaries. the cannonading was incessant. "we had a sharp and a long fight," said hawkins. boat-loads of men and munitions were perpetually arriving to the english, and many, high-born volunteers--like cumberland, oxford, northumberland, raleigh, brooke, dudley, willoughby, noel, william hatton, thomas cecil, and others--could no longer restrain their impatience, as the roar of battle sounded along the coasts of dorset, but flocked merrily on board the ships of drake,--hawkins, howard, and frobisher, or came in small vessels which they had chartered for themselves, in order to have their share in the delights of the long-expected struggle. the action, irregular, desultory, but lively, continued nearly all day, and until the english had fired away most of their powder and shot. the spaniards, too, notwithstanding their years of preparation, were already sort of light metal, and medina sidonia had been daily sending to parma for a supply of four, six, and ten pound balls. so much lead and gunpowder had never before been wasted in a single day; for there was no great damage inflicted on either side. the artillery-practice was certainly not much to the credit of either nation. "if her majesty's ships had been manned with a full supply of good gunners," said honest william thomas, an old artilleryman, "it would have been the woefullest time ever the spaniard took in hand, and the most noble victory ever heard of would have been her majesty's. but our sins were the cause that so much powder and shot were spent, so long time in fight, and in comparison so little harm done. it were greatly to be wished that her majesty were no longer deceived in this way." yet the english, at any rate, had succeeded in displaying their seamanship, if not their gunnery, to advantage. in vain the unwieldly hulks and galleons had attempted to grapple with their light-winged foes, who pelted them, braved them, damaged their sails and gearing; and then danced lightly off into the distance; until at last, as night fell, the wind came out from the west again, and the english regained and kept the weather-gage. the queen's fleet, now divided into four squadrons, under howard, drake, hawkins, and frobisher, amounted to near one hundred sail, exclusive of lord henry seymour's division, which was cruising in the straits of dover. but few of all this number were ships of war however, and the merchant vessels; although zealous and active enough, were not thought very effective. "if you had seen the simple service done by the merchants and coast ships," said winter, "you would have said we had been little holpen by them, otherwise than that they did make a show." all night the spaniards, holding their course towards calais, after the long but indecisive conflict had terminated, were closely pursued by their wary antagonists. on wednesday, rd of august, there was some slight cannonading, with but slender results; and on thursday, the th, both fleets were off dunnose, on the isle of wight. the great hulk santana and a galleon of portugal having been somewhat damaged the previous day, were lagging behind the rest of the armada, and were vigorously attacked by the triumph, and a few other vessels. don antonio de leyva, with some of the galeasses and large galleons, came to the rescue, and frobisher, although in much peril, maintained an unequal conflict, within close range, with great spirit. seeing his danger, the lord admiral in the ark-royal, accompanied by the golden lion; the white bear, the elizabeth, the victory, and the leicester, bore boldly down into the very midst of the spanish fleet, and laid himself within three or four hundred yards of medina's flag ship, the st. martin, while his comrades were at equally close quarters with vice-admiral recalde and the galleons of oquendo, mexia, and almanza. it was the hottest conflict which had yet taken place. here at last was thorough english work. the two, great fleets, which were there to subjugate and to defend the realm of elizabeth, were nearly yard-arm and yard-arm together--all england on the lee. broadside after broadside of great guns, volley after volley of arquebusry from maintop and rigging, were warmly exchanged, and much damage was inflicted on the spaniards, whose gigantic ships, were so easy a mark to aim at, while from their turreted heights they themselves fired for the most part harmlessly over the heads of their adversaries. the leaders of the armada, however, were encouraged, for they expected at last to come to even closer quarters, and there were some among the english who were mad enough to wish to board. but so soon as frobisher, who was the hero of the day, had extricated himself from his difficulty, the lord-admiral--having no intention of risking the existence of his fleet, and with it perhaps of the english crown, upon the hazard of a single battle, and having been himself somewhat damaged in the fight--gave the signal for retreat, and caused the ark-royal to be towed out of action. thus the spaniards were frustrated of their hopes, and the english; having inflicted much. punishment at comparatively small loss to themselves, again stood off to windward; and the armada continued its indolent course along the cliffs of freshwater and blackgang. on friday; th august, the english, having received men and munitions from shore, pursued their antagonists at a moderate distance; and the lord-admiral; profiting by the pause--for, it was almost a flat calm--sent for martin frobisher, john hawkins, roger townsend, lord thomas howard, son of the duke of norfolk, and lord edmund sheffield; and on the deck of the royal ark conferred the honour of knighthood on each for his gallantry in the action of the previous day. medina sidonia, on his part, was again despatching messenger after messenger to the duke of parma, asking for small shot, pilots, and forty fly-boats, with which to pursue the teasing english clippers. the catholic armada, he said, being so large and heavy, was quite in the power of its adversaries, who could assault, retreat, fight, or leave off fighting, while he had nothing for it but to proceed, as expeditiously as might be; to his rendezvous in calais roads. etext editor's bookmarks: inquisitors enough; but there were no light vessels in the armada history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , both fleets off calais--a night of anxiety--project of howard and winter--impatience of the spaniards--fire-ships sent against the armada--a great galeasse disabled--attacked and captured by english boats--general engagement of both fleets--loss of several spanish ships--armada flies, followed by the english--english insufficiently provided--are obliged to relinquish the chase--a great storm disperses the armada--great energy of parma made fruitless by philip's dulness--england readier at sea than on shore--the lieutenant--general's complaints--his quarrels with norris and williams--harsh statements as to the english troops--want of organization in england--royal parsimony and delay--quarrels of english admirals--england's narrow escape from great peril--various rumours as to the armada's fate--philip for a long time in doubt--he believes himself victorious--is tranquil when undeceived. chapter xix. part . and in calais roads the great fleet--sailing slowly all next day in company with the english, without a shot being fired on either side--at last dropped anchor on saturday afternoon, august th. here then the invincible armada had arrived at its appointed resting-place. here the great junction--of medina sidonia with the duke of parma was to be effected; and now at last the curtain was to rise upon the last act of the great drama so slowly and elaborately prepared. that saturday afternoon, lord henry seymour and his squadron of sixteen lay between dungeness and folkestone; waiting the approach of the two fleets. he spoke several-coasting vessels coming from the west; but they could give him no information--strange to say--either of the spaniards or, of his own countrymen,--seymour; having hardly three days' provision in his fleet, thought that there might be time to take in supplies; and so bore into the downs. hardly had he been there half an hour; when a pinnace arrived from the lord-admiral; with orders for lord henry's squadron to hold itself in readiness. there was no longer time for victualling, and very soon afterwards the order was given to make sail and bear for the french coast. the wind was however so light; that the whole day was spent before seymour with his ships could cross the channel. at last, towards seven in the evening; he saw the great spanish armada, drawn up in a half-moon, and riding at anchor--the ships very near each other--a little to the eastward of calais, and very near the shore. the english, under howard drake, frobisher, and hawkins, were slowly following, and--so soon as lord henry, arriving from the opposite shore; had made his junction with them--the whole combined fleet dropped anchor likewise very near calais, and within one mile and a half of the spaniards. that invincible force had at last almost reached its destination. it was now to receive the cooperation of the great farnese, at the head of an army of veterans, disciplined on a hundred battle-fields, confident from countless victories, and arrayed, as they had been with ostentatious splendour, to follow the most brilliant general in christendom on his triumphal march into the capital of england. the long-threatened invasion was no longer an idle figment of politicians, maliciously spread abroad to poison men's minds as to the intentions of a long-enduring but magnanimous, and on the whole friendly sovereign. the mask had been at last thrown down, and the mild accents of philip's diplomatists and their english dupes, interchanging protocols so decorously month after month on the sands of bourbourg, had been drowned by the peremptory voice of english and spanish artillery, suddenly breaking in upon their placid conferences. it had now become supererogatory to ask for alexander's word of honour whether he had, ever heard of cardinal allan's pamphlet, or whether his master contemplated hostilities against queen elizabeth. never, since england was england, had such a sight been seen as now revealed itself in those narrow straits between dover and calais. along that long, low, sandy shore, and quite within the range of the calais fortifications, one hundred and thirty spanish ships--the greater number of them the largest and most heavily armed in the world lay face to face, and scarcely out of cannon-shot, with one hundred and fifty english sloops and frigates, the strongest and swiftest that the island could furnish, and commanded by men whose exploits had rung through the world. farther along the coast, invisible, but known to be performing a post perilous and vital service, was a squadron of dutch vessels of all sizes, lining both the inner and outer edges of the sandbanks off the flemish coasts, and swarming in all the estuaries and inlets of that intricate and dangerous cruising-ground between dunkerk and walcheren. those fleets of holland and zeeland, numbering some one hundred and fifty galleons, sloops, and fly-boats, under warmond, nassau, van der does, de moor, and rosendael, lay patiently blockading every possible egress from newport, or gravelines; or sluys, or flushing, or dunkerk, and longing to grapple with the duke of parma, so soon as his fleet of gunboats and hoys, packed with his spanish and italian veterans, should venture to set forth upon the sea for their long-prepared exploit. it was a pompous spectacle, that midsummer night, upon those narrow seas. the moon, which was at the full, was rising calmly upon a scene of anxious expectation. would she not be looking, by the morrow's night, upon a subjugated england, a re-enslaved holland--upon the downfall of civil and religious liberty? those ships of spain, which lay there with their banners waving in the moonlight, discharging salvoes of anticipated triumph and filling the air with strains of insolent music; would they not, by daybreak, be moving straight to their purpose, bearing the conquerors of the world to the scene of their cherished hopes? that english fleet, too, which rode there at anchor, so anxiously on the watch--would that swarm of, nimble, lightly-handled, but slender vessels,--which had held their own hitherto in hurried and desultory skirmishes--be able to cope with their great antagonist now that the moment had arrived for the death grapple? would not howard, drake, frobisher, seymour, winter, and hawkins, be swept out of the straits at last, yielding an open passage to medina, oquendo, recalde, and farnese? would those hollanders and zeelanders, cruising so vigilantly among their treacherous shallows, dare to maintain their post, now that the terrible 'holofernese,' with his invincible legions, was resolved to come forth? so soon as he had cast anchor, howard despatched a pinnace to the vanguard, with a message to winter to come on board the flag-ship. when sir william reached the ark, it was already nine in the evening. he was anxiously consulted by the lord-admiral as to the course now to be taken. hitherto the english had been teasing and perplexing an enemy, on the retreat, as it were, by the nature of his instructions. although anxious to give battle, the spaniard was forbidden to descend upon the coast until after his junction with parma. so the english had played a comparatively easy game, hanging upon their enemy's skirts, maltreating him as they doubled about him, cannonading him from a distance, and slipping out of his reach at their pleasure. but he was now to be met face to face, and the fate of the two free commonwealths of the world was upon the issue of the struggle, which could no longer be deferred. winter, standing side by aide with the lord-admiral on the deck of the little ark-royal, gazed for the first time on those enormous galleons and galleys with which his companion, was already sufficiently familiar. "considering their hugeness," said he, "twill not be possible to remove them but by a device." then remembering, in a lucky moment, something that he had heard four years before of the fire ships sent by the antwerpers against parma's bridge--the inventor of which, the italian gianibelli, was at that very moment constructing fortifications on the thames to assist the english against his old enemy farnese--winter suggested that some stratagem of the same kind should be attempted against the invincible armada. there was no time nor opportunity to prepare such submarine volcanoes as had been employed on that memorable occasion; but burning ships at least might be sent among the fleet. some damage would doubtless be thus inflicted by the fire, and perhaps a panic, suggested by the memories of antwerp and by the knowledge that the famous mantuan wizard was then a resident of england, would be still more effective. in winter's opinion, the armada might at least be compelled to slip its cables, and be thrown into some confusion if the project were fairly carried out. howard approved of the device, and determined to hold, next morning, a council of war for arranging the details of its execution. while the two sat in the cabin, conversing thus earnestly, there had well nigh been a serious misfortune. the ship, white bear, of tons burthen, and three others of the english fleet, all tangled together, came drifting with the tide against the ark. there were many yards carried away; much tackle spoiled, and for a time there was great danger; in the opinion of winter, that some of the very best ships in the fleet would be crippled and quite destroyed on the eve of a general engagement. by alacrity and good handling, however, the ships were separated, and the ill-consequences of an accident--such as had already proved fatal to several spanish vessels--were fortunately averted. next day, sunday, th august, the two great fleets were still lying but a mile and a half apart, calmly gazing at each other, and rising and falling at their anchors as idly as if some vast summer regatta were the only purpose of that great assemblage of shipping. nothing as yet was heard of farnese. thus far, at least, the hollanders had held him at bay, and there was still breathing-time before the catastrophe. so howard hung out his signal for council early in the morning, and very soon after drake and hawkins, seymour, winter, and the rest, were gravely consulting in his cabin. it was decided that winter's suggestion should be acted upon, and sir henry palmer was immediately despatched in a pinnace to dover, to bring off a number of old vessels fit to be fired, together with a supply of light wood, tar, rosin, sulphur, and other combustibles, most adapted to the purpose.' but as time wore away, it became obviously impossible for palmer to return that night, and it was determined to make the most of what could be collected in the fleet itself. otherwise it was to be feared that the opportunity might be for ever lost. parma, crushing all opposition, might suddenly appear at any moment upon the channel; and the whole spanish armada, placing itself between him and his enemies, would engage the english and dutch fleets, and cover his passage to dover. it would then be too late to think of the burning ships. on the other hand, upon the decks of the armada, there was an impatience that night which increased every hour. the governor of calais; m. de gourdon, had sent his nephew on board the flag-ship of medina sidonia, with courteous salutations, professions of friendship, and bountiful refreshments. there was no fear--now that mucio was for the time in the ascendency--that the schemes of philip would be interfered with by france. the governor, had, however, sent serious warning of--the dangerous position in which the armada had placed itself. he was quite right. calais roads were no safe anchorage for huge vessels like those of spain and portugal; for the tides and cross-currents to which they were exposed were most treacherous. it was calm enough at the moment, but a westerly gale might, in a few hours, drive the whole fleet hopelessly among the sand-banks of the dangerous flemish coast. moreover, the duke, although tolerably well furnished with charts and pilots for the english coast, was comparatively unprovided against the dangers which might beset him off dunkerk, newport, and flushing. he had sent messengers, day after day, to farnese, begging for assistance of various kinds, but, above all, imploring his instant presence on the field of action. it was the time and, place for alexander to assume the chief command. the armada was ready to make front against the english fleet on the left, while on the right, the duke, thus protected, might proceed across the channel and take possession of england. and the impatience of the soldiers and sailors on board the fleet was equal to that of their commanders. there was london almost before their eyes--a huge mass of treasure, richer and more accessible than those mines beyond the atlantic which had so often rewarded spanish chivalry with fabulous wealth. and there were men in those galleons who remembered the sack of antwerp, eleven years before--men who could tell, from personal experience, how helpless was a great commercial city, when once in the clutch of disciplined brigands--men who, in that dread 'fury of antwerp,' had enriched themselves in an hour with the accumulations of a merchant's life-time, and who had slain fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, brides and bridegrooms, before each others' eyes, until the number of inhabitants butchered in the blazing streets rose to many thousands; and the plunder from palaces and warehouses was counted by millions; before the sun had set on the 'great fury.' those spaniards, and italians, and walloons, were now thirsting for more gold, for more blood; and as the capital of england was even more wealthy and far more defenceless than the commercial metropolis of the netherlands had been, so it was resolved that the london 'fury' should be more thorough and more productive than the 'fury' of antwerp, at the memory--of which the world still shuddered. and these professional soldiers had been taught to consider the english as a pacific, delicate, effeminate race, dependent on good living, without experience of war, quickly fatigued and discouraged, and even more easily to be plundered and butchered than were the excellent burghers of antwerp. and so these southern conquerors looked down from their great galleons and galeasses upon the english vessels. more than three quarters of them were merchantmen. there was no comparison whatever between the relative strength of the fleets. in number they were about equal being each from one hundred and thirty to one hundred and fifty strong--but the spaniards had twice the tonnage of the english, four times the artillery, and nearly three times the number of men. where was farnese? most impatiently the golden duke paced the deck of the saint martin. most eagerly were thousands of eyes strained towards the eastern horizon to catch the first glimpse of parma's flotilla. but the day wore on to its close, and still the same inexplicable and mysterious silence prevailed. there was utter solitude on the waters in the direction of gravelines and dunkerk--not a sail upon the sea in the quarter where bustle and activity had been most expected. the mystery was profound, for it had never entered the head of any man in the armada that alexander could not come out when he chose. and now to impatience succeeded suspicion and indignation; and there were curses upon sluggishness and upon treachery. for in the horrible atmosphere of duplicity, in which all spaniards and italians of that epoch lived, every man: suspected his brother, and already medina sidonia suspected farnese of playing him false. there were whispers of collusion between the duke and the english commissioners at bourbourg. there were hints that alexander was playing his own game, that he meant to divide the sovereignty of the netherlands with the heretic elizabeth, to desert his great trust, and to effect, if possible, the destruction of his master's armada, and the downfall of his master's sovereignty in the north. men told each other, too, of a vague rumour, concerning which alexander might have received information, and in which many believed, that medina sidonia was the bearer of secret orders to throw farnese into bondage, so soon as he should appear, to send him a disgraced captive back to spain for punishment, and to place the baton of command in the hand of the duke of pastrana, philip's bastard by the eboli. thus, in the absence of alexander, all was suspense and suspicion. it seemed possible that disaster instead of triumph was in store for them through the treachery of the commander-in-chief. four and twenty hours and more, they had been lying in that dangerous roadstead, and although the weather had been calm and the sea tranquil, there seemed something brooding in the atmosphere. as the twilight deepened, the moon became totally obscured, dark cloud-masses spread over the heavens, the sea grew black, distant thunder rolled, and the sob of an approaching tempest became distinctly audible. such indications of a westerly gale, were not encouraging to those cumbrous vessels, with the treacherous quicksands of flanders under their lee. at an hour past midnight, it was so dark that it was difficult for the most practiced eye to pierce far into the gloom. but a faint drip of oars now struck the ears of the spaniards as they watched from the decks. a few moments afterwards the sea became, suddenly luminous, and six flaming vessels appeared at a slight distance, bearing steadily down upon them before the wind and tide. there were men in the armada who had been at the siege of antwerp only three years before. they remembered with horror the devil-ships of gianibelli, those floating volcanoes, which had seemed to rend earth and ocean, whose explosion had laid so many thousands of soldiers dead at a blow, and which had shattered the bridge and floating forts of farnese, as though they had been toys of glass. they knew, too, that the famous engineer was at that moment in england. in a moment one of those horrible panics, which spread with such contagious rapidity among large bodies of men, seized upon the spaniards. there was a yell throughout the fleet--"the fire-ships of antwerp, the fire-ships of antwerp!" and in an instant every cable was cut, and frantic attempts were made by each galleon and galeasse to escape what seemed imminent destruction. the confusion was beyond description. four or five of the largest ships became entangled with each other. two others were set on fire by the flaming--vessels, and were consumed. medina sidonia, who had been warned, even, before his departure from spain, that some such artifice would probably be attempted, and who had even, early that morning, sent out a party of sailors in a pinnace to search for indications of the scheme, was not surprised or dismayed. he gave orders--as well as might be that every ship, after the danger should be passed, was to return to its post, and, await his further orders. but it was useless, in that moment of unreasonable panic to issue commands. the despised mantuan, who had met with so many rebuffs at philip's court, and who--owing to official incredulity had been but partially successful in his magnificent enterprise at antwerp, had now; by the mere terror of his name, inflicted more damage on philip's armada than had hitherto been accomplished by howard and drake, hawkins and frobisher, combined. so long as night and darkness lasted, the confusion and uproar continued. when the monday morning dawned, several of the spanish vessels lay disabled, while the rest of the fleet was seen at a distance of two leagues from calais, driving towards the flemish coast. the threatened gale had not yet begun to blow, but there were fresh squalls from the w.s.w., which, to such awkward sailers as the spanish vessels; were difficult to contend with. on the other hand, the english fleet were all astir; and ready to pursue the spaniards, now rapidly drifting into the north sea. in the immediate neighbourhood of calais, the flagship of the squadron of galeasses, commanded by don hugo de moncada, was discovered using her foresail and oars, and endeavouring to enter the harbour. she had been damaged by collision with the st. john of sicily and other ships, during the night's panic, and had her rudder quite torn away. she was the largest and most splendid vessel in the armada--the show-ship of the fleet,--"the very glory and stay of the spanish navy," and during the previous two days she had been visited and admired by great numbers of frenchmen from the shore. lord admiral howard bore dawn upon her at once, but as she was already in shallow water, and was rowing steadily towards the town, he saw that the ark could not follow with safety. so he sent his long-boat to cut her out, manned with fifty or sixty volunteers, most of them "as valiant in courage as gentle in birth"--as a partaker in the adventure declared. the margaret and joan of london, also following in pursuit, ran herself aground, but the master despatched his pinnace with a body of musketeers, to aid in the capture of the galeasse. that huge vessel failed to enter the harbour, and stuck fast upon the bar. there was much dismay on board, but don hugo prepared resolutely to defend himself. the quays of calais and the line of the french shore were lined with thousands of eager spectators, as the two boats-rowing steadily toward a galeasse, which carried forty brass pieces of artillery, and was manned with three hundred soldiers and four hundred and fifty slaves--seemed rushing upon their own destruction. of these daring englishmen, patricians and plebeians together, in two open pinnaces, there were not more than one hundred in number, all told. they soon laid themselves close to the capitana, far below her lofty sides, and called on don hugo to surrender. the answer was, a smile of derision from the haughty spaniard, as he looked down upon them from what seemed an inaccessible height. then one wilton, coxswain of the delight; of winter's squadron, clambered up to the enemy's deck and fell dead the same instant. then the english volunteers opened a volley upon the spaniards; "they seemed safely ensconced in their ships," said bold dick tomson, of the margaret and joan, "while we in our open pinnaces, and far under them, had nothing to shroud and cover us." moreover the numbers were, seven hundred and fifty to one hundred. but, the spaniards, still quite disconcerted by the events of the preceding night, seemed under a spell. otherwise it would have been an easy matter for the great galeasse to annihilate such puny antagonists in a very short space of time. the english pelted the spaniards quite cheerfully, however, with arquebus shot, whenever they showed themselves above the bulwarks, picked off a considerable number, and sustained a rather severe loss themselves, lieutenant preston of the ark-royal, among others, being dangerously wounded. "we had a pretty skirmish for half-an-hour," said tomson. at last don hugo de moncada, furious at the inefficiency of his men, and leading them forward in person, fell back on his deck with a bullet through both eyes. the panic was instantaneous, for, meantime, several other english boats--some with eight, ten; or twelve men on board--were seen pulling--towards the galeasse; while the dismayed soldiers at once leaped overboard on the land side, and attempted to escape by swimming and wading to the shore. some of them succeeded, but the greater number were drowned. the few who remained--not more, than twenty in all--hoisted two handkerchiefs upon two rapiers as a signal of truce. the english, accepting it as a signal of defeat; scrambled with great difficulty up the lofty sides of the capitana, and, for an hour and a half, occupied themselves most agreeably in plundering the ship and in liberating the slaves. it was their intention, with the flood-tide, to get the vessel off, as she was but slightly damaged, and of very great value. but a serious obstacle arose to this arrangement. for presently a boat came along-side, with young m. de gourdon and another french captain, and hailed the galeasse. there was nobody on board who could speak french but richard tomson. so richard returned the hail, and asked their business. they said they came from the governor. "and what is the--governor's pleasure?" asked tomson, when they had come up the side. "the governor has stood and beheld your fight, and rejoiced in your victory," was the reply; "and he says that for your prowess and manhood you well deserve the pillage of the galeasse. he requires and commands you, however, not to attempt carrying off either the ship or its ordnance; for she lies a-ground under the battery of his castle, and within his jurisdiction, and does of right appertain to him." this seemed hard upon the hundred volunteers, who, in their two open boats, had so manfully carried a ship of tons, guns, and men; but richard answered diplomatically. "we thank m. de gourdon," said he, "for granting the pillage to mariners and soldiers who had fought for it, and we acknowledge that without his good-will we cannot carry away anything we have got, for the ship lies on ground directly under his batteries and bulwarks. concerning the ship and ordnance, we pray that he would send a pinnace to my lord admiral howard, who is here in person hard by, from whom he will have an honourable and friendly answer, which we shall all-obey." with this--the french officers, being apparently content, were about to depart, and it is not impossible that the soft answer might have obtained the galeasse and the ordnance, notwithstanding the arrangement which philip ii. had made with his excellent friend henry iii. for aid and comfort to spanish vessels in french ports. unluckily, however, the inclination for plunder being rife that morning, some of the englishmen hustled their french visitors, plundered them of their rings and jewels, as if they had been enemies, and then permitted them to depart. they rowed off to the shore, vowing vengeance, and within a few minutes after their return the battery of the fort was opened upon the english, and they were compelled to make their escape as they could with the plunder already secured, leaving the galeasse in the possession of m. de gourdon. this adventure being terminated, and the pinnaces having returned to the fleet, the lord-admiral, who had been lying off and on, now bore away with all his force in pursuit of the spaniards. the invincible armada, already sorely crippled, was standing n.n.e. directly before a fresh topsail-breeze from the s.s.w. the english came up with them soon after nine o'clock a.m. off gravelines, and found them sailing in a half-moon, the admiral and vice-admiral in the centre, and the flanks protected by the three remaining galeasses and by the great galleons of portugal. seeing the enemy approaching, medina sidonia ordered his whole fleet to luff to the wind, and prepare for action. the wind shifting a few points, was now at w.n.w., so that the english had both the weather-gage and the tide in their favour. a general combat began at about ten, and it was soon obvious to the spaniards that their adversaries were intending warm work. sir francis drake in the revenge, followed by, frobisher in the triumph, hawkins in the victory, and some smaller vessels, made the first attack upon the spanish flagships. lord henry in the rainbow, sir henry palmer in the antelope, and others, engaged with three of the largest galleons of the armada, while sir william winter in the vanguard, supported by most of his squadron, charged the starboard wing. the portion of the fleet thus assaulted fell back into the main body. four of the ships ran foul of each other, and winter, driving into their centre, found himself within musket-shot of many of their most formidable' ships. "i tell you, on the credit of a poor gentleman," he said, "that there were five hundred discharges of demi-cannon, culverin, and demi-culverin, from the vanguard; and when i was farthest off in firing my pieces, i was not out of shot of their harquebus, and most time within speech, one of another." the battle lasted six hours long, hot and furious; for now there was no excuse for retreat on the part of the spaniards, but, on the contrary, it was the intention of the captain-general to return to his station off calais, if it were within his power. nevertheless the english still partially maintained the tactics which had proved so successful, and resolutely refused the fierce attempts of the spaniards to lay themselves along-side. keeping within musket-range, the well-disciplined english mariners poured broadside after broadside against the towering ships of the armada, which afforded so easy a mark; while the spaniards, on their part, found it impossible, while wasting incredible quantities of powder and shot, to inflict any severe damage on their enemies. throughout the action, not an english ship was destroyed, and not a hundred men were killed. on the other hand, all the best ships of the spaniards were riddled through and through, and with masts and yards shattered, sails and rigging torn to shreds, and a north-went wind still drifting them towards the fatal sand-batiks of holland, they, laboured heavily in a chopping sea, firing wildly, and receiving tremendous punishment at the hands of howard drake, seymour, winter, and their followers. not even master-gunner thomas could complain that day of "blind exercise" on the part of the english, with "little harm done" to the enemy. there was scarcely a ship in the armada that did not suffer severely; for nearly all were engaged in that memorable action off the sands of gravelines. the captain-general himself, admiral recalde, alonzo de leyva, oquendo, diego flores de valdez, bertendona, don francisco de toledo, don diego de pimentel, telles enriquez, alonzo de luzon, garibay, with most of the great galleons and galeasses, were in the thickest of the fight, and one after the other each of those huge ships was disabled. three sank before the fight was over, many others were soon drifting helpless wrecks towards a hostile shore, and, before five o'clock, in the afternoon, at least sixteen of their best ships had been sacrificed, and from four to five thousand soldiers killed. ["god hath mightily preserved her majesty's forces with the least losses that ever hath been heard of, being within the compass of so great volleys of shot, both small and great. i verily believe there is not threescore men lost of her majesty's forces." captain j. fenner to walsingham, / aug. . (s. p. office ms.)] nearly all the largest vessels of the armada, therefore, having, been disabled or damaged--according to a spanish eye-witness--and all their small shot exhausted, medina sidonia reluctantly gave orders to retreat. the captain-general was a bad sailor; but he was, a chivalrous spaniard of ancient gothic blood, and he felt deep mortification at the plight of his invincible fleet, together with undisguised: resentment against alexander farnese, through whose treachery and incapacity, he considered. the great catholic cause to have been, so foully sacrificed. crippled, maltreated, and diminished in number, as were his ships; he would have still faced, the enemy, but the winds and currents were fast driving him on, a lee-shore, and the pilots, one and all, assured him that it would be inevitable destruction to remain. after a slight and very ineffectual attempt to rescue don diego de pimentel in the st. matthew--who refused to leave his disabled ship--and don francisco de toledo; whose great galleon, the st. philip, was fast driving, a helpless wreck, towards zeeland, the armada bore away n.n.e. into the open sea, leaving those, who could not follow, to their fate. the st. matthew, in a sinking condition, hailed a dutch fisherman, who was offered a gold chain to pilot her into newport. but the fisherman, being a patriot; steered her close to the holland fleet, where she was immediately assaulted by admiral van der does, to whom, after a two hours' bloody fight, she struck her flag. don diego, marshal of the camp to the famous legion of sicily, brother, of the marquis of tavera, nephew of the viceroy of sicily, uncle to the viceroy of naples, and numbering as many titles, dignities; and high affinities as could be expected of a grandee of the first class, was taken, with his officers, to the hague. "i was the means," said captain borlase, "that the best sort were saved, and the rest were cast overboard and slain at our entry. he, fought with us two hours; and hurt divers of our men, but at, last yielded." john van der does, his captor; presented the banner; of the saint matthew to the great church of leyden, where--such was its prodigious length--it hung; from floor to ceiling without being entirely unrolled; and there hung, from generation to generation; a worthy companion to the spanish flags which had been left behind when valdez abandoned the siege of that heroic city fifteen years before. the galleon st. philip, one of the four largest ships in the armada, dismasted and foundering; drifted towards newport, where camp-marshal don francisco de toledo hoped in, vain for succour. la motte made a feeble attempt at rescue, but some vessels from the holland fleet, being much more active, seized the unfortunate galleon, and carried her into flushing. the captors found forty-eight brass cannon and other things of value on board, but there were some casks of ribadavia wine which was more fatal to her enemies than those pieces of artillery had proved. for while the rebels were refreshing themselves, after the fatigues of the capture, with large draughts of that famous vintage, the st. philip, which had been bored through and through with english shot, and had been rapidly filling with water, gave a sudden lurch, and went down in a moment, carrying with her to the bottom three hundred of those convivial hollanders. a large biscay galleon, too, of recalde's squadron, much disabled in action, and now, like many others, unable to follow the armada, was summoned by captain cross of the hope, guns, to surrender. although foundering, she resisted, and refused to strike her flag. one of her officers attempted to haul down her colours, and was run through the body by the captain, who, in his turn, was struck dead by a brother of the officer thus slain. in the midst of this quarrel the ship went down with all her crew. six hours and more, from ten till nearly five, the fight had lasted--a most cruel battle, as the spaniard declared. there were men in the armada who had served in the action of lepanto, and who declared that famous encounter to have been far surpassed in severity and spirit by this fight off gravelines. "surely every man in our fleet did well," said winter, "and the slaughter the enemy received was great." nor would the spaniards have escaped even worse punishment, had not, most unfortunately, the penurious policy of the queen's government rendered her ships useless at last, even in this supreme moment. they never ceased cannonading the discomfited enemy until the ammunition was exhausted. "when the cartridges were all spent," said winter, "and the munitions in some vessels gone altogether, we ceased fighting, but followed the enemy, who still kept away." and the enemy--although still numerous, and seeming strong enough, if properly handled, to destroy the whole english fleet--fled before them. there remained more than fifty spanish vessels, above six hundred tons in size, besides sixty hulks and other vessels of less account; while in the whole english navy were but thirteen ships of or above that burthen. "their force is wonderful great and strong," said howard, "but we pluck their feathers by little and little." for medina sidonia had now satisfied himself that he should never succeed in boarding those hard-fighting and swift-sailing craft, while, meantime, the horrible panic of sunday night and the succession of fights throughout the following day, had completely disorganized his followers. crippled, riddled, shorn, but still numerous, and by no means entirely vanquished, the armada was flying with a gentle breeze before an enemy who, to save his existence; could not have fired a broadside. "though our powder and shot was well nigh spent," said the lord-admiral, "we put on a brag countenance and gave them chase, as though we had wanted nothing." and the brag countenance was successful, for that "one day's service had much appalled the enemy" as drake observed; and still the spaniards fled with a freshening gale all through the monday night. "a thing greatly to be regarded," said fenner, of the nonpariel, "is that that the almighty had stricken them with a wonderful fear. i have hardly, seen any of their companies succoured of the extremities which befell them after their fights, but they have been left, at utter ruin, while they bear as much sail as ever they possibly can." on tuesday morning, th august, the english ships were off the isle of walcheren, at a safe distance from the shore. "the wind is hanging westerly," said richard tomson, of the margaret and joan, "and we drive our enemies apace, much marvelling in what port they will direct themselves. those that are left alive are so weak and heartless that they could be well content to lose all charges and to be at home, both rich and poor." "in my, conscience," said sir william winter, "i think the duke would give his dukedom to be in spain again." the english ships, one-hundred and four in number, being that morning half-a-league to windward, the duke gave orders for the whole armada to lay to and, await their approach. but the english had no disposition to engage, for at, that moment the instantaneous destruction of their enemies seemed inevitable. ill-managed, panic-struck, staggering before their foes, the spanish fleet was now close upon the fatal sands of zeeland. already there were but six and a-half fathoms of water, rapidly shoaling under their keels, and the pilots told medina that all were irretrievably lost, for the freshening north-welter was driving them steadily upon the banks. the english, easily escaping the danger, hauled their wind, and paused to see the ruin of the proud armada accomplished before their eyes. nothing but a change of wind at the instant could save them from perdition. there was a breathless shudder of suspense, and then there came the change. just as the foremost ships were about to ground on the ooster zand, the wind suddenly veered to the south-west, and the spanish ships quickly squaring their sails to the new impulse, stood out once more into the open sea. all that day the galleons and galeasses, under all the canvas which they dared to spread, continued their flight before the south-westerly breeze, and still the lord-admiral, maintaining the brag countenance, followed, at an easy distance, the retreating foe. at p. m., howard fired a signal gun, and ran up a flag of council. winter could not go, for he had been wounded in action, but seymour and drake, hawkins, frobisher, and the rest were present, and it was decided that lord henry should return, accompanied by winter and the rest of the inner, squadron, to guard the thames mouth against any attempt of the duke of parma, while the lord admiral and the rest of the navy should continue the pursuit of the armada. very wroth was lord henry at being deprived of his share in the chase. "the lord-admiral was altogether desirous to have me strengthen him," said he, "and having done so to the utmost of my good-will and the venture of my life, and to the distressing of the spaniards, which was thoroughly done on the monday last, i now find his lordship jealous and loath to take part of the honour which is to come. so he has used his authority to command me to look to our english coast, threatened by the duke of parma. i pray god my lord admiral do not find the lack of the rainbow and her companions, for i protest before god i vowed i would be as near or nearer with my little ship to encounter our enemies as any of the greatest ships in both armies." there was no insubordination, however, and seymour's squadron; at twilight of tuesday evening, august th--according to orders, so that the enemy might not see their departure--bore away for margate. but although winter and seymour were much disappointed at their enforced return, there was less enthusiasm among the sailors of the fleet. pursuing the spaniards without powder or fire, and without beef and bread to eat, was not thought amusing by the english crews. howard had not three days' supply of food in his lockers, and seymour and his squadron had not food for one day. accordingly, when seymour and winter took their departure, "they had much ado," so winter said; "with the staying of many ships that would have returned with them, besides their own company." had the spaniards; instead of being panic-struck, but turned on their pursuers, what might have been the result of a conflict with starving and unarmed men? howard, drake, and frobisher, with the rest of the fleet, followed the armada through the north sea from tuesday night ( th august) till friday (the th), and still, the strong southwester swept the spaniards before them, uncertain whether to seek refuge, food, water, and room to repair damages, in the realms of the treacherous king of scots, or on the iron-bound coasts of norway. medina sidonia had however quite abandoned his intention of returning to england, and was only anxious for a safe return: to spain. so much did he dread that northern passage; unpiloted, around the grim hebrides, that he would probably have surrendered, had the english overtaken him and once more offered battle. he was on the point of hanging out a white flag as they approached him for the last time--but yielded to the expostulations of the ecclesiastics on board the saint martin, who thought, no doubt, that they had more to fear from england than from the sea, should they be carried captive to that country, and who persuaded him that it would be a sin and a disgrace to surrender before they had been once more attacked. on the other hand, the devonshire skipper, vice-admiral drake, now thoroughly in his element, could not restrain his hilarity, as he saw the invincible armada of the man whose beard he had so often singed, rolling through the german ocean, in full flight from the country which was to have been made, that week, a spanish province. unprovided as were his ships, he was for risking another battle, and it is quite possible that the brag countenance might have proved even more successful than howard thought. "we have the army of spain before us," wrote drake, from the revenge, "and hope with the grace of god to wrestle a pull with him. there never was any thing pleased me better than seeing the enemy flying with a southerly wind to the northward. god grant you have a good eye to the duke of parma, for with the grace of god, if we live, i doubt not so to handle the matter with the duke of sidonia as he shall wish himself at st. mary's port among his orange trees." but howard decided to wrestle no further pull. having followed the spaniards till friday, th of august, as far as the latitude of d. ' the lord admiral called a council. it was then decided, in order to save english lives and ships, to put into the firth of forth for water and provisions, leaving two "pinnaces to dog, the fleet until it should be past the isles of scotland." but the next day, as the wind shifted to the north-west, another council decided to take advantage of the change, and bear away for the north foreland, in order to obtain a supply of powder, shot, and provisions. up to this period, the weather, though occasionally threatening, had been moderate. during the week which succeeded the eventful night off. calais, neither the 'armada nor the english ships had been much impeded in their manoeuvres by storms of heavy seas. but on the following sunday, th of august, there was a change. the wind shifted again to the south-west, and, during the whole of that day and the monday, blew a tremendous gale. "'twas a more violent storm," said howard, "than was ever seen before at this time of the year." the retreating english fleet was, scattered, many ships were in peril, "among the ill-favoured sands off norfolk," but within four or five days all arrived safely in margate roads. far different was the fate of the spaniards. over their invincible armada, last seen by the departing english midway between the coasts of scotland and denmark, the blackness of night seemed suddenly to descend. a mystery hung for a long time over their fate. damaged, leaking, without pilots, without a competent commander, the great fleet entered that furious storm, and was whirled along the iron crags of norway and between the savage rocks of faroe and the hebrides. in those regions of tempest the insulted north wreaked its full vengeance on the insolent spaniards. disaster after disaster marked their perilous track; gale after gale swept them hither and thither, tossing them on sandbanks or shattering them against granite cliffs. the coasts of norway, scotland, ireland, were strewn with the wrecks of that pompous fleet, which claimed the dominion of the seas with the bones of those invincible legions which were to have sacked london and made england a spanish vice-royalty. through the remainder of the month of august there, was a succession of storms. on the nd september a fierce southwester drove admiral oquendo in his galleon, together with one of the great galeasses, two large venetian ships, the ratty and the balauzara, and thirty-six other vessels, upon the irish coast, where nearly every soul on board perished, while the few who escaped to the shore--notwithstanding their religious affinity with the inhabitants--were either butchered in cold blood, or sent coupled in halters from village to village, in order to be shipped to england. a few ships were driven on the english coast; others went ashore near rochelle. of the four galeasses and four galleys, one of each returned to spain. of the ninety-one great galleons and hulks, fifty-eight were lost and thirty-three returned. of the tenders and zabras, seventeen were lost. and eighteen returned. of one hundred and, thirty-four vessels, which sailed from corona in july, but fifty-three, great and small, made their escape to spain, and these were so damaged as to be, utterly worthless. the invincible armada had not only been vanquished but annihilated. of the , men who sailed in the fleet; it is probable that not more than , ever saw their native land again. most of the leaders of the expedition lost their lives. medina sidonia reached santander in october, and, as philip for a moment believed, "with the greater part of the armada," although the king soon discovered his mistake. recalde, diego flores de valdez, oquendo, maldonado, bobadilla, manriquez, either perished at sea, or died of exhaustion immediately after their return. pedro de valdez, vasco de silva, alonzo de sayas, piemontel, toledo, with many other nobles, were prisoners in england and holland. there was hardly a distinguished family in spain not placed in mourning, so that, to relieve the universal gloom, an edict was published, forbidding the wearing of mourning at all. on the other hand, a merchant of lisbon, not yet reconciled to the spanish conquest of his country, permitted himself some tokens of hilarity at the defeat of the armada, and was immediately hanged by express command of philip. thus--as men said--one could neither cry nor laugh within the spanish dominions. this was the result of the invasion, so many years preparing, and at an expense almost incalculable. in the year alone, the cost of philip's armaments for the subjugation of england could not have been less than six millions of ducats, and there was at least as large a sum on board the armada itself, although the pope refused to pay his promised million. and with all this outlay, and with the sacrifice of so many thousand lives, nothing had been accomplished, and spain, in a moment, instead of seeming terrible to all the world, had become ridiculous. "beaten and shuffled together from the lizard to calais, from calais driven with squibs from their anchors, and chased out of sight of england about scotland and ireland," as the devonshire skipper expressed himself, it must be confessed that the spaniards presented a sorry sight. "their invincible and dreadful navy," said drake, "with all its great and terrible ostentation, did not in all their sailing about england so much as sink or take one ship, bark, pinnace, or cock-boat of ours, or even burn so much as one sheep-tote on this land." meanwhile farnese sat chafing under the unjust reproaches heaped upon him, as if he, and not his master, had been responsible for the gigantic blunders of the invasion. "as for the prince of parma," said drake, "i take him to be as a bear robbed of her whelps." the admiral was quite right. alexander was beside himself with rage. day after day, he had been repeating to medina sidonia and to philip that his flotilla and transports could scarcely live in any but the smoothest sea, while the supposition that they could serve a warlike purpose he pronounced absolutely ludicrous. he had always counselled the seizing of a place like flushing, as a basis of operations against england, but had been overruled; and he had at least reckoned upon the invincible armada to clear the way for him, before he should be expected to take the sea. with prodigious energy and at great expense he had constructed or improved internal water-communications from ghent to sluy's, newport, and dunkerk. he had, thus transported all his hoys, barges, and munitions for the invasion, from all points of the obedient netherlands to the sea-coast, without coming within reach of the hollanders and zeelanders, who were keeping close watch on the outside. but those hollanders and zeelanders, guarding every outlet to the ocean, occupying every hole and cranny of the coast, laughed the invaders of england to scorn, braving them, jeering them, daring them to come forth, while the walloons and spaniards shrank before such amphibious assailants, to whom a combat on the water was as natural as upon dry land. alexander, upon one occasion, transported with rage, selected a band of one thousand musketeers, partly spanish, partly irish, and ordered an assault upon those insolent boatmen. with his own hand--so it was related--he struck dead more than one of his own officers who remonstrated against these commands; and then the attack was made by his thousand musketeers upon the hollanders, and every man of the thousand was slain. he had been reproached for not being ready, for not having embarked his men; but he had been ready for a month, and his men could be embarked in a single day. "but it was impossible," he said, "to keep them long packed up on board vessels, so small that there was no room to turn about in the people would sicken, would rot, would die." so soon as he had received information of the arrival of the fleet before calais--which was on the th august--he had proceeded the same night to newport and embarked , men, and before dawn he was at dunkerk, where the troops stationed in that port were as rapidly placed on board the transports. sir william stanley, with his irish kernes, were among the first shipped for the enterprise. two-days long these regiments lay heaped together, like sacks of corn, in the boats--as one of their officers described it--and they lay cheerfully hoping that the dutch fleet would be swept out of the sea by the invincible armada, and patiently expecting the signal for setting sail to england. then came the prince of ascoli, who had gone ashore from the spanish fleet at calais, accompanied by serjeant-major gallinato and other messengers from medina sidonia, bringing the news of the fire-ships and the dispersion and flight of the armada. "god knows," said alexander, "the distress in which this event has plunged me, at the very moment when i expected to be sending your majesty my congratulations on the success of the great undertaking. but these are the works of the lord, who can recompense your majesty by giving you many victories, and the fulfilment of your majesty's desires, when he thinks the proper time arrived. meantime let him be praised for all, and let your majesty take great care of your health, which is the most important thing of all." evidently the lord did not think the proper time yet arrived for fulfilling his majesty's desires for the subjugation of england, and meanwhile the king might find what comfort he could in pious commonplaces and in attention to his health. but it is very certain that, of all the high parties concerned, alexander farnese was the least reprehensible for the over-throw of philips hopes. no man could have been more judicious--as it has been sufficiently made evident in the course of this narrative--in arranging all the details of the great enterprise, in pointing out all the obstacles, in providing for all emergencies. no man could have been more minutely faithful to his master, more treacherous to all the world beside. energetic, inventive, patient, courageous; and stupendously false, he had covered flanders with canals and bridges, had constructed flotillas, and equipped a splendid army, as thoroughly as he had puzzled comptroller croft. and not only had that diplomatist and his wiser colleagues been hoodwinked, but elizabeth and burghley, and, for a moment, even walsingham, were in the, dark, while henry iii. had been his passive victim, and the magnificent balafre a blind instrument in his hands. nothing could equal alexander's fidelity, but his perfidy. nothing could surpass his ability to command but his obedience. and it is very possible that had philip followed his nephew's large designs, instead of imposing upon him his own most puerile schemes; the result far england, holland, and, all christendom might have been very different from the actual one. the blunder against which farnese had in vain warned his master, was the stolid ignorance in which the king and all his counsellors chose to remain of the holland and zeeland fleet. for them warmond and nassau, and van der does and joost de moor; did not exist, and it was precisely these gallant sailors, with their intrepid crews, who held the key to the whole situation. to the queen's glorious naval-commanders, to the dauntless mariners of england, with their well-handled vessels; their admirable seamanship, their tact and their courage, belonged the joys of the contest, the triumph, and the glorious pursuit; but to the patient hollanders and zeelanders, who, with their hundred vessels held farneae, the chief of the great enterprise, at bay, a close prisoner with his whole army in his own ports, daring him to the issue, and ready--to the last plank of their fleet and to the last drop of their blood--to confront both him and the duke of medina sidona, an equal share of honour is due. the safety of the two free commonwealths of the world in that terrible contest was achieved by the people and the mariners of the two states combined. great was the enthusiasm certainly of the english people as the volunteers marched through london to the place of rendezvous, and tremendous were the cheers when the brave queen rode on horseback along the lines of tilbury. glowing pictures are revealed to us of merry little england, arising in its strength, and dancing forth to encounter the spaniards, as if to a great holiday. "it was a pleasant sight," says that enthusiastic merchant-tailor john stowe, "to behold the cheerful countenances, courageous words, and gestures, of the soldiers, as they marched to tilbury, dancing, leaping wherever they came, as joyful at the news of the foe's approach as if lusty giants were to run a race. and bellona-like did the queen infuse a second spirit of loyalty, love, and resolution, into every soldier of her army, who, ravished with their sovereign's sight, prayed heartily that the spaniards might land quickly, and when they heard they were fled, began to lament." but if the spaniards had not fled, if there had been no english navy in the channel, no squibs at calais, no dutchmen off dunkerk, there might have been a different picture to paint. no man who has, studied the history of those times, can doubt the universal and enthusiastic determination of the english nation to repel the invaders. catholics and protestants felt alike on the great subject. philip did not flatter, himself with assistance from any english papists, save exiles and renegades like westmoreland, paget, throgmorton, morgan, stanley, and the rest. the bulk of the catholics, who may have constituted half the population of england, although malcontent, were not rebellious; and notwithstanding the precautionary measures taken by government against them, elizabeth proudly acknowledged their loyalty. but loyalty, courage, and enthusiasm, might not have sufficed to supply the want of numbers and discipline. according to the generally accepted statement of contemporary chroniclers, there were some , men under arms: , along the southern coast, , under leicester, and , under lord chamberlain hunsdon, for the special defence of the queen's person. but it would have been very difficult, in the moment of danger, to bring anything like these numbers into the field. a drilled and disciplined army--whether of regulars or of militia-men--had no existence whatever. if the merchant vessels, which had been joined to the royal fleet, were thought by old naval commanders to be only good to make a show, the volunteers on land were likely to be even less effective than the marine militia, so much more accustomed than they to hard work. magnificent was the spirit of the great feudal lords as they rallied round their queen. the earl of pembroke offered to serve at the head of three hundred horse and five hundred footmen, armed at his own cost, and all ready to "hazard the blood of their hearts" in defence of her person. "accept hereof most excellent sovereign," said the earl, "from a person desirous to live no longer than he may see your highness enjoy your blessed estate, maugre the beards of all confederated leaguers." the earl of shrewsbury, too, was ready to serve at the head of his retainers, to the last drop of his blood. "though i be old," he said, "yet shall your quarrel make me young again. though lame in body, yet lusty in heart to lend your greatest enemy one blow, and to stand near your defence, every way wherein your highness shall employ me." but there was perhaps too much of this feudal spirit. the lieutenant-general complained bitterly that there was a most mischievous tendency among all the militia-men to escape from the queen's colours, in order to enrol themselves as retainers to the great lords. this spirit was not favourable to efficient organization of a national army. even, had the commander-in-chief been a man, of genius and experience it would have been difficult for him, under such circumstances, to resist a splendid army, once landed, and led by alexander farnese, but even leicester's most determined flatterers hardly ventured to compare him in-military ability with that first general of his age. the best soldier in england was un-questionably sir john norris, and sir john was now marshal of the camp to leicester. the ancient quarrel between the two had been smoothed over, and--as might be expected--the earl hated norris more bitterly than before, and was perpetually vituperating him, as he had often done in the netherlands. roger william, too, was entrusted with the important duties of master of the horse, under the lieutenant-general, and leicester continued to bear the grudge towards that honest welshman, which had begun in holland. these were not promising conditions in a camp, when an invading army was every day expected; nor was the completeness or readiness of the forces sufficient to render harmless the quarrels of the commanders. the armada had arrived in calais roads on saturday afternoon; the th august. if it had been joined on that day, or the next--as philip and medina sidonia fully expected--by the duke of parma's flotilla, the invasion would have been made at once. if a spanish army had ever landed in england at all, that event would have occurred on the th august. the weather was not unfavourable; the sea was smooth, and the circumstances under which the catastrophe of the great drama was that night accomplished, were a profound mystery to every soul in england. for aught that leicester, or burghley, or queen elizabeth, knew at the time, the army of farnese might, on monday, have been marching upon london. now, on that monday morning, the army of lord hunsdon was not assembled at all, and leicester with but four thousand men, under his command, was just commencing his camp at tilbury. the. "bellona-like" appearance of the queen on her white palfrey,--with truncheon in hand, addressing her troops, in that magnificent burst of eloquence which has so often been repeated, was not till eleven days afterwards; not till the great armada, shattered and tempest-tossed, had been, a week long, dashing itself against the cliffs of norway and the faroes, on, its forlorn retreat to spain. leicester, courageous, self-confident, and sanguine as ever; could not restrain his indignation at the parsimony with which his own impatient spirit had to contend. "be you assured," said he, on the rd august, when the armada was off the isle of wight, "if the spanish fleet arrive safely in the narrow seas, the duke of parma will join presently with all his forces, and lose no time in invading this realm. therefore i beseech you, my good lords, let no man, by hope or other abuse; prevent your speedy providing defence against, this mighty enemy now knocking at our gate." for even at this supreme moment doubts were entertained at court as to the intentions of the spaniards: next day he informed walsingham that his four thousand men had arrived. "they be as forward men and willing to meet the enemy as i ever saw," said he. he could not say as much in, praise of the commissariat: "some want the captains showed," he observed, "for these men arrived without one meal of victuals so that on their-arrival, they had not one barrel of beer nor loaf of bread--enough after twenty miles' march to have discouraged them, and brought them to mutiny. i see many causes to increase my former opinion of the dilatory wants you shall find upon all sudden hurley burleys. in no former time was ever so great a cause, and albeit her majesty hath appointed an army to resist her enemies if they land, yet how hard a matter it will be to gather men together, i find it now. if it will be five days to gather these countrymen, judge what it will be to look in short space for those that dwell forty, fifty, sixty miles off." he had immense difficulty in feeding even this slender force. "i made proclamation," said he, "two days ago, in all market towns, that victuallers should come to the camp and receive money for their provisions, but there is not one victualler come in to this hour. i have sent to all the justices of peace about it from place to place. i speak it that timely consideration be had of these things, and that they be not deferred till the worst come. let her majesty not defer the time, upon any supposed hope, to assemble a convenient force of horse and foot about her. her majesty cannot be strong enough too soon, and if her navy had not been strong and abroad as it is, what care had herself and her whole realm been in by this time! and what care she will be in if her forces be not only assembled, but an army presently dressed to withstand the mighty enemy that is to approach her gates." "god doth know, i speak it not to bring her to charges. i would she had less cause to spend than ever she had, and her coffers fuller than ever they were; but i will prefer her life and safety, and the defence of the realm, before all sparing of charges in the present danger." thus, on the th august, no army had been assembled--not even the body-guard of the queen--and leicester, with four thousand men, unprovided with a barrel of beer or a loaf of bread, was about commencing his entrenched camp at tilbury. on the th august the armada was in calais roads, expecting alexander farnese to lead his troops upon london! norris and williams, on the news of medina sidonia's approach, had rushed to dover, much to the indignation of leicester, just as the earl was beginning his entrenchments at tilbury. "i assure you i am angry with sir john norris and sir roger williams," he said. "i am here cook, caterer, and huntsman. i am left with no one to supply sir john's place as marshal, but, for a day or two, am willing to work the harder myself. i ordered them both to return this day early, which they faithfully promised. yet, on arriving this morning, i hear nothing of either, and have nobody to marshal the camp either for horse or foot. this manner of dealing doth much mislike me in them both. i am ill-used. 'tis now four o'clock, but here's not one of them. if they come not this night, i assure you i will not receive them into office, nor bear such loose careless dealing at their hands. if you saw how weakly i am assisted you would be sorry to think that we here, should be the front against the enemy that is so mighty, if he should land here. and seeing her majesty hath appointed me her lieutenant-general, i look that respect be used towards me, such as is due to my place." thus the ancient grudge--between leicester and the earl of sussex's son was ever breaking forth, and was not likely to prove beneficial at this eventful season. next day the welshman arrived, and sir john promised to come back in the evening. sir roger brought word from the coast that lord henry seymour's fleet was in want both of men and powder. "good lord!" exclaimed leicester, "how is this come to pass, that both he and, my lord-admiral are so weakened of men. i hear they be running away. i beseech you, assemble your forces, and play not away this kingdom by delays. hasten our horsemen hither and footmen: . . . . if the spanish fleet come to the narrow seas the, prince of parma will play another part than is looked for." as the armada approached calais, leicester was informed that the soldiers at dover began to leave the coast. it seemed that they were dissatisfied with the penuriousness of the government. "our soldiers do break away at dover, or are not pleased. i assure you, without wages, the people will not tarry, and contributions go hard with them. surely i find that her majesty must needs deal liberally, and be at charges to entertain her subjects that have chargeably, and liberally used, themselves to serve her." the lieutenant-general even thought it might be necessary for him to proceed to dover in person, in order to remonstrate with these discontented troops; for it was possible that those ill-paid, undisciplined, and very meagre forces, would find much difficulty in opposing alexander's march, to london, if he should once succeed in landing. leicester had a very indifferent opinion too of the train-bands of the metropolis. "for your londoners," he said, "i see their service will be little, except they have their own captains, and having them, i look for none at all by them, when we shall meet the enemy." this was not complimentary, certainly, to the training of the famous artillery garden, and furnished a still stronger motive for defending the road over which the capital was to be approached. but there was much jealousy, both among citizens and nobles, of any authority entrusted to professional soldiers. "i know what burghers be, well enough," said the earl, "as brave and well-entertained as ever the londoners were. if they should go forth from the city they should have good leaders. you know the imperfections of the time, how few-leaders you have, and the gentlemen of the counties are very loth to have any captains placed with them. so that the beating out of our best captains is like to be cause of great danger." sir john smith, a soldier of experience, employed to drill and organize some of the levies, expressed still more disparaging opinions than those of leicester concerning the probable efficiency in the field of these english armies. the earl was very angry with the knight, however, and considered, him incompetent, insolent, and ridiculous. sir john seemed, indeed, more disposed to keep himself out of harm's way, than to render service to the queen by leading awkward recruits against alexander farnese. he thought it better to nurse himself. "you would laugh to see how sir john smith has dealt since my coming," said leicester. "he came to me, and told me that his disease so grew upon him as he must needs go to the baths. i told him i would not be against his health, but he saw what the time was, and what pains he had taken with his countrymen, and that i had provided a good place for him. next day he came again, saying little to my offer then, and seemed desirous, for his health, to be gone. i told him what place i did appoint, which was a regiment of a great part of his countrymen. he said his health was dear to him, and he desired to take leave of me, which i yielded unto. yesterday, being our muster-day, he came again to me to dinner; but such foolish and vain-glorious paradoxes he burst withal, without any cause offered, as made all that knew anything smile and answer little, but in sort rather to satisfy men present than to argue with him." and the knight went that day to review leicester's choice troops--the four thousand men of essex--but was not much more deeply impressed with their proficiency than he had been with that of his own regiment. he became very censorious. "after the muster," said the lieutenant-general, "he entered again into such strange cries for ordering of men, and for the fight with the weapon, as made me think he was not well. god forbid he should have charge of men that knoweth so little, as i dare pronounce that he doth." yet the critical knight was a professional--campaigner, whose opinions were entitled to respect; and the more so, it would seem, because they did not materially vary from those which leicester himself was in the habit of expressing. and these interior scenes of discord, tumult, parsimony, want of organization, and unsatisfactory mustering of troops, were occurring on the very saturday and sunday when the armada lay in sight of dover cliffs, and when the approach of the spaniards on the dover road might at any moment be expected. leicester's jealous and overbearing temper itself was also proving a formidable obstacle to a wholesome system of defence. he was already displeased with the amount of authority entrusted to lord hunsdon, disposed to think his own rights invaded; and desirous that the lord chamberlain should accept office under himself. he wished saving clauses as to his own authority inserted in hunsdon's patent. "either it must be so, or i shall have wrong," said he, "if he absolutely command where my patent doth give me power. you may easily conceive what absurd dealings are likely to fall out, if you allow two absolute commanders." looking at these pictures of commander-in-chief, officers, and rank and file--as painted by themselves--we feel an inexpressible satisfaction that in this great crisis of england's destiny, there were such men as howard, drake, frobisher, hawkins, seymour, winter, fenner, and their gallant brethren, cruising that week in the channel, and that nassau and warmond; de moor and van der does, were blockading the flemish coast. there was but little preparation to resist the enemy once landed. there were no fortresses, no regular army, no population trained to any weapon. there were patriotism, loyalty, courage, and enthusiasm, in abundance; but the commander-in-chief was a queen's favourite, odious to the people, with very moderate abilities, and eternally quarrelling with officers more competent than himself; and all the arrangements were so hopelessly behind-hand, that although great disasters might have been avenged, they could scarcely have been avoided. remembering that the invincible armada was lying in calais roads on the th of august, hoping to cross to dover the next morning, let us ponder the words addressed on that very day to queen elizabeth by the lieutenant-general of england. "my most dear and gracious lady," said the earl, "it is most true that those enemies that approach your kingdom and person are your undeserved foes, and being so, and hating you for a righteous cause, there is the less fear to be had of their malice or their forces; for there is a most just god that beholdeth the innocence of that heart. the cause you are assailed for is his and his church's, and he never failed any that faithfully do put their chief trust in his goodness. he hath, to comfort you withal, given you great and mighty means to defend yourself, which means i doubt not but your majesty will timely and princely use them, and your good god that ruleth all will assist you and bless you with victory." he then proceeded to give his opinion on two points concerning which the queen had just consulted him--the propriety of assembling her army, and her desire to place herself at the head of it in person. on the first point one would have thought discussion superfluous on the th of august. "for your army, it is more than time it were gathered and about you," said leicester, "or so near you as you may have the use of it at a few hours' warning. the reason is that your mighty enemies are at hand, and if god suffers them to pass by your fleet, you are sure they will attempt their purpose of landing with all expedition. and albeit your navy be very strong, but, as we have always heard, the other is not only far greater, but their forces of men much beyond yours. no doubt if the prince of parma come forth, their forces by sea shall not only be greatly, augmented, but his power to land shall the easier take effect whensoever he shall attempt it. therefore it is most requisite that your majesty at all events have as great a force every way as you can devise; for there is no dalliance at such a time, nor with such an enemy. you shall otherwise hazard your own honour, besides your person and country, and must offend your gracious god that gave you these forces and power, though you will not use them when you should." it seems strange enough that such phrases should be necessary when the enemy was knocking at the gate; but it is only too, true that the land-forces were never organized until the hour, of danger had, most fortunately and unexpectedly, passed by. suggestions at this late moment were now given for the defence of the throne, the capital, the kingdom, and the life of the great queen, which would not have seemed premature had they been made six months before, but which, when offered in august, excite unbounded amazement. alexander would have had time to, march from dover to duxham before these directions, now leisurely stated with all the air of novelty, could be carried into effect. "now for the placing of your army," says the lieutenant-general on the memorable saturday, th of august, "no doubt but i think about london the, meetest, and i suppose that others will be of the same mind. and your majesty should forthwith give the charge thereof to some special nobleman about you, and likewise place all your chief officers that every man may know what he shall do, and gather as many good horse above all things as you can, and the oldest, best, and assuredest captains to lead; for therein will consist the greatest hope of good success under god. and so soon as your army is assembled, let them by and by be exercised, every man to know his weapon, and that there be all other things prepared in readiness, for your army, as if they should march upon a day's warning, especially carriages, and a commissary of victuals, and a master of ordnance." certainly, with alexander of parma on his way to london, at the head of his italian pikemen, his spanish musketeers, his famous veteran legion--"that nursing mother of great soldiers"--it was indeed more than time that every man should know what he should do, that an army of englishmen should be-assembled, and that every man should know his weapon. "by and by" was easily said, and yet, on the th of august it was by and by that an army, not yet mustered, not yet officered, not yet provided with a general, a commissary of victuals, or a master of ordinance, was to be exercised, "every man to know his weapon." english courage might ultimately triumph over, the mistakes of those who governed the country, and over those disciplined brigands by whom it was to be invaded. but meantime every man of those invaders had already learned on a hundred battle-fields to know his weapon. it was a magnificent determination on the part of elizabeth to place herself at the head of her troops; and the enthusiasm which her attitude inspired, when she had at last emancipated herself from the delusions of diplomacy and the seductions of thrift, was some recompense at least for the perils caused by her procrastination. but leicester could not approve of this hazardous though heroic resolution. the danger passed away. the invincible armada was driven out of the channel by the courage; the splendid seamanship, and the enthusiasm of english sailors and volunteers. the duke of parma was kept a close prisoner by the fleets of holland and zeeland; and the great storm of the th and th of august at last completed the overthrow of the spaniards. it was, however, supposed for a long time that they would come back, for the disasters which had befallen them in the north were but tardily known in england. the sailors, by whom england had been thus defended in her utmost need, were dying by hundreds, and even thousands, of ship-fever, in the latter days of august. men sickened one day, and died the next, so that it seemed probable that the ten thousand sailors by whom the english ships of war were manned, would have almost wholly disappeared, at a moment when their services might be imperatively required. nor had there been the least precaution taken for cherishing and saving these brave defenders of their country. they rotted in their ships, or died in the streets of the naval ports, because there were no hospitals to receive them. "'tis a most pitiful sight," said the lord-admiral, "to see here at margate how the men, having no place where they can be received, die in, the streets. i am driven of force myself to come on land to see them bestowed in some lodgings; and the best i can get is barns and such outhouses, and the relief is small that i can provide for them here. it would grieve any man's heart to see men that have served so valiantly die so miserably." the survivors, too, were greatly discontented; for, after having been eight months at sea, and enduring great privations, they could not get their wages. "finding it to come thus scantily," said howard, "it breeds a marvellous alteration among them." but more dangerous than the pestilence or the discontent was the misunderstanding which existed at the moment between the leading admirals of the english fleet. not only was seymour angry with howard, but hawkins and frobisher were at daggers drawn with drake; and sir martin--if contemporary, affidavits can be trusted--did not scruple to heap the most virulent abuse upon sir francis, calling him, in language better fitted for the forecastle than the quarter-deck, a thief and a coward, for appropriating the ransom for don pedro valdez in which both frobisher and hawkins claimed at least an equal share with himself. and anxious enough was the lord-admiral with his sailors perishing by pestilence, with many of his ships so weakly manned that as lord henry seymour declared there were not mariners enough to weigh the anchors, and with the great naval heroes, on whose efforts the safety of the realm depended, wrangling like fisherwomen among themselves, when rumours came, as they did almost daily, of the return of the spanish armada, and of new demonstrations on the part of farnese. he was naturally unwilling that the fruits of english valour on the seas should now be sacrificed by the false economy of the government. he felt that, after all that had been endured and accomplished, the queen and her counsellors were still capable of leaving england at the mercy of a renewed attempt, "i know not what you think at the court," said he; "but i think, and so do all here, that there cannot be too great forces maintained for the next five or six weeks. god knoweth whether the spanish fleet will not, after refreshing themselves in norway; denmark, and the orkneys, return. i think they dare not go back to sprain with this, dishonour, to their king and overthrow of the pope's credit. sir, sure bind, sure find. a kingdom is a grand wager. security is dangerous; and, if god had not been our best friend; we should have found it so." [howard to walsingham, aug. / . (s. p. office ms.)] ["some haply may say that winter cometh on apace," said drake, "but my poor opinion is that i dare not advise her majesty to hazard a kingdom with the saving of a little charge." (drake to walsingham, aug. / .)] nothing could be more replete, with sound common sense than this simple advice, given as it was in utter ignorance of the fate of the armada; after it had been lost sight of by the english vessels off the firth of forth, and of the cold refreshment which: it had found in norway and the orkneys. but, burghley had a store of pithy apophthegms, for which--he knew he could always find sympathy in the queen's breast, and with which he could answer these demands of admirals and generals. "to spend in time convenient is wisdom;" he observed--"to continue charges without needful cause bringeth, repentance;"--"to hold on charges without knowledge of the certainty thereof and of means how to support them, is lack of wisdom;" and so on. yet the spanish fleet might have returned into the channel for ought the lord-treasurer on the nd august knew--or the dutch fleet might have relaxed, in its vigilant watching of farnese's movements. it might have then seemed a most plentiful lack of wisdom to allow english sailors to die of plague in the streets for want of hospitals; and to grow mutinous for default of pay. to have saved under such circumstances would, perhaps have brought repentance. the invasion of england by spain had been most portentous. that the danger was at last averted is to be ascribed to the enthusiasm of the english, nation--both patricians and plebeians--to the heroism of the little english fleet, to the spirit of the naval commanders and volunteers, to the stanch, and effective support of the hollanders; and to the hand of god shattering the armada at last; but very little credit can be conscientiously awarded to the diplomatic or the military efforts of the queen's government. miracles alone, in the opinion of roger williams, had saved england on this occasion from perdition. towards the end of august, admiral de nassau paid a visit to dover with forty ships, "well appointed and furnished." he dined and conferred with seymour, palmer, and other officers--winter being still laid up with his wound--and expressed the opinion that medina sidonia would hardly return to the channel, after the banquet he had received from her majesty's navy between calais and gravelines. he also gave the information that the states had sent fifty dutch vessels in pursuit of the spaniards, and had compelled all the herring-fishermen for the time to serve in the ships of war, although the prosperity of the country depended on that industry. "i find the man very wise, subtle, and cunning," said seymour of the dutch admiral, "and therefore do i trust him." nassau represented the duke of parma as evidently discouraged, as having already disembarked his troops, and as very little disposed to hazard any further enterprise against england. "i have left twenty-five kromstevens," said he, "to prevent his egress from sluys, and i am immediately returning thither myself. the tide will not allow his vessels at present to leave dunkerk, and i shall not fail--before the next full moon--to place myself before that place, to prevent their coming out, or to have a brush with them if they venture to put to sea." but after the scenes on which the last full moon had looked down in those waters, there could be no further pretence on the part of farnese to issue from sluys and dunkerk, and england and holland were thenceforth saved from all naval enterprises on the part of spain. meantime, the same uncertainty which prevailed in england as to the condition and the intentions of the armada was still more remarkable elsewhere. there was a systematic deception practised not only upon other governments; but upon the king of spain as well. philip, as he sat at his writing-desk, was regarding himself as the monarch of england, long after his armada had been hopelessly dispersed. in paris, rumours were circulated during the first ten days of august that england was vanquished, and that the queen was already on her way to rome as a prisoner, where she was to make expiation, barefoot, before his holiness. mendoza, now more magnificent than ever--stalked into notre dame with his drawn sword in his hand, crying out with a loud voice, "victory, victory!" and on the th of august ordered bonfires to be made before his house; but afterwards thought better of that scheme. he had been deceived by a variety of reports sent to him day after day by agents on the coast; and the king of france--better informed by stafford, but not unwilling thus to feed his spite against the insolent ambassador--affected to believe his fables. he even confirmed them by intelligence, which he pretended to have himself received from other sources, of the landing of the spaniards in england without opposition, and of the entire subjugation of that country without the striking of a blow. hereupon, on the night of august th, the envoy--"like a wise man," as stafford observed--sent off four couriers, one after another, with the great news to spain, that his master's heart might be rejoiced, and caused a pamphlet on the subject to be printed and distributed over paris! "i will not waste a large sheet of paper to express the joy which we must all feel," he wrote to idiaquez, "at this good news. god be praised for all, who gives us small chastisements to make us better, and then, like a merciful father, sends us infinite rewards." and in the same strain he wrote; day after day, to moura and idiaquez, and to philip himself. stafford, on his side, was anxious to be informed by his government of the exact truth, whatever it were, in order that these figments of mendoza might be contradicted. "that which cometh from me," he said, "will be believed; for i have not been used to tell lies, and in very truth i have not the face to do it." and the news of the calais squibs, of the fight off gravelines, and the retreat of the armada towards the north; could not be very long concealed. so soon, therefore, as authentic intelligence reached, the english envoy of those events--which was not however for nearly ten days after their--occurrence--stafford in his turn wrote a pamphlet, in answer to that of mendoza, and decidedly the more successful one of the two. it cost him but five crowns, he said, to print 'four hundred copies of it; but those in whose name it was published got one hundred crowns by its sale. the english ambassador was unwilling to be known as the author--although "desirous of touching up the impudence of the spaniard"--but the king had no doubt of its origin. poor henry, still smarting under the insults of mendoza and 'mucio,--was delighted with this blow to philip's presumption; was loud in his praises of queen elizabeth's valour, prudence, and marvellous fortune, and declared that what she had just done could be compared to the greatest: exploits of the most illustrious men in history. "so soon as ever he saw the pamphlet," said stafford; "he offered to lay a wager it was my doing; and laughed at it heartily." and there were malicious pages about the french; court; who also found much amusement in writing to the ambassador, begging his interest with the duke of parma that they might obtain from that conqueror some odd-refuse town or so in: england, such as york, canterbury, london, or the like--till the luckless don bernardino was ashamed to show his face. a letter, from farnese, however, of th august, apprized philip before the end of august of the calais disasters and caused him great uneasiness, without driving him to despair. "at the very moment," wrote the king to medina sidonia; "when i was expecting news of the effect hoped for from my armada, i have learned the retreat from before calais, to which it was compelled by the weather; [!] and i have received a very great shock which keeps, me in anxiety not to be exaggerated. nevertheless i hope in our lord that he will have provided a remedy; and that if it was possible for you to return upon the enemy to come back to the appointed posts and to watch an opportunity for the great stroke; you will have done as the case required; and so i am expecting with solicitude, to hear what has happened, and please god it may be that which is so suitable for his service." his spanish children the sacking of london, and the butchering of the english nation-rewards and befits similar to those which they bad formerly enjoyed in the netherlands. and in the same strain, melancholy yet hopeful, were other letters despatched on that day to the duke of parma. "the satisfaction caused by your advices on the th august of the arrival of the armada near calais, and of your preparations to embark your troops, was changed into a sentiment which you can imagine, by your letter of the th. the anxiety thus occasioned it would be impossible to exaggerate, although the cause being such as it is--there is no ground for distrust. perhaps the armada, keeping together, has returned upon the enemy, and given a good account of itself, with the help of the lord. so i still promise myself that you will have performed your part in the enterprise in such wise as that the service intended to the lord may have been executed, and repairs made to the reputation of all; which has been so much compromised." and the king's drooping spirits were revived by fresh accounts which reached him in september, by way of france. he now learned that the armada had taken captive four dutch men-of-war and many english ships; that, after the spaniards had been followed from calais roads by the enemy's fleet, there had been an action, which the english had attempted in vain to avoid; off newcastle; that medina sidonia had charged upon them so vigorously, as to sink twenty of their ships, and to capture twenty-six others, good and sound; that the others, to escape perdition, had fled, after suffering great damage, and had then gone to pieces, all hands perishing; that the armada had taken a port in scotland, where it was very comfortably established; that the flag-ship of lord-admiral howard, of drake; and of that "distinguished mariner hawkins," had all been sunk in action, and that no soul had been saved except drake, who had escaped in a cock-boat. "this is good news," added the writer; "and it is most certain." the king pondered seriously over these conflicting accounts, and remained very much in the dark. half, the month of september went by, and he had heard nothing--official since the news of the calais catastrophe. it may be easily understood that medina sidonia, while flying round the orkneys had not much opportunity for despatching couriers to spain, and as farnese had not written since the th august, philip was quite at a loss whether to consider himself triumphant or defeated. from the reports by way of calais, dunkerk, and rouen, he supposed that the armada, had inflicted much damage on the enemy. he suggested accordingly, on the rd september, to the duke of parma, that he might now make the passage to england, while the english fleet, if anything was left of it was repairing its damages. "'twill be easy enough to conquer the country," said philip, "so soon as you set foot on the soil. then perhaps our armada can come back and station itself in the thames to support you." nothing could be simpler. nevertheless the king felt a pang of doubt lest affairs, after all, might not be going on so swimmingly; so he dipped his pen in the inkstand again, and observed with much pathos, "but if this hope must be given up, you must take the isle of walcheren: something must be done to console me." and on the th september he was still no wiser. "this business of the armada leaves me no repose," he said; "i can think of nothing else. i don't content myself with what i have written, but write again and again, although in great want of light. i hear that the armada has sunk and captured many english ships, and is refitting in a scotch pert. if this is in the territory, of lord huntley, i hope he will stir up the catholics of that country." and so, in letter after letter, philip clung to the delusion that alexander could yet, cross to england, and that the armada might sail up the thames. the duke was directed to make immediate arrangements to that effect with medina sidonia, at the very moment when that tempest-tossed grandee was painfully-creeping back towards the bay of biscay, with what remained of his invincible fleet. sanguine and pertinacious, the king refused to believe in, the downfall of his long-cherished scheme; and even when the light was at last dawning upon him, he was like a child, crying for a fresh toy, when the one which had long amused him had been broken. if the armada were really very much damaged, it was easy enough, he thought, for the duke of parma to make him a new one, while the old, one was repairing. "in case the armada is too much shattered to come out," said philip, "and winter compels it to stay in that port, you must cause another armada to be constructed at emden and the adjacent towns, at my expense, and, with the two together, you will certainly be able to conquer england." and he wrote to medina sidonia in similar terms. that naval commander was instructed to enter the thames at once, if strong enough. if not, he was to winter in the scotch port which he was supposed to have captured. meantime farnese would build a new fleet at emden, and in the spring the two dukes would proceed to accomplish the great purpose. but at last the arrival of medina sidonia at santander dispelled these visions, and now the king appeared in another attitude. a messenger, coming post-haste from the captain-general, arrived in the early days of october at the escorial. entering the palace he found idiaquez and moura pacing up and down the corridor, before the door of philip's cabinet, and was immediately interrogated by those counsellors, most anxious, of course, to receive authentic intelligence at last as to the fate, of the armada. the entire overthrow of the great project was now, for the first time, fully revealed in spain; the fabulous victories over the english, and the annihilation of howard and all his ships, were dispersed in air. broken, ruined, forlorn, the invincible armada--so far as it still existed--had reached a spanish port. great was the consternation of idiaquez and moura, as they listened to the tale, and very desirous was each of the two secretaries that the other should, discharge the unwelcome duty of communicating the fatal intelligence to the king. at last moura consented to undertake the task, and entering the cabinet, he found philip seated at his desk. of course he was writing letters. being informed of the arrival of a messenger from the north, he laid down his pen, and inquired the news. the secretary replied that the accounts, concerning the armada were by no means so favourable as, could be wished. the courier was then introduced, and made his dismal report. the king did not change countenance. "great thanks," he observed, "do i render to almighty god, by whose generous hand i am gifted with such power, that i could easily, if i chose, place another fleet upon the seas. nor is it of very great importance that a running stream should be sometimes intercepted, so long as the fountain from which it flows remains inexhaustible." so saying he resumed his pen, and serenely proceeded with his letters. christopher moura stared with unaffected amazement at his sovereign, thus tranquil while a shattered world was falling on his head, and then retired to confer with his colleague. "and how did his majesty receive the blow?" asked idiaquez. "his majesty thinks nothing of the blow," answered moura, "nor do i, consequently, make more of this great calamity than does his majesty." so the king--as fortune flew away from him, wrapped himself in his virtue; and his counsellors, imitating their sovereign, arrayed themselves in the same garment. thus draped, they were all prepared to bide the pelting of the storm which was only beating figuratively on their heads, while it had been dashing the king's mighty galleons on the rocks, and drowning by thousands the wretched victims of his ambition. soon afterwards, when the particulars of the great disaster were thoroughly known, philip ordered a letter to be addressed in his name to all the bishops of spain, ordering a solemn thanksgiving to the almighty for the safety of that portion of the invincible armada which it had pleased him to preserve. and thus, with the sound of mourning throughout spain--for there was scarce a household of which some beloved member had not perished in the great catastrophe--and with the peals of merry bells over all england and holland, and with a solemn 'te deum' resounding in every church, the curtain fell upon the great tragedy of the armada. etext editor's bookmarks: forbidding the wearing of mourning at all hardly a distinguished family in spain not placed in mourning invincible armada had not only been vanquished but annihilated nothing could equal alexander's fidelity, but his perfidy one could neither cry nor laugh within the spanish dominions security is dangerous sixteen of their best ships had been sacrificed sure bind, sure find history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , - chapter xx. alexander besieges bergen-op-zoom--pallavicini's attempt to seduce parma--alexander's fury--he is forced to raise the siege, of bergen --gertruydenberg betrayed to parma--indignation of the states-- exploits, of schenk--his attack on nymegen--he is defeated and drowned--english-dutch expedition to spain--its meagre results-- death of guise and of the queen--mother--combinations after the murder of henry iii.--tandem fit surculus arbor. the fever of the past two years was followed by comparative languor. the deadly crisis was past, the freedom of europe was saved, holland and england breathed again; but tension now gave place to exhaustion. the events in the remainder of the year , with those of --although important in themselves--were the immediate results of that history which has been so minutely detailed in these volumes, and can be indicated in a very few pages. the duke of parma, melancholy, disappointed, angry stung to the soul by calumnies as stupid as they were venomous, and already afflicted with a painful and lingering disease, which his friends attributed to poison administered by command of the master whom he had so faithfully served--determined, if possible, to afford the consolation which that master was so plaintively demanding at his hands. so alexander led the splendid army which had been packed in, and unpacked from, the flat boats of newport and dunkerk, against bergen-op-zoom, and besieged that city in form. once of great commercial importance, although somewhat fallen away from its original prosperity, bergen was well situate on a little stream which connected it with the tide-waters of the scheldt, and was the only place in brabant, except willemstad, still remaining to the states. opposite lay the isle of tholen from which it was easily to be supplied and reinforced. the vosmeer, a branch of the scheldt, separated the island from the main, and there was a path along the bed of that estuary, which, at dead low-water, was practicable for wading. alexander, accordingly, sent a party of eight hundred pikemen, under montigny, marquis of renty, and ottavio mansfeld, supported on the dyke by three thousand musketeers, across; the dangerous ford, at ebb-tide, in order to seize this important island. it was an adventure similar to those, which, in the days of the grand commander, and under the guidance of mondragon; had been on two occasions so brilliantly successful. but the isle of tholen was now defended by count solms and a garrison of fierce amphibious zeelanders--of those determined bands which had just been holding farnese and his fleet in prison, and daring him to the issue--and the invading party, after fortunately accomplishing their night journey along the bottom of the vosmeer, were unable to effect a landing, were driven with considerable loss into the waves again, and compelled to find their way back as best they could, along their dangerous path, and with a rapidly rising tide. it was a blind and desperate venture, and the vosmeer soon swallowed four hundred of the spaniards. the rest, half-drowned or smothered, succeeded in reaching the shore--the chiefs of the expedition, renty and mansfeld, having been with difficulty rescued by their followers, when nearly sinking in the tide. the duke continued the siege, but the place was well defended by an english and dutch garrison, to the number of five thousand, and commanded by colonel morgan, that bold and much experienced welshman, so well known in the netherland wars. willoughby and maurice of nassau, and olden-barneveld were, at different times, within the walls; for the duke had been unable to invest the place so closely as to prevent all communications from without; and, while maurice was present, there were almost daily sorties from the town, with many a spirited skirmish, to give pleasure to the martial young prince. the english, officers, vere and baskerville, and two netherland colonels, the brothers bax, most distinguished themselves on these occasions. the siege was not going on with the good fortune which had usually attended the spanish leaguer of dutch cities, while, on the th september, a personal incident came to increase alexander's dissatisfaction and melancholy. on that day the duke was sitting in his tent, brooding, as he was apt to do, over the unjust accusations which had been heaped upon him in regard to the failure of the armada, when a stranger was announced. his name, he said, was giacomo morone, and he was the bearer of a letter from sir horace pallavicini, a genoese gentleman long established in london; and known to be on confidential terms with the english government. alexander took the letter, and glancing at the bottom of the last page, saw that it was not signed. "how dare you bring me a dispatch without a signature?" he exclaimed. the messenger, who was himself a genoese, assured the duke that the letter was most certainly written by pallavicini--who had himself placed it, sealed, in his hands--and that he had supposed it signed, although he had of course, not seen the inside. alexander began to read the note, which was not a very long one, and his brow instantly darkened. he read a line or two more, when, with an exclamation of fury, he drew his dagger, and, seizing the astonished genoese by the throat, was about to strike him dead. suddenly mastering his rage, however, by a strong effort, and remembering that the man might be a useful witness; he flung morone from him. "if i had pallavicini here," he said, "i would treat, him as i have just refrained from using you. and if i had any suspicion that you were aware of the contents of this letter, i would send you this instant to be hanged." the unlucky despatch-bearer protested his innocence of all complicity with pallavicini, and his ignorance of the tenor of the communication by which the duke's wrath had been so much excited. he was then searched and cross-examined most carefully by richardot and other counsellors, and his innocence being made apparent-he was ultimately discharged. the letter of pallavicini was simply an attempt to sound farnese as to his sentiments in regard to a secret scheme, which could afterwards be arranged in form, and according, to which he was to assume the sovereignty of the netherlands himself, to the exclusion of his king, to guarantee to england the possession of the cautionary towns, until her advances to the states should be refunded, and to receive the support and perpetual alliance of the queen in his new and rebellious position. here was additional evidence, if any were wanting, of the universal belief in his disloyalty; and alexander, faithful, if man ever were to his master--was cut to the heart, and irritated almost to madness, by such insolent propositions. there is neither proof nor probability that the queen's government was implicated in this intrigue of pallavicini, who appears to have been inspired by the ambition of achieving a bit of machiavellian policy, quite on his own account. nothing came of the proposition, and the duke; having transmitted to the king a minute narrative of, the affair, together with indignant protestations of the fidelity, which all the world seemed determined to dispute, received most affectionate replies from that monarch, breathing nothing but unbounded confidence in his nephew's innocence and devotion. such assurances from any other man in the world might have disarmed suspicion, but alexander knew his master too well to repose upon his word, and remembered too bitterly the last hours of don john of austria --whose dying pillow he had soothed, and whose death had been hastened, as he knew, either by actual poison or by the hardly less fatal venom of slander--to regain tranquillity as to his own position. the king was desirous that pallavicini should be invited over to flanders, in order that alexander, under pretence of listening to his propositions, might draw from the genoese all the particulars of his scheme, and then, at leisure, inflict the punishment which he had deserved. but insuperable obstacles presented themselves, nor was alexander desirous of affording still further pretexts for his slanderers. very soon after this incident--most important as showing the real situation of various parties, although without any immediate result--alexander received a visit in his tent from another stranger. this time the visitor was an englishman, one lieutenant grimstone, and the object of his interview with the duke was not political, but had, a direct reference to the siege of bergen. he was accompanied by a countryman of his own, redhead by name, a camp-suttler by profession. the two represented themselves as deserters from the besieged city, and offered, for a handsome reward, to conduct a force of spaniards, by a secret path, into one of the gates. the duke questioned them narrowly, and being satisfied with their intelligence and coolness, caused them to take an oath on the evangelists, that they were not playing him false. he then selected a band of one hundred musketeers, partly spaniards, partly walloons--to be followed at a distance by a much, more considerable force; two thousand in number, under sancho de leyva: and the marquis of renti--and appointed the following night for an enterprise against the city, under the guidance of grimstone. it was a wild autumnal night, moonless, pitch-dark, with a storm of wind and rain. the waters were out--for the dykes had been cut in all 'directions by the defenders of the city--and, with exception of some elevated points occupied by parma's forces, the whole country was overflowed. before the party set forth on their daring expedition, the two englishmen were tightly bound with cords, and led, each by two soldiers, instructed to put them to instant death if their conduct should give cause for suspicion. but both grimstone and redhead preserved a cheerful countenance, and inspired a strong confidence in their honest intention to betray their countrymen. and thus the band of bold adventurers plunged at once into the darkness, and soon found themselves contending with the tempest, and wading breast high in the black waters of the scheldt. after a long and perilous struggle, they at length reached the appointed gate, the external portcullis was raised and the fifteen foremost of the band rushed into the town. at the next moment, lord willoughby, who had been privy to the whole scheme, cut with his own hand the cords which, held the portcullis, and entrapped the leaders of the expedition, who were all, at once put to the sword, while their followers were thundering at the gate. the lieutenant and suttler who had thus overreached that great master of dissimulation; alexander farnese; were at the same time unbound by their comrades, and rescued from the fate intended for them. notwithstanding the probability--when the portcullis fell--that the whole party, had been deceived by an artifice of war the adventurers, who had come so far, refused to abandon the enterprise, and continued an impatient battery upon the gate. at last it was swung wide open, and a furious onslaught was made by the garrison upon the spaniards. there was--a fierce brief struggle, and then the assailants were utterly routed. some were killed under the walls, while the rest were hunted into the waves. nearly every one of the, expedition (a thousand in number) perished. it had now become obvious to the duke that his siege must be raised. the days were gone when the walls of dutch towns seemed to melt before the first scornful glance of the spanish invader; and when a summons meant a surrender, and a surrender a massacre. now, strong in the feeling of independence, and supported by the courage and endurance of their english allies, the hollanders had learned to humble the pride of spain as it had never been humbled before. the hero of a hundred battle-fields, the inventive and brilliant conqueror of antwerp, seemed in the deplorable issue of the english invasion to have lost all his genius, all his fortune. a cloud had fallen upon his fame, and he now saw himself; at the head of the best army in europe, compelled to retire, defeated and humiliated, from the walls of bergen. winter was coming on apace; the country was flooded; the storms in that-bleak region and inclement season were incessant; and he was obliged to retreat before his army should be drowned. on the night of - november he set fire to his camp; and took his departure. by daybreak he was descried in full retreat, and was hotly pursued by the english and dutch from the city, who drove the great alexander and his legions before them in ignominious flight. lord willoughby, in full view of the retiring enemy, indulged the allied forces with a chivalrous spectacle. calling a halt, after it had become obviously useless, with their small force of cavalry; to follow any longer, through a flooded country, an enemy who had abandoned his design, he solemnly conferred the honour of knighthood, in the name of queen elizabeth, on the officers who had most distinguished themselves during the siege, francis vere, baskerville, powell, parker, knowles, and on the two netherland brothers, paul and marcellus bax. the duke of parma then went into winter quarters in brabant, and, before the spring, that obedient province had been eaten as bare as flanders had already been by the friendly spaniards. an excellent understanding between england and holland had been the result of their united and splendid exertions against the invincible armada. late in the year sir john norris had been sent by the queen to offer her congratulations and earnest thanks to the states for their valuable assistance in preserving her throne, and to solicit their cooperation in some new designs against the common foe. unfortunately, however, the epoch of good feeling was but of brief duration. bitterness and dissension seemed the inevitable conditions of the english-dutch alliance. it will be, remembered, that, on the departure of leicester, several cities had refused to acknowledge the authority of count maurice and the states; and that civil war in the scarcely-born commonwealth had been the result. medenblik, naarden, and the other contumacious cities, had however been reduced to obedience after the reception of the earl's resignation, but the important city of gertruydenberg had remained in a chronic state of mutiny. this rebellion had been partially appeased during the year by the efforts of willoughby, who had strengthened, the garrison by reinforcements of english troops under command of his brother-in-law, sir john wingfield. early in however, the whole garrison became rebellious, disarmed and maltreated the burghers, and demanded immediate payment of the heavy arrearages still due to the troops. willoughby, who--much disgusted with his career in the netherlands--was about leaving for england, complaining that the states had not only left him without remuneration for his services, but had not repaid his own advances, nor even given him a complimentary dinner, tried in vain to pacify them. a rumour became very current, moreover, that the garrison had opened negotiations with alexander farnese, and accordingly maurice of nassau--of whose patrimonial property the city of gertruydenberg made a considerable proportion, to the amount of eight thousand pounds sterling a years--after summoning the garrison, in his own name and that of the states, to surrender, laid siege to the place in form. it would have been cheaper, no doubt, to pay the demands of the garrison in full, and allow them to depart. but maurice considered his honour at stake. his letters of summons, in which he spoke of the rebellious commandant and his garrison as self-seeking foreigners and mercenaries, were taken in very ill part. wingfield resented the statement in very insolent language, and offered to prove its falsehood with his sword against any man and in any place whatever. willoughby wrote to his brother-in-law, from flushing, when about to embark, disapproving of his conduct and of his language; and to maurice, deprecating hostile measures against a city under the protection of queen elizabeth. at any rate, he claimed that sir john wingfield and his wife, the countess of kent, with their newly-born child, should be allowed to depart from the place. but wingfield expressed great scorn at any suggestion of retreat, and vowed that he would rather surrender the city to the spaniards than tolerate the presumption of maurice and the states. the young prince accordingly, opened his batteries, but before an entrance could be effected into the town, was obliged to retire at the approach of count mansfield with a much superior force. gertruydenberg was now surrendered to the spaniards in accordance with a secret negotiation which had been proceeding all the spring, and had been brought to a conclusion at last. the garrison received twelve months' pay in full and a gratuity of five months in addition, and the city was then reduced into obedience to spain and rome on the terms which had been usual during the government of farnese. the loss of this city was most severe to the republic, for the enemy had thus gained an entrance into the very heart of holland. it was a more important acquisition to alexander than even bergen-op-zoom would have been, and it was a bitter reflection that to the treachery of netherlanders and of their english allies this great disaster was owing. all the wrath aroused a year before by the famous treason of york and stanley, and which had been successfully extinguished, now flamed forth afresh. the states published a placard denouncing the men who had thus betrayed the cause of freedom, and surrendered the city of gertruydenberg to the spaniards, as perjured traitors whom it was made lawful to hang, whenever or wherever caught, without trial or sentence, and offering fifty florins a-head for every private soldier and one hundred florins for any officer of the garrison. a list of these englishmen and netherlanders, so far as known, was appended to the placard, and the catalogue was headed by the name of sir john wingfield. thus the consequences of the fatal event were even more deplorable than the loss of the city itself. the fury of olden-barneveld at the treason was excessive, and the great advocate governed the policy of the republic, at this period, almost like a dictator. the states, easily acknowledging the sway of the imperious orator, became bitter--and wrathful with the english, side by side with whom they had lately been so cordially standing. willoughby, on his part, now at the english court, was furious with the states, and persuaded the leading counsellors of the queen as well as her majesty herself, to adopt his view of the transaction. wingfield, it was asserted, was quite innocent in the matter; he was entirely ignorant of the french language, and therefore was unable to read a word of the letters addressed to him by maurice and the replies which had been signed by himself. whether this strange excuse ought to be accepted or not, it is quite certain that he was no traitor like york and stanley, and no friend to spain; for he had stipulated for himself the right to return to england, and had neither received nor desired any reward. he hated maurice and he hated the states, but he asserted that he had been held in durance, that the garrison was mutinous, and that he was no more responsible for the loss of the city than sir francis vere had been, who had also been present, and whose name had been subsequently withdrawn, in honourable fashion from the list of traitors, by authority of the states. his position--so far as he was personally concerned--seemed defensible, and the queen was thoroughly convinced of his innocence. willoughby complained that the republic was utterly in the hands of barneveld, that no man ventured to lift his voice or his eyes in presence of the terrible advocate who ruled every netherlander with a rod of iron, and that his violent and threatening language to wingfield and himself at the dinner-table in bergen-op-zoom on the subject of the mutiny (when one hundred of the gertruydenberg garrison were within sound of his voice) had been the chief cause of the rebellion. inspired by these remonstrances, the queen once more emptied the vials of her wrath upon the united netherlands. the criminations and recriminations seemed endless, and it was most fortunate that spain had been weakened, that alexander, a prey to melancholy and to lingering disease, had gone to the baths of spa to recruit his shattered health, and that his attention and the schemes of philip for the year and the following period were to be directed towards france. otherwise the commonwealth could hardly have escaped still more severe disasters than those already experienced in this unfortunate condition of its affairs, and this almost hopeless misunderstanding with its most important and vigorous friend. while these events had been occurring in the heart of the republic, martin schenk, that restless freebooter, had been pursuing a bustling and most lucrative career on its outskirts. all the episcopate of cologne--that debatable land of the two rival paupers, bavarian ernest and gebhard truchsess--trembled before him. mothers scared their children into quiet with the terrible name of schenk, and farmers and land-younkers throughout the electorate and the land of berg, cleves, and juliers, paid their black-mail, as if it were a constitutional impost, to escape the levying process of the redoubtable partisan. but martin was no longer seconded, as he should have been, by the states, to whom he had been ever faithful since he forsook the banner of spain for their own; and he had even gone to england and complained to the queen of the short-comings of those who owed him so much. his ingenious and daring exploit--the capture of bonn--has already been narrated, but the states had neglected the proper precautions to secure that important city. it had consequently, after a six months' siege, been surrendered to the spaniards under prince chimay, on the th of september; while, in december following, the city of wachtendonk, between the rhine and meuse, had fallen into mansfeld's hands. rheinberg, the only city of the episcopate which remained to the deposed truchsess, was soon afterwards invested by the troops of parma, and schenk in vain summoned the states-general to take proper measures for its defence. but with the enemy now eating his way towards the heart of holland, and with so many dangers threatening them on every side, it was thought imprudent to go so far away to seek the enemy. so gebhard retired in despair into germany, and martin did what he could to protect rheinberg, and to fill his own coffers at the expense of the whole country side. he had built a fort, which then and long afterwards bore his name-schenken schans, or schenk's sconce--at that important point where the rhine, opening its two arms to enclose the "good meadow" island of batavia, becomes on the left the waal, while on the right it retains its ancient name; and here, on the outermost edge of the republic, and looking straight from his fastness into the fruitful fields of munster, westphalia, and the electorate, the industrious martin devoted himself with advantage to his favourite pursuits. on the th of august, on the heath of lippe, he had attacked a body of spanish musketeers, more than a thousand strong, who were protecting a convoy of provisions, treasure, and furniture, sent by farnese to verdugo, royal governor of friesland. schenk, without the loss of a single man, had put the greater part of these spaniards and walloons to the sword, and routed the rest. the leader of the expedition, colonel aristotle patton, who had once played him so foul a trick in the surrender of gelder, had soon taken to flight, when he found his ancient enemy upon him, and, dashing into the lippe, had succeeded, by the strength and speed of his horse, in gaining the opposite bank, and effecting his escape. had he waited many minutes longer it is probable that the treacherous aristotle would have passed a comfortless half-hour with his former comrade. treasure to the amount of seven thousand crowns in gold, five hundred horses, with jewels, plate, and other articles of value, were the fruit of this adventure, and schenk returned with his followers, highly delighted, to schenkenschans, and sent the captured spanish colours to her majesty of england as a token. a few miles below his fortress was nymegen, and towards that ancient and wealthy city schenk had often cast longing eyes. it still held for the king, although on the very confines of batavia; but while acknowledging the supremacy of philip, it claimed the privileges of the empire. from earliest times it had held its head very high among imperial towns, had been one of the three chief residences of the emperor. charlemagne, and still paid the annual tribute of a glove full of pepper to the german empire. on the evening of the th of august, , there was a wedding feast in one of the splendid mansions of the stately city. the festivities were prolonged until deep in the midsummer's night, and harp and viol were still inspiring the feet of the dancers, when on a sudden, in the midst of the holiday-groups, appeared the grim visage of martin schenk, the man who never smiled. clad in no wedding-garment, but in armour of proof, with morion on head, and sword in hand, the great freebooter strode heavily through the ball-room, followed by a party of those terrible musketeers who never gave or asked for quarter, while the affrighted revellers fluttered away before them. taking advantage of a dark night, he had just dropped down the river from his castle, with five-and-twenty barges, had landed with his most trusted soldiers in the foremost vessels, had battered down the gate of st. anthony, and surprised and slain the guard. without waiting for the rest of his boats, he had then stolen with his comrades through the silent streets, and torn away the lattice-work, and other slight defences on the rear of the house which they had now entered, and through which they intended to possess themselves of the market-place. martin had long since selected this mansion as a proper position for his enterprise, but he had not been bidden to the wedding, and was somewhat disconcerted when he found himself on the festive scene which he had so grimly interrupted. some of the merry-makers escaped from the house, and proceeded to alarm the town; while schenk hastily fortified his position; and took possession of the square. but the burghers and garrison were soon on foot, and he was driven back into the house. three times he recovered the square by main strength of his own arm, seconded by the handful of men whom he had brought with him, and three times he was beaten back by overwhelming numbers into the wedding mansion. the arrival of the greater part of his followers, with whose assistance he could easily have mastered the city in the first moments of surprise, was mysteriously delayed. he could not account for their prolonged, absence, and was meanwhile supported only by those who had arrived with him in the foremost barges. the truth--of which he was ignorant--was, that the remainder of the flotilla, borne along by the strong and deep current of the waal, then in a state of freshet, had shot past the landing-place, and had ever since been vainly struggling against wind and tide to force their way back to the necessary point. meantime schenk and his followers fought desperately in the market-place, and desperately in the house which he had seized. but a whole garrison, and a town full of citizens in arms proved too much for him, and he was now hotly besieged in the mansion, and at last driven forth into the streets. by this time day was dawning, the whole population, soldiers and burghers, men, women, and children, were thronging about the little band of marauders, and assailing them with every weapon and every missile to be found. schenk fought with his usual ferocity, but at last the musketeers, in spite of his indignant commands, began rapidly to retreat towards the quay. in vain martin stormed and cursed, in vain with his own hand he struck more than one of his soldiers dead. he was swept along with the panic-stricken band, and when, shouting and gnashing his teeth with frenzy, he reached the quay at last, he saw at a glance why his great enterprise had failed. the few empty barges of his own party were moored at the steps; the rest were half a mile off, contending hopelessly against the swollen and rapid waal. schenk, desperately wounded, was left almost alone upon the wharf, for his routed followers had plunged helter skelter into the boats, several of which, overladen in the panic, sank at once, leaving the soldiers to drown or struggle with the waves. the game was lost. nothing was left the freebooter but retreat. reluctantly turning his back on his enemies, now in full cry close behind him, schenk sprang into the last remaining boat just pushing from the quay. already overladen, it foundered with his additional weight, and martin schenk, encumbered with his heavy armour, sank at once to the bottom of the waal. some of the fugitives succeeded in swimming down the stream, and were picked up by their comrades in the barges below the town, and so made their escape. many were drowned with their captain. a few days afterwards, the inhabitants of nymegen fished up the body of the famous partisan. he was easily recognized by his armour, and by his truculent face, still wearing the scowl with which he had last rebuked his followers. his head was taken off at once, and placed on one of the turrets of the town, and his body, divided in four, was made to adorn other portions of the battlements; so that the burghers were enabled to feast their eyes on the remnants of the man at whose name the whole country had so often trembled. this was the end of sir martin schenk of niddegem, knight, colonel, and brigand; save that ultimately his dissevered limbs were packed in a chest, and kept in a church tower, until maurice of nassau, in course of time becoming master of nymegen, honoured the valiant and on the whole faithful freebooter with a christian and military burial. a few months later (october, ) another man who had been playing an important part in the netherlands' drama lost his life. count moeurs and niewenaar, stadholder of utrecht, gelderland, and overysael, while inspecting some newly-invented fireworks, was suddenly killed by their accidental ignition and explosion. his death left vacant three great stadholderates, which before long were to be conferred upon a youth whose power henceforth was rapidly to grow greater. the misunderstanding between holland and england continuing, olden-barneveld, aerssens, and buys, refusing to see that they had done wrong in denouncing the dutch and english traitors who had sold gertruydenberg to the enemy, and the queen and her counsellors persisting in their anger at so insolent a proceeding, it may easily be supposed that there was no great heartiness in the joint expedition against spain, which had been projected in the autumn of , and was accomplished in the spring and summer of . nor was this well-known enterprise fruitful of any remarkable result. it had been decided to carry the war into spain itself, and don antonio, prior of crato, bastard of portugal, and pretender to its crown, had persuaded himself and the english government that his name would be potent to conjure with in that kingdom, hardly yet content with the spanish yoke. supported by a determined force of english and dutch adventurers, he boasted that he should excite a revolution by the magic of his presence, and cause philip's throne to tremble, in return for the audacious enterprise of that monarch against england. if a foray were to be made into spain, no general and no admiral could be found in the world so competent to the adventure as sir john norris and sir francis drake. they were accompanied, too, by sir edward norris, and another of those 'chickens of mars,' henry norris; by the indomitable and ubiquitous welshman, roger williams, and by the young earl of essex, whom the queen in vain commanded to remain at home, and who, somewhat to the annoyance of the leaders of the expedition, concealed himself from her majesty's pursuit, and at last embarked in a vessel which he had equipped, in order not to be cheated of his share in the hazard and the booty. "if i speed well," said the spendthrift but valiant youth; "i will adventure to be rich; if not, i will never live, to see the end of my poverty." but no great riches were to be gathered in the expedition. with some fourteen thousand men, and one hundred and sixty vessels--of which six were the queen's ships of war, including the famous revenge and the dreadnought, and the rest armed merchantmen, english, and forty hollanders--and with a contingent of fifteen hundred dutchmen under nicolas van meetkerke and van laen, the adventurers set sail from plymouth on the th of april, . they landed at coruna--at which place they certainly could not expect to create a portuguese revolution, which was the first object of the expedition--destroyed some shipping in the harbour, captured and sacked the lower town, and were repulsed in the upper; marched with six thousand men to burgos, crossed the bridge at push of pike, and routed ten thousand spaniards under andrada and altamira--edward norris receiving a desperate blow on the head at the passage' of the bridge, and being rescued from death by his brother john--took sail for the south after this action, in which they had killed a thousand spaniards, and had lost but two men of their own; were joined off cape finisterre by essex; landed a force at peniche, the castle of which place surrendered to them, and acknowledged the authority of don antonio; and thence marched with the main body of the troops, under sir john norris, forty-eight miles to lisbon, while drake, with the fleet, was to sail up the tagus. nothing like a revolution had been effected in portugal. no one seemed to care for the pretender, or even to be aware that he had ever existed, except the governor of peniche castle, a few ragged and bare-footed peasants, who, once upon the road, shouted "viva don antonio," and one old gentleman by the way side, who brought him a plate of plums. his hopes of a crown faded rapidly, and when the army reached lisbon it had dwindled to not much more than four thousand effective men--the rest being dead of dysentery, or on the sick-list from imprudence in eating and drinking--while they found that they had made an unfortunate omission in their machinery for assailing the capital, having not a single fieldpiece in the whole army. moreover, as drake was prevented by bad weather and head-winds from sailing up the tagus, it seemed a difficult matter to carry the city. a few cannon, and the co-operation of the fleet, were hardly to be dispensed with on such an occasion. nevertheless it would perhaps have proved an easier task than it appeared--for so great was the panic within the place that a large number of the inhabitants had fled, the cardinal viceroy archduke albert had but a very insufficient guard, and there were many gentlemen of high station who were anxious to further the entrance of the english, and who were afterwards hanged or garotted for their hostile sentiments to the spanish government. while the leaders were deliberating what course to take, they were informed that count fuentes and henriquez de guzman, with six thousand men, lay at a distance of two miles from lisbon, and that they had been proclaiming by sound of trumpet that the english had been signally defeated before lisbon, and that they were in full retreat. fired at this bravado, norris sent a trumpet to fuentes and guzman, with a letter signed and sealed, giving them the lie in plainest terms, appointing the next day for a meeting of the two forces, and assuring them that when the next encounter should take place, it should be seen whether a spaniard or an englishman would be first to fly; while essex, on his part, sent a note, defying either or both those boastful generals to single combat. next day the english army took the field, but the spaniards retired before them; and nothing came of this exchange of cartels, save a threat on the part of fuentes to hang the trumpeter who had brought the messages. from the execution of this menace he refrained, however, on being assured that the deed would be avenged by the death of the spanish prisoner of highest rank then in english hands, and thus the trumpeter escaped. soon afterwards the fleet set sail from the tagus, landed, and burned vigo on their way homeward, and returned to plymouth about the middle of july. of the thirteen thousand came home six thousand, the rest having perished of dysentery and other disorders. they had braved and insulted spain, humbled her generals, defied her power, burned some defenceless villages, frightened the peasantry, set fire to some shipping, destroyed wine, oil, and other merchandize, and had divided among the survivors of the expedition, after landing in england, five shillings a head prize-money; but they had not effected a revolution in portugal. don antonio had been offered nothing by his faithful subjects but a dish of plums--so that he retired into obscurity from that time forward--and all this was scarcely a magnificent result for the death of six or seven thousand good english and dutch soldiers, and the outlay of considerable treasure. as a free-booting foray--and it was nothing else--it could hardly be thought successful; although it was a splendid triumph compared with the result of the long and loudly heralded invincible armada. in france, great events during the remainder of and the following year, and which are well known even to the most superficial student of history, had much changed the aspect of european affairs. it was fortunate for the two commonwealths of holland and england, engaged in the great struggle for civil and religious liberty, and national independence, that the attention of philip became more and more absorbed-as time wore on--with the affairs of france. it seemed necessary for him firmly to establish his dominion in that country before attempting once more the conquest of england, or the recovery of the netherlands. for france had been brought more nearly to anarchy and utter decomposition than ever. henry iii., after his fatal forgiveness of the deadly offence of guise, felt day by day more keenly that he had transferred his sceptre--such as it was--to that dangerous intriguer. bitterly did the king regret having refused the prompt offer of alphonse corse on the day of the barricades; for now, so long as the new generalissimo should live, the luckless henry felt himself a superfluity in his own realm. the halcyon days were for ever past, when, protected by the swords of joyeuse and of epernon, the monarch of france could pass his life playing at cup and ball, or snipping images out of pasteboard, or teaching his parrots-to talk, or his lap-dogs to dance. his royal occupations were gone, and murder now became a necessary preliminary to any future tranquillity or enjoyment. discrowned as he felt himself already, he knew that life or liberty was only held by him now at the will of guise. the assassination of the duke in december was the necessary result of the barricades in may; and accordingly that assassination was arranged with an artistic precision of which the world had hardly suspected the valois to be capable, and which philip himself might have envied. the story of the murders of blois--the destruction of guise and his brother the cardinal, and the subsequent imprisonment of the archbishop of lyons, the cardinal bourbon, and the prince de joinville, now, through the death of his father, become the young duke of guise--all these events are too familiar in the realms of history, song, romance, and painting, to require more than this slight allusion here. never had an assassination been more technically successful; yet its results were not commensurate with the monarch's hopes. the deed which he had thought premature in may was already too late in december. his mother denounced his cruelty now, as she had, six months before, execrated his cowardice. and the old queen, seeing that her game was played out--that the cards had all gone against her--that her son was doomed, and her own influence dissolved in air, felt that there was nothing left for her but to die. in a week she was dead, and men spoke no more of catharine de' medici, and thought no more of her than if--in the words of a splenetic contemporary--"she had been a dead she-goat." paris howled with rage when it learned the murders of blois, and the sixteen quarters became more furious than ever against the valois. some wild talk there was of democracy and republicanism after the manner of switzerland, and of dividing france into cantons--and there was an earnest desire on the part of every grandee, every general, every soldier of fortune, to carve out a portion of french territory with his sword, and to appropriate it for himself and his heirs. disintegration was making rapid progress, and the epoch of the last valois seemed mare dark and barbarous than the times of the degenerate carlovingians had been. the letter-writer of the escorial, who had earnestly warned his faithful mucio, week after week, that dangers were impending over him, and that "some trick would be played upon him," should he venture into the royal presence, now acquiesced in his assassination, and placidly busied himself with fresh combinations and newer tools. baked, hunted, scorned by all beside, the luckless henry now threw himself into the arms of the bearnese--the man who could and would have protected him long before, had the king been capable of understanding their relative positions and his own true interests. could the valois have conceived the thought of religious toleration, his throne even then might have been safe. but he preferred playing the game of the priests and bigots, who execrated his name and were bent upon his destruction. at last, at plessis les tours, the bearnese, in his shabby old chamois jacket and his well-dinted cuirass took the silken henry in his arms, and the two--the hero and the fribble--swearing eternal friendship, proceeded to besiege paris. a few weeks later, the dagger of jacques clement put an end for ever to, the line of valois. luckless henry iii. slept with his forefathers, and henry of bourbon and navarre proclaimed himself king of france. catharine and her four sons had all past away at last, and it would be a daring and a dexterous schemer who should now tear the crown, for which he had so long and so patiently waited, from the iron grasp of the bearnese. philip had a more difficult game than ever to play in france. it would be hard for him to make valid the claims of the infanta and any husband he might select for her to the crown of her grandfather henry ii. it seemed simple enough for him, while waiting the course of events, to set up a royal effigy before the world in the shape of an effete old cardinal bourbon, to pour oil upon its head and to baptize it charles x.; but meantime the other bourbon was no effigy, and he called himself henry iv. it was easy enough for paris, and madam league, and philip the prudent, to cry wo upon the heretic; but the cheerful leader of the huguenots was a philosopher, who in the days of st. bartholomew had become orthodox to save his life, and who was already "instructing himself" anew in order to secure his crown. philip was used to deal with fanatics, and had often been opposed by a religious bigotry as fierce as his own; but he might perhaps be baffled by a good-humoured free-thinker, who was to teach him a lesson in political theology of which he had never dreamed. the leaguers were not long in doubt as to the meaning of "instruction," and they were thoroughly persuaded that--so soon as henry iv. should reconcile himself with rome--their game was likely to become desperate. nevertheless prudent philip sat in his elbow-chairs writing his apostilles, improving himself and his secretaries in orthography, but chiefly confining his attention to the affairs of france. the departed mucio's brother mayenne was installed as chief stipendiary of spain and lieutenant-general for the league in france, until philip should determine within himself in what form to assume the sovereignty of that kingdom. it might be questionable however whether that corpulent duke, who spent more time in eating than henry iv. did in sleeping, and was longer in reading a letter than henry in winning a battle, were likely to prove a very dangerous rival even with all spain at his back--to the lively bearnese. but time would necessarily be consumed before the end was reached, and time and philip were two. henry of navarre and france was ready to open his ears to instruction; but even he had declared, several years before, that "a religion was not to be changed like a shirt." so while the fresh garment was airing for him at rome, and while he was leisurely stripping off the old, he might perhaps be taken at a disadvantage. fanaticism on both sides, during this process of instruction, might be roused. the huguenots on their part might denounce the treason of their great chief, and the papists, on theirs, howl at the hypocrisy of the pretended conversion. but henry iv. had philosophically prepared himself for the denunciations of the protestants, while determined to protect them against the persecutions of the romanism to which he meant to give his adhesion. while accepting the title of renegade, together with an undisputed crown, he was not the man to rekindle those fires of religious bigotry which it was his task to quench, now that they had lighted his way to the throne. the demands of his catholic supporters for the exclusion from the kingdom of all religions but their own, were steadily refused. and thus the events of and indicated that the great game of despotism against freedom would be played, in the coming years, upon the soil of france. already elizabeth had furnished the new king with l , in gold--a larger sum; as he observed, than he had ever seen before in his life, and the states of the netherlands had provided him with as much more. willoughby too, and tough roger williams, and baskerville, and umpton, and vere, with english pikemen at their back, had already made a brief but spirited campaign in france; and the duke of parma, after recruiting his health; so, far as it was possible; at spa, was preparing himself to measure swords with that great captain of huguenots; who now assumed the crown of his ancestors, upon the same ground. it seemed probable that for the coming years england would be safe from spanish invasion, and that holland would have a better opportunity than it had ever enjoyed before of securing its liberty and perfecting its political organization. while parma, philip; and mayenne were fighting the bearnese for the crown of france, there might be a fairer field for the new commonwealth of the united netherlands. and thus many of the personages who have figured in these volumes have already passed away. leicester had died just after the defeat of the armada, and the thrifty queen, while dropping a tear upon the grave of 'sweet robin,' had sold his goods at auction to defray his debts to herself; and moeurs, and martin schenk, and 'mucio,' and henry iii., and catharine de' medici, were all dead. but philip the prudent remained, and elizabeth of england, and henry of france and navarre, and john of olden-barneveld; and there was still another personage, a very young man still, but a deep-thinking, hard-working student, fagging steadily at mathematics and deep in the works of stevinus, who, before long, might play a conspicuous part in the world's great drama. but, previously to , maurice of nassau seemed comparatively insignificant, and he could be spoken of by courtiers as a cipher, and as an unmannerly boy just let loose from school. etext editor's bookmarks: i will never live, to see the end of my poverty religion was not to be changed like a shirt tension now gave place to exhaustion etext editor's bookmarks, entire - united netherlands: a burnt cat fears the fire a free commonwealth--was thought an absurdity act of uniformity required papists to assist all business has been transacted with open doors and thus this gentle and heroic spirit took its flight are wont to hang their piety on the bell-rope arminianism as lieve see the spanish as the calvinistic inquisition as logical as men in their cups are prone to be baiting his hook a little to his appetite beacons in the upward path of mankind been already crimination and recrimination more than enough bungling diplomatists and credulous dotards canker of a long peace casting up the matter "as pinchingly as possibly might be" defect of enjoying the flattery, of his inferiors in station disposed to throat-cutting by the ministers of the gospel during this, whole war, we have never seen the like elizabeth (had not) the faintest idea of religious freedom englishmen and hollanders preparing to cut each other's throats even to grant it slowly is to deny it utterly evil is coming, the sooner it arrives the better faction has rarely worn a more mischievous aspect fitter to obey than to command five great rivers hold the netherland territory in their coils fool who useth not wit because he hath it not forbidding the wearing of mourning at all full of precedents and declamatory commonplaces god, whose cause it was, would be pleased to give good weather guilty of no other crime than adhesion to the catholic faith hard at work, pouring sand through their sieves hardly a distinguished family in spain not placed in mourning heretics to the english church were persecuted high officers were doing the work of private, soldiers i did never see any man behave himself as he did i am a king that will be ever known not to fear any but god i will never live, to see the end of my poverty individuals walking in advance of their age infamy of diplomacy, when diplomacy is unaccompanied by honesty inquisitors enough; but there were no light vessels in the armada invincible armada had not only been vanquished but annihilated look for a sharp war, or a miserable peace loving only the persons who flattered him mendacity may always obtain over innocence and credulity never peace well made, he observed, without a mighty war never did statesmen know better how not to do not many more than two hundred catholics were executed nothing could equal alexander's fidelity, but his perfidy one could neither cry nor laugh within the spanish dominions only citadel against a tyrant and a conqueror was distrust pray here for satiety, (said cecil) than ever think of variety rebuked him for his obedience religion was not to be changed like a shirt respect for differences in religious opinions sacrificed by the queen for faithfully obeying her orders security is dangerous she relieth on a hope that will deceive her simple truth was highest skill sixteen of their best ships had been sacrificed sparing and war have no affinity together stake or gallows (for) heretics to transubstantiation states were justified in their almost unlimited distrust strength does a falsehood acquire in determined and skilful hand succeeded so well, and had been requited so ill sure bind, sure find sword in hand is the best pen to write the conditions of peace tension now gave place to exhaustion that crowned criminal, philip the second the worst were encouraged with their good success the blaze of a hundred and fifty burning vessels the sapling was to become the tree their existence depended on war there is no man fitter for that purpose than myself they chose to compel no man's conscience tolerating religious liberty had never entered his mind torturing, hanging, embowelling of men, women, and children trust her sword, not her enemy's word undue anxiety for impartiality universal suffrage was not dreamed of at that day waiting the pleasure of a capricious and despotic woman we were sold by their negligence who are now angry with us wealthy papists could obtain immunity by an enormous fine who the "people" exactly were history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley volume iii. motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, - , complete chapter xxi. effect of the assassination of henry iii.--concentration of forces for the invasion of france--the netherlands determine on striking a blow for freedom--organization of a dutch army--stratagem to surprise the castle of breda--intrepidity and success of the enterprise. the dagger of jacques clement had done much, and was likely to do more, to change the face of europe. another proof was afforded that assassination had become a regular and recognised factor in the political problems of the sixteenth century. another illustration was exhibited of the importance of the individual--even although that individual was in himself utterly despicable--to the working out of great historical results. it seemed that the murder of henry iii.--that forlorn caricature of kingship and of manhood--was likely to prove eminently beneficial to the cause of the netherland commonwealth. five years earlier, the murder of william the silent had seemed to threaten its very existence. for philip the prudent, now that france was deprived of a head, conceived that the time had arrived when he might himself assume the sovereignty of that kingdom. while a thing of straw, under the name of charles x. and shape of a cardinal bourbon, was set up to do battle with that living sovereign and soldier, the heretic bearnese, the duke of parma was privately ordered to bend all his energies towards the conquest of the realm in dispute, under pretence of assisting the holy league. accordingly, early in the year , alexander concentrated a considerable force on the french frontier in artois and hainault, apparently threatening bergen-op-zoom and other cities in south holland, but in reality preparing to invade france. the duke of mayenne, who had assumed the title of lieutenant-general of that kingdom, had already visited him at brussels in order to arrange the plan of the campaign. while these measures were in preparation, an opportunity was likely to be afforded to the netherlanders of striking a blow or two for liberty and independence; now that all the force that possibly could be spared was to be withdrawn by their oppressors and to be used for the subjugation of their neighbours. the question was whether there would be a statesman and a soldier ready to make use of this golden opportunity. there was a statesman ripe and able who, since the death of the taciturn, had been growing steadily in the estimation of his countrymen and who already was paramount in the councils of the states-general. there was a soldier, still very young, who was possessed of the strongest hereditary claims to the confidence and affection of the united provinces and who had been passing a studious youth in making himself worthy of his father and his country. fortunately, too, the statesman and the soldier were working most harmoniously together. john of olden-barneveld, with his great experience and vast and steady intellect, stood side by side with young maurice of nassau at this important crisis in the history of the new commonwealth. at length the twig was becoming the tree--'tandem fit surculus arbor'--according to the device assumed by the son of william the silent after his father's death. the netherlands had sore need of a practical soldier to contend with the scientific and professional tyrants against whom they had so long been struggling, and maurice, although so young, was pre-eminently a practical man. he was no enthusiast; he was no poet. he was at that period certainly no politician. not often at the age of twenty has a man devoted himself for years to pure mathematics for the purpose of saving his country. yet this was maurice's scheme. four years long and more, when most other youths in his position and at that epoch would have been alternating between frivolous pleasures and brilliant exploits in the field, the young prince had spent laborious days and nights with the learned simon stevinus of bruges. the scientific work which they composed in common, the credit of which the master assigned to the pupil, might have been more justly attributed perhaps to the professor than to the prince, but it is certain that maurice was an apt scholar. in that country, ever held in existence by main human force against the elements, the arts of engineering, hydrostatics and kindred branches were of necessity much cultivated. it was reserved for the young mathematician to make them as potent against a human foe. moreover, there were symptoms that the military discipline, learning and practical skill, which had almost made spain the mistress of the world, were sinking into decay. farnese, although still in the prime of life, was broken in health, and there seemed no one fit to take the place of himself and his lieutenants when they should be removed from the scene where they had played their parts so consummately. the army of the netherlands was still to be created. thus far the contest had been mainly carried on by domestic militia and foreign volunteers or hirelings. the train-bands of the cities were aided in their struggles against spanish pikemen and artillerists, italian and albanian cavalry by the german riders, whom every little potentate was anxious to sell to either combatant according to the highest bid, and by english mercenaries, whom the love of adventure or the hope of plunder sent forth under such well-seasoned captains as williams and morgan, vere and the norrises, baskerville and willoughby. but a dutch army there was none and maurice had determined that at last a national force should be created. in this enterprise he was aided and guided by his cousin lewis william, stadtholder of friesland--the quaint, rugged little hero, young in years but almost a veteran in the wars of freedom, who was as genial and intellectual in council as he was reckless and impulsive in the field. lewis william had felt that the old military art was dying out and that--there was nothing to take its place. he was a diligent student of antiquity. he had revived in the swamps of friesland the old manoeuvres, the quickness of wheeling, the strengthening, without breaking ranks or columns, by which the ancient romans had performed so much excellent work in their day, and which seemed to have passed entirely into oblivion. old colonels and rittmasters, who had never heard of leo the thracian nor the macedonian phalanx, smiled and shrugged their shoulders, as they listened to the questions of the young count, or gazed with profound astonishment at the eccentric evolutions to which he was accustoming his troops. from the heights of superior wisdom they looked down with pity upon these innovations on the good old battle order. they were accustomed to great solid squares of troops wheeling in one way, steadily, deliberately, all together, by one impulse and as one man. it was true that in narrow fields, and when the enemy was pressing, such stately evolutions often became impossible or ensured defeat; but when the little stadtholder drilled his soldiers in small bodies of various shapes, teaching them to turn, advance; retreat; wheel in a variety of ways, sometimes in considerable masses, sometimes man by man, sending the foremost suddenly to the rear, or bringing the hindmost ranks to the front, and began to attempt all this in narrow fields as well as in wide ones, and when the enemy was in sight, men stood aghast at his want of reverence, or laughed at him as a pedant. but there came a day when they did not laugh, neither friends nor enemies. meantime the two cousins, who directed all the military operations in the provinces, understood each other thoroughly and proceeded to perfect their new system, to be adopted at a later period by all civilized nations. the regular army of the netherlands was small in number at that moment--not more than twenty thousand foot with two thousand horse--but it was well disciplined, well equipped, and, what was of great importance, regularly paid. old campaigners complained that in the halcyon days of paper enrolments, a captain could earn more out of his company than a colonel now received for his whole regiment. the days when a thousand men were paid for, with a couple of hundred in the field, were passing away for the united provinces and existed only for italians and spaniards. while, therefore, mutiny on an organised and extensive scale seemed almost the normal condition of the unpaid legions of philip, the little army of maurice was becoming the model for europe to imitate. the united provinces were as yet very far from being masters of their own territory. many of their most important cities still held for the king. in brabant, such towns as breda with its many dependencies and gertruydenberg; on the waal, the strong and wealthy nymegen which martin schenk had perished in attempting to surprise; on the yssel, the thriving city of zutphen, whose fort had been surrendered by the traitor york, and the stately deventer, which had been placed in philip's possession by the treachery of sir william stanley; on the borders of drenthe, the almost impregnable koevorden, key to the whole zwollian country; and in the very heart of ancient netherland, groningen, capital of the province of the same name, which the treason of renneberg had sold to the spanish tyrant; all these flourishing cities and indispensable strongholds were garrisoned by foreign troops, making the idea of dutch independence a delusion. while alexander of parma, sorely against his will and in obedience to what, he deemed the insane suggestions of his master, was turning his back on the netherlands in order to relieve paris, now hard pressed by the bearnese, an opportunity offered itself of making at least a beginning in the great enterprise of recovering these most valuable possessions. the fair and pleasant city of breda lies on the merk, a slender stream, navigable for small vessels, which finds its way to the sea through the great canal of the dintel. it had been the property of the princes of orange, barons of breda, and had passed with the other possessions of the family to the house of chalons-nassau. henry of nassau had, half a century before, adorned and strengthened it by a splendid palace-fortress which, surrounded by a deep and double moat, thoroughly commanded the town. a garrison of five companies of italian infantry and one of cavalry lay in this castle, which was under the command of edward lanzavecchia, governor both of breda and of the neighbouring gertruydenberg. breda was an important strategical position. it was moreover the feudal superior of a large number of adjacent villages as well as of the cities osterhout, steenberg and rosendaal. it was obviously not more desirable for maurice of nassau to recover his patrimonial city than it was for the states-general to drive the spaniards from so important a position! in the month of february, , maurice, being then at the castle of voorn in zeeland, received a secret visit from a boatman, adrian van der berg by name, who lived at the village of leur, eight or ten miles from breda, and who had long been in the habit of supplying the castle with turf. in the absence of woods and coal mines, the habitual fuel of the country was furnished by those vast relics of the antediluvian forests which abounded in the still partially submerged soil. the skipper represented that his vessel had passed so often into and out of the castle as to be hardly liable to search by the guard on its entrance. he suggested a stratagem by which it might be possible to surprise the stronghold. the prince approved of the scheme and immediately consulted with barneveld. that statesman at once proposed, as a suitable man to carry out the daring venture, captain charles de heraugiere, a nobleman of cambray, who had been long in the service of the states, had distinguished himself at sluys and on other occasions, but who had been implicated in leicester's nefarious plot to gain possession of the city of leyden a few years before. the advocate expressed confidence that he would be grateful for so signal an opportunity of retrieving a somewhat damaged reputation. heraugiere, who was with his company in voorn at the moment, eagerly signified his desire to attempt the enterprise as soon as the matter was communicated to him; avowing the deepest devotion to the house of william the silent and perfect willingness to sacrifice his life, if necessary, in its cause and that of the country. philip nassau, cousin of prince maurice and brother of lewis william, governor of gorcum, dorcum, and lowenstein castle and colonel of a regiment of cavalry, was also taken into the secret, as well as count hohenlo, president van der myle and a few others; but a mystery was carefully spread and maintained over the undertaking. heraugiere selected sixty-eight men, on whose personal daring and patience he knew that he could rely, from the regiments of philip nassau and of famars, governor of the neighbouring city of heusden, and from his own company. besides himself, the officers to command the party were captains logier and fervet, and lieutenant matthew held. the names of such devoted soldiers deserve to be commemorated and are still freshly remembered by their countrymen. on the th of february, maurice and his staff went to willemstad on the isle of klundert, it having been given out on his departure from the hague that his destination was dort. on the same night at about eleven o'clock, by the feeble light of a waning moon, heraugiere and his band came to the swertsenburg ferry, as agreed upon, to meet the boatman. they found neither him nor his vessel, and they wandered about half the night, very cold, very indignant, much perplexed. at last, on their way back, they came upon the skipper at the village of terheyde, who made the extraordinary excuse that he had overslept himself and that he feared the plot had been discovered. it being too late to make any attempt that night, a meeting was arranged for the following evening. no suspicion of treachery occurred to any of the party, although it became obvious that the skipper had grown faint-hearted. he did not come on the next night to the appointed place but he sent two nephews, boatmen like himself, whom he described as dare-devils. on monday night, the th of february, the seventy went on board the vessel, which was apparently filled with blocks of turf, and packed themselves closely in the hold. they moved slowly during a little time on their perilous voyage; for the winter wind, thick with fog and sleet, blew directly down the river, bringing along with it huge blocks of ice and scooping the water out of the dangerous shallows, so as to render the vessel at any moment liable to be stranded. at last the navigation became impossible and they came to a standstill. from monday night till thursday morning those seventy hollanders lay packed like herrings in the hold of their little vessel, suffering from hunger, thirst, and deadly cold; yet not one of them attempted to escape or murmured a wish to abandon the enterprise. even when the third morning dawned there was no better prospect of proceeding; for the remorseless east wind still blew a gale against them, and the shoals which beset their path had become more dangerous than ever. it was, however, absolutely necessary to recruit exhausted nature, unless the adventurers were to drop powerless on the threshold when they should at last arrive at their destination. in all secrecy they went ashore at a lonely castle called nordam, where they remained to refresh themselves until about eleven at night, when one of the boatmen came to them with the intelligence that the wind had changed and was now blowing freshly in from the sea. yet the voyage of a few leagues, on which they were embarked, lasted nearly two whole days longer. on saturday afternoon they passed through the last sluice, and at about three o'clock the last boom was shut behind them. there was no retreat possible for them now. the seventy were to take the strong castle and city of breda or to lay down their lives, every man of them. no quarter and short shrift--such was their certain destiny, should that half-crippled, half-frozen little band not succeed in their task before another sunrise. they were now in the outer harbour and not far from the watergate which led into the inner castle-haven. presently an officer of the guard put off in a skiff and came on board the vessel. he held a little conversation with the two boatmen, observed that the castle was--much in want of full, took a survey of the turf with which the ship was apparently laden, and then lounged into the little cabin. here he was only separated by a sliding trap-door from the interior of the vessel. those inside could hear and see his every movement. had there been a single cough or sneeze from within, the true character of the cargo, then making its way into the castle, would have been discovered and every man would within ten minutes have been butchered. but the officer, unsuspecting, soon took his departure, saying that he would send some men to warp the vessel into the castle dock. meantime, as the adventurers were making their way slowly towards the watergate, they struck upon a hidden obstruction in the river and the deeply laden vessel sprang a leak. in a few minutes those inside were sitting up to their knees in water--a circumstance which scarcely improved their already sufficiently dismal condition. the boatmen vigorously plied the pumps to save the vessel from sinking outright; a party of italian soldiers soon arrived on the shore, and in the course of a couple of hours they had laboriously dragged the concealed hollanders into the inner harbour and made their vessel fast, close to the guard-house of the castle. and now a crowd of all sorts came on board. the winter nights had been long and fearfully cold, and there was almost a dearth of fuel both in town and fortress. a gang of labourers set to work discharging the turf from the vessel with such rapidity that the departing daylight began to shine in upon the prisoners much sooner than they wished. moreover, the thorough wetting, to which after all their other inconveniences they had just been exposed in their narrow escape from foundering, had set the whole party sneezing and coughing. never was a catarrh so sudden, so universal, or so ill-timed. lieutenant held, unable to control the violence of his cough, drew his dagger and eagerly implored his next neighbour to stab him to the heart, lest his infirmity should lead to the discovery of the whole party. but the calm and wary skipper who stood on the deck instantly commanded his companion to work at the pump with as much clatter as possible, assuring the persons present that the hold was nearly full of water. by this means the noise of the coughing was effectually drowned. most thoroughly did the bold boatman deserve the title of dare-devil, bestowed by his more fainthearted uncle. calmly looking death in the face, he stood there quite at his ease, exchanging jokes with his old acquaintances, chaffering with the eager purchasers of peat shouting most noisy and superfluous orders to the one man who composed his crew, doing his utmost, in short, to get rid of his customers and to keep enough of the turf on board to conceal the conspirators. at last, when the case seemed almost desperate, he loudly declared that sufficient had been unladen for that evening and that it was too dark and he too tired for further work. so, giving a handful of stivers among the workmen, he bade them go ashore at once and have some beer and come next morning for the rest of the cargo. fortunately, they accepted his hospitable proposition and took their departure. only the servant of the captain of the guard lingered behind, complaining that the turf was not as good as usual and that his master would never be satisfied with it. "ah!" returned the cool skipper, "the best part of the cargo is underneath. this is expressly reserved for the captain. he is sure to get enough of it to-morrow." thus admonished, the servant departed and the boatman was left to himself. his companion had gone on shore with secret orders to make the best of his way to prince maurice, to inform him of the arrival of the ship within the fortress, and of the important fact which they had just learned, that governor lanzavecchia, who had heard rumours of some projected enterprise and who suspected that the object aimed at was gertruydenberg, had suddenly taken his departure for that city, leaving as his lieutenant his nephew paolo, a raw lad quite incompetent to provide for the safety of breda. a little before midnight, captain heraugiere made a brief address to his comrades in the vessel, telling them that the hour for carrying out their undertaking had at length arrived. retreat was impossible, defeat was certain death, only in complete victory lay their own safety and a great advantage for the commonwealth. it was an honor to them to be selected for such an enterprise. to show cowardice now would be an eternal shame for them, and he would be the man to strike dead with his own hand any traitor or poltroon. but if, as he doubted not, every one was prepared to do his duty, their success was assured, and he was himself ready to take the lead in confronting every danger. he then divided the little band into two companies, one under himself to attack the main guard-house, the other under fervet to seize the arsenal of the fortress. noiselessly they stole out of the ship where they had so long been confined, and stood at last on the ground within the precincts of the castle. heraugiere marched straight to the guard-house. "who goes there?" cried a sentinel, hearing some movement in the darkness. "a friend," replied the captain, seizing him, by the throat, and commanding him, if he valued his life, to keep silence except when addressed and then to speak in a whisper. "how many are there in the garrison?" muttered heraugiere. "three hundred and fifty," whispered the sentinel. "how many?" eagerly demanded the nearest followers, not hearing the reply. "he says there are but fifty of them," said heraugiere, prudently suppressing the three hundred, in order to encourage his comrades. quietly as they had made their approach, there was nevertheless a stir in the guard-house. the captain of the watch sprang into the courtyard. "who goes there?" he demanded in his turn. "a friend," again replied heraugiere, striking him dead with a single blow as he spoke. others emerged with torches. heraugiere was slightly wounded, but succeeded, after a brief struggle, in killing a second assailant. his followers set upon the watch who retreated into the guard-house. heraugiere commanded his men to fire through the doors and windows, and in a few minutes every one of the enemy lay dead. it was not a moment for making prisoners or speaking of quarter. meantime fervet and his band had not been idle. the magazine-house of the castle was seized, its defenders slain. young lanzavecchia made a sally from the palace, was wounded and driven back together with a few of his adherents. the rest of the garrison fled helter-skelter into the town. never had the musketeers of italy--for they all belonged to spinola's famous sicilian legion--behaved so badly. they did not even take the precaution to destroy the bridge between the castle and the town as they fled panic-stricken before seventy hollanders. instead of encouraging the burghers to their support they spread dismay, as they ran, through every street. young lanzavecchia, penned into a corner of the castle; began to parley; hoping for a rally before a surrender should be necessary. in the midst of the negotiation and a couple of hours before dawn, hohenlo; duly apprised by the boatman, arrived with the vanguard of maurice's troops before the field-gate of the fort. a vain attempt was made to force this portal open, but the winter's ice had fixed it fast. hohenlo was obliged to batter down the palisade near the water-gate and enter by the same road through which the fatal turf-boat had passed. soon after he had marched into the town at the head of a strong detachment, prince maurice himself arrived in great haste, attended by philip nassau, the admiral justinus nassau, count solms, peter van der does, and sir francis vere, and followed by another body of picked troops; the musicians playing merrily that national air, then as now so dear to netherlanders-- "wilhelmus van nassouwen ben ick van duytaem bloed." the fight was over. some forty of the garrison had been killed, but not a man of the attacking party. the burgomaster sent a trumpet to the prince asking permission to come to the castle to arrange a capitulation; and before sunrise, the city and fortress of breda had surrendered to the authority of the states-general and of his excellency. the terms were moderate. the plundering was commuted for the payment of two months' wages to every soldier engaged in the affair. burghers who might prefer to leave the city were allowed to do so with protection to life, and property. those who were willing to remain loyal citizens were not to be molested, in their consciences or their households, in regard to religion. the public exercise of catholic rites was however suspended until the states-general should make some universal provision on this subject. subsequently, it must be allowed, the bargain of commutation proved a bad one for the burghers. seventy men had in reality done the whole work, but so many soldiers, belonging to the detachments who marched in after the fortress had been taken, came forward to claim their months' wages as to bring the whole amount required above one hundred thousand florins. the spaniards accordingly reproached prince maurice with having fined his own patrimonial city more heavily than alexander farnese had mulcted antwerp, which had been made to pay but four hundred thousand florins, a far less sum in proportion to the wealth and importance of the place. already the prince of parma, in the taking of breda, saw verified his predictions of the disasters about to fall on the spanish interests in the netherlands, by reason of philip's obstinate determination to concentrate all his energies on the invasion of france. alexander had been unable, in the midst of preparations for his french campaign, to arrest this sudden capture, but his italian blood was on fire at the ignominy which had come upon the soldiership of his countrymen. five companies of foot and one of horse-picked troops of spain and italy--had surrendered a wealthy, populous town and a well-fortified castle to a mud-scow, and had fled shrieking in dismay from the onset of seventy frost-bitten hollanders. it was too late to save the town, but he could punish, as it deserved, the pusillanimity of the garrison. three captains--one of them rejoicing in the martial name of cesar guerra--were publicly beheaded in brussels. a fourth, ventimiglia, was degraded but allowed to escape with life, on account of his near relationship to the duke of terranova, while governor lanzavecchia was obliged to resign the command of gertruydenberg. the great commander knew better than to encourage the yielding up of cities and fortresses by a mistaken lenity to their unlucky defenders. prince maurice sent off letters the same night announcing his success to the states-general. hohenlo wrote pithily to olden-barneveld--"the castle and town of breda are ours, without a single man dead on our side. the garrison made no resistance but ran distracted out of the town." the church bells rang and bonfires blazed and cannon thundered in every city in the united provinces to commemorate this auspicious event. olden-barneveld, too, whose part in arranging the scheme was known to have been so valuable, received from the states-general a magnificent gilded vase with sculptured representations of the various scenes in the drama, and it is probable that not more unmingled satisfaction had been caused by any one event of the war than by this surprise of breda. the capture of a single town, not of first-rate importance either, would hardly seem too merit so minute a description as has been given in the preceding pages. but the event, with all its details, has been preserved with singular vividness in netherland story. as an example of daring, patience, and complete success, it has served to encourage the bold spirits of every generation and will always inspire emulation in patriotic hearts of every age and clime, while, as the first of a series of audacious enterprises by which dutch victories were to take the place of a long procession of spanish triumphs on the blood-stained soil of the provinces, it merits, from its chronological position, a more than ordinary attention. in the course of the summer prince maurice, carrying out into practice the lessons which he had so steadily been pondering, reduced the towns and strong places of heyl, flemert, elshout, crevecoeur, hayden, steenberg, rosendaal, and osterhout. but his time, during the remainder of the year , was occupied with preparations for a campaign on an extended scale and with certain foreign negotiations to which it will soon be necessary to direct the reader's attention. chapter xxii. struggle of the united provinces against philip of spain--progress of the republic--influence of geographical position on the fate of the netherlands--contrast offered by america--miserable state of the so--called "obedient" provinces--prosperity of the commonwealth--its internal government--tendency to provincialism--quibbles of the english members of the council, wilkes and bodley--exclusion of olden-barneveld from the state council--proposals of philip for mediation with the united provinces--the provinces resolutely decline all proffers of intervention. the united provinces had now been engaged in unbroken civil war for a quarter of a century. it is, however, inaccurate to designate this great struggle with tyranny as a civil war. it was a war for independence, maintained by almost the whole population of the united provinces against a foreigner, a despot, alien to their blood, ignorant of their language, a hater of their race, a scorner of their religion, a trampler upon their liberties, their laws, and institutions--a man who had publicly declared that he would rather the whole nation were exterminated than permitted to escape from subjection to the church of rome. liberty of speech, liberty of the press, liberty of thought on political, religious, and social questions existed within those dutch pastures and frisian swamps to a far greater degree than in any other part of the world at that day; than in very many regions of christendom in our own time. personal slavery was unknown. in a large portion of their territory it had never existed. the free frisians, nearest blood-relations of, in this respect, the less favoured anglo-saxons, had never bowed the knee to the feudal system, nor worn nor caused to be worn the collar of the serf. in the battles for human liberty no nation has stood with cleaner hands before the great tribunal, nor offered more spotless examples of patriotism to be emulated in all succeeding ages, than the netherlanders in their gigantic struggle with philip of spain. it was not a class struggling for their own privileges, but trampling on their fellow-men in a lower scale of humanity. kings and aristocrats sneered at the vulgar republic where hans miller, hans baker, and hans brewer enjoyed political rights end prated of a sovereignty other than that of long-descended races and of anointed heads. yet the pikemen of spain and the splendid cavalry and musketeers of italy and burgundy, who were now beginning to show their backs both behind entrenchments and in the open field to their republican foes, could not deny the valour with which the battles of liberty were fought; while elizabeth of england, maintainer, if such ever were, of hereditary sovereignty and hater of popular freedom, acknowledged that for wisdom in council, dignity and adroitness in diplomatic debate, there were none to surpass the plain burgher statesmen of the new republic. and at least these netherlanders were consistent with themselves. they had come to disbelieve in the mystery of kingcraft, in the divine speciality of a few transitory mortals to direct the world's events and to dictate laws to their fellow-creatures. what they achieved was for the common good of all. they chose to live in an atmosphere of blood and fire for generation after generation rather than flinch from their struggle with despotism, for they knew that, cruel as the sea, it would swallow them all at last in one common destruction if they faltered or paused. they fought for the liberty of all. and it is for this reason that the history of this great conflict deserved to be deeply pondered by those who have the instinct of human freedom. had the hollanders basely sunk before the power of spain, the proud history of england, france, and germany would have been written in far different terms. the blood and tears which the netherlanders caused to flow in their own stormy days have turned to blessings for remotest climes and ages. a pusillanimous peace, always possible at any period of their war, would have been hailed with rapture by contemporary statesmen, whose names have vanished from the world's memory; but would have sown with curses and misery the soil of europe for succeeding ages. the territory of the netherlands is narrow and meagre. it is but a slender kingdom now among the powers of the earth. the political grandeur of nations is determined by physical causes almost as much as by moral ones. had the cataclysm which separated the fortunate british islands from the mainland happened to occur, instead, at a neighbouring point of the earth's crust; had the belgian, dutch, german and danish netherland floated off as one island into the sea, while that famous channel between two great rival nations remained dry land, there would have been a different history of the world. but in the th century the history of one country was not an isolated chapter of personages and events. the history of the netherlands is history of liberty. it was now combined with the english, now with french, with german struggles for political and religious freedom, but it is impossible to separate it from the one great complex which makes up the last half of the sixteenth and the first half of the seventeenth centuries. at that day the netherland republic was already becoming a power of importance in the political family of christendom. if, in spite of her geographical disadvantages, she achieved so much, how much vaster might her power have grown, how much stronger through her example might popular institutions throughout the world have become, and how much more pacific the relations of european tribes, had nature been less niggard in her gifts to the young commonwealth. on the sea she was strong, for the ocean is the best of frontiers; but on land her natural boundaries faded vaguely away, without strong physical demarcations and with no sharply defined limits of tongue, history or race. accident or human caprice seemed to have divided german highland from german netherland; belgic gaul from the rest of the gallic realm. and even from the slender body, which an arbitrary destiny had set off for centuries into a separate organism, tyranny and religious bigotry had just hewn another portion away. but the commonwealth was already too highly vitalized to permit peaceful dismemberment. only the low organisms can live in all their parts after violent separations. the trunk remained, bleeding but alive and vigorous, while the amputated portion lay for centuries in fossilized impotence. never more plainly than in the history of this commonwealth was the geographical law manifested by which the fate of nations is so deeply influenced. courage, enterprise amounting almost to audacity, and a determined will confronted for a long lapse of time the inexorable, and permitted a great empire to germinate out of a few sand-banks held in defiance of the ocean, and protected from human encroachments on the interior only by the artificial barrier of custom-house and fort. thus foredoomed at birth, it must increase our admiration of human energy and of the sustaining influence of municipal liberty that the republic, even if transitory, should yet have girdled the earth with its possessions and held for a considerable period so vast a portion of the world in fee. what a lesson to our transatlantic commonwealth, whom bountiful nature had blessed at her birth beyond all the nations of history and seemed to speed upon an unlimited career of freedom and peaceful prosperity, should she be capable at the first alarm on her track to throw away her inestimable advantages! if all history is not a mockery and a fable, she may be sure that the nation which deliberately carves itself in pieces and, substitutes artificial boundaries for the natural and historic ones, condemns itself either to extinction or to the lower life of political insignificance and petty warfare, with the certain loss of liberty and national independence at last. better a terrible struggle, better the sacrifice of prosperity and happiness for years, than the eternal setting of that great popular hope, the united american republic. i speak in this digression only of the relations of physical nature to liberty and nationality, making no allusion to the equally stringent moral laws which no people can violate and yet remain in health and vigour. despite a quarter of a century of what is commonly termed civil war, the united netherlands were prosperous and full of life. it was in the provinces which had seceded from the union of utrecht that there was silence as of the grave, destitution, slavery, abject submission to a foreign foe. the leaders in the movement which had brought about the scission of --commonly called the 'reconciliation'--enjoyed military and civil posts under a foreign tyrant, but were poorly rewarded for subserviency in fighting against their own brethren by contumely on the part of their masters. as for the mass of the people it would be difficult to find a desolation more complete than that recorded of the "obedient" provinces. even as six years before, wolves littered their whelps in deserted farmhouses, cane-brake and thicket usurped the place of cornfield and, orchard, robbers swarmed on the highways once thronged by a most thriving population, nobles begged their bread in the streets of cities whose merchants once entertained emperors and whose wealth and traffic were the wonder of the world, while the spanish viceroy formally permitted the land in the agricultural districts to be occupied and farmed by the first comer for his own benefit, until the vanished proprietors of the soil should make their re-appearance. "administered without justice or policy," said a netherlander who was intensely loyal to the king and a most uncompromising catholic, "eaten up and abandoned for that purpose to the arbitrary will of foreigners who suck the substance and marrow of the land without benefit to the king, gnaw the obedient cities to the bones, and plunder the open defenceless country at their pleasure, it may be imagined how much satisfaction these provinces take in their condition. commerce and trade have ceased in a country which traffic alone has peopled, for without it no human habitation could be more miserable and poor than our land."--[discours du seigneur de champagny sur les affaires des pays bas, dec. . bibl. de bourgogne, ms. no. , .] nothing could be more gloomy than the evils thus described by the netherland statesman and soldier, except the remedy which he suggested. the obedient provinces, thus scourged and blasted for their obedience, were not advised to improve their condition by joining hands with their sister states, who had just constituted themselves by their noble resistance to royal and ecclesiastical tyranny into a free and powerful commonwealth. on the contrary, two great sources of regeneration and prosperity were indicated, but very different ones from those in which the republic had sought and found her strength. in the first place, it was suggested as indispensable that the obedient provinces should have more jesuits and more friars. the mendicant orders should be summoned to renewed exertions, and the king should be requested to send seminary priests to every village in numbers proportionate to the population, who should go about from house to house, counting the children, and seeing that they learned their catechism if their parents did not teach them, and, even in case they did, examining whether it was done thoroughly and without deception. in the second place it was laid down as important that the bishops should confirm no one who had not been sufficiently catechized. "and if the mendicant orders," said champagny, "are not numerous enough for these catechizations, the jesuits might charge themselves therewith, not more and not less than the said mendicants, some of each being deputed to each parish. to this end it would be well if his majesty should obtain from the pope a command to the jesuits to this effect, since otherwise they might not be willing to comply. it should also be ordered that all jesuits, natives of these provinces, should return hither, instead of wandering about in other regions as if their help were not so necessary here."--[ibid.] it was also recommended that the mendicant friars should turn their particular attention to antwerp, and that one of them should preach in french, another in german, another in english, every day at the opening of the exchange. with these appliances it was thought that antwerp would revive out of its ruins and, despite the blockade of its river, renew its ancient commercial glories. founded on the substantial rocks of mendicancy and jesuitism, it might again triumph over its rapidly rising rival, the heretic amsterdam, which had no better basis for its grandeur than religious and political liberty, and uncontrolled access to the ocean. such were the aspirations of a distinguished and loyal netherlander for the regeneration of his country. such were his opinions as to the true sources of the wealth and greatness of nations. can we wonder that the country fell to decay, or that this experienced, statesman and brave soldier should himself, after not many years, seek to hide his dishonoured head under the cowl of a monk? the coast of the obedient provinces was thoroughly blockaded. the united provinces commanded the sea, their cruisers, large and small, keeping diligent watch off every port and estuary of the flemish coast, so that not a herringboat could enter without their permission. antwerp, when it fell into the hands of the spaniard, sank for ever from its proud position. the city which venetians but lately had confessed with a sigh to be superior in commercial grandeur to their own magnificent capital, had ceased to be a seaport. shut in from the ocean by flushing--firmly held by an english garrison as one of the cautionary towns for the queen's loan--her world-wide commerce withered before men's eyes. her population was dwindling to not much more than half its former numbers, while ghent, bruges, and other cities were diminished by two-thirds. on the other hand, the commerce and manufactures of the united republic had enormously augmented. its bitterest enemies bore witness to the sagacity and success by which its political affairs were administered, and to its vast superiority in this respect over the obedient provinces. "the rebels are not ignorant of our condition," said champagny, "they are themselves governed with consummate wisdom, and they mock at those who submit themselves to the duke of parma. they are the more confirmed in their rebellion, when they see how many are thronging from us to them, complaining of such bad government, and that all take refuge in flight who can from the misery and famine which it has caused throughout these provinces!" the industrial population had flowed from the southern provinces into the north, in obedience to an irresistible law. the workers in iron, paper, silk, linen, lace, the makers of brocade, tapestry, and satin, as well as of all the coarser fabrics, had fled from the land of oppression to the land of liberty. never in the history of civilisation had there been a more rapid development of human industry than in holland during these years of bloodiest warfare. the towns were filled to overflowing. amsterdam multiplied in wealth and population as fast as antwerp shrank. almost as much might be said of middelburg, enkhuyzen, horn, and many other cities. it is the epoch to which the greatest expansion of municipal architecture is traced. warehouses, palaces, docks, arsenals, fortifications, dykes, splendid streets and suburbs, were constructed on every side, and still there was not room for the constantly increasing population, large numbers of which habitually dwelt in the shipping. for even of that narrow span of earth called the province of holland, one-third was then interior water, divided into five considerable lakes, those of harlem, schermer, beemster, waert, and purmer. the sea was kept out by a magnificent system of dykes under the daily superintendence of a board of officers, called dyke-graves, while the rain-water, which might otherwise have drowned the soil thus painfully reclaimed, was pumped up by windmills and drained off through sluices opening and closing with the movement of the tides. the province of zeeland was one vast "polder." it was encircled by an outer dyke of forty dutch equal to one hundred and fifty english, miles in extent, and traversed by many interior barriers. the average cost of dyke-building was sixty florins the rod of twelve feet, or , florins the dutch mile. the total cost of the zeeland dykes was estimated at , , florins, besides the annual repairs. but it was on the sea that the netherlanders were really at home, and they always felt it in their power--as their last resource against foreign tyranny--to bury their land for ever in the ocean, and to seek a new country at the ends of the earth. it has always been difficult to doom to political or personal slavery a nation accustomed to maritime pursuits. familiarity with the boundless expanse of ocean, and the habit of victoriously contending with the elements in their stormy strength, would seem to inspire a consciousness in mankind of human dignity and worth. with the exception of spain, the chief seafaring nations of the world were already protestant. the counter-league, which was to do battle so strenuously with the holy confederacy, was essentially a maritime league. "all the maritime heretics of the world, since heresy is best suited to navigators, will be banded together," said champagny, "and then woe to the spanish indies, which england and holland are already threatening." the netherlanders had been noted from earliest times for a free-spoken and independent personal demeanour. at this epoch they were taking the lead of the whole world in marine adventure. at least three thousand vessels of between one hundred and four hundred tons, besides innumerable doggers, busses, cromstevens, and similar craft used on the rivers and in fisheries, were to be found in the united provinces, and one thousand, it was estimated, were annually built. they traded to the baltic regions for honey, wax, tallow, lumber, iron, turpentine, hemp. they brought from farthest indies and from america all the fabrics of ancient civilisation, all the newly discovered products of a virgin soil, and dispensed them among the less industrious nations of the earth. enterprise, led on and accompanied by science, was already planning the boldest flights into the unknown yet made by mankind, and it will soon be necessary to direct attention to those famous arctic voyages, made by hollanders in pursuit of the north-west passage to cathay, in which as much heroism, audacity, and scientific intelligence were displayed as in later times have made so many men belonging to both branches of the anglo-saxon race illustrious. a people, engaged in perennial conflict with a martial and sacerdotal despotism the most powerful in the world, could yet spare enough from its superfluous energies to confront the dangers of the polar oceans, and to bring back treasures of science to enrich the world. such was the spirit of freedom. inspired by its blessed influence this vigorous and inventive little commonwealth triumphed over all human, all physical obstacles in its path. it organised armies on new principles to drive the most famous legions of history from its soil. it built navies to help rescue, at critical moments, the cause of england, of protestantism, of civil liberty, and even of french nationality. more than all, by its trade with its arch-enemy, the republic constantly multiplied its resources for destroying his power and aggrandizing its own. the war navy of the united provinces was a regular force of one hundred ships--large at a period when a vessel of thirteen hundred tons was a monster--together with an indefinite number of smaller craft, which could be put into the public service on short notice? in those days of close quarters and light artillery a merchant ship was converted into a cruiser by a very simple, process. the navy was a self-supporting one, for it was paid by the produce of convoy fees and licenses to trade. it must be confessed that a portion of these revenues savoured much of black-mail to be levied on friend and foe; for the distinctions between, freebooter, privateer, pirate, and legitimate sea-robber were not very closely drawn in those early days of seafaring. prince maurice of nassau was lord high admiral, but he was obliged to listen to the counsels of various provincial boards of admiralty, which often impeded his action and interfered with his schemes. it cannot be denied that the inherent vice of the netherland polity was already a tendency to decentralisation and provincialism. the civil institutions of the country, in their main characteristics, have been frequently sketched in these pages. at this period they had entered almost completely into the forms which were destined to endure until the commonwealth fell in the great crash of the french revolution. their beneficial effects were more visible now--sustained and bound together as the nation was by the sense of a common danger, and by the consciousness of its daily developing strength--than at a later day when prosperity and luxury had blunted the fine instincts of patriotism. the supreme power, after the deposition of philip, and the refusal by france and by england to accept the sovereignty of the provinces, was definitely lodged in the states-general. but the states-general did not technically represent the, people. its members were not elected by the people. it was a body composed of, delegates from each provincial assembly, of which there were now five: holland, zeeland, friesland, utrecht, and gelderland. each provincial assembly consisted again of delegates, not from the inhabitants of the provinces, but from the magistracies of the cities. those, magistracies, again, were not elected by the citizens. they elected themselves by renewing their own vacancies, and were, in short, immortal corporations. thus, in final analysis, the supreme power was distributed and localised among the mayors and aldermen of a large number of cities, all independent alike of the people below and of any central power above. it is true that the nobles, as, a class, had a voice in the provincial and, in the general assembly, both for themselves and as technical representatives of the smaller towns and of the rural population. but, as a matter of fact, the influence of this caste had of late years very rapidly diminished, through its decrease in numbers, and the far more rapid increase in wealth and power of the commercial and manufacturing classes. individual nobles were constantly employed in the military, civil, and diplomatic service of the republic, but their body had ceased to be a power. it had been the policy of william the silent to increase the number of cities entitled to send deputies to the states; for it was among the cities that his resistance to the tyranny of spain, and his efforts to obtain complete independence for his country, had been mainly supported. many of the great nobles, as has been seen in these pages, denounced the liberator and took sides with the tyrant. lamoral egmont had walked to the scaffold to which philip had condemned him, chanting a prayer for philip's welfare. egmont's eldest son was now foremost in the spanish army, doing battle against his own country in behalf of the tyrant who had taken his father's life. aremberg and ligny, arachot, chimay, croy, caprea, montigny, and most of the great patrician families of the netherlands fought on the royal side. the revolution which had saved the country from perdition and created the great netherland republic was a burgher revolution, and burgher statesmen now controlled the state. the burgher class of europe is not the one that has been foremost in the revolutionary movements of history, or that has distinguished itself--especially in more modern times--by a passionate love of liberty. it is always easy to sneer at hans miller and hans baker, and at the country where such plebeians are powerful. yet the burghers played a prominent part in the great drama which forms my theme, and there has rarely been seen a more solid or powerful type of their class than the burgher statesman, john of olden-barneveld, who, since the death of william the silent and the departure of lord leicester, had mainly guided the destinies of holland. certainly no soldier nor statesman who ever measured intellects with that potent personage was apt to treat his genius otherwise than with profound respect. but it is difficult to form a logical theory of government except on the fiction of divine right as a basis, unless the fact of popular sovereignty, as expressed by a majority, be frankly accepted in spite of philosophical objections. in the netherlands there was no king, and strictly speaking no people. but this latter and fatal defect was not visible in the period of danger and of contest. the native magistrates of that age were singularly pure, upright, and patriotic. of this there is no question whatever. and the people acquiesced cheerfully in their authority, not claiming a larger representation than such as they virtually possessed in the multiple power exercised over them, by men moving daily among them, often of modest fortunes and of simple lives. two generations later, and in the wilderness of massachusetts, the early american colonists voluntarily placed in the hands of their magistrates, few in number, unlimited control of all the functions of government, and there was hardly an instance known of an impure exercise of authority. yet out of that simple kernel grew the least limited and most powerful democracy ever known. in the later days of netherland history a different result became visible, and with it came the ruin of the state. the governing class, of burgher origin, gradually separated itself from the rest of the citizens, withdrew from commercial pursuits, lived on hereditary fortunes in the exercise of functions which were likewise virtually hereditary, and so became an oligarchy. this result, together with the physical causes already indicated, made the downfall of the commonwealth probable whenever it should be attacked by an overwhelming force from without. the states-general, however, at this epoch--although they had in a manner usurped the sovereignty, which in the absence of a feudal lord really belonged to the whole people, and had silently repossessed themselves of those executive functions which they had themselves conferred upon the state council--were at any rate without self-seeking ambition. the hollanders, as a race, were not office seekers, but were singularly docile to constituted authority, while their regents--as the municipal magistrates were commonly called--were not very far removed above the mass by birth or habitual occupation. the republic was a social and political fact, against which there was no violent antagonism either of laws or manners, and the people, although not technically existing, in reality was all in all. in netherland story the people is ever the true hero. it was an almost unnoticed but significant revolution--that by which the state council was now virtually deprived of its authority. during leicester's rule it had been a most important college of administration. since his resignation it had been entrusted by the states-general with high executive functions, especially in war matters. it was an assembly of learned counsellors appointed from the various provinces for wisdom and experience, usually about eighteen in number, and sworn in all things to be faithful to the whole republic. the allegiance of all was rendered to the nation. each individual member was required to "forswear his native province in order to be true to the generality." they deliberated in common for the general good, and were not hampered by instructions from the provincial diets, nor compelled to refer to those diets for decision when important questions were at issue. it was an independent executive committee for the whole republic. but leicester had made it unpopular. his intrigues, in the name of democracy, to obtain possession of sovereign power, to inflame the lower classes against the municipal magistracies, and to excite the clergy to claim a political influence to which they were not entitled and which was most mischievous in its effects, had exposed the state council, with which he had been in the habit of consulting, to suspicion. the queen of england, by virtue of her treaty had the right to appoint two of her subjects to be members of the council. the governor of her auxiliary forces was also entitled to a seat there. since the malpractices of leicester and the danger to which the country had been, subjected in consequence had been discovered, it was impossible that there should be very kindly feeling toward england in the public mind, however necessary a sincere alliance between the two countries was known to be for the welfare of both. the bickering of the two english councillors, wilkes and bodley, and of the governor of the english contingent with the hollanders, was incessant. the englishmen went so far as to claim the right of veto upon all measures passed by the council, but the states-general indignantly replied that the matters deliberated and decided upon by that board were their own affairs, not the state affairs of england. the two members and the military officer who together represented her majesty were entitled to participate in the deliberations and to vote with their brother members. for them to claim the right, however, at will to annul the proceedings was an intolerable assumption, and could not be listened to for a moment. certainly it would have been strange had two dutchmen undertaken to veto every measure passed by the queen's council at richmond or windsor, and it was difficult to say on what article of the contract this extraordinary privilege was claimed by englishmen at the hague. another cause of quarrel was the inability of the englishmen to understand the language in which the debates of the state council were held. according to a custom not entirely unexampled in parliamentary history the members of assembly and council made use of their native tongue in discussing the state affairs of their native land. it was however considered a grievance by the two english members that the dutchmen should speak dutch, and it was demanded in the queen's name that they should employ some other language which a foreigner could more easily understand. the hollanders however refused this request, not believing that in a reversed case her majesty's council or houses of parliament would be likely or competent to carry on their discussions habitually in italian or latin for the benefit of a couple of strangers who might not be familiar with english. the more natural remedy would have been for the foreigners to take lessons in the tongue of the country, or to seek for an interpreter among their colleagues; especially as the states, when all the netherlands were but provinces, had steadily refused to adopt any language but their mother tongue, even at the demand of their sovereign prince. at this moment, sir thomas bodley was mainly entrusted with her majesty's affairs at the hague, but his overbearing demeanour, intemperate language, and passionate style of correspondence with the states and with the royal government, did much injury to both countries. the illustrious walsingham--whose death in the spring of this year england had so much reason to deplore--had bitterly lamented, just before his death, having recommended so unquiet a spirit for so important a place. ortel, envoy of the states to london, expressed his hopes that affairs would now be handled more to the satisfaction of the states; as bodley would be obliged, since the death of sir francis, to address his letters to the lord high treasurer, with whom it would be impossible for him to obtain so much influence as he had enjoyed with the late secretary of state. moreover it was exactly at this season that the advocate of holland, olden-barneveld, was excluded from the state council. already the important province of holland was dissatisfied with its influence in that body. bearing one-half of the whole burthen of the war it was not content with one-quarter of the council vote, and very soon it became the custom for the states-general to conduct all the most important affairs of the republic. the state council complained that even in war matters it was not consulted, and that most important enterprises were undertaken by prince maurice without its knowledge, and on advice of the advocate alone. doubtless this was true, and thus, most unfortunately, the commonwealth was degraded to a confederacy instead of becoming an incorporate federal state. the members of the states-general--as it has been seen were responsible only to their constituents, the separate provinces. they avowed allegiance, each to his own province, none to the central government. moreover they were not representatives, but envoys, appointed by petty provinces, bound by written orders, and obliged to consult at every step with their sovereigns at home. the netherland polity was thus stamped almost at its birth with a narrow provincialism: delay and hesitation thus necessarily engendered were overcome in the days of danger by patriotic fervour. the instinct of union for the sake of the national existence was sufficiently strong, and the robust, practical common sense of the people sufficiently enlightened to prevent this weakness from degenerating into impotence so long as the war pressure remained to mould them into a whole. but a day was to come for bitterly rueing this paralysis of the imperial instincts of the people, this indefinite decentralisation of the national strength. for the present, the legislative and executive body was the states-general. but the states-general were in reality the states provincial, and the states provincial were the city municipalities, among which the magistracies of holland were preponderant. ere long it became impossible for an individual to resist the decrees of the civic authorities. in , the states-general passed a resolution by which these arrogant corporations virtually procured their exemption from any process at the suit of a private person to be placed on record. so far could the principle of sovereignty be pulverized. city council boards had become supreme. it was naturally impossible during the long continuance of this great struggle, that neutral nations should not be injuriously affected by it in a variety of ways. and as a matter of course neutral nations were disposed to counsel peace. peace, peace; peace was the sigh of the bystanders whose commerce was impeded, whose international relations. were complicated, and whose own security was endangered in the course of the bloody conflict. it was however not very much the fashion of that day for governments to obtrude advice upon each other; or to read to each other moral lectures. it was assumed that when the expense and sacrifice of war had been incurred, it was for cause, and the discovery had not yet been made that those not immediately interested in the fray were better acquainted with its merits than, the combatants themselves, and were moreover endued with, superhuman wisdom to see with perfect clearness that future issue which to the parties themselves was concealed. cheap apothegms upon the blessings of peace and upon the expediency of curbing the angry passions, uttered by the belligerents of yesterday to the belligerents of to-day, did not then pass current for profound wisdom. still the emperor rudolph, abstaining for a time from his star-gazing, had again thought proper to make a feeble attempt at intervention in those sublunary matters which were supposed to be within his sphere. it was perfectly well known that philip was incapable of abating one jot of his pretensions, and that to propose mediation to the united provinces was simply to request them, for the convenience of other powers, to return to the slavery out of which, by the persistent efforts of a quarter of a century, they had struggled. nevertheless it was formally proposed to re-open those lukewarm fountains of diplomatic commonplace in which healing had been sought during the peace negotiations of cologne in the year . but the states-general resolutely kept them sealed. they simply answered his imperial majesty by a communication of certain intercepted correspondence between--the king of spain and his ambassador at vienna, san clemente, through which it was satisfactorily established that any negotiation would prove as gigantic a comedy on the part of spain as had been the memorable conferences at ostend, by which the invasion of england had been masked. there never was a possibility of mediation or of compromise except by complete submission on the part of the netherlanders to crown and church. both in this, as well as in previous and subsequent attempts at negotiations, the secret instructions of philip forbade any real concessions on his side. he was always ready to negotiate, he was especially anxious to obtain a suspension of arms from the rebels during negotiation; but his agents were instructed to use great dexterity and dissimulation in order that the proposal for such armistice, as well as for negotiation at all, should appear to proceed, not from himself as was the fact, but from the emperor as a neutral potentate. the king uniformly proposed three points; firstly, that the rebels should reconvert themselves to the catholic religion; secondly, that they should return to their obedience to himself; thirdly, that they should pay the expenses of the war. number three was, however, usually inserted in order that, by conceding it subsequently, after much contestation, he might appear conciliatory. it was a vehicle of magnanimity towards men grown insolent with temporary success. numbers one and two were immutable. especially upon number one was concession impossible. "the catholic religion is the first thing," said philip, "and although the rebels do not cease to insist that liberty of conscience should be granted them, in order that they may preserve that which they have had during these past years, this is never to be thought of in any event." the king always made free use of the terrible weapon which the protestant princes of germany had placed in his hands. for indeed if it were right that one man, because possessed of hereditary power over millions of his fellow creatures, should compel them all to accept the dogmas of luther or of calvin because agreeable to himself, it was difficult to say why another man, in a similarly elevated position, might not compel his subjects to accept the creed of trent, or the doctrines of mahomet or confucius. the netherlanders were fighting--even more than they knew-for liberty of conscience, for equality of all religions; not for moses, nor for melancthon; for henry, philip, or pius; while philip justly urged that no prince in christendom permitted license. "let them well understand," said his majesty, "that since others who live in error, hold the opinion that vassals are to conform to the religion of their master, it is insufferable that it should be proposed to me that my vassals should have a different religion from mine--and that too being the true religion, proved by so many testimonies and miracles, while all others are deception. this must be arranged with the authority of the commissioners of the emperor, since it is well understood by them that the vassal is never to differ from the opinion of his master." certainly it was worth an eighty years' war to drive such blasphemous madness as this out of human heads, whether crowned or shaven. there was likewise a diet held during the summer of this year, of the circles of the empire nearest to the netherlands--westphalia, cleves, juliers, and saxony--from which commissioners were deputed both to brussels and to the hague, to complain of the misfortunes suffered by neutral and neighbouring nations in consequence of the civil war. they took nothing by their mission to the duke of parma. at the hague the deputies were heard on the nd august, . they complained to the states-general of "brandschatting" on the border, of the holding of forts beyond the lines, and of other invasions of neutral territory, of the cruising of the war-vessels of the states off the shores and on the rivers, and of their interference with lawful traders. threats were made of forcible intervention and reprisals. the united states replied on the th september. expressing deep regret that neutral nations should suffer, they pronounced it to be impossible but that some sparks from the great fire, now desolating their land, should fly over into their neighbours' ground. the states were fighting the battle of liberty against slavery, in which the future generations of germany, as well as of the netherlands were interested. they were combating that horrible institution, the holy inquisition. they were doing their best to strike down the universal monarchy of spain, which they described as a bloodthirsty, insatiable, insolent, absolute dominion of saracenic, moorish christians. they warred with a system which placed inquisitors on the seats of judges, which made it unlawful to read the scriptures, which violated all oaths, suppressed all civic freedom, trampled, on all laws and customs, raised inordinate taxes by arbitrary decree, and subjected high and low to indiscriminate murder. spain had sworn the destruction of the provinces and their subjugation to her absolute dominion, in order to carry out her scheme of universal empire. these were the deeds and designs against which the states were waging that war, concerning some inconvenient results of which their neighbours, now happily neutral, were complaining. but the cause of the states was the cause of humanity itself. this saracenic, moorish, universal monarchy had been seen by germany to murder, despoil, and trample upon the netherlands. it had murdered millions of innocent indians and granadians. it had kept naples and milan in abject slavery. it had seized portugal. it had deliberately planned and attempted an accursed invasion of england and ireland. it had overrun and plundered many cities of the empire. it had spread a web of secret intrigue about scotland. at last it was sending great armies to conquer france and snatch its crown. poor france now saw the plans of this spanish tyranny and bewailed her misery. the subjects of her lawful king were ordered to rise against him, on account of religion and conscience. such holy pretexts were used by these saracenic christians in order to gain possession of that kingdom. for all these reasons, men should not reproach the inhabitants of the netherlands, because seeing the aims of this accursed tyranny, they had set themselves to resist it. it was contrary to reason to consider them as disturbers of the general peace, or to hold them guilty of violating their oaths or their duty to the laws of the holy empire. the states-general were sure that they had been hitherto faithful and loyal, and they were resolved to continue in that path. as members of the holy empire, in part--as of old they were considered to be--they had rather the right to expect, instead of reproaches, assistance against the enormous power and inhuman oppression of their enemies. they had demanded it heretofore by their ambassadors, and they still continued to claim it. they urged that, according to the laws of the empire, all foreign soldiers, spaniards, saracens, and the like should be driven out of the limits of the empire. through these means the german highland and the german netherland might be restored once more to their old friendship and unity, and might deal with each other again in amity and commerce. if, however, such requests could not be granted they at least begged his electoral highness and the other dukes, lords, and states to put on the deeds of netherlanders in this laborious and heavy war the best interpretation, in order that they might, with the better courage and resolution, bear those inevitable burthens which were becoming daily heavier in this task of resistance and self-protection; in order that the provinces might not be utterly conquered, and serve, with their natural resources and advantageous situation, as 'sedes et media belli' for the destruction of neighbouring states and the building up of the contemplated universal, absolute monarchy. the united provinces had been compelled by overpowering necessity to take up arms. that which had resulted was and remained in 'terminis defensionis.' their object was to protect what belonged to them, to recover that which by force or fraud had been taken from them. in regard to excesses committed by their troops against neutral inhabitants on the border, they expressed a strong regret, together with a disposition to make all proper retribution and to cause all crimes to be punished. they alluded to the enormous sins of this nature practised by the enemy against neutral soil. they recalled to mind that the spaniards paid their troops ill or not at all, and that they allowed them to plunder the innocent and the neutral, while the united states had paid their troops better wages, and more punctually, than had ever been done by the greatest potentates of europe. it was true that the states kept many cruisers off the coasts and upon the rivers, but these were to protect their own citizens and friendly traders against pirates and against the common foe. germany derived as much benefit from this system as did the provinces themselves. thus did the states-general, respectfully but resolutely, decline all proffers of intervention, which, as they were well aware, could only enure to the benefit of the enemy. thus did they avoid being entrapped into negotiations which could only prove the most lamentable of comedies. etext editor's bookmarks: a pusillanimous peace, always possible at any period at length the twig was becoming the tree being the true religion, proved by so many testimonies certainly it was worth an eighty years' war chief seafaring nations of the world were already protestant conceding it subsequently, after much contestation fled from the land of oppression to the land of liberty german highland and the german netherland little army of maurice was becoming the model for europe luxury had blunted the fine instincts of patriotism maritime heretics portion of these revenues savoured much of black-mail the divine speciality of a few transitory mortals the history of the netherlands is history of liberty the nation which deliberately carves itself in pieces they had come to disbelieve in the mystery of kingcraft worn nor caused to be worn the collar of the serf history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter xxiii. philip's scheme of aggrandizement--projected invasion of france-- internal condition of france--character of henry of navarre-- preparation for action--battle of ivry--victory of the french king over the league--reluctance of the king to attack the french capital--siege of paris--the pope indisposed towards the league-- extraordinary demonstration of ecclesiastics--influence of the priests--extremities of the siege--attempted negotiation--state of philip's army--difficult position of farnese--march of the allies to the relief of paris--lagny taken and the city relieved--desertion of the king's army--siege of corbeil--death of pope sixtus v.-- re-capture of lagny and corbeil--return of parma to the netherlands --result of the expedition. the scene of the narrative shifts to france. the history of the united netherlands at this epoch is a world-history. were it not so, it would have far less of moral and instruction for all time than it is really capable of affording. the battle of liberty against despotism was now fought in the hop-fields of brabant or the polders of friesland, now in the: narrow seas which encircle england, and now on the sunny plains of dauphiny, among the craggy inlets of brittany, or along the high roads and rivers which lead to the gates of paris. but everywhere a noiseless, secret, but ubiquitous negotiation was speeding with never an instant's pause to accomplish the work which lansquenettes and riders, pikemen and carabineers were contending for on a hundred battle-fields and amid a din of arms which for a quarter of a century had been the regular hum of human industry. for nearly a generation of mankind, germans and hollanders, englishmen, frenchmen, scotchmen, irishmen, spaniards and italians seemed to be born into the world mainly to fight for or against a system of universal monarchy, conceived for his own benefit by a quiet old man who passed his days at a writing desk in a remote corner of europe. it must be confessed that philip ii. gave the world work enough. whether--had the peoples governed themselves--their energies might not have been exerted in a different direction, and on the whole have produced more of good to the human race than came of all this blood and awoke, may be questioned. but the divine right of kings, associating itself with the power supreme of the church, was struggling to maintain that old mastery of mankind which awakening reason was inclined to dispute. countries and nations being regarded as private property to be inherited or bequeathed by a few favoured individuals--provided always that those individuals were obedient to the chief-priest--it had now become right and proper for the spanish monarch to annex scotland, england, and france to the very considerable possessions which were already his own. scotland he claimed by virtue of the expressed wish of mary to the exclusion of her heretic son. france, which had been unjustly usurped by another family in times past to his detriment, and which only a mere human invention--a "pleasantry" as alva had happily termed it, called the "salic law"--prevented from passing quietly to his daughter, as heiress to her mother, daughter of henry ii., he was now fully bent upon making his own without further loss of time. england, in consequence of the mishap of the year eighty-eight, he was inclined to defer appropriating until the possession of the french coasts, together with those of the netherlands, should enable him to risk the adventure with assured chances of success. the netherlands were fast slipping beyond his control, to be sure, as he engaged in these endless schemes; and ill-disposed people of the day said that the king was like aesop's dog, lapping the river dry in order to get at the skins floating on the surface. the duke of parma was driven to his wits' ends for expedients, and beside himself with vexation, when commanded to withdraw his ill-paid and mutinous army from the provinces for the purpose of invading france. most importunate were the appeals and potent the arguments by which he attempted to turn philip from his purpose. it was in vain. spain was the great, aggressive, overshadowing power at that day, before whose plots and whose violence the nations alternately trembled, and it was france that now stood in danger of being conquered or dismembered by the common enemy of all. that unhappy kingdom, torn by intestine conflict, naturally invited the ambition and the greediness of foreign powers. civil war had been its condition, with brief intervals, for a whole generation of mankind. during the last few years, the sword had been never sheathed, while "the holy confederacy" and the bearnese struggled together for the mastery. religion was the mantle under which the chiefs on both sides concealed their real designs as they led on their followers year after year to the desperate conflict. and their followers, the masses, were doubtless in earnest. a great principle--the relation of man to his maker and his condition in a future world as laid down by rival priesthoods--has in almost every stage of history had power to influence the multitude to fury and to deluge the world in blood. and so long as the superstitious element of human nature enables individuals or combinations of them to dictate to their fellow-creatures those relations, or to dogmatize concerning those conditions--to take possession of their consciences in short, and to interpose their mummeries between man and his creator--it is, probable that such scenes as caused the nations to shudder, throughout so large a portion of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries will continue to repeat themselves at intervals in various parts of the earth. nothing can be more sublime than the self-sacrifice, nothing more demoniac than the crimes, which human creatures have seemed always ready to exhibit under the name of religion. it was and had been really civil war in france. in the netherlands it had become essentially a struggle for independence against a foreign monarch; although the germ out of which both conflicts had grown to their enormous proportions was an effort of the multitude to check the growth of papacy. in france, accordingly, civil war, attended by that gaunt sisterhood, murder, pestilence, and famine, had swept from the soil almost everything that makes life valuable. it had not brought in its train that extraordinary material prosperity and intellectual development at which men wondered in the netherlands, and to which allusion has just been made. but a fortunate conjunction of circumstances had now placed henry of navarre in a position of vantage. he represented the principle of nationality, of french unity. it was impossible to deny that he was in the regular line of succession, now that luckless henry of valois slept with his fathers, and the principle of nationality might perhaps prove as vital a force as attachment to the roman church. moreover, the adroit and unscrupulous bearnese knew well how to shift the mantle of religion from one shoulder to the other, to serve his purposes or the humours of those whom he addressed. "the king of spain would exclude me from the kingdom and heritage of my father because of my religion," he said to the duke of saxony; "but in that religion i am determined to persist so long as i shall live." the hand was the hand of henry, but it was the voice of duplessis mornay. "were there thirty crowns to win," said he, at about the same time to the states of france, "i would not change my religion on compulsion, the dagger at my throat. instruct me, instruct me, i am not obstinate." there spoke the wily freethinker, determined not to be juggled out of what he considered his property by fanatics or priests of either church. had henry been a real devotee, the fate of christendom might have been different. the world has long known how much misery it is in the power of crowned bigots to inflict. on the other hand, the holy league, the sacred confederacy, was catholic or nothing. already it was more papist than the pope, and loudly denounced sixtus v. as a huguenot because he was thought to entertain a weak admiration both for henry the heretic and for the jezebel of england. but the holy confederacy was bent on destroying the national government of france, and dismembering the national domain. to do this the pretext of trampling out heresy and indefinitely extending the power of rome, was most influential with the multitude, and entitled the leaders to enjoy immense power for the time being, while maturing their schemes for acquiring permanent possession of large fragments of the national territory. mayenne, nemours, aumale, mercoeur longed to convert temporary governments into independent principalities. the duke of lorraine looked with longing eyes on verdun, sedan, and, the other fair cities within the territories contiguous--to his own domains. the reckless house of savoy; with whom freebooting and landrobbery seemed geographical, and hereditary necessities, was busy on the southern borders, while it seemed easy enough for philip, ii., in right of his daughter, to secure at least the duchy of brittany before entering on the sovereignty of the whole kingdom. to the eyes of the world at large: france might well seem in a condition of hopeless disintegration; the restoration of its unity and former position among the nations, under the government of a single chief, a weak and wicked dream. furious and incessant were the anathemas hurled on the head of the bearnese for his persistence in drowning the land in blood in the hope of recovering a national capital which never could be his, and of wresting from the control of the confederacy that power. which, whether usurped or rightful, was considered, at least by the peaceably inclined, to have become a solid fact. the poor puppet locked in the tower of fontenay, and entitled charles x.; deceived and scared no one. such money as there was might be coined, in its name, but madam league reigned supreme in paris. the confederates, inspired by the eloquence of a cardinal legate, and supplied with funds by the faithful, were ready to dare a thousand deaths rather than submit to the rule of a tyrant and heretic. what was an authority derived from the laws of the land and the history of the race compared with the dogmas of rome and the trained veterans of spain? it remained to be seen whether nationality or bigotry would triumph. but in the early days of the prospects of nationality were not encouraging. francois de luxembourg, due de pincey, was in rome at that moment, deputed by such catholic nobles of france as were friendly to henry of navarre. sixtus might perhaps be influenced as to the degree of respect to be accorded to the envoy's representations by the events of the campaign about to open. meantime the legate gaetano, young, rich, eloquent, unscrupulous, distinguished alike for the splendour of his house and the brilliancy of his intellect, had arrived in paris. followed by a great train of adherents he had gone down to the house of parliament, and was about to seat himself under the dais reserved for the king, when brisson, first president of parliament, plucked him back by the arm, and caused him to take a seat immediately below his own. deeply was the bold president to expiate this defence of king and law against the holy league. for the moment however the legate contented himself with a long harangue, setting forth the power of rome, while brisson replied by an oration magnifying the grandeur of france. soon afterwards the cardinal addressed himself to the counteraction of henry's projects of conversion. for, well did the subtle priest understand that in purging himself of heresy, the bearnese was about to cut the ground from beneath his enemies' feet. in a letter to the archbishops and bishops of france, he argued the matter at length. especially he denied the necessity or the legality of an assembly of all the prelates of france, such as henry desired to afford him the requisite "instruction" as to the respective merits of the roman and the reformed church. certainly, he urged, the prince of bearne could hardly require instruction as to the tenets of either, seeing that at different times he had faithfully professed both. but while benches of bishops and doctors of the sorbonne were burnishing all the arms in ecclesiastical and legal arsenals for the approaching fray, the sound of louder if not more potent artillery began to be heard in the vicinity of paris. the candid henry, while seeking ghostly instruction with eagerness from his papistical patrons, was equally persevering in applying for the assistance of heretic musketeers and riders from his protestant friends in england, holland, germany, and switzerland. queen elizabeth and the states-general vied with each other in generosity to the great champion of protestantism, who was combating the holy league so valiantly, and rarely has a great historical figure presented itself to the world so bizarre of aspect, and under such shifting perplexity of light and shade, as did the bearnese in the early spring of . the hope of a considerable portion of the catholic nobility of his realm, although himself an excommunicated heretic; the mainstay of calvinism while secretly bending all his energies to effect his reconciliation with the pope; the idol of the austere and grimly puritanical, while himself a model of profligacy; the leader of the earnest and the true, although false as water himself in every relation in which human beings can stand to each other; a standardbearer of both great branches of the christian church in an age when religion was the atmosphere of men's daily lives, yet finding his sincerest admirer, and one of his most faithful allies, in the grand turk, [a portion of the magnificently protective letter of sultan amurath, in which he complimented henry on his religious stedfastness, might almost have made the king's cheek tingle.] the representative of national liberty and human rights against regal and sacerdotal absolutism, while himself a remorseless despot by nature and education, and a believer in no rights of the people save in their privilege to be ruled by himself; it seems strange at first view that henry of navarre should have been for centuries so heroic and popular an image. but he was a soldier, a wit, a consummate politician; above all, he was a man, at a period when to be a king was often to be something much less or much worse. to those accustomed to weigh and analyse popular forces it might well seem that he was now playing an utterly hopeless game. his capital garrisoned by the pope and the king of spain, with its grandees and its populace scoffing at his pretence of authority and loathing his name; with an exchequer consisting of what he could beg or borrow from queen elizabeth--most parsimonious of sovereigns reigning over the half of a small island--and from the states-general governing a half-born, half-drowned little republic, engaged in a quarter of a century's warfare with the greatest monarch in the world; with a wardrobe consisting of a dozen shirts and five pocket-handkerchiefs, most of them ragged, and with a commissariat made up of what could be brought in the saddle-bags of his huguenot cavaliers who came to the charge with him to-day, and to-morrow were dispersed again to their mountain fastnesses; it did not seem likely on any reasonable theory of dynamics that the power of the bearnese was capable of outweighing pope and spain, and the meaner but massive populace of france, and the sorbonne, and the great chiefs of the confederacy, wealthy, long descended, allied to all the sovereigns of christendom, potent in territorial possessions and skilful in wielding political influences. "the bearnese is poor but a gentleman of good family," said the cheerful henry, and it remained to-be seen whether nationality, unity, legitimate authority, history, and law would be able to neutralise the powerful combination of opposing elements. the king had been besieging dreux and had made good progress in reducing the outposts of the city. as it was known that he was expecting considerable reinforcements of english ships, netherlanders, and germans, the chiefs of the league issued orders from paris for an attack before he should thus be strengthened. for parma, unwillingly obeying the stringent commands of his master, had sent from flanders eighteen hundred picked cavalry under count philip egmont to join the army of mayenne. this force comprised five hundred belgian heavy dragoons under the chief nobles of the land, together with a selection, in even proportions, of walloon, german, spanish, and italian troopers. mayenne accordingly crossed the seine at mantes with an army of ten thousand foot, and, including egmont's contingent, about four thousand horse. a force under marshal d'aumont, which lay in ivry at the passage of the eure, fell back on his approach and joined the remainder of the king's army. the siege of dreux was abandoned; and henry withdrew to the neighbourhood of nonancourt. it was obvious that the duke meant to offer battle, and it was rare that the king under any circumstances could be induced to decline a combat. on the night of the th- th march, henry occupied saint andre, a village situated on an elevated and extensive plain four leagues from nonancourt, in the direction of ivry, fringed on three sides by villages and by a wood, and commanding a view of all the approaches from the country between the seine and eure. it would have been better had mayenne been beforehand with him, as the sequel proved; but the duke was not famed for the rapidity of his movements. during the greater part of the night, henry was employed in distributing his orders for that conflict which was inevitable on the following day. his army was drawn up according to a plan prepared by himself, and submitted to the most experienced of his generals for their approval. he then personally visited every portion of the encampment, speaking words of encouragement to his soldiers, and perfecting his arrangements for the coming conflict. attended by marshals d'aumont and biron he remained on horseback during a portion of the night, having ordered his officers to their tents and reconnoitred as well as he could the position of the enemy. towards morning he retired to his headquarters at fourainville, where he threw himself half-dressed on his truckle bed, and although the night was bitterly cold, with no covering but his cloak. he was startled from his slumber before the dawn by a movement of lights in the enemy's camp, and he sprang to his feet supposing that the duke was stealing a march upon him despite all his precautions. the alarm proved to be a false one, but henry lost no time in ordering his battle. his cavalry he divided in seven troops or squadrons. the first, forming the left wing, was a body of three hundred under marshal d'aumont, supported by two regiments of french infantry. next, separated by a short interval, was another troop of three hundred under the duke of montpensier, supported by two other regiments of foot, one swiss and one german. in front of montpensier was baron biron the younger, at the head of still another body of three hundred. two troops of cuirassiers, each four hundred strong, were on biron's left, the one commanded by the grand prior of france, charles d'angouleme, the other by monsieur de givry. between the prior and givry were six pieces of heavy artillery, while the battalia, formed of eight hundred horse in six squadrons, was commanded by the king in person, and covered on both sides by english and swiss infantry, amounting to some four thousand in all. the right wing was under the charge of old marshal biron, and comprised three troops of horse, numbering one hundred and fifty each, two companies of german riders, and four regiments of french infantry. these numbers, which are probably given with as much accuracy as can be obtained, show a force of about three thousand horse and twelve thousand foot. the duke of mayenne, seeing too late the advantage of position which he might have easily secured the day before, led his army forth with the early light, and arranged it in an order not very different from that adopted by the king, and within cannon-shot of his lines. the right wing under marshal de la chatre consisted of three regiments of french and one of germans, supporting three regiments of spanish lancers, two cornets of german riders under the bastard of brunswick, and four hundred cuirassiers. the battalia, which was composed of six hundred splendid cavalry, all noblemen of france, guarding the white banner of the holy league, and supported by a column of three thousand swiss and two thousand french infantry, was commanded by mayenne in person, assisted by his half-brother, the duke of nemours. in front of the infantry was a battery of six cannon and three culverines. the left wing was commanded by marshal de rene, with six regiments of french and lorrainers, two thousand germans, six hundred french cuirassiers, and the mounted troopers of count egmont. it is probable that mayenne's whole force, therefore, amounted to nearly four thousand cavalry and at least thirteen thousand foot. very different was the respective appearance of the two armies, so far, especially, as regarded the horsemen on both sides. gay in their gilded armour and waving plumes, with silken scarves across their shoulders, and the fluttering favours of fair ladies on their arms or in their helmets, the brilliant champions of the holy catholic confederacy clustered around the chieftains of the great house of guise, impatient for the conflict. it was like a muster for a brilliant and chivalrous tournament. the walloon and flemish nobles, outrivalling even the self-confidence of their companions in arms, taunted them with their slowness. the, impetuous egmont, burning to eclipse the fame of his ill-fated father at gravelines and st. quintin in the same holy cause, urged on the battle with unseemly haste, loudly proclaiming that if the french were faint-hearted he would himself give a good account of the navarrese prince without any assistance from them. a cannon-shot away, the grim puritan nobles who had come forth from their mountain fastnesses to do battle for king and law and for the rights of conscience against the holy league--men seasoned in a hundred battle-fields, clad all in iron, with no dainty ornaments nor holiday luxury of warfare--knelt on the ground, smiting their mailed breasts with iron hands, invoking blessings on themselves and curses and confusion on their enemies in the coming conflict, and chanting a stern psalm of homage to the god of battles and of wrath. and henry of france and navarre, descendant of lewis the holy and of hugh the great, beloved chief of the calvinist cavaliers, knelt among his heretic brethren, and prayed and chanted with them. but not the staunchest huguenot of them all, not duplessis, nor d'aubigne, nor de la noue with the iron arm, was more devoted on that day to crown and country than were such papist supporters of the rightful heir as had sworn to conquer the insolent foreigner on the soil of france or die. when this brief prelude was over, henry made an address to his soldiers, but its language has not been preserved. it is known, however, that he wore that day his famous snow-white plume, and that he ordered his soldiers, should his banner go down in the conflict, to follow wherever and as long as that plume should be seen waving on any part of the field. he had taken a position by which his troops had the sun and wind in their backs, so that the smoke rolled toward the enemy and the light shone in their eyes. the combat began with the play of artillery, which soon became so warm that egmont, whose cavalry--suffering and galled--soon became impatient, ordered a charge. it was a most brilliant one. the heavy troopers of flanders and hainault, following their spirited chieftain, dashed upon old marshal biron, routing his cavalry, charging clean up to the huguenot guns and sabring the cannoneers. the shock was square, solid, irresistible, and was followed up by the german riders under eric of brunswick, who charged upon the battalia of the royal army, where the king commanded in person. there was a panic. the whole royal cavalry wavered, the supporting infantry recoiled, the day seemed lost before the battle was well begun. yells of "victory! victory! up with the holy league, down with the heretic bearnese," resounded through the catholic squadrons. the king and marshal biron, who were near each other, were furious with rage, but already doubtful of the result. they exerted themselves to rally the troops under their immediate command, and to reform the shattered ranks. the german riders and french lancers under brunswick and bassompierre had, however, not done their work as thoroughly as egmont had done. the ground was so miry and soft that in the brief space which separated the hostile lines they had not power to urge their horses to full speed. throwing away their useless lances, they came on at a feeble canter, sword in hand, and were unable to make a very vigorous impression on the more heavily armed troopers opposed to them. meeting with a firm resistance to their career, they wheeled, faltered a little and fell a short distance back. many of the riders being of the reformed religion, refused moreover to fire upon the huguenots, and discharged their carbines in the air. the king, whose glance on the battle-field was like inspiration, saw the blot and charged upon them in person with his whole battalia of cavalry. the veteran biron followed hard upon the snow-white plume. the scene was changed, victory succeeded to impending defeat, and the enemy was routed. the riders and cuirassiers, broken into a struggling heap of confusion, strewed the ground with their dead bodies, or carried dismay into the ranks of the infantry as they strove to escape. brunswick went down in the melee, mortally wounded as it was believed. egmont renewing the charge at the head of his victorious belgian troopers, fell dead with a musket-ball through his heart. the shattered german and walloon cavalry, now pricked forward by the lances of their companions, under the passionate commands of mayenne and aumale, now fading back before the furious charges of the huguenots, were completely overthrown and cut to pieces. seven times did henry of navarre in person lead his troopers to the charge; but suddenly, in the midst of the din of battle and the cheers of victory, a message of despair went from lip to lip throughout the royal lines. the king had disappeared. he was killed, and the hopes of protestantism and of france were fallen for ever with him. the white standard of his battalia had been seen floating wildly and purposelessly over the field; for his bannerman, pot de rhodes, a young noble of dauphiny, wounded mortally in the head, with blood streaming over his face and blinding his sight, was utterly unable to control his horse, who gallopped hither and thither at his own caprice, misleading many troopers who followed in his erratic career. a cavalier, armed in proof, and wearing the famous snow-white plume, after a hand-to-hand struggle with a veteran of count bossu's regiment, was seen to fall dead by the side of the bannerman: the fleming, not used to boast, loudly asserted that he had slain the bearnese, and the news spread rapidly over the battle-field. the defeated confederates gained new courage, the victorious royalists were beginning to waver, when suddenly, between the hostile lines, in the very midst of the battle, the king gallopped forward, bareheaded, covered with blood and dust, but entirely unhurt. a wild shout of "vive le roi!" rang through the air. cheerful as ever, he addressed a few encouraging words to his soldiers, with a smiling face, and again led a charge. it was all that was necessary to complete the victory. the enemy broke and ran away on every side in wildest confusion, followed by the royalist cavalry, who sabred them as they fled. the panic gained the foot-soldiers, who should have supported the cavalry, but had not been at all engaged in the action. the french infantry threw away their arms as they rushed from the field and sought refuge in the woods. the walloons were so expeditious in the race, that they never stopped till they gained their own frontier. the day was hopelessly lost, and although mayenne had conducted himself well in the early part of the day, it was certain that he was excelled by none in the celerity of his flight when the rout had fairly begun. pausing to draw breath as he gained the wood, he was seen to deal blows with his own sword among the mob of fugitives, not that he might rally them to their flag and drive them back to another encounter, but because they encumbered his own retreat. the walloon carbineers, the german riders, and the french lancers, disputing as to the relative blame to be attached to each corps, began shooting and sabring each other, almost before they were out of the enemy's sight. many were thus killed. the lansquenets were all put to the sword. the swiss infantry were allowed to depart for their own country on pledging themselves not again to bear arms against henry iv. it is probable that eight hundred of the leaguers were either killed on the battle-field or drowned in the swollen river in their retreat. about one-fourth of that number fell in the army of the king. it is certain that of the contingent from the obedient netherlands, two hundred and seventy, including their distinguished general, lost their lives. the bastard of brunswick, crawling from beneath a heap of slain, escaped with life. mayenne lost all his standards and all the baggage of his army, while the army itself was for a time hopelessly dissolved. few cavalry actions have attained a wider celebrity in history than the fight of ivry. yet there have been many hard-fought battles, where the struggle was fiercer and closer, where the issue was for a longer time doubtful, where far more lives on either side were lost, where the final victory was immediately productive of very much greater results, and which, nevertheless, have sunk into hopeless oblivion. the, personal details which remain concerning the part enacted by the adventurous king at this most critical period of his career, the romantic interest which must always gather about that ready-witted, ready-sworded gascon, at the moment when, to contemporaries, the result of all his struggles seemed so hopeless or at best so doubtful; above all, the numerous royal and princely names which embellished the roll-call of that famous passage of arms, and which were supposed, in those days at least, to add such lustre to a battle-field, as humbler names, however illustrious by valour or virtue, could never bestow, have made this combat for ever famous. yet it is certain that the most healthy moral, in military affairs, to be derived from the event, is that the importance of a victory depends less upon itself than on the use to be made of it. mayenne fled to mantes, the duke of nemours to chartres, other leaders of the league in various directions, mayenne told every body he met that the bearnese was killed, and that although his own army was defeated, he should soon have another one on foot. the same intelligence was communicated to the duke of parma, and by him to philip. mendoza and the other spanish agents went about paris spreading the news of henry's death, but the fact seemed woefully to lack confirmation, while the proofs of the utter overthrow and shameful defeat of the leaguers were visible on every, side. the parisians--many of whom the year before had in vain hired windows in the principal streets, in order to witness the promised entrance of the bearnese, bound hand and foot, and with a gag in his mouth, to swell the triumph of madam league--were incredulous as to the death now reported to them of this very lively heretic, by those who had fled so ignominiously from his troopers. de la none and the other huguenot chieftains, earnestly urged upon henry the importance of advancing upon paris without an instant's delay, and it seems at least extremely probable that, had he done so, the capital would have fallen at once into his hands. it is the concurrent testimony of contemporaries that the panic, the destitution, the confusion would have made resistance impossible had a determined onslaught been made. and henry had a couple of thousand horsemen flushed with victory, and a dozen thousand foot who had been compelled to look upon a triumph in which they had no opportunity of sharing: success and emulation would have easily triumphed over dissension and despair. but the king, yielding to the councils of biron and other catholics, declined attacking the capital, and preferred waiting the slow, and in his circumstances eminently hazardous, operations of a regular siege. was it the fear of giving a signal triumph to the cause of protestantism that caused the huguenot leader--so soon to become a renegade--to pause in his career? was it anxiety lest his victorious entrance into paris might undo the diplomacy of his catholic envoys at rome? or was it simply the mutinous condition of his army, especially of the swiss mercenaries, who refused to advance a step unless their arrears of pay were at once furnished them out of the utterly empty exchequer of the king? whatever may have been the cause of the delay, it is certain that the golden fruit of victory was not plucked, and that although the confederate army had rapidly dissolved, in consequence of their defeat, the king's own forces manifested as little cohesion. and now began that slow and painful siege, the details of which are as terrible, but as universally known, as those of any chapters in the blood-stained history of the century. henry seized upon the towns guarding the rivers seine and marne, twin nurses of paris. by controlling the course of those streams as well as that of the yonne and oise--especially by taking firm possession of lagny on the marne, whence a bridge led from the isle of france to the brie country--great thoroughfare of wine and corn--and of corbeil at the junction of the little river essonne with the seine-it was easy in that age to stop the vital circulation of the imperial city. by midsummer, paris, unquestionably the first city of europe at that day, was in extremities, and there are few events in history in which our admiration is more excited by the power of mankind to endure almost preternatural misery, or our indignation more deeply aroused by the cruelty with which the sublimest principles of human nature may be made to serve the purposes of selfish ambition and grovelling superstition, than this famous leaguer. rarely have men at any epoch defended their fatherland against foreign oppression with more heroism than that which was manifested by the parisians of in resisting religious toleration, and in obeying a foreign and priestly despotism. men, women, and children cheerfully laid down their lives by thousands in order that the papal legate and the king of spain might trample upon that legitimate sovereign of france who was one day to become the idol of paris and of the whole kingdom. a census taken at the beginning of the siege had showed a populace of two hundred thousand souls, with a sufficiency of provisions, it was thought, to last one month. but before the terrible summer was over--so completely had the city been invested--the bushel of wheat was worth three hundred and sixty crowns, rye and oats being but little cheaper. indeed, grain might as well have cost three thousand crowns the bushel, for the prices recorded placed it beyond the reach of all but the extremely wealthy. the flesh of horses, asses, dogs, cats, rats had become rare luxuries. there was nothing cheap, said a citizen bitterly, but sermons. and the priests and monks of every order went daily about the streets, preaching fortitude in that great resistance to heresy, by which paris was earning for itself a crown of glory, and promising the most direct passage to paradise for the souls of the wretched victims who fell daily, starved to death, upon the pavements. and the monks and priests did their work nobly, aiding the general resolution by the example of their own courage. better fed than their fellow citizens, they did military work in trench, guard-house and rampart, as the population became rapidly unfit, from physical exhaustion, for the defence of the city. the young duke of nemours, governor of the place, manifested as much resolution and conduct in bringing his countrymen to perdition as if the work in which he was engaged had been the highest and holiest that ever tasked human energies. he was sustained in his task by that proud princess, his own and mayenne's mother, by madame montpensier, by the resident triumvirate of spain, mendoza, commander moreo, and john baptist tasais, by the cardinal legate gaetano, and, more than all, by the sixteen chiefs of the wards, those municipal tyrants of the unhappy populace. pope sixtus himself was by no means eager for the success of the league. after the battle of ivry, he had most seriously inclined his ear to the representations of henry's envoy, and showed much willingness to admit the victorious heretic once more into the bosom of the church. sixtus was not desirous of contributing to the advancement of philip's power. he feared his designs on italy, being himself most anxious at that time to annex naples to the holy see. he had amassed a large treasure, but he liked best to spend it in splendid architecture, in noble fountains, in magnificent collections of art, science, and literature, and, above all, in building up fortunes for the children of his sister the washerwoman, and in allying them all to the most princely houses of italy, while never allowing them even to mention the name of their father, so base was his degree; but he cared not to disburse from his hoarded dollars to supply the necessities of the league. but gaetano, although he could wring but fifty thousand crowns from his holiness after the fatal fight of ivry, to further the good cause, was lavish in expenditures from his own purse and from other sources, and this too at a time when thirty-three per cent. interest was paid to the usurers of antwerp for one month's loan of ready money. he was indefatigable, too, and most successful in his exhortations and ghostly consolations to the people. those proud priests and great nobles were playing a reckless game, and the hopes of mankind beyond the grave were the counters on their table. for themselves there were rich prizes for the winning. should they succeed in dismembering the fair land where they were enacting their fantastic parts, there were temporal principalities, great provinces, petty sovereignties, to be carved out of the heritage which the bearnese claimed for his own. obviously then, their consciences could never permit this shameless heretic, by a simulated conversion at the critical moment, to block their game and restore the national unity and laws. and even should it be necessary to give the whole kingdom, instead of the mere duchy of brittany, to philip of spain, still there were mighty guerdons to be bestowed on his supporters before the foreign monarch could seat himself on the throne of henry's ancestors. as to the people who were fighting, starving, dying by thousands in this great cause, there were eternal rewards in another world profusely promised for their heroism instead of the more substantial bread and beef, for lack of which they were laying down their lives. it was estimated that before july twelve thousand human beings in paris had died, for want of food, within three months. but as there were no signs of the promised relief by the army of parma and mayenne, and as the starving people at times appeared faint-hearted, their courage was strengthened one day by a stirring exhibition. an astonishing procession marched through the streets of the city, led by the bishop of senlis and the prior of chartreux, each holding a halberd in one hand and a crucifix in the other, and graced by the presence of the cardinal-legate, and of many prelates from italy. a lame monk, adroitly manipulating the staff of a drum major, went hopping and limping before them, much to the amazement of the crowd. then came a long file of monks-capuchins, bernardists, minimes, franciscans, jacobins, carmelites, and other orders--each with his cowl thrown back, his long robes trussed up, a helmet on his head, a cuirass on his breast, and a halberd in his hand. the elder ones marched first, grinding their teeth, rolling their eyes, and making other ferocious demonstrations. then came the younger friars, similarly attired, all armed with arquebusses, which they occasionally and accidentally discharged to the disadvantage of the spectators, several of whom were killed or wounded on the spot. among others a servant of cardinal gaetano was thus slain, and the even caused much commotion, until the cardinal proclaimed that a man thus killed in so holy a cause had gone straight to heaven and had taken his place among the just. it was impossible, thus argued the people in their simplicity, that so wise and virtuous a man as the cardinal should not know what was best. the procession marched to the church of our lady of loretto, where they solemnly promised to the blessed virgin a lamp and ship of gold--should she be willing to use her influence in behalf of the suffering city--to be placed on her shrine as soon as the siege should be raised. but these demonstrations, however cheering to the souls, had comparatively little effect upon the bodies of the sufferers. it was impossible to walk through the streets of paris without stumbling over the dead bodies of the citizens. trustworthy eye-witnesses of those dreadful days have placed the number of the dead during the summer at thirty thousand. a tumultuous assemblage of the starving and the forlorn rushed at last to the municipal palace, demanding peace or bread. the rebels were soon dispersed however by a charge, headed by the chevalier d'aumale, and assisted by the chiefs of the wards, and so soon as the riot was quelled, its ringleader, a leading advocate, renaud by name, was hanged. still, but for the energy of the priests, it is doubtful whether the city could have been held by the confederacy. the duke of nemours confessed that there were occasions when they never would have been able to sustain a determined onslaught, and they were daily expecting to see the prince of bearne battering triumphantly at their gates. but the eloquence of the preachers, especially of the one-eyed father boucher, sustained the fainting spirits of the people, and consoled the sufferers in their dying agonies by glimpses of paradise. sublime was that devotion, superhuman that craft; but it is only by weapons from the armoury of the unseen that human creatures can long confront such horrors in a wicked cause. superstition, in those days at least, was a political force absolutely without limitation, and most adroitly did the agents of spain and rome handle its tremendous enginery against unhappy france. for the hideous details of the most dreadful sieges recorded in ancient or modern times were now reproduced in paris. not a revolutionary circumstance, at which the world had shuddered in the accounts of the siege of jerusalem, was spared. men devoured such dead vermin as could be found lying in the streets. they crowded greedily around stalls in the public squares where the skin, bones, and offal of such dogs, cats and unclean beasts as still remained for the consumption of the wealthier classes were sold to the populace. over the doorways of these flesh markets might be read "haec runt munera pro iis qui vitam pro philippo profuderunt." men stood in archways and narrow passages lying in wait for whatever stray dogs still remained at large, noosed them, strangled them, and like savage beasts of prey tore them to pieces and devoured them alive. and it sometimes happened, too, that the equally hungry dog proved the more successful in the foul encounter, and fed upon the man. a lady visiting the duchess of nemours--called for the high pretensions of her sons by her two marriages the queen-mother--complained bitterly that mothers in paris had been compelled to kill their own children outright to save them from starving to death in lingering agony. "and if you are brought to that extremity," replied the duchess, "as for the sake of our holy religion to be forced to kill your own children, do you think that so great a matter after all? what are your children made of more than other people's children? what are we all but dirt and dust?" such was the consolation administered by the mother of the man who governed paris, and defended its gates against its lawful sovereign at the command of a foreigner; while the priests in their turn persuaded the populace that it was far more righteous to kill their own children, if they had no food to give them, than to obtain food by recognising a heretic king. it was related too, and believed, that in some instances mothers had salted the bodies of their dead children and fed upon them, day by day, until the hideous repast would no longer support their own life. they died, and the secret was revealed by servants who had partaken of the food. the spanish ambassador, mendoza, advised recourse to an article of diet which had been used in some of the oriental sieges. the counsel at first was rejected as coming from the agent of spain, who wished at all hazards to save the capital of france from falling out of the hands of his master into those of the heretic. but dire necessity prevailed, and the bones of the dead were taken in considerable quantities from the cemeteries, ground into flour, baked into bread, and consumed. it was called madame montpensier's cake, because the duchess earnestly proclaimed its merits to the poor parisians. "she was never known to taste it herself, however," bitterly observed one who lived in paris through that horrible summer. she was right to abstain, for all who ate of it died, and the montpensier flour fell into disuse. lansquenets and other soldiers, mad with hunger and rage, when they could no longer find dogs to feed on, chased children through the streets, and were known in several instances to kill and devour them on the spot. to those expressing horror at the perpetration of such a crime, a leading personage, member of the council of nine, maintained that there was less danger to one's soul in satisfying one's hunger with a dead child, in case of necessity, than in recognizing the heretic bearnese, and he added that all the best theologians and doctors of paris were of his opinion. as the summer wore on to its close, through all these horrors, and as there were still no signs of mayenne and parma leading their armies to the relief of the city, it became necessary to deceive the people by a show of negotiation with the beleaguering army. accordingly, the spanish ambassador, the legate, and the other chiefs of the holy league appointed a deputation, consisting of the cardinal gondy, the archbishop of lyons, and the abbe d'elbene, to henry. it soon became evident to the king, however, that these commissioners were but trifling with him in order to amuse the populace. his attitude was dignified and determined throughout the interview. the place appointed was st. anthony's abbey, before the gates of paris. henry wore a cloak and the order of the holy ghost, and was surrounded by his council, the princes of the blood, and by more than four hundred of the chief gentlemen of his army. after passing the barricade, the deputies were received by old marshal biron, and conducted by him to the king's chamber of state. when they had made their salutations, the king led the way to an inner cabinet, but his progress was much impeded by the crowding of the nobles about him. wishing to excuse this apparent rudeness, he said to the envoys: "gentlemen, these men thrust me on as fast to the battle against the foreigner as they now do to my cabinet. therefore bear with them." then turning to the crowd, he said: "room, gentlemen, for the love of me," upon which they all retired. the deputies then stated that they had been sent by the authorities of paris to consult as to the means of obtaining a general peace in france. they expressed the hope that the king's disposition was favourable to this end, and that he would likewise permit them to confer with the duke of mayenne. this manner of addressing him excited his choler. he told cardinal gondy, who was spokesman of the deputation, that he had long since answered such propositions. he alone could deal with his subjects. he was like the woman before solomon; he would have all the child or none of it. rather than dismember his kingdom he would lose the whole. he asked them what they considered him to be. they answered that they knew his rights, but that the parisians had different opinions. if paris would only acknowledge him to be king there could be no more question of war. he asked them if they desired the king of spain or the duke of mayenne for their king, and bade them look well to themselves. the king of spain could not help them, for he had too much business on hand; while mayenne had neither means nor courage, having been within three leagues of them for three weeks doing nothing. neither king nor duke should have that which belonged to him, of that they might be assured. he told them he loved paris as his capital, as his eldest daughter. if the parisians wished to see the end of their miseries it was to him they should appeal, not to the spaniard nor to the duke of mayenne. by the grace of god and the swords of his brave gentlemen he would prevent the king of spain from making a colony of france as he had done of brazil. he told the commissioners that they ought to die of shame that they, born frenchmen, should have so forgotten their love of country and of liberty as thus to bow the head to the spaniard, and--while famine was carrying off thousands of their countrymen before their eyes--to be so cowardly as not to utter one word for the public welfare from fear of offending cardinal. gaetano, mendoza, and moreo. he said that he longed for a combat to decide the issue, and that he had charged count de brissac to tell mayenne that he would give a finger of his right hand for a battle, and two for a general peace. he knew and pitied the sufferings of paris, but the horrors now raging there were to please the king of spain. that monarch had told the duke of parma to trouble himself but little about the netherlands so long as he could preserve for him his city of paris. but it was to lean on a broken reed to expect support from this old, decrepit king, whose object was to dismember the flourishing kingdom of france, and to divide it among as many tyrants as he had sent viceroys to the indies. the crown was his own birthright. were it elective he should receive the suffrages of the great mass of the electors. he hoped soon to drive those red-crossed foreigners out of his kingdom. should he fail, they would end by expelling the duke of mayenne and all the rest who had called them in, and paris would become the theatre of the bloodiest tragedy ever yet enacted. the king then ordered sir roger williams to see that a collation was prepared for the deputies, and the veteran welshman took occasion to indulge in much blunt conversation with the guests. he informed them that he, mr. sackville, and many other strangers were serving the king from the hatred they bore the spaniards and mother league, and that his royal mistress had always englishmen ready to maintain the cause. while the conferences were going on, the officers and soldiers of the besieging army thronged to the gate, and had much talk with the townsmen. among others, time-honoured la none with the iron arm stood near the gate and harangued the parisians. "we are here," said he, "five thousand gentlemen; we desire your good, not your ruin. we will make you rich: let us participate in your labour and industry. undo not yourselves to serve the ambition of a few men." the townspeople hearing the old warrior discoursing thus earnestly, asked who he was. when informed that it was la noue they cheered him vociferously, and applauded his speech with the greatest vehemence. yet la noue was the foremost huguenot that the sun shone upon, and the parisians were starving themselves to death out of hatred to heresy. after the collation the commissioners were permitted to go from the camp in order to consult mayenne. such then was the condition of paris during that memorable summer of tortures. what now were its hopes of deliverance out of this gehenna? the trust of frenchmen was in philip of spain, whose legions, under command of the great italian chieftain, were daily longed for to save them from rendering obedience to their lawful prince. for even the king of straw--the imprisoned cardinal--was now dead, and there was not even the effigy of any other sovereign than henry of bourbon to claim authority in france. mayenne, in the course of long interviews with the duke of parma at conde and brussels, had expressed his desire to see philip king of france, and had promised his best efforts to bring about such a result. in that case he stipulated for the second place in the kingdom for himself, together with a good rich province in perpetual sovereignty, and a large sum of money in hand. should this course not run smoothly, he would be willing to take the crown himself, in which event he would cheerfully cede to philip the sovereignty of brittany and burgundy, besides a selection of cities to be arranged for at a later day. although he spoke of himself with modesty, said alexander, it was very plain that he meant to arrive at the crown himself: well had the bearnese alluded to the judgment of solomon. were not children, thus ready to dismember their mother, as foul and unnatural as the mother who would divide her child? and what was this dependence on a foreign tyrant really worth? as we look back upon those dark days with the light of what was then the almost immediate future turned full and glaring upon them, we find it difficult to exaggerate the folly of the chief actors in those scenes of crime. did not the penniless adventurer, whose keen eyesight and wise recklessness were passing for hallucination and foolhardiness in the eyes of his contemporaries, understand the game he was playing better than did that profound thinker, that mysterious but infallible politician, who sat in the escorial and made the world tremble at every hint of his lips, every stroke of his pen? the netherlands--that most advanced portion of philip's domain, without the possession of which his conquest of england and his incorporation of france were but childish visions, even if they were not monstrous chimeras at best--were to be in a manner left to themselves, while their consummate governor and general was to go forth and conquer france at the head of a force with which he had been in vain attempting to hold those provinces to their obedience. at that very moment the rising young chieftain of the netherlands was most successfully inaugurating his career of military success. his armies well drilled, well disciplined, well paid, full of heart and of hope, were threatening their ancient enemy in every quarter, while the veteran legions of spain and italy, heroes of a hundred flemish and frisian battle-fields, were disorganised, starving, and mutinous. the famous ancient legion, the terzo viejo, had been disbanded for its obstinate and confirmed unruliness. the legion of manrique, sixteen hundred strong, was in open mutiny at courtray. farnese had sent the prince of ascoli to negotiate with them, but his attempts were all in vain. two years' arrearages--to be paid, not in cloth at four times what the contractors had paid for it, but in solid gold--were their not unreasonable demands after years of as hard fighting and severe suffering as the world has often seen. but philip, instead of ducats or cloth, had only sent orders to go forth and conquer a new kingdom for him. verdugo, too, from friesland was howling for money, garrotting and hanging his mutinous veterans every day, and sending complaints and most dismal forebodings as often as a courier could make his way through the enemy's lines to farnese's headquarters. and farnese, on his part, was garrotting and hanging the veterans. alexander did not of course inform his master that he was a mischievous lunatic, who upon any healthy principle of human government ought long ago to have been shut up from all communion with his species. it was very plain, however, from his letters, that such was his innermost, thought, had it been safe, loyal, or courteous to express it in plain language. he was himself stung almost to madness moreover by the presence of commander moreo, who hated him, who was perpetually coming over from france to visit him, who was a spy upon all his actions, and who was regularly distilling his calumnies into the ears of secretary idiaquez and of philip himself. the king was informed that farnese was working for his own ends, and was disgusted with his sovereign; that there never had been a petty prince of italy that did not wish to become a greater one, or that was not jealous of philip's power, and that there was not a villain in all christendom but wished for philip's death. moreo followed the prince about to antwerp, to brussels, to spa, whither he had gone to drink the waters for his failing health, pestered him, lectured him, pried upon him, counselled him, enraged him. alexander told him at last that he cared not if the whole world came to an end so long as flanders remained, which alone had been entrusted to him, and that if he was expected to conquer france it would be as well to give him the means of performing that exploit. so moreo told the king that alexander was wasting time and wasting money, that he was the cause of egmont's overthrow, and that he would be the cause of the loss of paris and of the downfall of the whole french scheme; for that he was determined to do nothing to assist mayenne, or that did not conduce to his private advantage. yet farnese had been not long before informed in sufficiently plain language, and by personages of great influence, that in case he wished to convert his vice-royalty of the netherlands into a permanent sovereignty, he might rely on the assistance of henry of navarre, and perhaps of queen elizabeth. the scheme would not have been impracticable, but the duke never listened to it for a moment. if he were slow in advancing to the relief of starving, agonising paris, there were sufficient reasons for his delay. most decidedly and bitterly, but loyally, did he denounce the madness of his master's course in all his communications to that master's private ear. he told him that the situation in which he found himself was horrible. he had no money for his troops, he had not even garrison bread to put in their mouths. he had not a single stiver to advance them on account. from friesland, from the rhine country, from every quarter, cries of distress were rising to heaven, and the lamentations were just. he was in absolute penury. he could not negotiate a bill on the royal account, but had borrowed on his own private security a few thousand crowns which he had given to his soldiers. he was pledging his jewels and furniture like a bankrupt, but all was now in vain to stop the mutiny at courtray. if that went on it would be of most pernicious example, for the whole army was disorganised, malcontent, and of portentous aspect. "these things," said he, "ought not to surprise people of common understanding, for without money, without credit, without provisions, and in an exhausted country, it is impossible to satisfy the claims, or even to support the life of the army." when he sent the flemish cavalry to mayenne in march, it was under the impression that with it that prince would have maintained his reputation and checked the progress of the bearnese until greater reinforcements could be forwarded. he was now glad that no larger number had been sent, for all would have been sacrificed on the fatal field of ivry. the country around him was desperate, believed itself abandoned, and was expecting fresh horrors everyday. he had been obliged to remove portions of the garrisons at deventer and zutphen purely to save them from starving and desperation. every day he was informed by his garrisons that they could feed no longer on fine words or hopes, for in them they found no sustenance. but philip told him that he must proceed forthwith to france, where he was to raise the siege of paris, and occupy calais and boulogne in order to prevent the english from sending succour to the bearnese, and in order to facilitate his own designs on england. every effort was to be made before the bearnese climbed into the seat. the duke of parma was to talk no more of difficulties, but to conquer them; a noble phrase on the battle field, but comparatively easy of utterance at the writing-desk! at last, philip having made some remittances, miserably inadequate for the necessities of the case, but sufficient to repress in part the mutinous demonstrations throughout the army, farnese addressed himself with a heavy heart to the work required of him. he confessed the deepest apprehensions of the result both in the netherlands and in france. he intimated a profound distrust of the french, who had, ever been philip's enemies, and dwelt on the danger of leaving the provinces, unable to protect themselves, badly garrisoned, and starving. "it grieves me to the soul, it cuts me to the heart," he said, "to see that your majesty commands things which are impossible, for it is our lord alone that can work miracles. your majesty supposes that with the little money you have sent me, i can satisfy all the soldiers serving in these provinces, settle with the spanish and the german mutineers--because, if they are to be used in the expedition, they must at least be quieted--give money to mayenne and the parisians, pay retaining wages (wartgeld) to the german riders for the protection of these provinces, and make sure of the maritime places where the same mutinous language is held as at courtray. the poverty, the discontent, and the desperation of this unhappy country," he added, "have, been so often described to your majesty that i have nothing to add. i am hanging and garrotting my veterans everywhere, only because they have rebelled for want of pay without committing any excess. yet under these circumstances i am to march into france with twenty thousand troops--the least number to effect anything withal. i am confused and perplexed because the whole world is exclaiming against me, and protesting that through my desertion the country entrusted to my care will come to utter perdition. on the other hand, the french cry out upon me that i am the cause that paris is going to destruction, and with it the catholic cause in france. every one is pursuing his private ends. it is impossible to collect a force strong enough for the necessary work. paris has reached its extreme unction, and neither mayenne nor any one of the confederates has given this invalid the slightest morsel to support her till your majesty's forces should arrive." he reminded his sovereign that the country around paris was eaten bare of food and forage, and yet that it was quite out of the question for him to undertake the transportation of supplies for his army all the way--supplies from the starving netherlands to starving france. since the king was so peremptory, he had nothing for it but to obey, but he vehemently disclaimed all responsibility for the expedition, and, in case of his death, he called on his majesty to vindicate his honour, which his enemies were sure to assail. the messages from mayenne becoming daily more pressing, farnese hastened as much as possible those preparations which at best were so woefully inadequate, and avowed his determination not to fight the bearnese if it were possible to avoid an action. he feared, however, that with totally insufficient forces he should be obliged to accept the chances of an engagement. with twelve thousand foot and three thousand horse farnese left the netherlands in the beginning of august, and arrived on the rd of that month at valenciennes. his little army, notwithstanding his bitter complaints, was of imposing appearance. the archers and halberdiers of his bodyguard were magnificent in taffety and feathers and surcoats of cramoisy velvet. four hundred nobles served in the cavalry. arenberg and barlaymont and chimay, and other grandees of the netherlands, in company with ascoli and the sons of terranova and pastrana, and many more great lords of italy and spain were in immediate attendance on the illustrious captain. the son of philip's secretary of state, idiaquez, and the nephew of the cardinal-legate, gaetano, were among the marshals of the camp. alexander's own natural authority and consummate powers of organisation had for the time triumphed over the disintegrating tendencies which, it had been seen, were everywhere so rapidly destroying the foremost military establishment of the world. nearly half his forces, both cavalry and infantry, were netherlanders; for--as if there were not graves enough in their own little territory--those flemings, walloons, and hollanders were destined to leave their bones on both sides of every well-stricken field of that age between liberty and despotism. and thus thousands of them had now gone forth under the banner of spain to assist their own tyrant in carrying out his designs upon the capital of france, and to struggle to the death with thousands of their own countrymen who were following the fortunes of the bearnese. truly in that age it was religion that drew the boundary line between nations. the army was divided into three portions. the vanguard was under the charge of the netherland general, marquis of renty. the battalia was commanded by farnese in person, and the rearguard was entrusted to that veteran netherlander, la motte, now called the count of everbeck. twenty pieces of artillery followed the last division. at valenciennes farnese remained eight days, and from this place count charles mansfeld took his departure in a great rage--resigning his post as chief of artillery because la motte had received the appointment of general-marshal of the camp--and returned to his father, old peter ernest mansfeld, who was lieutenant-governor of the netherlands in parma's absence. leaving valenciennes on the th, the army proceeded by way of quesney, guise, soissons, fritemilon to meaux. at this place, which is ten leagues from paris, farnese made his junction, on the nd of august, with mayenne, who was at the head of six thousand infantry--one half of them germans under cobalto, and the other half french--and of two thousand horse. on arriving at meaux, alexander proceeded straightway to the cathedral, and there, in presence of all, he solemnly swore that he had not come to france in order to conquer that kingdom or any portion of it, in the interests of his master, but only to render succour to the catholic cause and to free the friends and confederates of his majesty from violence and heretic oppression. time was to show the value of that oath. here the deputation from paris--the archbishop of lyons and his colleagues, whose interview with henry has just been narrated--were received by the two dukes. they departed, taking with them promises of immediate relief for the starving city. the allies remained five days at meaux, and leaving that place on the th, arrived in the neighbourhood of chelles, on the last day but one of the summer. they had a united force of five thousand cavalry and eighteen thousand foot. the summer of horrors was over, and thus with the first days of autumn there had come a ray of hope for the proud city which was lying at its last gasp. when the allies, came in sight of the monastery of chellea they found themselves in the immediate neighbourhood of the bearnese. the two great captains of the age had at last met face to face. they were not only the two first commanders of their time, but there was not a man in europe at that day to be at all compared with either of them. the youth, concerning whose earliest campaign an account will be given in the following chapter, had hardly yet struck his first blow. whether that blow was to reveal the novice or the master was soon to be seen. meantime in it would have been considered a foolish adulation to mention the name of maurice of nassau in the same breath with that of navarre or of farnese. the scientific duel which was now to take place was likely to task the genius and to bring into full display the peculiar powers and defects of the two chieftains of europe. each might be considered to be still in the prime of life, but alexander, who was turned of forty-five, was already broken in health, while the vigorous henry was eight years younger, and of an iron constitution. both had passed then lives in the field, but the king, from nature, education, and the force of circumstances, preferred pitched battles to scientific combinations, while the duke, having studied and practised his art in the great spanish and italian schools of warfare, was rather a profound strategist than a professional fighter, although capable of great promptness and intense personal energy when his judgment dictated a battle. both were born with that invaluable gift which no human being can acquire, authority, and both were adored and willingly obeyed by their soldiers, so long as those soldiers were paid and fed. the prize now to be contended for was a high one. alexander's complete success would tear from henry's grasp the first city of christendom, now sinking exhausted into his hands, and would place france in the power of the holy league and at the feet of philip. another ivry would shatter the confederacy, and carry the king in triumph to his capital and his ancestral throne. on the approach of the combined armies under parma and mayenne, the king had found himself most reluctantly compelled to suspend the siege of paris. his army, which consisted of sixteen thousand foot and five thousand horse, was not sufficiently numerous to confront at the same time the relieving force and to continue the operations before the city. so long, however, as he held the towns and bridges on the great rivers, and especially those keys to the seine and marne, corbeil and lagny, he still controlled the life-blood of the capital, which indeed had almost ceased to flow. on the st august he advanced towards the enemy. sir edward stafford, queen elizabeth's ambassador, arrived at st. denis in the night of the th august. at a very early hour next morning he heard a shout under his window, and looking down beheld king henry at the head of his troops, cheerfully calling out to his english friend as he passed his door. "welcoming us after his familiar manner," said stafford, "he desired us, in respect of the battle every hour expected, to come as his friends to see and help him, and not to treat of anything which afore, we meant, seeing the present state to require it, and the enemy so near that we might well have been interrupted in half-an-hour's talk, and necessity constrained the king to be in every corner, where for the most part we follow him." that day henry took up his headquarters at the monastery of chelles, a fortified place within six leagues of paris, on the right bank of the marne. his army was drawn up in a wide valley somewhat encumbered with wood and water, extending through a series of beautiful pastures towards two hills of moderate elevation. lagny, on the left bank of the river, was within less than a league of him on his right hand. on the other side of the hills, hardly out of cannon-shot, was the camp of the allies. henry, whose natural disposition in this respect needed no prompting, was most eager for a decisive engagement. the circumstances imperatively required it of him. his infantry consisted of frenchmen, netherlanders, english, germans, scotch; but of his cavalry four thousand were french nobles, serving at their own expense, who came to a battle as to a banquet, but who were capable of riding off almost as rapidly, should the feast be denied them. they were volunteers, bringing with them rations for but a few days, and it could hardly be expected that they would remain as patiently as did parma's veterans, who, now that their mutiny had been appeased by payment of a portion of their arrearages, had become docile again. all the great chieftains who surrounded henry, whether catholic or protestant--montpensier, nevers, soissons, conti, the birons, lavradin, d'aumont, tremouille, turenne, chatillon, la noue--were urgent for the conflict, concerning the expediency of which there could indeed be no doubt, while the king was in raptures at the opportunity of dealing a decisive blow at the confederacy of foreigners and rebels who had so long defied his authority and deprived him of his rights. stafford came up with the king, according to his cordial invitation, on the same day, and saw the army all drawn up in battle array. while henry was "eating a morsel in an old house," turenne joined him with six or seven hundred horsemen and between four and five thousand infantry. "they were the likeliest footmen," said stafford, "the best countenanced, the best furnished that ever i saw in my life; the best part of them old soldiers that had served under the king for the religion all this while." the envoy was especially enthusiastic, however, in regard to the french cavalry. "there are near six thousand horse," said he, "whereof gentlemen above four thousand, about twelve hundred other french, and eight hundred reiters. i never saw, nor i think never any man saw, in prance such a company of gentlemen together so well horsed and so well armed." henry sent a herald to the camp of the allies, formally challenging them to a general engagement, and expressing a hope that all differences might now be settled by the ordeal of battle, rather than that the sufferings of the innocent people should be longer protracted. farnese, on arriving at meaux, had resolved to seek the enemy and take the hazards of a stricken field. he had misgivings as to the possible result, but he expressly announced this intention in his letters to philip, and mayenne confirmed him in his determination. nevertheless, finding the enemy so eager and having reflected more maturely, he saw no reason for accepting the chivalrous cartel. as commanderin-chief--for mayenne willingly conceded the supremacy which it would have been absurd in him to dispute--he accordingly replied that it was his custom to refuse a combat when a refusal seemed advantageous to himself, and to offer battle whenever it suited his purposes to fight. when that moment should arrive the king would find him in the field. and, having sent this courteous, but unsatisfactory answer to the impatient bearnese, he gave orders to fortify his camp, which was already sufficiently strong. seven days long the two armies lay face to face--henry and his chivalry chafing in vain for the longed-for engagement--and nothing occurred between those forty or fifty thousand mortal enemies, encamped within a mile or two of each other, save trifling skirmishes leading to no result. at last farnese gave orders for an advance. renty, commander of the vanguard, consisting of nearly all the cavalry, was instructed to move slowly forward over the two hills, and descending on the opposite side, to deploy his forces in two great wings to the right and left. he was secretly directed in this movement to magnify as much as possible the apparent dimensions of his force. slowly the columns moved over the hills. squadron after squadron, nearly all of them lancers, with their pennons flaunting gaily in the summer wind, displayed themselves deliberately and ostentatiously in the face of the royalists. the splendid light-horse of basti, the ponderous troopers of the flemish bands of ordnance under chimay and berlaymont, and the famous albanian and italian cavalry, were mingled with the veteran leaguers of france who had fought under the balafre, and who now followed the fortunes of his brother mayenne. it was an imposing demonstration. henry could hardly believe his eyes as the much-coveted opportunity, of which he had been so many days disappointed, at last presented itself, and he waited with more than his usual caution until the plan of attack should be developed by his great antagonist. parma, on his side, pressed the hand of mayenne as he watched the movement, saying quietly, "we have already fought our battle and gained the victory." he then issued orders for the whole battalia--which, since the junction, had been under command of mayenne, farnese reserving for himself the superintendence of the entire army--to countermarch rapidly towards the marne and take up a position opposite lagny. la motte, with the rearguard, was directed immediately to follow. the battalia had thus become the van, the rearguard the battalia, while the whole cavalry corps by this movement had been transformed from the vanguard into the rear. renty was instructed to protect his manoeuvres, to restrain the skirmishing as much as possible, and to keep the commander-in-chief constantly informed of every occurrence. in the night he was to entrench and fortify himself rapidly and thoroughly, without changing his position. under cover of this feigned attack, farnese arrived at the river side on the th september, seized an open village directly opposite lagny, which was connected with it by a stone bridge, and planted a battery of nine pieces of heavy artillery directly opposite the town. lagny was fortified in the old-fashioned manner, with not very thick walls, and without a terreplain. its position, however, and its command of the bridge, seemed to render an assault impossible, and de la fin, who lay there with a garrison of twelve hundred french, had no fear for the security of the place. but farnese, with the precision and celerity which characterized his movements on special occasions, had thrown pontoon bridges across the river three miles above, and sent a considerable force of spanish and walloon infantry to the other side. these troops were ordered to hold themselves ready for an assault, so soon as the batteries opposite should effect a practicable breach. the next day henry, reconnoitering the scene, saw, with intense indignation, that he had been completely out-generalled. lagny, the key to the marne, by holding which he had closed the door on nearly all the food supplies for paris, was about to be wrested from him. what should he do? should he throw himself across the river and rescue the place before it fell? this was not to be thought of even by the audacious bearnese. in the attempt to cross the river, under the enemy's fire, he was likely to lose a large portion of his army. should he fling himself upon renty's division which had so ostentatiously offered battle the day before? this at least might be attempted, although not so advantageously as would have been the case on the previous afternoon. to undertake this was the result of a rapid council of generals. it was too late. renty held the hills so firmly entrenched and fortified that it was an idle hope to carry them by assault. he might hurl column after column against those heights, and pass the day in seeing his men mowed to the earth without result. his soldiers, magnificent in the open field, could not be relied upon to carry so strong a position by sudden storm; and there was no time to be lost. he felt the enemy a little. there was some small skirmishing, and while it was going on, farnese opened a tremendous fire across the river upon lagny. the weak walls soon crumbled; a breach was effected, the signal for assault was given, and the troops posted on the other side, after a brief but sanguinary straggle, overcame all, resistance, and were masters of the town. the whole garrison, twelve hundred strong, was butchered, and the city thoroughly sacked; for farnese had been brought up in the old-fashioned school of alva; and julian romero and com-. wander requesens. thus lagny was seized before the eyes of henry, who was forced to look helplessly on his great antagonist's triumph. he had come forth in full panoply and abounding confidence to offer battle. he was foiled of his combat; and he had lost the prize. never was blow more successfully parried, a counter-stroke more ingeniously planted. the bridges of charenton and st. maur now fell into farnese's hands without a contest. in an incredibly short space of time provisions and munitions were poured into the starving city; two thousand boat-loads arriving in a single day. paris was relieved. alexander had made his demonstration, and solved the problem. he had left the netherlands against his judgment, but he had at least accomplished his french work as none but he could have done it. the king was now in worse plight than ever. his army fell to pieces. his cavaliers, cheated of their battle; and having neither food nor forage, rode off by hundreds every day. "our state is such," said stafford; on the th september, "and so far unexpected and wonderful, that i am almost ashamed to write, because methinks everybody should think i dream. myself seeing of it methinketh that i dream. for, my lord, to see an army such a one i think as i shall never see again--especially for horsemen and gentlemen to take a mind to disband upon the taking of such a paltry thing as lagny, a town no better indeed than rochester, it is a thing so strange to me that seeing of it i can scarce believe it. they make their excuses of their want, which i know indeed is great--for there were few left with one penny in their purses--but yet that extremity could not be such but that they might have tarried ten days or fifteen at the most that the king desired of them. . . . from six thousand horse that we were and above, we are come to two thousand and i do not see an end of our leave-takers, for those be hourly. "the most i can see we can make account of to tarry are the viscount turenne's troops, and monsieur de chatillon's, and our switzers, and lanaquenettes, which make very near five thousand. the first that went away, though he sent word to the king an hour before he would tarry, was the count soissons, by whose parting on a sudden and without leave-taking we judge a discontentment." the king's army seemed fading into air. making virtue of necessity he withdrew to st. denis, and decided to disband his forces, reserving to himself only a flying camp with which to harass the enemy as often as opportunity should offer. it must be confessed that the bearnese had been thoroughly out-generalled. "it was not god's will," said stafford, who had been in constant attendance upon henry through the whole business; "we deserved it not; for the king might as easily have had paris as drunk, four or five times. and at the last, if he had not committed those faults that children would not have done, only with the desire to fight and give the battle (which the other never meant), he had had it in the duke of parma's eight as he took lagny in ours." he had been foiled of the battle on which he had set his heart, and, in which he felt confident of overthrowing the great captain of the age, and trampling the league under his feet. his capital just ready to sink exhausted into his hands had been wrested from his grasp, and was alive with new hope and new defiance. the league was triumphant, his own army scattering to the four winds. even a man of high courage and sagacity might have been in despair. yet never were the magnificent hopefulness, the wise audacity of henry more signally manifested than now when he seemed most blundering and most forlorn. his hardy nature ever met disaster with so cheerful a smile as almost to perplex disaster herself. unwilling to relinquish his grip without a last effort, he resolved on a midnight assault upon paris. hoping that the joy at being relieved, the unwonted feasting which had succeeded the long fasting, and the conciousness of security from the presence of the combined armies of the victorious league, would throw garrison and citizens off their guard, he came into the neighbourhood of the faubourgs st. jacques, st. germain, st. marcel, and st. michel on the night of th september. a desperate effort was made to escalade the walls between st. jacques and st. germain. it was foiled, not by the soldiers nor the citizens, but by the sleepless jesuits, who, as often before during this memorable siege, had kept guard on the ramparts, and who now gave the alarm. the first assailants were hurled from their ladders, the city was roused, and the duke of nemours was soon on the spot, ordering burning pitch hoops, atones, and other missiles to be thrown down upon the invaders. the escalade was baffled; yet once more that night, just before dawn, the king in person renewed the attack on the faubourg st. germain. the faithful stafford stood by his side in the trenches, and was witness to his cool determination, his indomitable hope. la none too was there, and was wounded in the leg--an accident the results of which were soon to cause much weeping through christendom. had one of those garlands of blazing tar which all night had been fluttering from the walls of paris alighted by chance on the king's head there might have been another history of france. the ladders, too, proved several feet too short, and there were too few, of them. had they been more numerous and longer, the tale might have been a different one. as it was, the king was forced to retire with the approaching daylight. the characteristics of the great commander of the huguenots and of the leaguers' chieftain respectively were well illustrated in several incidents of this memorable campaign. farnese had been informed by scouts and spies of this intended assault by henry on the walls of paris. with his habitual caution he discredited the story. had he believed it, he might have followed the king in overwhelming force and taken him captive. the penalty of henry's unparalleled boldness was thus remitted by alexander's exuberant discretion. soon afterwards farnese laid siege to corbeil. this little place--owing to the extraordinary skill and determination of its commandant, rigaut, an old huguenot officer, who had fought with la noue in flanders--resisted for nearly four weeks. it was assaulted at last, rigaut killed, the garrison of one thousand french soldiers put to the sword, and the town sacked. with the fall of corbeil both the seine and marne were re-opened. alexander then made a visit to paris, where he was received with great enthusiasm. the legate, whose efforts and whose money had so much contributed to the successful defence of the capital had returned to italy to participate in the election of a new pope. for the "huguenot pope," sixtus v., had died at the end of august, having never bestowed on the league any of his vast accumulated treasures to help it in its utmost need. it was not surprising that philip was indignant, and had resorted to menace of various kinds against the holy father, when he found him swaying so perceptibly in the direction of the hated bearnese. of course when he died his complaint was believed to be spanish poison. in those days, none but the very obscure were thought capable of dying natural deaths, and philip was esteemed too consummate an artist to allow so formidable an adversary as sixtus to pass away in god's time only. certainly his death was hailed as matter of great rejoicing by the spanish party in rome, and as much ignominy bestowed upon his memory as if he had been a heretic; while in paris his decease was celebrated with bonfires and other marks of popular hilarity. to circumvent the great huguenot's reconciliation with the roman church was of course an indispensable portion of philip's plan; for none could be so dull as not to perceive that the resistance of paris to its heretic sovereign would cease to be very effective, so soon as the sovereign had ceased to be heretic. it was most important therefore that the successor of sixtus should be the tool of spain. the leading confederates were well aware of henry's intentions to renounce the reformed faith, and to return to the communion of rome whenever he could formally accomplish that measure. the crafty bearnese knew full well that the road to paris lay through the gates of rome. yet it is proof either of the privacy with which great public matters were then transacted, or of the extraordinary powers of deceit with which henry was gifted, that the leaders of protestantism were still hoodwinked in regard to his attitude. notwithstanding the embassy of luxembourg, and the many other indications of the king's intentions, queen elizabeth continued to regard him as the great champion of the reformed faith. she had just sent him an emerald, which she had herself worn, accompanied by the expression of her wish that the king in wearing it might never strike a blow without demolishing an enemy, and that in his farther progress he might put all his enemies to rout and confusion. "you will remind the king, too," she added, "that the emerald has this virtue, never to break so long as faith remains entire and firm." and the shrewd stafford, who was in daily attendance upon him, informed his sovereign that there were no symptoms of wavering on henry's part. "the catholics here," said he, "cry hard upon the king to be a catholic or else that he is lost, and they would persuade him that for all their calling in the spaniards, both paris and all other towns will yield to him, if he will but assure them that he will become a catholic. for my part, i think they would laugh at him when he had done so, and so i find he believeth the same, if he had mind to it, which i find no disposition in him unto it." the not very distant future was to show what the disposition of the bold gascon really was in this great matter, and whether he was likely to reap nothing but ridicule from his apostasy, should it indeed become a fact. meantime it was the opinion of the wisest sovereign in europe, and of one of the most adroit among her diplomatists, that there was really nothing in the rumours as to the king's contemplated conversion. it was, of course, unfortunate for henry that his staunch friend and admirer sixtus was no more. but english diplomacy could do but little in rome, and men were trembling with apprehension lest that arch-enemy of elizabeth, that devoted friend of philip, the english cardinal allen, should be elected to the papal throne. "great ado is made in rome," said stafford, "by the spanish ambassador, by all corruptions and ways that may be, to make a pope that must needs depend and be altogether at the king of spain's devotion. if the princes of italy put not their hands unto it, no doubt they will have their wills, and i fear greatly our villainous allen, for, in my judgment, i can comprehend no man more with reason to be tied altogether to the king of spain's will than he. i pray god send him either to god or the devil first. an evil-minded englishman, tied to the king of spain by necessity, finding almost four millions of money, is a dangerous beast for a pope in this time." cardinal allen was doomed to disappointment. his candidacy was not successful, and, after the brief reign--thirteen days long--of urban vii, sfondrato wore the triple tiara with the title of gregory xiv. before the year closed, that pontiff had issued a brief urging the necessity of extirpating heresy in france, and of electing a catholic king, and asserting his determination to send to paris--that bulwark of the catholic faith--not empty words alone but troops, to be paid fifteen thousand crowns of gold each month, so long as the city should need assistance. it was therefore probable that the great leader of the huguenots, now that he had been defeated by farnese, and that his capital was still loyal to the league, would obtain less favour--however conscientiously he might instruct himself--from gregory xiv. than he had begun to find in the eyes of sixtus after the triumph of ivry. parma refreshed his army by a fortnight's repose, and early in november determined on his return to the netherlands. the leaguers were aghast at his decision, and earnestly besought him to remain. but the duke had given them back their capital, and although this had been accomplished without much bloodshed in their army or his own, sickness was now making sad ravages among his troops, and there was small supply of food or forage for such large forces as had now been accumulated, in the neighbourhood of paris. moreover, dissensions were breaking out between the spaniards, italians, and netherlanders of the relieving army with their french allies. the soldiers and peasants hated the foreigners who came there as victors, even although to assist the leaguers in overthrowing the laws, government, and nationality of france. the stragglers and wounded on farnese's march were killed by the country people in considerable numbers, and it was a pure impossibility for him longer to delay his return to the provinces which so much against his will he had deserted. he marched back by way of champagne rather than by that of picardy, in order to deceive the king. scarcely had he arrived in champagne when he heard of the retaking of lagny and corbeil. so soon as his back was turned, the league thus showed its impotence to retain the advantage which his genius had won. corbeil, which had cost him a month of hard work, was recaptured in two days. lagny fell almost as quickly. earnestly did the confederates implore him to return to their rescue, but he declined almost contemptuously to retrace his steps. his march was conducted in the same order and with the same precision which--had marked his advance. henry, with his flying camp, hung upon his track, harassing him now in front, now in rear, now in flank. none of the skirmishes were of much military importance. a single cavalry combat, however, in which old marshal biron was nearly surrounded and was in imminent danger of death or capture, until chivalrously rescued by the king in person at the head of a squadron of lancers, will always possess romantic interest. in a subsequent encounter, near baroges on the yesle, henry had sent biron forward with a few companies of horse to engage some five hundred carabineers of farnese on their march towards the frontier, and had himself followed close upon the track with his usual eagerness to witness or participate in every battle. suddenly alphonse corse, who rode at henry's aide, pointed out to him, not more than a hundred paces off, an officer wearing a felt hat, a great ruff, and a little furred cassock, mounted on a horse without armour or caparisons, galloping up and down and brandishing his sword at the carabineers to compel them to fall back. this was the duke of parma, and thus the two great champions of the huguenots and of the leaguers--the two foremost captains of the age--had met face to face. at that moment la noue, riding up, informed the king that he had seen the whole of the enemy's horse and foot in battle array, and henry, suspecting the retreat of farnese to be a feint for the purpose of luring him on with his small force to an attack, gave orders to retire as soon as possible. at guise, on the frontier, the duke parted with mayenne, leaving with him an auxiliary force of four thousand foot and five hundred horse, which he could ill spare. he then returned to brussels, which city he reached on the th december, filling every hotel and hospital with his sick soldiers, and having left one-third of his numbers behind him. he had manifested his own military skill in the adroit and successful manner in which he had accomplished the relief of paris, while the barrenness of the result from the whole expedition vindicated the political sagacity with which he had remonstrated against his sovereign's infatuation. paris, with the renewed pressure on its two great arteries at lagny and corbeil, soon fell into as great danger as before; the obedient netherlands during the absence of farnese had been sinking rapidly to ruin, while; on the other hand, great progress and still greater preparations in aggressive warfare had been made by the youthful general and stadtholder of the republic. etext editor's bookmarks: alexander's exuberant discretion divine right of kings ever met disaster with so cheerful a smile future world as laid down by rival priesthoods invaluable gift which no human being can acquire, authority king was often to be something much less or much worse magnificent hopefulness myself seeing of it methinketh that i dream nothing cheap, said a citizen bitterly, but sermons obscure were thought capable of dying natural deaths philip ii. gave the world work enough righteous to kill their own children road to paris lay through the gates of rome shift the mantle of religion from one shoulder to the other thirty-three per cent. interest was paid (per month) under the name of religion (so many crimes) history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , - chapter xxiv. prince maurice--state of the republican army--martial science of the period--reformation of the military system by prince maurice--his military genius--campaign in the netherlands--the fort and town of zutphen taken by the states' forces--attack upon deventer--its capitulation--advance on groningen, delfzyl, opslag, yementil, steenwyk, and other places--farnese besieges fort knodsenburg-- prince maurice hastens to its relief--a skirmish ensues resulting in the discomfiture of the spanish and italian troops--surrender of hulat and nymegen--close of military, operations of the year. while the events revealed in the last chapter had been occupying the energies of farnese and the resources of his sovereign, there had been ample room for prince maurice to mature his projects, and to make a satisfactory beginning in the field. although alexander had returned to the netherlands before the end of the year , and did not set forth on his second french campaign until late in the following year, yet the condition of his health, the exhaustion of his funds, and the dwindling of his army, made it impossible for him to render any effectual opposition to the projects of the youthful general. for the first time maurice was ready to put his theories and studies into practice on an extensive scale. compared with modern armaments, the warlike machinery to be used for liberating the republic from its foreign oppressors would seem almost diminutive. but the science and skill of a commander are to be judged by the results he can work out with the materials within reach. his progress is to be measured by a comparison with the progress of his contemporaries--coheirs with him of what time had thus far bequeathed. the regular army of the republic, as reconstructed, was but ten thousand foot and two thousand horse, but it was capable of being largely expanded by the trainbands of the cities, well disciplined and enured to hardship, and by the levies of german reiters and other, foreign auxiliaries in such numbers as could be paid for by the hard-pressed exchequer of the provinces. to the state-council, according to its original constitution, belonged the levying and disbanding of troops, the conferring of military offices, and the supervision of military operations by sea and land. it was its duty to see that all officers made oath of allegiance to the united provinces. the course of leicester's administration, and especially the fatal treason of stanley and of york, made it seem important for the true lovers of their country to wrest from the state-council, where the english had two seats, all political and military power. and this, as has been seen, was practically but illegally accomplished. the silent revolution by which at this epoch all the main attributes of government passed into the hands of the states-general-acting as a league of sovereignties--has already been indicated. the period during which the council exercised functions conferred on it by the states-general themselves was brief and evanescent. the jealousy of the separate provinces soon prevented the state-council--a supreme executive body entrusted with the general defence of the commonwealth--from causing troops to pass into or out of one province or another without a patent from his excellency the prince, not as chief of the whole army, but as governor and captain-general of holland, or gelderland, or utrecht, as the case might be. the highest military office in the netherlands was that of captain-general or supreme commander. this quality was from earliest times united to that of stadholder, who stood, as his title implied, in the place of the reigning sovereign, whether count, duke, king, or emperor. after the foundation of the republic this dynastic form, like many others, remained, and thus prince maurice was at first only captain-general of holland and zeeland, and subsequently of gelderland, utrecht, and overyssel, after he had been appointed stadholder of those three provinces in on the death of count nieuwenaar. however much in reality he was general-in-chief of the army, he never in all his life held the appointment of captain-general of the union. to obtain a captain's commission in the army, it was necessary to have served four years, while three years' service was the necessary preliminary to the post of lieutenant or ensign. three candidates were presented by the province for each office, from whom the stadholder appointed one.--the commissions, except those of the highest commanders, were made out in the name of the states-general, by advice and consent of the council of state. the oath of allegiance, exacted from soldiers as well as officers; mentioned the name of the particular province to which they belonged, as well as that of the states-generals. it thus appears that, especially after maurice's first and successful campaigns; the supreme authority over the army really belonged to the states-general, and that the powers of the state-council in this regard fell, in the course of four years, more and more into the back-ground, and at last disappeared almost entirely. during the active period of the war, however; the effect of this revolution was in fact rather a greater concentration of military power than its dispersion, for the states-general meant simply the province of holland. holland was the republic. the organisation of the infantry was very simple. the tactical unit was the company. a temporary combination of several companies--made a regiment, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant-colonel, but for such regiments there was no regular organisation. sometimes six or seven companies were thus combined, sometimes three times that number, but the strength of a force, however large, was always estimated by the number of companies, not of regiments. the normal strength of an infantry company, at the beginning of maurice's career, may be stated at one hundred and thirteen, commanded by one captain, one lieutenant, one ensign, and by the usual non-commissioned officers. each company was composed of musketeers, harquebusseers, pikemen, halberdeers, and buckler-men. long after, portable firearms had come into use, the greater portion of foot soldiers continued to be armed with pikes, until the introduction of the fixed bayonet enabled the musketeer to do likewise the duty of pikeman. maurice was among the first to appreciate the advantage of portable firearms, and he accordingly increased the proportion of soldiers armed with the musket in his companies. in a company of a hundred and thirteen, including officers, he had sixty-four armed with firelocks to thirty carrying pikes and halberds. as before his time the proportion between the arms had been nearly even; he thus more than doubled the number of firearms. of these weapons there were two sorts, the musket and the harquebus. the musket was a long, heavy, unmanageable instrument. when fired it was-placed upon an iron gaffle or fork, which: the soldier carried with him, and stuck before him into the ground. the bullets of the musket were twelve to the pound. the harquebus--or hak-bus, hook-gun, so called because of the hook in the front part of the barrel to give steadiness in firing--was much lighter, was discharged from the hand; and carried bullets of twenty-four to the pound. both weapons had matchlocks. the pike was eighteen feet long at least, and pikemen as well as halberdsmen carried rapiers. there were three buckler-men to each company, introduced by maurice for the personal protection of the leader of the company. the prince was often attended by one himself, and, on at least one memorable occasion, was indebted to this shield for the preservation of his life. the cavalry was divided into lancers and carabineers. the unit was the squadron, varying in number from sixty to one hundred and fifty, until the year , when the regular complement of the squadron was fixed at one hundred and twenty. as the use of cavalry on the battle-field at that day, or at least in the netherlands, was not in rapidity of motion, nor in severity of shock--the attack usually taking place on a trot--maurice gradually displaced the lance in favour of the carbine. his troopers thus became rather mounted infantry than regular cavalry. the carbine was at least three feet long, with wheel-locks, and carried bullets of thirty to the pound. the artillery was a peculiar organisation. it was a guild of citizens, rather than a strictly military force like the cavalry and infantry. the arm had but just begun to develop itself, and it was cultivated as a special trade by the guild of the holy barbara existing in all the principal cities. thus a municipal artillery gradually organised itself, under the direction of the gun-masters (bus-meesters), who in secret laboured at the perfection of their art, and who taught it to their apprentices and journeymen; as the principles of other crafts were conveyed by master to pupil. this system furnished a powerful element of defence at a period when every city had in great measure to provide for its own safety. in the earlier campaigns of maurice three kinds of artillery were used; the whole cannon (kartow) of forty-eight pounds; the half-cannon, or twenty-four pounder, and the field-piece carrying a ball of twelve pounds. the two first were called battering pieces or siege-guns. all the guns were of bronze. the length of the whole cannon was about twelve feet; its weight one hundred and fifty times that of the ball, or about seven thousand pounds. it was reckoned that the whole kartow could fire from eighty to one hundred shots in an hour. wet hair cloths were used to cool the piece after every, ten or twelve discharges. the usual charge was twenty pounds of powder. the whole gun was drawn by thirty-one horses, the half-cannon by twenty-three. the field-piece required eleven horses, but a regular field-artillery, as an integral part of the army, did not exist, and was introduced in much later times. in the greatest pitched battle ever fought by maurice, that of nieuport, he had but six field-pieces. the prince also employed mortars in his sieges, from which were thrown grenades, hot shot, and stones; but no greater distance was reached than six hundred yards. bomb-shells were not often used although they had been known for a century. before the days of maurice a special education for engineers had never been contemplated. persons who had privately acquired a knowledge of fortification and similar branches of the science were employed, upon occasion, but regular corps of engineers there were none. the prince established a course of instruction in this profession at the university of leyden, according to a system drawn up by the celebrated stevinus. doubtless the most important innovation of the prince, and the one which required the most energy to enforce, was the use of the spade. his soldiers were jeered at by the enemy as mere boors and day labourers who were dishonouring themselves and their profession by the use of that implement instead of the sword. such a novelty was a shock to all the military ideas of the age, and it was only the determination and vigour of the prince and of his cousin lewis william that ultimately triumphed over the universal prejudice. the pay of the common soldier varied from ten to twenty florins the month, but every miner had eighteen florins, and, when actually working in the mines, thirty florins monthly. soldiers used in digging trenches received, over and above their regular pay, a daily wage of from ten to fifteen styvers, or nearly a shilling sterling. another most wholesome improvement made by the prince was in the payment of his troops. the system prevailing in every european country at that day, by which governments were defrauded and soldiers starved, was most infamous. the soldiers were paid through the captain, who received the wages of a full company, when perhaps not one-third of the names on the master-roll were living human beings. accordingly two-thirds of all the money stuck to the officer's fingers, and it was not thought a disgrace to cheat the government by dressing and equipping for the day a set of ragamuffins, caught up in the streets for the purpose, and made to pass muster as regular soldiers. these parse-volants, or scarecrows, were passed freely about from one company to another, and the indecency of the fraud was never thought a disgrace to the colours of the company. thus, in the armada year, the queen had demanded that a portion of her auxiliary force in the netherlands should be sent to england. the states agreed that three thousand of these english troops, together with a few cavalry companies, should go, but stipulated that two thousand should remain in the provinces. the queen accepted the proposal, but when the two thousand had been counted out, it appeared that there was scarcely a man left for the voyage to england. yet every one of the english captains had claimed full pay for his company from her majesty's exchequer. against this tide of peculation and corruption the strenuous maurice set himself with heart and soul, and there is no doubt that to his reformation in this vital matter much of his military success was owing. it was impossible that roguery and venality should ever furnish a solid foundation for the martial science. to the student of military history the campaigns and sieges of maurice, and especially the earlier: ones, are of great importance. there is no doubt whatever, that the youth who now, after deep study and careful preparation, was measuring himself against the first captains of the age, was founding the great modern school of military science. it was in this netherland academy, and under the tuition of its consummate professor, that the commanders of the seventeenth century not only acquired the rudiments, but perfected themselves in the higher walks of their art. therefore the siege operations, in which all that had been invented by modern genius, or rescued from the oblivion which had gathered over ancient lore during the more vulgar and commonplace practice of the mercenary commanders of the day was brought into successful application, must always engage the special attention of the military student. to the general reader, more interested in marking the progress of civilisation and the advance of the people in the path of development and true liberty, the spectacle of the young stadholder's triumphs has an interest of another kind. at the moment when a thorough practical soldier was most needed by the struggling little commonwealth, to enable it to preserve liberties partially secured by its unparalleled sacrifices of blood and treasure during a quarter of a century, and to expel the foreign invader from the soil which he had so long profaned, it was destined that a soldier should appear. spade in hand, with his head full of roman castrametation and geometrical problems, a prince, scarce emerged from boyhood, presents himself on that stage where grizzled mansfelds, drunken hohenlos, and truculent verdugos have been so long enacting, that artless military drama which consists of hard knocks and wholesale massacres. the novice is received with universal hilarity. but although the machinery of war varies so steadily from age to age that a commonplace commander of to-day, rich in the spoils of preceding time, might vanquish the alexanders, and caesars, and frederics, with their antiquated enginery, yet the moral stuff out of which great captains, great armies, great victories are created, is the simple material it was in the days of sesostris or cyrus. the moral and physiological elements remain essentially the same as when man first began to walk up and down the earth and destroy his fellow-creatures. to make an army a thorough mowing-machine, it then seemed necessary that it should be disciplined into complete mechanical obedience. to secure this, prompt payment of wages and inexorable punishment of delinquencies were indispensable. long arrearages were now converting farnese's veterans into systematic marauders; for unpaid soldiers in every age and country have usually degenerated into highwaymen, and it is an impossibility for a sovereign, with the strictest intentions, to persist in starving his soldiers and in killing them for feeding themselves. in maurice's little army, on the contrary, there were no back-wages and no thieving. at the siege of delfzyl maurice hung two of his soldiers for stealing, the one a hat and the other a poniard, from the townsfolk, after the place had capitulated. at the siege of hulst he ordered another to be shot, before the whole camp, for robbing a woman. this seems sufficiently harsh, but war is not a pastime nor a very humane occupation. the result was, that robbery disappeared, and it is better for all that enlisted men should be soldiers rather than thieves. to secure the ends which alone can justify war--and if the netherlanders engaged in defending national existence and human freedom against foreign tyranny were not justifiable then a just war has never been waged--a disciplined army is vastly more humane in its operations than a band of brigands. swift and condign punishments by the law-martial, for even trifling offences, is the best means of discipline yet devised. to bring to utmost perfection the machinery already in existence, to encourage invention, to ponder the past with a practical application to the present, to court fatigue, to scorn pleasure, to concentrate the energies on the work in hand, to cultivate quickness of eye and calmness of nerve in the midst of danger, to accelerate movements, to economise blood even at the expense of time, to strive after ubiquity and omniscience in the details of person and place, these were the characteristics of maurice, and they have been the prominent traits of all commanders who have stamped themselves upon their age. although his method of war-making differed as far as possible from that quality in common, of the bearnese, yet the two had one personal insensibility to fear. but in the case of henry, to confront danger for its own sake was in itself a pleasure, while the calmer spirit of maurice did not so much seek the joys of the combat as refuse to desist from scientific combinations in the interests of his personal safety. very frequently, in the course of his early campaigns, the prince was formally and urgently requested by the states-general not to expose his life so recklessly, and before he had passed his twenty-fifth year he had received wounds which, but for fortunate circumstances, would have proved mortal, because he was unwilling to leave special operations on which much was depending to other eyes than his own. the details of his campaigns are, of necessity, the less interesting to a general reader from their very completeness. desultory or semi-civilised warfare, where the play of the human passions is distinctly visible, where individual man, whether in buff jerkin or milan coat of proof, meets his fellow man in close mortal combat, where men starve by thousands or are massacred by town-fulls, where hamlets or villages blaze throughout whole districts or are sunk beneath the ocean--scenes of rage, hatred, vengeance, self-sacrifice, patriotism, where all the virtues and vices of which humanity is capable stride to and fro in their most violent colours and most colossal shape where man in a moment rises almost to divinity, or sinks beneath the beasts of the field--such tragical records of which the sanguinary story of mankind is full--and no portion of them more so than the netherland chronicles appeal more vividly to the imagination than the neatest solution of mathematical problems. yet, if it be the legitimate end of military science to accomplish its largest purposes at the least expense of human suffering; if it be progress in civilisation to acquire by scientific combination what might be otherwise attempted, and perhaps vainly attempted, by infinite carnage, then is the professor with his diagrams, standing unmoved amid danger, a more truly heroic image than coeur-de-lion with his battle-axe or alva with his truncheon. the system--then a new one--which maurice introduced to sustain that little commonwealth from sinking of which he had become at the age of seventeen the predestined chief, was the best under the circumstances that could have been devised. patriotism the most passionate, the most sublime, had created the republic. to maintain its existence against perpetual menace required the exertion of perpetual skill. passionless as algebra, the genius of maurice was ready for the task. strategic points of immense value, important cities and fortresses, vital river-courses and communications--which foreign tyranny had acquired during the tragic past with a patient iniquity almost without a parallel, and which patriotism had for years vainly struggled to recover--were the earliest trophies and prizes of his art. but the details of his victories may be briefly indicated, for they have none of the picturesqueness of crime. the sieges of naarden, harlem, leyden, were tragedies of maddening interest, but the recovery of zutphen, deventer, nymegen, groningen, and many other places--all important though they were--was accomplished with the calmness of a consummate player, who throws down on the table the best half dozen invincible cards which it thus becomes superfluous to play. there were several courses open to the prince before taking the field. it was desirable to obtain control of the line of the waal, by which that heart of the republic--holland--would be made entirely secure. to this end, gertruydenberg--lately surrendered to the enemy by the perfidy of the englishman wingfield, to whom it had been entrusted--bois le duc, and nymegen were to be wrested from spain. it was also important to hold the yssel, the course of which river led directly through the united netherlands, quite to the zuyder zee, cutting off friesland, groningen, and gelderland from their sister provinces of holland and zeeland. and here again the keys to this river had been lost by english treason. the fort of zutphen and the city of deventer had been transferred to the spaniard by roland york and sir william stanley, in whose honour the republic had so blindly confided, and those cities it was now necessary to reduce by regular siege before the communications between the eastern and western portions of the little commonwealth could ever be established. still farther in the ancient frisian depths, the memorable treason of that native netherlander, the high-born renneberg, had opened the way for the spaniard's foot into the city of groningen. thus this whole important province--with its capital--long subject to the foreign oppressor, was garrisoned with his troops. verdugo, a veteran officer of portuguese birth, who had risen from the position of hostler to that of colonel and royal stadholder, commanded in friesland. he had in vain demanded reinforcements and supplies from farnese, who most reluctantly was obliged to refuse them in order that he might obey his master's commands to neglect everything for the sake of the campaign in france. and verdugo, stripped of all adequate forces to protect his important province, was equally destitute of means for feeding the troops that were left to him. "i hope to god that i may do my duty to the king and your highness," he cried, "but i find myself sold up and pledged to such an extent that i am poorer than when i was a soldier at four crowns a month. and everybody in the town is as desperate as myself." maurice, after making a feint of attacking gertruydenberg and bois le duc, so that farnese felt compelled, with considerable difficulty, to strengthen the garrison of those places, came unexpectedly to arnhem with a force of nine thousand foot and sixteen hundred horse. he had previously and with great secrecy sent some companies of infantry under sir francis vere to doesburg. on the rd may ( ) five peasants and six peasant women made their appearance at dawn of day before the chief guard-house of the great fort in the badmeadow (vel-uwe), opposite zutphen, on the west side of the yssel. it was not an unusual occurrence. these boors and their wives had brought baskets of eggs, butter, and cheese, for the garrison, and they now set themselves quietly down on the ground before the gate, waiting for the soldiers of the garrison to come out and traffic with them for their supplies. very soon several of the guard made their appearance, and began to chaffer with the peasants, when suddenly one of the women plucked a pistol from under her petticoats and shot dead the soldier who was cheapening her eggs. the rest of the party, transformed in an instant from boors to soldiers, then sprang upon the rest of the guard, overpowered and bound them, and took possession of the gate. a considerable force, which had been placed in ambush by prince maurice near the spot, now rushed forward, and in a few minutes the great fort of zutphen was mastered by the states' forces without loss of a man. it was a neat and perfectly successful stratagem. next day maurice began the regular investment of the city. on the th, count lewis william arrived with some frisian companies. on the th, maurice threw a bridge of boats from the badmeadow side, across the river to the weert before the city. on the th he had got batteries, mounting thirty-two guns, into position, commanding the place at three points. on the th the town capitulated. thus within exactly one week from the firing of the pistol shot by the supposed butterwoman, this fort and town, which had so long resisted the efforts of the states, and were such important possessions of the spaniards, fell into the hands of maurice. the terms of surrender were easy. the city being more important than its garrison, the soldiers were permitted to depart with bag and baggage. the citizens were allowed three days to decide whether to stay under loyal obedience to the states-general, or to take their departure. those who chose to remain were to enjoy all the privileges of citizens of the united provinces. but very few substantial citizens were left, for such had been the tyranny, the misery, and the misrule during the long occupation by a foreign soldiery of what was once a thriving dutch town, that scarcely anybody but paupers and vagabonds were left. one thousand houses were ruined and desolate. it is superfluous to add that the day of its restoration to the authority of the union was the beginning of its renewed prosperity. maurice, having placed a national garrison in the place, marched the same evening straight upon deventer, seven miles farther down the river, without pausing to sleep upon his victory. his artillery and munitions were sent rapidly down the yssel. within five days he had thoroughly invested the city, and brought twenty-eight guns to bear upon the weakest part of its defences. it was a large, populous, well-built town, once a wealthy member of the hanseatic league, full of fine buildings, both public and private, the capital of the rich and fertile province of overyssel, and protected by a strong wall and moat--as well-fortified a place as could be found in the netherlands. the garrison consisted of fourteen hundred spaniards and walloons, under the command of count herman van den berg, first cousin of prince maurice. no sooner had the states army come before the city than a spanish captain observed--"we shall now have a droll siege--cousins on the outside, cousins on the inside. there will be a sham fight or two, and then the cousins will make it up, and arrange matters to suit themselves." such hints had deeply wounded van den berg, who was a fervent catholic, and as loyal a servant to philip ii. as he could have been, had that monarch deserved, by the laws of nature and by his personal services and virtues, to govern all the swamps of friesland. he slept on the gibe, having ordered all the colonels and captains of the garrison to attend at solemn mass in the great church the next morning. he there declared to them all publicly that he felt outraged at the suspicions concerning his fidelity, and after mass he took the sacrament, solemnly swearing never to give up the city or even to speak of it until he had made such resistance that he must be carried from the breach. so long as he could stand or sit he would defend the city entrusted to his care. the whole council who had come from zutphen to maurice's camp were allowed to deliberate concerning the siege. the, enemy had been seen hovering about the neighbourhood in considerable numbers, but had not ventured an attempt to throw reinforcements into the place. many of the counsellors argued against the siege. it was urged that the resistance would be determined and protracted, and that the duke of parma was sure to take the field in person to relieve so important a city, before its reduction could be effected. but maurice had thrown a bridge across the yssel above, and another below the town, had carefully and rapidly taken measures in the success of which he felt confident, and now declared that it would be cowardly and shameful to abandon an enterprise so well begun. the city had been formally summoned to surrender, and a calm but most decided refusal had been returned. on the th june the batteries began playing, and after four thousand six hundred shots a good breach had been effected in the defences along the kaye--an earthen work lying between two strong walls of masonry. the breach being deemed practicable, a storm was ordered. to reach the kaye it was necessary to cross a piece of water called the haven, over which a pontoon bridge was hastily thrown. there was now a dispute among the english, scotch, and netherlanders for precedence in the assault. it was ultimately given to the english, in order that the bravery of that nation might now on the same spot wipe out the disgrace inflicted upon its name by the treason of sir william stanley. the english did their duty well and rushed forward merrily, but the bridge proved too short. some sprang over and pushed boldly for the breach. some fell into the moat and were drowned. others, sustained by the netherlanders under solms, meetkerke, and brederode, effected their passage by swimming, leaping, or wading, so that a resolute attack was made. herman van den berg met them in the breach at the head of seven companies. the defenders were most ferocious in their resistance. they were also very drunk. the count had placed many casks of rhenish and of strong beer within reach, and ordered his soldiers to drink their fill as they fought. he was himself as vigorous in his potations as he was chivalrous with sword and buckler. two pages and two lieutenants fell at his side, but still he fought at the head of his men with a desperation worthy of his vow, until he fell wounded in the eye and was carried from the place. notwithstanding this disaster to the commander of the town, the assailants were repulsed, losing two hundred-and twenty-five in killed and wounded--colonel meetkerke and his brother, two most valuable dutch officers, among them. during the whole of the assault, a vigorous cannonade had been kept up upon other parts of the town, and houses and church-towers were toppling down in all directions. meanwhile the inhabitants--for it was sunday--instead of going to service were driven towards the breach by the serjeant-major, a truculent spaniard, next in command to van den berg, who ran about the place with a great stick, summoning the dutch burghers to assist the spanish garrison on the wall. it was thought afterwards that this warrior would have been better occupied among the soldiers, at the side of his commander. a chivalrous incident in the open field occurred during the assault. a gigantic albanian cavalry officer came prancing out of deventer into the spaces between the trenches, defying any officer in the states' army to break a lance with him. prince maurice forbade any acceptance of the challenge, but lewis van der cathulle, son of the famous ryhove of ghent, unable to endure the taunts and bravado of this champion, at last obtained permission to encounter him in single combat. they met accordingly with much ceremony, tilted against each other, and shivered their lances in good style, but without much effect. the albanian then drew a pistol. cathulle had no weapon save a cutlass, but with this weapon he succeeded in nearly cutting off the hand which held the pistol. he then took his enemy prisoner, the vain-glorious challenger throwing his gold chain around his conqueror's neck in token of his victory. prince maurice caused his wound to be bound up and then liberated him, sending him into the city with a message to the governor. during the following night the bridge, over which the assailants had nearly forced their way into the town, was vigorously attacked by the garrison, but count lewis william, in person, with a chosen band defended it stoutly till morning, beating back the spaniards with heavy loss in a sanguinary midnight contest. next morning there was a unanimous outcry on the part of the besieged for a capitulation. it was obvious that, with the walls shot to ruins as they had been, the place was no longer tenable against maurice's superior forces. a trumpet was sent to the prince before the dawn of day, and on the th of june, accordingly, the place capitulated. it was arranged that the garrison should retire with arms and baggage whithersoever they chose. van den berg stipulated nothing in favour of the citizens, whether through forgetfulness or spite does not distinctly appear. but the burghers were received like brothers. no plunder was permitted, no ransom demanded, and the city took its place among its sisterhood of the united provinces. van den berg himself was received at the prince's head, quarters with much cordiality. he was quite blind; but his wound seemed to be the effect of exterior contusions, and he ultimately recovered the sight of one eye. there was mach free conversation between himself and his cousins during the brief interval in which he was their guest. "i've often told verdugo," said he, "that the states had no power to make a regular siege, nor to come with proper artillery into the field, and he agreed with me. but we were both wrong, for i now see the contrary." to which count lewis william replied with a laugh: "my dear cousin, i've observed that in all your actions you were in the habit of despising us beggars, and i have said that you would one day draw the shortest straw in consequence. i'm glad to hear this avowal from your own lips." herman attempted no reply but let the subject drop, seeming to regret having said so much. soon afterwards he was forwarded by maurice in his own coach to ulff, where he was attended by the prince's body physician till he was re-established in health. thus within ten days of his first appearance before its walls, the city of deventer, and with it a whole province, had fallen into the hands of maurice. it began to be understood that the young pedant knew something about his profession, and that he had not been fagging so hard at the science of war for nothing. the city was in a sorry plight when the states took possession of it. as at zutphen, the substantial burghers had wandered away, and the foreign soldiers bivouacking there so long had turned the stately old hanseatic city into a brick and mortar wilderness. hundreds of houses had been demolished by the garrison, that the iron might be sold and the woodwork burned for fuel; for the enemy had conducted himself as if feeling in his heart that the occupation could not be a permanent one, and as if desirous to make the place as desolate as possible for the beggars when they should return. the dead body of the traitor york, who had died and been buried in deventer, was taken from the tomb, after the capture of the city, and with the vulgar ferocity so characteristic of the times, was hung, coffin and all, on the gibbet for the delectation of the states' soldiery. maurice, having thus in less than three weeks recovered two most important cities, paused not an instant in his career but moved at once on groningen. there was a strong pressure put upon him to attempt the capture of nymegen, but the understanding with the frisian stadholders and his troops had been that the enterprise upon groningen should follow the reduction of deventer. on the th june maurice appeared before groningen. next day, as a precautionary step, he moved to the right and attacked the strong city of delfzyl. this place capitulated to him on the nd july. the fort of opslag surrendered on the th july. he then moved to the west of groningen, and attacked the forts of yementil and lettebaest, which fell into his hands on the th july. he then moved along the nyenoort through the seven wolds and drenthe to steenwyk, before which strongly fortified city he arrived on the th july. meantime, he received intercepted letters from verdugo to the duke of parma, dated th june from groningen. in these, the spanish stadholder informed farnese that the enemy was hovering about his neighbourhood, and that it would be necessary for the duke to take the field in person in considerable force, or that groningen would be lost, and with it the spanish forces in the province. he enclosed a memorial of the course proper to be adopted by the duke for his relief. notwithstanding the strictness by which philip had tied his great general's hands, farnese felt the urgency of the situation. by the end of june, accordingly, although full of his measures for marching to the relief of the leaguers in normandy, he moved into gelderland, coming by way of xanten, rees, and neighbouring places. here he paused for a moment perplexed, doubting whether to take the aggressive in gelderland or to march straight to the relief of groningen. he decided that it was better for the moment to protect the line of the waal. shipping his army accordingly into the batavian island or good-meadow (bet-uwe), which lies between the two great horns of the rhine, he laid siege to fort knodsenburg, which maurice had built the year before, on the right bank of the waal for the purpose of attacking nymegen. farnese, knowing that the general of the states was occupied with his whole army far away to the north, and separated from him by two great rivers, wide and deep, and by the whole breadth of that dangerous district called the foul-meadow (vel-uwe), and by the vast quagmire known as the rouvenian morass, which no artillery nor even any organised forces had ever traversed since the beginning of the world, had felt no hesitation in throwing his army in boats across the waal. he had no doubt of reducing a not very powerful fortress long before relief could be brought to it, and at the same time of disturbing by his presence in batavia the combinations of his young antagonist in friesland and groningen. so with six thousand foot and one thousand horse, alexander came before knodsenburg. the news reached maurice at steenwyk on the th july. instantly changing his plans, the prince decided that farnese must be faced at once, and, if possible, driven from the ground, thinking it more important to maintain, by concentration, that which had already been gained, than to weaken and diffuse his forces in insufficient attempts to acquire more. before two days had passed, he was on the march southward, having left lewis william with a sufficient force to threaten groningen. coming by way of hasselt zwol to deventer, he crossed the yssel on a bridge of boats on the th of july, and proceeded to arnhem. his army, although excessively fatigued by forced marches in very hot weather, over nearly impassable roads, was full of courage and cheerfulness, having learned implicit confidence in their commander. on the th he was at arnhem. on the nd his bridge of boats was made, and he had thrown his little army across the rhine into batavia, and entrenched himself with his six thousand foot and fourteen hundred horse in the immediate neighbourhood of farnese--foul-meadow and good-meadow, dyke, bog, wold, and quagmire, had been successfully traversed, and within one week of his learning that the great viceroy of philip had reached the batavian island, maurice stood confronting that famous chieftain in battle-array. on the nd july, farnese, after firing two hundred and eighty-five shots at fort knodsenburg, ordered an assault, expecting that so trifling a work could hardly withstand a determined onslaught by his veterans. to his surprise they were so warmly received that two hundred of the assailants fell at the first onset, and the attack was most conclusively repulsed. and now maurice had appeared upon the scene, determined to relieve a place so important for his ulterior designs. on the th july he sent out a small but picked force of cavalry to reconnoitre the enemy. they were attacked by a considerable body of italian and spanish horse from the camp before knodsenburg, including alexander's own company of lancers under nicelli. the states troops fled before them in apparent dismay for a little distance, hotly pursued by the royalists, until, making a sudden halt, they turned to the attack, accompanied by five fresh companies of cavalry and a thousand musketeers, who fell upon the foe from all directions. it was an ambush, which had been neatly prepared by maurice in person, assisted by sir francis vere. sixty of the spaniards and italians were killed and one hundred and fifty prisoners, including captain nicelli, taken, while the rest of the party sought safety in ignominious flight. this little skirmish, in which ten companies of the picked veterans of alexander farnese had thus been utterly routed before his eyes, did much to inspire the states troops with confidence in themselves and their leader. parma was too experienced a campaigner, and had too quick an eye, not to recognise the error which he had committed in placing the dangerous river waal, without a bridge; between himself and his supplies. he had not dreamed that his antagonist would be capable of such celerity of movement as he had thus displayed, and his first business now was to extricate himself from a position which might soon become fatal. without hesitation, he did his best to amuse the enemy in front of the fort, and then passed the night in planting batteries upon the banks of the river, under cover of which he succeeded next day in transporting in ferry-boats his whole force, artillery and: baggage, to the opposite shore, without loss, and with his usual skill. he remained but a short time in nymegen, but he was hampered by the express commands of the king. moreover, his broken health imperatively required that he should once more seek the healing influence of the waters of spa, before setting forth on his new french expedition. meanwhile, although he had for a time protected the spanish possessions in the north by his demonstration in gelderland, it must be confessed that the diversion thus given to the plans of maurice was but a feeble one. having assured the inhabitants of nymegen that he would watch over the city like the apple of, his eye, he took his departure on the th of august for spa. he was accompanied on his journey by his son, prince ranuccio, just arrived from italy. after the retreat of farnese, maurice mustered his forces at arnhem, and found himself at the head of seven thousand foot and fifteen hundred horse. it was expected by all the world that, being thus on the very spot, he would forthwith proceed to reduce the ancient, wealthy, imperial city of nynegen. the garrison and burghers accordingly made every preparation to resist the attack, disconcerted as they were, however, by the departure of parma, and by the apparent incapacity of verdugo to bring them effectual relief. but to the surprise of all men, the states forces suddenly disappeared from the scene, having been, as it were, spirited away by night-time, along those silent watery highways and crossways of canal, river, and estuary--the military advantages of which to the netherlands, maurice was the first thoroughly to demonstrate. having previously made great preparations of munitions and provisions in zeeland, the young general, who was thought hard at work in gelderland, suddenly presented himself on the th september, before the gates of hulst, on the border of zeeland and brabant. it was a place of importance from its situation, its possession by the enemy being a perpetual thorn in the side of the states, and a constant obstacle to the plans of maurice. his arrangements having been made with the customary, neatness, celerity, and completeness, he received the surrender of the city on the fifth day after his arrival. its commander, castillo, could offer no resistance; and was subsequently, it is said, beheaded by order of the duke of parma for his negligence. the place is but a dozen miles from antwerp, which city was at the very, moment keeping great holiday and outdoing itself in magnificent festivals in honour of young ranuccio. the capture of hulst before his eyes was a demonstration quite unexpected by the prince, and great was the wrath of old mondragon, governor of antwerp, thus bearded in his den. the veteran made immediate preparations for chastising the audacious beggars of zeeland and their, pedantic young commander, but no sooner had the spaniards taken the field than the wily foe had disappeared as magically as he had come. the flemish earth seemed to have bubbles as the water hath, and while mondragon was beating the air in vain on the margin of the scheld, maurice was back again upon the waal, horse, foot, and artillery, bag, baggage, and munition, and had fairly set himself down in earnest to besiege nymegen, before the honest burghers and the garrison had finished drawing long breaths at their recent escape. between the th and th october he had bridged the deep, wide, and rapid river, had transported eight thousand five hundred infantry and, sixteen companies of cavalry to the southern side, had entrenched his camp and made his approaches, and had got sixty-eight pieces of artillery into three positions commanding the weakest part of the defences of the city between the falcon tower and the hoender gate. the fort of knodsenburg was also ready to throw hot shot across the river into the town. not a detail in all these preparations escaped the vigilant eye of the commander-in-chief, and again and again was he implored not so recklessly to expose a life already become precious to his country. on the th october, maurice sent to demand the surrender of the city. the reply was facetious but decisive. the prince was but a young suitor, it was said, and the city a spinster not so lightly to be won. a longer courtship and more trouble would be necessary. whereupon the suitor opened all his batteries without further delay, and the spinster gave a fresh example of the inevitable fate of talking castles and listening ladies. nymegen, despite her saucy answer on the th, surrendered on the st. relief was impossible. neither parma, now on his way to france, nor verdugo, shut up in friesland, could come to the rescue of the place, and the combinations of maurice were an inexorable demonstration. the terms of the surrender were similar to those accorded to zutphen and deventer. in regard to the religious point it was expressly laid down by maurice that the demand for permission to exercise publicly the roman catholic religion should be left to the decision of the states-general. and thus another most important city had been added to the domains of the republic. another triumph was inscribed on the record of the young commander. the exultation was very great throughout the united netherlands, and heartfelt was the homage rendered by all classes of his countrymen to the son of william the silent. queen elizabeth wrote to congratulate him in warmest terms on his great successes, and even the spaniards began to recognise the merits of the new chieftain. an intercepted letter from verdugo, who had been foiled in his efforts to arrest the career of maurice, indicated great respect for his prowess. "i have been informed," said the veteran, "that count maurice of nassau wishes to fight me. had i the opportunity i assure you that i should not fail him, for even if ill luck were my portion, i should at least not escape the honour of being beaten by such a personage. i beg you to tell him so with my affectionate compliments. yours, francis verdugo." these chivalrous sentiments towards prince maurice had not however prevented verdugo from doing his best to assassinate count lewis william. two spaniards had been arrested in the states camp this summer, who came in as deserters, but who confessed "with little, or mostly without torture," that they had been sent by their governor and colonel with instructions to seize a favourable opportunity to shoot lewis william and set fire to his camp. but such practices were so common on the part of the spanish commanders as to occasion no surprise whatever. it will be remembered that two years before, the famous martin schenk had come to a tragic end at nymegen. he had been drowned, fished up, hanged, drawn, and quartered; after which his scattered fragments, having been exposed on all the principal towers of the city, had been put in pickle and deposited in a chest. they were now collected and buried triumphantly in the tomb of the dukes of gelderland. thus the shade of the grim freebooter was at last appeased. the government of the city was conferred upon count lewis william, with gerard de jonge as his lieutenant. a substantial garrison was placed in the city, and, the season now far advanced maurice brought the military operations of the year, saving a slight preliminary demonstration against gertruydenberg, to a close. he had deserved and attained--considerable renown. he had astonished the leisurely war-makers and phlegmatic veterans of the time, both among friends and foes, by the unexampled rapidity of his movements and the concentration of his attacks. he had carried great waggon trains and whole parks of siege artillery--the heaviest then known--over roads and swamps which had been deemed impassable even for infantry. he had traversed the length and breadth of the republic in a single campaign, taken two great cities in overyssel, picked up cities and fortresses in the province of groningen, and threatened its capital, menaced steenwyk, relieved knodsenburg though besieged in person by the greatest commander of the age, beaten the most famous cavalry of spain and italy under the eyes of their chieftain, swooped as it were through the air upon brabant, and carried off an important city almost in the sight of antwerp, and sped back again in the freezing weather of early autumn, with his splendidly served and invincible artillery, to the imperial city of nymegen, which farnese had sworn to guard like the apple of his eye, and which, with consummate skill, was forced out of his grasp in five days. "some might attribute these things to blind fortune," says an honest chronicler who had occupied important posts in the service of the prince and of his cousin lewis william, "but they who knew the prince's constant study and laborious attention to detail, who were aware that he never committed to another what he could do himself, who saw his sobriety, vigilance, his perpetual study and holding of council with count lewis william (himself possessed of all these good gifts, perhaps even in greater degree), and who never found him seeking, like so many other commanders, his own ease and comfort, would think differently." chapter xxv. war in brittany and normandy--death of la noue--religious and political persecution in paris--murder of president brisson, larcher, and tardif--the sceptre of france offered to philip--the duke of mayenne punishes the murderers of the magistrates--speech of henry's envoy to the states-general--letter of queen elizabeth to henry--siege of rouen--farnese leads an army to its relief--the king is wounded in a skirmish--siege of rue by farnese--henry raises the siege of rouen--siege of caudebec--critical position of farnese and his army--victory of the duke of mercoeur in brittany. again the central point towards which the complicated events to be described in this history gravitate is found on the soil of france. movements apparently desultory and disconnected--as they may have seemed to the contemporaneous observer, necessarily occupied with the local and daily details which make up individual human life--are found to be necessary parts of a whole, when regarded with that breadth and clearness of vision which is permitted to human beings only when they can look backward upon that long sequence of events which make up the life of nations and which we call the past. it is only by the anatomical study of what has ceased to exist that we can come thoroughly to comprehend the framework and the vital conditions of that which lives. it is only by patiently lifting the shroud from the past that we can enable ourselves to make even wide guesses at the meaning of the dim present and the veiled future. it is only thus that the continuity of human history reveals itself to us as the most important of scientific facts. if ever commonwealth was apparently doomed to lose that national existence which it had maintained for a brief period at the expense of infinite sacrifice of blood and treasure, it was the republic of the united netherlands in the period immediately succeeding the death of william the silent. domestic treason, secession of important provinces, religious-hatred, foreign intrigue, and foreign invasion--in such a sea of troubles was the republic destined generations long to struggle. who but the fanatical, the shallow-minded, or the corrupt could doubt the inevitable issue of the conflict? did not great sages and statesmen whose teachings seemed so much wiser in their generation than the untaught impulses of the great popular heart, condemn over and over again the hopeless struggles and the atrocious bloodshed which were thought to disgrace the age, and by which it was held impossible that the cause of human liberty should ever be advanced? to us who look back from the vantage summit which humanity has reached--thanks to the toil and sacrifices of those who have preceded us--it may seem doubtful whether premature peace in the netherlands, france, and england would have been an unmitigated blessing, however easily it might have been purchased by the establishment all over europe of that holy institution called the inquisition, and by the tranquil acceptance of the foreign domination of spain. if, too; ever country seemed destined to the painful process of national vivisection and final dismemberment, it was france: its natural guardians and masters, save one, were in secret negotiation with foreign powers to obtain with their assistance a portion of the national territory under acknowledgment of foreign supremacy. there was hardly an inch of french soil that had not two possessors. in burgundy baron biron was battling against the viscount tavannes; in the lyonese and dauphiny marshal des digiueres was fighting with the dukes of savoy and nemours; in provence, epernon was resisting savoy; in languedoc, constable montmorency contended with the duke of joyeuse; in brittany, the prince of dombes was struggling with the duke of mercoeur. but there was one adventurer who thought he could show a better legal title to the throne of france than all the doctors of the sorbonne could furnish to philip ii. and his daughter, and who still trusted, through all the disasters which pursued him, and despite the machinations of venal warriors and mendicant princes, to his good right and his good sword, and to something more potent than both, the cause of national unity. his rebuke to the intriguing priests at the interview of st. denis, and his reference to the judgment of solomon, formed the text to his whole career. the brunt of the war now fell upon brittany and normandy. three thousand spaniards under don john de aquila had landed in the port of blavet which they had fortified, as a stronghold on the coast. and thither, to defend the integrity of that portion of france, which, in spanish hands, was a perpetual menace to her realm, her crown, even to her life, queen elizabeth had sent some three thousand englishmen, under commanders well known to france and the netherlands. there was black norris again dealing death among the spaniards and renewing his perpetual squabbles with sir roger williams. there was that doughty welshman himself, truculent and caustic as ever--and as ready with sword or pen, foremost in every mad adventure or every forlorn hope, criticising with sharpest tongue the blunders and shortcomings of friend and foe, and devoting the last drop in his veins with chivalrous devotion to his queen. "the world cannot deny," said he, "that any carcase living ventured himself freer and oftener for his prince, state, and friends than i did mine. there is no more to be had of a poor beast than his skin, and for want of other means i never respected mine in the least respect towards my sovereign's service, or country." and so passing his life in the saddle and under fire, yet finding leisure to collect the materials for, and to complete the execution of, one of the most valuable and attractive histories of the age, the bold welshman again and again appears, wearing the same humorous but truculent aspect that belonged to him when he was wont to run up and down in a great morion and feathers on flemish battlefields, a mark for the spanish sharpshooters. there, too, under the banner of the bearnese, that other historian of those sanguinary times, who had fought on almost every battle-field where tyranny and liberty had sought to smite each other dead, on french or flemish soil, and who had prepared his famous political and military discourses in a foul dungeon swarming with toads and rats and other villainous reptiles to which the worse than infernal tyranny of philip ii. had consigned him for seven years long as a prisoner of war--the brave and good la noue, with the iron arm, hero of a hundred combats, was fighting his last fight. at the siege of lamballe in brittany, he had taken off his calque and climbed a ladder to examine the breach effected by the batteries. an arquebus shot from the town grazed his forehead, and, without inflicting a severe wound, stunned him so much that he lost his balance and fell head foremost towards the ground; his leg, which had been wounded at the midnight assault upon paris, where he stood at the side of king henry, caught in the ladder and held him suspended. his head was severely bruised, and the contusions and shock to his war-worn frame were so great that he died after lingering eighteen days. his son de teligny; who in his turn had just been exchanged and released from the prison where he had lain since his capture before antwerp, had hastened with joy to join his father in the camp, but came to close his eyes. the veteran caused the chapter in job on the resurrection of the body to be read to him on his death-bed, and died expressing his firm faith in a hereafter. thus passed away, at the age of sixty, on the th august, , one of the most heroic spirits of france. prudence, courage, experience, military knowledge both theoretic and practical, made him one of the first captains of the age, and he was not more distinguished for his valour than for the purity of his life, and the moderation, temperance, and justice of his character. the prince of dombes, in despair at his death, raised the siege of lamballe. there was yet another chronicler, fighting among the spaniards, now in brittany, now in normandy, and now in flanders, and doing his work as thoroughly with his sword as afterwards with his pen, don carlos coloma, captain of cavalry, afterwards financier, envoy, and historian. for it was thus that those writers prepared themselves for their work. they were all actors in the great epic, the episodes of which they have preserved. they lived and fought, and wrought and suffered and wrote. rude in tongue; aflame with passion, twisted all awry by prejudice, violent in love and hate, they have left us narratives which are at least full of colour and thrilling with life. thus netherlanders, englishmen, and frenchmen were again mingling their blood and exhausting their energies on a hundred petty battle-fields of brittany and normandy; but perhaps to few of those hard fighters was it given to discern the great work which they were slowly and painfully achieving. in paris the league still maintained its ascendancy. henry, having again withdrawn from his attempts to reduce the capital, had left the sixteen tyrants who governed it more leisure to occupy themselves with internal politics. a network of intrigue was spread through the whole atmosphere of the place. the sixteen, sustained by the power of spain and rome, and fearing nothing so much as the return of peace, by which their system of plunder would come to an end, proceeded with their persecution of all heretics, real or supposed, who were rich enough to offer a reasonable chance of spoil. the soul of all these intrigues was the new legate, sego, bishop of piacenza. letters from him to alexander farnese, intercepted by henry, showed a determination to ruin the duke of mayenne and count belin governor of paris, whom he designated as colossus and renard, to extirpate the magistrates, and to put spanish partizans in their places, and in general to perfect the machinery by which the authority of philip was to be established in france. he was perpetually urging upon that monarch the necessity of spending more money among his creatures in order to carry out these projects. accordingly the attention of the sixteen had been directed to president brisson, who had already made himself so dangerously conspicuous by his resistance to the insolent assumption of the cardinal-legate. this eminent juris-consult had succeeded pomponne de bellievre as first president of the parliament of paris. he had been distinguished for talent, learning, and eloquence as an advocate; and was the author of several important legal works. his ambition to fill the place of first president had caused him to remain in paris after its revolt against henry iii. he was no leaguer; and, since his open defiance of the ultra-catholic party, he had been a marked man--doomed secretly by the confederates who ruled the capital. he had fondly imagined that he could govern the parisian populace as easily as he had been in the habit of influencing the parliament or directing his clients. he expected to restore the city to its obedience to the constituted authorities. he hoped to be himself the means of bringing henry iv. in triumph to the throne of his ancestors. he found, however, that a revolution was more difficult to manage than a law case; and that the confederates of the holy league were less tractable than his clients had usually been found. on the night of the th november; ; he was seized on the bridge st. michel, while on his way to parliament, and was told that he was expected at the hotel de ville. he was then brought to the prison of the little chatelet. hardly had he been made secure in the dimly-lighted dungeon, when crome, a leader among the parisian populacey made his appearance, accompanied by some of his confederates, and dressed in a complete suit of mail. he ordered the magistrate to take off his hat and to kneel. he then read a sentence condemning him to death. profoundly astonished, brisson demanded to know of what crime he was accused; and under what authority. the answer was a laugh; and an assurance that he had no time to lose. he then begged that at least he might be imprisoned long enough to enable him to complete a legal work on which he was engaged, and which, by his premature death, would be lost to the commonwealth. this request produced no doubt more merriment than his previous demands. his judges were inflexible; and allowed him hardly time to confess himself. he was then hanged in his dungeon. two other magistrates, larcher and tardif, were executed in the same way, in the same place, and on the same night. the crime charged against them was having spoken in a public assembly somewhat freely against the sixteen, and having aided in the circulation in paris of a paper drawn up by the duke of nevers, filled with bitterness against the lorraine princes and the league, and addressed to the late pope sixtus. the three bodies were afterwards gibbeted on the greve in front of the hotel de ville, and exposed for two days to the insults and fury of the populace. this was the culminating point of the reign of terror in paris. never had the sixteen tyrants; lords of the market halls, who governed the capital by favour of and in the name of the populace, seemed more omnipotent. as representatives or plenipotentiaries of madam league they had laid the crown at the feet of the king of spain, hoping by still further drafts on his exchequer and his credulity to prolong indefinitely their own ignoble reign. the extreme democratic party, which had hitherto supported the house of lorraine and had seemed to idolize that family in the person of the great balafre, now believed themselves possessed of sufficient power to control the duke of mayenne and all his adherents. they sent the jesuit claude mathieu with a special memorial to philip ii. that monarch was implored to take, the sceptre of france, and to reign over them, inasmuch as they most willingly threw themselves into his arms? they assured him that all reasonable people, and especially the holy league, wished him to take the reins of government, on condition of exterminating heresy throughout the kingdom by force of arms, of publishing the council of trent, and of establishing everywhere the holy inquisition--an institution formidable only to the wicked and desirable for the good. it was suggested that philip should not call himself any longer king of spain nor adopt the title of king of france, but that he should proclaim himself the great king, or make use of some similar designation, not indicating any specialty but importing universal dominion. should philip, however, be disinclined himself to accept the monarchy, it was suggested that the young duke of guise, son of the first martyr of france, would be the most appropriate personage to be honoured with the hand of the legitimate queen of france, the infanta clara isabella. but the sixteen were reckoning without the duke of mayenne. that great personage, although an indifferent warrior and an utterly unprincipled and venal statesman, was by no means despicable as a fisherman in the troubled waters of revolution. he knew how to manage intrigues with both sides for his own benefit. had he been a bachelor he might have obtained the infanta and shared her prospective throne. being encumbered with a wife he had no hope of becoming the son-in-law of philip, and was determined that his nephew guise should not enjoy a piece of good fortune denied to himself. the escape of the young duke from prison had been the signal for the outbreak of jealousies between uncle and nephew, which parma and other agents had been instructed by their master to foster to the utmost. "they must be maintained in such disposition in regard to me," he said, "that the one being ignorant of my relations to the other, both may without knowing it do my will." but mayenne, in this grovelling career of self-seeking, in this perpetual loading of dice and marking of cards, which formed the main occupation of so many kings and princes of the period, and which passed for machiavellian politics, was a fair match for the spanish king and his italian viceroy. he sent president jeannin on special mission to philip, asking for two armies, one to be under his command, the other under that of farnese, and assured him that he should be king himself, or appoint any man he liked to the vacant throne. thus he had secured one hundred thousand crowns a month to carry on his own game withal. "the maintenance of these two armies costs me , crowns a month," said philip to his envoy ybarra. and what was the result of all this expenditure of money, of all this lying and counter-lying, of all this frantic effort on the part of the most powerful monarch of the age to obtain property which did not belong to him--the sovereignty of a great kingdom, stocked with a dozen millions of human beings--of all this endless bloodshed of the people in the interests of a high-born family or two, of all this infamous brokerage charged by great nobles for their attempts to transfer kingdoms like private farms from one owner to another? time was to show. meanwhile men trembled at the name of philip ii., and grovelled before him as the incarnation of sagacity, high policy, and king-craft. but mayenne, while taking the brokerage, was less anxious about the transfer. he had fine instinct enough to suspect that the bearnese, outcast though he seemed, might after all not be playing so desperate a game against the league as it was the fashion to suppose. he knew whether or not henry was likely to prove a more fanatical huguenot in than he bad shown himself twenty years before at the bartholomew festival. and he had wit enough to foresee that the "instruction" which the gay free-thinker held so cautiously in his fingers might perhaps turn out the trump card. a bold, valorous frenchman with a flawless title, and washed whiter than snow by the freshet of holy water, might prove a more formidable claimant to the allegiance of frenchmen than a foreign potentate, even though backed by all the doctors of the sorbonne. the murder of president brisson and his colleagues by the confederates of the sixteen quarters, was in truth the beginning of the end. what seemed a proof of supreme power was the precursor of a counter-revolution, destined ere long to lead farther than men dreamed. the sixteen believed themselves omnipotent. mayenne being in their power, it was for them to bestow the crown at their will, or to hold it suspended in air as long as seemed best to them. they felt no doubt that all the other great cities in the kingdom would follow the example of paris. but the lieutenant-general of the realm felt it time for him to show that his authority was not a shadow--that he was not a pasteboard functionary like the deceased cardinal-king, charles x. the letters entrusted by the sixteen to claude mathieu were intercepted by henry, and, very probably, an intimation of their contents was furnished to mayenne. at any rate, the duke, who lacked not courage nor promptness when his own interests were concerned, who felt his authority slipping away from him, now that it seemed the object of the spaniards to bind the democratic party to themselves by a complicity in crime, hastened at once to paris, determined to crush these intrigues and to punish the murderers of the judges. the spanish envoy ybarra, proud, excitable, violent, who had been privy to the assassinations, and was astonished that the deeds had excited indignation and fury instead of the terror counted upon, remonstrated with mayenne, intimating that in times of civil commotion it was often necessary to be blind and deaf. in vain. the duke carried it with a high and firm hand. he arrested the ringleaders, and hanged four of them in the basement of the louvre within twenty days after the commission of their crime. the energy was well-timed and perfectly successful. the power of the sixteen was struck to the earth at a blow. the ignoble tyrants became in a moment as despicable as they had been formidable and insolent. crome, more fortunate than many of his fellows, contrived to make his escape out of the kingdom. thus mayenne had formally broken with the democratic party, so called-with the market-halls oligarchy. in thus doing, his ultimate rupture with the spaniards was foreshadowed. the next combination for him to strive for would be one to unite the moderate catholics and the bearnese. ah! if henry would but "instruct" himself out of hand, what a game the duke might play! the burgess-party, the mild royalists, the disgusted portion of the leaguers, coalescing with those of the huguenots whose fidelity might prove stanch even against the religious apostasy contemplated by their chief--this combination might prove an over-match for the ultra-leaguers, the democrats, and the spaniards. the king's name would be a tower of strength for that "third party," which began to rear its head very boldly and to call itself "politica." madam league might succumb to this new rival in the fickle hearts of the french. at the beginning of the year ; buzanval had presented his credentials to the states-general at the hague as envoy of henry iv. in the speech which he made on this occasion he expressed the hope that the mission of the viscount turenne, his majesty's envoy to england and to the netherlands, had made known the royal sentiments towards the states and the great satisfaction of the king with their energetic sympathy and assistance. it was notorious, said buzanval, that the king of spain for many years had been governed by no other motive than to bring all the rest of christendom under his dominion, while at the same time he forced upon those already placed under his sceptre a violent tyranny, passing beyond all the bounds that god, nature, and reason had set to lawful forms of government. in regard to nations born under other laws than his, he had used the pretext of religion for reducing them to servitude. the wars stirred up by his family in germany, and his recent invasion of england, were proofs of this intention, still fresh in the memory of all men. still more flagrant were his machinations in the present troubles of france. of his dealings with his hereditary realms, the condition of the noble provinces of the netherlands, once so blooming under reasonable laws, furnished, a sufficient illustration. you see, my masters, continued the envoy, the subtle plans of the spanish king and his counsellors to reach with certainty the object of their ambition. they have reflected that spain, which is the outermost corner of europe, cannot conveniently make war upon other christian realms. they have seen that a central position is necessary to enable them to stretch their arms to every side. they have remembered that princes who in earlier days were able to spread their wings over all christendom had their throne in france, like charles the great and his descendants. therefore the king is now earnestly bent on seizing this occasion to make himself master of france. the death of the late king (henry iii.) had no sooner occurred, than--as the blood through great terror rushes from the extremities and overflows the heart--they here also, fearing to lose their opportunity and astonished at the valour of our present king, abandoned all their other enterprises in order to pour themselves upon france. buzanval further reminded the states that henry had received the most encouraging promises from the protestant princes of germany, and that so great a personage as the viscount turenne, who had now gone thither to reap the fruit of those promises, would not have been sent on such a mission except that its result was certain. the queen of england, too, had promised his majesty most liberal assistance. it was not necessary to argue as to the close connection between the cause of the netherlands and that of france. the king had beaten down the mutiny of his own subjects, and repulsed the invasion of the dukes of savoy and of lorraine. in consideration of the assistance promised by germany and england--for a powerful army would be at the command of henry in the spring--it might be said that the netherlands might repose for a time and recruit their exhausted energies, under the shadow of these mighty preparations. "i do not believe, however," said the minister, "that you will all answer me thus. the faint-hearted and the inexperienced might flatter themselves with such thoughts, and seek thus to cover their cowardice, but the zealous and the courageous will see that it is time to set sail on the ship, now that the wind is rising so freshly and favourably. "for there are many occasions when an army might be ruined for want of twenty thousand crowns. what a pity if a noble edifice, furnished to the roof-tree, should fall to decay for want of a few tiles. no doubt your own interests are deeply connected with our own. men may say that our proposals should be rejected on the principle that the shirt is nearer to the skin than the coat, but it can be easily proved that our cause is one. the mere rumour of this army will prevent the duke of parma from attacking you. his forces will be drawn to france. he will be obliged to intercept the crash of this thunderbolt. the assistance of this army is worth millions to you, and has cost you nothing. to bring france into hostility with spain is the very policy that you have always pursued and always should pursue in order to protect your freedom. you have always desired a war between france and spain, and here is a fierce and cruel one in which you have hazarded nothing. it cannot come to an end without bringing signal advantages to yourselves. "you have always desired an alliance with a french sovereign, and here is a firm friendship offered you by our king, a natural alliance. "you know how unstable are most treaties that are founded on shifting interests, and do not concern the freedom of bodies and souls. the first are written with pen upon paper, and are generally as light as paper. they have no roots in the heart. those founded on mutual assistance on trying occasions have the perpetual strength of nature. they bring always good and enduring fruit in a rich soil like the heart of our king; that heart which is as beautiful and as pure from all untruth as the lily upon his shield. "you will derive the first profits from the army thus raised. from the moment of its mustering under a chief of such experience as turenne, it will absorb the whole attention of spain, and will draw her thoughts from the netherlands to france." all this and more in the same earnest manner did the envoy urge upon the consideration of the states-general, concluding with a demand of , florins as their contribution towards the french campaign. his eloquence did not fall upon unwilling ears; for the states-general, after taking time to deliberate, replied to the propositions by an expression of the strongest sympathy with, and admiration for, the heroic efforts of the king of france. accordingly, notwithstanding their own enormous expenses, past and present, and their strenuous exertions at that very moment to form an army of foot and horse for the campaign, the brilliant results of which have already been narrated, they agreed to furnish the required loan of , florins to be repaid in a year, besides six or seven good ships of war to co-operate with the fleets of england and france upon the coasts of normandy. and the states were even better than their word. before the end of autumn of the year , henry had laid siege to rouen, then the second city of the kingdom. to leave much longer so important a place--dominating, as it did, not only normandy but a principal portion of the maritime borders of france--under the control of the league and of spain was likely to be fatal to henry's success. it was perfectly sound in queen elizabeth to insist as she did, with more than her usual imperiousness towards her excellent brother, that he should lose no more time before reducing that city. it was obvious that rouen in the hands of her arch-enemy was a perpetual menace to the safety of her own kingdom. it was therefore with correct judgment, as well as with that high-flown gallantry so dear to the heart of elizabeth, that her royal champion and devoted slave assured her of his determination no longer to defer obeying her commands in this respect. the queen had repeatedly warned him of the necessity of defending the maritime frontier of his kingdom, and she was not sparing of her reproaches that the large sums which she expended in his cause had been often ill bestowed. her criticisms on what she considered his military mistakes were not few, her threats to withdraw her subsidies frequent. "owning neither the east nor the west indies," she said, "we are unable to supply the constant demands upon us; and although we have the reputation of being a good housewife, it does not follow that we can be a housewife for all the world." she was persistently warning the king of an attack upon dieppe, and rebuking him for occupying himself with petty enterprises to the neglect of vital points. she expressed her surprise that after the departure of parma, he had not driven the spaniards out of brittany, without allowing them to fortify themselves in that country. "i am astonished," she said to him, "that your eyes are so blinded as not to see this danger. remember, my dear brother," she frankly added, "that it is not only france that i am aiding, nor are my own natural realms of little consequence to me. believe me, if i see that you have no more regard to the ports and maritime places nearest to us, it will be necessary that my prayers should serve you in place of any other assistance, because it does not please me to send my people to the shambles where they may perish before having rendered you any assistance. i am sure the spaniards will soon besiege dieppe. beware of it, and excuse my bluntness, for if in the beginning you had taken the maritime forts, which are the very gates of your kingdom, paris would not have been so well furnished, and other places nearer the heart of the kingdom would not have received so much foreign assistance, without which the others would have soon been vanquished. pardon my simplicity as belonging to my own sex wishing to give a lesson to one who knows better, but my experience in government makes me a little obstinate in believing that i am not ignorant of that which belongs to a king, and i persuade myself that in following my advice you will not fail to conquer your assailants." before the end of the year henry had obtained control of the, seine, both above and below the city, holding pont de l'arche on the north--where was the last bridge across the river; that of rouen, built by the english when they governed normandy, being now in ruins--and caudebec on the south in an iron grasp. several war-vessels sent by the hollanders, according to the agreement with buzanval, cruised in the north of the river below caudebec, and rendered much service to the king in cutting off supplies from the beleaguered place, while the investing army of henry, numbering twenty-five thousand foot--inclusive of the english contingent, and three thousand netherlanders--and ten thousand cavalry, nearly all french, was fast reducing the place to extremities. parma, as usual, in obedience to his master's orders, but entirely against his own judgment, had again left the rising young general of the netherlands to proceed from one triumph to another, while he transferred beyond the borders of that land which it was his first business to protect, the whole weight of his military genius and the better portion of his well disciplined forces. most bitterly and indignantly did he express himself, both at the outset and during the whole progress of the expedition, concerning the utter disproportions between the king's means and aims. the want of money was the cause of wholesale disease, desertion, mutiny, and death in his slender army. such great schemes as his master's required, as he perpetually urged, liberality of expenditure and measures of breadth. he protested that he was not to blame for the ruin likely to come upon the whole enterprise. he had besought, remonstrated, reasoned with the king in vain. he had seen his beard first grow, he said, in the king's service, and he had grown gray in that service, but rather than be kept longer in such a position, without money, men, or means to accomplish the great purposes on which he was sent, he protested that he would "abandon his office and retire into the woods to feed on roots." repeatedly did he implore his master for a large and powerful army; for money and again money. the royal plans should be enforced adequately or abandoned entirely. to spend money in small sums, as heretofore, was only throwing it into the sea. it was deep in the winter however before he could fairly come to the rescue of the besieged city. towards the end of january, , he moved out of hainault, and once more made his junction at guise with the duke of mayenne. at a review of his forces on th january, , alexander found himself at the head of thirteen thousand five hundred and sixteen infantry and four thousand and sixty-one cavalry. the duke of mayenne's army, for payment of which that personage received from philip , dollars a month, besides , dollars a month for his own pocket, ought to have numbered ten thousand foot and three thousand horse, according to contract, but was in reality much less. the duke of montemarciano, nephew of gregory xiv., had brought two thousand swiss, furnished by the pontiff to the cause of the league, and the duke of lorraine had sent his kinsmen, the counts chaligny and vaudemont, with a force of seven hundred lancers and cuirassiers. the town of fere was assigned in pledge to farnese to hold as a convenient: mustering-place and station in proximity to his own borders, and, as usual, the chief command over the united armies was placed in his hands. these arrangements concluded, the allies moved slowly forward much in the same order as in the previous year. the young duke of guise, who had just made his escape from the prison of tours, where he had been held in durance since the famous assassination of his father and uncle, and had now come to join his uncle mayenne, led the vanguard. ranuccio, son of the duke, rode also in the advance, while two experienced commanders, vitry and de la chatre, as well as the famous marquis del vasto, formerly general of cavalry in the netherlands, who had been transferred to italy but was now serving in the league's army as a volunteer, were associated with the young princes. parma, mayenne, and montemarciano rode in the battalia, the rear being under command of the duke of aumale and the count chaligny. wings of cavalry protected the long trains of wagons which were arranged on each flank of the invading army. the march was very slow, a farnese's uniform practice to guard himself scrupulously against any possibility of surprise and to entrench himself thoroughly at nightfall. by the middle of february they reached the vicinity of aumale in picardy. meantime henry, on the news of the advance of the relieving army, had again the same problem to solve that had been presented to him before paris in the summer of . should he continue in the trenches, pressing more and more closely the city already reduced to great straits? should he take the open field against the invaders and once more attempt to crush the league and its most redoubtable commander in a general engagement? biron strenuously advised the continuance of the siege. turenne, now, through his recent marriage with the heiress, called duc de bouillon, great head of the huguenot party in france, counselled as warmly the open attack. henry, hesitating more than was customary with him, at last decided on a middle course. the resolution did not seem a very wise one, but the king, who had been so signally out-generalled in the preceding campaign by the great italian, was anxious to avoid his former errors, and might perhaps fall into as great ones by attempting two inconsistent lines of action. leaving biron in command of the infantry and a portion of the horse to continue the siege, he took the field himself with the greater part of the cavalry, intending to intercept and harass the enemy and to prevent his manifest purpose of throwing reinforcements and supplies into the invested city. proceeding to neufchatel and aumale, he soon found himself in the neighbourhood of the leaguers, and it was not long before skirmishing began. at this time, on a memorable occasion, henry, forgetting as usual, in his eagerness for the joys of the combat that he was not a young captain of cavalry with his spurs to win by dashing into every mad adventure that might present itself, but a king fighting for his crown, with the welfare of a whole people depending on his fortunes, thought proper to place himself at the head of a handful of troopers to reconnoitre in person the camp of the leaguers. starting with five hundred horse, and ordering lavardin and givry to follow with a larger body, while the dukes of nevers and longueville were to move out, should it prove necessary, in force, the king rode forth as merrily as to a hunting party, drove in the scouts and pickets of the confederated armies, and, advancing still farther in his investigations, soon found himself attacked by a cavalry force of the enemy much superior to his own. a skirmish began, and it was necessary for the little troop to beat a hasty retreat, fighting as it ran. it was not long before henry was recognised by the enemy, and the chase became all the more lively; george basti, the famous albanian trooper, commanding the force which pressed most closely upon the king. the news spread to the camp of the league that the bearnese was the leader of the skirmishers. mayenne believed it, and urged the instant advance of the flying squadron and of the whole vanguard. farnese refused. it was impossible that the king should be there, he said, doing picket duty at the head of a company. it was a clumsy ambush to bring on a general engagement in the open field, and he was not to be drawn out of his trenches into a trap by such a shallow device. a french captain, who by command of henry had purposely allowed himself to be taken, informed his captors that the skirmishers were in reality supported by a heavy force of infantry. this suggestion of the ready bearnese confirmed the doubts of alexander. meantime the skirmishing steeplechase went on before his eyes. the king dashing down a hill received an arquebus shot in his side, but still rode for his life. lavardin and givry came to the rescue, but a panic seized their followers as the rumour flew that the king was mortally wounded--was already dead--so that they hardly brought a sufficient force to beat back the leaguers. givry's horse was soon killed under him, and his own thigh crushed; lavardin was himself dangerously wounded. the king was more hard pressed than ever, men were falling on every side of him, when four hundred french dragoons--as a kind of musketeers who rode on hacks to the scene of action but did their work on foot, were called at that day--now dismounted and threw themselves between henry and his pursuers. nearly every man of them laid down his life, but they saved the king's. their vigorous hand to hand fighting kept off the assailants until nevers and longueville received the king at the gates of aumale with a force before which the leaguers were fain to retreat as rapidly as they had come. in this remarkable skirmish of aumale the opposite qualities of alexander and of henry were signally illustrated. the king, by his constitutional temerity, by his almost puerile love of confronting danger for the danger's sake, was on the verge of sacrificing himself with all the hopes of his house and of the nobler portion of his people for an absolute nothing; while the duke, out of his superabundant caution, peremptorily refused to stretch out his hand and seize the person of his great enemy when directly within his, grasp. dead or alive, the bearnese was unquestionably on that day in the power of farnese, and with him the whole issue of the campaign and of the war. never were the narrow limits that separate valour on the one side and discretion on the other from unpardonable lunacy more nearly effaced than on that occasion.' when would such an opportunity occur again? the king's wound proved not very dangerous, although for many days troublesome, and it required, on account of his general state of health, a thorough cure. meantime the royalists fell back from aumale and neufchatel, both of which places were at once occupied by the leaguers: in pursuance of his original plan, the duke of parma advanced with his customary steadiness and deliberation towards rouen. it was his intention to assault the king's army in its entrenchments in combination with a determined sortie to be made by the besieged garrison. his preparations for the attack were ready on the th february, when he suddenly received a communication from de villars, who had thus far most ably and gallantly conducted the defence of the place, informing him that it was no longer necessary to make a general attack. on the day before he had made a sally from the four gates of the city, had fallen upon the besiegers in great force, had wounded biron and killed six hundred of his soldiers, had spiked several pieces of artillery and captured others which he had successfully brought into the town, and had in short so damaged the enemy's works and disconcerted him in all his plans, that he was confident of holding the place longer than the king could afford to stay in front of him. all he wished was a moderate reinforcement of men and munitions. farnese by no means sympathized with the confident tone of villars nor approved of his proposition. he had come to relieve rouen and to raise the siege, and he preferred to do his work thoroughly. mayenne was however most heartily in favour of taking the advice of villars. he urged that it was difficult for the bearnese to keep an army long in the field, still more so in the trenches. let them provide for the immediate wants of the city; then the usual process of decomposition would soon be witnessed in the ill-paid, ill-fed, desultory forces of the heretic pretender. alexander deferred to the wishes of mayenne, although against his better judgment. eight hundred infantry, were successfully sent into rouen. the army of the league then countermarched into picardy near the confines of artois. they were closely followed by henry at the head of his cavalry, and lively skirmishes were of frequent occurrence. in a military point of view none of these affairs were of consequence, but there was one which partook at once of the comic and the pathetic. for it chanced that in a cavalry action of more than common vivacity the count chaligny found himself engaged in a hand to hand conflict with a very dashing swordsman, who, after dealing and receiving many severe blows, at last succeeded in disarming the count and taking him prisoner. it was the fortune of war, and, but a few days before, might have been the fate of the great henry himself. but chaligny's mortification at his captivity became intense when he discovered that the knight to whom he had surrendered was no other than the king's jester. that he, a chieftain of the holy league, the long-descended scion of the illustrious house of lorraine, brother of the great duke of mercoeur, should become the captive of a huguenot buffoon seemed the most stinging jest yet perpetrated since fools had come in fashion. the famous chicot--who was as fond of a battle as of a gibe, and who was almost as reckless a rider as his master--proved on this occasion that the cap and bells could cover as much magnanimity as did the most chivalrous crest. although desperately wounded in the struggle which had resulted in his triumph, he generously granted to the count his freedom without ransom. the proud lorrainer returned to his leaguers and the poor fool died afterwards of his wounds. the army of the allies moved through picardy towards the confines of artois, and sat down leisurely to beleaguer rue, a low-lying place on the banks and near the mouth of the somme, the only town in the province which still held for the king. it was sufficiently fortified to withstand a good deal of battering, and it certainly seemed mere trifling for the great duke of parma to leave the netherlands in such confusion, with young maurice of nassau carrying everything before him, and to come all the way into normandy in order, with the united armies of spain and the league, to besiege the insignificant town of rue. and this was the opinion of farnese, but he had chosen throughout the campaign to show great deference to the judgment of mayenne. meantime the month of march wore away, and what had been predicted came to pass. henry's forces dwindled away as usual. his cavaliers rode off to forage for themselves, when their battles were denied them, and the king was now at the head of not more than sixteen thousand foot and five thousand horse. on the other hand the leaguers' army had been melting quite as rapidly. with the death of pope sfondrato, his nephew montemarciano had disappeared with his two thousand swiss; while the french cavalry and infantry, ill-fed and uncomfortable, were diminishing daily. especially the walloons, flemings, and other netherlanders of parma's army, took advantage of their proximity to the borders and escaped in large numbers to their own homes. it was but meagre and profitless campaigning on both sides during those wretched months of winter and early spring, although there was again an opportunity for sir roger williams, at the head of two hundred musketeers and one hundred and fifty pikemen, to make one of his brilliant skirmishes under the eye of the bearnese. surprised and without armour, he jumped, in doublet and hose, on horseback, and led his men merrily against five squadrons of spanish and italian horse, and six companies of spanish infantry; singled out and unhorsed the leader of the spanish troopers, and nearly cut off the head, of the famous albanian chief george basti with one swinging blow of his sword. then, being reinforced by some other english companies, he succeeded in driving the whole body of italians and spaniards, with great loss, quite into their entrenchments. "the king doth commend him very highly," said umton, "and doth more than wonder at the valour of our nation. i never heard him give more honour to any service nor to any man than he doth to sir roger williams and the rest, whom he held as lost men, and for which he has caused public thanks to be given to god." at last villars, who had so peremptorily rejected assistance at the end of february, sent to say that if he were not relieved by the middle of april he should be obliged to surrender the city. if the siege were not raised by the twentieth of the month he informed parma, to his profound astonishment, that rouen would be in henry's hands. in effecting this result the strict blockade maintained by the dutch squadron at the mouth of the river, and the resolute manner in which those cruisers dashed at every vessel attempting to bring relief to rouen, were mainly instrumental. as usual with the stern hollanders and zeelanders when engaged at sea with the spaniards, it was war to the knife. early in april twelve large vessels, well armed and manned, attempted to break the blockade. a combat ensued, at the end of which eight of the spanish ships were captured, two were sunk, and two were set on fire in token of victory, every man on board of all being killed and thrown into the sea. queen elizabeth herself gave the first news of this achievement to the dutch envoy in london. "and in truth," said he, "her majesty expressed herself, in communicating these tidings, with such affection and extravagant joy to the glory and honour of our nation and men-of-war's-men, that it wonderfully delighted me, and did me good into my very heart to hear it from her." instantly farnese set himself to the work which, had he followed his own judgment, would already have been accomplished. henry with his cavalry had established himself at dieppe and arques, within a distance of five or six leagues from the infantry engaged in the siege of rouen. alexander saw the profit to be derived from the separation between the different portions of the enemy's forces, and marched straight upon the enemy's entrenchments. he knew the disadvantage of assailing a strongly fortified camp, but believed that by a well-concerted, simultaneous assault by villars from within and the leaguers from without, the king's forces would be compelled to raise the siege or be cut up in their trenches. but henry did not wait for the attack. he had changed his plan, and, for once in his life, substituted extreme caution for his constitutional temerity. neither awaiting the assault upon his entrenchments nor seeking his enemy in the open field, he ordered the whole camp to be broken up, and on the th of april raised the siege. farnese marched into rouen, where the leaguers were received with tumultuous joy, and this city, most important for the purposes of the league and for philip's ulterior designs, was thus wrested from the grasp just closing upon it. henry's main army now concentrated itself in the neighbourhood of dieppe, but the cavalry under his immediate superintendence continued to harass the leaguers. it was now determined to lay siege to caudebec, on the right bank of the seine, three leagues below rouen; the possession of this place by the enemy being a constant. danger and difficulty to rouen, whose supplies by the seine were thus cut off. alexander, as usual, superintended the planting of the batteries against the place. he had been suffering during the whole campaign with those dropsical ailments which were making life a torture to him; yet his indomitable spirit rose superior to his physical disorders, and he wrought all day long on foot or on horseback, when he seemed only fit to be placed on his bed as a rapid passage to his grave. on this occasion, in company with the italian engineer properzio, he had been for some time examining with critical nicety the preliminaries, for the siege, when it was suddenly observed by those around him that he was growing pale. it then appeared that he had received a musket-ball between the wrist and the elbow, and had been bleeding profusely; but had not indicated by a word or the movement of a muscle that he had been wounded, so intent was he upon carrying out the immediate task to which he had set himself. it was indispensable, however, that he should now take to his couch. the wound was not trifling, and to one in his damaged and dropsical condition it was dangerous. fever set in, with symptoms of gangrene, and it became necessary to entrust the command of the league to mayenne. but it was hardly concealed from parma that the duke was playing a double game. prince ranuccio, according to his father's express wish, was placed provisionally at the head of the flemish forces. this was conceded; however, with much heart-burning, and with consequences easily to be imagined. meantime caudebec fell at once. henry did nothing to relieve it, and the place could offer but slight resistance to the force arrayed against it. the bulk of the king's army was in the neighbourhood of dieppe, where they had been recently strengthened by twenty companies of netherlanders and scotchmen brought by count philip nassau. the league's headquarters were in the village of yvetot, capital of the realm of the whimsical little potentate so long renowned under that name. the king, in pursuance of the plan he had marked out for himself, restrained his skirmishing more than was his wont. nevertheless he lay close to yvetot. his cavalry, swelling and falling as usual like an alpine torrent, had now filled up its old channels again, for once more the mountain chivalry had poured themselves around their king. with ten thousand horsemen he was now pressing the leaguers, from time to time, very hard, and on one occasion the skirmishing became so close and so lively that a general engagement seemed imminent. young ranuccio had a horse shot under him, and his father--suffering as he was--had himself dragged out of bed and brought on a litter into the field, where he was set on horseback, trampling on wounds and disease, and, as it were, on death itself, that he might by his own unsurpassed keenness of eye and quickness of resource protect the army which had been entrusted to his care. the action continued all day; young bentivoglio, nephew of the famous cardinal, historian and diplomatist, receiving a bad wound in the leg, as he fought gallantly at the side of ranuccio. carlo coloma also distinguished himself in the engagement. night separated the combatants before either side had gained a manifest advantage, and on the morrow it seemed for the interest of neither to resume the struggle. the field where this campaign was to be fought was a narrow peninsula enclosed between the sea and the rivers seine and dieppe. in this peninsula, called the land of caux, it was henry's intention to shut up his enemy. farnese had finished the work that he had been sent to do, and was anxious, as henry was aware, to return to the netherlands. rouen was relieved, caudebec had fallen. there was not food or forage enough in the little peninsula to feed both the city and the whole army of the league. shut up in this narrow area, alexander must starve or surrender. his only egress was into picardy and so home to artois, through the base of the isosceles triangle between the two rivers and on the borders of picardy. on this base henry had posted his whole army. should farnese assail him, thus provided with a strong position and superiority of force, defeat was certain. should he remain where he was, he must inevitably starve. he had no communications with the outside. the hollanders lay with their ships below caudebec, blockading the river's mouth and the coast. his only chance of extrication lay across the seine. but alexander was neither a bird nor a fish, and it was necessary, so henry thought, to be either the one or the other to cross that broad, deep, and rapid river, where there were no bridges, and where the constant ebb and flow of the tide made transportation almost impossible in face of a powerful army in rear and flank. farnese's situation seemed, desperate; while the shrewd bearnese sat smiling serenely, carefully watching at the mouth of the trap into which he had at last inveigled his mighty adversary. secure of his triumph, he seemed to have changed his nature, and to have become as sedate and wary as, by habit, he was impetuous and hot. and in truth farnese found himself in very narrow quarters. there was no hay for his horses, no bread for his men. a penny loaf was sold for two shillings. a jug of water was worth a crown. as for meat or wine, they were hardly to be dreamed of. his men were becoming furious at their position. they had enlisted to fight, not to starve, and they murmured that it was better for an army to fall with weapons in its hands than to drop to pieces hourly with the enemy looking on and enjoying their agony. it was obvious to farnese that there were but two ways out of his dilemma. he might throw himself upon henry--strongly entrenched as he was, and with much superior forces to his own, upon ground deliberately chosen for himself--defeat him utterly, and march over him back to the netherlands. this would be an agreeable result; but the undertaking seemed difficult, to say the least. or he might throw his army across the seine and make his escape through the isle of france and southern picardy back to the so-called obedient provinces. but it seemed, hopeless without bridges or pontoons to attempt the passage of the seine. there was; however, no time left, for hesitation. secretly he took his resolution and communicated it in strict confidence to mayenne, to ranuccio, and to one or two other chiefs. he came to caudebec, and there, close to the margin of the river, he threw up a redoubt. on the opposite bank, he constructed another. on both he planted artillery, placing a force of eight hundred netherlanders under count bossu in the one, and an equal number of the same nation, walloons chiefly, under barlotte in the other. he collected all the vessels, flatboats,--wherries,--and rafts that could be found or put together at rouen, and then under cover of his forts he transported all the flemish infantry, and the spanish, french, and italian cavalry, during the night of nd may to the may, opposite bank of the seine. next morning he sent up all the artillery together with the flemish cavalry to rouen, where, making what use he could by temporary contrivances of the broken arches of the broken bridge, in order to shorten the distance from shore to shore, he managed to convey his whole army with all its trains across the river. a force was left behind, up to the last moment, to engage in the customary skirmishes, and to display themselves as largely as possible for the purpose of imposing upon the enemy. the young prince of parma had command of this rearguard. the device was perfectly successful. the news of the movement was not brought to the ears of henry until after it had been accomplished. when the king reached the shore of the seine, he saw to his infinite chagrin and indignation that the last stragglers of the army, including the garrison of the fort on the right bank, were just ferrying themselves across under command of ranuccio. furious with disappointment, he brought some pieces of artillery to bear upon the triumphant fugitives. not a shot told, and the leaguers had the satisfaction of making a bonfire in the king's face of the boats which had brought them over. then, taking up their line of march rapidly inland, they placed themselves completely out of the reach of the huguenot guns. henry had a bridge at pont de l'arche, and his first impulse was to pursue with his cavalry, but it was obvious that his infantry could never march by so circuitous a route fast enough to come up with the enemy, who had already so prodigious a stride in advance. there was no need to disguise it to himself. henry saw himself for the second time out-generalled by the consummate farnese. the trap was broken, the game had given him the slip. the manner in which the duke had thus extricated himself from a profound dilemma; in which his fortunes seemed hopelessly sunk, has usually been considered one of the most extraordinary exploits of his life. precisely at this time, too, ill news reached henry from brittany and the neighbouring country. the princes conti and dombes had been obliged, on the th may, , to raise the siege of craon, in consequence of the advance of the duke of mercoeur, with a force of seven thousand men. they numbered, including lanzknechts and the english contingent, about half as many, and before they could effect their retreat, were attacked by mercoeur, and utterly routed. the english, who alone stood to their colours, were nearly all cut to pieces. the rest made a disorderly retreat, but were ultimately, with few exceptions, captured or slain. the duke, following up his victory, seized chateau gontier and la val, important crossing places on the river mayenne, and laid siege to mayenne, capital city of that region. the panic, spreading through brittany and maine, threatened the king's cause there with complete overthrow, hampered his operations in normandy, and vastly encouraged the leaguers. it became necessary for henry to renounce his designs upon rouen, and the pursuit of parma, and to retire to vernon, there to occupy himself with plans for the relief of brittany. in vain had the earl of essex, whose brother had already been killed in the campaign, manifested such headlong gallantry in that country as to call forth the sharpest rebukes from the admiring but anxious elizabeth. the handful of brave englishmen who had been withdrawn from the netherlands, much to the dissatisfaction of the states-general, in order to defend the coasts of brittany, would have been better employed under maurice of nassau. so soon as the heavy news reached the king, the faithful umton was sent for. "he imparted the same unto me," said the envoy, "with extraordinary passion and discontent. he discoursed at large of his miserable estate, of the factions of his servants, and of their ill-dispositions, and then required my opinion touching his course for brittan, as also what further aid he might expect from her majesty; alleging that unless he were presently strengthened by england it was impossible for him, longer to resist the greatness of the king of spain, who assailed his country by brittany, languedoc, the low countries by the duke of saxony and the duke of lorraine, and so ended his speech passionately." thus adjured, sir henry spoke to the king firmly but courteously, reminding him how, contrary to english advice, he had followed other counsellors to the neglect of brittany, and had broken his promises to the queen. he concluded by urging him to advance into that country in person, but did not pledge himself on behalf of her majesty to any further assistance. "to this," said umton, "the king gave a willing ear, and replied, with many thanks, and without disallowing of anything that i alleged, yielding many excuses of his want of means, not of disposition, to provide a remedy, not forgetting to acknowledge her majesty's care of him and his country, and especially of brittany, excusing much the bad disposition of his counsellors, and inclining much to my motion to go in person thither, especially because he might thereby give her majesty better satisfaction; . . . . and protesting that he would either immediately himself make war there in those parts or send an army thither. i do not doubt," added the ambassador, "but with good handling her majesty may now obtain any reasonable matter for the conservation of brittany, as also for a place of retreat for the english, and i urge continually the yielding of brest into her majesty's hands, whereunto i find the king well inclined, if he might bring it to pass." alexander passed a few days in paris, where he was welcomed with much cordiality, recruiting his army for a brief period in the land of brie, and then--broken in health but entirely successful--he dragged himself once more to spa to drink the waters. he left an auxiliary force with mayenne, and promised--infinitely against his own wishes--to obey his master's commands and return again before the winter to do the league's work. and thus alexander had again solved a difficult problem. he had saved for his master and for the league the second city of france and the whole coast of normandy. rouen had been relieved in masterly manner even as paris had been succoured the year before. he had done this, although opposed by the sleepless energy and the exuberant valour of the quick-witted navarre, and although encumbered by the assistance of the ponderous duke of mayenne. his military reputation, through these two famous reliefs and retreats, grew greater than ever. no commander of the age was thought capable of doing what he had thus done. yet, after all, what had he accomplished? did he not feel in his heart of hearts that he was but a strong and most skilful swimmer struggling for a little while against an ocean-tide which was steadily sweeping him and his master and all their fortunes far out into the infinite depths? something of this breathed ever in his most secret utterances. but, so long as life was in him, his sword and his genius were at the disposal of his sovereign, to carry out a series of schemes as futile as they were nefarious. for us, looking back upon the past, which was then the future, it is easy to see how remorselessly the great current of events was washing away the system and the personages seeking to resist its power and to oppose the great moral principles by which human affairs in the long run are invariably governed. spain and rome were endeavouring to obliterate the landmarks of race, nationality, historical institutions, and the tendencies of awakened popular conscience, throughout christendom, and to substitute for them a dead level of conformity to one regal and sacerdotal despotism. england, holland, the navarre party in france, and a considerable part of germany were contending for national unity and independence, for vested and recorded rights. much farther than they themselves or their chieftains dreamed those millions of men were fighting for a system of temperate human freedom; for that emancipation under just laws from arbitrary human control, which is the right--however frequently trampled upon--of all classes, conditions, and races of men; and for which it is the instinct of the human race to continue to struggle under every disadvantage, and often against all hope, throughout the ages, so long as the very principle of humanity shall not be extinguished in those who have been created after their maker's image. it may safely be doubted whether the great queen, the bearnese, alexander farnese, or his master, with many of their respective adherents, differed very essentially from each other in their notions of the right divine and the right of the people. but history has shown us which of them best understood the spirit of the age, and had the keenest instinct to keep themselves in the advance by moving fastest in the direction whither it was marshalling all men. there were many, earnest, hard-toiling men in those days, men who believed in the work to which they devoted their lives. perhaps, too, the devil-worshippers did their master's work as strenuously and heartily as any, and got fame and pelf for their pains. fortunately, a good portion of what they so laboriously wrought for has vanished into air; while humanity has at least gained something from those who deliberately or instinctively conformed themselves to her eternal laws. etext editor's bookmarks: anatomical study of what has ceased to exist artillery bomb-shells were not often used although known for a century court fatigue, to scorn pleasure for us, looking back upon the past, which was then the future hardly an inch of french soil that had not two possessors holy institution called the inquisition inevitable fate of talking castles and listening ladies life of nations and which we call the past often necessary to be blind and deaf picturesqueness of crime royal plans should be enforced adequately or abandoned entirely toil and sacrifices of those who have preceded us use of the spade utter disproportions between the king's means and aims valour on the one side and discretion on the other walk up and down the earth and destroy his fellow-creatures we have the reputation of being a good housewife weapons history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter xxvi. return of prince maurice to the siege of steenwyck--capitulation of the besieged--effects of the introduction of mining operations-- maurice besieges coeworden--verdugo attempts to relieve the city, but fails--the city capitulates, and prince maurice retreats into winter quarters. while farnese had thus been strengthening the bulwarks of philip's universal monarchy in that portion of his proposed french dominions which looked towards england, there had been opportunity for prince maurice to make an assault upon the frisian defences of this vast realm. it was difficult to make half europe into one great spanish fortification, guarding its every bastion and every point of the curtain, without far more extensive armaments than the "great king," as the leaguers proposed that philip should entitle himself, had ever had at his disposal. it might be a colossal scheme to stretch the rod of empire over so large a portion of the earth, but the dwarfish attempts to carry the design into execution hardly reveal the hand of genius. it is astonishing to contemplate the meagre numbers and the slender funds with which this world-empire was to be asserted and maintained. the armies arrayed at any important point hardly exceeded a modern division or two; while the resources furnished for a year would hardly pay in later days for a few weeks' campaign. when alexander, the first commander of his time, moved out of flanders into france with less than twenty thousand men, he left most vital portions of his master's hereditary dominions so utterly unprotected that it was possible to attack them with a handful of troops. the young disciple of simon stevinus now resumed that practical demonstration of his principles which had been in the previous year so well begun. on the th may, , maurice, taking the field with six thousand foot and two thousand horse, came once more before steenwyck. it will be remembered that he had been obliged to relinquish the siege of this place in order to confront the duke of parma in july, , at nymegen. the city--very important from its position, being the key to the province of drenthe as well as one of the safeguards of friesland--had been besieged in vain by count renneberg after his treasonable surrender of groningen, of which he was governor, to the spaniards, but had been subsequently surprised by tassis. since that time it had held for the king. its fortifications were strong, and of the best description known at that day. its regular garrison was sixteen companies of foot and some cavalry under antoine de quocqueville, military governor. besides these troops were twelve hundred walloon infantry, commanded by lewis, youngest count van den berg, a brave lad of eighteen years, with whom were the lord of waterdyck and other netherland nobles. to the military student the siege may possess importance as marking a transitional epoch in the history of the beleaguering science. to the general reader, as in most of the exploits of the young poliorcetes, its details have but slender interest. perhaps it was here that the spade first vindicated its dignity, and entitled itself to be classed as a military weapon of value along with pike and arquebus. it was here that the soldiers of maurice, burrowing in the ground at ten stuyvers a day, were jeered at by the enemy from the battlements as boors and ditchers, who had forfeited their right to be considered soldiers--but jeered at for the last time. from th may to th june the prince was occupied in throwing up earthworks on the low grounds in order to bring his guns into position. on the th june he began to batter with forty-five pieces, but effected little more than to demolish some of the breast-works. he threw hot shot into the town very diligently, too, but did small damage. the cannonading went on for nearly a week, but the practice was so very indifferent--notwithstanding the protection of the blessed barbara and the tuition of the busmasters--that the besieged began to amuse themselves with these empty and monotonous salvos of the honourable artillery guild. when all this blazing and thundering had led to no better result than to convert a hundred thousand good flemish florins into noise and smoke, the thrifty netherlanders on both sides of the walls began to disparage the young general's reputation. after all, they said, the spaniards were right when they called artillery mere 'espanta-vellacos' or scare-cowards. this burrowing and bellowing must at last give place to the old-fashioned push of pike, and then it would be seen who the soldiers were. observations like these were freely made under a flag of truce; for on the th june--notwithstanding their contempt for the 'espanta-vellacos'--the besieged had sent out a deputation to treat for an honourable surrender. maurice entertained the negotiators hospitably in his own tent, but the terms suggested to him were inadmissible. nothing came of the conference therefore but mutual criticisms, friendly enough, although sufficiently caustic. maurice now ceased cannonading, and burrowed again for ten days without interruption. four mines, leading to different points of the defences, were patiently constructed, and two large chambers at the terminations, neatly finished off and filled respectively with five thousand and twenty-five hundred pounds of powder, were at last established under two of the principal bastions. during all this digging there had been a couple of sorties in which the besieged had inflicted great damage on their enemy, and got back into the town with a few prisoners, having lost but six of their own men. sir francis vere had been severely wounded in the leg, so that he was obliged to keep his bed during the rest of the siege. verdugo, too, had made a feeble attempt to reinforce the place with three hundred men, sixty or seventy of whom had entered, while the rest had been killed or captured. on such a small scale was philip's world-empire contended for by his stadholder in friesland; yet it was certainly not the fault of the stout old portuguese. verdugo would rather have sent thirty thousand men to save the front door of his great province than three hundred. but every available man--and few enough of them they were--had been sent out of the netherlands, to defend the world-empire in its outposts of normandy and brittany. this was philip the prudent's system for conquering the world, and men looked upon him as the consummation of kingcraft. on the rd july maurice ordered his whole force to be in readiness for the assault. the mines were then sprung. the bastion of the east gate was blown to ruins. the mine under the gast-huys bulwark, burst outwardly, and buried alive many hollanders standing ready for the assault. at this untoward accident maurice hesitated to give the signal for storming the breach, but the panic within the town was so evident that lewis william lost no time in seizing the overthrown eastern bulwark, from the ruins of which he looked over the whole city. the other broken bastion was likewise easily mastered, and the besieged, seeing the storm about to burst upon them with irresistible fury, sent a trumpet. meantime maurice, inspecting the effects of the explosion and preparing for the assault, had been shot through the left cheek. the wound was not dangerous, and the prince extracted the bullet with his own hand, but the change of half an inch would have made it fatal. he was not incapacitated--after his wound had been dressed, amidst the remonstrances of his friends for his temerity-from listening to the propositions of the city. they were refused, for the prince was sure of having his town on his own terms. next day he permitted the garrison to depart; the officers and soldiers promising not to serve the king of spain on the netherland side of the rhine for six months. they were to take their baggage, but to leave arms, flags, munitions, and provisions. both maurice and lewis william were for insisting on sterner conditions, but the states' deputies and members of the council who were present, as usual, in camp urged the building of the golden bridge. after all, a fortified city, the second in importance after groningen of all those regions, was the real prize contended for. the garrison was meagre and much reduced during the siege. the fortifications, of masonry and earthwork combined, were nearly as strong as ever. saint barbara had done them but little damage, but the town itself was in a sorry plight. churches and houses were nearly all shot to pieces, and the inhabitants had long been dwelling in the cellars. two hundred of the garrison remained, severely wounded, in the town; three hundred and fifty had been killed, among others the young cousin of the nassaus, count lewis van den berg. the remainder of the royalists marched out, and were treated with courtesy by maurice, who gave them an escort, permitting the soldiers to retain their side-arms, and furnishing horses to the governor. in the besieging army five or six hundred had been killed and many wounded, but not in numbers bearing the same proportion to the slain as in modern battles. the siege had lasted forty-four days. when it was over, and men came out from the town to examine at leisure the prince's camp and his field of operations, they were astounded at the amount of labor performed in so short a time. the oldest campaigners confessed that they never before had understood what a siege really was, and they began to conceive a higher respect for the art of the engineer than they had ever done before. "even those who were wont to rail at science and labour," said one who was present in the camp of maurice, "declared that the siege would have been a far more arduous undertaking had it not been for those two engineers, joost matthes of alost, and jacob kemp of gorcum. it is high time to take from soldiers the false notion that it is shameful to work with the spade; an error which was long prevalent among the netherlanders, and still prevails among the french, to the great detriment of the king's affairs, as may be seen in his sieges." certainly the result of henry's recent campaign before rouen had proved sufficiently how much better it would have been for him had there been some dutch joosts and jacobs with their picks and shovels in his army at that critical period. they might perhaps have baffled parma as they had done verdugo. without letting the grass grow under his feet, maurice now led his army from steenwyck to zwol and arrived on the th july before coeworden. this place, very strong by art and still stronger by-nature, was the other key to all north netherland--friesland, groningen, and drenthe. should it fall into the hands of the republic it would be impossible for the spaniards to retain much longer the rich and important capital of all that country, the city of groningen. coeworden lay between two vast morasses, one of which--the bourtange swamp--extended some thirty miles to the bay of the dollart; while the other spread nearly as far in a westerly direction to the zuyder zee. thus these two great marshes were a frame--an almost impassable barrier--by which the northern third of the whole territory of the republic was encircled and defended. throughout this great morass there was not a hand-breadth of solid ground--not a resting-place for a human foot, save the road which led through coeworden. this passage lay upon a natural deposit of hard, dry sand, interposed as if by a caprice of nature between the two swamps; and was about half a mile in width. the town itself was well fortified, and verdugo had been recently strengthening the position with additional earthworks. a thousand veterans formed the garrison under command of another van den berg, the count frederic. it was the fate of these sister's-children of the great founder of the republic to serve the cause of foreign despotism with remarkable tenacity against their own countrymen, and against their nearest blood relations. on many conspicuous occasions they were almost as useful to spain and the inquisition as the son and nearly all the other kinsmen of william the silent had rendered themselves to the cause of holland and of freedom. having thoroughly entrenched his camp before coeworden and begun the regular approaches, maurice left his cousin lewis william to superintend the siege operations for the moment, and advanced towards ootmarsum, a frontier town which might give him trouble if in the hands of a relieving force. the place fell at once, with the loss of but one life to the states army, but that a very valuable one; general de famars, one of the original signers of the famous compromise; and a most distinguished soldier of the republic, having been killed before the gates. on the st july, maurice returned to his entrenchments. the enemy professed unbounded confidence; van den berg not doubting that he should be relieved by verdugo, and verdugo being sure that van den berg would need no relief. the portuguese veteran indeed was inclined to wonder at maurice's presumption in attacking so impregnable a fortress. "if coeworden does not hold," said he, "there is no place in the world that can hold." count peter ernest, was still acting as governor-general for alexander farnese, on returning from his second french campaign, had again betaken himself, shattered and melancholy, to the waters of spa, leaving the responsibility for netherland affairs upon the german octogenarian. to him; and to the nonagenarian mondragon at antwerp, the veteran verdugo now called loudly for aides against the youthful pedant, whom all men had been laughing at a twelvemonth or so before. the macedonian phalanx, simon stevinus and delving dutch boors--unworthy of the name of soldiers--seemed to be steadily digging the ground from under philip's feet in his hereditary domains. what would become of the world-empire, where was the great king--not of spain alone, nor of france alone--but the great monarch of all christendom, to plant his throne securely, if his frisian strongholds, his most important northern outposts, were to fall before an almost beardless youth at the head of a handful of republican militia? verdugo did his best, but the best was little. the spanish and italian legions had been sent out of the netherlands into france. many had died there, many were in hospital after their return, nearly all the rest were mutinous for want of pay. on the th august, maurice formally summoned coeworden to surrender. after the trumpeter had blown thrice; count van den berg, forbidding all others, came alone upon the walls and demanded his message. "to claim this city in the name of prince maurice of nassau and of the states-general," was the reply. "tell him first to beat down my walls as flat as the ditch," said van den berg, "and then to bring five or six storms. six months after that i will think whether i will send a trumpet." the prince proceeded steadily with his approaches, but he was infinitely chagrined by the departure out of his camp of sir francis vere with his english contingent of three regiments, whom queen elizabeth had peremptorily ordered to the relief of king henry in brittany. nothing amazes the modern mind so much as the exquisite paucity of forces and of funds by which the world-empire was fought for and resisted in france, holland, spain, and england. the scenes of war were rapidly shifted--almost like the slides of a magic-lantern--from one country to another; the same conspicuous personages, almost the same individual armies, perpetually re-appearing in different places, as if a wild phantasmagoria were capriciously repeating itself to bewilder the imagination. essex, and vere, and roger williams, and black norris-van der does, and admiral nassau, the meetkerks and count philip-farnese and mansfeld, george basti, arenberg, berlaymont, la none and teligny, aquila and coloma--were seen alternately fighting, retreating, triumphant, beleaguering, campaigning all along the great territory which extends from the bay of biscay to the crags of brittany, and across the narrow seas to the bogs of ireland, and thence through the plains of picardy and flanders to the swamps of groningen and the frontiers of the rhine. this was the arena in which the great struggle was ever going on, but the champions were so few in number that their individual shapes become familiar to us like the figures of an oft-repeated pageant. and now the withdrawal of certain companies of infantry and squadrons of cavalry from the spanish armies into france, had left obedient netherland too weak to resist rebellious netherland, while, on the other hand, the withdrawal of some twenty or thirty companies of english auxiliaries--most hard-fighting veterans it is true, but very few in number--was likely to imperil the enterprise of maurice in friesland. the removal of these companies from the low countries to strengthen the bearnese in the north of france, formed the subject of much bitter diplomatic conference between the states and england; the order having been communicated by the great queen herself in many a vehement epistle and caustic speech, enforced by big, manly oaths. verdugo, although confident in the strength of the place, had represented to parma and to mansfeld the immense importance of relieving coeworden. the city, he said, was more valuable than all the towns taken the year before. all friesland hung upon it, and it would be impossible to save groningen should coeworden fall. meantime count philip nassau arrived from the campaign in france with his three regiments which he threw into garrison, and thus set free an equal number of fresh troops, which were forthwith sent to the camp of maurice. the prince at the same time was made aware that verdugo was about to receive important succour, and he was advised by the deputies of the states-general present at his headquarters to send out his german reiters to intercept them. maurice refused. should his cavalry be defeated, he said, his whole army would be endangered. he determined to await within his fortified camp the attack of the relieving force. during the whole month of august he proceeded steadily with his sapping and mining. by the middle of the month his lines had come through the ditch, which he drained of water into the counterscarp. by the beginning of september he had got beneath the principal fort, which, in the course of three or four days, he expected to blow into the air. the rainy weather had impeded his operations and the march of the relieving army. nevertheless that army was at last approaching. the regiments of mondragon, charles mansfeld, gonzaga, berlaymont, and arenberg had been despatched to reinforce verdugo. on the rd august, having crossed the rhine at rheinberg, they reached olfen in the country of benthem, ten miles from coeworden. here they threw up rockets and made other signals that relief was approaching the town. on the rd of september verdugo, with the whole force at his disposal, amounting to four thousand foot and eighteen hundred horse, was at the village of emblichen, within a league of the besieged city. that night a peasant was captured with letters from verdugo to the governor of coeworden, giving information that he intended to make an assault on the besiegers on the night of th- th september. thus forewarned, maurice took the best precautions and calmly within his entrenchments awaited the onslaught. punctual to his appointment, verdugo with his whole force, yelling "victoria! victoria!" made a shirt-attack, or camiciata--the men wearing their shirts outside their armour to distinguish each other in the darkness--upon that portion of the camp which was under command of hohenlo. they were met with determination and repulsed, after fighting all night, with a loss of three hundred killed and a proportionate number of wounded. the netherlanders had but three killed and six wounded. among the latter, however, was lewis william, who received a musket-ball in the belly, but remained on the ground until the enemy had retreated. it was then discovered that his wound was not mortal--the intestines not having been injured--and he was soon about his work again. prince maurice, too, as usual, incurred the remonstrances of the deputies and others for the reckless manner in which he exposed himself wherever the fire was hottest he resolutely refused, however, to permit his cavalry to follow the retreating enemy. his object was coeworden--a prize more important than a new victory over the already defeated spaniards would prove--and this object he kept ever before his eyes. this was verdugo's first and last attempt to relieve the city. he had seen enough of the young prince's tactics and had no further wish to break his teeth against those scientific entrenchments. the spaniards at last, whether they wore their shirts inside or outside their doublets, could no longer handle the dutchmen at pleasure. that people of butter, as the iron duke of alva was fond of calling the netherlanders, were grown harder with the pressure of a twenty-five years' war. five days after the sanguinary 'camiciata' the besieged offered to capitulate. the trumpet at which the proud van den berg had hinted for six months later arrived on the th september. maurice was glad to get his town. his "little soldiers" did not insist, as the spaniards and italians were used to do in the good old days, on unlimited murder, rape, and fire, as the natural solace and reward of their labours in the trenches. civilization had made some progress, at least in the netherlands. maurice granted good terms, such as he had been in the habit of conceding to all captured towns. van den berg was courteously received by his cousins, as he rode forth from the place at the head of what remained of his garrison, five hundred in number, with colours flying, matches burning, bullet in mouth, and with all their arms and baggage except artillery and ammunition, and the heroic little lewis, notwithstanding the wound in his belly, got on horseback and greeted him with a cousinly welcome in the camp. the city was a most important acquisition, as already sufficiently set forth, but queen elizabeth, much misinformed on this occasion, was inclined to undervalue it. she wrote accordingly to the states, reproaching them for using all that artillery and that royal force against a mere castle and earthheap, instead of attempting some considerable capital, or going in force to the relief of brittany. the day was to come when she would acknowledge the advantage of not leaving this earth-heap in the hands of the spaniard. meantime, prince maurice--the season being so far advanced--gave the world no further practical lessons in the engineering science, and sent his troops into winter quarters. these were the chief military phenomena in france and flanders during three years of the great struggle to establish philip's universal dominion. chapter xxvii. negotiations between queen elizabeth and the states--aspect of affair between england and the netherlands--complaints of the hollanders on the piratical acts of the english--the dutch envoy and the english government--caron's interview with elizabeth--the queen promises redress of grievances. it is now necessary to cast a glance at certain negotiations on delicate topics which had meantime been occurring between queen elizabeth and the states. england and the republic were bound together by ties so close that it was impossible for either to injure the other without inflicting a corresponding damage on itself. nevertheless this very community of interest, combined with a close national relationship--for in the european family the netherlanders and english were but cousins twice removed--with similarity of pursuits, with commercial jealousy, with an intense and ever growing rivalry for that supremacy on the ocean towards which the monarchy and the republic were so earnestly struggling, with a common passion for civil and religious freedom, and with that inveterate habit of self-assertion--the healthful but not engaging attribute of all vigorous nations--which strongly marked them both, was rapidly producing an antipathy between the two countries which time was likely rather to deepen than efface. and the national divergences were as potent as the traits of resemblance in creating this antagonism. the democratic element was expanding itself in the republic so rapidly as to stifle for a time the oligarchical principle which might one day be developed out of the same matrix; while, despite the hardy and adventurous spirit which characterised the english nation throughout all its grades, there was never a more intensely aristocratic influence in the world than the governing and directing spirit of the england of that age. it was impossible that the courtiers of elizabeth and the burgher-statesmen of holland and friesland should sympathize with each other in sentiment or in manner. the republicans in their exuberant consciousness of having at last got rid of kings and kingly paraphernalia in their own, land--for since the rejection of the sovereignty offered to france and england in this feeling had become so predominant as to make it difficult to believe that those offers had been in reality so recent--were insensibly adopting a frankness, perhaps a roughness, of political and social demeanour which was far from palatable to the euphuistic formalists of other, countries. especially the english statesmen, trained to approach their sovereign with almost oriental humility, and accustomed to exact for themselves a large amount of deference, could ill brook the free and easy tone occasionally adopted in diplomatic and official intercourse by these upstart republicans. [the venetian ambassador contarin relates that in the reign of james i. the great nobles of england were served at table by lackeys on they knees.] a queen, who to loose morals, imperious disposition, and violent temper united as inordinate a personal vanity as was ever vouchsafed to woman, and who up to the verge of decrepitude was addressed by her courtiers in the language of love-torn swain to blooming shepherdess, could naturally find but little to her taste in the hierarchy of hans brewer and hans baker. thus her majesty and her courtiers, accustomed to the faded gallantries with which the serious affairs of state were so grotesquely intermingled, took it ill when they were bluntly informed, for instance, that the state council of the netherlands, negotiating on netherland affairs, could not permit a veto to the representatives of the queen, and that this same body of dutchmen discussing their own business insisted upon talking dutch and not latin. it was impossible to deny that the young stadholder was a gentleman of a good house, but how could the insolence of a common citizen like john of olden-barneveld be digested? it was certain that behind those shaggy, overhanging brows there was a powerful brain stored with legal and historic lore, which supplied eloquence to an ever-ready tongue and pen. yet these facts, difficult to gainsay, did not make the demands so frequently urged by the states-general upon the english government for the enforcement of dutch rights and the redress of english wrongs the more acceptable. bodley, gilpin, and the rest were in a chronic state of exasperation with the hollanders, not only because of their perpetual complaints, but because their complaints were perpetually just. the states-general were dissatisfied, all the netherlanders were dissatisfied--and not entirely without reason--that the english, with whom the republic was on terms not only of friendship but of alliance, should burn their ships on the high seas, plunder their merchants, and torture their sea-captains in order to extort information as to the most precious portions of their cargoes. sharp language against such malpractices was considered but proof of democratic vulgarity. yet it would be hard to maintain that martin frobisher, mansfield, grenfell, and the rest of the sea-kings, with all their dash and daring and patriotism, were not as unscrupulous pirates as ever sailed blue water, or that they were not apt to commit their depredations upon friend and foe alike. on the other hand; by a liberality of commerce in extraordinary contrast with the practice of modern times, the netherlanders were in the habit of trading directly with the arch-enemy of both holland and england, even in the midst of their conflict with him, and it was complained of that even the munitions of war and the implements of navigation by which spain had been enabled to effect its foot-hold in brittany, and thus to threaten the english coast, were derived from this very traffic. the hollanders replied, that, according to their contract with england, they were at liberty to send as many as forty or fifty vessels at a time to spain and portugal, that they had never exceeded the stipulated number, that england freely engaged in the same traffic herself with the common enemy, that it was not reasonable to consider cordage or dried fish or shooks and staves, butter, eggs, and corn as contraband of war, that if they were illegitimate the english trade was vitiated to the same degree, and that it would be utterly hopeless for the provinces to attempt to carry on the war, except by enabling themselves, through the widest and most unrestricted foreign commerce, even including the enemy's realms, to provide their nation with the necessary wealth to sustain so gigantic a conflict. here were ever flowing fountains of bitterest discussion and recrimination. it must be admitted however that there was occasionally an advantage in the despotic and summary manner in which the queen took matters into her own hands. it was refreshing to see this great sovereign--who was so well able to grapple with questions of state, and whose very imperiousness of temper impelled her to trample on shallow sophistries and specious technicalities--dealing directly with cases of piracy and turning a deaf ear to the counsellors, who in that, as in every age, were too prone to shove by international justice in order to fulfil municipal forms. it was, however, with much difficulty that the envoy of the republic was able to obtain a direct hearing from her majesty in order to press the long list of complaints on account of the english piratical proceedings upon her attention. he intimated that there seemed to be special reasons why the great ones about her throne were disposed to deny him access to the queen, knowing as they did in what intent he asked for interviews. they described in strong language the royal wrath at the opposition recently made by the states to detaching the english auxiliaries in the netherlands for the service of the french king in normandy, hoping thereby to deter him from venturing into her presence with a list of grievances on the part of his government. "i did my best to indicate the danger incurred by such transferring of troops at so critical a moment," said noel de canon, "showing that it was directly in opposition to the contract made with her majesty. but i got no answer save very high words from the lord treasurer, to the effect that the states-general were never willing to agree to any of her majesty's prepositions, and that this matter was as necessary to the states' service as to that of the french king. in effect, he said peremptorily that her majesty willed it and would not recede from her resolution." the envoy then requested an interview with the queen before her departure into the country. next day, at noon, lord burghley sent word that she was to leave between five and six o'clock that evening, and that the minister would be welcome meantime at any hour. "but notwithstanding that i presented myself," said caron, "at two o'clock in the afternoon, i was unable to speak to her majesty until a moment before she was about to mount her horse. her language was then very curt. she persisted in demanding her troops, and strongly expressed her dissatisfaction that we should have refused them on what she called so good an occasion for using them. i was obliged to cut my replies very short, as it was already between six and seven o'clock, and she was to ride nine english miles to the place where she was to pass the night. i was quite sensible, however; that the audience was arranged to be thus brief, in order that i should not be able to stop long enough to give trouble, and perhaps to find occasion to renew our complaints touching the plunderings and robberies committed upon us at sea. this is what some of the great personages here, without doubt, are afraid of, for they were wonderfully well overhauled in my last audience. i shall attempt to speak to her again before she goes very deep into the country." it was not however before the end of the year, after caron had made a voyage to holland and had returned, that he nov. was able to bring the subject thoroughly before her majesty. on the th november he had preliminary interviews with the lord high admiral and the lord treasurer at hampton court, where the queen was then residing. the plundering business was warmly discussed between himself and the admiral, and there was much quibbling and special pleading in defence of the practices which had created so much irritation and pecuniary loss in holland. there was a good deal of talk about want of evidence and conflict of evidence, which, to a man who felt as sure of the facts and of the law as the dutch envoy did--unless it were according to public law for one friend and, ally to plunder and burn the vessels of another friend and ally--was not encouraging as to the probable issue of his interview with her majesty. it would be tedious to report the conversation as fully as it was laid by noel de caron before the states-general; but at last the admiral expressed a hope that the injured parties would be able to make good their, case. at any rate he assured the envoy that he would take care of captain mansfield for the present, who was in prison with two other captains, so that proceedings might be had against them if it was thought worth while. caron answered with dutch bluntness. "i recommended him very earnestly to do this," he said, "and told him roundly that this was by all means necessary for the sake of his own honour. otherwise no man could ever be made to believe that his excellency was not seeking to get his own profit out of the affair. but he vehemently swore and protested that this was not the case." he then went to the lord treasurer's apartment, where a long and stormy interview followed on the subject of the withdrawal of the english troops. caron warmly insisted that the measure had been full of danger, for the states; that they had been ordered out of prince maurice's camp at a most critical moment; that; had it not, been for the stallholder's promptness and military skill; very great disasters to the common cause must have ensued; and that, after all, nothing had been done by the contingent in any other field, for they had been for six months idle and sick, without ever reaching brittany at all. "the lord treasurer, who, contrary to his custom," said the envoy, "had been listening thus long to what i had to say, now observed that the states had treated her majesty very ill, that they had kept her running after her own troops nearly half a year, and had offered no excuse for their proceedings." it would be superfluous to repeat the arguments by which caron endeavoured to set forth that the english troops, sent to the netherlands according to a special compact, for a special service, and for a special consideration and equivalent, could not honestly be employed, contrary to the wishes of the states-general, upon a totally different service and in another country. the queen willed it, he was informed, and it was ill-treatment of her majesty on the part of the hollanders to oppose her will. this argument was unanswerable. soon afterwards, caron was admitted to the presence of elizabeth. he delivered, at first, a letter from the states-general, touching the withdrawal of the troops. the queen, instantly broke the seal and read the letter to the end. coming to the concluding passage, in which the states observed that they had great and just cause highly to complain on that subject, she paused, reading the sentences over twice or thrice, and then remarked: "truly these are comical people. i have so often been complaining that they refused to send my troops, and now the states complain that they are obliged to let them go. yet my intention is only to borrow them for a little while, because i can give my brother of france no better succour than by sending him these soldiers, and this i consider better than if i should send him four thousand men. i say again, i am only borrowing them, and surely the states ought never to make such complaints, when the occasion was such a favourable one, and they had received already sufficient aid from these troops, and had liberated their whole country. i don't comprehend these grievances. they complain that i withdraw my people, and meantime they are still holding them and have brought them ashore again. they send me frivolous excuses that the skippers don't know the road to my islands, which is, after all, as easy to find as the way to caen, for it is all one. i have also sent my own pilots; and i complain bitterly that by making this difficulty they will cause the loss of all brittany. they run with their people far away from me, and meantime they allow the enemy to become master of all the coasts lying opposite me. but if it goes badly with me they will rue it deeply themselves." there was considerable reason, even if there were but little justice, in this strain of remarks. her majesty continued it for some little time longer, and it is interesting to see the direct and personal manner in which this great princess handled the weightiest affairs of state. the transfer of a dozen companies of english infantry from friesland to brittany was supposed to be big with the fate of france, england, and the dutch republic, and was the subject of long and angry controversy, not as a contested point of principle, in regard to which numbers, of course, are nothing, but as a matter of practical and pressing importance. "her majesty made many more observations of this nature," said caron, "but without getting at all into a passion, and, in my opinion, her discourse was sensible, and she spoke with more moderation than she is wont at other times." the envoy then presented the second letter from the states-general in regard to the outrages inflicted on the dutch merchantmen. the queen read it at once, and expressed herself as very much displeased with her people. she said that she had received similar information from counsellor bodley, who had openly given her to understand that the enormous outrages which her people were committing at sea upon the netherlanders were a public scandal. it had made her so angry, she said, that she knew not which way to turn. she would take it in hand at once, for she would rather make oath never more to permit a single ship of war to leave her ports than consent to such thieveries and villanies. she told caron that he would do well to have his case in regard to these matters verified, and then to give it into her own hands, since otherwise it would all be denied her and she would find herself unable to get at the truth." "i have all the proofs and documents of the merchants by me," replied the envoy, "and, moreover, several of the sea-captains who have been robbed and outraged have come over with me, as likewise some merchants who were tortured by burning of the thumbs and other kinds of torments." this disturbed the queen very much, and she expressed her wish that caron should not allow himself to be put off with, delays by the council, but should insist upon all due criminal punishment, the infliction of which she promised in the strongest terms to order; for she could never enjoy peace of mind, she said; so long as such scoundrels were tolerated in her kingdom. the envoy had brought with him a summary of the cases, with the names of all the merchants interested, and a list of all the marks on the sacks of money which had been stolen. the queen looked over it very carefully, declaring it to be her intention that there should be no delays interposed in the conduct of this affair by forms of special pleading, but that speedy cognizance should be taken of the whole, and that the property should forthwith be restored. she then sent for sir robert cecil, whom she directed to go at once and tell his father, the lord treasurer, that he was to assist caron in this affair exactly as if it were her own. it was her intention, she said, that her people were in no wise to trouble the hollanders in legitimate mercantile pursuits. she added that it was not enough for her people to say that they had only been seizing spaniards' goods and money, but she meant that they should prove it, too, or else they should swing for it. caron assured her majesty that he had no other commission from his masters than to ask for justice, and that he had no instructions to claim spanish property or enemy's goods. he had brought sufficient evidence with him, he said, to give her majesty entire satisfaction. it is not necessary to pursue the subject any farther. the great nobles still endeavoured to interpose delays, and urged the propriety of taking the case before the common courts of law. carom strong in the support of the queen, insisted that it should be settled, as her majesty had commanded, by the council, and it was finally arranged that the judge of admiralty should examine the evidence on both sides, and then communicate the documents at once to the lord treasurer. meantime the money was to be deposited with certain aldermen of london, and the accused parties kept in prison. the ultimate decision was then to be made by the council, "not by form of process but by commission thereto ordained." in the course of the many interviews which followed between the dutch envoy and the privy counsellors, the lord admiral stated that an english merchant residing in the netherlands had sent to offer him a present of two thousand pounds sterling, in case the affair should be decided against the hollanders. he communicated the name of the individual to caron, under seal of secrecy, and reminded the lord treasurer that he too had seen the letter of the englishman. lord burghley observed that he remembered the fact that certain letters had been communicated to him by the lord admiral, but that he did not know from whence they came, nor anything about the person of the writer. the case of the plundered merchants was destined to drag almost as slowly before the council as it might have done in the ordinary tribunals, and caron was "kept running," as he expressed it, "from the court to london, and from london to the court," and it was long before justice was done to the sufferers. yet the energetic manner in which the queen took the case into her own hands, and the intense indignation with which she denounced the robberies and outrages which had been committed by her subjects upon her friends and allies, were effective in restraining such wholesale piracy in the future. on the whole, however, if the internal machinery is examined by which the masses of mankind were moved at epoch in various parts of christendom, we shall not find much reason to applaud the conformity of governments to the principles of justice, reason, or wisdom. etext editor's bookmarks: accustomed to the faded gallantries conformity of governments to the principles of justice considerable reason, even if there were but little justice disciple of simon stevinus self-assertion--the healthful but not engaging attribute history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , - chapter xxviii. influence of the rule and character of philip ii.--heroism of the sixteenth century--contest for the french throne--character and policy of the duke of mayenne--escape of the duke of guise from castle tours--propositions for the marriage of the infanta--plotting of the catholic party--grounds of philip's pretensions to the crown of france--motives of the duke of parma maligned by commander moreo --he justifies himself to the king--view of the private relations between philip and the duke of mayenne and their sentiments towards each other--disposition of the french politicians and soldiers towards philip--peculiar commercial pursuits of philip--confused state of affairs in france--treachery of philip towards the duke of parma--recall of the duke to spain--his sufferings and death. the people--which has been generally regarded as something naturally below its rulers, and as born to be protected and governed, paternally or otherwise, by an accidental selection from its own species, which by some mysterious process has shot up much nearer to heaven than itself--is often described as brutal, depraved, self-seeking, ignorant, passionate, licentious, and greedy. it is fitting, therefore, that its protectors should be distinguished, at great epochs of the world's history, by an absence of such objectionable qualities. it must be confessed, however, that if the world had waited for heroes--during the dreary period which followed the expulsion of something that was called henry iii. of france from the gates of his capital, and especially during the time that followed hard upon the decease of that embodiment of royalty--its axis must have ceased to turn for a long succession of years. the bearnese was at least alive, and a man. he played his part with consummate audacity and skill; but alas for an epoch or a country in which such a shape--notwithstanding all its engaging and even commanding qualities--looked upon as an incarnation of human greatness! but the chief mover of all things--so far as one man can be prime mover--was still the diligent scribe who lived in the escorial. it was he whose high mission it was to blow the bellows of civil war, and to scatter curses over what had once been the smiling abodes of human creatures, throughout the leading countries of christendom. the throne of france was vacant, nominally as well as actually, since--the year . during two-and-twenty years preceding that epoch he had scourged the provinces, once constituting the richest and most enlightened portions of his hereditary domains, upon the theory that without the spanish inquisition no material prosperity was possible on earth, nor any entrance permitted to the realms of bliss beyond the grave. had every netherlander consented to burn his bible, and to be burned himself should he be found listening to its holy precepts if read to him in shop, cottage, farm-house, or castle; and had he furthermore consented to renounce all the liberal institutions which his ancestors had earned, in the struggle of centuries, by the sweat of their brows and the blood of, their hearts; his benignant proprietor and master, who lived at the ends of the earth, would have consented at almost any moment to peace. his arms were ever open. let it not be supposed that this is the language of sarcasm or epigram. stripped of the decorous sophistication by which human beings are so fond of concealing their naked thoughts from each other, this was the one simple dogma always propounded by philip. grimace had done its worst, however, and it was long since it had exercised any power in the netherlands. the king and the dutchmen understood each other; and the plain truths with which those republicans answered the imperial proffers of mediation, so frequently renewed, were something new, and perhaps not entirely unwholesome in diplomacy. it is not an inviting task to abandon the comparatively healthy atmosphere of the battle-field, the blood-stained swamp, the murderous trench--where human beings, even if communing only by bullets and push of pike, were at least dealing truthfully with each other--and to descend into those subterranean regions where the effluvia of falsehood becomes almost too foul for ordinary human organisation. heroes in those days, in any country, there were few. william the silent was dead. de la noue was dead. duplessis-mornay was living, but his influence over his royal master was rapidly diminishing. cecil, hatton, essex, howard, raleigh, james croft, valentine dale, john norris, roger williams, the "virgin queen" herself--does one of these chief agents in public affairs, or do all of them together, furnish a thousandth part of that heroic whole which the england of the sixteenth century presents to every imagination? maurice of nassau-excellent soldier and engineer as he had already proved himself--had certainly not developed much of the heroic element, although thus far he was walking straightforward like a man, in the path of duty, with the pithy and substantial lewis william ever at his side. olden-barneveld--tough burgher-statesman, hard-headed, indomitable man of granite--was doing more work, and doing it more thoroughly, than any living politician, but he was certainly not of the mythological brotherhood who inhabit the serene regions of space beyond the moon. he was not the son of god or goddess, destined, after removal from this sphere, to shine with planetary lustre, among other constellations, upon the scenes of mortal action. those of us who are willing to rise-or to descend if the phrase seems wiser--to the idea of a self-governing people must content ourselves, for this epoch, with the fancy of a hero-people and a people-king. a plain little republic, thrusting itself uninvited into the great political family-party of heaven-anointed sovereigns and long-descended nobles, seemed a somewhat repulsive phenomenon. it became odious and dangerous when by the blows it could deal in battle, the logic it could chop in council, it indicated a remote future for the world, in which right divine and regal paraphernalia might cease to be as effective stage-properties as they had always been considered. yet it will be difficult for us to find the heroic individualised very perceptibly at this period, look where we may. already there seemed ground for questioning the comfortable fiction that the accidentally dominant families and castes were by nature wiser, better, braver than that much-contemned entity, the people. what if the fearful heresy should gain ground that the people was at least as wise, honest, and brave as its masters? what if it should become a recognised fact that the great individuals and castes, whose wealth and station furnished them with ample time and means for perfecting themselves in the science of government, were rather devoting their leisure to the systematic filling of their own pockets than to the hiving up of knowledge for the good of their fellow creatures? what if the whole theory of hereditary superiority should suddenly exhale? what if it were found out that we were all fellow-worms together, and that those which had crawled highest were not necessarily the least slimy? meantime it will be well for us, in order to understand what is called the past, to scrutinise somewhat closely that which was never meant to be revealed. to know the springs which once controlled the world's movements, one must ponder the secret thoughts, purposes, aspirations, and baffled attempts of the few dozen individuals who once claimed that world in fee-simple. such researches are not in a cheerful field; for the sources of history are rarely fountains of crystal, bubbling through meadows of asphodel. vast and noisome are the many sewers which have ever run beneath decorous christendom. some of the leading military events in france and flanders, patent to all the world, which grouped themselves about the contest for the french throne, as the central point in the history of philip's proposed world-empire, have already been indicated. it was a species of triangular contest--so far as the chief actors were concerned--for that vacant throne. philip, mayenne, henry of navarre, with all the adroitness which each possessed, were playing for the splendid prize. of philip it is not necessary to speak. the preceding volumes of this work have been written in vain, if the reader has not obtained from irrefragable testimony--the monarch's own especially--a sufficient knowledge of that human fetish before which so much of contemporary humanity grovelled. the figure of navarre is also one of the most familiar shapes in history. as for the duke of mayenne, he had been, since the death of his brother the balafre, ostensible leader of the league, and was playing, not without skill, a triple game. firstly, he hoped for the throne for himself. secondly, he was assisting the king of spain to obtain that dignity. thirdly, he was manoeuvring in dull, dumb, but not ineffective manner, in favour of navarre. so comprehensive and self-contradictory a scheme would seem to indicate an elasticity of principle and a fertility of resource not often vouchsafed to man. certainly one of the most pregnant lessons of history is furnished in the development of these cabals, nor is it, in this regard, of great importance whether the issue was to prove them futile or judicious. it is sufficient for us now, that when those vanished days constituted the present--the vital atmosphere of christendom--the world's affairs were controlled by those plotters and their subordinates, and it is therefore desirable for us to know what manner of men they were, and how they played their parts. nor should it ever be forgotten that the leading motive with all was supposed to be religion. it was to maintain the supremacy of the roman church, or to vindicate, to a certain extent, liberty of conscience, through the establishment of a heterodox organisation, that all these human beings of various lineage and language throughout christendom had been cutting each other's throats for a quarter of a century. mayenne was not without courage in the field when he found himself there, but it was observed of him that he spent more time at table than the bearnese in sleep, and that he was so fat as to require the assistance of twelve men to put him in the saddle again whenever he fell from his horse. yet slow fighter as he was, he was a most nimble intriguer. as for his private character, it was notoriously stained with every vice, nor was there enough of natural intelligence or superior acquirement to atone for his, crapulous; licentious, shameless life. his military efficiency at important emergencies was impaired and his life endangered by vile diseases. he was covetous and greedy beyond what was considered decent even in that cynical age. he received subsidies and alms with both hands from those who distrusted and despised him, but who could not eject him from his advantageous position. he wished to arrive at the throne of france. as son of francis of guise, as brother of the great balafre, he considered himself entitled to the homage of the fishwomen and the butchers' halls. the constitution of the country in that age making a people impossible, the subtle connection between a high-born intriguer and the dregs of a populace, which can only exist in societies of deep chasms and precipitous contrasts, was easily established. the duke's summary dealing with the sixteen tyrants of paris in the matter of the president's murder had, however, loosened his hold on what was considered the democracy; but this was at the time when his schemes were silently swinging towards the protestant aristocracy; at the moment when politica was taking the place of madam league in his secret affections. nevertheless, so long as there seemed a chance, he was disposed to work the mines for his own benefit. his position as lieutenant-general gave him an immense advantage for intriguing with both sides, and--in case his aspirations for royalty were baffled--for obtaining the highest possible price for himself in that auction in which philip and the bearnese were likely to strain all their resources in outbidding each other. on one thing his heart was fixed. his brother's son should at least not secure the golden prize if he could prevent it. the young duke of guise, who had been immured in castle tours since the famous murder of his father and uncle, had made his escape by a rather neat stratagem. having been allowed some liberty for amusing himself in the corridors in the neighbourhood of his apartment, he had invented a game of hop, skip, and jump up stairs and down, which he was wont to play with the soldiers of the guard, as a solace to the tediousness of confinement. one day he hopped and skipped up the staircase with a rapidity which excited the admiration of the companions of his sport, slipped into his room, slammed and bolted the doors, and when the guard, after in vain waiting a considerable tine for him to return and resume the game, at last forced an entrance, they found the bird flown out of window. rope-ladders, confederates, fast-galloping post-horses did the rest, and at last the young duke joined his affectionate uncle in camp, much to that eminent relative's discomfiture. philip gave alternately conflicting instructions to farnese--sometimes that he should encourage the natural jealousy between the pair; sometimes that he should cause them to work harmoniously together for the common good--that common good being the attainment by the king of spain of the sovereignty of france. but it was impossible, as already intimated, for mayenne to work harmoniously with his nephew. the duke of guise might marry with the infanta and thus become king of france by the grace of god and philip. to such a consummation in the case of his uncle there stood, as we know, an insuperable obstacle in the shape of the duchess of mayenne. should it come to this at last, it was certain that the duke would make any and every combination to frustrate such a scheme. meantime he kept his own counsel, worked amiably with philip, parma, and the young duke, and received money in overflowing measure, and poured into his bosom from that spanish monarch whose veterans in the netherlands were maddened by starvation into mutiny. philip's plans were a series of alternatives. france he regarded as the property of his family. of that there could be no doubt at all. he meant to put the crown upon his own head, unless the difficulties in the way should prove absolutely insuperable. in that case he claimed france and all its inhabitants as the property of his daughter. the salic law was simply a pleasantry, a bit of foolish pedantry, an absurdity. if clara isabella, as daughter of isabella of france, as grandchild of henry ii., were not manifestly the owner of france--queen-proprietary, as the spanish doctors called it--then there was no such thing, so he thought, as inheritance of castle, farm-house, or hovel--no such thing as property anywhere in the world. if the heiress of the valois could not take that kingdom as her private estate, what security could there ever be for any possessions public or private? this was logical reasoning enough for kings and their counsellors. there was much that might be said, however, in regard to special laws. there was no doubt that great countries, with all their livestock--human or otherwise--belonged to an individual, but it was not always so clear who that individual was. this doubt gave much work and comfortable fees to the lawyers. there was much learned lore concerning statutes of descent, cutting off of entails, actions for ejectment, difficulties of enforcing processes, and the like, to occupy the attention of diplomatists, politicians and other sages. it would have caused general hilarity, however, could it have been suggested that the live-stock had art or part in the matter; that sheep, swine, or men could claim a choice of their shepherds and butchers. philip--humbly satisfied, as he always expressed himself, so long as the purity of the roman dogmas and the supremacy of the romish church over the whole earth were maintained--affected a comparative indifference as to whether he should put the crown of st. louis and of hugh capet upon his own grey head or whether he should govern france through his daughter and her husband. happy the man who might exchange the symbols of mutual affection with philip's daughter. the king had various plans in regard to the bestowal of the hand thus richly endowed. first and foremost it was suggested--and the idea was not held too monstrous to be even believed in by some conspicuous individuals--that he proposed espousing his daughter himself. the pope was to be relied on, in this case, to give a special dispensation. such a marriage, between parties too closely related to be usually united in wedlock, might otherwise shock the prejudices of the orthodox. his late niece and wife was dead, so that there was no inconvenience on that score, should the interests of his dynasty, his family, and, above all, of the church, impel him, on mature reflection, to take for his fourth marriage one step farther within the forbidden degrees than he had done in his third. here is the statement, which, if it have no other value, serves to show the hideous designs of which the enemies of philip sincerely believed that monarch capable. "but god is a just god," wrote sir edward stafford, "and if with all things past, that be true that the king ('videlicet' henry iv.) yesterday assured me to be true, and that both his ambassador from venice writ to him and monsieur de luxembourg from rome, that the count olivarez had made a great instance to the pope (sixtus v.) a little afore his death, to permit his master to marry his daughter, no doubt god will not leave it long unpunished." such was the horrible tale which was circulated and believed in by henry the great of france and by eminent nobles and ambassadors, and at least thought possible by the english envoy. by such a family arrangement it was obvious that the conflicting claims of father and daughter to the proprietorship of france would be ingeniously adjusted, and the children of so well assorted a marriage might reign in undisputed legitimacy over france and spain, and the rest of the world-monarchy. should the king decide on the whole against this matrimonial project, should innocent or clement prove as intractable as sixtus, then it would be necessary to decide among various candidates for the infanta's hand. in mayenne's opinion the duke of guise was likely to be the man; but there is little doubt that philip, in case these more cherished schemes should fail, had made up his mind--so far as he ever did make up his mind upon anything--to select his nephew the archduke ernest, brother of the emperor rudolph, for his son-in-law. but it was not necessary to make an immediate choice. his quiver was full of archdukes, any one of whom would be an eligible candidate, while not one of them would be likely to reject the infanta with france on her wedding-finger. meantime there was a lion in the path in the shape of henry of navarre. those who disbelieve in the influence of the individual on the fate of mankind may ponder the possible results to history and humanity, had the dagger of jacques clement entered the stomach of henry iv. rather than of henry iii. in the summer of , or the perturbations in the world's movements that might have puzzled philosophers had there been an unsuspected mass of religious conviction revolving unseen in the mental depths of the bearnese. conscience, as it has from time to time exhibited itself on this planet of ours, is a powerful agent in controlling political combinations; but the instances are unfortunately not rare, so far as sublunary progress is concerned, in which the absence of this dominant influence permits a prosperous rapidity to individual careers. eternal honour to the noble beings, true chieftains among men, who have forfeited worldly power or sacrificed life itself at the dictate of religious or moral conviction--even should the basis of such conviction appear to some of us unsafe or unreal. shame on the tongue which would malign or ridicule the martyr or the honest convert to any form of christian faith! but who can discover aught that is inspiring to the sons of men in conversions--whether of princes or of peasants--wrought, not at risk of life and pelf, but for the sake of securing and increasing the one and the other? certainly the bearnese was the most candid of men. it was this very candour, this freedom from bigotry, this want of conviction, and this openness to conviction, that made him so dangerous and caused so much anxiety to philip. the roman church might or might not be strengthened by the re-conversion of the legitimate heir of france, but it was certain that the claims of philip and the infanta to the proprietorship of that kingdom would be weakened by the process. while the spanish king knew himself to be inspired in all his actions by a single motive, the maintenance of the supremacy of the roman church, he was perfectly aware that the prince of bearne was not so single-hearted nor so conscientious as himself. the prince of bearne--heretic, son of heretics, great chieftain of heretics--was supposed capable of becoming orthodox whenever the pope would accept his conversion. against this possibility philip struggled with all his strength. since pope sixtus v., who had a weakness for henry, there had been several popes. urban vii., his immediate successor, had reigned but thirteen days. gregory xiv. (sfondrato) had died th october, , ten months after his election. fachinetti, with the title of innocent ix., had reigned two months, from th october to th december, . he died of "spanish poison," said envoy umton, as coolly as if speaking of gout, or typhus, or any other recognised disorder. clement viii. (aldobrandini) was elected th january, . he was no lover of henry, and lived in mortal fear of philip, while it must be conceded that the spanish ambassador at rome was much given to brow-beating his holiness. should he dare to grant that absolution which was the secret object of the bearnese, there was no vengeance, hinted the envoy, that philip would not wreak on the holy father. he would cut off his supplies from naples and sicily, and starve him and all-his subjects; he would frustrate all his family schemes, he would renounce him, he would unpope him, he would do anything that man and despot could do, should the great shepherd dare to re-admit this lost sheep, and this very black sheep, into the fold of the faithful. as for henry himself, his game--for in his eyes it was nothing but a game--lay every day plainer and plainer before him. he was indispensable to the heretics. neither england, nor holland, nor protestant germany, could renounce him, even should he renounce "the religion." nor could the french huguenots exist without that protection which, even although catholic, he could still extend to them when he should be accepted as king by the catholics. hereditary monarch by french law and history, released from his heresy by the authority that could bind and loose, purged as with hyssop and washed whiter than snow, it should go hard with him if philip, and farnese, and mayenne, and all the pikemen and reiters they might muster, could keep him very long from the throne of his ancestors. nothing could match the ingenuousness with which he demanded the instruction whenever the fitting time for it should arrive; as if, instead of having been a professor both of the calvinist and catholic persuasion, and having relapsed from both, he had been some innocent peruvian or hindoo, who was invited to listen to preachings and to examine dogmas for the very first time in his life. yet philip had good grounds for hoping a favourable result from his political and military manoeuvre. he entertained little doubt that france belonged to him or to his daughter; that the most powerful party in the country was in favour of his claims, provided he would pay the voters liberally enough for their support, and that if the worst came to the worst it would always be in his power to dismember the kingdom, and to reserve the lion's share for himself, while distributing some of the provinces to the most prominent of his confederates. the sixteen tyrants of paris had already, as we have seen, urged the crown upon him, provided he would establish in france the inquisition, the council of trent, and other acceptable institutions, besides distributing judiciously a good many lucrative offices among various classes of his adherents. the duke of mayenne, in his own name and that of all the catholics of france, formally demanded of him to maintain two armies, forty thousand men in all, to be respectively under command of the duke himself and of alexander farnese, and regularly to pay for them. these propositions, as has been seen, were carried into effect as nearly as possible, at enormous expense to philip's exchequer, and he naturally expected as good faith on the part of mayenne. in the same paper in which the demand was made philip was urged to declare himself king of france. he was assured that the measure could be accomplished "by freely bestowing marquisates, baronies, and peerages, in order to content the avarice and ambition of many persons, without at the same time dissipating the greatness from which all these members depended. pepin and charlemagne," said the memorialists, "who were foreigners and saxons by nation, did as much in order to get possession of a kingdom to which they had no other right except that which they acquired there by their prudence and force, and after them hugh capet, much inferior to them in force and authority, following their example, had the same good fortune for himself and his posterity, and one which still endures. "if the authority of the holy see could support the scheme at the same time," continued mayenne and friends, "it would be a great help. but it being perilous to ask for that assistance before striking the blow, it would be better to obtain it after the execution." that these wholesome opinions were not entirely original on the part of mayenne, nor produced spontaneously, was plain from the secret instructions given by philip to his envoys, don bernardino de mendoza, john baptist de tassis, and the commander moreo, whom he had sent soon after the death of henry iii. to confer with cardinal gaetano in paris. they were told, of course, to do everything in their power to prevent the election of the prince of bearne, "being as he was a heretic, obstinate and confirmed, who had sucked heresy with his mother's milk." the legate was warned that "if the bearnese should make a show of converting himself, it would be frigid and fabricated." if they were asked whom philip desired for king--a question which certainly seemed probable under the circumstances--they were to reply that his foremost wish was to establish the catholic religion in the kingdom, and that whatever was most conducive to that end would be most agreeable to him. "as it is however desirable, in order to arrange matters, that you should be informed of everything," said his majesty, "it is proper that you should know that i have two kinds of right to all that there is over there. firstly, because the crown of france has been usurped from me, my ancestors having been unjustly excluded by foreign occupation of it; and secondly, because i claim the same crown as first male of the house of valois." here certainly were comprehensive pretensions, and it was obvious that the king's desire for the establishment of the catholic religion must have been very lively to enable him to invent or accept such astonishing fictions. but his own claims were but a portion of the case. his daughter and possible spouse had rights of her own, hard, in his opinion, to be gainsaid. "over and above all this," said philip, "my eldest daughter, the infanta, has two other rights; one to all the states which as dower-property are joined by matrimony and through females to this crown, which now come to her in direct line, and the other to the crown itself, which belongs directly to the said infanta, the matter of the salic law being a mere invention." thus it would appear that philip was the legitimate representative, not only of the ancient races of french monarchs--whether merovingians, carlovingians, or otherwise was not stated but also of the usurping houses themselves, by whose intrusion those earlier dynasties had been ejected, being the eldest male heir of the extinct line of valois, while his daughter was, if possible, even more legitimately the sovereign and proprietor of france than he was himself. nevertheless in his magnanimous desire for the peace of the world and the advancement of the interests of the church, he was, if reduced to extremities, willing to forego his own individual rights--when it should appear that they could by no possibility be enforced--in favour of his daughter and of the husband whom he should select for her. "thus it may be seen," said the self-denying man, "that i know how, for the sake of the public repose, to strip myself of my private property." afterwards, when secretly instructing the duke of feria, about to proceed to paris for the sake of settling the sovereignty of the kingdom, he reviewed the whole subject, setting forth substantially the same intentions. that the prince of bearne could ever possibly succeed to the throne of his ancestors was an idea to be treated only with sublime scorn by all right-minded and sensible men. "the members of the house of bourbon," said he, "pretend that by right of blood the crown belongs to them, and hence is derived the pretension made by the prince of bearne; but if there were wanting other very sufficient causes to prevent this claim--which however are not wanting--it is quite enough that he is a relapsed heretic, declared to be such by the apostolic see, and pronounced incompetent, as well as the other members of his house, all of them, to say the least, encouragers of heresy; so that not one of them can ever be king of france, where there have been such religious princes in time past, who have justly merited the name of most christian; and so there is no possibility of permitting him or any of his house to aspire to the throne, or to have the subject even treated of in the estates. it should on the contrary be entirely excluded as prejudicial to the realm and unworthy to be even mentioned among persons so catholic as those about to meet in that assembly." the claims of the man whom his supporters already called henry the fourth of france being thus disposed of, philip then again alluded with his usual minuteness to the various combinations which he had formed for the tranquillity and good government of that kingdom and of the other provinces of his world-empire. it must moreover be never forgotten that what he said passed with his contemporaries almost for oracular dispensations. what he did or ordered to be done was like the achievements or behests of a superhuman being. time, as it rolls by, leaves the wrecks of many a stranded reputation to bleach in the sunshine of after-ages. it is sometimes as profitable to learn what was not done by the great ones of the earth, in spite of all their efforts, as to ponder those actual deeds which are patent to mankind. the past was once the present, and once the future, bright with rainbows or black with impending storm; for history is a continuous whole of which we see only fragments. he who at the epoch with which we are now occupied was deemed greatest and wisest among the sons of earth, at whose threats men quailed, at whose vast and intricate schemes men gasped in palefaced awe, has left behind him the record of his interior being. let us consider whether he was so potent as his fellow mortals believed, or whether his greatness was merely their littleness; whether it was carved out, of the inexhaustible but artificial quarry of human degradation. let us see whether the execution was consonant with the inordinate plotting; whether the price in money and blood--and certainly few human beings have squandered so much of either as did philip the prudent in his long career--was high or low for the work achieved. were after generations to learn, only after curious research, of a pretender who once called himself, to the amusement of his contemporaries, henry the fourth of france; or was the world-empire for which so many armies were marshalled, so many ducats expended, so many falsehoods told, to prove a bubble after all? time was to show. meantime wise men of the day who, like the sages of every generation, read the future like a printed scroll, were pitying the delusion and rebuking the wickedness of henry the bearnese; persisting as he did in his cruel, sanguinary, hopeless attempt to establish a vanished and impossible authority over a land distracted by civil war. nothing could be calmer or more reasonable than the language of the great champion of the inquisition. "and as president jeannin informs me," he said, "that the catholics have the intention of electing me king, that appearing to them the gentlest and safest method to smooth all rivalries likely to arise among the princes aspiring to the crown, i reply, as you will see by the copy herewith sent. you will observe that after not refusing myself to that which may be the will of our lord, should there be no other mode of serving him, above all i desire that which concerns my daughter, since to her belongs the kingdom. i desire nothing else nor anything for myself, nor for anybody else, except as a means for her to arrive at her right." he had taken particular pains to secure his daughter's right in brittany, while the duchess of mercoeur, by the secret orders of her husband, had sent a certain ecclesiastic to spain to make over the sovereignty of this province to the infanta. philip directed that the utmost secrecy should be observed in regard to this transaction with the duke and duchess, and promised the duke, as his reward for these proposed services in dismembering his country, the government of the province for himself and his heirs. for the king was quite determined--in case his efforts to obtain the crown for himself or for his daughter were unsuccessful--to dismember france, with the assistance of those eminent frenchmen who were now so industriously aiding him in his projects. "and in the third place," said he, in his secret instructions to feria, "if for the sins of all, we don't manage to make any election, and if therefore the kingdom (of france) has to come to separation and to be divided into many hands; in this case we must propose to the duke of mayenne to assist him in getting possession of normandy for himself, and as to the rest of the kingdom, i shall take for myself that which seems good to me--all of us assisting each other." but unfortunately it was difficult for any of these fellow-labourers to assist each other very thoroughly, while they detested each other so cordially and suspected each other with such good reason. moreo, ybarra, feria, parma, all assured their master that mayenne was taking spanish money as fast as he could get it, but with the sole purpose of making himself king. as to any of the house of lorraine obtaining the hand of the infanta and the throne with it, feria assured philip that mayenne "would sooner give the crown to the grand turk." nevertheless philip thought it necessary to continue making use of the duke. both were indefatigable therefore in expressing feelings of boundless confidence each in the other. it has been seen too how entirely the king relied on the genius and devotion of alexander farnese to carry out his great schemes; and certainly never had monarch a more faithful, unscrupulous, and dexterous servant. remonstrating, advising, but still obeying--entirely without conscience, unless it were conscience to carry out his master's commands, even when most puerile or most diabolical--he was nevertheless the object of philip's constant suspicion, and felt himself placed under perpetual though secret supervision. commander moreo was unwearied in blackening the duke's character, and in maligning his every motive and action, and greedily did the king incline his ear to the calumnies steadily instilled by the chivalrous spy. "he has caused all the evil we are suffering," said moreo. "when he sent egmont to france 'twas without infantry, although egmont begged hard for it, as did likewise the legate, don bernardino, and tassis. had he done this there is no doubt at all that the catholic cause in france would have been safe, and your majesty would now have the control over that kingdom which you desire. this is the opinion of friends and foes. i went to the duke of parma and made free to tell him that the whole world would blame him for the damage done to christianity, since your majesty had exonerated yourself by ordering him to go to the assistance of the french catholics with all the zeal possible. upon this he was so disgusted that he has never shown me a civil face since. i doubt whether he will send or go to france at all, and although the duke of mayenne despatches couriers every day with protestations and words that would soften rocks, i see no indications of a movement." thus, while the duke was making great military preparations far invading france without means; pawning his own property to get bread for his starving veterans, and hanging those veterans whom starving had made. mutinous, he was depicted, to the most suspicious and unforgiving mortal that ever wore a crown, as a traitor and a rebel, and this while he was renouncing his own judicious and well-considered policy in obedience to the wild schemes of his master. "i must make bold to remind your majesty," again whispered the spy, "that there never was an italian prince who failed to pursue his own ends, and that there are few in the world that are not wishing to become greater than they are. this man here could strike a greater blow than all the rest of them put together. remember that there is not a villain anywhere that does not desire the death of your majesty. believe me, and send to cut off my head if it shall be found that i am speaking from passion, or from other motive than pure zeal for your royal service." the reader will remember into what a paroxysm of rage alexander was thrown on, a former occasion, when secretly invited to listen to propositions by which the sovereignty over the netherlands was to be secured to himself, and how near he was to inflicting mortal punishment with his own hand on the man who had ventured to broach that treasonable matter. such projects and propositions were ever floating, as it were, in the atmosphere, and it was impossible for the most just men to escape suspicion in the mind of a king who fed upon suspicion as his daily bread. yet nothing could be fouler or falser than the calumny which described alexander as unfaithful to philip. had he served his god as he served his master perhaps his record before the highest tribunal would have been a clearer one. and in the same vein in which he wrote to the monarch in person did the crafty moreo write to the principal secretary of state, idiaquez, whose mind, as well as his master's, it was useful to poison, and who was in daily communication with philip. "let us make sure of flanders," said he, "otherwise we shall all of us be well cheated. i will tell you something of that which i have already told his majesty, only not all, referring you to tassis, who, as a personal witness to many things, will have it in his power to undeceive his majesty, i have seen very clearly that the duke is disgusted with his majesty, and one day he told me that he cared not if the whole world went to destruction, only not flanders." "another day he told me that there was a report abroad that his majesty was sending to arrest him, by means of the duke of pastrana, and looking at me he said: 'see here, seignior commander, no threats, as if it were in the power of mortal man to arrest me, much less of such fellows as these.'" "but this is but a small part of what i could say," continued the detective knight-commander, "for i don't like to trust these ciphers. but be certain that nobody in flanders wishes well to these estates or to the catholic cause, and the associates of the duke of parma go about saying that it does not suit the italian potentates to have his majesty as great a monarch as he is trying to be." this is but a sample of the dangerous stuff with which the royal mind was steadily drugged, day after day, by those to whom farnese was especially enjoined to give his confidence. later on it will be seen how-much effect was thus produced both upon the king and upon the duke. moreo, mendoza, and tasais were placed about the governor-general, nominally as his counsellors, in reality as police-officers. "you are to confer regularly with mendoza, tassis, and moreo," said philip to farnese. "you are to assist, correspond, and harmonize in every way with the duke of parma," wrote philip to mendoza, tassis, and moreo. and thus cordially and harmoniously were the trio assisting and corresponding with the duke. but moreo was right in not wishing to trust the ciphers, and indeed he had trusted them too much, for farnese was very well aware of his intrigues, and complained bitterly of them to the king and to idiaquez. most eloquently and indignantly did he complain of the calumnies, ever renewing themselves, of which he was the subject. "'tis this good moreo who is the author of the last falsehoods," said he to the secretary; "and this is but poor payment for my having neglected my family, my parents and children for so many years in the king's service, and put my life ever on the hazard, that these fellows should be allowed to revile me and make game of me now, instead of assisting me." he was at that time, after almost superhuman exertions, engaged in the famous relief of paris. he had gone there, he said, against his judgment and remonstrating with his majesty on the insufficiency of men and money for such an enterprise. his army was half-mutinous and unprovided with food, artillery, or munitions; and then he found himself slandered, ridiculed, his life's life lied away. 'twas poor payment for his services, he exclaimed, if his majesty should give ear to these calumniators, and should give him no chance of confronting his accusers and clearing his reputation. moreo detested him, as he knew, and prince doria said that the commander once spoke so ill of farnese in genoa that he was on the point of beating him; while moreo afterwards told the story as if he had been maltreated because of defending farnese against doria's slanders. and still more vehemently did he inveigh against moreo in his direct appeals to philip. he had intended to pass over his calumnies, of which he was well aware, because he did not care to trouble the dead--for moreo meantime had suddenly died, and the gossips, of course, said it was of farnese poison--but he had just discovered by documents that the commander had been steadily and constantly pouring these his calumnies into the monarch's ears. he denounced every charge as lies, and demanded proof. moreo had further been endeavouring to prejudice the duke of mayenne against the king of spain and himself, saying that he, farnese, had been commissioned to take mayenne into custody, with plenty of similar lies. "but what i most feel," said alexander, with honest wrath, "is to see that your majesty gives ear to them without making the demonstration which my services merit, and has not sent to inform me of them, seeing that they may involve my reputation and honour. people have made more account of these calumnies than of my actions performed upon the theatre of the world. i complain, after all my toils and dangers in your majesty's service, just when i stood with my soul in my mouth and death in my teeth, forgetting children, house, and friends, to be treated thus, instead of receiving rewards and honour, and being enabled to leave to my children, what was better than all the riches the royal hand could bestow, an unsullied and honourable name." he protested that his reputation had so much suffered that he would prefer to retire to some remote corner as a humble servant of the king, and leave a post which had made him so odious to all. above all, he entreated his majesty to look upon this whole affair "not only like a king but like a gentleman." philip answered these complaints and reproaches benignantly, expressed unbounded confidence in the duke, assured him that the calumnies of his supposed enemies could produce no effect upon the royal mind, and coolly professed to have entirely forgotten having received any such letter as that of which his nephew complained. "at any rate i have mislaid it," he said, "so that you see how much account it was with me." as the king was in the habit of receiving such letters every week, not only from the commander, since deceased, but from ybarra and others, his memory, to say the least, seemed to have grown remarkably feeble. but the sequel will very soon show that he had kept the letters by him and pondered them to much purpose. to expect frankness and sincerity from him, however, even in his most intimate communications to his most trusted servants, would have been to "swim with fins of lead." such being the private relations between the conspirators, it is instructive to observe how they dealt with each other in the great game they were playing for the first throne in christendom. the military events have been sufficiently sketched in the preceding pages, but the meaning and motives of public affairs can be best understood by occasional glances behind the scenes. it is well for those who would maintain their faith in popular governments to study the workings of the secret, irresponsible, arbitrary system; for every government, as every individual, must be judged at last by those moral laws which no man born of woman can evade. during the first french expedition-in the course of which farnese had saved paris from falling into, the hands of henry, and had been doing his best to convert it prospectively into the capital of his master's empire--it was his duty, of course, to represent as accurately as possible the true state of france. he submitted his actions to his master's will, but he never withheld from him the advantage that he might have derived, had he so chosen, from his nephew's luminous intelligence and patient observation. with the chief personage he had to deal with he professed himself, at first, well satisfied. "the duke of mayenne," said he to philip, "persists in desiring your majesty only as king of france, and will hear of no other candidate, which gives me satisfaction such as can't be exaggerated." although there were difficulties in the way, farnese thought that the two together with god's help might conquer them. "certainly it is not impossible that your majesty may succeed," he said, "although very problematical; and in case your majesty does succeed in that which we all desire and are struggling for, mayenne not only demands the second place in the kingdom for himself, but the fief of some great province for his family." should it not be possible for philip to obtain the crown, farnese was, on the whole, of opinion that mayenne had better be elected. in that event he would make over brittany and burgundy to philip, together with the cities opposite the english coast. if they were obliged to make the duke king, as was to be feared, they should at any rate exclude the prince of bearne, and secure, what was the chief point, the catholic religion. "this," said alexander, "is about what i can gather of mayenne's views, and perhaps he will put them down in a despatch to your majesty." after all, the duke was explicit enough. he was for taking all he could get--the whole kingdom if possible--but if foiled, then as large a slice of it as philip would give him as the price of his services. and philip's ideas were not materially different from those of the other conspirator. both were agreed on one thing. the true heir must be kept out of his rights, and the catholic religion be maintained in its purity. as to the inclination of the majority of the inhabitants, they could hardly be in the dark. they knew that the bearnese was instinctively demanded by the nation; for his accession to the throne would furnish the only possible solution to the entanglements which had so long existed. as to the true sentiments of the other politicians and soldiers of the league with whom bearnese came in contact in france, he did not disguise from his master that they were anything but favourable. "that you may know, the, humour of this kingdom," said he, "and the difficulties in which i am placed, i must tell you that i am by large experience much confirmed in that which i have always suspected. men don't love nor esteem the royal name of your majesty, and whatever the benefits and assistance they get from you they have no idea of anything redounding to your benefit and royal service, except so far as implied in maintaining the catholic religion and keeping out the bearne. these two things, however, they hold to be so entirely to your majesty's profit, that all you are doing appears the fulfilment of a simple obligation. they are filled with fear, jealousy, and suspicion of your majesty. they dread your acquiring power here. whatever negotiations they pretend in regard to putting the kingdom or any of their cities under your protection, they have never had any real intention of doing it, but their only object is to keep up our vain hopes while they are carrying out their own ends. if to-day they seem to have agreed upon any measure, tomorrow they are sure to get out of it again. this has always been the case, and all your majesty's ministers that have had dealings here would say so, if they chose to tell the truth. men are disgusted with the entrance of the army, and if they were not expecting a more advantageous peace in the kingdom with my assistance than without it, i don't know what they would do; for i have heard what i have heard and seen what i have seen. they are afraid of our army, but they want its assistance and our money." certainly if philip desired enlightenment as to the real condition of the country he had determined to, appropriate; and the true sentiments of its most influential inhabitants, here, was the man most competent of all the world to advise him; describing the situation for him, day by day, in the most faithful manner. and at every, step the absolutely puerile inadequacy of the means, employed by the king to accomplish his gigantic purposes became apparent. if the crime of subjugating or at least dismembering the great kingdom of france were to, be attempted with any hope of success, at least it might have been expected that the man employed to consummate the deed would be furnished with more troops and money than would be required to appropriate a savage island off the caribbean, or a german. principality. but philip expected miracles to be accomplished by the mere private assertion of his will. it was so easy to conquer realms the writing table. "i don't say," continued farnese, "if i could have entered france with a competent army, well paid and disciplined, with plenty of artillery, and munitions, and with funds enough to enable mayenne to buy up the nobles of his party, and to conciliate the leaders generally with presents and promises, that perhaps they might not have softened. perhaps interest and fear would have made that name agreeable which pleases them so little, now that the very reverse of all this has occurred. my want of means is causing a thousand disgusts among the natives of the country, and it is this penury that will be the chief cause of the disasters which may occur." here was sufficiently plain speaking. to conquer a war-like nation without an army; to purchase a rapacious nobility with an empty purse, were tasks which might break the stoutest heart. they were breaking alexander's. yet philip had funds enough, if he had possessed financial ability himself, or any talent for selecting good financiers. the richest countries of the old world and the new were under his sceptre; the mines of peru and mexico; the wealth of farthest ind, were at his disposition; and moreover he drove a lucrative traffic in the sale of papal bulls and massbooks, which were furnished to him at a very low figure, and which he compelled the wild indians of america and the savages of the pacific to purchase of him at an enormous advance. that very year, a spanish carrack had been captured by the english off the barbary coast, with an assorted cargo, the miscellaneous nature of which gives an idea of royal commercial pursuits at that period. besides wine in large quantities there were fourteen hundred chests of quicksilver, an article indispensable to the working of the silver mines, and which no one but the king could, upon pain of death, send to america. he received, according to contract; for every pound of quicksilver thus delivered a pound of pure silver, weight for weight. the ship likewise contained ten cases of gilded mass-books and papal bulls. the bulls, two million and seventy thousand in number, for the dead and the living, were intended for the provinces of new spain, yucatan, guatemala, honduras, and the philippines. the quicksilver and the bulls cost the king three hundred thousand florins, but he sold them for five million. the .price at, which the bulls were to be sold varied-according to the letters of advice found in the ships--from two to four reals a piece, and the inhabitants of those conquered regions were obliged to buy them. "from all this," says a contemporary chronicler; "is to be seen what a thrifty trader was the king." the affairs of france were in such confusion that it was impossible for them, according to farnese, to remain in such condition much longer without bringing about entire decomposition. every man was doing as he chose--whether governor of a city, commander of a district, or gentleman in his castle. many important nobles and prelates followed the bearnese party, and mayenne was entitled to credit for doing as well as he did. there was no pretence, however, that his creditable conduct was due to anything but the hope of being well paid. "if your majesty should decide to keep mayenne," said alexander, "you can only do it with large: sums of money. he is a good catholic and very firm in his purpose, but is so much opposed by his own party, that if i had not so stimulated him by hopes of his own grandeur, he would have grown desperate--such small means has he of maintaining his party--and, it is to be feared, he would have made arrangements with bearne, who offers him carte-blanche." the disinterested man had expressed his assent to the views of philip in regard to the assembly of the estates and the election of king, but had claimed the sum of six hundred thousand dollars as absolutely necessary to the support of himself and followers until those events should occur. alexander not having that sum at his disposal was inclined to defer matters, but was more and more confirmed in his opinion that the duke was a "man of truth, faith, and his word." he had distinctly agreed that no king should be elected, not satisfactory to philip, and had "stipulated in return that he should have in this case, not only the second place in the kingdom, but some very great and special reward in full property." thus the man of truth, faith, and his word had no idea of selling himself cheap, but manifested as much commercial genius as the fuggers themselves could have displayed, had they been employed as brokers in these mercantile transactions. above all things, alexander implored the king to be expeditious, resolute, and liberal; for, after all, the bearnese might prove a more formidable competitor than he was deemed. "these matters must be arranged while the iron is hot," he said, "in order that the name and memory of the bearne and of all his family may be excluded at once and forever; for your majesty must not doubt that the whole kingdom inclines to him, both because he is natural successor, to the crowns and because in this way the civil war would cease. the only thing that gives trouble is the religions defect, so that if this should be remedied in appearance, even if falsely, men would spare no pains nor expense in his cause." no human being at that moment, assuredly, could look into the immediate future accurately enough to see whether the name and memory of the man, whom his adherents called henry the fourth of france, and whom spaniards, legitimists and enthusiastic papists, called the prince of bearne, were to be for ever excluded from the archives of france; whether henry, after spending the whole of his life as a pretender, was destined to bequeath the same empty part to his descendants, should they think it worth their while to play it. meantime the sages smiled superior at his delusion; while alexander farnese, on the contrary, better understanding the chances of the great game which they were all playing, made bold to tell his master that all hearts in france were inclining to their natural lord. "differing from your majesty," said he, "i am of opinion that there is no better means of excluding him than to make choice of the duke of mayenne, as a person agreeable to the people, and who could only reign by your permission and support." thus, after much hesitation and circumlocution, the nephew made up his mind to chill his uncle's hopes of the crown, and to speak a decided opinion in behalf of the man of his word, faith and truth. and thus through the whole of the two memorable campaigns made by alexander in france, he never failed to give his master the most accurate pictures of the country, and an interior view of its politics; urging above all the absolute necessity of providing much more liberal supplies for the colossal adventure in which he was engaged. "money and again money is what is required," he said. "the principal matter is to be accomplished with money, and the particular individuals must be bought with money. the good will of every french city must be bought with money. mayenne must be humoured. he is getting dissatisfied. very probably he is intriguing with bearne. everybody is pursuing his private ends. mayenne has never abandoned his own wish to be king, although he sees the difficulties in the way; and while he has not the power to do us as much good as is thought, it is certainly in his hands to do us a great deal of injury." when his army was rapidly diminishing by disease, desertion, mutiny, and death, he vehemently and perpetually denounced the utter inadequacy of the king's means to his vast projects. he protested that he was not to blame for the ruin likely to come upon the whole enterprise. he had besought, remonstrated, reasoned with philip--in vain. he assured his master that in the condition of weakness in which they found themselves, not very triumphant negotiations could be expected, but that he would do his best. "the frenchmen," he said, "are getting tired of our disorders, and scandalized by our weakness, misery, and poverty. they disbelieve the possibility of being liberated through us." he was also most diligent in setting before the king's eyes the dangerous condition of the obedient netherlands, the poverty of the finances, the mutinous degeneration of the once magnificent spanish army, the misery of the country, the ruin of the people, the discontent of the nobles, the rapid strides made by the republic, the vast improvement in its military organization, the rising fame of its young stadholder, the thrift of its exchequer, the rapid development of its commerce, the menacing aspect which it assumed towards all that was left of spanish power in those regions. moreover, in the midst of the toils and anxieties of war-making and negotiation, he had found time to discover and to send to his master the left leg of the glorious apostle st. philip, and the head of the glorious martyr st. lawrence, to enrich his collection of relics; and it may be doubted whether these treasures were not as welcome to the king as would have been the news of a decisive victory. during the absence of farnese in his expeditions against the bearnese, the government of his provinces was temporarily in the hands of peter ernest mansfeld. this grizzled old fighter--testy, choleric, superannuated--was utterly incompetent for his post. he was a mere tool in the hands of his son. count charles hated parma very cordially, and old count peter was made to believe himself in danger of being poisoned or poniarded by the duke. he was perpetually wrangling with, importuning and insulting him in consequence, and writing malicious letters to the king in regard to him. the great nobles, arschot, chimay, berlaymont, champagny, arenberg, and the rest, were all bickering among themselves, and agreeing in nothing save in hatred to farnese. a tight rein, a full exchequer, a well-ordered and well-paid army, and his own constant patience, were necessary, as alexander too well knew, to make head against the republic, and to hold what was left of the netherlands. but with a monthly allowance, and a military force not equal to his own estimates for the netherland work, he was ordered to go forth from the netherlands to conquer france--and with it the dominion of the world--for the recluse of the escorial. very soon it was his duty to lay bare to his master, still more unequivocally than ever, the real heart of mayenne. no one could surpass alexander in this skilful vivisection of political characters; and he soon sent the information that the duke was in reality very near closing his bargain with the bearnese, while amusing philip and drawing largely from his funds. thus, while faithfully doing his master's work with sword and pen, with an adroitness such as no other man could have matched, it was a necessary consequence that philip should suspect, should detest, should resolve to sacrifice him. while assuring his nephew, as we have seen, that elaborate, slanderous reports and protocols concerning him, sent with such regularity by the chivalrous moreo and the other spies, had been totally disregarded, even if they had ever met his eye, he was quietly preparing--in the midst of all these most strenuous efforts of alexander, in the field at peril of his life, in the cabinet at the risk of his soul--to deprive him of his office, and to bring him, by stratagem if possible, but otherwise by main force, from the netherlands to spain. this project, once-resolved upon, the king proceeded to execute with that elaborate attention to detail, with that feline stealth which distinguished him above all kings or chiefs of police that have ever existed. had there been a murder at the end of the plot, as perhaps there was to be--philip could not have enjoyed himself more. nothing surpassed the industry for mischief of this royal invalid. the first thing to be done was of course the inditing of a most affectionate epistle to his nephew. "nephew," said he, "you know the confidence which i have always placed in you and all that i have put in your hands, and i know how much you are to me, and how earnestly you work in my service, and so, if i could have you at the same time in several places, it would be a great relief to me. since this cannot be however, i wish to make use of your assistance, according to the times and occasions, in order that i may have some certainty as to the manner in which all this business is to be managed, may see why the settlement of affairs in france is thus delayed, and what the state of things in christendom generally is, and may consult with, you about an army which i am getting levied here, and about certain schemes now on foot in regard to the remedy for all this; all which makes me desire your presence here for some time, even if a short time, in order to resolve upon and arrange with the aid of your advice and opinion, many affairs concerning the public good and facilitate their execution by means of your encouragement and presence, and to obtain the repose which i hope for in putting them into your hands. and so i charge and command you that, if you desire to content me, you use all possible diligence to let me see you here as soon as possible, and that you start at once for genoa." he was further directed to leave count mansfeld at the head of affairs during this temporary absence, as had been the case so often before, instructing him to make use of the marquis of cerralbo, who was already there, to lighten labours that might prove too much for a man of mansfeld's advanced age. "i am writing to the marquis," continued the king, "telling him that he is to obey all your orders. as to the reasons of your going away, you will give out that it is a decision of your own, founded on good cause, or that it is a summons of mine, but full of confidence and good will towards you, as you see that it is." the date of this letter was th february, . the secret instructions to the man who was thus to obey all the duke's orders were explicit enough upon that point, although they were wrapped in the usual closely-twisted phraseology which distinguished philip's style when his purpose was most direct. cerralbo was entrusted with general directions as to the french matter, and as to peace negotiations with "the islands;" but the main purport of his mission was to remove alexander farnese. this was to be done by fair means, if possible; if not, he was to be deposed and sent home by force. this was to be the reward of all the toil and danger through which he had grown grey and broken in the king's service. "when you get to the netherlands" (for the instructions were older than the letter to alexander just cited), "you are," said the king, "to treat of the other two matters until the exact time arrives for the third, taking good care not to, cut the thread of good progress in the affairs of france if by chance they are going on well there. "when the time arrives to treat of commission number three," continued his majesty, "you will take occasion of the arrival of the courier of th february, and will give with much secrecy the letter of that date to the duke; showing him at the same time the first of the two which you will have received." if the duke showed the letter addressed to him by his uncle--which the reader has already seen--then the marquis was to discuss with him the details of the journey, and comment upon the benefits and increased reputation which would be the result of his return to spain. "but if the duke should not show you the letter," proceeded philip, "and you suspect that he means to conceal and equivocate about the particulars of it, you can show him your letter number two, in which it is stated that you have received a copy of the letter to the duke. this will make the step easier." should the duke declare himself ready to proceed to spain on the ground indicated--that the king had need of his services--the marquis was then to hasten his departure as earnestly as possible. every pains were to be taken to overcome any objections that might be made by the duke on the score of ill health, while the great credit which attached to this summons to consult with the king in such arduous affairs was to be duly enlarged upon. should count mansfeld meantime die of old age, and should farnese insist the more vehemently, on that account, upon leaving his son the prince ranuccio in his post as governor, the marquis was authorised to accept the proposition for the moment--although secretly instructed that such an appointment was really quite out of the question--if by so doing the father could be torn from the place immediately. but if all would not do, and if it should become certain that the duke would definitively refuse to take his departure, it would then become necessary to tell him clearly, but secretly, that no excuse would be accepted, but that go he must; and that if he did not depart voluntarily within a fixed time, he would be publicly deprived of office and conducted to spain by force. but all these things were to be managed with the secrecy and mystery so dear to the heart of philip. the marquis was instructed to go first to the castle of antwerp, as if upon financial business, and there begin his operations. should he find at last all his private negotiations and coaxings of no avail, he was then to make use of his secret letters from the king to the army commanders, the leading nobles of the country, and of the neighbouring princes, all of whom were to be undeceived in regard to the duke, and to be informed of the will of his majesty. the real successor of farnese was to be the archduke albert, cardinal of austria, son of archduke ferdinand, and the letters on this subject were to be sent by a "decent and confidential person" so soon as it should become obvious that force would be necessary in order to compel the departure of alexander. for if it came to open rupture, it would be necessary to have the cardinal ready to take the place. if the affair were arranged amicably, then the new governor might proceed more at leisure. the marquis was especially enjoined, in case the duke should be in france, and even if it should be necessary for him to follow him there on account of commissions number one and two, not to say a word to him then of his recall, for fear of damaging matters in that kingdom. he was to do his best to induce him to return to flanders, and when they were both there, he was to begin his operations. thus, with minute and artistic treachery, did philip provide for the disgrace and ruin of the man who was his near blood relation, and who had served him most faithfully from earliest youth. it was not possible to carry out the project immediately, for, as it has already been narrated, farnese, after achieving, in spite of great obstacles due to the dulness of the king alone, an extraordinary triumph, had been dangerously wounded, and was unable for a brief interval to attend to public affairs. on the conclusion of his rouen campaign he had returned to the netherlands, almost immediately betaking himself to the waters of spa. the marquis de cerralbo meanwhile had been superseded in his important secret mission by the count of fuentes, who received the same instructions as had been provided for the marquis. but ere long it seemed to become unnecessary to push matters to extremities. farnese, although nominally the governor, felt himself unequal to take the field against the vigorous young commander who was carrying everything before him in the north and east. upon the mansfelds was the responsibility for saving steenwyk and coeworden, and to the mansfelds did verdugo send piteously, but in vain, for efficient help. for the mansfelds and other leading personages in the obedient netherlands were mainly occupied at that time in annoying farnese, calumniating his actions, laying obstacles in the way of his administration, military and civil, and bringing him into contempt with the populace. when the weary soldier--broken in health, wounded and harassed with obtaining triumphs for his master such as no other living man could have gained with the means placed at his disposal--returned to drink the waters, previously to setting forth anew upon the task of achieving the impossible, he was made the mark of petty insults on the part of both the mansfelds. neither of them paid their respects to him; ill as he was, until four days after his arrival. when the duke subsequently called a council; count peter refused to attend it on account of having slept ill the night before. champagny; who was one of, the chief mischief-makers, had been banished by parma to his house in burgundy. he became very much alarmed, and was afraid of losing his head. he tried to conciliate the duke, but finding it difficult he resolved to turn monk, and so went to the convent of capuchins, and begged hard to be admitted a member. they refused him on account of his age and infirmities. he tried a franciscan monastery with not much better success, and then obeyed orders and went to his burgundy mansion; having been assured by farnese that he was not to lose his head. alexander was satisfied with that arrangement, feeling sure, he said, that so soon as his back was turned champagny would come out of his convent before the term of probation had expired, and begin to make mischief again. a once valiant soldier, like champagny, whose conduct in the famous "fury of antwerp" was so memorable; and whose services both in field and-cabinet had, been so distinguished, fallen so low as to, be used as a tool by the mansfelds against a man like farnese; and to be rejected as unfit company by flemish friars, is not a cheerful spectacle to contemplate. the walls of the mansfeld house and gardens, too, were decorated by count charles with caricatures, intending to illustrate the indignities put upon his father: and himself. among others, one picture represented count peter lying tied hand and foot, while people were throwing filth upon him; count charles being pourtrayed as meantime being kicked away from the command of a battery of cannon by, de la motte. it seemed strange that the mansfelds should, make themselves thus elaborately ridiculous, in order to irritate farnese; but thus it was. there was so much stir, about these works of art that alexander transmitted copies of them to the king, whereupon charles mansfeld, being somewhat alarmed, endeavoured to prove that they had been entirely misunderstood. the venerable personage lying on the ground, he explained, was not his father, but socrates. he found it difficult however to account for the appearance of la motte, with his one arm wanting and with artillery by his side, because, as farnese justly remarked, artillery had not been invented in the time of socrates, nor was it recorded that the sage had lost an arm. thus passed the autumn of , and alexander, having as he supposed somewhat recruited his failing strength, prepared, according to his master's orders for a new campaign in france. for with almost preterhuman malice philip was employing the man whom he had doomed to disgrace, perhaps to death, and whom he kept under constant secret supervision, in those laborious efforts to conquer without an army and to purchase a kingdom with an empty purse, in which, as it was destined, the very last sands of parma's life were to run away. suffering from a badly healed wound, from water on the chest, degeneration of the heart, and gout in the limbs, dropsical, enfeebled, broken down into an old man before his time, alexander still confronted disease and death with as heroic a front as he had ever manifested in the field to embattled hollanders and englishmen, or to the still more formidable array of learned pedants and diplomatists in the hall of negotiation. this wreck of a man was still fitter to lead armies and guide councils than any soldier or statesman that philip could call into his service, yet the king's cruel hand was ready to stab the dying man in the dark. nothing could surpass the spirit with which the soldier was ready to do battle with his best friend, coming in the guise of an enemy. to the last moment, lifted into the saddle, he attended personally as usual to the details of his new campaign, and was dead before he would confess himself mortal. on the rd of december, , in the city of arran, he fainted after retiring at his usual hour to bed, and thus breathed his last. according to the instructions in his last will, he was laid out barefoot in the robe and cowl of a capuchin monk. subsequently his remains were taken to parma, and buried under the pavement of the little franciscan church. a pompous funeral, in which the italians and spaniards quarrelled and came to blows for precedence, was celebrated in brussels, and a statue of the hero was erected in the capitol at rome. the first soldier and most unscrupulous diplomatist of his age, he died when scarcely past his prime, a wearied; broken-hearted old man. his triumphs, military and civil, have been recorded in these pages, and his character has been elaborately pourtrayed. were it possible to conceive of an italian or spaniard of illustrious birth in the sixteenth century, educated in the school of machiavelli, at the feet of philip, as anything but the supple slave of a master and the blind instrument of a church, one might for a moment regret that so many gifts of genius and valour had been thrown away or at least lost to mankind. could the light of truth ever pierce the atmosphere in which such men have their being; could the sad music of humanity ever penetrate to their ears; could visions of a world--on this earth or beyond it--not exclusively the property of kings and high-priests be revealed to them, one might lament that one so eminent among the sons of women had not been a great man. but it is a weakness to hanker for any possible connection between truth and italian or spanish statecraft of that day. the truth was not in it nor in him, and high above his heroic achievements, his fortitude, his sagacity, his chivalrous self-sacrifice, shines forth the baleful light of his perpetual falsehood. [i pass over, as beneath the level of history, a great variety of censorious and probably calumnious reports as to the private character of farnese, with which the secret archives of the times are filled. especially champagny, the man by whom the duke was most hated and feared, made himself busy in compiling the slanderous chronicle in which the enemies of farnese, both in spain and the netherlands, took so much delight. according to the secret history thus prepared for the enlightenment of the king and his ministers, the whole administration of the netherlands--especially the financial department, with the distribution of offices--was in the hands of two favourites, a beardless secretary named cosmo e massi, and a lady of easy virtue called franceline, who seems to have had a numerous host of relatives and friends to provide for at the public expense. towards the latter end of the duke's life, it was even said that the seal of the finance department was in the hands of his valet-de-chambre, who, in his master's frequent absences, was in the habit of issuing drafts upon the receiver-general. as the valet- dechambre was described as an idiot who did not know how to read, it may be believed that the finances fell into confusion. certainly, if such statements were to be accepted, it would be natural enough that for every million dollars expended by the king in the provinces, not more than one hundred thousand were laid out for the public service; and this is the estimate made by champagny, who, as a distinguished financier and once chief of the treasury in the provinces, might certainly be thought to know something of the subject. but champagny was beside himself with rage, hatred.] chapter xxix. effect of the death of farnese upon philip's schemes--priestly flattery and counsel--assembly of the states-general of france-- meeting of the leaguers at the louvre--conference at surene between the chiefs of the league and the "political" leaders--henry convokes an assembly of bishops, theologians, and others--strong feeling on all sides on the subject of the succession--philip commands that the infanta and the duke of guise be elected king and queen of france-- manifesto of the duke of mayenne--formal re-admission of henry to the roman faith--the pope refuses to consent to his reconciliation with the church--his consecration with the sacred oil--entry of the king into paris--departure of the spanish garrison from the capital --dissimulation of the duke of mayenne--he makes terms with henry-- grief of queen elizabeth on receipt of the communications from france. during the past quarter of a century there had been tragic scenes enough in france, but now the only man who could have conducted philip's schemes to a tragic if not a successful issue was gone. friendly death had been swifter than philip, and had removed alexander from the scene before his master had found fitting opportunity to inflict the disgrace on which he was resolved. meantime, charles mansfeld made a feeble attempt to lead an army from the netherlands into france, to support the sinking fortunes of the league; but it was not for that general-of-artillery to attempt the well-graced part of the all-accomplished farnese with much hope of success. a considerable force of spanish infantry, too, had been sent to paris, where they had been received with much enthusiasm; a very violent and determined churchman, sega, archbishop of piacenza, and cardinal-legate, having arrived to check on the part of the holy father any attempt by the great wavering heretic to get himself readmitted into the fold of the faithful. the king of spain considered it his duty, as well as his unquestionable right, to interfere in the affairs of france, and to save the cause of religion, civilization and humanity, in the manner so dear to the civilization-savers, by reducing that distracted country--utterly unable to govern itself--under his sceptre. to achieve this noble end no bribery was too wholesale, no violence too brutal, no intrigue too paltry. it was his sacred and special mission to save france from herself. if he should fail, he could at least carve her in pieces, and distribute her among himself and friends. frenchmen might assist him in either of these arrangements, but it was absurd to doubt that on him devolved the work and the responsibility. yet among his advisers were some who doubted whether the purchase of the grandees of france was really the most judicious course to pursue. there was a general and uneasy feeling that the grandees were making sport of the spanish monarch, and that they would be inclined to remain his stipendiaries for an indefinite period, without doing their share of the work. a keen jesuit, who had been much in france, often whispered to philip that he was going astray. "those who best understand the fit remedy for this unfortunate kingdom, and know the tastes and temper of the nation," said he, "doubt giving these vast presents and rewards in order that the nobles of france may affect your cause and further your schemes. it is the greatest delusion, because they love nothing but their own interest, and for this reason wish for no king at all, but prefer that the kingdom should remain topsy-turvy in order that they may enjoy the spanish doubloons, as they say themselves almost publicly, dancing and feasting; that they may take a castle to-day, and to-morrow a city, and the day, after a province, and so on indefinitely. what matters it to them that blood flows, and that the miserable people are destroyed, who alone are good for anything?" "the immediate cause of the ruin of france," continued the jesuit, "comes from two roots which must be torn up; the one is the extreme ignorance and scandalous life of the ecclesiastics, the other is the tyranny and the abominable life of the nobility, who with sacrilege and insatiable avarice have entered upon the property of the church. this nobility is divided into three factions. the first, and not the least, is heretic; the second and the most pernicious is politic or atheist; the third and last is catholic. all these, although they differ in opinion, are the same thing in corruption of life and manners, so that there is no choice among them." he then proceeded to set forth how entirely, the salvation of france depended on the king of spain. "morally speaking," he said, "it is impossible for any frenchman to apply the remedy. for this two things are wanting; intense zeal for the honour of god, and power. i ask now what frenchman: has both these, or either of them. no one certainly that we know. it is the king of spain who alone in the world has the zeal and the power. no man who knows the insolence and arrogance of the french nature will believe that even if a king should be elected out of france he would be obeyed by the others. the first to oppose him would be mayenne; even if a king were chosen from his family, unless everything should be given him that he asked; which would be impossible." thus did the wily priest instil into the ready ears of philip additional reasons for believing himself the incarnate providence of god. when were priestly flatterers ever wanting to pour this poison into the souls of tyrants? it is in vain for us to ask why it is permitted that so much power for evil should be within the grasp of one wretched human creature, but it is at least always instructive to ponder the career of these crowned conspirators, and sometimes consoling to find its conclusion different from the goal intended. so the jesuit advised the king not to be throwing away his money upon particular individuals, but with the funds which they were so unprofitably consuming to form a jolly army ('gallardo egercito') of fifteen thousand foot, and five thousand-horse, all spaniards, under a spanish general--not a frenchman being admitted into it--and then to march forward, occupy all the chief towns, putting spanish garrisons into them, but sparing the people, who now considered the war eternal, and who were eaten up by both armies. in a short time the king might accomplish all he wished, for it was not in the power of the bearnese to make considerable resistance for any length of time. this was the plan of father odo for putting philip on the throne of france, and at the same time lifting up the downtrodden church, whose priests, according to his statement, were so profligate, and whose tenets were rejected by all but a small minority of the governing classes of the country. certainly it did not lack precision, but it remained to be seen whether the bearnese was to prove so very insignificant an antagonist as the sanguine priest supposed. for the third party--the moderate catholics--had been making immense progress in france, while the diplomacy of philip had thus far steadily counteracted their efforts at rome. in vain had the marquis pisani, envoy of the politicians' party, endeavoured to soften the heart of clement towards henry. the pope lived in mortal fear of spain, and the duke of sessa, philip's ambassador to the holy see, denouncing all these attempts on the part of the heretic, and his friends, and urging that it was much better for rome that the pernicious kingdom of france should be dismembered and subdivided, assured his holiness that rome should be starved, occupied, annihilated, if such abominable schemes should be for an instant favoured. clement took to his bed with sickness brought on by all this violence, but had nothing for it but to meet pisani and other agents of the same cause with a peremptory denial, and send most, stringent messages to his legate in paris, who needed no prompting. there had already been much issuing of bulls by the pope, and much burning of bulls by the hangman, according to decrees of the parliament of chalons and other friendly tribunals, and burning of chalons decrees by paris hangmen, and edicts in favour of protestants at nantz and other places--measures the enactment, repeal, and reenactment of which were to mark the ebb and flow of the great tide of human opinion on the most important of subjects, and the traces of which were to be for a long time visible on the shores of time. early in mayenne, yielding to the pressure of the spanish party, reluctantly consented to assemble the states-general of france, in order that a king might be chosen. the duke, who came to be thoroughly known to alexander farnese before the death of that subtle italian, relied on his capacity to outwit all the other champions of the league and agents of philip now that the master-spirit had been removed. as firmly opposed as ever to the election of any other candidate but himself, or possibly his son, according to a secret proposition which he had lately made to the pope, he felt himself obliged to confront the army of spanish diplomatists, roman prelates, and learned doctors, by whom it was proposed to exclude the prince of bearne from his pretended rights. but he did not, after all, deceive them as thoroughly as he imagined. the spaniards shrewdly suspected the french tactics, and the whole business was but a round game of deception, in which no one was much deceived, who ever might be destined ultimately, to pocket the stakes: "i know from a very good source," said fuentes, "that mayenne, guise, and the rest of them are struggling hard in order not to submit to bearne, and will suffer everything your majesty may do to them, even if you kick them in the mouth, but still there is no conclusion on the road we are travelling, at least not the one which your majesty desires. they will go on procrastinating and gaining time, making authority for themselves out of your majesty's grandeur, until the condition of things comes which they are desiring. feria tells me that they are still taking your majesty's money, but i warn your majesty that it is only to fight off bearne, and that they are only pursuing their own ends at your majesty's expense." perhaps mayenne had already a sufficiently clear insight into the not far-distant future, but he still presented himself in spanish cloak and most ultramontane physiognomy. his pockets were indeed full of spanish coin at that moment, for he had just claimed and received eighty-eight thousand-nine hundred dollars for back debts, together with one hundred and eighty, thousand dollars more to distribute among the deputies of the estates. "all i can say about france," said fuentes, "is that it is one great thirst for money. the duke of feria believes in a good result, but i think that mayenne is only trying to pocket as much money as he can." thus fortified, the duke of mayenne issued the address to the states-general of the kingdom, to meet at an early day in order to make arrangements to secure religion and peace, and to throw off the possible yoke of the heretic pretender. the great seal affixed to the document represented an empty throne, instead of the usual effigy of a king. the cardinal-legate issued a thundering manifesto at the same time sustaining mayenne and virulently denouncing the bearnese. the politicians' party now seized the opportunity to impress upon henry that the decisive moment was come. the spaniard, the priest; and the league, had heated the furnace. the iron was at a white heat. now was the time to strike. secretary of state revol gaspar de schomberg, jacques auguste de thou, the eminent historian, and other influential personages urged the king to give to the great question the only possible solution. said the king with much meekness, "if i am in error, let those who attack me with so much fury instruct me, and show me the way of salvation. i hate those who act against their conscience. i pardon all those who are inspired by truly religious motives, and i am ready to receive all into favour whom the love of peace, not the chagrin of ill-will, has disgusted with the war." there was a great meeting of leaguers at the louvre, to listen to mayenne, the cardinal-legate, cardinal pelleve, the duke of guise, and other chieftains. the duke of feria made a long speech in latin, setting forth the spanish policy, veiled as usual, but already sufficiently well known, and assuring the assembly that the king of spain desired nothing so much as the peace of france and of all the world, together with the supremacy of the roman church. whether these objects could best be attained by the election of philip or of his daughter, as sovereign, with the archduke ernest as king-consort, or with perhaps the duke of guise or some other eligible husband, were fair subjects for discussion. no selfish motive influenced the king, and he placed all his wealth and all his armies at the disposal of the league to carry out these great projects. then there was a conference at surene between the chiefs the league and the "political" leaders; the archbishop of lyons, the cardinal-legate, villars, admiral of france and defender of rouen, belin, governor of paris, president jeannin, and others upon one side; upon the other, the archbishop of bourges, bellievre, schomberg, revol, and de thou. the archbishop of lyons said that their party would do nothing either to frustrate or to support the mission of pisani, and that the pope would, as ever, do all that could be done to maintain the interests of the true religion. the archbishop of bourges, knowing well the meaning of such fine phrases, replied that he had much respect for the holy father, but that popes had now, become the slaves and tools of the king of spain, who, because he was powerful, held them subject to his caprice. at an adjourned meeting at the same place, the archbishop of lyons said that all questions had been asked and answered. all now depended on the pope, whom the league would always obey. if the pope would accept the reconciliation of the prince of bearne it was well. he, hoped that his conversion would be sincere. the political archbishop (of bourges) replied to the league's archbishop, that there was no time for delays, and for journeys by land and sea to rome. the least obstruction might prove fatal to both parties. let the leaguers now show that the serenity of their faces was but the mirror of their minds. but the leaguers' archbishop said that he could make no further advances. so ended the conference.' the chiefs of the politicians now went to the king and informed him that the decisive moment had arrived. henry had preserved: his coolness throughout. amid all the hubbub of learned doctors of law, archbishops-leaguer and political-sorbonne pedants, solemn grandees from spain with latin orations in their pockets, intriguing guises, huckstering mayennes, wrathful huguenots, sanguinary cardinal-legates, threatening world-monarchs--heralded by spanish musketeers, italian lancers, and german reiters--shrill screams of warning from the english queen, grim denunciations from dutch calvinists, scornful repulses from the holy father; he kept his temper and his eye-sight, as perfectly as he had ever done through the smoke and din of the wildest battle-field. none knew better than he how to detect the weakness of the adversary, and to sound the charge upon his wavering line. he blew the blast--sure that loyal catholics and protestants alike would now follow him pell-mell. on the th, may, , he gave notice that he consented to get himself instructed, and that he summoned an assembly at mantes on the th july, of bishops, theologians, princes, lords, and courts of parliament to hold council, and to advise him what was best to do for religion and the state. meantime he returned to the siege of dreux, made an assault on the place, was repulsed, and then hung nine prisoners of war in full sight of the garrison as a punishment for their temerity in resisting him. the place soon after capitulated ( th july, ). the interval between the summons and the assembling of the clerical and lay notables at mantes was employed by the leaguers in frantic and contradictory efforts to retrieve a game which the most sagacious knew to be lost. but the politicians were equal to the occasion, and baffled them at every point. the leaguers' archbishop inveighed bitterly against the abominable edicts recently issued in favour of the protestants. the political archbishop (of bourges) replied not by defending; but by warmly disapproving, those decrees of toleration, by excusing the king for having granted them for a temporary purpose, and by asserting positively that, so soon as the king should be converted, he would no longer countenance such measures. it is superfluous to observe that very different language was held on the part of henry to the english and dutch protestants, and to the huguenots of his own kingdom. and there were many meetings of the leaguers in paris, many belligerent speeches by the cardinal legate, proclaiming war to the knife rather than that the name of henry the heretic should ever be heard of again as candidate for the throne, various propositions spasmodically made in full assembly by feria, ybarra, tassis, the jurisconsult mendoza, and other spanish agents in favour of the infanta as queen of france, with archduke ernest or the duke of guise, or any other eligible prince, for her husband. the league issued a formal and furious invective in answer to henry's announcement; proving by copious citations from jeremiah, st. epiphany; st. jerome, st. cyprian, and st. bernard, that it was easier for a leopard to change his spots or for a blackamoor to be washed white; than for a heretic to be converted, and that the king was thinking rather of the crown of france than of a heavenly crown, in his approaching conversion--an opinion which there were few to gainsay. and the duke of nemours wrote to his half-brother, the duke of mayenne; offering to use all his influence to bring about mayenne's election as king on condition that if these efforts failed, mayenne should do his best to procure the election of nemours. and the parliament of paris formally and prospectively proclaimed any election of a foreigner null and void, and sent deputies to mayenne urging him never to consent to the election of the infanta. what help, said they, can the league expect from the old and broken philip; from a king who in thirty years has not been able, with all the resources of his kingdoms, to subdue the revolted provinces of the netherlands? how can he hope to conquer france? pay no further heed to the legate, they said, who is laughing in his sleeve at the miseries and distractions of our country. so spake the deputies of the league-parliament to the great captain of the league, the duke of mayenne. it was obvious that the "great and holy confederacy" was becoming less confident of its invincibility. madame league was suddenly grown decrepit in the eyes of her adorers. mayenne was angry at the action of the parliament, and vehemently swore that he would annul their decree. parliament met his threats with dignity, and resolved to stand by the decree, even if they all died in their places. at the same time the duke of feria suddenly produced in full assembly of leaguers a written order from philip that the duke of guise and the infanta should at once be elected king and queen. taken by surprise, mayenne dissembled his rage in masterly-fashion, promised feria to support the election, and at once began to higgle for conditions. he stipulated that he should have for himself the governments of champagne, burgundy, and la brie, and that they should be hereditary in his family: he furthermore demanded that guise should cede to him the principality of joinville, and that they should pay him on the spot in hard money two hundred thousand crowns in gold, six hundred thousand more in different payments, together with an annual payment of fifty thousand crowns. it was obvious that the duke did not undervalue himself; but he had after all no intention of falling into the trap set for him. "he has made these promises (as above given) in writing," said the duke of savoy's envoy to his master, "but he will never keep them. the duchess of mayenne could not help telling me that her husband will never consent that the duke of guise should have the throne." from this resolve he had never wavered, and was not likely to do so now. accordingly the man "of his word, of faith, and truth," whom even the astute farnese had at times half believed in, and who had received millions of philip's money, now thought it time to break with philip. he issued a manifesto, in which he observed that the states-general of france had desired that philip should be elected king of france, and carry out his design of a universal monarchy, as the only-means of ensuring the safety of the catholic religion and the pacification of the world. it was feared, however, said mayenne; that the king might come to the same misfortunes which befell his father, who, when it was supposed that he was inspired only by private ambition; and by the hope of placing a hereditary universal crown in his family, had excited the animosity of the princes of the empire. "if a mere suspicion had caused so great a misfortune in the empire," continued the man of his word, "what will the princes of all europe do when they find his majesty elected king of france, and grown by increase of power so formidable to the world? can it be doubted that they will fly to arms at once, and give all their support to the king of navarre, heretic though he be? what motive had so many princes to traverse philip's designs in the netherlands, but desire to destroy the enormous power which they feared? therefore had the queen, of england, although refusing the sovereignty, defended the independence of the netherlands these fifteen years. "however desirable," continued mayenne, "that this universal monarchy, for which the house of austria has so long been working, should be established, yet the king is too prudent not to see the difficulties in his way. although he has conquered portugal, he is prevented by the fleets of holland and england from taking possession of the richest of the portuguese possessions, the islands and the indies. he will find in france insuperable objections to his election as king, for he could in this case well reproach the leaguers with having been changed from frenchmen into spaniards. he must see that his case is hopeless in france, he who for thirty years has been in vain endeavouring to re-establish his authority in the netherlands. it would be impossible in the present position of affairs to become either the king or the protector of france. the dignity of france allows it not." mayenne then insisted on the necessity of a truce with the royalists or politicians, and, assembling the estates at the louvre on the th july, he read a written paper declining for the moment to hold an election for king. john baptist tassis, next day, replied by declaring that in this case philip would send no more succours of men or money; for that the only effectual counter-poison to the pretended conversion of the prince of bearne was the immediate election of a king. thus did mayenne escape from the snare in which the spaniards thought to catch the man who, as they now knew, was changing every day, and was true to nothing save his own interests. and now the great day had come. the conversion of henry to the roman faith, fixed long before for--the rd july,-- , formally took place at the time appointed. from six in the morning till the stroke of noon did henry listen to the exhortations and expoundings of the learned prelates and doctors whom he had convoked, the politic archbishop of bourges taking the lead in this long-expected instruction. after six mortal hours had come to an end, the king rose from his knees, somewhat wearied, but entirely instructed and convinced. he thanked the bishops for having taught him that of which he was before quite ignorant, and assured them that; after having invoked the light, of the holy ghost upon his musings, he should think seriously over what they had just taught him, in order to come to a resolution salutary to himself and to the state. nothing could be more candid. next day, at eight in the morning, there was a great show in the cathedral of saint denis, and the population of paris, notwithstanding the prohibition of the league authorities, rushed thither in immense crowds to witness the ceremony of the reconciliation of the king. henry went to the church, clothed as became a freshly purified heretic, in white satin doublet and hose, white silk stockings, and white silk shoes with white roses in them; but with a black hat and a black mantle. there was a great procession with blare of trumpet and beat of drum. the streets were strewn with flowers. as henry entered the great portal of the church, he found the archbishop of bourges, seated in state, effulgent in mitre and chasuble, and surrounded by other magnificent prelates in gorgeous attire. "who are you, and what do you want?" said the arch-bishop. "i am the king," meekly replied henry, "and i demand to be received into the bosom of the roman catholic church." "do you wish it sincerely?" asked the prelate. "i wish it with all my heart," said the king. then throwing himself on his knees, the bearne--great champion of the huguenots--protested before god that he would live and die in the catholic faith, and that he renounced all heresy. a passage was with difficulty opened through the crowd, and he was then led to the high altar, amid the acclamations of the people. here he knelt devoutly and repeated his protestations. his unction and contrition were most impressive, and the people, of course, wept piteously. the king, during the progress of the ceremony, with hands clasped together and adoring the eucharist with his eyes, or, as the host was elevated, smiting himself thrice upon the breast, was a model of passionate devotion. afterwards he retired to a pavilion behind the altar, where the archbishop confessed and absolved him. then the te deum sounded, and high mass was celebrated by the bishop of nantes. then, amid acclamations and blessings, and with largess to the crowd, the king returned to the monastery of saint denis, where he dined amid a multitude of spectators, who thronged so thickly around him that his dinner-table was nearly overset. these were the very parisians, who, but three years before, had been feeding on rats and dogs and dead men's bones, and the bodies of their own children, rather than open their gates to this same prince of bearne. now, although mayenne had set strong guards at those gates, and had most strictly prohibited all egress, the city was emptied of its populace, which pressed in transports of adoration around the man so lately the object of their hate. yet few could seriously believe that much change had been effected in the inner soul of him, whom the legate, and the spaniard, and the holy father at rome still continued to denounce as the vilest of heretics and the most infamous of impostors. the comedy was admirably played out and was entirely successful. it may be supposed that the chief actor was, however, somewhat wearied. in private, he mocked at all this ecclesiastical mummery, and described himself as heartily sick of the business. "i arrived here last evening," he wrote to the beautiful gabrielle, "and was importuned with 'god save you' till bed-time. in regard to the leaguers i am of the order of st. thomas. i am beginning to-morrow morning to talk to the bishops, besides those i told you about yesterday. at this moment of writing i have a hundred of these importunates on my shoulders, who will make me hate saint denis as much as you hate mantes. 'tis to-morrow that i take the perilous leap. i kiss a million times the beautiful hands of my angel and the mouth of my dear mistress." a truce--renewed at intervals--with the leaguers lasted till the end of the year. the duke of nevers was sent on special mission to rome to procure the holy father's consent to the great heretic's reconciliation to the church, and he was instructed to make the king's submission in terms so wholesale and so abject that even some of the life-long papists of france were disgusted, while every honest protestant in europe shrank into himself for shame. but clement, overawed by philip and his ambassador, was deaf to all the representations of the french envoy. he protested that he would not believe in the sincerity of the bearne's conversion unless an angel from heaven should reveal it to him. so nevers left rome, highly exasperated, and professing that he would rather have lost a leg, that he would rather have been sewn in a sack and tossed into the tiber, than bear back such a message. the pope ordered the prelates who had accompanied nevers to remain in rome and be tried by the inquisition for misprision of heresy, but the duke placed them by his side and marched out of the porta del popolo with them, threatening to kill any man who should attempt to enforce the command. meantime it became necessary to follow up the st. denis comedy with a still more exhilarating popular spectacle. the heretic had been purified, confessed, absolved. it was time for a consecration. but there was a difficulty. although the fever of loyalty to the ancient house of bourbon, now redeemed from its worship of the false gods, was spreading contagiously through the provinces; although all the white silk in lyons had been cut into scarves and banners to celebrate the reconciliation of the candid king with mother church; although that ancient city was ablaze with bonfires and illuminations, while its streets ran red, with blood no longer, but with wine; and although madam league, so lately the object of fondest adoration, was now publicly burned in the effigy of a grizzly hag; yet paris still held for that decrepit beldame, and closed its gates to the bearnese. the city of rheims, too, had not acknowledged the former huguenot, and it was at rheims, in the church of st. remy, that the holy bottle was preserved. with what chrism, by what prelate, should the consecration of henry be performed? five years before, the league had proposed in the estates of blois to place among the fundamental laws of the kingdom that no king should be considered a legitimate sovereign whose head had not been anointed by the bishop at rheims with oil from that holy bottle. but it was now decided that to ascribe a monopoly of sanctity to that prelate and to that bottle would be to make a schism in the church. moreover it was discovered that there was a chrism in existence still more efficacious than the famous oil of st. remy. one hundred and twelve years before the baptism of clovis, st. martin had accidentally tumbled down stairs, and lay desperately bruised and at the point of death. but, according to sulpicius severus, an angel had straightway descended from heaven, and with a miraculous balsam had anointed the contusions of the saint, who next day felt no farther inconveniences from his fall. the balsam had ever since been preserved in the church of marmoutier near tours. here, then, was the most potent of unguents brought directly from heaven. to mix a portion thereof with the chrism of consecration was clearly more judicious than to make use of the holy bottle, especially as the holy bottle was not within reach. the monks of marmoutier consented to lend the sacred phial containing the famous oil of st. martin for the grand occasion of the royal consecration. accompanied by a strong military escort provided by giles de souvri, governor of touraine, a deputation of friars brought the phial to chartres, where the consecration was to take place. prayers were offered up, without ceasing, in the monastery during their absence that no mishap should befal the sacred treasure. when the monks arrived at chartres, four young barons of the first nobility were assigned to them as hostages for the safe restoration of the phial, which was then borne in triumph to the cathedral, the streets through which it was carried being covered with tapestry. there was a great ceremony, a splendid consecration; six bishops, with mitres on their heads and in gala robes, officiating; after which the king knelt before the altar and took the customary oath. thus the champion of the fierce huguenots, the well-beloved of the dead la noue and the living duplessis mornay, the devoted knight of the heretic queen elizabeth, the sworn ally of the stout dutch calvinists, was pompously reconciled to that rome which was the object of their hatred and their fear. the admirably arranged spectacles of the instruction at st. denis and the consecration at chartres were followed on the day of the vernal equinox by a third and most conclusive ceremony: a secret arrangement had been made with de cosse-brissac, governor of paris, by the king, according to which the gates of paris were at last to be opened to him. the governor obtained a high price for his services--three hundred thousand livres in hard cash, thirty thousand a year for his life, and the truncheon of marshal of france. thus purchased, brissac made his preparations with remarkable secrecy and skill. envoy ybarra, who had scented something suspicious in the air, had gone straight to the governor for information, but the keen spaniard was thrown out by the governor's ingenuous protestations of ignorance. the next morning, march nd, was stormy and rainy, and long before daylight ybarra, still uneasy despite the statements of brissac, was wandering about the streets of paris when he became the involuntary witness of an extraordinary spectacle. through the wind and the rain came trampling along the dark streets of the capital a body of four thousand troopers and lansquenettes. many torch-bearers attended on the procession, whose flambeaux threw a lurid light upon the scene. there, surrounded by the swart and grizzly bearded visages of these strange men-at-arms, who were discharging their arquebuses, as they advanced upon any bystanders likely to oppose their progress; in the very midst of this sea of helmed heads, the envoy was enabled to recognise the martial figure of the prince of bearne. armed to the teeth, with sword in hand and dagger at side, the hero of ivry rode at last through the barriers which had so long kept him from his capital. "'twas like enchantment," said ybarra. the first bourbon entered the city through the same gate out of which the last valois had, five years before, so ignominiously fled. it was a midnight surprise, although not fully accomplished until near the dawn of day. it was not a triumphal entrance; nor did henry come as the victorious standard-bearer of a great principle. he had defeated the league in many battle-fields, but the league still hissed defiance at him from the very hearthstone of his ancestral palace. he had now crept, in order to conquer, even lower than the league itself; and casting off his huguenot skin at last, he had soared over the heads of all men, the presiding genius of the holy catholic church. twenty-one years before, he had entered the same city on the conclusion of one of the truces which had varied the long monotony of the religious wars of france. the youthful son of antony bourbon and joan of albret had then appeared as the champion and the idol of the huguenots. in the same year had come the fatal nuptials with the bride of st. bartholomew, the first catholic conversion of henry and the massacre at which the world still shudders. now he was chief of the "politicians," and sworn supporter of the council of trent. earnest huguenots were hanging their heads in despair. he represented the principle of national unity against national dismemberment by domestic treason and foreign violence. had that principle been his real inspiration, as it was in truth his sole support, history might judge him more leniently. had he relied upon it entirely it might have been strong enough to restore him to the throne of his ancestors, without the famous religious apostacy with which his name is for ever associated. it is by no means certain that permanent religious toleration might not have been the result of his mounting the throne, only when he could do so without renouncing the faith of his fathers. a day of civilization may come perhaps, sooner or later, when it will be of no earthly cousequence to their fellow creatures to what creed, what christian church, what religious dogma kings or humbler individuals may be partial; when the relations between man and his maker shall be undefiled by political or social intrusion. but the day will never come when it will be otherwise than damaging to public morality and humiliating to human dignity to forswear principle for a price, and to make the most awful of mysteries the subject of political legerdemain and theatrical buffoonery. the so-called conversion of the king marks an epoch in human history. it strengthened the roman church and gave it an indefinite renewal of life; but it sapped the foundations of religious faith. the appearance of henry the huguenot as the champion of the council of trent was of itself too biting an epigram not to be extensively destructive. whether for good or ill, religion was fast ceasing to be the mainspring of political combinations, the motive of great wars and national convulsions. the age of religion was to be succeeded by the age of commerce. but the king was now on his throne. all paris was in rapture. there was te deum with high mass in notre dame, and the populace was howling itself hoarse with rapture in honour of him so lately the object of the general curse. even the sorbonne declared in favour of the reclaimed heretic, and the decision of those sages had vast influence with less enlightened mortals. there was nothing left for the duke of feria but to take himself off and make latin orations in favour of the infanta elsewhere, if fit audience elsewhere could be found. a week after the entrance of henry, the spanish garrison accordingly was allowed to leave paris with the honours of war. "we marched out at p.m.," wrote the duke to his master, "with closed ranks, colours displayed, and drums beating. first came the italians and then the spaniards, in the midst of whom was myself on horseback, with the walloons marching near me. the prince of bearne"--it was a solace to the duke's heart, of which he never could be deprived, to call the king by that title--"was at a window over the gate of st. denis through which we took our departure. he was dressed in light grey, with a black hat surmounted by a great white feather. our displayed standards rendered him no courteous salute as we passed." here was another solace! thus had the game been lost and won, but philip as usual did not acknowledge himself beaten. mayenne, too, continued to make the most fervent promises to all that was left of the confederates. he betook himself to brussels, and by the king's orders was courteously received by the spanish authorities in the netherlands. in the midst of the tempest now rapidly destroying all rational hopes, philip still clung to mayenne as to a spar in the shipwreck. for the king ever possessed the virtue, if it be one, of continuing to believe himself invincible and infallible, when he had been defeated in every quarter, and when his calculations had all proved ridiculous mistakes. when his famous armada had been shattered and sunk, have we not seen him peevishly requiring alexander farnese to construct a new one immediately and to proceed therewith to conquer england out of hand? was it to be expected that he would renounce his conquest of france, although the legitimate king had entered his capital, had reconciled himself to the church, and was on the point of obtaining forgiveness of the pope? if the prince of bearne had already destroyed the holy league, why should not the duke of mayenne and archduke ernest make another for him, and so conquer france without further delay? but although it was still possible to deceive the king, who in the universality of his deceptive powers was so prone to delude himself, it was difficult even for so accomplished an intriguer as mayenne to hoodwink much longer the shrewd spaniards who were playing so losing a game against him. "our affairs in france," said ybarra, "are in such condition that we are losing money and character there, and are likely to lose all the provinces here, if things are not soon taken up in a large and energetic manner. money and troops are what is wanted on a great scale for france. the king's agents are mightily discontented with mayenne, and with reason; but they are obliged to dissimulate and to hold their tongues. we can send them no assistance from these regions, unless from down yonder you send us the cloth and the scissors to cut it with." and the archduke ernest, although he invited mayenne to confer with him at brussels, under the impression that he could still keep him and the duke of guise from coming to an arrangement with bearne, hardly felt more confidence in the man than did feria or ybarra. "since the loss of paris," said ernest, "i have had a letter from mayenne, in which, deeply affected by that event, he makes me great offers, even to the last drop of his blood, vowing never to abandon the cause of the league. but of the intentions and inner mind of this man i find such vague information, that i don't dare to expect more stability from him than may be founded upon his own interest." and so mayenne came to brussels and passed three days with the archduke. "he avows himself ready to die in our cause," said ernest. "if your majesty will give men and money enough, he will undertake so to deal with bearne that he shall not think himself safe in his own house." the archduke expressed his dissatisfaction to mayenne that with the money he had already received, so little had been accomplished, but he still affected a confidence which he was far from feeling, "because," said he, "it is known that mayenne is already treating with bearne. if he has not concluded those arrangements, it is because bearne now offers him less money than before." the amount of dissimulation, politely so-called, practised by the grandees of that age, to say nothing of their infinite capacity for pecuniary absorption, makes the brain reel and enlarges one's ideas of the human faculties as exerted in certain directions. it is doubtful whether plain hans miller or hans baker could have risen to such level. feria wrote a despatch to the king, denouncing mayenne as false, pernicious to the cause of spain and of catholicism, thoroughly self-seeking and vile, and as now most traitorous to the cause of the confederacy, engaged in surrendering its strong places to the enemy, and preparing to go over to the prince of bearne. "if," said he, "i were to recount all his base tricks, i should go on till midnight, and perhaps till to-morrow morning." this letter, being intercepted, was sent with great glee by henry iv., not to the royal hands for which it was destined, but to the duke of mayenne. great was the wrath of that injured personage as he read such libellous truths. he forthwith fulminated a scathing reply, addressed to philip ii., in which he denounced the duke of feria as "a dirty ignoramus, an impudent coward, an impostor, and a blind thief;" adding, after many other unsavoury epithets, "but i will do him an honour which he has not merited, proving him a liar with my sword; and i humbly pray your majesty to grant me this favour and to pardon my just grief, which causes me to depart from the respect due to your majesty, when i speak of this impostor who has thus wickedly torn my reputation." his invectives were, however, much stronger than his arguments in defence of that tattered reputation. the defiance to mortal combat went for nothing; and, in the course of the next year, the injured mayenne turned his back on philip and his spaniards, and concluded his bargain with the prince of bearne. he obtained good terms: the government of burgundy, payment of his debts, and a hundred and twenty thousand crowns in hard cash. it is not on record that the man of his word, of credit, and of truth, ever restored a penny of the vast sums which he had received from philip to carry on the business of the league. subsequently the duke came one very hot summer's-day to monceaux to thank the king, as he expressed it, for "delivering him from spanish arrogance and italian wiles;" and having got with much difficulty upon his knees, was allowed to kiss the royal hand. henry then insisted upon walking about with him through the park at a prodigious rate, to show him all the improvements, while the duke panted, groaned, and perspired in his vain efforts to keep pace with his new sovereign. "if i keep this fat fellow walking about in the sun much longer," whispered the king to de bethune, who was third in the party, "i shall be sufficiently avenged for all the mischief he has done us." at last, when the duke was forced to admit himself to be on the point of expiring with fatigue, he was dismissed to the palace with orders to solace himself with a couple of bottles of excellent wine of arbois, expressly provided for him by the king's direction. and this was all the punishment ever inflicted by the good-humoured monarch on the corpulent conspirator. the duke of guise made his arrangements with the ex-huguenot on even better terms and at a still earlier day; while joyeuse and mercoeur stood out a good while and higgled hard for conditions. "these people put such a high price on themselves," said one of henry's diplomatists, "that one loses almost more than one gains in buying them. they strip and plunder us even in our nakedness, and we are obliged, in order to conciliate such harpies, to employ all that we can scrape out of our substance and our blood. i think, however, that we ought to gain them by whatever means and at whatever price." thus henry iv., the man whom so many contemporary sages had for years been rebuking or ridiculing for his persistency in a hopeless attempt to save his country from dismemberment, to restore legitimate authority, and to resist the "holy confederacy" of domestic traitors, aided by foreign despots and sympathizers, was at last successful, and the fratricidal war in france was approaching its only possible conclusion. but, alas! the hopes of those who loved the reformed church as well as they loved their country were sadly blasted by the apostasy of their leader. from the most eminent leaders of the huguenots there came a wail, which must have penetrated even to the well-steeled heart of the cheerful gascon. "it will be difficult," they said, "to efface very soon from your memory the names of the men whom the sentiment of a common religion, association in the same perils and persecutions, a common joy in the same deliverance, and the long experience of so many faithful services, have engraved there with a pencil of diamond. the remembrance of these things pursues you and accompanies you everywhere; it interrupts your most important affairs, your most ardent pleasures, your most profound slumber, to represent to you, as in a picture, yourself to yourself: yourself not as you are to-day, but such as you were when, pursued to the death by the greatest princes of europe, you went on conducting to the harbour of safety the little vessel against which so many tempests were beating." the states of the dutch republic, where the affair of henry's conversion was as much a matter of domestic personal interest as it could be in france--for religion up to that epoch was the true frontier between nation and nation--debated the question most earnestly while it was yet doubtful. it was proposed to send a formal deputation to the king, in order to divert him, if possible, from the fatal step which he was about to take. after ripe deliberation however, it was decided to leave the matter "in the hands of god almighty, and to pray him earnestly to guide the issue to his glory and the welfare of the churches." the queen of england was, as might be supposed, beside herself with indignation, and, in consequence of the great apostasy, and of her chronic dissatisfaction with the manner in which her contingent of troops had been handled in france, she determined to withdraw every english soldier from the support of henry's cause. the unfortunate french ambassador in london was at his wits' ends. he vowed that he could not sleep of nights, and that the gout and the cholic, to which he was always a martyr, were nothing to the anguish which had now come upon his soul and brain, such as he had never suffered since the bloody day of st. bartholomew. "ah, my god!" said he to burghley, "is it possible that her just choler has so suddenly passed over the great glory which she has acquired by so many benefits and liberalities?" but he persuaded himself that her majesty would after all not persist in her fell resolution. to do so, he vowed, would only be boiling milk for the french papists, who would be sure to make the most of the occasion in order to precipitate the king into the, abyss, to the border of which they had already brought him. he so dreaded the ire of the queen that he protested he was trembling all over merely to see the pen of his secretary wagging as he dictated his despatches. nevertheless it was his terrible duty to face her in her wrath, and he implored the lord treasurer to accompany him and to shield him at the approaching interview. "protect me," he cried, "by your wisdom from the ire of this great princess; for by the living god, when i see her enraged against any person whatever i wish myself in calcutta, fearing her anger like death itself." when all was over, henry sent de morlans as special envoy to communicate the issue to the governments of england and of holland. but the queen, although no longer so violent, was less phlegmatic than the states-general, and refused to be comforted. she subsequently receded, however, from her determination to withdraw her troops from france. "ah! what grief; ah! what regrets; ah! what groans, have i felt in my soul," she wrote, "at the sound of the news brought to me by morlans! my god! is it possible that any wordly respect can efface the terror of divine wrath? can we by reason even expect a good sequel to such iniquitous acts? he who has maintained and preserved you by his mercy, can you imagine that he permits you to walk alone in your utmost need? 'tis bad to do evil that good may come of it. meantime i shall not cease to put you in the first rank of my devotions, in order that the hands of esau may not spoil the blessings of jacob. as to your promises to me of friendship and fidelity, i confess to have dearly deserved them, nor do i repent, provided you do not change your father--otherwise i shall be your bastard sister by the father's side--for i shall ever love a natural better than an adopted one. i desire that god may guide you in a straight road and a better path. your most sincere sister in the old fashion. as to the new, i have nothing to do with it. elizabeth r." etext editor's bookmarks: all fellow-worms together continuing to believe himself invincible and infallible he spent more time at table than the bearnese in sleep henry the huguenot as the champion of the council of trent highest were not necessarily the least slimy his invectives were, however, much stronger than his arguments history is a continuous whole of which we see only fragments infinite capacity for pecuniary absorption leading motive with all was supposed to be religion past was once the present, and once the future sages of every generation, read the future like a printed scroll sewers which have ever run beneath decorous christendom wrath of that injured personage as he read such libellous truths history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter xxx. prince maurice lays siege to gertruydenberg--advantages of the new system of warfare--progress of the besieging operations--superiority of maurice's manoeuvres--adventure of count philip of nassau-- capitulation of gertruydenberg--mutiny among the spanish troops-- attempt of verdugo to retake coeworden--suspicions of treason in the english garrison at ostend--letter of queen elizabeth to sir edward norris on the subject--second attempt on coeworden--assault on groningen by maurice--second adventure of philip of nassau--narrow escape of prince maurice--surrender of groningen--particulars of the siege--question of religious toleration--progress of the united netherlands--condition of the "obedient" netherlands--incompetency of peter mansfeld as governor--archduke ernest, the successor of farnese--difficulties of his position--his unpopularity--great achievements of the republicans--triumphal entry of ernest into brussels and antwerp--magnificence of the spectacle--disaffection of the spanish troops--great military rebellion--philip's proposal to destroy the english fleet--his assassination plans--plot to poison queen elizabeth--conspiracies against prince maurice--futile attempts at negotiation--proposal of a marriage between henry and the infanta--secret mission from henry to the king of spain--special dispatch to england and the staten--henry obtains further aid from queen elizabeth and the states--council--anxiety of the protestant countries to bring about a war with spain--aspect of affairs at the close of the year . while philip's world-empire seemed in one direction to be so rapidly fading into cloudland there were substantial possessions of the spanish crown which had been neglected in brabant and friesland. two very important cities still held for the king of spain within the territories of what could now be fairly considered the united dutch republic--st. gertruydenberg and groningen. early in the spring of , maurice had completed his preparations for a siege, and on the th march appeared before gertruydenberg. it was a stately, ancient city, important for its wealth, its strength, and especially for its position. for without its possession even the province of holland could hardly consider itself mistress of its own little domains. it was seated on the ancient meuse, swollen as it approached the sea almost to the dimension of a gulf, while from the south another stream, called the donge, very brief in its course, but with considerable depth of water, came to mingle itself with the meuse, exactly under the walls of the city. the site of the place was so low that it was almost hidden and protected by its surrounding dykes. these afforded means of fortification, which had been well improved. both by nature and art the city was one of the strongholds of the netherlands. maurice had given the world a lesson in the beleaguering science at the siege of steenwyk, such as had never before been dreamt of; but he was resolved that the operations before gertruydenberg should constitute a masterpiece. nothing could be more beautiful as a production of military art, nothing, to the general reader, more insipid than its details. on the land side, hohenlo's headquarters were at ramsdonck, a village about a german mile to the east of gertruydenberg. maurice himself was established on the west side of the city. two bridges constructed across the donge facilitated the communications between the two camps, while great quantities of planks and brush were laid down across the swampy roads to make them passable for waggon-trains and artillery. the first care of the young general, whose force was not more than twenty thousand men, was to protect himself rather than to assail the town. his lines extended many miles in a circuit around the place, and his forts, breastworks, and trenches were very numerous. the river was made use of as a natural and almost impassable ditch of defence, and windmills were freely employed to pump water into the shallows in one direction, while in others the outer fields, in quarters whence a relieving force might be expected, were turned into lakes by the same machinery. farther outside, a system of palisade work of caltrops and man-traps--sometimes in the slang of the day called turkish ambassadors--made the country for miles around impenetrable or very disagreeable to cavally. in a shorter interval than would have seemed possible, the battlements and fortifications of the besieging army had risen like an exhalation out of the morass. the city of gertruydenberg was encompassed by another city as extensive and apparently as impregnable as itself. then, for the first time in that age, men thoroughly learned the meaning of that potent implement the spade. three thousand pioneers worked night and day with pickaxe and shovel. the soldiers liked the business; for every man so employed received his ten stivers a day additional wages, punctually paid, and felt moreover that every stioke was bringing the work nearer to its conclusion. the spaniards no longer railed at maurice as a hedger and ditcher. when he had succeeded in bringing a hundred great guns to bear upon the beleaguered city they likewise ceased to sneer at heavy artillery. the kartowen and half kartowen were no longer considered "espanta vellacos." meantime, from all the country round, the peasants flocked within the lines. nowhere in europe were provisions so plentiful and cheap as in the dutch camp. nowhere was a readier market for agricultural products, prompter payment, or more perfect security for the life and property of non-combatants. not so much as a hen's egg was taken unlawfully. the country people found themselves more at ease within maurice's lines than within any other part of the provinces, obedient or revolted. they ploughed and sowed and reaped at their pleasure, and no more striking example was ever afforded of the humanizing effect of science upon the barbarism of war, than in this siege of gertruydenberg. certainly it was the intention of the prince to take his city, and when he fought the enemy it was his object to kill; but, as compared with the bloody work which alva, and romero, and requesens, and so many others had done in those doomed provinces, such war-making as this seemed almost like an institution for beneficent and charitable purposes. visitors from the neighbourhood, from other provinces, from foreign countries, came to witness the extraordinary spectacle, and foreign generals repaired to the camp of maurice to take practical lessons in the new art of war. old peter ernest mansfeld, who was nominal governor of the spanish netherlands since the death of farnese, rubbed his eyes and stared aghast when the completeness of the preparations for reducing the city at last broke in upon his mind. count fuentes was the true and confidential regent however until the destined successor to parma should arrive; but fuentes, although he had considerable genius for assassination, as will hereafter appear, and was an experienced and able commander of the old-fashioned school, was no match for maurice in the scientific combinations on which the new system was founded. in vain did the superannuated peter call aloud upon his sofa and governor, count charles, to assist him in this dire dilemma. that artillery general had gone with a handful of germans, walloons; and other obedient netherlanders--too few to accomplish anything abroad, too many to be spared from the provinces--to besiege noyon in france. but what signified the winning or losing of such a place as noyon at exactly the moment when the prince of bearne, assisted by the able generalship of the archbishop of bourges, had just executed those famous flanking movements in the churches of st. denis and chartres, by which the world-empire had been effectually shattered, and philip and the pope completely out-manoeuvred. better that the five thousand fighters under charles mansfeld had been around gertruydenberg. his aged father did what he could. as many men as could be spared from the garrison of antwerp and its neighbourhood were collected; but the spaniards were reluctant to march, except under old mondragon. that hero, who had done much of the hardest work, and had fought in most of the battles of the century, was nearly as old as the century. being now turned of ninety, he thought best to keep house in antwerp castle: accordingly twelve thousand foot and three thousand horse took the field under the more youthful peter ernest? but peter ernest, when his son was not there to superintend his operations, was nothing but a testy octogenarian, while the two together were not equal to the little finger of farnese, whom philip would have displaced, had he not fortunately died. "nothing is to be expected out of this place but toads and poison," wrote ybarra in infinite disgust to the two secretaries of state at madrid. "i have done my best to induce fuentes to accept that which the patent secured him, and count peter is complaining that fuentes showed him the patent so late only to play him a trick. there is a rascally pack of meddlers here, and the worst of them all are the women, whom i particularly give to the devil. there is no end to the squabbles as to who shall take the lead in relieving gertruydenberg." mansfeld at last came ponderously up in the neighbourhood of turnhout. there was a brilliant little skirmish, in the, neighbourhood of this place, in which a hundred and fifty dutch cavalry under the famous brothers bax defeated four hundred picked lancers of spain and italy. but mansfeld could get nothing but skirmishes. in vain he plunged about among the caltrops and man-traps. in vain he knocked at the fortifications of hohenlo on the east and of maurice on the west. he found them impracticable, impregnable, obdurate. it was maurice's intention to take his town at as small sacrifice of life as possible. a trumpet was sent on some trifling business to mansfeld, in reply to a communication made by the general to maurice. "why does your master," said the choleric veteran to the trumpeter, "why does prince maurice, being a lusty young commander as he is, not come out of his trenches into the open field and fight me like a man, where honour and fame await him?" "because my master," answered the trumpeter, "means to live to be a lusty old commander like your excellency, and sees no reason to-day to give you an advantage." at this the bystanders laughed, rather at the expense of the veteran. meantime there were not many incidents within the lines or within the city to vary the monotony of the scientific siege. on the land side, as has been seen, the city was enclosed and built out of human sight by another gertruydenberg. on the wide estuary of the meuse, a chain of war ships encircled the sea-front, in shape of a half moon, lying so close to each other that it was scarcely possible even for a messenger to swim out of a dark night. the hardy adventurers who attempted that feat with tidings of despair were almost invariably captured. this blockading fleet took regular part in the daily cannonade; while, on the other hand, the artillery practice from the landbatteries of maurice and hohenlo was more perfect than anything ever known before in the netherlands or france. and the result was that in the course of the cannonade which lasted nearly ninety days, not more than four houses in the city escaped injury. the approaches were brought, every hour, nearer and nearer to the walls. with subterranean lines converging in the form of the letter y, the prince had gradually burrowed his way beneath the principal bastion. hohenlo, representative of the older school of strategy, had on one occasion ventured to resist the authority of the commander-in-chief. he had constructed a fort at ramsdonck. maurice then commanded the erection of another, fifteen hundred yards farther back. it was as much a part of his purpose to defend himself against the attempts of mansfeld's relieving force, as to go forward against the city. hohenlo objected that it would be impossible to sustain himself against a sudden attack in so isolated a position. maurice insisted. in the midst of the altercation hohenlo called to the men engaged in throwing up the new fortifications: "here, you captains and soldiers," he cried, "you are delivered up here to be butchered. you may drop work and follow me to the old fort." "and i swear to you," said maurice quietly, "that the first man who moves from this spot shall be hanged." no one moved. the fort was completed and held to the and; hohenlo sulkily acquiescing in the superiority which this stripling--his former pupil--had at last vindicated over all old-fashioned men-at-arms. from the same cause which was apt to render hohenlo's services inefficient, the prince was apt to suffer inconvenience in the persons placed in still nearer relation to himself. count philip of nassau, brother of the wise and valiant lewis william, had already done much brilliant campaigning against the spaniards both in france and the provinces. unluckily, he was not only a desperate fighter but a mighty drinker, and one day, after a dinner-party and potent carouse at colonel brederode's quarters, he thought proper, in doublet and hose, without armour of any kind, to mount his horse, in order to take a solitary survey of the enemy's works. not satisfied with this piece of reconnoitering--which he effected with much tipsy gravity, but probably without deriving any information likely to be of value to the commanding general--he then proceeded to charge in person a distant battery. the deed was not commendable in a military point of view. a fire was opened upon him at long range so soon as he was discovered, and at the same time the sergeant-major of his regiment and an equerry of prince maurice started in pursuit, determined to bring him off if possible, before his life had been thus absurdly sacrificed. fortunately for him they came to the rescue in time, pulled him from his horse, and succeeded in bringing him away unharmed. the sergeant-major, however, sinisky by name, while thus occupied in preserving the count's life, was badly wounded in the leg by a musket-shot from the fort; which casualty was the only result of this after-dinner assault. as the siege proceeded, and as the hopes of relief died away, great confusion began to reign within the city. the garrison, originally of a thousand veterans, besides burgher militia, had been much diminished. two commandants of the place, one after another, had lost their lives. on the st of june, governor de masieres, captain mongyn, the father-confessor of the garrison, and two soldiers, being on the top of the great church tower taking observations, were all brought down with one cannon-shot. thus the uses of artillery were again proved to be something more than to scare cowards. the final result seemed to have been brought about almost by accident, if accident could be admitted as a factor in such accurate calculations as those of maurice. on the th june captains haen and bievry were relieving watch in the trenches near the great north ravelin of the town--a bulwark which had already been much undermined from below and weakened above. being adventurous officers, it occurred to them suddenly to scale the wall of the fort and reconnoitre what was going on in the town. it was hardly probable that they would come back alive from the expedition, but they nevertheless threw some planks across the ditch, and taking a few soldiers with them, climbed cautiously up. somewhat to his own surprise, still more to that of the spanish sentinels, bievry in a few minutes found himself within the ravelin. he was closely followed by captain haen, captain kalf, and by half a company of soldiers. the alarm was given. there was a fierce hand-to-hand struggle. sixteen of the bold stormers fell, and nine of the garrison of the fort. the rest fled into the city. the governor of the place, captain gysant, rushing to the rescue without staying to put on his armour, was killed. count solms, on the other hand, came from the besieging camp into the ravelin to investigate the sudden uproar. to his profound astonishment he was met there, after a brief interval, by a deputation from the city, asking for terms of surrender. the envoys had already been for some little time looking in vain for a responsible person with whom to treat. when maurice was informed of the propositions he thought it at first a trick; for he had known nothing of the little adventure of the three captains. soon afterwards he came into a battery whither the deputies had been brought, and the terms of capitulation were soon agreed upon. next day the garrison were allowed to go out with sidearms and personal baggage, and fifty waggons were lent them by the victor to bring their wounded men to antwerp. thus was gertruydenberg surrendered in the very face of peter mansfeld, who only became aware of the fact by the salvos of artillery fired in honour of the triumph, and by the blaze of illumination which broke forth over camp and city. the sudden result was an illustration of the prince's perfect arrangements. when maurice rode into the town, he found it strong enough and sufficiently well provisioned to have held out many a long day. but it had been demonstrated to the besieged that relief was impossible, and that the surrender on one day or another, after the siege operations should be brought to their close, was certain. the inexorable genius of the commander--skilled in a science which to the coarser war-makers of that age seemed almost superhuman--hovered above them like a fate. it was as well to succumb on the th june as to wait till the th july. moreover the great sustaining principle--resistance to the foreigner--which had inspired the deeds of daring, the wonders of endurance, in the dutch cities beleaguered so remorselessly by the spaniard twenty years earlier in the century, was wanting. in surrendering to the born netherlander--the heroic chieftain of the illustrious house of nassau--these netherlanders were neither sullying their flag nor injuring their country. enough had been done for military honour in the gallant resistance, in which a large portion of the garrison had fallen. nor was that religious superstition so active within the city, which three years before had made miracles possible in paris when a heretic sovereign was to be defied by his own subjects. it was known that even if the public ceremonies of the catholic church were likely to be suspended for a time after the surrender, at least the rights of individual conscience and private worship within individual households would be tolerated, and there was no papal legate with fiery eloquence persuading a city full of heroic dupes that it was more virtuous for men or women to eat their own children than to forego one high mass, or to wink at a single conventicle. after all, it was no such bitter hardship for the citizens of gertruydenberg to participate in the prosperity of the rising and thriving young republic, and to enjoy those municipal and national liberties which her sister cities had found so sweet. nothing could be calmer or more reasonable than such a triumph, nothing less humiliating or less disastrous than such a surrender. the problem was solved, the demonstration was made. to open their gates to the soldiers of the union was not to admit the hordes of a spanish commander with the avenging furies of murder, pillage, rape, which ever followed in their train over the breach of a captured city. to an enemy bated or dreaded to the uttermost mortal capacity, that well-fortified and opulent city might have held out for months, and only when the arms and the fraud of the foe without, and of famine within, had done their work, could it have bowed its head to the conqueror, and submitted to the ineffable tortures which would be the necessary punishment of its courage. four thousand shots had been fired from the siege-guns upon the city, and three hundred upon the relieving force. the besieging army numbered in all nine thousand one hundred and fifty men of all arms, and they lost during the eighty-five days' siege three hundred killed and four hundred wounded. after the conclusion of these operations, and the thorough remodelling of the municipal government of the important city thus regained to the republic, maurice occupied himself with recruiting and refreshing his somewhat exhausted little army. on the other hand, old count mansfeld, dissatisfied with the impotent conclusion to his attempts, retired to brussels to be much taunted by the insolent fuentes. he at least escaped very violent censure on the part of his son charles, for that general, after his superfluous conquest of noyon, while returning towards the netherlands, far too tardily to succour gertruydenberg, had been paralyzed in all his movements by a very extensive mutiny which broke out among the spanish troops in the province of artois. the disorder went through all its regular forms. a town was taken, an eletto was appointed. the country-side was black-mailed or plundered, and the rebellion lasted some thirteen months. before it was concluded there was another similar outbreak among the italians, together with the walloons and other obedient netherlanders in hainault, who obliged the city of mons to collect nine hundred florins a day for them. the consequence of these military rebellions was to render the spanish crown almost powerless during the whole year, within the provinces nominally subject to its sway. the cause--as always--was the non-payment of these veterans' wages, year after year. it was impossible for philip, with all the wealth of the indies and mexico pouring through the danaid sieve of the holy league in france, to find the necessary funds to save the bronzed and war-worn instruments of his crimes in the netherlands from starving and from revolt. meantime there was much desultory campaigning in friesland. verdugo and frederic van den berg picked up a few cities, and strong places which had thrown off their allegiance september, to the king--auerzyl, schlochteren, winschoten, wedde, ootmarzum--and invested the much more important town of coeworden, which maurice had so recently reduced to the authority of the union. verdugo's force was insufficient, however, and he had neither munitions nor provisions for a long siege. winter was coming on; and the states, aware that he would soon be obliged to retire from before the well-garrisoned and fortified place, thought it unnecessary to interfere with him. after a very brief demonstration the portuguese veteran was obliged to raise the siege. there were also certain vague attempts made by the enemy to re-possess himself of those most important seaports which had been pledged to the english queen. on a previous page the anxiety has been indicated with which sir robert sydney regarded the withdrawal of the english troops in the netherlands for the sake of assisting the french king. this palpable breach of the treaty had necessarily weakened england's hold on the affections of the netherlanders, and awakened dark suspicions that treason might be impending at flushing or ostend. the suspicions were unjust--so far as the governors of those places were concerned--for sydney and norris were as loyal as they were intelligent and brave; but the trust in their characters was not more implicit than it had been in that of sir william stanley before the commission of his crime. it was now believed that the enemy was preparing for a sudden assault upon ostend, with the connivance, it was feared, of a certain portion of the english garrison. the intelligence was at once conveyed to her majesty's government by sir edward norris, and they determined to take a lesson from past experience. norris was at once informed that in view of the attack which he apprehended, his garrison should be strengthened by five hundred men under sir conyers clifford from certain companies in flushing, and that other reinforcements should be sent from the english troops in normandy. the governor was ordered to look well after his captains and soldiers, to remind them, in the queen's name, of their duty to herself and to the states, to bid all beware of sullying the english name, to make close investigations into any possible intrigues of the garrison with the enemy, and, should any culprits be found, to bring them at once to condign punishment. the queen, too, determined that there should be no blighting of english honour, if she could prevent it by her warnings, indited with her own hand a characteristic letter to sir edward norris, to accompany the more formal despatch of lord burghley. thus it ran "ned!-- "though you have some tainted sheep among your flock, let not that serve for excuse for the rest. we trust you are so carefully regarded as nought shall be left for your excuses, but either ye lack heart or want will; for of fear we will not make mention, as that our soul abhors, and we assure ourselves you will never discern suspicion of it. now or never let for the honour of us and our nation, each man be so much of bolder heart as their cause is good, and their honour must be according, remembering the old goodness of our god, who never yet made us fail his needful help, who ever bless you as i with my prince's hand beseech him." the warnings and preparations proved sufficiently effective, and the great schemes with which the new royal governor of the netherlands was supposed to be full--a mere episode in which was the conquest of ostend--seemed not so formidable as their shadows had indicated. there was, in the not very distant future, to be a siege of ostend, which the world would not soon forget, but perhaps the place would not yield to a sudden assault. its resistance, on the contrary, might prove more protracted than was then thought possible. but the chronicle of events must not be anticipated. for the present, ostend was safe. early in the following spring, verdugo again appeared before coeworden in force. it was obvious that the great city of groningen, the mistress of all the north-eastern provinces, would soon be attacked, and coeworden was the necessary base of any operations against the place. fortunately for the states, william lewis had in the preceding autumn occupied and fortified the only avenue through the bourtange morass, so that when verdugo sat down before coeworden, it was possible for maurice, by moving rapidly, to take the royal governor at a disadvantage. verdugo had eight thousand picked troops, including two thousand walloon cavalry, troopers who must have been very formidable, if they were to be judged by the prowess of one of their captains, gaucier by name. this obedient netherlander was in the habit of boasting that he had slain four hundred and ten men with his own hand, including several prisoners and three preachers; but the rest of those warriors were not so famed for their martial achievements. the peril, however, was great, and prince maurice, trifling not a moment, threw himself with twelve thousand infantry, germans, frisians, scotch, english, and hollanders, and nearly two thousand horse, at once upon the road between the vecht and the bourtange morass. on the th of may, verdugo found the states' commander-in-chief trenched and impregnable, squarely established upon his line of communications. he reconnoitred, called a council of war, and decided that to assail him were madness; to remain, destruction. on the night of the th of may, he broke up his camp and stole away in the darkness, without sound of drum or trumpet, leaving all his fortifications and burning all his huts. thus had maurice, after showing the world how strong places were to be reduced, given a striking exhibition of the manner in which they were to be saved. coeworden, after thirty-one weeks' investment, was relieved. the stadholder now marched upon groningen. this city was one of the most splendid and opulent of all the netherland towns. certainly it should have been one of the most ancient in europe, since it derived its name--according to that pains-taking banker, francis guicciardini--"from grun, a trojan gentleman," who, nevertheless, according to munster, was "a frenchman by birth."--"both theories, however, might be true," added the conscientious florentine, "as the french have always claimed to be descended from the relics of troy." a simpler-minded antiquary might have babbled of green fields, since 'groenighe,' or greenness, was a sufficiently natural appellation for a town surrounded as was groningen on the east and west by the greenest and fattest of pastures. in population it was only exceeded by antwerp and amsterdam. situate on the line where upper and nether germany blend into one, the capital of a great province whose very name was synonymous with liberty, and whose hardy sons had clone fierce battle with despotism in every age, so long as there had been human record of despotism and of battles, groningen had fallen into the hands of the foreign foe, not through the prowess of the spaniard but the treason of the netherlander. the baseness of the brilliant, trusted, valiant, treacherous young renneberg has been recorded on a previous page of these volumes. for thirteen years long the republic had chafed at this acquisition of the hated enemy within its very heart. and now the day had come when a blow should be struck for its deliverance by the ablest soldier that had ever shown himself in those regions, one whom the commonwealth had watched over from his cradle. for in groningen there was still a considerable party in favour of the union, although the treason of renneberg had hitherto prevented both city and province from incorporating themselves in the body politic of the united netherlands. within the precincts were five hundred of verdugo's veterans under george lanckema, stationed at a faubourg called schuytendiess. in the city there was, properly speaking, no garrison, for the citizens in the last few years had come to value themselves on their fidelity to church and king, and to take a sorry pride in being false to all that was noble in their past. their ancestors had wrested privilege after privilege at the sword's point from the mailed hands of dukes and emperors, until they were almost a self-governing republic; their courts of justice recognizing no appeal to higher powers, even under the despotic sway of charles v. and now, under the reign of his son, and in the feebler days of that reign, the capital of the free frisians--the men whom their ancient pagan statutes had once declared to be "free so long as the wind blew out of the clouds"--relied upon the trained bands of her burghers enured to arms and well-provided with all munitions of war to protect her, not against foreign tyranny nor domestic sedition, but against liberty and against law. for the representative of the most ancient of the princely houses of europe, a youth whose ancestors had been emperors when the forefathers of philip, long-descended as he was, were but country squires, was now knocking at their gates. not as a conqueror and a despot, but as the elected first magistrate and commander-in-chief of the freest commonwealth in the world, maurice of nassau, at the head of fifteen thousand netherlanders, countrymen of their own, now summoned the inhabitants of the town and province to participate with their fellow citizens in all the privileges and duties of the prosperous republic. it seemed impossible that such an appeal could be resisted by force of arms. rather it would seem that the very walls should have fallen at his feet at the first blast of the trumpet; but there was military honour, there was religious hatred, there was the obstinacy of party. more than all, there were half a dozen jesuits within the town, and to those ablest of generals in times of civil war it was mainly owing that the siege of groningen was protracted longer than under other circumstances would have been possible. it is not my purpose to describe in detail the scientific operations during the sixty-five days between the th may and the th july. again the commander-in-chief enlightened the world by an exhibition of a more artistic and humane style of warfare than previously to his appearance on the military stage had been known. but the daily phenomena of the leaguer--although they have been minutely preserved by most competent eyewitnesses--are hardly entitled to a place except in special military histories where, however, they should claim the foremost rank. the fortifications of the city were of the most splendid and substantial character known to the age. the ditches, the ravelins, the curtains, the towers were as thoroughly constructed as the defences of any place in europe. it was therefore necessary that maurice and his cousin lewis should employ all their learning, all their skill, and their best artillery to reduce this great capital of the eastern netherlands. again the scientific coil of approaches wound itself around and around the doomed stronghold; again were constructed the galleries, the covered ways, the hidden mines, where soldiers, transformed to gnomes, burrowed and fought within the bowels of the earth; again that fatal letter y advanced slowly under ground, stretching its deadly prongs nearer and nearer up to the walls; and again the system of defences against a relieving force was so perfectly established that verdugo or mansfield, with what troops they could muster, seemed as powerless as the pewter soldiers with which maurice in his boyhood--not yet so long passed away--was wont to puzzle over the problems which now practically engaged his early manhood. again, too, strangely enough, it is recorded that philip nassau, at almost the same period of the siege as in that of gertruydenberg, signalized himself by a deed of drunken and superfluous daring. this time the dinner party was at the quarters of count solms, in honour of the prince of anhalt, where, after potations pottle deep, count philip rushed from the dinner-table to the breach, not yet thoroughly practicable, of the north ravelin, and, entirely without armour, mounted pike in hand to the assault, proposing to carry the fort by his own unaided exertions. another officer, one captain vaillant, still more beside himself than was the count, inspired him to these deeds of valour by assuring him that the mine was to be sprung under the ravelin that afternoon, and that it was a plot on the part of the holland boatmen to prevent the soldiers who had been working so hard and so long in the mines from taking part in the honours of the assault. the count was with difficulty brought off with a whole skin and put to bed. yet despite these disgraceful pranks there is no doubt that a better and braver officer than he was hardly to be found even among the ten noble nassaus who at that moment were fighting for the cause of dutch liberty--fortunately with more sobriety than he at all times displayed. on the following day, prince maurice, making a reconnoissance of the works with his usual calmness, yet with the habitual contempt of personal danger which made so singular a contrast with the cautious and painstaking characteristics of his strategy, very narrowly escaped death. a shot from the fort struck so hard upon the buckler under cover of which he was taking his observations as to fell him to the ground. sir francis vere, who was with the prince under the same buckler, likewise measured his length in the trench, but both escaped serious injury. pauli, one of the states commissioners present in the camp, wrote to barneveld that it was to be hoped that the accident might prove a warning to his excellency. he had repeatedly remonstrated with him, he said, against his reckless exposure of himself to unnecessary danger, but he was so energetic and so full of courage that it was impossible to restrain him from being everywhere every day. three days later, the letter y did its work. at ten o'clock july, of the night of the th july, prince maurice ordered the mines to be sprung, when the north ravelin was blown into the air, and some forty of the garrison with it. two of them came flying into the besiegers' camp, and, strange to say, one was alive and sound. the catastrophe finished the sixty-five days' siege, the breach was no longer defensible, the obstinacy of the burghers was exhausted, and capitulation followed. in truth, there had been a subterranean intrigue going on for many weeks, which was almost as effective as the mine. a certain jan to boer had been going back and forth between camp and city, under various pretexts and safe-conducts, and it had at last appeared that the jesuits and the five hundred of verdugo's veterans were all that prevented groningen from returning to the union. there had been severe fighting within the city itself, for the jesuits had procured the transfer of the veterans from the faubourg to the town itself, and the result of all these operations, political, military, and jesuitical, was that on nd july articles of surrender were finally agreed upon between maurice and a deputation from the magistrates, the guilds, and commander lanckema. the city was to take its place thenceforth as a member of the union. william lewis, already stadholder of friesland for the united states, was to be recognised as chief magistrate of the whole province, which was thus to retain all its ancient privileges, laws, and rights of self-government, while it exchanged its dependence on a distant, foreign, and decaying despotism for incorporation with a young and vigorous commonwealth. it was arranged that no religion but the reformed religion, as then practised in the united republic, should be publicly exercised in the province, but that no man should be questioned as to his faith, or troubled in his conscience: cloisters and ecclesiastical property were to remain 'in statu quo,' until the states-general should come to a definite conclusion on these subjects. universal amnesty was proclaimed for all offences and quarrels. every citizen or resident foreigner was free to remain in or to retire from the town or province, with full protection to his person and property, and it was expressly provided in the articles granted to lanckema that his soldiers should depart with arms and baggage, leaving to prince maurice their colours only, while the prince furnished sufficient transportation for their women and their wounded. the property of verdugo, royal stadholder of the province, was to be respected, and to remain in the city, or to be taken thence under safe conduct, as might be preferred. ten thousand cannon-shot had been fired against the city. the cost of powder and shot consumed was estimated at a hundred thousand florins. four hundred of the besiegers had been killed, and a much larger number wounded. the army had been further weakened by sickness and numerous desertions. of the besieged, three hundred soldiers in all were killed, and a few citizens. thirty-six cannon were taken, besides mortars, and it was said that eight hundred tons of powder, and plenty of other ammunition and provisions were found in the place. on the rd july maurice and william lewis entered the city. some of the soldiers were disappointed at the inexorable prohibition of pillage; but it was the purpose of maurice, as of the states-general, to place the sister province at once in the unsullied possession of the liberty and the order for which the struggle with spain had, been carried on so long. if the limitation of public religious worship seemed harsh, it should be remembered that romanism in a city occupied by spanish troops had come to mean unmitigated hostility to the republic. in the midst of civil war, the hour for that religious liberty which was the necessary issue of the great conflict had not yet struck. it was surely something gained for humanity that no man should be questioned at all as to his creed in countries where it was so recently the time-honoured practice to question him on the rack, and to burn him if the answer was objectionable to the inquirer. it was something that the holy inquisition had been for ever suppressed in the land. it must be admitted, likewise, that the terms of surrender and the spectacle of re-established law and order which succeeded the capture of groningen furnished a wholesome contrast to the scenes of ineffable horror that had been displayed whenever a dutch town had fallen into the hands of philip. and thus the commonwealth of the united netherlands, through the practical military genius and perseverance of maurice and lewis william, and the substantial statesmanship of barneveld and his colleagues, had at last rounded itself into definite shape; while in all directions toward which men turned their eyes, world-empire, imposing and gorgeous as it had seemed for an interval, was vanishing before its votaries like a mirage. the republic, placed on the solid foundations of civil liberty, self-government, and reasonable law, was steadily consolidating itself. no very prominent movements were undertaken by the forces of the union during the remainder of the year. according to the agreements with henry iv. it had been necessary to provide that monarch with considerable assistance to carry on his new campaigns, and it was therefore difficult for maurice to begin for the moment upon the larger schemes which he had contemplated. meantime the condition of the obedient netherlands demands a hasty glance. on the death of brother alexander the capuchin, fuentes produced a patent by which peter ernest mansfeld was provisionally appointed governor, in case the post should become vacant. during the year which followed, that testy old campaigner had indulged himself in many petty feuds with all around him, but had effected, as we have seen, very little to maintain the king's authority either in the obedient or disobedient provinces. his utter incompetency soon became most painfully apparent. his more than puerile dependence upon his son, and the more than paternal severity exercised over him by count charles, were made manifest to all the world. the son ruled the trembling but peevish old warrior with an iron rod, and endless was their wrangling with fuentes and all the other spaniards. between the querulousness of the one and the ferocity of the other, poor fuentes became sick of his life. "'tis a diabolical genius, this count charles," said ybarra, "and so full of ambition that he insists on governing everybody just as he rules his father. as for me, until the archduke comes i am a fish out of water." the true successor to farnese was to be, the archduke ernest, one of the many candidates for the hand of the infanta, and for the throne of that department of the spanish dominions which was commonly called france. should philip not appropriate the throne without further scruple, in person, it was on the, whole decided that his favorite nephew should be the satrap of that outlying district of the spanish empire. in such case obedient france might be annexed to obedient netherlands, and united under the sway of archduke ernest. but these dreams had proved in the cold air of reality but midsummer madness. when the name of the archduke was presented to the estates as king ernest i. of france, even the most unscrupulous and impassioned leaguers of that country fairly hung their heads. that a foreign prince, whose very name had never been before heard of by the vast bulk of the french population, should be deliberately placed upon the throne of st. louis and hugh capet, was a humiliation hard to defend, profusely as philip had scattered the peruvian and mexican dollars among the great ones of the nation, in order to accomplish his purpose. so archduke ernest, early in the year , came to brussels, but he came as a gloomy, disappointed man. to be a bachelor-governor of the impoverished, exhausted, half-rebellious, and utterly forlorn little remnant of the spanish netherlands, was a different position from that of husband of clara isabella and king of france, on which his imagination had been feeding so long. for nearly the whole twelvemonth subsequent to the death of farnese, the spanish envoy to the imperial court had been endeavouring to arrange for the departure of the archduke to his seat of government in the netherlands. the prince himself was willing enough, but there were many obstacles on the part of the emperor and his advisers. "especially there is one very great impossibility," said san clemente, "and that is the poverty of his highness, which is so great that my own is not greater in my estate. so i don't see how he can stir a step without money. here they'll not furnish him with a penny, and for himself he possesses nothing but debts." the emperor was so little pleased with the adventure that in truth, according to the same authority, he looked upon the new viceroy's embarrassments with considerable satisfaction, so that it was necessary for philip to provide for his travelling expenses. ernest was next brother of the emperor rudolph, and as intensely devoted to the interests of the roman church as was that potentate himself, or even his uncle philip. he was gentle, weak, melancholy, addicted to pleasure, a martyr to the gout. he brought no soldiers to the provinces, for the emperor, threatened with another world-empire on his pagan flank, had no funds nor troops to send to the assistance of his christian brother-in-law and uncle. moreover, it may be imagined that rudolph, despite the bonds of religion and consanguinity, was disposed to look coldly on the colossal projects of philip. so ernest brought no troops, but he brought six hundred and seventy gentlemen, pages, and cooks, and five hundred and thirty-four horses, not to charge upon the rebellious dutchmen withal, but to draw coaches and six. there was trouble enough prepared for the new governor at his arrival. the great flemish and walloon nobles were quarrelling fiercely with the spaniards and among themselves for office and for precedence. arschot and his brother havre both desired the government of flanders; so did arenberg. all three, as well as other gentlemen, were scrambling for the majordomo's office in ernest's palace. havre wanted the finance department as well, but ybarra, who was a financier, thought the public funds in his hands would be in a perilous condition, inasmuch as he was provinces was accounted the most covetous man in all the provinces. so soon as the archduke was known to be approaching the capital there was a most ludicrous race run by all these grandees, in order to be the first to greet his highness. while mansfeld and fuentes were squabbling, as usual, arschot got the start of both, and arrived at treves. then the decrepit peter ernest struggled as far as luxembourg, while fuentes posted on to namur. the archduke was much perplexed as to the arranging of all these personages on the day of his entrance into brussels. in the council of state it was still worse. arschot claimed the first place as duke and as senior member, peter ernest demanded it as late governor-general and because of his grey hairs. never was imperial highness more disturbed, never was clamour for loaves and fishes more deafening. the caustic financier--whose mind was just then occupied with the graver matter of assassination on a considerable scale--looked with profound contempt at the spectacle thus presented to him. "there has been the devil's own row," said he, "between these counts about offices, and also about going out to receive the most serene archduke. i have had such work with them that by the salvation of my soul i swear if it were to last a fortnight longer i would go off afoot to spain, even if i were sure of dying in jail after i got there. i have reconciled the two counts (fuentes and mansfeld) with each other a hundred times, and another hundred times they have fallen out again, and behaved themselves with such vulgarity that i blushed for them. they are both to blame, but at any rate we have now got the archduke housed, and he will get us out of this embarrassment." the archduke came with rather a prejudice against the spaniards--the result doubtless of his disappointment in regard to france--and he manifested at first an extreme haughtiness to those of that nation with whom he came in contact. a castilian noble of high rank, having audience with him on one occasion, replaced his hat after salutation, as he had been accustomed to do--according to the manner of grandees of spain--during the government of farnese. the hat was rudely struck from his head by the archduke's chamberlain, and he was himself ignominiously thrust out of the presence. at another time an interview was granted to two spanish gentlemen who had business to transact. they made their appearance in magnificent national costume, splendidly embroidered in gold. after a brief hearing they were dismissed, with appointment of another audience for a few days later. when they again presented themselves they found the archduke with his court jester standing at his side, the buffoon being attired in a suit precisely similar to their own, which in the interval had been prepared by the court tailor. such amenities as these did not increase the popularity of ernest with the high-spirited spaniards, nor was it palatable to them that it should be proposed to supersede the old fighting portuguese, verdugo, as governor and commander-in-chief for the king in friesland, by frederic van den berg, a renegade netherlander, unworthy cousin of the nassaus, who had never shown either military or administrative genius. nor did he succeed in conciliating the flemings or the germans by these measures. in truth he was, almost without his own knowledge, under the controlling influence of fuentes, the most unscrupulous and dangerous spaniard of them all, while his every proceeding was closely watched not only by diego and stephen ybarra, but even by christoval de moura, one of philip's two secretaries of state who at this crisis made a visit to brussels. these men were indignant at the imbecility of the course pursued in the obedient provinces. they knew that the incapacity of the government to relieve the sieges of gertruydenberg and groningen had excited the contempt of europe, and was producing a most damaging effect an spanish authority throughout christendom. they were especially irritated by the presence of the arch-intrigues, mayenne, in brussels, even after all his double dealings had been so completely exposed that a blind man could have read them. yet there was mayenne, consorting with the archduke, and running up a great bill of sixteen thousand florins at the hotel, which the royal paymaster declined to settle for want of funds, notwithstanding ernest's order to that effect, and there was no possibility of inducing the viceroy to arrest him, much as he had injured and defrauded the king. how severely ybarra and feria denounced mayenne has been seen; but remonstrances about this and other grave mistakes of administration were lost upon ernest, or made almost impossible by his peculiar temper. "if i speak of these things to his highness," said ybarra, "he will begin to cry, as he always does." ybarra, however, thought it his duty secretly to give the king frequent information as to the blasted and forlorn condition of the provinces. "this sick man will die in our arms," he said, "without our wishing to kill him." he also left no doubt in the royal mind as to the utter incompetency of the archduke for his office. although he had much christianity, amiability, and good intentions, he was so unused to business, so slow and so lazy, so easily persuaded by those around him, as to be always falling into errors. he was the servant of his own servants, particularly of those least disposed to the king's service and most attentive to their own interests. he had endeavoured to make himself beloved by the natives of the country, while the very reverse of this had been the result. "as to his agility and the strength of his body," said the spaniard, as if he were thinking of certain allegories which were to mark the archduke's triumphal entry, "they are so deficient as to leave him unfit for arms. i consider him incapable of accompanying an army to the field, and we find him so new to all such affairs as constitute government and the conduct of warlike business, that he could not steer his way without some one to enlighten and direct him." it was sometimes complained of in those days--and the thought has even prolonged itself until later times--that those republicans of the united netherlands had done and could do great things; but that, after all, there was no grandeur about them. certainly they had done great things. it was something to fight the ocean for ages, and patiently and firmly to shut him out from his own domain. it was something to extinguish the spanish inquisition--a still more cruel and devouring enemy than the sea. it was something that the fugitive spirit of civil and religious liberty had found at last its most substantial and steadfast home upon those storm-washed shoals and shifting sandbanks. it was something to come to the rescue of england in her great agony, and help to save her from invasion. it was something to do more than any nation but england, and as much as she, to assist henry the huguenot to the throne of his ancestors and to preserve the national unity of france which its own great ones had imperilled. it was something to found two magnificent universities, cherished abodes of science and of antique lore, in the midst of civil commotions and of resistance to foreign oppression. it was something, at the same period, to lay the foundation of a systew of common schools--so cheap as to be nearly free--for rich and poor alike, which, in the words of one of the greatest benefactors to the young republic, "would be worth all the soldiers, arsenals, armouries, munitions, and alliances in the world." it was something to make a revolution, as humane as it was effective, in military affairs, and to create an army whose camps were european academies. it was something to organize, at the same critical period, on the most skilful and liberal scale, to carry out with unexampled daring, sagacity, and fortitude, great voyages of discovery to the polar regions, and to open new highways for commerce, new treasures for science. many things of this nature had been done by the new commonwealth; but, alas! she did not drape herself melodramatically, nor stalk about with heroic wreath and cothurn. she was altogether without grandeur. when alva had gained his signal victories, and followed them up by those prodigious massacres which, but for his own and other irrefragable testimony, would seem too monstrous for belief, he had erected a colossal statue to himself, attired in the most classical of costumes, and surrounded with the most mythological of attributes. here was grandeur. but william the silent, after he had saved the republic, for which he had laboured during his whole lifetime and was destined to pour out his heart's blood, went about among the brewers and burghers with unbuttoned doublet and woollen bargeman's waistcoat. it was justly objected to his clothes, by the euphuistic fulke greville, that a meanborn student of the inns of court would have been ashamed to walk about london streets in them. and now the engineering son of that shabbily-dressed personage had been giving the whole world lessons in the science of war, and was fairly perfecting the work which william and his great contemporaries had so well begun. but if all this had been merely doing great things without greatness, there was one man in the netherlands who knew what grandeur was. he was not a citizen of the disobedient republic, however, but a loyal subject of the obedient provinces, and his name was john baptist houwaerts, an eminent schoolmaster of brussels. he was still more eminent as a votary of what was called "rhetoric" and as an arranger of triumphal processions and living pictures. the arrival of archduke ernest at the seat of the provincial government offered an opportunity, which had long been wanting, for a display of john baptist's genius. the new viceroy was in so shattered a condition of health, so crippled with the gout, as to be quite unable to stand, and it required the services of several lackeys to lift him into and out of his carriage. a few days of repose therefore were indispensable to him before he could make his "joyous entrance" into the capital. but the day came at last, and the exhibition was a masterpiece. it might have seemed that the abject condition of the spanish provinces--desolate, mendicant, despairing--would render holiday making impossible. but although almost every vestige of the ancient institutions had vanished from the obedient netherlands as a reward for their obedience; although to civil and religious liberty, law, order, and a thriving commercial and manufacturing existence, such as had been rarely witnessed in the world, had succeeded the absolute tyranny of jesuits, universal beggary, and a perennial military mutiny--setting government at defiance and plundering the people--there was one faithful never deserted belgica, and that was rhetoric. neither the magnificence nor the pedantry of the spectacles by which the entry of the mild and inefficient ernest into brussels and antwerp was now solemnized had ever been surpassed. the town councils, stimulated by hopes absolutely without foundation as to great results to follow the advent of the emperor's brother, had voted large sums and consumed many days in anxious deliberation upon the manner in which they should be expended so as most to redound to the honour of ernest and the reputation of the country. in place of the "bloody tragedies of burning, murdering, and ravishing," of which the provinces had so long been the theatre, it was resolved that, "rhetoric's sweet comedies, amorous jests, and farces," should gladden all eyes and hearts. a stately procession of knights and burghers in historical and mythological costumes, followed by ships, dromedaries, elephants, whales, giants, dragons, and other wonders of the sea and shore, escorted the archduke into the city. every street and square was filled with triumphal arches, statues and platforms, on which the most ingenious and thoroughly classical living pictures were exhibited. there was hardly an eminent deity of olympus, or hero of ancient history, that was not revived and made visible to mortal eyes in the person of ernestus of austria. on a framework fifty-five feet high and thirty-three feet in breadth he was represented as apollo hurling his darts at an enormous python, under one of whose fore-paws struggled an unfortunate burgher, while the other clutched a whole city; tellus, meantime, with her tower on her head, kneeling anxious and imploring at the feet of her deliverer. on another stage ernest assumed the shape of perseus; belgica that of the bound and despairing andromeda. on a third, the interior of etna was revealed, when vulcan was seen urging his cyclops to forge for ernest their most tremendous thunderbolts with which to smite the foes of the provinces, those enemies being of course the english and the hollanders. venus, the while, timidly presented an arrow to her husband, which he was requested to sharpen, in order that when the wars were over cupid, therewith might pierce the heart of some beautiful virgin, whose charms should reward ernest--fortunately for the female world, still a bachelor--for his victories and his toils. the walls of every house were hung with classic emblems and inscribed with latin verses. all the pedagogues of brussels and antwerp had been at work for months, determined to amaze the world with their dithyrambics and acrostics, and they had outdone themselves. moreover, in addition to all these theatrical spectacles and pompous processions--accompanied as they were by blazing tar-barrels, flying dragons, and leagues of flaring torches--john baptist, who had been director-in-chief of all the shows successively arranged to welcome don john of austria, archduke matthias, francis of alengon, and even william of orange, into the capital, had prepared a feast of a specially intellectual character for the new governor-general. the pedant, according to his own account, so soon as the approach of ernest had been announced, fell straightway into a trance. while he was in that condition, a beautiful female apparition floated before his eyes, and, on being questioned, announced her name to be moralization. john baptist begged her to inform him whether it were true, as had been stated, that jupiter had just sent mercury to the netherlands. the phantom, correcting his mistake, observed that the king of gods and men had not sent hermes but the archduke ernestus, beloved of the three graces, favourite of the nine muses, and, in addition to these advantages, nephew and brother-in-law of the king of spain, to the relief of the suffering provinces. the netherlands, it was true, for their religious infidelity, had justly incurred great disasters and misery; but benignant jove, who, to the imagination of this excited fleming, seemed to have been converted to catholicism while still governing the universe, had now sent them in mercy a deliverer. the archduke would speedily relieve "bleeding belgica" from her sufferings, bind up her wounds, and annihilate her enemies. the spirit further informed the poet that the forests of the low countries--so long infested by brigands, wood-beggars, and malefactors of all kinds--would thenceforth swarm with "nymphs, rabbits, hares, and animals of that nature." a vision of the conquering ernest, attended by "eight-and-twenty noble and pleasant females, marching two and two, half naked, each holding a torch in one hand and a laurel-wreath in the other," now swept before the dreamer's eyes. he naturally requested the "discreet spirit" to mention the names of this bevy of imperfectly attired ladies thronging so lovingly around the fortunate archduke, and was told that "they were the eight-and-twenty virtues which chiefly characterized his serene highness." prominent in this long list, and they were all faithfully enumerated, were "philosophy, audacity, acrimony, virility, equity, piety, velocity, and alacrity." the two last-mentioned qualities could hardly be attributed to the archduke in his decrepit condition, except in an intensely mythological sense. certainly, they would have been highly useful virtues to him at that moment. the prince who had just taken gertruydenberg, and was then besieging groningen, was manifesting his share of audacity, velocity, and other good gifts on even a wider platform than that erected for ernest by john baptist houwaerts; and there was an admirable opportunity for both to develope their respective characteristics for the world's judgment. meantime the impersonation of the gentle and very gouty invalid as apollo, as perseus, as the feather-heeled mercury, was highly applauded by the burghers of brussels. and so the dreamer dreamed on, and the discreet nymph continued to discourse, until john baptist, starting suddenly from his trance beheld that it was all a truth and no vision. ernest was really about to enter the netherlands, and with him the millennium. the pedant therefore proceeded to his desk, and straightway composed the very worst poem that had ever been written in any language, even flemish. there were thousands of lines in it, and not a line without a god or a goddess. mars, nemesis, and ate, pluto, rhadamanthus, and minos, the fates and the furies, together with charon, calumnia, bellona, and all such objectionable divinities, were requested to disappear for ever from the low countries; while in their stead were confidently invoked jupiter, apollo, triptolemus, and last, though not least, rhetorica. enough has been said of this raree-show to weary the reader's patience, but not more than enough to show the docile and enervated nature of this portion of a people who had lost everything for which men cherish their fatherland, but who could still find relief--after thirty years of horrible civil war in painted pageantry, latin versification, and the classical dictionary. yet there was nothing much more important achieved by the archduke in the brief period for which his administration was destined to endure. three phenomena chiefly marked his reign, but his own part in the three was rather a passive than an active one--mutiny, assassination, and negotiation--the two last attempted on a considerable scale but ending abortively. it is impossible to exaggerate the misery of the obedient provinces at this epoch. the insane attempt of the king of spain, with such utterly inadequate machinery, to conquer the world has been sufficiently dilated upon. the spanish and italian and walloon soldiers were starving in brabant and flanders in order that spanish gold might be poured into the bottomless pit of the holy league in france. the mutiny that had broken forth the preceding year in artois and hamault was now continued on a vast scale in brabant. never had that national institution--a spanish mutiny--been more thoroughly organized, more completely carried out in all its details. all that was left of the famous spanish discipline and military science in this their period of rapid decay, seemed monopolized by the mutineers. some two thousand choice troops (horse and foot), italians and spanish, took possession of two considerable cities, sichem and arschot, and ultimately concentrated themselves at sichem, which they thoroughly fortified. having chosen their eletto and other officers they proceeded regularly to business. to the rallying point came disaffected troops of all nations from far and near. never since the beginning of the great war had there been so extensive a military rebellion, nor one in which so many veteran officers, colonels, captains, and subalterns took part. the army of philip had at last grown more dangerous to himself than to the hollanders. the council at brussels deliberated anxiously upon the course to be pursued, and it was decided at last to negotiate with instead of attacking them. but it was soon found that the mutineers were as hard to deal with as were the republicans on the other side the border. they refused to hear of anything short of complete payment of the enormous arrears due to them, with thorough guarantees and hostages that any agreement made between themselves and the archduke should be punctually carried out. meanwhile they ravaged the country far and near, and levied their contributions on towns and villages, up to the very walls of brussels, and before the very eyes of the viceroy. moreover they entered into negotiation with prince maurice of nassau, not offering to enlist under his flag, but asking for protection against the king in exchange for a pledge meanwhile not to serve his cause. at last the archduke plucked up a heart and sent some troops against the rebels, who had constructed two forts on the river demer near the city of sichem. in vain velasco, commander of the expedition, endeavoured to cut off the supplies for these redoubts. the vigour and audacity of the rebel cavalry made the process impossible. velasco then attempted to storm the lesser stronghold of the two, but was repulsed with the loss of two hundred killed. among these were many officers, one of whom, captain porto carrero, was a near relative of fuentes. after a siege, velasco, who was a marshal of the camp of considerable distinction, succeeded in driving the mutineers out of the forts; who, finding their position thus weakened, renewed their negotiations with maurice. they at last obtained permission from the prince to remain under the protection of gertruydenberg and breda until they could ascertain what decision the archduke would take. more they did not ask of maurice, nor did he require more of them. the mutiny, thus described in a few lines, had occupied nearly a year, and had done much to paralyze for that period all the royal operations in the netherlands. in december the rebellious troops marched out of sichem in perfect order, and came to langstraet within the territory of the republic. the archduke now finding himself fairly obliged to treat with them sent an offer of the same terms which had been proposed to mutineers on previous occasions. at first they flatly refused to negotiate at all, but at last, with the permission of maurice, who conducted himself throughout with scrupulous delicacy, and made no attempts to induce them to violate their allegiance to the king, they received count belgioso, the envoy of the archduke. they held out for payment of all their arrears up to the last farthing, and insisted on a hostage of rank until the debt should be discharged. full forgiveness of their rebellious proceedings was added as a matter of course. their terms were accepted, and francisco padiglia was assigned as a hostage. they then established themselves, according to agreement, at tirlemont, which they were allowed to fortify at the expense of the province and to hold until the money for their back wages could be scraped together. meantime they received daily wages and rations from the government at brussels, including thirty stivers a day for each horseman, thirteen crowns a day for the eletto, and ten crowns a day for each counsellor, making in all five hundred crowns a day. and here they remained, living exceedingly at their ease and enjoying a life of leisure for eighteen months, and until long after the death of the archduke, for it was not until the administration of cardinal albert that the funds, amounting to three hundred and sixty thousand crowns, could be collected. these were the chief military exploits of the podagric perseus in behalf of the flemish andromeda. a very daring adventure was however proposed to the archduke. philip calmly suggested that an expedition should be rapidly fitted out in dunkirk, which should cross the channel, ascend the thames as far as rochester, and burn the english fleet. "i am informed by persons well acquainted with the english coast," said the king, "that it would be an easy matter for a few quick-sailing vessels to accomplish this. two or three thousand soldiers might be landed at rochester who might burn or sink all the unarmed vessels they could find there, and the expedition could return and sail off again before the people of the country could collect in sufficient numbers to do them any damage." the archduke was instructed to consult with fuentes and ybarra as to whether this little matter, thus parenthetically indicated, could be accomplished without too much risk and trouble. certainly it would seem as if the king believed in the audacity, virility, velocity, alacrity, and the rest of the twenty-eight virtues of his governor-general, even more seriously than did john baptist houwaerts. the unfortunate archduke would have needed to be, in all earnestness, a mythological demigod to do the work required of him. with the best part of his army formally maintained by him in recognised mutiny, with the great cities of the netherlands yielding themselves to the republic with hardly an attempt on the part of the royal forces to relieve them, and with the country which he was supposed to govern, the very centre of the obedient provinces, ruined, sacked, eaten up by the soldiers of spain; villages, farmhouses, gentlemen's castles, churches plundered; the male population exposed to daily butchery, and the women to outrages worse than death; it seemed like the bitterest irony to propose that he should seize that moment to outwit the english and dutch sea-kings who were perpetually cruising in the channel, and to undertake a "beard-singeing" expedition such as even the dare-devil drake would hardly have attempted. such madcap experiments might perhaps one day, in the distant future, be tried with reasonable success, but hardly at the beck of a spanish king sitting in his easy chair a thousand miles off, nor indeed by the servants of any king whatever. the plots of murder arranged in brussels during this administration were on a far more extensive scale than were the military plans. the count of fuentes, general superintendant of foreign affairs, was especially charged with the department of assassination. this office was no sinecure; for it involved much correspondence, and required great personal attention to minute details. philip, a consummate artist in this branch of industry, had laid out a good deal of such work which he thought could best be carried out in and from the netherlands. especially it was desirable to take off, by poison or otherwise, henry iv., queen elizabeth, maurice of nassau, olden-barneveld, st. aldegonde, and other less conspicuous personages. henry's physician-in-chief, de la riviere, was at that time mainly occupied with devising antidotes to poison, which he well knew was offered to his master on frequent occasions, and in the most insidious ways. andrada, the famous portuguese poisoner, amongst others is said, under direction of fuentes and ybarra, to have attempted his life by a nosegay of roses impregnated with so subtle a powder that its smell alone was relied upon to cause death, and de la riviere was doing his best to search for a famous saxon drug, called fable-powder, as a counter-poison. "the turk alarms us, and well he may," said a diplomatic agent of henry, "but the spaniard allows us not to think of the turk. and what a strange manner is this to exercise one's enmities and vengeance by having recourse to such damnable artifices, after force and arms have not succeeded, and to attack the person of princes by poisonings and assassinations." a most elaborate attempt upon the life of queen elizabeth early in this year came near being successful. a certain portuguese jew, dr. lopez, had for some time been her physician-in-ordinary. he had first been received into her service on the recommendation of don antonio, the pretender, and had the reputation of great learning and skill. with this man count fuentes and stephen ybarra, chief of the financial department at brussels, had a secret understanding. their chief agent was emanuel andrada, who was also in close communication with bernardino de mendoza and other leading personages of the spanish court. two years previously, philip, by the hands of andrada, had sent a very valuable ring of rubies and diamonds as a present to lopez, and the doctor had bound himself to do any service for the king of spain that might be required of him. andrada accordingly wrote to mendoza that he had gained over this eminent physician, but that as lopez was poor and laden with debt, a high price would be required for his work. hereupon fuentes received orders from the king of spain to give the jew all that he could in reason demand, if he would undertake to poison the queen. it now became necessary to handle the matter with great delicacy, and fuentes and ybarra entered accordingly into a correspondence, not with lopez, but with a certain ferrara de gama. these letters were entrusted to one emanuel lewis de tinoco, secretly informed of the plot, for delivery to ferrara. fuentes charged tinoco to cause ferrara to encourage lopez to poison her majesty of england, that they might all have "a merry easter." lopez was likewise requested to inform the king of spain when he thought he could accomplish the task. the doctor ultimately agreed to do the deed for fifty thousand crowns, but as he had daughters and was an affectionate parent, he stipulated for a handsome provision in marriage for those young ladies. the terms were accepted, but lopez wished to be assured of the money first. "having once undertaken the work," said lord burghley, if he it were, "he was so greedy to perform it that he would ask ferrara every day, 'when will the money come? i am ready to do the service if the answer were come out of spain.'" but philip, as has been often seen, was on principle averse to paying for work before it had been done. some delay occurring, and the secret, thus confided to so many, having floated as it were imperceptibly into the air, tinoco was arrested on suspicion before he had been able to deliver the letters of fuentes and ybarra to ferrara, for ferrara, too, had been imprisoned before the arrival of tinoco. the whole correspondence was discovered, and both ferrara and tinoco confessed the plot. lopez, when first arrested, denied his guilt very stoutly, but being confronted with ferrara, who told the whole story to his face in presence of the judges, he at last avowed the crime. they were all condemned, executed, and quartered at london in the spring of . the queen wished to send a special envoy to the archduke at brussels, to complain that secretary of state cristoval de moura, count fuentes, and finance minister ybarra--all three then immediately about his person--were thus implicated in the plot against her life, to demand their punishment, or else, in case of refusals to convict the king and the archduke as accomplices in the crime. safe conduct was requested for such an envoy, which was refused by ernest as an insulting proposition both to his uncle and himself. the queen accordingly sent word to president richardot by one of her council, that the whole story would be published, and this was accordingly done. early in the spring of this same year, a certain renichon, priest and schoolmaster of namur, was summoned from his school to a private interview with count berlaymont. that nobleman very secretly informed the priest that the king of, spain wished to make use of him in an affair of great importance, and one which would be very profitable to himself. the pair then went together to brussels, and proceeded straightway to the palace. they were secretly admitted to the apartments of the archduke, but the priest, meaning to follow his conductor into the private chamber, where he pretended to recognize the person of ernest, was refused admittance. the door was, however, not entirely closed, and he heard, as he declared, the conversation between his highness and berlaymont, which was carried on partly in latin and partly in spanish. he heard them discussing the question--so he stated--of the recompense to be awarded for the business about to be undertaken, and after a brief conversation, distinctly understood the archduke to say, as the count was approaching the door, "i will satisfy him abundantly and with interest." berlaymont then invited his clerical guest to supper--so ran his statement--and, after that repast was finished, informed him that he was requested by the archduke to kill prince maurice of nassau. for this piece of work he was to receive one hundred philip-dollars in hand, and fifteen thousand more, which were lying ready for him, so soon as the deed should be done. the schoolmaster at first objected to the enterprise, but ultimately yielded to the persuasions of the count. he was informed that maurice was a friendly, familiar gentleman, and that there would be opportunities enough for carrying out the project if he took his time. he was to buy a good pair of pistols and remove to the hague, where he was to set up a school, and wait for the arrival of his accomplices, of whom there were six. berlaymont then caused to be summoned and introduced to the pedagogue a man whom he described as one of the six. the new comer, hearing that renichon had agreed to the propositions made to him, hailed him cordially as comrade and promised to follow him very soon into holland. berlaymont then observed that there were several personages to be made away with, besides prince maurice--especially barneveld, and st. aldegonde and that the six assassins had, since the time of the duke of parma, been kept in the pay of the king of spain as nobles, to be employed as occasion should serve. his new comrade accompanied renichon to the canal boat, conversing by the way, and informed him that they were both to be sent to leyden in order to entice away and murder the young brother of maurice, frederic henry, then at school at that place, even as philip william, eldest of all the brothers, had been kidnapped five-and-twenty years before from the same town. renichon then disguised himself as a soldier, proceeded to antwerp, where he called himself michael de triviere, and thence made his way to breda, provided with letters from berlaymont. he was, however, arrested on suspicion not long after his arrival there, and upon trial the whole plot was discovered. having unsuccessfully attempted to hang himself, he subsequently, without torture, made a full and minute confession, and was executed on the rd june, . later in the year, one pierre du four, who had been a soldier both in the states and the french service, was engaged by general la motte and counsellor assonleville to attempt the assassination of prince maurice. la motte took the man to the palace, and pretended at least to introduce him to the chamber of the archduke, who was said to be lying ill in bed. du four was advised to enrol himself in the body-guard at the hague, and to seek an opportunity when the prince went hunting, or was mounting his horse, or was coming from church, or at some such unguarded moment, to take a shot at him. "will you do what i ask," demanded from the bed the voice of him who was said to be ernest, "will you kill this tyrant?"--"i will," replied the soldier. "then my son," was the parting benediction of the supposed archduke, "you will go straight to paradise." afterwards he received good advice from assonleville, and was assured that if he would come and hear a mass in the royal chapel next morning, that religious ceremony would make him invisible when he should make his attempt on the life of maurice, and while he should be effecting his escape. the poor wretch accordingly came next morning to chapel, where this miraculous mass was duly performed, and he then received a certain portion of his promised reward in ready money. he was also especially charged, in case he should be arrested, not to make a confession--as had been done by those previously employed in such work--as all complicity with him on part of his employers would certainly be denied. the miserable dupe was arrested, convicted, executed; and of course the denial was duly made on the part of the archduke, la motte, and assonleville. it was also announced, on behalf of ernest, that some one else, fraudulently impersonating his highness, had lain in the bed to which the culprit had been taken, and every one must hope that the statement was a true one. enough has been given to show the peculiar school of statesmanship according to the precepts of which the internal concerns and foreign affairs of the obedient netherlands were now administered. poison and pistols in the hands of obscure priests and deserters were relied on to bring about great political triumphs, while the mutinous royal armies, entrenched and defiant, were extorting capitulations from their own generals and their own sovereign upon his own soil. such a record as this seems rather like the exaggeration of a diseased fancy, seeking to pander to a corrupt public taste which feeds greedily upon horrors; but, unfortunately, it is derived from the register of high courts of justice, from diplomatic correspondence, and from the confessions, without torture or hope of free pardon, of criminals. for a crowned king and his high functionaries and generals to devote so much of their time, their energies, and their money to the murder of brother and sister sovereigns, and other illustrious personages, was not to make after ages in love with the monarchic and aristocratic system, at least as thus administered. popular governments may be deficient in polish, but a system resting for its chief support upon bribery and murder cannot be considered lovely by any healthy mind. and this is one of the lessons to be derived from the history of philip ii. and of the holy league. but besides mutiny and assassination there were also some feeble attempts at negotiation to characterize the ernestian epoch at brussels. the subject hardly needs more than a passing allusion. two flemish juris-consults, otto hertius and jerome comans, offered their services to the archduke in the peacemaking department. ernest accepted the proposition,--although it was strongly opposed by fuentes, who relied upon the more practical agency of dr. lopez, andrada, renichon, and the rest--and the peace-makers accordingly made their appearance at the hague, under safe conduct, and provided with very conciliatory letters from his highness to the states-general. in all ages and under all circumstances it is safe to enlarge, with whatever eloquence may be at command, upon the blessings of peace and upon the horrors of war; for the appeal is not difficult to make, and a response is certain in almost every human breast. but it is another matter to descend from the general to the particular, and to demonstrate how the desirable may be attained and the horrible averted. the letters of ernest were full of benignity and affection, breathing a most ardent desire that the miserable war, now a quarter of a century old, should be then and there terminated. but not one atom of concession was offered, no whisper breathed that the republic, if it should choose to lay down its victorious arms, and renounce its dearly gained independence, should share any different fate from that under which it saw the obedient provinces gasping before its eyes. to renounce religious and political liberty and self-government, and to submit unconditionally to the authority of philip ii. as administered by ernest and fuentes, was hardly to be expected as the result of the three years' campaigns of maurice of nassau. the two doctors of law laid the affectionate common-places of the archduke before the states-general, each of them making, moreover, a long and flowery oration in which the same protestations of good will and hopes of future good-fellowship were distended to formidable dimensions by much windy rhetoric. the accusations which had been made against the government of brussels of complicity in certain projects of assassination were repelled with virtuous indignation. the answer of the states-general was wrathful and decided. they informed the commissioners that they had taken up arms for a good cause and meant to retain them in their hands. they expressed their thanks for the expressions of good will which had been offered, but avowed their right to complain before god and the world of those who under pretext of peace were attempting to shed the innocent blood of christians, and to procure the ruin and destruction of the netherlands. to this end the state-council of spain was more than ever devoted, being guilty of the most cruel and infamous proceedings and projects. they threw out a rapid and stinging summary of their wrongs; and denounced with scorn the various hollow attempts at negotiation during the preceding twenty-five years. coming down to the famous years and , they alluded in vehement terms to the fraudulent peace propositions which had been thrown as a veil over the spanish invasion of england and the armada; and they glanced at the mediation-projects of the emperor in at the desire of spain, while armies were moving in force from germany, italy, and the netherlands to crush the king of france, in order that philip might establish his tyranny over all kings, princes, provinces, and republics. that the spanish government was secretly dealing with the emperor and other german potentates for the extension of his universal empire appeared from intercepted letters of the king--copies of which were communicated--from which it was sufficiently plain that the purpose of his majesty was not to bestow peace and tranquillity upon the netherlands. the names of fuentes, clemente, ybarra, were sufficient in themselves to destroy any such illusion. they spoke in blunt terms of the attempt of dr. lopez to poison queen elizabeth, at the instigation of count fuentes for fifty thousand crowns to be paid by the king of spain: they charged upon the same fuentes and upon ybarra that they had employed the same andrada to murder the king of france with a nosegay of roses; and they alluded further to the revelations of michael renichon, who was to murder maurice of nassau and kidnap frederic william, even as their father and brother had been already murdered and kidnapped. for such reasons the archduke might understand by what persons and what means the good people of the netherlands were deceived, and how difficult it was for the states to forget such lessons, or to imagine anything honest in the present propositions. the states declared themselves, on the contrary, more called upon than ever before to be upon the watch against the stealthy proceedings of the spanish council of state--bearing in mind the late execrable attempts at assassination, and the open war which was still carried on against the king of france. and although it was said that his highness was displeased with such murderous and hostile proceedings, still it was necessary for the states to beware of the nefarious projects of the king of spain and his council. after the conversion of henry iv. to the roman church had been duly accomplished that monarch had sent a secret envoy to spain. the mission of this agent--de varenne by name--excited intense anxiety and suspicion in england and holland and among the protestants of france and germany. it was believed that henry had not only made a proposition of a separate peace with philip, but that he had formally but mysteriously demanded the hand of the infanta in marriage. such a catastrophe as this seemed to the heated imaginations of the great body of calvinists throughout europe, who had so faithfully supported the king of navarre up to the moment of his great apostasy, the most cruel and deadly treachery of all. that the princess with the many suitors should come to reign over france after all--not as the bride of her own father, not as the queen-consort of ernest the habsburger or of guise the lorrainer, but as the lawful wife of henry the huguenot--seemed almost too astounding for belief, even amid the chances and changes of that astonishing epoch. yet duplessis mornay avowed that the project was entertained, and that he had it from the very lips of the secret envoy who was to negotiate the marriage. "la varenne is on his way to spain," wrote duplessis to the duke of bouillon, "in company with a gentleman of don bernardino de mendoza, who brought the first overtures. he is to bring back the portrait of the infanta. 'tis said that the marriage is to be on condition that the queen and the netherlands are comprised in the peace, but you know that this cannot be satisfactorily arranged for those two parties. all this was once guess-work, but is now history." that eminent diplomatist and soldier mendoza had already on his return from france given the king of spain to understand that there were no hopes of his obtaining the french crown either for himself or for his daughter, that all the money lavished on the chiefs of the league was thrown away, and that all their promises were idle wind. mendoza in consequence had fallen into contempt at court, but philip, observing apparently that there might have been something correct in his statements, had recently recalled him, and, notwithstanding his blindness and other infirmities, was disposed to make use of him in secret negotiations. mendoza had accordingly sent a confidential agent to henry iv. offering his good offices, now that the king had returned to the bosom of the church. this individual, whose name was nunez, was admitted by de bethune (afterwards the famous due de sully) to the presence of the king, but de bethune, believing it probable that the spaniard had been sent to assassinate henry, held both the hands of the emissary during the whole interview, besides subjecting him to a strict personal visitation beforehand. nunez stated that he was authorized to propose to his majesty a marriage with the infanta clara isabella, and henry, much to the discontent of de bethune, listened eagerly to the suggestion, and promised to send a secret agent to spain to confer on the subject with mendoza. the choice he made of la varenne, whose real name was guillaume fouquet, for this mission was still more offensive to de bethune. fouquet had originally been a cook in the service of madame catherine, and was famous for his talent for larding poultry, but he had subsequently entered the household of henry, where he had been employed in the most degrading service which one man can render to another. ["la varenne," said madame catherine on one occasion "tu as plus gagne ti porter les poulets de men frere, qu'a piquer les miens." memoires de sully, liv. vi. p. , note . he accumulated a large fortune in these dignified pursuits--having, according to winwood, landed estates to the annual amount of sixty thousand francs a-year --and gave large dowries to his daughters, whom he married into noblest families; "which is the more remarkable," adds winwood, "considering the services wherein he is employed about the king, which is to be the mezzano for his loves; the place from whence he came, which is out of the kitchen of madame the king's sister."-- memorials, i. .] on his appointment to this office of secret diplomacy he assumed all the airs of an ambassador, while henry took great pains to contradict the reports which were spread as to the true nature of this mission to spain. duplessis was, in truth, not very far wrong in his conjectures, but, as might be supposed, henry was most anxious to conceal these secret negotiations with his catholic majesty from the huguenot chiefs whom he had so recently deserted. "this is all done without the knowledge of the duke of bouillon," said calvaert, "or at least under a very close disguise, as he, himself keenly feels and confesses to me." the envoy of the republic, as well as the leaders of the protestant party in france, were resolved if possible to break off these dark and dangerous intrigues, the nature of which they so shrewdly suspected, and to substitute for them an open rupture of henry with the king of spain, and a formal declaration of war against him. none of the diplomatists or political personages engaged in these great affairs, in which the whole world was so deeply interested, manifested more sagacity and insight on this occasion than did the dutch statesmen. we have seen that even sir edward stafford was deceived up to a very late moment, as to the rumoured intentions of henry to enter the catholic church. envoy edmonds was now equally and completely in the dark as to the mission of varenne, and informed his government that the only result of it was that the secret agent to spain was favoured, through the kindness of mendoza, with a distant view of philip ii. with his son and daughter at their devotions in the chapel of the escorial. this was the tale generally recounted and believed after the agent's return from spain, so that varenne was somewhat laughed at as having gone to spain on a fool's errand, and as having got nothing from mendoza but a disavowal of his former propositions. but the shrewd calvaert, who had entertained familiar relations with la varenne, received from that personage after his return a very different account of his excursion to the escorial from the one generally circulated. "coming from monceaus to paris in his company," wrote calvaert in a secret despatch to the states, "i had the whole story from him. the chief part of his negotiations with don bernardino de mendoza was that if his majesty (the french king) would abandon the queen of england and your highnesses (the states of the netherlands), there were no conditions that would be refused the king, including the hand of the infanta, together with a good recompense for the kingdom of navarre. la varenne maintained that the king of spain had caused these negotiations to be entered upon at this time with him in the certain hope and intention of a definite conclusion, alleging to me many pertinent reasons, and among others that he, having been lodged at madrid, through the adroitness of don bernardino, among all the agents of the league, and hearing all their secrets and negotiations, had never been discovered, but had always been supposed to be one of the league himself. he said also that he was well assured that the infanta in her heart had an affection for the french king, and notwithstanding any resolutions that might be taken (to which i referred, meaning the projects for bestowing her on the house of austria) that she with her father's consent or in case of his death would not fail to carry out this marriage. you may from all this, even out of the proposal for compensation for the kingdom of navarre (of which his majesty also let out something to me inadvertently); collect the reasons why such feeble progress is made in so great an occasion as now presents itself for a declaration of war and an open alliance with your highnesses. i shall not fail to watch these events, even in case of the progress of the said resolutions, notwithstanding the effects of which it is my opinion that this secret intrigue is not to be abandoned. to this end, besides the good intelligence which one gets by means of good friends, a continual and agreeable presentation of oneself to his majesty, in order to see and hear everything, is necessary." certainly, here were reasons more than sufficient why henry should be making but feeble preparations for open war in alliance with england and the republic against philip, as such a step was hardly compatible with the abandonment of england and the republic and the espousal of philip's daughter--projects which henry's commissioner had just been discussing with philip's agent at madrid and the escorial. truly it was well for the republican envoy to watch events as closely as possible, to make the most of intelligence from his good friends, and to present himself as frequently and as agreeably as possible to his majesty, that he might hear and see everything. there was much to see and to hear, and it needed adroitness and courage, not to slip or stumble in such dark ways where the very ground seemed often to be sliding from beneath the feet. to avoid the catastrophe of an alliance between henry, philip, and the pope against holland and england, it was a pressing necessity for holland and england to force henry into open war against philip. to this end the dutch statesmen were bending all their energies. meantime elizabeth regarded the campaign in artois and hainault with little favour. as he took leave on departing for france, la varenne had requested mendoza to write to king henry, but the spaniard excused himself--although professing the warmest friendship for his majesty--on the ground of the impossibility of addressing him correctly. "if i call him here king of navarre, i might as well put my head on the block at once," he observed; "if i call him king of france, my master has not yet recognized him as such; if i call him anything else, he will himself be offended." and the vision of philip in black on his knees, with his children about him, and a rapier at his side, passed with the contemporary world as the only phenomenon of this famous secret mission. but henry, besides this demonstration towards spain, lost no time in despatching a special minister to the republic and to england, who was instructed to make the most profuse, elaborate, and conciliatory explanations as to his recent conversion and as to his future intentions. never would he make peace, he said, with spain without the full consent of the states and of england; the dearest object of his heart in making his peace with rome having been to restore peace to his own distracted realm, to bring all christians into one brotherhood, and to make a united attack upon the grand turk--a vision which the cheerful monarch hardly intended should ever go beyond the ivory gate of dreams, but which furnished substance enough for several well-rounded periods in the orations of de morlans. that diplomatist, after making the strongest representations to queen elizabeth as to the faithful friendship of his master, and the necessity he was under of pecuniary and military assistance, had received generous promises of aid both in men and money--three thousand men besides the troops actually serving in brittany--from that sagacious sovereign, notwithstanding the vehement language in which she had rebuked her royal brother's apostasy. he now came for the same purpose to the hague, where he made very eloquent harangues to the states-general, acknowledging that the republic had ever been the most upright, perfect, and undisguised friend to his master and to france in their darkest days and deepest affliction; that she had loved the king and kingdom for themselves, not merely hanging on to their prosperity, but, on the contrary, doing her best to produce that prosperity by her contributions in soldiers, ships, and subsidies. "the king," said de morlans, "is deeply grieved that he can prove his gratitude only in words for so many benefits conferred, which are absolutely without example, but he has commissioned me to declare that if god should ever give him the occasion, he will prove how highly he places your friendship." the envoy assured the states that all fears entertained by those of the reformed religion on account of the conversion of his majesty were groundless. nothing was farther from the king's thoughts than to injure those noble spirits with whom his soul had lived so long, and whom he so much loved and honoured. no man knew better than the king did, the character of those who professed the religion, their virtue, valour, resolution, and patience in adversity. their numbers had increased in war, their virtues had been purified by affliction, they had never changed their position, whether battles had been won or lost. should ever an attempt be made to take up arms against them within his realms, and should there be but five hundred of them against ten thousand, the king, remembering their faithful and ancient services, would leave the greater number in order to die at the head of his old friends. he was determined that they should participate in all the honours of the kingdom, and with regard to a peace with spain, he would have as much care for the interests of the united provinces as for his own. but a peace was impossible with that monarch, whose object was to maintain his own realms in peace while he kept france in perpetual revolt against the king whom god had given her. the king of spain had trembled at henry's cradle, at his youth, at the bloom of his manhood, and knew that he had inflicted too much injury upon him ever to be on friendly terms with him. the envoy was instructed to say that his master never expected to be in amity with one who had ruined his house confiscated his property, and caused so much misery to france; and he earnestly hoped--without presuming to dictate--that the states-general would in this critical emergency manifest their generosity. if the king were not assisted now, both king and kingdom would perish. if he were assisted, the succour would bear double fruit. the sentiments expressed on the part of henry towards his faithful subjects of the religion, the heretic queen of england, and the stout dutch calvinists who had so long stood by him, were most noble. it was pity that, at the same moment, he was proposing to espouse the infanta, and to publish the council of trent. the reply of the states-general to these propositions of the french envoy was favourable, and it was agreed that a force of three thousand foot and five hundred horse should be sent to the assistance of the king. moreover, the state-paper drawn up on this occasion was conceived with so much sagacity and expressed with so much eloquence, as particularly to charm the english queen when it was communicated to her majesty. she protested very loudly and vehemently to noel de caron, envoy from the provinces at london, that this response on the part of his government to de morlans was one of the wisest documents that she had ever seen. "in all their actions," said she, "the states-general show their sagacity, and indeed, it is the wisest government ever known among republics. i would show you," she added to the gentlemen around her, "the whole of the paper if it were this moment at hand." after some delays, it was agreed between the french government and that of the united provinces, that the king should divide his army into three parts, and renew the military operations against spain with the expiration of the truce at the end of the year ( ). one body, composed of the english contingent, together with three thousand french horse, three thousand swiss, and four thousand french harquebus-men, were to be under his own immediate command, and were to act against the enemy wherever it should appear to his majesty most advantageous. a second, army was to expel the rebels and their foreign allies from normandy and reduce rouen to obedience. a third was to make a campaign in the provinces of artois and hainault, under the duke of bouillon (more commonly called the viscount turenne), in conjunction with the forces to be supplied by the republic. "any treaty of peace on our part with the king of spain," said the states-general, "is our certain ruin. this is an axiom. that monarch's object is to incorporate into his own realms not only all the states and possessions of neighbouring kings, principalities, and powers, but also all christendom, aye, the whole world, were it possible. we joyfully concur then in your majesty's resolution to carry on the war in artois and hainault, and agree to your suggestion of diversions on our part by sieges and succour by contingents." balagny, meantime, who had so long led an independent existence at cambray, now agreed to recognise henry's authority, in consideration of sixty-seven thousand crowns yearly pension and the dignity of marshal of france. towards the end of the year , buzanval, the regular french envoy at the hague, began to insist more warmly than seemed becoming that the campaign in artois and hainault--so often the base of military operations on the part of spain against france--should begin. further achievements on the part of maurice after the fall of groningen were therefore renounced for that year, and his troops went into garrison and winter-quarters. the states-general, who had also been sending supplies, troops, and ships to brittany to assist the king, now, after soundly rebuking buzanval for his intemperate language, entrusted their contingent for the proposed frontier campaign to count philip nassau, who accordingly took the field toward the end of the year at the head of twenty-eight companies of foot and five squadrons of cavalry. he made his junction with turenne-bouillon, but the duke, although provided with a tremendous proclamation, was but indifferently supplied with troops. the german levies, long-expected, were slow in moving, and on the whole it seemed that the operations might have been continued by maurice with more effect, according to his original plan, than in this rather desultory fashion. the late winter campaign on the border was feeble and a failure. the bonds of alliance, however, were becoming very close between henry and the republic. despite the change in religion on the part of the king, and the pangs which it had occasioned in the hearts of leading netherlanders, there was still the traditional attraction between france and the states, which had been so remarkably manifested during the administration of william the silent. the republic was more restive than ever under the imperious and exacting friendship of elizabeth, and, feeling more and more its own strength, was making itself more and more liable to the charge of ingratitude; so constantly hurled in its face by the queen. and henry, now that he felt himself really king of france, was not slow to manifest a similar ingratitude or an equal love of independence. both monarch and republic, chafing under the protection of elizabeth, were drawn into so close a union as to excite her anger and jealousy--sentiments which in succeeding years were to become yet more apparent. and now; while henry still retained the chivalrous and flowery phraseology, so sweet to her ears, in his personal communications to the queen, his ministers were in the habit of using much plainer language. "mr. de sancy said to me," wrote the netherland minister in france, calvaert, "that his majesty and your highnesses (the states-general) must without long delay conclude an alliance offensive and defensive. in regard to england, which perhaps might look askance at this matter, he told me it would be invited also by his majesty into the same alliance; but if, according to custom, it shilly-shallied, and without coming to deeds or to succour should put him off with words, he should in that case proceed with our alliance without england, not doubting that many other potentates in italy and germany would join in it likewise. he said too, that he, the day before the departure of the english ambassador, had said these words to him in the presence of his majesty; namely, that england had entertained his majesty sixteen months long with far-fetched and often-repeated questions and discontents, that one had submitted to this sort of thing so long as his majesty was only king of mantes, dieppe, and louviers, but that his majesty being now king of paris would be no longer a servant of those who should advise him to suffer it any longer or accept it as good payment; that england must treat his majesty according to his quality, and with deeds, not words. he added that the ambassador had very anxiously made answer to these words, and had promised that when he got back to england he would so arrange that his majesty should be fully satisfied, insisting to the last on the alliance then proposed." in germany, meanwhile, there was much protocolling, and more hard drinking, at the diet of ratisbon. the protestant princes did little for their cause against the new designs of spain and the moribund league, while the catholics did less to assist philip. in truth, the holy roman empire, threatened with a turkish invasion, had neither power nor inclination to help the new universal empire of the west into existence. so the princes and grandees of germany, while amurath was knocking at the imperial gates, busied themselves with banquetting and other diplomatic work, but sent few reiters either to the east or west. philip's envoys were indignant at the apathy displayed towards the great catholic cause, and felt humbled at the imbecility exhibited by spain in its efforts against the netherlands and france. san clemente, who was attending the diet at ratisbon, was shocked at the scenes he witnessed. "in less than three months," said that temperate spaniard, "they have drunk more than five million florins' worth of wine, at a time when the turk has invaded the frontiers of germany; and among those who have done the most of this consumption of wine, there is not one who is going to give any assistance on the frontier. in consequence of these disorders my purse is drained so low, that unless the king helps me i am ruined. you must tell our master that the reputation of his grandeur and strength has never been so low as it is now in germany. the events in france and those which followed in the netherlands have thrown such impediments in the negotiations here, that not only our enemies make sport of marquis havre and myself, but even our friends--who are very few--dare not go to public feasts, weddings, and dinners, because they are obliged to apologize for us." truly the world-empire was beginning to crumble. "the emperor has been desiring twenty times," continued the envoy, "to get back to prague from the diet, but the people hold him fast like a steer. as i think over all that passes, i lose all judgment, for i have no money, nor influence, nor reputation. meantime, i see this rump of an empire keeping itself with difficulty upon its legs. 'tis full of wrangling and discord about religion, and yet there is the turk with two hundred thousand men besieging a place forty miles from vienna, which is the last outpost. god grant it may last!" such was the aspect of the christian world at the close of the year etext editor's bookmarks: beneficent and charitable purposes (war) chronicle of events must not be anticipated eat their own children than to forego one high mass humanizing effect of science upon the barbarism of war slain four hundred and ten men with his own hand history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter xxxi. formal declaration of war against spain--marriage festivities--death of archduke ernest--his year of government--fuentes declared governor-general--disaffection of the duke of arschot and count arenberg--death of the duke of arschot----fuentes besieges le catelet--the fortress of ham, sold to the spanish by de gomeron, besieged and taken by the duke of bouillon--execution of de gomeron--death of colonel verdugo--siege of dourlens by fuentes-- death of la motte--death of charles mansfeld--total defeat of the french--murder of admiral de pillars--dourlens captured, and the garrison and citizens put to the sword--military operations in eastern netherlands and on the rhine--maurice lays siege to groento --mondragon hastening to its relief, prince maurice raises the siege--skirmish between maurice and mondragon--death of philip of nassau--death of mondragon--bombardment and surrender of weerd castle--maurice retires into winter quarters--campaign of henry iv. --he besieges dijon--surrender of dijon--absolution granted to henry by the pope--career of balagny at cambray--progress of the siege-- capitulation of the town--suicide of the princess of cambray, wife of balagny the year opened with a formal declaration of war by the king of france against the king of spain. it would be difficult to say for exactly how many years the war now declared had already been waged, but it was a considerable advantage to the united netherlands that the manifesto had been at last regularly issued. and the manifesto was certainly not deficient in bitterness. not often in christian history has a monarch been solemnly and officially accused by a brother sovereign of suborning assassins against his life. bribery, stratagem, and murder, were, however, so entirely the commonplace machinery of philip's administration as to make an allusion to the late attempt of chastel appear quite natural in henry's declaration of war. the king further stigmatized in energetic language the long succession of intrigues by which the monarch of spain, as chief of the holy league, had been making war upon him by means of his own subjects, for the last half dozcn years. certainly there was hardly need of an elaborate statement of grievances. the deeds of philip required no herald, unless henry was prepared to abdicate his hardly-earned title to the throne of france. nevertheless the politic gascon subsequently regretted the fierce style in which he had fulminated his challenge. he was accustomed to observe that no state paper required so much careful pondering as a declaration of war, and that it was scarcely possible to draw up such a document without committing many errors in the phraseology. the man who never knew fear, despondency, nor resentment, was already instinctively acting on the principle that a king should deal with his enemy as if sure to become his friend, and with his friends as if they might easily change to foes. the answer to the declaration was delayed for two months. when the reply came it of course breathed nothing but the most benignant sentiments in regard to france, while it expressed regret that it was necessary to carry fire and sword through that country in order to avert the unutterable woe which the crimes of the heretic prince of bearne were bringing upon all mankind. it was a solace for philip to call the legitimate king by the title borne by him when heir-presumptive, and to persist in denying to him that absolution which, as the whole world was aware, the vicar of christ was at that very moment in the most solemn manner about to bestow upon him. more devoted to the welfare of france than were the french themselves, he was determined that a foreign prince himself, his daughter, or one of his nephews--should supplant the descendant of st. louis on the french throne. more catholic than the pope he could not permit the heretic, whom his holiness was just washing whiter than snow, to intrude himself into the society of christian sovereigns. the winter movements by bouillon in luxembourg, sustained by philip nassau campaigning with a meagre force on the french frontier, were not very brilliant. the netherland regiments quartered at yssoire, la ferte, and in the neighbourhood accomplished very little, and their numbers were sadly thinned by dysentery. a sudden and successful stroke, too, by which that daring soldier heraugiere, who had been the chief captor of breda, obtained possession of the town, and castle of huy, produced no permanent advantage. this place, belonging to the bishop of liege, with its stone bridge over the meuse, was an advantageous position from which to aid the operations of bouillon in luxembourg. heraugiere was, however, not sufficiently reinforced, and huy was a month later recaptured by la motte. the campaigning was languid during that winter in the united netherlands, but the merry-making was energetic. the nuptials of hohenlo with mary, eldest daughter of william the silent and own sister of the captive philip william; of the duke of bouillon with elizabeth, one of the daughters of the same illustrious prince by his third wife, charlotte of bourbon; and of count everard solms, the famous general of the zeeland troops, with sabina, daughter of the unfortunate lamoral egmont, were celebrated with much pomp during the months of february and march. the states of holland and of zeeland made magnificent presents of diamonds to the brides; the countess hohenlo receiving besides a yearly income of three thousand florins for the lives of herself and her husband. in the midst of these merry marriage bells at the hague a funeral knell was sounding in brussels. on the th february, the governor-general of the obedient netherlands, archduke ernest, breathed his last. his career had not been so illustrious as the promises of the spanish king and the allegories of schoolmaster houwaerts had led him to expect. he had not espoused the infanta nor been crowned king of france. he had not blasted the rebellious netherlands with cyclopean thunderbolts, nor unbound the belgic andromeda from the rock of doom. his brief year of government had really been as dismal as, according to the announcement of his sycophants, it should have been amazing. he had accomplished nothing, and all that was left him was to die at the age of forty-two, over head and ears in debt, a disappointed, melancholy man. he was very indolent, enormously fat, very chaste, very expensive, fond of fine liveries and fine clothes, so solemn and stately as never to be known to laugh, but utterly without capacity either as a statesman or a soldier. he would have shone as a portly abbot ruling over peaceful friars, but he was not born to ride a revolutionary whirlwind, nor to evoke order out of chaos. past and present were contending with each other in fierce elemental strife within his domain. a world was in dying agony, another world was coming, full-armed, into existence within the hand-breadth of time and of space where he played his little part, but he dreamed not of it. he passed away like a shadow, and was soon forgotten. an effort was made, during the last illness of ernest, to procure from him the appointment of the elector of cologne as temporary successor to the government, but count fuentes was on the spot and was a man of action. he produced a power in the french language from philip, with a blank for the name. this had been intended for the case of peter ernest mansfeld's possible death during his provisional administration, and fuentes now claimed the right of inserting his own name. the dying ernest consented, and upon his death fuentes was declared governor-general until the king's further pleasure should be known. pedro de guzman, count of fuentes, a spaniard of the hard and antique type, was now in his sixty-fourth year. the pupil and near relative of the duke of alva, he was already as odious to the netherlanders as might have been inferred from such education and such kin. a dark, grizzled, baldish man, with high steep forehead, long, haggard, leathern visage, sweeping beard, and large, stern, commanding, menacing eyes, with his brussels ruff of point lace and his milan coat of proof, he was in personal appearance not unlike the terrible duke whom men never named without a shudder, although a quarter of a century had passed since he had ceased to curse the netherlands with his presence. elizabeth of england was accustomed to sneer at fuentes because he had retreated before essex in that daring commander's famous foray into portugal. the queen called the spanish general a timid old woman. if her gibe were true, it was fortunate for her, for henry of france, and for the republic, that there were not many more such old women to come from spain to take the place of the veteran chieftains who were destined to disappear so rapidly during this year in flanders. he was a soldier of fortune, loved fighting, not only for the fighting's sake, but for the prize-money which was to be accumulated by campaigning, and he was wont to say that he meant to enter paradise sword in hand. meantime his appointment excited the wrath of the provincial magnates. the duke of arschot was beside himself with frenzy, and swore that he would never serve under fuentes nor sit at his council-board. the duke's brother, marquis havre, and his son-in-law, count arenberg, shared in the hatred, although they tried to mitigate the vehemence of its expression. but arschot swore that no man had the right to take precedence of him in the council of state, and that the appointment of this or any spaniard was a violation of the charters of the provinces and of the promises of his majesty. as if it were for the nobles of the obedient provinces to prate of charters and of oaths! their brethren under the banner of the republic had been teaching philip for a whole generation how they could deal with the privileges of freemen and with the perjury of tyrants. it was late in the day for the obedient netherlanders to remember their rights. havre and arenberg, dissembling their own wrath, were abused and insulted by the duke when they tried to pacify him. they proposed a compromise, according to which arschot should be allowed to preside in the council of state while fuentes should content himself with the absolute control of the army. this would be putting a bit of fat in the duke's mouth, they said. fuentes would hear of no such arrangement. after much talk and daily attempts to pacify this great netherlander, his relatives at last persuaded him to go home to his country place. he even promised arenberg and his wife that he would go to italy, in pursuance of a vow made to our lady of loretto. arenberg privately intimated to stephen ybarra that there was a certain oil, very apt to be efficacious in similar cases of irritation, which might be applied with prospect of success. if his father-in-law could only receive some ten thousand florins which he claimed as due to him from government, this would do more to quiet him than a regiment of soldiers could. he also suggested that fuentes should call upon the duke, while secretary ybarra should excuse himself by sickness for not having already paid his respects. this was done. fuentes called. the duke returned the call, and the two conversed amicably about the death of the archduke, but entered into no political discussion. arschot then invited the whole council of state, except john baptist tassis, to a great dinner. he had prepared a paper to read to them in which he represented the great dangers likely to ensue from such an appointment as this of fuentes, but declared that he washed his hands of the consequences, and that he had determined to leave a country where he was of so little account. he would then close his eyes and ears to everything that might occur, and thus escape the infamy of remaining in a country where so little account was made of him. he was urged to refrain from reading this paper and to invite tassis. after a time he consented to suppress the document, but he manfully refused to bid the objectionable diplomatist to his banquet. the dinner took place and passed off pleasantly enough. arschot did not read his manifesto, but, as he warmed with wine, he talked a great deal of nonsense which, according to stephen ybarra, much resembled it, and he vowed that thenceforth he would be blind and dumb to all that might occur. a few days later, he paid a visit to the new governor-general, and took a peaceful farewell of him. "your majesty knows very well what he is," wrote fuentes: "he is nothing but talk." before leaving the country he sent a bitter complaint to ybarra, to the effect that the king had entirely forgotten him, and imploring that financier's influence to procure for him some gratuity from his majesty. he was in such necessity, he said, that it was no longer possible for him to maintain his household. and with this petition the grandee of the obedient provinces shook the dust from his shoes, and left his natal soil for ever. he died on the th december of the same year in venice. his son the prince of chimay, his brother, and son-inlaw, and the other obedient nobles, soon accommodated themselves to the new administration, much as they had been inclined to bluster at first about their privileges. the governor soon reported that matters were proceeding very, smoothly. there was a general return to the former docility now that such a disciplinarian as fuentes held the reins. the opening scenes of the campaign between the spanish governor and france were, as usual, in picardy. the marquis of varambon made a demonstration in the neighbourhood of dourlens--a fortified town on the river authie, lying in an open plain, very deep in that province--while fuentes took the field with eight thousand men, and laid siege to le catelet. he had his eye, however, upon ham. that important stronghold was in the hands of a certain nobleman called de gomeron, who had been an energetic leaguer, and was now disposed, for a handsome consideration, to sell himself to the king of spain. in the auction of governors and generals then going on in every part of france it had been generally found that henry's money was more to be depended upon in the long run, although philip's bids were often very high, and, for a considerable period, the payments regular. gomeron's upset price for himself was twenty-five thousand crowns in cash, and a pension of eight thousand a year. upon these terms he agreed to receive a spanish garrison into the town, and to cause the french in the citadel to be sworn into the service of the spanish king. fuentes agreed to the bargain and paid the adroit tradesman, who knew so well how to turn a penny for himself, a large portion of the twenty-five thousand crowns upon the nail. de gomeron was to proceed to brussels to receive the residue. his brother-in-law, m. d'orville, commanded in the citadel, and so soon as the spanish troops had taken possession of the town its governor claimed full payment of his services. but difficulties awaited him in brussels. he was informed that a french garrison could not be depended upon for securing the fortress, but that town and citadel must both be placed in spanish hands. de gomeron loudly protesting that this was not according to contract, was calmly assured, by command of fuentes, that unless the citadel were at once evacuated and surrendered, he would not receive the balance of his twenty-five thousand crowns, and that he should instantly lose his head. here was more than de gomeron had bargained for; but this particular branch of commerce in revolutionary times, although lucrative, has always its risks. de gomeron, thus driven to the wall, sent a letter by a spanish messenger to his brother-in-law, ordering him to surrender the fortress. d'orville--who meantime had been making his little arrangements with the other party--protested that the note had been written under duress, and refused to comply with its directions. time was pressing, for the duke of bouillon and the count of st. pol lay with a considerable force in the neighbourhood, obviously menacing ham. fuentes accordingly sent that distinguished soldier and historian, don carlos coloma, with a detachment of soldiers to brussels, with orders to bring gomeron into camp. he was found seated at supper with his two young brothers, aged respectively sixteen and eighteen years, and was just putting a cherry into his mouth as coloma entered the room. he remained absorbed in thought, trifling with the cherry without eating it, which don carlos set down as a proof of guilt: the three brothers were at once put in a coach, together with their sister, a nun of the age of twenty, and conveyed to the head-quarters of fuentes, who lay before le catelet, but six leagues from ham. meantime d'orville had completed his negotiations with bouillon, and had agreed to surrender the fortress so soon as the spanish troops should be driven from the town. the duke knowing that there was no time to lose, came with three thousand men before the place. his summons to surrender was answered by a volley of cannon-shot from the town defences. an assault was made and repulsed, d'humieres, a most gallant officer and a favourite of king henry, being killed, besides at least two hundred soldiers. the next attack was successful, the town was carried, and the spanish garrison put to the sword. d'orville then, before giving up the citadel, demanded three hostages for the lives of his three brothers-in-law. the hostages availed him little. fuentes had already sent word to gomeron's mother, that if the bargain were not fulfilled he would send her the heads of her three sons on three separate dishes. the distracted woman made her way, to d'orville, and fell at his feet with tears and entreaties. it was too late, and d'orville, unable to bear her lamentations, suddenly rushed from the castle, and nearly fell into the hands of the spaniards as he fled from the scene. two of the four cuirassiers, who alone of the whole garrison accompanied him, were taken prisoners. the governor escaped to unknown regions. madame de gomeron then appeared before fuentes, and tried in vain to soften him. de gomeron was at once beheaded in the sight of the whole camp. the two younger sons were retained in prison, but ultimately set at liberty. the town and citadel were thus permanently acquired by their lawful king, who was said to be more afflicted at the death of d'humieres than rejoiced at the capture of ham. meantime colonel verdugo, royal governor of friesland, whose occupation in those provinces, now so nearly recovered by the republic, was gone, had led a force of six thousand foot, and twelve hundred horse across the french border, and was besieging la ferte on the cher. the siege was relieved by bouillon on the th may, and the spanish veteran was then ordered to take command in burgundy. but his days were numbered. he had been sick of dysentery at luxembourg during the summer, but after apparent recovery died suddenly on the nd september, and of course was supposed to have been poisoned. he was identified with the whole history of the netherland wars. born at talavera de la reyna, of noble parentage, as he asserted--although his mother was said to have sold dogs' meat, and he himself when a youth was a private soldier--he rose by steady conduct and hard fighting to considerable eminence in his profession. he was governor of harlem after the famous siege, and exerted himself with some success to mitigate the ferocity of the spaniards towards the netherlanders at that epoch. he was marshal-general of the camp under don john of austria, and distinguished himself at the battle of gemblours. he succeeded count renneberg as governor of friesland and groningen, and bore a manful part in most of the rough business that had been going on for a generation of mankind among those blood-stained wolds and morasses. he was often victorious, and quite as often soundly defeated; but he enjoyed campaigning, and was a glutton of work. he cared little for parade and ceremony, but was fond of recalling with pleasure the days when he was a soldier at four crowns a month, with an undivided fourth of one cloak, which he and three companions wore by turns on holidays. although accused of having attempted to procure the assassination of william lewis nassau, he was not considered ill-natured, and he possessed much admiration for prince maurice. an iron-clad man, who had scarcely taken harness from his back all his life, he was a type of the spanish commanders who had implanted international hatred deeply in the netherland soul, and who, now that this result and no other had been accomplished, were rapidly passing away. he had been baptised franco, and his family appellation of verdugo meant executioner. punning on these names he was wont to say, that he was frank for all good people, but a hangman for heretics; and he acted up to his gibe. foiled at ham, fuentes had returned to the siege of catelet, and had soon reduced the place. he then turned his attention again to dourlens, and invested that city. during the preliminary operations, another veteran commander in these wars, valentin pardieu de la motte, recently created count of everbecque by philip, who had been for a long time general-in-chief of the artillery, and was one of the most famous and experienced officers in the spanish service, went out one fine moonlight night to reconnoitre the enemy, and to superintend the erection of batteries. as he was usually rather careless of his personal safety, and rarely known to put on his armour when going for such purposes into the trenches, it was remarked with some surprise, on this occasion, that he ordered his page to bring his, accoutrements, and that he armed himself cap-a pie before leaving his quarters. nevertheless, before he had reached the redoubt, a bullet from the town struck him between the fold of his morion and the edge of his buckler and he fell dead without uttering a sound. here again was a great loss to the king's service. la motte, of a noble family in burgundy, had been educated in the old fierce traditions of the spanish system of warfare in the netherlands, and had been one of the very hardest instruments that the despot could use for his bloody work. he had commanded a company of horse at the famous battle of st. quintin, and since that opening event in philip's reign he had been unceasingly--engaged in the flemish wars. alva made him a colonel of a walloon regiment; the grand commander requesena appointed him governor of gravelines. on the whole he had been tolerably faithful to his colours; having changed sides but twice. after the pacification of ghent he swore allegiance to the states-general, and assisted in the bombardment of the citadel of that place. soon afterwards he went over to don john of austria, and surrendered to him the town and fortress of gravelines, of which he then continued governor in the name of the king. he was fortunate in the accumulation of office and of money; rather unlucky in his campaigning. he was often wounded in action, and usually defeated when commanding in chief. he lost an arm at the siege of sluy's, and had now lost his life almost by an accident. although twice married he left no children to inherit his great estates, while the civil and military offices left vacant by his death were sufficient to satisfy the claims of five aspiring individuals. the count of varax succeeded him as general of artillery; but it was difficult to find a man to replace la motte, possessing exactly the qualities which had made that warrior so valuable to his king. the type was rapidly disappearing, and most fortunately for humanity, if half the stories told of him by grave chroniclers, accustomed to discriminate between history and gossip, are to be believed. he had committed more than one cool homicide. although not rejoicing in the same patronymic as his spanish colleague of friesland, he too was ready on occasion to perform hangman's work. when sergeant-major in flanders, he had himself volunteered--so ran the chronicle--to do execution on a poor wretch found guilty of professing the faith of calvin; and, with his own hands, had prepared a fire of straw, tied his victim to the stake, and burned him to cinders. another netherlander for the name crime of heresy had been condemned to be torn to death by horses. no one could be found to carry out the sentence. the soldiers under la motte's command broke into mutiny rather than permit themselves to be used for such foul purposes; but the ardent young sergeant-major came forward, tied the culprit by the arms and legs to two horses, and himself whipped them to their work till it was duly accomplished. was it strange that in philip's reign such energy should be rewarded by wealth, rank, and honour? was not such a labourer in the vineyard worthy of his hire? still another eminent chieftain in the king's service disappeared at this time--one who, although unscrupulous and mischievous enough in his day, was however not stained by any suspicion of crimes like these. count charles mansfeld, tired of governing his decrepit parent peter ernest, who, since the appointment of fuentes, had lost all further chance of governing the netherlands, had now left philip's service and gone to the turkish wars. for amurath iii., who had died in the early days of the year, had been succeeded by a sultan as warlike as himself. mahomet iii., having strangled his nineteen brothers on his accession, handsomely buried them in cypress coffins by the side of their father, and having subsequently sacked and drowned ten infant princes posthumously born to amurath, was at leisure to carry the war through transylvania and hungary, up to the gates of vienna, with renewed energy. the turk, who could enforce the strenuous rules of despotism by which all secundogenitures and collateral claimants in the ottoman family were thus provided for, was a foe to be dealt with seriously. the power of the moslems at that day was a full match for the holy roman empire. the days were far distant when the grim turk's head was to become a mockery and a show; and when a pagan empire, born of carnage and barbarism, was to be kept alive in europe when it was ready to die, by the collective efforts of christian princes. charles mansfeld had been received with great enthusiasm at the court of rudolph, where he was created a prince of the empire, and appointed to the chief command of the imperial armies under the archduke matthias. but his warfare was over. at the siege of gran he was stricken with sickness and removed to comorn, where he lingered some weeks. there, on the th august, as he lay half-dozing on his couch, he was told that the siege was at last successful; upon which he called for a goblet of wine, drained it eagerly, and then lay resting his head on his hand, like one absorbed in thought. when they came to arouse him from his reverie they found that he was dead. his father still remained superfluous in the netherlands, hating and hated by fuentes; but no longer able to give that governor so much annoyance as during his son's life-time the two had been able to create for alexander farnese. the octogenarian was past work and past mischief now; but there was one older soldier than he still left upon the stage, the grandest veteran in philip's service, and now the last survivor, except the decrepit peter ernest, of the grim commanders of alva's school. christopher mondragon--that miracle of human endurance, who had been an old man when the great duke arrived in the netherlands--was still governor of antwerp citadel, and men were to speak of him yet once more before he passed from the stage. i return from this digression to the siege of dourlens. the death of la motte made no difference in the plans of fuentes. he was determined to reduce the place preparatively to more important operations. bouillon was disposed to relieve it, and to that end had assembled a force of eight thousand men within the city of amiens. by midsummer the spaniards had advanced with their mines and galleries close to the walls of the city. meantime admiral villars, who had gained so much renown by defending rouen against henry iv., and who had subsequently made such an excellent bargain with that monarch before entering his service, arrived at amiens. on the th july an expedition was sent from that city towards dourlens. bouillon and st. pol commanded in person a force of six hundred picked cavalry. pillars and sanseval each led half as many, and there was a supporting body of twelve hundred musketeers. this little army convoyed a train of wagons, containing ammunition and other supplies for the beleaguered town. but fuentes, having sufficiently strengthened his works, sallied forth with two thousand infantry, and a flying squadron of spanish horse, to intercept them. it was the eve of st. james, the patron saint of spain, at the sound, of whose name as a war-cry so many battle-fields had been won in the netherlands, so many cities sacked, so many wholesale massacres perpetrated. fuentes rode in the midst of his troops with the royal standard of spain floating above him. on the other hand yillars, glittering in magnificent armour and mounted on a superbly caparisoned charger came on, with his three hundred troopers, as if about to ride a course in a tournament. the battle which ensued was one of the most bloody for the numbers engaged, and the victory one of the most decisive recorded in this war. villars charged prematurely, furiously, foolishly. he seemed jealous of bouillon, and disposed to show the sovereign to whom he had so recently given his allegiance that an ancient leaguer and papist was a better soldier for his purpose than the most grizzled huguenot in his army. on the other hand the friends of villars accused the duke of faintheartedness, or at least of an excessive desire to save himself and his own command. the first impetuous onset of the admiral was successful, and he drove half-a-dozen companies of spaniards before him. but he had ventured too far from his supports. bouillon had only intended a feint, instead of a desperate charge; the spaniards were rallied, and the day was saved by that cool and ready soldier, carlos coloma. in less than an hour the french were utterly defeated and cut to pieces. bouillon escaped to amiens with five hundred men; this was all that was left of the expedition. the horse of villars was shot under him and the admiral's leg was broken as he fell. he was then taken prisoner by two lieutenants of carlos coloma; but while these warriors were enjoying, by anticipation, the enormous ransom they should derive from so illustrious a captive, two other lieutenants in the service of marshal de rosnes came up and claimed their share in the prize. while the four were wrangling, the admiral called out to them in excellent spanish not to dispute, for he had money enough to satisfy them all. meantime the spanish commissary--general of cavalry, contreras, came up, rebuked this unseemly dispute before the enemy had been fairly routed, and, in order to arrange the quarrel impartially, ordered his page to despatch de villars on the spot. the page, without a word, placed his arquebus to the admiral's forehead and shot him dead. so perished a bold and brilliant soldier, and a most unscrupulous politician. whether the cause of his murder was mere envy on the part of the commissary at having lost a splendid opportunity for prize-money, or hatred to an ancient leaguer thus turned renegade, it is fruitless now to enquire. villars would have paid two hundred thousand crowns for his ransom, so that the assassination was bad as a mercantile speculation; but it was pretended by the friends of contreras that rescue was at hand. it is certain, however, that nothing was attempted by the french to redeem their total overthrow. count belin was wounded and fell into the hands of coloma. sanseval was killed; and a long list of some of the most brilliant nobles in france was published by the spaniards as having perished on that bloody field. this did not prevent a large number of these victims, however, from enjoying excellent health for many long years afterwards, although their deaths have been duly recorded in chronicle from that day to our own times. but villars and sanseval were certainly slain, and fuentes sent their bodies, with a courteous letter, to the duke of nevers, at amiens, who honoured them with a stately funeral. there was much censure cast on both bouillon and villars respectively by the antagonists of each chieftain; and the contest as to the cause of the defeat was almost as animated as the skirmish itself. bouillon was censured for grudging a victory to the catholics, and thus leaving the admiral to his fate. yet it is certain that the huguenot duke himself commanded a squadron composed almost entirely of papists. villars, on the other hand, was censured for rashness, obstinacy, and greediness for distinction; yet it is probable that fuentes might have been defeated had the charges of bouillon been as determined and frequent as were those of his colleague. savigny de rosnes, too, the ancient leaguer, who commanded under fuentes, was accused of not having sufficiently followed up the victory, because unwilling that his spanish friends should entirely trample upon his own countrymen. yet there is no doubt whatever that de rosnes was as bitter an enemy to his own country as the most ferocious spaniard of them all. it has rarely been found in civil war that the man who draws his sword against his fatherland, under the banner of the foreigner, is actuated by any lingering tenderness for the nation he betrays; and the renegade frenchman was in truth the animating spirit of fuentes during the whole of his brilliant campaign. the spaniard's victories were, indeed, mainly attributable to the experience, the genius, and the rancour of de rosnes. but debates over a lost battle are apt to be barren. meantime fuentes, losing no time in controversy, advanced upon the city of dourlens, was repulsed twice, and carried it on the third assault, exactly one week after the action just recounted. the spaniards and leaguers, howling "remember ham!" butchered without mercy the garrison and all the citizens, save a small number of prisoners likely to be lucrative. six hundred of the townspeople and two thousand five hundred french soldiers were killed within a few hours. well had fuentes profited by the relationship and tuition of alva! the count of dinant and his brother de ronsoy were both slain, and two or three hundred thousand florins were paid in ransom by those who escaped with life. the victims were all buried outside of the town in one vast trench, and the effluvia bred a fever which carried off most of the surviving inhabitants. dourlens became for the time a desert. fuentes now received deputies with congratulations from the obedient provinces, especially from hainault, artois, and lille. he was also strongly urged to attempt the immediate reduction of cambray, to which end those envoys were empowered to offer contributions of four hundred and fifty thousand florins and a contingent of seven thousand infantry. berlaymont, too, bishop of tournay and archbishop of cambray, was ready to advance forty thousand florins in the same cause. fuentes, in the highest possible spirits at his success, and having just been reinforced by count bucquoy with a fresh walloon regiment of fifteen hundred foot and with eight hundred and fifty of the mutineers from tirlemont and chapelle, who were among the choicest of spanish veterans, was not disposed to let the grass grow under his feet. within four days after the sack of dourlens he broke up his camp, and came before cambray with an army of twelve thousand foot and nearly four thousand horse. but before narrating the further movements of the vigorous new governor-general, it is necessary to glance at the military operations in the eastern part of the netherlands and upon the rhine. the states-general had reclaimed to their authority nearly all that important region lying beyond the yssel--the solid frisian bulwark of the republic--but there were certain points nearer the line where upper and nether germany almost blend into one, which yet acknowledged the name of the king. the city of groenlo, or grol, not a place of much interest or importance in itself, but close to the frontier, and to that destined land of debate, the duchies of cleves, juliers, and berg, still retained its spanish garrison. on the th july prince maurice of nassau came before the city with six thousand infantry, some companies of cavalry, and sixteen pieces of artillery. he made his approaches in form, and after a week's operations he fired three volleys, according to his custom, and summoned the place to capitulate. governor jan van stirum replied stoutly that he would hold the place for god and the king to the last drop of his blood. meantime there was hope of help from the outside. maurice was a vigorous young commander, but there was a man to be dealt with who had been called the "good old mondragon" when the prince was in his cradle; and who still governed the citadel of antwerp, and was still ready for an active campaign. christopher mondragon was now ninety-two years old. not often in the world's history has a man of that age been capable of personal, participation in the joys of the battlefield, whatever natural reluctance veterans are apt to manifest at relinquishing high military control. but mondragon looked not with envy but with admiration on the growing fame of the nassau chieftain, and was disposed, before he himself left the stage, to match himself with the young champion. so soon as he heard of the intended demonstration of maurice against grol, the ancient governor of antwerp collected a little army by throwing together all the troops that could be spared from the various garrisons within his command. with two spanish regiments, two thousand swiss, the walloon troops of de grisons, and the irish regiment of stanley--in all seven thousand foot and thirteen hundred horse--mondragon marched straight across brabant and gelderland to the rhine. at kaiserworth he reviewed his forces, and announced his intention of immediately crossing the river. there was a murmur of disapprobation among officers and men at what they considered the foolhardy scheme of mad old mondragon. but the general had not campaigned a generation before, at the age of sixty-nine, in the bottom of the sea, and waded chin-deep for six hours long of an october night, in the face of a rising tide from the german ocean and of an army of zeelanders, to be frightened now at the summer aspect of the peaceful rhine. the wizened little old man, walking with difficulty by the aid of a staff, but armed in proof, with plumes waving gallantly from his iron headpiece, and with his rapier at his side, ordered a chair to be brought to the river's edge. then calmly seating himself in the presence of his host, he stated that he should not rise from that chair until the last man had crossed the river. furthermore, he observed that it was not only his purpose to relieve the city of grol, but to bring maurice to an action, and to defeat him, unless he retired. the soldiers ceased to murmur, the pontoons were laid, the, river was passed, and on the th july, maurice, hearing of the veteran's approach, and not feeling safe in his position, raised the siege of the city. burning his camp and everything that could not be taken with him on his march, the prince came in perfect order to borkelo, two dutch miles from grol. here he occupied himself for some time in clearing the country of brigands who in the guise of soldiers infested that region and made the little cities of deutecom, anholt, and heerenberg unsafe. he ordered the inhabitants of these places to send out detachments to beat the bushes for his cavalry, while hohenlo was ordered to hunt the heaths and wolds thoroughly with packs of bloodhounds until every man and beast to be found lurking in those wild regions should be extirpated. by these vigorous and cruel, but perhaps necessary, measures the brigands were at last extirpated, and honest people began to sleep in their beds. on the th august maurice took up a strong position at bislich, not far from wesel, where the river lippe empties itself into the rhine. mondragon, with his army strengthened by reinforcements from garrisons in gelderland, and by four hundred men brought by frederic, van den berg from grol, had advanced to a place called walston in den ham, in the neighbourhood of wesel. the lippe flowed between the two hostile forces. although he had broken up his siege, the prince was not disposed to renounce his whole campaign before trying conclusions with his veteran antagonist. he accordingly arranged an ambush with much skill, by means of which he hoped to bring on a general engagement and destroy mondragon and his little army. his cousin and favourite lieutenant, philip nassau, was entrusted with the preliminaries. that adventurous commander, with a picked force of seven hundred cavalry, moved quietly from the camp on the evening of the st september. he took with him his two younger brothers, ernest and lewis gunther, who, as has been seen, had received the promise of the eldest brother of the family, william lewis, that they should be employed from time to time in any practical work that might be going, forward. besides these young gentlemen, several of the most famous english and dutch commanders were on, the expedition; the brothers paul and marcellus bax, captains parker, cutler, and robert vere, brother of sir francis, among the number. early in the morning of the nd september the force crossed the lippe, according to orders, keeping a pontoon across the stream to secure their retreat. they had instructions thus to feel the enemy at early dawn, and, as he was known to have foraging parties out every morning along the margin of the river, to make a sudden descent upon their pickets, and to capture those companies before they could effect their escape or be reinforced. afterwards they were to retreat across the lippe, followed, as it was hoped would be the case, by the troops: of mondragon, anxious to punish this piece of audacity. meantime maurice with five thousand infantry, the rest of his cavalry, and several pieces of artillery, awaited their coming, posted behind some hills in the neighbourhood of wesel. the plot of the young commander was an excellent one, but the ancient campaigner on the other side of the river had not come all the way from his comfortable quarters in antwerp to be caught napping on that september morning. mondragon had received accurate information from his scouts as to what was going on in the enemy's camp; and as to the exact position of maurice. he was up long before daybreak--"the good old christopher"--and himself personally arranged a counter-ambush. in the fields lying a little back from the immediate neighbourhood of, the lippe he posted the mass of his cavalry, supported by a well-concealed force of infantry. the pickets on the stream and the foraging companies were left to do their usual work as if nothing were likely to happen. philip nassau galloped cheerfully forward; according to the well-concerted plan, sending cutler and marcellus bax with a handful of troopers to pounce upon the enemy's pickets. when those officers got to the usual foraging ground they, came upon a much larger cavalry force than they had looked for; and, suspecting something wrong; dashed back--again to give information to count philip. that impatient commander, feeling sure of his game unless this foolish delay should give the foraging companies time to, escape; ordered an immediate advance with his whole cavalry force: the sheriff of zallant was ordered to lead the way. he objected that the pass, leading through a narrow lane and opening by a gate into an open field, was impassable for more than two troopers abreast; and that the enemy was in force beyond. philips scorning these words of caution, and exclaiming that seventy-five lancers were enough to put fifty carabineers to rout; put on his casque, drew his sword; and sending his brother lewis to summon kinski and donck; dashed into the pass, accompanied by the two counts and, a couple of other nobles. the sheriff, seeing this, followed him at full gallop; and after him came the troopers of barchon, of du bois, and of paul bax; riding single file but in much disorder. when they had all entered inextricably into the lane, with the foremost of the lancers already passing through the gate, they discovered the enemy's cavalry and infantry drawn up in force upon the watery, heathery pastures beyond. there was at once a scene of confusion. to use lances was impossible, while they were all struggling together through the narrow passage offering themselves an easy prey to the enemy as they slowly emerged into the gelds. the foremost defended themselves with sabre and pistol as well as they could. the hindmost did their best to escape, and rode for their lives to the other side of the river. all trampled upon each other and impeded each other's movements. there was a brief engagement, bloody, desperate, hand to hand, and many spaniards fell before the entrapped netherlanders. but there could not be a moment's doubt as to the issue. count philip went down in the beginning of the action, shot through the body by an arquebus, discharged so close to him that his clothes were set on fire. as there was no water within reach the flames could be extinguished at last only by rolling him over, and over, wounded as he was, among the sand and heather. count ernest solms was desperately wounded at the same time. for a moment both gentlemen attempted to effect their escape by mounting on one horse, but both fell to the ground exhausted and were taken prisoners. ernest nassau was also captured. his young brother, lewis gunther, saved himself by swimming the river. count kinski was mortally wounded. robert vere, too, fell into the enemy's hands, and was afterwards murdered in cold blood. marcellus bax, who had returned to the field by a circuitous path, still under the delusion that he was about handsomely to cut off the retreat of the foraging companies, saved himself and a handful of cavalry by a rapid flight, so soon as he discovered the enemy drawn up in line of battle. cutler and parker were equally fortunate. there was less than a hundred of the states' troops killed, and it is probable that a larger number of the spaniards fell. but the loss of philip nassau, despite the debauched life and somewhat reckless valour of that soldier, was a very severe one to the army and to his family. he was conveyed to rheinberg, where his wounds were dressed. as he lay dying he was courteously visited by mondragon, and by many other spanish officers, anxious to pay their respects to so distinguished and warlike a member of an illustrious house. he received them with dignity, and concealed his physical agony so as to respond to their conversation as became a nassau. his cousin, frederic van den berg, who was among the visitors, indecently taunted him with his position; asking him what he had expected by serving the cause of the beggars. philip turned from him with impatience and bade him hold his peace. at midnight he died. william of orange and his three brethren had already laid down their lives for the republic, and now his eldest brother's son had died in the same cause. "he has carried the name of nassau with honour into the grave," said his brother lewis william, to their father. ten others of the house, besides many collateral relations, were still in arms for their adopted country. rarely in history has a single noble race so entirely identified itself with a nation's record in its most heroic epoch as did that of orange-nassau with the liberation of holland. young ernest solms, brother of count everard, lay in the same chamber with philip nassau, and died on the following day. their bodies were sent by mondragon with a courteous letter to maurice at bisslich. ernest nassau was subsequently ransomed for ten thousand florins. this skirmish on the lippe has no special significance in a military point of view, but it derives more than a passing interest, not only from the death of many a brave and distinguished soldier, but for the illustration of human vigour triumphing, both physically and mentally, over the infirmities of old age, given by the achievement of christopher mondragon. alone he had planned his expedition across the country from antwerp, alone he had insisted on crossing the rhine, while younger soldiers hesitated; alone, with his own active brain and busy hands, he had outwitted the famous young chieftain of the netherlands, counteracted his subtle policy, and set the counter-ambush by which his choicest cavalry were cut to pieces, and one of his bravest generals slain. so far could the icy blood of ninety-two prevail against the vigour of twenty-eight. the two armies lay over against each other, with the river between them, for some days longer, but it was obvious that nothing further would be attempted on either side. mondragon had accomplished the object for which he had marched from brabant. he had, spoiled the autumn campaign of maurice, and, was, now disposed to return before winter to, his own quarters. he sent a trumpet accordingly to his antagonist, begging him, half in jest, to have more consideration for his infirmities than to keep him out in his old age in such foul weather, but to allow him the military honour of being last to break up camp. should maurice consent to move away, mondragon was ready to pledge himself not to pursue him, and within three days to leave his own entrenchments. the proposition was not granted, and very soon afterwards the spaniard, deciding to retire, crossed the rhine on the th october. maurice made a slight attempt at pursuit, sending count william lewis with some cavalry, who succeeded in cutting off a few wagons. the army, however, returned safely, to be dispersed into various garrisons. this was mondragon's last feat of, arms. less than three months afterwards, in antwerp citadel, as the veteran was washing his hands previously to going to the dinner-table, he sat down and died. strange to say, this man--who had spent almost a century on the battlefield, who had been a soldier in nearly every war that had been waged in any part of europe during that most belligerent age, who had come an old man to the netherlands before alva's arrival, and had ever since been constantly and personally engaged in the vast flemish tragedy which had now lasted well nigh thirty years--had never himself lost a drop of blood. his battle-fields had been on land and water, on ice, in fire, and at the bottom of the sea, but he had never received a wound. nay, more; he had been blown up in a fortress--the castle of danvilliers in luxembourg, of which he was governor--where all perished save his wife and himself, and, when they came to dig among the ruins, they excavated at last the ancient couple, protected by the framework of a window in the embrasure of which they had been seated, without a scratch or a bruise. he was a biscayan by descent, but born in medina del campo. a strict disciplinarian, very resolute and pertinacious, he had the good fortune to be beloved by his inferiors, his equals, and his superiors. he was called the father of his soldiers, the good mondragon, and his name was unstained by any of those deeds of ferocity which make the chronicles of the time resemble rather the history of wolves than of men. to a married daughter, mother of several children, he left a considerable fortune. maurice broke up his camp soon after the departure of his antagonist, and paused for a few days at arnheim to give honourable burial to his cousin philip and count solms. meantime sir francis vere was detached, with three regiments, which were to winter in overyssel, towards weerd castle, situate at a league's distance from ysselsburg, and defended by a garrison of twenty-six men under captain pruys. that doughty commandant, on being summoned to surrender, obstinately refused. vere, according to maurice's orders, then opened with his artillery against the place, which soon capitulated in great panic and confusion. the captain demanded the honours of war. vere told him in reply that the honours of war were halters for the garrison who had dared to defend such a hovel against artillery. the twenty-six were accordingly ordered to draw black and white straws. this was done, and the twelve drawing white straws were immediately hanged; the thirteenth receiving his life on consenting to act as executioner for his comrades. the commandant was despatched first of all. the rope broke, but the english soldiers held him under the water of the ditch until he was drowned. the castle was then thoroughly sacked, the women being sent unharmed to ysselsburg. maurice then shipped the remainder of his troops along the rhine and waal to their winter quarters and returned to the hague. it was the feeblest year's work yet done by the stadholder. meantime his great ally, the huguenot-catholic prince of bearne, was making a dashing, and, on the whole, successful campaign in the heart of his own kingdom. the constable of castile, don ferdinando de velasco, one of spain's richest grandees and poorest generals, had been sent with an army of ten thousand men to take the field in burgundy against the man with whom the great farnese had been measuring swords so lately, and with not unmingled success, in picardy. biron, with a sudden sweep, took possession of aussone, autun, and beaune, but on one adventurous day found himself so deeply engaged with a superior force of the enemy in the neighbourhood of fontaine francaise, or st. seine, where france's great river takes its rise, as to be nearly cut off and captured. but henry himself was already in the field, and by one of those mad, reckless impulses which made him so adorable as a soldier and yet so profoundly censurable as a commander-in-chief, he flung himself, like a young lieutenant, with a mere handful of cavalry, into the midst of the fight, and at the imminent peril of his own life succeeded in rescuing the marshal and getting off again unscathed. on other occasions henry said he had fought for victory, but on that for dear life; and, even as in the famous and foolish skirmish at aumale three years before, it was absence of enterprise or lack of cordiality on the part of his antagonists, that alone prevented a captive king from being exhibited as a trophy of triumph for the expiring league. but the constable of castile was not born to cheer the heart of his prudent master with such a magnificent spectacle. velasco fell back to gray and obstinately refused to stir from his entrenchments, while henry before his eyes laid siege to dijon. on the th june the capital of burgundy surrendered to its sovereign, but no temptations could induce the constable to try the chance of a battle. henry's movements in the interior were more successful than were the operations nearer the frontier, but while the monarch was thus cheerfully fighting for his crown in france, his envoys were winning a still more decisive campaign for him in rome. d'ossat and perron had accomplished their diplomatic task with consummate ability, and, notwithstanding the efforts and the threats of the spanish ambassador and the intrigues of his master, the absolution was granted. the pope arose early on the morning of the th august, and walked barefoot from his palace of mount cavallo to the church of maria maggiore, with his eyes fixed on the ground, weeping loudly and praying fervently. he celebrated mass in the church, and then returned as he went, saluting no one on the road and shutting himself up in his palace afterwards. the same ceremony was performed ten days later on the festival of our lady's ascension. in vain, however, had been the struggle on the part of his holiness to procure from the ambassador the deposition of the crown of france in his hands, in order that the king might receive it back again as a free gift and concession from the chief pontiff. such a triumph was not for rome, nor could even the publication of the council of trent in france be conceded except with a saving clause "as to matters which could not be put into operation without troubling the repose of the kingdom." and to obtain this clause the envoys declared "that they had been obliged to sweat blood and water." on the th day of september the absolution was proclaimed with great pomp and circumstance from the gallery of st. peter's, the holy father seated on the highest throne of majesty, with his triple crown on has head, and all his cardinals and bishops about him in their most effulgent robes. the silver trumpets were blown, while artillery roared from the castle of st. angelo, and for two successive nights rome was in a blaze of bonfires and illumination, in a whirl of bell-ringing, feasting, and singing of hosannaha. there had not been such a merry-making in the eternal city since the pope had celebrated solemn thanksgiving for the massacre of st. bartholomew. the king was almost beside himself with rapture when the great news reached him, and he straightway wrote letters, overflowing with gratitude and religious enthusiasm, to the pontiff and expressed his regret that military operations did not allow him to proceed at once to rome in person to kiss the holy father's feet. the narrative returns to fuentes, who was left before the walls of cambray. that venerable ecclesiastical city; pleasantly seated amid gardens, orchards, and green pastures, watered, by the winding scheld, was well fortified after the old manner, but it was especially defended and dominated by a splendid pentagonal citadel built by charles v. it was filled with fine churches, among which the magnificent cathedral was pre-eminent, and with many other stately edifices. the population was thrifty, active, and turbulent, like that of all those flemish and walloon cities which the spirit of mediaeval industry had warmed for a time into vehement little republics. but, as has already been depicted in these pages, the celtic element had been more apt to receive than consistent to retain the generous impress which had once been stamped on all the netherlands. the walloon provinces had fallen away from their flemish sisters and seemed likely to accept a permanent yoke, while in the territory of the united states, as john baptist tassis was at that very moment pathetically observing in a private letter to philip, "with the coming up of a new generation educated as heretics from childhood, who had never heard what the word king means, it was likely to happen at last that the king's memory, being wholly forgotten nothing would remain in the land but heresy alone." from this sad fate cambray had been saved. gavre d'inchy had seventeen years before surrendered the city to the duke of alencon during that unlucky personage's brief and base career in the netherlands, all, that was left of his visit being the semi-sovereignty which the notorious balagny had since that time enjoyed, in the archiepiscopal city. this personage, a natural son of monluc, bishop of valence, and nephew of the, distinguished marshal monluci was one of the most fortunate and the most ignoble of all the soldiers of fortune who had played their part at this epoch in the netherlands. a poor creature himself, he had a heroine for a wife. renee, the sister of bussy d'amboise, had vowed to unite herself to a man who would avenge the assassination of her brother by the count montsoreau? balagny readily agreed to perform the deed, and accordingly espoused the high-born dame, but it does not appear that he ever wreaked her vengeance on the murderer. he had now governed cambray until the citizens and the whole countryside were galled and exhausted by his grinding tyranny, his inordinate pride, and his infamous extortions. his latest achievement had been to force upon his subjects a copper currency bearing the nominal value of silver, with the same blasting effects which such experiments in political economy are apt to produce on princes and peoples. he had been a royalist, a guisist, a leaguer, a dutch republican, by turns, and had betrayed all the parties, at whose expense he had alternately filled his coffers. during the past year he had made up his mind--like most of the conspicuous politicians and campaigners of france--that the moribund league was only fit to be trampled upon by its recent worshippers, and he had made accordingly one of the very best bargains with henry iv. that had yet been made, even at that epoch of self-vending grandees. henry, by treaty ratified in august, , had created him prince of cambray and marshal of france, so that the man who had been receiving up to that very moment a monthly subsidy of seven thousand two hundred dollars from the king of spain was now gratified with a pension to about the same yearly amount by the king of france. during the autumn henry had visited cambray, and the new prince had made wondrous exhibitions of loyalty to the sovereign whom he had done his best all his life to exclude from his kingdom. there had been a ceaseless round of tournaments, festivals, and masquerades in the city in honour of the huguenot chieftain, now changed into the most orthodox and most legitimate of monarchs, but it was not until midsummer of the present year that balagny was called on to defend his old possessions and his new principality against a well-seasoned army and a vigorous commander. meanwhile his new patron was so warmly occupied in other directions that it might be difficult for him to send assistance to the beleaguered city. on the th august fuentes began his siege operations. before the investment had been completed the young prince of rhetelois, only fifteen years of age, son of the duke of nevers, made his entrance into the city attended by thirty of his father's archers. de vich, too, an experienced and faithful commander, succeeded in bringing four or five hundred dragoons through the enemy's lines. these meagre reinforcements were all that reached the place; for, although the states-general sent two or three thousand scotchmen and zeelanders, under justinus of nassau, to henry, that he might be the better enabled to relieve this important frontier city, the king's movements were not sufficiently prompt to turn the force to good account balagny was left with a garrison of three thousand french and walloons in the city, besides five hundred french in the fortress. after six weeks steady drawing of parallels and digging of mines fuentes was ready to open his batteries. on the th september, the news, very much exaggerated, of mondragon's brilliant victory near wessel, and of the deaths of philip nassau and ernest solms, reached the spanish camp. immense was the rejoicing. triumphant salutes from eighty-seven cannon and many thousand muskets shook the earth and excited bewilderment and anxiety within the walls of the city. almost immediately afterwards a tremendous cannonade was begun and so vigorously sustained that the burghers, and part of the garrison, already half rebellious with hatred to balagny, began loudly to murmur as the balls came flying into their streets. a few days later an insurrection broke out. three thousand citizens, with red flags flying, and armed to the teeth were discovered at daylight drawn up in the market place. balagny came down from the citadel and endeavoured to calm the tumult, but was received with execrations. they had been promised, shouted the insurgents, that every road about cambray was to swarm with french soldiers under their formidable king, kicking the heads of the spaniards in all directions. and what had they got? a child with thirty archers, sent by his father, and half a man at the head of four hundred dragoons. to stand a siege under such circumstances against an army of fifteen thousand spaniards, and to take balagny's copper as if it were gold, was more than could be asked of respectable burghers. the allusion to the young prince rhetelois and to de vich, who had lost a leg in the wars, was received with much enthusiasm. balagny, appalled at the fury of the people, whom he had so long been trampling upon while their docility lasted, shrank back before their scornful denunciations into the citadel. but his wife was not appalled. this princess had from the beginning of the siege showed a courage and an energy worthy of her race. night and day she had gone the rounds of the ramparts, encouraging and directing the efforts of the garrison. she had pointed batteries against the enemy's works, and, with her own hands, had fired the cannon. she now made her appearance in the market-place, after her husband had fled, and did her best to assuage the tumult, and to arouse the mutineers to a sense of duty or of shame. she plucked from her bosom whole handfuls of gold which she threw among the bystanders, and she was followed by a number of carts filled with sacks of coin ready to be exchanged for the debased currency. expressing contempt for the progress made by the besieging army, and for the, slight impression so far produced upon the defences of the city, she snatched a pike from a soldier and offered in person to lead the garrison to the breach. her audience knew full well that this was no theatrical display, but that the princess was ready as the boldest warrior to lead a forlorn hope or to repel the bloodiest assault. nor, from a military point of view, was their situation desperate. but their hatred and scorn for balagny could not be overcome by any passing sentiment of admiration for his valiant though imperious wife. no one followed her to the breach. exclaiming that she at least would never surrender, and that she would die a sovereign princess rather than live a subject, renee de balagny retained to the citadel. the town soon afterwards capitulated, and as the spanish soldiers, on entering, observed the slight damage that had been caused by their batteries, they were most grateful to the faint-hearted or mutinous condition by which they had been spared the expense of an assault. the citadel was now summoned to surrender; and balagny agreed, in case he should not be relieved within six days, to accept what was considered honourable terms. it proved too late to expect succour from henry, and balagny, but lately a reigning prince, was fain to go forth on the appointed day and salute his conqueror. but the princess kept her vow. she had done her best to defend her dominions and to live a sovereign, and now there was nothing left her but to die. with bitter reproaches on her husband's pusillanimity, with tears and sobs of rage and shame, she refused food, spurned the idea of capitulation, and expired before the th of october. on that day a procession moved out of the citadel gates. balagny, with a son of eleven years of age, the prince of rhetelois, the commander de vich; and many other distinguished personages, all magnificently attired, came forth at the head of what remained of the garrison. the soldiers, numbering thirteen hundred foot and two hundred and forty horse, marched with colours flying, drums beating, bullet in mouth, and all the other recognised palliatives of military disaster. last of all came a hearse, bearing the coffin of the princess of cambray. fuentes saluted the living leaders of the procession, and the dead heroine; with stately courtesy, and ordered an escort as far as peronne. balagny met with a cool reception from henry at st. quintin, but subsequently made his peace, and espoused the sister of the king's mistress, gabrielle d'estrees. the body of gavre d'inchy, which had been buried for years, was dug up and thrown into a gutter. etext editor's bookmarks: deal with his enemy as if sure to become his friend mondragon was now ninety-two years old more catholic than the pope octogenarian was past work and past mischief sacked and drowned ten infant princes strangled his nineteen brothers on his accession history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , - chapter xxxii. archduke cardinal albert appointed governor of the netherlands-- return of philip william from captivity--his adherence to the king of spain--notice of the marquis of varambon, count varax, and other new officers--henry's communications with queen elizabeth--madame de monceaux--conversation of henry with the english ambassador-- marseilles secured by the duke of guise--the fort of rysbank taken by de roane calais in the hands of the spanish--assistance from england solicited by henry--unhandsome conditions proposed by elizabeth--annexation of calais to the obedient provinces--pirates of dunkirk--uneasiness of the netherlanders with regard to the designs of elizabeth--her protestations of sincerity--expedition of dutch and english forces to spain--attack on the spanish war-ships-- victory of the allies--flag of the republic planted on the fortress of cadiz--capitulation of the city--letter of elizabeth to the dutch admirals--state of affairs in france--proposition of the duke of montpensier for the division of the kingdom--successes of the cardinal archduke in normandy--he proceeds to flanders--siege and capture of hulat--projected alliance against spain--interview of de sancy with lord burghley--diplomatic conference at greenwich-- formation of a league against spain--duplicity of the treaty-- affairs in germany--battle between the emperor and the grand turk-- endeavours of philip to counteract the influence of the league--his interference in the affairs of germany--secret intrigue of henry with spain--philip's second attempt at the conquest of england. another governor-general arrived in the early days of the year , to take charge of the obedient provinces. it had been rumoured for many months that philip's choice was at last fixed upon the archduke cardinal albert, archbishop of toledo, youngest of the three surviving brothers, of the emperor rudolph, as the candidate for many honours. he was to espouse the infanta, he was to govern the netherlands, and, as it was supposed, there were wider and wilder schemes for the aggrandizement of this fortunate ecclesiastic brooding in the mind of philip than yet had seen the light. meantime the cardinal's first care was to unfrock himself. he had also been obliged to lay down the most lucrative episcopate in christendom, that of toledo, the revenues of which amounted to the enormous sum of three hundred thousand dollars a year. of this annual income, however, he prudently reserved to himself fifty thousand dollars, by contract with his destined successor. the cardinal reached the netherlands before the end of january. he brought with him three thousand spanish infantry, and some companies of cavalry, while his personal baggage was transported on three hundred and fifty mules. of course there was a triumphal procession when, on the th february, the new satrap entered the obedient netherlands, and there was the usual amount of bell-ringing, cannon-firing, trumpet-blowing, with torch-light processions, blazing tar-barrels, and bedizened platforms, where allegory, in an advanced state of lunacy, performed its wonderful antics. it was scarcely possible for human creatures to bestow more adulation, or to abase themselves more thoroughly, than the honest citizens of brussels had so recently done in honour of the gentle, gouty ernest, but they did their best. that mythological conqueror and demigod had sunk into an unhonoured grave, despite the loud hosannaha sung to him on his arrival in belgica, and the same nobles, pedants, and burghers were now ready and happy to grovel at the feet of albert. but as it proved as impossible to surpass the glories of the holiday which had been culled out for his brother, so it would be superfluous now to recall the pageant which thus again delighted the capital. but there was one personage who graced this joyous entrance whose presence excited perhaps more interest than did that of the archduke himself. the procession was headed by three grandees riding abreast. there was the duke of aumale, pensionary of philip, and one of the last of the leaguers, who had just been condemned to death and executed in effigy at paris, as a traitor to his king and country; there was the prince of chimay, now since the recent death of his father at venice become duke of arschot; and between the two rode a gentleman forty-two years of age, whose grave; melancholy features--although wearing a painful expression of habitual restraint and distrust suggested, more than did those of the rest of his family, the physiognomy of william the silent to all who remembered that illustrious rebel. it was the eldest son of the great founder of the dutch republic. philip william, prince of orange, had at last, after twenty-eight years of captivity in spain, returned to the netherlands, whence he had been kidnapped while a school boy at louvain, by order of the duke of alva. rarely has there been a more dreary fate, a more broken existence than his. his almost life-long confinement, not close nor cruel, but strict and inexorable, together with the devilish arts of the jesuits, had produced nearly as blighting an effect upon his moral nature as a closer dungeon might have done on his physical constitution. although under perpetual arrest in madrid, he had been allowed to ride and to hunt, to go to mass, and to enjoy many of the pleasures of youth. but he had been always a prisoner, and his soul--a hopeless captive--could no longer be liberated now that the tyrant, in order to further his own secret purposes; had at last released his body from gaol. although the eldest-born of his father, and the inheritor of the great estates of orange and of buren, he was no longer a nassau except in name. the change wrought by the pressure of the spanish atmosphere was complete. all that was left of his youthful self was a passionate reverence for his father's memory, strangely combined with a total indifference to all that his father held dear, all for which his father had laboured his whole lifetime, and for which his heart's blood had been shed. on being at last set free from bondage he had been taken to the escorial, and permitted to kiss the hand of the king--that hand still reeking with his father's murder. he had been well received by the infante and the infanta, and by the empress-mother, daughter of charles v., while the artistic treasures of the palace and cloister were benignantly pointed out to him. it was also signified to him that he was to receive the order of the golden fleece, and to enter into possession of his paternal and maternal estates. and philip william had accepted these conditions as if a born loyal subject of his most catholic majesty. could better proof be wanting that in that age religion was the only fatherland, and that a true papist could sustain no injury at the hands of his most catholic majesty. if to be kidnapped in boyhood, to be imprisoned during a whole generation of mankind, to be deprived of vast estates, and to be made orphan by the foulest of assassinations, could not engender resentment against, the royal, perpetrator of these crimes in the bosom of his victim, was it strange that philip should deem himself, something far, more than man, and should placidly accept the worship rendered to him by inferior beings, as to the holy impersonation of almighty wrath? yet there is no doubt that the prince had a sincere respect for his father, and had bitterly sorrowed at his death. when a spanish officer, playing chess with him, in prison, had ventured to speak lightly of that father, philip william had seized him bodily, thrown him from the window, and thus killed him on the spot. and when on his arrival in brussels it was suggested to him by president riehardat that it was the king's intention to reinstate him in the possession of his estates, but that a rent-charge of eighteen thousand florins a year was still to be paid from them; to the heirs of balthazar gerard, his father's assassin, he flamed into a violent rage, drew his poniard, and would have stabbed the president; had not the bystanders forcibly inteferred. in consequence of this refusal--called magnanimous by contemporary writers--to accept his property under such conditions, the estates were detained from him for a considerable time longer. during the period of his captivity he had been allowed an income of fifteen thousand livres; but after his restoration his household, gentlemen, and servants alone cost him eighty thousand livres annually. it was supposed that the name of orange-nassau might now be of service to the king's designs in the netherlands. philip william had come by way of rome, where he had been allowed to kiss the pope's feet and had received many demonstrations of favour, and it was fondly thought that he would now prove an instrument with which king and pontiff might pipe back the rebellious republic to its ancient allegiance. but the dutchmen and frisians were deaf. they had tasted liberty too long, they had dealt too many hard blows on the head of regal and sacerdotal despotism, to be deceived by coarse artifices. especially the king thought that something might be done with count hohenlo. that turbulent personage having recently married the full sister of philip william, and being already at variance with count maurice, both for military and political causes, and on account of family and pecuniary disputes, might, it was thought, be purchased by the king, and perhaps a few towns and castles in the united netherlands might be thrown into the bargain. in that huckstering age, when the loftiest and most valiant nobles of europe were the most shameless sellers of themselves, the most cynical mendicants for alms and the most infinite absorbers of bribes in exchange for their temporary fealty; when mayenne, mercoeur, guise, pillars, egmont, and innumerable other possessors of ancient and illustrious names alternately and even simultaneously drew pensions from both sides in the great european conflict, it was not wonderful that philip should think that the boisterous hohenlo might be bought as well as another. the prudent king, however, gave his usual order that nothing was to be paid beforehand, but that the service was to be rendered first; and the price received afterwards. the cardinal applied himself to the task on his first arrival, but was soon obliged to report that he could make but little progress in the negotiation. the king thought, too, that heraugiere, who had commanded the memorable expedition against breda, and who was now governor of that stronghold, might be purchased, and he accordingly instructed the cardinal to make use of the prince of orange in the negotiations to be made for that purpose. the cardinal, in effect, received an offer from heraugiere in the course of a few months not only to surrender breda, without previous recompense, but likewise to place gertruydenberg, the governor of which city was his relative, in the king's possession. but the cardinal was afraid of a trick, for heraugiere was known to be as artful as he was brave, and there can be little doubt that the netherlander was only disposed to lay an ambush for the governor-general. and thus the son of william the silent made his reappearance in the streets of brussels, after twenty-eight years of imprisonment, riding in the procession of the new viceroy. the cardinal-archduke came next, with fuentes riding at his left hand. that vigorous soldier and politician soon afterwards left the netherlands to assume the government of milan. there was a correspondence between the prince of orange and the states-general, in which the republican authorities after expressing themselves towards him with great propriety, and affectionate respect, gave him plainly but delicately to understand that his presence at that time in the united provinces would neither be desirable, nor, without their passports, possible. they were quite aware of the uses to which the king was hoping to turn their reverence for the memory and the family of the great martyr, and were determined to foil such idle projects on the threshold. the archduke albert, born on rd of november, , was now in his thirty-sixth year. a small, thin, pale-faced man, with fair hair, and beard, commonplace features, and the hereditary underhanging burgundian jaw prominently developed, he was not without a certain nobility of presence. his manners were distant to haughtiness and grave to solemnity. he spoke very little and very slowly. he had resided long in spain, where he had been a favourite with his uncle--as much as any man could be a favourite with philip--and he had carefully formed himself on that royal model. he looked upon the king of spain as the greatest, wisest, and best of created beings, as the most illustrious specimen of kingcraft ever yet vouchsafed to the world. he did his best to look sombre and spanish, to turn his visage into a mask; to conceal his thoughts and emotions, not only by the expression of his features but by direct misstatements of his tongue, and in all things to present to the obedient flemings as elaborate a reproduction of his great prototype as copy can ever recall inimitable original. old men in the netherlands; who remembered in how short a time philip had succeeded, by the baleful effect of his personal presence, in lighting up a hatred which not the previous twenty years of his father's burnings, hangings, and butcherings in those provinces had been able to excite, and which forty subsequent years of bloodshed had not begun to allay, might well shake their heads when they saw this new representative of spanish authority. it would have been wiser--so many astute politicians thought--for albert to take the emperor charles for his model, who had always the power of making his tyranny acceptable to the flemings, through the adroitness with which he seemed to be entirely a fleming himself. but albert, although a german, valued himself on appearing like a spaniard. he was industrious, regular in his habits, moderate in eating and drinking, fond of giving audiences on business. he spoke german, spanish, and latin, and understood french and italian. he had at times been a student, and, especially, had some knowledge of mathematics. he was disposed to do his duty--so far as a man can do his duty, who imagines himself so entirely lifted above his fellow creatures as to owe no obligation except to exact their obedience and to personify to them the will of the almighty. to philip and the pope he was ever faithful. he was not without pretensions to military talents, but his gravity, slowness, and silence made him fitter to shine in the cabinet than in the field. henry iv., who loved his jests whether at his own expense or that of friend or foe, was wont to observe that there were three things which nobody would ever believe, and which yet were very true; that queen elizabeth deserved her title of the, throned vestal, that he was himself a good catholic, and that cardinal albert was a good general. it is probable that the assertions were all equally accurate. the new governor did not find a very able group of generals or statesmen assembled about him to assist in the difficult task which he had undertaken. there were plenty of fine gentlemen, with ancient names and lofty pretensions, but the working men in field or council had mostly disappeared. mondragon, la motte, charles mansfeld, frank verdugo were all dead. fuentes was just taking his departure for italy. old peter ernest was a cipher; and his son's place was filled by the marquis of varambon; as principal commander in active military operations. this was a burgundian of considerable military ability, but with an inordinate opinion of himself and of his family. "accept the fact that his lineage is the highest possible, and that he has better connections than those of anybody else in the whole world, and he will be perfectly contented," said a sharp, splenetic spaniard in the cardinal's confidence. "'tis a faithful and loyal cavalier, but full of impertinences." the brother of varambon, count varax, had succeeded la motte as general of artillery, and of his doings there was a, tale ere long to be told. on the whole, the best soldier in the archduke's service for the moment was the frenchman savigny de rosne, an ancient leaguer, and a passionate hater of the bearnese, of heretics, and of france as then constituted. he had once made a contract with henry by which he bound himself to his service; but after occasioning a good deal of injury by his deceitful attitude, he had accepted a large amount of spanish dollars, and had then thrown off the mask and proclaimed himself the deadliest foe of his lawful sovereign. "he was foremost," said carlos coloma, "among those who were successfully angled for by the commander moreo with golden hooks." although prodigiously fat, this renegade was an active and experienced campaigner; while his personal knowledge of his own country made his assistance of much value to those who were attempting its destruction. the other great nobles, who were pressing themselves about the new viceroy with enthusiastic words of welcome, were as like to give him embarrassment as support. all wanted office, emoluments, distinctions, nor could, much dependence be placed on the ability or the character of any of them. the new duke of arschot had in times past, as prince of chimay, fought against the king, and had even imagined himself a calvinist, while his wife was still a determined heretic. it is true that she was separated from her husband. he was a man of more quickness and acuteness than his father had been, but if possible more mischievous both to friend and foe; being subtle, restless, intriguing, fickle; ambitious, and deceitful. the prince of orange was considered a man of very ordinary intelligence, not more than half witted, according to queen elizabeth, and it was probable that the peculiar circumstances of his life would extinguish any influence that he might otherwise have attained with either party. he was likely to affect a neutral position and, in times of civil war, to be neutral is to be nothing. arenberg, unlike the great general on the catholic side who had made the name illustrious in the opening scenes of the mighty contest, was disposed to quiet obscurity so far as was compatible with his rank. having inherited neither fortune nor talent with his ancient name, he was chiefly occupied with providing for the wants of his numerous family. a good papist, well-inclined and docile, he was strongly recommended for the post of admiral, not because he had naval acquirements, but because he had a great many children. the marquis of havre, uncle to the duke of arschot, had played in his time many prominent parts in the long netherland tragedy. although older than he was when requesens and don john of austria had been governors, he was not much wiser, being to the full as vociferous, as false, as insolent, as self-seeking, and as mischievous as in his youth. alternately making appeals to popular passions in his capacity of high-born demagogue, or seeking crumbs of bounty as the supple slave of his sovereign, he was not more likely to acquire the confidence of the cardinal than he had done that of his predecessors. the most important and opulent grandee of all the provinces was the count de ligne, who had become by marriage or inheritance prince of espinay, seneschal of hainault, and viscount of ghent. but it was only his enormous estates that gave him consideration, for he was not thought capable of either good or bad intentions. he had, however, in times past, succeeded in the chief object of his ambition, which was to keep out of trouble, and to preserve his estates from confiscation. his wife, who governed him, and had thus far guided him safely, hoped to do so to the end. the cardinal was informed that the golden fleece would be all-sufficient to keep him upon the right track. of the egmonts, one had died on the famous field of ivry, another was an outlaw, and had been accused of participation in plots of assassination against william of orange; the third was now about the archduke's court, and was supposed, to be as dull a man--as ligne, but likely to be serviceable so long as he could keep his elder brother out of his inheritance. thus devoted to church and king were the sons of the man whose head philip had taken off on a senseless charge of treason. the two counts van den berg--frederic and herman--sons of the sister of william the silent, were, on the whole, as brave, efficient, and trustworthy servants of the king and cardinal as were to be found in the obedient, provinces. the new governor had come well provided with funds, being supplied for the first three-quarters of the year with a monthly: allowance of , , florins. for reasons soon to appear, it was not probable that the states-general would be able very, soon to make a vigorous campaign, and it was thought best for the cardinal to turn his immediate attention to france. the negotiations for, effecting an alliance offensive and defensive, between the three powers most interested in opposing the projects of spain for universal empire, were not yet begun, and will be reserved for a subsequent chapter. meantime there had been much informal discussion and diplomatic trifling between france and england for the purpose of bringing about a sincere co-operation of the two crowns against the fifth monarchy--as it was much the fashion to denominate philip's proposed dominion. henry had suggested at different times to sir robert sidney, during his frequent presence in france as special envoy for the queen, the necessity of such a step, but had not always found a hearty sympathy. but as the king began to cool in his hatred to spain, after his declaration of war against that power, it seemed desirable to elizabeth to fan his resentment afresh, and to revert to those propositions which had been so coolly received when made. sir harry umton, ambassador from her majesty, was accordingly provided with especial letters on the subject from the queen's own hand, and presented them early in the year at coucy (feb. , ). no man in the world knew better the tone to adopt in his communications with elizabeth than did the chivalrous king. no man knew better than he how impossible it was to invent terms of adulation too gross for her to accept as spontaneous and natural effusions, of the heart. he received the letters from the hands of sir henry, read them with rapture, heaved a deep sigh, and exclaimed. "ah! mr. ambassador, what shall i say to you? this letter of the queen, my sister, is full of sweetness and affection. i see that she loves me, while that i love her is not to be doubted. yet your commission shows me the contrary, and this proceeds from her, ministers. how else can these obliquities stand with her professions of love? i am forced, as a king, to take a course which, as henry, her loving brother, i could never adopt." they then walked out into the park, and the king fell into frivolous discourse, on purpose to keep the envoy from the important subject which had been discussed in the cabinet. sir henry brought him back to business, and insisted that there was no disagreement between her majesty and her counsellors, all being anxious to do what she wished. the envoy, who shared in the prevailing suspicions that henry was about to make a truce with spain, vehemently protested against such a step, complaining that his ministers, whose minds were distempered with jealousy, were inducing him to sacrifice her friendship to a false and hollow reconciliation with spain. henry protested that his preference would be for england's amity, but regretted that the english delays were so great, and that such dangers were ever impending over his head, as to make it impossible for him, as a king, to follow the inclinations of his heart. they then met madame de monceaux, the beautiful gabrielle, who was invited to join in the walk, the king saying that she was no meddler in politics, but of a tractable spirit. this remark, in sir henry's opinion, was just, for, said he to burghley, she is thought incapable of affairs, and, very simple. the duchess unmasked very graciously as the ambassador was presented; but, said the splenetic diplomatist, "i took no pleasure in it, nor held it any grace at all." "she was attired in a plain satin gown," he continued, "with a velvet hood to keep her from the weather, which became her very ill. in my opinion, she is altered very much for the worse, and was very grossly painted." the three walked together discoursing of trifles, much to the annoyance of umton. at last, a shower forced the lady into the house, and the king soon afterwards took the ambassador to his cabinet. "he asked me how i liked his mistress," wrote sir henry to burghley, "and i answered sparingly in her praise, and told him that if without offence i might speak it, i had the picture of a far more excellent mistress, and yet did her picture come far from the perfection of her beauty." "as you love me," cried the king, "show it me, if you have it about you!" "i made some difficulty," continued sir henry, "yet upon his importunity i offered it to his view very secretly, still holding it in my hand. he beheld it with passion and admiration, saying that i was in the right." "i give in," said the king, "je me rends." then, protesting that he had never seen such beauty all his life, he kissed it reverently twice or thrice, sir henry still holding the miniature firmly in his hand. the king then insisted upon seizing the picture, and there was a charming struggle between the two, ending in his majesty's triumph. he then told sir henry that he might take his leave of the portrait, for he would never give it up again for any treasure, and that to possess the favour of the original he would forsake all the world. he fell into many more such passionate and incoherent expressions of rhapsody, as of one suddenly smitten and spell-bound with hapless love, bitterly reproaching the ambassador for never having brought him any answers to the many affectionate letters which he had written to the queen, whose silence had made him so wretched. sir henry, perhaps somewhat confounded at being beaten at his own fantastic game, answered as well as he could, "but i found," said he, "that the dumb picture did draw on more speech and affection from him than all my best arguments and eloquence. this was the effect of our conference, and, if infiniteness of vows and outward professions be a strong argument of inward affection, there is good likelihood of the king's continuance of amity with her majesty; only i fear lest his necessities may inconsiderately draw him into some hazardous treaty with spain, which i hope confidently it is yet in the power of her majesty to prevent." the king, while performing these apish tricks about the picture of a lady with beady black eyes, a hooked nose, black teeth, and a red wig, who was now in the sixty-fourth year of her age, knew very well that the whole scene would be at once repeated to the fair object of his passion by her faithful envoy; but what must have been the opinion entertained of elizabeth by contemporary sovereigns and statesmen when such fantastic folly could be rehearsed and related every day in the year! and the king knew, after all, and was destined very soon to acquire proof of it which there was no gainsaying, that the beautiful elizabeth had exactly as much affection for him as he had for her, and was as capable of sacrificing his interests for her own, or of taking advantage of his direct necessities as cynically and as remorselessly, as the king of spain, or the duke of mayenne, or the pope had ever done. henry had made considerable progress in re-establishing his authority over a large portion of the howling wilderness to which forty years of civil war had reduced his hereditary kingdom. there was still great danger, however, at its two opposite extremities. calais, key to the norman gate of france, was feebly held; while marseilles, seated in such dangerous proximity to spain on the one side, and to the republic of genoa, that alert vassal of spain, on the other, was still in the possession of the league. a concerted action was undertaken by means of john andrew doria, with a spanish fleet from genoa on the outside and a well-organised conspiracy from within, to carry the city bodily over to philip. had it succeeded, this great mediterranean seaport would have become as much a spanish 'possession as barcelona or naples, and infinite might have been the damage to henry's future prospects in consequence. but there was a man in marseilles; petrus libertas by name, whose ancestors had gained this wholesome family appellation by a successful effort once made by them to rescue the little town of calvi, in corsica, from the tyranny of genoa. peter liberty needed no prompting to vindicate, on a fitting occasion, his right to his patronymic. in conjunction with men in marseilles who hated oppression, whether of kings, priests, or renegade republics, as much as he did, and with a secret and well-arranged understanding with the duke of guise, who was burning with ambition to render a signal benefit to the cause which he had just espoused, this bold tribune of the people succeeded in stirring the population to mutiny at exactly the right moment, and in opening the gates of marseilles to the duke of guise and his forces before it was possible for the leaguers to admit the fleet of doria into its harbour. thus was the capital of mediterranean france lost and won. guise gained great favour in henry's eyes; and with reason; for the son of the great balafre, who was himself the league, had now given the league the stroke of mercy. peter liberty became consul of marseilles, and received a patent of nobility. it was difficult, however, for any diploma to confer anything more noble upon him than the name which he hade inherited, and to which he had so well established his right. but while henry's cause had thus been so well served in the south, there was danger impending in the north. the king had been besieging, since autumn, the town of la fere, an important military and strategic position, which had been farnese's basis of operations during his memorable campaigns in france, and which had ever since remained in the hands of the league. the cardinal had taken the field with an army of fifteen thousand foot and three thousand horse, assembled at valenciennes, and after hesitating some time whether, or not he should attempt to relieve la fere, he decided instead on a diversion. in the second week of april; de rosne was detached at the head of four thousand men, and suddenly appeared before calais. the city had been long governed by de gordan, but this wary and experienced commander had unfortunately been for two years dead. still more unfortunately, it had been in his power to bequeath, not only his fortune, which was very large, but the government of calais, considered the most valuable command in france, to his nephew, de vidosan. he had, however, not bequeathed to him his administrative and military genius. the fortress called the risban, or rysbank, which entirely governed the harbour, and the possession of which made calais nearly impregnable, as inexhaustible supplies could thus be poured into it by sea, had fallen into comparative decay. de gordan had been occupied in strengthening the work, but since his death the nephew had entirely neglected the task. on the land side, the bridge of nivelet was the key to the place. the faubourg was held by two dutch companies, under captains le gros and dominique, who undertook to prevent the entrance of the archduke's forces. vidosan, however; ordered these faithful auxiliaries into the citadel. de rosne, acting with great promptness; seized both the bridge of nivelet and the fort of rysbank by a sudden and well-concerted movement. this having been accomplished, the city was in his power, and, after sustaining a brief cannonade, it surrendered. vidosan, with his garrison, however, retired into the citadel, and it was agreed between, himself and de rosne that unless succour should be received from the french king before the expiration of six days; the citadel should also be-evacuated. meantime henry, who was at boulogne, much disgusted at this unexpected disaster, had sent couriers to the netherlands, demanding assistance of the states-general and of the stadholder. maurice had speedily responded to the appeal. proceeding himself to zeeland, he had shipped fifteen companies of picked troops from middelburg, together with a flotilla laden with munitions and provisions enough to withstand a siege of several weeks. when the arrangements were completed, he went himself on board of a ship of war to take command of the expedition in person. on the th of april he arrived with his succours off the harbour of calais, and found to his infinite disappointment that the rysbank fort was in the hands of the enemy. as not a vessel could pass the bar without almost touching that fortress, the entrance to calais was now impossible. had the incompetent vidosan heeded the advice of his brave dutch officers; the place might still have been saved, for it had surrendered in a panic on the very day when the fleet of maurice arrived off the port. henry had lost no time in sending, also, to his english allies for succour. the possession of calais by the spaniards might well seem alarming to elizabeth, who could not well forget that up to the time of her sister this important position had been for two centuries an english stronghold. the defeat of the spanish husband of an english queen had torn from england the last trophies of the black prince, and now the prize had again fallen into the hands of spain; but of spain no longer in alliance, but at war, with england. obviously it was most dangerous to the interests and to the safety of the english realm, that this threatening position, so near the gates of london, should be in the hands of the most powerful potentate in the world and the dire enemy of england. in response to henry's appeal, the earl of essex was despatched with a force of six thousand men--raised by express command of the queen on sunday when the people were all at church--to dover, where shipping was in readiness to transport the troops at once across the channel. at the same time, the politic queen and some of her counsellors thought the opening a good one to profit by the calamity of their dear ally, certainly it was desirable to prevent calais from falling into the grasp of philip. but it was perhaps equally desirable, now that the place without the assistance of elizabeth could no longer be preserved by henry, that elizabeth, and not henry, should henceforth be its possessor. to make this proposition as clear to the french king as it seemed to the english queen, sir robert sidney was despatched in all haste to boulogne, even while the guns of de rosne were pointed at calais citadel, and while maurice's fleet, baffled by the cowardly surrender of the risban, was on its retreat from the harbour. at two o'clock in the afternoon of the st of april, sidney landed at boulogne. henry, who had been intensely impatient to hear from england, and who suspected that the delay was boding no good to his cause, went down to the strand to meet the envoy, with whom then and there he engaged instantly in the most animated discourse. as there was little time to be lost, and as sidney on getting out of the vessel found himself thus confronted with the soldier-king in person, he at once made the demand which he had been sent across the channel to make. he requested the king to deliver up the town and citadel of calais to the queen of england as soon as, with her assistance, he should succeed in recovering the place. he assigned as her majesty's reasons for this peremptory summons that she would on no other terms find it in her power to furnish the required succour. her subjects, she said, would never consent to it except on these conditions. it was perhaps not very common with the queen to exhibit so much deference to the popular will, but on this occasion the supposed inclinations of the nation furnished her with an excellent pretext for carrying out her own. sidney urged moreover that her majesty felt certain of being obliged--in case she did not take calais into her own safe-keeping and protection--to come to the rescue again within four or six months to prevent it once more from being besieged, conquered, and sacked by the enemy. the king had feared some such proposition as this, and had intimated as much to the states' envoy, calvaert, who had walked with him down to the strand, and had left him when the conference began. henry was not easily thrown from his equanimity nor wont to exhibit passion on any occasion, least of all in his discussions with the ambassadors of england, but the cool and insolent egotism of this communication was too much for him. he could never have believed, he said in reply, that after the repeated assurances of her majesty's affection for him which he had received from the late sir henry umton in their recent negotiations, her majesty would now so discourteously seek to make her profit out of his misery. he had come to boulogne, he continued, on the pledge given by the earl of essex to assist him with seven or eight thousand men in the recovery of calais. if this after all should fail him--although his own reputation would be more injured by the capture of the place thus before his eyes than if it had happened in his absence--he would rather a hundred times endure the loss of the place than have it succoured with such injurious and dishonourable conditions. after all, he said, the loss of calais was substantially of more importance to the queen than to himself. to him the chief detriment would be in the breaking up of his easy and regular communications with his neighbours through this position, and especially with her majesty. but as her affection for him was now proved to be so slender as to allow her to seek a profit from his misfortune and dishonour, it would be better for him to dispense with her friendship altogether and to strengthen his connections with truer and more honourable friends. should the worst come to the worst, he doubted not that he should be able, being what he was and much more than he was of old, to make a satisfactory arrangement with, the king of spain. he was ready to save calais at the peril of his life, to conquer it in person, and not by the hands of any of his lieutenants; but having done so, he was not willing--at so great a loss of reputation without and at so much peril within--to deliver it to her majesty or to any-one else. he would far rather see it fall into the hands of the spaniards. thus warmly and frankly did henry denounce the unhandsome proposition made in the name of the queen, while, during his vehement expostulations, sidney grew red with shame, and did not venture to look the king for one moment in the face. he then sought to mitigate the effect of his demand by intimating, with much embarrassment of demeanour, that perhaps her majesty would be satisfied with the possession of calais for her own life-time, and--as this was at once plumply refused--by the suggestion of a pledge of it for the term of one year. but the king only grew the more indignant as the bargaining became more paltry, and he continued to heap bitter reproaches upon the queen, who, without having any children or known inheritor of her possessions, should nevertheless, be so desirous of compassing his eternal disgrace and of exciting the discontent of his subjects for the sake of an evanescent gain for herself. at such a price, he avowed, he had no wish to purchase her majesty'a friendship. after this explosion the conference became more amicable. the english envoy assured the king that there could be, at all events, no doubt of the arrival of essex with eight thousand men on the following thursday to assist in the relief of the citadel; notwithstanding the answer which, he had received to the demand of her majesty. he furthermore expressed the strong desire which he felt that the king might be induced to make a personal visit to the queen at dover, whither she would gladly come to receive him, so soon as calais should have been saved. to this the king replied with gallantry, that it was one of the things in the world that he had most at heart. the envoy rejoined that her majesty would consider such a visit a special honour and favour. she had said that she could leave this world more cheerfully, when god should ordain, after she had enjoyed two hours' conversation with his majesty. sidney on taking his departure repeated the assurance that the troops under essex would arrive before calais by thursday, and that they were fast marching to the english coast; forgetting, apparently, that, at the beginning of the interview, he had stated, according to the queen's instructions, that the troops had been forbidden to march until a favourable answer had been returned by the king to her proposal. henry then retired to his headquarters for the purpose of drawing up information for his minister in england, de saucy, who had not yet been received by the queen, and who had been kept in complete ignorance of this mission of sidney and of its purport. while the king was thus occupied, the english envoy was left in the company of calvaert, who endeavoured, without much success, to obtain from him the result of the conference which had just taken place. sidney was not to be pumped by the dutch diplomatist, adroit as he unquestionably was, but, so soon as the queen's ambassador was fairly afloat again on his homeward track--which was the case within three hours after his arrival at boulogne--calvaert received from the king a minute account of the whole conversation. henry expressed unbounded gratitude to the states-general of the republic for their prompt and liberal assistance, and he eagerly contrasted the conduct of prince maurice--sailing forth in person so chivalrously to his rescue--with the sharp bargainings and shortcomings of the queen. he despatched a special messenger to convey his thanks to the prince, and he expressed his hope to calvaert that the states might be willing that their troops should return to the besieged place under the command of maurice, whose, presence alone, as he loudly and publicly protested, was worth four thousand men. but it was too late. the six days were rapidly passing, away. the governor of boulogne, campagnolo, succeeded, by henry's command, in bringing a small reinforcement of two or three hundred men into the citadel of calais during the night of the nd of april. this devoted little band made their way, when the tide was low, along the flats which stretched between the fort of rysbank and the sea. sometimes wading up to the neck in water, sometimes swimming for their lives, and during a greater part of their perilous, march clinging so close to the hostile fortress as almost to touch its guns, the gallant adventurers succeeded in getting into the citadel in time to be butchered with the rest of the garrison on the following day. for so soon as the handful of men had gained admittance to the gates--although otherwise the aspect of affairs was quite unchanged--the rash and weak de vidosan proclaimed that the reinforcements stipulated in his conditional capitulation having arrived, he should now resume hostilities. whereupon he opened fire, upon the town, and a sentry was killed. de rosne, furious, at what he considered a breach of faith, directed a severe cannonade against the not very formidable walls of the castle. during the artillery engagement which ensued the prince of orange, who had accompanied de rosne to the siege, had a very narrow escape. a cannon-ball from the town took off the heads of two spaniards standing near him, bespattering him with their blood and brains. he was urged to retire, but assured those about him that he came of too good a house to be afraid. his courage was commendable, but it seems not to have occurred to him that the place for his father's son was not by the aide of the general who was doing the work of his father's murderer. while his brother maurice with a fleet of twenty dutch war-ships was attempting in vain to rescue calais from the grasp of the spanish king, philip william of nassau was looking on, a pleased and passive spectator of the desperate and unsuccessful efforts at defence. the assault was then ordered? the-first storm was repulsed, mainly by the dutch companies, who fought in the breach until most of their numbers were killed or wounded, their captains dominique and le gros having both fallen. the next attack was successful, the citadel was carried; and the whole garrison, with exception of what remained of the hollanders and zeelanders, put to the sword. de vidosan himself perished. thus calais was once more a spanish city, and was re-annexed to the obedient provinces of flanders. of five thousand persons, soldiers and citizens, who had taken refuge in the castle, all were killed or reduced to captivity.' the conversion of this important naval position into a spanish-flemish station was almost as disastrous to the republic as it was mortifying to france and dangerous to england. the neighbouring dunkirk had long been a nest of pirates, whence small, fast-sailing vessels issued, daily and nightly, to prey indiscriminately upon the commerce of all nations. these corsairs neither gave nor took quarter, and were in the habit, after they had plundered their prizes, of setting them adrift, with the sailors nailed to the deck or chained to the rigging; while the officers were held for ransom. in case the vessels themselves were wanted, the crews were indiscriminately tossed overboard; while, on the ether hand, the buccaneers rarely hesitated to blow up their own ships, when unable to escape from superior force. capture was followed by speedy execution, and it was but recently that one of these freebooters having been brought into rotterdam, the whole crew, forty-four in number, were hanged on the day of their arrival, while some five and twenty merchant-captains held for ransom by the pirates thus obtained their liberty. and now calais was likely to become a second and more dangerous sea-robbers' cave than even dunkirk had been. notwithstanding this unlucky beginning of the campaign for the three allies, it was determined to proceed with a considerable undertaking which had been arranged between england and the republic. for the time, therefore, the importunate demands of the queen for repayments by the states of her disbursements during the past ten years were suspended. it had, indeed, never been more difficult than at that moment for the republic to furnish extraordinary sums of money. the year had not been prosperous. although the general advance in commerce, manufactures, and in every department of national development had been very remark able, yet there had recently been, for exceptional causes, an apparent falling off; while, on the other hand, there had been a bad harvest in the north of europe. in holland, where no grain was grown, and which yet was the granary of the world, the prices were trebled. one hundred and eight bushels (a last) of rye, which ordinarily was worth fifty florins, now sold for one hundred and fifty florins, and other objects of consumption were equally enhanced in value. on the other hand, the expenses of the war were steadily increasing, and were fixed for this year at five millions of florins. the republic, and especially the states of holland, never hesitated to tax heroically. the commonwealth had no income except that which the several provinces chose to impose upon themselves in order to fill the quota assigned to them by the states-general; but this defect in their political organization was not sensibly felt so long as the enthusiasm for the war continued in full force. the people of the netherlands knew full well that there was no liberty for them without fighting, no fighting without an army, no army without wages, and no wages without taxation; and although by the end of the century the imposts had become so high that, in the language of that keen observer, cardinal bentivoglio; nuncio at brussels, they could scarcely be imagined higher, yet, according to the same authority, they were laid unflinchingly and paid by the people without a murmur. during this year and the next the states of holland, whose proportion often amounted to fifty per cent. of the whole contribution of the united provinces, and who ever set a wholesome example in taxation, raised the duty on imports and all internal taxes by one-eighth, and laid a fresh impost on such articles of luxury as velvets and satins, pleas and processes. starch, too, became a source of considerable revenue. with the fast-rising prosperity of the country luxury had risen likewise, and, as in all ages and countries of the world of which there is record, woman's dress signalized itself by extravagant and very often tasteless conceptions. in a country where, before the doctrine of popular sovereignty had been broached in any part of the world by the most speculative theorists, very vigorous and practical examples of democracy had been afforded to europe; in a country where, ages before the science of political economy had been dreamed of, lessons of free trade on the largest scale had been taught to mankind by republican traders instinctively breaking in many directions through the nets by which monarchs and oligarchs, guilds and corporations, had hampered the movements of commerce; it was natural that fashion should instinctively rebel against restraint. the honest burgher's vrow of middelburg or enkhuyzen claimed the right to make herself as grotesque as queen elizabeth in all her glory. sumptuary laws were an unwholesome part of feudal tyranny, and, as such, were naturally dropping into oblivion on the free soil of the netherlands. it was the complaint therefore of moralists that unproductive consumption was alarmingly increasing. formerly starch had been made of the refuse parts of corn, but now the manufacturers of that article made use of the bloom of the wheat and consumed as much of it as would have fed great cities. in the little village of wormer the starch-makers used between three and four thousand bushels a week. thus a substantial gentlewoman in fashionable array might bear the food of a parish upon her ample bosom. a single manufacturer in amsterdam required four hundred weekly bushels. such was the demand for the stiffening of the vast ruffs, the wonderful head-gear, the elaborate lace-work, stomachers and streamers, without which no lady who respected herself could possibly go abroad to make her daily purchases of eggs and poultry in the market-place. "may god preserve us," exclaimed a contemporary chronicler, unreasonably excited on the starch question, "from farther luxury and wantonness, and abuse of his blessings and good gifts, that the punishment of jeroboam, which followed upon solomon's fortunate reign and the gold-ships of ophir may not come upon us." the states of holland not confounding--as so often has been the case--the precepts of moral philosophy with those of political economy, did not, out of fear for the doom of jeroboam, forbid the use of starch. they simply laid a tax of a stiver a pound on the commodity, or about six per cent, ad valorem; and this was a more wholesome way of serving the state than by abridging the liberty of the people in the choice of personal attire. meantime the preachers were left to thunder from their pulpits upon the sinfulness of starched rues and ornamental top-knots, and to threaten their fair hearers with the wrath to come, with as much success as usually attends such eloquence. there had been uneasiness in the provinces in regard to the designs of the queen, especially since the states had expressed their inability to comply in full with her demands for repayment. spanish emissaries had been busily circulating calumnious reports that her majesty was on the eve of concluding a secret peace with philip, and that it was her intention to deliver the cautionary towns to the king. the government attached little credence to such statements, but it was natural that envoy caron should be anxious at their perpetual recurrence both in england and in the provinces. so, one day, he had a long conversation with the earl of essex on the subject; for it will be recollected that lord leicester had strenuously attempted at an earlier day to get complete possession, not only of the pledged cities but of leyden also, in order to control the whole country. essex was aflame with indignation at once, and, expressed himself with his customary recklessness. he swore that if her majesty were so far forsaken of god and so forgetful of her own glory, as through evil counsel to think of making any treaty with spain without the knowledge of the states-general and in order to cheat them, he would himself make the matter as public as it was possible to do, and would place himself in direct opposition to such a measure, so as to show the whole world that his heart and soul were foreign at least to any vile counsel of the kind that might have been given to his sovereign. caron and essex conversed much in this vein, and although the envoy, especially requested him not to do so, the earl, who was not distinguished, for his powers of dissimulation, and who suspected burleigh of again tampering, as he had often before tampered, with secret agents of philip, went straight to the queen with the story. next day, essex invited caron to dine and to go with him after dinner to the queen. this was done, and, so soon as the states' envoy was admitted to the royal presence, her majesty at once opened the subject. she had heard, she said, that the reports in question had been spread through the provinces, and she expressed much indignation in regard to them. she swore very vehemently, as usual, and protested that she had better never have been born than prove so miserable a princess as these tales would make her. the histories of england, she said, should never describe her as guilty of such falsehood. she could find a more honourable and fitting means of making peace than by delivering up cities and strongholds so sincerely and confidingly placed in her hands. she hoped to restore them as faithfully as they had loyally been entrusted to her keeping. she begged caron to acquaint the states-general with these asseverations; declaring that never since she had sent troops to the netherlands had she lent her ear to those who had made such underhand propositions. she was aware that cardinal albert had propositions to make, and that he was desirous of inducing both the french king and, herself to consent to a peace with spain: but she promised, the states' envoy solemnly before god to apprise him of any such overtures, so soon as they should be made known to herself. much more in this strain, with her usual vehemence and mighty oaths, did the great queen aver, and the republican envoy, to whom she was on this occasion very gracious, was fain to believe in her sincerity. yet the remembrance of the amazing negotiations between the queen's ministers and the agents of alexander farnese, by which the invasion of the armada had been masked; could not but have left an uneasy feeling in the mind of every dutch statesman. "i trust in god," said caron, "that he may never so abandon her as to permit her to do the reverse of what she now protests with so much passion. should it be otherwise--which god forbid--i should think that he would send such chastisement upon her and her people that other princes would see their fate therein as in a mirror, should they make and break such oaths and promises. i tell you these things as they occur, because, as i often feel uneasiness myself, i imagine that my friends on the other side the water may be subject to the same anxiety. nevertheless, beat the bush as i may, i can obtain no better information than this which i am now sending you." it had been agreed that for a time the queen should desist from her demands for repayment--which, according to the treaty of , was to be made only after conclusion of peace between spain and the provinces, but which elizabeth was frequently urging on the ground that the states could now make that peace when they chose--and in return for such remission the republic promised to furnish twenty-four ships of war and four tenders for a naval expedition which was now projected against the spanish coast. these war-ships were to be of four hundred, three hundred, and two hundred tons-eight of each dimension--and the estimated expense of their fitting out for five months was , florins. before the end of april, notwithstanding the disappointment occasioned in the netherlands by the loss of calais, which the states had so energetically striven to prevent, the fleet under admiral john of duvenwoord, seigneur of warmond, and vice-admirals jan gerbrantz and cornelius leusen, had arrived at plymouth, ready to sail with their english allies. there were three thousand sailors of holland and zeeland on board, the best mariners in the world, and two thousand two hundred picked veterans from the garrisons of the netherlands. these land-troops were english, but they belonged to the states' army, which was composed of dutch, german, walloon, scotch, and irish soldiers, and it was a liberal concession on the part of the republican government to allow them to serve on the present expedition. by the terms of the treaty the queen had no more power to send these companies to invade spain than to campaign against tyr owen in ireland, while at a moment when the cardinal archduke had a stronger and better-appointed army in flanders than had been seen for many years in the provinces, it was a most hazardous experiment for the states to send so considerable a portion of their land and naval forces upon a distant adventure. it was also a serious blow to them to be deprived for the whole season of that valiant and experienced commander, sir francis vere, the most valuable lieutenant, save lewis william, that maurice had at his disposition. yet vere was to take command of this contingent thus sent to the coast of spain, at the very moment when the republican army ought to issue from their winter quarters and begin active operations in the field. the consequence of this diminution of their strength and drain upon their resources was that the states were unable to put an army in the field during the current year, or make any attempt at a campaign. the queen wrote a warm letter of thanks to admiral warmond for the promptness and efficiency with which he had brought his fleet to the place of rendezvous, and now all was bustle and preparation in the english ports for the exciting expedition resolved upon. never during philip's life-time, nor for several years before his birth, had a hostile foot trod the soil of spain, except during the brief landing at corunna in , and, although the king's beard had been well singed ten years previously by sir francis drake, and although the coast of portugal had still more recently been invaded by essex and vere, yet the present adventure was on a larger scale, and held out brighter prospects of success than any preceding expedition had done. in an age when the line between the land and sea service, between regular campaigners and volunteers, between public and private warfare, between chivalrous knights-errant and buccaneers, was not very distinctly drawn, there could be nothing more exciting to adventurous spirits, more tempting to the imagination of those who hated the pope and philip, who loved fighting, prize-money, and the queen, than a foray into spain. it was time to return the visit of the armada. some of the sea-kings were gone. those magnificent freebooters, drake and hawkins, had just died in the west indies, and doughty sir roger williams had left the world in which he had bustled so effectively, bequeathing to posterity a classic memorial of near a half century of hard fighting, written, one might almost imagine, in his demi-pique saddle. but that most genial, valiant, impracticable, reckless, fascinating hero of romance, the earl of essex--still a youth although a veteran in service--was in the spring-tide of favour and glory, and was to command the land-forces now assembled at plymouth. that other "corsair"--as the spaniards called him--that other charming and heroic shape in england's chequered chronicle of chivalry and crime--famous in arts and arms, politics, science, literature, endowed with so many of the gifts by which men confer lustre on their age and country, whose name was already a part of england's eternal glory, whose tragic destiny was to be her undying shame--raleigh, the soldier, sailor, scholar, statesman, poet, historian, geographical discoverer, planter of empires yet unborn--was also present, helping to organize the somewhat chaotic elements of which the chief anglo-dutch enterprise for this year against--the spanish world-dominion was compounded. and, again, it is not superfluous to recal the comparatively slender materials, both in bulk and numbers, over which the vivid intelligence and restless energy of the two leading protestant powers, the kingdom and the republic, disposed. their contest against the overshadowing empire, which was so obstinately striving to become the fifth-monarchy of history, was waged by land: and naval forces, which in their aggregate numbers would scarce make a startling list of killed and wounded in a single modern battle; by ships such that a whole fleet of them might be swept out of existence with half-a-dozen modern broadsides; by weapons which would seem to modern eyes like clumsy toys for children. such was the machinery by which the world was to be lost and won, less than three centuries ago. could science; which even in that age had made gigantic strides out of the preceding darkness, have revealed its later miracles, and have presented its terrible powers to the despotism which was seeking to crush all christendom beneath its feet, the possible result might have been most tragical to humanity. while there are few inventions in morals, the demon intellect is ever at his work, knowing no fatigue and scorning contentment in his restless demands upon the infinite unknown. yet moral truth remains unchanged, gradually through the ages extending its influence, and it is only by conformity to its simple and, eternal dictates that nations, like individuals, can preserve a healthful existence. in the unending warfare between right and wrong, between liberty and despotism; evil has the advantage of rapidly assuming many shapes. it has been well said that constant vigilance is the price of liberty. the tendency of our own times, stimulated by scientific discoveries and their practical application, is to political consolidation, to the absorption of lesser communities in greater; just as disintegration was the leading characteristic of the darker ages. the scheme of charlemagne to organize europe into a single despotism was a brilliant failure because the forces which were driving human society into local and gradual reconstruction around various centres of crystallization: were irresistible to any countervailing enginry which the emperor had at his disposal. the attempt of philip, eight centuries later, at universal monarchy, was frivolous, although he could dispose of material agencies which in the hands of charlemagne might have made the dreams of charlemagne possible. it was frivolous because the rising instinct of the age was for religious, political, and commercial freedom in a far intenser degree than those who lived in that age were themselves aware. a considerable republic had been evolved as it were involuntarily out of the necessities of the time almost without self-consciousness that it was a republic, and even against the desire of many who were guiding its destinies. and it found itself in constant combination with two monarchs, despotic at heart and of enigmatical or indifferent religious convictions, who yet reigned over peoples, largely influenced by enthusiasm for freedom. thus liberty was preserved for the world; but, as the law of human progress would seem to be ever by a spiral movement, it; seems strange to the superficial observer not prone to generalizing, that calvinism, which unquestionably was the hard receptacle in which the germ of human freedom was preserved in various countries and at different epochs, should have so often degenerated into tyranny. yet notwithstanding the burning of servetus at geneva, and the hanging of mary dyer at boston, it is certain that france, england, the netherlands, and america, owe a large share of such political liberty as they have enjoyed to calvinism. it may be possible for large masses of humanity to accept for ages the idea of one infallible church, however tyrannical but the idea once admitted that there may be many churches; that what is called the state can be separated from what is called the church; the plea of infallibility and of authority soon becomes ridiculous--a mere fiction of political or fashionable quackery to impose upon the uneducated or the unreflecting. and now essex, raleigh and howard, vere, warmond and nassau were about to invade the shores of the despot who sat in his study plotting to annex england, scotland, ireland, france, the dutch republic, and the german empire to the realms of spain, portugal, naples, milan, and the eastern and western indies, over which he already reigned. the fleet consisted of fifty-seven ships of war, of which twenty-four were dutch vessels under admiral warmond, with three thousand sailors of holland and zeeland. besides the sailors, there was a force of six thousand foot soldiers, including the english veterans from the netherlands under sir francis vere. there were also fifty transports laden with ammunition and stores. the expedition was under the joint command of lord high admiral howard and of the earl of essex. many noble and knightly volunteers, both from england and the republic, were on board, including, besides those already mentioned, lord thomas howard, son of the duke of norfolk, sir john wingfield, who had commanded at gertruydenburg, when it had been so treacherously surrendered to farnese; count lewis gunther of nassau, who had so recently escaped from the disastrous fight with mondragon in the lippe, and was now continuing his education according to the plan laid down for him by his elder brother lewis william; nicolas meetkerk, peter regesmortes, don christopher of portugal, son of don antonio, and a host of other adventurers. on the last day of june the expedition arrived off cadiz. next morning they found a splendid spanish fleet in the harbour of that city, including four of the famous apostolic great galleons, st. philip, st. matthew, st. thomas, and st. andrew, with twenty or thirty great war-ships besides, and fifty-seven well-armed indiamen, which were to be convoyed on their outward voyage, with a cargo estimated at twelve millions of ducats. the st. philip was the phenomenon of naval architecture of that day, larger and stronger than any ship before known. she was two thousand tons burthen, carried eighty-two bronze cannon, and had a crew of twelve hundred men. the other three apostles carried each fifty guns and four hundred men. the armament of the other war-ships varied from fifty-two to eighteen guns each. the presence of such a formidable force might have seemed a motive for discouragement, or at least of caution. on the contrary, the adventurers dashed at once upon their prey; thus finding a larger booty than they had dared to expect. there was but a brief engagement. at the outset a dutch ship accidentally blew up, and gave much encouragement to the spaniards. their joy was but short-lived. two of the great galleons were soon captured, the other two, the st. philip and the st. thomas, were run aground and burned. the rest of the war-ships were driven within the harbour, but were unable to prevent a landing of the enemy's forces. in the eagerness of the allies to seize the city, they unluckily allowed many of the indiamen to effect their escape through the puente del zuazzo, which had not been supposed a navigable passage for ships of such burthen. nine hundred soldiers under essex, and four hundred noble volunteers under lewis gunther of nassau, now sprang on shore, and drove some eleven hundred spanish skirmishers back within the gates of the city, or into a bastion recently raised to fortify the point when the troops had landed. young nassau stormed the bulwark sword in hand, carried it at the first assault, and planted his colours on its battlement. it was the flag of william the silent; for the republican banner was composed of the family colours of the founder of the new commonwealth. the blazonry of the proscribed and assassinated rebel waved at last defiantly over one of the chief cities of spain. essex and nassau and all the rest then entered the city. there was little fighting. twenty-five english and hollanders were killed, and about as many spaniards. essex knighted about fifty gentlemen, englishmen and hollanders, in the square of cadiz for their gallantry. among the number were lewis gunther of nassau, admiral warmond, and peter regesmortes. colonel nicolas meetkerke was killed in the brief action, and sir john wingfield, who insisted in prancing about on horseback without his armour, defying the townspeople and neglecting the urgent appeal of sir francis vere, was also slain. the spanish soldiers, discouraged by the defeat of the ships on which they had relied for protection of the town, retreated with a great portion of the inhabitants into the citadel. next morning the citadel capitulated without striking a blow, although there, were six thousand able-bodied, well-armed men within its walls. it was one of the most astonishing panics ever recorded. the great fleet, making a third of the king's navy, the city of cadiz and its fortress, were surrendered to this audacious little force, which had only arrived off the harbour thirty-six hours before. the invaders had, however, committed a great mistake. they had routed, and, as it were, captured the spanish galleons, but they had not taken possession of them, such had been their eagerness to enter the city. it was now agreed that the fleet should be ransomed for two million ducats, but the proud duke of medina sidonia, who had already witnessed the destruction of one mighty armada, preferred that these splendid ships too should perish rather than that they should pay tribute to the enemy. scorning the capitulation of the commandant of the citadel, he ordered the fleet to be set on fire. thirty-two ships, most of them vessels of war of the highest class, were burned, with all their equipments. twelve hundred cannon sunk at once to the bottom of the bay of cadiz, besides arms for five or six thousand men. at least one-third of philip's effective navy was thus destroyed. the victors now sacked the city very thoroughly, but the results were disappointing. a large portion of the portable wealth of the inhabitants, their gold and their jewelry, had been so cunningly concealed that, although half a dozen persons were tortured till they should reveal hidden treasures, not more than five hundred thousand ducats worth of-plunder was obtained. another sum of equal amount having been levied upon the citizens; forty notable personages; among them eighteen ecclesiastical dignitaries, were carried off as hostages for its payment. the city was now set on fire by command of essex in four different quarters. especially the cathedral and other churches, the convents and the hospitals, were burned. it was perhaps not unnatural: that both englishmen and hollanders should be disposed to wreak a barbarous vengeance on everything representative of the church which they abhorred, and from which such endless misery had issued to the, uttermost corners of their own countries. but it is at any rate refreshing to record amid these acts of pillage and destruction, in which, as must ever be the case, the innocent and the lowly were made to suffer for the crimes of crowned and mitred culprits, that not many special acts of cruelty were committed upon individuals: no man was murdered in cold blood, no woman was outraged. the beautiful city was left a desolate and blackened ruin, and a general levy of spoil was made for the benefit of the victors, but there was no infringement of the theory and practice of the laws of war as understood in that day or in later ages. it is even recorded that essex ordered one of his soldiers, who was found stealing a woman's gown, to be hanged on the spot, but that, wearied by the intercession of an ecclesiastic of cadiz, the canon quesada, he consented at last to pardon the marauder. it was the earnest desire of essex to hold cadiz instead of destroying it. with three thousand men, and with temporary supplies from the fleet, the place could be maintained against all comers; holland and england together commanding the seas. admiral warmond and all the netherlanders seconded the scheme, and offered at once to put ashore from their vessels food and munitions enough to serve two thousand men for two months. if the english admiral would do as much, the place might be afterwards supplied without limit and held till doomsday, a perpetual thorn in philip's side. sir francis vere was likewise warmly in favour of the project, but he stood alone. all the other englishmen opposed it as hazardous, extravagant, and in direct contravention of the minute instructions of the queen. with a sigh or a curse for what he considered the superfluous caution of his royal mistress, and the exaggerated docility of lord high admiral howard, essex was fain to content himself with the sack and the conflagration, and the allied fleet sailed away from cadiz. on their way towards lisbon they anchored off faro, and landed a force, chiefly of netherlanders, who expeditiously burned and plundered the place. when they reached the neighbourhood of lisbon, they received information that a great fleet of indiamen, richly laden, were daily expected from the flemish islands, as the azores were then denominated. again essex was vehemently disposed to steer at once for that station, in order to grasp so tempting a prize; again he was strenuously supported by the dutch admiral and yere, and again lord howard peremptorily interdicted the plan. it was contrary to his instructions and to his ideas of duty, he said, to risk so valuable a portion of her majesty's fleet on so doubtful a venture. his ships were not fitted for a winter's cruise, he urged. thus, although it was the very heart of midsummer, the fleet was ordered to sail homeward. the usual result of a divided command was made manifest, and it proved in the sequel that, had they sailed for the islands, they would have pounced at exactly the right moment upon an unprotected fleet of merchantmen, with cargoes valued at seven millions of ducats. essex, not being willing to undertake the foray to the azores with the dutch ships alone, was obliged to digest his spleen as: best he could. meantime the english fleet bore away for england, leaving essex in his own ship, together with the two captured spanish galleons, to his fate. that fate might, have been a disastrous one, for his prizes were not fully manned, his own vessel was far from powerful, and there were many rovers and cruisers upon the seas. the dutch admiral, with all his ships, however, remained in company, and safely convoyed him to plymouth, where they arrived only a day or two later than howard and his fleet. warmond, who had been disposed to sail up the thames in order to pay his respects to the queen, was informed that his presence would not be desirable but rather an embarrassment. he, however, received the following letter from the hand of elizabeth. monsieur duyenwoord,--the report made to me by the generals of our fleet, just happily arrived from the coast of spain, of the devoirs of those who have been partakers in so, famous a victory, ascribes so much of it to the valour, skill, and readiness exhibited by yourself and our other friends from the netherlands under your command, during the whole course of the expedition, as to fill our mind with special joy and satisfaction, and, with a desire to impart these feelings to you. no other means presenting themselves at this moment than that of a letter (in some sense darkening the picture of the conceptions of our soul), we are willing to make use of it while waiting for means more effectual. wishing thus to disburthen ourselves we find ourselves confused, not knowing where to begin, the greatness of each part exceeding the merit of the other. for, the vigour and promptness with which my lords the states-general stepped into the enterprise, made us acknowledge that the good favour, which we have always borne the united provinces and the proofs thereof which we have given in the benefits conferred by us upon them, had not been ill-bestowed. the valour, skill, and discipline manifested by you in this enterprise show that you and your, whole nation are worthy the favour and protection of princes against those who wish to tyrannize over you. but the honourableness and the valour shown by you, sir admiral, towards our cousin the earl of essex on his return, when he unfortunately was cut off from the fleet, and deep in the night was deprived of all support, when you kept company with him and gave him escort into the harbour of plymouth, demonstrate on the one hand your foresight in providing thus by your pains and patience against all disasters, which through an accident falling upon one of the chiefs of our armada might have darkened the great victory; and on the other hand the fervour and fire of the affection which you bear us, increasing thus, through a double bond, the obligations we are owing you, which is so great in our hearts that we have felt bound to discharge a part of it by means of this writing, which we beg you to communicate to the whole company of our friends under your command; saying to them besides, that they may feel assured that even as we have before given proof of our goodwill to their fatherland, so henceforth--incited by their devoirs and merits--we are ready to extend our bounty and affection in all ways which may become a princess recompensing the virtues and gratitude of a nation so worthy as yours. "elizabeth r. " th august, ." this letter was transmitted by the admiral to the states-general; who, furnished him with a copy of it, but enrolled the original in their archives; recording as it did, in the hand of the great english queen, so striking a testimony to the valour and the good conduct of netherlanders. the results of this expedition were considerable, for the king's navy was crippled, a great city was destroyed, and some millions of plunder had been obtained. but the permanent possession of cadiz, which, in such case, essex hoped to exchange for calais, and the destruction of the fleet at the azores--possible achievements both, and unwisely neglected--would have been far more profitable, at least to england. it was also matter of deep regret that there was much quarrelling between the netherlanders and the englishmen as to their respective share of the spoils; the netherlanders complaining loudly that they had been defrauded. moreover the merchants of middelburg, amsterdam, and other commercial cities of holland and zeeland were, as it proved, the real owners of a large portion of the property destroyed or pillaged at cadiz; so that a loss estimated as high as three hundred thousand florins fell upon those unfortunate traders through this triumph of the allies. the internal consequences of the fall of calais had threatened at the first moment to be as disastrous as the international results of that misfortune had already proved. the hour for the definite dismemberment and partition of the french kingdom, not by foreign conquerors but among its own self-seeking and disloyal grandees, seemed to have struck. the indomitable henry, ever most buoyant when most pressed by misfortune, was on the way to his camp at la fere, encouraging the faint-hearted, and providing as well as he could for the safety of the places most menaced, when he was met at st. quentin by a solemn deputation of the principal nobles, military commanders, and provincial governors of france. the duke of montpensier was spokesman of the assembly, and, in an harangue carefully prepared for the occasion, made an elaborate proposition to the king that the provinces, districts, cities, castles; and other strong-holds throughout the kingdom should now be formally bestowed upon the actual governors and commandants thereof in perpetuity, and as hereditary property, on condition of rendering a certain military service to the king and his descendants. it seemed so amazing that this temporary disaster to the national arms should be used as a pretext for parcelling out france, and converting a great empire into a number of insignificant duchies and petty principalities; that this movement should be made, not by the partisans of spain, but by the adherents of the king; and that its leader should be his own near relative, a prince of the blood, and a possible successor to the crown, that henry was struck absolutely dumb. misinterpreting his silence, the duke proceeded very confidently with his well-conned harangue; and was eloquently demonstrating that, under such a system, henry, as principal feudal chief, would have greater military forces at his disposal whenever he chose to summon his faithful vassals to the field than could be the case while the mere shadow of royal power or dignity was allowed to remain; when the king, finding at last a tongue, rebuked his cousin; not angrily, but with a grave melancholy which was more impressive than wrath. he expressed his pity for the duke that designing intriguers should have thus taken advantage of his facility of character to cause him to enact a part so entirely unworthy a frenchman, a gentleman, and a prince of the blood. he had himself, at the outset of his career, been much farther from the throne than montpensier was at that moment; but at no period of his life would he have consented to disgrace himself by attempting the dismemberment of the realm. so far from entering for a moment into the subject-matter of the duke's discourse, he gave him and all his colleagues distinctly to understand that he would rather die a thousand deaths than listen to suggestions which would cover his family and the royal dignity with infamy. rarely has political cynicism been displayed in more revolting shape than in this deliberate demonstration by the leading patricians and generals of france, to whom patriotism seemed an unimaginable idea. thus signally was their greediness to convert a national disaster into personal profit rebuked by the king. henry was no respecter of the people, which he regarded as something immeasurably below his feet. on the contrary, he was the most sublime self-seeker of them all; but his courage, his intelligent ambition, his breadth and strength of purpose, never permitted him to doubt that his own greatness was inseparable from the greatness of france. thus he represented a distinct and wholesome principle--the national integrity of a great homogeneous people at a period when that integrity seemed, through domestic treason and foreign hatred, to be hopelessly lost. hence it is not unnatural that he should hold his place in the national chronicle as henry the great. meantime, while the military events just recorded had been occurring in the southern peninsula, the progress of the archduke and his lieutenants in the north against the king and against the republic had been gratifying to the ambition of that martial ecclesiastic. soon after the fall of calais, de rosne had seized the castles of guynes and hames, while de mexia laid siege to the important stronghold of ardres. the garrison, commanded by count belin, was sufficiently numerous and well supplied to maintain the place until henry, whose triumph at la fere could hardly be much longer delayed, should come to its relief. to the king's infinite dissatisfaction, however, precisely as don alvario de osorio was surrendering la fere to him, after a seven months' siege, ardres was capitulating to de mexia. the reproaches upon belin for cowardice, imbecility, and bad faith, were bitter and general. all his officers had vehemently protested against the surrender, and henry at first talked of cutting off his head. it was hardly probable, however--had the surrender been really the result of treachery--that the governor would have put himself, as he did at once in the king's power; for the garrison marched out of ardres with the commandant at their head, banners displayed, drums beating, matches lighted and bullet in mouth, twelve hundred fighting men strong, besides invalids. belin was possessed of too much influence, and had the means of rendering too many pieces of service to the politic king, whose rancour against spain was perhaps not really so intense as was commonly supposed, to meet with the condign punishment which might have been the fate of humbler knaves. these successes having been obtained in normandy, the cardinal with a force of nearly fifteen thousand men now took the field in flanders; and, after hesitating for a time whether he should attack breda, bergen, ostend, or gertruydenburg,--and after making occasional feints in various directions, came, towards the end of june, before hulst. this rather insignificant place, with a population of but one thousand inhabitants, was defended by a strong garrison under command of that eminent and experienced officer count everard solms. its defences were made more complete by a system of sluices, through which the country around could be laid under water; and maurice, whose capture of the town in the year had been one of his earliest military achievements, was disposed to hold it at all hazards. he came in person to inspect the fortifications, and appeared to be so eager on the subject, and so likely to encounter unnecessary hazards, that the states of holland passed a resolution imploring him "that he would not, in his heroic enthusiasm and laudable personal service, expose a life on which the country so much depended to manifest dangers." the place was soon thoroughly invested, and the usual series of minings and counter-minings, assaults, and sorties followed, in the course of which that courageous and corpulent renegade, de rosne, had his head taken off by a cannon-ball, while his son, a lad of sixteen, was fighting by his side. on the th august the cardinal formally demanded the surrender of the place, and received the magnanimous reply that hulst would be defended to the death. this did not, however, prevent the opening of negotiations the very same day. all the officers, save one, united in urging solms to capitulate; and solms, for somewhat mysterious reasons, and, as was stated, in much confusion, gave his consent. the single malcontent was the well-named matthew held, whose family name meant hero, and who had been one of the chief actors in the far-famed capture of breda. he was soon afterwards killed in an unsuccessful attack made by maurice upon venlo. hulst capitulated on the th august. the terms were honourable; but the indignation throughout the country against count solms was very great. the states of zeeland, of whose regiment he had been commander ever, since the death of sir philip sidney, dismissed him from their service, while a torrent of wrath flowed upon him from every part of the country. members of the states-general refused to salute him in the streets; eminent person, ages turned their backs upon him, and for a time there was no one willing to listen to a word in his defence. the usual reaction in such cases followed; maurice sustained the commander, who had doubtless committed a grave error, but who had often rendered honourable service to the republic, and the states-general gave him a command as important as that of which he had been relieved by the zeeland states. it was mainly on account of the tempest thus created within the netherlands, that an affair of such slight importance came to occupy so large a space in contemporary history. the defenders of solmstold wild stories about the losses of the besieging army. the cardinal, who was thought prodigal of blood, and who was often quoted as saying "his soldiers' lives belonged to god and their bodies to the king," had sacrificed, it, was ridiculously said, according to the statement of the spaniards themselves, five thousand soldiers before the walls of hulst. it was very logically deduced therefrom that the capture of a few more towns of a thousand inhabitants each would cost him his whole army. people told each other, too, that the conqueror had refused a triumph which the burghers of brussels wished to prepare for him on his entrance into the capital, and that he had administered the very proper rebuke that, if they had more money than they knew what to do with, they should expend it in aid of the wounded and of the families of the fallen, rather than in velvets and satins and triumphal arches. the humanity of the suggestion hardly tallied with the blood-thirstiness of which he was at the same time so unjustly accused--although it might well be doubted whether the commander-in-chief, even if he could witness unflinchingly the destruction of five thousand soldiers on the battle-field, would dare to confront a new demonstration of schoolmaster houwaerts and his fellow-pedants. the fact was, however, that the list of casualties in the cardinal's camp during the six weeks' siege amounted to six hundred, while the losses within the city were at least as many. there was no attempt to relieve the place; for the states, as before observed, had been too much cramped by the strain upon their resources and by the removal of so many veterans for the expedition against cadiz to be able to muster any considerable forces in the field during the whole of this year. for a vast war in which the four leading powers of the earth were engaged, the events, to modern eyes, of the campaign of seem sufficiently meagre. meantime, during all this campaigning by land and sea in the west, there had been great but profitless bloodshed in the east. with difficulty did the holy roman empire withstand the terrible, ever-renewed assaults of the unholy realm of ottoman--then in the full flush of its power--but the two empires still counterbalanced each other, and contended with each'other at the gates of vienna. as the fighting became more languid, however, in the western part of christendom, the negotiations and intrigues grew only the more active. it was most desirable for the republic to effect, if possible, a formal alliance offensive and defensive with france and england against spain. the diplomacy of the netherlands had been very efficient in bringing about the declaration of war by henry against philip, by which the current year had opened, after henry and philip had been doing their best to destroy each other and each other's subjects during the half-dozen previous years. elizabeth, too, although she had seen her shores invaded by philip with the most tremendous armaments that had ever floated on the seas, and although she had herself just been sending fire and sword into the heart of spain, had very recently made the observation that she and philip were not formally at war with each other. it seemed, therefore, desirable to the states-general that this very practical warfare should be, as it were, reduced to a theorem. in this case the position of the republic to both powers and to spain itself might perhaps be more accurately defined. calvaert, the states' envoy--to use his own words--haunted henry like his perpetual shadow, and was ever doing his best to persuade him of the necessity of this alliance. de saucy, as we have seen, had just arrived in england, when the cool proposition of the queen to rescue calais from philip on condition of keeping it for herself had been brought to boulogne by sidney. notwithstanding the indignation of the king, he had been induced directly afterwards to send an additional embassy to elizabeth, with the duke of bouillon at its head; and he had insisted upon calvaert's accompanying the mission. he had, as he frequently observed, no secrets from the states-general, or from calvaert, who had been negotiating upon these affairs for two years past and was so well acquainted with all their bearings. the dutch envoy was reluctant to go, for he was seriously ill and very poor in purse, but henry urged the point so vehemently, that calvaert found himself on board ship within six hours of the making of the proposition. the incident shows of how much account the republican diplomatist was held by so keen a judge of mankind as the bearnese; but it will subsequently appear that the candour of the king towards the states-general and their representative was by no means without certain convenient limitations. de sancy had arrived just as--without his knowledge--sidney had been despatched across the channel with the brief mission already mentioned. when he was presented to the queen, the next day, she excused herself for the propositions by which henry had been so much enraged, by assuring the envoy that it had been her intention only to keep calais out of the enemy's hand, so long as the king's forces were too much occupied at a distance to provide for its safety. as diplomatic conferences were about to begin in which--even more than in that age, at least, was usually the case--the object of the two conferring powers was to deceive each other, and at the same time still more decidedly to defraud other states, sancy accepted the royal explanation, although henry's special messenger, lomenie, had just brought him from the camp at boulogne a minute account of the propositions of sidney. the envoy had, immediately afterwards, an interview with lord burghley, and at once perceived that he was no friend to his master. cecil observed that the queen had formerly been much bound to the king for religion's sake. as this tie no longer existed, there was nothing now to unite them save the proximity of the two states to each other and their ancient alliances, a bond purely of interest which existed only so long as princes found therein a special advantage. de sancy replied that the safety of the two crowns depended upon their close alliance against a very powerful foe who was equally menacing to them both. cecil rejoined that he considered the spaniards deserving of the very highest praise for having been able to plan so important an enterprise, and to have so well deceived the king of france by the promptness and the secrecy of their operations as to allow him to conceive no suspicion as to their designs. to this not very friendly sarcasm the envoy, indignant that france should thus be insulted in her misfortunes, exclaimed that he prayed to god that the affairs of englishmen might never be reduced to such a point as to induce the world to judge by the result merely, as to the sagacity of their counsels. he added that there were many passages through which to enter france, and that it was difficult to be present everywhere, in order to defend them all against the enemy. a few days afterwards the duke of bouillon arrived in london. he had seen lord essex at dover as he passed, and had endeavoured without success to dissuade him from his expedition against the spanish coast. the conferences opened on the th may, at greenwich, between burghley, cobham, the lord chamberlain, and one or two other commissioners on the part of the queen, and bouillon, sancy, du yair, and ancel, as plenipotentiaries of henry. there was the usual indispensable series of feints at the outset, as if it were impossible for statesmen to meet around a green table except as fencers in the field or pugilists in the ring. "we have nothing to do," said burghley, "except to listen to such propositions as may be made on the part of the king, and to repeat them to her highness the queen." "you cannot be ignorant," replied bouillon, "of the purpose for which we have been sent hither by his very christian majesty. you know very well that it is to conclude a league with england. 'tis necessary, therefore, for the english to begin by declaring whether they are disposed to enter into such an alliance. this point once settled, the french can make their propositions, but it would be idle to dispute about the conditions of a treaty, if there is after all no treaty to be made." to this cecil rejoined, that, if the king were reduced to the necessity of asking succour from the queen, and of begging for her alliance, it was necessary for them, on the other hand, to see what he was ready to do for the queen in return, and to learn what advantage she could expect from the league. the duke said that the english statesmen were perfectly aware of the french intention of proposing a league against the common enemy of both nations, and that it would be unquestionably for the advantage of both to unite their forces for a vigorous attack upon spain, in which case it would be more difficult for the spanish to resist them than if each were acting separately. it was no secret that the spaniards would rather attack england than france, because their war against england, being coloured by a religious motive, would be much less odious, and would even have a specious pretext. moreover the conquest of england would give them an excellent vantage ground to recover what they had lost in the netherlands. if, on the contrary, the enemy should throw himself with his whole force upon france, the king, who would perhaps lose many places at once, and might hardly be able to maintain himself single-handed against domestic treason and a concentrated effort on the part of spain, would probably find it necessary to make a peace with that power. nothing could be more desirable for spain than such a result, for she would then be free to attack england and holland, undisturbed by any fear of france. this was a piece of advice, the duke said, which the king offered, in the most friendly spirit, and as a proof of his affection, to her majesty's earnest consideration. burghley replied that all this seemed to him no reason for making a league. "what more can the queen do," he observed, "than she is already doing? she has invaded spain by land and sea, she has sent troops to spain, france, and the netherlands; she has lent the king fifteen hundred thousand crowns in gold. in short, the envoys ought rather to be studying how to repay her majesty for her former benefits than to be soliciting fresh assistance." he added that the king was so much stronger by the recent gain of marseilles as to be easily able to bear the loss of places of far less importance, while ireland, on the contrary, was a constant danger to the queen. the country was already in a blaze, on account of the recent landing effected there by the spaniards, and it was a very ancient proverb among the english, that to attack england it was necessary to take the road of ireland. bouillon replied that in this war there was much difference between the position of france and that of england. the queen, notwithstanding hostilities, obtained her annual revenue as usual, while the king was cut off from his resources and obliged to ruin his kingdom in order to wage war. sancy added, that it must be obvious to the english ministers that the peril of holland was likewise the peril of england and of france, but that at the same time they could plainly see that the king, if not succoured, would be forced to a peace with spain. all his counsellors were urging him to this, and it was the interest of all his neighbours to prevent such a step. moreover, the proposed league could not but be advantageous to the english; whether by restraining the spaniards from entering england, or by facilitating a combined attack upon the common enemy. the queen might invade any portion of the flemish coast at her pleasure, while the king's fleet could sail with troops from his ports to prevent any attack upon her realms. at this burghley turned to his colleagues and said, in english, "the french are acting according to the proverb; they wish to sell us the bear-skin before they have killed the bear." sancy, who understood english, rejoined, "we have no bear-skin to sell, but we are giving you a very good and salutary piece of advice. it is for you to profit by it as you may." "where are these ships of war, of which you were speaking?" asked burghley. "they are at rochelle, at bordeaux, and at st. malo," replied de sancy. "and these ports are not in the king's possession," said the lord treasurer. the discussion was growing warm. the duke of bouillon, in order to, put an end to it, said that what england had most to fear was a descent by spain upon her coasts, and that the true way to prevent this was to give occupation to philip's army in flanders. the soldiers in the fleet then preparing were raw levies with which he would not venture to assail her kingdom. the veterans in flanders were the men on whom he relied for that purpose. moreover the queen, who had great influence with the states-general, would procure from them a prohibition of all commerce between the provinces and spain; all the netherlands would be lost to philip, his armies would disperse of their own accord; the princes of italy, to whom the power of spain was a perpetual menace, would secretly supply funds to the allied powers, and the germans, declared enemies of philip, would furnish troops. burghley asserted confidently that this could never be obtained from the hollanders, who lived by commerce alone. upon which saucy, wearied with all these difficulties, interrupted the lord treasurer by exclaiming, "if the king is to expect neither an alliance nor any succour on your part, he will be very much obliged to the queen if she will be good enough to inform him of the decision taken by her, in order that he may, upon his side, take the steps most suitable to the present position of his affairs." the session then terminated. two days afterwards, in another conference, burghley offered three thousand men on the part of the queen, on condition that they should be raised at the king's expense, and that they should not leave england until they had received a month's pay in advance. the duke of bouillon said this was far from being what had been expected of the generosity of her majesty, that if the king had money he would find no difficulty in raising troops in switzerland and germany, and that there was a very great difference between hired princes and allies. the english ministers having answered that this was all the queen could do, the duke and saucy rose in much excitement, saying that they had then no further business than to ask for an audience of leave, and to return to france as fast as possible. before they bade farewell to the queen, however, the envoys sent a memoir to her majesty, in which they set forth that the first proposition as to a league had been made by sir henry umton, and that now, when the king had sent commissioners to treat concerning an alliance, already recommended by the queen's ambassador in france, they had been received in such a way as to indicate a desire to mock them rather than to treat with them. they could not believe, they said, that it was her majesty's desire to use such language as had been addressed to them, and they therefore implored her plainly to declare her intentions, in order that they might waste no more time unnecessarily, especially as the high offices with which their sovereign had honoured them did not allow them to remain for a long time absent from france. the effect of this memoir upon the queen was, that fresh conferences were suggested, which took place at intervals between the th and the th of may. they were characterized by the same mutual complaints of overreachings and of shortcomings by which all the previous discussions had been distinguished. on the th may the french envoys even insisted on taking formal farewell of the queen, and were received by her majesty for that purpose at a final audience. after they had left the presence--the preparations for their homeward journey being already made--the queen sent sir robert cecil, henry brooke, son of lord cobham, and la fontaine, minister of a french church in england, to say to them how very much mortified she was that the state of her affairs did not permit her to give the king as much assistance as he desired, and to express her wish to speak to them once more before their departure. the result of the audience given accordingly to the envoys, two days later, was the communication of her decision to enter into the league proposed, but without definitely concluding the treaty until it should be ratified by the king. on the th may articles were finally agreed upon, by which the king and queen agreed to defend each other's dominions, to unite in attacking the common enemy, and to invite other princes and states equally interested with themselves in resisting the ambitious projects of spain, to join in the league. it was arranged that an army should be put in the field as soon as possible, at the expense of the king and queen, and of such other powers as should associate themselves in the proposed alliance; that this army should invade the dominions of the spanish monarch, that the king and queen were never, without each other's consent, to make peace or truce with philip; that the queen should immediately raise four thousand infantry to serve six months of every year in picardy and normandy, with the condition that they were never to be sent to a distance of more than fifty leagues from boulogna; that when the troubles of ireland should be over the queen should be at liberty to add new troops to the four thousand men thus promised by her to the league; that the queen was to furnish to these four thousand men six months' pay in advance before they should leave england, and that the king should agree to repay the amount six months afterwards, sending meanwhile four nobles to england as hostages. if the dominions of the queen should be attacked it was stipulated that, at two months' notice, the king should raise four thousand men at the expense of the queen and send them to her assistance, and that they were to serve for six months at her charge, but were not to be sent to a distance of more than fifty leagues from the coasts of france. the english were not willing that the states-general should be comprehended among the powers to be invited to join the league, because being under the protection of the queen of england they were supposed to have no will but hers. burghley insisted accordingly that, in speaking of those who were thus to be asked, no mention was to be made of peoples nor of states, for fear lest the states-general might be included under those terms. the queen was, however, brought at last to yield the point, and consented, in order to satisfy the french envoys, that to the word princes should be added the general expression orders or estates. the obstacle thus interposed to the formation of the league by the hatred of the queen and of the privileged classes of england to popular liberty, and by the secret desire entertained of regaining that sovereignty over the provinces which had been refused ten years before by elizabeth, was at length set aside. the republic, which might have been stifled at its birth, was now a formidable fact, and could neither be annexed to the english dominions nor deprived of its existence as a new member of the european family. it being no longer possible to gainsay the presence of the young commonwealth among the nations, the next best thing--so it was thought--was to defraud her in the treaty to which she was now invited to accede. this, as it will presently appear, the king of france and the queen of england succeeded in doing very thoroughly, and they accomplished it notwithstanding the astuteness and the diligence of the states' envoy, who at henry's urgent request had accompanied the french mission to england. calvaert had been very active in bringing about the arrangement, to assist in which he had, as we have seen, risen from a sick bed and made the journey to england: "the proposition for an offensive and defensive alliance was agreed to by her majesty's council, but under intolerable and impracticable conditions," said he, "and, as such, rejected by the duke and sancy, so that they took leave of her majesty. at last, after some negotiation in which, without boasting, i may say that i did some service, it was again taken in hand, and at last, thank god, although with much difficulty, the league has been concluded." when the task was finished the french envoys departed to obtain their master's ratification of the treaty. elizabeth expressed herself warmly in regard to her royal brother, inviting him earnestly to pay her a visit, in which case she said she would gladly meet him half way; for a sight of him would be her only consolation in the midst of her adversity and annoyance. "he may see other princesses of a more lovely appearance," she added, "but he will never make a visit to a more faithful friend." but the treaty thus concluded was for the public. the real agreement between france and england was made by a few days later, and reduced the ostensible arrangement to a sham, a mere decoy to foreign nations, especially to the dutch republic, to induce them to imitate england in joining the league, and to emulate her likewise in affording that substantial assistance to the league which in reality england was very far from giving. "two contracts were made," said secretary of state villeroy; "the one public, to give credit and reputation to the said league, the other secret, which destroyed the effects and the promises of the first. by the first his majesty was to be succoured by four thousand infantry, which number was limited by the second contract to two thousand, who were to reside and to serve only in the cities of boulogne and montreuil, assisted by an equal number of french, and not otherwise, and on condition of not being removed from those towns unless his majesty should be personally present in picardy with an army, in which case they might serve in picardy, but nowhere else." an english garrison in a couple of french seaports, over against the english coast, would hardly have seemed a sufficient inducement to other princes and states to put large armies in the field to sustain the protestant league, had they known that this was the meagre result of the protocolling and disputations that had been going on all the summer at greenwich. nevertheless the decoy did its work, the envoys returned to france, and it was not until three months later that the duke of bouillon again made his appearance in england, bringing the treaty duly ratified by henry. the league was then solemnized, on, the th august, by the queen with much pomp and ceremony. three peers of the realm waited upon the french ambassador at his lodgings, and escorted him and his suite in seventeen royal coaches to the tower. seven splendid barges then conveyed them along the thames to greenwich. on the pier the ambassador was received by the earl of derby at the head of a great suite of nobles and high functionaries, and conducted to the palace of nonesuch. there was a religious ceremony in the royal chapel, where a special pavilion had been constructed. standing, within this sanctuary, the queen; with her hand on her breast, swore faithfully to maintain the league just concluded. she then gave her hand to the duke of bouillon, who held it in both his own, while psalms were sung and the organ resounded through the chapel. afterwards there was a splendid banquet in the palace, the duke sitting in solitary grandeur at the royal table, being placed at a respectful distance from her majesty, and the dishes being placed on the board by the highest nobles of the realm, who, upon their knees, served the queen with wine. no one save the ambassador sat at elizabeth's table, but in the same hall was spread another, at which the earl of essex entertained many distinguished guests, young count lewis gunther of nassau among the number. in the midsummer twilight the brilliantly decorated barges were again floating on the historic river, the gaily-coloured lanterns lighting the sweep of the oars, and the sound of lute and viol floating merrily across the water. as the ambassador came into the courtyard of his house, he found a crowd of several thousand people assembled, who shouted welcome to the representative of henry, and invoked blessings on the head of queen elizabeth and of her royal brother of france. meanwhile all the bells of london were ringing, artillery was thundering, and bonfires were blazing, until the night was half spent. such was the holiday-making by which the league between the great protestant queen and the ex-chief of the huguenots of france was celebrated within a year after the pope had received him, a repentant sinner, into the fold of the church. truly it might be said that religion was rapidly ceasing to be the line of demarcation among the nations, as had been the case for the two last generations of mankind. the duke of bouillon soon afterwards departed for the netherlands, where the regular envoy to the commonwealth, paul chouart seigneur de buzanval, had already been preparing the states-general for their entrance into the league. of course it was duly impressed upon those republicans that they should think themselves highly honoured by the privilege of associating themselves with so august an alliance. the queen wrote an earnest letter to the states, urging them to join the league. "especially should you do so," she said, "on account of the reputation which you will thereby gain for your affairs with the people who are under you, seeing you thus sustained (besides the certainty which you have of our favour) by the friendship of other confederated princes, and particularly by that of the most christian king." on the st october the articles of agreement under which the republic acceded to the new confederation were signed at the hague. of course it was not the exact counterpart of the famous catholic association. madam league, after struggling feebly for the past few years, a decrepit beldame, was at last dead and buried. but there had been a time when she was filled with exuberant and terrible life. she, at least, had known the object of her creation, and never, so long as life was in her, had she faltered in her dread purpose. to extirpate protestantism, to murder protestants, to burn, hang, butcher, bury them alive, to dethrone every protestant sovereign in europe, especially to assassinate the queen of england, the prince of orange, with all his race, and henry of navarre, and to unite in the accomplishment of these simple purposes all the powers of christendom under the universal monarchy of philip of spain--for all this, blood was shed in torrents, and the precious metals of the "indies" squandered as fast as the poor savages, who were thus taking their first lessons in the doctrines of jesus of nazareth, could dig it from the mines. for this america had been summoned, as it were by almighty fiat, out of previous darkness, in order that it might furnish money with which to massacre all the heretics of the earth. for this great purpose was the sublime discovery of the genoese sailor to be turned to account. these aims were intelligible, and had in part been attained. william of orange had fallen, and a patent of nobility, with a handsome fortune, had been bestowed upon his assassin. elizabeth's life had been frequently attempted. so had those of henry, of maurice, of olden-barneveld. divine providence might perhaps guide the hand of future murderers with greater accuracy, for even if madam league were dead, her ghost still walked among the jesuits and summoned them to complete the crimes left yet unfinished. but what was the design of the new confederacy? it was not a protestant league. henry of navarre could no longer be the chief of such an association, although it was to protestant powers only that he could turn for assistance. it was to the commonwealth of the netherlands, to the northern potentates and to the calvinist and lutheran princes of germany, that the king and queen could alone appeal in their designs against philip of spain. the position of henry was essentially a false one from the beginning. he felt it to be so, and the ink was scarce dry with which he signed the new treaty before he was secretly casting about him to, make peace with that power with which he was apparently summoning all the nations of the earth to do battle. even the cautious elizabeth was deceived by the crafty bearnese, while both united to hoodwink the other states and princes. on the st october, accordingly, the states-general agreed to go into the league with england and france; "in order to resist the enterprises and ambitious designs of the king of spain against all the princes and potentates of christendom." as the queen had engaged--according to the public treaty or decoy--to furnish four thousand infantry to the league, the states now agreed to raise and pay for another four thousand to be maintained in the king's service at a cost of four hundred and fifty thousand florins annually, to be paid by the month. the king promised, in case the netherlands should be invaded by the enemy with the greater part of his force, that these four thousand soldiers should return to the netherlands. the king further bound himself to carry on a sharp offensive war in artois and hainault. the states-general would have liked a condition inserted in the treaty that no peace should be made with spain by england or france without the consent of the provinces; but this was peremptorily refused. perhaps the republic had no special reason to be grateful for the grudging and almost contemptuous manner in which it had thus been virtually admitted into the community of sovereigns; but the men who directed its affairs were far too enlightened not to see how great a step was taken when their political position, now conceded to them, had been secured. in good faith they intended to carry out the provisions of the new treaty, and they immediately turned their attention to the vital matters of making new levies and of imposing new taxes, by means of which they might render themselves useful to their new allies. meantime ancel was deputed by henry to visit the various courts of germany and the north in order to obtain, if possible, new members for the league? but germany was difficult to rouse. the dissensions among protestants were ever inviting the assaults of the papists. its multitude of sovereigns were passing their leisure moments in wrangling among themselves as usual on abstruse points of theology, and devoting their serious hours to banquetting, deep drinking, and the pleasures of the chase. the jeremiads of old john of nassau grew louder than ever, but his voice was of one crying in the wilderness. the wrath to come of that horrible thirty years' war, which he was not to witness seemed to inspire all his prophetic diatribes. but there were few to heed them. two great dangers seemed ever impending over christendom, and it is difficult to decide which fate would have been the more terrible, the establishment of the universal monarchy of philip ii., or the conquest of germany by the grand turk. but when ancel and other emissaries sought to obtain succour against the danger from the south-west, he was answered by the clash of arms and the shrieks of horror which came daily from the south-east. in vain was it urged, and urged with truth, that the alcoran was less cruel than the inquisition, that the soil of europe might be overrun by turks and tartars, and the crescent planted triumphantly in every village, with less disaster to the human race, and with better hope that the germs of civilization and the precepts of christianity might survive the invasion, than if the system of philip, of torquemada, and of alva, should become the universal law. but the turk was a frank enemy of christianity, while philip murdered christians in the name of christ. the distinction imposed upon the multitudes, with whom words were things. moreover, the danger from the young and enterprising mahomet seemed more appalling to the imagination than the menace, from which experience had taken something of its terrors, of the old and decrepit philip. the ottoman empire, in its exact discipline, in its terrible concentration of purpose, in its contempt for all arts and sciences, and all human occupation save the trade of war and the pursuit of military dominion, offered a strong contrast to the distracted condition of the holy roman empire, where an intellectual and industrious people, distracted by half a century of religious controversy and groaning under one of the most elaborately perverse of all the political systems ever invented by man, seemed to offer itself an easy prey to any conqueror. the turkish power was in the fulness of its aggressive strength, and seemed far more formidable than it would have done had there been clearer perceptions of what constitutes the strength and the wealth of nations. could the simple truth have been thoroughly, comprehended that a realm founded upon such principles was the grossest of absurdities, the eastern might have seemed less terrible than the western danger. but a great campaign, at no considerable distance from the walls of vienna, had occupied the attention of germany during the autumn. mahomet had taken the field in person with a hundred thousand men, and the emperor's brother, maximilian, in conjunction with the prince of transylvania, at the head of a force of equal magnitude, had gone forth to give him battle. between the theiss and the danube, at keveste, not far from the city of erlau, on the th october, the terrible encounter on which the fate of christendom seemed to hang at last took place, and europe held its breath in awful suspense until its fate should be decided. when the result at last became known, a horrible blending of the comic and the tragic, such as has rarely been presented in history, startled the world. seventy thousand human beings--moslems and christians--were lying dead or wounded on the banks of a nameless little stream which flows into the theisa, and the commanders-in-chief of both armies were running away as fast as horses could carry them. each army believed itself hopelessly defeated, and abandoning tents, baggage, artillery, ammunition, the remnants of each, betook themselves to panic-stricken flight. generalissimo maximilian never looked behind him as he fled, until he had taken refuge in kaschan, and had thence made his way, deeply mortified and despondent, to vienna. the prince of transylvania retreated into the depths of his own principality. mahomet, with his principal officers, shut himself up in buda, after which he returned to constantinople and abandoned himself for a time to a voluptuous ease, inconsistent with the ottoman projects of conquering the world. the turks, less prone to desperation than the christians, had been utterly overthrown in the early part of the action, but when the victors were, as usual, greedily bent upon plunder before the victory had been fairly secured, the tide of battle was turned by the famous italian renegade cicala. the turks, too, had the good sense to send two days afterwards and recover their artillery, trains, and other property, which ever since the battle had been left at the mercy of the first comers. so ended the turkish campaign of the year . ancel, accordingly, fared ill in his negotiations with germany. on the other hand mendoza, admiral of arragon, had been industriously but secretly canvassing the same regions as the representative of the spanish king. it was important for philip, who put more faith in the league of the three powers than henry himself did, to lose no time in counteracting its influence. the condition of the holy roman empire had for some time occupied his most serious thoughts. it seemed plain that rudolph would never marry. certainly he would never marry the infanta, although he was very angry that his brother should aspire to the hand which he himself rejected. in case of his death without children, philip thought it possible that there might be a protestant revolution in germany, and that the house of habsburg might lose the imperial crown altogether. it was even said that the emperor himself was of that opinion, and preferred that the empire should "end with his own life." philip considered that neither matthias nor maximilian was fit to succeed their brother, being both of them "lukewarm in the catholic faith." in other words, he chose that his destined son-in-law, the cardinal albert, should supersede them, and he was anxious to have him appointed as soon as possible king of the romans. "his holiness the pope and the king of spain," said the admiral of arragon, "think it necessary to apply most stringent measures to the emperor to compel him to appoint a successor, because, in case of his death without one, the administration during the vacancy would fall to the elector palatine,--a most perverse calvinistic heretic, and as great an enemy of the house of austria and of our holy religion as the turk himself--as sufficiently appears in those diabolical laws of his published in the palatinate a few months since. a vacancy is so dreadful, that in the north of germany the world would come to an end; yet the emperor, being of rather a timid nature than otherwise, is inclined to quiet, and shrinks from the discussions and conflicts likely to be caused by an appointment. therefore his holiness and his catholic majesty, not choosing that we should all live in danger of the world's falling in ruins, have resolved to provide the remedy. they are to permit the electors to use the faculty which they possess of suspending the emperor and depriving him of his power; there being examples of this in other times against emperors who governed ill." the admiral farther alluded to the great effort made two years before to elect the king of denmark emperor, reminding philip that in hamburg they had erected triumphal arches, and made other preparations to receive him. this year, he observed, the protestants were renewing their schemes. on the occasion of the baptism of the child of the elector palatine, the english envoy being present, and queen elizabeth being god-mother, they had agreed upon nine articles of faith much more hostile to the catholic creed than anything ever yet professed. in case of the death of the emperor, this elector palatine would of course make much trouble, and the emperor should therefore be induced, by fair means if possible, on account of the great inconvenience of forcing him, but not without a hint of compulsion, to acquiesce in the necessary measures. philip was represented as willing to assist the empire with considerable force against the turk--as there could be no doubt that hungary was in great danger--but in recompense it was necessary to elect a king of the romans in all respects satisfactory to him. there were three objections to the election of albert, whose recent victories and great abilities entitled him in philip's opinion to the crown. firstly, there was a doubt whether the kingdoms of hungary and bohemia were elective or hereditary, and it was very important that the king of the romans should succeed to those two crowns, because the electors and other princes having fiefs within those kingdoms would be unwilling to swear fealty to two suzerains, and as albert was younger than his brothers he could scarcely expect to take by inheritance. secondly, albert had no property of his own, but the admiral suggested that the emperor might be made to abandon to him the income of the tyrol. thirdly, it was undesirable for albert to leave the netherlands at that juncture. nevertheless, it was suggested by the easy-going admiral, with the same tranquil insolence which marked all his proposed arrangements, that as rudolph would retire from the government altogether, albert, as king of the romans and acting emperor, could very well take care of the netherlands as part of his whole realm. albert being moreover about to marry the infanta, the handsome dowry which he would receive with her from the king would enable him to sustain his dignity. thus did philip who had been so industrious during the many past years in his endeavours to expel the heretic queen of england and the huguenot henry from the realms of their ancestors, and to seat himself or his daughter, or one or another of his nephews, in their places, now busy himself with schemes to discrown rudolph of habsburg, and to place the ubiquitous infanta and her future husband on his throne. time would show the result. meantime, while the protestant ancel and other agents of the new league against philip were travelling about from one court of europe to another to gain adherents to their cause, the great founder of the confederacy was already secretly intriguing for a peace with that monarch. the ink was scarce dry on the treaty to which he had affixed his signature before he was closeted with the agents of the archduke albert, and receiving affectionate messages and splendid presents from that military ecclesiastic. in november, , la balvena, formerly a gentleman of the count de la fera, came to rouen. he had a very secret interview with henry iv. at three o'clock one morning, and soon afterwards at a very late hour in the night. the king asked him why the archduke was not willing to make a general peace, including england and holland. balvena replied that he had no authority to treat on that subject; it being well known, however, that the king of spain would never consent to a peace with the rebels, except on the ground of the exclusive maintenance of the catholic religion. he is taking the very course to destroy that religion, said henry. the king then avowed himself in favour of peace for the sake of the poor afflicted people of all countries. he was not tired of arms, he said, which were so familiar to him, but his wish was to join in a general crusade against the turk. this would be better for the catholic religion than the present occupations of all parties. he avowed that the queen of england was his very good friend, and said he had never yet broken his faith with her, and never would do so. she had sent him the garter, and he had accepted it, as his brother henry iii. had done before him, and he would negotiate no peace which did not include her. the not very distant future was to show how much these stout professions of sincerity were worth. meantime henry charged balvena to keep their interviews a profound secret, especially from every one in france. the king expressed great anxiety lest the huguenots should hear of it, and the agent observed that any suspicion of peace negotiations would make great disturbance among the heretics, as one of the conditions of the king's absolution by the pope was supposed to be that he should make war upon his protestant subjects. on his return from rouen the emissary made a visit to monlevet, marshal of the camp to henry iv. and a calvinist. there was much conversation about peace, in the course of which monlevet observed, "we are much afraid of you in negotiation, for we know that you spaniards far surpass us in astuteness." "nay," said balvena, "i will only repeat the words of the emperor charles v.--'the spaniards seem wise, and are madmen; the french seem madmen, and are wise.'" a few weeks later the archduke sent balvena again to rouen. he had another interview with the king, at which not only villeroy and other catholics were present, but monlevet also. this proved a great obstacle to freedom of conversation. the result was the same as before. there were strong professions of a desire on the part of the king for a peace but it was for a general peace; nothing further. on the th december balvena was sent for by the king before daylight, just as he was mounting his horse for the chase. "tell his highness," said henry, "that i am all frankness, and incapable of dissimulation, and that i believe him too much a man of honour to wish to deceive me. go tell him that i am most anxious for peace, and that i deeply regret the defeat that has been sustained against the turk. had i been there i would have come out dead or victorious. let him arrange an agreement between us, so that presto he may see me there with my brave nobles, with infantry and with plenty of switzers. tell him that i am his friend: begone. be diligent." on the last day but two of the year, the archduke, having heard this faithful report of henry's affectionate sentiments, sent him a suit of splendid armour, such as was then made better in antwerp than anywhere else, magnificently burnished of a blue colour, according to an entirely new fashion. with such secret courtesies between his most catholic majesty's vicegerent and himself was henry's league with the two protestant powers accompanied. exactly at the same epoch philip was again preparing an invasion of the queen's dominions. an armada of a hundred and twenty-eight ships, with a force of fourteen thousand infantry and three thousand horse, had been assembled during the autumn of this year at lisbon, notwithstanding the almost crushing blow that the english and hollanders had dealt the king's navy so recently at cadiz. this new expedition was intended for ireland, where it was supposed that the catholics would be easily roused. it was also hoped that the king of scots might be induced to embrace this opportunity of wreaking vengeance on his mother's destroyer. "he was on the watch the last time that my armada went forth against the english," said philip, "and he has now no reason to do the contrary, especially if he remembers that here is a chance to requite the cruelty which was practised on his mother." the fleet sailed on the th october under the command of the count santa gadea. its immediate destination was the coast of ireland, where they were to find some favourable point for disembarking the troops. having accomplished this, the ships, with the exception of a few light vessels, were to take their departure and pass the winter in ferrol. in case the fleet should be forced by stress of weather on the english coast, the port of milford haven in wales was to be seized, "because," said philip, "there are a great many catholics there well affected to our cause, and who have a special enmity to the english." in case the english fleet should come forth to give battle, philip sent directions that it was to be conquered at once, and that after the victory milford haven was to be firmly held. this was easily said. but it was not fated that this expedition should be more triumphant than that of the unconquerable armada which had been so signally conquered eight years before. scarcely had the fleet put to sea when it was overtaken by a tremendous storm, in which forty ships foundered with five thousand men. the shattered remnants took refuge in ferrol. there the ships were to refit, and in the spring the attempt was to be renewed. thus it was ever with the king of spain. there was a placid unconsciousness on his part of defeat which sycophants thought sublime. and such insensibility might have been sublimity had the monarch been in person on the deck of a frigate in the howling tempest, seeing ship after ship go down before his eyes; and exerting himself with tranquil energy and skill to encourage his followers, and to preserve what remained afloat from destruction. certainly such exhibitions of human superiority to the elements are in the highest degree inspiring. his father had shown himself on more than one occasion the master of his fate. the king of france, too, bare-headed, in his iron corslet, leading a forlorn hope, and, by the personal charm of his valour, changing fugitives into heroes and defeat into victory, had afforded many examples of sublime unconsciousness of disaster, such as must ever thrill the souls of mankind. but it is more difficult to be calm in battle and shipwreck than at the writing desk; nor is that the highest degree of fortitude which enables a monarch--himself in safety--to endure without flinching the destruction of his fellow creatures. no sooner, however, was the remnant of the tempest-tost fleet safe in ferrol than the king requested the cardinal to collect an army at calais and forthwith to invade england. he asked his nephew whether he could not manage to send his troops across the channel in vessels of light draught, such as he already had at command, together with some others which might be furnished him from spain. in this way he was directed to gain a foot-hold in england, and he was to state immediately whether he could accomplish this with his own resources or should require the assistance of the fleet at ferrol. the king further suggested that the enemy, encouraged by his success at cadiz the previous summer, might be preparing a fresh expedition against spain, in which case the invasion of england would be easier to accomplish. thus on the last day of , philip, whose fleet sent forth for the conquest of ireland and england had been too crippled to prosecute the adventure, was proposing to his nephew to conquer england without any fleet at all. he had given the same advice to alexander farnese so soon as he heard of the destruction of the invincible armada. etext editor's bookmarks: allow her to seek a profit from his misfortune burning of servetus at geneva constant vigilance is the price of liberty evil has the advantage of rapidly assuming many shapes french seem madmen, and are wise hanging of mary dyer at boston imposed upon the multitudes, with whom words were things impossible it was to invent terms of adulation too gross in times of civil war, to be neutral is to be nothing meet around a green table except as fencers in the field one-third of philip's effective navy was thus destroyed patriotism seemed an unimaginable idea placid unconsciousness on his part of defeat plea of infallibility and of authority soon becomes ridiculous religion was rapidly ceasing to be the line of demarcation so often degenerated into tyranny (calvinism) spaniards seem wise, and are madmen the alcoran was less cruel than the inquisition there are few inventions in morals to attack england it was necessary to take the road of ireland tranquil insolence unproductive consumption was alarmingly increasing upon their knees, served the queen with wine wish to sell us the bear-skin before they have killed the bear history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , - chapter xxxiii. straggle of the netherlands against spain--march to turnhout-- retreat of the spanish commander--pursuit and attack--demolition of the spanish army--surrender of the garrison of turnhout--improved military science--moral effect of the battle--the campaign in france--attack on amiens by the spaniards--sack and burning of the city--de rosny's plan for reorganization of the finances--jobbery and speculation--philip's repudiation of his debts--effects of the measure--renewal of persecution by the jesuits--contention between turk and christian--envoy from the king of poland to the hague to plead for reconciliation with philip--his subsequent presentation to queen elizabeth--military events recovery of amiens--feeble operations of the confederate powers against spain--marriage of the princess emilia, sister of maurice--reduction of the castle and town of alphen--surrender of rheinberg--capitulation of meurs--surrender of grol--storming and taking of brevoort capitulation of enschede, ootmaxsum, oldenzaal, and lingen--rebellion of the spanish garrisons in antwerp and ghent--progress of the peace movement between henry and philip--relations of the three confederate powers--henry's scheme for reconciliation with spain--his acceptance of philip's offer of peace announced to elizabeth--endeavours for a general peace. the old year had closed with an abortive attempt of philip to fulfil his favourite dream--the conquest of england. the new year opened with a spirited effort of prince maurice to measure himself in the open field with the veteran legions of spain. turnhout, in brabant, was an open village--the largest in all the netherlands lying about twenty-five english miles in almost a direct line south from gertruydenburg. it was nearly as far distant in an easterly direction from antwerp, and was about five miles nearer breda than it was to gertruydenberg. at this place the cardinal-archduke had gathered a considerable force, numbering at least four thousand of his best infantry, with several squadrons of cavalry, the whole under-command of the general-in-chief of artillery, count varax. people in the neighbourhood were growing uneasy, for it was uncertain in what direction it might be intended to use this formidable force. it was perhaps the cardinal's intention to make a sudden assault upon breda, the governor of which seemed not inclined to carry out his proposition to transfer that important city to the king, or it was thought that he might take advantage of a hard frost and cross the frozen morasses and estuaries into the land of ter tholen, where he might overmaster some of the important strongholds of zeeland. marcellus bax, that boldest and most brilliant of holland's cavalry officers, had come to maurice early in january with an urgent suggestion that no time might be lost in making an attack upon the force of turnhout, before they should succeed in doing any mischief. the prince pondered the proposition, for a little time, by himself, and then conferred very privately upon the subject with the state-council. on the th january it was agreed with that body that the enterprise should be attempted, but with the utmost secrecy. a week later the council sent an express messenger to maurice urging him not to expose his own life to peril, but to apprise them as soon as possible as to the results of the adventure. meantime, patents had been sent to the various garrisons for fifty companies of foot and sixteen squadrons of horse. on the nd january maurice came to gertruydenberg, the place of rendezvous, attended by sir francis vere and count solms. colonel kloetingen was already there with the transports of ammunition and a few pieces of artillery from zeeland, and in the course of the day the whole infantry force had assembled. nothing could have been managed with greater promptness or secrecy. next day, before dawn, the march began. the battalia was led by van der noot, with six companies of hollanders. then came vere, with eight companies of the reserve, dockray with eight companies of englishmen, murray with eight companies of scotch, and kloetingen and la corde with twelve companies of dutch and zeelanders. in front of the last troop under la corde marched the commander of the artillery, with two demi-cannon and two field-pieces, followed by the ammunition and, baggage trains. hohenlo arrived just as the march was beginning, to whom the stadholder, notwithstanding their frequent differences, communicated his plans, and entrusted the general command of the cavalry. that force met the expedition at osterhout, a league's distance from gertruydenberg, and consisted of the best mounted companies, english and dutch, from the garrisons of breda, bergen, nymegen, and the zutphen districts. it was a dismal, drizzly, foggy morning; the weather changing to steady rain as the expedition advanced. there had been alternate frost and thaw for the few previous weeks, and had that condition of the atmosphere continued the adventure could not have been attempted. it had now turned completely to thaw. the roads were all under water, and the march was sufficiently difficult. nevertheless, it was possible; so the stout hollanders, zeelanders, and englishmen struggled on manfully, shoulder to shoulder, through the mist and the mire. by nightfall the expedition had reached ravels, at less than a league's distance from turnhout, having accomplished, under the circumstances, a very remarkable march of over twenty miles. a stream of water, the neethe, one of the tributaries of the scheld, separated ravels from turnhout, and was crossed by a stone bridge. it was an anxious moment. maurice discovered by his scouts that he was almost within cannon-shot of several of the most famous regiments in the spanish army lying fresh, securely posted, and capable of making an attack at any moment. he instantly threw forward marcellus bax with four squadrons of bergen cavalry, who, jaded as they were by their day's work, were to watch the bridge that night, and to hold it against all comers and at every hazard. the spanish commander, on his part, had reconnoitred the advancing, foe, for it was impossible for the movement to have been so secret or so swift over those inundated roads as to be shrouded to the last moment in complete mystery. it was naturally to be expected therefore that those splendid legions--the famous neapolitan tercio of trevico, the veteran troops of sultz and hachicourt, the picked epirote and spanish cavalry of nicolas basta and guzman--would be hurled upon the wearied, benumbed, bemired soldiers of the republic, as they came slowly along after their long march through the cold winter's rain. varax took no such heroic resolution. had he done so that january afternoon, the career of maurice of nassau might have been brought to a sudden close, despite the affectionate warning of the state-council. certainly it was difficult for any commander to be placed in a more perilous position than that in which the stadholder found himself. he remained awake and afoot the whole night, perfecting his arrangements for the morning, and watching every indication of a possible advance on the part of the enemy. marcellus bax and his troopers remained at the bridge till morning, and were so near the spaniards that they heard the voices of their pickets, and could even distinguish in the distance the various movements in their camp. but no attack was made, and the little army of maurice was allowed to sleep off its fatigue. with the dawn of the th january, a reconnoitring party, sent out from the republican camp, discovered that varax, having no stomach for an encounter, had given his enemies the slip. long before daylight his baggage and ammunition trains had been sent off in a southerly direction, and his whole force had already left the village of turnhout. it was the intention of the commander to take refuge in the fortified city of herenthals, and there await the attack of maurice. accordingly, when the stadholder arrived on the fields beyond the immediate precincts of the village, he saw the last of the enemy's rearguard just disappearing from view. the situation was a very peculiar one. the rain and thaw, following upon frosty weather, had converted the fenny country in many directions into a shallow lake. the little river which flowed by the village had risen above its almost level banks, and could with difficulty be traversed at any point, while there was no permanent bridge, such as there was at ravels. the retreating spaniards had made their way through a narrow passage, where a roughly-constructed causeway of planks had enabled the infantry to cross the waters almost in single file, while the cavalry had floundered through as best they might. those who were acquainted with the country reported that beyond this defile there was an upland heath, a league in extent, full of furze and thickets, where it would be easy enough for varax to draw up his army in battle array, and conceal it from view. maurice's scouts, too, brought information that the spanish commander had left a force of musketeers to guard the passage at the farther end. this looked very like an ambush. in the opinion of hohenlo, of solms, and of sidney, an advance was not to be thought of; and if the adventure seemed perilous to such hardy and experienced campaigners as these three, the stadholder might well hesitate. nevertheless, maurice had made up his mind. sir francis vere and marcellus bax confirmed him in his determination, and spoke fiercely of the disgrace which would come upon the arms of the republic if now, after having made a day's march to meet the enemy, they should turn their backs upon him just as he was doing his best to escape. on leave obtained from the prince, these two champions, the englishman and the hollander, spurred their horses through the narrow pass, with the waters up to the saddle-bow, at the head of a mere handful of troopers, not more than a dozen men in all. two hundred musketeers followed, picking their way across the planks. as they emerged into the open country beyond, the spanish soldiers guarding the passage fled without firing a shot. such was already the discouraging effect produced upon veterans by the unexpected order given that morning to retreat. vere and bax sent word for all the cavalry to advance at once, and meantime hovered about the rearguard of the retreating enemy, ready to charge upon him so soon as they should be strong enough. maurice lost no time in plunging with his whole mounted force through the watery defile; directing the infantry to follow as fast as practicable. when the commander-in-chief with his eight hundred horsemen, englishmen, zeelanders, hollanders, and germans, came upon the heath, the position and purpose of the enemy were plainly visible. he was not drawn up in battle order, waiting to sweep down upon his rash assailants so soon as, after struggling through the difficult pass, they should be delivered into his hands. on the contrary, it was obvious at a glance that his object was still to escape. the heath of tiel, on which spaniards, italians, walloons, germans, dutchmen, english; scotch, and irishmen now all found themselves together, was a ridgy, spongy expanse of country, bordered on one side by the swollen river, here flowing again through steeper banks which were overgrown with alders and pollard willows. along the left of the spanish army, as they moved in the direction of herenthals, was a continuous fringe of scrub-oaks, intermixed with tall beeches, skirting the heath, and forming a leafless but almost impervious screen for the movements of small detachments of troops. quite at the termination of the open apace, these thickets becoming closely crowded, overhung another extremely narrow passage, which formed the only outlet from the plain. thus the heath of tiel, upon that winter's morning, had but a single entrance and a single exit, each very dangerous or very fortunate for those capable of taking or neglecting the advantages offered by the position. the whole force of varax, at least five thousand strong, was advancing in close marching order towards the narrow passage by which only they could emerge from the heath. should they reach this point in time, and thus effect their escape, it would be useless to attempt to follow them, for, as was the case with the first defile, it was not possible for two abreast to go through, while beyond was a swampy-country in which military operations were impossible. yet there remained less than half a league's space for the retreating soldiers to traverse, while not a single foot-soldier of maurice's army had thus far made his appearance on the heath. all were still wallowing and struggling, single file, in the marshy entrance, through which only the cavalry had forced their way. here was a dilemma. should maurice look calmly on while the enemy, whom he had made so painful a forced march to meet, moved off out of reach before his eyes? yet certainly this was no slight triumph in itself. there sat the stadholder on his horse at the head of eight hundred carabineers, and there marched four of philip's best infantry regiments, garnished with some of his most renowned cavalry squadrons, anxious not to seek but to avoid a combat. first came the germans of count sultz, the musketeers in front, and the spearsmen, of which the bulk of this and of all the regiments was composed, marching in closely serried squares, with the company standards waving over each. next, arranged in the same manner, came the walloon regiments of hachicourt and of la barlotte. fourth and last came the famous neapolitans of marquis trevico. the cavalry squadrons rode on the left of the infantry, and were commanded by nicolas basta, a man who had been trampling upon the netherlanders ever since the days of alva, with whom he had first come to the country. and these were the legions--these very men or their immediate predecessors--these italians, spaniards, germans, and walloons, who during so many terrible years had stormed and sacked almost every city of the netherlands, and swept over the whole breadth of those little provinces as with the besom of destruction. both infantry and cavalry, that picked little army of varax was of the very best that had shared in the devil's work which had been the chief industry practised for so long in the obedient netherlands. was it not madness for the stadholder, at the head of eight hundred horsemen, to assail such an army as this? was it not to invoke upon his head the swift vengeance of heaven? nevertheless, the painstaking, cautious maurice did not hesitate. he ordered hohenlo, with all the brabantine cavalry, to ride as rapidly as their horses could carry them along the edge of the plain, and behind the tangled woodland, by which the movement would be concealed. he was at all hazards to intercept the enemy's vanguard before it should reach the fatal pass. vere and marcellus bax meanwhile, supported now by edmont with the nymegen squadrons, were to threaten the spanish rear. a company of two under laurentz was kept by maurice near his person in reserve. the spaniards steadily continued their march, but as they became aware of certain slight and indefinite movements on their left, their cavalry, changing their position, were transferred from the right to the left of the line of march, and now rode between the infantry and the belt of woods. in a few minutes after the orders given to hohenlo, that dashing soldier had circumvented the spaniards, and emerged upon the plain between them and the entrance to the defile, the next instant the trumpets sounded a charge, and hohenlo fell upon the foremost regiment, that of sultz, while the rearguard, consisting of trevico's neapolitan regiment, was assailed by du bois, donck, rysoir, marcellus bax, and sir francis vere. the effect seemed almost supernatural. the spanish cavalry--those far-famed squadrons of guzman and basta--broke at the first onset and galloped off for the pass as if they had been riding a race. most of them escaped through the hollow into the morass beyond. the musketeers of sultz's regiment hardly fired a shot, and fell back in confusion upon the thickly clustered pikemen. the assailants, every one of them in complete armour, on powerful horses, and armed not with lances but with carbines, trampled over the panic-struck and struggling masses of leather jerkined pikemen and shot them at arm's length. the charge upon trevico's men at the same moment was just as decisive. in less time than it took afterwards to describe the scene, those renowned veterans were broken into a helpless mass of dying, wounded, or fugitive creatures, incapable of striking a blow. thus the germans in the front and the neapolitans in the rear had been simultaneously shattered, and rolled together upon the two other regiments, those of hachicourt and la barlotte, which were placed between them. nor did these troops offer any better resistance, but were paralysed and hurled out of existence like the rest. in less than an hour the spanish army was demolished. varax himself lay dead upon the field, too fortunate not to survive his disgrace. it was hardly more than daylight on that dull january morning; nine o'clock had scarce chimed from the old brick steeples of turnhout, yet two thousand spaniards had fallen before the blows of eight hundred netherlanders, and there were five hundred prisoners beside. of maurice's army not more than nine or ten were slain. the story sounds like a wild legend. it was as if the arm of each netherlander had been nerved by the memory of fifty years of outrage, as if the spectre of their half-century of crime had appalled the soul of every spaniard. like a thunderbolt the son of william the silent smote that army of philip, and in an instant it lay blasted on the heath of tiel. at least it could hardly be called sagacious generalship on the part of the stadholder. the chances were all against him, and if instead of varax those legions had been commanded that morning by old christopher mondragon, there might perhaps have been another tale to tell. even as it was, there had been a supreme moment when the spanish disaster had nearly been changed to victory. the fight was almost done, when a small party of staten' cavalry, who at the beginning of the action had followed the enemy's horse in its sudden retreat through the gap, came whirling back over the plain in wild confusion, pursued by about forty of the enemy's lancers. they swept by the spot where maurice, with not more than ten horsemen around him, was directing and watching the battle, and in vain the prince threw himself in front of them and strove to check their flight. they were panic-struck, and maurice would himself have been swept off the field, had not marcellus bax and edmont, with half a dozen heavy troopers, come to the rescue. a grave error had been committed by parker, who, upon being ordered by maurice to cause louis laurentz to charge, had himself charged with the whole reserve and left the stadholder almost alone upon the field. thus the culprits--who after pursuing the spanish cavalry through the pass had been plundering the enemy's baggage until they were set upon by the handful left to guard it, and had become fugitives in their turn--might possibly have caused the lose of the day after the victory had been won, had there been a man on the spanish side to take in the situation at a glance. but it is probable that the rout had been too absolute to allow of any such sudden turning to account of the serious errors of the victors. the cavalry, except this handful, had long disappeared, at least half the infantry lay dead or wounded in the field, while the remainder, throwing away pipe and matchlock, were running helter-skelter for their lives. besides prince maurice himself, to whom the chief credit of the whole expedition justly belonged, nearly all the commanders engaged obtained great distinction by their skill and valour. sir francis vere, as usual, was ever foremost in the thickest of the fray, and had a horse killed under him. parker erred by too much readiness to engage, but bore himself manfully throughout the battle. hohenlo, solma, sidney, louis laurentz, du bois, all displayed their usual prowess; but the real hero of the hour, the personal embodiment of the fortunate madness which prompted and won the battle, was undoubtedly marcellus bax. maurice remained an hour or two on the field of battle, and then, returning towards the village of turnhout, summoned its stronghold. the garrison of sixty, under captain van der delf, instantly surrendered. the victor allowed these troops to go off scot free, saying that there had been blood enough shed that day. every standard borne by the spaniards in the battle-thirty-eight in number--was taken, besides nearly all their arms. the banners were sent to the hague to be hung up in the great hall of the castle. the dead body of varax was sent to the archduke with a courteous letter, in which, however, a categorical explanation was demanded as to a statement in circulation that albert had decided to give the soldiers of the republic no quarter. no answer being immediately returned, maurice ordered the five hundred prisoners to be hanged or drowned unless ransomed within twenty days, and this horrible decree appears from official documents to be consistent with the military usages of the period. the arrival of the letter from the cardinal-archduke, who levied the money for the ransom on the villagers of brabant, prevented, however, the execution of the menace, which could hardly have been seriously intended. within a week from the time of his departure from the hague to engage in this daring adventure, the stadholder had returned to that little capital, having achieved a complete success. the enthusiastic demonstrations throughout the land on account of so signal a victory can easily be imagined. nothing like this had ever before been recorded in the archives of the young commonwealth. there had been glorious defences of beleaguered cities, where scenes of heroic endurance and self-sacrifice had been enacted, such as never can be forgotten so long as the history of human liberty shall endure, but a victory won in the open field over the most famous legions of spain and against overwhelming numbers, was an achievement entirely without example. it is beyond all doubt that the force under varax was at least four times as large as that portion of the states' army which alone was engaged; for maurice had not a foot-soldier on the field until the battle was over, save the handful of musketeers who had followed vere and bax at the beginning of the action. therefore it is that this remarkable action merits a much more attentive consideration than it might deserve, regarded purely as a military exploit. to the military student a mere cavalry affair, fought out upon an obscure brabantine heath between a party of dutch carabineers and spanish pikemen, may seem of little account--a subject fitted by picturesque costume and animated action for the pencil of a wouvermanns or a terburg, but conveying little instruction. as illustrating a period of transition in which heavy armoured troopers--each one a human iron-clad fortress moving at speed and furnished with the most formidable portable artillery then known--could overcome the resistance of almost any number of foot-soldiers in light marching gear and armed with the antiquated pike, the affair may be worthy of a moment's attention; and for this improvement--itself now as obsolete as the slings and cataphracts of roman legions--the world was indebted to maurice. but the shock of mighty armies, the manoeuvring of vast masses in one magnificent combination, by which the fate of empires, the happiness or the misery of the peoples for generations, may perhaps be decided in a few hours, undoubtedly require a higher constructive genius than could be displayed in any such hand-to-hand encounter as that of turnhout, scientifically managed as it unquestionably was. the true and abiding interest of the battle is derived from is moral effect, from its influence on the people of the netherlands. and this could scarcely be exaggerated. the nation was electrified, transformed in an instant. who now should henceforth dare to say that one spanish fighting-man was equal to five or ten hollanders? at last the days of jemmingen and mooker-heath needed no longer to be remembered by every patriot with a shudder of shame. here at least in the open field a spanish army, after in vain refusing a combat and endeavouring to escape, had literally bitten the dust before one fourth of its own number. and this effect was a permanent one. thenceforth for foreign powers to talk of mediation between the republic and the ancient master, to suggest schemes of reconciliation and of a return to obedience, was to offer gratuitous and trivial insult, and we shall very soon have occasion to mark the simple eloquence with which the thirty-eight spanish standards of turnhout, hung up in the old hall of the hague, were made to reply to the pompous rhetoric of an interfering ambassador. this brief episode was not immediately followed by other military events of importance in the provinces during what remained of the winter. very early in the spring, however, it was probable that the campaign might open simultaneously in france and on the frontiers of flanders. of all the cities in the north of france there was none, after rouen, so important, so populous, so wealthy as amiens. situate in fertile fields, within three days march of paris, with no intervening forests or other impediments of a physical nature to free communication, it was the key to the gates of the capital. it had no garrison, for the population numbered fifteen thousand men able to bear arms, and the inhabitants valued themselves on the prowess of their trained militiamen, five thousand of whom they boasted to be able to bring into the field at an hour's notice--and they were perfectly loyal to henry. one morning in march there came a party of peasants, fifteen or twenty in number, laden with sacks of chestnuts and walnuts, to the northernmost gate of the town. they offered them for sale, as usual, to the soldiers at the guard-house, and chaffered and jested--as boors and soldiers are wont to do--over their wares. it so happened that in the course of the bargaining one of the bags became untied, and its contents, much to the dissatisfaction of the proprietor, were emptied on the ground. there was a scramble for the walnuts, and much shouting, kicking, and squabbling ensued, growing almost into a quarrel between the burgher-soldiers and the peasants. as the altercation was at its height a heavy wagon, laden with long planks, came towards the gate for the use of carpenters and architects within the town. the portcullis was drawn up to admit this lumbering vehicle, but in the confusion caused by the chance medley going on at the guard-house, the gate dropped again before the wagon had fairly got through the passage, and remained resting upon the timber with which it was piled. at that instant a shrill whistle was heard; and as if by magic the twenty chestnut-selling peasants were suddenly transformed to spanish and walloon soldiers armed to the teeth, who were presently reinforced by as many more of their comrades, who sprang from beneath the plank-work by which the real contents of the wagon had thus been screened. captain dognano, his brother the sergeant-major, captain d'arco, and other officers of a walloon regiment stationed in dourlans, were the leaders of the little party, and while they were busily occupied in putting the soldiers of the watch, thus taken unawares, to death, the master-spirit of the whole adventure suddenly made his appearance and entered the city at the head of fifteen hundred men. this was an extremely small, yellow, dried up, energetic spanish captain, with a long red beard, hernan tello de porto carrero by came, governor of the neighbouring city of dourlens, who had conceived this plan for obtaining possession of amiens. having sent these disguised soldiers on before him, he had passed the night with his men in ambush until the signal should sound. the burghers of the town were mostly in church; none were dreaming of an attack, as men rarely do--for otherwise how should they ever be surprised--and in half an hour amiens was the property of philip of spain. there were not very many lives lost, for the resistance was small, but great numbers were tortured for ransom and few women escaped outrage. the sack was famous, for the city was rich and the captors were few in number, so that each soldier had two or three houses to plunder for his own profit. when the work was done, the faubourgs were all destroyed, for it was the intention of the conquerors to occupy the place, which would be a most convenient basis of operations for any attack upon paris, and it was desirable to contract the limits to be defended. fifteen hundred houses, many of them beautiful villas surrounded with orchards and pleasure gardens,--were soon in flames, and afterwards razed to the ground. the governor of the place, count st. pol, managed to effect his escape. his place was now supplied by the marquis of montenegro, an italian in the service of the spanish king. such was the fate of amiens in the month of march, ; such the result of the refusal by the citizens to accept the garrison urged upon them by henry. it would be impossible to exaggerate the consternation produced. throughout france by this astounding and altogether unlooked for event. "it seemed," said president de thou, "as if it had extinguished in a moment the royal majesty and the french name." a few nights later than the date of this occurrence, maximilian de bethune (afterwards duke of sully, but then called marquis de rosny) was asleep in his bed in paris. he had returned, at past two o'clock in the morning, from a magnificent ball given by the constable of france. the capital had been uncommonly brilliant during the winter with banquets and dances, tourneys and masquerades, as if to cast a lurid glare over the unutterable misery of the people and the complete desolation of the country; but this entertainment--given by montmorency in honour of a fair dame with whom he supposed himself desperately in love, the young bride of a very ancient courtier--surpassed in splendour every festival that had been heard of for years. de bethune had hardly lost himself in slumber when he was startled by beringen, who, on drawing his curtains in this dead hour of the night, presented such a ghastly visage that the faithful friend of henry instantly imagined some personal disaster to his well-beloved sovereign. "is the king dead?" he cried. being re-assured as to, this point and told to hasten to the louvre, rosny instantly complied with the command. when he reached the palace he was admitted at once to the royal bed-chamber, where he found the king in the most unsophisticated of costumes, striding up and down the room, with his hands clasped together behind his head, and with an expression of agony upon his face: many courtiers were assembled there, stuck all of them like images against the wall, staring before them in helpless perplexity. henry rushed forward as rosny entered, and wringing him by the hand, exclaimed, "ah, my friend, what a misfortune, amiens is taken!" "very well," replied the financier, with unperturbed visage; "i have just completed a plan which will restore to your majesty not only amiens but many other places." the king drew a great sigh of relief and asked for his project. rosny, saying that he would instantly go and fetch his papers, left the apartment for an interval, in order to give vent to the horrible agitation which he had been enduring and so bravely concealing ever since the fatal words had been spoken. that a city so important, the key to paris, without a moment's warning, without the semblance of a siege, should thus fall into the hands of the enemy, was a blow as directly to the heart of de bethune as it could have been to any other of henry's adherents. but while they had been distracting the king by unavailing curses or wailings, henry, who had received the intelligence just as he was getting into bed, had sent for support and consolation to the tried friend of years, and he now reproachfully contrasted their pusillanimity with de rosny's fortitude. a great plan for reorganising the finances of the kingdom was that very night submitted by rosny to the king, and it was wrought upon day by day thereafter until it was carried into effect. it must be confessed that the crudities and immoralities which the project revealed do not inspire the political student of modern days with so high a conception of the financial genius of the great minister as his calm and heroic deportment on trying occasions, whether on the battle-field or in the council-chamber, does of his natural authority over his fellow-men. the scheme was devised to put money in the king's coffers, which at that moment were completely empty. its chief features were to create a great many new offices in the various courts of justice and tribunals of administration, all to be disposed of by sale to the highest bidder; to extort a considerable loan from the chief courtiers and from the richest burghers in the principal towns; to compel all the leading peculators--whose name in the public service was legion--to disgorge a portion of their ill-gotten gains, on being released from prosecution; and to increase the tax upon salt. such a project hardly seems a masterpiece of ethics or political economy, but it was hailed with rapture by the needy monarch. at once there was a wild excitement amongst the jobbers and speculators in places. the creation of an indefinite number of new judgeships and magistracies, to be disposed of at auction, was a tempting opportunity even in that age of corruption. one of the most notorious traders in the judicial ermine, limping robin de tours by name, at once made a private visit to madame de rosny and offered seventy-two thousand crowns for the exclusive right to distribute these new offices. if this could be managed to his satisfaction, he promised to give her a diamond worth two thousand crowns, and another, worth six thousand, to her husband. the wife of the great minister, who did not comprehend the whole amount of the insult, presented robin to her husband. she was enlightened, however, as to the barefaced iniquity of the offer, when she heard de bethune's indignant. reply, and saw the jobber limp away, crest-fallen and amazed. that a financier or a magistrate should decline a bribe or interfere with the private sale of places, which were after all objects of merchandise, was to him incomprehensible. the industrious robin, accordingly, recovering from his discomfiture, went straightway to the chancellor, and concluded the same bargain in the council chamber which had been rejected by de bethune, with the slight difference that the distribution of the places. was assigned to the speculator for seventy-five thousand instead of seventy-two thousand crowns. it was with great difficulty that de bethune, who went at once to the king with complaints and insinuations as to the cleanness of the chancellor's hands, was able to cancel the operation. the day was fast approaching when the universal impoverishment of the great nobles and landholders--the result of the long, hideous, senseless massacres called the wars of religion--was to open the way for the labouring classes to acquire a property in the soil. thus that famous fowl in every pot was to make its appearance, which vulgar tradition ascribes to the bounty of a king who hated everything like popular rights, and loved nothing but his own glory and his own amusement. it was not until the days of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren that privilege could renew those horrible outrages on the people, which were to be avenged by a dread series of wars, massacres, and crimes, compared to which even the religious conflicts of the sixteenth century grow pale. meantime de bethune comforted his master with these financial plans, and assured him in the spirit of prophecy that the king of spain, now tottering as it was thought to his grave, would soon be glad to make a favourable peace with france even if he felt obliged to restore not only amiens but every other city or stronghold that he had ever conquered in that kingdom. time would soon show whether this prediction were correct or delusive; but while the secret negotiations between henry and the pope were vigorously proceeding for that peace with spain which the world in general and the commonwealth of the netherlands in particular thought to be farthest from the warlike king's wishes, it was necessary to set about the siege of amiens. henry assembled a force of some twelve or fifteen thousand men for that purpose, while the cardinal-archduke, upon his part, did his best to put an army in the field in order to relieve the threatened city so recently acquired by a coarse but successful artifice. but albert was in even a worse plight than that in which his great antagonist found himself. when he had first arrived in the provinces, his exchequer was overflowing, and he was even supposed to devote a considerable portion of the military funds to defray the expenses of his magnificent housekeeping at brussels. but those halcyon days were over. a gigantic fraud, just perpetrated by philip; had descended like a thunderbolt upon the provinces and upon all commercial europe, and had utterly blasted the unfortunate viceroy. in the latter days of the preceding year the king had issued a general repudiation of his debts. he did it solemnly, too, and with great religious unction, for it was a peculiarity of this remarkable sovereign that he was ever wont to accomplish his darkest crimes, whether murders or stratagems, as if they were acts of virtue. perhaps he really believed them to be such, for a man, before whom so many millions of his fellow worms had been writhing for half a century in the dust, might well imagine himself a deity. so the king, on the th november, , had publicly revoked all the assignments, mortgages, and other deeds by which the royal domains; revenues, taxes, and other public property had been transferred or pledged for moneys already advanced to merchants, banker, and other companies or individuals, and formally took them again into his own possession, on the ground that his exertions in carrying on this long war to save christianity from destruction had reduced him to beggary, while the money-lenders, by charging him exorbitant interest, had all grown rich at his expense. this was perfectly simple. there was no attempt to disguise the villany of the transaction. the massacre of so many millions of protestants, the gigantic but puerile attempts to subjugate the dutch republic, and to annex france, england, and the german empire to his hereditary dominions, had been attended with more expense than philip had calculated upon. the enormous wealth which a long series of marriages, inheritances, conquests, and maritime discoveries had heaped upon spain had been exhausted by the insane ambition of the king to exterminate heresy throughout the world, and to make himself the sovereign of one undivided, universal, catholic monarchy. all the gold and silver of america had not sufficed for this purpose, and he had seen, with an ever rising indignation, those very precious metals which, in his ignorance of the laws of trade, he considered his exclusive property flowing speedily into the coffers of the merchants of europe, especially those of the hated commonwealth of the rebellious netherlands. therefore he solemnly renounced all his contracts, and took god to witness that it was to serve his divine will. how else could he hope to continue his massacre of the protestants? the effect of the promulgation of this measure was instantaneous. two millions and a half of bills of exchange sold by the cardinal albert came back in one day protested. the chief merchants and bankers of europe suspended payment. their creditors became bankrupt. at the frankfort fair there were more failures in one day than there had ever been in all the years since frankfort existed. in genoa alone a million dollars of interest were confiscated. it was no better in antwerp; but antwerp was already ruined. there was a general howl of indignation and despair upon every exchange, in every counting-room, in every palace, in every cottage of christendom. such a tremendous repudiation of national debts was never heard of before. there had been debasements of the currency, petty frauds by kings upon their unfortunate peoples, but such a crime as this had never been conceived by human heart before. the archduke was fain to pawn his jewelry, his plate, his furniture, to support the daily expenses of his household. meantime he was to set an army in the field to relieve a city, beleaguered by the most warlike monarch in christendom. fortunately for him, that prince was in very similar straits, for the pressure upon the public swindlers and the auction sales of judicial ermine throughout his kingdom were not as rapidly productive as had been hoped. it was precisely at this moment, too, that an incident of another nature occurred in antwerp, which did not tend to make the believers in the possibility of religious or political freedom more in love with the system of spain and rome. those blood-dripping edicts against heresy in the netherlands, of which enough has been said in previous volumes of this history, and which had caused the deaths, by axe, faggot, halter, or burial alive, of at least fifty thousand human creatures--however historical scepticism may shut its eyes to evidence--had now been, dormant for twenty years. their activity had ceased with the pacification of ghent; but the devilish spirit which had inspired them still lived in the persons of the jesuits, and there were now more jesuits in the obedient provinces than there had been for years. we have seen that champagny's remedy for the ills the country was enduring was "more jesuits." and this, too, was albert's recipe. always "more jesuits." and now the time had come when the jesuits thought that they might step openly with their works into the daylight again. of late years they had shrouded themselves in comparative mystery, but from their seminaries and colleges had gone forth a plentiful company of assassins against elizabeth and henry, nassau, barneveld, and others who, whether avowedly or involuntarily, were prominent in the party of human progress. some important murders had already been accomplished, and the prospect was fair that still others might follow, if the jesuits persevered. meantime those ecclesiastics thought that a wholesome example might be by the spectacle of a public execution. two maiden ladies lived on the north rampart of antwerp. they had formerly professed the protestant religion, and had been thrown into prison for that crime; but the fear of further persecution, human weakness, or perhaps sincere conviction, had caused them to renounce the error of their ways, and they now went to mass. but they had a maidservant, forty years of age, anna van den hove by name, who was staunch in that reformed faith in which she had been born and bred. the jesuits denounced this maid-servant to the civil authority, and claimed her condemnation and execution under the edicts of , decrees which every one had supposed as obsolete as the statutes of draco, which they had so entirely put to shame. the sentence having been obtained from the docile and priest-ridden magistrates, anna van den hove was brought to brussels and informed that she was at once to be buried alive. at the same time, the jesuits told her that by converting herself to the church she might escape punishment. when king henry iv. was summoned to renounce that same huguenot faith, of which he was the political embodiment and the military champion, the candid man answered by the simple demand to be instructed. when the proper moment came, the instruction was accomplished by an archbishop with the rapidity of magic. half an hour undid the work of half a life-time. thus expeditiously could religious conversion be effected when an earthly crown was its guerdon. the poor serving-maid was less open to conviction. in her simple fanaticism she too talked of a crown, and saw it descending from heaven on her poor forlorn head as the reward, not of apostasy, but of steadfastness. she asked her tormentors how they could expect her to abandon her religion for fear of death. she had read her bible every day, she said, and had found nothing there of the pope or purgatory, masses, invocation of saints, or the absolution of sins except through the blood of the blessed redeemer. she interfered with no one who thought differently; she quarrelled with no one's religious belief. she had prayed for enlightenment from him, if she were in error, and the result was that she felt strengthened in her simplicity, and resolved to do nothing against her conscience. rather than add this sin to the manifold ones committed by her, she preferred, she said, to die the death. so anna van den hove was led, one fine midsummer morning, to the hayfield outside of brussels, between two jesuits, followed by a number of a peculiar kind of monks called love-brothers. those holy men goaded her as she went, telling her that she was the devil's carrion, and calling on her to repent at the last moment, and thus save her life and escape eternal damnation beside. but the poor soul had no ear for them, and cried out that, like stephen, she saw the heavens opening, and the angels stooping down to conduct her far away from the power of the evil one. when they came to the hay-field they found the pit already dug, and the maid-servant was ordered to descend into it. the executioner then covered her with earth up to the waist, and a last summons was made to her to renounce her errors. she refused, and then the earth was piled upon her, and the hangman jumped upon the grave till it was flattened and firm. of all the religious murders done in that hideous sixteenth century in the netherlands; the burial of the antwerp servantmaid was the last and the worst. the worst, because it was a cynical and deliberate attempt to revive the demon whose thirst for blood had been at last allayed, and who had sunk into repose. and it was a spasmodic revival only, for, in the provinces at least, that demon had finished his work. still, on the eastern borders of what was called civilization, turk and christian were contending for the mastery. the great battle of kovesd had decided nothing, and the crescent still shone over the fortified and most important hungarian stronghold of raab, within arm's length of vienna. how rapidly might that fatal and menacing emblem fill its horns, should it once be planted on the walls of the imperial capital! it was not wonderful that a sincere impatience should be felt by all the frontier states for the termination of the insurrection of the netherlands. would that rebellious and heretical republic only consent to go out of existence, again bow its stubborn knee to philip and the pope, what a magnificent campaign might be made against mahomet! the king of spain was the only potentate at all comparable in power to the grand turk. the king of france, most warlike of men, desired nothing better, as he avowed, than to lead his brave nobles into hungary to smite the unbelievers. even prince maurice, it was fondly hoped, might be induced to accept a high command in the united armies of christendom, and seek for glory by campaigning, in alliance with philip; rudolph, and henry, against the ottoman, rather than against his natural sovereign. such were the sagacity, the insight, the power of forecasting the future possessed in those days by monarchs, statesmen, and diplomatists who were imagining that they held the world's destiny in their hands. there was this summer a solemn embassy from the emperor to the states-general proposing mediation referring in the usual conventional phraseology to the right of kings to command, and to the duty of the people to submit, and urging the gentle-mindedness and readiness to forgive which characterised the sovereign of the netherlands and of spain. and the statesmen of the republic had answered as they always did, showing with courteous language, irresistible logic, and at, unmerciful length, that there never had been kings in the netherlands at all, and that the gentle-mindedness of philip had been exhibited in the massacre of a hundred thousand netherlanders in various sieges and battles, and in the murder, under the duke of alva alone, of twenty thousand human beings by the hangman. they liked not such divine right nor such gentle-mindedness. they recognised no duty on their part to consent to such a system. even the friendly king of denmark sent a legation for a similar purpose, which was respectfully but very decidedly allowed to return as it came; but the most persistent in schemes of interference for the purpose of putting an end to the effusion of blood in the netherlands was sigismund of poland. this monarch, who occupied two very incompatible positions, being sovereign at once of fanatically protestant sweden and of orthodox poland, and who was, moreover, son-in-law of archduke charles of styria whose other daughter was soon to be espoused by the prince of spain--was personally and geographically interested in liberating philip from the inconvenience of his netherland war. only thus could he hope to bring the spanish power to the rescue of christendom against the turk. troubles enough were in store for sigismund in his hereditary northern realms, and he was to learn that his intermarriage with the great catholic and imperial house did not enable him to trample out protestantism in those hardy scandinavian and flemish regions where it had taken secure root. meantime he despatched, in solemn mission to the republic and to the heretic queen, a diplomatist whose name and whose oratorical efforts have by a caprice of history been allowed to endure to our times. paul dialyn was solemnly received at the hague on the st july. a pragmatical fop, attired in a long, magnificent polish robe, covered with diamonds and other jewels, he was yet recognised by some of those present as having been several years before a student at leyden under a different name, and with far less gorgeous surroundings. he took up his position in the council-chamber, in the presence of the stadholder and the leading members of the states-general, and pronounced a long latin oration, in the manner, as it was said, of a monk delivering a sermon from the pulpit. he kept his eyes steadily fixed on the ceiling, never once looking at the men whom he was addressing, and speaking in a loud, nasal, dictatorial tone, not at all agreeable to the audience. he dwelt in terms of extravagant eulogy on the benignity and gentleness of the king of spain--qualities in which he asserted that no prince on earth could be compared to him--and he said this to the very face of maurice of nassau. that the benignant and gentle king had caused the stadholder's father to be assassinated, and that he had rewarded the murderer's family with a patent of nobility, and with an ample revenue taken from the murdered man's property, appeared of no account to the envoy in the full sweep of his rhetoric. yet the reminiscence caused a shudder of disgust in all who heard him. he then stated the wish of his master the polish king to be that, in regard to the turk, the provinces might reconcile themselves to their natural master, who was the most powerful monarch in christendom, and the only one able to make head against the common foe. they were solemnly warned of the enormous power and resources of the great king, with whom it was hopeless for them to protract a struggle sure to end at last in their uttermost destruction. it was for kings to issue commands; he said, and for the people to obey; but philip was full of sweetness, and would accord them full forgiveness for their manifold sins against him. the wish to come to the rescue of christendom, in this extreme peril from the turk, was with him paramount to all other considerations. such; in brief, was the substance of the long latin harangue by which it was thought possible to induce those sturdy republicans and calvinists to renounce their vigorous national existence and to fall on their knees before the most catholic king. this was understood to be mediation, statesmanship, diplomacy, in deference to which the world was to pause and the course of events to flow backwards. truly, despots and their lackeys were destined to learn some rude lessons from that vigorous little commonwealth in the north sea, before it should have accomplished its mission on earth. the states-general dissembled their disgust, however, for it was not desirable to make open enemies of sigismund or rudolph. they refused to accept a copy of the oration, but they promised to send him a categorical answer to it in writing. meantime the envoy had the honour of walking about the castle with the stadholder, and, in the course of their promenade, maurice pointed to the thirty-eight standards taken at the battle of turnhout, which hung from the cedarn rafters of the ancient banquetting hall. the mute eloquence of those tattered banners seemed a not illogical reply to the diplomatic paul's rhetoric in regard to the hopelessness of a contest with spanish armies. next, van der werken--pensionary of leyden, and a classical scholar--waited upon the envoy with a latin reply to his harangue, together with a courteous letter for sigismund. both documents were scathing denunciations of the policy pursued by the king of spain and by all his aiders and abettors, and a distinct but polished refusal to listen to a single word in favour of mediation or of peace. paul dialyn then received a courteous permission to leave the territory of the republic, and was subsequently forwarded in a states' vessel of war to england. his reception, about a month later, by queen elizabeth is an event on which all english historians are fond of dwelling. the pedant, on being presented to that imperious and accomplished sovereign, deported himself with the same ludicrous arrogance which had characterised him at the hague. his latin oration, which had been duly drawn up for him by the chancellor of sweden, was quite as impertinent as his harangue to the states-general had been, and was delivered with the same conceited air. the queen replied on the instant in the same tongue. she was somewhat in a passion, but spoke with majestic moderation? "oh, how i have been deceived!" she exclaimed. "i expected an ambassador, and behold a herald! in all my life i never heard of such an oration. your boldness and unadvised temerity i cannot sufficiently admire. but if the king your master has given you any such thing in charge--which i much doubt--i believe it is because, being but a young man, and lately advanced to the crown, not by ordinary succession of blood, but by election, he understandeth not yet the way of such affairs." and so on--for several minutes longer. never did envoy receive such a setting down from sovereign. "god's death, my lords!" said the queen to her ministers; as she concluded, "i have been enforced this day to scour up my old latin that hath lain long in rusting." this combination of ready wit, high spirit, and good latin, justly excited the enthusiasm of the queen's subjects, and endeared her still more to every english heart. it may, however, be doubted whether the famous reply was in reality so entirely extemporaneous as it has usually been considered. the states-general had lost no time in forwarding to england a minute account of the proceedings of paul dialyn at the hague, together with a sketch of his harangue and of the reply on behalf of the states. her majesty and her counsellors therefore, knowing that the same envoy was on his way to england with a similar errand, may be supposed to have had leisure to prepare the famous impromptu. moreover, it is difficult to understand, on the presumption that these classic utterances were purely extemporaneous, how they have kept their place in all chronicles and histories from that day to the present, without change of a word in the text. surely there was no stenographer present to take down the queen's words as they fell from her lips. the military events of the year did not testify to a much more successful activity on the part of the new league in the field than it had displayed in the sphere of diplomacy. in vain did the envoy of the republic urge henry and his counsellors to follow up the crushing blow dealt to the cardinal at turnhout by vigorous operations in conjunction with the states' forces in artois and hainault. for amiens had meantime been taken, and it was now necessary for the king to employ all his energy and all his resources to recover that important city. so much damage to the cause of the republic and of the new league had the little yellow spanish captain inflicted in an hour, with his bags of chestnuts and walnuts. the siege of amiens lasted nearly six months, and was the main event of the campaign, so far as henry was concerned. it is true--as the reader has already seen, and as will soon be more clearly developed--that henry's heart had been fixed on peace from the moment that he consented in conjunction with the republic to declare war, and that he had entered into secret and separate negotiations for that purpose with the agents of philip so soon as he had bound himself by solemn covenant with elizabeth to have no negotiations whatever with him except with her full knowledge and consent. the siege of amiens, however, was considered a military masterpiece, and its whole progress showed the revolution which the stadholder of holland had already effected in european warfare. henry iv. beleaguered amiens as if he were a pupil of maurice, and contemporaries were enthusiastic over the science, the patience, the inventive ingenuity which were at last crowned with success. the heroic hernan tello de porto carrero was killed in a sortie during the defence of the place which he had so gallantly won, and when the city was surrendered to the king on the th of september it was stipulated in the first article of the capitulation that the tomb, epitaph, and trophies, by which his memory was honoured in the principal church, should not be disturbed, and that his body might be removed whenever and whither it seemed good to his sovereign. in vain the cardinal had taken the field with an army of eighteen thousand foot and fifteen hundred light cavalry. the king had learned so well to entrench himself and to moderate his ardour for inopportune pitched battles, that the relieving force could find, no occasion to effect its purpose. the archduke retired. he came to amiens like a soldier, said henry, but he went back like a priest. moreover, he was obliged to renounce, besides the city, a most tempting prize which he thought that he had secured within the city. alexander farnese, in his last french campaign, had procured and sent to his uncle the foot of st. philip and the head of st. lawrence; but what was albert's delight when he learned that in amiens cathedral there was a large piece of the head of john the baptist! "there will be a great scandal about it in this kingdom," he wrote to philip, "if i undertake to transport it out of the country, but i will try to contrive it as your majesty desires." but the military events of the year prevented the cardinal from gratifying the king in regard to these choice curiosities. after the reduction of the city henry went a considerable distance with his army towards the frontier of flanders, in order to return, as he said, "his cousin's visit." but the recovery of amiens had placed too winning a card in the secret game which he was then playing to allow him to push his nominal adversary to extremities. the result, suspected very early in the year by the statesmen of the republic, was already very plainly foreshadowing itself as the winter advanced. nor had the other two members of the league affected much in the field. again an expedition had been fitted forth under essex against the spanish coast to return the compliment which philip had intended with the unlucky armada under santa gadea; and again sir francis vere, with two thousand veterans from the netherlands, and the dutch admirals, with ten ships of war and a large number of tenders and transports, had faithfully taken part in the adventure. the fleet was tempest-tossed for ten days, during which it reached the threatened coast and was blown off again. it returned at last into the english ports, having accomplished nothing, and having expended superfluously a considerable amount of money and trouble. essex, with a few of the vessels, subsequently made a cruise towards the azores, but, beyond the capture of a spanish merchantman or two, gained no glory and inflicted no damage. nothing could be feebler than the military operations of the three confederated powers ever since they had so solemnly confederated themselves. sick at heart with the political intrigues of his allies which had--brought a paralysis upon his arms which the blows of the enemy could hardly have effected, maurice took the field in august: for an autumnal campaign on the eastern frontier of the republic. foiled in his efforts for a combined attack by the whole force of the league upon philip's power in the west, he thought it at least expedient to liberate the rhine, to secure the important provinces of zutphen, gelderland, and overyssel from attack, and to provide against the dangerous intrigues and concealed warfare carried on by spain in the territories of the mad duke of juliers, clever and berg. for the seeds of the thirty years' war of germany were already sown broadcast in those fatal duchies, and it was the determination of the agents of spain to acquire the mastery of that most eligible military position, that excellent 'sedes belli,' whenever protestantism was to be assailed in england, the netherlands, or germany. meantime the hispaniolated counsellors of duke john had strangled--as it was strongly suspected--his duchess, who having gone to bed in perfect health one evening was found dead in her bed next morning, with an ugly mark on her throat; and it was now the purpose of these statesmen to find a new bride for their insane sovereign in the ever ready and ever orthodox house of lorrain. and the protestant brothers-in-law and nephews and nieces were making every possible combination in order to check such dark designs, and to save these important territories from the ubiquitous power of spain. the stadholder had also family troubles at this period. his sister emilia had conceived a desperate passion for don emmanuel, the pauper son of the forlorn pretender to portugal, don antonio, who had at last departed this life. maurice was indignant that a catholic, an outcast, and, as it was supposed, a bastard, should dare to mate with the daughter of william of orange-nassau; and there were many scenes of tenderness, reproaches, recriminations, and 'hysterica passio,' in which not only the lovers, the stadholder and his family, but also the high and mighty states-general, were obliged to enact their parts. the chronicles are filled with the incidents, which, however, never turned to tragedy, nor even to romance, but ended, without a catastrophe, in a rather insipid marriage. the princess emilia remained true both to her religion and her husband during a somewhat obscure wedded life, and after her death don emmanuel found means to reconcile himself with the king of spain and to espouse, in second nuptials, a spanish lady. on the th of august, maurice arrived at arnhem with a force of seven thousand foot and twelve hundred horse. hohenlo was with him, and william lewis, and there was yet another of the illustrious house of nassau in the camp, frederick henry, a boy in his thirteenth year, the youngest born of william the silent, the grandson of admiral de coligny, now about; in this his first campaign, to take the first step in a long and noble career. having reduced the town and castle of alphen, the stadholder came before rheinberg, which he very expeditiously invested. during a preliminary skirmish william lewis received a wound in the leg, while during the brief siege maurice had a narrow escape from death, a cannon-ball passing through his tent and over his head as he lay taking a brief repose upon his couch. on the th, rheinberg, the key to that portion of the river, surrendered. on the st the stadholder opened his batteries upon the city of meurs, which capitulated on the nd of september; the commandant, andrew miranda, stipulating that he should carry off an old fifty-pounder, the only piece of cannon in the place. maurice gave his permission with a laugh, begging miranda not to batter down any cities with his big gun. on the th september the stadholdet threw a bridge over the rhine, and crossing that river and the lippe, came on the th before grol. there was no christopher mondragon now in his path to check his progress and spoil his campaign, so that in seventeen days the city, being completely surrounded with galleries and covered ways up to its walls, surrendered. count van stirum, royal governor of the place, dined with the stadholder on that day, and the garrison, from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred strong; together with such of the townsfolk as chose to be subjects of philip rather than citizens of the republic, were permitted to depart in peace. on the th october the town and castle of brevoort were taken by storm and the town was burned. on the th october, maurice having summoned enschede, the commandant requested permission to examine the artillery by which it was proposed to reduce the city. leave being granted, two captains were deputed accordingly as inspectors, who reported that resistance was useless. the place accordingly capitulated at once. here, again, was an improvement on the heroic practice of alva and romero. on the st and nd october, ootmarsum and oldenzaal were taken, and on the th the little army came before lingen. this important city surrendered after a fortnight's siege. thus closed a sagacious, business-like, three-months' campaign, in the course of which the stadholder, although with a slender force, had by means of his excellent organization and his profound practical science, achieved very considerable results. he had taken nine strongly-fortified cities and five castles, opened the navigation of the rhine, and strengthened the whole eastern bulwarks of the republic. he was censured by the superficial critics of the old school for his humanity towards the conquered garrisons. at least it was thought quite superfluous to let these spanish soldiers go scot free. five thousand veterans had thus been liberated to swell the ranks of the cardinal's army, but the result soon proved the policy of maurice to be, in many ways, wholesome. the great repudiation by philip, and the consequent bankruptcy of alberta converted large numbers of the royal troops into mutineers, and these garrisons from the eastern frontier were glad to join in the game. after the successful siege of hulst in the previous year the cardinal had reduced the formidable mutiny which had organized itself at tirlemont and chapelle in the days of his luckless predecessor. those rebels had been paid off and had mainly returned to italy and other lands to spend their money. but soon a new rebellion in all the customary form's established itself in antwerp citadel during the temporary absence of mexia, the governor, and great was the misery of the unhappy burghers thus placed at the mercy of the guns of that famous pentagon. they were obliged to furnish large sums to the whole garrison, paying every common foot-soldier twelve stivers a day and the officers in proportion, while the great eletto demanded, beside his salary, a coach and six, a state bed with satin curtains and fine linen, and the materials for banquetting sumptuously every day. at the slightest demur to these demands the bombardment from the citadel would begin, and the accurate artillery practice of those experienced cannoneers soon convinced the loyal citizens of the propriety of the arrangement. the example spread. the garrison of ghent broke into open revolt, and a general military rebellion lasted for more than a year. while the loyal cities of the obedient provinces were thus enjoying the fruits of their loyalty and obedience, the rebellious capital of the republic was receiving its stadholder with exuberant demonstrations of gratitude. the year, begun with the signal victory of turnhout, had worthily terminated, so far as military events were concerned, with the autumnal campaign on the rhine, and great were the rejoicings throughout the little commonwealth. thus, with diminished resources, had the republic been doing its share of the work which the anti-spanish league had been called into existence to accomplish. but, as already intimated, this league was a mere fraud upon the netherlands, which their statesmen were not slow in discovering. of course it was the object of philip and of the pope to destroy this formidable triple alliance as soon as formed, and they found potent assistance, not only in henry's counsellors, but in the bosom of that crafty monarch himself. clement hated philip as much as he feared him, so that the prospect both of obtaining henry as a counterpoise to his own most oppressive and most catholic protector, and of breaking up the great convert's alliance with the heretic queen and the rebellious republic, was a most tempting one to his holiness. therefore he employed, indefatigably, the matchless powers of intrigue possessed by rome to effect this great purpose. as for elizabeth, she was weary of the war, most anxious to be reimbursed her advances to the states, and profoundly jealous of the rising commercial and naval greatness of the new commonwealth. if the league therefore proved impotent from the beginning, certainly it was not the fault of the united netherlands. we have seen how much the king deplored, in intimate conversation with de bethune, his formal declaration of war against spain which the dutch diplomatists had induced him to make; and indeed nothing can be more certain than that this public declaration of war, and this solemn formation of the triple alliance against philip, were instantly accompanied on henry's part by secret peace negotiations with philip's agents. villeroy, told envoy calvaert that as for himself he always trembled when he thought on what he had done, in seconding the will of his majesty in that declaration at the instance of the states-general, of which measure so many losses and such bitter fruits had been the result. he complained, too, of the little assistance or co-operation yielded by england. calvaert replied that he had nothing to say in defence of england, but that certainly the king could have no cause to censure the states. the republic, however, had good ground, he said, to complain that nothing had been done by france, that all favourable occasions had been neglected, and that there was a perpetual change of counsels. the envoy, especially, and justly, reproached the royal government for having taken no advantage of the opportunity offered by the victory of turnhout, in which the republic had utterly defeated the principal forces of the common enemy. he bluntly remarked, too, that the mysterious comings and goings of balvena had naturally excited suspicions in the netherlands, and that it would be better that all such practices should be at once abandoned. they did his majesty no service, and it was no wonder that they caused uneasiness to his allies. villeroy replied that the king had good reasons to give satisfaction to those who were yearning for peace. as henry himself was yearning in this regard as much as any of his subjects, it was natural enough that he should listen to balvena and all other informal negotiators whom cardinal ilbert might send from brussels or clement from rome. it will be recollected that henry's parting words to balvena at rouen had been: "tell the archduke that i am very much his friend. let him arrange a peace. begone. be diligent." but the king's reply to calvaert, when, after the interview with villeroy, that envoy was admitted to the royal dressing room for private conversation and took the occasion to remonstrate with his majesty on these intrigues with the spanish agent, was that he should send off balvena in such fashion that it would take from the cardinal-archduke all hope of troubling him with any further propositions. it has been seen, too, with what an outbreak of wrath the proposition, made by elizabeth through robert sydney, that she should succour calais on condition of keeping it for herself, had been received by henry. at a somewhat later moment, when calais had passed entirely into the possession of spain, the queen offered to lay siege to that city with twelve thousand men, but with the understanding that the success was to be entirely for her own profit. again the king bad expressed great astonishment and indignation at the proposition. nevertheless, after amiens had been lost, henry had sent fonquerolles on a special mission to england, asking elizabeth's assistance in the siege for its recovery, and offering that she should keep calais as a pledge for expenses thus incurred, on the same terms as those on which she held the brill and flushing in the netherlands. this proposal, however, to make a considerable campaign in picardy, and to be indemnified by henry for her trouble with the pledge of a city which was not his property, did not seem tempting to elizabeth: the mission of fonquerolles was fruitless, as might have been supposed. nothing certainly in the queen's attitude, up to that moment, could induce the supposition that she would help to reduce amiens for the sake of the privilege of conquering calais if she could. so soon as her refusal was made certain, henry dropped the mask. buzanval, the regular french envoy at the hague--even while amazing the states by rebukes for their short-comings in the field and by demands for immediate co-operation in the king's campaign, when the king was doing nothing but besiege amiens--astonished the republican statesmen still further by telling them--that his master was listening seriously to the pope's secret offers. his holiness had assured the king, through the legate at paris, that he could easily bring about a peace between him and philip, if henry would agree to make it alone, and he would so manage it that the king's name should not be mixed up with the negotiations, and that he should not appear as seeking for peace. it was to be considered however--so henry's envoy intimated both at greenwich and the hague--that if the king should accept the pope's intervention he would be obliged to exclude from a share in it the queen and all others not of the catholic religion, and it was feared that the same necessity which had compelled him to listen to these overtures would force him still further in the same path. he dreaded lest, between peace and war, he might fall into a position in which the law would be dictated to him either by the enemy or by those who had undertaken to help him out of danger. much more information to this effect did buzanval communicate to the states on the authority of a private letter from the king, telling him of the ill-success of the mission of fonquerolles. that diplomatist had brought back nothing from england, it appeared, save excuses, general phrases, and many references to the troubles in ireland and to the danger of a new spanish armada. it was now for the first time, moreover, that the states learned how they had been duped both by england and france in the matter of the league. to their surprise they were informed that while they were themselves furnishing four thousand men, according to the contract signed by the three powers, the queen had in reality only agreed to contribute two thousand soldiers, and these only for four months' service, within a very strict territorial limit, and under promise of immediate reimbursement of the expenses thus incurred. these facts, together with the avowal that their magnanimous ally had all along been secretly treating for peace with the common enemy, did not make a cheerful impression upon those plain-spoken republicans, nor was it much consolation to them to receive the assurance that "after the king's death his affection and gratitude towards the states would be found deeply engraved upon his heart." the result of such a future autopsy might seem a matter of comparative indifference, since meantime the present effect to the republic of those deep emotions was a treacherous desertion. calvaert, too, who had so long haunted the king like his perpetual shadow, and who had believed him--at least so far as the netherlands were concerned--to be almost without guile, had been destined after all to a rude awakening. sick and suffering, he did not cease, so long as life was in him, to warn the states-general of the dangers impending over them from the secret negotiations which their royal ally was doing his best to conceal from them, and as to which he had for a time succeeded so dexterously in hoodwinking their envoy himself. but the honest and energetic agent of the republic did not live to see the consummation of these manoeuvres of henry and the pope. he died in paris during the month of june of this year. certainly the efforts of spanish and papal diplomacy had not been unsuccessful in bringing about a dissolution of the bonds of amity by which the three powers seemed so lately to be drawing themselves very closely together. the republic and henry iv. were now on a most uncomfortable footing towards each other. on the other hand, the queen was in a very ill humour with the states and very angry with henry. especially the persistent manner in which the hollanders carried on trade with spain and were at the same time making fortunes for themselves and feeding the enemy, while englishmen, on pain of death, were debarred from participation in such traffic, excited great and general indignation in england. in vain was it represented that this trade, if prohibited to the commonwealth would fall into the hands of neutral powers, and that spain would derive her supplies from the baltic and other regions as regularly as ever, while the republic, whose whole life was in her foreign commerce, would not only become incapable of carrying on the war but would perish of inanition. the english statesmen threatened to declare all such trade contraband, and vessels engaging in it lawful prize to english cruisers. burghley declared, with much excitement, to canon, that he, as well as all the council, considered the conduct of the hollanders so unjustifiable as to make them regret that their princess had ever embarked with a state which chose to aid its own enemies in the destruction of itself and its allies. such conduct was so monstrous that those who were told of it would hardly believe it. the dutch envoy observed that there were thirty thousand sailors engaged in this trade, and he asked the lord treasurer whether he proposed that these people should all starve or be driven into the service of the enemy. burghley rejoined that the hollanders had the whole world beside to pursue their traffic in, that they did indeed trade over the whole world, and had thereby become so extraordinarily, monstrously rich that there was no believing it. caron declared his sincere wish that this was true, but said, on the contrary, that he knew too well what extreme trouble and labour the states-general had in providing for the expenses of the war and in extracting the necessary funds from the various communities. this would hardly be the case were such great wealth in the land as was imagined. but still the english counsellors protested that they would stop this trading with the enemy at every hazard. on the question of peace or war itself the republican diplomatists were often baffled as to the true intentions of the english government. "as the queen is fine and false," said marquis havre, observing and aiding in the various intrigues which were weaving at brussels, "and her council much the same, she is practising towards the hollanders a double stratagem. on the one hand she induces them to incline to a general peace. on the other, her adherents, ten or twelve in number of those who govern holland and have credit with the people, insist that the true. interest of the state is in a continuation of the war." but havre, adept in diplomatic chicane as he undoubtedly was, would have found it difficult to find any man of intelligence or influence in that rebellious commonwealth, of which he was once a servant, who had any doubt on that subject. it needed no english argument to persuade olden-barneveld, and the other statesmen who guided the destiny of the republic, that peace would be destruction. moreover, there is no question that both the queen and burghley would have been truly grateful had the states-general been willing to make peace and return to the allegiance which they had long since spurned. nevertheless it is difficult to say whether there were at this moment more of animosity in elizabeth's mind towards her backsliding ally, with whom she had so recently and so pompously sworn an eternal friendship, or towards her ancient enemy. although she longed for peace, she hardly saw her way to it, for she felt that the secret movements of henry had in a manner barred the path. she confessed to the states' envoy that it was as easy for her to make black white as to make peace with spain. to this caron cordially assented, saying with much energy, "there is as much chance for your majesty and for us to make peace, during the life of the present king of spain, as to find redemption in hell." to the danish ambassadors, who had come to england with proposals of mediation, the queen had replied that the king of spain had attacked her dominions many times, and had very often attempted her assassination, that after long patience she had begun to defend herself, and had been willing to show him that she had the courage and the means, not only to maintain herself against his assaults, but also to invade his realms; that, therefore, she was not disposed to speak first; nor to lay down any conditions. yet, if she saw that the king of spain had any remorse for his former offences against her, and wished to make atonement for them, she was willing to declare that her heart was not so alienated from peace; but that she could listen to propositions on the subject. she said, too, that such a peace must be a general one, including both the king of france and the states of the netherlands, for with these powers she had but lately made an offensive and defensive league against the king of spain, from which she protested that for no consideration in the world would she ever swerve one jot. certainly these were words of christian charity and good faith, but such professions are the common staple of orations and documents for public consumption. as the accounts became more and more minute, however, of henry's intrigues with albert, philip, and clement, the queen grew more angry. she told caron that she was quite aware that the king had long been in communication with the cardinal's emissaries, and that he had even sent some of his principal counsellors to confer with the cardinal himself at arras, in direct violation of the stipulations of the league. she expressed her amazement at the king's conduct; for she knew very well, she said, that the league had hardly been confirmed and sworn to, before he was treating with secret agents sent to him by the cardinal. "and now," she continued, "they propose to send an ambassador to inform me of the whole proceeding, and to ask my advice and consent in regard to negotiations which they have, perchance, entirely concluded." she further informed the republican envoy that the king had recently been taking the ground in these dealings with the common enemy; that the two kingdoms of france and england must first be provided for; that when the basis between these powers and spain had been arranged, it would be time to make arrangements for the states, and that it would probably be found advisable to obtain a truce of three or four years between them and spain, in which interval the government of the provinces might remain on its actual footing. during this armistice the king of spain was to withdraw all spanish troops from the netherlands, in consequence of which measure all distrust would by degrees vanish, and the community, becoming more and more encouraged, would in time recognise the king for their sovereign once more. this, according to the information received by elizabeth from her resident minister in france, was henry's scheme for carrying out the principles of the offensive and defensive league, which only the year before he had so solemnly concluded with the dutch republic. instead of assisting that commonwealth in waging her war of independence against spain, he would endeavour to make it easy for her to return peacefully to her ancient thraldom. the queen asked caron what he thought of the project. how could that diplomatist reply but with polite scorn? not a year of such an armistice would elapse, he said, before the spanish partisans would have it all their own way in the netherlands, and the king of spain would be master of the whole country. again and again he repeated that peace, so long as philip lived, was an impossibility for the states. no doubt that monarch would gladly consent to the proposed truce, for it, would be indeed strange if by means of it he could not so establish himself in the provinces as to easily overthrow the sovereigns who were thus helping him to so advantageous a position. the queen listened patiently to a long and earnest remonstrance in this vein made by the envoy, and assured him that not even to gain another kingdom would she be the cause of a return of the provinces to the dominion of spain. she would do her best to dissuade the king from his peace negotiations; but she would listen to de maisae, the new special envoy from henry, and would then faithfully report to caron, by word of mouth, the substance of the conversation. the states-general did not deserve to be deceived, nor would she be a party to any deception, unless she were first cheated herself. "i feel indeed," she added, "that matters are not always managed as they should be by your government, and that you have not always treated princes, especially myself, as we deserve to be treated. nevertheless, your state is not a monarchy, and so we must take all things into consideration, and weigh its faults against its many perfections." with this philosophical--and in the mouth of elizabeth tudor, surely very liberal--reflection, the queen terminated the interview with the republican envoy. meantime the conferences with the special ambassador of france proceeded. for, so soon as henry had completed all his arrangements, and taken his decision to accept the very profitable peace offered to him by spain, he assumed that air of frankness which so well became him, and candidly avowed his intention of doing what he had already done. hurault de maisse arrived in england not long before the time when the peace-commissioners were about assembling at vervins. he was instructed to inform her majesty that he had done his best to bring about a general alliance of the european powers from which alone the league concluded between england, france, and the netherlands would have derived substantial strength. but as nothing was to be hoped for from germany, as england offered but little assistance, and as france was exhausted by her perpetual conflicts, it had become necessary for the king to negotiate for a peace. he now wished to prove, therefore, to the queen, as to a sister to whom he was under such obligations, that the interests of england were as dear to him as those of france. the proof of these generous sentiments did not, however, seem so clear as could be wished, and there were very stormy debates, so soon as the ambassador found himself in conference with her majesty's counsellors. the english statesmen bitterly reproached the french for having thus lightly thrown away the alliance between the two countries, and they insisted upon the duty of the king to fulfil his solemn engagements. the reply was very frank and very decided. kings, said de maisse, never make treaties except with the tacit condition to embrace every thing that may be useful to them, and carefully to avoid every thing prejudicial to their interests. the corollary from this convenient and sweeping maxim was simple enough. the king could not be expected, by his allies to reject an offered peace which was very profitable, nor to continue a war which, was very detrimental. all that they could expect was that he should communicate his intentions to them, and this he was now very cheerfully doing. such in brief were the statements of de maisse. the english were indignant. they also said a stout word for the provinces, although it has been made sufficiently clear that they did not love that upstart republic. but the french ambassador replied that his, master really meant secretly to assist the states in carrying on the war until they should make an arrangement. he should send them very powerful succours for this purpose, and he expected confidently that england would assist him in this line of conduct. thus henry was secretly pledging himself, to make underhand but substantial war against spain, with which power he was at that instant concluding peace, while at the same time he was abandoning his warlike league with the queen and the republic, in order to affect that very pacification. truly the morality of the governing powers of the earth was not entirely according to the apostolic standard. the interviews between the queen and the new ambassador were, of course, on his part, more courteous in tone than those with the counsellors, but mainly to the same effect. de maisse stated that the spanish king had offered to restore every place that he held in france, including calais, brittany, and the marquisate of saluces, and as he likewise manifested a willingness to come to favourable terms with her majesty and with the states, it was obviously the duty of henry to make these matters known to her majesty, in whose hands was thus placed the decision between peace or continuation of the war. the queen asked what was the authority for the supposition that england was to be included by spain in the pacification. de maisse quoted president richardot. in that case, the queen remarked, it was time for her to prepare for a third spanish armada. when a former envoy from france had alluded to richardot as expressing the same friendly sentiments on the part of his sovereign and himself, she had replied by referring to the sham negotiations of bourbourg, by which the famous invasion of had been veiled, and she had intimated her expectation that another spanish fleet would soon be at her throat. and within three weeks of the utterance of her prophecy the second armada, under santa gadea, had issued from spain to assail her realms. now then, as richardot was again cited as a peace negotiator, it was time to look for a third invasion. it was an impertinence for secretary of state villeroy to send her word about richardot. it was not an impertinence in king henry, who understood war-matters better than he did affairs of state, in which kings were generally governed by their counsellors and secretaries, but it was very strange that villeroy should be made quiet with a simple declaration of richardot. the queen protested that she would never consent to a peace with spain, except with the knowledge and consent of the states. de maisse replied that the king was of the same mind, upon which her majesty remarked that in that case he had better have apprised her and the states of his intentions before treating alone and secretly with the enemy. the envoy denied that the king had been treating. he had only been listening to what the king of spain had to propose, and suggesting his own wishes and intentions. the queen rejoined that this was treating if anything was, and certainly her majesty was in the right if the term has any meaning at all. elizabeth further reproachfully observed, that although the king talked about continuing the war, he seemed really tired of that dangerous pursuit, in which he had exercised himself so many long years, and that he was probably beginning to find a quiet and agreeable life more to his taste. she expressed the hope, however, that he would acquit himself honourably towards herself and her allies, and keep the oaths which he had so solemnly sworn before god. such was the substance of the queen's conversations with de maisse, as she herself subsequently reported them to the states' envoy. the republican statesmen had certainly cause enough to suspect henry's intentions, but they did not implicitly trust elizabeth. they feared that both king and queen were heartily sick of the war, and disposed to abandon the league, while each was bent on securing better terms than the other in any negotiations for peace. barneveld--on the whole the most sagacious of the men then guiding the affairs of europe, although he could dispose of but comparatively slender resources, and was merely the chief minister of a scarcely-born little commonwealth of some three million souls--was doing his best to save the league and to divert henry from thoughts of peace. feeling that the queen, notwithstanding her professions to caron and others, would have gladly entered into negotiations with philip, had she found the door as wide open as henry had found it, he did his best to prevent both his allies from proceeding farther in that direction. he promised the french envoy at the hague that not only would the republic continue to furnish the four thousand soldiers as stipulated in the league, but that if henry would recommence active operations, a states' army of nine thousand foot and two thousand horse should at once take the field on the flemish frontier of france, and aid in the campaign to the full extent of their resources. if the king were disposed to undertake the siege of calais, the advocate engaged that he should be likewise energetically assisted in that enterprise. nor was it suggested in case the important maritime stronghold were recovered that it should be transferred, not to the sovereign of france, but to the dominions of the republic. that was the queen's method of assisting an ally, but it was not the practice of the states. buzanval, who was quite aware of his master's decision to conclude peace, suggested henry's notion of a preliminary and general truce for six months. but of course barneveld rejected the idea with horror. he felt, as every intelligent statesman of the commonwealth could not but feel, that an armistice would be a death-blow. it would be better, he said, for the states to lose one or two towns than to make a truce, for there were so many people in the commonwealth sure to be dazzled by the false show of a pacification, that they would be likely, after getting into the suburbs, to wish to enter the heart of the city. "if," said the advocate, "the french and the english know what they are doing when they are, facilitating the spanish dominion in the provinces, they would prefer to lose a third of their own kingdoms to seeing the spaniard absolute master here." it was determined, in this grave position of affairs, to send a special mission both to france and to england with the advocate as its chief. henry made no objections to this step, but, on the contrary, affected much impatience for the arrival of the envoys, and ascribed the delay to the intrigues of elizabeth. he sent word to prince maurice and to barneveld that he suspected the queen of endeavouring to get before him in negotiating with spain in order to obtain calais for herself. and, in truth, elizabeth very soon afterwards informed barneveld that she might really have had calais, and have got the better of the king in these secret transactions. meantime, while the special mission to france and england was getting ready to depart, an amateur diplomatist appeared in brussels, and made a feeble effort to effect a reconciliation between the republic and the cardinal. this was a certain van der meulen, an antwerp merchant who, for religious reasons, had emigrated to leyden, and who was now invited by the cardinal archduke to brussels to confer with his counsellors as to the possibility of the rebellious states accepting his authority. for, as will soon be indicated, philip had recently resolved on a most important step. he was about to transfer the sovereignty of all the netherlands to his daughter isabella and her destined husband, cardinal albert. it would, obviously, therefore, be an excessively advantageous arrangement for those new sovereigns if the rebellious states would join hands with the obedient provinces, accept the dominion of albert and isabella and give up their attempt to establish a republican government. accordingly the cardinal had intimated that the states would be allowed the practice of their religion, while the military and civil functionaries might retain office. he even suggested that he would appoint maurice of nassau his stadholder for the northern provinces, unless he should prefer a high position in the imperial armies. such was the general admiration felt in spain and elsewhere for the military talents of the prince, that he would probably be appointed commander-in-chief of the forces against mahomet. van der meulen duly reported all these ingenious schemes to the states, but the sturdy republicans only laughed at them. they saw clearly enough through such slight attempts to sow discord in their commonwealth, and to send their great chieftain to turkey. a most affectionate letter, written by the cardinal-archduke to the states-general, inviting them to accept his sovereignty, and another from the obedient provinces to the united states of the same purport, remained unanswered. but the antwerp merchant, in his interviews with the crafty politicians who surrounded the cardinal, was able at least to obtain some insight into the opinions prevalent at brussels; and these were undoubtedly to the effect that both england and france were willing enough to abandon the cause of the netherlands, provided only that they could obtain satisfactory arrangements for themselves. van der meulen remarked to richardot that in all their talk about a general peace nothing had been said of the queen of england, to whom the states were under so great obligations, and without whom they would never enter into any negotiations. richardot replied that the queen had very sagaciously provided for the safety of her own kingdom, and had kept up the fire everywhere else in order to shelter herself. there was more difficulty for this lady, he said, than for any of the rest. she had shown herself very obstinate, and had done them a great deal of mischief. they knew very well that the king of france did not love her. nevertheless, as they had resolved upon a general peace, they were willing to treat with her as well as with the others. etext editor's bookmarks: auction sales of judicial ermine decline a bribe or interfere with the private sale of places famous fowl in every pot fellow worms had been writhing for half a century in the dust for his humanity towards the conquered garrisons (censured) historical scepticism may shut its eyes to evidence imagining that they held the world's destiny in their hands king had issued a general repudiation of his debts loud, nasal, dictatorial tone, not at all agreeable peace would be destruction repudiation of national debts was never heard of before some rude lessons from that vigorous little commonwealth such a crime as this had never been conceived (bankruptcy) they liked not such divine right nor such gentle-mindedness whether murders or stratagems, as if they were acts of virtue history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter xxxiv. mission of the states to henry to prevent the consummation of peace with spain--proposal of henry to elevate prince maurice to the sovereignty, of the states--embarkation of the states' envoys for england--their interview with queen elizabeth--return of the envoys from england--demand of elizabeth for repayment of her advances to the republic--second embassy to england--final arrangement between the queen and the states. the great advocate was now to start on his journey in order to make a supreme effort both with henry and with elizabeth to prevent the consummation of this fatal peace. admiral justinus of nassau, natural son of william the silent, was associated with barneveld in the mission, a brave fighting man, a staunch patriot, and a sagacious counsellor; but the advocate on this occasion, as in other vital emergencies of the commonwealth, was all in all. the instructions of the envoys were simple. they were to summon the king to fulfil his solemnly sworn covenants with the league. the states-general had never doubted, they said, that so soon as the enemy had begun to feel the effects, of that league he would endeavour to make a composition with one or other of the parties in order to separate them, and to break up that united strength which otherwise he could never resist. the king was accordingly called upon to continue the war against the common enemy, and the states-general offered, over and above the four hundred and fifty thousand florins promised by them for the support of the four thousand infantry for the year , to bring their whole military power, horse and foot, into the field to sustain his majesty in the war, whether separately or in conjunction, whether in the siege of cities or in open campaigns. certainly they could hardly offer fairer terms than these. henry had complained, and not unreasonably, that elizabeth had made no offers of assistance for carrying on the war either to fonquerolles or to hurault de maisse; but he certainly could make no reproach of that nature against the republic, nor assign their lukewarmness as an excuse for his desertion. the envoys were ready to take their departure for france on the last day of january. it might be a curious subject to consider how far historical events are modified and the world's destiny affected by the different material agencies which man at various epochs has had at his disposal. the human creature in his passions and ambitions, his sensual or sordid desires, his emotional and moral nature, undergoes less change than might be hoped from age to age. the tyrant; the patriot, the demagogue, the voluptuary, the peasant, the trader, the intriguing politician, the hair-splitting diplomatist, the self-sacrificing martyr, the self-seeking courtier, present essentially one type in the twelfth, the sixteenth, the nineteenth, or any other century. the human tragi-comedy seems ever to repeat itself with the same bustle, with the same excitement for immediate interests, for the development of the instant plot or passing episode, as if the universe began and ended with each generation--as in reality it would appear to do for the great multitude of the actors. there seems but a change of masks, of costume, of phraseology, combined with a noisy but eternal monotony. yet while men are produced and are whirled away again in endless succession, man remains, and to all appearance is perpetual and immortal even on this earth. whatever science acquires man inherits. whatever steadfastness is gained for great moral truths which change not through the ages--however they may be thought, in dark or falsely brilliant epochs, to resolve themselves into elemental vapour--gives man a securer foothold in his onward and upward progress. the great, continuous history of that progress is not made up of the reigns of kings or the lives of politicians, with whose names history has often found it convenient to mark its epochs. these are but milestones on the turnpike. human progress is over a vast field, and it is only at considerable intervals that a retrospective view enables us to discern whether the movement has been slow or rapid, onward or retrograde. the record of our race is essentially unwritten. what we call history is but made up of a few scattered fragments, while it is scarcely given to human intelligence to comprehend the great whole. yet it is strange to reflect upon the leisurely manner in which great affairs were conducted in the period with which we are now occupied, as compared with the fever and whirl of our own times, in which the stupendous powers of steam and electricity are ever-ready to serve the most sublime or the most vulgar purposes of mankind. whether there were ever a critical moment in which a rapid change might have been effected in royal or national councils, had telegraphic wires and express trains been at the command of henry, or burghley, or barneveld, or the cardinal albert, need not and cannot be decided. it is almost diverting, however, to see how closely the intrigues of cabinets, the movements of armies, the plans of patriots, were once dependent on those natural elements over which man has now gained almost despotic control. here was the republic intensely eager to prevent, with all speed, the consummation of a treaty between its ally and its enemy--a step which it was feared might be fatal to its national existence, and concerning which there seemed a momentary hesitation. yet barneveld and justinus of nassau, although ready on the last day of january, were not able to sail from the brill to dieppe until the th march, on account of a persistent south-west wind. after forty-six days of waiting, the envoys, accompanied by buzanval, henry's resident at the hague, were at last, on the th march, enabled to set sail with a favourable breeze. as it was necessary for travellers in that day to provide themselves with every possible material for their journey--carriages, horses, hosts of servants, and beds, fortunate enough if they found roads and occasionally food--barneveld and nassau were furnished with three ships of war, while another legation on its way to england had embarked in two other vessels of the same class. a fleet of forty or fifty merchantmen sailed under their convoy. departing from the brill in this imposing manner, they sailed by calais, varying the monotony of the voyage by a trifling sea-fight with some cruisers from that spanish port, neither side receiving any damage. landing at dieppe on the morning of the th, the envoys were received with much ceremony at the city gates by the governor of the place, who conducted them in a stately manner to a house called the king's mansion, which he politely placed at their disposal. "as we learned, however," says barneveld, with grave simplicity; "that there was no furniture whatever in that royal abode, we thanked his excellency, and declared that we would rather go to a tavern." after three days of repose and preparation in dieppe, they started at dawn on their journey to rouen, where they arrived at sundown. on the next morning but one they set off again on their travels, and slept that night at louviers. another long day's journey brought them to evreux. on the th they came to dreux, on the th to chartres, and on the th to chateaudun. on the th, having started an hour before sunrise, they were enabled after a toilsome journey to reach blois at an hour after dark. exhausted with fatigue, they reposed in that city for a day, and on the st april proceeded, partly by the river loire and partly by the road, as far as tours. here they were visited by nobody, said barneveld, but fiddlers and drummers, and were execrably lodged. nevertheless they thought the town in other respects agreeable, and apparently beginning to struggle out of the general desolation of, france. on the end april they slept at langeais, and on the night of the rd reached saumur, where they were disappointed at the absence of the illustrious duplessis mornay, then governor of that city. a glance at any map of france will show the course of the journey taken by the travellers, which, after very hard work and great fatigue, had thus brought them from dieppe to saumur in about as much time as is now consumed by an average voyage from europe to america. in their whole journey from holland to saumur, inclusive of the waiting upon the wind and other enforced delays, more than two months had been consumed. twenty-four hours would suffice at present for the excursion. at saumur they received letters informing them that the king was "expecting them with great devotion at angiers." a despatch from cecil, who was already with henry, also apprised them that he found "matters entirely arranged for a peace." this would be very easily accomplished, he said, for france and england, but the great difficulty was for the netherlands. he had come to france principally for the sake of managing affairs for the advantage of the states, but he begged the envoys not to demean themselves as if entirely bent on war. they arrived at angiers next day before dark, and were met at a league's distance from the gates by the governor of the castle, attended by young prince frederic henry of nassau; followed by a long train of nobles and mounted troops. welcomed in this stately manner on behalf of the king, the envoys were escorted to the lodgings provided for them in the city. the same evening they waited on the widowed princess of orange, louisa of coligny, then residing temporarily with her son in angiera, and were informed by her that the king's mind was irrevocably fixed on peace. she communicated, however, the advice of her step-son in law, the duke of bouillon, that they should openly express their determination to continue the war, notwithstanding that both their majesties of england and france wished to negotiate. thus the counsels of bouillon to the envoys were distinctly opposed to those of cecil, and it was well known to them that the duke was himself sincerely anxious that the king should refuse the pacific offers of spain. next morning, th april, they were received at the gates of the castle by the governor of anjou and the commandant of the citadel of angiers, attended by a splendid retinue, and were conducted to the king, who was walking in the garden of the fortress. henry received them with great demonstrations of respect, assuring them that he considered the states-general the best and most faithful friends that he possessed in the world, and that he had always been assisted by them in time of his utmost need with resoluteness and affection. the approach of the english ambassador, accompanied by the chancellor of france and several other persons, soon brought the interview to a termination. barneveld then presented several gentlemen attached to the mission, especially his son and hugo grotius, then a lad of fifteen, but who had already gained such distinction at leyden that scaliger, pontanus; heinsius, dousa, and other professors, foretold that he would become more famous than erasmus. they were all very cordially received by the king, who subsequently bestowed especial marks of his consideration upon the youthful grotius. the same day the betrothal of monsieur caesar with the daughter of the duke of mercoeur was celebrated, and there was afterwards much dancing and banqueting at the castle. it was obvious enough to the envoys that the matter of peace and war was decided. the general of the franciscans, sent by the pope, had been flitting very busily for many months between rome, madrid, brussels, and paris, and there could be little doubt that every detail of the negotiations between france and spain had been arranged while olden-barneveld and his colleague had been waiting for the head-wind to blow itself out at the brill. nevertheless no treaty had as yet been signed, and it was the business of the republican diplomatists to prevent the signature if possible. they felt, however, that they were endeavouring to cause water to run up hill. villeroy, de maisse, and buzanval came to them to recount, by the king's order, everything that had taken place. this favour was, however, the less highly appreciated by them, as they felt that the whole world was in a very short time to be taken as well into the royal confidence. these french politicians stated that the king, after receiving the most liberal offers of peace on the part of spain, had communicated all the facts to the queen, and had proposed, notwithstanding these most profitable overtures, to continue the war as long as her majesty and the states-general would assist him in it. de maisse had been informed, however, by the queen that she had no means to assist the king withal, and was, on the contrary, very well disposed to make peace. the lord treasurer had avowed the same opinions as his sovereign, had declared himself to be a man of peace, and had exclaimed that peace once made he would sing "nunc dimitte servum tuum domine." thereupon, at the suggestion of the legate, negotiations had begun at vervins, and although nothing was absolutely concluded, yet sir robert cecil, having just been sent as special ambassador from the queen, had brought no propositions whatever of assistance in carrying on the war, but plenty of excuses about armadas, irish rebellions, and the want of funds. there was nothing in all this, they said, but want of good will. the queen had done nothing and would do nothing for the league herself, nor would she solicit for it the adherence of other kings and princes. the king, by making peace, could restore his kingdom to prosperity, relieve the distress of his subjects, and get back all his lost cities--calais, ardres, dourlens, blavet, and many more--without any expense of treasure or of blood. certainly there was cogency in this reasoning from the point of view of the french king, but it would have been as well to state, when he was so pompously making a league for offensive and defensive war, that his real interests and his real purposes were peace. much excellent diplomacy, much ringing of bells, firing of artillery, and singing of anthems in royal chapels, and much disappointment to honest dutchmen, might have thus been saved. it is also instructive to observe the difference between the accounts of de maisse's negotiations in england given by that diplomatist himself, and those rendered by the queen to the states' envoy. of course the objurgations of the hollanders that the king, in a very fallacious hope of temporary gain to himself, was about to break his solemn promises to his allies and leave them to their fate, drew but few tears down the iron cheeks of such practised diplomatists as villeroy and his friends. the envoys visited de rosuy, who assured them that he was very much their friend, but gave them to understand that there was not the slightest possibility of inducing the king to break off the negotiations. before taking final leave of his majesty they concluded, by advice of the princess of orange and of buzanval, to make the presents which they had brought with them from the states-general. accordingly they sent, through the hands of the princess, four pieces of damask linen and two pieces of fine linen to the king's sister, madame catherine, two pieces of linen to villeroy, and two to the beautiful gabrielle. the two remaining pieces were bestowed upon buzanval for his pains in accompanying them on the journey and on their arrival at court. the incident shows the high esteem in which the netherland fabrics were held at that period. there was a solemn conference at last between the leading counsellors of the king, the chancellor, the dukes of espernon and bouillon, count schomberg, and de sancy, plessis, buzanval, maisse, the dutch envoys, and the english ambassador and commissioner herbert. cecil presided, and barneveld once more went over the whole ground, resuming with his usual vigour all the arguments by which the king's interest and honour were proved to require him to desist from the peace negotiations. and the orator had as much success as is usual with those who argue against a foregone conclusion. everyone had made up his mind. everyone knew that peace was made. it is unnecessary, therefore, to repeat the familiar train of reasoning. it is superfluous to say that the conference was barren. on the same evening villeroy called on the states' envoys, and informed them plainly, on the part of the king, that his majesty had fully made up his mind. on the rd april--three mortal weeks having thus been wasted in diplomatic trilling--barneveld was admitted to his majesty's dressing-room. the advocate at the king's request came without his colleague, and was attended only by his son. no other persons were present in the chamber save buzanval and beringen. the king on this occasion confirmed what had so recently been stated by villeroy. he had thoroughly pondered, he said, all the arguments used by the states to dissuade him from the negotiation, and had found them of much weight. the necessities of his kingdom, however, compelled him to accept a period of repose. he would not, however, in the slightest degree urge the states to join in the treaty. he desired their security, and would aid in maintaining it. what had most vexed him was that the protestants with great injustice accused him of intending to make war upon them. but innumerable and amazing reports were flying abroad, both among his own subjects, the english, and the enemies' spies, as to these secret conferences. he then said that he would tell the duke of bouillon to speak with sir robert cecil concerning a subject which now for the first time he would mention privately to olden-barneveld. the king then made a remarkable and unexpected suggestion. alluding to the constitution of the netherlands, he remarked that a popular government in such emergencies as those then existing was subject to more danger than monarchies were, and he asked the advocate if he thought there was no disposition to elect a prince. barneveld replied that the general inclination was rather for a good republic. the government, however, he said, was not of the people, but aristocratic, and the state was administered according to laws and charters by the principal inhabitants, whether nobles or magistrates of cities. since the death of the late prince of orange, and the offer made to the king of france, and subsequently to the queen of england, of the sovereignty, there had been no more talk on that subject, and to discuss again so delicate a matter might cause divisions and other difficulties in the state. henry then spoke of prince maurice, and asked whether, if he should be supported by the queen of england and the king of france, it would not be possible to confer the sovereignty upon him. here certainly was an astounding question to be discharged like a pistol-shot full in the face of a republican minister. the answer of the advocate was sufficiently adroit if not excessively sincere. if your majesty, said he, together with her majesty the queen, think the plan expedient, and are both willing on this footing to continue the war, to rescue all the netherlands from the hands of the spaniards and their adherents, and thus render the states eternally obliged to the sovereigns and kingdoms of france and england, my lords the states-general would probably be willing to accept this advice. but the king replied by repeating that repose was indispensable to him. without inquiring for the present whether the project of elevating maurice to the sovereignty of the netherlands, at the expense of the republican constitution, was in harmony or not with the private opinions of barneveld at that period, it must be admitted that the condition he thus suggested was a very safe one to offer. he had thoroughly satisfied himself during the period in which he had been baffled by the southwest gales at the brill and by the still more persistent head-winds which he had found prevailing at the french court, that it was hopeless to strive for that much-desired haven, a general war. the admiral and himself might as well have endeavoured to persuade mahomet iii. and sigismund of poland to join the states in a campaign against cardinal albert, as to hope for the same good offices from elizabeth and henry. having received exactly the answer which he expected, he secretly communicated, next day, to cecil the proposition thus made by the king. subsequently he narrated the whole conversation to the queen of england. on the th april both barneveld and nassau were admitted to the royal dressing-room in nantes citadel for a final audience. here, after the usual common places concerning his affection for the netherlands, and the bitter necessity which compelled him to desert the alliance, henry again referred to his suggestion in regard to prince maurice; urging a change from a republican to a monarchical form of government as the best means of preserving the state. the envoys thanked the king for all the honours conferred upon them, but declared themselves grieved to the heart by his refusal to grant their request. the course pursued by his majesty, they said, would be found very hard of digestion by the states, both in regard to the whole force of the enemy which would now come upon their throats, and because of the bad example thus set for other powers. they then took leave, with the usual exchange of compliments. at their departure his majesty personally conducted them through various apartments until they came to the chamber of his mistress, the duchess of beaufort, then lying in childbed. here he drew wide open the bed-curtains, and bade them kiss the lady. they complied, and begging the duchess to use her influence in their behalf, respectfully bade her farewell. she promised not to forget their request, and thanked them for the presents of damask and fine linen. such was the result of the mission of the great advocate and his colleague to henry iv., from which so much had been hoped; and for anything useful accomplished, after such an expenditure of time, money, and eloquence, the whole transaction might have begun and ended in this touching interview with the beautiful gabrielle. on the th of may the envoys embarked at dieppe for england, and on the th were safely lodged with the resident minister of the republic, noel de caron, at the village of clapham. having so ill-succeeded in their attempts to prevent the treaty between france and spain, they were now engaged in what seemed also a forlorn hope, the preservation of their offensive and defensive alliance with england. they were well aware that many of the leading counsellors of elizabeth, especially burghley and buckhurst, were determined upon peace. they knew that the queen was also heartily weary of the war and of the pugnacious little commonwealth which had caused her so much expense. but they knew, too, that henry, having now secured the repose of his own kingdom, was anything but desirous that his deserted allies should enjoy the same advantage. the king did not cease to assure the states that he would secretly give them assistance in their warfare against his new ally, while secretary of state villeroy, as they knew, would place every possible impediment in the way of the queen's negotiations with spain. elizabeth, on her part, was vexed with everybody. what the states most feared was that she might, in her anger or her avarice, make use of the cautionary towns in her negotiations with philip. at any rate, said francis aerssens, then states' minister in france, she will bring us to the brink of the precipice, that we may then throw ourselves into her arms in despair. the queen was in truth resolved to conclude a peace if a peace could be made. if not, she was determined to make as good a bargain with the states as possible, in regard to the long outstanding account of her advances. certainly it was not unreasonable that she should wish to see her exchequer reimbursed by people who, as she believed, were rolling in wealth, the fruit of a contraband commerce which she denied to her own subjects, and who were in honour bound to pay their debts to her now, if they wished her aid to be continued. her subjects were impoverished and panting for peace, and although, as she remarked, "their sense of duty restrained them from the slightest disobedience to her absolute commands," still she could not forgive herself for thus exposing them to perpetual danger. she preferred on the whole, however, that the commonwealth should consent to its own dissolution; for she thought it unreasonable that--after this war of thirty years, during fifteen of which she had herself actively assisted them--these republican calvinists should, refuse to return to the dominion of their old tyrant and the pope. to barneveld, maurice of nassau, and the states-general this did not seem a very logical termination to so much hard fighting. accordingly, when on the th of may the two envoys fell on their knees--as the custom was--before the great queen, and had been raised by her to their feet again, they found her majesty in marvellously ill-humour. olden-barneveld recounted to her the results of their mission to france, and said that from beginning to end it had been obvious that there could be no other issue. the king was indifferent, he had said, whether the states preferred peace or war, but in making his treaty he knew that he had secured a profit for himself, inflicted damage on his enemy, and done no harm to his friends. her majesty then interrupted the speaker by violent invectives against the french king for his treachery. she had written with her own hand, she said, to tell him that she never had believed him capable of doing what secretaries and other servants had reported concerning him, but which had now proved true. then she became very abusive to the dutch envoys, telling them that they were quite unjustifiable in not following sir robert cecil's advice, and in not engaging with him at once in peace negotiations; at least so far as to discover what the enemy's intentions might be. she added, pettishly, that if prince maurice and other functionaries were left in the enjoyment of their offices, and if the spaniards were sent out of the country, there seemed no reason why such terms should not be accepted. barneveld replied that such accommodation was of course impossible, unless they accepted their ancient sovereign as prince. then came the eternal two points--obedience to god, which meant submission to the pope; and obedience to the king, that was to say, subjection to his despotic authority. thus the christian religion would be ruined throughout the provinces, and the whole land be made a bridge and a ladder for spanish ambition. the queen here broke forth into mighty oaths, interrupting the envoy's discourse, protesting over and over again by the living god that she would not and could not give the states any further assistance; that she would leave them to their fate; that her aid rendered in their war had lasted much longer than the siege of troy did, and swearing that she had been a fool to help them and the king of france as she had done, for it was nothing but evil passions that kept the states so obstinate. the envoy endeavoured to soothe her, urging that as she had gained the reputation over the whole world of administering her affairs with admirable, yea with almost divine wisdom, she should now make use of that sagacity in the present very difficult matter. she ought to believe that it was not evil passion, nor ambition, nor obstinacy that prevented the states from joining in these negotiations, but the determination to maintain their national existence, the christian religion, and their ancient liberties and laws. they did not pretend, he said, to be wiser than great monarch or their counsellors, but the difference between their form of government and a monarchy must be their excuse. monarchs, when they made treaties, remained masters, and could protect their realms and their subjects from danger. the states-general could not accept a prince without placing themselves under his absolute authority, and the netherlanders would never subject themselves to their deadly enemy, whom they had long ago solemnly renounced. surely these remarks of the advocate should have seemed entirely unanswerable. surely there was no politician in europe so ignorant as not to know that any treaty of peace between philip and the states meant their unconditional subjugation and the complete abolition of the protestant religion. least of all did the queen of england require information on this great matter of state. it was cruel trifling therefore, it was inhuman insolence on her part, to suggest anything like a return of the states to the dominion of spain. but her desire for peace and her determination to get back her money overpowered at that time all other considerations. the states wished to govern themselves, she said; why then could they not make arrangements against all dangers, and why could they not lay down conditions under which the king would not really be their master; especially if france and england should guarantee them against any infraction of their rights. by the living god! by the living god! by the living god! she swore over and over again as her anger rose, she would never more have anything to do with such people; and she deeply regretted having thrown away her money and the lives of her subjects in so stupid a manner. again the grave and experienced envoy of the republic strove with calm and earnest words to stay the torrent of her wrath; representing that her money and her pains had by no means been wasted, that the enemy had been brought to shame and his finances to confusion; and urging her, without paying any heed to the course pursued by the king of france, to allow the republic to make levies of troops, at its own expense, within her kingdom. but her majesty was obdurate. "how am i to defend myself?" she cried; "how are the affairs of ireland to be provided for? how am i ever to get back my money? who is to pay the garrisons of brill and flushing?" and with this she left the apartment, saying that her counsellors would confer with the envoys.' from the beginning to the end of the interview the queen was in a very evil temper, and took no pains to conceal her dissatisfaction with all the world. now there is no doubt whatever that the subsidies furnished by england to the common cause were very considerable, amounting in fourteen years, according to the queen's calculation, to nearly fourteen hundred thousand pounds sterling. but in her interviews with the republican statesmen she was too prone to forget that it was a common cause, to forget that the man who had over and over again attempted her assassination, who had repeatedly attempted the invasion of her realms with the whole strength of the most powerful military organization in the world, whose dearest wish on earth was still to accomplish her dethronement and murder, to extirpate from england the religion professed by the majority of living englishmen, and to place upon her vacant throne a spanish, german, or italian prince, was as much her enemy as he was the foe of his ancient subjects in the netherlands. at that very epoch philip was occupied in reminding the pope that the two had always agreed as to the justice of the claims of the infanta isabella to the english crown, and calling on his holiness to sustain those pretensions, now that she had been obliged, in consequence of the treaty with the prince of bearne, to renounce her right to reign over france. certainly it was fair enough for the queen and her, counsellors to stand out for an equitable arrangement of the debt; but there was much to dispute in the figures. when was ever an account of fifteen years' standing adjusted, whether between nations or individuals, without much wrangling? meantime her majesty held excellent security in two thriving and most important netherland cities. but had the states consented to re-establish the spanish authority over the whole of their little protestant republic, was there an english child so ignorant of arithmetic or of history as not to see how vast would be the peril, and how incalculable the expense, thus caused to england? yet besides the cecils and the lord high admiral, other less influential counsellors of the crown--even the upright and accomplished buckhurst, who had so often proved his friendship for the states--were in favour of negotiation. there were many conferences with meagre results. the englishmen urged that the time had come for the states to repay the queen's advances, to relieve her from future subsidies, to assume the payment of the garrisons in the cautionary towns, and to furnish a force in defence of england when attacked. such was the condition of the kingdom, they said--being, as it was, entirely without fortified cities--that a single battle would imperil the whole realm, so that it was necessary to keep the enemy out of it altogether. these arguments were not unreasonable, but the inference was surely illogical. the special envoys from the republic had not been instructed to treat about the debt. this had been the subject of perpetual negotiation. it was discussed almost every day by the queen's commissioners at the hague and by the states' resident minister at london. olden-barneveld and the admiral had been sent forth by the staten in what in those days was considered great haste to prevent a conclusion of a treaty between their two allies and the common enemy. they had been too late in france, and now, on arriving in england, they found that government steadily drifting towards what seemed the hopeless shipwreck of a general peace. what must have been the grief of olden-barneveld when he heard from the lips of the enlightened buckhurst that the treaty of had been arranged to expire--according to the original limitation--with a peace, and that as the states could now make peace and did not choose to do so, her majesty must be considered as relieved from her contract of alliance, and as justified in demanding repayment of her advances! to this perfidious suggestion what could the states' envoy reply but that as a peace such as the treaty of presupposed--to wit, with security for the protestant religion and for the laws and liberties of the provinces--was impossible, should the states now treat with the king or the cardinal? the envoys had but one more interview with, the queen, in which she was more benignant in manner but quite as peremptory in her demands. let the states either thoroughly satisfy her as to past claims and present necessities, or let them be prepared for her immediate negotiation with the enemy. should she decide to treat, she would not be unmindful of their interests, she said, nor deliver them over into the enemy's hands. she repeated, however, the absurd opinion that there were means enough of making philip nominal sovereign of all the netherlands, without allowing him to exercise any authority over them. as if the most catholic and most absolute monarch that ever breathed could be tied down by the cobwebs of constitutional or treaty stipulations; as if the previous forty years could be effaced from the record of history. she asked, too, in case the rumours of the intended transfer of the netherlands to the cardinal or the infanta should prove true, which she doubted, whether this arrangement would make any difference in the sentiments of the states. barneveld replied that the transfer was still uncertain, but that they had no more confidence in the cardinal or the infants than in the king of spain himself. on taking leave of the queen the envoys waited upon lord burghley, whom they found sitting in an arm-chair in his bedchamber, suffering from the gout and with a very fierce countenance. he made no secret of his opinions in favour of negotiation, said that the contracts made by monarchs should always be interpreted reasonably, and pronounced a warm eulogy on the course pursued by the king of france. it was his majesty's duty, he said, to seize the best opportunity for restoring repose to his subjects and his realms, and it was the duty of other sovereigns to do the same. the envoys replied that they were not disposed at that moment to sit in judgment upon the king's actions. they would content themselves with remarking that in their opinion even kings and princes were bound by their, contracts, oaths, and pledges before god and man; and with this wholesome sentiment they took leave of the lord high treasurer. they left london immediately, on the last day of may, without, passports. or despatches of recal, and embarked at gravesend in the midst of a gale of wind. lord essex, the sincere friend of the republic, was both surprised and disturbed at their sudden departure, and sent a special courier, after them to express his regrets at the unsatisfactory termination to their mission: "my mistress knows very well," said he, "that she is an absolute princess, and that, when her ministers have done their extreme duty, she wills what she wills." the negotiations between england and spain were deferred, however, for a brief space, and a special message was despatched to the hague as to the arrangement of the debt. "peace at once with philip," said the queen, "or else full satisfaction of my demands." now it was close dealing between such very thrifty and acute bargainers as the queen and the netherland republic. two years before, the states had offered to pay twenty thousand pounds a year on her majesty's birthday so long as the war should last, and after a peace, eighty thousand pounds annually for four years. the queen, on her part, fixed the sum total of the debt at nearly a million and a half sterling, and required instant payment of at least one hundred thousand pounds on account, besides provision for a considerable annual refunding, assumption by the states of the whole cost of the garrisons in the cautionary towns, and assurance of assistance in case of an attack upon england. thus there was a whole ocean between the disputants. vere and gilpin were protocolling and marshalling accounts at the hague, and conducting themselves with much arrogance and bitterness, while, meantime, barneveld had hardly had time to set his foot on his native shores before he was sent back again to england at the head of another solemn legation. one more effort was to be made to arrange this financial problem and to defeat the english peace party. the offer of the year just alluded to was renewed and instantly rejected. naturally enough, the dutch envoys were disposed, in the exhausting warfare which was so steadily draining their finances, to pay down as little as possible on the nail, while providing for what they considered a liberal annual sinking fund. the english, on the contrary, were for a good round sum in actual cash, and held the threatened negotiation with spain over the heads of the unfortunate envoys like a whip. so the queen's counsellors and the republican envoys travelled again and again over the well-worn path. on the th june, buckhurst took olden-barneveld into his cabinet, and opened his heart to him, not as a servant of her majesty, he said, but as a private englishman. he was entirely for peace. now that peace was offered to her majesty, a continuance of the war was unrighteous, and the lord god's blessing could not be upon it. without god's blessing no resistance could be made by the queen nor by the states to the enemy, who was ten times more powerful than her majesty in kingdoms, provinces, number of subjects, and money. he had the pope, the emperor, the dukes of savoy and lorraine, and the republic of genoa, for his allies. he feared that the war might come upon england, and that they might be fated on one single day to win or lose all. the queen possessed no mines, and was obliged to carry on the war by taxing her people. the king had ever-flowing fountains in his mines; the queen nothing but a stagnant pool, which, when all the water was pumped out, must in the end be dry. he concluded, therefore, that as her majesty had no allies but the netherlands, peace was best for england, and advisable for the provinces. arrangements could easily be made to limit the absolute authority of spain. this highly figurative view of the subject--more becoming to the author of ferrex and porrex than to so, experienced a statesman as sackville had become since his dramatic days--did not much impress barneveld. he answered that, although the king of spain was unquestionably very powerful, the lord god was still stronger; that england and the netherlands together could maintain the empire of the seas, which was of the utmost importance, especially for england; but that if the republic were to make her submission to spain, and become incorporate with that power, the control of the seas was lost for ever to england. the advocate added the unanswerable argument that to admit philip as sovereign, and then to attempt a limitation of his despotism was a foolish dream. buckhurst repeated that the republic was the only ally of england, that there was no confidence to be placed by her in any other power, and that for himself, he was, as always, very much the friend of the states. olden-barneveld might well have prayed, however, to be delivered from such friends. to thrust one's head into the lion's mouth, while one's friends urge moderation on the noble animal, can never be considered a cheerful or prudent proceeding. at last, after all offers had been rejected which the envoys had ventured to make, elizabeth sent for olden-barneveld and caron and demanded their ultimatum within twenty-four hours. should it prove unsatisfactory, she would at once make peace with spain. on the st august the envoys accordingly proposed to cecil and the other ministers to pay thirty thousand pounds a year, instead of twenty thousand, so long as the war should last, but they claimed the right of redeeming the cautionary towns at one hundred thousand pounds each. this seemed admissible, and cecil and his colleagues pronounced the affair arranged. but they had reckoned without the queen after all. elizabeth sent for caron as soon as she heard of the agreement, flew into a great rage, refused the terms, swore that she would instantly make peace with spain, and thundered loudly against her ministers. "they were great beasts," she said, "if they had stated that she would not treat with the enemy. she had merely intended to defer the negotiations." so the whole business was to be done over again. at last the sum claimed by the queen, fourteen hundred thousand pounds, was reduced by agreement to eight hundred thousand, and one-half of this the envoys undertook on the part of the states to refund in annual payments of thirty thousand pounds, while the remaining four hundred thousand should be provided for by some subsequent arrangement. all attempts, however, to obtain a promise from the queen to restore the cautionary towns to the republic in case of a peace between spain and england remained futile. that was to be a bone of contention for many years. it was further agreed by the treaty, which was definitely signed on the th august, that, in case england were invaded by the common enemy, the states should send to the queen's assistance at least thirty ships of war, besides five thousand infantry and five squadrons of horse. chapter xxxv. negotiations between france and spain--conclusion of the treaty of peace--purchase of the allegiance of the french nobles--transfer of the netherlands to albert and isabella--marriage of the infante and the infanta--illness of philip ii.--horrible nature of his malady-- his last hours and death--review of his reign--extent of the spanish dominions--causes of the greatness of spain, and of its downfall-- philip's wars and their expenses--the crown revenues of spain-- character of the people--their inordinate self-esteem--consequent deficiency of labour--ecclesiastical government--revenues of the church--characteristics of the spanish clergy--foreign commerce of spain--governmental system of philip ii.--founded on the popular ignorance and superstition--extinction of liberty in spain--the holy inquisition--the work and character of philip. while the utterly barren conferences had been going on at angiers and nantes between henry iv. and the republican envoys, the negotiations had been proceeding at vervins. president richardot on behalf of spain, and secretary of state villeroy as commissioner of henry, were the chief negotiators. two old acquaintances, two ancient leaguers, two bitter haters of protestants and rebels, two thorough adepts in diplomatic chicane, they went into this contest like gladiators who thoroughly understood and respected each other's skill. richardot was recognized by all as the sharpest and most unscrupulous politician in the obedient netherlands. villeroy had conducted every intrigue of france during a whole generation of mankind. they scarcely did more than measure swords and test each other's objects, before arriving at a conviction as to the inevitable result of the encounter. it was obvious at once to villeroy that philip was determined to make peace with france in order that the triple alliance might be broken up. it was also known to the french diplomatist that the spanish king was ready for, almost every concession to henry, in order that this object might be accomplished. all that richardot hoped to save out of the various conquests made by spain over france was calais. but villeroy told him that it was useless to say a word on that subject. his king insisted on the restoration of the place. otherwise he would make no peace. it was enough, he said, that his majesty said nothing about navarre. richardot urged that at the time when the english had conquered calais it had belonged to artois, not to france. it was no more than equitable, then, that it should be retained by its original proprietor. the general of the franciscans, who acted as a kind of umpire in the transactions, then took each negotiator separately aside and whispered in his ear. villeroy shook his head, and said he had given his ultimatum. richardot acknowledged that he had something in reserve, upon which the monk said that it was time to make it known. accordingly--the two being all ears--richardot observed that what he was about to state he said with fear and trembling. he knew not what the king of spain would think of his proposition, but he would, nevertheless, utter the suggestion that calais should be handed over to the pope. his holiness would keep the city in pledge until the war with the rebels was over, and then there would be leisure enough to make definite arrangements on the subject. now villeroy was too experienced a practitioner to be imposed upon, by this ingenious artifice. moreover, he happened to have an intercepted letter in his possession in which philip told the cardinal that calais was to be given up if the french made its restitution a sine qua non. so villeroy did make it a sine qua non, and the conferences soon after terminated in an agreement on the part of spain to surrender all its conquests in france. certainly no more profitable peace than this could have been made by the french king under such circumstances, and philip at the last moment had consented to pay a heavy price for bringing discord between the three friends. the treaty was signed at vervins on the nd may, and contained thirty-five articles. its basis was that of the treaty of cateau cambresis of . restitution of all places conquered by either party within the dominions of the other since the day of that treaty was stipulated. henry recovered calais, ardres, dourlens, blavet, and many other places, and gave up the country of charolois. prisoners were to be surrendered on both sides without ransom, and such of those captives of war as had been enslaved at the galleys should be set free. the pope, the emperor, all states, and cities under their obedience or control, the duke of savoy, the king of poland and sweden, the kings of denmark and scotland, the dukes of lorraine and tuscany, the doge of venice, the republic of genoa, and many lesser states and potentates, were included in the treaty. the famous edict of nantes in favour of the protestant subjects of the french king was drawn up and signed in the city of which it bears the name at about the same time with these negotiations. its publication was, however, deferred until after the departure of the legate from france in the following year. the treaty of cateau cambresis had been pronounced the most disgraceful and disastrous one that had ever been ratified by a french monarch; and surely henry had now wiped away that disgrace and repaired that disaster. it was natural enough that he should congratulate himself on the rewards which he had gathered by deserting his allies. he had now sufficient occupation for a time in devising ways and means, with the aid of the indefatigable bethune, to pay the prodigious sums with which he had purchased the allegiance of the great nobles and lesser gentlemen of france. thirty-two millions of livres were not sufficient to satisfy the claims of these patriots, most of whom had been drawing enormous pensions from the king of spain up to the very moment, or beyond it, when they consented to acknowledge the sovereign of their own country. scarcely a, great name in the golden book of france but was recorded among these bills of sale. mayenne, lorraine, guise, nemours, mercoeur, montpensier, joyeuse, epernon, brissac, d'arlincourt, balagny, rochefort, villeroy, villars, montespan, leviston, beauvillars, and countless others, figured in the great financier's terrible account-book, from mayenne, set down at the cool amount of three and a half millions, to beauvoir or beauvillars at the more modest price of a hundred and sixty thousand livres. "i should appal my readers," said de bethune, "if i should show to them that this sum makes but a very small part of the amounts demanded from the royal treasury, either by frenchmen or by strangers, as pay and pension, and yet the total was thirty-two millions's." and now the most catholic king, having brought himself at last to exchange the grasp of friendship with the great ex-heretic, and to recognize the prince of bearne as the legitimate successor of st. louis, to prevent which consummation he had squandered so many thousands of lives, so many millions of treasure, and brought ruin to so many prosperous countries, prepared himself for another step which he had long hesitated to take. he resolved to transfer the netherlands to his daughter isabella and to the cardinal archduke albert, who, as the king had now decided, was to espouse the infanta. the deed of cession was signed at madrid on the th may, . it was accompanied by a letter of the same date from the prince philip, heir apparent to the crown. on the th may the infanta executed a procuration by which she gave absolute authority to her future husband to rule over the provinces of the netherlands, burgundy, and charolois, and to receive the oaths of the estates and of public functionaries. [see all the deeds and documents in bor, iv. - . compare herrera, iii. - . very elaborate provisions were made in regard to the children and grand-children to spring from this marriage, but it was generally understood at the time that no issue was to be expected. the incapacity of the cardinal seems to have been revealed by an indiscretion of the general of franciscans-- diplomatist and father confessor--and was supported by much collateral evidence. hence all these careful stipulations were a solemn jest, like much of the diplomatic work of this reign.] it was all very systematically done. no transfer of real estate, no 'donatio inter vivos' of mansions and messuages, parks and farms, herds and flocks, could have been effected in a more business-like manner than the gift thus made by the most prudent king to his beloved daughter. the quit-claim of the brother was perfectly regular. so also was the power of attorney, by which the infanta authorised the middle-aged ecclesiastic whom she was about to espouse to take possession in her name of the very desirable property which she had thus acquired. it certainly never occurred, either to the giver or the receivers, that the few millions of netherlanders, male and female, inhabiting these provinces in the north sea, were entitled to any voice or opinion as to the transfer of themselves and their native land to a young lady living in a remote country. for such was the blasphemous system of europe at that day. property had rights. kings, from whom all property emanated, were enfeoffed directly from the almighty; they bestowed certain privileges on their vassals, but man had no rights at all. he was property, like the ox or the ass, like the glebe which he watered with the sweat of his brow. the obedient netherlands acquiesced obediently in these new arrangements. they wondered only that the king should be willing thus to take from his crown its choicest jewels--for it is often the vanity of colonies and dependencies to consider themselves gems. the republican netherlanders only laughed at these arrangements, and treated the invitation to transfer themselves to the new sovereigns of the provinces with silent contempt. the cardinal-archduke left brussels in september, having accomplished the work committed to him by the power of attorney, and having left cardinal andrew of austria, bishop of constantia, son of the archduke ferdinand, to administer affairs during his absence. francis de mendoza, admiral of arragon, was entrusted with the supreme military command for the same interval. the double marriage of the infante of spain with the archduchess margaret of austria, and of the unfrocked cardinal albert of austria with the infanta clara eugenia isabella, was celebrated by proxy, with immense pomp, at ferrara, the pope himself officiating with the triple crown upon his head. meantime, philip ii., who had been of delicate constitution all his life, and who had of late years been a confirmed valetudinarian, had been rapidly failing ever since the transfer of the netherlands in may. longing to be once more in his favourite retirement of the escorial, he undertook the journey towards the beginning of june, and was carried thither from madrid in a litter borne by servants, accomplishing the journey of seven leagues in six days. when he reached the palace cloister, he was unable to stand. the gout, his life-long companion, had of late so tortured him in the hands and feet that the mere touch of a linen sheet was painful to him. by the middle of july a low fever had attacked him, which rapidly reduced his strength. moreover, a new and terrible symptom of the utter disintegration of his physical constitution had presented itself. imposthumes, from which he had suffered on the breast and at the joints, had been opened after the usual ripening applications, and the result was not the hoped relief, but swarms of vermin, innumerable in quantities, and impossible to extirpate, which were thus generated and reproduced in the monarch's blood and flesh. the details of the fearful disorder may have attraction for the pathologist, but have no especial interest for the general reader. let it suffice, that no torture ever invented by torquemada or peter titelman to serve the vengeance of philip and his ancestors or the pope against the heretics of italy or flanders, could exceed in acuteness the agonies which the most catholic king was now called upon to endure. and not one of the long line of martyrs, who by decree of charles or philip had been strangled, beheaded, burned, or buried alive, ever faced a death of lingering torments with more perfect fortitude, or was sustained by more ecstatic visions of heavenly mercy, than was now the case with the great monarch of spain. that the grave-worms should do their office before soul and body were parted, was a torment such as the imagination of dante might have invented for the lowest depths of his "inferno." [a great english poet has indeed expressed the horrible thought:-- "it is as if the dead could feel the icy worm about them steal:"--byron.] on the nd july, the king asked dr. mercado if his sickness was likely to have a fatal termination. the physician, not having the courage at once to give the only possible reply, found means to evade the question. on the st august his majesty's confessor, father diego de yepes, after consultation with mercado, announced to philip that the only issue to his malady was death. already he had been lying for ten days on his back, a mass of sores and corruption, scarcely able to move, and requiring four men to turn him in his bed. he expressed the greatest satisfaction at the sincerity which had now been used, and in the gentlest and most benignant manner signified his thanks to them for thus removing all doubts from his mind, and for giving him information which it was of so much importance for his eternal welfare to possess. his first thought was to request the papal nuncio, gaetano, to despatch a special courier to rome to request the pope's benediction. this was done, and it was destined that the blessing of his holiness should arrive in time. he next prepared himself to make a general confession, which lasted three days, father diego having drawn up at his request a full and searching interrogatory. the confession may have been made the more simple, however, by the statement which he made to the priest, and subsequently repeated to the infante his son, that in all his life he had never consciously done wrong to any one. if he had ever committed an act of injustice, it was unwittingly, or because he had been deceived in the circumstances. this internal conviction of general righteousness was of great advantage to him in the midst of his terrible sufferings, and accounted in great degree for the gentleness, thoughtfulness for others, and perfect benignity, which, according to the unanimous testimony of many witnesses, characterised his conduct during this whole sickness. after he had completed his long general confession, the sacrament of the lord's supper was administered to him. subsequently, the same rites were more briefly performed every few days. his sufferings were horrible, but no saint could have manifested in them more gentle resignation or angelic patience. he moralized on the condition to which the greatest princes might thus be brought at last by the hand of god, and bade the prince observe well his father's present condition, in order that, when he too should be laid thus low, he might likewise be sustained by a conscience void of offence. he constantly thanked his assistants and nurses for their care, insisted upon their reposing themselves after their daily fatigues, and ordered others to relieve them in their task. he derived infinite consolation from the many relics of saints, of which, as has been seen, he had made plentiful prevision during his long reign. especially a bone of st. alban, presented to him by clement viii., in view of his present straits, was of great service. with this relic, and with the arm of st. vincent of ferrara, and the knee-bone of st. sebastian, he daily rubbed his sores, keeping the sacred talismans ever in his sight on the altar, which was not far from his bed. he was much pleased when the priests and other bystanders assured him that the remains of these holy men would be of special efficacy to him, because he had cherished and worshipped them in times when misbelievers and heretics had treated them with disrespect. on a sideboard in his chamber a human skull was placed, and upon this skull--in ghastly mockery of royalty, in truth, yet doubtless in the conviction that such an exhibition showed the superiority of anointed kings even over death--he ordered his servants to place a golden crown. and thus, during the whole of his long illness, the antic held his state, while the poor mortal representative of absolute power lay living still, but slowly mouldering away. with perfect composure, and with that minute attention to details which had characterised the king all his lifetime, and was now more evident than ever, he caused the provisions for his funeral obsequies to be read aloud one day by juan ruys de velasco, in order that his children, his ministers, and the great officers of state who were daily in attendance upon him, might thoroughly learn their lesson before the time came for performing the ceremony. "having governed my kingdom for forty years," said he, "i now give it back, in the seventy-first year of my age, to god almighty, to whom it belongs, recommending my soul into his blessed hands, that his divine majesty may do what he pleases therewith." he then directed that after his body should have been kept as long as the laws prescribed, it should be buried thus:-- the officiating bishop was to head the procession, bearing the crucifix, and followed by the clergy. the adelantado was to come next, trailing the royal standard along the ground. then the duke of novara was to appear, bearing the crown on an open salver, covered with a black cloth, while the marquis of avillaer carried the sword of state. the coffin was to be borne by eight principal grandees, clad in mourning habiliments, and holding lighted torches. the heir apparent was to follow, attended by don garcia de loyasa, who had just been consecrated, in the place of cardinal albert, as archbishop of toledo. the body was to be brought to the church, and placed in the stately tomb already prepared for its reception. "mass being performed," said the king, "the prelate shall place me in the grave which shall be my last house until i go to my eternal dwelling. then the prince, third king of my name, shall go into the cloister of st. jerome at madrid, where he shall keep nine days mourning. my daughter, and her aunt--my sister, the ex-empress--shall for the same purpose go to the convent of the grey sisters." the king then charged his successor to hold the infanta in especial affection and consideration; "for," said he, "she has been my mirror, yea; the light of my eyes." he also ordered that the marquis of mondejar be taken from prison and set free, on condition never to show himself at court. the wife of antonio perez was also to be released from prison, in order that she might be immured in a cloister, her property being bestowed upon her daughters. as this unfortunate lady's only crime consisted in her husband's intrigue with the king's mistress, princess eboli, in which she could scarcely be considered an accomplice, this permission to exchange one form of incarceration for another did not seem an act of very great benignity. philip further provided that thirty thousand masses should be said for his soul, five hundred slaves liberated from the galleys, and five hundred maidens provided with marriage portions. after these elaborate instructions had been read, the king ordered a certain casket to be brought to him and opened in his presence. from this he took forth a diamond of great price and gave it to the infanta, saying that it had belonged to her mother, isabella of france. he asked the prince if he consented to the gift. the prince answered in the affirmative. he next took from the coffer a written document, which he handed to his son, saying, "herein you will learn how to govern your kingdoms." then he produced a scourge, which he said was the instrument with which his father, the emperor, had been in the habit of chastising himself during his retreat at the monastery of juste. he told the by-standers to observe the imperial blood by which the lash was still slightly stained. as the days wore on he felt himself steadily sinking, and asked to receive extreme unction. as he had never seen that rite performed he chose to rehearse it beforehand, and told ruys velasco; who was in constant attendance upon him, to go for minute instructions on the subject to the archbishop of toledo. the sacrament having been duly. administered; the king subsequently, on the st september, desired to receive it once more. the archbishop, fearing that the dying monarch's strength would be insufficient for the repetition of the function, informed him that the regulations of the church required in such cases only a compliance with certain trifling forms, as the ceremony had been already once thoroughly carried out. but the king expressed himself as quite determined that the sacrament should be repeated in all its parts; that he should once more--be anointed--to use the phrase of brother francis neyen--with the oil which holy athletes require in their wrestle with death. this was accordingly done in the presence of his son and daughter, and, of his chief secretaries, christopher de moura and john de idiaquez, besides the counts chinchon, fuensalido, and several other conspicuous personages. he was especially desirous that his son should be present, in order that; when he too should come to die, he might not find himself, like his father, in ignorance of the manner in which this last sacrament was to be performed. when it was finished he described himself as infinitely consoled, and as having derived even more happiness from the rite than he had dared to anticipate. thenceforth he protested that he would talk no more of the world's affairs. he had finished with all things below, and for the days or hours still remaining to him he would keep his heart exclusively fixed upon heaven. day by day as he lay on his couch of unutterable and almost unexampled misery, his confessors and others read to him from religious works, while with perfect gentleness he would insist that one reader should relieve another, that none might be fatigued. on the th september he dictated these words to christopher de moura, who was to take them to diego de yepes, the confessor:-- "father confessor, you are in the place of god, and i protest thus before his presence that i will do all that you declare necessary for my salvation. thus upon you will be the, responsibility for my omissions, because i am ready to do all." finding that the last hour was approaching, he informed don fernando de toledo where: he could find some candles of our lady of montserrat, one of which he desired to keep in his hand at the supreme moment. he also directed ruys de velasco to take from a special shrine--which he had indicated to him six years before--a crucifix which the emperor his father had held upon his death-bed. all this was accomplished according to his wish. he had already made arrangements for his funeral procession, and had subsequently provided all the details of his agony. it was now necessary to give orders as to the particulars of his burial. he knew that decomposition had made such progress even while he was still living as to render embalming impossible: he accordingly instructed don christopher to see his body wrapped in a shroud just as it lay, and to cause it to be placed in a well-soldered metallic coffin already provided. the coffin of state, in which the leaden one was to be enclosed, was then brought into the chamber by his command, that he might see if it was entirely to his taste. having examined it, he ordered that it should be lined with white satin and ornamented with gold nails and lace-work. he also described a particular brocade of black and gold, to be found in the jewelroom, which he desired for the pall. next morning he complained to don christopher that the sacrament of the lord's supper had not been administered to him for several days. it was urged that his strength was deemed insufficient, and that, as he had received that rite already four times during his illness, and extreme unction twice, it was thought that the additional fatigue might be spared him. but as the king insisted, the sacrament was once more performed and prayers were read. he said with great fervour many times, "pater, non mea voluntas, sed tux fiat." he listened, too, with much devotion to the psalm, "as the hart panteth for the water-brooks;" and he spoke faintly at long intervals of the magdalen, of the prodigal son, and of the paralytic. when these devotional exercises had been concluded, father diego expressed the hope to him that he might then pass away, for it would be a misfortune by temporary convalescence to fall from the exaltation of piety which he had then reached. the remark was heard by philip with an expression of entire satisfaction. that day both the infanta and the prince came for the last time to his bedside to receive his blessing. he tenderly expressed his regret to his daughter that he had not been permitted to witness her marriage, but charged her never to omit any exertion to augment and sustain the holy roman catholic religion in the netherlands. it was in the interest of that holy church alone that he had endowed her with those provinces, and he now urged it upon her with his dying breath to impress upon her future husband these his commands to both. his two children took leave of him with tears and sobs: as the prince left the chamber he asked don christopher who it was that held the key to the treasury. the secretary replied, "it is i, sir." the prince demanded that he should give it into his hands. but don christopher excused himself, saying that it had been entrusted to him by the king, and that without his consent he could not part with it. then the prince returned to the king's chamber, followed by the secretary, who narrated to the dying monarch what had taken place. "you have done wrong," said philip; whereupon don christopher, bowing to the earth, presented the key to the prince. the king then feebly begged those about his bedside to repeat the dying words of our saviour on the cross, in order that he might hear them and repeat them in his heart as his soul was taking flight. his father's crucifix was placed in his hands, and he said distinctly, "i die like a good catholic, in faith and obedience to the holy roman church." soon after these last words had been spoken, a paroxysm, followed by faintness, came over him, and he lay entirely still. they had covered his face with a cloth, thinking that he had already expired, when he suddenly started, with great energy, opened his eyes, seized the crucifix again from the hand of don fernando de toledo, kissed it, and fell back again into agony. the archbishop and the other priests expressed the opinion that he must have had, not a paroxysm, but a celestial vision, for human powers would not have enabled him to arouse himself so quickly and so vigorously as he had done at that crisis. he did not speak again, but lay unconsciously dying for some hours, and breathed his last at five in the morning of sunday the th september. his obsequies were celebrated according to the directions which he had so minutely given. ------------------------------------ these volumes will have been written in vain if it be now necessary to recal to my readers the leading events in the history of the man who had thus left the world where, almost invisible himself, he had so long played a leading part. it may not be entirely useless, however, to throw a parting glance at a character which it has been one of the main objects of this work, throughout its whole course, to portray. my theme has been the reign of philip ii., because, as the less is included in the greater, the whole of that reign, with the exception of a few episodes, is included in the vast movement out of which the republic of the united netherlands was born and the assailed independence of france and england consolidated. the result of philip's efforts to establish a universal monarchy was to hasten the decline of the empire which he had inherited, by aggravating the evils which had long made that downfall inevitable. it is from no abstract hatred to monarchy that i have dwelt with emphasis upon the crimes of this king, and upon the vices of the despotic system, as illustrated during his lifetime. it is not probable that the military, monarchical system--founded upon conquests achieved by barbarians and pirates of a distant epoch over an effete civilization and over antique institutions of intolerable profligacy--will soon come to an end in the older world. and it is the business of europeans so to deal with the institutions of their inheritance or their choice as to ensure their steady melioration and to provide for the highest interests of the people. it matters comparatively little by what name a government is called, so long as the intellectual and moral development of mankind, and the maintenance of justice among individuals, are its leading principles. a government, like an individual, may remain far below its ideal; but, without an ideal, governments and individuals are alike contemptible. it is tyranny only--whether individual or popular--that utters its feeble sneers at the ideologists, as if mankind were brutes to whom instincts were all in all and ideas nothing. where intellect and justice are enslaved by that unholy trinity--force; dogma, and ignorance--the tendency of governments, and of those subjected to them, must of necessity be retrograde and downward. there can be little doubt to those who observe the movements of mankind during the course of the fourteen centuries since the fall of the roman empire--a mere fragment of human history--that its progress, however concealed or impeded, and whether for weal or woe, is towards democracy; for it is the tendency of science to liberate and to equalize the physical and even the intellectual forces of humanity. a horse and a suit of armour would now hardly enable the fortunate possessor of such advantages to conquer a kingdom, nor can wealth and learning be monopolised in these latter days by a favoured few. yet veneration for a crown and a privileged church--as if without them and without their close connection with each other law and religion were impossible--makes hereditary authority sacred to great masses of mankind in the old world. the obligation is the more stringent, therefore, on men thus set apart as it were by primordial selection for ruling and instructing their fellow-creatures, to keep their edicts and their practice in harmony with divine justice. for these rules cannot be violated with impunity during along succession of years, and it is usually left for a comparatively innocent generation, to atone for the sins of their forefathers. if history does not teach this it teaches nothing, and as the rules of morality; whether for individuals or for nations, are simple and devoid of mystery; there is the less excuse for governments which habitually and cynically violate the eternal law. among self-evident truths not one is more indisputable than that which, in the immortal words of our declaration of independence, asserts the right of every human being to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; but the only happiness that can be recognised by a true statesman as the birthright of mankind is that which comes from intellectual and moral development, and from the subjugation of the brutal instincts. a system according to which clowns remain clowns through all the ages, unless when extraordinary genius or fortunate accident enables an exceptional individual to overleap the barrier of caste, necessarily retards the result to which the philosopher looks forward with perfect faith. for us, whose business it is to deal with, and, so far as human fallibility will permit, to improve our inevitable form of government-which may degenerate into the most intolerable of polities unless we are ever mindful that it is yet in its rudimental condition; that, although an immense step has been taken in the right direction by the abolition of caste, the divorce of church and state, and the limitation of intrusion by either on the domain of the individual, it is yet only a step from which, without eternal vigilance, a falling back is very easy; and that here, more than in other lands, ignorance of the scientific and moral truths on--which national happiness and prosperity depend, deserves bitter denunciation--for us it is wholesome to confirm our faith in democracy, and to justify our hope that the people will prove itself equal to the awful responsibility of self-government by an occasional study of the miseries which the opposite system is capable of producing. it is for this reason that the reign of the sovereign whose closing moments have just been recorded is especially worthy of a minute examination, and i still invite a parting glance at the spectacle thus presented, before the curtain falls. the spanish monarchy in the reign of philip ii. was not only the most considerable empire then existing, but probably the most powerful and extensive empire that had ever been known. certainly never before had so great an agglomeration of distinct and separate sovereignties been the result of accident. for it was owing to a series of accidents--in the common acceptation of that term--that philip governed so mighty a realm. according to the principle that vast tracts: of the earth's surface, with the human beings feeding upon: them, were transferable in fee-simple from one man or woman to another by marriage, inheritance, or gift, a heterogeneous collection of kingdoms, principalities, provinces, and: wildernesses had been consolidated, without geographical continuity, into an artificial union--the populations differing from each other as much as human beings can differ, in race, language, institutions, and historical traditions, and resembling each other in little, save in being the property alike of the same fortunate individual. thus the dozen kingdoms of spain, the seventeen provinces of the netherlands, the kingdoms of the two sicilies, the duchy of milan, and certain fortresses and districts of tuscany, in europe; the kingdom of barbary, the coast of guinea, and an indefinite and unmeasured expanse. of other territory, in africa; the controlling outposts and cities all along the coast of the two indian peninsulas, with as much of the country as it seemed good to occupy, the straits and the, great archipelagoes, so far as they had--been visited by europeans, in asia; peru, brazil, mexico, the antilles--the whole recently discovered fourth quarter of the world in short, from the "land of fire" in the south to the frozen regions of the north--as much territory as the spanish and portuguese sea-captains could circumnavigate and the pope in the plentitude of his power and his generosity could bestow on his fortunate son, in america; all this enormous proportion of the habitable globe was the private property, of philip; who was the son of charles, who was the son of joanna, who was the daughter of isabella, whose husband was ferdinand. by what seems to us the most whimsical of political arrangements, the papuan islander, the calabrian peasant, the amsterdam merchant, the semi-civilized aztec, the moor of barbary, the castilian grandee, the roving camanche, the guinea negro, the indian brahmin, found themselves--could they but have known it--fellow-citizens of one commonwealth. statutes of family descent, aided by fraud, force, and chicane, had annexed the various european sovereignties to the crown of spain; the genius of a genoese sailor had given to it the new world, and more recently the conquest of portugal, torn from hands not strong enough to defend the national independence, had vested in the same sovereignty those oriental possessions which were due to the enterprise of vasco de gama, his comrades and successors. the, voyager, setting forth from the straits of gibraltar, circumnavigating the african headlands and cape comorin, and sailing through the molucca channel and past the isles which bore the name of philip in the eastern sea, gave the hand at last to his adventurous comrade, who, starting from the same point, and following westward in the track of magellaens and under the southern cross, coasted the shore of patagonia, and threaded his path through unmapped and unnumbered clusters of islands in the western pacific; and during this spanning of the earth's whole circumference not an inch of land or water was traversed that was not the domain of philip. for the sea, too, was his as well as the dry land. from borneo to california the great ocean was but a spanish lake, as much the king's private property as his fish-ponds at the escorial with their carp and perch. no subjects but his dared to navigate those sacred waters. not a common highway of the world's commerce, but a private path for the gratification of one human being's vanity, had thus been laid out by the bold navigators of the sixteenth century. it was for the dutch rebels to try conclusions upon this point, as they had done upon so many others, with the master of the land and sea. the opening scenes therefore in the great career of maritime adventure and discovery by which these republicans were to make themselves famous will soon engage the reader's attention. thus the causes of what is called the greatness of spain are not far to seek. spain was not a nation, but a temporary and factitious conjunction of several nations, which it was impossible to fuse into a permanent whole, but over whose united resources a single monarch for a time disposed. and the very concentration of these vast and unlimited, powers, fortuitous as it was, in this single hand, inspiring the individual, not unnaturally, with a consciousness of superhuman grandeur; impelled him to those frantic and puerile efforts to achieve the impossible which resulted, in the downfall of spain. the man who inherited so much material greatness believed himself capable of destroying the invisible but omnipotent spirit of religious and political liberty in the netherlands, of trampling out the national existence of france and of england, and of annexing those realms to his empire: it has been my task to relate, with much minuteness, how miserably his efforts failed. but his resources were great. all italy was in his hands, with the single exception of the venetian republic; for the grand duke of florence and the so-called republic of genoa were little more than his vassals, the pope was generally his other self, and the duke of savoy was his son-in-law. thus his armies, numbering usually a hundred thousand men, were supplied from the best possible sources. the italians were esteemed the best soldiers for siege; assault, light skirmishing. the german heavy troopers and arquebuseers were the most effective for open field-work, and these were to be purchased at reasonable prices and to indefinite amount from any of the three or four hundred petty sovereigns to whom what was called germany belonged. the sicilian and neapolitan pikemen, the milanese light-horse, belonged exclusively to philip, and were used, year after year, for more than a generation of mankind, to fight battles in which they had no more interest than had their follow-subjects in the moluccas or in mexico, but which constituted for them personally as lucrative a trade on the whole as was afforded them at that day by any branch of industry. silk, corn, wine, and oil were furnished in profusion from these favoured regions, not that the inhabitants might enjoy life, and, by accumulating wealth, increase the stock of human comforts and contribute to intellectual and scientific advancement, but in order that the proprietor of the soil might feed those eternal armies ever swarming from the south to scatter desolation over the plains of france, burgundy, flanders, and holland, and to make the crown of spain and the office of the holy inquisition supreme over the world. from naples and sicily were derived in great plenty the best materials and conveniences for ship-building and marine equipment. the galleys and the galley-slaves furnished by these subject realms formed the principal part of the royal navy. from distant regions, a commerce which in philip's days had become oceanic supplied the crown with as much revenue as could be expected in a period of gross ignorance as to the causes of the true grandeur and the true wealth of nations. especially from the mines of mexico came an annual average of ten or twelve millions of precious metals, of which the king took twenty-five per cent. for himself. it would be difficult and almost superfluous to indicate the various resources placed in the hands of this one personage, who thus controlled so large a portion of the earth. all that breathed or grew belonged to him, and most steadily was the stream of blood and treasure poured through the sieve of his perpetual war. his system was essentially a gigantic and perpetual levy of contributions in kind, and it is only in this vague and unsatisfactory manner that the revenues of his empire can be stated. a despot really keeps no accounts, nor need to do so, for he is responsible to no man for the way in which he husbands or squanders his own. moreover, the science of statistics had not a beginning of existence in those days, and the most common facts can hardly be obtained, even by approximation. the usual standard of value, the commodity which we call money--gold or silver--is well known to be at best a fallacious guide for estimating the comparative wealth--of individuals or of nations at widely different epochs. the dollar of philip's day was essentially the same bit of silver that it is in our time in spain, naples, rome, or america, but even should an elaborate calculation be made as to the quantity of beef, or bread or broadcloth to be obtained for that bit of silver in this or that place in the middle of the sixteenth century, the result, as compared with prices now prevalent, would show many remarkable discrepancies. thus a bushel of wheat at antwerp during philip's reign might cost a quarter of a dollar, in average years, and there have been seasons in our own time when two bushels of wheat could have been bought for a quarter of a dollar in illinois. yet if, notwithstanding this, we should allow a tenfold value in exchange to the dollar of philip's day, we should be surprised at the meagreness of his revenues, of his expenditures, and of the debts which at the close of his career brought him to bankruptcy; were the sums estimated in coin. thus his income was estimated by careful contemporary statesmen at what seemed to them the prodigious annual amount of sixteen millions of dollars. he carried on a vast war without interruption during the whole of his forty-three years' reign against the most wealthy and military nations of christendom not recognising his authority, and in so doing he is said to have expended a sum total of seven hundred millions of dollars--a statement which made men's hair stand on their heads. yet the american republic, during its civil war to repress the insurrection of the slaveholders, has spent nominally as large a sum as this every year; and the british empire in time of profound peace spends half as much annually. and even if we should allow sixteen millions to have represented the value of a hundred and sixty millions--a purely arbitrary supposition--as compared with our times, what are a hundred and sixty, millions of dollars, or thirty-three millions of pounds sterling--as the whole net revenue of the greatest empire that had ever existed in the world, when compared with the accumulated treasures over which civilized and industrious countries can now dispose? thus the power of levying men and materials in kind constituted the chief part of the royal power, and, in truth, very little revenue in money was obtained from milan or naples, or from any of the outlying european possessions of the crown. eight millions a year were estimated as the revenue from the eight kingdoms incorporated under the general name of castile, while not more than six hundred thousand came from the three kingdoms which constituted arragon. the chief sources of money receipts were a tax of ten per cent. upon sales, paid by the seller, called alcavala, and the almoxarifalgo or tariff upon both imports and exports. besides these imposts he obtained about eight hundred thousand dollars a year by selling to his subjects the privilege of eating eggs upon fast-days, according to the permission granted him by the pope, in the bull called the cruzada. he received another annual million from the sussidio and the excusado. the first was a permission originally given by the popes to levy six hundred thousand dollars a year upon ecclesiastical property for equipment of a hundred war-galleys against the saracens, but which had more recently established itself as a regular tax to pay for naval hostilities against dutch and english heretics--a still more malignant species of unbelievers in the orthodox eyes of the period. the excusado was the right accorded to the king always to select from the church possessions a single benefice and to appropriate its fruit--a levy commuted generally for four hundred thousand dollars a year. besides these regular sources of income, large but irregular amounts of money were picked up by his majesty in small sums, through monks sent about the country simply as beggars, under no special license, to collect alms from rich and poor for sustaining the war against the infidels of england and holland. a certain jesuit, father sicily by name, had been industrious enough at one period in preaching this crusade to accumulate more than a million and a half, so that a facetious courtier advised his sovereign to style himself thenceforth king, not of the two, but of the three sicilies, in honour of the industrious priest. it is worthy of remark that at different periods during philip's reign, and especially towards its close, the whole of his regular revenue was pledged to pay the interest, on his debts, save only the sussidio and the cruzada. thus the master of the greatest empire of the earth had at times no income at his disposal except the alma he could solicit from his poorest subjects to maintain his warfare against foreign miscreants, the levy on the church for war-galleys; and the proceeds of his permission to eat meat on fridays. this sounds like an epigram, but it is a plain, incontestable fact. thus the revenues of his foreign dominions being nearly consumed by their necessary expenses, the measure of his positive wealth was to be found in the riches of spain. but spain at that day was not an opulent country. it was impossible that it should be rich, for nearly every law, according to which the prosperity of a country becomes progressive; was habitually violated. it is difficult to state even by approximation the amount of its population, but the kingdoms united under the crown of castile were estimated by contemporaries to contain eight millions, while the kingdom of portugal, together with those annexed to arragon and the other provinces of the realm, must have numbered half as many. here was a populous nation in a favoured land, but the foundation of all wealth was sapped by a perverted moral sentiment. labour was esteemed dishonourable. the spaniard, from highest to lowest, was proud, ignorant, and lazy. for a people endowed by nature with many noble qualities--courage, temperance, frugality, endurance, quickness of perception; a high sense of honour, a reverence for law--the course of the national history had proved as ingeniously bad a system of general education as could well be invented. the eternal contests, century after century, upon the soil of spain between the crescent and the cross, and the remembrance of the ancient days in which oriental valour and genius had almost extirpated germanic institutions and christian faith from the peninsula, had inspired one great portion of the masses with a hatred, amounting almost to insanity, towards every form of religion except the church of rome, towards every race of mankind except the goths and vandals. innate reverence for established authority had expanded into an intensity of religious emotion and into a fanaticism of loyalty which caused the anointed monarch leading true believers against infidels to be accepted as a god. the highest industrial and scientific civilization that had been exhibited upon spanish territory was that of moors and jews. when in the course of time those races had been subjugated, massacred, or driven into exile, not only was spain deprived of its highest intellectual culture and its most productive labour, but intelligence, science, and industry were accounted degrading, because the mark of inferior and detested peoples. the sentiment of self-esteem, always a national characteristic, assumed an almost ludicrous shape. not a ragged biscayan muleteer, not a swineherd of estremadura, that did not imagine himself a nobleman because he was not of african descent. not a half-starved, ignorant brigand, gaining his living on the highways and byways by pilfering or assassination, that did not kneel on the church pavement and listen to orisons in an ancient tongue, of which he understood not a syllable, with a sentiment of christian self-complacency to which godfrey of bouillon might have been a stranger. especially those born towards the northern frontier, and therefore farthest removed from moorish contamination, were proudest of the purity of their race. to be an asturian or a gallician, however bronzed by sun and wind, was to be furnished with positive proof against suspicion of moorish blood; but the sentiment was universal throughout the peninsula. it followed as a matter of course that labour of any kind was an impeachment against this gentility of descent. to work was the province of moors, jews, and other heretics; of the marani or accursed, miscreants and descendants of miscreants; of the sanbeniti or infamous, wretches whose ancestors had been convicted by the holy inquisition of listening, however secretly, to the holy scriptures as expounded by other lips than those of roman priests. and it is a remarkable illustration of this degradation of labour and of its results, that in the reign of philip twenty-five thousand individuals of these dishonoured and comparatively industrious classes, then computed at four millions in number in the castilian kingdoms alone, had united in a society which made a formal offer to the king to pay him two thousand dollars a head if the name and privileges of hidalgo could be conferred upon them. thus an inconsiderable number of this vilest and most abject of the population--oppressed by taxation which was levied exclusively upon the low, and from which not only the great nobles but mechanics and other hidalgos were, exempt--had been able to earn and to lay by enough to offer the monarch fifty millions of dollars to purchase themselves out of semi-slavery into manhood, and yet found their offer rejected by an almost insolvent king. nothing could exceed the idleness and the frivolity of the upper classes, as depicted by contemporary and not unfriendly observers. the nobles were as idle and as ignorant as their inferiors. they were not given to tournays nor to the delights of the chase and table, but were fond of brilliant festivities, dancing, gambling, masquerading, love-making, and pompous exhibitions of equipage, furniture, and dress. these diversions--together with the baiting of bulls and the burning of protestants--made up their simple round of pleasures. when they went to the wars they scorned all positions but that of general, whether by land or sea, and as war is a trade which requires an apprenticeship; it is unnecessary to observe that these grandees were rarely able to command, having never learned to obey. the poorer spaniards were most honourably employed perhaps--so far as their own mental development was concerned--when they were sent with pike and arquebus to fight heretics in france and flanders. they became brave and indomitable soldiers when exported to the seat of war, and thus afforded proof--by strenuously doing the hardest physical work that human beings can be called upon to perform, campaigning year after year amid the ineffable deprivations, dangers, and sufferings which are the soldier's lot--that it was from no want of industry or capacity that the lower masses of spaniards in that age were the idle, listless, dice-playing, begging, filching vagabonds into which cruel history and horrible institutions had converted them at home. it is only necessary to recal these well-known facts to understand why one great element of production--human labour--was but meagrely supplied. it had been the deliberate policy of the government for ages to extirpate the industrious classes, and now that a great portion of moors and jews were exiles and outcasts, it was impossible to supply their place by native workmen. even the mechanics, who condescended to work with their hands in the towns, looked down alike upon those who toiled in the field and upon those who, attempted to grow rich by traffic. a locksmith or a wheelwright who could prove four descents of western, blood called himself a son of somebody--a hidalgo--and despised the farmer and the merchant. and those very artisans were careful not to injure themselves by excessive industry, although not reluctant by exorbitant prices to acquire in one or-two days what might seem a fair remuneration for a week, and to impress upon their customers that it was rather by way of favour that they were willing to serve them at all. labour being thus deficient, it is obvious that there could hardly have been a great accumulation, according to modern ideas, of capital. that other chief element of national wealth, which is the result of generations of labour and of abstinence, was accordingly not abundant. and even those accretions of capital, which in the course of centuries had been inevitable, were as clumsily and inadequately diffused as the most exquisite human perverseness could desire. if the object of civil and political institutions had been to produce the greatest ill to the greatest number, that object had been as nearly attained at last in spain as human imperfection permits; the efforts of government and of custom coming powerfully to the aid of the historical evils already indicated. it is superfluous to say that the land belonged not to those who lived upon it--but subject to the pre-eminent right of the crown--to a small selection of the human species. moderate holdings, small farms, peasant proprietorship's, were unknown. any kind of terrestrial possession; in short, was as far beyond the reach of those men who held themselves so haughtily and esteemed themselves so inordinately, as were the mountains in the moon. the great nobles--and of real grandees of spain there were but forty-nine, although the number of titled families was much larger--owned all the country, except that vast portion of it which had reposed for ages in the dead-hand of the church. the law of primogeniture, strictly enforced, tended with every generation to narrow the basis of society. nearly every great estate was an entail, passing from eldest son to eldest son, until these were exhausted, in which case a daughter transferred the family possessions to a new house. thus the capital of the country--meagre at best in comparison with what it might have been, had industry been honoured instead of being despised, had the most intelligent and most diligent classes been cherished rather than hunted to death or into obscure dens like vermin--was concentrated in very few hands. not only was the accumulation less than it should have been, but the slenderness of its diffusion had nearly amounted to absolute stagnation. the few possessors of capital wasted their revenues in unproductive consumption. the millions of the needy never dreamed of the possibility of deriving benefit from the capital of the rich, nor would have condescended to employ it, nor known how to employ it, had its use in any form been vouchsafed to them. the surface of spain, save only around the few royal residences, exhibited no splendour of architecture, whether in town or country, no wonders of agricultural or horticultural skill, no monuments of engineering and constructive genius in roads, bridges, docks, warehouses, and other ornamental and useful fabrics, or in any of the thousand ways in which man facilitates intercourse among his kind and subdues nature to his will. yet it can never be too often repeated that it, is only the spaniard of the sixteenth century, such as extraneous circumstances had made him, that is here depicted; that he, even like his posterity and his ancestors, had been endowed by nature with some of her noblest gifts. acuteness of intellect, wealth of imagination, heroic qualities of heart, and hand, and brain, rarely surpassed in any race, and manifested on a thousand battle-fields, and in the triumphs of a magnificent and most original literature, had not been able to save a whole nation from the disasters and the degradation which the mere words philip ii, and the holy inquisition suggest to every educated mind. nor is it necessary for my purpose to measure exactly the space which separated spain from the other leading monarchies of the day. that the standard of civilization was a vastly higher one in england, holland, or even france--torn as they all were with perpetual civil war--no thinker will probably deny; but as it is rather my purpose at this moment to exhibit the evils which may spring from a perfectly bad monarchical system, as administered by a perfectly bad king, i prefer not to wander at present from the country which was ruled for almost half a century by philip ii. besides the concentration of a great part of the capital of the country in a very small number of titled families, still another immense portion of the national wealth belonged, as already intimated, to the church. there were eleven archbishops, at the head of whom stood the archbishop of toledo, with the enormous annual revenue of three hundred thousand dollars. next to him came the archbishop of seville, with one hundred and fifty thousand dollars yearly, while the income of the others varied from fifty thousand to twenty thousand dollars respectively. there were sixty-two bishops, with annual incomes ranging from fifty thousand to six thousand dollars. the churches, also, of these various episcopates were as richly endowed as the great hierarchs themselves. but without fatiguing the reader with minute details, it is sufficient to say that one-third of the whole annual income of spain and portugal belonged to the ecclesiastical body. in return for this enormous proportion of the earth's fruits, thus placed by the caprice of destiny at their disposal, these holy men did very little work in the world. they fed their flocks neither with bread nor with spiritual food. they taught little, preached little, dispensed little in charity. very few of the swarming millions of naked and hungry throughout the land were clothed or nourished out of these prodigious revenues of the church. the constant and avowed care of those prelates was to increase their worldly, possessions, to build up the fortunes of their respective families, to grow richer and richer at the expense of the people whom for centuries they had fleeced. of gross crime, of public ostentatious immorality, such as had made the roman priesthood of that and preceding ages loathsome in the sight of man and god, the spanish church-dignitaries were innocent. avarice; greediness, and laziness were their characteristics. it is almost superfluous to say that, while the ecclesiastical princes were rolling in this almost fabulous wealth, the subordinate clergy, the mob of working priests, were needy, half-starved mendicants. from this rapid survey of the condition of the peninsula it will seem less surprising than it might do at first glance that the revenue of the greatest monarch of the world was rated at the small amount--even after due allowance for the difference of general values between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries--of sixteen millions of dollars. the king of spain was powerful and redoubtable at home and abroad, because accident had placed the control of a variety of separate realms in his single hand. at the same time spain was poor and weak, because she had lived for centuries in violation of the principles on which the wealth and strength of nations depend. moreover, every one of those subject and violently annexed nations hated spain with undying fervour, while an infernal policy--the leading characteristics of which were to sow dissensions among the nobles, to confiscate their property on all convenient occasions, and to bestow it upon spaniards and other foreigners; to keep the discontented masses in poverty, but to deprive them of the power or disposition to unite with their superiors in rank in demonstrations against the crown--had sufficed to suppress any extensive revolt in the various italian states united under philip's sceptre. still more intense than the hatred of the italians was the animosity which was glowing in every portuguese breast against the spanish sway; while even the arragonese were only held in subjection by terror, which, indeed, in one form or another, was the leading instrument of philip's government. it is hardly necessary to enlarge upon the regulations of spain's foreign commerce; for it will be enough to repeat the phrase that in her eyes the great ocean from east to west was a spanish lake, sacred to the ships of the king's subjects alone. with such a simple code of navigation coming in aid of the other causes which impoverished the land, it may be believed that the maritime traffic of the country would dwindle into the same exiguous proportions which characterised her general industry. moreover, it should never be forgotten that, although the various kingdoms of spain were politically conjoined by their personal union under one despot, they were commercially distinct. a line of custom-houses separated each province from the rest, and made the various inhabitants of the peninsula practically strangers to each other. thus there was less traffic between castile, biscay, and arragon than there was between any one of them and remote foreign nations. the biscayans, for example, could even import and export commodities to and from remote countries by sea, free of duty, while their merchandize to and from castile was crushed by imposts. as this ingenious perversity of positive arrangements came to increase the negative inconveniences caused by the almost total absence of tolerable roads, canals, bridges, and other means of intercommunication, it may be imagined that internal traffic--the very life-blood of every prosperous nation--was very nearly stagnant in spain. as an inevitable result, the most thriving branch of national industry was that of the professional smuggler, who, in the pursuit of his vocation, did his best to aid government in sapping the wealth of the nation. the whole accumulated capital of spain, together with the land--in the general sense which includes not only the soil but the immovable property of a country being thus exclusively owned by the crown, the church, and a very small number of patrician families, while the supply of labour owing to the special causes which had converted the masses of the people into paupers ashamed to work but not unwilling to beg or to rob--was incredibly small, it is obvious that, so long as the same causes continued in operation, the downfall of the country was a logical result from which there was no escape. nothing but a general revolution of mind and hand against the prevalent system, nothing but some great destructive but regenerating catastrophe, could redeem the people. and it is the condition of the people which ought always to be the prominent subject of interest to those who study the records of the past. it is only by such study that we can derive instruction from history, and enable ourselves, however dimly and feebly, to cast the horoscope of younger nations. human history, so far as it has been written, is at best a mere fragment; for the few centuries or year-thousands of which there is definite record are as nothing compared to the millions of unnumbered years during which man has perhaps walked the earth. it may be as practicable therefore to derive instruction from a minute examination in detail of a very limited period of time and space, and thus to deduce general rules for the infinite future, during which our species may be destined to inhabit this planet, as by a more extensive survey, which must however be at best a limited one. men die, but man is immortal, and it would be a sufficiently forlorn prospect for humanity if we were not able to discover causes in operation which would ultimately render the system of philip ii. impossible in any part of the globe. certainly, were it otherwise, the study of human history would be the most wearisome and unprofitable of all conceivable occupations. the festivities of courts, the magnificence of an aristocracy, the sayings and doings of monarchs and their servants, the dynastic wars, the solemn treaties; the ossa upon pelion of diplomatic and legislative rubbish by which, in the course of centuries, a few individuals or combinations of individuals have been able to obstruct the march of humanity, and have essayed to suspend the operation of elemental laws--all this contains but little solid food for grown human beings. the condition of the brave and quickwitted spanish people in the latter half of the sixteenth century gives more matter for reflection and possible instruction. that science is the hope of the world, that ignorance is the real enslaver of mankind, and therefore the natural ally of every form of despotism, may be assumed as an axiom, and it was certainly the ignorance and superstition of the people upon which the philippian policy was founded. a vast mass, entirely uneducated, half fed, half clothed, unemployed; and reposing upon a still lower and denser stratum--the millions namely of the "accursed," of the africans, and last and vilest of all, the "blessed" descendants of spanish protestants whom the holy office had branded with perpetual infamy because it had burned their progenitors--this was the people; and it was these paupers and outcasts, nearly the whole nation, that paid all the imposts of which the public revenue was composed. the great nobles, priests, and even the hidalgos, were exempt from taxation. need more be said to indicate the inevitable ruin of both government and people? and it was over such a people, and with institutions like these, that philip ii. was permitted to rule during forty-three years. his power was absolute. with this single phrase one might as well dismiss any attempt at specification. he made war or peace at will with foreign nations. he had power of life and death over all his subjects. he had unlimited control of their worldly goods. as he claimed supreme jurisdiction over their religious opinions also, he was master of their minds, bodies, and estates. as a matter of course, he nominated and removed at will every executive functionary, every judge, every magistrate, every military or civil officer; and moreover, he not only selected, according to the license tacitly conceded to him by the pontiff, every archbishop, bishop, and other church dignitary, but, through his great influence at rome, he named most of the cardinals, and thus controlled the election of the popes. the whole machinery of society, political, ecclesiastical, military, was in his single hand. there was a show of provincial privilege here and there in different parts of spain, but it was but the phantom of that ancient municipal liberty which it had been the especial care of his father and his great-grandfather to destroy. most patiently did philip, by his steady inactivity, bring about the decay of the last ruins of free institutions in the peninsula. the councils and legislative assemblies were convoked and then wearied out in waiting for that royal assent to their propositions and transactions, which was deferred intentionally, year after year, and never given. thus the time of the deputies was consumed in accomplishing infinite nothing, until the moment arrived when the monarch, without any violent stroke of state, could feel safe in issuing decrees and pragmatic edicts; thus reducing the ancient legislative and consultative bodies to nullity, and substituting the will of an individual for a constitutional fabric. to criticise the expenses of government or to attempt interference with the increase of taxation became a sorry farce. the forms remained in certain provinces after the life had long since fled. only in arragon had the ancient privileges seemed to defy the absolute authority of the monarch; and it was reserved for antonio perez to be the cause of their final extirpation. the grinning skulls of the chief justice of that kingdom and of the boldest and noblest advocates and defenders of the national liberties, exposed for years in the market-place, with the record of their death-sentence attached, informed the spaniards, in language which the most ignorant could read, that the crime of defending a remnant of human freedom and constitutional law was sure to draw down condign punishment. it was the last time in that age that even the ghost of extinct liberty was destined to revisit the soil of spain. it mattered not that the immediate cause for pursuing perez was his successful amour with the king's mistress, nor that the crime of which he was formally accused was the deadly offence of calvinism, rather than his intrigue with the eboli and his assassination of escovedo; for it was in the natural and simple sequence of events that the last vestige of law or freedom should be obliterated wherever philip could vindicate his sway. it must be admitted, too, that the king seized this occasion to strike a decisive blow with a promptness very different from his usual artistic sluggishness. rarely has a more terrible epigram been spoken by man than the royal words which constituted the whole trial and sentence of the chief justice of arragon, for the crime of defending the law of his country: "you will take john of lanuza, and you will have his head cut off." this was the end of the magistrate and of the constitution which he had defended. his power, was unlimited. a man endowed with genius and virtue, and possessing the advantages of a consummate education, could have perhaps done little more than attempt to mitigate the general misery, and to remove some of its causes. for it is one of the most pernicious dogmas of the despotic system, and the one which the candid student of history soonest discovers to be false, that the masses of mankind are to look to any individual, however exalted by birth or intellect, for their redemption. woe to the world if the nations are never to learn that their fate is and ought to be in their own hands; that their institutions, whether liberal or despotic, are the result of the national biography and of the national character, not the work of a few individuals whose names have been preserved by capricious accident as heroes and legislators. yet there is no doubt that, while comparatively powerless for good, the individual despot is capable of almost infinite mischief. there have been few men known to history who have been able to accomplish by their own exertions so vast an amount of evil as the king who had just died. if philip possessed a single virtue it has eluded the conscientious research of the writer of these pages. if there are vices--as possibly there are from which he was exempt, it is because it is not permitted to human nature to attain perfection even in evil. the only plausible explanation--for palliation there is none--of his infamous career is that the man really believed himself not a king but a god. he was placed so high above his fellow-creatures as, in good faith perhaps, to believe himself incapable of doing wrong; so that, whether indulging his passions or enforcing throughout the world his religious and political dogmas, he was ever conscious of embodying divine inspirations and elemental laws. when providing for the assassination of a monarch, or commanding the massacre of a townfull of protestants; when trampling on every oath by which a human being can bind himself; when laying desolate with fire and sword, during more than a generation, the provinces which he had inherited as his private property, or in carefully maintaining the flames of civil war in foreign kingdoms which he hoped to acquire; while maintaining over all christendom a gigantic system of bribery, corruption, and espionage, keeping the noblest names of england and scotland on his pension-lists of traitors, and impoverishing his exchequer with the wages of iniquity paid in france to men of all degrees, from princes of blood like guise and mayenne down to the obscurest of country squires, he ever felt that these base or bloody deeds were not crimes, but the simple will of the godhead of which he was a portion. he never doubted that the extraordinary theological system which he spent his life in enforcing with fire and sword was right, for it was a part of himself. the holy inquisition, thoroughly established as it was in his ancestral spain, was a portion of the regular working machinery by which his absolute kingship and his superhuman will expressed themselves. a tribunal which performed its functions with a celerity, certainty, and invisibility resembling the attributes of omnipotence; which, like the pestilence, entered palace or hovel at will, and which smote the wretch guilty or suspected of heresy with a precision against which no human ingenuity or sympathy could guard--such an institution could not but be dear to his heart. it was inevitable that the extension and perpetuation of what he deemed its blessings throughout his dominions should be his settled purpose. spain was governed by an established terrorism. it is a mistake to suppose that philip was essentially beloved in his native land, or that his religious and political system was heartily accepted because consonant to the national character. on the contrary, as has been shown, a very large proportion of the inhabitants were either secretly false to the catholic faith, or descended at least from those who had expiated their hostility to it with their lives. but the grand inquisitor was almost as awful a personage; as the king or the pope. his familiars were in every village and at every fireside, and from their fangs there was no escape. millions of spaniards would have rebelled against the crown or accepted the reformed religion, had they not been perfectly certain of being burned or hanged at the slightest movement in such a direction. the popular force in the course of the political combinations of centuries seemed at last to have been eliminated. the nobles, exempt from taxation, which crushed the people to the earth, were the enemies rather than the chieftains and champions of the lower classes in any possible struggle with a crown to which they were united by ties of interest as well as of affection, while the great churchmen, too, were the immediate dependants and of course the firm supporters of the king. thus the people, without natural leaders, without organisation, and themselves divided into two mutually hostile sections, were opposed by every force in the state. crown, nobility, and clergy; all the wealth and all that there was of learning, were banded together to suppress the democratic principle. but even this would hardly have sufficed to extinguish every spark of liberty, had it not been for the potent machinery of the inquisition; nor could that perfection of terrorism have become an established institution but for the extraordinary mixture of pride and superstition of which the national character had been, in the course of the national history, compounded. the spanish portion of the people hated the nobles, whose petty exactions and oppressions were always visible; but they had a reverential fear of the unseen monarch, as the representative both of the great unsullied christian nation to which the meanest individual was proud to belong, and of the god of wrath who had decreed the extermination of all unbelievers. the "accursed" portion of the people were sufficiently disloyal at heart, but were too much crushed by oppression and contempt to imagine themselves men. as to the netherlanders, they did not fight originally for independence. it was not until after a quarter of a century of fighting that they ever thought of renouncing their allegiance to philip. they fought to protect themselves against being taxed by the king without the consent of those constitutional assemblies which he had sworn to maintain, and to save themselves and their children from being burned alive if they dared to read the bible. independence followed after nearly a half-century of fighting, but it would never have been obtained, or perhaps demanded, had those grievances of the people been redressed. of this perfect despotism philip was thus the sole administrator. certainly he looked upon his mission with seriousness, and was industrious in performing his royal functions. but this earnestness and seriousness were, in truth, his darkest vices; for the most frivolous voluptuary that ever wore a crown would never have compassed a thousandth part of the evil which was philip's life-work. it was because he was a believer in himself, and in what he called his religion, that he was enabled to perpetrate such a long catalogue of crimes. when an humble malefactor is brought before an ordinary court of justice, it is not often, in any age or country, that he escapes the pillory or the gallows because, from his own point of view, his actions, instead of being criminal, have been commendable, and because the multitude and continuity of his offences prove him to have been sincere. and because anointed monarchs are amenable to no human tribunal, save to that terrible assize which the people, bursting its chain from time to time in the course of the ages, sets up for the trial of its oppressors, and which is called revolution, it is the more important for the great interests of humanity that before the judgment-seat of history a crown should be no protection to its wearer. there is no plea to the jurisdiction of history, if history be true to itself. as for the royal criminal called philip ii., his life is his arraignment, and these volumes will have been written in vain if a specification is now required. homicide such as was hardly ever compassed before by one human being was committed by philip when in the famous edict of he sentenced every man, woman, and child in the netherlands to death. that the whole of this population, three millions or more, were not positively destroyed was because no human energy could suffice to execute the diabolical decree. but alva, toiling hard, accomplished much of this murderous work. by the aid of the "council of blood," and of the sheriffs and executioners of the holy inquisition, he was able sometimes to put eight hundred human beings to death in a single week for the crimes of protestantism or of opulence, and at the end of half a dozen years he could boast of having strangled, drowned, burned, or beheaded somewhat more than eighteen thousand of his fellow-creatures. these were some of the non-combatant victims; for of the tens of thousands who perished during his administration alone, in siege and battle, no statistical record has been preserved. in face of such wholesale crimes, of these forty years of bloodshed, it is superfluous to refer to such isolated misdeeds as his repeated attempts to procure the assassination of the prince of orange, crowned at last by the success of balthazar gerard, nor to his persistent efforts to poison the queen of england; for the enunciation of all these murders or attempts at murder would require a repetition of the story which it has been one of the main purposes of these volumes to recite. for indeed it seems like mere railing to specify his crimes. their very magnitude and unbroken continuity, together with their impunity, give them almost the appearance of inevitable phenomena. the horrible monotony of his career stupefies the mind until it is ready to accept the principle of evil as the fundamental law of the world. his robberies, like his murders, were colossal. the vast, system of confiscation set up in the netherlands was sufficient to reduce unnumbered innocent families to beggary, although powerless to break the spirit of civil and religious liberty or to pay the expenses of subjugating a people. not often in the world's history have so many thousand individual been plundered by a foreign tyrant for no crime, save that they were rich enough to be worth robbing. for it can never be too often repeated that those confiscations and extortions were perpetrated upon catholics as well as protestants, monarchists as well as rebels; the possession of property making proof of orthodoxy or of loyalty well-nigh impossible. falsehood was the great basis of the king's character, which perhaps derives its chief importance, as a political and psychological study, from this very fact. it has been shown throughout the whole course of this history, by the evidence of his most secret correspondence, that he was false, most of all, to those to whom he gave what he called his heart. granvelle, alva, don john, alexander farnese, all those, in short, who were deepest in his confidence experienced in succession his entire perfidy, while each in turn was sacrificed to his master's sleepless suspicion. the pope himself was often as much the dupe of the catholic monarch's faithlessness as the vilest heretic had ever been. could the great schoolmaster of iniquity for the sovereigns and politicians of the south have lived to witness the practice of the monarch who had most laid to heart the precepts of the "prince," he would have felt that he had not written in vain, and that his great paragon of successful falsehood, ferdinand of arragon, had been surpassed by the great grandson. for the ideal perfection of perfidy, foreshadowed by the philosopher who died in the year of philip's birth, was thoroughly embodied at last by this potentate. certainly nicholas macchiavelli could have hoped for no more docile pupil. that all men are vile, that they are liars; scoundrels, poltroons, and idiots alike--ever ready to deceive and yet easily to be duped, and that he only is fit to be king who excels his kind in the arts of deception; by this great maxim of the florentine, philip was ever guided. and those well-known texts of hypocrisy, strewn by the same hand, had surely not fallen on stony ground when received into philip's royal soul. "often it is necessary, in order to maintain power, to act contrary to faith, contrary to charity, contrary to humanity, contrary to religion. . . . a prince ought therefore to have great care that from his mouth nothing should ever come that is not filled with those five qualities, and that to see and hear him he should appear all piety, all faith, all integrity, all humanity, all religion. and nothing is more necessary than to seem to have this last-mentioned quality. every one sees what you seem, few perceive what you are." surely this hand-book of cant had been philip's 'vade mecum' through his life's pilgrimage. it is at least a consolation to reflect that a career controlled by such principles came to an ignominious close. had the mental capacity of this sovereign been equal to his criminal intent, even greater woe might have befallen the world. but his intellect was less than mediocre. his passion for the bureau, his slavery to routine, his puerile ambition personally to superintend details which could have been a thousand times better administered by subordinates, proclaimed every day the narrowness of his mind. his diligence in reading, writing, and commenting upon despatches may excite admiration only where there has been no opportunity of judging of his labours by personal inspection. those familiar with the dreary displays of his penmanship must admit that such work could have been at least as well done by a copying clerk of average capacity. his ministers were men of respectable ability, but he imagined himself, as he advanced in life, far superior to any counsellor that he could possibly select, and was accustomed to consider himself the first statesman in the world. his reign was a thorough and disgraceful failure. its opening scene was the treaty of catean cambresis, by which a triumph over france had been achieved for him by the able generals and statesmen of his father, so humiliating and complete as to make every french soldier or politician gnash his teeth. its conclusion was the treaty of vervins with the same power, by which the tables were completely turned, and which was as utterly disgraceful to spain as that of cateau cambresis had been to france. he had spent his life in fighting with the spirit of the age--that invincible power of which he had not the faintest conception--while the utter want of adaptation of his means to his ends often bordered, not on the ludicrous, but the insane. he attempted to reduce the free netherlands to slavery and to papacy. before his death they had expanded into an independent republic, with a policy founded upon religious toleration and the rights of man. he had endeavoured all his life to exclude the bearnese from his heritage and to place himself or his daughter on the vacant throne; before his death henry iv. was the most powerful and popular sovereign that had ever reigned in france. he had sought to invade and to conquer england, and to dethrone and assassinate its queen. but the queen outwitted, outgeneralled, and outlived, him; english soldiers and sailors, assisted. by their dutch comrades in arms, accomplished on the shores of spain what the invincible armada had in vain essayed against england and holland; while england, following thenceforth the opposite system to that of absolutism and the inquisition, became, after centuries of struggles towards the right, the most powerful, prosperous, and enlightened kingdom in the world. his exchequer, so full when he ascended the throne as to excite the awe of contemporary financiers, was reduced before his death to a net income of some four millions of dollars. his armies; which had been the wonder of the age in the earlier period of his reign for discipline, courage, and every quality on which military efficiency depends, were in his later years a horde of starving, rebellious brigands, more formidable to their commanders than to the foe. mutiny was the only organised military institution that was left in his dominions, while the spanish inquisition, which it was the fell purpose of his life from youth upwards to establish over the world, became a loathsome and impossible nuisance everywhere but in its natal soil. if there be such a thing as historical evidence, then is philip ii., convicted before the tribunal of impartial posterity of every crime charged in his indictment. he lived seventy-one years and three months, he reigned forty-three years. he endured the martyrdom of his last illness with the heroism of a saint, and died in the certainty of immortal bliss as the reward of his life of evil. etext editor's bookmarks: a despot really keeps no accounts, nor need to do so all italy was in his hands every one sees what you seem, few perceive what you are god of wrath who had decreed the extermination of all unbeliever had industry been honoured instead of being despised history is but made up of a few scattered fragments hugo grotius idle, listless, dice-playing, begging, filching vagabonds ignorance is the real enslaver of mankind innocent generation, to atone for the sins of their forefathers intelligence, science, and industry were accounted degrading labour was esteemed dishonourable man had no rights at all he was property matters little by what name a government is called moral nature, undergoes less change than might be hoped names history has often found it convenient to mark its epochs national character, not the work of a few individuals proceeds of his permission to eat meat on fridays rarely able to command, having never learned to obey rich enough to be worth robbing seems but a change of masks, of costume, of phraseology selling the privilege of eating eggs upon fast-days sentiment of christian self-complacency spain was governed by an established terrorism that unholy trinity--force; dogma, and ignorance the great ocean was but a spanish lake the most thriving branch of national industry (smuggler) the record of our race is essentially unwritten thirty thousand masses should be said for his soul those who argue against a foregone conclusion three or four hundred petty sovereigns (of germany) utter want of adaptation of his means to his ends while one's friends urge moderation whole revenue was pledged to pay the interest, on his debts history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , - chapter xxxvi. commercial prospects of holland--travels of john huygen van linschoten their effect on the trade and prosperity of the netherlands--progress of nautical and geographical science--maritime exploration--fantastic notions respecting the polar regions--state of nautical science--first arctic expedition--success of the voyagers--failure of the second expedition--third attempt to discover the north-east passage--discovery of spitzbergen-- scientific results of the voyage--adventures in the frozen regions-- death of william barendz--return of the voyagers to amsterdam-- southern expedition against the spanish power--disasters attendant upon it--extent of dutch discovery. during a great portion of philip's reign the netherlanders, despite their rebellion, had been permitted to trade with spain. a spectacle had thus been presented of a vigorous traffic between two mighty belligerents, who derived from their intercourse with each other the means of more thoroughly carrying on their mutual hostilities. the war fed their commerce, and commerce fed their war. the great maritime discoveries at the close of the fifteenth century had enured quite as much to the benefit of the flemings and hollanders as to that of the spaniards and portuguese, to whom they were originally due. antwerp and subsequently amsterdam had thriven on the great revolution of the indian trade which vasco de gama's voyage around the cape had effected. the nations of the baltic and of farthest ind now exchanged their products on a more extensive scale and with a wider sweep across the earth than when the mistress of the adriatic alone held the keys of asiatic commerce. the haughty but intelligent oligarchy of shopkeepers, which had grown so rich and attained so eminent a political position from its magnificent monopoly, already saw the sources of its grandeur drying up before its eyes, now that the world's trade--for the first time in human history--had become oceanic. in holland, long since denuded of forests, were great markets of timber, whither shipbuilders and architects came from all parts of the world to gather the utensils for their craft. there, too, where scarcely a pebble had been deposited in the course of the geological transformations of our planet, were great artificial quarries of granite, and marble, and basalt. wheat was almost as rare a product of the soil as cinnamon, yet the granaries of christendom, and the oriental magazines of spices and drugs, were found chiefly on that barren spot of earth. there was the great international mart where the osterling, the turk, the hindoo, the atlantic and the mediterranean traders stored their wares and negotiated their exchanges; while the curious and highly-prized products of netherland skill--broadcloths, tapestries, brocades, laces, substantial fustians, magnificent damasks, finest linens--increased the mass of visible wealth piled mountains high upon that extraordinary soil which produced nothing and teemed with everything. after the incorporation of portugal with spain however many obstacles were thrown in the way of the trade from the netherlands to lisbon and the spanish ports. loud and bitter were the railings uttered, as we know, by the english sovereign and her statesmen against the nefarious traffic which the dutch republic persisted in carrying on with the common enemy. but it is very certain that although the spanish armadas would have found it comparatively difficult to equip themselves without the tar and the timber, the cordage, the stores, and the biscuits furnished by the hollanders, the rebellious commonwealth, if excluded from the world's commerce, in which it had learned to play so controlling a part, must have ceased to exist. for without foreign navigation the independent republic was an inconceivable idea. not only would it have been incapable of continuing the struggle with the greatest monarch in the world, but it might as well have buried itself once and for ever beneath the waves from which it had scarcely emerged. commerce and holland were simply synonymous terms. its morsel of territory was but the wharf to which the republic was occasionally moored; its home was in every ocean and over all the world. nowhere had there ever existed before so large a proportion of population that was essentially maritime. they were born sailors--men and women alike--and numerous were the children who had never set foot on the shore. at the period now treated of the republic had three times as many ships and sailors as any one nation in the world. compared with modern times, and especially with the gigantic commercial strides of the two great anglo-saxon families, the statistics both of population and of maritime commerce in that famous and most vigorous epoch would seem sufficiently meagre. yet there is no doubt that in the relative estimate of forces then in activity it would be difficult to exaggerate the naval power of the young commonwealth. when therefore, towards the close of philip ii.'s reign, it became necessary to renounce the carrying trade with spain and portugal, by which the communication with india and china was effected, or else to submit to the confiscation of dutch ships in spanish ports, and the confinement of dutch sailors in the dungeons of the inquisition, a more serious dilemma was presented to the statesmen of the netherlands than they had ever been called upon to solve. for the splendid fiction of the spanish lake was still a formidable fact. not only were the portuguese and spaniards almost the only direct traders to the distant east, but even had no obstacles been interposed by government, the exclusive possession of information as to the course of trade, the pre-eminent practical knowledge acquired by long experience of that dangerous highway around the world at a time when oceanic navigation was still in its infancy, would have given a monopoly of the traffic to the descendants of the bold discoverers who first opened the great path to the world's commerce. the hollanders as a nation had never been engaged in the direct trade around the cape of good hope. fortunately however at this crisis in their commercial destiny there was a single hollander who had thoroughly learned the lesson which it was so necessary that all his countrymen should now be taught. few men of that period deserve a more kindly and more honourable remembrance by posterity for their contributions to science and the progress of civilization than john huygen van linschoten, son of a plain burgher of west friesland. having always felt a strong impulse to study foreign history and distant nations and customs; he resolved at the early age of seventeen "to absent himself from his fatherland, and from the conversation of friends and relatives," in order to gratify this inclination for self-improvement. after a residence of two years in lisbon he departed for india in the suite of the archbishop of goa, and remained in the east for nearly thirteen years. diligently examining all the strange phenomena which came under his observation and patiently recording the results of his researches day by day and year by year, he amassed a fund of information which he modestly intended for the entertainment of his friends when he should return to his native country. it was his wish that "without stirring from their firesides or counting-houses" they might participate with him in the gratification and instruction to be derived from looking upon a world then so strange, and for europeans still so new. he described the manners and customs, the laws, the religions, the social and political institutions, of the ancient races who dwelt in either peninsula of india. he studied the natural history, the botany, the geography of all the regions which he visited. especially the products which formed the material of a great traffic; the system of culture, the means of transportation, and the course of commerce, were examined by him with minuteness, accuracy, and breadth of vision. he was neither a trader nor a sailor, but a man of letters, a scientific and professional traveller. but it was obvious when he returned, rich with the spoils of oriental study during thirteen years of life, that the results of his researches were worthy of a wider circulation than that which he had originally contemplated. his work was given to the public in the year , and was studied with avidity not only by men of science but by merchants and seafarers. he also added to the record of his indian experiences a practical manual for navigators. he described the course of the voyage from lisbon to the east, the currents, the trade-winds and monsoons, the harbours, the islands, the shoals, the sunken rocks and dangerous quicksands, and he accompanied his work with various maps and charts, both general and special, of land and water, rarely delineated before his day, as well as by various astronomical and mathematical calculations. already a countryman of his own, wagenaar of zeeland, had laid the mariners of the world under special obligation by a manual which came into such universal use that for centuries afterwards the sailors of england and of other countries called their indispensable 'vade-mecum' a wagenaar. but in that text-book but little information was afforded to eastern voyagers, because, before the enterprise of linschoten, little was known of the orient except to the portuguese and spaniards, by whom nothing was communicated. the work of linschoten was a source of wealth, both from the scientific treasures which it diffused among an active and intelligent people, and the impulse which it gave to that direct trade between the netherlands and the east which had been so long deferred, and which now came to relieve the commerce of the republic, and therefore the republic itself, from the danger of positive annihilation. it is not necessary for my purpose to describe in detail the series of voyages by way of the cape of good hope which, beginning with the adventures of the brothers houtmann at this period, and with the circumnavigation of the world by olivier van noord, made the dutch for a long time the leading christian nation in those golden regions, and which carried the united netherlands to the highest point of prosperity and power. the spanish monopoly of the indian and the pacific ocean was effectually disposed of, but the road was not a new road, nor did any striking discoveries at this immediate epoch illustrate the enterprise of holland in the east. in the age just opening the homely names most dear to the young republic were to be inscribed on capes, islands, and promontories, seas, bays, and continents. there was soon to be a "staten island" both in the frozen circles of the northern and of the southern pole, as well as in that favoured region where now the mighty current of a worldwide commerce flows through the gates of that great metropolis of the western world, once called new amsterdam. those well-beloved words, orange and nassau, maurice and william, intermingled with the names of many an ancient town and village, or with the simple patronymics of hardy navigators or honoured statesmen, were to make the vernacular of the new commonwealth a familiar sound in the remotest corners of the earth; while a fifth continent, discovered by the enterprise of hollanders, was soon to be fitly baptized with the name of the fatherland. posterity has been neither just nor grateful, and those early names which dutch genius and enterprise wrote upon so many prominent points of the earth's surface, then seen for the first time by european eyes, are no longer known. the impulse given to the foreign trade of the netherlands by the publication of linschoten's work was destined to be a lasting one. meantime this most indefatigable and enterprising voyager--one of those men who had done nothing in his own estimation so long as aught remained to do--was deeply pondering the possibility of a shorter road to the opulent kingdoms of cathay and of china than the one which the genius of de gama had opened to his sovereigns. geography as a science was manifesting the highest activity at that period, but was still in a rudimentary state. to the hollanders especially much of the progress already made by it was owing. the maps of the world by mercator of leyden, published on a large scale, together with many astronomical and geographical charts, delineations of exploration, and other scientific works, at the magnificent printing establishment of william blaeuw, in amsterdam, the friend and pupil of tycho brahe, and the first in that line of typographers who made the name famous, constituted an epoch in cosmography. another ardent student of geography lived in amsterdam, peter plancius by name, a calvinist preacher, and one of the most zealous and intolerant of his cloth. in an age and a country which had not yet thoroughly learned the lesson taught by hundreds of thousands of murders committed by an orthodox church, he was one of those who considered the substitution of a new dogma and a new hierarchy, a new orthodoxy and a new church, in place of the old ones, a satisfactory result for fifty, years of perpetual bloodshed. nether torquemada nor peter titelmann could have more thoroughly abhorred a jew or a calvinist than peter plancius detested a lutheran, or any other of the unclean tribe of remonstranta. that the intolerance of himself and his comrades was confined to fiery words, and was not manifested in the actual burning alive of the heterodox, was a mark of the advance made by the mass of mankind in despite of bigotry. it was at any rate a solace to those who believed in human progress; even in matters of conscience, that no other ecclesiastical establishment was ever likely to imitate the matchless machinery for the extermination of heretical vermin which the church of rome had found in the spanish inquisition. the blasts of denunciation from the pulpit of plancius have long since mingled with empty air and been forgotten, but his services in the cause of nautical enterprise and geographical science, which formed, as it were, a relaxation to what he deemed the more serious pursuits of theology, will endear his name for ever to the lovers of civilization. plancius and dr. francis maalzoon--the enlightened pensionary of enkhuizen--had studied long and earnestly the history and aspects of the oceanic trade, which had been unfolding itself then for a whole century, but was still comparatively new, while barneveld, ever ready to assist in the advancement of science, and to foster that commerce which was the life of the commonwealth, was most favourably disposed towards projects of maritime exploration. for hitherto, although the hollanders had been among the hardiest and the foremost in the art of navigation they had contributed but little to actual discovery. a genoese had led the way to america, while one portuguese mariner had been the first to double the southern cape of africa, and another, at the opposite side of the world, had opened what was then supposed the only passage through the vast continent which, according to ideas then prevalent, extended from the southern pole to greenland, and from java to patagonia. but it was easier to follow in the wake of columbus, gama, or magellan, than to strike out new pathways by the aid of scientific deduction and audacious enterprise. at a not distant day many errors, disseminated by the boldest of portuguese navigators, were to be corrected by the splendid discoveries of sailors sent forth by the dutch republic, and a rich harvest in consequence was to be reaped both by science and commerce. it is true, too, that the netherlanders claimed to have led the way to the great voyages of columbus by their discovery of the azores. joshua van den berg, a merchant of bruges, it was vigorously maintained, had landed in that archipelago in the year . he had found there, however, no vestiges of the human race, save that upon the principal island, in the midst of the solitude, was seen--so ran the tale--a colossal statue of a man on horseback, wrapped in a cloak, holding the reins of his steed in his left hand, and solemnly extending his right arm to the west. this gigantic and solitary apparition on a rock in the ocean was supposed to indicate the existence of a new world, and the direction in which it was to be sought, but it is probable that the shipwrecked fleeting was quite innocent of any such magnificent visions. the original designation of the flemish islands, derived from their first colonization by netherlanders, was changed to azores by portuguese mariners, amazed at the myriads of hawks which they found there. but if the netherlanders had never been able to make higher claims as discoverers than the accidental and dubious landing upon an unknown shore of a tempest-tost mariner, their position in the records of geographical exploration would not be so eminent as it certainly is. meantime the eyes of linschoten, plancius, maalzoon, barneveld, and of many other ardent philosophers and patriots, were turned anxiously towards the regions of the north pole. two centuries later--and still more recently in our own day and generation--what heart has not thrilled with sympathy and with pride at the story of the magnificent exploits, the heroism, the contempt of danger and of suffering which have characterized the great navigators whose names are so familiar to the world; especially the arctic explorers of england and of our own country? the true chivalry of an advanced epoch--recognizing that there can be no sublimer vocation for men of action than to extend the boundary of human knowledge in the face of perils and obstacles more formidable and more mysterious than those encountered by the knights of old in the cause of the lord's sepulchre or the holy grail--they have thus embodied in a form which will ever awaken enthusiasm in imaginative natures, the noble impulses of our latter civilization. to win the favour of that noblest of mistresses, science; to take authoritative possession, in her name, of the whole domain of humanity; to open new pathways to commerce; to elevate and enlarge the human intellect, and to multiply indefinitely the sum of human enjoyments; to bring the inhabitants of the earth into closer and more friendly communication, so that, after some yet unimagined inventions and discoveries, and after the lapse of many years, which in the sight of the omnipotent are but as one day, the human race may form one pacific family, instead of being broken up, as are the most enlightened of peoples now, into warring tribes of internecine savages, prating of the advancement of civilization while coveting each other's possessions, intriguing against each other's interests, and thoroughly in earnest when cutting each other's throats; this is truly to be the pioneers of a possible civilization, compared to which our present culture may seem but a poor barbarism. if the triumphs and joys of the battle-field have been esteemed among the noblest themes for poet, painter, or chronicler, alike in the mists of antiquity and in the full glare of later days, surely a still more encouraging spectacle for those who believe in the world's progress is the exhibition of almost infinite valour, skill, and endurance in the cause of science and humanity. it was believed by the dutch cosmographers that some ten thousand miles of voyaging might be saved, could the passage to what was then called the kingdoms of cathay be effected by way of the north. it must be remembered that there were no maps of the unknown regions lying beyond the northern headlands of sweden. delineations of continents, islands, straits, rivers, and seas, over which every modern schoolboy pores, were not attempted even by the hand of fancy. it was perhaps easier at the end of the sixteenth century than it is now, to admit the possibility of a practical path to china and india across the pole; for delusions as to climate and geographical configuration then prevalent have long since been dispelled. while, therefore, at least as much heroism was required then as now to launch into those unknown seas, in hope to solve the dread mystery of the north; there was even a firmer hope than can ever be cherished again of deriving an immediate and tangible benefit from the enterprise. plancius and maalzoon, the states-general and prince maurice, were convinced that the true road to cathay would be found by sailing north-east. linschoten, the man who knew india and the beaten paths to india better than any other living christian, was so firmly convinced of the truth of this theory, that he volunteered to take the lead in the first expedition. many were the fantastic dreams in which even the wisest thinkers of the age indulged as to the polar regions. four straits or channels, pierced by a magic hand, led, it was thought, from the interior of muscovy towards the arctic seas. according to some speculators, however, those seas enclosed a polar continent where perpetual summer and unbroken daylight reigned, and whose inhabitants, having obtained a high degree of culture; lived in the practice of every virtue and in the enjoyment of every blessing. others peopled these mysterious regions with horrible savages, having hoofs of horses and heads of dogs, and with no clothing save their own long ears coiled closely around their limbs and bodies; while it was deemed almost certain that a race of headless men, with eyes in their breasts, were the most enlightened among those distant tribes. instead of constant sunshine, it was believed by such theorists that the wretched inhabitants of that accursed zone were immersed in almost incessant fogs or tempests, that the whole population died every winter and were only recalled to temporary existence by the advent of a tardy and evanescent spring. no doubt was felt that the voyager in those latitudes would have to encounter volcanoes of fire and mountains of ice, together with land and sea monsters more ferocious than the eye of man had ever beheld; but it was universally admitted that an opening, either by strait or sea, into the desired indian haven would reveal itself at last. the instruments of navigation too were but rude and defective compared to the beautiful machinery with which modern art and science now assist their votaries along the dangerous path of discovery. the small yet unwieldy, awkward, and, to the modern mind, most grotesque vessels in which such audacious deeds were performed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries awaken perpetual astonishment. a ship of a hundred tons burden, built up like a tower, both at stem and stern, and presenting in its broad bulbous prow, its width of beam in proportion to its length, its depression amidships, and in other sins against symmetry, as much opposition to progress over the waves as could well be imagined, was the vehicle in which those indomitable dutchmen circumnavigated the globe and confronted the arctic terrors of either pole. an astrolabe--such as martin beheim had invented for the portuguese, a clumsy astronomical ring of three feet in circumference--was still the chief machine used for ascertaining the latitude, and on shipboard a most defective one. there were no logarithms, no means of determining at sea the variations of the magnetic needle, no system of dead reckoning by throwing the log and chronicling the courses traversed. the firearms with which the sailors were to do battle with the unknown enemies that might beset their path were rude and clumsy to handle. the art of compressing and condensing provisions was unknown. they had no tea nor coffee to refresh the nervous system in its terrible trials; but there was one deficiency which perhaps supplied the place of many positive luxuries. those hollanders drank no ardent spirits. they had beer and wine in reasonable quantities, but no mention is ever made in the journals of their famous voyages of any more potent liquor; and to this circumstance doubtless the absence of mutinous or disorderly demonstrations, under the most trying circumstances, may in a great degree be attributed. thus, these navigators were but slenderly provided with the appliances with which hazardous voyages have been smoothed by modern art; but they had iron hearts, faith in themselves, in their commanders, in their republic, and in the omnipotent; perfect discipline and unbroken cheerfulness amid toil, suffering, and danger. no chapter of history utters a more beautiful homily an devotion to duty as the true guiding principle of human conduct than the artless narratives which have been preserved of many of these maritime enterprises. it is for these noble lessons that they deserve to be kept in perpetual memory. and in no individual of that day were those excellent qualities more thoroughly embodied than in william barendz, pilot and burgher of amsterdam. it was partly under his charge that the first little expedition set forth on the th of june, , towards those unknown arctic seas, which no keel from christendom had ever ploughed, and to those fabulous regions where the foot of civilized men had never trod. maalzoon, plancius, and balthaser moucheron, merchant of middelburg, were the chief directors of the enterprise; but there was a difference of opinion between them. the pensionary was firm in the faith that the true path to china would be found by steering through the passage which was known to exist between the land of nova zembla and the northern coasts of muscovy, inhabited by the savage tribes called samoyedes. it was believed that, after passing those straits, the shores of the great continent would be found to trend in a south-easterly direction, and that along that coast it would accordingly be easy to make the desired voyage to the eastern ports of china. plancius, on the contrary, indicated as the most promising passage the outside course, between the northern coast of nova zembla and the pole. three ships and a fishing yacht were provided by the cities of enkhuizen, amsterdam, and by the province of zeeland respectively. linschoten was principal commissioner on board the enkhuizen vessel, having with him an experienced mariner, brandt ijsbrantz by name, as skipper. barendz, with the amsterdam ship and the yacht, soon parted company with the others, and steered, according to the counsels of plancius and his own convictions; for the open seas of the north. and in that memorable summer, for the first time in the world's history, the whole desolate region of nova zembla was visited, investigated, and thoroughly mapped out. barendz sailed as far as latitude deg. and to the extreme north-eastern point of the island. in a tremendous storm off a cape, which he ironically christened consolationhook (troost-hoek), his ship, drifting under bare poles amid ice and mist and tempest, was nearly dashed to pieces; but he reached at last the cluster of barren islets beyond the utmost verge of nova zembla, to which he hastened to affix the cherished appellation of orange. this, however, was the limit of his voyage. his ship was ill-provisioned, and the weather had been severe beyond expectation. he turned back on the st of august, resolving to repeat his experiment early in the following year. meantime linschoten, with the ships swan and mercury, had entered the passage which they called the straits of nassau, but which are now known to all the world as the waigats. they were informed by the samoyedes of the coast that, after penetrating the narrow channel, they would find themselves in a broad and open sea. subsequent discoveries showed the correctness of the statement, but it was not permitted to the adventurers on this occasion to proceed so far. the strait was already filled with ice-drift, and their vessels were brought to a standstill, after about a hundred and fifty english miles of progress beyond the waigats; for the whole sea of tartary, converted into a mass of ice-mountains and islands, and lashed into violent agitation by a north easterly storm, seemed driving down upon the doomed voyagers. it was obvious that the sunny clime of cathay was not thus to be reached, at least upon that occasion. with difficulty they succeeded in extricating themselves from the dangers surrounding them, and emerged at last from the waigats. on the th of august, in latitude deg. ', they met the ship of barendz and returned in company to holland, reaching amsterdam on the th of september. barendz had found the seas and coasts visited by him destitute of human inhabitants, but swarming with polar bears, with seals, with a terrible kind of monsters, then seen for the first time, as large as oxen, with almost human faces and with two long tusks protruding from each grim and grotesque visage. these mighty beasts, subsequently known as walrusses or sea-horses, were found sometimes in swarms of two hundred at a time, basking in the arctic sun, and seemed equally at home on land, in the sea, and on icebergs. when aware of the approach of their human visitors, they would slide off an iceblock into the water, holding their cubs in their arms, and ducking up and down in the sea as if in sport. then tossing the young ones away, they would rush upon the boats, and endeavour to sink the strangers, whom they instinctively recognised as their natural enemies. many were the severe combats recorded by the diarist of that voyage of barendz with the walrusses and the bears. the chief result of this first expedition was the geographical investigation made, and, with unquestionable right; these earliest arctic pilgrims bestowed the names of their choice upon the regions first visited by themselves. according to the unfailing and universal impulse on such occasions, the names dear to the fatherland were naturally selected. the straits were called nassau, the island at its mouth became states or staten island; the northern coasts of tartary received the familiar appellations of new holland, new friesland, new walcheren; while the two rivers, beyond which linschoten did not advance, were designated swan and mercury respectively, after his two ships. barendz, on his part, had duly baptized every creek, bay, islet, and headland of nova zembla, and assuredly christian mariner had never taken the latitude of deg. before. yet the antiquary, who compares the maps soon afterwards published by william blaeuw with the charts now in familiar use, will observe with indignation the injustice with which the early geographical records have been defaced, and the names rightfully bestowed upon those terrible deserts by their earliest discoverers rudely torn away. the islands of orange can still be recognized, and this is almost the only vestige left of the whole nomenclature. but where are cape nassau, william's island, admiralty island, cape plancius, black-hook, cross-hook, bear's-hook, ice-hook, consolation-hook, cape desire, the straits of nassau, maurice island, staten island, enkhuizen island, and many other similar appellations. the sanguine linschoten, on his return, gave so glowing an account of the expedition that prince maurice and olden-barneveld, and prominent members of the states-general, were infected with his enthusiasm. he considered the north-east passage to china discovered and the problem solved. it would only be necessary to fit out another expedition on a larger scale the next year, provide it with a cargo of merchandize suitable for the china market, and initiate the direct polar-oriental trade without further delay. it seems amazing that so incomplete an attempt to overcome such formidable obstacles should have been considered a decided success. yet there is no doubt of the genuineness of the conviction by which linschoten was actuated. the calmer barendz, and his friend and comrade gerrit de veer, were of opinion that the philosopher had made "rather a free representation" of the enterprise of and of the prospects for the future. nevertheless, the general government, acting on linschoten's suggestion, furnished a fleet of seven ships: two from enkhuizen, two from zeeland, two from amsterdam; and a yacht which was to be despatched homeward with the news, so soon as the expedition should have passed through the straits of nassau, forced its way through the frozen gulf of tartary, doubled cape tabin, and turned southward on its direct course to china. the sublime credulity which accepted linschoten's hasty solution of the polar enigma as conclusive was fairly matched by the sedateness with which the authorities made the preparations for the new voyage. so deliberately were the broadcloths, linens, tapestries, and other assorted articles for this first great speculation to cathay, via the north pole, stowed on board the fleet, that nearly half the summer had passed before anchor was weighed in the meuse. the pompous expedition was thus predestined to an almost ridiculous failure. yet it was in the hands of great men, both on shore and sea. maurice, barneveld, and maalzoon had personally interested themselves in the details of its outfitting, linschoten sailed as chief commissioner, the calm and intrepid barendz was upper pilot of the whole fleet, and a man who was afterwards destined to achieve an immortal name in the naval history of his country, jacob heemskerk, was supercargo of the amsterdam ship. in obedience to the plans of linschoten and of maalzoon, the passage by way of the waigats was of course attempted. a landing was effected on the coast of tartary. whatever geographical information could be obtained from such a source was imparted by the wandering samoyedes. on the nd of september a party went ashore on staten island and occupied themselves in gathering some glistening pebbles which the journalist of the expedition describes with much gravity as a "kind of diamonds, very plentiful upon the island." while two of the men were thus especially engaged in a deep hollow, one of them found himself suddenly twitched from behind. "what are you pulling at me for, mate?" he said, impatiently to his comrade as he supposed. but his companion was a large, long, lean white bear, and in another instant the head of the unfortunate diamond-gatherer was off and the bear was sucking his blood. the other man escaped to his friends, and together a party of twenty charged upon the beast. another of the combatants was killed and half devoured by the hungry monster before a fortunate bullet struck him in the head. but even then the bear maintained his grip upon his two victims, and it was not until his brains were fairly beaten out with the butt end of a snaphance by the boldest of the party that they were enabled to secure the bodies of their comrades and give them a hurried kind of christian burial. they flayed the bear and took away his hide with them, and this, together with an ample supply of the diamonds of staten island, was the only merchandize obtained upon the voyage for which such magnificent preparations had been made. for, by the middle of september, it had become obviously hopeless to attempt the passage of the frozen sea that season, and the expedition returned, having accomplished nothing. it reached amsterdam upon the th of november, . the authorities, intensely disappointed at this almost ridiculous result, refused to furnish direct assistance to any farther attempts at arctic explorations. the states-general however offered a reward of twenty-five thousand florins to any navigators who might succeed in discovering the northern passage, with a proportionate sum to those whose efforts in that direction might be deemed commendable, even if not crowned with success. stimulated by the spirit of adventure and the love of science far more than by the hope of gaining a pecuniary prize, the undaunted barendz, who was firm in the faith that a pathway existed by the north of nova zembla and across the pole to farthest ind, determined to renew the attempt the following summer. the city of amsterdam accordingly, early in the year , fitted out two ships. select crews of entirely unmarried men volunteered for the enterprise. john cornelisz van der ryp, an experienced sea-captain, was placed in charge of one of the vessels, william barendz was upper pilot of the other, and heemskerk, "the man who ever steered his way through ice or iron," was skipper and supercargo. the ships sailed from the vlie on the th may. the opinions of peter plancius prevailed in this expedition at last; the main object of both ryp and barendz being to avoid the fatal, narrow, ice-clogged waigats. although identical in this determination, their views as to the configuration of the land and sea, and as to the proper course to be steered, were conflicting. they however sailed in company mainly in a n.e. by n. direction, although barendz would have steered much more to the east. on the th june the watch on deck saw, as they supposed, immense flocks of white swans swimming towards the ships, and covering the sea as far as the eye could reach. all hands came up to look at the amazing spectacle, but the more experienced soon perceived that the myriads of swans were simply infinite fields of ice, through which however they were able to steer their course without much impediment, getting into clear sea beyond about midnight, at which hour the sun was one degree above the horizon. proceeding northwards two days more they were again surrounded by ice, and, finding the "water green as grass, they believed themselves to be near greenland." on the th june they discovered an island in latitude, according to their observation, deg. ', which seemed about five miles long. in this neighbourhood they remained four days, having on one occasion a "great fight which lasted four glasses" with a polar bear, and making a desperate attempt to capture him in order to bring him as a show to holland. the effort not being successful, they were obliged to take his life to save their own; but in what manner they intended, had they secured him alive, to provide for such a passenger in the long voyage across the north pole to china, and thence back to amsterdam, did not appear. the attempt illustrated the calmness, however, of those hardy navigators. they left the island on the th june, having baptised it bear island in memory of their vanquished foe, a name which was subsequently exchanged for the insipid appellation of cherry island, in honour of a comfortable london merchant who seven years afterwards sent a ship to those arctic regions. six days later they saw land again, took the sun, and found their latitude deg. '. certainly no men had ever been within less than ten degrees of the pole before. on the longest day of the year they landed on this newly discovered country, which they at first fancied to be a part of greenland. they found its surface covered with eternal snow, broken into mighty glaciers, jagged with precipitous ice-peaks; and to this land of almost perpetual winter, where the mercury freezes during ten months in the year, and where the sun remains four months beneath the horizon, they subsequently gave the appropriate and vernacular name of spitzbergen. combats with the sole denizens of these hideous abodes, the polar bears, on the floating ice, on the water, or on land, were constantly occurring, and were the only events to disturb the monotony of that perpetual icy sunshine, where no night came to relieve the almost maddening glare. they rowed up a wide inlet on the western coast, and came upon great numbers of wild-geese sitting on their eggs. they proved to be the same geese that were in the habit of visiting holland in vast flocks every summer, and it had never before been discovered where they laid and hatched their eggs. "therefore," says the diarist of the expedition, "some voyagers have not scrupled to state that the eggs grow on trees in scotland, and that such of the fruits of those trees as fall into the water become goslings, while those which drop on the ground burst in pieces and come to nothing. we now see that quite the contrary is the case," continues de veer, with perfect seriousness, "nor is it to be wondered at, for nobody has ever been until now where those birds lay their eggs. no man, so far as known, ever reached the latitude of eighty degrees before. this land was hitherto unknown." the scientific results of this ever-memorable voyage might be deemed sufficiently meagre were the fact that the eggs of wild geese did not grow on trees its only recorded discovery. but the investigations made into the dread mysteries of the north, and the actual problems solved, were many, while the simplicity of the narrator marks the infantine character of the epoch in regard to natural history. when so illustrious a mind as grotius was inclined to believe in a race of arctic men whose heads grew beneath their shoulders; the ingenuous mariner of amsterdam may be forgiven for his earnestness in combating the popular theory concerning goslings. on the rd june they went ashore again, and occupied themselves, as well as the constant attacks of the bears would permit, in observing the variation of the needle, which they ascertained to be sixteen degrees. on the same day, the ice closing around in almost infinite masses, they made haste to extricate themselves from the land and bore southwards again, making bear island once more on the st july. here cornelius ryp parted company with heemskerk and barendz, having announced his intention to sail northward again beyond latitude deg. in search of the coveted passage. barendz, retaining his opinion that the true inlet to the circumpolar sea, if it existed, would be found n.e. of nova zembla, steered in that direction. on the th july they found themselves by observation in latitude deg., and considered themselves in the neighbourhood of sir hugh willoughby's land. four days later they were in lomms' bay, a harbour of nova zembla, so called by them from the multitude of lomms frequenting it, a bird to which they gave the whimsical name of arctic parrots. on the th july the ice obstructed their voyage; covering the sea in all directions with floating mountains and valleys, so that they came to an anchor off an islet where on a former voyage the hollanders had erected the precious emblem of christian faith, and baptised the dreary solitude cross island. but these pilgrims, as they now approached the spot, found no worshippers there, while, as if in horrible mockery of their piety, two enormous white bears had reared themselves in an erect posture, in order the better to survey their visitors, directly at the foot of the cross. the party which had just landed were unarmed, and were for making off as fast as possible to their boats. but skipper heemskerk, feeling that this would be death to all of them, said simply, "the first man that runs shall have this boat-hook of mine in his hide. let us remain together and face them off." it was done. the party moved slowly towards their boats, heemskerlk bringing up the rear, and fairly staring the polar monsters out of countenance, who remained grimly regarding them, and ramping about the cross. the sailors got into their boat with much deliberation, and escaped to the ship, "glad enough," said de veer, "that they were alive to tell the story, and that they had got out of the cat-dance so fortunately." next day they took the sun, and found their latitude deg. ', and the variation of the needle twenty-six degrees. for seventeen days more they were tossing about in mist and raging snow-storms, and amidst tremendous icebergs, some of them rising in steeples and pinnacles to a hundred feet above the sea, some grounded and stationary, others drifting fearfully around in all directions, threatening to crush them at any moment or close in about them and imprison them for ever. they made fast by their bower anchor on the evening of th august to a vast iceberg which was aground, but just as they had eaten their supper there was a horrible groaning, bursting, and shrieking all around them, an indefinite succession of awful, sounds which made their hair stand on end, and then the iceberg split beneath the water into more than four hundred pieces with a crash "such as no words could describe." they escaped any serious damage, and made their way to a vast steepled and towered block like a floating cathedral, where they again came to anchor. on the th august they reached the isles of orange, on the extreme north-eastern verge of nova zembla. here a party going ashore climbed to the top of a rising ground, and to their infinite delight beheld an open sea entirely free from ice, stretching to the s. e. and e.s.e. as far as eye could reach. at last the game was won, the passage to cathay was discovered. full of joy, they pulled back in their boat to the ship, "not knowing how to get there quick enough to tell william barendz." alas! they were not aware of the action of that mighty ocean river, the gulf-stream, which was sweeping around those regions with its warm dissolving current. three days later they returned baffled in their sanguine efforts to sail through the open sea. the ice had returned upon them, setting southwardly in obedience to the same impulse which for a moment had driven it away, and they found themselves imprisoned again near the "hook of desire." on the th august they had given up all the high hopes by which they had been so lately inspired, and, as the stream was again driving the ice from the land, they trusted to sail southward and westward back towards the waigats. having passed by nova zembla, and found no opening into the seas beyond, they were disposed in the rapidly waning summer to effect their retreat by the south side of the island, and so through the straits of nassau home. in vain. the catastrophe was upon them. as they struggled slowly past the "ice-haven," the floating mountains and glaciers, impelled by the mighty current, once more gathered around and forced them back to that horrible harbour. during the remaining days of august the ship struggled, almost like a living creature, with the perils that, beset her; now rearing in the air, her bows propped upon mighty blocks, till she absolutely sat erect upon her stern, now lying prostrate on her side, and anon righting again as the ice-masses would for a moment float away and leave her breathing space and room to move in. a blinding snow-storm was raging the while, the ice was cracking and groaning in all directions, and the ship was shrieking, so that the medley of awful sights and sounds was beyond the power of language. "'twas enough to make the hair stand on end," said gerrit de veer, "to witness the hideous spectacle." but the agony was soon over. by the st september the ship was hard and fast. the ice was as immoveable as the dry land, and she would not move again that year even if she ever floated. those pilgrims from the little republic were to spend the winter in their arctic harbour. resigning themselves without a murmur to their inevitable fate, they set about their arrangements with perfect good humour and discipline. most fortunately a great quantity of drift wood, masses of timber, and great trees torn away with their roots from distant shores, lay strewn along the coast, swept thither by the wandering currents. at once they resolved to build a house in which they might shelter themselves from the wild beasts, and from their still more cruel enemy, the cold. so thanking god for the providential and unexpected supply of building material and fuel, they lost no time in making sheds, in hauling timber, and in dragging supplies from the ship before the dayless winter should descend upon them. six weeks of steady cheerful labour succeeded. tremendous snow-storms, accompanied by hurricanes of wind, often filled the atmosphere to suffocation, so that no human being could move a ship's length without perishing; while, did any of their number venture forth, as the tempest subsided, it was often to find himself almost in the arms of a polar bear before the dangerous snow-white form could be distinguished moving sluggishly through the white chaos. for those hungry companions never left them so long as the sun remained above the horizon, swarming like insects and birds in tropical lands. when the sailors put their meat-tubs for a moment out upon the ice a bear's intrusive muzzle would forthwith be inserted to inspect the contents. maddened by hunger, and their keen scent excited by the salted provisions, and by the living flesh and blood of these intruders upon their ancient solitary domains, they would often attempt to effect their entrance into the ship. on one such occasion, when heemskerk and two companions were the whole garrison, the rest being at a distance sledding wood, the future hero of gibraltar was near furnishing a meal to his nova zembla enemies. it was only by tossing sticks and stones and marling-spikes across the ice, which the bears would instantly turn and pursue, like dogs at play with children, that the assault could be diverted until a fortunate shot was made. several were thus killed in the course of the winter, and one in particular was disembowelled and set frozen upon his legs near their house, where he remained month after month with a mass of snow and ice accumulated upon him, until he had grown into a fantastic and gigantic apparition, still wearing the semblance of their mortal foe. by the beginning of october the weather became so intensely cold that it was almost impossible to work. the carpenter died before the house was half completed. to dig a grave was impossible, but they laid him in a cleft of the ice, and he was soon covered with the snow. meantime the sixteen that were left went on as they best might with their task, and on october nd they had a house-raising. the frame-work was set up, and in order to comply with the national usage in such cases, they planted, instead of the may-pole with its fluttering streamers, a gigantic icicle before their new residence. ten days later they moved into the house and slept there for the first time, while a bear, profiting by their absence, passed the night in the deserted ship. on the th november the sun rose no more, but the moon at first shone day and night, until they were once in great perplexity to know whether it were midday or midnight. it proved to be exactly noon. the bears disappeared with the sun, but white foxes swarmed in their stead, and all day and night were heard scrambling over their roof. these were caught daily in traps and furnished them food, besides furs for raiment. the cold became appalling, and they looked in each other's faces sometimes in speechless amazement. it was obvious that the extreme limit of human endurance had been reached. their clothes were frozen stiff. their shoes were like iron, so that they were obliged to array themselves from head to foot in the skins of the wild foxes. the clocks stopped. the beer became solid. the spanish wine froze and had to be melted in saucepans. the smoke in the house blinded them. fire did not warm them, and their garments were often in a blaze while their bodies were half frozen. all through the month of december an almost perpetual snow-deluge fell from the clouds. for days together they were unable to emerge, and it was then only by most vigorous labour that they could succeed in digging a passage out of their buried house. on the night of the th december sudden death had nearly put an end to the sufferings of the whole party. having brought a quantity of seacoal from the ship, they had made a great fire, and after the smoke was exhausted, they had stopped up the chimney and every crevice of the house. each man then turned into his bunk for the night, "all rejoicing much in the warmth and prattling a long time with each other." at last an unaccustomed giddiness and faintness came over them, of which they could not guess the cause, but fortunately one of the party had the instinct, before he lost consciousness, to open the chimney, while another forced open the door and fell in a swoon upon the snow. their dread enemy thus came to their relief, and saved their lives. as the year drew to a close, the frost and the perpetual snow-tempest became, if that were possible, still more frightful. their christmas was not a merry one, and for the first few days of the new year, it was impossible for them to move from the house. on the th january, the snow-storms having somewhat abated, they once more dug themselves as it were out of their living grave, and spent the whole day in hauling wood from the shore. as their hour-glasses informed them that night was approaching, they bethought themselves that it was twelfth night, or three kings' eve. so they all respectfully proposed to skipper heemskerk, that, in the midst of their sorrow they might for once have a little diversion. a twelfth-night feast was forthwith ordained. a scanty portion of the wine yet remaining to them was produced. two pounds weight of flour, which they had brought to make paste with for cartridges, was baked into pancakes with a little oil, and a single hard biscuit was served out to each man to be sopped in his meagre allowance of wine. "we were as happy," said gerrit de veer, with simple pathos, "as if we were having a splendid banquet at home. we imagined ourselves in the fatherland with all our friends, so much did we enjoy our repast." that nothing might be omitted, lots were drawn for king, and the choice fell on the gunner, who was forthwith proclaimed monarch of nova zembla. certainly no men, could have exhibited more undaunted cheerfulness amid bears and foxes, icebergs and cold--such as christians had never conceived of before--than did these early arctic pilgrims. nor did barendz neglect any opportunity of studying the heavens. a meridian was drawn near the house, on which the compass was placed, and observations of various stars were constantly made, despite the cold, with extraordinary minuteness. the latitude, from concurrent measurement of the giant, the bull, orion, aldebaran, and other constellations--in the absence of the sun--was ascertained to be a little above seventy-six degrees, and the variations of the needle were accurately noted. on the th january it was clear weather and comparatively mild, so that heemskerk, with de veer and another, walked to the strand. to their infinite delight and surprise they again saw the disk of the sun on the edge of the horizon, and they all hastened back with the glad tidings. but barendz shook his head. many days must elapse, he said, before the declination of the sun should be once more deg., at which point in the latitude of deg. they had lost sight of the luminary on the th november, and at which only it could again be visible. this, according to his calculations, would be on the th february. two days of mirky and stormy atmosphere succeeded, and those who had wagered in support of the opinion of barendz were inclined to triumph over those who believed in the observation of heemskerk. on the th january there was, however, no mistake. the sky was bright, and the whole disk of the sun was most distinctly seen by all, although none were able to explain the phenomenon, and barendz least of all. they had kept accurate diaries ever since their imprisonment, and although the clocks sometimes had stopped, the hour-glasses had regularly noted the lapse of time. moreover, barendz knew from the ephemerides for to , published by dr. joseph scala in venice, a copy of which work he had brought with him, that on the th january, , the moon would be seen at one o'clock a.m. at venice, in conjunction with jupiter. he accordingly took as good an observation as could be done with the naked eye and found that conjunction at six o'clock a.m. of the same day, the two bodies appearing in the same vertical line in the sign of taurus. the date was thus satisfactorily established, and a calculation of the longitude of the house was deduced with an accuracy which in those circumstances was certainly commendable. nevertheless, as the facts and the theory of refraction were not thoroughly understood, nor tycho brahe's tables of refraction generally known, pilot barendz could not be expected to be wiser than his generation. the startling discovery that in the latitude of deg. the sun reappeared on the th january, instead of the th february, was destined to awaken commotion throughout the whole scientific world, and has perhaps hardly yet been completely explained. but the daylight brought no mitigation of their sufferings. the merciless cold continued without abatement, and the sun seemed to mock their misery. the foxes disappeared, and the ice-bears in their stead swarmed around the house, and clambered at night over the roof. again they constantly fought with them for their lives. daily the grave question was renewed whether the men should feed on the bears or the bears on the men. on one occasion their dead enemy proved more dangerous to them than in life, for three of their number, who had fed on bear's liver, were nearly poisoned to death. had they perished, none of the whole party would have ever left nova zembla. "it seemed," said the diarist, "that the beasts had smelt out that we meant to go away, and had just begin to have a taste for us." and thus the days wore on. the hour-glass and the almanac told them that winter had given place to spring, but nature still lay in cold obstruction. one of their number, who had long been ill, died. they hollowed a grave for him in the frozen snow, performing a rude burial service, and singing a psalm; but the cold had nearly made them all corpses before the ceremony was done. at last, on the th april, some of them climbing over the icebergs to the shore found much open sea. they also saw a small bird diving in the water, and looked upon it as a halcyon and harbinger of better fortunes. the open weather continuing, they began to hanker for the fatherland. so they brought the matter, "not mutinously but modestly and reasonably, before william barendz; that he might suggest it to heemskerk, for they were all willing to submit to his better judgment." it was determined to wait through the month of may. should they then be obliged to abandon the ship they were to make the voyage in the two open boats, which had been carefully stowed away beneath the snow. it was soon obvious that the ship was hard and fast, and that she would never float again, except perhaps as a portion of the icebergs in which she had so long been imbedded, when they should be swept off from the shore. as they now set to work repairing and making ready the frail skiffs which were now their only hope, and supplying them with provisions and even with merchandize from the ship, the ravages made by the terrible winter upon the strength of the men became painfully apparent. but heemskerk encouraged them to persevere; "for," said he, "if the boats are not got soon under way we must be content to make our graves here as burghers of nova zembla." on the th june they launched the boats, and "trusting themselves to god," embarked once more upon the arctic sea. barendz, who was too ill to walk, together with claas anderson, also sick unto death, were dragged to the strand in sleds, and tenderly placed on board. barendz had, however, despite his illness, drawn up a triple record of their voyage; one copy being fastened to the chimney of their deserted house, and one being placed in each of the boats. their voyage was full of danger as they slowly retraced their way along the track by which they reached the memorable ice haven, once more doubling the cape of desire and heading for the point of consolation--landmarks on their desolate progress, whose nomenclature suggests the immortal apologue so familiar to anglo-saxon ears. off the ice-hook, both boats came alongside each other, and skipper heemskerk called out to william barendz to ask how it was with him. "all right, mate," replied barendz, cheerfully; "i hope to be on my legs again before we reach the ward-huis." then' he begged de veer to lift him up, that he might look upon the ice-hook once more. the icebergs crowded around them, drifting this way and that, impelled by mighty currents and tossing on an agitated sea. there was "a hideous groaning and bursting and driving of the ice, and it seemed every moment as if the boats were to be dashed into a hundred pieces." it was plain that their voyage would now be finished for ever, were it not possible for some one of their number to get upon the solid ice beyond and make fast a line. "but who is to bell the cat?" said gerrit de veer, who soon, however, volunteered himself, being the lightest of all. leaping from one floating block to another at the imminent risk of being swept off into space, he at last reached a stationary island, and fastened his rope. thus they warped themselves once more into the open sea. on the th june william barendz lay in the boat studying carefully the charts which they had made of the land and ocean discovered in their voyage. tossing about in an open skiff upon a polar sea, too weak to sit upright, reduced by the unexampled sufferings of that horrible winter almost to a shadow, he still preserved his cheerfulness, and maintained that he would yet, with god's help, perform his destined task. in his next attempt he would steer north-east from the north cape, he said, and so discover the passage. while he was "thus prattling," the boatswain of the other boat came on board, and said that claas anderson would hold out but little longer. "then," said william barendz, "methinks i too shall last but a little while. gerrit, give me to drink." when he had drunk, he turned his eyes on de veer and suddenly breathed his last. great was the dismay of his companions, for they had been deceived by the dauntless energy of the man, thus holding tenaciously to his great purpose, unbaffled by danger and disappointment, even to the last instant of life. he was their chief pilot and guide, "in whom next to god they trusted." and thus the hero, who for vivid intelligence, courage, and perseverance amid every obstacle, is fit to be classed among the noblest of maritime adventurers, had ended his career. nor was it unmeet that the man who had led those three great although unsuccessful enterprises towards the north pole, should be laid at last to rest--like the soldier dying in a lost battle--upon the field of his glorious labours. nearly six weeks longer they struggled amid tempestuous seas. hugging the shore, ever in danger of being dashed to atoms by the ice, pursued by their never-failing enemies the bears, and often sailing through enormous herds of walrusses, which at times gave chase to the boats, they at last reached the schanshoek on the th july. here they met with some russian fishermen, who recognised heemskerk and de veer, having seen them on their previous voyage. most refreshing it was to see other human faces again, after thirteen months' separation from mankind, while the honest muscovites expressed compassion for the forlorn and emaciated condition of their former acquaintance. furnished by them with food and wine, the hollanders sailed in company with the russians as far as the waigats. on the th august they made candenoes, at the mouth of the white sea, and doubling that cape stood boldly across the gulf for kildin. landing on the coast they were informed by the laps that there were vessels from holland at kola. on the th august one of the party, guided by a lap, set forth on foot for that place. four days later the guide was seen returning without their comrade; but their natural suspicion was at once disarmed as the good-humoured savage straightway produced a letter which he handed to heemakerk. breaking the seal, the skipper found that his correspondent expressed great surprise at the arrival of the voyagers, as he he had supposed them all to be long since dead. therefore he was the more delighted with their coming, and promised to be with them soon, bringing with him plenty of food and drink. the letter was signed-- "by me, jan cornelisz ryp." the occurrence was certainly dramatic, but, as one might think, sufficiently void of mystery. yet, astonishing to relate, they all fell to pondering who this john ryp might be who seemed so friendly and sympathetic. it was shrewdly suggested by some that it might perhaps be the sea-captain who had parted company with them off bear island fourteen months before in order to sail north by way of spitzbergen. as his christian name and surname were signed in full to the letter, the conception did not seem entirely unnatural, yet it was rejected on the ground that they had far more reasons to believe that he had perished than he for accepting their deaths as certain. one might imagine it to have been an every day occurrence for hollanders to receive letters by a lapland penny postman in those, desolate regions. at last heemskerk bethought himself that among his papers were several letters from their old comrade, and, on comparison, the handwriting was found the same as that of the epistle just received. this deliberate avoidance of any hasty jumping at conclusions certainly inspires confidence in the general right accuracy of the adventurers, and we have the better right to believe that on the th january the sun's disk was really seen by them in the ice harbour--a fact long disputed by the learned world--when the careful weighing of evidence on the less important matter of ryp's letter is taken into account. meantime while they were slowly admitting the identity of their friend and correspondent, honest john cornelius ryp himself arrived--no fantastic fly-away hollander, but in full flesh and blood, laden with provisions, and greeting them heartily. he had not pursued his spitzbergen researches of the previous year, but he was now on a trading voyage in a stout vessel, and he conveyed them all by way of the ward-huis, where he took in a cargo, back to the fatherland. they dropped anchor in the meuse on the th october, and on the st november arrived at amsterdam. here, attired in their robes and caps of white fox-skin which they had worn while citizens of nova zembla, they were straightway brought before the magistrates to give an account of their adventures. they had been absent seventeen months, they had spent a whole autumn, winter, and spring--nearly ten months--under the latitude of deg. in a frozen desert, where no human beings had ever dwelt before, and they had penetrated beyond deg. north--a farther stride towards the pole than had ever been hazarded. they had made accurate geographical, astronomical, and meteorological observations of the regions visited. they had carefully measured latitudes and longitudes and noted the variations of the magnet. they had thoroughly mapped out, described, and designated every cape, island, hook, and inlet of those undiscovered countries, and more than all, they had given a living example of courage, endurance, patience under hardship, perfect discipline, fidelity, to duty, and trust in god, sufficient to inspire noble natures with emulation so long as history can read moral lessons to mankind. no farther attempt was made to discover the north-eastern passage. the enthusiasm of barendz had died with him, and it may be said that the stern negation by which this supreme attempt to solve the mystery of the pole was met was its best practical result. certainly all visions of a circumpolar sea blessed with a gentle atmosphere and eternal tranquillity, and offering a smooth and easy passage for the world's commerce between europe and asia, had been for ever dispelled. the memorable enterprise of barendz and heemskerk has been thought worthy of a minute description because it was a voyage of discovery, and because, however barren of immediate practical results it may, seem to superficial eyes, it forms a great landmark in the history of human progress and the advancement of science. contemporaneously with these voyages towards the north pole, the enlightened magistrates of the netherland municipalities, aided by eminent private citizens, fitted out expeditions in the opposite direction. it was determined to measure strength with the lord of the land and seas, the great potentate against whom these republicans had been so long in rebellion, in every known region of the globe. both from the newly discovered western world, and from the ancient abodes of oriental civilization, spanish monopoly had long been furnishing the treasure to support spanish tyranny, and it was the dearest object of netherland ambition to confront their enemy in both those regions, and to clip both those overshadowing wings of his commerce at once. the intelligence, enthusiasm, and tenacity in wrestling against immense obstacles manifested by the young republic at this great expanding era of the world's history can hardly be exaggerated. it was fitting that the little commonwealth, which was foremost among the nations in its hatred of tyranny, its love of maritime adventure, and its aptitude for foreign trade, should take the lead in the great commercial movements which characterized the close of the sixteenth and the commencement of the seventeenth centuries. while barendz and heemskerk were attempting to force the frozen gates which were then supposed to guard the northern highway of commerce, fleets were fitting out in holland to storm the southern pole, or at least to take advantage of the pathways already opened by the genius and enterprise of the earlier navigators of the century. linschoten had taught his countrymen the value of the technical details of the indian trade as then understood. the voyages of the brothers houtmann, - , the first dutch expeditions to reach the east by doubling the cape of good hope, were undertaken according to his precepts, and directed by the practical knowledge obtained by the houtmanns during a residence in portugal, but were not signalized by important discoveries. they are chiefly memorable as having laid the foundation of the vast trade out of which the republic was to derive so much material power, while at the same time they mark the slight beginnings of that mighty monopoly, the dutch east india company, which was to teach such tremendous lessons in commercial restriction to a still more colossal english corporation, that mercantile tyrant only in our own days overthrown. at the same time and at the other side of the world seven ships, fitted out from holland by private enterprise, were forcing their way to the south sea through the terrible strait between patagonia and fire land; then supposed the only path around the globe. for the tortuous mountain channel, filled with whirlpools and reefs, and the home of perpetual tempest, which had been discovered in the early part of the century by magellan, was deemed the sole opening pierced by nature through the mighty southern circumpolar continent. a few years later a daring hollander was to demonstrate the futility of this theory, and to give his own name to a broader pathway, while the stormy headland of south america, around which the great current of universal commerce was thenceforth to sweep, was baptized by the name of the tranquil town in west friesland where most of his ship's company were born. meantime the seven ships under command of jacob mahu, simon de cordes, and sebald de weerdt; were contending with the dangers of the older route. the expedition sailed from holland in june, , but already the custom was forming itself of directing those navigators of almost unknown seas by explicit instructions from those who remained on shore, and who had never navigated the ocean at all. the consequence on this occasion was that the voyagers towards the straits of magellan spent a whole summer on the coast of africa, amid pestiferous heats and distracting calms, and reached the straits only in april of the following year. admiral mahu and a large proportion of the crew had meantime perished of fevers contracted by following the course marked out for them by their employers, and thus diminished in numbers, half-stripped of provisions, and enfeebled by the exhausting atmosphere of the tropics, the survivors were ill prepared to confront the antarctic ordeal which they were approaching. five months longer the fleet, under command of admiral de cordes, who had succeeded to the command, struggled in those straits, where, as if in the home of eolus, all the winds of heaven seemed holding revel; but indifference to danger, discipline, and devotion to duty marked the conduct of the adventurers, even as those qualities had just been distinguishing their countrymen at the other pole. they gathered no gold, they conquered no kingdoms, they made few discoveries, they destroyed no fleets, yet they were the first pioneers on a path on which thereafter were to be many such achievements by the republic. at least one heroic incident, which marked their departure from the straits, deserves to be held in perpetual remembrance. admiral de cordes raised on the shore, at the western mouth of the channel, a rude memorial with an inscription that the netherlanders were the first to effect this dangerous passage with a fleet of heavy ships. on the following day, in commemoration of the event, he founded an order of knighthood. the chief officers of the squadron were the knights-commanders, and the most deserving of the crew were the knights-brethren. the members of the fraternity made solemn oath to de cordes, as general, and to each other, that "by no danger, no necessity, nor by the fear of death, would they ever be moved to undertake anything prejudicial to their honour, to, the welfare of the fatherland, or to the success of the enterprise in which they were engaged; pledging themselves to stake their lives in order, consistently with honour, to inflict every possible damage on the hereditary enemy, and to plant the banner of holland in all those territories whence the king of spain gathered the treasures with which he had carried on this perpetual war against the netherlands." thus was instituted on the desolate shores of fire land the order of knights of the unchained lion, with such rude solemnities as were possible in those solitudes. the harbour where the fleet was anchored was called the chevaliers' bay, but it would be in vain to look on modern maps for that heroic appellation. patagonia and tierra del fuego know the honest knights of the unchained lion no more; yet to an unsophisticated mind no stately brotherhood of sovereigns and patricians seems more thoroughly inspired with the spirit of christian chivalry than were those weather-beaten adventurers. the reefs and whirlwinds of unknown seas, polar cold, patagonian giants, spanish cruisers, a thousand real or fabulous dangers environed them. their provisions were already running near exhaustion; and they were feeding on raw seal-flesh, on snails and mussels, and on whatever the barren rocks and niggard seas would supply, to save them from absolutely perishing, but they held their resolve to maintain their honour unsullied, to be true to each other and to the republic, and to circumnavigate the globe to seek the proud enemy of their fatherland on every sea, and to do battle with him in every corner of the earth. the world had already seen, and was still to see, how nobly netherlanders could keep their own. meantime disaster on disaster descended on this unfortunate expedition. one ship after another melted away and was seen no more. of all the seven, only one, that of sebald de weerdt, ever returned to the shores of holland. another reached japan, and although the crew fell into hostile hands, the great trade with that oriental empire was begun. in a third--the blyde boodachaft, or good news--dirk gerrits sailed nearer the south pole than man had ever been before, and discovered, as he believed, a portion of the southern continent, which he called, with reason good, gerrit's land. the name in course of time faded from maps and charts, the existence of the country was disputed, until more than two centuries later the accuracy of the dutch commander was recognised. the rediscovered land however no longer bears his name, but has been baptized south shetland. thus before the sixteenth century had closed, the navigators of holland had reached almost the extreme verge of human discovery at either pole. chapter xxxvii. military operations in the netherlands--designs of the spanish commander--siege of orsoy--advance upon rheinberg--murder of the count of broeck and his garrison--capture of rees and emmerich-- outrages of the spanish soldiers in the peaceful provinces-- inglorious attempt to avenge the hostilities--state of trade in the provinces--naval expedition under van der does--arrival of albert and isabella at brussels--military operations of prince maurice-- negotiation between london and brussels--henry's determination to enact the council of trent--his projected marriage--queen elizabeth and envoy caron--peace proposals of spain to elizabeth--conferences at gertruydenberg--uncertain state of affairs. the military operations in the netherlands during the whole year were on a comparatively small scale and languidly conducted. the states were exhausted by the demands made upon the treasury, and baffled by the disingenuous policy of their allies. the cardinal-archduke, on the other hand, was occupied with the great events of his marriage, of his father-in-law's death, and of his own succession in conjunction with his wife to the sovereignty of the provinces. in the autumn, however, the admiral of arragon, who, as has been stated, was chief military commander during the absence of albert, collected an army of twenty-five thousand foot and two thousand cavalry, crossed the meuse at roermond, and made his appearance before a small town called orsoy, on the rhine. it was his intention to invade the duchies of clever, juliers, and berg, taking advantage of the supposed madness of the duke, and of the spanish inclinations of his chief counsellors, who constituted a kind of regency. by obtaining possession of these important provinces--wedged as they were between the territory of the republic, the obedient netherlands, and germany--an excellent military position would be gained for making war upon the rebellious districts from the east, for crushing protestantism in the duchies, for holding important passages of the rhine, and for circumventing the designs of the protestant sons-in-law and daughters of the old duke of cleves. of course, it was the determination of maurice and the states-general to frustrate these operations. german and dutch protestantism gave battle on this neutral ground to the omnipotent tyranny of the papacy and spain. unfortunately, maurice had but a very slender force that autumn at his command. fifteen hundred horse and six thousand infantry were all his effective troops, and with these he took the field to defend the borders of the republic, and to out-manoeuvre, so far as it might lie in his power, the admiral with his far-reaching and entirely unscrupulous designs. with six thousand spanish veterans, two thousand italians, and many walloon and german regiments under bucquoy, hachincourt, la bourlotte, stanley, and frederic van den berg, the admiral had reached the frontiers of the mad duke's territory. orsoy was garrisoned by a small company of "cocks' feathers," or country squires, and their followers. presenting himself in person before the walls of the town, with a priest at his right hand and a hangman holding a bundle of halters at the other, he desired to be informed whether the governor would prefer to surrender or to hang with his whole garrison. the cock feathers surrendered. the admiral garrisoned and fortified orsoy as a basis and advanced upon rheinberg, first surprising the count of broeck in his castle, who was at once murdered in cold blood with his little garrison. he took burik on the th october, rheinberg on the th of the same month, and compounded with wesel for a hundred and twenty thousand florins. leaving garrisons in these and a few other captured places, he crossed the lippe, came to borhold, and ravaged the whole country side. his troops being clamorous for pay were only too eager to levy black-mail on this neutral territory. the submission of the authorities to this treatment brought upon them a reproach of violation of neutrality by the states-general; the governments of munster and of the duchies being informed that, if they aided and abetted the one belligerent, they must expect to be treated as enemies by the other. the admiral took rees on the th october, and emmerich on the nd november--two principal cities of cleves. on the th november he crossed into the territory of the republic and captured deutekom, after a very short siege. maurice, by precaution, occupied sevenaer in cleves. the prince--whose difficult task was to follow up and observe an enemy by whom he was outnumbered nearly four to one, to harass him by skirmishes, to make forays on his communications, to seize important points before he could reach them, to impose upon him by an appearance of far greater force than the republican army could actually boast, to protect the cities of the frontier like zutphen, lochem, and doesburg, and to prevent him from attempting an invasion of the united provinces in force, by crossing any of the rivers, either in the autumn or after the winter's ice had made them passable for the spanish army-succeeded admirably in all his strategy. the admiral never ventured to attack him, for fear of risking a defeat of his whole army by an antagonist whom he ought to have swallowed at a mouthful, relinquished all designs upon the republic, passed into munster, cleves, and berg, and during the whole horrible winter converted those peaceful provinces into a hell. no outrage which even a spanish army could inflict was spared the miserable inhabitants. cities and villages were sacked and burned, the whole country was placed under the law of black-mail. the places of worship, mainly protestant, were all converted at a blow of the sword into catholic churches. men were hanged, butchered, tossed in sport from the tops of steeples, burned, and buried alive. women of every rank were subjected by thousands to outrage too foul and too cruel for any but fiends or spanish soldiers to imagine. such was the lot of thousands of innocent men and women at the hands of philip's soldiers in a country at peace with philip, at the very moment when that monarch was protesting with a seraphic smile on his expiring lips that he had never in his whole life done injury to a single human being. in vain did the victims call aloud upon their sovereign, the emperor rudolph. the spaniards laughed the feeble imperial mandates to scorn, and spurned the word neutrality. "oh, poor roman empire!" cried john fontanus, "how art thou fallen! thy protector has become thy despoiler, and, although thy members see this and know it, they sleep through it all. one day they may have a terrible awakening from their slumbers . . . . . . . the admiral of arragon has entirely changed the character of the war, recognizes no neutrality, saying that there must be but one god, one pope, and one king, and that they who object to this arrangement must be extirpated with fire and sword, let them be where they may." the admiral, at least, thoroughly respected the claims of the dead philip to universal monarchy. maurice gained as much credit by the defensive strategy through which he saved the republic from the horrors thus afflicting its neighbours, as he had ever done by his most brilliant victories. queen elizabeth was enchanted with the prowess of the prince, and with the sagacious administration of those republican magistrates whom she never failed to respect, even when most inclined to quarrel with them. "never before was it written or heard of," said the queen, "that so great an extent of country could be defended with so few troops, that an invasion of so superior a hostile force could be prevented, especially as it appeared that all the streams and rivers were frozen." this, she added, was owing to the wise and far-seeing counsels of the states-general, and to the faithful diligence of their military commander, who now, as she declared, deserved the title of the first captain of all christendom. a period of languor and exhaustion succeeded. the armies of the states had dwindled to an effective force of scarcely four or five thousand men, while the new levies came in but slowly. the taxation, on the other hand, was very severe. the quotas for the provinces had risen to the amount of five million eight hundred thousand florins for the year , against an income of four millions six hundred thousand, and this deficit went on increasing, notwithstanding a new tax of one-half per cent. on the capital of all estates above three thousand florins in value, and another of two and a half per cent. on all sales of real property. the finances of the obedient provinces were in a still worse condition, and during the absence of the cardinal-archduke an almost universal mutiny, occasioned by the inability of the exchequer to provide payment for the troops, established itself throughout flanders and brabant. there was much recrimination on the subject of the invasion of the rhenish duchies, and a war of pamphlets and manifestos between the archduke's government and the states-general succeeded to those active military operations by which so much misery had been inflicted on the unfortunate inhabitants of that border land. there was a slight attempt on the part of the princes of brunswick, hesse, and brandenburg to counteract and to punish the hostilities of the spanish troops committed upon german soil. an army--very slowly organized, against the wishes of the emperor, the bishops, and the catholic party--took the field, and made a feeble demonstration upon rheinberg and upon rees entirely without result and then disbanded itself ingloriously. meantime the admiral had withdrawn from german territory, and was amusing himself with a variety of blows aimed at vital points of the republic. an excursion into the isle of bommel was not crowned with much success. the assault on the city was repulsed. the fortress of crevecoeur was, however, taken, and the fort of st. andrew constructed--in spite of the attempts of the states to frustrate the design--at a point commanding the course of both the waal and the meuse. having placed a considerable garrison in each of those strongholds, the admiral discontinued his labours and went into winter-quarters. the states-general for political reasons were urgent that prince maurice should undertake some important enterprise, but the stadholder, sustained by the opinion of his cousin lewis william, resisted the pressure. the armies of the commonwealth were still too slender in numbers and too widely scattered for active service on a large scale, and the season for active campaigning was wisely suffered to pass without making any attempt of magnitude during the year. the trade of the provinces, moreover, was very much hampered, and their revenues sadly diminished by the severe prohibitions which had succeeded to the remarkable indulgence hitherto accorded to foreign commerce. edicts in the name of the king of spain and of the archdukes albert and isabella, forbidding all intercourse between the rebellious provinces and the obedient netherlands or any of the spanish possessions, were met by countervailing decrees of the states-general. free trade with its enemies and with all the world, by means of which the commonwealth had prospered in spite of perpetual war, was now for a season destroyed, and the immediate results were at once visible in its diminished resources. to employ a portion of the maritime energies of the hollanders and zeelanders, thus temporarily deprived of a sufficient field, a naval expedition of seventy-five war vessels under admiral van der does was fitted out, but met with very trifling success. they attacked and plundered the settlements and forts of the canary islands, inflicted much damage on the inhabitants, sailed thence to the isle of st. thomas, near the equator, where the towns and villages were sacked and burned, and where a contagious sickness broke out in the fleet, sweeping off in a very brief period a large proportion of the crew. the admiral himself fell a victim to the disease and was buried on the island. the fleet put to sea again under admiral storm van wena, but the sickness pursued the adventurers on their voyage towards brazil, one thousand of them dying at sea in fifteen days. at brazil they accomplished nothing, and, on their homeward voyage, not only the new commander succumbed to the same contagion, but the mortality continued to so extraordinary an extent that, on the arrival of the expedition late in the winter in holland, there were but two captains left alive, and, in many of the vessels, not more than six sound men to each. nothing could be more wretched than this termination of a great and expensive voyage, which had occasioned such high hopes throughout the provinces; nothing more dismal than the political atmosphere which surrounded the republic during the months which immediately ensued. it was obvious to barneveld and the other leading personages, in whose hands was the administration of affairs, that a great military success was absolutely indispensable, if the treacherous cry of peace, when peace was really impossible, should not become universal and fatal. meantime affairs were not much more cheerful in the obedient provinces. archduke albert arrived with his bride in the early days of september, , at brussels, and was received with great pomp and enthusiastic rejoicings. when are pomp and enthusiasm not to be obtained by imperial personages, at brief notice and in vast quantities, if managers understand their business? after all, it may be doubted whether the theatrical display was as splendid as that which marked the beginning of the ernestian era. schoolmaster houwaerts had surpassed himself on that occasion, and was no longer capable of deifying the new sovereign as thoroughly as he had deified his brother. much real discontent followed close upon the fictitious enthusiasm. the obedient provinces were poor and forlorn, and men murmured loudly at the enormous extravagance of their new master's housekeeping. there were one hundred and fifty mules, and as many horses in their sovereign's stables, while the expense of feeding the cooks; lackeys, pages, and fine gentlemen who swelled the retinue of the great household, was estimated, without, wages or salaries, at two thousand florins a day. albert had wished to be called a king, but had been unable to obtain the gratification of his wish. he had aspired to be emperor, and he was at least sufficiently imperial in his ideas of expense. the murmurers were loftily rebuked for their complaints, and reminded of the duty of obedient provinces to contribute at least as much for the defence of their masters as the rebels did in maintenance of their rebellion. the provincial estates were summoned accordingly to pay roundly for the expenses of the war as well as of the court, and to enable the new sovereigns to suppress the military mutiny, which amid the enthusiasm greeting their arrival was the one prominent and formidable fact. the archduke was now thirty-nine years of age, the infanta isabella six years younger. she was esteemed majestically beautiful by her courtiers, and cardinal bentivoglio, himself a man of splendid intellect, pronounced her a woman of genius, who had grown to be a prodigy of wisdom, under the tuition of her father, the most sagacious statesman of the age. in attachment to the roman faith and ritual, in superhuman loftiness of demeanour, and in hatred of heretics, she was at least a worthy child of that sainted sovereign. in a moral point of view she was his superior. the archdukes--so albert and isabella were always designated--were a singularly attached couple, and their household, if extravagant and imperial, was harmonious. they loved each other--so it was believed--as sincerely as they abhorred heretics and rebels, but it does not appear that they had a very warm affection for their flemish subjects. every characteristic of their court was spanish. spanish costume, spanish manners, the spanish tongue, were almost exclusively predominant, and although the festivals, dances, banquets, and tourneys, were all very magnificent, the prevailing expression of the brabantine capital resembled that of a spanish convent, so severely correct, so stately, and so grim, was the demeanour of the court. the earliest military operations of the stadholder in the first year of the new century were successful. partly by menace; but more effectually by judicious negotiation. maurice recovered crevecoeur, and obtained the surrender of st. andrew, the fort which the admiral had built the preceding year in honour of albert's uncle. that ecclesiastic, with whom mendoza had wrangled most bitterly during the whole interval of albert's absence, had already taken his departure for rome, where he soon afterwards died. the garrisons of the forts, being mostly walloon soldiers, forsook the spanish service for that of the states, and were banded together in a legion some twelve hundred strong, which became known as the "new beggars," and were placed under the nominal command of frederick henry of nassau, youngest child of william the silent. the next military event of the year was a mad combat, undertaken by formal cartel, between breaute, a young norman noble in the service of the republic, and twenty comrades, with an equal number of flemish warriors from the obedient provinces, under grobbendonck. about one half of the whole number were killed, including the leaders, but the encounter, although exciting much interest at the time, had of course no permanent importance. there was much negotiation, informal and secret, between brussels and london during this and a portion of the following year. elizabeth, naturally enough, was weary of the war, but she felt, after all, as did the government of france, that a peace between the united netherlands and spain would have for its result the restoration of the authority of his most catholic majesty over all the provinces. the statesmen of france and england, like most of the politicians of europe, had but slender belief in the possibility of a popular government, and doubted therefore the continued existence of the newly-organized republic. therefore they really deprecated the idea of a peace which should include the states, notwithstanding that from time to time the queen or some of her counsellors had so vehemently reproached the netherlanders with their unwillingness to negotiate. "at the first recognition that these people should make of the mere shadow of a prince," said buzanval, the keenly observing and experienced french envoy at the hague, "they lose the form they have. all the blood of the body would flow to the head, and the game would be who should best play the valet. . . . the house of nassau would lose its credit within a month in case of peace." as such statesmen could not imagine a republic, they ever dreaded the restoration in the united provinces of the subverted authority of spain. france and england were jealous of each other, and both were jealous of spain. therefore even if the republican element, the strength and endurance of which was so little suspected, had been as trifling a factor in the problem, as was supposed, still it would have been difficult for any one of these powers to absorb the united netherlands. as for france, she hardly coveted their possession. "we ought not to flatter ourselves," said buzanval, "that these maritime peoples will cast themselves one day into our nets, nor do i know that it would be advisable to pull in the net if they should throw themselves in." henry was full of political schemes and dreams at this moment--as much as his passion for mademoiselle d'entraigues, who had so soon supplanted the image of the dead gabrielle in his heart, would permit. he was very well disposed to obtain possession of the spanish netherlands, whenever he should see his way to such an acquisition, and was even indulging in visions of the imperial crown. he was therefore already, and for the time at least, the most intense of papists. he was determined to sacrifice the huguenot chiefs, and introduce the council of trent, in order, as he told du plessis, that all might be christians. if he still retained any remembrance of the ancient friendship between himself and the heretic republic, it was not likely to exhibit itself, notwithstanding his promises and his pecuniary liabilities to her, in anything more solid than words. "i repeat it," said the dutch envoy at paris; "this court cares nothing for us, for all its cabals tend to close union with rome, whence we can expect nothing but foul weather. the king alone has any memory of our past services." but imperturbable and self-confident as ever, henry troubled himself little with fears in regard to the papal supremacy, even when his parliament professed great anxiety in regard to the consequences of the council of trent, if not under him yet under his successors. "i will so bridle the popes," said he, cheerfully, "that they will never pass my restrictions. my children will be still more virtuous and valiant than i. if i have none, then the devil take the hindmost. nevertheless i choose that the council shall be enacted. i desire it more ardently than i pressed the edict for the protestants." such being the royal humour at the moment, it may well be believed that duplessis mornay would find but little sunshine from on high on the occasion of his famous but forgotten conferences with du perron, now archbishop of evreux, before the king and all the court at fontainebleau. it was natural enough that to please the king the king's old huguenot friend should be convicted of false citations from the fathers; but it would seem strange, were the motives unknown, that henry should have been so intensely interested in this most arid and dismal of theological controversies. yet those who had known and observed the king closely for thirty years, declared that he had never manifested so much passion, neither on the eve of battles nor of amorous assignations, as he then did for the demolition of duplessis and his deductions. he had promised the nuncius that the huguenot should be utterly confounded, and with him the whole fraternity, "for," said the king, "he has wickedly and impudently written against the pope, to whom i owe as much as i do to god." these were not times in which the hollanders, battling as stoutly against spain and the pope as they had done during the years when the republic stood shoulder to shoulder with henry the huguenot, could hope for aid and comfort from their ancient ally. it is very characteristic of that age of dissimulation and of reckless political gambling, that at the very moment when henry's marriage with marie de medicis was already arranged, and when that princess was soon expected in lyons, a cabal at the king's court was busy with absurd projects to marry their sovereign to the infanta of spain. it is true that the infanta was already the wife of the cardinal-archduke, but it was thought possible--for reasons divulged through the indiscretions or inventions of the father confessor--to obtain the pope's dispensation on the ground of the nullity of the marriage. thus there were politicians at the french court seriously occupied in an attempt to deprive the archduke of his wife, of his netherland provinces, and of the crown of, the holy roman empire, which he still hoped to inherit. yet the ink was scarcely dry with which henry had signed the treaty of amity with madrid and brussels. the queen of england, on the other hand--although often listening to secret agents from brussels and madrid who offered peace, and although perfectly aware that the great abject of spain in securing peace with england was to be able to swoop down at once upon the republic, thus deprived of any allies was beside herself with rage, whenever she suspected, with or without reason, that brussels or madrid had been sending peace emissaries to the republic. "before i could get into the room," said caron, on one such occasion, "she called out, 'have you not always told me that the states never could, would, or should treat for peace with the enemy? yet now it is plain enough that they have proceeded only too far in negotiations.' and she then swore a big oath that if the states were to deceive her she meant to take such vengeance that men should talk of it for ever and ever." it was a long time before the envoy could induce her to listen to a single word, although the, perfect sincerity of the states in their attitude to the queen and to spain was unquestionable, and her ill-humour on the subject continued long after it had been demonstrated how much she had been deceived. yet it was impossible in the nature of things for the states to play her false, even if no reliance were to be placed on their sagacity and their honour. even the recent naval expedition of the republic against the distant possessions of spain--which in its result had caused so much disappointment to the states, and cost them so many lives, including that of the noble admiral whom every sailor in the netherlands adored had been of immense advantage to england. the queen acknowledged that the dutch navy had averted the storm which threatened to descend upon her kingdom out of spain, the spanish ships destined for the coast of ireland having been dispersed and drawn to the other aide of the world by these demonstrations of her ally. for this she vowed that she would be eternally grateful, and she said as much in "letters full of sugar and honey"--according to the french envoy--which she sent to the states by sir francis vere. she protested, in short, that she had been better and more promptly served in her necessities by the netherlands than by her own subjects. all this sugar and honey however did not make the mission of envoy edmonds less bitter to the states. they heard that he was going about through half the cities of the obedient netherlands in a sort of triumphal procession, and it was the general opinion of the politicians and financiers of the continent that peace between spain and england was as good as made. naturally therefore, notwithstanding the exuberant expressions of gratitude on the part of elizabeth, the republican government were anxious to know what all this parleying meant. they could not believe that people would make a raree-show of the english envoy except for sufficient reason. caron accordingly presented himself before the queen, with respectful inquiries on the subject. he found her in appearance very angry, not with him, but with edmonds, from whom she had received no advices. "i don't know what they are doing with him," said her majesty, "i hear from others that they are ringing the church bells wherever he goes, and that they have carried him through a great many more places than was necessary. i suppose that they think him a monster, and they are carrying him about to exhibit him. all this is done," she continued, "to throw dust in the eyes of the poor people, and to put it into their heads that the queen of england is suing for peace, which is very wide of the mark." she further observed that, as the agents of the spanish government had been perpetually sending to her, she had been inclined once for all to learn what they had to say. thus she should make manifest to all the world that she was not averse to a treaty such as might prove a secure peace for herself and for christendom; otherwise not. it subsequently appeared that what they had to say was that if the queen would give up to the spanish government the cautionary towns which she held as a pledge for her advances to the republic, forbid all traffic and intercourse between her subjects and the netherlanders, and thenceforth never allow an englishman to serve in or with the armies of the states, a peace might be made. surely it needed no great magnanimity on the queen's part to spurn such insulting proposals, the offer of which showed her capable, in the opinion of verreycken, the man who made them, of sinking into the very depths of dishonour. and she did spurn them. surely, for the ally, the protrectress, the grateful friend of the republic, to give its chief seaports to its arch-enemy, to shut the narrow seas against its ships, so that they never more could sail westward, and to abandon its whole population to their fate, would be a deed of treachery such as history, full of human baseness as it is, has rarely been obliged to record. before these propositions had been made by verreycken elizabeth protested that, should he offer them, she would send him home with such an answer that people should talk of it for some time to come. "before i consent to a single one of those points," said the queen, "i wish myself taken from this world. until now i have been a princess of my word, who would rather die than so falsely deceive such good people as the states." and she made those protestations with such expression and attitude that the dutch envoy believed her incapable at that moment of dissimulation. nevertheless her indignation did not carry her so far as to induce her to break off the negotiations. the answer of which mankind was to talk in time to come was simply that she would not send her commissioners to treat for peace unless the spanish government should recede from the three points thus offered by verreycken. this certainly was not a very blasting reply, and the spanish agents were so far from losing heart in consequence that the informal conferences continued for a long time, much to the discomfort of the netherlanders. for more than an hour and a half on one occasion of an uncommonly hot afternoon in april did noel de caron argue with her majesty against these ill-boding negotiations, and ever and anon, oppressed by the heat of the weather and the argument, did the queen wander from one room of the palace to the other in search of cool air, still bidding the envoy follow her footsteps. "we are travelling about like pilgrims," said elizabeth, "but what is life but a pilgrimage?" yet, notwithstanding this long promenade and these moral reflections, caron could really not make out at the end of the interview whether or no she intended to send her commissioners. at last he asked her the question bluntly. "hallo! hallo!" she replied. "i have only spoken to my servant once, and i must obtain more information and think over the matter before i decide. be assured however that i shall always keep you informed of the progress of the negotiations, and do you inform the states that they may build upon me as upon a rock." after the envoy had taken his leave, the queen said to him in latin, "modicae fidei quare dubitasti?" caron had however so nearly got out of the door that he did not hear this admonition. this the queen perceived, and calling him by name repeated, "o caron! modicae fidei quare dubitasti?" adding the injunction that he should remember this dictum, for he well knew what she meant by it. thus terminated the interview, while the negotiations with spain, not for lack of good-will on her part, and despite the positive assertions to the contrary of buzanval and other foreign agents, were destined to come to nothing. at a little later period, at the time of certain informal and secret conferences at gertruydenberg, the queen threatened the envoy with her severest displeasure, should the states dare to treat with spain without her permission. "her majesty called out to me," said caron, "as soon as i entered the room, that i had always assured her that the states neither would nor could make peace with the enemy. yet it was now looking very differently, she continued, swearing with a mighty oath that if the states should cheat her in that way she meant to revenge herself in such a fashion that men would talk of it through all eternity." the french government was in a similar state of alarm in consequence of the gertruydenberg conferences. the envoy of the archdukes, marquis d'havre, reported on the other hand that all attempts to negotiate had proved fruitless, that olden-barneveld, who spoke for all his colleagues, was swollen with pride, and made it but too manifest that the states had no intention to submit to any foreign jurisdiction, but were resolved to maintain themselves in the form of a republic. etext editor's bookmarks: children who had never set foot on the shore done nothing so long as aught remained to do fed on bear's liver, were nearly poisoned to death inhabited by the savage tribes called samoyedes etext editor's bookmarks, entire - united netherlands: a pusillanimous peace, always possible at any period a despot really keeps no accounts, nor need to do so accustomed to the faded gallantries alexander's exuberant discretion all italy was in his hands all fellow-worms together allow her to seek a profit from his misfortune anatomical study of what has ceased to exist artillery at length the twig was becoming the tree auction sales of judicial ermine being the true religion, proved by so many testimonies beneficent and charitable purposes (war) bomb-shells were not often used although known for a century burning of servetus at geneva certainly it was worth an eighty years' war chief seafaring nations of the world were already protestant children who had never set foot on the shore chronicle of events must not be anticipated conceding it subsequently, after much contestation conformity of governments to the principles of justice considerable reason, even if there were but little justice constant vigilance is the price of liberty continuing to believe himself invincible and infallible court fatigue, to scorn pleasure deal with his enemy as if sure to become his friend decline a bribe or interfere with the private sale of places disciple of simon stevinus divine right of kings done nothing so long as aught remained to do eat their own children than to forego one high mass ever met disaster with so cheerful a smile every one sees what you seem, few perceive what you are evil has the advantage of rapidly assuming many shapes famous fowl in every pot fed on bear's liver, were nearly poisoned to death fellow worms had been writhing for half a century in the dust fled from the land of oppression to the land of liberty for his humanity towards the conquered garrisons (censured) for us, looking back upon the past, which was then the future french seem madmen, and are wise future world as laid down by rival priesthoods german highland and the german netherland god of wrath who had decreed the extermination of all unbeliever had industry been honoured instead of being despised hanging of mary dyer at boston hardly an inch of french soil that had not two possessors he spent more time at table than the bearnese in sleep henry the huguenot as the champion of the council of trent highest were not necessarily the least slimy his invectives were, however, much stronger than his arguments historical scepticism may shut its eyes to evidence history is but made up of a few scattered fragments history is a continuous whole of which we see only fragments holy institution called the inquisition hugo grotius humanizing effect of science upon the barbarism of war idle, listless, dice-playing, begging, filching vagabonds ignorance is the real enslaver of mankind imagining that they held the world's destiny in their hands imposed upon the multitudes, with whom words were things impossible it was to invent terms of adulation too gross in times of civil war, to be neutral is to be nothing inevitable fate of talking castles and listening ladies infinite capacity for pecuniary absorption inhabited by the savage tribes called samoyedes innocent generation, to atone for the sins of their forefathers intelligence, science, and industry were accounted degrading invaluable gift which no human being can acquire, authority king was often to be something much less or much worse king had issued a general repudiation of his debts labour was esteemed dishonourable leading motive with all was supposed to be religion life of nations and which we call the past little army of maurice was becoming the model for europe loud, nasal, dictatorial tone, not at all agreeable luxury had blunted the fine instincts of patriotism magnificent hopefulness man had no rights at all he was property maritime heretics matters little by what name a government is called meet around a green table except as fencers in the field mondragon was now ninety-two years old moral nature, undergoes less change than might be hoped more catholic than the pope myself seeing of it methinketh that i dream names history has often found it convenient to mark its epochs national character, not the work of a few individuals nothing cheap, said a citizen bitterly, but sermons obscure were thought capable of dying natural deaths octogenarian was past work and past mischief often necessary to be blind and deaf one-third of philip's effective navy was thus destroyed past was once the present, and once the future patriotism seemed an unimaginable idea peace would be destruction philip ii. gave the world work enough picturesqueness of crime placid unconsciousness on his part of defeat plea of infallibility and of authority soon becomes ridiculous portion of these revenues savoured much of black-mail proceeds of his permission to eat meat on fridays rarely able to command, having never learned to obey religion was rapidly ceasing to be the line of demarcation repudiation of national debts was never heard of before rich enough to be worth robbing righteous to kill their own children road to paris lay through the gates of rome royal plans should be enforced adequately or abandoned entirely sacked and drowned ten infant princes sages of every generation, read the future like a printed scroll seems but a change of masks, of costume, of phraseology self-assertion--the healthful but not engaging attribute selling the privilege of eating eggs upon fast-days sentiment of christian self-complacency sewers which have ever run beneath decorous christendom shift the mantle of religion from one shoulder to the other slain four hundred and ten men with his own hand so often degenerated into tyranny (calvinism) some rude lessons from that vigorous little commonwealth spain was governed by an established terrorism spaniards seem wise, and are madmen strangled his nineteen brothers on his accession such a crime as this had never been conceived (bankruptcy) that unholy trinity--force; dogma, and ignorance the history of the netherlands is history of liberty the great ocean was but a spanish lake the divine speciality of a few transitory mortals the alcoran was less cruel than the inquisition the nation which deliberately carves itself in pieces the most thriving branch of national industry (smuggler) the record of our race is essentially unwritten there are few inventions in morals they liked not such divine right nor such gentle-mindedness they had come to disbelieve in the mystery of kingcraft thirty thousand masses should be said for his soul thirty-three per cent. interest was paid (per month) those who argue against a foregone conclusion three or four hundred petty sovereigns (of germany) to attack england it was necessary to take the road of ireland toil and sacrifices of those who have preceded us tranquil insolence under the name of religion (so many crimes) unproductive consumption was alarmingly increasing upon their knees, served the queen with wine use of the spade utter want of adaptation of his means to his ends utter disproportions between the king's means and aims valour on the one side and discretion on the other walk up and down the earth and destroy his fellow-creatures we have the reputation of being a good housewife weapons whether murders or stratagems, as if they were acts of virtue while one's friends urge moderation whole revenue was pledged to pay the interest, on his debts wish to sell us the bear-skin before they have killed the bear worn nor caused to be worn the collar of the serf wrath of that injured personage as he read such libellous truths history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley volume iv. motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, - , complete chapter, xxxviii. military events--aggressive movement of the netherlanders--state of the archdukes provinces--mutiny of the spanish forces--proposed invasion of flanders by the states-general--disembarkation of the troops on the spanish coasts--capture of oudenburg and other places --surprise of nieuport--conduct of the archduke--oudenburg and the other forts re-taken--dilemma of the states' army--attack of the archduke on count ernest's cavalry--panic and total overthrow of the advance-guard of the states' army--battle of nieuport--details of the action--defeat of the spanish army--results of the whole expedition. the effect produced in the republic by the defensive and uneventful campaigning of the year had naturally been depressing. there was murmuring at the vast amount of taxation, especially at the new imposition of one-half per cent. upon all property, and two-and-a-half per cent. on all sales, which seemed to produce so few results. the successful protection of the isle of bommel and the judicious purchase of the two forts of crevecoeur and st. andrew; early in the following year, together with their garrisons, were not military events of the first magnitude, and were hardly enough to efface the mortification felt at the fact that the enemy had been able so lately to construct one of those strongholds within the territory of the commonwealth. it was now secretly determined to attempt an aggressive movement on a considerable scale, and to carry the war once for all into the heart of the obedient provinces. it was from flanders that the spanish armies drew a great portion of their supplies. it was by the forts erected on the coast of flanders in the neighbourhood of ostend that this important possession of the states was rendered nearly valueless. it was by privateers swarming from the ports of flanders, especially from nieuport and dunkirk, that the foreign trade of the republic was crippled, and its intercommunications by river and estuary rendered unsafe. dunkirk was simply a robbers' cave, a station from which an annual tax was levied upon the commerce of the netherlands, almost sufficient, had it been paid to the national treasury instead of to the foreign freebooters, to support the expenses of a considerable army. on the other hand the condition of the archdukes seemed deplorable. never had mutiny existed before in so well-organised and definite a form even in the spanish netherlands. besides those branches of the "italian republic," which had been established in the two fortresses of crevecoeur and st. andrew, and which had already sold themselves to the states, other organisations quite as formidable existed in various other portions of the obedient provinces. especially at diest and thionville the rebellious spaniards and italians were numbered by thousands, all veterans, well armed, fortified in strong cities; and supplying themselves with perfect regularity by contributions levied upon the peasantry, obeying their eletto and other officers with exemplary promptness; and paying no more heed to the edicts or the solicitations of the archduke than if he had been the duke of muscovy. the opportunity seemed tempting to strike a great blow. how could albert and isabella, with an empty exchequer and a mutinous army, hope either to defend their soil from attack or to aim a counter blow at the republic, even if, the republic for a season should be deprived of a portion of its defenders? the reasoning was plausible, the prize tempting. the states-general, who habitually discountenanced rashness, and were wont to impose superfluous restraints upon the valiant but discreet lewis william, and upon the deeply pondering but energetic maurice, were now grown as ardent as they had hitherto been hesitating. in the early days of june it was determined in secret session to organize a great force in holland and zeeland, and to embark suddenly for nieuport, to carry that important position by surprise or assault, and from that basis to redeem dunkirk. the possession of these two cities, besides that of ostend, which had always been retained by the republic, would ensure the complete subjugation of flanders. the trifling force of two thousand men under rivas--all that the archduke then had in that province--and the sconces and earthworks which had been constructed around ostend to impede the movements and obstruct the supplies of the garrison, would be utterly powerless to prevent the consummation of the plan. flanders once subjugated, it would not be long before the spaniards were swept from the obedient netherlands as thoroughly as they had been from the domains of the commonwealth, and all the seventeen provinces, trampling out every vestige of a hated foreign tyranny, would soon take their natural place as states of a free; prosperous, and powerful union. but maurice of nassau did not share the convictions of the states-general. the unwonted ardour of barneveld did not inflame his imagination. he urged that the enterprise was inexcusably rash; that its execution would require the whole army of the states, except the slender garrisons absolutely necessary to protect important places from surprise; that a defeat would not be simply disaster, but annihilation; that retreat without absolute triumph would be impossible, and that amid such circumstances the archduke, in spite of his poverty and the rebellious condition of his troops, would doubtless assemble a sufficient force to dispute with reasonable prospects of victory, this invasion of his territory. sir francis vere, too, was most decidedly opposed to the plan. he pointed out with great clearness its dangerous and possibly fatal character; assuring the staten that, within a fortnight after the expedition had begun, the archduke would follow upon their heels with an army fully able to cope with the best which they could put into the field. but besides this experienced and able campaigner, who so thoroughly shared the opinions of prince maurice, every military man in the provinces of any consideration, was opposed to, the scheme. especially lewis william--than whom no more sagacious military critic or accomplished strategist existed in europe, denounced it with energy and even with indignation. it was, in the opinion of the young stadholder of friesland, to suspend the existence of the whole commonwealth upon a silken thread. even success, he prophesied, would bring no permanent, fruits, while the consequences of an overthrow, were fearful to contemplate. the immediate adherents and most trusted counsellors of william lewis were even more unmeasured in their denunciations than he was himself. "'tis all the work of barneveld and the long-gowns," cried everard van reyd. "we are led into a sack from which there is no extrication. we are marching to the caudine forks." certainly it is no small indication of the vast influence and the indomitable resolution of barneveld that he never faltered in this storm of indignation. the advocate had made up his mind to invade flanders and to capture nieuport; and the decree accordingly went forth, despite all opposition. the states-general were sovereign, and the advocate and the states-general were one. it was also entirely characteristic of maurice that he should submit his judgment on this great emergency to that of olden-barneveld. it was difficult for him to resist the influence of the great intellect to which he had always willingly deferred in affairs of state, and from which; even in military matters, it was hardly possible for him to escape. yet in military matters maurice was a consummate professor, and the advocate in comparison but a school-boy. the ascendency of barneveld was the less wholesome, therefore, and it might have been better had the stadholder manifested more resolution. but maurice had not a resolute character. thorough soldier as he was, he was singularly vacillating, at times almost infirm of purpose, but never before in his career had this want of decision manifested itself in so striking a manner. accordingly the states-general, or in other words john of olden-barneveld proposed to invade flanders, and lay siege, to nieuport. the states-general were sovereign, and maurice bowed to their authority. after the matter had been entirely decided upon the state-council was consulted, and the state-council attempted no opposition to the project. the preparations were made with matchless energy and extraordinary secrecy. lewis william, who meanwhile was to defend the eastern frontier of the republic against any possible attack, sent all the troops that it was possible to spare; but he sent, them with a heavy heart. his forebodings were dismal. it seemed to him that all was about to be staked upon a single cast of the dice. moreover it was painful to him while the terrible game, was playing to be merely a looker on and a prophet of evil from a distance, forbidden to contribute by his personal skill and experience to a fortunate result. hohenlo too was appointed to protect the southern border, and was excluded from, all participation in the great expedition. as to the enemy, such rumors as might came to them from day to day of mysterious military, preparations on the part of the rebels only served to excite suspicion in others directions. the archduke was uneasy in, regard to the rhine and the gueldrian; quarter, but never dreamt of a hostile descent upon the flemish coast. meantime, on the th june maurice of nassau made his appearance at castle rammekens, not far from flushing, at the mouth of the scheld, to superintend the great movement. so large a fleet as was there assembled had never before been seen or heard of in christendom. of war-ships, transports, and flat-bottomed barges there were at least thirteen hundred. many eye-witnesses, who counted however with their imaginations, declared that there were in all at least three thousand vessels, and the statement has been reproduced by grave and trustworthy chroniclers. as the number of troops to be embarked upon the enterprise certainly did not exceed fourteen thousand, this would have been an allowance of one vessel to every five soldiers, besides the army munitions and provisions--a hardly reasonable arrangement. twelve thousand infantry and sixteen hundred cavalry, the consummate flower of the states' army, all well-paid, well-clad, well-armed, well-disciplined veterans, had been collected in this place of rendezvous and were ready to embark. it would be unjust to compare the dimensions of this force and the preparations for ensuring the success of the enterprise with the vast expeditions and gigantic armaments of later times, especially with the tremendous exhibitions of military and naval energy with which our own civil war has made us familiar. maurice was an adept in all that science and art had as yet bequeathed to humanity for the purpose of human' destruction, but the number of his troops was small compared to the mighty hosts which the world since those days has seen embattled. war, as a trade, was then less easily learned. it was a guild in which apprenticeship was difficult, and in which enrolment was usually for life. a little republic of scarce three million souls, which could keep always on foot a regular well-appointed army of twenty-five thousand men and a navy of one or two hundred heavily armed cruisers, was both a marvel and a formidable element in the general polity of the world. the lesson to be derived both in military and political philosophy from the famous campaign of nieuport does not depend for its value on the numbers of the ships or soldiers engaged in the undertaking. otherwise, and had it been merely a military expedition like a thousand others which have been made and forgotten, it would not now deserve more than a momentary attention. but the circumstances were such as to make the issue of the impending battle one of the most important in human history. it was entirely possible that an overwhelming defeat of the republican forces on this foreign expedition would bring with it an absolute destruction of the republic, and place spain once more in possession of the heretic "islands," from which basis she would menace the very existence of england more seriously than she had ever done before. who could measure the consequences to christendom of such a catastrophe? the distance from the place where the fleet and army were assembled to nieuport--the objective point of the enterprise--was but thirty-five miles as the crow flies. and the crow can scarcely fly in a straighter line than that described by the coast along which the ships were to shape their course. and here it is again impossible not to reflect upon the change which physical science has brought over the conduct of human affairs. we have seen in a former chapter a most important embassy sent forth from the states for the purpose of preventing the consummation of a peace between their ally and their enemy. celerity was a vital element in the success of such a mission; for the secret negotiations which it was intended to impede were supposed to be near their termination. yet months were consumed in a journey which in our day would have been accomplished in twenty-four hours. and now in this great military expedition the essential and immediate purpose was to surprise a small town almost within sight from the station at which the army was ready to embark. such a midsummer voyage in this epoch of steam-tugs and transports would require but a few hours. yet two days long the fleet lay at anchor while a gentle breeze blew persistently from the south-west. as there seemed but little hope that the wind would become more favourable, and as the possibility of surprise grew fainter with every day's delay, it was decided to make a landing upon the nearest point of flemish coast placed by circumstances within their reach: count ernest of nassau; with the advance-guard, was accordingly, despatched on the st june to the neighbourhood of the sas-of ghent, where he seized a weakly guarded fort, called philippine, and made thorough preparations, for the arrival of the whole army. on the following day the rest of the troops made their appearance, and in the course of five hours were safely disembarked. the army, which consisted of zeelanders, frisians, hollanders, walloons, germans, english, and scotch, was divided into three corps. the advance was under the command of count ernest, the battalia under that of count george everard solms, while the rear-guard during the march was entrusted to that experienced soldier sir francis vere. besides prince maurice, there were three other members of the house of nassau serving in the expedition--his half-brother frederic henry, then a lad of sixteen, and the two brothers of the frisian stadholder, ernest and lewis gunther, whom lewis william had been so faithfully educating in the arts of peace and war both by precept and example. lewis gunther, still a mere youth, but who had been the first to scale the fort of cadiz, and to plant on its height the orange banner of the murdered rebel, and whose gallantry during the whole expedition had called forth the special commendations of queen elizabeth--expressed in energetic and affectionate terms to his father--now commanded all the cavalry. certainly if the doctrine of primordial selection could ever be accepted among human creatures, the race of nassau at that day might have seemed destined to be chiefs of the netherland soil. old john of nassau, ardent and energetic as ever in the cause of the religious reformation of germany and the liberation of holland, still watched from his retirement the progress of the momentous event. four of his brethren, including the great founder of the republic, had already laid down their lives for the sacred cause. his son philip had already fallen under the banner in the fight of bislich, and three other sons were serving the republic day and night, by sea and land, with sword, and pen, and purse, energetically, conscientiously, and honourably. of the stout hearts and quick intellects on which the safety of the commonwealth then depended, none was more efficient or true than the accomplished soldier and statesman lewis william. thoroughly disapproving of the present invasion of flanders, he was exerting himself, now that it had been decided upon by his sovereigns the states-generals, with the same loyalty as that of maurice, to bring it to a favourable issue, although not personally engaged in the adventure. so soon as the troops had been landed the vessels were sent off as expeditiously as possible, that none might fall into, the enemy's hands; the transports under a strong convoy of war-ships having been directed to proceed as fast as the wind would permit in the direction of nieuport. the march then began. on the rd they advanced a league and halted for the night at assenede. the next day brought them three leagues further, to a place called eckerloo. on the th they marched to male, a distance of three leagues and a half, passing close to the walls of bruges, in which they had indulged faint hopes of exciting an insurrection, but obtained nothing but a feeble cannonade from the fortifications which did no damage except the killing of one muleteer. the next night was passed at jabbeke, four leagues from male, and on the th, after marching another league, they came before the fort of oudenburg. this important post on the road which the army would necessarily traverse in coming from the interior to the coast was easily captured and then strongly garrisoned. maurice with the main army spent the two following days at the fortress, completing his arrangements. solms was sent forward to seize the sconces and redoubts of the enemy around ostend, at breedene, snaaskerk, plassendaal, and other points, and especially to occupy the important fort called st. albert, which was in the downs at about a league from that city. all this work was thoroughly accomplished; little or no resistance having been made to the occupation of these various places. meantime the states-general, who at the special request of maurice were to accompany the expedition in order to observe the progress of events for which they were entirely responsible, and to aid the army when necessary by their advice and co-operation, had assembled to the number of thirteen in ostend. solms having strengthened the garrison of that place then took up his march along the beach to nieuport. during the progress of the army through holland and zeeland towards its place of embarkation there had been nothing but dismal prognostics, with expressions of muttered indignation, wherever the soldiers passed. it seemed to the country people, and to the inhabitants of every town and village, that their defenders were going to certain destruction; that the existence of the commonwealth was hanging by a thread soon to be snapped asunder. as the forces subsequently marched from the sas of ghent towards the flemish coast there was no rising of the people in their favour, and although maurice had issued distinct orders that the peasantry were to be dealt with gently and justly, yet they found neither peasants nor villagers to deal with at all. the whole population on their line of march had betaken themselves to the woods, except the village sexton of jabbeke and his wife, who were too old to run. lurking in the thickets and marshes, the peasants fell upon all stragglers from the army and murdered them without mercy--so difficult is it in times of civil war to make human brains pervious to the light of reason. the stadholder and his soldiers came to liberate their brethren of the same race, and speaking the same language, from abject submission to a foreign despotism. the flemings had but to speak a word, to lift a finger, and all the netherlands, self-governed, would coalesce into one independent confederation of states, strong enough to defy all the despots of europe. alas! the benighted victims of superstition hugged their chains, and preferred the tyranny under which their kindred had been tortured, burned, and buried alive for half-a-century long, to the possibility of a single calvinistic conventicle being opened in any village of obedient flanders. so these excellent children of philip and the pope, whose language was as unintelligible to them as it was to peruvians or iroquois, lay in wait for the men who spoke their own mother tongue, and whose veins were filled with their own blood, and murdered them, as a sacred act of duty. retaliation followed as a matter of course, so that the invasion of flanders, in this early stage of its progress, seemed not likely to call forth very fraternal feelings between the two families of netherlanders. the army was in the main admirably well supplied, but there was a deficiency of drink. the water as they advanced became brackish and intolerably bad, and there was great difficulty in procuring any substitute. at male three cows were given for a pot of beer, and more of that refreshment might have been sold at the same price, had there been any sellers. on the th june maurice marched from oudenburg, intending to strike a point called niewendam--a fort in the neighbourhood of nieuport--and so to march along the walls of that city and take up his position immediately in its front. he found the ground, however, so marshy and impracticable as he advanced, that he was obliged to countermarch, and to spend that night on the downs between forts isabella and st. albert. on the st july he resumed his march, and passing a bridge over a small stream at a place called leffingen, laying down a road as he went with sods and sand, and throwing bridges over streams and swamps, he arrived in the forenoon before nieuport. the, fleet had reached the roadstead the same morning. this was a strong, well-built, and well-fortified little city, situate half-a-league from the sea coast on low, plashy ground. at high water it was a seaport, for a stream or creek of very insignificant dimensions was then sufficiently filled by the tide to admit vessels of considerable burthen. this haven was immediately taken possession of by the stadholder, and two-thirds of his army were thrown across to the western side of the water, the troops remaining on the ostend side being by a change of arrangement now under command of count ernest. thus the army which had come to surprise nieuport had, after accomplishing a distance of nearly forty miles in thirteen days, at last arrived before that place. yet there was no more expeditious or energetic commander in christendom than maurice, nor troops better trained in marching and fighting than his well-disciplined army. it is now necessary to cast a glance towards the interior of flanders, in order to observe how the archduke conducted himself in this emergency. so soon as the news of the landing of the states' army at the port of ghent reached the sovereign's ears, he awoke from the delusion that danger was impending on his eastern border, and lost no time in assembling such troops as could be mustered from far and near to protect the western frontier. especially he despatched messengers well charged with promises, to confer with the authorities of the "italian republic" at diest and thionville. he appealed to them in behalf of the holy catholic religion, he sought to arouse their loyalty to himself and the infanta isabella--daughter of the great and good philip ii., once foremost of earthly potentates, and now eminent among the saints of heaven--by whose fiat he and his wife had now become legitimate sovereigns of all the netherlands. and those mutineers responded with unexpected docility. eight hundred foot soldiers and six hundred cavalry men came forth at the first summons, making but two conditions in addition to the stipulated payment when payment should be possible--that they should be commanded by their own chosen officers, and that they should be placed in the first rank in the impending conflict. the example spread. other detachments of mutineers in various strongholds, scenting the battle from afar, came in with offers to serve in the campaign on similar terms. before the last week of june the archduke had a considerable army on foot. on the th of that month, accompanied by the infanta, he reviewed a force of ten thousand foot and nearly two thousand cavalry in the immediate vicinity of ghent. he addressed them in a few stirring words, reminding them of their duty to the church and to himself, and assuring them--as commanders of every nation and every age are wont to assure their troops at the eve of every engagement--that the cause in which they were going forth to battle was the most sacred and inspiring for which human creatures could possibly lay down their lives. isabella, magnificently attired, and mounted on a white palfrey, galloped along the lines, and likewise made an harangue. she spoke to the soldiers as "her lions," promised them boundless rewards in this world and the next, as the result of the great victory which they were now about to gain over the infidels; while as to their wages, she vowed that, rather than they should remain unpaid, she would sacrifice all her personal effects, even to the plate from which she ate her daily bread, and to the jewels which she wore in her ears. thousands of hoarse voices greeted the eloquence of the archdukes with rude acclamations, while the discharge of arquebus and volleys of cannon testified to the martial ardour with which the troops were inspired; none being more enthusiastic than the late mutineers. the army marched at once, under many experienced leaders--villars, zapena, and avalos among the most conspicuous. the command of the artillery was entrusted to velasco; the marshal-general of the camp was frederic van den berg, in place of the superannuated peter ernest; while the admiral of arragon, francisco de mendoza, "terror of germany and of christendom," a little man with flowing locks, long hooked nose, and a sinister glance from his evil black eyes, was general of the cavalry. the admiral had not displayed very extraordinary genius in his recent campaigning in the rhenish duchies, but his cruelty had certainly been conspicuous. not even alva could have accomplished more murders and other outrages in the same space of time than had been perpetrated by the spanish troops during the infamous winter of - . the assassination of count broeck at his own castle had made more stir than a thousand other homicides of nameless wretches at the same period had done, because the victim had been a man of rank and large possessions, but it now remained to be seen whether mendoza was to gain fresh laurels of any kind in the battle which was probably impending. on the st of july the archduke came before oudenburg. not a soul within that fortress nor in ostend dreamed of an enemy within twenty miles of them, nor had it been supposed possible that a spanish army could take the field for many weeks to come. the states-general at ostend were complacently waiting for the first bulletin from maurice announcing his capture of nieuport and his advance upon dunkirk, according to the program so succinctly drawn up for him, and meantime were holding meetings and drawing up comfortable protocols with great regularity. colonel piron, on his part, who had been left with several companies of veterans to hold oudenburg and the other forts, and to protect the rear of the invading army, was accomplishing that object by permitting a large portion of his force to be absent on foraging parties and general marauding. when the enemy came before oudenburg they met with no resistance. the fort was surrendered at once, and with it fell the lesser sconces of breedene, snaaskerk, and plassendaal--all but the more considerable fort st. albert. the archduke, not thinking it advisable to delay his march by the reduction of this position, and having possession of all the other fortifications around ostend, determined to push forward next morning at daybreak. he had granted favourable terms of surrender to the various garrisons, which, however, did not prevent them from being dearly--every man of them immediately butchered in cold blood. thus were these strong and well-manned redoubts, by which prince maurice had hoped to impede for many days the march of a spanish army--should a spanish army indeed be able to take the field at all--already swept off in an hour. great was the dismay in ostend when colonel piron and a few stragglers brought the heavy news of discomfiture and massacre to the high and mighty states-general in solemn meeting assembled. meanwhile, the states' army before nieuport, not dreaming of any pending interruption to their labours, proceeded in a steady but leisurely manner to invest the city. maurice occupied himself in tracing the lines of encampment and entrenchment, and ordered a permanent bridge to be begun across the narrowest part of the creek, in order that the two parts of his army might not be so dangerously divided from each other as they now were, at high water, by the whole breadth and depth of the harbour. evening came on before much had been accomplished on this first day of the siege. it was scarcely dusk when a messenger, much exhausted and terrified, made his appearance at count ernest's tent. he was a straggler who had made his escape from oudenburg, and he brought the astounding intelligence that the archduke had already possession of that position and of all the other forts. ernest instantly jumped into a boat and had himself rowed, together with the messenger, to the headquarters of prince maurice on the other side of the river. the news was as unexpected as it was alarming. here was the enemy, who was supposed incapable of mischief for weeks to come, already in the field, and planted directly on their communications with ostend. retreat, if retreat were desired, was already impossible, and as to surprising the garrison of nieuport and so obtaining that stronghold as a basis for further aggressive operations, it is very certain that if any man in flanders was more surprised than another at that moment it was prince maurice himself. he was too good a soldier not to see at a glance that if the news brought by the straggler were true, the whole expedition was already a failure, and that, instead of a short siege and an easy victory, a great battle was to be fought upon the sands of nieuport, in which defeat was destruction of the whole army of the republic, and very possibly of the republic itself. the stadholder hesitated. he was prone in great emergencies to hesitate at first, but immovable when his resolution was taken. vere, who was asleep in his tent, was sent for and consulted. most of the generals were inclined to believe that the demonstrations at oudenburg, which had been so successful, were merely a bravado of rivas, the commander of the permanent troops in that district, which were comparatively insignificant in numbers. vere thought otherwise. he maintained that the archduke was already in force within a few hours' march of them, as he had always supposed would be the case. his opinion was not shared by the rest, and he went back to his truckle-bed, feeling that a brief repose was necessary for the heavy work which would soon be upon him. at midnight the englishman was again called from his slumbers. another messenger, sent directly from the states-general at ostend, had made his way to the stadholder. this time there was no possibility of error, for colonel piron had sent the accord with the garrison commanders of the forts which had been so shamefully violated, and which bore the signature of the archduke. it was now perfectly obvious that a pitched battle was to be fought before another sunset, and most anxious were the deliberations in that brief midsummer's night. the dilemma was as grave a one as commander-in-chief had ever to solve in a few hours. a portentous change had come over the prospects of the commonwealth since the arrival of these despatches. but a few hours before, and never had its destiny seemed so secure, its attitude more imposing. the little republic, which spain had been endeavouring forty years long to subjugate, had already swept every spanish soldier out of its territory, had repeatedly carried fire and sword into spain itself, and even into its distant dependencies, and at that moment--after effecting in a masterly manner the landing of a great army in the very face of the man who claimed to be sovereign of all the netherlands, and after marching at ease through the heart of his territory--was preparing a movement, with every prospect of success, which should render the hold of that sovereign on any portion of netherland soil as uncertain and shifting as the sands on which the states army was now encamped. the son of the proscribed and murdered rebel stood at the head of as powerful and well-disciplined an army as had ever been drawn up in line of battle on that blood-stained soil. the daughter of the man who had so long oppressed the provinces might soon be a fugitive from the land over which she had so recently been endowed with perpetual sovereignty. and now in an instant these visions were fading like a mirage. the archduke, whom poverty and mutiny were to render powerless against invasion, was following close up upon the heels of the triumphant army of the stadholder. a decision was immediately necessary. the siege of nieuport was over before it had begun. surprise had failed, assault for the moment was impossible, the manner how best to confront the advancing foe the only question. vere advised that the whole army should at once be concentrated and led without delay against the archduke before he should make further progress. the advice involved an outrageous impossibility, and it seems incredible that it could have been given in good faith; still more amazing that its rejection by maurice should have been bitterly censured. two-thirds of the army lay on the other side of the harbour, and it was high water at about three o'clock. while they were deliberating, the sea was rising, and, so soon as daybreak should make any evolutions possible, they would be utterly prohibited during several hours by the inexorable tide. more time would be consumed by the attempt to construct temporary bridges (for of course little progress had been made in the stone bridge hardly begun) or to make use of boats than in waiting for the falling of the water, and, should the enemy make his appearance while they were engaged in such confusing efforts, the army would be hopelessly lost. maurice, against the express advice of vere, decided to send his cousin ernest, with the main portion of the force established on the right bank of the harbour, in search of the archduke, for the purpose of holding him in check long enough to enable the rest of the army to cross the water when the tide should serve. the enemy, it was now clear, would advance by precisely the path over which the states' army had marched that morning. ernest was accordingly instructed to move with the greatest expedition in order to seize the bridge at leffingen before the archduke should reach the deep, dangerous, and marshy river, over which it was the sole passage to the downs. two thousand infantry, being the scotch regiment of edmonds and the zeelanders of van der noot, four squadrons of dutch cavalry, and two pieces of artillery composed the force with which ernest set forth at a little before dawn on his hazardous but heroic enterprise. with a handful of troops he was to make head against an army, and the youth accepted the task in the cheerful spirit of self-sacrifice which characterized his house. marching as rapidly as the difficult ground would permit, he had the disappointment, on approaching the fatal point at about eight o'clock, to see the bridge at leffingen in the possession of the enemy. maurice had sent off a messenger early that morning with a letter marked post haste (cito, cito) to ostend ordering up some four hundred cavalry-men then stationed in that city under piron and bruges, to move up to the support of ernest, and to destroy the bridge and dams at leffingen before the enemy should arrive. that letter, which might have been so effective, was delivered, as it subsequently appeared, exactly ten days after it was written. the states, of their own authority, had endeavoured to send out those riders towards the scene of action, but it was with great difficulty that they could be got into the saddle at all, and they positively refused to go further than st. albert fort. what course should he now pursue? he had been sent to cut the archduke's road. he had failed. had he remained in his original encampment his force would have been annihilated by the overwhelming numbers of the enemy so soon as they reached the right bank of nieuport haven, while maurice could have only looked hopelessly on from the opposite shore. at least nothing worse than absolute destruction could befal him now. should he accept a combat of six or eight to one the struggle would be hopeless, but the longer it was protracted the better it would be for his main army, engaged at that very moment as he knew in crossing the haven with the ebbing tide. should he retreat, it might be possible for him to escape into fort albert or even ostend, but to do so would be to purchase his own safety and that of his command at the probable sacrifice of the chief army of the republic. ernest hesitated but an instant. coming within carbine-shot of the stream, where he met his cavalry which had been sent forward at full speed, in the vain hope of seizing or destroying the bridge before it should be too late, he took up a position behind a dyke, upon which he placed his two field-pieces, and formed his troops in line of battle exactly across the enemy's path. on the right he placed the regiment of scots. on the left was van der noot's zeeland infantry, garnished with four companies of riders under risoir, which stood near st. mary's church. the passage from the stream to the downs was not more than a hundred yards wide, being skirted on both sides by a swamp. here ernest with his two thousand men awaited the onset of the archduke's army. he was perfectly aware that it was a mere question of time, but he was sure that his preparations must interpose a delay to the advance of the spaniards, should his troops, as he felt confident, behave themselves as they had always done, and that the delay would be of inestimable value to his friends at the haven of nieuport. the archduke paused; for he, too, could not be certain, on observing the resolute front thus presented to him, that he was not about to engage the whole of the states' army. the doubt was but of short duration, however, and the onset was made. ernest's artillery fired four volleys into the advancing battalions with such effect as to stagger them for a moment, but they soon afterwards poured over the dyke in over whelming numbers, easily capturing the cannon. the attack began upon ernest's left, and risoir's cavalry, thinking that they should be cut off from all possibility of retreat into fort st. albert, turned their backs in the most disgraceful manner, without even waiting for the assault. galloping around the infantry on the left they infected the zeelanders with their own cowardice. scarcely a moment passed before van der noot's whole regiment was running away as fast as the troopers, while the scots on the right hesitated not for an instant to follow their example. even before the expected battle had begun, one of those hideous and unaccountable panics which sometimes break out like a moral pestilence to destroy all the virtue of an army, and to sweep away the best-considered schemes of a general, had spread through ernest's entire force. so soon as the demi-cannon had discharged their fourth volley, scots, zeelanders, walloons, pikemen, musketeers, and troopers, possessed by the demon of cowardice, were running like a herd of swine to throw themselves into the sea. had they even kept the line of the downs in the direction of the fort many of them might have saved their lives, although none could have escaped disgrace. but the scots, in an ecstasy of fear, throwing away their arms as they fled, ran through the waters behind the dyke, skimmed over the sands at full speed, and never paused till such as survived the sabre and musket of their swift pursuers had literally drowned themselves in the ocean. almost every man of them was slain or drowned. all the captains--stuart, barclay, murray, kilpatrick, michael, nesbit--with the rest of the company officers, doing their best to rally the fugitives, were killed. the zeelanders, more cautious in the midst of their panic, or perhaps knowing better the nature of the country, were more successful in saving their necks. not more than a hundred and fifty of van der noot's regiment were killed, while such of the cavalry of bruges and piron as had come to the neighbourhood of fort albert, not caring to trust themselves to the shelter of that redoubt, now fled as fast as their horses' legs would carry them, and never pulled bridle till they found themselves in ostend. and so beside themselves with panic were these fugitives, and so virulent was the contagion, that it was difficult to prevent the men who had remained in the fort from joining in the flight towards ostend. many of them indeed threw themselves over the walls and were sabred by the enemy when they might have been safe within the fortifications. had these cavalry companies of bruges and piron been even tolerably self-possessed, had they concentrated themselves in the fort instead of yielding to the delirium which prompted them to participate in their comrades' flight, they would have had it entirely in their power, by making an attack, or even the semblance of an attack, by means of a sudden sally from the fort, to have saved, not the battle indeed, but a large number of lives. but the panic was hopeless and universal, and countless fugitives scrambling by the fort were shot in a leisurely manner by a comparative few of the enemy as easily as the rabbits which swarmed in those sands were often knocked down in multitudes by half-a-dozen sportsmen. and thus a band of patriots, who were not cowards by nature, and who had often played the part of men, had horribly disgraced themselves, and were endangering the very existence of their country, already by mistaken councils brought within the jaws of death. the glory of thermopyla; might have hung for ever over that bridge of leffingen. it was now a pass of infamy, perhaps of fatal disaster. the sands were covered with weapons-sabre, pike, and arquebus--thrown away by almost every soldier as he fled to save the life which after all was sacrificed. the artillery, all the standards and colours, all the baggage and ammunition, every thing was lost. no viler panic, no more complete defeat was ever recorded. such at half-past eight in the morning was that memorable sunday of the nd july, , big with the fate of the dutch republic--the festival of the visitation of the virgin mary, always thought of happy augury for spanish arms. thus began the long expected battle of nieuport. at least a thousand of the choicest troops of the stadholder were slain, while the spanish had hardly lost a man. the archduke had annihilated his enemy, had taken his artillery and thirty flags. in great exultation he despatched a messenger to the infanta at ghent, informing her that he had entirely defeated the advance-guard of the states' army, and that his next bulletin would announce his complete triumph and the utter overthrow of maurice, who had now no means of escape. he stated also that he would very soon send the rebel stadholder himself to her as a prisoner. the infanta, much pleased with the promise, observed to her attendants that she was curious to see how nassau would conduct himself when he should be brought a captive into her presence. as to the catholic troops, they were informed by the archduke that after the complete victory which they were that day to achieve, not a man should be left alive save maurice and his brother frederic henry. these should be spared to grace the conqueror's triumph, but all else should be put to the sword. meantime artillery thundered, bonfires blazed, and bells rang their merriest peals in ghent, bruges, and the other obedient cities as the news of the great victory spread through the land. when the fight was done the archduke called a council of war. it was a grave question whether the army should at once advance in order to complete the destruction of the enemy that day, or pause for an interval that the troops fatigued with hard marching and with the victorious combat in which they just had been engaged, should recover their full strength. that the stadholder was completely in their power was certain. the road to ostend was barred, and nieuport would hold him at bay, now that the relieving army was close upon his heels. all that was necessary in order to annihilate his whole force, was that they should entrench themselves for the night on the road which he must cross. he would then be obliged to assault their works with troops inferior in number to theirs and fatigued by the march. should he remain where he was he would soon be starved into submission, and would be obliged to surrender his whole army. on the other hand, by advancing now, in the intolerable heat of a july sun over the burning and glaring sands, the troops already wearied would arrive on the field of battle utterly exhausted, and would be obliged to attack an enemy freshly and cheerfully awaiting them on ground of his own selection. moreover it was absolutely certain that fort albert would not hold an hour if resolutely assaulted in the midst of the panic of ernest's defeat, and, with its capture, the annihilation of maurice was certain. meantime the three thousand men under velasco, who had been detached to protect the rear, would arrive to reinforce the archduke's main army, should he pause until the next day. these arguments, which had much logic in them, were strongly urged by zapena, a veteran marshal of the camp who had seen much service, and whose counsels were usually received with deference. but on this occasion commanders and soldiers were hot for following up their victory. they cared nothing for the numbers of their enemy, they cried, "the more infidels the greater glory in destroying them." delay might after all cause the loss of the prize, it was eagerly shouted. the archduke ought to pray that the sun might stand still for him that morning, as for joshua in the vale of ajalon. the foe seeing himself entrapped, with destruction awaiting him, was now skulking towards his ships, which still offered him the means of escape. should they give him time he would profit by their negligence, and next morning when they reached nieuport, the birds would be flown. especially the leaders of the mutineers of diest and thionville were hoarse with indignation at the proposed delay. they had not left their brethren, they shouted, nor rallied to the archduke's banner in order to sit down and dig in the sand like ploughmen. there was triumph for the holy church, there was the utter overthrow of the heretic army, there was rich booty to be gathered, all these things were within their reach if they now advanced and smote the rebels while, confused and panic-stricken, they were endeavouring to embark in their ships. while these vehement debates were at the hottest, sails were descried in the offing; for the archduke's forces already stood upon the edge of the downs. first one ship, then another and another, moved steadily along the coast, returning from nieuport in the direction of ostend. this was more than could be borne. it was obvious that the rebels were already making their escape, and it was urged upon the cardinal that probably prince maurice and the other chieftains were on board one of those very vessels, and were giving him the slip. with great expedition it would still be possible to overtake them before the main body could embark, and the attack might yet be made at the most favourable moment. those white sails gleaming in the distance were more eloquent than zapena or any other advocate of delay, and the order was given to advance. and it was exactly at this period that it still lay within the power of the states' cavalry at ostend to partially redeem their character, and to render very effective service. had four or five hundred resolute troopers hung upon the rear of the spanish army now, as it moved toward nieuport, they might, by judiciously skirmishing, advancing and retreating according to circumstances, have caused much confusion, and certainly have so harassed the archduke as to compel the detachment of a very considerable force of his own cavalry to protect himself against such assaults. but the terror was an enduring one. those horsemen remained paralyzed and helpless, and it was impossible for the states, with all their commands or entreaties, to induce them to mount and ride even a half mile beyond the city gates. while these events had been occurring in the neighbourhood of ostend, maurice had not been idle at nieuport. no sooner had ernest been despatched on his desperate errand than his brother lewis gunther was ordered by the stadholder to get on horseback and ride through the quarters of the army. on the previous afternoon there had been so little thought of an enemy that large foraging parties had gone out from camp in all directions, and had not returned. lewis gave notice that a great battle was to be expected on the morrow, instead of the tranquil commencement of a leisurely siege, and that therefore no soul was henceforth to leave the camp, while a troop of horse was despatched at the first gleam of daylight to scour the country in search of all the stragglers. maurice had no thought of retreating, and his first care was to bring his army across the haven. the arrangements were soon completed, but it was necessary to wait until nearly low water. soon after eight o'clock count lewis began to cross with eight squadrons of cavalry, and partly swimming, partly wading, effected the passage in safety. the advanced guard of infantry, under sir francis vere--consisting of two thousand six hundred englishmen, and two thousand eight hundred frisians, with some companies of horse, followed by the battalia under solms, and the rearguard under tempel--then slowly and with difficulty moved along the same dangerous path with the water as high as their armpits, and often rising nearly over their heads. had the archduke not been detained near the bridge of leffingen by ernest's scotchmen and zeelanders during three or four precious hours that morning; had he arrived, as he otherwise might have done, just as the states' army--horse, foot, and artillery--was floundering through that treacherous tide, it would have fared ill for the stadholder and the republic. but the devotion of ernest had at least prevented the attack of the archduke until maurice and his men stood on dry land. dripping from head to foot, but safe and sound, the army had at last reached the beach at nieuport. vere had refused his soldiers permission to denude themselves in crossing of their shoes and lower garments. there was no time for that, he said, and they would either earn new clothes for themselves that day, or never need doublet and hose again any more in the world. some hours had elapsed before the tedious and difficult crossing of infantry, cavalry, artillery, and munition trains had been accomplished. lewis gunther, with eight squadrons of picked cavalry, including his own company, maurice's own, frederic henry's own, with batenburg's arquebus-men, and other veterans, was first to place himself in battle order on the beach. his squadrons in iron corslet and morion, and armed with lances, carbines, and sabres, stretched across from the water to the downs. he had not been long stationed there when he observed that far away in the direction of ostend the beach was growing black with troops. he believed them at first to be his brother ernest and his forces returning victorious from their hazardous expedition, but he was soon undeceived. a couple of troopers from ostend came spurring full gallop along the strand, and almost breathless with dismay, announced that it was the whole army of the archduke advancing in line of battle. they were instantly sent to the rear, without being allowed to speak further, in order that they might deliver their message in private to the commander-in-chief. and most terrible were the tidings to which maurice now listened in very secret audience. ernest was utterly defeated, his command cut to pieces, the triumphant foe advancing rapidly, and already in full sight. the stadholder heard the tale without flinching, and having quietly ordered the messengers upon their lives not to open their lips on the subject to living soul, sent them securely guarded in a boat on board one of the war-ships in the offing. with perfect cheerfulness he then continued his preparations, consulting with vere, on whom he mainly relied for the marshalling of the army in the coming conflict. undecided as he had sometimes shown himself, he was resolute now. he called no council of war, for he knew not how much might be known or suspected of the disaster already sustained, and he had fully made up his mind as to the course to be pursued. he had indeed taken a supreme resolution. entirely out of his own breast, without advising with any man, he calmly gave directions that every war-ship, transport, barge, or wherry should put to sea at once. as the tide had now been long on the flood, the few vessels that had been aground--within the harbour were got afloat, and the whole vast, almost innumerable armada, was soon standing out to sea. no more heroic decision was ever taken by fighting man. sir francis gave advice that entrenchments should be thrown up on the north-east, and that instead of advancing towards the enemy they should await his coming, and refuse the battle that day if possible. the englishman, not aware of the catastrophe at leffingen, which maurice had locked up in his own breast, was now informed by the stadholder that there were to be no entrenchments that day but those of pike and arquebus. it was not the fault of maurice that the fate of the commonwealth had been suspended on a silken thread that morning, but he knew that but one of two issues was possible. they must fight their way through the enemy back to ostend, or perish, every man of them. the possibility of surrender did not enter his mind, and he felt that it was better to hasten the action before the news of ernest's disaster should arrive to chill the ardour of the troops. meantime lewis gunther and his cavalry had been sitting motionless upon their horses on the beach. the enemy was already in full view, and the young general, most desirous to engage in a preliminary skirmish, sent repeated messages to the stadholder for permission to advance. presently sir francis vere rode to the front, to whom he eagerly urged his request that the infantry of the vanguard might be, brought up at once to support him. on the contrary the english general advised that the cavalry should fall back to the infantry, in order to avoid a premature movement. lewis strongly objected to this arrangement, on the ground that the mere semblance of retreat, thus upon the eve of battle, would discourage all the troops. but he was over-ruled, for maurice had expressly enjoined upon his cousin that morning to defer in all things to the orders of vere. these eight squadrons of horse accordingly shifted their position, and were now placed close to the edge of the sea, on the left flank of the vanguard, which vere had drawn up across the beach and in the downs. on the edge of the downs, on the narrow slip of hard sand above high-water mark, and on vere's right, maurice had placed a battery of six demi-cannon. behind the advance was the battalia, or centre, under command of that famous fighter, george everard solms, consisting of germans, swiss, french, and walloons. the "new beggars," as the walloons were called, who had so recently surrendered the forts of crevecoeur and st. andrew, and gone over from the archduke's service to the army of the states, were included in this division, and were as eager to do credit to their new chief as were the mutineers in the archduke's army to merit the approbation of their sovereign. the rearguard under tempel was made up, like the other divisions, of the blended nationalities of german, briton, hollander, and walloon, and, like the others, was garnished at each flank with heavy cavalry. the spanish army, after coming nearly within cannon-shot of their adversary, paused. it was plain that the states' troops were not in so great a panic as the more sanguine advisers of the archduke had hoped. they were not cowering among the shipping, preparing to escape. still less had any portion of them already effected their retreat in those vessels, a few of which had so excited the enemy's ardour when they came in sight. it was obvious that a great struggle, in which the forces were very evenly balanced, was now to be fought out upon those sands. it was a splendid tournament--a great duel for life and death between the champions of the papacy and of protestantism, of the republic and of absolutism, that was to be fought out that midsummer's day. the lists were closed. the trumpet signal for the fray would soon be blown. the archduke, in milanese armour, on a wonderfully beautiful snow-white spanish stallion, moved in the centre of his army. he wore no helmet, that his men might the more readily recognize him as he rode gallantly to and fro, marshalling, encouraging, exhorting the troops. never before had he manifested such decided military talent, combined with unquestionable personal valour, as he had done since this campaign began. friend and foe agreed that day that albert fought like a lion. he was at first well seconded by mendoza, who led the van, and by villars, la bourlotte, avalos, zapena, and many other officers of note. the mutinous spanish and italian cavalry, combined with a few choice squadrons of walloon and german horse, were placed in front and on the flanks. they were under the special supervision of the admiral, who marshalled their squadrons and directed their charging, although mounted on a hackney himself, and not intending to participate in the action. then came the battalia and rear, crowding very closely upon each other. face to face with them stood the republican host, drawn up in great solid squares of infantry, their standards waving above each closely planted clump of pikemen, with the musketeers fringing their skirts, while the iron-clad ponderous cavalry of count lewis and marcellus bax, in black casque and, corslet, were in front, restlessly expecting the signal for the onset. the volunteers of high rank who were then serving on the staff of the stadholder--the duke of holstein, the prince of anhalt, two young counts solms, and others--had been invited and even urged to abandon the field while there was yet time for setting them on board the fleet. especially it was thought desirable that young frederic henry, a mere boy, on whom the hopes of the orange-nassau house would rest if maurice fell in the conflict, should be spared the fate which seemed hanging over the commonwealth and her defenders. but the son of william the silent implored his brother with clasped hands not to send him from his side at that moment, so that maurice granted his prayer, and caused him to be provided with a complete suit of armour. thus in company with young coligny--a lad of his own age, and like himself a grandson of the great admiral--the youth who was one day to play so noble a part on the stage of the world's affairs was now to be engaged in his first great passage of arms. no one left the field but sir robert sidney, who had come over from ostend, from irrepressible curiosity to witness the arrangements, but who would obviously have been guilty of unpardonable negligence had he been absent at such a crisis from the important post of which he was governor for the queen. the arena of the conflict seemed elaborately prepared by the hand of nature. the hard, level, sandy beach, swept clean and smooth by the ceaseless action of the tides, stretched out far as the eye could reach in one long, bold, monotonous line. like the whole coast of flanders and of holland, it seemed drawn by a geometrical rule, not a cape, cove, or estuary breaking the perfect straightness of the design. on the right, just beyond high-water mark, the downs, fantastically heaped together like a mimic mountain chain, or like tempestuous ocean-waves suddenly changed to sand, rolled wild and confused, but still in a regularly parallel course with the line of the beach. they seemed a barrier thrown up to protect the land from being bitten quite away by the ever-restless and encroaching sea. beyond the downs, which were seven hundred yards in width; extended a level tract of those green fertile meadows, artificially drained, which are so characteristic a feature of the netherland landscapes, the stream which ran from ostend towards the town of nieuport flowing sluggishly through them. it was a bright warm midsummer day. the waves of the german ocean came lazily rolling in upon the crisp yellow sand, the surf breaking with its monotonous music at the very feet of the armies. a gentle south-west breeze was blowing, just filling the sails of more than a thousand ships in the offing, which moved languidly along the sparkling sea. it was an atmosphere better befitting a tranquil holiday than the scene of carnage which seemed approaching. maurice of nassau, in complete armour, rapier in hand, with the orange-plumes waving from his helmet and the orange-scarf across his breast, rode through the lines, briefly addressing his soldiers with martial energy. pointing to the harbour of nieuport behind them, now again impassable with the flood, to the ocean on the left where rode the fleet, carrying with it all hope of escape by sea, and to the army of the archduke in front, almost within cannon-range, he simply observed that they had no possible choice between victory and death. they must either utterly overthrow the spanish army, he said, or drink all the waters of the sea. either drowning or butchery was their doom if they were conquered, for no quarter was to be expected from their unscrupulous and insolent foe. he was there to share their fate, to conquer or to perish with them, and from their tried valour and from the god of battles he hoped a more magnificent victory than had ever before been achieved in this almost perpetual war for independence. the troops, perfectly enthusiastic, replied with a shout that they were ready to live or die with their chieftain, and eagerly demanded to be led upon the foe. whether from hope or from desperation they were confident and cheerful. some doubt was felt as to the walloons, who had so lately transferred themselves from the archduke's army, but their commander, marquette, made them all lift up their hands, and swear solemnly to live or die that day at the feet of prince maurice. two hours long these two armies had stood looking each other in the face. it was near two o'clock when the arch duke at last gave the signal to advance. the tide was again almost at the full. maurice stood firm, awaiting the assault; the enemy slowly coming nearer, and the rising tide as steadily lapping away all that was left of the hard beach which fringed the rugged downs. count lewis chafed with impatience as it became each moment more evident that there would be no beach left for cavalry fighting, while in the downs the manoeuvring of horse was entirely impossible. meantime, by command of vere, all those sandy hillocks and steeps had been thickly sown with musketeers and pikemen. arquebus-men and carabineers were planted in every hollow, while on the highest and most advantageous elevation two pieces of cannon had been placed by the express direction of maurice. it seemed obvious that the battle would, after all, be transferred to the downs. not long before the action began, a private of the enemy's cavalry was taken, apparently with his own consent, in a very trifling preliminary skirmish. he bragged loudly of the immense force of the archduke, of the great victory already gained over ernest, with the utter annihilation of his forces, and of the impending destruction of the whole states' army. strange to say, this was the first intimation received by count lewis of that grave disaster, although it had been for some hours known to maurice. the prisoner was at once gagged, that he might spread his disheartening news no further, but as he persisted by signs and gestures in attempting to convey the information which he had evidently been sent forward to impart, he was shot by command of the stadholder, and so told no further tales. the enemy had now come very close, and it was the desire of count lewis that a couple of companies of horse, in accordance with the commands of maurice, should charge the cavalry in front, and that after a brief skirmish they should retreat as if panic-stricken behind the advance column, thus decoying the spanish vanguard in hot pursuit towards the battery upon the edge of the downs. the cannon were then suddenly to open upon them, and during the confusion sure to be created in their ranks, the musketeers, ambushed among the hollows, were to attack them in flank, while the cavalry in one mass should then make a concentrated charge in front. it seemed certain that the effect of this movement would be to hurl the whole of the enemy's advance, horse and foot, back upon his battalia, and thus to break up his army in irretrievable rout. the plan was a sensible one, but it was not ingeniously executed. before the handful of cavalry had time to make the proposed feint the cannoneers, being unduly excited, and by express command of sir francis vere, fired a volley into the advancing columns of the archduke. this precipitated the action; almost in an instant changed its whole character, and defeated the original plan of the republican leader. the enemy's cavalry broke at the first discharge from the battery, and wheeled in considerable disorder, but without panic, quite into and across the downs. the whole army of the archduke, which had already been veering in the same direction, as it advanced, both because the tide was so steadily devouring the even surface of the sands, and because the position of a large portion of the states' forces among the hillocks exposed him to an attack in flank, was now rapidly transferred to the downs. it was necessary for that portion of maurice's army which still stood on what remained of the beach to follow this movement. a rapid change of front was then undertaken, and--thanks to the careful system of wheeling, marching, and counter-marching in which the army had been educated by william lewis and maurice--was executed with less confusion than might have been expected. but very few companies of infantry now remained on the strip of beach still bare of the waves, and in the immediate vicinity of the artillery planted high and dry beyond their reach. the scene was transformed as if by magic, and the battle was now to be fought out in those shifting, uneven hills and hollows, where every soldier stood mid-leg deep in the dry and burning sand. fortunately for the states' army, the wind was in its back, blowing both sand and smoke into the faces of its antagonists, while the already weltering sun glared fiercely in their eyes. maurice had skilfully made use of the great advantage which accident had given him that day, and his very refusal to advance and to bring on a premature struggle thus stood him in stead in a variety of ways lewis gunther was now ordered, with marcellus bax and six squadrons of horse, to take position within the belt of pasture land on the right of the downs. when he arrived there the van of the archduke's infantry had already charged the states' advance under vere, while just behind and on the side of the musketeers and pikemen a large portion of the enemy's cavalry was standing stock still on the green. without waiting for instructions lewis ordered a charge. it was brilliantly successful. unheeding a warm salutation in flank from the musketeers as they rode by them, and notwithstanding that they were obliged to take several ditches as they charged, they routed the enemy's cavalry at the first onset, and drove them into panic-stricken flight. some fled for protection quite to the rear of their infantry, others were hotly pursued across the meadows till they took refuge under the walls of nieuport. the very success of the attack was nearly fatal however to count lewis; for, unable to restrain the ardour of his troopers in the chase, he found himself cut off from the army with only ten horsemen to support him, and completely enveloped by the enemy. fortunately prince maurice had foreseen the danger, and had ordered all the cavalry to the meadows so soon as the charge was made. captain kloet, with a fresh company of mounted carabineers, marked the little squad of states' cavalry careering about in the midst of the catholics, recognized their leader by the orange-plumes on his calque, and dashed forward to the rescue. lewis again found himself at the head of his cavalry, but was obliged to wait a long time for the return of the stragglers. while this brilliant diversion had been enacting as it were on the fringe of the battle, its real bustle and business had been going on in the downs. just as lewis made his charge in the pastures, the infantry of the archduke and the advance guard of the republicans met in deadly shock. more than an hour long they contended with varying success. musketeers, pikemen, arquebusmen, swordmen, charged, sabred, or shot each other from the various hollows or heights of vantage, plunging knee-deep in the sand, torn and impeded by the prickly broom-plant which grew profusely over the whole surface, and fighting breast to breast and hand to hand in a vast series of individual encounters. thrice were the spaniards repulsed in what for a moment seemed absolute rout, thrice they rallied and drove their assailants at push of pike far beyond their original position; and again the conquered republicans recovered their energy and smote their adversaries as if the contest were just begun. the tide of battle ebbed and flowed like the waves of the sea, but it would be mere pedantry to affect any technical explanation of its various changes. it was a hot struggle of twenty thousand men, pent up in a narrow space, where the very nature of the ground had made artistic evolutions nearly impracticable. the advance, the battalia, even the rearguard on both sides were mixed together pell-mell, and the downs were soon covered at every step with the dead and dying-briton, hollander, spaniard, italian, frisian, frenchman, walloon, fighting and falling together, and hotly contesting every inch of those barren sands. it seemed, said one who fought there, as if the last day of the world had come. political and religious hatred, pride of race, remembrance of a half-century of wrongs, hope, fury, and despair; these were the real elements contending with each other that summer's day. it was a mere trial of ferocity and endurance, not more scientific than a fight between packs of wolves and of bloodhounds. no doubt the brunt of the conflict fell upon vere, with his englishmen and frisians, for this advance-guard made up nearly one-half of the states' army actually engaged. and most nobly, indefatigably, did the hardy veteran discharge his duty. having personally superintended almost all the arrangements in the morning, he fought all day in the front, doing the work both of a field-marshal and a corporal. he was twice wounded, shot each time through the same leg, yet still fought on as if it were some one else's blood and not his own that was flowing from "those four holes in his flesh." he complained that he was not sufficiently seconded, and that the reserves were not brought up rapidly enough to his support. he was manifestly unjust, for although it could not be doubted that the english and the frisians did their best, it was equally certain that every part of the army was as staunch as the vanguard. it may be safely asserted that it would not have benefited the cause of the states, had every man been thrown into the fight at one and the same moment. during this "bloody bit," as vere called it, between the infantry on both sides, the little battery of two field-pieces planted on the highest hillock of the downs had been very effective. meantime, while the desperate and decisive struggle had been going on, lewis gunther, in the meadow, had again rallied all the cavalry, which, at the first stage of the action, had been dispersed in pursuit of the enemy's horse. gathering them together in a mass, he besought prince maurice to order him to charge. the stadholder bade him pause yet a little longer. the aspect of the infantry fight was not yet, in his opinion, sufficiently favourable. again and again lewis sent fresh entreaties, and at last received the desired permission. placing three picked squadrons in front, the young general made a furious assault upon the catholic cavalry, which had again rallied and was drawn up very close to the musketeers. fortune was not so kind to him as at the earlier stage of the combat. the charge was received with dauntless front by the spanish and italian horse, while at the same moment the infantry poured a severe fire into their assailants. the advancing squadrons faltered, wheeled back upon the companies following them, and the whole mass of the republican cavalry broke into wild and disorderly retreat. at the same moment the archduke, observing his advantage, threw in his last reserves of infantry, and again there was a desperate charge upon vere's wearied troops, as decisive as the counter charge of lewis's cavalry had been unsuccessful. the english and frisians, sorely tried during those hours of fighting with superior numbers in the intolerable heat, broke at last and turned their backs upon the foe. some of them fled panic-stricken quite across the downs and threw themselves into the sea, but the mass retreated in a comparatively orderly manner, being driven from one down to another, and seeking a last refuge behind the battery placed on the high-water line of the beach. in the confusion and panic sir francis vere went down at last. his horse, killed by a stray shot fell with and upon him, and the heroic englishman would then and there have finished his career--for he would hardly have found quarter from the spaniards--had not sir robert drury, riding by in the tumult, observed him as he lay almost exhausted in the sand. by his exertion and that of his servant higham, vere was rescued from his perilous situation, placed on the crupper of sir robert's horse, and so borne off the field. the current of the retreating and pursuing hosts swept by the spot where maurice sat on horseback, watching and directing the battle. his bravest and best general, the veteran vere, had fallen; his cousin lewis was now as utterly overthrown as his brother ernest had been but a few hours before at the fatal bridge of leffingen; the whole army, the only army, of the states was defeated, broken, panic-struck; the spanish shouts of victory rang on every side. plainly the day was lost, and with it the republic. in the blackest hour that the netherland commonwealth had ever known, the fortitude of the stadholder did not desert him. immoveable as a rock in the torrent he stemmed the flight of his troops. three squadrons of reserved cavalry, balen's own, vere's own, and cecil's, were all that was left him, and at the head of these he essayed an advance. he seemed the only man on the field not frightened; and menacing, conjuring, persuading the fugitives for the love of fatherland, of himself and his house, of their own honour, not to disgrace and destroy themselves for ever; urging that all was not yet lost, and beseeching them at least to take despair for their master, and rather to die like men on the field than to drown like dogs in the sea, he succeeded in rallying a portion of those nearest him. the enemy paused in their mad pursuit, impressed even more than were the states' troops at the dauntless bearing of the prince. it was one of those supreme moments in battle and in history which are sometimes permitted to influence the course of events during a long future. the archduke and his generals committed a grave error in pausing for an instant in their career. very soon it was too late to repair the fault, for the quick and correct eye of the stadholder saw the point to which the whole battle was tending, and he threw his handful of reserved cavalry, with such of the fugitives as had rallied, straight towards the battery on the beach. it was arranged that balen should charge on the strand, horace vere through the upper downs, and cecil along the margin of the beach. balen rode slowly through the heavy sand, keeping his horses well in wind, and at the moment he touched the beach, rushed with fury upon the enemy's foot near the battery. the moment was most opportune, for the last shot had been fired from the guns, and they had just been nearly abandoned in despair. the onset of balen was successful: the spanish infantry, thus suddenly attached, were broken, and many were killed and taken. cecil and vere were equally fortunate, so that the retreating english and frisians began to hold firm again. it was the very crisis of the battle, which up to that instant seemed wholly lost by the republic, so universal was the overthrow and the flight. some hundred and fifty frisian pikemen now rallied from their sullen retreat, and drove the enemy off one hillock or dune. foiled in their attempt to intercept the backward movement of the states' army and to seize this vital point and the artillery with it, the spaniards hesitated and were somewhat discouraged. some zeeland sailors, who had stuck like wax to those demi-cannon during the whole conflict, now promptly obeyed orders to open yet once more upon the victorious foe. at the first volley the spaniards were staggered, and the sailors with a lively shout of "ian-fall on," inspired the defeated army with a portion of their own cheerfulness. others vehemently shouted victory without any reason whatever. at that instant maurice ordered a last charge by those few cavalry squadrons, while the enemy was faltering under the play of the artillery. it was a forlorn hope, yet such was the shifting fortune of that memorable day that the charge decided the battle. the whole line of the enemy broke, the conquered became the victors, the fugitives quickly rallying and shouting victory almost before they had turned their faces to the foe, became in their turn the pursuers. the catholic army could no longer be brought to a stand, but fled wildly in every direction, and were shot and stabbed by the republicans as they fled. the admiral of arragon fell with his hackney in this last charge. unwounded, but struggling to extricate himself from his horse that had been killed, he was quickly surrounded by the enemy. two spaniards, mendo and villalobos by name, who had recently deserted to the states, came up at the moment and recognised the fallen admiral. they had reason to recognise him, for both had been in his service, and one of them, who was once in immediate household attendance upon him, bore the mark of a wound which he had received from his insolent master. "admiral, look at this," cried villalobos, pointing to the scar on his face. the admiral looked and knew his old servants, and gave his scarf to the one and the hanger of his sword-belt to the other, as tokens that he was their prisoner. thus his life was saved for heavy ransom, of which those who had actually captured him would receive a very trifling portion. the great prisoner was carried to the rear, where he immediately asked for food and drink, and fell to with an appetite, while the pursuit and slaughter went on in all directions. the archduke, too, whose personal conduct throughout the day was admirable, had been slightly wounded by a halberd stroke on the ear. this was at an earlier stage of the action, and he had subsequently mounted another horse, exchanged his splendid armour for a plain black harness, over which he wore a shabby scarf. in the confusion of the rout he was hard beset. "surrender, scoundrel!" cried a walloon pikeman, seizing his horse by the bridle. but a certain flemish captain kabbeljaw recognising his sovereign and rushing to his rescue, slew his assailant and four others with his own hand. he was at last himself killed, but albert escaped, and, accompanied by the duke of aumale, who was also slightly wounded, by colonel la bourlotte, and half a dozen troopers rode for their life in the direction of bruges. when they reached the fatal bridge of leffingen, over which the archduke had marched so triumphantly but a few hours before to annihilate count ernest's division, he was nearly taken prisoner. a few soldiers, collected from the scattered garrisons, had occupied the position, but knowing nothing of the result of the action in the downs, took to their heels and fled as the little party of cavaliers advanced. had the commander at ostend or the states-general promptly sent out a company or two so soon as the news of the victory reached them to seize this vital point, the doom of the archduke would have been sealed. nothing then could have saved him from capture. fortunately escaping this danger, he now pushed on, and never pulled bridle till he reached bruges. thence without pausing he was conveyed to ghent, where he presented himself to the infanta. he was not accompanied by the captive maurice of nassau, and the curiosity of the princess to know how that warrior would demean himself as a prisoner was not destined on this occasion to be gratified. isabella bore the disappointment and the bitter intelligence of the defeat with a stoicism worthy of her departed father. she had already had intimations that the day was going against her army, and had successively received tidings that her husband was killed, was dangerously wounded, was a prisoner; and she was now almost relieved to receive him, utterly defeated, but still safe and sound. meantime the mad chase continued along the beach and through the downs. never was a rout more absolute than that of albert's army. never had so brilliant a victory been achieved by hollander or spaniard upon that great battleground of europe--the netherlands. maurice, to whom the chief credit of the victory was unquestionably due, had been firm and impassive during the various aspects of the battle, never losing his self-command when affairs seemed blackest. so soon, however, as the triumph, after wavering so long, was decided in his favour--the veteran legions of spain and italy, the picked troops of christendom, all flying at last before his troops--the stadholder was fairly melted. dismounting from his horse, he threw himself on his knees in the sand, and with streaming eyes and uplifted hands exclaimed, "o god, what are we human creatures to whom thou hast brought such honour, and to whom thou hast vouchsafed such a victory!" the slaughter went on until nightfall, but the wearied conquerors were then obliged to desist from the pursuit. three thousand spaniards were slain and about six hundred prisoners were taken. the loss of the states' army; including the affair in the morning at leffingen, was about two thousand killed. maurice was censured for not following up his victory more closely, but the criticism seems unjust. the night which followed the warm summer's day was singularly black and cloudy, the army was exhausted, the distance for the enemy to traverse before they found themselves safe within their own territory was not great. in such circumstances the stadholder might well deem himself sufficiently triumphant to have plucked a splendid victory out of the very jaws of death. all the artillery of the archduke--seven pieces besides the two captured from ernest in the morning--one hundred and twenty standards, and a long list of distinguished prisoners, including the admiral zapena and many other officers of note, were the trophies of the conqueror. maurice passed the night on the battle-field; the admiral supping with him in his tent. next morning he went to ostend, where a great thanksgiving was held, uytenbogart preaching an eloquent sermon on the th psalm. afterwards there was a dinner at the house of the states-general, in honour of the stadholder, to which the admiral of arragon was likewise bidden. that arrogant but discomfited personage was obliged to listen to many a rough martial joke at his disaster as they sat at table, but he bore the brunt of the encounter with much fortitude. "monsieur the admiral of arragon," said the stadholder in french, "is more fortunate than many of his army. he has been desiring these four years to see holland. now he will make his entrance there without striking a blow." the gibe was perhaps deficient in delicacy towards a fallen foe, but a man who had passed a whole winter in murdering his prisoners in cold blood might be satisfied if he were stung only by a sharp sarcasm or two, when he had himself become a captive. others asked him demurely what he thought of these awkward apprentices of holland and zeeland, who were good enough at fighting behind dykes and ramparts of cities, but who never ventured to face a spanish army in the open field. mendoza sustained himself with equanimity however, and found plenty of answers. he discussed the battle with coolness, blamed the archduke for throwing the whole of his force prematurely into the contest, and applauded the prudence of maurice in keeping his reserves in hand. he ascribed a great share of the result to the states' artillery, which had been well placed upon wooden platforms and well served, while the archduke's cannon, sinking in the sands, had been of comparatively little use. especially he expressed a warm admiration for the heroism of maurice in sending away his ships, and in thus leaving himself and his soldiers no alternative but death or triumph. while they still sat at table many of the standards taken from the enemy were brought in and exhibited; the stadholder and others amusing themselves with reading the inscriptions and devices emblazoned upon them. and thus on the nd july, , the army of the states-general, led by maurice of nassau, had utterly defeated albert of austria. ["enfin l'affaire vint auix mains et fut combattu bien furieusement de deux costes l'espace de deux heures. enfin dieu par sa grace voulut que la victoire demeura de more coste." such were the simple words in which maurice announced to his cousin lewis william his victory in the most important battle that had been fought for half a century. not even general ulysses grant could be more modest in the hour of immense triumph.] strange to say--on another nd july, three centuries and two years before, a former albert of austria had overthrown the emperor adolphus of nassau, who had then lost both crown and life in the memorable battle of worms. the imperial shade of maurice's ancestor had been signally appeased. in ostend, as may well be imagined, ineffable joy had succeeded to the horrible gloom in which the day had been passed, ever since the tidings had been received of ernest's overthrow. those very cavalry men, who had remained all day cowering behind the walls of the city, seeing by the clouds of dust which marked the track of the fugitives that the battle had been won by the comrades whom they had so basely deserted in the morning, had been eager enough to join in the pursuit. it was with difficulty that the states, who had been unable to drive them out of the town while the fight was impending or going on, could keep enough of them within the walls to guard the city against possible accident, now that the work was done. even had they taken the field a few hours earlier, without participating in the action, or risking their own lives, they might have secured the pass of leffingen, and made the capture of the archduke or his destruction inevitable. the city, which had seemed deserted, swarmed with the garrison and with the lately trembling burghers, for it seemed to all as if they had been born again. even the soldiers on the battle-field had embraced each other like comrades who had met in another world. "blessed be his holy name," said the stadholder's chaplain, "for his right hand has led us into hell and brought us forth again. i know not," he continued, "if i am awake or if i dream, when i think how god has in one moment raised us from the dead." lewis gunther, whose services had been so conspicuous, was well rewarded. "i hope," said that general, writing to his brother lewis william, "that this day's work will not have been useless to me, both for what i have learned in it and for another thing. his excellency has done me the honour to give me the admiral for my prisoner." and equally characteristic was the reply of the religious and thrifty stadholder of friesland. "i thank god," he said, "for his singular grace in that he has been pleased to make use of your person as the instrument of so renowned and signal a victory, for which, as you have derived therefrom not mediocre praise, and acquired a great reputation, it should be now your duty to humble yourself before god, and to acknowledge that it is he alone who has thus honoured you . . . . you should reverence him the more, that while others are admonished of their duty by misfortunes and miseries, the good god invites you to his love by benefits and honours . . . . i am very glad, too, that his excellency has given you the admiral for your prisoner, both because of the benefit to you, and because it is a mark of your merit on that day. knowing the state of our affairs, you will now be able to free your patrimony from encumbrances, when otherwise you would have been in danger of remaining embarrassed and in the power of others. it will therefore be a perpetual honour to you that you, the youngest of us all, have been able by your merits to do more to raise up our house out of its difficulties than your predecessors or myself have been able to do." the beautiful white horse which the archduke had ridden during the battle fell into the hands of lewis gunther, and was presented by him to prince maurice, who had expressed great admiration of the charger. it was a spanish horse, for which the archduke had lately paid eleven hundred crowns. a white hackney of the infanta had also been taken, and became the property of count ernest. the news of the great battle spread with unexampled rapidity, not only through the netherlands but to neighbouring countries. on the night of the th july (n.s.) five days after the event, envoy caron, in england, received intimations of the favourable news from the french ambassador, who had received a letter from the governor of calais. next morning, very early, he waited on sir robert cecil at greenwich, and was admitted to his chamber, although the secretary was not yet out of bed. he, too, had heard of the battle, but richardot had informed the english ambassador in paris that the victory had been gained, not by the stadholder, but by the archduke. while they were talking, a despatch-bearer arrived with letters from vere to cecil, and from the states-general to caron, dated on the rd july. there could no longer be any doubt on the subject, and the envoy of the republic had now full details of the glorious triumph which the spanish agent in paris had endeavoured for a time to distort into a defeat. while the two were conversing, the queen, who had heard of caron's presence in the palace, sent down for the latest intelligence. cecil made notes of the most important points in the despatches to be forthwith conveyed to her majesty. the queen, not satisfied however, sent for caron himself. that diplomatist, who had just ridden down from london in foul weather, was accordingly obliged to present himself--booted and spurred and splashed with mud from head to foot--before her majesty. elizabeth received him with such extraordinary manifestations of delight at the tidings that he was absolutely amazed, and she insisted upon his reading the whole of the letter just received from olden-barneveld, her majesty listening very patiently as he translated it out of dutch into french. she then expressed unbounded admiration of the states-general and of prince maurice. the sagacious administration of the states' government is "so full of good order and policy," she said, "as to far surpass in its wisdom the intelligence of all kings and potentates. we kings," she said, "understand nothing of such affairs in comparison, but require, all of us, to go to school to the states-general." she continued to speak in terms of warm approbation of the secrecy and discretion with which the invasion of flanders had been conducted, and protested that she thanked god on both knees for vouchsafing such a splendid victory to the united provinces. yet after all, her majesty, as mankind in general, both wise and simple, are apt to do, had judged only according to the result, and the immediate result. no doubt john of barneveld was second to no living statesman in breadth of view and adroitness of handling, yet the invasion of flanders, which was purely his work, was unquestionably a grave mistake, and might easily have proved a fatal one. that the deadly peril was escaped was due, not to his prudence, but to the heroism of maurice, the gallantry of vere, count lewis gunther, and the forces under them, and the noble self-devotion of ernest. and even, despite the exertions of these brave men, it seems certain that victory would have been impossible had the archduke possessed that true appreciation of a situation which marks the consummate general. surely the lord seemed to have delivered the enemy into his hands that morning. maurice was shut in between nieuport on one side and the archduke's army on the other, planted as it was on the only road of retreat. had albert entrenched himself, maurice must either have attacked at great disadvantage or attempted embarkation in the face of his enemy. to stay indefinitely where he was would have proved an impossibility, and amid the confusion necessary to the shipping of his army, how could he have protected himself by six demi-cannon placed on the sea-beach? that maurice was able to extricate himself from the horrible dilemma in which he had been placed, through no fault of his own, and to convert imminent disaster into magnificent victory, will always redound to his reputation as a great military chief. and this was all the fruit of the expedition, planned, as elizabeth thought, with so much secrecy and discretion. three days after the battle the stadholder came again before nieuport, only to find the garrison strengthened meantime by la bourlotte to three thousand men. a rainy week succeeded, and maurice then announced to the states-general the necessity of abandoning an enterprise, a successful issue to which was in his opinion impossible. the states-general, grown more modest in military matters, testified their willingness to be governed by his better judgment, and left ostend for the hague on the th july. maurice, after a little skirmishing with some of the forts around that city, in one of which the archduke's general la bourlotte was killed, decided to close the campaign, and he returned with his whole army on the last day of july into holland. the expedition was an absolute failure, but the stadholder had gained a great victory. the effect produced at home and abroad by this triumphant measuring of the republican forces, horse, foot, and artillery, in a pitched battle and on so conspicuous an arena, with the picked veterans of spain and italy, was perhaps worth the cost, but no other benefit was derived from the invasion of flanders. the most healthy moral to be drawn from this brief but memorable campaign is that the wisest statesmen are prone to blunder in affairs of war, success in which seems to require a special education and a distinct genius. alternation between hope and despair, between culpable audacity and exaggerated prudence, are but too apt to mark the warlike counsels of politicians who have not been bred soldiers. this, at least, had been eminently the case with barneveld and his colleagues of the states-general. etext editor's bookmarks: alas! the benighted victims of superstition hugged their chains culpable audacity and exaggerated prudence the wisest statesmen are prone to blunder in affairs of war history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , - chapter xxxix. effects of the nieuport campaign--the general and the statesman-- the roman empire and the turk--disgraceful proceedings of the mutinous soldiers in hungary--the dunkirk pirates--siege of ostend by the archduke--attack on rheinberg by prince maurice--siege and capitulation of meura--attempt on bois-le-duc--concentration of the war at ostend--account of the belligerents--details of the siege-- feigned offer of sir francis vere to capitulate--arrival of reinforcements from the states--attack and overthrow of the besiegers. the nieuport campaign had exhausted for the time both belligerents. the victor had saved the republic from impending annihilation, but was incapable of further efforts during the summer. the conquered cardinal-archduke, remaining essentially in the same position as before, consoled himself with the agreeable fiction that the states, notwithstanding their triumph, had in reality suffered the most in the great battle. meantime both parties did their best to repair damages and to recruit their armies. the states--or in other words barneveld, who was the states--had learned a lesson. time was to show whether it would be a profitable one, or whether maurice, who was the preceptor of europe in the art of war, would continue to be a docile pupil of the great advocate even in military affairs. it is probable that the alienation between the statesman and the general, which was to widen as time advanced, may be dated from the day of nieuport. fables have even been told which indicated the popular belief in an intensity of resentment on the part of the prince, which certainly did not exist till long afterwards. "ah, scoundrel!" the stadholder was said to have exclaimed, giving the advocate a box on the ear as he came to wish him joy of his great victory, "you sold us, but god prevented your making the transfer." history would disdain even an allusion to such figments--quite as disgraceful, certainly to maurice as to barneveld--did they not point the moral and foreshadow some of the vast but distant results of events which had already taken place, and had they not been so generally repeated that it is a duty for the lover of truth to put his foot upon the calumny, even at the risk for a passing moment of reviving it. the condition of the war in flanders had established a temporary equilibrium among the western powers--france and england discussing, intriguing, and combining in secret with each other, against each other, and in spite of each other, in regard to the great conflict--while spain and the cardinal-archduke on the one side, and the republic on the other, prepared themselves for another encounter in the blood-stained arena. meantime, on the opposite verge of what was called european civilization, the perpetual war between the roman empire and the grand turk had for the moment been brought into a nearly similar equation. notwithstanding the vast amount of gunpowder exploded during so many wearisome years, the problem of the crescent and the cross was not much nearer a solution in the east than was that of mass and conventicle in the west. war was the normal and natural condition of mankind. this fact, at least, seemed to have been acquired and added to the mass of human knowledge. from the prolific womb of germany came forth, to swell impartially the protestant and catholic hosts, vast swarms of human creatures. sold by their masters at as high prices as could be agreed upon beforehand, and receiving for themselves five stivers a day, irregularly paid, until the carrion-crow rendered them the last service, they found at times more demand for their labor in the great european market than they could fully supply. there were not germans enough every year for the consumption of the turk, and the pope, and the emperor, and the republic, and the catholic king, and the christian king, with both ends of europe ablaze at once. so it happened that the duke of mercoeur and other heroes of the league, having effected their reconciliation with the bearnese, and for a handsome price paid down on the nail having acknowledged him to be their legitimate and catholic sovereign, now turned their temporary attention to the turk. the sweepings of the league--frenchmen, walloons, germans, italians, spaniards--were tossed into hungary, because for a season the war had become languid in flanders. and the warriors grown grey in the religious wars of france astonished the pagans on the danube by a variety of crimes and cruelties such as christians only could imagine. thus, while the forces of the sultan were besieging buda, a detachment of these ancient leaguers lay in pappa, a fortified town not far from raab, which archduke maximilian had taken by storm two years before. finding their existence monotonous and payments unpunctual, they rose upon the governor; michael maroti, and then entered into a treaty with the turkish commander outside the walls. bringing all the principal citizens of the town, their wives and children, and all their moveable property into the market-place, they offered to sell the lot, including the governor, for a hundred thousand rix dollars. the bargain was struck, and the turk, paying him all his cash on hand and giving hostages for the remainder, carried off six hundred of the men and women, promising soon to return and complete the transaction. meantime the imperial general, schwartzenberg, came before the place, urging the mutineers with promises of speedy payment, and with appeals to their sense of shame, to abstain from the disgraceful work. he might as well have preached to the wild swine swarming in the adjacent forests. siege thereupon was laid to the place. in a sortie the brave schwartzenberg was killed, but colonitz coming up in force the mutineers were locked up in the town which they had seized, and the turk never came to their relief. famine drove them at last to choose between surrender and a desperate attempt to cut their way out. they took the bolder course, and were all either killed or captured. and now--the mutineers having given the turk this lesson in christian honour towards captives--their comrades and the rest of the imperial forces showed them the latest and most approved christian method of treating mutineers. several hundred of the prisoners were distributed among the different nationalities composing the army to be dealt with at pleasure. the honest germans were the most straightforward of all towards their portion of the prisoners, for they shot them down at once, without an instant's hesitation. but the lorrainers, the remainder of the french troops, the walloons, and especially the hungarians--whose countrymen and women had been sold into captivity--all vied with each other in the invention of cruelties at which the soul sickens, and which the pen almost refuses to depict. these operations and diversions had no sensible effect upon the progress of the war, which crept on with the same monotonous and sluggish cruelty as ever; but the incidents narrated paint the course of civilization more vividly than the detailed accounts of siege and battle; mining and countermining, assaults and ambuscades can do, of which the history books are full. the leaguers of buda and of other cities and fortresses in hungary went their course; and it was destined to remain for a still longer season doubtful whether cross or crescent should ultimately wave over the whole territory of eastern europe, and whether the vigorous moslem, believing in himself, his mission, his discipline, and his resources, should ultimately absorb what was left of the ancient roman empire. meantime, such of the walloons, lorrainers, germans, and frenchmen as had grown wearied of the fighting on the danube and the theiss--might have recourse for variety to the perpetual carnage on the meuse, the rhine, and the scheld. if there was not bloodshed enough for all, it was surely not the fault of mahomet, nor clement, nor philip. during the remainder of the year not much was done in of the stadholder or the cardinal, but there was immense damage done to the dutch shipping by the famous privateersman, van der waecken, with his squadron of twelve or fourteen armed cruisers. in vain had the states exerted themselves to destroy the robbers cave, dunkirk. shiploads of granite had been brought from norway, and stone fleets had been sunk in the channel, but the insatiable quicksands had swallowed them as fast as they could be deposited, the tide rolled as freely as before, and the bold pirates sailed forth as gaily as ever to prey upon the defenceless trading vessels and herring-smacks of the states. for it was only upon non-combatants that admiral van der waecken made war, and the fishermen especially, who mainly belonged to the memnonite religion, with its doctrines of non-resistance--not a very comfortable practice in that sanguinary age--were his constant victims. and his cruelties might have almost served as a model to the christian warriors on the turkish frontier. after each vessel had been rifled of everything worth possessing, and then scuttled, the admiral would order the crews to be, thrown overboard at once, or, if he chanced to be in a merry mood, would cause them to be fastened to the cabin floor, or nailed crossways on the deck and then would sail away leaving ship and sailors to sink at leisure. the states gave chase as well as they could to the miscreant--a dutchman born, and with a crew mainly composed of renegade netherlanders and other outcasts, preying for base lucre on their defenceless countryman--and their cruisers were occasionally fortunate enough to capture and bring in one of the pirate ships. in such cases, short shrift was granted, and the buccaneers were hanged without mercy, thirty-eight having been executed in one morning at rotterdam. the admiral with most of his vessels escaped, however, to the coast of spain, where his crews during the autumn mainly contrived to desert, and where he himself died in the winter, whether from malady, remorse, or disappointment at not being rewarded by a high position in the spanish navy. the war was in its old age. the leaf of a new century had been turned, and men in middle life had never known what the word peace meant. perhaps they could hardly imagine such a condition. this is easily said, but it is difficult really to picture to ourselves the moral constitution of a race of mankind which had been born and had grown up, marrying and giving in marriage, dying and burying their dead, and so passing on from the cradle towards the grave, accepting the eternal clang of arms, and the constant participation by themselves and those nearest to them in the dangers, privations, and horrors of siege and battle-field as the commonplaces of life. at least, those netherlanders knew what fighting for independence of a foreign tyrant meant. they must have hated spain very thoroughly, and believed in the right of man to worship god according to the dictates of his conscience, and to govern himself upon his own soil, however meagre, very earnestly, or they would hardly have spent their blood and treasure, year after year; with such mercantile regularity when it was always in their power to make peace by giving up the object for which they had been fighting. yet the war, although in its old age, was not fallen into decrepitude. the most considerable and most sanguinary pitched battle of what then were modern times had just been fought, and the combatants were preparing themselves for a fresh wrestle, as if the conflict had only begun. and now--although the great leaguers of harlem, leyden, and antwerp, as well as the more recent masterpieces of prince maurice in gelderland and friesland were still fresh in men's memory--there was to be a siege, which for endurance, pertinacity, valour, and bloodshed on both sides, had not yet been foreshadowed, far less equalled, upon the fatal netherland soil. that place of fashionable resort, where the fine folk of europe now bathe, and flirt, and prattle politics or scandal so cheerfully during the summer solstice--cool and comfortable ostend--was throughout the sixteenth century as obscure a fishing village as could be found in christendom. nothing, had ever happened there, nobody had ever lived there, and it was not until a much later period that the famous oyster, now identified with its name, had been brought to its bay to be educated. it was known for nothing except for claiming to have invented the pickling of herrings, which was not at all the fact. towards the latter part of the century, however, the poor little open village had been fortified to such purpose as to enable it to beat off the great alexander farnese, when he had made an impromptu effort to seize it in the year , after his successful enterprise against dunkirk and nieuport, and subsequent preparation had fortunately been made against any further attempt. for in the opening period of the new century thousands and tens of thousands were to come to those yellow sands, not for a midsummer holiday, but to join hands in one of the most enduring struggles that history had yet recorded, and on which the attention of europe was for a long time to be steadily fixed. ostend--east-end--was the only possession of the republic in flanders. having been at last thoroughly fortified according to the principles of the age, it was a place whence much damage was inflicted upon the enemy, and whence forays upon the obedient flemings could very successfully be conducted. being in the hands of so enterprising a naval power, it controlled the coast, while the cardinal-archduke on the other side fondly hoped that its possession would give him supremacy on the sea. the states of flanders declared it to be a thorn in the belgic lion's foot, and called urgently upon their sovereign to remove the annoyance. they offered albert , florins a month so long as the siege should last, besides an extraordinary sum of , , of which one third was to be paid when the place should be invested, one-third when the breach had been made, and one-third after the town had been taken. it was obvious that, although they thought the extraction of the thorn might prove troublesome, the process would be accomplished within a reasonable time. the cardinal-archduke, on his part, was as anxious as the "members" of flanders. asking how long the duke of parma had been in taking antwerp, and being told "eighteen months," he replied that, if necessary, he was willing to employ eighteen years in reducing ostend. the town thus about to assume so much importance in the world's eye had about three thousand inhabitants within its lowly; thatch-roofed houses. it fronted directly upon the seacoast and stretched backward in a southerly direction, having the sandy downs on the right and left, and a swampy, spongy soil on the inner verge, where it communicated with the land. its northern part, small and scarcely inhabited, was lashed by the ocean, and exposed to perpetual danger from its storms and flood-tides, but was partially protected from these encroachments by a dyke stretching along the coast on the west. here had hitherto been the harbour formed by the mouth of the river iperleda as it mingled with the sea, but this entrance had become so choked with sand as to be almost useless at low water. this circumstance would have rendered the labours of the archduke comparatively easy, and much discouraged the states, had there not fortunately been a new harbour which had formed itself on the eastern side exactly at the period of threatened danger. the dwarf mountain range of dunes which encircled the town on the eastern side had been purposely levelled, lest the higher summits should offer positions of vantage to a besieging foe. in consequence of this operation, the sea had burst over the land and swept completely around the place, almost converting it into an island, while at high water there opened a wide and profound gulf which with the ebb left an excellent channel quite deep enough for even the ships of war of those days. the next care of the states authorities was to pierce their fortifications on this side at a convenient point, thus creating a safe and snug haven within the walls for the fleets of transports which were soon to arrive by open sea, laden with soldiers and munitions. the whole place was about half an hour's walk in circumference. it was surrounded with a regular counterscarp, bastions, and casemates, while the proximity of the ocean and the humid nature of the soil ensured it a network of foss and canal on every side. on the left or western side, where the old harbour had once been, and which was the most vulnerable by nature, was a series of strong ravelins, the most conspicuous of which were called the sand hill, the porcupine, and hell's mouth. beyond these, towards the southwest, were some detached fortifications, resting for support, however, upon the place itself, called the polder, the square, and the south square. on the east side, which was almost inaccessible, as it would seem, by such siege machinery as then existed, was a work called the spanish half-moon, situate on the new harbour called the guele or gullet. towards the west and southwest, externally, upon the territory of flanders--not an inch of which belonged to the republic, save the sea-beaten corner in which nestled the little town-eighteen fortresses had been constructed by the archduke as a protection against hostile incursions from the place. of these, the most considerable were st. albert, often mentioned during the nieuport campaign, st. isabella st. clara, and great-thirst. on the th july, , the archduke came before the town, and formally began the siege. he established his headquarters in the fort which bore the name of his patron saint. frederic van den berg meanwhile occupied fort breden on the eastern side, with the intention, if possible, of getting possession of the gullet, or at least of rendering the entrance to that harbour impossible by means of his hostile demonstrations. under van den berg was count bucquoy-longueval, a walloon officer of much energy and experience, now general-in-chief of artillery in the archduke's army. the numbers with which albert took the field at first have not been accurately stated, but it is probable that his object was to keep as many as twenty thousand constantly engaged in the siege, and that in this regard he was generally successful. within the town were fifty-nine companies of infantry, to which were soon added twenty-three more under command of young chatillon, grandson of the great coligny. it was "an olla podrida of nationalities," according to the diarist of the siege--[meteren]. english, scotch, dutch, flemings, frenchmen, germans, mixed in about equal proportions. commander-in-chief at the outset was sir francis vere, who established himself by the middle of july in the place, sent thither by order of the states-general. it had been the desire of that assembly that the stadholder should make another foray in flanders for the purpose of driving off the archduke before he should have time to complete his preliminary operations. but for that year at least maurice was resolved not to renounce his own schemes in deference to those so much more ignorant than himself of the art of war, even if barneveld and his subordinates on their part had not learned a requisite lesson of modesty. so the prince, instead of risking another nieuport campaign, took the field with a small but well-appointed force, about ten thousand men in all, marched to the rhine, and early in june, laid siege to rheinberg. it was his purpose to leave the archduke for the time to break his teeth against the walls of ostend, while he would himself protect the eastern frontier, over which came regular reinforcements and supplies for the catholic armies. his works were laid out with his customary precision and neatness. but, standing as usual, like a professor at his blackboard, demonstrating his proposition to the town, he was disturbed in his calculations by the abstraction from his little army of two thousand english troops ordered by the states-general to march to the defence of ostend. the most mathematical but most obedient of princes, annoyed but not disconcerted, sent off the troops but continued his demonstration. "by this specimen," cried the french envoy, with enthusiasm, "judge of the energy of this little commonwealth. they are besieging berg with an army of twelve thousand men, a place beyond the frontier, and five days' march from the hague. they are defending another important place, besieged by the principal forces of the archdukes, and there is good chance of success at both points. they are doing all this too with such a train of equipages of artillery, of munitions, of barks, of ships of war, that i hardly know of a monarch in the world who would not be troubled to furnish such a force of warlike machinery." by the middle of july he sprang a mine under the fortifications, doing much damage and sending into the air a considerable portion of the garrison. two of the soldiers were blown into his own camp, and one of them, strangely enough, was but slightly injured. coming as he did through the air at cannon-ball speed, he was of course able to bring the freshest intelligence from the interior of the town. his news as to the condition of the siege confirmed the theory of the stadholder. he persisted in his operations for three weeks longer, and the place was then surrendered. the same terms--moderate and honourable were given to the garrison and the burghers as in all maurice's victories. those who liked to stay were at liberty to do so, accepting the prohibition of public worship according to the roman ritual, but guaranteed against inquisition into household or conscience. the garrison went out with the honours of war, and thus the place, whose military value caused it to change hands almost as frequently as a counter in a game, was once more in possession of the republic. in the course of the following week maurice laid siege to the city of meurs, a little farther up the rhine, which immediately capitulated. thus the keys to the debatable land of cleves and juliers, the scene of the admiral of arragon's recent barbarities, were now held by the stadholder. these achievements were followed by an unsuccessful attempt upon bois-le-duc in the course of november. the place would have fallen notwithstanding the slenderness of the besieging army had not a sudden and severe frost caused the prudent prince to raise the siege. feeling that his cousin frederic van den berg, who had been despatched from before ostend to command the relieving force near bois-le-duc, might take advantage of the prematurely frozen canals and rivers to make an incursion into holland, he left his city just as his works had been sufficiently advanced to ensure possession of the prize, and hastened to protect the heart of the republic from possible danger. nothing further was accomplished by maurice that year, but meantime something had been doing within and around ostend. for now the siege of ostend became the war, and was likely to continue to be the war for a long time to come; all other military operations being to a certain degree suspended, as if by general consent of both belligerants, or rendered subsidiary to the main design. so long as this little place should be beleaguered it was the purpose of the states, and of maurice, acting in harmony with those authorities, to concentrate their resources so as to strengthen the grip with which the only scrap of flanders was held by the republic, and as time wore on, the supposed necessities of the wealthy province, which, in political importance, made up a full half of the archduke's dominions, together with self-esteem and an exaggerated idea of military honour, made that prelate more and more determined to effect his purpose. so upon those barren sands was opened a great academy in which the science and the art of war were to be taught by the most skilful practitioners to all europe; for no general, corporal, artillerist, barber-surgeon, or engineer, would be deemed to know his trade if he had not fought at ostend; and thither resorted month after month warriors of every rank, from men of royal or of noblest blood to adventurers of lowlier degree, whose only fortune was buckled at their sides. from every land, of every religion, of every race, they poured into the town or into the besiegers' trenches. habsburg and holstein; northumberland, vere, and westmoreland; fairfax and stuart; bourbon, chatillon, and lorraine; bentivoglio, farnese, spinola, grimaldi, arragon, toledo, avila, berlaymont, bucquoy, nassau, orange, solms--such were the historic names of a few only of the pupils or professors in that sanguinary high school, mingled with the plainer but well known patronymics of the baxes, meetkerkes, van loons, marquettes, van der meers, and barendrechts, whose bearers were fighting, as they long had fought, for all that men most dearly prize on earth, and not to win honour or to take doctors' degrees in blood. papist, calvinist, lutheran, turk, jew and moor, european, asiatic, african, all came to dance in that long carnival of death; and every incident, every detail throughout the weary siege could if necessary be reproduced; for so profound and general was the attention excited throughout christendom by these extensive operations, and so new and astonishing were many of the inventions and machines employed--most of them now as familiar as gunpowder or as antiquated as a catapult--that contemporaries have been most bountiful in their records for the benefit of posterity, feeling sure of a gratitude which perhaps has not been rendered to their shades. especially the indefatigable philip fleming-auditor and secretary of ostend before and during the siege, bravest, most conscientious, and most ingenious of clerks--has chronicled faithfully in his diary almost every cannon-shot that was fired, house that was set on fire, officer that was killed, and has pourtrayed each new machine that was invented or imagined by native or foreign genius. for the adepts or, pretenders who swarmed to town or camp from every corner of the earth, bringing in their hands or brains to be disposed of by either belligerents infallible recipes for terminating the siege at a single blow, if only their theories could be understood and their pockets be filled, were as prolific and as sanguine as in every age. but it would be as wearisome, and in regard to the history of human culture as superfluous, to dilate upon the technics of targone and giustianini, and the other engineers, italian and flemish, who amazed mankind at this period by their successes, still more by their failures, or to describe every assault, sortie, and repulse, every excavation, explosion, and cannonade, as to disinter the details of the siege of nineveh or of troy. but there is one kind of enginry which never loses its value or its interest, and which remains the same in every age--the machinery by which stout hearts act directly upon willing hands--and vast were the results now depending on its employment around ostend. on the outside and at a distance the war was superintended of course by the stadholder and commander-in-chief, while his cousin william lewis, certainly inferior to no living man in the science of war, and whose studies in military literature, both ancient and modern, during the brief intervals of his active campaigning, were probably more profound than those of any contemporary, was always alert and anxious to assist with his counsels or to mount and ride to the fray. in the town sir francis vere commanded. few shapes are more familiar to the student of those times than this veteran campaigner, the offshoot of a time-honoured race. a man of handsome, weather-beaten, battle-bronzed visage, with massive forehead, broad intelligent eyes, a high straight nose, close-clipped hair, and a great brown beard like a spade; captious, irascible, but most resolute, he seemed, in his gold inlaid milan corslet and ruff of point-lace, the very image of a partizan chieftain; one of the noblest relics of a race of fighters slowly passing off the world's stage. an efficient colonel, he was not a general to be relied upon in great affairs either in council or the field. he hated the nassaus, and the nassaus certainly did not admire him, while his inordinate self-esteem, both personal and national, and his want of true sympathy for the cause in which, he fought, were the frequent source of trouble and danger to the republic. of the seven or eight thousand soldiers in the town when the siege began, at least two thousand were english. the queen, too intelligent, despite her shrewishness to the staten; not to be faithful to the cause in which her own interests were quite as much involved as theirs, had promised envoy caron that although she was obliged to maintain twenty thousand men in ireland to keep down the rebels, directly leagued as they were with spain and the archdukes, the republic might depend upon five thousand soldiers from england. detachment after detachment, the soldiers came as fast as the london prisons could be swept and the queen's press-gang perform its office. it may be imagined that the native land of those warriors was not inconsiderably benefited by the grant to the republic of the right to make and pay for these levies. but they had all red uniforms, and were as fit as other men to dig trenches, to defend them; and to fill them afterwards, and none could fight more manfully or plunder friend and foe with greater cheerfulness of impartiality than did those islanders. the problem which the archduke had set himself to solve was not an easy one. he was to reduce a town, which he could invest and had already succeeded very thoroughly in investing on the land aide, but which was open to the whole world by sea; while the besieged on their part could not only rely upon their own government and people, who were more at home on the ocean than was any nation in the world, but upon their alliance with england, a state hardly inferior in maritime resources to the republic itself. on the western side, which was the weakest, his progress was from the beginning the more encouraging, and his batteries were soon able to make some impression upon the outer works, and even to do considerable damage to the interior of the town. in the course of a few months he had fifty siege-guns in position, and had constructed a practicable road all around the place, connecting his own fortifications on the west and south with those of bucquoy on the east. albert's leading thought however was to cut off the supplies. the freaks of nature, as already observed, combined with his own exertions, had effectually disposed of the western harbour as a means of ingress. the tide ebbed and flowed through the narrow channel, but it was clogged with sand and nearly, dry at low water. moreover, by an invention then considered very remarkable, a foundation was laid for the besiegers' forts and batteries by sinking large and deep baskets of wicker-work, twenty feet in length, and filled with bricks and sand, within this abandoned harbour. these clumsy machines were called sausages, and were the delight of the camp and of all europe. the works thus established on the dry side crept slowly on towards the walls, and some demi-cannon were soon placed upon, them, but the besieged, not liking these encroachments, took the resolution to cut the pea-dyke along the coast which had originally protected the old harbour. thus the sea, when the tides were high and winds boisterous, was free to break in upon the archduke's works, and would often swallow sausages, men, and cannon far more rapidly than it was possible to place them there. yet still those human ants toiled on, patiently restoring what the elements so easily destroyed; and still, despite the sea; the cannonade, and the occasional sorties of the garrison, the danger came nearer and nearer. bucquoy on the other side was pursuing the same system, but his task was immeasurably more difficult. the gullet, or new eastern entrance, was a whirlpool at high tide, deep, broad, and swift as a millrace. yet along its outer verge he too laid his sausages, protecting his men at their work as well as he could with gabions, and essayed to build a dyke of wicker-work upon which he might place a platform for artillery to prevent the ingress of the republican ships. and his soldiers were kept steadily at work, exposed all the time to the guns of the spanish half-moon from which the besieged never ceased to cannonade those industrious pioneers. it was a bloody business. night and day the men were knee-deep in the trenches delving in mud and sand, falling every instant into the graves which they were thus digging for themselves, while ever and anon the sea would rise in its wrath and sweep them with their works away. yet the victims were soon replaced by others, for had not the cardinal-archduke sworn to extract the thorn from the belgic lion's paw even if he should be eighteen years about it, and would military honour permit him to break his vow? it was a piteous sight, even for the besieged, to see human life so profusely squandered. it is a terrible reflection, too, that those spaniards, walloons, italians, confronted death so eagerly, not from motives of honour, religion, discipline, not inspired by any kind of faith or fanaticism, but because the men who were employed in this horrible sausage-making and dyke-building were promised five stivers a day instead of two. and there was always an ample supply of volunteers for the service so long as the five stivers were paid. but despite all bucquoy's exertions the east harbour remained as free as ever. the cool, wary dutch skippers brought in their cargoes as regularly as if there had been no siege at all. ostend was rapidly acquiring greater commercial importance, and was more full of bustle and business than had ever been dreamed of in that quiet nook since the days of robert the frisian, who had built the old church of ostend, as one of the thirty which he erected in honour of st. peter, five hundred years before. for the states did not neglect their favourite little city. fleets of transports arrived day after day, week after week, laden with every necessary and even luxury for the use of the garrison. it was perhaps the cheapest place in all the netherlands, so great was the abundance. capons, bares, partridges, and butcher's meat were plentiful as blackberries, and good french claret was but two stivers the quart. certainly the prospect was not promising of starving the town into a surrender. but besides all this digging and draining there was an almost daily cannonade. her royal highness the infanta was perpetually in camp by the side of her well-beloved albert, making her appearance there in great state, with eighteen coaches full of ladies of honour, and always manifesting much impatience if she did not hear the guns. she would frequently touch off a forty-pounder with her own serene fingers in order to encourage the artillerymen, and great was the enthusiasm which such condescension excited. assaults, sorties, repulses, ambuscades were also of daily occurrence, and often with very sanguinary results; but it would be almost as idle now to give the details of every encounter that occurred, as to describe the besieging of a snow-fort by schoolboys. it is impossible not to reflect that a couple of parrots and a monitor or two would have terminated the siege in half an hour in favor of either party, and levelled the town or the besiegers' works as if they had been of pasteboard. bucquoy's dyke was within a thousand yards of the harbour's entrance, yet the guns on his platform never sank a ship nor killed a man on board, while the archduke's batteries were even nearer their mark. yet it was the most prodigious siege of modern days. fifty great guns were in position around the place, and their balls weighed from ten to forty pounds apiece. it was generally agreed that no such artillery practice had ever occurred before in the world. for the first six months, and generally throughout the siege, there was fired on an average a thousand of such shots a day. in the sieges of the american civil war there were sometimes three thousand shots an hour, and from guns compared to which in calibre and power those cannon and demi-cannon were but children's toys. certainly the human arm was of the same length then as now, a pike-thrust was as effective as the stab of the most improved bayonet, and when it came, as it was always the purpose to do, to the close embrace of foemen, the work was done as thoroughly as it could be in this second half of the nineteenth century. nevertheless it is impossible not to hope that such progress in science must at last render long wars impossible. the dutch war of independence had already lasted nearly forty years. had the civil war in america upon the territory of half a continent been waged with the ostend machinery it might have lasted two centuries. something then may have been gained for humanity by giving war such preter-human attributes as to make its demands of gold and blood too exhaustive to become chronic. yet the loss of human life during that summer and winter was sufficiently wholesale as compared with the meagre results. blood flowed in torrents, for no man could be more free of his soldiers' lives than was the cardinal-archduke, hurling them as he did on the enemy's works before the pretence of a practical breach had been effected, and before a reasonable chance existed of purchasing an advantage at such a price. five hundred were killed outright in half-an-hour's assault on an impregnable position one autumn evening, and lay piled in heaps beneath the sand hill fort-many youthful gallants from spain and italy among them, noble volunteers recognised by their perfumed gloves and golden chains, and whose pockets were worth rifling. the dutch surgeons, too, sallied forth in strength after such an encounter, and brought in great bags filled with human fat esteemed the sovereignst remedy in the world for wounds and disease. leaders were killed on both sides. catrici, chief of the italian artillery, and braccamonte, commander of a famous sicilian legion, with many less-known captains, lost their lives before the town. the noble young chatillon, grandson of coligny, who had distinguished himself at nieuport, fell in the porcupine fort, his head carried off by a cannon-ball, which destroyed another officer at his side, and just grazed the ear of the distinguished colonel uchtenbroek. sir francis vere, too, was wounded in the head by a fragment of iron, and was obliged to leave the town for six weeks till his wound should heal. the unfortunate inhabitants--men, women, and children--were of course exposed to perpetual danger, and very many were killed. their houses were often burned to the ground, in which cases the english auxiliaries were indefatigable, not in rendering assistance, but in taking possession of such household goods as the flames had spared. nor did they always wait for such opportunities, but were apt, at the death of an eminent burgher, to constitute themselves at once universal legatees. thus, while honest bartholomew tysen, a worthy citizen grocer, was standing one autumn morning at his own door, a stray cannon-ball took off his head, and scarcely had he been put in a coffin before his house was sacked from garret to cellar and all the costly spices, drugs, and other valuable merchandize of his warehouse--the chief magazine in the town--together with all his household furniture, appropriated by those london warriors. bartholomew's friends and relatives appealed to sir francis vere for justice, but were calmly informed by that general that ostend was like a stranded ship, on its beamends on a beach, and that it was impossible not to consider it at the mercy of the wreckers. so with this highly figurative view of the situation from the lips of the governor of the place and the commander-in-chief of the english as well as the dutch garrison, they were fain to go home and bury their dead, finding when they returned that another cannonball had carried away poor bartholomew's coffin-lid. thus was never non-combatant and grocer, alive or dead, more out of suits with fortune than this citizen of ostend; and such were the laws of war, as understood by one of the most eminent of english practitioners in the beginning of the seventeenth century. it is true, however, that vere subsequently hanged a soldier for stealing fifty pounds of powder and another for uttering counterfeit money, but robberies upon the citizens were unavenged. nor did the deaths by shot or sword-stroke make up the chief sum of mortality. as usual the murrain-like pestilence which swept off its daily victims both within an without the town, was more effective than any direct agency of man. by the month of december the number of the garrison had been reduced to less than three thousand, while it is probable that the archduke had not eight thousand effective men left in his whole army. it was a black and desolate scene. the wild waves of the german ocean, lashed by the wintry gales, would often sweep over the painfully constructed works of besieger and besieged and destroy in an hour the labour of many weeks. the porcupine's small but vitally-important ravelin lying out in the counterscarp between the old town and the new, guarding the sluices by which the water for the town moats and canals was controlled, and preventing the pioneers of the enemy from undermining the western wall--was so damaged by the sea as to be growing almost untenable. indefatigably had the besieged attempted with wicker-work and timber and palisades to strengthen this precious little fort, but they had found, even as bucquoy and the archduke on their part had learned, that the north sea in winter was not to be dammed by bulrushes. moreover, in a bold and successful assault the besiegers had succeeded in setting fire to the inflammable materials heaped about the ravelin to such effect that the fire burned for days, notwithstanding the flooding of the works at each high tide. the men, working day and night, scorching in the flames, yet freezing kneedeep in the icy slush of the trenches and perpetually under fire of the hostile batteries, became daily more and more exhausted, notwithstanding their determination to hold the place. christmas drew nigh, and a most gloomy, festival it was like to be, for it seemed as if the beleaguered garrison had been forgotten by the states. weeks had passed away without a single company being sent to repair the hideous gaps made daily in the ranks of those defenders of a forlorn hope. it was no longer possible to hold the external works; the square, the polder, and the other forts on the southwest which vere had constructed with so much care and where he had thus far kept his headquarters. on sunday morning,-- rd december, he reluctantly gave orders that they should be abandoned on the following day and the whole garrison concentrated within the town. the clouds were gathering darkly over the head of the gallant vere; for no sooner had he arrived at this determination than he learned from a deserter that the archduke had fixed upon that very sunday evening for a general assault upon the place. it was hopeless for the garrison to attempt to hold these outer forts, for they required a far larger number of soldiers than could be spared from the attenuated little army. yet with those forts in the hands of the enemy there would be nothing left but to make the best and speediest terms that might be obtained. the situation was desperate. sir francis called his principal officers together, announced his resolve not to submit to the humiliation of a surrender after all their efforts, if there was a possibility of escape from their dilemma, reminded them that reinforcements might be expected to arrive at any moment, and that with even a few hundred additional soldiers the outer works might still be manned and the city saved. the officers english, dutch, and french, listened respectfully to his remarks, but, without any suggestions on their own part, called on him as their alexander to untie the gordian knot. alexander solved it, not with the sword, but with a trick which he hoped might prove sharper than a sword. he announced his intention of proposing at once to treat, and to protract the negotiations as long as possible, until the wished-for sails should be discerned in the offing, when he would at once break faith with them, resume hostilities, and so make fools of the besiegers. this was a device worthy of a modern alexander whose surname was farnese. even in that loose age such cynical trifling with the sacredness of trumpets of truce and offers of capitulation were deemed far from creditable among soldiers and statesmen, yet the council of war highly applauded the scheme, and importuned the general to carry it at once into effect. when it came, however, to selecting the hostages necessary for the proposed negotiations, they became less ardent and were all disposed to recede. at last, after much discussion, the matter was settled, and before nightfall a drummer was set upon the external parapet of the porcupine, who forthwith began to beat vigorously for a parley. the rattle was a welcome sound in the ears of the weary besiegers, just drawn up in column for a desperate assault, and the tidings were at once communicated to the archduke in fort st. albert. the prince manifested at first some unwillingness to forego the glory of the attack, from which he confidently expected a crowning victory, but yielding to the representations of his chief generals that it was better to have his town without further bloodshed, he consented to treat. hostages were expeditiously appointed on both sides, and captains ogle and fairfax were sent that same evening to the headquarters of the besieging army. it was at once agreed as a preliminary that the empty outer works of the place should remain unmolested. the english officers were received with much courtesy. the archduke lifted his hat as they were presented, asked them of what nation they were, and then inquired whether they were authorized to agree upon terms of capitulation. they answered in the negative; adding, that the whole business would be in the hands of commissioners to be immediately sent by his highness, as it was supposed, into the town. albert then expressed the hope that there was no fraudulent intention in the proposition just made to negotiate. the officers professed themselves entirely ignorant of any contemplated deception; although captain ogle had been one of the council, had heard every syllable of vere's stratagem, and had heartily approved of the whole plot. the englishmen were then committed to the care of a spanish nobleman of the duke's staff, and were treated with perfect politeness and hospitality. meantime no time was lost in despatching hostages, who should be at the same time commissioners, to ostend. the quartermaster-general of the army, don matteo antonio, and matteo serrano, governor of sluys, but serving among the besiegers, were selected for this important business as personages of ability, discretion, and distinction. they reached the town, coming in of course from the western side, as expeditiously as possible, but after nightfall. before they arrived at headquarters there suddenly arose, from some unknown cause, a great alarm and beating to arms on the opposite or eastern side of the city. they were entirely innocent of any participation in this uproar and ignorant of its cause, but when they reached the presence of sir francis vere they found that warrior in a towering passion. there was cheating going on, he exclaimed. the spaniards, he cried, were taking advantage of these negotiations, and were about, by dishonourable stratagem, to assault the town. astounded, indignant, but utterly embarrassed, the grave spaniards knew not how to reply. they were still more amazed when the general, rising to a still higher degree of exasperation, absolutely declined to exchange another word with them, but ordered captains carpentier and st. hilaire, by whom they had been escorted to his quarters, to conduct them out of the town again by the same road which had brought them there. there was nothing for it but to comply, and to smother their resentment at such extraordinary treatment as best they could. when they got to the old harbour on the western side the tide had risen so high that it was impossible to cross. nobody knew better than vere, when he gave the order, that this would be the case; so that when the escorting officers returned to state the fact, he simply ordered them to take the spaniards back by the gullet or eastern side. the strangers were not very young men, and being much fatigued with wandering to and fro in the darkness over the muddy roads, they begged permission to remain all night in ostend, if it were only in a guardhouse. but vere was inexorable, after the duplicity which he affected to have discovered on the part of the enemy. so the quartermaster-general and the governor of sluys, much to the detriment of their dignity, were forced once more to tramp through the muddy streets. and obeying their secret instructions, the escort led them round and round through the most miry and forlorn parts of the town, so that, sinking knee-deep at every step into sloughs and quicksands, and plunging about through the mist and sleet of a dreary december's night, they at last reached the precincts of the spanish half-moon on the gullet, be-draggled from head to foot and in a most dismal and exhausted condition. "ah, the villainous town of ostend!" exclaimed serrano, ruefully contemplating his muddy boots and imploring at least a pipe of tobacco. he was informed, however, that no such medical drugs were kept in the fort, but that a draught of good english ale was much at their service. the beer was brought in four foaming flagons, and, a little refreshed by this hospitality, the spaniards were put in a boat and rowed under the guns of the fort across the gullet and delivered to their own sentries on the outposts of bucquoy's entrenchments. by this time it was midnight, so that it was necessary for them to remain for the night in the eastern encampment before reporting themselves at fort st. albert. thus far vere's comedy had been eminently successful, and by taking advantage of the accidental alarm and so adroitly lashing himself into a fictitious frenzy, the general had gained nearly twenty-four additional hours of precious time on which he had not reckoned. next morning, after serrano and antonio had reported to the archduke, it was decided, notwithstanding the very inhospitable treatment which they had received, that those commissioners should return to their labours. ogle and fairfax still remained as hostages in camp, and of course professed entire ignorance of these extraordinary proceedings, attributing them to some inexplicable misunderstanding. so on monday, th, december, the quartermaster and the governor again repaired to ostend with orders to bring about the capitulation of the place as soon as possible. the same sergeant-major was again appointed by vere to escort the strangers, and on asking by what way he should bring them in, was informed by sir francis that it would never do to allow those gentlemen, whose feet were accustomed to the soft sand of the sea-beach and downs, to bruise themselves upon the hard paving-stones of ostend, but that the softest and muddiest road must be carefully selected for them. these reasons accordingly were stated with perfect gravity to the two spaniards, who, in spite of their solemn remonstrances, were made to repeat a portion of their experiences and to accept it as an act of special courtesy from the english general. thus so much time had been spent in preliminaries and so much more upon the road that the short winter's day was drawing to a close before they were again introduced to the presence of vere. they found that fiery personage on this occasion all smiles and blandishments. the spaniards were received with most dignified courtesy, to which they gravely responded; and the general then proceeded to make excuses for the misunderstanding of the preceding day with its uncomfortable consequences. thereupon arose much animated discussion as to the causes and the nature of the alarm on the east side which had created such excitement. much time was ingeniously consumed in this utterly superfluous discussion; but at last the commissioners of the archduke insisted on making allusion to the business which had brought them to the town. "what terms of negotiation do you propose?" they asked sir francis. "his highness has only to withdraw from before ostend," coolly replied the general, "and leave us, his poor neighbours, in peace and quietness. this would be the most satisfactory negotiation possible and the one most easily made." serrano and antonio found it difficult to see the matter in that cheerful light, and assured sir francis that they had not been commissioned by the archduke to treat for his own withdrawal but for the surrender of the town. hereupon high words and fierce discussion very naturally arose, and at last, when a good deal of time had been spent in the sharp encounter of wits, vere proposed an adjournment of the discussion until after supper; politely expressing the hope that the spanish gentlemen would be his guests. the conversation had been from the beginning in french, as vere, although a master of the spanish language, was desirous that the rest of the company present should understand everything said at the interview. the invitation to table was graciously accepted, and the christmas eve passed off more merrily than the preceding night had done, so far as vere's two guests were concerned. several distinguished officers were present at the festive board: captain montesquieu de roquette, sir horace vere, captains st. hilaire, meetkerke, de ryck, and others among them. as it was strict fast for the catholics that evening--while on the other hand the english, still reckoning according to the old style, would not keep christmas until ten days later--the banquet consisted mainly of eggs and fish, and the like meagre articles, in compliment to the guests. it was, however, as well furnished as could be expected in a beleaguered town, out of whose harbour a winter gale had been for many weeks blowing and preventing all ingress. there was at least no lack of excellent bordeaux wine; while the servants waiting upon the table did not fail to observe that governor serrano was not in all respects a model of the temperance usually characteristic of his race. they carefully counted and afterwards related with admiration, not unmingled with horror, that the veteran spaniard drank fifty-two goblets of claret, and was emptying his glass as fast as filled, although by no means neglecting the beer, the quality of which he had tested the night before at the half-moon. yet there seemed to be no perceptible effect produced upon him, save perhaps that he grew a shade more grave and dignified with each succeeding draught. for while the banquet proceeded in this very genial manner business was by no means neglected; the negotiations for the surrender of the city being conducted on both sides with a fuddled solemnity very edifying for the attendants to contemplate. vere complained that the archduke was unreasonable, for he claimed nothing less from his antagonists than their all. the commissioners replied that all was no more than his own property. it certainly could not be thought unjust of him to demand his own, and all flanders was his by legal donation from his majesty of spain. vere replied that he had never studied jurisprudence, and was not versed at all in that--science, but he had always heard in england that possession was nine points of the law. now it so happened that they, and not his highness, were in possession of ostend, and it would be unreasonable to expect them to make a present of it to any one. the besiegers, he urged, had gained much honour by their steady persistence amid so many dangers; difficulties, and losses;--but winter had come, the weather was very bad, not a step of progress had been made, and he was bold enough to express his opinion that it would be far more sensible on the part of his highness, after such deeds of valour, to withdraw his diminished forces out of the freezing and pestilential swamps before ostend and go into comfortable winter-quarters at ghent or bruges. enough had been done for glory, and it must certainly now be manifest that he had no chance of taking the city. serrano retorted that it was no secret to the besiegers that the garrison had dwindled to a handful; that it was quite impossible for them to defend their outer works any longer; that with the loss of the external boulevard the defence of the place would be impossible, and that, on the contrary, it was for the republicans to resign themselves to their fate. they, too, had done enough for glory, and had nothing for it but to retire into the centre of their ruined little nest, where they must burrow until the enemy should have leisure to entirely unearth them, which would be a piece of work very easily and rapidly accomplished. this was called negotiation; and thus the winter's evening wore away, until the spaniards; heavy with fatigue and wine, were without much difficulty persuaded to seek the couches prepared for them. next day the concourse of people around the city was christmas, wonderful to behold. the rumour had spread through the, provinces, and was on the, wing to all foreign countries, that ostend had capitulated, and that the commissioners were at that moment arranging the details. the cardinal-archduke, in complete milanese armour, with a splendid feather-bush waving from his casque and surrounded by his brilliant body-guard, galloped to and fro outside the entrenchments, expecting every moment a deputation to come forth, bearing the keys of the town. the infanta too, magnificent in ruff and farthingale and brocaded petticoat, and attended by a cavalcade of ladies of honour in gorgeous attire, pranced impatiently about, awaiting the dramatic termination of a leaguer which was becoming wearisome to besieger and besieged. not even on the famous second of july of the previous year, when that princess was pleasing herself with imaginations as to the deportment of maurice of nassau as a captive, had her soul been so full of anticipated triumph as on this christmas morning. such a festive scene as was now presented in the neighbourhood of ostend had not been exhibited for many a long year in flanders. from the whole country side came the peasants and burghers, men, women, and children, in holiday attire. it was like a kermiss or provincial fair. three thousand people at least were roaming about in all direction, gaping with wonder at the fortifications of the besieging army, so soon to be superfluous, sliding, skating, waltzing on the ice, admiring jugglers, dancing bears, puppet shows and merry-go-rounds, singing, and carousing upon herrings, sausages, waffles, with mighty draughts of flemish ale, manifesting their exuberant joy that the thorn was nearly extracted from the lion's paw, and awaiting with delight a blessed relief from that operation. never was a merrier christmas morning in flanders. there should be an end now to the forays through the country of those red-coated english pikemen, those hard-riding, hard-drinking troopers of germany and, holland, with the french and scotch arquebus men, and terrible zeeland sailors who had for years swept out of ostend, at any convenient opportunity, to harry the whole province. and great was the joy in flanders. meantime within the city a different scene was enacting. those dignified spaniards--governor serrano and don matteo antonio--having slept off their carouse, were prepared after breakfast next morning to resume the interrupted negotiations. but affairs were now to take an unexpected turn. in the night the wind had changed, and in the course of the forenoon three dutch vessels of war were descried in the offing, and soon calmly sailed into the mouth of the gullet. the news was at once brought to vere's headquarters. that general's plans had been crowned with success even sooner than he expected. there was no further object in continuing the comedy of negotiation, for the ships now arriving seemed crowded with troops. sir francis accordingly threw off the mask, and assuring his guests with extreme politeness that it had given him great pleasure to make the acquaintance of such distinguished personages, he thanked them cordially for their visit, but regretted that it would be no longer in his power to entertain any propositions of a pacific nature. the necessary reinforcements, which he had been so long expecting, had at last reached him, and it would not yet be necessary for him to retire into his ruined nest. military honour therefore would not allow him to detain them any longer. should he ever be so hard pressed again he felt sure that so magnanimous a prince as his highness would extend to him all due clemency and consideration. the spaniards; digesting as they best could the sauce of contumely with which the gross treachery of the transaction was now seasoned, solemnly withdrew, disdaining to express their spleen in words of idle menace. they were escorted back through the lines, and at once made their report at headquarters. the festival had been dismally interrupted before it was well begun. the vessels were soon observed by friend and foe making their way triumphantly up to the town where they soon dropped anchor at the wharf of the inner gullet, having only a couple of sailors wounded, despite all the furious discharges of bucquoy's batteries. the holiday makers dispersed, much discomfited, the english hostages returned to the town, and the archduke shut himself up, growling and furious. his generals and counsellors, who had recommended the abandonment of his carefully prepared assault, and acceptance of the perfidious propositions to negotiate, by which so much golden time had been squandered, were for several days excluded from his presence. meantime the army, disappointed, discontented, half-starved, unpaid, passed their days and nights as before, in the sloppy trenches, while deep and earnest were the complaints and the curses which succeeded to the momentary exultation of christmas eve. the soldiers were more than ever embittered against their august commander-in-chief, for they had just enjoyed a signal opportunity of comparing the luxury and comfortable magnificence of his highness and the infanta, and of contrasting it with their own misery. moreover, it had long been exciting much indignation in the ranks that veteran generals and colonels, in whom all men had confidence, had been in great numbers superseded in order to make place for court favourites, utterly without experience or talent. thus the veterans; murmuring in the wet trenches. the archduke meanwhile, in his sullen retirement, brooded over a tragedy to follow the very successful comedy of his antagonist. it was not long delayed. the assault which had been postponed in the latter days of december was to be renewed before the end of the first week of the new year. vere, through scouts and deserters, was aware of the impending storm, and had made his arrangements in accordance with, the very minute information which he had thus received. the reinforcements, so opportunely sent by the states, were not numerous--only six hundred in all--but they were an earnest of fresh comrades to follow. meantime they sufficed to fill the gaps in the ranks, and to enable vere to keep possession of the external line of fortifications, including the all-important porcupine. moreover, during the fictitious negotiations, while the general had thus been holding--as he expressed it--the wolf by both ears, the labor of repairing damages in dyke, moat, and wall had not been for an instant neglected. the morning of the th january, , opened with a vigorous cannonade from all the archduke's batteries, east, west, and south. auditor fleeting, counsellor and secretary of the city, aide-de-camp and right hand of the commander-in-chief, a grim, grizzled, leathern-faced man of fifty, steady under fire as a veteran arquebuseer, ready with his pen as a counting-house clerk, and as fertile in resource as the most experienced campaigner, was ever at the general's side. at his suggestion several houses had been demolished, to furnish materials in wood and iron to stop the gaps as soon as made. especially about the sand hill fort and the porcupine a plentiful supply was collected, no time having been lost in throwing up stockades, palisades, and every other possible obstruction to the expected assailants. knowing perfectly well where the brunt of the battle was to be, vere had placed his brother sir horace at the head of twelve picked companies of diverse nations in the sand hill. four of the very best companies of the garrison were stationed in the porcupine, and ten more of the choicest in fort hell's mouth, under colonel meetkerke. it must be recollected that the first of these three works was the key to the fortifications of the old or outer town. the other two were very near it, and were the principal redoubts which defended the most exposed and vulnerable portion of the new town on the western side. the sand hill, as its name imported, was the only existing relic within the city's verge of the chain of downs once encircling the whole place. it had however been cannonaded so steadily during the six months' siege as to have become almost ironclad--a mass of metal gradually accumulating from the enemy's guns. with the curtain extending from it towards east and west it protected the old town quite up to the little ancient brick church, one of the only two in ostend. all day long the cannon thundered--a bombardment such as had never before been dreamed of in those days, two thousand shots having been distinctly counted, by the burghers. there was but languid response from the besieged, who were reserving their strength. at last, to the brief winter's day succeeded a pitch-dark evening. it was dead low tide at seven. at that hour the drums suddenly beat alarm along the whole line of fortifications from the gullet on the east to the old harbour on the west, while through the mirky atmosphere sounded the trumpets of the assault, the shouts of the spanish and italian commanders, and the fierce responsive yells of their troops. sir francis, having visited every portion of the works, and satisfied himself that every man in the garrison was under arms, and that all his arrangements had been fulfilled, now sat on horseback, motionless as a statue, within the sand hill. among the many serious and fictitious attacks now making he waited calmly for the one great assault, even allowing some of the enemy to scale the distant counterscarp of the external works towards the south, which he had by design left insufficiently guarded. it was but a brief suspense, for in a few moments two thousand men had rushed through the bed of the old harbour, out of which the tide had ebbed, and were vigorously assailing the sand hill and the whole length of its curtain. the impenetrable darkness made it impossible to count, but the noise and the surging fury of the advance rendered it obvious that the critical moment had arrived. suddenly a vivid illumination burst forth. great pine torches, piles of tar-barrels, and heaps of other inflammable material, which had been carefully arranged in fort porcupine, were now all at once lighted by vere's command. as the lurid blaze flashed far and wide there started out of the gloom not only the long lines of yellow jerkined pikemen and arquebuseers, with their storm-hoods and scaling ladders, rushing swiftly towards the forts, but beyond the broken sea dyke the reserved masses supporting the attack, drawn up in solid clumps of spears, with their gay standards waving above them, and with a strong force of cavalry in iron corslet and morion stationed in the rear to urge on the infantry and prevent their faltering in the night's work, became visible--phantom-like but perfectly distinct. at least four thousand men were engaged in this chief attack, and the light now permitted the besieged to direct their fire from cannon, demi-cannon, culverin, and snaphance, with fatal effect. the assailants, thinned, straggling, but undismayed, closed up their ranks, and still came fiercely on. never had spaniards, walloons, and italians, manifested greater contempt of death than on this occasion. they knew that the archduke and the infanta were waiting breathlessly in fort st. albert for the news of that victory of which the feigned negotiations had defrauded them at christmas, and they felt perfectly confident of ending both the siege and the forty years' war this january night. but they had reckoned without their wily english host. as they came nearer--van, and at last reserve--they dropped in great heaps under the steady fire of the musketry--as philip flaming, looking on, exclaimed--like apples when the autumn wind blows through the orchard. and as the foremost still pressed nearer and nearer, striving to clamber up the shattered counterscarp and through every practicable breach, the english, hollanders, and zeelanders, met them in the gap, not only at push of pike, but with their long daggers and with flaming pitchhoops, and hurled them down to instant death. and thus around the sand hill, the porcupine, and hell's mouth, the battle raged nearly two hours long, without an inch of ground being gained by the assailants. the dead and dying were piled beneath the walls, while still the reserves, goaded up to the mark by the cavalry, mounted upon the bodies of their fallen comrades and strove to plant their, ladders. but now the tide was on the flood, the harbour was filling, and cool auditor fleming, whom nothing escaped quietly asked the general's permission to open the western' sluice. it was obvious, he observed, that the fury of the attack was over, and that the enemy would soon be effecting a retreat before the water should have risen too high. he even pointed out many stragglers attempting to escape through the already deepening shallows. vere's consent was at once given, the flood-gate was opened, and the assailants such as still survived--panic-struck in a moment, rushed wildly back through the old harbour towards their camp. it was too late. the waters were out, and the contending currents whirled the fugitives up and down through the submerged land, and beyond the broken dyke, until great numbers of them were miserably drowned in the haven, while others were washed out to sea. horses and riders were borne off towards the zealand coast, and several of their corpses were picked up days afterwards in the neighbourhood of flushing. meantime those who had effected a lodgment in the polder, the square, and the other southern forts, found, after the chief assault had failed, that they had gained nothing by their temporary triumph but the certainty of being butchered. retreat was impossible, and no quarter was given. count imbec, a noble of great wealth, offered his weight in gold for his ransom, but was killed by a private soldier, who preferred his blood, or doubted his solvency. durango, marshal of the camp, don alvarez de suarez, and don matteo antonio, sergeant-major and quarter-master-general, whose adventures as a hostage within the town on christmas eve have so recently been related, were also slain. on the eastern side bucquoy's attack was an entire failure. his arrangements were too slowly made, and before he could bring his men to the assault the water was so high in the gullet that they refused to lay their pontoons and march to certain death. only at lowest ebb, and with most exquisite skill in fording, would it have been possible to effect anything like an earnest demonstration or a surprise. moreover some of the garrison, giving themselves out as deserters, stole out of the spanish half-moon, which had been purposely almost denuded of its defenders, towards the enemy's entrenchments, and offered to lead a body of spaniards into that ravelin. bucquoy fell into the trap, so that the detachment, after a victory as easily effected as that in the southern forts, found themselves when the fight was over not the captors but the caught. a few attempted to escape and were driven into the sea; the rest were massacred. fifteen hundred of the enemy's dead were counted and registered by auditor fleming. the whole number of the slain and drowned was reckoned as high as two thousand, which was at least, a quarter of the whole besieging army. and so ended this winter night's assault, by which the archduke had fondly hoped to avenge himself for vere's perfidy, and to terminate the war at a blow. only sixty of the garrison were killed, and sir horace vere was wounded. the winter now set in with severe sleet, and snow, and rain, and furious tempests lashing the sea over the works of besieger and besieged, and for weeks together paralyzing all efforts of either army. eight weary months the siege had lasted; the men in town and hostile camp, exposed to the inclemency of the wintry trenches, sinking faster before the pestilence which now swept impartially through all ranks than the soldiers of the archduke had fallen at nieuport, or in the recent assault on the sand hill. of seven thousand hardly three thousand now remained in the garrison. yet still the weary sausage making and wooden castle building went on along the gullet and around the old town. the bredene dyke crept on inch by inch, but the steady ships of the republic came and went unharmed by the batteries with which bucquoy hoped to shut up the new harbour. the archduke's works were pushed up nearer on the west, but, as yet, not one practical advantage had been gained, and the siege had scarcely advanced a hair's breadth since the th of july of the preceding year, when the armies had first sat down before the place. the stormy month of march had come, and vere, being called to service in the field for the coming season, transferred the command at ostend to frederic van dorp, a rugged, hard-headed, ill-favoured, stout-hearted zealand colonel, with the face of a bull-dog, and with the tenacious grip of one. etext editor's bookmarks: constitute themselves at once universal legatees crimes and cruelties such as christians only could imagine human fat esteemed the sovereignst remedy (for wounds) war was the normal and natural condition of mankind history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , - chapter xl. protraction of the siege of ostend--spanish invasion of ireland-- prince maurice again on the march--siege of grave--state of the archduke's army--formidable mutiny--state of europe--portuguese expedition to java--foundation there of the first batavian trading settlement--exploits of jacob heemskerk--capture of a lisbon carrack--progress of dutch commerce--oriental and germanic republics --commercial embassy from the king of atsgen in sumatra to the netherlands--surrender of grave--privateer work of frederic spinola --destruction of spinola's fleet by english and dutch cruisers-- continuation of the siege of ostend--fearful hurricane and its effects--the attack--capture of external forts--encounter between spinola and a dutch squadron--execution of prisoners by the archduke--philip fleming and his diary--continuation of operations before ostend--spanish veterans still mutinous--their capital besieged by van den berg--maurice marches to their relief-- convention between the prince and the mutineers--great commercial progress of the dutch--opposition to international commerce-- organization of the universal east india company. it would be desirable to concentrate the chief events of the siege of ostend so that they might be presented to the reader's view in a single mass. but this is impossible. the siege was essentially the war--as already observed--and it was bidding fair to protract itself to such an extent that a respect for chronology requires the attention to be directed for a moment to other topics. the invasion of ireland under aquila, so pompously heralded as almost to suggest another grand armada, had sailed in the beginning of the winter, and an army of six thousand men had been landed at kinsale. rarely had there been a better opportunity for the celt to strike for his independence. shane mac neil had an army on foot with which he felt confident of exterminating the saxon oppressor, even without the assistance of his peninsular allies; while the queen's army, severely drawn upon as it had been for the exigencies of vere and the states, might be supposed unable to cope with so formidable a combination. yet montjoy made short work of aquila and tyrone. the invaders, shut up in their meagre conquest, became the besieged instead of the assailants. tyrone made a feeble attempt to relieve his spanish allies, but was soon driven into his swamps, the peasants would not rise; in spite of proclamations and golden mountains of promise, and aquila was soon glad enough to sign a capitulation by which he saved a portion of his army. he then returned, in transports provided by the english general, a much discomfited man, to spain instead of converting ireland into a province of the universal empire. he had not rescued hibernia, as he stoutly proclaimed at the outset his intention of doing, from the jaws of the evil demon. the states, not much wiser after the experience of nieuport, were again desirous that maurice should march into flanders, relieve ostend, and sweep the archduke into the sea. as for vere, he proposed that a great army of cavalry and infantry should be sent into ostend, while another force equally powerful should take the field as soon as the season permitted. where the men were to be levied, and whence the funds for putting such formidable hosts in motion were to be derived, it was not easy to say: "'tis astonishing," said lewis william, "that the evils already suffered cannot open his eyes; but after all, 'tis no marvel. an old and good colonel, as i hold him to be, must go to school before he can become a general, and we must beware of committing any second folly, govern ourselves according to our means and the art of war, and leave the rest to god." prince maurice, however; yielding as usual to the persuasions or importunities of those less sagacious than himself; and being also much influenced by the advice of the english queen and the french king, after reviewing the most splendid army that even he had ever equipped and set in the field, crossed the waal at nymegen, and the meuse at mook, and then moving leisurely along meuse--side by way of sambeck, blitterswyck, and maasyk, came past st. truyden to the neighbourhood of thienen, in brabant. here he stood, in the heart of the enemy's country, and within a day's march of brussels. the sanguine portion of his countrymen and the more easily alarmed of the enemy already thought it would be an easy military promenade for the stadholder to march through brabant and flanders to the coast, defeat the catholic forces before ostend, raise the weary siege of that place, dictate peace to the archduke, and return in triumph to the hague, before the end of the summer. but the experienced maurice too well knew the emptiness of such dreams. he had a splendid army--eighteen thousand foot and five thousand horse--of which lewis william commanded the battalia, vere the right, and count ernest the left, with a train of two thousand baggage wagons, and a considerable force of sutlers and camp-followers. he moved so deliberately, and with such excellent discipline, that his two wings could with ease be expanded for black-mail or forage over a considerable extent of country, and again folded together in case of sudden military necessity. but he had no intention of marching through brussels, ghent, and bruges, to the flemish coast. his old antagonist, the admiral of arragon, lay near thienen in an entrenched camp, with a force of at least fifteen thousand men, while the archduke, leaving rivas in command before ostend, hovered in the neighbourhood of brussels, with as many troops as could be spared from the various flemish garrisons, ready to support the admiral. but maurice tempted the admiral in vain with the chances of a general action. that warrior, remembering perhaps too distinctly his disasters at nieuport, or feeling conscious that his military genius was more fitly displayed in burning towns and villages in neutral territory, robbing the peasantry, plundering gentlemen's castles and murdering the proprietors, than it was like to be in a pitched battle with the first general of the age, remained sullenly within his entrenchments. his position was too strong and his force far too numerous to warrant an attack by the stadholder upon his works. after satisfying himself, therefore, that there was no chance of an encounter in brabant except at immense disadvantage, maurice rapidly counter-marched towards the lower meuse, and on the th july laid siege to grave. the position and importance of this city have been thoroughly set before the reader in a former volumes it is only necessary, therefore, to recal the fact that, besides being a vital possession for the republic, the place was in law the private property of the orange family, having been a portion of the estate of count de buren, afterwards redeemed on payment of a considerable sum of money by his son-in-law, william the silent, confirmed to him at the pacification of ghent, and only lost to his children by the disgraceful conduct of captain hamart, which had cost that officer his head. maurice was determined at least that the place should not now slip through his fingers, and that the present siege should be a masterpiece. his forts, of which he had nearly fifty, were each regularly furnished with moat, drawbridge, and bulwark. his counterscarp and parapet, his galleries, covered ways and mines, were as elaborate, massive, and artistically finished as if he were building a city instead of besieging one. buzanval, the french envoy, amazed at the spectacle, protested that his works "were rather worthy of the grand emperor of the turks than of, a little commonwealth, which only existed through the disorder of its enemies and the assistance of its friends;" but he admitted the utility of the stadholder's proceedings to be very obvious. while the prince calmly sat before grave, awaiting the inexorable hour for burghers and garrison to surrender, the great francis mendoza, admiral of arragon, had been completing the arrangements for his exchange. a prisoner after the nieuport battle, he had been assigned by maurice, as will be recollected, to his cousin, young lewis gunther, whose brilliant services as commander of the cavalry had so much contributed to the victory. the amount of ransom for so eminent a captive could not fail to be large, and accordingly the thrifty lewis william had congratulated his brother on being able, although so young, thus to repair the fortunes of the family by his military industry to a greater extent than had yet been accomplished by any of the race. subsequently, the admiral had been released on parole, the sum of his ransom having been fixed at nearly one hundred thousand flemish crowns. by an agreement now made by the states, with consent of the nassau family, the prisoner was definitely released, on condition of effecting the exchange of all prisoners of the republic, now held in durance by spain in any part of the world. this was in lieu of the hundred thousand crowns which were to be put into the impoverished coffers of lewis gunther. it may be imagined, as the hapless prisoners afterwards poured in--not only from the peninsula, but from more distant regions, whither they had been sent by their cruel taskmasters, some to relate their sufferings in the horrible dungeons of spain, where they had long been expiating the crime of defending their fatherland, others to relate their experiences as chained galley-slaves in the naval service of their bitterest enemies, many with shorn heads and long beards like turks, many with crippled limbs, worn out with chains and blows, and the squalor of disease and filth--that the hatred for spain and rome did not glow any less fiercely within the republic, nor the hereditary love for the nassaus, to whose generosity these poor victims were indebted for their deliverance, become fainter, in consequence of these revelations. it was at first vehemently disputed by many that the admiral could be exchanged as a prisoner of war, in respect to the manifold murders and other crimes which would seem to authorize his trial and chastisement by the tribunals of the republic. but it was decided by the states that the sacred aegis of military law must be held to protect even so bloodstained a criminal as he, and his release was accordingly effected. not long afterwards he took his departure for spain, where his reception was not enthusiastic. from this epoch is to be dated a considerable reform in the laws regulating the exchange of prisoners of war.--[grotius] while maurice was occupied with the siege of grave, and thus not only menacing an important position, but spreading, danger and dismay over all brabant and flanders, it was necessary for the archduke to detach so large a portion of his armies to observe his indefatigable and scientific enemy, as to much weaken the vigour of the operations before ostend. moreover, the execrable administration of his finances, and the dismal delays and sufferings of that siege; had brought about another mutiny--on the whole, the most extensive, formidable, and methodical of all that had hitherto occurred in the spanish armies. by midsummer, at least three thousand five hundred veterans, including a thousand of excellent cavalry, the very best soldiers in the service, had seized the city of hoogstraaten. here they established themselves securely, and strengthened the fortifications; levying contributions in corn, cattle, and every other necessary, besides wine, beer, and pocket-money, from the whole country round with exemplary regularity. as usual, disorder assumed the forms of absolute order. anarchy became the best organized of governments; and it would have been difficult to find in the world--outside the dutch commonwealth--a single community where justice appeared to be so promptly administered as in this temporary republic, founded upon rebellion and theft. for; although a brotherhood of thieves, it rigorously punished such of its citizens as robbed for their own, not for the public good. the immense booty swept daily from the granges, castles; and villages of flanders was divided with the simplicity of early christians, while the success and steadiness of the operations paralyzed their sovereign, and was of considerable advantage to the states. albert endeavoured in vain to negotiate with the rebels. nuncius frangipani went to them in person, but was received with calm derision. pious exhortations might turn the keys of paradise, but gold alone, he was informed, would unlock the gates of hoogstraaten. in an evil hour the cardinal-archduke was tempted to try the effect of sacerdotal thunder. the ex-archbishop of toledo could not doubt that the terrors of the church would make those brown veterans tremble who could confront so tranquilly the spring-tides of the north sea, and the batteries of vere and nassau. so he launched a manifesto, as highly spiced as a pamphlet of marnig, and as severe as a sentence of torquemada. entirely against the advice of the states-general of the obedient provinces, he denounced the mutineers as outlaws and accursed. he called on persons of every degree to kill any of them in any way, at any time, or in any place, promising that the slayer of a private soldier should receive a reward of "ten crowns for each head" brought in, while for a subaltern officer's head one hundred crowns were offered; for that of a superior officer two hundred, and for that of the eletto or chief magistrate, five hundred crowns. should the slayer be himself a member of the mutiny, his crime of rebellion was to be forgiven, and the price of murder duly paid. all judges, magistrates, and provost-marshals were ordered to make inventories of the goods, moveable and immoveable, of the mutineers, and of the clothing and other articles belonging to their wives and children, all which property was to be brought in and deposited in the hands of the proper functionaries of the archduke's camp, in order that it might be duly incorporated into the domains of his highness. the mutineers were not frightened. the ban was an anachronism. if those spaniards and italians had learned nothing by their much campaigning in the land of calvinism, they had at least unlearned their faith in bell, book, and candle. it happened, too, that among their numbers were to be found pamphleteers as ready and as unscrupulous as the scribes of the archduke. so there soon came forth and was published to the world, in the name of the eletto and council of hoogstraaten, a formal answer to the ban. "if scolding and cursing be payment," said the magistrates of the mutiny, "then we might give a receipt in full for our wages. the ban is sufficient in this respect; but as these curses give no food for our bellies nor clothes for our backs, not preventing us, therefore, who have been fighting so long for the honour and welfare of the archdukes from starving with cold and hunger, we think a reply necessary in order to make manifest how much reason these archdukes have for thundering forth all this choler and fury, by which women and children may be frightened, but at which no soldier will feel alarm. "when it is stated," continued the mutineers, "that we have deserted our banners just as an attempt was making by the archduke to relieve grave, we can only reply that the assertion proves how impossible it is to practise arithmetic with disturbed brains. passion is a bad schoolmistress for the memory, but, as good friends, we will recal to the recollection of your highness that it was not your highness, but the admiral of arragon, that commanded the relieving force before that city. "'tis very true that we summon your highnesses, and levy upon your provinces, in order to obtain means of living; for in what other quarter should we make application. your highnesses give us nothing except promises; but soldiers are not chameleons, to live on such air. according to every principle of law, creditors have a lien on the property of their debtors. "as to condemning to death as traitors and scoundrels those who don't desire to be killed, and who have the means of killing such as attempt to execute the sentence; this is hardly in accordance with the extraordinary wisdom which has always characterized your highnesses. "as, to the confiscation of our goods, both moveable and immoveable, we would simply make this observation: "our moveable goods are our swords alone, and they can only be moved by ourselves. they are our immoveable goods as well; for should any one but ourselves undertake to move them, we assure your highnesses that they will prove too heavy to be handled. "as to the official register and deposit ordained of the money, clothing, and other property belonging to ourselves, our wives and children, the work may be done without clerks of inventory. certainly, if the domains of your highnesses have no other sources of revenue than the proceeds of this confiscation, wherewith to feed the ostrich-like digestions of those about you, 'tis to be feared that ere long they will be in the same condition as were ours, when we were obliged to come together in hoogstraaten to devise means to keep ourselves, our wives, and children alive. and at that time we were an unbreeched people, like the indians--saving your highnesses' reverence--and the climate here is too cold for such costume. your highnesses, and your relatives the emperor and king of spain, will hardly make your royal heads greasy with the fat of such property as we possess, 'twill also be a remarkable spectacle after you have stripped our wives and children stark naked for the benefit of your treasury, to see them sent in that condition, within three days afterwards, out of the country, as the ban ordains. "you order the ban to be executed against our children and our children's children, but your highness never learned this in the bible, when you were an archbishop, and when you expounded, or ought to have expounded, the holy scriptures to your flock. what theology teaches your highness to vent your wrath upon the innocent? "whenever the cause of discontent is taken away, the soldiers will become obedient and cheerful. all kings and princes may mirror themselves in the bad government of your highness, and may see how they fare who try to carry on a war, while with their own hands they cut the sinews of war. the great leaders of old--cyrus, alexander, scipio, caesar--were accustomed, not to starve, but to enrich their soldiers. what did alexander, when in an arid desert they brought, him a helmet full of water? he threw it on the sand, saying that there was only enough for him, but not enough for his army. "your highnesses have set ten crowns, and one hundred, and five hundred crowns upon our heads, but never could find five hundred mites nor ten mites to keep our souls and bodies together. "yet you have found means to live yourselves with pomp and luxury, far exceeding that of the great emperor charles and much surpassing the magnificence of your highnesses' brothers, the emperor and the king." thus, and much more, the magistrates of the "italian republic"--answering their master's denunciations of vengeance, both in this world and the next, with a humorous scorn very refreshing in that age of the world to contemplate. the expanding influence of the dutch commonwealth was already making itself felt even in the ranks of its most determined foes. the mutineers had also made an agreement with the states-general, by which they had secured permission, in case of need, to retire within the territory of the republic. maurice had written to them from his camp before grave, and at first they were disposed to treat him with as little courtesy as they had shown the nuncius; for they put the prince's letter on a staff, and fired at it as a mark, assuring the trumpeter who brought it that they would serve him in the same manner should he venture thither again. very soon afterwards, however, the eletto and council, reproving the folly of their subordinates, opened negotiations with the stadholder, who, with the consent of the states, gave them preliminary permission to take refuge under the guns of bergenop-zoom, should they by chance be hard pressed. thus throughout europe a singular equilibrium of contending forces seemed established. before ostend, where the chief struggle between imperialism and republicanism had been proceeding for more than a year with equal vigour, there seemed no possibility of a result. the sands drank up the blood of the combatants on both sides, month after month, in summer; the pestilence in town and camp mowed down catholic and protestant with perfect impartiality during the winter, while the remorseless ocean swept over all in its wrath, obliterating in an hour the patient toil of months. in spain, in england, and ireland; in hungary, germany, sweden, and poland, men wrought industriously day by day and year by year, to destroy each other, and to efface the products of human industry, and yet no progress could fairly be registered. the turk was in buda, on the right bank of the danube, and the christian in pest, on the left, while the crescent; but lately supplanted by the cross, again waved in triumph over stuhlweissenberg, capital city of the magyars. the great marshal biron, foiled in his stupendous treachery, had laid down his head upon the block; the catastrophe following hard upon the madcap riot of lord essex in the strand and his tragic end. the troublesome and restless favourites of henry and of elizabeth had closed their stormy career, but the designs of the great king and the great queen were growing wider and wilder, more false and more fantastic than ever, as the evening shadows of both were lengthening. but it was not in europe nor in christendom: alone during that twilight epoch of declining absolutism, regal and sacerdotal, and the coming glimmer of freedom, religious and commercial, that the contrast between the old and new civilizations was exhibiting itself. the same fishermen and fighting men, whom we have but lately seen sailing forth from zeeland and friesland to confront the dangers of either pole, were now contending in the indian seas with the portuguese monopolists of the tropics. a century long, the generosity of the roman pontiff in bestowing upon others what was not his property had guaranteed to the nation of vasco de gama one half at least of the valuable possessions which maritime genius, unflinching valour, and boundless cruelty had won and kept. but the spirit of change was abroad in the world. potentates and merchants under the equator had been sedulously taught that there were no other white men on the planet but the portuguese and their conquerors the spaniards, and that the dutch--of whom they had recently heard, and the portrait of whose great military chieftain they had seen after the news of the nieuport battle had made the circuit of the earth--were a mere mob of pirates and savages inhabiting the obscurest of dens. they were soon, however, to be enabled to judge for themselves as to the power and the merits of the various competitors for their trade. early in this year andreas hurtado de mendoza with a stately fleet of galleons and smaller vessels, more than five-and-twenty in all, was on his way towards the island of java to inflict summary vengeance upon those oriental rulers who had dared to trade with men forbidden by his catholic majesty and the pope. the city of bantam was the first spot marked out for destruction, and it so happened that a dutch skipper, wolfert hermann by name, commanding five trading vessels, in which were three hundred men, had just arrived in those seas to continue the illicit commerce which had aroused the ire of the portuguese. his whole force both of men and of guns was far inferior to that of the flag-ship alone of mendoza. but he resolved to make manifest to the indians that the batavians were not disposed to relinquish their promising commercial relations with them, nor to turn their backs upon their newly found friends in the hour of danger. to the profound astonishment of the portuguese admiral the dutchman with his five little trading ships made an attack on the pompous armada, intending to avert chastisement from the king of bantam. it was not possible for wolfert to cope at close quarters with his immensely superior adversary, but his skill and nautical experience enabled him to play at what was then considered long bowls with extraordinary effect. the greater lightness and mobility of his vessels made them more than a match, in this kind of encounter, for the clumsy, top-heavy, and sluggish marine castles in which spain and portugal then went forth to battle on the ocean. it seems almost like the irony of history, and yet it is the literal fact, that the dutch galleot of that day--hardly changed in two and a half centuries since--"the bull-browed galleot butting through the stream,"--[oliver wendell holmes]--was then the model clipper, conspicuous among all ships for its rapid sailing qualities and ease of handling. so much has the world moved, on sea and shore, since those simple but heroic days. and thus wolfert's swift-going galleots circled round and round the awkward, ponderous, and much-puzzled portuguese fleet, until by well-directed shots and skilful manoeuvring they had sunk several ships, taken two, run others into the shallows, and, at last, put the whole to confusion. after several days of such fighting, admiral mendoza fairly turned his back upon his insignificant opponent, and abandoned his projects upon java. bearing away for the island of amboyna with the remainder of his fleet, he laid waste several of its villages and odoriferous spice-fields, while wolfert and his companions entered bantam in triumph, and were hailed as deliverers. and thus on the extreme western verge of this magnificent island was founded the first trading settlement of the batavian republic in the archipelago of the equator--the foundation-stone of a great commercial empire which was to encircle the earth. not many years later, at the distance, of a dozen leagues from bantam, a congenial swamp was fortunately discovered in a land whose volcanic peaks rose two miles into the air, and here a town duly laid out with canals and bridges, and trim gardens and stagnant pools, was baptized by the ancient and well-beloved name of good-meadow or batavia, which it bears to this day. meantime wolfert hermann was not the only hollander cruising in those seas able to convince the oriental mind that all europeans save the portuguese were not pirates and savages, and that friendly intercourse with other foreigners might be as profitable as slavery to the spanish crown. captain nek made treaties of amity and commerce with the potentates of ternate, tydor, and other molucca islands. the king of candy on the island of ceylon, lord of the odoriferous fields of cassia which perfume those tropical seas, was glad to learn how to exchange the spices of the equator for the thousand fabrics and products of western civilization which found their great emporium in holland. jacob heemskerk, too, who had so lately astonished the world by his exploits and discoveries during his famous winter in nova zembla, was now seeking adventures and carrying the flag and fame of the republic along the indian and chinese coasts. the king of johor on the malayan peninsula entered into friendly relations with him, being well pleased, like so many of those petty rulers, to obtain protection against the portuguese whom he had so long hated and feared. he informed heemskerk of the arrival in the straits of malacca of an immense lisbon carrack, laden with pearls and spices, brocades and precious-stones, on its way to europe, and suggested an attack. it is true that the roving hollander merely commanded a couple of the smallest galleots, with about a hundred and thirty men in the two. but when was jacob heemskerk ever known to shrink from an encounter--whether from single-handed combat with a polar bear, or from leading a forlorn hope against a spanish fort, or from assailing a portuguese armada. the carrack, more than one thousand tons burthen, carried seventeen guns, and at least eight times as many men as he commanded. nevertheless, after a combat of but brief duration heemskerk was master of the carrack: he spared the lives of his seven hundred prisoners, and set them on shore before they should have time to discover to what a handful of dutchmen they had surrendered. then dividing about a million florins' worth of booty among his men, who doubtless found such cruising among the spice-islands more attractive than wintering at the north pole, he sailed in the carrack for macao, where he found no difficulty in convincing the authorities of the celestial empire that the friendship of the dutch republic was worth cultivating. there was soon to be work in other regions for the hardy hollander--such as was to make the name of heemskerk a word to conjure with down to the latest posterity. meantime he returned to his own country to take part in the great industrial movements which were to make this year an epoch in commercial history. the conquerors of mendoza and deliverers of bantam had however not paused in their work. from java they sailed to banda; and on those volcanic islands of nutmegs and cloves made, in the name of their commonwealth, a treaty with its republican antipodes. for there was no king to be found in that particular archipelago, and the two republics, the oriental and the germanic, dealt with each other with direct and becoming simplicity. their convention was in accordance with the commercial ideas of the day, which assumed monopoly as the true basis of national prosperity. it was agreed that none but dutchmen should ever purchase the nutmegs of banda, and that neither nation should harbour refugees from the other. other articles, however; showed how much farther, the practice of political and religious liberty had advanced than had any theory of commercial freedom. it was settled that each nation should judge its own citizens according to its own laws, that neither should interfere by force with the other in regard to religious matters, but that god should be judge over them all. here at least was progress beyond the system according to which the holy inquisition furnished the only enginry of civilization. the guardianship assumed by holland over these children of the sun was at least an improvement on the tyranny which roasted them alive if they rejected religious dogmas which they could not comprehend, and which proclaimed with fire, sword, and gibbet that the omnipotent especially forbade the nutmeg trade to all but the subjects, of the most catholic king. in atsgen or achim, chief city of sumatra, a treaty was likewise made with the government of the place, and it was arranged that the king of atsgen should send over an embassy to the distant but friendly republic. thus he might judge whether the hollanders were enemies of all the world, as had been represented to him, or only of spain; whether their knowledge of the arts and sciences, and their position among the western nations entitled them to respect, and made their friendship desirable; or whether they were only worthy of the contempt which their royal and aristocratic enemies delighted to heap upon their heads. the envoys sailed from sumatra on board the same little fleet which, under the command of wolfert hermann, had already done such signal service, and on their way to europe they had an opportunity of seeing how these republican sailors could deal with their enemies on the ocean. off st. helena an immense portuguese carrack richly laden and powerfully armed, was met, attacked, and overpowered by the little merchantmen with their usual audacity and skill. a magnificent booty was equitably divided among the captors, the vanquished crew were set safely on shore; and the hollanders then pursued their home voyage without further adventures. the ambassadors; with an arab interpreter, were duly presented to prince maurice in the lines before the city of grave. certainly no more favourable opportunity could have been offered them for contrasting the reality of military power, science, national vigour; and wealth, which made the republic eminent among the nations, with the fiction of a horde of insignificant and bloodthirsty savages which her enemies had made so familiar at the antipodes. not only were the intrenchments bastions, galleries, batteries, the discipline and equipment of the troops, a miracle in the eyes of these newly arrived oriental ambassadors, but they had awakened the astonishment of europe, already accustomed to such spectacles. evidently the amity of the stadholder and his commonwealth was a jewel of price, and the king of achim would have been far more barbarous than he had ever deemed the dutchmen to be, had he not well heeded the lesson which he had sent so far to learn. the chief of the legation, abdulzamar, died in zeeland, and was buried with honourable obsequies at middleburg, a monument being raised to his memory. the other envoys returned to sumatra, fully determined to maintain close relations with the republic. there had been other visitors in maurice's lines before grave at about the same period. among others, gaston spinola, recently created by the archduke count of bruay, had obtained permission to make a visit to a wounded relative, then a captive in the republican camp, and was hospitably entertained at the stadholder's table. maurice, with soldierly bluntness, ridiculed the floating batteries, the castles on wheels, the sausages, and other newly-invented machines, employed before ostend, and characterized them as rather fit to catch birds with than to capture a city, defended by mighty armies and fleets. "if the archduke has set his heart upon it, he had far better try to buy ostend," he observed. "what is your price?" asked the italian; "will you take , ducats?" "certainly not less than a million and a half," was the reply; so highly did maurice rate the position and advantages of the city. he would venture to prophesy, he added, that the siege of ostend would last as long as the siege of troy. "ostend is no troy," said spinola with a courtly flourish, "although there are certainly not wanting an austrian agamemnon, a dutch hector, and an italian achilles." the last allusion was to the speaker's namesake and kinsman, the marquis anibrose spinola, of whom much was to be heard in the world from that time forth. meantime, although so little progress had been made at ostend, maurice had thoroughly done his work before grave. on the th september the place surrendered, after sixty days' siege, upon the terms usually granted by the stadholder. the garrison was to go out with the honours of war. those of the inhabitants who wished to leave were to leave; those who preferred staying were to stay; rendering due allegiance to the republic, and abstaining in public from the rites of the roman church, without being exposed, however, to any inquiries as to their religious opinions, or any interference within their households. the work went slowly on before ostend. much effect had been produced, however, by the operations of the archduke's little naval force. the galley of that day, although a child's toy as compared with the wonders of naval architecture of our own time, was an effective machine enough to harass fishing and coasting vessels in creeks and estuaries, and along the shores of holland and zeeland during tranquil weather. the locomotive force of these vessels consisted of galley-slaves, in which respect the spaniards had an advantage over other nations; for they had no scruples in putting prisoners of war into chains and upon the benches of the rowers. humanity--"the law of christian piety," in the words of the noble grotius--forbade the hollanders from reducing their captives to such horrible slavery, and they were obliged to content themselves with condemned criminals, and with the few other wretches whom abject poverty and the impossibility of earning other wages could induce to accept the service. and as in the maritime warfare of our own day, the machinery--engines, wheels, and boilers--is the especial aim of the enemy's artillery, so the chain-gang who rowed in the waist of the galley, the living enginry, without which the vessel became a useless tub, was as surely marked out for destruction whenever a sea-fight took place. the hollanders did not very much favour this species of war-craft, both by reason of the difficulty of procuring the gang, and because to a true lover of the ocean and of naval warfare the galley was about as clumsy and amphibious a production as could be hoped of human perverseness. high where it should be low. exposed, flat, and fragile, where elevation and strength were indispensable--encumbered and top-heavy where it should be level and compact, weak in the waist, broad at stem and stern, awkward in manoeuvre, helpless in rough weather, sluggish under sail, although possessing the single advantage of being able to crawl over a smooth sea when better and faster ships were made stationary by absolute calm, the galley was no match for the dutch galleot, either at close quarters or in a breeze. nevertheless for a long time there had been a certain awe produced by the possibility of some prodigious but unknown qualities in these outlandish vessels, and already the hollanders had tried their hand at constructing them. on a late occasion a galley of considerable size, built at dort, had rowed past the spanish forts on the scheld, gone up to antwerp, and coolly cut out from the very wharves of the city a spanish galley of the first class, besides seven war vessels of lesser dimensions, at first gaining advantage by surprise, and then breaking down all opposition in a brilliant little fight. the noise of the encounter summoned the citizens and garrison to the walls, only to witness the triumph achieved by dutch audacity, and to see the victors dropping rapidly down the river, laden with booty and followed by their prizes. nor was the mortification of these unwilling spectators diminished when the clear notes of a bugle on board the dutch galley brought to their ears the well-known melody of "wilhelmus of nassau," once so dear to every, patriotic heart in antwerp, and perhaps causing many a renegade cheek on this occasion to tingle with shame. frederic spinola, a volunteer belonging to the great and wealthy genoese family of that name, had been performing a good deal of privateer work with a small force of galleys which he kept under his command at sluys. he had succeeded in inflicting so much damage upon the smaller merchantmen of the republic, and in maintaining so perpetual a panic in calm weather among the seafaring multitudes of those regions, that he was disposed to extend the scale of his operations. on a visit to spain he had obtained permission from government to employ in this service eight great galleys, recently built on the guadalquivir for the royal navy. he was to man and equip them at his own expense, and was to be allowed the whole of the booty that might result from his enterprise. early in the autumn he set forth with his eight galleys on the voyage to flanders, but, off cezimbra, on the portuguese coast, unfortunately fell in with sir robert mansell, who; with a compact little squadron of english frigates, was lying in wait for the homeward-bound india fleet on their entrance to lisbon. an engagement took place, in which spinola lost two of his galleys. his disaster might have been still greater, had not an immense indian carrack, laden with the richest merchandize, just then hove in sight, to attract his conquerors with a hope of better prize-money than could be expected from the most complete victory over him and his fleet. with the remainder of his vessels spinola crept out of sight while the english were ransacking the carrack. on the rd of october he had entered the channel with a force which, according to the ideas of that day, was still formidable. each of his galleys was of two hundred and fifty slave power, and carried, beside the chain-gang, four hundred fighting men. his flag-ship was called the st. lewis; the names of the other vessels being the st. philip, the morning star, the st. john, the hyacinth, and the padilla. the trinity and the opportunity had been destroyed off cezimbra. now there happened to be cruising just then in the channel, captain peter mol, master of the dutch war-ship tiger, and captain lubbertson, commanding the pelican. these two espied the spanish squadron, paddling at about dusk towards the english coast, and quickly gave notice to vice-admiral john kant, who in the states' ship half-moon, with three other war-galleots, was keeping watch in that neighbourhood. it was dead calm as the night fell, and the galleys of spinola, which had crept close up to the dover cliffs, were endeavouring to row their way across in the darkness towards the flemish coast, in the hope of putting unobserved into the gut of sluys. all went well with spinola till the moon rose; but, with the moon, sprang up a steady breeze, so that the galleys lost all their advantage. nearly off gravelines another states' ship, the mackerel, came in sight, which forthwith attacked the st: philip, pouring a broadside into her by which fifty men were killed. drawing off from this assailant, the galley found herself close to the dutch admiral in the half-moon, who, with all sail set, bore straight down upon her, struck her amidships with a mighty crash, carrying off her mainmast and her poop, and then, extricating himself with difficulty from the wreck, sent a tremendous volley of cannon-shot and lesser missiles straight into the waist where sat the chain-gang. a howl of pain and terror rang through the air, while oars and benches, arms, legs, and mutilated bodies, chained inexorably together, floated on the moonlit waves. an instant later, and another galleot bore down to complete the work, striking with her iron prow the doomed st. philip so straightly and surely that she went down like a stone, carrying with her galley slaves, sailors, and soldiers, besides all the treasure brought by spinola for the use of his fleet. the morning star was the next galley attacked, captain sael, in a stout galleot, driving at her under full sail, with the same accuracy and solidity of shock as had been displayed in the encounter with the st. philip and with the same result. the miserable, top-heavy monster galley was struck between mainmast and stern, with a blow which carried away the assailant's own bowsprit and fore-bulwarks, but which--completely demolished the stem of the galley, and crushed out of existence the greater portion of the live machinery sitting chained and rowing on the benches. and again, as the first enemy hauled off from its victim, admiral pant came up once more in the half-moon, steered straight at the floundering galley, and sent her with one crash to the bottom. it was not very scientific practice perhaps. it was but simple butting, plain sailing, good steering, and the firing of cannon at short pistol-shot. but after all, the work of those unsophisticated dutch skippers was done very thoroughly, without flinching, and, as usual, at great odds of men and guns. two more of the spanish galleys were chased into the shallows near gravelines, where they went to pieces. another was wrecked near calais. the galley which bore frederic spinola himself and his fortunes succeeded in reaching dunkirk, whence he made his way discomfited, to tell the tale of his disaster to the archduke at brussels. during the fight the dutch admiral's boats had been active in picking up such of the drowning crews, whether galley-slaves or soldiers, as it was possible to save. but not more than two hundred were thus rescued, while by far the greater proportion of those on board, probably three thousand in number, perished, and the whole fleet, by which so much injury was to have been inflicted on dutch commerce, was, save one damaged galley, destroyed. yet scarcely any lives were lost by the hollanders, and it is certain that the whole force in their fleet did not equal the crew of a single one of the enemy's ships. neither spinola nor the archduke seemed likely to make much out of the contract. meantime, the genoese volunteer kept quiet in sluy's, brooding over schemes to repair his losses and to renew his forays on the indomitable zeelanders. another winter had now closed in upon ostend, while still the siege had scarcely advanced an inch. during the ten months of governor dorp's administration, four thousand men had died of wounds or malady within the town, and certainly twice as many in the trenches of the besieging force. still the patient bucquoy went on, day after day, night after night, month after month, planting his faggots and fascines, creeping forward almost imperceptibly with his dyke, paying five florins each to the soldiers who volunteered to bring the materials, and a double ducat to each man employed in laying them. so close were they under the fire of the town; that a life was almost laid down for every ducat, but the gullet, which it was hoped to close, yawned as wide as ever, and the problem how to reduce a city, open by sea to the whole world, remained without solution. on the last day of the year a splendid fleet of transports arrived in the town, laden with whole droves of beeves and flocks of sheep, besides wine and bread and beer enough to supply a considerable city; so that market provisions in the beleaguered town were cheaper than in any part of europe. thus skilfully did the states-general and prince maurice watch from the outside over ostend, while the audacious but phlegmatic sea-captains brought their cargoes unscathed through the gullet, although bucquoy's batteries had now advanced to within seventy yards of the shore. on the west side, the besiegers were slowly eating their way through the old harbour towards the heart of the place. subterranean galleries, patiently drained of their water, were met by counter-galleries leading out from the town, and many were the desperate hand-to-hand encounters, by dim lanterns, or in total darkness, beneath the ocean and beneath the earth; hollander, spaniard, german, englishman, walloon, digging and dying in the fatal trenches, as if there had been no graves at home. those insatiable sand-banks seemed ready to absorb all the gold and all the life of christendom. but the monotony of that misery it is useless to chronicle. hardly an event of these dreary days has been left unrecorded by faithful diarists and industrious soldiers, but time has swept us far away from them, and the world has rolled on to fresher fields of carnage and ruin. all winter long those unwearied, intelligent, fierce, and cruel creatures toiled and fought in the stagnant waters, and patiently burrowed in the earth. it seemed that if ostend were ever lost it would be because at last entirely bitten away and consumed. when there was no ostend left, it might be that the archduke would triumph. as there was always danger that the movements on the east side might be at last successful, it was the command of maurice that the labours to construct still another harbour should go on in case the gullet should become useless, as the old haven had been since the beginning of the siege. and the working upon that newest harbour was as dangerous to the hollanders as bucquoy's dike-building to the spaniards, for the pioneers and sappers were perpetually under fire from the batteries which the count had at, last successfully established on the extremity of his work. it was a piteous sight to see those patient delvers lay down their spades and die, hour after hour, to be succeeded by their brethren only to share their fate. yet still the harbour building progressed; for the republic was determined that the city should be open to the sea so long as the states had a stiver, or a ship, or a spade. while this deadly industry went on, the more strictly military operations were not pretermitted day nor night. the catholics were unwearied in watching for a chance of attack, and the hollanders stood on the ramparts and in the trenches, straining eyes and ears through the perpetual icy mists of that black winter to catch the sight and sound of a coming foe. especially the by-watches, as they were called, were enough to break down constitutions of iron; for, all day and night, men were stationed in the inundated regions, bound on pain of death to stand in the water and watch for a possible movement of the enemy, until the waves should rise so high as to make it necessary to swim. then, until the tide fell again, there was brief repose. and so the dreary winter faded away at last into chill and blustering spring. on the th of april a hurricane, such as had not occurred since the siege began; raged across the ocean, deluging and shattering the devoted town. the waters rose over dyke and parapet, and the wind swept from the streets and ramparts every living thing. not a soldier or sailor could keep his feet, the chief tower of the church was blown into the square, chimneys and windows crashed on all sides, and the elements had their holiday, as if to prove how helpless a thing was man, however fierce and determined, when the powers of nature arose in their strength. it was as if no siege existed, as if no hostile armies had been lying nearly two years long close to each other, and losing no opportunity to fly at each other's throats. the strife of wind and ocean gave a respite to human rage. it was but a brief respite. at nightfall there was a lull in the tempest, and the garrison crept again to the ramparts. instantly the departing roar of the winds and waters were succeeded by fainter but still more threatening sounds, and the sentinels and the drums and trumpets to rally the garrison, when the attack came. the sleepless spaniards were already upon them. in the porcupine fort, a blaze of wickerwork and building materials suddenly illuminated the gathering gloom of night; and the loud cries of the assailants, who had succeeded in kindling this fire by their missiles, proclaimed the fierceness of the attack. governor dorp was himself in the fort, straining every nerve to extinguish the flames, and to hold this most important position. he was successful. after a brief but bloody encounter the spaniards were repulsed with heavy loss. all was quiet again, and the garrison in the porcupine were congratulating themselves on their victory when suddenly the ubiquitous philip fleeting plunged, with a face of horror, into the governor's quarters, informing him that the attack on the redoubt had been a feint, and that the spaniards were at that very moment swarming all over the three external forts, called the south square, the west square, and the polder. these points, which have been already described, were most essential to the protection of the place, as without them the whole counterscarp was in danger. it was to save those exposed but vital positions that sir francis vere had resorted to the slippery device of the last christmas eve but one. dorp refused to believe the intelligence. the squares were well guarded, the garrison ever alert. spaniards were not birds of prey to fly up those perpendicular heights, and for beings without wings the thing was impossible. he followed fleming through the darkness, and was soon convinced that the impossible was true. the precious squares were in the hands of the enemy. nimble as monkeys, those yellow jerkined italians, walloons, and spaniards--stormhats on their heads and swords in their teeth--had planted rope-ladders, swung themselves up the walls by hundreds upon hundreds, while the fight had been going on at the porcupine, and were now rushing through the forts grinning defiance, yelling and chattering with fierce triumph, and beating down all opposition. it was splendidly done. the discomfited dorp met small bodies of his men, panic-struck, reeling out from their stronghold, wounded, bleeding, shrieking for help and for orders. it seemed as if the spaniards had dropped from the clouds. the dutch commandant did his best to rally the fugitives, and to encourage those who had remained. all night long the furious battle raged, every inch of ground being contested; for both catholics and hollanders knew full well that this triumph was worth more than all that had been gained for the archduke in eighteen months of siege. pike to pike, breast to breast, they fought through the dark april night; the last sobs of the hurricane dying unheard, the red lanterns flitting to and fro, the fireworks hissing in every direction of earth and air, the great wicker piles, heaped up with pitch and rosin, flaming over a scene more like a dance of goblins than a commonplace christian massacre. at least fifteen hundred were killed--besiegers and besieged--during the storming of the forts and the determined but unsuccessful attempt of the hollanders to retake them. and when at last the day had dawned, and the spaniards could see the full extent of their victory, they set themselves with--unusual alacrity to killing such of the wounded and prisoners as were in their hands, while, at the same time, they turned the guns of their newly acquired works upon the main counterscarp of the town. yet the besieged--discomfited but undismayed lost not a moment in strengthening their inner works, and in doing their best, day after day, by sortie, cannonade, and every possible device, to prevent the foe from obtaining full advantage of his success. the triumph was merely a local one, and the patient hollanders soon proved to the enemy that the town was not gained by carrying the three squares, but that every inch of the place was to be contested as hotly as those little redoubts had been. ostend, after standing nearly two years of siege, was not to be carried by storm. a goodly slice of it had been pared off that april night, and was now in possession of the archduke, but this was all. meantime the underground work was resumed on both sides. frederic spinola, notwithstanding the stunning defeat sustained by him in the preceding october, had not lost heart while losing all his ships. on the contrary, he had been busy during the winter in building other galleys. accordingly, one fine morning in may, counsellor flooswyk, being on board a war vessel convoying some empty transports from ostend, observed signs of mischief brewing as he sailed past the gut of sluys; and forthwith gave notice of what he had seen to admiral joost de moor, commanding the blockading squadron. the counsellor was right. frederic spinola meant mischief. it was just before sunrise of a beautiful summer's day. the waves were smooth--not a breath of wind stirring--and de moor, who had four little war-ships of holland, and was supported besides by a famous vessel called the black galley of zeeland, under captain jacob michelzoon, soon observed a movement from sluys. over the flat and glassy surface of the sea, eight galleys of the largest size were seen crawling slowly, like vast reptiles, towards his .. position. four lesser vessels followed in the wake of the great galleys. the sails of the admiral's little fleet flapped idly against the mast. he could only placidly await the onset. the black galley, however, moved forward according to her kind; and was soon vigorously attacked by two galleys of the enemy. with all the force that five hundred rowers could impart, these two huge vessels ran straight into the zeeland ship, and buried their iron prows in her sides. yet the black galley was made of harder stuff than were those which had gone down in the channel the previous autumn under the blows of john kant. those on board her, at least, were made of tougher material than were galley-slaves and land-soldiers. the ramming was certainly not like that of a thousand horse-power of steam, and there was no very great display of science in the encounter; yet captain jacob michelzoon, with two enemy's ships thus stuck to his sides, might well have given himself up for lost. the disproportion of ships and men was monstrous. beside the chain-gang, each of spinola's ships was manned by two hundred soldiers, while thirty-six musketeers from the flushing garrison were the only men-at-arms in de moor's whole squadron. but those amphibious zeelanders and hollanders, perfectly at home in the water, expert in handling vessels, and excellent cannoneers, were more than a match for twenty times their number of landsmen. it was a very simple-minded, unsophisticated contest. the attempt to board the black galley was met with determined resistance, but the zeeland sailors clambered like cats upon the bowsprits of the spanish galleys, fighting with cutlass and handspike, while a broadside or two was delivered with terrible effect into the benches of the chained and wretched slaves. captain michelzoon was killed, but his successor, lieutenant hart, although severely wounded, swore that he would blow up his ship with his own hands rather than surrender. the decks of all the vessels ran with blood, but at last the black galley succeeded in beating off her assailants; the zeelanders, by main force, breaking off the enemy's bowsprits, so that the two ships of spinola were glad to sheer off, leaving their stings buried in the enemy's body. next, four galleys attacked the stout little galleot of captain logier, and with a very similar result. their prows stuck fast in the bulwarks of the ship, but the boarders soon found themselves the boarded, and, after a brief contest, again the iron bowsprits snapped like pipe-stems, and again the floundering and inexperienced spaniards shrank away from the terrible encounter which they had provoked. soon afterwards, joost de moor was assailed by three galleys. he received them, however, with cannonade and musketry so warmly that they willingly obeyed a summons from spinola, and united with the flag-ship in one more tremendous onset upon the black galley of zeeland. and it might have gone hard with that devoted ship, already crippled in the previous encounter, had not captain logier fortunately drifted with the current near enough to give her assistance, while the other sailing ships lay becalmed and idle spectators. at last spinola, conspicuous by his armour, and by magnificent recklessness of danger, fell upon the deck of his galley, torn to pieces with twenty-four wounds from a stone gun of the black galley, while at nearly the same, moment a gentle breeze began in the distance to ruffle the surface of the waters. more than a thousand men had fallen in spinola's fleet, inclusive of the miserable slaves, who were tossed overboard as often as wounds made them a cumbrous part of the machinery, and the galleys, damaged, discomfited, laden with corpses and dripping with blood, rowed off into sluys as speedily as they could move, without waiting until the coming wind should bring all the sailing ships into the fight, together with such other vessels under haultain as might be cruising in the distance. they succeeded in getting into the gut of sluys, and so up to their harbour of refuge. meantime, baldheaded, weather-beaten joost de moor--farther pursuit being impossible--piped all hands on deck, where officers and men fell on their knees, shouting in pious triumph the th psalm: "i will bless the lord at all times, his praise shall continually be in my mouth . . . . o magnify the lord with me, and let us exalt his name together." so rang forth the notes of humble thanksgiving across the placid sea. and assuredly those hardy mariners, having gained a victory with their little vessels over twelve ships and three thousand men--a numerical force of at least ten times their number,--such as few but dutchmen could have achieved; had a right to give thanks to him from whom all blessings flow. thus ended the career of frederic spinola, a wealthy, gallant, high-born, brilliant youth, who might have earned distinction, and rendered infinitely better service to the cause of spain and the archdukes, had he not persuaded himself that he had a talent for seamanship. certainly, never was a more misplaced ambition, a more unlucky career. not even in that age of rash adventure, when grandees became admirals and field-marshals because they were grandees, had such incapacity been shown by any restless patrician. frederic spinola, at the age of thirty-two, a landsman and a volunteer, thinking to measure himself on blue water with such veterans as john rant, joost de moor, and the other dutchmen and zeelanders whom it was his fortune to meet, could hardly escape the doom which so rapidly befell him. on board the black galley captain michelznon, eleven of his officers, and fifteen of his men were killed; admiral de moor was slightly wounded, and had five of his men killed and twenty wounded; captain logier was wounded in the foot, and lost fifteen killed and twelve wounded. the number of those killed in spinola's fleet has been placed as high as fourteen hundred, including two hundred officers and gentlemen of quality, besides the crowds of galley-slaves thrown overboard. this was perhaps an exaggeration. the losses were, however, sufficient to put a complete atop to the enterprise out of which the unfortunate spinola had conceived such extravagant hopes of fame and fortune. the herring-smacks and other coasters, besides the transports passing to and from ostend, sailed thenceforth unmolested by any galleys from sluys. one unfortunate sloop, however, in moving out from the beleaguered city, ran upon some shoals before getting out of the gullet and thus fell a prize to the besiegers. she was laden with nothing more precious than twelve wounded soldiers on their way to the hospitals at flushing. these prisoners were immediately hanged, at the express command of the archduke, because they had been taken on the sea where, according to his highness, there were no laws of war. the stadholder, against his will--for maurice was never cruel--felt himself obliged to teach the cardinal better jurisprudence and better humanity for the future. in order to show him that there was but one belligerent law on sea and on land, he ordered two hundred spanish prisoners within his lines to draw lots from an urn in which twelve of the tickets were inscribed with the fatal word gibbet. eleven of the twelve thus marked by ill luck were at once executed. the twelfth, a comely youth, was pardoned at the intercession of a young girl. it is not stated whether or not she became his wife. it is also a fact worth mentioning, as illustrating the recklessness engendered by a soldier's life, that the man who drew the first blank sold it to one of his comrades and plunged his hand again into the fatal urn. whether he succeeded in drawing the gibbet at his second trial has not been recorded. when these executions had taken place in full view of the enemy's camp, maurice formally announced that for every prisoner thenceforth put to death by the archduke two captives from his own army should be hanged. these stern reprisals, as usual, put an end to the foul system of martial murder. throughout the year the war continued to be exclusively the siege of ostend. yet the fierce operations, recently recorded, having been succeeded by a period of comparative languor, governor dorp at last obtained permission to depart to repair his broken health. he was succeeded in command of the forces within the town by charles van der noot, colonel of the zeeland regiment which had suffered so much in the first act of the battle of nieuport. previously to this exchange, however, a day of solemn thanksgiving and prayer was set apart on the anniversary of the beginning of the siege. since the th of july, , two years had been spent by the whole power of the enemy in the attempt to reduce this miserable village, and the whole result thus far had been the capture of three little external forts. there seemed cause for thanksgiving. philip fleming, too, obtained a four weeks' holiday--the first in eleven years--and went with his family outside the pestiferous and beleaguered town. he was soon to return to his multifarious duties as auditor, secretary, and chronicler of the city, and unattached aide-de-camp to the commander-in-chief, whoever that might be; and to perform his duty with the same patient courage and sagacity that had marked him from the beginning. "an unlucky cannon-ball of the enemy," as he observes, did some damage at this period to his diary, but it happened at a moment when comparatively little was doing, so that the chasm was of less consequence. "and so i, philip fleming, auditor to the council of war," he says with homely pathos, "have been so continually employed as not to have obtained leave in all these years to refresh, for a few days outside this town, my troubled spirit after such perpetual work, intolerable cares, and slavery, having had no other pleasure allotted me than with daily sadness, weeping eyes, and heavy yearnings to tread the ramparts, and, like a poor slave laden with fetters, to look at so many others sailing out of the harbour in order to feast their souls in other provinces with green fields and the goodly works of god. and thus it has been until it has nearly gone out of my memory how the fruits of the earth, growing trees, and dumb beasts appear to mortal eye." he then, with whimsical indignation, alludes to a certain author who pleaded in excuse for the shortcomings of the history of the siege the damage done to his manuscripts by a cannon-ball. "where the liar dreamt of or invented his cannon-ball," he says, "i cannot tell, inasmuch as he never saw the city of ostend in his life; but the said cannon-ball, to my great sorrrow, did come one afternoon through my office, shot from the enemy's great battery, which very much damaged not his memoirs but mine; taking off the legs and arms at the same time of three poor invalid soldiers seated in the sun before my door and killing them on the spot, and just missing my wife, then great with child, who stood by me with faithfulness through all the sufferings of the bloody siege and presented me twice during its continuance, by the help of almighty god, with young amazons or daughters of war." and so honest philip fleming went out for a little time to look at the green trees and the dumb creatures feeding in the dutch pastures. meantime the two armies--outside and within ostend--went moiling on in their monotonous work; steadily returning at intervals, as if by instinct, to repair the ruin which a superior power would often inflict in a half-hour on the results of laborious weeks. in the open field the military operations were very trifling, the wager of battle being by common consent fought out on the sands of ostend, and the necessities for attack and defence absorbing, the resources of each combatant. france, england, and spain were holding a perpetual diplomatic tournament to which our eyes must presently turn, and the sublime realm of the ottoman and the holy roman empire were in the customary equilibrium of their eternal strife. the mutiny of the veterans continued; the "italian republic" giving the archduke almost as much trouble, despite his ban and edicts and outlawry, as the dutch commonwealth itself. for more than a twelvemonth the best troops of the spanish army had been thus established as a separate empire, levying black-mail on the obedient provinces, hanging such of their old officers as dared to remonstrate, and obeying their elected chief magistrates with exemplary docility. they had become a force of five thousand strong, cavalry and infantry together, all steady, experienced veterans--the best and bravest soldiers of europe. the least of them demanded two thousand florins as owed to him by the king of spain and the archduke. the burghers of bois-le-duc and other neighbouring towns in the obedient provinces kept watch and ward, not knowing how soon the spaniards might be upon them to reward them for their obedience. not a peasant with provisions was permitted by the mutineers to enter bois-le-duc, while the priests were summoned to pay one year's income of all their property on pain of being burned alive. "very much amazed are the poor priests at these proceedings," said ernest nassau, "and there is a terrible quantity of the vile race within and around the city. i hope one day to have the plucking of some of their feathers myself." the mutiny governed itself as a strict military democracy, and had caused an official seal to be engraved, representing seven snakes entwined in one, each thrusting forth a dangerous tongue, with the motto-- "tutto in ore e sua eccelenza in nostro favore." "his excellency" meant maurice of nassau, with whom formal articles of compact had been arranged. it had become necessary for the archduke, notwithstanding the steady drain of the siege of ostend, to detach a considerable army against this republic and to besiege them in their capital of hoogstraaten. with seven thousand foot and three thousand cavalry frederic van den berg took the field against them in the latter part of july. maurice, with nine thousand five hundred infantry and three thousand horse, lay near gertruydenberg. when united with the rebel "squadron," two thousand five hundred strong, he would dispose of a force of fifteen thousand veterans, and he moved at once to relieve the besieged mutineers. his cousin frederic, however, had no desire to measure himself with the stadholder at such odds, and stole away from him in the dark without beat of drum. maurice entered hoogstraaten, was received with rapture by the spanish and italian veterans, and excited the astonishment of all by the coolness with which he entered into the cage of these dangerous serpents--as they called themselves--handling them, caressing them, and being fondled by them in return. but the veterans knew a soldier when they saw one, and their hearts warmed to the prince--heretic though he were--more than they had ever done to the unfrocked bishop who, after starving them for years, had doomed them to destruction in this world and the next. the stadholder was feasted and honoured by the mutineers during his brief visit to hoogatraaten, and concluded with them a convention, according to which that town was to be restored to him, while they were to take temporary possession of the city of grave. they were likewise to assist, with all their strength, in his military operations until they should make peace on their own terms with the archduke. for two weeks after such treaty they were not to fight against the states, and meantime, though fighting on the republican side, they were to act as an independent corps and in no wise to be merged in the stadholder's forces. so much and no more had resulted from the archduke's excommunication of the best part of his army. he had made a present of those troops to the enemy. he had also been employing a considerable portion of his remaining forces in campaigning against their own comrades. while at grave, the mutineers, or the "squadron" as they were now called, were to be permitted to practise their own religious rites, without offering however, any interference with the regular protestant worship of the place. when they should give up grave, hoogstraaten was to be restored to them if still in possession of the states and they were to enter into no negotiations with the archduke except with full knowledge of the stadholder. there were no further military, operations of moment during the rest of the year. much, more important, however, than siege, battle, or mutiny, to human civilization, were the steady movements of the dutch skippers and merchants at this period. the ears of europe were stunned with the clatter of destruction going on all over christendom, and seeming the only reasonable occupation of christians; but the little republic; while fighting so heroically against the concentrated powers of despotism in the west, was most industriously building up a great empire in the east. in the new era just dawning, production was to become almost as honourable and potent, a principle as destruction. the voyages among the spicy regions of the equator--so recently wrested from their catholic and faithful majesties by dutch citizens who did not believe in borgia--and the little treaties made with petty princes and commonwealths, who for the first time ware learning that there were other white men in the world beside the portuguese, had already led to considerable results. before the close of, the previous year that great commercial corporation had been founded--an empire within an empire; a republic beneath a republic--a counting-house company which was to organize armies, conquer kingdoms, build forts and cities, make war and peace, disseminate and exchange among the nations of the earth the various products of civilization, more perfectly than any agency hitherto known, and bring the farthest disjoined branches of the human family into closer, connection than had ever existed before. that it was a monopoly, offensive to true commercial principles, illiberal, unjust, tyrannical; ignorant of the very rudiments of mercantile philosophy; is plain enough. for the sages of the world were but as clowns, at that period, in economic science. was not the great financier of the age; maximilian de bethune, at that very moment exhausting his intellect in devices for the prevention of all international commerce even in europe? "the kingdom of france," he groaned, "is stuffed full of the manufactures of our neighbours, and it is incredible what a curse to us are these wares. the import of all foreign goods has now been forbidden under very great penalties." as a necessary corollary to this madhouse legislation an edict was issued, prohibiting the export of gold and silver from france, on pain, not only of confiscation of those precious metals, but of the whole fortune of such as engaged in or winked at the traffic. the king took a public oath never to exempt the culprits from the punishment thus imposed, and, as the thrifty sully had obtained from the great king a private grant of all those confiscations, and as he judiciously promised twenty-five per cent. thereof to the informer, no doubt he filled his own purse while impoverishing the exchequer. the united states, not enjoying the blessings, of a paternal government, against which they had been fighting almost half a century, could not be expected to rival the stupendous folly of such political economy, although certainly not emancipated from all the delusions of the age. nor are we to forget how very recently, and even dimly, the idea of freedom in commerce has dawned upon nations, the freest of all in polity and religion. certainly the vices and shortcomings of the commercial system now inaugurated by the republic may be justly charged in great part to the epoch, while her vast share in the expanding and upward movement which civilization, under the auspices of self-government; self-help, political freedom, free thought, and unshackled science, was then to undertake--never more perhaps to be permanently checked--must be justly ascribed to herself. it was considered accordingly that the existence of so many private companies and copartnerships trading to the east was injurious to the interests of commerce. merchants arriving at the different indian ports would often find that their own countrymen had been too quick for them, and that other fleets had got the wind out of their sails, that the eastern markets had been stripped, and that prices had gone up to a ruinous height, while on the other hand, in the dutch cities, nutmegs and cinnamon, brocades and indigo, were as plentiful as red herrings. it was hardly to be expected at that day to find this very triumph of successful traffic considered otherwise than as a grave misfortune, demanding interference on the part of the only free government then existing in the world. that already free competition and individual enterprise, had made such progress in enriching the hollanders and the javanese respectively with a superfluity of useful or agreeable things, brought from the farthest ends of the earth, seemed to the eyes of that day a condition of things likely to end in a general catastrophe. with a simplicity, amazing only to those who are inclined to be vain of a superior wisdom--not their own but that of their wisest contemporaries--one of the chief reasons for establishing the east india company was stated to be the necessity of providing against low prices of oriental productions in europe. but national instinct is often wiser than what is supposed to be high national statesmanship, and there can be no doubt that the true foundation of the east india company was the simple recognition of an iron necessity. every merchant in holland knew full well that the portuguese and spaniards could never be driven out of their commercial strongholds under the equator, except by a concentration of the private strength and wealth, of the mercantile community. the government had enough on its hands in disputing, inch by inch, at so prodigious an expenditure of blood and treasure, the meagre territory with which nature had endowed the little commonwealth. private organisation, self-help; union of individual purses and individual brains, were to conquer an empire at the antipodes if it were to be won at all. by so doing, the wealth of the nation and its power to maintain the great conflict with the spirit of the past might be indefinitely increased, and the resources of spanish despotism proportionally diminished. it was not to be expected of jacob heemskerk, wolfert hermann, or joris van spilberg, indomitable skippers though they were, that each, acting on his own responsibility or on that of his supercargo, would succeed every day in conquering a whole spanish fleet and dividing a million or two of prize-money among a few dozen sailors. better things even than this might be done by wholesome and practical concentration on a more extended scale. so the states-general granted a patent or charter to one great company with what, for the time, was an enormous paid-up capital, in order that the india trade might be made secure and the spaniards steadily confronted in what they had considered their most impregnable possessions. all former trading companies were invited to merge themselves in the universal east india company, which, for twenty-one years, should alone have the right to trade to the east of the cape of good hope and to sail through the straits of magellan. the charter had been signed on th march, , and was mainly to the following effect. the company was to pay twenty-five thousand florins to the states-general for its privilege. the whole capital was to be six million six hundred thousand florins. the chamber of amsterdam was to have one half of the whole interest, the chamber of zeeland one fourth; the chambers of the meuse, namely, delft, rotterdam, and the north quarter; that is to say, hoorn and enkhuizen, each a sixteenth. all the chambers were to be governed by the directors then serving, who however were to be allowed to die out, down to the number of twenty for amsterdam, twelve for zeeland, and seven for each of the other chambers. to fill a vacancy occurring among the directors, the remaining members of the board were to nominate three candidates, from whom the estates of the province should choose one. each director was obliged, to have an interest in the company amounting to at least six thousand florins, except the directors for hoorn and enkhuizen, of whom only three thousand should be required. the general assembly of these chambers should consist of seventeen directors, eight for amsterdam, four for zeeland, two for the meuse, and two for the north quarter; the seventeenth being added by turns from the chambers of zeeland, the meuse, and the north quarter. this assembly was to be held six years at amsterdam, and then two years in zeeland. the ships were always to return to the port from which they had sailed. all the inhabitants of the provinces had the right, within a certain time, to take shares in the company. any province or city subscribing for forty thousand florins or upwards might appoint an agent to look after its affairs. the company might make treaties with the indian powers, in the name of the states-general of the united netherlands or of the supreme authorities of the same, might build fortresses; appoint generals, and levy troops, provided such troops took oaths of fidelity to the states, or to the supreme authority, and to the company. no ships, artillery, or other munitions of war belonging to the company were to be used in service of the country without permission of the company. the admiralty was to have a certain proportion of the prizes conquered from the enemy. the directors should not be liable in property or person for the debts of the company. the generals of fleets returning home were to make reports on the state of india to the states. notification; of the union of all india companies with this great corporation was duly sent to the fleets cruising in those regions, where it arrived in the course of the year . meantime the first fleet of the company, consisting of fourteen vessels under command of admiral wybrand van warwyk, sailed before the end of , and was followed towards the close of by thirteen other ships, under stephen van der hagen? the equipment of these two fleets cost two million two hundred thousand florins. etext editor's bookmarks: bestowing upon others what was not his property four weeks' holiday--the first in eleven years idea of freedom in commerce has dawned upon nations impossible it is to practise arithmetic with disturbed brains passion is a bad schoolmistress for the memory prisoners were immediately hanged unlearned their faith in bell, book, and candle world has rolled on to fresher fields of carnage and ruin history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , - chapter xli. death of queen elizabeth--condition of spain--legations to james i. --union of england and scotland--characteristics of the new monarch --the english court and government--piratical practices of the english--audience of the states' envoy with king james--queen elizabeth's scheme far remodelling europe--ambassador extraordinary from henry iv. to james--de rosny's strictures on the english people--private interview of de rosny with the states' envoy--de rosny's audience of the king--objects of his mission--insinuations of the duke of northumberland--invitation of the embassy to greenwich--promise of james to protect the netherlands against spain--misgivings of barneveld--conference at arundel house--its unsatisfactory termination--contempt of de rosny for the english counsellors--political aspect of europe--de rosny's disclosure to the king of the secret object of his mission--agreement of james to the proposals of de rosny--ratification of the treaty of alliance-- return of de rosny and suite to france--arrival of the spanish ambassador. on the th of march, , queen elizabeth died at richmond, having nearly completed her seventieth year. the two halves of the little island of britain were at last politically adjoined to each other by the personal union of the two crowns. a foreigner, son of the woman executed by elizabeth, succeeded to elizabeth's throne. it was most natural that the dutch republic and the french king, the archdukes and his catholic majesty, should be filled with anxiety as to the probable effect of this change of individuals upon the fortunes of the war. for this dutch war of independence was the one absorbing and controlling interest in christendom. upon that vast, central, and, as men thought, baleful constellation the fates of humanity, were dependent. around it lesser political events were forced to gravitate, and, in accordance to their relation to it, were bright or obscure. it was inevitable that those whose vocation it was to ponder the aspects of the political firmament, the sages and high-priests who assumed to direct human action and to foretell human destiny, should now be more than ever perplexed. spain, since the accession of philip iii. to his father's throne, although rapidly declining in vital energy, had not yet disclosed its decrepitude to the world. its boundless ambition survived as a political tradition rather than a real passion, while contemporaries still trembled at the vision of universal monarchy in which the successor of charlemagne and of charles v. was supposed to indulge. meantime, no feebler nor more insignificant mortal existed on earth than this dreaded sovereign. scarcely a hairdresser or lemonade-dealer in all spain was less cognizant of the political affairs of the kingdom than was its monarch, for philip's first care upon assuming the crown was virtually to abdicate in favour of the man soon afterwards known as the duke of lerma. it is therefore only by courtesy and for convenience that history recognizes his existence at all, as surely no human being in the reign of philip iii. requires less mention than philip iii. himself. i reserve for a subsequent chapter such rapid glances at the interior condition of that kingdom with which it seemed the destiny of the dutch republic to be perpetually at war, as may be necessary to illustrate the leading characteristics of the third philip's reign. meantime, as the great queen was no more, who was always too sagacious to doubt that the dutch cause was her own--however disposed she might be to browbeat the dutchmen--it seemed possible to spain that the republic might at last be deprived of its only remaining ally. tassis was despatched as chief of a legation, precursory to a more stately embassy to be confided to the duke of frias. the archdukes sent the prince of arenberg, while from the united states came young henry of nassau, associated with john of olden-barneveld, falk, brederode, and other prominent statesmen of the commonwealth. ministers from denmark and sweden, from the palatinate and from numerous other powers, small and great, were also collected to greet the rising sun in united britain, while the, awkward scotchman, who was now called upon to play that prominent part in the world's tragi-comedy which had been so long and so majestically sustained by the "virgin queen," already began to tremble at the plaudits and the bustle which announced how much was expected of the new performer. there was indeed a new sovereign upon the throne. that most regal spirit which had well expressed so many of the highest characteristics of the nation had fled. mankind, has long been familiar with the dark, closing hours of the illustrious reign. the great queen, moody, despairing, dying, wrapt in profoundest thought, with eyes fixed upon the ground or already gazing into infinity, was besought by the counsellors around her to name the man to whom she chose that the crown should devolve. "not to a rough," said elizabeth, sententiously and grimly. when the king of france was named, she shook her head. when philip iii. was suggested, she made a still more significant sign of dissent. when the king of scots was mentioned, she nodded her approval, and again relapsed into silent meditation. she died, and james was king of great britain and ireland. cecil had become his prime minister long before the queen's eyes were closed. the hard-featured, rickety, fidgety, shambling, learned, most preposterous scotchman hastened to take possession of the throne. never--could there have been a more unfit place or unfit hour for such a man. england, although so small in dimensions, so meager in population, so deficient, compared to the leading nations of europe, in material and financial strength, had already her great future swelling in her heart. intellectually and morally she was taking the lead among the nations. even at that day she had produced much which neither she herself nor any other nation seemed destined to surpass. yet this most redoubtable folk only numbered about three millions, one-tenth of them inhabiting london. with the scots and irish added they amounted to less than five millions of souls, hardly a third as many as the homogeneous and martial people of that dangerous neighbour france. ireland was always rebellious; a mere conquered province, hating her tyrant england's laws, religion, and people; loving spain, and believing herself closely allied by blood as well as sympathy to that most catholic land. scotland, on the accession of james, hastened to take possession of england. never in history had two races detested each other more fervently. the leeches and locusts of the north, as they were universally designated in england, would soon have been swept forth from the country, or have left it of their own accord, had not the king employed all that he had of royal authority or of eloquent persuasion to retain them on the soil. of union, save the personal union of the sceptre, there was no thought. as in ireland there was hatred to england and adoration for spain; so in scotland, france was beloved quite as much as england was abhorred. who could have foretold, or even hoped, that atoms so mutually repulsive would ever have coalesced into a sympathetic and indissoluble whole? even the virtues of james were his worst enemies. as generous as the day, he gave away with reckless profusion anything and everything that he could lay his hands upon. it was soon to appear that the great queen's most unlovely characteristic, her avarice; was a more blessed quality to the nation she ruled than the ridiculous prodigality of james. two thousand gowns, of the most, expensive material, adorned with gold, pearls, and other bravery--for elizabeth was very generous to herself--were found in the queen's wardrobe, after death. these magnificent and costly robes, not one of which had she vouchsafed to bestow upon or to bequeath to any of her ladies of honour, were now presented by her successor to a needy scotch lord, who certainly did not intend to adorn his own person therewith. "the hat was ever held out," said a splenetic observer, "and it was filled in overflowing measure by the new monarch." in a very short period he had given away--mainly to scotchmen--at least two millions of crowns, in various articles of personal property. yet england was very poor. the empire, if so it could be called, hardly boasted a regular revenue of more than two millions of dollars a year; less than that of a fortunate individual or two, in our own epoch, both in europe and america; and not one-fifth part of the contemporary income of france. the hundred thousand dollars of scotland's annual budget did not suffice to pay its expenses, and ireland was a constant charge upon the imperial exchequer. it is astounding, however, to reflect upon the pomp, extravagance, and inordinate pride which characterized the government and the court. the expenses of james's household were at least five hundred thousand crowns, or about one quarter of the whole revenue of the empire. henry iv., with all his extravagance, did not spend more than one-tenth of the public income of france upon himself and his court. certainly if england were destined to grow great it would be in despite of its new monarch. hating the people, most intolerant in religion, believing intensely in royal prerogative, thoroughly convinced of his regal as well as his personal infallibility, loathing that inductive method of thought which was already leading the english nation so proudly on the road of intellectual advancement, shrinking from the love of free inquiry, of free action, of daring adventure, which was to be the real informing spirit of the great british nation; abhorring the puritans--that is to say, one-third of his subjects--in whose harsh, but lofty nature he felt instinctively that popular freedom was enfolded--even as the overshadowing tree in the rigid husk--and sending them forth into the far distant wilderness to wrestle with wild beasts and with savages more ferocious than beasts; fearing and hating the catholics as the sworn enemies of his realm; his race, and himself, trampling on them as much as he dared, forcing them into hypocrisy to save themselves from persecution or at least pecuniary ruin--if they would worship god according to their conscience; at deadly feud, therefore, on religious grounds, with much more than half his subjects--puritans or papists--and yet himself a puritan in dogma and a papist in church government, if only the king could be pope; not knowing, indeed, whether a puritan, or a jesuit whom he called a papist-puritan, should be deemed the more disgusting or dangerous animal; already preparing for his unfortunate successor a path to the scaffold by employing all the pedantry, both theological and philosophical at his command to bring parliaments into contempt, and to place the royal prerogative on a level with divinity; at the head of a most martial, dauntless, and practical nation, trembling, with unfortunate physical timidity, at the sight of a drawn sword; ever scribbling or haranguing in latin, french, or broad scotch, when the world was arming, it must always be a special wonder that one who might have been a respectable; even a useful, pedagogue, should by the caprice of destiny have been permitted, exactly at that epoch to be one of the most contemptible and mischievous of kings. but he had a most effective and energetic minister. even as in spain and in france at the same period, the administration of government was essentially in-one pair of hands. robert cecil, earl of salisbury, ever since the termination of the splendid triumvirate of his father and walsingham, had been in reality supreme. the proud and terrible hunchback, who never forgave, nor forgot to destroy, his enemies, had now triumphed over the last passion of the doting queen. essex had gone to perdition. son of the great minister who had brought the mother of james to the scaffold, salisbury had already extorted forgiveness for that execution from the feeble king. before elizabeth was in her grave, he was already as much the favourite of her successor as of herself, governing scotland as well as england, and being prime minister of great britain before great britain existed. lord high treasurer and first secretary of state, he was now all in all in the council. the other great lords, highborn and highly titled as they were and served at their banquets by hosts of lackeys on their knees--nottinghams, northamptons, suffolks--were, after all, ciphers or at best, mere pensioners of spain. for all the venality of europe was not confined to the continent. spain spent at least one hundred and fifty thousand crowns annually among the leading courtiers of james while his wife, anne of denmark, a papist at heart, whose private boudoir was filled with pictures and images of the madonna and the saints, had already received one hundred thousand dollars in solid cash from the spanish court, besides much jewelry, and other valuable things. to negotiate with government in england was to bribe, even as at paris or madrid. gold was the only passkey to justice, to preferment, or to power. yet the foreign subsidies to the english court were, after all, of but little avail at that epoch. no man had influence but cecil, and he was too proud, too rich, too powerful to be bribed. alone with clean fingers among courtiers and ministers, he had, however, accumulated a larger fortune than any. his annual income was estimated at two hundred thousand crowns, and he had a vast floating capital, always well employed. among other investments, he had placed half a million on interest in holland,' and it was to be expected, therefore, that he should favour the cause of the republic, rebellious and upstart though it were. the pigmy, as the late queen had been fond of nicknaming him, was the only giant in the government. those crooked shoulders held up, without flinching, the whole burden of the state. pale, handsome, anxious, suffering, and intellectual of visage, with his indomitable spirit, ready eloquence, and nervous energy, he easily asserted supremacy over all the intriguers, foreign and domestic, the stipendiariea, the generals, the admirals, the politicians, at court, as well as over the scotch solomon who sat on the throne. but most certainly, it was for the public good of britain, that europe should be pacified. it is very true that the piratical interest would suffer, and this was a very considerable and influential branch of business. so long as war existed anywhere, the corsairs of england sailed with the utmost effrontery from english ports, to prey upon the commerce of friend and foe alike. after a career of successful plunder, it was not difficult for the rovers to return to their native land, and, with the proceeds of their industry, to buy themselves positions of importance, both social and political. it was not the custom to consider too curiously the source of the wealth. if it was sufficient to dazzle the eyes of the vulgar, it was pretty certain to prove the respectability of the owner. it was in vain that the envoys of the dutch and venetian republics sought redress for the enormous damage inflicted on their commerce by english pirates, and invoked the protection of public law. it was always easy for learned juris-consuls to prove such depredations to be consistent with international usage and with sound morality. even at that period, although england was in population and in wealth so insignificant, it possessed a lofty, insular contempt for the opinions and the doctrines of other nations, and expected, with perfect calmness, that her own principles should be not only admitted, but spontaneously adored. yet the piratical interest was no longer the controlling one. that city on the thames, which already numbered more than three hundred thousand inhabitants, had discovered that more wealth was to be accumulated by her bustling shopkeepers in the paths of legitimate industry than by a horde of rovers over the seas, however adventurous and however protected by government. as for france, she was already defending herself against piracy by what at the period seemed a masterpiece of internal improvement. the seine, the loire, and the rhone were soon to be united in one chain of communication. thus merchandise might be water-borne from the channel to the mediterranean, without risking the five or six months' voyage by sea then required from havre to marseilles, and exposure along the whole coast to attack from the corsairs of england spain and barbary. the envoys of the states-general had a brief audience of the new sovereign, in which little more than phrases of compliment were pronounced. "we are here," said barneveld, "between grief and joy. we have lost her whose benefits to us we can never describe in words, but we have found a successor who is heir not only to her kingdom but to all her virtues." and with this exordium the great advocate plunged at once into the depths of his subject, so far as was possible in an address of ceremony. he besought the king not to permit spain, standing on the neck of the provinces, to grasp from that elevation at other empires. he reminded james of his duty to save those of his own religion from the clutch of a sanguinary superstition, to drive away those lurking satellites of the roman pontiff who considered britain their lawful prey. he implored him to complete the work so worthily begun by elizabeth. if all those bound by one interest should now, he urged, unite their efforts, the spaniard, deprived not only of the netherlands, but, if he were not wise in time, banished from the ocean and stripped of all his transmarine possessions, would be obliged to consent to a peace founded on the only secure basis, equality of strength. the envoy concluded by beseeching the king for assistance to ostend, now besieged for two years long. but james manifested small disposition to melt in the fervour of the advocate's eloquence. he answered with a few cold commonplaces. benignant but extremely cautious, he professed goodwill enough to the states but quite as much for spain, a power with which, he observed, he had never quarrelled, and from which he had received the most friendly offices. the archdukes, too, he asserted, had never been hostile to the realm, but only to the queen of england. in brief, he was new to english affairs, required time to look about him, but would not disguise that his genius was literary, studious, and tranquil, and much more inclined to peace than to war. in truth, james had cause to look very sharply about him. it required an acute brain and steady nerves to understand and to control the whirl of parties and the conflict of interests and intrigues, the chameleon shiftings of character and colour, at this memorable epoch of transition in the realm which he had just inherited. there was a scotch party, favourable on the whole to france; there was a spanish party, there was an english party, and, more busy than all, there was a party--not scotch, nor french, nor english, nor spanish--that un-dying party in all commonwealths or kingdoms which ever fights for itself and for the spoils. france and spain had made peace with each other at vervins five years before, and had been at war ever since. nothing could be plainer nor more cynical than the language exchanged between the french monarch and the representative of spain. that philip iii.--as the spanish government by a convenient fiction was always called--was the head and front of the great savoy-biron conspiracy to take henry's life and dismember his kingdom, was hardly a stage secret. yet diplomatic relations were still preserved between the two countries, and wonderful diplomatic interviews had certainly been taking place in paris. ambassador tassis had walked with lofty port into henry's cabinet, disdaining to salute any of the princes of the blood or high functionaries of state in the apartments through which he passed, and with insolent defiance had called henry to account for his dealing with the dutch rebels. "sire, the king my master finds it very strange," he said, "that you still continue to assist his rebels in holland, and that you shoot at his troops on their way to the netherlands. if you don't abstain from such infractions of his rights he prefers open war to being cheated by such a pretended peace. hereupon i demand your reply." "mr. ambassador," replied the king, "i find it still more strange that your master is so impudent as to dare to make such complaints--he who is daily making attempts upon my life and upon this state. even if i do assist the hollanders, what wrong is that to him? it is an organized commonwealth, powerful, neighbourly, acknowledging no subjection to him. but your master is stirring up rebellion in my own kingdom, addressing himself to the princes of my blood and my most notable officers, so that i have been obliged to cut off the head of one of the most beloved of them all. by these unchristian proceedings he has obliged me to take sides with the hollanders, whom i know to be devoted to me; nor have i done anything for them except to pay the debts i owed them. i know perfectly well that the king your master is the head of this conspiracy, and that the troops of naples were meditating an attack upon my kingdom. i have two letters written by the hand of your master to marshal biron, telling him to trust fuentes as if it were himself, and it is notorious that fuentes has projected and managed all the attempts to assassinate me. do you, think you have a child to deal with? the late king of spain knew me pretty well. if this one thinks himself wiser i shall let him see who i am. do you want peace or war? i am ready for either." the ambassador, whose head had thus been so vigorously washed--as henry expressed it in recounting the interview afterwards to the dutch envoy, dr. aerssens--stammered some unintelligible excuses, and humbly begged his majesty not to be offended. he then retired quite crest-fallen, and took leave most politely of everybody as he went, down even to the very grooms of the chambers. "you must show your teeth to the spaniard," said henry to aerssens, "if you wish for a quiet life." here was unsophisticated diplomacy; for the politic henry, who could forgive assassins and conspirators, crowned or otherwise, when it suited his purpose to be lenient, knew that it was on this occasion very prudent to use the gift of language, not in order to conceal, but to express his thoughts. "i left the king as red as a turkey-cock," said tassis, as soon as he got home that morning, "and i was another turkey-cock. we have been talking a little bit of truth to each other." in truth, it was impossible, as the world was then constituted, that france and spain, in spite of many secret sympathies, should not be enemies; that france, england, and the dutch commonwealth, although cordially disliking each other, should not be allies. even before the death of elizabeth a very remarkable interview had taken place at dover, in which the queen had secretly disclosed the great thoughts with which that most imperial brain was filled just before its boundless activity was to cease for ever. she had wished for a personal interview with the french king, whose wit and valour she had always heartily admired, henry, on his part, while unmercifully ridiculing that preterhuman vanity which he fed with fantastic adulation, never failed to do justice to her genius, and had been for a moment disposed to cross the channel, or even to hold council with her on board ship midway between the two countries. it was however found impracticable to arrange any such meeting, and the gossips of the day hinted that the great henry, whose delight was in battle, and who had never been known to shrink from danger on dry land, was appalled at the idea of sea-sickness, and even dreaded the chance of being kidnapped by the english pirates. the corsairs who drove so profitable a business at that period by plundering the merchantmen of their enemy, of their dutch and french allies, and of their own nation, would assuredly have been pleased with such a prize. the queen had confided to de bethune that she had some thing to say to the king which she could never reveal to other ears than his, but when the proposed visit of henry was abandoned, it was decided that his confidential minister should slip across the channel before elizabeth returned to her palace at greenwich. de bethune accordingly came incognito from calais to dover, in which port he had a long and most confidential interview with the queen. then and there the woman, nearly seventy years of age, who governed despotically the half of a small island, while the other half was in the possession of a man whose mother she had slain, and of a people who hated the english more than they hated the spaniards or the french--a queen with some three millions of loyal but most turbulent subjects in one island, and with about half-a-million ferocious rebels in another requiring usually an army of twenty thousand disciplined soldiers to keep them in a kind of subjugation, with a revenue fluctuating between eight hundred thousand pounds sterling, and the half of that sum, and with a navy of a hundred privateersmen--disclosed to the french envoy a vast plan for regulating the polity and the religion of the civilized world, and for remodelling the map of europe. there should be three religions, said elizabeth--not counting the dispensation from mecca, about which turk and hun might be permitted to continue their struggle on the crepuscular limits of civilization. everywhere else there should be toleration only for the churches of peter, of luther, and of calvin. the house of austria was to be humbled--the one branch driven back to spain and kept there, the other branch to be deprived of the imperial crown, which was to be disposed of as in times past by the votes of the princely electors. there should be two republics--the swiss and the dutch--each of those commonwealths to be protected by france and england, and each to receive considerable parings out of the possessions of spain and the empire. finally, all christendom was to be divided off into a certain number of powers, almost exactly equal to each other; the weighing, measuring, and counting, necessary to obtain this international equilibrium, being of course the duty of the king and queen when they should sit some day together at table. thus there were five points; sovereigns and politicians having always a fondness for a neat summary in five or six points. number one, to remodel the electoral system of the holy roman empire. number two, to establish the republic of the united provinces. number three, to do as much for switzerland. number four, to partition europe. number five, to reduce all religions to three. nothing could be more majestic, no plan fuller fraught with tranquillity for the rulers of mankind and their subjects. thrice happy the people, having thus a couple of heads with crowns upon them and brains within them to prescribe what was to be done in this world and believed as to the next! the illustrious successor of that great queen now stretches her benignant sceptre over two hundred millions of subjects, and the political revenues of her empire are more than a hundredfold those of elizabeth; yet it would hardly now be thought great statesmanship or sound imperial policy for a british sovereign even to imagine the possibility of the five points which filled the royal english mind at dover. but henry was as much convinced as elizabeth of the necessity and the possibility of establishing the five points, and de bethune had been astonished at the exact similarity of the conclusion which those two sovereign intellects had reached, even before they had been placed in communion with each other. the death of the queen had not caused any change in the far-reaching designs of which the king now remained the sole executor, and his first thought, on the accession of james, was accordingly to despatch de bethune, now created marquis de rosny, as ambassador extraordinary to england, in order that the new sovereign might be secretly but thoroughly instructed as to the scheme for remodelling christendom. as rosny was also charged with the duty of formally congratulating king james, he proceeded upon his journey with remarkable pomp. he was accompanied by two hundred gentlemen of quality, specially attached to his embassy--young city fops, as he himself described them, who were out of their element whenever they left the pavement of paris--and by an equal number of valets, grooms, and cooks. such a retinue was indispensable to enable an ambassador to transact the public business and to maintain the public dignity in those days; unproductive consumption being accounted most sagacious and noble. before reaching the english shore the marquis was involved in trouble. accepting the offer of the english vice-admiral lying off calais, he embarked with his suite in two english vessels, much to the dissatisfaction of de vic, vice-admiral of france, who was anxious to convey the french ambassador in the war-ships of his country. there had been suspicion afloat as to the good understanding between england and spain, caused by the great courtesy recently shown to the count of arenberg, and there was intense irritation among all the seafaring people of france on account of the exploits of the english corsairs upon their coast. rosny thought it best to begin his embassy by an act of conciliation, but soon had cause to repent his decision. in mid-channel they were met by de vic's vessels with the french banner displayed, at which sight the english commander was so wroth that he forthwith ordered a broadside to be poured into the audacious foreigner;--swearing with mighty oaths that none but the english flag should be shown in those waters. and thus, while conveying a french ambassador and three hundred frenchmen on a sacred mission to the british sovereign, this redoubtable mariner of england prepared to do battle with the ships of france. it was with much difficulty and some prevarication that rosny appeased the strife, representing that the french flag had only been raised in order that it might be dipped, in honour of the french ambassador, as the ships passed each other. the full-shotted broadside was fired from fifty guns, but the english commander consented, at de rosny's representations, that it should be discharged wide of the mark. a few shots, however, struck the side of one of the french vessels, and at the same time, as cardinal richelieu afterwards remarked, pierced the heart of every patriotic frenchman. the ambassador made a sign, which de vic understood; to lower his flag and to refrain from answering the fire. thus a battle between allies, amid the most amazing circumstances, was avoided, but it may well be imagined how long and how deeply the poison of the insult festered. such an incident could hardly predispose the ambassador in favour of the nation he was about to visit, or strengthen his hope of laying, not only the foundation of a perpetual friendship between the two crowns, but of effecting the palingenesis of europe. yet no doubt sully--as the world has so long learned to call him--was actuated by lofty sentiments in many respects in advance of his age. although a brilliant and successful campaigner in his youth, he detested war, and looked down with contempt at political systems which had not yet invented anything better than gunpowder for the arbitrament of international disputes. instead of war being an occasional method of obtaining peace, it pained him to think that peace seemed only a process for arriving at war. surely it was no epigram in those days, but the simplest statement of commonplace fact, that war was the normal condition of christians. alas will it be maintained that in the two and a half centuries which have since elapsed the world has made much progress in a higher direction? is there yet any appeal among the most civilized nations except to the logic of the largest battalions and the eloquence of the biggest guns? de rosny came to be the harbinger of a political millennium, and he heartily despised war. the schemes, nevertheless, which were as much his own as his master's, and which he was instructed to lay before the english monarch as exclusively his own, would have required thirty years of successful and tremendous warfare before they could have a beginning of development. it is not surprising that so philosophical a mind as his, while still inclining to pacific designs, should have been led by what met his eyes and ears to some rather severe generalizations. "it is certain that the english hate us," he said, "and with a hatred so strong and so general that one is tempted to place it among the natural dispositions of this people. yet it is rather the effect of their pride and their presumption; since there is no nation in europe more haughty, more disdainful, more besotted with the idea of its own excellence. if you were to take their word for it, mind and reason are only found with them; they adore all their opinions and despise those of all other nations; and it never occurs to them to listen to others, or to doubt themselves. . . . examine what are called with them maxims of state; you will find nothing but the laws of pride itself, adopted through arrogance or through indolence." "placed by nature amidst the tempestuous and variable ocean," he wrote to his sovereign, "they are as shifting, as impetuous, as changeable as its waves. so self-contradictory and so inconsistent are their actions almost in the same instant as to make it impossible that they should proceed from the same persons and the same mind. agitated and urged by their pride and arrogance alone, they take all their imaginations and extravagances for truths and realities; the objects of their desires and affections for inevitable events; not balancing and measuring those desires with the actual condition of things, nor with the character of the people with whom they have to deal." when the ambassador arrived in london he was lodged at arundel palace. he at once became the cynosure of all indigenous parties and of adventurous politicians from every part of europe; few knowing how to shape their course since the great familiar lustre had disappeared from the english sky. rosny found the scotch lords sufficiently favourable to france; the english catholic grandees, with all the howards and the lord high admiral at their head, excessively inclined to spain, and a great english party detesting both spain and france with equal fervour and well enough disposed to the united provinces, not as hating that commonwealth less but the two great powers more. the ambassador had arrived with the five points, not in his portfolio but in his heart, and they might after all be concentrated in one phrase--down with austria, up with the dutch republic. on his first interview with cecil, who came to arrange for his audience with the king, he found the secretary much disposed to conciliate both spain and the empire, and to leave the provinces to shift for themselves. he spoke of ostend as of a town not worth the pains taken to preserve it, and of the india trade as an advantage of which a true policy required that the united provinces should be deprived. already the fine commercial instinct of england had scented a most formidable rival on the ocean. as for the king, he had as yet declared himself for no party, while all parties were disputing among each other for mastery over him. james found himself, in truth, as much, astray in english politics as he was a foreigner upon english earth. suspecting every one, afraid of every one, he was in mortal awe, most of all, of his wife, who being the daughter of one protestant sovereign and wife of another, and queen of a united realm dependent for its very existence on antagonism to spain and rome, was naturally inclined to spanish politics and the catholic faith. the turbulent and intriguing anne of denmark was not at the moment in london, but james was daily expecting and de bethune dreading her arrival. the ambassador knew very well that, although the king talked big in her absence about the forms which he intended to prescribe for her conduct, he would take orders from her as soon as she arrived, refuse her nothing, conceal nothing from her, and tremble before her as usual. the king was not specially prejudiced in favour of the french monarch or his ambassador, for he had been told that henry had occasionally spoken of him as captain of arts and doctor of arms, and that both the marquis de rosny and his brother were known to have used highly disrespectful language concerning him. before his audience, de rosny received a private visit from barneveld and the deputies of the states-general, and was informed that since his arrival they had been treated with more civility by the king. previously he had refused to see them after the first official reception, had not been willing to grant count henry of nassau a private audience, and had spoken publicly of the states as seditious rebels. oh the st june barneveld had a long private interview with the ambassador at arundel palace, when he exerted all his eloquence to prove the absolute necessity of an offensive and defensive alliance between france and the united provinces if the independence of the republic were ever to be achieved. unless a french army took the field at once, ostend would certainly fall, he urged, and resistance to the spaniards would soon afterwards cease. it is not probable that the advocate felt in his heart so much despair as his words indicated, but he was most anxious that henry should openly declare himself the protector of the young commonwealth, and not indisposed perhaps to exaggerate the dangers, grave as they were without doubt, by which its existence was menaced. the ambassador however begged the hollander to renounce any such hopes, assuring him that the king had no intention of publicly and singly taking upon his shoulders the whole burden of war with spain, the fruits of which would not be his to gather. certainly before there had been time thoroughly to study the character and inclinations of the british monarch it would be impossible for de rosny to hold out any encouragement in this regard. he then asked barneveld what he had been able to discover during his residence in london as to the personal sentiments of james. the advocate replied that at first the king, yielding to his own natural tendencies, and to the advice of his counsellors, had refused the dutch deputies every hope, but that subsequently reflecting, as it would seem, that peace would cost england very dear if english inaction should cause the hollanders to fall again under the dominion of the catholic king, or to find their only deliverance in the protection of france, and beginning to feel more acutely how much england had herself to fear from a power like spain, he had seemed to awake out of a profound sleep, and promised to take these important affairs into consideration. subsequently he had fallen into a dreary abyss of indecision, where he still remained. it was certain however that he would form no resolution without the concurrence of the king of france, whose ambassador he had been so impatiently expecting, and whose proposition to him of a double marriage between their respective children had given him much satisfaction. de rosny felt sure that the dutch statesmen were far too adroit to put entire confidence in anything said by james, whether favourable or detrimental to their cause. he conjured barneveld therefore, by the welfare of his country, to conceal nothing from him in regard to the most secret resolutions that might have been taken by the states in the event of their being abandoned by england, or in case of their being embarrassed by a sudden demand on the part of that power for the cautionary towns offered to elizabeth. barneveld, thus pressed, and considering the ambassador as the confidential counsellor of a sovereign who was the republic's only friend, no longer hesitated. making a merit to himself of imparting an important secret, he said that the state-council of the commonwealth had resolved to elude at any cost the restoration of the cautionary towns. the interview was then abruptly terminated by the arrival of the venetian envoy. the nd of june arrived. the marquis had ordered mourning suits for his whole embassy and retinue, by particular command of his sovereign, who wished to pay this public tribute to the memory of the great queen. to his surprise and somewhat to his indignation, he was however informed that no one, stranger or native, scotchman or englishman, had been permitted to present himself to the king in black, that his appearance there in mourning would be considered almost an affront, and that it was a strictly enforced rule at court to abstain from any mention of elizabeth, and to affect an entire oblivion of her reign. at the last moment, and only because convinced that he might otherwise cause the impending negotiations utterly to fail, the ambassador consented to attire himself, the hundred and twenty gentlemen selected from his diplomatic family to accompany him on this occasion, and all his servants, in gala costume. the royal guards, with the earl of derby at their head, came early in the afternoon to arundel house to escort him to the thames, and were drawn up on the quay as the marquis and his followers embarked in the splendid royal barges provided to convey them to greenwich. on arriving at their destination they were met at the landing by the earl of northumberland, and escorted with great pomp and through an infinite multitude of spectators to the palace. such was the crowd, without and within, of courtiers and common people, that it was a long time before the marquis, preceded by his hundred and twenty gentlemen, reached the hall of audience. at last he arrived at the foot of the throne, when james arose and descended eagerly two steps of the dais in order to greet the ambassador. he would have descended them all had not one of the counsellors plucked him by the sleeve, whispering that he had gone quite far enough. "and if i honour this ambassador," cried james, in a loud voice, "more than is usual, i don't intend that it shall serve as a precedent for others. i esteem and love him particularly, because of the affection which i know he cherishes for me, of his firmness in our religion, and of his fidelity to his master." much more that was personally flattering to the marquis was said thus emphatically by james. to all this the ambassador replied, not by a set discourse, but only by a few words of compliment, expressing his sovereign's regrets at the death of queen elizabeth, and his joy at the accession of the new sovereign. he then delivered his letters of credence, and the complimentary conversation continued; the king declaring that he had not left behind him in scotland his passion for the monarch of france, and that even had he found england at war with that country on his accession he would have instantly concluded a peace with a prince whom he so much venerated. thus talking, the king caused his guest to ascend with him to the uppermost steps of the dais, babbling on very rapidly and skipping abruptly from one subject to another. de rosny took occasion to express his personal esteem and devotion, and was assured by the king in reply that the slanders in regard to him which had reached the royal ears had utterly failed of their effect. it was obvious that they were the invention of spanish intriguers who wished to help that nation to universal monarchy. then he launched forth into general and cordial abuse of spain, much to the satisfaction of count henry of nassau, who stood near enough to hear a good deal of the conversation, and of the other dutch deputies who were moving about, quite unknown, in the crowd. he denounced very vigorously the malignity of the spaniards in lighting fires everywhere in their neighbours' possessions, protested that he would always oppose their wicked designs, but spoke contemptuously of their present king as too feeble of mind and body ever to comprehend or to carry out the projects of his predecessors. among other gossip, james asked the envoy if he went to hear the protestant preaching in london. being answered in the affirmative, he expressed surprise, having been told, he said, that it was rosny's intention to repudiate his religion as de sancy had done, in order to secure his fortunes. the marquis protested that such a thought had never entered his head, but intimated that the reports might come from his familiar intercourse with the papal nuncius and many french ecclesiastics. the king asked if, when speaking with the nuncius, he called the pope his holiness, as by so doing he would greatly offend god, in whom alone was holiness. rosny replied that he commonly used the style prevalent at court, governing himself according to the rules adopted in regard to pretenders to crowns and kingdoms which they thought belonged to them, but the possession of which was in other hands, conceding to them, in order not to offend them, the titles which they claimed. james shook his head portentously, and changed the subject. the general tone of the royal-conversation was agreeable enough to the ambassador, who eagerly alluded to the perfidious conduct of a government which, ever since concluding the peace of vervins with henry, had been doing its best to promote sedition and territorial dismemberment in his kingdom, and to assist all his open and his secret enemies. james assented very emphatically, and the marquis felt convinced that a resentment against spain, expressed so publicly and so violently by james, could hardly fail to, be sincere. he began seriously to, hope that his negotiations would be successful, and was for soaring at once into the regions of high politics, when the king suddenly began to talk of hunting. "and so you sent half the stag i sent you; to count arenberg," said james; "but he is very angry about it; thinking that you did so to show how much more i make of you than i do of him. and so i do; for i know the difference between your king, my brother; and his masters who have sent me an ambassador who can neither walk nor talk, and who asked me to give him audience in a garden because he cannot go upstairs." the king then alluded to tassis, chief courier of his catholic majesty and special envoy from spain, asking whether the marquis had seen him on his passage through france. "spain sends me a postillion-ambassador," said he, "that he may travel the faster and attend to business by post." it was obvious that james took a sincere satisfaction in abusing everything relating to that country from its sovereign and the duke of lerma downwards; but he knew very well that velasco, constable of castile, had been already designated as ambassador, and would soon be on his way to england. de rosny on the termination of his audience, was escorted in great state by the earl of northumberland to the barges. a few days later, the ambassador had another private audience, in which the king expressed himself with apparent candour concerning the balance of power. christendom, in his opinion, should belong in three equal shares to the families of stuart, bourbon, and habsburg; but personal ambition and the force of events had given to the house of austria more than its fair third. sound policy therefore required a combination between france and england, in order to reduce their copartner within proper limits. this was satisfactory as far as it went, and the ambassador complimented the king on his wide views of policy and his lofty sentiments in regard to human rights. warming with the subject, james held language very similar to that which de rosny and his master had used in their secret conferences, and took the ground unequivocally that the secret war levied by spain against france and england, as exemplified in the biron conspiracy, the assault on geneva, the aid of the duke of savoy, and in the perpetual fostering of jesuit intrigues, plots of assassination, and other conspiracies in the british islands, justified a secret war on the part of henry and himself against philip. the ambassador would have been more deeply impressed with the royal language had he felt more confidence in the royal character. highly applauding the sentiments expressed, and desiring to excite still further the resentment of james against spain, he painted a vivid picture of the progress of that aggressive power in the past century. she had devoured flanders, burgundy, granada, navarre, portugal, the german empire, milan, naples, and all the indies. if she had not swallowed likewise both france and england those two crowns were indebted for their preservation, after the firmness of elizabeth and henry, to the fortunate incident of the revolt of the netherlands. de rosny then proceeded to expound the necessity under which james would soon find himself of carrying on open war with spain, and of the expediency of making preparations for the great struggle without loss of time. he therefore begged the king to concert with him some satisfactory measure for the preservation of the united provinces. "but," said james, "what better assistance could we give the netherlanders than to divide their territory between the states and spain; agreeing at the same time to drive the spaniard out altogether, if he violates the conditions which we should guarantee." this conclusion was not very satisfactory to de rosny, who saw in the bold language of the king--followed thus by the indication of a policy that might last to the greek kalends, and permit ostend, dutch flanders, and even the republic to fall--nothing but that mixture of timidity, conceit, and procrastination which marked the royal character. he pointed out to him accordingly that spanish statesmanship could beat the world in the art of delay, and of plucking the fruits of delay, and that when the united provinces had been once subjugated, the turn of england would come. it would be then too late for him to hope to preserve himself by such measures as, taken now, would be most salutary. a few days later the king invited de rosny and the two hundred members of his embassy to dine at greenwich, and the excursion down the thames took place with the usual pomp. the two hundred dined with the gentlemen of the court; while at the king's table, on an elevated platform in the same hall, were no guests but de rosny, and the special envoy of france, count beaumont. the furniture and decorations of the table were sumptuous, and the attendants, to the surprise of the frenchmen, went on their knees whenever they offered wine or dishes to the king. the conversation at first was on general topics, such as the heat of the weather, which happened to be remarkable, the pleasures of the chase, and the merits of the sermon which, as it was sunday, de rosny had been invited to hear before dinner in the royal chapel. soon afterwards, however, some allusion being made to the late queen, james spoke of her with contempt. he went so far as to say that, for a long time before her death, he had governed the councils, of england; all her ministers obeying and serving him much better than they did herself. he then called for wine, and, stretching out his glass towards his two. guests, drank to the health of the king and queen and royal family of france. de rosny, replied by proposing the health of his august host, not forgetting the queen and their children, upon which the king, putting his lips close to the ambassador's ear, remarked that his next toast should be in honour of the matrimonial union which was proposed between the families of britain and france. this was the first allusion made by james to the alliance; and the occasion did not strike the marquis as particularly appropriate to such a topic. he however replied in a whisper that he was rejoiced to hear this language from the king, having always believed that there would be no hesitation on his part between king henry and the monarch of spain, who, as he was aware, had made a similar proposition. james, expressing surprise that his guest was so well informed, avowed that he had in fact received the same offer of the infanta for his son as had been made to his christian majesty for the dauphin. what more convenient counters in the great game of state than an infant prince and princess in each of the three royal families to which europe belonged! to how many grave political combinations were these unfortunate infants to give rise, and how distant the period when great nations might no longer be tied to the pinafores of children in the nursery! after this little confidential interlude, james expressed in loud voice, so that all might hear, his determination never to permit the subjugation of the netherlands by spain. measures should be taken the very next day, he promised, in concert with the ambassador, as to the aid to be given to the states. upon the faith of this declaration de rosny took from his pocket the plan of a treaty, and forthwith, in the presence of all the ministers, placed it in the hands of the king, who meantime had risen from table. the ambassador also took this occasion to speak publicly of the english piracies upon french commerce while the two nations were at peace. the king, in reply, expressed his dissatisfaction at these depredations and at the english admiral who attempted to defend what had been done. he then took leave of his guests, and went off to bed, where it was his custom to pass his afternoons. it was certain that the constable of castile was now to arrive very soon, and the marquis had, meantime, obtained information on which he relied, that this ambassador would come charged with very advantageous offers to the english court. accounts had been got ready in council, of all the moneys due to england by france and by the states, and it was thought that these sums, payment of which was to be at once insisted upon, together with the spanish dollars set afloat in london, would prove sufficient to buy up all resistance to the spanish alliance. such being the nature of the information furnished to de rosny, he did not look forward with very high hopes to the issue of the conference indicated by king james at the greenwich dinner. as, after all, he would have to deal once more with cecil, the master-spirit of the spanish party, it did not seem very probable that the king's whispered professions of affection for france, his very loud denunciations of spanish ambition, and his promises of support to the struggling provinces, would be brought into any substantial form for human nourishment. whispers and big words, touching of glasses at splendid banquets, and proposing of royal toasts, would not go far to help those soldiers in ostend, a few miles away, fighting two years long already for a square half-mile of barren sand, in which seemed centred the world's hopes of freedom. barneveld was inclined to take an even more gloomy view than that entertained by the french ambassador. he had, in truth, no reason to be sanguine. the honest republican envoys had brought no babies to offer in marriage. their little commonwealth had only the merit of exchanging buffets forty years long with a power which, after subjugating the netherlands, would have liked to annihilate france and england too, and which, during that period, had done its best to destroy and dismember both. it had only struggled as no nation in the world's history had ever done, for the great principle upon which the power and happiness of england were ever to depend. it was therefore not to be expected that its representatives should be received with the distinction conferred upon royal envoys. barneveld and his colleagues accordingly were not invited, with two hundred noble hangers-on, to come down the thames in gorgeous array, and dine at greenwich palace; but they were permitted to mix in the gaping crowd of spectators, to see the fine folk, and to hear a few words at a distance which fell from august lips. this was not very satisfactory, as barneveld could rarely gain admittance to james or his ministers. de rosny, however, was always glad to confer with him, and was certainly capable of rendering justice both to his genius and to the sacredness of his cause. the advocate, in a long conference with the ambassador, thought it politic to paint the situation of the republic in even more sombre colours than seemed to de rosny justifiable. he was, indeed, the more struck with barneveld's present despondency, because, at a previous conference, a few days before, he had spoken almost with contempt of the spaniards, expressing the opinion that the mutinous and disorganized condition of the archduke's army rendered the conquest of ostend improbable, and hinted at a plan, of which the world as yet knew nothing, which would save that place, or at any rate would secure such an advantage for the states as to more than counterbalance its possible loss? this very sanguine demeanour had rather puzzled those who had conferred with the advocate, although they were ere long destined to understand his allusions, and it was certainly a contrast to his present gloom. he assured de rosny that the hollanders were becoming desperate, and that they were capable of abandoning their country in mass, and seeking an asylum beyond the seas? the menace was borrowed from the famous project conceived by william the silent in darker days, and seemed to the ambassador a present anachronism. obviously it was thought desirable to force the french policy to extreme lengths, and barneveld accordingly proposed that henry should take the burthen upon his shoulders of an open war with spain, in the almost certain event that england would make peace with that power. de rosny calmly intimated to the advocate that this was asking something entirely beyond his power to grant, as the special object of his mission was to form a plan of concerted action with england. the cautionary towns being next mentioned, barneveld stated that a demand had been made upon envoy caron by cecil for the delivery of those places to the english government, as england had resolved to make peace with spain. the advocate confided, however, to de rosny that the states would interpose difficulties, and that it would be long before the towns were delivered. this important information was given under the seal of strictest secrecy, and was coupled with an inference that a war between the republic and britain would be the probable result, in which case the states relied upon the alliance with france. the ambassador replied that in this untoward event the republic would have the sympathy of his royal master, but that it would be out of the question for him to go to war with spain and england at the same time. on the same afternoon there was a conference at arundel house between the dutch deputies, the english counsellors, and de rosny, when barneveld drew a most dismal picture of the situation; taking the ground that now or never was the time for driving the spaniards entirely out of the netherlands. cecil said in a general way that his majesty felt a deep interest in the cause of the provinces, and the french ambassador summoned the advocate, now that he was assured of the sympathy of two great kings, to furnish some plan by which that sympathy might be turned to account. barneveld, thinking figures more eloquent than rhetoric, replied that the states, besides garrisons, had fifteen thousand infantry and three thousand cavalry in the field, and fifty warships in commission, with artillery and munitions in proportion, and that it would be advisable for france and england to furnish an equal force, military and naval, to the common cause. de rosny smiled at the extravagance of the proposition. cecil, again taking refuge in commonplaces, observed that his master was disposed to keep the peace with all his neighbours, but that, having due regard to the circumstances, he was willing to draw a line between the wishes of the states and his own, and would grant them a certain amount of succour underhand. thereupon the dutch deputies withdrew to confer. de rosny, who had no faith in cecil's sincerity--the suggestion being essentially the one which he had himself desired--went meantime a little deeper into the subject, and soon found that england, according to the secretary of state, had no idea of ruining herself for the sake of the provinces, or of entering into any positive engagements in their behalf. in case spain should make a direct attack upon the two kings who were to constitute themselves protectors of dutch liberty, it might be necessary to take up arms. the admission was on the whole superfluous, it not being probable that britain, even under a stuart, would be converted to the doctrine of non-resistance. yet in this case it was suggested by cecil that the chief reliance of his government would be on the debts owed by the dutch and french respectively, which would then be forthwith collected. de rosny was now convinced that cecil was trifling with him, and evidently intending to break off all practical negotiations. he concealed his annoyance, however, as well as he could, and simply intimated that the first business of importance was to arrange for the relief of ostend; that eventualities, such as the possible attack by spain upon france and england, might for the moment be deferred, but that if england thought it a safe policy to ruin henry by throwing on his shoulders the whole burthen of a war with the common enemy, she would discover and deeply regret her fatal mistake. the time was a very ill-chosen one to summon france to pay old debts, and his christian majesty had given his ambassador no instructions contemplating such a liquidation. it was the intention to discharge the sum annually, little by little, but if england desired to exhaust the king by these peremptory demands, it was an odious conduct, and very different from any that france had ever pursued. the english counsellors were not abashed by this rebuke, but became, on the contrary, very indignant, avowing that if anything more was demanded of them, england would entirely abandon the united provinces. "cecil made himself known to me in this conference," said de rosny, "for exactly what he was. he made use only of double meanings and vague propositions; feeling that reason was not on his side. he was forced to blush at his own self-contradictions, when, with a single word, i made him feel the absurdity of his language. now, endeavouring to intimidate me, he exaggerated the strength of england, and again he enlarged upon the pretended offers made by spain to that nation." the secretary, desirous to sow discord between the dutch deputies and the ambassador, then observed that france ought to pay to england l , upon the nail, which sum would be at once appropriated to the necessities of the states. "but what most enraged me," said de rosny, "was to see these ministers, who had come to me to state the intentions of their king, thus impudently substitute their own; for i knew that he had commanded them to do the very contrary to that which they did." the conference ended with a suggestion by cecil, that as france would only undertake a war in conjunction with england, and as england would only consent to this if paid by france and the states, the best thing for the two kings to do would be to do nothing, but to continue to live in friendship together, without troubling themselves about foreign complications. this was the purpose towards which the english counsellors had been steadily tending, and these last words of cecil seemed to the ambassador the only sincere ones spoken by him in the whole conference. "if i kept silence," said the ambassador, "it was not because i acquiesced in their reasoning. on the contrary, the manner in which they had just revealed themselves, and avowed themselves in a certain sort liars and impostors, had given me the most profound contempt for them. i thought, however, that by heating myself and contending with them so far from causing them to abandon a resolution which they had taken in concert--i might even bring about a total rupture. on the other hand, matters remaining as they were, and a friendship existing between the two kings, which might perhaps be cemented by a double marriage, a more favourable occasion might present itself for negotiation. i did not yet despair of the success of my mission, because i believed that the king had no part in the designs which his counsellors wished to carry out." that the counsellors, then struggling for dominion over the new king and his kingdom, understood the character of their sovereign better than did the ambassador, future events were likely enough to prove. that they preferred peace to war, and the friendship of spain to an alliance, offensive and defensive, with france in favour of a republic which they detested, is certain. it is difficult, however, to understand why they were "liars and impostors" because, in a conference with the representative of france, they endeavoured to make their own opinions of public policy valid rather than content themselves simply with being the errand-bearers of the new king, whom they believed incapable of being stirred to an honourable action. the whole political atmosphere of europe was mephitic with falsehood, and certainly the gales which blew from the english court at the accession of james were not fragrant, but de rosny had himself come over from france under false pretences. he had been charged by his master to represent henry's childish scheme, which he thought so gigantic, for the regeneration of europe, as a project of his own, which he was determined to bring to execution, even at the risk of infidelity to his sovereign, and the first element in that whole policy was to carry on war underhand against a power with which his master had just sworn to preserve peace. in that age at least it was not safe for politicians to call each other hard names. the very next day de rosny had a long private interview with james at greenwich. being urged to speak without reserve, the ambassador depicted the privy counsellors to the king as false to his instructions, traitors to the best interests of their country, the humble servants of spain, and most desirous to make their royal master the slave of that power, under the name of its ally. he expressed the opinion, accordingly, that james would do better in obeying only the promptings of his own superior wisdom, rather than the suggestions of the intriguers about him. the adroit de rosny thus softly insinuated to the flattered monarch that the designs of france were the fresh emanations of his own royal intellect. it was the whim of james to imagine himself extremely like henry of bourbon in character, and he affected to take the wittiest, bravest, most adventurous, and most adroit knight-errant that ever won and wore a crown as his perpetual model. it was delightful, therefore, to find himself in company with his royal brother; making and unmaking kings; destroying empires, altering the whole face of christendom, and, better than all, settling then and for ever the theology of the whole world, without the trouble of moving from his easy chair, or of incurring any personal danger. he entered at once, with the natural tendency to suspicion of a timid man, into the views presented by de rosny as to the perfidy of his counsellors. he changed colour; and was visibly moved, as the ambassador gave his version of the recent conference with cecil and the other ministers, and, being thus artfully stimulated, he was, prepared to receive with much eagerness the portentous communications now to be made. the ambassador, however, caused him to season his admiration until he had taken a most solemn oath, by the sacrament of the eucharist, never to reveal a syllable of what he was about to hear. this done, and the royal curiosity excited almost beyond endurance, de rosny began to, unfold the stupendous schemes which had been, concerted between elizabeth and henry at dover, and which formed the secret object of his present embassy. feeling that the king was most malleable in the theological part of his structure, the wily envoy struck his first blows in that direction; telling him that his own interest in the religious, condition of europe, and especially in the firm establishment of the protestant faith, far surpassed in his mind all considerations of fortune, country, or even of fidelity to his sovereign. thus far, political considerations had kept henry from joining in the great catholic league, but it was possible that a change might occur in his system, and the protestant form of worship, abandoned by its ancient protector, might disappear entirely from france and from europe. de rosny had, therefore, felt the necessity of a new patron for the reformed religion in this great emergency, and had naturally fixed his eyes on the puissant and sagacious prince who now occupied, the british throne. now was the time, he urged, for james to immortalize his name by becoming the arbiter of the destiny of europe. it would always seem his own design, although henry was equally interested in it with himself. the plan was vast but simple, and perfectly easy of execution. there would be no difficulty in constructing an all-powerful league of sovereigns for the destruction of the house of austria, the foundation-stones of which would of course be france, great britain, and the united provinces. the double marriage between the bourbon and stuart families would indissolubly unite the two kingdoms, while interest and gratitude; a common hatred and a common love, would bind the republic as firmly to the union. denmark and sweden were certainly to be relied upon, as well as all other protestant princes. the ambitious and restless duke of savoy would be gained by the offer of lombardy and a kingly crown, notwithstanding his matrimonial connection with spain. as for the german princes, they would come greedily into the arrangement, as the league, rich in the spoils of the austrian house, would have hungary, bohemia, silesia, moravia, the archduchies, and other splendid provinces to divide among them. the pope would be bought up by a present, in fee-simple, of naples, and other comfortable bits of property, of which he was now only feudal lord. sicily would be an excellent sop for the haughty republic of venice. the franche comte; alsace, tirol, were naturally to be annexed to switzerland; liege and the heritage of the duke of cleves and juliers to the dutch commonwealth. the king of france, who, according to de rosny's solemn assertions, was entirely ignorant of the whole scheme, would, however, be sure to embrace it very heartily when james should propose it to him, and would be far too disinterested to wish to keep any of the booty for himself. a similar self-denial was, of course, expected of james, the two great kings satisfying themselves with the proud consciousness of having saved society, rescued the world from the sceptre of an austrian universal monarchy, and regenerated european civilization for all future time. the monarch listened with ravished ears, interposed here and there a question or a doubt, but devoured every detail of the scheme, as the ambassador slowly placed it before him. de rosny showed that the spanish faction was not in reality so powerful as the league which would be constructed for its overthrow. it was not so much a religious as a political frontier which separated the nations. he undertook to prove this, but, after all, was obliged to demonstrate that the defection of henry from the protestant cause had deprived him of his natural allies, and given him no true friends in exchange for the old ones. essentially the catholics were ranged upon one side, and the protestants on the other, but both religions were necessary to henry the huguenot: the bold free-thinker adroitly balanced himself upon each creed. in making use of a stern and conscientious calvinist, like maximilian de bethune, in his first assault upon the theological professor who now stood in elizabeth's place, he showed the exquisite tact which never failed him. toleration for the two religions which had political power, perfect intolerance for all others; despotic forms of polity, except for two little republics which were to be smothered with protection and never left out of leading strings, a thorough recasting of governments and races, a palingenesis of europe, a nominal partition of its hegemony between france and england, which was to be in reality absorbed by france, and the annihilation of austrian power east and west, these were the vast ideas with which that teeming bourbon brain was filled. it is the instinct both of poetic and of servile minds to associate a sentiment of grandeur with such fantastic dreams, but usually on condition that the dreamer wears a crown. when the regenerator of society appears with a wisp of straw upon his head, unappreciative society is apt to send him back to his cell. there, at least, his capacity for mischief is limited. if to do be as grand as to imagine what it were good to do, then the dutchmen in hell's mouth and the porcupine fighting universal monarchy inch by inch and pike to pike, or trying conclusions with the ice-bears of nova zembla, or capturing whole portuguese fleets in the moluccas, were effecting as great changes in the world, and doing perhaps as much for the advancement of civilization, as james of the two britains and henry of france and navarre in those his less heroic days, were likely to accomplish. history has long known the results. the ambassador did his work admirably. the king embraced him in a transport of enthusiasm, vowed by all that was most sacred to accept the project in all its details, and exacted from the ambassador in his turn an oath on the eucharist never to reveal, except to his master, the mighty secrets of their conference. the interview had lasted four hours. when it was concluded, james summoned cecil, and in presence of the ambassador and of some of the counsellors, lectured him soundly on his presumption in disobeying the royal commands in his recent negotiations with de rosny. he then announced his decision to ally himself strictly with france against spain in consequence of the revelations just made to him, and of course to espouse the cause of the united provinces. telling the crest-fallen secretary of state to make the proper official communications on the subject to the ambassadors of my lords the states-general,--thus giving the envoys from the republic for the first time that pompous designation, the king turned once more to the marquis with the exclamation, "well, mr. ambassador, this time i hope that you are satisfied with me?" in the few days following de rosny busied himself in drawing up a plan of a treaty embodying all that had been agreed upon between henry and himself, and which he had just so faithfully rehearsed to james. he felt now some inconvenience from his own artfulness, and was in a measure caught in his own trap. had he brought over a treaty in his pocket, james would have signed it on the spot, so eager was he for the regeneration of europe. it was necessary, however, to continue the comedy a little longer, and the ambassador, having thought it necessary to express many doubts whether his master could be induced to join in the plot, and to approve what was really his own most cherished plan, could now do no more than promise to use all his powers of persuasion unto that end. the project of a convention, which james swore most solemnly to sign, whether it were sent to him in six weeks or six months, was accordingly rapidly reduced to writing and approved. it embodied, of course, most of the provisions discussed in the last secret interview at greenwich. the most practical portion of it undoubtedly related to the united provinces, and to the nature of assistance to be at once afforded to that commonwealth, the only ally of the two kingdoms expressly mentioned in the treaty. england was to furnish troops, the number of which was not specified, and france was to pay for them, partly out of her own funds, partly out of the amount due by her to england. it was, however, understood, that this secret assistance should not be considered to infringe the treaty of peace which already existed between henry and the catholic king. due and detailed arrangements were made as to the manner in which the allies were to assist each other, in case spain, not relishing this kind of neutrality, should think proper openly to attack either great britain or france, or both. unquestionably the dutch republic was the only portion of europe likely to be substantially affected by these secret arrangements; for, after all, it had not been found very easy to embody the splendid visions of henry, which had so dazzled the imagination of james in the dry clauses of a protocol. it was also characteristic enough of the crowned conspirators, that the clause relating to the united provinces provided that the allies would either assist them in the attainment of their independence, or--if it should be considered expedient to restore them to the domination of spain or the empire--would take such precautions and lay down such conditions as would procure perfect tranquillity for them, and remove from the two allied kings the fear of a too absolute government by the house of austria in those provinces. it would be difficult to imagine a more impotent conclusion. those dutch rebels had not been fighting for tranquillity. the tranquillity of the rock amid raging waves--according to the device of the father of the republic--they had indeed maintained; but to exchange their turbulent and tragic existence, ever illumined by the great hope of freedom, for repose under one despot guaranteed to them by two others, was certainly not their aim. they lacked the breadth of vision enjoyed by the regenerators who sat upon mountain-tops. they were fain to toil on in their own way. perhaps, however, the future might show as large results from their work as from the schemes of those who were to begin the humiliation of the austrian house by converting its ancient rebels into tranquil subjects. the marquis of rosny, having distributed , crowns among the leading politicians and distinguished personages at the english court, with ample promises of future largess if they remained true to his master, took an affectionate farewell of king james, and returned with his noble two hundred to recount his triumphs to the impatient henry. the treaty was soon afterwards duly signed and ratified by the high contracting parties. it was, however, for future history to register its results on the fate of pope, emperor, kings, potentates, and commonwealths, and to show the changes it would work in the geography, religion, and polity of the world. the deputies from the states-general, satisfied with the practical assistance promised them, soon afterwards took their departure with comparative cheerfulness, having previously obtained the royal consent to raise recruits in scotland. meantime the great constable of castile, ambassador from his catholic majesty, had arrived in london, and was wroth at all that he saw and all that he suspected. he, too, began to scatter golden arguments with a lavish hand among the great lords and statesmen of britain, but found that the financier of france had, on the whole; got before him in the business, and was skilfully maintaining his precedence from the other side of the channel. but the end of these great diplomatic manoeuvres had not yet come. chapter xlii. siege of ostend--the marquis spinola made commander-in-chief of the besieging army--discontent of the troops--general aspect of the operations--gradual encroachment of the enemy. the scene again shifts to ostend. the spanish cabinet, wearied of the slow progress of the siege, and not entirely satisfied with the generals, now concluded almost without consent of the archdukes, one of the most extraordinary jobs ever made, even in those jobbing days. the marquis spinola, elder brother of the ill-fated frederic, and head of the illustrious genoese family of that name, undertook to furnish a large sum of money which the wealth of his house and its connection with the great money-lenders of genoa enabled him to raise, on condition that he should have supreme command of the operations against ostend and of the foreign armies in the netherlands. he was not a soldier, but he entered into a contract, by his own personal exertions both on the exchange and in the field, to reduce the city which had now resisted all the efforts of the archduke for more than two years. certainly this was an experiment not often hazarded in warfare. the defence of ostend was in the hands of the best and moat seasoned fighting-men in europe. the operations were under the constant supervision of the foremost captain of the age; for maurice, in consultation with the states-general, received almost daily reports from the garrison, and regularly furnished advice and instructions as to their proceedings. he was moreover ever ready to take the field for a relieving campaign. nothing was known of spinola save that he was a high-born and very wealthy patrician who had reached his thirty-fourth year without achieving personal distinction of any kind, and who, during the previous summer, like so many other nobles from all parts of europe, had thought it worth his while to drawl through a campaign or two in the low countries. it was the mode to do this, and it was rather a stigma upon any young man of family not to have been an occasional looker on at that perpetual military game. his brother frederic, as already narrated; had tried his chance for fame and fortune in the naval service, and had lost his life in the adventure without achieving the one or the other. this was not a happy augury for the head of the family. frederic had made an indifferent speculation. what could the brother hope by taking the field against maurice of nassau and lewis william and the baxes and meetkerkes? nevertheless the archduke eagerly accepted his services, while the infanta, fully confident of his success before he had ordered a gun to be fired, protested that if spinola did not take ostend nobody would ever take it. there was also, strangely enough, a general feeling through the republican ranks that the long-expected man had come. thus a raw volunteer, a man who had never drilled a hundred men, who had never held an officer's commission in any army in the world, became, as by the waving of a wand, a field-marshal and commander-in-chief at a most critical moment in history, in the most conspicuous position in christendom, and in a great war, now narrowed down to a single spot of earth, on which the eyes of the world were fixed, and the daily accounts from which were longed for with palpitating anxiety. what but failure and disaster could be expected from such astounding policy? every soldier in the catholic forces--from grizzled veterans of half a century who had commanded armies and achieved victories when this dainty young italian was in his cradle, down to the simple musketeer or rider who had been campaigning for his daily bread ever since he could carry a piece or mount a horse was furious with discontent or outraged pride. very naturally too, it was said that the position of the archdukes had become preposterous. it was obvious, notwithstanding the pilgrimages of the infanta to our lady of hall, to implore not only the fall of ostend, but the birth of a successor to their sovereignty, that her marriage would for ever remain barren. spain was already acting upon this theory, it was said, for the contract with spinola was made, not at brussels, but at madrid, and a foreign army of spaniards and italians, under the supreme command of a genoese adventurer, was now to occupy indefinitely that flanders which had been proclaimed an independent nation, and duly bequeathed by its deceased proprietor to his daughter. ambrose spinola, son of philip, marquis of venafri, and his wife, polyxena grimaldi, was not appalled by the murmurs of hardly suppressed anger or public criticism. a handsome, aristocratic personage, with an intellectual, sad, but sympathetic face, fair hair and beard, and imposing but attractive presence--the young volunteer, at the beginning of october, made his first visit of inspection in the lines before ostend. after studying the situation of affairs very thoroughly, he decided that the operations on the gullet or eastern side, including bucquoy's dike, with pompey targone's perambulatory castles and floating batteries, were of secondary importance. he doubted the probability of closing up a harbour, now open to the whole world and protected by the fleets of the first naval power of europe, with wickerwork, sausages, and bridges upon barrels. his attention was at once concentrated on the western side, and he was satisfied that only by hard fighting and steady delving could he hope to master the place. to gain ostend he would be obliged to devour it piecemeal as he went on. whatever else might be said of the new commander-in-chief, it was soon apparent that, although a volunteer and a patrician, he was no milksop. if he had been accustomed all his life to beds of down, he was as ready now to lie in the trenches, with a cannon for his pillow, as the most ironclad veteran in the ranks. he seemed to require neither sleep nor food, and his reckless habit of exposing himself to unnecessary danger was the subject of frequent animadversion on the part both of the archdukes and of the spanish government. it was however in his case a wise temerity. the veterans whom he commanded needed no encouragement to daring deeds, but they required conviction as to the valour and zeal of their new commander, and this was afforded them in overflowing measure. it is difficult to decide, after such a lapse of years, as to how much of the long series of daily details out of which this famous siege was compounded deserves to be recorded. it is not probable that for military history many of the incidents have retained vital importance. the world rang, at the beginning of the operations, with the skill and inventive talent of targone, giustiniani, and other italian engineers, artificers, and pyrotechnists, and there were great expectations conceived of the effects to be produced by their audacious and original devices. but time wore on. pompey's famous floating battery would not float, his moving monster battery would not move. with the one; the subtle italian had intended to close up the gullet to the states' fleets. it was to rest on the bottom at low water at the harbour's mouth, to rise majestically with the flood, and to be ever ready with a formidable broadside of fifty pounders against all comers. but the wild waves and tempests of the north sea soon swept the ponderous toy into space, before it had fired a gun. the gigantic chariot, on which a moveable fort was constructed, was still more portentous upon paper than the battery. it was directed against that republican work, defending the gullet, which was called in derision the spanish half-moon. it was to be drawn by forty horses, and armed with no man knew how many great guns, with a mast a hundred and fifty feet high in the centre of the fort, up and down which played pulleys raising and lowering a drawbridge long enough to span the gullet. it was further provided with anchors, which were to be tossed over the parapet of the doomed redoubt, while the assailants, thus grappled to the enemy's work, were to dash over the bridge after having silenced the opposing fire by means of their own peripatetic battery. unfortunately for the fame of pompey, one of his many wheels was crushed on the first attempt to drag the chariot to the scene of anticipated triumph, the whole structure remained embedded in the sand, very much askew; nor did all the mules and horses that could be harnessed to it ever succeed in removing it an inch out of a position, which was anything but triumphant. it seemed probable enough therefore that, so far as depended on the operations from the eastern side, the siege of ostend, which had now lasted two years and three months, might be protracted for two years and three months longer. indeed, spinola at once perceived that if the archduke was ever to be put in possession of the place for which he had professed himself ready to wait eighteen years, it would be well to leave bucquoy and targone to build dykes and chariots and bury them on the east at their leisure, while more energy was brought to bear upon the line of fortifications of the west than had hitherto been employed. there had been shooting enough, bloodshed enough, suffering enough, but it was amazing to see the slight progress made. the occupation of what were called the external squares has been described. this constituted the whole result of the twenty-seven months' work. the town itself--the small and very insignificant kernel which lay enclosed in such a complicated series of wrappings and layers of defences--seemed as far off as if it were suspended in the sky. the old haven or canal, no longer navigable for ships, still served as an admirable moat which the assailants had not yet succeeded in laying entirely dry. it protected the counterscarp, and was itself protected by an exterior aeries of works, while behind the counterscarp was still another ditch, not so broad nor deep as the canal, but a formidable obstacle even after the counterscarp should be gained. there were nearly fifty forts and redoubts in these lines, of sufficient importance to have names which in those days became household words, not only in the netherlands, but in europe; the siege of ostend being the one military event of christendom, so long as it lasted. these names are of course as much forgotten now as those of the bastions before nineveh. a very few of them will suffice to indicate the general aspect of the operations. on the extreme southwest of ostend had been in peaceful times a polder--the general term to designate a pasture out of which the sea-water had been pumped--and the forts in that quarter were accordingly called by that name, as polder half-moon, polder ravelin, or great and little polder bulwark, as the case might be. farther on towards the west, the north-west, and the north, and therefore towards the beach, were the west ravelin, west bulwark, moses's table, the porcupine, the hell's mouth, the old church, and last and most important of all, the sand hill. the last-named work was protected by the porcupine and hell's mouth, was the key to the whole series of fortifications, and was connected by a curtain with the old church, which was in the heart of the old town. spinola had assumed command in october, but the winter was already closing in with its usual tempests and floods before there had been time for him to produce much effect. it seemed plain enough to the besieged that the object of the enemy would be to work his way through the polder, and so gradually round to the porcupine and the sand hill. precisely in what directions his subterraneous passages might be tending, in what particular spot of the thin crust upon which they all stood an explosion might at any moment be expected, it was of course impossible to know. they were sure that the process of mining was steadily progressing, and maurice sent orders to countermine under every bulwark, and to secretly isolate every bastion, so that it would be necessary for spinola to make his way, fort by fort, and inch by inch. thus they struggled drearily about under ground, friend and foe, often as much bewildered as wanderers in the catacombs. to a dismal winter succeeded a ferocious spring. both in february and march were westerly storms, such as had not been recorded even on that tempest-swept coast for twenty years, and so much damage was inflicted on the precious sand hill and its curtain, that, had the enemy been aware of its plight, it is probable that one determined assault might have put him in possession of the place. but ostend was in charge of a most watchful governor, peter van gieselles, who had succeeded charles van der noot at the close of the year . a plain, lantern jawed, dutch colonel; with close-cropped hair, a long peaked beard, and an eye that looked as if it had never been shut; always dressed in a shabby old jerkin with tarnished flowers upon it, he took command with a stout but heavy heart, saying that the place should never be surrendered by him, but that he should never live to see the close of the siege. he lost no time in repairing the damages of the tempest, being ready to fight the west wind, the north sea, and spinola at any moment, singly or conjoined. he rebuilt the curtain of the sand hill, added fresh batteries to the porcupine and hell's mouth, and amused and distracted the enemy with almost daily sorties and feints. his soldiers passed their days and nights up to the knees in mud and sludge and sea-water, but they saw that their commander never spared himself, and having a superfluity of food and drink, owing to the watchful care of the states-general, who sent in fleets laden with provisions faster than they could be consumed, they were cheerful and content. on the th march there was a determined effort to carry the lesser polder bulwark. after a fierce and bloody action, the place was taken by storm, and the first success in the game was registered for spinola. the little fort was crammed full of dead, but such of the defenders as survived were at last driven out of it, and forced to take refuge in the next work. day after day the same bloody business was renewed, a mere monotony of assaults, repulses, sallies, in which hardly an inch of ground was gained on either side, except at the cost of a great pile of corpses. "men will never know, nor can mortal pen ever describe," said one who saw it all, "the ferocity and the pertinacity of both besiegers and besieged." on the th of march, colonel catrice, an accomplished walloon officer of engineers, commanding the approaches against the polder, was killed. on the st march, as peter orieselles was taking his scrambling dinner in company with philip fleming, there was a report that the enemy was out again in force. a good deal of progress had been made during the previous weeks on the south-west and west, and more was suspected than was actually known. it was felt that the foe was steadily nibbling his way up to the counterscarp. moreover, such was the emulation among the germans, walloons, italians, and spaniards for precedence in working across the canal, that a general assault and universal explosion were considered at any instant possible. the governor sent fleming to see if all was right in the porcupine, while he himself went to see if a new battery, which he had just established to check the approaches of the enemy towards the polder half-moon and ravelin in a point very near the counterscarp, was doing its duty. being, as usual, anxious to reconnoitre with his own eyes, he jumped upon the rampart. but there were sharp-shooters in the enemy's trenches, and they were familiar with the governor's rusty old doublet and haggard old face. hardly had he climbed upon the breastwork when a ball pierced his heart, and he fell dead without a groan. there was a shout of triumph from the outside, while the tidings soon spread sadness through the garrison, for all loved and venerated the man. philip fleming, so soon as he learned the heavy news, lost no time in unavailing regrets, but instantly sent a courier to prince maurice; meantime summoning a council of superior officers, by whom colonel john van loon was provisionally appointed commandant. a stately, handsome man, a good officer, but without extensive experience, he felt himself hardly equal to the immense responsibility of the post, but yielding to the persuasions of his comrades, proceeded to do his best. his first care was to secure the all-important porcupine, towards which the enemy had been slowly crawling with his galleries and trenches. four days after he had accepted the command he was anxiously surveying that fortification, and endeavouring to obtain a view of the enemy's works, when a cannon-ball struck him on the right leg, so that he died the next day. plainly the post of commandant of ostend was no sinecure. he was temporarily succeeded by sergeant-major jacques de bievry, but the tumults and confusion incident upon this perpetual change of head were becoming alarming. the enemy gave the garrison no rest night nor day, and it had long become evident that the young volunteer, whose name was so potent on the genoa exchange, was not a man of straw nor a dawdler, however the superseded veterans might grumble. at any rate the troops on either side were like to have their fill of work. on the nd april the polder ravelin was carried by storm. it was a most bloody action. never were a few square feet of earth more recklessly assailed, more resolutely maintained. the garrison did not surrender the place, but they all laid down their lives in its defence. scarcely an individual of them all escaped, and the foe, who paid dearly with heaps of dead and wounded for his prize, confessed that such serious work as this had scarce been known before in any part of that great slaughter-house, flanders. a few days later, colonel bievry, provisional commandant, was desperately wounded in a sortie, and was carried off to zeeland. the states-general now appointed jacques van der meer, baron of berendrecht, to the post of honour and of danger. a noble of flanders, always devoted to the republican cause; an experienced middle-aged officer, vigilant, energetic, nervous; a slight wiry man, with a wizened little face, large bright eyes, a meagre yellow beard, and thin sandy hair flowing down upon his well-starched ruff, the new governor soon showed himself inferior to none of his predecessors in audacity and alertness. it is difficult to imagine a more irritating position in many respects than that of commander in such an extraordinary leaguer. it was not a formal siege. famine, which ever impends over an invested place, and sickens the soul with its nameless horrors, was not the great enemy to contend against here. nor was there the hideous alternative between starving through obstinate resistance or massacre on submission, which had been the lot of so many dutch garrisons in the earlier stages of the war. retreat by sea was ever open to the ostend garrison, and there was always an ample supply of the best provisions and of all munitions of war. but they had been unceasingly exposed to two tremendous enemies. during each winter and spring the ocean often smote their bastions and bulwarks in an hour of wrath till they fell together like children's toys, and it was always at work, night and day, steadily lapping at the fragile foundations on which all their structures stood. nor was it easy to give the requisite attention to the devouring sea, because all the materials that could be accumulated seemed necessary to repair the hourly damages inflicted by their other restless foe. thus the day seemed to draw gradually but inexorably nearer when the place would be, not captured, but consumed. there was nothing for it, so long as the states were determined to hold the spot, but to meet the besieger at every point, above or below the earth, and sell every inch of that little morsel of space at the highest price that brave men could impose. so berendrecht, as vigilant and devoted as even peter gieselles had ever been, now succeeded to the care of the polders and the porcupines, and the hell's mouths; and all the other forts, whose quaint designations had served, as usually is the case among soldiers, to amuse the honest patriots in the midst of their toils and danger. on the th april, the enemy assailed the great western ravelin, and after a sanguinary hand-to-hand action, in which great numbers of officers and soldiers were lost on both sides, he carried the fort; the spaniards, italians, germans, and walloons vieing with each other in deeds of extraordinary daring, and overcoming at last the resistance of the garrison. this was an important success. the foe had now worked his way with galleries and ditches along the whole length of the counterscarp till he was nearly up with the porcupine, and it was obvious that in a few days he would be master of the counterscarp itself. a less resolute commander, at the head of less devoted troops, might have felt that when that inevitable event should arrive all that honour demanded would have been done, and that spinola was entitled to his city. berendrecht simply decided that if the old counterscarp could no longer be held it was time to build a new counterscarp. this, too, had been for some time the intention of prince maurice. a plan for this work had already been sent into the place, and a distinguished english engineer, ralph dexter by name, arrived with some able assistants to carry it into execution. it having been estimated that the labour would take three weeks of time, without more ado the inner line was carefully drawn, cutting off with great nicety and precision about one half the whole place. within this narrowed circle the same obstinate resistance was to be offered as before, and the bastions and redoubts of the new entrenchment were to be baptized with the same uncouth names which two long years of terrible struggle had made so precious. the work was very laborious; for the line was drawn straight through the town, and whole streets had to be demolished and the houses to their very foundations shovelled away. moreover the men were forced to toil with spade in one hand and matchlock in the other, ever ready to ascend from the ancient dilapidated cellars in order to mount the deadly breach at any point in the whole circumference of the place. it became absolutely necessary therefore to send a sufficient force of common workmen into the town to lighten the labours of the soldiers. moreover the thought, although whistled to the wind, would repeatedly recur, that, after all, there must be a limit to these operations, and that at last there would remain no longer any earth in which to find a refuge. the work of the new entrenchment went slowly on, but it was steadily done. meantime they were comforted by hearing that the stadholder had taken the field in flanders, at the head of a considerable force, and they lived in daily expectation of relief. it will be necessary, at the proper moment, to indicate the nature of prince maurice's operations. for the present, it is better that the reader should confine his attention within the walls of ostend. by the th may, the enemy had effected a lodgment in a corner of the porcupine, and already from that point might threaten the new counterscarp before it should be completed. at the same time he had gnawed through to the west bulwark, and was busily mining under the porcupine itself. in this fort friend and foe now lay together, packed like herrings, and profited by their proximity to each other to vary the monotony of pike and anaphance with an occasional encounter of epistolary wit. thus spanish letters, tied to sticks, and tossed over into the next entrenchment, were replied to by others, composed in four languages by the literary man of ostend, auditor fleming, and shot into the enemy's trenches on cross-bow bolts. on the th may, a long prepared mine was sprung beneath the porcupine. it did its work effectively, and the may assailants did theirs no less admirably, crowding into the breach with headlong ferocity, and after a long and sanguinary struggle with immense lose on both sides, carrying the precious and long-coveted work by storm. inch by inch the defenders were thus slowly forced back toward their new entrenchment. on the same day, however, they inflicted a most bloody defeat upon the enemy in an attempt to carry the great polder. he withdrew, leaving heaps of slain, so that the account current for the day would have balanced itself, but that the porcupine, having changed hands, now bristled most formidably against its ancient masters. the daily 'slaughter had become sickening to behold. there were three thousand effective men in the garrison. more could have been sent in to supply the steady depletion in the ranks, but there was no room for more. there was scarce space enough for the living to stand to their work, or for the dead to lie in their graves. and this was an advantage which could not fail to tell. of necessity the besiegers would always very far outnumber the garrison, so that the final success of their repeated assaults became daily more and more possible. yet on the nd june the enemy met not only with another signal defeat, but also with a most bitter surprise. on that day the mine which he had been so long and so laboriously constructing beneath the great polder bulwark was sprung with magnificent effect. a breach, forty feet wide, was made in this last stronghold of the old defences, and the soldiers leaped into the crater almost before it had ceased to blaze, expecting by one decisive storm to make themselves masters at last of all the fortifications, and therefore of the town itself. but as emerging from the mine, they sprang exulting upon the shattered bulwark, a transformation more like a sudden change in some holiday pantomime than a new fact in this three years' most tragic siege presented itself to their astonished eyes. they had carried the last defence of the old counterscarp, and behold--a new one, which they had never dreamed of, bristling before their eyes, with a flanking battery turned directly upon them. the musketeers and pikemen, protected by their new works, now thronged towards the assailants; giving them so hearty a welcome that they reeled back, discomfited, after a brief but severe struggle, from the spot of their anticipated triumph, leaving their dead and dying in the breach. four days later, berendrecht, with a picked party of english troops, stole out for a reconnaissance, not wishing to trust other eyes than his own in the imminent peril of the place. the expedition was successful. a few prisoners were taken, and valuable information was obtained, but these advantages were counterbalanced by a severe disaster. the vigilant and devoted little governor, before effecting his entrance into the sally port, was picked off by a sharpshooter, and died the next day. this seemed the necessary fate of the commandants of ostend, where the operations seemed more like a pitched battle lasting three years than an ordinary siege. gieselles, van loon, bievry, and now berendrecht, had successively fallen at the post of duty since the beginning of the year. not one of them was more sincerely deplored than berendrecht. his place was supplied by colonel uytenhoove, a stalwart, hirsute, hard-fighting dutchman, the descendant of an ancient race, and seasoned in many a hard campaign. the enemy now being occupied in escarping and furnishing with batteries the positions he had gained, with the obvious intention of attacking the new counterscarp, it was resolved to prepare for the possible loss of this line of fortifications by establishing another and still narrower one within it. half the little place had been shorn away by the first change. of the half which was still in possession of the besieged about one-third was now set off, and in this little corner of earth, close against the new harbour, was set up their last refuge. they called the new citadel little troy, and announced, with pardonable bombast, that they would hold out there as long as the ancient trojans had defended ilium. with perfect serenity the engineers set about their task with line, rule, and level, measuring out the bulwarks and bastions, the miniature salients, half-moons, and ditches, as neatly and methodically as if there were no ceaseless cannonade in their ears, and as if the workmen were not at every moment summoned to repel assaults upon the outward wall. they. sent careful drawings of little troy to maurice and the states, and received every encouragement to persevere, together with promises of ultimate relief. but there was one serious impediment to the contemplated construction of the new earth-works. they had no earth. nearly everything solid had been already scooped away in the perpetual delving. the sea-dykes had been robbed of their material, so that the coming winter might find besiegers and besieged all washed together into the german ocean, and it was hard digging and grubbing among the scanty cellarages of the dilapidated houses. but there were plenty of graves, filled with the results of three years' hard fighting. and now, not only were all the cemeteries within the precincts shovelled and carted in mass to the inner fortifications, but rewards being offered of ten stivers for each dead body, great heaps of disinterred soldiers were piled into the new ramparts. thus these warriors, after laying down their lives for the cause of freedom, were made to do duty after death. whether it were just or no thus to disturb the repose--if repose it could be called--of the dead that they might once more protect the living, it can scarcely be doubted that they took ample revenge on the already sufficiently polluted atmosphere. on the th june the foe sprang a mine under the western bulwark; close to a countermine exploded by the garrison the day before. the assailants thronged as merrily as usual to the breach, and were met with customary resolution by the besieged; governor uytenhoove, clad in complete armour, leading his troops. the enemy, after an hour's combat, was repulsed with heavy loss, but the governor fell in the midst of the fight. instantly he was seized by the legs by a party of his own men, some english desperadoes among the number, who, shouting that the colonel was dead, were about to render him the last offices by plundering his body. the ubiquitous fleming, observing the scene, flew to the rescue and, with the assistance of a few officers, drove off these energetic friends, and taking off the governor's casque, discovered that he still breathed. that he would soon have ceased to do so, had he been dragged much farther in his harness over that jagged and precipitous pile of rubbish, was certain. he was desperately wounded, and of course incapacitated for his post. thus, in that year, before the summer solstice, a fifth commandant had fallen. on the same day, simultaneously with this repulse in the west bulwark, the enemy made himself at last completely master of the polder. here, too, was a savage hand-to-hand combat with broadswords and pikes, and when the pikes were broken, with great clubs and stakes pulled from the fascines; but the besiegers were victorious, and the defenders sullenly withdrew with their wounded to the inner entrenchments. on the th june, daniel de hartaing, lord of marquette, was sent by the states-general to take command in ostend. the colonel of the walloon regiment which had rendered such good service on the famous field of nieuport, the new governor, with his broad, brown, cheerful face, and his milan armour, was a familiar figure enough to the campaigners on both sides in flanders or germany. the stoutest heart might have sunk at the spectacle which the condition of the town presented at his first inspection. the states-general were resolved to hold the place, at all hazards, and marquette had come to do their bidding, but it was difficult to find anything that could be called a town. the great heaps of rubbish, which had once been the outer walls, were almost entirely in the possession of the foe, who had lodged himself in all that remained of the defiant porcupine, the hell's mouth, and other redoubts, and now pointed from them at least fifty great guns against their inner walls. the old town, with its fortifications, was completely honeycombed, riddled, knocked to pieces, and, although the sand hill still held out, it was plain enough that its days were numbered unless help should soon arrive. in truth, it required a clear head and a practised eye to discover among those confused masses of prostrate masonry, piles of brick, upturned graves, and mounds of sand and rubbish, anything like order and regularity. yet amid the chaos there was really form and meaning to those who could read aright, and marquette saw, as well in the engineers' lines as in the indomitable spirit that looked out of the grim faces of the garrison, that ostend, so long as anything of it existed in nature, could be held for the republic. their brethren had not been firmer, when keeping their merry christmas, seven years before, under the north pole, upon a pudding made of the gunner's cartridge paste, or the knights of the invincible lion in the horrid solitudes of tierra del fuego, than were the defenders of this sandbank. whether the place were worth the cost or not, it was for my lords the states-general to decide, not for governor marquette. and the decision of those "high and mighty" magistrates, to whom even maurice of nassau bowed without a murmur, although often against his judgment, had been plainly enough announced. and so shiploads of deals and joists, bricks, nails, and fascines, with requisite building materials, were sent daily in from zeeland, in order that little troy might be completed; and, with god's help, said the garrison, the republic shall hold its own. and now there were two months more of mining and countermining, of assaults and repulses, of cannonading and hand-to-hand fights with pikes and clubs. nearer and nearer, day by day, and inch by inch, the foe had crawled up to the verge of their last refuge, and the walls of little troy, founded upon fresh earth and dead men's bones, and shifting sands, were beginning to quake under the guns of the inexorable volunteer from genoa. yet on the th august there was great rejoicing in the beleaguered town. cannon thundered salutes, bonfires blazed, trumpets rang jubilant blasts, and, if the church-bells sounded no merry peals, it was because the only church in the place had been cut off in the last slicing away by the engineers. hymns of thanksgiving ascended to heaven, and the whole garrison fell on their knees, praying fervently to almighty god, with devout and grateful hearts. it was not an ignoble spectacle to see those veterans kneeling where there was scarce room to kneel, amid ruin and desolation, to praise the lord for his mercies. but to explain this general thanksgiving it is now necessary for a moment to go back. etext editor's bookmarks: began to scatter golden arguments with a lavish hand certain number of powers, almost exactly equal to each other conceit, and procrastination which marked the royal character do you want peace or war? i am ready for either eloquence of the biggest guns even the virtues of james were his worst enemies gold was the only passkey to justice if to do be as grand as to imagine what it were good to do it is certain that the english hate us (sully) logic of the largest battalions made peace--and had been at war ever since nations tied to the pinafores of children in the nursery natural tendency to suspicion of a timid man not safe for politicians to call each other hard names one of the most contemptible and mischievous of kings (james i) peace founded on the only secure basis, equality of strength peace seemed only a process for arriving at war repose under one despot guaranteed to them by two others requires less mention than philip iii himself rules adopted in regard to pretenders to crowns served at their banquets by hosts of lackeys on their knees take all their imaginations and extravagances for truths the expenses of james's household the pigmy, as the late queen had been fond of nicknaming him to negotiate with government in england was to bribe unproductive consumption being accounted most sagacious war was the normal condition of christians we have been talking a little bit of truth to each other what was to be done in this world and believed as to the next you must show your teeth to the spaniard history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , - chapter xliii. policy of the king of france--operations of prince maurice--plans for a flemish campaign--passage into flanders--fort st. catharine-- flight of its garrison, and occupation by maurice--surrender of ysendyke and aardenburg--skirmish at stamper's hook--siege of sluys by prince maurice--ineffectual attempt of spinola to relieve the town--its capitulation and restoration to the states--death of lewis gunther of nassau--operations at ostend--surrender of the garrison-- desolation of the scene after its evacuation. the states-general had begun to forget the severe lesson taught them in the nieuport campaign. being determined to hold ostend, they became very impatient, in the early part of the present year, that maurice should once more invade flanders, at the head of a relieving army, and drive the archdukes from before the town. they were much influenced in this policy by the persistent advice of the french king. to the importunities of their envoy at paris, henry had, during the past eighteen months, replied by urging the states to invade flanders and seize its ports. when they had thus something to place as pledges in his hands, he might accede to their clamour and declare war against spain. but he scarcely concealed his intention, in such case, to annex both the obedient and the united netherlands to his own dominions. meantime, before getting into the saddle, he chose to be guaranteed against loss. "assure my lords the states that i love them," he said, "and shall always do my best for them." his affection for the territory of my lords was even warmer than the sentiments he entertained for themselves. moreover, he grudged the preliminary expenses which would be necessary even should he ultimately make himself sovereign of the whole country. rosny assured the envoy that he was mistaken in expecting a declaration of war against spain. "not that he does not think it useful and necessary," said the minister, "but he wishes to have war and peace both at once--peace because he wishes to make no retrenchments in his pleasures of women, dogs, and buildings, and so war would be very inopportune. in three months he would be obliged to turn tail for want of means (to use his own words), although i would furnish him funds enough, if he would make the use of them that he ought." the queen of england, who, with all her parsimony and false pretences, never doubted in her heart that perpetual hostility to spain was the chief bulwark of her throne, and that the republic was fighting her battles as well as its own, had been ready to make such a lively war in conjunction with france as would drive the spaniard out of all the netherlands. but henry was not to be moved. "i know that if i should take her at her word," said he, "she would at once begin to screw me for money. she has one object, i another." villeroy had said plainly to aerssens, in regard to the prevalent system of englishmen, spaniards, and frenchmen being at war with each other, while the governments might be nominally at peace, "let us take off our masks. if the spaniard has designs against our state, has he not cause? he knows the aid we are giving you, and resents it. if we should abstain, he would leave us in peace. if the queen of england expects to draw us into a league, she is mistaken. look to yourselves and be on your guard. richardot is intriguing with cecil. you give the queen securities, fortresses, seats in your council. the king asks nothing but communication of your projects." in short, all the comfort that aerssens had been able to derive from his experiences at the french court in the autumn of , was that the republic could not be too suspicious both of england and france. rosny especially he considered the most dangerous of all the politicians in france. his daughter was married to the prince of espinoy, whose , livres a year would be safer the more the archduke was strengthened. "but for this he would be stiffer," said aerssens. nevertheless there were strong motives at work, pressing france towards the support of the states. there were strong political reasons, therefore, why they should carry the war into flanders, in conformity with the wishes of the king. the stadholder, after much argument, yielded as usual to the authority of the magistrates, without being convinced as to the sagacity of their plans. it was arranged that an army should make a descent upon the flemish coast in the early spring, and make a demonstration upon sluys. the effect of this movement, it was thought, would be to draw the enemy out of his entrenchments, in which case it would be in the power of maurice to put an end at once to the siege. it is unquestionable that the better alternative, in the judgment of the prince, was to take possession; if possible, of sluys itself. his preparations were, however, made with a view to either event, and by the middle of april he had collected at willemstad a force of fifteen thousand foot and three thousand horse. as on the former memorable expedition, he now again insisted that a considerable deputation of the states and of the states' council should accompany the army. his brother henry, and his cousins lewis william, lewis gunther, and ernest casimir, were likewise with him, as well as the prince of anhalt and other distinguished personages. on the th april the army, having crossed the mouth of the west scheld, from zeeland, in numberless vessels of all sizes and degrees, effected their debarkation on the island of cadzand. in the course of two days they had taken possession of the little town, and all the forts of that island, having made their entrance through what was called the black channel. had they steered boldly through the swint or sluys channel at once, it is probable that they might have proceeded straight up to sluy's, and taken the place by surprise. maurice's habitual caution was, perhaps, on this occasion, a disadvantage to him, but he would have violated the rules of war, and what seemed the dictates of common sense, had he not secured a basis of operations, and a possibility of retreat, before plunging with his army into the heart of a hostile country. the republic still shuddered at the possible catastrophe of four years before, when circumstances had forced him to take the heroic but dangerous resolution of sending off his ships from nieuport. before he had completed his arrangements for supplies on the island of cadzand, he learned from scouts and reconnoitring parties that spinola had sent a thousand infantry, besides five hundred cavalry, under trivulzio, to guard the passage across the swint. maurice was thus on the wrong side of the great channel by which sluy's communicated with the sea? the town of sluy's and its situation have been described in a former chapter. as a port, it was in those days considered a commodious and important one, capable of holding five hundred ships. as a town, it was not so insignificant as geographical and historical changes have since made it, and was certainly far superior to ostend, even if ostend had not been almost battered out of existence. it had spacious streets and squares, and excellent fortifications in perfectly good condition. it was situate in a watery labyrinth, many slender streams from the interior and several saltwater creeks being complicated around it, and then flowing leisurely, in one deep sluggish channel, to the sea. the wrath of leicester, when all his efforts to relieve the place had been baffled by the superior skill of alexander farnese, has been depicted, and during the seventeen years which had elapsed since its capture, the republic had not ceased to deplore that disaster. obviously if the present expedition could end in the restoration of sluy's to its rightful owners, it would be a remarkable success, even if ostend should fall. sluy's and its adjacent domains formed a natural portion of the zeeland archipelago, the geographical counterpart of flushing. with both branches of the stately scheld in its control, the republic would command the coast, and might even dispense with ostend, which, in the judgment of maurice, was an isolated and therefore not a desirable military possession. the states-general were of a different opinion. they much desired to obtain sluy's, but they would not listen to the abandonment of ostend. it was expected of the stadholder, therefore, that he should seize the one and protect the other. the task was a difficult one. a less mathematical brain than that of maurice of nassau would have reeled at the problem to be solved. to master such a plexus of canals, estuaries, and dykes, of passages through swamps, of fords at low water which were obliterated by flood-tide; to take possession of a series of redoubts built on the only firm points of land, with nothing but quaking morass over which to manoeuvre troops or plant batteries against them, would be a difficult study, even upon paper. to accomplish it in the presence of a vigilant and anxious foe seemed bewildering enough. at first it was the intention of the stadholder, disappointed at learning the occupation of the swint, to content himself with fortifying cadzand, in view of future operations at some more favourable moment? so meagre a result would certainly not have given great satisfaction to the states, nor added much to the military reputation of maurice. while he hesitated between plunging without a clue into the watery maze around him, and returning discomfited from the expedition on which such high hopes had been built, a flemish boor presented himself. he offered to guide the army around the east and south of sluy's, and to point out passages where it would be possible to cross the waters, which, through the care of spinola, now seemed to forbid access to the place. maurice lingered no longer. on the th april, led by the friendly boor, he advanced towards oostburg. next morning a small force of the enemy's infantry and cavalry was seen, showing that there must be foothold in that direction. he sent out a few companies to skirmish with those troops, who fled after a very brief action, and, in flying, showed their pursuers the road. maurice marched in force, straight through the waters, on the track of the retreating foe. they endeavoured to rally at the fort of coxie, which stood upon and commanded a dyke, but the republicans were too quick for them, and "drove them out of the place." the stadholder, thus obtaining an unexpected passage into flanders, conceived strong hopes of success, despite the broken nature of the ground. continuing to feel his way cautiously through the wilderness of quagmire, he soon came upon a very formidable obstacle. the well-built and well-equipped redoubt of st. catharine rose frowning before him, overshadowing his path, and completely prohibiting all further progress. plainly it would be necessary to reduce this work at once, unless he were willing to abandon his enterprise. he sent back to cadzand for artillery, but it was flood-tide, the waters were out, and it was not till late in the afternoon that nine pieces arrived. the stadholder ordered a cannonade, less with the hope of producing an impression by such inadequate means on so strong a work, than with the intention of showing the enemy that he had brought field-guns with him, and was not merely on an accidental foray. at the same time, having learned that the garrison, which was commanded by trivulzio, was composed of only a few regular troops, and a large force of guerillas, he gave notice that such combatants were not entitled to quarter, and that if captured they would be all put to the sword. the reply to this threat was not evacuation but defiance. especially a volunteer ensign mounted upon a rampart, and danced about, waving his flag gaily in the face of the assailants. maurice bitterly remarked to his staff that such a man alone was enough to hold the fort. as it was obvious that the place would require a siege in form, and that it would be almost impossible to establish batteries upon that quaking soil, where there was no dry land for cavalry or artillery to move, maurice ordered the nine guns to be carried back to cadzand that night, betaking himself, much disappointed, in the same direction. yet it so happened that the cannoneers, floundering through the bogs, made such an outcry--especially when one of their guns became so bemired that it was difficult for them to escape the disgrace of losing it--that the garrison, hearing a great tumult, which they could not understand, fell into one of those panics to which raw and irregular troops are liable. nothing would convince them that fresh artillery had not arrived, that the terrible stadholder with an immense force was not creating invincible batteries, and that they should be all butchered in cold blood, according to proclamation, before the dawn of day. they therefore evacuated the place under cover of the night, so that this absurd accident absolutely placed maurice in possession of the very fort--without striking a blow--which he was about to abandon in despair, and which formed the first great obstacle to his advance. having occupied st. catharine's, he moved forward to ysendyke, a strongly fortified place three leagues to the eastward of sluys and invested it in form. meantime a great danger was impending over him. a force of well-disciplined troops, to the number of two thousand, dropped down in boats from sluy's to cadzand, for the purpose of surprising the force left to guard that important place. the expedition was partially successful. six hundred landed; beating down all opposition. but a few scotch companies held firm, and by hard fighting were able at last to drive the invaders back to their sloops, many of which were sunk in the affray, with all on board. the rest ignominiously retreated. had the enterprise been as well executed as it was safely planned, it would have gone hard with the stadholder and his army. it is difficult to see in what way he could have extricated himself from such a dilemma, being thus cut off from his supplies and his fleet, and therefore from all possibility of carrying out his design or effecting his escape to zeeland. certainly thus far, fortune had favoured his bold adventure. he now sent his own trumpeter, master hans, to summon ysendyke to a surrender. the answer was a bullet which went through the head of unfortunate master hans. maurice, enraged at this barbarous violation of the laws of war, drew his lines closer. next day the garrison, numbering six hundred, mostly italians, capitulated, and gave up the musketeer who had murdered the trumpeter. two days later the army appeared before aardenburg, a well-fortified town four miles south of sluys. it surrendered disgracefully, without striking a blow. the place was a most important position for the investment of sluys. four or five miles further towards the west, two nearly parallel streams, both navigable, called the sweet and the salt, ran from dam to sluys. it was a necessary but most delicate operation, to tie up these two important arteries. an expedition despatched in this direction came upon trivulzio with a strong force of cavalry, posted at a pass called stamper's hook, which controlled the first of these streams. the narrowness of the pathway gave the advantage to the italian commander. a warm action took place, in which the republican cavalry were worsted, and paul bax severely wounded. maurice coming up with the infantry at a moment when the prospect was very black, turned defeat into victory and completely routed the enemy, who fled from the precious position with a loss of five hundred killed and three hundred prisoners, eleven officers among them. the sweet was now in the stadholder's possession. next day he marched against the salt, at a pass where fourteen hundred spaniards were stationed. making very ostentatious preparations for an attack upon this position, he suddenly fell backwards down the stream to a point which he had discovered to be fordable at low water, and marched his whole army through the stream while the skirmishing was going on a few miles farther up. the spaniards, discovering their error, and fearing to be cut off, scampered hastily away to dam. both streams were now in the control of the republican army, while the single fort of st. joris was all that was now interposed between maurice and the much-coveted swint. this redoubt, armed with nine guns, and provided with a competent, garrison, was surrendered on the rd may. the swint, or great sea-channel of sluys, being now completely in the possession of the stadholder, he deliberately proceeded to lay out his lines, to make his entrenched camp, and to invest his city with the beautiful neatness which ever characterized his sieges. a groan came from the learned lipsius, as he looked from the orthodox shades of louvain upon the progress of the heretic prince. "would that i were happier," he cried, "but things are not going on in flanders as i could wish. how easy it would have been to save sluys, which we are now trying so hard to do, had we turned our attention thither in time! but now we have permitted the enemy to entrench and fortify himself, and we are the less excusable because we know to our cost how felicitously he fights with the spade, and that he builds works like an ancient roman. . . . should we lose sluys, which god forbid, how much strength and encouragement will be acquired by the foe, and by all who secretly or openly favour him! our neighbours are all straining their eyes, as from a watch-tower, eager to see the result of all these doings. but what if they too should begin to move? where should we be? i pray god to have mercy on the netherlanders, whom he has been so many years chastising with heavy whips." it was very true. the man with the spade had been allowed to work too long at his felicitous vocation. there had been a successful effort made to introduce reinforcements to the garrison. troops, to the number of fifteen hundred, had been added to those already shut up there, but the attempts to send in supplies were not so fortunate. maurice had completely invested the town before the end of may, having undisputed possession of the harbour and of all the neighbouring country. he was himself encamped on the west side of the swint; charles van der noot lying on the south. the submerged meadows, stretching all around in the vicinity of the haven, he had planted thickly with gunboats. scarcely a bird or a fish could go into or out of the place. thus the stadholder exhibited to the spaniards who, fifteen miles off towards the west, had been pounding and burrowing three years long before ostend without success, what he understood by a siege. on the nd of may a day of solemn prayer and fasting was, by command of maurice, celebrated throughout the besieging camp. in order that the day should be strictly kept in penance, mortification, and thanksgiving, it was ordered, on severe penalties, that neither the commissaries nor sutlers should dispense any food whatever, throughout the twenty-four hours. thus the commander-in-chief of the republic prepared his troops for the work before them. in the very last days of may the experiment was once more vigorously tried to send in supplies. a thousand galley-slaves, the remnant of frederic spinola's unlucky naval forces, whose services were not likely very soon to be required at sea, were sent out into the drowned land, accompanied by five hundred infantry. simultaneously count berlaymont, at the head of four thousand men, conveying a large supply of provisions and munitions, started from dam. maurice, apprised of the adventure, sallied forth with two thousand troops to meet them. near stamper's hook he came upon a detachment of berlaymont's force, routed them, and took a couple of hundred prisoners. learning from them that berlaymont himself, with the principal part of his force, had passed farther on, he started off in pursuit; but, unfortunately taking a different path through the watery wilderness from the one selected by the flying foe, he was not able to prevent his retreat by a circuitous route to dam. from the prisoners, especially from the galley-slaves, who had no reason for disguising the condition of the place, he now learned that there were plenty of troops in sluys, but that there was already a great lack of provisions. they had lost rather than gained by their success in introducing reinforcements without supplies. upon this information maurice now resolved to sit quietly down and starve out the garrison. if spinola, in consequence, should raise the siege of ostend, in order to relieve a better town, he was prepared to give him battle. if the marquis held fast to his special work, sluys was sure to surrender. this being the position of affairs, the deputies of the states-general took their leave of the stadholder, and returned to the hague. two months passed. it was midsummer, and the famine in the beleaguered town had become horrible. the same hideous spectacle was exhibited as on all occasions where thousands of human beings are penned together without food. they ate dogs, cats, and rats, the weeds from the churchyards, old saddles, and old shoes, and, when all was gone, they began to eat each other. the small children diminished rapidly in numbers, while beacons and signals of distress were fired day and night, that the obdurate spinola, only a few miles off, might at last move to their relief. the archdukes too were beginning to doubt whether the bargain were a good one. to give a strong, new, well-fortified city, with the best of harbours, in exchange for a heap of rubbish which had once been ostend, seemed unthrifty enough. moreover, they had not got ostend, while sure to lose sluys. at least the cardinal could no longer afford to dispense with the service of his beat corps of veterans who had demanded their wages so insolently, and who had laughed at his offer of excommunication by way of payment so heartily. flinging away his pride, he accordingly made a treaty with the mutinous "squadron" at grave, granting an entire pardon for all their offences, and promising full payment of their arrears. until funds should be collected sufficient for this purpose, they were to receive twelve stivers a day each foot-soldier, and twenty-four stivers each cavalryman, and were to have the city of roermond in pledge. the treaty was negotiated by guerrera, commandant of ghent citadel, and by the archbishop of roermond, while three distinguished hostages were placed in the keeping of the mutineers until the contract should be faithfully executed: guerrera himself, count fontenoy, son of marquis d'havre, and avalos, commander of a spanish legion. thus, after making a present of the services of these veterans for a twelvemonth to the stadholder, and after employing a very important portion of his remaining forces in a vain attempt to reduce their revolt, the archduke had now been fain to purchase their submission by conceding all their demands. it would have been better economy perhaps to come to this conclusion at an earlier day. it would likewise have been more judicious, according to the lamentations of justus lipsius, had the necessity of saving sluys been thought of in time. now that it was thoroughly enclosed, so that a mouse could scarce creep through the lines, the archduke was feverish to send in a thousand wagon loads of provisions. spinola, although in reality commander-in-chief of a spanish army, and not strictly subject to the orders of the flemish sovereigns, obeyed the appeal of the archduke, but he obeyed most reluctantly. two-thirds of ostend had been effaced, and it was hard to turn even for a moment from the spot until all should have been destroyed. leaving rivas and bucquoy to guard the entrenchments, and to keep steadily to the work, spinola took the field with a large force of all arms, including the late mutineers and the troops of count trivulzio. on the th august he appeared in the neighbourhood of the salt and sweet streams, and exchanged a few cannon-shots with the republicans. next day he made a desperate assault with three thousand men and some companies of cavalry, upon lewis william's quarters, where he had reason to believe the lines were weakest. he received from that most vigilant commander a hearty welcome, however, and after a long skirmish was obliged to withdraw, carrying off his dead and wounded, together with a few cart-horses which had been found grazing outside the trenches. not satisfied with these trophies or such results, he remained several days inactive, and then suddenly whirled around aardenburg with his whole army, directly southward of sluys, seized the forts of st. catharine and st. philip, which had been left with very small garrisons, and then made a furious attempt to break the lines at oostburg, hoping to cross the fords at that place, and thus push his way into the isle of cadzand. the resistance to his progress was obstinate, the result for a time doubtful. after severe fighting however he crossed the waters of oostburg in the face of the enemy. maurice meantime had collected all his strength at the vital position of cadzand, hoping to deal, or at least to parry, a mortal blow. on the th, on cadzand dyke, between two redoubts, spinola again met lewis william, who had been transferred to that important position. a severe struggle ensued. the spaniards were in superior force, and lewis william, commanding the advance only of the states troops, was hard pressed. moving always in the thickest of the fight, he would probably have that day laid down his life, as so many of his race had done before in the cause of the republic, had not colonel van dorp come to his rescue, and so laid about him with a great broad sword, that the dyke was kept until maurice arrived with eytzinga's frisian regiment and other reserves. van dorp then fell covered with wounds. here was the decisive combat. the two commanders-in-chief met face to face for the first time, and could spinola have gained the position of cadzand the fate of maurice must have been sealed. but all his efforts were vain. the stadholder, by coolness and promptness, saved the day, and inflicted a bloody repulse upon the catholics. spinola had displayed excellent generalship, but it is not surprising that the young volunteer should have failed upon his first great field day to defeat maurice of nassau and his cousin lewis william. he withdrew discomfited at last, leaving several hundred dead upon the field, definitely renouncing all hope of relieving sluys, and retiring by way of dam to his camp before ostend. next day the town capitulated. the garrison were allowed to depart with the honours of war, and the same terms were accorded to the inhabitants, both in secular and religious matters, as were usual when maurice re-occupied any portion of the republic. between three and four thousand creatures, looking rather like ghosts from the churchyards than living soldiers, marched out, with drums beating, colours displayed, matches lighted, and bullet in mouth. sixty of them fell dead before the dismal procession had passed out of the gates. besides these troops were nearly fifteen hundred galley-slaves, even more like shadows than the rest, as they had been regularly sent forth during the latter days of the siege to browse upon soutenelle in the submerged meadows, or to drown or starve if unable to find a sufficient supply of that weed. these unfortunate victims of mahometan and christian tyranny were nearly all turks, and by the care of the dutch government were sent back by sea to their homes. a few of them entered the service of the states. the evacuation of sluys by governor serrano and his garrison was upon the th august. next day the stadholder took possession, bestowing the nominal government of the place upon his brother frederic henry. the atmosphere, naturally enough, was pestiferous, and young count lewis gunther of nassau, who had so brilliantly led the cavalry on the famous day of nieuport, died of fever soon after entering the town infinitely regretted by every one who wished well to the republic. thus an important portion of zeeland was restored, to its natural owners. a seaport which in those days was an excellent one, and more than a compensation for the isolated fishing village already beleaguered for upwards of three years, had been captured in three months. the states-general congratulated their stadholder on such prompt and efficient work, while the garrison of ostend, first learning the authentic news seven days afterwards, although at a distance of only fourteen miles, had cause to go upon their knees and sing praises to the most high. the question now arose as to the relief of ostend. maurice was decidedly opposed to any such scheme. he had got a better ostend in slays, and he saw no motive for spending money and blood in any further attempt to gain possession of a ruin, which, even if conquered, could only with extreme difficulty be held. the states were of a diametrically opposite opinion. they insisted that the stadholder, so soon he could complete his preparations, should march straight upon spinola's works and break up the siege, even at the risk of a general action. they were willing once more to take the terrible chance of a defeat in flanders. maurice, with a heavy heart, bowed to their decision, showing by his conduct the very spirit of a republican soldier, obeying the civil magistrate, even when that obedience was like to bring disaster upon the commonwealth. but much was to be done before he could undertake this new adventure. meantime the garrison in ostend were at their last gasp. on being asked by the states-general whether it was possible to hold out for twenty days longer, marquette called a council of officers, who decided that they would do their best, but that it was impossible to fix a day or hour when resistance must cease. obviously, however, the siege was in its extreme old age. the inevitable end was approaching. before the middle of september the enemy was thoroughly established in possession of the new hell's mouth, the new porcupine, and all the other bastions of the new entrenchment. on the th of that month the last supreme effort was made, and the sand hill, that all-important redoubt, which during these three dismal years had triumphantly resisted every assault, was at last carried by storm. the enemy had now gained possession of the whole town except little troy. the new harbour would be theirs in a few hours, and as for troy itself, those hastily and flimsily constructed ramparts were not likely to justify the vaunts uttered when they were thrown up nor to hold out many minutes before the whole artillery of spinola. plainly on this last morsel of the fatal sandbank the word surrender must be spoken, unless the advancing trumpets of maurice should now be heard. but there was no such welcome sound in the air. the weather was so persistently rainy and stormy that the roads became impassable, and maurice, although ready and intending to march towards spinola to offer him battle, was unable for some days to move. meantime a council, summoned by marquette, of all the officers, decided that ostend must be abandoned now that ostend had ceased to exist. on the th september the accord was signed with spinola. the garrison were to march out with their arms. they were to carry off four cannon but no powder. all clerical persons were to leave the place, with their goods and chattels. all prisoners taken on both sides during the siege were to be released. burghers, sutlers, and others, to go whither they would, undisturbed. and thus the archdukes, after three years and seventy-seven days of siege, obtained their prize. three thousand men, in good health, marched out of little troy with the honours of war. the officers were entertained by spinola and his comrades at a magnificent banquet, in recognition of the unexampled heroism with which the town had been defended. subsequently the whole force marched to the headquarters of the states' army in and about sluys. they were received by prince maurice, who stood bareheaded and surrounded by his most distinguished officers; to greet them and to shake them warmly by the hand. surely no defeated garrison ever deserved more respect from friend or foe. the archduke albert and the infants isabella entered the place in triumph, if triumph it could be called. it would be difficult to imagine a more desolate scene. the artillery of the first years of the seventeenth century was not the terrible enginry of destruction that it has become in the last third of the nineteenth, but a cannonade, continued so steadily and so long, had done its work. there were no churches, no houses, no redoubts, no bastions, no walls, nothing but a vague and confused mass of ruin. spinola conducted his imperial guests along the edge of extinct volcanoes, amid upturned cemeteries, through quagmires which once were moats, over huge mounds of sand, and vast shapeless masses of bricks and masonry, which had been forts. he endeavoured to point out places where mines had been exploded, where ravelins had been stormed, where the assailants had been successful, and where they had been bloodily repulsed. but it was all loathsome, hideous rubbish. there were no human habitations, no hovels, no casemates. the inhabitants had burrowed at last in the earth, like the dumb creatures of the swamps and forests. in every direction the dykes had burst, and the sullen wash of the liberated waves, bearing hither and thither the floating wreck of fascines and machinery, of planks and building materials, sounded far and wide over what should have been dry land. the great ship channel, with the unconquered half-moon upon one side and the incomplete batteries and platforms of bucquoy on the other, still defiantly opened its passage to the sea, and the retiring fleets of the garrison were white in the offing. all around was the grey expanse of stormy ocean, without a cape or a headland to break its monotony, as the surges rolled mournfully in upon a desolation more dreary than their own. the atmosphere was mirky and surcharged with rain, for the wild equinoctial storm which had held maurice spell-bound had been raging over land and sea for many days. at every step the unburied skulls of brave soldiers who had died in the cause of freedom grinned their welcome to the conquerors. isabella wept at the sight. she had cause to weep. upon that miserable sandbank more than a hundred thousand men had laid down their lives by her decree, in order that she and her husband might at last take possession of a most barren prize. this insignificant fragment of a sovereignty which her wicked old father had presented to her on his deathbed--a sovereignty which he had no more moral right or actual power to confer than if it had been in the planet saturn--had at last been appropriated at the cost of all this misery. it was of no great value, although its acquisition had caused the expenditure of at least eight millions of florins, divided in nearly equal proportions between the two belligerents. it was in vain that great immunities were offered to those who would remain, or who would consent to settle in the foul golgotha. the original population left the place in mass. no human creatures were left save the wife of a freebooter and her paramour, a journeyman blacksmith. this unsavoury couple, to whom entrance into the purer atmosphere of zeeland was denied, thenceforth shared with the carrion crows the amenities of ostend. chapter xliv. equation between the contending powers--treaty of peace between king james and the archdukes and the king of spain--position of the provinces--states envoy in england to be styled ambassador--protest of the spanish ambassador--effect of james's peace-treaty on the people of england--public rejoicings for the victory at sluys-- spinola appointed commander-in-chief of the spanish forces-- preparations for a campaign against the states--seizure of dutch cruisers--international discord--destruction of sarmiento's fleet by admiral haultain--projected enterprise against antwerp--descent of spinola on the netherland frontier--oldenzaal and lingen taken-- movements of prince maurice--encounter of the two armies--panic of the netherlanders--consequent loss and disgrace--wachtendonk and cracow taken by spinola--spinola's reception in spain--effect of his victories--results of the struggle between freedom and absolutism-- affairs in the east--amboyna taken by van der hagen--contest for possession of the clove islands--commercial treaty between the states and the king of ternate--hostilities between the kings of ternate and tydor--expulsion of the portuguese from the moluccas-- du terrail's attempted assault on bergen-op-zoom--attack on the dunkirk pirate fleet--practice of executing prisoners captured at sea. i have invited the reader's attention to the details of this famous siege because it was not an episode, but almost the sum total, of the great war during the period occupied by its events. the equation between the contending forces indicated the necessity of peace. that equation seemed for the time to have established itself over all europe. france had long since withdrawn from the actual strife, and kept its idle thunders in a concealed although ever threatening hand. in the east the pacha of buda had become pacha of pest. even gran was soon to fall before the turk, whose advancing horse-tails might thus almost be descried from the walls of vienna. stephen botschkay meantime had made himself master of transylvania, concluded peace with ahmet, and laughed at the emperor rudolph for denouncing him as a rebel. between spain and england a far different result had been reached than the one foreshadowed in the portentous colloquies between king james and maximilian de bethune. those conferences have been purposely described with some minuteness, in order that the difference often existing between vast projects and diametrically opposed and very insignificant conclusions might once more be exhibited. in the summer of it had been firmly but mysteriously arranged between the monarchs of france and great britain that the house of austria should be crushed, its territories parcelled out at the discretion of those two potentates, the imperial crown taken from the habsburgs, the spaniards driven out of the netherlands, an alliance offensive and defensive made with the dutch republic, while the east and west indies were, to be wrested by main force of the allies, from spain, whose subjects were thenceforth to be for ever excluded from those lucrative regions. as for the jesuits, who were to james as loathsome as were the puritans to elizabeth, the british sovereign had implored the ambassador of his royal brother, almost with tears, never to allow that pestilential brood to regain an entrance into his dominions. in the summer of king james made a treaty of peace and amity with the archdukes and with the monarch of spain, thus extending his friendly relations with the doomed house of austria. the republic of the netherlands was left to fight her battles alone; her imaginary allies looking down upon her struggle with benevolent indifference. as for the indies, not a syllable of allusion in the treaty was permitted by spain to that sacred subject; the ambassador informing the british government that he gave them access to twelve kingdoms and two seas, while spain acquired by the treaty access only to two kingdoms and one sea. the new world, however, east or west, from the antilles to the moluccas, was the private and indefeasible property of his catholic majesty. on religious matters, it was agreed that english residents in spain should not be compelled to go to mass, but that they should kneel in the street to the host unless they could get out of the ways. in regard to the netherlands, it was agreed by the two contracting powers that one should never assist the rebels or enemies of the other. with regard to the cities and fortresses of brill, flushing, rammekens, and other cautionary places, where english garrisons were maintained, and which king james was bound according to the contracts of queen elizabeth never to restore except to those who had pledged them to the english crown--the king would uphold those contracts. he would, however, endeavour to make an arrangement with the states by which they should agree within a certain period to make their peace with spain. should they refuse or fail, he would then consider himself liberated from these previous engagements and free to act concerning those cities in an honourable and reasonable manner, as became a friendly king? meantime the garrisons should not in any way assist the hollanders in their hostilities with spain. english subjects were forbidden to carry into spain or the obedient netherlands any property or merchandize belonging to the hollanders, or to make use of dutch vessels in their trade with spain. both parties agreed to do their best to bring about a pacification in the netherlands. no irony certainly could be more exquisite that this last-named article. this was the end of that magnificent conception, the great anglo-french league against the house of austria. king james would combine his efforts with king philip to pacify the netherlands. the wolf and the watchdog would unite to bring back the erring flock to the fold. meantime james would keep the cautionary towns in his clutches, not permitting their garrisons or any of his subjects to assist the rebels on sea or shore. as for the jesuits, their triumphant re-appearance in france, and the demolition of the pyramid raised to their dishonour on the site of the house where john castel, who had stabbed henry iv., had resided, were events about to mark the opening year. plainly enough secretary cecil had out-generalled the french party. the secret treaty of hampton court, the result of the efforts of rosny and olden-barneveld in july of the previous year, was not likely to be of much service in protecting the republic. james meant to let the dead treaties bury their dead, to live in peace with all the world, and to marry his sons and daughters to spanish infantes and infantas. meantime, although he had sheathed the sword which elizabeth had drawn against the common enemy, and had no idea of fighting or spending money for the states, he was willing that their diplomatic agent should be called ambassador. the faithful and much experienced noel de caron coveted that distinction, and moved thereby the spleen of henry's envoy at the hague, buzanval, who probably would not have objected to the title himself. "'twill be a folly," he said, "for him to present himself on the pavement as a prancing steed, and then be treated like a poor hack. he has been too long employed to put himself in such a plight. but there are lunatics everywhere and of all ages." never had the advocate seemed so much discouraged. ostend had fallen, and the defection of the british sovereign was an off-set for the conquest of sluys. he was more urgent with the french government for assistance than he had ever been before. "a million florins a year from france," he said "joined to two millions raised in the provinces, would enable them to carry on the war. the ship was in good condition," he added, "and fit for a long navigation without danger of shipwreck if there were only biscuit enough on board." otherwise she was lost. before that time came he should quit the helm which he had been holding the more resolutely since the peace of vervins because the king had told him, when concluding it, that if three years' respite should be given him he would enter into the game afresh, and take again upon his shoulders the burthen which inevitable necessity had made him throw down. "but," added olden-barneveld, bitterly, "there is little hope of it now, after his neglect of the many admirable occasions during the siege of ostend." so soon as the spanish ambassador learned that caron was to be accepted into the same diplomatic rank as his own, he made an infinite disturbance, protested moat loudly and passionately to the king at the indignity done to his master by this concession to the representative of a crew of traitors and rebels, and demanded in the name of the treaty just concluded that caron should be excluded in such capacity from all access to court. as james was nearly forty years of age, as the hollanders had been rebels ever since he was born, and as the king of spain had exercised no sovereignty over them within his memory, this was naturally asking too much of him in the name of his new-born alliance with spain. so he assumed a position of great dignity, notwithstanding the constable's clamour, and declared his purpose to give audience to the agents of the states by whatever title they presented themselves before him. in so doing he followed the example, he said, of others who (a strange admission on his part) were as wise as himself. it was not for him to censure the crimes and faults of the states, if such they had committed. he had not been the cause of their revolt from spanish authority, and it was quite sufficient that he had stipulated to maintain neutrality between the two belligerents's. and with this the ambassador of his catholic majesty, having obtained the substance of a very advantageous treaty, was fain to abandon opposition to the shadowy title by which james sought to indemnify the republic for his perfidy. the treaty of peace with spain gave no pleasure to the english public. there was immense enthusiasm in london at the almost simultaneous fall of sluys, but it was impossible for the court to bring about a popular demonstration of sympathy with the abandonment of the old ally and the new-born affection for the ancient enemy. "i can assure your mightinesses," wrote caron, "that no promulgation was ever received in london with more sadness. no mortal has shown the least satisfaction in words or deeds, but, on the contrary, people have cried out openly, 'god save our good neighbours the states of holland and zeeland, and grant them victory!' on sunday, almost all the preachers gave thanks from their pulpits for the victory which their good neighbours had gained at sluys, but would not say a word about the peace. the people were admonished to make bonfires, but you may be very sure not a bonfire was to be seen. but, in honour of the victory, all the vessels in st. catharine's docks fired salutes at which the spaniards were like to burst with spite. the english clap their hands and throw their caps in the air when they hear anything published favourable to us, but, it must be confessed, they are now taking very dismal views of affairs. 'vox populi vox dei.'" the rejoicing in paris was scarcely less enthusiastic or apparently less sincere than in london. "the news of the surrender of sluys," wrote aerasens, "is received with so much joy by small and great that one would have said it was their own exploit. his majesty has made such demonstrations in his actions and discourse that he has not only been advised by his council to dissemble in the matter, but has undergone reproaches from the pope's nuncius of having made a league with your mightinesses to the prejudice of the king of spain. his majesty wishes your mightinesses prosperity with all his heart, yea so that he would rather lose his right arm than see your mightinesses in danger. be assured that he means roundly, and we should pray god for his long life; for i don't see that we can expect anything from these regions after his death." it was ere long to be seen, however, roundly as the king meant it, that the republic was to come into grave peril without causing him to lose his right arm, or even to wag his finger, save in reproach of their mightinesses. the republic, being thus left to fight its battles alone, girded its loins anew for the conflict. during the remainder of the year , however, there were no military operations of consequence. both belligerents needed a brief repose. the siege of ostend had not been a siege. it was a long pitched battle between the new system and the old, between absolutism and the spirit of religious, political and mercantile freedom. absolutism had gained the lists on which the long duel had been fought, but the republic had meantime exchanged that war-blasted spot for a valuable and commodious position. it was certainly an advantage, as hostilities were necessarily to have continued somewhere during all that period, that all the bloodshed and desolation had been concentrated upon one insignificant locality, and one more contiguous to the enemy's possessions than to those of the united states. it was very doubtful, however, whether all that money and blood might not have been expended in some other manner more beneficial to the cause of the archdukes. at least it could hardly be maintained that they took anything by the capitulation of ostend but the most barren and worthless of trophies. eleven old guns, partly broken, and a small quantity of ammunition, were all the spoils of war found in the city after its surrender. the marquis spinola went to spain. on passing through paris he was received with immense enthusiasm by henry iv., whose friendship for the states, and whose desperate designs against the house of austria, did not prevent him from warmly congratulating the great spanish general on his victory. it was a victory, said henry, which he could himself have never achieved, and, in recognition of so great a triumph, he presented spinola with a beautiful thracian horse, valued at twelve hundred ducats. arriving in spain, the conqueror found himself at once the object of the open applause and the scarcely concealed hatred of the courtiers and politicians. he ardently desired to receive as his guerdon the rank of grandee of spain. he met with a refusal. to keep his hat on his head in presence of the sovereign was the highest possible reward. should that be bestowed upon him now, urged lerma, what possible recompense could be imagined for the great services which all felt confident that he was about to render in the future? he must continue to remove his hat in the monarch's company. meantime, if he wished the title of prince, with considerable revenues attached to his principality, this was at his disposal. it must be confessed that in a monarchy where the sentiment of honour was supposed to be the foundation of the whole structure there is something chivalrous and stimulating to the imagination in this preference by the great general of a shadowy but rare distinction to more substantial acquisitions. nevertheless, as the grandeeship was refused, it is not recorded that he was displeased with the principality. meantime there was a very busy intrigue to deprive him of the command-in-chief of the catholic forces in flanders, and one so nearly successful that mexia, governor of antwerp citadel, was actually appointed in spinola's stead. it was only after long and anxious conferences at valladolid with the king and the duke of lerma, and after repeated statements in letters from the archdukes that all their hopes of victory depended on retaining the genoese commander-in-chief, that the matter was finally arranged. mexia received an annual pension of eight thousand ducats, and to spinola was assigned five hundred ducats monthly, as commander-in-chief under the archduke, with an equal salary as agent for the king's affairs in flanders. early in the spring he returned to brussels, having made fresh preparations for the new campaign in which he was to measure himself before the world against maurice of nassau. spinola had removed the thorn from the belgic lion's foot: "ostendae erasit fatalis spinola spinam." and although it may be doubted whether the relief was as thorough as had been hoped, yet a freedom of movement had unquestionably been gained. there was now at least what for a long time had not existed, a possibility for imagining some new and perhaps more effective course of campaigning. the young genoese commander-in-chief returned from spain early in may, with the golden fleece around his neck, and with full powers from the catholic king to lay out his work, subject only to the approbation of the archduke. it was not probable that albert, who now thoroughly admired and leaned upon the man of whom he had for a time been disposed to be jealous, would interfere with his liberty of action. there had also been--thanks to spinola's influence with the cabinet at madrid and the merchants of genoa--much more energy in recruiting and in providing the necessary sinews of war. moreover it had been resolved to make the experiment of sending some of the new levies by sea, instead of subjecting them all to the long and painful overland march through spain, italy, and germany. a terzo of infantry was on its way from naples, and two more were expected from milan, but it was decided that the spanish troops should be embarked on board a fleet of transports, mainly german and english, and thus carried to the shores of the obedient netherlands. the states-general got wind of these intentions, and set vice-admiral haultain upon the watch to defeat the scheme. that well-seasoned mariner accordingly, with a sufficient fleet of war-galleots, cruised thenceforth with great assiduity in the chops of the channel. already the late treaty between spain and england had borne fruits of bitterness to the republic. the spanish policy had for the time completely triumphed in the council of james. it was not surprising therefore that the partisans of that policy should occasionally indulge in manifestations of malevolence towards the upstart little commonwealth which had presumed to enter into commercial rivalry with the british realm, and to assert a place among the nations of the earth. an order had just been issued by the english government that none of its subjects should engage in the naval service of any foreign power. this decree was a kind of corollary to the spanish treaty, was levelled directly against the hollanders, and became the pretext of intolerable arrogance, both towards their merchantmen and their lesser war-vessels. admiral monson, an especial partisan of spain, was indefatigable in exercising the right he claimed of visiting foreign vessels off the english coast, in search of english sailors violating the proclamation of neutrality. on repeated occasions prizes taken by dutch cruisers from the spaniards, and making their way with small prize crews to the ports of the republic, were overhauled, visited, and seized by the english admiral, who brought the vessels into the harbours of his own country, liberated the crews, and handed ships and cargoes over to the spanish ambassador. thus prizes fairly gained by nautical skill and hard fighting, off spain, portugal, brazil, or even more distant parts of the world, were confiscated almost in sight of port, in utter disregard of public law or international decency. the states-general remonstrated with bitterness. their remonstrances were answered by copious arguments, proving, of course, to the entire satisfaction of the party who had done the wrong, that no practice could be more completely in harmony with reason and justice. meantime the spanish ambassador sold the prizes, and appropriated the proceeds towards carrying on the war against the republic; the dutch sailors, thus set ashore against their will and against law on the neutral coast of england, being left to get home as they could, or to starve if they could do no better. as for the states, they had the legal arguments of their late ally to console them for the loss of their ships. simultaneously with these events considerable levies of troops were made in england by the archduke, in spite of all the efforts of the dutch ambassador to prevent this one-sided; neutrality, while at the other ends of the world mercantile jealousy in both the indies was fast combining with other causes already rife to increase the international discord. out of all this fuel it was fated that a blaze of hatred between the two leading powers of the new era, the united kingdom and the united republic, should one day burst forth, which was to be fanned by passion, prejudice, and a mistaken sentiment of patriotism and self-interest on both sides, and which not all the bloodshed of more than one fierce war could quench. the traces of this savage sentiment are burnt deeply into the literature, language, and traditions of both countries; and it is strange enough that the epoch at which chronic wrangling and international coolness changed into furious antipathy between the two great protestant powers of europe--for great they already both were, despite the paucity of their population and resources, as compared with nations which were less influenced by the spirit of the age or had less aptness in obeying its impulse--should be dated from the famous year of guy fawkes. meantime the spanish troops, embarked in eight merchant ships and a few pinnaces, were slowly approaching their destination. they had been instructed, in case they found it impracticable to enter a flemish port, to make for the hospitable shores of england, the spanish ambassador and those whom he had bribed at the court of james having already provided for their protection. off dover admiral haultain got sight of sarmiento's little fleet. he made short work with it. faithfully carrying out the strenuous orders of the states-general, he captured some of the ships, burned one, and ran others aground after a very brief resistance. some of the soldiers and crews were picked up by english vessels cruising in the neighbourhood and narrowly watching the conflict. a few stragglers escaped by swimming, but by far, the greater proportion of the newly-arrived troops were taken prisoners, tied together two and two, and then, at a given signal from the admiral's ship, tossed into the sea. not peter titelmann, nor julian romero, nor the duke of alva himself, ever manifested greater alacrity in wholesale murder than was shown by this admiral of the young republic in fulfilling the savage decrees of the states-general. thus at least one-half of the legion perished. the pursuit of the ships was continued within english waters, when the guns of dover castle opened vigorously upon the recent allies of england, in order to protect her newly-found friends in their sore distress. doubtless in the fervour of the work the dutch admiral had violated the neutral coast of england, so that the cannonade from the castle waw technically justified. it was however a biting satire upon the proposed protestant league against spain and universal monarchy in behalf of the dutch republic, that england was already doing her best to save a spanish legion and to sink a dutch fleet. the infraction of english sovereignty was unquestionable if judged by the more scrupulous theory of modern days, but it was well remarked by the states-general, in answer to the remonstrances of james's government, that the dutch admiral, knowing that the pirates of dunkirk roamed at will through english waters in search of their prey, might have hoped for some indulgence of a similar character to the ships of the republic. thus nearly the whole of the spanish legion perished. the soldiers who escaped to the english coast passed the winter miserably in huts, which they were allowed to construct on the sands, but nearly all, including the lieutenant-colonel commanding, pedro cubiera, died of famine or of wounds. a few small vessels of the expedition succeeded in reaching the flemish coast, and landing a slight portion of the terzo. the campaign of opened but languidly. the strain upon the resources of the netherlands, thus unaided, was becoming severe, although there is no doubt that, as the india traffic slowly developed itself, the productive force of the commonwealth visibly increased, while the thrifty habits of its citizens, and their comparative abstinence from unproductive consumption, still enabled it to bear the tremendous burthen of the war. a new branch of domestic industry had grown out of the india trade, great quantities of raw silk being now annually imported from the east into holland, to be wrought into brocades, tapestries, damasks, velvets, satins, and other luxurious fabrics for european consumption. it is a curious phenomenon in the history of industry that while at this epoch holland was the chief seat of silk manufactures, the great financier of henry iv. was congratulating his sovereign and himself that natural causes had for ever prevented the culture or manufacture of silk in france. if such an industry were possible, he was sure that the decline of martial spirit in france and an eternal dearth of good french soldiers would be inevitable, and he even urged that the importation of such luxurious fabrics should be sternly prohibited, in order to preserve the moral health of the people. the practical hollanders were more inclined to leave silk farthingales and brocaded petticoats to be dealt with by thunderers from the pulpit or indignant fathers of families. meantime the states-general felt instinctively that the little commonwealth grew richer, the more useful or agreeable things its burghers could call into existence out of nothingness, to be exchanged for the powder and bullets, timber and cordage, requisite for its eternal fight with universal monarchy, and that the richer the burghers grew the more capable they were of paying their taxes. it was not the fault of the states that the insane ambition of spain and the archdukes compelled them to exhaust themselves annually by the most unproductive consumption that man is ever likely to devise, that of scientifically slaughtering his brethren, because to practise economy in that regard would be to cease to exist, or to accept the most intolerable form of slavery. the forces put into the field in the spring of were but meagre. there was also, as usual, much difference of opinion between maurice and barneveld as to the most judicious manner of employing them, and as usual the docile stadholder submitted his better judgment to the states. it can hardly be too much insisted upon that the high-born maurice always deported himself in fact, and as it were unconsciously, as the citizen soldier of a little republic, even while personally invested with many of the attributes of exalted rank, and even while regarded by many of his leading fellow-citizens as the legitimate and predestined sovereign of the newly-born state. early in the spring a great enterprise against antwerp was projected. it failed utterly. maurice, at bergen-op-zoom, despatched seven thousand troops up the scheld, under command of ernest casimir. the flotilla was a long time getting under weigh, and instead of effecting a surprise, the army, on reaching the walls of antwerp, found the burghers and garrison not in the least astonished, but on the contrary entirely prepared. ernest returned after a few insignificant skirmishes, having accomplished nothing. maurice next spent a few days in reducing the castle of wouda, not far from bergen, and then, transporting his army once more to the isle of cadzand, he established his headquarters at watervliet, near ysendyke. spinola followed him, having thrown a bridge across the scheld. maurice was disposed to reduce a fort, well called patience, lying over against the isle of walcheren. spinola took up a position by which he defended the place as with an impenetrable buckler. a game of skill now began. between these two adepts in the art of war, for already the volunteer had taken rank among the highest professors of the new school. it was the object of maurice, who knew himself on the whole outnumbered, to divine his adversary's intentions. spinola was supposed to be aiming at sluys, at grave, at bergen-op-zoom, possibly even at some more remote city, like rheinberg, while rumours as to his designs, flying directly from his camp, were as thick as birds in the air. they were let loose on purpose by the artful genoese, who all the time had a distinct and definite plan which was not yet suspected. the dilatoriness of the campaign was exasperating. it might be thought that the war was to last another half century, from the excessive inertness of both parties. the armies had all gone into winter quarters in the previous november, spinola had spent nearly six months in spain, midsummer had came and gone, and still maurice was at watervliet, guessing at his adversary's first move. on the whole, he had inclined to suspect a design upon rheinberg, and had accordingly sent his brother henry with a detachment to strengthen the garrison of that place. on the st of august however he learned that spinola had crossed the meuse and the rhine, with ten thousand foot and three thousand horse, and that leaving count bucquoy with six thousand foot and one thousand five hundred horse in the neighbourhood of the rhine, to guard a couple of redoubts which had been constructed for a basis at kaiserswerth, he was marching with all possible despatch towards friesland and groningen. the catholic general had concealed his design in a masterly manner. he had detained maurice in the isle of cadzand, the states still dreaming of a victorious invasion on their part of obedient flanders, and the stadholder hesitating to quit his position of inactive observation, lest the moment his back was turned the rapid spinola might whirl down upon sluys, that most precious and skilfully acquired possession of the republic, when lo! his formidable antagonist was marching in force upon what the prince well knew to be her most important and least guarded frontier. on the th august the catholic general was before olden-zaal which he took in three days, and then advanced to lingen. should that place fall--and the city was known to be most inadequately garrisoned and supplied--it would be easy for the foe to reduce coeworden, and so seize the famous pass over the bourtanger morass, march straight to embden--then in a state of municipal revolution on account of the chronic feuds between its counts and the population, and therefore an easy prey--after which all friesland and groningen would be at his mercy, and his road open to holland and utrecht; in short, into the very bowels of the republic. on the th august maurice broke up his camp in flanders, and leaving five thousand men under colonel van der noot, to guard the positions there, advanced rapidly to deventer, with the intention of saving lingen. it was too late. that very important place had been culpably neglected. the garrison consisted of but one cannoneer, and he had but one arm. a burgher guard, numbering about three hundred, made such resistance as they could, and the one-armed warrior fired a shot or two from a rusty old demi-cannon. such opposition to the accomplished italian was naturally not very effective. on the th august the place capitulated. maurice, arriving at deventer, and being now strengthened by his cousin lewis william with such garrison troops as could be collected, learned the mortifying news with sentiments almost akin to despair. it was now to be a race for coeworden, and the fleet-footed spinola was a day's march at least in advance of his competitor. the key to the fatal morass would soon be in his hands. to the inexpressible joy of the stadholder, the genoese seemed suddenly struck with blindness. the prize was almost in his hands and he threw away all his advantages. instead of darting at once upon coeworden he paused for nearly a month, during which period he seemed intoxicated with a success so rapidly achieved, and especially with his adroitness in outwitting the great stadholder. on the th september he made a retrograde movement towards the rhine, leaving two thousand five hundred men in lingen. maurice, giving profound thanks to god for his enemy's infatuation, passed by lingen, and having now, with his cousin's reinforcements, a force of nine thousand foot and three thousand horse, threw himself into coeworden, strengthened and garrisoned that vital fortress which spinola would perhaps have taken as easily as he had done lingen, made all the neighbouring positions secure, and then fell back towards wesel on the rhine, in order to watch his antagonist. spinola had established his headquarters at ruhrort, a place where the river ruhr empties into the rhine. he had yielded to the remonstrances of the archbishop of cologne, to whom kaiserwerth belonged, and had abandoned the forts which bucquoy, under his directions, had constructed at that place. the two armies now gazed at each other, at a respectful distance, for a fortnight longer, neither commander apparently having any very definite purpose. at last, maurice having well reconnoitred his enemy, perceived a weak point in his extended lines. a considerable force of italian cavalry, with some infantry, was stationed at the village of mulheim, on the ruhr, and apparently out of convenient supporting distance from spinola's main army. the stadholder determined to deliver a sudden blow upon this tender spot, break through the lines, and bring on a general action by surprise. assembling his well-seasoned and veteran troopers in force, he divided them into two formidable bands, one under the charge of his young brother frederic henry, the other under that most brilliant of cavalry officers, marcellus bax, hero of turnhout and many another well-fought field. the river ruhr was a wide but desultory stream, easily fordable in many places. on the opposite bank to mulheim was the castle of brock, and some hills of considerable elevation. bax was ordered to cross the river and seize the castle and the heights, count henry to attack the enemy's camp in front, while maurice himself, following rapidly with the advance of infantry and wagons, was to sustain the assault. marcellus bax, rapid and dashing as usual, crossed the ruhr, captured broek castle with ease, and stood ready to prevent the retreat of the spaniards. taken by surprise in front, they would naturally seek refuge on the other side of the river. that stream was not difficult for infantry, but as the banks were steep, cavalry could not easily extricate themselves from the water, except at certain prepared landings. bax waited however for some time in vain for the flying spaniards. it was not destined that the stadholder should effect many surprises that year. the troopers under frederic henry had made their approaches through an intricate path, often missing their way, and in far more leisurely fashion than was intended, so that outlying scouts had brought in information of the coming attack. as count henry approached the village, trivulzio's cavalry was found drawn up in battle array, formidable in numbers, and most fully prepared for their visitors from wesel. the party most astonished was that which came to surprise. in an instant one of those uncontrollable panics broke out to which even veterans are as subject as to dysentery or scurvy. the best cavalry of maurice's army turned their backs at the very sight of the foe, and galloped off much faster than they had come. meantime, marcellus bax was assaulted, not only by his late handful of antagonists, who had now rallied, but by troops from mulheim, who began to wade across the stream. at that moment he was cheered by the sight of count henry coming on with a very few of his troopers who had stood to their colours. a simultaneous charge from both banks at the enemy floundering in the river was attempted. it might have been brilliantly successful, but the panic had crossed the river faster than the spaniards could do, and the whole splendid picked cavalry force of the republic, commanded by the youngest son of william the silent, and by the favourite cavalry commander of her armies, was, after a hot but brief action, in disgraceful and unreasonable flight. the stadholder reached the bank of that fatal stream only to witness this maddening spectacle, instead of the swift and brilliant triumph which he was justified in expecting. he did his best to stem the retreating tide. he called upon the veterans, by the memory of turnhout and nieuport, and so many other victories, to pause and redeem their name before it was too late. he taunted them with their frequent demands to be led to battle, and their expressed impatience at enforced idleness. he denounced them as valiant only for plundering defenceless peasants, and as cowards against armed men; as trusting more to their horses' heels than to their own right hands. he invoked curses upon them for deserting his young brother, who, conspicuous among them by his gilded armour, the orange-plumes upon his calque, and the bright orange-scarf across his shoulders, was now sorely pressed in the struggling throng. it was all in vain. could maurice have thrown himself into the field, he might, as in the crisis of the republic's fate at nieuport, have once more converted ruin into victory by the magic of his presence. but the river was between him and the battle, and he was an enforced spectator of his country's disgrace. for a few brief moments his demeanour, his taunts, and his supplications had checked the flight of his troops. a stand was made by a portion of the cavalry and a few detached but fierce combats took place. count frederic henry was in imminent danger. leading a mere handful of his immediate retainers, he threw himself into the thickest of the fight, with the characteristic audacity of his house. a spanish trooper aimed his carbine full at his face. it missed fire, and henry, having emptied his own pistol, was seized by the floating scarf upon his breast by more than one enemy. there was a brief struggle, and death or capture seemed certain; when an unknown hand laid his nearest antagonist low, and enabled him to escape from over powering numbers. the soldier, whose devotion thus saved the career of the youngest orange-nassau destined to be so long and so brilliant, from being cut off so prematurely, was never again heard of, and doubtless perished in the fray. meantime the brief sparkle of valour on the part of the states' troops had already vanished. the adroit spinola, hurrying personally to the front, had caused such a clangor from all the drums and trumpets in broek and its neighbourhood to be made as to persuade the restive cavalry that the whole force of the enemy was already upon them. the day was obviously lost, and maurice, with a heavy heart, now him self gave the signal to retreat. drawing up the greater part of his infantry in solid mass upon the banks to protect the passage, he sent a force to the opposite side, horace vere being the first to wade the stream. all that was then possible to do was accomplished, and the panic flight converted into orderly retreat, but it was a day of disaster and disgrace for the republic. about five hundred of the best states' cavalry were left dead on the field, but the stain upon his almost unsullied flag was more cutting to the stadholder's heart than the death of his veterans. the material results were in truth almost even. the famous cavalry general, count trivulzio, with at least three hundred spaniards, fell in the combat, but the glory of having defeated the best cavalry of europe in a stricken field and under the very eyes of the stadholder would have been sufficient compensation to spinola for much greater losses. maurice withdrew towards wesel, sullen but not desponding. his forces were meagre, and although he had been out-generalled, out-marched, and defeated in the open field, at least the genoese had not planted the blow which he had meditated in the very heart of the republic. autumn was now far advanced, and dripping with rain. the roads and fields were fast becoming impassable sloughs, and no further large operations could be expected in this campaign. yet the stadholder's cup was not full, and he was destined to witness two more triumphs of his rival, now fast becoming famous, before this year of disasters should close. on the th october, spinola took the city of wachtendonk, after ten days' siege, and on the th of november the strong place of cracow. maurice was forced to see these positions captured almost under his eyes, being now quite powerless to afford relief. his troops had dwindled by sickness and necessary detachments for garrison-work to a comparatively, insignificant force, and very soon afterwards both armies went into winter quarters. the states were excessively disappointed at the results of the year's work, and deep if not loud were the reproaches cast upon the stadholder. certainly his military reputation had not been augmented by this campaign. he had lost many places, and had not gained an inch of ground anywhere. already the lustre of sluys, of nieuport, and turnhout were growing dim, for maurice had so accustomed the republic to victories that his own past triumphs seemed now his greatest enemies. moreover he had founded a school out of which apt pupils had already graduated, and it would seem that the genoese volunteer had rapidly profited by his teachings as only a man endowed with exquisite military genius could have done. yet, after all, it seems certain that, with the stadholder's limited means, and with the awful consequences to the country of a total defeat in the open field, the fabian tactics, which he had now deliberately adopted, were the most reasonable. the invader of foreign domains, the suppressor of great revolts, can indulge in the expensive luxury of procrastination only at imminent peril. for the defence, it is always possible to conquer by delay, and it was perfectly understood between spinola and his ablest advisers at the spanish court that the blows must be struck thick and fast, and at the most vulnerable places, or that the victory would be lost. time was the ally not of the spanish invaders, who came from afar, but of the dutch burghers, who remained at home. "jam aut nunquam," was the motto upon the italian's banners. in proportion to the depression in the republic at the results of this year's campaigning was the elation at the spanish court. bad news and false news had preceded the authentic intelligence of spinola's victories. the english envoy had received unquestionable information that the catholic general had sustained an overwhelming defeat at the close of the campaign, with a loss of three thousand five hundred men. the tale was implicitly believed by king and cabinet, so that when, very soon afterwards, the couriers arrived bringing official accounts of the victory gained over the veteran cavalry of the states in the very presence of the stadholder, followed by the crowning triumph of wachtendonk, the demonstrations of joy were all the more vivacious in consequence of the previous gloom. spinola himself followed hard upon the latest messengers, and was received with ovations. never, since the days of alexander farnese, had a general at the spanish court been more cordially caressed or hated. had philip the prudent been still upon the throne, he would have felt it his duty to make immediate arrangements for poisoning him. certainly his plans and his popularity would have been undermined in the most artistic manner. but philip iii., more dangerous to rabbits than to generals, left the genoese to settle the plans of his next campaign with lerma and his parasites. the subtle spinola, having, in his despatches, ascribed the chief merit of the victories to louis velasco, a spaniard, while his own original conception of transferring the war to friesland was attributed by him with magnificent effrontery to lerma and to the king--who were probably quite ignorant of the existence of that remote province--succeeded in maintaining his favourable position at court, and was allowed, by what was called the war-council, to manage matters nearly at his pleasure. it is difficult however to understand how so much clamour should have been made over such paltry triumphs. all europe rang with a cavalry fight in which less than a thousand saddles on both sides had been emptied, leading to no result, and with the capture of a couple of insignificant towns, of which not one man in a thousand had ever heard. spinola had doubtless shown genius of a subtle and inventive order, and his fortunate audacity in measuring himself, while a mere apprentice, against the first military leader living had been crowned with wonderful success. he had nailed the stadholder fast to the island of cadzand, while he was perfecting his arrangements and building boats on the rhine; he had propounded riddles which maurice had spent three of the best campaigning months in idle efforts to guess, and when he at last moved, he had swept to his mark with the swiftness and precision of a bird of prey. yet the greatest of all qualities in a military commander, that of deriving substantial fruits from victory instead of barren trophies, he had not manifested. if it had been a great stroke of art to seize reach deventer, it was an enormous blunder, worthy of a journeyman soldier, to fail to seize the bourtange marshes, and drive his sword into the fiery vitals of the republic, thus placed at his mercy. meantime, while there had been all these rejoicings and tribulations at the great doings on the rhine and the shortcoming in friesland, the real operations of the war had been at the antipodes. it is not a very unusual phenomenon in history that the events, upon whose daily development the contemporary world hangs with most palpitating interest, are far inferior in permanent influence upon the general movement of humanity to a series of distant and apparently commonplace transactions. empires are built up or undermined by the ceaseless industry of obscure multitudes often slightly observed, or but dimly comprehended. battles and sieges, dreadful marches, eloquent debates, intricate diplomacy--from time to time but only perhaps at rare intervals--have decided or modified the destiny of nations, while very often the clash of arms, the din of rhetoric, the whiz of political spindles, produce nothing valuable for human consumption, and made the world no richer. if the age of heroic and religious passion was rapidly fading away before the gradual uprising of a politico-mercantile civilization--as it certainly was--the most vital events, those in which the fate of coming generations was most deeply involved, were those inspired by the spirit of commercial-enterprise. nor can it be denied that there is often a genial and poetic essence even among things practical or of almost vulgar exterior. in those early expeditions of the hollanders to the flaming lands of the equator there is a rhythm and romance of historical movement not less significant than in their unexampled defence of fatherland and of the world's liberty against the great despotism of the age. universal monarchy was baffled by the little republic, not within its own populous cities only, or upon its own barren sands. the long combat between freedom and absolutism had now become as wide as the world. the greatest european states had been dragged by the iron chain of necessity into a conflict from which they often struggled to escape, and on every ocean, and on almost every foot of soil, where the footsteps of mankind had as yet been imprinted, the fierce encounters were every day renewed. in the east and the west, throughout that great vague new world, of which geographers had hardly yet made a sketch, which comprised both the americas and something called the east indies, and which spain claimed as her private property, those humbly born and energetic adventurers were rapidly creating a symmetrical system out of most dismal chaos. the king of spain warned all nations from trespassing upon those outlying possessions. his edicts had not however prevented the english in moderate numbers, and the hollanders in steadily increasing swarms, from enlarging and making profitable use of these new domains of the world's commerce. the days were coming when the people was to have more to say than the pope in regard to the disposition and arrangements of certain large districts of this planet. while the world-empire, which still excited so much dismay, was yielding to constant corrosion, another empire, created by well-directed toil and unflinching courage, was steadily rising out of the depths. it has often been thought amazing that the little republic should so long and so triumphantly withstand the enormous forces brought forward for her destruction. it was not, however, so very surprising. foremost among nations, and in advance of the age, the republic had found the strength which comes from the spirit of association. on a wider scale than ever before known, large masses of men, with their pecuniary means, had been intelligently banded together to advance material interests. when it is remembered that, in addition to this force, the whole commonwealth was inspired by the divine influence of liberty, her power will no longer seem so wonderful. a sinister event in the isle of ceylon had opened the series of transactions in the east, and had cast a gloom over the public sentiment at home. the enterprising voyager, sebald de weerdt, one of the famous brotherhood of the invincible lion which had wintered in the straits of magellan, had been murdered through the treachery of the king of candy. his countrymen had not taken vengeance on his assassins. they were perhaps too fearful of losing their growing trade in those lucrative regions to take a becoming stand in that emergency. they were also not as yet sufficiently powerful there. the east india company had sent out in may of this year its third fleet of eleven large ships, besides some smaller vessels, under the general superintendence of matelieff de jonghe, one of the directors. the investments for the voyage amounted to more than nineteen hundred thousand florins. meantime the preceding adventurers under stephen van der hagen, who had sailed at the end of , had been doing much thorough work. a firm league had been made with one of the chief potentates of malabar, enabling them to build forts and establish colonies in perpetual menace of goa, the great oriental capital of the portuguese. the return of the ambassadors sent out from astgen to holland had filled not only the island of sumatra but the moluccas, and all the adjacent regions, with praises of the power, wealth, and high civilization of that distant republic so long depicted by rivals as a nest of uncouth and sanguinary savages. the fleet now proceeded to amboyna, a stronghold of the spanish-portuguese, and the seat of a most lucrative trade. on the arrival of those foreign well-armed ships under the guns of the fortress, the governor sent to demand, with castilian arrogance, who the intruders were, and by whose authority and with what intent they presumed to show themselves in those waters. the reply was that they came in the name and by the authority of their high mightinesses the states-general, and their stadholder the prince of orange; that they were sworn enemies of the king of spain and all his subjects, and that as to their intent, this would soon be made apparent. whereupon, without much more ado, they began a bombardment of the fort, which mounted thirty-six guns. the governor, as often happened in those regions, being less valiant against determined european foes than towards the feebler oriental races on which he had been accustomed to trample, succumbed with hardly an effort at resistance. the castle and town and whole island were surrendered to the fleet, and thenceforth became virtually a colony of the republic with which, nominally, treaties of alliance and defence were, negotiated. thence the fleet, after due possession had been taken of these new domains, sailed partly to bands and partly to two small but most important islands of the moluccas. in that multitude of islands which make up the eastern archipelago there were but five at that period where grew the clove--ternate, tydor, motiel, makian, and bacia. pepper and ginger, even nutmegs, cassia, and mace, were but vulgar drugs, precious as they were already to the world and the world's commerce, compared with this most magnificent spice. it is wonderful to reflect upon the strange composition of man. the world had lived in former ages very comfortably without cloves. but by the beginning of the seventeenth century that odoriferous pistil had been the cause of so many pitched battles and obstinate wars, of so much vituperation, negotiation, and intriguing, that the world's destiny seemed to have almost become dependent upon the growth of a particular gillyflower. out of its sweetness had grown such bitterness among great nations as not torrents of blood could wash away. a commonplace condiment enough it seems to us now, easily to be dispensed with, and not worth purchasing at a thousand human lives or so the cargo, but it was once the great prize to be struggled for by civilized nations. from that fervid earth, warmed from within by volcanic heat, and basking ever beneath the equatorial sun, arose vapours as deadly to human life as the fruits were exciting and delicious to human senses. yet the atmosphere of pestiferous fragrance had attracted, rather than repelled. the poisonous delights of the climate, added to the perpetual and various warfare for its productions, spread a strange fascination around those fatal isles. especially ternate and tydor were objects of unending strife. chinese, malays, persians, arabs, had struggled centuries long for their possession; those races successively or simultaneously ruling these and adjacent portions of the archipelago. the great geographical discoveries at the close of the fifteenth century had however changed the aspect of india and of the world. the portuguese adventurers found two rival kings--in the two precious islands, and by ingeniously protecting one of these potentates and poisoning the other, soon made themselves masters of the field. the clove trade was now entirely in the hands of the strangers from the antipodes. goa became the great mart of the lucrative traffic, and thither came chinese, arabs, moors, and other oriental traders to be supplied from the portuguese monopoly: two-thirds of the spices however found their way directly to europe. naturally enough, the spaniards soon penetrated into these seas, and claimed their portion of the spice trade. they insisted that the coveted islands were included in their portion of the great borgian grant. as there had hardly yet been time to make a trigonometrical survey of an unknown world, so generously divided by the pope, there was no way of settling disputed boundary questions save by apostolic blows. these were exchanged with much earnestness, year after year, between spaniards, portuguese, and all who came in their way. especially the unfortunate natives, and their kings most of all, came in for a full share. at last charles v. sold out his share of the spice islands to his portuguese rival and co-proprietor, for three hundred and fifty thousand ducats. the emperor's very active pursuits caused him to require ready money more than cloves. yet john iii. had made an excellent bargain, and the monopoly thenceforth brought him in at least two hundred thousand ducats annually. goa became more flourishing, the natives more wretched, the portuguese more detested than ever. occasionally one of the royal line of victims would consent to put a diadem upon his head, but the coronation was usually the prelude to a dungeon or death. the treaties of alliance, which these unlucky potentates had formed with their powerful invaders, were, as so often is the case, mere deeds to convey themselves and their subjects into slavery. spain and portugal becoming one, the slender weapon of defence which these weak but subtle orientals sometimes employed with success--the international and commercial jealousy between their two oppressors--was taken away. it was therefore with joy that zaida, who sat on the throne of ternate at the end of the sixteenth century, saw the sails of a dutch fleet arriving in his harbours. very soon negotiations were opened, and the distant republic undertook to protect the mahometan king against his catholic master. the new friendship was founded upon trade monopoly, of course, but at that period at least the islanders were treated with justice and humanity by their republican allies. the dutch undertook to liberate their friends from bondage, while the king of ternate, panting under portuguese oppression, swore to have no traffic, no dealings of any kind, with any other nation than holland; not even with the english. the dutch, they declared, were the liberators of themselves, of their friends, and of the seas. the international hatred, already germinating between england and holland, shot forth in these flaming regions like a tropical plant. it was carefully nurtured and tended by both peoples. freedom of commerce, freedom of the seas, meant that none but the dutch east india company--so soon as the portuguese and spaniards were driven out--should trade in cloves and nutmegs. decrees to that effect were soon issued, under very heavy penalties, by the states-general to the citizens of the republic and to the world at large. it was natural therefore that the english traders should hail the appearance of the dutch fleets with much less enthusiasm than was shown by the king of ternate. on the other hand, the king of tydor, persisting in his oriental hatred towards the rival potentate in the other island, allowed the portuguese to build additional citadels, and generally to strengthen their positions within his dominions. thus when cornelius sebastian, with his division of ver hagen's fleet, arrived in the moluccas in the summer of , he found plenty of work prepared for him. the peace recently concluded by james with philip and the archdukes placed england in a position of neutrality in the war now waging in the clove islands between spain and the republic's east india company. the english in those regions were not slow to avail themselves of the advantage. the portuguese of tydor received from neutral sympathy a copious supply of powder and of pamphlets. the one explosive material enabled them to make a more effective defence of their citadel against the dutch fleet; the other revealed to the portuguese and their mussulman allies that "the netherlanders could not exist without english protection, that they were the scum of nations, and that if they should get possession of this clove monopoly, their insolence would become intolerable." samples of polite literature such as these, printed but not published, flew about in volleys. it was an age of pamphleteering, and neither the english nor the dutch were behind their contemporaries in the science of attack and self-defence. nevertheless cornelius sebastian was not deterred by paper pellets, nor by the guns of the citadel, from carrying out his purpose. it was arranged with king zaida that the islanders of ternate should make a demonstration against tydor, being set across the strait in dutch vessels. sebastian, however, having little faith in oriental tenacity, entrusted the real work of storming the fortress to his own soldiers and sailors. on a fine morning in may the assault was delivered in magnificent style. the resistance was obstinate; many of the assailants fell, and captain mol, whom we have once before seen as master of the tiger, sinking the galleys of frederic spinola off the gat of sluys, found himself at the head of only seven men within the interior defences of the citadel. a spanish soldier, torre by name, rushed upon him with a spear. avoiding the blow, mol grappled with his antagonist, and both rolled to the ground. a fortunate carbine-shot from one of the dutch captain's comrades went through the spaniard's head. meantime the little band, so insignificant in numbers, was driven out of the citadel. mol fell to the ground with a shattered leg, and reproached his companions, who sought to remove him, for neglecting their work in order to save his life. let them take the fort, he implored them, and when that was done they might find leisure to pick him up if they chose. while he was speaking the principal tower of the fortress blew up, and sixty of the garrison were launched into the air. a well-directed shot had set fire to the magazine. the assault was renewed with fresh numbers, and the dutch were soon masters of the place. never was a stronghold more audaciously or more successfully stormed. the garrison surrendered. the women and children, fearing to be at the mercy of those who had been depicted to them as cannibals, had already made their escape, and were scrambling like squirrels among the volcanic cliffs. famine soon compelled them to come down, however, when they experienced sufficiently kind treatment, but were all deported in dutch vessels to the philippine islands. the conquerors not only spared the life of the king of tydor, but permitted him to retain his crown. at his request the citadel was razed to the ground. it would have been better perhaps to let it stand, and it was possible that in the heart of the vanquished potentate some vengeance was lurking which might bear evil fruit at a later day. meantime the portuguese were driven entirely out of the moluccas, save the island of timos, where they still retained a not very important citadel. the east india company was now in possession of the whole field. the moluccas and the clove trade were its own, and the dutch republic had made manifest to the world that more potent instruments had now been devised for parcelling out the new world than papal decrees, although signed by the immaculate hand of a borgia. during the main operations already sketched in the netherlands, and during those vastly more important oriental movements to which the reader's attention has just been called, a detached event or two deserves notice. twice during the summer campaign of this year du terrail, an enterprising french refugee in the service of the archdukes, had attempted to surprise the important city of bergen-op-zoom. on the st august the intended assault had been discovered in time to prevent any very serious conflict on, either side. on the th september the experiment was renewed at an hour after midnight. du terrail, having arranged the attack at three different points, had succeeded in forcing his way across the moat and through one of the gates. the trumpets of the foremost spaniards already sounded in, the streets. it was pouring with rain; the town was pitch dark. but the energetic paul bax was governor of the place, a man who was awake at any hour of the twenty-four, and who could see in the darkest night. he had already informed himself of the enemy's project, and had strengthened his garrison by a large intermixture of the most trustworthy burgher guards, so that the advance of du terrail at the southern gate was already confronted by a determined band. a fierce battle began in the darkness. meantime paul bax, galloping through the city, had aroused the whole population for the defence. at the steinberg gate, where the chief assault had been prepared, bax had caused great fires of straw and pitch barrels to be lighted, so that the invaders, instead of finding, as they expected, a profound gloom through the streets, saw themselves approaching a brilliantly illuminated city, fully prepared to give their uninvited guests a warm reception. the garrison, the townspeople, even the women, thronged to the ramparts, saluting the spaniards with a rain of bullets, paving-stones, and pitch hoops, and with a storm of gibes and taunts. they were asked why they allowed their cardinal thus to send them to the cattle market, and whether our lady of hall, to whom isabella was so fond of making pilgrimages, did not live rather too far off to be of much use just then to her or to them. catholics and protestants all stood shoulder to shoulder that night to defend their firesides against the foreign foe, while mothers laid their sleeping children on the ground that they might fill their cradles with powder and ball, which they industriously brought to the soldiers. the less energetic women fell upon their knees in the street, and prayed aloud through the anxious night. the attack was splendidly repulsed. as morning dawned the enemy withdrew, leaving one hundred dead outside the walls or in the town, and carrying off thirty-eight wagon loads of wounded. du terrail made no further attempts that summer, although the list of his surprises was not yet full. he was a good engineer, and a daring partisan officer. he was also inspired by an especial animosity to the states-general, who had refused the offer of his services before he made application to the archdukes. at sea there was no very important movement in european waters, save that lambert heinrichzoon, commonly called pretty lambert, a rotterdam skipper, whom we have seen the sea-fights with frederic spinola, of the dunkirk pirate fleet, adrian dirkzoon. it was a desperate fight.--pretty lambent, sustained at a distance by rear-admiral gerbrantzon, laid himself yard-arm to yard-arm alongside the pirate vessel, boarded her, and after beating down all resistance made prisoners such of the crew as remained alive, and carried them into rotterdam. next day they were hanged, to the number of sixty. a small number were pardoned on account of their youth, and a few individuals who effected their escape when led to the gallows, were not pursued. the fact that the townspeople almost connived at the escape of these desperadoes showed that there had been a surfeit of hangings in rotterdam. it is moreover not easy to distinguish with exactness the lines which in those days separated regular sea belligerents, privateers, and pirates from each other. it had been laid down by the archdukes that there was no military law at sea, and that sick soldiers captured on the water should be hanged. accordingly they were hanged. admiral fazardo, of the spanish royal navy, not only captured all the enemy's merchant vessels which came in his way, but hanged, drowned, and burned alive every man found on board. admiral haultain, of the republican navy, had just been occupied in drowning a whole regiment of spanish soldiers, captured in english and german transports. the complaints brought against the english cruisers by the hollanders for capturing and confiscating their vessels, and banging, maiming, and torturing their crews--not only when england was neutral, but even when she was the ally of the republic--had been a standing topic for diplomatic discussion, and almost a standing joke. why, therefore, these dunkirk sea-rovers should not on the same principle be allowed to rush forth from their very convenient den to plunder friend and foe, burn ships, and butcher the sailors at pleasure, seems difficult to understand. to expect from the inhabitants of this robbers' cave--this "church on the downs"--a code of maritime law so much purer and sterner than the system adopted by the english, the spaniards, and the dutch, was hardly reasonable. certainly the dunkirkers, who were mainly netherlanders--rebels to the republic and partisans of the spanish crown--did their best to destroy the herring fishery and to cut the throats of the fishermen, but perhaps they received the halter more often than other mariners who had quite as thoroughly deserved it. and this at last appeared the prevailing opinion in rotterdam. etext editor's bookmarks: abstinence from unproductive consumption defeated garrison ever deserved more respect from friend or foe his own past triumphs seemed now his greatest enemies hundred thousand men had laid down their lives by her decree john castel, who had stabbed henry iv. looking down upon her struggle with benevolent indifference no retrenchments in his pleasures of women, dogs, and buildings sick soldiers captured on the water should be hanged the small children diminished rapidly in numbers when all was gone, they began to eat each other history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , - chapter xlv. preparations for the campaign of --diminution of maurice's popularity--quarrel between the pope and the venetian republic-- surprise of sluys by du terrail--dilatoriness of the republic's operations--movements of spinola--influence of the weather on the military transactions of the year--endeavours of spinola to obtain possession of the waal and yssel--surrender of lochem to spinola-- siege of groll--siege and loss of rheinberg--mutiny in the catholic army--recovery of lochem by maurice--attempted recovery of groll-- sudden appearance of the enemy--withdrawal of the besieging army close of the campaign--end of the war of independence--motives of the prince in his actions before groll--cruise of admiral haultain to the coast of spain and portugal--his encounter with the war-- ships of fazardo--courageous conduct of the vice-admiral--deaths of justus lipsius, hohenlo, and count john of nassau. after the close of the campaign of spinola had gone once more to spain. on his passage through paris he had again been received with distinguished favour by that warm ally of the dutch republic, henry iv., and on being questioned by that monarch as to his plans for the next campaign had replied that he intended once more to cross the rhine, and invade friesland. henry, convinced that the genoese would of course not tell him the truth on such an occasion, wrote accordingly to the states-general that they might feel safe as to their eastern frontier. whatever else might happen, friesland and the regions adjacent would be safe next year from attack. the immediate future was to show whether the subtle italian had not compassed as neat a deception by telling the truth as coarser politicians could do by falsehood. spinola found the royal finances in most dismal condition. three hundred thousand dollars a month were the least estimate of the necessary expenses for carrying on the netherland war, a sum which could not possibly be spared by lerma, uceda, the marquis of the seven churches, and other financiers then industriously occupied in draining dry the exchequer for their own uses. once more the general aided his sovereign with purse and credit, as well as with his sword. once more the exchange at genoa was glutted with the acceptances of marquis spinola. here at least was a man of a nature not quite so depraved as that of the parasites bred out of the corruption of a noble but dying commonwealth, and doubtless it was with gentle contempt that the great favourite and his friends looked at the military and financial enthusiasm of the volunteer. it was so much more sagacious to make a princely fortune than to sacrifice one already inherited, in the service of one's country. spinola being thus ready not only to fight but to help to pay for the fighting, found his plans of campaigns received with great benignity by the king and his ministers. meantime there was much delay. the enormous labours thus devolved upon one pair of shoulders by the do-nothing king and a mayor of the palace whose soul was absorbed by his own private robberies, were almost too much for human strength. on his return to the netherlands spinola fell dangerously ill in genoa. meantime, during his absence and the enforced idleness of the catholic armies, there was an opportunity for the republicans to act with promptness and vigour. they displayed neither quality. never had there been so much sluggishness as in the preparations for the campaign of . the states' exchequer was lower than it had been for years. the republic was without friends. left to fight their battle for national existence alone, the hollanders found themselves perpetually subjected to hostile censure from their late allies, and to friendly advice still more intolerable. there were many brave englishmen and frenchmen sharing in the fatigues of the dutch war of independence, but the governments of henry and of james were as protective, as severely virtuous, as offensive, and, in their secret intrigues with the other belligerent, as mischievous as it was possible for the best-intentioned neutrals to be. the fame and the popularity of the stadholder had been diminished by the results of the past campaign. the states-general were disappointed, dissatisfied, and inclined to censure very unreasonably the public servant who had always obeyed their decrees with docility. while henry iv. was rapidly transferring his admiration from maurice to spinola, the disagreements at home between the advocate and the stadholder were becoming portentous. there was a want of means and of soldiers for the new campaign. certain causes were operating in europe to the disadvantage of both belligerents. in the south, venice had almost drawn her sword against the pope in her settled resolution to put down the jesuits and to clip the wings of the church party, before, with bequests and donations, votive churches and magnificent monasteries, four-fifths of the domains of the republic should fall into mortmain, as was already the case in brabant. naturally there was a contest between the ex-huguenot, now eldest son of the church, and the most catholic king, as to who should soonest defend the pope. henry offered thorough protection to his holiness, but only under condition that he should have a monopoly of that protection. he lifted his sword, but meantime it was doubtful whether the blow was to descend upon venice or upon spain. the spanish levies, on their way to the netherlands, were detained in italy by this new exigency. the states-general offered the sister republic their maritime assistance, and notwithstanding their own immense difficulties, stood ready to send a fleet to the mediterranean. the offer was gratefully declined, and the quarrel with the pope arranged, but the incident laid the foundation of a lasting friendship between the only two important republics then existing. the issue of the gunpowder plot, at the close of the preceding year, had confirmed james in his distaste for jesuits, and had effected that which all the eloquence of the states-general and their ambassador had failed to accomplish, the prohibition of spanish enlistments in his kingdom. guido fawkes had served under the archduke in flanders. here then were delays additional to that caused by spinola's illness. on the other hand, the levies of the republic were for a season paralysed by the altercation, soon afterwards adjusted, between henry iv. and the duke of bouillon, brother-in-law of the stadholder and of the palatine, and by the petty war between the duke and hanseatic city of brunswick, in which ernest of nassau was for a time employed. during this period of almost suspended animation the war gave no signs of life, except in a few spasmodic efforts on the part of the irrepressible du terrail. early in the spring, not satisfied with his double and disastrous repulse before bergen-op-zoom, that partisan now determined to surprise sluy's. that an attack was impending became known to the governor of that city, the experienced colonel van der noot. not dreaming, however, that any mortal--even the most audacious of frenchmen and adventurers--would ever think of carrying a city like sluy's by surprise, defended as it was by a splendid citadel and by a whole chain of forts and water-batteries, and capable of withstanding three months long, as it had so recently done, a siege in form by the acknowledged master of the beleaguering science, the methodical governor event calmly to bed one fine night in june. his slumbers were disturbed before morning by the sound of trumpets sounding spanish melodies in the streets, and by a, great uproar and shouting. springing out of bed, he rushed half-dressed to the rescue. less vigilant than paul bax had been the year before in bergen, he found that du terrail had really effected a surprise. at the head of twelve hundred walloons and irishmen, that enterprising officer had waded through the drowned land of cadzand, with the promised support of a body of infantry under frederic van den berg, from damm, had stolen noiselessly by the forts of that island unchallenged and unseen, had effected with petards a small breach through the western gate of the city, and with a large number of his followers, creeping two and two through the gap, had found himself for a time master of sluys. the profound silence of the place had however somewhat discouraged the intruders. the whole population were as sound asleep as was the excellent commandant, but the stillness in the deserted streets suggested an ambush, and they moved stealthily forward, feeling their way with caution towards the centre of the town. it so happened, moreover, that the sacristan had forgotten to wind up the great town clock. the agreement with the party first entering and making their way to the opposite end of the city, had been that at the striking of a certain hour after midnight they should attack simultaneously and with a great outcry all the guardhouses, so that the garrison might be simultaneously butchered. the clock never struck, the signal was never given, and du terrail and his immediate comrades remained near the western gate, suspicious and much perplexed. the delay was fatal. the guard, the whole garrison, and the townspeople flew to arms, and half-naked, but equipped with pike and musket, and led on by van der noot in person, fell upon the intruders. a panic took the place of previous audacity in the breasts of du terrail's followers. thinking only of escape, they found the gap by which they had crept into the town much less convenient as a means of egress in the face of an infuriated multitude. five hundred of them were put to death in a very few minutes. almost as many were drowned or suffocated in the marshes, as they attempted to return by the road over which they had come. a few stragglers june, of the fifteen hundred were all that were left to tell the tale. it would seem scarcely worth while to chronicle such trivial incidents in this great war--the all-absorbing drama of christendom--were it not that they were for the moment the whole war. it might be thought that hostilities were approaching their natural termination, and that the war was dying of extreme old age, when the quixotic pranks of a du terrail occupied so large a part of european attention. the winter had passed, another spring had come and gone, and maurice had in vain attempted to obtain sufficient means from the states to take the field in force. henry, looking on from the outside, was becoming more and more exasperated with the dilatoriness which prevented the republic from profiting by the golden moments of spinola's enforced absence. yet the best that could be done seemed to be to take measures for defensive operations. spinola never reached brussels until the beginning of june, yet, during all the good campaigning weather which had been fleeting away, not a blow had been struck, nor a wholesome counsel taken by the stadholder or the states. it was midsummer before the armies were in the field. the plans of the catholic general however then rapidly developed themselves. having assembled as large a force as had ever been under his command, he now divided it into two nearly equal portions. bucquoy, with ten thousand foot, twelve hundred cavalry, and twelve guns, arrived on the th july at nook, on the meuse. spinola, with eleven thousand infantry, two thousand horse, and eight guns, crossed the rhine at the old redoubts of ruhrort, and on the same th july took position at goor, in overyssel. the first plan of the commander-in-chief was to retrace exactly his campaign of the previous year, even as he had with so much frankness stated to henry. but the republic, although deserted by her former friends, and looked upon askance by the monarch of britain, and by the most christian king, had this year a most efficient ally in the weather. jupiter pluvius had descended from on high to the rescue of the struggling commonwealth, and his decrees were omnipotent as to the course of the campaign. the seasons that year seemed all fused into one. it was difficult to tell on midsummer day whether it were midwinter, spring, or autumn. the rain came down day after day, week after week, as if the contending armies and the very country which was to be invaded and defended were to be all washed out of existence together. friesland resolved itself into a vast quagmire; the roads became fluid, the rivers lakes. spinola turned his face from the east, and proceeded to carry out a second plan which he had long meditated, and even a more effective one, in the west. the waal and the yssel formed two sides of a great quadrilateral; and furnished for the natural fortress, thus enclosed, two vast and admirable moats. within lay good-meadow and foul-meadow--bet-uwe and vel-uwe--one, the ancient batavian island which from time immemorial had given its name to the commonwealth, the other, the once dismal swamp which toil and intelligence had in the course of centuries transformed into the wealthy and flowery land of gueldres. beyond, but in immediate proximity, lay the ancient episcopal city and province of utrecht, over which lay the road to the adjacent holland and zeeland. the very heart of the republic would be laid bare to the conqueror's sword if he could once force the passage, and obtain the control of these two protecting streams. with utrecht as his base, and all brabant and flanders--obedient provinces--at his back, spinola might accomplish more in one season than alva, don john, and alexander farnese had compassed in forty years, and destroy at a blow what was still called the netherland rebellion. the passage of the rivers once effected, the two enveloping wings would fold themselves together, and the conquest would be made. thus reasoned the brilliant young general, and his projects, although far-reaching, did not seem wild. the first steps were, however, the most important as well as the most difficult, and he had to reckon with a wary and experienced antagonist. maurice had at last collected and reviewed at arnhem an army of nearly fifteen thousand men, and was now watching closely from doesburg and deventer every movement of the foe. having been forced to a defensive campaign, in which he was not likely at best to gain many additional laurels, he was the more determined to lay down his own life, and sacrifice every man he could bring into the field, before spinola should march into the cherished domains of utrecht and holland. meantime the rain, which had already exerted so much influence on the military movements of the year, still maintained the supremacy over human plans. the yssel and the waal, always deep, broad, sluggish, but dangerous rivers--the rhine in its old age--were swollen into enormous proportions, their currents flowing for the time with the vigour of their far away youth. maurice had confided the defence of the waal to warner du bois, under whose orders he placed a force of about seven thousand men, and whose business it was to prevent bucquoy's passage. his own task was to baffle spinola. bucquoy's ambition was to cross the waal at a point as near as possible to the fork of that stream with the true rhine, seize the important city of nymegen, and then give the hand to spinola, so soon as he should be on the other side of the yssel. at the village of spardorp or kekerdom, he employed pompeio giustiniani to make a desperate effort, having secured a large number of barges in which he embarked his troops. as the boatmen neared the opposite bank, however, they perceived that warner du bois had made effective preparations for their reception. they lost heart, and, on pretence that the current of the river was too rapid to allow them to reach the point proposed for their landing, gradually dropped down the stream, and, in spite of the remonstrances of the commanders, pushed their way back to the shore which they had left. from that time forth, the states' troops, in efficient numbers, fringed the inner side of the waal, along the whole length of the batavian island, while armed vessels of the republic patrolled the stream itself. in vain count bucquoy watched an opportunity, either by surprise or by main strength, to effect a crossing. the waal remained as impassable as if it were a dividing ocean. on the other side of the quadrilateral, maurice's dispositions were as effective as those of his lieutenant on the waal. the left shore of the yssel, along its whole length, from arnhem and doesburg quite up to zwoll and campen, where the river empties itself into the zuyder zee, was now sprinkled thickly with forts, hastily thrown up, but strong enough to serve the temporary purpose of the stadholder. in vain the fleet-footed and audacious spinola moved stealthily or fiercely to and fro, from one point to another, seeking an opening through which to creep, or a weak spot where he might dash himself against the chain. the whole line was securely guarded. the swollen river, the redoubts, and the musketeers of maurice, protected the heart of the republic from the impending danger. wearied of this fruitless pacing up and down, spinola, while apparently intending an assault upon deventer, and thus attracting his adversary's attention to that important city, suddenly swerved to the right, and came down upon lochem. the little town, with its very slender garrison, surrendered at once. it was not a great conquest, but it might possibly be of use in the campaign. it was taken before the stadholder could move a step to its assistance, even had he deemed it prudent to leave yssel-side for an hour. the summer was passing away, the rain was still descending, and it was the st of august before spinola left lochem. he then made a rapid movement to the north, between zwoll and hasselt, endeavouring to cross the blackwater, and seize geelmuyden, on the zuyder zee. had he succeeded, he might have turned maurice's position. but the works in that direction had been entrusted to an experienced campaigner, warmelo, sheriff of zalant, who received the impetuous spinola and his lieutenant, count solre, so warmly, that they reeled backwards at last, after repeated assaults and great loss of men, and never more attempted to cross the yssel. obviously, the campaign had failed. utrecht and holland were as far out of the catholic general's reach as the stars in the sky, but at least, with his large armies, he could earn a few trophies, barren or productive, as it might prove, before winter, uniting with the deluge, should drive him from the field. on the rd august, he laid siege to groll (or groenlo), a fortified town of secondary importance in the country of zutphen, and, squandering his men with much recklessness, in his determination not to be baffled, reduced the place in eleven days. here he paused for a breathing spell, and then, renouncing all his schemes upon the inner defences of the republic, withdrew once more to the rhine and laid siege to rheinberg. this frontier place had been tossed to and fro so often between the contending parties in the perpetual warfare, that its inhabitants must have learned to consider themselves rather as a convenient circulating medium for military operations than as burghers who had any part in the ordinary business of life. it had old-fashioned defences of stones which, during the recent occupation by the states, had been much improved, and had been strengthened with earthworks. before it was besieged, maurice sent his brother frederic henry, with some picked companies, into the place, so that the garrison amounted to three thousand effective men. the prince de soubise, brother of the duc de rohan, and other french volunteers of quality, also threw themselves into the place, in order to take lessons in the latest methods of attack and defence. it was now admitted that no more accomplished pupil of the stadholder in the beleaguering art had appeared in europe than his present formidable adversary. on this occasion, however, there was no great display of science. maurice obstinately refused to move to the relief of the place, despite all the efforts of a deputation of the states-general who visited his camp in september, urging him strenuously to take the chances of a stricken field. nothing could induce the stadholder, who held an observing position at wesel, with his back against the precious watery quadrilateral, to risk the defence of those most vital lines of the yssel and the waal. while attempting to save rheinberg, he felt it possible that he might lose nymegen, or even utrecht. the swift but wily genoese was not to be trifled with or lost sight of an instant. the road to holland might still be opened, and the destiny of the republic might hang on the consequences of a single false move. that destiny, under god, was in his hands alone, and no chance of winning laurels, even from his greatest rival's head, could induce him to shrink from the path of duty, however obscure it might seem. there were a few brilliant assaults and sorties, as in all sieges, the french volunteers especially distinguishing themselves; but the place fell at the end of forty days. the garrison marched out with the honours of war. in the modern practice, armies were rarely captured in strongholds, nor were the defenders, together with the population, butchered. the loss, after a six weeks' siege, of rheinberg, which six years before, with far inferior fortifications, had held out a much longer time against the states, was felt as a bitter disappointment throughout the republic. frederic henry, on leaving the place, made a feeble and unsuccessful demonstration against yenlo, by which the general dissatisfaction was not diminished. soon afterwards, the war became more languid than ever. news arrived of a great crisis on the genoa exchange. a multitude of merchants, involved in pecuniary transactions with spinola, fell with one tremendous crash. the funds of the catholic commander-in-chief were already exhausted, his acceptances could no longer be negotiated. his credit was becoming almost as bad as the king's own. the inevitable consequence of the want of cash and credit followed. mutiny, for the first time in spinola's administration, raised its head once more, and stalked about defiant. six hundred veterans marched to breda, and offered their services to justinus of nassau. the proposal was accepted. other bands, established their quarters in different places, chose their elettos and lesser officers, and enacted the scenes which have been so often depicted in these pages. the splendid army of spinola melted like april snow. by the last week of october there hardly seemed a catholic army in the field. the commander-in-chief had scattered such companies as could still be relied upon in the villages of the friendly arch-episcopate of cologne, and had obtained, not by murders and blackmail--according to the recent practice of the admiral of arragon, at whose grim name the whole country-side still shuddered--but from the friendship of the leading inhabitants and by honest loans, a sufficient sum to put bread into the mouths of the troops still remaining faithful to him. the opportunity had at last arrived for the stadholder to strike a blow before the season closed. bankruptcy and mutiny had reduced his enemy to impotence in the very season of his greatest probable success. on the th october maurice came before lochem, which he recaptured in five days. next in the order of spinola's victories was groll, which the stadholder at once besieged. he had almost fifteen thousand infantry and three thousand horse. a career of brief triumph before winter should close in upon those damping fields, seemed now assured. but the rain, which during nearly the whole campaign had been his potent ally, had of late been playing him false. the swollen yssel, during a brief period of dry weather, had sunk so low in certain shallows as not to be navigable for his transports, and after his trains of artillery and munitions had been dragged wearily overland as far as groll, the deluge had returned in such force, that physical necessity as well as considerations of humanity compelled him to defer his entrenching operations until the weather should moderate. as there seemed no further danger to be apprehended from the broken, mutinous, and dispersed forces of the enemy, the siege operations were conducted in a leisurely manner. what was the astonishment, therefore, among the soldiers, when a rumour flew about the camp in the early days of november that the indomitable spinola was again advancing upon them! it was perfectly true. with extraordinary perseverance he had gathered up six or seven thousand infantry and twelve companies of horse--all the remnants of the splendid armies with which he had taken the field at midsummer--and was now marching to the relief of groll, besieged as it was by a force at least doubly as numerous as his own. it was represented to the stadholder, however, that an impassable morass lay between him and the enemy, and that there would therefore be time enough to complete his entrenchments before spinola could put his foolhardy attempt into execution. but the catholic general, marching faster than rumour itself, had crossed the impracticable swamp almost before a spadeful of earth had been turned in the republican camp. his advance was in sight even while the incredulous were sneering at the absurdity of his supposed project. informed by scouts of the weakest point in the stadholder's extended lines, spinola was directing himself thither with beautiful precision. maurice hastily contracted both his wings, and concentrated himself in the village of lebel. at last the moment had come for a decisive struggle. there could be little doubt of the result. all the advantage was with the republican army. the catholics had arrived in front of the enemy fatigued by forced marches through quagmires, in horrible weather, over roads deemed impassable. the states' troops were fresh, posted on ground of their own choosing, and partially entrenched. to the astonishment, even to the horror of the most eager portion of the army, the stadholder deliberately, and despite the groans of his soldiers, refused the combat, and gave immediate orders for raising the siege and abandoning the field. on the th of november he broke up his camp and withdrew to a village called zelem. on the same day the marquis, having relieved the city, without paying the expected price, retired in another direction, and established what was left of his army in the province of munster. the campaign was closed. and thus the great war which had run its stormy course for nearly forty years, dribbled out of existence, sinking away that rainy november in the dismal fens of zutphen. the long struggle for independence had come, almost unperceived, to an end. peace had not arrived, but the work of the armies was over for many a long year. freedom and independence were secured. a deed or two, never to be forgotten by netherland hearts, was yet to be done on the ocean, before the long and intricate negotiations for peace should begin, and the weary people permit themselves to rejoice; but the prize was already won. meantime, the conduct of prince maurice in these last days of the campaign was the subject of biting censure by friend and foe. the military fame of spinola throughout europe grew apace; and the fame of his great rival seemed to shrink in the same proportion. henry of france was especially indignant at what he considered the shortcomings of the republic and of its chief. already, before the close of the summer, the agent aerssens had written from paris that his majesty was very much displeased with spinola's prosperity, ascribing it to the want of good councils on the part of the states' government that so fine an army should lie idle so long, without making an attempt to relieve the beleaguered places, so that spinola felt assured of taking anything as soon as he made his appearance. "your mightinesses cannot believe," continued the agent, "what a trophy is made by the spanish ministers out of these little exploits, and they have so much address at this court, that if such things continue they may produce still greater results." in december he wrote that the king was so malcontent concerning the siege of groll as to make it impossible to answer him with arguments, that he openly expressed regret at not having employed the money lent to the states upon strengthening his own frontiers, so distrustful was he of their capacity for managing affairs, and that he mentioned with disgust statements received from his ambassador at brussels and from the duc de rohan, to the effect that spinola had between five and six thousand men only at the relief of groll, against twelve thousand in the stadholder's army. the motives of the deeds and the omissions of the prince at this supreme moment must be pondered with great caution. the states-general had doubtless been inclined for vigorous movements, and olden-barneveld, with some of his colleagues, had visited the camp late in september to urge the relief of rheinberg. maurice was in daily correspondence with the government, and regularly demanded their advice, by which, on many former occasions, he had bound himself, even when it was in conflict with his own better judgment. but throughout this campaign, the responsibility was entirely, almost ostentatiously, thrown by the states-general upon their commander-in-chief, and, as already indicated, their preparations in the spring and early summer had been entirely inadequate. should he lose the army with which he had so quietly but completely checked spinola in all his really important moves during the summer and autumn, he might despair of putting another very soon into the field. that his force in that november week before groll was numerically far superior to the enemy is certain, but he had lost confidence in his cavalry since their bad behaviour at mulheim the previous year, and a very large proportion of his infantry was on the sick-list at the moment of spinola's approach. "lest the continual bad weather should entirely consume the army," he said, "we are resolved, within a day or two after we have removed the sick who are here in great numbers, to break up, unless the enemy should give us occasion to make some attempt upon him." maurice was the servant of a small republic, contending single-handed against an empire still considered the most formidable power in the world. his cue was not necessarily to fight on all occasions; for delay often fights better than an army against a foreign invader. when a battle and a victory were absolutely necessary we have seen the magnificent calmness which at nieuport secured triumph under the shadow of death. had he accepted spinola's challenge in november, he would probably have defeated him and have taken groll. he might not, however, have annihilated his adversary, who, even when worsted, would perhaps have effected his escape. the city was of small value to the republic. the principal advantage of a victory would have been increased military renown for himself. viewed in this light, there is something almost sublime in the phlegmatic and perfectly republican composure with which he disdained laurels, easily enough, as it would stem, to have been acquired, and denied his soldiers the bloodshed and the suffering for which they were clamouring. and yet, after thoroughly weighing and measuring all these circumstances, it is natural to regret that he did not on that occasion rise upon spinola and smite him to the earth. the lord had delivered him into his hands. the chances of his own defeat were small, its probable consequences, should it occur, insignificant. it is hardly conceivable that he could have been so completely overthrown as to allow the catholic commander to do in november what he had tried all summer in vain to accomplish, cross the yssel and the waal, with the dregs of his army, and invade holland and zeeland in midwinter, over the prostrate bodies of maurice and all his forces. on the other hand, that the stadholder would have sent the enemy reeling back to his bogs, with hardly the semblance of an army at his heels, was almost certain: the effect of such a blow upon impending negotiations, and especially upon the impressible imagination of henry and the pedantic shrewdness of james, would have been very valuable. it was not surprising that the successful soldier who sat on the french throne, and who had been ever ready to wager life and crown on the results of a stricken field, should be loud in his expressions of disapprobation and disgust. yet no man knew better than the sagacious gascon that fighting to win a crown, and to save a republic, were two essentially different things. in the early summer of this year admiral haultain, whom we lately saw occupied with tossing sarmiento's spanish legion into the sea off the harbour of dover, had been despatched to the spanish coast on a still more important errand. the outward bound portuguese merchantmen and the home returning fleets from america, which had been absent nearly two years, might be fallen in with at any moment, in the latitude of - deg. the admiral, having received orders, therefore, to cruise carefully in those regions, sailed for the shores of portugal with a squadron of twenty-four war-ships. his expedition was not very successful. he picked up a prize or two here and there, and his presence on the coast prevented the merchant-fleet from sailing out of lisbon for the east indies, the merchandise already on board being disembarked and the voyage postponed to a more favourable opportunity. he saw nothing, however, of the long-expected ships from the golden west indies--as mexico, peru, and brazil were then indiscriminately called--and after parting company with six of his own ships, which were dispersed and damaged in a gale, and himself suffering from a dearth of provisions, he was forced to return without much gain or glory. in the month of september he was once more despatched on the same service. he had nineteen war-galleots of the first class, and two yachts, well equipped and manned. vice-admiral of the fleet was regnier klaaszoon (or nicholson), of amsterdam, a name which should always be held fresh in remembrance, not only by mariners and netherlanders, but by all men whose pulses can beat in sympathy with practical heroism. the admiral coasted deliberately along the shores of spain and portugal. it seemed impossible that the golden fleets, which, as it was ascertained, had not yet arrived, could now escape the vigilance of the dutch cruisers. an occasional merchant-ship or small war-galley was met from time to time and chased into the harbours. a landing was here and there effected and a few villages burned. but these were not the prizes nor the trophies sought. on the th september a storm off the portuguese coast scattered the fleet; six of the best and largest ships being permanently lost sight of and separated from the rest. with the other thirteen haultain now cruised off cape st. vincent directly across the ordinary path of the homeward-bound treasure ships. on the th october many sails were descried in the distance, and the longing eyes of the hollanders were at last gratified with what was supposed to be the great west india commercial squadrons. the delusion was brief. instead of innocent and richly freighted merchantmen, the new comers soon proved to be the war-ships of admiral dan luis de fazardo, eighteen great galleons and eight galleys strong, besides lesser vessels--the most formidable fleet that for years had floated in those waters. there had been time for admiral haultain to hold but a very brief consultation with his chief officers. as it was manifest that the hollanders were enormously over-matched, it was decided to manoeuvre as well as possible for the weather-gage, and then to fight or to effect an escape, as might seem most expedient after fairly testing the strength of the enemy. it was blowing a fresh gale, and the netherland fleet had as much as they could stagger with under close-reefed topsails. the war-galleys, fit only for fair weather, were soon forced to take refuge under the lee of the land, but the eighteen galleons, the most powerful vessels then known to naval architecture, were bearing directly down, full before the wind, upon the dutch fleet. it must be admitted that admiral haultain hardly displayed as much energy now as he had done in the straits of dover against the unarmed transports the year before. his ships were soon scattered, right and left, and the manoeuvres for the weather-gage resolved themselves into a general scramble for escape. vice-admiral klaaszoon alone held firm, and met the onset of the first comers of the spanish fleet. a fierce combat, yard-arm to yard-arm, ensued. klaaszoon's mainmast went by the board, but haultain, with five ships, all that could be rallied, coming to the rescue, the assailants for a moment withdrew. five dutch vessels of moderate strength were now in action against the eighteen great galleons of fazardo. certainly it was not an even game, but it might have been played with more heart and better skill. there was but a half-hour of daylight left when klaaszoon's crippled ship was again attacked. this time there was no attempt to offer him assistance; the rest of the dutch fleet crowding all the sails their masts would bear, and using all the devices of their superior seamanship, not to harass the enemy, but to steal as swiftly as possible out of his way. honestly confessing that they dared not come into the fight, they bore away for dear life in every direction. night came on, and the last that the fugitives knew of the events off cape st. vincent was that stout regnier klaaszoon had been seen at sunset in the midst of the spanish fleet; the sound of his broadsides saluting their ears as they escaped. left to himself, alone in a dismasted ship, the vice-admiral never thought of yielding to the eighteen spanish galleons. to the repeated summons of don luis fazardo that he should surrender he remained obstinately deaf. knowing that it was impossible for him to escape, and fearing that he might blow up his vessel rather than surrender, the enemy made no attempt to board. spanish chivalry was hardly more conspicuous on this occasion than dutch valour, as illustrated by admiral haultain. two whole days and nights klaaszoon drifted about in his crippled ship, exchanging broadsides with his antagonists, and with his colours flying on the stump of his mast. the fact would seem incredible, were it not attested by perfectly trustworthy contemporary accounts. at last his hour seemed to have come. his ship was sinking; a final demand for surrender, with promise of quarter, was made. out of his whole crew but sixty remained alive; many of them badly wounded. he quietly announced to his officers and men his decision never to surrender, in which all concurred. they knelt together upon the deck, and the admiral made a prayer, which all fervently joined. with his own hand klaaszoon then lighted the powder magazine, and the ship was blown into the air. two sailors, all that were left alive, were picked out of the sea by the spaniards and brought on board one of the vessels of the fleet. desperately mutilated, those grim dutchmen lived a few minutes to tell the tale, and then died defiant on the enemy's deck. yet it was thought that a republic, which could produce men like regnier klaaszoon and his comrades, could be subjected again to despotism, after a war for independence of forty years, and that such sailors could be forbidden to sail the eastern and western seas. no epigrammatic phrase has been preserved of this simple regnier, the son of nicholas. he only did what is sometimes talked about in phraseology more or less melo-dramatic, and did it in a very plain way. such extreme deeds may have become so much less necessary in the world, that to threaten them is apt to seem fantastic. exactly at that crisis of history, however, and especially in view of the dutch admiral commanding having refused a combat of one to three, the speechless self-devotion of the vice-admiral was better than three years of eloquent arguments and a ship-load of diplomatic correspondence, such as were already impending over the world. admiral haultain returned with all his ships uninjured--the six missing vessels having found their way at last safely back to the squadron--but with a very great crack to his reputation. it was urged very justly, both by the states-general and the public, that if one ship under a determined commander could fight the whole spanish fleet two days and nights, and sink unconquered at last, ten ships more might have put the enemy to flight, or at least have saved the vice-admiral from destruction. but very few days after the incidents just described, the merchant fleet which, instead of don luis fazardo's war galleons, admiral haultain had so longed to encounter, arrived safely at san lucar. it was the most splendid treasure-fleet that had ever entered a spanish port, and the dutch admiral's heart might well have danced for joy, had he chanced to come a little later on the track. there were fifty ships, under charge of general alonzo de ochares galindo and general ganevaye. they had on board, according to the registers, , , dollars worth of bullion for the king, and , , dollars for merchants, or , , dollars in all, besides rich cargoes of silk, cochineal, sarsaparilla, indigo, brazil wood, and hides; the result of two years of pressure upon peruvians, mexicans, and brazilians. never had spanish finances been at so low an ebb. never was so splendid an income more desirable. the king's share of the cargo was enough to pay half the arrearages due to his mutinous troops; and for such housekeeping this was to be in funds. there were no further exploits on land or sea that year. there were, however, deaths of three personages often mentioned in this history. the learned justus lipsius died in louvain, a good editor and scholar, and as sincere a catholic at last as he had been alternately a bigoted calvinist and an earnest lutheran. his reputation was thought to have suffered by his later publications, but the world at large was occupied with sterner stuff than those classic productions, and left the final decision to posterity. a man of a different mould, the turbulent, high-born, hard fighting, hard-drinking hohenlo, died also this year, brother-in-law and military guardian, subsequently rival and political and personal antagonist, of prince maurice. his daring deeds and his troublesome and mischievous adventures have been recounted in these pages. his name will be always prominent in the history of the republic, to which he often rendered splendid service, but he died, as he had lived, a glutton and a melancholy sot. the third remarkable personage who passed away was one whose name will be remembered as long as the netherlands have a history, old count john of nassau, only surviving brother of william the silent. he had been ever prominent and deeply interested in the great religious and political movements of upper and lower germany, and his services in the foundation of the dutch commonwealth were signal, and ever generously acknowledged. at one period, as will be recollected, he was stadholder of gelderland, and he was ever ready with sword, purse, and counsel to aid in the great struggle for independence. chapter xlvi. general desire for peace--political aspect of europe--designs of the kings of england, france, and spain concerning the united provinces --matrimonial schemes of spain--conference between the french ministers and the dutch envoy--confidential revelations--henry's desire to annex the netherlands to france--discussion of the subject--artifice of barneveld--impracticability of a compromise between the provinces and spain--formation of a west india company-- secret mission from the archdukes to the hague--reply of the states- general--return of the archdukes' envoy--arrangement of an eight months' armistice. the general tendency towards a pacification in europe at the close of the year could hardly be mistaken. the languor of fatigue, rather than any sincere desire for peace seemed to make negotiations possible. it was not likely that great truths would yet be admitted, or that ruling individuals or classes would recognise the rise of a new system out of the rapidly dissolving elements of the one which had done its work. war was becoming more and more expensive, while commerce, as the world slowly expanded itself, and manifested its unsuspected resources, was becoming more and more lucrative. it was not, perhaps, that men hated each other less, but that they had for a time exhausted their power and their love for slaughter. meanwhile new devices for injuring humanity and retarding its civilization were revealing themselves out of that very intellectual progress which ennobled the new era. although war might still be regarded as the normal condition of the civilized world, it was possible for the chosen ones to whom the earth and its fulness belonged, to inflict general damage otherwise than by perpetual battles. in the east, west, north, and south of europe peace was thrusting itself as it were uncalled for and unexpected upon the general attention. charles and his nephew sigismund, and the false demetrius, and the intrigues of the jesuits, had provided too much work for sweden, poland, and russia to leave those countries much leisure for mingling in the more important business of europe at this epoch, nor have their affairs much direct connection with this history. venice, in its quarrels with the jesuits, had brought spain, france, and all italy into a dead lock, out of which a compromise had been made not more satisfactory to the various parties than compromises are apt to prove. the dutch republic still maintained the position which it had assumed, a quarter of a century before, of actual and legal independence; while spain, on the other hand, still striving after universal monarchy, had not, of course, abated one jot of its pretensions to absolute dominion over its rebellious subjects in the netherlands. the holy roman and the sublime ottoman empires had also drifted into temporary peace; the exploits of the persians and other asiatic movements having given ahmed more work than was convenient on his eastern frontier, while stephen botshkay had so completely got the better of rudolph in transylvania as to make repose desirable. so there was a treaty between the great turk and the great christian on the basis of what each possessed; stephen botshkay was recognized as prince of transylvania with part of hungary, and, when taken off soon afterwards by family poison, he recommended on his death-bed the closest union between hungary and transylvania, as well as peace with the emperor, so long as it might be compatible with the rights of the magyars. france and england, while suspecting each other, dreading each other, and very sincerely hating each other, were drawn into intimate relations by their common detestation of spain, with which power both had now formal treaties of alliance and friendship. this was the result of their mighty projects for humbling the house of austria and annihilating its power. england hated the netherlands because of the injuries she had done them, the many benefits she had conferred upon them, and more than all on account of the daily increasing commercial rivalry between the two most progressive states in christendom, the two powers which, comparatively weak as they were in territory, capital, and population, were most in harmony with the spirit of the age. the government of england was more hostile than its people to the united provinces. james never spoke of the netherlanders but as upstarts and rebels, whose success ought to be looked upon with horror by the lord's anointed everywhere. he could not shut his eyes to the fact that, with the republic destroyed, and a spanish sacerdotal despotism established in holland and zeeland, with jesuit seminaries in full bloom in amsterdam and the hague, his own rebels in ireland might prove more troublesome than ever, and gunpowder plots in london become common occurrences. the earl of tyrone at that very moment was receiving enthusiastic hospitality at the archduke's court, much to the disgust of the presbyterian sovereign of the united kingdom, who nevertheless, despite his cherished theology, was possessed with an unconquerable craving for a close family alliance with the most catholic king. his ministers were inclined to spain, and the british government was at heart favourable to some kind of arrangement by which the netherlands might be reduced to the authority of their former master, in case no scheme could be carried into, effect for acquiring a virtual sovereignty over those provinces by the british crown. moreover, and most of all, the king of france being supposed to contemplate the annexation of the netherlands to his own dominions, the jealousy excited by such ambition made it even possible for james's government to tolerate the idea of dutch independence. thus the court and cabinet of england were as full of contradictory hopes and projects as a madman's brain. the rivalry between the courts of england and france for the spanish marriages and by means of them to obtain ultimately the sovereignty of all the netherlands, was the key to most of the diplomacy and interpalatial intrigue of the several first years of the century. the negotiations of cornwallis at madrid were almost simultaneous with the schemes of villeroy and rosny at paris. a portion of the english government, so soon as its treaty with spain had been signed, seemed secretly determined to do as much injury to the republic as might lie in its power. while at heart convinced that the preservation of the netherlands was necessary for england's safety, it was difficult for james and the greater part of his advisers to overcome their repugnance to the republic, and their jealousy of the great commercial successes which the republic had achieved. it was perfectly plain that a continuance of the war by england and the netherlands united would have very soon ended in the entire humiliation of spain. now that peace had been made, however, it was thought possible that england might make a bargain with her late enemy for destroying the existence and dividing the territory of her late ally. accordingly the spanish cabinet lost no time in propounding, under seal of secrecy, and with even more mystery than was usually employed by the most catholic court, a scheme for the marriage of the prince of wales with the infanta; the bridal pair, when arrived at proper age, to be endowed with all the netherlands, both obedient and republican, in full sovereignty. one thing was necessary to the carrying out of this excellent plot, the reduction of the republic into her ancient subjection to spain before her territory could be transferred to the future princess of wales. it was proposed by the spanish government that england should undertake this part of the job, and that king james for such service should receive an annual pension of one million ducats a year. it was also stipulated that certain cities in the republican dominions should be pledged to him as security for the regular payment of that stipend. sir charles cornwallis, english ambassador in spain, lent a most favourable ear to these proposals, and james eagerly sanctioned them so soon as they were secretly imparted to that monarch. "the king here," said cornwallis, "hath need of the king of great britain's arm. our king . . . hath good occasion to use the help of the king of spain's purse. the assistance of england to help that nation out of that quicksand of the low countries, where so long they have struggled to tread themselves out, and by proof find that deeper in, will be a sovereign medicine to the malady of this estate. the addition of a million of ducats to the revenue of our sovereign will be a good help to his estate." the spanish government had even the effrontery to offer the english envoy a reward of two hundred thousand crowns if the negotiations should prove successful. care was to be taken however that great britain, by this accession of power, both present and in prospect, should not grow too great, spain reserving to herself certain strongholds and maritime positions in the netherlands, for the proper security of her european and indian commerce. it was thought high time for the bloodshed to cease in the provinces; and as england, by making a treaty of peace with spain when spain was at the last gasp, had come to the rescue of that power, it was logical that she should complete the friendly work by compelling the rebellious provinces to awake from their dream of independence. if the statesmen of holland believed in the possibility of that independence, the statesmen of england knew better. if the turbulent little republic was not at last convinced that it had no right to create so much turmoil and inconvenience for its neighbours and for christendom in general in order to maintain its existence, it should be taught its duty by the sovereigns of spain and britain. it was observed, however, that the more greedily james listened day after day to the marriage propositions, the colder became the spanish cabinet in regard to that point, the more disposed to postpone those nuptials "to god's providence and future event." the high hopes founded on these secret stratagems were suddenly dashed to the earth before the end of the year; the explosion of the gunpowder plot blowing the castles in spain into the air. of course the spanish politicians vied with each other in expressions of horror and indignation at the plot, and the wicked contrivers thereof, and suggested to cornwallis that the king of france was probably at the bottom of it. they declined to give up owen and baldwin, however, and meantime the negotiations for the marriage of the prince of wales and the infanta, the million ducats of yearly pension for the needy james, and the reduction of the dutch republic to its ancient slavery to spain "under the eye and arm of britain," faded indefinitely away. salisbury indeed was always too wise to believe in the possibility of the schemes with which james and some of his other counsellors had been so much infatuated. it was almost dramatic that these plottings between james and the catholic king against the life of the republic should have been signally and almost simultaneously avenged by the conspiracy of guido fawkes. on the other hand, rosny had imparted to the dutch envoy the schemes of henry and his ministers in regard to the same object, early in . "spain is more tired of the war," said he to aerssens, under seal of absolute secrecy, "than you are yourselves. she is now negotiating for a marriage between the dauphin and the infanta, and means to give her the united provinces, as at present constituted, for a marriage portion. villeroy and sillery believe the plan feasible, but demand all the netherlands together. as for me i shall have faith in it if they send their infanta hither at once, or make a regular cession of the territory. do you believe that my lords the states will agree to the proposition?" it would be certainly difficult to match in history the effrontery of such a question. the republican envoy was asked point blank whether his country would resign her dearly gained liberty and give herself as a dowry for philip the second's three-years-old grand daughter. aerssens replied cautiously that he had never heard the matter discussed in the provinces. it had always been thought that the french king had no pretensions to their territory, but had ever advocated their independence. he hinted that such a proposition was a mere apple of discord thrown between two good allies by spain. rosny admitted the envoy's arguments, and said that his majesty would do nothing without the consent of the dutch government, and that he should probably be himself sent ere long to the hague to see if he could not obtain some little recognition from the states. thus it was confidentially revealed to the agent of the republic that her candid adviser and ally was hard at work, in conjunction with her ancient enemy, to destroy her independence, annex her territory, and appropriate to himself all the fruits of her great war, her commercial achievements, and her vast sacrifices; while, as we have just seen, english politicians at the same moment were attempting to accomplish the same feat for england's supposed advantage. all that was wished by henry to begin with was a little, a very little, recognition of his sovereignty. "you will do well to reflect on this delicate matter in time," wrote aerssens to the advocate; "i know that the king of spain is inclined to make this offer, and that they are mad enough in this place to believe the thing feasible. for me, i reject all such talk until they have got the infanta--that is to say, until the greek kalends. i am ashamed that they should believe it here, and fearful that there is still more evil concealed than i know of." towards the close of the year the french government became still more eager to carry out their plans of alliance and absorption. aerssens, who loved a political intrigue better than became a republican envoy, was perfectly aware of henry's schemes. he was disposed to humour them, in order to make sure of his military assistance, but with the secret intention of seeing them frustrated by the determined opposition of the states. the french ministers, by command of their sovereign, were disposed to deal very plainly. they informed the dutch diplomatist, with very little circumlocution, that if the republic wished assistance from france she was to pay a heavy price for it. not a pound of flesh only, but the whole body corporate, was to be surrendered if its destruction was to be averted by french arms. "you know," said sillery, "that princes in all their actions consider their interests, and his majesty has not so much affection for your conservation as to induce him to resign his peaceful position. tell me, i pray you, what would you do for his majesty in case anything should be done for you? you were lately in holland. do you think that they would give themselves to the king if he assisted them? do you not believe that prince maurice has designs on the sovereignty, and would prevent the fulfilment of the king's hopes? what will you do for us in return for our assistance?" aerssens was somewhat perplexed, but he was cunning at fence. "we will do all we can," said he, "for any change is more supportable than the yoke of spain." "what can you do then?" persisted sillery. "give us your opinion in plain french, i beg of you, and lay aside all passion; for we have both the same object--your preservation. besides interest, his majesty has affection for you. let him only see some advantage for himself to induce to assist you more powerfully. suppose you should give us what you have and what you may acquire in flanders with the promise to treat secretly with us when the time comes. could you do that?" the envoy replied that this would be tearing the commonwealth in pieces. if places were given away, the jealousy of the english would be excited. certainly it would be no light matter to surrender sluys, the fruit of maurice's skill and energy, the splendidly earned equivalent for the loss of ostend. "as to sluys and other places in flanders," said aerssens, "i don't know if towns comprised in our union could be transferred or pledged without their own consent and that of the states. should such a thing get wind we might be ruined. nevertheless i will write to learn what his majesty may hope." "the people," returned sillery, "need know nothing of this transfer; for it might be made secretly by prince maurice, who could put the french quietly into sluys and other flemish places. meantime you had best make a journey to holland to arrange matters so that the deputies, coming hither, may be amply instructed in regard to sluys, and no time be lost. his majesty is determined to help you if you know how to help yourselves." the two men then separated, sillery enjoining it upon the envoy to see the king next morning, "in order to explain to his majesty, as he had just been doing to himself, that this sovereignty could not be transferred, without the consent of the whole people, nor the people be consulted in secret." "it is necessary therefore to be armed," continued henry's minister very significantly, "before aspiring to the sovereignty." thus there was a faint glimmer of appreciation at the french court of the meaning of popular sovereignty. it did not occur to the minister that the right of giving consent was to be respected. the little obstacle was to be overcome by stratagem and by force. prince maurice was to put french garrisons stealthily into sluys and other towns conquered by the republic in flanders. then the magnanimous ally was to rise at the right moment and overcome all resistance by force of arms. the plot was a good one. it is passing strange, however, that the character of the nassaus and of the dutch nation should after the last fifty years have been still so misunderstood. it seemed in france possible that maurice would thus defile his honour and the netherlanders barter their liberty, by accepting a new tyrant in place of the one so long ago deposed. "this is the marrow of our conference," said aerssens to barneveld, reporting the interview, "and you may thus perceive whither are tending the designs of his majesty. it seems that they are aspiring here to the sovereignty, and all my letters have asserted the contrary. if you will examine a little more closely, however, you will find that there is no contradiction. this acquisition would be desirable for france if it could be made peacefully. as it can only be effected by war you may make sure that it will not be attempted; for the great maxim and basis of this kingdom is to preserve repose, and at the same time give such occupation to the king of spain that his means shall be consumed and his designs frustrated. all this will cease if we make peace. "thus in treating with the king we must observe two rules. the first is that we can maintain ourselves no longer unless powerfully assisted, and that, the people inclining to peace, we shall be obliged to obey the people. secondly, we must let no difficulty appear as to the desire expressed by his majesty to have the sovereignty of these provinces. we ought to let him hope for it, but to make him understand that by ordinary and legitimate means he cannot aspire to it. we will make him think that we have an equal desire with himself, and we shall thus take from those evil-disposed counsellors the power to injure us who are always persuading him that he is only making us great for ourselves, and thus giving us the power to injure him. in short, the king can hope nothing from us overtly, and certainly nothing covertly. by explaining to him that we require the authorization of the people, and by showing ourselves prompt to grant his request, he will be the very first to prevent us from taking any steps, in order that his repose may not be disturbed. i know that france does not wish to go to war with spain. let us then pretend that we wish to be under the dominion of france, and that we will lead our people to that point if the king desires it, but that it cannot be done secretly. believe me, he will not wish it on such conditions, while we shall gain much by this course. would to god that we could engage france in war with spain. all the utility would be ours; and the accidents of arms would so press them to spain, italy, and other places, that they would have little leisure to think of us. consider all this and conceal it from buzanval." buzanval, it is well known, was the french envoy at the hague, and it must be confessed that these schemes and paltry falsehoods on the part of the dutch agent were as contemptible as any of the plots contrived every day in paris or madrid. such base coin as this was still circulating in diplomacy as if fresh from the machiavellian mint; but the republican agent ought to have known that his government had long ago refused to pass it current. soon afterwards this grave matter was discussed at the hague between henry's envoy and barneveld. it was a very delicate negotiation. the advocate wished to secure the assistance of a powerful but most unscrupulous ally, and at the same time to conceal his real intention to frustrate the french design upon the independence of the republic. disingenuous and artful as his conduct unquestionably was, it may at least be questioned whether in that age of deceit any other great statesman would have been more frank. if the comparatively weak commonwealth, by openly and scornfully refusing all the insidious and selfish propositions of the french king, had incurred that monarch's wrath, it would have taken a noble position no doubt, but it would have perhaps been utterly destroyed. the advocate considered himself justified in using the artifices of war against a subtle and dangerous enemy who wore the mask of a friend. when the price demanded for military protection was the voluntary abandonment of national independence in favour of the protector, the man who guided the affairs of the netherlands did not hesitate to humour and to outwit the king who strove to subjugate the republic. at the same time--however one may be disposed to censure the dissimulation from the standing-ground of a lofty morality--it should not be forgotten that barneveld never hinted at any possible connivance on his part with an infraction of the laws. whatever might be the result of time, of persuasion, of policy, he never led henry or his ministers to believe that the people of the netherlands could be deprived of their liberty by force or fraud. he was willing to play a political game, in which he felt himself inferior to no man, trusting to his own skill and coolness for success. if the tyrant were defeated, and at the same time made to serve the cause of the free commonwealth, the advocate believed this to be fair play. knowing himself surrounded by gamblers and tricksters, he probably did not consider himself to be cheating because he did not play his cards upon the table. so when buzanval informed him early in october that the possession of sluys and other flemish towns would not be sufficient for the king, but that they must offer the sovereignty on even more favourable conditions than had once been proposed to henry iii., the advocate told him roundly that my lords the states were not likely to give the provinces to any man, but meant to maintain their freedom and their rights. the envoy replied that his majesty would be able to gain more favour perhaps with the common people of the country. when it is remembered that the states had offered the sovereignty of the provinces to henry iii., abjectly and as it were without any conditions at all, the effrontery of henry iv. may be measured, who claimed the same sovereignty, after twenty years of republican independence, upon even more favourable terms than those which his predecessor had rejected. barneveld, in order to mitigate the effect of his plump refusal of the royal overtures, explained to buzanval, what buzanval very well knew, that the times had now changed; that in those days, immediately after the death of william the silent, despair and disorder had reigned in the provinces, "while that dainty delicacy--liberty--had not so long been sweetly tickling the appetites of the people; that the english had not then acquired their present footing in the country, nor the house of nassau the age, the credit, and authority to which it had subsequently attained." he then intimated--and here began the deception, which certainly did not deceive buzanval--that if things were handled in the right way, there was little doubt as to the king's reaching the end proposed, but that all depended on good management. it was an error, he said, to suppose that in one, two, or three months, eight provinces and their principal members, to wit, forty good cities all enjoying liberty and equality, could be induced to accept a foreign sovereign. such language was very like irony, and probably not too subtle to escape the fine perception of the french envoy. the first thing to be done, continued the advocate, is to persuade the provinces to aid the king with all their means to conquer the disunited provinces--to dispose of the archdukes, in short, and to drive the spaniards from the soil--and then, little by little, to make it clear that there could be no safety for the states except in reducing the whole body of the netherlands under the authority of the king. let his majesty begin by conquering and annexing to his crown the provinces nearest him, and he would then be able to persuade the others to a reasonable arrangement. whether the advocate's general reply was really considered by buzanval as a grave sarcasm, politely veiled, may be a question. that envoy, however, spoke to his government of the matter as surrounded with difficulties, but not wholly desperate. barneveld was, he said, inclined to doubt whether the archdukes would be able, before any negotiations were begun, to comply with the demand which he had made upon them to have a declaration in writing that the united provinces were to be regarded as a free people over whom they pretended to no authority. if so, the french king would at once be informed of the fact. meantime the envoy expressed the safe opinion that, if prince maurice and the advocate together should take the matter of henry's sovereignty in hand with zeal, they might conduct the bark to the desired haven. surely this was an 'if' with much virtue in it. and notwithstanding that he chose to represent barneveld as, rich, tired, at the end of his latin, and willing enough to drop his anchor in a snug harbour, in order to make his fortune secure, it was obvious enough that buzanval had small hope at heart of seeing his master's purpose accomplished. as to prince maurice, the envoy did not even affect to believe him capable of being made use of, strenuous as the efforts of the french government in that direction had been. "he has no private designs that i can find out," said buzanval, doing full justice to the straightforward and sincere character of the prince. "he asks no change for himself or for his country." the envoy added, as a matter of private opinion however, that if an alteration were to be made in the constitution of the provinces, maurice would prefer that it should be made in favour of france than of any other government. he lost no opportunity, moreover, of impressing it upon his government that if the sovereignty were to be secured for france at all, it could only be done by observing great caution, and by concealing their desire to swallow the republic of which they were professing themselves the friends. the jealousy of england was sure to be awakened if france appeared too greedy at the beginning. on the other hand, that power "might be the more easily rocked into a profound sleep if france did not show its appetite at the very beginning of the banquet." that the policy of france should be steadily but stealthily directed towards getting possession of as many strong places as possible in the netherlands had long been his opinion. "since we don't mean to go to war," said he a year before to villeroy, "let us at least follow the example of the english, who have known how to draw a profit out of the necessities of this state. why should we not demand, or help ourselves to, a few good cities. sluys, for example, would be a security for us, and of great advantage." suspicion was rife on this subject at the court of spain. certainly it would be less humiliating to the catholic crown to permit the independence of its rebellious subjects than to see them incorporated into the realms of either france or england. it is not a very striking indication of the capacity of great rulers to look far into the future that both, france and england should now be hankering after the sovereignty of those very provinces, the solemn offer of which by the provinces themselves both france and england had peremptorily and almost contemptuously refused. in spain itself the war was growing very wearisome. three hundred thousand dollars a month could no longer be relied upon from the royal exchequer, or from the american voyages, or from the kite-flying operations of the merchant princes on the genoa exchange. a great fleet, to be sure, had recently arrived, splendidly laden, from the west indies, as already stated. pagan slaves, scourged to their dreadful work, continued to supply to their christian taskmasters the hidden treasures of the new world in exchange for the blessings of the evangel as thus revealed; but these treasures could never fill the perpetual sieve of the netherland war, rapidly and conscientiously as they were poured into it, year after year. the want of funds in the royal exchequer left the soldiers in flanders unpaid, and as an inevitable result mutiny admirably organized and calmly defiant was again established throughout the obedient provinces. this happened regularly once a year, so that it seemed almost as business-like a proceeding for an eletto to proclaim mutiny as for a sovereign to declare martial law. should the whole army mutiny at once, what might become of the kingdom of spain? moreover, a very uneasy feeling was prevalent that, as formerly, the turks had crossed the hellespont into europe by means of a genoese alliance and genoese galleys, so now the moors were contemplating the reconquest of granada, and of their other ancient possessions in spain, with the aid of the dutch republic and her powerful fleets.--[grotius, xv. ] the dutch cruisers watched so carefully on the track of the homeward-bound argosies, that the traffic was becoming more dangerous than lucrative, particularly since the public law established by admiral fazardo, that it was competent for naval commanders to hang, drown, or burn the crews of the enemy's merchantmen. the portuguese were still more malcontent than the spaniards. they had gained little by the absorption of their kingdom by spain, save participation in the war against the republic, the result of which had been to strip them almost entirely of the conquests of vasco de gama and his successors, and to close to them the ports of the old world and the new. in the republic there was a party for peace, no doubt, but peace only with independence. as for a return to their original subjection to spain they were unanimously ready to accept forty years more of warfare rather than to dream of such a proposition. there were many who deliberately preferred war to peace. bitter experience had impressed very deeply on the netherlanders the great precept that faith would never be kept with heretics. the present generation had therefore been taught from their cradles to believe that the word peace in spanish mouths simply meant the holy inquisition. it was not unnatural, too, perhaps, that a people who had never known what it was to be at peace might feel, in regard to that blessing, much as the blind or the deaf towards colour or music; as something useful and agreeable, no doubt, but with which they might the more cheerfully dispense, as peculiar circumstances had always kept them in positive ignorance of its nature. the instinct of commercial greediness made the merchants of holland and zeeland, and especially those of amsterdam, dread the revival of antwerp in case of peace, to the imagined detriment of the great trading centres of the republic. it was felt also to be certain that spain, in case of negotiations, would lay down as an indispensable preliminary the abstinence on the part of the netherlanders from all intercourse with the indies, east or west; and although such a prohibition would be received by those republicans with perfect contempt, yet the mere discussion of the subject moved their spleen. they had already driven the portuguese out of a large portion of the field in the east, and they were now preparing by means of the same machinery to dispute the monopoly of the spaniards in the west. to talk of excluding such a people as this from intercourse with any portion of the old world or the new was the mumbling of dotage; yet nothing could be more certain than that such would be the pretensions of spain. as for the stadholder, his vocation was war, his greatness had been derived from war, his genius had never turned itself to pacific pursuits. should a peace be negotiated, not only would his occupation be gone, but he might even find himself hampered for means. it was probable that his large salaries, as captain and admiral-general of the forces of the republic, would be seriously curtailed, in case his services in the field were no longer demanded, while such secret hopes as he might entertain of acquiring that sovereign power which barneveld had been inclined to favour, were more likely to be fulfilled if the war should be continued. at the same time, if sovereignty were to be his at all, he was distinctly opposed to such limitations of his authority as were to have been proposed by the states to his father. rather than reign on those conditions, he avowed that he would throw himself head foremost from the great tower of hague castle. moreover, the prince was smarting under the consciousness of having lost military reputation, however undeservedly, in the latter campaigns, and might reasonably hope to gain new glory in the immediate future. thus, while his great rival, marquis spinola, whose fame had grown to so luxuriant a height in so brief a period, had many reasons to dread the results of future campaigning, maurice seemed to have personally much to lose and nothing to hope for in peace. spinola was over head and ears in debt. in the past two years he had spent millions of florins out of his own pocket. his magnificent fortune and boundless credit were seriously compromised. he had found it an easier task to take ostend and relieve grol than to bolster up the finances of spain. his acceptances were becoming as much a drug upon the exchanges of antwerp, genoa, or augsburg, as those of the most catholic king or their highnesses the archdukes. ruin stared him in the face, notwithstanding the deeds with which he had startled the world, and he was therefore sincerely desirous of peace, provided, of course, that all those advantages for which the war had been waged in vain could now be secured by negotiation. there had been, since the arrival of the duke of alva in the netherlands, just forty years of fighting. maurice and the war had been born in the same year, and it would be difficult for him to comprehend that his whole life's work had been a superfluous task, to be rubbed away now with a sponge. yet that spain, on the entrance to negotiations, would demand of the provinces submission to her authority, re-establishment of the catholic religion, abstinence from oriental or american commerce, and the toleration of spanish soldiers over all the netherlands, seemed indubitable. it was equally unquestionable that the seven provinces would demand recognition of their national independence by spain, would refuse public practice of the roman religion within their domains, and would laugh to scorn any proposed limitations to their participation in the world's traffic. as to the presence of spanish troops on their soil, that was, of course, an inconceivable idea. where, then, could even a loophole be found through which the possibility of a compromise could be espied? the ideas of the contending parties were as much opposed to each other as fire and snow. nevertheless, the great forces of the world seemed to have gradually settled into such an equilibrium as to make the continuance of the war for the present impossible. accordingly, the peace-party in brussels had cautiously put forth its tentacles late in , and again in the early days of the new year. walrave van wittenhorst and doctor gevaerts had been allowed to come to the hague, ostensibly on private business, but with secret commission from the archdukes to feel and report concerning the political atmosphere. they found that it was a penal offence in the republic to talk of peace or of truce. they nevertheless suspected that there might be a more sympathetic layer beneath the very chill surface which they everywhere encountered. having intimated in the proper quarters that the archdukes would be ready to receive or to appoint commissioners for peace or armistice, if becoming propositions should be made, they were allowed on the th of january, , to make a communication to the states-general. they indulged in the usual cheap commonplaces on the effusion of blood, the calamities of war, and the blessings of peace, and assured the states of the very benignant disposition of their highnesses at brussels. the states-general, in their reply, seventeen days afterwards, remarking that the archdukes persisted in their unfounded pretensions of authority over them, took occasion to assure their highnesses that they had no chance to obtain such authority except by the sword. whether they were like to accomplish much in that way the history of the past might sufficiently indicate, while on the other hand the states would always claim the right, and never renounce the hope, of recovering those provinces which had belonged to their free commonwealth since the union of utrecht, and which force and fraud had torn away. during twenty-five years that union had been confirmed as a free state by solemn decrees, and many public acts and dealings with the mightiest potentates of europe, nor could any other answer now be made to the archdukes than the one always given to his holy roman imperial majesty, and other princes, to wit, that no negotiations could be had with powers making any pretensions in conflict with the solemn decrees and well-maintained rights of the united netherlands. it was in this year that two words became more frequent in the mouths of men than they had ever been before; two words which as the ages rolled on were destined to exercise a wider influence over the affairs of this planet than was yet dreamed of by any thinker in christendom. those words were america and virginia. certainly both words were known before, although india was the more general term for these auriferous regions of the west, which, more than a century long, had been open to european adventure, while the land, baptized in honour of the throned vestal, had been already made familiar to european ears by the exploits of raleigh. but it was not till that jamestown was founded, that captain john smith's adventures with powhattan, "emperor of virginia," and his daughter the princess pocahontas, became fashionable topics in england, that the english attempts to sail up the chickahominy to the pacific ocean--as abortive as those of the netherlanders to sail across the north pole to cathay--were creating scientific discussion in europe, and that the first cargo of imaginary gold dust was exported from the james river. with the adventurous minds of england all aflame with enthusiasm for those golden regions, with the thick-coming fancies for digging, washing, refining the precious sands of virginia rivers, it was certain that a great rent was now to be made in the borgian grant. it was inevitable that the rivalry of the netherlanders should be excited by the achievements and the marvellous tales of englishmen beyond the atlantic, and that they too should claim their share of traffic with that golden and magnificent unknown which was called america. the rivalry between england and holland, already so conspicuous in the spicy archipelagos of the east, was now to be extended over the silvery regions of the west. the two leading commercial powers of the old world were now to begin their great struggle for supremacy in the western hemisphere. a charter for what was called a west india company was accordingly granted by the states-general. west india was understood to extend from the french settlements in newfoundland or acadia, along the american coast to the straits of magellan, and so around to the south sea, including the atlantic and pacific oceans, besides all of africa lying between the tropic of cancer and the cape of good hope. at least, within those limits the west india company was to have monopoly of trade, all other netherlanders being warned off the precincts. nothing could be more magnificent, nor more vague. the charter was for thirty-six years. the company was to maintain armies and fleets, to build forts and cities, to carry on war, to make treaties of peace and of commerce. it was a small peripatetic republic of merchants and mariners, evolved out of the mother republic--which had at last established its position among the powers of christendom--and it was to begin its career full grown and in full armour. the states-general were to furnish the company at starting with one million of florins and with twenty ships of war. the company was to add twenty other ships. the government was to consist of four chambers of directors. one-half the capital was to be contributed by the chamber of amsterdam, one-quarter by that of zeeland, one-eighth respectively by the chambers of the meuse and of north holland. the chambers of amsterdam, of zeeland, of the meuse, and of north holland were to have respectively thirty, eighteen, fifteen, and fifteen directors. of these seventy-eight, one-third were to be replaced every sixth year by others, while from the whole number seventeen persons were to be elected as a permanent board of managers. dividends were to be made as soon as the earnings amounted to ten per cent. on the capital. maritime judges were to decide upon prizes, the proceeds of which were not to be divided for six years, in order that war might be self-sustaining. afterwards, the treasury of the united provinces should receive one-tenth, prince maurice one-thirtieth, and the merchant stockholders the remainder. governors and generals were to take the oath of fidelity to the states-general. the merchandize of the company was to be perpetually free of taxation, so far as regarded old duties, and exempt from war-taxes for the first twenty years. very violent and conflicting were the opinions expressed throughout the republic in regard to this project. it was urged by those most in favour of it that the chief sources of the greatness of spain would be thus transferred to the states-general; for there could be no doubt that the hollanders, unconquerable at sea, familiar with every ocean-path, and whose hardy constitutions defied danger and privation and the extremes of heat and cold, would easily supplant the more delicately organized adventurers from southern europe, already enervated by the exhausting climate of america. moreover, it was idle for spain to attempt the defence of so vast a portion of the world. every tribe over which she had exercised sway would furnish as many allies for the dutch company as it numbered men; for to obey and to hate the tyrannical spaniard were one. the republic would acquire, in reality, the grandeur which with spain was but an empty boast, would have the glory of transferring the great war beyond the limits of home into those far distant possessions, where the enemy deemed himself most secure, and would teach the true religion to savages sunk in their own superstitions, and still further depraved by the imported idolatries of rome. commerce was now world-wide, and the time had come for the netherlanders, to whom the ocean belonged, to tear out from the pompous list of the catholic king's titles his appellation of lord of the seas. there were others, however, whose language was not so sanguine. they spoke with a shiver of the inhabitants of america, who hated all men, simply because they were men, or who had never manifested any love for their species except as an article of food. to convert such cannibals to christianity and calvinism would be a hopeless endeavour, and meanwhile the spaniards were masters of the country. the attempt to blockade half the globe with forty galleots was insane; for, although the enemy had not occupied the whole territory, he commanded every harbour and position of vantage. men, scarcely able to defend inch by inch the meagre little sandbanks of their fatherland, who should now go forth in hopes to conquer the world, were but walking in their sleep. they would awake to the consciousness of ruin. thus men in the united provinces spake of america. especially barneveld had been supposed to be prominent among the opponents of the new company, on the ground that the more violently commercial ambition excited itself towards wider and wilder fields of adventure, the fainter grew inclinations for peace. the advocate, who was all but omnipotent in holland and zeeland, subsequently denied the imputation of hostility to the new corporation, but the establishment of the west india company, although chartered, was postponed. the archdukes had not been discouraged by the result of their first attempts at negotiation, for wittenhorst had reported a disposition towards peace as prevalent in the rebellious provinces, so far as he had contrived, during his brief mission, to feel the public pulse. on the th february, , werner cruwel, an insolvent tradesman of brussels, and a relative of recorder aerssens, father of the envoy at paris, made his appearance very unexpectedly at the house of his kinsman at the hague. sitting at the dinner-table, but neither eating nor drinking, he was asked by his host what troubled him. he replied that he had a load on his breast. aerssens begged him, if it was his recent bankruptcy that oppressed him, to use philosophy and patience. the merchant answered that he who confessed well was absolved well. he then took from his pocket-book a letter from president richardot, and said he would reveal what he had to say after dinner. the cloth being removed, and the wife and children of aerssens having left the room, cruwel disclosed that he had been sent by richardot and father neyen on a secret mission. the recorder, much amazed and troubled, refused to utter a word, save to ask if cruwel would object to confer with the advocate. the merchant expressing himself as ready for such an interview, the recorder, although it was late, immediately sent a message to the great statesman. barneveld was in bed and asleep, but was aroused to receive the communication of aerssens. "we live in such a calumnious time," said the recorder, "that many people believe that you and i know more of the recent mission of wittenhorst than we admit. you had best interrogate cruwel in the presence of witnesses. i know not the man's humour, but it seems to me since his failure, that, in spite of his shy and lumpish manner, he is false and cunning." the result was a secret interview, on the th february, between prince maurice, barneveld, and the recorder, in which cruwel was permitted to state the object of his mission. he then produced a short memorandum, signed by spinola and by father neyen, to the effect that the archdukes were willing to treat for a truce of ten or twelve years, on the sole condition that the states would abstain from the india navigation. he exhibited also another paper, signed only by neyen, in which that friar proposed to come secretly to the hague, no one in brussels to know of the visit save the archdukes and spinola; and all in the united provinces to be equally ignorant except the prince, the advocate, and the recorder. cruwel was then informed that if neyen expected to discuss such grave matters with the prince, he must first send in a written proposal that could go on all fours and deserve attention. a week afterwards cruwel came back with a paper in which neyen declared himself authorized by the archdukes to treat with the states on the basis of their liberty and independence, and to ask what they would give in return for so great a concession as this renunciation of all right to "the so-called united provinces." this being a step in advance, it was decided to permit the visit of neyen. it was, however, the recorded opinion of the distinguished personages to whom the proposal was made that it was a trick and a deception. the archdukes would, no doubt, it was said, nominally recognise the provinces as a free state, but without really meaning it. meantime, they would do their best to corrupt the government and to renew the war after the republic had by this means been separated from its friends. john neyen, father commissary of the franciscans, who had thus invited himself to the momentous conference, was a very smooth flemish friar, who seemed admirably adapted, for various reasons, to glide into the rebel country and into the hearts of the rebels. he was a netherlander, born at antwerp, when antwerp was a portion of the united commonwealth, of a father who had been in the confidential service of william the silent. he was eloquent in the dutch language, and knew the character of the dutch people. he had lived much at court, both in madrid and brussels, and was familiar with the ways of kings and courtiers. he was a holy man, incapable of a thought of worldly advancement for himself, but he was a master of the logic often thought most conclusive in those days; no man insinuating golden arguments more adroitly than he into half-reluctant palms. blessed with a visage of more than flemish frankness, he had in reality a most wily and unscrupulous disposition. insensible to contumely, and incapable of accepting a rebuff, he could wind back to his purpose when less supple negotiators would have been crushed. he was described by his admirers as uniting the wisdom of the serpent with the guilelessness of the dove. who better than he then, in this double capacity, to coil himself around the rebellion, and to carry the olive-branch in his mouth? on the th february the monk, disguised in the dress of a burgher, arrived at ryswick, a village a mile and a half from the hague. he was accompanied on the journey by cruwel, and they gave themselves out as travelling tradesmen. after nightfall, a carriage having been sent to the hostelry, according to secret agreement, by recorder aerssens, john neyen was brought to the hague. the friar, as he was driven on through these hostile regions, was somewhat startled, on looking out, to find himself accompanied by two mounted musketeers on each side of the carriage, but they proved to have been intended as a protective escort. he was brought to the recorder's house, whence, after some delay, he was conveyed to the palace. here he was received by an unknown and silent attendant, who took him by the hand and led him through entirely deserted corridors and halls. not a human being was seen nor a sound heard until his conductor at last reached the door of an inner apartment through which he ushered him, without speaking a syllable. the monk then found himself in the presence of two personages, seated at a table covered with books and papers. one was in military undress, with an air about him of habitual command, a fair-complexioned man of middle age, inclining to baldness, rather stout, with a large blue eye, regular features, and a mouse-coloured beard. the other was in the velvet cloak and grave habiliments of a civil functionary, apparently sixty years of age, with a massive features, and a shaggy beard. the soldier was maurice of nassau, the statesman was john of olden-barneveld. both rose as the friar entered, and greeted him with cordiality. "but," said the prince, "how did you dare to enter the hague, relying only on the word of a beggar?" "who would not confide," replied neyen, "in the word of so exalted, so respectable a beggar as you, o most excellent prince?" with these facetious words began the negotiations through which an earnest attempt was at last to be made for terminating a seemingly immortal war. the conversation, thus begun, rolled amicably and informally along. the monk produced letters from the archdukes, in which, as he stated, the truly royal soul of the writers shone conspicuously forth. without a thought for their own advantage, he observed, and moved only by a contemplation of the tears shed by so many thousands of beings reduced to extreme misery, their highnesses, although they were such exalted princes, cared nothing for what would be said by the kings of europe and all the potentates of the universe about their excessive indulgence." "what indulgence do you speak of?" asked the stadholder. "does that seem a trifling indulgence," replied john neyen, "that they are willing to abandon the right which they inherited from their ancestors over these provinces, to allow it so easily to slip from their fingers, to declare these people to be free, over whom, as their subjects refusing the yoke, they have carried on war so long?" "it is our right hands that have gained this liberty," said maurice, "not the archdukes that have granted it. it has been acquired by our treasure, poured forth how freely! by the price of our blood, by so many thousands of souls sent to their account. alas, how dear a price have we paid for it! all the potentates of christendom, save the king of spain alone, with his relatives the archdukes, have assented to our independence. in treating for peace we ask no gift of freedom from the archdukes. we claim to be regarded by them as what we are--free men. if they are unwilling to consider us as such, let them subject us to their dominion if they can. and as we have hitherto done, we shall contend more fiercely for liberty than for life." with this, the tired monk was dismissed to sleep off the effects of his journey and of the protracted discussion, being warmly recommended to the captain of the citadel, by whom he was treated with every possible consideration. several days of private discussion ensued between neyen and the leading personages of the republic. the emissary was looked upon with great distrust. all schemes of substantial negotiation were regarded by the public as visions, while the monk on his part felt the need of all his tact and temper to wind his way out of the labyrinth into which he felt that he had perhaps too heedlessly entered. a false movement on his part would involve himself and his masters in a hopeless maze of suspicion, and make a pacific result impossible. at length, it having been agreed to refer the matter to the states-general, recorder aerssens waited upon neyen to demand his credentials for negotiation. he replied that he had been forbidden to deliver his papers, but that he was willing to exhibit them to the states-general. he came accordingly to that assembly, and was respectfully received. all the deputies rose, and he was placed in a seat near the presiding officer. olden-barneveld then in a few words told him why he had been summoned. the monk begged that a want of courtesy might not be imputed to him, as he had been sent to negotiate with three individuals, not with a great assembly. thus already the troublesome effect of publicity upon diplomacy was manifesting itself. the many-headed, many-tongued republic was a difficult creature to manage, adroit as the negotiator had proved himself to be in gliding through the cabinets and council-chambers of princes and dealing with the important personages found there. the power was, however, produced, and handed around the assembly, the signature and seals being duly inspected by the members. neyen was then asked if he had anything to say in public. he replied in the negative, adding only a few vague commonplaces about the effusion of blood and the desire of the archdukes for the good of mankind. he was then dismissed. a few days afterwards a committee of five from the states-general, of which barneveld was chairman, conferred with neyen. he was informed that the paper exhibited by him was in many respects objectionable, and that they had therefore drawn up a form which he was requested to lay before the archdukes for their guidance in making out a new power. he was asked also whether the king of spain was a party to these proposals for negotiation. the monk answered that he was not informed of the fact, but that he considered it highly probable. john neyen then departed for brussels with the form prescribed by the states-general in his pocket. nothing could exceed the indignation with which the royalists and catholics at the court of the archdukes were inspired by the extreme arrogance and obstinacy thus manifested by the rebellious heretics. that the offer on the part of their master to negotiate should be received by them with cavils, and almost with contempt, was as great an offence as their original revolt. that the servant should dare to prescribe a form for the sovereign to copy seemed to prove that the world was coming to an end. but it was ever thus with the vulgar, said the courtiers and church dignitaries, debating these matters. the insanity of plebeians was always enormous, and never more so than when fortune for a moment smiled. full of arrogance and temerity when affairs were prosperous, plunged in abject cowardice when dangers and reverses came--such was the people--such it must ever be. thus blustered the priests and the parasites surrounding the archduke, nor need their sentiments amaze us. could those honest priests and parasites have ever dreamed, before the birth of this upstart republic, that merchants, manufacturers, and farmers, mechanics and advocates--the people, in short--should presume to meddle with affairs of state? their vocation had been long ago prescribed--to dig and to draw, to brew and to bake, to bear burdens in peace and to fill bloody graves in war--what better lot could they desire? meantime their superiors, especially endowed with wisdom by the omnipotent, would direct trade and commerce, conduct war and diplomacy, make treaties, impose taxes, fill their own pockets, and govern the universe. was not this reasonable and according to the elemental laws? if the beasts of the field had been suddenly gifted with speech, and had constituted themselves into a free commonwealth for the management of public affairs, they would hardly have caused more profound astonishment at brussels and madrid than had been excited by the proceedings of the rebellious dutchmen. yet it surely might have been suggested, when the lament of the courtiers over the abjectness of the people in adversity was so emphatic, that dorp and van loon, berendrecht and gieselles, with the men under their command, who had disputed every inch of little troy for three years and three months, and had covered those fatal sands with a hundred thousand corpses, had not been giving of late such evidence of the people's cowardice in reverses as theory required. the siege of ostend had been finished only three years before, and it is strange that its lessons should so soon have been forgotten. it was thought best, however, to dissemble. diplomacy in those days--certainly the diplomacy of spain and rome--meant simply dissimulation. moreover, that solid apothegm, 'haereticis non servanda fides,' the most serviceable anchor ever forged for true believers, was always ready to be thrown out, should storm or quicksand threaten, during the intricate voyage to be now undertaken. john neyen soon returned to the hague, having persuaded his masters that it was best to affect compliance with the preliminary demand of the states. during the discussions in regard to peace, it would not be dangerous to treat with the rebel provinces as with free states, over which the archdukes pretended to no authority, because--so it was secretly argued--this was to be understood with a sense of similitude. "we will negotiate with them as if they were free," said the greyfriar to the archduke and his counsellors, "but not with the signification of true and legitimate liberty. they have laid down in their formula that we are to pretend to no authority over them. very well. for the time being we will pretend that we do not pretend to any such authority. to negotiate with them as if they were free will not make them free. it is no recognition by us that they are free. their liberty could never be acquired by their rebellion. this is so manifest that neither the king nor the archdukes can lose any of their rights over the united provinces, even should they make this declaration." thus the hair-sputters at brussels--spinning a web that should be stout enough to entrap the noisy, blundering republicans at the hague, yet so delicate as to go through the finest dialectical needle. time was to show whether subtilty or bluntness was the best diplomatic material. the monk brought with him three separate instruments or powers, to be used according to his discretion. admitted to the assembly of the states-general, he produced number one. it was instantly rejected. he then offered number two, with the same result. he now declared himself offended, not on his own account, but for the sake of his masters, and asked leave to retire from the assembly, leaving with them the papers which had been so benignantly drawn up, and which deserved to be more carefully studied. the states, on their parts, were sincerely and vehemently indignant. what did all this mean, it was demanded, this producing one set of propositions after another? why did the archdukes not declare their intentions openly and at once? let the states depart each to the several provinces, and let john neyen be instantly sent out of the country. was it thought to bait a trap for the ingenuous netherlanders, and catch them little by little, like so many wild animals? this was not the way the states dealt with the archdukes. what they meant they put in front--first, last, and always. now and in the future they said and they would say exactly what they wished, candidly and seriously. those who pursued another course would never come into negotiation with them. the monk felt that he had excited a wrath which it would be difficult to assuage. he already perceived the difference between a real and an affected indignation, and tried to devise some soothing remedy. early next morning he sent a petition in writing to the states for leave to make an explanation to the assembly. barneveld and recorder aerssens, in consequence, came to him immediately, and heaped invectives upon his head for his duplicity. evidently it was a different matter dealing with this many-headed roaring beast, calling itself a republic, from managing the supple politicians with whom he was more familiar. the noise and publicity of these transactions were already somewhat appalling to the smooth friar who was accustomed to negotiate in comfortable secrecy. he now vehemently protested that never man was more sincere than he, and implored for time to send to brussels for another power. it is true that number three was still in his portfolio, but he had seen so much indignation on the production of number two as to feel sure that the fury of the states would know no bounds should he now confess that he had come provided with a third. it was agreed accordingly to wait eight days, in which period he might send for and receive the new power already in his possession. these little tricks were considered masterly diplomacy in those days, and by this kind of negotiators; and such was the way in which it was proposed to terminate a half century of warfare. [the narrative is the monk's own, as preserved by his admirer, the jesuit gallucci, (ubi sup.)] the friar wrote to his masters, not of course to ask for a new power, but to dilate on the difficulties to be anticipated in procuring that which the losing party is always most bent upon in circumstances like these, and which was most ardently desired by the archdukes--an armistice. he described prince maurice as sternly opposed to such a measure, believing that temporary cessation of hostilities was apt to be attended with mischievous familiarity between the opposing camps, with relaxation of discipline, desertion, and various kinds of treachery, and that there was no better path to peace than that which was trampled by contending hosts. seven days passed, and then neyen informed the states that he had at last received a power which he hoped would prove satisfactory. being admitted accordingly to the assembly, he delivered an eloquent eulogy upon the sincerity of the archdukes, who, with perhaps too little regard for their own dignity and authority, had thus, for the sake of the public good, so benignantly conceded what the states had demanded. barneveld, on receiving the new power, handed to neyen a draught of an agreement which he was to study at his leisure, and in which he might suggest alterations. at the same time it was demanded that within three months the written consent of the king of spain to the proposed negotiations should be produced. the franciscan objected that it did not comport with the dignity of the archdukes to suppose the consent of any other sovereign needful to confirm their acts. barneveld insisted with much vehemence on the necessity of this condition. it was perfectly notorious, he said, that the armies commanded by the archdukes were subject to the king of spain, and were called royal armies. prince maurice observed that all prisoners taken by him had uniformly called themselves soldiers of the crown, not of the archdukes, nor of marquis spinola. barneveld added that the royal power over the armies in the netherlands and over the obedient provinces was proved by the fact that all commanders of regiments, all governors of fortresses, especially of antwerp, ghent, cambray, and the like, were appointed by the king of spain. these were royal citadels with royal garrisons. that without the knowledge and consent of the king of spain it would be impossible to declare the united provinces free, was obvious; for in the cession by philip ii. of all the netherlands it was provided that, without the consent of the king, no part of that territory could be ceded, and this on pain of forfeiting all the sovereignty. to treat without the king was therefore impossible. the franciscan denied that because the sovereigns of spain sent funds and auxiliary troops to flanders, and appointed military commanders there of various degrees, the authority of the archdukes was any the less supreme. philip ii. had sent funds and troops to sustain the league, but he was not king of france. barneveld probably thought it not worth his while to reply that philip, with those funds and those troops, had done his best to become king of france, and that his failure proved nothing for the argument either way. neyen then returned once more to brussels, observing as he took leave that the decision of the archdukes as to the king's consent was very doubtful, although he was sure that the best thing for all parties would be to agree to an armistice out of hand. this, however, was far from being the opinion of the states or the stadholder. after conferring with his masters, the monk came down by agreement from antwerp to the dutch ships which lay in the, scheld before fort lillo. on board one of these, dirk van der does had been stationed with a special commission from the states to compare documents. it was expressly ordered that in these preliminary negotiations neither party was to go on shore. on a comparison of the agreement brought by neyen from brussels with the draught furnished by barneveld, of which van der does had a copy, so many discrepancies appeared that the document of the archdukes was at once rejected. but of course the monk had a number two, and this, after some trouble, was made to agree with the prescribed form. brother john then, acting upon what he considered the soundest of principles--that no job was so difficult as not to be accomplished with the help of the precious metals--offered his fellow negotiator a valuable gold chain as a present from the archdukes. dirk van der does accepted the chain, but gave notice of the fact to his government. the monk now became urgent to accompany his friend to the hague, but this had been expressly forbidden by the states. neyen felt sure, he said, of being able by arguments, which he could present by word of mouth, to overcome the opposition to the armistice were he once more to be admitted to the assembly. van der does had already much overstaid his appointed time, bound to the spot, as it were, by the golden chain thrown around him by the excellent friar, and he now, in violation of orders, wrote to the hague for leave to comply with this request. pending the answer, the persuasive neyen convinced him, much against his will, that they might both go together as far as delft. to delft they accordingly went; but, within half a league of that place, met a courier with strict orders that the monk was at once to return to brussels. brother john was in great agitation. should he go back, the whole negotiation might come to nought; should he go on, he might be clapped into prison as a spy. being conscious, however, that his services as a spy were intended to be the most valuable part of his mission, he resolved to proceed in that capacity. so he persuaded his friend dirk to hide him in the hold of a canal-boat. van der does was in great trepidation himself, but on reaching the hague and giving up his gold chain to barneveld, he made his peace, and obtained leave for the trembling but audacious friar to come out of his hiding-place. appearing once more before the states-general on the afternoon of th may, neyen urged with much eloquence the propriety of an immediate armistice both by sea and land, insisting that it would be a sanguinary farce to establish a cessation of hostilities upon one element while blood and treasure were profusely flowing on the oceans. there were potent reasons for this earnestness on the part of the monk to procure a truce to maritime operations, as very soon was to be made evident to the world. meantime, on this renewed visit, the negotiator expressed himself as no longer doubtful in regard to the propriety of requesting the spanish king's consent to the proposed negotiations. that consent, however, would in his opinion depend upon the earnestness now to be manifested by the states in establishing the armistice by sea and land, and upon their promptness in recalling the fleets now infesting the coast of spain. no immediate answer was given to these representations, but neyen was requested to draw up his argument in writing, in order that it might be duly pondered by the states of the separate provinces. the radical defect of the dutch constitution--the independent sovereignty claimed by each one of the provinces composing the confederation, each of those provinces on its part being composed of cities, each again claiming something very like sovereignty for itself--could not fail to be manifested whenever, great negotiations with foreign powers were to be undertaken. to obtain the unanimous consent of seven independent little republics was a work of difficulty, requiring immense expenditure of time in comparatively unimportant contingencies. how intolerable might become the obstructions, the dissensions, and the delays, now that a series of momentous and world-wide transactions was beginning, on the issue of which the admission of a new commonwealth into the family of nations, the international connections of all the great powers of christendom, the commerce of the world, and the peace of europe depended. yet there was no help for it but to make the best present use of the institutions which time and great events had bestowed upon the young republic, leaving to a more convenient season the task of remodelling the law. meanwhile, with men who knew their own minds, who meant to speak the truth, and who were resolved to gather in at last the harvest honestly and bravely gained by nearly a half-century of hard fighting, it would be hard for a legion of friars, with their heads full of quirks and their wallets full of bills of exchange, to carry the day for despotism. barneveld was sincerely desirous of peace. he was well aware that his province of holland, where he was an intellectual autocrat, was staggering under the burden of one half the expenses of the whole republic. he knew that holland in the course of the last nine years, notwithstanding the constantly heightened rate of impost on all objects of ordinary consumption, was twenty-six millions of florins behindhand, and that she had reason therefore to wish for peace. the great advocate, than whom no statesman in europe could more accurately scan the world's horizon, was convinced that the propitious moment for honourable straightforward negotiations to secure peace, independence, and free commerce, free religion and free government, had come, and he had succeeded in winning the reluctant maurice into a partial adoption, at least, of his opinions. the franciscan remained at delft, waiting, by direction of the states, for an answer to his propositions, and doing his best according to the instructions of his own government to espy the condition and sentiments of the enemy. becoming anxious after the lapse of a fortnight, he wrote to barneveld. in reply the advocate twice sent a secret messenger, urging, him to be patient, assuring him that the affair was working well; that the opposition to peace came chiefly from zeeland and from certain parties in amsterdam vehemently opposed to peace or truce; but that the rest of holland was decidedly in favour of the negotiations. a few days passed, and neyen was again summoned before the assembly. barneveld now informed him that the dutch fleet would be recalled from the coast of spain so soon as the consent of his catholic majesty to the negotiations arrived, but that it would be necessary to confine the cessation of naval warfare within certain local limits. both these conditions were strenuously opposed by the franciscan, who urged that the consent of the spanish king was certain, but that this new proposition to localize the maritime armistice would prove to be fraught with endless difficulties and dangers. barneveld and the states remaining firm, however, and giving him a formal communication of their decision in writing, neyen had nothing for it but to wend his way back rather malcontent to brussels. it needed but a brief deliberation at the court of the archdukes to bring about the desired arrangement. the desire for an armistice, especially for a cessation of hostilities by sea, had been marvellously stimulated by an event to be narrated in the next chapter. meantime, more than the first three months of the year had been passed in these secret preliminary transactions, and so softly had the stealthy friar sped to and fro between brussels and the hague, that when at last the armistice was announced it broke forth like a sudden flash of fine weather in the midst of a raging storm. no one at the archduke's court knew of the mysterious negotiations save the monk himself, spinola, richardot, verreycken, the chief auditor, and one or two others. the great belgian nobles, from whom everything had been concealed, were very wroth, but the belgian public was as much delighted as amazed at the prospects of peace. in the united provinces opinions were conflicting, but doubtless joy and confidence were the prevailing emotions. towards the middle of april the armistice was publicly announced. it was to last for eight months from the th of may. during this period no citadels were to be besieged, no camps brought near a city, no new fortifications built, and all troops were to be kept carefully within walls. meantime commissioners were to be appointed by the archdukes to confer with an equal number of deputies of the united provinces for peace or for a truce of ten, fifteen, or twenty years, on the express ground that the archdukes regarded the united provinces as free countries, over which their highnesses pretended to no authority. the armistice on land was absolute. on sea, hostilities were to cease in the german ocean and in the channel between england and france, while it was also provided that the netherland fleet should, within a certain period, be recalled from the spanish coast. a day of public fast, humiliation, thanksgiving, and prayer was ordered throughout the republic for the th of may, in order to propitiate the favour of heaven on the great work to be undertaken; and, as a further precaution, prince maurice ordered all garrisons in the strong places to be doubled, lest the slippery enemy should take advantage of too much confidence reposed in his good faith. the preachers throughout the commonwealth, each according to his individual bias, improved the occasion by denouncing the spaniard from their pulpits and inflaming the popular hatred against the ancient enemy, or by dilating on the blessings of peace and the horrors of war. the peace party and the war party, the believers in barneveld and the especial adherents of prince maurice, seemed to divide the land in nearly equal portions. while the netherlands, both rebellious and obedient, were filled with these various emotions, the other countries of europe were profoundly amazed at the sudden revelation. it was on the whole regarded as a confession of impotence on the part of spain that the archdukes should now prepare to send envoys to the revolted provinces as to a free and independent people. universal monarchy, brought to such a pass as this, was hardly what had been expected after the tremendous designs and the grandiloquent language on which the world had so long been feeding as its daily bread. the spectacle of anointed monarchs thus far humbling themselves to the people of rebellion dictating terms, instead of writhing in dust at the foot of the throne--was something new in history. the heavens and earth might soon be expected to pass away, now that such a catastrophe was occurring. the king of france had also been kept in ignorance of these events. it was impossible, however, that the negotiations could go forward without his consent and formal participation. accordingly on receiving the news he appointed an especial mission to the hague--president jeannin and de russy, besides his regular resident ambassador buzanval. meantime startling news reached the republic in the early days of may. etext editor's bookmarks: a penal offence in the republic to talk of peace or of truce accepting a new tyrant in place of the one so long ago deposed as if they were free will not make them free as neat a deception by telling the truth cargo of imaginary gold dust was exported from the james river delay often fights better than an army against a foreign invader diplomacy of spain and rome--meant simply dissimulation draw a profit out of the necessities of this state england hated the netherlands friendly advice still more intolerable haereticis non servanda fides he who confessed well was absolved well insensible to contumely, and incapable of accepting a rebuff languor of fatigue, rather than any sincere desire for peace much as the blind or the deaf towards colour or music subtle and dangerous enemy who wore the mask of a friend word peace in spanish mouths simply meant the holy inquisition history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter xlvii. a dutch fleet under heemskerk sent to the coast of spain and portugal--encounter with the spanish war fleet under d'avila--death of both commanders-in-chief--victory of the netherlanders--massacre of the spaniards. the states-general had not been inclined to be tranquil under the check which admiral haultain had received upon the coast of spain in the autumn of . the deed of terrible self-devotion by which klaaszoon and his comrades had in that crisis saved the reputation of the republic, had proved that her fleets needed only skilful handling and determined leaders to conquer their enemy in the western seas as certainly as they had done in the archipelagos of the east. and there was one pre-eminent naval commander, still in the very prime of life, but seasoned by an experience at the poles and in the tropics such as few mariners in that early but expanding maritime epoch could boast. jacob van heemskerk, unlike many of the navigators and ocean warriors who had made and were destined to make the orange flag of the united provinces illustrious over the world, was not of humble parentage. sprung of an ancient, knightly race, which had frequently distinguished itself in his native province of holland, he had followed the seas almost from his cradle. by turns a commercial voyager, an explorer, a privateer's-man, or an admiral of war-fleets, in days when sharp distinctions between the merchant service and the public service, corsairs' work and cruisers' work, did not exist, he had ever proved himself equal to any emergency--a man incapable of fatigue, of perplexity, or of fear. we have followed his career during that awful winter in nova zembla, where, with such unflinching cheerful heroism, he sustained the courage of his comrades--the first band of scientific martyrs that had ever braved the dangers and demanded the secrets of those arctic regions. his glorious name--as those of so many of his comrades and countrymen--has been rudely torn from cape, promontory, island, and continent, once illustrated by courage and suffering, but the noble record will ever remain. subsequently he had much navigated the indian ocean; his latest achievement having been, with two hundred men, in a couple of yachts, to capture an immense portuguese carrack, mounting thirty guns, and manned with eight hundred sailors, and to bring back a prodigious booty for the exchequer of the republic. a man with delicate features, large brown eyes, a thin high nose, fair hair and beard, and a soft, gentle expression, he concealed, under a quiet exterior, and on ordinary occasions a very plain and pacific costume, a most daring nature, and an indomitable ambition for military and naval distinction. he was the man of all others in the commonwealth to lead any new enterprise that audacity could conceive against the hereditary enemy. the public and the states-general were anxious to retrace the track of haultain, and to efface the memory of his inglorious return from the spanish coast. the sailors of holland and zeeland were indignant that the richly freighted fleets of the two indies had been allowed to slip so easily through their fingers. the great east india corporation was importunate with government that such blunders should not be repeated, and that the armaments known to be preparing in the portuguese ports, the homeward-bound fleets that might be looked for at any moment off the peninsular coast, and the spanish cruisers which were again preparing to molest the merchant fleets of the company, should be dealt with effectively and in season. twenty-six vessels of small size but of good sailing qualities, according to the idea of the epoch, were provided, together with four tenders. of this fleet the command was offered to jacob van heemskerk. he accepted with alacrity, expressing with his usual quiet self-confidence the hope that, living or dead, his fatherland would have cause to thank him. inspired only by the love of glory, he asked for no remuneration for his services save thirteen per cent. of the booty, after half a million florins should have been paid into the public treasury. it was hardly probable that this would prove a large share of prize money, while considerable victories alone could entitle him to receive a stiver. the expedition sailed in the early days of april for the coast of spain and portugal, the admiral having full discretion to do anything that might in his judgment redound to the advantage of the republic. next in command was the vice-admiral of zeeland, laurenz alteras. another famous seaman in the fleet was captain henry janszoon of amsterdam, commonly called long harry, while the weather-beaten and well-beloved admiral lambert, familiarly styled by his countrymen "pretty lambert," some of whose achievements have already been recorded in these pages, was the comrade of all others upon whom heemskerk most depended. after the th april the admiral, lying off and on near the mouth of the tagus, sent a lugger in trading disguise to reconnoitre that river. he ascertained by his spies, sent in this and subsequently in other directions, as well as by occasional merchantmen spoken with at sea, that the portuguese fleet for india would not be ready to sail for many weeks; that no valuable argosies were yet to be looked for from america, but that a great war-fleet, comprising many galleons of the largest size, was at that very moment cruising in the straits of gibraltar. such of the netherland traders as were returning from the levant, as well as those designing to enter the mediterranean, were likely to fall prizes to this formidable enemy. the heart of jacob heemskerk danced for joy. he had come forth for glory, not for booty, and here was what he had scarcely dared to hope for--a powerful antagonist instead of peaceful, scarcely resisting, but richly-laden merchantmen. the accounts received were so accurate as to assure him that the gibraltar fleet was far superior to his own in size of vessels, weight of metal, and number of combatants. the circumstances only increased his eagerness. the more he was over-matched, the greater would be the honour of victory, and he steered for the straits, tacking to and fro in the teeth of a strong head-wind. on the morning of the th april he was in the narrowest part of the mountain-channel, and learned that the whole spanish fleet was in the bay of gibraltar. the marble pillar of hercules rose before him. heemskerk was of a poetic temperament, and his imagination was inflamed by the spectacle which met his eyes. geographical position, splendour of natural scenery, immortal fable, and romantic history, had combined to throw a spell over that region. it seemed marked out for perpetual illustration by human valour. the deeds by which, many generations later, those localities were to become identified with the fame of a splendid empire--then only the most energetic rival of the young republic, but destined under infinitely better geographical conditions to follow on her track of empire, and with far more prodigious results--were still in the womb of futurity. but st. vincent, trafalgar, gibraltar--words which were one day to stir the english heart, and to conjure heroic english shapes from the depths so long as history endures--were capes and promontories already familiar to legend and romance. those netherlanders had come forth from their slender little fatherland to offer battle at last within his own harbours and under his own fortresses to the despot who aspired to universal monarchy, and who claimed the lordship of the seas. the hollanders and zeelanders had gained victories on the german ocean, in the channel, throughout the indies, but now they were to measure strength with the ancient enemy in this most conspicuous theatre, and before the eyes of christendom. it was on this famous spot that the ancient demigod had torn asunder by main strength the continents of europe and africa. there stood the opposite fragments of the riven mountain-chain, calpe and abyla, gazing at each other, in eternal separation, across the gulf, emblems of those two antagonistic races which the terrible hand of destiny has so ominously disjoined. nine centuries before, the african king, moses son of nuzir, and his lieutenant, tarik son of abdallah, had crossed that strait and burned the ships which brought them. black africa had conquered a portion of whiter europe, and laid the foundation of the deadly mutual repugnance which nine hundred years of bloodshed had heightened into insanity of hatred. tarik had taken the town and mountain, carteia and calpe, and given to both his own name. gib-al-tarik, the cliff of tarik, they are called to this day. within the two horns of that beautiful bay, and protected by the fortress on the precipitous rock, lay the spanish fleet at anchor. there were ten galleons of the largest size, besides lesser war-vessels and carracks, in all twenty-one sail. the admiral commanding was don juan alvarez d'avila, a veteran who had fought at lepanto under don john of austria. his son was captain of his flag-ship, the st. augustine. the vice-admiral's galleon was called 'our lady of la vega,' the rear-admiral's was the 'mother of god,' and all the other ships were baptized by the holy names deemed most appropriate, in the spanish service, to deeds of carnage. on the other hand, the nomenclature of the dutch ships suggested a menagerie. there was the tiger, the sea dog, the griffin, the red lion, the golden lion, the black bear, the white bear; these, with the aeolus and the morning star, were the leading vessels of the little fleet. on first attaining a distant view of the enemy, heemskerk summoned all the captains on board his flag-ship, the aeolus, and addressed them in a few stirring words. "it is difficult," he said, "for netherlanders not to conquer on salt water. our fathers have gained many a victory in distant seas, but it is for us to tear from the enemy's list of titles his arrogant appellation of monarch of the ocean. here, on the verge of two continents, europe is watching our deeds, while the moors of africa are to learn for the first time in what estimation they are to hold the batavian republic. remember that you have no choice between triumph and destruction. i have led you into a position whence escape is impossible--and i ask of none of you more than i am prepared to do myself--whither i am sure that you will follow. the enemy's ships are far superior to ours in bulk; but remember that their excessive size makes them difficult to handle and easier to hit, while our own vessels are entirely within control. their decks are swarming with men, and thus there will be more certainty that our shot will take effect. remember, too, that we are all sailors, accustomed from our cradles to the ocean; while yonder spaniards are mainly soldiers and landsmen, qualmish at the smell of bilgewater, and sickening at the roll of the waves. this day begins a long list of naval victories, which will make our fatherland for ever illustrious, or lay the foundation of an honourable peace, by placing, through our triumph, in the hands of the states-general, the power of dictating its terms." his comrades long remembered the enthusiasm which flashed from the man, usually so gentle and composed in demeanour, so simple in attire. clad in complete armour, with the orange-plumes waving from his casque and the orange-scarf across his breast, he stood there in front of the mainmast of the aeolus, the very embodiment of an ancient viking. he then briefly announced his plan of attack. it was of antique simplicity. he would lay his own ship alongside that of the spanish admiral. pretty lambert in the tiger was to grapple with her on the other side. vice-admiral alteras and captain bras were to attack the enemy's vice-admiral in the same way. thus, two by two, the little netherland ships were to come into closest quarters with each one of the great galleons. heemskerk would himself lead the way, and all were to follow, as closely as possible, in his wake. the oath to stand by each other was then solemnly renewed, and a parting health was drunk. the captains then returned to their ships. as the lepanto warrior, don juan d'avila, saw the little vessels slowly moving towards him, he summoned a hollander whom he had on board, one skipper gevaerts of a captured dutch trading bark, and asked him whether those ships in the distance were netherlanders. "not a doubt of it," replied the skipper. the admiral then asked him what their purpose could possibly be, in venturing so near gibraltar. "either i am entirely mistaken in my countrymen," answered gevaerta, "or they are coming for the express purpose of offering you battle." the spaniard laughed loud and long. the idea that those puny vessels could be bent on such a purpose seemed to him irresistibly comic, and he promised his prisoner, with much condescension, that the st. augustine alone should sink the whole fleet. gevaerts, having his own ideas on the subject, but not being called upon to express them, thanked the admiral for his urbanity, and respectfully withdrew. at least four thousand soldiers were in d'avila's ships, besides seamen. there were seven hundred in the st. augustine, four hundred and fifty in our lady of vega, and so on in proportion. there were also one or two hundred noble volunteers who came thronging on board, scenting the battle from afar, and desirous of having a hand in the destruction of the insolent dutchmen. it was about one in the afternoon. there was not much wind, but the hollanders, slowly drifting on the eternal river that pours from the atlantic into the mediterranean, were now very near. all hands had been piped on board every one of the ships, all had gone down on their knees in humble prayer, and the loving cup had then been passed around. heemskerk, leading the way towards the spanish admiral, ordered the gunners of the bolus not to fire until the vessels struck each other. "wait till you hear it crack," he said, adding a promise of a hundred florins to the man who should pull down the admiral's flag. avila, notwithstanding his previous merriment, thought it best, for the moment, to avoid the coming collision. leaving to other galleons, which he interposed between himself and the enemy, the task of summarily sinking the dutch fleet, he cut the cable of the st. augustine and drifted farther into the bay. heemskerk, not allowing himself to be foiled in his purpose, steered past two or three galleons, and came crashing against the admiral. almost simultaneously, pretty lambert laid himself along her quarter on the other side. the st. augustine fired into the aeolus as she approached, but without doing much damage. the dutch admiral, as he was coming in contact, discharged his forward guns, and poured an effective volley of musketry into his antagonist. the st. augustine fired again, straight across the centre of the bolus, at a few yards' distance. a cannon-ball took off the head of a sailor, standing near heemskerk, and carried away the admiral's leg, close to the body. he fell on deck, and, knowing himself to be mortally wounded, implored the next in command on board, captain verhoef, to fight his ship to the last, and to conceal his death from the rest of the fleet. then prophesying a glorious victory for republic, and piously commending his soul to his maker, he soon breathed his last. a cloak was thrown over him, and the battle raged. the few who were aware that the noble heemskerk was gone, burned to avenge his death, and to obey the dying commands of their beloved chief. the rest of the hollanders believed themselves under his directing influence, and fought as if his eyes were upon them. thus the spirit of the departed hero still watched over and guided the battle. the aeolus now fired a broadside into her antagonist, making fearful havoc, and killing admiral d'avila. the commanders-in-chief of both contending fleets had thus fallen at the very beginning of the battle. while the st. augustine was engaged in deadly encounter, yardarm and yardarm, with the aeolus and the tiger, vice-admiral alteras had, however, not carried out his part of the plan. before he could succeed in laying himself alongside of the spanish vice-admiral, he had been attacked by two galleons. three other dutch ships, however, attacked the vice-admiral, and, after an obstinate combat, silenced all her batteries and set her on fire. her conquerors were then obliged to draw off rather hastily, and to occupy themselves for a time in extinguishing their own burning sails, which had taken fire from the close contact with their enemy. our lady of vega, all ablaze from top-gallant-mast to quarterdeck, floated helplessly about, a spectre of flame, her guns going off wildly, and her crew dashing themselves into the sea, in order to escape by drowning from a fiery death. she was consumed to the water's edge. meantime, vice-admiral alteras had successively defeated both his antagonists; drifting in with them until almost under the guns of the fortress, but never leaving them until, by his superior gunnery and seamanship, he had sunk one of them, and driven the other a helpless wreck on shore. long harry, while alteras had been thus employed, had engaged another great galleon, and set her on fire. she, too, was thoroughly burned to her hulk; but admiral harry was killed. by this time, although it was early of an april afternoon, and heavy clouds of smoke, enveloping the combatants pent together in so small a space, seemed to make an atmosphere of midnight, as the flames of the burning galleons died away. there was a difficulty, too, in bringing all the netherland ships into action--several of the smaller ones having been purposely stationed by heemskerk on the edge of the bay to prevent the possible escape of any of the spaniards. while some of these distant ships were crowding sail, in order to come to closer quarters, now that the day seemed going against the spaniards, a tremendous explosion suddenly shook the air. one of the largest galleons, engaged in combat with a couple of dutch vessels, had received a hot shot full in her powder magazine, and blew up with all on board. the blazing fragments drifted about among the other ships, and two more were soon on fire, their guns going off and their magazines exploding. the rock of gibraltar seemed to reel. to the murky darkness succeeded the intolerable glare of a new and vast conflagration. the scene in that narrow roadstead was now almost infernal. it seemed, said an eye-witness, as if heaven and earth were passing away. a hopeless panic seized the spaniards. the battle was over. the st. augustine still lay in the deadly embrace of her antagonists, but all the other galleons were sunk or burned. several of the lesser war-ships had also been destroyed. it was nearly sunset. the st. augustine at last ran up a white flag, but it was not observed in the fierceness of the last moments of combat; the men from the bolus and the tiger making a simultaneous rush on board the vanquished foe. the fight was done, but the massacre was at its beginning. the trumpeter, of captain kleinsorg clambered like a monkey up the mast of the st. augustine, hauled down the admiral's flag, the last which was still waving, and gained the hundred florins. the ship was full of dead and dying; but a brutal, infamous butchery now took place. some netherland prisoners were found in the hold, who related that two messengers had been successively despatched to take their lives, as they lay there in chains, and that each had been shot, as he made his way towards the execution of the orders. this information did not chill the ardour of their victorious countrymen. no quarter was given. such of the victims as succeeded in throwing themselves overboard, out of the st. augustine, or any of the burning or sinking ships, were pursued by the netherlanders, who rowed about among them in boats, shooting, stabbing, and drowning their victims by hundreds. it was a sickening spectacle. the bay, said those who were there, seemed sown with corpses. probably two or three thousand were thus put to death, or had met their fate before. had the chivalrous heemskerk lived, it is possible that he might have stopped the massacre. but the thought of the grief which would fill the commonwealth when the news should arrive of his death--thus turning the joy of the great triumph into lamentations--increased the animosity of his comrades. moreover, in ransacking the spanish admiral's ship, all his papers had been found, among them many secret instructions from government signed "the king;" ordering most inhuman persecutions, not only of the netherlanders, but of all who should in any way assist them, at sea or ashore. recent examples of the thorough manner in which the royal admirals could carry out these bloody instructions had been furnished by the hangings, burnings, and drownings of fazardo. but the barbarous ferocity of the dutch on this occasion might have taught a lesson even to the comrades of alva. the fleet of avila was entirely destroyed. the hulk of the st. augustine drifted ashore, having been abandoned by the victors, and was set on fire by a few spaniards who had concealed themselves on board, lest she might fall again into the enemy's hands. the battle had lasted from half-past three until sunset. the dutch vessels remained all the next day on the scene of their triumph. the townspeople were discerned, packing up their goods, and speeding panic-struck into the interior. had heemskerk survived he would doubtless have taken gibraltar--fortress and town--and perhaps cadiz, such was the consternation along the whole coast. but his gallant spirit no longer directed the fleet. bent rather upon plunder than glory, the ships now dispersed in search of prizes towards the azores, the canaries, or along the portuguese coast; having first made a brief visit to tetuan, where they were rapturously received by the bey. the hollanders lost no ships, and but one hundred seamen were killed. two vessels were despatched homeward directly, one with sixty wounded sailors, the other with the embalmed body of the fallen heemskerk. the hero was honoured with a magnificent funeral in amsterdam at the public expense--the first instance in the history of the republic--and his name was enrolled on the most precious page of her records. [the chief authorities for this remarkable battle are meteren, , . grotius, xvi. - . wagenaar, ix. - .] chapter xlviii. internal condition of spain--character of the people--influence of the inquisition--population and revenue--incomes of church and government--degradation of labour--expulsion of the moors and its consequences--venality the special characteristic of spanish polity --maxims of the foreign polity of spain--the spanish army and navy-- insolvent state of the government--the duke of lerma--his position in the state--origin of his power--system of bribery and trafficking--philip iii. his character--domestic life of the king and queen. a glance at the interior condition of spain, now that there had been more than nine years of a new reign, should no longer be deferred. spain was still superstitiously regarded as the leading power of the world, although foiled in all its fantastic and gigantic schemes. it was still supposed, according to current dogma, to share with the ottoman empire the dominion of the earth. a series of fortunate marriages having united many of the richest and fairest portions of europe under a single sceptre, it was popularly believed in a period when men were not much given as yet to examine very deeply the principles of human governments or the causes of national greatness, that an aggregation of powers which had resulted from preposterous laws of succession really constituted a mighty empire, founded by genius and valour. the spanish people, endowed with an acute and exuberant genius, which had exhibited itself in many paths of literature, science, and art; with a singular aptitude for military adventure, organization, and achievement; with a great variety, in short, of splendid and ennobling qualities; had been, for a long succession of years, accursed with almost the very worst political institutions known to history. the depth of their misery and of their degradation was hardly yet known to themselves, and this was perhaps the most hideous proof of the tyranny of which they had been the victims. to the outward world, the hollow fabric, out of which the whole pith and strength had been slowly gnawed away, was imposing and majestic still. but the priest, the soldier, and the courtier had been busy too long, and had done their work too thoroughly, to leave much hope of arresting the universal decay. nor did there seem any probability that the attempt would be made. it is always difficult to reform wide-spread abuses, even when they are acknowledged to exist, but when gigantic vices are proudly pointed to as the noblest of institutions and as the very foundations of the state, there seems nothing for the patriot to long for but the deluge. it was acknowledged that the spanish population--having a very large admixture of those races which, because not catholic at heart, were stigmatized as miscreants, heretics, pagans, and, generally, as accursed--was by nature singularly prone to religious innovation. had it not been for the holy inquisition, it was the opinion of acute and thoughtful observers in the beginning of the seventeenth century, that the infamous heresies of luther, calvin, and the rest, would have long before taken possession of the land. to that most blessed establishment it was owing that spain had not polluted itself in the filth and ordure of the reformation, and had been spared the horrible fate which had befallen large portions of germany, france, britain, and other barbarous northern nations. it was conscientiously and thankfully believed in spain, two centuries ago, that the state had been saved from political and moral ruin by that admirable machine which detected heretics with unerring accuracy, burned them when detected, and consigned their descendants to political incapacity and social infamy to the remotest generation. as the awful consequences of religious freedom, men pointed with a shudder to the condition of nations already speeding on the road to ruin, from which the two peninsulas at least had been saved. yet the british empire, with the american republic still an embryo in its bosom, france, north germany, and other great powers, had hardly then begun their headlong career. whether the road of religious liberty was leading exactly to political ruin, the coming centuries were to judge. enough has been said in former chapters for the characterization of philip ii. and his polity. but there had now been nearly ten years of another reign. the system, inaugurated by charles and perfected by his son, had reached its last expression under philip iii. the evil done by father and son lived and bore plentiful fruit in the epoch of the grandson. and this is inevitable in history. no generation is long-lived enough to reap the harvest, whether of good or evil, which it sows. philip ii. had been indefatigable in evil, a thorough believer in his supernatural mission as despot, not entirely without capacity for affairs, personally absorbed by the routine of his bureau. he was a king, as he understood the meaning of the kingly office. his policy was continued after his death; but there was no longer a king. that important regulator to the governmental machinery was wanting. how its place was supplied will soon appear. meantime the organic functions were performed very much in the old way. there was, at least, no lack of priests or courtiers. spain at this epoch had probably less than twelve millions of inhabitants, although the statistics of those days cannot be relied upon with accuracy. the whole revenue of the state was nominally sixteen or seventeen millions of dollars, but the greater portion of that income was pledged for many coming years to the merchants of genoa. all the little royal devices for increasing the budget by debasing the coin of the realm, by issuing millions of copper tokens, by lowering the promised rate of interest on government loans, by formally repudiating both interest and principal, had been tried, both in this and the preceding reign, with the usual success. an inconvertible paper currency, stimulating industry and improving morals by converting beneficent commerce into baleful gambling--that fatal invention did not then exist. meantime, the legitimate trader and innocent citizen were harassed, and the general public endangered, as much as the limited machinery of the epoch permitted. the available, unpledged revenue of the kingdom hardly amounted to five millions of dollars a-year. the regular annual income of the church was at least six millions. the whole personal property of the nation was estimated in a very clumsy and unsatisfactory way, no doubt--at sixty millions of dollars. thus the income of the priesthood was ten per cent. of the whole funded estate of the country, and at least a million a year more than the income of the government. could a more biting epigram be made upon the condition to which the nation had been reduced? labour was more degraded than ever. the industrious classes, if such could be said to exist, were esteemed every day more and more infamous. merchants, shopkeepers, mechanics, were reptiles, as vilely, esteemed as jews, moors, protestants, or pagans. acquiring wealth by any kind of production was dishonourable. a grandee who should permit himself to sell the wool from his boundless sheep-walks disgraced his caste, and was accounted as low as a merchant. to create was the business of slaves and miscreants: to destroy was the distinguishing attribute of christians and nobles. to cheat, to pick, and to steal, on the most minute and the most gigantic scale--these were also among the dearest privileges of the exalted classes. no merchandize was polluting save the produce of honest industry. to sell places in church and state, the army, the navy, and the sacred tribunals of law, to take bribes from rich and poor, high and low; in sums infinitesimal or enormous, to pillage the exchequer in, every imaginable form, to dispose of titles of honour, orders of chivalry, posts in municipal council, at auction; to barter influence, audiences, official interviews against money cynically paid down in rascal counters--all this was esteemed consistent with patrician dignity. the ministers, ecclesiastics, and those about court, obtaining a monopoly of such trade, left the business of production and circulation to their inferiors, while, as has already been sufficiently indicated, religious fanaticism and a pride of race, which nearly amounted to idiocy, had generated a scorn for labour even among the lowest orders. as a natural consequence, commerce and the mechanical arts fell almost exclusively into the hands of foreigners--italians, english, and french--who resorted in yearly increasing numbers to spain for the purpose of enriching. themselves by the industry which the natives despised. the capital thus acquired was at regular intervals removed from the country to other lands, where wealth resulting from traffic or manufactures was not accounted infamous. moreover, as the soil of the country was held by a few great proprietors--an immense portion in the dead-hand of an insatiate and ever-grasping church, and much of the remainder in vast entailed estates--it was nearly impossible for the masses of the people to become owners of any portion of the land. to be an agricultural day-labourer at less than a beggar's wage could hardly be a tempting pursuit for a proud and indolent race. it was no wonder therefore that the business of the brigand, the smuggler, the professional mendicant became from year to year more attractive and more overdone; while an ever-thickening swarm of priests, friars, and nuns of every order, engendered out of a corrupt and decaying society, increasing the general indolence, immorality, and unproductive consumption, and frightfully diminishing the productive force of the country, fed like locusts upon what was left in the unhappy land. "to shirk labour, infinite numbers become priests and friars," said, a good catholic, in the year --[gir. soranzo]. before the end of the reign of philip iii. the peninsula, which might have been the granary of the world, did not produce food enough for its own population. corn became a regular article of import into spain, and would have come in larger quantities than it did had the industry of the country furnished sufficient material to exchange for necessary food. and as if it had been an object of ambition with the priests and courtiers who then ruled a noble country, to make at exactly this epoch the most startling manifestation of human fatuity that the world had ever seen, it was now resolved by government to expel by armed force nearly the whole stock of intelligent and experienced labour, agricultural and mechanical, from the country. it is unnecessary to dwell long upon an event which, if it were not so familiarly known to mankind, would seem almost incredible. but the expulsion of the moors is, alas! no exaggerated and imaginary satire, but a monument of wickedness and insanity such as is not often seen in human history. already, in the very first years of the century, john ribera, archbishop of valencia, had recommended and urged the scheme. it was too gigantic a project to be carried into execution at once, but it was slowly matured by the aid of other ecclesiastics. at last there were indications, both human and divine, that the expulsion of these miscreants could no longer be deferred. it was rumoured and believed that a general conspiracy existed among the moors to rise upon the government, to institute a general massacre, and, with the assistance of their allies and relatives on the barbary coast, to re-establish the empire of the infidels. a convoy of eighty ass-loads of oil on the way to madrid had halted at a wayside inn. a few flasks were stolen, and those who consumed it were made sick. some of the thieves even died, or were said to have died, in consequence. instantly the rumour flew from mouth to mouth, from town to town, that the royal family, the court, the whole capital, all spain, were to be poisoned with that oil. if such were the scheme it was certainly a less ingenious one than the famous plot by which the spanish government was suspected but a few years before to have so nearly succeeded in blowing the king, peers, and commons of england into the air. the proof of moorish guilt was deemed all-sufficient, especially as it was supported by supernatural evidence of the most portentous and convincing kind. for several days together a dark cloud, tinged with blood-red, had been seen to hang over valencia. in the neighbourhood of daroca, a din of, drums and trumpets and the clang of arms had been heard in the sky, just as a procession went out of a monastery. at valencia the image of the virgin had shed tears. in another place her statue had been discovered in a state of profuse perspiration. what more conclusive indications could be required as to the guilt of the moors? what other means devised for saving crown, church, and kingdom from destruction but to expel the whole mass of unbelievers from the soil which they had too long profaned? archbishop ribera was fully sustained by the archbishop of toledo, and the whole ecclesiastical body received energetic support from government. ribera had solemnly announced that the moors were so greedy of money, so determined to keep it, and so occupied with pursuits most apt for acquiring it, that they had come to be the sponge of spanish wealth. the best proof of this, continued the reverend sage, was that, inhabiting in general poor little villages and sterile tracts of country, paying to the lords of the manor one third of the crops, and being overladen with special taxes imposed only upon them, they nevertheless became rich, while the christians, cultivating the most fertile land, were in abject poverty. it seems almost incredible that this should not be satire. certainly the most delicate irony could not portray the vicious institutions under which the magnificent territory and noble people of spain were thus doomed to ruin more subtly end forcibly than was done by the honest brutality of this churchman. the careful tillage, the beautiful system of irrigation by aqueduct and canal, the scientific processes by which these "accursed" had caused the wilderness to bloom with cotton, sugar, and every kind of fruit and grain; the untiring industry, exquisite ingenuity, and cultivated taste by which the merchants, manufacturers, and mechanics, guilty of a darker complexion than that of the peninsular goths, had enriched their native land with splendid fabrics in cloth, paper, leather, silk, tapestry, and by so doing had acquired fortunes for themselves, despite iniquitous taxation, religious persecution, and social contumely--all these were crimes against a race of idlers, steeped to the lips in sloth which imagined itself to be pride. the industrious, the intelligent, the wealthy, were denounced as criminals, and hunted to death or into exile as vermin, while the lermas, the ucedas, and the rest of the brood of cormorants, settled more thickly than ever around their prey. meantime, government declared that the piece of four maravedis should be worth eight maravedis; the piece of two maravedis being fixed at four. thus the specie of the kingdom was to be doubled, and by means of this enlightened legislation, spain, after destroying agriculture, commerce, and manufacture, was to maintain great armies and navies, and establish universal monarchy. this measure, which a wiser churchman than ribera, cardinal richelieu, afterwards declared the most audacious and barbarous ever recorded by history, was carried out with great regularity of organization. it was ordained that the moors should be collected at three indicated points, whence they were not to move on pain of death, until duly escorted by troops to the ports of embarkation. the children under the age of four years were retained, of course without their parents, from whom they were forever separated. with admirable forethought, too, the priests took measures, as they supposed, that the arts of refining sugar, irrigating the rice-fields, constructing canals and aqueducts, besides many other useful branches of agricultural and mechanical business, should not die out with the intellectual, accomplished, and industrious race, alone competent to practise them, which was now sent forth to die. a very small number, not more than six in each hundred, were accordingly reserved to instruct other inhabitants of spain in those useful arts which they were now more than ever encouraged to despise. five hundred thousand full-grown human beings, as energetic, ingenious, accomplished, as any then existing in the world, were thus thrust forth into the deserts beyond sea, as if spain had been overstocked with skilled labour; and as if its native production had already outgrown the world's power of consumption. had an equal number of mendicant monks, with the two archbishops who had contrived this deed at their head, been exported instead of the moors, the future of spain might have been a more fortunate one than it was likely to prove. the event was in itself perhaps of temporary advantage to the dutch republic, as the poverty and general misery, aggravated by this disastrous policy, rendered the acknowledgment of the states' independence by spain almost a matter of necessity. it is superfluous to enter into any farther disquisiton as to the various branches of the royal revenue. they remained essentially the same as during the preceding reign, and have been elaborately set forth in a previous chapter. the gradual drying up of resources in all the wide-spread and heterogeneous territories subject to the spanish sceptre is the striking phenomenon of the present epoch. the distribution of such wealth as was still created followed the same laws which had long prevailed, while the decay and national paralysis, of which the prognostics could hardly be mistaken, were a natural result of the system. the six archbishops had now grown to eleven, and still received gigantic revenues; the income of the archbishop of toledo, including the fund of one hundred thousand destined for repairing the cathedral, being estimated at three hundred thousand dollars a year, that of the archbishop of seville and the others varying from one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to fifty thousand. the sixty-three bishops perhaps averaged fifty thousand a year each, and there were eight more in italy. the commanderies of chivalry, two hundred at least in number, were likewise enormously profitable. some of them were worth thirty thousand a year; the aggregate annual value being from one-and-a-half to two millions, and all in lerma's gift, upon his own terms. chivalry, that noblest of ideals, without which, in some shape or another, the world would be a desert and a sty; which included within itself many of the noblest virtues which can adorn mankind--generosity, self-denial, chastity, frugality, patience, protection to the feeble, the downtrodden, and the oppressed; the love of daring adventure, devotion to a pure religion and a lofty purpose, most admirably pathetic, even when in the eyes of the vulgar most fantastic--had been the proudest and most poetical of spanish characteristics, never to be entirely uprooted from the national heart. alas! what was there in the commanderies of calatrava, alcantara, santiago, and all the rest of those knightly orders, as then existing, to respond to the noble sentiments on which all were supposed to be founded? institutions for making money, for pillaging the poor of their hard-earned pittance, trafficked in by greedy ministers and needy courtiers with a shamelessness which had long ceased to blush at vices however gross, at venality however mean. venality was in truth the prominent characteristic of the spanish polity at this epoch. everything political or ecclesiastical, from highest to lowest, was matter of merchandize. it was the autocrat, governing king and kingdom, who disposed of episcopal mitres, cardinals' hats, commanders' crosses, the offices of regidores or municipal magistrates in all the cities, farmings of revenues, collectorships of taxes, at prices fixed by himself. it was never known that the pope refused to confirm the ecclesiastical nominations which were made by the spanish court. the nuncius had the privilege of dispensing the small cures from thirty dollars a year downwards, of which the number was enormous. many of these were capable, in careful hands, of becoming ten times as valuable as their nominal estimate, and the business in them became in consequence very extensive and lucrative. they were often disposed of for the benefit of servants and the hangers-on of noble families, to laymen, to women, children, to babes unborn. when such was the most thriving industry in the land, was it wonderful that the poor of high and low degree were anxious in ever-increasing swarms to effect their entrance into convent, monastery, and church, and that trade, agriculture, and manufactures languished? the foreign polity of the court remained as it had been established by philip ii. its maxims were very simple. to do unto your neighbour all possible harm, and to foster the greatness of spain by sowing discord and maintaining civil war in all other nations, was the fundamental precept. to bribe and corrupt the servants of other potentates, to maintain a regular paid bode of adherents in foreign lands, ever ready to engage in schemes of assassination, conspiracy, sedition, and rebellion against the legitimate authority, to make mankind miserable, so far as it was in the power of human force or craft to produce wretchedness, were objects still faithfully pursued. they had not yet led to the entire destruction of other realms and their submission to the single sceptre of spain, nor had they developed the resources, material or moral, of a mighty empire so thoroughly as might have been done perhaps by a less insidious policy, but they had never been abandoned. it was a steady object of policy to keep such potentates of italy as were not already under the dominion of the spanish crown in a state of internecine feud with each other and of virtual dependence on the powerful kingdom. the same policy pursued in france, of fomenting civil war by subsidy, force, and chicane, during a long succession of years in order to reduce that magnificent realm under the sceptre of philip, has been described in detail. the chronic rebellion of ireland against the english crown had been assisted and inflamed in every possible mode, the system being considered as entirely justified by the aid and comfort afforded by the queen to the dutch rebels. it was a natural result of the system according to which kingdoms and provinces with the populations dwelling therein were transferable like real estate by means of marriage-settlements, entails, and testaments, that the proprietorship of most of the great realms in christendom was matter of fierce legal dispute. lawsuits, which in chancery could last for centuries before a settlement of the various claims was made, might have infinitely enriched the gentlemen of the long robe and reduced all the parties to beggary, had there been any tribunal but the battle-field to decide among the august litigants. thus the king of great britain claimed the legal proprietorship and sovereignty of brittany, normandy, anjou, gascony, calais, and boulogne in france, besides the whole kingdom by right of conquest. the french king claimed to be rightful heir of castile, biscay, guipuscoa, arragon, navarre, nearly all the spanish peninsula in short, including the whole of portugal and the balearic islands to boot. the king of spain claimed, as we have seen often enough, not only brittany but all france as his lawful inheritance. such was the virtue of the prevalent doctrine of proprietorship. every potentate was defrauded of his rights, and every potentate was a criminal usurper. as for the people, it would have excited a smile of superior wisdom on regal, legal, or sacerdotal lips, had it been suggested that by any possibility the governed could have a voice or a thought in regard to the rulers whom god in his grace had raised up to be their proprietors and masters. the army of spain was sunk far below the standard at which it had been kept when it seemed fit to conquer and govern the world. neither by spain nor italy could those audacious, disciplined, and obedient legions be furnished, at which the enemies of the mighty despot trembled from one extremity of earth to the other. peculation, bankruptcy, and mutiny had done their work at last. we have recently had occasion to observe the conduct of the veterans in flanders at critical epochs. at this moment, seventy thousand soldiers were on the muster and pay roll of the army serving in those provinces, while not thirty thousand men existed in the flesh. the navy was sunk to fifteen or twenty old galleys, battered, dismantled, unseaworthy, and a few armed ships for convoying the east and west indiamen to and from their destinations. the general poverty was so great that it was often absolutely impossible to purchase food for the royal household. "if you ask me," said a cool observer, "how this great show of empire is maintained, when the funds are so small, i answer that it is done by not paying at all." the government was shamelessly, hopelessly bankrupt. the noble band of courtiers were growing enormously rich. the state was a carcase which unclean vultures were picking to the bones. the foremost man in the land--the autocrat, the absolute master in state and church--was the duke of lerma. very rarely in human history has an individual attained to such unlimited power under a monarchy, without actually placing the crown upon his own head. mayors of the palace, in the days of the do-nothing kings, wielded nothing like the imperial control which was firmly held by this great favourite. yet he was a man of very moderate capacity and limited acquirements, neither soldier, lawyer, nor priest. the duke was past sixty years of age, a tall, stately, handsome man, of noble presence and urbane manner. born of the patrician house of sandoval, he possessed, on the accession of philip, an inherited income of ten or twelve thousand dollars. he had now, including what he had bestowed on his son, a funded revenue of seven hundred thousand a year. he had besides, in cash, jewels, and furniture, an estimated capital of six millions. all this he had accumulated in ten years of service, as prime minister, chief equerry, and first valet of the chamber to the king. the tenure of his authority was the ascendancy of a firm character over a very weak one. at this moment he was doubtless the most absolute ruler in christendom, and philip iii. the most submissive and uncomplaining of his subjects. the origin of his power was well known. during the reign of philip ii., the prince, treated with great severity by his father, was looked upon with contempt by every one about court. he was allowed to take no part in affairs, and, having heard of the awful tragedy of his eldest half-brother, enacted ten years before his own birth, he had no inclination to confront the wrath of that terrible parent and sovereign before whom all spain trembled. nothing could have been more humble, more effaced, more obscure, than his existence as prince. the marquis of denia, his chamberlain, alone was kind to him, furnished him with small sums of money, and accompanied him on the shooting excursions in which his father occasionally permitted him to indulge. but even these little attentions were looked upon with jealousy by the king; so that the marquis was sent into honourable exile from court as governor of valencia. it was hoped that absence would wean the prince of his affection for the kind chamberlain. the calculation was erroneous. no sooner were the eyes of philip ii. closed in death than the new king made haste to send for denia, who was at once created duke of lerma, declared of the privy council, and appointed master of the horse and first gentleman of the bed-chamber. from that moment the favourite became supreme. he was entirely without education, possessed little experience in affairs of state, and had led the life of a commonplace idler and voluptuary until past the age of fifty. nevertheless he had a shrewd mother-wit, tact in dealing with men, aptitude to take advantage of events. he had directness of purpose, firmness of will, and always knew his own mind. from the beginning of his political career unto its end, he conscientiously and without swerving pursued a single aim. this was to rob the exchequer by every possible mode and at every instant of his life. never was a more masterly financier in this respect. with a single eye to his own interests, he preserved a magnificent unity in all his actions. the result had been to make him in ten years the richest subject in the world, as well as the most absolute ruler. he enriched his family, as a matter of course. his son was already made duke of uceda, possessed enormous wealth, and was supposed by those who had vision in the affairs of court to be the only individual ever likely to endanger the power of the father. others thought that the young duke's natural dulness would make it impossible for him to supplant the omnipotent favourite. the end was not yet, and time was to show which class of speculators was in the right. meantime the whole family was united and happy. the sons and daughters had intermarried with the infantados, and other most powerful and wealthy families of grandees. the uncle, sandoval, had been created by lerma a cardinal and archbishop of toledo; the king's own schoolmaster being removed from that dignity, and disgraced and banished from court for having spoken disrespectfully of the favourite. the duke had reserved for himself twenty thousand a year from the revenues of the archbishopric, as a moderate price for thus conducting himself as became a dutiful nephew. he had ejected rodrigo de vasquez from his post as president of the council. as a more conclusive proof of his unlimited sway than any other of his acts had been, he had actually unseated and banished the inquisitor-general, don pietro porto carrero, and supplanted him in that dread office, before which even anointed sovereigns trembled, by one of his own creatures. in the discharge of his various functions, the duke and all his family were domesticated in the royal palace, so that he was at no charges for housekeeping. his apartments there were more sumptuous than those of the king and queen. he had removed from court the dutchess of candia, sister of the great constable of castile, who had been for a time in attendance on the queen, and whose possible influence he chose to destroy in the bud. her place as mistress of the robes was supplied by his sister, the countess of lemos; while his wife, the terrible duchess of lerma, was constantly with the queen, who trembled at her frown. thus the royal pair were completely beleaguered, surrounded, and isolated from all except the lermas. when the duke conferred with the king, the doors were always double locked. in his capacity as first valet it was the duke's duty to bring the king's shirt in the morning, to see to his wardrobe and his bed, and to supply him with ideas for the day. the king depended upon him entirely and abjectly, was miserable when separated from him four-and-twenty hours, thought with the duke's thoughts and saw with the duke's eyes. he was permitted to know nothing of state affairs, save such portions as were communicated to him by lerma. the people thought their monarch bewitched, so much did he tremble before the favourite, and so unscrupulously did the duke appropriate for his own benefit and that of his creatures everything that he could lay his hands upon. it would have needed little to bring about a revolution, such was the universal hatred felt for the minister, and the contempt openly expressed for the king. the duke never went to the council. all papers and documents relating to business were sent to his apartments. such matters as he chose to pass upon, such decrees as he thought proper to issue, were then taken by him to the king, who signed them with perfect docility. as time went on, this amount of business grew too onerous for the royal hand, or this amount of participation by the king in affairs of state came to be esteemed superfluous and inconvenient by the duke, and his own signature was accordingly declared to be equivalent to that of the sovereign's sign-manual. it is doubtful whether such a degradation of the royal prerogative had ever been heard of before in a christian monarch. it may be imagined that this system of government was not of a nature to expedite business, however swiftly it might fill the duke's coffers. high officers of state, foreign ambassadors, all men in short charged with important affairs, were obliged to dance attendance for weeks and months on the one man whose hands grasped all the business of the kingdom, while many departed in despair without being able to secure a single audience. it was entirely a matter of trade. it was necessary to bribe in succession all the creatures of the duke before getting near enough to headquarters to bribe the duke himself. never were such itching palms. to do business at court required the purse of fortunatus. there was no deception in the matter. everything was frank and above board in that age of chivalry. ambassadors wrote to their sovereigns that there was no hope of making treaties or of accomplishing any negotiation except by purchasing the favour of the autocrat; and lerma's price was always high. at one period the republic of venice wished to put a stop to the depredations by spanish pirates upon venetian commerce, but the subject could not even be approached by the envoy until he had expended far more than could be afforded out of his meagre salary in buying an interview. when it is remembered that with this foremost power in the world affairs of greater or less importance were perpetually to be transacted by the representatives of other nations as well as by native subjects of every degree; that all these affairs were to pass through the hands of lerma, and that those hands had ever to be filled with coin, the stupendous opulence of the one man can be easily understood. whether the foremost power of the world, thus governed, were likely to continue the foremost power, could hardly seem doubtful to those accustomed to use their reason in judging of the things of this world. meantime the duke continued to transact business; to sell his interviews and his interest; to traffic in cardinals' hats, bishops' mitres, judges' ermine, civic and magisterial votes in all offices, high or humble, of church, army, or state. he possessed the art of remembering, or appearing to remember, the matters of business which had been communicated to him. when a negotiator, of whatever degree, had the good fortune to reach the presence, he found the duke to all appearance mindful of the particular affair which led to the interview, and fully absorbed by its importance. there were men who, trusting to the affability shown by the great favourite, and to the handsome price paid down in cash for that urbanity, had been known to go away from their interview believing that their business was likely to be accomplished, until the lapse of time revealed to them the wildness of their dream. the duke perhaps never manifested his omnipotence on a more striking scale than when by his own fiat he removed the court and the seat of government to valladolid, and kept it there six years long. this was declared by disinterested observers to be not only contrary to common sense, but even beyond the bounds of possibility. at madrid the king had splendid palaces, and in its neighbourhood beautiful country residences, a pure atmosphere, and the facility of changing the air at will. at valladolid there were no conveniences of any kind, no sufficient palace, no summer villa, no park, nothing but an unwholesome climate. but most of the duke's estates were in that vicinity, and it was desirable for him to overlook them in person. moreover, he wished to get rid of the possible influence over the king of the empress dowager maria, widow of maximilian ii. and aunt and grandmother of philip iii. the minister could hardly drive this exalted personage from court, so easily as he had banished the ex-archbishop of toledo, the inquisitor general, the duchess of candia, besides a multitude of lesser note. so he did the next best thing, and banished the court from the empress, who was not likely to put up with the inconveniences of valladolid for the sake of outrivalling the duke. this babylonian captivity lasted until madrid was nearly ruined, until the desolation of the capital, the moans of the trades-people, the curses of the poor, and the grumblings of the courtiers, finally produced an effect even upon the arbitrary lerma. he then accordingly re-emigrated, with king and government, to madrid, and caused it to be published that he had at last overcome the sovereign's repugnance to the old capital, and had persuaded him to abandon valladolid. there was but one man who might perhaps from his position have competed with the influence of lerma. this was the king's father-confessor, whom philip wished--although of course his wish was not gratified--to make a member of the council of state. the monarch, while submitting in everything secular to the duke's decrees, had a feeble determination to consult and to be guided by his confessor in all matters of conscience. as it was easy to suggest that high affairs of state, the duties of government, the interests of a great people, were matters not entirely foreign to the conscience of anointed kings, an opening to power might have seemed easy to an astute and ambitious churchman. but the dominican who kept philip's conscience, gasparo de cordova by name, was, fortunately for the favourite, of a very tender paste, easily moulded to the duke's purpose. dull and ignorant enough, he was not so stupid as to doubt that, should he whisper any suggestions or criticisms in regard to the minister's proceedings, the king would betray him and he would lose his office. the cautious friar accordingly held his peace and his place, and there was none to dispute the sway of the autocrat. what need to dilate further upon such a minister and upon such a system of government? to bribe and to be bribed, to maintain stipendiaries in every foreign government, to place the greatness of the empire upon the weakness, distraction, and misery of other nations, to stimulate civil war, revolts of nobles and citizens against authority; separation of provinces, religious discontents in every land of christendom--such were the simple rules ever faithfully enforced. the other members of what was called the council were insignificant. philip iii., on arriving at the throne, had been heard to observe that the day of simple esquires and persons of low condition was past, and that the turn of great nobles had come. it had been his father's policy to hold the grandees in subjection, and to govern by means of ministers who were little more than clerks, generally of humble origin; keeping the reins in his own hands. such great personages as he did employ, like alva, don john of austria, and farnese, were sure at last to excite his jealousy and to incur his hatred. forty-three years of this kind of work had brought spain to the condition in which the third philip found it. the new king thought to have found a remedy in discarding the clerks, and calling in the aid of dukes. philip ii. was at least a king. the very first act of philip iii. at his father's death was to abdicate. it was, however, found necessary to retain some members of the former government. fuentes, the best soldier and accounted the most dangerous man in the empire, was indeed kept in retirement as governor of milan, while cristoval di mora, who had enjoyed much of the late king's confidence, was removed to portugal as viceroy. but don john of idiaquez, who had really been the most efficient of the old administration, still remained in the council. without the subordinate aid of his experience in the routine of business, it would have been difficult for the favourite to manage the great machine with his single hand. but there was no disposition on the part of the ancient minister to oppose the new order of things. a cautious, caustic, dry old functionary, talking more with his shoulders than with his tongue, determined never to commit himself, or to risk shipwreck by venturing again into deeper waters than those of the harbour in which he now hoped for repose, idiaquez knew that his day of action was past. content to be confidential clerk to the despot duke, as he had been faithful secretary to the despot king, he was the despair of courtiers and envoys who came to pump, after having endeavoured to fill an inexhaustible cistern. thus he proved, on the whole, a useful and comfortable man, not to the country, but to its autocrat. of the count of chinchon, who at one time was supposed to have court influence because a dabbler in architecture, much consulted during the building of the escorial by philip ii. until the auditing of his accounts brought him into temporary disgrace, and the marquises of velada, villalonga, and other ministers, it is not necessary to speak. there was one man in the council, however, who was of great importance, wielding a mighty authority in subordination to the duke. this was don pietro de franqueza. an emancipated slave, as his name indicated, and subsequently the body-servant of lerma, he had been created by that minister secretary of the privy council. he possessed some of the virtues of the slave, such as docility and attachment to the hand that had fed and scourged him, and many vices of both slave and freedman. he did much of the work which it would have been difficult for the duke to accomplish in person, received his fees, sold and dispensed his interviews, distributed his bribes. in so doing, as might be supposed, he did not neglect his own interest. it was a matter of notoriety, no man knowing it better than the king, that no business, foreign or domestic, could be conducted or even begun at court without large preliminary fees to the secretary of the council, his wife, and his children. he had, in consequence, already accumulated an enormous fortune. his annual income, when it was stated, excited amazement. he was insolent and overbearing to all comers until his dues had been paid, when he became at once obliging, supple, and comparatively efficient. through him alone lay the path to the duke's sanctuary. the nominal sovereign, philip iii., was thirty years of age. a very little man, with pink cheeks, flaxen hair, and yellow beard, with a melancholy expression of eye, and protruding under lip and jaw, he was now comparatively alert and vigorous in constitution, although for the first seven years of his life it had been doubtful whether he would live from week to week. he had been afflicted during that period with a chronic itch or leprosy, which had undermined his strength, but which had almost entirely disappeared as he advanced in life. he was below mediocrity in mind, and had received scarcely any education. he had been taught to utter a few phrases, more or less intelligible, in french, italian, and flemish, but was quite incapable of sustaining a conversation in either of those languages. when a child, he had learned and subsequently forgotten the rudiments of the latin grammar. these acquirements, together with the catechism and the offices of the church, made up his whole stock of erudition. that he was devout as a monk of the middle ages, conforming daily and hourly to religious ceremonies, need scarcely be stated. it was not probable that the son of philip ii. would be a delinquent to church observances. he was not deficient in courage, rode well, was fond of hunting, kept close to the staghounds, and confronted, spear in hand, the wild-boar with coolness and success. he was fond of tennis, but his especial passion and chief accomplishment was dancing. he liked to be praised for his proficiency in this art, and was never happier than when gravely leading out the queen or his daughter, then four or five years of age--for he never danced with any one else--to perform a stately bolero. he never drank wine, but, on the other hand, was an enormous eater; so that, like his father in youth, he was perpetually suffering from stomach-ache as the effect of his gluttony. he was devotedly attached to his queen, and had never known, nor hardly looked at, any other woman. he had no vice but gambling, in which he indulged to a great extent, very often sitting up all night at cards. this passion of the king's was much encouraged by lerma, for obvious reasons. philip had been known to lose thirty thousand dollars at a sitting, and always to some one of the family or dependents of the duke, who of course divided with them the spoils. at one time the count of pelbes, nephew of lerma, had won two hundred thousand dollars in a very few nights from his sovereign. for the rest, philip had few peculiarities or foibles. he was not revengeful, nor arrogant, nor malignant. he was kind and affectionate to his wife and children, and did his best to be obedient to the duke of lerma. occasionally he liked to grant audiences, but there were few to request them. it was ridiculous and pathetic at the same time to see the poor king, as was very frequently the case, standing at a solemn green table till his little legs were tired, waiting to transact business with applicants who never came; while ushers, chamberlains, and valets were rushing up and down the corridors, bawling for all persons so disposed to come and have an audience of their monarch. meantime, the doors of the great duke's apartments in the same palace would be beleaguered by an army of courtiers, envoys, and contractors, who had paid solid gold for admission, and who were often sent away grumbling and despairing without entering the sacred precincts. as time wore on, the king, too much rebuked for attempting to meddle in state affairs, became solitary and almost morose, moping about in the woods by himself, losing satisfaction in his little dancing and ball-playing diversions, but never forgetting his affection for the queen nor the hours for his four daily substantial repasts of meats and pastry. it would be unnecessary and almost cruel to dwell so long upon a picture of what was after all not much better than human imbecility, were it not that humanity is, a more sacred thing than royalty. a satire upon such an embodiment of kingship is impossible, the simple and truthful characteristics being more effective than fiction or exaggeration. it would be unjust to exhume a private character after the lapse of two centuries merely to excite derision, but if history be not powerless to instruct, it certainly cannot be unprofitable to ponder the merits of a system which, after bestowing upon the world forty-three years of philip the tyrant, had now followed them up with a decade of philip the simpleton. in one respect the reigning sovereign was in advance of his age. in his devotion to the madonna he claimed the same miraculous origin for her mother as for herself. when the prayer "o sancta maria sine labe originali concepta" was chanted, he would exclaim with emotion that the words embodied his devoutest aspirations. he had frequent interviews with doctors of divinity on the subject, and instructed many bishops to urge upon the pope the necessity of proclaiming the virginity of the virgin's mother. could he secure this darling object of his ambition, he professed himself ready to make a pilgrimage on foot to rome. the pilgrimage was never made, for it may well be imagined that lerma would forbid any such adventurous scheme. meantime, the duke continued to govern the empire and to fill his coffers, and the king to shoot rabbits. the queen was a few years younger than her husband, and far from beautiful. indeed, the lower portion of her face was almost deformed. she was graceful, however, in her movements, and pleasing and gentle in manner. she adored the king, looking up to him with reverence as the greatest and wisest of beings. to please him she had upon her marriage given up drinking wine, which, for a german, was considered a great sacrifice. she recompensed herself, as the king did, by eating to an extent which, according to contemporary accounts, excited amazement. thus there was perfect sympathy between the two in the important article of diet. she had also learned to play at cards, in order to take a hand with him at any moment, feebly hoping that an occasional game for love might rescue the king from that frantic passion by which his health was shattered and so many courtiers were enriched. not being deficient in perception, the queen was quite aware of the greediness of all who surrounded the palace. she had spirit enough too to feel the galling tyranny to which the king was subjected. that the people hated the omnipotent favourite, and believed the king to be under the influence of sorcery, she was well aware. she had even a dim notion that the administration of the empire was not the wisest nor the noblest that could be devised for the first power in christendom. but considerations of high politics scarcely troubled her mind. of a people she had perhaps never heard, but she felt that the king was oppressed. she knew that he was helpless, and that she was herself his only friend. but of what avail were her timid little flutterings of indignation and resistance? so pure and fragile a creature could accomplish little good for king or people. perpetually guarded and surrounded by the countess of lemos and the duchess of lerma, she lived in mortal awe of both. as to the duke himself, she trembled at his very name. on her first attempts to speak with philip on political matters--to hint at the unscrupulous character of his government, to arouse him to the necessity of striking for a little more liberty and for at least a trifling influence in the state--the poor little king instantly betrayed her to the favourite and she was severely punished. the duke took the monarch off at once on a long journey, leaving her alone for weeks long with the terrible duchess and countess. never before had she been separated for a day from her husband, it having been the king's uniform custom to take her with him in all his expeditions. her ambition to interfere was thus effectually cured. the duke forbade her thenceforth ever to speak of politics to her husband in public or in private--not even in bed--and the king was closely questioned whether these orders had been obeyed. she submitted without a struggle. she saw how completely her happiness was at lerma's mercy. she had no one to consult with, having none but spanish people about her, except her german father-confessor, whom, as a great favour, and after a severe struggle, she had beep allowed to retain, as otherwise her ignorance of the national language would have made it impossible for her to confess her little sins. moreover her brothers, the archdukes at gratz, were in receipt of considerable annual stipends from the spanish exchequer, and the duke threatened to stop those pensions at once should the queen prove refractory. it is painful to dwell any longer on the abject servitude in which the king and queen were kept. the two were at least happy in each other's society, and were blessed with mutual affection, with pretty and engaging children, and with a similarity of tastes. it is impossible to imagine anything more stately, more devout, more regular, more innocent, more utterly dismal and insipid, than the lives of this wedded pair. this interior view of the court and council of spain will suffice to explain why, despite the languor and hesitations with which the transactions were managed, the inevitable tendency was towards a peace. the inevitable slowness, secrecy, and tergiversations were due to the dignity of the spanish court, and in harmony with its most sacred traditions. but what profit could the duke of lerma expect by the continuance of the dutch war, and who in spain was to be consulted except the duke of lerma? etext editor's bookmarks: a man incapable of fatigue, of perplexity, or of fear converting beneficent commerce into baleful gambling gigantic vices are proudly pointed to as the noblest no generation is long-lived enough to reap the harvest proclaiming the virginity of the virgin's mother steeped to the lips in sloth which imagined itself to be pride to shirk labour, infinite numbers become priests and friars history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter xlix. peace deliberations in spain--unpopularity of the project-- disaffection of the courtiers--complaints against spinola-- conference of the catholic party--position of henry iv. towards the republic--state of france further peace negotiations--desire of king james of england for the restoration of the states to spain--arrival of the french commissioners president jeannin before the states- general--dangers of a truce with spain--dutch legation to england-- arrival of lewis verreyken at the hague with philip's ratification-- rejection of the spanish treaty--withdrawal of the dutch fleet from the peninsula--the peace project denounced by the party of prince maurice--opposition of maurice to the plans of barneveld--amended ratification presented to the states-general--discussion of the conditions--determination to conclude a peace--indian trade-- exploits of admiral matelieff in the malay peninsula--he lays siege to malacca--victory over the spanish fleet--endeavour to open a trade with china--return of matelieff to holland. the marquis spinola had informed the spanish government that if , dollars a month could be furnished, the war might be continued, but that otherwise it would be better to treat upon the basis of 'uti possidetis,' and according to the terms proposed by the states-general. he had further intimated his opinion that, instead of waiting for the king's consent, it more comported with the king's dignity for the archdukes to enter into negotiations, to make a preliminary and brief armistice with the enemy, and then to solicit the royal approval of what had been done. in reply, the king--that is to say the man who thought, wrote, and signed in behalf of the king--had plaintively observed that among evils the vulgar rule was to submit to the least. although, therefore, to grant to the netherland rebels not only peace and liberty, but to concede to them whatever they had obtained by violence and the most abominable outrages, was the worst possible example to all princes; yet as the enormous sum necessary for carrying on the war was not to be had, even by attempting to scrape it together from every corner of the earth, he agreed with the opinion of the archdukes that it was better to put an end to this eternal and exhausting war by peace or truce, even under severe conditions. that the business had thus far proceeded without consulting him, was publicly known, and he expressed approval of the present movements towards a peace or a long truce, assuring spinola that such a result would be as grateful to him as if the war had been brought to a successful issue. when the marquis sent formal notice of the armistice to spain there were many complaints at court. men said that the measure was beneath the king's dignity, and contrary to his interests. it was a cessation of arms under iniquitous conditions, accorded to a people formerly subject and now rebellious. such a truce was more fatal than any conflict, than any amount of slaughter. during this long and dreadful war, the king had suffered no disaster so terrible as this, and the courtiers now declared openly that the archduke was the cause of the royal and national humiliation. having no children, nor hope of any, he desired only to live in tranquillity and selfish indulgence, like the indolent priest that he was, not caring what detriment or dishonour might accrue to the crown after his life was over. thus murmured the parasites and the plunderers within the dominions of the do-nothing philip, denouncing the first serious effort to put an end to a war which the laws of nature had proved to be hopeless on the part of spain. spinola too, who had spent millions of his own money, who had plunged himself into debt and discredit, while attempting to sustain the financial reputation of the king, who had by his brilliant services in the field revived the ancient glory of the spanish arms, and who now saw himself exposed with empty coffers to a vast mutiny, which was likely to make his future movements as paralytic as those of his immediate predecessors--spinola, already hated because he was an italian, because he was of a mercantile family, and because he had been successful, was now as much the object of contumely with the courtiers as with the archduke himself. the splendid victory of heemskerk had struck the government with dismay and diffused a panic along the coast. the mercantile fleets, destined for either india, dared not venture forth so long as the terrible dutch cruisers, which had just annihilated a splendid spanish fleet, commanded by a veteran of lepanto, and under the very guns of gibraltar, were supposed to be hovering off the peninsula. very naturally, therefore, there was discontent in spain that the cessation of hostilities had not originally been arranged for sea as well as land, and men said openly at court that spinola ought to have his head cut off for agreeing to such an armistice. quite as reasonably, however, it was now felt to be necessary to effect as soon as possible the recal of this very inconvenient dutch fleet from the coast of spain. the complaints were so incessant against spinola that it was determined to send don diego d'ybarra to brussels, charged with a general superintendence of the royal interests in the present confused condition of affairs. he was especially instructed to convey to spinola the most vehement reproaches in regard to the terms of the armistice, and to insist upon the cessation of naval hostilities, and the withdrawal of the cruisers. spinola, on his part, was exceedingly irritated that the arrangements which he had so carefully made with the archduke at brussels should be so contumaciously assailed, and even disavowed, at madrid. he was especially irritated that ybarra should now be sent as his censor and overseer, and that fuentes should have received orders to levy seven thousand troops in the milanese for flanders, the arrival of which reinforcements would excite suspicion, and probably break off negotiations. he accordingly sent his private secretary biraga, posthaste to spain with two letters. in number one he implored his majesty that ybarra might not be sent to brussels. if this request were granted, number two was to be burned. otherwise, number two was to be delivered, and it contained a request to be relieved from all further employment in the king's service. the marquis was already feeling the same effects of success as had been experienced by alexander farnese, don john of austria, and other strenuous maintainers of the royal authority in flanders. he was railed against, suspected, spied upon, put under guardianship, according to the good old traditions of the spanish court. public disgrace or secret poison might well be expected by him, as the natural guerdons of his eminent deeds. biraga also took with him the draught of the form in which the king's consent to the armistice and pending negotiations was desired, and he was particularly directed to urge that not one letter or comma should be altered, in order that no pretext might be afforded to the suspicious netherlanders for a rupture. in private letters to his own superintendent strata, to don john of idiaquez, to the duke of lerma, and to stephen ybarra, spinola enlarged upon the indignity about to be offered him, remonstrated vehemently against the wrong and stupidity of the proposed policy, and expressed his reliance upon the efforts of these friends of his to prevent its consummation. he intimated to idiaquez that a new deliberation would be necessary to effect the withdrawal of the dutch fleet--a condition not inserted in the original armistice--but that within the three months allowed for the royal ratification there would be time enough to procure the consent of the states to that measure. if the king really desired to continue the war, he had but to alter a single comma in the draught, and, out of that comma, the stadholder's party would be certain to manufacture for him as long a war as he could possibly wish. in a subsequent letter to the king, spinola observed that he was well aware of the indignation created in spain by the cessation of land hostilities without the recal of the fleet, but that nevertheless john neyen had confidentially represented to the archdukes the royal assent as almost certain. as to the mission of ybarra, the marquis reminded his master that the responsibility and general superintendence of the negotiations had been almost forced upon him. certainly he had not solicited them. if another agent were now interposed, it was an advertisement to the world that the business had been badly managed. if the king wished a rupture, he had but to lift his finger or his pen; but to appoint another commissioner was an unfit reward for his faithful service. he was in the king's hands. if his reputation were now to be destroyed, it was all over with him and his affairs. the man, whom mortals had once believed incapable, would be esteemed incapable until the end of his days. it was too late to prevent the mission of ybarra, who, immediately after his arrival in brussels, began to urge in the king's name that the words in which the provinces had been declared free by the archdukes might be expunged. what could be more childish than such diplomacy? what greater proof could be given of the incapacity of the spanish court to learn the lesson which forty years had been teaching? spinola again wrote a most earnest remonstrance to the king, assuring him that this was simply to break off the negotiation. it was ridiculous to suppose, he said, that concessions already made by the archdukes, ratification of which on the part of the king had been guaranteed, could now be annulled. those acquainted with netherland obstinacy knew better. the very possibility of the king's refusal excited the scorn of the states-general. ybarra went about, too, prating to the archdukes and to others of supplies to be sent from spain sufficient to carry on the war for many years, and of fresh troops to be forwarded immediately by fuentes. as four millions of crowns a year were known to be required for any tolerable campaigning, such empty vaunts as these were preposterous. the king knew full well, said spinola, and had admitted the fact in his letters, that this enormous sum could not be furnished. moreover, the war cost the netherlanders far less in proportion. they had river transportation, by which they effected as much in two days as the catholic army could do in a fortnight, so that every siege was managed with far greater rapidity and less cost by the rebels than by their opponents. as to sending troops from milan, he had already stated that their arrival would have a fatal effect. the minds of the people were full of suspicion. every passing rumour excited a prodigious sensation, and the war party was already gaining the upper hand. spinola warned the king, in the most solemn manner, that if the golden opportunity were now neglected the war would be eternal. this, he said, was more certain than certain. for himself, he had strained every nerve, and would continue to do his best in the interest of peace. if calamity must come, he at least would be held blameless. such vehement remonstrances from so eminent a source produced the needful effect. royal letters were immediately sent, placing full powers of treating in the hands of the marquis, and sending him a ratification of the archduke's agreement. government moreover expressed boundless confidence in spinola, and deprecated the idea that ybarra's mission was in derogation of his authority. he had been sent, it was stated, only to procure that indispensable preliminary to negotiations, the withdrawal of the dutch fleet, but as this had now been granted, ybarra was already recalled. spinola now determined to send the swift and sure-footed friar, who had made himself so useful in opening the path to discussion, on a secret mission to spain. ybarra objected; especially because it would be necessary for him to go through france, where he would be closely questioned by the king. it would be equally dangerous, he said, for the franciscan in that case to tell the truth or to conceal it. but spinola replied that a poor monk like him could steal through france undiscovered. moreover, he should be disguised as a footman, travelling in the service of aurelio spinola, a relative of the marquis, then proceeding to madrid. even should henry hear of his presence and send for him, was it to be supposed that so practised a hand would not easily parry the strokes of the french king--accomplished fencer as he undoubtedly was? after stealing into and out of holland as he had so recently done, there was nothing that might not be expected of him. so the wily friar put on the spinola livery, and, without impediment, accompanied don aurelio to madrid. meantime, the french commissioners--pierre jeannin, buzanval, regular resident at the hague, and de russy, who was destined to succeed that diplomatist--had arrived in holland. the great drama of negotiation, which was now to follow the forty years' tragedy, involved the interests and absorbed the attention of the great christian powers. although serious enough in its substance and its probable consequences, its aspect was that of a solemn comedy. there was a secret disposition on the part of each leading personage--with a few exceptions--to make dupes of all the rest. perhaps this was a necessary result of statesmanship, as it had usually been taught at that epoch. paul v., who had succeeded clement viii. in , with the brief interlude of the twenty-six days of leo xi.'s pontificate, was zealous, as might be supposed, to check the dangerous growth of the pestilential little republic of the north. his diplomatic agents, millino at madrid, barberini at paris, and the accomplished bentivoglio, who had just been appointed to the nunciatura at brussels, were indefatigable in their efforts to suppress the heresy and the insolent liberty of which the upstart commonwealth was the embodiment. especially barberini exerted all the powers at his command to bring about a good understanding between the kings of france and spain. he pictured to henry, in darkest colours, the blight that would come over religion and civilization if the progress of the rebellious netherlands could not be arrested. the united provinces were becoming dangerous, if they remained free, not only to the french kingdom, but to the very existence of monarchy throughout the world. no potentate was ever more interested, so it was urged, than henry iv. to bring down the pride of the dutch rebels. there was always sympathy of thought and action between the huguenots of france and their co-religionists in holland. they were all believers alike in calvinism--a sect inimical not less to temporal monarchies than to the sovereign primacy of the church--and the tendency and purposes of the french rebels were already sufficiently manifest in their efforts, by means of the so-called cities of security, to erect a state within a state; to introduce, in short, a dutch republic into france. a sovereign remedy for the disease of liberty, now threatening to become epidemic in europe, would be found in a marriage between the second son of the king of spain and a daughter of france. as the archdukes were childless, it might be easily arranged that this youthful couple should succeed them--the result of which would of course be the reduction of all the netherlands to their ancient obedience. it has already been seen, and will become still farther apparent, that nostrums like this were to be recommended in other directions. meantime, jeannin and his colleagues made their appearance at the hague. if there were a living politician in europe capable of dealing with barneveld on even terms, it was no doubt president jeannin. an ancient leaguer, an especial adherent of the duke of mayenne, he had been deep in all the various plots and counter-plots of the guises, and often employed by the extinct confederacy in various important intrigues. being secretly sent to spain to solicit help for the league after the disasters of ivry and arques, he found philip ii. so sincerely imbued with the notion that france was a mere province of spain, and so entirely bent upon securing the heritage of the infanta to that large property, as to convince him that the maintenance of the roman religion was with that monarch only a secondary condition. aid and assistance for the confederacy were difficult of attainment, unless coupled with the guarantee of the infanta's rights to reign in france. the guise faction being inspired solely by religious motives of the loftiest kind, were naturally dissatisfied with the lukewarmness of his most catholic majesty. when therefore the discomfited mayenne subsequently concluded his bargain with the conqueror of ivry, it was a matter of course that jeannin should also make his peace with the successful huguenot, now become eldest son of the church. he was very soon taken into especial favour by henry, who recognised his sagacity, and who knew his hands to be far cleaner than those of the more exalted leaguers with whom he had dealt. the "good old fellow," as henry familiarly called him, had not filled his pockets either in serving or when deserting the league. placed in control of the exchequer at a later period, he was never accused of robbery or peculation. he was a hard-working, not overpaid, very intelligent public functionary. he was made president of the parliament, or supreme tribunal of burgundy, and minister of state, and was recognised as one of the ablest jurists and most skilful politicians in the kingdom. an elderly man, with a tall, serene forehead, a large dark eye and a long grey beard, he presented an image of vast wisdom and reverend probity. he possessed--an especial treasure for a statesman in that plotting age--a singularly honest visage. never was that face more guileless, never was his heart more completely worn upon his sleeve, than when he was harbouring the deepest or most dangerous designs. such was the "good fellow," whom that skilful reader of men, henry of france, had sent to represent his interests and his opinions at the approaching conferences. what were those opinions? paul v. and his legates barberini, millino, and the rest, were well enough aware of the secret strings of the king's policy, and knew how to touch them with skill. of all things past, henry perhaps most regretted that not he, but the last and most wretched of the valois line, was sovereign of france when the states-general came to paris with that offer of sovereignty which had been so contumaciously refused. if the object were attainable, the ex-chief of the huguenots still meant to be king of the netherlands as sincerely as philip ii. had ever intended to be monarch of france. but henry was too accurate a calculator of chances, and had bustled too much in the world of realities, to exhaust his strength in striving, year after year, for a manifest impossibility. the enthusiast, who had passed away at last from the dreams of the escorial into the land of shadows, had spent a lifetime, and melted the wealth of an empire; but universal monarchy had never come forth from his crucible. the french king, although possessed likewise of an almost boundless faculty for ambitious visions, was capable of distinguishing cloud-land from substantial empire. jeannin, as his envoy, would at any rate not reveal his master's secret aspirations to those with whom he came to deal, as openly as philip had once unveiled himself to jeannin. there could be no doubt that peace at this epoch was the real interest of france. that kingdom was beginning to flourish again, owing to the very considerable administrative genius of bethune, an accomplished financier according to the lights of the age, and still more by reason of the general impoverishment of the great feudal houses and of the clergy. the result of the almost interminable series of civil and religious wars had been to cause a general redistribution of property. capital was mainly in the hands of the middle and lower classes, and the consequence of this general circulation of wealth through all the channels of society was precisely what might have been expected, an increase of enterprise and of productive industry in various branches. although the financial wisdom of the age was doing its best to impede commerce, to prevent the influx of foreign wares, to prohibit the outflow of specie--in obedience to the universal superstition, which was destined to survive so many centuries, that gold and silver alone constituted wealth--while, at the same time, in deference to the idiotic principle of sumptuary legislation, it was vigorously opposing mulberry culture, silk manufactures, and other creations of luxury, which, in spite of the hostility of government sages, were destined from that time forward to become better mines of wealth for the kingdom than the indies had been for spain, yet on the whole the arts of peace were in the ascendant in france. the king, although an unscrupulous, self-seeking despot and the coarsest of voluptuaries, was at least a man of genius. he had also too much shrewd mother-wit to pursue such schemes as experience had shown to possess no reality. the talisman "espoir," emblazoned on his shield, had led him to so much that it was natural for him at times to think all things possible. but he knew how to renounce as well as how to dare. he had abandoned his hope to be declared prince of wales and successor to the english crown, which he had cherished for a brief period, at the epoch of the essex conspiracy; he had forgotten his magnificent dream of placing the crown of the holy german empire upon his head, and if he still secretly resolved to annex the netherlands to his realms, and to destroy his excellent ally, the usurping, rebellious, and heretic dutch republic, he had craft enough to work towards his aim in the dark, and the common sense to know that by now throwing down the mask he would be for ever baffled of his purpose. the history of france, during the last three-quarters of a century, had made almost every frenchman, old enough to bear arms, an accomplished soldier. henry boasted that the kingdom could put three hundred thousand veterans into the field--a high figure, when it is recollected that its population certainly did not exceed fifteen millions. no man however was better aware than he, that in spite, of the apparent pacification of parties, the three hundred thousand would not be all on one side, even in case of a foreign war. there were at least four thousand great feudal lords as faithful to the huguenot faith and cause as he had been false to both; many of them still wealthy, notwithstanding the general ruin which had swept over the high nobility, and all of them with vast influence and a splendid following, both among the lesser gentry and the men of lower rank. although he kept a jesuit priest ever at his elbow, and did his best to persuade the world and perhaps himself that he had become a devout catholic, in consequence of those memorable five hours' instruction from the bishop of bourges, and that there was no hope for france save in its return to the bosom of the church, he was yet too politic and too farseeing to doubt that for him to oppress the protestants would be not only suicidal, but, what was worse in his eyes, ridiculous. he knew, too, that with thirty or forty thousand fighting-men in the field, with seven hundred and forty churches in the various provinces for their places of worship, with all the best fortresses in france in their possession, with leaders like rohan, lesdiguieres, bouillon, and many others, and with the most virtuous, self-denying, christian government, established and maintained by themselves, it would be madness for him and his dynasty to deny the protestants their political and religious liberty, or to attempt a crusade against their brethren in the netherlands. france was far more powerful than spain, although the world had not yet recognised the fact. yet it would have been difficult for both united to crush the new commonwealth, however paradoxical such a proposition seemed to contemporaries. sully was conscientiously in favour of peace, and sully was the one great minister of france. not a lerma, certainly; for france was not spain, nor was henry iv. a philip iii. the huguenot duke was an inferior financier to his spanish contemporary, if it were the height of financial skill for a minister to exhaust the resources of a great kingdom in order to fill his own pocket. sully certainly did not neglect his own interests, for he had accumulated a fortune of at least seventy thousand dollars a year, besides a cash capital estimated at a million and a half. but while enriching himself, he had wonderfully improved the condition of the royal treasury. he had reformed many abuses and opened many new sources of income. he had, of course, not accomplished the whole augean task of purification. he was a vigorous huguenot, but no hercules, and demigods might have shrunk appalled at the filthy mass of corruption which great european kingdoms everywhere presented to the reformer's eye. compared to the spanish government, that of france might almost have been considered virtuous, yet even there everything was venal. to negotiate was to bribe right and left, and at every step. all the ministers and great functionaries received presents, as a matter of course, and it was necessary to pave the pathway even of their ante-chambers with gold. the king was fully aware of the practice, but winked at it, because his servants, thus paid enormous sums by the public and by foreign governments, were less importunate for rewards and salaries from himself. one man in the kingdom was said to have clean hands, the venerable and sagacious chancellor, pomponne de bellievre. his wife, however, was less scrupulous, and readily disposed of influence and court-favour for a price, without the knowledge, so it was thought, of the great judge. jeannin, too, was esteemed a man of personal integrity, ancient leaguer and tricky politician though he were. highest offices of magistracy and judicature, church and state, were objects of a traffic almost as shameless as in spain. the ermine was sold at auction, mitres were objects of public barter, church preferments were bestowed upon female children in their cradles. yet there was hope in france, notwithstanding that the pragmatic sanction of st. louis, the foundation of the liberties of the gallican church, had been annulled by francis, who had divided the seamless garment of church patronage with leo. those four thousand great huguenot lords, those thirty thousand hard-fighting weavers, and blacksmiths, and other plebeians, those seven hundred and forty churches, those very substantial fortresses in every province of the kingdom, were better facts than the holy inquisition to preserve a great nation from sinking into the slough of political extinction. henry was most anxious that sully should convert himself to the ancient church, and the gossips of the day told each other that the duke had named his price for his conversion. to be made high constable of france, it was said would melt the resolve of the stiff huguenot. to any other inducement or blandishment he was adamant. whatever truth may have been in such chatter, it is certain that the duke never gratified his master's darling desire. yet it was for no lack of attempts and intrigues on the part of the king, although it is not probable that he would have ever consented to bestow that august and coveted dignity upon a bethune. the king did his best by intrigue, by calumny, by talebearing, by inventions, to set the huguenots against each other, and to excite the mutual jealousy of all his most trusted adherents, whether protestant or catholic. the most good-humoured, the least vindictive, the most ungrateful, the falsest of mankind, he made it his policy, as well as his pastime, to repeat, with any amount of embroidery that his most florid fancy could devise, every idle story or calumny that could possibly create bitter feeling and make mischief among those who surrounded him. being aware that this propensity was thoroughly understood, he only multiplied fictions, so cunningly mingled with truths, as to leave his hearers quite unable to know what to believe and what to doubt. by such arts, force being impossible, he hoped one day to sever the band which held the conventicles together, and to reduce protestantism to insignificance. he would have cut off the head of d'aubigne or duplessis mornay to gain an object, and have not only pardoned but caressed and rewarded biron when reeking from the conspiracy against his own life and crown, had he been willing to confess and ask pardon for his stupendous crime. he hated vindictive men almost as much as he despised those who were grateful. he was therefore far from preferring sully to villeroy or jeannin, but he was perfectly aware that, in financial matters at least, the duke was his best friend and an important pillar of the state. the minister had succeeded in raising the annual revenue of france to nearly eleven millions of dollars, and in reducing the annual expenditures to a little more than ten millions. to have a balance on the right side of the public ledger was a feat less easily accomplished in those days even than in our own. could the duke have restrained his sovereign's reckless extravagance in buildings, parks, hunting establishments, and harems, he might have accomplished even greater miracles. he lectured the king roundly, as a parent might remonstrate with a prodigal son, but it was impossible even for a sully to rescue that hoary-headed and most indomitable youth from wantonness and riotous living. the civil-list of the king amounted to more than one-tenth of the whole revenue. on the whole, however, it was clear, as france was then constituted and administered, that a general peace would be, for the time at least, most conducive to its interests, and henry and his great minister were sincerely desirous of bringing about that result. preliminaries for a negotiation which should terminate this mighty war were now accordingly to be laid down at the hague. yet it would seem rather difficult to effect a compromise. besides the powers less interested, but which nevertheless sent representatives to watch the proceedings--such as sweden, denmark, brandenburg, the elector palatine--there were spain, france, england, the republic, and the archdukes. spain knew very well that she could not continue the war; but she hoped by some quibbling recognition of an impossible independence to recover that authority over her ancient vassals which the sword had for the time struck down. distraction in councils, personal rivalries, the well-known incapacity of a people to govern itself, commercial greediness, provincial hatreds, envies and jealousies, would soon reduce that jumble of cities and villages, which aped the airs of sovereignty, into insignificance and confusion. adroit management would easily re-assert afterwards the sovereignty of the lord's anointed. that a republic of freemen, a federation of independent states, could take its place among the nations did not deserve a serious thought. spain in her heart preferred therefore to treat. it was however indispensable that the netherlands should reestablish the catholic religion throughout the land, should abstain then and for ever from all insolent pretences to trade with india or america, and should punish such of their citizens as attempted to make voyages to the one or the other. with these trifling exceptions, the court of madrid would look with favour on propositions made in behalf of the rebels. france, as we have seen, secretly aspired to the sovereignty of all the netherlands, if it could be had. she was also extremely in favour of excluding the hollanders from the indies, east and west. the king, fired with the achievements of the republic at sea, and admiring their great schemes for founding empires at the antipodes by means of commercial corporations, was very desirous of appropriating to his own benefit the experience, the audacity, the perseverance, the skill and the capital of their merchants and mariners. he secretly instructed his commissioners, therefore, and repeatedly urged it upon them, to do their best to procure the renunciation, on the part of the republic, of the indian trade, and to contrive the transplantation into france of the mighty trading companies, so successfully established in holland and zeeland. the plot thus to deprive the provinces of their india trade was supposed by the statesmen of the republic to have been formed in connivance with spain. that power, finding itself half pushed from its seat of power in the east by the "grand and infallible society created by the united provinces,"--[memoir of aerssens, ubi sup]--would be but too happy to make use of this french intrigue in order to force the intruding dutch navy from its conquests. olden-barneveld, too politic to offend the powerful and treacherous ally by a flat refusal, said that the king's friendship was more precious than the india trade. at the same time he warned the french government that, if they ruined the dutch east india company, "neither france nor any other nation would ever put its nose into india again." james of england, too, flattered himself that he could win for england that sovereignty of the netherlands which england as well as france had so decidedly refused. the marriage of prince henry with the spanish infanta was the bait, steadily dangled before him by the politicians of the spanish court, and he deluded himself with the thought that the catholic king, on the death of the childless archdukes, would make his son and daughter-in-law a present of the obedient netherlands. he already had some of the most important places in the united netherlands-the famous cautionary towns in his grasp, and it should go hard but he would twist that possession into a sovereignty over the whole land. as for recognising the rebel provinces as an independent sovereignty, that was most abhorrent to him. such a tampering with the great principles of government was an offence against all crowned heads, a crime in which he was unwilling to participate. his instinct against rebellion seemed like second sight. the king might almost be imagined to have foreseen in the dim future those memorable months in which the proudest triumph of the dutch commonwealth was to be registered before the forum of christendom at the congress of westphalia, and in which the solemn trial and execution of his own son and successor, with the transformation of the monarchy of the tudors and stuarts into a british republic, were simultaneously to startle the world. but it hardly needed the gift of prophecy to inspire james with a fear of revolutions. he was secretly desirous therefore, sustained by salisbury and his other advisers, of effecting the restoration of the provinces to the dominion of his most catholic majesty. it was of course the interest of england that the netherland rebels should renounce the india trade. so would james be spared the expense and trouble of war; so would the great doctrines of divine right be upheld; so would the way be paved towards the ultimate absorption of the netherlands by england. whether his theological expositions would find as attentive pupils when the pope's authority had been reestablished over all his neighbours; whether the catholic rebels in ireland would become more tranquil by the subjugation of the protestant rebels in holland; whether the principles of guy fawkes might not find more effective application, with no bulwark beyond the seas against the incursion of such practitioners--all this he did not perhaps sufficiently ponder. thus far had the discursive mind of james wandered from the position which it occupied at the epoch of maximilian de bethune's memorable embassy to england. the archdukes were disposed to quiet. on them fell the burthen of the war. their little sovereignty, where--if they could only be allowed to expend the money squeezed from the obedient provinces in court diversions, stately architecture, splendid encouragement of the fine arts, and luxurious living, surrounded by a train of great nobles, fit to command regiments in the field or assist in the counsels of state, but chiefly occupied in putting dishes on the court table, handing ewers and napkins to their highnesses, or in still more menial offices--so much enjoyment might be had, was reduced to a mere parade ground for spanish soldiery. it was ridiculous, said the politicians of madrid, to suppose that a great empire like spain would not be continually at war in one direction or another, and would not perpetually require the use of large armies. where then could there be a better mustering place for their forces than those very provinces, so easy of access, so opulent, so conveniently situate in the neighbourhood of spain's most insolent enemies? it was all very fine for the archduke, who knew nothing of war, they declared, who had no hope of children, who longed only for a life of inglorious ease, such as he could have had as archbishop, to prate of peace and thus to compromise the dignity of the realm. on the contrary by making proper use of the netherlands, the repose and grandeur of the monarchy would be secured, even should the war become eternal. this prospect, not agreeable certainly for the archdukes or their subjects, was but little admired outside the spanish court. such then were the sentiments of the archdukes, and such the schemes and visions of spain, france, and england. on two or three points, those great powers were mainly, if unconsciously, agreed. the netherlands should not be sovereign; they should renounce the india navigation; they should consent to the re-establishment of the catholic religion. on the other hand, the states-general knew their own minds, and made not the slightest secret of their intentions. they would be sovereign, they would not renounce the india trade, they would not agree to the re-establishment of the catholic religion. could the issue of the proposed negotiations be thought hopeful, or was another half century of warfare impending? on the th may the french commissioners came before the states-general. there had been many wild rumours flying through the provinces in regard to the king's secret designs upon the republic, especially since the visit made to the hague a twelvemonth before by francis aerssens, states' resident at the french court. that diplomatist, as we know, had been secretly commissioned by henry to feel the public pulse in regard to the sovereignty, so far as that could be done by very private and delicate fingering. although only two or three personages had been dealt with--the suggestions being made as the private views of the ambassadors only--there had been much gossip on the subject, not only in the netherlands, but at the english and spanish courts. throughout the commonwealth there was a belief that henry wished to make himself king of the country. as this happened to be the fact, it was natural that the president, according to the statecraft of his school, should deny it at once, and with an air of gentle melancholy. wearing therefore his most ingenuous expression, jeannin addressed the assembly. he assured the states that the king had never forgotten how much assistance he had received from them when he was struggling to conquer the kingdom legally belonging to him, and at a time when they too were fighting in their own country for their very existence. the king thought that he had given so many proofs of his sincere friendship as to make doubt impossible; but he had found the contrary, for the states had accorded an armistice, and listened to overtures of peace, without deigning to consult him on the subject. they had proved, by beginning and concluding so important a transaction without his knowledge, that they regarded him with suspicion, and had no respect for his name. whence came the causes of that suspicion it was difficult to imagine, unless from certain false rumours of propositions said to have been put forward in his behalf, although he had never authorised anyone to make them, by which men had been induced to believe that he aspired to the sovereignty of the provinces. "this falsehood," continued the candid president, "has cut our king to the heart, wounding him more deeply than anything else could have done. to make the armistice without his knowledge showed merely your contempt for him, and your want of faith in him. but he blamed not the action in itself, since you deemed it for your good, and god grant that you may not have been deceived. but to pretend that his majesty wished to grow great at your expense, this was to do a wrong to his reputation, to his good faith, and to the desire which he has always shown to secure the prosperity of your state." much more spoke jeannin, in this vein, assuring the assembly that those abominable falsehoods proceeded from the enemies of the king, and were designed expressly to sow discord and suspicion in the provinces. the reader, already aware of the minute and detailed arrangements made by henry and his ministers for obtaining the sovereignty of the united provinces and destroying their liberties, will know how to appreciate the eloquence of the ingenuous president. after the usual commonplaces concerning the royal desire to protect his allies against wrong and oppression, and to advance their interests, the president suggested that the states should forthwith communicate the pending deliberations to all the kings and princes who had favoured their cause, and especially to the king of england, who had so thoroughly proved his desire to promote their welfare. as jeannin had been secretly directed to pave the way by all possible means for the king's sovereignty over the provinces; as he was not long afterwards to receive explicit instructions to expend as much money as might be necessary in bribing prince maurice, count lewis william, barneveld and his son, together with such others as might seem worth purchasing, in order to assist henry in becoming monarch of their country; and as the english king was at that moment represented in henry's private letters to the commissioners as actually loathing the liberty, power, and prosperity of the provinces, it must be conceded that the president had acquitted himself very handsomely in his first oration. such was the virtue of his honest face. barneveld answered with generalities and commonplaces. no man knew better than the advocate the exact position of affairs; no man had more profoundly fathomed the present purposes of the french king; no man had more acutely scanned his character. but he knew the critical position of the commonwealth. he knew that, although the public revenue might be raised by extraordinary and spasmodic exertion to nearly a million sterling, a larger income than had ever been at the disposition of the great queen of england, the annual deficit might be six millions of florins--more than half the revenue--if the war continued, and that there was necessity of peace, could the substantial objects of the war be now obtained. he was well aware too of the subtle and scheming brain which lay hid beneath that reverend brow of the president, although he felt capable of coping with him in debate or intrigue. doubtless he was inspired with as much ardour for the intellectual conflict as henry might have experienced on some great field-day with alexander farnese. on this occasion, however, barneveld preferred to glide gently over the rumours concerning henry's schemes. those reports had doubtless emanated, he said, from the enemies of netherland prosperity. the private conclusion of the armistice he defended on the ground of necessity, and of temporary financial embarrassment, and he promised that deputies should at once be appointed to confer with the royal commissioners in regard to the whole subject. in private, he assured jeannin that the communications of aerssens had only been discussed in secret, and had not been confided to more than three or four persons. the advocate, although the leader of the peace party, was by no means over anxious for peace. the object of much insane obloquy, because disposed to secure that blessing for his country on the basis of freedom and independence, he was not disposed to trust in the sincerity of the archdukes, or the spanish court, or the french king. "timeo danaos etiam dona ferentes," he had lately said to aerssens. knowing that the resistance of the netherlands had been forty years long the bulwark of europe against the designs of the spaniard for universal empire, he believed the republic justified in expecting the support of the leading powers in the negotiations now proposed. "had it not been for the opposition of these provinces," he said, "he might, in the opinion of the wisest, have long ago been monarch of all europe, with small expense of men, money, or credit." he was far from believing therefore that spain, which had sacrificed, according to his estimate, three hundred thousand soldiers and two hundred million ducats in vain endeavours to destroy the resistance of the united provinces, was now ready to lay aside her vengeance and submit to a sincere peace. rather he thought to see "the lambkins, now frisking so innocently about the commonwealth, suddenly transform themselves into lions and wolves." it would be a fatal error, he said, to precipitate the dear fatherland into the net of a simulated negotiation, from unwise impatience for peace. the netherlanders were a simple, truthful people and could hope for no advantage in dealing with spanish friars, nor discover all the danger and deceit lurking beneath their fair words. thus the man, whom his enemies perpetually accused of being bought by the enemy, of wishing peace at any price, of wishing to bring back the catholic party and ecclesiastical influence to the netherlands, was vigorously denouncing a precipitate peace, and warning his countrymen of the danger of premature negotiations. "as one can hardly know the purity and value of gold," he said, "without testing it, so it is much more difficult to distinguish a false peace from a genuine one; for one can never touch it nor taste it; and one learns the difference when one is cheated and lost. ignorant people think peace negotiations as simple as a private lawsuit. many sensible persons even think that; the enemy once recognising us for a free, sovereign state, we shall be in the same position as england and france, which powers have lately made peace with the archdukes and with spain. but we shall find a mighty difference. moreover, in those kingdoms the spanish king has since the peace been ever busy corrupting their officers of state and their subjects, and exciting rebellion and murder within their realms, as all the world must confess. and the english merchants complain that they have suffered more injustice, violence, and wrong from the spaniards since the peace than they did during the war." the advocate also reminded his countrymen that the archduke, being a vassal of spain, could not bind that power by his own signature, and that there was no proof that the king would renounce his pretended rights to the provinces. if he affected to do so, it would only be to put the republic to sleep. he referred, with much significance, to the late proceedings of the admiral of arragon at emmerich, who refused to release that city according to his plighted word, saying roundly that whatever he might sign and seal one day he would not hesitate absolutely to violate on the next if the king's service was thereby to be benefited. with such people, who had always learned law-doctors and ghostly confessors to strengthen and to absolve them, they could never expect anything but broken faith and contempt for treaties however solemnly ratified. should an armistice be agreed upon and negotiations begun, the advocate urged that the work of corruption and bribery would not be a moment delayed, and although the netherlanders were above all nations a true and faithful race, it could hardly be hoped that no individuals would be gained over by the enemy. "for the whole country," said barneveld, "would swarm with jesuits, priests, and monks, with calumnies and corruptions--the machinery by which the enemy is wont to produce discord, relying for success upon the well-known maxim of philip of macedon, who considered no city impregnable into which he could send an ass laden with gold." the advocate was charged too with being unfriendly to the india trade, especially to the west india company. he took the opportunity, however, to enlarge with emphasis and eloquence upon that traffic as constituting the very lifeblood of the country. "the commerce with the east indies is going on so prosperously," he said, "that not only our own inhabitants but all strangers are amazed. the west india company is sufficiently prepared, and will cost the commonwealth so little, that the investment will be inconsiderable in comparison with the profits. and all our dangers and difficulties have nearly vanished since the magnificent victory of gibraltar, by which the enemy's ships, artillery, and sailors have been annihilated, and proof afforded that the spanish galleys are not so terrible as they pretend to be. by means of this trade to both the indies, matters will soon be brought into such condition that the spaniards will be driven out of all those regions and deprived of their traffic. thus will the great wolf's teeth be pulled out, and we need have no farther fear of his biting again. then we may hope for a firm and assured peace, and may keep the indies, with the whole navigation thereon depending, for ourselves, sharing it freely and in common with our allies." certainly no statesman could more strongly depict the dangers of a pusillanimous treaty, and the splendid future of the republic, if she held fast to her resolve for political independence, free religion, and free trade, than did the great advocate at this momentous epoch of european history. had he really dreamed of surrendering the republic to spain, that republic whose resistance ever since the middle of the previous century had been all that had saved europe, in the opinion of learned and experienced thinkers, from the universal empire of spain--had the calumnies, or even a thousandth part of the calumnies, against him been true--how different might have been the history of human liberty! soon afterwards, in accordance with the suggestions of the french king and with their own previous intentions, a special legation was despatched by the states to england, in order to notify the approaching conferences to the sovereign of that country, and to invite his participation in the proceedings. the states' envoys were graciously received by james, who soon appointed richard spencer and ralph winwood as commissioners to the hague, duly instructed to assist at the deliberations, and especially to keep a sharp watch upon french intrigues. there were also missions and invitations to denmark and to the electors palatine and of brandenburg, the two latter potentates having, during the past three years, assisted the states with a hundred thousand florins annually. the news of the great victory at gibraltar had reached the netherlands almost simultaneously with the arrival of the french commissioners. it was thought probable that john neyen had received the weighty intelligence some days earlier, and the intense eagerness of the archdukes and of the spanish government to procure the recal of the dutch fleet was thus satisfactorily explained. very naturally this magnificent success, clouded though it was by the death of the hero to whom it was due, increased the confidence of the states in the justice of their cause and the strength of their position. once more, it is not entirely idle to consider the effect of scientific progress on the march of human affairs, as so often exemplified in history. whether that half-century of continuous war would have been possible with the artillery, means of locomotion, and other machinery of destruction and communication now so terribly familiar to the world, can hardly be a question. the preterhuman prolixity of negotiation which appals us in the days when steam and electricity had not yet annihilated time and space, ought also to be obsolete. at a period when the news of a great victory was thirty days on its travels from gibraltar to flushing, aged counsellors justified themselves in a solemn consumption of time such as might have exasperated jared or methuselah in his boyhood. men fought as if war was the normal condition of humanity, and negotiated as if they were all immortal. but has the art political kept pace with the advancement of physical science? if history be valuable for the examples it furnishes both for imitation and avoidance, then the process by which these peace conferences were initiated and conducted may be wholesome food for reflection. john neyen, who, since his secret transactions already described at the hague and fort lillo, had been speeding back and forth between brussels, london, and madrid, had once more returned to the netherlands, and had been permitted to reside privately at delft until the king's ratification should arrive from spain. while thus established, the industrious friar had occupied his leisure in studying the situation of affairs. especially he had felt inclined to renew some of those little commercial speculations which had recently proved so comfortable in the case of dirk van der does. recorder cornelius aerssens came frequently to visit him, with the private consent of the government, and it at once struck the friar that cornelius would be a judicious investment. so he informed the recorder that the archdukes had been much touched with his adroitness and zeal in facilitating the entrance of their secret agent into the presence of the prince and the advocate. cruwel, in whose company the disguised neyen had made his first journey to the hague, was a near relative of aerssena, the honest monk accordingly, in recognition of past and expected services, begged one day the recorder's acceptance of a bill, drawn by marquis spinola on henry beckman, merchant of amsterdam, for eighty thousand ducats. he also produced a diamond ring, valued at ten thousand florins, which he ventured to think worthy the acceptance of madame aerssens. furthermore, he declared himself ready to pay fifteen thousand crowns in cash, on account of the bill, whenever it might be, desired, and observed that the archdukes had ordered the house which the recorder had formerly occupied in brussels to be reconveyed to him. other good things were in store, it was delicately hinted, as soon as they had been earned. aerssens expressed his thanks for the house, which, he said, legally belonged to him according to the terms of the surrender of brussels. he hesitated in regard to the rest, but decided finally to accept the bill of exchange and the diamond, apprising prince maurice and olden-barneveld of the fact, however, on his return to the hague. being subsequently summoned by neyen to accept the fifteen thousand crowns, he felt embarrassed at the compromising position in which he had placed himself. he decided accordingly to make a public statement of the affair to the states-general. this was done, and the states placed the ring and the bill in the hands of their treasurer, joris de bie. the recorder never got the eighty thousand ducats, nor his wife the diamond; but although there had been no duplicity on his part, he got plenty of slander. his evil genius had prompted him, not to listen seriously to the temptings of the monk, but to deal with him on his own terms. he was obliged to justify himself against public suspicion with explanations and pamphlets, but some taint of the calumny stuck by him to the last. meantime, the three months allotted for the reception of philip's ratification had nearly expired. in march, the royal government had expressly consented that the archdukes should treat with the rebels on the ground of their independence. in june that royal permission had been withdrawn, exactly because the independence could never be acknowledged. albert, naturally enough indignant at such double-dealing, wrote to the king that his disapprobation was incomprehensible, as the concession of independence had been made by direct command of philip. "i am much amazed," he said, "that, having treated with the islanders on condition of leaving them free, by express order of your majesty (which you must doubtless very well remember), your majesty now reproves my conduct, and declares your dissatisfaction." at last, on the rd july, spinola requested a safe conduct for louis verreyken, auditor of the council at brussels, to come to the hague. on the rd of july that functionary accordingly arrived. he came before prince maurice and fifty deputies of the states-general, and exhibited the document. at the same time he urged them, now that the long-desired ratification had been produced, to fulfil at once their promise, and to recal their fleet from the coast of spain. verreyken was requested to withdraw while the instrument was examined. when recalled, he was informed that the states had the most staight-forward intention to negotiate, but that the royal document did not at all answer their expectation. as few of the delegates could read spanish, it would first of all be necessary to cause it to be translated. when that was done they would be able to express their opinion concerning it and come to a decision in regard to the recal of the fleet. this ended the proceedings on that occasion. next day prince maurice invited verreyken and others to dine. after dinner the stadholder informed him that the answer of the states might soon be expected; at the same time expressing his regret that the king should have sent such an instrument. it was very necessary, said the prince, to have plain speaking, and he, for one, had never believed that the king would send a proper ratification. the one exhibited was not at all to the purpose. the king was expected to express himself as clearly as the archdukes had done in their instrument. he must agree to treat with the states-general as with people entirely free, over whom he claimed no authority. if the king should refuse to make this public declaration, the states would at once break off all negotiations. three days afterwards, seven deputies conferred with verreyken. barneveld, as spokesman, declared that, so far as the provinces were concerned, the path was plain and open to an honest, ingenuous, lasting peace, but that the manner of dealing on the other side was artificial and provocative of suspicion. a most important line, which had been placed by the states at the very beginning of the form suggested by them, was wanting in the ratification now received. this hardly seemed an accidental omission. the whole document was constrained and defective. it was necessary to deal with netherlanders in clear and simple language. the basis of any possible negotiation was that the provinces were to be treated with as and called entirely free. unless this was done negotiations were impossible. the states-general were not so unskilled in affairs as to be ignorant that the king and the archdukes were quite capable, at a future day, of declaring themselves untrammelled by any conditions. they would boast that conventions with rebels and pledges to heretics were alike invalid. if verreyken had brought no better document than the one presented, he had better go at once. his stay in the provinces was superfluous. at a subsequent interview barneveld informed verreyken that the king's confirmation had been unanimously rejected by the states-general as deficient both in form and substance. he added that the people of the provinces were growing very lukewarm in regard to peace, that prince maurice opposed it, that many persons regretted the length to which the negotiations had already gone. difficult as it seemed to be to recede, the archdukes might be certain that a complete rupture was imminent. all these private conversations of barneveld, who was known to be the chief of the peace party, were duly reported by verreyken in secret notes to the archduke and to spinola. of course they produced their effect. it surely might have been seen that the tricks and shifts of an antiquated diplomacy were entirely out of place if any wholesome result were desired. but the habit of dissimulation was inveterate. that the man who cannot dissemble is unfit to reign, was perhaps the only one of his father's golden rules which philip iii. could thoroughly comprehend, even if it be assumed that the monarch was at all consulted in regard to this most important transaction of his life. verreyken and the friar knew very well when they brought the document that it would be spurned by the states, and yet they were also thoroughly aware that it was the king's interest to, begin the negotiations as soon as possible. when thus privately and solemnly assured by the advocate that they were really wasting their time by being the bearers of these royal evasions, they learned therefore nothing positively new, but were able to assure their employers that to thoroughly disgust the peace party was not precisely the mode of terminating the war. verreyken now received public and formal notification that a new instrument must be procured from the king. in the ratification which had been sent, that monarch spoke of the archdukes as princes and sovereign proprietors of all the netherlands. the clause by which, according to the form prescribed by the states, and already adopted by the archdukes, the united provinces were described as free countries over which no authority was claimed had been calmly omitted, as if, by such a subterfuge, the independence of the republic could be winked out of existence. furthermore, it was objected that the document was in spanish, that it was upon paper instead of parchment, that it was not sealed with the great, but with the little seal, and that it was subscribed. "i the king." this signature might be very appropriate for decrees issued by a monarch to his vassals, but could not be rightly appended, it was urged, to an instrument addressed to a foreign power. potentates, treating with the states-general of the united provinces, were expected to sign their names. whatever may be thought of the technical requirements in regard to the parchment, the signature, and the seal, it would be difficult to characterize too strongly the polity of the spanish government in the most essential point. to seek relief from the necessity of recognising-at least in the sense of similitude, according to the subtlety of bentivoglio--the freedom of the provinces, simply by running the pen through the most important line of a most important document, was diplomacy in its dotage. had not marquis spinola, a man who could use his brains and his pen as well as his sword, expressly implored the politicians of madrid not to change even a comma in the form of ratification which he sent to spain? verreyken, placed face to face with plain-spoken, straightforward, strong-minded men, felt the dreary absurdity of the position. he could only stammer a ridiculous excuse about the clause, having been accidentally left out by a copying secretary. to represent so important an omission as a clerical error was almost as great an absurdity as the original device; but it was necessary for verreyken to say something. he promised, however, that the form prescribed by the states should be again transmitted to madrid, and expressed confidence that the ratification would now be sent as desired. meantime he trusted that the fleet would be at once recalled. this at once created a stormy debate which lasted many days, both within the walls of the house of assembly and out of doors. prince maurice bitterly denounced the proposition, and asserted the necessity rather of sending out more ships than of permitting their cruisers to return. it was well known that the spanish government, since the destruction of avila's fleet, had been straining every nerve to procure and equip other war-vessels, and that even the duke of lerma had offered a small portion of his immense plunderings to the crown in aid of naval armaments. on the other hand, barneveld urged that the states, in the preliminary armistice, had already agreed to send no munitions nor reinforcements to the fleet already cruising on the coasts of the peninsula. it would be better, therefore, to recal those ships than to leave them where they could not be victualled nor strengthened without a violation of good faith. these opinions prevailed, and on the th august, verreyken was summoned before the assembly, and informed by barneveld that the states had decided to withdraw the fleet, and to declare invalid all prizes made six weeks after that date. this was done, it was said, out of respect to the archdukes, to whom no blame was imputed for the negligence displayed in regard to the ratification. furthermore, the auditor was requested to inform his masters that the documents brought from spain were not satisfactory, and he was furnished with a draught, made both in latin and french. with this form, it was added, the king was to comply within six weeks, if he desired to proceed further in negotiations with the states. verreyken thanked the states-general, made the best of promises, and courteously withdrew. next day, however, just as his preparations for departure had been made, he was once more summoned before the assembly to meet with a somewhat disagreeable surprise. barneveld, speaking as usual in behalf of the states-general, publicly produced spinola's bill of exchange for eighty thousand ducats, the diamond ring intended for madame aerssens, and the gold chain given to dirk van der does, and expressed the feelings of the republican government in regard to those barefaced attempts of friar john at bribery and corruption, in very scornful language? netherlanders were not to be bought--so the agent of spain and of the archdukes was informed--and, even if the citizens were venal, it would be necessary in a popular government to buy up the whole nation. "it is not in our commonwealth as in despotisms," said the advocate, "where affairs of state are directed by the nod of two or three individuals, while the rest of the inhabitants are a mob of slaves. by turns, we all govern and are governed. this great council, this senate--should it seem not sufficiently fortified against your presents-could easily be enlarged. here is your chain, your ring, your banker's draught. take them all back to your masters. such gifts are not necessary to ensure a just peace, while to accept them would be a crime against liberty, which we are incapable of committing." verreyken, astonished and abashed, could answer little save to mutter a few words about the greediness of monks, who, judging everyone else by themselves, thought no one inaccessible to a bribe. he protested the innocence of the archdukes in the matter, who had given no directions to bribe, and who were quite ignorant that the attempt had been made. he did not explain by whose authority the chain, the ring, and the draught upon beckman had been furnished to the friar. meantime that ecclesiastic was cheerfully wending his way to spain in search of the new ratification, leaving his colleague vicariously to bide the pelting of the republican storm, and to return somewhat weather-beaten to brussels. during the suspension, thus ridiculously and gratuitously caused, of preliminaries which had already lasted the better portion of a year, party-spirit was rising day by day higher, and spreading more widely throughout the provinces. opinions and sentiments were now sharply defined and loudly announced. the clergy, from a thousand pulpits, thundered against the peace, exposing the insidious practices, the faithless promises, the monkish corruptions, by which the attempt was making to reduce the free republic once more into vassalage to spain. the people everywhere listened eagerly and applauded. especially the mariners, cordwainers, smiths, ship-chandlers, boatmen, the tapestry weavers, lace-manufacturers, shopkeepers, and, above all, the india merchants and stockholders in the great commercial companies for the east and west, lifted up their voices for war. this was the party of prince maurice, who made no secret of his sentiments, and opposed, publicly and privately, the resumption of negotiations. doubtless his adherents were the most numerous portion of the population. barneveld, however, was omnipotent with the municipal governments, and although many individuals in those bodies were deeply interested in the india navigation and the great corporations, the advocate turned them as usual around his finger. ever since the memorable day of nieuport there had been no love lost between the stadholder and the advocate. they had been nominally reconciled to each other, and had, until lately, acted with tolerable harmony, but each was thoroughly conscious of the divergence of their respective aims. exactly at this period the long-smothered resentment of maurice against his old preceptor, counsellor, and, as he believed, betrayer, flamed forth anew. he was indignant that a man, so infinitely beneath him in degree, should thus dare to cross his plans, to hazard, as he believed, the best interests of the state, and to interfere with the course of his legitimate ambition. there was more glory for a great soldier to earn in future battle-fields, a higher position before the world to be won. he had a right by birth, by personal and family service, to claim admittance among the monarchs of europe. the pistol of balthasar gerard had alone prevented the elevation of his father to the sovereignty of the provinces. the patents, wanting only a few formalities, were still in possession of the son. as the war went on--and nothing but blind belief in spanish treachery could cause the acceptance of a peace which would be found to mean slavery--there was no height to which he might not climb. with the return of peace and submission, his occupation would be gone, obscurity and poverty the sole recompense for his life long services and the sacrifices of his family. the memory of the secret movements twice made but a few years before to elevate him to the sovereignty, and which he believed to have been baffled by the advocate, doubtless rankled in his breast. he did not forget that when the subject had been discussed by the favourers of the scheme in barneveld's own house, barneveld himself had prophesied that one day or another "the rights would burst out which his excellency had to become prince of the provinces, on strength of the signed and sealed documents addressed to the late prince of orange; that he had further alluded to the efforts then on foot to make him duke of gelderland; adding with a sneer, that zeeland was all agog on the subject, while in that province there were individuals very desirous of becoming children of zebedee." barneveld, on his part, although accustomed to speak in public of his excellency prince maurice in terms of profoundest respect, did not fail to communicate in influential quarters his fears that the prince was inspired by excessive ambition, and that he desired to protract the war, not for the good of the commonwealth, but for the attainment of greater power in the state. the envoys of france, expressly instructed on that subject by the king, whose purposes would be frustrated if the ill-blood between these eminent personages could not be healed, did their best to bring about a better understanding, but with hardly more than an apparent success. once more there were stories flying about that the stadholder had called the advocate liar, and that he had struck him or offered to strike him--tales as void of truth, doubtless, as those so rife after the battle of nieuport, but which indicated the exasperation which existed. when the news of the rejection of the king's ratification reached madrid, the indignation of the royal conscience-keepers was vehement. that the potentate of so large a portion of the universe should be treated by those lately his subjects with less respect than that due from equals to equals, seemed intolerable. so thoroughly inspired, however, was the king by the love of religion and the public good--as he informed marquis spinola by letter--and so intense was his desire for the termination of that disastrous war, that he did not hesitate indulgently to grant what had been so obstinately demanded. little was to be expected, he said, from the stubbornness of the provinces, and from their extraordinary manner of transacting business, but looking, nevertheless, only to divine duty, and preferring its dictates to a selfish regard for his own interests, he had resolved to concede that liberty to the provinces which had been so importunately claimed. he however imposed the condition that the states should permit free and public exercise of the catholic religion throughout their territories, and that so long as such worship was unobstructed, so long and no longer should the liberty now conceded to the provinces endure. "thus did this excellent prince," says an eloquent jesuit, "prefer obedience to the church before subjection to himself, and insist that those, whom he emancipated from his own dominions, should still be loyal to the sovereignty of the pope." friar john, who had brought the last intelligence from the netherlands, might have found it difficult, if consulted, to inform the king how many bills of exchange would be necessary to force this wonderful condition on the government of the provinces. that the republic should accept that liberty as a boon which she had won with the red right hand, and should establish within her domains as many agents for spanish reaction as there were roman priests, monks, and jesuits to be found, was not very probable. it was not thus nor then that the great lesson of religious equality and liberty for all men--the inevitable result of the dutch revolt--was to be expounded. the insertion of such a condition in the preamble to a treaty with a foreign power would have been a desertion on the part of the netherlands of the very principle of religious or civil freedom. the monk, however, had convinced the spanish government that in six months after peace had been made the states would gladly accept the dominion of spain once more, or, at the very least, would annex themselves to the obedient netherlands under the sceptre of the archdukes. secondly, he assured the duke that they would publicly and totally renounce all connection with france. thirdly, he pledged himself that the exercise of the catholic religion would be as free as that of any other creed. and the duke of lerma believed it all: such and no greater was his capacity for understanding the course of events which he imagined himself to be directing. certainly friar john did not believe what he said. "master monk is not quite so sure of his stick as he pretends to be," said secretary-of-state villeroy. of course, no one knew better the absurdity of those assurances than master monk himself. "it may be that he has held such language," said jeannin, "in order to accomplish his object in spain. but 'tis all dreaming and moonshine, which one should laugh at rather than treat seriously. these people here mean to be sovereign for ever and will make no peace except on that condition. this grandeur and vanity have entered so deeply into their brains that they will be torn into little pieces rather than give it up." spinola, as acute a politician as he was a brilliant commander, at once demonstrated to his government the impotence of such senile attempts. no definite agreements could be made, he wrote, except by a general convention. before a treaty of peace, no permission would be given by the states to the public exercise of the catholic religion, for fear of giving offence to what were called the protestant powers. unless they saw the proper ratification they would enter into no negotiations at all. when the negotiations had produced a treaty, the catholic worship might be demanded. thus peace might be made, and the desired conditions secured, or all parties would remain as they had been. the spanish government replied by sending a double form of ratification. it would not have been the spanish government, had one simple, straightforward document been sent. plenty of letters came at the same time, triumphantly refuting the objections and arguments of the states-general. to sign "yo el rey" had been the custom of the king's ancestors in dealing with foreign powers. thus had philip ii. signed the treaty of vervins. thus had the reigning king confirmed the treaty of vervins. thus had he signed the recent treaty with england as well as other conventions with other potentates. if the french envoys at the hague said the contrary they erred from ignorance or from baser reasons. the provinces could not be declared free until catholic worship was conceded. the donations must be mutual and simultaneous and the states would gain a much more stable and diuturnal liberty, founded not upon a simple declaration, but lawfully granted them as a compensation for a just and pious work performed. to this end the king sent ratification number one in which his sentiments were fully expressed. if, however, the provinces were resolved not to defer the declaration so ardently desired and to refuse all negotiation until they had received it, then ratification number two, therewith sent and drawn up in the required form, might be used. it was, however, to be exhibited but not delivered. the provinces would then see the clemency with which they were treated by the king, and all the world might know that it was not his fault if peace were not made. thus the politicians of madrid; speaking in the name of their august sovereign and signing "yo el rey" for him without troubling him even to look at the documents. when these letters arrived, the time fixed by the states for accepting the ratification had run out, and their patience was well-nigh exhausted. the archduke held council with spinola, verreyken, richardot, and others, and it was agreed that ratification number two, in which the catholic worship was not mentioned, should be forthwith sent to the states. certainly no other conclusion could have been reached, and it was fortunate that a lucid interval in the deliberations of the 'lunati ceat' madrid had furnished the archduke with an alternative. had it been otherwise and had number one been presented, with all the accompanying illustrations, the same dismal comedy might have gone on indefinitely until the dutchmen hissed it away and returned to their tragic business once more. on the th october, friar john and verreyken came before the states-general, more than a hundred members being present, besides prince maurice and count lewis william. the monk stated that he had faithfully represented to his majesty at madrid the sincere, straightforward, and undissembling proceedings of their lordships in these negotiations. he had also explained the constitution of their government and had succeeded in obtaining from his royal majesty the desired ratification, after due deliberation with the council. this would now give the assurance of a firm and durable peace, continued neyen, even if his majesty should come one day to die--being mortal. otherwise, there might be inconveniences to fear. now, however, the document was complete in all its parts, so far as regarded what was principal and essential, and in conformity with the form transmitted by the states-general. "god the omnipotent knows," proceeded the friar, "how sincere is my intention in this treaty of peace as a means of delivering the netherlands from the miseries of war, as your lordships will perceive by the form of the agreement, explaining itself and making manifest its pure and undissembling intentions, promising nothing and engaging to nothing which will not be effectually performed. this would not be the case if his majesty were proceeding by finesse or deception. the ratification might be nakedly produced as demanded, without any other explanation. but his majesty, acting in good faith, has now declared his last determination in order to avoid anything that might be disputed at some future day, as your lordships will see more amply when the auditor has exhibited the document." when the friar had finished verreyken spoke. he reminded them of the proofs already given by the archdukes of their sincere desire to change the long and sanguinary war into a good and assured peace. their lordships the states had seen how liberally, sincerely, and roundly their highnesses had agreed to all demands and had procured the ratification of his majesty, even although nothing had been proposed in that regard at the beginning of the negotiations. he then produced the original document, together with two copies, one in french the other in flemish, to be carefully collated by the states. "it is true," said the auditor, "that the original is not made out in latin nor in french as your lordships demanded, but in spanish, and in the same form and style as used by his majesty in treating with all the kings, potentates, and republics of christendom. to tell you the truth, it has seemed strange that there should be a wish to make so great and puissant a king change his style, such demand being contrary to all reason and equity, and more so as his majesty is content with the style which your lordships have been pleased to adopt." the ratification was then exhibited. it set forth that don philip, by grace of god king of castile, leon, arragon, the two sicilies, portugal, navarre, and of fourteen or fifteen other european realms duly enumerated; king of the eastern and western indies and of the continents on terra firma adjacent, king of jerusalem, archduke of antioch, duke of burgundy, and king of the ocean, having seen that the archdukes were content to treat with the states-general of the united provinces in quality of, and as holding them for, countries, provinces, and free states over which they pretended to no authority; either by way of a perpetual peace or for a truce or suspension of arms for twelve, fifteen, or twenty years, at the choice of the said states, and knowing that the said most serene archdukes had promised to deliver the king's ratification; had, after ripe deliberation with his council, and out of his certain wisdom and absolute royal power, made the present declarations, similar to the one made by the archdukes, for the accomplishment of the said promise so far as it concerned him: "and we principally declare," continued the king of spain, jerusalem, america, india, and the ocean, "that we are content that in our name, and on our part, shall be treated with the said states in the quality of, and as held by us for, free countries, provinces, and states, over which we make no pretensions. thus we approve and ratify every point of the said agreement, promising on faith and word of a king to guard and accomplish it as entirely as if we had consented to it from the beginning." "but we declare," said the king, in conclusion, "that if the treaty for a peace or a truce of many years, by which the pretensions of both parties are to be arranged--as well in the matter of religion as all the surplus--shall not be concluded, then this ratification shall be of no effect and as if it never had been made and, in virtue of it, we are not to lose a single point of our right, nor the united provinces to acquire one, but things are to remain, so far as regards the rights of the two parties, exactly as they what to each shall seem best." such were the much superfluous verbiage lopped away--which had been signed "i the king" at madrid on the th september, and the two copies of which were presented to the states-general on the th october, the commissioners retaining the original. the papers were accepted, with a few general commonplaces by barneveld meaning nothing, and an answer was promised after a brief delay. a committee of seven, headed by the advocate as chairman and spokesman, held a conference with the ambassadors of france and england, at four o'clock in the afternoon of the same day and another at ten o'clock next morning. the states were not very well pleased with the ratification. what especially moved their discontent was the concluding clause, according to which it was intimated that if the pretensions of spain in regard to religion were not fulfilled in the final treaty, the ratification was waste-paper and the king would continue to claim all his rights. how much more loudly would they have vociferated, could they have looked into friar john's wallet and have seen ratification number one! then they would have learned that, after nearly a year of what was called negotiation, the king had still meant to demand the restoration of the catholic worship before he would even begin to entertain the little fiction that the provinces were free. as to the signature, the paper, and the spanish language, those were minor matters. indeed, it is difficult to say why the king of spain should not issue a formal document in spanish. it is doubtful whether, had he taken a fancy to read it, he could have understood it in any other tongue. moreover, spanish would seem the natural language for spanish state-papers. had he, as king of jerusalem, america, or india, chosen the hebrew, aztec, or sanscrit, in his negotiations with the united provinces, there might have been more cause for dissatisfaction. jeannin, who was of course the leading spirit among the foreign members of the conference, advised the acceptance of the ratification. notwithstanding the technical objections to its form, he urged that in substance it was in sufficient conformity to the draught furnished by the states. nothing could be worse, in his opinion, for the provinces than to remain any longer suspended between peace and war. they would do well, therefore, to enter upon negotiations so soon as they had agreed among themselves upon three points. they must fix the great indispensable terms which they meant to hold, and from which no arguments would ever induce them to recede. thus they would save valuable time and be spared much frivolous discourse. next, they ought to establish a good interior government. thirdly, they should at once arrange their alliances and treaties with foreign powers, in order to render the peace to be negotiated a durable one. as to the first and second of these points, the netherlanders needed no prompter. they had long ago settled the conditions without which they would make no treaty at all, and certainly it was not the states-general that had thus far been frivolously consuming time. as to the form of government, defective though it was, the leaders of the republic knew very well in whose interests such sly allusions to their domestic affairs were repeatedly ventured by the french envoys. in regard to treaties with foreign powers it was, of course, most desirable for the republic to obtain the formal alliance of france and england. jeannin and his colleagues were ready to sign such a treaty, offensive and defensive, at once, but they found it impossible to induce the english ambassadors, with whom there was a conference on the th october, to come into any written engagement on the subject. they expressed approbation of the plan individually and in words, but deemed it best to avoid any protocol, by which their sovereign could be implicated in a promise. should the negotiations for peace be broken off, it would be time enough to make a treaty to protect the provinces. meantime, they ought to content themselves with the general assurance, already given them, that in case of war the monarchs of france and england would not abandon them, but would provide for their safety, either by succour or in some other way, so that they would be placed out of danger. such promises were vague without being magnificent, and, as james had never yet lifted his finger to assist the provinces, while indulging them frequently with oracular advice, it could hardly be expected that either the french envoys or the states-general would reckon very confidently on assistance from great britain, should war be renewed with spain. on the whole, it was agreed to draw up a paper briefly stating the opinion of the french and english plenipotentiaries that the provinces would do well to accept the ratification. the committee of the states, with barneveld as chairman, expressed acquiescence, but urged that they could not approve the clause in that document concerning religion. it looked as if the king of spain wished to force them to consent by treaty that the catholic religion should be re-established in their country. as they were free and sovereign, however, and so recognised by himself, it was not for him to meddle with such matters. they foresaw that this clause would create difficulties when the whole matter should be referred to the separate provinces, and that it would, perhaps, cause the entire rejection of the ratification. the envoys, through the voice of jeannin, remonstrated against such a course. after all, the objectionable clause, it was urged, should be considered only as a demand which the king was competent to make and it was not reasonable, they said, for the states to shut his mouth and prevent him from proposing what he thought good to propose. on the other hand, they were not obliged to acquiesce in the proposition. in truth, it would be more expedient that the states themselves should grant this grace to the catholics, thus earning their gratitude, rather than that it should be inserted in the treaty. a day or two later there was an interview between the french envoys and count lewis william, for whose sage, dispassionate, and upright character they had all a great respect. it was their object--in obedience to the repeated instructions of the french king--to make use of his great influence over prince maurice in favour of peace. it would be better, they urged, that the stadholder should act more in harmony with the states than he had done of late, and should reflect that, the ratification being good, there was really no means of preventing a peace, except in case the king of spain should refuse the conditions necessary for securing it. the prince would have more power by joining with the states than in opposing them. count lewis expressed sympathy with these views, but feared that maurice would prefer that the ratification should not be accepted until the states of the separate provinces had been heard; feeling convinced that several of those bodies would reject that instrument on account of the clause relating to religion. jeannin replied that such a course would introduce great discord into the provinces, to the profit of the enemy, and that the king of france himself--so far from being likely to wish the ratification rejected because of the clause--would never favour the rupture of negotiations if it came on account of religion. he had always instructed them to use their efforts to prevent any division among the states, as sure to lead to their ruin. he would certainly desire the same stipulation as the one made by the king of spain, and would support rather than oppose the demand thus made, in order to content the catholics. to be sure, he would prefer that the states should wisely make this provision of their own accord rather than on the requisition of spain, but a rupture of the pending negotiations from the cause suggested would be painful to him and very damaging to his character at rome. on the nd november the states-general gave their formal answer to the commissioners, in regard to the ratification. that instrument, they observed, not only did not agree with the form as promised by the archdukes in language and style, but also in regard to the seal, and to the insertion and omission of several words. on this account, and especially by reason of the concluding clause, there might be inferred the annulment of the solemn promise made in the body of the instrument. the said king and archdukes knew very well that these states-general of free countries and provinces, over which the king and archdukes pretended to no authority, were competent to maintain order in all things regarding the good constitution and government of their land and its inhabitants. on this subject, nothing could be pretended or proposed on the part of the king and archdukes without, violation of formal and solemn promises. "nevertheless," continued the states-general, "in order not to retard a good work, already begun, for the purpose of bringing the united provinces out of a long and bloody war into a christian and assured peace, the letters of ratification will be received in respect that they contain the declaration, on part of both the king and the archdukes, that they will treat for a peace or a truce of many years with the states-general of the united provinces, in quality of, and as holding them to be, free countries, provinces, and states, over which they make no pretensions." it was further intimated, however, that the ratification was only received for reference to the estates of each of the provinces, and it was promised that, within six weeks, the commissioners should be informed whether the provinces would consent or refuse to treat. it was moreover declared that, neither at that moment nor at any future time, could any point in the letters of ratification be accepted which, directly or indirectly, might be interpreted as against that essential declaration and promise in regard to the freedom of the provinces. in case the decision should be taken to enter into negotiation upon the basis of that ratification, or any other that might meantime arrive from spain, then firm confidence was expressed by the states that, neither on the part of the king nor that of the archdukes would there be proposed or pretended, in contravention of that promise, any point touching the good constitution, welfare, state, or government of the united provinces, and of the inhabitants. the hope was furthermore expressed that, within ten days after the reception of the consent of the states to treat, commissioners would be sent by the archdukes to the hague, fully authorised and instructed to declare, roundly their intentions, in order to make short work of the whole business. in that case, the states would duly authorize and instruct commissioners to act in their behalf. thus in the answer especial warning was given against any possible attempt to interfere with the religious question. the phraseology could not be mistaken. at this stage of the proceedings, the states demanded that the original instrument of ratification should be deposited with them. the two commissioners declared that they were without power to consent to this. hereupon the assembly became violent, and many members denounced the refusal as equivalent to breaking off the negotiations. everything indicated, so it was urged, a desire on the spanish side to spin delays out of delays, and, meantime, to invent daily some new trap for deception. such was the vehemence upon this point that the industrious franciscan posted back to brussels, and returned with the archduke's permission to deliver the document. three conditions, however, were laid down. the states must give a receipt for the ratification. they must say in that receipt that the archdukes, in obtaining the paper from spain, had fulfilled their original promise. if peace should not be made, they were to return the document. when these conditions were announced, the indignation of the republican government at the trifling of their opponents was fiercer than ever. the discrepancies between the form prescribed and the ratification obtained had always been very difficult of digestion, but, although willing to pass them by, the states stoutly refused to accept the document on these conditions. tooth and nail verreyken and neyen fought out the contest and were worsted. once more the nimble friar sped back and forth between the hague and his employer's palace, and at last, after tremendous discussions in cabinet council, the conditions were abandoned. "nobody can decide," says the jesuit historian, "which was greater--the obstinacy of the federal government in screwing out of the opposite party everything it deemed necessary, or the indulgence of the archdukes in making every possible concession." had these solemn tricksters of an antiquated school perceived that, in dealing with men who meant what they said and said what they meant, all these little dilatory devices were superfluous, perhaps the wholesome result might have sooner been reached. in a contest of diplomacy against time it generally happens that time is the winner, and on this occasion, time and the republic were fighting on the same side. on the th december the states-general re-assembled at the hague, the separate provinces having in the interval given fresh instructions to their representatives. it was now decided that no treaty should be made, unless the freedom of the commonwealth was recognized in phraseology which, after consultation with the foreign ambassadors, should be deemed satisfactory. farther it was agreed that, neither in ecclesiastical nor secular matters, should any conditions be accepted which could be detrimental to freedom. in case the enemy should strive for the contrary, the world would be convinced that he alone was responsible for the failure of the peace negotiations. then, with the support of other powers friendly to the republic, hostilities could be resumed in such a manner as to ensure a favourable issue for an upright cause. the armistice, begun on the th of may, was running to an end, and it was now renewed at the instance of the states. that government, moreover, on the rd december formally notified to the archdukes that, trusting to their declarations, and to the statements of neyen and verreyken, it was willing to hold conferences for peace. their highnesses were accordingly invited to appoint seven or eight commissioners at once, on the same terms as formally indicated. the original understanding had been that no envoys but netherlanders should come from brussels for these negotiations. barneveld and the peace party, however, were desirous that spinola, who was known to be friendly to a pacific result, should be permitted to form part of the mission. accordingly the letters, publicly drawn up in the assembly, adhered to the original arrangement, but barneveld, with the privity of other leading personages, although without the knowledge of maurice, lewis william, and the state-council, secretly enclosed a little note in the principal despatch to neyen and verreyken. in this billet it was intimated that, notwithstanding the prohibition in regard to foreigners, the states were willing--it having been proposed that one or two who were not netherlanders should be sent--that a single spaniard, provided he were not one of the principal military commanders, should make part of the embassy. the phraseology had a double meaning. spinola was certainly the chief military commander, but he was not a spaniard. this eminent personage might be supposed to have thus received permission to come to the netherlands, despite all that had been urged by the war-party against the danger incurred, in case of a renewal of hostilities, by admitting so clear-sighted an enemy into the heart of the republic. moreover, the terms of the secret note would authorize the appointment of another foreigner--even a spaniard--while the crafty president richardot might creep into the commission, on the ground that, being a burgundian, he might fairly call himself a netherlander. and all this happened. thus, after a whole year of parley, in which the states-general had held firmly to their original position, while the spanish government had crept up inch by inch, and through countless windings and subterfuges, to the point on which they might have all stood together at first, and thus have saved a twelvemonth, it was finally settled that peace conferences should begin. barneveld had carried the day. maurice and his cousin lewis william had uniformly, deliberately, but not factiously, used all their influence against any negotiations. the prince had all along loudly expressed his conviction that neither the archdukes nor spain would ever be brought to an honourable peace. the most to be expected of them was a truce of twelve or fifteen years, to which his consent at least should never be given, and during which cessation of hostilities, should it be accorded, every imaginable effort would be made to regain by intrigue what the king had lost by the sword. as for the king of england and his counsellors, maurice always denounced them as more spanish than spaniards, as doing their best to put themselves on the most intimate terms with his catholic majesty, and as secretly desirous--insane policy as it seemed--of forcing the netherlands back again under the sceptre of that monarch. he had at first been supported in his position by the french ambassadors, who had felt or affected disinclination for peace, but who had subsequently, thrown the whole of their own and their master's influence on the side of barneveld. they had done their best--and from time to time they had been successful--to effect at least a superficial reconciliation between those two influential personages. they had employed all the arguments at their disposal to bring the prince over to the peace party. especially they had made use of the 'argumentum ad crumenam,' which that veteran broker in politics, jeannin, had found so effective in times past with the great lords of the league. but maurice showed himself so proof against the golden inducements suggested by the president that he and his king both arrived at the conclusion that there were secret motives at work, and that maurice was not dazzled by the brilliant prospects held out to him by henry, only because his eyes were stedfastly fixed upon some unknown but splendid advantage, to be gained through other combinations. it was naturally difficult for henry to imagine the possibility of a man, playing a first part in the world's theatre, being influenced by so weak a motive as conviction. lewis william too--that "grave and wise young man," as lord leicester used to call him twenty years before--remained steadily on the side of the prince. both in private conversation and in long speeches to the states-general, he maintained that the spanish court was incapable of sincere negotiations with the commonwealth, that to break faith with heretics and rebels would always prove the foundation of its whole policy, and that to deceive them by pretences of a truce or a treaty, and to triumph afterwards over the results of its fraud, was to be expected as a matter of course. sooner would the face of nature be changed than the cardinal maxim of catholic statesmanship be abandoned. but the influence of the nassaus, of the province of zeeland, of the clergy, and of the war-party in general, had been overbalanced by barneveld and the city corporations, aided by the strenuous exertions of the french ambassadors. the decision of the states-general was received with sincere joy at brussels. the archdukes had something to hope from peace, and little but disaster and ruin to themselves from a continuance of the war. spinola too was unaffectedly in favour of negotiations. he took the ground that the foreign enemies of spain, as well as her pretended friends, agreed in wishing her to go on with the war, and that this ought to open her eyes as to the expediency of peace. while there was a general satisfaction in europe that the steady exhaustion of her strength in this eternal contest made her daily less and less formidable to other nations, there were on the other hand puerile complaints at court that the conditions prescribed by impious and insolent rebels to their sovereign were derogatory to the dignity of monarchy. the spectacle of spain sending ambassadors to the hague to treat for peace, on the basis of netherland independence, would be a humiliation such as had never been exhibited before. that the haughty confederation should be allowed thus to accomplish its ends, to trample down all resistance to its dictation, and to defy the whole world by its insults to the church and to the sacred principle, of monarchy, was most galling to spanish pride. spinola, as a son of italy, and not inspired by the fervent hatred to protestantism which was indigenous to the other peninsula, steadily resisted those arguments. none knew better than he the sternness of the stuff out of which that republic was made, and he felt that now or never was the time to treat, even as, five years before, 'jam ant nunquam' had been inscribed on his banner outside ostend. but he protested that his friends gave him even harder work than his enemies had ever done, and he stoutly maintained that a peace against which all the rivals of spain seemed to have conspired from fear of seeing her tranquil and disembarrassed, must be advantageous to spain. the genial and quick-wined genoese could not see and hear all the secret letters and private conversations of henry and james and their ambassadors, and he may be pardoned for supposing that, notwithstanding all the crooked and incomprehensible politics of greenwich and paris, the serious object of both england and france was to prolong the war. in his most private correspondence he expressed great doubts as to a favourable issue to the pending conferences, but avowed his determination that if they should fail it would be from no want of earnest effort on his part to make them succeed. it should never be said that he preferred his own private advantage to the duty of serving the best interests of the crown. meantime the india trade, which was to form the great bone of contention in the impending conferences, had not been practically neglected of late by the enterprising hollanders. peter verhoeff, fresh from the victory of gibraltar, towards which he had personally so much contributed by the splendid manner in which he had handled the aeolus after the death of admiral heemskerk, was placed in command of a fleet to the east indies, which was to sail early in the spring. admiral matelieff, who had been cruising in those seas during the three years past, was now on his way home. his exploits had been worthy the growing fame of the republican navy. in the summer of he had laid siege to the town and fortress of malacca, constructed by the portuguese at the southmost extremity of the malay peninsula. andreas hurtado de mendoza commanded the position, with a force of three thousand men, among whom were many indians. the king or sultan of johore, at the south-eastern extremity of the peninsula, remained faithful to his dutch allies, and accepted the proposition of matelieff to take part in the hostilities now begun. the admiral's fleet consisted of eleven small ships, with fourteen hundred men. it was not exactly a military expedition. to the sailors of each ship were assigned certain shares of the general profits, and as it was obvious that more money was likely to be gained by trade with the natives, or by the capture of such stray carracks and other, merchantmen of the enemy as were frequently to be met in these regions, the men were not particularly eager to take part in sieges of towns or battles with cruisers. matelieff, however, had sufficient influence over his comrades to inflame their zeal on this occasion for the fame of the republic, and to induce them to give the indian princes and the native soldiery a lesson in batavian warfare. a landing was effected on the peninsula, the sailors and guns were disembarked, and an imposing auxiliary force, sent, according to promise, after much delay, by the sultan of johore, proceeded to invest malacca. the ground proved wet, swampy, and impracticable for trenches, galleries, covered ways, and all the other machinery of a regular siege. matelieff was not a soldier nor a naval commander by profession, but a merchant-skipper, like so many other heroes whose achievements were to be the permanent glory of their fatherland. he would not, however, have been a netherlander had he not learned something of the science which prince maurice had so long been teaching, not only to his own countrymen but to the whole world. so moveable turrets, constructed of the spice-trees which grew in rank luxuriance all around, were filled with earth and stones, and advanced towards the fort. had the natives been as docile to learn as the hollanders were eager to teach a few easy lessons in the military art, the doom of andreas hurtado de mendoza would have been sealed. but the great truths which those youthful pedants, maurice and lewis william, had extracted twenty years before from the works of the emperor leo and earlier pagans, amid the jeers of veterans, were not easy to transplant to the malayan peninsula. it soon proved that those white-turbaned, loose-garmented, supple jointed, highly-picturesque troops of the sultan were not likely to distinguish themselves for anything but wonderful rapidity in retreat. not only did they shrink from any advance towards the distant forts, but they were incapable of abiding an attack within or behind their towers, and, at every random shot from the enemy's works, they threw down their arms and fled from their stations in dismay. it was obvious enough that the conquest and subjugation of such feeble warriors by the portuguese and spaniards were hardly to be considered brilliant national trophies. they had fallen an easy prey to the first european invader. they had no discipline, no obedience, no courage; and matelieff soon found that to attempt a scientific siege with such auxiliaries against a well-constructed stone fortress, garrisoned with three thousand troops, under an experienced spanish soldier, was but midsummer madness. fevers and horrible malaria, bred by the blazing sun of the equator out of those pestilential jungles, poisoned the atmosphere. his handful of troops, amounting to not much more than a hundred men to each of his ships, might melt away before his eyes. nevertheless, although it was impossible for him to carry the place by regular approach, he would not abandon the hope of reducing it by famine. during four months long, accordingly, he kept every avenue by land or sea securely invested. in august, however, the spanish viceroy of india, don alphonso de castro, made his appearance on the scene. coming from goa with a splendid fleet, numbering fourteen great galleons, four galleys, and sixteen smaller vessels, manned by three thousand seven hundred portuguese and other europeans, and an equal number of native troops, he had at first directed his course towards atchen, on the north-west point of sumatra. here, with the magnificent arrogance which spanish and portuguese viceroys were accustomed to manifest towards the natives of either india, he summoned the king to surrender his strongholds, to assist in constructing a fortress for the use of his conquerors, to deliver up all the netherlanders within his domains, and to pay the expenses of the expedition which had thus been sent to chastise him. but the king of atchen had not sent ambassadors into the camp of prince maurice before the city of grave in vain. he had learned that there were other white skins besides the spaniards at the antipodes, and that the republic whose achievements in arts and arms were conspicuous trophies of western civilization, was not, as it had been represented to him, a mere nest of pirates. he had learned to prefer an alliance with holland to slavery under spain. moreover, he had dutch engineers and architects in his service, and a well-constructed system of dutch fortifications around his capital. to the summons to surrender himself and his allies he returned a defiant answer. the viceroy ordered an attack upon the city. one fort was taken. from before the next he was repulsed with great loss. the sumatrans had derived more profit from intercourse with europeans than the inhabitants of johore or the moluccas had done. de castro abandoned the siege. he had received intelligence of the dangerous situation of malacca, and moved down upon the place with his whole fleet. admiral matelieff, apprised by scouts of his approach, behaved with the readiness and coolness of a veteran campaigner. before de castro could arrive in the roadstead of malacca, he had withdrawn all his troops from their positions, got all his artillery reshipped, and was standing out in the straits, awaiting the enemy. on the th august, the two fleets, so vastly disproportionate in number, size, equipment, and military force--eighteen galleons and galleys, with four or five thousand fighting men, against eleven small vessels and twelve or fourteen hundred sailors--met in that narrow sea. the action lasted all day. it was neither spirited nor sanguinary. it ought to have been within the power of the spaniard to crush his diminutive adversary. it might have seemed a sufficient triumph for matelieff to manoeuvre himself out of harm's way. no vessel on either side was boarded, not one surrendered, but two on each side were set on fire and destroyed. eight of the dutchmen were killed--not a very sanguinary result after a day's encounter with so imposing an armada. de castro's losses were much greater, but still the battle was an insignificant one, and neither fleet gained a victory. night put an end to the cannonading, and the spaniards withdrew to malacca, while matelieff bore away to johore. the siege of malacca was relieved, and the netherlanders now occupied themselves with the defence of the feeble sovereign at the other point of the peninsula. matelieff lay at johore a month, repairing damages and laying in supplies. while still at the place, he received information that a large part of the spanish armada had sailed from malacca. several of his own crew, who had lost their shares in the adventure by the burning of the ships to which they belonged in the action of th august, were reluctant and almost mutinous when their admiral now proposed to them a sudden assault on the portion of the spanish fleet still remaining within reach. they had not come forth for barren glory, many protested, but in search of fortune; they were not elated by the meagre result of the expedition. matelieff succeeded, however, at last in inspiring all the men of his command with an enthusiasm superior to sordid appeals, and made a few malcontents. on the st september, he sailed to malacca, and late in the afternoon again attacked the spaniards. their fleet consisted of seven great galleons and three galleys lying in a circle before the town. the outermost ship, called the st. nicholas, was boarded by men from three of the dutch galleots with sudden and irresistible fury. there was a brief but most terrible action, the netherlanders seeming endowed with superhuman vigour. so great was the panic that there was hardly an effort at defence, and within less than an hour nearly every spaniard on board the st. nicholas had been put to the sword. the rest of the armada engaged the dutch fleet with spirit, but one of the great galleons was soon set on fire and burned to the water's edge. another, dismasted and crippled, struck her flag, and all that remained would probably have been surrendered or destroyed had not the sudden darkness of a tropical nightfall put an end to the combat at set of sun. next morning another galleon, in a shattered and sinking condition, was taken possession of and found filled with dead and dying. the rest of the spanish ships made their escape into the harbour of malacca. matelieff stood off and on in the straits for a day or two, hesitating for fear of shallows to follow into the roadstead. before he could take a decision, he had the satisfaction of seeing the enemy, panic-struck, save him any further trouble. not waiting for another attack, the spaniards set fire to every one of their ships, and retired into their fortress, while matelieff and his men enjoyed the great conflagration as idle spectators. thus the enterprising dutch admiral had destroyed ten great war-ships of the enemy, and, strange to relate, had scarcely lost one man of his whole squadron. rarely had a more complete triumph been achieved on the water than in this battle in the straits of malacca. matelieff had gained much glory but very little booty. he was also encumbered with a great number of prisoners. these he sent to don alphonso, exchanging them for a very few netherlanders then in spanish hands, at the rate of two hundred spaniards for ten dutchmen--thus showing that he held either the enemy very cheap, or his own countrymen very dear. the captured ships he burned as useless to him, but retained twenty-four pieces of artillery. it was known to matelieff that the spanish viceroy had received instructions to inflict chastisement on all the oriental potentates and their subjects who had presumed of late to trade and to form alliances with the netherlanders. johore, achem, paham, patane, amboyna, and bantam, were the most probable points of attack. johore had now been effectually defended, achem had protected itself. the dutch fleet proceeded at first to bantams for refreshment, and from this point matelieff sent three of his ships back to holland. with the six remaining to him, he sailed for the moluccas, having heard of various changes which had taken place in that important archipelago. pausing at the great emporium of nutmegs and all-spice, amboyna, he took measures for strengthening the fortifications of the place, which was well governed by frederick houtman, and then proceeded to ternate and tidor. during the absence of the netherlanders, after the events on those islands recorded in a previous chapter, the spaniards had swept down upon them from the philippines with a fleet of thirty-seven ships, and had taken captive the sultan of ternate; while the potentate of tidor, who had been left by stephen van der hagen in possession of his territories on condition of fidelity to the dutch, was easily induced to throw aside the mask, and to renew his servitude to spain. thus both the coveted clove-islands had relapsed into the control of the enemy. matelieff found it dangerous, on account of quicksands and shallows, to land on tydore, but he took very energetic measures to recover possession of ternate. on the southern side of the island, the spaniards had built a fort and a town. the dutch admiral disembarked upon the northern side, and, with assistance of the natives, succeeded in throwing up substantial fortifications at a village called malaya. the son of the former sultan, who was a spanish prisoner at the philippines, was now formally inducted into his father's sovereignty, and matelieff established at malaya for his protection a garrison of forty-five hollanders and a navy of four small yachts. such were the slender means with which oriental empires were founded in those days by the stout-hearted adventurers of the little batavian republic. with this miniature army and navy, and by means of his alliance with the distant commonwealth, of whose power this handful of men was a symbol, the king of ternate was thenceforth to hold his own against the rival potentate on the other island, supported by the spanish king. the same convention of commerce and amity was made with the ternatians as the one which stephen van der hagen had formerly concluded with the bandians; and it was agreed that the potentate should be included in any treaty of peace that might be made between the republic and spain. matelieff, with three ships and a cutter, now sailed for china, but lost his time in endeavouring to open trade with the celestial empire. the dilatory mandarins drove him at last out of all patience, and, on turning his prows once more southward, he had nearly brought his long expedition to a disastrous termination. six well-armed, well-equipped portuguese galleons sailed out of macao to assail him. it was not matelieff's instinct to turn his back on a foe, however formidable, but on this occasion discretion conquered instinct. his three ships were out of repair; he had a deficiency of powder; he was in every respect unprepared for a combat; and he reflected upon the unfavourable impression which would be made on the chinese mind should the hollanders, upon their first appearance in the flowery regions, be vanquished by the portuguese. he avoided an encounter, therefore, and, by skilful seamanship, eluded all attempts of the foe at pursuit. returning to ternate, he had the satisfaction to find that during his absence the doughty little garrison of malaya had triumphantly defeated the spaniards in an assault on the fortifications of the little town. on the other hand, the king of johore, panic-struck on the departure of his dutch protectors, had burned his own capital, and had betaken himself with all his court into the jungle. commending the one and rebuking the other potentate, the admiral provided assistance for both, some dutch trading, vessels having meantime arrived in the archipelago. matelieff now set sail for holland, taking with him some ambassadors from the king of siam and five ships well laden with spice. on his return he read a report of his adventures to the states-general, and received the warm commendations of their high mightinesses. before his departure from the tropics, paul van kaarden, with eight war-ships, had reached bantam. on his arrival in holland the fleet of peter ver hoef was busily fitting out for another great expedition to the east. this was the nation which spanish courtiers thought to exclude for ever from commerce with india and america, because the pope a century before had divided half the globe between ferdinand the catholic and emmanuel the fortunate. it may be supposed that the results of matelieff's voyage were likely to influence the pending negotiations for peace. etext editor's bookmarks: a sovereign remedy for the disease of liberty all the ministers and great functionaries received presents because he had been successful (hated) but the habit of dissimulation was inveterate by turns, we all govern and are governed contempt for treaties however solemnly ratified despised those who were grateful idiotic principle of sumptuary legislation indulging them frequently with oracular advice justified themselves in a solemn consumption of time man who cannot dissemble is unfit to reign men fought as if war was the normal condition of humanity men who meant what they said and said what they meant negotiated as if they were all immortal philip of macedon, who considered no city impregnable to negotiate was to bribe right and left, and at every step unwise impatience for peace history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter l. movements of the emperor rudolph--marquis spinola's reception at the hague--meeting of spinola and prince maurice--treaty of the republic with the french government--the spanish commissioners before the states-general--beginning of negotiations--stormy discussions--real object of spain in the negotiations--question of the india trade-- abandonment of the peace project--negotiations for a truce-- prolongation of the armistice--further delays--treaty of the states with england--proposals of the spanish ambassadors to henry of france and to james of england--friar neyen at the court of spain-- spanish procrastination--decision of philip on the conditions of peace--further conference at the hague--answer of the states-general to the proposals of the spanish government--general rupture. towards the close of the year a very feeble demonstration was made in the direction of the dutch republic by the very feeble emperor of germany. rudolph, awaking as it might be from a trance, or descending for a moment from his star-gazing tower and his astrological pursuits to observe the movements of political spheres, suddenly discovered that the netherlands were no longer revolving in their preordained orbit. those provinces had been supposed to form part of one great system, deriving light and heat from the central imperial sun. it was time therefore to put an end to these perturbations. the emperor accordingly, as if he had not enough on his hands at that precise moment with the hungarians, transylvanians, bohemian protestants, his brother matthias and the grand turk, addressed a letter to the states of holland, zeeland, and the provinces confederated with them. reminding them of the care ever taken by himself and his father to hear all their petitions, and to obtain for them a good peace, he observed that he had just heard of their contemplated negotiations with king philip and archduke albert, and of their desire to be declared free states and peoples. he was amazed, he said, that they should not have given him notice of so important an affair, inasmuch as all the united provinces belonged to and were fiefs of the holy roman empire. they were warned, therefore, to undertake nothing that might be opposed to the feudal law except with his full knowledge. this letter was dated the th of october. the states took time to deliberate, and returned no answer until after the new year. on the nd of january, , they informed the emperor that they could never have guessed of his requiring notification as to the approaching conferences. they had not imagined that the archduke would keep them a secret from his brother, or the king from his uncle-cousin. otherwise, the states would have sent due notice to his majesty. they well remembered, they said, the appeals made by the provinces to the emperor from time to time, at the imperial diets, for help against the tyranny of the spaniards. they well remembered, too, that no help was ever given them in response to those appeals. they had not forgotten either the famous cologne negotiations for peace in presence of the imperial envoys, in consequence of which the enemy had carried on war against them with greater ferocity than before. at that epoch they had made use of an extreme remedy for an intolerable evil, and had solemnly renounced allegiance to the king. since that epoch a whole generation of mankind had passed away, and many kings and potentates had recognised their freedom, obtained for just cause and maintained by the armed hand. after a long and bloody war, albert and philip had at last been brought to acknowledge the provinces as free countries over which they pretended to no right, as might be seen by the letters of both, copies of which were forwarded to the emperor. full confidence was now expressed, therefore, that the emperor and all germany would look with favour on such a god-fearing transaction, by which an end would be put to so terrible a war. thus the states-general; replying with gentle scorn to the antiquated claim of sovereignty on the part of imperial majesty. duly authenticated by citations of investitures, indulgences, and concordates, engrossed on yellowest parchment, sealed with reddest sealing-wax, and reposing in a thousand pigeon-holes in mustiest archives, no claim could be more solemn or stately. unfortunately, however, rebel pikes and matchlocks, during the past forty years, had made too many rents in those sacred parchments to leave much hope of their ever being pieced handsomely together again. as to the historical theory of imperial enfeoffment, the states thought it more delicate to glide smoothly and silently over the whole matter. it would have been base to acknowledge and impolite to refute the claim. it is as well to imitate this reserve. it is enough simply to remind the reader that although so late as the time of charles v., the provinces had been declared constituent parts of the empire, liable to its burthens, and entitled to its protection; the netherlanders being practical people, and deeming burthens and protection correlative, had declined the burthen because always deprived of the protection. and now, after a year spent in clearing away the mountains of dust which impeded the pathway to peace, and which one honest vigorous human breath might at once have blown into space, the envoys of the archduke set forth towards the hague. marquis spinola, don juan de mancicidor, private secretary to the king of spain, president richardot, auditor verreyken, and brother john neyen--a genoese, a spaniard, a burgundian, a fleming, and a franciscan friar--travelling in great state, with a long train of carriages, horses, lackeys, cooks, and secretaries, by way of breda, bergen-op-zoom, dort, rotterdam, and delft, and being received in each town and village through which they passed with great demonstrations of respect and cordial welcome, arrived at last within a mile of the hague. it was the dead of winter, and of the severest winter that had occurred for many years. every river, estuary, canal was frozen hard. all holland was one broad level sheet of ice, over which the journey had been made in sledges. on the last day of january prince maurice, accompanied by lewes william, and by eight state coaches filled with distinguished personages, left the hague and halted at the hoorn bridge, about midway between ryswyk and the capital. the prince had replied to the first request of the states that he should go forward to meet spinola, by saying that he would do so willingly if it were to give him battle; otherwise not. olden-barneveld urged upon him however that, as servant of the republic, he was bound to do what the states commanded, as a matter involving the dignity of the nation. in consequence of this remonstrance maurice consented to go, but he went unwillingly. the advancing procession of the spanish ambassadors was already in sight. far and wide in whatever direction the eye could sweep, the white surface of the landscape was blackened with human beings. it seemed as if the whole population of the netherlands had assembled, in mass meeting, to witness the pacific interview between those two great chieftains who had never before stood face to face except upon the battle-field. in carriages, in donkey carts, upon horseback, in sledges, on skates, upon foot-men, women, and children, gentle and simple, protestants, catholics, gomarites, armenians, anabaptists, country squires in buff and bandaleer, city magistrates and merchants in furs and velvet, artisans, boatmen, and peasants, with their wives and daughters in well-starched ruff and tremendous head-gear--they came thronging in countless multitudes, those honest hollanders, cheering and throwing up their caps in honour of the chieftain whose military genius had caused so much disaster to their country. this uproarious demonstration of welcome on the part of the multitude moved the spleen of many who were old enough to remember the horrors of spanish warfare within their borders. "thus unreflecting, gaping, boorish, are nearly all the common people of these provinces," said a contemporary, describing the scene, and forgetting that both high and low, according to his own account, made up the mass of spectators on that winter's day. moreover it seems difficult to understand why the hollanders should not have indulged a legitimate curiosity, and made a holiday on this memorable occasion. spinola was not entering their capital in triumph, a spanish army was not marching--as it might have done had the course of events been different--over the protective rivers and marshes of the fatherland, now changed by the exceptional cold into solid highways for invasion. on the contrary, the arrival of the great enemy within their gates, with the olive-branch instead of the sword in his hand, was a victory not for spain but for the republic. it was known throughout the land that he was commissioned by the king and the archdukes to treat for peace with the states-general of the united provinces as with the representatives of a free and independent nation, utterly beyond any foreign control. was not this opening of a cheerful and pacific prospect, after a half century's fight for liberty, a fair cause for rejoicing? the spanish commissioners arrived at the hoorn bridge, spinola alighted from his coach, prince maurice stepped forward into the road to greet him. then the two eminent soldiers, whose names had of late been so familiar in the mouths of men, shook hands and embraced with heroic cordiality, while a mighty shout went up from the multitude around. it was a stately and dramatic spectacle, that peaceful meeting of the rival leaders in a war which had begun before either of them was born. the bystanders observed, or thought that they observed, signs of great emotion on the faces of both. it has also been recorded that each addressed the other in epigrammatic sentences of compliment. "god is my witness," maurice was supposed to have said, "that the arrival of these honourable negotiators is most grateful to me. time, whose daughter is truth, will show the faith to be given to my words." "this fortunate day," replied spinola, "has filled full the measure of my hopes and wishes, and taken from me the faculty of ever wishing for anything again. i trust in divine clemency that an opportunity may be given to show my gratitude, and to make a fit return for the humanity thus shown me by the most excellent prince that the sun shines upon." with this both got into the stadholder's carriage, spinola being placed on maurice's right hand. their conversation during their brief drive to the capital, followed by their long retinue, and by the enthusiastic and vociferating crowd, has not been chronicled. it is also highly probable that the second-rate theatrical dialogue which the jesuit historian, writing from spinola's private papers, has preserved for posterity, was rather what seemed to his imagination appropriate for the occasion than a faithful shorthand report of anything really uttered. a few commonplace phrases of welcome, with a remark or two perhaps on the unexampled severity of the frost, seem more likely to have formed the substance of that brief conversation. a couple of trumpeters of spinola went braying through the streets of the village capital, heralding their master's approach with superfluous noise, and exciting the disgust of the quieter portion of the burghers. at last however the envoys and their train were all comfortably housed. the marquis, president richardot, and secretary mancicidor, were established at a new mansion on the vyverberg, belonging to goswyn menskens. the rest of the legation were lodged at the house of wassenaer. it soon became plain that the ways of life and the style housekeeping habitual to great officers of the spanish crown were very different from the thrifty manners and customs of dutch republicans. it was so long since anything like royal pomp and circumstance had been seen in their borders that the exhibition, now made, excited astonishment. it was a land where every child went to school, where almost every individual inhabitant could read and write, where even the middle classes were proficients in mathematics and the classics, and could speak two or more modern languages; where the whole nation, with but few exceptions, were producers of material or intellectual wealth, and where comparatively little of unproductive consumption prevailed. those self-governing and self-sustaining municipalities had almost forgotten the existence of the magnificent nothings so dear to the hearts of kings. spinola's house was open day and night. the gorgeous plate, gigantic candelabra, mighty ewers, shields and layers of silver and gold, which decorated his tables and sideboards, amazed the gaping crowd. he dined and supped in state every day, and the public were admitted to gaze upon his banquets as if he had been a monarch. it seemed, said those homely republicans, as if "a silver christening were going on every day in his house." there were even grave remonstrances made to the magistracy and to, the states-general against the effect of such ostentatious and immoral proceedings upon the popular mind, and suggestions that at least the doors should be shut, so that the scandal might be confined to spinola's own household. but the republican authorities deciding, not without wisdom, that the spectacle ought to serve rather as a wholesome warning than as a contaminating example, declined any inquisitorial interference with the housekeeping of the spanish ambassadors. before the negotiations began, a treaty had been made between the republic and the french government, by which it was stipulated that every effort should be made by both contracting parties to bring about an honourable and assured peace between the united provinces, spain, and the archdukes. in case of the continuance of the war, however, it was agreed that france should assist the states with ten thousand men, while in case at any time, during the continuance of the league, france should be attacked by a foreign enemy, she should receive from her ally five thousand auxiliary troops, or their equivalent in maritime assistance. this convention was thought by other powers to be so profitable to the netherlands as to excite general uneasiness and suspicion. the states would have gladly signed a similar agreement with england, but nothing was to be done with that government until an old-standing dispute in regard to the cloth trade had been arranged. middelburg had the exclusive right of deposit for the cloths imported from england. this monopoly for zealand being naturally not very palatable to amsterdam and other cities of holland, the states-general had at last authorized the merchant-adventurers engaged in this traffic to deposit their goods in any city of the united provinces. the course of trade had been to import the raw cloth from england, to dress and dye it in the netherlands, and then to re-export it to england. latterly, however, some dyers and clothiers emigrating from the provinces to that country, had obtained a monopoly from james for practising their art in his dominions. in consequence of this arrangement the exportation of undyed cloths had been forbidden. this prohibition had caused irritation both in the kingdom and the republic, had necessarily deranged the natural course of trade and manufacture, and had now prevented for the time any conclusion of an alliance offensive and defensive between the countries, even if political sentiment had made such a league possible. the states-general had recourse to the usual expedient by which bad legislation on one side was countervailed by equally bad legislation on the other. the exportation of undyed english cloths being forbidden by england, the importation of dyed english cloths was now prohibited by the netherlands. the international cloth trade stopped. this embargo became at last so detestable to all parties that concession was made by the crown for a limited export of raw cloths. the concession was soon widened by custom into a general exportation, the royal government looking through its fingers at the open infraction of its own laws, while the natural laws of trade before long re-established the old equilibrium. meantime the ill-feeling produced by this dissension delayed any cordial political arrangement between the countries. on the th of february the spanish commissioners came for the first time before the states-general, assembled to the number of a hundred and thirty, in their palace at the hague. the first meeting was merely one of mutual compliment, president richardot, on behalf of his colleagues, expressing gratitude for the cordial welcome which had been manifested to the envoys on their journey through so many towns of the united provinces. they had been received, he said, not as enemies with whom an almost perpetual war had been waged, but as friends, confederates, and allies. a warmer reception they could never have hoped for nor desired. two special commissioners were now appointed by the states-general to negotiate with the envoys. these were count lewis william and brederode. with these delegates at large were associated seven others, one from each province. barneveld of course represented holland; maldere, zeeland; berk, utrecht; hillama, friesland; bloat, overyssel; koender van helpen, groningen; cornelius vail gend, gelderland. the negotiations began at once. the archdukes had empowered the five envoys to deal in their name and in that of the king of spain. philip had authorized the archdukes to take this course by an instrument dated th january. in this paper he called the archdukes hereditary sovereigns of the netherlands. it was agreed that the various points of negotiation should be taken up in regular order; but the first question of all that presented itself was whether the conferences should be for a truce or, a peace. the secret object of spain was for a truce of years. thus she thought to save her dignity, to reserve her rights of re-conquest, to replenish her treasury, and to repair her military strength. barneveld and his party, comprising a large majority of the states-general, were for peace. prince maurice, having done his utmost to oppose negotiations for peace, was, for still stronger reasons, determined to avoid falling into what he considered the ambush of a truce. the french ambassadors were also for peace. the spanish envoys accordingly concealed their real designs, and all parties began discussions for the purpose of establishing a permanent peace. this preliminary being settled, barneveld asked the spaniards if they had full powers to treat with the states as with a free nation, and if they recognised them as such. "the most ample power," was the reply; "and we are content to treat with you even if you should choose to call yourself a kingdom." "by what right then are the archdukes called by the king hereditary sovereigns of the netherlands, and why do they append the seals of the seven united provinces to this document?" asked the advocate, taking up from the table the full power of albert and isabella and putting his finger on the seals." "by the same right," replied president richardot, "that the king of france calls himself king of navarre, that the king of great britain calls himself king of france, that the king of spain calls himself king of jerusalem." nothing could be more logical, nothing more historically accurate. but those plain-spoken republicans saw no advantage in beginning a negotiation for peace on the basis of their independence by permitting the archduke to call himself their sovereign, and to seal solemn state papers with their signet. it might seem picturesque to genealogical minds, it might be soothing to royal vanity, that paste counterfeits should be substituted for vanished jewels. it would be cruelty to destroy the mock glitter without cause. but there was cause. on this occasion the sham was dangerous. james stuart might call himself king of france. he was not more likely to take practical possession of that kingdom than of the mountains in the moon. henry of bourbon was not at present contemplating an invasion of the hereditary possessions of the house of albret. it was a matter of indifference to the netherlands whether philip iii. were crowned in jerusalem that very day, or the week afterwards, or never. it was very important however that the united provinces should have it thoroughly recognised that they were a free and independent republic, nor could that recognition be complete so long as any human being in the whole world called himself their master, and signed with their seals of state. "'tis absurd," said the hollanders, "to use the names and arms of our provinces. we have as yet no precedent to prove that you consider the united provinces as lost, and name and arms to be but wind." barneveld reminded them that they had all expressed the most straightforward intention, and that the father commissary especially had pledged his very soul for the sincerity of the king and the archdukes. "we ourselves never wished and never could deceive any one," continued the advocate, "and it is also very difficult for others to deceive us." this being the universal sentiment of the netherlanders, it was thought proper to express it in respectful but vigorous language. this was done and the session was terminated. tile spanish envoys, knowing very well that neither the king nor the archduke regarded the retention of the titles and seals of all the seventeen netherlands as an empty show, but that a secret and solid claim lurked beneath that usurpation, were very indignant. they however dissembled their wrath from the states' commissioners. they were unwilling that the negotiations should be broken up at the very first session, and they felt that neither prince maurice nor barneveld was to be trifled with upon this point. but they were loud and magnificent in their demonstrations when they came to talk the matter over with the ambassadors of france and england. it was most portentous, they thought, to the cause of monarchy and good government all over the world, that these republicans, not content to deal with kings and princes on a footing of equality, should presume to dictate to them as to inferiors. having passed through rebellion to liberty, they were now proceeding to trample upon the most hallowed customs and rites. what would become of royalty, if in the same breath it should not only renounce the substance, but even put away the symbols of authority. this insolence of the people was not more dangerous to the king and the archdukes than it was to every potentate in the universe. it was a sacred duty to resist such insults. sage jeannin did his best to pacify the vehemence of the commissioners. he represented to them that foreign titles borne by anointed kings were only ensigns of historical possessions which they had for ever renounced; but that it might become one day the pleasure of spain, or lie in the power of spain, to vindicate her ancient rights to the provinces. hence the anxiety of the states was but natural. the old leaguer and political campaigner knew very well, moreover, that at least one half of richardot's noble wrath was feigned. the commissioners would probably renounce the title and the seven seals, but in so doing would drive a hard bargain. for an empty phrase and a pennyworth of wax they would extort a heavy price. and this was what occurred. the commissioners agreed to write for fresh instructions to brussels. a reply came in due time from the archdukes, in which they signified their willingness to abandon the title of sovereigns over all the netherlands, and to abstain from using their signet. in exchange for this concession they merely demanded from the states-general a formal abandonment of the navigation to both the indies. this was all. the archdukes granted liberty to the republic. the republic would renounce its commerce with more than half the world. the scorn of the states' commissioners at this proposition can be imagined, and it became difficult indeed for them to speak on the subject in decorous language. because the archdukes were willing to give up something which was not their property, the republic was voluntarily to open its veins and drain its very life-blood at the bidding of a foreign potentate. she was to fling away all the trophies of heemskerk and sebalt de weerd, of balthasar de cordes, van der hagen, matelieff, and verhoeff; she was to abdicate the position which she had already acquired of mistress of the seas, and she was to deprive herself for ever of that daily increasing ocean commerce which was rapidly converting a cluster of puny, half-submerged provinces into a mighty empire. of a certainty the spanish court at this new epoch was an astounding anachronism. in its view pope alexander vi. still lived and reigned. liberty was not a boon conferred upon the netherlanders by their defeated enemy. it had been gained by their own right hands; by the blood, and the gold, and the sweat of two generations. if it were the king's to give, let him try once more if he could take it away. such were the opinions and emotions of the dutchmen, expressed in as courteous language as they could find. "it would be a political heresy," said barneveld to the spanish commissioners at this session, "if my lords the states should by contract banish their citizens out of two-thirds of the world, both land and sea." "'tis strange," replied the spaniards, "that you wish to have more than other powers--kings or republics--who never make any such pretensions. the indies, east and west, are our house, privately possessed by us for more than a hundred years, and no one has a right to come into it without our permission. this is not banishment, but a custom to which all other nations submit. we give you your sovereignty before all the world, quitting all claims upon it. we know very well that you deny receiving it from us; but to give you a quit claim, and to permit free trade besides, would be a little more than you have a right to expect." was it not well for the cause of liberty, commercial intercourse, and advancement of the human intellect, that there was this obstinate little republic in the world, refusing to tolerate that to which all other great powers of the earth submitted; that there was one nation determined not to acknowledge three-quarters of the world, including america and india, as the private mansion of the king of spain, to be locked against the rest of the human race? the next session of the negotiators after the arrival of this communication from the archdukes was a stormy one. the india trade was the sole subject of discussion. as the states were firmly resolved never to relinquish that navigation which in truth was one of their most practical and valuable possessions, and as the royal commissioners were as solemnly determined that it should never be conceded, it may be imagined how much breath, how much foolscap paper, was wasted. in truth, the negotiation for peace had been a vile mockery from the beginning. spain had no real intention of abdicating her claim to the united provinces. at the very moment when the commissioners were categorically making that concession in brussels, and claiming such a price for it, hoboken, the archduke's diplomatic representative in london, was earnestly assuring king james that neither his master nor philip had the remotest notion of renouncing their sovereignty over all the netherlands. what had been said and written to that effect was merely a device, he asserted, to bring about a temporary truce. during the interval of imaginary freedom it was certain that the provinces would fall into such dire confusion that it would be easier for spain to effect their re-conquest, after a brief delay for repairing her own strength, than it would be by continuing the present war without any cessation. the spanish ambassador at vienna too on his part assured the emperor rudolph that his master was resolved never to abdicate the sovereignty of the provinces. the negotiations then going on, he said, were simply intended to extort from the states a renunciation of the india trade and their consent to the re-introduction of the catholic religion throughout their territories. something of all this was known and much more suspected at the hague; the conviction therefore that no faith would be kept with rebels and heretics, whatever might be said or written, gained strength every day. that these delusive negotiations with the hollanders were not likely to be so successful as the comedy enacted twenty years before at bourbourg, for the amusement of queen elizabeth and her diplomatists while the tragedy of the armada was preparing, might be safely prophesied. richardot was as effective as ever in the part which he had so often played, but spinola laboured under the disadvantage of being a far honester man than alexander farnese. far from equal to that famous chieftain in the management of a great military campaign, it is certain that he was infinitely inferior to him in genteel comedy. whether maurice and lewis william, barneveld and brederode, were to do better in the parts formerly assigned to john rogers, valentine dale, comptroller croft, and their colleagues, remained to be seen. on the th of february, at the fifth conference of the commissioners, the first pitched battle on the india trade was fought. thereafter the combat was almost every day renewed. exactly, as a year before, the news of heemskerk's victory at gibraltar had made the king and the archdukes eager to obtain an armistice with the rebels both by land and sea, so now the report of matelieff's recent achievements in the indian ocean was increasing their anxiety to exclude the netherlanders from the regions which they were rapidly making their own. as we look back upon the negotiations, after the lapse of two centuries and a half, it becomes difficult to suppress our amazement at those scenes of solemn trickery and superhuman pride. it is not necessary to follow, step by step, the proceedings at each daily conference, but it is impossible for me not to detain the reader for yet a season longer with those transactions, and especially to invite him to ponder the valuable lesson which in their entirety they convey. no higher themes could possibly be laid before statesmen to discuss. questions of political self-government, religious liberty, national independence, divine right, rebellious power, freedom of commerce, supremacy of the seas, omnipotence claimed by the old world over the destiny of what was called the new, were importunately demanding solution. all that most influenced human passion, or stirred human reason to its depths--at that memorable point of time when two great epochs seemed to be sweeping against each other in elemental conflict--was to be dealt with. the emancipated currents of human thought, the steady tide of ancient dogma, were mingling in wrath. there are times of paroxysm in which nature seems to effect more in a moment, whether intellectually or materially, than at other periods during a lapse of years. the shock of forces, long preparing and long delayed, is apt at last to make itself sensible to those neglectful of gradual but vital changes. yet there are always ears that are deaf to the most portentous din. thus, after that half century of war, the policy of spain was still serenely planting itself on the position occupied before the outbreak of the revolt. the commonwealth, solidly established by a free people, already one of the most energetic and thriving among governments, a recognised member of the great international family, was now gravely expected to purchase from its ancient tyrant the independence which it had long possessed, while the price demanded for the free papers was not only extravagant, but would be disgraceful to an emancipated slave. holland was not likely at that turning point in her history, and in the world's history, to be false to herself and to the great principles of public law. it was good for the cause of humanity that the republic should reappear at that epoch. it was wholesome for europe that there should be just then a plain self-governing people, able to speak homely and important truths. it was healthy for the moral and political atmosphere--in those days and in the time to come--that a fresh breeze from that little sea-born commonwealth should sweep away some of the ancient fog through which a few very feeble and very crooked mortals had so long loomed forth like giants and gods. to vindicate the laws of nations and of nature; to make a noble effort for reducing to a system--conforming, at least approximately, to divine reason--the chaotic elements of war and peace; to recal the great facts that earth, sea, and sky ought to belong to mankind, and not to an accidental and very limited selection of the species was not an unworthy task for a people which had made such unexampled sacrifice for liberty and right. accordingly, at the conference on the th february, the spanish commissioners categorically summoned the states to desist entirely from the trade to either india, exactly as before the war. to enforce this prohibition, they said, was the principal reason why philip desired peace. to obtain their freedom was surely well worth renunciation of this traffic; the more so, because their trade with spain, which was so much shorter and safer, was now to be re-opened. if they had been able to keep that commerce, it was suggested, they would have never talked about the indies. the commissioners added, that this boon had not been conceded to france nor england, by the treaties of vervins and london, and that the states therefore could not find it strange that it should be refused to them. the states' commissioners stoutly replied that commerce was open to all the world, that trade was free by the great law of nature, and that neither france, england, nor the united provinces, were to receive edicts on this great subject from spain and portugal. it was absurd to circumscribe commercial intercourse at the very moment of exchanging war for peace. to recognise the liberty of the states upon paper, and to attempt the imposition of servitude in reality, was a manifest contradiction. the ocean was free to all nations. it had not been enclosed by spain with a rail-fence. the debate grew more stormy every hour. spinola expressed great indignation that the netherlanders should be so obstinate upon this point. the tall, spare president arose in wrath from his seat at the council-board, loudly protesting that the king of spain would never renounce his sovereignty over the provinces until they had forsworn the india trade; and with this menace stalked out of the room. the states' commissioners were not frightened. barneveld was at least a match for richardot, and it was better, after all, that the cards should be played upon the table. subsequent meetings were quite as violent as the first, the country was agitated far and wide, the prospects of pacification dwindled to a speck in the remote horizon. arguments at the board of conference, debates in the states-general, pamphlets by merchants and advocates--especially several emanating from the east india company--handled the great topic from every point of view, and it became more and more evident that spain could not be more resolute to prohibit than the republic to claim the trade. it was an absolute necessity, so it was urged, for the hollanders to resist the tyrannical dominion of the spaniards. but this would be impossible for them, should they rely on the slender natural resources of their own land. not a sixth part of the population could be nourished from the soil. the ocean was their inheritance, their birthright, their empire. it was necessary that spain should understand this first, last, and always. she ought to comprehend, too, that her recognition of dutch independence was not a gift, but the acknowledgment of a fact. without that acknowledgment peace was impossible. if peace were to be established, it was not to be bought by either party. each gave and each received, and certainly spain was in no condition to dictate the terms of a sale. peace, without freedom of commerce, would be merely war without killing, and therefore without result. the netherlanders, who in the middle of the previous century had risen against unjust taxation and arbitrary laws, had not grown so vile as to accept from a vanquished foe what they had spurned from their prince. to be exiled from the ocean was an unimaginable position for the republic. moreover, to retire from the indies would be to abandon her oriental allies, and would be a dishonour as well us a disaster. her good faith, never yet contaminated, would be stained, were she now to desert the distant peoples and potentates with whom she had formed treaties of friendship and commerce, and hand them over to the vengeance of the spaniards and portuguese. and what a trade it was which the united provinces were thus called upon to renounce! the foreign commerce of no other nation could be compared in magnitude to that of their commonwealth. twenty ships traded regularly to guinea, eighty to the cape de verd islands, twenty to america, and forty to the east indies. ten thousand sailors, who gained their living in this traffic, would be thrown out of employment, if the states should now listen to the spanish propositions. it was well known too that the profits of the east india company had vastly increased of late, and were augmenting with every year. the trade with cambay, malabar, ceylon, koromandel, and queda, had scarcely begun, yet was already most promising. should the hollanders only obtain a footing in china, they felt confident of making their way through the south seas and across the pole to india. thus the search for a great commercial highway between cathay, europe, and the new world, which had been baffled in the arctic regions, should be crowned with success at the antarctic, while it was deemed certain that there were many lands, lighted by the southern cross, awaiting the footsteps of the fortunate european discoverer. what was a coasting-trade with spain compared with this boundless career of adventure? now that the world's commerce, since the discovery of america and the passage around the cape of good hope, had become oceanic and universal, was the nation which took the lead on blue water to go back to the creeping land-locked navigation of the ancient greeks and phoenicians? if the east india company, in whose womb was empire, were now destroyed, it would perish with its offspring for ever. there would be no regeneration at a future day. the company's ships too were a navy in themselves, as apt for war as for trade. this the spaniards and portuguese had already learned to their cost. the merchant-traders to spain would be always in the power of spain, and at any favourable moment might be seized by spain. the spanish monopoly in the east and west was the great source of spanish power, the chief cause of the contempt with, which the spanish monarchy looked down upon other nations. let those widely expanded wings be clipped, and spain would fall from her dizzy height. to know what the states ought to refuse the enemy, it was only necessary to observe what he strenuously demanded, to ponder the avowed reason why he desired peace. the enemy was doing his best to damage the commonwealth; the states were merely anxious to prevent injury to themselves and to all the world; to vindicate for themselves, and for all men, the common use of ocean, land, and sky. a nation which strove to shut up the seas, and to acquire a monopoly of the world's trade, was a pirate, an enemy of mankind. she was as deserving of censure as those who created universal misery in time of famine, by buying up all the corn in order to enrich themselves. according to the principles of the ancients, it was legitimate to make war upon such states as closed their own ports to foreign intercourse. still more just was it, therefore, to carry arms against a nation which closed the ports of other people. the dispute about the india navigation could be settled in a moment, if spain would but keep her word. she had acknowledged the great fact of independence, which could not be gainsaid. let each party to the negotiation, therefore keep that which it already possessed. let neither attempt to prescribe to the other--both being free and independent states--any regulations about interior or foreign trade. thus reasoned the states-general, the east india directors, the great majority of the population of the provinces, upon one great topic of discussion. a small minority only attempted to defend the policy of renouncing the india trade as a branch of industry, in which a certain class, and that only in the maritime provinces, was interested. it is certainly no slight indication of the liberty of thought, of speech, and of the press, enjoyed at that epoch in the netherlands and nowhere else to anything like the same extent--that such opinions, on a subject deemed vital to the very existence of the republic, were freely published and listened to with toleration, if not with respect. even the enlightened mind of grotius was troubled with terrors as to the effect on the public mind at this crisis of anonymous pamphlets concerning political affairs. but in this regard it must be admitted that grotius was not in advance of his age, although fully conceding that press-laws were inconsistent with human liberty. maurice and barneveld were equally strenuous in maintaining the india trade; the prince, because he hoped that resistance to spain upon this point would cause the negotiations to be broken off, the advocate in the belief that firmness on the part of the states would induce the royal commissioners to yield. the states-general were not likely to be deficient in firmness. they felt that the republic was exactly on the point of wresting the control of the east from the hands of the portuguese, and they were not inclined to throw away the harvest of their previous labours just as it was ripening. ten thousand persons at least, besides the sailors employed, were directly interested in the traffic, most of whom possessed great influence in the commonwealth, and would cause great domestic dissension should they now be sacrificed to spain. to keep the india trade was the best guarantee for the future possession of the traffic to spain; for the spanish government would never venture an embargo upon the direct intercourse between the provinces and its own dominions, for fear of vengeance in the east. on the other hand, by denouncing oceanic commerce, they would soon find themselves without a navy at all, and their peaceful coasting ships would be at the mercy of spain or of any power possessing that maritime energy which would have been killed in the republic. by abandoning the ocean, the young commonwealth would sink into sloth, and become the just object of contempt to the world. it would cease to be an independent power, and deserve to fall a prey to any enterprising neighbour. even villeroy admitted the common belief to be, that if the india trade were abandoned "the states would melt away like snow in the sun." he would not, on that account, however, counsel to the states obstinacy upon the subject, if spain refused peace or truce except on condition of their exclusion from the traffic. jeannin, villeroy, and their master; isaac le maire and peter plancius, could have told the reason why if they had chosen. early in march a triple proposition was made by the states' commissioners. spain might take her choice to make peace on the basis of free trade; to make peace, leaving everything beyond the tropic of cancer to the chance of war; or to make peace in regard to all other than the tropical regions, concluding for those only a truce during a definite number of years. the spaniards rejected decidedly two of these suggestions. of course they would not concede freedom of the sea. they considered the mixture of peace and war a monstrous conception. they were, however, willing to favour peace for europe and truce in the tropics, provided the states bound themselves; on the expiration of the limited period, to abandon the indian and american trade for ever. and to this proposition the states of course were deaf. and thus they went on spinning around, day after day, in the same vicious circle, without more hope of progress than squirrels in a cage. barneveld, always overbearing with friend or foe, and often violent, was not disposed to make preposterous concessions, notwithstanding his eager desire for peace. "the might of the states-general," said he, "is so great, thank god, that they need not yield so much to the king of spain as seems to be expected, nor cover themselves with dishonour." "and do you think yourselves more mighty than the kings of england and france?" cried richardot in a great rage, "for they never dared to make any attempt upon the indies, east or west." "we are willing to leave the king in his own quarters," was the reply, "and we expect him to leave us in ours." "you had better take a sheet of paper at once," said richardot, "write down exactly what you wish, and order us to agree to it all without discussion." "we demand nothing that is unreasonable in these negotiations," was the firm rejoinder, "and expect that nothing unjust will be required of us." it was now suggested by the states' commissioners that a peace; with free navigation, might be concluded for europe, and a truce for other parts of the world, without any stipulations as to what should take place on its termination. this was hardly anything new, but it served as a theme for more intellectual buffeting. hard words were freely exchanged during several hours; and all parties lost their temper. at last the spaniards left the conference-chamber in a rage. just as they were going, barneveld asked them whether he should make a protocol of the session for the states-general, and whether it was desirable in future to resume the discussion. "let every one do exactly as he likes," replied spinola, wrathfully, as he moved to the door. friar john, always plausible, whispered a few soothing words in the ear of the marquis, adding aloud, so that the commissioners might hear, "night brings counsel." these words he spoke in latin. "he who wishes to get everything is apt to lose everything," cried, out maldere, the zeeland deputy, in spanish, to the departing commissioners. "take that to yourselves," rejoined richardot, very fiercely; "you may be sure that it will be your case."' so ended that interview. directly afterwards there was a conference between the states' commissioners and the french envoys. jeannin employed all his powers of argument: and persuasion to influence the netherlanders against a rupture of the negotiations because of the india trade. it would be better to abandon that commerce, so he urged, than to give up the hope of peace. the commissioners failed to see the logic or to melt at the eloquence of his discourse. they would have been still less inclined, if that were possible, to move from their position, had they known of the secret conferences which jeannin had just been holding with isaac le maire of amsterdam, and other merchants practically familiar with the india trade. carrying out the french king's plan to rob the republic of that lucrative traffic, and to transplant it, by means of experienced hollanders, into france, the president, while openly siding with the states, as their most disinterested friend, was secretly doing all in his power to destroy the very foundation of their commonwealth. isaac le maire came over from amsterdam in a mysterious manner, almost in disguise. had his nocturnal dealings with the french minister been known, he would have been rudely dealt with by the east india company. he was a native of tournay, not a sincere republican therefore, was very strongly affected to france, and declared that all his former fellow-townsmen, and many more, had the fleur-de-lys stamped on their hearts. if peace should be made without stipulation in favour of the east india company, he, with his three brothers, would do what they could to transfer that corporation to france. all the details of such a prospective arrangement were thoroughly discussed, and it was intimated that the king would be expected to take shares in the enterprise. jeannin had also repeated conferences on the same subject with the great cosmographer plancius. it may be well understood, therefore, that the minister of henry iv. was not very ardent to encourage the states in their resolve to oppose peace or truce, except with concession of the india trade. the states preferred that the negotiations should come to nought on the religious ground rather than on account of the india trade. the provinces were nearly unanimous as to the prohibition of the catholic worship, not from bigotry for their own or hatred of other creeds, but from larger views of what was then called tolerance, and from practical regard for the necessities of the state. to permit the old worship, not from a sense of justice but as an article of bargain with a foreign power, was not only to abase the government of the states but to convert every sincere catholic throughout the republic into a grateful adherent of philip and the archdukes. it was deliberately to place a lever, to be used in all future time, for the overthrow of their political structure. in this the whole population was interested, while the india navigation, although vital to the well-being of the nation, was not yet universally recognised as so supremely important, and was declared by a narrow-minded minority to concern the provinces of holland and zeeland alone. all were silently agreed, therefore, to defer the religious question to the last. especially, commercial greed induced the states to keep a firm clutch on the great river on which the once splendid city of antwerp stood. ever since that commercial metropolis had succumbed to farnese, the republic had maintained the lower forts, by means of which, and of flushing at the river's mouth, antwerp was kept in a state of suspended animation. to open the navigation of the scheld, to permit free approach to antwerp, would, according to the narrow notions of the amsterdam merchants, be destructive to their own flourishing trade. in vain did richardot, in one well-fought conference, do his best to obtain concessions on this important point. the states' commissioners were as deaf as the spaniards had been on the india question. richardot, no longer loud and furious, began to cry. with tears running down his cheeks, he besought the netherlanders not to insist so strenuously upon all their points, and to remember that concessions were mutually necessary, if an amicable arrangement were to be framed. the chances for peace were promising. "let not a blight be thrown over all our hopes," he exclaimed, "by too great pertinacity on either side. above all, let not the states dictate terms as to a captive or conquered king, but propose such conditions as a benevolent but powerful sovereign could accept." these adjurations might be considered admirable, if it had been possible for the royal commissioners to point to a single mustard-seed of concession ever vouchsafed by them to the republic. meantime the month of march had passed. nothing had been accomplished, but it was agreed to prolong the armistice through april and may. the negotiations having feebly dribbled off into almost absolute extinction, friar john was once more set in motion, and despatched to madrid. he was sent to get fresh instructions from philip, and he promised, on departing, to return in forty days. he hoped as his reward, he said, to be made bishop of utrecht. "that will be a little above your calibre," replied barneveld. forty days was easily said, and the states consented to the additional delay. during his absence there was much tedious discussion of minor matters, such as staple rights of wine and cloths, regulations of boundaries, removal of restrictions on trade and navigation, passports, sequestered estates, and the like; all of which were subordinate to the all-important subjects of india and religion, those two most tender topics growing so much more tender the more they were handled as to cause at last a shiver whenever they were approached. nevertheless both were to be dealt with, or the negotiations would fall to the ground. the states felt convinced that they would fall to the ground, that they had fallen to the ground, and they at least would not stoop to pick them up again. the forty days passed away, but the friar never returned. april and may came and went, and again the armistice expired by its own limitation. the war party was disgusted with the solemn trifling, maurice was exasperated beyond endurance, barneveld and the peace men began to find immense difficulty in confronting the gathering storm. the prince, with difficulty, consented to a prolongation of the armistice for two months longer; resolute to resume hostilities should no accord be made before the end of july. the advocate, with much earnestness, and with more violence than was habitual with him, insisted on protracting the temporary truce until the end of the year. the debates in the states-general and the state-council were vehement; passion rose to fever-heat, but the stadholder, although often half beside himself with rage, ended by submitting once more to the will of barneveld. this was the easier, as the advocate at last proposed an agreement which seemed to maurice and lewis william even better than their own original suggestion. it was arranged that the armistice should be prolonged until the end of the year, but it was at the same time stipulated that unless the negotiations had reached a definite result before the st of august, they should be forthwith broken off. thus a period of enforced calm--a kind of vacation, as if these great soldiers and grey-beards had been a troop of idle school-boys--was now established, without the slightest reason. president jeannin took occasion to make a journey to paris, leaving the hague on the th june. during his absence a treaty of the states with england, similar in its terms to the one recently concluded between the republic and france, but only providing for half the number of auxiliary troops arranged for in the french convention, was signed at the hague. the english plenipotentiaries, vinwood and spencer, wished to delay the exchange of signatures under the pending negotiations with spain and the archdukes were brought to a close, as king james was most desirous at that epoch to keep on good terms with his catholic majesty. the states were so urgent, however, to bring at least this matter to a termination, and the english so anxious lest france should gain still greater influence than she now enjoyed in the provinces, that they at last gave way. it was further stipulated in the convention that the debt of the states to england, then amounting to l , sterling, should be settled by annual payments of l , ; to begin with the expected peace. besides this debt to the english government, the states-general owed nine millions of florins (l , ), and the separate provinces altogether eighteen millions (l , , ). in short, there would be a deficiency of at least three hundred thousand florins a month if the war went on, although every imaginable device had already been employed for increasing the revenue from taxation. it must be admitted therefore, that the barneveld party were not to be severely censured for their desire to bring about an honourable peace. that jeannin was well aware of the disposition prevailing throughout a great part of the commonwealth is certain. it is equally certain that he represented to his sovereign, while at paris, that the demand upon his exchequer by the states, in case of the resumption of hostilities, would be more considerable than ever. immense was the pressure put upon henry by the spanish court, during the summer, to induce him to abandon his allies. very complicated were the nets thrown out to entangle the wary old politician in "the grey jacket and with the heart of gold," as he was fond of designating himself, into an alliance with philip and the archdukes. don pedro de toledo, at the head of a magnificent embassy, arrived in paris with projects of arranging single, double, or triple marriages between the respective nurseries of france and spain. the infanta might marry with a french prince, and have all the netherlands for her dower, so soon as the childless archdukes should have departed this life. or an infante might espouse a daughter of france with the same heritage assigned to the young couple. such proposals, duly set forth in sonorous spanish by the constable of castile, failed to produce a very soothing effect on henry's delicate ear. he had seen and heard enough of gaining thrones by spanish marriages. had not the very crown on his own head, which he had won with foot in stirrup and lance in rest, been hawked about for years, appended to the wedding ring of the spanish infanta? it might become convenient to him at some later day, to form a family alliance with the house of austria, although he would not excite suspicion in the united provinces by openly accepting it then. but to wait for the shoes of albert and isabella, and until the dutch republic had been absorbed into the obedient netherlands by his assistance, was not a very flattering prospect for a son or daughter of france. the ex-huguenot and indomitable campaigner in the field or in politics was for more drastic measures. should the right moment come, he knew well enough how to strike, and could appropriate the provinces, obedient or disobedient, without assistance from the spanish babies. don pedro took little by his propositions. the king stoutly declared that the netherlands were very near to his heart, and that he would never abandon them on any consideration. so near, indeed, that he meant to bring them still nearer, but this was not then suspected by the spanish court; henry, the while, repelling as a personal insult to himself the request that he should secretly labour to reduce the united provinces under subjection to the archdukes. it had even been proposed that he should sign a secret convention to that effect, and there were those about the court who were not ill-disposed for such a combination. the king was, however, far too adroit to be caught in any such trap. the marriage proposals in themselves he did not dislike, but jeannin and he were both of a mind that they should be kept entirely secret. don pedro, on the contrary, for obvious reasons, was for making the transactions ostentatiously public, and, as a guarantee of his master's good faith in regard to the heritage of the netherlands, he proposed that every portion of the republic, thenceforth to be conquered by the allies, should be confided to hands in which henry and the archdukes would have equal confidence. but these artifices were too trivial to produce much effect. henry remained true, in his way, to the states-general, and don pedro was much laughed at in paris, although the public scarcely knew wherefore. these intrigues had not been conducted so mysteriously but that barneveld was aware of what was going on. both before jeannin's departure from the hague in june, and on his return in the middle of august, he catechised him very closely on the subject. the old leaguer was too deep, however, to be thoroughly pumped, even by so practised a hand as the advocate's, so that more was suspected than at the time was accurately known. as, at the memorable epoch of the accession of the king of scots to the throne of elizabeth, maximilian de bethune had flattered the new monarch with the prospect of a double marriage, so now don fernando girono had been sent on solemn mission to england, in order to offer the same infants to james which don pedro was placing at the disposition of henry. the british sovereign, as secretly fascinated by the idea of a spanish family alliance as he had ever been by the proposals of the marquis de rosny for the french marriages, listened with eagerness. money was scattered as profusely among the english courtiers by don fernando as had been done by de bethune four years before. the bribes were accepted, and often by the very personages who knew the colour of bourbon money, but the ducats were scarcely earned. girono, thus urging on the english government the necessity of deserting the republic and cementing a cordial, personal, and political understanding between james and philip, effected but little. it soon became thoroughly understood in england that the same bargaining was going on simultaneously in france. as it was evident that the spanish children could not be disposed of in both markets at the same time, it was plain to the dullest comprehension that either the brokerage of toledo or of girono was a sham, and that a policy erected upon such flimsy foundations would soon be washed away. it is certain, however, that james, while affecting friendship for the states, and signing with them the league of mutual assistance, was secretly longing to nibble the bait dangled before him by girono, and was especially determined to prevent, if possible, the plans of toledo. meantime, brother john neyen was dealing with philip and the duke of lerma, in spain. the friar strenuously urged upon the favourite and the rest of the royal advisers the necessity of prompt action with the states. this needed not interfere with an unlimited amount of deception. it was necessary to bring the negotiations to a definite agreement. it would be by no means requisite, however, to hold to that agreement whenever a convenient opportunity for breaking it should present itself. the first object of spanish policy, argued honest john, should be to get the weapons out of the rebels' hands. the netherlanders ought to be encouraged to return to their usual pursuits of commerce and manufactures, whence they derived their support, and to disband their military and naval forces. their sailors and traders should be treated kindly in spain, instead of being indulged as heretofore with no hospitality save that of the holy inquisition and its dungeons. let their minds be disarmed of all suspicion. now the whole population of the provinces had been convinced that spain, in affecting to treat, was secretly devising means to re-impose her ancient yoke upon their necks. time went by in aranjuez and madrid. the forty days, promised as the period of neyen's absence, were soon gone; but what were forty days, or forty times forty, at the spanish court? the friar, who, whatever his faults, was anything but an idler, chafed at a procrastination which seemed the more stupendous to him, coming fresh as he did from a busy people who knew the value of time. in the anguish of his soul he went to rodrigo calderon, of the privy council, and implored his influence with government to procure leave for him to depart. calderon, in urbane but decisive terms, assured him that this would be impossible before the king should return to madrid. the monk then went to idiaquez, who was in favour of his proceeding at once to the netherlands, but who on being informed that calderon was of a different opinion, gave up the point. more distressed than ever, neyen implored prada's assistance, but prada plunged him into still deeper despair. his majesty, said that counsellor, with matchless effrontery, was studying the propositions of the states-general, and all the papers in the negotiation, line by line, comma by comma. there were many animadversions to make, many counter suggestions to offer. the king was pondering the whole subject most diligently. when those lucubrations were finished, the royal decision, aided by the wisdom of the privy council, would be duly communicated to the archdukes. to wait for an answer to the propositions of the suspicious states-general until philip iii. had mastered the subject in detail, was a prospect too dreary even for the equable soul of brother john. dismayed at the position in which he found himself, he did his best to ferret out the reasons for the preposterous delay; not being willing to be paid off in allusions to the royal investigations. he was still further appalled at last by discovering that the delay was absolutely for the delay's sake. it was considered inconsistent with the dignity of the government not to delay. the court and cabinet had quite made up their minds as to the answer to be made to the last propositions of the rebels, but to make it known at once was entirely out of the question. in the previous year his majesty's administration, so it was now confessed with shame, had acted with almost indecent haste. that everything had been conceded to the confederated provinces was the--common talk of europe. let the time-honoured, inveterate custom of spain in grave affairs to proceed slowly, and therefore surely, be in future observed. a proper self-respect required the king to keep the universe in suspense for a still longer period upon the royal will and the decision of the royal council. were the affairs of the mighty spanish empire so subordinate to the convenience of that portion of it called the netherlands that no time was to be lost before settling their affairs? such dismal frivolity, such palsied pride, seems scarcely credible; but more than all this has been carefully recorded in the letters of the friar. if it were precipitation to spend the whole year in forming a single phrase; to wit, that the archdukes and the king would treat with the united provinces as with countries to which they made no pretensions; and to spend the best part of another year in futile efforts to recal that phrase; if all this had been recklessness and haste, then, surely, the most sluggish canal in holland was a raging cataract, and the march of a glacier electric speed. midsummer had arrived. the period in which peace was to be made or abandoned altogether had passed. jeannin had returned from his visit to paris; the danish envoys, sent to watch the negotiations, had left the hague, utterly disgusted with a puppet-show, all the strings of which, they protested, were pulled from the louvre. brother john, exasperated by the superhuman delays, fell sick of a fever at burgos, and was sent, on his recovery, to the court at valladolid to be made ill again by the same cause, and still there came no sound from the government of spain. at last the silence was broken. something that was called the voice of the king reached the ears of the archduke. long had he wrestled in prayer on this great subject, said philip iii., fervently had he besought the omnipotent for light. he had now persuaded himself that he should not fulfil his duty to god, nor satisfy his own strong desire for maintaining the catholic faith, nor preserve his self-respect, if he now conceded his supreme right to the confederated provinces at any other price than the uncontrolled exercise, within their borders, of the catholic religion. he wished, therefore, as obedient son of the church and defender of the faith, to fulfil this primary duty, untrammelled by any human consideration, by any profit that might induce him towards a contrary course. that which he had on other occasions more than once signified he now confirmed. his mind was fixed; this was his last and immutable determination, that if the confederates should permit the free and public exercise of the catholic, roman, apostolic religion to all such as wished to live and die in it, for this cause so grateful to god, and for no other reason, he also would permit to them that supreme right over the provinces, and that authority which now belonged to himself. natives and residents of those countries should enjoy liberty, just so long as the exercise of the catholic religion flourished there, and not one day nor hour longer. philip then proceeded flatly to refuse the india navigation, giving reasons very satisfactory to himself why the provinces ought cheerfully to abstain from that traffic. if the confederates, in consequence of the conditions thus definitely announced, moved by their innate pride and obstinacy, and relying on the assistance of their allies, should break off the negotiations, then it would be desirable to adopt the plan proposed by jeannin to richardot, and conclude a truce for five or six years. the king expressed his own decided preference for a truce rather than a peace, and his conviction that jeannin had made the suggestion by command of his sovereign. the negotiators stood exactly where they did when friar john, disguised as a merchant, first made his bow to the prince and barneveld in the palace at the hague. the archduke, on receiving at last this peremptory letter from the king, had nothing for it but to issue instructions accordingly to the plenipotentiaries at the hague. a decisive conference between those diplomatists and the states' commissioners took place immediately afterwards. it was on the th august. although it had been agreed on the st may to break off negotiations on the ensuing st of august, should no result be reached, yet three weeks beyond that period had been suffered to elapse, under a tacit agreement to wait a little longer for the return of the friar. president jeannin, too, had gone to paris on the th june, to receive new and important instructions; verbal and written, from his sovereign, and during his absence it had not been thought expedient to transact much business. jeannin returned to the hague on the th of august, and, as definite instructions from king and archduke had now arrived, there seemed no possibility of avoiding an explanation. the spanish envoys accordingly, with much gravity, and as if they had been propounding some cheerful novelty, announced to the assembled commissioners that all reports hitherto flying about as to the spanish king's intentions were false. his majesty had no intention of refusing to give up the sovereignty of the provinces. on the contrary, they were instructed to concede that sovereignty freely and frankly to my lords the states-general--a pearl and a precious jewel, the like of which no prince had ever given away before. yet the king desired neither gold nor silver, neither cities nor anything else of value in exchange. he asked only for that which was indispensable to the tranquillity of his conscience before god, to wit, the re-establishment in those countries of the catholic apostolic roman religion. this there could surely be no reasons for refusing. they owed it as a return for the generosity of the king, they owed it to their own relatives, they owed it to the memory of their ancestors, not to show greater animosity to the ancient religion than to the new and pernicious sect of anabaptists, born into the world for the express purpose of destroying empires; they owed it to their many fellow-citizens, who would otherwise be driven into exile, because deprived of that which is dearest to humanity. in regard to the east india navigation, inasmuch as the provinces had no right whatever to it, and as no other prince but the sovereign of spain had any pretensions to it, his majesty expected that the states would at once desist from it. this was the magnificent result of twenty months of diplomacy. as the king's father had long ago flung away the pearl and precious jewel which the son now made a merit of selling to its proprietors at the price of their life's blood--the world's commerce--it is difficult to imagine that richardot, while communicating thin preposterous ultimatum, could have kept his countenance. but there were case-hardened politicians on both sides. the proposition was made and received with becoming seriousness, and it was decided by the states' commissioners to make no answer at all on that occasion. they simply promised to render their report to the states-general, who doubtless would make short work with the matter. they made their report and it occasioned a tumult. every member present joined in a general chorus of wrathful denunciation. the spanish commissioners were infamous swindlers, it was loudly asserted. there should be no more dealings with them at all. spain was a power only to be treated with on the battle-field. in the tempest of general rage no one would listen to argument, no one asked which would be the weaker, which the stronger party, what resources for the renewed warfare could be founds or who would be the allies of the republic. hatred, warlike fury and scorn at the duplicity with which they had been treated, washed every more politic sentiment away, and metamorphosed that body of burghers as in an instant. the negotiations should be broken off, not on one point, but on all points, and nothing was left but to prepare instantly for war. three days later, after the french and english ambassadors, as well as prince maurice and count lewis william, had been duly consulted, comparative calm was restored, and a decisive answer was unanimously voted by the states-general. the proposition of the commissioners was simply declared to be in direct violation of the sovereignty and freedom of the country, and it was announced that, if it should be persisted in, the whole negotiation might be considered as broken off. a formal answer to the royal propositions would be communicated likewise to the envoys of foreign powers, in order that the royal commissioners might be placed completely in the wrong. on the th august an elaborate response was accordingly delivered in writing by the states' commissioners to those of the archdukes and king, it being at the same time declared by barneveld and his colleagues that their functions were ended, and that this document, emanating from the states-general, was a sovereign resolution, not a diplomatic note. the contents of this paper may be inferred from all that has been previously narrated. the republic knew its own mind, and had always expressed itself with distinctness. the spanish government having at last been brought to disclose its intentions, there was an end to the negotiations for peace. the rupture was formally announced. etext editor's bookmarks: night brings counsel this obstinate little republic triple marriages between the respective nurseries usual expedient by which bad legislation on one side countered history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter li. designs of henry iv.--new marriage project between france and spain formal proposition of negotiating for a truce between the states and spain--exertions of prince maurice to counteract the designs of barneveld--strife between the two parties in the republic--animosity of the people against barneveld--return of the spanish commissioners--further trifling--dismissal of the commissioners-- close of the negotiations--accidental discovery of the secret instructions of the archdukes to the commissioners--opposing factions in the republic--oration of president jeannin before the states-general--comparison between the dutch and swiss republics-- calumnies against the advocate--ambassador lambert in france-- henry's letter to prince maurice--reconciliation of maurice and barneveld--agreement of the states to accept a truce. president jeannin had long been prepared for this result. it was also by no means distasteful to him. a peace would not have accorded with the ulterior and secretly cherished schemes of his sovereign, and during his visit to paris, he had succeeded in persuading henry that a truce would be far the most advantageous solution of the question, so far as his interests were concerned. for it had been precisely during that midsummer vacation of the president at paris that henry had completed his plot against the liberty of the republic, of which he professed himself the only friend. another phase of spanish marriage-making had excited his ever scheming and insidious brain. it had been proposed that the second son of the spanish king should espouse one of henry's daughters. the papal nuncius asked what benefit the king of spain would receive for his share, in case of the marriage. the french king replied by plainly declaring to the nuncius that the united states should abstain from and renounce all navigation to and commerce with the indies, and should permit public exercise of the catholic religion. if they refused, would incontinently abandon them to their fate. more than this, he said, could not honestly be expected of him. surely this was enough. honestly or dishonestly, what more could spain expect of the republic's best ally, than that he should use all his efforts to bring her back into spanish subjection, should deprive her of commerce with three-quarters of the world, and compel her to re-establish the religion which she believed, at that period, to be incompatible with her constitutional liberties? it is difficult to imagine a more profligate or heartless course than the one pursued at this juncture by henry. secretly, he was intriguing, upon the very soil of the netherlands, to filch from them that splendid commerce which was the wonder of the age, which had been invented and created by dutch navigators and men of science, which was the very foundation of their state, and without which they could not exist, in order that he might appropriate it to himself, and transfer the east india company to france; while at paris he was solemnly engaging himself in a partnership with their ancient and deadly enemy to rob them of their precious and nobly gained liberty. was better proof ever afforded that god alone can protect us against those whom we trust? who was most dangerous to the united provinces during those memorable peace negotiations, spain the avowed enemy, or france the friend? the little republic had but her own sword, her own brain, and her own purse to rely upon. elizabeth was dead, and james loved spain better than he did the netherlands, and quiet better than spain. "i have told you often," said caron, "and i say it once more, the spaniard is lucky that he has such a peaceable king as this to deal with in england." the details of the new marriage project were arranged at paris between the nuncius, the spanish ambassador, don pedro de toledo, the diplomatic agent of the archdukes, and henry's ministers, precisely as if there had been no negotiations going on between the states and spain. yet the french king was supposed to be the nearest friend of the states, and was consulted by them on every occasion, while his most intimate and trusted counsellor, the ingenuous jeannin, whose open brow was stamped with sincerity, was privy to all their most secret deliberations. but the statesman thus dealing with the hollanders under such a mask of friendly candour, knew perfectly well the reason why his government preferred a truce to a peace. during a prolonged truce, the two royal children would grow old enough for the consummation of marriage, and the states--so it was hoped--would be corrupted and cajoled into renouncing their liberty. all the netherlands would be then formed into a secundogeniture for spain, and the first sovereign would be the husband of a french princess. even as an object of ambition, the prize to be secured by so much procrastination and so much treachery was paltry. when the spanish commissioners came to the french and english ambassadors accordingly, complaining of the abrupt and peremptory tone of the states' reply, the suggestion of conferences for truce, in place of fruitless peace negotiations, was made at once, and of course favourably received. it was soon afterwards laid before the states-general. to this end, in truth, richardot and his colleagues had long been secretly tending. moreover, the subject had been thoroughly but secretly discussed long before between jeannin and barneveld. the french and english ambassadors, accordingly, on the th august, came before the states-general, and made a formal proposition for the opening of negotiations for a truce. they advised the adoption of this course in the strongest manner. "let the truce be made with you," they said, "as with free states, over which the king and the archdukes have no pretensions, with the understanding that, during the time of the truce you are to have free commerce as well to the indies as to spain and the obedient netherlands, and to every part of the spanish dominions; that you are to retain all that you possess at present, and that such other conditions are to be added as you may find it reasonable to impose. during this period of leisure you will have time to put your affairs in order, to pay your debts, and to reform your government, and if you remain united, the truce will change into an absolute peace." maurice was more indignant when the new scheme was brought to his notice than he had ever been before, and used more violent language in opposing a truce than he had been used to employ when striving against a peace. to be treated with, as with a free state, and to receive permission to trade with the outside world until the truce should expire, seemed to him a sorry result for the republic to accept. the state-council declared, by way of answer to the foreign ambassadors, that the principal points and conditions which had been solemnly fixed, before the states had consented to begin the negotiations, had been disputed with infinite effrontery and shamelessness by the enemy. the pure and perfect sovereignty notoriously included religion and navigation to any part of the world; and the republic would never consent to any discussion of truce unless these points were confirmed beforehand with the spanish king's signature and seal. this resolution of the council--a body which stood much under the influence of the nassaus--was adopted next day by the states-general, and duly communicated to the friendly ambassadors. the foreign commissioners, when apprised of this decision, begged for six weeks' time; in order to be able to hear from madrid. even the peace party was disgusted with this impertinence. maurice boiled over with wrath. the ambassadors recommended compliance with the proposal. their advice was discussed in the states-general, eighty members being present, besides maurice and lewis william. the stadholder made a violent and indignant speech. he was justified in his vehemence. nothing could exceed the perfidy of their great ally. "i know that the king of france calculates thus"--wrote aerssens at that moment from paris--"'if the truce lasts seven years, my son will be old enough to accomplish the proposed marriage, and they will be obliged to fulfil their present offers. otherwise; i would break the truce in the netherlands, and my own peace with them, in order to take from the spaniard by force what he led me to hope from alliance.' thus it is," continued the states' envoy, "that his majesty condescends to propose, to us a truce, which may have a double interpretation, according to the disposition of the strongest, and thus our commonwealth will be kept in perpetual disquiet, without knowing whether it is sovereign or not. nor will it be sovereign unless it shall so please our neighbour, who by this means will always keep his foot upon our throat." "to treat with the states as if they were free," said henry to the nuncius soon afterwards, "is not to make them free. this clause does no prejudice to the rights of the king of spain, except for the time of the truce." aerssens taxed the king with having said this. his majesty flatly denied it. the republican envoy bluntly adduced the testimony of the ambassadors of venice and of wirtemberg. the king flew into a rage on seeing that his secrets had been divulged, and burst out with these words: "what you demand is not reasonable. you wish the king of spain to renounce his rights in order to arrive at a truce. you wish to dictate the law to him. if you had just gained four battles over him, you could not demand more. i have always held you for sovereigns, because i am your friend, but if you would judge by equity and justice, you are not sovereigns. it is not reasonable that the king of spain should quit the sovereignty for always, and you ought to be satisfied with having it so long as the treaty shall last." here was playing at sovereignty with a vengeance. sovereignty was a rattle for the states to amuse themselves with, until the royal infants, french and spanish, should be grown old enough to take the sovereignty for good. truly this was indeed keeping the republic under the king's heel to be crushed at his pleasure, as aerssens, with just bitterness, exclaimed. two days were passed at the hague in vehement debate. the deputies of zeeland withdrew. the deputies from holland were divided, but, on the whole, it was agreed to listen to propositions of truce, provided the freedom of the united provinces--not under conditions nor during a certain period, but simply and for all time--should be recognised beforehand. it was further decided on the th september to wait until the end of the month for the answer from spain. after the st of october it was distinctly intimated to the spanish commissioners that they must at once leave the country unless the king had then acknowledged the absolute independence of the provinces. a suggestion which had been made by these diplomatists to prolong the actually existing armistice into a truce of seven years, a step which they professed themselves willing to take upon their own responsibility, had been scornfully rejected by the states. it was already carrying them far enough away, they said, to take them away from a peace to a truce, which was something far less secure than a peace, but the continuance of this floating, uncertain armistice would be the most dangerous insecurity of all. this would be going from firm land to slippery ice, and from slippery ice into the water. by such a process, they would have neither war nor peace--neither liberty of government nor freedom of commerce--and they unanimously refused to listen to any such schemes. during the fortnight which followed this provisional consent of the states, the prince redoubled his efforts to counteract the barneveld party. he was determined, so far as in him lay, that the united netherlands should never fall back under the dominion of spain. he had long maintained the impossibility of effecting their thorough independence except by continuing the war, and had only with reluctance acquiesced in the arguments of the french ambassadors in favour of peace negotiations. as to the truce, he vehemently assured those envoys that it was but a trap. how could the netherlanders know who their friends might be when the truce should have expired, and under what unfavourable auspices they might not be compelled to resume hostilities? as if he had been actually present at the council boards in madrid and valladolid, or had been reading the secret letters of friar john to spinola, he affirmed that the only object of spain was to recruit her strength and improve her finances, now entirely exhausted. he believed, on the other hand, that the people of the provinces, after they should have once become accustomed to repose; would shrink from exchanging their lucrative pursuits for war, and would prefer to fall back under the yoke of spain. during the truce they would object to the furnishing of necessary contributions for garrison expenses, and the result would be that the most important cities and strongholds, especially those on the frontier, which were mainly inhabited by catholics, would become insecure. being hostile to a government which only controlled them by force, they would with difficulty be kept in check by diminished garrisons, unless they should obtain liberty of catholic worship. it is a dismal proof of the inability of a leading mind, after half a century's war, to comprehend the true lesson of the war--that toleration of the roman religion seemed to maurice an entirely inadmissible idea. the prince could not rise to the height on which his illustrious father had stood; and those about him, who encouraged him in his hostility to catholicism, denounced barneveld and arminius as no better than traitors and atheists. in the eyes of the extreme party, the mighty war had been waged, not to liberate human thought, but to enforce predestination; and heretics to calvinism were as offensive in their eyes as jews and saracens had ever been to torquemada. the reasons were unanswerable for the refusal of the states to bind themselves to a foreign sovereign in regard to the interior administration of their commonwealth; but that diversity of religious worship should be considered incompatible with the health of the young republic--that the men who had so bravely fought the spanish inquisition should now claim their own right of inquisition into the human conscience--this was almost enough to create despair as to the possibility of the world's progress. the seed of intellectual advancement is slow in ripening, and it is almost invariably the case that the generation which plants--often but half conscious of the mightiness of its work--is not the generation which reaps the harvest. but all mankind at last inherits what is sown in the blood and tears of a few. that government, whether regal or democratic, should dare to thrust itself between man and his maker--that the state, not with interfering in a thousand superfluous ways with the freedom of individual human action in the business of life, should combine with the church to reduce human thought to slavery in regard to the sacred interests of eternity, was one day to be esteemed a blasphemous presumption in lands which deserved to call themselves free. but that hour had not yet come. "if the garrisons should be weakened," said the prince, "nothing could be expected from the political fidelity of the town populations in question, unless they should be allowed the exercise of their own religion. but the states could hardly be disposed to grant this voluntarily, for fear of injuring the general insecurity and violating the laws of the commonwealth, built as it is upon a foundation which cannot suffer this diversity in the public exercise of religion. already," continued maurice, "there are the seeds of dissension in the provinces and in the cities, sure to ripen in the idleness and repose of peace to an open division. this would give the enemy a means of intriguing with and corrupting those who are already wickedly inclined." thus in the year , the head of the dutch republic, the son of william the silent, seemed to express himself in favour of continuing a horrible war, not to maintain the political independence of his country, but to prevent catholics from acquiring the right of publicly worshipping god according to the dictates of their conscience. yet it would be unjust to the prince, whose patriotism was as pure and unsullied as his sword, to confound his motives with his end. he was firmly convinced that liberty of religious worship, to be acquired during the truce, would inevitably cause the united provinces to fall once more under the spanish yoke. the french ambassador, with whom he conferred every day, never doubted his sincerity. gelderland, friesland, overyssel, groningen, and utrecht, five provinces out of the united seven, the prince declared to be chiefly inhabited by catholics. they had only entered the union, he said, because compelled by force. they could only be kept in the union by force, unless allowed freedom of religion. his inference from such a lamentable state of affairs was, not that the experiment of religious worship should be tried, but that the garrisons throughout the five provinces ought to be redoubled, and the war with spain indefinitely waged. the president was likewise of opinion that "a revolt of these five provinces against the union might be at any moment expected, ill disposed as they were to recognise a sovereignty which abolished their religion." being himself a catholic, however, it was not unnatural that he should make a different deduction from that of the prince, and warmly recommend, not more garrisons, but more liberty of worship. thus the very men who were ready to dare all, and to sacrifice all in behalf of their country, really believed themselves providing for the imperishable security of the commonwealth by placing it on the narrow basis of religious intolerance. maurice, not satisfied with making these vehement arguments against the truce in his conferences with the envoys of the french and british sovereigns, employed the brief interval yet to elapse before definitely breaking off or resuming the conferences with the spanish commissioners in making vigorous appeals to the country. "the weal or woe of the united provinces for all time," he said, "is depending on the present transactions." weigh well the reasons we urge, and make use of those which seem to you convincing. you know that the foe, according to his old deceitful manner, laid down very specious conditions at the beginning, in order to induce my lords the states-general to treat. "if the king and the archdudes sincerely mean to relinquish absolutely their pretensions to these provinces, they can certainly have no difficulty in finding honest and convenient words to express their intention. as they are seeking other phrases than the usual and straightforward ones, they give certain proof that they mean to keep back from us the substance. they are trying to cheat us with dark, dubious, loosely-screwed terms, which secure nothing and bind to nothing. if it be wise to trust the welfare of our state to ambiguous words, you can judge according to your own discretion. "recognition of our sovereignty is the foundation-stone of these negotiations. "let every man be assured that, with such mighty enemies, we can do nothing by halves. we cannot afford to retract, mutilate, or moderate our original determination. he who swerves from the straight road at the beginning is lost; he who stumbles at the first step is apt to fall down the whole staircase. if, on account of imaginable necessity, we postpone that most vital point, the assurance of our freedom, we shall very easily allow less important points to pass muster, and at last come tamely into the path of reconciliation. that was exactly the danger which our ancestors in similar negotiations always feared, and against which we too have always done our best to guard ourselves. "wherefore, if the preservation of our beloved fatherland is dear to you, i exhort you to maintain that great fundamental resolution, at all times and against all men, even if this should cause the departure of the enemy's commissioners. what can you expect from them but evil fruit?" he then advised all the estates and magistracies which he was addressing to instruct their deputies, at the approaching session of the states-general, to hold on to the first article of the often-cited preliminary resolution without allowing one syllable to be altered. otherwise nothing could save the commonwealth from dire and notorious confusion. above all, he entreated them to act in entire harmony and confidence with himself and his cousin, even as they had ever done with his illustrious father. certainly the prince fully deserved the confidence of the states, as well for his own signal services and chivalrous self-devotion, as for the unexampled sacrifices and achievements of william the silent. his words had the true patriotic ring of his father's frequent and eloquent appeals; and i have not hesitated to give these extracts from his discourse, because comparatively few of such utterances of maurice have been preserved, and because it gives a vivid impression of the condition of the republic and the state of parties at that momentous epoch. it was not merely the fate of the united netherlands and the question of peace or war between the little republic and its hereditary enemy that were upon the issue. the peace of all christendom, the most considerable material interests of civilization, and the highest political and moral principles that can influence human action, were involved in those negotiations. there were not wanting many to impeach the purity of the stadholder's motives. as admiral or captain-general, he received high salaries, besides a tenth part of all prize-money gained at sea by the fleets, or of ransom and blackmail on land by the armies of the republic. his profession, his ambition, his delights, were those of a soldier. as a soldier in a great war, he was more necessary to his countrymen than he could expect to be as a statesman in time of peace. but nothing ever appeared in public or in private, which threw a reasonable suspicion upon his lofty patriotism. peace he had always believed to be difficult of attainment. it had now been proved impossible. a truce he honestly considered a pitfall of destruction, and he denounced it, as we have seen, in the language of energetic conviction. he never alluded to his pecuniary losses in case peace should be made. his disinterested patriotism was the frequent subject of comment in the most secret letters of the french ambassadors to the king. he had repeatedly refused enormous offers if he would forsake the cause of the republic. the king of france was ever ready to tempt him with bribes, such as had proved most efficacious with men as highly born and as highly placed as a cadet of the house of orange-nassau. but there is no record that jeannin assailed him at this crisis with such temptations, although it has not been pretended that the prince was obdurate to the influence of mammon when that deity could be openly approached. that maurice loved power, pelf, and war, can hardly be denied. that he had a mounting ambition; that he thought a monarchy founded upon the historical institutions and charters of the provinces might be better than the burgher-aristocracy which, under the lead of barneveld, was establishing itself in the country; that he knew no candidate so eligible for such a throne as his father's son, all this is highly probable and scarcely surprising. but that such sentiments or aspirations caused him to swerve the ninth part of a hair from what he considered the direct path of duty; that he determined to fight out the great fight with spain and rome until the states were free in form, in name, and in fact; only that he might then usurp a sovereignty which would otherwise revert to philip of spain or be snatched by henry of navarre--of all this there is no proof whatever. the language of lewis william to the provinces under his government was quite as vigorous as the appeals of maurice. during the brief interval remaining before the commissioners should comply with the demands of the states or take their departure, the press throughout the netherlands was most active. pamphlets fell thick as hail. the peace party and the war party contended with each other, over all the territory of the provinces, as vigorously as the troops of fuentes or bucquoy had ever battled with the columns of bax and meetkerke. the types of blaauw and plantin were as effective during the brief armistice, as pike and arquebus in the field, but unfortunately they were used by netherlanders against each other. as a matter of course, each party impeached the motives as well as the actions of its antagonist. the adherents of the advocate accused the stadholder of desiring the continuance of the war for personal aims. they averred that six thousand men for guarding the rivers would be necessary, in addition to the forty-five thousand men, now kept constantly on foot. they placed the requisite monthly expenses, if hostilities were resumed, at , florins, while they pointed to the , , of debt over and above the , , due to the british crown, as a burthen under which the republic could scarcely stagger much longer. such figures seem modest enough, as the price of a war of independence. familiar with the gigantic budgets of our own day, we listen with something like wonder, now that two centuries and a half have passed, to the fierce denunciations by the war party of these figures as wilful fictions. science has made in that interval such gigantic strides. the awful intellect of man may at last make war impossible for his physical strength. he can forge but cannot wield the hammer of thor; nor has science yet discovered the philosopher's stone. without it, what exchequer can accept chronic warfare and escape bankruptcy? after what has been witnessed in these latest days, the sieges and battles of that distant epoch seem like the fights of pigmies and cranes. already an eighty years' war, such as once was waged, has become inconceivable. let two more centuries pass away, and perhaps a three weeks' campaign may exhaust an empire. meantime the war of words continued. a proclamation with penalties was issued by the states against the epidemic plague of pamphlets or "blue-books," as those publications were called in holland, but with little result. it was not deemed consistent with liberty by those republicans to put chains on the press because its utterances might occasionally be distasteful to magistrates. the writers, printers, and sellers of the "blue-books" remained unpunished and snapped their fingers at the placard. we have seen the strenuous exertions of the nassaus and their adherents by public appeals and private conversation to defeat all schemes of truce. the people were stirred by the eloquence of the two stadholders. they were stung to fury against spain and against barneveld by the waspish effusions of the daily press. the magistrates remained calm, and took part by considerable majorities with barneveld. that statesman, while exercising almost autocratic influence in the estates, became more and more odious to the humbler classes, to the nassaus, and especially to the calvinist clergy. he was denounced, as a papist, an atheist, a traitor, because striving for an honourable peace with the foe, and because admitting the possibility of more than one road to the kingdom of heaven. to doubt the infallibility of calvin was as heinous a crime, in the eyes of his accusers, as to kneel to the host. peter titelmann, half a century earlier, dripping with the blood of a thousand martyrs, seemed hardly a more loathsome object to all netherlanders than the advocate now appeared to his political enemies, thus daring to preach religious toleration, and boasting of, humble ignorance as the safest creed. alas! we must always have something to persecute, and individual man is never so convinced of his own wisdom as when dealing with subjects beyond human comprehension. unfortunately, however, while the great advocate was clear in his conscience he had scarcely clean hands. he had very recently accepted a present of twenty thousand florins from the king of france. that this was a bribe by which his services were to be purchased for a cause not in harmony with his own convictions it would be unjust to say. we of a later generation, who have had the advantage of looking through the portfolio of president jeannin, and of learning the secret intentions of that diplomatist and of his master, can fully understand however that there was more than sufficient cause at the time for suspecting the purity of the great advocate's conduct. we are perfectly aware that the secret instructions of henry gave his plenipotentiaries almost unlimited power to buy up as many influential personages in the netherlands as could be purchased. so they would assist in making the king master of the united provinces at the proper moment there was scarcely any price that he was not willing to pay. especially prince maurice, his cousin, and the advocate of holland, were to be secured by life pensions, property, offices, and dignities, all which jeannin might offer to an almost unlimited amount, if by such means those great personages could possibly be induced to perform the king's work. there is no record that the president ever held out such baits at this epoch to the prince. there could never be a doubt however in any one's mind that if the political chief of the orange-nassau house ever wished to make himself the instrument by which france should supplant spain in the tyranny of the netherlands, he might always name his own price. jeannin never insulted him with any such trading propositions. as for barneveld, he avowed long years afterwards that he had accepted the twenty thousand florins, and that the king had expressly exacted secrecy in regard to the transaction. he declared however that the money was a reward for public services rendered by him to the french government ten years before, in the course of his mission to france at the time of the peace of vervins. the reward had been promised in , and the pledge was fulfilled in . in accepting wages fairly earned, however, he protested that he had bound himself to no dishonourable service, and that he had never exchanged a word with jeannin or with any man in regard to securing for henry the sovereignty of the netherlands. his friends moreover maintained in his defence that there were no laws in the netherlands forbidding citizens to accept presents or pensions from foreign powers. such an excuse was as bad as the accusation. woe to the republic whose citizens require laws to prevent them from becoming stipendiaries of foreign potentates! if public virtue, the only foundation of republican institutions, be so far washed away that laws in this regard are necessary to save it from complete destruction, then already the republic is impossible. many who bore illustrious names, and occupied the highest social positions at, that day in france, england, and the obedient provinces, were as venal as cattle at a fair. philip and henry had bought them over and over again, whenever either was rich enough to purchase and strong enough to enforce the terms of sale. bribes were taken with both hands in overflowing measure; the difficulty was only in obtaining the work for the wage. but it would have been humiliating beyond expression had the new commonwealth, after passing through the fiery furnace of its great war, proved no purer than leading monarchies at a most corrupt epoch. it was no wonder therefore that men sought to wipe off the stain from the reputation of barneveld, and it is at least a solace that there was no proof of his ever rendering, or ever having agreed to render, services inconsistent with his convictions as to the best interests of the commonwealth. it is sufficiently grave that he knew the colour of the king's money, and that in a momentous crisis of history he accepted a reward for former professional services, and that the broker in the transaction, president jeannin, seriously charged him by henry's orders to keep the matter secret. it would be still more dismal if jeannin, in his private letters, had ever intimated to villeroy or his master that he considered it a mercantile transaction, or if any effort had ever been made by the advocate to help henry to the batavian throne. this however is not the case. in truth, neither maurice nor barneveld was likely to assist the french king in his intrigues against the independence of their fatherland. both had higher objects of ambition than to become the humble and well-paid servants of a foreign potentate. the stadholder doubtless dreamed of a crown which might have been his father's, and which his own illustrious services might be supposed to have earned for himself. if that tempting prize were more likely to be gained by a continuance of the war, it is none the less certain that he considered peace, and still more truce, as fatal to the independence of the provinces. the advocate, on the other hand, loved his country well. perhaps he loved power even better. to govern the city magistracies of holland, through them the provincial estates; and through them again the states-general of the whole commonwealth; as first citizen of a republic to wield; the powers of a king; as statesman, diplomatist, and financier, to create a mighty empire out of those slender and but recently emancipated provinces of spain, was a more flattering prospect for a man of large intellect, iron will, and infinite resources, than to sink into the contemptible position of stipendiary to a foreign master. he foresaw change, growth, transformation in the existing condition of things. those great corporations the east and west india companies were already producing a new organism out of the political and commercial chaos which had been so long brooding over civilization. visions of an imperial zone extending from the little batavian island around the earth, a chain of forts and factories dotting the newly-discovered and yet undiscovered points of vantage, on island or promontory, in every sea; a watery, nebulous, yet most substantial empire--not fantastic, but practical--not picturesque and mediaeval, but modern and lucrative--a world-wide commonwealth with a half-submerged metropolis, which should rule the ocean with its own fleets and, like venice and florence, job its land wars with mercenary armies--all these dreams were not the cloudy pageant of a poet but the practical schemes of a great creative mind. they were destined to become reality. had the geographical conditions been originally more favourable than they were, had nature been less a stepmother to the metropolis of the rising batavian realm, the creation might have been more durable. barneveld, and the men who acted with him, comprehended their age, and with slender materials were prepared to do great things. they did not look very far perhaps into futurity, but they saw the vast changes already taking place, and felt the throb of forces actually at work. the days were gone when the iron-clad man on horseback conquered a kingdom with his single hand. doubtless there is more of poetry and romance in his deeds than in the achievements of the counting-house aristocracy, the hierarchy of joint-stock corporations that was taking the lead in the world's affairs. enlarged views of the social compact and of human liberty, as compared with those which later generations ought to take, standing upon the graves, heaped up mountains high, of their predecessors, could hardly be expected of them. but they knew how to do the work before them. they had been able to smite a foreign and sacerdotal tyranny into the dust at the expense of more blood and more treasure, and with sacrifices continued through a longer cycle of years, than had ever been recorded by history. thus the advocate believed that the chief fruits of the war--political independence, religious liberty, commercial expansion--could be now secured by diplomacy, and that a truce could be so handled as to become equivalent to a peace. he required no bribes therefore to labour for that which he believed to be for his own interests and for those of the country. first citizen of holland, perpetual chairman of a board of ambitious shopkeepers who purposed to dictate laws to the world from their counting-house table, with an unerring eye for the interests of the commonwealth and his own, with much vision, extraordinary eloquence, and a magnificent will, he is as good a sample of a great burgher--an imposing not a heroic figure--as the times had seen. a vast stride had been taken in the world's progress. even monopoly was freedom compared to the sloth and ignorance of an earlier epoch and of other lands, and although the days were still far distant when the earth was to belong to mankind, yet the modern republic was leading, half unconsciously, to a period of wider liberty of government, commerce, and above all of thought. meantime, the period assigned for the departure of the spanish commissioners, unless they brought a satisfactory communication from the king, was rapidly approaching. on the th september verreyken returned from brussels, but it was soon known that he came empty handed. he informed the french and english ambassadors that the archdukes, on their own responsibility, now suggested the conclusion of a truce of seven years for europe only. this was to be negotiated with the states-general as with free people, over whom no pretensions of authority were made, and the hope was expressed that the king would give his consent to this arrangement. the ambassadors naturally refused to carry the message to the states. to make themselves the mouthpieces of such childish suggestions was to bring themselves and their masters into contempt. there had been trifling enough, and even jeannin saw that the storm of indignation about to burst forth would be irresistible. there was no need of any attempt on the part of the commissioners to prolong their stay if this was the result of the fifteen days' grace which had so reluctantly been conceded to them. to express a hope that the king might perhaps give his future approval to a proceeding for which his signed and sealed consent had been exacted as an indispensable preliminary, was carrying effrontery further than had yet been attempted in these amazing negotiations. prince maurice once more addressed the cities of holland, giving vent to his wrath in language with which there was now more sympathy than there had been before. "verreyken has come back," he said, "not with a signature, but with a hope. the longer the enemy remains in the country the more he goes back from what he had originally promised. he is seeking for nothing more than, in this cheating way and in this pretence of waiting for the king's consent--which we have been expecting now for more than eighteen months--to continue the ruinous armistice. thus he keeps the country in a perpetual uncertainty, the only possible consequence of which is our complete destruction. we adjure you therefore to send a resolution in conformity with our late address, in order that through these tricks and snares the fatherland may not fall into the clutch of the enemy, and thus into eternal and intolerable slavery. god save us all from such a fate!" neither barneveld nor jeannin attempted to struggle against the almost general indignation. the deputies of zeeland withdrew from the assembly of the states-general, protesting that they would never appear there again so long as the spanish commissioners remained in the country. the door was opened wide, and it was plain that those functionaries must take their departure. pride would not allow them to ask permission of the states to remain, although they intimated to the ambassadors their intense desire to linger for ten or twelve days longer. this was obviously inadmissible, and on the th september they appeared before the assembly to take leave. there were but three of them, the genoese, the spaniard, and the burgundian--spinola, mancicidor; and richardot. of the two netherlanders, brother john was still in spain, and verreyken found it convenient that day to have a lame leg. president richardot, standing majestically before the states-general, with his robes wrapped around his tall, spare form, made a solemn farewell speech of mingled sorrow, pity, and the resentment of injured innocence. they had come to the hague, he said, sent by the king of spain and the archdukes to treat for a good and substantial peace, according to the honest intention of his majesty and their highnesses. to this end they had sincerely and faithfully dealt with the gentlemen deputed for that purpose by their high mightinesses the states, doing everything they could think of to further the cause of peace. they lamented that the issue had not been such as they had hoped, notwithstanding that the king and archdukes had so far derogated from their reputation as to send their commissioners into the united netherlands, it having been easy enough to arrange for negotiations on other soil. it had been their wish thus to prove to the world how straightforward were their intentions by not requiring the states to send deputies to them. they had accorded the first point in the negotiations, touching the free state of the country. their high mightinesses had taken offence upon the second, regarding the restoration of religion in the united provinces. thereupon the father commissary had gone to spain, and had remained longer than was agreeable. nevertheless, they had meantime treated of other points. coming back at last to the point of religion, the states-general had taken a resolution, and had given them their dismissal, without being willing to hear a word more, or to make a single proposition of moderation or accommodation. he could not refrain from saying that the commissioners had been treated roughly. their high mightinesses had fixed the time for their dismissal more precisely than one would do with a servant who was discharged for misconduct; for the lackey, if he asked for it, would be allowed at least a day longer to pack his trunk for the journey. they protested before god and the assembly of the states that the king and princes had meant most sincerely, and had dealt with all roundness and sincerity. they at least remained innocent of all the disasters and calamities to come from the war. "as for myself," said richardot, "i am no prophet, nor the son of a prophet; yet i will venture the prediction to you, my lords the states-general, that you will bitterly rue it that you did not embrace the peace thus presented, and which you might have had. the blood which is destined to flow, now that you have scorned our plan of reconciliation, will be not on our heads but your own." barneveld replied by temperately but firmly repelling the charges brought against the states in this artful oration of the president. they had proceeded in the most straightforward manner, never permitting themselves to enter into negotiations except on the preliminary condition that their freedom should be once for all conceded and recognised. "you and you only," he continued, "are to bear the blame that peace has not been concluded; you who have not been willing or not been able to keep your promises. one might, with better reason, hold you guilty of all the bloodshed; you whose edicts, bloodier and more savage than war itself, long, ago forced these provinces into the inevitable necessity of waging war; you whose cruelty, but yesterday exercised on the crews of defenceless and innocent merchantmen and fishing-vessels, has been fully exhibited to the world." spinola's countenance betrayed much emotion as he listened to the exchange of bitter recriminations which took place on this farewell colloquy. it was obvious that the brave and accomplished soldier honestly lamented the failure of the attempt to end the war. but the rupture was absolute. the marquis and the president dined that day with prince maurice, by whom they were afterwards courteously accompanied a part of the way on their journey to brussels. thus ended the comedy which had lasted nearly two years. the dismal leave-taking, as the curtain fell, was not as, entertaining to the public outside as the dramatic meeting between maurice and spinola had been at the opening scene near ryswyk. there was no populace to throw up their hats for the departing guests. from the winter's night in which the subtle franciscan had first stolen into the prince's cabinet down to this autumn evening, not a step of real progress could be recorded as the result of the intolerable quantity of speech-making and quill-driving. there were boat-loads of documents, protocols, and notes, drowsy and stagnant as the canals on which they were floated off towards their tombs in the various archives. peace to the dust which we have not wantonly disturbed, believing it to be wholesome for the cause of human progress that the art of ruling the world by doing nothing, as practised some centuries since, should once and again be exhibited. not in vain do we listen to those long-bearded, venerable, very tedious old presidents, advocates, and friars of orders gray, in their high ruffs, taffety robes or gowns of frieze, as they squeak and gibber, for a fleeting moment, to a world which knew them not. it is something to learn that grave statesmen, kings, generals, and presidents could negotiate for two years long; and that the only result should be the distinction between a conjunction, a preposition, and an adverb. that the provinces should be held as free states, not for free states--that they should be free in similitude, not in substance--thus much and no more had been accomplished. and now to all appearance every chance of negotiation was gone. the half-century war, after this brief breathing space, was to be renewed for another century or so, and more furiously than ever. so thought the public. so meant prince maurice. richardot and jeannin knew better. the departure of the commissioners was recorded upon the register of the resolutions of holland, with the ominous note: "god grant that they may not have sown, evil seed here; the effects of which will one day be visible in the ruin of this commonwealth." hardly were the backs of the commissioners turned, before the indefatigable jeannin was ready with his scheme for repatching the rupture. he was at first anxious that the deputies of zeeland should be summoned again, now that the country was rid of the spaniards. prince maurice, however, was wrathful when the president began to talk once more of truce. the proposition, he said, was simply the expression of a wish to destroy the state. holland and zeeland would never agree to any such measure, and they would find means to compel the other provinces to follow their example. if there were but three or four cities in the whole country to reject the truce, he would, with their assistance alone, defend the freedom of the republic, or at least die an honourable death in its defence. this at least would be better than after a few months to become slaves of spain. such a result was the object of those who began this work, but he would resist it at the peril of his life. a singular incident now seemed to justify the wrath of the stadholder, and to be likely to strengthen his party. young count john of nassau happened to take possession of the apartments in goswyn meursken's hostelry at the hague, just vacated by richardot. in the drawer of a writing-table was found a document, evidently left there by the president. this paper was handed by count john to his cousin, frederic henry, who at once delivered it to his brother maurice. the prince produced it in the assembly of the states-general, members from each province were furnished with a copy of it within two or three hours, and it was soon afterwards printed, and published. the document, being nothing less than the original secret instructions of the archdukes to their commissioners, was naturally read with intense interest by the states-general, by the foreign envoys, and by the general public. it appeared, from an inspection of the paper, that the commissioners had been told that, if they should find the french, english, and danish ambassadors desirous of being present at the negotiations for the treaty, they were to exclude them from all direct participation in the proceedings. they were to do this however so sweetly and courteously that it would be impossible for those diplomats to take offence or to imagine themselves distrusted. on the contrary, the states-general were to be informed that their communication in private on the general subject with the ambassadors was approved by the archdukes, because they believed the sovereigns of france, england, and denmark, their sincere and affectionate friends. the commissioners were instructed to domesticate themselves as much as possible with president jeannin and to manifest the utmost confidence in his good intentions. they were to take the same course with the english envoys, but in more general terms, and were very discreetly to communicate to them whatever they already knew, and, on the other hand, carefully to conceal from them all that was still a secret. they were distinctly told to make the point of the catholic religion first and foremost in the negotiations; the arguments showing the indispensable necessity of securing its public exercise in the united provinces being drawn up with considerable detail. they were to insist that the republic should absolutely renounce the trade with the east and west indies, and should pledge itself to chastise such of its citizens as might dare to undertake those voyages, as disturbers of the peace and enemies of the public repose, whether they went to the indies in person or associated themselves with men of other nations for that purpose, under any pretext whatever. when these points, together with many matters of detail less difficult of adjustment, had been satisfactorily settled, the commissioners were to suggest measures of union for the common defence between the united and the obedient provinces. this matter was to be broached very gently. "in the sweetest terms possible," it was to be hinted that the whole body of the netherlanders could protect itself against every enemy, but if dismembered as it was about to be, neither the one portion nor the ocher would be safe. the commissioners were therefore to request the offer of some proposition from the states-general for the common defence. in case they remained silent, however, then the commissioners were to declare that the archdukes had no wish to speak of sovereignty over the united provinces, however limited. "having once given them that morsel to swallow," said their highnesses, "we have nothing of the kind in our thoughts. but if they reflect, it is possible that they may see fit to take us for protectors." the scheme was to be managed with great discreetness and delicacy, and accomplished by hook or by crook, if the means could be found. "you need not be scrupulous as to the form or law of protection, provided the name of protector can be obtained," continued the archdukes. at least the greatest pains were to be taken that the two sections of the netherlands might remain friends. "we are in great danger unless we rely upon each other," it was urged. "but touch this chord very gently, lest the french and english hearing of it suspect some design to injure them. at least we may each mutually agree to chastise such of our respective subjects as may venture to make any alliance with the enemies of the other." it was much disputed whether these instructions had been left purposely or by accident in the table-drawer. jeannin could not make up his mind whether it was a trick or not, and the vociferous lamentations of richardot upon his misfortunes made little impression upon his mind. he had small confidence in any austerity of principle on the part of his former fellow-leaguer that would prevent him from leaving the document by stealth, and then protesting that he had been foully wronged by its coming to light. on the whole, he was inclined to think, however, that the paper had been stolen from him. barneveld, after much inquiry, was convinced that it had been left in the drawer by accident. richardot himself manifested rage and dismay when he found that a paper, left by chance in his lodgings, had been published by the states. such a proceeding was a violation, he exclaimed, of the laws of hospitality. with equal justice, he declared it to be an offence against the religious respect due to ambassadors, whose persons and property were sacred in foreign countries. "decency required the states," he said, "to send the document back to him, instead of showing it as a trophy, and he was ready to die of shame and vexation at the unlucky incident." few honourable men will disagree with him in these complaints, although many contemporaries obstinately refused to believe that the crafty and experienced diplomatist could have so carelessly left about his most important archives. he was generally thought by those who had most dealt with him, to prefer, on principle, a crooked path to a straight one. "'tis a mischievous old monkey," said villeroy on another occasion, "that likes always to turn its tail instead of going directly to the purpose." the archduke, however, was very indulgent to his plenipotentiary. "my good master," said the, president, "so soon as he learned the loss of that accursed paper, benignantly consoled, instead of chastising me; and, after having looked over the draught, was glad that the accident had happened; for thus his sincerity had been proved, and those who sought profit by the trick had been confounded." on the other hand, what good could it do to the cause of peace, that these wonderful instructions should be published throughout the republic? they might almost seem a fiction, invented by the war party to inspire a general disgust for any further negotiation. every loyal netherlander would necessarily be qualmish at the word peace, now that the whole design of the spanish party was disclosed. the public exercise of the roman religion was now known to be the indispensable condition--first, last, and always--to any possible peace. every citizen of the republic was to be whipped out of the east and west indies, should he dare to show his face in those regions. the states-general, while swallowing the crumb of sovereignty vouchsafed by the archdukes, were to accept them as protectors, in order not to fall a prey to the enemies whom they imagined to be their friends. what could be more hopeless than such negotiations? what more dreary than the perpetual efforts of two lines to approach each other which were mathematically incapable of meeting? that the young republic, conscious of her daily growing strength, should now seek refuge from her nobly won independence in the protectorate of albert, who was himself the vassal of philip, was an idea almost inconceivable to the dutch mind. yet so impossible was it for the archdukes to put themselves into human relations with this new and popular government, that in the inmost recesses of their breasts they actually believed themselves, when making the offer, to be performing a noble act of christian charity. the efforts of jeannin and of the english ambassador were now unremitting, and thoroughly seconded by barneveld. maurice was almost at daggers drawn, not only with the advocate but with the foreign envoys. sir ralph winwood, who had, in virtue of the old treaty arrangements with england, a seat in the state-council at the hague, and who was a man of a somewhat rough and insolent deportment, took occasion at a session of that body, when the prince was present, to urge the necessity of at once resuming the ruptured negotiations. the king of great britain; he said, only recommended a course which he was himself always ready to pursue. hostilities which were necessary, and no others, were just. such, and such only, could be favoured by god or by pious kings. but wars were not necessary which could be honourably avoided. a truce was not to be despised, by which religious liberty and commerce were secured, and it was not the part of wisdom to plunge into all the horrors of immediate war in order to escape distant and problematical dangers; that might arise when the truce should come to an end. if a truce were now made, the kings of both france and england would be guarantees for its faithful observance. they would take care that no wrong or affront was offered to the states-general. maurice replied, with a sneer, to these sententious commonplaces derived at second-hand from king james that great kings were often very indifferent to injuries sustained by their friends. moreover, there was an eminent sovereign, he continued, who was even very patient under affronts directly offered to himself. it was not very long since a horrible plot had been discovered to murder the king of england, with his wife, his children, and all the great personages of the realm. that this great crime had been attempted under the immediate instigation of the king of spain was notorious to the whole world, and certainly no secret to king james. yet his britannic majesty had made haste to exonerate the great criminal from all complicity in the crime; and had ever since been fawning upon the catholic king, and hankering for a family alliance with him. conduct like this the prince denounced in plain terms as cringing and cowardly, and expressed the opinion that guarantees of dutch independence from such a monarch could hardly be thought very valuable. these were terrible words for the representative of james to have hurled in his face in full council by the foremost personage of the republic winwood fell into a furious passion, and of course there was a violent scene, with much subsequent protesting and protocolling. the british king insisted that the prince should make public amends for the insult, and maurice firmly refused to do anything of the kind. the matter was subsequently arranged by some amicable concessions made by the prince in a private letter to james, but there remained for the time a abate of alienation between england and the republic, at which the french sincerely rejoiced. the incident, however, sufficiently shows the point of exasperation which the prince had reached, for, although choleric, he was a reasonable man, and it was only because the whole course of the negotiations had offended his sense of honour and of right that he had at last been driven quite beyond self-control. on the th of october, the envoys of france, england, denmark, and of the elector palatine, the elector of brandeburg, and other german princes, came before the states-general. jeannin, in the name of all these foreign ministers, made a speech warmly recommending the truce. he repelled the insinuation that the measure proposed had been brought about by the artifices of the enemy, and was therefore odious. on the contrary, it was originated by himself and the other good friends of the republic. in his opinion, the terms of the suggested truce contained sufficient guarantees for the liberty of the provinces, not only during the truce, but for ever. no stronger recognition of their independence could be expected than the one given. it was entirely without example, argued the president, that in similar changes brought about by force of arms, sovereigns after having been despoiled of their states have been compelled to abandon their rights shamefully by a public confession, unless they had absolutely fallen into the hands of their enemies and were completely at their mercy. "yet the princes who made this great concession," continued jeannin, "are not lying vanquished at your feet, nor reduced by dire necessity to yield what they have yielded." he reminded the assembly that the swiss enjoyed at that moment their liberty in virtue of a simple truce, without ever having obtained from their former sovereign a declaration such as was now offered to the united provinces. the president argued, moreover, with much force and acuteness that it was beneath the dignity of the states, and inconsistent with their consciousness of strength, to lay so much stress on the phraseology by which their liberty was recognised. that freedom had been won by the sword, and would be maintained against all the world by the sword. "in truth," said the orator, "you do wrong to your liberty by calling it so often in doubt, and in claiming with so much contentious anxiety from your enemies a title-deed for your independence. you hold it by your own public decree. in virtue of that decree, confirmed by the success of your arms, you have enjoyed it long. nor could anything obtained from your enemies be of use to you if those same arms with which you gained your liberty could not still preserve it for you." therefore, in the opinion of the president, this persistence in demanding a more explicit and unlimited recognition of independence was only a pretext for continuing the war, ingeniously used by those who hated peace. addressing himself more particularly to the celebrated circular letter of prince maurice against the truce, the president maintained that the liberty of the republic was as much acknowledged in the proposed articles as if the words "for ever" had been added. "to acknowledge liberty is an act which, by its very nature, admits of no conditions," he observed, with considerable force. the president proceeded to say that in the original negotiations the qualifications obtained had seemed to him enough. as there was an ardent desire, however, on the part of many for a more explicit phraseology, as something necessary to the public safety, he had thought it worth attempting. "we all rejoiced when you obtained it," continued jeannin, "but not when they agreed to renounce the names, titles, and arms of the united provinces; for that seemed to us shameful for them beyond all example. that princes should make concessions so entirely unworthy of their grandeur, excited at once our suspicion, for we could not imagine the cause of an offer so specious. we have since found out the reason." the archdukes being unable, accordingly, to obtain for the truce those specious conditions which spain had originally pretended to yield, it was the opinion of the old diplomatist that the king should be permitted to wear the paste substitutes about which so many idle words had been wasted. it would be better, he thought, for the states to be contented with what was precious and substantial, and not to lose the occasion of making a good treaty of truce, which was sure to be converted with time into an absolute peace. "it is certain," he said, "that the princes with whom you are treating will never go to law with you to get an exposition of the article in question. after the truce has expired, they will go to war with you if you like, but they will not trouble themselves to declare whether they are fighting you as rebels or as enemies, nor will it very much signify. if their arms are successful, they will give you no explanations. if you are the conquerors, they will receive none. the fortune of war will be the supreme judge to decide the dispute; not the words of a treaty. those words are always interpreted to the disadvantage of the weak and the vanquished, although they may be so perfectly clear that no man could doubt them; never to the prejudice of those who have proved the validity of their rights by the strength of their arms." this honest, straightforward cynicism, coming from the lips of one of the most experienced diplomatists of europe, was difficult to gainsay. speaking as one having authority, the president told the states-general in full assembly, that there was no law in christendom, as between nations, but the good old fist-law, the code of brute force. two centuries and a half have rolled by since that oration was pronounced, and the world has made immense progress in science during that period. but there is still room for improvement in this regard in the law of nations. certainly there is now a little more reluctance to come so nakedly before the world. but has the cause of modesty or humanity gained very much by the decorous fig-leaves of modern diplomacy? the president alluded also to the ungrounded fears that bribery and corruption would be able to effect much, during the truce, towards the reduction of the provinces under their repudiated sovereign. after all, it was difficult to buy up a whole people. in a commonwealth, where the people was sovereign, and the persons of the magistrates ever changing, those little comfortable commercial operations could not be managed so easily as in civilized realms like france and england. the old leaguer thought with pensive regret, no doubt, of the hard, but still profitable bargains by which the guises and mayennes and mercoeurs, and a few hundred of their noble adherents, had been brought over to the cause of the king. he sighed at the more recent memories of the marquis de rosny's embassy in england, and his largess scattered broadcast among the great english lords. it would be of little use he foresaw--although the instructions of henry were in his portfolio, giving him almost unlimited powers to buy up everybody in the netherlands that could be bought--to attempt that kind of traffic on a large scale in the netherlands. those republicans were greedy enough about the navigation to the east and west indies, and were very litigious about the claim of spain to put up railings around the ocean as her private lake, but they were less keen than were their more polished contemporaries for the trade in human souls. "when we consider," said jeannin, "the constitution of your state, and that to corrupt a few people among you does no good at all, because the, frequent change of magistracies takes away the means of gaining over many of them at the same time, capable by a long duration of their power to conduct an intrigue against the commonwealth, this fear must appear wholly vain." and then the old leaguer, who had always refused bribes himself, although he had negotiated much bribery of others, warmed into sincere eloquence as he spoke of the simple virtues on which the little republic, as should be the case with all republics, was founded. he did homage to the dutch love of liberty. "remember," he said, "the love of liberty which is engraved in the hearts of all your inhabitants, and that there are few persons now living who were born in the days of the ancient subjection, or who have not been nourished and brought up for so long a time in liberty that they have a horror for the very name of servitude. you will then feel that there is not one man in your commonwealth who would wish or dare to open his mouth to bring you back to subjection, without being in danger of instant punishment as a traitor to his country." he again reminded his hearers that the swiss had concluded a long and perilous war with their ancient masters by a simple truce, during which they had established so good a government that they were never more attacked. honest republican principles, and readiness at any moment to defend dearly won liberties, had combined with geographical advantages to secure the national independence of switzerland. jeannin paid full tribute to the maritime supremacy of the republic. "you may have as much good fortune," he said, "as the swiss, if you are wise. you have the ocean at your side, great navigable rivers enclosing you in every direction, a multitude of ships, with sailors, pilots, and seafaring men of every description, who are the very best soldiers in battles at sea to be found in christendom. with these you will preserve your military vigour and your habits of navigation, the long voyages to which you are accustomed continuing as usual. and such is the kind of soldiers you require. as for auxiliaries, should you need them you know where to find them." the president implored the states-general accordingly to pay no attention to the writings which were circulated among the people to prejudice them against the truce. this was aimed directly at the stadholder, who had been making so many direct personal appeals to the people, and who was now the more incensed, recognising the taunt of the president as an arrow taken from barneveld's quiver. there had long ceased to be any communication between the prince and the advocate, and maurice made no secret of his bitter animosity both to barneveld and to jeannin. he hesitated on no occasion to denounce the advocate as travelling straight on the road to spain, and although he was not aware of the twenty thousand florins recently presented by the french king, he had accustomed himself, with the enormous exaggeration of party spirit, to look upon the first statesman of his country and of europe as a traitor to the republic and a tool of the archdukes. as we look back upon those passionate days, we cannot but be appalled at the depths to which theological hatred could descend. on the very morning after the session of the assembly in which jeannin had been making his great speech, and denouncing the practice of secret and incendiary publication, three remarkable letters were found on the doorstep of a house in the hague. one was addressed to the states-general, another to the mates of holland, and a third to the burgomaster of amsterdam. in all these documents, the advocate was denounced as an infamous traitor, who was secretly intriguing to bring about a truce for the purpose of handing over the commonwealth to the enemy. a shameful death, it was added, would be his fitting reward. these letters were read in the assembly of the states-general, and created great wrath among the friends of barneveld. even maurice expressed indignation, and favoured a search for the anonymous author, in order that he might be severely punished. it seems strange enough that anonymous letters picked up in the street should have been deemed a worthy theme of discussion before their high mightinesses the states-general. moreover, it was raining pamphlets and libels against barneveld and his supporters every day, and the stories which grave burghers and pious elders went about telling to each other, and to everybody who would listen to them, about the advocate's depravity, were wonderful to hear. at the end of september, just before the spanish commissioners left the hague, a sledge of the kind used in the dutch cities as drays stopped before barneveld's front-door one fine morning, and deposited several large baskets, filled with money, sent by the envoys for defraying certain expenses of forage, hire of servants, and the like, incurred by them during their sojourn at the hague, and disbursed by the states. the sledge, with its contents, was at once sent by order of the advocate, under guidance of commissary john spronsen, to the receiver-general of the republic. yet men wagged their beards dismally as they whispered this fresh proof of barneveld's venality. as if spinola and his colleagues were such blunderers in bribing as to send bushel baskets full of spanish dollars on a sledge, in broad daylight, to the house of a great statesman whom they meant to purchase, expecting doubtless a receipt in full to be brought back by the drayman! well might the advocate say at a later moment, in the bitterness of his spirit, that his enemies, not satisfied with piercing his heart with their false, injurious and honour-filching libels and stories, were determined to break it. "he begged god almighty," he said, "to be merciful to him, and to judge righteously between him and them." party spirit has rarely run higher in any commonwealth than in holland during these memorable debates concerning a truce. yet the leaders both of the war party and the truce party were doubtless pure, determined patriots, seeking their country's good with all their souls and strength. maurice answered the discourse of jeannin by a second and very elaborate letter. in this circular, addressed to the magistracies of holland, he urged his countrymen once more with arguments already employed by him, and in more strenuous language than ever, to beware of a truce even more than of a peace, and warned them not to swerve by a hair's breadth from the formula in regard to the sovereignty agreed upon at the very beginning of the negotiations. to this document was appended a paper of considerations, drawn up by maurice and lewis william, in refutation, point by point, of all the arguments of president jeannin in his late discourse. it is not necessary to do more than allude to these documents, which were marked by the close reasoning and fiery spirit which characterized all the appeals of the prince and his cousin at this period, because the time had now come which comes to all controversies when argument is exhausted and either action or compromise begins. meantime, barneveld, stung almost to madness by the poisonous though ephemeral libels which buzzed so perpetually about him, had at last resolved to retire from the public service. he had been so steadily denounced as being burthensome to his superiors in birth by the power which he had acquired, and to have shot up so far above the heads of his equals; that he felt disposed to withdraw from a field where his presence was becoming odious. his enemies, of course, considered this determination a trick by which he merely wished to prove to the country how indispensable he was, and to gain a fresh lease of his almost unlimited power by the alarm which his proposed abdication would produce. certainly, however, if it were a trick, and he were not indispensable, it was easy enough to prove it and to punish him by taking him at his word. on the morning after the anonymous letters had been found in the street he came into the house of assembly and made a short speech. he spoke simply of his thirty-one years of service, during which he believed himself to have done his best for the good of the fatherland and for the welfare of the house of nassau. he had been ready thus to go on to the end, but he saw himself environed by enemies, and felt that his usefulness had been destroyed. he wished, therefore, in the interest of the country, not from any fear for himself, to withdraw from the storm, and for a time at least to remain in retirement. the displeasure and hatred of the great were nothing new to him, he said. he had never shrunk from peril when he could serve his fatherland; for against all calumnies and all accidents he had worn the armour of a quiet conscience. but he now saw that the truce, in itself an unpleasant affair, was made still more odious by the hatred felt towards him. he begged the provinces, therefore, to select another servant less hated than himself to provide for the public welfare. having said these few words with the dignity which was natural to him he calmly walked out of the assembly house. the personal friends of barneveld and the whole truce party were in consternation. even the enemies of the advocate shrank appalled at the prospect of losing the services of the foremost statesman of the commonwealth at this critical juncture. there was a brief and animated discussion as soon as his back was turned. its result was the appointment of a committee of five to wait upon barneveld and solemnly to request him to reconsider his decision. their efforts were successful. after a satisfactory interview with the committee he resumed his functions with greater authority than ever. of course there were not wanting many to whisper that the whole proceeding had been a comedy, and that barneveld would have been more embarrassed than he had ever been in his life had his resignation been seriously accepted. but this is easy to say, and is always said, whenever a statesman who feels himself aggrieved, yet knows himself useful, lays dawn his office. the advocate had been the mark of unceasing and infamous calumnies. he had incurred the deadly hatred of the highest placed, the most powerful, and the most popular man in the commonwealth. he had more than once been obliged to listen to opprobrious language from the prince, and it was even whispered that he had been threatened with personal violence. that maurice was perpetually denouncing him in public and private, as a traitor, a papist, a spanish partisan, was notorious. he had just been held up to the states of the union and of his own province by unknown voices as a criminal worthy of death. was it to be wondered at that a man of sixty, who had passed his youth, manhood, and old age in the service of the republic, and was recognised by all as the ablest, the most experienced, the most indefatigable of her statesmen, should be seriously desirous of abandoning an office which might well seem to him rather a pillory than a post of honour? "as for neighbour barneveld," said recorder aerssens, little dreaming of the foul witness he was to bear against that neighbour at a terrible moment to come, "i do what i can and wish to help him with my blood. he is more courageous than i. i should have sunk long ago, had i been obliged to stand against such tempests. the lord god will, i hope, help him and direct his understanding for the good of all christendom, and for his own honour. if he can steer this ship into a safe harbour we ought to raise a golden statue of him. i should like to contribute my mite to it. he deserves twice much honour, despite all his enemies, of whom he has many rather from envy than from reason. may the lord keep him in health, or it will go hardly with us all." thus spoke some of his grateful countrymen when the advocate was contending at a momentous crisis with storms threatening to overwhelm the republic. alas! where is the golden statue? he believed that the truce was the most advantageous measure that the country could adopt. he believed this with quite as much sincerity as maurice held to his conviction that war was the only policy. in the secret letter of the french ambassador there is not a trace of suspicion as to his fidelity to the commonwealth, not the shadow of proof of the ridiculous accusation that he wished to reduce the provinces to the dominion of spain. jeannin, who had no motive for concealment in his confidential correspondence with his sovereign, always rendered unequivocal homage to the purity and patriotism of the advocate and the prince. he returned to the states-general and to the discharge of his functions as advocate-general of holland. his policy for the time was destined to be triumphant, his influence more extensive than ever. but the end of these calumnies and anonymous charges was not yet. meantime the opposition to the truce was confined to the states of zeeland and two cities of holland. those cities were very important ones, amsterdam and delft, but they were already wavering in their opposition. zeeland stoutly maintained that the treaty of utrecht forbade a decision of the question of peace and war except by a unanimous vote of the whole confederacy. the other five provinces and the friends of the truce began with great vehemence to declare that the question at issue was now changed. it was no longer to be decided whether there should be truce or war with spain, but whether a single member of the confederacy could dictate its law to the other six states. zeeland, on her part, talked loudly of seceding from the union, and setting up for an independent, sovereign commonwealth. she would hardly have been a very powerful one, with her half-dozen cities, one prelate, one nobleman, her hundred thousand burghers at most, bustling and warlike as they were, and her few thousand mariners, although the most terrible fighting men that had ever sailed on blue water. she was destined ere long to abandon her doughty resolution of leaving her sister provinces to their fate. maurice had not slackened in his opposition to the truce, despite the renewed vigour with which barneveld pressed the measure since his return to the public councils. the prince was firmly convinced that the kings of france and england would assist the republic in the war with spain so soon as it should be renewed. his policy had been therefore to force the hand of those sovereigns, especially that of henry, and to induce him to send more stringent instructions to jeannin than those with which he believed him to be furnished. he had accordingly despatched a secret emissary to the french king, supplied with confidential and explicit instructions. this agent was a captain lambert. whether it was "pretty lambert," "dandy lambert"--the vice-admiral who had so much distinguished himself at the great victory of gibraltar--does not distinctly appear. if it were so, that hard-hitting mariner would seem to have gone into action with the french government as energetically as he had done eighteen months before, when, as master of the tiger, he laid himself aboard the spanish admiral and helped send the st. augustine to the bottom. he seemed indisposed to mince matters in diplomacy. he intimated to the king and his ministers that jeannin and his colleagues were pushing the truce at the hague much further and faster than his majesty could possibly approve, and that they were obviously exceeding their instructions. jeannin, who was formerly so much honoured and cherished throughout the republic, was now looked upon askance because of his intimacy with barneveld and his partisans. he assured the king that nearly all the cities of holland, and the whole of zeeland, were entirely agreed with maurice, who would rather die than consent to the proposed truce. the other provinces, added lambert, would be obliged, will ye nill ye, to receive the law from holland and zeeland. maurice, without assistance from france or any other power, would give spain and the archdukes as much exercise as they could take for the next fifty years before he would give up, and had declared that he would rather die sword in hand than basely betray his country by consenting to such a truce. as for barneveld, he was already discovering the blunders which he had made, and was trying to curry favour with maurice. barneveld and both the aprasens were traitors to the state, had become the objects of general hatred and contempt, and were in great danger of losing their lives, or at least of being expelled from office. here was altogether too much zeal on the part of pretty lambert; a quality which, not for the first time, was thus proved to be less useful in diplomatic conferences than in a sea-fight. maurice was obliged to disavow his envoy, and to declare that his secret instructions had never authorized him to hold such language. but the mischief was done. the combustion in the french cabinet was terrible. the dutch admiral had thrown hot shot into the powder-magazine of his friends, and had done no more good by such tactics than might be supposed. such diplomacy was denounced as a mere mixture of "indiscretion and impudence." henry was very wroth, and forthwith indited an imperious letter to his cousin maurice. "lambert's talk to me by your orders," said the king, "has not less astonished than scandalized me. i now learn the new resolution which you have taken, and i observe that you have begun to entertain suspicions as to my will and my counsels on account of the proposition of truce." henry's standing orders to jeannin, as we know, were to offer maurice a pension of almost unlimited amount, together with ample rewards to all such of his adherents as could be purchased, provided they would bring about the incorporation of the united provinces into france. he was therefore full of indignation that the purity of his intentions and the sincerity of his wish for the independence of the republic could be called in question. "people have dared to maliciously invent," he continued, "that i am the enemy of the repose and the liberty of the united provinces, and that i was afraid lest they should acquire the freedom which had been offered them by their enemies, because i derived a profit from their war, and intended in time to deprive them of their liberty. yet these falsehoods and jealousies have not been contradicted by you nor by anyone else, although you know that the proofs of my sincerity and good faith have been entirely without reproach or example. you knew what was said, written, and published everywhere, and i confess that when i knew this malice, and that you had not taken offence at it, i was much amazed and very malcontent." queen elizabeth, in her most waspish moods, had not often lectured the states-general more roundly than henry now lectured his cousin maurice. the king once more alluded to the secret emissary's violent talk, which had so much excited his indignation. "if by weakness and want of means," he said, "you are forced to abandon to your enemies one portion of your country in order to defend the other-as lambert tells me you are resolved to do, rather than agree to the truce without recognition of your sovereignty for ever--i pray you to consider how many accidents and reproaches may befal you. do you suppose that any ally of the states, or of your family, would risk his reputation and his realms in such a game, which would seem to be rather begun in passion and despair than required by reason or necessity?" here certainly was plain speaking enough, and maurice could no longer expect the king for his partner, should he decide to risk once more the bloody hazard of the die. but henry was determined to leave no shade of doubt on the subject. "lambert tells me," he said, "that you would rather perish with arms in your hands than fall shamefully into inevitable ruin by accepting truce. i have been and am of a contrary opinion. perhaps i am mistaken, not knowing as well as you do the constitution of your country and the wishes of your people. but i know the general affairs of christendom better than you do, and i can therefore judge more soundly on the whole matter than you can, and i know that the truce, established and guaranteed as proposed, will bring you more happiness than you can derive from war." thus the king, in the sweeping, slashing way with which he could handle an argument as well as a sword, strode forward in conscious strength, cutting down right and left all opposition to his will. he was determined, once for all, to show the stadholder and his adherents that the friendship of a great king was not to be had by a little republic on easy terms, nor every day. above all, the prince of nassau was not to send a loud-talking, free and easy dutch sea-captain to dictate terms to the king of france and navarre. "lambert tells me"--and maurice might well wish that pretty lambert had been sunk in the bay of gibraltar, tiger and all, before he had been sent on this diplomatic errand, "lambert tells me," continued his majesty, "that you and the states-general would rather that i should remain neutral, and let you make war in your own fashion, than that i should do anything more to push on this truce. my cousin, it would be very easy for me, and perhaps more advantageous for me and my kingdom than you think, if i could give you this satisfaction, whatever might be the result. if i chose to follow this counsel, i am, thanks be to god, in such condition, that i have no neighbour who is not as much in need of me as i can be of him, and who is not glad to seek for and to preserve my friendship. if they should all conspire against me moreover, i can by myself, and with no assistance but heaven's, which never failed me yet, wrestle with them altogether, and fling them all, as some of my royal predecessors have done. know then, that i do not favour war nor truce for the united provinces because of any need i may have of the one or the other for the defence of my own sceptre. the counsels and the succours, which you have so largely received from me, were given because of my consideration for the good of the states, and of yourself in particular, whom i have always favoured and cherished, as i have done others of your house on many occasions." the king concluded his lecture by saying, that after his ambassadors had fulfilled their promise, and had spoken the last word of their master at the hague, he should leave maurice and the states to do as they liked. "but i desire," he said, "that you and the states should not do that wrong to yourselves or to me as to doubt the integrity of my counsels nor the actions of my ambassadors: i am an honest man and a prince of my word, and not ignorant of the things of this world. neither the states nor you, with your adherents, can permit my honour to be compromised without tarnishing your own, and without being branded for ingratitude. i say not this in order to reproach you for the past nor to make you despair of the future, but to defend the truth. i expect, therefore, that you will not fall into this fault, knowing you as i do. i pay more heed to what you said in your letter than in all lambert's fine talk, and you will find out that nobody wishes your prosperity and that of the states more sincerely than i do, or can be more useful to you than i can." [i have abbreviated this remarkable letter, but of course the text of the passages cited is literally given. j.l.m.] there could be but little doubt in the mind of prince maurice, after this letter had been well pondered, that barneveld had won the game, and that the peace party had triumphed. to resume the war, with the french king not merely neutral but angry and covertly hostile, and with the sovereign of great britain an almost open enemy in the garb of an ally, might well seem a desperate course. and maurice, although strongly opposed to the truce, and confident in his opinions at this crisis, was not a desperado. he saw at once the necessity of dismounting from the high horse upon which, it must be confessed, he had been inclined for more rough-riding of late than the situation warranted. peace was unattainable, war was impossible, truce was inevitable; barneveld was master of the field. the prince acquiesced in the result which the letter from the french king so plainly indicated. he was, however, more incensed than ever against barneveld; for he felt himself not only checkmated but humiliated by the advocate, and believed him a traitor, who was selling the republic to spain. it was long since the two had exchanged a word. maurice now declared, on more than one occasion, that it was useless for him any longer to attempt opposition to the policy of truce. the states must travel on the road which they had chosen, but it should not be under his guidance, and he renounced all responsibility for the issue. dreading disunion, however, more than ought else that could befal the republic, he now did his best to bring about the return of zeeland to the federal councils. he was successful. the deputies from that province reappeared in the states-general on the th november. they were still earnest, however, in their opposition to the truce, and warmly maintained, in obedience to instructions, that the union of utrecht forbade the conclusion of a treaty except by unanimous consent of the seven provinces. they were very fierce in their remonstrances, and again talked loudly of secession. after consultation with barneveld, the french envoys now thought it their duty to take the recalcitrant zeelanders in hand; maurice having, as it were, withdrawn from the contest. on the th november, accordingly, jeannin once more came very solemnly before the states-general, accompanied by his diplomatic colleagues. he showed the impossibility of any arrangement, except by the submission of zeeland to a vote of the majority. "it is certain," he said, "that six provinces will never be willing to be conquered by a single one, nor permit her to assert that, according to a fundamental law of the commonwealth, her dissent can prevent the others from forming a definite conclusion. "it is not for us," continued the president, "who are strangers in your republic, to interpret your laws, but common sense teaches us that, if such a law exist, it could only have been made in order to forbid a surrender. "if any one wishes to expound it otherwise, to him we would reply, in the words of an ancient roman, who said of a law which seemed to him pernicious, that at least the tablet upon which it was inscribed, if it could not be destroyed, should be hidden out of sight. thus at least the citizens might escape observing it, when it was plain that it would cause detriment to the republic, and they might then put in its place the most ancient of all laws, 'salus populi suprema lex.'" the president, having suggested this ingenious expedient of the antique roman for getting rid of a constitutional provision by hiding the statute-book, proceeded to give very practical reasons for setting, up the supreme law of the people's safety on this occasion. and, certainly, that magnificent common-place, which has saved and ruined so many states, the most effective weapon in the political arsenal, whether wielded by tyrants or champions of freedom, was not unreasonably recommended at this crisis to the states in their contest with the refractory zeelanders. it was easy to talk big, but after all it would be difficult for that doughty little sandbank, notwithstanding the indomitable energy which it had so often shown by land and sea, to do battle by itself with the whole spanish empire. nor was it quite consistent with republican principles that the other six provinces should be plunged once more into war, when they had agreed to accept peace and independence instead, only that zeeland should have its way. the orator went on to show the absurdity, in his opinion, of permitting one province to continue the war, when all seven united had not the means to do it without the assistance of their allies. he pointed out, too, the immense blunders that would be made, should it be thought that the kings of france and england were so much interested in saving the provinces from perdition as to feel obliged in any event to render them assistance. "beware of committing an irreparable fault," he said, "on so insecure a foundation. you are deceiving yourselves: and, in order that there may be no doubt on the subject, we declare to you by express command that if your adversaries refuse the truce, according to the articles presented to you by us, it is the intention of our kings to assist you with armies and subsidies, not only as during the past, but more powerfully than before. if, on the contrary, the rupture comes from your side, and you despise the advice they are giving you, you have no succour to expect from them. the refusal of conditions so honourable and advantageous to your commonwealth will render the war a useless one, and they are determined to do nothing to bring the reproach upon themselves." the president then intimated; not without adroitness, that the republic was placing herself in a proud position by accepting the truce, and that spain was abasing herself by giving her consent to it. the world was surprised that the states should hesitate at all. there was much more of scholastic dissertation in the president's address, but enough has been given to show its very peremptory character. if the war was to go on it was to be waged mainly by zeeland alone. this was now plain beyond all peradventure. the other provinces had resolved to accept the proposed treaty. the cities of delft and amsterdam, which had stood out so long among the estates of holland, soon renounced their opposition. prince maurice, with praiseworthy patriotism, reconciled himself with the inevitable, and now that the great majority had spoken, began to use his influence with the factious minority. on the day after jeannin's speech he made a visit to the french ambassadors. after there had been some little discussion among them, barneveld made his appearance. his visit seemed an accidental one, but it had been previously arranged with the envoys. the general conversation went on a little longer, when the advocate, frankly turning to the prince, spoke of the pain which he felt at the schism between them. he defended himself with honest warmth against the rumours circulated, in which he was accused of being a spanish partisan. his whole life had been spent in fighting spain, and he was now more determined than ever in his hostility to that monarchy. he sincerely believed that by the truce now proposed all the solid advantages of the war would be secured, and that such a result was a triumphant one for the republic. he was also most desirous of being restored to the friendship and good opinion of the house of nassau; having proved during his whole life his sincere attachment to their interests--a sentiment never more lively in his breast than at that moment. this advance was graciously met by the stadholder, and the two distinguished personages were, for the time at least, reconciled. it was further debated as to the number of troops that it be advisable for the states to maintain during the truce and barneveld expressed his decided opinion that thirty thousand men, at least, would be required. this opinion gave the prince at least as much pleasure as did the personal devotion expressed by the advocate, and he now stated his intention of working with the peace party. the great result was now certain. delft and amsterdam withdrew from their opposition to the treaty, so that holland was unanimous before the year closed; zeeland, yielding to the influence of maurice, likewise gave in her adhesion to the truce. the details of the mode in which the final arrangement was made are not especially interesting. the discussion was fairly at an end. the subject had been picked to the bones. it was agreed that the french ambassadors should go over the frontier, and hold a preliminary interview with the spanish commissioners at antwerp. the armistice was to be continued by brief and repeated renewals, until it should be superseded by the truce of years: meantime, archduke albert sent his father confessor, inigo brizuela, to spain, in order to make the treaty posed by jeannin palatable to the king? the priest was to set forth to philip, as only a ghostly confessor could do with full effect, that he need not trouble himself about the recognition by the proposed treaty of the independence of the united provinces. ambiguous words had been purposely made use of in this regard, he was to explain, so that not only the foreign ambassadors were of opinion that the rights of spain were not curtailed, but the emptiness of the imaginary recognition of dutch freedom had been proved by the sharp criticism of the states. it is true that richardot, in the name of the archduke, had three months before promised the consent of the king, as having already been obtained. but richardot knew very well when he made the statement that it was false. the archduke, in subsequent correspondence with the ambassadors in december, repeated the pledge. yet, not only had the king not given that consent, but he had expressly refused it by a courier sent in november. philip, now convinced by brother inigo that while agreeing to treat with the states-general as with a free commonwealth, over which he pretended to no authority, he really meant that he was dealing with vassals over whom his authority was to be resumed when it suited his convenience, at last gave his consent to the, proposed treaty. the royal decision was, however, kept for a time concealed, in order that the states might become more malleable. etext editor's bookmarks: a truce he honestly considered a pitfall of destruction alas! we must always have something to persecute argument is exhausted and either action or compromise begins beware of a truce even more than of a peace could handle an argument as well as a sword god alone can protect us against those whom we trust humble ignorance as the safest creed man is never so convinced of his own wisdom peace was unattainable, war was impossible, truce was inevitable readiness at any moment to defend dearly won liberties such an excuse was as bad as the accusation the art of ruling the world by doing nothing to doubt the infallibility of calvin was as heinous a crime what exchequer can accept chronic warfare and escape bankruptcy words are always interpreted to the disadvantage of the weak history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter lii. vote of the states-general on the groundwork of the treaty-- meeting of the plenipotentiaries for arrangement of the truce-- signing of the twelve years' truce--its purport--the negotiations concluded--ratification by the states-general, the archdukes, and the king of spain--question of toleration--appeal of president jeannin on behalf of the catholics--religious liberty the fruit of the war--internal arrangements of the states under the rule of peace--deaths of john duke of cleves and jacob arminius--doctrines of arminius and gomarus--theological warfare--twenty years' truce between the turkish and roman empires--ferdinand of styria-- religious peace--prospects of the future. on the th january, , the states-general decided by unanimous vote that the first point in the treaty should be not otherwise fixed than, thus:-- "that the archdukes--to superfluity--declare, as well in their own name as in that of the king of spain, their willingness to treat with the lords states of the united provinces in the capacity of, and as holding them for, free countries, provinces, and states, over which they have no claim, and that they are making a treaty with them in those said names and qualities." it was also resolved not to permit that any ecclesiastical or secular matters, conflicting with the above-mentioned freedom, should be proposed; nor that any delay should be sought for, by reason of the india navigation or any other point. in case anything to the contrary should be attempted by the king or the archdukes, and the deliberations protracted in consequence more than eight days, it was further decided by unanimous vote that the negotiations should at once be broken off, and the war forthwith renewed, with the help, if possible, of the kings, princes, and states, friends of the good cause. this vigorous vote was entirely the work of barneveld, the man whom his enemies dared to denounce as the partisan of spain, and to hold up as a traitor deserving of death. it was entirely within his knowledge that a considerable party in the provinces had grown so weary of the war, and so much alarmed at the prospect of the negotiations for truce coming to nought, as to be ready to go into a treaty without a recognition of the independence of the states. this base faction was thought to be instigated by the english government, intriguing secretly with president richardot. the advocate, acting in full sympathy with jeannin, frustrated the effects of the manoeuvre by obtaining all the votes of holland and zeeland for this supreme resolution. the other five provinces dared to make no further effort in that direction against the two controlling states of the republic. it was now agreed that the french and english ambassadors should delay going to antwerp until informed of the arrival in that city of spinola and his colleagues; and that they should then proceed thither, taking with them the main points of the treaty, as laid down by themselves, and accepted with slight alterations by the states. when the spanish commissioners had signed these points the plenipotentiaries were to come to antwerp in order to settle other matters of less vital import. meantime, the states-general were to be summoned to assemble in bergen-op-zoom, that they might be ready to deal with difficulties, should any arise. the first meeting took place on the th february, . the first objection to the draught was made by the spaniards. it was about words and wind. they liked not the title of high and puissant lords which was given to the states-general, and they proposed to turn the difficulty by abstaining from giving any qualifications whatever, either to the archdukes or the republican authorities. the states refused to lower these ensigns of their new-born power. it was, however, at last agreed that, instead of high and mighty, they should be called illustrious and serene. this point being comfortably adjusted, the next and most important one was accepted by the spaniards. the independence of the states was recognised according to the prescribed form. then came the great bone of contention, over which there had been such persistent wrangling--the india trade. the spanish government had almost registered a vow in heaven that the word india should not be mentioned in the treaty. it was no less certain that india was stamped upon the very heart of the republic, and could not be torn from it while life remained. the subtle diplomatists now invented a phrase in which the word should not appear, while the thing itself should be granted. the spaniards, after much altercation, at last consented. by the end of february, most of the plenipotentiaries thought it safe to request the appearance of the states-general at bergen-op-zoom. jeannin, not altogether satisfied, however, with the language of the spaniards in regard to india, raised doubts as to the propriety of issuing the summons. putting on his most reverend and artless expression of countenance, he assured richardot that he had just received a despatch from the hague, to the effect that the india point would, in all probability, cause the states at that very moment to break off the negotiations. it was surely premature, therefore, to invite them to bergen. the despatch from the hague was a neat fiction on the part of the president, but it worked admirably. the other president, himself quite as ready at inventions as jeannin could possibly be, was nevertheless taken in; the two ex-leaguers being, on the whole, fully a match for each other in the art of intrigue. richardot, somewhat alarmed, insisted that the states should send their plenipotentiaries to antwerp as soon as possible. he would answer for it that they would not go away again without settling upon the treaty. the commissioners were forbidden, by express order from spain, to name the indies in writing, but they would solemnly declare, by word of mouth, that the states should have full liberty to trade to those countries; the king of spain having no intention of interfering with such traffic during the period of the truce. the commissioners came to antwerp. the states-general assembled at bergen. on the th april, , the truce for twelve years was signed. this was its purport: the preamble recited that the most serene princes and archdukes, albert and isabella clara eugenic, had made, on the th april, , a truce and cessation of arms for eight months with the illustrious lords the states-general of the united provinces of the netherlands, in quality of, and as holding them for, states, provinces, and free countries, over which they pretended to nothing; which truce was ratified by his catholic majesty, as to that which concerned him, by letters patent of th september, ; and that, moreover, a special power had been given to the archdukes on the th january, , to enable them in the king's name as well as their own to do everything that they might think proper to bring about a peace or a truce of many years. it then briefly recited the rupture of the negotiations for peace, and the subsequent, proposition, originated by the foreign ambassadors, to renew the conference for the purpose of concluding a truce. the articles of the treaty thus agreed upon were: that the archdukes declared, as well in their own name as that of the king, that they were content to treat with the lords the states-general of the united provinces in quality of, and as holding them for, countries, provinces, and free states, over which they pretended to nothing, and to, make with them a truce on certain following conditions--to wit: that the truce should be good, firm, loyal, inviolable, and for the term of twelve years, during which time there was to be cessation of all acts of hostility between the king, archdukes, and states-general, as well by sea and other waters as by land, in all their kingdoms, countries, lands, and lordships, and for all their subjects and inhabitants of whatever quality and condition, without exception of places or of persons. that each party should remain seized of their respective possessions, and be not troubled therein during the truce. that the subjects and inhabitants of the respective countries should preserve amity and good correspondence during the truce, without referring to past offences, and should freely and securely entertain communication and traffic with each other by land and sea. this provision, however, was to be expressly understood as limited by the king to the kingdoms and countries possessed by him in europe, and in other places and seas where the subjects of other kings and princes, his friends and allies, have amicable traffic. in regard, however, to places, cities, ports, and harbours which he possessed outside of those limits, the states and their subjects were to exercise no traffic, without express permission of the king. they could, however, if they chose, trade with the countries of all other princes, potentates, and peoples who were willing to permit it; even outside those limits, without any hindrance by the king; that the truce should begin in regard to those distant countries after a year from date, unless actual notification could be sooner served there on those concerned; that the subjects of the united provinces should have the same liberty and privilege within the states of the king and archdukes as had been accorded to the subjects of the by the king of great britain, according to the last treaty made with that sovereign; that letters of marque and reprisal should not be granted during the truce, except for special cause, and in cases permitted by the laws and imperial constitutions, and according to the rules therein prescribed; that those who had retired into neutral territory during the war were also to enjoy the benefit of the truce, and could reside wherever they liked without being deprived of their property; that the treaty should be ratified by the archdukes and the states-general within four days. as to the ratification of the king, the archdukes were bound to deliver it in good and due form within three months, in order that the lords the states-general, their subjects and inhabitants, might enjoy effectively the fruits of the treaty; that the treaty should be published everywhere immediately after the ratification of the archdukes and states-general. this document was signed by the ambassadors of the kings of france and great britain, as mediators, and then by the deputies of the archdukes, and afterwards by those of the lords the states-general. there were thirty-eight articles in all, but the chief provisions have been indicated. the other clauses, relating to boundaries, confiscations, regulations of duties, frontier fortifications, the estates of the nassau family, and other sequestrated property, have no abiding interest. there was also a secret and special treaty which was demanded of the king of spain by the states-general, and by him accorded. this secret treaty consisted of a single clause. that clause was made up of a brief preamble and of a promise. the preamble recited textually article fourth of the public treaty relative to the india trade. the promise was to this effect. for the period of the truce the spanish commissioners pledged the faith of the king and of his successors that his majesty would cause no impediment, whether by sea or land, to the states nor their subjects, in the traffic that thereafter might be made in the countries of all princes, potentates, and peoples who might permit the same, in whatever place it might be, even without the limits designated, and everywhere else, nor similarly to those carrying on such traffic with them, and that the king and his successors would faithfully carry into effect everything thus laid, down, so that the said traffic should be free and secure, consenting even, in order that the clause might be the more authentic, that it should be considered as inserted in the principal treaty, and as making part thereof. it will be perceived that the first article of all, and the last or secret article, contained the whole marrow of the treaty. it may be well understood, therefore, with what wry faces the spanish plenipotentiaries ultimately signed the document. after two years and a quarter of dreary negotiation, the republic had carried all its points, without swerving a hair's breadth from the principles laid down in the beginning. the only concession made was that the treaty was for a truce of twelve years, and not for peace. but as after all, in those days, an interval of twelve years might be almost considered an eternity of peace, and as calling a peace perpetual can never make it so, the difference was rather one of phraseology than of fact. on the other hand, the states had extorted from their former sovereign a recognition of their independence. they had secured the india trade. they had not conceded catholic worship. mankind were amazed at this result--an event hitherto unknown in history. when before had a sovereign acknowledged the independence of his rebellious subjects, and signed a treaty with them as with equals? when before had spain, expressly or by implication, admitted that the east and west indies were not her private property, and that navigators to those regions, from other countries than her own, were not to be chastised as trespassers and freebooters? yet the liberty of the netherlands was acknowledged in terms which convinced the world that it was thenceforth an established fact. and india was as plainly expressed by the omission of the word, as if it had been engrossed in large capitals in article iv. the king's government might seek solace in syntax. they might triumph in cardinal bentivoglio's subtleties, and persuade themselves that to treat with the republic as a free nation was not to hold it for a free nation then and for ever. but the whole world knew that the republic really was free, and that it had treated, face to face, with its former sovereign, exactly as the kings of france or great britain, or the grand turk, might treat with him. the new commonwealth had taken its place among the nations of the earth. other princes and potentates made not the slightest difficulty in recognising it for an independent power and entering into treaties and alliances with it as with any other realm. to the republic the substantial blessing of liberty: to his catholic majesty the grammatical quirk. when the twelve years should expire, spain might reconquer the united provinces if she could; relying upon the great truth that an adverb was not a preposition. and france or great britain might attempt the same thing if either felt strong enough for the purpose. did as plausible a pretext as that ever fail to a state ambitious of absorbing its neighbours? jeannin was right enough in urging that this famous clause of recognition ought to satisfy both parties. if the united provinces, he said, happened not to have the best muskets and cannons on their side when it should once more come to blows, small help would they derive from verbal bulwarks and advantages in the text of treaties. richardot consoled himself with his quibbles; for quibbles were his daily bread. "thank god our truce is made," said he, "and we have only lost the sovereignty for twelve years, if after that we have the means or the will to resume the war--whatever don pedro de toledo may say." barneveld, on his part, was devoutly and soberly pleased with the result. "to-day we have concluded our negotiations for the truce," he wrote to aerssens. "we must pray to the lord god, and we must do our highest duty that our work may redound to his honour and glory, and to the nation's welfare. it is certain that men will make their criticisms upon it according to their humours. but those who love their country, and all honest people who know the condition of the land, will say that it is well done." thus modestly, religiously, and sincerely spoke a statesman, who felt that he had accomplished a great work, and that he had indeed brought the commonwealth through the tempest at last. the republic had secured the india trade. on this point the negotiators had taken refuge in that most useful figure of speech for hard-pressed diplomatists and law-makers--the ellipsis. they had left out the word india, and his catholic majesty might persuade himself that by such omission a hemisphere had actually been taken away from the dutch merchants and navigators. but the whole world saw that article iv. really contained both the east and west indies. it hardly needed the secret clause to make assurance doubly sure. president richardot was facetiously wont to observe that this point in the treaty was so obscure that he did not understand it himself. but he knew better. he understood it very well. the world understood it very well. the united provinces had throughout the negotiations ridiculde the idea of being excluded from any part of the old world or, the new by reason of the borgian grant. all the commissioners knew that the war would be renewed if any attempt were to be seriously made to put up those famous railings around the ocean, of which the dutch diplomatists spoke in such bitter scorn. the spanish plenipotentiaries, therefore, had insisted that the word itself should be left out, and that the republic should be forbidden access to territories subject to the crown of spain. so the hollanders were thenceforth to deal directly with the kings of sumatra and the moluccas, and the republics of banda, and all the rich commonwealths and principalities of nutmegs; cloves, and indigo, unless, as grew every day more improbable, the spaniards and portuguese could exclude them from that traffic by main force. and the orange flag of the republic was to float with equal facility over all america, from the isle of manhattan to the shores of brazil and the straits of magellan, provided philip had not ships and soldiers to vindicate with the sword that sovereignty which spanish swords and spanish genius had once acquired. as for the catholic worship, the future was to prove that liberty for the old religion and for all forms of religion was a blessing more surely to flow from the enlightened public sentiment of a free people emerging out of the most tremendous war for liberty ever waged, than from the stipulations of a treaty with a foreign power. it was characteristic enough of the parties engaged in the great political drama that the republic now requested from france and great britain a written recognition of its independence, and that both france and england refused. it was strange that the new commonwealth, in the very moment of extorting her freedom from the ancient tyranny, should be so unconscious of her strength as to think free papers from neutral powers a boon. as if the sign-manual of james and henry were a better guarantee than the trophies of the nassaus, of heemskerk, of matelieff, and of olden-barneveld! it was not strange that the two sovereigns should decline the proposition; for we well know the secret aspirations of each, and it was natural that they should be unwilling to sign a formal quit-claim, however improbable it might be that those dreams should ever become a reality. both powers, however, united in a guarantee of the truce. this was signed on the th june, and stipulated that, without their knowledge and consent, the states should make no treaty during the period of truce with the king of spain or the archdukes. on the other hand, in case of an infraction of the truce by the enemy, the two kings agreed to lend assistance to the states in the manner provided--by the treaties concluded with the republic previously to the negotiation of the truce. the treaty had been at once ratified by the states-general, assembled for the purpose with an extraordinary number of deputies at bergen-op-zoom. it was also ratified without delay by the archdukes. the delivery of the confirmation by his catholic majesty had been promised within three months after the signatures of the plenipotentiaries. it would however have been altogether inconsistent with the dignity and the traditions of the spanish court to fulfil this stipulation. it was not to be expected that "i the king" could be written either by the monarch himself, or by his alter ego the duke of lerma, in so short a time as a quarter of a year. several weeks accordingly went by after the expiration of the stated period. the ratification did not come, and the netherlanders began to be once more indignant. before the storm had risen very high, however, the despatches arrived. the king's signature was ante-dated th april, being thus brought within the term of three months, and was a thorough confirmation of what had been done by his plenipotentiaries. his majesty, however, expressed a hope that during the truce the states would treat their catholic subjects with kindness. certainly no exception could be taken to so reasonable an intimation as this. president jeannin, too, just before his departure, handed in to the states-general an eloquent appeal on behalf of the catholics of the netherlands; a paper which was not immediately made public. "consider the great number of catholics," he said, "in your territory, both in the cities and the country. remember that they have worked with you; spent their property, have been exposed to the same dangers, and have always kept their fidelity to the commonwealth inviolate as long as the war endured, never complaining that they did not enjoy liberty of religious worship, believing that you had thus, ordained because the public safety required such guaranty. but they always promised themselves, should the end of the war be happy, and should you be placed in the enjoyment of entire freedom, that they too would have some part in this good fortune, even as they had been sharers in the inconveniences, the expenses, and the perils of the war. "but those cannot be said to share in any enjoyment from whom has been taken the power of serving god according to the religion in which they were brought up. on the contrary, no slavery is more intolerable nor more exasperates the mind than such restraint. you know this well, my lords states; you know too that it was the principal, the most puissant cause that made you fly to arms and scorn all dangers, in order to effect your deliverance from this servitude. you know that it has excited similar movements in various parts of christendom, and even in the kingdom of france, with such fortunate success everywhere as to make it appear that god had so willed it, in order to prove that religion ought to be taught and inspired by the movements which come from the holy ghost, and not by the force of man. thus kings and princes should be induced by the evils and ruin which they and their subjects have suffered from this cause, as by a sentiment of their own interest, to take more care than has hitherto been taken to practise in good earnest those remedies which were wont to be used at a time when the church was in its greatest piety, in order to correct the abuses and errors which the corruption of mankind had tried to introduce as being the true and sole means of uniting all christians in one and the same creed." surely the world had made progress in these forty years of war. was it not something to gain for humanity, for intellectual advancement, for liberty of thought, for the true interests of religion, that a roman catholic, an ex-leaguer, a trusted representative of the immediate successor of charles ix. and henry iii., could stand up on the blood-stained soil of the netherlands and plead for liberty of conscience for all mankind? "those cannot be said to share in, any enjoyment from whom has been taken the power of serving god according to the religion in which they have been brought up. no slavery is more intolerable nor more exasperating to the mind than such restraint." most true, o excellent president! no axiom in mathematics is more certain than this simple statement. to prove its truth william the silent had lived and died. to prove it a falsehood, emperors, and kings, and priests, had issued bans, and curses, and damnable decrees. to root it out they had butchered, drowned, shot, strangled, poisoned, tortured, roasted alive, buried alive, starved, and driven mad, thousands and tens of thousands of their fellow creatures. and behold there had been almost a century of this work, and yet the great truth was not rooted out after all; and the devil-worshippers, who had sought at the outset of the great war to establish the holy inquisition in the netherlands upon the ruins of religious and political liberty, were overthrown at last and driven back into the pit. it was progress; it was worth all the blood and treasure which had been spilled, that, instead of the holy inquisition, there was now holy liberty of thought. that there should have been a party, that there should have been an individual here and there, after the great victory was won, to oppose the doctrine which the catholic president now so nobly advocated, would be enough to cause every believer in progress to hide his face in the dust, did we not know that the march of events was destined to trample such opposition out of existence, and had not history proved to us that the great lesson of the war was not to be rendered nought by the efforts of a few fanatics. religious liberty was the ripened and consummate fruit, and it could not but be gathered. "consider too," continued the president, "how much injury your refusal, if you give it, will cause to those of your religion in the places where they are the weakest, and where they are every day imploring with tears and lamentations the grace of those catholic sovereigns to whom they are subject, to enable them to enjoy the same religious liberty which our king is now demanding in favour of the catholics among you. do not cause it to come again into the minds of those sovereigns and their peoples, whom an inconsiderate zeal has often driven into violence and ferocity against protestants, that a war to compel the weakest to follow the religion of the strongest is just and lawful." had not something been gained for the world when this language was held by a catholic on the very spot where less than a half century before the whole population of the netherlands, men, women, and children, had been condemned to death by a foreign tyrant, for the simple reason that it was just, legal, and a christian duty to punish the weak for refusing to follow the religion of the strong? "as for the perils which some affect to fear," said jeannin, further, "if this liberty of worship is accorded, experience teaches us every day that diversity of religion is not the cause of the ruin of states, and that a government does not cease to be good, nor its subjects to live in peace and friend ship with one another, rendering due obedience to the laws and to their, rulers as well as if they had all been of the same religion, without having another thought, save for the preservation of the dignity and grandeur of the state in which god had caused them to be born. the danger is not in the permission, but in the prohibition of religious liberty." all this seems commonplace enough to us on the western side of the atlantic, in the middle of the nineteenth century, but it would have been rank blasphemy in new england in the middle of the seventeenth, many years after jeannin spoke. it was a horrible sound, too, in the ears of some of his audience. to the pretence so often urged by the catholic persecutors, and now set up by their calvinistic imitators; that those who still clung to the old religion were at liberty to depart from the land, the president replied with dignified scorn. "with what justice," he asked, "can you drive into, exile people who have committed no offence, and who have helped to conquer the very country from which you would now banish them? if you do drive them away, you will make solitudes in your commonwealth, which will, be the cause of evils such as i prefer that you should reflect upon without my declaring them now. although these reasons," he continued, "would seem sufficient to induce you to accord the free and public exercise of the catholic religion, the king, not hoping as much as that, because aware that you are not disposed to go so far, is content to request only this grace in behalf of the catholics, that you will tolerate them, and suffer them to have some exercise of their religion within their own households, without interference or inquiry on that account, and without execution of the rigorous decrees heretofore enforced against them." certainly if such wholesome, moderate, and modest counsels as these had been rejected, it would have been sound doctrine to proclaim that the world did not move. and there were individuals enough, even an influential party, prepared to oppose them for both technical and practical reasons. and the cause of intolerance derived much warmth and comfort at this juncture from that great luminary of theology and political philosophy, the king of great britain. direful and solemn were the warnings uttered by james to the republic against permitting the old religion, or any religion save his own religion, to obtain the slightest foothold within her borders. "let the religion be taught and preached in its parity throughout your provinces without the least mixture," said sir ralph winwood, in the name of his sovereign. "on this foundation the justice of your cause is built. there is but one verity. those who are willing to tolerate any religion, whatever it may be, and try to make you believe that liberty for both is necessary in your commonwealth, are paving the way towards atheism." such were the counsels of king james to the united states of the netherlands against harbouring catholics. a few years later he was casting forth calvinists from his own dominions as if they had been lepers; and they went forth on their weary pilgrimage to the howling wilderness of north america, those exiled calvinists, to build a greater republic than had ever been dreamed of before on this planet; and they went forth, not to preach, but in their turn to denounce toleration and to hang heretics. "he who would tolerate another religion that his own may be tolerated, would if need be, hang god's bible at the devil's girdle." so spoke an early massachusetts pilgrim, in the very spirit, almost the very words of the royal persecutor; who had driven him into outer darkness beyond the seas. he had not learned the lesson of the mighty movement in which he was a pioneer, any more than gomarus or uytenbogaart had comprehended why the dutch republic had risen. yet the founders of the two commonwealths, the united states of the seventeenth and of the nineteenth centuries, although many of them fiercely intolerant, through a natural instinct of resistance, not only to the oppressor but to the creed of the oppressor, had been breaking out the way, not to atheism, as king james believed, but to the only garden in which christianity can perennially flourish--religious liberty. those most ardent and zealous path-finders may be forgiven, in view of the inestimable benefits conferred by them upon humanity, that they did not travel on their own road. it should be sufficient for us, if we make due use of their great imperishable work ourselves; and if we never cease rendering thanks to the omnipotent, that there is at least one great nation on the globe where the words toleration and dissenter have no meaning whatever. for the dutch fanatics of the reformed church, at the moment of the truce, to attempt to reverse the course of events, and to shut off the mighty movement of the great revolt from its destined expanse, was as hopeless a dream as to drive back the rhine, as it reached the ocean, into the narrow channel of the rheinwald glacier whence it sprang. the republic became the refuge for the oppressed of all nations, where jews and gentiles, catholics, calvinists, and anabaptistis, prayed after their own manner to the same god and father. it was too much, however, to hope that passions which had been so fiercely bubbling during fifty years would subside at once, and that the most intense religious hatreds that ever existed would exhale with the proclamation of truce. the march of humanity is rarely rapid enough to keep pace with the leaders in its most sublime movements, and it often happens that its chieftains are dwarfed in the estimation of the contemporaneous vulgar, by the very distance at which they precede their unconscious followers. but even if the progress of the human mind towards the truth is fated to be a spiral one, as if to remind us that mankind is of the earth, earthy--a worm in the dust while inhabiting this lower sphere--it is at least a consolation to reflect upon the gradual advancement of the intellect from age to age. the spirit of torquemada, of charles, of philip, of titelmann, is even now not extinct on this globe, but there are counter forces at work, which must ultimately blast it into insignificance. at the moment of the great truce, that evil spirit was not exorcised from the human breast, but the number of its victims and the intensity of its influence had already miraculously diminished. the truce was made and announced all over the netherlands by the ringing of bells, the happy discharge of innocent artillery, by illuminations, by te deums in all the churches. papist and presbyterian fell on their knees in every grand cathedral or humblest village church, to thank god that what had seemed the eternal butchery was over. the inhabitants of the united and of the obedient netherlands rushed across the frontiers into a fraternal embrace; like the meeting of many waters when the flood-gates are lifted. it was pity that the foreign sovereignty, established at brussels, could not then and there have been for ever swept away, and self-government and beneficent union extended over all the seventeen netherlands, walloon and flemish, catholic and reformed. but it hardly needs a word to show that the course of events had created a deeper chasm between the two sections than the gravest physical catastrophe could have produced. the opposing cliffs which religious hatred had rent asunder, and between which it seemed destined to flow for ever, seemed very close, and yet eternally separated. the great war had established the republic; and apparently doomed the obedient netherlands to perpetual servitude. there were many details of minor importance to be settled between the various governments involved in these great transactions; but this history draws to its predestined close, and it is necessary to glide rapidly over matters which rather belong to a later epoch than the one now under consideration. the treaty between the republic and the government of great britain, according to which each was to assist the other in case of war with four thousand troops and twenty ships of war, was confirmed in the treaty of truce. the debt of the united provinces to the crown of england was definitely reckoned at , , florins, and it was settled by the truce that , florins should be paid semi-annually, to begin with the year , until the whole debt should be discharged. the army establishment of the republic was fixed during the truce at thirty thousand infantry and three thousand horse. this was a reduction from the war footing of fifteen thousand men. of the force retained, four thousand were a french legion maintained by the king, two thousand other french at the expense of the states, and distributed among other troops, two thousand scotch, three thousand english, three thousand germans. the rest were native netherlanders, among whom, however, were very few hollanders and zeelanders, from which races the navy, both public and mercantile, was almost wholly supplied. the revenue of the united provinces was estimated at between seven and eight millions of florins. it is superfluous to call attention again to the wonderful smallness of the means, the minuteness of the physical enginry, as compared with more modern manifestations, especially in our own land and epoch, by which so stupendous a result had been reached. in the midst of an age in which regal and sacerdotal despotism had seemed as omnipotent and irreversible as the elemental laws of the universe, the republic had been reproduced. a commonwealth of sand-banks, lagoons, and meadows, less than fourteen thousand square miles in extent, had done battle, for nearly half a century, with the greatest of existing powers, a realm whose territory was nearly a third of the globe, and which claimed universal monarchy. and this had been done with an army averaging forty-six thousand men, half of them foreigners hired by the job, and by a sea-faring population, volunteering into ships of every class and denomination, from a fly-boat to a galleot of war. and when the republic had won its independence, after this almost eternal warfare, it owed four or five millions of dollars, and had sometimes an annual revenue of nearly that amount. it was estimated by barneveld, at the conclusion of the truce, that the interest on the public debt of spain was about thrice the amount of the yearly income of the republic, and it was characteristic of the financial ideas of the period, that fears were entertained lest a total repudiation of that burthen by the spanish government would enable it to resume the war against the provinces with redoubled energy. the annual salary of prince maurice, who was to see his chief occupation gone by the cessation of the war, was fixed by the states at , florins. it was agreed, that in case of his marriage he should receive a further yearly sum of , florins, and this addition was soon afterwards voted to him outright, it being obvious that the prince would remain all his days a bachelor. count frederic henry likewise received a military salary of , florins, while the emoluments of lewis william were placed at , florins a year. it must be admitted that the republic was grateful. , dollars a year, in the seventeenth century, not only for life, but to be inherited afterwards by his younger brother, frederic henry, was surely a munificent sum to be accorded from the puny exchequer of the states-general to the chief magistrate of the nation. the mighty transatlantic republic, with its population of thirty or forty millions, and its revenue of five hundred millions of dollars, pays , dollars annually for its president during his four years of office, and this in the second half of the nineteenth century, when a dollar is worth scarcely one-fifth of its value two hundred and fifty years ago. surely here is improvement, both in the capacity to produce and in the power to save. in the year , died john, the last sovereign of cleves and juliers, and jacob arminius, doctor of divinity at leyden. it would be difficult to imagine two more entirely dissimilar individuals of the human family than this lunatic duke and that theological professor. and yet, perhaps, the two names, more concisely than those of any other mortals, might serve as an index to the ghastly chronicle over which a coming generation was to shudder. the death of the duke was at first thought likely to break off the negotiations for truce. the states-general at once declared that they would permit no movements on the part of the spanish party to seize the inheritance in behalf of the catholic claimants. prince maurice, nothing loth to make use of so well-timed an event in order to cut for ever the tangled skein at the hague, was for marching forthwith into the duchies. but the archdukes gave such unequivocal assurances of abstaining from interference, and the desire for peace was so strong both in the obedient and in the united provinces, that the question of the duchies was postponed. it was to serve as both torch and fuel for one of the longest and most hideous tragedies that had ever disgraced humanity. a thirty years' war of demons was, after a brief interval, to succeed the forty years' struggle between slaves and masters, which had just ended in the recognition of dutch independence. the gentle arminius was in his grave, but a bloody harvest was fast ripening from the seeds which he had sown. that evil story must find its place in the melancholy chapter where the fortunes of the dutch republic are blended with the grim chronicle of the thirty years' war. until the time arrives for retracing the course of those united transactions to their final termination in the peace of westphalia, it is premature to characterize an epoch which, at the moment with which we are now occupied, had not fairly begun. the gomarites accused the arminians of being more lax than papists, and of filling the soul of man with vilest arrogance and confidence in good works; while the arminians complained that the god of the gomarites was an unjust god, himself the origin of sin. the disputes on these themes had been perpetual in the provinces ever since the early days of the reformation. of late, however, the acrimony of theological conflict had been growing day by day more intense. it was the eternal struggle of religious dogma to get possession of the state, and to make use of political forces in order to put fetters on the human soul; to condemn it to slavery where most it requires freedom. the conflict between gomarus and arminius proceeded with such ferocity in leyden, that, since the days of the memorable siege, to which the university owed its origin, men's minds had never been roused to such feverish anxiety: the theological cannonades, which thundered daily from the college buildings and caused all holland to quake, seemed more appalling to the burghers than the enginry of valdez and boisot had ever seemed to their fathers. the gomarite doctrine gained most favour with the clergy, the arminian creed with the municipal magistracies. the magistrates claimed that decisions concerning religious matters belonged to the supreme authority. the gomarites contended that sacred matters should be referred to synods of the clergy. here was the germ of a conflict which might one day shake the republic to its foundations. barneveld, the great leader of the municipal, party, who loved political power quite as well as he loved his country; was naturally a chieftain of the arminians; for church, matters were no more separated from political matters in the commonwealth at that moment than they were in the cabinets of henry, james, or philip. it was inevitable therefore that the war party should pour upon his head more than seven vials of theological wrath. the religious doctrines which he espoused were, odious not only because they were deemed vile in themselves but because he believed in them. arminianism was regarded as a new and horrible epidemic, daily gaining ground, and threatening to destroy the whole population. men deliberated concerning the best means to cut off communication with the infected regions, and to extirpate the plague even by desperate and heroic remedies, as men in later days take measures against the cholera or the rinderpest. theological hatred was surely not extinct in the netherlands. it was a consolation, however, that its influence was rendered less noxious by the vastly increased strength of principles long dormant in the atmosphere. anna van der hoven, buried alive in brussels, simply because her calvinistic creed was a crime in the eyes of the monks who murdered her, was the last victim to purely religious persecution. if there were one day to be still a tragedy or two in the netherlands it was inevitable that theological hatred would be obliged to combine with political party spirit in its most condensed form before any deadly effect could be produced. thus the year is a memorable one in the world's history. it forms a great landmark in human progress. it witnessed the recognition of a republic, powerful in itself, and whose example was destined to be most influential upon the career of two mighty commonwealths of the future. the british empire, just expanding for wider flight than it had hitherto essayed, and about to pass through a series of vast revolutions, gathering strength of wing as it emerged from cloud after cloud; and the american republic, whose frail and obscure beginnings at that very instant of time scarcely attracted a passing attention from the contemporaneous world--both these political organisms, to which so much of mankind's future liberties had been entrusted, were deeply indebted to the earlier self-governing commonwealth. the dutch republic was the first free nation to put a girdle of empire around the earth. it had courage, enterprise, intelligence, perseverance, faith in itself, the instinct of self-government and self-help, hatred of tyranny, the disposition to domineer, aggressiveness, greediness, inquisitiveness, insolence, the love of science, of liberty, and of money--all this in unlimited extent. it had one great defect, it had no country. upon that meagre standing ground its hand had moved the world with an impulse to be felt through all the ages, but there was not soil enough in those fourteen thousand, square miles to form the metropolis of the magnificent empire which the genius of liberty had created beyond the seas. that the political institutions bequeathed by the united states of the seventeenth century have been vastly improved, both in theory and practice, by the united states of the nineteenth, no american is likely to gainsay. that the elder republic showed us also what to avoid, and was a living example of the perils besetting a confederacy which dared not become a union, is a lesson which we might take closely to heart. but the year was not only memorable as marking an epoch in dutch history. it was the beginning of a great and universal pause. the world had need of rest. disintegration had been going on too rapidly, and it was absolutely necessary that there should be a new birth, if civilization were not to vanish. a twenty years' truce between the turkish and holy roman empires was nearly simultaneous with the twelve years' truce between spain and the united provinces. the emperor rudolph having refused to ratify the treaty which his brother matthias had made, was in consequence partially discrowned. the same archduke who, thirty years before, had slipped away from vienna in his nightgown; with his face blackened, to outwit and outgeneral william the silent at brussels, was now--more successful in his manoeuvres against his imperial brother. standing at the head of his army in battle array, in the open fields before the walls of prague, he received--from the unfortunate rudolph the crown and regalia of hungary, and was by solemn treaty declared sovereign of that ancient and chivalrous kingdom. his triumphal entrance into vienna succeeded, where, surrounded by great nobles and burghers, with his brother maximilian at his side, with immense pomp and with flowers strewn before his feet, he ratified that truce with ahmed which rudolph had rejected. three months later he was crowned at pressburg, having first accepted the conditions proposed by the estates of hungary. foremost among these was the provision that the exercise of the reformed religion should be free in all the cities and villages beneath his sceptre, and that every man in the kingdom was to worship god according to his conscience. in the following march, at the very moment accordingly when the conclusive negotiations were fast ripening at antwerp, matthias granted religious peace for austria likewise. great was the indignation of his nephew leopold, the nuncius, and the spanish ambassador in consequence, by each and all of whom the revolutionary mischief-maker, with his brother's crown on his head, was threatened with excommunication. as for ferdinand of styria, his wrath may well be imagined. he refused religious peace in his dominions with scorn ineffable. not gomarus in leyden could have shrunk from arminianism with more intense horror than that with which the archduke at gratz recoiled from any form of protestantism. he wrote to his brother-in-law the king of spain and to other potentates--as if the very soul of philip ii. were alive within him--that he would rather have a country without inhabitants than with a single protestant on its soil. he strongly urged upon his catholic majesty--as if such urging were necessary at the spanish court--the necessity of extirpating heresy, root and branch. here was one man at least who knew what he meant, and on whom the dread lessons of fifty years of bloodshed had been lost. magnificent was the contempt which this pupil of the jesuits felt for any little progress made by the world since the days of torquemada. in ferdinand's view alva was a christian hero, scarcely second to godfrey of bouillon, philip ii. a sainted martyr, while the dutch republic had never been born. and ferdinand was one day to sit on the throne of the holy roman empire. might not a shudder come over the souls of men as coming events vaguely shaped themselves to prophetic eyes? meantime there was religious peace in hungary, in austria, in bohemia, in france, in great britain, in the netherlands. the hangman's hands were for a period at rest, so far as theology had need of them. butchery in the name of christ was suspended throughout christendom. the cross and the crescent, santiago and the orange banner, were for a season in repose. there was a vast lull between two mighty storms. the forty years' war was in the past, the thirty years' war in the not far distant future. chapter liii. conclusion. forth-three years had passed since the memorable april morning in which the great nobles of the, netherlands presented their "request" to the regent margaret at brussels. they had requested that the holy spanish inquisition might not be established on their soil to the suppression of all their political and religious institutions. the war which those high-born "beggars" had then kindled, little knowing what they were doing, had now come to a close, and the successor of philip ii., instead of planting the inquisition in the provinces, had recognised them as an independent, sovereign, protestant republic. in the ratification which he had just signed of the treaty of truce the most catholic king had in his turn made a request. he had asked the states-general to deal kindly with their catholic subjects. that request was not answered with the age and faggot; with the avenging sword of mercenary legions. on the contrary, it was destined to be granted. the world had gained something in forty-three years. it had at least begun to learn that the hangman is not the most appropriate teacher of religion. during the period of apparent chaos with which this history of the great revolt has been occupied, there had in truth been a great reorganization, a perfected new birth. the republic had once more appeared in the world. its main characteristics have been indicated in the course of the narrative, for it was a polity which gradually unfolded itself out of the decay and change of previous organisms. it was, as it were, in their own despite and unwittingly that the united provinces became a republic at all. in vain, after originally declaring their independence of the ancient tyrant, had they attempted to annex themselves to france and to england. the sovereignty had been spurned. the magnificent prize which france for centuries since has so persistently coveted, and the attainment of which has been a cardinal point of her perpetual policy--the low countries and the banks of the rhine--was deliberately laid at her feet, and as deliberately refused. it was the secret hope of the present monarch to repair the loss which the kingdom had suffered through the imbecility of his two immediate predecessors. but a great nation cannot with impunity permit itself to be despotically governed for thirty years by lunatics. it was not for the bearnese, with all his valour, his wit, and his duplicity, to obtain the prize which charles ix. and henry iii. had thrown away. yet to make himself sovereign of the netherlands was his guiding but most secret thought during all the wearisome and tortuous negotiations which preceded the truce; nor did he abandon the great hope with the signature of the treaty of . maurice of nassau too was a formidable rival to henry. the stadholder-prince was no republican. he was a good patriot, a noble soldier, an honest man. but his father had been offered the sovereignty of holland and zeeland, and the pistol of balthasar gerard had alone, in all human probability, prevented the great prince from becoming constitutional monarch of all the netherlands, batavian and belgic. maurice himself asserted that not only had he been offered a million of dollars, and large estates besides in germany, if he would leave the provinces to their fate, but that the archdukes had offered, would he join his fortunes with theirs, to place him in a higher position over all the netherlands than he had ever enjoyed in the united provinces, and that they had even unequivocally offered him the sovereignty over the whole land. maurice was a man of truth, and we have no right to dispute the accuracy of the extraordinary statement. he must however have reflected upon the offer once made by the prince of darkness from the mountain top, and have asked himself by what machinery the archdukes proposed to place him in possession of such a kingdom. there had, however, been serious question among leading dutch statesmen of making him constitutional, hereditary monarch of the united netherlands. as late as a secret conference was held at the house of olden-barneveld, in which the advocate had himself urged the claims of the prince to the sovereignty, and reminded his guests that the signed and sealed documents--with the concurrence of the amsterdam municipality alone lacking--by which william the silent had been invited to assume the crown were still in the possession of his son. nothing came of these deliberations. it was agreed that to stir in the matter at that moment would be premature, and that the pursuit by maurice of the monarchy in the circumstances then existing would not only over-burthen him with expense, but make him a more conspicuous mark than ever for the assassin. it is certain that the prince manifested no undue anxiety at any period in regard to those transactions. subsequently, as olden-barneveld's personal power increased, and as the negotiations for peace became more and more likely to prove successful, the advocate lost all relish for placing his great rival on a throne. the whole project, with the documents and secret schemes therewith connected, became mere alms for oblivion. barneveld himself, although of comparatively humble birth and station, was likely with time to exercise more real power in the state than either henry or maurice; and thus while there were three individuals who in different ways aspired to supreme power, the republic, notwithstanding, asserted and established itself. freedom of government and freedom, of religion were, on the whole, assisted by this triple antagonism. the prince, so soon as war was over, hated the advocate and his daily increasing power more and more. he allied himself more closely than ever with the gomarites and the clerical party in general, and did his best to inflame the persecuting spirit, already existing in the provinces, against the catholics and the later sects of protestants. jeannin warned him that "by thus howling with the priests" he would be suspected of more desperately ambitious designs than he perhaps really cherished. on the other hand, barneveld was accused of a willingness to wink at the introduction, privately and quietly, of the roman catholic worship. that this was the deadliest of sins, there was no doubt whatever in the minds of his revilers. when it was added that he was suspected of the arminian leprosy, and that he could tolerate the thought that a virtuous man or woman, not predestined from all time for salvation, could possibly find the way to heaven, language becomes powerless to stigmatize his depravity. whatever the punishment impending over his head in this world or the next, it is certain that the cause of human freedom was not destined on the whole to lose ground through the life-work of barneveld. a champion of liberties rather than of liberty, he defended his fatherland with heart and soul against the stranger; yet the government of that fatherland was, in his judgments to be transferred from the hand of the foreigner, not to the self-governing people, but to the provincial corporations. for the people he had no respect, and perhaps little affection. he often spoke of popular rights with contempt. of popular sovereignty he had no conception. his patriotism, like his ambition, was provincial. yet his perceptions as to eternal necessity in all healthy governments taught him that comprehensible relations between the state and the population were needful to the very existence of a free commonwealth. the united provinces, he maintained, were not a republic, but a league of seven provinces very loosely hung together, a mere provisional organization for which it was not then possible to substitute anything better. he expressed this opinion with deep regret, just as the war of independence was closing, and added his conviction that, without some well-ordered government, no republic could stand. yet, as time wore on, the advocate was destined to acquiesce more and more in this defective constitution. a settled theory there was none, and it would have been difficult legally and historically to establish the central sovereignty of the states-general as matter of right. thus barneveld, who was anything but a democrat, became, almost unwittingly, the champion of the least venerable or imposing of all forms of aristocracy--an oligarchy of traders who imagined themselves patricians. corporate rights, not popular liberty, seemed, in his view, the precious gains made by such a prodigious expenditure of time, money, and blood. although such acquisitions were practically a vast addition to the stock of human freedom then existing in the world, yet torrents of blood and millions of treasure were to be wasted in the coming centuries before mankind was to convince itself that a republic is only to be made powerful and perpetual by placing itself upon the basis of popular right rather than on that of municipal privilege. the singular docility of the dutch people, combined with the simplicity, honesty, and practical sagacity of the earlier burgher patricians, made the defects of the system tolerable for a longer period than might have been expected; nor was it until theological dissensions had gathered to such intensity as to set the whole commonwealth aflame that the grave defects in the political structure could be fairly estimated. it would be anticipating a dark chapter in the history of the united provinces were the reader's attention now to be called to those fearful convulsions. the greatest reserve is therefore necessary at present in alluding to the subject. it was not to be expected that an imperious, energetic but somewhat limited nature like that of barneveld should at that epoch thoroughly comprehend the meaning of religious freedom. william the silent alone seems to have risen to that height. a conscientious calvinist himself, the father of his country would have been glad to see protestant and papist, lutheran, presbyterian, and anabaptist living together in harmony and political equality. this was not to be. the soul of the immortal prince could not inspire the hearts of his contemporaries. that barneveld was disposed to a breadth of religious sympathy unusual in those days, seems certain. it was inevitable, too, that the mild doctrines of arminius should be more in harmony with such a character than were the fierce dogmas of calvin. but the struggle, either to force arminianism upon the church which considered itself the established one in the netherlands, or to expel the calvinists from it, had not yet begun; although the seeds of religious persecution of protestants by protestants had already been sown broadcast. the day was not far distant when the very calvinists, to whom, more than to any other class of men, the political liberties of holland, england, and america are due, were to be hunted out of churches into farm-houses, suburban hovels, and canal-boats by the arm of provincial sovereignty and in the name of state-rights, as pitilessly as the early reformers had been driven out of cathedrals in the name of emperor and pope; and when even those refuges for conscientious worship were to be denied by the dominant sect. and the day was to come, too, when the calvinists, regaining ascendency in their turn, were to hunt the heterodox as they had themselves been hunted; and this, at the very moment when their fellow calvinists of england were driven by the church of that kingdom into the american wilderness. toleration--that intolerable term of insult to all who love liberty--had not yet been discovered. it had scarcely occurred to arminian or presbyterian that civil authority and ecclesiastical doctrine could be divorced from each other. as the individual sovereignty of the seven states established itself more and more securely, the right of provincial power to dictate religious dogmas, and to superintend the popular conscience, was exercised with a placid arrogance which papal infallibility could scarcely exceed. the alternation was only between the sects, each in its turn becoming orthodox, and therefore persecuting. the lessened intensity of persecution however, which priesthood and authority were now allowed to exercise, marked the gains secured. yet while we censure--as we have a right to do from the point of view which we have gained after centuries--the crimes committed by bigotry against liberty, we should be false, to our faith in human progress did we not acknowledge our debt of gratitude to the hot gospellers of holland and england. the doctrine of predestination, the consciousness of being chosen soldiers of christ, inspired those puritans, who founded the commonwealths of england, of holland, and of america, with a contempt of toil, danger, and death which enabled them to accomplish things almost supernatural. no uncouthness of phraseology, no unlovely austerity of deportment, could, except to vulgar minds, make that sublime enthusiasm ridiculous, which on either side the ocean ever confronted tyranny with dauntless front, and welcomed death on battle-field, scaffold, or rack with perfect composure. the early puritan at least believed. the very intensity of his belief made him--all unconsciously to himself, and narrowed as was his view of his position--the great instrument by which the widest human liberty was to be gained for all mankind. the elected favourite of the king of kings feared the power of no earthly king. accepting in rapture the decrees of a supernatural tyranny, he rose on mighty wings above the reach of human wrath. prostrating himself before a god of vengeance, of jealousy, and of injustice, he naturally imitated the attributes which he believed to be divine. it was inevitable, therefore, that barneveld, and those who thought with him, when they should attempt to force the children of belial into the company of the elect and to drive the faithful out of their own churches, should be detested as bitterly as papists had ever been. had barneveld's intellect been broad enough to imagine in a great republic the separation of church and state, he would deserve a tenderer sympathy, but he would have been far in advance of his age. it is not cheerful to see so powerful an intellect and so patriotic a character daring to entrust the relations between man and his maker to the decree of a trading corporation. but alas! the world was to wait for centuries until it should learn that the state can best defend religion by letting it alone, and that the political arm is apt to wither with palsy when it attempts to control the human conscience. it is not entirely the commonwealth of the united netherlands that is of importance in the epoch which i have endeavoured to illustrate. history can have neither value nor charm for those who are not impressed with a conviction of its continuity. more than ever during the period which we call modern history has this idea of the continuousness of our race, and especially of the inhabitants of europe and america, become almost oppressive to the imagination. there is a sense of immortality even upon earth when we see the succession of heritages in the domains of science, of intellectual and material wealth by which mankind, generation after generation, is enriching itself. if this progress be a dream, if mankind be describing a limited circle instead of advancing towards the infinite; then no study can be more contemptible than the study of history. few strides more gigantic have been taken in the march of humanity than those by which a parcel of outlying provinces in the north of europe exchanged slavery to a foreign despotism and to the holy inquisition for the position of a self-governing commonwealth, in the, front rank of contemporary powers, and in many respects the foremost of the world. it is impossible to calculate the amount of benefit tendered to civilization by the example of the dutch republic. it has been a model which has been imitated, in many respects, by great nations. it has even been valuable in its very defects; indicating to the patient observer many errors most important to avoid. therefore, had the little republic sunk for ever in the sea so soon as the treaty of peace had been signed at antwerp, its career would have been prolific of good for all succeeding time. exactly at the moment when a splendid but decaying despotism, founded upon wrong--upon oppression of the human body and the immortal soul, upon slavery, in short, of the worst kind--was awaking from its insane dream of universal empire to a consciousness of its own decay, the new republic was recognised among the nations. it would hardly be incorrect to describe the holland of the beginning of the seventeenth century as the exact reverse of spain. in, the commonwealth labour was most honourable; in the kingdom it was vile. in the north to be idle was accounted and punished as a crime. in the southern peninsula, to be contaminated with mechanical, mercantile, commercial, manufacturing pursuits, was to be accursed. labour was for slaves, and at last the mere spectacle of labour became so offensive that even the slaves were expelled from the land. to work was as degrading in the south as to beg or to steal was esteemed unworthy of humanity in the north. to think a man's thought upon high matters of religion and government, and through a thousand errors to pursue the truth; with the aid of the most high and with the best use of human reason, was a privilege secured by the commonwealth, at the expense of two generations of continuous bloodshed. to lie fettered, soul and body, at the feet of authority wielded by a priesthood in its last stage of corruption, and monarchy almost reduced to imbecility, was the lot of the chivalrous, genial; but much oppressed spaniard. the pictures painted of the republic by shrewd and caustic observers, not inclined by nature or craft to portray freedom in too engaging colours, seem, when contrasted with those revealed of spain, almost like enthusiastic fantasies of an ideal commonwealth. during the last twenty years of the great war the material prosperity of the netherlands had wonderfully increased. they had, become the first commercial nation in the world. they had acquired the supremacy of the seas. the population of amsterdam had in twenty years increased from seventy thousand to a hundred and thirty thousand, and was destined to be again more than doubled in the coming decade. the population of antwerp had sunk almost as rapidly as that of its rival had increased; having lessened by fifty thousand during the same period. the commercial capital of the obedient provinces, having already lost much of its famous traffic by the great changes in the commercial current of the world, was unable to compete with the cities of the united provinces in the vast trade which the geographical discoveries of the preceding century had opened to civilization. freedom of thought and action were denied, and without such liberty it was impossible for oceanic commerce to thrive. moreover, the possession by the hollanders of the scheld forts below antwerp, and of flushing at the river's mouth, suffocated the ancient city, and would of itself have been sufficient to paralyze all its efforts. in antwerp the exchange, where once thousands of the great merchants of the earth held their daily financial parliament, now echoed to the solitary footfall of the passing stranger. ships lay rotting at the quays; brambles grow in the commercial streets. in amsterdam the city had been enlarged by two-thirds, and those who swarmed thither to seek their fortunes could not wait for the streets to be laid out and houses to be built, but established themselves in the environs, building themselves hovels and temporary residences, although certain to find their encampments swept away with the steady expanse of the city. as much land as could be covered by a man's foot was worth a ducat in gold. in every branch of human industry these republicans took the lead. on that scrap of solid ground, rescued by human energy from the ocean, were the most fertile pastures in the world. on those pastures grazed the most famous cattle in the world. an ox often weighed more than two thousand pounds. the cows produced two and three calves at a time, the sheep four and five lambs. in a single village four thousand kine were counted. butter and cheese were exported to the annual value of a million, salted provisions to an incredible extent. the farmers were industrious, thriving, and independent. it is an amusing illustration of the agricultural thrift and republican simplicity of this people that on one occasion a farmer proposed to prince maurice that he should marry his daughter, promising with her a dowry of a hundred thousand florins. the mechanical ingenuity of the netherlanders, already celebrated by julius caesar and by tacitus, had lost nothing of its ancient fame. the contemporary world confessed that in many fabrics the hollanders were at the head of mankind. dutch linen, manufactured of the flax grown on their own fields or imported from the obedient provinces, was esteemed a fitting present for kings to make and to receive. the name of the country had passed into the literature of england as synonymous with the delicate fabric itself. the venetians confessed themselves equalled, if not outdone, by the crystal workers and sugar refiners of the northern republic. the tapestries of arras--the name of which walloon city had become a household word of luxury in all modern languages--were now transplanted to the soil of freedom, more congenial to the advancement of art. brocades of the precious metals; splendid satins and velvets; serges and homely fustians; laces of thread and silk; the finer and coarser manufactures of clay and porcelain; iron, steel, and all useful fabrics for the building and outfitting of ships; substantial broadcloths manufactured of wool imported from scotland--all this was but a portion of the industrial production of the provinces. they supplied the deficiency of coal, not then an article readily obtained by commerce, with other remains of antediluvian forests long since buried in the sea, and now recovered from its depths and made useful and portable by untiring industry. peat was not only the fuel for the fireside, but for the extensive fabrics of the country, and its advantages so much excited the admiration of the venetian envoys that they sent home samples of it, in the hope that the lagunes of venice might prove as prolific of this indispensable article as the polders of holland. but the foundation of the national wealth, the source of the apparently fabulous power by which the republic had at last overthrown her gigantic antagonist, was the ocean. the republic was sea-born and sea-sustained. she had nearly one hundred thousand sailors, and three thousand ships. the sailors were the boldest, the best disciplined, and the most experienced in the-world, whether for peaceable seafaring or ocean warfare. the ships were capable of furnishing from out of their number in time of need the most numerous and the best appointed navy then known to mankind. the republic had the carrying trade for all nations. feeling its very existence dependent upon commerce, it had strode centuries in advance of the contemporary world in the liberation of trade. but two or three per cent. ad valorem was levied upon imports; foreign goods however being subject, as well as internal products, to heavy imposts in the way of both direct and indirect taxation. every article of necessity or luxury known was to be purchased in profusion and at reasonable prices in the warehouses of holland. a swarm of river vessels and fly-boats were coming daily through the rivers of germany, france and the netherlands, laden with the agricultural products and the choice manufactures of central and western europe. wine and oil, and delicate fabrics in thread and wool, came from france, but no silks, velvets, nor satins; for the great sully had succeeded in persuading his master that the white mulberry would not grow in his kingdom, and that silk manufactures were an impossible dream for france. nearly a thousand ships were constantly employed in the baltic trade. the forests of holland were almost as extensive as those which grew on norwegian hills, but they were submerged. the foundation of a single mansion required a grove, and wood was extensively used in the superstructure. the houses, built of a framework of substantial timber, and filled in with brick or rubble, were raised almost as rapidly as tents, during the prodigious expansion of industry towards the end of the war. from the realms of the osterlings, or shores of the baltic, came daily fleets laden with wheat and other grains so that even in time of famine the granaries of the republic were overflowing, and ready to dispense the material of life to the outer world. eight hundred vessels of lesser size but compact build were perpetually fishing for herrings on the northern coasts. these hardy mariners, the militia of the sea, who had learned in their life of hardship and daring the art of destroying spanish and portuguese armadas, and confronting the dangers of either pole, passed a long season on the deep. commercial voyagers as well as fishermen, they salted their fish as soon as taken from the sea, and transported them to the various ports of europe, thus reducing their herrings into specie before their return, and proving that a fishery in such hands was worth more than the mines of mexico and peru. it is customary to speak of the natural resources of a country as furnishing a guarantee of material prosperity. but here was a republic almost without natural resources, which had yet supplied by human intelligence and thrift what a niggard nature had denied. spain was overflowing with unlimited treasure, and had possessed half the world in fee; and spain was bankrupt, decaying, sinking into universal pauperism. holland, with freedom of thought, of commerce, of speech, of action, placed itself, by intellectual power alone, in the front rank of civilization. from cathay, from the tropical coasts of africa, and from farthest ind, came every drug, spice, or plant, every valuable jewel, every costly fabric, that human ingenuity had discovered or created. the spaniards, maintaining a frail tenure upon a portion of those prolific regions, gathered their spice harvests at the point of the sword, and were frequently unable to prevent their northern rivals from ravaging such fields as they had not yet been able to appropriate. certainly this conduct of the hollanders was barbarism and supreme selfishness, if judged by the sounder political economy of our time. yet it should never be forgotten that the contest between spain and holland in those distant regions, as everywhere else, was war to the knife between superstition and freedom, between the spirits of progress and of dogma. hard blows and foul blows were struck in such a fight, and humanity, although gaining at last immense results, had much to suffer and much to learn ere the day was won. but spain was nearly beaten out of those eastern regions, and the very fact that the naval supremacy of the republic placed her ancient tyrant at her mercy was the main reason for spain to conclude the treaty of truce. lest she should lose the india trade entirely, spain consented to the treaty article by which, without mentioning the word, she conceded the thing. it was almost pathetic to witness, as we have witnessed, this despotism in its dotage, mumbling so long over the formal concession to her conqueror of a portion of that india trade which would have been entirely wrested from herself had the war continued. and of this spain was at heart entirely convinced. thus the portuguese, once the lords and masters, as they had been the european discoverers, of those prolific regions and of the ocean highways which led to them, now came with docility to the republic which they had once affected to despise, and purchased the cloves and the allspice, the nutmegs and the cinnamon, of which they had held the monopoly; or waited with patience until the untiring hollanders should bring the precious wares to the peninsula ports. a dutch indianian would make her voyage to the antipodes and her return in less time than was spent by a portuguese or a spaniard in the outward voyage. to accomplish such an enterprise in two years was accounted a wonder of rapidity, and when it is remembered that inland navigation through france by canal and river from the north sea to the mediterranean was considered both speedier and safer, because the sea voyage between the same points might last four or five months, it must be admitted that two years occupied in passing from one end of the earth to the other and back again might well seem a miracle. the republic was among the wealthiest and the most powerful of organized states. her population might be estimated at three millions and a half, about equal to that of england at the same period. but she was richer than england. nowhere in the world was so large a production in proportion to the numbers of a people. nowhere were so few unproductive consumers. every one was at work. vagabonds, idlers, and do-nothings, such as must be in every community, were caught up by the authorities and made to earn their bread. the devil's pillow, idleness, was smoothed for no portion of the population. there were no beggars, few paupers, no insolently luxurious and ostentatiously idle class. the modesty, thrift, and simple elegance of the housekeeping, even among the wealthy, was noted by travellers with surprise. it will be remembered with how much amused wonder, followed by something like contempt, the, magnificent household of spinola, during his embassy at the hague, was surveyed by the honest burghers of holland. the authorities showed their wisdom in permitting the absurd exhibition, as an example of what should be shunned, in spite of grave remonstrances from many of the citizens. drunken helotism is not the only form of erring humanity capable of reading lessons to a republic. there had been monasteries, convents, ecclesiastical establishments of all kinds in the country, before the great war between holland and the inquisition. these had, as a matter of course, been confiscated as the strife went on. the buildings, farms, and funds, once the property of the church, had not, however, been seized upon, as in other protestant lands, by rapacious monarchs, and distributed among great nobles according to royal caprice. monarchs might give the revenue of a suppressed convent to a cook, as reward for a successful pudding; the surface of britain and the continent might be covered with abbeys and monasteries now converted into lordly palaces--passing thus from the dead hand of the church into the idle and unproductive palm of the noble; but the ancient ecclesiastical establishments of the free netherlands were changed into eleemosynary institutions, admirably organized and administered with wisdom and economy, where orphans of the poor, widows of those slain in the battles for freedom by land and sea, and the aged and the infirm, who had deserved well of the republic in the days of their strength, were educated or cherished at the expense of the public, thus endowed from the spoils of the church. in spain, monasteries upon monasteries were rising day by day, as if there were not yet receptacles enough for monks and priests, while thousands upon thousands of spaniards were pressing into the ranks of the priesthood, and almost forcing themselves into monasteries, that they might be privileged to beg, because ashamed to work. in the united netherlands the confiscated convents, with their revenues, were appropriated for the good of those who were too young or too old to labour, and too poor to maintain themselves without work. need men look further than to this simple fact to learn why spain was decaying while the republic was rising? the ordinary budget of the united provinces was about equal to that of england, varying not much from four millions of florins, or four hundred thousand pounds. but the extraordinary revenue was comparatively without limits, and there had been years, during the war, when the citizens had taxed themselves as highly as fifty per cent. on each individual income, and doubled the receipts of the exchequer. the budget was proposed once a year, by the council of state, and voted by the states-general, who assigned the quota of each province; that of holland being always one-half of the whole, that of zeeland sixteen per cent., and that of the other five of course in lesser proportions. the revenue was collected in the separate provinces, one-third of the whole being retained for provincial expenses, and the balance paid into the general treasury. there was a public debt, the annual interest of which amounted to , florins. during the war, money had been borrowed at as high a rate as thirty-six per cent., but at the conclusion of hostilities the states could borrow at six per cent., and the whole debt was funded on that basis. taxation was enormously heavy, but patriotism caused it to be borne with cheerfulness, and productive industry made it comparatively light. rents were charged twenty-five per cent. a hundred per cent. was levied upon beer, wine, meat, salt, spirits. other articles of necessity and luxury were almost as severely taxed. it is not easy to enumerate the tax-list, scarcely anything foreign or domestic being exempted, while the grave error was often committed of taxing the same article, in different forms, four, five, and six times. the people virtually taxed themselves, although the superstition concerning the state, as something distinct from and superior to the people, was to linger long and work infinite mischief among those seven republics which were never destined to be welded theoretically and legally into a union. the sacredness of corporations had succeeded, in a measure, to the divinity which hedges kings. nevertheless, those corporations were so numerous as to be effectively open to a far larger proportion of the population than, in those days, had ever dreamed before of participating in the government. the magistracies were in general unpaid and little coveted, being regarded as a burthen and a responsibility rather than an object of ambition. the jurisconsults, called pensionaries, who assisted the municipal authorities, received, however, a modest salary, never exceeding florins a year. these numerous bodies, provincial and municipal, elected themselves themselves by supplying their own vacancies. the magistrates were appointed by the stadholder, on a double or triple nomination from the municipal board. this was not impartial suffrage nor manhood suffrage. the germ of a hateful burgher-oligarchy was in the system, but, as compared with spain, where municipal magistracies were sold by the crown at public auction; or with france, where every office in church, law, magistrature, or court was an object of merchandise disposed of in open market, the system was purity itself, and marked a great advance in the science of government. it should never be forgotten, moreover, that while the presidents and judges of the highest courts of judicature in other civilized lands were at the mercy of an irresponsible sovereign, and held office--even although it had been paid for in solid specie--at his pleasure, the supreme justices of the high courts of appeal at the hague were nominated by a senate, and confirmed by a stadholder, and that they exercised their functions for life, or so long as they conducted themselves virtuously in their high office--'quamdiu se bene gesserint.' if one of the great objects of a civilized community is to secure to all men their own--'ut sua tenerent'--surely it must be admitted that the republic was in advance of all contemporary states in the laying down of this vital principle, the independence of judges. as to the army and navy of the united provinces, enough has been said, in earlier chapters of these volumes, to indicate the improvements introduced by prince maurice, and now carried to the highest point of perfection ever attained in that period. there is no doubt whatever, that for discipline, experience, equipment, effectiveness of movement, and general organization, the army of the republic was the model army of europe. it amounted to but thirty thousand infantry and two thousand five hundred cavalry, but this number was a large one for a standing army at the beginning of the seventeenth century. it was composed of a variety of materials, hollanders, walloons, flemings, scotch, english, irish, germans, but all welded together into a machine of perfect regularity. the private foot-soldier received twelve florins for a so-called month of forty-two days, the drummer and corporal eighteen, the lieutenant fifty-two, and the captain one hundred and fifty florins. prompt payment was made every week. obedience was implicit; mutiny, such as was of periodical recurrence in the archduke's army, entirely unknown. the slightest theft was punished with the gallows, and there was therefore no thieving. the most accurate and critical observers confessed, almost against their will, that no army in europe could compare with the troops of the states. as to the famous regiments of sicily, and the ancient legions of naples and milan, a distinguished venetian envoy, who had seen all the camps and courts of christendom, and was certainly not disposed to overrate the hollanders at the expense of the italians, if any rivalry between them had been possible, declared that every private soldier in the republic was fit to be a captain in any italian army; while, on the other hand, there was scarcely an italian captain who would be accepted as a private in any company of the states. so low had the once famous soldiery of alva, don john, and alexander farnese descended. the cavalry of the republic was even more perfectly organized than was the infantry. "i want words to describe its perfection," said contarini. the pay was very high, and very prompt. a captain received four hundred florins a month (of forty-two days), a lieutenant one hundred and eighty florins, and other officers and privates in proportion. these rates would be very high in our own day. when allowance is made for the difference in the value of money at the respective epochs, the salaries are prodigious; but the thrifty republic found its account in paying well and paying regularly the champions on whom so much depended, and by whom such splendid services had been rendered. while the soldiers in the pay of queen elizabeth were crawling to her palace gates to die of starvation before her eyes; while the veterans of spain and of italy had organized themselves into a permanent military, mutinous republic, on the soil of the so-called obedient netherland, because they were left by their masters without clothing or food; the cavalry and infantry of the dutch commonwealth, thanks to the organizing spirit and the wholesome thrift of the burgher authorities, were contented, obedient, well fed, well clothed, and well paid; devoted to their government, and ever ready to die in its defence. nor was it only on the regular army that reliance was placed. on the contrary, every able-bodied man in the country was liable to be called upon to serve, at any moment, in the militia. all were trained to arms, and provided with arms, and there had been years during this perpetual war in which one man out of three of the whole male population was ready to be mustered at any moment into the field. even more could be said in praise of the navy than has been stated of the armies of the republic; for the contemporary accounts of foreigners, and of foreigners who were apt to be satirical, rather than enthusiastic, when describing the institutions, leading personages, and customs of other countries, seemed ever to speak of the united provinces in terms of eulogy. in commerce, as in war, the naval supremacy of the republic was indisputable. it was easy for the states to place two thousand vessels of war in commission, if necessary, of tonnage varying from four hundred to twelve hundred tons, to man them with the hardiest and boldest sailors in the world, and to despatch them with promptness to any quarter of the globe. it was recognised as nearly impossible to compel a war-vessel of the republic to surrender. hardly an instance was on her naval record of submission, even to far superior force, while it was filled with the tragic but heroic histories of commanders who had blown their ships, with every man on board, into the air, rather than strike their flag. such was the character, and such the capacity of the sea-born republic. that republic had serious and radical defects, but the design remained to be imitated and improved upon, centuries afterwards. the history of the rise and progress of the dutch republic is a leading chapter in the history of human liberty. the great misfortune of the commonwealth of the united provinces, next to the slenderness of its geographical proportions, was the fact that it was without a centre and without a head, and therefore not a nation capable of unlimited vitality. there were seven states. each claimed to be sovereign. the pretension on the part of several of them was ridiculous. overyssel, for example, contributed two and three-quarters per cent. of the general budget. it was a swamp of twelve hundred square miles in extent, with some heath-spots interspered, and it numbered perhaps a hundred thousand inhabitants. the doughty count of embden alone could have swallowed up such sovereignty, have annexed all the buckwheat patches and cranberry marshes of overyssel to his own meagre territories, and nobody the wiser. zeeland, as we have seen, was disposed at a critical moment to set up its independent sovereignty. zeeland, far more important than overyssel, had a revenue of perhaps five hundred thousand dollars,--rather a slender budget for an independent republic, wedged in as it was by the most powerful empires of the earth, and half drowned by the ocean, from which it had scarcely emerged. there was therefore no popular representation, and on the other hand no executive head. as sovereignty must be exercised in some way, however, in all living commonwealths, and as a low degree of vitality was certainly not the defect of those bustling provinces, the supreme functions had now fallen into the hands of holland. while william the silent lived, the management of war, foreign affairs, and finance, for the revolted provinces, was in his control. he was aided by two council boards, but the circumstances of history and the character of the man had invested him with an inevitable dictatorship. after his death, at least after leicester's time, the powers of the state-council, the head of which, prince maurice, was almost always absent at the wars, fell into comparative disuse. the great functions of the confederacy passed into the possession of the states-general. that body now came to sit permanently at the hague. the number of its members, deputies from the seven provinces-envoys from those seven immortal and soulless sovereigns--was not large. the extraordinary assembly held at bergen-op-zoom for confirmation of the truce was estimated by, bentivoglio at eight hundred. bentivoglio, who was on the spot, being then nuncius at brussels, ought to have been able to count them, yet it is very certain that the number was grossly exaggerated. at any rate the usual assembly at the hague rarely amounted to one hundred members. the presidency was changed once a week, the envoy of each province taking his turn as chairman. olden-barneveld, as member for holland, was always present in the diet. as advocate-general of the leading province, and keeper of its great seal, more especially as possessor of the governing intellect of the whole commonwealth, he led the administration of holland, and as the estates of holland contributed more than half of the whole budget of the confederacy, it was a natural consequence of the actual supremacy of that province, and of the vast legal hand political experience of the advocate, that holland should, govern the confederacy, and that barneveld should govern holland. the states-general remained virtually supreme, receiving envoys from all the great powers, sending abroad their diplomatic representatives, to whom the title and rank of ambassador was freely accorded, and dealing in a decorous and dignified way with all european affairs. the ability of the republican statesmen was as fully recognised all over the earth, as was the genius of their generals and great naval commanders. the people did not exist; but this was merely because, in theory, the people had not been invented. it was exactly because there was a people--an energetic and intelligent people--that the republic was possible. no scheme had yet been devised for laying down in primary assemblies a fundamental national law, for distributing the various functions of governmental power among selected servants, for appointing representatives according to population or property, and for holding all trustees responsible at reasonable intervals to the nation itself. thus government was involved, fold within fold, in successive and concentric municipal layers. the states-general were the outer husk, of which the separate town-council was the kernel or bulb. yet the number of these executive and legislative boards was so large, and the whole population comparatively so slender, as to cause the original inconveniences from so incomplete a system to be rather theoretic than practical. in point of fact, almost as large a variety of individuals served the state as would perhaps have been the case under a more philosophically arranged democracy. the difficulty was rather in obtaining a candidate for the post than in distributing the posts among candidates. men were occupied with their own affairs. in proportion to their numbers, they were more productive of wealth than any other nation then existing. an excellent reason why the people were so, well governed, so productive, and so enterprising, was the simple fact that they were an educated people. there was hardly a netherlander--man, woman, or child--that could not read and write. the school was the common property of the people, paid for among the municipal expenses. in the cities, as well as in the rural districts, there were not only common schools but classical schools. in the burgher families it was rare to find boys who had not been taught latin, or girls unacquainted with french. capacity to write and speak several modern languages was very common, and there were many individuals in every city, neither professors nor pedants, who had made remarkable progress in science and classical literature. the position, too, of women in the commonwealth proved a high degree of civilization. they are described as virtuous, well-educated, energetic, sovereigns in their households, and accustomed to direct all the business at home. "it would be ridiculous," said donato, "to see a man occupying himself with domestic house-keeping. the women do it all, and command absolutely." the hollanders, so rebellious against church and king, accepted with meekness the despotism of woman. the great movement of emancipation from political and ecclesiastical tyranny had brought with it a general advancement of the human intellect. the foundation of the leyden university in memory of the heroism displayed by the burghers during the siege was as noble a monument as had ever been raised by a free people jealous of its fame. and the scientific lustre of the university well sustained the nobility of its origin. the proudest nation on earth might be more proud of a seat of learning, founded thus amidst carnage and tears, whence so much of profound learning and brilliant literature had already been diffused. the classical labours of joseph scaliger, heinsius father and son the elder dousa, almost as famous with his pen in latin poetry as his sword had made him in the vernacular chronicle; of dousa the son, whom grotius called "the crown and flower of all good learning, too soon snatched away by envious death, than whom no man more skilled in poetry, more consummate in acquaintance with ancient science and literature, had ever lived;" of hugo grotius himself, who at the age of fifteen had taken his doctor's degree at leyden who as a member of olden-barneveld's important legation to france and england very soon afterwards had excited the astonishment of henry iv. and elizabeth, who had already distinguished himself by editions of classic poets, and by original poems and dramas in latin, and was already, although but twenty-six years of age; laying the foundation of that magnificent reputation as a jurist, a philosopher, a historian, and a statesman, which was to be one of the enduring glories of humanity, all these were the precious possessions of the high school of leyden. the still more modern university of franeker, founded amid the din of perpetual warfare in friesland, could at least boast the name of arminius, whose theological writings and whose expansive views were destined to exert such influence over his contemporaries and posterity. the great history of hoofd, in which the splendid pictures and the impassioned drama of the great war of independence were to be preserved for his countrymen through all time, was not yet written. it was soon afterwards, however, to form not only a chief source of accurate information as to the great events themselves, but a model of style never since surpassed by any prose writer in either branch of the german tongue. had hoofd written for a wider audience, it would be difficult to name a contemporary author of any nation whose work would have been more profoundly studied or more generally admired. but the great war had not waited to be chronicled by the classic and impassioned hoofd. already there were thorough and exhaustive narrators of what was instinctively felt to be one of the most pregnant episodes of human history. bor of utrecht, a miracle of industry, of learning, of unwearied perseverance, was already engaged in the production of those vast folios in which nearly all the great transactions of the forty years' war were conscientiously portrayed, with a comprehensiveness of material and an impartiality of statement, such as might seem almost impossible for a contemporary writer. immersed in attentive study and profound contemplation, he seemed to lift his tranquil head from time to time over the wild ocean of those troublous times, and to survey with accuracy without being swayed or appalled by the tempest. there was something almost sublime in his steady, unimpassioned gaze. emanuel van meteren, too, a plain protestant merchant of antwerp and amsterdam, wrote an admirable history of the war and of his own times, full of precious details, especially rich in statistics--a branch of science which he almost invented--which still, remains as one of the leading authorities, not only for scholars, but for the general reader. reyd and burgundius, the one the calvinist private secretary of lewis william, the other a warm catholic partisan, both made invaluable contemporaneous contributions to the history of the war. the trophies already secured by the netherlanders in every department of the fine arts, as well as the splendour which was to enrich the coming epoch, are too familiar to the world to need more than a passing allusion. but it was especially in physical science that the republic was taking a leading part in the great intellectual march of the nations. the very necessities of its geographical position had forced it to pre-eminence in hydraulics and hydrostatics. it had learned to transform water into dry land with a perfection attained by no nation before or since. the wonders of its submarine horticulture were the despair of all gardeners in the world. and as in this gentlest of arts, so also in the dread science of war, the republic had been the instructor of mankind. the youthful maurice and his cousin lewis william had so restored and improved the decayed intelligence of antique strategy, that the greybeards of europe became docile pupils in their school. the mathematical teacher of prince maurice amazed the contemporary world with his combinations and mechanical inventions; the flying chariots of simon stevinua seeming products of magical art. yet the character of the dutch intellect was averse to sorcery. the small but mighty nation, which had emancipated itself from the tyranny of philip and of the holy inquisition, was foremost to shake off the fetters of superstition. out of holland came the first voice to rebuke one of the hideous delusions of the age. while grave magistrates and sages of other lands were exorcising the devil by murdering his supposed victims, john wier, a physician of grave, boldly denounced the demon which had taken possession, not of the wizards, but of the judges. the age was lunatic and sick, and it was fitting that the race which had done so much for the physical and intellectual emancipation of the world, should have been the first to apply a remedy for this monstrous madness. englishmen and their descendants were drowning and hanging witches in new england, long after john wier had rebuked and denounced the belief in witchcraft. it was a zeelander, too; who placed the instrument in the hand of galileo by which that daring genius traced the movements of the universe, and who, by another wondrous invention, enabled future discoverers to study the infinite life which lies all around us, hidden not by its remoteness but it's minuteness. zacharias jansens of middelburg, in , invented both the telescope and the microscope. the wonder-man of alkmaar, cornelius drebbel, who performed such astounding feats for the amusement of rudolph of germany and james of britain, is also supposed to have invented the thermometer and the barometer. but this claim has been disputed. the inventions of jansens are proved. willebrod snellius, mathematical professor of leyden, introduced the true method of measuring the degrees of longitude and latitude, and huygens, who had seen his manuscripts, asserted that snellius had invented, before descartes, the doctrine of refraction. but it was especially to that noble band of heroes and martyrs, the great navigators and geographical discoverers of the republic, that science is above all indebted. nothing is more sublime in human story than the endurance and audacity with which those pioneers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries confronted the nameless horrors of either pole, in the interests of commerce, and for the direct purpose of enlarging the bounds of the human intellect. the achievements, the sufferings, and the triumphs of barendz and cordes, heemskerk, van der hagen, and many others, have been slightly indicated in these pages. the contributions to botany, mineralogy, geometry, geography, and zoology, of linschoten, plancius, wagenaar, and houtmann, and so many other explorers of pole and tropic, can hardly be overrated. the netherlanders had wrung their original fatherland out of the grasp of the ocean. they had confronted for centuries the wrath of that ancient tyrant, ever ready to seize the prey of which he had been defrauded. they had waged fiercer and more perpetual battle with a tyranny more cruel than the tempest, with an ancient superstition more hungry than the sea. it was inevitable that a race, thus invigorated by the ocean, cradled to freedom by their conflicts with its power, and hardened almost to invincibility by their struggle against human despotism, should be foremost among the nations in the development of political, religious, and commercial freedom. the writer now takes an affectionate farewell of those who have followed him with an indulgent sympathy as he has attempted to trace the origin and the eventful course of the dutch commonwealth. if by his labours a generous love has been fostered for that blessing, without which everything that this earth can afford is worthless--freedom of thought, of speech, and of life--his highest wish has been fulfilled. etext editor's bookmarks: about equal to that of england at the same period an unjust god, himself the origin of sin butchery in the name of christ was suspended calling a peace perpetual can never make it so chieftains are dwarfed in the estimation of followers each in its turn becoming orthodox, and therefore persecuting exorcising the devil by murdering his supposed victims foremost to shake off the fetters of superstition god of vengeance, of jealousy, and of injustice gomarites accused the arminians of being more lax than papists hangman is not the most appropriate teacher of religion he often spoke of popular rights with contempt john wier, a physician of grave necessity of extirpating heresy, root and branch nowhere were so few unproductive consumers paving the way towards atheism (by toleration) privileged to beg, because ashamed to work religious persecution of protestants by protestants so unconscious of her strength state can best defend religion by letting it alone taxed themselves as highly as fifty per cent the people had not been invented the slightest theft was punished with the gallows tolerate another religion that his own may be tolerated toleration--that intolerable term of insult war to compel the weakest to follow the religion of the strongest. etext editor's bookmarks, entire - united netherlands: a penal offence in the republic to talk of peace or of truce a sovereign remedy for the disease of liberty a man incapable of fatigue, of perplexity, or of fear a truce he honestly considered a pitfall of destruction about equal to that of england at the same period abstinence from unproductive consumption accepting a new tyrant in place of the one so long ago deposed alas! we must always have something to persecute alas! the benighted victims of superstition hugged their chains all the ministers and great functionaries received presents an unjust god, himself the origin of sin argument is exhausted and either action or compromise begins as if they were free will not make them free as neat a deception by telling the truth because he had been successful (hated) began to scatter golden arguments with a lavish hand bestowing upon others what was not his property beware of a truce even more than of a peace but the habit of dissimulation was inveterate butchery in the name of christ was suspended by turns, we all govern and are governed calling a peace perpetual can never make it so cargo of imaginary gold dust was exported from the james river certain number of powers, almost exactly equal to each other chieftains are dwarfed in the estimation of followers conceit, and procrastination which marked the royal character constitute themselves at once universal legatees contempt for treaties however solemnly ratified converting beneficent commerce into baleful gambling could handle an argument as well as a sword crimes and cruelties such as christians only could imagine culpable audacity and exaggerated prudence defeated garrison ever deserved more respect from friend or foe delay often fights better than an army against a foreign invader despised those who were grateful diplomacy of spain and rome--meant simply dissimulation do you want peace or war? i am ready for either draw a profit out of the necessities of this state each in its turn becoming orthodox, and therefore persecuting eloquence of the biggest guns england hated the netherlands even the virtues of james were his worst enemies exorcising the devil by murdering his supposed victims foremost to shake off the fetters of superstition four weeks' holiday--the first in eleven years friendly advice still more intolerable gigantic vices are proudly pointed to as the noblest god alone can protect us against those whom we trust god of vengeance, of jealousy, and of injustice gold was the only passkey to justice gomarites accused the arminians of being more lax than papists haereticis non servanda fides hangman is not the most appropriate teacher of religion he often spoke of popular rights with contempt he who confessed well was absolved well his own past triumphs seemed now his greatest enemies human fat esteemed the sovereignst remedy (for wounds) humble ignorance as the safest creed hundred thousand men had laid down their lives by her decree idea of freedom in commerce has dawned upon nations idiotic principle of sumptuary legislation if to do be as grand as to imagine what it were good to do impossible it is to practise arithmetic with disturbed brains indulging them frequently with oracular advice insensible to contumely, and incapable of accepting a rebuff it is certain that the english hate us (sully) john castel, who had stabbed henry iv. john wier, a physician of grave justified themselves in a solemn consumption of time languor of fatigue, rather than any sincere desire for peace logic of the largest battalions looking down upon her struggle with benevolent indifference made peace--and had been at war ever since man is never so convinced of his own wisdom man who cannot dissemble is unfit to reign men who meant what they said and said what they meant men fought as if war was the normal condition of humanity much as the blind or the deaf towards colour or music nations tied to the pinafores of children in the nursery natural tendency to suspicion of a timid man necessity of extirpating heresy, root and branch negotiated as if they were all immortal night brings counsel no retrenchments in his pleasures of women, dogs, and buildings no generation is long-lived enough to reap the harvest not safe for politicians to call each other hard names nowhere were so few unproductive consumers one of the most contemptible and mischievous of kings (james i) passion is a bad schoolmistress for the memory paving the way towards atheism (by toleration) peace seemed only a process for arriving at war peace founded on the only secure basis, equality of strength peace was unattainable, war was impossible, truce was inevitable philip of macedon, who considered no city impregnable prisoners were immediately hanged privileged to beg, because ashamed to work proclaiming the virginity of the virgin's mother readiness at any moment to defend dearly won liberties religious persecution of protestants by protestants repose under one despot guaranteed to them by two others requires less mention than philip iii himself rules adopted in regard to pretenders to crowns served at their banquets by hosts of lackeys on their knees sick soldiers captured on the water should be hanged so unconscious of her strength state can best defend religion by letting it alone steeped to the lips in sloth which imagined itself to be pride subtle and dangerous enemy who wore the mask of a friend such an excuse was as bad as the accusation take all their imaginations and extravagances for truths taxed themselves as highly as fifty per cent the art of ruling the world by doing nothing the slightest theft was punished with the gallows the wisest statesmen are prone to blunder in affairs of war the pigmy, as the late queen had been fond of nicknaming him the expenses of james's household the people had not been invented the small children diminished rapidly in numbers this obstinate little republic to shirk labour, infinite numbers become priests and friars to negotiate was to bribe right and left, and at every step to doubt the infallibility of calvin was as heinous a crime to negotiate with government in england was to bribe tolerate another religion that his own may be tolerated toleration--that intolerable term of insult triple marriages between the respective nurseries unlearned their faith in bell, book, and candle unproductive consumption being accounted most sagacious unwise impatience for peace usual expedient by which bad legislation on one side countered war was the normal and natural condition of mankind war was the normal condition of christians war to compel the weakest to follow the religion of the strongest we have been talking a little bit of truth to each other what was to be done in this world and believed as to the next what exchequer can accept chronic warfare and escape bankruptcy when all was gone, they began to eat each other word peace in spanish mouths simply meant the holy inquisition words are always interpreted to the disadvantage of the weak world has rolled on to fresher fields of carnage and ruin you must show your teeth to the spaniard etext editor's bookmarks of the united netherlands - , complete a hard bargain when both parties are losers a penal offence in the republic to talk of peace or of truce a despot really keeps no accounts, nor need to do so a free commonwealth--was thought an absurdity a burnt cat fears the fire a pusillanimous peace, always possible at any period a man incapable of fatigue, of perplexity, or of fear a sovereign remedy for the disease of liberty a truce he honestly considered a pitfall of destruction able men should be by design and of purpose suppressed about equal to that of england at the same period abstinence from unproductive consumption accepting a new tyrant in place of the one so long ago deposed accustomed to the faded gallantries act of uniformity required papists to assist alas! we must always have something to persecute alas! the benighted victims of superstition hugged their chains alexander's exuberant discretion all fellow-worms together all business has been transacted with open doors all italy was in his hands all the ministers and great functionaries received presents allow her to seek a profit from his misfortune an unjust god, himself the origin of sin anarchy which was deemed inseparable from a non-regal form anatomical study of what has ceased to exist and thus this gentle and heroic spirit took its flight are wont to hang their piety on the bell-rope argument is exhausted and either action or compromise begins arminianism artillery as logical as men in their cups are prone to be as if they were free will not make them free as neat a deception by telling the truth as lieve see the spanish as the calvinistic inquisition at length the twig was becoming the tree auction sales of judicial ermine baiting his hook a little to his appetite beacons in the upward path of mankind because he had been successful (hated) been already crimination and recrimination more than enough began to scatter golden arguments with a lavish hand being the true religion, proved by so many testimonies beneficent and charitable purposes (war) bestowing upon others what was not his property beware of a truce even more than of a peace bomb-shells were not often used although known for a century bungling diplomatists and credulous dotards burning of servetus at geneva but the habit of dissimulation was inveterate butchery in the name of christ was suspended by turns, we all govern and are governed calling a peace perpetual can never make it so canker of a long peace cargo of imaginary gold dust was exported from the james river casting up the matter "as pinchingly as possibly might be" certain number of powers, almost exactly equal to each other certainly it was worth an eighty years' war chief seafaring nations of the world were already protestant chieftains are dwarfed in the estimation of followers children who had never set foot on the shore chronicle of events must not be anticipated college of "peace-makers," who wrangled more than all conceding it subsequently, after much contestation conceit, and procrastination which marked the royal character condemned first and inquired upon after conformity of governments to the principles of justice considerable reason, even if there were but little justice constant vigilance is the price of liberty constitute themselves at once universal legatees contempt for treaties however solemnly ratified continuing to believe himself invincible and infallible converting beneficent commerce into baleful gambling could do a little more than what was possible could handle an argument as well as a sword courage and semblance of cheerfulness, with despair in his heart court fatigue, to scorn pleasure crimes and cruelties such as christians only could imagine culpable audacity and exaggerated prudence deal with his enemy as if sure to become his friend decline a bribe or interfere with the private sale of places defeated garrison ever deserved more respect from friend or foe defect of enjoying the flattery, of his inferiors in station delay often fights better than an army against a foreign invader demanding peace and bread at any price despised those who were grateful diplomacy of spain and rome--meant simply dissimulation diplomatic adroitness consists mainly in the power to deceive disciple of simon stevinus dismay of our friends and the gratification of our enemies disordered, and unknit state needs no shaking, but propping disposed to throat-cutting by the ministers of the gospel divine right of kings do you want peace or war? i am ready for either done nothing so long as aught remained to do draw a profit out of the necessities of this state during this, whole war, we have never seen the like each in its turn becoming orthodox, and therefore persecuting eat their own children than to forego one high mass elizabeth, though convicted, could always confute elizabeth (had not) the faintest idea of religious freedom eloquence of the biggest guns england hated the netherlands englishmen and hollanders preparing to cut each other's throats enmity between lutherans and calvinists even the virtues of james were his worst enemies even to grant it slowly is to deny it utterly ever met disaster with so cheerful a smile every one sees what you seem, few perceive what you are evil is coming, the sooner it arrives the better evil has the advantage of rapidly assuming many shapes exorcising the devil by murdering his supposed victims faction has rarely worn a more mischievous aspect famous fowl in every pot fed on bear's liver, were nearly poisoned to death fellow worms had been writhing for half a century in the dust find our destruction in our immoderate desire for peace fitter to obey than to command five great rivers hold the netherland territory in their coils fled from the land of oppression to the land of liberty fool who useth not wit because he hath it not for his humanity towards the conquered garrisons (censured) for us, looking back upon the past, which was then the future forbidding the wearing of mourning at all foremost to shake off the fetters of superstition four weeks' holiday--the first in eleven years french seem madmen, and are wise friendly advice still more intolerable full of precedents and declamatory commonplaces future world as laid down by rival priesthoods german highland and the german netherland german-lutheran sixteenth-century idea of religious freedom gigantic vices are proudly pointed to as the noblest god of vengeance, of jealousy, and of injustice god alone can protect us against those whom we trust god of wrath who had decreed the extermination of all unbeliever god, whose cause it was, would be pleased to give good weather gold was the only passkey to justice gomarites accused the arminians of being more lax than papists guilty of no other crime than adhesion to the catholic faith had industry been honoured instead of being despised haereticis non servanda fides hanging of mary dyer at boston hangman is not the most appropriate teacher of religion hard at work, pouring sand through their sieves hardly an inch of french soil that had not two possessors hardly a distinguished family in spain not placed in mourning he often spoke of popular rights with contempt he did his work, but he had not his reward he who confessed well was absolved well he spent more time at table than the bearnese in sleep he sat a great while at a time. he had a genius for sitting henry the huguenot as the champion of the council of trent her teeth black, her bosom white and liberally exposed (eliz.) heretics to the english church were persecuted hibernian mode of expressing himself high officers were doing the work of private, soldiers highest were not necessarily the least slimy his invectives were, however, much stronger than his arguments his own past triumphs seemed now his greatest enemies his insolence intolerable his inordinate arrogance historical scepticism may shut its eyes to evidence history is but made up of a few scattered fragments history is a continuous whole of which we see only fragments holland was afraid to give a part, although offering the whole holy institution called the inquisition honor good patriots, and to support them in venial errors hugo grotius human fat esteemed the sovereignst remedy (for wounds) humanizing effect of science upon the barbarism of war humble ignorance as the safest creed humility which was but the cloak to his pride hundred thousand men had laid down their lives by her decree i will never live, to see the end of my poverty i am a king that will be ever known not to fear any but god i did never see any man behave himself as he did idea of freedom in commerce has dawned upon nations idiotic principle of sumptuary legislation idle, listless, dice-playing, begging, filching vagabonds if to do be as grand as to imagine what it were good to do ignorance is the real enslaver of mankind imagining that they held the world's destiny in their hands imposed upon the multitudes, with whom words were things impossible it was to invent terms of adulation too gross impossible it is to practise arithmetic with disturbed brains in times of civil war, to be neutral is to be nothing individuals walking in advance of their age indulging them frequently with oracular advice inevitable fate of talking castles and listening ladies infamy of diplomacy, when diplomacy is unaccompanied by honesty infinite capacity for pecuniary absorption inhabited by the savage tribes called samoyedes innocent generation, to atone for the sins of their forefathers inquisitors enough; but there were no light vessels in the armada insensible to contumely, and incapable of accepting a rebuff intelligence, science, and industry were accounted degrading intentions of a government which did not know its own intentions intolerable tendency to puns invaluable gift which no human being can acquire, authority invincible armada had not only been vanquished but annihilated it is certain that the english hate us (sully) john castel, who had stabbed henry iv. john wier, a physician of grave justified themselves in a solemn consumption of time king had issued a general repudiation of his debts king was often to be something much less or much worse labour was esteemed dishonourable languor of fatigue, rather than any sincere desire for peace leading motive with all was supposed to be religion life of nations and which we call the past little army of maurice was becoming the model for europe logic of the largest battalions longer they delay it, the less easy will they find it look for a sharp war, or a miserable peace looking down upon her struggle with benevolent indifference lord was better pleased with adverbs than nouns loud, nasal, dictatorial tone, not at all agreeable loving only the persons who flattered him luxury had blunted the fine instincts of patriotism made peace--and had been at war ever since magnificent hopefulness make sheep of yourselves, and the wolf will eat you man is never so convinced of his own wisdom man had no rights at all he was property man who cannot dissemble is unfit to reign maritime heretics matter that men may rather pray for than hope for matters little by what name a government is called meet around a green table except as fencers in the field men who meant what they said and said what they meant men fought as if war was the normal condition of humanity mendacity may always obtain over innocence and credulity military virtue in the support of an infamous cause mistakes might occur from occasional deviations into sincerity mondragon was now ninety-two years old moral nature, undergoes less change than might be hoped more catholic than the pope much as the blind or the deaf towards colour or music myself seeing of it methinketh that i dream names history has often found it convenient to mark its epochs national character, not the work of a few individuals nations tied to the pinafores of children in the nursery natural tendency to suspicion of a timid man necessity of kingship necessity of extirpating heresy, root and branch negotiated as if they were all immortal neighbour's blazing roof was likely soon to fire their own never did statesmen know better how not to do never peace well made, he observed, without a mighty war new years day in england, th january by the new style night brings counsel nine syllables that which could be more forcibly expressed in on no retrenchments in his pleasures of women, dogs, and buildings no generation is long-lived enough to reap the harvest nor is the spirit of the age to be pleaded in defence not many more than two hundred catholics were executed not a friend of giving details larger than my ascertained facts not distinguished for their docility not of the genus reptilia, and could neither creep nor crouch not safe for politicians to call each other hard names nothing cheap, said a citizen bitterly, but sermons nothing could equal alexander's fidelity, but his perfidy nowhere were so few unproductive consumers obscure were thought capable of dying natural deaths octogenarian was past work and past mischief often necessary to be blind and deaf one-third of philip's effective navy was thus destroyed one could neither cry nor laugh within the spanish dominions one of the most contemptible and mischievous of kings (james i) only citadel against a tyrant and a conqueror was distrust oration, fertile in rhetoric and barren in facts others that do nothing, do all, and have all the thanks passion is a bad schoolmistress for the memory past was once the present, and once the future patriotism seemed an unimaginable idea pauper client who dreamed of justice at the hands of law paving the way towards atheism (by toleration) peace and quietness is brought into a most dangerous estate peace seemed only a process for arriving at war peace founded on the only secure basis, equality of strength peace would be destruction peace-at-any-price party peace was unattainable, war was impossible, truce was inevitable philip ii. gave the world work enough philip of macedon, who considered no city impregnable picturesqueness of crime placid unconsciousness on his part of defeat plea of infallibility and of authority soon becomes ridiculous portion of these revenues savoured much of black-mail possible to do, only because we see that it has been done pray here for satiety, (said cecil) than ever think of variety prisoners were immediately hanged privileged to beg, because ashamed to work proceeds of his permission to eat meat on fridays proclaiming the virginity of the virgin's mother rarely able to command, having never learned to obey readiness at any moment to defend dearly won liberties rebuked him for his obedience religion was rapidly ceasing to be the line of demarcation religion was not to be changed like a shirt religious persecution of protestants by protestants repentance, as usual, had come many hours too late repose under one despot guaranteed to them by two others repose in the other world, "repos ailleurs" repudiation of national debts was never heard of before requires less mention than philip iii himself resolved thenceforth to adopt a system of ignorance respect for differences in religious opinions rich enough to be worth robbing righteous to kill their own children road to paris lay through the gates of rome round game of deception, in which nobody was deceived royal plans should be enforced adequately or abandoned entirely rules adopted in regard to pretenders to crowns sacked and drowned ten infant princes sacrificed by the queen for faithfully obeying her orders sages of every generation, read the future like a printed scroll security is dangerous seeking protection for and against the people seem as if born to make the idea of royalty ridiculous seems but a change of masks, of costume, of phraseology self-assertion--the healthful but not engaging attribute selling the privilege of eating eggs upon fast-days sentiment of christian self-complacency served at their banquets by hosts of lackeys on their knees sewers which have ever run beneath decorous christendom she relieth on a hope that will deceive her shift the mantle of religion from one shoulder to the other shutting the stable-door when the steed is stolen sick soldiers captured on the water should be hanged simple truth was highest skill sixteen of their best ships had been sacrificed slain four hundred and ten men with his own hand so often degenerated into tyranny (calvinism) so unconscious of her strength soldiers enough to animate the good and terrify the bad some rude lessons from that vigorous little commonwealth spain was governed by an established terrorism spaniards seem wise, and are madmen sparing and war have no affinity together stake or gallows (for) heretics to transubstantiation state can best defend religion by letting it alone states were justified in their almost unlimited distrust steeped to the lips in sloth which imagined itself to be pride strangled his nineteen brothers on his accession strength does a falsehood acquire in determined and skilful hand string of homely proverbs worthy of sancho panza subtle and dangerous enemy who wore the mask of a friend succeeded so well, and had been requited so ill such an excuse was as bad as the accusation such a crime as this had never been conceived (bankruptcy) sure bind, sure find sword in hand is the best pen to write the conditions of peace take all their imaginations and extravagances for truths taxed themselves as highly as fifty per cent tension now gave place to exhaustion that crowned criminal, philip the second that unholy trinity--force; dogma, and ignorance the very word toleration was to sound like an insult the blaze of a hundred and fifty burning vessels the expenses of james's household the worst were encouraged with their good success the history of the netherlands is history of liberty the great ocean was but a spanish lake the divine speciality of a few transitory mortals the sapling was to become the tree the nation which deliberately carves itself in pieces the most thriving branch of national industry (smuggler) the record of our race is essentially unwritten the busy devil of petty economy the small children diminished rapidly in numbers the people had not been invented the alcoran was less cruel than the inquisition the wisest statesmen are prone to blunder in affairs of war the art of ruling the world by doing nothing the slightest theft was punished with the gallows the pigmy, as the late queen had been fond of nicknaming him their existence depended on war there are few inventions in morals there was apathy where there should have been enthusiasm there is no man fitter for that purpose than myself they were always to deceive every one, upon every occasion they had come to disbelieve in the mystery of kingcraft they liked not such divine right nor such gentle-mindedness they chose to compel no man's conscience thirty-three per cent. interest was paid (per month) thirty thousand masses should be said for his soul this obstinate little republic those who argue against a foregone conclusion thought that all was too little for him three hundred and upwards are hanged annually in london three or four hundred petty sovereigns (of germany) tis pity he is not an englishman to negotiate with government in england was to bribe to negotiate was to bribe right and left, and at every step to work, ever to work, was the primary law of his nature to attack england it was necessary to take the road of ireland to shirk labour, infinite numbers become priests and friars to doubt the infallibility of calvin was as heinous a crime toil and sacrifices of those who have preceded us tolerate another religion that his own may be tolerated tolerating religious liberty had never entered his mind toleration--that intolerable term of insult torturing, hanging, embowelling of men, women, and children tranquil insolence tranquillity rather of paralysis than of health triple marriages between the respective nurseries trust her sword, not her enemy's word twas pity, he said, that both should be heretics under the name of religion (so many crimes) undue anxiety for impartiality universal suffrage was not dreamed of at that day unlearned their faith in bell, book, and candle unproductive consumption being accounted most sagacious unproductive consumption was alarmingly increasing unwise impatience for peace upon their knees, served the queen with wine upper and lower millstones of royal wrath and loyal subserviency use of the spade usual expedient by which bad legislation on one side countered utter want of adaptation of his means to his ends utter disproportions between the king's means and aims uttering of my choler doth little ease my grief or help my case valour on the one side and discretion on the other waiting the pleasure of a capricious and despotic woman walk up and down the earth and destroy his fellow-creatures war was the normal and natural condition of mankind war to compel the weakest to follow the religion of the strongest war was the normal condition of christians wasting time fruitlessly is sharpening the knife for himself we have the reputation of being a good housewife we must all die once we mustn't tickle ourselves to make ourselves laugh we have been talking a little bit of truth to each other we were sold by their negligence who are now angry with us wealthy papists could obtain immunity by an enormous fine weapons weary of place without power what exchequer can accept chronic warfare and escape bankruptcy what was to be done in this world and believed as to the next when persons of merit suffer without cause when all was gone, they began to eat each other whether murders or stratagems, as if they were acts of virtue while one's friends urge moderation who the "people" exactly were whole revenue was pledged to pay the interest, on his debts wish to sell us the bear-skin before they have killed the bear with something of feline and feminine duplicity word peace in spanish mouths simply meant the holy inquisition words are always interpreted to the disadvantage of the weak world has rolled on to fresher fields of carnage and ruin worn nor caused to be worn the collar of the serf wrath of bigots on both sides wrath of that injured personage as he read such libellous truths write so illegibly or express himself so awkwardly you must show your teeth to the spaniard the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, volume the life and death of john of barneveld, - , complete preface: these volumes make a separate work in themselves. they form also the natural sequel to the other histories already published by the author, as well as the necessary introduction to that concluding portion of his labours which he has always desired to lay before the public; a history of the thirty years' war. for the two great wars which successively established the independence of holland and the disintegration of germany are in reality but one; a prolonged tragedy of eighty years. the brief pause, which in the netherlands was known as the twelve years' truce with spain, was precisely the epoch in which the elements were slowly and certainly gathering for the renewal over nearly the whole surface of civilized europe of that immense conflict which for more than forty years had been raging within the narrow precincts of the netherlands. the causes and character of the two wars were essentially the same. there were many changes of persons and of scenery during a struggle which lasted for nearly three generations of mankind; yet a natural succession both of actors, motives, and events will be observed from the beginning to the close. the designs of charles v. to establish universal monarchy, which he had passionately followed for a lifetime through a series of colossal crimes against humanity and of private misdeeds against individuals, such as it has rarely been permitted to a single despot to perpetrate, had been baffled at last. disappointed, broken, but even to our own generation never completely unveiled, the tyrant had withdrawn from the stage of human affairs, leaving his son to carry on the great conspiracy against human right, independence of nations, liberty of thought, and equality of religions, with the additional vigour which sprang from intensity of conviction. for philip possessed at least that superiority over his father that he was a sincere bigot. in the narrow and gloomy depths of his soul he had doubtless persuaded himself that it was necessary for the redemption of the human species that the empire of the world should be vested in his hands, that protestantism in all its forms should be extirpated as a malignant disease, and that to behead, torture, burn alive, and bury alive all heretics who opposed the decree of himself and the holy church was the highest virtue by which he could merit heaven. the father would have permitted protestantism if protestantism would have submitted to universal monarchy. there would have been small difficulty in the early part of his reign in effecting a compromise between rome and augsburg, had the gigantic secular ambition of charles not preferred to weaken the church and to convert conscientious religious reform into political mutiny; a crime against him who claimed the sovereignty of christendom. the materials for the true history of that reign lie in the archives of spain, austria, rome, venice, and the netherlands, and in many other places. when out of them one day a complete and authentic narrative shall have been constructed, it will be seen how completely the policy of charles foreshadowed and necessitated that of philip, how logically, under the successors of philip, the austrian dream of universal empire ended in the shattering, in the minute subdivision, and the reduction to a long impotence of that germanic empire which had really belonged to charles. unfortunately the great republic which, notwithstanding the aid of england on the one side and of france on the other, had withstood almost single-handed the onslaughts of spain, now allowed the demon of religious hatred to enter into its body at the first epoch of peace, although it had successfully exorcised the evil spirit during the long and terrible war. there can be no doubt whatever that the discords within the interior of the dutch republic during the period of the truce, and their tragic catastrophe, had weakened her purpose and partially paralysed her arm. when the noble commonwealth went forward to the renewed and general conflict which succeeded the concentrated one in which it had been the chief actor, the effect of those misspent twelve years became apparent. indeed the real continuity of the war was scarcely broken by the fitful, armistice. the death of john of cleve, an event almost simultaneous with the conclusion of the truce, seemed to those gifted with political vision the necessary precursor of a new and more general war. the secret correspondence of barneveld shows the almost prophetic accuracy with which he indicated the course of events and the approach of an almost universal conflict, while that tragedy was still in the future, and was to be enacted after he had been laid in his bloody grave. no man then living was so accustomed as he was to sweep the political horizon, and to estimate the signs and portents of the times. no statesman was left in europe during the epoch of the twelve years' truce to compare with him in experience, breadth of vision, political tact, or administrative sagacity. imbued with the grand traditions and familiar with the great personages of a most heroic epoch; the trusted friend or respected counsellor of william the silent, henry iv., elizabeth, and the sages and soldiers on whom they leaned; having been employed during an already long lifetime in the administration of greatest affairs, he stood alone after the deaths of henry of france and the second cecil, and the retirement of sully, among the natural leaders of mankind. to the england of elizabeth, of walsingham, raleigh, and the cecils, had succeeded the great britain of james, with his carrs and carletons, nauntons, lakes, and winwoods. france, widowed of henry and waiting for richelieu, lay in the clutches of concini's, epernons, and bouillons, bound hand and foot to spain. germany, falling from rudolph to matthias, saw styrian ferdinand in the background ready to shatter the fabric of a hundred years of attempted reformation. in the republic of the netherlands were the great soldier and the only remaining statesman of the age. at a moment when the breathing space had been agreed upon before the conflict should be renewed; on a wider field than ever, between spanish-austrian world-empire and independence of the nations; between the ancient and only church and the spirit of religious equality; between popular right and royal and sacerdotal despotism; it would have been desirable that the soldier and the statesman should stand side by side, and that the fortunate confederacy, gifted with two such champions and placed by its own achievements at the very head of the great party of resistance, should be true to herself. these volumes contain a slight and rapid sketch of barneveld's career up to the point at which the twelve years' truce with spain was signed in the year . in previous works the author has attempted to assign the great advocate's place as part and parcel of history during the continuance of the war for independence. during the period of the truce he will be found the central figure. the history of europe, especially of the netherlands, britain, france, and germany, cannot be thoroughly appreciated without a knowledge of the designs, the labours, and the fate of barneveld. the materials for estimating his character and judging his judges lie in the national archives of the land of which he was so long the foremost citizen. but they have not long been accessible. the letters, state papers, and other documents remain unprinted, and have rarely been read. m. van deventer has published three most interesting volumes of the advocate's correspondence, but they reach only to the beginning of . he has suspended his labours exactly at the moment when these volumes begin. i have carefully studied however nearly the whole of that correspondence, besides a mass of other papers. the labour is not light, for the handwriting of the great advocate is perhaps the worst that ever existed, and the papers, although kept in the admirable order which distinguishes the archives of the hague, have passed through many hands at former epochs before reaching their natural destination in the treasure-house of the nation. especially the documents connected with the famous trial were for a long time hidden from mortal view, for barneveld's judges had bound themselves by oath to bury the proceedings out of sight. and the concealment lasted for centuries. very recently a small portion of those papers has been published by the historical society of utrecht. the "verhooren," or interrogatories of the judges, and the replies of barneveld, have thus been laid before the reading public of holland, while within the last two years the distinguished and learned historian, professor fruin, has edited the "verhooren" of hugo grotius. but papers like these, important as they are, make but a slender portion of the material out of which a judgment concerning these grave events can be constructed. i do not therefore offer an apology for the somewhat copious extracts which i have translated and given in these volumes from the correspondence of barneveld and from other manuscripts of great value--most of them in the royal archives of holland and belgium--which are unknown to the public. i have avoided as much as possible any dealings with the theological controversies so closely connected with the events which i have attempted to describe. this work aims at being a political study. the subject is full of lessons, examples, and warnings for the inhabitants of all free states. especially now that the republican system of government is undergoing a series of experiments with more or less success in one hemisphere--while in our own land it is consolidated, powerful, and unchallenged--will the conflicts between the spirits of national centralization and of provincial sovereignty, and the struggle between the church, the sword, and the magistracy for supremacy in a free commonwealth, as revealed in the first considerable republic of modern history, be found suggestive of deep reflection. those who look in this work for a history of the synod of dordtrecht will look in vain. the author has neither wish nor power to grapple with the mysteries and passions which at that epoch possessed so many souls. the assembly marks a political period. its political aspects have been anxiously examined, but beyond the ecclesiastical threshold there has been no attempt to penetrate. it was necessary for my purpose to describe in some detail the relations of henry iv. with the dutch republic during the last and most pregnant year of his life, which makes the first of the present history. these relations are of european importance, and the materials for appreciating them are of unexpected richness, in the dutch and belgian archives. especially the secret correspondence, now at the hague, of that very able diplomatist francis aerssens with barneveld during the years , , and , together with many papers at brussels, are full of vital importance. they throw much light both on the vast designs which filled the brain of henry at this fatal epoch and on his extraordinary infatuation for the young princess of conde by which they were traversed, and which was productive of such widespread political anal tragical results. this episode forms a necessary portion of my theme, and has therefore been set forth from original sources. i am under renewed obligations to my friend m. gachard, the eminent publicist and archivist of belgium, for his constant and friendly offices to me (which i have so often experienced before), while studying the documents under his charge relating to this epoch; especially the secret correspondence of archduke albert with philip iii, and his ministers, and with pecquius, the archduke's agent at paris. it is also a great pleasure to acknowledge the unceasing courtesy and zealous aid rendered me during my renewed studies in the archives at the hague--lasting through nearly two years--by the chief archivist, m. van den berg, and the gentlemen connected with that institution, especially m. de jonghe and m. hingman, without whose aid it would have been difficult for me to decipher and to procure copies of the almost illegible holographs of barneveld. i must also thank m. van deventer for communicating copies of some curious manuscripts relating to my subject, some from private archives in holland, and others from those of simancas. a single word only remains to be said in regard to the name of the statesman whose career i have undertaken to describe. his proper appellation and that by which he has always been known in his own country is oldenbarneveld, but in his lifetime and always in history from that time to this he has been called barneveld in english as well as french, and this transformation, as it were, of the name has become so settled a matter that after some hesitation it has been adopted in the present work. the author would take this opportunity of expressing his gratitude for the indulgence with which his former attempts to illustrate an important period of european history have been received by the public, and his anxious hope that the present volumes may be thought worthy of attention. they are the result at least of severe and conscientious labour at the original sources of history, but the subject is so complicated and difficult that it may well be feared that the ability to depict and unravel is unequal to the earnestness with which the attempt has been made. london, . the life and death of john of barneveld, v , chapter i. john of barneveld the founder of the commonwealth of the united provinces--maurice of orange stadholder, but servant to the states- general--the union of utrecht maintained--barneveld makes a compromise between civil functionaries and church officials-- embassies to france, england, and to venice--the appointment of arminius to be professor of theology at leyden creates dissension-- the catholic league opposed by the great protestant union--death of the duke of cleve and struggle for his succession--the elector of brandenburg and palatine of neuburg hold the duchies at barneveld's advice against the emperor, though having rival claims themselves-- negotiations with the king of france--he becomes the ally of the states-general to protect the possessory princes, and prepares for war. i propose to retrace the history of a great statesman's career. that statesman's name, but for the dark and tragic scenes with which it was ultimately associated, might after the lapse of two centuries and a half have faded into comparative oblivion, so impersonal and shadowy his presence would have seemed upon the great european theatre where he was so long a chief actor, and where his efforts and his achievements were foremost among those productive of long enduring and widespread results. there is no doubt whatever that john of barneveld, advocate and seal keeper of the little province of holland during forty years of as troubled and fertile an epoch as any in human history, was second to none of his contemporary statesmen. yet the singular constitution and historical position of the republic whose destinies he guided and the peculiar and abnormal office which he held combined to cast a veil over his individuality. the ever-teeming brain, the restless almost omnipresent hand, the fertile pen, the eloquent and ready tongue, were seen, heard, and obeyed by the great european public, by the monarchs, statesmen, and warriors of the time, at many critical moments of history, but it was not john of barneveld that spoke to the world. those "high and puissant lords my masters the states-general" personified the young but already majestic republic. dignified, draped, and concealed by that overshadowing title the informing and master spirit performed its never ending task. those who study the enormous masses of original papers in the archives of the country will be amazed to find how the penmanship, most difficult to decipher, of the advocate meets them at every turn. letters to monarchs, generals, ambassadors, resolutions of councils, of sovereign assemblies, of trading corporations, of great indian companies, legal and historical disquisitions of great depth and length on questions agitating europe, constitutional arguments, drafts of treaties among the leading powers of the world, instructions to great commissions, plans for european campaigns, vast combinations covering the world, alliances of empire, scientific expeditions and discoveries--papers such as these covered now with the satirical dust of centuries, written in the small, crabbed, exasperating characters which make barneveld's handwriting almost cryptographic, were once, when fairly engrossed and sealed with the great seal of the haughty burgher-aristocracy, the documents which occupied the close attention of the cabinets of christendom. it is not unfrequent to find four or five important despatches compressed almost in miniature upon one sheet of gigantic foolscap. it is also curious to find each one of these rough drafts conscientiously beginning in the statesman's own hand with the elaborate phrases of compliment belonging to the epoch such as "noble, strenuous, severe, highly honourable, very learned, very discreet, and very wise masters," and ending with "may the lord god almighty eternally preserve you and hold you in his holy keeping in this world and for ever"--decorations which one might have thought it safe to leave to be filled in by the secretary or copying clerk. thus there have been few men at any period whose lives have been more closely identical than his with a national history. there have been few great men in any history whose names have become less familiar to the world, and lived less in the mouths of posterity. yet there can be no doubt that if william the silent was the founder of the independence of the united provinces barneveld was the founder of the commonwealth itself. he had never the opportunity, perhaps he might have never had the capacity, to make such prodigious sacrifices in the cause of country as the great prince had done. but he had served his country strenuously from youth to old age with an abiding sense of duty, a steadiness of purpose, a broad vision, a firm grasp, and an opulence of resource such as not one of his compatriots could even pretend to rival. had that country of which he was so long the first citizen maintained until our own day the same proportionate position among the empires of christendom as it held in the seventeenth century, the name of john of barneveld would have perhaps been as familiar to all men as it is at this moment to nearly every inhabitant of the netherlands. even now political passion is almost as ready to flame forth either in ardent affection or enthusiastic hatred as if two centuries and a half had not elapsed since his death. his name is so typical of a party, a polity, and a faith, so indelibly associated with a great historical cataclysm, as to render it difficult even for the grave, the conscientious, the learned, the patriotic of his own compatriots to speak of him with absolute impartiality. a foreigner who loves and admires all that is great and noble in the history of that famous republic and can have no hereditary bias as to its ecclesiastical or political theories may at least attempt the task with comparative coldness, although conscious of inability to do thorough justice to a most complex subject. in former publications devoted to netherland history i have endeavoured to trace the course of events of which the life and works of the advocate were a vital ingredient down to the period when spain after more than forty years of hard fighting virtually acknowledged the independence of the republic and concluded with her a truce of twelve years. that convention was signed in the spring of . the ten ensuing years in europe were comparatively tranquil, but they were scarcely to be numbered among the full and fruitful sheaves of a pacific epoch. it was a pause, a breathing spell during which the sulphurous clouds which had made the atmosphere of christendom poisonous for nearly half a century had sullenly rolled away, while at every point of the horizon they were seen massing themselves anew in portentous and ever accumulating strength. at any moment the faint and sickly sunshine in which poor exhausted humanity was essaying a feeble twitter of hope as it plumed itself for a peaceful flight might be again obscured. to us of a remote posterity the momentary division of epochs seems hardly discernible. so rapidly did that fight of demons which we call the thirty years' war tread on the heels of the forty years' struggle for dutch independence which had just been suspended that we are accustomed to think and speak of the eighty years' war as one pure, perfect, sanguinary whole. and indeed the tragedy which was soon to sweep solemnly across europe was foreshadowed in the first fitful years of peace. the throb of the elementary forces already shook the soil of christendom. the fantastic but most significant conflict in the territories of the dead duke of clove reflected the distant and gigantic war as in a mirage. it will be necessary to direct the reader's attention at the proper moment to that episode, for it was one in which the beneficent sagacity of barneveld was conspicuously exerted in the cause of peace and conservation. meantime it is not agreeable to reflect that this brief period of nominal and armed peace which the republic had conquered after nearly two generations of warfare was employed by her in tearing her own flesh. the heroic sword which had achieved such triumphs in the cause of freedom could have been bitter employed than in an attempt at political suicide. in a picture of the last decade of barneveld's eventful life his personality may come more distinctly forward perhaps than in previous epochs. it will however be difficult to disentangle a single thread from the great historical tapestry of the republic and of europe in which his life and achievements are interwoven. he was a public man in the fullest sense of the word, and without his presence and influence the record of holland, france, spain, britain, and germany might have been essentially modified. the republic was so integral a part of that system which divided europe into two great hostile camps according to creeds rather than frontiers that the history of its foremost citizen touches at every point the general history of christendom. the great peculiarity of the dutch constitution at this epoch was that no principle was absolutely settled. in throwing off a foreign tyranny and successfully vindicating national independence the burghers and nobles had not had leisure to lay down any organic law. nor had the day for profound investigation of the political or social contract arrived. men dealt almost exclusively with facts, and when the facts arranged themselves illogically and incoherently the mischief was grave and difficult to remedy. it is not a trifling inconvenience for an organized commonwealth to be in doubt as to where, in whom, and of what nature is its sovereignty. yet this was precisely the condition of the united netherlands. to the eternal world so dazzling were the reputation and the achievements of their great captain that he was looked upon by many as the legitimate chief of the state and doubtless friendly monarchs would have cordially welcomed him into their brotherhood. during the war he had been surrounded by almost royal state. two hundred officers lived daily at his table. great nobles and scions of sovereign houses were his pupils or satellites. the splendour of military despotism and the awe inspired by his unquestioned supremacy in what was deemed the greatest of all sciences invested the person of maurice of nassau with a grandeur which many a crowned potentate might envy. his ample appointments united with the spoils of war provided him with almost royal revenues, even before the death of his elder brother philip william had placed in his hands the principality and wealthy possessions of orange. hating contradiction, arbitrary by instinct and by military habit, impatient of criticism, and having long acknowledged no master in the chief business of state, he found himself at the conclusion of the truce with his great occupation gone, and, although generously provided for by the treasury of the republic, yet with an income proportionately limited. politics and theology were fields in which he had hardly served an apprenticeship, and it was possible that when he should step forward as a master in those complicated and difficult pursuits, soon to absorb the attention of the commonwealth and the world, it might appear that war was not the only science that required serious preliminary studies. meantime he found himself not a king, not the master of a nominal republic, but the servant of the states-general, and the limited stadholder of five out of seven separate provinces. and the states-general were virtually john of barneveld. could antagonism be more sharply defined? jealousy, that potent principle which controls the regular movements and accounts for the aberrations of humanity in widest spheres as well as narrowest circles far more generally and conclusively than philosophers or historians have been willing to admit, began forthwith to manifest its subtle and irresistible influence. and there were not to be wanting acute and dangerous schemers who saw their profit in augmenting its intensity. the seven provinces, when the truce of twelve years had been signed, were neither exhausted nor impoverished. yet they had just emerged from a forty years' conflict such as no people in human history had ever waged against a foreign tyranny. they had need to repose and recruit, but they stood among the foremost great powers of the day. it is not easy in imagination to thrust back the present leading empires of the earth into the contracted spheres of their not remote past. but to feel how a little confederacy of seven provinces loosely tied together by an ill-defined treaty could hold so prominent and often so controlling a place in the european system of the seventeenth century, we must remember that there was then no germany, no russia, no italy, no united states of america, scarcely even a great britain in the sense which belongs to that mighty empire now. france, spain, england, the pope, and the emperor were the leading powers with which the netherlands were daily called on to solve great problems and try conclusions; the study of political international equilibrium, now rapidly and perhaps fortunately becoming one of the lost arts, being then the most indispensable duty of kings and statesmen. spain and france, which had long since achieved for themselves the political union of many independent kingdoms and states into which they had been divided were the most considerable powers and of necessity rivals. spain, or rather the house of austria divided into its two great branches, still pursued its persistent and by no means fantastic dream of universal monarchy. both spain and france could dispose of somewhat larger resources absolutely, although not relatively, than the seven provinces, while at least trebling them in population. the yearly revenue of spain after deduction of its pledged resources was perhaps equal to a million sterling, and that of france with the same reservation was about as much. england had hardly been able to levy and make up a yearly income of more than l , or l , at the end of elizabeth's reign or in the first years of james, while the netherlands had often proved themselves capable of furnishing annually ten or twelve millions of florins, which would be the equivalent of nearly a million sterling. the yearly revenues of the whole monarchy of the imperial house of habsburg can scarcely be stated at a higher figure than l , . thus the political game--for it was a game--was by no means a desperate one for the netherlands, nor the resources of the various players so unequally distributed as at first sight it might appear. the emancipation of the provinces from the grasp of spain and the establishment by them of a commonwealth, for that epoch a very free one, and which contained within itself the germs of a larger liberty, religious, political, and commercial, than had yet been known, was already one of the most considerable results of the reformation. the probability of its continued and independent existence was hardly believed in by potentate or statesman outside its own borders, and had not been very long a decided article of faith even within them. the knotty problem of an acknowledgment of that existence, the admission of the new-born state into the family of nations, and a temporary peace guaranteed by two great powers, had at last been solved mainly by the genius of barneveld working amid many disadvantages and against great obstructions. the truce had been made, and it now needed all the skill, coolness, and courage of a practical and original statesman to conduct the affairs of the confederacy. the troubled epoch of peace was even now heaving with warlike emotions, and was hardly less stormy than the war which had just been suspended. the republic was like a raft loosely strung together, floating almost on a level of the ocean, and often half submerged, but freighted with inestimable treasures for itself and the world. it needed an unsleeping eye and a powerful brain to conduct her over the quicksands and through the whirlpools of an unmapped and intricate course. the sovereignty of the country so far as its nature could be satisfactorily analysed seemed to be scattered through, and inherent in each one of, the multitudinous boards of magistracy--close corporations, self-elected--by which every city was governed. nothing could be more preposterous. practically, however, these boards were represented by deputies in each of the seven provincial assemblies, and these again sent councillors from among their number to the general assembly which was that of their high mightinesses the lords states-general. the province of holland, being richer and more powerful than all its six sisters combined, was not unwilling to impose a supremacy which on the whole was practically conceded by the rest. thus the union of utrecht established in was maintained for want of anything better as the foundation of the commonwealth. the advocate and keeper of the great seal of that province was therefore virtually prime minister, president, attorney-general, finance minister, and minister of foreign affairs of the whole republic. this was barneveld's position. he took the lead in the deliberations both of the states of holland and the states-general, moved resolutions, advocated great measures of state, gave heed to their execution, collected the votes, summed up the proceedings, corresponded with and instructed ambassadors, received and negotiated with foreign ministers, besides directing and holding in his hands the various threads of the home policy and the rapidly growing colonial system of the republic. all this work barneveld had been doing for thirty years. the reformation was by no mans assured even in the lands where it had at first made the most essential progress. but the existence of the new commonwealth depended on the success of that great movement which had called it into being. losing ground in france, fluctuating in england, protestantism was apparently more triumphant in vast territories where the ancient church was one day to recover its mastery. of the population of bohemia, there were perhaps ten protestants to one papist, while in the united netherlands at least one-third of the people were still attached to the catholic faith. the great religious struggle in bohemia and other dominions of the habsburg family was fast leading to a war of which no man could even imagine the horrors or foresee the vast extent. the catholic league and the protestant union were slowly arranging europe into two mighty confederacies. they were to give employment year after year to millions of mercenary freebooters who were to practise murder, pillage, and every imaginable and unimaginable outrage as the most legitimate industry that could occupy mankind. the holy empire which so ingeniously combined the worst characteristics of despotism and republicanism kept all germany and half europe in the turmoil of a perpetual presidential election. a theatre where trivial personages and graceless actors performed a tragi-comedy of mingled folly, intrigue, and crime, and where earnestness and vigour were destined to be constantly baffled, now offered the principal stage for the entertainment and excitement of christendom. there was but one king in europe, henry the bearnese. the men who sat on the thrones in madrid, vienna, london, would have lived and died unknown but for the crowns they wore, and while there were plenty of bustling politicians here and there in christendom, there were not many statesmen. among them there was no stronger man than john of barneveld, and no man had harder or more complicated work to do. born in amersfoort in , of the ancient and knightly house of oldenbarneveldt, of patrician blood through all his ancestors both male and female, he was not the heir to large possessions, and was a diligent student and hardworking man from youth upward. he was not wont to boast of his pedigree until in later life, being assailed by vilest slander, all his kindred nearest or most remote being charged with every possible and unmentionable crime, and himself stigmatized as sprung from the lowest kennels of humanity--as if thereby his private character and public services could be more legitimately blackened--he was stung into exhibiting to the world the purity and antiquity of his escutcheon, and a roll of respectably placed, well estated, and authentically noble, if not at all illustrious, forefathers in his country's records of the previous centuries. without an ancestor at his back he might have valued himself still more highly on the commanding place he held in the world by right divine of intellect, but as the father of lies seemed to have kept his creatures so busy with the barneveld genealogy, it was not amiss for the statesman once for all to make the truth known. his studies in the universities of holland, france, italy, and germany had been profound. at an early age he was one of the first civilians of the time. his manhood being almost contemporary with the great war of freedom, he had served as a volunteer and at his own expense through several campaigns, having nearly lost his life in the disastrous attempt to relieve the siege of haarlem, and having been so disabled by sickness and exposure at the heroic leaguer of leyden as to have been deprived of the joy of witnessing its triumphant conclusion. successfully practising his profession afterwards before the tribunals of holland, he had been called at the comparatively early age of twenty-nine to the important post of chief pensionary of rotterdam. so long as william the silent lived, that great prince was all in all to his country, and barneveld was proud and happy to be among the most trusted and assiduous of his counsellors. when the assassination of william seemed for an instant to strike the republic with paralysis, barneveld was foremost among the statesmen of holland to spring forward and help to inspire it with renewed energy. the almost completed negotiations for conferring the sovereignty, not of the confederacy, but of the province of holland, upon the prince had been abruptly brought to an end by his death. to confer that sovereign countship on his son maurice, then a lad of eighteen and a student at leyden, would have seemed to many at so terrible a crisis an act of madness, although barneveld had been willing to suggest and promote the scheme. the confederates under his guidance soon hastened however to lay the sovereignty, and if not the sovereignty, the protectorship, of all the provinces at the feet first of england and then of france. barneveld was at the head of the embassy, and indeed was the indispensable head of all important, embassies to each of those two countries throughout all this portion of his career. both monarchs refused, almost spurned, the offered crown in which was involved a war with the greatest power in the world, with no compensating dignity or benefit, as it was thought, beside. then elizabeth, although declining the sovereignty, promised assistance and sent the earl of leicester as governor-general at the head of a contingent of english troops. precisely to prevent the consolidation thus threatened of the provinces into one union, a measure which had been attempted more than once in the burgundian epoch, and always successfully resisted by the spirit of provincial separatism, barneveld now proposed and carried the appointment of maurice of nassau to the stadholdership of holland. this was done against great opposition and amid fierce debate. soon afterwards barneveld was vehemently urged by the nobles and regents of the cities of holland to accept the post of advocate of that province. after repeatedly declining the arduous and most responsible office, he was at last induced to accept it. he did it under the remarkable condition that in case any negotiation should be undertaken for the purpose of bringing back the province of holland under the dominion of the king of spain, he should be considered as from that moment relieved from the service. his brother elias barneveld succeeded him as pensionary of rotterdam, and thenceforth the career of the advocate is identical with the history of the netherlands. although a native of utrecht, he was competent to exercise such functions in holland, a special and ancient convention between those two provinces allowing the citizens of either to enjoy legal and civic rights in both. gradually, without intrigue or inordinate ambition, but from force of circumstances and the commanding power of the man, the native authority stamped upon his forehead, he became the political head of the confederacy. he created and maintained a system of public credit absolutely marvellous in the circumstances, by means of which an otherwise impossible struggle was carried to a victorious end. when the stadholderate of the provinces of gelderland, utrecht, and overyssel became vacant, it was again barneveld's potent influence and sincere attachment to the house of nassau that procured the election of maurice to those posts. thus within six years after his father's death the youthful soldier who had already given proof of his surpassing military genius had become governor, commander-in-chief, and high admiral, of five of the seven provinces constituting the confederacy. at about the same period the great question of church and state, which barneveld had always felt to be among the vital problems of the age, and on which his opinions were most decided, came up for partial solution. it would have been too much to expect the opinion of any statesman to be so much in advance of his time as to favor religious equality. toleration of various creeds, including the roman catholic, so far as abstinence from inquisition into consciences and private parlours could be called toleration, was secured, and that was a considerable step in advance of the practice of the sixteenth century. burning, hanging, and burying alive of culprits guilty of another creed than the dominant one had become obsolete. but there was an established creed--the reformed religion, founded on the netherland confession and the heidelberg catechism. and there was one established principle then considered throughout europe the grand result of the reformation; "cujus regio ejus religio;" which was in reality as impudent an invasion of human right as any heaven-born dogma of infallibility. the sovereign of a country, having appropriated the revenues of the ancient church, prescribed his own creed to his subjects. in the royal conscience were included the million consciences of his subjects. the inevitable result in a country like the netherlands, without a personal sovereign, was a struggle between the new church and the civil government for mastery. and at this period, and always in barneveld's opinion, the question of dogma was subordinate to that of church government. that there should be no authority over the king had been settled in england. henry viii., elizabeth, and afterwards james, having become popes in their own realm, had no great hostility to, but rather an affection for, ancient dogma and splendid ceremonial. but in the seven provinces, even as in france, germany, and switzerland, the reform where it had been effected at all had been more thorough, and there was little left of popish pomp or aristocratic hierarchy. nothing could be severer than the simplicity of the reformed church, nothing more imperious than its dogma, nothing more infallible than its creed. it was the true religion, and there was none other. but to whom belonged the ecclesiastical edifices, the splendid old minsters in the cities--raised by the people's confiding piety and the purchased remission of their sins in a bygone age--and the humbler but beautiful parish churches in every town and village? to the state; said barneveld, speaking for government; to the community represented by the states of the provinces, the magistracies of the cities and municipalities. to the church itself, the one true church represented by its elders, and deacons, and preachers, was the reply. and to whom belonged the right of prescribing laws and ordinances of public worship, of appointing preachers, church servants, schoolmasters, sextons? to the holy ghost inspiring the class and the synod, said the church. to the civil authority, said the magistrates, by which the churches are maintained, and the salaries of the ecclesiastics paid. the states of holland are as sovereign as the kings of england or denmark, the electors of saxony or brandenburg, the magistrates of zurich or basel or other swiss cantons. "cujus regio ejus religio." in there was a compromise under the guidance of barneveld. it was agreed that an appointing board should be established composed of civil functionaries and church officials in equal numbers. thus should the interests of religion and of education be maintained. the compromise was successful enough during the war. external pressure kept down theological passion, and there were as yet few symptoms of schism in the dominant church. but there was to come a time when the struggle between church and government was to break forth with an intensity and to rage to an extent which no man at that moment could imagine. towards the end of the century henry iv. made peace with spain. it was a trying moment for the provinces. barneveld was again sent forth on an embassy to the king. the cardinal point in his policy, as it had ever been in that of william the silent, was to maintain close friendship with france, whoever might be its ruler. an alliance between that kingdom and spain would be instantaneous ruin to the republic. with the french and english sovereigns united with the provinces, the cause of the reformation might triumph, the spanish world-empire be annihilated, national independence secured. henry assured the ambassador that the treaty of vervins was indispensable, but that he would never desert his old allies. in proof of this, although he had just bound himself to spain to give no assistance to the provinces, open or secret, he would furnish them with thirteen hundred thousand crowns, payable at intervals during four years. he was under great obligations to his good friends the states, he said, and nothing in the treaty forbade him to pay his debts. it was at this period too that barneveld was employed by the king to attend to certain legal and other private business for which he professed himself too poor at the moment to compensate him. there seems to have been nothing in the usages of the time or country to make the transaction, innocent in itself, in any degree disreputable. the king promised at some future clay, when he should be more in funds, to pay him a liberal fee. barneveld, who a dozen years afterwards received , florins for his labour, professed that he would much rather have had one thousand at the time. thence the advocate, accompanied by his colleague, justinus de nassau, proceeded to england, where they had many stormy interviews with elizabeth. the queen swore with many an oath that she too would make peace with philip, recommended the provinces to do the same thing with submission to their ancient tyrant, and claimed from the states immediate payment of one million sterling in satisfaction of their old debts to her. it would have been as easy for them at that moment to pay a thousand million. it was at last agreed that the sum of the debt should be fixed at l , , and that the cautionary towns should be held in elizabeth's hands by english troops until all the debt should be discharged. thus england for a long time afterwards continued to regard itself, as in a measure the sovereign and proprietor of the confederacy, and barneveld then and there formed the resolve to relieve the country of the incubus, and to recover those cautionary towns and fortresses at the earliest possible moment. so long as foreign soldiers commanded by military governors existed on the soil of the netherlands, they could hardly account themselves independent. besides, there was the perpetual and horrid nightmare, that by a sudden pacification between spain and england those important cities, keys to the country's defence, might be handed over to their ancient tyrant. elizabeth had been pacified at last, however, by the eloquence of the ambassador. "i will assist you even if you were up to the neck in water," she said. "jusque la," she added, pointing to her chin. five years later barneveld, for the fifth time at the head of a great embassy, was sent to england to congratulate james on his accession. it was then and there that he took measure of the monarch with whom he was destined to have many dealings, and who was to exert so baleful an influence on his career. at last came the time when it was felt that peace between spain and her revolted provinces might be made. the conservation of their ancient laws, privileges, and charters, the independence of the states, and included therein the freedom to establish the reformed religion, had been secured by forty years of fighting. the honour of spain was saved by a conjunction. she agreed to treat with her old dependencies "as" with states over which she had no pretensions. through virtue of an "as," a truce after two years' negotiation, perpetually traversed and secretly countermined by the military party under the influence of maurice, was carried by the determination of barneveld. the great objects of the war had been secured. the country was weary of nearly half a century of bloodshed. it was time to remember that there could be such a condition as peace. the treaty was signed, ratifications exchanged, and the usual presents of considerable sums of money to the negotiators made. barneveld earnestly protested against carrying out the custom on this occasion, and urged that those presents should be given for the public use. he was overruled by those who were more desirous of receiving their reward than he was, and he accordingly, in common with the other diplomatists, accepted the gifts. the various details of these negotiations have been related by the author in other volumes, to which the present one is intended as a sequel. it has been thought necessary merely to recall very briefly a few salient passages in the career of the advocate up to the period when the present history really opens. their bearing upon subsequent events will easily be observed. the truce was the work of barneveld. it was detested by maurice and by maurice's partisans. "i fear that our enemies and evil reports are the cause of many of our difficulties," said the advocate to the states' envoy in paris, in . "you are to pay no heed to private advices. believe and make others believe that more than one half the inhabitants of the cities and in the open country are inclined to peace. and i believe, in case of continuing adversities, that the other half will not remain constant, principally because the provinces are robbed of all traffic, prosperity, and navigation, through the actions of france and england. i have always thought it for the advantage of his majesty to sustain us in such wise as would make us useful in his service. as to his remaining permanently at peace with spain, that would seem quite out of the question." the king had long kept, according to treaty, a couple of french regiments in the states' service, and furnished, or was bound to furnish, a certain yearly sum for their support. but the expenses of the campaigning had been rapidly increasing and the results as swiftly dwindling. the advocate now explained that, "without loss both of important places and of reputation," the states could not help spending every month that they took the field , florins over and above the regular contributions, and some months a great deal more. this sum, he said, in nine months, would more than eat up the whole subsidy of the king. if they were to be in the field by march or beginning of april, they would require from him an extraordinary sum of , crowns, and as much more in june or july. eighteen months later, when the magnificent naval victory of heemskerk in the bay of gibraltar had just made a startling interlude to the languishing negotiations for peace, the advocate again warned the french king of the difficulty in which the republic still laboured of carrying on the mighty struggle alone. spain was the common enemy of all. no peace or hope was possible for the leading powers as long as spain was perpetually encamped in the very heart of western europe. the netherlands were not fighting their own battle merely, but that of freedom and independence against the all-encroaching world-power. and their means to carry on the conflict were dwindling, while at the same time there was a favourable opportunity for cropping some fruit from their previous labours and sacrifices. "we are led to doubt," he wrote once more to the envoy in france, "whether the king's full powers will come from spain. this defeat is hard for the spaniards to digest. meantime our burdens are quite above our capacity, as you will understand by the enclosed statement, which is made out with much exactness to show what is absolutely necessary for a vigorous defence on land and a respectable position at sea to keep things from entire confusion. the provinces could raise means for the half of this estimate. but, it is a great difference when the means differ one half from the expenses. the sovereignst and most assured remedy would be the one so often demanded, often projected, and sometimes almost prepared for execution, namely that our neighbour kings, princes, and republics should earnestly take the matter in hand and drive the spaniards and their adherents out of the netherlands and over the mountains. their own dignity and security ought not to permit such great bodies of troops of both belligerents permanently massed in the netherlands. still less ought they to allow these provinces to fall into the hands of the spaniards, whence they could with so much more power and convenience make war upon all kings, princes, and republics. this must be prevented by one means or another. it ought to be enough for every one that we have been between thirty and forty years a firm bulwark against spanish ambition. our constancy and patience ought to be strengthened by counsel and by deed in order that we may exist; a christian sympathy and a small assistance not being sufficient. believe and cause to be believed that the present condition of our affairs requires more aid in counsel and money than ever before, and that nothing could be better bestowed than to further this end. "messieurs jeannin, buzenval, and de russy have been all here these twelve days. we have firm hopes that other kings, princes, and republics will not stay upon formalities, but will also visit the patients here in order to administer sovereign remedies. "lend no ear to any flying reports. we say with the wise men over there, 'metuo danaos et dons ferentes.' we know our antagonists well, and trust their hearts no more than before, 'sed ultra posse non est esse.' to accept more burthens than we can pay for will breed military mutiny; to tax the community above its strength will cause popular tumults, especially in 'rebus adversis,' of which the beginnings were seen last year, and without a powerful army the enemy is not to be withstood. i have received your letters to the th may. my advice is to trust to his upright proceedings and with patience to overcome all things. thus shall the detractors and calumniators best be confounded. assure his majesty and his ministers that i will do my utmost to avert our ruin and his majesty's disservice." the treaty was made, and from that time forth the antagonism between the eminent statesman and the great military chieftain became inevitable. the importance of the one seemed likely to increase day by day. the occupation of the other for a time was over. during the war maurice had been, with exception of henry iv., the most considerable personage in europe. he was surrounded with that visible atmosphere of power the poison of which it is so difficult to resist, and through the golden haze of which a mortal seems to dilate for the vulgar eye into the supernatural. the attention of christendom was perpetually fixed upon him. nothing like his sieges, his encampments, his military discipline, his scientific campaigning had been seen before in modern europe. the youthful aristocracy from all countries thronged to his camp to learn the game of war, for he had restored by diligent study of the ancients much that was noble in that pursuit, and had elevated into an art that which had long since degenerated into a system of butchery, marauding, and rapine. and he had fought with signal success and unquestionable heroism the most important and most brilliant pitched battle of the age. he was a central figure of the current history of europe. pagan nations looked up to him as one of the leading sovereigns of christendom. the emperor of japan addressed him as his brother monarch, assured him that his subjects trading to that distant empire should be welcomed and protected, and expressed himself ashamed that so great a prince, whose name and fame had spread through the world, should send his subjects to visit a country so distant and unknown, and offer its emperor a friendship which he was unconscious of deserving. he had been a commander of armies and a chief among men since he came to man's estate, and he was now in the very vigour of life, in his forty-second year. of imperial descent and closely connected by blood or alliance with many of the most illustrious of reigning houses, the acknowledged master of the most royal and noble of all sciences, he was of the stuff of which kings were made, and belonged by what was then accounted right divine to the family of kings. his father's death had alone prevented his elevation to the throne of holland, and such possession of half the sovereignty of the united netherlands would probably have expanded into dominion over all the seven with a not fantastic possibility of uniting the ten still obedient provinces into a single realm. such a kingdom would have been more populous and far wealthier than contemporary great britain and ireland. maurice, then a student at leyden, was too young at that crisis, and his powers too undeveloped to justify any serious attempt to place him in his father's place. the netherlands drifted into a confederacy of aristocratic republics, not because they had planned a republic, but because they could not get a king, foreign or native. the documents regarding the offer of the sovereign countship to william remained in the possession of maurice, and a few years before the peace there had been a private meeting of leading personages, of which barneveld was the promoter and chief spokesman, to take into consideration the propriety and possibility of conferring that sovereignty upon the son which had virtually belonged to the father. the obstacles were deemed so numerous, and especially the scheme seemed so fraught with danger to maurice, that it was reluctantly abandoned by his best friends, among whom unquestionably was the advocate. there was no reason whatever why the now successful and mature soldier, to whom the country was under such vast obligations, should not aspire to the sovereignty. the provinces had not pledged themselves to republicanism, but rather to monarchy, and the crown, although secretly coveted by henry iv., could by no possibility now be conferred on any other man than maurice. it was no impeachment on his character that he should nourish thoughts in which there was nothing criminal. but the peace negotiations had opened a chasm. it was obvious enough that barneveld having now so long exercised great powers, and become as it were the chief magistrate of an important commonwealth, would not be so friendly as formerly to its conversion into a monarchy and to the elevation of the great soldier to its throne. the advocate had even been sounded, cautiously and secretly, so men believed, by the princess-dowager, louise de coligny, widow of william the silent, as to the feasibility of procuring the sovereignty for maurice. she had done this at the instigation of maurice, who had expressed his belief that the favourable influence of the advocate would make success certain and who had represented to her that, as he was himself resolved never to marry, the inheritance after his death would fall to her son frederick henry. the princess, who was of a most amiable disposition, adored her son. devoted to the house of nassau and a great admirer of its chief, she had a long interview with barneveld, in which she urged the scheme upon his attention without in any probability revealing that she had come to him at the solicitation of maurice. the advocate spoke to her with frankness and out of the depths of his heart. he professed an ardent attachment to her family, a profound reverence for the virtues, sacrifices, and achievements of her lamented husband, and a warm desire to do everything to further the interests of the son who had proved himself so worthy of his parentage. but he proved to her that maurice, in seeking the sovereignty, was seeking his ruin. the hollanders, he said, liked to be persuaded and not forced. having triumphantly shaken off the yoke of a powerful king, they would scarcely consent now to accept the rule of any personal sovereign. the desire to save themselves from the claws of spain had led them formerly to offer the dominion over them to various potentates. now that they had achieved peace and independence and were delivered from the fears of spanish ferocity and french intrigue, they shuddered at the dangers from royal hands out of which they had at last escaped. he believed that they would be capable of tearing in pieces any one who might make the desired proposition. after all, he urged, maurice was a hundred times more fortunate as he was than if he should succeed in desires so opposed to his own good. this splendour of sovereignty was a false glare which would lead him to a precipice. he had now the power of a sovereign without the envy which ever followed it. having essentially such power, he ought, like his father, to despise an empty name, which would only make him hated. for it was well known that william the silent had only yielded to much solicitation, agreeing to accept that which then seemed desirable for the country's good but to him was more than indifferent. maurice was captain-general and admiral-general of five provinces. he appointed to governments and to all military office. he had a share of appointment to the magistracies. he had the same advantages and the same authority as had been enjoyed in the netherlands by the ancient sovereign counts, by the dukes of burgundy, by emperor charles v. himself. every one now was in favour of increasing his pensions, his salaries, his material splendour. should he succeed in seizing the sovereignty, men would envy him even to the ribbands of his pages' and his lackeys' shoes. he turned to the annals of holland and showed the princess that there had hardly been a sovereign count against whom his subjects had not revolted, marching generally into the very courtyard of the palace at the hague in order to take his life. convinced by this reasoning, louise de coligny had at once changed her mind, and subsequently besought her stepson to give up a project sure to be fatal to his welfare, his peace of mind, and the good of the country. maurice listened to her coldly, gave little heed to the advocate's logic, and hated him in his heart from that day forth. the princess remained loyal to barneveld to the last. thus the foundation was laid of that terrible enmity which, inflamed by theological passion, was to convert the period of peace into a hell, to rend the provinces asunder when they had most need of repose, and to lead to tragical results for ever to be deplored. already in francis aerssens had said that the two had become so embroiled and things had gone so far that one or the other would have to leave the country. he permitted also the ridiculous statement to be made in his house at paris, that henry iv. believed the advocate to have become spanish, and had declared that prince maurice would do well to have him put into a sack and thrown into the sea. his life had been regularly divided into two halves, the campaigning season and the period of winter quarters. in the one his business, and his talk was of camps, marches, sieges, and battles only. in the other he was devoted to his stud, to tennis, to mathematical and mechanical inventions, and to chess, of which he was passionately fond, and which he did not play at all well. a gascon captain serving in the states' army was his habitual antagonist in that game, and, although the stakes were but a crown a game, derived a steady income out of his gains, which were more than equal to his pay. the prince was sulky when he lost, sitting, when the candles were burned out and bed-time had arrived, with his hat pulled over his brows, without bidding his guest good night, and leaving him to find his way out as he best could; and, on the contrary, radiant with delight when successful, calling for valets to light the departing captain through the corridor, and accompanying him to the door of the apartment himself. that warrior was accordingly too shrewd not to allow his great adversary as fair a share of triumph as was consistent with maintaining the frugal income on which he reckoned. he had small love for the pleasures of the table, but was promiscuous and unlicensed in his amours. he was methodical in his household arrangements, and rather stingy than liberal in money matters. he personally read all his letters, accounts, despatches, and other documents trivial or important, but wrote few letters with his own hand, so that, unlike his illustrious father's correspondence, there is little that is characteristic to be found in his own. he was plain but not shabby in attire, and was always dressed in exactly the same style, wearing doublet and hose of brown woollen, a silk under vest, a short cloak lined with velvet, a little plaited ruff on his neck, and very loose boots. he ridiculed the smart french officers who, to show their fine legs, were wont to wear such tight boots as made them perspire to get into them, and maintained, in precept and practice, that a man should be able to jump into his boots and mount and ride at a moment's notice. the only ornaments he indulged in, except, of course, on state occasions, were a golden hilt to his famous sword, and a rope of diamonds tied around his felt hat. he was now in the full flower of his strength and his fame, in his forty-second year, and of a noble and martial presence. the face, although unquestionably handsome, offered a sharp contrast within itself; the upper half all intellect, the lower quite sensual. fair hair growing thin, but hardly tinged with grey, a bright, cheerful, and thoughtful forehead, large hazel eyes within a singularly large orbit of brow; a straight, thin, slightly aquiline, well-cut nose--such features were at open variance with the broad, thick-lipped, sensual mouth, the heavy pendant jowl, the sparse beard on the glistening cheek, and the moleskin-like moustachio and chin tuft. still, upon the whole, it was a face and figure which gave the world assurance of a man and a commander of men. power and intelligence were stamped upon him from his birth. barneveld was tall and majestic of presence, with large quadrangular face, austere, blue eyes looking authority and command, a vast forehead, and a grizzled beard. of fluent and convincing eloquence with tongue and pen, having the power of saying much in few words, he cared much more for the substance than the graces of speech or composition. this tendency was not ill exemplified in a note of his written on a sheet of questions addressed to him by a states' ambassador about to start on an important mission, but a novice in his business, the answers to which questions were to serve for his diplomatic instructions. "item and principally," wrote the envoy, "to request of m. de barneveld a formulary or copy of the best, soundest, wisest, and best couched despatches done by several preceding ambassadors in order to regulate myself accordingly for the greater service of the province and for my uttermost reputation." the advocate's answer, scrawled in his nearly illegible hand, was-- "unnecessary. the truth in shortest about matters of importance shall be taken for good style." with great love of power, which he was conscious of exerting with ease to himself and for the good of the public, he had little personal vanity, and not the smallest ambition of authorship. many volumes might be collected out of the vast accumulation of his writings now mouldering and forgotten in archives. had the language in which they are written become a world's language, they would be worthy of attentive study, as containing noble illustrations of the history and politics of his age, with theories and sentiments often far in advance of his age. but he cared not for style. "the truth in shortest about matters of importance" was enough for him; but the world in general, and especially the world of posterity, cares much for style. the vehicle is often prized more than the freight. the name of barneveld is fast fading out of men's memory. the fame of his pupil and companion in fortune and misfortune, hugo grotius, is ever green. but grotius was essentially an author rather than a statesman: he wrote for the world and posterity with all the love, pride, and charm of the devotee of literature, and he composed his noblest works in a language which is ever living because it is dead. some of his writings, epochmaking when they first appeared, are text-books still familiar in every cultivated household on earth. yet barneveld was vastly his superior in practical statesmanship, in law, in the science of government, and above all in force of character, while certainly not his equal in theology, nor making any pretensions to poetry. although a ripe scholar, he rarely wrote in latin, and not often in french. his ambition was to do his work thoroughly according to his view of duty, and to ask god's blessing upon it without craving overmuch the applause of men. such were the two men, the soldier and the statesman. would the republic, fortunate enough to possess two such magnificent and widely contrasted capacities, be wise enough to keep them in its service, each supplementing the other, and the two combining in a perfect whole? or was the great law of the discords of the world, as potent as that other principle of universal harmony and planetary motion which an illustrious contemporary--that wurtemberg astronomer, once a soldier of the fierce alva, now the half-starved astrologer of the brain-sick rudolph--was at that moment discovering, after "god had waited six thousand years for him to do it," to prevail for the misery of the republic and shame of europe? time was to show. the new state had forced itself into the family of sovereignties somewhat to the displeasure of most of the lord's anointed. rebellious and republican, it necessarily excited the jealousy of long-established and hereditary governments. the king of spain had not formally acknowledged the independence of the united provinces. he had treated with them as free, and there was supposed to be much virtue in the conjunction. but their sovereign independence was virtually recognized by the world. great nations had entered into public and diplomatic relations and conventions with them, and their agents at foreign courts were now dignified with the rank and title of ambassadors. the spanish king had likewise refused to them the concession of the right of navigation and commerce in the east indies, but it was a matter of notoriety that the absence of the word india, suppressed as it was in the treaty, implied an immense triumph on the part of the states, and that their flourishing and daily increasing commerce in the farthest east and the imperial establishments already rising there were cause of envy and jealousy not to spain alone, but to friendly powers. yet the government of great britain affected to regard them as something less than a sovereign state. although elizabeth had refused the sovereignty once proffered to her, although james had united with henry iv. in guaranteeing the treaty just concluded between the states and spain, that monarch had the wonderful conception that the republic was in some sort a province of his own, because he still held the cautionary towns in pledge for the loans granted by his predecessor. his agents at constantinople were instructed to represent the new state as unworthy to accredit its envoys as those of an independent power. the provinces were represented as a collection of audacious rebels, a piratical scum of the sea. but the sultan knew his interests better than to incur the enmity of this rising maritime power. the dutch envoy declaring that he would sooner throw himself into the bosphorus than remain to be treated with less consideration than that accorded to the ministers of all great powers, the remonstrances of envious colleagues were hushed, and haga was received with all due honours. even at the court of the best friend of the republic, the french king, men looked coldly at the upstart commonwealth. francis aerssens, the keen and accomplished minister of the states, resident in paris for many years, was received as ambassador after the truce with all the ceremonial befitting the highest rank in the diplomatic service; yet henry could not yet persuade himself to look upon the power accrediting him as a thoroughly organized commonwealth. the english ambassador asked the king if he meant to continue his aid and assistance to the states during the truce. "yes," answered henry. "and a few years beyond it?" "no. i do not wish to offend the king of spain from mere gaiety of heart." "but they are free," replied the ambassador; "the king of spain could have no cause for offence." "they are free," said the king, "but not sovereign."--"judge then," wrote aerssens to barneveld, "how we shall be with the king of spain at the end of our term when our best friends make this distinction among themselves to our disadvantage. they insist on making a difference between liberty and sovereignty; considering liberty as a mean term between servitude and sovereignty." "you would do well," continued the dutch ambassador, "to use the word 'sovereignty' on all occasions instead of 'liberty.'" the hint was significant and the advice sound. the haughty republic of venice, too, with its "golden book" and its pedigree of a thousand years, looked askance at the republic of yesterday rising like herself out of lagunes and sand banks, and affecting to place herself side by side with emperors, kings, and the lion of st. mark. but the all-accomplished council of that most serene commonwealth had far too much insight and too wide experience in political combinations to make the blunder of yielding to this aristocratic sentiment. the natural enemy of the pope, of spain, of austria, must of necessity be the friend of venice, and it was soon thought highly desirable to intimate half officially that a legation from the states-general to the queen of the adriatic, announcing the conclusion of the twelve years' truce, would be extremely well received. the hint was given by the venetian ambassador at paris to francis aerssens, who instantly recommended van der myle, son-in-law of barneveld, as a proper personage to be entrusted with this important mission. at this moment an open breach had almost occurred between spain and venice, and the spanish ambassador at paris, don pedro de toledo, naturally very irate with holland, venice, and even with france, was vehement in his demonstrations. the arrogant spaniard had for some time been employed in an attempt to negotiate a double marriage between the dauphin and the eldest daughter of philip iii., and between the eldest son of that king and the princess elizabeth of france. an indispensable but secret condition of this negotiation was the absolute renunciation by france of its alliance and friendly relations with the united provinces. the project was in truth a hostile measure aimed directly at the life of the republic. henry held firm however, and don pedro was about to depart malcontent, his mission having totally failed. he chanced, when going to his audience of leave-taking, after the arrival of his successor, don inigo de cardenas, to meet the venetian ambassador, antonio foscarini. an altercation took place between them, during which the spaniard poured out his wrath so vehemently, calling his colleague with neat alliteration "a poltroon, a pantaloon, and a pig," that henry heard him. what signor antonio replied has not been preserved, but it is stated that he was first to seek a reconciliation, not liking, he said, spanish assassinations. meantime the double marriage project was for a season at least suspended, and the alliance between the two republics went forwards. van der myle, appointed ambassador to venice, soon afterwards arrived in paris, where he made a very favourable impression, and was highly lauded by aerssens in his daily correspondence with barneveld. no portentous shadow of future and fatal discord between those statesmen fell upon the cheerful scene. before the year closed, he arrived at his post, and was received with great distinction, despite the obstacles thrown in his way by spain and other powers; the ambassador of france itself, de champigny, having privately urged that he ought to be placed on the same footing with the envoys of savoy and of florence. van der myle at starting committed the trifling fault of styling the states-general "most illustrious" (illustrissimi) instead of "most serene," the title by which venice designated herself. the fault was at once remedied, however, priuli the doge seating the dutch ambassador on his right hand at his solemn reception, and giving directions that van der myle should be addressed as excellency, his post being assigned him directly after his seniors, the ambassadors of pope, emperor, and kings. the same precedence was settled in paris, while aerssens, who did not consider himself placed in a position of greater usefulness by his formal installation as ambassador, received private intimation from henry, with whom he was on terms of great confidence and intimacy, that he should have private access to the king as frequently and as in formally as before. the theory that the ambassador, representing the personality of his sovereign, may visit the monarch to whom he is accredited, without ceremony and at his own convenience, was as rarely carried into practice in the sixteenth century as in the nineteenth, while on the other hand aerssens, as the private and confidential agent of a friendly but not publicly recognized commonwealth, had been for many years in almost daily personal communication with the king. it is also important to note that the modern fallacy according to which republics being impersonal should not be represented by ambassadors had not appeared in that important epoch in diplomatic history. on the contrary, the two great republics of the age, holland and venice, vindicated for themselves, with as much dignity and reason as success, their right to the highest diplomatic honours. the distinction was substantial not shadowy; those haughty commonwealths not considering it advantageous or decorous that their representatives should for want of proper official designations be ranked on great ceremonial occasions with the ministers of petty italian principalities or of the three hundred infinitesimal sovereignties of germany. it was the advice of the french king especially, who knew politics and the world as well as any man, that the envoys of the republic which he befriended and which stood now on the threshold of its official and national existence, should assert themselves at every court with the self-reliance and courtesy becoming the functionaries of a great power. that those ministers were second to the representatives of no other european state in capacity and accomplishment was a fact well known to all who had dealings with them, for the states required in their diplomatic representatives knowledge of history and international law, modern languages, and the classics, as well as familiarity with political customs and social courtesies; the breeding of gentlemen in short, and the accomplishments of scholars. it is both a literary enjoyment and a means of historical and political instruction to read after the lapse of centuries their reports and despatches. they worthily compare as works of art with those diplomatic masterpieces the letters and 'relazioni' of the venetian ambassadors; and it is well known that the earlier and some of the most important treatises on public and international law ever written are from the pens of hollanders, who indeed may be said to have invented that science.' the republic having thus steadily shouldered its way into the family of nations was soon called upon to perform a prominent part in the world's affairs. more than in our own epoch there was a close political commingling of such independent states as held sympathetic views on the great questions agitating europe. the policy of isolation so wisely and successfully carried out by our own trans-atlantic commonwealth was impossible for the dutch republic, born as it was of a great religious schism, and with its narrow territory wedged between the chief political organizations of christendom. moreover the same jealousy on the part of established powers which threw so many obstacles in its path to recognized sovereignty existed in the highest degree between its two sponsors and allies, france and england, in regard to their respective relations to the new state. "if ever there was an obliged people," said henry's secretary of state, villeroy, to aerssens, "then it is you netherlanders to his majesty. he has converted your war into peace, and has never abandoned you. it is for you now to show your affection and gratitude." in the time of elizabeth, and now in that of her successor, there was scarcely a day in which the envoys of the states were not reminded of the immense load of favour from england under which they tottered, and of the greater sincerity and value of english friendship over that of france. sully often spoke to aerssens on the subject in even stronger language, deeming himself the chief protector and guardian angel of the republic, to whom they were bound by ties of eternal gratitude. "but if the states," he said, "should think of caressing the king of england more than him, or even of treating him on an equality with his majesty, henry would be very much affronted. he did not mean that they should neglect the friendship of the king of britain, but that they should cultivate it after and in subordination to his own, for they might be sure that james held all things indifferent, their ruin or their conservation, while his majesty had always manifested the contrary both by his counsels and by the constant furnishing of supplies." henry of france and navarre--soldier, statesman, wit, above all a man and every inch a king--brimful of human vices, foibles, and humours, and endowed with those high qualities of genius which enabled him to mould events and men by his unscrupulous and audacious determination to conform to the spirit of his times which no man better understood than himself, had ever been in such close relations with the netherlands as to seem in some sort their sovereign. james stuart, emerging from the school of buchanan and the atmosphere of calvinism in which he had been bred, now reigned in those more sunny and liberal regions where elizabeth so long had ruled. finding himself at once, after years of theological study, face to face with a foreign commonwealth and a momentous epoch, in which politics were so commingled with divinity as to offer daily the most puzzling problems, the royal pedant hugged himself at beholding so conspicuous a field for his talents. to turn a throne into a pulpit, and amaze mankind with his learning, was an ambition most sweet to gratify. the calvinist of scotland now proclaimed his deadly hatred of puritans in england and holland, and denounced the netherlanders as a pack of rebels whom it always pleased him to irritate, and over whom he too claimed, through the possession of the cautionary towns, a kind of sovereignty. instinctively feeling that in the rough and unlovely husk of puritanism was enclosed the germ of a wider human liberty than then existed, he was determined to give battle to it with his tongue, his pen, with everything but his sword. doubtless the states had received most invaluable assistance from both france and england, but the sovereigns of those countries were too apt to forget that it was their own battles, as well as those of the hollanders, that had been fought in flanders and brabant. but for the alliance and subsidies of the faithful states, henry would not so soon have ascended the throne of his ancestors, while it was matter of history that the spanish government had for years been steadily endeavouring to subjugate england not so much for the value of the conquest in itself as for a stepping-stone to the recovery of the revolted netherlands. for the dividing line of nations or at least of national alliances was a frontier not of language but of faith. germany was but a geographical expression. the union of protestantism, subscribed by a large proportion of its three hundred and seven sovereigns, ran zigzag through the country, a majority probably of the people at that moment being opposed to the roman church. it has often been considered amazing that protestantism having accomplished so much should have fallen backwards so soon, and yielded almost undisputed sway in vast regions to the long dominant church. but in truth there is nothing surprising about it. catholicism was and remained a unit, while its opponents were eventually broken up into hundreds of warring and politically impotent organizations. religious faith became distorted into a weapon for selfish and greedy territorial aggrandizement in the hands of protestant princes. "cujus regio ejus religio" was the taunt hurled in the face of the imploring calvinists of france and the low countries by the arrogant lutherans of germany. such a sword smote the principle of religious freedom and mutual toleration into the dust, and rendered them comparatively weak in the conflict with the ancient and splendidly organized church. the huguenots of france, notwithstanding the protection grudgingly afforded them by their former chieftain, were dejected and discomfited by his apostasy, and henry, placed in a fearfully false position, was an object of suspicion to both friends and foes. in england it is difficult to say whether a jesuit or a puritan was accounted the more noxious animal by the dominant party. in the united provinces perhaps one half the population was either openly or secretly attached to the ancient church, while among the protestant portion a dire and tragic convulsion was about to break forth, which for a time at least was to render remonstrants and contra-remonstrants more fiercely opposed to each other than to papists. the doctrine of predestination in its sternest and strictest sense had long been the prevailing one in the reformed church of the revolted netherlands, as in those of scotland, france, geneva, and the palatinate. no doubt up to the period of the truce a majority had acquiesced in that dogma and its results, although there had always been many preachers to advocate publicly a milder creed. it was not until the appointment of jacob arminius to the professorship of theology at leyden, in the place of francis junius, in the year , that a danger of schism in the church, seemed impending. then rose the great gomarus in his wrath, and with all the powers of splendid eloquence, profound learning, and the intense bigotry of conviction, denounced the horrible heresy. conferences between the two before the court of holland, theological tournaments between six champions on a side, gallantly led by their respective chieftains, followed, with the usual result of confirming both parties in the conviction that to each alone belonged exclusively the truth. the original influence of arminius had however been so great that when the preachers of holland had been severally called on by a synod to sign the heidelberg catechism, many of them refused. here was open heresy and revolt. it was time for the true church to vindicate its authority. the great war with spain had been made, so it was urged and honestly believed, not against the inquisition, not to prevent netherlanders from being burned and buried alive by the old true church, not in defence of ancient charters, constitutions, and privileges--the precious result of centuries of popular resistance to despotic force--not to maintain an amount of civil liberty and local self-government larger in extent than any then existing in the world, not to assert equality of religion for all men, but simply to establish the true religion, the one church, the only possible creed; the creed and church of calvin. it is perfectly certain that the living fire which glowed in the veins of those hot gospellers had added intense enthusiasm to the war spirit throughout that immense struggle. it is quite possible that without that enthusiasm the war might not have been carried on to its successful end. but it is equally certain that catholics, lutherans, baptists, and devotees of many other creeds, had taken part in the conflict in defence both of hearth and altar, and that without that aid the independence of the provinces would never have been secured. yet before the war was ended the arrogance of the reformed priesthood had begun to dig a chasm. men who with william the silent and barneveld had indulged in the vision of religious equality as a possible result of so much fighting against the holy inquisition were perhaps to be disappointed. preachers under the influence of the gentle arminius having dared to refuse signing the creed were to be dealt with. it was time to pass from censure to action. heresy must be trampled down. the churches called for a national synod, and they did this as by divine right. "my lords the states-general must observe," they said, "that this assembly now demanded is not a human institution but an ordinance of the holy ghost in its community, not depending upon any man's authority, but proceeding from god to the community." they complained that the true church was allowed to act only through the civil government, and was thus placed at a disadvantage compared even with catholics and other sects, whose proceedings were winked at. "thus the true church suffered from its apparent and public freedom, and hostile sects gained by secret connivance." a crisis was fast approaching. the one church claimed infallibility and superiority to the civil power. the holy ghost was placed in direct, ostentatious opposition to my lords the states-general. it was for netherlanders to decide whether, after having shaken off the holy inquisition, and subjected the old true church to the public authority, they were now to submit to the imperious claims of the new true church. there were hundreds of links connecting the church with the state. in that day a divorce between the two was hardly possible or conceivable. the system of congregationalism so successfully put into practice soon afterwards in the wilderness of new england, and to which so much of american freedom political as well as religious is due, was not easy to adopt in an old country like the netherlands. splendid churches and cathedrals, the legal possession of which would be contended for by rival sects, could scarcely be replaced by temporary structures of lath and plaster, or by humble back parlours of mechanics' shops. there were questions of property of complicated nature. not only the states and the communities claimed in rivalry the ownership of church property, but many private families could show ancient advowsons and other claims to present or to patronize, derived from imperial or ducal charters. so long as there could be liberty of opinion within the church upon points not necessarily vital, open schism could be avoided, by which the cause of protestantism throughout europe must be weakened, while at the same time subordination of the priesthood to the civil authority would be maintained. but if the holy ghost, through the assembled clergy, were to dictate an iron formulary to which all must conform, to make laws for church government which every citizen must obey, and to appoint preachers and school-masters from whom alone old and young could receive illumination and instruction religious or lay, a theocracy would be established which no enlightened statesman could tolerate. the states-general agreed to the synod, but imposed a condition that there should be a revision of creed and catechism. this was thundered down with one blast. the condition implied a possibility that the vile heresy of arminius might be correct. an unconditional synod was demanded. the heidelberg creed and netherland catechism were sacred, infallible, not to be touched. the answer of the government, through the mouth of barneveld, was that "to my lords the states-general as the foster-fathers and protectors of the churches every right belonged." thus far the states-general under the leadership of the advocate were unanimous. the victory remained with state against church. but very soon after the truce had been established, and men had liberty to devote themselves to peaceful pursuits, the ecclesiastical trumpet again sounded far and wide, and contending priests and laymen rushed madly to the fray. the remonstrance and contra-remonstrance, and the appointment of conrad vorstius, a more abominable heretic than arminius, to the vacant chair of arminius--a step which drove gomarus and the gomarites to frenzy, although gomarus and vorstius remained private and intimate friends to the last--are matters briefly to be mentioned on a later page. thus to the four chief actors in the politico-religious drama, soon to be enacted as an interlude to an eighty years' war, were assigned parts at first sight inconsistent with their private convictions. the king of france, who had often abjured his religion, and was now the best of catholics, was denounced ferociously in every catholic pulpit in christendom as secretly an apostate again, and the open protector of heretics and rebels. but the cheerful henry troubled himself less than he perhaps had cause to do with these thunderblasts. besides, as we shall soon see, he had other objects political and personal to sway his opinions. james the ex-calvinist, crypto-arminian, pseudo-papist, and avowed puritan hater, was girding on his armour to annihilate arminians and to defend and protect puritans in holland, while swearing that in england he would pepper them and harry them and hang them and that he would even like to bury them alive. barneveld, who turned his eyes, as much as in such an inflammatory age it was possible, from subtle points of theology, and relied on his great-grandfather's motto of humility, "nil scire tutissima fides" was perhaps nearer to the dogma of the dominant reformed church than he knew, although always the consistent and strenuous champion of the civil authority over church as well as state. maurice was no theologian. he was a steady churchgoer, and his favorite divine, the preacher at his court chapel, was none other than uytenbogaert. the very man who was instantly to be the champion of the arminians, the author of the remonstrance, the counsellor and comrade of barneveld and grotius, was now sneered at by the gomarites as the "court trumpeter." the preacher was not destined to change his opinions. perhaps the prince might alter. but maurice then paid no heed to the great point at issue, about which all the netherlanders were to take each other by the throat--absolute predestination. he knew that the advocate had refused to listen to his stepmother's suggestion as to his obtaining the sovereignty. "he knew nothing of predestination," he was wont to say, "whether it was green or whether it was blue. he only knew that his pipe and the advocate's were not likely to make music together." this much of predestination he did know, that if the advocate and his friends were to come to open conflict with the prince of orange-nassau, the conqueror of nieuwpoort, it was predestined to go hard with the advocate and his friends. the theological quibble did not interest him much, and he was apt to blunder about it. "well, preacher," said he one day to albert huttenus, who had come to him to intercede for a deserter condemned to be hanged, "are you one of those arminians who believe that one child is born to salvation and another to damnation?" huttenus, amazed to the utmost at the extraordinary question, replied, "your excellency will be graciously pleased to observe that this is not the opinion of those whom one calls by the hateful name of arminians, but the opinion of their adversaries." "well, preacher," rejoined maurice, "don't you think i know better?" and turning to count lewis william, stadholder of friesland, who was present, standing by the hearth with his hand on a copper ring of the chimneypiece, he cried, "which is right, cousin, the preacher or i?" "no, cousin," answered count lewis, "you are in the wrong." thus to the catholic league organized throughout europe in solid and consistent phalanx was opposed the great protestant union, ardent and enthusiastic in detail, but undisciplined, disobedient, and inharmonious as a whole. the great principle, not of religious toleration, which is a phrase of insult, but of religious equality, which is the natural right of mankind, was to be evolved after a lapse of, additional centuries out of the elemental conflict which had already lasted so long. still later was the total divorce of state and church to be achieved as the final consummation of the great revolution. meantime it was almost inevitable that the privileged and richly endowed church, with ecclesiastical armies and arsenals vastly superior to anything which its antagonist could improvise, should more than hold its own. at the outset of the epoch which now occupies our attention, europe was in a state of exhaustion and longing for repose. spain had submitted to the humiliation of a treaty of truce with its rebellious subjects which was substantially a recognition of their independence. nothing could be more deplorable than the internal condition of the country which claimed to be mistress of the world and still aspired to universal monarchy. it had made peace because it could no longer furnish funds for the war. the french ambassador, barante, returning from madrid, informed his sovereign that he had often seen officers in the army prostrating themselves on their knees in the streets before their sovereign as he went to mass, and imploring him for payment of their salaries, or at least an alms to keep them from starving, and always imploring in vain. the king, who was less than a cipher, had neither capacity to feel emotion, nor intelligence to comprehend the most insignificant affair of state. moreover the means were wanting to him even had he been disposed to grant assistance. the terrible duke of lerma was still his inexorably lord and master, and the secretary of that powerful personage, who kept an open shop for the sale of offices of state both high and low, took care that all the proceeds should flow into the coffers of the duke and his own lap instead of the royal exchequer. in france both king and people declared themselves disgusted with war. sully disapproved of the treaty just concluded between spain and the netherlands, feeling sure that the captious and equivocal clauses contained in it would be interpreted to the disadvantage of the republic and of the reformed religion whenever spain felt herself strong enough to make the attempt. he was especially anxious that the states should make no concessions in regard to the exercise of the catholic worship within their territory, believing that by so doing they would compromise their political independence besides endangering the cause of protestantism everywhere. a great pressure was put upon sully that moment by the king to change his religion. "you will all be inevitably ruined if you make concessions in this regard," said he to aerssens. "take example by me. i should be utterly undone if i had listened to any overture on this subject." nevertheless it was the opinion of the astute and caustic envoy that the duke would be forced to yield at last. the pope was making great efforts to gain him, and thus to bring about the extirpation of protestantism in france. and the king, at that time much under the influence of the jesuits, had almost set his heart on the conversion. aerssens insinuated that sully was dreading a minute examination into the affairs of his administration of the finances--a groundless calumny--and would be thus forced to comply. other enemies suggested that nothing would effect this much desired apostasy but the office of constable of france, which it was certain would never be bestowed on him. at any rate it was very certain that henry at this period was bent on peace. "make your account," said aerssens to barneveld, as the time for signing the truce drew nigh, "on this indubitable foundation that the king is determined against war, whatever pretences he may make. his bellicose demeanour has been assumed only to help forward our treaty, which he would never have favoured, and ought never to have favoured, if he had not been too much in love with peace. this is a very important secret if we manage it discreetly, and a very dangerous one if our enemies discover it." sully would have much preferred that the states should stand out for a peace rather than for a truce, and believed it might have been obtained if the king had not begun the matter so feebly, and if he had let it be understood that he would join his arms to those of the provinces in case of rupture. he warned the states very strenuously that the pope, and the king of spain, and a host of enemies open and covert, were doing their host to injure them at the french court. they would find little hindrance in this course if the republic did not show its teeth, and especially if it did not stiffly oppose all encroachments of the roman religion, without even showing any deference to the king in this regard, who was much importuned on the subject. he advised the states to improve the interval of truce by restoring order to their finances and so arranging their affairs that on the resumption of hostilities, if come they must, their friends might be encouraged to help them, by the exhibition of thorough vigour on their part. france then, although utterly indisposed for war at that moment, was thoroughly to be relied on as a friend and in case of need an ally, so long as it was governed by its present policy. there was but one king left in europe since the death of elizabeth of england. but henry was now on the abhorred threshold of old age which he obstinately refused to cross. there is something almost pathetic, in spite of the censure which much of his private life at this period provokes, in the isolation which now seemed his lot. deceived and hated by his wife and his mistresses, who were conspiring with each other and with his ministers, not only against his policy but against his life; with a vile italian adventurer, dishonouring his household, entirely dominating the queen, counteracting the royal measures, secretly corresponding, by assumed authority, with spain, in direct violation of the king's instructions to his ambassadors, and gorging himself with wealth and offices at the expense of everything respectable in france; surrounded by a pack of malignant and greedy nobles, who begrudged him his fame, his authority, his independence; without a home, and almost without a friend, the most christian king in these latter days led hardly as merry a life as when fighting years long for his crown, at the head of his gascon chivalry, the beloved chieftain of huguenots. of the triumvirate then constituting his council, villeroy, sillery, and sully, the two first were ancient leaguers, and more devoted at heart to philip of spain than to henry of france and navarre. both silent, laborious, plodding, plotting functionaries, thriftily gathering riches; skilled in routine and adepts at intrigue; steady self-seekers, and faithful to office in which their lives had passed, they might be relied on at any emergency to take part against their master, if to ruin would prove more profitable than to serve him. there was one man who was truer to henry than henry had been to himself. the haughty, defiant, austere grandee, brave soldier, sagacious statesman, thrifty financier, against whom the poisoned arrows of religious hatred, envious ambition, and petty court intrigue were daily directed, who watched grimly over the exchequer confided to him, which was daily growing fuller in despite of the cormorants who trembled at his frown; hard worker, good hater, conscientious politician, who filled his own coffers without dishonesty, and those of the state without tyranny; unsociable, arrogant; pious, very avaricious, and inordinately vain, maximilian de bethune, duke of sully, loved and respected henry as no man or woman loved and respected him. in truth, there was but one living being for whom the duke had greater reverence and affection than for the king, and that was the duke of sully himself. at this moment he considered himself, as indeed he was, in full possession of his sovereign's confidence. but he was alone in this conviction. those about the court, men like epernon and his creatures, believed the great financier on the brink of perdition. henry, always the loosest of talkers even in regard to his best friends, had declared, on some temporary vexation in regard to the affair between aiguillon and balagny, that he would deal with the duke as with the late marshal de biron, and make him smaller than he had ever made him great: goading him on this occasion with importunities, almost amounting to commands, that both he and his son should forthwith change their religion or expect instant ruin. the blow was so severe that sully shut himself up, refused to see anyone, and talked of retiring for good to his estates. but he knew, and henry knew, how indispensable he was, and the anger of the master was as shortlived as the despair of the minister. there was no living statesman for whom henry had a more sincere respect than for the advocate of holland. "his majesty admires and greatly extols your wisdom, which he judges necessary for the preservation of our state; deeming you one of the rare and sage counsellors of the age." it is true that this admiration was in part attributed to the singular coincidence of barneveld's views of policy with the king's own. sully, on his part, was a severe critic of that policy. he believed that better terms might have been exacted from spain in the late negotiations, and strongly objected to the cavilling and equivocal language of the treaty. rude in pen as in speech, he expressed his mind very freely in his conversation and correspondence with henry in regard to leading personages and great affairs, and made no secret of his opinions to the states' ambassador. he showed his letters in which he had informed the king that he ought never to have sanctioned the truce without better securities than existed, and that the states would never have moved in any matter without him. it would have been better to throw himself into a severe war than to see the republic perish. he further expressed the conviction that henry ought to have such authority over the netherlands that they would embrace blindly whatever counsel he chose to give them, even if they saw in it their inevitable ruin; and this not so much from remembrance of assistance rendered by him, but from the necessity in which they should always feel of depending totally upon him. "you may judge, therefore," concluded aerssens, "as to how much we can build on such foundations as these. i have been amazed at these frank communications, for in those letters he spares neither my lords the states, nor his excellency prince maurice, nor yourself; giving his judgment of each of you with far too much freedom and without sufficient knowledge." thus the alliance between the netherlands and france, notwithstanding occasional traces of caprice and flaws of personal jealousy, was on the whole sincere, for it was founded on the surest foundation of international friendship, the self-interest of each. henry, although boasting of having bought paris with a mass, knew as well as his worst enemy that in that bargain he had never purchased the confidence of the ancient church, on whose bosom he had flung himself with so much dramatic pomp. his noble position, as champion of religious toleration, was not only unappreciated in an age in which each church and every sect arrogated to itself a monopoly of the truth, but it was one in which he did not himself sincerely believe. after all, he was still the chieftain of the protestant union, and, although eldest son of the church, was the bitter antagonist of the league and the sworn foe to the house of austria. he was walking through pitfalls with a crowd of invisible but relentless foes dogging his every footstep. in his household or without were daily visions of dagger and bowl, and he felt himself marching to his doom. how could the man on whom the heretic and rebellious hollanders and the protestant princes of germany relied as on their saviour escape the unutterable wrath and the patient vengeance of a power that never forgave? in england the jealousy of the republic and of france as co-guardian and protector of the republic was even greater than in france. though placed by circumstances in the position of ally to the netherlands and enemy to spain, james hated the netherlands and adored spain. his first thought on escaping the general destruction to which the gunpowder plot was to have involved himself and family and all the principal personages of the realm seems to have been to exculpate spain from participation in the crime. his next was to deliver a sermon to parliament, exonerating the catholics and going out of his way to stigmatize the puritans as entertaining doctrines which should be punished with fire. as the puritans had certainly not been accused of complicity with guy fawkes or garnet, this portion of the discourse was at least superfluous. but james loathed nothing so much as a puritan. a catholic at heart, he would have been the warmest ally of the league had he only been permitted to be pope of great britain. he hated and feared a jesuit, not for his religious doctrines, for with these he sympathized, but for his political creed. he liked not that either roman pontiff or british presbyterian should abridge his heaven-born prerogative. the doctrine of papal superiority to temporal sovereigns was as odious to him as puritan rebellion to the hierarchy of which he was the chief. moreover, in his hostility to both papists and presbyterians, there was much of professional rivalry. having been deprived by the accident of birth of his true position as theological professor, he lost no opportunity of turning his throne into a pulpit and his sceptre into a controversial pen. henry of france, who rarely concealed his contempt for master jacques, as he called him, said to the english ambassador, on receiving from him one of the king's books, and being asked what he thought of it--"it is not the business of us kings to write, but to fight. everybody should mind his own business, but it is the vice of most men to wish to appear learned in matters of which they are ignorant." the flatterers of james found their account in pandering to his sacerdotal and royal vanity. "i have always believed," said the lord chancellor, after hearing the king argue with and browbeat a presbyterian deputation, "that the high-priesthood and royalty ought to be united, but i never witnessed the actual junction till now, after hearing the learned discourse of your majesty." archbishop whitgift, grovelling still lower, declared his conviction that james, in the observations he had deigned to make, had been directly inspired by the holy ghost. nothing could be more illogical and incoherent with each other than his theological and political opinions. he imagined himself a defender of the protestant faith, while hating holland and fawning on the house of austria. in england he favoured arminianism, because the anglican church recognized for its head the temporal chief of the state. in holland he vehemently denounced the arminians, indecently persecuting their preachers and statesmen, who were contending for exactly the same principle--the supremacy of state over church. he sentenced bartholomew legate to be burned alive in smithfield as a blasphemous heretic, and did his best to compel the states of holland to take the life of professor vorstius of leyden. he persecuted the presbyterians in england as furiously as he defended them in holland. he drove bradford and carver into the new england wilderness, and applauded gomarus and walaeus and the other famous leaders of the presbyterian party in the netherlands with all his soul and strength. he united with the french king in negotiations for netherland independence, while denouncing the provinces as guilty of criminal rebellion against their lawful sovereign. "he pretends," said jeannin, "to assist in bringing about the peace, and nevertheless does his best openly to prevent it." richardot declared that the firmness of the king of spain proceeded entirely from reliance on the promise of james that there should be no acknowledgment in the treaty of the liberty of the states. henry wrote to jeannin that he knew very well "what that was capable of, but that he should not be kept awake by anything he could do." as a king he spent his reign--so much of it as could be spared from gourmandizing, drunkenness, dalliance with handsome minions of his own sex, and theological pursuits--in rescuing the crown from dependence on parliament; in straining to the utmost the royal prerogative; in substituting proclamations for statutes; in doing everything in his power, in short, to smooth the path for his successor to the scaffold. as father of a family he consecrated many years of his life to the wondrous delusion of the spanish marriages. the gunpowder plot seemed to have inspired him with an insane desire for that alliance, and few things in history are more amazing than the persistency with which he pursued the scheme, until the pursuit became not only ridiculous, but impossible. with such a man, frivolous, pedantic, conceited, and licentious, the earnest statesmen of holland were forced into close alliance. it is pathetic to see men like barneveld and hugo grotius obliged, on great occasions of state, to use the language of respect and affection to one by whom they were hated, and whom they thoroughly despised. but turning away from france, it was in vain for them to look for kings or men either among friends or foes. in germany religious dissensions were gradually ripening into open war, and it would be difficult to imagine a more hopelessly incompetent ruler than the man who was nominally chief of the holy roman realm. yet the distracted rudolph was quite as much an emperor as the chaos over which he was supposed to preside was an empire. perhaps the very worst polity ever devised by human perverseness was the system under which the great german race was then writhing and groaning. a mad world with a lunatic to govern it; a democracy of many princes, little and big, fighting amongst each other, and falling into daily changing combinations as some masterly or mischievous hand whirled the kaleidoscope; drinking rhenish by hogsheads, and beer by the tun; robbing churches, dictating creeds to their subjects, and breaking all the commandments themselves; a people at the bottom dimly striving towards religious freedom and political life out of abject social, ecclesiastical, and political serfdom, and perhaps even then dumbly feeling within its veins, with that prophetic instinct which never abandons great races, a far distant and magnificent future of national unity and imperial splendour, the very reverse of the confusion which was then the hideous present; an imperial family at top with many heads and slender brains; a band of brothers and cousins wrangling, intriguing, tripping up each others' heels, and unlucky rudolph, in his hradschin, looking out of window over the peerless prague, spread out in its beauteous landscape of hill and dale, darkling forest, dizzy cliffs, and rushing river, at his feet, feebly cursing the unhappy city for its ingratitude to an invisible and impotent sovereign; his excellent brother matthias meanwhile marauding through the realms and taking one crown after another from his poor bald head. it would be difficult to depict anything more precisely what an emperor in those portentous times should not be. he collected works of art of many kinds--pictures, statues, gems. he passed his days in his galleries contemplating in solitary grandeur these treasures, or in his stables, admiring a numerous stud of horses which he never drove or rode. ambassadors and ministers of state disguised themselves as grooms and stable-boys to obtain accidental glimpses of a sovereign who rarely granted audiences. his nights were passed in star-gazing with tycho de brake, or with that illustrious suabian whose name is one of the great lights and treasures of the world. but it was not to study the laws of planetary motion nor to fathom mysteries of divine harmony that the monarch stood with kepler in the observatory. the influence of countless worlds upon the destiny of one who, by capricious accident, if accident ever exists in history, had been entrusted with the destiny of so large a portion of one little world; the horoscope, not of the universe, but of himself; such were the limited purposes with which the kaiser looked upon the constellations. for the catholic rudolph had received the protestant kepler, driven from tubingen because lutheran doctors, knowing from holy writ that the sun had stood still in ajalon, had denounced his theory of planetary motion. his mother had just escaped being burned as a witch, and the world owes a debt of gratitude to the emperor for protecting the astrologer, when enlightened theologians might, perhaps, have hanged the astronomer. a red-faced, heavy fowled, bald-headed, somewhat goggle-eyed old gentleman, rudolph did his best to lead the life of a hermit, and escape the cares of royalty. timid by temperament, yet liable to fits of uncontrollable anger, he broke his furniture to pieces when irritated, and threw dishes that displeased him in his butler's face, but left affairs of state mainly to his valet, who earned many a penny by selling the imperial signature. he had just signed the famous "majestatsbrief," by which he granted vast privileges to the protestants of bohemia, and had bitten the pen to pieces in a paroxysm of anger, after dimly comprehending the extent of the concessions which he had made. there were hundreds of sovereign states over all of which floated the shadowy and impalpable authority of an imperial crown scarcely fixed on the head of any one of the rival brethren and cousins; there was a confederation of protestants, with the keen-sighted and ambitious christian of anhalt acting as its chief, and dreaming of the bohemian crown; there was the just-born catholic league, with the calm, far-seeing, and egotistical rather than self-seeking maximilian at its head; each combination extending over the whole country, stamped with imbecility of action from its birth, and perverted and hampered by inevitable jealousies. in addition to all these furrows ploughed by the very genius of discord throughout the unhappy land was the wild and secret intrigue with which leopold, archduke and bishop, dreaming also of the crown of wenzel, was about to tear its surface as deeply as he dared. thus constituted were the leading powers of europe in the earlier part of --the year in which a peaceful period seemed to have begun. to those who saw the entangled interests of individuals, and the conflict of theological dogmas and religious and political intrigue which furnished so much material out of which wide-reaching schemes of personal ambition could be spun, it must have been obvious that the interval of truce was necessarily but a brief interlude between two tragedies. it seemed the very mockery of fate that, almost at the very instant when after two years' painful negotiation a truce had been made, the signal for universal discord should be sounded. one day in the early summer of , henry iv. came to the royal arsenal, the residence of sully, accompanied by zamet and another of his intimate companions. he asked for the duke and was told that he was busy in his study. "of course," said the king, turning to his followers, "i dare say you expected to be told that he was out shooting, or with the ladies, or at the barber's. but who works like sully? tell him," he said, "to come to the balcony in his garden, where he and i are not accustomed to be silent." as soon as sully appeared, the king observed: "well; here the duke of cleve is dead, and has left everybody his heir." it was true enough, and the inheritance was of vital importance to the world. it was an apple of discord thrown directly between the two rival camps into which christendom was divided. the duchies of cleve, berg, and julich, and the counties and lordships of mark, ravensberg, and ravenstein, formed a triangle, political and geographical, closely wedged between catholicism and protestantism, and between france, the united provinces, belgium, and germany. should it fall into catholic hands, the netherlands were lost, trampled upon in every corner, hedged in on all sides, with the house of austria governing the rhine, the meuse, and the scheldt. it was vital to them to exclude the empire from the great historic river which seemed destined to form the perpetual frontier of jealous powers and rival creeds. should it fall into heretic hands, the states were vastly strengthened, the archduke albert isolated and cut off from the protection of spain and of the empire. france, although catholic, was the ally of holland and the secret but well known enemy of the house of austria. it was inevitable that the king of that country, the only living statesman that wore a crown, should be appealed to by all parties and should find himself in the proud but dangerous position of arbiter of europe. in this emergency he relied upon himself and on two men besides, maximilian de bethune and john of barneveld. the conference between the king and sully and between both and francis aerssens, ambassador of the states, were of almost daily occurrence. the minute details given in the adroit diplomatist's correspondence indicate at every stage the extreme deference paid by henry to the opinion of holland's advocate and the confidence reposed by him in the resources and the courage of the republic. all the world was claiming the heritage of the duchies. it was only strange that an event which could not be long deferred and the consequences of which were soon to be so grave, the death of the duke of cleve, should at last burst like a bomb-shell on the council tables of the sovereigns and statesmen of europe. that mischievous madman john william died childless in the spring of . his sister sibylla, an ancient and malignant spinster, had governed him and his possessions except in his lucid intervals. the mass of the population over which he ruled being protestant, while the reigning family and the chief nobles were of the ancient faith, it was natural that the catholic party under, the lead of maximilian of bavaria should deem it all-important that there should be direct issue to that family. otherwise the inheritance on his death would probably pass to protestant princes. the first wife provided for him was a beautiful princess; jacobea of baden. the pope blessed the nuptials, and sent the bride a golden rose, but the union was sterile and unhappy. the duke, who was in the habit of careering through his palace in full armour, slashing at and wounding anyone that came in his way, was at last locked up. the hapless jacobea, accused by sibylla of witchcraft and other crimes possible and impossible, was thrown into prison. two years long the devilish malignity of the sister-in-law was exercised upon her victim, who, as it is related, was not allowed natural sleep during all that period, being at every hour awakened by command of sibylla. at last the duchess was strangled in prison. a new wife was at once provided for the lunatic, antonia of lorraine. the two remained childless, and sibylla at the age of forty-nine took to herself a husband, the margrave of burgau, of the house of austria, the humble birth of whose mother, however, did not allow him the rank of archduke. her efforts thus to provide catholic heirs to the rich domains of clove proved as fruitless as her previous attempts. and now duke john william had died, and the representatives of his three dead sisters, and the living sibylla were left to fight for the duchies. it would be both cruel and superfluous to inflict on the reader a historical statement of the manner in which these six small provinces were to be united into a single state. it would be an equally sterile task to retrace the legal arguments by which the various parties prepared themselves to vindicate their claims, each pretender more triumphantly than the other. the naked facts alone retain vital interest, and of these facts the prominent one was the assertion of the emperor that the duchies, constituting a fief masculine, could descend to none of the pretenders, but were at his disposal as sovereign of germany. on the other hand nearly all the important princes of that country sent their agents into the duchies to look after the interests real or imaginary which they claimed. there were but four candidates who in reality could be considered serious ones. mary eleanor, eldest sister of the duke, had been married in the lifetime of their father to albert frederic of brandenburg, duke of prussia. to the children of this marriage was reserved the succession of the whole property in case of the masculine line becoming extinct. two years afterwards the second sister, anne, was married to duke philip lewis, count-palatine of neuburg; the children of which marriage stood next in succession to those of the eldest sister, should that become extinguished. four years later the third sister, magdalen, espoused the duke john, count-palatine of deux-ponts; who, like neuburg, made resignation of rights of succession in favour of the descendants of the brandenburg marriage. the marriage of the youngest sister, sibylla, with the margrave of burgau has been already mentioned. it does not appear that her brother, whose lunatic condition hardly permitted him to assure her the dowry which had been the price of renunciation in the case of her three elder sisters, had obtained that renunciation from her. the claims of the childless sibylla as well as those of the deux-ponts branch were not destined to be taken into serious consideration. the real competitors were the emperor on the one side and the elector of brandenburg and the count-palatine of neuburg on the other. it is not necessary to my purpose to say a single word as to the legal and historical rights of the controversy. volumes upon volumes of forgotten lore might be consulted, and they would afford exactly as much refreshing nutriment as would the heaps of erudition hardly ten years old, and yet as antiquated as the title-deeds of the pharaohs, concerning the claims to the duchies of schleswig-holstein. the fortunate house of brandenburg may have been right or wrong in both disputes. it is certain that it did not lack a more potent factor in settling the political problems of the world in the one case any more than in the other. but on the occasion with which we are occupied it was not on the might of his own right hand that the elector of brandenburg relied. moreover, he was dilatory in appealing to the two great powers on whose friendship he must depend for the establishment of his claims: the united republic and the king of france. james of england was on the whole inclined to believe in the rights of brandenburg. his ambassador, however, with more prophetic vision than perhaps the king ever dreamt--of, expressed a fear lest brandenburg should grow too great and one day come to the imperial crown. the states openly favoured the elector. henry as at first disposed towards neuburg, but at his request barneveld furnished a paper on the subject, by which the king seems to have been entirely converted to the pretensions of brandenburg. but the solution of the question had but little to do with the legal claim of any man. it was instinctively felt throughout christendom that the great duel between the ancient church and the spirit of the reformation was now to be renewed upon that narrow, debateable spot. the emperor at once proclaimed his right to arbitrate on the succession and to hold the territory until decision should be made; that is to say, till the greek kalends. his familiar and most tricksy spirit, bishop-archduke leopold, played at once on his fears and his resentments, against the ever encroaching, ever menacing, protestantism of germany, with which he had just sealed a compact so bitterly detested. that bold and bustling prelate, brother of the queen of spain and of ferdinand of styria, took post from prague in the middle of july. accompanied by a certain canon of the church and disguised as his servant, he arrived after a rapid journey before the gates of julich, chief city and fortress of the duchies. the governor of the place, nestelraed, inclined like most of the functionaries throughout the duchies to the catholic cause, was delighted to recognize under the livery of the lackey the cousin and representative of the emperor. leopold, who had brought but five men with him, had conquered his capital at a blow. for while thus comfortably established as temporary governor of the duchies he designed through the fears or folly of rudolph to become their sovereign lord. strengthened by such an acquisition and reckoning on continued assistance in men and money from spain and the catholic league, he meant to sweep back to the rescue of the perishing rudolph, smite the protestants of bohemia, and achieve his appointment to the crown of that kingdom. the spanish ambassador at prague had furnished him with a handsome sum of money for the expenses of his journey and preliminary enterprise. it should go hard but funds should be forthcoming to support him throughout this audacious scheme. the champion of the church, the sovereign prince of important provinces, the possession of which ensured conclusive triumph to the house of austria and to rome--who should oppose him in his path to empire? certainly not the moody rudolph, the slippery and unstable matthias, the fanatic and jesuit-ridden ferdinand. "leopold in julich," said henry's agent in germany, "is a ferret in a rabbit warren." but early in the spring and before the arrival of leopold, the two pretenders, john sigismund, elector of brandenburg, and philip lewis, palatine of neuburg, had made an arrangement. by the earnest advice of barneveld in the name of the states-general and as the result of a general council of many protestant princes of germany, it had been settled that those two should together provisionally hold and administer the duchies until the principal affair could be amicably settled. the possessory princes were accordingly established in dusseldorf with the consent of the provincial estates, in which place those bodies were wont to assemble. here then was spain in the person of leopold quietly perched in the chief citadel of the country, while protestantism in the shape of the possessory princes stood menacingly in the capital. hardly was the ink dry on the treaty which had suspended for twelve years the great religious war of forty years, not yet had the ratifications been exchanged, but the trumpet was again sounding, and the hostile forces were once more face to face. leopold, knowing where his great danger lay, sent a friendly message to the states-general, expressing the hope that they would submit to his arrangements until the imperial decision should be made. the states, through the pen and brain of barneveld, replied that they had already recognized the rights of the possessory princes, and were surprised that the bishop-archduke should oppose them. they expressed the hope that, when better informed, he would see the validity of the treaty of dortmund. "my lords the states-general," said the advocate, "will protect the princes against violence and actual disturbances, and are assured that the neighbouring kings and princes will do the same. they trust that his imperial highness will not allow matters, to proceed to extremities." this was language not to be mistaken. it was plain that the republic did not intend the emperor to decide a question of life and death to herself, nor to permit spain, exhausted by warfare, to achieve this annihilating triumph by a petty intrigue. while in reality the clue to what seemed to the outside world a labyrinthine maze of tangled interests and passions was firmly held in the hand of barneveld, it was not to him nor to my lords the states-general that the various parties to the impending conflict applied in the first resort. mankind were not yet sufficiently used to this young republic, intruding herself among the family of kings, to defer at once to an authority which they could not but feel. moreover, henry of france was universally looked to both by friends and foes as the probable arbiter or chief champion in the great debate. he had originally been inclined to favour neuberg, chiefly, so aerssens thought, on account of his political weakness. the states-general on the other hand were firmly disposed for brandenburg from the first, not only as a strenuous supporter of the reformation and an ancient ally of their own always interested in their safety, but because the establishment of the elector on the rhine would roll back the empire beyond that river. as aerssens expressed it, they would have the empire for a frontier, and have no longer reason to fear the rhine. the king, after the representations of the states, saw good ground to change his opinion and; becoming convinced that the palatine had long been coquetting with the austrian party, soon made no secret of his preference for brandenburg. subsequently neuburg and brandenburg fell into a violent quarrel notwithstanding an arrangement that the palatine should marry the daughter of the elector. in the heat of discussion brandenburg on one occasion is said to have given his intended son-in-law a box on the ear! an argument 'ad hominem' which seems to have had the effect of sending the palatine into the bosom of the ancient church and causing him to rely thenceforth upon the assistance of the league. meantime, however, the condominium settled by the treaty of dortmund continued in force; the third brother of brandenburg and the eldest son of neuburg sharing possession and authority at dusseldorf until a final decision could be made. a flock of diplomatists, professional or volunteers, openly accredited or secret, were now flying busily about through the troubled atmosphere, indicating the coming storm in which they revelled. the keen-sighted, subtle, but dangerously intriguing ambassador of the republic, francis aerssens, had his hundred eyes at all the keyholes in paris, that centre of ceaseless combination and conspiracy, and was besides in almost daily confidential intercourse with the king. most patiently and minutely he kept the advocate informed, almost from hour to hour, of every web that was spun, every conversation public or whispered in which important affairs were treated anywhere and by anybody. he was all-sufficient as a spy and intelligencer, although not entirely trustworthy as a counsellor. still no man on the whole could scan the present or forecast the future more accurately than he was able to do from his advantageous position and his long experience of affairs. there was much general jealousy between the states and the despotic king, who loved to be called the father of the republic and to treat the hollanders as his deeply obliged and very ungrateful and miserly little children. the india trade was a sore subject, henry having throughout the negotiations sought to force or wheedle the states into renouncing that commerce at the command of spain, because he wished to help himself to it afterwards, and being now in the habit of secretly receiving isaac le maire and other dutch leaders in that lucrative monopoly, who lay disguised in paris and in the house of zamet--but not concealed from aerssens, who pledged himself to break, the neck of their enterprise--and were planning with the king a french east india company in opposition to that of the netherlands. on the whole, however, despite these commercial intrigues which barneveld through the aid of aerssens was enabled to baffle, there was much cordiality and honest friendship between the two countries. henry, far from concealing his political affection for the republic, was desirous of receiving a special embassy of congratulation and gratitude from the states on conclusion of the truce; not being satisfied with the warm expressions of respect and attachment conveyed through the ordinary diplomatic channel. "he wishes," wrote aerssens to the advocate, "a public demonstration--in order to show on a theatre to all christendom the regard and deference of my lords the states for his majesty." the ambassador suggested that cornelis van der myle, son-in-law of barneveld, soon to be named first envoy for holland to the venetian republic, might be selected as chief of such special embassy. "without the instructions you gave me," wrote aerssens, "neuburg might have gained his cause in this court. brandenburg is doing himself much injury by not soliciting the king." "much deference will be paid to your judgment," added the envoy, "if you see fit to send it to his majesty." meantime, although the agent of neuburg was busily dinning in henry's ears the claims of the palatine, and even urging old promises which, as he pretended, had been made, thanks to barneveld, he took little by his importunity, notwithstanding that in the opinion both of barneveld and villeroy his claim 'stricti-juris' was the best. but it was policy and religious interests, not the strict letter of the law, that were likely to prevail. henry, while loudly asserting that he would oppose any usurpation on the part of the emperor or any one else against the condominium, privately renewed to the states assurances of his intention to support ultimately the claims of brandenburg, and notified them to hold the two regiments of french infantry, which by convention they still kept at his expense in their service, to be ready at a moment's warning for the great enterprise which he was already planning. "you would do well perhaps," wrote aerssens to barneveld, "to set forth the various interests in regard to this succession, and of the different relations of the claimants towards our commonwealth; but in such sort nevertheless and so dexterously that the king may be able to understand your desires, and on the other hand may see the respect you bear him in appearing to defer to his choice." neuburg, having always neglected the states and made advances to archduke albert, and being openly preferred over brandenburg by the austrians, who had however no intention of eventually tolerating either, could make but small headway at court, notwithstanding henry's indignation that brandenburg had not yet made the slightest demand upon him for assistance. the elector had keenly solicited the aid of the states, who were bound to him by ancient contract on this subject, but had manifested wonderful indifference or suspicion in regard to france. "these nonchalant germans," said henry on more than one occasion, "do nothing but sleep or drink." it was supposed that the memory of metz might haunt the imagination of the elector. that priceless citadel, fraudulently extorted by henry ii. as a forfeit for assistance to the elector of saxony three quarters of a century before, gave solemn warning to brandenburg of what might be exacted by a greater henry, should success be due to his protection. it was also thought that he had too many dangers about him at home, the poles especially, much stirred up by emissaries from rome, making many troublesome demonstrations against the duchy of prussia. it was nearly midsummer before a certain baron donals arrived as emissary of the elector. he brought with him, many documents in support of the brandenburg claims, and was charged with excuses for the dilatoriness of his master. much stress was laid of course on the renunciation made by neuburg at the tithe of his marriage, and henry was urged to grant his protection to the elector in his good rights. but thus far there were few signs of any vigorous resolution for active measures in an affair which could scarcely fail to lead to war. "i believe," said henry to the states ambassador, "that the right of brandenburg is indubitable, and it is better for you and for me that he should be the man rather than neuburg, who has always sought assistance from the house of austria. but he is too lazy in demanding possession. it is the fault of the doctors by whom he is guided. this delay works in favour of the emperor, whose course however is less governed by any determination of his own than by the irresolution of the princes." then changing the conversation, henry asked the ambassador whether the daughter of de maldere, a leading statesman of zealand, was married or of age to be married, and if she was rich; adding that they must make a match between her and barneveld's second son, then a young gentleman in the king's service, and very much liked by him. two months later a regularly accredited envoy, belin by name, arrived from the elector. his instructions were general. he was to thank the king for his declarations in favour of the possessory princes, and against all usurpation on the part of the spanish party. should the religious cord be touched, he was to give assurances that no change would be made in this regard. he was charged with loads of fine presents in yellow amber, such as ewers, basins, tables, cups, chessboards, for the king and queen, the dauphin, the chancellor, villeroy, sully, bouillon, and other eminent personages. beyond the distribution of these works of art and the exchange of a few diplomatic commonplaces, nothing serious in the way of warlike business was transacted, and henry was a few weeks later much amused by receiving a letter from the possessory princes coolly thrown into the post-office, and addressed like an ordinary letter to a private person, in which he was requested to advance them a loan of , crowns. there was a great laugh at court at a demand made like a bill of exchange at sight upon his majesty as if he had been a banker, especially as there happened to be no funds of the drawers in his hands. it was thought that a proper regard for the king's quality and the amount of the sum demanded required that the letter should be brought at least by an express messenger, and henry was both diverted and indignant at these proceedings, at the months long delay before the princes had thought proper to make application for his protection, and then for this cool demand for alms on a large scale as a proper beginning of their enterprise. such was the languid and extremely nonchalant manner in which the early preparations for a conflict which seemed likely to set europe in a blaze, and of which possibly few living men might witness the termination, were set on foot by those most interested in the immediate question. chessboards in yellow amber and a post-office order for , crowns could not go far in settling the question of the duchies in which the great problem dividing christendom as by an abyss was involved. meantime, while such were the diplomatic beginnings of the possessory princes, the league was leaving no stone unturned to awaken henry to a sense of his true duty to the church of which he was eldest son. don pedro de toledo's mission in regard to the spanish marriages had failed because henry had spurned the condition which was unequivocally attached to them on the part of spain, the king's renunciation of his alliance with the dutch republic, which then seemed an equivalent to its ruin. but the treaty of truce and half-independence had been signed at last by the states and their ancient master, and the english and french negotiators had taken their departure, each receiving as a present for concluding the convention , livres from the archdukes, and , from the states-general. henry, returning one summer's morning from the chase and holding the count of soissons by one hand and ambassador aerssens by the other, told them he had just received letters from spain by which he learned that people were marvellously rejoiced at the conclusion of the truce. many had regretted that its conditions were so disadvantageous and so little honourable to the grandeur and dignity of spain, but to these it was replied that there were strong reasons why spain should consent to peace on these terms rather than not have it at all. during the twelve years to come the king could repair his disasters and accumulate mountains of money in order to finish the war by the subjugation of the provinces by force of gold. soissons here interrupted the king by saying that the states on their part would finish it by force of iron. aerssens, like an accomplished courtier, replied they would finish it by means of his majesty's friendship. the king continued by observing that the clear-sighted in spain laughed at these rodomontades, knowing well that it was pure exhaustion that had compelled the king to such extremities. "i leave you to judge," said henry, "whether he is likely to have any courage at forty-five years of age, having none now at thirty-two. princes show what they have in them of generosity and valour at the age of twenty-five or never." he said that orders had been sent from spain to disband all troops in the obedient netherlands except spaniards and italians, telling the archdukes that they must raise the money out of the country to content them. they must pay for a war made for their benefit, said philip. as for him he would not furnish one maravedi. aerssens asked if the archdukes would disband their troops so long as the affair of cleve remained unsettled. "you are very lucky," replied the king, "that europe is governed by such princes as you wot of. the king of spain thinks of nothing but tranquillity. the archdukes will never move except on compulsion. the emperor, whom every one is so much afraid of in this matter, is in such plight that one of these days, and before long, he will be stripped of all his possessions. i have news that the bohemians are ready to expel him." it was true enough that rudolph hardly seemed a formidable personage. the utraquists and bohemian brothers, making up nearly the whole population of the country, were just extorting religious liberty from their unlucky master in his very palace and at the point of the knife. the envoy of matthias was in paris demanding recognition of his master as king of hungary, and henry did not suspect the wonderful schemes of leopold, the ferret in the rabbit warren of the duchies, to come to the succour of his cousin and to get himself appointed his successor and guardian. nevertheless, the emperor's name had been used to protest solemnly against the entrance into dusseldorf of the margrave ernest of brandenburg and palatine wolfgang william of neuburg, representatives respectively of their brother and father. the induction was nevertheless solemnly made by the elector-palatine and the landgrave of hesse, and joint possession solemnly taken by brandenburg and neuburg in the teeth of the protest, and expressly in order to cut short the dilatory schemes and the artifices of the imperial court. henry at once sent a corps of observation consisting of cavalry to the luxemburg frontier by way of toul, mezieres, verdun, and metz, to guard against movements by the disbanded troops of the archdukes, and against any active demonstration against the possessory princes on the part of the emperor. the 'condominium' was formally established, and henry stood before the world as its protector threatening any power that should attempt usurpation. he sent his agent vidomacq to the landgrave of hesse with instructions to do his utmost to confirm the princes of the union in organized resistance to the schemes of spain, and to prevent any interference with the condominium. he wrote letters to the archdukes and to the elector of cologne, sternly notifying them that he would permit no assault upon the princes, and meant to protect them in their rights. he sent one of his most experienced diplomatists, de boississe, formerly ambassador in england, to reside for a year or more in the duchies as special representative of france, and directed him on his way thither to consult especially with barneveld and the states-general as to the proper means of carrying out their joint policy either by diplomacy or, if need should be, by their united arms. troops began at once to move towards the frontier to counteract the plans of the emperor's council and the secret levies made by duchess sibylla's husband, the margrave of burgau. the king himself was perpetually at monceaux watching the movements of his cavalry towards the luxemburg frontier, and determined to protect the princes in their possession until some definite decision as to the sovereignty of the duchies should be made. meantime great pressure was put upon him by the opposite party. the pope did his best through the nuncius at paris directly, and through agents at prague, brussels, and madrid indirectly, to awaken the king to a sense of the enormity of his conduct. being a catholic prince, it was urged, he had no right to assist heretics. it was an action entirely contrary to his duty as a christian and of his reputation as eldest son of the church. even if the right were on the side of the princes, his majesty would do better to strip them of it and to clothe himself with it than to suffer the catholic faith and religion to receive such notable detriment in an affair likely to have such important consequences. such was some of the advice given by the pontiff. the suggestions were subtle, for they were directed to henry's self-interest both as champion of the ancient church and as a possible sovereign of the very territories in dispute. they were also likely, and were artfully so intended, to excite suspicion of henry's designs in the breasts of the protestants generally and of the possessory princes especially. allusions indeed to the rectification of the french border in henry ii.'s time at the expense of lorraine were very frequent. they probably accounted for much of the apparent supineness and want of respect for the king of which he complained every day and with so much bitterness. the pope's insinuations, however, failed to alarm him, for he had made up his mind as to the great business of what might remain to him of life; to humble the house of austria and in doing so to uphold the dutch republic on which he relied for his most efficient support. the situation was a false one viewed from the traditional maxims which governed europe. how could the eldest son of the church and the chief of an unlimited monarchy make common cause with heretics and republicans against spain and rome? that the position was as dangerous as it was illogical, there could be but little doubt. but there was a similarity of opinion between the king and the political chief of the republic on the great principle which was to illume the distant future but which had hardly then dawned upon the present; the principle of religious equality. as he protected protestants in france so he meant to protect catholics in the duchies. apostate as he was from the reformed church as he had already been from the catholic, he had at least risen above the paltry and insolent maxim of the princely protestantism of germany: "cujus regio ejus religio." while refusing to tremble before the wrath of rome or to incline his ear to its honeyed suggestions, he sent cardinal joyeuse with a special mission to explain to the pope that while the interests of france would not permit him to allow the spaniard's obtaining possession of provinces so near to her, he should take care that the church received no detriment and that he should insist as a price of the succour he intended for the possessory princes that they should give ample guarantees for the liberty of catholic worship. there was no doubt in the mind either of henry or of barneveld that the secret blows attempted by spain at the princes were in reality aimed at the republic and at himself as her ally. while the nuncius was making these exhortations in paris, his colleague from spain was authorized to propound a scheme of settlement which did not seem deficient in humour. at any rate henry was much diverted with the suggestion, which was nothing less than that the decision as to the succession to the duchies should be left to a board of arbitration consisting of the king of spain, the emperor, and the king of france. as henry would thus be painfully placed by himself in a hopeless minority, the only result of the scheme would be to compel him to sanction a decision sure to be directly the reverse of his own resolve. he was hardly such a schoolboy in politics as to listen to the proposal except to laugh at it. meantime arrived from julich, without much parade, a quiet but somewhat pompous gentleman named teynagel. he had formerly belonged to the reformed religion, but finding it more to his taste or advantage to become privy councillor of the emperor, he had returned to the ancient church. he was one of the five who had accompanied the archduke leopold to julich. that prompt undertaking having thus far succeeded so well, the warlike bishop had now despatched teynagel on a roving diplomatic mission. ostensibly he came to persuade henry that, by the usages and laws of the empire, fiefs left vacant for want of heirs male were at the disposal of the emperor. he expressed the hope therefore of obtaining the king's approval of leopold's position in julich as temporary vicegerent of his sovereign and cousin. the real motive of his mission, however, was privately to ascertain whether henry was really ready to go to war for the protection of the possessory princes, and then, to proceed to spain. it required an astute politician, however, to sound all the shoals, quicksands, and miseries through which the french government was then steering, and to comprehend with accuracy the somewhat varying humours of the monarch and the secret schemes of the ministers who immediately surrounded him. people at court laughed at teynagel and his mission, and henry treated him as a crackbrained adventurer. he announced himself as envoy of the emperor, although he had instructions from leopold only. he had interviews with the chancellor and with villeroy, and told them that rudolf claimed the right of judge between the various pretenders to the duchies. the king would not be pleased, he observed, if the king of great britain should constitute himself arbiter among claimants that might make their appearance for the crown of france; but henry had set himself up as umpire without being asked by any one to act in that capacity among the princes of germany. the emperor, on the contrary, had been appealed to by the duke of nevers, the elector of saxony, the margrave of burgau, and other liege subjects of the imperial crown as a matter of course and of right. this policy of the king, if persisted in, said teynagel, must lead to war. henry might begin such a war, but he would be obliged to bequeath it to the dauphin. he should remember that france had always been unlucky when waging war with the empire and with the house of austria.' the chancellor and villeroy, although in their hearts not much in love with henry's course, answered the emissary with arrogance equal to his own that their king could finish the war as well as begin it, that he confided in his strength and the justice of his cause, and that he knew very well and esteemed very little the combined forces of spain and the empire. they added that france was bound by the treaty of vervins to protect the princes, but they offered no proof of that rather startling proposition. meantime teynagel was busy in demonstrating that the princes of germany were in reality much more afraid of henry than of the emperor. his military movements and deep designs excited more suspicion throughout that country and all europe than the quiet journey of leopold and five friends by post to julich. he had come provided with copies of the king's private letters to the princes, and seemed fully instructed as to his most secret thoughts. for this convenient information he was supposed to be indebted to the revelations of father cotton, who was then in disgrace; having been detected in transmitting to the general of jesuits henry's most sacred confidences and confessions as to his political designs. fortified with this private intelligence, and having been advised by father cotton to carry matters with a high hand in order to inspire the french court with a wholesome awe, he talked boldly about the legitimate functions of the emperor. to interfere with them, he assured the ministers, would lead to a long and bloody war, as neither the king nor the archduke albert would permit the emperor to be trampled upon. peter pecquius, the crafty and experienced agent of the archduke at paris, gave the bouncing envoy more judicious advice, however, than that of the jesuit, assuring him that he would spoil his whole case should he attempt to hold such language to the king. he was admitted to an audience of henry at monceaux, but found him prepared to show his teeth as aerssens had predicted. he treated teynagel as a mere madcap and, adventurer who had no right to be received as a public minister at all, and cut short his rodomontades by assuring him that his mind was fully made up to protect the possessory princes. jeannin was present at the interview, although, as aerssens well observed, the king required no pedagogue on such an occasion? teynagel soon afterwards departed malcontent to spain, having taken little by his abnormal legation to henry, and being destined to find at the court of philip as urgent demands on that monarch for assistance to the league as he was to make for leopold and the house of austria. for the league, hardly yet thoroughly organized under the leadership of maximilian of bavaria, was rather a catholic corrival than cordial ally of the imperial house. it was universally suspected that henry meant to destroy and discrown the habsburgs, and it lay not in the schemes of maximilian to suffer the whole catholic policy to be bound to the fortunes of that one family. whether or not henry meant to commit the anachronism and blunder of reproducing the part of charlemagne might be doubtful. the supposed design of maximilian to renew the glories of the house of wittelsbach was equally vague. it is certain, however, that a belief in such ambitious schemes on the part of both had been insinuated into the ears of rudolf, and had sunk deeply into his unsettled mind. scarcely had teynagel departed than the ancient president richardot appeared upon the scene. "the mischievous old monkey," as he had irreverently been characterized during the truce negotiations, "who showed his tail the higher he climbed," was now trembling at the thought that all the good work he had been so laboriously accomplishing during the past two years should be annihilated. the archdukes, his masters, being sincerely bent on peace, had deputed him to henry, who, as they believed, was determined to rekindle war. as frequently happens in such cases, they were prepared to smooth over the rough and almost impassable path to a cordial understanding by comfortable and cheap commonplaces concerning the blessings of peace, and to offer friendly compromises by which they might secure the prizes of war without the troubles and dangers of making it. they had been solemnly notified by henry that he would go to war rather than permit the house of austria to acquire the succession to the duchies. they now sent richardot to say that neither the archdukes nor the king of spain would interfere in the matter, and that they hoped the king of france would not prevent the emperor from exercising his rightful functions of judge. henry, who knew that don baltasar de cuniga, spanish ambassador at the imperial court, had furnished leopold, the emperor's cousin, with , crowns to defray his first expenses in the julich expedition, considered that the veteran politician had come to perform a school boy's task. he was more than ever convinced by this mission of richardot that the spaniards had organized the whole scheme, and he was likely only to smile at any propositions the president might make. at the beginning of his interview, in which the king was quite alone, richardot asked if he would agree to maintain neutrality like the king of spain and the archdukes, and allow the princes to settle their business with the emperor. "no," said the king. he then asked if henry would assist them in their wrong. "no," said the king. he then asked if the king thought that the princes had justice on their side, and whether, if the contrary were shown, he would change his policy? henry replied that the emperor could not be both judge and party in the suit and that the king of spain was plotting to usurp the provinces through the instrumentality of his brother-in-law leopold and under the name of the emperor. he would not suffer it, he said. "then there will be a general war," replied richardot, since you are determined to assist these princes." "be it so," said the king. "you are right," said the president, "for you are a great and puissant monarch, having all the advantages that could be desired, and in case of rupture i fear that all this immense power will be poured out over us who are but little princes." "cause leopold to retire then and leave the princes in their right," was the reply. "you will then have nothing to fear. are you not very unhappy to live under those poor weak archdukes? don't you foresee that as soon as they die you will lose all the little you have acquired in the obedient netherlands during the last fifty years?" the president had nothing to reply to this save that he had never approved of leopold's expedition, and that when spaniards make mistakes they always had recourse to their servants to repair their faults. he had accepted this mission inconsiderately, he said, inspired by a hope to conjure the rising storms mingled with fears as to the result which were now justified. he regretted having come, he said. the king shrugged his shoulders. richardot then suggested that leopold might be recognized in julich, and the princes at dusseldorf, or that all parties might retire until the emperor should give his decision. all these combinations were flatly refused by the king, who swore that no one of the house of austria should ever perch in any part of those provinces. if leopold did not withdraw at once, war was inevitable. he declared that he would break up everything and dare everything, whether the possessory princes formally applied to him or not. he would not see his friends oppressed nor allow the spaniard by this usurpation to put his foot on the throat of the states-general, for it was against them that this whole scheme was directed. to the president's complaints that the states-general had been moving troops in gelderland, henry replied at once that it was done by his command, and that they were his troops. with this answer richardot was fain to retire crestfallen, mortified, and unhappy. he expressed repentance and astonishment at the result, and protested that those peoples were happy whose princes understood affairs. his princes were good, he said, but did not give themselves the trouble to learn their business. richardot then took his departure from paris, and very soon afterwards from the world. he died at arras early in september, as many thought of chagrin at the ill success of his mission, while others ascribed it to a surfeit of melons and peaches. "senectus edam maorbus est," said aerssens with seneca. henry said he could not sufficiently wonder at these last proceedings at his court, of a man he had deemed capable and sagacious, but who had been committing an irreparable blunder. he had never known two such impertinent ambassadors as don pedro de toledo and richardot on this occasion. the one had been entirely ignorant of the object of his mission; the other had shown a vain presumption in thinking he could drive him from his fixed purpose by a flood of words. he had accordingly answered him on the spot without consulting his council, at which poor richardot had been much amazed. and now another envoy appeared upon the scene, an ambassador coming directly from the emperor. count hohenzollern, a young man, wild, fierce, and arrogant, scarcely twenty-three years of age, arrived in paris on the th of september, with a train of forty horsemen. de colly, agent of the elector-palatine, had received an outline of his instructions, which the prince of anhalt had obtained at prague. he informed henry that hohenzollern would address him thus: "you are a king. you would not like that the emperor should aid your subjects in rebellion. he did not do this in the time of the league, although often solicited to do so. you should not now sustain the princes in disobeying the imperial decree. kings should unite in maintaining the authority and majesty of each other." he would then in the emperor's name urge the claims of the house of saxony to the duchies. henry was much pleased with this opportune communication by de colly of the private instructions to the emperor's envoy, by which he was enabled to meet the wild and fierce young man with an arrogance at least equal to his own. the interview was a stormy one. the king was alone in the gallery of the louvre, not choosing that his words and gestures should be observed. the envoy spoke much in the sense which de colly had indicated; making a long argument in favour of the emperor's exclusive right of arbitration, and assuring the king that the emperor was resolved on war if interference between himself and his subjects was persisted in. he loudly pronounced the proceedings of the possessory princes to be utterly illegal, and contrary to all precedent. the emperor would maintain his authority at all hazards, and one spark of war would set everything in a blaze within the empire and without. henry replied sternly but in general terms, and referred him for a final answer to his council. "what will you do," asked the envoy, categorically, at a subsequent interview about a month later, "to protect the princes in case the emperor constrains them to leave the provinces which they have unjustly occupied?" "there is none but god to compel me to say more than i choose to say," replied the king. "it is enough for you to know that i will never abandon my friends in a just cause. the emperor can do much for the general peace. he is not to lend his name to cover this usurpation." and so the concluding interview terminated in an exchange of threats rather than with any hope of accommodation. hohenzollern used as high language to the ministers as to the monarch, and received payment in the same coin. he rebuked their course not very adroitly as being contrary to the interests of catholicism. they were placing the provinces in the hands of protestants, he urged. it required no envoy from prague to communicate this startling fact. friends and foes, villeroy and jeannin, as well as sully and duplessis, knew well enough that henry was not taking up arms for rome. "sir! do you look at the matter in that way?" cried sully, indignantly. "the huguenots are as good as the catholics. they fight like the devil!" "the emperor will never permit the, princes to remain nor leopold to withdraw," said the envoy to jeannin. jeannin replied that the king was always ready to listen to reason, but there was no use in holding language of authority to him. it was money he would not accept. "fiat justitia pereat mundus," said the haggard hohenzollern. "your world may perish," replied jeannin, "but not ours. it is much better put together." a formal letter was then written by the king to the emperor, in which henry expressed his desire to maintain peace and fraternal relations, but notified him that if, under any pretext whatever, he should trouble the princes in their possession, he would sustain them with all his power, being bound thereto by treaties and by reasons of state. this letter was committed to the care of hohenzollern, who forthwith departed, having received a present of crowns. his fierce, haggard face thus vanishes for the present from our history. the king had taken his ground, from which there was no receding. envoys or agents of emperor, pope, king of spain, archduke at brussels, and archduke at julich, had failed to shake his settled purpose. yet the road was far from smooth. he had thus far no ally but the states-general. he could not trust james of great britain. boderie came back late in the summer from his mission to that monarch, reporting him as being favourably inclined to brandenburg, but hoping for an amicable settlement in the duchies. no suggestion being made even by the sagacious james as to the manner in which the ferret and rabbits were to come to a compromise, henry inferred, if it came to fighting, that the english government would refuse assistance. james had asked boderie in fact whether his sovereign and the states, being the parties chiefly interested, would be willing to fight it out without allies. he had also sent sir ralph winwood on a special mission to the hague, to dusseldorf, and with letters to the emperor, in which he expressed confidence that rudolph would approve the proceedings of the possessory princes. as he could scarcely do that while loudly claiming through his official envoy in paris that the princes should instantly withdraw on pain of instant war, the value of the english suggestion of an amicable compromise might easily be deduced. great was the jealousy in france of this mission from england. that the princes should ask the interference of james while neglecting, despising, or fearing henry, excited henry's wrath. he was ready, and avowed his readiness, to put on armour at once in behalf of the princes, and to arbitrate on the destiny of germany, but no one seemed ready to follow his standard. no one asked him to arbitrate. the spanish faction wheedled and threatened by turns, in order to divert him from his purpose, while the protestant party held aloof, and babbled of charlemagne and of henry ii. he said he did not mean to assist the princes by halves, but as became a king of france, and the princes expressed suspicion of him, talked of the example of metz, and called the emperor their very clement lord. it was not strange that henry was indignant and jealous. he was holding the wolf by the ears, as he himself observed more than once. the war could not long be delayed; yet they in whose behalf it was to be waged treated him with a disrespect and flippancy almost amounting to scorn. they tried to borrow money of him through the post, and neglected to send him an ambassador. this was most decidedly putting the cart before the oxen, so henry said, and so thought all his friends. when they had blockaded the road to julich, in order to cut off leopold's supplies, they sent to request that the two french regiments in the states' service might be ordered to their assistance, archduke albert having threatened to open the passage by force of arms. "this is a fine stratagem," said aerssens, "to fling the states-general headlong into the war, and, as it were, without knowing it." but the states-general, under the guidance of barneveld, were not likely to be driven headlong by brandenburg and neuburg. they managed with caution, but with perfect courage, to move side by side with henry, and to leave the initiative to him, while showing an unfaltering front to the enemy. that the princes were lost, spain and the emperor triumphant, unless henry and the states should protect them with all their strength, was as plain as a mathematical demonstration. yet firm as were the attitude and the language of henry, he was thought to be hoping to accomplish much by bluster. it was certain that the bold and unexpected stroke of leopold had produced much effect upon his mind, and for a time those admitted to his intimacy saw, or thought they saw, a decided change in his demeanour. to the world at large his language and his demonstrations were even more vehement than they had been at the outset of the controversy; but it was believed that there was now a disposition to substitute threats for action. the military movements set on foot were thought to be like the ringing of bells and firing of cannon to dissipate a thunderstorm. yet it was treason at court to doubt the certainty of war. the king ordered new suits of armour, bought splendid chargers, and gave himself all the airs of a champion rushing to a tournament as gaily as in the earliest days of his king-errantry. he spoke of his eager desire to break a lance with spinola, and give a lesson to the young volunteer who had sprung into so splendid a military reputation, while he had been rusting, as he thought, in pacific indolence, and envying the laurels of the comparatively youthful maurice. yet those most likely to be well informed believed that nothing would come of all this fire and fury. the critics were wrong. there was really no doubt of henry's sincerity, but his isolation was terrible. there was none true to him at home but sully. abroad, the states-general alone were really friendly, so far as positive agreements existed. above all, the intolerable tergiversations and suspicions of those most interested, the princes in possession, and their bickerings among themselves, hampered his movements. treason and malice in his cabinet and household, jealousy and fear abroad, were working upon and undermining him like a slow fever. his position was most pathetic, but his purpose was fixed. james of england, who admired, envied, and hated henry, was wont to moralize on his character and his general unpopularity, while engaged in negotiations with him. he complained that in the whole affair of the truce he had sought only his particular advantage. "this is not to be wondered at in one of his nature," said the king, "who only careth to provide for the felicities of his present life, without any respect for his life to come. indeed, the consideration of his own age and the youth of his children, the doubt of their legitimation, the strength of competitioners, and the universal hatred borne unto him, makes him seek all means of security for preventing of all dangers." there were changes from day to day; hot and cold fits necessarily resulting from the situation. as a rule, no eminent general who has had much experience wishes to go into a new war inconsiderately and for the mere love of war. the impatience is often on the part of the non-combatants. henry was no exception to the rule. he felt that the complications then existing, the religious, political, and dynastic elements arrayed against each other, were almost certain to be brought to a crisis and explosion by the incident of the duchies. he felt that the impending struggle was probably to be a desperate and a general one, but there was no inconsistency in hoping that the show of a vigorous and menacing attitude might suspend, defer, or entirely dissipate the impending storm. the appearance of vacillation on his part from day to day was hardly deserving of the grave censure which it received, and was certainly in the interests of humanity. his conferences with sully were almost daily and marked by intense anxiety. he longed for barneveld, and repeatedly urged that the advocate, laying aside all other business, would come to paris, that they might advise together thoroughly and face to face. it was most important that the combination of alliances should be correctly arranged before hostilities began, and herein lay the precise difficulty. the princes applied formally and freely to the states-general for assistance. they applied to the king of great britain. the agents of the opposite party besieged henry with entreaties, and, failing in those, with threats; going off afterwards to spain, to the archdukes, and to other catholic powers in search of assistance. the states-general professed their readiness to put an army of , foot and horse in the field for the spring campaign, so soon as they were assured of henry's determination for a rupture. "i am fresh enough still," said he to their ambassador, "to lead an army into cleve. i shall have a cheap bargain enough of the provinces. but these germans do nothing but eat and sleep. they will get the profit and assign to me the trouble. no matter, i will never suffer the aggrandizement of the house of austria. the states-general must disband no troops, but hold themselves in readiness." secretary of state villeroy held the same language, but it was easy to trace beneath his plausible exterior a secret determination to traverse the plans of his sovereign. "the cleve affair must lead to war," he said. "the spaniard, considering how necessary it is for him to have a prince there at his devotion, can never quietly suffer brandenburg and neuburg to establish themselves in those territories. the support thus gained by the states-general would cause the loss of the spanish netherlands." this was the view of henry, too, but the secretary of state, secretly devoted to the cause of spain, looked upon the impending war with much aversion. "all that can come to his majesty from war," he said, "is the glory of having protected the right. counterbalance this with the fatigue, the expense, and the peril of a great conflict, after our long repose, and you will find this to be buying glory too dearly." when a frenchman talked of buying glory too dearly, it seemed probable that the particular kind of glory was not to his taste. henry had already ordered the officers, then in france, of the french infantry kept in the states' service at his expense to depart at once to holland, and he privately announced his intention of moving to the frontier at the head of , men. 'yet not only villeroy, but the chancellor and the constable, while professing opposition to the designs of austria and friendliness to those of brandenburg and neuburg, deprecated this precipitate plunge into war. "those most interested," they said, "refuse to move; fearing austria, distrusting france. they leave us the burden and danger, and hope for the spoils themselves. we cannot play cat to their monkey. the king must hold himself in readiness to join in the game when the real players have shuffled and dealt the cards. it is no matter to us whether the spaniard or brandenburg or anyone else gets the duchies. the states-general require a friendly sovereign there, and ought to say how much they will do for that result." the constable laughed at the whole business. coming straight from the louvre, he said "there would be no serious military movement, and that all those fine freaks would evaporate in air." but sully never laughed. he was quietly preparing the ways and means for the war, and he did not intend, so far as he had influence, that france should content herself with freaks and let spain win the game. alone in the council he maintained that "france had gone too far to recede without sacrifice of reputation."--"the king's word is engaged both within and without," he said. "not to follow it with deeds would be dangerous to the kingdom. the spaniard will think france afraid of war. we must strike a sudden blow, either to drive the enemy away or to crush him at once. there is no time for delay. the netherlands must prevent the aggrandizement of austria or consent to their own ruin." thus stood the game therefore. the brother of brandenburg and son of neuburg had taken possession of dusseldorf. the emperor, informed of this, ordered them forthwith to decamp. he further summoned all pretenders to the duchies to appear before him, in person or by proxy, to make good their claims. they refused and appealed for advice and assistance to the states-general. barneveld, aware of the intrigues of spain, who disguised herself in the drapery of the emperor, recommended that the estates of cleve, julich, berg, mark, ravensberg, and ravenstein, should be summoned in dusseldorf. this was done and a resolution taken to resist any usurpation. the king of france wrote to the elector of cologne, who, by directions of rome and by means of the jesuits, had been active in the intrigue, that he would not permit the princes to be disturbed. the archduke leopold suddenly jumped into the chief citadel of the country and published an edict of the emperor. all the proceedings were thereby nullified as illegal and against the dignity of the realm and the princes proclaimed under ban. a herald brought the edict and ban to the princes in full assembly. the princes tore it to pieces on the spot. nevertheless they were much frightened, and many members of the estates took themselves off; others showing an inclination to follow. the princes sent forth with a deputation to the hague to consult my lords the states-general. the states-general sent an express messenger to paris. their ambassador there sent him back a week later, with notice of the king's determination to risk everything against everything to preserve the rights of the princes. it was added that henry required to be solicited by them, in order not by volunteer succour to give cause for distrust as to his intentions. the states-general were further apprised by the king that his interests and theirs were so considerable in the matter that they would probably be obliged to go into a brisk and open war, in order to prevent the spaniard from establishing himself in the duchies. he advised them to notify the archdukes in brussels that they would regard the truce as broken if, under pretext of maintaining the emperor's rights, they should molest the princes. he desired them further to send their forces at once to the frontier of gelderland under prince maurice, without committing any overt act of hostility, but in order to show that both the king and the states were thoroughly in earnest. the king then sent to archduke albert, as well as to the elector of cologne, and despatched a special envoy to the king of great britain. immediately afterwards came communications from barneveld to henry, with complete adhesion to the king's plans. the states would move in exact harmony with him, neither before him nor after him, which was precisely what he wished. he complained bitterly to aerssens, when he communicated the advocate's despatches, of the slothful and timid course of the princes. he ascribed it to the arts of leopold, who had written and inspired many letters against him insinuating that he was secretly in league and correspondence with the emperor; that he was going to the duchies simply in the interest of the catholics; that he was like henry ii. only seeking to extend the french frontier; and leopold, by these intrigues and falsehoods, had succeeded in filling the princes with distrust, and they had taken umbrage at the advance of his cavalry. henry professed himself incapable of self-seeking or ambition. he meant to prevent the aggrandizement of austria, and was impatient at the dilatoriness and distrust of the princes. "all their enemies are rushing to the king of spain. let them address themselves to the king of france," he said, "for it is we two that must play this game." and when at last they did send an embassy, they prefaced it by a post letter demanding an instant loan, and with an intimation that they would rather have his money than his presence! was it surprising that the king's course should seem occasionally wavering when he found it so difficult to stir up such stagnant waters into honourable action? was it strange that the rude and stern sully should sometimes lose his patience, knowing so much and suspecting more of the foul designs by which his master was encompassed, of the web of conspiracy against his throne, his life, and his honour, which was daily and hourly spinning? "we do nothing and you do nothing," he said one day to aerssens. "you are too soft, and we are too cowardly. i believe that we shall spoil everything, after all. i always suspect these sudden determinations of ours. they are of bad augury. we usually founder at last when we set off so fiercely at first. there are words enough an every side, but there will be few deeds. there is nothing to be got out of the king of great britain, and the king of spain will end by securing these provinces for himself by a treaty." sully knew better than this, but he did not care to let even the dutch envoy know, as yet, the immense preparations he had been making for the coming campaign. the envoys of the possessory princes, the counts solms, colonel pallandt, and dr. steyntgen, took their departure, after it had been arranged that final measures should be concerted at the general congress of the german protestants to be held early in the ensuing year at hall, in suabia. at that convention de boississe would make himself heard on the part of france, and the representatives of the states-general, of venice, and savoy, would also be present. meantime the secret conferences between henry and his superintendent of finances and virtual prime minister were held almost every day. scarcely an afternoon passed that the king did not make his appearance at the arsenal, sully's residence, and walk up and down the garden with him for hours, discussing the great project of which his brain was full. this great project was to crush for ever the power of the austrian house; to drive spain back into her own limits, putting an end to her projects for universal monarchy; and taking the imperial crown from the house of habsburg. by thus breaking up the mighty cousinship which, with the aid of rome, overshadowed germany and the two peninsulas, besides governing the greater part of both the indies, he meant to bring france into the preponderant position over christendom which he believed to be her due. it was necessary, he thought, for the continued existence of the dutch commonwealth that the opportunity should be taken once for all, now that a glorious captain commanded its armies and a statesman unrivalled for experience, insight, and patriotism controlled its politics and its diplomacy, to drive the spaniard out of the netherlands. the cleve question, properly and vigorously handled, presented exactly the long desired opportunity for carrying out these vast designs. the plan of assault upon spanish power was to be threefold. the king himself at the head of , men, supported by prince maurice and the states' forces amounting to at least , , would move to the rhine and seize the duchies. the duke de la force would command the army of the pyrenees and act in concert with the moors of spain, who roused to frenzy by their expulsion from the kingdom could be relied on for a revolt or at least a most vigorous diversion. thirdly, a treaty with the duke of savoy by which henry accorded his daughter to the duke's eldest son, the prince of piedmont, a gift of , crowns, and a monthly pension during the war of , crowns a month, was secretly concluded. early in the spring the duke was to take the field with at least , foot and horse, supported by a french army of , to , men under the experienced marshal de lesdiguieres. these forces were to operate against the duchy of milan with the intention of driving the spaniards out of that rich possession, which the duke of savoy claimed for himself, and of assuring to henry the dictatorship of italy. with the cordial alliance of venice, and by playing off the mutual jealousies of the petty italian princes, like florence, mantua, montserrat, and others, against each other and against the pope, it did not seem doubtful to sully that the result would be easily accomplished. he distinctly urged the wish that the king should content himself with political influence, with the splendid position of holding all italy dependent upon his will and guidance, but without annexing a particle of territory to his own crown. it was henry's intention, however, to help himself to the duchy of savoy, and to the magnificent city and port of genoa as a reward to himself for the assistance, matrimonial alliance, and aggrandizement which he was about to bestow upon charles emmanuel. sully strenuously opposed these self-seeking views on the part of his sovereign, however, constantly placing before him the far nobler aim of controlling the destinies of christendom, of curbing what tended to become omnipotent, of raising up and protecting that which had been abased, of holding the balance of empire with just and steady hand in preference to the more vulgar and commonplace ambition of annexing a province or two to the realms of france. it is true that these virtuous homilies, so often preached by him against territorial aggrandizement in one direction, did not prevent him from indulging in very extensive visions of it in another. but the dreams pointed to the east rather than to the south. it was sully's policy to swallow a portion not of italy but of germany. he persuaded his master that the possessory princes, if placed by the help of france in the heritage which they claimed, would hardly be able to maintain themselves against the dangers which surrounded them except by a direct dependence upon france. in the end the position would become an impossible one, and it would be easy after the war was over to indemnify brandenburg with money and with private property in the heart of france for example, and obtain the cession of those most coveted provinces between the meuse and the weser to the king. "what an advantage for france," whispered sully, "to unite to its power so important a part of germany. for it cannot be denied that by accepting the succour given by the king now those princes oblige themselves to ask for help in the future in order to preserve their new acquisition. thus your majesty will make them pay for it very dearly." thus the very virtuous self-denial in regard to the duke of savoy did not prevent a secret but well developed ambition at the expense of the elector of brandenburg. for after all it was well enough known that the elector was the really important and serious candidate. henry knew full well that neuburg was depending on the austrians and the catholics, and that the claims of saxony were only put forward by the emperor in order to confuse the princes and excite mutual distrust. the king's conferences with the great financier were most confidential, and sully was as secret as the grave. but henry never could keep a secret even when it concerned his most important interests, and nothing would serve him but he must often babble of his great projects even to their minutest details in presence of courtiers and counsellors whom in his heart he knew to be devoted to spain and in receipt of pensions from her king. he would boast to them of the blows by which he meant to demolish spain and the whole house of austria, so that there should be no longer danger to be feared from that source to the tranquillity and happiness of europe, and he would do this so openly and in presence of those who, as he knew, were perpetually setting traps for him and endeavouring to discover his deepest secrets as to make sully's hair stand on end. the faithful minister would pluck his master by the cloak at times, and the king, with the adroitness which never forsook him when he chose to employ it, would contrive to extricate himself from a dilemma and pause at the brink of tremendous disclosures.--[memoires de sully, t. vii. p. .]--but sully could not be always at his side, nor were the nuncius or don inigo de cardenas or their confidential agents and spies always absent. enough was known of the general plan, while as to the probability of its coming into immediate execution, perhaps the enemies of the king were often not more puzzled than his friends. but what the spanish ambassador did not know, nor the nuncius, nor even the friendly aerssens, was the vast amount of supplies which had been prepared for the coming conflict by the finance minister. henry did not know it himself. "the war will turn on france as on a pivot," said sully; "it remains to be seen if we have supplies and money enough. i will engage if the war is not to last more than three years and you require no more than , men at a time that i will show you munitions and ammunition and artillery and the like to such an extent that you will say, 'it is enough.' "as to money--" "how much money have i got?" asked the king; "a dozen millions?" "a little more than that," answered the minister. "fourteen millions?" "more still." "sixteen?" continued the king. "more yet," said sully. and so the king went on adding two millions at each question until thirty millions were reached, and when the question as to this sum was likewise answered in the affirmative, he jumped from his chair, hugged his minister around the neck, and kissed him on both cheeks. "i want no more than that," he cried. sully answered by assuring him that he had prepared a report showing a reserve of forty millions on which he might draw for his war expenses, without in the least degree infringing on the regular budget for ordinary expenses. the king was in a transport of delight, and would have been capable of telling the story on the spot to the nuncius had he met him that afternoon, which fortunately did not occur. but of all men in europe after the faithful sully, henry most desired to see and confer daily and secretly with barneveld. he insisted vehemently that, neglecting all other business, he should come forthwith to paris at the head of the special embassy which it had been agreed that the states should send. no living statesman, he said, could compare to holland's advocate in sagacity, insight, breadth of view, knowledge of mankind and of great affairs, and none he knew was more sincerely attached to his person or felt more keenly the value of the french alliance. with him he indeed communicated almost daily through the medium of aerssens, who was in constant receipt of most elaborate instructions from barneveld, but he wished to confer with him face to face, so that there would be no necessity of delay in sending back for instructions, limitations, and explanation. no man knew better than the king did that so far as foreign affairs were concerned the states-general were simply barneveld. on the nd january the states' ambassador had a long and secret interview with the king.' he informed him that the prince of anhalt had been assured by barneveld that the possessory princes would be fully supported in their position by the states, and that the special deputies of archduke albert, whose presence at the hague made henry uneasy, as he regarded them as perpetual spies, had been dismissed. henry expressed his gratification. they are there, he said, entirely in the interest of leopold, who has just received , crowns from the king of spain, and is to have that sum annually, and they are only sent to watch all your proceedings in regard to cleve. the king then fervently pressed the ambassador to urge barneveld's coming to paris with the least possible delay. he signified his delight with barneveld's answer to anhalt, who thus fortified would be able to do good service at the assembly at hall. he had expected nothing else from barneveld's sagacity, from his appreciation of the needs of christendom, and from his affection for himself. he told the ambassador that he was anxiously waiting for the advocate in order to consult with him as to all the details of the war. the affair of cleve, he said, was too special a cause. a more universal one was wanted. the king preferred to begin with luxemburg, attacking charlemont or namur, while the states ought at the same time to besiege venlo, with the intention afterwards of uniting with the king in laying siege to maestricht. he was strong enough, he said, against all the world, but he still preferred to invite all princes interested to join him in putting down the ambitious and growing power of spain. cleve was a plausible pretext, but the true cause, he said, should be found in the general safety of christendom. boississe had been sent to the german princes to ascertain whether and to what extent they would assist the king. he supposed that once they found him engaged in actual warfare in luxemburg, they would get rid of their jealousy and panic fears of him and his designs. he expected them to furnish at least as large a force as he would supply as a contingent. for it was understood that anhalt as generalissimo of the german forces would command a certain contingent of french troops, while the main army of the king would be led by himself in person. henry expressed the conviction that the king of spain would be taken by surprise finding himself attacked in three places and by three armies at once, he believing that the king of france was entirely devoted to his pleasures and altogether too old for warlike pursuits, while the states, just emerging from the misery of their long and cruel conflict, would be surely unwilling to plunge headlong into a great and bloody war. henry inferred this, he said, from observing the rude and brutal manner in which the soldiers in the spanish netherlands were now treated. it seemed, he said, as if the archdukes thought they had no further need of them, or as if a stamp of the foot could raise new armies out of the earth. "my design," continued the king, "is the more likely to succeed as the king of spain, being a mere gosling and a valet of the duke of lerma, will find himself stripped of all his resources and at his wits' end; unexpectedly embarrassed as he will be on the italian side, where we shall be threatening to cut the jugular vein of his pretended universal monarchy." he intimated that there was no great cause for anxiety in regard to the catholic league just formed at wurzburg. he doubted whether the king of spain would join it, and he had learned that the elector of cologne was making very little progress in obtaining the emperor's adhesion. as to this point the king had probably not yet thoroughly understood that the bavarian league was intended to keep clear of the house of habsburg, maximilian not being willing to identify the success of german catholicism with the fortunes of that family. henry expressed the opinion that the king of spain, that is to say, his counsellors, meant to make use of the emperor's name while securing all the profit, and that rudolph quite understood their game, while matthias was sure to make use of this opportunity, supported by the protestants of bohemia, austria, and moravia, to strip the emperor of the last shred of empire. the king was anxious that the states should send a special embassy at once to the king of great britain. his ambassador, de la boderie, gave little encouragement of assistance from that quarter, but it was at least desirable to secure his neutrality. "'tis a prince too much devoted to repose," said henry, "to be likely to help in this war, but at least he must not be allowed to traverse our great designs. he will probably refuse the league offensive and defensive which i have proposed to him, but he must be got, if possible, to pledge himself to the defensive. i mean to assemble my army on the frontier, as if to move upon julich, and then suddenly sweep down on the meuse, where, sustained by the states' army and that of the princes, i will strike my blows and finish my enterprise before our adversary has got wind of what is coming. we must embark james in the enterprise if we can, but at any rate we must take measures to prevent his spoiling it." henry assured the envoy that no one would know anything of the great undertaking but by its effect; that no one could possibly talk about it with any knowledge except himself, sully, villeroy, barneveld, and aerssens. with them alone he conferred confidentially, and he doubted not that the states would embrace this opportunity to have done for ever with the spaniards. he should take the field in person, he said, and with several powerful armies would sweep the enemy away from the meuse, and after obtaining control of that river would quietly take possession of the sea-coast of flanders, shut up archduke albert between the states and the french, who would thus join hands and unite their frontiers. again the king expressed his anxiety for barneveld's coming, and directed the ambassador to urge it, and to communicate to him the conversation which had just taken place. he much preferred, he said, a general war. he expressed doubts as to the prince of anhalt's capacity as chief in the cleve expedition, and confessed that being jealous of his own reputation he did not like to commit his contingent of troops to the care of a stranger and one so new to his trade. the shame would fall on himself, not on anhalt in case of any disaster. therefore, to avoid all petty jealousies and inconveniences of that nature by which the enterprise might be ruined, it was best to make out of this small affair a great one, and the king signified his hope that the advocate would take this view of the case and give him his support. he had plenty of grounds of war himself, and the states had as good cause of hostilities in the rupture of the truce by the usurpation attempted by leopold with the assistance of spain and in the name of the emperor. he hoped, he said, that the states would receive no more deputations from archduke albert, but decide to settle everything at the point of the sword. the moment was propitious, and, if neglected, might never return. marquis spinola was about to make a journey to spain on various matters of business. on his return, henry said, he meant to make him prisoner as a hostage for the prince of conde, whom the archdukes were harbouring and detaining. this would be the pretext, he said, but the object would be to deprive the archdukes of any military chief, and thus to throw them into utter confusion. count van den berg would never submit to the authority of don luis de velasco, nor velasco to his, and not a man could come from spain or italy, for the passages would all be controlled by france. fortunately for the king's reputation, spinola's journey was deferred, so that this notable plan for disposing of the great captain fell to the ground. henry agreed to leave the two french regiments and the two companies of cavalry in the states' service as usual, but stipulated in certain contingencies for their use. passing to another matter concerning which there had been so much jealousy on the part of the states, the formation of the french east india company--to organize which undertaking le roy and isaac le maire of amsterdam had been living disguised in the house of henry's famous companion, the financier zamet at paris--the king said that barneveld ought not to envy him a participation in the great profits of this business. nothing would be done without consulting him after his arrival in paris. he would discuss the matter privately with him, he said, knowing that barneveld was a great personage, but however obstinate he might be, he felt sure that he would always yield to reason. on the other hand the king expressed his willingness to submit to the advocate's opinions if they should seem the more just. on leaving the king the ambassador had an interview with sully, who again expressed his great anxiety for the arrival of barneveld, and his hopes that he might come with unlimited powers, so that the great secret might not leak out through constant referring of matters back to the provinces. after rendering to the advocate a detailed account of this remarkable conversation, aerssens concluded with an intimation that perhaps his own opinion might be desired as to the meaning of all those movements developing themselves so suddenly and on so many sides. "i will say," he observed, "exactly what the poet sings of the army of ants-- 'hi motus animorum atque haec certamina tanta pulveris exigui jactu contacts quiescunt.' if the prince of conde comes back, we shall be more plausible than ever. if he does not come back, perhaps the consideration of the future will sweep us onwards. all have their special views, and m. de villeroy more warmly than all the rest." etext editor's bookmarks: abstinence from inquisition into consciences and private parlour allowed the demon of religious hatred to enter into its body behead, torture, burn alive, and bury alive all heretics christian sympathy and a small assistance not being sufficient contained within itself the germs of a larger liberty could not be both judge and party in the suit covered now with the satirical dust of centuries deadly hatred of puritans in england and holland doctrine of predestination in its sternest and strictest sense emperor of japan addressed him as his brother monarch estimating his character and judging his judges everybody should mind his own business he was a sincere bigot impatience is often on the part of the non-combatants intense bigotry of conviction international friendship, the self-interest of each it was the true religion, and there was none other james of england, who admired, envied, and hated henry jealousy, that potent principle language which is ever living because it is dead more fiercely opposed to each other than to papists none but god to compel me to say more than i choose to say power the poison of which it is so difficult to resist presents of considerable sums of money to the negotiators made princes show what they have in them at twenty-five or never putting the cart before the oxen religious toleration, which is a phrase of insult secure the prizes of war without the troubles and dangers senectus edam maorbus est so much in advance of his time as to favor religious equality the catholic league and the protestant union the truth in shortest about matters of importance the vehicle is often prized more than the freight there was but one king in europe, henry the bearnese there was no use in holding language of authority to him thirty years' war tread on the heels of the forty years unimaginable outrage as the most legitimate industry wish to appear learned in matters of which they are ignorant the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. the life and death of john of barneveld, v , - chapter ii. passion of henry iv. for margaret de montmorency--her marriage with the prince of conde--their departure for the country-their flight to the netherlands-rage of the king--intrigues of spain--reception of the prince and princess of conde by the archdukes at brussels-- splendid entertainments by spinola--attempts of the king to bring the fugitives back--mission of de coeuvres to brussels--difficult position of the republic--vast but secret preparations for war. "if the prince of conde comes back." what had the prince of conde, his comings and his goings, to do with this vast enterprise? it is time to point to the golden thread of most fantastic passion which runs throughout this dark and eventful history. one evening in the beginning of the year which had just come to its close there was to be a splendid fancy ball at the louvre in the course of which several young ladies of highest rank were to perform a dance in mythological costume. the king, on ill terms with the queen, who harassed him with scenes of affected jealousy, while engaged in permanent plots with her paramour and master, the italian concini, against his policy and his life; on still worse terms with his latest mistress in chief, the marquise de verneuil, who hated him and revenged herself for enduring his caresses by making him the butt of her venomous wit, had taken the festivities of a court in dudgeon where he possessed hosts of enemies and flatterers but scarcely a single friend. he refused to attend any of the rehearsals of the ballet, but one day a group of diana and her nymphs passed him in the great gallery of the palace. one of the nymphs as she went by turned and aimed her gilded javelin at his heart. henry looked and saw the most beautiful young creature, so he thought, that mortal eye had ever gazed upon, and according to his wont fell instantly over head and ears in love. he said afterwards that he felt himself pierced to the heart and was ready to faint away. the lady was just fifteen years of age. the king was turned of fifty-five. the disparity of age seemed to make the royal passion ridiculous. to henry the situation seemed poetical and pathetic. after this first interview he never missed a single rehearsal. in the intervals he called perpetually for the services of the court poet malherbe, who certainly contrived to perpetrate in his behalf some of the most detestable verses that even he had ever composed. the nymph was marguerite de montmorency, daughter of the constable of france, and destined one day to become the mother of the great conde, hero of rocroy. there can be no doubt that she was exquisitely beautiful. fair-haired, with a complexion of dazzling purity, large expressive eyes, delicate but commanding features, she had a singular fascination of look and gesture, and a winning, almost childlike, simplicity of manner. without feminine artifice or commonplace coquetry, she seemed to bewitch and subdue at a glance men of all ranks, ages, and pursuits; kings and cardinals, great generals, ambassadors and statesmen, as well as humbler mortals whether spanish, italian, french, or flemish. the constable, an ignorant man who, as the king averred, could neither write nor read, understood as well as more learned sages the manners and humours of the court. he had destined his daughter for the young and brilliant bassompierre, the most dazzling of all the cavaliers of the day. the two were betrothed. but the love-stricken henry, then confined to his bed with the gout, sent for the chosen husband of the beautiful margaret. "bassompierre, my friend," said the aged king, as the youthful lover knelt before him at the bedside, "i have become not in love, but mad, out of my senses, furious for mademoiselle de montmorency. if she should love you, i should hate you. if she should love me, you would hate me. 'tis better that this should not be the cause of breaking up our good intelligence, for i love you with affection and inclination. i am resolved to marry her to my nephew the prince of conde, and to keep her near my family. she will be the consolation and support of my old age into which i am now about to enter. i shall give my nephew, who loves the chase a thousand times better than he does ladies, , livres a year, and i wish no other favour from her than her affection without making further pretensions." it was eight o'clock of a black winter's morning, and the tears as he spoke ran down the cheeks of the hero of ivry and bedewed the face of the kneeling bassompierre. the courtly lover sighed and--obeyed. he renounced the hand of the beautiful margaret, and came daily to play at dice with the king at his bedside with one or two other companions. and every day the duchess of angouleme, sister of the constable, brought her fair niece to visit and converse with the royal invalid. but for the dark and tragic clouds which were gradually closing around that eventful and heroic existence there would be something almost comic in the spectacle of the sufferer making the palace and all france ring with the howlings of his grotesque passion for a child of fifteen as he lay helpless and crippled with the gout. one day as the duchess of angouleme led her niece away from their morning visit to the king, margaret as she passed by bassompierre shrugged her shoulders with a scornful glance. stung by this expression of contempt, the lover who had renounced her sprang from the dice table, buried his face in his hat, pretending that his nose was bleeding, and rushed frantically from the palace. two days long he spent in solitude, unable to eat, drink, or sleep, abandoned to despair and bewailing his wretched fate, and it was long before he could recover sufficient equanimity to face his lost margaret and resume his place at the king's dicing table. when he made his appearance, he was according to his own account so pale, changed, and emaciated that his friends could not recognise him. the marriage with conde, first prince of the blood, took place early in the spring. the bride received magnificent presents, and the husband a, pension of , livres a year. the attentions of the king became soon outrageous and the reigning scandal of the hour. henry, discarding the grey jacket and simple costume on which he was wont to pride himself, paraded himself about in perfumed ruffs and glittering doublet, an ancient fop, very little heroic, and much ridiculed. the princess made merry with the antics of her royal adorer, while her vanity at least, if not her affection, was really touched, and there was one great round of court festivities in her honour, at which the king and herself were ever the central figures. but conde was not at all amused. not liking the part assigned to him in the comedy thus skilfully arranged by his cousin king, never much enamoured of his bride, while highly appreciating the , livres of pension, he remonstrated violently with his wife, bitterly reproached the king, and made himself generally offensive. "the prince is here," wrote henry to sully, "and is playing the very devil. you would be in a rage and be ashamed of the things he says of me. but at last i am losing patience, and am resolved to give him a bit of my mind." he wrote in the same terms to montmorency. the constable, whose conduct throughout the affair was odious and pitiable, promised to do his best to induce the prince, instead of playing the devil, to listen to reason, as he and the duchess of angouleme understood reason. henry had even the ineffable folly to appeal to the queen to use her influence with the refractory conde. mary de' medici replied that there were already thirty go-betweens at work, and she had no idea of being the thirty-first--[henrard, ]. conde, surrounded by a conspiracy against his honour and happiness, suddenly carried off his wife to the country, much to the amazement and rage of henry. in the autumn he entertained a hunting party at a seat of his, the abbey of verneuille, on the borders of picardy. de traigny, governor of amiens, invited the prince, princess, and the dowager-princess to a banquet at his chateau not far from the abbey. on their road thither they passed a group of huntsmen and grooms in the royal livery. among them was an aged lackey with a plaister over one eye, holding a couple of hounds in leash. the princess recognized at a glance under that ridiculous disguise the king. "what a madman!" she murmured as she passed him, "i will never forgive you;" but as she confessed many years afterwards, this act of gallantly did not displease her.' in truth, even in mythological fable, trove has scarcely ever reduced demi-god or hero to more fantastic plight than was this travesty of the great henry. after dinner madame de traigny led her fair guest about the castle to show her the various points of view. at one window she paused, saying that it commanded a particularly fine prospect. the princess looked from it across a courtyard, and saw at an opposite window an old gentleman holding his left hand tightly upon his heart to show that it was wounded, and blowing kisses to her with the other: "my god! it is the king himself," she cried to her hostess. the princess with this exclamation rushed from the window, feeling or affecting much indignation, ordered horses to her carriage instantly, and overwhelmed madame de traigny with reproaches. the king himself, hastening to the scene, was received with passionate invectives, and in vain attempted to assuage the princess's wrath and induce her to remain. they left the chateau at once, both prince and princess. one night, not many weeks afterwards, the due de sully, in the arsenal at paris, had just got into bed at past eleven o'clock when he received a visit from captain de praslin, who walked straight into his bed-chamber, informing him that the king instantly required his presence. sully remonstrated. he was obliged to rise at three the next morning, he said, enumerating pressing and most important work which henry required to be completed with all possible haste. "the king said you would be very angry," replied praslin; "but there is no help for it. come you must, for the man you know of has gone out of the country, as you said he would, and has carried away the lady on the crupper behind him." "ho, ho," said the duke, "i am wanted for that affair, am i?" and the two proceeded straightway to the louvre, and were ushered, of all apartments in the world, into the queen's bedchamber. mary de' medici had given birth only four days before to an infant, henrietta maria, future queen of charles i. of england. the room was crowded with ministers and courtiers; villeroy, the chancellor, bassompierre, and others, being stuck against the wall at small intervals like statues, dumb, motionless, scarcely daring to breathe. the king, with his hands behind him and his grey beard sunk on his breast, was pacing up and down the room in a paroxysm of rage and despair. "well," said he, turning to sully as he entered, "our man has gone off and carried everything with him. what do you say to that?" the duke beyond the boding "i told you so" phrase of consolation which he was entitled to use, having repeatedly warned his sovereign that precisely this catastrophe was impending, declined that night to offer advice. he insisted on sleeping on it. the manner in which the proceedings of the king at this juncture would be regarded by the archdukes albert and isabella--for there could be no doubt that conde had escaped to their territory--and by the king of spain, in complicity with whom the step had unquestionably been taken--was of gravest political importance. henry had heard the intelligence but an hour before. he was at cards in his cabinet with bassompierre and others when d'elbene entered and made a private communication to him. "bassompierre, my friend," whispered the king immediately in that courtier's ear, "i am lost. this man has carried his wife off into a wood. i don't know if it is to kill her or to take her out of france. take care of my money and keep up the game." bassompierre followed the king shortly afterwards and brought him his money. he said that he had never seen a man so desperate, so transported. the matter was indeed one of deepest and universal import. the reader has seen by the preceding narrative how absurd is the legend often believed in even to our own days that war was made by france upon the archdukes and upon spain to recover the princess of conde from captivity in brussels. from contemporary sources both printed and unpublished; from most confidential conversations and revelations, we have seen how broad, deliberate, and deeply considered were the warlike and political combinations in the king's ever restless brain. but although the abduction of the new helen by her own menelaus was not the cause of the impending, iliad, there is no doubt whatever that the incident had much to do with the crisis, was the turning point in a great tragedy, and that but for the vehement passion of the king for this youthful princess events might have developed themselves on a far different scale from that which they were destined to assume. for this reason a court intrigue, which history under other conditions might justly disdain, assumes vast proportions and is taken quite away from the scandalous chronicle which rarely busies itself with grave affairs of state. "the flight of conde," wrote aerssens, "is the catastrophe to the comedy which has been long enacting. 'tis to be hoped that the sequel may not prove tragical." "the prince," for simply by that title he was usually called to distinguish him from all other princes in france, was next of blood. had henry no sons, he would have succeeded him on the throne. it was a favourite scheme of the spanish party to invalidate henry's divorce from margaret of valois, and thus to cast doubts on the legitimacy of the dauphin and the other children of mary de' medici. the prince in the hands of the spanish government might prove a docile and most dangerous instrument to the internal repose of france not only after henry's death but in his life-time. conde's character was frivolous, unstable, excitable, weak, easy to be played upon by designing politicians, and he had now the deepest cause for anger and for indulging in ambitious dreams. he had been wont during this unhappy first year of his marriage to loudly accuse henry of tyranny, and was now likely by public declaration to assign that as the motive of his flight. henry had protested in reply that he had never been guilty of tyranny but once in his life, and that was when he allowed this youth to take the name and title of conde? for the princess-dowager his mother had lain for years in prison, under the terrible accusation of having murdered her husband, in complicity with her paramour, a gascon page, named belcastel. the present prince had been born several months after his reputed father's death. henry, out of good nature, or perhaps for less creditable reasons, had come to the rescue of the accused princess, and had caused the process to be stopped, further enquiry to be quashed, and the son to be recognized as legitimate prince of conde. the dowager had subsequently done her best to further the king's suit to her son's wife, for which the prince bitterly reproached her to her face, heaping on her epithets which she well deserved. henry at once began to threaten a revival of the criminal suit, with a view of bastardizing him again, although the dowager had acted on all occasions with great docility in henry's interests. the flight of the prince and princess was thus not only an incident of great importance to the internal politics of trance, but had a direct and important bearing on the impending hostilities. its intimate connection with the affairs of the netherland commonwealth was obvious. it was probable that the fugitives would make their way towards the archdukes' territory, and that afterwards their first point of destination would be breda, of which philip william of orange, eldest brother of prince maurice, was the titular proprietor. since the truce recently concluded the brothers, divided so entirely by politics and religion, could meet on fraternal and friendly terms, and breda, although a city of the commonwealth, received its feudal lord. the princess of orange was the sister of conde. the morning after the flight the king, before daybreak, sent for the dutch ambassador. he directed him to despatch a courier forthwith to barneveld, notifying him that the prince had left the kingdom without the permission or knowledge of his sovereign, and stating the king's belief that he had fled to the territory of the archdukes. if he should come to breda or to any other place within the jurisdiction of the states, they were requested to make sure of his person at once, and not to permit him to retire until further instructions should be received from the king. de praslin, captain of the body-guards and lieutenant of champagne, it was further mentioned, was to be sent immediately on secret mission concerning this affair to the states and to the archdukes. the king suspected conde of crime, so the advocate was to be informed. he believed him to be implicated in the conspiracy of poitou; the six who had been taken prisoners having confessed that they had thrice conferred with a prince at paris, and that the motive of the plot was to free themselves and france from the tyranny of henry iv. the king insisted peremptorily, despite of any objections from aerssens, that the thing must be done and his instructions carried out to the letter. so much he expected of the states, and they should care no more for ulterior consequences, he said, than he had done for the wrath of spain when he frankly undertook their cause. conde was important only because his relative, and he declared that if the prince should escape, having once entered the territory of the republic, he should lay the blame on its government. "if you proceed languidly in the affair," wrote aerssens to barneveld, "our affairs will suffer for ever." nobody at court believed in the poitou conspiracy, or that conde had any knowledge of it. the reason of his flight was a mystery to none, but as it was immediately followed by an intrigue with spain, it seemed ingenious to henry to make, use of a transparent pretext to conceal the ugliness of the whole affair. he hoped that the prince would be arrested at breda and sent back by the states. villeroy said that if it was not done, they would be guilty of black ingratitude. it would be an awkward undertaking, however, and the states devoutly prayed that they might not be put to the test. the crafty aerssens suggested to barneveld that if conde was not within their territory it would be well to assure the king that, had he been there, he would have been delivered up at once. "by this means," said the ambassador, "you will give no cause of offence to the prince, and will at the same time satisfy the king. it is important that he should think that you depend immediately upon him. if you see that after his arrest they take severe measures against him, you will have a thousand ways of parrying the blame which posterity might throw upon you. history teaches you plenty of them." he added that neither sully nor anyone else thought much of the poitou conspiracy. those implicated asserted that they had intended to raise troops there to assist the king in the cleve expedition. some people said that henry had invented this plot against his throne and life. the ambassador, in a spirit of prophecy, quoted the saying of domitian: "misera conditio imperantium quibus de conspiratione non creditor nisi occisis." meantime the fugitives continued their journey. the prince was accompanied by one of his dependants, a rude officer, de rochefort, who carried the princess on a pillion behind him. she had with her a lady-in-waiting named du certeau and a lady's maid named philippote. she had no clothes but those on her back, not even a change of linen. thus the young and delicate lady made the wintry journey through the forests. they crossed the frontier at landrecies, then in the spanish netherlands, intending to traverse the archduke's territory in order to reach breda, where conde meant to leave his wife in charge of his sister, the princess of orange, and then to proceed to brussels. he wrote from the little inn at landrecies to notify the archduke of his project. he was subsequently informed that albert would not prevent his passing through his territories, but should object to his making a fixed residence within them. the prince also wrote subsequently to the king of spain and to the king of france. to henry he expressed his great regret at being obliged to leave the kingdom in order to save his honour and his life, but that he had no intention of being anything else than his very humble and faithful cousin, subject, and servant. he would do nothing against his service, he said, unless forced thereto, and he begged the king not to take it amiss if he refused to receive letters from any one whomsoever at court, saving only such letters as his majesty himself might honour him by writing. the result of this communication to the king was of course to enrage that monarch to the utmost, and his first impulse on finding that the prince was out of his reach was to march to brussels at once and take possession of him and the princess by main force. more moderate counsels prevailed for the moment however, and negotiations were attempted. praslin did not contrive to intercept the fugitives, but the states-general, under the advice of barneveld, absolutely forbade their coming to breda or entering any part of their jurisdiction. the result of conde's application to the king of spain was an ultimate offer of assistance and asylum, through a special emissary, one anover; for the politicians of madrid were astute enough to see what a card the prince might prove in their hands. henry instructed his ambassador in spain to use strong and threatening language in regard to the harbouring a rebel and a conspirator against the throne of france; while on the other hand he expressed his satisfaction with the states for having prohibited the prince from entering their territory. he would have preferred, he said, if they had allowed him entrance and forbidden his departure, but on the whole he was content. it was thought in paris that the netherland government had acted with much adroitness in thus abstaining both from a violation of the law of nations and from giving offence to the king. a valet of conde was taken with some papers of the prince about him, which proved a determination on his part never to return to france during the lifetime of henry. they made no statement of the cause of his flight, except to intimate that it might be left to the judgment of every one, as it was unfortunately but too well known to all. refused entrance into the dutch territory, the prince was obliged to renounce his project in regard to breda, and brought his wife to brussels. he gave bentivoglio, the papal nuncio, two letters to forward to italy, one to the pope, the other to his nephew, cardinal borghese. encouraged by the advices which he had received from spain, he justified his flight from france both by the danger to his honour and to his life, recommending both to the protection of his holiness and his eminence. bentivoglio sent the letters, but while admitting the invincible reasons for his departure growing out of the king's pursuit of the princess, he refused all credence to the pretended violence against conde himself. conde informed de praslin that he would not consent to return to france. subsequently he imposed as conditions of return that the king should assign to him certain cities and strongholds in guienne, of which province he was governor, far from paris and very near the spanish frontier; a measure dictated by spain and which inflamed henry's wrath almost to madness. the king insisted on his instant return, placing himself and of course the princess entirely in his hands and receiving a full pardon for this effort to save his honour. the prince and princess of orange came from breda to brussels to visit their brother and his wife. here they established them in the palace of nassau, once the residence in his brilliant youth of william the silent; a magnificent mansion, surrounded by park and garden, built on the brow of the almost precipitous hill, beneath which is spread out so picturesquely the antique and beautiful capital of brabant. the archdukes received them with stately courtesy at their own palace. on their first ceremonious visit to the sovereigns of the land, the formal archduke, coldest and chastest of mankind, scarcely lifted his eyes to gaze on the wondrous beauty of the princess, yet assured her after he had led her through a portrait gallery of fair women that formerly these had been accounted beauties, but that henceforth it was impossible to speak of any beauty but her own. the great spinola fell in love with her at once, sent for the illustrious rubens from antwerp to paint her portrait, and offered mademoiselle de chateau vert , crowns in gold if she would do her best to further his suit with her mistress. the genoese banker-soldier made love, war, and finance on a grand scale. he gave a magnificent banquet and ball in her honour on twelfth night, and the festival was the wonder of the town. nothing like it had been seen in brussels for years. at six in the evening spinola in splendid costume, accompanied by don luis velasco, count ottavio visconti, count bucquoy, with other nobles of lesser note, drove to the nassau palace to bring the prince and princess and their suite to the marquis's mansion. here a guard of honour of thirty musketeers was standing before the door, and they were conducted from their coaches by spinola preceded by twenty-four torch-bearers up the grand staircase to a hall, where they were received by the princesses of mansfeld, velasco, and other distinguished dames. thence they were led through several apartments rich with tapestry and blazing with crystal and silver plate to a splendid saloon where was a silken canopy, under which the princess of conde and the princess of orange seated themselves, the nuncius bentivoglio to his delight being placed next the beautiful margaret. after reposing for a little while they were led to the ball-room, brilliantly lighted with innumerable torches of perfumed wax and hung with tapestry of gold and silk, representing in fourteen embroidered designs the chief military exploits of spinola. here the banquet, a cold collation, was already spread on a table decked and lighted with regal splendour. as soon as the guests were seated, an admirable concert of instrumental music began. spinola walked up and down providing for the comforts of his company, the duke of aumale stood behind the two princesses to entertain them with conversation, don luis velasco served the princess of conde with plates, handed her the dishes, the wine, the napkins, while bucquoy and visconti in like manner waited upon the princess of orange; other nobles attending to the other ladies. forty-eight pages in white, yellow, and red scarves brought and removed the dishes. the dinner, of courses innumerable, lasted two hours and a half, and the ladies, being thus fortified for the more serious business of the evening, were led to the tiring-rooms while the hall was made ready for dancing. the ball was opened by the princess of conde and spinola, and lasted until two in the morning. as the apartment grew warm, two of the pages went about with long staves and broke all the windows until not a single pane of glass remained. the festival was estimated by the thrifty chronicler of antwerp to have cost from to crowns. it was, he says, "an earthly paradise of which soon not a vapour remained." he added that he gave a detailed account of it "not because he took pleasure in such voluptuous pomp and extravagance, but that one might thus learn the vanity of the world." these courtesies and assiduities on the part of the great "shopkeeper," as the constable called him, had so much effect, if not on the princess, at least on conde himself, that he threatened to throw his wife out of window if she refused to caress spinola. these and similar accusations were made by the father and aunt when attempting to bring about a divorce of the princess from her husband. the nuncius bentivoglio, too, fell in love with her, devoting himself to her service, and his facile and eloquent pen to chronicling her story. even poor little philip of spain in the depths of the escurial heard of her charms, and tried to imagine himself in love with her by proxy. thenceforth there was a succession of brilliant festivals in honour of the princess. the spanish party was radiant with triumph, the french maddened with rage. henry in paris was chafing like a lion at bay. a petty sovereign whom he could crush at one vigorous bound was protecting the lady for whose love he was dying. he had secured conde's exclusion from holland, but here were the fugitives splendidly established in brussels; the princess surrounded by most formidable suitors, the prince encouraged in his rebellious and dangerous schemes by the power which the king most hated on earth, and whose eternal downfall he had long since sworn to accomplish. for the weak and frivolous conde began to prattle publicly of his deep projects of revenge. aided by spanish money and spanish troops he would show one day who was the real heir to the throne of france--the illegitimately born dauphin or himself. the king sent for the first president of parliament, harlay, and consulted with him as to the proper means of reviving the suppressed process against the dowager and of publicly degrading conde from his position of first prince of the blood which he had been permitted to usurp. he likewise procured a decree accusing him of high-treason and ordering him to be punished at his majesty's pleasure, to be prepared by the parliament of paris; going down to the court himself in his impatience and seating himself in everyday costume on the bench of judges to see that it was immediately proclaimed. instead of at once attacking the archdukes in force as he intended in the first ebullition of his wrath, he resolved to send de boutteville-montmorency, a relative of the constable, on special and urgent mission to brussels. he was to propose that conde and his wife should return with the prince and princess of orange to breda, the king pledging himself that for three or four months nothing should be undertaken against him. here was a sudden change of determination fit to surprise the states-general, but the king's resolution veered and whirled about hourly in the tempests of his wrath and love. that excellent old couple, the constable and the duchess of angouleme, did their best to assist their sovereign in his fierce attempts to get their daughter and niece into his power. the constable procured a piteous letter to be written to archduke albert, signed "montmorency his mark," imploring him not to "suffer that his daughter, since the prince refused to return to france, should leave brussels to be a wanderer about the world following a young prince who had no fixed purpose in his mind." archduke albert, through his ambassador in paris, peter pecquius, suggested the possibility of a reconciliation between henry and his kinsman, and offered himself as intermediary. he enquired whether the king would find it agreeable that he should ask for pardon in name of the prince. henry replied that he was willing that the archduke should accord to conde secure residence for the time within his dominions on three inexorable conditions:--firstly, that the prince should ask for pardon without any stipulations, the king refusing to listen to any treaty or to assign him towns or places of security as had been vaguely suggested, and holding it utterly unreasonable that a man sueing for pardon should, instead of deserved punishment, talk of terms and acquisitions; secondly, that, if conde should reject the proposition, albert should immediately turn him out of his country, showing himself justly irritated at finding his advice disregarded; thirdly, that, sending away the prince, the archduke should forthwith restore the princess to her father the constable and her aunt angouleme, who had already made their petitions to albert and isabella for that end, to which the king now added his own most particular prayers. if the archduke should refuse consent to these three conditions, henry begged that he would abstain from any farther attempt to effect a reconciliation and not suffer conde to remain any longer within his territories. pecquius replied that he thought his master might agree to the two first propositions while demurring to the third, as it would probably not seem honourable to him to separate man and wife, and as it was doubtful whether the princess would return of her own accord. the king, in reporting the substance of this conversation to aerssens, intimated his conviction that they were only wishing in brussels to gain time; that they were waiting for letters from spain, which they were expecting ever since the return of conde's secretary from milan, whither he had been sent to confer with the governor, count fuentes. he said farther that he doubted whether the princess would go to breda, which he should now like, but which conde would not now permit. this he imputed in part to the princess of orange, who had written a letter full of invectives against himself to the dowager--princess of conde which she had at once sent to him. henry expressed at the same time his great satisfaction with the states-general and with barneveld in this affair, repeating his assurances that they were the truest and best friends he had. the news of conde's ceremonious visit to leopold in julich could not fail to exasperate the king almost as much as the pompous manner in which he was subsequently received at brussels; spinola and the spanish ambassador going forth to meet him. at the same moment the secretary of vaucelles, henry's ambassador in madrid, arrived in paris, confirming the king's suspicions that conde's flight had been concerted with don inigo de cardenas, and was part of a general plot of spain against the peace of the kingdom. the duc d'epernon, one of the most dangerous plotters at the court, and deep in the intimacy of the queen and of all the secret adherents of the spanish policy, had been sojourning a long time at metz, under pretence of attending to his health, had sent his children to spain, as hostages according to henry's belief, had made himself master of the citadel, and was turning a deaf ear to all the commands of the king. the supporters of conde in france were openly changing their note and proclaiming by the prince's command that he had left the kingdom in order to preserve his quality of first prince of the blood, and that he meant to make good his right of primogeniture against the dauphin and all competitors. such bold language and such open reliance on the support of spain in disputing the primogeniture of the dauphin were fast driving the most pacifically inclined in france into enthusiasm for the war. the states, too, saw their opportunity more vividly every day. "what could we desire more," wrote aerssens to barneveld, "than open war between france and spain? posterity will for ever blame us if we reject this great occasion." peter pecquius, smoothest and sliest of diplomatists, did his best to make things comfortable, for there could be little doubt that his masters most sincerely deprecated war. on their heads would come the first blows, to their provinces would return the great desolation out of which they had hardly emerged. still the archduke, while racking his brains for the means of accommodation, refused, to his honour, to wink at any violation of the law of nations, gave a secret promise, in which the infanta joined, that the princess should not be allowed to leave brussels without her husband's permission, and resolutely declined separating the pair except with the full consent of both. in order to protect himself from the king's threats, he suggested sending conde to some neutral place for six or eight months, to prague, to breda, or anywhere else; but henry knew that conde would never allow this unless he had the means by spanish gold of bribing the garrison there, and so of holding the place in pretended neutrality, but in reality at the devotion of the king of spain. meantime henry had despatched the marquis de coeuvres, brother of the beautiful gabrielle, duchess de beaufort, and one of the most audacious and unscrupulous of courtiers, on a special mission to brussels. de coeuvres saw conde before presenting his credentials to the archduke, and found him quite impracticable. acting under the advice of the prince of orange, he expressed his willingness to retire to some neutral city of germany or italy, drawing meanwhile from henry a pension of , crowns a year. but de coeuvres firmly replied that the king would make no terms with his vassal nor allow conde to prescribe conditions to him. to leave him in germany or italy, he said, was to leave him in the dependence of spain. the king would not have this constant apprehension of her intrigues while, living, nor leave such matter in dying for turbulence in his kingdom. if it appeared that the spaniards wished to make use of the prince for such purposes, he would be beforehand with them, and show them how much more injury he could inflict on spain than they on france. obviously committed to spain, conde replied to the entreaties of the emissary that if the king would give him half his kingdom he would not accept the offer nor return to france; at least before the th of february, by which date he expected advices from spain. he had given his word, he said, to lend his ear to no overtures before that time. he made use of many threats, and swore that he would throw himself entirely into the arms of the spanish king if henry would not accord him the terms which he had proposed. to do this was an impossibility. to grant him places of security would, as the king said, be to plant a standard for all the malcontents of france to rally around. conde had evidently renounced all hopes of a reconciliation, however painfully his host the archduke might intercede for it. he meant to go to spain. spinola was urging this daily and hourly, said henry, for he had fallen in love with the princess, who complained of all these persecutions in her letters to her father, and said that she would rather die than go to spain. the king's advices from de coeuvres were however to the effect that the step would probably be taken, that the arrangements were making, and that spinola had been shut up with conde six hours long with nobody present but rochefort and a certain counsellor of the prince of orange named keeremans. henry was taking measures to intercept them on their flight by land, but there was some thought of their proceeding to spain by sea. he therefore requested the states to send two ships of war, swift sailors, well equipped, one to watch in the roads of st. jean and the other on the english coast. these ships were to receive their instructions from admiral de vicq, who would be well informed of all the movements of the prince and give warning to the captains of the dutch vessels by a preconcerted signal. the king begged that barneveld would do him this favour, if he loved him, and that none might have knowledge of it but the advocate and prince maurice. the ships would be required for two or three months only, but should be equipped and sent forth as soon as possible. the states had no objection to performing this service, although it subsequently proved to be unnecessary, and they were quite ready at that moment to go openly into the war to settle the affairs of clove, and once for all to drive the spaniards out of the netherlands and beyond seas and mountains. yet strange to say, those most conversant with the state of affairs could not yet quite persuade themselves that matters were serious, and that the king's mind was fixed. should conde return, renounce his spanish stratagems, and bring back the princess to court, it was felt by the king's best and most confidential friends that all might grow languid again, the spanish faction get the upper hand in the king's councils, and the states find themselves in a terrible embarrassment. on the other hand, the most prying and adroit of politicians were puzzled to read the signs of the times. despite henry's garrulity, or perhaps in consequence of it, the envoys of spain, the empire, and of archduke albert were ignorant whether peace were likely to be broken or not, in spite of rumours which filled the air. so well had the secrets been kept which the reader has seen discussed in confidential conversations--the record of which has always remained unpublished--between the king and those admitted to his intimacy that very late in the winter pecquius, while sadly admitting to his masters that the king was likely to take part against the emperor in the affair of the duchies, expressed the decided opinion that it would be limited to the secret sending of succour to brandenburg and neuburg as formerly to the united provinces, but that he would never send troops into cleve, or march thither himself. it is important, therefore, to follow closely the development of these political and amorous intrigues, for they furnish one of the most curious and instructive lessons of history; there being not the slightest doubt that upon their issue chiefly depended the question of a great and general war. pecquius, not yet despairing that his master would effect a reconciliation between the king and conde, proposed again that the prince should be permitted to reside for a time in some place not within the jurisdiction of spain or of the archdukes, being allowed meantime to draw his annual pension of , livres. henry ridiculed the idea of conde's drawing money from him while occupying his time abroad with intrigues against his throne and his children's succession. he scoffed at the envoy's pretences that conde was not in receipt of money from spain, as if a man so needy and in so embarrassing a position could live without money from some source; and as if he were not aware, from his correspondents in spain, that funds were both promised and furnished to the prince. he repeated his determination not to accord him pardon unless he returned to france, which he had no cause to leave, and, turning suddenly on pecquius, demanded why, the subject of reconciliation having failed, the archduke did not immediately fulfil his promise of turning conde out of his dominions. upon this albert's minister drew back with the air of one amazed, asking how and when the archduke had ever made such a promise. "to the marquis de coeuvres," replied henry. pecquius asked if his ears had not deceived him, and if the king had really said that de coeuvres had made such a statement. henry repeated and confirmed the story. upon the minister's reply that he had himself received no such intelligence from the archduke, the king suddenly changed his tone, and said, "no, i was mistaken--i was confused--the marquis never wrote me this; but did you not say yourself that i might be assured that there would be no difficulty about it if the prince remained obstinate." pecquius replied that he had made such a proposition to his masters by his majesty's request; but there had been no answer received, nor time for one, as the hope of reconciliation had not yet been renounced. he begged henry to consider whether, without instructions from his master, he could have thus engaged his word. "well," said the king, "since you disavow it, i see very well that the archduke has no wish to give me pleasure, and that these are nothing but tricks that you have been amusing me with all this time. very good; each of us will know what we have to do." pecquius considered that the king had tried to get him into a net, and to entrap him into the avowal of a promise which he had never made. henry remained obstinate in his assertions, notwithstanding all the envoy's protestations. "a fine trick, indeed, and unworthy of a king, 'si dicere fas est,'" he wrote to secretary of state praets. "but the force of truth is such that he who spreads the snare always tumbles into the ditch himself." henry concluded the subject of conde at this interview by saying that he could have his pardon on the conditions already named, and not otherwise. he also made some complaints about archduke leopold, who, he said, notwithstanding his demonstrations of wishing a treaty of compromise, was taking towns by surprise which he could not hold, and was getting his troops massacred on credit. pecquius expressed the opinion that it would be better to leave the germans to make their own arrangements among themselves, adding that neither his masters nor the king of spain meant to mix themselves up in the matter. "let them mix themselves in it or keep out of it, as they like," said henry, "i shall not fail to mix myself up in it." the king was marvellously out of humour. before finishing the interview, he asked pecquius whether marquis spinola was going to spain very soon, as he had permission from his majesty to do so, and as he had information that he would be on the road early in lent. the minister replied that this would depend on the will of the archduke, and upon various circumstances. the answer seemed to displease the king, and pecquius was puzzled to know why. he was not aware, of course, of henry's project to kidnap the marquis on the road, and keep him as a surety for conde. the envoy saw villeroy after the audience, who told him not to mind the king's ill-temper, but to bear it as patiently as he could. his majesty could not digest, he said, his infinite displeasure at the obstinacy of the prince; but they must nevertheless strive for a reconciliation. the king was quick in words, but slow in deeds, as the ambassador might have observed before, and they must all try to maintain peace, to which he would himself lend his best efforts. as the secretary of state was thoroughly aware that the king was making vast preparations for war, and had given in his own adhesion to the project, it is refreshing to observe the candour with which he assured the representative of the adverse party of his determination that friendliest relations should be preserved. it is still more refreshing to find villeroy, the same afternoon, warmly uniting with sully, lesdiguieres, and the chancellor, in the decision that war should begin forthwith. for the king held a council at the arsenal immediately after this interview with pecquius, in which he had become convinced that conde would never return. he took the queen with him, and there was not a dissentient voice as to the necessity of beginning hostilities at once. sully, however, was alone in urging that the main force of the attack should be in the north, upon the rhine and meuse. villeroy and those who were secretly in the spanish interest were for beginning it with the southern combination and against milan. sully believed the duke of savoy to be variable and attached in his heart to spain, and he thought it contrary to the interests of france to permit an italian prince to grow so great on her frontier. he therefore thoroughly disapproved the plan, and explained to the dutch ambassador that all this urgency to carry on the war in the south came from hatred to the united provinces, jealousy of their aggrandizement, detestation of the reformed religion, and hope to engage henry in a campaign which he could not carry on successfully. but he assured aerssens that he had the means of counteracting these designs and of bringing on an invasion for obtaining possession of the meuse. if the possessory princes found henry making war in the milanese only, they would feel themselves ruined, and might throw up the game. he begged that barneveld would come on to paris at once, as now or never was the moment to assure the republic for all time. the king had acted with malicious adroitness in turning the tables upon the prince and treating him as a rebel and a traitor because, to save his own and his wife's honour, he had fled from a kingdom where he had but too good reason to suppose that neither was safe. the prince, with infinite want of tact, had played into the king's hands. he had bragged of his connection with spain and of his deep designs, and had shown to all the world that he was thenceforth but an instrument in the hands of the spanish cabinet, while all the world knew the single reason for which he had fled. the king, hopeless now of compelling the return of conde, had become most anxious to separate him from his wife. already the subject of divorce between the two had been broached, and it being obvious that the prince would immediately betake himself into the spanish dominions, the king was determined that the princess should not follow him thither. he had the incredible effrontery and folly to request the queen to address a letter to her at brussels, urging her to return to france. but mary de' medici assured her husband that she had no intention of becoming his assistant, using, to express her thought, the plainest and most vigorous word that the italian language could supply. henry had then recourse once more to the father and aunt. that venerable couple being about to wait upon the archduke's envoy, in compliance with the royal request, pecquius, out of respect to their advanced age, went to the constable's residence. here both the duchess and constable, with tears in their eyes, besought that diplomatist to do his utmost to prevent the princess from the sad fate of any longer sharing her husband's fortunes. the father protested that he would never have consented to her marriage, preferring infinitely that she should have espoused any honest gentleman with crowns a year than this first prince of the blood, with a character such as it had proved to be; but that he had not dared to disobey the king. he spoke of the indignities and cruelties to which she was subjected, said that rochefort, whom conde had employed to assist him in their flight from france, and on the crupper of whose horse the princess had performed the journey, was constantly guilty of acts of rudeness and incivility towards her; that but a few days past he had fired off pistols in her apartment where she was sitting alone with the princess of orange, exclaiming that this was the way he would treat anyone who interfered with the commands of his master, conde; that the prince was incessantly railing at her for refusing to caress the marquis of spinola; and that, in short, he would rather she were safe in the palace of the archduchess isabella, even in the humblest position among her gentlewomen, than to know her vagabondizing miserably about the world with her husband. this, he said, was the greatest fear he had, and he would rather see her dead than condemned to such a fate. he trusted that the archdukes were incapable of believing the stories that he and the duchess of angouleme were influenced in the appeals they made for the separation of the prince and princess by a desire to serve the purposes of the king. those were fables put about by conde. all that the constable and his sister desired was that the archduchess would receive the princess kindly when she should throw herself at her feet, and not allow her to be torn away against her will. the constable spoke with great gravity and simplicity, and with all the signs of genuine emotion, and peter pecquius was much moved. he assured the aged pair that he would do his best to comply with their wishes, and should immediately apprise the archdukes of the interview which had just taken place. most certainly they were entirely disposed to gratify the constable and the duchess as well as the princess herself, whose virtues, qualities, and graces had inspired them with affection, but it must be remembered that the law both human and divine required wives to submit themselves to the commands of their husbands and to be the companions of their good and evil fortunes. nevertheless, he hoped that the lord would so conduct the affairs of the prince of conde that the most christian king and the archdukes would all be satisfied. these pious and consolatory commonplaces on the part of peter pecquius deeply affected the constable. he fell upon the envoy's neck, embraced him repeatedly, and again wept plentifully. chapter iii. strange scene at the archduke's palace--henry's plot frustrated-- his triumph changed to despair--conversation of the dutch ambassador with the king--the war determined upon. it was in the latter part of the carnival, the saturday night preceding shrove tuesday, . the winter had been a rigorous one in brussels, and the snow lay in drifts three feet deep in the streets. within and about the splendid palace of nassau there was much commotion. lights and flambeaux were glancing, loud voices, martial music, discharge of pistols and even of artillery were heard together with the trampling of many feet, but there was nothing much resembling the wild revelry or cheerful mummery of that holiday season. a throng of the great nobles of belgium with drawn swords and menacing aspect were assembled in the chief apartments, a detachment of the archduke's mounted body-guard was stationed in the courtyard, and five hundred halberdiers of the burgher guilds kept watch and ward about the palace. the prince of conde, a square-built, athletic young man of middle stature, with regular features, but a sulky expression, deepened at this moment into ferocity, was seen chasing the secretary of the french resident minister out of the courtyard, thwacking him lustily about the shoulders with his drawn sword, and threatening to kill him or any other frenchman on the spot, should he show himself in that palace. he was heard shouting rather than speaking, in furious language against the king, against coeuvres, against berny, and bitterly bewailing his misfortunes, as if his wife were already in paris instead of brussels. upstairs in her own apartment which she had kept for some days on pretext of illness sat the princess margaret, in company' of madame de berny, wife of the french minister, and of the marquis de coeuvres, henry's special envoy, and a few other frenchmen. she was passionately fond of dancing. the adoring cardinal described her as marvellously graceful and perfect in that accomplishment. she had begged her other adorer, the marquis spinola, "with sweetest words," that she might remain a few days longer in the nassau palace before removing to the archduke's residence, and that the great general, according to the custom in france and flanders, would be the one to present her with the violins. but spinola, knowing the artifice concealed beneath these "sweetest words," had summoned up valour enough to resist her blandishments, and had refused a second entertainment. it was not, therefore, the disappointment at losing her ball that now made the princess sad. she and her companions saw that there had been a catastrophe; a plot discovered. there was bitter disappointment and deep dismay upon their faces. the plot had been an excellent one. de coeuvres had arranged it all, especially instigated thereto by the father of the princess acting in concurrence with the king. that night when all was expected to be in accustomed quiet, the princess, wrapped in her mantilla, was to have stolen down into the garden, accompanied only by her maid the adventurous and faithful philipotte, to have gone through a breach which led through a garden wall to the city ramparts, thence across the foss to the counterscarp, where a number of horsemen under trustworthy commanders were waiting. mounting on the crupper behind one of the officers of the escort, she was then to fly to the frontier, relays of horses having been provided at every stage until she should reach rocroy, the first pausing place within french territory; a perilous adventure for the young and delicate princess in a winter of almost unexampled severity. on the very morning of the day assigned for the adventure, despatches brought by special couriers from the nuncius and the spanish ambassador at paris gave notice of the plot to the archdukes and to conde, although up to that moment none knew of it in brussels. albert, having been apprised that many frenchmen had been arriving during the past few days, and swarming about the hostelries of the city and suburbs, was at once disposed to believe in the story. when conde came to him, therefore, with confirmation from his own letters, and demanding a detachment of the body-guard in addition to the burgher militiamen already granted by the magistrates, he made no difficulty granting the request. it was as if there had been a threatened assault of the city, rather than the attempted elopement of a young lady escorted by a handful of cavaliers. the courtyard of the nassau palace was filled with cavalry sent by the archduke, while five hundred burgher guards sent by the magistrates were drawn up around the gate. the noise and uproar, gaining at every moment more mysterious meaning by the darkness of night, soon spread through the city. the whole population was awake, and swarming through the streets. such a tumult had not for years been witnessed in brussels, and the rumour flew about and was generally believed that the king of france at the head of an army was at the gates of the city determined to carry off the princess by force. but although the superfluous and very scandalous explosion might have been prevented, there could be no doubt that the stratagem had been defeated. nevertheless, the effrontery and ingenuity of de coeuvres became now sublime. accompanied by his colleague, the resident minister, de berny, who was sure not to betray the secret because he had never known it--his wife alone having been in the confidence of the princess--he proceeded straightway to the archduke's palace, and, late in the night as it was, insisted on an audience. here putting on his boldest face when admitted to the presence, he complained loudly of the plot, of which he had just become aware, contrived by the prince of conde to carry off his wife to spain against her will, by main force, and by assistance of flemish nobles, archiducal body-guard, and burgher militia. it was all a plot of conde, he said, to palliate still more his flight from france. every one knew that the princess could not fly back to paris through the air. to take her out of a house filled with people, to pierce or scale the walls of the city, to arrange her journey by ordinary means, and to protect the whole route by stations of cavalry, reaching from brussels to the frontier, and to do all this in profound secrecy, was equally impossible. such a scheme had never been arranged nor even imagined, he said. the true plotter was conde, aided by ministers in flanders hostile to france, and as the honour of the king and the reputation of the princess had been injured by this scandal, the ambassador loudly demanded a thorough investigation of the affair in order that vengeance might fall where it was due. the prudent albert was equal to the occasion. not wishing to state the full knowledge which he possessed of de coeuvres' agency and the king's complicity in the scheme of abduction to france, he reasoned calmly with the excited marquis, while his colleague looked and listened in dumb amazement, having previously been more vociferous and infinitely more sincere than his colleague in expressions of indignation. the archduke said that he had not thought the plot imputed to the king and his ambassador very probable. nevertheless, the assertions of the prince had been so positive as to make it impossible to refuse the guards requested by him. he trusted, however, that the truth would soon be known, and that it would leave no stain on the princess, nor give any offence to the king. surprised and indignant at the turn given to the adventure by the french envoys, he nevertheless took care to conceal these sentiments, to abstain from accusation, and calmly to inform them that the princess next morning would be established under his own roof; and enjoy the protection of the archduchess. for it had been arranged several days before that margaret should leave the palace of nassau for that of albert and isabella on the th, and the abduction had been fixed for the night of the th precisely because the conspirators wished to profit by the confusion incident on a change of domicile. the irrepressible de coeuvres, even then hardly willing to give up the whole stratagem as lost, was at least determined to discover how and by whom the plot had been revealed. in a cemetery piled three feet deep with snow on the evening following that mid-winter's night which had been fixed for the princess's flight, the unfortunate ambassador waited until a certain vallobre, a gentleman of spinola's, who was the go-between of the enamoured genoese and the princess, but whom de coeuvres had gained over, came at last to meet him by appointment. when he arrived, it was only to inform him of the manner in which he had been baffled, to convince him that the game was up, and that nothing was left him but to retreat utterly foiled in his attempt, and to be stigmatized as a blockhead by his enraged sovereign. next day the princess removed her residence to the palace of the archdukes, where she was treated with distinguished honour by isabella, and installed ceremoniously in the most stately, the most virtuous, and the most dismal of courts. her father and aunt professed themselves as highly pleased with the result, and pecquius wrote that "they were glad to know her safe from the importunities of the old fop who seemed as mad as if he had been stung by a tarantula." and how had the plot been revealed? simply through the incorrigible garrulity of the king himself. apprised of the arrangement in all its details by the constable, who had first received the special couriers of de coeuvres, he could not keep the secret to himself for a moment, and the person of all others in the world to whom he thought good to confide it was the queen herself. she received the information with a smile, but straightway sent for the nuncius ubaldini, who at her desire instantly despatched a special courier to spinola with full particulars of the time and mode of the proposed abduction. nevertheless the ingenuous henry, confiding in the capacity of his deeply offended queen to keep the secret which he had himself divulged, could scarcely contain himself for joy. off he went to saint-germain with a train of coaches, impatient to get the first news from de coeuvres after the scheme should have been carried into effect, and intending to travel post towards flanders to meet and welcome the princess. "pleasant farce for shrove tuesday," wrote the secretary of pecquius, "is that which the frenchmen have been arranging down there! he in whose favour the abduction is to be made was seen going out the same day spangled and smart, contrary to his usual fashion, making a gambado towards saint-germain-en-laye with four carriages and four to meet the nymph." great was the king's wrath and mortification at this ridiculous exposure of his detestable scheme. vociferous were villeroy's expressions of henry's indignation at being supposed to have had any knowledge of or complicity in the affair. "his majesty cannot approve of the means one has taken to guard against a pretended plot for carrying off the princess," said the secretary of state; "a fear which was simulated by the prince in order to defame the king." he added that there was no reason to suspect the king, as he had never attempted anything of the sort in his life, and that the archduke might have removed the princess to his palace without sending an army to the hotel of the prince of orange, and causing such an alarm in the city, firing artillery on the rampart as if the town had been full of frenchmen in arms, whereas one was ashamed next morning to find that there had been but fifteen in all. "but it was all marquis spinola's fault," he said, "who wished to show himself off as a warrior." the king, having thus through the mouth of his secretary of state warmly protested against his supposed implication in the attempted abduction, began as furiously to rail at de coeuvres for its failure; telling the duc de vendome that his uncle was an idiot, and writing that unlucky envoy most abusive letters for blundering in the scheme which had been so well concerted between them. then he sent for malherbe, who straightway perpetrated more poems to express the king's despair, in which henry was made to liken himself to a skeleton with a dried skin, and likewise to a violet turned up by the ploughshare and left to wither. he kept up through madame de berny a correspondence with "his beautiful angel," as he called the princess, whom he chose to consider a prisoner and a victim; while she, wearied to death with the frigid monotony and sepulchral gaieties of the archiducal court, which she openly called her "dungeon" diverted herself with the freaks and fantasies of her royal adorer, called him in very ill-spelled letters "her chevalier, her heart, her all the world," and frequently wrote to beg him, at the suggestion of the intriguing chateau vert, to devise some means of rescuing her from prison. the constable and duchess meanwhile affected to be sufficiently satisfied with the state of things. conde, however, received a letter from the king, formally summoning him to return to france, and, in case of refusal, declaring him guilty of high-treason for leaving the kingdom without the leave and against the express commands of the king. to this letter, brought to him by de coeuvres, the prince replied by a paper, drawn up and served by a notary of brussels, to the effect that he had left france to save his life and honour; that he was ready to return when guarantees were given him for the security of both. he would live and die, he said, faithful to the king. but when the king, departing from the paths of justice, proceeded through those of violence against him, he maintained that every such act against his person was null and invalid. henry had even the incredible meanness and folly to request the queen to write to the archdukes, begging that the princess might be restored to assist at her coronation. mary de' medici vigorously replied once more that, although obliged to wink at the king's amours, she declined to be his procuress. conde then went off to milan very soon after the scene at the nassau palace and the removal of the princess to the care of the archdukes. he was very angry with his wife, from whom he expressed a determination to be divorced, and furious with the king, the validity of whose second marriage and the legitimacy of whose children he proposed with spanish help to dispute. the constable was in favour of the divorce, or pretended to be so, and caused importunate letters to be written, which he signed, to both albert and isabella, begging that his daughter might be restored to him to be the staff of his old age, and likewise to be present at the queen's coronation. the archdukes, however, resolutely refused to permit her to leave their protection without conde's consent, or until after a divorce had been effected, notwithstanding that the father and aunt demanded it. the constable and duchess however, acquiesced in the decision, and expressed immense gratitude to isabella. "the father and aunt have been talking to pecquius," said henry very dismally; "but they give me much pain. they are even colder than the season, but my fire thaws them as soon as i approach." "p. s.--i am so pining away in my anguish that i am nothing but skin and bones. nothing gives me pleasure. i fly from company, and if in order to comply with the law of nations i go into some assembly or other, instead of enlivening, it nearly kills me."--[lettres missives de henri vii. ]. and the king took to his bed. whether from gout, fever, or the pangs of disappointed love, he became seriously ill. furious with every one, with conde, the constable, de coeuvres, the queen, spinola, with the prince of orange, whose councillor keeremans had been encouraging conde in his rebellion and in going to spain with spinola, he was now resolved that tho war should go on. aerssens, cautious of saying too much on paper of this very delicate affair, always intimated to barneveld that, if the princess could be restored, peace was still possible, and that by moving an inch ahead of the king in the cleve matter the states at the last moment might be left in the lurch. he distinctly told the advocate, on his expressing a hope that henry might consent to the prince's residence in some neutral place until a reconciliation could be effected, that the pinch of the matter was not there, and that van der myle, who knew all about it, could easily explain it. alluding to the project of reviving the process against the dowager, and of divorcing the prince and princess, he said these steps would do much harm, as they would too much justify the true cause of the retreat of the prince, who was not believed when he merely talked of his right of primogeniture: "the matter weighs upon us very heavily," he said, "but the trouble is that we don't search for the true remedies. the matter is so delicate that i don't dare to discuss it to the very bottom." the ambassador had a long interview with the king as he lay in his bed feverish and excited. he was more impatient than ever for the arrival of the states' special embassy, reluctantly acquiesced in the reasons assigned for the delay, but trusted that it would arrive soon with barneveld at the head, and with count lewis william as a member for "the sword part of it." he railed at the prince of orange, not believing that keeremans would have dared to do what he had done but with the orders of his master. he said that the king of spain would supply conde with money and with everything he wanted, knowing that he could make use of him to trouble his kingdom. it was strange, he thought, that philip should venture to these extremities with his affairs in such condition, and when he had so much need of repose. he recalled all his ancient grievances against spain, his rights to the kingdom of navarre and the county of st. pol violated; the conspiracy of biron, the intrigues of bouillon, the plots of the count of auvergne and the marchioness of verneuil, the treason of meragne, the corruption of l'hoste, and an infinity of other plots of the king and his ministers; of deep injuries to him and to the public repose, not to be tolerated by a mighty king like himself, with a grey beard. he would be revenged, he said, for this last blow, and so for all the rest. he would not leave a troublesome war on the hands of his young son. the occasion was favourable. it was just to defend the oppressed princes with the promptly accorded assistance of the states-general. the king of great britain was favourable. the duke of savoy was pledged. it was better to begin the war in his green old age than to wait the pleasure and opportunity of the king of spain. all this he said while racked with fever, and dismissed the envoy at last, after a long interview, with these words: "mr. ambassador--i have always spoken roundly and frankly to you, and you will one day be my witness that i have done all that i could to draw the prince out of the plight into which he has put himself. but he is struggling for the succession to this crown under instructions from the spaniards, to whom he has entirely pledged himself. he has already received crowns for his equipment. i know that you and my other friends will work for the conservation of this monarchy, and will never abandon me in my designs to weaken the power of spain. pray god for my health." the king kept his bed a few days afterwards, but soon recovered. villeroy sent word to barneveld in answer to his suggestions of reconciliation that it was too late, that conde was entirely desperate and spanish. the crown of france was at stake, he said, and the prince was promising himself miracles and mountains with the aid of spain, loudly declaring the marriage of mary de' medici illegal, and himself heir to the throne. the secretary of state professed himself as impatient as his master for the arrival of the embassy; the states being the best friends france ever had and the only allies to make the war succeed. jeannin, who was now never called to the council, said that the war was not for germany but for conde, and that henry could carry it on for eight years. he too was most anxious for barneveld's arrival, and was of his opinion that it would have been better for conde to be persuaded to remain at breda and be supported by his brother-in-law, the prince of orange. the impetuosity of the king had however swept everything before it, and conde had been driven to declare himself spanish and a pretender to the crown. there was no issue now but war. boderie, the king's envoy in great britain, wrote that james would be willing to make a defensive league for the affairs of cleve and julich only, which was the slenderest amount of assistance; but henry always suspected master jacques of intentions to baulk him if possible and traverse his designs. but the die was cast. spinola had carried off conde in triumph; the princess was pining in her gilt cage in brussels, and demanding a divorce for desertion and cruel treatment; the king considered himself as having done as much as honour allowed him to effect a reconciliation, and it was obvious that, as the states' ambassador said, he could no longer retire from the war without shame, which would be the greatest danger of all. "the tragedy is ready to begin," said aerssens. "they are only waiting now for the arrival of our ambassadors." on the th march the king before going to fontainebleau for a few days summoned that envoy to the louvre. impatient at a slight delay in his arrival, henry came down into the courtyard as he was arriving and asked eagerly if barneveld was coming to paris. aerssens replied, that the advocate had been hastening as much as possible the departure of the special embassy, but that the condition of affairs at home was such as not to permit him to leave the country at that moment. van der myle, who would be one of the ambassadors, would more fully explain this by word of mouth. the king manifested infinite annoyance and disappointment that barneveld was not to make part of the embassy. "he says that he reposes such singular confidence in your authority in the state, experience in affairs, and affection for himself," wrote aerssens, "that he might treat with you in detail and with open heart of all his designs. he fears now that the ambassadors will be limited in their powers and instructions, and unable to reply at once on the articles which at different times have been proposed to me for our enterprise. thus much valuable time will be wasted in sending backwards and forwards." the king also expressed great anxiety to consult with count lewis william in regard to military details, but his chief sorrow was in regard to the advocate. "he acquiesced only with deep displeasure and regret in your reasons," said the ambassador, "and says that he can hope for nothing firm now that you refuse to come." villeroy intimated that barneveld did not come for fear of exciting the jealousy of the english. etext editor's bookmarks: he who spreads the snare always tumbles into the ditch himself most detestable verses that even he had ever composed she declined to be his procuress the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. the life and death of john of barneveld, v , chapter iv. difficult position of barneveld--insurrection at utrecht subdued by the states' army--special embassies to england and france--anger of the king with spain and the archdukes--arrangements of henry for the coming war--position of spain--anxiety of the king for the presence of barneveld in paris--arrival of the dutch commissioners in france and their brilliant reception--their interview with the king and his ministers--negotiations--delicate position of the dutch government-- india trade--simon danzer, the corsair--conversations of henry with the dutch commissioners--letter of the king to archduke albert-- preparations for the queen's coronation, and of henry to open the campaign in person--perplexities of henry--forebodings and warnings --the murder accomplished--terrible change in france--triumph of concini and of spain--downfall of sully--disputes of the grandees among themselves--special mission of condelence from the republic-- conference on the great enterprise--departure of van der myle from paris. there were reasons enough why the advocate could not go to paris at this juncture. it was absurd in henry to suppose it possible. everything rested on barneveld's shoulders. during the year which had just passed he had drawn almost every paper, every instruction in regard to the peace negotiations, with his own hand, had assisted at every conference, guided and mastered the whole course of a most difficult and intricate negotiation, in which he had not only been obliged to make allowance for the humbled pride and baffled ambition of the ancient foe of the netherlands, but to steer clear of the innumerable jealousies, susceptibilities, cavillings, and insolences of their patronizing friends. it was his brain that worked, his tongue that spoke, his restless pen that never paused. his was not one of those easy posts, not unknown in the modern administration of great affairs, where the subordinate furnishes the intellect, the industry, the experience, while the bland superior, gratifying the world with his sign-manual, appropriates the applause. so long as he lived and worked, the states-general and the states of holland were like a cunningly contrived machine, which seemed to be alive because one invisible but mighty mind vitalized the whole. and there had been enough to do. it was not until midsummer of that the ratifications of the treaty of truce, one of the great triumphs in the history of diplomacy, had been exchanged, and scarcely had this period been put to the eternal clang of arms when the death of a lunatic threw the world once more into confusion. it was obvious to barneveld that the issue of the cleve-julich affair, and of the tremendous religious fermentation in bohemia, moravia, and austria, must sooner or later lead to an immense war. it was inevitable that it would devolve upon the states to sustain their great though vacillating, their generous though encroaching, their sincere though most irritating, ally. and yet, thoroughly as barneveld had mastered all the complications and perplexities of the religious and political question, carefully as he had calculated the value of the opposing forces which were shaking christendom, deeply as he had studied the characters of matthias and rudolph, of charles of denmark and ferdinand of graz, of anhalt and maximilian, of brandenburg and neuburg, of james and philip, of paul v. and charles emmanuel, of sully and yilleroy, of salisbury and bacon, of lerma and infantado; adroitly as he could measure, weigh, and analyse all these elements in the great problem which was forcing itself on the attention of europe--there was one factor with which it was difficult for this austere republican, this cold, unsusceptible statesman, to deal: the intense and imperious passion of a greybeard for a woman of sixteen. for out of the cauldron where the miscellaneous elements of universal war were bubbling rose perpetually the fantastic image of margaret montmorency: the fatal beauty at whose caprice the heroic sword of ivry and cahors was now uplifted and now sheathed. aerssens was baffled, and reported the humours of the court where he resided as changing from hour to hour. to the last he reported that all the mighty preparations then nearly completed "might evaporate in smoke" if the princess of conde should come back. every ambassador in paris was baffled. peter pecquius was as much in the dark as don inigo de cardenas, as ubaldini or edmonds. no one save sully, aerssens, barneveld, and the king knew the extensive arrangements and profound combinations which had been made for the war. yet not sully, aerssens, barneveld, or the king, knew whether or not the war would really be made. barneveld had to deal with this perplexing question day by day. his correspondence with his ambassador at henry's court was enormous, and we have seen that the ambassador was with the king almost daily; sleeping or waking; at dinner or the chase; in the cabinet or the courtyard. but the advocate was also obliged to carry in his arms, as it were, the brood of snarling, bickering, cross-grained german princes, to supply them with money, with arms, with counsel, with brains; to keep them awake when they went to sleep, to steady them in their track, to teach them to go alone. he had the congress at hall in suabia to supervise and direct; he had to see that the ambassadors of the new republic, upon which they in reality were already half dependent and chafing at their dependence, were treated with the consideration due to the proud position which the commonwealth had gained. questions of etiquette were at that moment questions of vitality. he instructed his ambassadors to leave the congress on the spot if they were ranked after the envoys of princes who were only feudatories of the emperor. the dutch ambassadors, "recognising and relying upon no superiors but god and their sword," placed themselves according to seniority with the representatives of proudest kings. he had to extemporize a system of free international communication with all the powers of the earth--with the turk at constantinople, with the czar of muscovy; with the potentates of the baltic, with both the indies. the routine of a long established and well organized foreign office in a time-honoured state running in grooves; with well-balanced springs and well oiled wheels, may be a luxury of civilization; but it was a more arduous task to transact the greatest affairs of a state springing suddenly into recognized existence and mainly dependent for its primary construction and practical working on the hand of one man. worse than all, he had to deal on the most dangerous and delicate topics of state with a prince who trembled at danger and was incapable of delicacy; to show respect for a character that was despicable, to lean on a royal word falser than water, to inhale almost daily the effluvia from a court compared to which the harem of henry was a temple of vestals. the spectacle of the slobbering james among his kars and hays and villiers's and other minions is one at which history covers her eyes and is dumb; but the republican envoys, with instructions from a barneveld, were obliged to face him daily, concealing their disgust, and bowing reverentially before him as one of the arbiters of their destinies and the solomon of his epoch. a special embassy was sent early in the year to england to convey the solemn thanks of the republic to the king for his assistance in the truce negotiations, and to treat of the important matters then pressing on the attention of both powers. contemporaneously was to be despatched the embassy for which henry was waiting so impatiently at paris. certainly the advocate had enough with this and other, important business already mentioned to detain him at his post. moreover the first year of peace had opened disastrously in the netherlands. tremendous tempests such as had rarely been recorded even in that land of storms had raged all the winter. the waters everywhere had burst their dykes and inundations, which threatened to engulph the whole country, and which had caused enormous loss of property and even of life, were alarming the most courageous. it was difficult in many district to collect the taxes for the every-day expenses of the community, and yet the advocate knew that the republic would soon be forced to renew the war on a prodigious scale. still more to embarrass the action of the government and perplex its statesmen, an alarming and dangerous insurrection broke out in utrecht. in that ancient seat of the hard-fighting, imperious, and opulent sovereign archbishops of the ancient church an important portion of the population had remained catholic. another portion complained of the abolition of various privileges which they had formerly enjoyed; among others that of a monopoly of beer-brewing for the province. all the population, as is the case with all populations in all countries and all epochs, complained of excessive taxation. a clever politician, dirk kanter by name, a gentleman by birth, a scholar and philosopher by pursuit and education, and a demagogue by profession, saw an opportunity of taking an advantage of this state of things. more than twenty years before he had been burgomaster of the city, and had much enjoyed himself in that position. he was tired of the learned leisure to which the ingratitude of his fellow-citizens had condemned him. he seems to have been of easy virtue in the matter of religion, a catholic, an arminian, an ultra orthodox contra-remonstrant by turns. he now persuaded a number of determined partisans that the time had come for securing a church for the public worship of the ancient faith, and at the same time for restoring the beer brewery, reducing the taxes, recovering lost privileges, and many other good things. beneath the whole scheme lay a deep design to effect the secession of the city and with it of the opulent and important province of utrecht from the union. kanter had been heard openly to avow that after all the netherlands had flourished under the benign sway of the house of burgundy, and that the time would soon come for returning to that enviable condition. by a concerted assault the city hall was taken possession of by main force, the magistracy was overpowered, and a new board of senators and common council-men appointed, kanter and a devoted friend of his, heldingen by name, being elected burgomasters. the states-provincial of utrecht, alarmed at these proceedings in the city, appealed for protection against violence to the states-general under the rd article of the union, the fundamental pact which bore the name of utrecht itself. prince maurice proceeded to the city at the head of a detachment of troops to quell the tumults. kanter and his friends were plausible enough to persuade him of the legality and propriety of the revolution which they had effected, and to procure his formal confirmation of the new magistracy. intending to turn his military genius and the splendour of his name to account, they contrived to keep him for a time at least in an amiable enthralment, and induced him to contemplate in their interest the possibility of renouncing the oath which subjected him to the authority of the states of utrecht. but the far-seeing eye of barneveld could not be blind to the danger which at this crisis beset the stadholder and the whole republic. the prince was induced to return to the hague, but the city continued by armed revolt to maintain the new magistracy. they proceeded to reduce the taxes, and in other respects to carry out the measures on the promise of which they had come into power. especially the catholic party sustained kanter and his friends, and promised themselves from him and from his influence over prince maurice to obtain a power of which they had long been deprived. the states-general now held an assembly at woerden, and summoned the malcontents of utrecht to bring before that body a statement of their grievances. this was done, but there was no satisfactory arrangement possible, and the deputation returned to utrecht, the states-general to the hague. the states-provincial of utrecht urged more strongly than ever upon the assembly of the union to save the city from the hands of a reckless and revolutionary government. the states-general resolved accordingly to interfere by force. a considerable body of troops was ordered to march at once upon utrecht and besiege the city. maurice, in his capacity of captain-general and stadholder of the province, was summoned to take charge of the army. he was indisposed to do so, and pleaded sickness. the states, determined that the name of nassau should not be used as an encouragement to disobedience, and rebellion, then directed the brother of maurice, frederic henry, youngest son of william the silent, to assume the command. maurice insisted that his brother was too young, and that it was unjust to allow so grave a responsibility to fall upon his shoulders. the states, not particularly pleased with the prince's attitude at this alarming juncture, and made anxious by the glamour which seemed to possess him since his conferences with the revolutionary party at utrecht, determined not to yield. the army marched forth and laid siege to the city, prince frederic henry at its head. he was sternly instructed by the states-general, under whose orders he acted, to take possession of the city at all hazards. he was to insist on placing there a garrison of foot and horse, and to permit not another armed man within the walls. the members of the council of state and of the states of utrecht accompanied the army. for a moment the party in power was disposed to resist the forces of the union. dick kanter and his friends were resolute enough; the catholic priests turned out among the rest with their spades and worked on the entrenchments. the impossibility of holding the city against the overwhelming power of the states was soon obvious, and the next day the gates were opened, and easy terms were granted. the new magistracy was set aside, the old board that had been deposed by the rebels reinstated. the revolution and the counterrevolution were alike bloodless, and it was determined that the various grievances of which the discontented party had complained should be referred to the states-general, to prince maurice, to the council of state, and to the ambassadors of france and england. amnesty was likewise decreed on submission. the restored government was arminian in its inclinations, the revolutionary one was singularly compounded both of catholic and of ultra-orthodox elements. quiet was on the whole restored, but the resources of the city were crippled. the event occurring exactly at the crisis of the clove and julich expedition angered the king of france. "the trouble of utrecht," wrote aerssens to barneveld, "has been turned to account here marvellously, the archdukes and spaniards boasting that many more revolts like this may be at once expected. i have explained to his majesty, who has been very much alarmed about it, both its source and the hopes that it will be appeased by the prudence of his excellency prince maurice and the deputies of the states. the king desires that everything should be pacified as soon as possible, so that there may be no embarrassment to the course of public affairs. but he fears, he tells me, that this may create some new jealousy between prince maurice and yourself. i don't comprehend what he means, although he held this language to me very expressly and without reserve. i could only answer that you were living on the best of terms together in perfect amity and intelligence. if you know if this talk of his has any other root, please to enlighten me, that i may put a stop to false reports, for i know nothing of affairs except what you tell me." king james, on the other hand, thoroughly approved the promptness of the states-general in suppressing the tumult. nothing very serious of alike nature occurred in utrecht until the end of the year, when a determined and secret conspiracy was discovered, having for its object to overpower the garrison and get bodily possession of colonel john ogle, the military commander of the town. at the bottom of the movement were the indefatigable dirk kanter and his friend heldingen. the attempt was easily suppressed, and the two were banished from the town. kanter died subsequently in north holland, in the odour of ultra-orthodoxy. four of the conspirators--a post-master, two shoemakers, and a sexton, who had bound themselves by oath to take the lives of two eminent arminian preachers, besides other desperate deeds--were condemned to death, but pardoned on the scaffold. thus ended the first revolution at utrecht. its effect did not cease, however, with the tumults which were its original manifestations. this earliest insurrection in organized shape against the central authority of the states-general; this violent though abortive effort to dissolve the union and to nullify its laws; this painful necessity for the first time imposed upon the federal government to take up arms against misguided citizens of the republic, in order to save itself from disintegration and national death, were destined to be followed by far graver convulsions on the self-same spot. religious differences and religious hatreds were to mingle their poison with antagonistic political theories and personal ambitions, and to develop on a wide scale the danger ever lurking in a constitution whose fundamental law was unstable, ill defined, and liable to contradictory interpretations. for the present it need only be noticed that the states-general, guided by barneveld, most vigorously suppressed the local revolt and the incipient secession, while prince maurice, the right arm of the executive, the stadholder of the province, and the representative of the military power of the commonwealth, was languid in the exertion of that power, inclined to listen to the specious arguments of the utrecht rebels, and accused at least of tampering with the fell spirit which the advocate was resolute to destroy. yet there was no suspicion of treason, no taint of rebellion, no accusation of unpatriotic motives uttered against the stadholder. there was a doubt as to the true maxims by which the confederacy was to be governed, and at this moment, certainly, the prince and the advocate represented opposite ideas. there was a possibility, at a future day, when the religious and political parties might develop themselves on a wider scale and the struggles grow fiercer, that the two great champions in the conflict might exchange swords and inflict mutual and poisoned wounds. at present the party of the union had triumphed, with barneveld at its head. at a later but not far distant day, similar scenes might be enacted in the ancient city of utrecht, but with a strange difference and change in the cast of parts and with far more tragical results. for the moment the moderate party in the church, those more inclined to arminianism and the supremacy of the civil authority in religious matters, had asserted their ascendency in the states-general, and had prevented the threatened rupture. meantime it was doubly necessary to hasten the special embassies to france and to england, in both which countries much anxiety as to the political health and strength of the new republic had been excited by these troubles in utrecht. it was important for the states-general to show that they were not crippled, and would not shrink from the coming conflict, but would justify the reliance placed on them by their allies. thus there were reasons enough why barneveld could not himself leave the country in the eventful spring of . it must be admitted, however, that he was not backward in placing his nearest relatives in places of honour, trust, and profit. his eldest son reinier, seignior of groeneveld, had been knighted by henry iv.; his youngest, william, afterwards called seignior of stoutenburg, but at this moment bearing the not very mellifluous title of craimgepolder, was a gentleman-in-waiting at that king's court, with a salary of crowns a year. he was rather a favourite with the easy-going monarch, but he gave infinite trouble to the dutch ambassador aerssens, who, feeling himself under immense obligations to the advocate and professing for him boundless gratitude, did his best to keep the idle, turbulent, extravagant, and pleasure-loving youth up to the strict line of his duties. "your son is in debt again," wrote aerssens, on one occasion, "and troubled for money. he is in danger of going to the usurers. he says he cannot keep himself for less than crowns a month. this is a large allowance, but he has spent much more than that. his life is not irregular nor his dress remarkably extravagant. his difficulty is that he will not dine regularly with me nor at court. he will keep his own table and have company to dinner. that is what is ruining him. he comes sometimes to me, not for the dinner nor the company, but for tennis, which he finds better in my faubourg than in town. his trouble comes from the table, and i tell you frankly that you must regulate his expenses or they will become very onerous to you. i am ashamed of them and have told him so a hundred times, more than if he had been my own brother. it is all for love of you . . . . i have been all to him that could be expected of a man who is under such vast obligations to you; and i so much esteem the honour of your friendship that i should always neglect my private affairs in order to do everything for your service and meet your desires . . . . . if m. de craimgepolder comes back from his visit home, you must restrict him in two things, the table and tennis, and you can do this if you require him to follow the king assiduously as his service requires." something at a future day was to be heard of william of barneveld, as well as of his elder brother reinier, and it is good, therefore, to have these occasional glimpses of him while in the service of the king and under the supervision of one who was then his father's devoted friend, francis aerssens. there were to be extraordinary and tragical changes in the relations of parties and of individuals ere many years should go by. besides the sons of the advocate, his two sons-in-law, brederode, seignior of veenhuizep, and cornelis van der myle, were constantly employed? in important embassies. van der myle had been the first ambassador to the great venetian republic, and was now placed at the head of the embassy to france, an office which it was impossible at that moment for the advocate to discharge. at the same critical moment barneveld's brother elias, pensionary of rotterdam, was appointed one of the special high commissioners to the king of great britain. it is necessary to give an account of this embassy. they were provided with luminous and minute instructions from the hand of the advocate. they were, in the first place, and ostensibly, to thank the king for his services in bringing about the truce, which, truly, had been of the slightest, as was very well known. they were to explain, on the part of the states, their delay in sending this solemn commission, caused by the tardiness of the king of spain in sending his ratification to the treaty, and by the many disputations caused by the irresolutions of the archdukes and the obstinacy of their commissioners in regard to their many contraventions of the treaty. after those commissioners had gone, further hindrances had been found in the "extraordinary tempests, high floods, rising of the waters, both of the ocean and the rivers, and the very disastrous inundations throughout nearly all the united provinces, with the immense and exorbitant damage thus inflicted, both on the public and on many individuals; in addition to all which were to be mentioned the troubles in the city of utrecht." they were, in almost hyperbolical language, directed to express the eternal gratitude of the states for the constant favours received by them from the crown of england, and their readiness to stand forth at any moment with sincere affection and to the utmost of their power, at all times and seasons, in resistance of any attempts against his majesty's person or crown, or against the prince of wales or the royal family. they were to thank him for his "prudent, heroic, and courageous resolve to suffer nothing to be done under colour of justice, authority, or any other pretext, to the hindrance of the elector of brandenburg and palatine of neuburg, in the maintenance of their lawful rights and possession of the principalities of julich, cleve, and berg, and other provinces." by this course his majesty, so the commissioners were to state, would put an end to the imaginations of those who thought they could give the law to everybody according to their pleasure. they were to assure the king that the states-general would exert themselves to the utmost to second his heroic resolution, notwithstanding the enormous burthens of their everlasting war, the very exorbitant damage caused by the inundations, and the sensible diminution in the contributions and other embarrassments then existing in the country. they were to offer foot and horse for the general purpose under prince henry of nassau, besides the succours furnished by the king of france and the electors and princes of germany. further assistance in men, artillery, and supplies were promised under certain contingencies, and the plan of the campaign on the meuse in conjunction with the king of france was duly mapped. they were to request a corresponding promise of men and money from the king of great britain, and they were to propose for his approval a closer convention for mutual assistance between his majesty, the united netherlands, the king of france, the electors and princes and other powers of germany; as such close union would be very beneficial to all christendom. it would put a stop to all unjust occupations, attempts, and intrigues, and if the king was thereto inclined, he was requested to indicate time and place for making such a convention. the commissioners were further to point out the various contraventions on the part of the archdukes of the treaty of truce, and were to give an exposition of the manner in which the states-general had quelled the tumults at utrecht, and reasons why such a course had of necessity been adopted. they were instructed to state that, "over and above the great expenses of the late war and the necessary maintenance of military forces to protect their frontiers against their suspected new friends or old enemies, the provinces were burthened with the cost of the succour to the elector of brandenburg and palatine of neuburg, and would be therefore incapable of furnishing the payments coming due to his majesty. they were accordingly to sound his majesty as to whether a good part of the debt might not be remitted or at least an arrangement made by which the terms should begin to run only after a certain number of years." they were also directed to open the subject of the fisheries on the coasts of great britain, and to remonstrate against the order lately published by the king forbidding all foreigners from fishing on those coasts. this was to be set forth as an infringement both of natural law and of ancient treaties, and as a source of infinite danger to the inhabitants of the united provinces. the seignior of warmond, chief of the commission, died on the th april. his colleagues met at brielle on the th, ready to take passage to england in the ship of war, the hound. they were, however, detained there six days by head winds and great storms, and it was not until the nd that they were able to put to sea. the following evening their ship cast anchor in gravesend. half an hour before, the duke of wurtemberg had arrived from flushing in a ship of war brought from france by the prince of anhalt. sir lewis lewkener, master of ceremonies, had been waiting for the ambassadors at gravesend, and informed them that the royal barges were to come next morning from london to take them to town. they remained that night on board the hound, and next morning, the wind blowing up the river, they proceeded in their ship as far as blackwall, where they were formally received and bade welcome in the name of the king by sir thomas cornwallis and sir george carew, late ambassador in france. escorted by them and sir lewis, they were brought in the court barges to tower wharf. here the royal coaches were waiting, in which they were taken to lodgings provided for them in the city at the house of a dutch merchant. noel de caron, seignior of schonewal, resident ambassador of the states in london, was likewise there to greet them. this was saturday night: on the following tuesday they went by appointment to the palace of whitehall in royal carriages for their first audience. manifestations of as entire respect and courtesy had thus been made to the republican envoys as could be shown to the ambassadors of the greatest sovereigns. they found the king seated on his throne in the audience chamber, accompanied by the prince of wales, the duke of york, the lord high treasurer and lord high admiral, the duke of lenox, the earls of arundel and northampton, and many other great nobles and dignitaries. james rose from his seat, took off his hat, and advanced several paces to meet the ambassadors, and bade them courteously and respectfully welcome. he then expressed his regret at the death of the seignior of warmond, and after the exchange of a few commonplaces listened, still with uncovered head, to the opening address. the spokesman, after thanking the king for his condolences on the death of the chief commissioner, whom, as was stated with whimsical simplicity, "the good god had called to himself after all his luggage had been put on board ship," proceeded in the french language to give a somewhat abbreviated paraphrase of barneveld's instructions. when this was done and intimation made that they would confer more fully with his majesty's council on the subjects committed to their charge, the ambassadors were conducted home with the same ceremonies as had accompanied their arrival. they received the same day the first visit from the ambassadors of france and venice, boderie and carrero, and had a long conference a few days afterwards with the high treasurer, lord salisbury. on the rd may they were invited to attend the pompous celebration of the festival of st. george in the palace at westminster, where they were placed together with the french ambassador in the king's oratorium; the dukes of wurtemberg and brunswick being in that of the queen. these details are especially to be noted, and were at the moment of considerable importance, for this was the first solemn and extraordinary embassy sent by the rebel netherlanders, since their independent national existence had been formally vindicated, to great britain, a power which a quarter of a century before had refused the proffered sovereignty over them. placed now on exactly the same level with the representatives of emperors and kings, the republican envoys found themselves looked upon by the world with different eyes from those which had regarded their predecessors askance, and almost with derision, only seven years before. at that epoch the states' commissioners, barneveld himself at the head of them, had gone solemnly to congratulate king james on his accession, had scarcely been admitted to audience by king or minister, and had found themselves on great festivals unsprinkled with the holy water of the court, and of no more account than the crowd of citizens and spectators who thronged the streets, gazing with awe at the distant radiance of the throne. but although the ambassadors were treated with every external consideration befitting their official rank, they were not likely to find themselves in the most genial atmosphere when they should come to business details. if there was one thing in the world that james did not intend to do, it was to get himself entangled in war with spain, the power of all others which he most revered and loved. his "heroic and courageous resolve" to defend the princes, on which the commissioners by instructions of the advocate had so highly complimented him, was not strong enough to carry him much beyond a vigorous phraseology. he had not awoke from the delusive dream of the spanish marriage which had dexterously been made to flit before him, and he was not inclined, for the sake of the republic which he hated the more because obliged to be one of its sponsors, to risk the animosity of a great power which entertained the most profound contempt for him. he was destined to find himself involved more closely than he liked, and through family ties, with the great protestant movement in germany, and the unfortunate "winter king" might one day find his father-in-law as unstable a reed to lean upon as the states had found their godfather, or the brandenburgs and neuburgs at the present juncture their great ally. meantime, as the bohemian troubles had not yet reached the period of actual explosion, and as henry's wide-reaching plan against the house of austria had been strangely enough kept an inviolable secret by the few statesmen, like sully and barneveld, to whom they had been confided, it was necessary for the king and his ministers to deal cautiously and plausibly with the dutch ambassadors. their conferences were mere dancing among eggs, and if no actual mischief were done, it was the best result that could be expected. on the th of may, the commissioners met in the council chamber at westminster, and discussed all the matters contained in their instructions with the members of the council; the lord treasurer salisbury, earl of northampton, privy seal and warden of the cinque ports, lord nottingham, lord high admiral, the lord chamberlain, earl of suffolk, earls of shrewsbury, worcester, and several others being present. the result was not entirely satisfactory. in regard to the succour demanded for the possessory princes, the commissioners were told that they seemed to come with a long narrative of their great burthens during the war, damage from inundations, and the like, to excuse themselves from doing their share in the succour, and thus the more to overload his majesty, who was not much interested in the matter, and was likewise greatly encumbered by various expenses. the king had already frankly declared his intention to assist the princes with the payment of men, and to send proportionate artillery and powder from england. as the states had supplies in their magazines enough to move , men, he proposed to draw upon those, reimbursing the states for what was thus consumed by his contingent. with regard to the treaty of close alliance between france, great britain, the princes, and the republic, which the ambassadors had proposed, the--lord treasurer and his colleagues gave a reply far from gratifying. his majesty had not yet decided on this point, they said. the king of france had already proposed to treat for such an alliance, but it did not at present seem worth while for all to negotiate together. this was a not over-courteous hint that the republic was after all not expected to place herself at the council-board of kings on even terms of intimacy and fraternal alliance. what followed was even less flattering. if his majesty, it was intimated, should decide to treat with the king of france, he would not shut the door on their high mightinesses; but his majesty was not yet exactly informed whether his majesty had not certain rights over the provinces 'in petitorio.' this was a scarcely veiled insinuation against the sovereignty of the states, a sufficiently broad hint that they were to be considered in a certain degree as british provinces. to a soldier like maurice, to a statesman like barneveld, whose sympathies already were on the side of france, such rebuffs and taunts were likely to prove unpalatable. the restiveness of the states at the continual possession by great britain of those important sea-ports the cautionary towns, a fact which gave colour to these innuendoes, was sure to be increased by arrogant language on the part of the english ministers. the determination to be rid of their debt to so overbearing an ally, and to shake off the shackles imposed by the costly mortgages, grew in strength from that hour. in regard to the fisheries, the lord treasurer and his colleagues expressed amazement that the ambassadors should consider the subjects of their high mightinesses to be so much beloved by his majesty. why should they of all other people be made an exception of, and be exempt from, the action of a general edict? the reasons for these orders in council ought to be closely examined. it would be very difficult to bring the opinions of the english jurists into harmony with those of the states. meantime it would be well to look up such treaties as might be in existence, and have a special joint commission to confer together on the subject. it was very plain, from the course of the conversation, that the netherland fishermen were not to be allowed, without paying roundly for a license, to catch herrings on the british coasts as they had heretofore done. not much more of importance was transacted at this first interview between the ambassadors and the ding's ministers. certainly they had not yet succeeded in attaining their great object, the formation of an alliance offensive and defensive between great britain and the republic in accordance with the plan concerted between henry and barneveld. they could find but slender encouragement for the warlike plans to which france and the states were secretly committed; nor could they obtain satisfactory adjustment of affairs more pacific and commercial in their tendencies. the english ministers rather petulantly remarked that, while last year everybody was talking of a general peace, and in the present conjuncture all seemed to think, or at least to speak, of nothing but a general war, they thought best to defer consideration of the various subjects connected with duties on the manufactures and products of the respective countries, the navigation laws, the "entrecours," and other matters of ancient agreement and controversy, until a more convenient season. after the termination of the verbal conference, the ambassadors delivered to the king's government, in writing, to be pondered by the council and recorded in the archives, a summary of the statements which had been thus orally treated. the document was in french, and in the main a paraphrase of the advocate's instructions, the substance of which has been already indicated. in regard, however, to the far-reaching designs of spain, and the corresponding attitude which it would seem fitting for great britain to assume, and especially the necessity of that alliance the proposal for which had in the conference been received so haughtily, their language was far plainer, bolder, and more vehement than that of the instructions. "considering that the effects show," they said, "that those who claim the monarchy of christendom, and indeed of the whole world, let slip no opportunity which could in any way serve their designs, it is suitable to the grandeur of his majesty the king, and to the station in which by the grace of the good god he is placed, to oppose himself thereto for the sake of the common liberty of christendom, to which end, and in order the better to prevent all unjust usurpations, there could be no better means devised than a closer alliance between his majesty and the most christian king, my lords the states-general, and the electors, princes, and states of germany. their high mightinesses would therefore be most glad to learn that his majesty was inclined to such a course, and would be glad to discuss the subject when and wherever his majesty should appoint, or would readily enter into such an alliance on reasonable conditions." this language and the position taken up by the ambassadors were highly approved by their government, but it was fated that no very great result was to be achieved by this embassy. very elaborate documents, exhaustive in legal lore, on the subject of the herring fisheries, and of the right to fish in the ocean and on foreign coasts, fortified by copious citations from the 'pandects' and 'institutes' of justinian, were presented for the consideration of the british government, and were answered as learnedly, exhaustively, and ponderously. the english ministers were also reminded that the curing of herrings had been invented in the fifteenth century by a citizen of biervliet, the inscription on whose tombstone recording that faces might still be read in the church of that town. all this did not prevent, however, the dutch herring fishermen from being excluded from the british waters unless they chose to pay for licenses. the conferences were however for a season interrupted, and a new aspect was given to affairs by an unforeseen and terrible event. meanwhile it is necessary to glance for a moment at the doings of the special embassy to france, the instructions for which were prepared by barneveld almost at the same moment at which he furnished those for the commission to england. the ambassadors were walraven, seignior of brederode, cornelis van der myle, son-in-law of the advocate, and jacob van maldere. remembering how impatient the king of france had long been for their coming, and that all the preparations and decisions for a great war were kept in suspense until the final secret conferences could be held with the representatives of the states-general, it seems strange enough to us to observe the extreme deliberation with which great affairs of state were then conducted and the vast amount of time consumed in movements and communications which modern science has either annihilated or abridged from days to hours. while henry was chafing with anxiety in paris, the ambassadors, having received barneveld's instructions dated st march, set forth on the th april from the hague, reached rotterdam at noon, and slept at dordrecht. newt day they went to breda, where the prince of orange insisted upon their passing a couple of days with him in his castle, easter-day being th april. he then provided them with a couple of coaches and pair in which they set forth on their journey, going by way of antwerp, ghent, courtray, ryssel, to arras, making easy stages, stopping in the middle of the day to bait, and sleeping at each of the cities thus mentioned, where they duly received the congratulatory visit and hospitalities of their respective magistracies. while all this time had been leisurely employed in the netherlands in preparing, instructing, and despatching the commissioners, affairs were reaching a feverish crisis in france. the states' ambassador resident thought that it would have been better not to take such public offence at the retreat of the prince of conde. the king had enough of life and vigour in him; he could afford to leave the dauphin to grow up, and when he should one day be established on the throne, he would be able to maintain his heritage. "but," said aerssens, "i fear that our trouble is not where we say it is, and we don't dare to say where it is." writing to carew, former english ambassador in paris, whom we have just seen in attendance on the states' commissioners in london, he said: "people think that the princess is wearying herself much under the protection of the infanta, and very impatient at not obtaining the dissolution of her marriage, which the duchess of angouleme is to go to brussels to facilitate. this is not our business, but i mention it only as the continuation of the tragedy which you saw begin. nevertheless i don't know if the greater part of our deliberations is not founded on this matter." it had been decided to cause the queen to be solemnly crowned after easter. she had set her heart with singular persistency upon the ceremony, and it was thought that so public a sacrament would annihilate all the wild projects attributed to spain through the instrumentality of conde to cast doubts on the validity of her marriage and the legitimacy of the dauphin. the king from the first felt and expressed a singular repugnance, a boding apprehension in regard to the coronation, but had almost yielded to the queen's importunity. he told her he would give his consent provided she sent concini to brussels to invite in her own name the princess of conde to be present on the occasion. otherwise he declared that at least the festival should be postponed till september. the marquis de coeuvres remained in disgrace after the failure of his mission, henry believing that like all the world he had fallen in love with the princess, and had only sought to recommend himself, not to further the suit of his sovereign. meanwhile henry had instructed his ambassador in spain, m. de vaucelas, to tell the king that his reception of conde within his dominions would be considered an infraction of the treaty of vervins and a direct act of hostility. the duke of lerma answered with a sneer that the most christian king had too greatly obliged his most catholic majesty by sustaining his subjects in their rebellion and by aiding them to make their truce to hope now that conde would be sent back. france had ever been the receptacle of spanish traitors and rebels from antonio perez down, and the king of spain would always protect wronged and oppressed princes like conde. france had just been breaking up the friendly relations between savoy and spain and goading the duke into hostilities. on the other hand the king had more than one stormy interview with don inigo de cardenas in paris. that ambassador declared that his master would never abandon his only sister the most serene infanta, such was the affection he born her, whose dominions were obviously threatened by these french armies about to move to the frontiers. henry replied that the friends for whom he was arming had great need of his assistance; that his catholic majesty was quite right to love his sister, whom he also loved; but that he did not choose that his own relatives should be so much beloved in spain as they were. "what relatives?" asked don inigo. "the prince of conde," replied the king, in a rage, "who has been debauched by the spaniards just as marshal biron was, and the marchioness verneuil, and so many others. there are none left for them to debauch now but the dauphin and his brothers." the ambassador replied that, if the king had consulted him about the affair of conde, he could have devised a happy issue from it. henry rejoined that he had sent messages on the subject to his catholic majesty, who had not deigned a response, but that the duke of lerma had given a very indiscreet one to his ambassador. don inigo professed ignorance of any such reply. the king said it was a mockery to affect ignorance of such matters. thereupon both grew excited and very violent in their discourses; the more so as henry knowing but little spanish and the envoy less french they could only understand from tone and gesture that each was using exceedingly unpleasant language. at last don inigo asked what he should write to his sovereign. "whatever you like," replied the king, and so the audience terminated, each remaining in a towering passion. subsequently villeroy assured the archduke's ambassador that the king considered the reception given to the prince in the spanish dominions as one of the greatest insults and injuries that could be done to him. nothing could excuse it, said the secretary of state, and for this reason it was very difficult for the two kings to remain at peace with each other, and that it would be wiser to prevent at once the evil designs of his catholic majesty than to leave leisure for the plans to be put into execution, and the claims of the dauphin to his father's crown to be disputed at a convenient season. he added that war would not be made for the princess, but for the prince, and that even the war in germany, although spain took the emperor's side and france that of the possessory princes, would not necessarily produce a rupture between the two kings if it were not for this affair of the prince--true cause of the disaster now hanging over christianity. pecquius replied by smooth commonplaces in favour of peace with which villeroy warmly concurred; both sadly expressing the conviction however that the wrath divine had descended on them all on account of their sins. a few days later, however, the secretary changed his tone. "i will speak to you frankly and clearly," he said to pecquius, "and tell you as from myself that there is passion, and if one is willing to arrange the affair of the princess, everything else can be accommodated and appeased. put if the princess remain where she is, we are on the eve of a rupture which may set fire to the four corners of christendom." pecquius said he liked to talk roundly, and was glad to find that he had not been mistaken in his opinion, that all these commotions were only made for the princess, and if all the world was going to war, she would be the principal subject of it. he could not marvel sufficiently, he said, at this vehement passion which brought in its train so great and horrible a conflagration; adding many arguments to show that it was no fault of the archdukes, but that he who was the cause of all might one day have reason to repent. villeroy replied that "the king believed the princess to be suffering and miserable for love of him, and that therefore he felt obliged to have her sent back to her father." pecquius asked whether in his conscience the secretary of state believed it right or reasonable to make war for such a cause. villeroy replied by asking "whether even admitting the negative, the ambassador thought it were wisely done for such a trifle, for a formality, to plunge into extremities and to turn all christendom upside down." pecquius, not considering honour a trifle or a formality, said that "for nothing in the world would his highness the archduke descend to a cowardly action or to anything that would sully his honour." villeroy said that the prince had compelled his wife, pistol in hand, to follow him to the netherlands, and that she was no longer bound to obey a husband who forsook country and king. her father demanded her, and she said "she would rather be strangled than ever to return to the company of her husband." the archdukes were not justified in keeping her against her will in perpetual banishment. he implored the ambassador in most pathetic terms to devise some means of sending back the princess, saying that he who should find such expedient would do the greatest good that was ever done to christianity, and that otherwise there was no guarantee against a universal war. the first design of the king had been merely to send a moderate succour to the princes of brandenburg and neuburg, which could have given no umbrage to the archdukes, but now the bitterness growing out of the affairs of the prince and princess had caused him to set on foot a powerful army to do worse. he again implored pecquius to invent some means of sending back the princess, and the ambassador besought him ardently to divert the king from his designs. of this the secretary of state left little hope and they parted, both very low and dismal in mind. subsequent conversations with the leading councillors of state convinced pecquius that these violent menaces were only used to shake the constancy of the archduke, but that they almost all highly disapproved the policy of the king. "if this war goes on, we are all ruined," said the duke d'epernon to the nuncius. thus there had almost ceased to be any grimacing between the two kings, although it was still a profound mystery where or when hostilities would begin, and whether they would break out at all. henry frequently remarked that the common opinion all over europe was working in his favour. few people in or out of france believed that he meant a rupture, or that his preparations were serious. thus should he take his enemies unawares and unprepared. even aerssens, who saw him almost daily, was sometimes mystified, in spite of henry's vehement assertions that he was resolved to make war at all hazards and on all sides, provided my lords the states would second him as they ought, their own existence being at stake. "for god's sake," cried the king, "let us take the bit into our mouths. tell your masters that i am quite resolved, and that i am shrieking loudly at their delays." he asked if he could depend on the states, if barneveld especially would consent to a league with him. the ambassador replied that for the affair of cleve and julich he had instructions to promise entire concurrence, that barneveld was most resolute in the matter, and had always urged the enterprise and wished information as to the levies making in france and other military preparations. "tell him," said henry, "that they are going on exactly as often before stated, but that we are holding everything in suspense until i have talked with your ambassadors, from whom i wish counsel, safety, and encouragement for doing much more than the julich business. that alone does not require so great a league and such excessive and unnecessary expense." the king observed however that the question of the duchies would serve as just cause and excellent pretext to remove those troublesome fellows for ever from his borders and those of the states. thus the princes would be established safely in their possession and the republic as well as himself freed from the perpetual suspicions which the spaniards excited by their vile intrigues, and it was on this general subject that he wished to confer with the special commissioners. it would not be possible for him to throw succour into julich without passing through luxemburg in arms. the archdukes would resist this, and thus a cause of war would arise. his campaign on the meuse would help the princes more than if he should only aid them by the contingent he had promised. nor could the jealousy of king james be excited since the war would spring out of the archdukes' opposition to his passage towards the duchies, as he obviously could not cut himself off from his supplies, leaving a hostile province between himself and his kingdom. nevertheless he could not stir, he said, without the consent and active support of the states, on whom he relied as his principal buttress and foundation. the levies for the milanese expedition were waiting until marshal de lesdiguieres could confer personally with the duke of savoy. the reports as to the fidelity of that potentate were not to be believed. he was trifling with the spanish ambassadors, so henry was convinced, who were offering him , crowns a year besides piombino, monaco, and two places in the milanese, if he would break his treaty with france. but he was thought to be only waiting until they should be gone before making his arrangements with lesdiguieres. "he knows that he can put no trust in spain, and that he can confide in me," said the king. "i have made a great stroke by thus entangling the king of spain by the use of a few troops in italy. but i assure you that there is none but me and my lords the states that can do anything solid. whether the duke breaks or holds fast will make no difference in our first and great designs. for the honour of god i beg them to lose no more time, but to trust in me. i will never deceive them, never abandon them." at last , infantry and cavalry were already in marching order, and indeed had begun to move towards the luxemburg frontier, ready to co-operate with the states' army and that of the possessory princes for the campaign of the meuse and rhine. twelve thousand more french troops under lesdiguieres were to act with the duke of savoy, and an army as large was to assemble in the pyrenees and to operate on the spanish frontier, in hope of exciting and fomenting an insurrection caused by the expulsion of the moors. that gigantic act of madness by which spain thought good at this juncture to tear herself to pieces, driving hundreds of thousands of the most industrious, most intelligent, and most opulent of her population into hopeless exile, had now been accomplished, and was to stand prominent for ever on the records of human fatuity. twenty-five thousand moorish families had arrived at bayonne, and the viceroy of canada had been consulted as to the possibility and expediency of establishing them in that province, although emigration thither seemed less tempting to them than to virginia. certainly it was not unreasonable for henry to suppose that a kingdom thus torn by internal convulsions might be more open to a well organized attack, than capable of carrying out at that moment fresh projects of universal dominion. as before observed, sully was by no means in favour of this combined series of movements, although at a later day, when dictating his famous memoirs to his secretaries, he seems to describe himself as enthusiastically applauding and almost originating them. but there is no doubt at all that throughout this eventful spring he did his best to concentrate the whole attack on luxemburg and the meuse districts, and wished that the movements in the milanese and in provence should be considered merely a slight accessory, as not much more than a diversion to the chief design, while villeroy and his friends chose to consider the duke of savoy as the chief element in the war. sully thoroughly distrusted the duke, whom he deemed to be always put up at auction between spain and france and incapable of a sincere or generous policy. he was entirely convinced that villeroy and epernon and jeannin and other earnest papists in france were secretly inclined to the cause of spain, that the whole faction of the queen, in short, were urging this scattering of the very considerable forces now at henry's command in the hope of bringing him into a false position, in which defeat or an ignominious peace would be the alternative. to concentrate an immense attack upon the archdukes in the spanish netherlands and the debateable duchies would have for its immediate effect the expulsion of the spaniards out of all those provinces and the establishment of the dutch commonwealth on an impregnable basis. that this would be to strengthen infinitely the huguenots in france and the cause of protestantism in bohemia, moravia and austria, was unquestionable. it was natural, therefore, that the stern and ardent huguenot should suspect the plans of the catholics with whom he was in daily council. one day he asked the king plumply in the presence of villeroy if his majesty meant anything serious by all these warlike preparations. henry was wroth, and complained bitterly that one who knew him to the bottom of his soul should doubt him. but sully could not persuade himself that a great and serious war would be carried on both in the netherlands and in italy. as much as his sovereign he longed for the personal presence of barneveld, and was constantly urging the states' ambassador to induce his coming to paris. "you know," said aerssens, writing to the french ambassador at the hague, de russy, "that it is the advocate alone that has the universal knowledge of the outside and the inside of our commonwealth." sully knew his master as well as any man knew him, but it was difficult to fix the chameleon hues of henry at this momentous epoch. to the ambassador expressing doubts as to the king's sincerity the duke asserted that henry was now seriously piqued with the spaniard on account of the conde business. otherwise anhalt and the possessory princes and the affair of cleve might have had as little effect in driving him into war as did the interests of the netherlands in times past. but the bold demonstration projected would make the "whole spanish party bleed at the nose; a good result for the public peace." therefore sully sent word to barneveld, although he wished his name concealed, that he ought to come himself, with full powers to do everything, without referring to any superiors or allowing any secrets to be divulged. the king was too far committed to withdraw, unless coldness on part of the states should give him cause. the advocate must come prepared to answer all questions; to say how much in men and money the states would contribute, and whether they would go into the war with the king as their only ally. he must come with the bridle on his neck. all that henry feared was being left in the lurch by the states; otherwise he was not afraid of rome. sully was urgent that the provinces should now go vigorously into the war without stumbling at any consideration. thus they would confirm their national power for all time, but if the opportunity were now lost, it would be their ruin, and posterity would most justly blame them. the king of spain was so stripped of troops and resources, so embarrassed by the moors, that in ten months he would not be able to send one man to the netherlands. meantime the nuncius in paris was moving heaven and earth; storming, intriguing, and denouncing the course of the king in protecting heresy, when it would have been so easy to extirpate it, encouraging rebellion and disorder throughout christendom, and embarking in an action against the church and against his conscience. a new legate was expected daily with the pope's signature to the new league, and a demand upon the king to sign it likewise, and to pause in a career of which something was suspected, but very little accurately known. the preachers in paris and throughout the kingdom delivered most vehement sermons against the king, the government, and the protestants, and seemed to the king to be such "trumpeters of sedition" that he ordered the seneschals and other officers to put a stop to these turbulent discourses, censure their authors, and compel them to stick to their texts. but the preparations were now so far advanced and going on so warmly that nothing more was wanting than, in the words of aerssens, "to uncouple the dogs and let them run." recruits were pouring steadily to their places of rendezvous; their pay having begun to run from the th march at the rate of eight sous a day for the private foot soldier and ten sous for a corporal. they were moved in small parties of ten, lodged in the wayside inns, and ordered, on pain of death, to pay for everything they consumed. it was growing difficult to wait much longer for the arrival of the special ambassadors, when at last they were known to be on their way. aerssens obtained for their use the hotel gondy, formerly the residence of don pedro de toledo, the most splendid private palace in paris, and recently purchased by the queen. it was considered expedient that the embassy should make as stately an appearance as that of royal or imperial envoys. he engaged an upholsterer by the king's command to furnish, at his majesty's expense, the apartments, as the baron de gondy, he said, had long since sold and eaten up all the furniture. he likewise laid in six pieces of wine and as many of beer, "tavern drinks" being in the opinion of the thrifty ambassador "both dear and bad." he bought a carriage lined with velvet for the commissioners, and another lined with broadcloth for the principal persons of their suite, and with his own coach as a third he proposed to go to amiens to meet them. they could not get on with fewer than these, he said, and the new carriages would serve their purpose in paris. he had paid crowns for the two, and they could be sold, when done with, at a slight loss. he bought likewise four dapple-grey horses, which would be enough, as nobody had more than two horses to a carriage in town, and for which he paid crowns--a very low price, he thought, at a season when every one was purchasing. he engaged good and experienced coachmen at two crowns a month, and; in short, made all necessary arrangements for their comfort and the honour of the state. the king had been growing more and more displeased at the tardiness of the commission, petulantly ascribing it to a design on the part of the states to "excuse themselves from sharing in his bold conceptions," but said that "he could resolve on nothing without my lords the states, who were the only power with which he could contract confidently, as mighty enough and experienced enough to execute the designs to be proposed to them; so that his army was lying useless on his hands until the commissioners arrived," and lamented more loudly than ever that barneveld was not coming with them. he was now rejoiced, however, to hear that they would soon arrive, and went in person to the hotel gondy to see that everything was prepared in a manner befitting their dignity and comfort. his anxiety had moreover been increased, as already stated, by the alarming reports from utrecht and by his other private accounts from the netherlands. de russy expressed in his despatches grave doubts whether the states would join the king in a war against the king of spain, because they feared the disapprobation of the king of great britain, "who had already manifested but too much jealousy of the power and grandeur of the republic." pecquius asserted that the archdukes had received assurances from the states that they would do nothing to violate the truce. the prince of anhalt, who, as chief of the army of the confederated princes, was warm in his demonstrations for a general war by taking advantage of the cleve expedition, was entirely at cross purposes with the states' ambassador in paris, aerssens maintaining that the forty-three years' experience in their war justified the states in placing no dependence on german princes except with express conventions. they had no such conventions now, and if they should be attacked by spain in consequence of their assistance in the cleve business, what guarantee of aid had they from those whom anhalt represented? anhalt was loud in expressions of sympathy with henry's designs against spain, but said that he and the states meant a war of thirty or forty years, while the princes would finish what they meant to do in one. a more erroneous expression of opinion, when viewed in the light of subsequent events, could hardly have been hazarded. villeroy made as good use as he could of these conversations to excite jealousy between the princes and the states for the furtherance of his own ends, while affecting warm interest in the success of the king's projects. meantime archduke albert had replied manfully and distinctly to the menaces of the king and to the pathetic suggestions made by villeroy to pecquius as to a device for sending back the princess. her stay at brussels being the chief cause of the impending war, it would be better, he said, to procure a divorce or to induce the constable to obtain the consent of the prince to the return of his wife to her father's house. to further either of these expedients, the archduke would do his best. "but if one expects by bravados and threats," he added, "to force us to do a thing against our promise, and therefore against reason, our reputation, and honour, resolutely we will do nothing of the kind. and if the said lord king decided on account of this misunderstanding for a rupture and to make war upon us, we will do our best to wage war on him. in such case, however, we shall be obliged to keep the princess closer in our own house, and probably to send her to such parts as may be most convenient in order to remove from us an instrument of the infinite evils which this war will produce." meantime the special commissioners whom we left at arras had now entered the french kingdom. on the th april, aerssens with his three coaches met them on their entrance into amiens, having been waiting there for them eight days. as they passed through the gate, they found a guard of soldiers drawn up to receive them with military honours, and an official functionary to apologize for the necessary absence of the governor, who had gone with most of the troops stationed in the town to the rendezvous in champagne. he expressed regret, therefore, that the king's orders for their solemn reception could not be literally carried out. the whole board of magistrates, however, in their costumes of ceremony, with sergeants bearing silver maces marching before them, came forth to bid the ambassadors welcome. an advocate made a speech in the name of the city authorities, saying that they were expressly charged by the king to receive them as coming from his very best friends, and to do them all honour. he extolled the sage government of their high mightinesses and the valour of the republic, which had become known to the whole world by the successful conduct of their long and mighty war. the commissioners replied in words of compliment, and the magistrates then offered them, according to ancient usage, several bottles of hippocras. next day, sending back the carriages of the prince of orange, in which they had thus far performed the journey, they set forth towards paris, reaching saint-denis at noon of the third day. here they were met by de bonoeil, introducer of ambassadors, sent thither by the king to give them welcome, and to say that they would be received on the road by the duke of vendome, eldest of the legitimatized children of the king. accordingly before reaching the saint-denis gate of paris, a splendid cavalcade of nearly five hundred noblemen met them, the duke at their head, accompanied by two marshals of france, de brissac and boisdaulphin. the three instantly dismounted, and the ambassadors alighted from their coach. the duke then gave them solemn and cordial welcome, saying that he had been sent by his father the king to receive them as befitted envoys of the best and most faithful friends he possessed in the world. the ambassadors expressed their thanks for the great and extraordinary honour thus conferred on them, and they were then requested to get into a royal carriage which had been sent out for that purpose. after much ceremonious refusal they at last consented and, together with the duke of vendome, drove through paris in that vehicle into the faubourg saint germain. arriving at the hotel gondy, they were, notwithstanding all their protestations, escorted up the staircase into the apartments by the duke. "this honour is notable," said the commissioners in their report to the states, "and never shown to anyone before, so that our ill-wishers are filled with spite." and peter pecquius was of the same opinion. "everyone is grumbling here," about the reception of the states' ambassadors, "because such honours were never paid to any ambassador whatever, whether from spain, england, or any other country." and there were many men living and employed in great affairs of state, both in france and in the republic--the king and villeroy, barneveld and maurice--who could remember how twenty-six years before a solemn embassy from the states had proceeded from the hague to france to offer the sovereignty of their country to henry's predecessor, had been kept ignominiously and almost like prisoners four weeks long in rouen, and had been thrust back into the netherlands without being admitted even to one audience by the monarch. truly time, in the course of less than one generation of mankind, had worked marvellous changes in the fortunes of the dutch republic. president jeannin came to visit them next day, with friendly proffers of service, and likewise the ambassador of venice and the charge d'affaires of great britain. on the nd the royal carriages came by appointment to the hotel gondy, and took them for their first audience to the louvre. they were received at the gate by a guard of honour, drums beating and arms presented, and conducted with the greatest ceremony to an apartment in the palace. soon afterwards they were ushered into a gallery where the king stood, surrounded by a number of princes and distinguished officers of the crown. these withdrew on the approach of the netherlanders, leaving the king standing alone. they made their reverence, and henry saluted them all with respectful cordiality. begging them to put on their hats again, he listened attentively to their address. the language of the discourse now pronounced was similar in tenour to that almost contemporaneously held by the states' special envoys in london. both documents, when offered afterwards in writing, bore the unmistakable imprint of the one hand that guided the whole political machine. in various passages the phraseology was identical, and, indeed, the advocate had prepared and signed the instructions for both embassies on the same day. the commissioners acknowledged in the strongest possible terms the great and constant affection, quite without example, that henry had manifested to the netherlands during the whole course of their war. they were at a loss to find language adequately to express their gratitude for that friendship, and the assistance subsequently afforded them in the negotiations for truce. they apologized for the tardiness of the states in sending this solemn embassy of thanksgiving, partly on the ground of the delay in receiving the ratifications from spain, partly by the protracted contraventions by the archdukes of certain articles in the treaty, but principally by the terrible disasters occasioned throughout their country by the great inundations, and by the commotions in the city of utrecht, which had now been "so prudently and happily pacified." they stated that the chief cause of their embassy was to express their respectful gratitude, and to say that never had prince or state treasured more deeply in memory benefits received than did their republic the favours of his majesty, or could be more disposed to do their utmost to defend his majesty's person, crown, or royal family against all attack. they expressed their joy that the king had with prudence, and heroic courage undertaken the defence of the just rights of brandenburg and neuburg to the duchies of cleve, julich, and the other dependent provinces. thus had he put an end to the presumption of those who thought they could give the law to all the world. they promised the co-operation of the states in this most important enterprise of their ally, notwithstanding their great losses in the war just concluded, and the diminution of revenue occasioned by the inundations by which they had been afflicted; for they were willing neither to tolerate so unjust an usurpation as that attempted by the emperor nor to fail to second his majesty in his generous designs. they observed also that they had been instructed to enquire whether his majesty would not approve the contracting of a strict league of mutual assistance between france, england, the united provinces, and the princes of germany. the king, having listened with close attention, thanked the envoys in words of earnest and vigorous cordiality for their expressions of affection to himself. he begged them to remember that he had always been their good friend, and that he never would forsake them; that he had always hated the spaniards, and should ever hate them; and that the affairs of julich must be arranged not only for the present but for the future. he requested them to deliver their propositions in writing to him, and to be ready to put themselves into communication with the members of his council, in order that they might treat with each other roundly and without reserve. he should always deal with the netherlanders as with his own people, keeping no back-door open, but pouring out everything as into the lap of his best and most trusty friends. after this interview conferences followed daily between the ambassadors and villeroy, sully, jeannin, the chancellor, and puysieug. the king's counsellors, after having read the written paraphrase of barneveld's instructions, the communication of which followed their oral statements, and which, among other specifications, contained a respectful remonstrance against the projected french east india company, as likely to benefit the spaniards only, while seriously injuring the states, complained that "the representations were too general, and that the paper seemed to contain nothing but compliments." the ambassadors, dilating on the various points and articles, maintained warmly that there was much more than compliments in their instructions. the ministers wished to know what the states practically were prepared to do in the affair of cleve, which they so warmly and encouragingly recommended to the king. they asked whether the states' army would march at once to dusseldorf to protect the princes at the moment when the king moved from mezieres, and they made many enquiries as to what amount of supplies and munitions they could depend upon from the states' magazines. the envoys said that they had no specific instructions on these points, and could give therefore no conclusive replies. more than ever did henry regret the absence of the great advocate at this juncture. if he could have come, with the bridle on his neck, as henry had so repeatedly urged upon the resident ambassador, affairs might have marched more rapidly. the despotic king could never remember that barneveld was not the unlimited sovereign of the united states, but only the seal-keeper of one of the seven provinces and the deputy of holland to the general assembly. his indirect power, however vast, was only great because it was so carefully veiled. it was then proposed by villeroy and sully, and agreed to by the commissioners, that m. de bethune, a relative of the great financier, should be sent forthwith to the hague, to confer privately with prince maurice and barneveld especially, as to military details of the coming campaign. it was also arranged that the envoys should delay their departure until de bethune's return. meantime henry and the nuncius had been exchanging plain and passionate language. ubaldini reproached the king with disregarding all the admonitions of his holiness, and being about to plunge christendom into misery and war for the love of the princess of conde. he held up to him the enormity of thus converting the king of spain and the archdukes into his deadly enemies, and warned him that he would by such desperate measures make even the states-general and the king of britain his foes, who certainly would never favour such schemes. the king replied that "he trusted to his own forces, not to those of his neighbours, and even if the hollanders should not declare for him still he would execute his designs. on the th of may most certainly he would put himself at the head of his army, even if he was obliged to put off the queen's coronation till october, and he could not consider the king of spain nor the archdukes his friends unless they at once made him some demonstration of friendship. being asked by the nuncius what demonstration he wished, he answered flatly that he wished the princess to be sent back to the constable her father, in which case the affair of julich could be arranged amicably, and, at all events, if the war continued there, he need not send more than men." thus, in spite of his mighty preparations, vehement demands for barneveld, and profound combinations revealed to that statesman, to aerssens, and to the duke of sully only, this wonderful monarch was ready to drop his sword on the spot, to leave his friends in the lurch, to embrace his enemies, the archduke first of all, instead of bombarding brussels the very next week, as he had been threatening to do, provided the beautiful margaret could be restored to his arms through those of her venerable father. he suggested to the nuncius his hope that the archduke would yet be willing to wink at her escape, which he was now trying to arrange through de preaux at brussels, while ubaldini, knowing the archduke incapable of anything so dishonourable, felt that the war was inevitable. at the very same time too, father cotton, who was only too ready to betray the secrets of the confessional when there was an object to gain, had a long conversation with the archduke's ambassador, in which the holy man said that the king had confessed to him that he made the war expressly to cause the princess to be sent back to france, so that as there could be no more doubt on the subject the father-confessor begged pecquius, in order to prevent so great an evil, to devise "some prompt and sudden means to induce his highness the archduke to order the princess to retire secretly to her own country." the jesuit had different notions of honour, reputation, and duty from those which influenced the archduke. he added that "at easter the king had been so well disposed to seek his salvation that he could easily have forgotten his affection for the princess, had she not rekindled the fire by her letters, in which she caressed him with amorous epithets, calling him 'my heart,' 'my chevalier,' and similar terms of endearment." father cotton also drew up a paper, which he secretly conveyed to pecquius, "to prove that the archduke, in terms of conscience and honour, might decide to permit this escape, but he most urgently implored the ambassador that for the love of god and the public good he would influence his serene highness to prevent this from ever coming to the knowledge of the world, but to keep the secret inviolably." thus, while henry was holding high council with his own most trusted advisers, and with the most profound statesmen of europe, as to the opening campaign within a fortnight of a vast and general war, he was secretly plotting with his father-confessor to effect what he avowed to be the only purpose of that war, by jesuitical bird-lime to be applied to the chief of his antagonists. certainly barneveld and his colleagues were justified in their distrust. to move one step in advance of their potent but slippery ally might be a step off a precipice. on the st of may, sully made a long visit to the commissioners. he earnestly urged upon them the necessity of making the most of the present opportunity. there were people in plenty, he said, who would gladly see the king take another course, for many influential persons about him were altogether spanish in their inclinations. the king had been scandalized to hear from the prince of anhalt, without going into details, that on his recent passage through the netherlands he had noticed some change of feeling, some coolness in their high mightinesses. the duke advised that they should be very heedful, that they should remember how much more closely these matters regarded them than anyone else, that they should not deceive themselves, but be firmly convinced that unless they were willing to go head foremost into the business the french would likewise not commit themselves. sully spoke with much earnestness and feeling, for it was obvious that both he and his master had been disappointed at the cautious and limited nature of the instructions given to the ambassadors. an opinion had indeed prevailed, and, as we have seen, was to a certain extent shared in by aerssens, and even by sully himself, that the king's military preparations were after all but a feint, and that if the prince of conde, and with him the princess, could be restored to france, the whole war cloud would evaporate in smoke. it was even asserted that henry had made a secret treaty with the enemy, according to which, while apparently ready to burst upon the house of austria with overwhelming force, he was in reality about to shake hands cordially with that power, on condition of being allowed to incorporate into his own kingdom the very duchies in dispute, and of receiving the prince of conde and his wife from spain. he was thus suspected of being about to betray his friends and allies in the most ignoble manner and for the vilest of motives. the circulation of these infamous reports no doubt paralysed for a time the energy of the enemy who had made no requisite preparations against the threatened invasion, but it sickened his friends with vague apprehensions, while it cut the king himself to the heart and infuriated him to madness. he asked the nuncius one day what people thought in rome and italy of the war about to be undertaken. ubaldini replied that those best informed considered the princess of conde as the principal subject of hostilities; they thought that he meant to have her back. "i do mean to have her back," cried henry, with a mighty oath, and foaming with rage, "and i shall have her back. no one shall prevent it, not even the lieutenant of god on earth." but the imputation of this terrible treason weighed upon his mind and embittered every hour. the commissioners assured sully that they had no knowledge of any coolness or change such as anhalt had reported on the part of their principals, and the duke took his leave. it will be remembered that villeroy had, it was thought, been making mischief between anhalt and the states by reporting and misreporting private conversations between that prince and the dutch ambassador. as soon as sully had gone, van der myle waited upon villeroy to ask, in name of himself and colleagues, for audience of leave-taking, the object of their mission having been accomplished. the secretary of state, too, like sully, urged the importance of making the most of the occasion. the affair of cleve, he said, did not very much concern the king, but his majesty had taken it to heart chiefly on account of the states and for their security. they were bound, therefore, to exert themselves to the utmost, but more would not be required of them than it would be possible to fulfil. van der myle replied that nothing would be left undone by their high mightinesses to support the king faithfully and according to their promise. on the th, villeroy came to the ambassadors, bringing with him a letter from the king for the states-general, and likewise a written reply to the declarations made orally and in writing by the ambassadors to his majesty. the letter of henry to "his very dear and good friends, allies, and confederates," was chiefly a complimentary acknowledgment of the expressions of gratitude made to him on part of the states-general, and warm approbation of their sage resolve to support the cause of brandenburg and neuburg. he referred them for particulars to the confidential conferences held between the commissioners and himself. they would state how important he thought it that this matter should be settled now so thoroughly as to require no second effort at any future time when circumstances might not be so propitious; and that he intended to risk his person, at the head of his army, to accomplish this result. to the ambassadors he expressed his high satisfaction at their assurances of affection, devotion, and gratitude on the part of the states. he approved and commended their resolution to assist the elector and the palatine in the affair of the duchies. he considered this a proof of their prudence and good judgment, as showing their conviction that they were more interested and bound to render this assistance than any other potentates or states, as much from the convenience and security to be derived from the neighbourhood of princes who were their friends as from dangers to be apprehended from other princes who were seeking to appropriate those provinces. the king therefore begged the states to move forward as soon as possible the forces which they offered for this enterprise according to his majesty's suggestion sent through de bethune. the king on his part would do the same with extreme care and diligence, from the anxiety he felt to prevent my lords the states from receiving detriment in places so vital to their preservation. he begged the states likewise to consider that it was meet not only to make a first effort to put the princes into entire possession of the duchies, but to provide also for the durable success of the enterprise; to guard against any invasions that might be made in the future to eject those princes. otherwise all their present efforts would be useless; and his majesty therefore consented on this occasion to enter into the new league proposed by the states with all the princes and states mentioned in the memoir of the ambassadors for mutual assistance against all unjust occupations, attempts, and baneful intrigues. having no special information as to the infractions by the archdukes of the recent treaty of truce, the king declined to discuss that subject for the moment, although holding himself bound to all required of him as one of the guarantees of that treaty. in regard to the remonstrance made by the ambassadors concerning the trade of the east indies, his majesty disclaimed any intention of doing injury to the states in permitting his subjects to establish a company in his kingdom for that commerce. he had deferred hitherto taking action in the matter only out of respect to the states, but he could no longer refuse the just claims of his subjects if they should persist in them as urgently as they had thus far been doing. the right and liberty which they demanded was common to all, said the king, and he was certainly bound to have as great care for the interests of his subjects as for those of his friends and allies. here, certainly, was an immense difference in tone and in terms towards the republic adopted respectively by their great and good friends and allies the kings of france and great britain. it was natural enough that henry, having secretly expressed his most earnest hope that the states would move at his side in his broad and general assault upon the house of austria, should impress upon them his conviction, which was a just one, that no power in the world was more interested in keeping a spanish and catholic prince out of the duchies than they were themselves. but while thus taking a bond of them as it were for the entire fulfilment of the primary enterprise, he accepted with cordiality, and almost with gratitude, their proposition of a close alliance of the republic with himself and with the protestant powers which james had so superciliously rejected. it would have been difficult to inflict a more petty and, more studied insult upon the republic than did the king of great britain at that supreme moment by his preposterous claim of sovereign rights over the netherlands. he would make no treaty with them, he said, but should he find it worth while to treat with his royal brother of france, he should probably not shut the door in their faces. certainly henry's reply to the remonstrances of the ambassadors in regard to the india trade was as moderate as that of james had been haughty and peremptory in regard to the herring fishery. it is however sufficiently amusing to see those excellent hollanders nobly claiming that "the sea was as free as air" when the right to take scotch pilchards was in question, while at the very same moment they were earnest for excluding their best allies and all the world besides from their east india monopoly. but isaac le maire and jacques le roy had not lain so long disguised in zamet's house in paris for nothing, nor had aerssens so completely "broke the neck of the french east india company" as he supposed. a certain dutch freebooter, however, simon danzer by name, a native of dordrecht, who had been alternately in the service of spain, france, and the states, but a general marauder upon all powers, was exercising at that moment perhaps more influence on the east india trade than any potentate or commonwealth. he kept the seas just then with four swift-sailing and well-armed vessels, that potent skimmer of the ocean, and levied tribute upon protestant and catholic, turk or christian, with great impartiality. the king of spain had sent him letters of amnesty and safe-conduct, with large pecuniary offers, if he would enter his service. the king of france had outbid his royal brother and enemy, and implored him to sweep the seas under the white flag. the states' ambassador begged his masters to reflect whether this "puissant and experienced corsair" should be permitted to serve spaniard or frenchman, and whether they could devise no expedient for turning him into another track. "he is now with his fine ships at marseilles," said aerssens. "he is sought for in all quarters by the spaniard and by the directors of the new french east india company, private persons who equip vessels of war. if he is not satisfied with this king's offers, he is likely to close with the king of spain, who offers him crowns a month. avarice tickles him, but he is neither spaniard nor papist, and i fear will be induced to serve with his ships the east india company, and so will return to his piracy, the evil of which will always fall on our heads. if my lords the states will send me letters of abolition for him, in imitation of the french king, on condition of his returning to his home in zealand and quitting the sea altogether, something might be done. otherwise he will be off to marseilles again, and do more harm to us than ever. isaac le maire is doing as much evil as he can, and one holds daily council with him here." thus the slippery simon skimmed the seas from marseilles to the moluccas, from java to mexico, never to be held firmly by philip, or henry, or barneveld. a dissolute but very daring ship's captain, born in zealand, and formerly in the service of the states, out of which he had been expelled for many evil deeds, simon danzer had now become a professional pirate, having his head-quarters chiefly at algiers. his english colleague warde stationed himself mainly at tunis, and both acted together in connivance with the pachas of the turkish government. they with their considerable fleet, one vessel of which mounted sixty guns, were the terror of the mediterranean, extorted tribute from the commerce of all nations indifferently, and sold licenses to the greatest governments of europe. after growing rich with his accumulated booty, simon was inclined to become respectable, a recourse which was always open to him--france, england, spain, the united provinces, vieing with each other to secure him by high rank and pay as an honoured member of their national marine. he appears however to have failed in his plan of retiring upon his laurels, having been stabbed in paris by a man whom he had formerly robbed and ruined. villeroy, having delivered the letters with his own hands to the ambassadors, was asked by them when and where it would be convenient for the king to arrange the convention of close alliance. the secretary of state--in his secret heart anything but kindly disposed for this loving union with a republic he detested and with heretics whom he would have burned--answered briefly that his majesty was ready at any time, and that it might take place then if they were provided with the necessary powers. he said in parting that the states should "have an eye to everything, for occasions like the present were irrecoverable." he then departed, saying that the king would receive them in final audience on the following day. next morning accordingly marshal de boisdaulphin and de bonoeil came with royal coaches to the hotel gondy and escorted the ambassadors to the louvre. on the way they met de bethune, who had returned solo from the hague bringing despatches for the king and for themselves. while in the antechamber, they had opportunity to read their letters from the states-general, his majesty sending word that he was expecting them with impatience, but preferred that they should read the despatches before the audience. they found the king somewhat out of humour. he expressed himself as tolerably well satisfied with the general tenour of the despatches brought by de bethune, but complained loudly of the request now made by the states, that the maintenance and other expenses of french in the states' service should be paid in the coming campaign out of the royal exchequer. he declared that this proposition was "a small manifestation of ingratitude," that my lords the, states were "little misers," and that such proceedings were "little avaricious tricks" such as he had not expected of them. so far as england was concerned, he said there was a great difference. the english took away what he was giving. he did cheerfully a great deal for his friends, he said, and was always ready doubly to repay what they did for him. if, however, the states persisted in this course, he should call his troops home again. the king, as he went on, became more and more excited, and showed decided dissatisfaction in his language and manner. it was not to be wondered at, for we have seen how persistently he had been urging that the advocate should come in person with "the bridle on his neck," and now he had sent his son-in-law and two colleagues tightly tied up by stringent instructions. and over an above all this, while he was contemplating a general war with intention to draw upon the states for unlimited supplies, behold, they were haggling for the support of a couple of regiments which were virtually their own troops. there were reasons, however, for this cautiousness besides those unfounded, although not entirely chimerical, suspicions as to the king's good faith, to which we have alluded. it should not be forgotten that, although henry had conversed secretly with the states' ambassador at full length on his far-reaching plans, with instructions that he should confidentially inform the advocate and demand his co-operation, not a word of it had been officially propounded to the states-general, nor to the special embassy with whom he was now negotiating. no treaty of alliance offensive or defensive existed between the kingdom and the republic or between the republic and any power whatever. it would have been culpable carelessness therefore at this moment for the prime minister of the states to have committed his government in writing to a full participation in a general assault upon the house of austria; the first step in which would have been a breach of the treaty just concluded and instant hostilities with the archdukes albert and isabella. that these things were in the immediate future was as plain as that night would follow day, but the hour had not yet struck for the states to throw down the gauntlet. hardly two months before, the king, in his treaty with the princes at hall, had excluded both the king of great britain and the states-general from participation in those arrangements, and it was grave matter for consideration, therefore, for the states whether they should allow such succour as they might choose to grant the princes to be included in the french contingent. the opportunity for treating as a sovereign power with the princes and making friends with them was tempting, but it did not seem reasonable to the states that france should make use of them in this war without a treaty, and should derive great advantage from the alliance, but leave the expense to them. henry, on the other hand, forgetting, when it was convenient to him, all about the princess of conde, his hatred of spain, and his resolution to crush the house of austria, chose to consider the war as made simply for the love of the states-general and to secure them for ever from danger. the ambassadors replied to the king's invectives with great respect, and endeavoured to appease his anger. they had sent a special despatch to their government, they said, in regard to all those matters, setting forth all the difficulties that had been raised, but had not wished to trouble his majesty with premature discussions of them. they did not doubt, however, that their high mightinesses would so conduct this great affair as to leave the king no ground of complaint. henry then began to talk of the intelligence brought by de bethune from the hague, especially in regard to the sending of states' troops to dusseldorf and the supply of food for the french army. he did not believe, he said, that the archdukes would refuse him the passage with his forces through their territory, inasmuch as the states' army would be on the way to meet him. in case of any resistance, however, he declared his resolution to strike his blow and to cause people to talk of him. he had sent his quartermaster-general to examine the passes, who had reported that it would be impossible to prevent his majesty's advance. he was also distinctly informed that marquis spinola, keeping his places garrisoned, could not bring more than men into the field. the duke of bouillon, however, was sending advices that his communications were liable to be cut off, and that for this purpose spinola could set on foot about , infantry and horse. if the passage should be allowed by the archdukes, the king stated his intention of establishing magazines for his troops along the whole line of march through the spanish netherlands and neighbouring districts, and to establish and fortify himself everywhere in order to protect his supplies and cover his possible retreat. he was still in doubt, he said, whether to demand the passage at once or to wait until he had began to move his army. he was rather inclined to make the request instantly in order to gain time, being persuaded that he should receive no answer either of consent or refusal. leaving all these details, the king then frankly observed that the affair of cleve had a much wider outlook than people thought. therefore the states must consider well what was to be done to secure the whole work as soon as the cleve business had been successfully accomplished. upon this subject it was indispensable that he should consult especially with his excellency (prince maurice) and some members of the general assembly, whom he wished that my lords the states-general should depute to the army. "for how much good will it do," said the king, "if we drive off archduke leopold without establishing the princes in security for the future? nothing is easier than to put the princes in possession. every one will yield or run away before our forces, but two months after we have withdrawn the enemy will return and drive the princes out again. i cannot always be ready to spring out of my kingdom, nor to assemble such great armies. i am getting old, and my army moreover costs me , crowns a month, which is enough to exhaust all the treasures of france, spain, venice, and the states-general together." he added that, if the present occasion were neglected, the states would afterwards bitterly lament and never recover it. the pope was very much excited, and was sending out his ambassadors everywhere. only the previous saturday the new nuncius destined for france had left rome. if my lords the states would send deputies to the camp with full powers, he stood there firm and unchangeable, but if they remained cool in the business, he warned them that they would enrage him. the states must seize the occasion, he repeated. it was bald behind, and must be grasped by the forelock. it was not enough to have begun well. one must end well. "finis coronat opus." it was very easy to speak of a league, but a league was not to be made in order to sit with arms tied, but to do good work. the states ought not to suffer that the germans should prove themselves more energetic, more courageous, than themselves. and again the king vehemently urged the necessity of his excellency and some deputies of the states coming to him "with absolute power" to treat. he could not doubt in that event of something solid being accomplished. "there are three things," he continued, "which cause me to speak freely. i am talking with my friends whom i hold dear--yes, dearer, perhaps, than they hold themselves. i am a great king, and say what i choose to say. i am old, and know by experience the ways of this world's affairs. i tell you, then, that it is most important that you should come to me resolved and firm on all points." he then requested the ambassadors to make full report of all that he had said to their masters, to make the journey as rapidly as possible, in order to encourage the states to the great enterprise and to meet his wishes. he required from them, he said, not only activity of the body, but labour of the intellect. he was silent for a few moments, and then spoke again. "i shall not always be here," he said, "nor will you always have prince maurice, and a few others whose knowledge of your commonwealth is perfect. my lords the states must be up and doing while they still possess them. nest tuesday i shall cause the queen to be crowned at saint-denis; the following thursday she will make her entry into paris. next day, friday, i shall take my departure. at the end of this month i shall cross the meuse at mezieres or in that neighbourhood." he added that he should write immediately to holland, to urge upon his excellency and the states to be ready to make the junction of their army with his forces without delay. he charged the ambassadors to assure their high mightinesses that he was and should remain their truest friend, their dearest neighbour. he then said a few gracious and cordial words to each of them, warmly embraced each, and bade them all farewell. the next day was passed by the ambassadors in paying and receiving farewell visits, and on saturday, the th, they departed from paris, being escorted out of the gate by the marshal de boisdaulphin, with a cavalcade of noblemen. they slept that night at saint denis, and then returned to holland by the way of calais and rotterdam, reaching the hague on the th of may. i make no apology for the minute details thus given of the proceedings of this embassy, and especially of the conversations of henry. the very words of those conversations were taken down on the spot by the commissioners who heard them, and were carefully embodied in their report made to the states-general on their return, from which i have transcribed them. it was a memorable occasion. the great king--for great he was, despite his numerous vices and follies--stood there upon the threshold of a vast undertaking, at which the world, still half incredulous, stood gazing, half sick with anxiety. he relied on his own genius and valour chiefly, and after these on the brain of barneveld and the sword of maurice. nor was his confidence misplaced. but let the reader observe the date of the day when those striking utterances were made, and which have never before been made public. it was thursday, the th may. "i shall not always be here," said the king, . . . "i cannot be ready at any moment to spring out of my kingdom." . . . "friday of next week i take my departure." how much of heroic pathos in henry's attitude at this supreme moment! how mournfully ring those closing words of his address to the ambassadors! the die was cast. a letter drawn up by the duc de sully was sent to archduke albert by the king. "my brother," he said; "not being able to refuse my best allies and confederates the help which they have asked of me against those who wish to trouble them in the succession to the duchies and counties of cleve, julich, mark, berg, ravensberg, and ravenstein, i am advancing towards them with my army. as my road leads me through your country, i desire to notify you thereof, and to know whether or not i am to enter as a friend or enemy." such was the draft as delivered to the secretary of state; "and as such it was sent," said sully, "unless villeroy changed it, as he had a great desire to do." henry was mistaken in supposing that the archduke would leave the letter without an answer. a reply was sent in due time, and the permission demanded was not refused. for although france was now full of military movement, and the regiments everywhere were hurrying hourly to the places of rendezvous, though the great storm at last was ready to burst, the archdukes made no preparations for resistance, and lapped themselves in fatal security that nothing was intended but an empty demonstration. six thousand swiss newly levied, with , french infantry and horse, were waiting for henry to place himself at their head at mezieres. twelve thousand foot and cavalry, including the french and english contingents--a splendid army, led by prince maurice--were ready to march from holland to dusseldorf. the army of the princes under prince christian of anhalt numbered , men. the last scruples of the usually unscrupulous charles emmanuel had been overcome, and the duke was quite ready to act, , strong, with marshal de lesdiguieres, in the milanese; while marshal de la force was already at the head of his forces in the pyrenees, amounting to , foot and horse. sully had already despatched his splendid trains of artillery to the frontier. "never was seen in france, and perhaps never will be seen there again, artillery more complete and better furnished," said the duke, thinking probably that artillery had reached the climax of perfect destructiveness in the first decade of the seventeenth century. his son, the marquis de rosny, had received the post of grand master of artillery, and placed himself at its head. his father was to follow as its chief, carrying with him as superintendent of finance a cash-box of eight millions. the king had appointed his wife, mary de' medici, regent, with an eminent council. the new nuncius had been requested to present himself with his letters of credence in the camp. henry was unwilling that he should enter paris, being convinced that he came to do his best, by declamation, persuasion, and intrigue, to paralyse the enterprise. sully's promises to ubaldini, the former nuncius, that his holiness should be made king, however flattering to paul v., had not prevented his representatives from vigorously denouncing henry's monstrous scheme to foment heresy and encourage rebellion. the king's chagrin at the cautious limitations imposed upon the states' special embassy was, so he hoped, to be removed by full conferences in the camp. certainly he had shown in the most striking manner the respect he felt for the states, and the confidence he reposed in them. "in the reception of your embassy," wrote aerssens to the advocate, "certainly the king has so loosened the strap of his affection that he has reserved nothing by which he could put the greatest king in the world above your level." he warned the states, however, that henry had not found as much in their propositions as the common interest had caused him to promise himself. "nevertheless he informs me in confidence," said aerssens, "that he will engage himself in nothing without you; nay, more, he has expressly told me that he could hardly accomplish his task without your assistance, and it was for our sakes alone that he has put himself into this position and incurred this great expense." some days later he informed barneveld that he would leave to van der myle and his colleagues the task of describing the great dissatisfaction of the king at the letters brought by de bethune. he told him in confidence that the states must equip the french regiments and put them in marching order if they wished to preserve henry's friendship. he added that since the departure of the special embassy the king had been vehemently and seriously urging that prince maurice, count lewis william, barneveld, and three or four of the most qualified deputies of the states-general, entirely authorized to treat for the common safety, should meet with him in the territory of julich on a fixed day. the crisis was reached. the king stood fully armed, thoroughly prepared, with trustworthy allies at his side, disposing of overwhelming forces ready to sweep down with irresistible strength upon the house of austria, which, as he said and the states said, aspired to give the law to the whole world. nothing was left to do save, as the ambassador said, to "uncouple the dogs of war and let them run." what preparations had spain and the empire, the pope and the league, set on foot to beat back even for a moment the overwhelming onset? none whatever. spinola in the netherlands, fuentes in milan, bucquoy and lobkowitz and lichtenstein in prague, had hardly the forces of a moderate peace establishment at their disposal, and all the powers save france and the states were on the verge of bankruptcy. even james of great britain--shuddering at the vast thundercloud which had stretched itself over christendom growing blacker and blacker, precisely at this moment, in which he had proved to his own satisfaction that the peace just made would perpetually endure--even james did not dare to traverse the designs of the king whom he feared, and the republic which he hated, in favour of his dearly loved spain. sweden, denmark, the hanse towns, were in harmony with france, holland, savoy, and the whole protestant force of germany--a majority both in population and resources of the whole empire. what army, what combination, what device, what talisman, could save the house of austria, the cause of papacy, from the impending ruin? a sudden, rapid, conclusive victory for the allies seemed as predestined a result as anything could be in the future of human affairs. on the th or th day of may, as he had just been informing the states' ambassadors, henry meant to place himself at the head of his army. that was the moment fixed by himself for "taking his departure." and now the ides of may had come--but not gone. in the midst of all the military preparations with which paris had been resounding, the arrangements for the queen's coronation had been simultaneously going forward. partly to give check in advance to the intrigues which would probably at a later date be made by conde, supported by the power of spain, to invalidate the legitimacy of the dauphin, but more especially perhaps to further and to conceal what the faithful sully called the "damnable artifices" of the queen's intimate councillors--sinister designs too dark to be even whispered at that epoch, and of which history, during the lapse of more than two centuries and a half, has scarcely dared to speak above its breath--it was deemed all important that the coronation should take place. a certain astrologer, thomassin by name, was said to have bidden the king to beware the middle of the next month of may. henry had tweaked the soothsayer by the beard and made him dance twice or thrice about the room. to the duc de vendome expressing great anxiety in regard to thomassin, henry replied, "the astrologer is an old fool, and you are a young fool." a certain prophetess called pasithea had informed the queen that the king could not survive his fifty-seventh year. she was much in the confidence of mary de' medici, who had insisted this year on her returning to paris. henry, who was ever chafing and struggling to escape the invisible and dangerous net which he felt closing about him, and who connected the sorceress with all whom he most loathed among the intimate associates of the queen, swore a mighty oath that she should not show her face again at court. "my heart presages that some signal disaster will befall me on this coronation. concini and his wife are urging the queen obstinately to send for this fanatic. if she should come, there is no doubt that my wife and i shall squabble well about her. if i discover more about these private plots of hers with spain, i shall be in a mighty passion." and the king then assured the faithful minister of his conviction that all the jealousy affected by the queen in regard to the princess of conde was but a veil to cover dark designs. it was necessary in the opinion of those who governed her, the vile concini and his wife, that there should be some apparent and flagrant cause of quarrel. the public were to receive payment in these pretexts for want of better coin. henry complained that even sully and all the world besides attributed to jealousy that which was really the effect of a most refined malice. and the minister sometimes pauses in the midst of these revelations made in his old age, and with self-imposed and shuddering silence intimates that there are things he could tell which are too odious and dreadful to be breathed. henry had an invincible repugnance to that coronation on which the queen had set her heart. nothing could be more pathetic than the isolated position in which he found himself, standing thus as he did on the threshold of a mighty undertaking in which he was the central figure, an object for the world to gaze upon with palpitating interest. at his hearth in the louvre were no household gods. danger lurked behind every tapestry in that magnificent old palace. a nameless dread dogged his footsteps through those resounding corridors. and by an exquisite refinement in torture the possible father of several of his children not only dictated to the queen perpetual outbreaks of frantic jealousy against her husband, but moved her to refuse with suspicion any food and drink offered her by his hands. the concini's would even with unparalleled and ingenious effrontery induce her to make use of the kitchen arrangements in their apartments for the preparation of her daily meals? driven from house and home, henry almost lived at the arsenal. there he would walk for hours in the long alleys of the garden, discussing with the great financier and soldier his vast, dreamy, impracticable plans. strange combination of the hero, the warrior, the voluptuary, the sage, and the schoolboy--it would be difficult to find in the whole range of history a more human, a more attractive, a more provoking, a less venerable character. haunted by omens, dire presentiments, dark suspicions with and without cause, he was especially averse from the coronation to which in a moment of weakness he had given his consent. sitting in sully's cabinet, in a low chair which the duke had expressly provided for his use, tapping and drumming on his spectacle case, or starting up and smiting himself on the thigh, he would pour out his soul hours long to his one confidential minister. "ah, my friend, how this sacrament displeases me," he said; "i know not why it is, but my heart tells me that some misfortune is to befall me. by god i shall die in this city, i shall never go out of it; i see very well that they are finding their last resource in my death. ah, accursed coronation! thou wilt be the, cause of my death." so many times did he give utterance to these sinister forebodings that sully implored him at last for leave to countermand the whole ceremony notwithstanding the great preparations which had been made for the splendid festival. "yes, yes," replied the king, "break up this coronation at once. let me hear no more of it. then i shall have my mind cured of all these impressions. i shall leave the town and fear nothing." he then informed his friend that he had received intimations that he should lose his life at the first magnificent festival he should give, and that he should die in a carriage. sully admitted that he had often, when in a carriage with him, been amazed at his starting and crying out at the slightest shock, having so often seen him intrepid among guns and cannon, pikes and naked swords. the duke went to the queen three days in succession, and with passionate solicitations and arguments and almost upon his knees implored her to yield to the king's earnest desire, and renounce for the time at least the coronation. in vain. mary de' medici was obdurate as marble to his prayers. the coronation was fixed for thursday, the th may, two days later than the time originally appointed when the king conversed with the states' ambassadors. on the following sunday was to be the splendid and solemn entrance of the crowned queen. on the monday, henry, postponing likewise for two days his original plan of departure, would leave for the army. meantime there were petty annoyances connected with the details of the coronation. henry had set his heart on having his legitimatized children, the offspring of the fair gabrielle, take their part in the ceremony on an equal footing with the princes of the blood. they were not entitled to wear the lilies of france upon their garments, and the king was solicitous that "the count"--as soissons, brother of prince conti and uncle of conde, was always called--should dispense with those ensigns for his wife upon this solemn occasion, and that the other princesses of the blood should do the same. thus there would be no appearance of inferiority on the part of the duchess of vendome. the count protested that he would have his eyes torn out of his head rather than submit to an arrangement which would do him so much shame. he went to the queen and urged upon her that to do this would likewise be an injury to her children, the dukes of orleans and of anjou. he refused flatly to appear or allow his wife to appear except in the costume befitting their station. the king on his part was determined not to abandon his purpose. he tried to gain over the count by the most splendid proposals, offering him the command of the advance-guard of the army, or the lieutenancy-general of france in the absence of the king, , crowns for his equipment and an increase of his pension if he would cause his wife to give up the fleurs-de-lys on this occasion. the alternative was to be that, if she insisted upon wearing them, his majesty would never look upon him again with favourable eyes. the count never hesitated, but left paris, refusing to appear at the ceremony. the king was in a towering passion, for to lose the presence of this great prince of the blood at a solemnity expressly intended as a demonstration against the designs hatching by the first of all the princes of the blood under patronage of spain was a severe blow to his pride and a check to his policy.' yet it was inconceivable that he could at such a moment commit so superfluous and unmeaning a blunder. he had forced conde into exile, intrigue with the enemy, and rebellion, by open and audacious efforts to destroy his domestic peace, and now he was willing to alienate one of his most powerful subjects in order to place his bastards on a level with royalty. while it is sufficiently amusing to contemplate this proposed barter of a chief command in a great army or the lieutenancy-general of a mighty kingdom at the outbreak of a general european war against a bit of embroidery on the court dress of a lady, yet it is impossible not to recognize something ideal and chivalrous from his own point of view in the refusal of soissons to renounce those emblems of pure and high descent, those haughty lilies of st. louis, against any bribes of place and pelf however dazzling. the coronation took place on thursday, th may, with the pomp and glitter becoming great court festivals; the more pompous and glittering the more the monarch's heart was wrapped in gloom. the representatives of the great powers were conspicuous in the procession; aerssens, the dutch ambassador, holding a foremost place. the ambassadors of spain and venice as usual squabbled about precedence and many other things, and actually came to fisticuffs, the fight lasting a long time and ending somewhat to the advantage of the venetian. but the sacrament was over, and mary de' medici was crowned queen of france and regent of the kingdom during the absence of the sovereign with his army. meantime there had been mysterious warnings darker and more distinct than the babble of the soothsayer thomassin or the ravings of the lunatic pasithea. count schomberg, dining at the arsenal with sully, had been called out to converse with mademoiselle de gournay, who implored that a certain madame d'escomans might be admitted to audience of the king. that person, once in direct relations with the marchioness of verneuil, the one of henry's mistresses who most hated him, affirmed that a man from the duke of epernon's country was in paris, agent of a conspiracy seeking the king's life. the woman not enjoying a very reputable character found it impossible to obtain a hearing, although almost frantic with her desire to save her sovereign's life. the queen observed that it was a wicked woman, who was accusing all the world, and perhaps would accuse her too. the fatal friday came. henry drove out, in his carriage to see the preparations making for the triumphal entrance of the queen into paris on the following sunday. what need to repeat the tragic, familiar tale? the coach was stopped by apparent accident in the narrow street de la feronniere, and francis ravaillac, standing on the wheel, drove his knife through the monarch's heart. the duke of epernon, sitting at his side, threw his cloak over the body and ordered the carriage back to the louvre. "they have killed him, 'e ammazato,'" cried concini (so says tradition), thrusting his head into the queen's bedchamber. [michelet, . it is not probable that the documents concerning the trial, having been so carefully suppressed from the beginning, especially the confession dictated to voisin--who wrote it kneeling on the ground, and was perhaps so appalled at its purport that he was afraid to write it legibly--will ever see the light. i add in the appendix some contemporary letters of persons, as likely as any one to know what could be known, which show how dreadful were the suspicions which men entertained, and which they hardly ventured to whisper to each other]. that blow had accomplished more than a great army could have done, and spain now reigned in paris. the house of austria, without making any military preparations, had conquered, and the great war of religion and politics was postponed for half a dozen years. this history has no immediate concern with solving the mysteries of that stupendous crime. the woman who had sought to save the king's life now denounced epernon as the chief murderer, and was arrested, examined, accused of lunacy, proved to be perfectly sane, and, persisting in her statements with perfect coherency, was imprisoned for life for her pains; the duke furiously demanding her instant execution. the documents connected with the process were carefully suppressed. the assassin, tortured and torn by four horses, was supposed to have revealed nothing and to have denied the existence of accomplices. the great accused were too omnipotent to be dealt with by humble accusers or by convinced but powerless tribunals. the trial was all mystery, hugger-mugger, horror. yet the murderer is known to have dictated to the greflier voisin, just before expiring on the greve, a declaration which that functionary took down in a handwriting perhaps purposely illegible. two centuries and a half have passed away, yet the illegible original record is said to exist, to have been plainly read, and to contain the names of the queen and the duke of epernon. twenty-six years before, the pistol of balthasar gerard had destroyed the foremost man in europe and the chief of a commonwealth just struggling into existence. yet spain and rome, the instigators and perpetrators of the crime, had not reaped the victory which they had the right to expect. the young republic, guided by barneveld and loyal to the son of the murdered stadholder, was equal to the burthen suddenly descending upon its shoulders. instead of despair there had been constancy. instead of distracted counsels there had been heroic union of heart and hand. rather than bend to rome and grovel to philip, it had taken its sovereignty in its hands, offered it successively, without a thought of self-aggrandizement on the part of its children, to the crowns of france and great britain, and, having been repulsed by both, had learned after fiery trials and incredible exertions to assert its own high and foremost place among the independent powers of the world. and now the knife of another priest-led fanatic, the wretched but unflinching instrument of a great conspiracy, had at a blow decapitated france. no political revolution could be much more thorough than that which had been accomplished in a moment of time by francis ravaillac. on the th of may, france, while in spiritual matters obedient to the pope, stood at the head of the forces of protestantism throughout europe, banded together to effect the downfall of the proud house of austria, whose fortunes and fate were synonymous with catholicism. the baltic powers, the majority of the teutonic races, the kingdom of britain, the great republic of the netherlands, the northernmost and most warlike governments of italy, all stood at the disposition of the warrior-king. venice, who had hitherto, in the words of a veteran diplomatist, "shunned to look a league or a confederation in the face, if there was any protestant element in it, as if it had been the head of medusa," had formally forbidden the passage of troops northwards to the relief of the assailed power. savoy, after direful hesitations, had committed herself body and soul to the great enterprise. even the pope, who feared the overshadowing personality of henry, and was beginning to believe his house's private interests more likely to flourish under the protection of the french than the spanish king, was wavering in his fidelity to spain and tempted by french promises: if he should prove himself incapable of effecting a pause in the great crusade, it was doubtful on which side he would ultimately range himself; for it was at least certain that the new catholic league, under the chieftainship of maximilian of bavaria, was resolved not to entangle its fortunes inextricably with those of the austrian house. the great enterprise, first unfolding itself with the episode of cleve and berg and whimsically surrounding itself with the fantastic idyl of the princess of conde, had attained vast and misty proportions in the brain of its originator. few political visions are better known in history than the "grand design" of henry for rearranging the map of the world at the moment when, in the middle of may, he was about to draw his sword. spain reduced to the mediterranean and the pyrenees, but presented with both the indies, with all america and the whole orient in fee; the empire taken from austria and given to bavaria; a constellation of states in italy, with the pope for president-king; throughout the rest of christendom a certain number of republics, of kingdoms, of religions--a great confederation of the world, in short--with the most christian king for its dictator and protector, and a great amphictyonic council to regulate all disputes by solemn arbitration, and to make war in the future impossible, such in little was his great design. nothing could be more humane, more majestic, more elaborate, more utterly preposterous. and all this gigantic fabric had passed away in an instant--at one stroke of a broken table knife sharpened on a carriage wheel. most pitiful was the condition of france on the day after, and for years after, the murder of the king. not only was the kingdom for the, time being effaced from the roll of nations, so far as external relations were concerned, but it almost ceased to be a kingdom. the ancient monarchy of hugh capet, of saint-louis, of henry of france and navarre, was transformed into a turbulent, self-seeking, quarrelsome, pillaging, pilfering democracy of grandees. the queen-regent was tossed hither and thither at the sport of the winds and waves which shifted every hour in that tempestuous court. no man pretended to think of the state. every man thought only of himself. the royal exchequer was plundered with a celerity and cynical recklessness such as have been rarely seen in any age or country. the millions so carefully hoarded by sully, and exhibited so dramatically by that great minister to the enraptured eyes of his sovereign; that treasure in the bastille on which henry relied for payment of the armies with which he was to transform the world, all disappeared in a few weeks to feed the voracious maw of courtiers, paramours, and partisans! the queen showered gold like water upon her beloved concini that he might purchase his marquisate of ancre, and the charge of first gentleman of the court from bouillon; that he might fit himself for the government of picardy; that he might elevate his marquisate into a dukedom. conde, having no further reason to remain in exile, received as a gift from the trembling mary de' medici the magnificent hotel gondy, where the dutch ambassadors had so recently been lodged, for which she paid , crowns, together with , crowns to furnish it, , crowns to pay his debts, , more as yearly pension. he claimed double, and was soon at sword's point with the queen in spite of her lavish bounty. epernon, the true murderer of henry, trampled on courts of justice and councils of ministers, frightened the court by threatening to convert his possession of metz into an independent sovereignty, as balagny had formerly seized upon cambray, smothered for ever the process of ravaillac, caused those to be put to death or immured for life in dungeons who dared to testify to his complicity in the great crime, and strode triumphantly over friends and enemies throughout france, although so crippled by the gout that he could scarcely walk up stairs. there was an end to the triumvirate. sully's influence was gone for ever. the other two dropped the mask. the chancellor and villeroy revealed themselves to be what they secretly had always been--humble servants and stipendiaries of spain. the formal meetings of the council were of little importance, and were solemn, tearful, and stately; draped in woe for the great national loss. in the private cabinet meetings in the entresol of the louvre, where the nuncius and the spanish ambassador held counsel with epernon and villeroy and jeannin and sillery, the tone was merry and loud; the double spanish marriage and confusion to the dutch being the chief topics of consultation. but the anarchy grew day by day into almost hopeless chaos. there was no satisfying the princes of the blood nor the other grandees. conde, whose reconciliation with the princess followed not long after the death of henry and his own return to france, was insatiable in his demands for money, power, and citadels of security. soissons, who might formerly have received the lieutenancy-general of the kingdom by sacrificing the lilies on his wife's gown, now disputed for that office with his elder brother conti, the prince claiming it by right of seniority, the count denouncing conti as deaf, dumb, and imbecile, till they drew poniards on each other in the very presence of the queen; while conde on one occasion, having been refused the citadels which he claimed, blaye and chateau trompette, threw his cloak over his nose and put on his hat while the queen was speaking, and left the council in a fury, declaring that villeroy and the chancellor were traitors, and that he would have them both soundly cudgelled. guise, lorraine, epernon, bouillon, and other great lords always appeared in the streets of paris at the head of three, four, or five hundred mounted and armed retainers; while the queen in her distraction gave orders to arm the paris mob to the number of fifty thousand, and to throw chains across the streets to protect herself and her son against the turbulent nobles. sully, hardly knowing to what saint to burn his candle, being forced to resign his great posts, was found for a time in strange political combination with the most ancient foes of his party and himself. the kaleidoscope whirling with exasperating quickness showed ancient leaguers and lorrainers banded with and protecting huguenots against the crown, while princes of the blood, hereditary patrons and chiefs of the huguenots, became partisans and stipendiaries of spain. it is easy to see that circumstances like these rendered the position of the dutch commonwealth delicate and perilous. sully informed aerssens and van der myle, who had been sent back to paris on special mission very soon after the death of the king, that it took a hundred hours now to accomplish a single affair, whereas under henry a hundred affairs were transacted in a single hour. but sully's sun had set, and he had few business conferences now with the ambassadors. villeroy and the chancellor had fed fat their ancient grudge to the once omnipotent minister, and had sworn his political ruin. the old secretary of state had held now complete control of the foreign alliances and combinations of france, and the dutch ambassadors could be under no delusion as to the completeness of the revolution. "you will find a passion among the advisers of the queen," said villeroy to aerssens and van der myle, "to move in diametrical opposition to the plans of the late king." and well might the ancient leaguer and present pensionary of spain reveal this foremost fact in a policy of which he was in secret the soul. he wept profusely when he first received francis aerssens, but after these "useless tears," as the envoy called them, he soon made it manifest that there was no more to be expected of france, in the great project which its government had so elaborately set on foot. villeroy was now sixty-six years of age, and had been secretary of state during forty-two years and under four kings. a man of delicate health, frail body, methodical habits, capacity for routine, experience in political intrigue, he was not personally as greedy of money as many of his contemporaries, and was not without generosity; but he loved power, the pope, and the house of austria. he was singularly reserved in public, practised successfully the talent of silence, and had at last arrived at the position he most coveted, the virtual presidency of the council, and saw the men he most hated beneath his feet. at the first interview of aerssens with the queen-regent she was drowned in tears, and could scarcely articulate an intelligible sentence. so far as could be understood she expressed her intention of carrying out the king's plans, of maintaining the old alliances, of protecting both religions. nothing, however, could be more preposterous than such phrases. villeroy, who now entirely directed the foreign affairs of the kingdom, assured the ambassador that france was much more likely to apply to the states for assistance than render them aid in any enterprise whatever. "there is no doubt," said aerssens, "that the queen is entirely in the hands of spain and the priests." villeroy, whom henry was wont to call the pedagogue of the council, went about sighing dismally, wishing himself dead, and perpetually ejaculating, "ho! poor france, how much hast thou still to suffer!" in public he spoke of nothing but of union, and of the necessity of carrying out the designs of the king, instructing the docile queen to hold the same language. in private he was quite determined to crush those designs for ever, and calmly advised the dutch government to make an amicable agreement with the emperor in regard to the cleve affair as soon as possible; a treaty which would have been shameful for france and the possessory princes, and dangerous, if not disastrous, for the states-general. "nothing but feverish and sick counsels," he said, "could be expected from france, which had now lost its vigour and could do nothing but groan." not only did the french council distinctly repudiate the idea of doing anything more for the princes than had been stipulated by the treaty of hall--that is to say, a contingent of foot and horse--but many of them vehemently maintained that the treaty, being a personal one of the late king, was dead with him? the duty of france was now in their opinion to withdraw from these mad schemes as soon as possible, to make peace with the house of austria without delay, and to cement the friendship by the double marriages. bouillon, who at that moment hated sully as much as the most vehement catholic could do, assured the dutch envoy that the government was, under specious appearances, attempting to deceive the states; a proposition which it needed not the evidence of that most intriguing duke to make manifest to so astute a politician; particularly as there was none more bent on playing the most deceptive game than bouillon. there would be no troops to send, he said, and even if there were, there would be no possibility of agreeing on a chief. the question of religion would at once arise. as for himself, the duke protested that he would not accept the command if offered him. he would not agree to serve under the prince of anhalt, nor would he for any consideration in the world leave the court at that moment. at the same time aerssens was well aware that bouillon, in his quality of first marshal of france, a protestant and a prince having great possessions on the frontier, and the brother-in-law of prince maurice, considered himself entitled to the command of the troops should they really be sent, and was very indignant at the idea of its being offered to any one else. [aerssens worked assiduously, two hours long on one occasion, to effect a reconciliation between the two great protestant chiefs, but found bouillon's demands "so shameful and unreasonable" that he felt obliged to renounce all further attempts. in losing sully from the royal councils, the states' envoy acknowledged that the republic had lost everything that could be depended on at the french court. "all the others are time-serving friends," he said, "or saints without miracles."--aerssens to barneveld, june, . ] he advised earnestly therefore that the states should make a firm demand for money instead of men, specifying the amount that might be considered the equivalent of the number of troops originally stipulated. it is one of the most singular spectacles in history; france sinking into the background of total obscurity in an instant of time, at one blow of a knife, while the republic, which she had been patronizing, protecting, but keeping always in a subordinate position while relying implicitly upon its potent aid, now came to the front, and held up on its strong shoulders an almost desperate cause. henry had been wont to call the states-general "his courage and his right arm," but he had always strictly forbidden them to move an inch in advance of him, but ever to follow his lead, and to take their directions from himself. they were a part, and an essential one, in his vast designs; but france, or he who embodied france, was the great providence, the destiny, the all-directing, all-absorbing spirit, that was to remodel and control the whole world. he was dead, and france and her policy were already in a state of rapid decomposition. barneveld wrote to encourage and sustain the sinking state. "our courage is rising in spite and in consequence of the great misfortune," he said. he exhorted the queen to keep her kingdom united, and assured her that my lords the states would maintain themselves against all who dared to assail them. he offered in their name the whole force of the republic to take vengeance on those who had procured the assassination, and to defend the young king and the queen-mother against all who might make any attempt against their authority. he further declared, in language not to be mistaken, that the states would never abandon the princes and their cause. this was the earliest indication on the part of the advocate of the intention of the republic--so long as it should be directed by his counsels--to support the cause of the young king, helpless and incapable as he was, and directed for the time being by a weak and wicked mother, against the reckless and depraved grandees, who were doing their best to destroy the unity and the independence of france, cornelis van der myle was sent back to paris on special mission of condolence and comfort from the states-general to the sorely afflicted kingdom. on the th of june, accompanied by aerssens, he had a long interview with villeroy. that minister, as usual, wept profusely, and said that in regard to cleve it was impossible for france to carry out the designs of the late king. he then listened to what the ambassadors had to urge, and continued to express his melancholy by weeping. drying his tears for a time, he sought by a long discourse to prove that france during this tender minority of the king would be incapable of pursuing the policy of his father. it would be even too burthensome to fulfil the treaty of hall. the friends of the crown, he said, had no occasion to further it, and it would be much better to listen to propositions for a treaty. archduke albert was content not to interfere in the quarrel if the queen would likewise abstain; leopold's forces were altogether too weak to make head against the army of the princes, backed by the power of my lords the states, and julich was neither strong nor well garrisoned. he concluded by calmly proposing that the states should take the matter in hand by themselves alone, in order to lighten the burthen of france, whose vigour had been cut in two by that accursed knife. a more sneaking and shameful policy was never announced by the minister of a great kingdom. surely it might seem that ravaillac had cut in twain not the vigour only but the honour and the conscience of france. but the envoys, knowing in their hearts that they were talking not with a french but a spanish secretary of state, were not disposed to be the dupes of his tears or his blandishments. they reminded him that the queen-regent and her ministers since the murder of the king had assured the states-general and the princes of their firm intention to carry out the treaty of hall, and they observed that they had no authority to talk of any negotiation. the affair of the duchies was not especially the business of the states, and the secretary was well aware that they had promised their succour on the express condition that his majesty and his army should lead the way, and that they should follow. this was very far from the plan now suggested, that they should do it all, which would be quite out of the question. france had a strong army, they said, and it would be better to use it than to efface herself so pitiably. the proposition of abstention on the part of the archduke was a delusion intended only to keep france out of the field. villeroy replied by referring to english affairs. king james, he said, was treating them perfidiously. his first letters after the murder had been good, but by the following ones england seemed to wish to put her foot on france's throat, in order to compel her to sue for an alliance. the british ministers had declared their resolve not to carry out that convention of alliance, although it had been nearly concluded in the lifetime of the late king, unless the queen would bind herself to make good to the king of great britain that third part of the subsidies advanced by france to the states which had been furnished on english account! this was the first announcement of a grievance devised by the politicians now governing france to make trouble for the states with that kingdom and with great britain likewise. according to a treaty made at hampton court by sully during his mission to england at the accession of james, it had been agreed that one-third of the moneys advanced by france in aid of the united provinces should be credited to the account of great britain, in diminution of the debt for similar assistance rendered by elizabeth to henry. in regard to this treaty the states had not been at all consulted, nor did they acknowledge the slightest obligation in regard to it. the subsidies in men and in money provided for them both by france and by england in their struggle for national existence had always been most gratefully acknowledged by the republic, but it had always been perfectly understood that these expenses had been incurred by each kingdom out of an intelligent and thrifty regard for its own interest. nothing could be more ridiculous than to suppose france and england actuated by disinterested sympathy and benevolence when assisting the netherland people in its life-and-death struggle against the dire and deadly enemy of both crowns. henry protested that, while adhering to rome in spiritual matters, his true alliances and strength had been found in the united provinces, in germany, and in great britain. as for the states, he had spent sixteen millions of livres, he said, in acquiring a perfect benevolence on the part of the states to his person. it was the best bargain he had ever made, and he should take care to preserve it at any cost whatever, for he considered himself able, when closely united with them, to bid defiance to all the kings in europe together. yet it was now the settled policy of the queen-regent's council, so far as the knot of politicians guided by the nuncius and the spanish ambassador in the entresols of the louvre could be called a council, to force the states to refund that third, estimated at something between three and four million livres, which france had advanced them on account of great britain. villeroy told the two ambassadors at this interview that, if great britain continued to treat the queen-regent in such fashion, she would be obliged to look about for other allies. there could hardly be doubt as to the quarter in which mary de' medici was likely to look. meantime, the secretary of state urged the envoys "to intervene at once to-mediate the difference." there could be as little doubt that to mediate the difference was simply to settle an account which they did not owe. the whole object of the minister at this first interview was to induce the states to take the whole cleve enterprise upon their own shoulders, and to let france off altogether. the queen-regent as then advised meant to wash her hands of the possessory princes once and for ever. the envoys cut the matter short by assuring villeroy that they would do nothing of the kind. he begged them piteously not to leave the princes in the lurch, and at the same time not to add to the burthens of france at so disastrous a moment. so they parted. next day, however, they visited the secretary again, and found him more dismal and flaccid than ever. he spoke feebly and drearily about the succour for the great enterprise, recounted all the difficulties in the way, and, having thrown down everything that the day before had been left standing, he tried to excuse an entire change of policy by the one miserable crime. he painted a forlorn picture of the council and of france. "i can myself do nothing as i wish," added the undisputed controller of that government's policy, and then with a few more tears he concluded by requesting the envoys to address their demands to the queen in writing. this was done with the customary formalities and fine speeches on both sides; a dull comedy by which no one was amused. then bouillon came again, and assured them that there had been a chance that the engagements of henry, followed up by the promise of the queen-regent, would be carried out, but now the fact was not to be concealed that the continued battery of the nuncius, of the ambassadors of spain and of the archdukes, had been so effective that nothing sure or solid was thenceforth to be expected; the council being resolved to accept the overtures of the archduke for mutual engagement to abstain from the julich enterprise. nothing in truth could be more pitiable than the helpless drifting of the once mighty kingdom, whenever the men who governed it withdrew their attention for an instant from their private schemes of advancement and plunder to cast a glance at affairs of state. in their secret heart they could not doubt that france was rushing on its ruin, and that in the alliance of the dutch commonwealth, britain, and the german protestants, was its only safety. but they trembled before the pope, grown bold and formidable since the death of the dreaded henry. to offend his holiness, the king of spain, the emperor, and the great catholics of france, was to make a crusade against the church. garnier, the jesuit, preached from his pulpit that "to strike a blow in the cleve enterprise was no less a sin than to inflict a stab in the body of our lord." the parliament of paris having ordered the famous treatise of the jesuit mariana--justifying the killing of excommunicated kings by their subjects--to be publicly burned before notre dame, the bishop opposed the execution of the decree. the parliament of paris, although crushed by epernon in its attempts to fix the murder of the king upon himself as the true culprit, was at least strong enough to carry out this sentence upon a printed, volume recommending the deed, and the queen's council could only do its best to mitigate the awakened wrath of the jesuits at this exercise of legal authority.--at the same time, it found on the whole so many more difficulties in a cynical and shameless withdrawal from the treaty of hall than in a nominal and tardy fulfilment of its conditions that it resolved at last to furnish the foot and horse promised to the possessory princes. the next best thing to abandoning entirely even this little shred, this pitiful remnant, of the splendid designs of henry was to so arrange matters that the contingent should be feebly commanded, and set on foot in so dilatory a manner that the petty enterprise should on the part of france be purely perfunctory. the grandees of the kingdom had something more important to do than to go crusading in germany, with the help of a heretic republic, to set up the possessory princes. they were fighting over the prostrate dying form of their common mother for their share of the spoils, stripping france before she was dead, and casting lots for her vesture. soissons was on the whole in favour of the cleve expedition. epernon was desperately opposed to it, and maltreated villeroy in full council when he affected to say a word, insincere as the duke knew it to be, in favour of executing agreements signed by the monarch, and sealed with the great seal of france. the duke of guise, finding himself abandoned by the queen, and bitterly opposed and hated by soissons, took sides with his deaf and dumb and imbecile brother, and for a brief interval the duke of sully joined this strange combination of the house of lorraine and chiefs of ancient leaguers, who welcomed him with transport, and promised him security. then bouillon, potent by his rank, his possessions, and his authority among the protestants, publicly swore that he would ruin sully and change the whole order of the government. what more lamentable spectacle, what more desolate future for the cause of religious equality, which for a moment had been achieved in france, than this furious alienation of the trusted leaders of the huguenots, while their adversaries were carrying everything before them? at the council board bouillon quarrelled ostentatiously with sully, shook his fist in his face, and but for the queen's presence would have struck him. next day he found that the queen was intriguing against himself as well as against sully, was making a cat's-paw of him, and was holding secret councils daily from which he as well as sully was excluded. at once he made overtures of friendship to sully, and went about proclaiming to the world that all huguenots were to be removed from participation in affairs of state. his vows of vengeance were for a moment hushed by the unanimous resolution of the council that, as first marshal of france, having his principality on the frontier, and being of the reformed religion, he was the fittest of all to command the expedition. surely it might be said that the winds and tides were not more changeful than the politics of the queen's government. the dutch ambassador was secretly requested by villeroy to negotiate with bouillon and offer him the command of the julich expedition. the duke affected to make difficulties, although burning to obtain the post, but at last consented. all was settled. aerssens communicated at once with villeroy, and notice of bouillon's acceptance was given to the queen, when, behold, the very next day marshal de la chatre was appointed to the command expressly because he was a catholic. of course the duke of bouillon, furious with soissons and epernon and the rest of the government, was more enraged than ever against the queen. his only hope was now in conde, but conde at the outset, on arriving at the louvre, offered his heart to the queen as a sheet of white paper. epernon and soissons received him with delight, and exchanged vows of an eternal friendship of several weeks' duration. and thus all the princes of the blood, all the cousins of henry of navarre, except the imbecile conti, were ranged on the side of spain, rome, mary de' medici, and concino concini, while the son of the balafre, the duke of mayenne, and all their adherents were making common cause with the huguenots. what better example had been seen before, even in that country of pantomimic changes, of the effrontery with which religion was made the strumpet of political ambition? all that day and the next paris was rife with rumours that there was to be a general massacre of the huguenots to seal the new-born friendship of a conde with a medici. france was to renounce all her old alliances and publicly to enter into treaties offensive and defensive with spain. a league like that of bayonne made by the former medicean queen-regent of france was now, at villeroy's instigation, to be signed by mary de' medici. meantime, marshal de la chatre, an honest soldier and fervent papist, seventy-three years of age, ignorant of the language, the geography, the politics of the country to which he was sent, and knowing the road thither about as well, according to aerssens, who was requested to give him a little preliminary instruction, as he did the road to india, was to co-operate with barneveld and maurice of nassau in the enterprise against the duchies. these were the cheerful circumstances amid which the first step in the dead henry's grand design against the house of austria and in support of protestantism in half europe and of religious equality throughout christendom, was now to be ventured. cornelis van der myle took leave of the queen on terminating his brief special embassy, and was fain to content himself with languid assurances from that corpulent tuscan dame of her cordial friendship for the united provinces. villeroy repeated that the contingent to be sent was furnished out of pure love to the netherlands, the present government being in no wise bound by the late king's promises. he evaded the proposition of the states for renewing the treaty of close alliance by saying that he was then negotiating with the british government on the subject, who insisted as a preliminary step on the repayment of the third part of the sums advanced to the states by the late king. he exchanged affectionate farewell greetings and good wishes with jeannin and with the dropsical duke of mayenne, who was brought in his chair to his old fellow leaguer's apartments at the moment of the ambassador's parting interview. there was abundant supply of smooth words, in the plentiful lack of any substantial nutriment, from the representatives of each busy faction into which the medicean court was divided. even epernon tried to say a gracious word to the retiring envoy, assuring him that he would do as much for the cause as a good frenchman and lover of his fatherland could do. he added, in rather a surly way, that he knew very well how foully he had been described to the states, but that the devil was not as black as he was painted. it was necessary, he said, to take care of one's own house first of all, and he knew very well that the states and all prudent persons would do the same thing. etext editor's bookmarks: and now the knife of another priest-led fanatic as with his own people, keeping no back-door open at a blow decapitated france conclusive victory for the allies seemed as predestined epernon, the true murderer of henry father cotton, who was only too ready to betray the secrets great war of religion and politics was postponed jesuit mariana--justifying the killing of excommunicated kings no man pretended to think of the state practised successfully the talent of silence queen is entirely in the hands of spain and the priests religion was made the strumpet of political ambition smooth words, in the plentiful lack of any substantial stroke of a broken table knife sharpened on a carriage wheel the assassin, tortured and torn by four horses they have killed him, 'e ammazato,' cried concini things he could tell which are too odious and dreadful uncouple the dogs and let them run vows of an eternal friendship of several weeks' duration what could save the house of austria, the cause of papacy wrath of the jesuits at this exercise of legal authority the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. life and death of john of barneveld, v , - chapter v. interviews between the dutch commissioners and king james--prince maurice takes command of the troops--surrender of julich--matthias crowned king of bohemia--death of rudolph--james's dream of a spanish marriage--appointment of vorstius in place of arminius at leyden--interview between maurice and winwood--increased bitterness between barneveld and maurice--projects of spanish marriages in france. it is refreshing to escape from the atmosphere of self-seeking faction, feverish intrigue, and murderous stratagem in which unhappy france was stifling into the colder and calmer regions of netherland policy. no sooner had the tidings of henry's murder reached the states than they felt that an immense responsibility had fallen on their shoulders. it is to the eternal honour of the republic, of barneveld, who directed her councils, and of prince maurice, who wielded her sword, that she was equal to the task imposed upon her. there were open bets on the exchange in antwerp, after the death of henry, that maurice would likewise be killed within the month. nothing seemed more probable, and the states implored the stadholder to take special heed to himself. but this was a kind of caution which the prince was not wont to regard. nor was there faltering, distraction, cowardice, or parsimony in republican councils. we have heard the strong words of encouragement and sympathy addressed by the advocate's instructions to the queen-regent and the leading statesmen of france. we have seen their effects in that lingering sentiment of shame which prevented the spanish stipendiaries who governed the kingdom from throwing down the mask as cynically as they were at first inclined to do. not less manful and statesmanlike was the language held to the king of great britain and his ministers by the advocate's directions. the news of the assassination reached the special ambassadors in london at three o'clock of monday, the th may. james returned to whitehall from a hunting expedition on the st, and immediately signified his intention of celebrating the occasion by inviting the high commissioners of the states to a banquet and festival at the palace. meantime they were instructed by barneveld to communicate the results of the special embassy of the states to the late king according to the report just delivered to the assembly. thus james was to be informed of the common resolution and engagement then taken to support the cause of the princes. he was now seriously and explicitly to be summoned to assist the princes not only with the stipulated men, but with a much greater force, proportionate to the demands for the security and welfare of christendom, endangered by this extraordinary event. he was assured that the states would exert themselves to the full measure of their ability to fortify and maintain the high interests of france, of the possessory princes, and of christendom, so that the hopes of the perpetrators of the foul deed would be confounded. "they hold this to be the occasion," said the envoys, "to show to all the world that it is within your power to rescue the affairs of france, germany, and of the united provinces from the claws of those who imagine for themselves universal monarchy." they concluded by requesting the king to come to "a resolution on this affair royally, liberally, and promptly, in order to take advantage of the time, and not to allow the adversary to fortify himself in his position"; and they pledged the states-general to stand by and second him with all their power. the commissioners, having read this letter to lord salisbury before communicating it to the king, did not find the lord treasurer very prompt or sympathetic in his reply. there had evidently been much jealousy at the english court of the confidential and intimate relations recently established with henry, to which allusions were made in the documents read at the present conference. cecil, while expressing satisfaction in formal terms at the friendly language of the states, and confidence in the sincerity of their friendship for his sovereign, intimated very plainly that more had passed between the late king and the authorities of the republic than had been revealed by either party to the king of great britain, or than could be understood from the letters and papers now communicated. he desired further information from the commissioners, especially in regard to those articles of their instructions which referred to a general rupture. they professed inability to give more explanations than were contained in the documents themselves. if suspicion was felt, they said, that the french king had been proposing anything in regard to a general rupture, either on account of the retreat of conde, the affair of savoy, or anything else, they would reply that the ambassadors in france had been instructed to decline committing the states until after full communication and advice and ripe deliberation with his british majesty and council, as well as the assembly of the states-general; and it had been the intention of the late king to have conferred once more and very confidentially with prince maurice and count lewis william before coming to a decisive resolution. it was very obvious however to the commissioners that their statement gave no thorough satisfaction, and that grave suspicions remained of something important kept back by them. cecil's manner was constrained and cold, and certainly there were no evidences of profound sorrow at the english court for the death of henry. "the king of france," said the high treasurer, "meant to make a master-stroke--a coup de maistre--but he who would have all may easily lose all. such projects as these should not have been formed or taken in hand without previous communication with his majesty of great britain." all arguments on the part of the ambassadors to induce the lord treasurer or other members of the government to enlarge the succour intended for the cleve affair were fruitless. the english troops regularly employed in the states' service might be made use of with the forces sent by the republic itself. more assistance than this it was idle to expect, unless after a satisfactory arrangement with the present regency of france. the proposition, too, of the states for a close and general alliance was coldly repulsed. "no resolution can be taken as to that," said cecil; "the death of the french king has very much altered such matters." at a little later hour on the same day the commissioners, according to previous invitation, dined with the king. no one sat at the table but his majesty and themselves, and they all kept their hats on their heads. the king was hospitable, gracious, discursive, loquacious, very theological. he expressed regret for the death of the king of france, and said that the pernicious doctrine out of which such vile crimes grew must be uprooted. he asked many questions in regard to the united netherlands, enquiring especially as to the late commotions at utrecht, and the conduct of prince maurice on that occasion. he praised the resolute conduct of the states-general in suppressing those tumults with force, adding, however, that they should have proceeded with greater rigour against the ringleaders of the riot. he warmly recommended the union of the provinces. he then led the conversation to the religious controversies in the netherlands, and in reply to his enquiries was informed that the points in dispute related to predestination and its consequences. "i have studied that subject," said james, "as well as anybody, and have come to the conclusion that nothing certain can be laid down in regard to it. i have myself not always been of one mind about it, but i will bet that my opinion is the best of any, although i would not hang my salvation upon it. my lords the states would do well to order their doctors and teachers to be silent on this topic. i have hardly ventured, moreover, to touch upon the matter of justification in my own writings, because that also seemed to hang upon predestination." thus having spoken with the air of a man who had left nothing further to be said on predestination or justification, the king rose, took off his hat, and drank a bumper to the health of the states-general and his excellency prince maurice, and success to the affair of cleve. after dinner there was a parting interview in the gallery. the king, attended by many privy councillors and high functionaries of state, bade the commissioners a cordial farewell, and, in order to show his consideration for their government, performed the ceremony of knighthood upon them, as was his custom in regard to the ambassadors of venice. the sword being presented to him by the lord chamberlain, james touched each of the envoys on the shoulder as he dismissed him. "out of respect to my lords the states," said they in their report, "we felt compelled to allow ourselves to be burthened with this honour." thus it became obvious to the states-general that there was but little to hope for from great britain or france. france, governed by concini and by spain, was sure to do her best to traverse the designs of the republic, and, while perfunctorily and grudgingly complying with the letter of the hall treaty, was secretly neutralizing by intrigue the slender military aid which de la chatre was to bring to prince maurice. the close alliance of france and protestantism had melted into air. on the other hand the new catholic league sprang into full luxuriance out of the grave of henry, and both spain and the pope gave their hearty adhesion to the combinations of maximilian of bavaria, now that the mighty designs of the french king were buried with him. the duke of savoy, caught in the trap of his own devising, was fain to send his son to sue to spain for pardon for the family upon his knees, and expiated by draining a deep cup of humiliation his ambitious designs upon the milanese and the matrimonial alliance with france. venice recoiled in horror from the position she found herself in as soon as the glamour of henry's seductive policy was dispelled, while james of great britain, rubbing his hands with great delight at the disappearance from the world of the man he so admired, bewailed, and hated, had no comfort to impart to the states-general thus left in virtual isolation. the barren burthen of knighthood and a sermon on predestination were all he could bestow upon the high commissioners in place of the alliance which he eluded, and the military assistance which he point-blank refused. the possessory princes, in whose cause the sword was drawn, were too quarrelsome and too fainthearted to serve for much else than an incumbrance either in the cabinet or the field. and the states-general were equal to the immense responsibility. steadily, promptly, and sagaciously they confronted the wrath, the policy, and the power of the empire, of spain, and of the pope. had the republic not existed, nothing could have prevented that debateable and most important territory from becoming provinces of spain, whose power thus dilated to gigantic proportions in the very face of england would have been more menacing than in the days of the armada. had the republic faltered, she would have soon ceased to exist. but the republic did not falter. on the th july, prince maurice took command of the states' forces, , foot and horse, with thirty pieces of cannon, assembled at schenkenschans. the july english and french regiments in the regular service of the united provinces were included in these armies, but there were no additions to them: "the states did seven times as much," barneveld justly averred, "as they had stipulated to do." maurice, moving with the precision and promptness which always marked his military operations, marched straight upon julich, and laid siege to that important fortress. the archdukes at brussels, determined to keep out of the fray as long as possible, offered no opposition to the passage of his supplies up the rhine, which might have been seriously impeded by them at rheinberg. the details of the siege, as of all the prince's sieges, possess no more interest to the general reader than the working out of a geometrical problem. he was incapable of a flaw in his calculations, but it was impossible for him quite to complete the demonstration before the arrival of de la chatre. maurice received with courtesy the marshal, who arrived on the th august, at the head of his contingent of foot and a few squadrons of cavalry, and there was great show of harmony between them. for any practical purposes, de la chatre might as well have remained in france. for political ends his absence would have been preferable to his presence. maurice would have rejoiced, had the marshal blundered longer along the road to the debateable land than he had done. he had almost brought julich to reduction. a fortnight later the place surrendered. the terms granted by the conqueror were equitable. no change was to be made in the liberty of roman catholic worship, nor in the city magistracy. the citadel and its contents were to be handed over to the princes of brandenburg and neuburg. archduke leopold and his adherents departed to prague, to carry out as he best could his farther designs upon the crown of bohemia, this first portion of them having so lamentably failed, and sergeant-major frederick pithan, of the regiment of count ernest casimir of nassau, was appointed governor of julich in the interest of the possessory princes. thus without the loss of a single life, the republic, guided by her consummate statesman and unrivalled general, had gained an immense victory, had installed the protestant princes in the full possession of those splendid and important provinces, and had dictated her decrees on german soil to the emperor of germany, and had towed, as it were, great britain and france along in her wake, instead of humbly following those powers, and had accomplished all that she had ever proposed to do, even in alliance with them both. the king of england considered that quite enough had been done, and was in great haste to patch up a reconciliation. he thought his ambassador would soon "have as good occasion to employ his tongue and his pen as general cecil and his soldiers have done their swords and their mattocks." he had no sympathy with the cause of protestantism, and steadily refused to comprehend the meaning of the great movements in the duchies. "i only wish that i may handsomely wind myself out of this quarrel, where the principal parties do so little for themselves," he said. de la chatre returned with his troops to france within a fortnight after his arrival on the scene. a mild proposition made by the french government through the marshal, that the provinces should be held in seguestration by france until a decision as to the true sovereignty could be reached, was promptly declined. maurice of nassau had hardly gained so signal a triumph for the republic and for the protestant cause only to hand it over to concini and villeroy for the benefit of spain. julich was thought safer in the keeping of sergeant pithan. by the end of september the states' troops had returned to their own country. thus the republic, with eminent success, had accomplished a brief and brilliant campaign, but no statesman could suppose that the result was more than a temporary one. these coveted provinces, most valuable in themselves and from their important position, would probably not be suffered peacefully to remain very long under the protection of the heretic states-general and in the 'condominium' of two protestant princes. there was fear among the imperialists, catholics, and spaniards, lest the baleful constellation of the seven provinces might be increased by an eighth star. and this was a project not to be tolerated. it was much already that the upstart confederacy had defied pope, emperor, and king, as it were, on their own domains, had dictated arrangements in germany directly in the teeth of its emperor, using france as her subordinate, and compelling the british king to acquiesce in what he most hated. but it was not merely to surprise julich, and to get a foothold in the duchies, that leopold had gone forth on his adventure. his campaign, as already intimated, was part of a wide scheme in which he had persuaded his emperor-cousin to acquiesce. poor rudolph had been at last goaded into a feeble attempt at revolt against his three brothers and his cousin ferdinand. peace-loving, inert, fond of his dinner, fonder of his magnificent collections of gems and intagli, liking to look out of window at his splendid collection of horses, he was willing to pass a quiet life, afar from the din of battles and the turmoil of affairs. as he happened to be emperor of half europe, these harmless tastes could not well be indulged. moon-faced and fat, silent and slow, he was not imperial of aspect on canvas or coin, even when his brows were decorated with the conventional laurel wreath. he had been stripped of his authority and all but discrowned by his more bustling brothers matthias and max, while the sombre figure of styrian ferdinand, pupil of the jesuits, and passionate admirer of philip ii., stood ever in the background, casting a prophetic shadow over the throne and over germany. the brothers were endeavouring to persuade rudolph that he would find more comfort in innsbruck than in prague; that he required repose after the strenuous labours of government. they told him, too, that it would be wise to confer the royal crown of bohemia upon matthias, lest, being elective and also an electorate, the crown and vote of that country might pass out of the family, and so both bohemia and the empire be lost to the habsburgs. the kingdom being thus secured to matthias and his heirs, the next step, of course, was to proclaim him king of the romans. otherwise there would be great danger and detriment to hungary, and other hereditary states of that conglomerate and anonymous monarchy which owned the sway of the great habsburg family. the unhappy emperor was much piqued. he had been deprived by his brother of hungary, moravia, and austria, while matthias was now at prague with an army, ostensibly to obtain ratification of the peace with turkey, but in reality to force the solemn transfer of those realms and extort the promise of bohemia. could there be a better illustration of the absurdities of such a system of imperialism? and now poor rudolph was to be turned out of the hradschin, and sent packing with or without his collections to the tyrol. the bellicose bishop of strassburg and passau, brother of ferdinand, had little difficulty in persuading the downtrodden man to rise to vengeance. it had been secretly agreed between the two that leopold, at the head of a considerable army of mercenaries which he had contrived to levy, should dart into julich as the emperor's representative, seize the debateable duchies, and hold them in sequestration until the emperor should decide to whom they belonged, and, then, rushing back to bohemia, should annihilate matthias, seize prague, and deliver rudolph from bondage. it was further agreed that leopold, in requital of these services, should receive the crown of bohemia, be elected king of the romans, and declared heir to the emperor, so far as rudolph could make him his heir. the first point in the program he had only in part accomplished. he had taken julich, proclaimed the intentions of the emperor, and then been driven out of his strong position by the wise policy of the states under the guidance of barneveld and by the consummate strategy of maurice. it will be seen therefore that the republic was playing a world's game at this moment, and doing it with skill and courage. on the issue of the conflict which had been begun and was to be long protracted in the duchies, and to spread over nearly all christendom besides, would depend the existence of the united netherlands and the fate of protestantism. the discomfited leopold swept back at the head of his mercenaries, foot and horse, through alsace and along the danube to linz and so to prague, marauding, harrying, and black-mailing the country as he went. he entered the city on the th of february , fighting his way through crowds of exasperated burghers. sitting in full harness on horseback in the great square before the cathedral, the warlike bishop compelled the population to make oath to him as the emperor's commissary. the street fighting went on however day by day, poor rudolph meantime cowering in the hradschin. on the third day, leopold, driven out of the town, took up a position on the heights, from which he commanded it with his artillery. then came a feeble voice from the hradschin, telling all men that these passau marauders and their episcopal chief were there by the emperor's orders. the triune city--the old, the new, and the jew--was bidden to send deputies to the palace and accept the imperial decrees. no deputies came at the bidding. the bohemians, especially the praguers, being in great majority protestants knew very well that leopold was fighting the cause of the papacy and spain in bohemia as well as in the duchies. and now matthias appeared upon the scene. the estates had already been in communication with him, better hopes, for the time at least, being entertained from him than from the flaccid rudolph. moreover a kind of compromise had been made in the autumn between matthias and the emperor after the defeat of leopold in the duchies. the real king had fallen at the feet of the nominal one by proxy of his brother maximilian. seven thousand men of the army of matthias now came before prague under command of colonitz. the passauers, receiving three months pay from the emperor, marched quietly off. leopold disappeared for the time. his chancellor and counsellor in the duchies, francis teynagel, a geldrian noble, taken prisoner and put to the torture, revealed the little plot of the emperor in favour of the bishop, and it was believed that the pope, the king of spain, and maximilian of bavaria were friendly to the scheme. this was probable, for leopold at last made no mystery of his resolve to fight protestantism to the death, and to hold the duchies, if he could, for the cause of rome and austria. both rudolph and matthias had committed themselves to the toleration of the reformed religion. the famous "majesty-letter," freshly granted by the emperor ( ), and the compromise between the catholic and protestant estates had become the law of the land. those of the bohemian confession, a creed commingled of hussism, lutheranism, and calvinism, had obtained toleration. in a country where nine-tenths of the population were protestants it was permitted to protestants to build churches and to worship god in them unmolested. but these privileges had been extorted by force, and there was a sullen, dogged determination which might be easily guessed at to revoke them should it ever become possible. the house of austria, reigning in spain, italy, and germany, was bound by the very law of their being to the roman religion. toleration of other worship signified in their eyes both a defeat and a crime. thus the great conflict, to be afterwards known as the thirty years' war, had in reality begun already, and the netherlands, in spite of the truce, were half unconsciously taking a leading part in it. the odds at that moment in germany seemed desperately against the house of austria, so deep and wide was the abyss between throne and subjects which religious difference had created. but the reserved power in spain, italy, and southern germany was sure enough to make itself felt sooner or later on the catholic side. meantime the estates of bohemia knew well enough that the imperial house was bent on destroying the elective principle of the empire, and on keeping the crown of bohemia in perpetuity. they had also discovered that bishop-archduke leopold had been selected by rudolph as chief of the reactionary movement against protestantism. they could not know at that moment whether his plans were likely to prove fantastic or dangerous. so matthias came to prague at the invitation of the estates, entering the city with all the airs of a conqueror. rudolph received his brother with enforced politeness, and invited him to reside in the hradschin. this proposal was declined by matthias, who sent a colonel however, with six pieces of artillery, to guard and occupy that palace. the passau prisoners were pardoned and released, and there was a general reconciliation. a month later, matthias went in pomp to the chapel of the holy wenceslaus, that beautiful and barbarous piece of mediaeval, sclavonic architecture, with its sombre arches, and its walls encrusted with huge precious stones. the estates of bohemia, arrayed in splendid zchech costume, and kneeling on the pavement, were asked whether they accepted matthias, king of hungary, as their lawful king. thrice they answered aye. cardinal dietrichstein then put the historic crown of st. wenceslaus on the king's head, and matthias swore to maintain the laws and privileges of bohemia, including the recent charters granting liberty of religion to protestants. thus there was temporary, if hollow, truce between the religious parties, and a sham reconciliation between the emperor and his brethren. the forlorn rudolph moped away the few months of life left to him in the hradschin, and died soon after the new year. the house of austria had not been divided, matthias succeeded his brother, leopold's visions melted into air, and it was for the future to reveal whether the majesty-letter and the compromise had been written on very durable material. and while such was the condition of affairs in germany immediately following the cleve and julich campaign, the relations of the republic both to england and france were become rapidly more dangerous than they ever had been. it was a severe task for barneveld, and enough to overtax the energies of any statesman, to maintain his hold on two such slippery governments as both had become since the death of their great monarchs. it had been an easier task for william the silent to steer his course, notwithstanding all the perversities, short-comings, brow-beatings, and inconsistencies that he had been obliged to endure from elizabeth and henry. genius, however capricious and erratic at times, has at least vision, and it needed no elaborate arguments to prove to both those sovereigns that the severance of their policy from that of the netherlands was impossible without ruin to the republic and incalculable danger themselves. but now france and england were both tending towards spain through a stupidity on the part of their rulers such as the gods are said to contend against in vain. barneveld was not a god nor a hero, but a courageous and wide-seeing statesman, and he did his best. obliged by his position to affect admiration, or at least respect, where no emotion but contempt was possible, his daily bread was bitter enough. it was absolutely necessary to humour those whom knew to be traversing his policy and desiring his ruin, for there was no other way to serve his country and save it from impending danger. so long as he was faithfully served by his subordinates, and not betrayed by those to whom he gave his heart, he could confront external enemies and mould the policy of wavering allies. few things in history are more pitiable than the position of james in regard to spain. for seven long years he was as one entranced, the slave to one idea, a spanish marriage for his son. it was in vain that his counsellors argued, parliament protested, allies implored. parliament was told that a royal family matter regarded himself alone, and that interference on their part was an impertinence. parliament's duty was a simple one, to give him advice if he asked it, and money when he required it, without asking for reasons. it was already a great concession that he should ask for it in person. they had nothing to do with his affairs nor with general politics. the mystery of government was a science beyond their reach, and with which they were not to meddle. "ne sutor ultra crepidam," said the pedant. upon that one point his policy was made to turn. spain held him in the hollow of her hand. the infanta, with two million crowns in dowry, was promised, withheld, brought forward again like a puppet to please or irritate a froward child. gondemar, the spanish ambassador, held him spellbound. did he falter in his opposition to the states--did he cease to goad them for their policy in the duchies--did he express sympathy with bohemian protestantism, or, as time went on, did he dare to lift a finger or touch his pocket in behalf of his daughter and the unlucky elector-palatine; did he, in short, move a step in the road which england had ever trod and was bound to tread--the road of determined resistance to spanish ambition--instantaneously the infanta withheld, and james was on his knees again. a few years later, when the great raleigh returned from his trans-alantic expedition, gondemar fiercely denounced him to the king as the worst enemy of spain. the usual threat was made, the wand was waved, and the noblest head in england fell upon the block, in pursuance of an obsolete sentence fourteen years old. it is necessary to hold fast this single clue to the crooked and amazing entanglements of the policy of james. the insolence, the meanness, and the prevarications of this royal toad-eater are only thus explained. yet philip iii. declared on his death-bed that he had never had a serious intention of bestowing his daughter on the prince. the vanity and the hatreds of theology furnished the chief additional material in the policy of james towards the provinces. the diplomacy of his reign so far as the republic was concerned is often a mere mass of controversial divinity, and gloomy enough of its kind. exactly at this moment conrad vorstius had been called by the university of leyden to the professorship vacant by the death of arminius, and the wrath of peter plancius and the whole orthodox party knew no bounds. born in cologne, vorstius had been a lecturer in geneva, and beloved by beza. he had written a book against the jesuit belarmino, which he had dedicated to the states-general. but he was now accused of arminianism, socianism, pelagianism, atheism--one knew not what. he defended himself in writing against these various charges, and declared himself a believer in the trinity, in the divinity of christ, in the atonement. but he had written a book on the nature of god, and the wrath of gomarus and plancius and bogerman was as nothing to the ire of james when that treatise was one day handed to him on returning from hunting. he had scarcely looked into it before he was horror-struck, and instantly wrote to sir ralph winwood, his ambassador at the hague, ordering him to insist that this blasphemous monster should at once be removed from the country. who but james knew anything of the nature of god, for had he not written a work in latin explaining it all, so that humbler beings might read and be instructed. sir ralph accordingly delivered a long sermon to the states on the brief supplied by his majesty, told them that to have vorstius as successor to arminius was to fall out of the frying-pan into the fire, and handed them a "catalogue" prepared by the king of the blasphemies, heresies, and atheisms of the professor. "notwithstanding that the man in full assembly of the states of holland," said the ambassador with headlong and confused rhetoric, "had found the means to palliate and plaster the dung of his heresies, and thus to dazzle the eyes of good people," yet it was necessary to protest most vigorously against such an appointment, and to advise that "his works should be publicly burned in the open places of all the cities." the professor never was admitted to perform his functions of theology, but he remained at leyden, so winwood complained, "honoured, recognized as a singularity and ornament to the academy in place of the late joseph scaliger."--"the friendship of the king and the heresy of vorstius are quite incompatible," said the envoy. meantime the advocate, much distressed at the animosity of england bursting forth so violently on occasion of the appointment of a divinity professor at leyden, and at the very instant too when all the acuteness of his intellect was taxed to keep on good or even safe terms with france, did his best to stem these opposing currents. his private letters to his old and confidential friend, noel de carom, states' ambassador in london, reveal the perplexities of his soul and the upright patriotism by which he was guided in these gathering storms. and this correspondence, as well as that maintained by him at a little later period with the successor of aerssens at paris, will be seen subsequently to have had a direct and most important bearing upon the policy of the republic and upon his own fate. it is necessary therefore that the reader, interested in these complicated affairs which were soon to bring on a sanguinary war on a scale even vaster than the one which had been temporarily suspended, should give close attention to papers never before exhumed from the musty sepulchre of national archives, although constantly alluded to in the records of important state trials. it is strange enough to observe the apparent triviality of the circumstances out of which gravest events seem to follow. but the circumstances were in reality threads of iron which led down to the very foundations of the earth. "i wish to know," wrote the advocate to caron, "from whom the archbishop of canterbury received the advices concerning vorstius in order to find out what is meant by all this." it will be remembered that whitgift was of opinion that james was directly inspired by the holy ghost, and that as he affected to deem him the anointed high-priest of england, it was natural that he should encourage the king in his claims to be 'pontifex maximus' for the netherlands likewise. "we are busy here," continued barneveld, "in examining all things for the best interests of the country and the churches. i find the nobles and cities here well resolved in this regard, although there be some disagreements 'in modo.' vorstius, having been for many years professor and minister of theology at steinfurt, having manifested his learning in many books written against the jesuits, and proved himself pure and moderate in doctrine, has been called to the vacant professorship at leyden. this appointment is now countermined by various means. we are doing our best to arrange everything for the highest good of the provinces and the churches. believe this and believe nothing else. pay heed to no other information. remember what took place in flanders, events so well known to you. it is not for me to pass judgment in these matters. do you, too, suspend your judgment." the advocate's allusion was to the memorable course of affairs in flanders at an epoch when many of the most inflammatory preachers and politicians of the reformed religion, men who refused to employ a footman or a housemaid not certified to be thoroughly orthodox, subsequently after much sedition and disturbance went over to spain and the catholic religion. a few weeks later barneveld sent copies to caron of the latest harangues of winwood in the assembly and the reply of my lords on the vorstian business; that is to say, the freshest dialogue on predestination between the king and the advocate. for as james always dictated word for word the orations of his envoy, so had their mightinesses at this period no head and no mouthpiece save barneveld alone. nothing could be drearier than these controversies, and the reader shall be spared as much, as possible the infliction of reading them. it will be necessary, however, for the proper understanding of subsequent events that he should be familiar with portions of the advocate's confidential letters. "sound well the gentleman you wot of," said barneveld, "and other personages as to the conclusive opinions over there. the course of the propositions does not harmonize with what i have myself heard out of the king's mouth at other times, nor with the reports of former ambassadors. i cannot well understand that the king should, with such preciseness, condemn all other opinions save those of calvin and beza. it is important to the service of this country that one should know the final intention of his majesty." and this was the misery of the position. for it was soon to appear that the king's definite and final intentions, varied from day to day. it was almost humorous to find him at that moment condemning all opinions but those of calvin and beza in holland, while his course to the strictest confessors of that creed in england was so ferocious. but vorstius was a rival author to his majesty on subjects treated of by both, so that literary spite of the most venomous kind, stirred into theological hatred, was making a dangerous mixture. had a man with the soul and sense of the advocate sat on the throne which james was regarding at that moment as a professor's chair, the world's history would have been changed. "i fear," continued barneveld, "that some of our own precisians have been spinning this coil for us over there, and if the civil authority can be thus countermined, things will go as in flanders in your time. pray continue to be observant, discreet, and moderate." the advocate continued to use his best efforts to smooth the rising waves. he humoured and even flattered the king, although perpetually denounced by winwood in his letters to his sovereign as tyrannical, over-bearing, malignant, and treacherous. he did his best to counsel moderation and mutual toleration, for he felt that these needless theological disputes about an abstract and insoluble problem of casuistry were digging an abyss in which the republic might be swallowed up for ever. if ever man worked steadily with the best lights of experience and inborn sagacity for the good of his country and in defence of a constitutional government, horribly defective certainly, but the only legal one, and on the whole a more liberal polity than any then existing, it was barneveld. courageously, steadily, but most patiently, he stood upon that position so vital and daily so madly assailed; the defence of the civil authority against the priesthood. he felt instinctively and keenly that where any portion of the subjects or citizens of a country can escape from the control of government and obey other head than the lawful sovereignty, whether monarchical or republican, social disorder and anarchy must be ever impending. "we are still tortured by ecclesiastical disputes," he wrote a few weeks later to caron. "besides many libels which have appeared in print, the letters of his majesty and the harangues of winwood have been published; to what end you who know these things by experience can judge. the truth of the matter of vorstius is that he was legally called in july , that he was heard last may before my lords the states with six preachers to oppose him, and in the same month duly accepted and placed in office. he has given no public lectures as yet. you will cause this to be known on fitting opportunity. believe and cause to be believed that his majesty's letters and sir r. winwood's propositions have been and shall be well considered, and that i am working with all my strength to that end. you know the constitution of our country, and can explain everything for the best. many pious and intelligent people in this state hold themselves assured that his majesty according to his royal exceeding great wisdom, foresight, and affection for the welfare of this land will not approve that his letters and winwood's propositions should be scattered by the press among the common people. believe and cause to be believed, to your best ability, that my lords the states of holland desire to maintain the true christian, reformed religion as well in the university of leyden as in all their cities and villages. the only dispute is on the high points of predestination and its adjuncts, concerning which moderation and a more temperate teaching is furthered by some amongst us. many think that such is the edifying practice in england. pray have the kindness to send me the english confession of the year , with the corrections and alterations up to this year." but the fires were growing hotter, fanned especially by flemish ministers, a brotherhood of whom barneveld had an especial distrust, and who certainly felt great animosity to him. his moderate counsels were but oil to the flames. he was already depicted by zealots and calumniators as false to the reformed creed. "be assured and assure others," he wrote again to caron, "that in the matter of religion i am, and by god's grace shall remain, what i ever have been. make the same assurances as to my son-in-law and brother. we are not a little amazed that a few extraordinary puritans, mostly flemings and frisians, who but a short time ago had neither property nor kindred in the country, and have now very little of either, and who have given but slender proofs of constancy or service to the fatherland, could through pretended zeal gain credit over there against men well proved in all respects. we wonder the more because they are endeavouring, in ecclesiastical matters at least, to usurp an extraordinary authority, against which his majesty, with very weighty reasons, has so many times declared his opinion founded upon god's word and upon all laws and principles of justice." it was barneveld's practice on this as on subsequent occasions very courteously to confute the king out of his own writings and speeches, and by so doing to be unconsciously accumulating an undying hatred against himself in the royal breast. certainly nothing could be easier than to show that james, while encouraging in so reckless a manner the emancipation of the ministers of an advanced sect in the reformed church from control of government, and their usurpation of supreme authority which had been destroyed in england, was outdoing himself in dogmatism and inconsistency. a king-highpriest, who dictated his supreme will to bishops and ministers as well as to courts and parliaments, was ludicrously employed in a foreign country in enforcing the superiority of the church to the state. "you will give good assurances," said the advocate, "upon my word, that the conservation of the true reformed religion is as warmly cherished here, especially by me, as at any time during the war." he next alluded to the charges then considered very grave against certain writings of vorstius, and with equal fairness to his accusers as he had been to the professor gave a pledge that the subject should be examined. "if the man in question," he said, "be the author, as perhaps falsely imputed, of the work 'de filiatione christi' or things of that sort, you may be sure that he shall have no furtherance here." he complained, however, that before proof the cause was much prejudiced by the circulation through the press of letters on the subject from important personages in england. his own efforts to do justice in the matter were traversed by such machinations. if the professor proved to be guilty of publications fairly to be deemed atheistical and blasphemous, he should be debarred from his functions, but the outcry from england was doing more harm than good. "the published extract from the letter of the archbishop," he wrote, "to the effect that the king will declare my lords the states to be his enemies if they are not willing to send the man away is doing much harm." truly, if it had come to this--that a king of england was to go to war with a neighbouring and friendly republic because an obnoxious professor of theology was not instantly hurled from a university of which his majesty was not one of the overseers--it was time to look a little closely into the functions of governments and the nature of public and international law. not that the sword of james was in reality very likely to be unsheathed, but his shriekings and his scribblings, pacific as he was himself, were likely to arouse passions which torrents of blood alone could satiate. "the publishing and spreading among the community," continued barneveld, "of m. winwood's protestations and of many indecent libels are also doing much mischief, for the nature of this people does not tolerate such things. i hope, however, to obtain the removal according to his majesty's desire. keep me well informed, and send me word what is thought in england by the four divines of the book of vorstius, 'de deo,' and of his declarations on the points sent here by his majesty. let me know, too, if there has been any later confession published in england than that of the year , and whether the nine points pressed in the year were accepted and published in . if so, pray send them, as they maybe made use of in settling our differences here." thus it will be seen that the spirit of conciliation, of a calm but earnest desire to obtain a firm grasp of the most reasonable relations between church and state through patient study of the phenomena exhibited in other countries, were the leading motives of the man. yet he was perpetually denounced in private as an unbeliever, an atheist, a tyrant, because he resisted dictation from the clergy within the provinces and from kings outside them. "it was always held here to be one of the chief infractions of the laws and privileges of this country," he said, "that former princes had placed themselves in matter of religion in the tutelage of the pope and the spanish inquisition, and that they therefore on complaint of their good subjects could take no orders on that subject. therefore it cannot be considered strange that we are not willing here to fall into the same obloquy. that one should now choose to turn the magistrates, who were once so seriously summoned on their conscience and their office to adopt the reformation and to take the matter of religion to heart, into ignorants, to deprive them of knowledge, and to cause them to see with other eyes than their own, cannot by many be considered right and reasonable. 'intelligenti pauca.'" [the interesting letter from which i have given these copious extracts was ordered by its writer to be burned. "lecta vulcano" was noted at the end of it, as was not unfrequently the case with the advocate. it never was burned; but, innocent and reasonable as it seems, was made use of by barneveld's enemies with deadly effect. j.l.m.] meantime m. de refuge, as before stated, was on his way to the hague, to communicate the news of the double marriage. he had fallen sick at rotterdam, and the nature of his instructions and of the message he brought remained unknown, save from the previous despatches of aerssens. but reports were rife that he was about to propose new terms of alliance to the states, founded on large concessions to the roman catholic religion. of course intense jealousy was excited at the english court, and calumny plumed her wings for a fresh attack upon the advocate. of course he was sold to spain, the reformed religion was to be trampled out in the provinces, and the papacy and holy inquisition established on its ruins. nothing could be more diametrically the reverse of the fact than such hysterical suspicions as to the instructions of the ambassador extraordinary from france, and this has already appeared. the vorstian affair too was still in the same phase, the advocate professing a willingness that justice should be done in the matter, while courteously but firmly resisting the arrogant pretensions of james to take the matter out of the jurisdiction of the states. "i stand amazed," he said, "at the partisanship and the calumnious representations which you tell me of, and cannot imagine what is thought nor what is proposed. should m. de refuge make any such propositions as are feared, believe, and cause his majesty and his counsellors to believe, that they would be of no effect. make assurances upon my word, notwithstanding all advices to the contrary, that such things would be flatly refused. if anything is published or proven to the discredit of vorstius, send it to me. believe that we shall not defend heretics nor schismatics against the pure evangelical doctrine, but one cannot conceive here that the knowledge and judicature of the matter belongs anywhere else than to my lords the states of holland, in whose service he has legally been during four months before his majesty made the least difficulty about it. called hither legally a year before, with the knowledge and by the order of his excellency and the councillors of state of holland, he has been countermined by five or six flemings and frisians, who, without recognizing the lawful authority of the magistrates, have sought assistance in foreign countries--in germany and afterwards in england. yes, they have been so presumptuous as to designate one of their own men for the place. if such a proceeding should be attempted in england, i leave it to those whose business it would be to deal with it to say what would be done. i hope therefore that one will leave the examination and judgment of this matter freely to us, without attempting to make us--against the principles of the reformation and the liberties and laws of the land--executors of the decrees of others, as the man here wishes to obtrude it upon us." he alluded to the difficulty in raising the ways and means; saying that the quota of holland, as usual, which was more than half the whole, was ready, while other provinces were in arrears. yet they were protected, while holland was attacked. "methinks i am living in a strange world," he said, "when those who have received great honour from holland, and who in their conscience know that they alone have conserved the commonwealth, are now traduced with such great calumnies. but god the lord almighty is just, and will in his own time do chastisement." the affair of vorstius dragged its slow length along, and few things are more astounding at this epoch than to see such a matter, interesting enough certainly to theologians, to the university, and to the rising generation of students, made the topic of unceasing and embittered diplomatic controversy between two great nations, who had most pressing and momentous business on their hands. but it was necessary to humour the king, while going to the verge of imprudence in protecting the professor. in march he was heard, three or four hours long, before the assembly of holland, in answer to various charges made against him, being warned that "he stood before the lord god and before the sovereign authority of the states." although thought by many to have made a powerful defence, he was ordered to set it forth in writing, both in latin and in the vernacular. furthermore it was ordained that he should make a complete refutation of all the charges already made or that might be made during the ensuing three months against him in speech, book, or letter in england, germany, the netherlands, or anywhere else. he was allowed one year and a half to accomplish this work, and meantime was to reside not in leyden, nor the hague, but in some other town of holland, not delivering lectures or practising his profession in any way. it might be supposed that sufficient work had been thus laid out for the unfortunate doctor of divinity without lecturing or preaching. the question of jurisdiction was saved. the independence of the civil authority over the extreme pretensions of the clergy had been vindicated by the firmness of the advocate. james bad been treated with overflowing demonstrations of respect, but his claim to expel a dutch professor from his chair and country by a royal fiat had been signally rebuked. certainly if the provinces were dependent upon the british king in regard to such a matter, it was the merest imbecility for them to affect independence. barneveld had carried his point and served his country strenuously and well in this apparently small matter which human folly had dilated into a great one. but deep was the wrath treasured against him in consequence in clerical and royal minds. returning from wesel after the negotiations, sir ralph winwood had an important interview at arnheim with prince maurice, in which they confidentially exchanged their opinions in regard to the advocate, and mutually confirmed their suspicions and their jealousies in regard to that statesman. the ambassador earnestly thanked the prince in the king's name for his "careful and industrious endeavours for the maintenance of the truth of religion, lively expressed in prosecuting the cause against vorstius and his adherents." he then said: "i am expressly commanded that his majesty conferring the present condition of affairs of this quarter of the world with those advertisements he daily receives from his ministers abroad, together with the nature and disposition of those men who have in their hands the managing of all business in these foreign parts, can make no other judgment than this. "there is a general ligue and confederation complotted far the subversion and ruin of religion upon the subsistence whereof his majesty doth judge the main welfare of your realms and of these provinces solely to consist. "therefore his majesty has given me charge out of the knowledge he has of your great worth and sufficiency," continued winwood, "and the confidence he reposes in your faith and affection, freely to treat with you on these points, and withal to pray you to deliver your opinion what way would be the most compendious and the most assured to contrequarr these complots, and to frustrate the malice of these mischievous designs." the prince replied by acknowledging the honour the king had vouchsafed to do him in holding so gracious an opinion of him, wherein his majesty should never be deceived. "i concur in judgment with his majesty," continued the prince, "that the main scope at which these plots and practices do aim, for instance, the alliance between france and spain, is this, to root out religion, and by consequence to bring under their yoke all those countries in which religion is professed. "the first attempt," continued the prince, "is doubtless intended against these provinces. the means to countermine and defeat these projected designs i take to be these: the continuance of his majesty's constant resolution for the protection of religion, and then that the king would be pleased to procure a general confederation between the kings, princes, and commonwealths professing religion, namely, denmark, sweden, the german princes, the protestant cantons of switzerland, and our united provinces. "of this confederation, his majesty must be not only the director, but the head and protector. "lastly, the protestants of france should be, if not supported, at least relieved from that oppression which the alliance of spain doth threaten upon them. this, i insist," repeated maurice with great fervour, "is the only coupegorge of all plots whatever between france and spain." he enlarged at great length on these points, which he considered so vital. "and what appearance can there be," asked winwood insidiously and maliciously, "of this general confederation now that these provinces, which heretofore have been accounted a principal member of the reformed church, begin to falter in the truth of religion? "he who solely governs the metropolitan province of holland," continued the ambassador, with a direct stab in the back at barneveld, "is reputed generally, as your excellency best knows, to be the only patron of vorstius, and the protector of the schisms of arminius. and likewise, what possibility is there that the protestants of france can expect favour from these provinces when the same man is known to depend at the devotion of france?" the international, theological, and personal jealousy of the king against holland's advocate having been thus plainly developed, the ambassador proceeded to pour into the prince's ear the venom of suspicion, and to inflame his jealousy against his great rival. the secret conversation showed how deeply laid was the foundation of the political hatred, both of james and of maurice, against the advocate, and certainly nothing could be more preposterous than to imagine the king as the director and head of the great protestant league. we have but lately seen him confidentially assuring his minister that his only aim was "to wind himself handsomely out of the whole business." maurice must have found it difficult to preserve his gravity when assigning such a part to "master jacques." "although monsieur barneveld has cast off all care of religion," said maurice, "and although some towns in holland, wherein his power doth reign, are infected with the like neglect, yet so long as so many good towns in holland stand sound, and all the other provinces of this confederacy, the proposition would at the first motion be cheerfully accepted. "i confess i find difficulty in satisfying your second question," continued the prince, "for i acknowledge that barneveld is wholly devoted to the service of france. during the truce negotiations, when some difference arose between him and myself, president jeannin came to me, requiring me in the french king's name to treat monsieur barneveld well, whom the king had received into his protection. the letters which the states' ambassador in france wrote to barneveld (and to him all ambassadors address their despatches of importance), the very autographs themselves, he sent back into the hands of villeroy." here the prince did not scruple to accuse the advocate of doing the base and treacherous trick against aerssens which he had expressly denied doing, and which had been done during his illness, as he solemnly avowed, by a subordinate probably for the sake of making mischief. maurice then discoursed largely and vehemently of the suspicious proceedings of barneveld, and denounced him as dangerous to the state. "when one man who has the conduct of all affairs in his sole power," he said, "shall hold underhand intelligence with the ministers of spain and the archduke, and that without warrant, thereby he may have the means so to carry the course of affairs that, do what they will, these provinces must fall or stand at the mercy and discretion of spain. therefore some good resolutions must be taken in time to hold up this state from a sudden downfall, but in this much moderation and discretion must be used." the prince added that he had invited his cousin lewis william to appear at the hague at may day, in order to consult as to the proper means to preserve the provinces from confusion under his majesty's safeguard, and with the aid of the englishmen in the states' service whom maurice pronounced to be "the strength and flower of his army." thus the prince developed his ideas at great length, and accused the advocate behind his back, and without the faintest shadow of proof, of base treachery to his friends and of high-treason. surely barneveld was in danger, and was walking among pitfalls. most powerful and deadly enemies were silently banding themselves together against him. could he long maintain his hold on the slippery heights of power, where he was so consciously serving his country, but where he became day by day a mere shining mark for calumny and hatred? the ambassador then signified to the prince that he had been instructed to carry to him the king's purpose to confer on him the order of the garter. "if his majesty holds me worthy of so great honour," said the prince, "i and my family shall ever remain bound to his service and that of his royal posterity. "that the states should be offended i see no cause, but holding the charge i do in their service, i could not accept the honour without first acquainting them and receiving their approbation." winwood replied that, as the king knew the terms on which the prince lived with the states, he doubted not his majesty would first notify them and say that he honoured the mutual amity between his realms and these provinces by honouring the virtues of their general, whose services, as they had been most faithful and affectionate, so had they been accompanied with the blessings of happiness and prosperous success. thus said winwood to the king: "your majesty may plaster two walls with one trowel ('una fidelia duos dealbare parietes'), reverse the designs of them who to facilitate their own practices do endeavour to alienate your affections from the good of these provinces, and oblige to your service the well-affected people, who know that there is no surety for themselves, their wives and children, but under the protection of your majesty's favour. perhaps, however, the favourers of vorstius and arminius will buzz into the ears of their associates that your majesty would make a party in these provinces by maintaining the truth of religion and also by gaining unto you the affections of their chief commander. but your majesty will be pleased to pass forth whose worthy ends will take their place, which is to honour virtue where you find it, and the suspicious surmises of malice and envy in one instant will vanish into smoke." winwood made no scruple in directly stating to the english government that barneveld's purpose was to "cause a divorce between the king's realms and the provinces, the more easily to precipitate them into the arms of spain." he added that the negotiation with count maurice then on foot was to be followed, but with much secrecy, on account of the place he held in the state. soon after the ambassador's secret conversation with maurice he had an interview with barneveld. he assured the advocate that no contentment could be given to his majesty but by the banishment of vorstius. "if the town of leyden should understand so much," replied barneveld, "i fear the magistrates would retain him still in their town." "if the town of leyden should retain vorstius," answered winwood, "to brave or despight his majesty, the king has the means, if it pleases him to use them, and that without drawing sword, to range them to reason, and to make the magistrates on their knees demand his pardon, and i say as much of rotterdam." such insolence on the part of an ambassador to the first minister of a great republic was hard to bear. barneveld was not the man to brook it. he replied with great indignation. "i was born in liberty," he said with rising choler, "i cannot digest this kind of language. the king of spain himself never dared to speak in so high a style." "i well understand that logic," returned the ambassador with continued insolence. "you hold your argument to be drawn 'a majori ad minus;' but i pray you to believe that the king of great britain is peer and companion to the king of spain, and that his motto is, 'nemo me impune lacessit.'" and so they parted in a mutual rage; winwood adding on going out of the room, "whatsoever i propose to you in his majesty's name can find with you neither goust nor grace." he then informed lord rochester that "the man was extremely distempered and extremely distasted with his majesty. "some say," he added, "that on being in england when his majesty first came to the throne he conceived some offence, which ever since hath rankled in his heart, and now doth burst forth with more violent malice." nor was the matter so small as it superficially appeared. dependence of one nation upon the dictation of another can never be considered otherwise than grave. the subjection of all citizens, clerical or lay, to the laws of the land, the supremacy of the state over the church, were equally grave subjects. and the question of sovereignty now raised for the first time, not academically merely, but practically, was the gravest one of all. it was soon to be mooted vigorously and passionately whether the united provinces were a confederacy or a union; a league of sovereign and independent states bound together by treaty for certain specified purposes or an incorporated whole. the advocate and all the principal lawyers in the country had scarcely a doubt on the subject. whether it were a reasonable system or an absurd one, a vigorous or an imbecile form of government, they were confident that the union of utrecht, made about a generation of mankind before, and the only tie by which the provinces were bound together at all, was a compact between sovereigns. barneveld styled himself always the servant and officer of the states of holland. to them was his allegiance, for them he spoke, wrought, and thought, by them his meagre salary was paid. at the congress of the states-general, the scene of his most important functions, he was the ambassador of holland, acting nominally according to their instructions, and exercising the powers of minister of foreign affairs and, as it were, prime minister for the other confederates by their common consent. the system would have been intolerable, the great affairs of war and peace could never have been carried on so triumphantly, had not the preponderance of the one province holland, richer, more powerful, more important in every way than the other six provinces combined, given to the confederacy illegally, but virtually, many of the attributes of union. rather by usucaption than usurpation holland had in many regards come to consider herself and be considered as the republic itself. and barneveld, acting always in the name of holland and with the most modest of titles and appointments, was for a long time in all civil matters the chief of the whole country. this had been convenient during the war, still more convenient during negotiations for peace, but it was inevitable that there should be murmurs now that the cessation from military operations on a large scale had given men time to look more deeply into the nature of a constitution partly inherited and partly improvised, and having many of the defects usually incident to both sources of government. the military interest, the ecclesiastical power, and the influence of foreign nations exerted through diplomatic intrigue, were rapidly arraying themselves in determined hostility to barneveld and to what was deemed his tyrannous usurpation. a little later the national spirit, as opposed to provincial and municipal patriotism, was to be aroused against him, and was likely to prove the most formidable of all the elements of antagonism. it is not necessary to anticipate here what must be developed on a subsequent page. this much, however, it is well to indicate for the correct understanding of passing events. barneveld did not consider himself the officer or servant of their high mightinesses the states-general, while in reality often acting as their master, but the vassal and obedient functionary of their great mightinesses the states of holland, whom he almost absolutely controlled. his present most pressing business was to resist the encroachments of the sacerdotal power and to defend the magistracy. the casuistical questions which were fast maddening the public mind seemed of importance to him only as enclosing within them a more vital and practical question of civil government. but the anger of his opponents, secret and open, was rapidly increasing. envy, jealousy, political and clerical hate, above all, that deadliest and basest of malignant spirits which in partisan warfare is bred out of subserviency to rising and rival power, were swarming about him and stinging him at every step. no parasite of maurice could more effectively pay his court and more confidently hope for promotion or reward than by vilipending barneveld. it would be difficult to comprehend the infinite extent and power of slander without a study of the career of the advocate of holland. "i thank you for your advices," he wrote to carom' "and i wish from my heart that his majesty, according to his royal wisdom and clemency towards the condition of this country, would listen only to my lords the states or their ministers, and not to his own or other passionate persons who, through misunderstanding or malice, furnish him with information and so frequently flatter him. i have tried these twenty years to deserve his majesty's confidence, and have many letters from him reaching through twelve or fifteen years, in which he does me honour and promises his royal favour. i am the more chagrined that through false and passionate reports and information--because i am resolved to remain good and true to my lords the states, to the fatherland, and to the true christian religion--i and mine should now be so traduced. i hope that god almighty will second my upright conscience, and cause his majesty soon to see the injustice done to me and mine. to defend the resolutions of my lords the states of holland is my office, duty, and oath, and i assure you that those resolutions are taken with wider vision and scope than his majesty can believe. let this serve for my lords' defence and my own against indecent calumny, for my duty allows me to pursue no other course." he again alluded to the dreary affair of vorstius, and told the envoy that the venation caused by it was incredible. "that men unjustly defame our cities and their regents is nothing new," he said; "but i assure you that it is far more damaging to the common weal than the defamers imagine." some of the private admirers of arminius who were deeply grieved at so often hearing him "publicly decried as the enemy of god" had been defending the great heretic to james, and by so doing had excited the royal wrath not only against the deceased doctor and themselves, but against the states of holland who had given them no commission. on the other hand the advanced orthodox party, most bitter haters of barneveld, and whom in his correspondence with england he uniformly and perhaps designedly called the puritans, knowing that the very word was a scarlet rag to james, were growing louder and louder in their demands. "some thirty of these puritans," said he, "of whom at least twenty are flemings or other foreigners equally violent, proclaim that they and the like of them mean alone to govern the church. let his majesty compare this proposal with his royal present, with his salutary declaration at london in the year to doctor reynolds and his associates, and with his admonition delivered to the emperor, kings, sovereigns, and republics, and he will best understand the mischievous principles of these people, who are now gaining credit with him to the detriment of the freedom and laws of these provinces." a less enlightened statesman than barneveld would have found it easy enough to demonstrate the inconsistency of the king in thus preaching subserviency of government to church and favouring the rule of puritans over both. it needed but slender logic to reduce such a policy on his part to absurdity, but neither kings nor governments are apt to value themselves on their logic. so long as james could play the pedagogue to emperors, kings, and republics, it mattered little to him that the doctrines which he preached in one place he had pronounced flat blasphemy in another. that he would cheerfully hang in england the man whom he would elevate to power in holland might be inconsistency in lesser mortals; but what was the use of his infallibility if he was expected to be consistent? but one thing was certain. the advocate saw through him as if he had been made of glass, and james knew that he did. this fatal fact outweighed all the decorous and respectful phraseology under which barneveld veiled his remorseless refutations. it was a dangerous thing to incur the wrath of this despot-theologian. prince maurice, who had originally joined in the invitation given by the overseers of leyden to vorstius, and had directed one of the deputies and his own "court trumpeter," uytenbogaert, to press him earnestly to grant his services to the university, now finding the coldness of barneveld to the fiery remonstrances of the king, withdrew his protection of the professor. "the count maurice, who is a wise and understanding prince," said winwood, "and withal most affectionate to his majesty's service, doth foresee the miseries into which these countries are likely to fall, and with grief doth pine away." it is probable that the great stadholder had never been more robust, or indeed inclining to obesity, than precisely at this epoch; but sir ralph was of an imaginative turn. he had discovered, too, that the advocate's design was "of no other nature than so to stem the course of the state that insensibly the provinces shall fall by relapse into the hands of spain." a more despicable idea never entered a human brain. every action, word, and thought, of barneveld's life was a refutation of it. but he was unwilling, at the bidding of a king, to treat a professor with contumely who had just been solemnly and unanimously invited by the great university, by the states of holland, and by the stadholder to an important chair; and that was enough for the diplomatist and courtier. "he, and only he," said winwood passionately, "hath opposed his majesty's purposes with might and main." formerly the ambassador had been full of complaints of "the craving humour of count maurice," and had censured him bitterly in his correspondence for having almost by his inordinate pretensions for money and other property brought the treaty of truce to a standstill. and in these charges he was as unjust and as reckless as he was now in regard to barneveld. the course of james and his agents seemed cunningly devised to sow discord in the provinces, to inflame the growing animosity of the stadholder to the advocate, and to paralyse the action of the republic in the duchies. if the king had received direct instructions from the spanish cabinet how to play the spanish game, he could hardly have done it with more docility. but was not gondemar ever at his elbow, and the infanta always in the perspective? and it is strange enough that, at the same moment, spanish marriages were in france as well as england the turning-point of policy. henry had been willing enough that the dauphin should espouse a spanish infanta, and that one of the spanish princes should be affianced to one of his daughters. but the proposition from spain had been coupled with a condition that the friendship between france and the netherlands should be at once broken off, and the rebellious heretics left to their fate. and this condition had been placed before him with such arrogance that he had rejected the whole scheme. henry was not the man to do anything dishonourable at the dictation of another sovereign. he was also not the man to be ignorant that the friendship of the provinces was necessary to him, that cordial friendship between france and spain was impossible, and that to allow spain to reoccupy that splendid possession between his own realms and germany, from which she had been driven by the hollanders in close alliance with himself, would be unworthy of the veriest schoolboy in politics. but henry was dead, and a medici reigned in his place, whose whole thought was to make herself agreeable to spain. aerssens, adroit, prying, experienced, unscrupulous, knew very well that these double spanish marriages were resolved upon, and that the inevitable condition refused by the king would be imposed upon his widow. he so informed the states-general, and it was known to the french government that he had informed them. his position soon became almost untenable, not because he had given this information, but because the information and the inference made from it were correct. it will be observed that the policy of the advocate was to preserve friendly relations between france and england, and between both and the united provinces. it was for this reason that he submitted to the exhortations and denunciations of the english ambassadors. it was for this that he kept steadily in view the necessity of dealing with and supporting corporate france, the french government, when there were many reasons for feeling sympathy with the internal rebellion against that government. maurice felt differently. he was connected by blood or alliance with more than one of the princes now perpetually in revolt. bouillon was his brother-in-law, the sister of conde was his brother's wife. another cousin, the elector-palatine, was already encouraging distant and extravagant hopes of the imperial crown. it was not unnatural that he should feel promptings of ambition and sympathy difficult to avow even to himself, and that he should feel resentment against the man by whom this secret policy was traversed in the well-considered interest of the republican government. aerssens, who, with the keen instinct of self-advancement was already attaching himself to maurice as to the wheels of the chariot going steadily up the hill, was not indisposed to loosen his hold upon the man through whose friendship he had first risen, and whose power was now perhaps on the decline. moreover, events had now caused him to hate the french government with much fervour. with henry iv. he had been all-powerful. his position had been altogether exceptional, and he had wielded an influence at paris more than that exerted by any foreign ambassador. the change naturally did not please him, although he well knew the reasons. it was impossible for the dutch ambassador to be popular at a court where spain ruled supreme. had he been willing to eat humiliation as with a spoon, it would not have sufficed. they knew him, they feared him, and they could not doubt that his sympathies would ever be with the malcontent princes. at the same time he did not like to lose his hold upon the place, nor to have it known, as yet, to the world that his power was diminished. "the queen commands me to tell you," said the french ambassador de russy to the states-general, "that the language of the sieur aerssens has not only astonished her, but scandalized her to that degree that she could not refrain from demanding if it came from my lords the states or from himself. he having, however, affirmed to her majesty that he had express charge to justify it by reasons so remote from the hope and the belief that she had conceived of your gratitude to the most christian king and herself, she is constrained to complain of it, and with great frankness." some months later than this aerssens communicated to the states-general the project of the spanish marriage, "which," said he, "they have declared to me with so many oaths to be false." he informed them that m. de refuge was to go on special mission to the hague, "having been designated to that duty before aerssens' discovery of the marriage project." he was to persuade their mightinesses that the marriages were by no means concluded, and that, even if they were, their mightinesses were not interested therein, their majesties intending to remain by the old maxims and alliances of the late king. marriages, he would be instructed to say, were mere personal conventions, which remained of no consideration when the interests of the crown were touched. "nevertheless, i know very well," said aerssens, "that in england these negotiations are otherwise understood, and that the king has uttered great complaints about them, saying that such a negotiation as this ought not to have been concealed from him. he is pressing more than ever for reimbursement of the debt to him, and especially for the moneys pretended to have been furnished to your mightinesses in his majesty's name." thus it will be seen how closely the spanish marriages were connected with the immediate financial arrangements of france, england, and the states, without reference to the wider political consequences anticipated. "the princes and most gentlemen," here continued the ambassador, "believe that these reciprocal and double marriages will bring about great changes in christendom if they take the course which the authors of them intend, however much they may affect to believe that no novelties are impending. the marriages were proposed to the late king, and approved by him, during the negotiations for the truce, and had don pedro do toledo been able to govern himself, as jeannin has just been telling me, the united provinces would have drawn from it their assured security. what he means by that, i certainly cannot conceive, for don pedro proposed the marriage of the dauphin (now louis xiii.) with the infanta on the condition that henry should renounce all friendship with your mightinesses, and neither openly nor secretly give you any assistance. you were to be entirely abandoned, as an example for all who throw off the authority of their lawful prince. but his majesty answered very generously that he would take no conditions; that he considered your mightinesses as his best friends, whom he could not and would not forsake. upon this don pedro broke off the negotiation. what should now induce the king of spain to resume the marriage negotiations but to give up the conditions, i am sure i don't know, unless, through the truce, his designs and his ambition have grown flaccid. this i don't dare to hope, but fear, on the contrary, that he will so manage the irresolution, weakness, and faintheartedness of this kingdom as through the aid of his pensioned friends here to arrive at all his former aims." certainly the ambassador painted the condition of france in striking and veracious colours, and he was quite right in sending the information which he was first to discover, and which it was so important for the states to know. it was none the less certain in barneveld's mind that the best, not the worst, must be made of the state of affairs, and that france should not be assisted in throwing herself irrecoverably into the arms of spain. "refuge will tell you," said aerssens, a little later, "that these marriages will not interfere with the friendship of france for you nor with her subsidies, and that no advantage will be given to spain in the treaty to your detriment or that of her other allies. but whatever fine declarations they may make, it is sure to be detrimental. and all the princes, gentlemen, and officers here have the same conviction. those of the reformed religion believe that the transaction is directed solely against the religion which your mightinesses profess, and that the next step will be to effect a total separation between the two religions and the two countries." refuge arrived soon afterwards, and made the communication to the states-general of the approaching nuptials between the king of france and the infanta of spain; and of the prince of spain with madame, eldest daughter of france, exactly as aerssens had predicted four months before. there was a great flourish of compliments, much friendly phrase-making, and their mightinesses were informed that the communication of the marriages was made to them before any other power had been notified, in proof of the extraordinary affection entertained for them by france. "you are so much interested in the happiness of france," said refuge, "that this treaty by which it is secured will be for your happiness also. he did not indicate, however, the precise nature of the bliss beyond the indulgence of a sentimental sympathy, not very refreshing in the circumstances, which was to result to the confederacy from this close alliance between their firmest friend and their ancient and deadly enemy. he would have found it difficult to do so. "don rodrigo de calderon, secretary of state, is daily expected from spain," wrote, aerssens once more. "he brings probably the articles of the marriages, which have hitherto been kept secret, so they say. 'tis a shrewd negotiator; and in this alliance the king's chief design is to injure your mightinesses, as m. de villeroy now confesses, although he says that this will not be consented to on this side. it behoves your mightinesses to use all your ears and eyes. it is certain these are much more than private conventions. yes, there is nothing private about them, save the conjunction of the persons whom they concern. in short, all the conditions regard directly the state, and directly likewise, or by necessary consequence, the state of your mightinesses' provinces. i reserve explanations until it shall please your mightinesses to hear me by word of mouth." for it was now taken into consideration by the states' government whether aerssens was to remain at his post or to return. whether it was his wish to be relieved of his embassy or not was a question. but there was no question that the states at this juncture, and in spite of the dangers impending from the spanish marriages, must have an ambassador ready to do his best to keep france from prematurely sliding into positive hostility to them. aerssens was enigmatical in his language, and barneveld was somewhat puzzled. "i have according to your reiterated requests," wrote the advocate to the ambassador, "sounded the assembly of my lords the states as to your recall; but i find among some gentlemen the opinion that if earnestly pressed to continue you would be willing to listen to the proposal. this i cannot make out from your letters. please to advise me frankly as to your wishes, and assure yourself in everything of my friendship." nothing could be more straightforward than this language, but the envoy was less frank than barneveld, as will subsequently appear. the subject was a most important one, not only in its relation to the great affairs of state, but to momentous events touching the fate of illustrious personages. meantime a resolution was passed by the states of holland "in regard to the question whether ambassador aerssens should retain his office, yes or no?" and it was decided by a majority of votes "to leave it to his candid opinion if in his free conscience he thinks he can serve the public cause there any longer. if yes, he may keep his office one year more. if no, he may take leave and come home. in no case is his salary to be increased." surely the states, under the guidance of the advocate, had thus acted with consummate courtesy towards a diplomatist whose position from no apparent fault of his own but by the force of circumstances--and rather to his credit than otherwise--was gravely compromised. etext editor's bookmarks: advanced orthodox party-puritans atheist, a tyrant, because he resisted dictation from the clergy give him advice if he asked it, and money when he required he was not imperial of aspect on canvas or coin he who would have all may easily lose all king's definite and final intentions, varied from day to day neither kings nor governments are apt to value logic outdoing himself in dogmatism and inconsistency small matter which human folly had dilated into a great one the defence of the civil authority against the priesthood the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. the life of john of barneveld, v , - chapter vi. establishment of the condominium in the duchies--dissensions between the neuburgers and brandenburgers--occupation of julich by the brandenburgers assisted by the states-general--indignation in spain and at the court of the archdukes--subsidy despatched to brussels spinola descends upon aix-la-chapelle and takes possession of orsoy and other places--surrender of wesel--conference at xanten--treaty permanently dividing the territory between brandenburg and neuburg-- prohibition from spain--delays and disagreements. thus the 'condominium' had been peaceably established. three or four years passed away in the course of which the evils of a joint and undivided sovereignty of two rival houses over the same territory could not fail to manifest themselves. brandenburg, calvinist in religion, and for other reasons more intimately connected with and more favoured by the states' government than his rival, gained ground in the duchies. the palatine of neuburg, originally of lutheran faith like his father, soon manifested catholic tendencies, which excited suspicion in the netherlands. these suspicions grew into certainties at the moment when he espoused the sister of maximilian of bavaria and of the elector of cologne. that this close connection with the very heads of the catholic league could bode no good to the cause of which the states-general were the great promoters was self-evident. very soon afterwards the palatine, a man of mature age and of considerable talents, openly announced his conversion to the ancient church. obviously the sympathies of the states could not thenceforth fail to be on the side of brandenburg. the elector's brother died and was succeeded in the governorship of the condeminium by the elector's brother, a youth of eighteen. he took up his abode in cleve, leaving dusseldorf to be the sole residence of his co-stadholder. rivalry growing warmer, on account of this difference of religion, between the respective partisans of neuburg and brandenburg, an attempt was made in dusseldorf by a sudden entirely unsuspected rising of the brandenburgers to drive their antagonist colleagues and their portion of the garrison out of the city. it failed, but excited great anger. a more successful effort was soon afterwards made in julich; the neuburgers were driven out, and the brandenburgers remained in sole possession of the town and citadel, far the most important stronghold in the whole territory. this was partly avenged by the neuburgers, who gained absolute control of dusseldorf. here were however no important fortifications, the place being merely an agreeable palatial residence and a thriving mart. the states-general, not concealing their predilection for brandenburg, but under pretext of guarding the peace which they had done so much to establish, placed a garrison of infantry and a troop or two of horse in the citadel of julich. dire was the anger not unjustly excited in spain when the news of this violation of neutrality reached that government. julich, placed midway between liege and cologne, and commanding those fertile plains which make up the opulent duchy, seemed virtually converted into a province of the detested heretical republic. the german gate of the spanish netherlands was literally in the hands of its most formidable foe. the spaniards about the court of the archduke did not dissemble their rage. the seizure of julich was a stain upon his reputation, they cried. was it not enough, they asked, for the united provinces to have made a truce to the manifest detriment and discredit of spain, and to have treated her during all the negotiation with such insolence? were they now to be permitted to invade neutral territory, to violate public faith, to act under no responsibility save to their own will? what was left for them to do except to set up a tribunal in holland for giving laws to the whole of northern europe? arrogating to themselves absolute power over the controverted states of cleve, julich, and the dependencies, they now pretended to dispose of them at their pleasure in order at the end insolently to take possession of them for themselves. these were the egregious fruits of the truce, they said tauntingly to the discomfited archduke. it had caused a loss of reputation, the very soul of empires, to the crown of spain. and now, to conclude her abasement, the troops in flanders had been shaven down with such parsimony as to make the monarch seem a shopkeeper, not a king. one would suppose the obedient netherlands to be in the heart of spain rather than outlying provinces surrounded by their deadliest enemies. the heretics had gained possession of the government at aix-la-chapelle; they had converted the insignificant town of mulheim into a thriving and fortified town in defiance of cologne and to its manifest detriment, and in various other ways they had insulted the catholics throughout those regions. and who could wonder at such insolence, seeing that the army in flanders, formerly the terror of heretics, had become since the truce so weak as to be the laughing-stock of the united provinces? if it was expensive to maintain these armies in the obedient netherlands, let there be economy elsewhere, they urged. from india came gold and jewels. from other kingdoms came ostentation and a long series of vain titles for the crown of spain. flanders was its place of arms, its nursery of soldiers, its bulwark in europe, and so it should be preserved. there was ground for these complaints. the army at the disposition of the archduke had been reduced to infantry and a handful of cavalry. the peace establishment of the republic amounted to , foot, horse, besides the french and english regiments. so soon as the news of the occupation of julich was officially communicated to the spanish cabinet, a subsidy of , crowns was at once despatched to brussels. levies of walloons and germans were made without delay by order of archduke albert and under guidance of spinola, so that by midsummer the army was swollen to , foot and horse. with these the great genoese captain took the field in the middle of august. on the nd of that month the army was encamped on some plains mid-way between maestricht and aachen. there was profound mystery both at brussels and at the hague as to the objective point of these military movements. anticipating an attack upon julich, the states had meantime strengthened the garrison of that important place with infantry and a regiment of horse. it seemed scarcely probable therefore that spinola would venture a foolhardy blow at a citadel so well fortified and defended. moreover, there was not only no declaration of war, but strict orders had been given by each of the apparent belligerents to their military commanders to abstain from all offensive movements against the adversary. and now began one of the strangest series of warlike evolution's that were ever recorded. maurice at the head of an army of , foot and horse manoeuvred in the neighbourhood of his great antagonist and professional rival without exchanging a blow. it was a phantom campaign, the prophetic rehearsal of dreadful marches and tragic histories yet to be, and which were to be enacted on that very stage and on still wider ones during a whole generation of mankind. that cynical commerce in human lives which was to become one of the chief branches of human industry in the century had already begun. spinola, after hovering for a few days in the neighbourhood, descended upon the imperial city of aachen (aix-la-chapelle). this had been one of the earliest towns in germany to embrace the reformed religion, and up to the close of the sixteenth century the control of the magistracy had been in the hands of the votaries of that creed. subsequently the catholics had contrived to acquire and keep the municipal ascendency, secretly supported by archduke albert, and much oppressing the protestants with imprisonments, fines, and banishment, until a new revolution which had occurred in the year , and which aroused the wrath of spinola. certainly, according to the ideas of that day, it did not seem unnatural in a city where a very large majority of the population were protestants that protestants should have a majority in the town council. it seemed, however, to those who surrounded the archduke an outrage which could no longer be tolerated, especially as a garrison of germans, supposed to have formed part of the states' army, had recently been introduced into the town. aachen, lying mostly on an extended plain, had but very slight fortifications, and it was commanded by a neighbouring range of hills. it had no garrison but the germans. spinola placed a battery or two on the hills, and within three days the town surrendered. the inhabitants expected a scene of carnage and pillage, but not a life was lost. no injury whatever was inflicted on person or property, according to the strict injunctions of the archduke. the germans were driven out, and other germans then serving under catholic banners were put in their places to protect the catholic minority, to whose keeping the municipal government was now confided. spinola, then entering the territory of cleve, took session of orsoy, an important place on the rhine, besides duren, duisburg, kaster, greevenbroek and berchem. leaving garrisons in these places, he razed the fortifications of mulheim, much to the joy of the archbishop and his faithful subjects of cologne, then crossed the rhine at rheinberg, and swooped down upon wesel. this flourishing and prosperous city had formerly belonged to the duchy of cleve. placed at the junction of the rhine and lippe and commanding both rivers, it had become both powerful and protestant, and had set itself up as a free imperial city, recognising its dukes no longer as sovereigns, but only as protectors. so fervent was it in the practice of the reformed religion that it was called the rhenish geneva, the cradle of german calvinism. so important was its preservation considered to the cause of protestantism that the states-general had urged its authorities to accept from them a garrison. they refused. had they complied, the city would have been saved, because it was the rule in this extraordinary campaign that the belligerents made war not upon each other, nor in each others territory, but against neutrals and upon neutral soil. the catholic forces under spinola or his lieutenants, meeting occasionally and accidentally with the protestants under maurice or his generals, exchanged no cannon shots or buffets, but only acts of courtesy; falling away each before the other, and each ceding to the other with extreme politeness the possession of towns which one had preceded the other in besieging. the citizens of wesel were amazed at being attacked, considering themselves as imperial burghers. they regretted too late that they had refused a garrison from maurice, which would have prevented spinola from assailing them. they had now nothing for it but to surrender, which they did within three days. the principal condition of the capitulation was that when julich should be given up by the states wesel should be restored to its former position. spinola then took and garrisoned the city of xanten, but went no further. having weakened his army sufficiently by the garrisons taken from it for the cities captured by him, he declined to make any demonstration upon the neighbouring and important towns of emmerich and rees. the catholic commander falling back, the protestant moved forward. maurice seized both emmerich and rees, and placed garrisons within them, besides occupying goch, kranenburg, gennip, and various places in the county of mark. this closed the amicable campaign. spinola established himself and his forces near wesel. the prince encamped near rees. the two armies were within two hours' march of each other. the duke of neuburg--for the palatine had now succeeded on his father's death to the ancestral dukedom and to his share of the condominium of the debateable provinces--now joined spinola with an army of foot and horse. the young prince of brandenburg came to maurice with cavalry and an infantry regiment of the elector-palatine. negotiations destined to be as spectral and fleeting as the campaign had been illusory now began. the whole protestant world was aflame with indignation at the loss of wesel. the states' government had already proposed to deposit julich in the hands of a neutral power if the archduke would abstain from military movements. but albert, proud of his achievements in aachen, refused to pause in his career. let them make the deposit first, he said. both belligerents, being now satiated with such military glory as could flow from the capture of defenceless cities belonging to neutrals, agreed to hold conferences at xanten. to this town, in the duchy of cleve, and midway between the rival camps, came sir henry wotton and sir dudley carleton, ambassadors of great britain; de refuge and de russy, the special and the resident ambassador of france at the hague; chancellor peter pecquius and counsellor visser, to represent the archdukes; seven deputies from the united provinces, three from the elector of cologne, three from brandenburg, three from neuburg, and two from the elector-palatine, as representative of the protestant league. in the earlier conferences the envoys of the archduke and of the elector of cologne were left out, but they were informed daily of each step in the negotiation. the most important point at starting was thought to be to get rid of the 'condominium.' there could be no harmony nor peace in joint possession. the whole territory should be cut provisionally in halves, and each possessory prince rule exclusively within the portion assigned to him. there might also be an exchange of domain between the two every six months. as for wesel and julich, they could remain respectively in the hands then holding them, or the fortifications of julich might be dismantled and wesel restored to the status quo. the latter alternative would have best suited the states, who were growing daily more irritated at seeing wesel, that protestant stronghold, with an exclusively calvinistic population, in the hands of catholics. the spanish ambassador at brussels remonstrated, however, at the thought of restoring his precious conquest, obtained without loss of time, money, or blood, into the hands of heretics, at least before consultation with the government at madrid and without full consent of the king. "how important to your majesty's affairs in flanders," wrote guadaleste to philip, "is the acquisition of wesel may be seen by the manifest grief of your enemies. they see with immense displeasure your royal ensigns planted on the most important place on the rhine, and one which would become the chief military station for all the armies of flanders to assemble in at any moment. "as no acquisition could therefore be greater, so your majesty should never be deprived of it without thorough consideration of the case. the archduke fears, and so do his ministers, that if we refuse to restore wesel, the united provinces would break the truce. for my part i believe, and there are many who agree with me, that they would on the contrary be more inclined to stand by the truce, hoping to obtain by negotiation that which it must be obvious to them they cannot hope to capture by force. but let wesel be at once restored. let that be done which is so much desired by the united provinces and other great enemies and rivals of your majesty, and what security will there be that the same provinces will not again attempt the same invasion? is not the example of julich fresh? and how much more important is wesel! julich was after all not situate on their frontiers, while wesel lies at their principal gates. your majesty now sees the good and upright intentions of those provinces and their friends. they have made a settlement between brandenburg and neuburg, not in order to breed concord but confusion between those two, not tranquillity for the country, but greater turbulence than ever before. nor have they done this with any other thought than that the united provinces might find new opportunities to derive the same profit from fresh tumults as they have already done so shamelessly from those which are past. after all i don't say that wesel should never be restored, if circumstances require it, and if your majesty, approving the treaty of xanten, should sanction the measure. but such a result should be reached only after full consultation with your majesty, to whose glorious military exploits these splendid results are chiefly owing." the treaty finally decided upon rejected the principle of alternate possession, and established a permanent division of the territory in dispute between brandenburg and neuburg. the two portions were to be made as equal as possible, and lots were to be thrown or drawn by the two princes for the first choice. to the one side were assigned the duchy of cleve, the county of mark, and the seigniories of ravensberg and ravenstein, with some other baronies and feuds in brabant and flanders; to the other the duchies of julich and berg with their dependencies. each prince was to reside exclusively within the territory assigned to him by lot. the troops introduced by either party were to be withdrawn, fortifications made since the preceding month of may to be razed, and all persons who had been expelled, or who had emigrated, to be restored to their offices, property, or benefices. it was also stipulated that no place within the whole debateable territory should be put in the hands of a third power. these articles were signed by the ambassadors of france and england, by the deputies of the elector-palatine and of the united provinces, all binding their superiors to the execution of the treaty. the arrangement was supposed to refer to the previous conventions between those two crowns, with the republic, and the protestant princes and powers. count zollern, whom we have seen bearing himself so arrogantly as envoy from the emperor rudolph to henry iv., was now despatched by matthias on as fruitless a mission to the congress at xanten, and did his best to prevent the signature of the treaty, except with full concurrence of the imperial government. he likewise renewed the frivolous proposition that the emperor should hold all the provinces in sequestration until the question of rightful sovereignty should be decided. the "proud and haggard" ambassador was not more successful in this than in the diplomatic task previously entrusted to him, and he then went to brussels, there to renew his remonstrances, menaces, and intrigues. for the treaty thus elaborately constructed, and in appearance a triumphant settlement of questions so complicated and so burning as to threaten to set christendom at any moment in a blaze, was destined to an impotent and most unsatisfactory conclusion. the signatures were more easily obtained than the ratifications. execution was surrounded with insurmountable difficulties which in negotiation had been lightly skipped over at the stroke of a pen. at the very first step, that of military evacuation, there was a stumble. maurice and spinola were expected to withdraw their forces, and to undertake to bring in no troops in the future, and to make no invasion of the disputed territory. but spinola construed this undertaking as absolute; the prince as only binding in consequence of, with reference to, and for the duration of; the treaty of xanten. the ambassadors and other commissioners, disgusted with the long controversy which ensued, were making up their minds to depart when a courier arrived from spain, bringing not a ratification but strict prohibition of the treaty. the articles were not to be executed, no change whatever was to be made, and, above all, wesel was not to be restored without fresh negotiations with philip, followed by his explicit concurrence. thus the whole great negotiation began to dissolve into a shadowy, unsatisfactory pageant. the solid barriers which were to imprison the vast threatening elements of religious animosity and dynastic hatreds, and to secure a peaceful future for christendom, melted into films of gossamer, and the great war of demons, no longer to be quelled by the commonplaces of diplomatic exorcism, revealed its close approach. the prospects of europe grew blacker than ever. the ambassadors, thoroughly disheartened and disgusted, all took their departure from xanten, and the treaty remained rather a by-word than a solution or even a suggestion. "the accord could not be prevented," wrote archduke albert to philip, "because it depended alone on the will of the signers. nor can the promise to restore wesel be violated, should julich be restored. who can doubt that such contravention would arouse great jealousies in france, england, the united provinces, and all the members of the heretic league of germany? who can dispute that those interested ought to procure the execution of the treaty? suspicions will not remain suspicions, but they light up the flames of public evil and disturbance. either your majesty wishes to maintain the truce, in which case wesel must be restored, or to break the truce, a result which is certain if wesel be retained. but the reasons which induced your majesty to lay down your arms remain the same as ever. our affairs are not looking better, nor is the requisition of wesel of so great importance as to justify our involving flanders in a new and more atrocious war than that which has so lately been suspended. the restitution is due to the tribunal of public faith. it is a great advantage when actions done for the sole end of justice are united to that of utility. consider the great successes we have had. how well the affairs of aachen and mulbeim have been arranged; those of the duke of neuburg how completely re-established. the catholic cause, always identical with that of the house of austria, remains in great superiority to the cause of the heretics. we should use these advantages well, and to do so we should not immaturely pursue greater ones. fortune changes, flies when we most depend on her, and delights in making her chief sport of the highest quality of mortals." thus wrote the archduke sensibly, honourably from his point of view, and with an intelligent regard to the interests of spain and the catholic cause. after months of delay came conditional consent from madrid to the conventions, but with express condition that there should be absolute undertaking on the part of the united provinces never to send or maintain troops in the duchies. tedious and futile correspondence followed between brussels, the hague, london, paris. but the difficulties grew every moment. it was a penelope's web of negotiation, said one of the envoys. amid pertinacious and wire-drawn subtleties, every trace of practical business vanished. neuburg departed to look after his patrimonial estates; leaving his interests in the duchies to be watched over by the archduke. even count zollern, after six months of wrangling in brussels, took his departure. prince maurice distributed his army in various places within the debateable land, and spinola did the same, leaving a garrison of foot and horse in the important city of wesel. the town and citadel of julich were as firmly held by maurice for the protestant cause. thus the duchies were jointly occupied by the forces of catholicism and protestantism, while nominally possessed and administered by the princes of brandenburg and neuburg. and so they were destined to remain until that thirty years' war, now so near its outbreak, should sweep over the earth, and bring its fiery solution at last to all these great debates. chapter vii. proud position of the republic--france obeys her--hatred of carleton --position and character of aerssens--claim for the "third"--recall of aerssens--rivalry between maurice and barneveld, who always sustains the separate sovereignties of the provinces--conflict between church and state added to other elements of discord in the commonwealth--religion a necessary element in the life of all classes. thus the republic had placed itself in as proud a position as it was possible for commonwealth or kingdom to occupy. it had dictated the policy and directed the combined military movements of protestantism. it had gathered into a solid mass the various elements out of which the great germanic mutiny against rome, spain, and austria had been compounded. a breathing space of uncertain duration had come to interrupt and postpone the general and inevitable conflict. meantime the republic was encamped upon the enemy's soil. france, which had hitherto commanded, now obeyed. england, vacillating and discontented, now threatening and now cajoling, saw for the time at least its influence over the councils of the netherlands neutralized by the genius of the great statesman who still governed the provinces, supreme in all but name. the hatred of the british government towards the republic, while in reality more malignant than at any previous period, could now only find vent in tremendous, theological pamphlets, composed by the king in the form of diplomatic instructions, and hurled almost weekly at the heads of the states-general, by his ambassador, dudley carleton. few men hated barneveld more bitterly than did carleton. i wish to describe as rapidly, but as faithfully, as i can the outline at least of the events by which one of the saddest and most superfluous catastrophes in modern history was brought about. the web was a complex one, wrought apparently of many materials; but the more completely it is unravelled the more clearly we shall detect the presence of the few simple but elemental fibres which make up the tissue of most human destinies, whether illustrious or obscure, and out of which the most moving pictures of human history are composed. the religious element, which seems at first view to be the all pervading and controlling one, is in reality rather the atmosphere which surrounds and colours than the essence which constitutes the tragedy to be delineated. personal, sometimes even paltry, jealousy; love of power, of money, of place; rivalry between civil and military ambition for predominance in a free state; struggles between church and state to control and oppress each other; conflict between the cautious and healthy, but provincial and centrifugal, spirit on the one side, and the ardent centralizing, imperial, but dangerous, instinct on the other, for ascendancy in a federation; mortal combat between aristocracy disguised in the plebeian form of trading and political corporations and democracy sheltering itself under a famous sword and an ancient and illustrious name;--all these principles and passions will be found hotly at work in the melancholy five years with which we are now to be occupied, as they have entered, and will always enter, into every political combination in the great tragi-comedy which we call human history. as a study, a lesson, and a warning, perhaps the fate of barneveld is as deserving of serious attention as most political tragedies of the last few centuries. francis aerssens, as we have seen, continued to be the dutch ambassador after the murder of henry iv. many of the preceding pages of this volume have been occupied with his opinions, his pictures, his conversations, and his political intrigues during a memorable epoch in the history of the netherlands and of france. he was beyond all doubt one of the ablest diplomatists in europe. versed in many languages, a classical student, familiar with history and international law, a man of the world and familiar with its usages, accustomed to associate with dignity and tact on friendliest terms with sovereigns, eminent statesmen, and men of letters; endowed with a facile tongue, a fluent pen, and an eye and ear of singular acuteness and delicacy; distinguished for unflagging industry and singular aptitude for secret and intricate affairs;--he had by the exercise of these various qualities during a period of nearly twenty years at the court of henry the great been able to render inestimable services to the republic which he represented. of respectable but not distinguished lineage, not a hollander, but a belgian by birth, son of cornelis aerssens, grefter of the states-general, long employed in that important post, he had been brought forward from a youth by barneveld and early placed by him in the diplomatic career, of which through his favour and his own eminent talents he had now achieved the highest honours. he had enjoyed the intimacy and even the confidence of henry iv., so far as any man could be said to possess that monarch's confidence, and his friendly relations and familiar access to the king gave him political advantages superior to those of any of his colleagues at the same court. acting entirely and faithfully according to the instructions of the advocate of holland, he always gratefully and copiously acknowledged the privilege of being guided and sustained in the difficult paths he had to traverse by so powerful and active an intellect. i have seldom alluded in terms to the instructions and despatches of the chief, but every position, negotiation, and opinion of the envoy--and the reader has seen many of them--is pervaded by their spirit. certainly the correspondence of aerssens is full to overflowing of gratitude, respect, fervent attachment to the person and exalted appreciation of the intellect and high character of the advocate. there can be no question of aerssen's consummate abilities. whether his heart were as sound as his head, whether his protestations of devotion had the ring of true gold or not, time would show. hitherto barneveld had not doubted him, nor had he found cause to murmur at barneveld. but the france of henry iv., where the dutch envoy was so all-powerful, had ceased to exist. a duller eye than that of aerssens could have seen at a glance that the potent kingdom and firm ally of the republic had been converted, for a long time to come at least, into a spanish province. the double spanish marriages (that of the young louis xiii. with the infanta anna, and of his sister with the infante, one day to be philip iv.), were now certain, for it was to make them certain that the knife of ravaillac had been employed. the condition precedent to those marriages had long been known. it was the renunciation of the alliance between france and holland. it was the condemnation to death, so far as france had the power to condemn her to death, of the young republic. had not don pedro de toledo pompously announced this condition a year and a half before? had not henry spurned the bribe with scorn? and now had not francis aerssens been the first to communicate to his masters the fruit which had already ripened upon henry's grave? as we have seen, he had revealed these intrigues long before they were known to the world, and the french court knew that he had revealed them. his position had become untenable. his friendship for henry could not be of use to him with the delicate-featured, double-chinned, smooth and sluggish florentine, who had passively authorized and actively profited by her husband's murder. it was time for the envoy to be gone. the queen-regent and concini thought so. and so did villeroy and sillery and the rest of the old servants of the king, now become pensionaries of spain. but aerssens did not think so. he liked his position, changed as it was. he was deep in the plottings of bouillon and conde and the other malcontents against the queen-regent. these schemes, being entirely personal, the rank growth of the corruption and apparent disintegration of france, were perpetually changing, and could be reduced to no principle. it was a mere struggle of the great lords of france to wrest places, money, governments, military commands from the queen-regent, and frantic attempts on her part to save as much as possible of the general wreck for her lord and master concini. it was ridiculous to ascribe any intense desire on the part of the duc de bouillon to aid the protestant cause against spain at that moment, acting as he was in combination with conde, whom we have just seen employed by spain as the chief instrument to effect the destruction of france and the bastardy of the queen's children. nor did the sincere and devout protestants who had clung to the cause through good and bad report, men like duplessis-mornay, for example, and those who usually acted with him, believe in any of these schemes for partitioning france on pretence of saving protestantism. but bouillon, greatest of all french fishermen in troubled waters, was brother-in-law of prince maurice of nassau, and aerssens instinctively felt that the time had come when he should anchor himself to firm holding ground at home. the ambassador had also a personal grievance. many of his most secret despatches to the states-general in which he expressed himself very freely, forcibly, and accurately on the general situation in france, especially in regard to the spanish marriages and the treaty of hampton court, had been transcribed at the hague and copies of them sent to the french government. no baser act of treachery to an envoy could be imagined. it was not surprising that aerssens complained bitterly of the deed. he secretly suspected barneveld, but with injustice, of having played him this evil turn, and the incident first planted the seeds of the deadly hatred which was to bear such fatal fruit. "a notable treason has been played upon me," he wrote to jacques de maldere, "which has outraged my heart. all the despatches which i have been sending for several months to m. de barneveld have been communicated by copy in whole or in extracts to this court. villeroy quoted from them at our interview to-day, and i was left as it were without power of reply. the despatches were long, solid, omitting no particularity for giving means to form the best judgment of the designs and intrigues of this court. no greater damage could be done to me and my usefulness. all those from whom i have hitherto derived information, princes and great personages, will shut themselves up from me . . . . what can be more ticklish than to pass judgment on the tricks of those who are governing this state? this single blow has knocked me down completely. for i was moving about among all of them, making my profit of all, without any reserve. m. de barneveld knew by this means the condition of this kingdom as well as i do. certainly in a well-ordered republic it would cost the life of a man who had thus trifled with the reputation of an ambassador. i believe m. de barneveld will be sorry, but this will never restore to me the confidence which i have lost. if one was jealous of my position at this court, certainly i deserved rather pity from those who should contemplate it closely. if one wished to procure my downfall in order to raise oneself above me, there was no need of these tricks. i have been offering to resign my embassy this long time, which will now produce nothing but thorns for me. how can i negotiate after my private despatches have been read? l'hoste, the clerk of villeroy, was not so great a criminal as the man who revealed my despatches; and l'hoste was torn by four horses after his death. four months long i have been complaining of this to m. de barneveld. . . . patience! i am groaning without being able to hope for justice. i console myself, for my term of office will soon arrive. would that my embassy could have finished under the agreeable and friendly circumstances with which it began. the man who may succeed me will not find that this vile trick will help him much. . . . pray find out whence and from whom this intrigue has come." certainly an envoy's position could hardly be more utterly compromised. most unquestionably aerssens had reason to be indignant, believing as he did that his conscientious efforts in the service of his government had been made use of by his chief to undermine his credit and blast his character. there was an intrigue between the newly appointed french minister, de russy, at the hague and the enemies of aerssens to represent him to his own government as mischievous, passionate, unreasonably vehement in supporting the claims and dignity of his own country at the court to which he was accredited. not often in diplomatic history has an ambassador of a free state been censured or removed for believing and maintaining in controversy that his own government is in the right. it was natural that the french government should be disturbed by the vivid light which he had flashed upon their pernicious intrigues with spain to the detriment of the republic, and at the pertinacity with which he resisted their preposterous claim to be reimbursed for one-third of the money which the late king had advanced as a free subsidy towards the war of the netherlands for independence. but no injustice could be more outrageous than for the envoy's own government to unite with the foreign state in damaging the character of its own agent for the crime of fidelity to itself. of such cruel perfidy aerssens had been the victim, and he most wrongfully suspected his chief as its real perpetrator. the claim for what was called the "third" had been invented after the death of henry. as already explained, the "third" was not a gift from england to the netherlands. it was a loan from england to france, or more properly a consent to abstain from pressing for payment for this proportion of an old debt. james, who was always needy, had often desired, but never obtained, the payment of this sum from henry. now that the king was dead, he applied to the regent's government, and the regent's government called upon the netherlands, to pay the money. aerssens, as the agent of the republic, protested firmly against such claim. the money had been advanced by the king as a free gift, as his contribution to a war in which he was deeply interested, although he was nominally at peace with spain. as to the private arrangements between france and england, the republic, said the dutch envoy, was in no sense bound by them. he was no party to the treaty of hampton court, and knew nothing of its stipulations. courtiers and politicians in plenty at the french court, now that henry was dead, were quite sure that they had heard him say over and over again that the netherlands had bound themselves to pay the third. they persuaded mary de' medici that she likewise had often heard him say so, and induced her to take high ground on the subject in her interviews with aerssens. the luckless queen, who was always in want of money to satisfy the insatiable greed of her favourites, and to buy off the enmity of the great princes, was very vehement--although she knew as much of those transactions as of the finances of prester john or the lama of thibet--in maintaining this claim of her government upon the states. "after talking with the ministers," said aerssens, "i had an interview with the queen. i knew that she had been taught her lesson, to insist on the payment of the third. so i did not speak at all of the matter, but talked exclusively and at length of the french regiments in the states' service. she was embarrassed, and did not know exactly what to say. at last, without replying a single word to what i had been saying, she became very red in the face, and asked me if i were not instructed to speak of the money due to england. whereupon i spoke in the sense already indicated. she interrupted me by saying she had a perfect recollection that the late king intended and understood that we were to pay the third to england, and had talked with her very seriously on the subject. if he were living, he would think it very strange, she said, that we refused; and so on. "soissons, too, pretends to remember perfectly that such were the king's intentions. 'tis a very strange thing, sir. every one knows now the secrets of the late king, if you are willing to listen. yet he was not in the habit of taking all the world into his confidence. the queen takes her opinions as they give them to her. 'tis a very good princess, but i am sorry she is so ignorant of affairs. as she says she remembers, one is obliged to say one believes her. but i, who knew the king so intimately, and saw him so constantly, know that he could only have said that the third was paid in acquittal of his debts to and for account of the king of england, and not that we were to make restitution thereof. the chancellor tells me my refusal has been taken as an affront by the queen, and puysieux says it is a contempt which she can't swallow." aerssens on his part remained firm; his pertinacity being the greater as he thoroughly understood the subject which he was talking about, an advantage which was rarely shared in by those with whom he conversed. the queen, highly scandalized by his demeanour, became from that time forth his bitter enemy, and, as already stated, was resolved to be rid of him. nor was the envoy at first desirous of remaining. he had felt after henry's death and sully's disgrace, and the complete transformation of the france which he had known, that his power of usefulness was gone. "our enemies," he said, "have got the advantage which i used to have in times past, and i recognize a great coldness towards us, which is increasing every day." nevertheless, he yielded reluctantly to barneveld's request that he should for the time at least remain at his post. later on, as the intrigues against him began to unfold themselves, and his faithful services were made use of at home to blacken his character and procure his removal, he refused to resign, as to do so would be to play into the hands of his enemies, and by inference at least to accuse himself of infidelity to his trust. but his concealed rage and his rancor grew more deadly every day. he was fully aware of the plots against him, although he found it difficult to trace them to their source. "i doubt not," he wrote to jacques de maldere, the distinguished diplomatist and senator, who had recently returned from his embassy to england, "that this beautiful proposition of de russy has been sent to your province of zealand. does it not seem to you a plot well woven as well in holland as at this court to remove me from my post with disreputation? what have i done that should cause the queen to disapprove my proceedings? since the death of the late king i have always opposed the third, which they have been trying to fix upon the treasury, on the ground that henry never spoke to me of restitution, that the receipts given were simple ones, and that the money given was spent for the common benefit of france and the states under direction of the king's government. but i am expected here to obey m. de villeroy, who says that it was the intention of the late king to oblige us to make the payment. i am not accustomed to obey authority if it be not supported by reason. it is for my masters to reply and to defend me. the queen has no reason to complain. i have maintained the interests of my superiors. but this is not the cause of the complaints. my misfortune is that all my despatches have been sent from holland in copy to this court. most of them contained free pictures of the condition and dealings of those who govern here. m. de villeroy has found himself depicted often, and now under pretext of a public negotiation he has found an opportunity of revenging himself. . . . besides this cause which villeroy has found for combing my head, russy has given notice here that i have kept my masters in the hopes of being honourably exempted from the claims of this government. the long letter which i wrote to m. de barneveld justifies my proceedings." it is no wonder that the ambassador was galled to the quick by the outrage which those concerned in the government were seeking to put upon him. how could an honest man fail to be overwhelmed with rage and anguish at being dishonoured before the world by his masters for scrupulously doing his duty, and for maintaining the rights and dignity of his own country? he knew that the charges were but pretexts, that the motives of his enemies were as base as the intrigues themselves, but he also knew that the world usually sides with the government against the individual, and that a man's reputation is rarely strong enough to maintain itself unsullied in a foreign land when his own government stretches forth its hand not to, shield, but to stab him. [see the similarity of aerssens position to that of motley years later, in the biographical sketch of motley by oliver wendell holmes. d.w.] "i know," he said, "that this plot has been woven partly in holland and partly here by good correspondence, in order to drive me from my post with disreputation. to this has tended the communication of my despatches to make me lose my best friends. this too was the object of the particular imparting to de russy of all my propositions, in order to draw a complaint against me from this court. "but as i have discovered this accurately, i have resolved to offer to my masters the continuance of my very humble service for such time and under such conditions as they may think good to prescribe. i prefer forcing my natural and private inclinations to giving an opportunity for the ministers of this kingdom to discredit us, and to my enemies to succeed in injuring me, and by fraud and malice to force me from my post . . . i am truly sorry, being ready to retire, wishing to have an honourable testimony in recompense of my labours, that one is in such hurry to take advantage of my fall. i cannot believe that my masters wish to suffer this. they are too prudent, and cannot be ignorant of the treachery which has been practised on me. i have maintained their cause. if they have chosen to throw down the fruits of my industry, the blame should be imputed to those who consider their own ambition more than the interests of the public . . . . what envoy will ever dare to speak with vigour if he is not sustained by the government at home? . . . . . . my enemies have misrepresented my actions, and my language as passionate, exaggerated, mischievous, but i have no passion except for the service of my superiors. they say that i have a dark and distrustful disposition, but i have been alarmed at the alliance now forming here with the king of spain, through the policy of m. de villeroy. i was the first to discover this intrigue, which they thought buried in the bosom of the triumvirate. i gave notice of it to my lords the states as in duty bound. it all came back to the government in the copies furnished of my secret despatches. this is the real source of the complaints against me. the rest of the charges, relating to the third and other matters, are but pretexts. to parry the blow, they pretend that all that is said and done with the spaniard is but feigning. who is going to believe that? has not the pope intervened in the affair? . . . i tell you they are furious here because i have my eyes open. i see too far into their affairs to suit their purposes. a new man would suit them better." his position was hopelessly compromised. he remained in paris, however, month after month, and even year after year, defying his enemies both at the queen's court and in holland, feeding fat the grudge he bore to barneveld as the supposed author of the intrigue against him, and drawing closer the personal bands which united him to bouillon and through him to prince maurice. the wrath of the ambassador flamed forth without disguise against barneveld and all his adherents when his removal, as will be related on a subsequent page, was at last effected. and his hatred was likely to be deadly. a man with a shrewd, vivid face, cleanly cut features and a restless eye; wearing a close-fitting skull cap, which gave him something the lock of a monk, but with the thoroughbred and facile demeanour of one familiar with the world; stealthy, smooth, and cruel, a man coldly intellectual, who feared no one, loved but few, and never forgot or forgave; francis d'aerssens, devoured by ambition and burning with revenge, was a dangerous enemy. time was soon to show whether it was safe to injure him. barneveld, from well-considered motives of public policy, was favouring his honourable recall. but he allowed a decorous interval of more than three years to elapse in which to terminate his affairs, and to take a deliberate departure from that french embassy to which the advocate had originally promoted him, and in which there had been so many years of mutual benefit and confidence between the two statesmen. he used no underhand means. he did not abuse the power of the states-general which he wielded to cast him suddenly and brutally from the distinguished post which he occupied, and so to attempt to dishonour him before the world. nothing could be more respectful and conciliatory than the attitude of the government from first to last towards this distinguished functionary. the republic respected itself too much to deal with honourable agents whose services it felt obliged to dispense with as with vulgar malefactors who had been detected in crime. but aerssens believed that it was the advocate who had caused copies of his despatches to be sent to the french court, and that he had deliberately and for a fixed purpose been undermining his influence at home and abroad and blackening his character. all his ancient feelings of devotion, if they had ever genuinely existed towards his former friend and patron, turned to gall. he was almost ready to deny that he had ever respected barneveld, appreciated his public services, admired his intellect, or felt gratitude for his guidance. a fierce controversy--to which at a later period it will be necessary to call the reader's attention, because it is intimately connected with dark scenes afterwards to be enacted--took place between the late ambassador and cornelis van der myle. meantime barneveld pursued the policy which he had marked out for the states-general in regard to france. certainly it was a difficult problem. there could be no doubt that metamorphosed france could only be a dangerous ally for the republic. it was in reality impossible that she should be her ally at all. and this barneveld knew. still it was better, so he thought, for the netherlands that france should exist than that it should fall into utter decomposition. france, though under the influence of spain, and doubly allied by marriage contracts to spain, was better than spain itself in the place of france. this seemed to be the only choice between two evils. should the whole weight of the states-general be thrown into the scale of the malcontent and mutinous princes against the established but tottering government of france, it was difficult to say how soon spain might literally, as well as inferentially, reign in paris. between the rebellion and the legitimate government, therefore, barneveld did not hesitate. france, corporate france, with which the republic had bean so long in close and mutually advantageous alliance, and from whose late monarch she had received such constant and valuable benefits, was in the advocate's opinion the only power to be recognised, papal and spanish though it was. the advantage of an alliance with the fickle, self-seeking, and ever changing mutiny, that was seeking to make use of protestantism to effect its own ends, was in his eyes rather specious than real. by this policy, while making the breach irreparable with aerssens and as many leading politicians as aerssens could influence, he first brought on himself the stupid accusation of swerving towards spain. dull murmurs like these, which were now but faintly making themselves heard against the reputation of the advocate, were destined ere long to swell into a mighty roar; but he hardly listened now to insinuations which seemed infinitely below his contempt. he still effectually ruled the nation through his influence in the states of holland, where he reigned supreme. thus far barneveld and my lords the states-general were one personage. but there was another great man in the state who had at last grown impatient of the advocate's power, and was secretly resolved to brook it no longer. maurice of nassau had felt himself too long rebuked by the genius of the advocate. the prince had perhaps never forgiven him for the political guardianship which he had exercised over him ever since the death of william the silent. he resented the leading strings by which his youthful footstep had been sustained, and which he seemed always to feel about his limbs so long as barneveld existed. he had never forgotten the unpalatable advice given to him by the advocate through the princess-dowager. the brief campaign in cleve and julich was the last great political operation in which the two were likely to act in even apparent harmony. but the rivalry between the two had already pronounced itself emphatically during the negotiations for the truce. the advocate had felt it absolutely necessary for the republic to suspend the war at the first moment when she could treat with her ancient sovereign on a footing of equality. spain, exhausted with the conflict, had at last consented to what she considered the humiliation of treating with her rebellious provinces as with free states over which she claimed no authority. the peace party, led by barneveld, had triumphed, notwithstanding the steady opposition of prince maurice and his adherents. why had maurice opposed the treaty? because his vocation was over, because he was the greatest captain of the age, because his emoluments, his consideration, his dignity before the world, his personal power, were all vastly greater in war than in his opinion they could possibly be in peace. it was easy for him to persuade himself that what was manifestly for his individual interest was likewise essential to the prosperity of the country. the diminution in his revenues consequent on the return to peace was made good to him, his brother, and his cousin, by most munificent endowments and pensions. and it was owing to the strenuous exertions of the advocate that these large sums were voted. a hollow friendship was kept up between the two during the first few years of the truce, but resentment and jealousy lay deep in maurice's heart. at about the period of the return of aerssens from his french embassy, the suppressed fire was ready to flame forth at the first fanning by that artful hand. it was impossible, so aerssens thought and whispered, that two heads could remain on one body politic. there was no room in the netherlands for both the advocate and the prince. barneveld was in all civil affairs dictator, chief magistrate, supreme judge; but he occupied this high station by the force of intellect, will, and experience, not through any constitutional provision. in time of war the prince was generalissimo, commander-in-chief of all the armies of the republic. yet constitutionally he was not captain-general at all. he was only stadholder of five out of seven provinces. barneveld suspected him of still wishing to make himself sovereign of the country. perhaps his suspicions were incorrect. yet there was every reason why maurice should be ambitious of that position. it would have been in accordance with the openly expressed desire of henry iv. and other powerful allies of the netherlands. his father's assassination had alone prevented his elevation to the rank of sovereign count of holland. the federal policy of the provinces had drifted into a republican form after their renunciation of their spanish sovereign, not because the people, or the states as representing the people, had deliberately chosen a republican system, but because they could get no powerful monarch to accept the sovereignty. they had offered to become subjects of protestant england and of catholic france. both powers had refused the offer, and refused it with something like contumely. however deep the subsequent regret on the part of both, there was no doubt of the fact. but the internal policy in all the provinces, and in all the towns, was republican. local self-government existed everywhere. each city magistracy was a little republic in itself. the death of william the silent, before he had been invested with the sovereign power of all seven provinces, again left that sovereignty in abeyance. was the supreme power of the union, created at utrecht in , vested in the states-general? they were beginning theoretically to claim it, but barneveld denied the existence of any such power either in law or fact. it was a league of sovereignties, he maintained; a confederacy of seven independent states, united for certain purposes by a treaty made some thirty years before. nothing could be more imbecile, judging by the light of subsequent events and the experience of centuries, than such an organization. the independent and sovereign republic of zealand or of groningen, for example, would have made a poor figure campaigning, or negotiating, or exhibiting itself on its own account before the world. yet it was difficult to show any charter, precedent, or prescription for the sovereignty of the states-general. necessary as such an incorporation was for the very existence of the union, no constitutional union had ever been enacted. practically the province of holland, representing more than half the population, wealth, strength, and intellect of the whole confederation, had achieved an irregular supremacy in the states-general. but its undeniable superiority was now causing a rank growth of envy, hatred, and jealousy throughout the country, and the great advocate of holland, who was identified with the province, and had so long wielded its power, was beginning to reap the full harvest of that malice. thus while there was so much of vagueness in theory and practice as to the sovereignty, there was nothing criminal on the part of maurice if he was ambitious of obtaining the sovereignty himself. he was not seeking to compass it by base artifice or by intrigue of any kind. it was very natural that he should be restive under the dictatorship of the advocate. if a single burgher and lawyer could make himself despot of the netherlands, how much more reasonable that he--with the noblest blood of europe in his veins, whose direct ancestor three centuries before had been emperor not only of those provinces, but of all germany and half christendom besides, whose immortal father had under god been the creator and saviour of the new commonwealth, had made sacrifices such as man never made for a people, and had at last laid down his life in its defence; who had himself fought daily from boyhood upwards in the great cause, who had led national armies from victory to victory till he had placed his country as a military school and a belligerent power foremost among the nations, and had at last so exhausted and humbled the great adversary and former tyrant that he had been glad of a truce while the rebel chief would have preferred to continue the war--should aspire to rule by hereditary right a land with which his name and his race were indelibly associated by countless sacrifices and heroic achievements. it was no crime in maurice to desire the sovereignty. it was still less a crime in barneveld to believe that he desired it. there was no special reason why the prince should love the republican form of government provided that an hereditary one could be legally substituted for it. he had sworn allegiance to the statutes, customs, and privileges of each of the provinces of which he had been elected stadholder, but there would have been no treason on his part if the name and dignity of stadholder should be changed by the states themselves for those of king or sovereign prince. yet it was a chief grievance against the advocate on the part of the prince that barneveld believed him capable of this ambition. the republic existed as a fact, but it had not long existed, nor had it ever received a formal baptism. so undefined was its constitution, and so conflicting were the various opinions in regard to it of eminent men, that it would be difficult to say how high-treason could be committed against it. great lawyers of highest intellect and learning believed the sovereign power to reside in the separate states, others found that sovereignty in the city magistracies, while during a feverish period of war and tumult the supreme function had without any written constitution, any organic law, practically devolved upon the states-general, who had now begun to claim it as a right. the republic was neither venerable by age nor impregnable in law. it was an improvised aristocracy of lawyers, manufacturers, bankers, and corporations which had done immense work and exhibited astonishing sagacity and courage, but which might never have achieved the independence of the provinces unaided by the sword of orange-nassau and the magic spell which belonged to that name. thus a bitter conflict was rapidly developing itself in the heart of the commonwealth. there was the civil element struggling with the military for predominance; sword against gown; states' rights against central authority; peace against war; above all the rivalry of one prominent personage against another, whose mutual hatred was now artfully inflamed by partisans. and now another element of discord had come, more potent than all the rest: the terrible, never ending, struggle of church against state. theological hatred which forty years long had found vent in the exchange of acrimony between the ancient and the reformed churches was now assuming other shapes. religion in that age and country was more than has often been the case in history the atmosphere of men's daily lives. but during the great war for independence, although the hostility between the two religious forces was always intense, it was modified especially towards the close of the struggle by other controlling influences. the love of independence and the passion for nationality, the devotion to ancient political privileges, was often as fervid and genuine in catholic bosoms as in those of protestants, and sincere adherents of the ancient church had fought to the death against spain in defence of chartered rights. at that very moment it is probable that half the population of the united provinces was catholic. yet it would be ridiculous to deny that the aggressive, uncompromising; self-sacrificing, intensely believing, perfectly fearless spirit of calvinism had been the animating soul, the motive power of the great revolt. for the provinces to have encountered spain and rome without calvinism, and relying upon municipal enthusiasm only, would have been to throw away the sword and fight with the scabbard. but it is equally certain that those hot gospellers who had suffered so much martyrdom and achieved so many miracles were fully aware of their power and despotic in its exercise. against the oligarchy of commercial and juridical corporations they stood there the most terrible aristocracy of all: the aristocracy of god's elect, predestined from all time and to all eternity to take precedence of and to look down upon their inferior and lost fellow creatures. it was inevitable that this aristocracy, which had done so much, which had breathed into a new-born commonwealth the breath of its life, should be intolerant, haughty, dogmatic. the church of rome, which had been dethroned after inflicting such exquisite tortures during its period of power, was not to raise its head. although so large a proportion of the inhabitants of the country were secretly or openly attached to that faith, it was a penal offence to participate openly in its rites and ceremonies. religious equality, except in the minds of a few individuals, was an unimaginable idea. there was still one church which arrogated to itself the sole possession of truth, the church of geneva. those who admitted the possibility of other forms and creeds were either atheists or, what was deemed worse than atheists, papists, because papists were assumed to be traitors also, and desirous of selling the country to spain. an undevout man in that land and at that epoch was an almost unknown phenomenon. religion was as much a recognized necessity of existence as food or drink. it were as easy to find people about without clothes as without religious convictions. the advocate, who had always adhered to the humble spirit of his ancestral device, "nil scire tutissima fedes," and almost alone among his fellow citizens (save those immediate apostles and pupils of his who became involved in his fate) in favour of religious toleration, began to be suspected of treason and papacy because, had he been able to give the law, it was thought he would have permitted such horrors as the public exercise of the roman catholic religion. the hissings and screamings of the vulgar against him as he moved forward on his stedfast course he heeded less than those of geese on a common. but there was coming a time when this proud and scornful statesman, conscious of the superiority conferred by great talents and unparalleled experience, would find it less easy to treat the voice of slanderers, whether idiots or powerful and intellectual enemies, with contempt. chapter viii. schism in the church a public fact--struggle for power between the sacerdotal and political orders--dispute between arminius and gomarus--rage of james i. at the appointment of voratius--arminians called remonstrants--hague conference--contra-remonstrance by gomarites of seven points to the remonstrants' five--fierce theological disputes throughout the country--ryswyk secession-- maurice wishes to remain neutral, but finds himself the chieftain of the contra-remonstrant party--the states of holland remonstrant by a large majority--the states-general contra-remonstrant--sir ralph winwood leaves the hague--three armies to take the field against protestantism. schism in the church had become a public fact, and theological hatred was in full blaze throughout the country. the great practical question in the church had been as to the appointment of preachers, wardens, schoolmasters, and other officers. by the ecclesiastical arrangements of great power was conceded to the civil authority in church matters, especially in regard to such appointments, which were made by a commission consisting of four members named by the churches and four by the magistrates in each district. barneveld, who above all things desired peace in the church, had wished to revive this ordinance, and in it had been resolved by the states of holland that each city or village should, if the magistracy approved, provisionally conform to it. the states of utrecht made at the same time a similar arrangement. it was the controversy which has been going on since the beginning of history and is likely to be prolonged to the end of time--the struggle for power between the sacerdotal and political orders; the controversy whether priests shall control the state or the state govern the priests. this was the practical question involved in the fierce dispute as to dogma. the famous duel between arminius and gomarus; the splendid theological tournaments which succeeded; six champions on a side armed in full theological panoply and swinging the sharpest curtal axes which learning, passion, and acute intellect could devise, had as yet produced no beneficent result. nobody had been convinced by the shock of argument, by the exchange of those desperate blows. the high council of the hague had declared that no difference of opinion in the church existed sufficient to prevent fraternal harmony and happiness. but gomarus loudly declared that, if there were no means of putting down the heresy of arminius, there would before long be a struggle such as would set province against province, village against village, family against family, throughout the land. he should be afraid to die in such doctrine. he shuddered that any one should dare to come before god's tribunal with such blasphemies. meantime his great adversary, the learned and eloquent, the musical, frolicsome, hospitable heresiarch was no more. worn out with controversy, but peaceful and happy in the convictions which were so bitterly denounced by gomarus and a large proportion of both preachers and laymen in the netherlands, and convinced that the schism which in his view had been created by those who called themselves the orthodox would weaken the cause of protestantism throughout europe, arminius died at the age of forty-nine. the magistrates throughout holland, with the exception of a few cities, were arminian, the preachers gomarian; for arminius ascribed to the civil authority the right to decide upon church matters, while gomarus maintained that ecclesiastical affairs should be regulated in ecclesiastical assemblies. the overseers of leyden university appointed conrad vorstius to be professor of theology in place of arminius. the selection filled to the brim the cup of bitterness, for no man was more audaciously latitudinarian than he. he was even suspected of socinianism. there came a shriek from king james, fierce and shrill enough to rouse arminius from his grave. james foamed to the mouth at the insolence of the overseers in appointing such a monster of infidelity to the professorship. he ordered his books to be publicly burned in st. paul's churchyard and at both universities, and would have burned the professor himself with as much delight as torquemada or peter titelman ever felt in roasting their victims, had not the day for such festivities gone by. he ordered the states of holland on pain of for ever forfeiting his friendship to exclude vorstius at once from the theological chair and to forbid him from "nestling anywhere in the country." he declared his amazement that they should tolerate such a pest as conrad vorstius. had they not had enough of the seed sown by that foe of god, arminius? he ordered the states-general to chase the blasphemous monster from the land, or else he would cut off all connection with their false and heretic churches and make the other reformed churches of europe do the same, nor should the youth of england ever be allowed to frequent the university of leyden. in point of fact the professor was never allowed to qualify, to preach, or to teach; so tremendous was the outcry of peter plancius and many orthodox preachers, echoing the wrath of the king. he lived at gouda in a private capacity for several years, until the synod of dordrecht at last publicly condemned his opinions and deprived him of his professorship. meantime, the preachers who were disciples of arminius had in a private assembly drawn up what was called a remonstrance, addressed to the states of holland, and defending themselves from the reproach that they were seeking change in the divine service and desirous of creating tumult and schism. this remonstrance, set forth by the pen of the famous uytenbogaert, whom gomarus called the court trumpeter, because for a long time he had been prince maurice's favourite preacher, was placed in the hands of barneveld, for delivery to the states of holland. thenceforth the arminians were called remonstrants. the hague conference followed, six preachers on a side, and the states of holland exhorted to fraternal compromise. until further notice, they decreed that no man should be required to believe more than had been laid down in the five points: i. god has from eternity resolved to choose to eternal life those who through his grace believe in jesus christ, and in faith and obedience so continue to the end, and to condemn the unbelieving and unconverted to eternal damnation. ii. jesus christ died for all; so, nevertheless, that no one actually except believers is redeemed by his death. iii. man has not the saving belief from himself, nor out of his free will, but he needs thereto god's grace in christ. iv. this grace is the beginning, continuation, and completion of man's salvation; all good deeds must be ascribed to it, but it does not work irresistibly. v. god's grace gives sufficient strength to the true believers to overcome evil; but whether they cannot lose grace should be more closely examined before it should be taught in full security. afterwards they expressed themselves more distinctly on this point, and declared that a true believer, through his own fault, can fall away from god and lose faith. before the conference, however, the gomarite preachers had drawn up a contra-remonstrance of seven points in opposition to the remonstrants' five. they demanded the holding of a national synod to settle the difference between these five and seven points, or the sending of them to foreign universities for arbitration, a mutual promise being given by the contending parties to abide by the decision. thus much it has been necessary to state concerning what in the seventeenth century was called the platform of the two great parties: a term which has been perpetuated in our own country, and is familiar to all the world in the nineteenth. these were the seven points: i. god has chosen from eternity certain persons out of the human race, which in and with adam fell into sin and has no more power to believe and convert itself than a dead man to restore himself to life, in order to make them blessed through christ; while he passes by the rest through his righteous judgment, and leaves them lying in their sins. ii. children of believing parents, as well as full-grown believers, are to be considered as elect so long as they with action do not prove the contrary. iii. god in his election has not looked at the belief and the repentance of the elect; but, on the contrary, in his eternal and unchangeable design, has resolved to give to the elect faith and stedfastness, and thus to make them blessed. iv. he, to this end, in the first place, presented to them his only begotten son, whose sufferings, although sufficient for the expiation of all men's sins, nevertheless, according to god's decree, serves alone to the reconciliation of the elect. v. god causest he gospel to be preached to them, making the same through the holy ghost, of strength upon their minds; so that they not merely obtain power to repent and to believe, but also actually and voluntarily do repent and believe. vi. such elect, through the same power of the holy ghost through which they have once become repentant and believing, are kept in such wise that they indeed through weakness fall into heavy sins; but can never wholly and for always lose the true faith. vii. true believers from this, however, draw no reason for fleshly quiet, it being impossible that they who through a true faith were planted in christ should bring forth no fruits of thankfulness; the promises of god's help and the warnings of scripture tending to make their salvation work in them in fear and trembling, and to cause them more earnestly to desire help from that spirit without which they can do nothing. there shall be no more setting forth of these subtle and finely wrought abstractions in our pages. we aspire not to the lofty heights of theological and supernatural contemplation, where the atmosphere becomes too rarefied for ordinary constitutions. rather we attempt an objective and level survey of remarkable phenomena manifesting themselves on the earth; direct or secondary emanations from those distant spheres. for in those days, and in that land especially, theology and politics were one. it may be questioned at least whether this practical fusion of elements, which may with more safety to the commonwealth be kept separate, did not tend quite as much to lower and contaminate the religious sentiments as to elevate the political idea. to mix habitually the solemn phraseology which men love to reserve for their highest and most sacred needs with the familiar slang of politics and trade seems to our generation not a very desirable proceeding. the aroma of doubly distilled and highly sublimated dogma is more difficult to catch than to comprehend the broader and more practical distinctions of every-day party strife. king james was furious at the thought that common men--the vulgar, the people in short--should dare to discuss deep problems of divinity which, as he confessed, had puzzled even his royal mind. barneveld modestly disclaimed the power of seeing with absolute clearness into things beyond the reach of the human intellect. but the honest netherlanders were not abashed by thunder from the royal pulpit, nor perplexed by hesitations which darkened the soul of the great advocate. in burghers' mansions, peasants' cottages, mechanics' back-parlours, on board herring smacks, canal boats, and east indiamen; in shops, counting-rooms, farmyards, guard-rooms, ale-houses; on the exchange, in the tennis-court, on the mall; at banquets, at burials, christenings, or bridals; wherever and whenever human creatures met each other, there was ever to be found the fierce wrangle of remonstrant and contra-remonstrant, the hissing of red-hot theological rhetoric, the pelting of hostile texts. the blacksmith's iron cooled on the anvil, the tinker dropped a kettle half mended, the broker left a bargain unclinched, the scheveningen fisherman in his wooden shoes forgot the cracks in his pinkie, while each paused to hold high converse with friend or foe on fate, free will, or absolute foreknowledge; losing himself in wandering mazes whence there was no issue. province against province, city against city, family against family; it was one vast scene of bickering, denunciation, heart-burnings, mutual excommunication and hatred. alas! a generation of mankind before, men had stood banded together to resist, with all the might that comes from union, the fell spirit of the holy inquisition, which was dooming all who had wandered from the ancient fold or resisted foreign tyranny to the axe, the faggot, the living grave. there had been small leisure then for men who fought for fatherland, and for comparative liberty of conscience, to tear each others' characters in pieces, and to indulge in mutual hatreds and loathing on the question of predestination. as a rule the population, especially of the humbler classes, and a great majority of the preachers were contra-remonstrant; the magistrates, the burgher patricians, were remonstrant. in holland the controlling influence was remonstrant; but amsterdam and four or five other cities of that province held to the opposite doctrine. these cities formed therefore a small minority in the states assembly of holland sustained by a large majority in the states-general. the province of utrecht was almost unanimously remonstrant. the five other provinces were decidedly contra-remonstrant. it is obvious therefore that the influence of barneveld, hitherto so all-controlling in the states-general, and which rested on the complete submission of the states of holland to his will, was tottering. the battle-line between church and state was now drawn up; and it was at the same time a battle between the union and the principles of state sovereignty. it had long since been declared through the mouth of the advocate, but in a solemn state manifesto, that my lords the states-general were the foster-fathers and the natural protectors of the church, to whom supreme authority in church matters belonged. the contra-remonstrants, on the other hand, maintained that all the various churches made up one indivisible church, seated above the states, whether provincial or general, and governed by the holy ghost acting directly upon the congregations. as the schism grew deeper and the states-general receded from the position which they had taken up under the lead of the advocate, the scene was changed. a majority of the provinces being contra-remonstrant, and therefore in favour of a national synod, the states-general as a body were of necessity for the synod. it was felt by the clergy that, if many churches existed, they would all remain subject to the civil authority. the power of the priesthood would thus sink before that of the burgher aristocracy. there must be one church--the church of geneva and heidelberg--if that theocracy which the gomarites meant to establish was not to vanish as a dream. it was founded on divine right, and knew no chief magistrate but the holy ghost. a few years before the states-general had agreed to a national synod, but with a condition that there should be revision of the netherland confession and the heidelberg catechism. against this the orthodox infallibilists had protested and thundered, because it was an admission that the vile arminian heresy might perhaps be declared correct. it was now however a matter of certainty that the states-general would cease to oppose the unconditional synod, because the majority sided with the priesthood. the magistrates of leyden had not long before opposed the demand for a synod on the ground that the war against spain was not undertaken to maintain one sect; that men of various sects and creeds had fought with equal valour against the common foe; that religious compulsion was hateful, and that no synod had a right to claim netherlanders as slaves. to thoughtful politicians like barneveld, hugo grotius, and men who acted with them, fraught with danger to the state, that seemed a doctrine by which mankind were not regarded as saved or doomed according to belief or deeds, but as individuals divided from all eternity into two classes which could never be united, but must ever mutually regard each other as enemies. and like enemies netherlanders were indeed beginning to regard each other. the man who, banded like brothers, had so heroically fought for two generations long for liberty against an almost superhuman despotism, now howling and jeering against each other like demons, seemed determined to bring the very name of liberty into contempt. where the remonstrants were in the ascendant, they excited the hatred and disgust of the orthodox by their overbearing determination to carry their five points. a broker in rotterdam of the contra-remonstrant persuasion, being about to take a wife, swore he had rather be married by a pig than a parson. for this sparkling epigram he was punished by the remonstrant magistracy with loss of his citizenship for a year and the right to practise his trade for life. a casuistical tinker, expressing himself violently in the same city against the five points, and disrespectfully towards the magistrates for tolerating them, was banished from the town. a printer in the neighbourhood, disgusted with these and similar efforts of tyranny on the part of the dominant party, thrust a couple of lines of doggrel into the lottery: "in name of the prince of orange, i ask once and again, what difference between the inquisition of rotterdam and spain?" for this poetical effort the printer was sentenced to forfeit the prize that he had drawn in the lottery, and to be kept in prison on bread and water for a fortnight. certainly such punishments were hardly as severe as being beheaded or burned or buried alive, as would have been the lot of tinkers and printers and brokers who opposed the established church in the days of alva, but the demon of intolerance, although its fangs were drawn, still survived, and had taken possession of both parties in the reformed church. for it was the remonstrants who had possession of the churches at rotterdam, and the printer's distich is valuable as pointing out that the name of orange was beginning to identify itself with the contra-remonstrant faction. at this time, on the other hand, the gabble that barneveld had been bought by spanish gold, and was about to sell his country to spain, became louder than a whisper. men were not ashamed, from theological hatred, to utter such senseless calumnies against a venerable statesman whose long life had been devoted to the cause of his country's independence and to the death struggle with spain. as if because a man admitted the possibility of all his fellow-creatures being saved from damnation through repentance and the grace of god, he must inevitably be a traitor to his country and a pensionary of her deadliest foe. and where the contra-remonstrants held possession of the churches and the city governments, acts of tyranny which did not then seem ridiculous were of everyday occurrence. clergymen, suspected of the five points, were driven out of the pulpits with bludgeons or assailed with brickbats at the church door. at amsterdam, simon goulart, for preaching the doctrine of universal salvation and for disputing the eternal damnation of young children, was forbidden thenceforth to preach at all. but it was at the hague that the schism in religion and politics first fatally widened itself. henry rosaeus, an eloquent divine, disgusted with his colleague uytenbogaert, refused all communion with him, and was in consequence suspended. excluded from the great church, where he had formerly ministered, he preached every sunday at ryswyk, two or three miles distant. seven hundred contra-remonstrants of the hague followed their beloved pastor, and, as the roads to ryswyk were muddy and sloppy in winter, acquired the unsavoury nickname of the "mud beggars." the vulgarity of heart which suggested the appellation does not inspire to-day great sympathy with the remonstrant party, even if one were inclined to admit, what is not the fact, that they represented the cause of religious equality. for even the illustrious grotius was at that very moment repudiating the notion that there could be two religions in one state. "difference in public worship," he said, "was in kingdoms pernicious, but in free commonwealths in the highest degree destructive." it was the struggle between church and state for supremacy over the whole body politic. "the reformation," said grotius, "was not brought about by synods, but by kings, princes, and magistrates." it was the same eternal story, the same terrible two-edged weapon, "cujus reggio ejus religio," found in the arsenal of the first reformers, and in every politico-religious arsenal of history. "by an eternal decree of god," said gomarus in accordance with calvin, "it has been fixed who are to be saved and who damned. by his decree some are drawn to faith and godliness, and, being drawn, can never fall away. god leaves all the rest in the general corruption of human nature and their own misdeeds." "god has from eternity made this distinction in the fallen human race," said arminius, "that he pardons those who desist from their sins and put their faith in christ, and will give them eternal life, but will punish those who remain impenitent. moreover, it is pleasanter to god that all men should repent, and, coming to knowledge of truth, remain therein, but he compels none." this was the vital difference of dogma. and it was because they could hold no communion with those who believed in the efficacy of repentance that rosaeus and his followers had seceded to ryswyk, and the reformed church had been torn into two very unequal parts. but it is difficult to believe that out of this arid field of controversy so plentiful a harvest of hatred and civil convulsion could have ripened. more practical than the insoluble problems, whether repentance could effect salvation, and whether dead infants were hopelessly damned, was the question who should rule both church and state. there could be but one church. on that remonstrants and contra-remonstrants were agreed. but should the five points or the seven points obtain the mastery? should that framework of hammered iron, the confession and catechism, be maintained in all its rigidity around the sheepfold, or should the disciples of the arch-heretic arminius, the salvation-mongers, be permitted to prowl within it? was barneveld, who hated the reformed religion (so men told each other), and who believed in nothing, to continue dictator of the whole republic through his influence over one province, prescribing its religious dogmas and laying down its laws; or had not the time come for the states-general to vindicate the rights of the church, and to crush for ever the pernicious principle of state sovereignty and burgher oligarchy? the abyss was wide and deep, and the wild waves were raging more madly every hour. the advocate, anxious and troubled, but undismayed, did his best in the terrible emergency. he conferred with prince maurice on the subject of the ryswyk secession, and men said that he sought to impress upon him, as chief of the military forces, the necessity of putting down religious schism with the armed hand. the prince had not yet taken a decided position. he was still under the influence of john uytenbogaert, who with arminius and the advocate made up the fateful three from whom deadly disasters were deemed to have come upon the commonwealth. he wished to remain neutral. but no man can be neutral in civil contentions threatening the life of the body politic any more than the heart can be indifferent if the human frame is sawn in two. "i am a soldier," said maurice, "not a divine. these are matters of theology which i don't understand, and about which i don't trouble myself." on another occasion he is reported to have said, "i know nothing of predestination, whether it is green or whether it is blue; but i do know that the advocate's pipe and mine will never play the same tune." it was not long before he fully comprehended the part which he must necessarily play. to say that he was indifferent to religious matters was as ridiculous as to make a like charge against barneveld. both were religious men. it would have been almost impossible to find an irreligious character in that country, certainly not among its highest-placed and leading minds. maurice had strong intellectual powers. he was a regular attendant on divine worship, and was accustomed to hear daily religious discussions. to avoid them indeed, he would have been obliged not only to fly his country, but to leave europe. he had a profound reverence for the memory of his father, calbo y calbanista, as william the silent had called himself. but the great prince had died before these fierce disputes had torn the bosom of the reformed church, and while reformers still were brethren. but if maurice were a religious man, he was also a keen politician; a less capable politician, however, than a soldier, for he was confessedly the first captain of his age. he was not rapid in his conceptions, but he was sure in the end to comprehend his opportunity. the church, the people, the union--the sacerdotal, the democratic, and the national element--united under a name so potent to conjure with as the name of orange-nassau, was stronger than any other possible combination. instinctively and logically therefore the stadholder found himself the chieftain of the contra-remonstrant party, and without the necessity of an apostasy such as had been required of his great contemporary to make himself master of france. the power of barneveld and his partisans was now put to a severe strain. his efforts to bring back the hague seceders were powerless. the influence of uytenbogaert over the stadholder steadily diminished. he prayed to be relieved from his post in the great church of the hague, especially objecting to serve with a contra-remonstrant preacher whom maurice wished to officiate there in place of the seceding rosaeus. but the stadholder refused to let him go, fearing his influence in other places. "there is stuff in him," said maurice, "to outweigh half a dozen contra-remonstrant preachers." everywhere in holland the opponents of the five points refused to go to the churches, and set up tabernacles for themselves in barns, outhouses, canal-boats. and the authorities in town and village nailed up the barn-doors, and dispersed the canal boat congregations, while the populace pelted them with stones. the seceders appealed to the stadholder, pleading that at least they ought to be allowed to hear the word of god as they understood it without being forced into churches where they were obliged to hear arminian blasphemy. at least their barns might be left them. "barns," said maurice, "barns and outhouses! are we to preach in barns? the churches belong to us, and we mean to have them too." not long afterwards the stadholder, clapping his hand on his sword hilt, observed that these differences could only be settled by force of arms. an ominous remark and a dreary comment on the forty years' war against the inquisition. and the same scenes that were enacting in holland were going on in overyssel and friesland and groningen; but with a difference. here it was the five points men who were driven into secession, whose barns were nailed up, and whose preachers were mobbed. a lugubrious spectacle, but less painful certainly than the hangings and drownings and burnings alive in the previous century to prevent secession from the indivisible church. it is certain that stadholders and all other magistrates ever since the establishment of independence were sworn to maintain the reformed religion and to prevent a public divine worship under any other form. it is equally certain that by the th article of the act of union--the organic law of the confederation made at utrecht in --each province reserved for itself full control of religious questions. it would indeed seem almost unimaginable in a country where not only every province, but every city, every municipal board, was so jealous of its local privileges and traditional rights that the absolute disposition over the highest, gravest, and most difficult questions that can inspire and perplex humanity should be left to a general government, and one moreover which had scarcely come into existence. yet into this entirely illogical position the commonwealth was steadily drifting. the cause was simple enough. the states of holland, as already observed, were remonstrant by a large majority. the states-general were contra-remonstrant by a still greater majority. the church, rigidly attached to the confession and catechism, and refusing all change except through decree of a synod to be called by the general government which it controlled, represented the national idea. it thus identified itself with the republic, and was in sympathy with a large majority of the population. logic, law, historical tradition were on the side of the advocate and the states' right party. the instinct of national self-preservation, repudiating the narrow and destructive doctrine of provincial sovereignty, were on the side of the states-general and the church. meantime james of great britain had written letters both to the states of holland and the states-general expressing his satisfaction with the five points, and deciding that there was nothing objectionable in the doctrine of predestination therein set forth. he had recommended unity and peace in church and assembly, and urged especially that these controverted points should not be discussed in the pulpit to the irritation and perplexity of the common people. the king's letters had produced much satisfaction in the moderate party. barneveld and his followers were then still in the ascendant, and it seemed possible that the commonwealth might enjoy a few moments of tranquillity. that james had given a new exhibition of his astounding inconsistency was a matter very indifferent to all but himself, and he was the last man to trouble himself for that reproach. it might happen, when he should come to realize how absolutely he had obeyed the tuition of the advocate and favoured the party which he had been so vehemently opposing, that he might regret and prove willing to retract. but for the time being the course of politics had seemed running smoother. the acrimony of the relations between the english government and dominant party at the hague was sensibly diminished. the king seemed for an instant to have obtained a true insight into the nature of the struggle in the states. that it was after all less a theological than a political question which divided parties had at last dawned upon him. "if you have occasion to write on the subject," said barneveld, "it is above all necessary to make it clear that ecclesiastical persons and their affairs must stand under the direction of the sovereign authority, for our preachers understand that the disposal of ecclesiastical persons and affairs belongs to them, so that they alone are to appoint preachers, elders, deacons, and other clerical persons, and to regulate the whole ecclesiastical administration according to their pleasure or by a popular government which they call the community." "the counts of holland from all ancient times were never willing under the papacy to surrender their right of presentation to the churches and control of all spiritual and ecclesiastical benefices. the emperor charles and king philip even, as counts of holland, kept these rights to themselves, save that they in enfeoffing more than a hundred gentlemen, of noble and ancient families with seigniorial manors, enfeoffed them also with the right of presentation to churches and benefices on their respective estates. our preachers pretend to have won this right against the countship, the gentlemen, nobles, and others, and that it belongs to them." it is easy to see that this was a grave, constitutional, legal, and historical problem not to be solved offhand by vehement citations from scripture, nor by pragmatical dissertations from the lips of foreign ambassadors. "i believe this point," continued barneveld, "to be the most difficult question of all, importing far more than subtle searchings and conflicting sentiments as to passages of holy writ, or disputations concerning god's eternal predestination and other points thereupon depending. of these doctrines the archbishop of canterbury well observed in the conference of that one ought to teach them ascendendo and not descendendo." the letters of the king had been very favourably received both in the states-general and in the assembly of holland. "you will present the replies," wrote barneveld to the ambassador in london, "at the best opportunity and with becoming compliments. you may be assured and assure his majesty that they have been very agreeable to both assemblies. our commissioners over there on the east indian matter ought to know nothing of these letters." this statement is worthy of notice, as grotius was one of those commissioners, and, as will subsequently appear, was accused of being the author of the letters. "i understand from others," continued the advocate, "that the gentleman well known to you--[obviously francis aerssens]--is not well pleased that through other agency than his these letters have been written and presented. i think too that the other business is much against his grain, but on the whole since your departure he has accommodated himself to the situation." but if aerssens for the moment seemed quiet, the orthodox clergy were restive. "i know," said barneveld, "that some of our ministers are so audacious that of themselves, or through others, they mean to work by direct or indirect means against these letters. they mean to show likewise that there are other and greater differences of doctrine than those already discussed. you will keep a sharp eye on the sails and provide against the effect of counter-currents. to maintain the authority of their great mightinesses over ecclesiastical matters is more than necessary for the conservation of the country's welfare and of the true christian religion. as his majesty would not allow this principle to be controverted in his own realms, as his books clearly prove, so we trust that he will not find it good that it should be controverted in our state as sure to lead to a very disastrous and inequitable sequel." and a few weeks later the advocate and the whole party of toleration found themselves, as is so apt to be the case, between two fires. the catholics became as turbulent as the extreme calvinists, and already hopes were entertained by spanish emissaries and spies that this rapidly growing schism in the reformed church might be dexterously made use of to bring the provinces, when they should become fairly distracted, back to the dominion of spain. "our precise zealots in the reformed religion, on the one side," wrote barneveld, "and the jesuits on the other, are vigorously kindling the fire of discord. keep a good lookout for the countermine which is now working against the good advice of his majesty for mutual toleration. the publication of the letters was done without order, but i believe with good intent, in the hope that the vehemence and exorbitance of some precise puritans in our state should thereby be checked. that which is now doing against us in printed libels is the work of the aforesaid puritans and a few jesuits. the pretence in those libels, that there are other differences in the matter of doctrine, is mere fiction designed to make trouble and confusion." in the course of the autumn, sir ralph winwood departed from the hague, to assume soon afterwards in england the position of secretary of state for foreign affairs. he did not take personal farewell of barneveld, the advocate being absent in north holland at the moment, and detained there by indisposition. the leave-taking was therefore by letter. he had done much to injure the cause which the dutch statesman held vital to the republic, and in so doing he had faithfully carried out the instructions of his master. now that james had written these conciliatory letters to the states, recommending toleration, letters destined to be famous, barneveld was anxious that the retiring ambassador should foster the spirit of moderation, which for a moment prevailed at the british court. but he was not very hopeful in the matter. "mr. winwood is doubtless over there now," he wrote to caron. "he has promised in public and private to do all good offices. the states-general made him a present on his departure of the value of l . i fear nevertheless that he, especially in religious matters, will not do the best offices. for besides that he is himself very hard and precise, those who in this country are hard and precise have made a dead set at him, and tried to make him devoted to their cause, through many fictitious and untruthful means." the advocate, as so often before, sent assurances to the king that "the states-general, and especially the states of holland, were resolved to maintain the genuine reformed religion, and oppose all novelties and impurities conflicting with it," and the ambassador was instructed to see that the countermine, worked so industriously against his majesty's service and the honour and reputation of the provinces, did not prove successful. "to let the good mob play the master," he said, "and to permit hypocrites and traitors in the flemish manner to get possession of the government of the provinces and cities, and to cause upright patriots whose faith and truth has so long been proved, to be abandoned, by the blessing of god, shall never be accomplished. be of good heart, and cause these flemish tricks to be understood on every occasion, and let men know that we mean to maintain, with unchanging constancy, the authority of the government, the privileges and laws of the country, as well as the true reformed religion." the statesman was more than ever anxious for moderate counsels in the religious questions, for it was now more important than ever that there should be concord in the provinces, for the cause of protestantism, and with it the existence of the republic, seemed in greater danger than at any moment since the truce. it appeared certain that the alliance between france and spain had been arranged, and that the pope, spain, the grand-duke of tuscany, and their various adherents had organized a strong combination, and were enrolling large armies to take the field in the spring, against the protestant league of the princes and electors in germany. the great king was dead. the queen-regent was in the hand of spain, or dreamed at least of an impossible neutrality, while the priest who was one day to resume the part of henry, and to hang upon the sword of france the scales in which the opposing weights of protestantism and catholicism in europe were through so many awful years to be balanced, was still an obscure bishop. the premonitory signs of the great religious war in germany were not to be mistaken. in truth, the great conflict had already opened in the duchies, although few men as yet comprehended the full extent of that movement. the superficial imagined that questions of hereditary succession, like those involved in the dispute, were easily to be settled by statutes of descent, expounded by doctors of law, and sustained, if needful, by a couple of comparatively bloodless campaigns. those who looked more deeply into causes felt that the limitations of imperial authority, the ambition of a great republic, suddenly starting into existence out of nothing, and the great issues of the religious reformation, were matters not so easily arranged. when the scene shifted, as it was so soon to do, to the heart of bohemia, when protestantism had taken the holy roman empire by the beard in its ancient palace, and thrown imperial stadholders out of window, it would be evident to the blindest that something serious was taking place. meantime barneveld, ever watchful of passing events, knew that great forces of catholicism were marshalling in the south. three armies were to take the field against protestantism at the orders of spain and the pope. one at the door of the republic, and directed especially against the netherlands, was to resume the campaign in the duchies, and to prevent any aid going to protestant germany from great britain or from holland. another in the upper palatinate was to make the chief movement against the evangelical hosts. a third in austria was to keep down the protestant party in bohemia, hungary, austria, moravia, and silesia. to sustain this movement, it was understood that all the troops then in italy were to be kept all the winter on a war footing.' was this a time for the great protestant party in the netherlands to tear itself in pieces for a theological subtlety, about which good christians might differ without taking each other by the throat? "i do not lightly believe or fear," said the advocate, in communicating a survey of european affairs at that moment to carom "but present advices from abroad make me apprehend dangers." etext editor's bookmarks: aristocracy of god's elect determined to bring the very name of liberty into contempt disputing the eternal damnation of young children fate, free will, or absolute foreknowledge louis xiii. no man can be neutral in civil contentions no synod had a right to claim netherlanders as slaves philip iv. priests shall control the state or the state govern the priests schism in the church had become a public fact that cynical commerce in human lives the voice of slanderers theological hatred was in full blaze throughout the country theology and politics were one to look down upon their inferior and lost fellow creatures whether dead infants were hopelessly damned whether repentance could effect salvation whose mutual hatred was now artfully inflamed by partisans work of the aforesaid puritans and a few jesuits the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. life of john of barneveld, - chapter ix. aerssens remains two years longer in france--derives many personal advantages from his post--he visits the states-general--aubery du maurier appointed french ambassador--he demands the recall of aerssens--peace of sainte-menehould--asperen de langerac appointed in aerssens' place. francis aerssens had remained longer at his post than had been intended by the resolution of the states of holland, passed in may . it is an exemplification of the very loose constitutional framework of the united provinces that the nomination of the ambassador to france belonged to the states of holland, by whom his salary was paid, although, of course, he was the servant of the states-general, to whom his public and official correspondence was addressed. his most important despatches were however written directly to barneveld so long as he remained in power, who had also the charge of the whole correspondence, public or private, with all the envoys of the states. aerssens had, it will be remembered, been authorized to stay one year longer in france if he thought he could be useful there. he stayed two years, and on the whole was not useful. he had too many eyes and too many ears. he had become mischievous by the very activity of his intelligence. he was too zealous. there were occasions in france at that moment in which it was as well to be blind and deaf. it was impossible for the republic, unless driven to it by dire necessity, to quarrel with its great ally. it had been calculated by duplessis-mornay that france had paid subsidies to the provinces amounting from first to last to millions of livres. this was an enormous exaggeration. it was barneveld's estimate that before the truce the states had received from france eleven millions of florins in cash, and during the truce up to the year , , , in addition, besides a million still due, making a total of about fifteen millions. during the truce france kept two regiments of foot amounting to soldiers and two companies of cavalry in holland at the service of the states, for which she was bound to pay yearly , livres. and the queen-regent had continued all the treaties by which these arrangements were secured, and professed sincere and continuous friendship for the states. while the french-spanish marriages gave cause for suspicion, uneasiness, and constant watchfulness in the states, still the neutrality of france was possible in the coming storm. so long as that existed, particularly when the relations of england with holland through the unfortunate character of king james were perpetually strained to a point of imminent rupture, it was necessary to hold as long as it was possible to the slippery embrace of france. but aerssens was almost aggressive in his attitude. he rebuked the vacillations, the shortcomings, the imbecility, of the queen's government in offensive terms. he consorted openly with the princes who were on the point of making war upon the queen-regent. he made a boast to the secretary of state villeroy that he had unravelled all his secret plots against the netherlands. he declared it to be understood in france, since the king's death, by the dominant and jesuitical party that the crown depended temporally as well as spiritually on the good pleasure of the pope. no doubt he was perfectly right in many of his opinions. no ruler or statesman in france worthy of the name would hesitate, in the impending religious conflict throughout europe and especially in germany, to maintain for the kingdom that all controlling position which was its splendid privilege. but to preach this to mary de' medici was waste of breath. she was governed by the concini's, and the concini's were governed by spain. the woman who was believed to have known beforehand of the plot to murder her great husband, who had driven the one powerful statesman on whom the king relied, maximilian de bethune, into retirement, and whose foreign affairs were now completely in the hands of the ancient leaguer villeroy--who had served every government in the kingdom for forty years--was not likely to be accessible to high views of public policy. two years had now elapsed since the first private complaints against the ambassador, and the french government were becoming impatient at his presence. aerssens had been supported by prince maurice, to whom he had long paid his court. he was likewise loyally protected by barneveld, whom he publicly flattered and secretly maligned. but it was now necessary that he should be gone if peaceful relations with france were to be preserved. after all, the ambassador had not made a bad business of his embassy from his own point of view. a stranger in the republic, for his father the greffier was a refugee from brabant, he had achieved through his own industry and remarkable talents, sustained by the favour of barneveld--to whom he owed all his diplomatic appointments--an eminent position in europe. secretary to the legation to france in , he had been successively advanced to the post of resident agent, and when the republic had been acknowledged by the great powers, to that of ambassador. the highest possible functions that representatives of emperors and kings could enjoy had been formally recognized in the person of the minister of a new-born republic. and this was at a moment when, with exception of the brave but insignificant cantons of switzerland, the republic had long been an obsolete idea. in a pecuniary point of view, too, he had not fared badly during his twenty years of diplomatic office. he had made much money in various ways. the king not long before his death sent him one day , florins as a present, with a promise soon to do much more for him. having been placed in so eminent a post, he considered it as due to himself to derive all possible advantage from it. "those who serve at the altar," he said a little while after his return, "must learn to live by it. i served their high mightinesses at the court of a great king, and his majesty's liberal and gracious favours were showered upon me. my upright conscience and steady obsequiousness greatly aided me. i did not look upon opportunity with folded arms, but seized it and made my profit by it. had i not met with such fortunate accidents, my office would not have given me dry bread." nothing could exceed the frankness and indeed the cynicism with which the ambassador avowed his practice of converting his high and sacred office into merchandise. and these statements of his should be scanned closely, because at this very moment a cry was distantly rising, which at a later day was to swell into a roar, that the great advocate had been bribed and pensioned. nothing had occurred to justify such charges, save that at the period of the truce he had accepted from the king of france a fee of , florins for extra official and legal services rendered him a dozen years before, and had permitted his younger son to hold the office of gentleman-in-waiting at the french court with the usual salary attached to it. the post, certainly not dishonourable in itself, had been intended by the king as a kindly compliment to the leading statesman of his great and good ally the republic. it would be difficult to say why such a favour conferred on the young man should be held more discreditable to the receiver than the order of the garter recently bestowed upon the great soldier of the republic by another friendly sovereign. it is instructive however to note the language in which francis aerssens spoke of favours and money bestowed by a foreign monarch upon himself, for aerssens had come back from his embassy full of gall and bitterness against barneveld. thenceforth he was to be his evil demon. "i didn't inherit property," said this diplomatist. "my father and mother, thank god, are yet living. i have enjoyed the king's liberality. it was from an ally, not an enemy, of our country. were every man obliged to give a reckoning of everything he possesses over and above his hereditary estates, who in the government would pass muster? those who declare that they have served their country in her greatest trouble, and lived in splendid houses and in service of princes and great companies and the like on a yearly salary of florins, may not approve these maxims." it should be remembered that barneveld, if this was a fling at the advocate, had acquired a large fortune by marriage, and, although certainly not averse from gathering gear, had, as will be seen on a subsequent page, easily explained the manner in which his property had increased. no proof was ever offered or attempted of the anonymous calumnies levelled at him in this regard. "i never had the management of finances," continued aerssens. "my profits i have gained in foreign parts. my condition of life is without excess, and in my opinion every means are good so long as they are honourable and legal. they say my post was given me by the advocate. ergo, all my fortune comes from the advocate. strenuously to have striven to make myself agreeable to the king and his counsellors, while fulfilling my office with fidelity and honour, these are the arts by which i have prospered, so that my splendour dazzles the eyes of the envious. the greediness of those who believe that the sun should shine for them alone was excited, and so i was obliged to resign the embassy." so long as henry lived, the dutch ambassador saw him daily, and at all hours, privately, publicly, when he would. rarely has a foreign envoy at any court, at any period of history, enjoyed such privileges of being useful to his government. and there is no doubt that the services of aerssens had been most valuable to his country, notwithstanding his constant care to increase his private fortune through his public opportunities. he was always ready to be useful to henry likewise. when that monarch same time before the truce, and occasionally during the preliminary negotiations for it, had formed a design to make himself sovereign of the provinces, it was aerssens who charged himself with the scheme, and would have furthered it with all his might, had the project not met with opposition both from the advocate and the stadholder. subsequently it appeared probable that maurice would not object to the sovereignty himself, and the ambassador in paris, with the king's consent, was not likely to prove himself hostile to the prince's ambition. "there is but this means alone," wrote jeannini to villeroy, "that can content him, although hitherto he has done like the rowers, who never look toward the place whither they wish to go." the attempt of the prince to sound barneveld on this subject through the princess-dowager has already been mentioned, and has much intrinsic probability. thenceforward, the republican form of government, the municipal oligarchies, began to consolidate their power. yet although the people as such were not sovereigns, but subjects, and rarely spoken of by the aristocratic magistrates save with a gentle and patronizing disdain, they enjoyed a larger liberty than was known anywhere else in the world. buzenval was astonished at the "infinite and almost unbridled freedom" which he witnessed there during his embassy, and which seemed to him however "without peril to the state." the extraordinary means possessed by aerssens to be important and useful vanished with the king's death. his secret despatches, painting in sombre and sarcastic colours the actual condition of affairs at the french court, were sent back in copy to the french court itself. it was not known who had played the ambassador this vilest of tricks, but it was done during an illness of barneveld, and without his knowledge. early in the year aerssens resolved, not to take his final departure, but to go home on leave of absence. his private intention was to look for some substantial office of honour and profit at home. failing of this, he meant to return to paris. but with an eye to the main chance as usual, he ingeniously caused it to be understood at court, without making positive statements to that effect, that his departure was final. on his leavetaking, accordingly, he received larger presents from the crown than had been often given to a retiring ambassador. at least , florins were thus added to the frugal store of profits on which he prided himself. had he merely gone away on leave of absence, he would have received no presents whatever. but he never went back. the queen-regent and her ministers were so glad to get rid of him, and so little disposed, in the straits in which they found themselves, to quarrel with the powerful republic, as to be willing to write very complimentary public letters to the states, concerning the character and conduct of the man whom they so much detested. pluming himself upon these, aerssens made his appearance in the assembly of the states-general, to give account by word of mouth of the condition of affairs, speaking as if he had only come by permission of their mightinesses for temporary purposes. two months later he was summoned before the assembly, and ordered to return to his post. meantime a new french ambassador had arrived at the hague, in the spring of . aubery du maurier, a son of an obscure country squire, a protestant, of moderate opinions, of a sincere but rather obsequious character, painstaking, diligent, and honest, had been at an earlier day in the service of the turbulent and intriguing due de bouillon. he had also been employed by sully as an agent in financial affairs between holland and france, and had long been known to villeroy. he was living on his estate, in great retirement from all public business, when secretary villeroy suddenly proposed him the embassy to the hague. there was no more important diplomatic post at that time in europe. other countries were virtually at peace, but in holland, notwithstanding the truce, there vas really not much more than an armistice, and great armies lay in the netherlands, as after a battle, sleeping face to face with arms in their hands. the politics of christendom were at issue in the open, elegant, and picturesque village which was the social capital of the united provinces. the gentry from spain, italy, the south of europe, catholic germany, had clustered about spinola at brussels, to learn the art of war in his constant campaigning against maurice. english and scotch officers, frenchmen, bohemians, austrians, youths from the palatinate and all protestant countries in germany, swarmed to the banners of the prince who had taught the world how alexander farnese could be baffled, and the great spinola outmanoeuvred. especially there was a great number of frenchmen of figure and quality who thronged to the hague, besides the officers of the two french regiments which formed a regular portion of the states' army. that army was the best appointed and most conspicuous standing force in europe. besides the french contingent there were always nearly , infantry and cavalry on a war footing, splendidly disciplined, experienced, and admirably armed. the navy, consisting of thirty war ships, perfectly equipped and manned, was a match for the combined marine forces of all europe, and almost as numerous. when the ambassador went to solemn audience of the states-general, he was attended by a brilliant group of gentlemen and officers, often to the number of three hundred, who volunteered to march after him on foot to honour their sovereign in the person of his ambassador; the envoy's carriage following empty behind. such were the splendid diplomatic processions often received by the stately advocate in his plain civic garb, when grave international questions were to be publicly discussed. there was much murmuring in france when the appointment of a personage comparatively so humble to a position so important was known. it was considered as a blow aimed directly at the malcontent princes of the blood, who were at that moment plotting their first levy of arms against the queen. du maurier had been ill-treated by the due de bouillon, who naturally therefore now denounced the man whom he had injured to the government to which he was accredited. being the agent of mary de' medici, he was, of course, described as a tool of the court and a secret pensioner of spain. he was to plot with the arch traitor barneveld as to the best means for distracting the provinces and bringing them back into spanish subjection. du maurier, being especially but secretly charged to prevent the return of francis aerssens to paris, incurred of course the enmity of that personage and of the french grandees who ostentatiously protected him. it was even pretended by jeannin that the appointment of a man so slightly known to the world, so inexperienced in diplomacy, and of a parentage so little distinguished, would be considered an affront by the states-general. but on the whole, villeroy had made an excellent choice. no safer man could perhaps have been found in france for a post of such eminence, in circumstances so delicate, and at a crisis so grave. the man who had been able to make himself agreeable and useful, while preserving his integrity, to characters so dissimilar as the refining, self-torturing, intellectual duplessis-mornay, the rude, aggressive, and straightforward sully, the deep-revolving, restlessly plotting bouillon, and the smooth, silent, and tortuous villeroy--men between whom there was no friendship, but, on the contrary, constant rancour--had material in him to render valuable services at this particular epoch. everything depended on patience, tact, watchfulness in threading the distracting, almost inextricable, maze which had been created by personal rivalries, ambitions, and jealousies in the state he represented and the one to which he was accredited. "i ascribe it all to god," he said, in his testament to his children, "the impenetrable workman who in his goodness has enabled me to make myself all my life obsequious, respectful, and serviceable to all, avoiding as much as possible, in contenting some, not to discontent others." he recommended his children accordingly to endeavour "to succeed in life by making themselves as humble, intelligent, and capable as possible." this is certainly not a very high type of character, but a safer one for business than that of the arch intriguer francis aerssens. and he had arrived at the hague under trying circumstances. unknown to the foreign world he was now entering, save through the disparaging rumours concerning him, sent thither in advance by the powerful personages arrayed against his government, he might have sunk under such a storm at the outset, but for the incomparable kindness and friendly aid of the princess-dowager, louise de coligny. "i had need of her protection and recommendation as much as of life," said du maurier; "and she gave them in such excess as to annihilate an infinity of calumnies which envy had excited against me on every side." he had also a most difficult and delicate matter to arrange at the very moment of his arrival. for aerssens had done his best not only to produce a dangerous division in the politics of the republic, but to force a rupture between the french government and the states. he had carried matters before the assembly with so high a hand as to make it seem impossible to get rid of him without public scandal. he made a parade of the official letters from the queen-regent and her ministers, in which he was spoken of in terms of conventional compliment. he did not know, and barneveld wished, if possible, to spare him the annoyance of knowing, that both queen and ministers, so soon as informed that there was a chance of coming back to them, had written letters breathing great repugnance to him and intimating that he would not be received. other high personages of state had written to express their resentment at his duplicity, perpetual mischief-making, and machinations against the peace of the kingdom, and stating the impossibility of his resuming the embassy at paris. and at last the queen wrote to the states-general to say that, having heard their intention to send him back to a post "from which he had taken leave formally and officially," she wished to prevent such a step. "we should see m. aerssens less willingly than comports with our friendship for you and good neighbourhood. any other you could send would be most welcome, as m. du maurier will explain to you more amply." and to du maurier himself she wrote distinctly, "rather than suffer the return of the said aerssens, you will declare that for causes which regard the good of our affairs and our particular satisfaction we cannot and will not receive him in the functions which he has exercised here, and we rely too implicitly upon the good friendship of my lords the states to do anything in this that would so much displease us." and on the same day villeroy privately wrote to the ambassador, "if, in spite of all this, aerssens should endeavour to return, he will not be received, after the knowledge we have of his factious spirit, most dangerous in a public personage in a state such as ours and in the minority of the king." meantime aerssens had been going about flaunting letters in everybody's face from the duc de bouillon insisting on the necessity of his return! the fact in itself would have been sufficient to warrant his removal, for the duke was just taking up arms against his sovereign. unless the states meant to interfere officially and directly in the civil war about to break out in france, they could hardly send a minister to the government on recommendation of the leader of the rebellion. it had, however, become impossible to remove him without an explosion. barneveld, who, said du maurier, "knew the man to his finger nails," had been reluctant to "break the ice," and wished for official notice in the matter from the queen. maurice protected the troublesome diplomatist. "'tis incredible," said the french ambassador "how covertly prince maurice is carrying himself, contrary to his wont, in this whole affair. i don't know whether it is from simple jealousy to barneveld, or if there is some mystery concealed below the surface." du maurier had accordingly been obliged to ask his government for distinct and official instructions. "he holds to his place," said he, "by so slight and fragile a root as not to require two hands to pluck him up, the little finger being enough. there is no doubt that he has been in concert with those who are making use of him to re-establish their credit with the states, and to embark prince maurice contrary to his preceding custom in a cabal with them." thus a question of removing an obnoxious diplomatist could hardly be graver, for it was believed that he was doing his best to involve the military chief of his own state in a game of treason and rebellion against the government to which he was accredited. it was not the first nor likely to be the last of bouillon's deadly intrigues. but the man who had been privy to biron's conspiracy against the crown and life of his sovereign was hardly a safe ally for his brother-in-law, the straightforward stadholder. the instructions desired by du maurier and by barneveld had, as we have seen, at last arrived. the french ambassador thus fortified appeared before the assembly of the states-general and officially demanded the recall of aerssens. in a letter addressed privately and confidentially to their mightinesses, he said, "if in spite of us you throw him at our feet, we shall fling him back at your head." at last maurice yielded to, the representations of the french envoy, and aerssens felt obliged to resign his claims to the post. the states-general passed a resolution that it would be proper to employ him in some other capacity in order to show that his services had been agreeable to them, he having now declared that he could no longer be useful in france. maurice, seeing that it was impossible to save him, admitted to du maurier his unsteadiness and duplicity, and said that, if possessed of the confidence of a great king, he would be capable of destroying the state in less than a year. but this had not always been the prince's opinion, nor was it likely to remain unchanged. as for villeroy, he denied flatly that the cause of his displeasure had been that aerssens had penetrated into his most secret affairs. he protested, on the contrary, that his annoyance with him had partly proceeded from the slight acquaintance he had acquired of his policy, and that, while boasting to be better informed than any one, he was in the habit of inventing and imagining things in order to get credit for himself. it was highly essential that the secret of this affair should be made clear; for its influence on subsequent events was to be deep and wide. for the moment aerssens remained without employment, and there was no open rupture with barneveld. the only difference of opinion between the advocate and himself, he said, was whether he had or had not definitely resigned his post on leaving paris. meantime it was necessary to fix upon a successor for this most important post. the war soon after the new year had broken out in france. conde, bouillon, and the other malcontent princes with their followers had taken possession of the fortress of mezieres, and issued a letter in the name of conde to the queen-regent demanding an assembly of the states-general of the kingdom and rupture of the spanish marriages. both parties, that of the government and that of the rebellion, sought the sympathy and active succour of the states. maurice, acting now in perfect accord with the advocate, sustained the queen and execrated the rebellion of his relatives with perfect frankness. conde, he said, had got his head stuffed full of almanacs whose predictions he wished to see realized. he vowed he would have shortened by a head the commander of the garrison who betrayed mezieres, if he had been under his control. he forbade on pain of death the departure of any officer or private of the french regiments from serving the rebels, and placed the whole french force at the disposal of the queen, with as many netherland regiments as could be spared. one soldier was hanged and three others branded with the mark of a gibbet on the face for attempting desertion. the legal government was loyally sustained by the authority of the states, notwithstanding all the intrigues of aerssens with the agents of the princes to procure them assistance. the mutiny for the time was brief, and was settled on the th of may , by the peace of sainte-menehould, as much a caricature of a treaty as the rising had been the parody of a war. van der myle, son-in-law of barneveld, who had been charged with a special and temporary mission to france, brought back the terms, of the convention to the states-general. on the other hand, conde and his confederates sent a special agent to the netherlands to give their account of the war and the negotiation, who refused to confer either with du maurier or barneveld, but who held much conference with aerssens. it was obvious enough that the mutiny of the princes would become chronic. in truth, what other condition was possible with two characters like mary de' medici and the prince of conde respectively at the head of the government and the revolt? what had france to hope for but to remain the bloody playground for mischievous idiots, who threw about the firebrands and arrows of reckless civil war in pursuit of the paltriest of personal aims? van der myle had pretensions to the vacant place of aerssens. he had some experience in diplomacy. he had conducted skilfully enough the first mission of the states to venice, and had subsequently been employed in matters of moment. but he was son-in-law to barneveld, and although the advocate was certainly not free from the charge of nepotism, he shrank from the reproach of having apparently removed aerssens to make a place for one of his own family. van der myle remained to bear the brunt of the late ambassador's malice, and to engage at a little later period in hottest controversy with him, personal and political. "why should van der myle strut about, with his arms akimbo like a peacock?" complained aerssens one day in confused metaphor. a question not easy to answer satisfactorily. the minister selected was a certain baron asperen de langerac, wholly unversed in diplomacy or other public affairs, with abilities not above the average. a series of questions addressed by him to the advocate, the answers to which, scrawled on the margin of the paper, were to serve for his general instructions, showed an ingenuousness as amusing as the replies of barneveld were experienced and substantial. in general he was directed to be friendly and respectful to every one, to the queen-regent and her counsellors especially, and, within the limits of becoming reverence for her, to cultivate the good graces of the prince of conde and the other great nobles still malcontent and rebellious, but whose present movement, as barneveld foresaw, was drawing rapidly to a close. langerac arrived in paris on the th of april . du maurier thought the new ambassador likely to "fall a prey to the specious language and gentle attractions of the due de bouillon." he also described him as very dependent upon prince maurice. on the other hand langerac professed unbounded and almost childlike reverence for barneveld, was devoted to his person, and breathed as it were only through his inspiration. time would show whether those sentiments would outlast every possible storm. chapter x weakness of the rulers of france and england--the wisdom of barneveld inspires jealousy--sir dudley carleton succeeds winwood-- young neuburg under the guidance of maximilian--barneveld strives to have the treaty of xanten enforced--spain and the emperor wish to make the states abandon their position with regard to the duchies-- the french government refuses to aid the states--spain and the emperor resolve to hold wesel--the great religious war begun--the protestant union and catholic league both wish to secure the border provinces--troubles in turkey--spanish fleet seizes la roche--spain places large armies on a war footing. few things are stranger in history than the apathy with which the wide designs of the catholic party were at that moment regarded. the preparations for the immense struggle which posterity learned to call the thirty years' war, and to shudder when speaking of it, were going forward on every side. in truth the war had really begun, yet those most deeply menaced by it at the outset looked on with innocent calmness because their own roofs were not quite yet in a blaze. the passage of arms in the duchies, the outlines of which have just been indicated, and which was the natural sequel of the campaign carried out four years earlier on the same territory, had been ended by a mockery. in france, reduced almost to imbecility by the absence of a guiding brain during a long minority, fallen under the distaff of a dowager both weak and wicked, distracted by the intrigues and quarrels of a swarm of self-seeking grandees, and with all its offices, from highest to lowest, of court, state, jurisprudence, and magistracy, sold as openly and as cynically as the commonest wares, there were few to comprehend or to grapple with the danger. it should have seemed obvious to the meanest capacity in the kingdom that the great house of austria, reigning supreme in spain and in germany, could not be allowed to crush the duke of savoy on the one side, and bohemia, moravia, and the netherlands on the other without danger of subjection for france. yet the aim of the queen-regent was to cultivate an impossible alliance with her inevitable foe. and in england, ruled as it then was with no master mind to enforce against its sovereign the great lessons of policy, internal and external, on which its welfare and almost its imperial existence depended, the only ambition of those who could make their opinions felt was to pursue the same impossibility, intimate alliance with the universal foe. any man with slightest pretensions to statesmanship knew that the liberty for protestant worship in imperial germany, extorted by force, had been given reluctantly, and would be valid only as long as that force could still be exerted or should remain obviously in reserve. the "majesty-letter" and the "convention" of the two religions would prove as flimsy as the parchment on which they were engrossed, the protestant churches built under that sanction would be shattered like glass, if once the catholic rulers could feel their hands as clear as their consciences would be for violating their sworn faith to heretics. men knew, even if the easy-going and uxorious emperor, into which character the once busy and turbulent archduke matthias had subsided, might be willing to keep his pledges, that ferdinand of styria, who would soon succeed him, and maximilian of bavaria were men who knew their own minds, and had mentally never resigned one inch of the ground which protestantism imagined itself to have conquered. these things seem plain as daylight to all who look back upon them through the long vista of the past; but the sovereign of england did not see them or did not choose to see them. he saw only the infanta and her two millions of dowry, and he knew that by calling parliament together to ask subsidies for an anti-catholic war he should ruin those golden matrimonial prospects for his son, while encouraging those "shoemakers," his subjects, to go beyond their "last," by consulting the representatives of his people on matters pertaining to the mysteries of government. he was slowly digging the grave of the monarchy and building the scaffold of his son; but he did his work with a laborious and pedantic trifling, when really engaged in state affairs, most amazing to contemplate. he had no penny to give to the cause in which his nearest relatives mere so deeply involved and for which his only possible allies were pledged; but he was ready to give advice to all parties, and with ludicrous gravity imagined himself playing the umpire between great contending hosts, when in reality he was only playing the fool at the beck of masters before whom he quaked. "you are not to vilipend my counsel," said he one day to a foreign envoy. "i am neither a camel nor an ass to take up all this work on my shoulders. where would you find another king as willing to do it as i am?" the king had little time and no money to give to serve his own family and allies and the cause of protestantism, but he could squander vast sums upon worthless favourites, and consume reams of paper on controverted points of divinity. the appointment of vorstius to the chair of theology in leyden aroused more indignation in his bosom, and occupied more of his time, than the conquests of spinola in the duchies, and the menaces of spain against savoy and bohemia. he perpetually preached moderation to the states in the matter of the debateable territory, although moderation at that moment meant submission to the house of austria. he chose to affect confidence in the good faith of those who were playing a comedy by which no statesman could be deceived, but which had secured the approbation of the solomon of the age. but there was one man who was not deceived. the warnings and the lamentations of barneveld sound to us out of that far distant time like the voice of an inspired prophet. it is possible that a portion of the wrath to come might have been averted had there been many men in high places to heed his voice. i do not wish to exaggerate the power and wisdom of the man, nor to set him forth as one of the greatest heroes of history. but posterity has done far less than justice to a statesman and sage who wielded a vast influence at a most critical period in the fate of christendom, and uniformly wielded it to promote the cause of temperate human liberty, both political and religious. viewed by the light of two centuries and a half of additional experience, he may appear to have made mistakes, but none that were necessarily disastrous or even mischievous. compared with the prevailing idea of the age in which he lived, his schemes of polity seem to dilate into large dimensions, his sentiments of religious freedom, however limited to our modern ideas, mark an epoch in human progress, and in regard to the general commonwealth of christendom, of which he was so leading a citizen, the part he played was a lofty one. no man certainly understood the tendency of his age more exactly, took a broader and more comprehensive view than he did of the policy necessary to preserve the largest portion of the results of the past three-quarters of a century, or had pondered the relative value of great conflicting forces more skilfully. had his counsels been always followed, had illustrious birth placed him virtually upon a throne, as was the case with william the silent, and thus allowed him occasionally to carry out the designs of a great mind with almost despotic authority, it might have been better for the world. but in that age it was royal blood alone that could command unflinching obedience without exciting personal rivalry. men quailed before his majestic intellect, but hated him for the power which was its necessary result. they already felt a stupid delight in cavilling at his pedigree. to dispute his claim to a place among the ancient nobility to which he was an honour was to revenge themselves for the rank he unquestionably possessed side by side in all but birth with the kings and rulers of the world. whether envy and jealousy be vices more incident to the republican form of government than to other political systems may be an open question. but it is no question whatever that barneveld's every footstep from this period forward was dogged by envy as patient as it was devouring. jealousy stuck to him like his shadow. we have examined the relations which existed between winwood and himself; we have seen that ambassador, now secretary of state for james, never weary in denouncing the advocate's haughtiness and grim resolution to govern the country according to its laws rather than at the dictate of a foreign sovereign, and in flinging forth malicious insinuations in regard to his relations to spain. the man whose every hour was devoted in spite of a thousand obstacles strewn by stupidity, treachery, and apathy, as well as by envy, hatred, and bigotry--to the organizing of a grand and universal league of protestantism against spain, and to rolling up with strenuous and sometimes despairing arms a dead mountain weight, ever ready to fall back upon and crush him, was accused in dark and mysterious whispers, soon to grow louder and bolder, of a treacherous inclination for spain. there is nothing less surprising nor more sickening for those who observe public life, and wish to retain faith in the human species, than the almost infinite power of the meanest of passions. the advocate was obliged at the very outset of langerac's mission to france to give him a warning on this subject. "should her majesty make kindly mention of me," he said, "you will say nothing of it in your despatches as you did in your last, although i am sure with the best intentions. it profits me not, and many take umbrage at it; wherefore it is wise to forbear." but this was a trifle. by and by there would be many to take umbrage at every whisper in his favour, whether from crowned heads or from the simplest in the social scale. meantime he instructed the ambassador, without paying heed to personal compliments to his chief, to do his best to keep the french government out of the hands of spain, and with that object in view to smooth over the differences between the two great parties in the kingdom, and to gain the confidence, if possible, of conde and nevers and bouillon, while never failing in straightforward respect and loyal friendship to the queen-regent and her ministers, as the legitimate heads of the government. from england a new ambassador was soon to take the place of winwood. sir dudley carleton was a diplomatist of respectable abilities, and well trained to business and routine. perhaps on the whole there was none other, in that epoch of official mediocrity, more competent than he to fill what was then certainly the most important of foreign posts. his course of life had in no wise familiarized him with the intricacies of the dutch constitution, nor could the diplomatic profession, combined with a long residence at venice, be deemed especially favourable for deep studies of the mysteries of predestination. yet he would be found ready at the bidding of his master to grapple with grotius and barneveld on the field of history and law, and thread with uytenbogaert or taurinus all the subtleties of arminianism and gomarism as if he had been half his life both a regular practitioner at the supreme court of the hague and professor of theology at the university of leyden. whether the triumphs achieved in such encounters were substantial and due entirely to his own genius might be doubtful. at all events he had a sovereign behind him who was incapable of making a mistake on any subject. "you shall not forget," said james in his instructions to sir dudley, "that you are the minister of that master whom god hath made the sole protector of his religion . . . . . and you may let fall how hateful the maintaining of erroneous opinions is to the majesty of god and how displeasing to us." the warlike operations of had been ended by the abortive peace of xanten. the two rival pretenders to the duchies were to halve the territory, drawing lots for the first choice, all foreign troops were to be withdrawn, and a pledge was to be given that no fortress should be placed in the hands of any power. but spain at the last moment had refused to sanction the treaty, and everything was remitted to what might be exactly described as a state of sixes and sevens. subsequently it was hoped that the states' troops might be induced to withdraw simultaneously with the catholic forces on an undertaking by spinola that there should be no re-occupation of the disputed territory either by the republic or by spain. but barneveld accurately pointed out that, although the marquis was a splendid commander and, so long as he was at the head of the armies, a most powerful potentate, he might be superseded at any moment. count bucquoy, for example, might suddenly appear in his place and refuse to be bound by any military arrangement of his predecessor. then the archduke proposed to give a guarantee that in case of a mutual withdrawal there should be no return of the troops, no recapture of garrisons. but barneveld, speaking for the states, liked not the security. the archduke was but the puppet of spain, and spain had no part in the guarantee. she held the strings, and might cause him at any moment to play what pranks she chose. it would be the easiest thing in the world for despotic spain, so the advocate thought, to reappear suddenly in force again at a moment's notice after the states' troops had been withdrawn and partially disbanded, and it would be difficult for the many-headed and many-tongued republic to act with similar promptness. to withdraw without a guarantee from spain to the treaty of xanten, which had once been signed, sealed, and all but ratified, would be to give up fifty points in the game. nothing but disaster could ensue. the advocate as leader in all these negotiations and correspondence was ever actuated by the favourite quotation of william the silent from demosthenes, that the safest citadel against an invader and a tyrant is distrust. and he always distrusted in these dealings, for he was sure the spanish cabinet was trying to make fools of the states, and there were many ready to assist it in the task. now that one of the pretenders, temporary master of half the duchies, the prince of neuburg, had espoused both catholicism and the sister of the archbishop of cologne and the duke of bavaria, it would be more safe than ever for spain to make a temporary withdrawal. maximilian of bavaria was beyond all question the ablest and most determined leader of the catholic party in germany, and the most straightforward and sincere. no man before or since his epoch had, like him, been destined to refuse, and more than once refuse, the imperial crown. through his apostasy the prince of neuburg was in danger of losing his hereditary estates, his brothers endeavouring to dispossess him on the ground of the late duke's will, disinheriting any one of his heirs who should become a convert to catholicism. he had accordingly implored aid from the king of spain. archduke albert had urged philip to render such assistance as a matter of justice, and the emperor had naturally declared that the whole right as eldest son belonged, notwithstanding the will, to the prince. with the young neuburg accordingly under the able guidance of maximilian, it was not likely that the grasp of the spanish party upon these all-important territories would be really loosened. the emperor still claimed the right to decide among the candidates and to hold the provinces under sequestration till the decision should be made--that was to say, until the greek kalends. the original attempt to do this through archduke leopold had been thwarted, as we have seen, by the prompt movements of maurice sustained by the policy of barneveld. the advocate was resolved that the emperor's name should not be mentioned either in the preamble or body of the treaty. and his course throughout the simulations, which were never negotiations, was perpetually baffled as much by the easiness and languor of his allies as the ingenuity of the enemy. he was reproached with the loss of wesel, that geneva of the rhine, which would never be abandoned by spain if it was not done forthwith. let spain guarantee the treaty of xanten, he said, and then she cannot come back. all else is illusion. moreover, the emperor had given positive orders that wesel should not be given up. he was assured by villeroy that france would never put on her harness for aachen, that cradle of protestantism. that was for the states-general to do, whom it so much more nearly concerned. the whole aim of barneveld was not to destroy the treaty of xanten, but to enforce it in the only way in which it could be enforced, by the guarantee of spain. so secured, it would be a barrier in the universal war of religion which he foresaw was soon to break out. but it was the resolve of spain, instead of pledging herself to the treaty, to establish the legal control of the territory in the hand of the emperor. neuburg complained that philip in writing to him did not give him the title of duke of julich and cleve, although he had been placed in possession of those estates by the arms of spain. philip, referring to archduke albert for his opinion on this subject, was advised that, as the emperor had not given neuburg the investiture of the duchies, the king was quite right in refusing him the title. even should the treaty of xanten be executed, neither he nor the elector of brandenburg would be anything but administrators until the question of right was decided by the emperor. spain had sent neuburg the order of the golden fleece as a reward for his conversion, but did not intend him to be anything but a man of straw in the territories which he claimed by sovereign right. they were to form a permanent bulwark to the empire, to spain, and to catholicism. barneveld of course could never see the secret letters passing between brussels and madrid, but his insight into the purposes of the enemy was almost as acute as if the correspondence of philip and albert had been in the pigeonholes of his writing-desk in the kneuterdyk. the whole object of spain and the emperor, acting through the archduke, was to force the states to abandon their positions in the duchies simultaneously with the withdrawal of the spanish troops, and to be satisfied with a bare convention between themselves and archduke albert that there should be no renewed occupation by either party. barneveld, finding it impossible to get spain upon the treaty, was resolved that at least the two mediating powers, their great allies, the sovereigns of great britain and france, should guarantee the convention, and that the promises of the archduke should be made to them. this was steadily refused by spain; for the archduke never moved an inch in the matter except according to the orders of spain, and besides battling and buffeting with the archduke, barneveld was constantly deafened with the clamour of the english king, who always declared spain to be in the right whatever she did, and forced to endure with what patience he might the goading of that king's envoy. france, on the other hand, supported the states as firmly as could have been reasonably expected. "we proposed," said the archduke, instructing an envoy whom he was sending to madrid with detailed accounts of these negotiations, "that the promise should be made to each other as usual in treaties. but the hollanders said the promise should be made to the kings of france and england, at which the emperor would have been deeply offended, as if in the affair he was of no account at all. at any moment by this arrangement in concert with france and england the hollanders might walk in and do what they liked." certainly there could have been no succincter eulogy of the policy steadily recommended, as we shall have occasion to see, by barneveld. had he on this critical occasion been backed by england and france combined, spain would have been forced to beat a retreat, and protestantism in the great general war just beginning would have had an enormous advantage in position. but the english solomon could not see the wisdom of this policy. "the king of england says we are right," continued the archduke, "and has ordered his ambassador to insist on our view. the french ambassador here says that his colleague at the hague has similar instructions, but admits that he has not acted up to them. there is not much chance of the hollanders changing. it would be well that the king should send a written ultimatum that the hollanders should sign the convention which we propose. if they don't agree, the world at least will see that it is not we who are in fault." the world would see, and would never have forgiven a statesman in the position of barneveld, had he accepted a bald agreement from a subordinate like the archduke, a perfectly insignificant personage in the great drama then enacting, and given up guarantees both from the archduke's master and from the two great allies of the republic. he stood out manfully against spain and england at every hazard, and under a pelting storm of obloquy, and this was the man whose designs the english secretary of state had dared to describe "as of no other nature than to cause the provinces to relapse into the hands of spain." it appeared too a little later that barneveld's influence with the french government, owing to his judicious support of it so long as it was a government, had been decidedly successful. drugged as france was by the spanish marriage treaty, she was yet not so sluggish nor spell-bound as the king of great britain. "france will not urge upon the hollanders to execute the proposal as we made it," wrote the archduke to the king, "so negotiations are at a standstill. the hollanders say it is better that each party should remain with what each possesses. so that if it does not come to blows, and if these insolences go on as they have done, the hollanders will be gaining and occupying more territory every day." thus once more the ancient enemies and masters of the republic were making the eulogy of the dutch statesman. it was impossible at present for the states to regain wesel, nor that other early stronghold of the reformation, the old imperial city of aachen (aix-la-chapelle). the price to be paid was too exorbitant. the french government had persistently refused to assist the states and possessory princes in the recovery of this stronghold. the queen-regent was afraid of offending spain, although her government had induced the citizens of the place to make the treaty now violated by that country. the dutch ambassador had been instructed categorically to enquire whether their majesties meant to assist aachen and the princes if attacked by the archdukes. "no," said villeroy; "we are not interested in aachen, 'tis too far off. let them look for assistance to those who advised their mutiny." to the ambassador's remonstrance that france was both interested in and pledged to them, the secretary of state replied, "we made the treaty through compassion and love, but we shall not put on harness for aachen. don't think it. you, the states and the united provinces, may assist them if you like." the envoy then reminded the minister that the states-general had always agreed to go forward evenly in this business with the kings of great britain and france and the united princes, the matter being of equal importance to all. they had given no further pledge than this to the union. it was plain, however, that france was determined not to lift a finger at that moment. the duke of bouillon and those acting with him had tried hard to induce their majesties "to write seriously to the archduke in order at least to intimidate him by stiff talk," but it was hopeless. they thought it was not a time then to quarrel with their neighbour and give offence to spain. so the stiff talk was omitted, and the archduke was not intimidated. the man who had so often intimidated him was in his grave, and his widow was occupied in marrying her son to the infanta. "these are the first-fruits," said aerssens, "of the new negotiations with spain." both the spanish king and the emperor were resolved to hold wesel to the very last. until the states should retire from all their positions on the bare word of the archduke, that the spanish forces once withdrawn would never return, the protestants of those two cities must suffer. there was no help for it. to save them would be to abandon all. for no true statesman could be so ingenuous as thus to throw all the cards on the table for the spanish and imperial cabinet to shuffle them at pleasure for a new deal. the duke of neuburg, now catholic and especially protected by spain, had become, instead of a pretender with more or less law on his side, a mere standard-bearer and agent of the great catholic league in the debateable land. he was to be supported at all hazard by the spanish forces, according to the express command of philip's government, especially now that his two brothers with the countenance of the states were disputing his right to his hereditary dominions in germany. the archduke was sullen enough at what he called the weak-mindedness of france. notwithstanding that by express orders from spain he had sent troops under command of juan de rivas to the queen's assistance just before the peace of sainte-menehould, he could not induce her government to take the firm part which the english king did in browbeating the hollanders. "'tis certain," he complained, "that if, instead of this sluggishness on the part of france, they had done us there the same good services we have had from england, the hollanders would have accepted the promise just as it was proposed by us." he implored the king, therefore, to use his strongest influence with the french government that it should strenuously intervene with the hollanders, and compel them to sign the proposal which they rejected. "there is no means of composition if france does not oblige them to sign," said albert rather piteously. but it was not without reason that barneveld had in many of his letters instructed the states' ambassador, langerac, "to caress the old gentleman" (meaning and never naming villeroy), for he would prove to be in spite of all obstacles a good friend to the states, as he always had been. and villeroy did hold firm. whether the archduke was right or not in his conviction, that, if france would only unite with england in exerting a strong pressure on the hollanders, they would evacuate the duchies, and so give up the game, the correspondence of barneveld shows very accurately. but the archduke, of course, had not seen that correspondence. the advocate knew what was plotting, what was impending, what was actually accomplished, for he was accustomed to sweep the whole horizon with an anxious and comprehensive glance. he knew without requiring to read the secret letters of the enemy that vast preparations for an extensive war against the reformation were already completed. the movements in the duchies were the first drops of a coming deluge. the great religious war which was to last a generation of mankind had already begun; the immediate and apparent pretext being a little disputed succession to some petty sovereignties, the true cause being the necessity for each great party--the protestant union and the catholic league--to secure these border provinces, the possession of which would be of such inestimable advantage to either. if nothing decisive occurred in the year , the following year would still be more convenient for the league. there had been troubles in turkey. the grand vizier had been murdered. the sultan was engaged in a war with persia. there was no eastern bulwark in europe to the ever menacing power of the turk and of mahometanism in europe save hungary alone. supported and ruled as that kingdom was by the house of austria, the temper of the populations of germany had become such as to make it doubtful in the present conflict of religious opinions between them and their rulers whether the turk or the spaniard would be most odious as an invader. but for the moment, spain and the emperor had their hands free. they were not in danger of an attack from below the danube. moreover, the spanish fleet had been achieving considerable successes on the barbary coast, having seized la roche, and one or two important citadels, useful both against the corsairs and against sudden attacks by sea from the turk. there were at least , men on a war footing ready to take the field at command of the two branches of the house of austria, spanish and german. in the little war about montserrat, savoy was on the point of being crushed, and savoy was by position and policy the only possible ally, in the south, of the netherlands and of protestant germany. while professing the most pacific sentiments towards the states, and a profound anxiety to withdraw his troops from their borders, the king of spain, besides daily increasing those forces, had just raised , , ducats, a large portion of which was lodged with his bankers in brussels. deeds like those were of more significance than sugared words. etext editor's bookmarks: almost infinite power of the meanest of passions ludicrous gravity safest citadel against an invader and a tyrant is distrust their own roofs were not quite yet in a blaze therefore now denounced the man whom he had injured etext editor's bookmarks, entire john of barneveld - : abstinence from inquisition into consciences and private parlour advanced orthodox party-puritans allowed the demon of religious hatred to enter into its body almost infinite power of the meanest of passions and now the knife of another priest-led fanatic aristocracy of god's elect as with his own people, keeping no back-door open at a blow decapitated france atheist, a tyrant, because he resisted dictation from the clergy behead, torture, burn alive, and bury alive all heretics christian sympathy and a small assistance not being sufficient conclusive victory for the allies seemed as predestined contained within itself the germs of a larger liberty could not be both judge and party in the suit covered now with the satirical dust of centuries deadly hatred of puritans in england and holland determined to bring the very name of liberty into contempt disputing the eternal damnation of young children doctrine of predestination in its sternest and strictest sense emperor of japan addressed him as his brother monarch epernon, the true murderer of henry estimating his character and judging his judges everybody should mind his own business fate, free will, or absolute foreknowledge father cotton, who was only too ready to betray the secrets give him advice if he asked it, and money when he required great war of religion and politics was postponed he was not imperial of aspect on canvas or coin he was a sincere bigot he who would have all may easily lose all he who spreads the snare always tumbles into the ditch himself impatience is often on the part of the non-combatants intense bigotry of conviction international friendship, the self-interest of each it was the true religion, and there was none other james of england, who admired, envied, and hated henry jealousy, that potent principle jesuit mariana--justifying the killing of excommunicated kings king's definite and final intentions, varied from day to day language which is ever living because it is dead louis xiii. ludicrous gravity more fiercely opposed to each other than to papists most detestable verses that even he had ever composed neither kings nor governments are apt to value logic no man can be neutral in civil contentions no synod had a right to claim netherlanders as slaves no man pretended to think of the state none but god to compel me to say more than i choose to say outdoing himself in dogmatism and inconsistency philip iv. power the poison of which it is so difficult to resist practised successfully the talent of silence presents of considerable sums of money to the negotiators made priests shall control the state or the state govern the priests princes show what they have in them at twenty-five or never putting the cart before the oxen queen is entirely in the hands of spain and the priests religion was made the strumpet of political ambition religious toleration, which is a phrase of insult safest citadel against an invader and a tyrant is distrust schism in the church had become a public fact secure the prizes of war without the troubles and dangers senectus edam maorbus est she declined to be his procuress small matter which human folly had dilated into a great one smooth words, in the plentiful lack of any substantial so much in advance of his time as to favor religious equality stroke of a broken table knife sharpened on a carriage wheel that cynical commerce in human lives the defence of the civil authority against the priesthood the assassin, tortured and torn by four horses the truth in shortest about matters of importance the voice of slanderers the catholic league and the protestant union the vehicle is often prized more than the freight their own roofs were not quite yet in a blaze theological hatred was in full blaze throughout the country theology and politics were one there was no use in holding language of authority to him there was but one king in europe, henry the bearnese therefore now denounced the man whom he had injured they have killed him, 'e ammazato,' cried concini things he could tell which are too odious and dreadful thirty years' war tread on the heels of the forty years to look down upon their inferior and lost fellow creatures uncouple the dogs and let them run unimaginable outrage as the most legitimate industry vows of an eternal friendship of several weeks' duration what could save the house of austria, the cause of papacy whether repentance could effect salvation whether dead infants were hopelessly damned whose mutual hatred was now artfully inflamed by partisans wish to appear learned in matters of which they are ignorant work of the aforesaid puritans and a few jesuits wrath of the jesuits at this exercise of legal authority the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, volume life and death of john of barneveld, complete, - life and death of john of barneveld, v , - chapter xi. the advocate sounds the alarm in germany--his instructions to langerac and his forethought--the prince--palatine and his forces take aachen, mulheim, and other towns--supineness of the protestants--increased activity of austria and the league--barneveld strives to obtain help from england--neuburg departs for germany-- barneveld the prime minister of protestantism--ernest mansfield takes service under charles emmanuel--count john of nassau goes to savoy--slippery conduct of king james in regard to the new treaty proposed--barneveld's influence greater in france than in england-- sequestration feared--the elector of brandenburg cited to appear before the emperor at prague--murder of john van wely--uytenbogaert incurs maurice's displeasure--marriage of the king of france with anne of austria--conference between king james and caron concerning piracy, cloth trade and treaty of xanten--barneveld's survey of the condition of europe--his efforts to avert the impending general war. i have thus purposely sketched the leading features of a couple of momentous, although not eventful, years--so far as the foreign policy of the republic is concerned--in order that the reader may better understand the bearings and the value of the advocate's actions and writings at that period. this work aims at being a political study. i would attempt to exemplify the influence of individual humours and passions--some of them among the highest and others certainly the basest that agitate humanity-upon the march of great events, upon general historical results at certain epochs, and upon the destiny of eminent personages. it may also be not uninteresting to venture a glance into the internal structure and workings of a republican and federal system of government, then for the first time reproduced almost spontaneously upon an extended scale. perhaps the revelation of some of its defects, in spite of the faculty and vitality struggling against them, may not be without value for our own country and epoch. the system of switzerland was too limited and homely, that of venice too purely oligarchical, to have much moral for us now, or to render a study of their pathological phenomena especially instructive. the lessons taught us by the history of the netherland confederacy may have more permanent meaning. moreover, the character of a very considerable statesman at an all-important epoch, and in a position of vast responsibility, is always an historical possession of value to mankind. that of him who furnishes the chief theme for these pages has been either overlooked and neglected or perhaps misunderstood by posterity. history has not too many really important and emblematic men on its records to dispense with the memory of barneveld, and the writer therefore makes no apology for dilating somewhat fully upon his lifework by means of much of his entirely unpublished and long forgotten utterances. the advocate had ceaselessly been sounding the alarm in germany. for the protestant union, fascinated, as it were, by the threatening look of the catholic league, seemed relapsing into a drowse. "i believe," he said to one of his agents in that country, "that the evangelical electors and princes and the other estates are not alive to the danger. i am sure that it is not apprehended in great britain. france is threatened with troubles. these are the means to subjugate the religion, the laws and liberties of germany. without an army the troops now on foot in italy cannot be kept out of germany. yet we do not hear that the evangelicals are making provision of troops, money, or any other necessaries. in this country we have about one hundred places occupied with our troops, among whom are many who could destroy a whole army. but the maintenance of these places prevents our being very strong in the field, especially outside our frontiers. but if in all germany there be many places held by the evangelicals which would disperse a great army is very doubtful. keep a watchful eye. economy is a good thing, but the protection of a country and its inhabitants must be laid to heart. watch well if against these provinces, and against bohemia, austria, and other as it is pretended rebellious states, these plans are not directed. look out for the movements of the italian and bavarian troops against germany. you see how they are nursing the troubles and misunderstandings in france, and turning them to account." he instructed the new ambassador in paris to urge upon the french government the absolute necessity of punctuality in furnishing the payment of their contingent in the netherlands according to convention. the states of holland themselves had advanced the money during three years' past, but this anticipation was becoming very onerous. it was necessary to pay the troops every month regularly, but the funds from paris were always in arrear. england contributed about one-half as much in subsidy, but these moneys went in paying the garrisons of brielle, flushing, and rammekens, fortresses pledged to that crown. the ambassador was shrewdly told not to enlarge on the special employment of the english funds while holding up to the queen's government that she was not the only potentate who helped bear burthens for the provinces, and insisted on a continuation of this aid. "remember and let them remember," said the advocate, "that the reforms which they are pretending to make there by relieving the subjects of contributions tends to enervate the royal authority and dignity both within and without, to diminish its lustre and reputation, and in sum to make the king unable to gratify and assist his subjects, friends, and allies. make them understand that the taxation in these provinces is ten times higher than there, and that my lords the states hitherto by the grace of god and good administration have contrived to maintain it in order to be useful to themselves and their friends. take great pains to have it well understood that this is even more honourable and more necessary for a king of france, especially in his minority, than for a republic 'hoc turbato seculo.' we all see clearly how some potentates in europe are keeping at all time under one pretext or another strong forces well armed on a war footing. it therefore behoves his majesty to be likewise provided with troops, and at least with a good exchequer and all the requirements of war, as well for the security of his own state as for the maintenance of the grandeur and laudable reputation left to him by the deceased king." truly here was sound and substantial advice, never and nowhere more needed than in france. it was given too with such good effect as to bear fruit even upon stoniest ground, and it is a refreshing spectacle to see this plain advocate of a republic, so lately sprung into existence out of the depths of oppression and rebellion, calmly summoning great kings as it were before him and instructing them in those vital duties of government in discharge of which the country he administered already furnished a model. had england and france each possessed a barneveld at that epoch, they might well have given in exchange for him a wilderness of epernons and sillerys, bouillons and conde's; of winwoods, lakes, carrs, and villierses. but elizabeth with her counsellors was gone, and henry was gone, and richelieu had not come; while in england james and his minions were diligently opening an abyss between government and people which in less than half a lifetime more should engulph the kingdom. two months later he informed the states' ambassador of the communications made by the prince of conde and the dukes of nevers and bouillon to the government at the hague now that they had effected a kind of reconciliation with the queen. langerac was especially instructed to do his best to assist in bringing about cordial relations, if that were possible, between the crown and the rebels, and meantime he was especially directed to defend du maurier against the calumnious accusations brought against him, of which aerssens had been the secret sower. "you will do your best to manage," he said, "that no special ambassador be sent hither, and that m. du maurier may remain with us, he being a very intelligent and moderate person now well instructed as to the state of our affairs, a professor of the reformed religion, and having many other good qualities serviceable to their majesties and to us. "you will visit the prince, and other princes and officers of the crown who are coming to court again, and do all good offices as well for the court as for m. du maurier, in order that through evil plots and slanderous reports no harm may come to him. "take great pains to find out all you can there as to the designs of the king of spain, the archdukes, and the emperor, in the affair of julich. you are also to let it be known that the change of religion on the part of the prince-palatine of neuburg will not change our good will and affection for him, so far as his legal claims are concerned." so long as it was possible for the states to retain their hold on both the claimants, the advocate, pursuant to his uniform policy of moderation, was not disposed to help throw the palatine into the hands of the spanish party. he was well aware, however, that neuburg by his marriage and his conversion was inevitably to become the instrument of the league and to be made use of in the duchies at its pleasure, and that he especially would be the first to submit with docility to the decree of the emperor. the right to issue such decree the states under guidance of barneveld were resolved to resist at all hazards. "work diligently, nevertheless," said he, "that they permit nothing there directly or indirectly that may tend to the furtherance of the league, as too prejudicial to us and to all our fellow religionists. tell them too that the late king, the king of great britain, the united electors and princes of germany, and ourselves, have always been resolutely opposed to making the dispute about the succession in the duchies depend on the will of the emperor and his court. all our movements in the year against the attempted sequestration under leopold were to carry out that purpose. hold it for certain that our present proceedings for strengthening and maintaining the city and fortress of julich are considered serviceable and indispensable by the british king and the german electors and princes. use your best efforts to induce the french government to pursue the same policy--if it be not possible openly, then at least secretly. my conviction is that, unless the prince-palatine is supported by, and his whole designs founded upon, the general league against all our brethren of the religion, affairs may be appeased." the envoy was likewise instructed to do his best to further the matrimonial alliance which had begun to be discussed between the prince of wales and the second daughter of france. had it been possible at that moment to bring the insane dream of james for a spanish alliance to naught, the states would have breathed more freely. he was also to urge payment of the money for the french regiments, always in arrears since henry's death and sully's dismissal, and always supplied by the exchequer of holland. he was informed that the republic had been sending some war ships to the levant, to watch the armada recently sent thither by spain, and other armed vessels into the baltic, to pursue the corsairs with whom every sea was infested. in one year alone he estimated the loss to dutch merchants by these pirates at , florins. "we have just captured two of the rovers, but the rascally scum is increasing," he said. again alluding to the resistance to be made by the states to the imperial pretensions, he observed, "the emperor is about sending us a herald in the julich matter, but we know how to stand up to him." and notwithstanding the bare possibility which he had admitted, that the prince of neuburg might not yet have wholly sold himself, body and soul, to the papists, he gave warning a day or two afterwards in france that all should be prepared for the worst. "the archdukes and the prince of neuburg appear to be taking the war earnestly in hand," he said. "we believe that the papistical league is about to make a great effort against all the co-religionists. we are watching closely their movements. aachen is first threatened, and the elector-palatine likewise. france surely, for reasons of state, cannot permit that they should be attacked. she did, and helped us to do, too much in the julich campaign to suffer the spaniards to make themselves masters there now." it has been seen that the part played by france in the memorable campaign of was that of admiring auxiliary to the states' forces; marshal de la chatre having in all things admitted the superiority of their army and the magnificent generalship of prince maurice. but the government of the dowager had been committed by that enterprise to carry out the life-long policy of henry, and to maintain his firm alliance with the republic. whether any of the great king's acuteness and vigour in countermining and shattering the plans of the house of austria was left in the french court, time was to show. meantime barneveld was crying himself hoarse with warnings into the dull ears of england and france. a few weeks later the prince of neuburg had thrown off the mask. twelve thousand foot and horse had been raised in great haste, so the advocate informed the french court, by spain and the archdukes, for the use of that pretender. five or six thousand spaniards were coming by sea to flanders, and as many italians were crossing the mountains, besides a great number mustering for the same purpose in germany and lorraine. barneveld was constantly receiving most important intelligence of military plans and movements from prague, which he placed daily before the eyes of governments wilfully blind. "i ponder well at this crisis," he said to his friend caron, "the intelligence i received some months back from ratisbon, out of the cabinet of the jesuits, that the design of the catholic or roman league is to bring this year a great army into the field, in order to make neuburg, who was even then said to be of the roman profession and league, master of julich and the duchies; to execute the imperial decree against aachen and mulheim, preventing any aid from being sent into germany by these provinces, or by great britain, and placing the archduke and marquis spinola in command of the forces; to put another army on the frontiers of austria, in order to prevent any succour coming from hungary, bohemia, austria, moravia, and silesia into germany; to keep all these disputed territories in subjection and devotion to the emperor, and to place the general conduct of all these affairs in the hands of archduke leopold and other princes of the house of austria. a third army is to be brought into the upper palatinate, under command of the duke of bavaria and others of the league, destined to thoroughly carry out its designs against the elector-palatine, and the other electors, princes, and estates belonging to the religion." this intelligence, plucked by barneveld out of the cabinet of the jesuits, had been duly communicated by him months before to those whom it most concerned, and as usual it seemed to deepen the lethargy of the destined victims and their friends. not only the whole spanish campaign of the present year had thus been duly mapped out by the advocate, long before it occurred, but this long buried and forgotten correspondence of the statesman seems rather like a chronicle of transactions already past, so closely did the actual record, which posterity came to know too well, resemble that which he saw, and was destined only to see, in prophetic vision. could this political seer have cast his horoscope of the thirty years' war at this hour of its nativity for the instruction of such men as walsingham or burleigh, henry of navarre or sully, richelieu or gustavus adolphus, would the course of events have been modified? these very idlest of questions are precisely those which inevitably occur as one ponders the seeming barrenness of an epoch in reality so pregnant. "one would think," said barneveld, comparing what was then the future with the real past, "that these plans in prague against the elector-palatine are too gross for belief; but when i reflect on the intense bitterness of these people, when i remember what was done within living men's memory to the good elector hans frederic of saxony for exactly the same reasons, to wit, hatred of our religion, and determination to establish imperial authority, i have great apprehension. i believe that the roman league will use the present occasion to carry out her great design; holding france incapable of opposition to her, germany in too great division, and imagining to themselves that neither the king of great britain nor these states are willing or able to offer effectual and forcible resistance. yet his majesty of great britain ought to be able to imagine how greatly the religious matter in general concerns himself and the electoral house of the palatine, as principal heads of the religion, and that these vast designs should be resisted betimes, and with all possible means and might. my lords the states have good will, but not sufficient strength, to oppose these great forces single-handed. one must not believe that without great and prompt assistance in force from his majesty and other fellow religionists my lords the states can undertake so vast an affair. do your uttermost duty there, in order that, ere it be too late, this matter be taken to heart by his majesty, and that his authority and credit be earnestly used with other kings, electors, princes, and republics, that they do likewise. the promptest energy, good will, and affection may be reckoned on from us." alas! it was easy for his majesty to take to heart the matter of conrad vorstius, to spend reams of diplomatic correspondence, to dictate whole volumes for orations brimming over with theological wrath, for the edification of the states-general, against that doctor of divinity. but what were the special interests of his son-in-law, what the danger to all the other protestant electors and kings, princes and republics, what the imperilled condition of the united provinces, and, by necessary consequence, the storm gathering over his own throne, what the whole fate of protestantism, from friesland to hungary, threatened by the insatiable, all-devouring might of the double house of austria, the ancient church, and the papistical league, what were hundred thousands of men marching towards bohemia, the netherlands, and the duchies, with the drum beating for mercenary recruits in half the villages of spain, italy, and catholic germany, compared with the danger to christendom from an arminian clergyman being appointed to the theological professorship at leyden? the world was in a blaze, kings and princes were arming, and all the time that the monarch of the powerful, adventurous, and heroic people of great britain could spare from slobbering over his minions, and wasting the treasures of the realm to supply their insatiate greed, was devoted to polemical divinity, in which he displayed his learning, indeed, but changed his positions and contradicted himself day by day. the magnitude of this wonderful sovereign's littleness oppresses the imagination. moreover, should he listen to the adjurations of the states and his fellow religionists, should he allow himself to be impressed by the eloquence of barneveld and take a manly and royal decision in the great emergency, it would be indispensable for him to come before that odious body, the parliament of great britain, and ask for money. it would be perhaps necessary for him to take them into his confidence, to degrade himself by speaking to them of the national affairs. they might not be satisfied with the honour of voting the supplies at his demand, but were capable of asking questions as to their appropriation. on the whole it was more king-like and statesman-like to remain quiet, and give advice. of that, although always a spendthrift, he had an inexhaustible supply. barneveld had just hopes from the commons of great britain, if the king could be brought to appeal to parliament. once more he sounded the bugle of alarm. "day by day the archdukes are making greater and greater enrolments of riders and infantry in ever increasing mass," he cried, "and therewith vast provision of artillery and all munitions of war. within ten or twelve days they will be before julich in force. we are sending great convoys to reinforce our army there. the prince of neuburg is enrolling more and more troops every day. he will soon be master of mulheim. if the king of great britain will lay this matter earnestly to heart for the preservation of the princes, electors, and estates of the religion, i cannot doubt that parliament would cooperate well with his majesty, and this occasion should be made use of to redress the whole state of affairs." it was not the parliament nor the people of great britain that would be in fault when the question arose of paying in money and in blood for the defence of civil and religious liberty. but if james should venture openly to oppose spain, what would the count of gondemar say, and what would become of the infanta and the two millions of dowry? it was not for want of some glimmering consciousness in the mind of james of the impending dangers to northern europe and to protestantism from the insatiable ambition of spain, and the unrelenting grasp of the papacy upon those portions of christendom which were slipping from its control, that his apathy to those perils was so marked. we have seen his leading motives for inaction, and the world was long to feel its effects. "his majesty firmly believes," wrote secretary winwood, "that the papistical league is brewing great and dangerous plots. to obviate them in everything that may depend upon him, my lords the states will find him prompt. the source of all these entanglements comes from spain. we do not think that the archduke will attack julich this year, but rather fear for mulheim and aix-la-chapelle." but the secretary of state, thus acknowledging the peril, chose to be blind to its extent, while at the same time undervaluing the powers by which it might be resisted. "to oppose the violence of the enemy," he said, "if he does resort to violence, is entirely impossible. it would be furious madness on our part to induce him to fall upon the elector-palatine, for this would be attacking great britain and all her friends and allies. germany is a delicate morsel, but too much for the throat of spain to swallow all at once. behold the evil which troubles the conscience of the papistical league. the emperor and his brothers are all on the brink of their sepulchre, and the infants of spain are too young to succeed to the empire. the pope would more willingly permit its dissolution than its falling into the hands of a prince not of his profession. all that we have to do in this conjuncture is to attend the best we can to our own affairs, and afterwards to strengthen the good alliance existing among us, and not to let ourselves be separated by the tricks and sleights of hand of our adversaries. the common cause can reckon firmly upon the king of great britain, and will not find itself deceived." excellent commonplaces, but not very safe ones. unluckily for the allies, to attend each to his own affairs when the enemy was upon them, and to reckon firmly upon a king who thought it furious madness to resist the enemy, was hardly the way to avert the danger. a fortnight later, the man who thought it possible to resist, and time to resist, before the net was over every head, replied to the secretary by a picture of the spaniards' progress. "since your letter," he said, "you have seen the course of spinola with the army of the king and the archdukes. you have seen the prince-palatine of neuburg with his forces maintained by the pope and other members of the papistical league. on the th of august they forced aachen, where the magistrates and those of the reformed religion have been extremely maltreated. twelve hundred soldiers are lodged in the houses there of those who profess our religion. mulheim is taken and dismantled, and the very houses about to be torn down. duren, castre, grevenborg, orsoy, duisburg, ruhrort, and many other towns, obliged to receive spanish garrisons. on the th of september they invested wesel. on the th it was held certain that the cities of cleve, emmerich, rees, and others in that quarter, had consented to be occupied. the states have put one hundred and thirty-five companies of foot (about , men) and horse and a good train of artillery in the field, and sent out some ships of war. prince maurice left the hague on the th of september to assist wesel, succour the prince of brandenburg, and oppose the hostile proceedings of spinola and the palatine of neuburg . . . . consider, i pray you, this state of things, and think how much heed they have paid to the demands of the kings of great britain and france to abstain from hostilities. be sure that without our strong garrison in julich they would have snapped up every city in julich, cleve, and berg. but they will now try to make use of their slippery tricks, their progress having been arrested by our army. the prince of neuburg is sending his chancellor here 'cum mediis componendae pacis,' in appearance good and reasonable, in reality deceptive . . . . if their majesties, my lords the states, and the princes of the union, do not take an energetic resolution for making head against their designs, behold their league in full vigour and ours without soul. neither the strength nor the wealth of the states are sufficient of themselves to withstand their ambitious and dangerous designs. we see the possessory princes treated as enemies upon their own estates, and many thousand souls of the reformed religion cruelly oppressed by the papistical league. for myself i am confirmed in my apprehensions and believe that neither our religion nor our union can endure such indignities. the enemy is making use of the minority in france and the divisions among the princes of germany to their great advantage . . . . i believe that the singular wisdom of his majesty will enable him to apply promptly the suitable remedies, and that your parliament will make no difficulty in acquitting itself well in repairing those disorders." the year dragged on to its close. the supineness of the protestants deepened in direct proportion to the feverish increase of activity on the part of austria and the league. the mockery of negotiation in which nothing could be negotiated, the parade of conciliation when war of extermination was intended, continued on the part of spain and austria. barneveld was doing his best to settle all minor differences between the states and great britain, that these two bulwarks of protestantism might stand firmly together against the rising tide. he instructed the ambassador to exhaust every pacific means of arrangement in regard to the greenland fishery disputes, the dyed cloth question, and like causes of ill feeling. he held it more than necessary, he said, that the inhabitants of the two countries should now be on the very best terms with each other. above all, he implored the king through the ambassador to summon parliament in order that the kingdom might be placed in position to face the gathering danger. "i am amazed and distressed," he said, "that the statesmen of england do not comprehend the perils with which their fellow religionists are everywhere threatened, especially in germany and in these states. to assist us with bare advice and sometimes with traducing our actions, while leaving us to bear alone the burthens, costs, and dangers, is not serviceable to us." referring to the information and advice which he had sent to england and to france fifteen months before, he now gave assurance that the prince of neuburg and spinola were now in such force, both foot and cavalry, with all necessary munitions, as to hold these most important territories as a perpetual "sedem bedli," out of which to attack germany at their pleasure and to cut off all possibility of aid from england and the states. he informed the court of st. james that besides the forces of the emperor and the house of austria, the duke of bavaria and spanish italy, there were now several thousand horse and foot under the bishop of wurzburg, or under the bishop-elector of mayence, and strong bodies of cavalry under count vaudemont in lorraine, all mustering for the war. the pretext seems merely to reduce frankfurt to obedience, even as donauworth had previously been used as a colour for vast designs. the real purpose was to bring the elector-palatine and the whole protestant party in germany to submission. "his majesty," said the advocate, "has now a very great and good subject upon which to convoke parliament and ask for a large grant. this would be doubtless consented to if parliament receives the assurance that the money thus accorded shall be applied to so wholesome a purpose. you will do your best to further this great end. we are waiting daily to hear if the xanten negotiation is broken off or not. i hope and i fear. meantime we bear as heavy burthens as if we were actually at war." he added once more the warning, which it would seem superfluous to repeat even to schoolboys in diplomacy, that this xanten treaty, as proposed by the enemy, was a mere trap. spinola and neuburg, in case of the mutual disbanding, stood ready at an instant's warning to re-enlist for the league not only all the troops that the catholic army should nominally discharge, but those which would be let loose from the states' army and that of brandenburg as well. they would hold rheinberg, groll, lingen, oldenzaal, wachtendonk, maestricht, aachen, and mulheim with a permanent force of more than , men. and they could do all this in four days' time. a week or two later all his prophesies had been fulfilled. "the prince of neuburg," he said, "and marquis spinola have made game of us most impudently in the matter of the treaty. this is an indignity for us, their majesties, and the electors and princes. we regard it as intolerable. a despatch came from spain forbidding a further step in the negotiation without express order from the king. the prince and spinola are gone to brussels, the ambassadors have returned to the hague, the armies are established in winter-quarters. the cavalry are ravaging the debateable land and living upon the inhabitants at their discretion. m. de refuge is gone to complain to the archdukes of the insult thus put upon his sovereign. sir henry wotton is still here. we have been plunged into an immensity of extraordinary expense, and are amazed that at this very moment england should demand money from us when we ought to be assisted by a large subsidy by her. we hope that now at least his majesty will take a vigorous resolution and not suffer his grandeur and dignity to be vilipended longer. if the spaniard is successful in this step, he is ready for greater ones, and will believe that mankind is ready to bear and submit to everything. his majesty is the first king of the religion. he bears the title of defender of the faith. his religion, his only daughter, his son-in-law, his grandson are all especially interested besides his own dignity, besides the common weal." he then adverted to the large subsidies from queen elizabeth many years before, guaranteed, it was true, by the cautionary towns, and to the gallant english regiments, sent by that great sovereign, which had been fighting so long and so splendidly in the netherlands for the common cause of protestantism and liberty. yet england was far weaker then, for she had always her northern frontier to defend against scotland, ever ready to strike her in the back. "but now his majesty," said barneveld, "is king of england and scotland both. his frontier is free. ireland is at peace. he possesses quietly twice as much as the queen ever did. he is a king. her majesty was a woman. the king has children and heirs. his nearest blood is engaged in this issue. his grandeur and dignity have been wronged. each one of these considerations demands of itself a manly resolution. you will do your best to further it." the almost ubiquitous power of spain, gaining after its exhaustion new life through the strongly developed organization of the league, and the energy breathed into that mighty conspiracy against human liberty by the infinite genius of the "cabinet of jesuits," was not content with overshadowing germany, the netherlands, and england, but was threatening savoy with , men, determined to bring charles emmanuel either to perdition or submission. like england, france was spell-bound by the prospect of spanish marriages, which for her at least were not a chimera, and looked on composedly while savoy was on point of being sacrificed by the common invader of independent nationality whether protestant or catholic. nothing ever showed more strikingly the force residing in singleness of purpose with breadth and unity of design than all these primary movements of the great war now beginning. the chances superficially considered were vastly in favour of the protestant cause. in the chief lands, under the sceptre of the younger branch of austria, the protestants outnumbered the catholics by nearly ten to one. bohemia, the austrias, moravia, silesia, hungary were filled full of the spirit of huss, of luther, and even of calvin. if spain was a unit, now that the moors and jews had been expelled, and the heretics of castille and aragon burnt into submission, she had a most lukewarm ally in venice, whose policy was never controlled by the church, and a dangerous neighbour in the warlike, restless, and adventurous house of savoy, to whom geographical considerations were ever more vital than religious scruples. a sincere alliance of france, the very flower of whose nobility and people inclined to the reformed religion, was impossible, even if there had been fifty infantes to espouse fifty daughters of france. great britain, the netherlands, and the united princes of germany seemed a solid and serried phalanx of protestantism, to break through which should be hopeless. yet at that moment, so pregnant with a monstrous future, there was hardly a sound protestant policy anywhere but in holland. how long would that policy remain sound and united? how long would the republic speak through the imperial voice of barneveld? time was to show and to teach many lessons. the united princes of germany were walking, talking, quarrelling in their sleep; england and france distracted and bedrugged, while maximilian of bavaria and ferdinand of gratz, the cabinets of madrid and the vatican, were moving forward to their aims slowly, steadily, relentlessly as fate. and spain was more powerful than she had been since the truce began. in five years she had become much more capable of aggression. she had strengthened her positions in the mediterranean by the acquisition and enlargement of considerable fortresses in barbary and along a large sweep of the african coast, so as to be almost supreme in africa. it was necessary for the states, the only power save turkey that could face her in those waters, to maintain a perpetual squadron of war ships there to defend their commerce against attack from the spaniard and from the corsairs, both mahometan and christian, who infested every sea. spain was redoubtable everywhere, and the turk, engaged in persian campaigns, was offering no diversion against hungary and vienna. "reasons of state worthy of his majesty's consideration and wisdom," said barneveld, "forbid the king of great britain from permitting the spaniard to give the law in italy. he is about to extort obedience and humiliation from the duke of savoy, or else with , men to mortify and ruin him, while entirely assuring himself of france by the double marriages. then comes the attack on these provinces, on protestant germany, and all other states and realms of the religion." with the turn of the year, affairs were growing darker and darker. the league was rolling up its forces in all directions; its chiefs proposed absurd conditions of pacification, while war was already raging, and yet scarcely any government but that of the netherlands paid heed to the rising storm. james, fatuous as ever, listened to gondemar, and wrote admonitory letters to the archduke. it was still gravely proposed by the catholic party that there should be mutual disbanding in the duchies, with a guarantee from marquis spinola that there should be no more invasion of those territories. but powers and pledges from the king of spain were what he needed. to suppose that the republic and her allies would wait quietly, and not lift a finger until blows were actually struck against the protestant electors or cities of germany, was expecting too much ingenuousness on the part of statesmen who had the interests of protestantism at heart. what they wanted was the signed, sealed, ratified treaty faithfully carried out. then if the king of spain and the archdukes were willing to contract with the states never to make an attempt against the holy german empire, but to leave everything to take its course according to the constitutions, liberties, and traditions and laws of that empire, under guidance of its electors, princes, estates, and cities, the united provinces were ready, under mediation of the two kings, their allies and friends, to join in such an arrangement. thus there might still be peace in germany, and religious equality as guaranteed by the "majesty-letter," and the "compromise" between the two great churches, roman and reformed, be maintained. to bring about this result was the sincere endeavour of barneveld, hoping against hope. for he knew that all was hollowness and sham on the part of the great enemy. even as walsingham almost alone had suspected and denounced the delusive negotiations by which spain continued to deceive elizabeth and her diplomatists until the armada was upon her coasts, and denounced them to ears that were deafened and souls that were stupified by the frauds practised upon them, so did barneveld, who had witnessed all that stupendous trickery of a generation before, now utter his cries of warning that germany might escape in time from her impending doom. "nothing but deceit is lurking in the spanish proposals," he said. "every man here wonders that the english government does not comprehend these malversations. truly the affair is not to be made straight by new propositions, but by a vigorous resolution of his majesty. it is in the highest degree necessary to the salvation of christendom, to the conservation of his majesty's dignity and greatness, to the service of the princes and provinces, and of all germany, nor can this vigorous resolution be longer delayed without enormous disaster to the common weal . . . . . i have the deepest affection for the cause of the duke of savoy, but i cannot further it so long as i cannot tell what his majesty specifically is resolved to do, and what hope is held out from venice, germany, and other quarters. our taxes are prodigious, the ordinary and extraordinary, and we have a spanish army at our front door." the armaments, already so great, had been enlarged during the last month of the year. vaudemont was at the head of a further force of cavalry and foot, paid for by spain and the pope; , additional soldiers, riders and infantry together, had been gathered by maximilian of bavaria at the expense of the league. even if the reports were exaggerated, the advocate thought it better to be too credulous than as apathetic as the rest of the protestants. "we receive advices every day," he wrote to caron, "that the spaniards and the roman league are going forward with their design. they are trying to amuse the british king and to gain time, in order to be able to deal the heavier blows. do all possible duty to procure a timely and vigorous resolution there. to wait again until we are anticipated will be fatal to the cause of the evangelical electors and princes of germany and especially of his electoral highness of brandenburg. we likewise should almost certainly suffer irreparable damage, and should again bear our cross, as men said last year in regard to aachen, wesel, and so many other places. the spaniard is sly, and has had a long time to contrive how he can throw the net over the heads of all our religious allies. remember all the warnings sent from here last year, and how they were all tossed to the winds, to the ruin of so many of our co-religionists. if it is now intended over there to keep the spaniards in check merely by speeches or letters, it would be better to say so clearly to our friends. so long as parliament is not convoked in order to obtain consents and subsidies for this most necessary purpose, so long i fail to believe that this great common cause of christendom, and especially of germany, is taken to heart by england." he adverted with respectfully subdued scorn to king james's proposition that spinola should give a guarantee. "i doubt if he accepts the suggestion," said barneveld, "unless as a notorious trick, and if he did, what good would the promise of spinola do us? we consider spinola a great commander having the purses and forces of the spaniards and the leaguers in his control; but should they come into other hands, he would not be a very considerable personage for us. and that may happen any day. they don't seem in england to understand the difference between prince maurice in his relations to our state and that of marquis spinola to his superiors. try to make them comprehend it. a promise from the emperor, king of spain, and the princes of the league, such as his majesty in his wisdom has proposed to spinola, would be most tranquillizing for all the protestant princes and estates of the empire, especially for the elector and electress palatine, and for ourselves. in such a case no difficulty would be made on our side." after expressing his mind thus freely in regard to james and his policy, he then gave the ambassador a word of caution in characteristic fashion. "cogita," he said, "but beware of censuring his majesty's projects. i do not myself mean to censure them, nor are they publicly laughed at here, but look closely at everything that comes from brussels, and let me know with diligence." and even as the advocate was endeavouring with every effort of his skill and reason to stir the sluggish james into vigorous resolution in behalf of his own children, as well as of the great cause of protestantism and national liberty, so was he striving to bear up on his strenuous shoulders the youthful king of france, and save him from the swollen tides of court intrigue and jesuitical influence fast sweeping him to destruction. he had denounced the recent and paltry proposition made on the part of the league, and originally suggested by james, as a most open and transparent trap, into which none but the blind would thrust themselves. the treaty of xanten, carried out as it had been signed and guaranteed by the great catholic powers, would have brought peace to christendom. to accept in place of such guarantee the pledge of a simple soldier, who to-morrow might be nothing, was almost too ridiculous a proposal to be answered gravely. yet barneveld through the machinations of the catholic party was denounced both at the english and french courts as an obstacle to peace, when in reality his powerful mind and his immense industry were steadily directed to the noblest possible end--to bring about a solemn engagement on the part of spain, the emperor, and the princes of the league, to attack none of the protestant powers of germany, especially the elector-palatine, but to leave the laws, liberties, and privileges of the states within the empire in their original condition. and among those laws were the great statutes of and , the "majesty-letter" and the "compromise," granting full right of religious worship to the protestants of the kingdom of bohemia. if ever a policy deserved to be called truly liberal and truly conservative, it was the policy thus steadily maintained by barneveld. adverting to the subterfuge by which the catholic party had sought to set aside the treaty of xanten, he instructed langerac, the states' ambassador in paris, and his own pupils to make it clear to the french government that it was impossible that in such arrangements the spanish armies would not be back again in the duchies at a moment's notice. it could not be imagined even that they were acting sincerely. "if their upright intention," he said, "is that no actual, hostile, violent attack shall be made upon the duchies, or upon any of the princes, estates, or cities of the holy empire, as is required for the peace and tranquillity of christendom, and if all the powers interested therein will come into a good and solid convention to that effect. my lords the states will gladly join in such undertaking and bind themselves as firmly as the other powers. if no infraction of the laws and liberties of the holy empire be attempted, there will be peace for germany and its neighbours. but the present extravagant proposition can only lead to chicane and quarrels. to press such a measure is merely to inflict a disgrace upon us. it is an attempt to prevent us from helping the elector-palatine and the other protestant princes of germany and coreligionists everywhere against hostile violence. for the elector-palatine can receive aid from us and from great britain through the duchies only. it is plainly the object of the enemy to seclude us from the palatine and the rest of protestant germany. it is very suspicious that the proposition of prince maurice, supported by the two kings and the united princes of germany, has been rejected." the advocate knew well enough that the religious franchises granted by the house of habsburg at the very moment in which spain signed her peace with the netherlands, and exactly as the mad duke of cleve was expiring--with a dozen princes, catholic and protestant, to dispute his inheritance--would be valuable just so long as they could be maintained by the united forces of protestantism and of national independence and no longer. what had been extorted from the catholic powers by force would be retracted by force whenever that force could be concentrated. it had been necessary for the republic to accept a twelve years' truce with spain in default of a peace, while the death of john of cleve, and subsequently of henry iv., had made the acquisition of a permanent pacification between catholicism and protestantism, between the league and the union, more difficult than ever. the so-called thirty years' war--rather to be called the concluding portion of the eighty years' war--had opened in the debateable duchies exactly at the moment when its forerunner, the forty years' war of the netherlands, had been temporarily and nominally suspended. barneveld was perpetually baffled in his efforts to obtain a favourable peace for protestant europe, less by the open diplomacy and military force of the avowed enemies of protestantism than by the secret intrigues and faintheartedness of its nominal friends. he was unwearied in his efforts simultaneously to arouse the courts of england and france to the danger to europe from the overshadowing power of the house of austria and the league, and he had less difficulty in dealing with the catholic lewis and his mother than with protestant james. at the present moment his great designs were not yet openly traversed by a strong protestant party within the very republic which he administered. "look to it with earnestness and grave deliberation," he said to langerac, "that they do not pursue us there with vain importunity to accept something so notoriously inadmissible and detrimental to the common weal. we know that from the enemy's side every kind of unseemly trick is employed, with the single object of bringing about misunderstanding between us and the king of france. a prompt and vigorous resolution on the part of his majesty, to see the treaty which we made duly executed, would be to help the cause. otherwise, not. we cannot here believe that his majesty, in this first year of his majority, will submit to such a notorious and flagrant affront, or that he will tolerate the oppression of the duke of savoy. such an affair in the beginning of his majesty's reign cannot but have very great and prejudicial consequences, nor can it be left to linger on in uncertainty and delay. let him be prompt in this. let him also take a most christian--kingly, vigorous resolution against the great affront put upon him in the failure to carry out the treaty. such a resolve on the part of the two kings would restore all things to tranquillity and bring the spaniard and his adherents 'in terminos modestiae. but so long as france is keeping a suspicious eye upon england, and england upon france, everything will run to combustion, detrimental to their majesties and to us, and ruinous to all the good inhabitants." to the treaty of xanten faithfully executed he held as to an anchor in the tempest until it was torn away, not by violence from without, but by insidious mutiny within. at last the government of james proposed that the pledges on leaving the territory should be made to the two allied kings as mediators and umpires. this was better than the naked promises originally suggested, but even in this there was neither heartiness nor sincerity. meantime the prince of neuburg, negotiations being broken off, departed for germany, a step which the advocate considered ominous. soon afterwards that prince received a yearly pension of , crowns from spain, and for this stipend his claims on the sovereignty of the duchies were supposed to be surrendered. "if this be true," said barneveld, "we have been served with covered dishes." the king of england wrote spirited and learned letters to the elector-palatine, assuring him of his father-in-law's assistance in case he should be attacked by the league. sir henry wotton, then on special mission at the hague, showed these epistles to barneveld. "when i hear that parliament has been assembled and has granted great subsidies," was the advocate's comment, "i shall believe that effects may possibly follow from all these assurances." it was wearisome for the advocate thus ever to be foiled; by the pettinesses and jealousies of those occupying the highest earthly places, in his efforts to stem the rising tide of spanish and catholic aggression, and to avert the outbreak of a devastating war to which he saw europe doomed. it may be wearisome to read the record. yet it is the chronicle of christendom during one of the most important and fateful epochs of modern history. no man can thoroughly understand the complication and precession of phenomena attending the disastrous dawn of the renewed war, on an even more awful scale than the original conflict in the netherlands, without studying the correspondence of barneveld. the history of europe is there. the fate of christendom is there. the conflict of elements, the crash of contending forms of religion and of nationalities, is pictured there in vivid if homely colours. the advocate, while acting only in the name of a slender confederacy, was in truth, so long as he held his place, the prime minister of european protestantism. there was none other to rival him, few to comprehend him, fewer still to sustain him. as prince maurice was at that moment the great soldier of protestantism without clearly scanning the grandeur of the field in which he was a chief actor, or foreseeing the vastness of its future, so the advocate was its statesman and its prophet. could the two have worked together as harmoniously as they had done at an earlier day, it would have been a blessing for the common weal of europe. but, alas! the evil genius of jealousy, which so often forbids cordial relations between soldier and statesman, already stood shrouded in the distance, darkly menacing the strenuous patriot, who was wearing his life out in exertions for what he deemed the true cause of progress and humanity. nor can the fate of the man himself, his genuine character, and the extraordinary personal events towards which he was slowly advancing, be accurately unfolded without an attempt by means of his letters to lay bare his inmost thoughts. especially it will be seen at a later moment how much value was attached to this secret correspondence with the ambassadors in london and paris. the advocate trusted to the support of france, papal and medicean as the court of the young king was, because the protestant party throughout the kingdom was too powerful, warlike, and numerous to be trifled with, and because geographical considerations alone rendered a cordial alliance between spain and france very difficult. notwithstanding the spanish marriages, which he opposed so long as opposition was possible, he knew that so long as a statesman remained in the kingdom, or a bone for one existed, the international policy of henry, of sully, and of jeannin could not be wholly abandoned. he relied much on villeroy, a political hack certainly, an ancient leaguer, and a papist, but a man too cool, experienced, and wily to be ignorant of the very hornbook of diplomacy, or open to the shallow stratagems by which spain found it so easy to purchase or to deceive. so long as he had a voice in the council, it was certain that the netherland alliance would not be abandoned, nor the duke of savoy crushed. the old secretary of state was not especially in favour at that moment, but barneveld could not doubt his permanent place in french affairs until some man of real power should arise there. it was a dreary period of barrenness and disintegration in that kingdom while france was mourning henry and waiting for richelieu. the dutch ambassador at paris was instructed accordingly to maintain. good relations with villeroy, who in barneveld's opinion had been a constant and sincere friend to the netherlands. "don't forget to caress the old gentleman you wot of," said the advocate frequently, but suppressing his name, "without troubling yourself with the reasons mentioned in your letter. i am firmly convinced that he will overcome all difficulties. don't believe either that france will let the duke of savoy be ruined. it is against every reason of state." yet there were few to help charles emmanuel in this montferrat war, which was destined to drag feebly on, with certain interludes of negotiations, for two years longer. the already notorious condottiere ernest mansfeld, natural son of old prince peter ernest, who played so long and so high a part in command of the spanish armies in the netherlands, had, to be sure, taken service under the duke. thenceforth he was to be a leader and a master in that wild business of plunder, burning, blackmailing, and murder, which was opening upon europe, and was to afford occupation for many thousands of adventurers of high and low degree. mansfeld, reckless and profligate, had already changed his banner more than once. commanding a company under leopold in the duchies, he had been captured by the forces of the union, and, after waiting in vain to be ransomed by the archduke, had gone secretly over to the enemy. thus recovering his liberty, he had enlisted a regiment under leopold's name to fight the union, and had then, according to contract, transferred himself and most of his adventurers to the flag of the union. the military operations fading away in the duchies without being succeeded by permanent peace, the count, as he was called, with no particular claim to such title, had accepted a thousand florins a year as retainer from the union and had found occupation under charles emmanuel. here the spanish soldier of a year or two before found much satisfaction and some profit in fighting spanish soldiers. he was destined to reappear in the netherlands, in france, in bohemia, in many places where there were villages to be burned, churches to be plundered, cities to be sacked, nuns and other women to be outraged, dangerous political intrigues to be managed. a man in the prime of his age, fair-haired, prematurely wrinkled, battered, and hideous of visage, with a hare-lip and a humpback; slovenly of dress, and always wearing an old grey hat without a band to it; audacious, cruel, crafty, and licentious--such was ernest mansfeld, whom some of his contemporaries spoke of as ulysses germanicus, others as the new attila, all as a scourge to the human race. the cockneys of paris called him "machefer," and nurses long kept children quiet by threatening them with that word. he was now enrolled on the protestant side, although at the moment serving savoy against spain in a question purely personal. his armies, whether in italy or in germany, were a miscellaneous collection of adventurers of high and low degree, of all religions, of all countries, unfrocked priests and students, ruined nobles, bankrupt citizens, street vagabonds--earliest type perhaps of the horrible military vermin which were destined to feed so many years long on the unfortunate dismembered carcass of germany. many demands had been made upon the states for assistance to savoy,--as if they and they alone were to bear the brunt and pay the expense of all the initiatory campaigns against spain. "we are much importuned," said the advocate, "to do something for the help of savoy . . . . we wish and we implore that france, great britain, the german princes, the venetians, and the swiss would join us in some scheme of effective assistance. but we have enough on our shoulders at this moment." they had hardly money enough in their exchequer, admirably ordered as it was, for enterprises so far from home when great spanish armies were permanently encamped on their border. partly to humour king james and partly from love of adventure, count john of nassau had gone to savoy at the head of a small well disciplined body of troops furnished by the states. "make use of this piece of news," said barneveld, communicating the fact to langerac, "opportunely and with discretion. besides the wish to give some contentment to the king of great britain, we consider it inconsistent with good conscience and reasons of state to refuse help to a great prince against oppression by those who mean to give the law to everybody; especially as we have been so earnestly and frequently importuned to do so." and still the spaniards and the league kept their hold on the duchies, while their forces, their munitions, their accumulation of funds waged hourly. the war of chicane was even more deadly than an actual campaign, for when there was no positive fighting the whole world seemed against the republic. and the chicane was colossal. "we cannot understand," said barneveld, "why m. de prevaulx is coming here on special mission. when a treaty is signed and sealed, it only remains to execute it. the archduke says he is himself not known in the treaty, and that nothing can be demanded of him in relation to it. this he says in his letters to the king of great britain. m. de refuge knows best whether or not marquis spinola, ottavio visconti, chancellor pecquius, and others, were employed in the negotiation by the archduke. we know very well here that the whole business was conducted by them. the archduke is willing to give a clean and sincere promise not to re-occupy, and asks the same from the states. if he were empowered by the emperor, the king of spain, and the league, and acted in such quality, something might be done for the tranquillity of germany. but he promises for himself only, and emperor, king, or league, may send any general to do what they like to-morrow. what is to prevent it? "and so my lords the states, the elector of brandenburg, and others interested are cheated and made fools of. and we are as much troubled by these tricks as by armed force. yes, more; for we know that great enterprises are preparing this year against germany and ourselves, that all neuburg's troops have been disbanded and re-enlisted under the spanish commanders, and that forces are levying not only in italy and spain, but in germany, lorraine, luxemburg, and upper burgundy, and that wesel has been stuffed full of gunpowder and other munitions, and very strongly fortified." for the states to agree to a treaty by which the disputed duchies should be held jointly by the princes of neuburg and of brandenburg, and the territory be evacuated by all foreign troops; to look quietly on while neuburg converted himself to catholicism, espoused the sister of maximilian of bavaria, took a pension from spain, resigned his claims in favour of spain, and transferred his army to spain; and to expect that brandenburg and all interested in brandenburg, that is to say, every protestant in europe, should feel perfectly easy under such arrangement and perfectly protected by the simple promise of a soldier of fortune against catholic aggression, was a fantastic folly hardly worthy of a child. yet the states were asked to accept this position, brandenburg and all protestant germany were asked to accept it, and barneveld was howled at by his allies as a marplot and mischief-maker, and denounced and insulted by diplomatists daily, because he mercilessly tore away the sophistries of the league and of the league's secret friend, james stuart. the king of spain had more than , men under arms, and was enlisting more soldiers everywhere and every day, had just deposited , , crowns with his antwerp bankers for a secret purpose, and all the time was exuberant in his assurances of peace. one would have thought that there had never been negotiations in bourbourg, that the spanish armada had never sailed from coruna. "you are wise and prudent in france," said the advocate, "but we are used to spanish proceedings, and from much disaster sustained are filled with distrust. the king of england seems now to wish that the archduke should draw up a document according to his good pleasure, and that the states should make an explanatory deed, which the king should sign also and ask the king of france to do the same. but this is very hazardous. "we do not mean to receive laws from the king of spain, nor the archduke . . . . the spanish proceedings do not indicate peace but war. one must not take it ill of us that we think these matters of grave importance to our friends and ourselves. affairs have changed very much in the last four months. the murder of the first vizier of the turkish emperor and his designs against persia leave the spanish king and the emperor free from attack in that quarter, and their armaments are far greater than last year . . . . i cannot understand why the treaty of xanten, formerly so highly applauded, should now be so much disapproved. . . . the king of spain and the emperor with their party have a vast design to give the law to all christendom, to choose a roman king according to their will, to reduce the evangelical electors, princes, and estates of germany to obedience, to subject all italy, and, having accomplished this, to proceed to triumph over us and our allies, and by necessary consequence over france and england. they say they have established the emperor's authority by means of aachen and mulheim, will soon have driven us out of julich, and have thus arranged matters entirely to their heart's content. they can then, in name of the emperor, the league, the prince of neuburg, or any one else, make themselves in eight days masters of the places which they are now imaginarily to leave as well as of those which we are actually to surrender, and by possession of which we could hold out a long time against all their power." those very places held by the states--julich, emmerich, and others--had recently been fortified at much expense, under the superintendence of prince maurice, and by advice of the advocate. it would certainly be an act of madness to surrender them on the terms proposed. these warnings and forebodings of barneveld sound in our ears like recorded history, yet they were far earlier than the actual facts. and now to please the english king, the states had listened to his suggestion that his name and that of the king of france should be signed as mediators to a new arrangement proposed in lieu of the xanten treaty. james had suggested this, lewis had agreed to it. yet before the ink had dried in james's pen, he was proposing that the names of the mediating sovereigns should be omitted from the document? and why? because gondemar was again whispering in his ear. "they are renewing the negotiations in england," said the advocate, "about the alliance between the prince of wales and the second daughter of spain; and the king of great britain is seriously importuning us that the archdukes and my lords the states should make their pledges 'impersonaliter' and not to the kings." james was also willing that the name of the emperor should appear upon it. to prevent this, barneveld would have had himself burned at the stake. it would be an ignominious and unconditional surrender of the whole cause. "the archduke will never be contented," said the advocate, "unless his majesty of great britain takes a royal resolution to bring him to reason. that he tries to lay the fault on us is pure malice. we have been ready and are still ready to execute the treaty of xanten. the archduke is the cause of the dispute concerning the act. we approved the formularies of their majesties, and have changed them three times to suit the king of great britain. our provincial states have been notified in the matter, so that we can no longer digest the spanish impudence, and are amazed that his majesty can listen any more to the spanish ministers. we fear that those ministers are working through many hands, in order by one means or another to excite quarrels between his majesty, us, and the respective inhabitants of the two countries . . . . . take every precaution that no attempt be made there to bring the name of the emperor into the act. this would be contrary to their majesties' first resolution, very prejudicial to the elector of brandenburg, to the duchies, and to ourselves. and it is indispensable that the promise be made to the two kings as mediators, as much for their reputation and dignity as for the interests of the elector, the territories, and ourselves. otherwise too the spaniards will triumph over us as if they had driven us by force of arms into this promise." the seat of war, at the opening of the apparently inevitable conflict between the catholic league and the protestant union, would be those debateable duchies, those border provinces, the possession of which was of such vital importance to each of the great contending parties, and the populations of which, although much divided, were on the whole more inclined to the league than to the union. it was natural enough that the dutch statesman should chafe at the possibility of their being lost to the union through the adroitness of the catholic managers and the supineness of the great allies of the republic. three weeks later than these last utterances of the advocate, he was given to understand that king james was preparing to slide away from the position which had been three times changed to make it suitable for him. his indignation was hot. "sir henry wotton," he said, "has communicated to me his last despatches from newmarket. i am in the highest degree amazed that after all our efforts at accommodation, with so much sacrifice to the electors, the provinces, and ourselves, they are trying to urge us there to consent that the promise be not made to the kings of france and great britain as mediators, although the proposition came from the spanish side. after we had renounced, by desire of his majesty, the right to refer the promise to the treaty of xanten, it was judged by both kings to be needful and substantial that the promise be made to their majesties. to change this now would be prejudicial to the kings, to the electors, the duchies, and to our commonwealth; to do us a wrong and to leave us naked. france maintains her position as becoming and necessary. that great britain should swerve from it is not to be digested here. you will do your utmost according to my previous instructions to prevent any pressure to this end. you will also see that the name of the emperor is mentioned neither in the preamble nor the articles of the treaty. it would be contrary to all our policy since . you may be firmly convinced that malice is lurking under the emperor's name, and that he and the king of spain and their adherents, now as before, are attempting a sequestration. this is simply a pretext to bring those principalities and provinces into the hands of the spaniards, for which they have been labouring these thirty years. we are constantly cheated by these spanish tricks. their intention is to hold wesel and all the other places until the conclusion of the italian affair, and then to strike a great blow." certainly were never words more full of sound statesmanship, and of prophecy too soon to be fulfilled, than these simple but pregnant warnings. they awakened but little response from the english government save cavils and teasing reminders that wesel had been the cradle of german calvinism, the rhenish geneva, and that it was sinful to leave it longer in the hands of spain. as if the advocate had not proved to demonstration that to stock hands for a new deal at that moment was to give up the game altogether. his influence in france was always greater than in england, and this had likewise been the case with william the silent. and even now that the spanish matrimonial alliance was almost a settled matter at the french court, while with the english king it was but a perpetual will-o'the-wisp conducting to quagmires ineffable, the government at paris sustained the policy of the advocate with tolerable fidelity, while it was constantly and most capriciously traversed by james. barneveld sighed over these approaching nuptials, but did not yet despair. "we hope that the spanish-french marriages," he said, "may be broken up of themselves; but we fear that if we should attempt to delay or prevent them authoritatively, or in conjunction with others, the effort would have the contrary effect." in this certainly he was doomed to disappointment. he had already notified the french court of the absolute necessity of the great points to be insisted upon in the treaty, and there he found more docility than in london or newmarket. all summer he was occupied with this most important matter, uttering cassandra-like warnings into ears wilfully deaf. the states had gone as far as possible in concession. to go farther would be to wreck the great cause upon the very quicksands which he had so ceaselessly pointed out. "we hope that nothing further will be asked of us, no scruples be felt as to our good intentions," he said, "and that if spain and the archdukes are not ready now to fulfil the treaty, their majesties will know how to resent this trifling with their authority and dignity, and how to set matters to rights with their own hands in the duchies. a new treaty, still less a sequestration, is not to be thought of for a moment." yet the month of august came and still the names of the mediating kings were not on the treaty, and still the spectre of sequestration had not been laid. on the contrary, the peace of asti, huddled up between spain and savoy, to be soon broken again, had caused new and painful apprehensions of an attempt at sequestration, for it was established by several articles in that treaty that all questions between savoy and mantua should be referred to the emperor's decision. this precedent was sure to be followed in the duchies if not resisted by force, as it had been so successfully resisted five years before by the armies of the states associated with those of france. moreover the first step at sequestration had been actually taken. the emperor had peremptorily summoned the elector of brandenburg and all other parties interested to appear before him on the st of august in prague. there could be but one object in this citation, to drive brandenburg and the states out of the duchies until the imperial decision as to the legitimate sovereignty should be given. neuburg being already disposed of and his claims ceded to the emperor, what possibility was there in such circumstances of saving one scrap of the territory from the clutch of the league? none certainly if the republic faltered in its determination, and yielded to the cowardly advice of james. "to comply with the summons," said barneveld, "and submit to its consequences will be an irreparable injury to the electoral house of brandenburg, to the duchies, and to our co-religionists everywhere, and a very great disgrace to both their majesties and to us." he continued, through the ambassador in london, to hold up to the king, in respectful but plain language, the shamelessness of his conduct in dispensing the enemy from his pledge to the mediators, when the republic expressly, in deference to james, had given up the ampler guarantees of the treaty. the arrangement had been solemnly made, and consented to by all the provinces, acting in their separate and sovereign capacity. such a radical change, even if it were otherwise permissible, could not be made without long debates, consultations, and votes by the several states. what could be more fatal at such a crisis than this childish and causeless delay. there could be no doubt in any statesman's eyes that the spanish party meant war and a preparatory hoodwinking. and it was even worse for the government of the republic to be outwitted in diplomacy than beaten in the field. "every man here," said the advocate, "has more apprehension of fraud than of force. according to the constitution of our state, to be overcome by superior power must be endured, but to be overreached by trickery is a reproach to the government." the summer passed away. the states maintained their positions in the duchies, notwithstanding the objurgations of james, and barneveld remained on his watch-tower observing every movement of the fast-approaching war, and refusing at the price of the whole territory in dispute to rescue wesel and aix-la-chapelle from the grasp of the league. caron came to the hague to have personal consultations with the states-general, the advocate, and prince maurice, and returned before the close of the year. he had an audience of the king at the palace of whitehall early in november, and found him as immovable as ever in his apathetic attitude in regard to the affairs of germany. the murder of sir thomas overbury and the obscene scandals concerning the king's beloved carr and his notorious bride were then occupying the whole attention of the monarch, so that he had not even time for theological lucubrations, still less for affairs of state on which the peace of christendom and the fate of his own children were hanging. the ambassador found him sulky and dictatorial, but insisted on expressing once more to him the apprehensions felt by the states-general in regard to the trickery of the spanish party in the matter of cleve and julich. he assured his majesty that they had no intention of maintaining the treaty of xanten, and respectfully requested that the king would no longer urge the states to surrender the places held by them. it was a matter of vital importance to retain them, he said. "sir henry wotton told me," replied james, "that the states at his arrival were assembled to deliberate on this matter, and he had no doubt that they would take a resolution in conformity with my intention. now i see very well that you don't mean to give up the places. if i had known that before, i should not have warned the archduke so many times, which i did at the desire of the states themselves. and now that the archdukes are ready to restore their cities, you insist on holding yours. that is the dish you set before me." and upon this james swore a mighty oath, and beat himself upon the breast. "now and nevermore will i trouble myself about the states' affairs, come what come will," he continued. "i have always been upright in my words and my deeds, and i am not going to embark myself in a wicked war because the states have plunged themselves into one so entirely unjust. next summer the spaniard means to divide himself into two or three armies in order to begin his enterprises in germany." caron respectfully intimated that these enterprises would be most conveniently carried on from the very advantageous positions which be occupied in the duchies. "no," said the king, "he must restore them on the same day on which you make your surrender, and he will hardly come back in a hurry." "quite the contrary," said the ambassador, "they will be back again in a twinkling, and before we have the slightest warning of their intention." but it signified not the least what caron said. the king continued to vociferate that the states had never had any intention of restoring the cities. "you mean to keep them for yourselves," he cried, "which is the greatest injustice that could be perpetrated. you have no right to them, and they belong to other people." the ambassador reminded him that the elector of brandenburg was well satisfied that they should be occupied by the states for his greater security and until the dispute should be concluded. "and that will never be," said james; "never, never. the states are powerful enough to carry on the war all alone and against all the world." and so he went on, furiously reiterating the words with which he had begun the conversation, "without accepting any reasons whatever in payment," as poor caron observed. "it makes me very sad," said the ambassador, "to find your majesty so impatient and so resolved. if the names of the kings are to be omitted from the document, the treaty of xanten should at least be modified accordingly." "nothing of the kind," said james; "i don't understand it so at all. i speak plainly and without equivocation. it must be enough for the states that i promise them, in case the enemy is cheating or is trying to play any trick whatever, or is seeking to break the treaty of xanten in a single point, to come to their assistance in person." and again the warlike james swore a big oath and smote his breast, affirming that he meant everything sincerely; that he cheated no one, but always spoke his thoughts right on, clearly and uprightly. it was certainly not a cheerful prospect for the states. their chief ally was determined that they should disarm, should strip themselves naked, when the mightiest conspiracy against the religious freedom and international independence of europe ever imagined was perfecting itself before their eyes, and when hostile armies, more numerous than ever before known, were at their very door. to wait until the enemy was at their throat, and then to rely upon a king who trembled at the sight of a drawn sword, was hardly the highest statesmanship. even if it had been the chivalrous henry instead of the pacific james that had held out the promise of help, they would have been mad to follow such counsel. the conversation lasted more than an hour. it was in vain that caron painted in dark colours the cruel deeds done by the spaniards in mulheim and aachen, and the proceedings of the archbishop of cologne in rees. the king was besotted, and no impression could be made upon him. "at any rate," said the envoy, "the arrangement cannot be concluded without the king of france." "what excuse is that?" said james. "now that the king is entirely spanish, you are trying to excuse your delays by referring to him. you have deferred rescuing the poor city of wesel from the hands of the spaniard long enough. i am amazed to have heard never a word from you on that subject since your departure. i had expressed my wish to you clearly enough that you should inform the states of my intention to give them any assurance they chose to demand." caron was much disappointed at the humour of his majesty. coming freshly as he did from the council of the states, and almost from the seat of war, he had hoped to convince and content him. but the king was very angry with the states for putting him so completely in the wrong. he had also been much annoyed at their having failed to notify him of their military demonstration in the electorate of cologne to avenge the cruelties practised upon the protestants there. he asked caron if he was instructed to give him information regarding it. being answered in the negative, he said he had thought himself of sufficient importance to the states and enough in their confidence to be apprised of their military movements. it was for this, he said, that his ambassador sat in their council. caron expressed the opinion that warlike enterprises of the kind should be kept as secret as possible in order to be successful. this the king disputed, and loudly declared his vexation at being left in ignorance of the matter. the ambassador excused himself as well as he could, on the ground that he had been in zealand when the troops were marching, but told the king his impression that they had been sent to chastise the people of cologne for their cruelty in burning and utterly destroying the city of mulheim. "that is none of your affair," said the king. "pardon me, your majesty," replied caron, "they are our fellow religionists, and some one at least ought to resent the cruelty practised upon them." the king admitted that the destruction of the city had been an unheard--of cruelty, and then passed on to speak of the quarrel between the duke and city of brunswick, and other matters. the interview ended, and the ambassador, very downhearted, went to confer with the secretary of state sir ralph winwood, and sir henry wotton. he assured these gentlemen that without fully consulting the french government these radical changes in the negotiations would never be consented to by the states. winwood promised to confer at once with the french ambassador, admitting it to be impossible for the king to take up this matter alone. he would also talk with the archduke's ambassador next day noon at dinner, who was about leaving for brussels, and "he would put something into his hand that he might take home with him." "when he is fairly gone," said caron, "it is to be hoped that the king's head will no longer be so muddled about these things. i wish it with all my heart." it was a dismal prospect for the states. the one ally on whom they had a right to depend, the ex-calvinist and royal defender of the faith, in this mortal combat of protestantism with the league, was slipping out of their grasp with distracting lubricity. on the other hand, the most christian king, a boy of fourteen years, was still in the control of a mother heart and soul with the league--so far as she had heart or soul--was betrothed to the daughter of spain, and saw his kingdom torn to pieces and almost literally divided among themselves by rebellious princes, who made use of the spanish marriages as a pretext for unceasing civil war. the queen-mother was at that moment at bordeaux, and an emissary from the princes was in london. james had sent to offer his mediation between them and the queen. he was fond of mediation. he considered it his special mission in the world to mediate. he imagined himself as looked up to by the nations as the great arbitrator of christendom, and was wont to issue his decrees as if binding in force and infallible by nature. he had protested vigorously against the spanish-french marriages, and declared that the princes were justified in formalizing an opposition to them, at least until affairs in france were restored to something like order. he warned the queen against throwing the kingdom "into the combustion of war without necessity," and declared that, if she would trust to his guidance, she might make use of him as if her affairs were his own. an indispensable condition for much assistance, however, would be that the marriages should be put off. as james was himself pursuing a spanish marriage for his son as the chief end and aim of his existence, there was something almost humorous in this protest to the queen-dowager and in his encouragement of mutiny in france in order to prevent a catastrophe there which he desired at home. the same agent of the princes, de monbaran by name, was also privately accredited by them to the states with instructions to borrow , crowns of them if he could. but so long as the policy of the republic was directed by barneveld, it was not very probable that, while maintaining friendly and even intimate relations with the legitimate government, she would enter into negotiations with rebels against it, whether princes or plebeians, and oblige them with loans. "he will call on me soon, no doubt," said caron, "but being so well instructed as to your mightinesses intentions in this matter, i hope i shall keep him away from you." monbaran was accordingly kept away, but a few weeks later another emissary of conde and bouillon made his appearance at the hague, de valigny by name. he asked for money and for soldiers to reinforce bouillon's city of sedan, but he was refused an audience of the states-general. even the martial ardour of maurice and his sympathy for his relatives were cooled by this direct assault on his pocket. "the prince," wrote the french ambassador, du maurier, "will not furnish him or his adherents a thousand crowns, not if they had death between their teeth. those who think it do not know how he loves his money." in the very last days of the year ( ) caron had another interview with the king in which james was very benignant. he told the ambassador that he should wish the states to send him some special commissioners to make a new treaty with him, and to treat of all unsettled affairs which were daily arising between the inhabitants of the respective countries. he wished to make a firmer union and accord between great britain and the netherlands. he was very desirous of this, "because," said he, "if we can unite with and understand each other, we have under god no one what ever to fear, however mighty they may be." caron duly notified barneveld of these enthusiastic expressions of his majesty. the advocate too was most desirous of settling the troublesome questions about the cloth trade, the piracies, and other matters, and was in favour of the special commission. in regard to a new treaty of alliance thus loosely and vaguely suggested, he was not so sanguine however. he had too much difficulty in enforcing the interests of protestantism in the duchies against the infatuation of james in regard to spain, and he was too well aware of the spanish marriage delusion, which was the key to the king's whole policy, to put much faith in these casual outbursts of eternal friendship with the states. he contented himself therefore with cautioning caron to pause before committing himself to any such projects. he had frequently instructed him, however, to bring the disputed questions to his majesty's notice as often as possible with a view to amicable arrangement. this preventive policy in regard to france was highly approved by barneveld, who was willing to share in the blame profusely heaped upon such sincere patriots and devoted protestants as duplessis-mornay and others, who saw small advantage to the great cause from a mutiny against established government, bad as it was, led by such intriguers as conde and bouillon. men who had recently been in the pay of spain, and one of whom had been cognizant of biron's plot against the throne and life of henry iv., to whom sedition was native atmosphere and daily bread, were not likely to establish a much more wholesome administration than that of mary de' medici. prince maurice sympathized with his relatives by marriage, who were leading the civil commotions in france and endeavouring to obtain funds in the netherlands. it is needless to say that francis aerssens was deep in their intrigues, and feeding full the grudge which the stadholder already bore the advocate for his policy on this occasion. the advocate thought it best to wait until the young king should himself rise in mutiny against his mother and her minions. perhaps the downfall of the concini's and their dowager and the escape of lewis from thraldom might not be so distant as it seemed. meantime this was the legal government, bound to the states by treaties of friendship and alliance, and it would be a poor return for the many favours and the constant aid bestowed by henry iv. on the republic, and an imbecile mode of avenging his murder to help throw his kingdom into bloodshed and confusion before his son was able to act for himself. at the same time he did his best to cultivate amicable relations with the princes, while scrupulously abstaining from any sympathy with their movements. "if the prince and the other gentlemen come to court," he wrote to langerac, "you will treat them with all possible caresses so far as can be done without disrespect to the government." while the british court was occupied with the foul details of the overbury murder and its consequences, a crime of a more commonplace nature, but perhaps not entirely without influence on great political events, had startled the citizens of the hague. it was committed in the apartments of the stadholder and almost under his very eyes. a jeweller of amsterdam, one john van wely, had come to the court of maurice to lay before him a choice collection of rare jewellery. in his caskets were rubies and diamonds to the value of more than , florins, which would be the equivalent of perhaps ten times as much to-day. in the prince's absence the merchant was received by a confidential groom of the chambers, john of paris by name, and by him, with the aid of a third john, a soldier of his excellency's guard, called jean de la vigne, murdered on the spot. the deed was done in the prince's private study. the unfortunate jeweller was shot, and to make sure was strangled with the blue riband of the order of the garter recently conferred upon maurice, and which happened to be lying conspicuously in the room. the ruffians had barely time to take possession of the booty, to thrust the body behind the tapestry of the chamber, and to remove the more startling evidences of the crime, when the prince arrived. he supped soon afterwards in the same room, the murdered jeweller still lying behind the arras. in the night the valet and soldier carried the corpse away from the room, down the stairs, and through the great courtyard, where, strange to say, no sentinels were on duty, and threw it into an ashpit. a deed so bloody, audacious, and stupid was of course soon discovered and the murderers arrested and executed. nothing would remove the incident from the catalogue of vulgar crimes, or even entitle it to a place in history save a single circumstance. the celebrated divine john uytenbogaert, leader among the arminians, devoted friend of barneveld, and up to that moment the favorite preacher of maurice, stigmatized indeed, as we have seen, by the orthodox as "court trumpeter," was requested by the prince to prepare the chief criminal for death. he did so, and from that day forth the stadholder ceased to be his friend, although regularly listening to his preaching in the french chapel of the court for more than a year longer. some time afterwards the advocate informed uytenbogaert that the prince was very much embittered against him. "i knew it well," says the clergyman in his memoirs, "but not the reasons for it, nor do i exactly comprehend them to this day. truly i have some ideas relating to certain things which i was obliged to do in discharge of my official duty, but i will not insist upon them, nor will i reveal them to any man." these were mysterious words, and the mystery is said to have been explained; for it would seem that the eminent preacher was not so entirely reticent among his confidential friends as before the public. uytenbogaert--so ran the tale--in the course of his conversation with the condemned murderer, john of paris, expressed a natural surprise that there should have been no soldiers on guard in the court on the evening when the crime was committed and the body subsequently removed. the valet informed him that he had for a long time been empowered by the prince to withdraw the sentinels from that station, and that they had been instructed to obey his orders--maurice not caring that they should be witnesses to the equivocal kind of female society that john of paris was in the habit of introducing of an evening to his master's apartments. the valet had made use of this privilege on the night in question to rid himself of the soldiers who would have been otherwise on guard. the preacher felt it his duty to communicate these statements to the prince, and to make perhaps a somewhat severe comment upon them. maurice received the information sullenly, and, as soon as uytenbogaert was gone, fell into a violent passion, throwing his hat upon the floor, stamping upon it, refusing to eat his supper, and allowing no one to speak to him. next day some courtiers asked the clergyman what in the world he had been saying to the stadholder. from that time forth his former partiality for the divine, on whose preaching he had been a regular attendant, was changed to hatred; a sentiment which lent a lurid colour to subsequent events. the attempts of the spanish party by chicane or by force to get possession of the coveted territories continued year after year, and were steadily thwarted by the watchfulness of the states under guidance of barneveld. the martial stadholder was more than ever for open war, in which he was opposed by the advocate, whose object was to postpone and, if possible, to avert altogether the dread catastrophe which he foresaw impending over europe. the xanten arrangement seemed hopelessly thrown to the winds, nor was it destined to be carried out; the whole question of sovereignty and of mastership in those territories being swept subsequently into the general whirlpool of the thirty years' war. so long as there was a possibility of settlement upon that basis, the advocate was in favour of settlement, but to give up the guarantees and play into the hands of the catholic league was in his mind to make the republic one of the conspirators against the liberties of christendom. "spain, the emperor and the rest of them," said he, "make all three modes of pacification--the treaty, the guarantee by the mediating kings, the administration divided between the possessory princes--alike impossible. they mean, under pretext of sequestration, to make themselves absolute masters there. i have no doubt that villeroy means sincerely, and understands the matter, but meantime we sit by the fire and burn. if the conflagration is neglected, all the world will throw the blame on us." thus the spaniards continued to amuse the british king with assurances of their frank desire to leave those fortresses and territories which they really meant to hold till the crack of doom. and while gondemar was making these ingenuous assertions in london, his colleagues at paris and at brussels distinctly and openly declared that there was no authority whatever for them, that the ambassador had received no such instructions, and that there was no thought of giving up wesel or any other of the protestant strongholds captured, whether in the duchies or out of them. and gondemar, still more to keep that monarch in subjection, had been unusually flattering in regard to the spanish marriage. "we are in great alarm here," said the advocate, "at the tidings that the projected alliance of the prince of wales with the daughter of spain is to be renewed; from which nothing good for his majesty's person, his kingdom, nor for our state can be presaged. we live in hope that it will never be." but the other marriage was made. despite the protest of james, the forebodings of barneveld, and the mutiny of the princes, the youthful king of france had espoused anne of austria early in the year . the british king did his best to keep on terms with france and spain, and by no means renounced his own hopes. at the same time, while fixed as ever in his approbation of the policy pursued by the emperor and the league, and as deeply convinced of their artlessness in regard to the duchies, the protestant princes of germany, and the republic, he manifested more cordiality than usual in his relations with the states. minor questions between the countries he was desirous of arranging--so far as matters of state could be arranged by orations--and among the most pressing of these affairs were the systematic piracy existing and encouraged in english ports, to the great damage of all seafaring nations and to the hollanders most of all, and the quarrel about the exportation of undyed cloths, which had almost caused a total cessation of the woollen trade between the two countries. the english, to encourage their own artisans, had forbidden the export of undyed cloths, and the dutch had retorted by prohibiting the import of dyed ones. the king had good sense enough to see the absurdity of this condition of things, and it will be remembered that barneveld had frequently urged upon the dutch ambassador to bring his majesty's attention to these dangerous disputes. now that the recovery of the cautionary towns had been so dexterously and amicably accomplished, and at so cheap a rate, it seemed a propitious moment to proceed to a general extinction of what would now be called "burning questions." james was desirous that new high commissioners might be sent from the states to confer with himself and his ministers upon the subjects just indicated, as well as upon the fishery questions as regarded both greenland and scotland, and upon the general affairs of india. he was convinced, he said to caron, that the sea had become more and more unsafe and so full of freebooters that the like was never seen or heard of before. it will be remembered that the advocate had recently called his attention to the fact that the dutch merchants had lost in two months , florins' worth of goods by english pirates. the king now assured the ambassador of his intention of equipping a fleet out of hand and to send it forth as speedily as possible under command of a distinguished nobleman, who would put his honour and credit in a successful expedition, without any connivance or dissimulation whatever. in order thoroughly to scour these pirates from the seas, he expressed the hope that their mightinesses the states would do the same either jointly or separately as they thought most advisable. caron bluntly replied that the states had already ten or twelve war-ships at sea for this purpose, but that unfortunately, instead of finding any help from the english in this regard, they had always found the pirates favoured in his majesty's ports, especially in ireland and wales. "thus they have so increased in numbers," continued the ambassador, "that i quite believe what your majesty says, that not a ship can pass with safety over the seas. more over, your majesty has been graciously pleased to pardon several of these corsairs, in consequence of which they have become so impudent as to swarm everywhere, even in the river thames, where they are perpetually pillaging honest merchantmen." "i confess," said the king, "to having pardoned a certain manning, but this was for the sake of his old father, and i never did anything so unwillingly in my life. but i swear that if it were the best nobleman in england, i would never grant one of them a pardon again." caron expressed his joy at hearing such good intentions on the part of his majesty, and assured him that the states-general would be equally delighted. in the course of the summer the dutch ambassador had many opportunities of seeing the king very confidentially, james having given him the use of the royal park at bayscot, so that during the royal visits to that place caron was lodged under his roof. on the whole, james had much regard and respect for noel de caron. he knew him to be able, although he thought him tiresome. it is amusing to observe the king and ambassador in their utterances to confidential friends each frequently making the charge of tediousness against the other. "caron's general education," said james on one occasion to cecil, "cannot amend his native german prolixity, for had i not interrupted him, it had been tomorrow morning before i had begun to speak. god preserve me from hearing a cause debated between don diego and him! . . . but in truth it is good dealing with so wise and honest a man, although he be somewhat longsome." subsequently james came to whitehall for a time, and then stopped at theobalds for a few days on his way to newmarket, where he stayed until christmas. at theobalds he sent again for the ambassador, saying that at whitehall he was so broken down with affairs that it would be impossible to live if he stayed there. he asked if the states were soon to send the commissioners, according to his request, to confer in regard to the cloth-trade. without interference of the two governments, he said, the matter would never be settled. the merchants of the two countries would never agree except under higher authority. "i have heard both parties," he said, "the new and the old companies, two or three times in full council, and tried to bring them to an agreement, but it won't do. i have heard that my lords the states have been hearing both sides, english and the hollanders, over and over again, and that the states have passed a provisional resolution, which however does not suit us. now it is not reasonable, as we are allies, that our merchants should be obliged to send their cloths roundabout, not being allowed either to sell them in the united provinces or to pass them through your territories. i wish i could talk with them myself, for i am certain, if they would send some one here, we could make an agreement. it is not necessary that one should take everything from them, or that one should refuse everything to us. i am sure there are people of sense in your assembly who will justify me in favouring my own people so far as i reasonably can, and i know very well that my lords the states must stand up for their own citizens. if we have been driving this matter to an extreme and see that we are ruining each other, we must take it up again in other fashion, for yesterday is the preceptor of to-morrow. let the commissioners come as soon as possible. i know they have complaints to make, and i have my complaints also. therefore we must listen to each other, for i protest before god that i consider the community of your state with mine to be so entire that, if one goes to perdition, the other must quickly follow it." thus spoke james, like a wise and thoughtful sovereign interested in the welfare of his subjects and allies, with enlightened ideas for the time upon public economy. it is difficult, in the man conversing thus amicably and sensibly with the dutch ambassador, to realise the shrill pedant shrieking against vorstius, the crapulous comrade of carrs and steenies, the fawning solicitor of spanish marriages, the "pepperer" and hangman of puritans, the butt and dupe of gondemar and spinola. "i protest," he said further, "that i seek nothing in your state but all possible friendship and good fellowship. my own subjects complain sometimes that your people follow too closely on their heels, and confess that your industry goes far above their own. if this be so, it is a lean kind of reproach; for the english should rather study to follow you. nevertheless, when industry is directed by malice, each may easily be attempting to snap an advantage from the other. i have sometimes complained of many other things in which my subjects suffered great injustice from you, but all that is excusable. i will willingly listen to your people and grant them to be in the right when they are so. but i will never allow them to be in the right when they mistrust me. if i had been like many other princes, i should never have let the advantage of the cautionary towns slip out of my fingers, but rather by means of them attempted to get even a stronger hold on your country. i have had plenty of warnings from great statesmen in france, germany, and other nations that i ought to give them up nevermore. yet you know how frankly and sincerely i acquitted myself in that matter without ever making pretensions upon your state than the pretensions i still make to your friendship and co-operation." james, after this allusion to an important transaction to be explained in the next chapter, then made an observation or two on a subject which was rapidly overtopping all others in importance to the states, and his expressions were singularly at variance with his last utterances in that regard. "i tell you," he said, "that you have no right to mistrust me in anything, not even in the matter of religion. i grieve indeed to hear that your religious troubles continue. you know that in the beginning i occupied myself with this affair, but fearing that my course might be misunderstood, and that it might be supposed that i was seeking to exercise authority in your republic, i gave it up, and i will never interfere with the matter again, but will ever pray god that he may give you a happy issue out of these troubles." alas! if the king had always kept himself on that height of amiable neutrality, if he had been able to govern himself in the future by these simplest principles of reason and justice, there might have been perhaps a happier issue from the troubles than time was like to reveal. once more james referred to the crisis pending in german affairs, and as usual spoke of the clove and julich question as if it were a simple matter to be settled by a few strokes of the pen and a pennyworth of sealing-wax, instead of being the opening act in a vast tragedy, of which neither he, nor carom nor barneveld, nor prince maurice, nor the youthful king of france, nor philip, nor matthias, nor any of the men now foremost in the conduct of affairs, was destined to see the end. the king informed caron that he had just received most satisfactory assurances from the spanish ambassador in his last audience at whitehall. "he has announced to me on the part of the king his master with great compliments that his majesty seeks to please me and satisfy me in everything that i could possibly desire of him," said james, rolling over with satisfaction these unctuous phrases as if they really had any meaning whatever. "his majesty says further," added the king, "that as he has been at various times admonished by me, and is daily admonished by other princes, that he ought to execute the treaty of xanten by surrendering the city of wesel and all other places occupied by spinola, he now declares himself ready to carry out that treaty in every point. he will accordingly instruct the archduke to do this, provided the margrave of brandenburg and the states will do the same in regard to their captured places. as he understands however that the states have been fortifying julich even as he might fortify wesel, he would be glad that no innovation be made before the end of the coming month of march. when this term shall have expired, he will no longer be bound by these offers, but will proceed to fortify wesel and the other places, and to hold them as he best may for himself. respect for me has alone induced his majesty to make this resolution." we have already seen that the spanish ambassador in paris was at this very time loudly declaring that his colleague in london had no commission whatever to make these propositions. nor when they were in the slightest degree analysed, did they appear after all to be much better than threats. not a word was said of guarantees. the names of the two kings were not mentioned. it was nothing but albert and spinola then as always, and a recommendation that brandenburg and the states and all the protestant princes of germany should trust to the candour of the catholic league. caron pointed out to the king that in these proposals there were no guarantees nor even promises that the fortresses would not be reoccupied at convenience of the spaniards. he engaged however to report the whole statement to his masters. a few weeks afterwards the advocate replied in his usual vein, reminding the king through the ambassador that the republic feared fraud on the part of the league much more than force. he also laid stress on the affairs of italy, considering the fate of savoy and the conflicts in which venice was engaged as components of a general scheme. the states had been much solicited, as we have seen, to render assistance to the duke of savoy, the temporary peace of asti being already broken, and barneveld had been unceasing in his efforts to arouse france as well as england to the danger to themselves and to all christendom should savoy be crushed. we shall have occasion to see the prominent part reserved to savoy in the fast opening debate in germany. meantime the states had sent one count of nassau with a couple of companies to charles emmanuel, while another (ernest) had just gone to venice at the head of more than three thousand adventurers. with so many powerful armies at their throats, as barneveld had more than once observed, it was not easy for them to despatch large forces to the other end of europe, but he justly reminded his allies that the states were now rendering more effective help to the common cause by holding great spanish armies in check on their own frontier than if they assumed a more aggressive line in the south. the advocate, like every statesman worthy of the name, was accustomed to sweep the whole horizon in his consideration of public policy, and it will be observed that he always regarded various and apparently distinct and isolated movements in different parts of europe as parts of one great whole. it is easy enough for us, centuries after the record has been made up, to observe the gradual and, as it were, harmonious manner in which the great catholic conspiracy against the liberties of europe was unfolded in an ever widening sphere. but to the eyes of contemporaries all was then misty and chaotic, and it required the keen vision of a sage and a prophet to discern the awful shape which the future might assume. absorbed in the contemplation of these portentous phenomena, it was not unnatural that the advocate should attach less significance to perturbations nearer home. devoted as was his life to save the great european cause of protestantism, in which he considered political and religious liberty bound up, from the absolute extinction with which it was menaced, he neglected too much the furious hatreds growing up among protestants within the narrow limits of his own province. he was destined one day to be rudely awakened. meantime he was occupied with organizing a general defence of italy, germany, france, and england, as well as the netherlands, against the designs of spain and the league. "we wish to know," he said in answer to the affectionate messages and fine promises of the king of spain to james as reported by caron, "what his majesty of great britain has done, is doing, and is resolved to do for the duke of savoy and the republic of venice. if they ask you what we are doing, answer that we with our forces and vigour are keeping off from the throats of savoy and venice riders and , infantry, with which forces, let alone their experience, more would be accomplished than with four times the number of new troops brought to the field in italy. this is our succour, a great one and a very costly one, for the expense of maintaining our armies to hold the enemy in check here is very great." he alluded with his usual respectful and quiet scorn to the arrangements by which james so wilfully allowed himself to be deceived. "if the spaniard really leaves the duchies," he said, "it is a grave matter to decide whether on the one side he is not resolved by that means to win more over us and the elector of brandenburg in the debateable land in a few days than he could gain by force in many years, or on the other whether by it he does not intend despatching or cavalry and or foot, all his most experienced soldiers, from the netherlands to italy, in order to give the law at his pleasure to the duke of savoy and the republic of venice, reserving his attack upon germany and ourselves to the last. the spaniards, standing under a monarchical government, can in one hour resolve to seize to-morrow all that they and we may abandon to-day. and they can carry such a resolution into effect at once. our form of government does not permit this, so that our republic must be conserved by distrust and good garrisons." thus during this long period of half hostilities barneveld, while sincerely seeking to preserve the peace in europe, was determined, if possible, that the republic should maintain the strongest defensive position when the war which he foreboded should actually begin. maurice and the war party had blamed him for the obstacles which he interposed to the outbreak of hostilities, while the british court, as we have seen, was perpetually urging him to abate from his demands and abandon both the well strengthened fortresses in the duchies and that strong citadel of distrust which in his often repeated language he was determined never to surrender. spinola and the military party of spain, while preaching peace, had been in truth most anxious for fighting. "the only honour i desire henceforth," said that great commander, "is to give battle to prince maurice." the generals were more anxious than the governments to make use of the splendid armies arrayed against each other in such proximity that, the signal for conflict not having been given, it was not uncommon for the soldiers of the respective camps to aid each other in unloading munition waggons, exchanging provisions and other articles of necessity, and performing other small acts of mutual service. but heavy thunder clouds hanging over the earth so long and so closely might burst into explosion at any moment. had it not been for the distracted condition of france, the infatuation of the english king, and the astounding inertness of the princes of the german union, great advantages might have been gained by the protestant party before the storm should break. but, as the french ambassador at the hague well observed, "the great protestant union of germany sat with folded arms while hannibal was at their gate, the princes of which it was composed amusing themselves with staring at each other. it was verifying," he continued, bitterly, "the saying of the duke of alva, 'germany is an old dog which still can bark, but has lost its teeth to bite with.'" to such imbecility had that noble and gifted people--which had never been organized into a nation since it crushed the roman empire and established a new civilization on its ruins, and was to wait centuries longer until it should reconstruct itself into a whole--been reduced by subdivision, disintegration, the perpetual dissolvent of religious dispute, and the selfish policy of infinitesimal dynasties. chapter xii. james still presses for the payment of the dutch republic's debt to him--a compromise effected, with restitution of the cautionary towns--treaty of loudun--james's dream of a spanish marriage revives--james visits scotland--the states-general agree to furnish money and troops in fulfilment of the treaty of --death of concini--villeroy returns to power. besides matters of predestination there were other subjects political and personal which increased the king's jealousy and hatred. the debt of the republic to the british crown, secured by mortgage of the important sea-ports and fortified towns of flushing, brielle, rammekens, and other strong places, still existed. the possession of those places by england was a constant danger and irritation to the states. it was an axe perpetually held over their heads. it threatened their sovereignty, their very existence. on more than one occasion, in foreign courts, the representatives of the netherlands had been exposed to the taunt that the republic was after all not an independent power, but a british province. the gibe had always been repelled in a manner becoming the envoys of a proud commonwealth; yet it was sufficiently galling that english garrisons should continue to hold dutch towns; one of them among the most valuable seaports of the republic,--the other the very cradle of its independence, the seizure of which in alva's days had always been reckoned a splendid achievement. moreover, by the fifth article of the treaty of peace between james and philip iii., although the king had declared himself bound by the treaties made by elizabeth to deliver up the cautionary towns to no one but the united states, he promised spain to allow those states a reasonable time to make peace with the archdukes on satisfactory conditions. should they refuse to do so, he held himself bound by no obligations to them, and would deal with the cities as he thought proper, and as the archdukes themselves might deem just. the king had always been furious at "the huge sum of money to be advanced, nay, given, to the states," as he phrased it. "it is so far out of all square," he had said, "as on my conscience i cannot think that ever they craved it 'animo obtinendi,' but only by that objection to discourage me from any thought of getting any repayment of my debts from them when they shall be in peace. . . . should i ruin myself for maintaining them? should i bestow as much on them as cometh to the value of my whole yearly rent?" he had proceeded to say very plainly that, if the states did not make great speed to pay him all his debt so soon as peace was established, he should treat their pretence at independence with contempt, and propose dividing their territory between himself and the king of france. "if they be so weak as they cannot subsist either in peace or war," he said, "without i ruin myself for upholding them, in that case surely 'minus malunv est eligendum,' the nearest harm is first to be eschewed, a man will leap out of a burning ship and drown himself in the sea; and it is doubtless a farther off harm for me to suffer them to fall again in the hands of spain, and let god provide for the danger that may with time fall upon me or my posterity than presently to starve myself and mine with putting the meat in their mouth. nay, rather if they be so weak as they can neither sustain themselves in peace nor war, let them leave this vainglorious thirsting for the title of a free state (which no people are worthy or able to enjoy that cannot stand by themselves like substantives), and 'dividantur inter nos;' i mean, let their countries be divided between france and me, otherwise the king of spain shall be sure to consume us." such were the eyes with which james had always regarded the great commonwealth of which he affected to be the ally, while secretly aspiring to be its sovereign, and such was his capacity to calculate political forces and comprehend coming events. certainly the sword was hanging by a thread. the states had made no peace either with the archdukes or with spain. they had made a truce, half the term of which had already run by. at any moment the keys of their very house-door might be placed in the hands of their arch enemy. treacherous and base as the deed would be, it might be defended by the letter of a treaty in which the republic had no part; and was there anything too treacherous or too base to be dreaded from james stuart? but the states owed the crown of england eight millions of florins, equivalent to about l , . where was this vast sum to be found? it was clearly impossible for the states to beg or to borrow it, although they were nearly as rich as any of the leading powers at that day. it was the merit of barneveld, not only that he saw the chance for a good bargain, but that he fully comprehended a great danger. years long james had pursued the phantom of a spanish marriage for his son. to achieve this mighty object, he had perverted the whole policy of the realm; he had grovelled to those who despised him, had repaid attempts at wholesale assassination with boundless sycophancy. it is difficult to imagine anything more abject than the attitude of james towards philip. prince henry was dead, but charles had now become prince of wales in his turn, and there was a younger infanta whose hand was not yet disposed of. so long as the possible prize of a most catholic princess was dangling before the eyes of the royal champion of protestantism, so long there was danger that the netherlanders might wake up some fine morning and see the flag of spain waving over the walls of flushing, brielle, and rammekens. it was in the interest of spain too that the envoys of james at the hague were perpetually goading barneveld to cause the states' troops to be withdrawn from the duchies and the illusory treaty of xanten to be executed. instead of an eighth province added to the free netherlands, the result of such a procedure would have been to place that territory enveloping them in the hands of the enemy; to strengthen and sharpen the claws, as the advocate had called them, by which spain was seeking to clutch and to destroy the republic. the advocate steadily refused to countenance such policy in the duchies, and he resolved on a sudden stroke to relieve the commonwealth from the incubus of the english mortgage. james was desperately pushed for money. his minions, as insatiable in their demands on english wealth as the parasites who fed on the queen-regent were exhaustive of the french exchequer, were greedier than ever now that james, who feared to face a parliament disgusted with the meanness of his policy and depravity of his life, could not be relied upon to minister to their wants. the advocate judiciously contrived that the proposal of a compromise should come from the english government. noel de caron, the veteran ambassador of the states in london, after receiving certain proposals, offered, under instructions' from barneveld, to pay l , in full of all demands. it was made to appear that the additional l , was in reality in advance of his instructions. the mouths of the minions watered at the mention of so magnificent a sum of money in one lump. the bargain was struck. on the th june , sir robert sidney, who had become lord lisle, gave over the city of flushing to the states, represented by the seignior van maldere, while sir horace vere placed the important town of brielle in the hands of the seignior van mathenesse. according to the terms of the bargain, the english garrisons were converted into two regiments, respectively to be commanded by lord lisle's son, now sir robert sidney, and by sir horace vere, and were to serve the states. lisle, who had been in the netherlands since the days of his uncle leicester and his brother sir philip sidney, now took his final departure for england. thus this ancient burthen had been taken off the republic by the masterly policy of the advocate. a great source of dread for foreign complication was closed for ever. the french-spanish marriages had been made. henry iv. had not been murdered in vain. conde and his confederates had issued their manifesto. a crisis came to the states, for maurice, always inclined to take part for the princes, and urged on by aerssens, who was inspired by a deadly hatred for the french government ever since they had insisted on his dismissal from his post, and who fed the stadholder's growing jealousy of the advocate to the full, was at times almost ready for joining in the conflict. it was most difficult for the states-general, led by barneveld, to maintain relations of amity with a government controlled by spain, governed by the concini's, and wafted to and fro by every wind that blew. still it was the government, and the states might soon be called upon, in virtue of their treaties with henry, confirmed by mary de' medici, not only to prevent the daily desertion of officers and soldiers of the french regiments to the rebellious party, but to send the regiments themselves to the assistance of the king and queen. there could be no doubt that the alliance of the french huguenots at grenoble with the princes made the position of the states very critical. bouillon was loud in his demands upon maurice and the states for money and reinforcements, but the prince fortunately understood the character of the duke and of conde, and comprehended the nature of french politics too clearly to be led into extremities by passion or by pique. he said loudly to any one that chose to listen: "it is not necessary to ruin the son in order to avenge the death of the father. that should be left to the son, who alone has legitimate authority to do it." nothing could be more sensible, and the remark almost indicated a belief on the prince's part in mary's complicity in the murder of her husband. duplessis-mornay was in despair, and, like all true patriots and men of earnest character, felt it almost an impossibility to choose between the two ignoble parties contending for the possession of france, and both secretly encouraged by france's deadly enemy. the treaty of loudun followed, a treaty which, said du maurier, had about as many negotiators as there were individuals interested in the arrangements. the rebels were forgiven, conde sold himself out for a million and a half livres and the presidency of the council, came to court, and paraded himself in greater pomp and appearance of power than ever. four months afterwards he was arrested and imprisoned. he submitted like a lamb, and offered to betray his confederates. king james, faithful to his self-imposed part of mediator-general, which he thought so well became him, had been busy in bringing about this pacification, and had considered it eminently successful. he was now angry at this unexpected result. he admitted that conde had indulged in certain follies and extravagancies, but these in his opinion all came out of the quiver of the spaniard, "who was the head of the whole intrigue." he determined to recall lord hayes from madrid and even sir thomas edmonds from paris, so great was his indignation. but his wrath was likely to cool under the soothing communications of gondemar, and the rumour of the marriage of the second infanta with the prince of wales soon afterwards started into new life. "we hope," wrote barneveld, "that the alliance of his highness the prince of wales with the daughter of the spanish king will make no further progress, as it will place us in the deepest embarrassment and pain." for the reports had been so rife at the english court in regard to this dangerous scheme that caron had stoutly gone to the king and asked him what he was to think about it. "the king told me," said the ambassador, "that there was nothing at all in it, nor any appearance that anything ever would come of it. it was true, he said, that on the overtures made to him by the spanish ambassador he had ordered his minister in spain to listen to what they had to say, and not to bear himself as if the overtures would be rejected." the coyness thus affected by james could hardly impose on so astute a diplomatist as noel de caron, and the effect produced upon the policy of one of the republic's chief allies by the spanish marriages naturally made her statesmen shudder at the prospect of their other powerful friend coming thus under the malign influence of spain. "he assured me, however," said the envoy, "that the spaniard is not sincere in the matter, and that he has himself become so far alienated from the scheme that we may sleep quietly upon it." and james appeared at that moment so vexed at the turn affairs were taking in france, so wounded in his self-love, and so bewildered by the ubiquitous nature of nets and pitfalls spreading over europe by spain, that he really seemed waking from his delusion. even caron was staggered? "in all his talk he appears so far estranged from the spaniard," said he, "that it would seem impossible that he should consider this marriage as good for his state. i have also had other advices on the subject which in the highest degree comfort me. now your mightinesses may think whatever you like about it." the mood of the king was not likely to last long in so comfortable a state. meantime he took the part of conde and the other princes, justified their proceedings to the special envoy sent over by mary de' medici, and wished the states to join with him in appealing to that queen to let the affair, for his sake, pass over once more. "and now i will tell your mightinesses," said caron, reverting once more to the dreaded marriage which occupies so conspicuous a place in the strangely mingled and party-coloured tissue of the history of those days, "what the king has again been telling me about the alliance between his son and the infanta. he hears from carleton that you are in very great alarm lest this event may take place. he understands that the special french envoy at the hague, m. de la none, has been representing to you that the king of great britain is following after and begging for the daughter of spain for his son. he says it is untrue. but it is true that he has been sought and solicited thereto, and that in consequence there have been talks and propositions and rejoinders, but nothing of any moment. as he had already told me not to be alarmed until he should himself give me cause for it, he expressed his amazement that i had not informed your mightinesses accordingly. he assured me again that he should not proceed further in the business without communicating it to his good friends and neighbours, that he considered my lords the states as his best friends and allies, who ought therefore to conceive no jealousy in the matter." this certainly was cold comfort. caron knew well enough, not a clerk in his office but knew well enough, that james had been pursuing this prize for years. for the king to represent himself as persecuted by spain to give his son to the infanta was about as ridiculous as it would have been to pretend that emperor matthias was persuading him to let his son-in-law accept the crown of bohemia. it was admitted that negotiations for the marriage were going on, and the assertion that the spanish court was more eager for it than the english government was not especially calculated to allay the necessary alarm of the states at such a disaster. nor was it much more tranquillizing for them to be assured, not that the marriage was off, but that, when it was settled, they, as the king's good friends and neighbours, should have early information of it. "i told him," said the ambassador, "that undoubtedly this matter was of the highest 'importance to your mightinesses, for it was not good for us to sit between two kingdoms both so nearly allied with the spanish monarch, considering the pretensions he still maintained to sovereignty over us. although his majesty might not now be willing to treat to our prejudice, yet the affair itself in the sequence of time must of necessity injure our commonwealth. we hoped therefore that it would never come to pass." caron added that ambassador digby was just going to spain on extraordinary mission in regard to this affair, and that eight or ten gentlemen of the council had been deputed to confer with his majesty about it. he was still inclined to believe that the whole negotiation would blow over, the king continuing to exhort him not to be alarmed, and assuring him that there were many occasions moving princes to treat of great affairs although often without any effective issue. at that moment too the king was in a state of vehement wrath with the spanish netherlands on account of a stinging libel against himself, "an infamous and wonderfully scandalous pamphlet," as he termed it, called 'corona regis', recently published at louvain. he had sent sir john bennet as special ambassador to the archdukes to demand from them justice and condign and public chastisement on the author of the work--a rector putianus as he believed, successor of justus lipsius in his professorship at louvain--and upon the printer, one flaminius. delays and excuses having followed instead of the punishment originally demanded, james had now instructed his special envoy in case of further delay or evasion to repudiate all further friendship or intercourse with the archduke, to ratify the recall of his minister-resident trumbull, and in effect to announce formal hostilities. "the king takes the thing wonderfully to heart," said caron. james in effect hated to be made ridiculous, and we shall have occasion to see how important a part other publications which he deemed detrimental to the divinity of his person were to play in these affairs. meantime it was characteristic of this sovereign that--while ready to talk of war with philip's brother-in-law for a pamphlet, while seeking the hand of philip's daughter for his son--he was determined at the very moment when the world was on fire to take himself, the heaven-born extinguisher of all political conflagrations, away from affairs and to seek the solace of along holiday in scotland. his counsellors persistently and vehemently implored him to defer that journey until the following year at least, all the neighbouring nations being now in a state of war and civil commotion. but it was in vain. he refused to listen to them for a moment, and started for scotland before the middle of march. conde, who had kept france in a turmoil, had sought aid alternately from the calvinists at grenoble and the jesuits in rome, from spain and from the netherlands, from the pope and from maurice of nassau, had thus been caged at last. but there was little gained. there was one troublesome but incompetent rebel the less, but there was no king in the land. he who doubts the influence of the individual upon the fate of a country and upon his times through long passages of history may explain the difference between france of , with a martial king aided by great statesmen at its head, with an exchequer overflowing with revenue hoarded for a great cause--and that cause an attempt at least to pacificate christendom and avert a universal and almost infinite conflict now already opening--and the france of , with its treasures already squandered among ignoble and ruffianly favourites, with every office in state, church, court, and magistracy sold to the highest bidder, with a queen governed by an italian adventurer who was governed by spain, and with a little king who had but lately expressed triumph at his confirmation because now he should no longer be whipped, and who was just married to a daughter of the hereditary and inevitable foe of france. to contemplate this dreary interlude in the history of a powerful state is to shiver at the depths of inanity and crime to which mankind can at once descend. what need to pursue the barren, vulgar, and often repeated chronicle? france pulled at by scarcely concealed strings and made to perform fantastic tricks according as its various puppets were swerved this way or that by supple bands at madrid and rome is not a refreshing spectacle. the states-general at last, after an agitated discussion, agreed in fulfilment of the treaty of to send men, being french, to help the king against the princes still in rebellion. but the contest was a most bitter one, and the advocate had a difficult part to play between a government and a rebellion, each more despicable than the other. still louis xiii. and his mother were the legitimate government even if ruled by concini. the words of the treaty made with henry iv. were plain, and the ambassadors of his son had summoned the states to fulfil it. but many impediments were placed in the path of obvious duty by the party led by francis aerssens. "i know very well," said the advocate to ex-burgomaster hooft of amsterdam, father of the great historian, sending him confidentially a copy of the proposals made by the french ambassadors, "that many in this country are striving hard to make us refuse to the king the aid demanded, notwithstanding that we are bound to do it by the pledges given not only by the states-general but by each province in particular. by this no one will profit but the spaniard, who unquestionably will offer much, aye, very much, to bring about dissensions between france and us, from which i foresee great damage, inconvenience, and difficulties for the whole commonwealth and for holland especially. this province has already advanced , , florins to the general government on the money still due from france, which will all be lost in case the subsidy should be withheld, besides other evils which cannot be trusted to the pen." on the same day on which it had been decided at the hague to send the troops, a captain of guards came to the aid of the poor little king and shot concini dead one fine spring morning on the bridge of the louvre. "by order of the king," said vitry. his body was burned before the statue of henry iv. by the people delirious with joy. "l'hanno ammazzato" was shouted to his wife, eleanora galigai, the supposed sorceress. they were the words in which concini had communicated to the queen the murder of her husband seven years before. eleanora, too, was burned after having been beheaded. thus the marshal d'ancre and wife ceased to reign in france. the officers of the french regiments at the hague danced for joy on the vyverberg when the news arrived there. the states were relieved from an immense embarrassment, and the advocate was rewarded for having pursued what was after all the only practicable policy. "do your best," said he to langerac, "to accommodate differences so far as consistent with the conservation of the king's authority. we hope the princes will submit themselves now that the 'lapis offensionis,' according to their pretence, is got rid of. we received a letter from them to-day sealed with the king's arms, with the circumscription 'periclitante regno, regis vita et regia familia." the shooting of concini seemed almost to convert the little king into a hero. everyone in the netherlands, without distinction of party, was delighted with the achievement. "i cannot represent to the king," wrote du maurier to villeroy, "one thousandth part of the joy of all these people who are exalting him to heaven for having delivered the earth from this miserable burthen. i can't tell you in what execration this public pest was held. his majesty has not less won the hearts of this state than if he had gained a great victory over the spaniards. you would not believe it, and yet it is true, that never were the name and reputation of the late king in greater reverence than those of our reigning king at this moment." truly here was glory cheaply earned. the fame of henry the great, after a long career of brilliant deeds of arms, high statesmanship, and twenty years of bountiful friendship for the states, was already equalled by that of louis xiii., who had tremblingly acquiesced in the summary execution of an odious adventurer--his own possible father--and who never had done anything else but feed his canary birds. as for villeroy himself, the ambassador wrote that he could not find portraits enough of him to furnish those who were asking for them since his return to power. barneveld had been right in so often instructing langerac to "caress the old gentleman." etext editor's bookmarks: and give advice. of that, although always a spendthrift casual outbursts of eternal friendship changed his positions and contradicted himself day by day conciliation when war of extermination was intended considered it his special mission in the world to mediate denoungced as an obstacle to peace france was mourning henry and waiting for richelieu hardly a sound protestant policy anywhere but in holland history has not too many really important and emblematic men i hope and i fear king who thought it furious madness to resist the enemy mockery of negotiation in which nothing could be negotiated more apprehension of fraud than of force opening an abyss between government and people successful in this step, he is ready for greater ones that he tries to lay the fault on us is pure malice the magnitude of this wonderful sovereign's littleness this wonderful sovereign's littleness oppresses the imagination wise and honest a man, although he be somewhat longsome yesterday is the preceptor of to-morrow the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. life and death of john of barneveld, v , chapter xiii. ferdinand of gratz crowned king of bohemia--his enmity to protestants--slawata and martinitz thrown from the windows of the hradschin--real beginning of the thirty years' war--the elector- palatine's intrigues in opposition to the house of austria--he supports the duke of savoy--the emperor matthias visits dresden-- jubilee for the hundredth anniversary of the reformation. when the forlorn emperor rudolph had signed the permission for his brother matthias to take the last crown but one from his head, he bit the pen in a paroxysm of helpless rage. then rushing to the window of his apartment, he looked down on one of the most stately prospects that the palaces of the earth can offer. from the long monotonous architectural lines of the hradschin, imposing from its massiveness and its imperial situation, and with the dome and minarets of the cathedral clustering behind them, the eye swept across the fertile valley, through which the rapid, yellow moldau courses, to the opposite line of cliffs crested with the half imaginary fortress-palaces of the wyscherad. there, in the mythical legendary past of bohemia had dwelt the shadowy libuscha, daughter of krok, wife of king premysl, foundress of prague, who, when wearied of her lovers, was accustomed to toss them from those heights into the river. between these picturesque precipices lay the two pragues, twin-born and quarrelsome, fighting each other for centuries, and growing up side by side into a double, bellicose, stormy, and most splendid city, bristling with steeples and spires, and united by the ancient many-statued bridge with its blackened mediaeval entrance towers. but it was not to enjoy the prospect that the aged, discrowned, solitary emperor, almost as dim a figure among sovereigns as the mystic libuscha herself, was gazing from the window upon the imperial city. "ungrateful prague," he cried, "through me thou hast become thus magnificent, and now thou hast turned upon and driven away thy benefactor. may the vengeance of god descend upon thee; may my curse come upon thee and upon all bohemia." history has failed to record the special benefits of the emperor through which the city had derived its magnificence and deserved this malediction. but surely if ever an old man's curse was destined to be literally fulfilled, it seemed to be this solemn imprecation of rudolph. meantime the coronation of matthias had gone on with pomp and popular gratulations, while rudolph had withdrawn into his apartments to pass the little that was left to him of life in solitude and in a state of hopeless pique with matthias, with the rest of his brethren, with all the world. and now that five years had passed since his death, matthias, who had usurped so much power prematurely, found himself almost in the same condition as that to which he had reduced rudolph. ferdinand of styria, his cousin, trod closely upon his heels. he was the presumptive successor to all his crowns, had not approved of the movements of matthias in the lifetime of his brother, and hated the vienna protestant baker's son, cardinal clesel, by whom all those movements had been directed. professor taubmann, of wittenberg, ponderously quibbling on the name of that prelate, had said that he was of "one hundred and fifty ass power." whether that was a fair measure of his capacity may be doubted, but it certainly was not destined to be sufficient to elude the vengeance of ferdinand, and ferdinand would soon have him in his power. matthias, weary of ambitious intrigue, infirm of purpose, and shattered in health, had withdrawn from affairs to devote himself to his gout and to his fair young wife, archduchess anna of tyrol, whom at the age of fifty-four he had espoused. on the th june , ferdinand of gratz was crowned king of bohemia. the event was a shock and a menace to the protestant cause all over the world. the sombre figure of the archduke had for years appeared in the background, foreshadowing as it were the wrath to come, while throughout bohemia and the neighbouring countries of moravia, silesia, and the austrias, the cause of protestantism had been making such rapid progress. the emperor maximilian ii. had left five stalwart sons, so that there had seemed little probability that the younger line, the sons of his brother, would succeed. but all the five were childless, and now the son of archduke charles, who had died in , had become the natural heir after the death of matthias to the immense family honours--his cousins maximilian and albert having resigned their claims in his favour. ferdinand, twelve years old at his father's death, had been placed under the care of his maternal uncle, duke william of bavaria. by him the boy was placed at the high school of ingolstadt, to be brought up by the jesuits, in company with duke william's own son maximilian, five years his senior. between these youths, besides the tie of cousinship, there grew up the most intimate union founded on perfect sympathy in religion and politics. when ferdinand entered upon the government of his paternal estates of styria, carinthia, and carniola, he found that the new religion, at which the jesuits had taught him to shudder as at a curse and a crime, had been widely spreading. his father had fought against heresy with all his might, and had died disappointed and broken-hearted at its progress. his uncle of bavaria, in letters to his son and nephew, had stamped into their minds with the enthusiasm of perfect conviction that all happiness and blessing for governments depended on the restoration and maintenance of the unity of the catholic faith. all the evils in times past and present resulting from religious differences had been held up to the two youths by the jesuits in the most glaring colours. the first duty of a prince, they had inculcated, was to extirpate all false religions, to give the opponents of the true church no quarter, and to think no sacrifice too great by which the salvation of human society, brought almost to perdition by the new doctrines, could be effected. never had jesuits an apter scholar than ferdinand. after leaving school, he made a pilgrimage to loretto to make his vows to the virgin mary of extirpation of heresy, and went to rome to obtain the blessing of pope clement viii. then, returning to the government of his inheritance, he seized that terrible two-edged weapon of which the protestants of germany had taught him the use. "cujus regio ejus religio;" to the prince the choice of religion, to the subject conformity with the prince, as if that formula of shallow and selfish princelings, that insult to the dignity of mankind, were the grand result of a movement which was to go on centuries after they had all been forgotten in their tombs. for the time however it was a valid and mischievous maxim. in saxony catholics and calvinists were proscribed; in heidelberg catholics and lutherans. why should either calvinists or lutherans be tolerated in styria? why, indeed? no logic could be more inexorable, and the pupil of the ingolstadt jesuits hesitated not an instant to carry out their teaching with the very instrument forged for him by the reformation. gallows were erected in the streets of all his cities, but there was no hanging. the sight of them proved enough to extort obedience to his edict, that every man, woman, and child not belonging to the ancient church should leave his dominions. they were driven out in hordes in broad daylight from gratz and other cities. rather reign over a wilderness than over heretics was the device of the archduke, in imitation of his great relative, philip ii. of spain. in short space of time his duchies were as empty of protestants as the palatinate of lutherans, or saxony of calvinists, or both of papists. even the churchyards were rifled of dead lutherans and utraquists, their carcasses thrown where they could no longer pollute the true believers mouldering by their side. it was not strange that the coronation as king of bohemia of a man of such decided purposes--a country numbering ten protestants to one catholic--should cause a thrill and a flutter. could it be doubted that the great elemental conflict so steadily prophesied by barneveld and instinctively dreaded by all capable of feeling the signs of the time would now begin? it had begun. of what avail would be majesty-letters and compromises extorted by force from trembling or indolent emperors, now that a man who knew his own mind, and felt it to be a crime not to extirpate all religions but the one orthodox religion, had mounted the throne? it is true that he had sworn at his coronation to maintain the laws of bohemia, and that the majesty-letter and the compromise were part of the laws. but when were doctors ever wanting to prove the unlawfulness of law which interferes with the purposes of a despot and the convictions of the bigot? "novus rex, nova lex," muttered the catholics, lifting up their heads and hearts once more out of the oppression and insults which they had unquestionably suffered at the hands of the triumphant reformers. "there are many empty poppy-heads now flaunting high that shall be snipped off," said others. "that accursed german count thurn and his fellows, whom the devil has sent from hell to bohemia for his own purposes, shall be disposed of now," was the general cry. it was plain that heresy could no longer be maintained except by the sword. that which had been extorted by force would be plucked back by force. the succession of ferdinand was in brief a warshout to be echoed by all the catholics of europe. before the end of the year the protestant churches of brunnau were sealed up. those at klostergrab were demolished in three days by command of the archbishop of prague. these dumb walls preached in their destruction more stirring sermons than perhaps would ever have been heard within them had they stood. this tearing in pieces of the imperial patent granting liberty of protestant worship, this summary execution done upon senseless bricks and mortar, was an act of defiance to the reformed religion everywhere. protestantism was struck in the face, spat upon, defied. the effect was instantaneous. thurn and the other defenders of the protestant faith were as prompt in action as the catholics had been in words. a few months passed away. the emperor was in vienna, but his ten stadholders were in prague. the fateful rd of may arrived. slawata, a bohemian protestant, who had converted himself to the roman church in order to marry a rich widow, and who converted his peasants by hunting them to mass with his hounds, and martinitz, the two stadholders who at ferdinand's coronation had endeavoured to prevent him from including the majesty-letter among the privileges he was swearing to support, and who were considered the real authors of the royal letters revoking all religious rights of protestants, were the most obnoxious of all. they were hurled from the council-chamber window of the hradschin. the unfortunate secretary fabricius was tossed out after them. twenty-eight ells deep they fell, and all escaped unhurt by the fall; fabricius being subsequently ennobled by a grateful emperor with the well-won title of baron summerset. the thirty years' war, which in reality had been going on for several years already, is dated from that day. a provisional government was established in prague by the estates under protestant guidance, a college of thirty directors managing affairs. the window-tumble, as the event has always been called in history, excited a sensation in europe. especially the young king of france, whose political position should bring him rather into alliance with the rebels than the emperor, was disgusted and appalled. he was used to rebellion. since he was ten years old there had been a rebellion against himself every year. there was rebellion now. but his ministers had never been thrown out of window. perhaps one might take some day to tossing out kings as well. he disapproved the process entirely. thus the great conflict of christendom, so long impending, seemed at last to have broken forth in full fury on a comparatively insignificant incident. thus reasoned the superficial public, as if the throwing out of window of twenty stadholders could have created a general war in europe had not the causes of war lain deep and deadly in the whole framework of society. the succession of ferdinand to the throne of the holy wenzel, in which his election to the german imperial crown was meant to be involved, was a matter which concerned almost every household in christendom. liberty of religion, civil franchise, political charters, contract between government and subject, right to think, speak, or act, these were the human rights everywhere in peril. a compromise between the two religious parties had existed for half a dozen years in germany, a feeble compromise by which men had hardly been kept from each others' throats. that compromise had now been thrown to the winds. the vast conspiracy of spain, rome, the house of austria, against human liberty had found a chief in the docile, gloomy pupil of the jesuits now enthroned in bohemia, and soon perhaps to wield the sceptre of the holy roman empire. there was no state in europe that had not cause to put hand on sword-hilt. "distrust and good garrisons," in the prophetic words of barneveld, would now be the necessary resource for all intending to hold what had been gained through long years of toil, martyrdom, and hard fighting. the succession of ferdinand excited especial dismay and indignation in the palatinate. the young elector had looked upon the prize as his own. the marked advance of protestant sentiment throughout the kingdom and its neighbour provinces had seemed to render the succession of an extreme papist impossible. when frederic had sued for and won the hand of the fair elizabeth, daughter of the king of great britain, it was understood that the alliance would be more brilliant for her than it seemed. james with his usual vanity spoke of his son-in-law as a future king. it was a golden dream for the elector and for the general cause of the reformed religion. heidelberg enthroned in the ancient capital of the wenzels, maximilians, and rudolphs, the catechism and confession enrolled among the great statutes of the land, this was progress far beyond flimsy majesty-letters and compromises, made only to be torn to pieces. through the dim vista of futurity and in ecstatic vision no doubt even the imperial crown might seem suspended over the palatine's head. but this would be merely a midsummer's dream. events did not whirl so rapidly as they might learn to do centuries later, and--the time for a protestant to grasp at the crown of germany could then hardly be imagined as ripening. but what the calvinist branch of the house of wittelsbach had indeed long been pursuing was to interrupt the succession of the house of austria to the german throne. that a catholic prince must for the immediate future continue to occupy it was conceded even by frederic, but the electoral votes might surely be now so manipulated as to prevent a slave of spain and a tool of the jesuits from wielding any longer the sceptre of charlemagne. on the other hand the purpose of the house of austria was to do away with the elective principle and the prescriptive rights of the estates in bohemia first, and afterwards perhaps to send the golden bull itself to the limbo of wornout constitutional devices. at present however their object was to secure their hereditary sovereignty in prague first, and then to make sure of the next imperial election at frankfurt. time afterwards might fight still more in their favour, and fix them in hereditary possession of the german throne. the elector-palatine had lost no time. his counsellors even before the coronation of ferdinand at prague had done their best to excite alarm throughout germany at the document by which archdukes maximilian and albert had resigned all their hereditary claims in favour of ferdinand and his male children. should there be no such issue, the king of spain claimed the succession for his own sons as great-grandchildren of emperor maximilian, considering himself nearer in the line than the styrian branch, but being willing to waive his own rights in favour of so ardent a catholic as ferdinand. there was even a secret negotiation going on a long time between the new king of bohemia and philip to arrange for the precedence of the spanish males over the styrian females to the hereditary austrian states, and to cede the province of alsace to spain. it was not wonderful that protestant germany should be alarmed. after a century of protestantism, that spain should by any possibility come to be enthroned again over germany was enough to raise both luther and calvin from their graves. it was certainly enough to set the lively young palatine in motion. so soon as the election of frederic was proclaimed, he had taken up the business in person. fond of amusement, young, married to a beautiful bride of the royal house of england, he had hitherto left politics to his counsellors. finding himself frustrated in his ambition by the election of another to the seat he had fondly deemed his own, he resolved to unseat him if he could, and, at any rate, to prevent the ulterior consequences of his elevation. he made a pilgrimage to sedan, to confer with that irrepressible intriguer and huguenot chieftain, the duc de bouillon. he felt sure of the countenance of the states-general, and, of course, of his near relative the great stadholder. he was resolved to invite the duke of lorraine to head the anti-austrian party, and to stand for the kingship of the romans and the empire in opposition to ferdinand. an emissary sent to nancy came back with a discouraging reply. the duke not only flatly refused the candidacy, but warned the palatine that if it really came to a struggle he could reckon on small support anywhere, not even from those who now seemed warmest for the scheme. then frederic resolved to try his cousin, the great maximilian of bavaria, to whom all catholics looked with veneration and whom all german protestants respected. had the two branches of the illustrious house of wittelsbach been combined in one purpose, the opposition to the house of austria might indeed have been formidable. but what were ties of blood compared to the iron bands of religious love and hatred? how could maximilian, sternest of papists, and frederick v., flightiest of calvinists, act harmoniously in an imperial election? moreover, maximilian was united by ties of youthful and tender friendship as well as by kindred and perfect religious sympathy to his other cousin, king ferdinand himself. the case seemed hopeless, but the elector went to munich, and held conferences with his cousin. not willing to take no for an answer so long as it was veiled under evasive or ornamental phraseology, he continued to negotiate with maximilian through his envoys camerarius and secretary neu, who held long debates with the duke's chief councillor, doctor jocher. camerarius assured jocher that his master was the hercules to untie the gordian knot, and the lion of the tribe of judah. how either the lion of judah or hercules were to untie the knot which was popularly supposed to have been cut by the sword of alexander did not appear, but maximilian at any rate was moved neither by entreaties nor tropes. being entirely averse from entering himself for the german crown, he grew weary at last of the importunity with which the scheme was urged. so he wrote a short billet to his councillor, to be shown to secretary neu. "dear jocher," he said, "i am convinced one must let these people understand the matter in a little plainer german. i am once for all determined not to let myself into any misunderstanding or even amplifications with the house of austria in regard to the succession. i think also that it would rather be harmful than useful to my house to take upon myself so heavy a burthen as the german crown." this time the german was plain enough and produced its effect. maximilian was too able a statesman and too conscientious a friend to wish to exchange his own proud position as chief of the league, acknowledged head of the great catholic party, for the slippery, comfortless, and unmeaning throne of the holy empire, which he considered ferdinand's right. the chiefs of the anti-austrian party, especially the prince of anhalt and the margrave of anspach, in unison with the heidelberg cabinet, were forced to look for another candidate. accordingly the margrave and the elector-palatine solemnly agreed that it was indispensable to choose an emperor who should not be of the house of austria nor a slave of spain. it was, to be sure, not possible to think of a protestant prince. bavaria would not oppose austria, would also allow too much influence to the jesuits. so there remained no one but the duke of savoy. he was a prince of the empire. he was of german descent, of saxon race, a great general, father of his soldiers, who would protect europe against a turkish invasion better than the bastions of vienna could do. he would be agreeable to the catholics, while the protestants could live under him without anxiety because the jesuits would be powerless with him. it would be a master-stroke if the princes would unite upon him. the king of france would necessarily be pleased with it, the king of great britain delighted. at last the model candidate had been found. the duke of savoy having just finished for a second time his chronic war with spain, in which the united provinces, notwithstanding the heavy drain on their resources, had allowed him , florins a month besides the soldiers under count ernest of nassau, had sent mansfeld with men to aid the revolted estates in bohemia. geographically, hereditarily, necessarily the deadly enemy of the house of austria, he listened favourably to the overtures made to him by the princes of the union, expressed undying hatred for the imperial race, and thought the bohemian revolt a priceless occasion for expelling them from power. he was informed by the first envoy sent to him, christopher van dohna, that the object of the great movement now contemplated was to raise him to the imperial throne at the next election, to assist the bohemian estates, to secure the crown of bohemia for the elector-palatine, to protect the protestants of germany, and to break down the overweening power of the austrian house. the duke displayed no eagerness for the crown of germany, while approving the election of frederic, but expressed entire sympathy with the enterprise. it was indispensable however to form a general federation in europe of england, the netherlands, venice, together with protestant germany and himself, before undertaking so mighty a task. while the negotiations were going on, both anspach and anhalt were in great spirits. the margrave cried out exultingly, "in a short time the means will be in our hands for turning the world upside down." he urged the prince of anhalt to be expeditious in his decisions and actions. "he who wishes to trade," he said, "must come to market early." there was some disappointment at heidelberg when the first news from turin arrived, the materials for this vast scheme for an overwhelming and universal european war not seeming to be at their disposition. by and by the duke's plans seem to deepen and broaden. he told mansfeld, who, accompanied by secretary neu, was glad at a pause in his fighting and brandschatzing in bohemia to be employed on diplomatic business, that on the whole he should require the crown of bohemia for himself. he also proposed to accept the imperial crown, and as for frederic, he would leave him the crown of hungary, and would recommend him to round himself out by adding to his hereditary dominions the province of alsace, besides upper austria and other territories in convenient proximity to the palatinate. venice, it had been hoped, would aid in the great scheme and might in her turn round herself out with friuli and istria and other tempting possessions of ferdinand, in reward for the men and money she was expected to furnish. that republic had however just concluded a war with ferdinand, caused mainly by the depredations of the piratical uscoques, in which, as we have seen, she had received the assistance of hollanders under command of count john of nassau. the venetians had achieved many successes, had taken the city of gortz, and almost reduced the city of gradiska. a certain colonel albert waldstein however, of whom more might one day be heard in the history of the war now begun, had beaten the venetians and opened a pathway through their ranks for succour to the beleaguered city. soon afterwards peace was made on an undertaking that the uscoques should be driven from their haunts, their castles dismantled, and their ships destroyed. venice declined an engagement to begin a fresh war. she hated ferdinand and matthias and the whole imperial brood, but, as old barbarigo declared in the senate, the republic could not afford to set her house on fire in order to give austria the inconvenience of the smoke. meantime, although the elector-palatine had magnanimously agreed to use his influence in bohemia in favour of charles emmanuel, the duke seems at last to have declined proposing himself for that throne. he knew, he said, that king james wished that station for his son-in-law. the imperial crown belonged to no one as yet after the death of matthias, and was open therefore to his competition. anhalt demanded of savoy , men for the maintenance of the good cause, asserting that "it would be better to have the turk or the devil himself on the german throne than leave it to ferdinand." the triumvirate ruling at prague-thurn, ruppa, and hohenlohe--were anxious for a decision from frederic. that simple-hearted and ingenuous young elector had long been troubled both with fears lest after all he might lose the crown of bohemia and with qualms of conscience as to the propriety of taking it even if he could get it. he wrestled much in prayer and devout meditation whether as anointed prince himself he were justified in meddling with the anointment of other princes. ferdinand had been accepted, proclaimed, crowned. he artlessly sent to prague to consult the estates whether they possessed the right to rebel, to set aside the reigning dynasty, and to choose a new king. at the same time, with an eye to business, he stipulated that on account of the great expense and trouble devolving upon him the crown must be made hereditary in his family. the impression made upon the grim thurn and his colleagues by the simplicity of these questions may be imagined. the splendour and width of the savoyard's conceptions fascinated the leaders of the union. it seemed to anspach and anhalt that it was as well that frederic should reign in hungary as in bohemia, and the elector was docile. all had relied however on the powerful assistance of the great defender of the protestant faith, the father-in-law of the elector, the king of great britain. but james had nothing but cold water and virgilian quotations for his son's ardour. he was more under the influence of gondemar than ever before, more eagerly hankering for the infanta, more completely the slave of spain. he pledged himself to that government that if the protestants in bohemia continued rebellious, he would do his best to frustrate their designs, and would induce his son-in-law to have no further connection with them. and spain delighted his heart not by immediately sending over the infanta, but by proposing that he should mediate between the contending parties. it would be difficult to imagine a greater farce. all central europe was now in arms. the deepest and gravest questions about which men can fight: the right to worship god according to their conscience and to maintain civil franchises which have been earned by the people with the blood and treasure of centuries, were now to be solved by the sword, and the pupil of buchanan and the friend of buckingham was to step between hundreds of thousands of men in arms with a classical oration. but james was very proud of the proposal and accepted it with alacrity. "you know, my dear son," he wrote to frederic, "that we are the only king in europe that is sought for by friend and foe for his mediation. it would be for this our lofty part very unbecoming if we were capable of favouring one of the parties. your suggestion that we might secretly support the bohemians we must totally reject, as it is not our way to do anything that we would not willingly confess to the whole world." and to do james justice, he had never fed frederic with false hopes, never given a penny for his great enterprise, nor promised him a penny. he had contented himself with suggesting from time to time that he might borrow money of the states-general. his daughter elizabeth must take care of herself, else what would become of her brother's marriage to the daughter of spain. and now it was war to the knife, in which it was impossible that holland, as well as all the other great powers should not soon be involved. it was disheartening to the cause of freedom and progress, not only that the great kingdom on which the world, had learned to rely in all movements upward and onward should be neutralized by the sycophancy of its monarch to the general oppressor, but that the great republic which so long had taken the lead in maintaining the liberties of europe should now be torn by religious discord within itself, and be turning against the great statesman who had so wisely guided her councils and so accurately foretold the catastrophe which was now upon the world. meantime the emperor matthias, not less forlorn than through his intrigues and rebellions his brother rudolph had been made, passed his days in almost as utter retirement as if he had formally abdicated. ferdinand treated him as if in his dotage. his fair young wife too had died of hard eating in the beginning of the winter to his inexpressible grief, so that there was nothing left to solace him now but the rudolphian museum. he had made but one public appearance since the coronation of ferdinand in prague. attended by his brother maximilian, by king ferdinand, and by cardinal khlesl, he had towards the end of the year paid a visit to the elector john george at dresden. the imperial party had been received with much enthusiasm by the great leader of lutheranism. the cardinal had seriously objected to accompanying the emperor on this occasion. since the reformation no cardinal had been seen at the court of saxony. he cared not personally for the pomps and glories of his rank, but still as prince of the church he had settled right of precedence over electors. to waive it would be disrespectful to the pope, to claim it would lead to squabbles. but ferdinand had need of his skill to secure the vote of saxony at the next imperial election. the cardinal was afraid of ferdinand with good reason, and complied. by an agreeable fiction he was received at court not as cardinal but as minister, and accommodated with an humble place at table. many looking on with astonishment thought he would have preferred to dine by himself in retirement. but this was not the bitterest of the mortifications that the pastor and guide of matthias was to suffer at the hands of ferdinand before his career should be closed. the visit at dresden was successful, however. john george, being a claimant, as we have seen, for the duchies of cleve and julich, had need of the emperor. the king had need of john george's vote. there was a series of splendid balls, hunting parties, carousings. the emperor was an invalid, the king was abstemious, but the elector was a mighty drinker. it was not his custom nor that of his councillors to go to bed. they were usually carried there. but it was the wish of ferdinand to be conciliatory, and he bore himself as well as he could at the banquet. the elector was also a mighty hunter. neither of his imperial guests cared for field sports, but they looked out contentedly from the window of a hunting-lodge, before which for their entertainment the elector and his courtiers slaughtered eight bears, ten stags, ten pigs, and eleven badgers, besides a goodly number of other game; john george shooting also three martens from a pole erected for that purpose in the courtyard. it seemed proper for him thus to exhibit a specimen of the skill for which he was justly famed. the elector before his life closed, so says the chronicle, had killed , wild boars, bears, wolves, badgers, , foxes, besides stags and roedeer in still greater number, making a grand total of , beasts. the leader of the lutheran party of germany had not lived in vain. thus the great chiefs of catholicism and of protestantism amicably disported themselves in the last days of the year, while their respective forces were marshalling for mortal combat all over christendom. the elector certainly loved neither matthias nor ferdinand, but he hated the palatine. the chief of the german calvinists disputed that protestant hegemony which john george claimed by right. indeed the immense advantage enjoyed by the catholics at the outbreak of the religious war from the mutual animosities between the two great divisions of the reformed church was already terribly manifest. what an additional power would it derive from the increased weakness of the foe, should there be still other and deeper and more deadly schisms within one great division itself! "the calvinists and lutherans," cried the jesuit scioppius, "are so furiously attacking each other with calumnies and cursings and are persecuting each other to such extent as to give good hope that the devilish weight and burthen of them will go to perdition and shame of itself, and the heretics all do bloody execution upon each other. certainly if ever a golden time existed for exterminating the heretics, it is the present time." the imperial party took their leave of dresden, believing themselves to have secured the electoral vote of saxony; the elector hoping for protection to his interests in the duchies through that sequestration to which barneveld had opposed such vigorous resistance. there had been much slavish cringing before these catholic potentates by the courtiers of dresden, somewhat amazing to the ruder churls of saxony, the common people, who really believed in the religion which their prince had selected for them and himself. and to complete the glaring contrast, ferdinand and matthias had scarcely turned their backs before tremendous fulminations upon the ancient church came from the elector and from all the doctors of theology in saxony. for the jubilee of the hundredth anniversary of the reformation was celebrated all over germany in the autumn of this very year, and nearly at the exact moment of all this dancing, and fuddling, and pig shooting at dresden in honour of emperors and cardinals. and pope paul v. had likewise ordained a jubilee for true believers at almost the same time. the elector did not mince matters in his proclamation from any regard to the feelings of his late guests. he called on all protestants to rejoice, "because the light of the holy gospel had now shone brightly in the electoral dominions for a hundred years, the omnipotent keeping it burning notwithstanding the raging and roaring of the hellish enemy and all his scaly servants." the doctors of divinity were still more emphatic in their phraseology. they called on all professors and teachers of the true evangelical churches, not only in germany but throughout christendom, to keep the great jubilee. they did this in terms not calculated certainly to smother the flames of religious and party hatred, even if it had been possible at that moment to suppress the fire. "the great god of heaven," they said, "had caused the undertaking of his holy instrument mr. doctor martin luther to prosper. through his unspeakable mercy he has driven away the papal darkness and caused the sun of righteousness once more to beam upon the world. the old idolatries, blasphemies, errors, and horrors of the benighted popedom have been exterminated in many kingdoms and countries. innumerable sheep of the lord christ have been fed on the wholesome pasture of the divine word in spite of those monstrous, tearing, ravenous wolves, the pope and his followers. the enemy of god and man, the ancient serpent, may hiss and rage. yes, the roman antichrist in his frantic blusterings may bite off his own tongue, may fulminate all kinds of evils, bans, excommunications, wars, desolations, and burnings, as long and as much as he likes. but if we take refuge with the lord god, what can this inane, worn-out man and water-bubble do to us?" with more in the same taste. the pope's bull for the catholic jubilee was far more decorous and lofty in tone, for it bewailed the general sin in christendom, and called on all believers to flee from the wrath about to descend upon the earth, in terms that were almost prophetic. he ordered all to pray that the lord might lift up his church, protect it from the wiles of the enemy, extirpate heresies, grant peace and true unity among christian princes, and mercifully avert disasters already coming near. but if the language of paul v. was measured and decent, the swarm of jesuit pamphleteers that forthwith began to buzz and to sting all over christendom were sufficiently venomous. scioppius, in his alarm trumpet to the holy war, and a hundred others declared that all heresies and heretics were now to be extirpated, the one true church to be united and re-established, and that the only road to such a consummation was a path of blood. the lutheran preachers, on the other hand, obedient to the summons from dresden, vied with each other in every town and village in heaping denunciations, foul names, and odious imputations on the catholics; while the calvinists, not to be behindhand with their fellow reformers, celebrated the jubilee, especially at heidelberg, by excluding papists from hope of salvation, and bewailing the fate of all churches sighing under the yoke of rome. and not only were the papists and the reformers exchanging these blasts and counterblasts of hatred, not less deadly in their effects than the artillery of many armies, but as if to make a thorough exhibition of human fatuity when drunk with religious passion, the lutherans were making fierce paper and pulpit war upon the calvinists. especially hoe, court preacher of john george, ceaselessly hurled savage libels against them. in the name of the theological faculty of wittenberg, he addressed a "truehearted warning to all lutheran christians in bohemia, moravia, silesia, and other provinces, to beware of the erroneous calvinistic religion." he wrote a letter to count schlick, foremost leader in the bohemian movement, asking whether "the unquiet calvinist spirit, should it gain ascendency, would be any more endurable than the papists. oh what woe, what infinite woe," he cried, "for those noble countries if they should all be thrust into the jaws of calvinism!" did not preacher hoe's master aspire to the crown of bohemia himself? was he not furious at the start which heidelberg had got of him in the race for that golden prize? was he not mad with jealousy of the palatine, of the palatine's religion, and of the palatine's claim to "hegemony" in germany? thus embittered and bloodthirsty towards each other were the two great sections of the reformed religion on the first centennial jubilee of the reformation. such was the divided front which the anti-catholic party presented at the outbreak of the war with catholicism. ferdinand, on the other hand, was at the head of a comparatively united party. he could hardly hope for more than benevolent neutrality from the french government, which, in spite of the spanish marriages, dared not wholly desert the netherlands and throw itself into the hands of spain; but spanish diplomacy had enslaved the british king, and converted what should have been an active and most powerful enemy into an efficient if concealed ally. the spanish and archiducal armies were enveloping the dutch republic, from whence the most powerful support could be expected for the protestant cause. had it not been for the steadiness of barneveld, spain would have been at that moment established in full panoply over the whole surface of those inestimable positions, the disputed duchies. venice was lukewarm, if not frigid; and savoy, although deeply pledged by passion and interest to the downfall of the house of austria, was too dangerously situated herself, too distant, too poor, and too catholic to be very formidable. ferdinand was safe from the turkish side. a twenty years' peace, renewable by agreement, between the holy empire and the sultan had been negotiated by those two sons of bakers, cardinal khlesl and the vizier etmekdschifade. it was destined to endure through all the horrors of the great war, a stronger protection to vienna than all the fortifications which the engineering art could invent. he was safe too from poland, king sigmund being not only a devoted catholic but doubly his brother-in-law. spain, therefore, the spanish netherlands, the pope, and the german league headed by maximilian of bavaria, the ablest prince on the continent of europe, presented a square, magnificent phalanx on which ferdinand might rely. the states-general, on the other hand, were a most dangerous foe. with a centennial hatred of spain, splendidly disciplined armies and foremost navy of the world, with an admirable financial system and vast commercial resources, with a great stadholder, first captain of the age, thirsting for war, and allied in blood as well as religion to the standard-bearer of the bohemian revolt; with councils directed by the wisest and most experienced of living statesman, and with the very life blood of her being derived from the fountain of civil and religious liberty, the great republic of the united netherlands--her truce with the hereditary foe just expiring was, if indeed united, strong enough at the head of the protestant forces of europe to dictate to a world in arms. alas! was it united? as regarded internal affairs of most pressing interest, the electoral vote at the next election at frankfurt had been calculated as being likely to yield a majority of one for the opposition candidate, should the savoyard or any other opposition candidate be found. but the calculation was a close one and might easily be fallacious. supposing the palatine elected king of bohemia by the rebellious estates, as was probable, he could of course give the vote of that electorate and his own against ferdinand, and the vote of brandenburg at that time seemed safe. but ferdinand by his visit to dresden had secured the vote of saxony, while of the three ecclesiastical electors, cologne and mayence were sure for him. thus it would be three and three, and the seventh and decisive vote would be that of the elector-bishop of treves. the sanguine frederic thought that with french influence and a round sum of money this ecclesiastic might be got to vote for the opposition candidate. the ingenious combination was not destined to be successful, and as there has been no intention in the present volume to do more than slightly indicate the most prominent movements and mainsprings of the great struggle so far as germany is concerned, without entering into detail, it may be as well to remind the reader that it proved wonderfully wrong. matthias died on the th march, , the election of a new emperor took place at frankfurt on the th of the following august, and not only did saxony and all three ecclesiastical electors vote for ferdinand, but brandenburg likewise, as well as the elector-palatine himself, while ferdinand, personally present in the assembly as elector of bohemia, might according to the golden bull have given the seventh vote for himself had he chosen to do so. thus the election was unanimous. strange to say, as the electors proceeded through the crowd from the hall of election to accompany the new emperor to the church where he was to receive the popular acclaim, the news reached them from prague that the elector-palatine had been elected king of bohemia. thus frederic, by voting for ferdinand, had made himself voluntarily a rebel should he accept the crown now offered him. had the news arrived sooner, a different result and even a different history might have been possible. chapter xiv. barneveld connected with the east india company, but opposed to the west india company--carleton comes from venice inimical to barneveld--maurice openly the chieftain of the contra-remonstrants--tumults about the churches--"orange or spain" the cry of prince maurice and his party--they take possession of the cloister church--"the sharp resolve"--carleton's orations before the states-general. king james never forgave barneveld for drawing from him those famous letters to the states in which he was made to approve the five points and to admit the possibility of salvation under them. these epistles had brought much ridicule upon james, who was not amused by finding his theological discussions a laughing-stock. he was still more incensed by the biting criticisms made upon the cheap surrender of the cautionary towns, and he hated more than ever the statesman who, as he believed, had twice outwitted him. on the other hand, maurice, inspired by his brother-in-law the duke of bouillon and by the infuriated francis aerssens, abhorred barneveld's french policy, which was freely denounced by the french calvinists and by the whole orthodox church. in holland he was still warmly sustained except in the contra-remonstrant amsterdam and a few other cities of less importance. but there were perhaps deeper reasons for the advocate's unpopularity in the great commercial metropolis than theological pretexts. barneveld's name and interests were identified with the great east india company, which was now powerful and prosperous beyond anything ever dreamt of before in the annals of commerce. that trading company had already founded an empire in the east. fifty ships of war, fortresses guarded by pieces of artillery and , soldiers and sailors, obeyed the orders of a dozen private gentlemen at home seated in a back parlour around a green table. the profits of each trading voyage were enormous, and the shareholders were growing rich beyond their wildest imaginings. to no individual so much as to holland's advocate was this unexampled success to be ascribed. the vast prosperity of the east india company had inspired others with the ambition to found a similar enterprise in the west. but to the west india company then projected and especially favoured in amsterdam, barneveld was firmly opposed. he considered it as bound up with the spirit of military adventure and conquest, and as likely to bring on prematurely and unwisely a renewed conflict with spain. the same reasons which had caused him to urge the truce now influenced his position in regard to the west india company. thus the clouds were gathering every day more darkly over the head of the advocate. the powerful mercantile interest in the great seat of traffic in the republic, the personal animosity of the stadholder, the execrations of the orthodox party in france, england, and all the netherlands, the anger of the french princes and all those of the old huguenot party who had been foolish enough to act with the princes in their purely selfish schemes against the, government, and the overflowing hatred of king james, whose darling schemes of spanish marriages and a spanish alliance had been foiled by the advocate's masterly policy in france and in the duchies, and whose resentment at having been so completely worsted and disarmed in the predestination matter and in the redemption of the great mortgage had deepened into as terrible wrath as outraged bigotry and vanity could engender; all these elements made up a stormy atmosphere in which the strongest heart might have quailed. but barneveld did not quail. doubtless he loved power, and the more danger he found on every side the less inclined he was to succumb. but he honestly believed that the safety and prosperity of the country he had so long and faithfully served were identified with the policy which he was pursuing. arrogant, overbearing, self-concentrated, accustomed to lead senates and to guide the councils and share the secrets of kings, familiar with and almost an actor in every event in the political history not only of his own country but of every important state in christendom during nearly two generations of mankind, of unmatched industry, full of years and experience, yet feeling within him the youthful strength of a thousand intellects compared to most of those by which he was calumniated, confronted, and harassed; he accepted the great fight which was forced upon him. irascible, courageous, austere, contemptuous, he looked around and saw the republic whose cradle he had rocked grown to be one of the most powerful and prosperous among the states of the world, and could with difficulty imagine that in this supreme hour of her strength and her felicity she was ready to turn and rend the man whom she was bound by every tie of duty to cherish and to revere. sir dudley carleton, the new english ambassador to the states, had arrived during the past year red-hot from venice. there he had perhaps not learned especially to love the new republic which had arisen among the northern lagunes, and whose admission among the nations had been at last accorded by the proud queen of the adriatic, notwithstanding the objections and the intrigues both of french and english representatives. he had come charged to the brim with the political spite of james against the advocate, and provided too with more than seven vials of theological wrath. such was the king's revenge for barneveld's recent successes. the supporters in the netherlands of the civil authority over the church were moreover to be instructed by the political head of the english church that such supremacy, although highly proper for a king, was "thoroughly unsuitable for a many-headed republic." so much for church government. as for doctrine, arminianism and vorstianism were to be blasted with one thunderstroke from the british throne. "in holland," said james to his envoy, "there have been violent and sharp contestations amongst the towns in the cause of religion . . . . . if they shall be unhappily revived during your time, you shall not forget that you are the minister of that master whom god hath made the sole protector of his religion." there was to be no misunderstanding in future as to the dogmas which the royal pope of great britain meant to prescribe to his netherland subjects. three years before, at the dictation of the advocate, he had informed the states that he was convinced of their ability to settle the deplorable dissensions as to religion according to their wisdom and the power which belonged to them over churches and church servants. he had informed them of his having learned by experience that such questions could hardly be decided by the wranglings of theological professors, and that it was better to settle them by public authority and to forbid their being brought into the pulpit or among common people. he had recommended mutual toleration of religious difference until otherwise ordained by the public civil authority, and had declared that neither of the two opinions in regard to predestination was in his opinion far from the truth or inconsistent with christian faith or the salvation of souls. it was no wonder that these utterances were quite after the advocate's heart, as james had faithfully copied them from the advocate's draft. but now in the exercise of his infallibility the king issued other decrees. his minister was instructed to support the extreme views of the orthodox both as to government and dogma, and to urge the national synod, as it were, at push of pike. "besides the assistance," said he to carleton, "which we would have you give to the true professors of the gospel in your discourse and conferences, you may let fall how hateful the maintenance of these erroneous opinions is to the majesty of god, how displeasing unto us their dearest friends, and how disgraceful to the honour and government of that state." and faithfully did the ambassador act up to his instructions. most sympathetically did he embody the hatred of the king. an able, experienced, highly accomplished diplomatist and scholar, ready with tongue and pen, caustic, censorious, prejudiced, and partial, he was soon foremost among the foes of the advocate in the little court of the hague, and prepared at any moment to flourish the political and theological goad when his master gave the word. nothing in diplomatic history is more eccentric than the long sermons upon abstruse points of divinity and ecclesiastical history which the english ambassador delivered from time to time before the states-general in accordance with elaborate instructions drawn up by his sovereign with his own hand. rarely has a king been more tedious, and he bestowed all his tediousness upon my lords the states-general. nothing could be more dismal than these discourses, except perhaps the contemporaneous and interminable orations of grotius to the states of holland, to the magistrates of amsterdam, to the states of utrecht; yet carleton was a man of the world, a good debater, a ready writer, while hugo grotius was one of the great lights of that age and which shone for all time. among the diplomatic controversies of history, rarely refreshing at best, few have been more drouthy than those once famous disquisitions, and they shall be left to shrivel into the nothingness of the past, so far as is consistent with the absolute necessities of this narrative. the contest to which the advocate was called had become mainly a personal and a political one, although the weapons with which it was fought were taken from ecclesiastical arsenals. it was now an unequal contest. for the great captain of the country and of his time, the son of william the silent, the martial stadholder, in the fulness of his fame and vigour of his years, had now openly taken his place as the chieftain of the contra-remonstrants. the conflict between the civil and the military element for supremacy in a free commonwealth has never been more vividly typified than in this death-grapple between maurice and barneveld. the aged but still vigorous statesman, ripe with half a century of political lore, and the high-born, brilliant, and scientific soldier, with the laurels of turnhout and nieuwpoort and of a hundred famous sieges upon his helmet, reformer of military science, and no mean proficient in the art of politics and government, were the representatives and leaders of the two great parties into which the commonwealth had now unhappily divided itself. but all history shows that the brilliant soldier of a republic is apt to have the advantage, in a struggle for popular affection and popular applause, over the statesman, however consummate. the general imagination is more excited by the triumphs of the field than by those of the tribune, and the man who has passed many years of life in commanding multitudes with necessarily despotic sway is often supposed to have gained in the process the attributes likely to render him most valuable as chief citizen of a flee commonwealth. yet national enthusiasm is so universally excited by splendid military service as to forbid a doubt that the sentiment is rooted deeply in our nature, while both in antiquity and in modern times there are noble although rare examples of the successful soldier converting himself into a valuable and exemplary magistrate. in the rivalry of maurice and barneveld however for the national affection the chances were singularly against the advocate. the great battles and sieges of the prince had been on a world's theatre, had enchained the attention of christendom, and on their issue had frequently depended, or seemed to depend, the very existence of the nation. the labours of the statesman, on the contrary, had been comparatively secret. his noble orations and arguments had been spoken with closed doors to assemblies of colleagues--rather envoys than senators--were never printed or even reported, and could be judged of only by their effects; while his vast labours in directing both the internal administration and especially the foreign affairs of the commonwealth had been by their very nature as secret as they were perpetual and enormous. moreover, there was little of what we now understand as the democratic sentiment in the netherlands. there was deep and sturdy attachment to ancient traditions, privileges, special constitutions extorted from a power acknowledged to be superior to the people. when partly to save those chartered rights, and partly to overthrow the horrible ecclesiastical tyranny of the sixteenth century, the people had accomplished a successful revolt, they never dreamt of popular sovereignty, but allowed the municipal corporations, by which their local affairs had been for centuries transacted, to unite in offering to foreign princes, one after another, the crown which they had torn from the head of the spanish king. when none was found to accept the dangerous honour, they had acquiesced in the practical sovereignty of the states; but whether the states-general or the states-provincial were the supreme authority had certainly not been definitely and categorically settled. so long as the states of holland, led by the advocate, had controlled in great matters the political action of the states-general, while the stadholder stood without a rival at the head of their military affairs, and so long as there were no fierce disputes as to government and dogma within the bosom of the reformed church, the questions which were now inflaming the whole population had been allowed to slumber. the termination of the war and the rise of arminianism were almost contemporaneous. the stadholder, who so unwillingly had seen the occupation in which he had won so much glory taken from him by the truce, might perhaps find less congenial but sufficiently engrossing business as champion of the church and of the union. the new church--not freedom of worship for different denominations of christians, but supremacy of the church of heidelberg and geneva--seemed likely to be the result of the overthrow of the ancient church. it is the essence of the catholic church to claim supremacy over and immunity from the civil authority, and to this claim for the reformed church, by which that of rome had been supplanted, barneveld was strenuously opposed. the stadholder was backed, therefore, by the church in its purity, by the majority of the humbler classes--who found in membership of the oligarchy of heaven a substitute for those democratic aspirations on earth which were effectually suppressed between the two millstones of burgher aristocracy and military discipline--and by the states-general, a majority of which were contra-remonstrant in their faith. if the sword is usually an overmatch for the long robe in political struggles, the cassock has often proved superior to both combined. but in the case now occupying our attention the cassock was in alliance with the sword. clearly the contest was becoming a desperate one for the statesman. and while the controversy between the chiefs waged hotter and hotter, the tumults around the churches on sundays in every town and village grew more and more furious, ending generally in open fights with knives, bludgeons, and brickbats; preachers and magistrates being often too glad to escape with a whole skin. one can hardly be ingenuous enough to consider all this dirking, battering, and fisticuffing as the legitimate and healthy outcome of a difference as to the knotty point whether all men might or might not be saved by repentance and faith in christ. the greens and blues of the byzantine circus had not been more typical of fierce party warfare in the lower empire than the greens and blues of predestination in the rising commonwealth, according to the real or imagined epigram of prince maurice. "your divisions in religion," wrote secretary lake to carleton, "have, i doubt not, a deeper root than is discerned by every one, and i doubt not that the prince maurice's carriage doth make a jealousy of affecting a party under the pretence of supporting one side, and that the states fear his ends and aims, knowing his power with the men of war; and that howsoever all be shadowed under the name of religion there is on either part a civil end, of the one seeking a step of higher authority, of the other a preservation of liberty." and in addition to other advantages the contra-remonstrants had now got a good cry--an inestimable privilege in party contests. "there are two factions in the land," said maurice, "that of orange and that of spain, and the two chiefs of the spanish faction are those political and priestly arminians, uytenbogaert and oldenbarneveld." orange and spain! the one name associated with all that was most venerated and beloved throughout the country, for william the silent since his death was almost a god; the other ineradicably entwined at that moment with, everything execrated throughout the land. the prince of orange's claim to be head of the orange faction could hardly be disputed, but it was a master stroke of political malice to fix the stigma of spanish partisanship on the advocate. if the venerable patriot who had been fighting spain, sometimes on the battle-field and always in the council, ever since he came to man's estate, could be imagined even in a dream capable of being bought with spanish gold to betray his country, who in the ranks of the remonstrant party could be safe from such accusations? each party accused the other of designs for altering or subverting the government. maurice was suspected of what were called leicestrian projects, "leycestrana consilia"--for the earl's plots to gain possession of leyden and utrecht had never been forgotten--while the prince and those who acted with him asserted distinctly that it was the purpose of barneveld to pave the way for restoring the spanish sovereignty and the popish religion so soon as the truce had reached its end? spain and orange. nothing for a faction fight could be neater. moreover the two words rhyme in netherlandish, which is the case in no other language, "spanje-oranje." the sword was drawn and the banner unfurled. the "mud beggars" of the hague, tired of tramping to ryswyk of a sunday to listen to henry rosaeus, determined on a private conventicle in the capital. the first barn selected was sealed up by the authorities, but epoch much, book-keeper of prince maurice, then lent them his house. the prince declared that sooner than they should want a place of assembling he would give them his own. but he meant that they should have a public church to themselves, and that very soon. king james thoroughly approved of all these proceedings. at that very instant such of his own subjects as had seceded from the established church to hold conventicles in barns and breweries and backshops in london were hunted by him with bishops' pursuivants and other beagles like vilest criminals, thrown into prison to rot, or suffered to escape from their fatherland into the trans-atlantic wilderness, there to battle with wild beasts and savages, and to die without knowing themselves the fathers of a more powerful united states than the dutch republic, where they were fain to seek in passing a temporary shelter. he none the less instructed his envoy at the hague to preach the selfsame doctrines for which the new england puritans were persecuted, and importunately and dictatorially to plead the cause of those hollanders who, like bradford and robinson, winthrop and cotton, maintained the independence of the church over the state. logic is rarely the quality on which kings pride themselves, and puritanism in the netherlands, although under temporary disadvantage at the hague, was evidently the party destined to triumph throughout the country. james could safely sympathize therefore in holland with what he most loathed in england, and could at the same time feed fat the grudge he owed the advocate. the calculations of barneveld as to the respective political forces of the commonwealth seem to have been to a certain extent defective. he allowed probably too much weight to the catholic party as a motive power at that moment, and he was anxious both from that consideration and from his honest natural instinct for general toleration; his own broad and unbigoted views in religious matters, not to force that party into a rebellious attitude dangerous to the state. we have seen how nearly a mutiny in the important city of utrecht, set on foot by certain romanist conspirators in the years immediately succeeding the truce, had subverted the government, had excited much anxiety amongst the firmest allies of the republic, and had been suppressed only by the decision of the advocate and a show of military force. he had informed carleton not long after his arrival that in the united provinces, and in holland in particular, were many sects and religions of which, according to his expression, "the healthiest and the richest part were the papists, while the protestants did not make up one-third part of the inhabitants." certainly, if these statistics were correct or nearly correct, there could be nothing more stupid from a purely political point of view than to exasperate so influential a portion of the community to madness and rebellion by refusing them all rights of public worship. yet because the advocate had uniformly recommended indulgence, he had incurred more odium at home than from any other cause. of course he was a papist in disguise, ready to sell his country to spain, because he was willing that more than half the population of the country should be allowed to worship god according to their conscience. surely it would be wrong to judge the condition of things at that epoch by the lights of to-day, and perhaps in the netherlands there had before been no conspicuous personage, save william the silent alone, who had risen to the height of toleration on which the advocate essayed to stand. other leading politicians considered that the national liberties could be preserved only by retaining the catholics in complete subjection. at any rate the advocate was profoundly convinced of the necessity of maintaining harmony and mutual toleration among the protestants themselves, who, as he said, made up but one-third of the whole people. in conversing with the english ambassador he divided them into "puritans and double puritans," as they would be called, he said, in england. if these should be at variance with each other, he argued, the papists would be the strongest of all. "to prevent this inconvenience," he said, "the states were endeavouring to settle some certain form of government in the church; which being composed of divers persecuted churches such as in the beginning of the wars had their refuge here, that which during the wars could not be so well done they now thought seasonable for a time of truce; and therefore would show their authority in preventing the schism of the church which would follow the separation of those they call remonstrants and contra-remonstrants." there being no word so offensive to carleton's sovereign as the word puritan, the ambassador did his best to persuade the advocate that a puritan in holland was a very different thing from a puritan in england. in england he was a noxious vermin, to be hunted with dogs. in the netherlands he was the governing power. but his arguments were vapourous enough and made little impression on barneveld. "he would no ways yield," said sir dudley. meantime the contra-remonstrants of the hague, not finding sufficient accommodation in enoch much's house, clamoured loudly for the use of a church. it was answered by the city magistrates that two of their persuasion, la motte and la faille, preached regularly in the great church, and that rosaeus had been silenced only because he refused to hold communion with uytenbogaert. maurice insisted that a separate church should be assigned them. "but this is open schism," said uytenbogaert. early in the year there was a meeting of the holland delegation to the states-general, of the state council, and of the magistracy of the hague, of deputies from the tribunals, and of all the nobles resident in the capital. they sent for maurice and asked his opinion as to the alarming situation of affairs. he called for the register-books of the states of holland, and turning back to the pages on which was recorded his accession to the stadholderate soon after his father's murder, ordered the oath then exchanged between himself and the states to be read aloud. that oath bound them mutually to support the reformed religion till the last drop of blood in their veins. "that oath i mean to keep," said the stadholder, "so long as i live." no one disputed the obligation of all parties to maintain the reformed religion. but the question was whether the five points were inconsistent with the reformed religion. the contrary was clamorously maintained by most of those present: in the year this difference in dogma had not arisen, and as the large majority of the people at the hague, including nearly all those of rank and substance, were of the remonstrant persuasion, they naturally found it not agreeable to be sent out of the church by a small minority. but maurice chose to settle the question very summarily. his father had been raised to power by the strict calvinists, and he meant to stand by those who had always sustained william the silent. "for this religion my father lost his life, and this religion will i defend," said he. "you hold then," said barneveld, "that the almighty has created one child for damnation and another for salvation, and you wish this doctrine to be publicly preached." "did you ever hear any one preach that?" replied the prince. "if they don't preach it, it is their inmost conviction," said the other. and he proceeded to prove his position by copious citations. "and suppose our ministers do preach this doctrine, is there anything strange in it, any reason why they should not do so?" the advocate expressed his amazement and horror at the idea. "but does not god know from all eternity who is to be saved and who to be damned; and does he create men for any other end than that to which he from eternity knows they will come?" and so they enclosed themselves in the eternal circle out of which it was not probable that either the soldier or the statesman would soon find an issue. "i am no theologian," said barneveld at last, breaking off the discussion. "neither am i," said the stadholder. "so let the parsons come together. let the synod assemble and decide the question. thus we shall get out of all this." next day a deputation of the secessionists waited by appointment on prince maurice. they found him in the ancient mediaeval hall of the sovereign counts of holland, and seated on their old chair of state. he recommended them to use caution and moderation for the present, and to go next sunday once more to ryswyk. afterwards he pledged himself that they should have a church at the hague, and, if necessary, the great church itself. but the great church, although a very considerable catholic cathedral before the reformation, was not big enough now to hold both henry rosaeus and john uytenbogaert. those two eloquent, learned, and most pugnacious divines were the respective champions in the pulpit of the opposing parties, as were the advocate and the stadholder in the council. and there was as bitter personal rivalry between the two as between the soldier and statesman. "the factions begin to divide themselves," said carleton, "betwixt his excellency and monsieur barneveld as heads who join to this present difference their ancient quarrels. and the schism rests actually between uytenbogaert and rosaeus, whose private emulation and envy (both being much applauded and followed) doth no good towards the public pacification." uytenbogaert repeatedly offered, however, to resign his functions and to leave the hague. "he was always ready to play the jonah," he said. a temporary arrangement was made soon afterwards by which rosaeus and his congregation should have the use of what was called the gasthuis kerk, then appropriated to the english embassy. carleton of course gave his consent most willingly. the prince declared that the states of holland and the city magistracy had personally affronted him by the obstacles they had interposed to the public worship of the contra-remonstrants. with their cause he had now thoroughly identified himself. the hostility between the representatives of the civil and military authority waxed fiercer every hour. the tumults were more terrible than ever. plainly there was no room in the commonwealth for the advocate and the stadholder. some impartial persons believed that there would be no peace until both were got rid of. "there are many words among this free-spoken people," said carleton, "that to end these differences they must follow the example of france in marshal d'ancre's case, and take off the heads of both chiefs." but these decided persons were in a small minority. meantime the states of holland met in full assembly; sixty delegates being present. it was proposed to invite his excellency to take part in the deliberations. a committee which had waited upon him the day before had reported him as in favour of moderate rather than harsh measures in the church affair, while maintaining his plighted word to the seceders. barneveld stoutly opposed the motion. "what need had the sovereign states of holland of advice from a stadholder, from their servant, their functionary?" he cried. but the majority for once thought otherwise. the prince was invited to come. the deliberations were moderate but inconclusive. he appeared again at an adjourned meeting when the councils were not so harmonious. barneveld, grotius, and other eloquent speakers endeavoured to point out that the refusal of the seceders to hold communion with the remonstrant preachers and to insist on a separation was fast driving the state to perdition. they warmly recommended mutual toleration and harmony. grotius exhausted learning and rhetoric to prove that the five points were not inconsistent with salvation nor with the constitution of the united provinces. the stadholder grew impatient at last and clapped his hand on his rapier. "no need here," he said, "of flowery orations and learned arguments. with this good sword i will defend the religion which my father planted in these provinces, and i should like to see the man who is going to prevent me!" the words had an heroic ring in the ears of such as are ever ready to applaud brute force, especially when wielded by a prince. the argumentum ad ensem, however, was the last plea that william the silent would have been likely to employ on such an occasion, nor would it have been easy to prove that the reformed religion had been "planted" by one who had drawn the sword against the foreign tyrant, and had made vast sacrifices for his country's independence years before abjuring communion with the roman catholic church. when swords are handled by the executive in presence of civil assemblies there is usually but one issue to be expected. moreover, three whales had recently been stranded at scheveningen, one of them more than sixty feet long, and men wagged their beards gravely as they spoke of the event, deeming it a certain presage of civil commotions. it was remembered that at the outbreak of the great war two whales had been washed ashore in the scheldt. although some free-thinking people were inclined to ascribe the phenomenon to a prevalence of strong westerly gales, while others found proof in it of a superabundance of those creatures in the polar seas, which should rather give encouragement to the dutch and zealand fisheries, it is probable that quite as dark forebodings of coming disaster were caused by this accident as by the trumpet-like defiance which the stadholder had just delivered to the states of holland. meantime the seceding congregation of the hague had become wearied of the english or gasthuis church, and another and larger one had been promised them. this was an ancient convent on one of the principal streets of the town, now used as a cannon-foundry. the prince personally superintended the preparations for getting ready this place of worship, which was thenceforth called the cloister church. but delays were, as the contra-remonstrants believed, purposely interposed, so that it was nearly midsummer before there were any signs of the church being fit for use. they hastened accordingly to carry it, as it were, by assault. not wishing peaceably to accept as a boon from the civil authority what they claimed as an indefeasible right, they suddenly took possession one sunday night of the cloister church. it was in a state of utter confusion--part monastery, part foundry, part conventicle. there were few seats, no altar, no communion-table, hardly any sacramental furniture, but a pulpit was extemporized. rosaeus preached in triumph to an enthusiastic congregation, and three children were baptized with the significant names of william, maurice, and henry. on the following monday there was a striking scene on the voorhout. this most beautiful street of a beautiful city was a broad avenue, shaded by a quadruple row of limetrees, reaching out into the thick forest of secular oaks and beeches--swarming with fallow-deer and alive with the notes of singing birds--by which the hague, almost from time immemorial, has been embowered. the ancient cloisterhouse and church now reconverted to religious uses--was a plain, rather insipid structure of red brick picked out with white stone, presenting three symmetrical gables to the street, with a slender belfry and spire rising in the rear. nearly adjoining it on the north-western side was the elegant and commodious mansion of barneveld, purchased by him from the representatives of the arenberg family, surrounded by shrubberies and flower-gardens; not a palace, but a dignified and becoming abode for the first citizen of a powerful republic. on that midsummer's morning it might well seem that, in rescuing the old cloister from the military purposes to which it had for years been devoted, men had given an even more belligerent aspect to the scene than if it had been left as a foundry. the miscellaneous pieces of artillery and other fire-arms lying about, with piles of cannon-ball which there had not been time to remove, were hardly less belligerent and threatening of aspect than the stern faces of the crowd occupied in thoroughly preparing the house for its solemn destination. it was determined that there should be accommodation on the next sunday for all who came to the service. an army of carpenters, joiners, glaziers, and other workmen-assisted by a mob of citizens of all ranks and ages, men and women, gentle and simple were busily engaged in bringing planks and benches; working with plane, adze, hammer and saw, trowel and shovel, to complete the work. on the next sunday the prince attended public worship for the last time at the great church under the ministration of uytenbogaert. he was infuriated with the sermon, in which the bold remonstrant bitterly inveighed against the proposition for a national synod. to oppose that measure publicly in the very face of the stadholder, who now considered himself as the synod personified, seemed to him flat blasphemy. coming out of the church with his step-mother, the widowed louise de coligny, princess of orange, he denounced the man in unmeasured terms. "he is the enemy of god," said maurice. at least from that time forth, and indeed for a year before, maurice was the enemy of the preacher. on the following sunday, july , maurice went in solemn state to the divine service at the cloister church now thoroughly organized. he was accompanied by his cousin, the famous count william lewis of nassau, stadholder of friesland, who had never concealed his warm sympathy with the contra-remonstrants, and by all the chief officers of his household and members of his staff. it was an imposing demonstration and meant for one. as the martial stadholder at the head of his brilliant cavalcade rode forth across the drawbridge from the inner court of the old moated palace--where the ancient sovereign dirks and florences of holland had so long ruled their stout little principality--along the shady and stately kneuterdyk and so through the voorhout, an immense crowd thronged around his path and accompanied him to the church. it was as if the great soldier were marching to siege or battle-field where fresher glories than those of sluys or geertruidenberg were awaiting him. the train passed by barneveld's house and entered the cloister. more than four thousand persons were present at the service or crowded around the doors vainly attempting to gain admission into the overflowing aisles; while the great church was left comparatively empty, a few hundred only worshipping there. the cloister church was thenceforth called the prince's church, and a great revolution was beginning even in the hague. the advocate was wroth as he saw the procession graced by the two stadholders and their military attendants. he knew that he was now to bow his head to the church thus championed by the chief personage and captain-general of the state, to renounce his dreams of religious toleration, to sink from his post of supreme civic ruler, or to accept an unequal struggle in which he might utterly succumb. but his iron nature would break sooner than bend. in the first transports of his indignation he is said to have vowed vengeance against the immediate instruments by which the cloister church had, as he conceived, been surreptitiously and feloniously seized. he meant to strike a blow which should startle the whole population of the hague, send a thrill of horror through the country, and teach men to beware how they trifled with the sovereign states of holland, whose authority had so long been undisputed, and with him their chief functionary. he resolved--so ran the tale of the preacher trigland, who told it to prince maurice, and has preserved it in his chronicle--to cause to be seized at midnight from their beds four men whom he considered the ringleaders in this mutiny, to have them taken to the place of execution on the square in the midst of the city, to have their heads cut off at once by warrant from the chief tribunal without any previous warning, and then to summon all the citizens at dawn of day, by ringing of bells and firing of cannon, to gaze on the ghastly spectacle, and teach them to what fate this pestilential schism and revolt against authority had brought its humble tools. the victims were to be enoch much, the prince's book-keeper, and three others, an attorney, an engraver, and an apothecary, all of course of the contra-remonstrant persuasion. it was necessary, said the advocate, to make once for all an example, and show that there was a government in the land. he had reckoned on a ready adhesion to this measure and a sentence from the tribunal through the influence of his son-in-law, the seignior van veenhuyzen, who was president of the chief court. his attempt was foiled however by the stern opposition of two zealand members of the court, who managed to bring up from a bed of sickness, where he had long been lying, a holland councillor whom they knew to be likewise opposed to the fierce measure, and thus defeated it by a majority of one. such is the story as told by contemporaries and repeated from that day to this. it is hardly necessary to say that barneveld calmly denied having conceived or even heard of the scheme. that men could go about looking each other in the face and rehearsing such gibberish would seem sufficiently dispiriting did we not know to what depths of credulity men in all ages can sink when possessed by the demon of party malice. if it had been narrated on the exchange at amsterdam or flushing during that portentous midsummer that barneveld had not only beheaded but roasted alive, and fed the dogs and cats upon the attorney, the apothecary, and the engraver, there would have been citizens in plenty to devour the news with avidity. but although the advocate had never imagined such extravagances as these, it is certain that he had now resolved upon very bold measures, and that too without an instant's delay. he suspected the prince of aiming at sovereignty not only over holland but over all the provinces and to be using the synod as a principal part of his machinery. the gauntlet was thrown down by the stadholder, and the advocate lifted it at once. the issue of the struggle would depend upon the political colour of the town magistracies. barneveld instinctively felt that maurice, being now resolved that the synod should be held, would lose no time in making a revolution in all the towns through the power he held or could plausibly usurp. such a course would, in his opinion, lead directly to an unconstitutional and violent subversion of the sovereign rights of each province, to the advantage of the central government. a religious creed would be forced upon holland and perhaps upon two other provinces which was repugnant to a considerable majority of the people. and this would be done by a majority vote of the states-general, on a matter over which, by the th article of the fundamental compact--the union of utrecht--the states-general had no control, each province having reserved the disposition of religious affairs to itself. for let it never be forgotten that the union of the netherlands was a compact, a treaty, an agreement between sovereign states. there was no pretence that it was an incorporation, that the people had laid down a constitution, an organic law. the people were never consulted, did not exist, had not for political purposes been invented. it was the great primal defect of their institutions, but the netherlanders would have been centuries before their age had they been able to remedy that defect. yet the netherlanders would have been much behind even that age of bigotry had they admitted the possibility in a free commonwealth, of that most sacred and important of all subjects that concern humanity, religious creed--the relation of man to his maker--to be regulated by the party vote of a political board. it was with no thought of treason in his heart or his head therefore that the advocate now resolved that the states of holland and the cities of which that college was composed should protect their liberties and privileges, the sum of which in his opinion made up the sovereignty of the province he served, and that they should protect them, if necessary, by force. force was apprehended. it should be met by force. to be forewarned was to be forearmed. barneveld forewarned the states of holland. on the th august , he proposed to that assembly a resolution which was destined to become famous. a majority accepted it after brief debate. it was to this effect. the states having seen what had befallen in many cities, and especially in the hague, against the order, liberties, and laws of the land, and having in vain attempted to bring into harmony with the states certain cities which refused to co-operate with the majority, had at last resolved to refuse the national synod, as conflicting with the sovereignty and laws of holland. they had thought good to set forth in public print their views as to religious worship, and to take measures to prevent all deeds of violence against persons and property. to this end the regents of cities were authorized in case of need, until otherwise ordained, to enrol men-at-arms for their security and prevention of violence. furthermore, every one that might complain of what the regents of cities by strength of this resolution might do was ordered to have recourse to no one else than the states of holland, as no account would be made of anything that might be done or undertaken by the tribunals. finally, it was resolved to send a deputation to prince maurice, the princess-widow, and prince henry, requesting them to aid in carrying out this resolution. thus the deed was done. the sword was drawn. it was drawn in self-defence and in deliberate answer to the stadholder's defiance when he rapped his sword hilt in face of the assembly, but still it was drawn. the states of holland were declared sovereign and supreme. the national synod was peremptorily rejected. any decision of the supreme courts of the union in regard to the subject of this resolution was nullified in advance. thenceforth this measure of the th august was called the "sharp resolve." it might prove perhaps to be double-edged. it was a stroke of grim sarcasm on the part of the advocate thus solemnly to invite the stadholder's aid in carrying out a law which was aimed directly at his head; to request his help for those who meant to defeat with the armed hand that national synod which he had pledged himself to bring about. the question now arose what sort of men-at-arms it would be well for the city governments to enlist. the officers of the regular garrisons had received distinct orders from prince maurice as their military superior to refuse any summons to act in matters proceeding from the religious question. the prince, who had chief authority over all the regular troops, had given notice that he would permit nothing to be done against "those of the reformed religion," by which he meant the contra-remonstrants and them only. in some cities there were no garrisons, but only train-bands. but the train bands (schutters) could not be relied on to carry out the sharp resolve, for they were almost to a man contra-remonstrants. it was therefore determined to enlist what were called "waartgelders;" soldiers, inhabitants of the place, who held themselves ready to serve in time of need in consideration of a certain wage; mercenaries in short. this resolution was followed as a matter of course by a solemn protest from amsterdam and the five cities who acted with her. on the same day maurice was duly notified of the passage of the law. his wrath was great. high words passed between him and the deputies. it could hardly have been otherwise expected. next-day he came before the assembly to express his sentiments, to complain of the rudeness with which the resolution of th august had been communicated to him, and to demand further explanations. forthwith the advocate proceeded to set forth the intentions of the states, and demanded that the prince should assist the magistrates in carrying out the policy decided upon. reinier pauw, burgomaster of amsterdam, fiercely interrupted the oration of barneveld, saying that although these might be his views, they were not to be held by his excellency as the opinions of all. the advocate, angry at the interruption, answered him sternly, and a violent altercation, not unmixed with personalities, arose. maurice, who kept his temper admirably on this occasion, interfered between the two and had much difficulty in quieting the dispute. he then observed that when he took the oath as stadholder these unfortunate differences had not arisen, but all had been good friends together. this was perfectly true, but he could have added that they might all continue good friends unless the plan of imposing a religious creed upon the minority by a clerical decision were persisted in. he concluded that for love of one of the two great parties he would not violate the oath he had taken to maintain the reformed religion to the last drop of his blood. still, with the same 'petitio principii' that the reformed religion and the dogmas of the contra-remonstrants were one and the same thing, he assured the assembly that the authority of the magistrates would be sustained by him so long as it did not lead to the subversion of religion. clearly the time for argument had passed. as dudley carleton observed, men had been disputing 'pro aris' long enough. they would soon be fighting 'pro focis.' in pursuance of the policy laid down by the sharp resolution, the states proceeded to assure themselves of the various cities of the province by means of waartgelders. they sent to the important seaport of brielle and demanded a new oath from the garrison. it was intimated that the prince would be soon coming there in person to make himself master of the place, and advice was given to the magistrates to be beforehand with him. these statements angered maurice, and angered him the more because they happened to be true. it was also charged that he was pursuing his leicestrian designs and meant to make himself, by such steps, sovereign of the country. the name of leicester being a byword of reproach ever since that baffled noble had a generation before left the provinces in disgrace, it was a matter of course that such comparisons were excessively exasperating. it was fresh enough too in men's memory that the earl in his netherland career had affected sympathy with the strictest denomination of religious reformers, and that the profligate worldling and arrogant self-seeker had used the mask of religion to cover flagitious ends. as it had indeed been the object of the party at the head of which the advocate had all his life acted to raise the youthful maurice to the stadholderate expressly to foil the plots of leicester, it could hardly fail to be unpalatable to maurice to be now accused of acting the part of leicester. he inveighed bitterly on the subject before the state council: the state council, in a body, followed him to a meeting of the states-general. here the stadholder made a vehement speech and demanded that the states of holland should rescind the "sharp resolution," and should desist from the new oaths required from the soldiery. barneveld, firm as a rock, met these bitter denunciations. speaking in the name of holland, he repelled the idea that the sovereign states of that province were responsible to the state council or to the states-general either. he regretted, as all regretted, the calumnies uttered against the prince, but in times of such intense excitement every conspicuous man was the mark of calumny. the stadholder warmly repudiated leicestrian designs, and declared that he had been always influenced by a desire to serve his country and maintain the reformed religion. if he had made mistakes, he desired to be permitted to improve in the future. thus having spoken, the soldier retired from the assembly with the state council at his heels. the advocate lost no time in directing the military occupation of the principal towns of holland, such as leyden, gouda, rotterdam, schoonhoven, hoorn, and other cities. at leyden especially, where a strong orange party was with difficulty kept in obedience by the remonstrant magistracy, it was found necessary to erect a stockade about the town-hall and to plant caltrops and other obstructions in the squares and streets. the broad space in front; of the beautiful medieval seat of the municipal government, once so sacred for the sublime and pathetic scenes enacted there during the famous siege and in the magistracy of peter van der werff, was accordingly enclosed by a solid palisade of oaken planks, strengthened by rows of iron bars with barbed prongs: the entrenchment was called by the populace the arminian fort, and the iron spear heads were baptized barneveld's teeth. cannon were planted at intervals along the works, and a company or two of the waartgelders, armed from head to foot, with snaphances on their shoulders, stood ever ready to issue forth to quell any disturbances. occasionally a life or two was lost of citizen or soldier, and many doughty blows were interchanged. it was a melancholy spectacle. no commonwealth could be more fortunate than this republic in possessing two such great leading minds. no two men could be more patriotic than both stadholder and advocate. no two men could be prouder, more overbearing, less conciliatory. "i know mons. barneveld well," said sir ralph winwood, "and know that he hath great powers and abilities, and malice itself must confess that man never hath done more faithful and powerful service to his country than he. but 'finis coronat opus' and 'il di lodi lacera; oportet imperatorem stantem mori.'" the cities of holland were now thoroughly "waartgeldered," and barneveld having sufficiently shown his "teeth" in that province departed for change of air to utrecht. his failing health was assigned as the pretext for the visit, although the atmosphere of that city has never been considered especially salubrious in the dog-days. meantime the stadholder remained quiet, but biding his time. he did not choose to provoke a premature conflict in the strongholds of the arminians as he called them, but with a true military instinct preferred making sure of the ports. amsterdam, enkhuyzen, flushing, being without any effort of his own within his control, he quietly slipped down the river meuse on the night of the th september, accompanied by his brother frederic henrys and before six o'clock next morning had introduced a couple of companies of trustworthy troops into brielle, had summoned the magistrates before him, and compelled them to desist from all further intention of levying mercenaries. thus all the fortresses which barneveld had so recently and in such masterly fashion rescued from the grasp of england were now quietly reposing in the hands of the stadholder. maurice thought it not worth his while for the present to quell the mutiny--as he considered it the legal and constitutional defence of vested right--as great jurists like barneveld and hugo grotius accounted the movement--at its "fountain head leyden or its chief stream utrecht;" to use the expression of carleton. there had already been bloodshed in leyden, a burgher or two having been shot and a soldier stoned to death in the streets, but the stadholder deemed it unwise to precipitate matters. feeling himself, with his surpassing military knowledge and with a large majority of the nation at his back, so completely master of the situation, he preferred waiting on events. and there is no doubt that he was proving himself a consummate politician and a perfect master of fence. "he is much beloved and followed both of soldiers and people," said the english ambassador, "he is a man 'innoxiae popularitatis' so as this jealousy cannot well be fastened upon him; and in this cause of religion he stirred not until within these few months he saw he must declare himself or suffer the better party to be overborne." the chief tribunal-high council so called-of the country soon gave evidence that the "sharp resolution" had judged rightly in reckoning on its hostility and in nullifying its decisions in advance. they decided by a majority vote that the resolution ought not to be obeyed, but set aside. amsterdam, and the three or four cities usually acting with her, refused to enlist troops. rombout hoogerbeets, a member of the tribunal, informed prince maurice that he "would no longer be present on a bench where men disputed the authority of the states of holland, which he held to be the supreme sovereignty over him." this was plain speaking; a distinct enunciation of what the states' right party deemed to be constitutional law. and what said maurice in reply? "i, too, recognize the states of holland as sovereign; but we might at least listen to each other occasionally." hoogerbeets, however, deeming that listening had been carried far enough, decided to leave the tribunal altogether, and to resume the post which he had formerly occupied as pensionary or chief magistrate of leyden. here he was soon to find himself in the thick of the conflict. meantime the states-general, in full assembly, on th november , voted that the national synod should be held in the course of the following year. the measure was carried by a strict party vote and by a majority of one. the representatives of each province voting as one, there were four in favour of to three against the synod. the minority, consisting of holland, utrecht, and overyssel, protested against the vote as an outrageous invasion of the rights of each province, as an act of flagrant tyranny and usurpation. the minority in the states of holland, the five cities often named, protested against the protest. the defective part of the netherland constitutions could not be better illustrated. the minority of the states of holland refused to be bound by a majority of the provincial assembly. the minority of the states-general refused to be bound by the majority of the united assembly. this was reducing politics to an absurdity and making all government impossible. it is however quite certain that in the municipal governments a majority had always governed, and that a majority vote in the provincial assemblies had always prevailed. the present innovation was to govern the states-general by a majority. yet viewed by the light of experience and of common sense, it would be difficult to conceive of a more preposterous proceeding than thus to cram a religious creed down the throats of half the population of a country by the vote of a political assembly. but it was the seventeenth and not the nineteenth century. moreover, if there were any meaning in words, the th article of union, reserving especially the disposition over religious matters to each province, had been wisely intended to prevent the possibility of such tyranny. when the letters of invitation to the separate states and to others were drawing up in the general assembly, the representatives of the three states left the chamber. a solitary individual from holland remained however, a burgomaster of amsterdam. uytenbogaert, conversing with barneveld directly afterwards, advised him to accept the vote. yielding to the decision of the majority, it would be possible, so thought the clergyman, for the great statesman so to handle matters as to mould the synod to his will, even as he had so long controlled the states-provincial and the states-general. "if you are willing to give away the rights of the land," said the advocate very sharply, "i am not." probably the priest's tactics might have proved more adroit than the stony opposition on which barneveld was resolved. but it was with the aged statesman a matter of principle, not of policy. his character and his personal pride, the dignity of opinion and office, his respect for constitutional law, were all at stake. shallow observers considered the struggle now taking place as a personal one. lovers of personal government chose to look upon the advocate's party as a faction inspired with an envious resolve to clip the wings of the stadholder, who was at last flying above their heads. there could be no doubt of the bitter animosity between the two men. there could be no doubt that jealousy was playing the part which that master passion will ever play in all the affairs of life. but there could be no doubt either that a difference of principle as wide as the world separated the two antagonists. even so keen an observer as dudley carleton, while admitting the man's intellectual power and unequalled services, could see nothing in the advocate's present course but prejudice, obstinacy, and the insanity of pride. "he doth no whit spare himself in pains nor faint in his resolution," said the envoy, "wherein notwithstanding he will in all appearance succumb ere afore long, having the disadvantages of a weak body, a weak party, and a weak cause." but carleton hated barneveld, and considered it the chief object of his mission to destroy him, if he could. in so doing he would best carry out the wishes of his sovereign. the king of britain had addressed a somewhat equivocal letter to the states-general on the subject of religion in the spring of . it certainly was far from being as satisfactory as, the epistles of prepared under the advocate's instructions, had been, while the exuberant commentary upon the royal text, delivered in full assembly by his ambassador soon after the reception of the letter, was more than usually didactic, offensive, and ignorant. sir dudley never omitted an opportunity of imparting instruction to the states-general as to the nature of their constitution and the essential dogmas on which their church was founded. it is true that the great lawyers and the great theologians of the country were apt to hold very different opinions from his upon those important subjects, but this was so much the worse for the lawyers and theologians, as time perhaps might prove. the king in this last missive had proceeded to unsay the advice which he had formerly bestowed upon the states, by complaining that his earlier letters had been misinterpreted. they had been made use of, he said, to authorize the very error against which they had been directed. they had been held to intend the very contrary of what they did mean. he felt himself bound in conscience therefore, finding these differences ready to be "hatched into schisms," to warn the states once more against pests so pernicious. although the royal language was somewhat vague so far as enunciation of doctrine, a point on which he had once confessed himself fallible, was concerned, there was nothing vague in his recommendation of a national synod. to this the opposition of barneveld was determined not upon religious but upon constitutional grounds. the confederacy did not constitute a nation, and therefore there could not be a national synod nor a national religion. carleton came before the states-general soon afterwards with a prepared oration, wearisome as a fast-day sermon after the third turn of the hour-glass, pragmatical as a schoolmaster's harangue to fractious little boys. he divided his lecture into two heads--the peace of the church, and the peace of the provinces--starting with the first. "a jove principium," he said, "i will begin with that which is both beginning and end. it is the truth of god's word and its maintenance that is the bond of our common cause. reasons of state invite us as friends and neighbours by the preservation of our lives and property, but the interest of religion binds us as christians and brethren to the mutual defence of the liberty of our consciences." he then proceeded to point out the only means by which liberty of conscience could be preserved. it was by suppressing all forms of religion but one, and by silencing all religious discussion. peter titelman and philip ii. could not have devised a more pithy formula. all that was wanting was the axe and faggot to reduce uniformity to practice. then liberty of conscience would be complete. "one must distinguish," said the ambassador, "between just liberty and unbridled license, and conclude that there is but one truth single and unique. those who go about turning their brains into limbecks for distilling new notions in religious matters only distract the union of the church which makes profession of this unique truth. if it be permitted to one man to publish the writings and fantasies of a sick spirit and for another moved by christian zeal to reduce this wanderer 'ad sanam mentem;' why then 'patet locus adversus utrumque,' and the common enemy (the devil) slips into the fortress." he then proceeded to illustrate this theory on liberty of conscience by allusions to conrad vorstius. this infamous sectary had in fact reached such a pitch of audacity, said the ambassador, as not only to inveigh against the eternal power of god but to indulge in irony against the honour of his majesty king james. and in what way had he scandalized the government of the republic? he had dared to say that within its borders there was religious toleration. he had distinctly averred that in the united provinces heretics were not punished with death or with corporal chastisement. "he declares openly," said carleton, "that contra haereticos etiam vere dictos (ne dum falso et calumniose sic traductos) there is neither sentence of death nor other corporal punishment, so that in order to attract to himself a great following of birds of the name feather he publishes to all the world that here in this country one can live and die a heretic, unpunished, without being arrested and without danger." in order to suppress this reproach upon the republic at which the ambassador stood aghast, and to prevent the vorstian doctrines of religious toleration and impunity of heresy from spreading among "the common people, so subject by their natures to embrace new opinions," he advised of course that "the serpent be sent back to the nest where he was born before the venom had spread through the whole body of the republic." a week afterwards a long reply was delivered on part of the states-general to the ambassador's oration. it is needless to say that it was the work of the advocate, and that it was in conformity with the opinions so often exhibited in the letters to caron and others of which the reader has seen many samples. that religious matters were under the control of the civil government, and that supreme civil authority belonged to each one of the seven sovereign provinces, each recognizing no superior within its own sphere, were maxims of state always enforced in the netherlands and on which the whole religious controversy turned. "the states-general have always cherished the true christian apostolic religion," they said, "and wished it to be taught under the authority and protection of the legal government of these provinces in all purity, and in conformity with the holy scriptures, to the good people of these provinces. and my lords the states and magistrates of the respective provinces, each within their own limits, desire the same." they had therefore given express orders to the preachers "to keep the peace by mutual and benign toleration of the different opinions on the one side and the other at least until with full knowledge of the subject the states might otherwise ordain. they had been the more moved to this because his majesty having carefully examined the opinions of the learned hereon each side had found both consistent with christian belief and the salvation of souls." it was certainly not the highest expression of religious toleration for the civil authority to forbid the clergymen of the country from discussing in their pulpits the knottiest and most mysterious points of the schoolmen lest the "common people" should be puzzled. nevertheless, where the close union of church and state and the necessity of one church were deemed matters of course, it was much to secure subordination of the priesthood to the magistracy, while to enjoin on preachers abstention from a single exciting cause of quarrel, on the ground that there was more than one path to salvation, and that mutual toleration was better than mutual persecution, was; in that age, a stride towards religious equality. it was at least an advance on carleton's dogma, that there was but one unique and solitary truth, and that to declare heretics not punishable with death was an insult to the government of the republic. the states-general answered the ambassador's plea, made in the name of his master, for immediate and unguaranteed evacuation of the debatable land by the arguments already so often stated in the advocate's instructions to caron. they had been put to great trouble and expense already in their campaigning and subsequent fortification of important places in the duchies. they had seen the bitter spirit manifested by the spaniards in the demolition of the churches and houses of mulheim and other places. "while the affair remained in its present terms of utter uncertainty their mightinesses," said the states-general, "find it most objectionable to forsake the places which they have been fortifying and to leave the duchies and all their fellow-religionists, besides the rights of the possessory princes a prey to those who have been hankering for the territories for long years, and who would unquestionably be able to make themselves absolute masters of all within a very few days." a few months later carleton came before the states-general again and delivered another elaborate oration, duly furnished to him by the king, upon the necessity of the national synod, the comparative merits of arminianism and contra-remonstrantism, together with a full exposition of the constitutions of the netherlands. it might be supposed that barneveld and grotius and hoogerbeets knew something of the law and history of their country. but james knew much better, and so his envoy endeavoured to convince his audience. he received on the spot a temperate but conclusive reply from the delegates of holland. they informed him that the war with spain--the cause of the utrecht union--was not begun about religion but on account of the violation of liberties, chartered rights and privileges, not the least of which rights was that of each province to regulate religious matters within its borders. a little later a more vehement reply was published anonymously in the shape of a pamphlet called 'the balance,' which much angered the ambassador and goaded his master almost to frenzy. it was deemed so blasphemous, so insulting to the majesty of england, so entirely seditious, that james, not satisfied with inditing a rejoinder, insisted through carleton that a reward should be offered by the states for the detection of the author, in order that he might be condignly punished. this was done by a majority vote, florins being offered for the discovery of the author and for that of the printer. naturally the step was opposed in the states-general; two deputies in particular making themselves conspicuous. one of them was an audacious old gentleman named brinius of gelderland, "much corrupted with arminianism," so carleton informed his sovereign. he appears to have inherited his audacity through his pedigree, descending, as it was ludicrously enough asserted he did, from a chief of the caninefates, the ancient inhabitants of gelderland, called brinio. and brinio the caninefat had been as famous for his stolid audacity as for his illustrious birth; "erat in caninefatibus stolidae audaciae brinio claritate natalium insigni." the patronizing manner in which the ambassador alluded to the other member of the states-general who opposed the decree was still more diverting. it was "grotius, the pensioner of rotterdam, a young petulant brain, not unknown to your majesty," said carleton. two centuries and a half have rolled away, and there are few majesties, few nations, and few individuals to whom the name of that petulant youth is unknown; but how many are familiar with the achievements of the able representative of king james? nothing came of the measure, however, and the offer of course helped the circulation of the pamphlet. it is amusing to see the ferocity thus exhibited by the royal pamphleteer against a rival; especially when one can find no crime in 'the balance' save a stinging and well-merited criticism of a very stupid oration. gillis van ledenberg was generally supposed to be the author of it. carleton inclined, however, to suspect grotius, "because," said he, "having always before been a stranger to my house, he has made me the day before the publication thereof a complimentary visit, although it was sunday and church time; whereby the italian proverb, 'chi ti caresse piu che suole,' &c.,' is added to other likelihoods." it was subsequently understood however that the pamphlet was written by a remonstrant preacher of utrecht, named jacobus taurinus; one of those who had been doomed to death by the mutinous government in that city seven years before. it was now sufficiently obvious that either the governments in the three opposition provinces must be changed or that the national synod must be imposed by a strict majority vote in the teeth of the constitution and of vigorous and eloquent protests drawn up by the best lawyers in the country. the advocate and grotius recommended a provincial synod first and, should that not succeed in adjusting the differences of church government, then the convocation of a general or oecumenical synod. they resisted the national synod because, in their view, the provinces were not a nation. a league of seven sovereign and independent mates was all that legally existed in the netherlands. it was accordingly determined that the governments should be changed, and the stadholder set himself to prepare the way for a thorough and, if possible, a bloodless revolution. he departed on the th november for a tour through the chief cities, and before leaving the hague addressed an earnest circular letter to the various municipalities of holland. a more truly dignified, reasonable, right royal letter, from the stadholder's point of view, could not have been indited. the imperial "we" breathing like a morning breeze through the whole of it blew away all legal and historical mistiness. but the clouds returned again nevertheless. unfortunately for maurice it could not be argued by the pen, however it might be proved by the sword, that the netherlands constituted a nation, and that a convocation of doctors of divinity summoned by a body of envoys had the right to dictate a creed to seven republics. all parties were agreed on one point. there must be unity of divine worship. the territory of the netherlands was not big enough to hold two systems of religion, two forms of christianity, two sects of protestantism. it was big enough to hold seven independent and sovereign states, but would be split into fragments--resolved into chaos--should there be more than one church or if once a schism were permitted in that church. grotius was as much convinced of this as gomarus. and yet the th article of the union stared them all in the face, forbidding the hideous assumptions now made by the general government. perhaps no man living fully felt its import save barneveld alone. for groping however dimly and hesitatingly towards the idea of religious liberty, of general toleration, he was denounced as a papist, an atheist, a traitor, a miscreant, by the fanatics for the sacerdotal and personal power. yet it was a pity that he could never contemplate the possibility of his country's throwing off the swaddling clothes of provincialism which had wrapped its infancy. doubtless history, law, tradition, and usage pointed to the independent sovereignty of each province. yet the period of the truce was precisely the time when a more generous constitution, a national incorporation might have been constructed to take the place of the loose confederacy by which the gigantic war had been fought out. after all, foreign powers had no connection with the states, and knew only the union with which and with which alone they made treaties, and the reality of sovereignty in each province was as ridiculous as in theory it was impregnable. but barneveld, under the modest title of advocate of one province, had been in reality president and prime minister of the whole commonwealth. he had himself been the union and the sovereignty. it was not wonderful that so imperious a nature objected to transfer its powers to the church, to the states-general, or to maurice. moreover, when nationality assumed the unlovely form of rigid religious uniformity; when union meant an exclusive self-governed church enthroned above the state, responsible to no civic authority and no human law, the boldest patriot might shiver at emerging from provincialism. chapter xv. the commonwealth bent on self-destruction--evils of a confederate system of government--rem bischop's house sacked--aerssens' unceasing efforts against barneveld--the advocate's interview with maurice--the states of utrecht raise the troops--the advocate at utrecht--barneveld urges mutual toleration--barneveld accused of being partisan of spain--carleton takes his departure. it is not cheerful after widely contemplating the aspect of christendom in the year of supreme preparation to examine with the minuteness absolutely necessary the narrow theatre to which the political affairs of the great republic had been reduced. that powerful commonwealth, to which the great party of the reformation naturally looked for guidance in the coming conflict, seemed bent on self-destruction. the microcosm of the netherlands now represented, alas! the war of elements going on without on a world-wide scale. as the calvinists and lutherans of germany were hotly attacking each other even in sight of the embattled front of spain and the league, so the gomarites and the arminians by their mutual rancour were tearing the political power of the dutch republic to shreds and preventing her from assuming a great part in the crisis. the consummate soldier, the unrivalled statesman, each superior in his sphere to any contemporary rival, each supplementing the other, and making up together, could they have been harmonized, a double head such as no political organism then existing could boast, were now in hopeless antagonism to each other. a mass of hatred had been accumulated against the advocate with which he found it daily more and more difficult to struggle. the imperious, rugged, and suspicious nature of the stadholder had been steadily wrought upon by the almost devilish acts of francis aerssens until he had come to look upon his father's most faithful adherent, his own early preceptor in statesmanship and political supporter, as an antagonist, a conspirator, and a tyrant. the soldier whose unrivalled ability, experience, and courage in the field should have placed him at the very head of the great european army of defence against the general crusade upon protestantism, so constantly foretold by barneveld, was now to be engaged in making bloodless but mischievous warfare against an imaginary conspiracy and a patriot foe. the advocate, keeping steadily in view the great principles by which his political life had been guided, the supremacy of the civil authority in any properly organized commonwealth over the sacerdotal and military, found himself gradually forced into mortal combat with both. to the individual sovereignty of each province he held with the tenacity of a lawyer and historian. in that he found the only clue through the labyrinth which ecclesiastical and political affairs presented. so close was the tangle, so confused the medley, that without this slender guide all hope of legal issue seemed lost. no doubt the difficulty of the doctrine of individual sovereignty was great, some of the provinces being such slender morsels of territory, with resources so trivial, as to make the name of sovereignty ludicrous. yet there could be as little doubt that no other theory was tenable. if so powerful a mind as that of the advocate was inclined to strain the theory to its extreme limits, it was because in the overshadowing superiority of the one province holland had been found the practical remedy for the imbecility otherwise sure to result from such provincial and meagre federalism. moreover, to obtain union by stretching all the ancient historical privileges and liberties of the separate provinces upon the procrustean bed of a single dogma, to look for nationality only in common subjection to an infallible priesthood, to accept a catechism as the palladium upon which the safety of the state was to depend for all time, and beyond which there was to be no further message from heaven--such was not healthy constitutionalism in the eyes of a great statesman. no doubt that without the fervent spirit of calvinism it would have been difficult to wage war with such immortal hate as the netherlands had waged it, no doubt the spirit of republican and even democratic liberty lay hidden within that rigid husk, but it was dishonour to the martyrs who had died by thousands at the stake and on the battle field for the rights of conscience if the only result of their mighty warfare against wrong had been to substitute a new dogma for an old one, to stifle for ever the right of free enquiry, theological criticism, and the hope of further light from on high, and to proclaim it a libel on the republic that within its borders all heretics, whether arminian or papist, were safe from the death penalty or even from bodily punishment. a theological union instead of a national one and obtained too at the sacrifice of written law and immemorial tradition, a congress in which clerical deputations from all the provinces and from foreign nations should prescribe to all netherlanders an immutable creed and a shadowy constitution, were not the true remedies for the evils of confederacy, nor, if they had been, was the time an appropriate one for their application. it was far too early in the world's history to hope for such redistribution of powers and such a modification of the social compact as would place in separate spheres the church and the state, double the sanctions and the consolations of religion by removing it from the pollutions of political warfare, and give freedom to individual conscience by securing it from the interference of government. it is melancholy to see the republic thus perversely occupying its energies. it is melancholy to see the great soldier becoming gradually more ardent for battle with barneveld and uytenbogaert than with spinola and bucquoy, against whom he had won so many imperishable laurels. it is still sadder to see the man who had been selected by henry iv. as the one statesman of europe to whom he could confide his great projects for the pacification of christendom, and on whom he could depend for counsel and support in schemes which, however fantastic in some of their details, had for their object to prevent the very european war of religion against which barneveld had been struggling, now reduced to defend himself against suspicion hourly darkening and hatred growing daily more insane. the eagle glance and restless wing, which had swept the whole political atmosphere, now caged within the stifling limits of theological casuistry and personal rivalry were afflicting to contemplate. the evils resulting from a confederate system of government, from a league of petty sovereignties which dared not become a nation, were as woefully exemplified in the united provinces as they were destined to be more than a century and a half later, and in another hemisphere, before that most fortunate and sagacious of written political instruments, the american constitution of , came to remedy the weakness of the old articles of union. meantime the netherlands were a confederacy, not a nation. their general government was but a committee. it could ask of, but not command, the separate provinces. it had no dealings with nor power over the inhabitants of the country; it could say "thou shalt" neither to state nor citizen; it could consult only with corporations--fictitious and many-headed personages--itself incorporate. there was no first magistrate, no supreme court, no commander-in-chief, no exclusive mint nor power of credit, no national taxation, no central house of representation and legislation, no senate. unfortunately it had one church, and out of this single matrix of centralism was born more discord than had been produced by all the centrifugal forces of provincialism combined. there had been working substitutes found, as we well know, for the deficiencies of this constitution, but the advocate felt himself bound to obey and enforce obedience to the laws and privileges of his country so long as they remained without authorized change. his country was the province of holland, to which his allegiance was due and whose servant he was. that there was but one church paid and sanctioned by law, he admitted, but his efforts were directed to prevent discord within that church, by counselling moderation, conciliation, mutual forbearance, and abstention from irritating discussion of dogmas deemed by many thinkers and better theologians than himself not essential to salvation. in this he was much behind his age or before it. he certainly was not with the majority. and thus, while the election of ferdinand had given the signal of war all over christendom, while from the demolished churches in bohemia the tocsin was still sounding, whose vibrations were destined to be heard a generation long through the world, there was less sympathy felt with the call within the territory of the great republic of protestantism than would have seemed imaginable a few short years before. the capture of the cloister church at the hague in the summer of seemed to minds excited by personal rivalries and minute theological controversy a more momentous event than the destruction of the churches in the klostergrab in the following december. the triumph of gomarism in a single dutch city inspired more enthusiasm for the moment than the deadly buffet to european protestantism could inspire dismay. the church had been carried and occupied, as it were, by force, as if an enemy's citadel. it seemed necessary to associate the idea of practical warfare with a movement which might have been a pacific clerical success. barneveld and those who acted with him, while deploring the intolerance out of which the schism had now grown to maturity, had still hoped for possible accommodation of the quarrel. they dreaded popular tumults leading to oppression of the magistracy by the mob or the soldiery and ending in civil war. but what was wanted by the extreme partisans on either side was not accommodation but victory. "religious differences are causing much trouble and discontents in many cities," he said. "at amsterdam there were in the past week two assemblages of boys and rabble which did not disperse without violence, crime, and robbery. the brother of professor episcopius (rem bischop) was damaged to the amount of several thousands. we are still hoping that some better means of accommodation may be found." the calmness with which the advocate spoke of these exciting and painful events is remarkable. it was exactly a week before the date of his letter that this riot had taken place at amsterdam; very significant in its nature and nearly tragical in its results. there were no remonstrant preachers left in the city, and the people of that persuasion were excluded from the communion service. on sunday morning, th february ( ), a furious mob set upon the house of rem bischop, a highly respectable and wealthy citizen, brother of the remonstrant professor episcopius, of leyden. the house, an elegant mansion in one of the principal streets, was besieged and after an hour's resistance carried by storm. the pretext of the assault was that arminian preaching was going on within its walls, which was not the fact. the mistress of the house, half clad, attempted to make her escape by the rear of the building, was pursued by the rabble with sticks and stones, and shrieks of "kill the arminian harlot, strike her dead," until she fortunately found refuge in the house of a neighbouring carpenter. there the hunted creature fell insensible on the ground, the master of the house refusing to give her up, though the maddened mob surged around it, swearing that if the "arminian harlot"--as respectable a matron as lived in the city--were not delivered over to them, they would tear the house to pieces. the hope of plunder and of killing rem bischop himself drew them at last back to his mansion. it was thoroughly sacked; every portable article of value, linen, plate, money, furniture, was carried off, the pictures and objects of art destroyed, the house gutted from top to bottom. a thousand spectators were looking on placidly at the work of destruction as they returned from church, many of them with bible and psalm-book in their hands. the master effected his escape over the roof into an adjoining building. one of the ringleaders, a carpenter by trade, was arrested carrying an armful of valuable plunder. he was asked by the magistrate why he had entered the house. "out of good zeal," he replied; "to help beat and kill the arminians who were holding conventicle there." he was further asked why he hated the arminians so much. "are we to suffer such folk here," he replied, "who preach the vile doctrine that god has created one man for damnation and another for salvation?"--thus ascribing the doctrine of the church of which he supposed himself a member to the arminians whom he had been plundering and wished to kill. rem bischop received no compensation for the damage and danger; the general cry in the town being that the money he was receiving from barneveld and the king of spain would make him good even if not a stone of the house had been left standing. on the following thursday two elders of the church council waited upon and informed him that he must in future abstain from the communion service. it may well be supposed that the virtual head of the government liked not the triumph of mob law, in the name of religion, over the civil authority. the advocate was neither democrat nor demagogue. a lawyer, a magistrate, and a noble, he had but little sympathy with the humbler classes, which he was far too much in the habit of designating as rabble and populace. yet his anger was less against them than against the priests, the foreigners, the military and diplomatic mischief-makers, by whom they were set upon to dangerous demonstrations. the old patrician scorned the arts by which highborn demagogues in that as in every age affect adulation for inferiors whom they despise. it was his instinct to protect, and guide the people, in whom he recognized no chartered nor inherent right to govern. it was his resolve, so long as breath was in him, to prevent them from destroying life and property and subverting the government under the leadership of an inflamed priesthood. it was with this intention, as we have just seen, and in order to avoid bloodshed, anarchy, and civil war in the streets of every town and village, that a decisive but in the advocate's opinion a perfectly legal step had been taken by the states of holland. it had become necessary to empower the magistracies of towns to defend themselves by enrolled troops against mob violence and against an enforced synod considered by great lawyers as unconstitutional. aerssens resided in zealand, and the efforts of that ex-ambassador were unceasing to excite popular animosity against the man he hated and to trouble the political waters in which no man knew better than he how to cast the net. "the states of zealand," said the advocate to the ambassador in london, "have a deputation here about the religious differences, urging the holding of a national synod according to the king's letters, to which some other provinces and some of the cities of holland incline. the questions have not yet been defined by a common synod, so that a national one could make no definition, while the particular synods and clerical personages are so filled with prejudices and so bound by mutual engagements of long date as to make one fear an unfruitful issue. we are occupied upon this point in our assembly of holland to devise some compromise and to discover by what means these difficulties may be brought into a state of tranquillity." it will be observed that in all these most private and confidential utterances of the advocate a tone of extreme moderation, an anxious wish to save the provinces from dissensions, dangers, and bloodshed, is distinctly visible. never is he betrayed into vindictive, ambitious, or self-seeking expressions, while sometimes, although rarely, despondent in mind. nor was his opposition to a general synod absolute. he was probably persuaded however, as we have just seen, that it should of necessity be preceded by provincial ones, both in due regard to the laws of the land and to the true definition of the points to be submitted to its decision. he had small hope of a successful result from it. the british king gave him infinite distress. as towards france so towards england the advocate kept steadily before him the necessity of deferring to powerful sovereigns whose friendship was necessary to the republic he served, however misguided, perverse, or incompetent those monarchs might be. "i had always hoped," he said, "that his majesty would have adhered to his original written advice, that such questions as these ought to be quietly settled by authority of law and not by ecclesiastical persons, and i still hope that his majesty's intention is really to that effect, although he speaks of synods." a month later he felt even more encouraged. "the last letter of his majesty concerning our religious questions," he said, "has given rise to various constructions, but the best advised, who have peace and unity at heart, understand the king's intention to be to conserve the state of these provinces and the religion in its purity. my hope is that his majesty's good opinion will be followed and adopted according to the most appropriate methods." can it be believed that the statesman whose upright patriotism, moderation, and nobleness of purpose thus breathed through every word spoken by him in public or whispered to friends was already held up by a herd of ravening slanderers to obloquy as a traitor and a tyrant? he was growing old and had suffered much from illness during this eventful summer, but his anxiety for the commonwealth, caused by these distressing and superfluous squabbles, were wearing into him more deeply than years or disease could do. "owing to my weakness and old age i can't go up-stairs as well as i used," he said,--[barneveld to caron july and aug. . (h. arch. ms.)]--"and these religious dissensions cause me sometimes such disturbance of mind as will ere long become intolerable, because of my indisposition and because of the cry of my heart at the course people are pursuing here. i reflect that at the time of duke casimir and the prince of chimay exactly such a course was held in flanders and in lord leicester's time in the city of utrecht, as is best known to yourself. my hope is fixed on the lord god almighty, and that he will make those well ashamed who are laying anything to heart save his honour and glory and the welfare of our country with maintenance of its freedom and laws. i mean unchangeably to live and die for them . . . . believe firmly that all representations to the contrary are vile calumnies." before leaving for vianen in the middle of august of this year ( ) the advocate had an interview with the prince. there had been no open rupture between them, and barneveld was most anxious to avoid a quarrel with one to whose interests and honour he had always been devoted. he did not cling to power nor office. on the contrary, he had repeatedly importuned the states to accept his resignation, hoping that perhaps these unhappy dissensions might be quieted by his removal from the scene. he now told the prince that the misunderstanding between them arising from these religious disputes was so painful to his heart that he would make and had made every possible effort towards conciliation and amicable settlement of the controversy. he saw no means now, he said, of bringing about unity, unless his excellency were willing to make some proposition for arrangement. this he earnestly implored the prince to do, assuring him of his sincere and upright affection for him and his wish to support such measures to the best of his ability and to do everything for the furtherance of his reputation and necessary authority. he was so desirous of this result, he said, that he would propose now as he did at the time of the truce negotiations to lay down all his offices, leaving his excellency to guide the whole course of affairs according to his best judgment. he had already taken a resolution, if no means of accommodation were possible, to retire to his gunterstein estate and there remain till the next meeting of the assembly; when he would ask leave to retire for at least a year; in order to occupy himself with a revision and collation of the charters, laws, and other state papers of the country which were in his keeping, and which it was needful to bring into an orderly condition. meantime some scheme might be found for arranging the religious differences, more effective than any he had been able to devise. his appeal seems to have glanced powerlessly upon the iron reticence of maurice, and the advocate took his departure disheartened. later in the autumn, so warm a remonstrance was made to him by the leading nobles and deputies of holland against his contemplated withdrawal from his post that it seemed a dereliction of duty on his part to retire. he remained to battle with the storm and to see "with anguish of heart," as he expressed it, the course religious affairs were taking. the states of utrecht on the th august resolved that on account of the gathering of large masses of troops in the countries immediately adjoining their borders, especially in the episcopate of cologne, by aid of spanish money, it was expedient for them to enlist a protective force of six companies of regular soldiers in order to save the city from sudden and overwhelming attack by foreign troops. even if the danger from without were magnified in this preamble, which is by no means certain, there seemed to be no doubt on the subject in the minds of the magistrates. they believed that they had the right to protect and that they were bound to protect their ancient city from sudden assault, whether by spanish soldiers or by organized mobs attempting, as had been done in rotterdam, oudewater, and other towns, to overawe the civil authority in the interest of the contra-remonstrants. six nobles of utrecht were accordingly commissioned to raise the troops. a week later they had been enlisted, sworn to obey in all things the states of utrecht, and to take orders from no one else. three days later the states of utrecht addressed a letter to their mightinesses the states-general and to his excellency the prince, notifying them that for the reasons stated in the resolution cited the six companies had been levied. there seemed in these proceedings to be no thought of mutiny or rebellion, the province considering itself as acting within its unquestionable rights as a sovereign state and without any exaggeration of the imperious circumstances of the case. nor did the states-general and the stadholder at that moment affect to dispute the rights of utrecht, nor raise a doubt as to the legality of the proceedings. the committee sent thither by the states-general, the prince, and the council of state in their written answer to the letter of the utrecht government declared the reasons given for the enrolment of the six companies to be insufficient and the measure itself highly dangerous. they complained, but in very courteous language, that the soldiers had been levied without giving the least notice thereof to the general government, without asking its advice, or waiting for any communication from it, and they reminded the states of utrecht that they might always rely upon the states-general and his excellency, who were still ready, as they had been seven years before ( ), to protect them against every enemy and any danger. the conflict between a single province of the confederacy and the authority of the general government had thus been brought to a direct issue; to the test of arms. for, notwithstanding the preamble to the resolution of the utrecht assembly just cited, there could be little question that the resolve itself was a natural corollary of the famous "sharp resolution," passed by the states of holland three weeks before. utrecht was in arms to prevent, among other things at least, the forcing upon them by a majority of the states-general of the national synod to which they were opposed, the seizure of churches by the contra-remonstrants, and the destruction of life and property by inflamed mobs. there is no doubt that barneveld deeply deplored the issue, but that he felt himself bound to accept it. the innate absurdity of a constitutional system under which each of the seven members was sovereign and independent and the head was at the mercy of the members could not be more flagrantly illustrated. in the bloody battles which seemed impending in the streets of utrecht and in all the principal cities of the netherlands between the soldiers of sovereign states and soldiers of a general government which was not sovereign, the letter of the law and the records of history were unquestionably on the aide of the provincial and against the general authority. yet to nullify the authority of the states-general by force of arms at this supreme moment was to stultify all government whatever. it was an awful dilemma, and it is difficult here fully to sympathize with the advocate, for he it was who inspired, without dictating, the course of the utrecht proceedings. with him patriotism seemed at this moment to dwindle into provincialism, the statesman to shrink into the lawyer. certainly there was no guilt in the proceedings. there was no crime in the heart of the advocate. he had exhausted himself with appeals in favour of moderation, conciliation, compromise. he had worked night and day with all the energy of a pure soul and a great mind to assuage religious hatreds and avert civil dissensions. he was overpowered. he had frequently desired to be released from all his functions, but as dangers thickened over the provinces, he felt it his duty so long as he remained at his post to abide by the law as the only anchor in the storm. not rising in his mind to the height of a national idea, and especially averse from it when embodied in the repulsive form of religious uniformity, he did not shrink from a contest which he had not provoked, but had done his utmost to avert. but even then he did not anticipate civil war. the enrolling of the waartgelders was an armed protest, a symbol of legal conviction rather than a serious effort to resist the general government. and this is the chief justification of his course from a political point of view. it was ridiculous to suppose that with a few hundred soldiers hastily enlisted--and there were less than waartgelders levied throughout the provinces and under the orders of civil magistrates--a serious contest was intended against a splendidly disciplined army of veteran troops, commanded by the first general of the age. from a legal point of view barneveld considered his position impregnable. the controversy is curious, especially for americans, and for all who are interested in the analysis of federal institutions and of republican principles, whether aristocratic or democratic. the states of utrecht replied in decorous but firm language to the committee of the states-general that they had raised the six companies in accordance with their sovereign right so to do, and that they were resolved to maintain them. they could not wait as they had been obliged to do in the time of the earl of leicester and more recently in until they had been surprised and overwhelmed by the enemy before the states-general and his excellency the prince could come to their rescue. they could not suffer all the evils of tumults, conspiracies, and foreign invasion, without defending themselves. making use, they said, of the right of sovereignty which in their province belonged to them alone, they thought it better to prevent in time and by convenient means such fire and mischief than to look on while it kindled and spread into a conflagration, and to go about imploring aid from their fellow confederates who, god better it, had enough in these times to do at home. this would only be to bring them as well as this province into trouble, disquiet, and expense. "my lords the states of utrecht have conserved and continually exercised this right of sovereignty in its entireness ever since renouncing the king of spain. every contract, ordinance, and instruction of the states-general has been in conformity with it, and the states of utrecht are convinced that the states of not one of their confederate provinces would yield an atom of its sovereignty." they reminded the general government that by the st article of the "closer union" of utrecht, on which that assembly was founded, it was bound to support the states of the respective provinces and strengthen them with counsel, treasure, and blood if their respective rights, more especially their individual sovereignty, the most precious of all, should be assailed. to refrain from so doing would be to violate a solemn contract. they further reminded the council of state that by its institution the states-provincial had not abdicated their respective sovereignties, but had reserved it in all matters not specifically mentioned in the original instruction by which it was created. two days afterwards arnold van randwyck and three other commissioners were instructed by the general government to confer with the states of utrecht, to tell them that their reply was deemed unsatisfactory, that their reasons for levying soldiers in times when all good people should be seeking to restore harmony and mitigate dissension were insufficient, and to request them to disband those levies without prejudice in so doing to the laws and liberties of the province and city of utrecht. here was perhaps an opening for a compromise, the instruction being not without ingenuity, and the word sovereignty in regard either to the general government or the separate provinces being carefully omitted. soon afterwards, too, the states-general went many steps farther in the path of concession, for they made another appeal to the government of utrecht to disband the waartgelders on the ground of expediency, and in so doing almost expressly admitted the doctrine of provincial sovereignty. it is important in regard to subsequent events to observe this virtual admission. "your honours lay especial stress upon the right of sovereignty as belonging to you alone in your province," they said, "and dispute therefore at great length upon the power and authority of the generality, of his excellency, and of the state council. but you will please to consider that there is here no question of this, as our commissioners had no instructions to bring this into dispute in the least, and most certainly have not done so. we have only in effect questioned whether that which one has an undoubted right to do can at all times be appropriately and becomingly done, whether it was fitting that your honours, contrary to custom, should undertake these new levies upon a special oath and commission, and effectively complete the measure without giving the slightest notice thereof to the generality." it may fairly be said that the question in debate was entirely conceded in this remarkable paper, which was addressed by the states-general, the prince-stadholder, and the council of state to the government of utrecht. it should be observed, too, that while distinctly repudiating the intention of disputing the sovereignty of that province, they carefully abstain from using the word in relation to themselves, speaking only of the might and authority of the generality, the prince, and the council. there was now a pause in the public discussion. the soldiers were not disbanded, as the states of utrecht were less occupied with establishing the soundness of their theory than with securing its practical results. they knew very well, and the advocate knew very well, that the intention to force a national synod by a majority vote of the assembly of the states-general existed more strongly than ever, and they meant to resist it to the last. the attempt was in their opinion an audacious violation of the fundamental pact on which the confederacy was founded. its success would be to establish the sacerdotal power in triumph over the civil authority. during this period the advocate was resident in utrecht. for change of air, ostensibly at least, he had absented himself from the seat of government, and was during several weeks under the hands of his old friend and physician dr. saul. he was strictly advised to abstain altogether from political business, but he might as well have attempted to abstain from food and drink. gillis van ledenberg, secretary of the states of utrecht, visited him frequently. the proposition to enlist the waartgelders had been originally made in the assembly by its president, and warmly seconded by van ledenberg, who doubtless conferred afterwards with barneveld in person, but informally and at his lodgings. it was almost inevitable that this should be the case, nor did the advocate make much mystery as to the course of action which he deemed indispensable at this period. believing it possible that some sudden and desperate attempt might be made by evil disposed people, he agreed with the states of utrecht in the propriety of taking measures of precaution. they were resolved not to look quietly on while soldiers and rabble under guidance perhaps of violent contra-remonstrant preachers took possession of the churches and even of the city itself, as had already been done in several towns. the chief practical object of enlisting the six companies was that the city might be armed against popular tumults, and they feared that the ordinary military force might be withdrawn. when captain hartvelt, in his own name and that of the other officers of those companies, said that they were all resolved never to use their weapons against the stadholder or the states-general, he was answered that they would never be required to do so. they, however, made oath to serve against those who should seek to trouble the peace of the province of utrecht in ecclesiastical or political matters, and further against all enemies of the common country. at the same time it was deemed expedient to guard against a surprise of any kind and to keep watch and ward. "i cannot quite believe in the french companies," said the advocate in a private billet to ledenberg. "it would be extremely well that not only good watch should be kept at the city gates, but also that one might from above and below the river lek be assuredly advised from the nearest cities if any soldiers are coming up or down, and that the same might be done in regard to amersfoort." at the bottom of this letter, which was destined to become historical and will be afterwards referred to, the advocate wrote, as he not unfrequently did, upon his private notes, "when read, burn, and send me back the two enclosed letters." the letter lies in the archives unburned to this day, but, harmless as it looked, it was to serve as a nail in more than one coffin. in his confidential letters to trusted friends he complained of "great physical debility growing out of heavy sorrow," and described himself as entering upon his seventy-first year and no longer fit for hard political labour. the sincere grief, profound love of country, and desire that some remedy might be found for impending disaster, is stamped upon all his utterances whether official or secret. "the troubles growing out of the religious differences," he said, "are running into all sorts of extremities. it is feared that an attempt will be made against the laws of the land through extraordinary ways, and by popular tumults to take from the supreme authority of the respective provinces the right to govern clerical persons and regulate clerical disputes, and to place it at the disposition of ecclesiastics and of a national synod. "it is thought too that the soldiers will be forbidden to assist the civil supreme power and the government of cities in defending themselves from acts of violence which under pretext of religion will be attempted against the law and the commands of the magistrates. "this seems to conflict with the common law of the respective provinces, each of which from all times had right of sovereignty and supreme authority within its territory and specifically reserved it in all treaties and especially in that of the nearer union . . . . the provinces have always regulated clerical matters each for itself. the province of utrecht, which under the pretext of religion is now most troubled, made stipulations to this effect, when it took his excellency for governor, even more stringent than any others. as for holland, she never imagined that one could ever raise a question on the subject . . . . all good men ought to do their best to prevent the enemies to the welfare of these provinces from making profit out of our troubles." the whole matter he regarded as a struggle between the clergy and the civil power for mastery over the state, as an attempt to subject provincial autonomy to the central government purely in the interest of the priesthood of a particular sect. the remedy he fondly hoped for was moderation and union within the church itself. he could never imagine the necessity for this ferocious animosity not only between christians but between two branches of the reformed church. he could never be made to believe that the five points of the remonstrance had dug an abyss too deep and wide ever to be bridged between brethren lately of one faith as of one fatherland. he was unceasing in his prayers and appeals for "mutual toleration on the subject of predestination." perhaps the bitterness, almost amounting to frenzy, with which abstruse points of casuistry were then debated, and which converted differences of opinion upon metaphysical divinity into deadly hatred and thirst for blood, is already obsolete or on the road to become so. if so, then was barneveld in advance of his age, and it would have been better for the peace of the world and the progress of christianity if more of his contemporaries had placed themselves on his level. he was no theologian, but he believed himself to be a christian, and he certainly was a thoughtful and a humble one. he had not the arrogance to pierce behind the veil and assume to read the inscrutable thoughts of the omnipotent. it was a cruel fate that his humility upon subjects which he believed to be beyond the scope of human reason should have been tortured by his enemies into a crime, and that because he hoped for religious toleration he should be accused of treason to the commonwealth. "believe and cause others to believe," he said, "that i am and with the grace of god hope to continue an upright patriot as i have proved myself to be in these last forty-two years spent in the public service. in the matter of differential religious points i remain of the opinions which i have held for more than fifty years, and in which i hope to live and die, to wit, that a good christian man ought to believe that he is predestined to eternal salvation through god's grace, giving for reasons that he through god's grace has a firm belief that his salvation is founded purely on god's grace and the expiation of our sins through our saviour jesus christ, and that if he should fall into any sins his firm trust is that god will not let him perish in them, but mercifully turn him to repentance, so that he may continue in the same belief to the last." these expressions were contained in a letter to caron with the intention doubtless that they should be communicated to the king of great britain, and it is a curious illustration of the spirit of the age, this picture of the leading statesman of a great republic unfolding his religious convictions for private inspection by the monarch of an allied nation. more than anything else it exemplifies the close commixture of theology, politics, and diplomacy in that age, and especially in those two countries. formerly, as we have seen, the king considered a too curious fathoming of divine mysteries as highly reprehensible, particularly for the common people. although he knew more about them than any one else, he avowed that even his knowledge in this respect was not perfect. it was matter of deep regret with the advocate that his majesty had not held to his former positions, and that he had disowned his original letters. "i believe my sentiments thus expressed," he said, "to be in accordance with scripture, and i have always held to them without teasing my brains with the precise decrees of reprobation, foreknowledge, or the like, as matters above my comprehension. i have always counselled christian moderation. the states of holland have followed the spirit of his majesty's letters, but our antagonists have rejected them and with seditious talk, sermons, and the spreading of infamous libels have brought matters to their present condition. there have been excesses on the other side as well." he then made a slight, somewhat shadowy allusion to schemes known to be afloat for conferring the sovereignty upon maurice. we have seen that at former periods he had entertained this subject and discussed it privately with those who were not only friendly but devoted to the stadholder, and that he had arrived at the conclusion that it would not be for the interest of the prince to encourage the project. above all he was sternly opposed to the idea of attempting to compass it by secret intrigue. should such an arrangement be publicly discussed and legally completed, it would not meet with his unconditional opposition. "the lord god knows," he said, "whether underneath all these movements does not lie the design of the year , well known to you. as for me, believe that i am and by god's grace hope to remain, what i always was, an upright patriot, a defender of the true christian religion, of the public authority, and of all the power that has been and in future may be legally conferred upon his excellency. believe that all things said, written, or spread to the contrary are falsehoods and calumnies." he was still in utrecht, but about to leave for the hague, with health somewhat improved and in better spirits in regard to public matters. "although i have entered my seventy-first year," he said, "i trust still to be of some service to the commonwealth and to my friends . . . . don't consider an arrangement of our affairs desperate. i hope for better things." soon after his return he was waited upon one sunday evening, late in october--being obliged to keep his house on account of continued indisposition--by a certain solicitor named nordlingen and informed that the prince was about to make a sudden visit to leyden at four o'clock next morning. barneveld knew that the burgomasters and regents were holding a great banquet that night, and that many of them would probably have been indulging in potations too deep to leave them fit for serious business. the agitation of people's minds at that moment made the visit seem rather a critical one, as there would probably be a mob collected to see the stadholder, and he was anxious both in the interest of the prince and the regents and of both religious denominations that no painful incidents should occur if it was in his power to prevent them. he was aware that his son-in-law, cornelis van der myle, had been invited to the banquet, and that he was wont to carry his wine discreetly. he therefore requested nordlingen to proceed to leyden that night and seek an interview with van der myle without delay. by thus communicating the intelligence of the expected visit to one who, he felt sure, would do his best to provide for a respectful and suitable reception of the prince, notwithstanding the exhilarated condition in which the magistrates would probably find themselves, the advocate hoped to prevent any riot or tumultuous demonstration of any kind. at least he would act conformably to his duty and keep his conscience clear should disasters ensue. later in the night he learned that maurice was going not to leyden but to delft, and he accordingly despatched a special messenger to arrive before dawn at leyden in order to inform van der myle of this change in the prince's movements. nothing seemed simpler or more judicious than these precautions on the part of barneveld. they could not fail, however, to be tortured into sedition, conspiracy, and treason. towards the end of the year a meeting of the nobles and knights of holland under the leadership of barneveld was held to discuss the famous sharp resolution of th august and the letters and arguments advanced against it by the stadholder and the council of state. it was unanimously resolved by this body, in which they were subsequently followed by a large majority of the states of holland, to maintain that resolution and its consequences and to oppose the national synod. they further resolved that a legal provincial synod should be convoked by the states of holland and under their authority and supervision. the object of such synod should be to devise "some means of accommodation, mutual toleration, and christian settlement of differences in regard to the five points in question." in case such compromise should unfortunately not be arranged, then it was resolved to invite to the assembly two or three persons from france, as many from england, from germany, and from switzerland, to aid in the consultations. should a method of reconciliation and mutual toleration still remain undiscovered, then, in consideration that the whole christian world was interested in composing these dissensions, it was proposed that a "synodal assembly of all christendom," a protestant oecumenical council, should in some solemn manner be convoked. these resolutions and propositions were all brought forward by the advocate, and the draughts of them in his handwriting remain. they are the unimpeachable evidences of his earnest desire to put an end to these unhappy disputes and disorders in the only way which he considered constitutional. before the close of the year the states of holland, in accordance with the foregoing advice of the nobles, passed a resolution, the minutes of which were drawn up by the hand of the advocate, and in which they persisted in their opposition to the national synod. they declared by a large majority of votes that the assembly of the states-general without the unanimous consent of the provincial states were not competent according to the union of utrecht--the fundamental law of the general assembly--to regulate religious affairs, but that this right belonged to the separate provinces, each within its own domain. they further resolved that as they were bound by solemn oath to maintain the laws and liberties of holland, they could not surrender this right to the generality, nor allow it to be usurped by any one, but in order to settle the question of the five points, the only cause known to them of the present disturbances, they were content under: their own authority to convoke a provincial synod within three months, at their own cost, and to invite the respective provinces, as many of them as thought good, to send to this meeting a certain number of pious and learned theologians. it is difficult to see why the course thus unanimously proposed by the nobles of holland, under guidance of barneveld, and subsequently by a majority of the states of that province, would not have been as expedient as it was legal. but we are less concerned with that point now than with the illustrations afforded by these long buried documents of the patriotism and sagacity of a man than whom no human creature was ever more foully slandered. it will be constantly borne in mind that he regarded this religious controversy purely from a political, legal, and constitutional--and not from a theological-point of view. he believed that grave danger to the fatherland was lurking under this attempt, by the general government, to usurp the power of dictating the religious creed of all the provinces. especially he deplored the evil influence exerted by the king of england since his abandonment of the principles announced in his famous letter to the states in the year . all that the advocate struggled for was moderation and mutual toleration within the reformed church. he felt that a wider scheme of forbearance was impracticable. if a dream of general religious equality had ever floated before him or before any one in that age, he would have felt it to be a dream which would be a reality nowhere until centuries should have passed away. yet that moderation, patience, tolerance, and respect for written law paved the road to that wider and loftier region can scarcely be doubted. carleton, subservient to every changing theological whim of his master, was as vehement and as insolent now in enforcing the intolerant views of james as he had previously been in supporting the counsels to tolerance contained in the original letters of that monarch. the ambassador was often at the advocate's bed-side during his illness that summer, enforcing, instructing, denouncing, contradicting. he was never weary of fulfilling his duties of tuition, but the patient barneveld; haughty and overbearing as he was often described to be, rarely used a harsh or vindictive word regarding him in his letters. "the ambassador of france," he said, "has been heard before the assembly of the states-general, and has made warm appeals in favour of union and mutual toleration as his majesty of great britain so wisely did in his letters of . . . . if his majesty could only be induced to write fresh letters in similar tone, i should venture to hope better fruits from them than from this attempt to thrust a national synod upon our necks, which many of us hold to be contrary to law, reason, and the act of union." so long as it was possible to hope that the action of the states of holland would prevent such a catastrophe, he worked hard to direct them in what he deemed the right course. "our political and religious differences," he said, "stand between hope and fear." the hope was in the acceptance of the provincial synod--the fear lest the national synod should be carried by a minority of the cities of holland combining with a majority of the other provincial states. "this would be in violation," he said, "of the so-called religious peace, the act of union, the treaty with the duke of anjou, the negotiations of the states of utrecht, and with prince maurice in with cognizance of the states-general and those of holland for, the governorship of that province, the custom of the generality for the last thirty years according to which religious matters have always been left to the disposition of the states of each province . . . . carleton is strenuously urging this course in his majesty's name, and i fear that in the present state of our humours great troubles will be the result." the expulsion by an armed mob, in the past year, of a remonstrant preacher at oudewater, the overpowering of the magistracy and the forcing on of illegal elections in that and other cities, had given him and all earnest patriots grave cause for apprehension. they were dreading, said barneveld, a course of crimes similar to those which under the earl of leicester's government had afflicted leyden and utrecht. "efforts are incessant to make the remonstrants hateful," he said to caron, "but go forward resolutely and firmly in the conviction that our friends here are as animated in their opposition to the spanish dominion now and by god's grace will so remain as they have ever proved themselves to be, not only by words, but works. i fear that mr. carleton gives too much belief to the enviers of our peace and tranquillity under pretext of religion, but it is more from ignorance than malice." those who have followed the course of the advocate's correspondence, conversation, and actions, as thus far detailed, can judge of the gigantic nature of the calumny by which he was now assailed. that this man, into every fibre of whose nature was woven undying hostility to spain, as the great foe to national independence and religious liberty throughout the continent of europe, whose every effort, as we have seen, during all these years of nominal peace had been to organize a system of general european defence against the war now actually begun upon protestantism, should be accused of being a partisan of spain, a creature of spain, a pensioner of spain, was enough to make honest men pray that the earth might be swallowed up. if such idiotic calumnies could be believed, what patriot in the world could not be doubted? yet they were believed. barneveld was bought by spanish gold. he had received whole boxes full of spanish pistoles, straight from brussels! for his part in the truce negotiations he had received , ducats in one lump. "it was plain," said the greatest man in the country to another great man, "that barneveld and his party are on the road to spain." "then it were well to have proof of it," said the great man. "not yet time," was the reply. "we must flatten out a few of them first." prince maurice had told the princess-dowager the winter before ( th december ) that those dissensions would never be decided except by use of weapons; and he now mentioned to her that he had received information from brussels, which he in part believed, that the advocate was a stipendiary of spain. yet he had once said, to the same princess louise, of this stipendiary that "the services which the advocate had rendered to the house of nassau were so great that all the members of that house might well look upon him not as their friend but their father." councillor van maldere, president of the states of zealand, and a confidential friend of maurice, was going about the hague saying that "one must string up seven or eight remonstrants on the gallows; then there might be some improvement." as for arminius and uytenbogaert, people had long told each other and firmly believed it, and were amazed when any incredulity was expressed in regard to it, that they were in regular and intimate correspondence with the jesuits, that they had received large sums from rome, and that both had been promised cardinals' hats. that barneveld and his friend uytenbogaert were regular pensioners of spain admitted of no dispute whatever. "it was as true as the holy evangel." the ludicrous chatter had been passed over with absolute disdain by the persons attacked, but calumny is often a stronger and more lasting power than disdain. it proved to be in these cases. "you have the plague mark on your flesh, oh pope, oh pensioner," said one libeller. "there are letters safely preserved to make your process for you. look out for your head. many have sworn your death, for it is more than time that you were out of the world. we shall prove, oh great bribed one, that you had the , little ducats." the preacher uytenbogaert was also said to have had , ducats for his share. "go to brussels," said the pamphleteer; "it all stands clearly written out on the register with the names and surnames of all you great bribe-takers." these were choice morsels from the lampoon of the notary danckaerts. "we are tortured more and more with religious differences," wrote barneveld; "with acts of popular violence growing out of them the more continuously as they remain unpunished, and with ever increasing jealousies and suspicions. the factious libels become daily more numerous and more impudent, and no man comes undamaged from the field. i, as a reward for all my troubles, labours, and sorrows, have three double portions of them. i hope however to overcome all by god's grace and to defend my actions with all honourable men so long as right and reason have place in the world, as to which many begin to doubt. if his majesty had been pleased to stick to the letters of , we should never have got into these difficulties . . . . it were better in my opinion that carleton should be instructed to negotiate in the spirit of those epistles rather than to torment us with the national synod, which will do more harm than good." it is impossible not to notice the simplicity and patience with which the advocate, in the discharge of his duty as minister of foreign affairs, kept the leading envoys of the republic privately informed of events which were becoming day by day more dangerous to the public interests and his own safety. if ever a perfectly quiet conscience was revealed in the correspondence of a statesman, it was to be found in these letters. calmly writing to thank caron for some very satisfactory english beer which the ambassador had been sending him from london, he proceeded to speak again of the religious dissensions and their consequences. he sent him the letter and remonstrance which he had felt himself obliged to make, and which he had been urged by his ever warm and constant friend the widow of william the silent to make on the subject of "the seditious libels, full of lies and calumnies got up by conspiracy against him." these letters were never published, however, until years after he had been in his grave. "i know that you are displeased with the injustice done me," he said, "but i see no improvement. people are determined to force through the national synod. the two last ones did much harm. this will do ten times more, so intensely embittered are men's tempers against each other." again he deplored the king's departure from his letters of , by adherence to which almost all the troubles would have been spared. it is curious too to observe the contrast between public opinion in great britain, including its government, in regard to the constitution of the united provinces at that period of domestic dissensions and incipient civil war and the general impressions manifested in the same nation two centuries and a half later, on the outbreak of the slavery rebellion, as to the constitution of the united states. the states in arms against the general government on the other side of the atlantic were strangely but not disingenuously assumed to be sovereign and independent, and many statesmen and a leading portion of the public justified them in their attempt to shake off the central government as if it were but a board of agency established by treaty and terminable at pleasure of any one of among sovereigns and terminable at pleasure of any one of them. yet even a superficial glance at the written constitution of the republic showed that its main object was to convert what had been a confederacy into an incorporation; and that the very essence of its renewed political existence was an organic law laid down by a whole people in their primitive capacity in place of a league banding together a group of independent little corporations. the chief attributes of sovereignty--the rights of war and peace, of coinage, of holding armies and navies, of issuing bills of credit, of foreign relations, of regulating and taxing foreign commerce--having been taken from the separate states by the united people thereof and bestowed upon a government provided with a single executive head, with a supreme tribunal, with a popular house of representatives and a senate, and with power to deal directly with the life and property of every individual in the land, it was strange indeed that the feudal, and in america utterly unmeaning, word sovereign should have been thought an appropriate term for the different states which had fused themselves three-quarters of a century before into a union. when it is remembered too that the only dissolvent of this union was the intention to perpetuate human slavery, the logic seemed somewhat perverse by which the separate sovereignty of the states was deduced from the constitution of . on the other hand, the union of utrecht of was a league of petty sovereignties; a compact less binding and more fragile than the articles of union made almost exactly two hundred years later in america, and the worthlessness of which, after the strain of war was over, had been demonstrated in the dreary years immediately following the peace of . one after another certain netherland provinces had abjured their allegiance to spain, some of them afterwards relapsing under it, some having been conquered by the others, while one of them, holland, had for a long time borne the greater part of the expense and burthen of the war. "holland," said the advocate, "has brought almost all the provinces to their liberty. to receive laws from them or from their clerical people now is what our state cannot endure. it is against her laws and customs, in the enjoyment of which the other provinces and his excellency as governor of holland are bound to protect us." and as the preservation of chattel slavery in the one case seemed a legitimate ground for destroying a government which had as definite an existence as any government known to mankind, so the resolve to impose a single religious creed upon many millions of individuals was held by the king and government of great britain to be a substantial reason for imagining a central sovereignty which had never existed at all. this was still more surprising as the right to dispose of ecclesiastical affairs and persons had been expressly reserved by the separate provinces in perfectly plain language in the treaty of union. "if the king were better informed," said barneveld, "of our system and laws, we should have better hope than now. but one supposes through notorious error in foreign countries that the sovereignty stands with the states-general which is not the case, except in things which by the articles of closer union have been made common to all the provinces, while in other matters, as religion, justice, and polity, the sovereignty remains with each province, which foreigners seem unable to comprehend." early in june, carleton took his departure for england on leave of absence. he received a present from the states of florins, and went over in very ill-humour with barneveld. "mr. ambassador is much offended and prejudiced," said the advocate, "but i know that he will religiously carry out the orders of his majesty. i trust that his majesty can admit different sentiments on predestination and its consequences, and that in a kingdom where the supreme civil authority defends religion the system of the puritans will have no foothold." certainly james could not be accused of allowing the system of the puritans much foothold in england, but he had made the ingenious discovery that puritanism in holland was a very different thing from puritanism in the netherlands. etext editor's bookmarks: acts of violence which under pretext of religion adulation for inferiors whom they despise calumny is often a stronger and more lasting power than disdain created one child for damnation and another for salvation depths of credulity men in all ages can sink devote himself to his gout and to his fair young wife furious mob set upon the house of rem bischop highborn demagogues in that as in every age affect adulation in this he was much behind his age or before it logic is rarely the quality on which kings pride themselves necessity of deferring to powerful sovereigns not his custom nor that of his councillors to go to bed partisans wanted not accommodation but victory puritanism in holland was a very different thing from england seemed bent on self-destruction stand between hope and fear the evils resulting from a confederate system of government to stifle for ever the right of free enquiry the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. life and death of john of barneveld, v , chapter xvi. maurice revolutionizes the provinces--danckaert's libellous pamphlet --barneveld's appeal to the prince--barneveld'a remonstrance to the states--the stadholder at amsterdam--the treaty of truce nearly expired--king of spain and archduke albert--scheme for recovering the provinces--secret plot to make maurice sovereign. early in the year ( ) maurice set himself about revolutionizing the provinces on which he could not yet thoroughly rely. the town of nymegen since its recovery from the spaniards near the close of the preceding century had held its municipal government, as it were, at the option of the prince. during the war he had been, by the terms of surrender, empowered to appoint and to change its magistracy at will. no change had occurred for many years, but as the government had of late fallen into the hands of the barneveldians, and as maurice considered the truce to be a continuance of the war, he appeared suddenly, in the city at the head of a body of troops and surrounded by his lifeguard. summoning the whole board of magistrates into the townhouse, he gave them all notice to quit, disbanding them like a company of mutinous soldiery, and immediately afterwards appointed a fresh list of functionaries in their stead. this done, he proceeded to arnhem, where the states of gelderland were in session, appeared before that body, and made a brief announcement of the revolution which he had so succinctly effected in the most considerable town of their province. the assembly, which seems, like many other assemblies at precisely this epoch, to have had an extraordinary capacity for yielding to gentle violence, made but little resistance to the extreme measures now undertaken by the stadholder, and not only highly applauded the subjugation of nymegen, but listened with sympathy to his arguments against the waartgelders and in favour of the synod. having accomplished so much by a very brief visit to gelderland, the prince proceeded, to overyssel, and had as little difficulty in bringing over the wavering minds of that province into orthodoxy and obedience. thus there remained but two provinces out of seven that were still "waartgeldered" and refused to be "synodized." it was rebellion against rebellion. maurice and his adherents accused the states' right party of mutiny against himself and the states-general. the states' right party accused the contra-remonstrants in the cities of mutiny against the lawful sovereignty of each province. the oath of the soldiery, since the foundation of the republic, had been to maintain obedience and fidelity to the states-general, the stadholder, and the province in which they were garrisoned, and at whose expense they were paid. it was impossible to harmonize such conflicting duties and doctrines. theory had done its best and its worst. the time was fast approaching, as it always must approach, when fact with its violent besom would brush away the fine-spun cobwebs which had been so long undisturbed. "i will grind the advocate and all his party into fine meal," said the prince on one occasion. a clever caricature of the time represented a pair of scales hung up in a great hall. in the one was a heap of parchments, gold chains, and magisterial robes; the whole bundle being marked the "holy right of each city." in the other lay a big square, solid, ironclasped volume, marked "institutes of calvin." each scale was respectively watched by gomarus and by arminius. the judges, gowned, furred, and ruffed, were looking decorously on, when suddenly the stadholder, in full military attire, was seen rushing into the apartment and flinging his sword into the scale with the institutes. the civic and legal trumpery was of course made to kick the beam. maurice had organized his campaign this year against the advocate and his party as deliberately as he had ever arranged the details of a series of battles and sieges against the spaniard. and he was proving himself as consummate master in political strife as in the great science of war. he no longer made any secret of his conviction that barneveld was a traitor to his country, bought with spanish gold. there was not the slightest proof for these suspicions, but he asserted them roundly. "the advocate is travelling straight to spain," he said to count cuylenborg. "but we will see who has got the longest purse." and as if it had been a part of the campaign, a prearranged diversion to the more direct and general assault on the entrenchments of the states' right party, a horrible personal onslaught was now made from many quarters upon the advocate. it was an age of pamphleteering, of venomous, virulent, unscrupulous libels. and never even in that age had there been anything to equal the savage attacks upon this great statesman. it moves the gall of an honest man, even after the lapse of two centuries and a half, to turn over those long forgotten pages and mark the depths to which political and theological party spirit could descend. that human creatures can assimilate themselves so closely to the reptile, and to the subtle devil within the reptile, when a party end is to be gained is enough to make the very name of man a term of reproach. day by day appeared pamphlets, each one more poisonous than its predecessor. there was hardly a crime that was not laid at the door of barneveld and all his kindred. the man who had borne a matchlock in early youth against the foreign tyrant in days when unsuccessful rebellion meant martyrdom and torture; who had successfully guided the councils of the infant commonwealth at a period when most of his accusers were in their cradles, and when mistake was ruin to the republic; he on whose strong arm the father of his country had leaned for support; the man who had organized a political system out of chaos; who had laid down the internal laws, negotiated the great indispensable alliances, directed the complicated foreign policy, established the system of national defence, presided over the successful financial administration of a state struggling out of mutiny into national existence; who had rocked the republic in its cradle and ever borne her in his heart; who had made her name beloved at home and honoured and dreaded abroad; who had been the first, when the great taciturn had at last fallen a victim to the murderous tyrant of spain, to place the youthful maurice in his father's place, and to inspire the whole country with sublime courage to persist rather than falter in purpose after so deadly a blow; who was as truly the founder of the republic as william had been the author of its independence,--was now denounced as a traitor, a pope, a tyrant, a venal hucksterer of his country's liberties. his family name, which had long been an ancient and knightly one, was defiled and its nobility disputed; his father and mother, sons and daughters, sisters and brothers, accused of every imaginable and unimaginable crime, of murder, incest, robbery, bastardy, fraud, forgery, blasphemy. he had received waggon-loads of spanish pistoles; he had been paid , ducats by spain for negotiating the truce; he was in secret treaty with archduke albert to bring , spanish mercenaries across the border to defeat the machinations of prince maurice, destroy his life, or drive him from the country; all these foul and bitter charges and a thousand similar ones were rained almost daily upon that grey head. one day the loose sheets of a more than commonly libellous pamphlet were picked up in the streets of the hague and placed in the advocate's hands. it was the work of the drunken notary danckaerts already mentioned, then resident in amsterdam, and among the papers thus found was a list of wealthy merchants of that city who had contributed to the expense of its publication. the opposition of barneveld to the west india corporation could never be forgiven. the advocate was notified in this production that he was soon to be summoned to answer for his crimes. the country was weary of him, he was told, and his life was forfeited. stung at last beyond endurance by the persistent malice of his enemies, he came before the states of holland for redress. upon his remonstrance the author of this vile libel was summoned to answer before the upper tribunal at the hague for his crime. the city of amsterdam covered him with the shield 'de non evocando,' which had so often in cases of less consequence proved of no protective value, and the notary was never punished, but on the contrary after a brief lapse of time rewarded as for a meritorious action. meantime, the states of holland, by formal act, took the name and honour of barneveld under their immediate protection as a treasure belonging specially to themselves. heavy penalties were denounced upon the authors and printers of these libellous attacks, and large rewards offered for their detection. nothing came, however, of such measures. on the th april the advocate addressed a frank, dignified, and conciliatory letter to the prince. the rapid progress of calumny against him had at last alarmed even his steadfast soul, and he thought it best to make a last appeal to the justice and to the clear intellect of william the silent's son. "gracious prince," he said, "i observe to my greatest sorrow an entire estrangement of your excellency from me, and i fear lest what was said six months since by certain clerical persons and afterwards by some politicians concerning your dissatisfaction with me, which until now i have not been able to believe, must be true. i declare nevertheless with a sincere heart to have never willingly given cause for any such feeling; having always been your very faithful servant and with god's help hoping as such to die. ten years ago during the negotiations for the truce i clearly observed the beginning of this estrangement, but your excellency will be graciously pleased to remember that i declared to you at that time my upright and sincere intention in these negotiations to promote the service of the country and the interests of your excellency, and that i nevertheless offered at the time not only to resign all my functions but to leave the country rather than remain in office and in the country to the dissatisfaction of your excellency." he then rapidly reviewed the causes which had produced the alienation of which he complained and the melancholy divisions caused by the want of mutual religious toleration in the provinces; spoke of his efforts to foster a spirit of conciliation on the dread subject of predestination, and referred to the letter of the king of great britain deprecating discussion and schism on this subject, and urging that those favourable to the views of the remonstrants ought not to be persecuted. referring to the intimate relations which uytenbogaert had so long enjoyed with the prince, the advocate alluded to the difficulty he had in believing that his excellency intended to act in opposition to the efforts of the states of holland in the cause of mutual toleration, to the manifest detriment of the country and of many of its best and truest patriots and the greater number of the magistrates in all the cities. he reminded the prince that all attempts to accommodate these fearful quarrels had been frustrated, and that on his departure the previous year to utrecht on account of his health he had again offered to resign all his offices and to leave holland altogether rather than find himself in perpetual opposition to his excellency. "i begged you in such case," he said, "to lend your hand to the procuring for me an honourable discharge from my lords the states, but your excellency declared that you could in no wise approve such a step and gave me hope that some means of accommodating the dissensions would yet be proposed." "i went then to vianen, being much indisposed; thence i repaired to utrecht to consult my old friend doctor saulo saul, in whose hands i remained six weeks, not being able, as i hoped, to pass my seventieth birthday on the th september last in my birthplace, the city of amersfoort. all this time i heard not one single word or proposal of accommodation. on the contrary it was determined that by a majority vote, a thing never heard of before, it was intended against the solemn resolves of the states of holland, of utrecht, and of overyssel to bring these religious differences before the assembly of my lords the states-general, a proceeding directly in the teeth of the act of union and other treaties, and before a synod which people called national, and that meantime every effort was making to discredit all those who stood up for the laws of these provinces and to make them odious and despicable in the eyes of the common people. "especially it was i that was thus made the object of hatred and contempt in their eyes. hundreds of lies and calumnies, circulated in the form of libels, seditious pamphlets, and lampoons, compelled me to return from utrecht to the hague. since that time i have repeatedly offered my services to your excellency for the promotion of mutual accommodation and reconciliation of differences, but without success." he then alluded to the publication with which the country was ringing, 'the necessary and living discourse of a spanish counsellor', and which was attributed to his former confidential friend, now become his deadliest foe, ex-ambassador francis aerssens, and warned the prince that if he chose, which god forbid, to follow the advice of that seditious libel, nothing but ruin to the beloved fatherland and its lovers, to the princely house of orange-nassau and to the christian religion could be the issue. "the spanish government could desire no better counsel," he said, "than this which these fellows give you; to encourage distrust and estrangement between your excellency and the nobles, the cities, and the magistrates of the land and to propose high and haughty imaginings which are easy enough to write, but most difficult to practise, and which can only enure to the advantage of spain. therefore most respectfully i beg your excellency not to believe these fellows, but to reject their counsels . . . . among them are many malignant hypocrites and ambitious men who are seeking their own profit in these changes of government--many utterly ragged and beggarly fellows and many infamous traitors coming from the provinces which have remained under the dominion of the spaniard, and who are filled with revenge, envy, and jealousy at the greater prosperity and bloom of these independent states than they find at home. "i fear," he said in conclusion, "that i have troubled your excellency too long, but to the fulfilment of my duty and discharge of my conscience i could not be more brief. it saddens me deeply that in recompense for my long and manifold services i am attacked by so many calumnious, lying, seditious, and fraudulent libels, and that these indecencies find their pretext and their food in the evil disposition of your excellency towards me. and although for one-and-thirty years long i have been able to live down such things with silence, well-doing, and truth, still do i now find myself compelled in this my advanced old age and infirmity to make some utterances in defence of myself and those belonging to me, however much against my heart and inclinations." he ended by enclosing a copy of the solemn state paper which he was about to lay before the states of holland in defence of his honour, and subscribed himself the lifelong and faithful servant of the prince. the remonstrance to the states contained a summary review of the political events of his life, which was indeed nothing more nor less than the history of his country and almost of europe itself during that period, broadly and vividly sketched with the hand of a master. it was published at once and strengthened the affection of his friends and the wrath of his enemies. it is not necessary to our purpose to reproduce or even analyse the document, the main facts and opinions contained in it being already familiar to the reader. the frankness however with which, in reply to the charges so profusely brought against him of having grown rich by extortion, treason, and corruption, of having gorged himself with plunder at home and bribery from the enemy, of being the great pensioner of europe and the marshal d'ancre of the netherlands--he alluded to the exact condition of his private affairs and the growth and sources of his revenue, giving, as it were, a kind of schedule of his property, has in it something half humorous, half touching in its simplicity. he set forth the very slender salaries attached to his high offices of advocate of holland, keeper of the seals, and other functions. he answered the charge that he always had at his disposition , florins to bribe foreign agents withal by saying that his whole allowance for extraordinary expenses and trouble in maintaining his diplomatic and internal correspondence was exactly florins yearly. he alluded to the slanders circulated as to his wealth and its sources by those who envied him for his position and hated him for his services. "but i beg you to believe, my lords," he continued, "that my property is neither so great nor so small as some people represent it to be. "in the year ' i married my wife," he said. "i was pleased with her person. i was likewise pleased with the dowry which was promptly paid over to me, with firm expectation of increase and betterment . . . . i ac knowledge that forty-three years ago my wife and myself had got together so much of real and personal property that we could live honourably upon it. i had at that time as good pay and practice as any advocate in the courts which brought me in a good florins a year; there being but eight advocates practising at the time, of whom i was certainly not the one least employed. in the beginning of the year ' i came into the service of the city of rotterdam as 'pensionary. upon my salary from that town i was enabled to support my family, having then but two children. now i can clearly prove that between the years and inclusive i have inherited in my own right or that of my wife, from our relatives, for ourselves and our children by lawful succession, more than holland morgens of land (about acres), more than florins yearly of redeemable rents, a good house in the city of delft, some houses in the open country, and several thousand florins in ready money. i have likewise reclaimed in the course of the past forty years out of the water and swamps by dyking more than an equal number of acres to those inherited, and have bought and sold property during the same period to the value of , florins; having sometimes bought , florins' worth and sold , of it for , , and so on." it was evident that the thrifty advocate during his long life had understood how to turn over his money, and it was not necessary to imagine "waggon-loads of spanish pistoles" and bribes on a gigantic scale from the hereditary enemy in order to account for a reasonable opulence on his part. "i have had nothing to do with trade," he continued, "it having been the custom of my ancestors to risk no money except where the plough goes. in the great east india company however, which with four years of hard work, public and private, i have helped establish, in order to inflict damage on the spaniards and portuguese, i have adventured somewhat more than florins . . . . now even if my condition be reasonably good, i think no one has reason to envy me. nevertheless i have said it in your lordships' assembly, and i repeat it solemnly on this occasion, that i have pondered the state of my affairs during my recent illness and found that in order to leave my children unencumbered estates i must sell property to the value of , or , florins. this i would rather do than leave the charge to my children. that i should have got thus behindhand through bad management, i beg your highnesses not to believe. but i have inherited, with the succession of four persons whose only heir i was and with that of others to whom i was co-heir, many burthens as well. i have bought property with encumbrances, and i have dyked and bettered several estates with borrowed money. now should it please your lordships to institute a census and valuation of the property of your subjects, i for one should be very well pleased. for i know full well that those who in the estimates of capital in the year rated themselves at , or , florins now may boast of having twice as much property as i have. yet in that year out of patriotism i placed myself on the list of those liable for the very highest contributions, being assessed on a property of , florins." the advocate alluded with haughty contempt to the notorious lies circulated by his libellers in regard to his lineage, as if the vast services and unquestioned abilities of such a statesman would not have illustrated the obscurest origin. but as he happened to be of ancient and honourable descent, he chose to vindicate his position in that regard. "i was born in the city of amersfoort," he said, "by the father's side an oldenbarneveld; an old and noble race, from generation to generation steadfast and true; who have been duly summoned for many hundred years to the assembly of the nobles of their province as they are to this day. by my mother's side i am sprung from the ancient and knightly family of amersfoort, which for three or four hundred years has been known as foremost among the nobles of utrecht in all state affairs and as landed proprietors." it is only for the sake of opening these domestic and private lights upon an historical character whose life was so pre-eminently and almost exclusively a public one that we have drawn some attention to this stately defence made by the advocate of his birth, life, and services to the state. the public portions of the state paper belong exclusively to history, and have already been sufficiently detailed. the letter to prince maurice was delivered into his hands by cornelis van der myle, son-in-law of barneveld. no reply to it was ever sent, but several days afterwards the stadholder called from his open window to van der myle, who happened to be passing by. he then informed him that he neither admitted the premises nor the conclusion of the advocate's letter, saying that many things set down in it were false. he furthermore told him a story of a certain old man who, having in his youth invented many things and told them often for truth, believed them when he came to old age to be actually true and was ever ready to stake his salvation upon them. whereupon he shut the window and left van der myle to make such application of the parable as he thought proper, vouchsafing no further answer to barneveld's communication. dudley carleton related the anecdote to his government with much glee, but it may be doubted whether this bold way of giving the lie to a venerable statesman through his son-in-law would have been accounted as triumphant argumentation anywhere out of a barrack. as for the remonstrance to the states of holland, although most respectfully received in that assembly except by the five opposition cities, its immediate effect on the public was to bring down a fresh "snow storm"--to use the expression of a contemporary--of pamphlets, libels, caricatures, and broadsheets upon the head of the advocate. in every bookseller's and print shop window in all the cities of the country, the fallen statesman was represented in all possible ludicrous, contemptible, and hateful shapes, while hags and blind beggars about the streets screeched filthy and cursing ballads against him, even at his very doors. the effect of energetic, uncompromising calumny has rarely been more strikingly illustrated than in the case of this statesman. blackened daily all over by a thousand trowels, the purest and noblest character must have been defiled, and it is no wonder that the incrustation upon the advocate's fame should have lasted for two centuries and a half. it may perhaps endure for as many more: not even the vile marshal d'ancre, who had so recently perished, was more the mark of obloquy in a country which he had dishonoured, flouted, and picked to the bone than was barneveld in a commonwealth which he had almost created and had served faithfully from youth to old age. it was even the fashion to compare him with concini in order to heighten the wrath of the public, as if any parallel between the ignoble, foreign paramour of a stupid and sensual queen, and the great statesman, patriot, and jurist of whom civilization will be always proud, could ever enter any but an idiot's brain. meantime the stadholder, who had so successfully handled the assembly of gelderland and overyssel, now sailed across the zuiderzee from kampen to amsterdam. on his approach to the stately northern venice, standing full of life and commercial bustle upon its vast submerged forest of norwegian pines, he was met by a fleet of yachts and escorted through the water gates of the into the city. here an immense assemblage of vessels of every class, from the humble gondola to the bulky east indianian and the first-rate ship of war, gaily bannered with the orange colours and thronged from deck to topmast by enthusiastic multitudes, was waiting to receive their beloved stadholder. a deafening cannonade saluted him on his approach. the prince was escorted to the square or dam, where on a high scaffolding covered with blue velvet in front of the stately mediaeval town-hall the burgomasters and board of magistrates in their robes of office were waiting to receive him. the strains of that most inspiriting and suggestive of national melodies, the 'wilhelmus van nassouwen,' rang through the air, and when they were silent, the chief magistrate poured forth a very eloquent and tedious oration, and concluded by presenting him with a large orange in solid gold; maurice having succeeded to the principality a few months before on the death of his half-brother philip william. the "blooming in love," as one of the chambers of "rhetoric" in which the hard-handed but half-artistic mechanics and shopkeepers of the netherlands loved to disport themselves was called, then exhibited upon an opposite scaffold a magnificent representation of jupiter astride upon an eagle and banding down to the stadholder as if from the clouds that same principality. nothing could be neater or more mythological. the prince and his escort, sitting in the windows of the town-hall, the square beneath being covered with or burgher militia in full uniform, with orange plumes in their hats and orange scarves on their breasts, saw still other sights. a gorgeous procession set forth by the "netherlandish academy," another chamber of rhetoric, and filled with those emblematic impersonations so dear to the hearts of netherlanders, had been sweeping through all the canals and along the splendid quays of the city. the maid of holland, twenty feet high, led the van, followed by the counterfeit presentment of each of her six sisters. an orange tree full of flowers and fruit was conspicuous in one barge, while in another, strangely and lugubriously enough, lay the murdered william the silent in the arms of his wife and surrounded by his weeping sons and daughters all attired in white satin. in the evening the netherland academy, to improve the general hilarity, and as if believing exhibitions of murder the most appropriate means of welcoming the prince, invited him to a scenic representation of the assassination of count florence v. of holland by gerrit van velsen and other nobles. there seemed no especial reason for the selection, unless perhaps the local one; one of the perpetrators of this crime against an ancient predecessor of william the silent in the sovereignty of holland having been a former lord proprietor of amsterdam and the adjacent territories, gysbrecht van amatel. maurice returned to the hague. five of the seven provinces were entirely his own. utrecht too was already wavering, while there could be no doubt of the warm allegiance to himself of the important commercial metropolis of holland, the only province in which barneveld's influence was still paramount. owing to the watchfulness and distrust of barneveld, which had never faltered, spain had not secured the entire control of the disputed duchies, but she had at least secured the head of a venerated saint. "the bargain is completed for the head of the glorious saint lawrence, which you know i so much desire," wrote philip triumphantly to the archduke albert. he had, however, not got it for nothing. the abbot of glamart in julich, then in possession of that treasure, had stipulated before delivering it that if at any time the heretics or other enemies should destroy the monastery his majesty would establish them in spanish flanders and give them the same revenues as they now enjoyed in julich. count herman van den berg was to give a guarantee to that effect. meantime the long controversy in the duchies having tacitly come to a standstill upon the basis of 'uti possidetis,' the spanish government had leisure in the midst of their preparation for the general crusade upon european heresy to observe and enjoy the internal religious dissensions in their revolted provinces. although they had concluded the convention with them as with countries over which they had no pretensions, they had never at heart allowed more virtue to the conjunction "as," which really contained the essence of the treaty, than grammatically belonged to it. spain still chose to regard the independence of the seven provinces as a pleasant fiction to be dispelled when, the truce having expired by its own limitation, she should resume, as she fully meant to do, her sovereignty over all the seventeen netherlands, the united as well as the obedient. thus at any rate the question of state rights or central sovereignty would be settled by a very summary process. the spanish ambassador was wroth, as may well be supposed, when the agent of the rebel provinces received in london the rank, title, and recognition of ambassador. gondemar at least refused to acknowledge noel de caron as his diplomatic equal or even as his colleague, and was vehement in his protestations on the subject. but james, much as he dreaded the spanish envoy and fawned upon his master, was not besotted enough to comply with these demands at the expense of his most powerful ally, the republic of the netherlands. the spanish king however declared his ambassador's proceedings to be in exact accordance with his instructions. he was sorry, he said, if the affair had caused discontent to the king of great britain; he intended in all respects to maintain the treaty of truce of which his majesty had been one of the guarantors, but as that treaty had but a few more years to run, after which he should be reinstated in his former right of sovereignty over all the netherlands, he entirely justified the conduct of count gondemar. it may well be conceived that, as the years passed by, as the period of the truce grew nearer and the religious disputes became every day more envenomed, the government at madrid should look on the tumultuous scene with saturnine satisfaction. there was little doubt now, they thought, that the provinces, sick of their rebellion and that fancied independence which had led them into a whirlpool of political and religious misery, and convinced of their incompetence to govern themselves, would be only too happy to seek the forgiving arms of their lawful sovereign. above all they must have learned that their great heresy had carried its chastisement with it, that within something they called a reformed church other heresies had been developed which demanded condign punishment at the hands of that new church, and that there could be neither rest for them in this world nor salvation in the next except by returning to the bosom of their ancient mother. now was the time, so it was thought, to throw forward a strong force of jesuits as skirmishers into the provinces by whom the way would be opened for the reconquest of the whole territory. "by the advices coming to us continually from thence," wrote the king of spain to archduke albert, "we understand that the disquiets and differences continue in holland on matters relating to their sects, and that from this has resulted the conversion of many to the catholic religion. so it has been taken into consideration whether it would not be expedient that some fathers of the company of jesuits be sent secretly from rome to holland, who should negotiate concerning the conversion of that people. before taking a resolution, i have thought best to give an account of this matter to your highness. i should be glad if you would inform me what priests are going to holland, what fruits they yield, and what can be done for the continuance of their labours. please to advise me very particularly together with any suggestions that may occur to you in this matter." the archduke, who was nearer the scene, was not so sure that the old religion was making such progress as his royal nephew or those who spoke in his name believed. at any rate, if it were not rapidly gaining ground, it would be neither for want of discord among the protestants nor for lack of jesuits to profit by it. "i do not understand," said he in reply, "nor is it generally considered certain that from the differences and disturbances that the hollanders are having among themselves there has resulted the conversion of any of them to our blessed catholic faith, because their disputes are of certain points concerning which there are different opinions within their sect. there has always been a goodly number of priests here, the greater part of whom belong to the company. they are very diligent and fervent, and the catholics derive much comfort from them. to send more of them would do more harm than good. it might be found out, and then they would perhaps be driven out of holland or even chastised. so it seems better to leave things as they are for the present." the spanish government was not discouraged however, but was pricking up its ears anew at strange communications it was receiving from the very bosom of the council of state in the netherlands. this body, as will be remembered, had been much opposed to barneveld and to the policy pursued under his leadership by the states of holland. some of its members were secretly catholic and still more secretly disposed to effect a revolution in the government, the object of which should be to fuse the united provinces with the obedient netherlands in a single independent monarchy to be placed under the sceptre of the son of philip iii. a paper containing the outlines of this scheme had been sent to spain, and the king at once forwarded it in cipher to the archduke at brussels for his opinion and co-operation. "you will see," he said, "the plan which a certain person zealous for the public good has proposed for reducing the netherlanders to my obedience. . . . . you will please advise with count frederic van den berg and let me know with much particularity and profound secrecy what is thought, what is occurring, and the form in which this matter ought to be negotiated, and the proper way to make it march." unquestionably the paper was of grave importance. it informed the king of spain that some principal personages in the united netherlands, members of the council of state, were of opinion that if his majesty or archduke albert should propose peace, it could be accomplished at that moment more easily than ever before. they had arrived at the conviction that no assistance was to be obtained from the king of france, who was too much weakened by tumults and sedition at home, while nothing good could be expected from the king of england. the greater part of the province of gelderland, they said, with all friesland, utrecht, groningen, and overyssel were inclined to a permanent peace. being all of them frontier provinces, they were constantly exposed to the brunt of hostilities. besides this, the war expenses alone would now be more than , , florins a year. thus the people were kept perpetually harassed, and although evil-intentioned persons approved these burthens under the pretence that such heavy taxation served to free them from the tyranny of spain, those of sense and quality reproved them and knew the contrary to be true. "many here know," continued these traitors in the heart of the state council, "how good it would be for the people of the netherlands to have a prince, and those having this desire being on the frontier are determined to accept the son of your majesty for their ruler." the conditions of the proposed arrangement were to be that the prince with his successors who were thus to possess all the netherlands were to be independent sovereigns not subject in any way to the crown of spain, and that the great governments and dignities of the country were to remain in the hands then holding them. this last condition was obviously inserted in the plan for the special benefit of prince maurice and count lewis, although there is not an atom of evidence that they had ever heard of the intrigue or doubt that, if they had, they would have signally chastised its guilty authors. it was further stated that the catholics having in each town a church and free exercise of their religion would soon be in a great majority. thus the political and religious counter-revolution would be triumphantly accomplished. it was proposed that the management of the business should be entrusted to some gentleman of the country possessing property there who "under pretext of the public good should make people comprehend what a great thing it would be if they could obtain this favour from the spanish king, thus extricating themselves from so many calamities and miseries, and obtaining free traffic and a prince of their own." it would be necessary for the king and archduke to write many letters and promise great rewards to persons who might otherwise embarrass the good work. the plot was an ingenious one. there seemed in the opinion of these conspirators in the state council but one great obstacle to its success. it should be kept absolutely concealed from the states of holland. the great stipendiary of spain, john of barneveld, whose coffers were filled with spanish pistoles, whose name and surname might be read by all men in the account-books at brussels heading the register of mighty bribe-takers, the man who was howled at in a thousand lampoons as a traitor ever ready to sell his country, whom even prince maurice "partly believed" to be the pensionary of philip, must not hear a whisper of this scheme to restore the republic to spanish control and place it under the sceptre of a spanish prince. the states of holland at that moment and so long as he was a member of the body were barneveld and barneveld only; thinking his thoughts, speaking with his tongue, writing with his pen. of this neither friend nor foe ever expressed a doubt. indeed it was one of the staple accusations against him. yet this paper in which the spanish king in confidential cipher and profound secrecy communicated to archduke albert his hopes and his schemes for recovering the revolted provinces as a kingdom for his son contained these words of caution. "the states of holland and zealand will be opposed to the plan," it said. "if the treaty come to the knowledge of the states and council of holland before it has been acted upon by the five frontier provinces the whole plan will be demolished." such was the opinion entertained by philip himself of the man who was supposed to be his stipendiary. i am not aware that this paper has ever been alluded to in any document or treatise private or public from the day of its date to this hour. it certainly has never been published, but it lies deciphered in the archives of the kingdom at brussels, and is alone sufficient to put to shame the slanderers of the advocate's loyalty. yet let it be remembered that in this very summer exactly at the moment when these intrigues were going on between the king of spain and the class of men most opposed to barneveld, the accusations against his fidelity were loudest and rifest. before the stadholder had so suddenly slipped down to brielle in order to secure that important stronghold for the contra-remonstrant party, reports had been carefully strewn among the people that the advocate was about to deliver that place and other fortresses to spain. brielle, flushing, rammekens, the very cautionary towns and keys to the country which he had so recently and in such masterly manner delivered from the grasp of the hereditary ally he was now about to surrender to the ancient enemy. the spaniards were already on the sea, it was said. had it not been for his excellency's watchfulness and promptitude, they would already under guidance of barneveld and his crew have mastered the city of brielle. flushing too through barneveld's advice and connivance was open at a particular point, in order that the spaniards, who had their eye upon it, might conveniently enter and take possession of the place. the air was full of wild rumours to this effect, and already the humbler classes who sided with the stadholder saw in him the saviour of the country from the treason of the advocate and the renewed tyranny of spain. the prince made no such pretence, but simply took possession of the fortress in order to be beforehand with the waartgelders. the contra-remonstrants in brielle had desired that "men should see who had the hardest fists," and it would certainly have been difficult to find harder ones than those of the hero of nieuwpoort. besides the jesuits coming in so skilfully to triumph over the warring sects of calvinists, there were other engineers on whom the spanish government relied to effect the reconquest of the netherlands. especially it was an object to wreak vengeance on holland, that head and front of the revolt, both for its persistence in rebellion and for the immense prosperity and progress by which that rebellion had been rewarded. holland had grown fat and strong, while the obedient netherlands were withered to the marrow of their bones. but there was a practical person then resident in spain to whom the netherlands were well known, to whom indeed everything was well known, who had laid before the king a magnificent scheme for destroying the commerce and with it the very existence of holland to the great advantage of the spanish finances and of the spanish netherlands. philip of course laid it before the archduke as usual, that he might ponder it well and afterwards, if approved, direct its execution. the practical person set forth in an elaborate memoir that the hollanders were making rapid progress in commerce, arts, and manufactures, while the obedient provinces were sinking as swiftly into decay. the spanish netherlands were almost entirely shut off from the sea, the rivers scheldt and meuse being hardly navigable for them on account of the control of those waters by holland. the dutch were attracting to their dominions all artisans, navigators, and traders. despising all other nations and giving them the law, they had ruined the obedient provinces. ostend, nieuwpoort, dunkerk were wasting away, and ought to be restored. "i have profoundly studied forty years long the subjects of commerce and navigation," said the practical person, "and i have succeeded in penetrating the secrets and acquiring, as it were, universal knowledge--let me not be suspected of boasting--of the whole discovered world and of the ocean. i have been assisted by study of the best works of geography and history, by my own labours, and by those of my late father, a man of illustrious genius and heroical conceptions and very zealous in the catholic faith." the modest and practical son of an illustrious but anonymous father, then coming to the point, said it would be the easiest thing in the world to direct the course of the scheldt into an entirely new channel through spanish flanders to the sea. thus the dutch ports and forts which had been constructed with such magnificence and at such vast expense would be left high and dry; the spaniards would build new ones in flanders, and thus control the whole navigation and deprive the hollanders of that empire of the sea which they now so proudly arrogated. this scheme was much simpler to carry out than the vulgar might suppose, and, when. accomplished, it would destroy the commerce, navigation, and fisheries of the hollanders, throwing it all into the hands of the archdukes. this would cause such ruin, poverty, and tumults everywhere that all would be changed. the republic of the united states would annihilate itself and fall to pieces; the religious dissensions, the war of one sect with another, and the jealousy of the house of nassau, suspected of plans hostile to popular liberties, finishing the work of destruction. "then the republic," said the man of universal science, warming at sight of the picture he was painting, "laden with debt and steeped in poverty, will fall to the ground of its own weight, and thus debilitated will crawl humbly to place itself in the paternal hands of the illustrious house of austria." it would be better, he thought, to set about the work, before the expiration of the truce. at any rate, the preparation for it, or the mere threat of it, would ensure a renewal of that treaty on juster terms. it was most important too to begin at once the construction of a port on the coast of flanders, looking to the north. there was a position, he said, without naming it, in which whole navies could ride in safety, secure from all tempests, beyond the reach of the hollanders, open at all times to traffic to and from england, france, spain, norway, sweden, russia--a perfectly free commerce, beyond the reach of any rights or duties claimed or levied by the insolent republic. in this port would assemble all the navigators of the country, and it would become in time of war a terror to the hollanders, english, and all northern peoples. in order to attract, protect, and preserve these navigators and this commerce, many great public edifices must be built, together with splendid streets of houses and impregnable fortifications. it should be a walled and stately city, and its name should be philipopolis. if these simple projects, so easy of execution, pleased his majesty, the practical person was ready to explain them in all their details. his majesty was enchanted with the glowing picture, but before quite deciding on carrying the scheme into execution thought it best to consult the archduke. the reply of albert has not been preserved. it was probably not enthusiastic, and the man who without boasting had declared himself to know everything was never commissioned to convert his schemes into realities. that magnificent walled city, philipopolis, with its gorgeous streets and bristling fortresses, remained unbuilt, the scheldt has placidly flowed through its old channel to the sea from that day to this, and the republic remained in possession of the unexampled foreign trade with which rebellion had enriched it. these various intrigues and projects show plainly enough however the encouragement given to the enemies of the united provinces and of protestantism everywhere by these disastrous internal dissensions. but yesterday and the republic led by barneveld in council and maurice of nassau in the field stood at the head of the great army of resistance to the general crusade organized by spain and rome against all unbelievers. and now that the war was absolutely beginning in bohemia, the republic was falling upon its own sword instead of smiting with it the universal foe. it was not the king of spain alone that cast longing eyes on the fair territory of that commonwealth which the unparalleled tyranny of his father had driven to renounce his sceptre. both in the netherlands and france, among the extreme orthodox party, there were secret schemes, to which maurice was not privy, to raise maurice to the sovereignty of the provinces. other conspirators with a wider scope and more treasonable design were disposed to surrender their country to the dominion of france, stipulating of course large rewards and offices for themselves and the vice-royalty of what should then be the french netherlands to maurice. the schemes were wild enough perhaps, but their very existence, which is undoubted, is another proof, if more proof were wanted, of the lamentable tendency, in times of civil and religious dissension, of political passion to burn out the very first principles of patriotism. it is also important, on account of the direct influence exerted by these intrigues upon subsequent events of the gravest character, to throw a beam of light on matters which were thought to have been shrouded for ever in impenetrable darkness. langerac, the states' ambassador in paris, was the very reverse of his predecessor, the wily, unscrupulous, and accomplished francis aerssens. the envoys of the republic were rarely dull, but langerac was a simpleton. they were renowned for political experience, skill, familiarity with foreign languages, knowledge of literature, history, and public law; but he was ignorant, spoke french very imperfectly, at a court where not a human being could address him in his own tongue, had never been employed in diplomacy or in high office of any kind, and could carry but small personal weight at a post where of all others the representative of the great republic should have commanded deference both for his own qualities and for the majesty of his government. at a period when france was left without a master or a guide the dutch ambassador, under a becoming show of profound respect, might really have governed the country so far as regarded at least the all important relations which bound the two nations together. but langerac was a mere picker-up of trifles, a newsmonger who wrote a despatch to-day with information which a despatch was written on the morrow to contradict, while in itself conveying additional intelligence absolutely certain to be falsified soon afterwards. the emperor of germany had gone mad; prince maurice had been assassinated in the hague, a fact which his correspondents, the states-general, might be supposed already to know, if it were one; there had been a revolution in the royal bed-chamber; the spanish cook of the young queen had arrived from madrid; the duke of nevers was behaving very oddly at vienna; such communications, and others equally startling, were the staple of his correspondence. still he was honest enough, very mild, perfectly docile to barneveld, dependent upon his guidance, and fervently attached to that statesman so long as his wheel was going up the hill. moreover, his industry in obtaining information and his passion for imparting it made it probable that nothing very momentous would be neglected should it be laid before him, but that his masters, and especially the advocate, would be enabled to judge for themselves as to the attention due to it. "with this you will be apprised of some very high and weighty matters," he wrote privately and in cipher to barneveld, "which you will make use of according to your great wisdom and forethought for the country's service." he requested that the matter might also be confided to m. van der myle, that he might assist his father-in-law, so overburdened with business, in the task of deciphering the communication. he then stated that he had been "very earnestly informed three days before by m. du agean"--member of the privy council of france--"that it had recently come to the king's ears, and his majesty knew it to be authentic, that there was a secret and very dangerous conspiracy in holland of persons belonging to the reformed religion in which others were also mixed. this party held very earnest and very secret correspondence with the factious portion of the contra-remonstrants both in the netherlands and france, seeking under pretext of the religious dissensions or by means of them to confer the sovereignty upon prince maurice by general consent of the contra-remonstrants. their object was also to strengthen and augment the force of the same religious party in france, to which end the duc de bouillon and m. de chatillon were very earnestly co-operating. langerac had already been informed by chatillon that the contra-remonstrants had determined to make a public declaration against the remonstrants, and come to an open separation from them. "others propose however," said the ambassador, "that the king himself should use the occasion to seize the sovereignty of the united provinces for himself and to appoint prince maurice viceroy, giving him in marriage madame henriette of france." the object of this movement would be to frustrate the plots of the contra-remonstrants, who were known to be passionately hostile to the king and to france, and who had been constantly traversing the negotiations of m. du maurier. there was a disposition to send a special and solemn embassy to the states, but it was feared that the british king would at once do the same, to the immense disadvantage of the remonstrants. "m. de barneveld," said the envoy, "is deeply sympathized with here and commiserated. the chancellor has repeatedly requested me to present to you his very sincere and very hearty respects, exhorting you to continue in your manly steadfastness and courage." he also assured the advocate that the french ambassador, m. du maurier, enjoyed the entire confidence of his government, and of the principal members of the council, and that the king, although contemplating, as we have seen, the seizure of the sovereignty of the country, was most amicably disposed towards it, and so soon as the peace of savoy was settled "had something very good for it in his mind." whether the something very good was this very design to deprive it of independence, the ambassador did not state. he however recommended the use of sundry small presents at the french court--especially to madame de luynes, wife of the new favourite of lewis since the death of concini, in which he had aided, now rising rapidly to consideration, and to madame du agean--and asked to be supplied with funds accordingly. by these means he thought it probable that at least the payment to the states of the long arrears of the french subsidy might be secured. three weeks later, returning to the subject, the ambassador reported another conversation with m. du agean. that politician assured him, "with high protestations," as a perfectly certain fact that a frenchman duly qualified had arrived in paris from holland who had been in communication not only with him but with several of the most confidential members of the privy council of france. this duly qualified gentleman had been secretly commissioned to say that in opinion of the conspirators already indicated the occasion was exactly offered by these religious dissensions in the netherlands for bringing the whole country under the obedience of the king. this would be done with perfect ease if he would only be willing to favour a little the one party, that of the contra-remonstrants, and promise his excellency "perfect and perpetual authority in the government with other compensations." the proposition, said du agean, had been rejected by the privy councillors with a declaration that they would not mix themselves up with any factions, nor assist any party, but that they would gladly work with the government for the accommodation of these difficulties and differences in the provinces. "i send you all this nakedly," concluded langerac, "exactly as it has been communicated to me, having always answered according to my duty and with a view by negotiating with these persons to discover the intentions as well of one side as the other." the advocate was not profoundly impressed by these revelations. he was too experienced a statesman to doubt that in times when civil and religious passion was running high there was never lack of fishers in troubled waters, and that if a body of conspirators could secure a handsome compensation by selling their country to a foreign prince, they would always be ready to do it. but although believed by maurice to be himself a stipendiary of spain, he was above suspecting the prince of any share in the low and stupid intrigue which du agean had imagined or disclosed. that the stadholder was ambitious of greater power, he hardly doubted, but that he was seeking to acquire it by such corrupt and circuitous means, he did not dream. he confidentially communicated the plot as in duty bound to some members of the states, and had the prince been accused in any conversation or statement of being privy to the scheme, he would have thought himself bound to mention it to him. the story came to the ears of maurice however, and helped to feed his wrath against the advocate, as if he were responsible for a plot, if plot it were, which had been concocted by his own deadliest enemies. the prince wrote a letter alluding to this communication of langerac and giving much alarm to that functionary. he thought his despatches must have been intercepted and proposed in future to write always by special courier. barneveld thought that unnecessary except when there were more important matters than those appeared to him to be and requiring more haste. "the letter of his excellency," said he to the ambassador, "is caused in my opinion by the fact that some of the deputies to this assembly to whom i secretly imparted your letter or its substance did not rightly comprehend or report it. you did not say that his excellency had any such design or project, but that it had been said that the contra-remonstrants were entertaining such a scheme. i would have shown the letter to him myself, but i thought it not fair, for good reasons, to make m. du agean known as the informant. i do not think it amiss for you to write yourself to his excellency and tell him what is said, but whether it would be proper to give up the name of your author, i think doubtful. at all events one must consult about it. we live in a strange world, and one knows not whom to trust." he instructed the ambassador to enquire into the foundation of these statements of du agean and send advices by every occasion of this affair and others of equal interest. he was however much more occupied with securing the goodwill of the french government, which he no more suspected of tampering in these schemes against the independence of the republic than he did maurice himself. he relied and he had reason to rely on their steady good offices in the cause of moderation and reconciliation. "we are not yet brought to the necessary and much desired unity," he said, "but we do not despair, hoping that his majesty's efforts through m. du maurier, both privately and publicly, will do much good. be assured that they are very agreeable to all rightly disposed people . . . . my trust is that god the lord will give us a happy issue and save this country from perdition." he approved of the presents to the two ladies as suggested by langerac if by so doing the payment of the arrearages could be furthered. he was still hopeful and confident in the justice of his cause and the purity of his conscience. "aerssens is crowing like a cock," he said, "but the truth will surely prevail." chapter xvii. a deputation from utrecht to maurice--the fair at utrecht--maurice and the states' deputies at utrecht--ogle refuses to act in opposition to the states--the stadholder disbands the waartgelders-- the prince appoints forty magistrates--the states formally disband the waartgelders. the eventful midsummer had arrived. the lime-tree blossoms were fragrant in the leafy bowers overshadowing the beautiful little rural capital of the commonwealth. the anniversary of the nieuwpoort victory, july , had come and gone, and the stadholder was known to be resolved that his political campaign this year should be as victorious as that memorable military one of eighteen years before. before the dog-days should begin to rage, the fierce heats of theological and political passion were to wax daily more and more intense. the party at utrecht in favour of a compromise and in awe of the stadholder sent a deputation to the hague with the express but secret purpose of conferring with maurice. they were eight in number, three of whom, including gillis van ledenberg, lodged at the house of daniel tressel, first clerk of the states-general. the leaders of the barneveld party, aware of the purport of this mission and determined to frustrate it, contrived a meeting between the utrecht commissioners and grotius, hoogerbeets, de haan, and de lange at tressel's house. grotius was spokesman. maurice had accused the states of holland of mutiny and rebellion, and the distinguished pensionary of rotterdam now retorted the charges of mutiny, disobedience, and mischief-making upon those who, under the mask of religion, were attempting to violate the sovereignty of the states, the privileges and laws of the province, the authority of the, magistrates, and to subject them to the power of others. to prevent such a catastrophe many cities had enlisted waartgelders. by this means they had held such mutineers to their duty, as had been seen at leyden, haarlem, and other places. the states of utrecht had secured themselves in the same way. but the mischiefmakers and the ill-disposed had been seeking everywhere to counteract these wholesome measures and to bring about a general disbanding of these troops. this it was necessary to resist with spirit. it was the very foundation of the provinces' sovereignty, to maintain which the public means must be employed. it was in vain to drive the foe out of the country if one could not remain in safety within one's own doors. they had heard with sorrow that utrecht was thinking of cashiering its troops, and the speaker proceeded therefore to urge with all the eloquence he was master of the necessity of pausing before taking so fatal a step. the deputies of utrecht answered by pleading the great pecuniary burthen which the maintenance of the mercenaries imposed upon that province, and complained that there was no one to come to their assistance, exposed as they were to a sudden and overwhelming attack from many quarters. the states-general had not only written but sent commissioners to utrecht insisting on the disbandment. they could plainly see the displeasure of the prince. it was a very different affair in holland, but the states of utrecht found it necessary of two evils to choose the least. they had therefore instructed their commissioners to request the prince to remove the foreign garrison from their capital and to send the old companies of native militia in their place, to be in the pay of the episcopate. in this case the states would agree to disband the new levies. grotius in reply again warned the commissioners against communicating with maurice according to their instructions, intimated that the native militia on which they were proposing to rely might have been debauched, and he held out hopes that perhaps the states of utrecht might derive some relief from certain financial measures now contemplated in holland. the utrechters resolved to wait at least several days before opening the subject of their mission to the prince. meantime ledenberg made a rough draft of a report of what had occurred between them and grotius and his colleagues which it was resolved to lay secretly before the states of utrecht. the hollanders hoped that they had at last persuaded the commissioners to maintain the waartgelders. the states of holland now passed a solemn resolution to the effect that these new levies had been made to secure municipal order and maintain the laws from subversion by civil tumults. if this object could be obtained by other means, if the stadholder were willing to remove garrisons of foreign mercenaries on whom there could be no reliance, and supply their place with native troops both in holland and utrecht, an arrangement could be made for disbanding the waartgelders. barneveld, at the head of thirty deputies from the nobles and cities, waited upon maurice and verbally communicated to him this resolution. he made a cold and unsatisfactory reply, although it seems to have been understood that by according twenty companies of native troops he might have contented both holland and utrecht. ledenberg and his colleagues took their departure from the hague without communicating their message to maurice. soon afterwards the states-general appointed a commission to utrecht with the stadholder at the head of it. the states of holland appointed another with grotius as its chairman. on the th july grotius and pensionary hoogerbeets with two colleagues arrived in utrecht. gillis van ledenberg was there to receive them. a tall, handsome, bald-headed, well-featured, mild, gentlemanlike man was this secretary of the utrecht assembly, and certainly not aware, while passing to and fro on such half diplomatic missions between two sovereign assemblies, that he was committing high-treason. he might well imagine however, should maurice discover that it was he who had prevented the commissioners from conferring with him as instructed, that it would go hard with him. ledenberg forthwith introduced grotius and his committee to the assembly at utrecht. while these great personages were thus holding solemn and secret council, another and still greater personage came upon the scene. the stadholder with the deputation from the states-general arrived at utrecht. evidently the threads of this political drama were converging to a catastrophe, and it might prove a tragical one. meantime all looked merry enough in the old episcopal city. there were few towns in lower or in upper germany more elegant and imposing than utrecht. situate on the slender and feeble channel of the ancient rhine as it falters languidly to the sea, surrounded by trim gardens and orchards, and embowered in groves of beeches and limetrees, with busy canals fringed with poplars, lined with solid quays, and crossed by innumerable bridges; with the stately brick tower of st. martin's rising to a daring height above one of the most magnificent gothic cathedrals in the netherlands; this seat of the anglo-saxon willebrord, who eight hundred years before had preached christianity to the frisians, and had founded that long line of hard-fighting, indomitable bishops, obstinately contesting for centuries the possession of the swamps and pastures about them with counts, kings, and emperors, was still worthy of its history and its position. it was here too that sixty-one years before the famous articles of union were signed. by that fundamental treaty of the confederacy, the provinces agreed to remain eternally united as if they were but one province, to make no war nor peace save by unanimous consent, while on lesser matters a majority should rule; to admit both catholics and protestants to the union provided they obeyed its articles and conducted themselves as good patriots, and expressly declared that no province or city should interfere with another in the matter of divine worship. from this memorable compact, so enduring a landmark in the history of human freedom, and distinguished by such breadth of view for the times both in religion and politics, the city had gained the title of cradle of liberty: 'cunabula libertatis'. was it still to deserve the name? at that particular moment the mass of the population was comparatively indifferent to the terrible questions pending. it was the kermis or annual fair, and all the world was keeping holiday in utrecht. the pedlars and itinerant merchants from all the cities and provinces had brought their wares jewellery and crockery, ribbons and laces, ploughs and harrows, carriages and horses, cows and sheep, cheeses and butter firkins, doublets and petticoats, guns and pistols, everything that could serve the city and country-side for months to come--and displayed them in temporary booths or on the ground, in every street and along every canal. the town was one vast bazaar. the peasant-women from the country, with their gold and silver tiaras and the year's rent of a comfortable farm in their earrings and necklaces, and the sturdy frisian peasants, many of whom had borne their matchlocks in the great wars which had lasted through their own and their fathers' lifetime, trudged through the city, enjoying the blessings of peace. bands of music and merry-go-rounds in all the open places and squares; open-air bakeries of pancakes and waffles; theatrical exhibitions, raree-shows, jugglers, and mountebanks at every corner--all these phenomena which had been at every kermis for centuries, and were to repeat themselves for centuries afterwards, now enlivened the atmosphere of the grey, episcopal city. pasted against the walls of public edifices were the most recent placards and counter-placards of the states-general and the states of utrecht on the great subject of religious schisms and popular tumults. in the shop-windows and on the bookstalls of contra-remonstrant tradesmen, now becoming more and more defiant as the last allies of holland, the states of utrecht, were gradually losing courage, were seen the freshest ballads and caricatures against the advocate. here an engraving represented him seated at table with grotius, hoogerbeets, and others, discussing the national synod, while a flap of the picture being lifted put the head of the duke of alva on the legs of barneveld, his companions being transformed in similar manner into spanish priests and cardinals assembled at the terrible council of blood-with rows of protestant martyrs burning and hanging in the distance. another print showed prince maurice and the states-general shaking the leading statesmen of the commonwealth in a mighty sieve through which came tumbling head foremost to perdition the hated advocate and his abettors. another showed the arminians as a row of crest-fallen cocks rained upon by the wrath of the stadholder--arminians by a detestable pun being converted into "arme haenen" or "poor cocks." one represented the pope and king of spain blowing thousands of ducats out of a golden bellows into the lap of the advocate, who was holding up his official robes to receive them, or whole carriage-loads of arminians starting off bag and baggage on the road to rome, with lucifer in the perspective waiting to give them a warm welcome in his own dominions; and so on, and so on. moving through the throng, with iron calque on their heads and halberd in hand, were groups of waartgelders scowling fiercely at many popular demonstrations such as they had been enlisted to suppress, but while off duty concealing outward symptoms of wrath which in many instances perhaps would have been far from genuine. for although these mercenaries knew that the states of holland, who were responsible for the pay of the regular troops then in utrecht, authorized them to obey no orders save from the local authorities, yet it was becoming a grave question for the waartgelders whether their own wages were perfectly safe, a circumstance which made them susceptible to the atmosphere of contra-remonstrantism which was steadily enwrapping the whole country. a still graver question was whether such resistance as they could offer to the renowned stadholder, whose name was magic to every soldier's heart not only in his own land but throughout christendom, would not be like parrying a lance's thrust with a bulrush. in truth the senior captain of the waartgelders, harteveld by name, had privately informed the leaders of the barneveld party in utrecht that he would not draw his sword against prince maurice and the states-general. "who asks you to do so?" said some of the deputies, while ledenberg on the other hand flatly accused him of cowardice. for this affront the captain had vowed revenge. and in the midst of this scene of jollity and confusion, that midsummer night, entered the stern stadholder with his fellow commissioners; the feeble plans for shutting the gates upon him not having been carried into effect. "you hardly expected such a guest at your fair," said he to the magistrates, with a grim smile on his face as who should say, "and what do you think of me now i have came?" meantime the secret conference of grotius and colleagues with the states of utrecht proceeded. as a provisional measure, sir john ogle, commander of the forces paid by holland, had been warned as to where his obedience was due. it had likewise been intimated that the guard should be doubled at the amersfoort gate, and a watch set on the river lek above and below the city in order to prevent fresh troops of the states-general from being introduced by surprise. these precautions had been suggested a year before, as we have seen, in a private autograph letter from barneveld to secretary ledenberg. sir john ogle had flatly refused to act in opposition to the stadholder and the states-general, whom he recognized as his lawful superiors and masters, and he warned ledenberg and his companions as to the perilous nature of the course which they were pursuing. great was the indignation of the utrechters and the holland commissioners in consequence. grotius in his speech enlarged on the possibility of violence being used by the stadholder, while some of the members of the assembly likewise thought it likely that he would smite the gates open by force. grotius, when reproved afterwards for such strong language towards prince maurice, said that true hollanders were no courtiers, but were wont to call everything by its right name. he stated in strong language the regret felt by holland that a majority of the states of utrecht had determined to disband the waartgelders which had been constitutionally enlisted according to the right of each province under the st article of the union of utrecht to protect itself and its laws. next day there were conferences between maurice and the states of utrecht and between him and the holland deputies. the stadholder calmly demanded the disbandment and the synod. the hollanders spoke of securing first the persons and rights of the magistracy. "the magistrates are to be protected," said maurice, "but we must first know how they are going to govern. people have tried to introduce five false points into the divine worship. people have tried to turn me out of the stadholdership and to drive me from the country. but i have taken my measures. i know well what i am about. i have got five provinces on my side, and six cities of holland will send deputies to utrecht to sustain me here." the hollanders protested that there was no design whatever, so far as they knew, against his princely dignity or person. all were ready to recognize his rank and services by every means in their power. but it was desirable by conciliation and compromise, not by stern decree, to arrange these religious and political differences. the stadholder replied by again insisting on the synod. "as for the waartgelders," he continued, "they are worse than spanish fortresses. they must away." after a little further conversation in this vein the prince grew more excited. "everything is the fault of the advocate," he cried. "if barneveld were dead," replied grotius, "all the rest of us would still deem ourselves bound to maintain the laws. people seem to despise holland and to wish to subject it to the other provinces." "on the contrary," cried the prince, "it is the advocate who wishes to make holland the states-general." maurice was tired of argument. there had been much ale-house talk some three months before by a certain blusterous gentleman called van ostrum about the necessity of keeping the stadholder in check. "if the prince should undertake," said this pot-valiant hero, "to attack any of the cities of utrecht or holland with the hard hand, it is settled to station or , soldiers in convenient places. then we shall say to the prince, if you don't leave us alone, we shall make an arrangement with the archduke of austria and resume obedience to him. we can make such a treaty with him as will give us religious freedom and save us from tyranny of any kind. i don't say this for myself, but have heard it on good authority from very eminent persons." this talk had floated through the air to the stadholder. what evidence could be more conclusive of a deep design on the part of barneveld to sell the republic to the archduke and drive maurice into exile? had not esquire van ostrum solemnly declared it at a tavern table? and although he had mentioned no names, could the "eminent personages" thus cited at second hand be anybody but the advocate? three nights after his last conference with the hollanders, maurice quietly ordered a force of regular troops in utrecht to be under arms at half past three o'clock next morning. about infantry, including companies of ernest of nassau's command at arnhem and of brederode's from vianen, besides a portion of the regular garrison of the place, had accordingly been assembled without beat of drum, before half past three in the morning, and were now drawn up on the market-place or neu. at break of day the prince himself appeared on horseback surrounded by his staff on the neu or neude, a large, long, irregular square into which the seven or eight principal streets and thoroughfares of the town emptied themselves. it was adorned by public buildings and other handsome edifices, and the tall steeple of st. martin's with its beautiful open-work spire, lighted with the first rays of the midsummer sun, looked tranquilly down upon the scene. each of the entrances to the square had been securely guarded by maurice's orders, and cannon planted to command all the streets. a single company of the famous waartgelders was stationed in the neu or near it. the prince rode calmly towards them and ordered them to lay down their arms. they obeyed without a murmur. he then sent through the city to summon all the other companies of waartgelders to the neu. this was done with perfect promptness, and in a short space of time the whole body of mercenaries, nearly in number, had laid down their arms at the feet of the prince. the snaphances and halberds being then neatly stacked in the square, the stadholder went home to his early breakfast. there was an end to those mercenaries thenceforth and for ever. the faint and sickly resistance to the authority of maurice offered at utrecht was attempted nowhere else. for days there had been vague but fearful expectations of a "blood bath," of street battles, rioting, and plunder. yet the stadholder with the consummate art which characterized all his military manoeuvres had so admirably carried out his measure that not a shot was fired, not a blow given, not a single burgher disturbed in his peaceful slumbers. when the population had taken off their nightcaps, they woke to find the awful bugbear removed which had so long been appalling them. the waartgelders were numbered with the terrors of the past, and not a cat had mewed at their disappearance. charter-books, parchments, th articles, barneveld's teeth, arminian forts, flowery orations of grotius, tavern talk of van ostrum, city immunities, states' rights, provincial laws, waartgelders and all--the martial stadholder, with the orange plume in his hat and the sword of nieuwpoort on his thigh, strode through them as easily as through the whirligigs and mountebanks, the wades and fritters, encumbering the streets of utrecht on the night of his arrival. secretary ledenberg and other leading members of the states had escaped the night before. grotius and his colleagues also took a precipitate departure. as they drove out of town in the twilight, they met the deputies of the six opposition cities of holland just arriving in their coach from the hague. had they tarried an hour longer, they would have found themselves safely in prison. four days afterwards the stadholder at the head of his body-guard appeared at the town-house. his halberdmen tramped up the broad staircase, heralding his arrival to the assembled magistracy. he announced his intention of changing the whole board then and there. the process was summary. the forty members were required to supply forty other names, and the prince added twenty more. from the hundred candidates thus furnished the prince appointed forty magistrates such as suited himself. it is needless to say that but few of the old bench remained, and that those few were devoted to the synod, the states-general, and the stadholder. he furthermore announced that these new magistrates were to hold office for life, whereas the board had previously been changed every year. the cathedral church was at once assigned for the use of the contra-remonstrants. this process was soon to be repeated throughout the two insubordinate provinces utrecht and holland. the prince was accused of aiming at the sovereignty of the whole country, and one of his grief's against the advocate was that he had begged the princess-widow, louise de coligny, to warn her son-in-law of the dangers of such ambition. but so long as an individual, sword in hand, could exercise such unlimited sway over the whole municipal, and provincial organization of the commonwealth, it mattered but little whether he was called king or kaiser, doge or stadholder. sovereign he was for the time being at least, while courteously acknowledging the states-general as his sovereign. less than three weeks afterwards the states-general issued a decree formally disbanding the waartgelders; an almost superfluous edict, as they had almost ceased to exist, and there were none to resist the measure. grotius recommended complete acquiescence. barneveld's soul could no longer animate with courage a whole people. the invitations which had already in the month of june been prepared for the synod to meet in the city of dortor dordtrecht-were now issued. the states of holland sent back the notification unopened, deeming it an unwarrantable invasion of their rights that an assembly resisted by a large majority of their body should be convoked in a city on their own territory. but this was before the disbandment of the waartgelders and the general change of magistracies had been effected. earnest consultations were now held as to the possibility of devising some means of compromise; of providing that the decisions of the synod should not be considered binding until after having been ratified by the separate states. in the opinion of barneveld they were within a few hours' work of a favourable result when their deliberations were interrupted by a startling event. chapter xviii. fruitless interview between barneveld and maurice--the advocate, warned of his danger, resolves to remain at the hague--arrest of barneveld, of qrotius, and of hoogerbeets--the states-general assume the responsibility in a "billet"--the states of holland protest-- the advocate's letter to his family--audience of boississe-- mischief-making of aerssens--the french ambassadors intercede for barneveld--the king of england opposes their efforts--langerac's treachery to the advocate--maurice continues his changes in the magistracy throughout the country--vote of thanks by the states of holland. the advocate, having done what he believed to be his duty, and exhausted himself in efforts to defend ancient law and to procure moderation and mutual toleration in religion, was disposed to acquiesce in the inevitable. his letters giving official and private information of those grave events were neither vindictive nor vehement. "i send you the last declaration of my lords of holland," he said to caron, "in regard to the national synod, with the counter-declaration of dordtrecht and the other five cities. yesterday was begun the debate about cashiering the enrolled soldiers called waartgelders. to-day the late m. van kereburg was buried." nothing could be calmer than his tone. after the waartgelders had been disbanded, utrecht revolutionized by main force, the national synod decided upon, and the process of changing the municipal magistracies everywhere in the interest of contra-remonstrants begun, he continued to urge moderation and respect for law. even now, although discouraged, he was not despondent, and was disposed to make the best even of the synod. he wished at this supreme moment to have a personal interview with the prince in order to devise some means for calming the universal agitation and effecting, if possible, a reconciliation among conflicting passions and warring sects. he had stood at the side of maurice and of maurice's great father in darker hours even than these. they had turned to him on all trying and tragical occasions and had never found his courage wavering or his judgment at fault. "not a friend to the house of nassau, but a father," thus had maurice with his own lips described the advocate to the widow of william the silent. incapable of an unpatriotic thought, animated by sincere desire to avert evil and procure moderate action, barneveld saw no reason whatever why, despite all that had been said and done, he should not once more hold council with the prince. he had a conversation accordingly with count lewis, who had always honoured the advocate while differing with him on the religious question. the stadholder of friesland, one of the foremost men of his day in military and scientific affairs, in administrative ability and philanthropic instincts, and, in a family perhaps the most renowned in europe for heroic qualities and achievements, hardly second to any who had borne the name, was in favour of the proposed interview, spoke immediately to prince maurice about it, but was not hopeful as to its results. he knew his cousin well and felt that he was at that moment resentful, perhaps implacably so, against the whole remonstrant party and especially against their great leader. count lewis was small of stature, but dignified, not to say pompous, in demeanour. his style of writing to one of lower social rank than himself was lofty, almost regal, and full of old world formality. "noble, severe, right worshipful, highly learned and discreet, special good friend," he wrote to barneveld; "we have spoken to his excellency concerning the expediency of what you requested of us this forenoon. we find however that his excellency is not to be moved to entertain any other measure than the national synod which he has himself proposed in person to all the provinces, to the furtherance of which he has made so many exertions, and which has already been announced by the states-general. "we will see by what opportunity his excellency will appoint the interview, and so far as lies in us you may rely on our good offices. we could not answer sooner as the french ambassadors had audience of us this forenoon and we were visiting his excellency in the afternoon. wishing your worship good evening, we are your very good friend." next day count william wrote again. "we have taken occasion," he said, "to inform his excellency that you were inclined to enter into communication with him in regard to an accommodation of the religious difficulties and to the cashiering of the waartgelders. he answered that he could accept no change in the matter of the national synod, but nevertheless would be at your disposal whenever your worship should be pleased to come to him." two days afterwards barneveld made his appearance at the apartments of the stadholder. the two great men on whom the fabric of the republic had so long rested stood face to face once more. the advocate, with long grey beard and stern blue eye, haggard with illness and anxiety, tall but bent with age, leaning on his staff and wrapped in black velvet cloak--an imposing magisterial figure; the florid, plethoric prince in brown doublet, big russet boots, narrow ruff, and shabby felt hat with its string of diamonds, with hand clutched on swordhilt, and eyes full of angry menace, the very type of the high-born, imperious soldier--thus they surveyed each other as men, once friends, between whom a gulf had opened. barneveld sought to convince the prince that in the proceedings at utrecht, founded as they were on strict adherence to the laws and traditions of the provinces, no disrespect had been intended to him, no invasion of his constitutional rights, and that on his part his lifelong devotion to the house of nassau had suffered no change. he repeated his usual incontrovertible arguments against the synod, as illegal and directly tending to subject the magistracy to the priesthood, a course of things which eight-and-twenty years before had nearly brought destruction on the country and led both the prince and himself to captivity in a foreign land. the prince sternly replied in very few words that the national synod was a settled matter, that he would never draw back from his position, and could not do so without singular disservice to the country and to his own disreputation. he expressed his displeasure at the particular oath exacted from the waartgelders. it diminished his lawful authority and the respect due to him, and might be used per indirectum to the oppression of those of the religion which he had sworn to maintain. his brow grew black when he spoke of the proceedings at utrecht, which he denounced as a conspiracy against his own person and the constitution of the country. barneveld used in vain the powers of argument by which he had guided kings and republics, cabinets and assemblies, during so many years. his eloquence fell powerless upon the iron taciturnity of the stadholder. maurice had expressed his determination and had no other argument to sustain it but his usual exasperating silence. the interview ended as hopelessly as count lewis william had anticipated, and the prince and the advocate separated to meet no more on earth. "you have doubtless heard already," wrote barneveld to the ambassador in london, "of all that has been passing here and in utrecht. one must pray to god that everything may prosper to his honour and the welfare of the country. they are resolved to go through with the national synod, the government of utrecht after the change made in it having consented with the rest. i hope that his majesty, according to your statement, will send some good, learned, and peace-loving personages here, giving them wholesome instructions to help bring our affairs into christian unity, accommodation, and love, by which his majesty and these provinces would be best served." were these the words of a baffled conspirator and traitor? were they uttered to produce an effect upon public opinion and avert a merited condemnation by all good men? there is not in them a syllable of reproach, of anger, of despair. and let it be remembered that they were not written for the public at all. they were never known to the public, hardly heard of either by the advocate's enemies or friends, save the one to whom they were addressed and the monarch to whom that friend was accredited. they were not contained in official despatches, but in private, confidential outpourings to a trusted political and personal associate of many years. from the day they were written until this hour they have never been printed, and for centuries perhaps not read. he proceeded to explain what he considered to be the law in the netherlands with regard to military allegiance. it is not probable that there was in the country a more competent expounder of it; and defective and even absurd as such a system was, it had carried the provinces successfully through a great war, and a better method for changing it might have been found among so law-loving and conservative a people as the netherlanders than brute force. "information has apparently been sent to england," he said, "that my lords of holland through their commissioners in utrecht dictated to the soldiery standing at their charges something that was unreasonable. the truth is that the states of holland, as many of them as were assembled, understanding that great haste was made to send his excellency and some deputies from the other provinces to utrecht, while the members of the utrecht assembly were gone to report these difficulties to their constituents and get fresh instructions from them, wishing that the return of those members should be waited for and that the assembly of holland might also be complete--a request which was refused--sent a committee to utrecht, as the matter brooked no delay, to give information to the states of that province of what was passing here and to offer their good offices. "they sent letters also to his excellency to move him to reasonable accommodation without taking extreme measures in opposition to those resolutions of the states of utrecht which his excellency had promised to conform with and to cause to be maintained by all officers and soldiers. should his excellency make difficulty in this, the commissioners were instructed to declare to him that they were ordered to warn the colonels and captains standing in the payment of holland, by letter and word of mouth, that they were bound by oath to obey the states of holland as their paymasters and likewise to carry out the orders of the provincial and municipal magistrates in the places where they were employed. the soldiery was not to act or permit anything to be done against those resolutions, but help to carry them out, his excellency himself and the troops paid by the states of holland being indisputably bound by oath and duty so to do." doubtless a more convenient arrangement from a military point of view might be imagined than a system of quotas by which each province in a confederacy claimed allegiance and exacted obedience from the troops paid by itself in what was after all a general army. still this was the logical and inevitable result of state rights pushed to the extreme and indeed had been the indisputable theory and practice in the netherlands ever since their revolt from spain. to pretend that the proceedings and the oath were new because they were embarrassing was absurd. it was only because the dominant party saw the extreme inconvenience of the system, now that it was turned against itself, that individuals contemptuous of law and ignorant of history denounced it as a novelty. but the strong and beneficent principle that lay at the bottom of the advocate's conduct was his unflagging resolve to maintain the civil authority over the military in time of peace. what liberal or healthy government would be possible otherwise? exactly as he opposed the subjection of the magistracy by the priesthood or the mob, so he now defended it against the power of the sword. there was no justification whatever for a claim on the part of maurice to exact obedience from all the armies of the republic, especially in time of peace. he was himself by oath sworn to obey the states of holland, of utrecht, and of the three other provinces of which he was governor. he was not commander-in-chief. in two of the seven provinces he had no functions whatever, military or civil. they had another governor. yet the exposition of the law, as it stood, by the advocate and his claim that both troops and stadholder should be held to their oaths was accounted a crime. he had invented a new oath--it was said--and sought to diminish the power of the prince. these were charges, unjust as they were, which might one day be used with deadly effect. "we live in a world where everything is interpreted to the worst," he said. "my physical weakness continues and is increased by this affliction. i place my trust in god the lord and in my upright and conscientious determination to serve the country, his excellency, and the religion in which through god's grace i hope to continue to the end." on the th august of a warm afternoon, barneveld was seated on a porcelain seat in an arbor in his garden. councillor berkhout, accompanied by a friend, called to see him, and after a brief conversation gave him solemn warning that danger was impending, that there was even a rumour of an intention to arrest him. the advocate answered gravely, "yes, there are wicked men about." presently he lifted his hat courteously and said, "i thank you, gentlemen, for the warning." it seems scarcely to have occurred to him that he had been engaged in anything beyond a constitutional party struggle in which he had defended what in his view was the side of law and order. he never dreamt of seeking safety in flight. some weeks before, he had been warmly advised to do as both he and maurice had done in former times in order to escape the stratagems of leicester, to take refuge in some strong city devoted to his interests rather than remain at the hague. but he had declined the counsel. "i will await the issue of this business," he said, "in the hague, where my home is, and where i have faithfully served my masters. i had rather for the sake of the fatherland suffer what god chooses to send me for having served well than that through me and on my account any city should fall into trouble and difficulties." next morning, wednesday, at seven o'clock, uytenbogaert paid him a visit. he wished to consult him concerning a certain statement in regard to the synod which he desired him to lay before the states of holland. the preacher did not find his friend busily occupied at his desk, as usual, with writing and other work. the advocate had pushed his chair away from the table encumbered with books and papers, and sat with his back leaning against it, lost in thought. his stern, stoical face was like that of a lion at bay. uytenbogaert tried to arouse him from his gloom, consoling him by reflections on the innumerable instances, in all countries and ages, of patriotic statesmen who for faithful service had reaped nothing but ingratitude. soon afterwards he took his leave, feeling a presentiment of evil within him which it was impossible for him to shake off as he pressed barneveld's hand at parting. two hours later, the advocate went in his coach to the session of the states of holland. the place of the assembly as well as that of the states-general was within what was called the binnenhof or inner court; the large quadrangle enclosing the ancient hall once the residence of the sovereign counts of holland. the apartments of the stadholder composed the south-western portion of the large series of buildings surrounding this court. passing by these lodgings on his way to the assembly, he was accosted by a chamberlain of the prince and informed that his highness desired to speak with him. he followed him towards the room where such interviews were usually held, but in the antechamber was met by lieutenant nythof, of the prince's bodyguard. this officer told him that he had been ordered to arrest him in the name of the states-general. the advocate demanded an interview with the prince. it was absolutely refused. physical resistance on the part of a man of seventy-two, stooping with age and leaning on a staff, to military force, of which nythof was the representative, was impossible. barneveld put a cheerful face on the matter, and was even inclined to converse. he was at once carried off a prisoner and locked up in a room belonging to maurice's apartments. soon afterwards, grotius on his way to the states-general was invited in precisely the same manner to go to the prince, with whom, as he was informed, the advocate was at that moment conferring. as soon as he had ascended the stairs however, he was arrested by captain van der meulen in the name of the states-general, and taken to a chamber in the same apartments, where he was guarded by two halberdmen. in the evening he was removed to another chamber where the window shutters were barred, and where he remained three days and nights. he was much cast down and silent. pensionary hoogerbeets was made prisoner in precisely the same manner. thus the three statesmen--culprits as they were considered by their enemies--were secured without noise or disturbance, each without knowing the fate that had befallen the other. nothing could have been more neatly done. in the same quiet way orders were sent to secure secretary ledenberg, who had returned to utrecht, and who now after a short confinement in that city was brought to the hague and imprisoned in the hof. at the very moment of the advocate's arrest his son-in-law van der myle happened to be paying a visit to sir dudley carleton, who had arrived very late the night before from england. it was some hours before he or any other member of the family learned what had befallen. the ambassador reported to his sovereign that the deed was highly applauded by the well disposed as the only means left for the security of the state. "the arminians," he said, "condemn it as violent and insufferable in a free republic." impartial persons, he thought, considered it a superfluous proceeding now that the synod had been voted and the waartgelders disbanded. while he was writing his despatch, the stadholder came to call upon him, attended by his cousin count lewis william. the crowd of citizens following at a little distance, excited by the news with which the city was now ringing, mingled with maurice's gentlemen and bodyguards and surged up almost into the ambassador's doors. carleton informed his guests, in the course of conversation, as to the general opinion of indifferent judges of these events. maurice replied that he had disbanded the waartgelders, but it had now become necessary to deal with their colonel and the chief captains, meaning thereby barneveld and the two other prisoners. the news of this arrest was soon carried to the house of barneveld, and filled his aged wife, his son, and sons-in-law with grief and indignation. his eldest son william, commonly called the seignior van groeneveld, accompanied by his two brothers-in-law, veenhuyzen, president of the upper council, and van der myle, obtained an interview with the stadholder that same afternoon. they earnestly requested that the advocate, in consideration of his advanced age, might on giving proper bail be kept prisoner in his own house. the prince received them at first with courtesy. "it is the work of the states-general," he said, "no harm shall come to your father any more than to myself." veenhuyzen sought to excuse the opposition which the advocate had made to the cloister church. the word was scarcely out of his mouth when the prince fiercely interrupted him--"any man who says a word against the cloister church," he cried in a rage, "his feet shall not carry him from this place." the interview gave them on the whole but little satisfaction. very soon afterwards two gentlemen, asperen and schagen, belonging to the chamber of nobles, and great adherents of barneveld, who had procured their enrolment in that branch, forced their way into the stadholder's apartments and penetrated to the door of the room where the advocate was imprisoned. according to carleton they were filled with wine as well as rage, and made a great disturbance, loudly demanding their patron's liberation. maurice came out of his own cabinet on hearing the noise in the corridor, and ordered them to be disarmed and placed under arrest. in the evening however they were released. soon afterwards van der myle fled to paris, where he endeavoured to make influence with the government in favour of the advocate. his departure without leave, being, as he was, a member of the chamber of nobles and of the council of state, was accounted a great offence. uytenbogaert also made his escape, as did taurinus, author of the balance, van moersbergen of utrecht, and many others more or less implicated in these commotions. there was profound silence in the states of holland when the arrest of barneveld was announced. the majority sat like men distraught. at last matenesse said, "you have taken from us our head, our tongue, and our hand, henceforth we can only sit still and look on." the states-general now took the responsibility of the arrest, which eight individuals calling themselves the states-general had authorized by secret resolution the day before ( th august). on the th accordingly, the following "billet," as it was entitled, was read to the assembly and ordered to be printed and circulated among the community. it was without date or signature. "whereas in the course of the changes within the city of utrecht and in other places brought about by the high and mighty lords the states-general of the united netherlands, through his excellency and their lordships' committee to him adjoined, sundry things have been discovered of which previously there had been great suspicion, tending to the great prejudice of the provinces in general and of each province in particular, not without apparent danger to the state of the country, and that thereby not only the city of utrecht, but various other cities of the united provinces would have fallen into a blood bath; and whereas the chief ringleaders in these things are considered to be john van barneveld, advocate of holland, rombout hoogerbeets, and hugo grotius, whereof hereafter shall declaration and announcement be made, therefore their high mightinesses, in order to prevent these and similar inconveniences, to place the country in security, and to bring the good burghers of all the cities into friendly unity again, have resolved to arrest those three persons, in order that out of their imprisonment they may be held to answer duly for their actions and offences." the deputies of holland in the states-general protested on the same day against the arrest, declaring themselves extraordinarily amazed at such proceedings, without their knowledge, with usurpation of their jurisdiction, and that they should refer to their principals for instructions in the matter. they reported accordingly at once to the states of holland in session in the same building. soon afterwards however a committee of five from the states-general appeared before the assembly to justify the proceeding. on their departure there arose a great debate, the six cities of course taking part with maurice and the general government. it was finally resolved by the majority to send a committee to the stadholder to remonstrate with, and by the six opposition cities another committee to congratulate him, on his recent performances. his answer was to this effect: "what had happened was not by his order, but had been done by the states-general, who must be supposed not to have acted without good cause. touching the laws and jurisdiction of holland he would not himself dispute, but the states of holland would know how to settle that matter with the states-general." next day it was resolved in the holland assembly to let the affair remain as it was for the time being. rapid changes were soon to be expected in that body, hitherto so staunch for the cause of municipal laws and state rights. meantime barneveld sat closely guarded in the apartments of the stadholder, while the country and very soon all europe were ringing with the news of his downfall, imprisonment, and disgrace. the news was a thunder-bolt to the lovers of religious liberty, a ray of dazzling sunlight after a storm to the orthodox. the showers of pamphlets, villanous lampoons, and libels began afresh. the relatives of the fallen statesman could not appear in the streets without being exposed to insult, and without hearing scurrilous and obscene verses against their father and themselves, in which neither sex nor age was spared, howled in their ears by all the ballad-mongers and broadsheet vendors of the town. the unsigned publication of the states-general, with its dark allusions to horrible discoveries and promised revelations which were never made, but which reduced themselves at last to the gibberish of a pot-house bully, the ingenious libels, the powerfully concocted and poisonous calumnies, caricatures, and lampoons, had done their work. people stared at each other in the streets with open mouths as they heard how the advocate had for years and years been the hireling of spain, whose government had bribed him largely to bring about the truce and kill the west india company; how his pockets and his coffers were running over with spanish ducats; how his plot to sell the whole country to the ancient tyrant, drive the prince of orange into exile, and bring every city of the netherlands into a "blood-bath," had, just in time, been discovered. and the people believed it and hated the man they had so lately honoured, and were ready to tear him to pieces in the streets. men feared to defend him lest they too should be accused of being stipendiaries of spain. it was a piteous spectacle; not for the venerable statesman sitting alone there in his prison, but for the republic in its lunacy, for human nature in its meanness and shame. he whom count lewis, although opposed to his politics, had so lately called one of the two columns on which the whole fabric of the states reposed, prince maurice being the other, now lay prostrate in the dust and reviled of all men. "many who had been promoted by him to high places," said a contemporary, "and were wont to worship him as a god, in hope that he would lift them up still higher, now deserted him, and ridiculed him, and joined the rest of the world in heaping dirt upon him." on the third day of his imprisonment the advocate wrote this letter to his family:-- "my very dear wife, children, children-in-law, and grandchildren,--i know that you are sorrowful for the troubles which have come upon me, but i beg you to seek consolation from god the almighty and to comfort each other. i know before the lord god of having given no single lawful reason for the misfortunes which have come upon me, and i will with patience await from his divine hand and from my lawful superiors a happy issue, knowing well that you and my other well-wishers will with your prayers and good offices do all that you can to that end. "and so, very dear wife, children, children-in-law, and grandchildren, i commend you to god's holy keeping. "i have been thus far well and honourably treated and accommodated, for which i thank his princely excellency. "from my chamber of arrest, last of august, anno . "your dear husband, father, father-in-law, and grand father, "john of barneveld." on the margin was written: "from the first i have requested and have at last obtained materials for writing." a fortnight before the arrest, but while great troubles were known to be impending, the french ambassador extraordinary, de boississe, had audience before the assembly of the states-general. he entreated them to maintain the cause of unity and peace as the foundation of their state; "that state," he said, "which lifts its head so high that it equals or surpasses the mightiest republics that ever existed, and which could not have risen to such a height of honour and grandeur in so short a time, but through harmony and union of all the provinces, through the valour of his excellency, and through your own wise counsels, both sustained by our great king, whose aid is continued by his son."--"the king my master," he continued, "knows not the cause of your disturbances. you have not communicated them to him, but their most apparent cause is a difference of opinion, born in the schools, thence brought before the public, upon a point of theology. that point has long been deemed by many to be so hard and so high that the best advice to give about it is to follow what god's word teaches touching god's secrets; to wit, that one should use moderation and modesty therein and should not rashly press too far into that which he wishes to be covered with the veil of reverence and wonder. that is a wise ignorance to keep one's eyes from that which god chooses to conceal. he calls us not to eternal life through subtle and perplexing questions." and further exhorting them to conciliation and compromise, he enlarged on the effect of their internal dissensions on their exterior relations. "what joy, what rapture you are preparing for your neighbours by your quarrels! how they will scorn you! how they will laugh! what a hope do you give them of revenging themselves upon you without danger to themselves! let me implore you to baffle their malice, to turn their joy into mourning, to unite yourselves to confound them." he spoke much more in the same vein, expressing wise and moderate sentiments. he might as well have gone down to the neighbouring beach when a south-west gale was blowing and talked of moderation to the waves of the german ocean. the tempest of passion and prejudice had risen in its might and was sweeping all before it. yet the speech, like other speeches and intercessions made at this epoch by de boississe and by the regular french ambassador, du maurier, was statesmanlike and reasonable. it is superfluous to say that it was in unison with the opinions of barneveld, for barneveld had probably furnished the text of the oration. even as he had a few years before supplied the letters which king james had signed and subsequently had struggled so desperately to disavow, so now the advocate's imperious intellect had swayed the docile and amiable minds of the royal envoys into complete sympathy with his policy. he usually dictated their general instructions. but an end had come to such triumphs. dudley carleton had returned from his leave of absence in england, where he had found his sovereign hating the advocate as doctors hate who have been worsted in theological arguments and despots who have been baffled in their imperious designs. who shall measure the influence on the destiny of this statesman caused by the french-spanish marriages, the sermons of james through the mouth of carleton, and the mutual jealousy of france and england? but the advocate was in prison, and the earth seemed to have closed over him. hardly a ripple of indignation was perceptible on the calm surface of affairs, although in the states-general as in the states of holland his absence seemed to have reduced both bodies to paralysis. they were the more easily handled by the prudent, skilful, and determined maurice. the arrest of the four gentlemen had been communicated to the kings of france and great britain and the elector-palatine in an identical letter from the states-general. it is noticeable that on this occasion the central government spoke of giving orders to the prince of orange, over whom they would seem to have had no legitimate authority, while on the other hand he had expressed indignation on more than one occasion that the respective states of the five provinces where he was governor and to whom he had sworn obedience should presume to issue commands to him. in france, where the advocate was honoured and beloved, the intelligence excited profound sorrow. a few weeks previously the government of that country had, as we have seen, sent a special ambassador to the states, m. de boississe, to aid the resident envoy, du maurier, in his efforts to bring about a reconciliation of parties and a termination of the religious feud. their exertions were sincere and unceasing. they were as steadily countermined by francis aerssens, for the aim of that diplomatist was to bring about a state of bad feeling, even at cost of rupture, between the republic and france, because france was friendly to the man he most hated and whose ruin he had sworn. during the summer a bitter personal controversy had been going on, sufficiently vulgar in tone, between aerssens and another diplomatist, barneveld's son-in-law, cornelis van der myle. it related to the recall of aerssens from the french embassy of which enough has already been laid before the reader. van der myle by the production of the secret letters of the queen-dowager and her counsellors had proved beyond dispute that it was at the express wish of the french government that the ambassador had retired, and that indeed they had distinctly refused to receive him, should he return. foul words resulting in propositions for a hostile meeting on the frontier, which however came to nothing, were interchanged and aerssens in the course of his altercation with the son-inlaw had found ample opportunity for venting his spleen upon his former patron the now fallen statesman. four days after the arrest of barneveld he brought the whole matter before the states-general, and the intention with which he thus raked up the old quarrel with france after the death of henry, and his charges in regard to the spanish marriages, was as obvious as it was deliberate. the french ambassadors were furious. boississe had arrived not simply as friend of the advocate, but to assure the states of the strong desire entertained by the french government to cultivate warmest relations with them. it had been desired by the contra-remonstrant party that deputies from the protestant churches of france should participate in the synod, and the french king had been much assailed by the catholic powers for listening to those suggestions. the papal nuncius, the spanish ambassador, the envoy of the archduke, had made a great disturbance at court concerning the mission of boississe. they urged with earnestness that his majesty was acting against the sentiments of spain, rome, and the whole catholic church, and that he ought not to assist with his counsel those heretics who were quarrelling among themselves over points in their heretical religion and wishing to destroy each other. notwithstanding this outcry the weather was smooth enough until the proceedings of aerssens came to stir up a tempest at the french court. a special courier came from boississe, a meeting of the whole council, although it was sunday, was instantly called, and the reply of the states-general to the remonstrance of the ambassador in the aerssens affair was pronounced to be so great an affront to the king that, but for overpowering reasons, diplomatic intercourse would have at once been suspended. "now instead of friendship there is great anger here," said langerac. the king forbade under vigorous penalties the departure of any french theologians to take part in the synod, although the royal consent had nearly been given. the government complained that no justice was done in the netherlands to the french nation, that leading personages there openly expressed contempt for the french alliance, denouncing the country as "hispaniolized," and declaring that all the council were regularly pensioned by spain for the express purpose of keeping up the civil dissensions in the united provinces. aerssens had publicly and officially declared that a majority of the french council since the death of henry had declared the crown in its temporal as well as spiritual essence to be dependent on the pope, and that the spanish marriages had been made under express condition of the renunciation of the friendship and alliance of the states. such were among the first-fruits of the fall of barneveld and the triumph of aerssens, for it was he in reality who had won the victory, and he had gained it over both stadholder and advocate. who was to profit by the estrangement between the republic and its powerful ally at a moment too when that great kingdom was at last beginning to emerge from the darkness and nothingness of many years, with the faint glimmering dawn of a new great policy? barneveld, whose masterful statesmanship, following out the traditions of william the silent, had ever maintained through good and ill report cordial and beneficent relations between the two countries, had always comprehended, even as a great cardinal-minister was ere long to teach the world, that the permanent identification of france with spain and the roman league was unnatural and impossible. meantime barneveld sat in his solitary prison, knowing not what was passing on that great stage where he had so long been the chief actor, while small intriguers now attempted to control events. it was the intention of aerssens to return to the embassy in paris whence he had been driven, in his own opinion, so unjustly. to render himself indispensable, he had begun by making himself provisionally formidable to the king's government. later, there would be other deeds to do before the prize was within his grasp. thus the very moment when france was disposed to cultivate the most earnest friendship with the republic had been seized for fastening an insult upon her. the twelve years' truce with spain was running to its close, the relations between france and spain were unusually cold, and her friendship therefore more valuable than ever. on the other hand the british king was drawing closer his relations with spain, and his alliance was demonstrably of small account. the phantom of the spanish bride had become more real to his excited vision than ever, so that early in the year, in order to please gondemar, he had been willing to offer an affront to the french ambassador. the prince of wales had given a splendid masquerade at court, to which the envoy of his most catholic majesty was bidden. much to his amazement the representative of the most christian king received no invitation, notwithstanding that he had taken great pains to procure one. m. de la boderie was very angry, and went about complaining to the states' ambassador and his other colleagues of the slight, and darkened the lives of the court functionaries having charge of such matters with his vengeance and despair. it was represented to him that he had himself been asked to a festival the year before when count gondemar was left out. it was hinted to him that the king had good reasons for what he did, as the marriage with the daughter of spain was now in train, and it was desirable that the spanish ambassador should be able to observe the prince's disposition and make a more correct report of it to his government. it was in vain. m. de la boderie refused to be comforted, and asserted that one had no right to leave the french ambassador uninvited to any "festival or triumph" at court. there was an endless disturbance. de la boderie sent his secretary off to paris to complain to the king that his ambassador was of no account in london, while much favour was heaped upon the spaniard. the secretary returned with instructions from lewis that the ambassador was to come home immediately, and he went off accordingly in dudgeon. "i could see that he was in the highest degree indignant," said caron, who saw him before he left, "and i doubt not that his departure will increase and keep up the former jealousy between the governments." the ill-humor created by this event lasted a long time, serving to neutralize or at least perceptibly diminish the spanish influence produced in france by the spanish marriages. in the autumn, secretary de puysieux by command of the king ordered every spaniard to leave the french court. all the "spanish ladies and gentlemen, great and small," who had accompanied the queen from madrid were included in this expulsion with the exception of four individuals, her majesty's father confessor, physician, apothecary, and cook. the fair young queen was much vexed and shed bitter tears at this calamity, which, as she spoke nothing but spanish, left her isolated at the court, but she was a little consoled by the promise that thenceforth the king would share her couch. it had not yet occurred to him that he was married. the french envoys at the hague exhausted themselves in efforts, both private and public, in favour of the prisoners, but it was a thankless task. now that the great man and his chief pupils and adherents were out of sight, a war of shameless calumny was began upon him, such as has scarcely a parallel in political history. it was as if a whole tribe of noxious and obscene reptiles were swarming out of the earth which had suddenly swallowed him. but it was not alone the obscure or the anonymous who now triumphantly vilified him. men in high places who had partaken of his patronage, who had caressed him and grovelled before him, who had grown great through his tuition and rich through his bounty, now rejoiced in his ruin or hastened at least to save themselves from being involved in it. not a man of them all but fell away from him like water. even the great soldier forgot whose respectful but powerful hand it was which, at the most tragical moment, had lifted him from the high school at leyden into the post of greatest power and responsibility, and had guided his first faltering footsteps by the light of his genius and experience. francis aerssens, master of the field, had now become the political tutor of the mature stadholder. step by step we have been studying the inmost thoughts of the advocate as revealed in his secret and confidential correspondence, and the reader has been enabled to judge of the wantonness of the calumny which converted the determined antagonist into the secret friend of spain. yet it had produced its effect upon maurice. he told the french ambassadors a month after the arrest that barneveld had been endeavouring, during and since the truce negotiations, to bring back the provinces, especially holland, if not under the dominion of, at least under some kind of vassalage to spain. persons had been feeling the public pulse as to the possibility of securing permanent peace by paying tribute to spain, and this secret plan of barneveld had so alienated him from the prince as to cause him to attempt every possible means of diminishing or destroying altogether his authority. he had spread through many cities that maurice wished to make himself master of the state by using the religious dissensions to keep the people weakened and divided. there is not a particle of evidence, and no attempt was ever made to produce any, that the advocate had such plan, but certainly, if ever, man had made himself master of a state, that man was maurice. he continued however to place himself before the world as the servant of the states-general, which he never was, either theoretically or in fact. the french ambassadors became every day more indignant and more discouraged. it was obvious that aerssens, their avowed enemy, was controlling the public policy of the government. not only was there no satisfaction to be had for the offensive manner in which he had filled the country with his ancient grievances and his nearly forgotten charges against the queen-dowager and those who had assisted her in the regency, but they were repulsed at every turn when by order of their sovereign they attempted to use his good offices in favour of the man who had ever been the steady friend of france. the stadholder also professed friendship for that country, and referred to colonel-general chatillon, who had for a long time commanded the french regiments in the netherlands, for confirmation of his uniform affection for those troops and attachment to their sovereign. he would do wonders, he said, if lewis would declare war upon spain by land and sea. "such fruits are not ripe," said boississe, "nor has your love for france been very manifest in recent events." "barneveld," replied the prince, "has personally offended me, and has boasted that he would drive me out of the country like leicester. he is accused of having wished to trouble the country in order to bring it back under the yoke of spain. justice will decide. the states only are sovereign to judge this question. you must address yourself to them." "the states," replied the ambassadors, "will require to be aided by your counsels." the prince made no reply and remained chill and "impregnable." the ambassadors continued their intercessions in behalf of the prisoners both by public address to the assembly and by private appeals to the stadholder and his influential friends. in virtue of the intimate alliance and mutual guarantees existing between their government and the republic they claimed the acceptance of their good offices. they insisted upon a regular trial of the prisoners according to the laws of the land, that is to say, by the high court of holland, which alone had jurisdiction in the premises. if they had been guilty of high-treason, they should be duly arraigned. in the name of the signal services of barneveld and of the constant friendship of that great magistrate for france, the king demanded clemency or proof of his crimes. his majesty complained through his ambassadors of the little respect shown for his counsels and for his friendship. "in times past you found ever prompt and favourable action in your time of need." "this discourse," said maurice to chatillon, "proceeds from evil intention." thus the prisoners had disappeared from human sight, and their enemies ran riot in slandering them. yet thus far no public charges had been made. "nothing appears against them," said du maurier, "and people are beginning to open their mouths with incredible freedom. while waiting for the condemnation of the prisoners, one is determined to dishonour them." the french ambassadors were instructed to intercede to the last, but they were steadily repulsed--while the king of great britain, anxious to gain favour with spain by aiding in the ruin of one whom he knew and spain knew to be her determined foe, did all he could through his ambassador to frustrate their efforts and bring on a catastrophe. the states-general and maurice were now on as confidential terms with carleton as they were cold and repellent to boississe and du maurier. "to recall to them the benefits of the king," said du maurier, "is to beat the air. and then aerssens bewitches them, and they imagine that after having played runaway horses his majesty will be only too happy to receive them back, caress them, and, in order to have their friendship, approve everything they have been doing right or wrong." aerssens had it all his own way, and the states-general had just paid him , francs in cash on the ground that langerac's salary was larger than his had been when at the head of the same embassy many years before. his elevation into the body of nobles, which maurice had just stocked with five other of his partisans, was accounted an additional affront to france, while on the other hand the queen-mother, having through epernon's assistance made her escape from blois, where she had been kept in durance since the death of concini, now enumerated among other grievances for which she was willing to take up arms against her son that the king's government had favoured barneveld. it was strange that all the devotees of spain--mary de' medici, and epernon, as well as james i. and his courtiers--should be thus embittered against the man who had sold the netherlands to spain. at last the prince told the french ambassadors that the "people of the provinces considered their persistent intercessions an invasion of their sovereignty." few would have anything to say to them. "no one listens to us, no one replies to us," said du maurier, "everyone visiting us is observed, and it is conceived a reproach here to speak to the ambassadors of france." certainly the days were changed since henry iv. leaned on the arm of barneveld, and consulted with him, and with him only, among all the statesmen of europe on his great schemes for regenerating christendom and averting that general war which, now that the great king had been murdered and the advocate imprisoned, had already begun to ravage europe. van der myle had gone to paris to make such exertions as he could among the leading members of the council in favour of his father-in-law. langerac, the states' ambassador there, who but yesterday had been turning at every moment to the advocate for light and warmth as to the sun, now hastened to disavow all respect or regard for him. he scoffed at the slender sympathy van der myle was finding in the bleak political atmosphere. he had done his best to find out what he had been negotiating with the members of the council and was glad to say that it was so inconsiderable as to be not worth reporting. he had not spoken with or seen the king. jeannin, his own and his father-in-law's principal and most confidential friend, had only spoken with him half an hour and then departed for burgundy, although promising to confer with him sympathetically on his return. "i am very displeased at his coming here," said langerac, ". . . . but he has found little friendship or confidence, and is full of woe and apprehension." the ambassador's labours were now confined to personally soliciting the king's permission for deputations from the reformed churches of france to go to the synod, now opened ( th november) at dordtrecht, and to clearing his own skirts with the prince and states-general of any suspicion of sympathy with barneveld. in the first object he was unsuccessful, the king telling him at last "with clear and significant words that this was impossible, on account of his conscience, his respect for the catholic religion, and many other reasons." in regard to the second point he acted with great promptness. he received a summons in january from the states-general and the prince to send them all letters that he had ever received from barneveld. he crawled at once to maurice on his knees, with the letters in his hand. "most illustrious, high-born prince, most gracious lord," he said; "obeying the commands which it has pleased the states and your princely grace to give me, i send back the letters of advocate barneveld. if your princely grace should find anything in them showing that the said advocate had any confidence in me, i most humbly beg your princely grace to believe that i never entertained any affection for, him, except only in respect to and so far as he was in credit and good authority with the government, and according to the upright zeal which i thought i could see in him for the service of my high and puissant lords the states-general and of your princely grace." greater humbleness could be expected of no ambassador. most nobly did the devoted friend and pupil of the great statesman remember his duty to the illustrious prince and their high mightinesses. most promptly did he abjure his patron now that he had fallen into the abyss. "nor will it be found," he continued, "that i have had any sympathy or communication with the said advocate except alone in things concerning my service. the great trust i had in him as the foremost and oldest counsellor of the state, as the one who so confidentially instructed me on my departure for france, and who had obtained for himself so great authority that all the most important affairs of the country were entrusted to him, was the cause that i simply and sincerely wrote to him all that people were in the habit of saying at this court. "if i had known in the least or suspected that he was not what he ought to be in the service of my lords the states and of your princely grace and for the welfare and tranquillity of the land, i should have been well on my guard against letting myself in the least into any kind of communication with him whatever." the reader has seen how steadily and frankly the advocate had kept langerac as well as caron informed of passing events, and how little concealment he made of his views in regard to the synod, the waartgelders, and the respective authority of the states-general and states-provincial. not only had langerac no reason to suspect that barneveld was not what he ought to be, but he absolutely knew the contrary from that most confidential correspondence with him which he was now so abjectly repudiating. the advocate, in a protracted constitutional controversy, had made no secret of his views either officially or privately. whether his positions were tenable or flimsy, they had been openly taken. "what is more," proceeded the ambassador, "had i thought that any account ought to be made of what i wrote to him concerning the sovereignty of the provinces, i should for a certainty not have failed to advise your grace of it above all." he then, after profuse and maudlin protestations of his most dutiful zeal all the days of his life for "the service, honour, reputation, and contentment of your princely grace," observed that he had not thought it necessary to give him notice of such idle and unfounded matters, as being likely to give the prince annoyance and displeasure. he had however always kept within himself the resolution duly to notify him in case he found that any belief was attached to the reports in paris. "but the reports," he said, "were popular and calumnious inventions of which no man had ever been willing or able to name to him the authors." the ambassador's memory was treacherous, and he had doubtless neglected to read over the minutes, if he had kept them, of his wonderful disclosures on the subject of the sovereignty before thus exculpating himself. it will be remembered that he had narrated the story of the plot for conferring sovereignty upon maurice not as a popular calumny flying about paris with no man to father it, but he had given it to barneveld on the authority of a privy councillor of france and of the king himself. "his majesty knows it to be authentic," he had said in his letter. that letter was a pompous one, full of mystery and so secretly ciphered that he had desired that his friend van der myle, whom he was now deriding for his efforts in paris to save his father-inlaw from his fate, might assist the advocate in unravelling its contents. he had now discovered that it had been idle gossip not worthy of a moment's attention. the reader will remember too that barneveld, without attaching much importance to the tale, had distinctly pointed out to langerac that the prince himself was not implicated in the plot and had instructed the ambassador to communicate the story to maurice. this advice had not been taken, but he had kept the perilous stuff upon his breast. he now sought to lay the blame, if it were possible to do so, upon the man to whom he had communicated it and who had not believed it. the business of the states-general, led by the advocate's enemies this winter, was to accumulate all kind of tales, reports, and accusations to his discredit on which to form something like a bill of indictment. they had demanded all his private and confidential correspondence with caron and langerae. the ambassador in paris had been served, moreover, with a string of nine interrogatories which he was ordered to answer on oath and honour. this he did and appended the reply to his letter. the nine questions had simply for their object to discover what barneveld had been secretly writing to the ambassador concerning the synod, the enlisted troops, and the supposed projects of maurice concerning the sovereignty. langerac was obliged to admit in his replies that nothing had been written except the regular correspondence which he endorsed, and of which the reader has been able to see the sum and substance in the copious extracts which have been given. he stated also that he had never received any secret instructions save the marginal notes to the list of questions addressed by him, when about leaving for paris in , to barneveld. most of these were of a trivial and commonplace nature. they had however a direct bearing on the process to be instituted against the advocate, and the letter too which we have been examining will prove to be of much importance. certainly pains enough were taken to detect the least trace of treason in a very loyal correspondence. langerac concluded by enclosing the barneveld correspondence since the beginning of the year , protesting that not a single letter had been kept back or destroyed. "once more i recommend myself to mercy, if not to favour," he added, "as the most faithful, most obedient, most zealous servant of their high mightinesses and your princely grace, to whom i have devoted and sacrificed my honour and life in most humble service; and am now and forever the most humble, most obedient, most faithful servant of my most serene, most illustrious, most highly born prince, most gracious lord and princeliest grace." the former adherent of plain advocate barneveld could hardly find superlatives enough to bestow upon the man whose displeasure that prisoner had incurred. directly after the arrest the stadholder had resumed his tour through the provinces in order to change the governments. sliding over any opposition which recent events had rendered idle, his course in every city was nearly the same. a regiment or two and a train of eighty or a hundred waggons coming through the city-gate preceded by the prince and his body-guard of , a tramp of halberdmen up the great staircase of the town-hall, a jingle of spurs in the assembly-room, and the whole board of magistrates were summoned into the presence of the stadholder. they were then informed that the world had no further need of their services, and were allowed to bow themselves out of the presence. a new list was then announced, prepared beforehand by maurice on the suggestion of those on whom he could rely. a faint resistance was here and there attempted by magistrates and burghers who could not forget in a moment the rights of self-government and the code of laws which had been enjoyed for centuries. at hoorn, for instance, there was deep indignation among the citizens. an imprudent word or two from the authorities might have brought about a "blood-bath." the burgomaster ventured indeed to expostulate. they requested the prince not to change the magistracy. "this is against our privileges," they said, "which it is our duty to uphold. you will see what deep displeasure will seize the burghers, and how much disturbance and tumult will follow. if any faults have been committed by any member of the government, let him be accused and let him answer for them. let your excellency not only dismiss but punish such as cannot properly justify themselves." but his excellency summoned them all to the town-house and as usual deposed them all. a regiment was drawn up in half-moon on the square beneath the windows. to the magistrates asking why they were deposed, he briefly replied, "the quiet of the land requires it. it is necessary to have unanimous resolutions in the states-general at the hague. this cannot be accomplished without these preliminary changes. i believe that you had good intentions and have been faithful servants of the fatherland. but this time it must be so." and so the faithful servants of the fatherland were dismissed into space. otherwise how could there be unanimous voting in parliament? it must be regarded perhaps as fortunate that the force of character, undaunted courage, and quiet decision of maurice enabled him to effect this violent series of revolutions with such masterly simplicity. it is questionable whether the stadholder's commission technically empowered him thus to trample on municipal law; it is certain that, if it did, the boasted liberties of the netherlands were a dream; but it is equally true that, in the circumstances then existing, a vulgar, cowardly, or incompetent personage might have marked his pathway with massacres without restoring tranquillity. sometimes there was even a comic aspect to these strokes of state. the lists of new magistrates being hurriedly furnished by the prince's adherents to supply the place of those evicted, it often happened that men not quahified by property, residence, or other attributes were appointed to the government, so that many became magistrates before they were citizens. on being respectfully asked sometimes who such a magistrate might be whose face and name were equally unknown to his colleagues and to the townsmen in general; "do i know the fellows?" he would say with a cheerful laugh. and indeed they might have all been dead men, those new functionaries, for aught he did know. and so on through medemblik and alkmaar, brielle, delft, monnikendam, and many other cities progressed the prince, sowing new municipalities broadcast as he passed along. at the hague on his return a vote of thanks to the prince was passed by the nobles and most of the cities for the trouble he had taken in this reforming process. but the unanimous vote had not yet been secured, the strongholds of arminianism, as it was the fashion to call them, not being yet reduced. the prince, in reply to the vote of thanks, said that "in what he had done and was going to do his intention sincerely and uprightly had been no other than to promote the interests and tranquillity of the country, without admixture of anything personal and without prejudice to the general commonwealth or the laws and privileges of the cities." he desired further that "note might be taken of this declaration as record of his good and upright intentions." but the sincerest and most upright intentions may be refracted by party atmosphere from their aim, and the purest gold from the mint elude the direct grasp through the clearest fluid in existence. at any rate it would have been difficult to convince the host of deposed magistrates hurled from office, although recognized as faithful servants of the fatherland, that such violent removal had taken place without detriment to the laws and privileges. and the stadholder went to the few cities where some of the leaven still lingered. he arrived at leyden on the nd october, "accompanied by a great suite of colonels, ritmeesters, and captains," having sent on his body-guard to the town strengthened by other troops. he was received by the magistrates at the "prince's court" with great reverence and entertained by them in the evening at a magnificent banquet. next morning he summoned the whole forty of them to the town-house, disbanded them all, and appointed new ones in their stead; some of the old members however who could be relied upon being admitted to the revolutionized board. the populace, mainly of the stadholder's party, made themselves merry over the discomfited "arminians". they hung wisps of straw as derisive wreaths of triumph over the dismantled palisade lately encircling the town-hall, disposed of the famous "oldenbarneveld's teeth" at auction in the public square, and chased many a poor cock and hen, with their feathers completely plucked from their bodies, about the street, crying "arme haenen, arme haenen"--arminians or poor fowls--according to the practical witticism much esteemed at that period. certainly the unfortunate barneveldians or arminians, or however the remonstrants might be designated, had been sufficiently stripped of their plumes. the prince, after having made proclamation from the town-house enjoining "modesty upon the mob" and a general abstention from "perverseness and petulance," went his way to haarlem, where he dismissed the magistrates and appointed new ones, and then proceeded to rotterdam, to gouda, and to amsterdam. it seemed scarcely necessary to carry, out the process in the commercial capital, the abode of peter plancius, the seat of the west india company, the head-quarters of all most opposed to the advocate, most devoted to the stadholder. but although the majority of the city government was an overwhelming one, there was still a respectable minority who, it was thought possible, might under a change of circumstances effect much mischief and even grow into a majority. the prince therefore summoned the board before him according to his usual style of proceeding and dismissed them all. they submitted without a word of remonstrance. ex-burgomaster hooft, a man of seventy-two-father of the illustrious pieter corneliszoon hooft, one of the greatest historians of the netherlands or of any country, then a man of thirty-seven-shocked at the humiliating silence, asked his colleagues if they had none of them a word to say in defence of their laws and privileges. they answered with one accord "no." the old man, a personal friend of barneveld and born the same year, then got on his feet and addressed the stadholder. he spoke manfully and well, characterizing the summary deposition of the magistracy as illegal and unnecessary, recalling to the memory of those who heard him that he had been thirty-six years long a member of the government and always a warm friend of the house of nassau, and respectfully submitting that the small minority in the municipal government, while differing from their colleagues and from the greater number of the states-general, had limited their opposition to strictly constitutional means, never resorting to acts of violence or to secret conspiracy. nothing could be more truly respectable than the appearance of this ancient magistrate, in long black robe with fur edgings, high ruff around his thin, pointed face, and decent skull-cap covering his bald old head, quavering forth to unsympathetic ears a temperate and unanswerable defence of things which in all ages the noblest minds have deemed most valuable. his harangue was not very long. maurice's reply was very short. "grandpapa," he said, "it must be so this time. necessity and the service of the country require it." with that he dismissed the thirty-six magistrates and next day appointed a new board, who were duly sworn to fidelity to the states-general. of course a large proportion of the old members were renominated. scarcely had the echo of the prince's footsteps ceased to resound through the country as he tramped from one city to another, moulding each to his will, when the states of holland, now thoroughly reorganized, passed a solemn vote of thanks to him for all that he had done. the six cities of the minority had now become the majority, and there was unanimity at the hague. the seven provinces, states-general and states-provincial, were as one, and the synod was secured. whether the prize was worth the sacrifices which it had cost and was still to cost might at least be considered doubtful. etext editor's bookmarks: affection of his friends and the wrath of his enemies depths theological party spirit could descend extraordinary capacity for yielding to gentle violence human nature in its meanness and shame it had not yet occurred to him that he was married make the very name of man a term of reproach never lack of fishers in troubled waters opposed the subjection of the magistracy by the priesthood pot-valiant hero resolve to maintain the civil authority over the military tempest of passion and prejudice the effect of energetic, uncompromising calumny yes, there are wicked men about the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. life and death of john of barneveld, v , - chapter xix. rancour between the politico-religious parties--spanish intrigues inconsistency of james--brewster and robinson's congregation at leyden--they decide to leave for america--robinson's farewell sermon and prayer at parting. during this dark and mournful winter the internal dissensions and, as a matter of course, the foreign intrigues had become more dangerous than ever. while the man who for a whole generation had guided the policy of the republic and had been its virtual chief magistrate lay hidden from all men's sight, the troubles which he had sought to avert were not diminished by his removal from the scene. the extreme or gomarist party which had taken a pride in secret conventicles where they were in a minority, determined, as they said, to separate christ from belial and, meditating the triumph which they had at last secured, now drove the arminians from the great churches. very soon it was impossible for these heretics to enjoy the rights of public worship anywhere. but they were not dismayed. the canons of dordtrecht had not yet been fulminated. they avowed themselves ready to sacrifice worldly goods and life itself in defence of the five points. in rotterdam, notwithstanding a garrison of fifteen companies, more than a thousand remonstrants assembled on christmas-day in the exchange for want of a more appropriate place of meeting and sang the th psalm in mighty chorus. a clergyman of their persuasion accidentally passing through the street was forcibly laid hands upon and obliged to preach to them, which he did with great unction. the magistracy, where now the contra-remonstrants had the control, forbade, under severe penalties, a repetition of such scenes. it was impossible not to be reminded of the days half a century before, when the early reformers had met in the open fields or among the dunes, armed to the teeth, and with outlying pickets to warn the congregation of the approach of red rod and the functionaries of the holy inquisition. in schoonhoven the authorities attempted one sunday by main force to induct a contra-remonstrant into the pulpit from which a remonstrant had just been expelled. the women of the place turned out with their distaffs and beat them from the field. the garrison was called out, and there was a pitched battle in the streets between soldiers, police officers, and women, not much to the edification certainly of the sabbath-loving community on either side, the victory remaining with the ladies. in short it would be impossible to exaggerate the rancour felt between the different politico-religious parties. all heed for the great war now raging in the outside world between the hostile elements of catholicism and protestantism, embattled over an enormous space, was lost in the din of conflict among the respective supporters of conditional and unconditional damnation within the pale of the reformed church. the earthquake shaking europe rolled unheeded, as it was of old said to have done at cannae, amid the fierce shock of mortal foes in that narrow field. the respect for authority which had so long been the distinguishing characteristic of the netherlanders seemed to have disappeared. it was difficult--now that the time-honoured laws and privileges in defence of which, and of liberty of worship included in them, the provinces had made war forty years long had been trampled upon by military force--for those not warmed by the fire of gomarus to feel their ancient respect for the magistracy. the magistracy at that moment seemed to mean the sword. the spanish government was inevitably encouraged by the spectacle thus presented. we have seen the strong hopes entertained by the council at madrid, two years before the crisis now existing had occurred. we have witnessed the eagerness with which the king indulged the dream of recovering the sovereignty which his father had lost, and the vast schemes which he nourished towards that purpose, founded on the internal divisions which were reducing the republic to impotence. subsequent events had naturally made him more sanguine than ever. there was now a web of intrigue stretching through the provinces to bring them all back under the sceptre of spain. the imprisonment of the great stipendiary, the great conspirator, the man who had sold himself and was on the point of selling his country, had not terminated those plots. where was the supposed centre of that intrigue? in the council of state of the netherlands, ever fiercely opposed to barneveld and stuffed full of his mortal enemies. whose name was most familiar on the lips of the spanish partisans engaged in these secret schemes? that of adrian manmaker, president of the council, representative of prince maurice as first noble of zealand in the states-general, chairman of the committee sent by that body to utrecht to frustrate the designs of the advocate, and one of the twenty-four commissioners soon to be appointed to sit in judgment upon him. the tale seems too monstrous for belief, nor is it to be admitted with certainty, that manmaker and the other councillors implicated had actually given their adhesion to the plot, because the spanish emissaries in their correspondence with the king assured him of the fact. but if such a foundation for suspicion could have been found against barneveld and his friends, the world would not have heard the last of it from that hour to this. it is superfluous to say that the prince was entirely foreign to these plans. he had never been mentioned as privy to the little arrangements of councillor du agean and others, although he was to benefit by them. in the spanish schemes he seems to have been considered as an impediment, although indirectly they might tend to advance him. "we have managed now, i hope, that his majesty will be recognized as sovereign of the country," wrote the confidential agent of the king of spain in the netherlands, emmanuel sueyro, to the government of madrid. "the english will oppose it with all their strength. but they can do nothing except by making count maurice sovereign of holland and duke of julich and cleve. maurice will also contrive to make himself master of wesel, so it is necessary for the archduke to be beforehand with him and make sure of the place. it is also needful that his majesty should induce the french government to talk with the netherlanders and convince them that it is time to prolong the truce." this was soon afterwards accomplished. the french minister at brussels informed archduke albert that du maurier had been instructed to propose the prolongation, and that he had been conferring with the prince of orange and the states-general on the subject. at first the prince had expressed disinclination, but at the last interview both he and the states had shown a desire for it, and the french king had requested from the archduke a declaration whether the spanish government would be willing to treat for it. in such case lewis would offer himself as mediator and do his best to bring about a successful result. but it was not the intention of the conspirators in the netherlands that the truce should be prolonged. on the contrary the negotiation for it was merely to furnish the occasion for fully developing their plot. "the states and especially those of zealand will reply that they no longer wish the truce," continued sueyro, "and that they would prefer war to such a truce. they desire to put ships on the coast of flanders, to which the hollanders are opposed because it would be disagreeable to the french. so the zealanders will be the first to say that the netherlanders must come back to his majesty. this their president hanmaker has sworn. the states of overyssel will likewise give their hand to this because they say they will be the first to feel the shock of the war. thus we shall very easily carry out our design, and as we shall concede to the zealanders their demands in regard to the navigation they at least will place themselves under the dominion of his majesty as will be the case with friesland as well as overyssel." it will be observed that in this secret arrangement for selling the republic to its ancient master it was precisely the provinces and the politicians most steadily opposed to barneveld that took the lead. zealand, friesland, overyssel were in the plot, but not a word was said of utrecht. as for holland itself, hopes were founded on the places where hatred to the advocate was fiercest. "between ourselves," continued the agent, "we are ten here in the government of holland to support the plan, but we must not discover ourselves for fear of suffering what has happened to barneveld." he added that the time for action had not yet come, and that if movements were made before the synod had finished its labours, "the gomarists would say that they were all sold." he implored the government at madrid to keep the whole matter for the present profoundly secret because "prince maurice and the gomarists had the forces of the country at their disposition." in case the plot was sprung too suddenly therefore, he feared that with the assistance of england maurice might, at the head of the gomarists and the army, make himself sovereign of holland and duke of cleve, while he and the rest of the spanish partisans might be in prison with barneveld for trying to accomplish what barneveld had been trying to prevent. the opinions and utterances of such a man as james i. would be of little worth to our history had he not happened to occupy the place he did. but he was a leading actor in the mournful drama which filled up the whole period of the twelve years' truce. his words had a direct influence on great events. he was a man of unquestionable erudition, of powers of mind above the average, while the absolute deformity of his moral constitution made him incapable of thinking, feeling, or acting rightly on any vital subject, by any accident or on any occasion. if there were one thing that he thoroughly hated in the world, it was the reformed religion. if in his thought there were one term of reproach more loathsome than another to be applied to a human creature, it was the word puritan. in the word was subversion of all established authority in church and state--revolution, republicanism, anarchy. "there are degrees in heaven," he was wont to say, "there are degrees in hell, there must be degrees on earth." he forbade the calvinist churches of scotland to hold their customary synod in , passionately reviling them and their belief, and declaring "their aim to be nothing else than to deprive kings and princes of their sovereignty, and to reduce the whole world to a popular form of government where everybody would be master." when the prince of neuburg embraced catholicism, thus complicating matters in the duchies and strengthening the hand of spain and the emperor in the debateable land, he seized the occasion to assure the agent of the archduke in london, councillor boissetot, of his warm catholic sympathies. "they say that i am the greatest heretic in the world!" he exclaimed; "but i will never deny that the true religion is that of rome even if corrupted." he expressed his belief in the real presence, and his surprise that the roman catholics did not take the chalice for the blood of christ. the english bishops, he averred, drew their consecration through the bishops in mary tudor's time from the pope. as philip ii., and ferdinand ii. echoing the sentiments of his illustrious uncle, had both sworn they would rather reign in a wilderness than tolerate a single heretic in their dominions, so james had said "he would rather be a hermit in a forest than a king over such people as the pack of puritans were who overruled the lower house." for the netherlanders he had an especial hatred, both as rebels and puritans. soon after coming to the english throne he declared that their revolt, which had been going on all his lifetime and of which he never expected to see the end, had begun by petition for matters of religion. "his mother and he from their cradles," he said, "had been haunted with a puritan devil, which he feared would not leave him to his grave. and he would hazard his crown but he would suppress those malicious spirits." it seemed a strange caprice of destiny that assigned to this hater of netherlanders, of puritans, and of the reformed religion, the decision of disputed points between puritans and anti-puritans in the reformed church of the netherlands. it seemed stranger that his opinions should be hotly on the side of the puritans. barneveld, who often used the expression in later years, as we have seen in his correspondence, was opposed to the dutch puritans because they had more than once attempted subversion of the government on pretext of religion, especially at the memorable epoch of leicester's government. the business of stirring up these religious conspiracies against the magistracy he was apt to call "flanderizing," in allusion to those disastrous days and to the origin of the ringleaders in those tumults. but his main object, as we have seen, was to effect compromises and restore good feeling between members of the one church, reserving the right of disposing over religious matters to the government of the respective provinces. but james had remedied his audacious inconsistency by discovering that puritanism in england and in the netherlands resembled each other no more than certain letters transposed into totally different words meant one and the same thing. the anagrammatic argument had been neatly put by sir dudley carleton, convincing no man. puritanism in england "denied the right of human invention or imposition in religious matters." puritanism in the netherlands denied the right of the legal government to impose its authority in religious matters. this was the great matter of debate in the provinces. in england the argument had been settled very summarily against the puritans by sheriffs' officers, bishops' pursuivants, and county jails. as the political tendencies, so too the religious creed and observances of the english puritans were identical with that of the contra-remonstrants, whom king james had helped to their great triumph. this was not very difficult to prove. it so happened that there were some english puritans living at that moment in leyden. they formed an independent society by themselves, which they called a congregational church, and in which were some three hundred communicants. the length of their residence there was almost exactly coeval with the twelve years' truce. they knew before leaving england that many relics of the roman ceremonial, with which they were dissatisfied, and for the discontinuance of which they had in vain petitioned the crown--the ring, the sign of the cross, white surplices, and the like--besides the whole hierarchical system, had been disused in the reformed churches of france, switzerland, and the united provinces, where the forms of worship in their view had been brought more nearly to the early apostolic model. they admitted for truth the doctrinal articles of the dutch reformed churches. they had not come to the netherlands without cause. at an early period of king james's reign this congregation of seceders from the establishment had been wont to hold meetings at scrooby in nottinghamshire, once a manor of the archbishop of york, but then the residence of one william brewster. this was a gentleman of some fortune, educated at cambridge, a good scholar, who in queen elizabeth's time had been in the service of william davison when secretary of state. he seemed to have been a confidential private secretary of that excellent and unlucky statesman, who found him so discreet and faithful as to deserve employment before all others in matters of trust and secrecy. he was esteemed by davison "rather as a son than a servant," and he repaid his confidence by doing him many faithful offices in the time of his troubles. he had however long since retired from connection with public affairs, living a retired life, devoted to study, meditation, and practical exertion to promote the cause of religion, and in acts of benevolence sometimes beyond his means. the pastor of the scrooby church, one john robinson, a graduate of cambridge, who had been a benefited clergyman in norfolk, was a man of learning, eloquence, and lofty intellect. but what were such good gifts in the possession of rebels, seceders, and puritans? it is needless to say that brewster and robinson were baited, persecuted, watched day and night, some of the congregation often clapped into prison, others into the stocks, deprived of the means of livelihood, outlawed, famished, banned. plainly their country was no place for them. after a few years of such work they resolved to establish themselves in holland, where at least they hoped to find refuge and toleration. but it proved as difficult for them to quit the country as to remain in it. watched and hunted like gangs of coiners, forgers, or other felons attempting to flee from justice, set upon by troopers armed with "bills and guns and other weapons," seized when about to embark, pillaged and stripped by catchpoles, exhibited as a show to grinning country folk, the women and children dealt with like drunken tramps, led before magistrates, committed to jail; mr. brewster and six other of the principal ones being kept in prison and bound over to the assizes; they were only able after attempts lasting through two years' time to effect their escape to amsterdam. after remaining there a year they had removed to leyden, which they thought "a fair and beautiful city, and of a sweet situation." they settled in leyden in the very year in which arminius was buried beneath the pavement of st. peter's church in that town. it was the year too in which the truce was signed. they were a singularly tranquil and brotherly community. their pastor, who was endowed with remarkable gentleness and tact in dealing with his congregation, settled amicably all their occasional disputes. the authorities of the place held them up as a model. to a walloon congregation in which there were many troublesome and litigious members they said: "these english have lived among us ten years, and yet we never had any suit or accusation against any of them, but your quarrels are continual." although many of them were poor, finding it difficult to earn their living in a foreign land among people speaking a strange tongue, and with manners and habits differing from their own, and where they were obliged to learn new trades, having most of them come out of an agricultural population, yet they enjoyed a singular reputation for probity. bakers and butchers and the like willingly gave credit to the poorest of these english, and sought their custom if known to be of the congregation. mr. brewster, who had been reduced almost to poverty by his charities and munificent aid to his struggling brethren, earned his living by giving lessons in english, having first composed a grammar according to the latin model for the use of his pupils. he also set up a printing establishment, publishing many controversial works prohibited in england, a proceeding which roused the wrath of carleton, impelling him to do his best to have him thrown into prison. it was not the first time that this plain, mechanical, devout englishman, now past middle age, had visited the netherlands. more than twenty-five years before he had accompanied william davison on his famous embassy to the states, as private secretary. when the keys of flushing, one of the cautionary towns, were committed to the ambassador, he confided them to the care of brewster, who slept with them under his pillow. the gold chain which davison received as a present from the provincial government on leaving the country was likewise placed in his keeping, with orders to wear it around his neck until they should appear before the queen. to a youth of ease and affluence, familiar with ambassadors and statesmen and not unknown at courts, had succeeded a mature age of obscurity, deep study, and poverty. no human creature would have heard of him had his career ended with his official life. two centuries and a half have passed away and the name of the outlawed puritan of scrooby and leyden is still familiar to millions of the english race. all these englishmen were not poor. many of them occupied houses of fair value, and were admitted to the freedom of the city. the pastor with three of his congregation lived in a comfortable mansion, which they had purchased for the considerable sum of florins, and on the garden of which they subsequently erected twenty-one lesser tenements for the use of the poorer brethren. mr. robinson was himself chosen a member of the famous university and admitted to its privileges. during his long residence in leyden, besides the daily care of his congregation, spiritual and temporal, he wrote many learned works. thus the little community, which grew gradually larger by emigration from england, passed many years of tranquillity. their footsteps were not dogged by constables and pursuivants, they were not dragged daily before the magistrates, they were not thrown into the town jails, they were not hunted from place to place with bows and bills and mounted musketeers. they gave offence to none, and were respected by all. "such was their singleheartedness and sincere affection one towards another," says their historian and magistrate, "that they came as near the primitive pattern of the first churches as any other church of these later times has done, according to their rank and quality." here certainly were english puritans more competent than any men else in the world to judge if it were a slander upon the english government to identify them with dutch puritans. did they sympathize with the party in holland which the king, who had so scourged and trampled upon themselves in england, was so anxious to crush, the hated arminians? did they abhor the contra-remonstrants whom james and his ambassador carleton doted upon and whom barneveld called "double puritans" and "flanderizers?" their pastor may answer for himself and his brethren. "we profess before god and men," said robinson in his apologia, "that we agree so entirely with the reformed dutch churches in the matter of religion as to be ready to subscribe to all and each of their articles exactly as they are set forth in the netherland confession. we acknowledge those reformed churches as true and genuine, we profess and cultivate communion with them as much as in us lies. those of us who understand the dutch language attend public worship under their pastors. we administer the holy supper to such of their members as, known to us, appear at our meetings." this was the position of the puritans. absolute, unqualified accordance with the contra-remonstrants. as the controversy grew hot in the university between the arminians and their adversaries, mr. robinson, in the language of his friend bradford, became "terrible to the arminians . . . . who so greatly molested the whole state and that city in particular." when episcopius, the arminian professor of theology, set forth sundry theses, challenging all the world to the onset, it was thought that "none was fitter to buckle with them" than robinson. the orthodox professor polyander so importuned the english puritan to enter the lists on behalf of the contra-remonstrants that at last he consented and overthrew the challenger, horse and man, in three successive encounters. such at least was the account given by his friend and admirer the historian. "the lord did so help him to defend the truth and foil this adversary as he put him to an apparent nonplus in this great and public audience. and the like he did a second or third time upon such like occasions," said bradford, adding that, if it had not been for fear of offending the english government, the university would have bestowed preferments and honours upon the champion. we are concerned with this ancient and exhausted controversy only for the intense light it threw, when burning, on the history which occupies us. of the extinct volcano itself which once caused such devastation, and in which a great commonwealth was well-nigh swallowed up, little is left but slag and cinders. the past was made black and barren with them. let us disturb them as little as possible. the little english congregation remained at leyden till toward the end of the truce, thriving, orderly, respected, happy. they were witnesses to the tumultuous, disastrous, and tragical events which darkened the republic in those later years, themselves unobserved and unmolested. not a syllable seems to remain on record of the views or emotions which may have been excited by those scenes in their minds, nor is there a trace left on the national records of the netherlands of their protracted residence on the soil. they got their living as best they might by weaving, printing, spinning, and other humble trades; they borrowed money on mortgages, they built houses, they made wills, and such births, deaths, and marriages as occurred among them were registered by the town-clerk. and at last for a variety of reasons they resolved to leave the netherlands. perhaps the solution of the problem between church and state in that country by the temporary subjection of state to church may have encouraged them to realize a more complete theocracy, if a sphere of action could be found where the experiment might be tried without a severe battle against time-hallowed institutions and vested rights. perhaps they were appalled by the excesses into which men of their own religious sentiments had been carried by theological and political passion. at any rate depart they would; the larger half of the congregation remaining behind however till the pioneers should have broken the way, and in their own language "laid the stepping-stones." they had thought of the lands beneath the equator, raleigh having recently excited enthusiasm by his poetical descriptions of guiana. but the tropical scheme was soon abandoned. they had opened negotiations with the stadholder and the states-general through amsterdam merchants in regard to settling in new amsterdam, and offered to colonize that country if assured of the protection of the united provinces. their petition had been rejected. they had then turned their faces to their old master and their own country, applying to the virginia company for a land-patent, which they were only too happy to promise, and to the king for liberty of religion in the wilderness confirmed under his broad seal, which his majesty of course refused. it was hinted however that james would connive at them and not molest them if they carried themselves peaceably. so they resolved to go without the seal, for, said their magistrate very wisely, "if there should be a purpose or desire to wrong them, a seal would not serve their turn though it were as broad as the house-floor." before they left leyden, their pastor preached to them a farewell sermon, which for loftiness of spirit and breadth of vision has hardly a parallel in that age of intolerance. he laid down the principle that criticism of the scriptures had not been exhausted merely because it had been begun; that the human conscience was of too subtle a nature to be imprisoned for ever in formulas however ingeniously devised; that the religious reformation begun a century ago was not completed; and that the creator had not necessarily concluded all his revelations to mankind. the words have long been familiar to students of history, but they can hardly be too often laid to heart. noble words, worthy to have been inscribed over the altar of the first church to be erected by the departing brethren, words to bear fruit after centuries should go by. had not the deeply injured and misunderstood grotius already said, "if the trees we plant do not shade us, they will yet serve for our descendants?" yet it is passing strange that the preacher of that sermon should be the recent champion of the contra-remonstrants in the great controversy; the man who had made himself so terrible to the pupils of the gentle and tolerant arminius. and thus half of that english congregation went down to delftshaven, attended by the other half who were to follow at a later period with their beloved pastor. there was a pathetic leave-taking. even many of the hollanders, mere casual spectators, were in tears. robinson, kneeling on the deck of the little vessel, offered a prayer and a farewell. who could dream that this departure of an almost nameless band of emigrants to the wilderness was an epoch in the world's history? yet these were the pilgrim fathers of new england, the founders of what was to be the mightiest republic of modern history, mighty and stable because it had been founded upon an idea. they were not in search of material comfort and the chances of elevating their condition, by removing from an overpeopled country to an organized commonwealth, offering a wide field for pauper labourers. some of them were of good social rank and highest education, most of them in decent circumstances, none of them in absolute poverty. and a few years later they were to be joined by a far larger company with leaders and many brethren of ancient birth and landed possessions, men of "education, figure; and estate," all ready to convert property into cash and to place it in joint-stock, not as the basis of promising speculation, but as the foundation of a church. it signifies not how much or how little one may sympathize with their dogma or their discipline now. to the fact that the early settlement of that wilderness was by self-sacrificing men of earnestness and faith, who were bent on "advancing the gospel of christ in remote parts of the world," in the midst of savage beasts, more savage men, and unimaginable difficulties and dangers, there can be little doubt that the highest forms of western civilization are due. through their provisional theocracy, the result of the independent church system was to establish the true purport of the reformation, absolute religious equality. civil and political equality followed as a matter of course. two centuries and a half have passed away. there are now some seventy or eighty millions of the english-speaking race on both sides the atlantic, almost equally divided between the united kingdom and the united republic, and the departure of those outcasts of james has interest and significance for them all. most fitly then, as a distinguished american statesman has remarked, does that scene on board the little english vessel, with the english pastor uttering his farewell blessing to a handful of english exiles for conscience sake; depicted on canvas by eminent artists, now adorn the halls of the american congress and of the british parliament. sympathy with one of the many imperishable bonds of union between the two great and scarcely divided peoples. we return to barneveld in his solitary prison. chapter xx. barneveld's imprisonment--ledenberg's examination and death-- remonstrance of de boississe--aerssens admitted to the order of knights--trial of the advocate--barneveld's defence--the states proclaim a public fast--du maurier's speech before the assembly-- barneveld's sentence--barneveld prepares for death--goes to execution. the advocate had been removed within a few days after the arrest from the chamber in maurice's apartments, where he had originally been confined, and was now in another building. it was not a dungeon nor a jail. indeed the commonplace and domestic character of the scenery in which these great events were transacted has in it something pathetic. there was and still remains a two-storied structure, then of modern date, immediately behind the antique hall of the old counts within the binnenhof. on the first floor was a courtroom of considerable extent, the seat of one of the chief tribunals of justice the story above was divided into three chambers with a narrow corridor on each side. the first chamber, on the north-eastern side, was appropriated for the judges when the state prisoners should be tried. in the next hugo grotius was imprisoned. in the third was barneveld. there was a tower at the north-east angle of the building, within which a winding and narrow staircase of stone led up to the corridor and so to the prisoners' apartments. rombout hoogerbeets was confined in another building. as the advocate, bent with age and a life of hard work, and leaning on his staff, entered the room appropriated to him, after toiling up the steep staircase, he observed-- "this is the admiral of arragon's apartment." it was true. eighteen years before, the conqueror of nieuwpoort had assigned this lodging to the chief prisoner of war in that memorable victory over the spaniards, and now maurice's faithful and trusted counsellor at that epoch was placed in durance here, as the result of the less glorious series of victories which had just been achieved. it was a room of moderate dimensions, some twenty-five feet square, with a high vaulted roof and decently furnished. below and around him in the courtyard were the scenes of the advocate's life-long and triumphant public services. there in the opposite building were the windows of the beautiful "hall of truce," with its sumptuous carvings and gildings, its sculptures and portraits, where he had negotiated with the representatives of all the great powers of christendom the famous treaty which had suspended the war of forty years, and where he was wont almost daily to give audience to the envoys of the greatest sovereigns or the least significant states of europe and asia, all of whom had been ever solicitous of his approbation and support. farther along in the same building was the assembly room of the states-general, where some of the most important affairs of the republic and of europe had for years been conducted, and where he had been so indispensable that, in the words of a contemporary who loved him not, "absolutely nothing could be transacted in his absence, all great affairs going through him alone." there were two dull windows, closely barred, looking northward over an irregular assemblage of tile-roofed houses and chimney-stacks, while within a stone's throw to the west, but unseen, was his own elegant mansion on the voorhout, surrounded by flower gardens and shady pleasure grounds, where now sat his aged wife and her children all plunged in deep affliction. he was allowed the attendance of a faithful servant, jan franken by name, and a sentinel stood constantly before his door. his papers had been taken from him, and at first he was deprived of writing materials. he had small connection with the outward world. the news of the municipal revolution which had been effected by the stadholder had not penetrated to his solitude, but his wife was allowed to send him fruit from their garden. one day a basket of fine saffron pears was brought to him. on slicing one with a knife he found a portion of a quill inside it. within the quill was a letter on thinnest paper, in minutest handwriting in latin. it was to this effect. "don't rely upon the states of holland, for the prince of orange has changed the magistracies in many cities. dudley carleton is not your friend." a sergeant of the guard however, before bringing in these pears, had put a couple of them in his pocket to take home to his wife. the letter, copies of which perhaps had been inserted for safety in several of them, was thus discovered and the use of this ingenious device prevented for the future. secretary ledenberg, who had been brought to the hague in the early days of september, was the first of the prisoners subjected to examination. he was much depressed at the beginning of it, and is said to have exclaimed with many sighs, "oh barneveld, barneveld, what have you brought us to!" he confessed that the waartgelders at utrecht had been enlisted on notification by the utrecht deputies in the hague with knowledge of barneveld, and in consequence of a resolution of the states in order to prevent internal tumults. he said that the advocate had advised in the previous month of march a request to the prince not to come to utrecht; that the communication of the message, in regard to disbanding the waartgelders, to his excellency had been postponed after the deputies of the states of holland had proposed a delay in that disbandment; that those deputies had come to utrecht of their own accord; . . . . that they had judged it possible to keep everything in proper order in utrecht if the garrison in the city paid by holland were kept quiet, and if the states of utrecht gave similar orders to the waartgelders; for they did not believe that his excellency would bring in troops from the outside. he said that he knew nothing of a new oath to be demanded of the garrison. he stated that the advocate, when at utrecht, had exhorted the states, according to his wont, to maintain their liberties and privileges, representing to them that the right to decide on the synod and the waartgelders belonged to them. lastly, he denied knowing who was the author of the balance, except by common report. now these statements hardly amounted to a confession of abominable and unpardonable crimes by ledenberg, nor did they establish a charge of high-treason and corrupt correspondence with the enemy against barneveld. it is certain that the extent of the revelations seemed far from satisfactory to the accusers, and that some pressure would be necessary in order to extract anything more conclusive. lieutenant nythof told grotius that ledenberg had accordingly been threatened with torture, and that the executioner had even handled him for that purpose. this was however denied by the judges of instruction who had been charged with the preliminary examination. that examination took place on the th september. after it had been concluded, ledenberg prayed long and earnestly on returning to prison. he then entrusted a paper written in french to his son joost, a boy of eighteen, who did not understand that language. the youth had been allowed to keep his father company in his confinement, and slept in the same room. the next night but one, at two o'clock, joost heard his father utter a deep groan. he was startled, groped in the darkness towards his bed and felt his arm, which was stone cold. he spoke to him and received no answer. he gave the alarm, the watch came in with lights, and it was found that ledenberg had given himself two mortal wounds in the abdomen with a penknife and then cut his throat with a table-knife which he had secreted, some days before, among some papers. the paper in french given to his son was found to be to this effect. "i know that there is an inclination to set an example in my person, to confront me with my best friends, to torture me, afterwards to convict me of contradictions and falsehoods as they say, and then to found an ignominious sentence upon points and trifles, for this it will be necessary to do in order to justify the arrest and imprisonment. to escape all this i am going to god by the shortest road. against a dead man there can be pronounced no sentence of confiscation of property. done th september (o. s.) ." the family of the unhappy gentleman begged his body for decent burial. the request was refused. it was determined to keep the dead secretary above ground and in custody until he could be tried, and, if possible, convicted and punished. it was to be seen whether it were so easy to baffle the power of the states-general, the synod, and the stadholder, and whether "going to god by the shortest road" was to save a culprit's carcass from ignominy, and his property from confiscation. the french ambassadors, who had been unwearied in their endeavour to restore harmony to the distracted commonwealth before the arrest of the prisoners, now exerted themselves to throw the shield of their sovereign's friendship around the illustrious statesman and his fellow-sufferers. "it is with deepest sorrow," said de boississe, "that i have witnessed the late hateful commotions. especially from my heart i grieve for the arrest of the seignior barneveld, who with his discretion and wise administration for the past thirty years has so drawn the hearts of all neighbouring princes to himself, especially that of the king my master, that on taking up my pen to apprize him of these events i am gravely embarrassed, fearing to infringe on the great respect due to your mightinesses or against the honour and merits of the seignior barneveld. . . . my lords, take heed to your situation, for a great discontent is smouldering among your citizens. until now, the union has been the chief source of your strength. and i now fear that the king my master, the adviser of your renowned commonwealth, maybe offended that you have taken this resolution after consulting with others, and without communicating your intention to his ambassador . . . . it is but a few days that an open edict was issued testifying to the fidelity of barneveld, and can it be possible that within so short a time you have discovered that you have been deceived? i summon you once more in the name of the king to lay aside all passion, to judge these affairs without partiality, and to inform me what i am to say to the king. such very conflicting accounts are given of these transactions that i must beg you to confide to me the secret of the affair. the wisest in the land speak so strongly of these proceedings that it will be no wonder if the king my master should give me orders to take the seignior barneveld under his protection. should this prove to be the case, your lordships will excuse my course . . . i beg you earnestly in your wisdom not to give cause of offence to neighbouring princes, especially to my sovereign, who wishes from his heart to maintain your dignity and interests and to assure you of his friendship." the language was vigorous and sincere, but the ambassador forgot that the france of to-day was not the france of yesterday; that louis xiii. was not henry iv.; that it was but a cheerful fiction to call the present king the guide and counsellor of the republic, and that, distraught as she was by the present commotions, her condition was strength and tranquillity compared with the apparently decomposing and helpless state of the once great kingdom of france. de boississe took little by his demonstration. on the th december both de boississe and du maurier came before the states-general once more, and urged a speedy and impartial trial for the illustrious prisoners. if they had committed acts of treason and rebellion, they deserved exemplary punishment, but the ambassadors warned the states-general with great earnestness against the dangerous doctrine of constructive treason, and of confounding acts dictated by violence of party spirit at an excited period with the crime of high-treason against the sovereignty of the state. "barneveld so honourable," they said, "for his immense and long continued services has both this republic and all princes and commonwealths for his witnesses. it is most difficult to believe that he has attempted the destruction of his fatherland, for which you know that he has toiled so faithfully." they admitted that so grave charges ought now to be investigated. "to this end," said the ambassadors, "you ought to give him judges who are neither suspected nor impassioned, and who will decide according to the laws of the land, and on clear and undeniable evidence . . . . so doing you will show to the whole world that you are worthy to possess and to administer this commonwealth to whose government god has called you." should they pursue another and a sterner course, the envoys warned the assembly that the king would be deeply offended, deeming it thus proved how little value they set upon his advice and his friendship. the states-general replied on the th december, assuring the ambassadors that the delay in the trial was in order to make the evidence of the great conspiracy complete, and would not tend to the prejudice of the prisoners "if they had a good consciousness of their innocence." they promised that the sentence upon them when pronounced would give entire satisfaction to all their allies and to the king of france in particular, of whom they spoke throughout the document in terms of profound respect. but they expressed their confidence that "his majesty would not place the importunate and unfounded solicitations of a few particular criminals or their supporters before the general interests of the dignity and security of the republic." on the same day the states-general addressed a letter filled with very elaborate and courteous commonplaces to the king, in which they expressed a certainty that his majesty would be entirely satisfied with their actions. the official answer of the states-general to the ambassadors, just cited, gave but little comfort to the friends of the imprisoned statesman and his companions. such expressions as "ambitious and factious spirits,"--"authors and patrons of the faction,"--"attempts at novelty through changes in religion, in justice and in the fundamental laws of all orders of polity," and the frequent mention of the word "conspiracy" boded little good. information of this condition of affairs was conveyed to hoogerbeets and grotius by means of an ingenious device of the distinguished scholar, who was then editing the latin works of the hague poet, janus secundus. while the sheets were going through the press, some of the verses were left out, and their place supplied by others conveying the intelligence which it was desired to send to the prisoners. the pages which contained the secret were stitched together in such wise that in cutting the book open they were not touched but remained closed. the verses were to this effect. "the examination of the advocate proceeds slowly, but there is good hope from the serious indignation of the french king, whose envoys are devoted to the cause of the prisoners, and have been informed that justice will be soon rendered. the states of holland are to assemble on the th january, at which a decision will certainly be taken for appointing judges. the preachers here at leyden are despised, and men are speaking strongly of war. the tumult which lately occurred at rotterdam may bring forth some good." the quick-wited grotius instantly discovered the device, read the intelligence thus communicated in the proofsheets of secundus, and made use of the system to obtain further intelligence. hoogerbeets laid the book aside, not taking much interest at that time in the works of the hague poet. constant efforts made to attract his attention to those poems however excited suspicion among his keepers, and the scheme was discovered before the leyden pensionary had found the means to profit by it.' the allusions to the trial of the advocate referred to the preliminary examination which took place, like the first interrogatories of grotius and hoogerbeets, in the months of november and december. the thorough manner in which maurice had reformed the states of holland has been described. there was one department of that body however which still required attention. the order of knights, small in number but potential in influence, which always voted first on great occasions, was still through a majority of its members inclined to barneveld. both his sons-in-law had seats in that college. the stadholder had long believed in a spirit of hostility on the part of those nobles towards himself. he knew that a short time before this epoch there had been a scheme for introducing his young brother, frederic henry, into the chamber of knights. the count had become proprietor of the barony of naaldwyk, a property which he had purchased of the counts of arenberg, and which carried with it the hereditary dignity of great equerry of the counts of holland. as the counts of holland had ceased to exist, although their sovereignty had nearly been revived and conferred upon william the silent, the office of their chief of the stables might be deemed a sinecure. but the jealousy of maurice was easily awakened, especially by any movement made or favoured by the advocate. he believed that in the election of frederic henry as a member of the college of knights a plan lay concealed to thrust him into power and to push this elder brother from his place. the scheme, if scheme it were, was never accomplished, but the prince's rancour remained. he now informed the nobles that they must receive into their body francis aerssens, who had lately purchased the barony of sommelsdyk, and daniel de hartaing, seignior of marquette. with the presence of this deadly enemy of barneveld and another gentleman equally devoted to the stadholder's interest it seemed probable that the refractory majority of the board of nobles would be overcome. but there were grave objections to the admission of these new candidates. they were not eligible. the constitution of the states and of the college of nobles prescribed that hollanders only of ancient and noble race and possessing estates in the province could sit in that body. neither aerssens nor hartaing was born in holland or possessed of the other needful qualifications. nevertheless, the prince, who had just remodelled all the municipalities throughout the union which offered resistance to his authority, was not to be checked by so trifling an impediment as the statutes of the house of nobles. he employed very much the same arguments which he had used to "good papa" hooft. "this time it must be so." another time it might not be necessary. so after a controversy which ended as controversies are apt to do when one party has a sword in his hand and the other is seated at a green-baize-covered table, sommelsdyk and marquette took their seats among the knights. of course there was a spirited protest. nothing was easier for the stadholder than to concede the principle while trampling it with his boot-heels in practice. "whereas it is not competent for the said two gentlemen to be admitted to our board," said the nobles in brief, "as not being constitutionally eligible, nevertheless, considering the strong desire of his excellency the prince of orange, we, the nobles and knights of holland, admit them with the firm promise to each other by noble and knightly faith ever in future for ourselves and descendants to maintain the privileges of our order now violated and never again to let them be directly or indirectly infringed." and so aerssens, the unscrupulous plotter, and dire foe of the advocate and all his house, burning with bitter revenge for all the favours he had received from him during many years, and the author of the venomous pamphlets and diatribes which had done so much of late to blacken the character of the great statesman before the public, now associated himself officially with his other enemies, while the preliminary proceedings for the state trials went forward. meantime the synod had met at dordtrecht. the great john bogerman, with fierce, handsome face, beak and eye of a bird of prey, and a deluge of curly brown beard reaching to his waist, took his seat as president. short work was made with the armenians. they and their five points were soon thrust out into outer darkness. it was established beyond all gainsaying that two forms of divine worship in one country were forbidden by god's word, and that thenceforth by netherland law there could be but one religion, namely, the reformed or calvinistic creed. it was settled that one portion of the netherlanders and of the rest of the human race had been expressly created by the deity to be for ever damned, and another portion to be eternally blessed. but this history has little to do with that infallible council save in the political effect of its decrees on the fate of barneveld. it was said that the canons of dordtrecht were likely to shoot off the head of the advocate. their sessions and the trial of the advocate were simultaneous, but not technically related to each other. the conclusions of both courts were preordained, for the issue of the great duel between priesthood and state had been decided when the military chieftain threw his sword into the scale of the church. there had been purposely a delay, before coming to a decision as to the fate of the state prisoners, until the work of the synod should have approached completion. it was thought good that the condemnation of the opinions of the arminians and the chastisement of their leaders should go hand-in-hand. on the rd april , the canons were signed by all the members of the synod. arminians were pronounced heretics, schismatics, teachers of false doctrines. they were declared incapable of filling any clerical or academical post. no man thenceforth was to teach children, lecture to adolescents, or preach to the mature, unless a subscriber to the doctrines of the unchanged, unchangeable, orthodox church. on the th april and st may the netherland confession and the heidelberg catechism were declared to be infallible. no change was to be possible in either formulary. schools and pulpits were inexorably bound to the only true religion. on the th may there was a great festival at dordtrecht in honour of the conclusion of the synod. the canons, the sentence, and long prayers and orations in latin by president bogerman gladdened the souls of an immense multitude, which were further enlivened by the decree that both creed and catechism had stood the test of several criticisms and come out unchanged by a single hair. nor did the orator of the occasion forget to render thanks "to the most magnanimous king james of great britain, through whose godly zeal, fiery sympathy, and truly royal labour god had so often refreshed the weary synod in the midst of their toil." the synod held one hundred and eighty sessions between the th november and th may , all the doings of which have been recorded in chronicles innumerable. there need be no further mention of them here. barneveld and the companions of his fate remained in prison. on the th march the trial of the great advocate began. he had sat in prison since the th of the preceding august. for nearly seven months he had been deprived of all communication with the outward world save such atoms of intelligence as could be secretly conveyed to him in the inside of a quill concealed in a pear and by other devices. the man who had governed one of the most important commonwealths of the world for nearly a generation long--during the same period almost controlling the politics of europe--had now been kept in ignorance of the most insignificant everyday events. during the long summer-heat of the dog-days immediately succeeding his arrest, and the long, foggy, snowy, icy winter of holland which ensued, he had been confined in that dreary garret-room to which he had been brought when he left his temporary imprisonment in the apartments of prince maurice. there was nothing squalid in the chamber, nothing specially cruel or repulsive in the arrangements of his captivity. he was not in fetters, nor fed upon bread and water. he was not put upon the rack, nor even threatened with it as ledenberg had been. he was kept in a mean, commonplace, meagerly furnished, tolerably spacious room, and he was allowed the services of his faithful domestic servant john franken. a sentinel paced day and night up the narrow corridor before his door. as spring advanced, the notes of the nightingale came through the prison-window from the neighbouring thicket. one day john franken, opening the window that his master might the better enjoy its song, exchanged greeting with a fellow-servant in the barneveld mansion who happened to be crossing the courtyard. instantly workmen were sent to close and barricade the windows, and it was only after earnest remonstrances and pledges that this resolve to consign the advocate to darkness was abandoned. he was not permitted the help of lawyer, clerk, or man of business. alone and from his chamber of bondage, suffering from bodily infirmities and from the weakness of advancing age, he was compelled to prepare his defence against a vague, heterogeneous collection of charges, to meet which required constant reference, not only to the statutes, privileges, and customs of the country and to the roman law, but to a thousand minute incidents out of which the history of the provinces during the past dozen years or more had been compounded. it is true that no man could be more familiar with the science and practice of the law than he was, while of contemporary history he was himself the central figure. his biography was the chronicle of his country. nevertheless it was a fearful disadvantage for him day by day to confront two dozen hostile judges comfortably seated at a great table piled with papers, surrounded by clerks with bags full of documents and with a library of authorities and precedents duly marked and dog's-eared and ready to their hands, while his only library and chronicle lay in his brain. from day to day, with frequent intermissions, he was led down through the narrow turret-stairs to a wide chamber on the floor immediately below his prison, where a temporary tribunal had been arranged for the special commission. there had been an inclination at first on the part of his judges to treat him as a criminal, and to require him to answer, standing, to the interrogatories propounded to him. but as the terrible old man advanced into the room, leaning on his staff, and surveying them with the air of haughty command habitual to him, they shrank before his glance; several involuntarily, rising uncovered, to salute him and making way for him to the fireplace about which many were standing that wintry morning. he was thenceforth always accommodated with a seat while he listened to and answered 'ex tempore' the elaborate series of interrogatories which had been prepared to convict him. nearly seven months he had sat with no charges brought against him. this was in itself a gross violation of the laws of the land, for according to all the ancient charters of holland it was provided that accusation should follow within six weeks of arrest, or that the prisoner should go free. but the arrest itself was so gross a violation of law that respect for it was hardly to be expected in the subsequent proceedings. he was a great officer of the states of holland. he had been taken under their especial protection. he was on his way to the high council. he was in no sense a subject of the states-general. he was in the discharge of his official duty. he was doubly and trebly sacred from arrest. the place where he stood was on the territory of holland and in the very sanctuary of her courts and house of assembly. the states-general were only as guests on her soil, and had no domain or jurisdiction there whatever. he was not apprehended by any warrant or form of law. it was in time of peace, and there was no pretence of martial law. the highest civil functionary of holland was invited in the name of its first military officer to a conference, and thus entrapped was forcibly imprisoned. at last a board of twenty-four commissioners was created, twelve from holland and two from each of the other six provinces. this affectation of concession to holland was ridiculous. either the law 'de non evocando'--according to which no citizen of holland could be taken out of the province for trial--was to be respected or it was to be trampled upon. if it was to be trampled upon, it signified little whether more commissioners were to be taken from holland than from each of the other provinces, or fewer, or none at all. moreover it was pretended that a majority of the whole board was to be assigned to that province. but twelve is not a majority of twenty-four. there were three fascals or prosecuting officers, leeuwen of utrecht, sylla of gelderland, and antony duyck of holland. duyck was notoriously the deadly enemy of barneveld, and was destined to succeed to his offices. it would have been as well to select francis aerssens himself. it was necessary to appoint a commission because there was no tribunal appertaining to the states-general. the general government of the confederacy had no power to deal with an individual. it could only negotiate with the sovereign province to which the individual was responsible, and demand his punishment if proved guilty of an offence. there was no supreme court of appeal. machinery was provided for settling or attempting to settle disputes among the members of the confederacy, and if there was a culprit in this great process it was holland itself. neither the advocate nor any one of his associates had done any act except by authority, express or implied, of that sovereign state. supposing them unquestionably guilty of blackest crimes against the generality, the dilemma was there which must always exist by the very nature of things in a confederacy. no sovereign can try a fellow sovereign. the subject can be tried at home by no sovereign but his own. the accused in this case were amenable to the laws of holland only. it was a packed tribunal. several of the commissioners, like pauw and muis for example, were personal enemies of barneveld. many of them were totally ignorant of law. some of them knew not a word of any language but their mother tongue, although much of the law which they were to administer was written in latin. before such a court the foremost citizen of the netherlands, the first living statesman of europe, was brought day by day during a period of nearly three months; coming down stairs from the mean and desolate room where he was confined to the comfortable apartment below, which had been fitted up for the commission. there was no bill of indictment, no arraignment, no counsel. there were no witnesses and no arguments. the court-room contained, as it were, only a prejudiced and partial jury to pronounce both on law and fact without a judge to direct them, or advocates to sift testimony and contend for or against the prisoner's guilt. the process, for it could not be called a trial, consisted of a vast series of rambling and tangled interrogatories reaching over a space of forty years without apparent connection or relevancy, skipping fantastically about from one period to another, back and forthwith apparently no other intent than to puzzle the prisoner, throw him off his balance, and lead him into self-contradiction. the spectacle was not a refreshing one. it was the attempt of a multitude of pigmies to overthrow and bind the giant. barneveld was served with no articles of impeachment. he asked for a list in writing of the charges against him, that he might ponder his answer. the demand was refused. he was forbidden the use of pen and ink or any writing materials. his papers and books were all taken from him. he was allowed to consult neither with an advocate nor even with a single friend. alone in his chamber of bondage he was to meditate on his defence. out of his memory and brain, and from these alone, he was to supply himself with the array of historical facts stretching over a longer period than the lifetime of many of his judges, and with the proper legal and historical arguments upon those facts for the justification of his course. that memory and brain were capacious and powerful enough for the task. it was well for the judges that they had bound themselves, at the outset, by an oath never to make known what passed in the courtroom, but to bury all the proceedings in profound secrecy forever. had it been otherwise, had that been known to the contemporary public which has only been revealed more than two centuries later, had a portion only of the calm and austere eloquence been heard in which the advocate set forth his defence, had the frivolous and ignoble nature of the attack been comprehended, it might have moved the very stones in the streets to mutiny. hateful as the statesman had been made by an organized system of calumny, which was continued with unabated vigour and increased venom sine he had been imprisoned, there was enough of justice and of gratitude left in the hearts of netherlanders to resent the tyranny practised against their greatest man, and the obloquy thus brought against a nation always devoted to their liberties and laws. that the political system of the country was miserably defective was no fault of barneveld. he was bound by oath and duty to administer, not make the laws. a handful of petty feudal sovereignties such as had once covered the soil of europe, a multitude of thriving cities which had wrested or purchased a mass of liberties, customs, and laws from their little tyrants, all subjected afterwards, without being blended together, to a single foreign family, had at last one by one, or two by two, shaken off that supremacy, and, resuming their ancient and as it were decapitated individualities, had bound themselves by treaty in the midst of a war to stand by each other, as if they were but one province, for purposes of common defence against the common foe. there had been no pretence of laying down a constitution, of enacting an organic law. the day had not come for even the conception of a popular constitution. the people had not been invented. it was not provinces only, but cities, that had contracted with each other, according to the very first words of the first article of union. some of these cities, like ghent, bruges, antwerp, were catholic by overwhelming majority, and had subsequently either fallen away from the confederacy or been conquered. and as if to make assurance doubly sure, the articles of union not only reserved to each province all powers not absolutely essential for carrying on the war in common, but by an express article (the th), declared that holland and zealand should regulate the matter of religion according to their own discretion, while the other provinces might conform to the provisions of the "religious peace" which included mutual protection for catholics and protestants--or take such other order as seemed most conducive to the religious and secular rights of the inhabitants. it was stipulated that no province should interfere with another in such matters, and that every individual in them all should remain free in his religion, no man being molested or examined on account of his creed. a farther declaration in regard to this famous article was made to the effect that no provinces or cities which held to the roman catholic religion were to be excluded from the league of union if they were ready to conform to its conditions and comport themselves patriotically. language could not be devised to declare more plainly than was done by this treaty that the central government of the league had neither wish nor right to concern itself with the religious affairs of the separate cities or provinces. if it permitted both papists and protestants to associate themselves against the common foe, it could hardly have been imagined, when the articles were drawn, that it would have claimed the exclusive right to define the minutest points in a single protestant creed. and if the exclusively secular parts of the polity prevailing in the country were clumsy, irregular, and even monstrous, and if its defects had been flagrantly demonstrated by recent events, a more reasonable method of reforming the laws might have been found than the imprisonment of a man who had faithfully administered them forty years long. a great commonwealth had grown out of a petty feudal organism, like an oak from an acorn in a crevice, gnarled and distorted, though wide-spreading and vigorous. it seemed perilous to deal radically with such a polity, and an almost timid conservatism on the part of its guardians in such an age of tempests might be pardonable. moreover, as before remarked, the apparent imbecility resulting from confederacy and municipalism combined was for a season remedied by the actual preponderance of holland. two-thirds of the total wealth and strength of the seven republics being concentrated in one province, the desired union seemed almost gained by the practical solution of all in that single republic. but this was one great cause of the general disaster. it would be a thankless and tedious task to wander through the wilderness of interrogatories and answers extending over three months of time, which stood in the place of a trial. the defence of barneveld was his own history, and that i have attempted to give in the preceding pages. a great part of the accusation was deduced from his private and official correspondence, and it is for this reason that i have laid such copious extracts from it before the reader. no man except the judges and the states-general had access to those letters, and it was easy therefore, if needful, to give them a false colouring. it is only very recently that they have been seen at all, and they have never been published from that day to this. out of the confused mass of documents appertaining to the trial, a few generalizations can be made which show the nature of the attack upon him. he was accused of having permitted arminius to infuse new opinions into the university of leyden, and of having subsequently defended the appointment of vorstius to the same place. he had opposed the national synod. he had made drafts of letters for the king of great britain to sign, recommending mutual toleration on the five disputed points regarding predestination. he was the author of the famous sharp resolution. he had recommended the enlistment by the provinces and towns of waartgelders or mercenaries. he had maintained that those mercenaries as well as the regular troops were bound in time of peace to be obedient and faithful, not only to the generality and the stadholders, but to the magistrates of the cities and provinces where they were employed, and to the states by whom they were paid. he had sent to leyden, warning the authorities of the approach of the prince. he had encouraged all the proceedings at utrecht, writing a letter to the secretary of that province advising a watch to be kept at the city gates as well as in the river, and ordering his letter when read to be burned. he had received presents from foreign potentates. he had attempted to damage the character of his excellency the prince by declaring on various occasions that he aspired to the sovereignty of the country. he had held a ciphered correspondence on the subject with foreign ministers of the republic. he had given great offence to the king of great britain by soliciting from him other letters in the sense of those which his majesty had written in , advising moderation and mutual toleration. he had not brought to condign punishment the author of 'the balance', a pamphlet in which an oration of the english ambassador had been criticised, and aspersions made on the order of the garter. he had opposed the formation of the west india company. he had said many years before to nicolas van berk that the provinces had better return to the dominion of spain. and in general, all his proceedings had tended to put the provinces into a "blood bath." there was however no accusation that he had received bribes from the enemy or held traitorous communication with him, or that he had committed any act of high-treason. his private letters to caron and to the ambassadors in paris, with which the reader has been made familiar, had thus been ransacked to find treasonable matter, but the result was meagre in spite of the minute and microscopic analysis instituted to detect traces of poison in them. but the most subtle and far-reaching research into past transactions was due to the greffier cornelis aerssens, father of the ambassador francis, and to a certain nicolas van berk, burgomaster of utrecht. the process of tale-bearing, hearsay evidence, gossip, and invention went back a dozen years, even to the preliminary and secret conferences in regard to the treaty of truce. readers familiar with the history of those memorable negotiations are aware that cornelis van aerssens had compromised himself by accepting a valuable diamond and a bill of exchange drawn by marquis spinola on a merchant in amsterdam, henry beekman by name, for , ducats. these were handed by father neyen, the secret agent of the spanish government, to the greffier as a prospective reward for his services in furthering the truce. he did not reject them, but he informed prince maurice and the advocate of the transaction. both diamond and bill of exchange were subsequently deposited in the hands of the treasurer of the states-general, joris de bie, the assembly being made officially acquainted with the whole course of the affair. it is passing strange that this somewhat tortuous business, which certainly cast a shade upon the fair fame of the elder aerssens, and required him to publish as good a defence as he could against the consequent scandal, should have furnished a weapon wherewith to strike at the advocate of holland some dozen years later. but so it was. krauwels, a relative of aerssens, through whom father neyen had first obtained access to the greffier, had stated, so it seemed, that the monk had, in addition to the bill, handed to him another draft of spinola's for , ducats, to be given to a person of more consideration than aerssens. krauwels did not know who the person was, nor whether he took the money. he expressed his surprise however that leading persons in the government "even old and authentic beggars"--should allow themselves to be so seduced as to accept presents from the enemy. he mentioned two such persons, namely, a burgomaster at delft and a burgomaster at haarlem. aerssens now deposed that he had informed the advocate of this story, who had said, "be quiet about it, i will have it investigated," and some days afterwards on being questioned stated that he had made enquiry and found there was something in it. so the fact that cornelis aerssens had taken bribes, and that two burgomasters were strongly suspected by aerssens of having taken bribes, seems to have been considered as evidence that barneveld had taken a bribe. it is true that aerssens by advice of maurice and barneveld had made a clean breast of it to the states-general and had given them over the presents. but the states-general could neither wear the diamond nor cash the bill of exchange, and it would have been better for the greffier not to contaminate his fingers with them, but to leave the gifts in the monk's palm. his revenge against the advocate for helping him out of his dilemma, and for subsequently advancing his son francis in a brilliant diplomatic career, seems to have been--when the clouds were thickening and every man's hand was against the fallen statesman--to insinuate that he was the anonymous personage who had accepted the apocryphal draft for , ducats. the case is a pregnant example of the proceedings employed to destroy the advocate. the testimony of nicolas van berk was at any rate more direct. on the st december the burgomaster testified that the advocate had once declared to him that the differences in regard to divine worship were not so great but that they might be easily composed; asking him at the same time "whether it would not be better that we should submit ourselves again to the king of spain." barneveld had also referred, so said van berk, to the conduct of the spanish king towards those who had helped him to the kingdom of portugal. the burgomaster was unable however to specify the date, year, or month in which the advocate had held this language. he remembered only that the conversation occurred when barneveld was living on the spui at the hague, and that having been let into the house through the hall on the side of the vestibule, he had been conducted by the advocate down a small staircase into the office. the only fact proved by the details seems to be that the story had lodged in the tenacious memory of the burgomaster for eight years, as barneveld had removed from the spui to arenberg house in the voorhout in the year . no other offers from the king of spain or the archdukes had ever been made to him, said van berk, than those indicated in this deposition against the advocate as coming from that statesman. nor had barneveld ever spoken to him upon such subjects except on that one occasion. it is not necessary and would be wearisome to follow the unfortunate statesman through the long line of defence which he was obliged to make, in fragmentary and irregular form, against these discursive and confused assaults upon him. a continuous argument might be built up with the isolated parts which should be altogether impregnable. it is superfluous. always instructive to his judges as he swept at will through the record of nearly half a century of momentous european history, in which he was himself a conspicuous figure, or expounding the ancient laws and customs of the country with a wealth and accuracy of illustration which testified to the strength of his memory, he seemed rather like a sage expounding law and history to a class of pupils than a criminal defending himself before a bench of commissioners. moved occasionally from his austere simplicity, the majestic old man rose to a strain of indignant eloquence which might have shaken the hall of a vast assembly and found echo in the hearts of a thousand hearers as he denounced their petty insults or ignoble insinuations; glaring like a caged lion at his tormentors, who had often shrunk before him when free, and now attempted to drown his voice by contradictions, interruptions, threats, and unmeaning howls. he protested, from the outset and throughout the proceedings, against the jurisdiction of the tribunal. the treaty of union on which the assembly and states-general were founded gave that assembly no power over him. they could take no legal cognizance of his person or his acts. he had been deprived of writing materials, or he would have already drawn up his solemn protest and argument against the existence of the commission. he demanded that they should be provided for him, together with a clerk to engross his defence. it is needless to say that the demand was refused. it was notorious to all men, he said, that on the day when violent hands were laid upon him he was not bound to the states-general by oath, allegiance, or commission. he was a well-known inhabitant of the hague, a householder there, a vassal of the commonwealth of holland, enfeoffed of many notable estates in that country, serving many honourable offices by commission from its government. by birth, promotion, and conferred dignities he was subject to the supreme authority of holland, which for forty years had been a free state possessed of all the attributes of sovereignty, political, religious, judicial, and recognizing no superior save god almighty alone. he was amenable to no tribunal save that of their mightinesses the states of holland and their ordinary judges. not only those states but the prince of orange as their governor and vassal, the nobles of holland, the colleges of justice, the regents of cities, and all other vassals, magistrates, and officers were by their respective oaths bound to maintain and protect him in these his rights. after fortifying this position by legal argument and by an array of historical facts within his own experience, and alluding to the repeated instances in which, sorely against his will, he had been solicited and almost compelled to remain in offices of which he was weary, he referred with dignity to the record of his past life. from the youthful days when he had served as a volunteer at his own expense in the perilous sieges of haarlem and leyden down to the time of his arrest, through an unbroken course of honourable and most arduous political services, embassies, and great negotiations, he had ever maintained the laws and liberties of the fatherland and his own honour unstained. that he should now in his seventy-second year be dragged, in violation of every privilege and statute of the country, by extraordinary means, before unknown judges, was a grave matter not for himself alone but for their mightinesses the states of holland and for the other provinces. the precious right 'de non evocando' had ever been dear to all the provinces, cities, and inhabitants of the netherlands. it was the most vital privilege in their possession as well in civil as criminal, in secular as in ecclesiastical affairs. when the king of spain in , and afterwards, set up an extraordinary tribunal and a course of extraordinary trials, it was an undeniable fact, he said, that on the solemn complaint of the states all princes, nobles, and citizens not only in the netherlands but in foreign countries, and all foreign kings and sovereigns, held those outrages to be the foremost and fundamental reason for taking up arms against that king, and declaring him to have forfeited his right of sovereignty. yet that monarch was unquestionably the born and accepted sovereign of each one of the provinces, while the general assembly was but a gathering of confederates and allies, in no sense sovereign. it was an unimaginable thing, he said, that the states of each province should allow their whole authority and right of sovereignty to be transferred to a board of commissioners like this before which he stood. if, for example, a general union of france, england, and the states of the united netherlands should be formed (and the very words of the act of union contemplated such possibility), what greater absurdity could there be than to suppose that a college of administration created for the specific purposes of such union would be competent to perform acts of sovereignty within each of those countries in matters of justice, polity, and religion? it was known to mankind, he said, that when negotiations were entered into for bestowing the sovereignty of the provinces on france and on england, special and full powers were required from, and furnished by, the states of each individual province. had the sovereignty been in the assembly of the states-general, they might have transferred it of their own motion or kept it for themselves. even in the ordinary course of affairs the commissioners from each province to the general assembly always required a special power from their constituents before deciding any matter of great importance. in regard to the defence of the respective provinces and cities, he had never heard it doubted, he said, that the states or the magistrates of cities had full right to provide for it by arming a portion of their own inhabitants or by enlisting paid troops. the sovereign counts of holland and bishops of utrecht certainly possessed and exercised that right for many hundred years, and by necessary tradition it passed to the states succeeding to their ancient sovereignty. he then gave from the stores of his memory innumerable instances in which soldiers had been enlisted by provinces and cities all over the netherlands from the time of the abjuration of spain down to that moment. through the whole period of independence in the time of anjou, matthias, leicester, as well as under the actual government, it had been the invariable custom thus to provide both by land and sea and on the rivers against robbers, rebels, pirates, mischief-makers, assailing thieves, domestic or foreign. it had been done by the immortal william the silent on many memorable occasions, and in fact the custom was so notorious that soldiers so enlisted were known by different and peculiar nicknames in the different provinces and towns. that the central government had no right to meddle with religious matters was almost too self-evident an axiom to prove. indeed the chief difficulty under which the advocate laboured throughout this whole process was the monstrous assumption by his judges of a political and judicial system which never had any existence even in imagination. the profound secrecy which enwrapped the proceedings from that day almost to our own and an ignorant acquiescence of a considerable portion of the public in accomplished facts offer the only explanation of a mystery which must ever excite our wonder. if there were any impeachment at all, it was an impeachment of the form of government itself. if language could mean anything whatever, a mere perusal of the articles of union proved that the prisoner had never violated that fundamental pact. how could the general government prescribe an especial formulary for the reformed church, and declare opposition to its decrees treasonable, when it did not prohibit, but absolutely admitted and invited, provinces and cities exclusively catholic to enter the union, guaranteeing to them entire liberty of religion? barneveld recalled the fact that when the stadholdership of utrecht thirty years before had been conferred on prince maurice the states of that province had solemnly reserved for themselves the disposition over religious matters in conformity with the union, and that maurice had sworn to support that resolution. five years later the prince had himself assured a deputation from brabant that the states of each province were supreme in religious matters, no interference the one with the other being justifiable or possible. in the states general in letters addressed to the states of the obedient provinces under dominion of the archdukes had invited them to take up arms to help drive the spaniards from the provinces and to join the confederacy, assuring them that they should regulate the matter of religion at their good pleasure, and that no one else should be allowed to interfere therewith. the advocate then went into an historical and critical disquisition, into which we certainly have no need to follow him, rapidly examining the whole subject of predestination and conditional and unconditional damnation from the days of st. augustine downward, showing a thorough familiarity with a subject of theology which then made up so much of the daily business of life, political and private, and lay at the bottom of the terrible convulsion then existing in the netherlands. we turn from it with a shudder, reminding the reader only how persistently the statesman then on his trial had advocated conciliation, moderation, and kindness between brethren of the reformed church who were not able to think alike on one of the subtlest and most mysterious problems that casuistry has ever propounded. for fifty years, he said, he had been an enemy of all compulsion of the human conscience. he had always opposed rigorous ecclesiastical decrees. he had done his best to further, and did not deny having inspired, the advice given in the famous letters from the king of great britain to the states in , that there should be mutual toleration and abstinence from discussion of disputed doctrines, neither of them essential to salvation. he thought that neither calvin nor beza would have opposed freedom of opinion on those points. for himself he believed that the salvation of mankind would be through god's unmerited grace and the redemption of sins though the saviour, and that the man who so held and persevered to the end was predestined to eternal happiness, and that his children dying before the age of reason were destined not to hell but to heaven. he had thought fifty years long that the passion and sacrifice of christ the saviour were more potent to salvation than god's wrath and the sin of adam and eve to damnation. he had done his best practically to avert personal bickerings among the clergy. he had been, so far as lay in his power, as friendly to remonstrants as to contra-remonstrants, to polyander and festus hommius as to uytenbogaert and episcopius. he had almost finished a negotiation with councillor kromhout for the peaceable delivery of the cloister church on the thursday preceding the sunday on which it had been forcibly seized by the contra-remonstrants. when asked by one of his judges how he presumed to hope for toleration between two parties, each of which abhorred the other's opinions, and likened each other to turks and devil-worshippers, he replied that he had always detested and rebuked those mutual revilings by every means in his power, and would have wished to put down such calumniators of either persuasion by the civil authority, but the iniquity of the times and the exasperation of men's humours had prevented him. being perpetually goaded by one judge after another as to his disrespectful conduct towards the king of great britain, and asked why his majesty had not as good right to give the advice of as the recommendation of tolerance in , he scrupulously abstained, as he had done in all his letters, from saying a disrespectful word as to the glaring inconsistency between the two communications, or to the hostility manifested towards himself personally by the british ambassador. he had always expressed the hope, he said, that the king would adhere to his original position, but did not dispute his right to change his mind, nor the good faith which had inspired his later letters. it had been his object, if possible, to reconcile the two different systems recommended by his majesty into one harmonious whole. his whole aim had been to preserve the public peace as it was the duty of every magistrate, especially in times of such excitement, to do. he could never comprehend why the toleration of the five points should be a danger to the reformed religion. rather, he thought, it would strengthen the church and attract many lutherans, baptists, catholics, and other good patriots into its pale. he had always opposed the compulsory acceptance by the people of the special opinions of scribes and doctors. he did not consider, he said, the difference in doctrine on this disputed point between the contra-remonstrants and remonstrants as one-tenth the value of the civil authority and its right to make laws and ordinances regulating ecclesiastical affairs. he believed the great bulwark of the independence of the country to be the reformed church, and his efforts had ever been to strengthen that bulwark by preventing the unnecessary schism which might prove its ruin. many questions of property, too, were involved in the question--the church buildings, lands and pastures belonging to the counts of holland and their successors--the states having always exercised the right of church patronage--'jus patronatus'--a privilege which, as well as inherited or purchased advowsons, had been of late flagrantly interfered with. he was asked if he had not said that it had never been the intention of the states-general to carry on the war for this or that religion. he replied that he had told certain clergymen expressing to him their opinion that the war had been waged solely for the furtherance of their especial shade of belief, that in his view the war had been undertaken for the conservation of the liberties and laws of the land, and of its good people. of that freedom the first and foremost point was the true christian religion and liberty of conscience and opinion. there must be religion in the republic, he had said, but that the war was carried on to sustain the opinion of one doctor of divinity or another on--differential points was something he had never heard of and could never believe. the good citizens of the country had as much right to hold by melancthon as by calvin or beza. he knew that the first proclamations in regard to the war declared it to be undertaken for freedom of conscience, and so to his, own knowledge it had been always carried on. he was asked if he had not promised during the truce negotiations so to direct matters that the catholics with time might obtain public exercise of their religion. he replied that this was a notorious falsehood and calumny, adding that it ill accorded with the proclamation against the jesuits drawn up by himself some years after the truce. he furthermore stated that it was chiefly by his direction that the discourse of president jeannin--urging on part of the french king that liberty of worship might be granted to the papists--was kept secret, copies of it not having been furnished even to the commissioners of the provinces. his indignant denial of this charge, especially taken in connection with his repeated assertions during the trial, that among the most patriotic netherlanders during and since the war were many adherents of the ancient church, seems marvellously in contradiction with his frequent and most earnest pleas for liberty of conscience. but it did not appear contradictory even to his judges nor to any contemporary. his position had always been that the civil authority of each province was supreme in all matters political or ecclesiastical. the states-general, all the provinces uniting in the vote, had invited the catholic provinces on more than one occasion to join the union, promising that there should be no interference on the part of any states or individuals with the internal affairs religious or otherwise of the provinces accepting the invitation. but it would have been a gross contradiction of his own principle if he had promised so to direct matters that the catholics should have public right of worship in holland where he knew that the civil authority was sure to refuse it, or in any of the other six provinces in whose internal affairs he had no voice whatever. he was opposed to all tyranny over conscience, he would have done his utmost to prevent inquisition into opinion, violation of domicile, interference with private worship, compulsory attendance in protestant churches of those professing the roman creed. this was not attempted. no catholic was persecuted on account of his religion. compared with the practice in other countries this was a great step in advance. religious tolerance lay on the road to religious equality, a condition which had hardly been imagined then and scarcely exists in europe even to this day. but among the men in history whose life and death contributed to the advancement of that blessing, it would be vain to deny that barneveld occupies a foremost place. moreover, it should be remembered that religious equality then would have been a most hazardous experiment. so long as church and state were blended, it was absolutely essential at that epoch for the preservation of protestantism to assign the predominance to the state. should the catholics have obtained religious equality, the probable result would before long have been religious inequality, supremacy of the catholics in the church, and supremacy of the church over the state. the fruits of the forty years' war would have become dust and ashes. it would be mere weak sentimentalism to doubt--after the bloody history which had just closed and the awful tragedy, then reopening--that every spark of religious liberty would have soon been trodden out in the netherlands. the general onslaught of the league with ferdinand, maximilian of bavaria, and philip of spain at its head against the distracted, irresolute, and wavering line of protestantism across the whole of europe was just preparing. rather a wilderness to reign over than a single heretic, was the war-cry of the emperor. the king of spain, as we have just been reading in his most secret, ciphered despatches to the archduke at brussels, was nursing sanguine hopes and weaving elaborate schemes for recovering his dominion over the united netherlands, and proposing to send an army of jesuits thither to break the way to the reconquest. to play into his hands then, by granting public right of worship to the papists, would have been in barneveld's opinion like giving up julich and other citadels in the debatable land to spain just as the great war between catholicism and protestantism was breaking out. there had been enough of burning and burying alive in the netherlands during the century which had closed. it was not desirable to give a chance for their renewal now. in regard to the synod, barneveld justified his course by a simple reference to the th article of the union. words could not more plainly prohibit the interference by the states-general with the religious affairs of any one of the provinces than had been done by that celebrated clause. in there had been an attempt made to amend that article by insertion of a pledge to maintain the evangelical, reformed, religion solely, but it was never carried out. he disdained to argue so self-evident a truth, that a confederacy which had admitted and constantly invited catholic states to membership, under solemn pledge of noninterference with their religious affairs, had no right to lay down formulas for the reformed church throughout all the netherlands. the oath of stadholder and magistrates in holland to maintain the reformed religion was framed before this unhappy controversy on predestination had begun, and it was mere arrogant assumption on the part of the contra-remonstrants to claim a monopoly of that religion, and to exclude the remonstrants from its folds. he had steadily done his utmost to assuage those dissensions while maintaining the laws which he was sworn to support. he had advocated a provincial synod to be amicably assisted by divines from neighbouring countries. he had opposed a national synod unless unanimously voted by the seven provinces, because it would have been an open violation of the fundamental law of the confederacy, of its whole spirit, and of liberty of conscience. he admitted that he had himself drawn up a protest on the part of three provinces (holland, utrecht, and overyssel) against the decree for the national synod as a breach of the union, declaring it to be therefore null and void and binding upon no man. he had dictated the protest as oldest member present, while grotius as the youngest had acted as scribe. he would have supported the synod if legally voted, but would have preferred the convocation, under the authority of all the provinces, of a general, not a national, synod, in which, besides clergy and laymen from the netherlands, deputations from all protestant states and churches should take part; a kind of protestant oecumenical council. as to the enlistment, by the states of a province, of soldiers to keep the peace and suppress tumults in its cities during times of political and religious excitement, it was the most ordinary of occurrences. in his experience of more than forty years he had never heard the right even questioned. it was pure ignorance of law and history to find it a novelty. to hire temporarily a sufficient number of professional soldiers, he considered a more wholesome means of keeping the peace than to enlist one portion of the citizens of a town against another portion, when party and religious spirit was running high. his experience had taught him that the mutual hatred of the inhabitants, thus inflamed, became more lasting and mischievous than the resentment caused through suppression of disorder by an armed and paid police of strangers. it was not only the right but the most solemn duty of the civil authority to preserve the tranquillity, property, and lives of citizens committed to their care. "i have said these fifty years," said barneveld, "that it is better to be governed by magistrates than mobs. i have always maintained and still maintain that the most disastrous, shameful, and ruinous condition into which this land can fall is that in which the magistrates are overcome by the rabble of the towns and receive laws from them. nothing but perdition can follow from that." there had been good reason to believe that the french garrisons as well as some of the train bands could not be thoroughly relied upon in emergencies like those constantly breaking out, and there had been advices of invasion by sympathizers from neighbouring countries. in many great cities the civil authority had been trampled upon and mob rule had prevailed. certainly the recent example in the great commercial capital of the country--where the house of a foremost citizen had been besieged, stormed, and sacked, and a virtuous matron of the higher class hunted like a wild beast through the streets by a rabble grossly ignorant of the very nature of the religious quibble which had driven them mad, pelted with stones, branded with vilest names, and only saved by accident from assassination, while a church-going multitude looked calmly on--with constantly recurring instances in other important cities were sufficient reasons for the authorities to be watchful. he denied that he had initiated the proceedings at utrecht in conversation with ledenberg or any one else, but he had not refused, he said, his approval of the perfectly legal measures adopted for keeping the peace there when submitted to him. he was himself a born citizen of that province, and therefore especially interested in its welfare, and there was an old and intimate friendship between utrecht and holland. it would have been painful to him to see that splendid city in the control of an ignorant mob, making use of religious problems, which they did not comprehend, to plunder the property and take the lives of peaceful citizens more comfortably housed than themselves. he had neither suggested nor controlled the proceedings at utrecht. on the contrary, at an interview with the prince and count william on the th july, and in the presence of nearly thirty members of the general assembly, he had submitted a plan for cashiering the enlisted soldiery and substituting for them other troops, native-born, who should be sworn in the usual form to obey the laws of the union. the deputation from holland to utrecht, according to his personal knowledge, had received no instructions personal or oral to authorize active steps by the troops of the holland quota, but to abstain from them and to request the prince that they should not be used against the will and commands of the states of utrecht, whom they were bound by oath to obey so long as they were in garrison there. no man knew better than he whether the military oath which was called new-fangled were a novelty or not, for he had himself, he said, drawn it up thirty years before at command of the states-general by whom it was then ordained. from that day to this he had never heard a pretence that it justified anything not expressly sanctioned by the articles of union, and neither the states of holland nor those of utrecht had made any change in the oath. the states of utrecht were sovereign within their own territory, and in the time of peace neither the prince of orange without their order nor the states-general had the right to command the troops in their territory. the governor of a province was sworn to obey the laws of the province and conform to the articles of the general union. he was asked why he wrote the warning letter to ledenberg, and why he was so anxious that the letter should be burned; as if that were a deadly offence. he said that he could not comprehend why it should be imputed to him as a crime that he wished in such turbulent times to warn so important a city as utrecht, the capital of his native province, against tumults, disorders, and sudden assaults such as had often happened to her in times past. as for the postscript requesting that the letter might be put in the fire, he said that not being a member of, the government of that province he was simply unwilling to leave a record that "he had been too curious in aliens republics, although that could hardly be considered a grave offence." in regard to the charge that he had accused prince maurice of aspiring to the sovereignty of the country, he had much to say. he had never brought such accusation in public or private. he had reason to believe however--he had indeed convincing proofs--that many people, especially those belonging to the contra-remonstrant party, cherished such schemes. he had never sought to cast suspicion on the prince himself on account of those schemes. on the contrary, he had not even formally opposed them. what he wished had always been that such projects should be discussed formally, legally, and above board. after the lamentable murder of the late prince he had himself recommended to the authorities of some of the cities that the transaction for bestowing the sovereignty of holland upon william, interrupted by his death, "should be completed in favour of prince maurice in despite of the spaniard." recently he had requested grotius to look up the documents deposited in rotterdam belonging to this affair, in order that they might be consulted. he was asked whether according to buzenval, the former french ambassador, prince maurice had not declared he would rather fling himself from the top of the hague tower than accept the sovereignty. barneveld replied that the prince according to the same authority had added "under the conditions which had been imposed upon his father;" a clause which considerably modified the self-denying statement. it was desirable therefore to search the acts for the limitations annexed to the sovereignty. three years long there had been indications from various sources that a party wished to change the form of government. he had not heard nor ever intimated that the prince suggested such intrigues. in anonymous pamphlets and common street and tavern conversations the contra-remonstrants were described by those of their own persuasion as "prince's beggars" and the like. he had received from foreign countries information worthy of attention, that it was the design of the contra-remonstrants to raise the prince to the sovereignty. he had therefore in brought the matter before the nobles and cities in a communication setting forth to the best of his recollection that under these religious disputes something else was intended. he had desired ripe conclusions on the matter, such as should most conduce to the service of the country. this had been in good faith both to the prince and the provinces, in order that, should a change in the government be thought desirable, proper and peaceful means might be employed to bring it about. he had never had any other intention than to sound the inclinations of those with whom he spoke, and he had many times since that period, by word of mouth and in writing, so lately as the month of april last assured the prince that he had ever been his sincere and faithful servant and meant to remain so to the end of his life, desiring therefore that he would explain to him his wishes and intentions. subsequently he had publicly proposed in full assembly of holland that the states should ripely deliberate and roundly declare if they were discontented with the form of government, and if so, what change they would desire. he had assured their mightinesses that they might rely upon him to assist in carrying out their intentions whatever they might be. he had inferred however from the prince's intimations, when he had broached the subject to him in , that he was not inclined towards these supposed projects, and had heard that opinion distinctly expressed from the mouth of count william. that the contra-remonstrants secretly entertained these schemes, he had been advised from many quarters, at home and abroad. in the year he had received information to that effect from france. certain confidential counsellors of the prince had been with him recently to confer on the subject. he had told them that, if his excellency chose to speak to him in regard to it, would listen to his reasoning about it, both as regarded the interests of the country and the prince himself, and then should desire him to propose and advocate it before the assembly, he would do so with earnestness, zeal, and affection. he had desired however that, in case the attempt failed, the prince would allow him to be relieved from service and to leave the country. what he wished from the bottom of his heart was that his excellency would plainly discover to him the exact nature of his sentiments in regard to the business. he fully admitted receiving a secret letter from ambassador langerac, apprising him that a man of quality in france had information of the intention of the contra-remonstrants throughout the provinces, should they come into power, to raise prince maurice to the sovereignty. he had communicated on the subject with grotius and other deputies in order that, if this should prove to be the general inclination, the affair might be handled according to law, without confusion or disorder. this, he said, would be serving both the country and the prince most judiciously. he was asked why he had not communicated directly with maurice. he replied that he had already seen how unwillingly the prince heard him allude to the subject, and that moreover there was another clause in the letter of different meaning, and in his view worthy of grave consideration by the states. no question was asked him as to this clause, but we have seen that it referred to the communication by du agean to langerac of a scheme for bestowing the sovereignty of the provinces on the king of france. the reader will also recollect that barneveld had advised the ambassador to communicate the whole intelligence to the prince himself. barneveld proceeded to inform the judges that he had never said a word to cast suspicion upon the prince, but had been actuated solely by the desire to find out the inclination of the states. the communications which he had made on the subject were neither for discrediting the prince nor for counteracting the schemes for his advancement. on the contrary, he had conferred with deputies from great cities like dordtrecht, enkhuyzen, and amsterdam, most devoted to the contra-remonstrant party, and had told them that, if they chose to propose the subject themselves, he would conduct himself to the best of his abilities in accordance with the wishes of the prince. it would seem almost impossible for a statesman placed in barneveld's position to bear himself with more perfect loyalty both to the country and to the stadholder. his duty was to maintain the constitution and laws so long as they remained unchanged. should it appear that the states, which legally represented the country, found the constitution defective, he was ready to aid in its amendment by fair public and legal methods. if maurice wished to propose himself openly as a candidate for the sovereignty, which had a generation before been conferred upon his father, barneveld would not only acquiesce in the scheme, but propose it. should it fail, he claimed the light to lay down all his offices and go into exile. he had never said that the prince was intriguing for, or even desired, the sovereignty. that the project existed among the party most opposed to himself, he had sufficient proof. to the leaders of that party therefore he suggested that the subject should be publicly discussed, guaranteeing freedom of debate and his loyal support so far as lay within his power. this was his answer to the accusation that he had meanly, secretly, and falsely circulated statements that the prince was aspiring to the sovereignty. [great pains were taken, in the course of the interrogatories, to elicit proof that the advocate had concealed important diplomatic information from the prince. he was asked why, in his secret instructions to ambassador langerac, he ordered him by an express article to be very cautious about making communications to the prince. searching questions were put in regard to these secret instructions, which i have read in the archives, and a copy of which now lies before me. they are in the form of questions, some of them almost puerile ones, addressed to barneveld by the ambassador then just departing on his mission to france in , with the answers written in the margin by the advocate. the following is all that has reference to the prince: "of what matters may i ordinarily write to his excellency?" answer--"of all great and important matters." it was difficult to find much that was treasonable in that.] among the heterogeneous articles of accusation he was asked why he had given no attention to those who had so, frequently proposed the formation of the west india company. he replied that it had from old time been the opinion of the states of holland, and always his own, that special and private licenses for traffic, navigation, and foreign commerce, were prejudicial to the welfare of the land. he had always been most earnestly opposed to them, detesting monopolies which interfered with that free trade and navigation which should be common to all mankind. he had taken great pains however in the years and to study the nature of the navigation and trade to the east indies in regard to the nations to be dealt with in those regions, the nature of the wares bought and sold there, the opposition to be encountered from the spaniards and portuguese against the commerce of the netherlanders, and the necessity of equipping vessels both for traffic and defence, and had come to the conclusion that these matters could best be directed by a general company. he explained in detail the manner in which he had procured the blending of all the isolated chambers into one great east india corporation, the enormous pains which it had cost him to bring it about, and the great commercial and national success which had been the result. the admiral of aragon, when a prisoner after the battle of nieuwpoort, had told him, he said, that the union of these petty corporations into one great whole had been as disastrous a blow to the kingdoms of spain and portugal as the union of the provinces at utrecht had been. in regard to the west india company, its sole object, so far as he could comprehend it, had been to equip armed vessels, not for trade but to capture and plunder spanish merchantmen and silver fleets in the west indies and south america. this was an advantageous war measure which he had favoured while the war lasted. it was in no sense a commercial scheme however, and when the truce had been made--the company not having come into existence--he failed to comprehend how its formation could be profitable for the netherlanders. on the contrary it would expressly invite or irritate the spaniards into a resumption of the war, an object which in his humble opinion was not at all desirable. certainly these ideas were not especially reprehensible, but had they been as shallow and despicable as they seem to us enlightened, it is passing strange that they should have furnished matter for a criminal prosecution. it was doubtless a disappointment for the promoters of the company, the chief of whom was a bankrupt, to fail in obtaining their charter, but it was scarcely high-treason to oppose it. there is no doubt however that the disapprobation with which barneveld regarded the west india company, the seat of which was at amsterdam, was a leading cause of the deadly hostility entertained for him by the great commercial metropolis. it was bad enough for the advocate to oppose unconditional predestination and the damnation of infants, but to frustrate a magnificent system of privateering on the spaniards in time of truce was an unpardonable crime. the patience with which the venerable statesman submitted to the taunts, ignorant and insolent cross-questionings, and noisy interruptions of his judges, was not less remarkable than the tenacity of memory which enabled him thus day after day, alone, unaided by books, manuscripts, or friendly counsel, to reconstruct the record of forty years, and to expound the laws of the land by an array of authorities, instances, and illustrations in a manner that would be deemed masterly by one who had all the resources of libraries, documents, witnesses, and secretaries at command. only when insidious questions were put tending to impute to him corruption, venality, and treacherous correspondence with the enemy--for they never once dared formally to accuse him of treason--did that almost superhuman patience desert him. he was questioned as to certain payments made by him to a certain van der vecken in spanish coin. he replied briefly at first that his money transactions with that man of business extended over a period of twenty or thirty years, and amounted to many hundred thousands of florins, growing out of purchases and sales of lands, agricultural enterprises on his estates, moneys derived from his professional or official business and the like. it was impossible for him to remember the details of every especial money payment that might have occurred between them. then suddenly breaking forth into a storm of indignation; he could mark from these questions, he said, that his enemies, not satisfied with having wounded his heart with their falsehoods, vile forgeries, and honour-robbing libels, were determined to break it. this he prayed that god almighty might avert and righteously judge between him and them. it was plain that among other things they were alluding to the stale and senseless story of the sledge filled with baskets of coin sent by the spanish envoys on their departure from the hague, on conclusion of the truce, to defray expenses incurred by them for board and lodging of servants, forage of horses, and the like-which had accidentally stopped at barneveld's door and was forthwith sent on to john spronssen, superintendent of such affairs. passing over this wanton bit of calumny with disgust, he solemnly asserted that he had never at any period of his life received one penny nor the value of one penny from the king of spain, the archdukes, spinola, or any other person connected with the enemy, saving only the presents publicly and mutually conferred according to invariable custom by the high contracting parties, upon the respective negotiators at conclusion of the treaty of truce. even these gifts barneveld had moved his colleagues not to accept, but proposed that they should all be paid into the public treasury. he had been overruled, he said, but that any dispassionate man of tolerable intelligence could imagine him, whose whole life had been a perpetual offence to spain, to be in suspicious relations with that power seemed to him impossible. the most intense party spirit, yea, envy itself, must confess that he had been among the foremost to take up arms for his country's liberties, and had through life never faltered in their defence. and once more in that mean chamber, and before a row of personal enemies calling themselves judges, he burst into an eloquent and most justifiable sketch of the career of one whom there was none else to justify and so many to assail. from his youth, he said, he had made himself by his honourable and patriotic deeds hopelessly irreconcilable with the spaniards. he was one of the advocates practising in the supreme court of holland, who in the very teeth of the duke of alva had proclaimed him a tyrant and had sworn obedience to the prince of orange as the lawful governor of the land. he was one of those who in the same year had promoted and attended private gatherings for the advancement of the reformed religion. he had helped to levy, and had contributed to, funds for the national defence in the early days of the revolt. these were things which led directly to the council of blood and the gibbet. he had borne arms himself on various bloody fields and had been perpetually a deputy to the rebel camps. he had been the original mover of the treaty of union which was concluded between the provinces at utrecht. he had been the first to propose and to draw up the declaration of netherland independence and the abjuration of the king of spain. he had been one of those who had drawn and passed the act establishing the late prince of orange as stadholder. of the sixty signers of these memorable declarations none were now living save himself and two others. when the prince had been assassinated, he had done his best to secure for his son maurice the sovereign position of which murder had so suddenly deprived the father. he had been member of the memorable embassies to france and england by which invaluable support for the struggling provinces had been obtained. and thus he rapidly sketched the history of the great war of independence in which he had ever been conspicuously employed on the patriotic side. when the late king of france at the close of the century had made peace with spain, he had been sent as special ambassador to that monarch, and had prevailed on him, notwithstanding his treaty with the enemy, to continue his secret alliance with the states and to promise them a large subsidy, pledges which had been sacredly fulfilled. it was on that occasion that henry, who was his debtor for past services, professional, official, and perfectly legitimate, had agreed, when his finances should be in better condition, to discharge his obligations; over and above the customary diplomatic present which he received publicly in common with his colleague admiral nassau. this promise, fulfilled a dozen years later, had been one of the senseless charges of corruption brought against him. he had been one of the negotiators of the truce in which spain had been compelled to treat with her revolted provinces as with free states and her equals. he had promoted the union of the protestant princes and their alliance with france and the united states in opposition to the designs of spain and the league. he had organized and directed the policy by which the forces of england, france, and protestant germany had possessed themselves of the debateable land. he had resisted every scheme by which it was hoped to force the states from their hold of those important citadels. he had been one of the foremost promoters of the east india company, an organization which the spaniards confessed had been as damaging to them as the union of the provinces itself had been. the idiotic and circumstantial statements, that he had conducted burgomaster van berk through a secret staircase of his house into his private study for the purpose of informing him that the only way for the states to get out of the war was to submit themselves once more to their old masters, so often forced upon him by the judges, he contradicted with disdain and disgust. he had ever abhorred and dreaded, he said, the house of spain, austria, and burgundy. his life had passed in open hostility to that house, as was known to all mankind. his mere personal interests, apart from higher considerations, would make an approach to the former sovereign impossible, for besides the deeds he had already alluded to, he had committed at least twelve distinct and separate acts, each one of which would be held high-treason by the house of austria, and he had learned from childhood that these are things which monarchs never forget. the tales of van berk were those of a personal enemy, falsehoods scarcely worth contradicting. he was grossly and enormously aggrieved by the illegal constitution of the commission. he had protested and continued to protest against it. if that protest were unheeded, he claimed at least that those men should be excluded from the board and the right to sit in judgment upon his person and his deeds who had proved themselves by words and works to be his capital enemies, of which fact he could produce irrefragable evidence. he claimed that the supreme court of holland, or the high council, or both together, should decide upon that point. he held as his personal enemies, he said, all those who had declared that he, before or since the truce down to the day of his arrest, had held correspondence with the spaniards, the archdukes, the marquis spinola, or any one on that side, had received money, money value, or promises of money from them, and in consequence had done or omitted to do anything whatever. he denounced such tales as notorious, shameful, and villainous falsehoods, the utterers and circulators of them as wilful liars, and this he was ready to maintain in every appropriate way for the vindication of the truth and his own honour. he declared solemnly before god almighty to the states-general and to the states of holland that his course in the religious matter had been solely directed to the strengthening of the reformed religion and to the political security of the provinces and cities. he had simply desired that, in the awful and mysterious matter of predestination, the consciences of many preachers and many thousands of good citizens might be placed in tranquillity, with moderate and christian limitations against all excesses. from all these reasons, he said, the commissioners, the states-general, the prince, and every man in the land could clearly see, and were bound to see, that he was the same man now that he was at the beginning of the war, had ever been, and with god's help should ever remain. the proceedings were kept secret from the public and, as a matter of course, there had been conflicting rumours from day to day as to the probable result of these great state trials. in general however it was thought that the prisoner would be acquitted of the graver charges, or that at most he would be permanently displaced from all office and declared incapable thenceforth to serve the state. the triumph of the contra-remonstrants since the stadholder had placed himself at the head of them, and the complete metamorphosis of the city governments even in the strongholds of the arminian party seemed to render the permanent political disgrace of the advocate almost a matter of certainty. the first step that gave rise to a belief that he might be perhaps more severely dealt with than had been anticipated was the proclamation by the states-general of a public fast and humiliation for the th april. in this document it was announced that "church and state--during several years past having been brought into great danger of utter destruction through certain persons in furtherance of their ambitious designs--had been saved by the convocation of a national synod; that a lawful sentence was soon to be expected upon those who had been disturbing the commonwealth; that through this sentence general tranquillity would probably be restored; and that men were now to thank god for this result, and pray to him that he would bring the wicked counsels and stratagems of the enemy against these provinces to naught." all the prisoners were asked if they too would like in their chambers of bondage to participate in the solemnity, although the motive for the fasting and prayer was not mentioned to them. each of them in his separate prison room, of course without communication together, selected the th psalm and sang it with his servant and door-keeper. from the date of this fast-day barneveld looked upon the result of his trial as likely to be serious. many clergymen refused or objected to comply with the terms of this declaration. others conformed with it greedily, and preached lengthy thanksgiving sermons, giving praise to god that, he had confounded the devices of the ambitious and saved the country from the "blood bath" which they had been preparing for it. the friends of barneveld became alarmed at the sinister language of this proclamation, in which for the first time allusions had been made to a forthcoming sentence against the accused. especially the staunch and indefatigable du maurier at once addressed himself again to the states-general. de boississe had returned to france, having found that the government of a country torn, weakened, and rendered almost impotent by its own internecine factions, was not likely to exert any very potent influence on the fate of the illustrious prisoner. the states had given him to understand that they were wearied with his perpetual appeals, intercessions, and sermons in behalf of mercy. they made him feel in short that lewis xiii. and henry iv. were two entirely different personages. du maurier however obtained a hearing before the assembly on the st may, where he made a powerful and manly speech in presence of the prince, urging that the prisoners ought to be discharged unless they could be convicted of treason, and that the states ought to show as much deference to his sovereign as they had always done to elizabeth of england. he made a personal appeal to prince maurice, urging upon him how much it would redound to his glory if he should now in generous and princely fashion step forward in behalf of those by whom he deemed himself to have been personally offended. his speech fell upon ears hardened against such eloquence and produced no effect. meantime the family of barneveld, not yet reduced to despair, chose to take a less gloomy view of the proclamation. relying on the innocence of the great statesman, whose aims, in their firm belief, had ever been for the welfare and glory of his fatherland, and in whose heart there had never been kindled one spark of treason, they bravely expected his triumphant release from his long and, as they deemed it, his iniquitous imprisonment. on this very st of may, in accordance with ancient custom, a may-pole was erected on the voorhout before the mansion of the captive statesman, and wreaths of spring flowers and garlands of evergreen decorated the walls within which were such braised and bleeding hearts. these demonstrations of a noble hypocrisy, if such it were, excited the wrath, not the compassion, of the stadholder, who thought that the aged matron and her sons and daughters, who dwelt in that house of mourning, should rather have sat in sackcloth with ashes on their heads than indulge in these insolent marks of hope and joyful expectation. it is certain however that count william lewis, who, although most staunch on the contra-remonstrant side, had a veneration for the advocate and desired warmly to save him, made a last and strenuous effort for that purpose. it was believed then, and it seems almost certain, that, if the friends of the advocate had been willing to implore pardon for him, the sentence would have been remitted or commuted. their application would have been successful, for through it his guilt would seem to be acknowledged. count william sent for the fiscal duyck. he asked him if there were no means of saving the life of a man who was so old and had done the country so much service. after long deliberation, it was decided that prince maurice should be approached on the subject. duyck wished that the count himself would speak with his cousin, but was convinced by his reasoning that it would be better that the fiscal should do it. duyck had a long interview accordingly with maurice, which was followed by a very secret one between them both and count william. the three were locked up together, three hours long, in the prince's private cabinet. it was then decided that count william should go, as if of his own accord, to the princess-dowager louise, and induce her to send for some one of barneveld's children and urge that the family should ask pardon for him. she asked if this was done with the knowledge of the prince of orange, or whether he would not take it amiss. the count eluded the question, but implored her to follow his advice. the result was an interview between the princess and madame de groeneveld, wife of the eldest son. that lady was besought to apply, with the rest of the advocate's children, for pardon to the lords states, but to act as if it were done of her own impulse, and to keep their interview profoundly secret. madame de groeneveld took time to consult the other members of the family and some friends. soon afterwards she came again to the princess, and informed her that she had spoken with the other children, and that they could not agree to the suggestion. "they would not move one step in it--no, not if it should cost him his head." the princess reported the result of this interview to count william, at which both were so distressed that they determined to leave the hague. there is something almost superhuman in the sternness of this stoicism. yet it lay in the proud and highly tempered character of the netherlanders. there can be no doubt that the advocate would have expressly dictated this proceeding if he had been consulted. it was precisely the course adopted by himself. death rather than life with a false acknowledgment of guilt and therefore with disgrace. the loss of his honour would have been an infinitely greater triumph to his enemies than the loss of his head. there was no delay in drawing up the sentence. previously to this interview with the widow of william the silent, the family of the advocate had presented to the judges three separate documents, rather in the way of arguments than petitions, undertaking to prove by elaborate reasoning and citations of precedents and texts of the civil law that the proceedings against him were wholly illegal, and that he was innocent of every crime. no notice had been taken of those appeals. upon the questions and answers as already set forth the sentence soon followed, and it may be as well that the reader should be aware, at this point in the narrative, of the substance of that sentence so soon to be pronounced. there had been no indictment, no specification of crime. there had been no testimony or evidence. there had been no argument for the prosecution or the defence. there had been no trial whatever. the prisoner was convicted on a set of questions to which he had put in satisfactory replies. he was sentenced on a preamble. the sentence was a string of vague generalities, intolerably long, and as tangled as the interrogatories. his proceedings during a long career had on the whole tended to something called a "blood bath"--but the blood bath had never occurred. with an effrontery which did not lack ingenuity, barneveld's defence was called by the commissioners his confession, and was formally registered as such in the process and the sentence; while the fact that he had not been stretched upon the rack during his trial, nor kept in chains for the eight months of his imprisonment, were complacently mentioned as proofs of exceptionable indulgence. "whereas the prisoner john of barneveld," said the sentence, "without being put to the torture and without fetters of iron, has confessed . . . to having perturbed religion, greatly afflicted the church of god, and carried into practice exorbitant and pernicious maxims of state . . . inculcating by himself and accomplices that each province had the right to regulate religious affairs within its own territory, and that other provinces were not to concern themselves therewith"--therefore and for many other reasons he merited punishment. he had instigated a protest by vote of three provinces against the national synod. he had despised the salutary advice of many princes and notable personages. he had obtained from the king of great britain certain letters furthering his own opinions, the drafts of which he had himself suggested, and corrected and sent over to the states' ambassador in london, and when written out, signed, and addressed by the king to the states-general, had delivered them without stating how they had been procured. afterwards he had attempted to get other letters of a similar nature from the king, and not succeeding had defamed his majesty as being a cause of the troubles in the provinces. he had permitted unsound theologians to be appointed to church offices, and had employed such functionaries in political affairs as were most likely to be the instruments of his own purposes. he had not prevented vigorous decrees from being enforced in several places against those of the true religion. he had made them odious by calling them puritans, foreigners, and "flanderizers," although the united provinces had solemnly pledged to each other their lives, fortunes, and blood by various conventions, to some of which the prisoner was himself a party, to maintain the reformed, evangelical, religion only, and to, suffer no change in it to be made for evermore. in order to carry out his design and perturb the political state of the provinces he had drawn up and caused to be enacted the sharp resolution of th august . he had thus nullified the ordinary course of justice. he had stimulated the magistrates to disobedience, and advised them to strengthen themselves with freshly enlisted military companies. he had suggested new-fangled oaths for the soldiers, authorizing them to refuse obedience to the states-general and his excellency. he had especially stimulated the proceedings at utrecht. when it was understood that the prince was to pass through utrecht, the states of that province not without the prisoner's knowledge had addressed a letter to his excellency, requesting him not to pass through their city. he had written a letter to ledenberg suggesting that good watch should be held at the town gates and up and down the river lek. he had desired that ledenberg having read that letter should burn it. he had interfered with the cashiering of the mercenaries at utrecht. he had said that such cashiering without the consent of the states of that province was an act of force which would justify resistance by force. although those states had sent commissioners to concert measures with the prince for that purpose, he had advised them to conceal their instructions until his own plan for the disbandment could be carried out. at a secret meeting in the house of tresel, clerk of the states-general, between grotius, hoogerbeets, and other accomplices, it was decided that this advice should be taken. report accordingly was made to the prisoner. he had advised them to continue in their opposition to the national synod. he had sought to calumniate and blacken his excellency by saying that he aspired to the sovereignty of the provinces. he had received intelligence on that subject from abroad in ciphered letters. he had of his own accord rejected a certain proposed, notable alliance of the utmost importance to this republic. [this refers, i think without doubt, to the conversation between king james and caron at the end of the year .] he had received from foreign potentates various large sums of money and other presents. all "these proceedings tended to put the city of utrecht into a blood-bath, and likewise to bring the whole country, and the person of his excellency into the uttermost danger." this is the substance of the sentence, amplified by repetitions and exasperating tautology into thirty or forty pages. it will have been perceived by our analysis of barneveld's answers to the commissioners that all the graver charges which he was now said to have confessed had been indignantly denied by him or triumphantly justified. it will also be observed that he was condemned for no categorical crime--lese-majesty, treason, or rebellion. the commissioners never ventured to assert that the states-general were sovereign, or that the central government had a right to prescribe a religious formulary for all the united provinces. they never dared to say that the prisoner had been in communication with the enemy or had received bribes from him. of insinuation and implication there was much, of assertion very little, of demonstration nothing whatever. but supposing that all the charges had been admitted or proved, what course would naturally be taken in consequence? how was a statesman who adhered to the political, constitutional, and religious opinions on which he had acted, with the general acquiescence, during a career of more than forty years, but which were said to be no longer in accordance with public opinion, to be dealt with? would the commissioners request him to retire honourably from the high functions which he had over and over again offered to resign? would they consider that, having fairly impeached and found him guilty of disturbing the public peace by continuing to act on his well-known legal theories, they might deprive him summarily of power and declare him incapable of holding office again? the conclusion of the commissioners was somewhat more severe than either of these measures. their long rambling preamble ended with these decisive words: "therefore the judges, in name of the lords states-general, condemn the prisoner to be taken to the binnenhof, there to be executed with the sword that death may follow, and they declare all his property confiscated." the execution was to take place so soon as the sentence had been read to the prisoner. after the st of may barneveld had not appeared before his judges. he had been examined in all about sixty times. in the beginning of may his servant became impatient. "you must not be impatient," said his master. "the time seems much longer because we get no news now from the outside. but the end will soon come. this delay cannot last for ever." intimation reached him on saturday the th may that the sentence was ready and would soon be pronounced. "it is a bitter folk," said barneveld as he went to bed. "i have nothing good to expect of them." next day was occupied in sewing up and concealing his papers, including a long account of his examination, with the questions and answers, in his spanish arm-chair. next day van der meulen said to the servant, "i will bet you a hundred florins that you'll not be here next thursday." the faithful john was delighted, not dreaming of the impending result. it was sunday afternoon, th may, and about half past five o'clock. barneveld sat in his prison chamber, occupied as usual in writing, reviewing the history of the past, and doing his best to reduce into something like order the rambling and miscellaneous interrogatories, out of which his trial had been concocted, while the points dwelt in his memory, and to draw up a concluding argument in his own defence. work which according to any equitable, reasonable, or even decent procedure should have been entrusted to the first lawyers of the country--preparing the case upon the law and the facts with the documents before them, with the power of cross-questioning witnesses and sifting evidence, and enlightened by constant conferences with the illustrious prisoner himself--came entirely upon his own shoulders, enfeebled as he was by age, physical illness, and by the exhaustion of along imprisonment. without books, notes of evidence, or even copies of the charges of which he stood accused, he was obliged to draw up his counter-arguments against the impeachment and then by aid of a faithful valet to conceal his manuscript behind the tapestry of the chamber, or cause them to be sewed up in the lining of his easy-chair, lest they should be taken from him by order of the judges who sat in the chamber below. while he was thus occupied in preparations for his next encounter with the tribunal, the door opened, and three gentlemen entered. two were the prosecuting officers of the government, fiscal sylla and fiscal van leeuwen. the other was the provost-marshal, carel de nijs. the servant was directed to leave the room. barneveld had stepped into his dressing-room on hearing footsteps, but came out again with his long furred gown about him as the three entered. he greeted them courteously and remained standing, with his hands placed on the back of his chair and with one knee resting carelessly against the arm of it. van leeuwen asked him if he would not rather be seated, as they brought a communication from the judges. he answered in the negative. von leeuwen then informed him that he was summoned to appear before the judges the next morning to hear his sentence of death. "the sentence of death!" he exclaimed, without in the least changing his position; "the sentence of death! the sentence of death!" saying the words over thrice, with an air of astonishment rather than of horror. "i never expected that! i thought they were going to hear my defence again. i had intended to make some change in my previous statements, having set some things down when beside myself with choler." he then made reference to his long services. van leeuwen expressed himself as well acquainted with them. "he was sorry," he said, "that his lordship took this message ill of him." "i do not take it ill of you," said barneveld, "but let them," meaning the judges, "see how they will answer it before god. are they thus to deal with a true patriot? let me have pen, ink, and paper, that for the last time i may write farewell to my wife." "i will go ask permission of the judges," said van leenwen, "and i cannot think that my lord's request will be refused." while van leeuwen was absent, the advocate exclaimed, looking at the other legal officer: "oh, sylla, sylla, if your father could only have seen to what uses they would put you!" sylla was silent. permission to write the letter was soon received from de voogt, president of the commission. pen, ink, and paper were brought, and the prisoner calmly sat down to write, without the slightest trace of discomposure upon his countenance or in any of his movements. while he was writing, sylla said with some authority, "beware, my lord, what you write, lest you put down something which may furnish cause for not delivering the letter." barneveld paused in his writing, took the glasses from his eyes, and looked sylla in the face. "well, sylla," he said very calmly, "will you in these my last moments lay down the law to me as to what i shall write to my wife?" he then added with a half-smile, "well, what is expected of me?" "we have no commission whatever to lay down the law," said van leeuwen. "your worship will write whatever you like." while he was writing, anthony walaeus came in, a preacher and professor of middelburg, a deputy to the synod of dordtrecht, a learned and amiable man, sent by the states-general to minister to the prisoner on this supreme occasion; and not unworthy to be thus selected. the advocate, not knowing him, asked him why he came. "i am not here without commission," said the clergyman. "i come to console my lord in his tribulation." "i am a man," said barneveld; "have come to my present age, and i know how to console myself. i must write, and have now other things to do." the preacher said that he would withdraw and return when his worship was at leisure. "do as you like," said the advocate, calmly going on with his writing. when the letter was finished, it was sent to the judges for their inspection, by whom it was at once forwarded to the family mansion in the voorhout, hardly a stone's throw from the prison chamber. thus it ran: "very dearly beloved wife, children, sons-in-law, and grandchildren, i greet you altogether most affectionately. i receive at this moment the very heavy and sorrowful tidings that i, an old man, for all my services done well and faithfully to the fatherland for so many years (after having performed all respectful and friendly offices to his excellency the prince with upright affection so far as my official duty and vocation would permit, shown friendship to many people of all sorts, and wittingly injured no man), must prepare myself to die to-morrow. "i console myself in god the lord, who knows all hearts, and who will judge all men. i beg you all together to do the same. i have steadily and faithfully served my lords the states of holland and their nobles and cities. to the states of utrecht as sovereigns of my own fatherland i have imparted at their request upright and faithful counsel, in order to save them from tumults of the populace, and from the bloodshed with which they had so long been threatened. i had the same views for the cities of holland in order that every one might be protected and no one injured. "live together in love and peace. pray for me to almighty god, who will graciously hold us all in his holy keeping. "from my chamber of sorrow, the th may . "your very dear husband, father, father-in-law, and grandfather, "john of barneveld." it was thought strange that the judges should permit so simple and clear a statement, an argument in itself, to be forwarded. the theory of his condemnation was to rest before the public on his confessions of guilt, and here in the instant of learning the nature of the sentence in a few hours to be pronounced upon him he had in a few telling periods declared his entire innocence. nevertheless the letter had been sent at once to its address. so soon as this sad business had been disposed of, anthony walaeus returned. the advocate apologized to the preacher for his somewhat abrupt greeting on his first appearance. he was much occupied and did not know him, he said, although he had often heard of him. he begged him, as well as the provost-marshal, to join him at supper, which was soon brought. barneveld ate with his usual appetite, conversed cheerfully on various topics, and pledged the health of each of his guests in a glass of beer. contrary to his wont he drank at that repast no wine. after supper he went out into the little ante-chamber and called his servant, asking him how he had been faring. now john franken had just heard with grief unspeakable the melancholy news of his master's condemnation from two soldiers of the guard, who had been sent by the judges to keep additional watch over the prisoner. he was however as great a stoic as his master, and with no outward and superfluous manifestations of woe had simply implored the captain-at-arms, van der meulen, to intercede with the judges that he might be allowed to stay with his lord to the last. meantime he had been expressly informed that he was to say nothing to the advocate in secret, and that his master was not to speak to him in a low tone nor whisper in his ear. when the advocate came out into the ante-chamber and looking over his shoulder saw the two soldiers he at once lowered his voice. "hush-speak low," he whispered; "this is too cruel." john then informed him of van der meulen's orders, and that the soldiers had also been instructed to look to it sharply that no word was exchanged between master and man except in a loud voice. "is it possible," said the advocate, "that so close an inspection is held over me in these last hours? can i not speak a word or two in freedom? this is a needless mark of disrespect." the soldiers begged him not to take their conduct amiss as they were obliged strictly to obey orders. he returned to his chamber, sat down in his chair, and begged walaeus to go on his behalf to prince maurice. "tell his excellency," said he, "that i have always served him with upright affection so far as my office, duties, and principles permitted. if i, in the discharge of my oath and official functions, have ever done anything contrary to his views, i hope that he will forgive it, and that he will hold my children in his gracious favour." it was then ten o'clock. the preacher went downstairs and crossed the courtyard to the stadholder's apartments, where he at once gained admittance. maurice heard the message with tears in his eyes, assuring walaeus that he felt deeply for the advocate's misfortunes. he had always had much affection for him, he said, and had often warned him against his mistaken courses. two things, however, had always excited his indignation. one was that barneveld had accused him of aspiring to sovereignty. the other that he had placed him in such danger at utrecht. yet he forgave him all. as regarded his sons, so long as they behaved themselves well they might rely on his favour. as walaeus was about to leave the apartment, the prince called him back. "did he say anything of a pardon?" he asked, with some eagerness. "my lord," answered the clergyman, "i cannot with truth say that i understood him to make any allusion to it." walaeus returned immediately to the prison chamber and made his report of the interview. he was unwilling however to state the particulars of the offence which maurice declared himself to have taken at the acts of the advocate. but as the prisoner insisted upon knowing, the clergyman repeated the whole conversation. "his excellency has been deceived in regard to the utrecht business," said barneveld, "especially as to one point. but it is true that i had fear and apprehension that he aspired to the sovereignty or to more authority in the country. ever since the year i have felt this fear and have tried that these apprehensions might be rightly understood." while walaeus had been absent, the reverend jean la motte (or lamotius) and another clergyman of the hague had come to the prisoner's apartment. la motte could not look upon the advocate's face without weeping, but the others were more collected. conversation now ensued among the four; the preachers wishing to turn the doomed statesman's thought to the consolations of religion. but it was characteristic of the old lawyer's frame of mind that even now he looked at the tragical position in which he found himself from a constitutional and controversial point of view. he was perfectly calm and undaunted at the awful fate so suddenly and unexpectedly opened before his eyes, but he was indignant at what he esteemed the ignorance, injustice, and stupidity of the sentence to be pronounced against him. "i am ready enough to die," he said to the three clergymen, "but i cannot comprehend why i am to die. i have done nothing except in obedience to the laws and privileges of the land and according to my oath, honour, and conscience." "these judges," he continued, "come in a time when other maxims prevail in the state than those of my day. they have no right therefore to sit in judgment upon me." the clergymen replied that the twenty-four judges who had tried the case were no children and were conscientious men; that it was no small thing to condemn a man, and that they would have to answer it before the supreme judge of all. "i console myself," he answered, "in the lord my god, who knows all hearts and shall judge all men. god is just. "they have not dealt with me," he continued, "as according to law and justice they were bound to deal. they have taken away from me my own sovereign lords and masters and deposed them. to them alone i was responsible. in their place they have put many of my enemies who were never before in the government, and almost all of whom are young men who have not seen much or read much. i have seen and read much, and know that from such examples no good can follow. after my death they will learn for the first time what governing means." "the twenty-four judges are nearly all of them my enemies. what they have reproached me with, i have been obliged to hear. i have appealed against these judges, but it has been of no avail. they have examined me in piecemeal, not in statesmanlike fashion. the proceedings against me have been much too hard. i have frequently requested to see the notes of my examination as it proceeded, and to confer upon it with aid and counsel of friends, as would be the case in all lands governed by law. the request was refused. during this long and wearisome affliction and misery i have not once been allowed to speak to my wife and children. these are indecent proceedings against a man seventy-two years of age, who has served his country faithfully for three-and-forty years. i bore arms with the volunteers at my own charges at the siege of haarlem and barely escaped with life." it was not unnatural that the aged statesman's thoughts should revert in this supreme moment to the heroic scenes in which he had been an actor almost a half-century before. he could not but think with bitterness of those long past but never forgotten days when he, with other patriotic youths, had faced the terrible legions of alva in defence of the fatherland, at a time when the men who were now dooming him to a traitor's death were unborn, and who, but for his labours, courage, wisdom, and sacrifices, might have never had a fatherland to serve, or a judgment-seat on which to pronounce his condemnation. not in a spirit of fretfulness, but with disdainful calm, he criticised and censured the proceedings against himself as a violation of the laws of the land and of the first principles of justice, discussing them as lucidly and steadily as if they had been against a third person. the preachers listened, but had nothing to say. they knew not of such matters, they said, and had no instructions to speak of them. they had been sent to call him to repentance for his open and hidden sins and to offer the consolations of religion. "i know that very well," he said, "but i too have something to say notwithstanding." the conversation then turned upon religious topics, and the preachers spoke of predestination. "i have never been able to believe in the matter of high predestination," said the advocate. "i have left it in the hands of god the lord. i hold that a good christian man must believe that he through god's grace and by the expiation of his sin through our redeemer jesus christ is predestined to be saved, and that this belief in his salvation, founded alone on god's grace and the merits of our redeemer jesus christ, comes to him through the same grace of god. and if he falls into great sins, his firm hope and confidence must be that the lord god will not allow him to continue in them, but that, through prayer for grace and repentance, he will be converted from evil and remain in the faith to the end of his life." these feelings, he said, he had expressed fifty-two years before to three eminent professors of theology in whom he confided, and they had assured him that he might tranquilly continue in such belief without examining further. "and this has always been my creed," he said. the preachers replied that faith is a gift of god and not given to all men, that it must be given out of heaven to a man before he could be saved. hereupon they began to dispute, and the advocate spoke so earnestly and well that the clergymen were astonished and sat for a time listening to him in silence. he asked afterwards about the synod, and was informed that its decrees had not yet been promulgated, but that the remonstrants had been condemned. "it is a pity," said he. "one is trying to act on the old papal system, but it will never do. things have gone too far. as to the synod, if my lords the states of holland had been heeded there would have been first a provincial synod and then a national one."--"but," he added, looking the preachers in the face, "had you been more gentle with each other, matters would not have taken so high a turn. but you have been too fierce one against the other, too full of bitter party spirit." they replied that it was impossible for them to act against their conscience and the supreme authority. and then they asked him if there was nothing that troubled him in, his conscience in the matters for which he must die; nothing for which he repented and sorrowed, and for which he would call upon god for mercy. "this i know well," he said, "that i have never willingly done wrong to any man. people have been ransacking my letters to caron--confidential ones written several years ago to an old friend when i was troubled and seeking for counsel and consolation. it is hard that matter of impeachment against me to-day should be sought for thus." and then he fell into political discourse again on the subject of the waartgelders and the state rights, and the villainous pasquils and libels that had circulated so long through the country. "i have sometimes spoken hastily, i confess," he said; "but that was when i was stung by the daily swarm of infamous and loathsome pamphlets, especially those directed against my sovereign masters the states of holland. that i could not bear. old men cannot well brush such things aside. all that was directly aimed at me in particular i endeavoured to overcome with such patience as i could muster. the disunion and mutual enmity in the country have wounded me to the heart. i have made use of all means in my power to accommodate matters, to effect with all gentleness a mutual reconciliation. i have always felt a fear lest the enemy should make use of our internal dissensions to strike a blow against us. i can say with perfect truth that ever since the year ' i have been as resolutely and unchangeably opposed to the spaniards and their adherents, and their pretensions over these provinces, as any man in the world, no one excepted, and as ready to sacrifice property and shed my blood in defence of the fatherland. i have been so devoted to the service of the country that i have not been able to take the necessary care of my own private affairs." so spoke the great statesman in the seclusion of his prison, in the presence of those clergymen whom he respected, at a supreme moment, when, if ever, a man might be expected to tell the truth. and his whole life which belonged to history, and had been passed on the world's stage before the eyes of two generations of spectators, was a demonstration of the truth of his words. but burgomaster van berk knew better. had he not informed the twenty-four commissioners that, twelve years before, the advocate wished to subject the country to spain, and that spinola had drawn a bill of exchange for , ducats as a compensation for his efforts? it was eleven o'clock. barneveld requested one of the brethren to say an evening prayer. this was done by la motte, and they were then requested to return by three or four o'clock next morning. they had been directed, they said, to remain with him all night. "that is unnecessary," said the advocate, and they retired. his servant then helped his master to undress, and he went to bed as usual. taking off his signet-ring, he gave it to john franken. "for my eldest son," he said. the valet sat down at the head of his bed in order that his master might speak to him before he slept. but the soldiers ordered him away and compelled him to sit in a distant part of the room. an hour after midnight, the advocate having been unable to lose himself, his servant observed that isaac, one of the soldiers, was fast asleep. he begged the other, tilman schenk by name, to permit him some private words with his master. he had probably last messages, he thought, to send to his wife and children, and the eldest son, m. de groeneveld, would no doubt reward him well for it. but the soldier was obstinate in obedience to the orders of the judges. barneveld, finding it impossible to sleep, asked his servant to read to him from the prayer-book. the soldier called in a clergyman however, another one named hugo bayerus, who had been sent to the prison, and who now read to him the consolations of the sick. as he read, he made exhortations and expositions, which led to animated discussion, in which the advocate expressed himself with so much fervour and eloquence that all present were astonished, and the preacher sat mute a half-hour long at the bed-side. "had there been ten clergymen," said the simple-hearted sentry to the valet, "your master would have enough to say to all of them." barneveld asked where the place had been prepared in which he was to die. "in front of the great hall, as i understand," said bayerus, "but i don't know the localities well, having lived here but little." "have you heard whether my grotius is to die, and hoogerbeets also?" he asked? "i have heard nothing to that effect," replied the clergyman. "i should most deeply grieve for those two gentlemen," said barneveld, "were that the case. they may yet live to do the land great service. that great rising light, de groot, is still young, but a very wise and learned gentleman, devoted to his fatherland with all zeal, heart, and soul, and ready to stand up for her privileges, laws, and rights. as for me, i am an old and worn-out man. i can do no more. i have already done more than i was really able to do. i have worked so zealously in public matters that i have neglected my private business. i had expressly ordered my house at loosduinen" [a villa by the seaside] "to be got ready, that i might establish myself there and put my affairs in order. i have repeatedly asked the states of holland for my discharge, but could never obtain it. it seems that the almighty had otherwise disposed of me." he then said he would try once more if he could sleep. the clergyman and the servant withdrew for an hour, but his attempt was unsuccessful. after an hour he called for his french psalm book and read in it for some time. sometime after two o'clock the clergymen came in again and conversed with him. they asked him if he had slept, if he hoped to meet christ, and if there was anything that troubled his conscience. "i have not slept, but am perfectly tranquil," he replied. "i am ready to die, but cannot comprehend why i must die. i wish from my heart that, through my death and my blood, all disunion and discord in this land may cease." he bade them carry his last greetings to his fellow prisoners. "say farewell for me to my good grotius," said he, "and tell him that i must die." the clergymen then left him, intending to return between five and six o'clock. he remained quiet for a little while and then ordered his valet to cut open the front of his shirt. when this was done, he said, "john, are you to stay by me to the last?" "yes," he replied, "if the judges permit it." "remind me to send one of the clergymen to the judges with the request," said his master. the faithful john, than whom no servant or friend could be more devoted, seized the occasion, with the thrift and stoicism of a true hollander, to suggest that his lord might at the same time make some testamentary disposition in his favour. "tell my wife and children," said the advocate, "that they must console each other in mutual love and union. say that through god's grace i am perfectly at ease, and hope that they will be equally tranquil. tell my children that i trust they will be loving and friendly to their mother during the short time she has yet to live. say that i wish to recommend you to them that they may help you to a good situation either with themselves or with others. tell them that this was my last request." he bade him further to communicate to the family the messages sent that night through walaeus by the stadholder. the valet begged his master to repeat these instructions in presence of the clergyman, or to request one of them to convey them himself to the family. he promised to do so. "as long as i live," said the grateful servant, "i shall remember your lordship in my prayers." "no, john," said the advocate, "that is popish. when i am dead, it is all over with prayers. pray for me while i still live. now is the time to pray. when one is dead, one should no longer be prayed for." la motte came in. barneveld repeated his last wishes exactly as he desired them to be communicated to his wife and children. the preacher made no response. "will you take the message?" asked the prisoner. la motte nodded, but did not speak, nor did he subsequently fulfil the request. before five o'clock the servant heard the bell ring in the apartment of the judges directly below the prison chamber, and told his master he had understood that they were to assemble at five o'clock. "i may as well get up then," said the advocate; "they mean to begin early, i suppose. give me my doublet and but one pair of stockings." he was accustomed to wear two or three pair at a time. he took off his underwaistcoat, saying that the silver bog which was in one of the pockets was to be taken to his wife, and that the servant should keep the loose money there for himself. then he found an opportunity to whisper to him, "take good care of the papers which are in the apartment." he meant the elaborate writings which he had prepared during his imprisonment and concealed in the tapestry and within the linings of the chair. as his valet handed him the combs and brushes, he said with a smile, "john, this is for the last time." when he was dressed, he tried, in rehearsal of the approaching scene, to pull over his eyes the silk skull-cap which he usually wore under his hat. finding it too tight he told the valet to put the nightcap in his pocket and give it him when he should call for it. he then swallowed a half-glass of wine with a strengthening cordial in it, which he was wont to take. the clergymen then re-entered, and asked if he had been able to sleep. he answered no, but that he had been much consoled by many noble things which he had been reading in the french psalm book. the clergymen said that they had been thinking much of the beautiful confession of faith which he had made to them that evening. they rejoiced at it, they said, on his account, and had never thought it of him. he said that such had always been his creed. at his request walaeus now offered a morning prayer barneveld fell on his knees and prayed inwardly without uttering a sound. la motte asked when he had concluded, "did my lord say amen?"--"yes, lamotius," he replied; "amen."--"has either of the brethren," he added, "prepared a prayer to be offered outside there?" la motte informed him that this duty had been confided to him. some passages from isaiah were now read aloud, and soon afterwards walaeus was sent for to speak with the judges. he came back and said to the prisoner, "has my lord any desire to speak with his wife or children, or any of his friends?" it was then six o'clock, and barneveld replied: "no, the time is drawing near. it would excite a new emotion." walaeus went back to the judges with this answer, who thereupon made this official report: "the husband and father of the petitioners, being asked if he desired that any of the petitioners should come to him, declared that he did not approve of it, saying that it would cause too great an emotion for himself as well as for them. this is to serve as an answer to the petitioners." now the advocate knew nothing of the petition. up to the last moment his family had been sanguine as to his ultimate acquittal and release. they relied on a promise which they had received or imagined that they had received from the stadholder that no harm should come to the prisoner in consequence of the arrest made of his person in the prince's apartments on the th of august. they had opened this tragical month of may with flagstaffs and flower garlands, and were making daily preparations to receive back the revered statesman in triumph. the letter written by him from his "chamber of sorrow," late in the evening of th may, had at last dispelled every illusion. it would be idle to attempt to paint the grief and consternation into which the household in the voorhout was plunged, from the venerable dame at its head, surrounded by her sons and daughters and children's children, down to the humblest servant in their employment. for all revered and loved the austere statesman, but simple and benignant father and master. no heed had been taken of the three elaborate and argumentative petitions which, prepared by learned counsel in name of the relatives, had been addressed to the judges. they had not been answered because they were difficult to answer, and because it was not intended that the accused should have the benefit of counsel. an urgent and last appeal was now written late at night, and signed by each member of the family, to his excellency the prince and the judge commissioners, to this effect: "the afflicted wife and children of m. van barneveld humbly show that having heard the sorrowful tidings of his coming execution, they humbly beg that it may be granted them to see and speak to him for the last time." the two sons delivered this petition at four o'clock in the morning into the hands of de voogd, one of the judges. it was duly laid before the commission, but the prisoner was never informed, when declining a last interview with his family, how urgently they had themselves solicited the boon. louise de coligny, on hearing late at night the awful news, had been struck with grief and horror. she endeavoured, late as it was, to do something to avert the doom of one she so much revered, the man on whom her illustrious husband had leaned his life long as on a staff of iron. she besought an interview of the stadholder, but it was refused. the wife of william the silent had no influence at that dire moment with her stepson. she was informed at first that maurice was asleep, and at four in the morning that all intervention was useless. the faithful and energetic du maurier, who had already exhausted himself in efforts to save the life of the great prisoner, now made a last appeal. he, too, heard at four o'clock in the morning of the th that sentence of death was to be pronounced. before five o'clock he made urgent application to be heard before the assembly of the states-general as ambassador of a friendly sovereign who took the deepest interest in the welfare of the republic and the fate of its illustrious statesman. the appeal was refused. as a last resource he drew up an earnest and eloquent letter to the states-general, urging clemency in the name of his king. it was of no avail. the letter may still be seen in the royal archives at the hague, drawn up entirely in du maurier's clear and beautiful handwriting. although possibly a, first draft, written as it was under such a mortal pressure for time, its pages have not one erasure or correction. it was seven o'clock. barneveld having observed by the preacher (la motte's) manner that he was not likely to convey the last messages which he had mentioned to his wife and children, sent a request to the judges to be allowed to write one more letter. captain van der meulen came back with the permission, saying he would wait and take it to the judges for their revision. the letter has been often published. "must they see this too? why, it is only a line in favour of john," said the prisoner, sitting quietly down to write this letter: "very dear wife and children, it is going to an end with me. i am, through the grace of god, very tranquil. i hope that you are equally so, and that you may by mutual love, union, and peace help each other to overcome all things, which i pray to the omnipotent as my last request. john franken has served me faithfully for many years and throughout all these my afflictions, and is to remain with me to the end. he deserves to be recommended to you and to be furthered to good employments with you or with others. i request you herewith to see to this. "i have requested his princely excellency to hold my sons and children in his favour, to which he has answered that so long as you conduct yourselves well this shall be the case. i recommend this to you in the best form and give you all into god's holy keeping. kiss each other and all my grandchildren, for the last time in my name, and fare you well. out of the chamber of sorrow, th may . your dear husband and father, john of barneveld. "p.s. you will make john franken a present in memory of me." certainly it would be difficult to find a more truly calm, courageous, or religious spirit than that manifested by this aged statesman at an hour when, if ever, a human soul is tried and is apt to reveal its innermost depths or shallows. whatever gomarus or bogerman, or the whole council of dordtrecht, may have thought of his theology, it had at least taught him forgiveness of his enemies, kindness to his friends, and submission to the will of the omnipotent. every moment of his last days on earth had been watched and jealously scrutinized, and his bitterest enemies had failed to discover one trace of frailty, one manifestation of any vacillating, ignoble, or malignant sentiment. the drums had been sounding through the quiet but anxiously expectant town since four o'clock that morning, and the tramp of soldiers marching to the inner court had long been audible in the prison chamber. walaeus now came back with a message from the judges. "the high commissioners," he said, "think it is beginning. will my lord please to prepare himself?" "very well, very well," said the prisoner. "shall we go at once?" but walaeus suggested a prayer. upon its conclusion, barneveld gave his hand to the provost-marshal and to the two soldiers, bidding them adieu, and walked downstairs, attended by them, to the chamber of the judges. as soon as he appeared at the door, he was informed that there had been a misunderstanding, and he was requested to wait a little. he accordingly went upstairs again with perfect calmness, sat down in his chamber again, and read in his french psalm book. half an hour later he was once more summoned, the provost-marshal and captain van der meulen reappearing to escort him. "mr. provost," said the prisoner, as they went down the narrow staircase, "i have always been a good friend to you."--"it is true," replied that officer, "and most deeply do i grieve to see you in this affliction." he was about to enter the judges' chamber as usual, but was informed that the sentence would be read in the great hall of judicature. they descended accordingly to the basement story, and passed down the narrow flight of steps which then as now connected the more modern structure, where the advocate had been imprisoned and tried, with what remained of the ancient palace of the counts of holland. in the centre of the vast hall--once the banqueting chamber of those petty sovereigns; with its high vaulted roof of cedar which had so often in ancient days rung with the sounds of mirth and revelry--was a great table at which the twenty-four judges and the three prosecuting officers were seated, in their black caps and gowns of office. the room was lined with soldiers and crowded with a dark, surging mass of spectators, who had been waiting there all night. a chair was placed for the prisoner. he sat down, and the clerk of the commission, pots by name, proceeded at once to read the sentence. a summary of this long, rambling, and tiresome paper has been already laid before the reader. if ever a man could have found it tedious to listen to his own death sentence, the great statesman might have been in that condition as he listened to secretary pots. during the reading of the sentence the advocate moved uneasily on his seat, and seemed about to interrupt the clerk at several passages which seemed to him especially preposterous. but he controlled himself by a strong effort, and the clerk went steadily on to the conclusion. then barneveld said: "the judges have put down many things which they have no right to draw from my confession. let this protest be added." "i thought too," he continued, "that my lords the states-general would have had enough in my life and blood, and that my wife and children might keep what belongs to them. is this my recompense for forty-three years' service to these provinces?" president de voogd rose: "your sentence has been pronounced," he said. "away! away!" so saying he pointed to the door into which one of the great windows at the south-eastern front of the hall had been converted. without another word the old man rose from his chair and strode, leaning on his staff, across the hall, accompanied by his faithful valet and the provost and escorted by a file of soldiers. the mob of spectators flowed out after him at every door into the inner courtyard in front of the ancient palace. etext editor's bookmarks: better to be governed by magistrates than mobs burning with bitter revenge for all the favours he had received death rather than life with a false acknowledgment of guilt enemy of all compulsion of the human conscience heidelberg catechism were declared to be infallible i know how to console myself implication there was much, of assertion very little john robinson magistracy at that moment seemed to mean the sword only true religion rather a wilderness to reign over than a single heretic william brewster the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. life and death of john of barneveld, v , - chapter xxi. barneveld's execution--the advocate's conduct on the scaffold--the sentence printed and sent to the provinces--the proceedings irregular and inequitable. in the beautiful village capital of the "count's park," commonly called the hague, the most striking and picturesque spot then as now was that where the transformed remains of the old moated castle of those feudal sovereigns were still to be seen. a three-storied range of simple, substantial buildings in brown brickwork, picked out with white stone in a style since made familiar both in england and america, and associated with a somewhat later epoch in the history of the house of orange, surrounded three sides of a spacious inner paved quadrangle called the inner court, the fourth or eastern side being overshadowed by a beechen grove. a square tower flanked each angle, and on both sides of the south-western turret extended the commodious apartments of the stadholder. the great gateway on the south-west opened into a wide open space called the outer courtyard. along the north-west side a broad and beautiful sheet of water, in which the walls, turrets, and chapel-spires of the enclosed castle mirrored themselves, was spread between the mass of buildings and an umbrageous promenade called the vyverberg, consisting of a sextuple alley of lime-trees and embowering here and there a stately villa. a small island, fringed with weeping willows and tufted all over with lilacs, laburnums, and other shrubs then in full flower, lay in the centre of the miniature lake, and the tall solid tower of the great church, surmounted by a light openwork spire, looked down from a little distance over the scene. it was a bright morning in may. the white swans were sailing tranquilly to and fro over the silver basin, and the mavis, blackbird, and nightingale, which haunted the groves surrounding the castle and the town, were singing as if the daybreak were ushering in a summer festival. but it was not to a merry-making that the soldiers were marching and the citizens thronging so eagerly from every street and alley towards the castle. by four o'clock the outer and inner courts had been lined with detachments of the prince's guard and companies of other regiments to the number of men. occupying the north-eastern side of the court rose the grim, time-worn front of the ancient hall, consisting of one tall pyramidal gable of ancient grey brickwork flanked with two tall slender towers, the whole with the lancet-shaped windows and severe style of the twelfth century, excepting a rose-window in the centre with the decorated mullions of a somewhat later period. in front of the lower window, with its gothic archway hastily converted into a door, a shapeless platform of rough, unhewn planks had that night been rudely patched together. this was the scaffold. a slight railing around it served to protect it from the crowd, and a heap of coarse sand had been thrown upon it. a squalid, unclean box of unplaned boards, originally prepared as a coffin for a frenchman who some time before had been condemned to death for murdering the son of goswyn meurskens, a hague tavern-keeper, but pardoned by the stadholder--lay on the scaffold. it was recognized from having been left for a long time, half forgotten, at the public execution-place of the hague. upon this coffin now sat two common soldiers of ruffianly aspect playing at dice, betting whether the lord or the devil would get the soul of barneveld. many a foul and ribald jest at the expense of the prisoner was exchanged between these gamblers, some of their comrades, and a few townsmen, who were grouped about at that early hour. the horrible libels, caricatures, and calumnies which had been circulated, exhibited, and sung in all the streets for so many months had at last thoroughly poisoned the minds of the vulgar against the fallen statesman. the great mass of the spectators had forced their way by daybreak into the hall itself to hear the sentence, so that the inner courtyard had remained comparatively empty. at last, at half past nine o'clock, a shout arose, "there he comes! there he comes!" and the populace flowed out from the hall of judgment into the courtyard like a tidal wave. in an instant the binnenhof was filled with more than three thousand spectators. the old statesman, leaning on his staff, walked out upon the scaffold and calmly surveyed the scene. lifting his eyes to heaven, he was heard to murmur, "o god! what does man come to!" then he said bitterly once more: "this, then, is the reward of forty years' service to the state!" la motte, who attended him, said fervently: "it is no longer time to think of this. let us prepare your coming before god." "is there no cushion or stool to kneel upon?" said barneveld, looking around him. the provost said he would send for one, but the old man knelt at once on the bare planks. his servant, who waited upon him as calmly and composedly as if he had been serving him at dinner, held him by the arm. it was remarked that neither master nor man, true stoics and hollanders both, shed a single tear upon the scaffold. la motte prayed for a quarter of an hour, the advocate remaining on his knees. he then rose and said to john franken, "see that he does not come near me," pointing to the executioner who stood in the background grasping his long double-handed sword. barneveld then rapidly unbuttoned his doublet with his own hands and the valet helped him off with it. "make haste! make haste!" said his master. the statesman then came forward and said in a loud, firm voice to the people: "men, do not believe that i am a traitor to the country. i have ever acted uprightly and loyally as a good patriot, and as such i shall die." the crowd was perfectly silent. he then took his cap from john franken, drew it over his eyes, and went forward towards the sand, saying: "christ shall be my guide. o lord, my heavenly father, receive my spirit." as he was about to kneel with his face to the south, the provost said: "my lord will be pleased to move to the other side, not where the sun is in his face." he knelt accordingly with his face towards his own house. the servant took farewell of him, and barneveld said to the executioner: "be quick about it. be quick." the executioner then struck his head off at a single blow. many persons from the crowd now sprang, in spite of all opposition, upon the scaffold and dipped their handkerchiefs in his blood, cut wet splinters from the boards, or grubbed up the sand that was steeped in it; driving many bargains afterwards for these relics to be treasured, with various feelings of sorrow, joy, glutted or expiated vengeance. it has been recorded, and has been constantly repeated to this day, that the stadholder, whose windows exactly faced the scaffold, looked out upon the execution with a spy-glass; saying as he did so: "see the old scoundrel, how he trembles! he is afraid of the stroke." but this is calumny. colonel hauterive declared that he was with maurice in his cabinet during the whole period of the execution, that by order of the prince all the windows and shutters were kept closed, that no person wearing his livery was allowed to be abroad, that he anxiously received messages as to the proceedings, and heard of the final catastrophe with sorrowful emotion. it must be admitted, however, that the letter which maurice wrote on the same morning to his cousin william lewis does not show much pathos. "after the judges," he said, "have been busy here with the sentence against the advocate barneveld for several days, at last it has been pronounced, and this morning, between nine o'clock and half past, carried into execution with the sword, in the binnenhof before the great hall. "the reasons they had for this you will see from the sentence, which will doubtless be printed, and which i will send you. "the wife of the aforesaid barneveld and also some of his sons and sons-in-law or other friends have never presented any supplication for his pardon, but till now have vehemently demanded that law and justice should be done to him, and have daily let the report run through the people that he would soon come out. they also planted a may-pole before their house adorned with garlands and ribbands, and practised other jollities and impertinences, while they ought to have conducted themselves in a humble and lowly fashion. this is no proper manner of behaving, and moreover not a practical one to move the judges to any favour even if they had been thereto inclined." the sentence was printed and sent to the separate provinces. it was accompanied by a declaration of the states-general that they had received information from the judges of various points, not mentioned in the sentence, which had been laid to the charge of the late advocate, and which gave much reason to doubt whether he had not perhaps turned his eyes toward the enemy. they could not however legally give judgment to that effect without a sharper investigation, which on account of his great age and for other reasons it was thought best to spare him. a meaner or more malignant postscript to a state paper recounting the issue of a great trial it would be difficult to imagine. the first statesman of the country had just been condemned and executed on a narrative, without indictment of any specified crime. and now, by a kind of apologetic after-thought, six or eight individuals calling themselves the states-general insinuated that he had been looking towards the enemy, and that, had they not mercifully spared him the rack, which is all that could be meant by their sharper investigation, he would probably have confessed the charge. and thus the dead man's fame was blackened by those who had not hesitated to kill him, but had shrunk from enquiring into his alleged crime. not entirely without semblance of truth did grotius subsequently say that the men who had taken his life would hardly have abstained from torturing him if they had really hoped by so doing to extract from him a confession of treason. the sentence was sent likewise to france, accompanied with a statement that barneveld had been guilty of unpardonable crimes which had not been set down in the act of condemnation. complaints were also made of the conduct of du maurier in thrusting himself into the internal affairs of the states and taking sides so ostentatiously against the government. the king and his ministers were indignant with these rebukes, and sustained the ambassador. jeannin and de boississe expressed the opinion that he had died innocent of any crime, and only by reason of his strong political opposition to the prince. the judges had been unanimous in finding him guilty of the acts recorded in their narrative, but three of them had held out for some time in favour of a sentence of perpetual imprisonment rather than decapitation. they withdrew at last their opposition to the death penalty for the wonderful reason that reports had been circulated of attempts likely to be made to assassinate prince maurice. the stadholder himself treated these rumours and the consequent admonition of the states-general that he would take more than usual precautions for his safety with perfect indifference, but they were conclusive with the judges of barneveld. "republica poscit exemplum," said commissioner junius, one of the three, as he sided with the death-warrant party. the same doctor junius a year afterwards happened to dine, in company of one of his fellow-commissioners, with attorney-general sylla at utrecht, and took occasion to ask them why it was supposed that barneveld had been hanging his head towards spain, as not one word of that stood in the sentence. the question was ingenuous on the part of one learned judge to his colleagues in one of the most famous state trials of history, propounded as a bit of after-dinner casuistry, when the victim had been more than a year in his grave. but perhaps the answer was still more artless. his brother lawyers replied that the charge was easily to be deduced from the sentence, because a man who breaks up the foundation of the state makes the country indefensible, and therefore invites the enemy to invade it. and this barneveld had done, who had turned the union, religion, alliances, and finances upside down by his proceedings. certainly if every constitutional minister, accused by the opposition party of turning things upside down by his proceedings, were assumed to be guilty of deliberately inviting a hostile invasion of his country, there would have been few from that day to this to escape hanging. constructive treason could scarcely go farther than it was made to do in these attempts to prove, after his death, that the advocate had, as it was euphuistically expressed, been looking towards the enemy. and no better demonstrations than these have ever been discovered. he died at the age of seventy-one years seven months and eighteen days. his body and head were huddled into the box upon which the soldiers had been shaking the dice, and was placed that night in the vault of the chapel in the inner court. it was subsequently granted as a boon to the widow and children that it might be taken thence and decently buried in the family vault at amersfoort. on the day of the execution a formal entry was made in the register of the states of holland. "monday, th may . to-day was executed with the sword here in the hague, on a scaffold thereto erected in the binnenhof before the steps of the great hall, mr. john of barneveld, in his life knight, lord of berkel, rodenrys, &c., advocate of holland and west friesland, for reasons expressed in the sentence and otherwise, with confiscation of his property, after he had served the state thirty-three years two months and five days since th march .; a man of great activity, business, memory, and wisdom--yes, extraordinary in every respect. he that stands let him see that he does not fall, and may god be merciful to his soul. amen?" a year later-on application made by the widow and children of the deceased to compound for the confiscation of his property by payment of a certain sum, eighty florins or a similar trifle, according to an ancient privilege of the order of nobility--the question was raised whether he had been guilty of high-treason, as he had not been sentenced for such a crime, and as it was only in case of sentence for lese-majesty that this composition was disallowed. it was deemed proper therefore to ask the court for what crime the prisoner had been condemned. certainly a more sarcastic question could not have been asked. but the court had ceased to exist. the commission had done its work and was dissolved. some of its members were dead. letters however were addressed by the states-general to the individual commissioners requesting them to assemble at the hague for the purpose of stating whether it was because the prisoners had committed lese-majesty that their property had been confiscated. they never assembled. some of them were perhaps ignorant of the exact nature of that crime. several of them did not understand the words. twelve of them, among whom were a few jurists, sent written answers to the questions proposed. the question was, "did you confiscate the property because the crime was lese-majesty?" the reply was, "the crime was lese-majesty, although not so stated in the sentence, because we confiscated the property." in one of these remarkable documents this was stated to be "the unanimous opinion of almost all the judges." the point was referred to the commissioners, some of whom attended the court of the hague in person, while others sent written opinions. all agreed that the criminal had committed high-treason because otherwise his property would not have been confiscated. a more wonderful example of the argument in a circle was never heard of. moreover it is difficult to understand by what right the high commission, which had been dissolved a year before, after having completed its work, could be deemed competent to emit afterwards a judicial decision. but the fact is curious as giving one more proof of the irregular, unphilosophical, and inequitable nature of these famous proceedings. chapter xxii. grotius urged to ask forgiveness--grotius shows great weakness-- hoogerbeets and grotius imprisoned for life--grotius confined at loevestein--grotius' early attainments--grotius' deportment in prison--escape of grotius--deventer's rage at grotius' escape. two days after the execution of the advocate, judgment was pronounced upon gillis van ledenberg. it would have been difficult to try him, or to extort a confession of high-treason from him by the rack or otherwise, as the unfortunate gentleman had been dead for more than seven months. not often has a court of justice pronounced a man, without trial, to be guilty of a capital offence. not often has a dead man been condemned and executed. but this was the lot of secretary ledenberg. he was sentenced to be hanged, his property declared confiscated. his unburied corpse, reduced to the condition of a mummy, was brought out of its lurking-place, thrust into a coffin, dragged on a hurdle to the golgotha outside the hague, on the road to ryswyk, and there hung on a gibbet in company of the bodies of other malefactors swinging there in chains. his prudent scheme to save his property for his children by committing suicide in prison was thus thwarted. the reading of the sentence of ledenberg, as had been previously the case with that of barneveld, had been heard by grotius through the open window of his prison, as he lay on his bed. the scaffold on which the advocate had suffered was left standing, three executioners were still in the town, and there was every reason for both grotius and hoogerbeets to expect a similar doom. great efforts were made to induce the friends of the distinguished prisoners to sue for their pardon. but even as in the case of the barneveld family these attempts were fruitless. the austere stoicism both on the part of the sufferers and their relatives excites something like wonder. three of the judges went in person to the prison chamber of hoogerbeets, urging him to ask forgiveness himself or to allow his friends to demand it for him. "if my wife and children do ask," he said, "i will protest against it. i need no pardon. let justice take its course. think not, gentlemen, that i mean by asking for pardon to justify your proceedings." he stoutly refused to do either. the judges, astonished, took their departure, saying: "then you will fare as barneveld. the scaffold is still standing." he expected consequently nothing but death, and said many years afterwards that he knew from personal experience how a man feels who goes out of prison to be beheaded. the wife of grotius sternly replied to urgent intimations from a high source that she should ask pardon for her husband, "i shall not do it. if he has deserved it, let them strike off his head." yet no woman could be more devoted to her husband than was maria van reigersbergen to hugo de groot, as time was to prove. the prince subsequently told her at a personal interview that "one of two roads must be taken, that of the law or that of pardon." soon after the arrest it was rumoured that grotius was ready to make important revelations if he could first be assured of the prince's protection. his friends were indignant at the statement. his wife stoutly denied its truth, but, to make sure, wrote to her husband on the subject. "one thing amazes me," she said; "some people here pretend to say that you have stated to one gentleman in private that you have something to disclose greatly important to the country, but that you desired beforehand to be taken under the protection of his excellency. i have not chosen to believe this, nor do i, for i hold that to be certain which you have already told me--that you know no secrets. i see no reason therefore why you should require the protection of any man. and there is no one to believe this, but i thought best to write to you of it. let me, in order that i may contradict the story with more authority, have by the bearer of this a simple yes or no. study quietly, take care of your health, have some days' patience, for the advocate has not yet been heard." the answer has not been preserved, but there is an allusion to the subject in an unpublished memorandum of grotius written while he was in prison. it must be confessed that the heart of the great theologian and jurist seems to have somewhat failed him after his arrest, and although he was incapable of treachery--even if he had been possessed of any secrets, which certainly was not the case--he did not show the same spartan firmness as his wife, and was very far from possessing the heroic calm of barneveld. he was much disposed to extricate himself from his unhappy plight by making humble, if not abject, submission to maurice. he differed from his wife in thinking that he had no need of the prince's protection. "i begged the chamberlain, matthew de cors," he said, a few days after his arrest, "that i might be allowed to speak with his excellency of certain things which i would not willingly trust to the pen. my meaning was to leave all public employment and to offer my service to his excellency in his domestic affairs. thus i hoped that the motives for my imprisonment would cease. this was afterwards misinterpreted as if i had had wonderful things to reveal." but grotius towards the end of his trial showed still greater weakness. after repeated refusals, he had at last obtained permission of the judges to draw up in writing the heads of his defence. to do this he was allowed a single sheet of paper, and four hours of time, the trial having lasted several months. and in the document thus prepared he showed faltering in his faith as to his great friend's innocence, and admitted, without any reason whatever, the possibility of there being truth in some of the vile and anonymous calumnies against him. "the friendship of the advocate of holland i had always highly prized," he said, "hoping from the conversation of so wise and experienced a person to learn much that was good . . . . i firmly believed that his excellency, notwithstanding occasional differences as to the conduct of public affairs, considered him a true and upright servant of the land . . . . i have been therefore surprised to understand, during my imprisonment, that the gentlemen had proofs in hand not alone of his correspondence with the enemy, but also of his having received money from them. "he being thus accused, i have indicated by word of mouth and afterwards resumed in writing all matters which i thought--the above-mentioned proofs being made good--might be thereto indirectly referred, in order to show that for me no friendships were so dear as the preservation of the freedom of the land. i wish that he may give explanation of all to the contentment of the judges, and that therefore his actions--which, supposing the said correspondence to be true, are subject to a bad interpretation--may be taken in another sense." alas! could the advocate--among whose first words after hearing of his own condemnation to death were, "and must my grotius die too?" adding, with a sigh of relief when assured of the contrary, "i should deeply grieve for that; he is so young and may live to do the state much service." could he have read those faltering and ungenerous words from one he so held in his heart, he would have felt them like the stab of brutus. grotius lived to know that there were no such proofs, that the judges did not dare even allude to the charge in their sentence, and long years afterwards he drew a picture of the martyred patriot such as one might have expected from his pen. but these written words of doubt must have haunted him to his grave. on the th may --on the fifty-first anniversary, as grotius remarked, of the condemnation of egmont and hoorn by the blood tribunal of alva--the two remaining victims were summoned to receive their doom. the fiscal sylla, entering de groot's chamber early in the morning to conduct him before the judges, informed him that he was not instructed to communicate the nature of the sentence. "but," he said, maliciously, "you are aware of what has befallen the advocate." "i have heard with my own ears," answered grotius, "the judgment pronounced upon barneveld and upon ledenberg. whatever may be my fate, i have patience to bear it." the sentence, read in the same place and in the same manner as had been that upon the advocate, condemned both hoogerbeets and grotius to perpetual imprisonment. the course of the trial and the enumeration of the offences were nearly identical with the leading process which has been elaborately described. grotius made no remark whatever in the court-room. on returning to his chamber he observed that his admissions of facts had been tortured into confessions of guilt, that he had been tried and sentenced against all principles and forms of law, and that he had been deprived of what the humblest criminal could claim, the right of defence and the examination of testimony. in regard to the penalty against him, he said, there was no such thing as perpetual imprisonment except in hell. alluding to the leading cause of all these troubles, he observed that it was with the stadholder and the advocate as cato had said of caesar and pompey. the great misery had come not from their being enemies, but from their having once been friends. on the night of th june the prisoners were taken from their prison in the hague and conveyed to the castle of loevestein. this fortress, destined thenceforth to be famous in history and--from its frequent use in after-times as a state-prison for men of similar constitutional views to those of grotius and the advocate--to give its name to a political party, was a place of extraordinary strength. nature and art had made it, according to military ideas of that age, almost impregnable. as a prison it seemed the very castle of despair. "abandon all hope ye who enter" seemed engraven over its portal. situate in the very narrow, acute angle where the broad, deep, and turbid waal--the chief of the three branches into which the rhine divides itself on entering the netherlands--mingles its current with the silver meuse whose name it adopts as the united rivers roll to the sea, it was guarded on many sides by these deep and dangerous streams. on the land-side it was surrounded by high walls and a double foss, which protected it against any hostile invasion from brabant. as the twelve years' truce was running to its close, it was certain that pains would be taken to strengthen the walls and deepen the ditches, that the place might be proof against all marauders and land-robbers likely to swarm over from the territory of the archdukes. the town of gorcum was exactly opposite on the northern side of the waal, while worcum was about a league's distance from the castle on the southern side, but separated from it by the meuse. the prisoners, after crossing the drawbridge, were led through thirteen separate doors, each one secured by iron bolts and heavy locks, until they reached their separate apartments. they were never to see or have any communication with each other. it had been accorded by the states-general however that the wives of the two gentlemen were to have access to their prison, were to cook for them in the castle kitchen, and, if they chose to inhabit the fortress, might cross to the neighbouring town of gorcum from time to time to make purchases, and even make visits to the hague. twenty-four stuivers, or two shillings, a day were allowed by the states-general for the support of each prisoner and his family. as the family property of grotius was at once sequestered, with a view to its ultimate confiscation, it was clear that abject indigence as well as imprisonment was to be the lifelong lot of this illustrious person, who had hitherto lived in modest affluence, occupying the most considerable of social positions. the commandant of the fortress was inspired from the outset with a desire to render the prisoner's situation as hateful as it was in his power to make it. and much was in his power. he resolved that the family should really live upon their daily pittance. yet madame de groot, before the final confiscation of her own and her husband's estates, had been able to effect considerable loans, both to carry on process against government for what the prisoners contended was an unjust confiscation, and for providing for the household on a decent scale and somewhat in accordance with the requirements of the prisoner's health. thus there was a wearisome and ignoble altercation, revived from day to day, between the commandant and madame de groot. it might have been thought enough of torture for this virtuous and accomplished lady, but twenty-nine years of age and belonging to one of the eminent families of the country, to see her husband, for his genius and accomplishments the wonder of europe, thus cut off in the flower of his age and doomed to a living grave. she was nevertheless to be subjected to the perpetual inquisition of the market-basket, which she was not ashamed with her maid to take to and from gorcum, and to petty wrangles about the kitchen fire where she was proud to superintend the cooking of the scanty fare for her husband and her five children. there was a reason for the spite of the military jailer. lieutenant prouninx, called deventer, commandant of loevestein, was son of the notorious gerard prouninx, formerly burgomaster of utrecht, one of the ringleaders of the leicester faction in the days when the earl made his famous attempts upon the four cities. he had sworn revenge upon all those concerned in his father's downfall, and it was a delight therefore to wreak a personal vengeance on one who had since become so illustrious a member of that party by which the former burgomaster had been deposed, although grotius at the time of leicester's government had scarcely left his cradle. thus these ladies were to work in the kitchen and go to market from time to time, performing this menial drudgery under the personal inspection of the warrior who governed the garrison and fortress, but who in vain attempted to make maria van reigersbergen tremble at his frown. hugo de groot, when thus for life immured, after having already undergone a preliminary imprisonment of nine months, was just thirty-six years of age. although comparatively so young, he had been long regarded as one of the great luminaries of europe for learning and genius. of an ancient and knightly race, his immediate ancestors had been as famous for literature, science, and municipal abilities as their more distant progenitors for deeds of arms in the feudal struggles of holland in the middle ages. his father and grandfather had alike been eminent for hebrew, greek, and latin scholarship, and both had occupied high positions in the university of leyden from its beginning. hugo, born and nurtured under such quickening influences, had been a scholar and poet almost from his cradle. he wrote respectable latin verses at the age of seven, he was matriculated at leyden at the age of eleven. that school, founded amid the storms and darkness of terrible war, was not lightly to be entered. it was already illustrated by a galaxy of shining lights in science and letters, which radiated over christendom. his professors were joseph scaliger, francis junius, paulus merula, and a host of others. his fellow-students were men like scriverius, vossius, baudius, daniel heinsius. the famous soldier and poet douza, who had commanded the forces of leyden during the immortal siege, addressed him on his admission to the university as "magne peer magni dignissime cura parentis," in a copy of eloquent verses. when fourteen years old, he took his bachelor's degree, after a rigorous examination not only in the classics but astronomy, mathematics, jurisprudence, and theology, at an age when most youths would have been accounted brilliant if able to enter that high school with credit. on leaving the university he was attached to the embassy of barneveld and justinus van nassau to the court of henry iv. here he attracted the attention of that monarch, who pointed him out to his courtiers as the "miracle of holland," presented him with a gold chain with his miniature attached to it, and proposed to confer on him the dignity of knighthood, which the boy from motives of family pride appears to have refused. while in france he received from the university of orleans, before the age of fifteen, the honorary degree of doctor of laws in a very eulogistic diploma. on his return to holland he published an edition of the poet johannes capella with valuable annotations, besides giving to the public other learned and classical works and several tragedies of more or less merit. at the age of seventeen he was already an advocate in full practice before the supreme tribunals of the hague, and when twenty-three years old he was selected by prince maurice from a list of three candidates for the important post of fiscal or attorney-general of holland. other civic dignities, embassies, and offices of various kinds, had been thrust upon him one after another, in all of which he had acquitted himself with dignity and brilliancy. he was but twenty-six when he published his argument for the liberty of the sea, the famous mare liberum, and a little later appeared his work on the antiquity of the batavian republic, which procured for him in spain the title of "hugo grotius, auctor damnatus." at the age of twenty-nine he had completed his latin history of the netherlands from the period immediately preceding the war of independence down to the conclusion of the truce, - --a work which has been a classic ever since its appearance, although not published until after his death. a chief magistrate of rotterdam, member of the states of holland and the states-general, jurist, advocate, attorney-general, poet, scholar, historian, editor of the greek and latin classics, writer of tragedies, of law treatises, of theological disquisitions, he stood foremost among a crowd of famous contemporaries. his genius, eloquence, and learning were esteemed among the treasures not only of his own country but of europe. he had been part and parcel of his country's history from his earliest manhood, and although a child in years compared to barneveld, it was upon him that the great statesman had mainly relied ever since the youth's first appearance in public affairs. impressible, emotional, and susceptive, he had been accused from time to time, perhaps not entirely without reason, of infirmity of purpose, or at least of vacillation in opinion; but his worst enemies had never assailed the purity of his heart or integrity of his character. he had not yet written the great work on the 'rights of war and peace', which was to make an epoch in the history of civilization and to be the foundation of a new science, but the materials lay already in the ample storehouse of his memory and his brain. possessed of singular personal beauty--which the masterly portraits of miereveld attest to the present day--tall, brown-haired; straight-featured, with a delicate aquiline nose and piercing dark blue eyes, he was also athletic of frame and a proficient in manly exercises. this was the statesman and the scholar, of whom it is difficult to speak but in terms of affectionate but not exaggerated eulogy, and for whom the republic of the netherlands could now find no better use than to shut him up in the grim fortress of loevestein for the remainder of his days. a commonwealth must have deemed itself rich in men which, after cutting off the head of barneveld, could afford to bury alive hugo grotius. his deportment in prison was a magnificent moral lesson. shut up in a kind of cage consisting of a bedroom and a study, he was debarred from physical exercise, so necessary for his mental and bodily health. not choosing for the gratification of lieutenant deventer to indulge in weak complaints, he procured a huge top, which he employed himself in whipping several hours a day; while for intellectual employment he plunged once more into those classical, juridical, and theological studies which had always employed his leisure hours from childhood upwards. it had been forbidden by the states-general to sell his likeness in the shops. the copper plates on which they had been engraved had as far as possible been destroyed. the wish of the government, especially of his judges, was that his name and memory should die at once and for ever. they were not destined to be successful, for it would be equally difficult to-day to find an educated man in christendom ignorant of the name of hugo grotius, or acquainted with that of a single one of his judges. and his friends had not forgotten him as he lay there living in his tomb. especially the learned scriverius, vossius, and other professors, were permitted to correspond with him at intervals on literary subjects, the letters being subjected to preliminary inspection. scriverius sent him many books from his well-stocked library, de groot's own books and papers having been confiscated by the government. at a somewhat later period the celebrated orientalist erpenius sent him from time to time a large chest of books, the precious freight being occasionally renewed and the chest passing to and from loevestein by way of gorcum. at this town lived a sister of erpenius, married to one daatselaer, a considerable dealer in thread and ribbons, which he exported to england. the house of daatselaer became a place of constant resort for madame de groot as well as the wife of hoogerbeets, both dames going every few days from the castle across the waal to gorcum, to make their various purchases for the use of their forlorn little households in the prison. madame daatselaer therefore received and forwarded into loevestein or into holland many parcels and boxes, besides attending to the periodical transmission of the mighty chest of books. professor vossius was then publishing a new edition of the tragedies of seneca, and at his request grotius enriched that work, from his prison, with valuable notes. he employed himself also in translating the moral sentences extracted by stobaeus from the greek tragedies; drawing consolation from the ethics and philosophy of the ancient dramatists, whom he had always admired, especially the tragedies of euripides; he formed a complete moral anthology from that poet and from the works of sophocles, menander, and others, which he translated into fluent dutch verse. becoming more and more interested in the subject, he executed a masterly rhymed translation of the 'theban brothers' of euripides, thus seeking distraction from his own tragic doom in the portraiture of antique, distant, and heroic sorrow. turning again to legal science, he completed an introduction to the jurisprudence of holland, a work which as soon as published became thenceforward a text-book and an oracle in the law courts and the high schools of the country. not forgetting theology, he composed for the use of the humbler classes, especially for sailors, in whose lot, so exposed to danger and temptation, he ever took deep interest, a work on the proofs of christianity in easy and familiar rhyme--a book of gold, as it was called at once, which became rapidly popular with those for whom it was designed. at a somewhat later period professor erpenius, publishing a new edition of the new testament in greek, with translations in arabic, syriac, and ethiopian, solicited his friend's help both in translations and in the latin commentaries and expositions with which he proposed to accompany the work. the prisoner began with a modest disclaimer, saying that after the labours of erasmus and beza, maldonatus and jasenius, there was little for him to glean. becoming more enthusiastic as he went on, he completed a masterly commentary on the four evangelists, a work for which the learned and religious world has ever recognized a kind of debt of gratitude to the castle of loevestein, and hailed in him the founder of a school of manly biblical criticism. and thus nearly two years wore away. spinning his great top for exercise; soothing his active and prolific brain with greek tragedy, with flemish verse, with jurisprudence, history, theology; creating, expounding, adorning, by the warmth of his vivid intellect; moving the world, and doing good to his race from the depths of his stony sepulchre; hugo grotius rose superior to his doom and took captivity captive. the man is not to be envied who is not moved by so noble an example of great calamity manfully endured. the wife of hoogerbeets, already advanced in years, sickened during the imprisonment and died at loevestein after a lingering illness, leaving six children to the care of her unfortunate husband. madame de groot had not been permitted by the prison authorities to minister to her in sickness, nor to her children after her death. early in the year francis aerssens, lord of sommelsdyk, the arch enemy of barneveld and of grotius, was appointed special ambassador to paris. the intelligence--although hardly unexpected, for the stratagems of aerssens had been completely successful--moved the prisoner deeply. he felt that this mortal enemy, not glutted with vengeance by the beheading of the advocate and the perpetual imprisonment of his friend, would do his best at the french court to defame and to blacken him. he did what he could to obviate this danger by urgent letters to friends on whom he could rely. at about the same time muis van holy, one of the twenty-four commissioners, not yet satisfied with the misery he had helped to inflict, informed the states-general that madame de groot had been buying ropes at gorcum. on his motion a committee was sent to investigate the matter at castle loevestein, where it was believed that the ropes had been concealed for the purpose of enabling grotius to make his escape from prison. lieutenant deventer had heard nothing of the story. he was in high spirits at the rumour however, and conducted the committee very eagerly over the castle, causing minute search to be made in the apartment of grotius for the ropes which, as they were assured by him and his wife, had never existed save in the imagination of judge muis. they succeeded at least in inflicting much superfluous annoyance on their victims, and in satisfying themselves that it would be as easy for the prisoner to fly out of the fortress on wings as to make his escape with ropes, even if he had them. grotius soon afterwards addressed a letter to the states-general denouncing the statement of muis as a fable, and these persistent attempts to injure him as cowardly and wicked. a few months later madame de groot happened to be in the house of daatselaer on one of her periodical visits to gorcum. conversation turning on these rumours march of attempts at escape, she asked madame daatselaer if she would not be much embarrassed, should grotius suddenly make his appearance there. "oh no," said the good woman with a laugh; "only let him come. we will take excellent care of him." at another visit one saturday, th march, ( ) madame de groot asked her friend why all the bells of gorcum march were ringing. "because to-morrow begins our yearly fair," replied dame daatselaer. "well, i suppose that all exiles and outlaws may come to gorcum on this occasion," said madame de groot. "such is the law, they say," answered her friend. "and my husband might come too?" "no doubt," said madame daatselaer with a merry laugh, rejoiced at finding the wife of grotius able to speak so cheerfully of her husband in his perpetual and hopeless captivity. "send him hither. he shall have, a warm welcome." "what a good woman you are!" said madame de groot with a sigh as she rose to take leave. "but you know very well that if he were a bird he could never get out of the castle, so closely, he is caged there." next morning a wild equinoctial storm was howling around the battlements of the castle. of a sudden cornelia, daughter of the de groots, nine years of age, said to her mother without any reason whatever, "to-morrow papa must be off to gorcum, whatever the weather may be." de groot, as well as his wife, was aghast at the child's remark, and took it as a direct indication from heaven. for while madame daatselaer had considered the recent observations of her visitor from loevestein as idle jests, and perhaps wondered that madame de groot could be frivolous and apparently lighthearted on so dismal a topic, there had been really a hidden meaning in her words. for several weeks past the prisoner had been brooding over a means of escape. his wife, whose every thought was devoted to him, had often cast her eyes on the great chest or trunk in which the books of erpenius had been conveyed between loevestein and gorcum for the use of the prisoner. at first the trunk had been carefully opened and its contents examined every time it entered or left the castle. as nothing had ever been found in it save hebrew, greek, and latin folios, uninviting enough to the commandant, that warrior had gradually ceased to inspect the chest very closely, and had at last discontinued the practice altogether. it had been kept for some weeks past in the prisoner's study. his wife thought--although it was two finger breadths less than four feet in length, and not very broad or deep in proportion--that it might be possible for him to get into it. he was considerably above middle height, but found that by curling himself up very closely he could just manage to lie in it with the cover closed. very secretly they had many times rehearsed the scheme which had now taken possession of their minds, but had not breathed a word of it to any one. he had lain in the chest with the lid fastened, and with his wife sitting upon the top of it, two hours at a time by the hour-glass. they had decided at last that the plan, though fraught with danger, was not absolutely impossible, and they were only waiting now for a favourable opportunity. the chance remark of the child cornelia settled the time for hazarding the adventure. by a strange coincidence, too, the commandant of the fortress, lieutenant deventer, had just been promoted to a captaincy, and was to go to heusden to receive his company. he left the castle for a brief absence that very sunday evening. as a precautionary measure, the trunk filled with books had been sent to gorcum and returned after the usual interval only a few days before. the maid-servant of the de groots, a young girl of twenty, elsje van houwening by name, quick, intelligent, devoted, and courageous, was now taken into their confidence. the scheme was explained to her, and she was asked if she were willing to take the chest under her charge with her master in it, instead of the usual freight of books, and accompany it to gorcum. she naturally asked what punishment could be inflicted upon her in case the plot were discovered. "none legally," answered her master; "but i too am innocent of any crime, and you see to what sufferings i have been condemned." "whatever come of it," said elsje stoutly; "i will take the risk and accompany my master." every detail was then secretly arranged, and it was provided beforehand, as well as possible, what should be said or done in the many contingencies that might arise. on sunday evening madame de groot then went to the wife of the commandant, with whom she had always been on more friendly terms than with her malicious husband. she had also recently propitiated her affections by means of venison and other dainties brought from gorcum. she expressed the hope that, notwithstanding the absence of captain deventer, she might be permitted to send the trunk full of books next day from the castle. "my husband is wearing himself out," she said, "with his perpetual studies. i shall be glad for a little time to be rid of some of these folios." the commandant's wife made no objection to this slight request. on monday morning the gale continued to beat with unabated violence on the turrets. the turbid waal, swollen by the tempest, rolled darkly and dangerously along the castle walls. but the die was cast. grotius rose betimes, fell on his knees, and prayed fervently an hour long. dressed only in linen underclothes with a pair of silk stockings, he got into the chest with the help of his wife. the big testament of erpenius, with some bunches of thread placed upon it, served him as a pillow. a few books and papers were placed in the interstices left by the curves of his body, and as much pains as possible taken to prevent his being seriously injured or incommoded during the hazardous journey he was contemplating. his wife then took solemn farewell of him, fastened the lock, which she kissed, and gave the key to elsje. the usual garments worn by the prisoner were thrown on a chair by the bedside and his slippers placed before it. madame de groot then returned to her bed, drew the curtains close, and rang the bell. it was answered by the servant who usually waited on the prisoner, and who was now informed by the lady that it had been her intention to go herself to gorcum, taking charge of the books which were valuable. as the weather was so tempestuous however, and as she was somewhat indisposed, it had been decided that elsje should accompany the trunk. she requested that some soldiers might be sent as usual to take it down to the vessel. two or three of the garrison came accordingly, and seeing the clothes and slippers of grotius lying about, and the bed-curtains closed, felt no suspicion. on lifting the chest, however, one of them said, half in jest: "the arminian must be in it himself, it seems so heavy!" "not the arminian," replied madame de groot, in a careless voice, from the bed; "only heavy arminian books." partly lifting, partly dragging the ponderous box, the soldiers managed to get it down the stairs and through the thirteen barred and bolted doors. four several times one or other of the soldiers expressed the opinion that grotius himself must be locked within it, but they never spoke quite seriously, and elsje was ever ready to turn aside the remark with a jest. a soldier's wife, just as the box was approaching the wharf, told a story of a malefactor who had once been carried out of the castle in a chest. "and if a malefactor, why not a lawyer?" she added. a soldier said he would get a gimlet and bore a hole into the arminian. "then you must get a gimlet that will reach to the top of the castle, where the arminian lies abed and asleep," said elsje. not much heed was given to this careless talk, the soldiers, before leaving the chamber of grotius, having satisfied themselves that there were no apertures in the chest save the keyhole, and that it would be impossible by that means alone for sufficient air to penetrate to keep a man enclosed in it from smothering. madame deventer was asked if she chose to inspect the contents of the trunk, and she enquired whether the commandant had been wont so to do. when told that such search had been for a long time discontinued, as nothing had ever been found there but books, she observed that there was no reason why she should be more strict than her husband, and ordered the soldiers to take their heavy load to the vessel. elsje insisted that the boatmen should place a doubly thick plank for sliding the box on board, as it seemed probable, she said, that the usual one would break in two, and then the valuable books borrowed of professor erpenius would be damaged or destroyed. the request caused much further grumbling, but was complied with at last and the chest deposited on the deck. the wind still continued to blow with great fury, and as soon as the sails were set the vessel heeled over so much, that elsje implored the skipper to cause the box to be securely lashed, as it seemed in imminent danger, at the first lurch of the vessel, of sliding into the sea. this done, elsje sat herself down and threw her white handkerchief over her head, letting it flutter in the wind. one of the crew asked her why she did so, and she replied that the servant in the castle had been tormenting her, saying that she would never dare to sail to gorcum in such tempestuous weather, and she was now signalling him that she had been as good as her word. whereupon she continued to wave the handkerchief. in reality the signal was for her mistress, who was now straining her eyes from the barred window which looked out upon the waal, and with whom the maid had agreed that if all went prosperously she would give this token of success. otherwise she would sit with her head in her hands. during the voyage an officer of the garrison, who happened to be on board, threw himself upon the chest as a convenient seat, and began drumming and pounding with his heels upon it. the ever watchful elsje, feeling the dreadful inconvenience to the prisoner of these proceedings, who perhaps was already smothering and would struggle for air if not relieved, politely addressed the gentleman and induced him to remove to another seat by telling him that, besides the books, there was some valuable porcelain in the chest which might easily be broken. no further incident occurred. the wind, although violent, was favourable, and gorcum in due time was reached. elsje insisted upon having her own precious freight carried first into the town, although the skipper for some time was obstinately bent on leaving it to the very last, while all the other merchandise in the vessel should be previously unshipped. at last on promise of payment of ten stuivers, which was considered an exorbitant sum, the skipper and son agreed to transport the chest between them on a hand-barrow. while they were trudging with it to the town, the son remarked to his father that there was some living thing in the box. for the prisoner in the anguish of his confinement had not been able to restrain a slight movement. "do you hear what my son says?" cried the skipper to elsje. "he says you have got something alive in your trunk." "yes, yes," replied the cheerful maid-servant; "arminian books are always alive, always full of motion and spirit." they arrived at daatselaer's house, moving with difficulty through the crowd which, notwithstanding the boisterous weather, had been collected by the annual fair. many people were assembled in front of the building, which was a warehouse of great resort, while next door was a book-seller's shop thronged with professors, clergymen, and other literary persons. the carriers accordingly entered by the backway, and elsje, deliberately paying them their ten stuivers, and seeing them depart, left the box lying in a room at the rear and hastened to the shop in front. here she found the thread and ribbon dealer and his wife, busy with their customers, unpacking and exhibiting their wares. she instantly whispered in madame daatselaer's ear, "i have got my master here in your back parlour." the dame turned white as a sheet, and was near fainting on the spot. it was the first imprudence elsje had committed. the good woman recovered somewhat of her composure by a strong effort however, and instantly went with elsje to the rear of the house. "master! master!" cried elsje, rapping on the chest. there was no answer. "my god! my god!" shrieked the poor maid-servant. "my poor master is dead." "ah!" said madame daatselaer, "your mistress has made a bad business of it. yesterday she had a living husband. now she has a dead one." but soon there was a vigorous rap on the inside of the lid, and a cry from the prisoner: "open the chest! i am not dead, but did not at first recognize your voice." the lock was instantly unfastened, the lid thrown open, and grotius arose in his linen clothing, like a dead man from his coffin. the dame instantly accompanied the two through a trapdoor into an upper room. grotius asked her if she was always so deadly pale. "no," she replied, "but i am frightened to see you here. my lord is no common person. the whole world is talking of you. i fear this will cause the loss of all my property and perhaps bring my husband into prison in your place." grotius rejoined: "i made my prayers to god before as much as this had been gained, and i have just been uttering fervent thanks to him for my deliverance so far as it has been effected. but if the consequences are to be as you fear, i am ready at once to get into the chest again and be carried back to prison." but she answered, "no; whatever comes of it, we have you here and will do all that we can to help you on." grotius being faint from his sufferings, the lady brought him a glass of spanish wine, but was too much flustered to find even a cloak or shawl to throw over him. leaving him sitting there in his very thin attire, just as he had got out of the chest, she went to the front warehouse to call her husband. but he prudently declined to go to his unexpected guest. it would be better in the examination sure to follow, he said, for him to say with truth that he had not seen him and knew nothing of the escape, from first to last. grotius entirely approved of the answer when told to him. meantime madame daatselaer had gone to her brother-in-law van der veen, a clothier by trade, whom she found in his shop talking with an officer of the loevestein garrison. she whispered in the clothier's ear, and he, making an excuse to the officer, followed her home at once. they found grotius sitting where he had been left. van der veen gave him his hand, saying: "sir, you are the man of whom the whole country is talking?" "yes, here i am," was the reply, "and i put myself in your hands--" "there isn't a moment to lose," replied the clothier. "we must help you away at once." he went immediately in search of one john lambertsen, a man in whom he knew he could confide, a lutheran in religion, a master-mason by occupation. he found him on a scaffold against the gable-end of a house, working at his trade. he told him that there was a good deed to be done which he could do better than any man, that his conscience would never reproach him for it, and that he would at the same time earn no trifling reward. he begged the mason to procure a complete dress as for a journeyman, and to follow him to the house of his brother-in-law daatselaer. lambertsen soon made his appearance with the doublet, trunk-hose, and shoes of a bricklayer, together with trowel and measuring-rod. he was informed who his new journeyman was to be, and grotius at once put on the disguise. the doublet did not reach to the waistband of the trunkhose, while those nether garments stopped short of his knees; the whole attire belonging to a smaller man than the unfortunate statesman. his delicate white hands, much exposed by the shortness of the sleeves, looked very unlike those of a day-labourer, and altogether the new mason presented a somewhat incongruous and wobegone aspect. grotius was fearful too lest some of the preachers and professors frequenting the book-shop next door would recognize him through his disguise. madame daatselaer smeared his face and hands with chalk and plaster however and whispered encouragement, and so with a felt hat slouched over his forehead and a yardstick in his hand, he walked calmly forth into the thronged marketplace and through the town to the ferry, accompanied by the friendly lambertsen. it had been agreed that van der veen should leave the house in another direction and meet them at the landing-place. when they got to the ferry, they found the weather as boisterous as ever. the boatmen absolutely refused to make the dangerous crossing of the merwede over which their course lay to the land of altona, and so into the spanish netherlands, for two such insignificant personages as this mason and his scarecrow journeyman. lambertsen assured them that it was of the utmost importance that he should cross the water at once. he had a large contract for purchasing stone at altona for a public building on which he was engaged. van der veen coming up added his entreaties, protesting that he too was interested in this great stone purchase, and so by means of offering a larger price than they at first dared to propose, they were able to effect their passage. after landing, lambertsen and grotius walked to waalwyk, van der veen returning the same evening to gorcum. it was four o'clock in the afternoon when they reached waalwyk, where a carriage was hired to convey the fugitive to antwerp. the friendly mason here took leave of his illustrious journeyman, having first told the driver that his companion was a disguised bankrupt fleeing from holland into foreign territory to avoid pursuit by his creditors. this would explain his slightly concealing his face in passing through a crowd in any village. grotius proved so ignorant of the value of different coins in making small payments on the road, that the honest waggoner, on being occasionally asked who the odd-looking stranger was, answered that he was a bankrupt, and no wonder, for he did not know one piece of money from another. for, his part he thought him little better than a fool. such was the depreciatory opinion formed by the waalwyk coachman as to the "rising light of the world" and the "miracle of holland." they travelled all night and, arriving on the morning of the st within a few leagues of antwerp, met a patrol of soldiers, who asked grotius for his passport. he enquired in whose service they were, and was told in that of "red rod," as the chief bailiff of antwerp was called. that functionary happened to be near, and the traveller approaching him said that his passport was on his feet, and forthwith told him his name and story. red rod treated him at once with perfect courtesy, offered him a horse for himself with a mounted escort, and so furthered his immediate entrance to antwerp. grotius rode straight to the house of a banished friend of his, the preacher grevinkhoven. he was told by the daughter of that clergyman that her father was upstairs ministering at the bedside of his sick wife. but so soon as the traveller had sent up his name, both the preacher and the invalid came rushing downstairs to fall upon the neck of one who seemed as if risen from the dead. the news spread, and episcopius and other exiled friends soon thronged to the house of grevinkhoven, where they all dined together in great glee, grotius, still in his journeyman's clothes, narrating the particulars of his wonderful escape. he had no intention of tarrying in his resting-place at antwerp longer than was absolutely necessary. intimations were covertly made to him that a brilliant destiny might be in store for him should he consent to enter the service of the archdukes, nor were there waning rumours, circulated as a matter of course by his host of enemies, that he was about to become a renegade to country and religion. there was as much truth in the slanders as in the rest of the calumnies of which he had been the victim during his career. he placed on record a proof of his loyal devotion to his country in the letters which he wrote from antwerp within a week of his arrival there. with his subsequent history, his appearance and long residence at the french court as ambassador of sweden, his memorable labours in history, diplomacy, poetry, theology, the present narrative is not concerned. driven from the service of his fatherland, of which his name to all time is one of the proudest garlands, he continued to be a benefactor not only to her but to all mankind. if refutation is sought of the charge that republics are ungrateful, it will certainly not be found in the history of hugo grotius or john of barneveld. nor is there need to portray the wrath of captain deventer when he returned to castle loevestein. "here is the cage, but your bird is flown," said corpulent maria grotius with a placid smile. the commandant solaced himself by uttering imprecations on her, on her husband, and on elsje van houwening. but these curses could not bring back the fugitive. he flew to gorcum to browbeat the daatselaers and to search the famous trunk. he found in it the big new testament and some skeins of thread, together with an octavo or two of theology and of greek tragedies; but the arminian was not in it, and was gone from the custody of the valiant deventer for ever. after a brief period madame de groot was released and rejoined her husband. elsje van houwening, true heroine of the adventure, was subsequently married to the faithful servant of grotius, who during the two years' imprisonment had been taught latin and the rudiments of law by his master, so that he subsequently rose to be a thriving and respectable advocate at the tribunals of holland. the stadholder, when informed of the escape of the prisoner, observed, "i always thought the black pig was deceiving me," making not very complimentary allusion to the complexion and size of the lady who had thus aided the escape of her husband. he is also reported as saying that it "is no wonder they could not keep grotius in prison, as he has more wit than all his judges put together." chapter xxiii. barneveld's sons plot against maurice--the conspiracy betrayed to maurice--escape of stoutenburg--groeneveld is arrested--mary of barneveld appeals to the stadholder--groeneveld condemned to death-- execution of groeneveld. the widow of barneveld had remained, since the last scene of the fatal tragedy on the binnenhof, in hopeless desolation. the wife of the man who during a whole generation of mankind had stood foremost among the foremost of the world, and had been one of those chief actors and directors in human affairs to whom men's eyes turned instinctively from near and from afar, had led a life of unbroken prosperity. an heiress in her own right, maria van utrecht had laid the foundation of her husband's wealth by her union with the rising young lawyer and statesman. her two sons and two daughters had grown up around her, all four being married into the leading families of the land, and with apparently long lives of prosperity and usefulness before them. and now the headsman's sword had shivered all this grandeur and happiness at a blow. the name of the dead statesman had become a word of scoffing and reproach; vagabond mountebanks enacted ribald scenes to his dishonour in the public squares and streets; ballad-mongers yelled blasphemous libels upon him in the very ears of his widow and children. for party hatred was not yet glutted with the blood it had drunk. it would be idle to paint the misery of this brokenhearted woman. the great painters of the epoch have preserved her face to posterity; the grief-stricken face of a hard-featured but commanding and not uncomely woman, the fountains of whose tears seem exhausted; a face of austere and noble despair. a decorous veil should be thrown over the form of that aged matron, for whose long life and prosperity fate took such merciless vengeance at last. for the woes of maria of barneveld had scarcely begun. desolation had become her portion, but dishonour had not yet crossed her threshold. there were sterner strokes in store for her than that which smote her husband on the scaffold. she had two sons, both in the prime of life. the eldest, reinier, lord of groeneveld, who had married a widow of rank and wealth, madame de brandwyk, was living since the death of his father in comparative ease, but entire obscurity. an easy-tempered, genial, kindly gentleman, he had been always much beloved by his friends and, until the great family catastrophe, was popular with the public, but of an infirm and vacillating character, easily impressed by others, and apt to be led by stronger natures than his own. he had held the lucrative office of head forester of delfland of which he had now been deprived. the younger son william, called, from an estate conferred on him by his father, lord of stoutenburg, was of a far different mould. we have seen him at an earlier period of this narrative attached to the embassy of francis aerssens in paris, bearing then from another estate the unmusical title of craimgepolder, and giving his subtle and dangerous chief great cause of complaint by his irregular, expensive habits. he had been however rather a favourite with henry iv., who had so profound a respect for the father as to consult him, and him only of all foreign statesmen, in the gravest affairs of his reign, and he had even held an office of honour and emolument at his court. subsequently he had embraced the military career, and was esteemed a soldier of courage and promise. as captain of cavalry and governor of the fortress of bergen op zoom, he occupied a distinguished and lucrative position, and was likely, so soon as the truce ran to its close, to make a name for himself in that gigantic political and religious war which had already opened in bohemia, and in which it was evident the republic would soon be desperately involved. his wife, walburg de marnix, was daughter to one of the noblest characters in the history of the netherlands, or of any history, the illustrious sainte-aldegonde. two thousand florins a year from his father's estate had been settled on him at his marriage, which, in addition to his official and military income, placed him in a position of affluence. after the death of his father the family estates were confiscated, and he was likewise deprived of his captaincy and his governorship. he was reduced at a blow from luxury and high station to beggary and obscurity. at the renewal of the war he found himself, for no fault of his own, excluded from the service of his country. yet the advocate almost in his last breath had recommended his sons to the stadholder, and maurice had sent a message in response that so long as the sons conducted themselves well they might rely upon his support. hitherto they had not conducted themselves otherwise than well. stoutenburg, who now dwelt in his house with his mother, was of a dark, revengeful, turbulent disposition. in the career of arms he had a right to look forward to success, but thus condemned to brood in idleness on the cruel wrongs to himself and his house it was not improbable that he might become dangerous. years long he fed on projects of vengeance as his daily bread. he was convinced that his personal grievances were closely entwined with the welfare of the commonwealth, and he had sworn to avenge the death of his father, the misery of his mother, and the wrongs which he was himself suffering, upon the stadholder, whom he considered the author of all their woe. to effect a revolution in the government, and to bring back to power all the municipal regents whom maurice had displaced so summarily, in order, as the son believed, to effect the downfall of the hated advocate, this was the determination of stoutenburg. he did not pause to reflect whether the arm which had been strong enough to smite to nothingness the venerable statesman in the plenitude of his power would be too weak to repel the attack of an obscure and disarmed partisan. he saw only a hated tyrant, murderer, and oppressor, as he considered him, and he meant to have his life. he had around him a set of daring and desperate men to whom he had from time to time half confided his designs. a certain unfrocked preacher of the remonstrant persuasion, who, according to the fashion of the learned of that day, had translated his name out of hendrik sleet into henricus slatius, was one of his most unscrupulous instruments. slatius, a big, swarthy, shag-eared, beetle-browed hollander, possessed learning of no ordinary degree, a tempestuous kind of eloquence, and a habit of dealing with men; especially those of the humbler classes. he was passionate, greedy, overbearing, violent, and loose of life. he had sworn vengeance upon the remonstrants in consequence of a private quarrel, but this did not prevent him from breathing fire and fury against the contra-remonstrants also, and especially against the stadholder, whom he affected to consider the arch-enemy of the whole commonwealth. another twelvemonth went by. the advocate had been nearly four years in his grave. the terrible german war was in full blaze. the twelve years' truce had expired, the republic was once more at war, and stoutenburg, forbidden at the head of his troop to campaign with the stadholder against the archdukes, nourished more fiercely than ever his plan against the stadholder's life. besides the ferocious slatius he had other associates. there was his cousin by marriage, van der dussen, a catholic gentleman, who had married a daughter of elias barneveld, and who shared all stoutenburg's feelings of resentment towards maurice. there was korenwinder, another catholic, formerly occupying an official position of responsibility as secretary of the town of berkel, a man of immense corpulence, but none the less an active and dangerous conspirator. there was van dyk, a secretary of bleiswyk, equally active and dangerous, and as lean and hungry as korenwinder was fat. stoutenburg, besides other rewards, had promised him a cornetcy of cavalry, should their plans be successful. and there was the brother-in-law of slatius, one cornelis gerritaen, a joiner by trade, living at rotterdam, who made himself very useful in all the details of the conspiracy. for the plot was now arranged, the men just mentioned being its active agents and in constant communication with stoutenburg. korenwinder and van dyk in the last days of december drew up a scheme on paper, which was submitted to their chief and met with his approval. the document began with a violent invective against the crimes and tyranny of the stadholder, demonstrated the necessity of a general change in the government, and of getting rid of maurice as an indispensable preliminary, and laid down the means and method of doing this deed. the prince was in the daily habit of driving, unattended by his body-guard, to ryswyk, about two miles from the hague. it would not be difficult for a determined band of men divided into two parties to set upon him between the stables and his coach, either when alighting from or about to enter it--the one party to kill him while the other protected the retreat of the assassins, and beat down such defence as the few lackeys of the stadholder could offer. the scheme, thus mapped out, was submitted to stoutenburg, who gave it his approval after suggesting a few amendments. the document was then burnt. it was estimated that twenty men would be needed for the job, and that to pay them handsomely would require about guilders. the expenses and other details of the infamous plot were discussed as calmly as if it had been an industrial or commercial speculation. but guilders was an immense sum to raise, and the seigneur de stoutenburg was a beggar. his associates were as forlorn as himself, but his brother-in-law, the ex-ambassador van der myle, was living at beverwyk under the supervision of the police, his property not having been confiscated. stoutenburg paid him a visit, accompanied by the reverend slatius, in hopes of getting funds from him, but at the first obscure hint of the infamous design van der myle faced them with such looks, gestures, and words of disgust and indignation that the murderous couple recoiled, the son of barneveld saying to the expreacher: "let us be off, slaet,'tis a mere cur. nothing is to be made of him." the other son of barneveld, the seigneur de groeneveld, had means and credit. his brother had darkly hinted to him the necessity of getting rid of maurice, and tried to draw him into the plot. groeneveld, more unstable than water, neither repelled nor encouraged these advances. he joined in many conversations with stoutenburg, van dyk, and korenwinder, but always weakly affected not to know what they were driving at. "when we talk of business," said van dyk to him one day, "you are always turning off from us and from the subject. you had better remain." many anonymous letters were sent to him, calling on him to strike for vengeance on the murderer of his father, and for the redemption of his native land and the remonstrant religion from foul oppression. at last yielding to the persuasions and threats of his fierce younger brother, who assured him that the plot would succeed, the government be revolutionized, and that then all property would be at the mercy of the victors, he agreed to endorse certain bills which korenwinder undertook to negotiate. nothing could be meaner, more cowardly, and more murderous than the proceedings of the seigneur de groeneveld. he seems to have felt no intense desire of vengeance upon maurice, which certainly would not have been unnatural, but he was willing to supply money for his assassination. at the same time he was careful to insist that this pecuniary advance was by no means a free gift, but only a loan to be repaid by his more bloodthirsty brother upon demand with interest. with a businesslike caution, in ghastly contrast with the foulness of the contract, he exacted a note of hand from stoutenburg covering the whole amount of his disbursements. there might come a time, he thought, when his brother's paper would be more negotiable than it was at that moment. korenwinder found no difficulty in discounting groeneveld's bills, and the necessary capital was thus raised for the vile enterprise. van dyk, the lean and hungry conspirator, now occupied himself vigorously in engaging the assassins, while his corpulent colleague remained as treasurer of the company. two brothers blansaerts, woollen manufacturers at leyden--one of whom had been a student of theology in the remonstrant church and had occasionally preached--and a certain william party, a walloon by birth, but likewise a woollen worker at leyden, agreed to the secretary's propositions. he had at first told, them that their services would be merely required for the forcible liberation of two remonstrant clergymen, niellius and poppius, from the prison at haarlem. entertaining his new companions at dinner, however, towards the end of january, van dyk, getting very drunk, informed them that the object of the enterprise was to kill the stadholder; that arrangements had been made for effecting an immediate change in the magistracies in all the chief cities of holland so soon as the deed was done; that all the recently deposed regents would enter the hague at once, supported by a train of armed peasants from the country; and that better times for the oppressed religion, for the fatherland, and especially for everyone engaged in the great undertaking, would begin with the death of the tyrant. each man taking direct part in the assassination would receive at least guilders, besides being advanced to offices of honour and profit according to his capacity. the blansaerts assured their superior that entire reliance might be placed on their fidelity, and that they knew of three or four other men in leyden "as firm as trees and fierce as lions," whom they would engage--a fustian worker, a tailor, a chimney-sweeper, and one or two other mechanics. the looseness and utter recklessness with which this hideous conspiracy was arranged excites amazement. van dyk gave the two brothers pistoles in gold--a coin about equal to a guinea--for their immediate reward as well as for that of the comrades to be engaged. yet it seems almost certain from subsequent revelations that they were intending all the time to deceive him, to take as much money as they could get from him, "to milk, the cow as long as she would give milk," as william party expressed it, and then to turn round upon and betray him. it was a dangerous game however, which might not prove entirely successful. van dyk duly communicated with stoutenburg, who grew more and more feverish with hatred and impatience as the time for gratifying those passions drew nigh, and frequently said that he would like to tear the stadholder to pieces with his own hands. he preferred however to act as controlling director over the band of murderers now enrolled. for in addition to the leyden party, the reverend slatius, supplied with funds by van dyk, had engaged at rotterdam his brother-in-law gerritsen, a joiner, living in that city, together with three sailors named respectively dirk, john, and herman. the ex-clergyman's house was also the arsenal of the conspiracy, and here were stored away a stock of pistols, snaphances, and sledge-hammers--together with that other death-dealing machinery, the whole edition of the 'clearshining torch', an inflammatory, pamphlet by slatius--all to be used on the fatal day fast approaching. on the st february van dyk visited slatius at rotterdam. he found gerritsen hard at work. there in a dark back kitchen, by the lurid light of the fire in a dim wintry afternoon, stood the burly slatius, with his swarthy face and heavy eyebrows, accompanied by his brother-in-law the joiner, both in workman's dress, melting lead, running bullets, drying powder, and burnishing and arranging the fire-arms and other tools to be used in the great crime now so rapidly maturing. the lean, busy, restless van dyk, with his adust and sinister visage, came peering in upon the couple thus engaged, and observed their preparations with warm approval. he recommended that in addition to dirk, john, and herman, a few more hardy seafaring men should be engaged, and slatius accordingly secured next day the services of one jerome ewouts and three other sailors. they were not informed of the exact nature of the enterprise, but were told that it was a dangerous although not a desperate one, and sure to be of great service to the fatherland. they received, as all the rest had done, between and guilders in gold, that they would all be promoted to be captains and first mates. it was agreed that all the conspirators should assemble four days later at the hague on sunday, the th february, at the inn of the "golden helmet." the next day, monday the th, had been fixed by stoutenburg for doing the deed. van dyk, who had great confidence in the eloquence of william party, the walloon wool manufacturer, had arranged that he should make a discourse to them all in a solitary place in the downs between that city and the sea-shore, taking for his theme or brief the clearshining torch of slatius. on saturday that eminent divine entertained his sister and her husband gerritsen, jerome ewouts, who was at dinner but half informed as to the scope of the great enterprise, and several other friends who were entirely ignorant of it. slatius was in high spirits, although his sister, who had at last become acquainted with the vile plot, had done nothing but weep all day long. they had better be worms, with a promise of further reward and an intimation she said, and eat dirt for their food, than crawl in so base a business. her brother comforted her with assurances that the project was sure to result in a triumph for religion and fatherland, and drank many healths at his table to the success of all engaged in it. that evening he sent off a great chest filled with arms and ammunition to the "golden helmet" at the hague under the charge of jerome ewouts and his three mates. van dyk had already written a letter to the landlord of that hostelry engaging a room there, and saying that the chest contained valuable books and documents to be used in a lawsuit, in which he was soon to be engaged, before the supreme tribunal. on the sunday this bustling conspirator had john blansaert and william party to dine with him at the "golden helmet" in the hague, and produced seven packages neatly folded, each containing gold pieces to the amount of twenty pounds sterling. these were for themselves and the others whom they had reported as engaged by them in leyden. getting drunk as usual, he began to bluster of the great political revolution impending, and after dinner examined the carbines of his guests. he asked if those weapons were to be relied upon. "we can blow a hair to pieces with them at twenty paces," they replied. "ah! would that i too could be of the party," said van dyk, seizing one of the carbines. "no, no," said john blansaert, "we can do the deed better without you than with you. you must look out for the defence." van dyk then informed them that they, with one of the rotterdam sailors, were to attack maurice as he got out of his coach at ryswyk, pin him between the stables and the coach, and then and there do him to death. "you are not to leave him," he cried, "till his soul has left his body." the two expressed their hearty concurrence with this arrangement, and took leave of their host for the night, going, they said, to distribute the seven packages of blood-money. they found adam blansaert waiting for them in the downs, and immediately divided the whole amount between themselves and him--the chimney-sweeper, tailor, and fustian worker, "firm as trees and fierce as lions," having never had any existence save in their fertile imaginations. on monday, th february, van dyk had a closing interview with stoutenburg and his brother at the house of groeneveld, and informed them that the execution of the plot had been deferred to the following day. stoutenburg expressed disgust and impatience at the delay. "i should like to tear the stadholder to pieces with my own hands!" he cried. he was pacified on hearing that the arrangements had been securely made for the morrow, and turning to his brother observed, "remember that you can never retract. you are in our power and all your estates at our mercy." he then explained the manner in which the magistracies of leyden, gouda, rotterdam, and other cities were to be instantly remodelled after the death of maurice, the ex-regents of the hague at the head of a band of armed peasants being ready at a moment's warning to take possession of the political capital. prince frederic henry moreover, he hinted darkly and falsely, but in a manner not to be mistaken, was favourable to the movement, and would after the murder of maurice take the government into his hands. stoutenburg then went quietly home to pass the day and sleep at his mother's house awaiting the eventful morning of tuesday. van dyk went back to his room at the "golden helmet" and began inspecting the contents of the arms and ammunition chest which jerome ewouts and his three mates had brought the night before from rotterdam. he had been somewhat unquiet at having seen nothing of those mariners during the day; when looking out of window, he saw one of them in conference with some soldiers. a minute afterwards he heard a bustle in the rooms below, and found that the house was occupied by a guard, and that gerritsen, with the three first engaged sailors dirk, peter, and herman, had been arrested at the zotje. he tried in vain to throw the arms back into the chest and conceal it under the bed, but it was too late. seizing his hat and wrapping himself in his cloak, with his sword by his side, he walked calmly down the stairs looking carelessly at the group of soldiers and prisoners who filled the passages. a waiter informed the provost-marshal in command that the gentleman was a respectable boarder at the tavern, well known to him for many years. the conspirator passed unchallenged and went straight to inform stoutenburg. the four mariners, last engaged by slatius at rotterdam, had signally exemplified the danger of half confidences. surprised that they should have been so mysteriously entrusted with the execution of an enterprise the particulars of which were concealed from them, and suspecting that crime alone could command such very high prices as had been paid and promised by the ex-clergyman, they had gone straight to the residence of the stadholder, after depositing the chest at the "golden helmet." finding that he had driven as usual to ryswyk, they followed him thither, and by dint of much importunity obtained an audience. if the enterprise was a patriotic one, they reasoned, he would probably know of it and approve it. if it were criminal, it would be useful for them to reveal and dangerous to conceal it. they told the story so far as they knew it to the prince and showed him the money, florins apiece, which they had already received from slatius. maurice hesitated not an instant. it was evident that a dark conspiracy was afoot. he ordered the sailors to return to the hague by another and circuitous road through voorburg, while he lost not a moment himself in hurrying back as fast as his horses would carry him. summoning the president and several councillors of the chief tribunal, he took instant measures to take possession of the two taverns, and arrest all the strangers found in them. meantime van dyk came into the house of the widow barneveld and found stoutenburg in the stable-yard. he told him the plot was discovered, the chest of arms at the "golden helmet" found. "are there any private letters or papers in the bog?" asked stoutenburg. "none relating to the affair," was the answer. "take yourself off as fast as possible," said stoutenburg. van dyk needed no urging. he escaped through the stables and across the fields in the direction of leyden. after skulking about for a week however and making very little progress, he was arrested at hazerswoude, having broken through the ice while attempting to skate across the inundated and frozen pastures in that region. proclamations were at once made, denouncing the foul conspiracy in which the sons of the late advocate barneveld, the remonstrant clergyman slatius, and others, were the ringleaders, and offering florins each for their apprehension. a public thanksgiving for the deliverance was made in all the churches on the th february. on the th february the states-general sent letters to all their ambassadors and foreign agents, informing them of this execrable plot to overthrow the commonwealth and take the life of the stadholder, set on foot by certain arminian preachers and others of that faction, and this too in winter, when the ice and snow made hostile invasion practicable, and when the enemy was encamped in so many places in the neighbourhood. "the arminians," said the despatch, "are so filled with bitterness that they would rather the republic should be lost than that their pretended grievances should go unredressed." almost every pulpit shook with contra-remonstrant thunder against the whole society of remonstrants, who were held up to the world as rebels and prince-murderers; the criminal conspiracy being charged upon them as a body. hardly a man of that persuasion dared venture into the streets and public places, for fear of being put to death by the rabble. the chevalier william of nassau, natural son of the stadholder, was very loud and violent in all the taverns and tap-rooms, drinking mighty draughts to the damnation of the arminians. many of the timid in consequence shrank away from the society and joined the contra-remonstrant church, while the more courageous members, together with the leaders of that now abhorred communion, published long and stirring appeals to the universal sense of justice, which was outraged by the spectacle of a whole sect being punished for a crime committed by a few individuals, who had once been unworthy members of it. meantime hue and cry was made after the fugitive conspirators. the blansaerts and william party having set off from leyden towards the hague on monday night, in order, as they said, to betray their employers, whose money they had taken, and whose criminal orders they had agreed to execute, attempted to escape, but were arrested within ten days. they were exhibited at their prison at amsterdam to an immense concourse at a shilling a peep, the sums thus collected being distributed to the poor. slatius made his way disguised as a boor into friesland, and after various adventures attempted to cross the bourtange moors to lingen. stopping to refresh himself at a tavern near koevorden, he found himself in the tap-room in presence of quartermaster blau and a company of soldiers from the garrison. the dark scowling boor, travel-stained and weary, with felt hat slouched over his forbidding visage, fierce and timorous at once like a hunted wild beast, excited their suspicion. seeing himself watched, he got up, paid his scot, and departed, leaving his can of beer untasted. this decided the quartermaster, who accordingly followed the peasant out of the house, and arrested him as a spanish spy on the watch for the train of specie which the soldiers were then conveying into koevorden castle. slatius protested his innocence of any such design, and vehemently besought the officer to release him, telling him as a reason for his urgency and an explanation of his unprepossessing aspect--that he was an oculist from amsterdam, john hermansen by name, that he had just committed a homicide in that place, and was fleeing from justice. the honest quartermaster saw no reason why a suspected spy should go free because he proclaimed himself a murderer, nor why an oculist should escape the penalties of homicide. "the more reason," he said, "why thou shouldst be my prisoner." the ex-preacher was arrested and shut up in the state prison at the hague. the famous engraver visser executed a likeness on copper-plate of the grim malefactor as he appeared in his boor's disguise. the portrait, accompanied by a fiercely written broadsheet attacking the remonstrant church, had a great circulation, and deepened the animosity against the sect upon which the unfrocked preacher had sworn vengeance. his evil face and fame thus became familiar to the public, while the term hendrik slaet became a proverb at pot-houses, being held equivalent among tipplers to shirking the bottle. korenwinder, the treasurer of the association, coming to visit stoutenburg soon after van dyk had left him, was informed of the discovery of the plot and did his best to escape, but was arrested within a fortnight's time. stoutenburg himself acted with his usual promptness and coolness. having gone straightway to his brother to notify him of the discovery and to urge him to instant flight, he contrived to disappear. a few days later a chest of merchandise was brought to the house of a certain citizen of rotterdam, who had once been a fiddler, but was now a man of considerable property. the chest, when opened, was found to contain the seigneur de stoutenburg, who in past times had laid the fiddler under obligations, and in whose house he now lay concealed for many days, and until the strictness with which all roads and ferries in the neighbourhood were watched at first had somewhat given way. meantime his cousin van der dussen had also effected his escape, and had joined him in rotterdam. the faithful fiddler then, for a thousand florins, chartered a trading vessel commanded by one jacob beltje to take a cargo of dutch cheese to wesel on the rhine. by this means, after a few adventures, they effected their escape, and, arriving not long afterwards at brussels, were formally taken under the protection of the archduchess isabella. stoutenburg afterwards travelled in france and italy, and returned to brussels. his wife, loathing his crime and spurning all further communication with him, abandoned him to his fate. the daughter of marnix of sainte-aldegonde had endured poverty, obscurity, and unmerited obloquy, which had become the lot of the great statesman's family after his tragic end, but she came of a race that would not brook dishonour. the conspirator and suborner of murder and treason, the hirer and companion of assassins, was no mate for her. stoutenburg hesitated for years as to his future career, strangely enough keeping up a hope of being allowed to return to his country. subsequently he embraced the cause of his country's enemies, converted himself to the roman church, and obtained a captaincy of horse in the spanish service. he was seen one day, to the disgust of many spectators, to enter antwerp in black foreign uniform, at the head of his troopers, waving a standard with a death's-head embroidered upon it, and wearing, like his soldiers, a sable scarf and plume. history disdains to follow further the career of the renegade, traitor, end assassin. when the seigneur de groeneveld learned from his younger brother, on the eventful th of february, that the plot had been discovered, he gave himself up for lost. remorse and despair, fastening upon his naturally feeble character, seemed to render him powerless. his wife, of more hopeful disposition than himself and of less heroic mould than walburg de marnix, encouraged him to fly. he fled accordingly, through the desolate sandy downs which roll between the hague and the sea, to scheveningen, then an obscure fishing village on the coast, at a league's distance from the capital. here a fisherman, devoted to him and his family, received him in his hut, disguised him in boatman's attire, and went with him to the strand, proposing to launch his pinkie, put out at once to sea, and to land him on the english coast, the french coast, in hamburg--where he would. the sight of that long, sandy beach stretching for more than seventy miles in an unbroken, melancholy line, without cove, curve, or indentation to break its cruel monotony, and with the wild waves of the german ocean, lashed by a wintry storm, breaking into white foam as far as the eye could reach, appalled the fugitive criminal. with the certainty of an ignominious death behind him, he shrank abjectly from the terrors of the sea, and, despite the honest fisherman's entreaties, refused to enter the boat and face the storm. he wandered feebly along the coast, still accompanied by his humble friend, to another little village, where the fisherman procured a waggon, which took them as far as sandvoort. thence he made his way through egmond and petten and across the marsdiep to tegel, where not deeming himself safe he had himself ferried over to the neighbouring island of vlieland. here amongst the quicksands, whirlpools, and shallows which mark the last verge of habitable holland, the unhappy fugitive stood at bay. meantime information had come to the authorities that a suspicious stranger had been seen at scheveningen. the fisherman's wife was arrested. threatened with torture she at last confessed with whom her husband had fled and whither. information was sent to the bailiff of vlieland, who with a party of followers made a strict search through his narrow precincts. a group of seamen seated on the sands was soon discovered, among whom, dressed in shaggy pea jacket with long fisherman's boots, was the seigneur de groeneveld, who, easily recognized through his disguise, submitted to his captors without a struggle. the scheveningen fisherman, who had been so faithful to him, making a sudden spring, eluded his pursuers and disappeared; thus escaping the gibbet which would probably have been his doom instead of the reward of golden guilders which he might have had for betraying him. thus a sum more than double the amount originally furnished by groeneveld, as the capital of the assassination company, had been rejected by the rotterdam boatman who saved stoutenburg, and by the scheveningen fisherman who was ready to save groeneveld. on the th february, within less than a fortnight from the explosion of the conspiracy, the eldest son of barneveld was lodged in the gevangen poort or state prison of the hague. the awful news of the th february had struck the widow of barneveld as with a thunderbolt. both her sons were proclaimed as murderers and suborners of assassins, and a price put upon their heads. she remained for days neither speaking nor weeping; scarcely eating, drinking, or sleeping. she seemed frozen to stone. her daughters and friends could not tell whether she were dying or had lost her reason. at length the escape of stoutenburg and the capture of groeneveld seemed to rouse her from her trance. she then stooped to do what she had sternly refused to do when her husband was in the hands of the authorities. accompanied by the wife and infant son of groeneveld she obtained an audience of the stern stadholder, fell on her knees before him, and implored mercy and pardon for her son. maurice received her calmly and not discourteously, but held out no hopes of pardon. the criminal was in the hands of justice, he said, and he had no power to interfere. but there can scarcely be a doubt that he had power after the sentence to forgive or to commute, and it will be remembered that when barneveld himself was about to suffer, the prince had asked the clergyman walaeus with much anxiety whether the prisoner in his message had said nothing of pardon. referring to the bitter past, maurice asked madame de barneveld why she not asked mercy for her son, having refused to do so for her husband. her answer was simple and noble: "my husband was innocent of crime," she said; "my son is guilty." the idea of pardon in this case was of course preposterous. certainly if groeneveld had been forgiven, it would have been impossible to punish the thirteen less guilty conspirators, already in the hands of justice, whom he had hired to commit the assassination. the spectacle of the two cowardly ringleaders going free while the meaner criminals were gibbeted would have been a shock to the most rudimentary ideas of justice. it would have been an equal outrage to pardon the younger barnevelds for intended murder, in which they had almost succeeded, when their great father had already suffered for a constructive lese-majesty, the guilt of which had been stoutly denied. yet such is the dreary chain of cause and effect that it is certain, had pardon been nobly offered to the statesman, whose views of constitutional law varied from those of the dominant party, the later crime would never have been committed. but francis aerssens--considering his own and other partisans lives at stake if the states' right party did not fall--had been able to bear down all thoughts of mercy. he was successful, was called to the house of nobles, and regained the embassy of paris, while the house of barneveld was trodden into the dust of dishonour and ruin. rarely has an offended politician's revenge been more thorough than his. never did the mocking fiend betray his victims into the hands of the avenger more sardonically than was done in this sombre tragedy. the trials of the prisoners were rapidly conducted. van dyk, cruelly tortured, confessed on the rack all the details of the conspiracy as they were afterwards embodied in the sentences and have been stated in the preceding narrative. groeneveld was not tortured. his answers to the interrogatories were so vague as to excite amazement at his general ignorance of the foul transaction or at the feebleness of his memory, while there was no attempt on his part to exculpate himself from the damning charge. that it was he who had furnished funds for the proposed murder and mutiny, knowing the purpose to which they were to be applied, was proved beyond all cavil and fully avowed by him. on the th may, he, korenwinder, and van dyk were notified that they were to appear next day in the courthouse to hear their sentence, which would immediately afterwards be executed. that night his mother, wife, and son paid him a long visit of farewell in his prison. the gevangen poort of the hague, an antique but mean building of brown brick and commonplace aspect, still stands in one of the most public parts of the city. a gloomy archway, surmounted by windows grimly guarded by iron lattice-work, forms the general thoroughfare from the aristocratic plaats and kneuterdyk and vyverberg to the inner court of the ancient palace. the cells within are dark, noisome, and dimly lighted, and even to this day the very instruments of torture, used in the trials of these and other prisoners, may be seen by the curious. half a century later the brothers de witt were dragged from this prison to be literally torn to pieces by an infuriated mob. the misery of that midnight interview between the widow of barneveld, her daughter-in-law, and the condemned son and husband need not be described. as the morning approached, the gaoler warned the matrons to take their departure that the prisoner might sleep. "what a woful widow you will be," said groeneveld to his wife, as she sank choking with tears upon the ground. the words suddenly aroused in her the sense of respect for their name. "at least for all this misery endured," she said firmly, "do me enough honour to die like a gentleman." he promised it. the mother then took leave of the son, and history drops a decorous veil henceforth over the grief-stricken form of mary of barneveld. next morning the life-guards of the stadholder and other troops were drawn up in battle-array in the outer and inner courtyard of the supreme tribunal and palace. at ten o'clock groeneveld came forth from the prison. the stadholder had granted as a boon to the family that he might be neither fettered nor guarded as he walked to the tribunal. the prisoner did not forget his parting promise to his wife. he appeared full-dressed in velvet cloak and plumed hat, with rapier by his side, walking calmly through the inner courtyard to the great hall. observing the windows of the stadholder's apartments crowded with spectators, among whom he seemed to recognize the prince's face, he took off his hat and made a graceful and dignified salute. he greeted with courtesy many acquaintances among the crowd through which he passed. he entered the hall and listened in silence to the sentence condemning him to be immediately executed with the sword. van dyk and korenwinder shared the same doom, but were provisionally taken back to prison. groeneveld then walked calmly and gracefully as before from the hall to the scaffold, attended by his own valet, and preceded by the provost-marshal and assistants. he was to suffer, not where his father had been beheaded, but on the "green sod." this public place of execution for ordinary criminals was singularly enough in the most elegant and frequented quarter of the hague. a few rods from the gevangen poort, at the western end of the vyverberg, on the edge of the cheerful triangle called the plaats, and looking directly down the broad and stately kneuterdyk, at the end of which stood aremberg house, lately the residence of the great advocate, was the mean and sordid scaffold. groeneveld ascended it with perfect composure. the man who had been browbeaten into crime by an overbearing and ferocious brother, who had quailed before the angry waves of the north sea, which would have borne him to a place of entire security, now faced his fate with a smile upon his lips. he took off his hat, cloak, and sword, and handed them to his valet. he calmly undid his ruff and wristbands of pointlace, and tossed them on the ground. with his own hands and the assistance of his servant he unbuttoned his doublet, laying breast and neck open without suffering the headsman's hands to approach him. he then walked to the heap of sand and spoke a very few words to the vast throng of spectators. "desire of vengeance and evil counsel," he said, "have brought me here. if i have wronged any man among you, i beg him for christ's sake to forgive me." kneeling on the sand with his face turned towards his father's house at the end of the kneuterdyk, he said his prayers. then putting a red velvet cap over his eyes, he was heard to mutter: "o god! what a man i was once, and what am i now?" calmly folding his hands, he said, "patience." the executioner then struck off his head at a blow. his body, wrapped in a black cloak, was sent to his house and buried in his father's tomb. van dyk and korenwinder were executed immediately afterwards. they were quartered and their heads exposed on stakes. the joiner gerritsen and the three sailors had already been beheaded. the blansaerts and william party, together with the grim slatius, who was savage and turbulent to the last, had suffered on the th of may. fourteen in all were executed for this crime, including an unfortunate tailor and two other mechanics of leyden, who had heard something whispered about the conspiracy, had nothing whatever to do with it, but from ignorance, apathy, or timidity did not denounce it. the ringleader and the equally guilty van der dussen had, as has been seen, effected their escape. thus ended the long tragedy of the barnevelds. the result of this foul conspiracy and its failure to effect the crime proposed strengthened immensely the power, popularity, and influence of the stadholder, made the orthodox church triumphant, and nearly ruined the sect of the remonstrants, the arminians--most unjustly in reality, although with a pitiful show of reason--being held guilty of the crime of stoutenburg and slatius. the republic--that magnificent commonwealth which in its infancy had confronted, single-handed, the greatest empire of the earth, and had wrested its independence from the ancient despot after a forty years' struggle--had now been rent in twain, although in very unequal portions, by the fiend of political and religious hatred. thus crippled, she was to go forth and take her share in that awful conflict now in full blaze, and of which after-ages were to speak with a shudder as the thirty years' war. etext editor's bookmarks: argument in a circle he that stands let him see that he does not fall if he has deserved it, let them strike off his head misery had come not from their being enemies o god! what does man come to! party hatred was not yet glutted with the blood it had drunk rose superior to his doom and took captivity captive this, then, is the reward of forty years' service to the state to milk, the cow as long as she would give milk etext editor's bookmarks, entire john of barneveld, - : acts of violence which under pretext of religion adulation for inferiors whom they despise affection of his friends and the wrath of his enemies and give advice. of that, although always a spendthrift argument in a circle better to be governed by magistrates than mobs burning with bitter revenge for all the favours he had received calumny is often a stronger and more lasting power than disdain casual outbursts of eternal friendship changed his positions and contradicted himself day by day conciliation when war of extermination was intended considered it his special mission in the world to mediate created one child for damnation and another for salvation death rather than life with a false acknowledgment of guilt denoungced as an obstacle to peace depths theological party spirit could descend depths of credulity men in all ages can sink devote himself to his gout and to his fair young wife enemy of all compulsion of the human conscience extraordinary capacity for yielding to gentle violence france was mourning henry and waiting for richelieu furious mob set upon the house of rem bischop hardly a sound protestant policy anywhere but in holland he that stands let him see that he does not fall heidelberg catechism were declared to be infallible highborn demagogues in that as in every age affect adulation history has not too many really important and emblematic men human nature in its meanness and shame i hope and i fear i know how to console myself if he has deserved it, let them strike off his head implication there was much, of assertion very little in this he was much behind his age or before it it had not yet occurred to him that he was married john robinson king who thought it furious madness to resist the enemy logic is rarely the quality on which kings pride themselves magistracy at that moment seemed to mean the sword make the very name of man a term of reproach misery had come not from their being enemies mockery of negotiation in which nothing could be negotiated more apprehension of fraud than of force necessity of deferring to powerful sovereigns never lack of fishers in troubled waters not his custom nor that of his councillors to go to bed o god! what does man come to! only true religion opening an abyss between government and people opposed the subjection of the magistracy by the priesthood partisans wanted not accommodation but victory party hatred was not yet glutted with the blood it had drunk pot-valiant hero puritanism in holland was a very different thing from england rather a wilderness to reign over than a single heretic resolve to maintain the civil authority over the military rose superior to his doom and took captivity captive seemed bent on self-destruction stand between hope and fear successful in this step, he is ready for greater ones tempest of passion and prejudice that he tries to lay the fault on us is pure malice the magnitude of this wonderful sovereign's littleness the effect of energetic, uncompromising calumny the evils resulting from a confederate system of government this, then, is the reward of forty years' service to the state this wonderful sovereign's littleness oppresses the imagination to milk, the cow as long as she would give milk to stifle for ever the right of free enquiry william brewster wise and honest a man, although he be somewhat longsome yes, there are wicked men about yesterday is the preceptor of to-morrow etext editor's bookmarks, entire john of barneveld - : abstinence from inquisition into consciences and private parlour acts of violence which under pretext of religion adulation for inferiors whom they despise advanced orthodox party-puritans affection of his friends and the wrath of his enemies allowed the demon of religious hatred to enter into its body almost infinite power of the meanest of passions and give advice. of that, although always a spendthrift and now the knife of another priest-led fanatic argument in a circle aristocracy of god's elect as with his own people, keeping no back-door open at a blow decapitated france atheist, a tyrant, because he resisted dictation from the clergy behead, torture, burn alive, and bury alive all heretics better to be governed by magistrates than mobs burning with bitter revenge for all the favours he had received calumny is often a stronger and more lasting power than disdain casual outbursts of eternal friendship changed his positions and contradicted himself day by day christian sympathy and a small assistance not being sufficient conciliation when war of extermination was intended conclusive victory for the allies seemed as predestined considered it his special mission in the world to mediate contained within itself the germs of a larger liberty could not be both judge and party in the suit covered now with the satirical dust of centuries created one child for damnation and another for salvation deadly hatred of puritans in england and holland death rather than life with a false acknowledgment of guilt denoungced as an obstacle to peace depths of credulity men in all ages can sink depths theological party spirit could descend determined to bring the very name of liberty into contempt devote himself to his gout and to his fair young wife disputing the eternal damnation of young children doctrine of predestination in its sternest and strictest sense emperor of japan addressed him as his brother monarch enemy of all compulsion of the human conscience epernon, the true murderer of henry estimating his character and judging his judges everybody should mind his own business extraordinary capacity for yielding to gentle violence fate, free will, or absolute foreknowledge father cotton, who was only too ready to betray the secrets france was mourning henry and waiting for richelieu furious mob set upon the house of rem bischop give him advice if he asked it, and money when he required great war of religion and politics was postponed hardly a sound protestant policy anywhere but in holland he was not imperial of aspect on canvas or coin he who would have all may easily lose all he who spreads the snare always tumbles into the ditch himself he was a sincere bigot he that stands let him see that he does not fall heidelberg catechism were declared to be infallible highborn demagogues in that as in every age affect adulation history has not too many really important and emblematic men human nature in its meanness and shame i know how to console myself i hope and i fear if he has deserved it, let them strike off his head impatience is often on the part of the non-combatants implication there was much, of assertion very little in this he was much behind his age or before it intense bigotry of conviction international friendship, the self-interest of each it had not yet occurred to him that he was married it was the true religion, and there was none other james of england, who admired, envied, and hated henry jealousy, that potent principle jesuit mariana--justifying the killing of excommunicated kings john robinson king who thought it furious madness to resist the enemy king's definite and final intentions, varied from day to day language which is ever living because it is dead logic is rarely the quality on which kings pride themselves louis xiii. ludicrous gravity magistracy at that moment seemed to mean the sword make the very name of man a term of reproach misery had come not from their being enemies mockery of negotiation in which nothing could be negotiated more apprehension of fraud than of force more fiercely opposed to each other than to papists most detestable verses that even he had ever composed necessity of deferring to powerful sovereigns neither kings nor governments are apt to value logic never lack of fishers in troubled waters no man pretended to think of the state no man can be neutral in civil contentions no synod had a right to claim netherlanders as slaves none but god to compel me to say more than i choose to say not his custom nor that of his councillors to go to bed o god! what does man come to! only true religion opening an abyss between government and people opposed the subjection of the magistracy by the priesthood outdoing himself in dogmatism and inconsistency partisans wanted not accommodation but victory party hatred was not yet glutted with the blood it had drunk philip iv. pot-valiant hero power the poison of which it is so difficult to resist practised successfully the talent of silence presents of considerable sums of money to the negotiators made priests shall control the state or the state govern the priests princes show what they have in them at twenty-five or never puritanism in holland was a very different thing from england putting the cart before the oxen queen is entirely in the hands of spain and the priests rather a wilderness to reign over than a single heretic religion was made the strumpet of political ambition religious toleration, which is a phrase of insult resolve to maintain the civil authority over the military rose superior to his doom and took captivity captive safest citadel against an invader and a tyrant is distrust schism in the church had become a public fact secure the prizes of war without the troubles and dangers seemed bent on self-destruction senectus edam maorbus est she declined to be his procuress small matter which human folly had dilated into a great one smooth words, in the plentiful lack of any substantial so much in advance of his time as to favor religious equality stand between hope and fear stroke of a broken table knife sharpened on a carriage wheel successful in this step, he is ready for greater ones tempest of passion and prejudice that he tries to lay the fault on us is pure malice that cynical commerce in human lives the effect of energetic, uncompromising calumny the evils resulting from a confederate system of government the vehicle is often prized more than the freight the voice of slanderers the truth in shortest about matters of importance the assassin, tortured and torn by four horses the defence of the civil authority against the priesthood the magnitude of this wonderful sovereign's littleness the catholic league and the protestant union their own roofs were not quite yet in a blaze theological hatred was in full blaze throughout the country theology and politics were one there was no use in holding language of authority to him there was but one king in europe, henry the bearnese therefore now denounced the man whom he had injured they have killed him, 'e ammazato,' cried concini things he could tell which are too odious and dreadful thirty years' war tread on the heels of the forty years this wonderful sovereign's littleness oppresses the imagination this, then, is the reward of forty years' service to the state to milk, the cow as long as she would give milk to stifle for ever the right of free enquiry to look down upon their inferior and lost fellow creatures uncouple the dogs and let them run unimaginable outrage as the most legitimate industry vows of an eternal friendship of several weeks' duration what could save the house of austria, the cause of papacy whether repentance could effect salvation whether dead infants were hopelessly damned whose mutual hatred was now artfully inflamed end of the history of the netherlands by motley john lothrop motley. a memoir, complete by oliver wendell holmes, sr. volume i. note. the memoir here given to the public is based on a biographical sketch prepared by the writer at the request of the massachusetts historical society for its proceedings. the questions involving controversies into which the society could not feel called to enter are treated at considerable length in the following pages. many details are also given which would have carried the paper written for the society beyond the customary limits of such tributes to the memory of its deceased members. it is still but an outline which may serve a present need and perhaps be of some assistance to a future biographer. i. - . to aet. . birth and early years. john motley, the great-grandfather of the subject of this memoir, came in the earlier part of the last century from belfast in ireland to falmouth, now portland, in the district, now the state of maine. he was twice married, and had ten children, four of the first marriage and six of the last. thomas, the youngest son by his first wife, married emma, a daughter of john wait, the first sheriff of cumberland county under the government of the united states. two of their seven sons, thomas and edward, removed from portland to boston in and established themselves as partners in commercial business, continuing united and prosperous for nearly half a century before the firm was dissolved. the earlier records of new england have preserved the memory of an incident which deserves mention as showing how the historian's life was saved by a quickwitted handmaid, more than a hundred years before he was born. on the th of august, , the french and indians from canada made an attack upon the town of haverhill, in massachusetts. thirty or forty persons were slaughtered, and many others were carried captive into canada. the minister of the town, rev. benjamin rolfe, was killed by a bullet through the door of his house. two of his daughters, mary, aged thirteen, and elizabeth, aged nine, were sleeping in a room with the maid-servant, hagar. when hagar heard the whoop of the savages she seized the children, ran with them into the cellar, and, after concealing them under two large washtubs, hid herself. the indians ransacked the cellar, but missed the prey. elizabeth, the younger of the two girls, grew up and married the rev. samuel checkley, first minister of the "new south" church, boston. her son, rev. samuel checkley, junior, was minister of the second church, and his successor, rev. john lothrop, or lathrop, as it was more commonly spelled, married his daughter. dr. lothrop was great-grandson of rev. john lothrop, of scituate, who had been imprisoned in england for nonconformity. the checkleys were from preston capes, in northamptonshire. the name is probably identical with that of the chicheles or chichleys, a well-known northamptonshire family. thomas motley married anna, daughter of the rev. john lothrop, granddaughter of the rev. samuel checkley, junior, the two ministers mentioned above, both honored in their day and generation. eight children were born of this marriage, of whom four are still living. john lothrop motley, the second of these children, was born in dorchester, now a part of boston, massachusetts, on the th of april, . a member of his family gives a most pleasing and interesting picture, from his own recollections and from what his mother told him, of the childhood which was to develop into such rich maturity. the boy was rather delicate in organization, and not much given to outdoor amusements, except skating and swimming, of which last exercise he was very fond in his young days, and in which he excelled. he was a great reader, never idle, but always had a book in his hand,--a volume of poetry or one of the novels of scott or cooper. his fondness for plays and declamation is illustrated by the story told by a younger brother, who remembers being wrapped up in a shawl and kept quiet by sweetmeats, while he figured as the dead caesar, and his brother, the future historian, delivered the speech of antony over his prostrate body. he was of a most sensitive nature, easily excited, but not tenacious of any irritated feelings, with a quick sense of honor, and the most entirely truthful child, his mother used to say, that she had ever seen. such are some of the recollections of those who knew him in his earliest years and in the most intimate relations. his father's family was at this time living in the house no. walnut street, looking down chestnut street over the water to the western hills. near by, at the corner of beacon street, was the residence of the family of the first mayor of boston, and at a little distance from the opposite corner was the house of one of the fathers of new england manufacturing enterprise, a man of superior intellect, who built up a great name and fortune in our city. the children from these three homes naturally became playmates. mr. motley's house was a very hospitable one, and lothrop and two of his young companions were allowed to carry out their schemes of amusement in the garden and the garret. if one with a prescient glance could have looked into that garret on some saturday afternoon while our century was not far advanced in its second score of years, he might have found three boys in cloaks and doublets and plumed hats, heroes and bandits, enacting more or less impromptu melodramas. in one of the boys he would have seen the embryo dramatist of a nation's life history, john lothrop motley; in the second, a famous talker and wit who has spilled more good things on the wasteful air in conversation than would carry a "diner-out" through half a dozen london seasons, and waked up somewhat after the usual flowering-time of authorship to find himself a very agreeable and cordially welcomed writer,--thomas gold appleton. in the third he would have recognized a champion of liberty known wherever that word is spoken, an orator whom to hear is to revive all the traditions of the grace, the address, the commanding sway of the silver-tongued eloquence of the most renowned speakers,--wendell phillips. both of young motley's playmates have furnished me with recollections of him and of those around him at this period of his life, and i cannot do better than borrow freely from their communications. his father was a man of decided character, social, vivacious, witty, a lover of books, and himself not unknown as a writer, being the author of one or more of the well remembered "jack downing" letters. he was fond of having the boys read to him from such authors as channing and irving, and criticised their way of reading with discriminating judgment and taste. mrs. motley was a woman who could not be looked upon without admiration. i remember well the sweet dignity of her aspect, her "regal beauty," as mr. phillips truly styles it, and the charm of her serene and noble presence, which made her the type of a perfect motherhood. her character corresponded to the promise of her gracious aspect. she was one of the fondest of mothers, but not thoughtlessly indulgent to the boy from whom she hoped and expected more than she thought it wise to let him know. the story used to be current that in their younger days this father and mother were the handsomest pair the town of boston could show. this son of theirs was "rather tall," says mr. phillips, "lithe, very graceful in movement and gesture, and there was something marked and admirable in the set of his head on his shoulders,"--a peculiar elegance which was most noticeable in those later days when i knew him. lady byron long afterwards spoke of him as more like her husband in appearance than any other person she had met; but mr. phillips, who remembers the first bloom of his boyhood and youth, thinks he was handsomer than any portrait of byron represents the poet. "he could not have been eleven years old," says the same correspondent, "when he began writing a novel. it opened, i remember, not with one solitary horseman, but with two, riding up to an inn in the valley of the housatonic. neither of us had ever seen the housatonic, but it sounded grand and romantic. two chapters were finished." there is not much remembered of the single summer he passed at mr. green's school at jamaica plain. from that school he went to round hill, northampton, then under the care of mr. cogswell and mr. bancroft. the historian of the united states could hardly have dreamed that the handsome boy of ten years was to take his place at the side of his teacher in the first rank of writers in his own department. motley came to round hill, as one of his schoolmates tells me, with a great reputation, especially as a declaimer. he had a remarkable facility for acquiring languages, excelled as a reader and as a writer, and was the object of general admiration for his many gifts. there is some reason to think that the flattery he received was for a time a hindrance to his progress and the development of his character. he obtained praise too easily, and learned to trust too much to his genius. he had everything to spoil him,--beauty, precocious intelligence, and a personal charm which might have made him a universal favorite. yet he does not seem to have been generally popular at this period of his life. he was wilful, impetuous, sometimes supercilious, always fastidious. he would study as he liked, and not by rule. his school and college mates believed in his great possibilities through all his forming period, but it may be doubted if those who counted most confidently on his future could have supposed that he would develop the heroic power of concentration, the long-breathed tenacity of purpose, which in after years gave effect to his brilliant mental endowments. "i did wonder," says mr. wendell phillips, "at the diligence and painstaking, the drudgery shown in his historical works. in early life he had no industry, not needing it. all he cared for in a book he caught quickly,--the spirit of it, and all his mind needed or would use. this quickness of apprehension was marvellous." i do not find from the recollections of his schoolmates at northampton that he was reproached for any grave offences, though he may have wandered beyond the prescribed boundaries now and then, and studied according to his inclinations rather than by rule. while at that school he made one acquisition much less common then than now,--a knowledge of the german language and some degree of acquaintance with its literature, under the guidance of one of the few thorough german scholars this country then possessed, mr. george bancroft. ii. - . aet. - . college life. such then was the boy who at the immature, we might almost say the tender, age of thirteen entered harvard college. though two years after me in college standing, i remember the boyish reputation which he brought with him, especially that of a wonderful linguist, and the impression which his striking personal beauty produced upon us as he took his seat in the college chapel. but it was not until long after this period that i became intimately acquainted with him, and i must again have recourse to the classmates and friends who have favored me with their reminiscences of this period of his life. mr. phillips says: "during our first year in college, though the youngest in the class, he stood third, i think, or second in college rank, and ours was an especially able class. yet to maintain this rank he neither cared nor needed to make any effort. too young to feel any responsibilities, and not yet awake to any ambition, he became so negligent that he was 'rusticated' [that is, sent away from college for a time]. he came back sobered, and worked rather more, but with no effort for college rank thenceforward." i must finish the portrait of the collegian with all its lights and shadows by the help of the same friends from whom i have borrowed the preceding outlines. he did not care to make acquaintances, was haughty in manner and cynical in mood, at least as he appeared to those in whom he felt no special interest. it is no wonder, therefore, that he was not a popular favorite, although recognized as having very brilliant qualities. during all this period his mind was doubtless fermenting with projects which kept him in a fevered and irritable condition. "he had a small writing-table," mr. phillips says, "with a shallow drawer; i have often seen it half full of sketches, unfinished poems, soliloquies, a scene or two of a play, prose portraits of some pet character, etc. these he would read to me, though he never volunteered to do so, and every now and then he burnt the whole and began to fill the drawer again." my friend, mr. john osborne sargent, who was a year before him in college, says, in a very interesting letter with which he has favored me: "my first acquaintance with him [motley] was at cambridge, when he came from mr. cogswell's school at round hill. he then had a good deal of the shyness that was just pronounced enough to make him interesting, and which did not entirely wear off till he left college. . . i soon became acquainted with him, and we used to take long walks together, sometimes taxing each other's memory for poems or passages from poems that had struck our fancy. shelley was then a great favorite of his, and i remember that praed's verses then appearing in the 'new monthly' he thought very clever and brilliant, and was fond of repeating them. you have forgotten, or perhaps never knew, that motley's first appearance in print was in the 'collegian.' he brought me one day, in a very modest mood, a translation from goethe, which i was most happy to oblige him by inserting. it was very prettily done, and will now be a curiosity. . . . how it happened that motley wrote only one piece i do not remember. i had the pleasure about that time of initiating him as a member of the knights of the square table,--always my favorite college club, for the reason, perhaps, that i was a sometime grand master. he was always a genial and jovial companion at our supper- parties at fresh pond and gallagher's." we who live in the days of photographs know how many faces belong to every individual. we know too under what different aspects the same character appears to those who study it from different points of view and with different prepossessions. i do not hesitate, therefore, to place side by side the impressions of two of his classmates as to one of his personal traits as they observed him at this period of his youth. "he was a manly boy, with no love for or leaning to girls' company; no care for dress; not a trace of personal vanity. . . . he was, or at least seemed, wholly unconscious of his rare beauty and of the fascination of his manner; not a trace of pretence, the simplest and most natural creature in the world." look on that picture and on this:-- "he seemed to have a passion for dress. but as in everything else, so in this, his fancy was a fitful one. at one time he would excite our admiration by the splendor of his outfit, and perhaps the next week he would seem to take equal pleasure in his slovenly or careless appearance." it is not very difficult to reconcile these two portraitures. i recollect it was said by a witty lady of a handsome clergyman well remembered among us, that he had dressy eyes. motley so well became everything he wore, that if he had sprung from his bed and slipped his clothes on at an alarm of fire, his costume would have looked like a prince's undress. his natural presentment, like that of count d'orsay, was of the kind which suggests the intentional effects of an elaborate toilet, no matter how little thought or care may have been given to make it effective. i think the "passion for dress" was really only a seeming, and that he often excited admiration when he had not taken half the pains to adorn himself that many a youth less favored by nature has wasted upon his unblest exterior only to be laughed at. i gather some other interesting facts from a letter which i have received from his early playmate and school and college classmate, mr. t. g. appleton. "in his sophomore year he kept abreast of the prescribed studies, but his heart was out of bounds, as it often had been at round hill when chasing squirrels or rabbits through forbidden forests. already his historical interest was shaping his life. a tutor coming-by chance, let us hope--to his room remonstrated with him upon the heaps of novels upon his table. "'yes,' said motley, 'i am reading historically, and have come to the novels of the nineteenth century. taken in the lump, they are very hard reading.'" all old cambridge people know the brattle house, with its gambrel roof, its tall trees, its perennial spring, its legendary fame of good fare and hospitable board in the days of the kindly old bon vivant, major brattle. in this house the two young students, appleton and motley, lived during a part of their college course. "motley's room was on the ground floor, the room to the left of the entrance. he led a very pleasant life there, tempering his college duties with the literature he loved, and receiving his friends amidst elegant surroundings, which added to the charm of his society. occasionally we amused ourselves by writing for the magazines and papers of the day. mr. willis had just started a slim monthly, written chiefly by himself, but with the true magazine flavor. we wrote for that, and sometimes verses in the corner of a paper called 'the anti-masonic mirror,' and in which corner was a woodcut of apollo, and inviting to destruction ambitious youths by the legend underneath,-- 'much yet remains unsung.' these pieces were usually dictated to each other, the poet recumbent upon the bed and a classmate ready to carry off the manuscript for the paper of the following day. 'blackwood's' was then in its glory, its pages redolent of 'mountain dew' in every sense; the humor of the shepherd, the elegantly brutal onslaughts upon whigs and cockney poets by christopher north, intoxicated us youths. "it was young writing, and made for the young. the opinions were charmingly wrong, and its enthusiasm was half glenlivet. but this delighted the boys. there were no reprints then, and to pass the paper-cutter up the fresh inviting pages was like swinging over the heather arm in arm with christopher himself. it is a little singular that though we had a college magazine of our own, motley rarely if ever wrote for it. i remember a translation from goethe, 'the ghost-seer,' which he may have written for it, and a poem upon the white mountains. motley spoke at one of the college exhibitions an essay on goethe so excellent that mr. joseph cogswell sent it to madam goethe, who, after reading it, said, 'i wish to see the first book that young man will write.'" although motley did not aim at or attain a high college rank, the rules of the phi beta kappa society, which confine the number of members to the first sixteen of each class, were stretched so as to include him,--a tribute to his recognized ability, and an evidence that a distinguished future was anticipated for him. iii. - . aet. - . study and travel in europe. of the two years divided between the universities of berlin and gottingen i have little to record. that he studied hard i cannot doubt; that he found himself in pleasant social relations with some of his fellow-students seems probable from the portraits he has drawn in his first story, "morton's hope," and is rendered certain so far as one of his companions is concerned. among the records of the past to which he referred during his last visit to this country was a letter which he took from a collection of papers and handed me to read one day when i was visiting him. the letter was written in a very lively and exceedingly familiar vein. it implied such intimacy, and called up in such a lively way the gay times motley and himself had had together in their youthful days, that i was puzzled to guess who could have addressed him from germany in that easy and off-hand fashion. i knew most of his old friends who would be likely to call him by his baptismal name in its most colloquial form, and exhausted my stock of guesses unsuccessfully before looking at the signature. i confess that i was surprised, after laughing at the hearty and almost boyish tone of the letter, to read at the bottom of the page the signature of bismarck. i will not say that i suspect motley of having drawn the portrait of his friend in one of the characters of "morton's hope," but it is not hard to point out traits in one of them which we can believe may have belonged to the great chancellor at an earlier period of life than that at which the world contemplates his overshadowing proportions. hoping to learn something of motley during the two years while we had lost sight of him, i addressed a letter to his highness prince bismarck, to which i received the following reply:-- foreign office, berlin, march , . sir,--i am directed by prince bismarck to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the st of january, relating to the biography of the late mr. motley. his highness deeply regrets that the state of his health and pressure of business do not allow him to contribute personally, and as largely as he would be delighted to do, to your depicting of a friend whose memory will be ever dear to him. since i had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of mr. motley at varzin, i have been intrusted with communicating to you a few details i have gathered from the mouth of the prince. i enclose them as they are jotted down, without any attempt of digestion. i have the honor to be your obedient servant, lothair bucher. "prince bismarck said:-- "'i met motley at gottingen in , i am not sure if at the beginning of easter term or michaelmas term. he kept company with german students, though more addicted to study than we members of the fighting clubs (corps). although not having mastered yet the german language, he exercised a marked attraction by a conversation sparkling with wit, humor, and originality. in autumn of , having both of us migrated from gottingen to berlin for the prosecution of our studies, we became fellow-lodgers in the house no. friedrich strasse. there we lived in the closest intimacy, sharing meals and outdoor exercise. motley by that time had arrived at talking german fluently; he occupied himself not only in translating goethe's poem "faust," but tried his hand even in composing german verses. enthusiastic admirer of shakespeare, byron, goethe, he used to spice his conversation abundantly with quotations from these his favorite authors. a pertinacious arguer, so much so that sometimes he watched my awakening in order to continue a discussion on some topic of science, poetry, or practical life, cut short by the chime of the small hours, he never lost his mild and amiable temper. our faithful companion was count alexander keyserling, a native of courland, who has since achieved distinction as a botanist. "'motley having entered the diplomatic service of his country, we had frequently the opportunity of renewing our friendly intercourse; at frankfort he used to stay with me, the welcome guest of my wife; we also met at vienna, and, later, here. the last time i saw him was in at varzin, at the celebration of my "silver wedding," namely, the twenty-fifth anniversary. "'the most striking feature of his handsome and delicate appearance was uncommonly large and beautiful eyes. he never entered a drawing-room without exciting the curiosity and sympathy of the ladies.'" it is but a glimpse of their young life which the great statesman gives us, but a bright and pleasing one. here were three students, one of whom was to range in the flowery fields of the loveliest of the sciences, another to make the dead past live over again in his burning pages, and a third to extend an empire as the botanist spread out a plant and the historian laid open a manuscript. iv. - . et. - . return to america.--study of law.--marriage.--his first novel, "morton's hope." of the years passed in the study of law after his return from germany i have very little recollection, and nothing of importance to record. he never became seriously engaged in the practice of the profession he had chosen. i had known him pleasantly rather than intimately, and our different callings tended to separate us. i met him, however, not very rarely, at one house where we were both received with the greatest cordiality, and where the attractions brought together many both young and old to enjoy the society of its charming and brilliant inmates. this was at no. temple place, where mr. park benjamin was then living with his two sisters, both in the bloom of young womanhood. here motley found the wife to whom his life owed so much of its success and its happiness. those who remember mary benjamin find it hard to speak of her in the common terms of praise which they award to the good and the lovely. she was not only handsome and amiable and agreeable, but there was a cordial frankness, an openhearted sincerity about her which made her seem like a sister to those who could help becoming her lovers. she stands quite apart in the memory of the friends who knew her best, even from the circle of young persons whose recollections they most cherish. yet hardly could one of them have foreseen all that she was to be to him whose life she was to share. they were married on the d of march, . his intimate friend, mr. joseph lewis stackpole, was married at about the same time to her sister, thus joining still more closely in friendship the two young men who were already like brothers in their mutual affection. two years after his marriage, in , appeared his first work, a novel in two volumes, called "morton's hope." he had little reason to be gratified with its reception. the general verdict was not favorable to it, and the leading critical journal of america, not usually harsh or cynical in its treatment of native authorship, did not even give it a place among its "critical notices," but dropped a small-print extinguisher upon it in one of the pages of its "list of new publications." nothing could be more utterly disheartening than the unqualified condemnation passed upon the story. at the same time the critic says that "no one can read 'morton's hope' without perceiving it to have been written by a person of uncommon resources of mind and scholarship." it must be confessed that, as a story, "morton's hope" cannot endure a searching or even a moderately careful criticism. it is wanting in cohesion, in character, even in a proper regard to circumstances of time and place; it is a map of dissected incidents which has been flung out of its box and has arranged itself without the least regard to chronology or geography. it is not difficult to trace in it many of the influences which had helped in forming or deforming the mind of the young man of twenty-five, not yet come into possession of his full inheritance of the slowly ripening qualities which were yet to assert their robust independence. how could he help admiring byron and falling into more or less unconscious imitation of his moods if not of his special affectations? passion showing itself off against a dark foil of cynicism; sentiment, ashamed of its own self-betrayal, and sneering at itself from time to time for fear of the laugh of the world at its sincerity,--how many young men were spoiled and how many more injured by becoming bad copies of a bad ideal! the blood of don juan ran in the veins of vivian grey and of pelham. but if we read the fantastic dreams of disraeli, the intellectual dandyisms of bulwer, remembering the after careers of which these were the preludes, we can understand how there might well be something in those earlier efforts which would betray itself in the way of thought and in the style of the young men who read them during the plastic period of their minds and characters. allow for all these influences, allow for whatever impressions his german residence and his familiarity with german literature had produced; accept the fact that the story is to the last degree disjointed, improbable, impossible; lay it aside as a complete failure in what it attempted to be, and read it, as "vivian grey" is now read, in the light of the career which it heralded. "morton's hope" is not to be read as a novel: it is to be studied as an autobiography, a prophecy, a record of aspirations, disguised under a series of incidents which are flung together with no more regard to the unities than a pack of shuffled playing-cards. i can do nothing better than let him picture himself, for it is impossible not to recognize the portrait. it is of little consequence whether every trait is an exact copy from his own features, but it is so obvious that many of the lines are direct transcripts from nature that we may believe the same thing of many others. let us compare his fictitious hero's story with what we have read of his own life. in early boyhood morton amused himself and astonished those about him by enacting plays for a puppet theatre. this was at six years old, and at twelve we find him acting in a play with other boys, just as motley's playmates have already described him. the hero may now speak for himself, but we shall all perceive that we are listening to the writer's own story. "i was always a huge reader; my mind was essentially craving and insatiable. its appetite was enormous, and it devoured too greedily for health. i rejected all guidance in my studies. i already fancied myself a misanthrope. i had taken a step very common for boys of my age, and strove with all my might to be a cynic." he goes on to describe, under the perfectly transparent mask of his hero, the course of his studies. "to poetry, like most infants, i devoted most of my time." from modern poetry he went back to the earlier sources, first with the idea of systematic reading and at last through chaucer and gower and early ballads, until he lost himself "in a dismal swamp of barbarous romances and lying latin chronicles. i got hold of the bibliotheca monastica, containing a copious account of anglo-norman authors, with notices of their works, and set seriously to reading every one of them." one profit of his antiquarianism, however, was, as he says, his attention to foreign languages,--french, spanish, german, especially in their earliest and rudest forms of literature. from these he ascended to the ancient poets, and from latin to greek. he would have taken up the study of the oriental languages, but for the advice of a relative, who begged him seriously to turn his attention to history. the paragraph which follows must speak for itself as a true record under a feigned heading. "the groundwork of my early character was plasticity and fickleness. i was mortified by this exposure of my ignorance, and disgusted with my former course of reading. i now set myself violently to the study of history. with my turn of mind, and with the preposterous habits which i had been daily acquiring, i could not fail to make as gross mistakes in the pursuit of this as of other branches of knowledge. i imagined, on setting out, a system of strict and impartial investigation of the sources of history. i was inspired with the absurd ambition, not uncommon to youthful students, of knowing as much as their masters. i imagined it necessary for me, stripling as i was, to study the authorities; and, imbued with the strict necessity of judging for myself, i turned from the limpid pages of the modern historians to the notes and authorities at the bottom of the page. these, of course, sent me back to my monastic acquaintances, and i again found myself in such congenial company to a youthful and ardent mind as florence of worcester and simeon of durham, the venerable bede and matthew paris; and so on to gregory and fredegarius, down to the more modern and elegant pages of froissart, hollinshed, hooker, and stowe. infant as i was, i presumed to grapple with masses of learning almost beyond the strength of the giants of history. a spendthrift of my time and labor, i went out of my way to collect materials, and to build for myself, when i should have known that older and abler architects had already appropriated all that was worth preserving; that the edifice was built, the quarry exhausted, and that i was, consequently, only delving amidst rubbish. "this course of study was not absolutely without its advantages. the mind gained a certain proportion of vigor even by this exercise of its faculties, just as my bodily health would have been improved by transporting the refuse ore of a mine from one pit to another, instead of coining the ingots which lay heaped before my eyes. still, however, my time was squandered. there was a constant want of fitness and concentration of my energies. my dreams of education were boundless, brilliant, indefinite; but alas! they were only dreams. there was nothing accurate and defined in my future course of life. i was ambitious and conceited, but my aspirations were vague and shapeless. i had crowded together the most gorgeous and even some of the most useful and durable materials for my woof, but i had no pattern, and consequently never began to weave. "i had not made the discovery that an individual cannot learn, nor be, everything; that the world is a factory in which each individual must perform his portion of work:--happy enough if he can choose it according to his taste and talent, but must renounce the desire of observing or superintending the whole operation. . . . "from studying and investigating the sources of history with my own eyes, i went a step further; i refused the guidance of modern writers; and proceeding from one point of presumption to another, i came to the magnanimous conviction that i could not know history as i ought to know it unless i wrote it for myself. . . . "it would be tedious and useless to enlarge upon my various attempts and various failures. i forbear to comment upon mistakes which i was in time wise enough to retrieve. pushing out as i did, without compass and without experience, on the boundless ocean of learning, what could i expect but an utter and a hopeless shipwreck? "thus i went on, becoming more learned, and therefore more ignorant, more confused in my brain, and more awkward in my habits, from day to day. i was ever at my studies, and could hardly be prevailed upon to allot a moment to exercise or recreation. i breakfasted with a pen behind my ear, and dined in company with a folio bigger than the table. i became solitary and morose, the necessary consequence of reckless study; talked impatiently of the value of my time, and the immensity of my labors; spoke contemptuously of the learning and acquirements of the whole world, and threw out mysterious hints of the magnitude and importance of my own project. "in the midst of all this study and this infant authorship the perusal of such masses of poetry could not fail to produce their effect. of a youth whose mind, like mine at that period, possessed some general capability, without perhaps a single prominent and marked talent, a proneness to imitation is sure to be the besetting sin. i consequently, for a large portion of my earlier life, never read a work which struck my fancy, without planning a better one upon its model; for my ambition, like my vanity, knew no bounds. it was a matter of course that i should be attacked by the poetic mania. i took the infection at the usual time, went through its various stages, and recovered as soon as could be expected. i discovered soon enough that emulation is not capability, and he is fortunate to whom is soonest revealed the relative extent of his ambition and his powers. "my ambition was boundless; my dreams of glory were not confined to authorship and literature alone; but every sphere in which the intellect of man exerts itself revolved in a blaze of light before me. and there i sat in my solitude and dreamed such wondrous dreams! events were thickening around me which were soon to change the world, but they were unmarked by me. the country was changing to a mighty theatre, on whose stage those who were as great as i fancied myself to be were to enact a stupendous drama in which i had no part. i saw it not; i knew it not; and yet how infinitely beautiful were the imaginations of my solitude! fancy shook her kaleidoscope each moment as chance directed, and lo! what new, fantastic, brilliant, but what unmeaning visions. my ambitious anticipations were as boundless as they were various and conflicting. there was not a path which leads to glory in which i was not destined to gather laurels. as a warrior i would conquer and overrun the world. as a statesman i would reorganize and govern it. as a historian i would consign it all to immortality; and in my leisure moments i would be a great poet and a man of the world. "in short, i was already enrolled in that large category of what are called young men of genius,--men who are the pride of their sisters and the glory of their grandmothers,--men of whom unheard-of things are expected, till after long preparation comes a portentous failure, and then they are forgotten; subsiding into indifferent apprentices and attorneys' clerks. "alas for the golden imaginations of our youth! they are bright and beautiful, but they fade. they glitter brightly enough to deceive the wisest and most cautious, and we garner them up in the most secret caskets of our hearts; but are they not like the coins which the dervise gave the merchant in the story? when we look for them the next morning, do we not find them withered leaves?" the ideal picture just drawn is only a fuller portraiture of the youth whose outlines have been already sketched by the companions of his earlier years. if his hero says, "i breakfasted with a pen behind my ear and dined in company with a folio bigger than the table," one of his family says of the boy motley that "if there were five minutes before dinner, when he came into the parlor he always took up some book near at hand and began to read until dinner was announced." the same unbounded thirst for knowledge, the same history of various attempts and various failures, the same ambition, not yet fixed in its aim, but showing itself in restless effort, belong to the hero of the story and its narrator. let no man despise the first efforts of immature genius. nothing can be more crude as a novel, nothing more disappointing, than "morton's hope." but in no other of motley's writings do we get such an inside view of his character with its varied impulses, its capricious appetites, its unregulated forces, its impatient grasp for all kinds of knowledge. with all his university experiences at home and abroad, it might be said with a large measure of truth that he was a self-educated man, as he had been a self-taught boy. his instincts were too powerful to let him work quietly in the common round of school and college training. looking at him as his companions describe him, as he delineates himself 'mutato nomine,' the chances of success would have seemed to all but truly prophetic eyes very doubtful, if not decidedly against him. too many brilliant young novel-readers and lovers of poetry, excused by their admirers for their shortcomings on the strength of their supposed birthright of "genius," have ended where they began; flattered into the vain belief that they were men at eighteen or twenty, and finding out at fifty that they were and always had been nothing more than boys. it was but a tangled skein of life that motley's book showed us at twenty-five, and older men might well have doubted whether it would ever be wound off in any continuous thread. to repeat his own words, he had crowded together the materials for his work, but he had no pattern, and consequently never began to weave. the more this first work of motley's is examined, the more are its faults as a story and its interest as a self-revelation made manifest to the reader. the future historian, who spared no pains to be accurate, falls into the most extraordinary anachronisms in almost every chapter. brutus in a bob-wig, othello in a swallow-tail coat, could hardly be more incongruously equipped than some of his characters in the manner of thought, the phrases, the way of bearing themselves which belong to them in the tale, but never could have belonged to characters of our revolutionary period. he goes so far in his carelessness as to mix up dates in such a way as almost to convince us that he never looked over his own manuscript or proofs. his hero is in prague in june, , reading a letter received from america in less than a fortnight from the date of its being written; in august of the same year he is in the american camp, where he is found in the company of a certain colonel waldron, an officer of some standing in the revolutionary army, with whom he is said to have been constantly associated for some three months, having arrived in america, as he says, on the th of may, that is to say, six weeks or more before he sailed, according to his previous account. bohemia seems to have bewitched his chronology as it did shakespeare's geography. to have made his story a consistent series of contradictions, morton should have sailed from that bohemian seashore which may be found in "a winter's tale," but not in the map of europe. and yet in the midst of all these marks of haste and negligence, here and there the philosophical student of history betrays himself, the ideal of noble achievement glows in an eloquent paragraph, or is embodied in a loving portrait like that of the professor and historian harlem. the novel, taken in connection with the subsequent developments of the writer's mind, is a study of singular interest. it is a chaos before the creative epoch; the light has not been divided from the darkness; the firmament has not yet divided the waters from the waters. the forces at work in a human intelligence to bring harmony out of its discordant movements are as mysterious, as miraculous, we might truly say, as those which give shape and order to the confused materials out of which habitable worlds are evolved. it is too late now to be sensitive over this unsuccessful attempt as a story and unconscious success as a self-portraiture. the first sketches of paul veronese, the first patterns of the gobelin tapestry, are not to be criticised for the sake of pointing out their inevitable and too manifest imperfections. they are to be carefully studied as the earliest efforts of the hand which painted the marriage at cana, of the art which taught the rude fabrics made to be trodden under foot to rival the glowing canvas of the great painters. none of motley's subsequent writings give such an insight into his character and mental history. it took many years to train the as yet undisciplined powers into orderly obedience, and to bring the unarranged materials into the organic connection which was needed in the construction of a work that should endure. there was a long interval between his early manhood and the middle term of life, during which the slow process of evolution was going on. there are plants which open their flowers with the first rays of the sun; there are others that wait until evening to spread their petals. it was already the high noon of life with him before his genius had truly shown itself; if he had not lived beyond this period, he would have left nothing to give him a lasting name. v. - . aet. - . first diplomatic appointment, secretary of legation to the russian mission.--brief residence at st. petersburg.--letter to his mother. --return. in the autumn of , mr. motley received the appointment of secretary of legation to the russian mission, mr. todd being then the minister. arriving at st. petersburg just at the beginning of winter, he found the climate acting very unfavorably upon his spirits if not upon his health, and was unwilling that his wife and his two young children should be exposed to its rigors. the expense of living, also, was out of proportion to his income, and his letters show that he had hardly established himself in st. petersburg before he had made up his mind to leave a place where he found he had nothing to do and little to enjoy. he was homesick, too, as a young husband and father with an affectionate nature like his ought to have been under these circumstances. he did not regret having made the experiment, for he knew that he should not have been satisfied with himself if he had not made it. it was his first trial of a career in which he contemplated embarking, and in which afterwards he had an eventful experience. in his private letters to his family, many of which i have had the privilege of looking over, he mentions in detail all the reasons which influenced him in forming his own opinion about the expediency of a continued residence at st. petersburg, and leaves the decision to her in whose judgment he always had the greatest confidence. no unpleasant circumstance attended his resignation of his secretaryship, and though it must have been a disappointment to find that the place did not suit him, as he and his family were then situated, it was only at the worst an experiment fairly tried and not proving satisfactory. he left st. petersburg after a few months' residence, and returned to america. on reaching new york he was met by the sad tidings of the death of his first-born child, a boy of great promise, who had called out all the affections of his ardent nature. it was long before he recovered from the shock of this great affliction. the boy had shown a very quick and bright intelligence, and his father often betrayed a pride in his gifts and graces which he never for a moment made apparent in regard to his own. among the letters which he wrote from st. petersburg are two miniature ones directed to this little boy. his affectionate disposition shows itself very sweetly in these touching mementos of a love of which his first great sorrow was so soon to be born. not less charming are his letters to his mother, showing the tenderness with which he always regarded her, and full of all the details which he thought would entertain one to whom all that related to her children was always interesting. of the letters to his wife it is needless to say more than that they always show the depth of the love he bore her and the absolute trust he placed in her, consulting her at all times as his nearest and wisest friend and adviser,--one in all respects fitted "to warn, to comfort, and command." i extract a passage from one of his letters to his mother, as much for the sake of lending a character of reality to his brief residence at st. petersburg as for that of the pleasant picture it gives us of an interior in that northern capital. "we entered through a small vestibule, with the usual arrangement of treble doors, padded with leather to exclude the cold and guarded by two 'proud young porters' in severe cocked hats and formidable batons, into a broad hall,--threw off our furred boots and cloaks, ascended a carpeted marble staircase, in every angle of which stood a statuesque footman in gaudy coat and unblemished unmentionables, and reached a broad landing upon the top thronged as usual with servants. thence we passed through an antechamber into a long, high, brilliantly lighted, saffron-papered room, in which a dozen card-tables were arranged, and thence into the receiving room. this was a large room, with a splendidly inlaid and polished floor, the walls covered with crimson satin, the cornices heavily incrusted with gold, and the ceiling beautifully painted in arabesque. the massive fauteuils and sofas, as also the drapery, were of crimson satin with a profusion of gilding. the ubiquitous portrait of the emperor was the only picture, and was the same you see everywhere. this crimson room had two doors upon the side facing the three windows: the innermost opened into a large supper-room, in which a table was spread covered with the usual refreshments of european parties,--tea, ices, lemonade, and et ceteras,--and the other opened into a ball-room which is a sort of miniature of the 'salle blanche' of the winter palace, being white and gold, and very brilliantly lighted with 'ormolu' chandeliers filled with myriads of candles. this room (at least forty feet long by perhaps twenty-five) opened into a carpeted conservatory of about the same size, filled with orange-trees and japonica plants covered with fruit and flowers, arranged very gracefully into arbors, with luxurious seats under the pendent boughs, and with here and there a pretty marble statue gleaming through the green and glossy leaves. one might almost have imagined one's self in the 'land of the cypress and myrtle' instead of our actual whereabout upon the polar banks of the neva. wandering through these mimic groves, or reposing from the fatigues of the dance, was many a fair and graceful form, while the brilliantly lighted ballroom, filled with hundreds of exquisitely dressed women (for the russian ladies, if not very pretty, are graceful, and make admirable toilettes), formed a dazzling contrast with the tempered light of the 'winter garden.' the conservatory opened into a library, and from the library you reach the antechamber, thus completing the 'giro' of one of the prettiest houses in st. petersburg. i waltzed one waltz and quadrilled one quadrille, but it was hard work; and as the sole occupation of these parties is dancing and card-playing--conversation apparently not being customary--they are to me not very attractive." he could not be happy alone, and there were good reasons against his being joined by his wife and children. "with my reserved habits," he says, "it would take a great deal longer to become intimate here than to thaw the baltic. i have only to 'knock that it shall be opened to me,' but that is just what i hate to do. . . . 'man delights not me, no, nor woman neither.'" disappointed in his expectations, but happy in the thought of meeting his wife and children, he came back to his household to find it clad in mourning for the loss of its first-born. vi. . aet. . letter to park benjamin.--political views and feelings. a letter to mr. park benjamin, dated december , , which has been kindly lent me by mrs. mary lanman douw of poughkeepsie, gives a very complete and spirited account of himself at this period. he begins with a quiet, but tender reference to the death of his younger brother, preble, one of the most beautiful youths seen or remembered among us, "a great favorite," as he says, "in the family and in deed with every one who knew him." he mentions the fact that his friends and near connections, the stackpoles, are in washington, which place he considers as exceptionally odious at the time when he is writing. the election of mr. polk as the opponent of henry clay gives him a discouraged feeling about our institutions. the question, he thinks, is now settled that a statesman can never again be called to administer the government of the country. he is almost if not quite in despair "because it is now proved that a man, take him for all in all, better qualified by intellectual power, energy and purity of character, knowledge of men, a great combination of personal qualities, a frank, high-spirited, manly bearing, keen sense of honor, the power of attracting and winning men, united with a vast experience in affairs, such as no man (but john quincy adams) now living has had and no man in this country can ever have again,--i say it is proved that a man better qualified by an extraordinary combination of advantages to administer the government than any man now living, or any man we can ever produce again, can be beaten by anybody. . . . . it has taken forty years of public life to prepare such a man for the presidency, and the result is that he can be beaten by anybody,--mr. polk is anybody,--he is mr. quelconque." i do not venture to quote the most burning sentences of this impassioned letter. it shows that motley had not only become interested most profoundly in the general movements of parties, but that he had followed the course of political events which resulted in the election of mr. polk with careful study, and that he was already looking forward to the revolt of the slave states which occurred sixteen years later. the letter is full of fiery eloquence, now and then extravagant and even violent in expression, but throbbing with a generous heat which shows the excitable spirit of a man who wishes to be proud of his country and does not wish to keep his temper when its acts make him ashamed of it. he is disgusted and indignant to the last degree at seeing "mr. quelconque" chosen over the illustrious statesman who was his favorite candidate. but all his indignation cannot repress a sense of humor which was one of his marked characteristics. after fatiguing his vocabulary with hard usage, after his unsparing denunciation of "the very dirty politics" which he finds mixed up with our popular institutions, he says,--it must be remembered that this was an offhand letter to one nearly connected with him,-- "all these things must in short, to use the energetic language of the balm of columbia advertisement, 'bring every generous thinking youth to that heavy sinking gloom which not even the loss of property can produce, but only the loss of hair, which brings on premature decay, causing many to shrink from being uncovered, and even to shun society, to avoid the jests and sneers of their acquaintances. the remainder of their lives is consequently spent in retirement.'" he continues:-- "before dropping the subject, and to show the perfect purity of my motives, i will add that i am not at all anxious about the legislation of the new government. i desired the election of clay as a moral triumph, and because the administration of the country, at this moment of ten thousand times more importance than its legislation, would have been placed in pure, strong, and determined hands." then comes a dash of that satirical and somewhat cynical way of feeling which he had not as yet outgrown. he had been speaking about the general want of attachment to the union and the absence of the sentiment of loyalty as bearing on the probable dissolution of the union. "i don't mean to express any opinions on these matters,--i haven't got any. it seems to me that the best way is to look at the hodge-podge, be good-natured if possible, and laugh, 'as from the height of contemplation we view the feeble joints men totter on.' i began a tremendous political career during the election, having made two stump speeches of an hour and a half each,--after you went away,--one in dedham town-hall and one in jamaica plain, with such eminent success that many invitations came to me from the surrounding villages, and if i had continued in active political life i might have risen to be vote-distributor, or fence-viewer, or selectman, or hog-reeve, or something of the kind." the letter from which the above passages are quoted gives the same portrait of the writer, only seen in profile, as it were, which we have already seen drawn in full face in the story of "morton's hope." it is charged with that 'saeva indignatio' which at times verges on misanthropic contempt for its objects, not unnatural to a high-spirited young man who sees his lofty ideals confronted with the ignoble facts which strew the highways of political life. but we can recognize real conviction and the deepest feeling beneath his scornful rhetoric and his bitter laugh. he was no more a mere dilettante than swift himself, but now and then in the midst of his most serious thought some absurd or grotesque image will obtrude itself, and one is reminded of the lines on the monument of gay rather than of the fierce epitaph of the dean of saint patrick's. vii. - . aet. - . first historical and critical essays.--peter the great.--novels of balzac.--polity of the puritans. mr. motley's first serious effort in historical composition was an article of fifty pages in "the north american review" for october, . this was nominally a notice of two works, one on russia, the other "a memoir of the life of peter the great." it is, however, a narrative rather than a criticism, a rapid, continuous, brilliant, almost dramatic narrative. if there had been any question as to whether the young novelist who had missed his first mark had in him the elements which might give him success as an author, this essay would have settled the question. it shows throughout that the writer has made a thorough study of his subject, but it is written with an easy and abundant, yet scholarly freedom, not as if he were surrounded by his authorities and picking out his material piece by piece, but rather as if it were the overflow of long-pursued and well-remembered studies recalled without effort and poured forth almost as a recreation. as he betrayed or revealed his personality in his first novel, so in this first effort in another department of literature he showed in epitome his qualities as a historian and a biographer. the hero of his narrative makes his entrance at once in his character as the shipwright of saardam, on the occasion of a visit of the great duke of marlborough. the portrait instantly arrests attention. his ideal personages had been drawn in such a sketchy way, they presented so many imperfectly harmonized features, that they never became real, with the exception, of course, of the story-teller himself. but the vigor with which the presentment of the imperial ship-carpenter, the sturdy, savage, eager, fiery peter, was given in the few opening sentences, showed the movement of the hand, the glow of the color, that were in due time to display on a broader canvas the full-length portraits of william the silent and of john of barneveld. the style of the whole article is rich, fluent, picturesque, with light touches of humor here and there, and perhaps a trace or two of youthful jauntiness, not quite as yet outgrown. his illustrative poetical quotations are mostly from shakespeare,--from milton and byron also in a passage or two,--and now and then one is reminded that he is not unfamiliar with carlyle's "sartor resartus" and the "french revolution" of the same unmistakable writer, more perhaps by the way in which phrases borrowed from other authorities are set in the text than by any more important evidence of unconscious imitation. the readers who had shaken their heads over the unsuccessful story of "morton's hope" were startled by the appearance of this manly and scholarly essay. this young man, it seemed, had been studying,--studying with careful accuracy, with broad purpose. he could paint a character with the ruddy life-blood coloring it as warmly as it glows in the cheeks of one of van der helst's burgomasters. he could sweep the horizon in a wide general outlook, and manage his perspective and his lights and shadows so as to place and accent his special subject with its due relief and just relations. it was a sketch, or rather a study for a larger picture, but it betrayed the hand of a master. the feeling of many was that expressed in the words of mr. longfellow in his review of the "twice-told tales" of the unknown young writer, nathaniel hawthorne: "when a new star rises in the heavens, people gaze after it for a season with the naked eye, and with such telescopes as they may find. . . . this star is but newly risen; and erelong the observation of numerous star-gazers, perched up on arm-chairs and editor's tables, will inform the world of its magnitude and its place in the heaven of"--not poetry in this instance, but that serene and unclouded region of the firmament where shine unchanging the names of herodotus and thucydides. those who had always believed in their brilliant schoolmate and friend at last felt themselves justified in their faith. the artist that sent this unframed picture to be hung in a corner of the literary gallery was equal to larger tasks. there was but one voice in the circle that surrounded the young essayist. he must redeem his pledge, he can and will redeem it, if he will only follow the bent of his genius and grapple with the heroic labor of writing a great history. and this was the achievement he was already meditating. in the mean time he was studying history for its facts and principles, and fiction for its scenery and portraits. in "the north american review" for july, , is a long and characteristic article on balzac, of whom he was an admirer, but with no blind worship. the readers of this great story-teller, who was so long in obtaining recognition, who "made twenty assaults upon fame and had forty books killed under him" before he achieved success, will find his genius fully appreciated and fairly weighed in this discriminating essay. a few brief extracts will show its quality. "balzac is an artist, and only an artist. in his tranquil, unimpassioned, remorseless diagnosis of morbid phenomena, in his cool method of treating the morbid anatomy of the heart, in his curiously accurate dissection of the passions, in the patient and painful attention with which, stethoscope in hand, finger on pulse, eye everywhere, you see him watching every symptom, alive to every sound and every breath, and in the scientific accuracy with which he portrays the phenomena which have been the subject of his investigation,--in all this calm and conscientious study of nature he often reminds us of goethe. balzac, however, is only an artist . . . he is neither moral nor immoral, but a calm and profound observer of human society and human passions, and a minute, patient, and powerful delineator of scenes and characters in the world before his eyes. his readers must moralize for themselves. . . . it is, perhaps, his defective style more than anything else which will prevent his becoming a classic, for style above all other qualities seems to embalm for posterity. as for his philosophy, his principles, moral, political, or social, we repeat that he seems to have none whatever. he looks for the picturesque and the striking. he studies sentiments and sensations from an artistic point of view. he is a physiognomist, a physiologist, a bit of an anatomist, a bit of a mesmerist, a bit of a geologist, a flemish painter, an upholsterer, a micrological, misanthropical, sceptical philosopher; but he is no moralist, and certainly no reformer." another article contributed by mr. motley to "the north american review" is to be found in the number for october, . it is nominally a review of talvi's (mrs. robinson's) "geschichte der colonisation von new england," but in reality an essay on the polity of the puritans,--an historical disquisition on the principles of self-government evolved in new england, broad in its views, eloquent in its language. its spirit is thoroughly american, and its estimate of the puritan character is not narrowed by the nearsighted liberalism which sees the past in the pitiless light of the present,--which looks around at high noon and finds fault with early dawn for its long and dark shadows. here is a sentence or two from the article:-- "with all the faults of the system devised by the puritans, it was a practical system. with all their foibles, with all their teasing, tyrannical, and arbitrary notions, the pilgrims were lovers of liberty as well as sticklers for authority. . . . nowhere can a better description of liberty be found than that given by winthrop, in his defence of himself before the general court on a charge of arbitrary conduct. 'nor would i have you mistake your own liberty,' he says. 'there is a freedom of doing what we list, without regard to law or justice; this liberty is indeed inconsistent with authority; but civil, moral, and federal liberty consists in every man's enjoying his property and having the benefit of the laws of his country; which is very consistent with a due subjection to the civil magistrate.' . . . "we enjoy an inestimable advantage in america. one can be a republican, a democrat, without being a radical. a radical, one who would uproot, is a man whose trade is dangerous to society. here is but little to uproot. the trade cannot flourish. all classes are conservative by necessity, for none can wish to change the structure of our polity. . . "the country without a past cannot be intoxicated by visions of the past of other lands. upon this absence of the past it seems to us that much of the security of our institutions depends. nothing interferes with the development of what is now felt to be the true principle of government, the will of the people legitimately expressed. to establish that great truth, nothing was to be torn down, nothing to be uprooted. it grew up in new england out of the seed unconsciously planted by the first pilgrims, was not crushed out by the weight of a thousand years of error spread over the whole continent, and the revolution was proclaimed and recognized." viii. - . aet. - . joseph lewis stackpole, the friend of motley. his sudden death.--motley in the massachusetts house of representatives.--second novel, "merry-mount, a romance of the massachusetts colony." the intimate friendships of early manhood are not very often kept up among our people. the eager pursuit of fortune, position, office, separates young friends, and the indoor home life imprisons them in the domestic circle so generally that it is quite exceptional to find two grown men who are like brothers,--or rather unlike most brothers, in being constantly found together. an exceptional instance of such a more than fraternal relation was seen in the friendship of mr. motley and mr. joseph lewis stackpole. mr. william amory, who knew them both well, has kindly furnished me with some recollections, which i cannot improve by changing his own language. "their intimacy began in europe, and they returned to this country in . in they married sisters, and this cemented their intimacy, which continued to stackpole's death in . the contrast in the temperament of the two friends--the one sensitive and irritable, and the other always cool and good-natured--only increased their mutual attachment to each other, and motley's dependence upon stackpole. never were two friends more constantly together or more affectionately fond of each other. as stackpole was about eight years older than motley, and much less impulsive and more discreet, his death was to his friend irreparable, and at the time an overwhelming blow." mr. stackpole was a man of great intelligence, of remarkable personal attractions, and amiable character. his death was a loss to motley even greater than he knew, for he needed just such a friend, older, calmer, more experienced in the ways of the world, and above all capable of thoroughly understanding him and exercising a wholesome influence over his excitable nature without the seeming of a mentor preaching to a telemachus. mr. stackpole was killed by a railroad accident on the th of july, . in the same letter mr. amory refers to a very different experience in mr. motley's life,--his one year of service as a member of the massachusetts house of representatives, . "in respect to the one term during which he was a member of the massachusetts house of representatives, i can recall only one thing, to which he often and laughingly alluded. motley, as the chairman of the committee on education, made, as he thought, a most masterly report. it was very elaborate, and, as he supposed, unanswerable; but boutwell, then a young man from some country town [groton, mass.], rose, and as motley always said, demolished the report, so that he was unable to defend it against the attack. you can imagine his disgust, after the pains he had taken to render it unassailable, to find himself, as he expressed it, 'on his own dunghill,' ignominiously beaten. while the result exalted his opinion of the speech-making faculty of a representative of a common school education, it at the same time cured him of any ambition for political promotion in massachusetts." to my letter of inquiry about this matter, hon. george s. boutwell courteously returned the following answer:-- boston, october , . my dear sir,--as my memory serves me, mr. motley was a member of the massachusetts house of representatives in the year . it may be well to consult the manual for that year. i recollect the controversy over the report from the committee on education. his failure was not due to his want of faculty or to the vigor of his opponents. in truth he espoused the weak side of the question and the unpopular one also. his proposition was to endow the colleges at the expense of the fund for the support of the common schools. failure was inevitable. neither webster nor choate could have carried the bill. very truly, geo. s. boutwell. no one could be more ready and willing to recognize his own failures than motley. he was as honest and manly, perhaps i may say as sympathetic with the feeling of those about him, on this occasion, as was charles lamb, who, sitting with his sister in the front of the pit, on the night when his farce was damned at its first representation, gave way to the common feeling, and hissed and hooted lustily with the others around him. it was what might be expected from his honest and truthful nature, sometimes too severe in judging itself. the commendation bestowed upon motley's historical essays in "the north american review" must have gone far towards compensating him for the ill success of his earlier venture. it pointed clearly towards the field in which he was to gather his laurels. and it was in the year following the publication of the first essay, or about that time ( ), that he began collecting materials for a history of holland. whether to tell the story of men that have lived and of events that have happened, or to create the characters and invent the incidents of an imaginary tale be the higher task, we need not stop to discuss. but the young author was just now like the great actor in sir joshua's picture, between the allurements of thalia and melpomene, still doubtful whether he was to be a romancer or a historian. the tale of which the title is given at the beginning of this section had been written several years before the date of its publication. it is a great advance in certain respects over the first novel, but wants the peculiar interest which belonged to that as a partially autobiographical memoir. the story is no longer disjointed and impossible. it is carefully studied in regard to its main facts. it has less to remind us of "vivian grey" and "pelham," and more that recalls "woodstock" and "kenilworth." the personages were many of them historical, though idealized; the occurrences were many of them such as the record authenticated; the localities were drawn largely from nature. the story betrays marks of haste or carelessness in some portions, though others are elaborately studied. his preface shows that the reception of his first book had made him timid and sensitive about the fate of the second, and explains and excuses what might be found fault with, to disarm the criticism he had some reason to fear. that old watch-dog of our american literature, "the north american review," always ready with lambent phrases in stately "articles" for native talent of a certain pretension, and wagging its appendix of "critical notices" kindly at the advent of humbler merit, treated "merry-mount" with the distinction implied in a review of nearly twenty pages. this was a great contrast to the brief and slighting notice of "morton's hope." the reviewer thinks the author's descriptive power wholly exceeds his conception of character and invention of circumstances. "he dwells, perhaps, too long and fondly upon his imagination of the landscape as it was before the stillness of the forest had been broken by the axe of the settler; but the picture is so finely drawn, with so much beauty of language and purity of sentiment, that we cannot blame him for lingering upon the scene. . . . the story is not managed with much skill, but it has variety enough of incident and character, and is told with so much liveliness that few will be inclined to lay it down before reaching the conclusion. . . . the writer certainly needs practice in elaborating the details of a consistent and interesting novel; but in many respects he is well qualified for the task, and we shall be glad to meet him again on the half-historical ground he has chosen. his present work, certainly, is not a fair specimen of what he is able to accomplish, and its failure, or partial success, ought only to inspirit him for further effort." the "half-historical ground" he had chosen had already led him to the entrance into the broader domain of history. the "further effort" for which he was to be inspirited had already begun. he had been for some time, as was before mentioned, collecting materials for the work which was to cast all his former attempts into the kindly shadow of oblivion, save when from time to time the light of his brilliant after success is thrown upon them to illustrate the path by which it was at length attained. ix. . aet. . plan of a history.--letters. the reputation of mr. prescott was now coextensive with the realm of scholarship. the histories of the reign of ferdinand and isabella and of the conquest of mexico had met with a reception which might well tempt the ambition of a young writer to emulate it, but which was not likely to be awarded to any second candidate who should enter the field in rivalry with the great and universally popular historian. but this was the field on which mr. motley was to venture. after he had chosen the subject of the history he contemplated, he found that mr. prescott was occupied with a kindred one, so that there might be too near a coincidence between them. i must borrow from mr. ticknor's beautiful life of prescott the words which introduce a letter of motley's to mr. william amory, who has kindly allowed me also to make use of it. "the moment, therefore, that he [mr. motley] was aware of this condition of things, and the consequent possibility that there might be an untoward interference in their plans, he took the same frank and honorable course with mr. prescott that mr. prescott had taken in relation to mr. irving, when he found that they had both been contemplating a 'history of the conquest of mexico.' the result was the same. mr. prescott, instead of treating the matter as an interference, earnestly encouraged mr. motley to go on, and placed at his disposition such of the books in his library as could be most useful to him. how amply and promptly he did it, mr. motley's own account will best show. it is in a letter dated at rome, th february, , the day he heard of mr. prescott's death, and was addressed to his intimate friend, mr. william amory, of boston, mr. prescott's much-loved brother-in-law." "it seems to me but as yesterday," mr. motley writes, "though it must be now twelve years ago, that i was talking with our ever-lamented friend stackpole about my intention of writing a history upon a subject to which i have since that time been devoting myself. i had then made already some general studies in reference to it, without being in the least aware that prescott had the intention of writing the 'history of philip the second.' stackpole had heard the fact, and that large preparations had already been made for the work, although 'peru' had not yet been published. i felt naturally much disappointed. i was conscious of the immense disadvantage to myself of making my appearance, probably at the same time, before the public, with a work not at all similar in plan to 'philip the second,' but which must of necessity traverse a portion of the same ground. "my first thought was inevitably, as it were, only of myself. it seemed to me that i had nothing to do but to abandon at once a cherished dream, and probably to renounce authorship. for i had not first made up my mind to write a history, and then cast about to take up a subject. my subject had taken me up, drawn me on, and absorbed me into itself. it was necessary for me, it seemed, to write the book i had been thinking much of, even if it were destined to fall dead from the press, and i had no inclination or interest to write any other. when i had made up my mind accordingly, it then occurred to me that prescott might not be pleased that i should come forward upon his ground. it is true that no announcement of his intentions had been made, and that he had not, i believe, even commenced his preliminary studies for philip. at the same time i thought it would be disloyal on my part not to go to him at once, confer with him on the subject, and if i should find a shadow of dissatisfaction on his mind at my proposition, to abandon my plan altogether. "i had only the slightest acquaintance with him at that time. i was comparatively a young man, and certainly not entitled on any ground to more than the common courtesy which prescott never could refuse to any one. but he received me with such a frank and ready and liberal sympathy, and such an open-hearted, guileless expansiveness, that i felt a personal affection for him from that hour. i remember the interview as if it had taken place yesterday. it was in his father's house, in his own library, looking on the garden-house and garden,--honored father and illustrious son,--alas! all numbered with the things that were! he assured me that he had not the slightest objection whatever to my plan, that he wished me every success, and that, if there were any books in his library bearing on my subject that i liked to use, they were entirely at my service. after i had expressed my gratitude for his kindness and cordiality, by which i had been in a very few moments set completely at ease, --so far as my fears of his disapprobation went,--i also very naturally stated my opinion that the danger was entirely mine, and that it was rather wilful of me thus to risk such a collision at my first venture, the probable consequence of which was utter shipwreck. i recollect how kindly and warmly he combated this opinion, assuring me that no two books, as he said, ever injured each other, and encouraging me in the warmest and most earnest manner to proceed on the course i had marked out for myself. "had the result of that interview been different,--had he distinctly stated, or even vaguely hinted, that it would be as well if i should select some other topic, or had he only sprinkled me with the cold water of conventional and commonplace encouragement,--i should have gone from him with a chill upon my mind, and, no doubt, have laid down the pen at once; for, as i have already said, it was not that i cared about writing a history, but that i felt an inevitable impulse to write one particular history. "you know how kindly he always spoke of and to me; and the generous manner in which, without the slightest hint from me, and entirely unexpected by me, he attracted the eyes of his hosts of readers to my forthcoming work, by so handsomely alluding to it in the preface to his own, must be almost as fresh in your memory as it is in mine. "and although it seems easy enough for a man of world-wide reputation thus to extend the right hand of fellowship to an unknown and struggling aspirant, yet i fear that the history of literature will show that such instances of disinterested kindness are as rare as they are noble." it was not from any feeling that mr. motley was a young writer from whose rivalry he had nothing to apprehend. mr. amory says that prescott expressed himself very decidedly to the effect that an author who had written such descriptive passages as were to be found in mr. motley's published writings was not to be undervalued as a competitor by any one. the reader who will turn to the description of charles river in the eighth chapter of the second volume of "merry-mount," or of the autumnal woods in the sixteenth chapter of the same volume, will see good reason for mr. prescott's appreciation of the force of the rival whose advent he so heartily and generously welcomed. x. - . aet. - . historical studies in europe.-letter from brussels. after working for several years on his projected "history of the dutch republic," he found that, in order to do justice to his subject, he must have recourse to the authorities to be found only in the libraries and state archives of europe. in the year he left america with his family, to begin his task over again, throwing aside all that he had already done, and following up his new course of investigations at berlin, dresden, the hague, and brussels during several succeeding years. i do not know that i can give a better idea of his mode of life during this busy period, his occupations, his state of mind, his objects of interest outside of his special work, than by making the following extracts from a long letter to myself, dated brussels, th november, . after some personal matters he continued:-- "i don't really know what to say to you. i am in a town which, for aught i know, may be very gay. i don't know a living soul in it. we have not a single acquaintance in the place, and we glory in the fact. there is something rather sublime in thus floating on a single spar in the wide sea of a populous, busy, fuming, fussy world like this. at any rate it is consonant to both our tastes. you may suppose, however, that i find it rather difficult to amuse my friends out of the incidents of so isolated an existence. our daily career is very regular and monotonous. our life is as stagnant as a dutch canal. not that i complain of it,--on the contrary, the canal may be richly freighted with merchandise and be a short cut to the ocean of abundant and perpetual knowledge; but, at the same time, few points rise above the level of so regular a life, to be worthy of your notice. you must, therefore, allow me to meander along the meadows of commonplace. don't expect anything of the impetuous and boiling style. we go it weak here. i don't know whether you were ever in brussels. it is a striking, picturesque town, built up a steep promontory, the old part at the bottom, very dingy and mouldy, the new part at the top, very showy and elegant. nothing can be more exquisite in its way than the grande place in the very heart of the city, surrounded with those toppling, zigzag, ten-storied buildings bedizened all over with ornaments and emblems so peculiar to the netherlands, with the brocaded hotel de ville on one side, with its impossible spire rising some three hundred and seventy feet into the air and embroidered to the top with the delicacy of needle- work, sugarwork, spider-work, or what you will. i haunt this place because it is my scene, my theatre. here were enacted so many deep tragedies, so many stately dramas, and even so many farces, which have been familiar to me so long that i have got to imagine myself invested with a kind of property in the place, and look at it as if it were merely the theatre with the coulisses, machinery, drapery, etc., for representing scenes which have long since vanished, and which no more enter the minds of the men and women who are actually moving across its pavements than if they had occurred in the moon. when i say that i knew no soul in brussels i am perhaps wrong. with the present generation i am not familiar. 'en revanche,' the dead men of the place are my intimate friends. i am at home in any cemetery. with the fellows of the sixteenth century i am on the most familiar terms. any ghost that ever flits by night across the moonlight square is at once hailed by me as a man and a brother. i call him by his christian name at once. when you come out of this place, however, which, as i said, is in the heart of the town,--the antique gem in the modern setting,--you may go either up or down. if you go down, you will find yourself in the very nastiest complications of lanes and culs-de-sac possible, a dark entanglement of gin-shops, beer-houses, and hovels, through which charming valley dribbles the senne (whence, i suppose, is derived senna), the most nauseous little river in the world, which receives all the outpourings of all the drains and houses, and is then converted into beer for the inhabitants, all the many breweries being directly upon its edge. if you go up the hill instead of down, you come to an arrangement of squares, palaces, and gardens as trim and fashionable as you will find in europe. thus you see that our cybele sits with her head crowned with very stately towers and her feet in a tub of very dirty water. "my habits here for the present year are very regular. i came here, having, as i thought, finished my work, or rather the first part (something like three or four volumes, vo), but i find so much original matter here, and so many emendations to make, that i am ready to despair. however, there is nothing for it but to penelopize, pull to pieces, and stitch away again. whatever may be the result of my labor, nobody can say that i have not worked like a brute beast,--but i don't care for the result. the labor is in itself its own reward and all i want. i go day after day to the archives here (as i went all summer at the hague), studying the old letters and documents of the fifteenth century. here i remain among my fellow-worms, feeding on these musty mulberry-leaves, out of which we are afterwards to spin our silk. how can you expect anything interesting from such a human cocoon? it is, however, not without its amusement in a mouldy sort of way, this reading of dead letters. it is something to read the real, bona fide signs-manual of such fellows as william of orange, count egmont, alexander farnese, philip ii., cardinal granvelle, and the rest of them. it gives a 'realizing sense,' as the americans have it. . . . there are not many public resources of amusement in this place,--if we wanted them,--which we don't. i miss the dresden gallery very much, and it makes me sad to think that i shall never look at the face of the sistine madonna again,--that picture beyond all pictures in the world, in which the artist certainly did get to heaven and painted a face which was never seen on earth--so pathetic, so gentle, so passionless, so prophetic. . . . there are a few good rubenses here,--but the great wealth of that master is in antwerp. the great picture of the descent from the cross is free again, after having been ten years in the repairing room. it has come out in very good condition. what a picture? it seems to me as if i had really stood at the cross and seen mary weeping on john's shoulder, and magdalen receiving the dead body of the saviour in her arms. never was the grand tragedy represented in so profound and dramatic a manner. for it is not only in his color in which this man so easily surpasses all the world, but in his life-like, flesh-and-blood action,--the tragic power of his composition. and is it not appalling to think of the 'large constitution of this man,' when you reflect on the acres of canvas which he has covered? how inspiriting to see with what muscular, masculine vigor this splendid fleming rushed in and plucked up drowning art by the locks when it was sinking in the trashy sea of such creatures as the luca giordanos and pietro cortonas and the like. well might guido exclaim, 'the fellow mixes blood with his colors! . . . how providentially did the man come in and invoke living, breathing, moving men and women out of his canvas! sometimes he is ranting and exaggerated, as are all men of great genius who wrestle with nature so boldly. no doubt his heroines are more expansively endowed than would be thought genteel in our country, where cryptogams are so much in fashion, nevertheless there is always something very tremendous about him, and very often much that is sublime, pathetic, and moving. i defy any one of the average amount of imagination and sentiment to stand long before the descent from the cross without being moved more nearly to tears than he would care to acknowledge. as for color, his effects are as sure as those of the sun rising in a tropical landscape. there is something quite genial in the cheerful sense of his own omnipotence which always inspired him. there are a few fine pictures of his here, and i go in sometimes of a raw, foggy morning merely to warm myself in the blaze of their beauty." i have been more willing to give room to this description of rubens's pictures and the effect they produced upon motley, because there is a certain affinity between those sumptuous and glowing works of art and the prose pictures of the historian who so admired them. he was himself a colorist in language, and called up the image of a great personage or a splendid pageant of the past with the same affluence, the same rich vitality, that floods and warms the vast areas of canvas over which the full-fed genius of rubens disported itself in the luxury of imaginative creation. xi. - . aet. - . publication of his first historical work, "rise of the dutch republic." --its reception.--critical notices. the labor of ten years was at last finished. carrying his formidable manuscript with him,--and how formidable the manuscript which melts down into three solid octavo volumes is, only writers and publishers know,--he knocked at the gate of that terrible fortress from which lintot and curll and tonson looked down on the authors of an older generation. so large a work as the "history of the rise of the dutch republic," offered for the press by an author as yet unknown to the british public, could hardly expect a warm welcome from the great dealers in literature as merchandise. mr. murray civilly declined the manuscript which was offered to him, and it was published at its author's expense by mr. john chapman. the time came when the positions of the first-named celebrated publisher and the unknown writer were reversed. mr. murray wrote to mr. motley asking to be allowed to publish his second great work, the "history of the united netherlands," expressing at the same time his regret at what he candidly called his mistake in the first instance, and thus they were at length brought into business connection as well as the most agreeable and friendly relations. an american edition was published by the harpers at the same time as the london one. if the new work of the unknown author found it difficult to obtain a publisher, it was no sooner given to the public than it found an approving, an admiring, an enthusiastic world of readers, and a noble welcome at the colder hands of the critics. "the westminster review" for april, , had for its leading article a paper by mr. froude, in which the critic awarded the highest praise to the work of the new historian. as one of the earliest as well as one of the most important recognitions of the work, i quote some of its judgments. "a history as complete as industry and genius can make it now lies before us of the first twenty years of the revolt of the united provinces; of the period in which those provinces finally conquered their independence and established the republic of holland. it has been the result of many years of silent, thoughtful, unobtrusive labor, and unless we are strangely mistaken, unless we are ourselves altogether unfit for this office of criticising which we have here undertaken, the book is one which will take its place among the finest histories in this or in any language. . . . all the essentials of a great writer mr. motley eminently possesses. his mind is broad, his industry unwearied. in power of dramatic description no modern historian, except perhaps mr. carlyle, surpasses him, and in analysis of character he is elaborate and distinct. his principles are those of honest love for all which is good and admirable in human character wherever he finds it, while he unaffectedly hates oppression, and despises selfishness with all his heart." after giving a slight analytical sketch of the series of events related in the history, mr. froude objects to only one of the historian's estimates, that, namely, of the course of queen elizabeth. "it is ungracious, however," he says, "even to find so slight a fault with these admirable volumes. mr. motley has written without haste, with the leisurely composure of a master. . . . we now take our leave of mr. motley, desiring him only to accept our hearty thanks for these volumes, which we trust will soon take their place in every english library. our quotations will have sufficed to show the ability of the writer. of the scope and general character of his work we have given but a languid conception. the true merit of a great book must be learned from the book itself. our part has been rather to select varied specimens of style and power. of mr. motley's antecedents we know nothing. if he has previously appeared before the public, his reputation has not crossed the atlantic. it will not be so now. we believe that we may promise him as warm a welcome among ourselves as he will receive even in america; that his place will be at once conceded to him among the first historians in our common language." the faithful and unwearied mr. allibone has swept the whole field of contemporary criticism, and shown how wide and universal was the welcome accorded to the hitherto unknown author. an article headed "prescott and motley," attributed to m. guizot, which must have been translated, i suppose, from his own language, judging by its freedom from french idioms, is to be found in "the edinburgh review" for january, . the praise, not unmingled with criticisms, which that great historian bestowed upon motley is less significant than the fact that he superintended a translation of the "rise of the dutch republic," and himself wrote the introduction to it. a general chorus of approbation followed or accompanied these leading voices. the reception of the work in great britain was a triumph. on the continent, in addition to the tribute paid to it by m. guizot, it was translated into dutch, into german, and into russian. at home his reception was not less hearty. "the north american review," which had set its foot on the semi-autobiographical medley which he called "morton's hope," which had granted a decent space and a tepid recognition to his "semi-historical" romance, in which he had already given the reading public a taste of his quality as a narrator of real events and a delineator of real personages,--this old and awe-inspiring new england and more than new england representative of the fates, found room for a long and most laudatory article, in which the son of one of our most distinguished historians did the honors of the venerable literary periodical to the new-comer, for whom the folding-doors of all the critical headquarters were flying open as if of themselves. mr. allibone has recorded the opinions of some of our best scholars as expressed to him. dr. lieber wrote a letter to mr. allibone in the strongest terms of praise. i quote one passage which in the light of after events borrows a cruel significance:-- "congress and parliament decree thanks for military exploits, --rarely for diplomatic achievements. if they ever voted their thanks for books,--and what deeds have influenced the course of human events more than some books?--motley ought to have the thanks of our congress; but i doubt not that he has already the thanks of every american who has read the work. it will leave its distinct mark upon the american mind." mr. everett writes:-- "mr. motley's 'history of the dutch republic' is in my judgment a work of the highest merit. unwearying research for years in the libraries of europe, patience and judgment in arranging and digesting his materials, a fine historical tact, much skill in characterization, the perspective of narration, as it may be called, and a vigorous style unite to make it a very capital work, and place the name of motley by the side of those of our great historical trio,--bancroft, irving, and prescott." mr. irving, mr. bancroft, mr. sumner, mr. hillard, united their voices in the same strain of commendation. mr. prescott, whose estimate of the new history is of peculiar value for obvious reasons, writes to mr. allibone thus:-- "the opinion of any individual seems superfluous in respect to a work on the merits of which the public both at home and abroad have pronounced so unanimous a verdict. as motley's path crosses my own historic field, i may be thought to possess some advantage over most critics in my familiarity with the ground. "however this may be, i can honestly bear my testimony to the extent of his researches and to the accuracy with which he has given the results of them to the public. far from making his book a mere register of events, he has penetrated deep below the surface and explored the cause of these events. he has carefully studied the physiognomy of the times and given finished portraits of the great men who conducted the march of the revolution. every page is instinct with the love of freedom and with that personal knowledge of the working of free institutions which could alone enable him to do justice to his subject. we may congratulate ourselves that it was reserved for one of our countrymen to tell the story-better than it had yet been told--of this memorable revolution, which in so many of its features bears a striking resemblance to our own." the public welcomed the work as cordially as the critics. fifteen thousand copies had already been sold in london in . in america it was equally popular. its author saw his name enrolled by common consent among those of the great writers of his time. europe accepted him, his country was proud to claim him, scholarship set its jealously guarded seal upon the result of his labors, the reading world, which had not cared greatly for his stories, hung in delight over a narrative more exciting than romances; and the lonely student, who had almost forgotten the look of living men in the solitude of archives haunted by dead memories, found himself suddenly in the full blaze of a great reputation. xii. - . aet. - . visit to america.--residence in boylston place. he visited this country in , and spent the winter of - in boston, living with his family in a house in boylston place. at this time i had the pleasure of meeting him often, and of seeing the changes which maturity, success, the opening of a great literary and social career, had wrought in his character and bearing. he was in every way greatly improved; the interesting, impulsive youth had ripened into a noble manhood. dealing with great themes, his own mind had gained their dignity. accustomed to the company of dead statesmen and heroes, his own ideas had risen to a higher standard. the flattery of society had added a new grace to his natural modesty. he was now a citizen of the world by his reputation; the past was his province, in which he was recognized as a master; the idol's pedestal was ready for him, but he betrayed no desire to show himself upon it. xiii. - . aet. - . return to england.--social relations.--lady harcourt's letter. during the years spent in europe in writing his first history, from to , mr. motley had lived a life of great retirement and simplicity, devoting himself to his work and to the education of his children, to which last object he was always ready to give the most careful supervision. he was as yet unknown beyond the circle of his friends, and he did not seek society. in this quiet way he had passed the two years of residence in dresden, the year divided between brussels and the hague, and a very tranquil year spent at vevay on the lake of geneva. his health at this time was tolerably good, except for nervous headaches, which frequently recurred and were of great severity. his visit to england with his manuscript in search of a publisher has already been mentioned. in he revisited england. his fame as a successful author was there before him, and he naturally became the object of many attentions. he now made many acquaintances who afterwards became his kind and valued friends. among those mentioned by his daughter, lady harcourt, are lord lyndhurst, lord carlisle, lady william russell, lord and lady palmerston, dean milman, with many others. the following winter was passed in rome, among many english and american friends. "in the course of the next summer," his daughter writes to me, "we all went to england, and for the next two years, marked chiefly by the success of the 'united netherlands,' our social life was most agreeable and most interesting. he was in the fulness of his health and powers; his works had made him known in intellectual society, and i think his presence, on the other hand, increased their effects. as no one knows better than you do, his belief in his own country and in its institutions at their best was so passionate and intense that it was a part of his nature, yet his refined and fastidious tastes were deeply gratified by the influences of his life in england, and the spontaneous kindness which he received added much to his happiness. at that time lord palmerston was prime minister; the weekly receptions at cambridge house were the centre of all that was brilliant in the political and social world, while lansdowne house, holland house, and others were open to the 'sommites' in all branches of literature, science, rank, and politics. . . . it was the last year of lord macaulay's life, and as a few out of many names which i recall come dean milman, mr. froude (whose review of the 'dutch republic' in the 'westminster' was one of the first warm recognitions it ever received), the duke and duchess of argyll, sir william stirling maxwell, then mr. stirling of keir, the sheridan family in its different brilliant members, lord wensleydale, and many more." there was no society to which motley would not have added grace and attraction by his presence, and to say that he was a welcome guest in the best houses of england is only saying that these houses are always open to those whose abilities, characters, achievements, are commended to the circles that have the best choice by the personal gifts which are nature's passport everywhere. xiv. . aet. . letter to mr. francis h. underwood.--plan of mr. motley's historical works.--second great work, "history of the united netherlands." i am enabled by the kindness of mr. francis h. underwood to avail myself of a letter addressed to him by mr. motley in the year before the publication of this second work, which gives us an insight into his mode of working and the plan he proposed to follow. it begins with an allusion which recalls a literary event interesting to many of his american friends. rome, march , . f. h. underwood, esq. my dear sir,--. . . i am delighted to hear of the great success of "the atlantic monthly." in this remote region i have not the chance of reading it as often as i should like, but from the specimens which i have seen i am quite sure it deserves its wide circulation. a serial publication, the contents of which are purely original and of such remarkable merit, is a novelty in our country, and i am delighted to find that it has already taken so prominent a position before the reading world. . . the whole work [his history], of which the three volumes already published form a part, will be called "the eighty years' war for liberty." epoch i. is the rise of the dutch republic. epoch ii. independence achieved. from the death of william the silent till the twelve years' truce. - . epoch iii. independence recognized. from the twelve years' truce to the peace of westphalia. - . my subject is a very vast one, for the struggle of the united provinces with spain was one in which all the leading states of europe were more or less involved. after the death of william the silent, the history assumes world-wide proportions. thus the volume which i am just about terminating . . . is almost as much english history as dutch. the earl of leicester, very soon after the death of orange, was appointed governor of the provinces, and the alliance between the two countries almost amounted to a political union. i shall try to get the whole of the leicester administration, terminating with the grand drama of the invincible armada, into one volume; but i doubt, my materials are so enormous. i have been personally very hard at work, nearly two years, ransacking the british state paper office, the british museum, and the holland archives, and i have had two copyists constantly engaged in london, and two others at the hague. besides this, i passed the whole of last winter at brussels, where, by special favor of the belgian government, i was allowed to read what no one else has ever been permitted to see,--the great mass of copies taken by that government from the simancas archives, a translated epitome of which has been published by gachard. this correspondence reaches to the death of philip ii., and is of immense extent and importance. had i not obtained leave to read the invaluable and, for my purpose, indispensable documents at brussels, i should have gone to spain, for they will not be published these twenty years, and then only in a translated and excessively abbreviated and unsatisfactory form. i have read the whole of this correspondence, and made very copious notes of it. in truth, i devoted three months of last winter to that purpose alone. the materials i have collected from the english archives are also extremely important and curious. i have hundreds of interesting letters never published or to be published, by queen elizabeth, burghley, walsingham, sidney, drake, willoughby, leicester, and others. for the whole of that portion of my subject in which holland and england were combined into one whole, to resist spain in its attempt to obtain the universal empire, i have very abundant collections. for the history of the united provinces is not at all a provincial history. it is the history of european liberty. without the struggle of holland and england against spain, all europe might have been catholic and spanish. it was holland that saved england in the sixteenth century, and, by so doing, secured the triumph of the reformation, and placed the independence of the various states of europe upon a sure foundation. of course, the materials collected by me at the hague are of great importance. as a single specimen, i will state that i found in the archives there an immense and confused mass of papers, which turned out to be the autograph letters of olden barneveld during the last few years of his life; during, in short, the whole of that most important period which preceded his execution. these letters are in such an intolerable handwriting that no one has ever attempted to read them. i could read them only imperfectly myself, and it would have taken me a very long time to have acquired the power to do so; but my copyist and reader there is the most patient and indefatigable person alive, and he has quite mastered the handwriting, and he writes me that they are a mine of historical wealth for me. i shall have complete copies before i get to that period, one of signal interest, and which has never been described. i mention these matters that you may see that my work, whatever its other value may be, is built upon the only foundation fit for history,--original contemporary documents. these are all unpublished. of course, i use the contemporary historians and pamphleteers,--dutch, spanish, french, italian, german, and english,--but the most valuable of my sources are manuscript ones. i have said the little which i have said in order to vindicate the largeness of the subject. the kingdom of holland is a small power now, but the eighty years' war, which secured the civil and religious independence of the dutch commonwealth and of europe, was the great event of that whole age. the whole work will therefore cover a most remarkable epoch in human history, from the abdication of charles fifth to the peace of westphalia, at which last point the political and geographical arrangements of europe were established on a permanent basis,--in the main undisturbed until the french revolution. . . . i will mention that i received yesterday a letter from the distinguished m. guizot, informing me that the first volume of the french translation, edited by him, with an introduction, has just been published. the publication was hastened in consequence of the appearance of a rival translation at brussels. the german translation is very elegantly and expensively printed in handsome octavos; and the dutch translation, under the editorship of the archivist general of holland, bakhuyzen v. d. brink, is enriched with copious notes and comments by that distinguished scholar. there are also three different piratical reprints of the original work at amsterdam, leipzig, and london. i must add that i had nothing to do with the translation in any case. in fact, with the exception of m. guizot, no one ever obtained permission of me to publish translations, and i never knew of the existence of them until i read of it in the journals. . . . i forgot to say that among the collections already thoroughly examined by me is that portion of the simancas archives still retained in the imperial archives of france. i spent a considerable time in paris for the purpose of reading these documents. there are many letters of philip ii. there, with apostilles by his own hand. . . . i would add that i am going to pass this summer at venice for the purpose of reading and procuring copies from the very rich archives of that republic, of the correspondence of their envoys in madrid, london, and brussels during the epoch of which i am treating. i am also not without hope of gaining access to the archives of the vatican here, although there are some difficulties in the way. with kind regards . . . i remain very truly yours, j. l. motley. xv. . at. . publication of the first two volumes of the "history of the united netherlands."--their reception. we know something of the manner in which mr. motley collected his materials. we know the labors, the difficulties, the cost of his toils among the dusty records of the past. what he gained by the years he spent in his researches is so well stated by himself that i shall borrow his own words:-- "thanks to the liberality of many modern governments of europe, the archives where the state secrets of the buried centuries have so long mouldered are now open to the student of history. to him who has patience and industry, many mysteries are thus revealed which no political sagacity or critical acumen could have divined. he leans over the shoulder of philip the second at his writing-table, as the king spells patiently out, with cipher-key in hand, the most concealed hieroglyphics of parma, or guise, or mendoza. he reads the secret thoughts of 'fabius' [philip ii.] as that cunctative roman scrawls his marginal apostilles on each dispatch; he pries into all the stratagems of camillus, hortensius, mucius, julius, tullius, and the rest of those ancient heroes who lent their names to the diplomatic masqueraders of the sixteenth century; he enters the cabinet of the deeply pondering burghley, and takes from the most private drawer the memoranda which record that minister's unutterable doubtings; he pulls from the dressing-gown folds of the stealthy, soft-gliding walsingham the last secret which he has picked from the emperor's pigeon-holes or the pope's pocket, and which not hatton, nor buckhurst, nor leicester, nor the lord treasurer is to see,--nobody but elizabeth herself; he sits invisible at the most secret councils of the nassaus and barneveld and buys, or pores with farnese over coming victories and vast schemes of universal conquest; he reads the latest bit of scandal, the minutest characteristic of king or minister, chronicled by the gossiping venetians for the edification of the forty; and after all this prying and eavesdropping, having seen the cross-purposes, the bribings, the windings in the dark, he is not surprised if those who were systematically deceived did not always arrive at correct conclusions." the fascination of such a quest is readily conceivable. a drama with real characters, and the spectator at liberty to go behind the scenes and look upon and talk with the kings and queens between the acts; to examine the scenery, to handle the properties, to study the "make up" of the imposing personages of full-dress histories; to deal with them all as thackeray has done with the grand monarque in one of his caustic sketches,--this would be as exciting, one might suppose, as to sit through a play one knows by heart at drury lane or the theatre francais, and might furnish occupation enough to the curious idler who was only in search of entertainment. the mechanical obstacles of half-illegible manuscript, of antiquated forms of speech, to say nothing of the intentional obscurities of diplomatic correspondence, stand, however, in the way of all but the resolute and unwearied scholar. these difficulties, in all their complex obstinacy, had been met and overcome by the heroic efforts, the concentrated devotion, of the new laborer in the unbroken fields of secret history. without stopping to take breath, as it were,--for his was a task 'de longue haleine,'--he proceeded to his second great undertaking. the first portion--consisting of two volumes--of the "history of the united netherlands" was published in the year . it maintained and increased the reputation he had already gained by his first history. "the london quarterly review" devoted a long article to it, beginning with this handsome tribute to his earlier and later volumes:-- "mr. motley's 'history of the rise of the dutch republic' is already known and valued for the grasp of mind which it displays, for the earnest and manly spirit in which he has communicated the results of deep research and careful reflection. again he appears before us, rich with the spoils of time, to tell the story of the united netherlands from the time of william the silent to the end of the eventful year of the spanish armada, and we still find him in every way worthy of this 'great argument.' indeed, it seems to us that he proceeds with an increased facility of style, and with a more complete and easy command over his materials. these materials are indeed splendid, and of them most excellent use has been made. the english state paper office, the spanish archives from simancas, and the dutch and belgian repositories, have all yielded up their secrets; and mr. motley has enjoyed the advantage of dealing with a vast mass of unpublished documents, of which he has not failed to avail himself to an extent which places his work in the foremost rank as an authority for the period to which it relates. by means of his labor and his art we can sit at the council board of philip and elizabeth, we can read their most private dispatches. guided by his demonstration, we are enabled to dissect out to their ultimate issues the minutest ramifications of intrigue. we join in the amusement of the popular lampoon; we visit the prison-house; we stand by the scaffold; we are present at the battle and the siege. we can scan the inmost characters of men and can view them in their. habits as they lived." after a few criticisms upon lesser points of form and style, the writer says:-- "but the work itself must be read to appreciate the vast and conscientious industry bestowed upon it. his delineations are true and life-like, because they are not mere compositions written to please the ear, but are really taken from the facts and traits preserved in those authentic records to which he has devoted the labor of many years. diligent and painstaking as the humblest chronicler, he has availed himself of many sources of information which have not been made use of by any previous historical writer. at the same time he is not oppressed by his materials, but has sagacity to estimate their real value, and he has combined with scholarly power the facts which they contain. he has rescued the story of the netherlands from the domain of vague and general narrative, and has labored, with much judgment and ability, to unfold the 'belli causas, et vitia, et modos,' and to assign to every man and every event their own share in the contest, and their own influence upon its fortunes. we do not wonder that his earlier publication has been received as a valuable addition, not only to english, but to european literature." one or two other contemporary criticisms may help us with their side lights. a critic in "the edinburgh review" for january, , thinks that "mr. motley has not always been successful in keeping the graphic variety of his details subordinate to the main theme of his work." still, he excuses the fault, as he accounts it, in consideration of the new light thrown on various obscure points of history, and-- "it is atoned for by striking merits, by many narratives of great events faithfully, powerfully, and vividly executed, by the clearest and most life-like conceptions of character, and by a style which, if it sacrifices the severer principles of composition to a desire to be striking and picturesque, is always vigorous, full of animation, and glowing with the genuine enthusiasm of the writer. mr. motley combines as an historian two qualifications seldom found united,--to great capacity for historical research he adds much power of pictorial representation. in his pages we find characters and scenes minutely set forth in elaborate and characteristic detail, which is relieved and heightened in effect by the artistic breadth of light and shade thrown across the broader prospects of history. in an american author, too, we must commend the hearty english spirit in which the book is written; and fertile as the present age has been in historical works of the highest merit, none of them can be ranked above these volumes in the grand qualities of interest, accuracy, and truth." a writer in "blackwood" (may, ) contrasts motley with froude somewhat in the way in which another critic had contrasted him with prescott. froude, he says, remembers that there are some golden threads in the black robe of the dominican. motley "finds it black and thrusts it farther into the darkness." every writer carries more or less of his own character into his book, of course. a great professor has told me that there is a personal flavor in the mathematical work of a man of genius like poisson. those who have known motley and prescott would feel sure beforehand that the impulsive nature of the one and the judicial serenity of the other would as surely betray themselves in their writings as in their conversation and in their every movement. another point which the critic of "blackwood's magazine" has noticed has not been so generally observed: it is what he calls "a dashing, offhand, rattling style,"--"fast" writing. it cannot be denied that here and there may be detected slight vestiges of the way of writing of an earlier period of motley's literary life, with which i have no reason to think the writer just mentioned was acquainted. now and then i can trace in the turn of a phrase, in the twinkle of an epithet, a faint reminiscence of a certain satirical levity, airiness, jauntiness, if i may hint such a word, which is just enough to remind me of those perilous shallows of his early time through which his richly freighted argosy had passed with such wonderful escape from their dangers and such very slight marks of injury. that which is pleasant gayety in conversation may be quite out of place in formal composition, and motley's wit must have had a hard time of it struggling to show its spangles in the processions while his gorgeous tragedies went sweeping by. john lothrop motley. a memoir by oliver wendell holmes, sr. volume ii. xvi. - . aet. - . residence in england.--outbreak of the civil war.--letters to the london "times."--visit to america.--appointed minister to austria.--lady harcourt's letter.--miss motley's memorandum. the winter of - was passed chiefly at oatlands hotel, walton-on-thames. in mr. motley hired the house no. hertford street, may fair, london. he had just published the first two volumes of his "history of the netherlands," and was ready for the further labors of its continuation, when the threats, followed by the outbreak, of the great civil contention in his native land brought him back from the struggles of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to the conflict of the nineteenth. his love of country, which had grown upon him so remarkably of late years, would not suffer him to be silent at such a moment. all around him he found ignorance and prejudice. the quarrel was like to be prejudged in default of a champion of the cause which to him was that of liberty and justice. he wrote two long letters to the london "times," in which he attempted to make clear to englishmen and to europe the nature and conditions of our complex system of government, the real cause of the strife, and the mighty issues at stake. nothing could have been more timely, nothing more needed. mr. william everett, who was then in england, bears strong testimony to the effect these letters produced. had mr. motley done no other service to his country, this alone would entitle him to honorable remembrance as among the first defenders of the flag, which at that moment had more to fear from what was going on in the cabinet councils of europe than from all the armed hosts that were gathering against it. he returned to america in , and soon afterwards was appointed by mr. lincoln minister to austria. mr. burlingame had been previously appointed to the office, but having been objected to by the austrian government for political reasons, the place unexpectedly left vacant was conferred upon motley, who had no expectation of any diplomatic appointment when he left europe. for some interesting particulars relating to his residence in vienna i must refer to the communications addressed to me by his daughter, lady harcourt, and her youngest sister, and the letters i received from him while at the austrian capital. lady harcourt writes:-- "he held the post for six years, seeing the civil war fought out and brought to a triumphant conclusion, and enjoying, as i have every reason to believe, the full confidence and esteem of mr. lincoln to the last hour of the president's life. in the first dark years the painful interest of the great national drama was so all-absorbing that literary work was entirely put aside, and with his countrymen at home he lived only in the varying fortunes of the day, his profound faith and enthusiasm sustaining him and lifting him above the natural influence of a by no means sanguine temperament. later, when the tide was turning and success was nearing, he was more able to work. his social relations during the whole period of his mission were of the most agreeable character. the society of vienna was at that time, and i believe is still, the absolute reverse of that of england, where all claims to distinction are recognized and welcomed. there the old feudal traditions were still in full force, and diplomatic representatives admitted to the court society by right of official position found it to consist exclusively of an aristocracy of birth, sixteen quarterings of nobility being necessary to a right of presentation to the emperor and empress. the society thus constituted was distinguished by great charm and grace of manner, the exclusion of all outer elements not only limiting the numbers, but giving the ease of a family party within the charmed circle. on the other hand, larger interests suffered under the rigid exclusion of all occupations except the army, diplomacy, and court place. the intimacy among the different members of the society was so close that, beyond a courtesy of manner that never failed, the tendency was to resist the approach of any stranger as a 'gene'. a single new face was instantly remarked and commented on in a vienna saloon to an extent unknown in any other large capital. this peculiarity, however, worked in favor of the old resident. kindliness of feeling increased with familiarity and grew into something better than acquaintance, and the parting with most sincere and affectionately disposed friends in the end was deeply felt on both sides. those years were passed in a pleasant house in the weiden faubourg, with a large garden at the back, and i do not think that during this time there was one disagreeable incident in his relations to his colleagues, while in several cases the relations, agreeable with all, became those of close friendship. we lived constantly, of course, in diplomatic and austrian society, and during the latter part of the time particularly his house was as much frequented and the centre of as many dancing and other receptions as any in the place. his official relations with the foreign office were courteous and agreeable, the successive foreign ministers during his stay being count richberg, count mensdorff, and baron beust. austria was so far removed from any real contact with our own country that, though the interest in our war may have been languid, they did not pretend to a knowledge which might have inclined them to controversy, while an instinct that we were acting as a constituted government against rebellion rather inclined them to sympathy. i think i may say that as he became known among them his keen patriotism and high sense of honor and truth were fully understood and appreciated, and that what he said always commanded a sympathetic hearing among men with totally different political ideas, but with chivalrous and loyal instincts to comprehend his own. i shall never forget his account of the terrible day when the news of mr. lincoln's death came. by some accident a rumor of it reached him first through a colleague. he went straight to the foreign office for news, hoping against hope, was received by count mensdorff, who merely came forward and laid his arm about his shoulder with an intense sympathy beyond words." miss motley, the historian's youngest daughter, has added a note to her sister's communication:-- "during his residence in vienna the most important negotiations which he had to carry on with the austrian government were those connected with the mexican affair. maximilian at one time applied to his brother the emperor for assistance, and he promised to accede to his demand. accordingly a large number of volunteers were equipped and had actually embarked at trieste, when a dispatch from seward arrived, instructing the american minister to give notice to the austrian government that if the troops sailed for mexico he was to leave vienna at once. my father had to go at once to count mensdorff with these instructions, and in spite of the foreign minister being annoyed that the united states government had not sooner intimated that this extreme course would be taken, the interview was quite amicable and the troops were not allowed to sail. we were in vienna during the war in which denmark fought alone against austria and prussia, and when it was over bismarck came to vienna to settle the terms of peace with the emperor. he dined with us twice during his short stay, and was most delightful and agreeable. when he and my father were together they seemed to live over the youthful days they had spent together as students, and many were the anecdotes of their boyish frolics which bismarck related." xvii. - . aet. - . letters from vienna. soon after mr. motley's arrival in vienna i received a long letter from him, most of which relates to personal matters, but which contains a few sentences of interest to the general reader as showing his zealous labors, wherever he found himself, in behalf of the great cause then in bloody debate in his own country: november , . . . . what can i say to you of cis-atlantic things? i am almost ashamed to be away from home. you know that i had decided to remain, and had sent for my family to come to america, when my present appointment altered my plans. i do what good i can. i think i made some impression on lord john russell, with whom i spent two days soon after my arrival in england, and i talked very frankly and as strongly as i could to palmerston, and i have had long conversations and correspondences with other leading men in england. i have also had an hour's [conversation] with thouvenel in paris. i hammered the northern view into him as soundly as i could. for this year there will be no foreign interference with us. i don't anticipate it at any time, unless we bring it on ourselves by bad management, which i don't expect. our fate is in our own hands, and europe is looking on to see which side is strongest,--when it has made the discovery it will back it as also the best and the most moral. yesterday i had my audience with the emperor. he received me with much cordiality, and seemed interested in a long account which i gave him of our affairs. you may suppose i inculcated the northern views. we spoke in his vernacular, and he asked me afterwards if i was a german. i mention this not from vanity, but because he asked it with earnestness, and as if it had a political significance. of course i undeceived him. his appearance interested me, and his manner is very pleasing. i continued to receive long and interesting letters from him at intervals during his residence as minister at vienna. relating as they often did to public matters, about which he had private sources of information, his anxiety that they should not get into print was perfectly natural. as, however, i was at liberty to read his letters to others at my discretion, and as many parts of these letters have an interest as showing how american affairs looked to one who was behind the scenes in europe, i may venture to give some extracts without fear of violating the spirit of his injunctions, or of giving offence to individuals. the time may come when his extended correspondence can be printed in full with propriety, but it must be in a future year and after it has passed into the hands of a younger generation. meanwhile these few glimpses at his life and records of his feelings and opinions will help to make the portrait of the man we are studying present itself somewhat more clearly. legation of the u. s. a., vienna, january , . my dear holmes,--i have two letters of yours, november and december , to express my thanks for. it is quite true that it is difficult for me to write with the same feeling that inspires you, --that everything around the inkstand within a radius of a thousand miles is full of deepest interest to writer and reader. i don't even intend to try to amuse you with vienna matters. what is it to you that we had a very pleasant dinner-party last week at prince esterhazy's, and another this week at prince liechtenstein's, and that to-morrow i am to put on my cocked hat and laced coat to make a visit to her imperial majesty, the empress mother, and that to-night there is to be the first of the assembly balls, the vienna almack's, at which--i shall be allowed to absent myself altogether? it strikes me that there is likely to be left a fair field for us a few months longer, say till midsummer. the trent affair i shall not say much about, except to state that i have always been for giving up the prisoners. i was awfully afraid, knowing that the demand had gone forth,-- "send us your prisoners or you'll hear of it," that the answer would have come back in the hotspur vein-- 'and if the devil come and roar for them, we will not send them." the result would have been most disastrous, for in order to secure a most trifling advantage,--that of keeping mason and slidell at fort warren a little longer,--we should have turned our backs on all the principles maintained by us when neutral, and should have been obliged to accept a war at an enormous disadvantage. . . . but i hardly dared to hope that we should have obtained such a victory as we have done. to have disavowed the illegal transaction at once,--before any demand came from england,--to have placed that disavowal on the broad ground of principle which we have always cherished, and thus with a clear conscience, and to our entire honor, to have kept ourselves clear from a war which must have given the confederacy the invincible alliance of england,--was exactly what our enemies in europe did not suppose us capable of doing. but we have done it in the handsomest manner, and there is not one liberal heart in this hemisphere that is not rejoiced, nor one hater of us and of our institutions that is not gnashing his teeth with rage. the letter of ten close pages from which i have quoted these passages is full of confidential information, and contains extracts from letters of leading statesmen. if its date had been , i might feel authorized in disobeying its injunctions of privacy. i must quote one other sentence, as it shows his animus at that time towards a distinguished statesman of whom he was afterwards accused of speaking in very hard terms by an obscure writer whose intent was to harm him. in speaking of the trent affair, mr. motley says: "the english premier has been foiled by our much maligned secretary of state, of whom, on this occasion at least, one has the right to say, with sir henry wotton,-- 'his armor was his honest thought, and simple truth his utmost skill.'" "he says at the close of this long letter: 'i wish i could bore you about something else but american politics. but there is nothing else worth thinking of in the world. all else is leather and prunella. we are living over again the days of the dutchmen or the seventeenth-century englishmen.'" my next letter, of fourteen closely written pages, was of similar character to the last. motley could think of nothing but the great conflict. he was alive to every report from america, listening too with passionate fears or hopes, as the case might be, to the whispers not yet audible to the world which passed from lip to lip of the statesmen who were watching the course of events from the other side of the atlantic with the sweet complacency of the looker-on of lucretius; too often rejoicing in the storm that threatened wreck to institutions and an organization which they felt to be a standing menace to the established order of things in their older communities. a few extracts from this very long letter will be found to have a special interest from the time at which they were written. legation of u. s. a., vienna, february , . my dear holmes,--. . . i take great pleasure in reading your prophecies, and intend to be just as free in hazarding my own, for, as you say, our mortal life is but a string of guesses at the future, and no one but an idiot would be discouraged at finding himself sometimes far out in his calculations. if i find you signally right in any of your predictions, be sure that i will congratulate and applaud. if you make mistakes, you shall never hear of them again, and i promise to forget them. let me ask the same indulgence from you in return. this is what makes letter- writing a comfort and journalizing dangerous. . . the ides of march will be upon us before this letter reaches you. we have got to squash the rebellion soon, or be squashed forever as a nation. i don't pretend to judge military plans or the capacities of generals. but, as you suggest, perhaps i can take a more just view of the whole picture of the eventful struggle at this great distance than do those absolutely acting and suffering on the scene. nor can i resist the desire to prophesy any more than you can do, knowing that i may prove utterly mistaken. i say, then, that one great danger comes from the chance of foreign interference. what will prevent that? our utterly defeating the confederates in some great and conclusive battle; or, our possession of the cotton ports and opening them to european trade; or, a most unequivocal policy of slave emancipation. any one of these three conditions would stave off recognition by foreign powers, until we had ourselves abandoned the attempt to reduce the south to obedience. the last measure is to my mind the most important. the south has, by going to war with the united states government, thrust into our hands against our will the invincible weapon which constitutional reasons had hitherto forbidden us to employ. at the same time it has given us the power to remedy a great wrong to four millions of the human race, in which we had hitherto been obliged to acquiesce. we are threatened with national annihilation, and defied to use the only means of national preservation. the question is distinctly proposed to us, shall slavery die, or the great republic? it is most astounding to me that there can be two opinions in the free states as to the answer. if we do fall, we deserve our fate. at the beginning of the contest, constitutional scruples might be respectable. but now we are fighting to subjugate the south; that is, slavery. we are fighting for nothing else that i know of. we are fighting for the union. who wishes to destroy the union? the slaveholder, nobody else. are we to spend twelve hundred millions, and raise six hundred thousand soldiers, in order to protect slavery? it really does seem to me too simple for argument. i am anxiously waiting for the coming columbus who will set this egg of ours on end by smashing in the slavery end. we shall be rolling about in every direction until that is done. i don't know that it is to be done by proclamation. rather perhaps by facts. . . . well, i console myself with thinking that the people--the american people, at least --is about as wise collectively as less numerous collections of individuals, and that the people has really declared emancipation, and is only puzzling how to carry it into effect. after all, it seems to be a law of providence, that progress should be by a spiral movement; so that when it seems most tortuous, we may perhaps be going ahead. i am firm in the faith that slavery is now wriggling itself to death. with slavery in its pristine vigor, i should think the restored union neither possible nor desirable. don't understand me as not taking into account all the strategical considerations against premature governmental utterances on this great subject. but are there any trustworthy friends to the union among the slaveholders? should we lose many kentuckians and virginians who are now with us, if we boldly confiscated the slaves of all rebels? --and a confiscation of property which has legs and so confiscates itself, at command, is not only a legal, but would prove a very practical measure in time of war. in brief, the time is fast approaching, i think, when 'thorough' should be written on all our banners. slavery will never accept a subordinate position. the great republic and slavery cannot both survive. we have been defied to mortal combat, and yet we hesitate to strike. these are my poor thoughts on this great subject. perhaps you will think them crude. i was much struck with what you quote from mr. conway, that if emancipation was proclaimed on the upper mississippi it would be known to the negroes of louisiana in advance of the telegraph. and if once the blacks had leave to run, how many whites would have to stay at home to guard their dissolving property? you have had enough of my maunderings. but before i conclude them, may i ask you to give all our kindest regards to lowell, and to express our admiration for the yankee idyl. i am afraid of using too extravagant language if i say all i think about it. was there ever anything more stinging, more concentrated, more vigorous, more just? he has condensed into those few pages the essence of a hundred diplomatic papers and historical disquisitions and fourth of july orations. i was dining a day or two since with his friend lytton (bulwer's son, attache here) and julian fane (secretary of the embassy), both great admirers of him,--and especially of the "biglow papers;" they begged me to send them the mason and slidell idyl, but i wouldn't,--i don't think it is in english nature (although theirs is very cosmopolitan and liberal) to take such punishment and come up smiling. i would rather they got it in some other way, and then told me what they thought voluntarily. i have very pleasant relations with all the j. b.'s here. they are all friendly and well disposed to the north,--i speak of the embassy, which, with the ambassador and---dress, numbers eight or ten souls, some of them very intellectual ones. there are no other j. b.'s here. i have no fear at present of foreign interference. we have got three or four months to do our work in,--a fair field and no favor. there is no question whatever that the southern commissioners have been thoroughly snubbed in london and paris. there is to be a blockade debate in parliament next week, but no bad consequences are to be apprehended. the duke de gramont (french ambassador, and an intimate friend of the emperor) told my wife last night that it was entirely false that the emperor had ever urged the english government to break the blockade. "don't believe it,--don't believe a word of it," he said. he has always held that language to me. he added that prince napoleon had just come out with a strong speech about us,--you will see it, doubtless, before you get this letter,--but it has not yet reached us. shall i say anything of austria,--what can i say that would interest you? that's the reason why i hate to write. all my thoughts are in america. do you care to know about the archduke ferdinand maximilian, that shall be king hereafter of mexico (if l. n. has his way)? he is next brother to the emperor, but although i have had the honor of private audiences of many archdukes here, this one is a resident of trieste. he is about thirty,--has an adventurous disposition,--some imagination,--a turn for poetry,--has voyaged a good deal about the world in the austrian ship-of-war,--for in one respect he much resembles that unfortunate but anonymous ancestor of his, the king of bohemia with the seven castles, who, according to corporal trim, had such a passion for navigation and sea-affairs, "with never a seaport in all his dominions." but now the present king of bohemia has got the sway of trieste, and is lord high admiral and chief of the marine department. he has been much in spain, also in south america; i have read some travels, "reise skizzen," of his--printed, not published. they are not without talent, and he ever and anon relieves his prose jog-trot by breaking into a canter of poetry. he adores bull-fights, and rather regrets the inquisition, and considers the duke of alva everything noble and chivalrous, and the most abused of men. it would do your heart good to hear his invocations to that deeply injured shade, and his denunciations of the ignorant and vulgar protestants who have defamed him. (n.b. let me observe that the r. of the d. r. was not published until long after the "reise skizzen" were written.) 'du armer alva! weil du dem willen deines herrn unerschiitterlich treu vast, weil die festbestimmten grundsatze der regierung,' etc., etc., etc. you can imagine the rest. dear me! i wish i could get back to the sixteenth and seventeenth century. . . . but alas! the events of the nineteenth are too engrossing. if lowell cares to read this letter, will you allow me to "make it over to him jointly," as captain cuttle says. i wished to write to him, but i am afraid only you would tolerate my writing so much when i have nothing to say. if he would ever send me a line i should be infinitely obliged, and would quickly respond. we read the "washers of the shroud" with fervid admiration. always remember me most sincerely to the club, one and all. it touches me nearly when you assure me that i am not forgotten by them. to-morrow is saturday and the last of the month.--[see appendix a.]--we are going to dine with our spanish colleague. but the first bumper of the don's champagne i shall drain to the health of my parker house friends. from another long letter dated august , , i extract the following passages:-- "i quite agree in all that you said in your last letter. 'the imp of secession can't reenter its mother's womb.' it is merely childish to talk of the union 'as it was.' you might as well bring back the saxon heptarchy. but the great republic is destined to live and flourish, i can't doubt. . . . do you remember that wonderful scene in faust in which mephistopheles draws wine for the rabble with a gimlet out of the wooden table; and how it changes to fire as they drink it, and how they all go mad, draw their knives, grasp each other by the nose, and think they are cutting off bunches of grapes at every blow, and how foolish they all look when they awake from the spell and see how the devil has been mocking them? it always seems to me a parable of the great secession. "i repeat, i can't doubt as to the ultimate result. but i dare say we have all been much mistaken in our calculations as to time. days, months, years, are nothing in history. men die, man is immortal, practically, even on this earth. we are so impatient, --and we are always watching for the last scene of the tragedy. now i humbly opine that the drop is only about falling on the first act, or perhaps only the prologue. this act or prologue will be called, in after days, war for the status quo. such enthusiasm, heroism, and manslaughter as status quo could inspire, has, i trust, been not entirely in vain, but it has been proved insufficient. "i firmly believe that when the slaveholders declared war on the united states government they began a series of events that, in the logical chain of history, cannot come to a conclusion until the last vestige of slavery is gone. looking at the whole field for a moment dispassionately, objectively, as the dear teutonic philosophers say, and merely as an exhibition of phenomena, i cannot imagine any other issue. everything else may happen. this alone must happen. "but after all this isn't a war. it is a revolution. it is n't strategists that are wanted so much as believers. in revolutions the men who win are those who are in earnest. jeff and stonewall and the other devil-worshippers are in earnest, but it was not written in the book of fate that the slaveholders' rebellion should be vanquished by a pro-slavery general. history is never so illogical. no, the coming 'man on horseback' on our side must be a great strategist, with the soul of that insane lion, mad old john brown, in his belly. that is your only promethean recipe:-- 'et insani leonis vim stomacho apposuisse nostro.' "i don't know why horace runs so in my head this morning. . . . "there will be work enough for all; but i feel awfully fidgety just now about port royal and hilton head, and about affairs generally for the next three months. after that iron-clads and the new levies must make us invincible." in another letter, dated november , , he expresses himself very warmly about his disappointment in the attitude of many of his old english friends with reference to our civil conflict. he had recently heard the details of the death of "the noble wilder dwight." "it is unnecessary," he says, "to say how deeply we were moved. i had the pleasure of knowing him well, and i always appreciated his energy, his manliness, and his intelligent cheerful heroism. i look back upon him now as a kind of heroic type of what a young new englander ought to be and was. i tell you that one of these days --after a generation of mankind has passed away--these youths will take their places in our history, and be regarded by the young men and women now unborn with the admiration which the philip sidneys and the max piccolominis now inspire. after all, what was your chevy chace to stir blood with like a trumpet? what noble principle, what deathless interest, was there at stake? nothing but a bloody fight between a lot of noble gamekeepers on one side and of noble poachers on the other. and because they fought well and hacked each other to pieces like devils, they have been heroes for centuries." the letter was written in a very excited state of feeling, and runs over with passionate love of country and indignation at the want of sympathy with the cause of freedom which he had found in quarters where he had not expected such coldness or hostile tendencies. from a letter dated vienna, september , . . . . "when you wrote me last you said on general matters this: 'in a few days we shall get the news of the success or failure of the attacks on port hudson and vicksburg. if both are successful, many will say that the whole matter is about settled.' you may suppose that when i got the great news i shook hands warmly with you in the spirit across the atlantic. day by day for so long we had been hoping to hear the fall of vicksburg. at last when that little concentrated telegram came, announcing vicksburg and gettysburg on the same day and in two lines, i found myself almost alone. . . . there was nobody in the house to join in my huzzahs but my youngest infant. and my conduct very much resembled that of the excellent philip ii. when he heard the fall of antwerp,--for i went to her door, screeching through the key-hole 'vicksburg is ours!' just as that other 'pere de famille,' more potent, but i trust not more respectable than i, conveyed the news to his infanta. (fide, for the incident, an american work on the netherlands, i. p. , and the authorities there cited.) it is contemptible on my part to speak thus frivolously of events which will stand out in such golden letters so long as america has a history, but i wanted to illustrate the yearning for sympathy which i felt. you who were among people grim and self-contained usually, who, i trust, were falling on each other's necks in the public streets, shouting, with tears in their eyes and triumph in their hearts, can picture my isolation. "i have never faltered in my faith, and in the darkest hours, when misfortunes seemed thronging most thickly upon us, i have never felt the want of anything to lean against; but i own i did feel like shaking hands with a few hundred people when i heard of our fourth of july, , work, and should like to have heard and joined in an american cheer or two. "i have not much to say of matters here to interest you. we have had an intensely hot, historically hot, and very long and very dry summer. i never knew before what a drought meant. in hungary the suffering is great, and the people are killing the sheep to feed the pigs with the mutton. here about vienna the trees have been almost stripped of foliage ever since the end of august. there is no glory in the grass nor verdure in anything. "in fact, we have nothing green here but the archduke max, who firmly believes that he is going forth to mexico to establish an american empire, and that it is his divine mission to destroy the dragon of democracy and reestablish the true church, the right divine, and all sorts of games. poor young man! . . . "our information from home is to the th. charleston seems to be in 'articulo mortis,' but how forts nowadays seem to fly in the face of scripture. those founded on a rock, and built of it, fall easily enough under the rain of parrotts and dahlgrens, while the house built of sand seems to bid defiance to the storm." in quoting from these confidential letters i have been restrained from doing full justice to their writer by the fact that he spoke with such entire freedom of persons as well as events. but if they could be read from beginning to end, no one could help feeling that his love for his own country, and passionate absorption of every thought in the strife upon which its existence as a nation depended, were his very life during all this agonizing period. he can think and talk of nothing else, or, if he turns for a moment to other subjects, he reverts to the one great central interest of "american politics," of which he says in one of the letters from which i have quoted, "there is nothing else worth thinking of in the world." but in spite of his public record as the historian of the struggle for liberty and the champion of its defenders, and while every letter he wrote betrayed in every word the intensity of his patriotic feeling, he was not safe against the attacks of malevolence. a train laid by unseen hands was waiting for the spark to kindle it, and this came at last in the shape of a letter from an unknown individual,--a letter the existence of which ought never to have been a matter of official recognition. xviii. - . aet. - . resignation of his office.--causes of his resignation. it is a relief to me that just here, where i come to the first of two painful episodes in this brilliant and fortunate career, i can preface my statement with the generous words of one who speaks with authority of his predecessor in office. the hon. john jay, ex-minister to austria, in the tribute to the memory of motley read at a meeting of the new york historical society, wrote as follows:-- "in singular contrast to mr. motley's brilliant career as an historian stands the fact recorded in our diplomatic annals that he was twice forced from the service as one who had forfeited the confidence of the american government. this society, while he was living, recognized his fame as a statesman, diplomatist, and patriot, as belonging to america, and now that death has closed the career of seward, sumner, and motley, it will be remembered that the great historian, twice humiliated, by orders from washington, before the diplomacy and culture of europe, appealed from the passions of the hour to the verdict of history. "having succeeded mr. motley at vienna some two years after his departure, i had occasion to read most of his dispatches, which exhibited a mastery of the subjects of which they treated, with much of the clear perception, the scholarly and philosophic tone and decided judgment, which, supplemented by his picturesque description, full of life and color, have given character to his histories. they are features which might well have served to extend the remark of madame de stael that a great historian is almost a statesman. i can speak also from my own observation of the reputation which motley left in the austrian capital. notwithstanding the decision with which, under the direction of mr. seward, he had addressed the minister of foreign affairs, count mensdorff, afterwards the prince diedrickstein, protesting against the departure of an austrian force of one thousand volunteers, who were about to embark for mexico in aid of the ill-fated maximilian, --a protest which at the last moment arrested the project,--mr. motley and his amiable family were always spoken of in terms of cordial regard and respect by members of the imperial family and those eminent statesmen, count de beust and count andrassy. his death, i am sure, is mourned to-day by the representatives of the historic names of austria and hungary, and by the surviving diplomats then residing near the court of vienna, wherever they may still be found, headed by their venerable doyen, the baron de heckeren." the story of mr. motley's resignation of his office and its acceptance by the government is this. the president of the united states, andrew johnson, received a letter professing to be written from the hotel meurice, paris, dated october , , and signed "george w. m'crackin, of new york." this letter was filled with accusations directed against various public agents, ministers, and consuls, representing the united states in different countries. its language was coarse, its assertions were improbable, its spirit that of the lowest of party scribblers. it was bitter against new england, especially so against massachusetts, and it singled out motley for the most particular abuse. i think it is still questioned whether there was any such person as the one named,--at any rate, it bore the characteristic marks of those vulgar anonymous communications which rarely receive any attention unless they are important enough to have the police set on the track of the writer to find his rathole, if possible. a paragraph in the "daily advertiser" of june , , quotes from a western paper a story to the effect that one william r. m'crackin, who had recently died at-----confessed to having written the m' crackin letter. motley, he said, had snubbed him and refused to lend him money. "he appears to have been a bohemian of the lowest order." between such authorship and the anonymous there does not seem to be much to choose. but the dying confession sounds in my ears as decidedly apocryphal. as for the letter, i had rather characterize it than reproduce it. it is an offence to decency and a disgrace to the national record on which it is found. this letter of "george w. m'crackin" passed into the hands of mr. seward, the secretary of state. most gentlemen, i think, would have destroyed it on the spot, as it was not fit for the waste-basket. some, more cautious, might have smothered it among the piles of their private communications. if any notice was taken of it, one would say that a private note to each of the gentlemen attacked might have warned him that there were malicious eavesdroppers about, ready to catch up any careless expression he might let fall and make a scandalous report of it to his detriment. the secretary, acquiescing without resistance in a suggestion of the president, saw fit to address a formal note to several of the gentlemen mentioned in the m'crackin letter, repeating some of its offensive expressions, and requesting those officials to deny or confirm the report that they had uttered them. a gentleman who is asked whether he has spoken in a "malignant" or "offensive" manner, whether he has "railed violently and shamefully" against the president of the united states, or against anybody else, might well wonder who would address such a question to the humblest citizen not supposed to be wanting in a common measure of self-respect. a gentleman holding an important official station in a foreign country, receiving a letter containing such questions, signed by the prime minister of his government, if he did not think himself imposed upon by a forgery, might well consider himself outraged. it was a letter of this kind which was sent by the secretary of state to the minister plenipotentiary to the empire of austria. not quite all the vulgar insolence of the m'crackin letter was repeated. mr. seward did not ask mr. motley to deny or confirm the assertion of the letter that he was a "thorough flunky" and "un-american functionary." but he did insult him with various questions suggested by the anonymous letter,--questions that must have been felt as an indignity by the most thick-skinned of battered politicians. mr. motley was very sensitive, very high-spirited, very impulsive, very patriotic, and singularly truthful. the letter of mr. seward to such a man was like a buffet on the cheek of an unarmed officer. it stung like the thrust of a stiletto. it roused a resentment that could not find any words to give it expression. he could not wait to turn the insult over in his mind, to weigh the exact amount of affront in each question, to take counsel, to sleep over it, and reply to it with diplomatic measure and suavity. one hour had scarcely elapsed before his answer was written. as to his feelings as an american, he appeals to his record. this might have shown that if he erred it was on the side of enthusiasm and extravagant expressions of reverence for the american people during the heroic years just passed. he denounces the accusations as pitiful fabrications and vile calumny. he blushes that such charges could have been uttered; he is deeply wounded that mr. seward could have listened to such falsehood. he does not hesitate to say what his opinions are with reference to home questions, and especially to that of reconstruction. "these opinions," he says, "in the privacy of my own household, and to occasional american visitors, i have not concealed. the great question now presenting itself for solution demands the conscientious scrutiny of every american who loves his country and believes in the human progress of which that country is one of the foremost representatives. i have never thought, during my residence at vienna, that because i have the honor of being a public servant of the american people i am deprived of the right of discussing within my own walls the gravest subjects that can interest freemen. a minister of the united states does not cease to be a citizen of the united states, as deeply interested as others in all that relates to the welfare of his country." among the "occasional american visitors" spoken of above must have been some of those self-appointed or hired agents called "interviewers," who do for the american public what the venetian spies did for the council of ten, what the familiars of the inquisition did for the priesthood, who invade every public man's privacy, who listen at every key-hole, who tamper with every guardian of secrets; purveyors to the insatiable appetite of a public which must have a slain reputation to devour with its breakfast, as the monster of antiquity called regularly for his tribute of a spotless virgin. the "interviewer" has his use, undoubtedly, and often instructs and amuses his public with gossip they could not otherwise listen to. he serves the politician by repeating the artless and unstudied remarks which fall from his lips in a conversation which the reporter has been invited to take notes of. he tickles the author's vanity by showing him off as he sits in his library unconsciously uttering the engaging items of self-portraiture which, as he well knows, are to be given to the public in next week's illustrated paper. the feathered end of his shaft titillates harmlessly enough, but too often the arrowhead is crusted with a poison worse than the indian gets by mingling the wolf's gall with the rattlesnake's venom. no man is safe whose unguarded threshold the mischief-making questioner has crossed. the more unsuspecting, the more frank, the more courageous, the more social is the subject of his vivisection, the more easily does he get at his vital secrets, if he has any to be extracted. no man is safe if the hearsay reports of his conversation are to be given to the public without his own careful revision. when we remember that a proof-text bearing on the mighty question of the future life, words of supreme significance, uttered as they were in the last hour, and by the lips to which we listen as to none other,--that this text depends for its interpretation on the position of a single comma, we can readily see what wrong may be done by the unintentional blunder of the most conscientious reporter. but too frequently it happens that the careless talk of an honest and high-minded man only reaches the public after filtering through the drain of some reckless hireling's memory,--one who has played so long with other men's characters and good name that he forgets they have any value except to fill out his morning paragraphs. whether the author of the scandalous letter which it was disgraceful to the government to recognize was a professional interviewer or only a malicious amateur, or whether he was a paid "spotter," sent by some jealous official to report on the foreign ministers as is sometimes done in the case of conductors of city horsecars, or whether the dying miscreant before mentioned told the truth, cannot be certainly known. but those who remember mr. hawthorne's account of his consular experiences at liverpool are fully aware to what intrusions and impertinences and impositions our national representatives in other countries are subjected. those fellow-citizens who "often came to the consulate in parties of half a dozen or more, on no business whatever, but merely to subject their public servant to a rigid examination, and see how he was getting on with his duties," may very possibly have included among them some such mischief-maker as the author of the odious letter which received official recognition. mr. motley had spoken in one of his histories of "a set of venomous familiars who glided through every chamber and coiled themselves at every fireside." he little thought that under his own roof he himself was to be the victim of an equally base espionage. it was an insult on the part of the government to have sent mr. motley such a letter with such questions as were annexed to it. no very exact rule can be laid down as to the manner in which an insult shall be dealt with. something depends on temperament, and his was of the warmer complexion. his first impulse, he says, was to content himself with a flat denial of the truth of the accusations. but his scrupulous honesty compelled him to make a plain statement of his opinions, and to avow the fact that he had made no secret of them in conversation under conditions where he had a right to speak freely of matters quite apart from his official duties. his answer to the accusation was denial of its charges; his reply to the insult was his resignation. it may be questioned whether this was the wisest course, but wisdom is often disconcerted by an indignity, and even a meek christian may forget to turn the other cheek after receiving the first blow until the natural man has asserted himself by a retort in kind. but the wrong was committed; his resignation was accepted; the vulgar letter, not fit to be spread out on these pages, is enrolled in the records of the nation, and the first deep wound was inflicted on the proud spirit of one whose renown had shed lustre on the whole country. that the burden of this wrong may rest where it belongs, i quote the following statement from mr. jay's paper, already referred to. "it is due to the memory of mr. seward to say, and there would seem now no further motive for concealing the truth, that i was told in europe, on what i regarded as reliable authority, that there was reason to believe that on the receipt of mr. motley's resignation mr. seward had written to him declining to accept it, and that this letter, by a telegraphic order of president johnson, had been arrested in the hands of a dispatch agent before its delivery to mr. motley, and that the curt letter of the th of april had been substituted in its stead." the hon. john bigelow, late minister to france, has published an article in "the international review" for july-august, , in which he defends his late friend mr. seward's action in this matter at the expense of the president, mr. andrew johnson, and not without inferences unfavorable to the discretion of mr. motley. many readers will think that the simple record of mr. seward's unresisting acquiescence in the action of the president is far from being to his advantage. i quote from his own conversation as carefully reported by his friend mr. bigelow. "mr. johnson was in a state of intense irritation, and more or less suspicious of everybody about him."--"instead of throwing the letter into the fire," the president handed it to him, the secretary, and suggested answering it, and without a word, so far as appears, he simply answered, "certainly, sir." again, the secretary having already written to mr. motley that "his answer was satisfactory," the president, on reaching the last paragraph of mr. motley's letter, in which he begged respectfully to resign his post, "without waiting to learn what mr. seward had done or proposed to do, exclaimed, with a not unnatural asperity, 'well, let him go,' and 'on hearing this,' said mr. seward, laughing, 'i did not read my dispatch.'" many persons will think that the counsel for the defence has stated the plaintiff's case so strongly that there is nothing left for him but to show his ingenuity and his friendship for the late secretary in a hopeless argument. at any rate, mr. seward appears not to have made the slightest effort to protect mr. motley against his coarse and jealous chief at two critical moments, and though his own continuance in office may have been more important to the state than that of the vicar of bray was to the church, he ought to have risked something, as it seems to me, to shield such a patriot, such a gentleman, such a scholar, from ignoble treatment; he ought to have been as ready to guard mr. motley from wrong as mr. bigelow has shown himself to shield mr. seward from reproach, and his task, if more delicate, was not more difficult. i am willing to accept mr. bigelow's loyal and honorable defence of his friend's memory as the best that could be said for mr. seward, but the best defence in this case is little better than an impeachment. as for mr. johnson, he had held the weapon of the most relentless of the 'parcae' so long that his suddenly clipping the thread of a foreign minister's tenure of office in a fit of jealous anger is not at all surprising. thus finished mr. motley's long and successful diplomatic service at the court of austria. he may have been judged hasty in resigning his place; he may have committed himself in expressing his opinions too strongly before strangers, whose true character as spies and eavesdroppers he was too high-minded to suspect. but no caution could have protected him against a slanderer who hated the place he came from, the company he kept, the name he had made famous, to whom his very look and bearing --such as belong to a gentleman of natural refinement and good breeding --must have been a personal grievance and an unpardonable offence. i will add, in illustration of what has been said, and as showing his feeling with reference to the matter, an extract from a letter to me from vienna, dated the th of march, . . . . "as so many friends and so many strangers have said so much that is gratifying to me in public and private on this very painful subject, it would be like affectation, in writing to so old a friend as you, not to touch upon it. i shall confine myself, however, to one fact, which, so far as i know, may be new to you. "geo. w. m'cracken is a man and a name utterly unknown to me. "with the necessary qualification which every man who values truth must make when asserting such a negation,--viz., to the very best of my memory and belief,--i never set eyes on him nor heard of him until now, in the whole course of my life. not a member of my family or of the legation has the faintest recollection of any such person. i am quite convinced that he never saw me nor heard the sound of my voice. that his letter was a tissue of vile calumnies, shameless fabrications, and unblushing and contemptible falsehoods, --by whomsoever uttered,--i have stated in a reply to what ought never to have been an official letter. no man can regret more than i do that such a correspondence is enrolled in the capital among american state papers. i shall not trust myself to speak of the matter. it has been a sufficiently public scandal." xix. - . aet. - . last two volumes of the "history of the united netherlands."--general criticisms of dutch scholars on motley's historical works. in his letter to me of march , , just cited, mr. motley writes:-- "my two concluding volumes of the united netherlands are passing rapidly through the press. indeed, volume iii. is entirely printed and a third of volume iv. "if i live ten years longer i shall have probably written the natural sequel to the first two works,--viz., the thirty years' war. after that i shall cease to scourge the public. "i don't know whether my last two volumes are good or bad; i only know that they are true--but that need n't make them amusing. "alas! one never knows when one becomes a bore." in the two concluding volumes of the "history of the netherlands" were published at the same time in london and in new york. the events described and the characters delineated in these two volumes had, perhaps, less peculiar interest for english and american readers than some of those which had lent attraction to the preceding ones. there was no scene like the siege of antwerp, no story like that of the spanish armada. there were no names that sounded to our ears like those of sir philip sidney and leicester and amy robsart. but the main course of his narrative flowed on with the same breadth and depth of learning and the same brilliancy of expression. the monumental work continued as nobly as it had begun. the facts had been slowly, quietly gathered, one by one, like pebbles from the empty channel of a brook. the style was fluent, impetuous, abundant, impatient, as it were, at times, and leaping the sober boundaries prescribed to it, like the torrent which rushes through the same channel when the rains have filled it. thus there was matter for criticism in his use of language. he was not always careful in the construction of his sentences. he introduced expressions now and then into his vocabulary which reminded one of his earlier literary efforts. he used stronger language at times than was necessary, coloring too highly, shading too deeply in his pictorial delineations. to come to the matter of his narrative, it must be granted that not every reader will care to follow him through all the details of diplomatic intrigues which he has with such industry and sagacity extricated from the old manuscripts in which they had long lain hidden. but we turn a few pages and we come to one of those descriptions which arrest us at once and show him in his power and brilliancy as a literary artist. his characters move before us with the features of life; we can see elizabeth, or philip, or maurice, not as a name connected with events, but as a breathing and acting human being, to be loved or hated, admired or despised, as if he or she were our contemporary. that all his judgments would not be accepted as final we might easily anticipate; he could not help writing more or less as a partisan, but he was a partisan on the side of freedom in politics and religion, of human nature as against every form of tyranny, secular or priestly, of noble manhood wherever he saw it as against meanness and violence and imposture, whether clad in the soldier's mail or the emperor's purple. his sternest critics, and even these admiring ones, were yet to be found among those who with fundamental beliefs at variance with his own followed him in his long researches among the dusty annals of the past. the work of the learned m. groen van prinsterer,--[maurice et barnevelt, etude historique. utrecht, .]--devoted expressly to the revision and correction of what the author considers the erroneous views of mr. motley on certain important points, bears, notwithstanding, such sincere and hearty tribute to his industry, his acquisitions, his brilliant qualities as a historian, that some extracts from it will be read, i think, with interest. "my first interview, more than twenty years ago, with mr. lothrop motley, has left an indelible impression on my memory. "it was the th of august, . a note is handed me from our eminent archivist bakhuyzen van den brink. it informs me that i am to receive a visit from an american, who, having been struck by the analogies between the united provinces and the united states, between washington and the founder of our independence, has interrupted his diplomatic career to write the life of william the first; that he has already given proof of ardor and perseverance, having worked in libraries and among collections of manuscripts, and that he is coming to pursue his studies at the hague. "while i am surprised and delighted with this intelligence, i am informed that mr. motley himself is waiting for my answer. my eagerness to make the acquaintance of such an associate in my sympathies and my labors may be well imagined. but how shall i picture my surprise, in presently discovering that this unknown and indefatigable fellow-worker has really read, i say read and reread, our quartos, our folios, the enormous volumes of bor, of van meteren, besides a multitude of books, of pamphlets, and even of unedited documents. already he is familiar with the events, the changes of condition, the characteristic details of the life of his and my hero. not only is he acquainted with my archives, but it seems as if there was nothing in this voluminous collection of which he was ignorant. . . . "in sending me the last volume of his 'history of the foundation of the republic of the netherlands,' mr. motley wrote to me: 'without the help of the archives i could never have undertaken the difficult task i had set myself, and you will have seen at least from my numerous citations that i have made a sincere and conscientious study of them.' certainly in reading such a testimonial i congratulated myself on the excellent fruit of my labors, but the gratitude expressed to me by mr. motley was sincerely reciprocated. the archives are a scientific collection, and my 'manual of national history,' written in dutch, hardly gets beyond the limits of my own country. and here is a stranger, become our compatriot in virtue of the warmth of his sympathies, who has accomplished what was not in my power. by the detail and the charm of his narrative, by the matter and form of a work which the universality of the english language and numerous translations were to render cosmopolitan, mr. motley, like that other illustrious historian, prescott, lost to science by too early death, has popularized in both hemispheres the sublime devotion of the prince of orange, the exceptional and providential destinies of my country, and the benedictions of the eternal for all those who trust in him and tremble only at his word." the old dutch scholar differs in many important points from mr. motley, as might be expected from his creed and his life-long pursuits. this i shall refer to in connection with motley's last work, "john of barneveld." an historian among archivists and annalists reminds one of sir john lubbock in the midst of his ant-hills. undoubtedly he disturbs the ants in their praiseworthy industry, much as his attentions may flatter them. unquestionably the ants (if their means of expressing themselves were equal to their apparent intellectual ability) could teach him many things that he has overlooked and correct him in many mistakes. but the ants will labor ingloriously without an observer to chronicle their doings, and the archivists and annalists will pile up facts forever like so many articulates or mollusks or radiates, until the vertebrate historian comes with his generalizing ideas, his beliefs, his prejudices, his idiosyncrasies of all kinds, and brings the facts into a more or less imperfect, but still organic series of relations. the history which is not open to adverse criticism is worth little, except as material, for it is written without taking cognizance of those higher facts about which men must differ; of which guizot writes as follows, as quoted in the work of m. groen van prinsterer himself. "it is with facts that our minds are exercised, it has nothing but facts as its materials, and when it discovers general laws these laws are themselves facts which it determines. . . . in the study of facts the intelligence may allow itself to be crushed; it may lower, narrow, materialize itself; it may come to believe that there are no facts except those which strike us at the first glance, which come close to us, which fall, as we say, under our senses; a great and gross error; there are remote facts, immense, obscure, sublime, very difficult to reach, to observe, to describe, and which are not any less facts for these reasons, and which man is not less obliged to study and to know; and if he fails to recognize them or forgets them, his thought will be prodigiously abashed, and all his ideas carry the stamp of this deterioration." in that higher region of facts which belongs to the historian, whose task it is to interpret as well as to transcribe, mr. motley showed, of course, the political and religious school in which he had been brought up. every man has a right to his "personal equation" of prejudice, and mr. motley, whose ardent temperament gave life to his writings, betrayed his sympathies in the disputes of which he told the story, in a way to insure sharp criticism from those of a different way of thinking. thus it is that in the work of m. groen van prinsterer, from which i have quoted, he is considered as having been betrayed into error, while his critic recognizes "his manifest desire to be scrupulously impartial and truth-telling." and m. fruin, another of his dutch critics, says, "his sincerity, his perspicacity, the accuracy of his laborious researches, are incontestable." some of the criticisms of dutch scholars will be considered in the pages which deal with his last work, "the life of john of barneveld." xx. - . aet. - . visit to america.--residence at no. park street, boston.--address on the coming presidential election.--address on historic progress and american democracy.--appointed minister to england. in june, , mr. motley returned with his family to boston, and established himself in the house no. park street. during his residence here he entered a good deal into society, and entertained many visitors in a most hospitable and agreeable way. on the th of october, , he delivered an address before the parker fraternity, in the music hall, by special invitation. its title was "four questions for the people, at the presidential election." this was of course what is commonly called an electioneering speech, but a speech full of noble sentiments and eloquent expression. here are two of its paragraphs:-- "certainly there have been bitterly contested elections in this country before. party spirit is always rife, and in such vivid, excitable, disputatious communities as ours are, and i trust always will be, it is the very soul of freedom. to those who reflect upon the means and end of popular government, nothing seems more stupid than in grand generalities to deprecate party spirit. why, government by parties and through party machinery is the only possible method by which a free government can accomplish the purpose of its existence. the old republics of the past may be said to have fallen, not because of party spirit, but because there was no adequate machinery by which party spirit could develop itself with facility and regularity. "and if our republic be true to herself, the future of the human race is assured by our example. no sweep of overwhelming armies, no ponderous treatises on the rights of man, no hymns to liberty, though set to martial music and resounding with the full diapason of a million human throats, can exert so persuasive an influence as does the spectacle of a great republic, occupying a quarter of the civilized globe, and governed quietly and sagely by the people itself." a large portion of this address is devoted to the proposition that it is just and reasonable to pay our debts rather than to repudiate them, and that the nation is as much bound to be honest as is the individual. "it is an awful thing," he says, "that this should be a question at all," but it was one of the points on which the election turned, for all that. in his advocacy of the candidate with whom, and the government of which he became the head, his relations became afterwards so full of personal antagonism, he spoke as a man of his ardent nature might be expected to speak on such an occasion. no one doubts that his admiration of general grant's career was perfectly sincere, and no one at the present day can deny that the great captain stood before the historian with such a record as one familiar with the deeds of heroes and patriots might well consider as entitling him to the honors too often grudged to the living to be wasted on the dead. the speaker only gave voice to the widely prevailing feelings which had led to his receiving the invitation to speak. the time was one which called for outspoken utterance, and there was not a listener whose heart did not warm as he heard the glowing words in which the speaker recorded the noble achievements of the soldier who must in so many ways have reminded him of his favorite character, william the silent. on the th of december of this same year, , mr. motley delivered an address before the new york historical society, on the occasion of the sixty-fourth anniversary of its foundation. the president of the society, mr. hamilton fish, introduced the speaker as one "whose name belongs to no single country, and to no single age. as a statesman and diplomatist and patriot, he belongs to america; as a scholar, to the world of letters; as a historian, all ages will claim him in the future." his subject was "historic progress and american democracy." the discourse is, to use his own words, "a rapid sweep through the eons and the centuries," illustrating the great truth of the development of the race from its origin to the time in which we are living. it is a long distance from the planetary fact of the obliquity of the equator, which gave the earth its alternation of seasons, and rendered the history, if not the existence of man and of civilization a possibility, to the surrender of general lee under the apple-tree at appomattox court-house. no one but a scholar familiar with the course of history could have marshalled such a procession of events into a connected and intelligible sequence. it is indeed a flight rather than a march; the reader is borne along as on the wings of a soaring poem, and sees the rising and decaying empires of history beneath him as a bird of passage marks the succession of cities and wilds and deserts as he keeps pace with the sun in his journey. its eloquence, its patriotism, its crowded illustrations, drawn from vast resources of knowledge, its epigrammatic axioms, its occasional pleasantries, are all characteristic of the writer. mr. gulian c. verplanck, the venerable senior member of the society, proposed the vote of thanks to mr. motley with words of warm commendation. mr. william cullen bryant rose and said:-- "i take great pleasure in seconding the resolution which has just been read. the eminent historian of the dutch republic, who has made the story of its earlier days as interesting as that of athens and sparta, and who has infused into the narrative the generous glow of his own genius, has the highest of titles to be heard with respectful attention by the citizens of a community which, in its origin, was an offshoot of that renowned republic. and cheerfully has that title been recognized, as the vast audience assembled here to-night, in spite of the storm, fully testifies; and well has our illustrious friend spoken of the growth of civilization and of the improvement in the condition of mankind, both in the old world--the institutions of which he has so lately observed--and in the country which is proud to claim him as one of her children." soon after the election of general grant, mr. motley received the appointment of minister to england. that the position was one which was in many respects most agreeable to him cannot be doubted. yet it was not with unmingled feelings of satisfaction, not without misgivings which warned him but too truly of the dangers about to encompass him, that he accepted the place. he writes to me on april , :-- "i feel anything but exultation at present,--rather the opposite sensation. i feel that i am placed higher than i deserve, and at the same time that i am taking greater responsibilities than ever were assumed by me before. you will be indulgent to my mistakes and shortcomings,--and who can expect to avoid them? but the world will be cruel, and the times are threatening. i shall do my best,--but the best may be poor enough,--and keep 'a heart for any fate.'" xxi. - . aet. - . recall from the english mission.--its alleged and its probable reasons. the misgivings thus expressed to me in confidence, natural enough in one who had already known what it is to fall on evil days and evil tongues, were but too well justified by after events. i could have wished to leave untold the story of the english mission, an episode in motley's life full of heart-burnings, and long to be regretted as a passage of american history. but his living appeal to my indulgence comes to me from his grave as a call for his defence, however little needed, at least as a part of my tribute to his memory. it is little needed, because the case is clear enough to all intelligent readers of our diplomatic history, and because his cause has been amply sustained by others in many ways better qualified than myself to do it justice. the task is painful, for if a wrong was done him it must be laid at the doors of those whom the nation has delighted to honor, and whose services no error of judgment or feeling or conduct can ever induce us to forget. if he confessed him, self-liable, like the rest of us, to mistakes and shortcomings, we must remember that the great officers of the government who decreed his downfall were not less the subjects of human infirmity. the outline to be filled up is this: a new administration had just been elected. the "alabama treaty," negotiated by motley's predecessor, mr. reverdy johnson, had been rejected by the senate. the minister was recalled, and motley, nominated without opposition and unanimously confirmed by the senate, was sent to england in his place. he was welcomed most cordially on his arrival at liverpool, and replied in a similar strain of good feeling, expressing the same kindly sentiments which may be found in his instructions. soon after arriving in london he had a conversation with lord clarendon, the british foreign secretary, of which he sent a full report to his own government. while the reported conversation was generally approved of in the government's dispatch acknowledging it, it was hinted that some of its expressions were stronger than were required by the instructions, and that one of its points was not conveyed in precise conformity with the president's view. the criticism was very gently worded, and the dispatch closed with a somewhat guarded paragraph repeating the government's approbation. this was the first offence alleged against mr. motley. the second ground of complaint was that he had shown written minutes of this conversation to lord clarendon to obtain his confirmation of its exactness, and that he had--as he said, inadvertently,--omitted to make mention to the government of this circumstance until some weeks after the time of the interview. he was requested to explain to lord clarendon that a portion of his presentation and treatment of the subject discussed at the interview immediately after his arrival was disapproved by the secretary of state, and he did so in a written communication, in which he used the very words employed by mr. fish in his criticism of the conversation with lord clarendon. an alleged mistake; a temperate criticism, coupled with a general approval; a rectification of the mistake criticised. all this within the first two months of mr. motley's official residence in london. no further fault was found with him, so far as appears, in the discharge of his duties, to which he must have devoted himself faithfully, for he writes to me, under the date of december , : "i have worked harder in the discharge of this mission than i ever did in my life." this from a man whose working powers astonished the old dutch archivist, groen van prinsterer, means a good deal. more than a year had elapsed since the interview with lord clarendon, which had been the subject of criticism. in the mean time a paper of instructions was sent to motley, dated september , , in which the points in the report of his interview which had been found fault with are so nearly covered by similar expressions, that there seemed no real ground left for difference between the government and the minister. whatever over-statement there had been, these new instructions would imply that the government was now ready to go quite as far as the minister had gone, and in some points to put the case still more strongly. everything was going on quietly. important business had been transacted, with no sign of distrust or discontent on the part of the government as regarded motley. whatever mistake he was thought to have committed was condoned by amicable treatment, neutralized by the virtual indorsement of the government in the instructions of the th of september, and obsolete as a ground of quarrel by lapse of time. the question about which the misunderstanding, if such it deserves to be called, had taken place, was no longer a possible source of disagreement, as it had long been settled that the alabama case should only be opened again at the suggestion of the british government, and that it should be transferred to washington whenever that suggestion should again bring it up for consideration. such was the aspect of affairs at the american legation in london. no foreign minister felt more secure in his place than mr. motley. "i thought myself," he says in the letter of december , "entirely in the confidence of my own government, and i know that i had the thorough confidence and the friendship of the leading personages in england." all at once, on the first of july, , a letter was written by the secretary of state, requesting him to resign. this gentle form of violence is well understood in the diplomatic service. horace walpole says, speaking of lady archibald hamilton: "they have civilly asked her and grossly forced her to ask civilly to go away, which she has done, with a pension of twelve hundred a year." such a request is like the embrace of the "virgin" in old torture-chambers. she is robed in soft raiment, but beneath it are the knife-blades which are ready to lacerate and kill the victim, if he awaits the pressure of the machinery already in motion. mr. motley knew well what was the logical order in an official execution, and saw fit to let the government work its will upon him as its servant. in november he was recalled. the recall of a minister under such circumstances is an unusual if not an unprecedented occurrence. the government which appoints a citizen to represent the country at a foreign court assumes a very serious obligation to him. the next administration may turn him out and nothing will be thought of it. he may be obliged to ask for his passports and leave all at once if war is threatened between his own country and that which he represents. he may, of course, be recalled for gross misconduct. but his dismissal is very serious matter to him personally, and not to be thought of on the ground of passion or caprice. marriage is a simple business, but divorce is a very different thing. the world wants to know the reason of it; the law demands its justification. it was a great blow to mr. motley, a cause of indignation to those who were interested in him, a surprise and a mystery to the world in general. when he, his friends, and the public, all startled by this unexpected treatment, looked to find an explanation of it, one was found which seemed to many quite sufficient. mr. sumner had been prominent among those who had favored his appointment. a very serious breach had taken place between the president and mr. sumner on the important san domingo question. it was a quarrel, in short, neither more nor less, at least so far as the president was concerned. the proposed san domingo treaty had just been rejected by the senate, on the thirtieth day of june, and immediately thereupon,--the very next day,--the letter requesting mr. motley's resignation was issued by the executive. this fact was interpreted as implying something more than a mere coincidence. it was thought that sumner's friend, who had been supported by him as a candidate for high office, who shared many of his political ideas and feelings, who was his intimate associate, his fellow-townsman, his companion in scholarship and cultivation, his sympathetic co-laborer in many ways, had been accounted and dealt with as the ally of an enemy, and that the shaft which struck to the heart of the sensitive envoy had glanced from the 'aes triplex' of the obdurate senator. mr. motley wrote a letter to the secretary of state immediately after his recall, in which he reviewed his relations with the government from the time of his taking office, and showed that no sufficient reason could be assigned for the treatment to which he had been subjected. he referred finally to the public rumor which assigned the president's hostility to his friend sumner, growing out of the san domingo treaty question, as the cause of his own removal, and to the coincidence between the dates of the rejection of the treaty and his dismissal, with an evident belief that these two occurrences were connected by something more than accident. to this, a reply was received from the secretary of state's office, signed by mr. fish, but so objectionable in its tone and expressions that it has been generally doubted whether the paper could claim anything more of the secretary's hand than his signature. it travelled back to the old record of the conversation with lord clarendon, more than a year and a half before, took up the old exceptions, warmed them over into grievances, and joined with them whatever the 'captatores verborum,' not extinct since daniel webster's time, could add to their number. this was the letter which was rendered so peculiarly offensive by a most undignified comparison which startled every well-bred reader. no answer was possible to such a letter, and the matter rested until the death of mr. motley caused it to be brought up once more for judgment. the honorable john jay, in his tribute to the memory of mr. motley, read at a meeting of the new york historical society, vindicated his character against the attacks of the late executive in such a way as to leave an unfavorable impression as to the course of the government. objection was made on this account to placing the tribute upon the minutes of the society. this led to a publication by mr. jay, entitled "motley's appeal to history," in which the propriety of the society's action is questioned, and the wrong done to him insisted upon and further illustrated. the defence could not have fallen into better hands. bearing a name which is, in itself, a title to the confidence of the american people, a diplomatist familiar with the rights, the customs, the traditions, the courtesies, which belong to the diplomatic service, the successor of mr. motley at vienna, and therefore familiar with his official record, not self-made, which too commonly means half-made, but with careful training added to the instincts to which he had a right by inheritance, he could not allow the memory of such a scholar, of such a high-minded lover of his country, of so true a gentleman as mr. motley, to remain without challenge under the stigma of official condemnation. i must refer to mr. jay's memorial tribute as printed in the newspapers of the day, and to his "appeal" published in "the international review," for his convincing presentation of the case, and content myself with a condensed statement of the general and special causes of complaint against mr. motley, and the explanations which suggest themselves, as abundantly competent to show the insufficiency of the reasons alleged by the government as an excuse for the manner in which he was treated. the grounds of complaint against mr. motley are to be looked for:-- . in the letter of mr. fish to mr. moran, of december , . . in mr. bancroft davis's letter to the new york "herald" of january , , entitled, "mr. sumner, the alabama claims and their settlement." . the reported conversations of general grant. . the reported conversations of mr. fish. in considering mr. fish's letter, we must first notice its animus. the manner in which dickens's two old women are brought in is not only indecorous, but it shows a state of feeling from which nothing but harsh interpretation of every questionable expression of mr. motley's was to be expected. there is not the least need of maintaining the perfect fitness and rhetorical felicity of every phrase and every word used by him in his interview with lord clarendon. it is not to be expected that a minister, when about to hold a conversation with a representative of the government to which he is accredited, will commit his instructions to memory and recite them, like a school-boy "speaking his piece." he will give them more or less in his own language, amplifying, it may be, explaining, illustrating, at any rate paraphrasing in some degree, but endeavoring to convey an idea of their essential meaning. in fact, as any one can see, a conversation between two persons must necessarily imply a certain amount of extemporization on the part of both. i do not believe any long and important conference was ever had between two able men without each of them feeling that he had not spoken exactly in all respects as he would if he could say all over again. doubtless, therefore, mr. motley's report of his conversation shows that some of his expressions might have been improved, and others might as well have been omitted. a man does not change his temperament on taking office. general jackson still swore "by the eternal," and his illustrious military successor of a more recent period seems, by his own showing, to have been able to sudden impulses of excitement. it might be said of motley, as it was said of shakespeare by ben jonson, "aliquando sufflaminandus erat." yet not too much must be made of this concession. only a determination to make out a case could, as it seems to me, have framed such an indictment as that which the secretary constructed by stringing together a slender list of pretended peccadillos. one instance will show the extreme slightness which characterizes many of the grounds of inculpation:-- the instructions say, "the government, in rejecting the recent convention, abandons neither its own claims nor those of its citizens," etc. mr. motley said, in the course of his conversation, "at present, the united states government, while withdrawing neither its national claims nor the claims of its individual citizens against the british government," etc. mr. fish says, "the determination of this government not to abandon its claims nor those of its citizens was stated parenthetically, and in such a subordinate way as not necessarily to attract the attention of lord clarendon." what reported conversation can stand a captious criticism like this? are there not two versions of the ten commandments which were given out in the thunder and smoke of sinai, and would the secretary hold that this would have been a sufficient reason to recall moses from his "divine legation" at the court of the almighty? there are certain expressions which, as mr. fish shows them apart from their connection, do very certainly seem in bad taste, if not actually indiscreet and unjustifiable. let me give an example:-- "instead of expressing the hope entertained by this government that there would be an early, satisfactory, and friendly settlement of the questions at issue, he volunteered the unnecessary, and from the manner in which it was thrust in, the highly objectionable statement that the united states government had no insidious purposes,'" etc. this sounds very badly as mr. fish puts it; let us see how it stands in its proper connection:-- "he [lord clarendon] added with some feeling, that in his opinion it would be highly objectionable that the question should be hung up on a peg, to be taken down at some convenient moment for us, when it might be difficult for the british government to enter upon its solution, and when they might go into the debate at a disadvantage. these were, as nearly as i can remember, his words, and i replied very earnestly that i had already answered that question when i said that my instructions were to propose as brief a delay as would probably be requisite for the cooling of passions and for producing the calm necessary for discussing the defects of the old treaty and a basis for a new one. the united states government had no insidious purposes," etc. is it not evident that lord clarendon suggested the idea which mr. motley repelled as implying an insidious mode of action? is it not just as clear that mr. fish's way of reproducing the expression without the insinuation which called it forth is a practical misstatement which does mr. motley great wrong? one more example of the method of wringing a dry cloth for drops of evidence ought to be enough to show the whole spirit of the paper. mr. fish, in his instructions:-- "it might, indeed, well have occurred in the event of the selection by lot of the arbitrator or umpire in different cases, involving however precisely the same principles, that different awards, resting upon antagonistic principles, might have been made." mr. motley, in the conversation with lord clarendon:-- "i called his lordship's attention to your very judicious suggestion that the throwing of the dice for umpires might bring about opposite decisions in cases arising out of identical principles. he agreed entirely that no principle was established by the treaty, but that the throwing of dice or drawing of lots was not a new invention on that occasion, but a not uncommon method in arbitrations. i only expressed the opinion that such an aleatory process seemed an unworthy method in arbitrations," etc. mr. fish, in his letter to mr. moran:-- "that he had in his mind at that interview something else than his letter of instructions from this department would appear to be evident, when he says that 'he called his lordship's attention to your [my] very judicious suggestion that the throwing of dice for umpire might bring about opposite decisions.' the instructions which mr. motley received from me contained no suggestion about throwing of dice.' that idea is embraced in the suggestive words 'aleatory process' (adopted by mr. motley), but previously applied in a speech made in the senate on the question of ratifying the treaty." charles sumner's speech on the johnson-clarendon treaty, april , : "in the event of failure to agree, the arbitrator is determined 'by lot' out of two persons named by each side. even if this aleatory proceeding were a proper device in the umpirage of private claims, it is strongly inconsistent with the solemnity which belongs to the present question." it is "suggestive" that the critical secretary, so keen in detecting conversational inaccuracies, having but two words to quote from a printed document, got one of them wrong. but this trivial comment must not lead the careful reader to neglect to note how much is made of what is really nothing at all. the word aleatory, whether used in its original and limited sense, or in its derived extension as a technical term of the civil law, was appropriate and convenient; one especially likely to be remembered by any person who had read mr. sumner's speech,--and everybody had read it; the secretary himself doubtless got the suggestion of determining the question "by lot" from it. what more natural than that it should be used again when the subject of appealing to chance came up in conversation? it "was an excellent good word before it was ill-sorted," and we were fortunate in having a minister who was scholar enough to know what it meant. the language used by mr. motley conveyed the idea of his instructions plainly enough, and threw in a compliment to their author which should have saved this passage at least from the wringing process. the example just given is, like the concession of belligerency to the insurgents by great britain, chiefly important as "showing animus." it is hardly necessary to bring forward other instances of virtual misrepresentation. if mr. motley could have talked his conversation over again, he would very probably have changed some expressions. but he felt bound to repeat the interview exactly as it occurred, with all the errors to which its extemporaneous character exposed it. when a case was to be made out against him, the secretary wrote, december , : "well might he say, as he did in a subsequent dispatch on the th of july, , that he had gone beyond the strict letter of his instructions. he might have added, in direct opposition to their temper and spirit." of the same report the secretary had said, june , : "your general presentation and treatment of the several subjects discussed in that interview meet the approval of this department." this general approval is qualified by mild criticism of a single statement as not having been conveyed in "precise conformity" to the president's view. the minister was told he might be well content to rest the question on the very forcible presentation he had made of the american side of the question, and that if there were expressions used stronger than were required by his instructions, they were in the right direction. the mere fact that a minute of this conversation was confidentially submitted to lord clarendon in order that our own government might have his authority for the accuracy of the record, which was intended exclusively for its own use, and that this circumstance was overlooked and not reported to the government until some weeks afterward, are the additional charges against mr. motley. the submission of the dispatch containing an account of the interview, the secretary says, is not inconsistent with diplomatic usage, but it is inconsistent with the duty of a minister not to inform his government of that submission. "mr. motley submitted the draft of his no. to lord clarendon, and failed to communicate that fact to his government." he did inform mr. fish, at any rate, on the th of july, and alleged "inadvertence" as the reason for his omission to do it before. inasmuch as submitting the dispatch was not inconsistent with diplomatic usage, nothing seems left to find fault with but the not very long delay in mentioning the fact, or in his making the note "private and confidential," as is so frequently done in diplomatic correspondence. such were the grounds of complaint. on the strength of the conversation which had met with the general approval of the government, tempered by certain qualifications, and of the omission to report immediately to the government the fact of its verification by lord clarendon, the secretary rests the case against mr. motley. on these grounds it was that, according to him, the president withdrew all right to discuss the alabama question from the minister whose dismissal was now only a question of time. but other evidence comes in here. mr. motley says:-- "it was, as i supposed, understood before my departure for england, although not publicly announced, that the so-called alabama negotiations, whenever renewed, should be conducted at washington, in case of the consent of the british government." mr. sumner says, in his "explanation in reply to an assault:"-- "the secretary in a letter to me at boston, dated at washington, october , , informs the that the discussion of the question was withdrawn from london 'because (the italics are the secretary's) we think that when renewed it can be carried on here with a better prospect of settlement, than where the late attempt at a convention which resulted so disastrously and was conducted so strangely was had;' and what the secretary thus wrote he repeated in conversation when we met, carefully making the transfer to washington depend upon our advantage here, from the presence of the senate,--thus showing that the pretext put forth to wound mr. motley was an afterthought." again we may fairly ask how the government came to send a dispatch like that of september , , in which the views and expressions for which mr. motley's conversation had been criticised were so nearly reproduced, and with such emphasis that mr. motley says, in a letter to me, dated april , , "it not only covers all the ground which i ever took, but goes far beyond it. no one has ever used stronger language to the british government than is contained in that dispatch. . . . it is very able and well worth your reading. lord clarendon called it to me 'sumner's speech over again.' it was thought by the english cabinet to have 'out-sumnered sumner,' and now our government, thinking that every one in the united states had forgotten the dispatch, makes believe that i was removed because my sayings and doings in england were too much influenced by sumner!" mr. motley goes on to speak of the report that an offer of his place in england was made to sumner "to get him out of the way of san domingo." the facts concerning this offer are now sufficiently known to the public. here i must dismiss mr. fish's letter to mr. moran, having, as i trust, sufficiently shown the spirit in which it was written and the strained interpretations and manifest overstatements by which it attempts to make out its case against mr. motley. i will not parade the two old women, whose untimely and unseemly introduction into the dress-circle of diplomacy was hardly to have been expected of the high official whose name is at the bottom of this paper. they prove nothing, they disprove nothing, they illustrate nothing--except that a statesman may forget himself. neither will i do more than barely allude to the unfortunate reference to the death of lord clarendon as connected with mr. motley's removal, so placidly disposed of by a sentence or two in the london "times" of january , . i think we may consider ourselves ready for the next witness. mr. j. c. bancroft davis, assistant secretary of state under president grant and secretary fish, wrote a letter to the new york "herald," under the date of january , , since reprinted as a pamphlet and entitled "mr. sumner, the alabama claims and their settlement." mr. sumner was never successfully attacked when living,--except with a bludgeon,--and his friends have more than sufficiently vindicated him since his death. but mr. motley comes in for his share of animadversion in mr. davis's letter. he has nothing of importance to add to mr. fish's criticisms on the interview with lord clarendon. only he brings out the head and front of mr. motley's offending by italicizing three very brief passages from his conversation at this interview; not discreetly, as it seems to me, for they will not bear the strain that is put upon them. these are the passages:-- . "but that such, measures must always be taken with a full view of the grave responsibilities assumed." . "and as being the fountain head of the disasters which had been caused to the american people." . "as the fruits of the proclamation." . it is true that nothing was said of responsibility in mr. motley's instructions. but the idea was necessarily involved in their statements. for if, as mr. motley's instructions say, the right of a power "to define its own relations," etc., when a civil conflict has arisen in another state depends on its (the conflict's) having "attained a sufficient complexity, magnitude, and completeness," inasmuch as that power has to judge whether it has or has not fulfilled these conditions, and is of course liable to judge wrong, every such act of judgment must be attended with grave responsibilities. the instructions say that "the necessity and propriety of the original concession of belligerency by great britain at the time it was made have been contested and are not admitted." it follows beyond dispute that great britain may in this particular case have incurred grave responsibilities; in fact, the whole negotiations implied as much. perhaps mr. motley need not have used the word "responsibilities." but considering that the government itself said in dispatch no. , september , , "the president does not deny, on the contrary he maintains, that every sovereign power decides for itself on its responsibility whether or not it will, at a given time, accord the status of belligerency," etc., it was hardly worth while to use italics about mr. motley's employment of the same language as constituting a grave cause of offence. . mr. motley's expression, "as being the fountain head of the disasters," is a conversational paraphrase of the words of his instructions, "as it shows the beginning and the animus of that course of conduct which resulted so disastrously," which is not "in precise conformity" with his instructions, but is just such a variation as is to be expected when one is talking with another and using the words that suggest themselves at the moment, just as the familiar expression, "hung up on a peg," probably suggested itself to lord clarendon. . "the fruits of the proclamation" is so inconsiderable a variation on the text of the instructions, "supplemented by acts causing direct damage," that the secretary's hint about want of precise conformity seems hardly to have been called for. it is important to notice this point in the instructions: with other powers mr. motley was to take the position that the "recognition of the insurgents' state of war" was made "no ground of complaint;" with great britain that the cause of grievance was "not so much" placed upon the issuance of this recognition as upon her conduct under, and subsequent to, such recognition. there is no need of maintaining the exact fitness of every expression used by mr. motley. but any candid person who will carefully read the government's dispatch no. , dated september , , will see that a government holding such language could find nothing in mr. motley's expressions in a conversation held at his first official interview to visit with official capital punishment more than a year afterwards. if mr. motley had, as it was pretended, followed sumner, mr. fish had "out-sumnered" the senator himself. mr. davis's pamphlet would hardly be complete without a mysterious letter from an unnamed writer, whether a faithless friend, a disguised enemy, a secret emissary, or an injudicious alarmist, we have no means of judging for ourselves. the minister appears to have been watched by somebody in london, as he was in vienna. this somebody wrote a private letter in which he expressed "fear and regret that mr. motley's bearing in his social intercourse was throwing obstacles in the way of a future settlement." the charge as mentioned in mr. davis's letter is hardly entitled to our attention. mr. sumner considered it the work of an enemy, and the recollection of the m'crackin letter might well have made the government cautious of listening to complaints of such a character. this somebody may have been one whom we should call nobody. we cannot help remembering how well 'outis' served 'oduxseus' of old, when he was puzzled to extricate himself from an embarrassing position. 'stat nominis umbra' is a poor showing for authority to support an attack on a public servant exposed to every form of open and insidious abuse from those who are prejudiced against his person or his birthplace, who are jealous of his success, envious of his position, hostile to his politics, dwarfed by his reputation, or hate him by the divine right of idiosyncrasy, always liable, too, to questioning comment from well-meaning friends who happen to be suspicious or sensitive in their political or social relations. the reported sayings of general grant and of mr. fish to the correspondents who talked with them may be taken for what they are worth. they sound naturally enough to have come from the speakers who are said to have uttered them. i quote the most important part of the edinburgh letter, september , , to the new york "herald." these are the words attributed to general grant:-- "mr. motley was certainly a very able, very honest gentleman, fit to hold any official position. but he knew long before he went out that he would have to go. when i was making these appointments, mr. sumner came to me and asked me to appoint mr. motley as minister to the court of st. james. i told him i would, and did. soon after mr. sumner made that violent speech about the alabama claims, and the british government was greatly offended. mr. sumner was at the time chairman of the committee on foreign affairs. mr. motley had to be instructed. the instructions were prepared very carefully, and after governor fish and i had gone over them for the last time i wrote an addendum charging him that above all things he should handle the subject of the alabama claims with the greatest delicacy. mr. motley instead of obeying his explicit instructions, deliberately fell in line with sumner, and thus added insult to the previous injury. as soon as i heard of it i went over to the state department and told governor fish to dismiss motley at once. i was very angry indeed, and i have been sorry many a time since that i did not stick to my first determination. mr. fish advised delay because of sumner's position in the senate and attitude on the treaty question. we did not want to stir him up just then. we dispatched a note of severe censure to motley at once and ordered him to abstain from any further connection with that question. we thereupon commenced negotiations with the british minister at washington, and the result was the joint high commission and the geneva award. i supposed mr. motley would be manly enough to resign after that snub, but he kept on till he was removed. mr. sumner promised me that he would vote for the treaty. but when it was before the senate he did all he could to beat it." general grant talked again at cairo, in egypt. "grant then referred to the statement published at an interview with him in scotland, and said the publication had some omissions and errors. he had no ill-will towards mr. motley, who, like other estimable men, made mistakes, and motley made a mistake which made him an improper person to hold office under me." "it is proper to say of me that i killed motley, or that i made war upon sumner for not supporting the annexation of san domingo. but if i dare to answer that i removed motley from the highest considerations of duty as an executive; if i presume to say that he made a mistake in his office which made him no longer useful to the country; if fish has the temerity to hint that sumner's temper was so unfortunate that business relations with him became impossible, we are slandering the dead." "nothing but mortimer." those who knew both men--the ex-president and the late senator--would agree, i do not doubt, that they would not be the most promising pair of human beings to make harmonious members of a political happy family. "cedant arma togae," the life-long sentiment of sumner, in conflict with "stand fast and stand sure," the well-known device of the clan of grant, reminds one of the problem of an irresistible force in collision with an insuperable resistance. but the president says,--or is reported as saying,--"i may be blamed for my opposition to mr. sumner's tactics, but i was not guided so much by reason of his personal hatred of myself, as i was by a desire to protect our national interests in diplomatic affairs." "it would be useless," says mr. davis in his letter to the "herald," "to enter into a controversy whether the president may or may not have been influenced in the final determination of the moment for requesting motley's resignation by the feeling caused by sumner's personal hostility and abuse of himself." unfortunately, this controversy had been entered into, and the idleness of suggesting any relation of cause and effect between mr. motley's dismissal and the irritation produced in the president's mind by the rejection of the san domingo treaty--which rejection was mainly due to motley's friend sumner's opposition --strongly insisted upon in a letter signed by the secretary of state. too strongly, for here it was that he failed to remember what was due to his office, to himself, and to the gentleman of whom he was writing; if indeed it was the secretary's own hand which held the pen, and not another's. we might as well leave out the wrath of achilles from the iliad, as the anger of the president with sumner from the story of motley's dismissal. the sad recital must always begin with m-----------. he was, he is reported as saying, "very angry indeed" with motley because he had, fallen in line with sumner. he couples them together in his conversation as closely as chang and eng were coupled. the death of lord clarendon would have covered up the coincidence between the rejection of the san domingo treaty and mr. motley's dismissal very neatly, but for the inexorable facts about its date, as revealed by the london "times." it betrays itself as an afterthought, and its failure as a defence reminds us too nearly of the trial in which mr. webster said suicide is confession. it is not strange that the spurs of the man who had so lately got out of the saddle should catch in the scholastic robe of the man on the floor of the senate. but we should not have looked for any such antagonism between the secretary of state and the envoy to great britain. on the contrary, they must have had many sympathies, and it must have cost the secretary pain, as he said it did, to be forced to communicate with mr. moran instead of with mr. motley. he, too, was inquired of by one of the emissaries of the american unholy inquisition. his evidence is thus reported: "the reason for mr. motley's removal was found in considerations of state. he misrepresented the government on the alabama question, especially in the two speeches made by him before his arrival at his post." these must be the two speeches made to the american and the liverpool chambers of commerce. if there is anything in these short addresses beyond those civil generalities which the occasion called out, i have failed to find it. if it was in these that the reason of mr. motley's removal was to be looked for, it is singular that they are not mentioned in the secretary's letter to mr. moran, or by mr. davis in his letter to the new york "herald." they must have been as unsuccessful as myself in the search after anything in these speeches which could be construed into misinterpretation of the government on the alabama question. we may much more readily accept "considerations of state" as a reason for mr. motley's removal. considerations of state have never yet failed the axe or the bowstring when a reason for the use of those convenient implements was wanted, and they are quite equal to every emergency which can arise in a republican autocracy. but for the very reason that a minister is absolutely in the power of his government, the manner in which that power is used is always open to the scrutiny, and, if it has been misused, to the condemnation, of a tribunal higher than itself; a court that never goes out of office, and which no personal feelings, no lapse of time, can silence. the ostensible grounds on which mr. motley was recalled are plainly insufficient to account for the action of the government. if it was in great measure a manifestation of personal feeling on the part of the high officials by whom and through whom the act was accomplished, it was a wrong which can never be repaired and never sufficiently regretted. stung by the slanderous report of an anonymous eavesdropper to whom the government of the day was not ashamed to listen, he had quitted vienna, too hastily, it may be, but wounded, indignant, feeling that he had been unworthily treated. the sudden recall from london, on no pretext whatever but an obsolete and overstated incident which had ceased to have any importance, was under these circumstances a deadly blow. it fell upon "the new-healed wound of malice," and though he would not own it, and bore up against it, it was a shock from which he never fully recovered. "i hope i am one of those," he writes to me from the hague, in , "who 'fortune's buffets and rewards can take with equal thanks.' i am quite aware that i have had far more than i deserve of political honors, and they might have had my post as a voluntary gift on my part had they remembered that i was an honorable man, and not treated me as a detected criminal deserves to be dealt with." mr. sumner naturally felt very deeply what he considered the great wrong done to his friend. he says:-- "how little mr. motley merited anything but respect and courtesy from the secretary is attested by all who know his eminent position in london, and the service he rendered to his country. already the london press, usually slow to praise americans when strenuous for their country, has furnished its voluntary testimony. the 'daily news' of august , , spoke of the insulted minister in these terms:-- "'we are violating no confidence in saying that all the hopes of mr. motley's official residence in england have been amply fulfilled, and that the announcement of his unexpected and unexplained recall was received with extreme astonishment and unfeigned regret. the vacancy he leaves cannot possibly be filled by a minister more sensitive to the honor of his government, more attentive to the interests of his country, and more capable of uniting the most vigorous performance of his public duties with the high-bred courtesy and conciliatory tact and temper that make those duties easy and successful. mr. motley's successor will find his mission wonderfully facilitated by the firmness and discretion that have presided over the conduct of american affairs in this country during too brief a term, too suddenly and unaccountably concluded.'" no man can escape being found fault with when it is necessary to make out a case against him. a diplomatist is watched by the sharpest eyes and commented on by the most merciless tongues. the best and wisest has his defects, and sometimes they would seem to be very grave ones if brought up against him in the form of accusation. take these two portraits, for instance, as drawn by john quincy adams. the first is that of stratford canning, afterwards lord stratford de redcliffe:-- "he is to depart to-morrow. i shall probably see him no more. he is a proud, high-tempered englishman, of good but not extraordinary parts; stubborn and punctilious, with a disposition to be overbearing, which i have often been compelled to check in its own way. he is, of all the foreign ministers with whom i have had occasion to treat, the man who has most severely tried my temper. yet he has been long in the diplomatic career, and treated with governments of the most opposite characters. he has, however, a great respect for his word, and there is nothing false about him. this is an excellent quality for a negotiator. mr. canning is a man of forms, studious of courtesy, and tenacious of private morals. as a diplomatic man, his great want is suppleness, and his great virtue is sincerity." the second portrait is that of the french minister, hyde de neuville:-- "no foreign minister who ever resided here has been so universally esteemed and beloved, nor have i ever been in political relations with any foreign statesman of whose moral qualities i have formed so good an opinion, with the exception of count romanzoff. he has not sufficient command of his temper, is quick, irritable, sometimes punctilious, occasionally indiscreet in his discourse, and tainted with royalist and bourbon prejudices. but he has strong sentiments of honor, justice, truth, and even liberty. his flurries of temper pass off as quickly as they rise. he is neither profound nor sublime nor brilliant; but a man of strong and good feelings, with the experience of many vicissitudes of fortune, a good but common understanding, and good intentions biassed by party feelings, occasional interests, and personal affections." it means very little to say that a man has some human imperfections, or that a public servant might have done some things better. but when a questionable cause is to be justified, the victim's excellences are looked at with the eyes of liliput and his failings with those of brobdingnag. the recall of a foreign minister for alleged misconduct in office is a kind of capital punishment. it is the nearest approach to the sultan's bowstring which is permitted to the chief magistrate of our republic. a general can do nothing under martial law more peremptory than a president can do with regard to the public functionary whom he has appointed with the advice and consent of the senate, but whom he can officially degrade and disgrace at his own pleasure for insufficient cause or for none at all. like the centurion of scripture, he says go, and he goeth. the nation's representative is less secure in his tenure of office than his own servant, to whom he must give warning of his impending dismissal. "a breath unmakes him as a breath has made." the chief magistrate's responsibility to duty, to the fellow-citizen at his mercy, to his countrymen, to mankind, is in proportion to his power. his prime minister, the agent of his edicts, should feel bound to withstand him if he seeks to gratify a personal feeling under the plea of public policy, unless the minister, like the slaves of the harem, is to find his qualification for office in leaving his manhood behind him. the two successive administrations, which treated mr. motley in a manner unworthy of their position and cruel, if not fatal to him, have been heard, directly or through their advocates. i have attempted to show that the defence set up for their action is anything but satisfactory. a later generation will sit in judgment upon the evidence more calmly than our own. it is not for a friend, like the writer, to anticipate its decision, but unless the reasons alleged to justify his treatment, and which have so much the air of afterthoughts, shall seem stronger to that future tribunal than they do to him, the verdict will be that mr. motley was twice sacrificed to personal feelings which should never have been cherished by the heads of the government, and should never have been countenanced by their chief advisers. john lothrop motley. a memoir by oliver wendell holmes, sr. volume iii. xxii. . aet. . "life of john of barneveld."--criticisms.--groen van prinsterer. the full title of mr. motley's next and last work is "the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland; with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war." in point of fact this work is a history rather than a biography. it is an interlude, a pause between the acts which were to fill out the complete plan of the "eighty years' tragedy," and of which the last act, the thirty years' war, remains unwritten. the "life of barneveld" was received as a fitting and worthy continuation of the series of intellectual labor in which he was engaged. i will quote but two general expressions of approval from the two best known british critical reviews. in connection with his previous works, it forms, says "the london quarterly," "a fine and continuous story, of which the writer and the nation celebrated by him have equal reason to be proud; a narrative which will remain a prominent ornament of american genius, while it has permanently enriched english literature on this as well as on the other side of the atlantic." "the edinburgh review" speaks no less warmly: "we can hardly give too much appreciation to that subtile alchemy of the brain which has enabled him to produce out of dull, crabbed, and often illegible state papers, the vivid, graphic, and sparkling narrative which he has given to the world." in a literary point of view, m. groen van prinsterer, whose elaborate work has been already referred to, speaks of it as perhaps the most classical of motley's productions, but it is upon this work that the force of his own and other dutch criticisms has been chiefly expended. the key to this biographical history or historical biography may be found in a few sentences from its opening chapter. "there have been few men at any period whose lives have been more closely identical than his [barneveld's] with a national history. there have been few great men in any history whose names have become less familiar to the world, and lived less in the mouths of posterity. yet there can be no doubt that if william the silent was the founder of the independence of the united provinces, barneveld was the founder of the commonwealth itself. . . . "had that country of which he was so long the first citizen maintained until our own day the same proportional position among the empires of christendom as it held in the seventeenth century, the name of john of barneveld would have perhaps been as familiar to all men as it is at this moment to nearly every inhabitant of the netherlands. even now political passion is almost as ready to flame forth, either in ardent affection or enthusiastic hatred, as if two centuries and a half had not elapsed since his death. his name is so typical of a party, a polity, and a faith, so indelibly associated with a great historical cataclysm, as to render it difficult even for the grave, the conscientious, the learned, the patriotic, of his own compatriots to speak of him with absolute impartiality. "a foreigner who loves and admires all that is great and noble in the history of that famous republic, and can have no hereditary bias as to its ecclesiastical or political theories, may at least attempt the task with comparative coldness, although conscious of inability to do thorough justice to a most complex subject." with all mr. motley's efforts to be impartial, to which even his sternest critics bear witness, he could not help becoming a partisan of the cause which for him was that of religious liberty and progress, as against the accepted formula of an old ecclesiastical organization. for the quarrel which came near being a civil war, which convulsed the state, and cost barneveld his head, had its origin in a difference on certain points, and more especially on a single point, of religious doctrine. as a great river may be traced back until its fountainhead is found in a thread of water streaming from a cleft in the rocks, so a great national movement may sometimes be followed until its starting-point is found in the cell of a monk or the studies of a pair of wrangling professors. the religious quarrel of the dutchmen in the seventeenth century reminds us in some points of the strife between two parties in our own new england, sometimes arraying the "church" on one side against the "parish," or the general body of worshippers, on the other. the portraits of gomarus, the great orthodox champion, and arminius, the head and front of the "liberal theology" of his day, as given in the little old quarto of meursius, recall two ministerial types of countenance familiar to those who remember the earlier years of our century. under the name of "remonstrants" and "contra-remonstrants,"--arminians and old-fashioned calvinists, as we should say,--the adherents of the two leyden professors disputed the right to the possession of the churches, and the claim to be considered as representing the national religion. of the seven united provinces, two, holland and utrecht, were prevailingly arminian, and the other five calvinistic. barneveld, who, under the title of advocate, represented the province of holland, the most important of them all, claimed for each province a right to determine its own state religion. maurice the stadholder, son of william the silent, the military chief of the republic, claimed the right for the states-general. 'cujus regio ejus religio' was then the accepted public doctrine of protestant nations. thus the provincial and the general governments were brought into conflict by their creeds, and the question whether the republic was a confederation or a nation, the same question which has been practically raised, and for the time at least settled, in our own republic, was in some way to be decided. after various disturbances and acts of violence by both parties, maurice, representing the states-general, pronounced for the calvinists or contra-remonstrants, and took possession of one of the great churches, as an assertion of his authority. barneveld, representing the arminian or remonstrant provinces, levied a body of mercenary soldiers in several of the cities. these were disbanded by maurice, and afterwards by an act of the states-general. barneveld was apprehended, imprisoned, and executed, after an examination which was in no proper sense a trial. grotius, who was on the arminian side and involved in the inculpated proceedings, was also arrested and imprisoned. his escape, by a stratagem successfully repeated by a slave in our own times, may challenge comparison for its romantic interest with any chapter of fiction. how his wife packed him into the chest supposed to contain the folios of the great oriental scholar erpenius, how the soldiers wondered at its weight and questioned whether it did not hold an arminian, how the servant-maid, elsje van houwening, quick-witted as morgiana of the "forty thieves," parried their questions and convoyed her master safely to the friendly place of refuge,--all this must be read in the vivid narrative of the author. the questions involved were political, local, personal, and above all religious. here is the picture which motley draws of the religious quarrel as it divided the people:-- "in burghers' mansions, peasants' cottages, mechanics' back-parlors; on board herring-smacks, canal-boats, and east indiamen; in shops, counting-rooms, farm-yards, guard-rooms, alehouses; on the exchange, in the tennis court, on the mall; at banquets, at burials, christenings, or bridals; wherever and whenever human creatures met each other, there was ever to be found the fierce wrangle of remonstrant and contra-remonstrant, the hissing of red-hot theological rhetoric, the pelting of hostile texts. the blacksmith's iron cooled on the anvil, the tinker dropped a kettle half mended, the broker left a bargain unclinched, the scheveningen fisherman in his wooden shoes forgot the cracks in his pinkie, while each paused to hold high converse with friend or foe on fate, free- will, or absolute foreknowledge; losing himself in wandering mazes whence there was no issue. province against province, city against city, family against family; it was one vast scene of bickering, denunciation, heart-burnings, mutual excommunication and hatred." the religious grounds of the quarrel which set these seventeenth-century dutchmen to cutting each other's throats were to be looked for in the "five points" of the arminians as arrayed against the "seven points" of the gomarites, or contra-remonstrants. the most important of the differences which were to be settled by fratricide seem to have been these:-- according to the five points, "god has from eternity resolved to choose to eternal life those who through his grace believe in jesus christ," etc. according to the seven points, "god in his election has not looked at the belief and the repentance of the elect," etc. according to the five points, all good deeds must be ascribed to god's grace in christ, but it does not work irresistibly. the language of the seven points implies that the elect cannot resist god's eternal and unchangeable design to give them faith and steadfastness, and that they can never wholly and for always lose the true faith. the language of the five points is unsettled as to the last proposition, but it was afterwards maintained by the remonstrant party that a true believer could, through his own fault, fall away from god and lose faith. it must be remembered that these religious questions had an immediate connection with politics. independently of the conflict of jurisdiction, in which they involved the parties to the two different creeds, it was believed or pretended that the new doctrines of the remonstrants led towards romanism, and were allied with designs which threatened the independence of the country. "there are two factions in the land," said maurice, "that of orange and that of spain, and the two chiefs of the spanish faction are those political and priestly arminians, uytenbogaert and oldenbarneveld." the heads of the two religious and political parties were in such hereditary, long-continued, and intimate relations up to the time when one signed the other's death-warrant, that it was impossible to write the life of one without also writing that of the other. for his biographer john of barneveld is the true patriot, the martyr, whose cause was that of religious and political freedom. for him maurice is the ambitious soldier who hated his political rival, and never rested until this rival was brought to the scaffold. the questions which agitated men's minds two centuries and a half ago are not dead yet in the country where they produced such estrangement, violence, and wrong. no stranger could take them up without encountering hostile criticism from one party or the other. it may be and has been conceded that mr. motley writes as a partisan,--a partisan of freedom in politics and religion, as he understands freedom. this secures him the antagonism of one class of critics. but these critics are themselves partisans, and themselves open to the cross-fire of their antagonists. m. groen van prinsterer, "the learned and distinguished" editor of the "archives et correspondance" of the orange and nassau family, published a considerable volume, before referred to, in which many of motley's views are strongly controverted. but he himself is far from being in accord with "that eminent scholar," m. bakhuyzen van den brink, whose name, he says, is celebrated enough to need no comment, or with m. fruin, of whose impartiality and erudition he himself speaks in the strongest terms. the ground upon which he is attacked is thus stated in his own words:-- "people have often pretended to find in my writings the deplorable influence of an extreme calvinism. the puritans of the seventeenth century are my fellow-religionists. i am a sectarian and not an historian." it is plain enough to any impartial reader that there are at least plausible grounds for this accusation against mr. motley's critic. and on a careful examination of the formidable volume, it becomes obvious that mr. motley has presented a view of the events and the personages of the stormy epoch with which he is dealing, which leaves a battle-ground yet to be fought over by those who come after him. the dispute is not and cannot be settled. the end of all religious discussion has come when one of the parties claims that it is thinking or acting under immediate divine guidance. "it is god's affair, and his honor is touched," says william lewis to prince maurice. mr. motley's critic is not less confident in claiming the almighty as on the side of his own views. let him state his own ground of departure:-- "to show the difference, let me rather say the contrast, between the point of view of mr. motley and my own, between the unitarian and the evangelical belief. i am issue of calvin, child of the awakening (reveil). faithful to the device of the reformers: justification by faith alone, and the word of god endures eternally. i consider history from the point of view of merle d'aubigne, chalmers, guizot. i desire to be disciple and witness of our lord and saviour, jesus christ." he is therefore of necessity antagonistic to a writer whom he describes in such words as these:-- "mr. motley is liberal and rationalist. "he becomes, in attacking the principle of the reformation, the passionate opponent of the puritans and of maurice, the ardent apologist of barnevelt and the arminians. "it is understood, and he makes no mystery of it, that he inclines towards the vague and undecided doctrine of the unitarians." what m. groen's idea of unitarians is may be gathered from the statement about them which he gets from a letter of de tocqueville. "they are pure deists; they talk about the bible, because they do not wish to shock too severely public opinion, which is prevailingly christian. they have a service on sundays; i have been there. at it they read verses from dryden or other english poets on the existence of god and the immortality of the soul. they deliver a discourse on some point of morality, and all is said." in point of fact the wave of protest which stormed the dikes of dutch orthodoxy in the seventeenth century stole gently through the bars of new england puritanism in the eighteenth. "though the large number," says mr. bancroft, "still acknowledged the fixedness of the divine decrees, and the resistless certainty from all eternity of election and of reprobation, there were not wanting, even among the clergy, some who had modified the sternness of the ancient doctrine by making the self-direction of the active powers of man with freedom of inquiry and private judgment the central idea of a protest against calvinism." protestantism, cut loose from an infallible church, and drifting with currents it cannot resist, wakes up once or oftener in every century, to find itself in a new locality. then it rubs its eyes and wonders whether it has found its harbor or only lost its anchor. there is no end to its disputes, for it has nothing but a fallible vote as authority for its oracles, and these appeal only to fallible interpreters. it is as hard to contend in argument against "the oligarchy of heaven," as motley calls the calvinistic party, as it was formerly to strive with them in arms. to this "aristocracy of god's elect" belonged the party which framed the declaration of the synod of dort; the party which under the forms of justice shed the blood of the great statesman who had served his country so long and so well. to this chosen body belonged the late venerable and truly excellent as well as learned m. groen van prinsterer, and he exercised the usual right of examining in the light of his privileged position the views of a "liberal" and "rationalist" writer who goes to meeting on sunday to hear verses from dryden. this does not diminish his claim for a fair reading of the "intimate correspondence," which he considers mr. motley has not duly taken into account, and of the other letters to be found printed in his somewhat disjointed and fragmentary volume. this "intimate correspondence" shows maurice the stadholder indifferent and lax in internal administration and as being constantly advised and urged by his relative count william of nassau. this need of constant urging extends to religious as well as other matters, and is inconsistent with m. groen van prinsterer's assertion that the question was for maurice above all religious, and for barneveld above all political. whether its negative evidence can be considered as neutralizing that which is adduced by mr. motley to show the stadholder's hatred of the advocate may be left to the reader who has just risen from the account of the mock trial and the swift execution of the great and venerable statesman. the formal entry on the record upon the day of his "judicial murder" is singularly solemn and impressive:-- "monday, th may, . to-day was executed with the sword here in the hague, on a scaffold thereto erected in the binnenhof before the steps of the great hall, mr. john of barneveld, in his life knight, lord of berkel, rodenrys, etc., advocate of holland and west friesland, for reasons expressed in the sentence and otherwise, with confiscation of his property, after he had served the state thirty- three years two months and five days, since th march, ; a man of great activity, business, memory, and wisdom,--yea, extraordinary in every respect. he that stands let him see that he does not fall." maurice gave an account of the execution of barneveld to count william lewis on the same day in a note "painfully brief and dry." most authors write their own biography consciously or unconsciously. we have seen mr. motley portraying much of himself, his course of life and his future, as he would have had it, in his first story. in this, his last work, it is impossible not to read much of his own external and internal personal history told under other names and with different accessories. the parallelism often accidentally or intentionally passes into divergence. he would not have had it too close if he could, but there are various passages in which it is plain enough that he is telling his own story. mr. motley was a diplomatist, and he writes of other diplomatists, and one in particular, with most significant detail. it need not be supposed that he intends the "arch intriguer" aerssens to stand for himself, or that he would have endured being thought to identify himself with the man of whose "almost devilish acts" he speaks so freely. but the sagacious reader--and he need not be very sharp-sighted--will very certainly see something more than a mere historical significance in some of the passages which i shall cite for him to reflect upon. mr. motley's standard of an ambassador's accomplishments may be judged from the following passage:-- "that those ministers [those of the republic] were second to the representatives of no other european state in capacity and accomplishment was a fact well known to all who had dealings with them, for the states required in their diplomatic representatives knowledge of history and international law, modern languages, and the classics, as well as familiarity with political customs and social courtesies; the breeding of gentlemen, in short, and the accomplishments of scholars." the story of the troubles of aerssens, the ambassador of the united provinces at paris, must be given at some length, and will repay careful reading. "francis aerssens . . . continued to be the dutch ambassador after the murder of henry iv. . . . he was beyond doubt one of the ablest diplomatists in europe. versed in many languages, a classical student, familiar with history and international law, a man of the world and familiar with its usages, accustomed to associate with dignity and tact on friendliest terms with sovereigns, eminent statesmen, and men of letters; endowed with a facile tongue, a fluent pen, and an eye and ear of singular acuteness and delicacy; distinguished for unflagging industry and singular aptitude for secret and intricate affairs;--he had by the exercise of these various qualities during a period of nearly twenty years at the court of henry the great been able to render inestimable services to the republic which he represented. "he had enjoyed the intimacy and even the confidence of henry iv., so far as any man could be said to possess that monarch's confidence, and his friendly relations and familiar access to the king gave him political advantages superior to those of any of his colleagues at the same court. "acting entirely and faithfully according to the instructions of the advocate of holland, he always gratefully and copiously acknowledged the privilege of being guided and sustained in the difficult paths he had to traverse by so powerful and active an intellect. i have seldom alluded in terms to the instructions and dispatches of the chief, but every position, negotiation, and opinion of the envoy --and the reader has seen many of them is pervaded by their spirit. "it had become a question whether he was to remain at his post or return. it was doubtful whether he wished to be relieved of his embassy or not. the states of holland voted 'to leave it to his candid opinion if in his free conscience he thinks he can serve the public any longer. if yes, he may keep his office one year more. if no, he may take leave and come home.' "surely the states, under the guidance of the advocate, had thus acted with consummate courtesy towards a diplomatist whose position, from no apparent fault of his own, but by the force of circumstances,--and rather to his credit than otherwise, --was gravely compromised." the queen, mary de' medici, had a talk with him, got angry, "became very red in the face," and wanted to be rid of him. "nor was the envoy at first desirous of remaining. . . . nevertheless, he yielded reluctantly to barneveld's request that he should, for the time at least, remain at his post. later on, as the intrigues against him began to unfold themselves, and his faithful services were made use of at home to blacken his character and procure his removal, he refused to resign, as to do so would be to play into the hands of his enemies, and, by inference at least, to accuse himself of infidelity to his trust. . . . "it is no wonder that the ambassador was galled to the quick by the outrage which those concerned in the government were seeking to put upon him. how could an honest man fail to be overwhelmed with rage and anguish at being dishonored before the world by his masters for scrupulously doing his duty, and for maintaining the rights and dignity of his own country? he knew that the charges were but pretexts, that the motives of his enemies were as base as the intrigues themselves, but he also knew that the world usually sides with the government against the individual, and that a man's reputation is rarely strong enough to maintain itself unsullied in a foreign land when his own government stretches forth its hand, not to shield, but to stab him. . . . "'i know,' he said, that this plot has been woven partly here in holland and partly here by good correspondence in order to drive me from my post. "'but as i have discovered this accurately, i have resolved to offer to my masters the continuance of my very humble service for such time and under such conditions as they may think good to prescribe. i prefer forcing my natural and private inclinations to giving an opportunity for the ministers of this kingdom to discredit us, and to my enemies to succeed in injuring me, and by fraud and malice to force me from my post. . . . i am truly sorry, being ready to retire, wishing to have an honorable testimony in recompense of my labors, that one is in such hurry to take advantage of my fall. . . . what envoy will ever dare to speak with vigor if he is not sustained by the government at home? . . . my enemies have misrepresented my actions, and my language as passionate, exaggerated, mischievous, but i have no passion except for the service of my superiors.' "barneveld, from well-considered motives of public policy, was favoring his honorable recall. but he allowed a decorous interval of more than three years to elapse in which to terminate his affairs, and to take a deliberate departure from that french embassy to which the advocate had originally promoted him, and in which there had been so many years of mutual benefit and confidence between the two statesmen. he used no underhand means. he did not abuse the power of the states-general which he wielded to cast him suddenly and brutally from the distinguished post which he occupied, and so to attempt to dishonor him before the world. nothing could be more respectful and conciliatory than the attitude of the government from first to last towards this distinguished functionary. the republic respected itself too much to deal with honorable agents whose services it felt obliged to dispense with as with vulgar malefactors who had been detected in crime. . . . "this work aims at being a political study. i would attempt to exemplify the influence of individual humors and passions--some of them among the highest, and others certainly the basest that agitate humanity--upon the march of great events, upon general historical results at certain epochs, and upon the destiny of eminent personages." here are two suggestive portraits:-- "the advocate, while acting only in the name of a slender confederacy, was in truth, so long as he held his place, the prime minister of european protestantism. there was none other to rival him, few to comprehend him, fewer still to sustain him. as prince maurice was at that time the great soldier of protestantism, without clearly scanning the grandeur of the field in which he was a chief actor, or foreseeing the vastness of its future, so the advocate was its statesman and its prophet. could the two have worked together as harmoniously as they had done at an earlier day, it would have been a blessing for the common weal of europe. but, alas! the evil genius of jealousy, which so often forbids cordial relations between soldier and statesman, already stood shrouded in the distance, darkly menacing the strenuous patriot, who was wearing his life out in exertions for what he deemed the true cause of progress and humanity. . . . "all history shows that the brilliant soldier of a republic is apt to have the advantage, in a struggle for popular affection and popular applause, over the statesman, however consummate. . . . the great battles and sieges of the prince had been on a world's theatre, had enchained the attention of christendom, and on their issue had frequently depended, or seemed to depend, the very existence of the nation. the labors of the statesman, on the contrary, had been comparatively secret. his noble orations and arguments had been spoken with closed doors to assemblies of colleagues, rather envoys than senators, . . while his vast labors in directing both the internal administration and especially the foreign affairs of the commonwealth had been by their very nature as secret as they were perpetual and enormous." the reader of the "life of barneveld" must judge for himself whether in these and similar passages the historian was thinking solely of maurice, the great military leader, of barneveld, the great statesman, and of aerssens, the recalled ambassador. he will certainly find that there were "burning questions" for ministers to handle then as now, and recognize in "that visible atmosphere of power the poison of which it is so difficult to resist" a respiratory medium as well known to the nineteenth as to the seventeenth century. xxiii. - . aet. - . death of mrs. motley.--last visit to america.--illness and death.-lady harcourt's communication. on the last day of , the beloved wife, whose health had for some years been failing, was taken from him by death. she had been the pride of his happier years, the stay and solace of those which had so tried his sensitive spirit. the blow found him already weakened by mental suffering and bodily infirmity, and he never recovered from it. mr. motley's last visit to america was in the summer and autumn of . during several weeks which he passed at nahant, a seaside resort near boston, i saw him almost daily. he walked feebly and with some little difficulty, and complained of a feeling of great weight in the right arm, which made writing laborious. his handwriting had not betrayed any very obvious change, so far as i had noticed in his letters. his features and speech were without any paralytic character. his mind was clear except when, as on one or two occasions, he complained of some confused feeling, and walked a few minutes in the open air to compose himself. his thoughts were always tending to revert to the almost worshipped companion from whom death had parted him a few months before. yet he could often be led away to other topics, and in talking of them could be betrayed into momentary cheerfulness of manner. his long-enduring and all-pervading grief was not more a tribute to the virtues and graces of her whom he mourned than an evidence of the deeply affectionate nature which in other relations endeared him to so many whose friendship was a title to love and honor. i have now the privilege of once more recurring to the narrative of mr. motley's daughter, lady harcourt. "the harassing work and mental distress of this time [after the recall from england], acting on an acutely nervous organization, began the process of undermining his constitution, of which we were so soon to see the results. it was not the least courageous act of his life, that, smarting under a fresh wound, tired and unhappy, he set his face immediately towards the accomplishment of fresh literary labor. after my sister's marriage in january he went to the hague to begin his researches in the archives for john of barneveld. the queen of the netherlands had made ready a house for us, and personally superintended every preparation for his reception. we remained there until the spring, and then removed to a house more immediately in the town, a charming old-fashioned mansion, once lived in by john de witt, where he had a large library and every domestic comfort during the year of his sojourn. the incessant literary labor in an enervating climate with enfeebled health may have prepared the way for the first break in his constitution, which was to show itself soon after. there were many compensations in the life about him. he enjoyed the privilege of constant companionship with one of the warmest hearts and finest intellects which i have ever known in a woman,--the 'ame d'elite' which has passed beyond this earth. the gracious sentiment with which the queen sought to express her sense of what holland owed him would have been deeply felt even had her personal friendship been less dear to us all. from the king, the society of the hague, and the diplomatic circle we had many marks of kindness. once or twice i made short journeys with him for change of air to amsterdam, to look for the portraits of john of barneveld and his wife; to bohemia, where, with the lingering hope of occupying himself with the thirty years' war, he looked carefully at the scene of wallenstein's death near prague, and later to varzin in pomerania for a week with prince bismarck, after the great events of the franco-german war. in the autumn of we moved to england, partly because it was evident that his health and my mother's required a change; partly for private reasons to be near my sister and her children. the day after our arrival at bournemouth occurred the rupture of a vessel on the lungs, without any apparently sufficient cause. he recovered enough to revise and complete his manuscript, and we thought him better, when at the end of july, in london, he was struck down by the first attack of the head, which robbed him of all after power of work, although the intellect remained untouched. sir william gull sent him to cannes for the winter, where he was seized with a violent internal inflammation, in which i suppose there was again the indication of the lesion of blood-vessels. i am nearing the shadow now,--the time of which i can hardly bear to write. you know the terrible sorrow which crushed him on the last day of ,--the grief which broke his heart and from which he never rallied. from that day it seems to me that his life may be summed up in the two words,--patient waiting. never for one hour did her spirit leave him, and he strove to follow its leading for the short and evil days left and the hope of the life beyond. i think i have never watched quietly and reverently the traces of one personal character remaining so strongly impressed on another nature. with herself--depreciation and unselfishness she would have been the last to believe how much of him was in her very existence; nor could we have realized it until the parting came. henceforward, with the mind still there, but with the machinery necessary to set it in motion disturbed and shattered, he could but try to create small occupations with which to fill the hours of a life which was only valued for his children's sake. kind and loving friends in england and america soothed the passage, and our gratitude for so many gracious acts is deep and true. his love for children, always a strong feeling, was gratified by the constant presence of my sister's babies, the eldest, a little girl who bore my mother's name, and had been her idol, being the companion of many hours and his best comforter. at the end the blow came swiftly and suddenly, as he would have wished it. it was a terrible shock to us who had vainly hoped to keep him a few years longer, but at least he was spared what he had dreaded with a great dread, a gradual failure of mental or bodily power. the mind was never clouded, the affections never weakened, and after a few hours of unconscious physical struggle he lay at rest, his face beautiful and calm, without a trace of suffering or illness. once or twice he said, 'it has come, it has come,' and there were a few broken words before consciousness fled, but there was little time for messages or leave- taking. by a strange coincidence his life ended near the town of dorchester, in the mother country, as if the last hour brought with it a reminiscence of his birthplace, and of his own dearly loved mother. by his own wish only the dates of his birth and death appear upon his gravestone, with the text chosen by himself, 'in god is light, and in him is no darkness at all.'" xxiv. conclusion.--his character.--his labors.--his reward. in closing this restricted and imperfect record of a life which merits, and in due time will, i trust, receive an ampler tribute, i cannot refrain from adding a few thoughts which naturally suggest themselves, and some of which may seem quite unnecessary to the reader who has followed the story of the historian and diplomatist's brilliant and eventful career. mr. motley came of a parentage which promised the gifts of mind and body very generally to be accounted for, in a measure at least, wherever we find them, by the blood of one or both of the parents. they gave him special attractions and laid him open to not a few temptations. too many young men born to shine in social life, to sparkle, it may be, in conversation, perhaps in the lighter walks of literature, become agreeable idlers, self-indulgent, frivolous, incapable of large designs or sustained effort, lose every aspiration and forget every ideal. our gilded youth want such examples as this of motley, not a solitary, but a conspicuous one, to teach them how much better is the restlessness of a noble ambition than the narcotized stupor of club-life or the vapid amusement of a dressed-up intercourse which too often requires a questionable flavor of forbidden license to render it endurable to persons of vivacious character and temperament. it would seem difficult for a man so flattered from his earliest days to be modest in his self-estimate; but motley was never satisfied with himself. he was impulsive, and was occasionally, i have heard it said, over excited, when his prejudices were roughly handled. in all that related to the questions involved in our civil war, he was, no doubt, very sensitive. he had heard so much that exasperated him in the foreign society which he had expected to be in full sympathy with the cause of liberty as against slavery, that he might be excused if he showed impatience when he met with similar sentiments among his own countrymen. he felt that he had been cruelly treated by his own government, and no one who conceives himself to have been wronged and insulted must be expected to reason in naked syllogisms on the propriety of the liberties which have been taken with his name and standing. but with all his quickness of feeling, his manners were easy and courteous, simply because his nature was warm and kindly, and with all his natural fastidiousness there was nothing of the coxcomb about him. he must have had enemies, as all men of striking individuality are sure to have; his presence cast more uncouth patriots into the shade; his learning was a reproach to the ignorant, his fame was too bright a distinction; his high-bred air and refinement, which he could not help, would hardly commend him to the average citizen in an order of things in which mediocrity is at a premium, and the natural nobility of presence, which rarely comes without family antecedents to account for it, is not always agreeable to the many whose two ideals are the man on horseback and the man in his shirt-sleeves. it may well be questioned whether washington, with his grand manner, would be nearly as popular with what are called "the masses" as lincoln, with his homely ways and broad stories. the experiment of universal suffrage must render the waters of political and social life more or less turbid even if they remain innoxious. the cloaca maxima can hardly mingle its contents with the stream of the aqua claudia, without taking something from its crystal clearness. we need not go so far as one of our well-known politicians has recently gone in saying that no great man can reach the highest position in our government, but we can safely say that, apart from military fame, the loftiest and purest and finest personal qualities are not those which can be most depended upon at the ballot-box. strange stories are told of avowed opposition to mr. motley on the ground of the most trivial differences in point of taste in personal matters,--so told that it is hard to disbelieve them, and they show that the caprices which we might have thought belonged exclusively to absolute rulers among their mistresses or their minions may be felt in the councils of a great people which calls itself self-governing. it is perfectly true that mr. motley did not illustrate the popular type of politician. he was too high-minded, too scholarly, too generously industrious, too polished, too much at home in the highest european circles, too much courted for his personal fascinations, too remote from the trading world of caucus managers. to degrade him, so far as official capital punishment could do it, was not merely to wrong one whom the nation should have delighted to honor as showing it to the world in the fairest flower of its young civilization, but it was an indignity to a representative of the highest scholarship of native growth, which every student in the land felt as a discouragement to all sound learning and noble ambition. if he was disappointed in his diplomatic career, he had enough, and more than enough, to console him in his brilliant literary triumphs. he had earned them all by the most faithful and patient labor. if he had not the "frame of adamant" of the swedish hero, he had his "soul of fire." no labors could tire him, no difficulties affright him. what most surprised those who knew him as a young man was, not his ambition, not his brilliancy, but his dogged, continuous capacity for work. we have seen with what astonishment the old dutch scholar, groen van prinsterer, looked upon a man who had wrestled with authors like bor and van meteren, who had grappled with the mightiest folios and toiled undiscouraged among half-illegible manuscript records. having spared no pains in collecting his materials, he told his story, as we all know, with flowing ease and stirring vitality. his views may have been more or less partial; philip the second may have deserved the pitying benevolence of poor maximilian; maurice may have wept as sincerely over the errors of arminius as any one of "the crocodile crew that believe in election;" barneveld and grotius may have been on the road to rome; none of these things seem probable, but if they were all proved true in opposition to his views, we should still have the long roll of glowing tapestry he has woven for us, with all its life-like portraits, its almost moving pageants, its sieges where we can see the artillery flashing, its battle-fields with their smoke and fire,--pictures which cannot fade, and which will preserve his name interwoven with their own enduring colors. republics are said to be ungrateful; it might be truer to say that they are forgetful. they forgive those who have wronged them as easily as they forget those who have done them good service. but history never forgets and never forgives. to her decision we may trust the question, whether the warm-hearted patriot who had stood up for his country nobly and manfully in the hour of trial, the great scholar and writer who had reflected honor upon her throughout the world of letters, the high-minded public servant, whose shortcomings it taxed the ingenuity of experts to make conspicuous enough to be presentable, was treated as such a citizen should have been dealt with. his record is safe in her hands, and his memory will be precious always in the hearts of all who enjoyed his friendship. appendix. a. the saturday club. this club, of which we were both members, and which is still flourishing, came into existence in a very quiet sort of way at about the same time as "the atlantic monthly," and, although entirely unconnected with that magazine, included as members some of its chief contributors. of those who might have been met at some of the monthly gatherings in its earlier days i may mention emerson, hawthorne, longfellow, lowell, motley, whipple, whittier; professors agassiz and peirce; john s. dwight; governor andrew, richard h. dana, junior, charles sumner. it offered a wide gamut of intelligences, and the meetings were noteworthy occasions. if there was not a certain amount of "mutual admiration" among some of those i have mentioned it was a great pity, and implied a defect in the nature of men who were otherwise largely endowed. the vitality of this club has depended in a great measure on its utter poverty in statutes and by-laws, its entire absence of formality, and its blessed freedom from speech-making. that holy man, richard baxter, says in his preface to alleine's "alarm:"-- "i have done, when i have sought to remove a little scandal, which i foresaw, that i should myself write the preface to his life where himself and two of his friends make such a mention of my name, which i cannot own; which will seem a praising him for praising me. i confess it looketh ill-favoredly in me. but i had not the power of other men's writings, and durst not forbear that which was his due." i do not know that i have any occasion for a similar apology in printing the following lines read at a meeting of members of the saturday club and other friends who came together to bid farewell to motley before his return to europe in . a parting health yes, we knew we must lose him,--though friendship may claim to blend her green leaves with the laurels of fame, though fondly, at parting, we call him our own, 't is the whisper of love when the bugle has blown. as the rider that rests with the spur on his heel, as the guardsman that sleeps in his corselet of steel, as the archer that stands with his shaft on the string, he stoops from his toil to the garland we bring. what pictures yet slumber unborn in his loom till their warriors shall breathe and their beauties shall bloom, while the tapestry lengthens the life-glowing dyes that caught from our sunsets the stain of their skies! in the alcoves of death, in the charnels of time, where flit the dark spectres of passion and crime, there are triumphs untold, there are martyrs unsung, there are heroes yet silent to speak with his tongue! let us hear the proud story that time has bequeathed from lips that are warm with the freedom they breathed! let him summon its tyrants, and tell us their doom, though he sweep the black past like van tromp with his broom! the dream flashes by, for the west-winds awake on pampas, on prairie, o'er mountain and lake, to bathe the swift bark, like a sea-girdled shrine with incense they stole from the rose and the pine. so fill a bright cup with the sunlight that gushed when the dead summer's jewels were trampled and crushed; the true knight of learning,--the world holds him dear,-- love bless him, joy crown him, god speed his career! b. habits and methods of study. mr. motley's daughter, lady harcourt, has favored me with many interesting particulars which i could not have learned except from a member of his own family. her description of his way of living and of working will be best given in her own words:-- "he generally rose early, the hour varying somewhat at different parts of his life, according to his work and health. sometimes when much absorbed by literary labor he would rise before seven, often lighting his own fire, and with a cup of tea or coffee writing until the family breakfast hour, after which his work was immediately resumed, and he usually sat over his writing-table until late in the afternoon, when he would take a short walk. his dinner hour was late, and he rarely worked at night. during the early years of his literary studies he led a life of great retirement. later, after the publication of the 'dutch republic' and during the years of official place, he was much in society in england, austria, and holland. he enjoyed social life, and particularly dining out, keenly, but was very moderate and simple in all his personal habits, and for many years before his death had entirely given up smoking. his work, when not in his own library, was in the archives of the netherlands, brussels, paris, the english state paper office, and the british museum, where he made his own researches, patiently and laboriously consulting original manuscripts and reading masses of correspondence, from which he afterwards sometimes caused copies to be made, and where he worked for many consecutive hours a day. after his material had been thus painfully and toilfully amassed, the writing of his own story was always done at home, and his mind, having digested the necessary matter, always poured itself forth in writing so copiously that his revision was chiefly devoted to reducing the over-abundance. he never shrank from any of the drudgery of preparation, but i think his own part of the work was sheer pleasure to him." i should have mentioned that his residence in london while minister was at the house no. arlington street, belonging to lord yarborough. c. sir william gull's account of his illness. i have availed myself of the permission implied in the subjoined letter of sir william gull to make large extracts from his account of mr. motley's condition while under his medical care. in his earlier years he had often complained to me of those "nervous feelings connected with the respiration" referred to by this very distinguished physician. i do not remember any other habitual trouble to which he was subject. brook street, grosvenor square, w. february , . my dear sir,--i send the notes of mr. motley's last illness, as i promised. they are too technical for general readers, but you will make such exception as you require. the medical details may interest your professional friends. mr. motley's case was a striking illustration that the renal disease of so-called bright's disease may supervene as part and parcel of a larger and antecedent change in the blood-vessels in other parts than the kidney. . . . i am, my dear sir, yours very truly, william w. gull. to oliver wendell holmes, esq. i first saw mr. motley, i believe, about the year , on account of some nervous feelings connected with the respiration. at that time his general health was good, and all he complained of was occasionally a feeling of oppression about the chest. there were no physical signs of anything abnormal, and the symptoms quite passed away in the course of time, and with the use of simple antispasmodic remedies, such as camphor and the like. this was my first interview with mr. motley, and i was naturally glad to have the opportunity of making his acquaintance. i remember that in our conversation i jokingly said that my wife could hardly forgive him for not making her hero, henri iv., a perfect character, and the earnestness with which he replied 'au serieux,' i assure you i have fairly recorded the facts. after this date i did not see mr. motley for some time. he had three slight attacks of haemoptysis in the autumn of , but no physical signs of change in the lung tissue resulted. so early as this i noticed that there were signs of commencing thickening in the heart, as shown by the degree and extent of its impulse. the condition of his health, though at that time not very obviously failing, a good deal arrested my attention, as i thought i could perceive in the occurrence of the haemoptysis, and in the cardiac hypertrophy, the early beginnings of vascular degeneration. in august, , occurred the remarkable seizure, from the effects of which mr. motley never recovered. i did not see him in the attack, but was informed, as far as i can remember, that he was on a casual visit at a friend's house at luncheon (or it might have been dinner), when he suddenly became strangely excited, but not quite unconscious. . . . i believed at the time, and do so still, that there was some capillary apoplexy of the convolutions. the attack was attended with some hemiplegic weakness on the right side, and altered sensation, and ever after there was a want of freedom and ease both in the gait and in the use of the arm of that side. to my inquiries from time to time how the arm was, the patient would always flex and extend it freely, but nearly always used the expression, "there is a bedevilment in it;" though the handwriting was not much, if at all, altered. in december, , mr. motley went by my advice to cannes. i wrote the following letter at the time to my friend dr. frank, who was practising there:-- [this letter, every word of which was of value to the practitioner who was to have charge of the patient, relates many of the facts given above, and i shall therefore only give extracts from it.] december , . my dear dr. frank,--my friend mr. motley, the historian and late american minister, whose name and fame no doubt you know very well, has by my advice come to cannes for the winter and spring, and i have promised him to give you some account of his case. to me it is one of special interest, and personally, as respects the subject of it, of painful interest. i have known mr. motley for some time, but he consulted me for the present condition about midsummer. . . . if i have formed a correct opinion of the pathology of the case, i believe the smaller vessels are degenerating in several parts of the vascular area, lung, brain, and kidneys. with this view i have suggested a change of climate, a nourishing diet, etc.; and it is to be hoped, and i trust expected, that by great attention to the conditions of hygiene, internal and external, the progress of degeneration may be retarded. i have no doubt you will find, as time goes on, increasing evidence of renal change, but this is rather a coincidence and consequence than a cause, though no doubt when the renal change has reached a certain point, it becomes in its own way a factor of other lesions. i have troubled you at this length because my mind is much occupied with the pathology of these cases, and because no case can, on personal grounds, more strongly challenge our attention. yours very truly, william w. gull. during the spring of , whilst at cannes, mr. motley had a sharp attack of nephritis, attended with fever; but on returning to england in july there was no important change in the health. the weakness of the side continued, and the inability to undertake any mental work. the signs of cardiac hypertrophy were more distinct. in the beginning of the year i wrote as follows:-- february , . my dear mr. motley,--. . . the examination i have just made appears to indicate that the main conditions of your health are more stable than they were some months ago, and would therefore be so far in favor of your going to america in the summer, as we talked of. the ground of my doubt has lain in the possibility of such a trip further disordering the circulation. of this, i hope, there is now less risk. on the th of june, , i received the following letter:-- calverly park hotel, tunbridge wells, june , . my dear sir william,--i have been absent from town for a long time, but am to be there on the th and th. could i make an appointment with you for either of those days? i am anxious to have a full consultation with you before leaving for america. our departure is fixed for the th of this month. i have not been worse than usual of late. i think myself, on the contrary, rather stronger, and it is almost impossible for me not to make my visit to america this summer, unless you should absolutely prohibit it. if neither of those days should suit you, could you kindly suggest another day? i hope, however, you can spare me half an hour on one of those days, as i like to get as much of this bracing air as i can. will you kindly name the hour when i may call on you, and address me at this hotel. excuse this slovenly note in pencil, but it fatigues my head and arm much more to sit at a writing-table with pen and ink. always most sincerely yours, my dear sir william, j. l. motley. on mr. motley's return from america i saw him, and found him, i thought, rather better in general health than when he left england. in december, , mr. motley consulted me for trouble of vision in reading or walking, from sensations like those produced by flakes of falling snow coming between him and the objects he was looking at. mr. bowman, one of our most excellent oculists, was then consulted. mr. bowman wrote to me as follows: "such symptoms as exist point rather to disturbed retinal function than to any brain-mischief. it is, however, quite likely that what you fear for the brain may have had its counterpart in the nerve-structures of the eye, and as he is short-sighted, this tendency may be further intensified." mr. bowman suggested no more than such an arrangement of glasses as might put the eyes, when in use, under better optic conditions. the year was passed over without any special change worth notice. the walking powers were much impeded by the want of control over the right leg. the mind was entirely clear, though mr. motley did not feel equal, and indeed had been advised not to apply himself, to any literary work. occasional conversations, when i had interviews with him on the subject of his health, proved that the attack which had weakened the movements of the right side had not impaired the mental power. the most noticeable change which had come over mr. motley since i first knew him was due to the death of mrs. motley in december, . it had in fact not only profoundly depressed him, but, if i may so express it, had removed the centre of his thought to a new world. in long conversations with me of a speculative kind, after that painful event, it was plain how much his point of view of the whole course and relation of things had changed. his mind was the last to dogmatize on any subject. there was a candid and childlike desire to know, with an equal confession of the incapacity of the human intellect. i wish i could recall the actual expressions he used, but the sense was that which has been so well stated by hooker in concluding an exhortation against the pride of the human intellect, where he remarks:-- "dangerous it were for the feeble brain of man to wade far into the doings of the most high; whom although to know be life, and joy to make mention of his name, yet our soundest knowledge is to know that we know him, not indeed as he is, neither can know him; and our safest eloquence concerning him is our silence, when we confess without confession that his glory is inexplicable, his greatness above our capacity and reach. he is above and we upon earth; therefore it behoveth our words to be wary and few." mrs. motley's illness was not a long one, and the nature of it was such that its course could with certainty be predicted. mr. motley and her children passed the remaining days of her life, extending over about a month, with her, in the mutual under standing that she was soon to part from them. the character of the illness, and the natural exhaustion of her strength by suffering, lessened the shock of her death, though not the loss, to those who survived her. the last time i saw mr. motley was, i believe, about two months before his death, march , . there was no great change in his health, but he complained of indescribable sensations in his nervous system, and felt as if losing the whole power of walking, but this was not obvious in his gait, although he walked shorter distances than before. i heard no more of him until i was suddenly summoned on the th of may into devonshire to see him. the telegram i received was so urgent, that i suspected some rupture of a blood- vessel in the brain, and that i should hardly reach him alive; and this was the case. about two o'clock in the day he complained of a feeling of faintness, said he felt ill and should not recover; and in a few minutes was insensible with symptoms of ingravescent apoplexy. there was extensive haemorrhage into the brain, as shown by post-mortem examination, the cerebral vessels being atheromatous. the fatal haemorrhage had occurred into the lateral ventricles, from rupture of one of the middle cerebral arteries. i am, my dear sir, yours very truly, william w. gull. e. from the proceedings of the massachusetts society. at a meeting of the massachusetts historical society, held on thursday, the th of june, , after the reading of the records of the preceding meeting, the president, the hon. robert c. winthrop, spoke as follows: "our first thoughts to-day, gentlemen, are of those whom we may not again welcome to these halls. we shall be in no mood, certainly, for entering on other subjects this morning until we have given some expression to our deep sense of the loss--the double loss--which our society has sustained since our last monthly meeting."--[edmund quincy died may . john lothrop motley died may .] after a most interesting and cordial tribute to his friend, mr. quincy, mr. winthrop continued: "the death of our distinguished associate, motley, can hardly have taken many of us by surprise. sudden at the moment of its occurrence, we had long been more or less prepared for it by his failing health. it must, indeed, have been quite too evident to those who had seen him, during the last two or three years, that his life-work was finished. i think he so regarded it himself. "hopes may have been occasionally revived in the hearts of his friends, and even in his own heart, that his long-cherished purpose of completing a history of the thirty years' war, as the grand consummation of his historical labors,--for which all his other volumes seemed to him to have been but the preludes and overtures, --might still be accomplished. but such hopes, faint and flickering from his first attack, had well-nigh died away. they were like prescott's hopes of completing his 'philip the second,' or like macaulay's hopes of finishing his brilliant 'history of england.' "but great as may be the loss to literature of such a crowning work from motley's pen, it was by no means necessary to the completeness of his own fame. his 'rise of the dutch republic,' his 'history of the united netherlands,' and his 'life of john of barneveld,' had abundantly established his reputation, and given him a fixed place among the most eminent historians of our country and of our age. "no american writer, certainly, has secured a wider recognition or a higher appreciation from the scholars of the old world. the universities of england and the learned societies of europe have bestowed upon him their largest honors. it happened to me to be in paris when he was first chosen a corresponding member of the institute, and when his claims were canvassed with the freedom and earnestness which peculiarly characterize such a candidacy in france. there was no mistaking the profound impression which his first work had made on the minds of such men as guizot and mignet. within a year or two past, a still higher honor has been awarded him from the same source. the journals not long ago announced his election as one of the six foreign associates of the french academy of moral and political sciences,--a distinction which prescott would probably have attained had he lived a few years longer, until there was a vacancy, but which, as a matter of fact, i believe, motley was the only american writer, except the late edward livingston, of louisiana, who has actually enjoyed. "residing much abroad, for the purpose of pursuing his historical researches, he had become the associate and friend of the most eminent literary men in almost all parts of the world, and the singular charms of his conversation and manners had made him a favorite guest in the most refined and exalted circles. "of his relations to political and public life, this is hardly the occasion or the moment for speaking in detail. misconstructions and injustices are the proverbial lot of those who occupy eminent position. it was a duke of vienna, if i remember rightly, whom shakespeare, in his 'measure for measure,' introduces as exclaiming,-- 'o place and greatness, millions of false eyes are stuck upon thee! volumes of report run with these false and most contrarious quests upon thy doings! thousand 'stapes of wit make thee the father of their idle dream, and rack thee in their fancies!' "i forbear from all application of the lines. it is enough for me, certainly, to say here, to-day, that our country was proud to be represented at the courts of vienna and london successively by a gentleman of so much culture and accomplishment as mr. motley, and that the circumstances of his recall were deeply regretted by us all. "his fame, however, was quite beyond the reach of any such accidents, and could neither be enhanced nor impaired by appointments or removals. as a powerful and brilliant historian we pay him our unanimous tribute of admiration and regret, and give him a place in our memories by the side of prescott and irving. i do not forget how many of us lament him, also, as a cherished friend. "he died on the th ultimo, at the house of his daughter, mrs. sheridan, in dorsetshire, england, and an impressive tribute to his memory was paid, in westminster abbey, on the following sunday, by our honorary member, dean stanley. such a tribute, from such lips, and with such surroundings, leaves nothing to be desired in the way of eulogy. he was buried in kensal green cemetery, by the side of his beloved wife. "one might well say of motley precisely what he said of prescott, in a letter from rome to our associate, mr. william amory, immediately on hearing of prescott's death: 'i feel inexpressibly disappointed --speaking now for an instant purely from a literary point of view --that the noble and crowning monument of his life, for which he had laid such massive foundations, and the structure of which had been carried forward in such a grand and masterly manner, must remain uncompleted, like the unfinished peristyle of some stately and beautiful temple on which the night of time has suddenly descended. but, still, the works which his great and untiring hand had already thoroughly finished will remain to attest his learning and genius, --a precious and perpetual possession for his country." ................................. the president now called on dr. oliver wendell holmes, who said:-- "the thoughts which suggest themselves upon this occasion are such as belong to the personal memories of the dear friends whom we have lost, rather than to their literary labors, the just tribute to which must wait for a calmer hour than the present, following so closely as it does on our bereavement." ................................. "his first literary venture of any note was the story called 'morton's hope; or, the memoirs of a provincial.' this first effort failed to satisfy the critics, the public, or himself. his personality pervaded the characters and times which he portrayed, so that there was a discord between the actor and his costume. brilliant passages could not save it; and it was plain enough that he must ripen into something better before the world would give him the reception which surely awaited him if he should find his true destination. "the early failures of a great writer are like the first sketches of a great artist, and well reward patient study. more than this, the first efforts of poets and story-tellers are very commonly palimpsests: beneath the rhymes or the fiction one can almost always spell out the characters which betray the writer's self. take these passages from the story just referred to: "'ah! flattery is a sweet and intoxicating potion, whether we drink it from an earthen ewer or a golden chalice. . . . flattery from man to woman is expected: it is a part of the courtesy of society; but when the divinity descends from the altar to burn incense to the priest, what wonder if the idolater should feel himself transformed into a god!' "he had run the risk of being spoiled, but he had a safeguard in his aspirations. "'my ambitious anticipations,' says morton, in the story, were as boundless as they were various and conflicting. there was not a path which leads to glory in which i was not destined to gather laurels. as a warrior, i would conquer and overrun the world; as a statesman, i would reorganize and govern it; as a historian, i would consign it all to immortality; and, in my leisure moments, i would be a great poet and a man of the world.' "who can doubt that in this passage of his story he is picturing his own visions, one of the fairest of which was destined to become reality? "but there was another element in his character, which those who knew him best recognized as one with which he had to struggle hard, --that is, a modesty which sometimes tended to collapse into self- distrust. this, too, betrays itself in the sentences which follow those just quoted:-- "'in short,' says morton, 'i was already enrolled in that large category of what are called young men of genius, . . . men of whom unheard-of things are expected; till after long preparation comes a portentous failure, and then they are forgotten. . . . alas! for the golden imaginations of our youth. . . . they are all disappointments. they are bright and beautiful, but they fade.'" ........................... the president appointed professor lowell to write the memoir of mr. quincy, and dr. holmes that of mr. motley, for the society's "proceedings." professor william everett then spoke as follows: "there is one incident, sir, in mr. motley's career that has not been mentioned to-day, which is, perhaps, most vividly remembered by those of us who were in europe at the outbreak of our civil war in . at that time, the ignorance of englishmen, friendly or otherwise, about america, was infinite: they knew very little of us, and that little wrong. americans were overwhelmed with questions, taunts, threats, misrepresentations, the outgrowth of ignorance, and ignoring worse than ignorance, from every class of englishmen. never was an authoritative exposition of our hopes and policy worse needed; and there was no one to do it. the outgoing diplomatic agents represented a bygone order of things; the representatives of mr. lincoln's administration had not come. at that time of anxiety, mr. motley, living in england as a private person, came forward with two letters in the 'times,' which set forth the cause of the united states once and for all. no unofficial, and few official, men could have spoken with such authority, and been so certain of obtaining a hearing from englishmen. thereafter, amid all the clouds of falsehood and ridicule which we had to encounter, there was one lighthouse fixed on a rock to which we could go for foothold, from which we could not be driven, and against which all assaults were impotent. "there can be no question that the effect produced by these letters helped, if help had been needed, to point out mr. motley as a candidate for high diplomatic place who could not be overlooked. their value was recognized alike by his fellow-citizens in america and his admirers in england; but none valued them more than the little band of exiles, who were struggling against terrible odds, and who rejoiced with a great joy to see the stars and stripes, whose centennial anniversary those guns are now celebrating, planted by a hand so truly worthy to rally every american to its support." g. poem by william cullen bryant. i cannot close this memoir more appropriately than by appending the following poetical tribute:-- in memory of john lothrop motley. by william cullen bryant. sleep, motley, with the great of ancient days, who wrote for all the years that yet shall be. sleep with herodotus, whose name and praise have reached the isles of earth's remotest sea. sleep, while, defiant of the slow delays of time, thy glorious writings speak for thee and in the answering heart of millions raise the generous zeal for right and liberty. and should the days o'ertake us, when, at last, the silence that--ere yet a human pen had traced the slenderest record of the past hushed the primeval languages of men upon our english tongue its spell shall cast, thy memory shall perish only then. pg editor's bookmarks of holme's motley: a great historian is almost a statesman admired or despised, as if he or she were our contemporary alas! one never knows when one becomes a bore all classes are conservative by necessity already looking forward to the revolt of the slave states american unholy inquisition an order of things in which mediocrity is at a premium attacked by the poetic mania becoming more learned, and therefore more ignorant best defence in this case is little better than an impeachment better is the restlessness of a noble ambition blessed freedom from speech-making but not thoughtlessly indulgent to the boy but after all this isn't a war it is a revolution can never be repaired and never sufficiently regretted cold water of conventional and commonplace encouragement considerations of state have never yet failed the axe considerations of state as a reason could paint a character with the ruddy life-blood coloring emulation is not capability everything else may happen this alone must happen excused by their admirers for their shortcomings excuses to disarm the criticism he had some reason to fear fear of the laugh of the world at its sincerity fitted "to warn, to comfort, and command" flattery is a sweet and intoxicating potion forget those who have done them good service fortune's buffets and rewards can take with equal thanks he was not always careful in the construction of his sentences his learning was a reproach to the ignorant his dogged, continuous capacity for work history never forgets and never forgives how many more injured by becoming bad copies of a bad ideal ignoble facts which strew the highways of political life in revolutions the men who win are those who are in earnest indoor home life imprisons them in the domestic circle intellectual dandyisms of bulwer irresistible force in collision with an insuperable resistance it is n't strategists that are wanted so much as believers john quincy adams kindly shadow of oblivion manner in which an insult shall be dealt with mediocrity is at a premium misanthropical, sceptical philosopher most entirely truthful child whe had ever seen motley was twice sacrificed to personal feelings nearsighted liberalism no great man can reach the highest position in our government no two books, as he said, ever injured each other no man is safe (from news reporters) not a single acquaintance in the place, and we glory in the fact only foundation fit for history,--original contemporary document our mortal life is but a string of guesses at the future over excited, when his prejudices were roughly handled plain enough that he is telling his own story played so long with other men's characters and good name progress should be by a spiral movement public which must have a slain reputation to devour radical, one who would uproot, is a man whose trade is dangerous reasonable to pay our debts rather than to repudiate them recall of a foreign minister for alleged misconduct in office republics are said to be ungrateful sees the past in the pitiless light of the present self-educated man, as he had been a self-taught boy shall slavery die, or the great republic? solitary and morose, the necessary consequence of reckless study spirit of a man who wishes to be proud of his country studied according to his inclinations rather than by rule style above all other qualities seems to embalm for posterity suicide is confession talked impatiently of the value of my time the fellow mixes blood with his colors! the loss of hair, which brings on premature decay the personal gifts which are nature's passport everywhere the nation is as much bound to be honest as is the individual the dead men of the place are my intimate friends they knew very little of us, and that little wrong this somebody may have been one whom we should call nobody twenty assaults upon fame and had forty books killed under him unequivocal policy of slave emancipation vain belief that they were men at eighteen or twenty visible atmosphere of power the poison of which weight of a thousand years of error wonders whether it has found its harbor or only lost its anchor wringing a dry cloth for drops of evidence etext editor's bookmarks the complete history of the netherlands: [including the memoir of motley by oliver wendell holmes, sr.] , the last year of peace a pleasantry called voluntary contributions or benevolences a good lawyer is a bad christian a terrible animal, indeed, is an unbridled woman a common hatred united them, for a time at least a penal offence in the republic to talk of peace or of truce a most fatal success a country disinherited by nature of its rights a free commonwealth--was thought an absurdity a hard bargain when both parties are losers a burnt cat fears the fire a despot really keeps no accounts, nor need to do so a sovereign remedy for the disease of liberty a pusillanimous peace, always possible at any period a man incapable of fatigue, of perplexity, or of fear a truce he honestly considered a pitfall of destruction a great historian is almost a statesman able men should be by design and of purpose suppressed about equal to that of england at the same period absolution for incest was afforded at thirty-six livres abstinence from unproductive consumption abstinence from inquisition into consciences and private parlour absurd affectation of candor accepting a new tyrant in place of the one so long ago deposed accustomed to the faded gallantries achieved the greatness to which they had not been born act of uniformity required papists to assist acts of violence which under pretext of religion admired or despised, as if he or she were our contemporary adulation for inferiors whom they despise advanced orthodox party-puritans advancing age diminished his tendency to other carnal pleasures advised his majesty to bestow an annual bribe upon lord burleigh affecting to discredit them affection of his friends and the wrath of his enemies age when toleration was a vice agreements were valid only until he should repent alas! the benighted victims of superstition hugged their chains alas! we must always have something to persecute alas! one never knows when one becomes a bore alexander's exuberant discretion all italy was in his hands all fellow-worms together all business has been transacted with open doors all reading of the scriptures (forbidden) all the majesty which decoration could impart all denounced the image-breaking all claimed the privilege of persecuting all his disciples and converts are to be punished with death all protestants were beheaded, burned, or buried alive all classes are conservative by necessity all the ministers and great functionaries received presents all offices were sold to the highest bidder allow her to seek a profit from his misfortune allowed the demon of religious hatred to enter into its body almost infinite power of the meanest of passions already looking forward to the revolt of the slave states altercation between luther and erasmus, upon predestination always less apt to complain of irrevocable events american unholy inquisition amuse them with this peace negotiation an inspiring and delightful recreation (auto-da-fe) an hereditary papacy, a perpetual pope-emperor an age when to think was a crime an unjust god, himself the origin of sin an order of things in which mediocrity is at a premium anarchy which was deemed inseparable from a non-regal form anatomical study of what has ceased to exist and give advice. of that, although always a spendthrift and now the knife of another priest-led fanatic and thus this gentle and heroic spirit took its flight angle with their dissimulation as with a hook announced his approaching marriage with the virgin mary annual harvest of iniquity by which his revenue was increased anxiety to do nothing wrong, the senators did nothing at all are apt to discharge such obligations--(by) ingratitude are wont to hang their piety on the bell-rope argument in a circle argument is exhausted and either action or compromise begins aristocracy of god's elect arminianism arrested on suspicion, tortured till confession arrive at their end by fraud, when violence will not avail them artillery as logical as men in their cups are prone to be as the old woman had told the emperor adrian as if they were free will not make them free as lieve see the spanish as the calvinistic inquisition as ready as papists, with age, fagot, and excommunication as with his own people, keeping no back-door open as neat a deception by telling the truth at a blow decapitated france at length the twig was becoming the tree atheist, a tyrant, because he resisted dictation from the clergy attachment to a half-drowned land and to a despised religion attacked by the poetic mania attacking the authority of the pope attempting to swim in two waters auction sales of judicial ermine baiting his hook a little to his appetite barbara blomberg, washerwoman of ratisbon batavian legion was the imperial body guard beacons in the upward path of mankind beating the netherlanders into christianity beautiful damsel, who certainly did not lack suitors because he had been successful (hated) becoming more learned, and therefore more ignorant been already crimination and recrimination more than enough before morning they had sacked thirty churches began to scatter golden arguments with a lavish hand beggars of the sea, as these privateersmen designated themselves behead, torture, burn alive, and bury alive all heretics being the true religion, proved by so many testimonies believed in the blessed advent of peace beneficent and charitable purposes (war) best defence in this case is little better than an impeachment bestowing upon others what was not his property better to be governed by magistrates than mobs better is the restlessness of a noble ambition beware of a truce even more than of a peace bigotry which was the prevailing characteristic of the age bishop is a consecrated pirate blessed freedom from speech-making blessing of god upon the devil's work bold reformer had only a new dogma in place of the old ones bomb-shells were not often used although known for a century breath, time, and paper were profusely wasted and nothing gained brethren, parents, and children, having wives in common bribed the deity bungling diplomatists and credulous dotards burned, strangled, beheaded, or buried alive ( , ) burned alive if they objected to transubstantiation burning with bitter revenge for all the favours he had received burning of servetus at geneva business of an officer to fight, of a general to conquer but the habit of dissimulation was inveterate but after all this isn't a war it is a revolution but not thoughtlessly indulgent to the boy butchery in the name of christ was suspended by turns, we all govern and are governed calling a peace perpetual can never make it so calumny is often a stronger and more lasting power than disdain can never be repaired and never sufficiently regretted canker of a long peace care neither for words nor menaces in any matter cargo of imaginary gold dust was exported from the james river casting up the matter "as pinchingly as possibly might be" casual outbursts of eternal friendship certain number of powers, almost exactly equal to each other certainly it was worth an eighty years' war changed his positions and contradicted himself day by day character of brave men to act, not to expect charles the fifth autocrat of half the world chief seafaring nations of the world were already protestant chieftains are dwarfed in the estimation of followers children who had never set foot on the shore christian sympathy and a small assistance not being sufficient chronicle of events must not be anticipated claimed the praise of moderation that their demands were so few cold water of conventional and commonplace encouragement college of "peace-makers," who wrangled more than all colonel ysselstein, "dismissed for a homicide or two" compassing a country's emancipation through a series of defeats conceding it subsequently, after much contestation conceit, and procrastination which marked the royal character conciliation when war of extermination was intended conclusive victory for the allies seemed as predestined conde and coligny condemned first and inquired upon after condemning all heretics to death conflicting claims of prerogative and conscience conformity of governments to the principles of justice confused conferences, where neither party was entirely sincere considerable reason, even if there were but little justice considerations of state have never yet failed the axe considerations of state as a reason considered it his special mission in the world to mediate consign to the flames all prisoners whatever (papal letter) constant vigilance is the price of liberty constitute themselves at once universal legatees constitutional governments, move in the daylight consumer would pay the tax, supposing it were ever paid at all contained within itself the germs of a larger liberty contempt for treaties however solemnly ratified continuing to believe himself invincible and infallible converting beneficent commerce into baleful gambling could handle an argument as well as a sword could paint a character with the ruddy life-blood coloring could not be both judge and party in the suit could do a little more than what was possible country would bear his loss with fortitude courage of despair inflamed the french courage and semblance of cheerfulness, with despair in his heart court fatigue, to scorn pleasure covered now with the satirical dust of centuries craft meaning, simply, strength created one child for damnation and another for salvation crescents in their caps: rather turkish than popish crimes and cruelties such as christians only could imagine criminal whose guilt had been established by the hot iron criminals buying paradise for money cruelties exercised upon monks and papists crusades made great improvement in the condition of the serfs culpable audacity and exaggerated prudence customary oaths, to be kept with the customary conscientiousness daily widening schism between lutherans and calvinists deadliest of sins, the liberty of conscience deadly hatred of puritans in england and holland deal with his enemy as if sure to become his friend death rather than life with a false acknowledgment of guilt decline a bribe or interfere with the private sale of places decrees for burning, strangling, and burying alive deeply criminal in the eyes of all religious parties defeated garrison ever deserved more respect from friend or foe defect of enjoying the flattery, of his inferiors in station delay often fights better than an army against a foreign invader demanding peace and bread at any price democratic instincts of the ancient german savages denies the utility of prayers for the dead denoungced as an obstacle to peace depths theological party spirit could descend depths of credulity men in all ages can sink despised those who were grateful despot by birth and inclination (charles v.) determined to bring the very name of liberty into contempt devote himself to his gout and to his fair young wife difference between liberties and liberty difficult for one friend to advise another in three matters diplomacy of spain and rome--meant simply dissimulation diplomatic adroitness consists mainly in the power to deceive disciple of simon stevinus dismay of our friends and the gratification of our enemies disordered, and unknit state needs no shaking, but propping disposed to throat-cutting by the ministers of the gospel dispute between luther and zwingli concerning the real presence disputing the eternal damnation of young children dissenters were as bigoted as the orthodox dissimulation and delay distinguished for his courage, his cruelty, and his corpulence divine right of kings divine right do you want peace or war? i am ready for either doctrine of predestination in its sternest and strictest sense don john of austria don john was at liberty to be king of england and scotland done nothing so long as aught remained to do drank of the water in which, he had washed draw a profit out of the necessities of this state during this, whole war, we have never seen the like dying at so very inconvenient a moment each in its turn becoming orthodox, and therefore persecuting eat their own children than to forego one high mass eight thousand human beings were murdered elizabeth, though convicted, could always confute elizabeth (had not) the faintest idea of religious freedom eloquence of the biggest guns emperor of japan addressed him as his brother monarch emulation is not capability endure every hardship but hunger enemy of all compulsion of the human conscience england hated the netherlands english puritans englishmen and hollanders preparing to cut each other's throats enmity between lutherans and calvinists enormous wealth (of the church) which engendered the hatred enriched generation after generation by wealthy penitence enthusiasm could not supply the place of experience envying those whose sufferings had already been terminated epernon, the true murderer of henry erasmus of rotterdam erasmus encourages the bold friar establish not freedom for calvinism, but freedom for conscience estimating his character and judging his judges even the virtues of james were his worst enemies even to grant it slowly is to deny it utterly even for the rape of god's mother, if that were possible ever met disaster with so cheerful a smile ever-swarming nurseries of mercenary warriors every one sees what you seem, few perceive what you are everybody should mind his own business everything else may happen this alone must happen everything was conceded, but nothing was secured evil is coming, the sooner it arrives the better evil has the advantage of rapidly assuming many shapes excited with the appearance of a gem of true philosophy excused by their admirers for their shortcomings excuses to disarm the criticism he had some reason to fear executions of huss and jerome of prague exorcising the devil by murdering his supposed victims extraordinary capacity for yielding to gentle violence fable of divine right is invented to sanction the system faction has rarely worn a more mischievous aspect famous fowl in every pot fanatics of the new religion denounced him as a godless man fate, free will, or absolute foreknowledge father cotton, who was only too ready to betray the secrets fear of the laugh of the world at its sincerity fed on bear's liver, were nearly poisoned to death felix mants, the anabaptist, is drowned at zurich fellow worms had been writhing for half a century in the dust ferocity which even christians could not have surpassed few, even prelates were very dutiful to the pope fiction of apostolic authority to bind and loose fifty thousand persons in the provinces (put to death) financial opposition to tyranny is apt to be unanimous find our destruction in our immoderate desire for peace fishermen and river raftsmen become ocean adventurers fitted "to warn, to comfort, and command" fitter to obey than to command five great rivers hold the netherland territory in their coils flattery is a sweet and intoxicating potion fled from the land of oppression to the land of liberty fool who useth not wit because he hath it not for myself i am unworthy of the honor (of martyrdom) for faithful service, evil recompense for women to lament, for men to remember for us, looking back upon the past, which was then the future for his humanity towards the conquered garrisons (censured) forbidding the wearing of mourning at all forbids all private assemblies for devotion force clerical--the power of clerks foremost to shake off the fetters of superstition forget those who have done them good service forgiving spirit on the part of the malefactor fortune's buffets and rewards can take with equal thanks four weeks' holiday--the first in eleven years france was mourning henry and waiting for richelieu french seem madmen, and are wise friendly advice still more intolerable full of precedents and declamatory commonplaces furious fanaticism furious mob set upon the house of rem bischop furnished, in addition, with a force of two thousand prostitutes future world as laid down by rival priesthoods gallant and ill-fated lamoral egmont gaul derided the roman soldiers as a band of pigmies german-lutheran sixteenth-century idea of religious freedom german finds himself sober--he believes himself ill german highland and the german netherland gigantic vices are proudly pointed to as the noblest give him advice if he asked it, and money when he required glory could be put neither into pocket nor stomach god has given absolute power to no mortal man god, whose cause it was, would be pleased to give good weather god alone can protect us against those whom we trust god of wrath who had decreed the extermination of all unbeliever god of vengeance, of jealousy, and of injustice god save the king! it was the last time gold was the only passkey to justice gomarites accused the arminians of being more lax than papists govern under the appearance of obeying great transactions of a reign are sometimes paltry things great science of political equilibrium great privilege, the magna charta of holland great error of despising their enemy great war of religion and politics was postponed great battles often leave the world where they found it guarantees of forgiveness for every imaginable sin guilty of no other crime than adhesion to the catholic faith habeas corpus had industry been honoured instead of being despised haereticis non servanda fides hair and beard unshorn, according to ancient batavian custom halcyon days of ban, book and candle hanged for having eaten meat-soup upon friday hanging of mary dyer at boston hangman is not the most appropriate teacher of religion happy to glass themselves in so brilliant a mirror hard at work, pouring sand through their sieves hardly a distinguished family in spain not placed in mourning hardly a sound protestant policy anywhere but in holland hardly an inch of french soil that had not two possessors having conjugated his paradigm conscientiously he had omitted to execute heretics he did his best to be friends with all the world he was a sincere bigot he that stands let him see that he does not fall he was not always careful in the construction of his sentences he would have no persecution of the opposite creed he came as a conqueror not as a mediator he who spreads the snare always tumbles into the ditch himself he who would have all may easily lose all he knew men, especially he knew their weaknesses he had never enjoyed social converse, except at long intervals he would have no calvinist inquisition set up in its place he who confessed well was absolved well he did his work, but he had not his reward he sat a great while at a time. he had a genius for sitting he was not imperial of aspect on canvas or coin he often spoke of popular rights with contempt he spent more time at table than the bearnese in sleep heidelberg catechism were declared to be infallible henry the huguenot as the champion of the council of trent her teeth black, her bosom white and liberally exposed (eliz.) heresy was a plant of early growth in the netherlands heretics to the english church were persecuted hibernian mode of expressing himself high officers were doing the work of private, soldiers highborn demagogues in that as in every age affect adulation highest were not necessarily the least slimy his inordinate arrogance his own past triumphs seemed now his greatest enemies his imagination may have assisted his memory in the task his insolence intolerable his learning was a reproach to the ignorant his invectives were, however, much stronger than his arguments his personal graces, for the moment, took the rank of virtues his dogged, continuous capacity for work historical scepticism may shut its eyes to evidence history is a continuous whole of which we see only fragments history is but made up of a few scattered fragments history never forgets and never forgives history has not too many really important and emblematic men history shows how feeble are barriers of paper holland was afraid to give a part, although offering the whole holland, england, and america, are all links of one chain holy office condemned all the inhabitants of the netherlands holy institution called the inquisition honor good patriots, and to support them in venial errors hope delayed was but a cold and meagre consolation hope deferred, suddenly changing to despair how many more injured by becoming bad copies of a bad ideal hugo grotius human nature in its meanness and shame human ingenuity to inflict human misery human fat esteemed the sovereignst remedy (for wounds) humanizing effect of science upon the barbarism of war humble ignorance as the safest creed humility which was but the cloak to his pride hundred thousand men had laid down their lives by her decree i did never see any man behave himself as he did i know how to console myself i am a king that will be ever known not to fear any but god i hope and i fear i would carry the wood to burn my own son withal i regard my country's profit, not my own i will never live, to see the end of my poverty idea of freedom in commerce has dawned upon nations idiotic principle of sumptuary legislation idle, listless, dice-playing, begging, filching vagabonds if he had little, he could live upon little if to do be as grand as to imagine what it were good to do if he has deserved it, let them strike off his head ignoble facts which strew the highways of political life ignorance is the real enslaver of mankind imagined, and did the work of truth imagining that they held the world's destiny in their hands impatience is often on the part of the non-combatants implication there was much, of assertion very little imposed upon the multitudes, with whom words were things impossible it is to practise arithmetic with disturbed brains impossible it was to invent terms of adulation too gross in revolutions the men who win are those who are in earnest in character and general talents he was beneath mediocrity in times of civil war, to be neutral is to be nothing in holland, the clergy had neither influence nor seats in this he was much behind his age or before it incur the risk of being charged with forwardness than neglect indecision did the work of indolence indignant that heretics had been suffered to hang individuals walking in advance of their age indoor home life imprisons them in the domestic circle indulging them frequently with oracular advice inevitable fate of talking castles and listening ladies infamy of diplomacy, when diplomacy is unaccompanied by honesty infinite capacity for pecuniary absorption informer, in case of conviction, should be entitled to one half inhabited by the savage tribes called samoyedes innocent generation, to atone for the sins of their forefathers inquisition of the netherlands is much more pitiless inquisition was not a fit subject for a compromise inquisitors enough; but there were no light vessels in the armada insane cruelty, both in the cause of the wrong and the right insensible to contumely, and incapable of accepting a rebuff insinuate that his orders had been hitherto misunderstood insinuating suspicions when unable to furnish evidence intellectual dandyisms of bulwer intelligence, science, and industry were accounted degrading intense bigotry of conviction intentions of a government which did not know its own intentions international friendship, the self-interest of each intolerable tendency to puns invaluable gift which no human being can acquire, authority invented such christian formulas as these (a curse) inventing long speeches for historical characters invincible armada had not only been vanquished but annihilated irresistible force in collision with an insuperable resistance it was the true religion, and there was none other it is not desirable to disturb much of that learned dust it had not yet occurred to him that he was married it is n't strategists that are wanted so much as believers it is certain that the english hate us (sully) its humility, seemed sufficiently ironical james of england, who admired, envied, and hated henry jealousy, that potent principle jesuit mariana--justifying the killing of excommunicated kings john castel, who had stabbed henry iv. john wier, a physician of grave john robinson john quincy adams judas maccabaeus july st, two augustine monks were burned at brussels justified themselves in a solemn consumption of time kindly shadow of oblivion king who thought it furious madness to resist the enemy king had issued a general repudiation of his debts king set a price upon his head as a rebel king of zion to be pinched to death with red-hot tongs king was often to be something much less or much worse king's definite and final intentions, varied from day to day labored under the disadvantage of never having existed labour was esteemed dishonourable language which is ever living because it is dead languor of fatigue, rather than any sincere desire for peace leading motive with all was supposed to be religion learn to tremble as little at priestcraft as at swordcraft leave not a single man alive in the city, and to burn every house let us fool these poor creatures to their heart's content licences accorded by the crown to carry slaves to america life of nations and which we call the past like a man holding a wolf by the ears little army of maurice was becoming the model for europe little grievances would sometimes inflame more than vast local self-government which is the life-blood of liberty logic of the largest battalions logic is rarely the quality on which kings pride themselves logical and historical argument of unmerciful length long succession of so many illustrious obscure longer they delay it, the less easy will they find it look through the cloud of dissimulation look for a sharp war, or a miserable peace looking down upon her struggle with benevolent indifference lord was better pleased with adverbs than nouns loud, nasal, dictatorial tone, not at all agreeable louis xiii. loving only the persons who flattered him ludicrous gravity luther's axiom, that thoughts are toll-free lutheran princes of germany, detested the doctrines of geneva luxury had blunted the fine instincts of patriotism made peace--and had been at war ever since made no breach in royal and roman infallibility made to swing to and fro over a slow fire magistracy at that moment seemed to mean the sword magnificent hopefulness maintaining the attitude of an injured but forgiving christian make sheep of yourselves, and the wolf will eat you make the very name of man a term of reproach man is never so convinced of his own wisdom man who cannot dissemble is unfit to reign man had only natural wrongs (no natural rights) man had no rights at all he was property mankind were naturally inclined to calumny manner in which an insult shall be dealt with many greedy priests, of lower rank, had turned shop-keepers maritime heretics matter that men may rather pray for than hope for matters little by what name a government is called meantime the second civil war in france had broken out mediocrity is at a premium meet around a green table except as fencers in the field men were loud in reproof, who had been silent men fought as if war was the normal condition of humanity men who meant what they said and said what they meant mendacity may always obtain over innocence and credulity military virtue in the support of an infamous cause misanthropical, sceptical philosopher misery had come not from their being enemies mistake to stumble a second time over the same stone mistakes might occur from occasional deviations into sincerity mockery of negotiation in which nothing could be negotiated modern statesmanship, even while it practises, condemns monasteries, burned their invaluable libraries mondragon was now ninety-two years old moral nature, undergoes less change than might be hoped more accustomed to do well than to speak well more easily, as he had no intention of keeping the promise more catholic than the pope more fiercely opposed to each other than to papists more apprehension of fraud than of force most detestable verses that even he had ever composed most entirely truthful child whe had ever seen motley was twice sacrificed to personal feelings much as the blind or the deaf towards colour or music myself seeing of it methinketh that i dream names history has often found it convenient to mark its epochs national character, not the work of a few individuals nations tied to the pinafores of children in the nursery natural to judge only by the result natural tendency to suspicion of a timid man nearsighted liberalism necessary to make a virtue of necessity necessity of extirpating heresy, root and branch necessity of deferring to powerful sovereigns necessity of kingship negotiated as if they were all immortal neighbour's blazing roof was likely soon to fire their own neither kings nor governments are apt to value logic neither wished the convocation, while both affected an eagerness neither ambitious nor greedy never peace well made, he observed, without a mighty war never did statesmen know better how not to do never lack of fishers in troubled waters new years day in england, th january by the new style night brings counsel nine syllables that which could be more forcibly expressed in on no one can testify but a householder no man can be neutral in civil contentions no law but the law of the longest purse no two books, as he said, ever injured each other no retrenchments in his pleasures of women, dogs, and buildings no great man can reach the highest position in our government no man is safe (from news reporters) no man could reveal secrets which he did not know no authority over an army which they did not pay no man pretended to think of the state no synod had a right to claim netherlanders as slaves no qualities whatever but birth and audacity to recommend him no generation is long-lived enough to reap the harvest no man ever understood the art of bribery more thoroughly no calumny was too senseless to be invented none but god to compel me to say more than i choose to say nor is the spirit of the age to be pleaded in defence not a friend of giving details larger than my ascertained facts not distinguished for their docility not to let the grass grow under their feet not a single acquaintance in the place, and we glory in the fact not safe for politicians to call each other hard names not his custom nor that of his councillors to go to bed not of the genus reptilia, and could neither creep nor crouch not strong enough to sustain many more such victories not to fall asleep in the shade of a peace negotiation not many more than two hundred catholics were executed not upon words but upon actions not for a new doctrine, but for liberty of conscience not of the stuff of which martyrs are made (erasmus) not so successful as he was picturesque nothing could equal alexander's fidelity, but his perfidy nothing cheap, said a citizen bitterly, but sermons nothing was so powerful as religious difference notre dame at antwerp nowhere was the persecution of heretics more relentless nowhere were so few unproductive consumers o god! what does man come to! obscure were thought capable of dying natural deaths obstinate, of both sexes, to be burned octogenarian was past work and past mischief of high rank but of lamentably low capacity often much tyranny in democracy often necessary to be blind and deaf oldenbarneveld; afterwards so illustrious on the first day four thousand men and women were slaughtered one-half to philip and one-half to the pope and venice (slaves) one-third of philip's effective navy was thus destroyed one golden grain of wit into a sheet of infinite platitude one could neither cry nor laugh within the spanish dominions one of the most contemptible and mischievous of kings (james i) only healthy existence of the french was in a state of war only true religion only citadel against a tyrant and a conqueror was distrust only kept alive by milk, which he drank from a woman's breast only foundation fit for history,--original contemporary document opening an abyss between government and people opposed the subjection of the magistracy by the priesthood oration, fertile in rhetoric and barren in facts orator was, however, delighted with his own performance others that do nothing, do all, and have all the thanks others go to battle, says the historian, these go to war our pot had not gone to the fire as often our mortal life is but a string of guesses at the future outdoing himself in dogmatism and inconsistency over excited, when his prejudices were roughly handled panegyrists of royal houses in the sixteenth century pardon for crimes already committed, or about to be committed pardon for murder, if not by poison, was cheaper partisans wanted not accommodation but victory party hatred was not yet glutted with the blood it had drunk passion is a bad schoolmistress for the memory past was once the present, and once the future pathetic dying words of anne boleyn patriotism seemed an unimaginable idea pauper client who dreamed of justice at the hands of law paving the way towards atheism (by toleration) paying their passage through, purgatory peace founded on the only secure basis, equality of strength peace was desirable, it might be more dangerous than war peace seemed only a process for arriving at war peace and quietness is brought into a most dangerous estate peace-at-any-price party peace, in reality, was war in its worst shape peace was unattainable, war was impossible, truce was inevitable peace would be destruction perfection of insolence perpetually dropping small innuendos like pebbles persons who discussed religious matters were to be put to death petty passion for contemptible details philip ii. gave the world work enough philip of macedon, who considered no city impregnable philip iv. philip, who did not often say a great deal in a few words picturesqueness of crime placid unconsciousness on his part of defeat plain enough that he is telling his own story planted the inquisition in the netherlands played so long with other men's characters and good name plea of infallibility and of authority soon becomes ridiculous plundering the country which they came to protect poisoning, for example, was absolved for eleven ducats pope excommunicated him as a heretic pope and emperor maintain both positions with equal logic portion of these revenues savoured much of black-mail possible to do, only because we see that it has been done pot-valiant hero power the poison of which it is so difficult to resist power to read and write helped the clergy to much wealth power grudged rather than given to the deputies practised successfully the talent of silence pray here for satiety, (said cecil) than ever think of variety preferred an open enemy to a treacherous protector premature zeal was prejudicial to the cause presents of considerable sums of money to the negotiators made presumption in entitling themselves christian preventing wrong, or violence, even towards an enemy priests shall control the state or the state govern the priests princes show what they have in them at twenty-five or never prisoners were immediately hanged privileged to beg, because ashamed to work proceeds of his permission to eat meat on fridays proclaiming the virginity of the virgin's mother procrastination was always his first refuge progress should be by a spiral movement promises which he knew to be binding only upon the weak proposition made by the wolves to the sheep, in the fable protect the common tranquillity by blood, purse, and life provided not one huguenot be left alive in france public which must have a slain reputation to devour purchased absolution for crime and smoothed a pathway to heaven puritanism in holland was a very different thing from england put all those to the torture out of whom anything can be got putting the cart before the oxen queen is entirely in the hands of spain and the priests questioning nothing, doubting nothing, fearing nothing quite mistaken: in supposing himself the emperor's child radical, one who would uproot, is a man whose trade is dangerous rarely able to command, having never learned to obey rashness alternating with hesitation rather a wilderness to reign over than a single heretic readiness to strike and bleed at any moment in her cause readiness at any moment to defend dearly won liberties rearing gorgeous temples where paupers are to kneel reasonable to pay our debts rather than to repudiate them rebuked him for his obedience rebuked the bigotry which had already grown recall of a foreign minister for alleged misconduct in office reformer who becomes in his turn a bigot is doubly odious reformers were capable of giving a lesson even to inquisitors religion was made the strumpet of political ambition religion was rapidly ceasing to be the line of demarcation religion was not to be changed like a shirt religious toleration, which is a phrase of insult religious persecution of protestants by protestants repentance, as usual, had come many hours too late repentant males to be executed with the sword repentant females to be buried alive repose under one despot guaranteed to them by two others repose in the other world, "repos ailleurs" republic, which lasted two centuries republics are said to be ungrateful repudiation of national debts was never heard of before requires less mention than philip iii himself resolve to maintain the civil authority over the military resolved thenceforth to adopt a system of ignorance respect for differences in religious opinions result was both to abandon the provinces and to offend philip revocable benefices or feuds rich enough to be worth robbing righteous to kill their own children road to paris lay through the gates of rome rose superior to his doom and took captivity captive round game of deception, in which nobody was deceived royal plans should be enforced adequately or abandoned entirely ruinous honors rules adopted in regard to pretenders to crowns sacked and drowned ten infant princes sacrificed by the queen for faithfully obeying her orders safest citadel against an invader and a tyrant is distrust sages of every generation, read the future like a printed scroll saint bartholomew's day sale of absolutions was the source of large fortunes to the priests same conjury over ignorant baron and cowardly hind scaffold was the sole refuge from the rack scepticism, which delights in reversing the judgment of centuries schism in the church had become a public fact schism which existed in the general reformed church science of reigning was the science of lying scoffing at the ceremonies and sacraments of the church secret drowning was substituted for public burning secure the prizes of war without the troubles and dangers security is dangerous seeking protection for and against the people seem as if born to make the idea of royalty ridiculous seemed bent on self-destruction seems but a change of masks, of costume, of phraseology sees the past in the pitiless light of the present self-assertion--the healthful but not engaging attribute self-educated man, as he had been a self-taught boy selling the privilege of eating eggs upon fast-days senectus edam maorbus est sent them word by carrier pigeons sentiment of christian self-complacency sentimentality that seems highly apocryphal served at their banquets by hosts of lackeys on their knees seven spaniards were killed, and seven thousand rebels sewers which have ever run beneath decorous christendom shall slavery die, or the great republic? sharpened the punishment for reading the scriptures in private she relieth on a hope that will deceive her she declined to be his procuress she knew too well how women were treated in that country shift the mantle of religion from one shoulder to the other shutting the stable-door when the steed is stolen sick soldiers captured on the water should be hanged sick and wounded wretches were burned over slow fires simple truth was highest skill sixteen of their best ships had been sacrificed slain four hundred and ten men with his own hand slavery was both voluntary and compulsory slender stock of platitudes small matter which human folly had dilated into a great one smooth words, in the plentiful lack of any substantial so much responsibility and so little power so often degenerated into tyranny (calvinism) so much in advance of his time as to favor religious equality so unconscious of her strength soldier of the cross was free upon his return soldiers enough to animate the good and terrify the bad solitary and morose, the necessary consequence of reckless study some rude lessons from that vigorous little commonwealth sometimes successful, even although founded upon sincerity sonnets of petrarch sovereignty was heaven-born, anointed of god spain was governed by an established terrorism spaniards seem wise, and are madmen sparing and war have no affinity together spendthrift of time, he was an economist of blood spirit of a man who wishes to be proud of his country st. peter's dome rising a little nearer to the clouds st. bartholomew was to sleep for seven years longer stake or gallows (for) heretics to transubstantiation stand between hope and fear state can best defend religion by letting it alone states were justified in their almost unlimited distrust steeped to the lips in sloth which imagined itself to be pride storm by which all these treasures were destroyed (in days) strangled his nineteen brothers on his accession strength does a falsehood acquire in determined and skilful hand string of homely proverbs worthy of sancho panza stroke of a broken table knife sharpened on a carriage wheel studied according to his inclinations rather than by rule style above all other qualities seems to embalm for posterity subtle and dangerous enemy who wore the mask of a friend succeeded so well, and had been requited so ill successful in this step, he is ready for greater ones such a crime as this had never been conceived (bankruptcy) such an excuse was as bad as the accusation suicide is confession superfluous sarcasm suppress the exercise of the roman religion sure bind, sure find sword in hand is the best pen to write the conditions of peace take all their imaginations and extravagances for truths talked impatiently of the value of my time tanchelyn taxation upon sin taxed themselves as highly as fifty per cent taxes upon income and upon consumption tempest of passion and prejudice ten thousand two hundred and twenty individuals were burned tension now gave place to exhaustion that vile and mischievous animal called the people that crowned criminal, philip the second that unholy trinity--force; dogma, and ignorance that cynical commerce in human lives that he tries to lay the fault on us is pure malice the tragedy of don carlos the worst were encouraged with their good success the history of the netherlands is history of liberty the great ocean was but a spanish lake the divine speciality of a few transitory mortals the sapling was to become the tree the nation which deliberately carves itself in pieces the expenses of james's household the catholic league and the protestant union the blaze of a hundred and fifty burning vessels the magnitude of this wonderful sovereign's littleness the defence of the civil authority against the priesthood the assassin, tortured and torn by four horses the gaul was singularly unchaste the vivifying becomes afterwards the dissolving principle the bad duke of burgundy, philip surnamed "the good," the greatest crime, however, was to be rich the more conclusive arbitration of gunpowder the disunited provinces the noblest and richest temple of the netherlands was a wreck the voice of slanderers the calf is fat and must be killed the illness was a convenient one the egg had been laid by erasmus, hatched by luther the perpetual reproductions of history the very word toleration was to sound like an insult the most thriving branch of national industry (smuggler) the pigmy, as the late queen had been fond of nicknaming him the slightest theft was punished with the gallows the art of ruling the world by doing nothing the wisest statesmen are prone to blunder in affairs of war the alcoran was less cruel than the inquisition the people had not been invented the small children diminished rapidly in numbers the busy devil of petty economy the record of our race is essentially unwritten the truth in shortest about matters of importance the time for reasoning had passed the effect of energetic, uncompromising calumny the evils resulting from a confederate system of government the vehicle is often prized more than the freight the faithful servant is always a perpetual ass the dead men of the place are my intimate friends the loss of hair, which brings on premature decay the personal gifts which are nature's passport everywhere the nation is as much bound to be honest as is the individual the fellow mixes blood with his colors! their existence depended on war their own roofs were not quite yet in a blaze theological hatred was in full blaze throughout the country theology and politics were one there is no man who does not desire to enjoy his own there was but one king in europe, henry the bearnese there are few inventions in morals there was no use in holding language of authority to him there was apathy where there should have been enthusiasm there is no man fitter for that purpose than myself therefore now denounced the man whom he had injured these human victims, chained and burning at the stake they had come to disbelieve in the mystery of kingcraft they chose to compel no man's conscience they could not invent or imagine toleration they knew very little of us, and that little wrong they have killed him, 'e ammazato,' cried concini they were always to deceive every one, upon every occasion they liked not such divine right nor such gentle-mindedness they had at last burned one more preacher alive things he could tell which are too odious and dreadful thirty thousand masses should be said for his soul thirty-three per cent. interest was paid (per month) thirty years' war tread on the heels of the forty years this somebody may have been one whom we should call nobody this, then, is the reward of forty years' service to the state this obstinate little republic this wonderful sovereign's littleness oppresses the imagination those who fish in troubled waters only to fill their own nets those who "sought to swim between two waters" those who argue against a foregone conclusion thought that all was too little for him thousands of burned heretics had not made a single convert three hundred fighting women three hundred and upwards are hanged annually in london three or four hundred petty sovereigns (of germany) throw the cat against their legs thus hand-werpen, hand-throwing, became antwerp time and myself are two tis pity he is not an englishman to think it capable of error, is the most devilish heresy of all to stifle for ever the right of free enquiry to attack england it was necessary to take the road of ireland to hear the last solemn commonplaces to prefer poverty to the wealth attendant upon trade to shirk labour, infinite numbers become priests and friars to doubt the infallibility of calvin was as heinous a crime to negotiate with government in england was to bribe to milk, the cow as long as she would give milk to work, ever to work, was the primary law of his nature to negotiate was to bribe right and left, and at every step to look down upon their inferior and lost fellow creatures toil and sacrifices of those who have preceded us tolerate another religion that his own may be tolerated tolerating religious liberty had never entered his mind toleration--that intolerable term of insult toleration thought the deadliest heresy of all torquemada's administration (of the inquisition) torturing, hanging, embowelling of men, women, and children tranquil insolence tranquillity rather of paralysis than of health tranquillity of despotism to the turbulence of freedom triple marriages between the respective nurseries trust her sword, not her enemy's word twas pity, he said, that both should be heretics twenty assaults upon fame and had forty books killed under him two witnesses sent him to the stake, one witness to the rack tyrannical spirit of calvinism tyranny, ever young and ever old, constantly reproducing herself uncouple the dogs and let them run under the name of religion (so many crimes) understood the art of managing men, particularly his superiors undue anxiety for impartiality unduly dejected in adversity unequivocal policy of slave emancipation unimaginable outrage as the most legitimate industry universal suffrage was not dreamed of at that day unlearned their faith in bell, book, and candle unproductive consumption being accounted most sagacious unproductive consumption was alarmingly increasing unremitted intellectual labor in an honorable cause unwise impatience for peace upon their knees, served the queen with wine upon one day twenty-eight master cooks were dismissed upper and lower millstones of royal wrath and loyal subserviency use of the spade usual phraseology of enthusiasts usual expedient by which bad legislation on one side countered utter disproportions between the king's means and aims utter want of adaptation of his means to his ends uttering of my choler doth little ease my grief or help my case uunmeaning phrases of barren benignity vain belief that they were men at eighteen or twenty valour on the one side and discretion on the other villagers, or villeins visible atmosphere of power the poison of which volatile word was thought preferable to the permanent letter vows of an eternal friendship of several weeks' duration waiting the pleasure of a capricious and despotic woman walk up and down the earth and destroy his fellow-creatures war was the normal and natural condition of mankind war was the normal condition of christians war to compel the weakest to follow the religion of the strongest was it astonishing that murder was more common than fidelity? wasting time fruitlessly is sharpening the knife for himself we were sold by their negligence who are now angry with us we believe our mothers to have been honest women we are beginning to be vexed we must all die once we have been talking a little bit of truth to each other we have the reputation of being a good housewife we mustn't tickle ourselves to make ourselves laugh wealth was an unpardonable sin wealthy papists could obtain immunity by an enormous fine weapons weary of place without power weep oftener for her children than is the usual lot of mothers weight of a thousand years of error what exchequer can accept chronic warfare and escape bankruptcy what could save the house of austria, the cause of papacy what was to be done in this world and believed as to the next when persons of merit suffer without cause when all was gone, they began to eat each other when the abbot has dice in his pocket, the convent will play whether dead infants were hopelessly damned whether murders or stratagems, as if they were acts of virtue whether repentance could effect salvation while one's friends urge moderation who the "people" exactly were who loved their possessions better than their creed whole revenue was pledged to pay the interest, on his debts whose mutual hatred was now artfully inflamed by partisans william of nassau, prince of orange william brewster wise and honest a man, although he be somewhat longsome wiser simply to satisfy himself wish to sell us the bear-skin before they have killed the bear wish to appear learned in matters of which they are ignorant with something of feline and feminine duplicity wonder equally at human capacity to inflict and to endure misery wonders whether it has found its harbor or only lost its anchor word peace in spanish mouths simply meant the holy inquisition word-mongers who, could clothe one shivering thought words are always interpreted to the disadvantage of the weak work of the aforesaid puritans and a few jesuits world has rolled on to fresher fields of carnage and ruin worn crescents in their caps at leyden worn nor caused to be worn the collar of the serf worship god according to the dictates of his conscience would not help to burn fifty or sixty thousand netherlanders wrath of the jesuits at this exercise of legal authority wrath of bigots on both sides wrath of that injured personage as he read such libellous truths wringing a dry cloth for drops of evidence write so illegibly or express himself so awkwardly writing letters full of injured innocence yes, there are wicked men about yesterday is the preceptor of to-morrow you must show your teeth to the spaniard the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. preface: these volumes make a separate work in themselves. they form also the natural sequel to the other histories already published by the author, as well as the necessary introduction to that concluding portion of his labours which he has always desired to lay before the public; a history of the thirty years' war. for the two great wars which successively established the independence of holland and the disintegration of germany are in reality but one; a prolonged tragedy of eighty years. the brief pause, which in the netherlands was known as the twelve years' truce with spain, was precisely the epoch in which the elements were slowly and certainly gathering for the renewal over nearly the whole surface of civilized europe of that immense conflict which for more than forty years had been raging within the narrow precincts of the netherlands. the causes and character of the two wars were essentially the same. there were many changes of persons and of scenery during a struggle which lasted for nearly three generations of mankind; yet a natural succession both of actors, motives, and events will be observed from the beginning to the close. the designs of charles v. to establish universal monarchy, which he had passionately followed for a lifetime through a series of colossal crimes against humanity and of private misdeeds against individuals, such as it has rarely been permitted to a single despot to perpetrate, had been baffled at last. disappointed, broken, but even to our own generation never completely unveiled, the tyrant had withdrawn from the stage of human affairs, leaving his son to carry on the great conspiracy against human right, independence of nations, liberty of thought, and equality of religions, with the additional vigour which sprang from intensity of conviction. for philip possessed at least that superiority over his father that he was a sincere bigot. in the narrow and gloomy depths of his soul he had doubtless persuaded himself that it was necessary for the redemption of the human species that the empire of the world should be vested in his hands, that protestantism in all its forms should be extirpated as a malignant disease, and that to behead, torture, burn alive, and bury alive all heretics who opposed the decree of himself and the holy church was the highest virtue by which he could merit heaven. the father would have permitted protestantism if protestantism would have submitted to universal monarchy. there would have been small difficulty in the early part of his reign in effecting a compromise between rome and augsburg, had the gigantic secular ambition of charles not preferred to weaken the church and to convert conscientious religious reform into political mutiny; a crime against him who claimed the sovereignty of christendom. the materials for the true history of that reign lie in the archives of spain, austria, rome, venice, and the netherlands, and in many other places. when out of them one day a complete and authentic narrative shall have been constructed, it will be seen how completely the policy of charles foreshadowed and necessitated that of philip, how logically, under the successors of philip, the austrian dream of universal empire ended in the shattering, in the minute subdivision, and the reduction to a long impotence of that germanic empire which had really belonged to charles. unfortunately the great republic which, notwithstanding the aid of england on the one side and of france on the other, had withstood almost single-handed the onslaughts of spain, now allowed the demon of religious hatred to enter into its body at the first epoch of peace, although it had successfully exorcised the evil spirit during the long and terrible war. there can be no doubt whatever that the discords within the interior of the dutch republic during the period of the truce, and their tragic catastrophe, had weakened her purpose and partially paralysed her arm. when the noble commonwealth went forward to the renewed and general conflict which succeeded the concentrated one in which it had been the chief actor, the effect of those misspent twelve years became apparent. indeed the real continuity of the war was scarcely broken by the fitful, armistice. the death of john of cleve, an event almost simultaneous with the conclusion of the truce, seemed to those gifted with political vision the necessary precursor of a new and more general war. the secret correspondence of barneveld shows the almost prophetic accuracy with which he indicated the course of events and the approach of an almost universal conflict, while that tragedy was still in the future, and was to be enacted after he had been laid in his bloody grave. no man then living was so accustomed as he was to sweep the political horizon, and to estimate the signs and portents of the times. no statesman was left in europe during the epoch of the twelve years' truce to compare with him in experience, breadth of vision, political tact, or administrative sagacity. imbued with the grand traditions and familiar with the great personages of a most heroic epoch; the trusted friend or respected counsellor of william the silent, henry iv., elizabeth, and the sages and soldiers on whom they leaned; having been employed during an already long lifetime in the administration of greatest affairs, he stood alone after the deaths of henry of france and the second cecil, and the retirement of sully, among the natural leaders of mankind. to the england of elizabeth, of walsingham, raleigh, and the cecils, had succeeded the great britain of james, with his carrs and carletons, nauntons, lakes, and winwoods. france, widowed of henry and waiting for richelieu, lay in the clutches of concini's, epernons, and bouillons, bound hand and foot to spain. germany, falling from rudolph to matthias, saw styrian ferdinand in the background ready to shatter the fabric of a hundred years of attempted reformation. in the republic of the netherlands were the great soldier and the only remaining statesman of the age. at a moment when the breathing space had been agreed upon before the conflict should be renewed; on a wider field than ever, between spanish-austrian world-empire and independence of the nations; between the ancient and only church and the spirit of religious equality; between popular right and royal and sacerdotal despotism; it would have been desirable that the soldier and the statesman should stand side by side, and that the fortunate confederacy, gifted with two such champions and placed by its own achievements at the very head of the great party of resistance, should be true to herself. these volumes contain a slight and rapid sketch of barneveld's career up to the point at which the twelve years' truce with spain was signed in the year . in previous works the author has attempted to assign the great advocate's place as part and parcel of history during the continuance of the war for independence. during the period of the truce he will be found the central figure. the history of europe, especially of the netherlands, britain, france, and germany, cannot be thoroughly appreciated without a knowledge of the designs, the labours, and the fate of barneveld. the materials for estimating his character and judging his judges lie in the national archives of the land of which he was so long the foremost citizen. but they have not long been accessible. the letters, state papers, and other documents remain unprinted, and have rarely been read. m. van deventer has published three most interesting volumes of the advocate's correspondence, but they reach only to the beginning of . he has suspended his labours exactly at the moment when these volumes begin. i have carefully studied however nearly the whole of that correspondence, besides a mass of other papers. the labour is not light, for the handwriting of the great advocate is perhaps the worst that ever existed, and the papers, although kept in the admirable order which distinguishes the archives of the hague, have passed through many hands at former epochs before reaching their natural destination in the treasure-house of the nation. especially the documents connected with the famous trial were for a long time hidden from mortal view, for barneveld's judges had bound themselves by oath to bury the proceedings out of sight. and the concealment lasted for centuries. very recently a small portion of those papers has been published by the historical society of utrecht. the "verhooren," or interrogatories of the judges, and the replies of barneveld, have thus been laid before the reading public of holland, while within the last two years the distinguished and learned historian, professor fruin, has edited the "verhooren" of hugo grotius. but papers like these, important as they are, make but a slender portion of the material out of which a judgment concerning these grave events can be constructed. i do not therefore offer an apology for the somewhat copious extracts which i have translated and given in these volumes from the correspondence of barneveld and from other manuscripts of great value--most of them in the royal archives of holland and belgium--which are unknown to the public. i have avoided as much as possible any dealings with the theological controversies so closely connected with the events which i have attempted to describe. this work aims at being a political study. the subject is full of lessons, examples, and warnings for the inhabitants of all free states. especially now that the republican system of government is undergoing a series of experiments with more or less success in one hemisphere--while in our own land it is consolidated, powerful, and unchallenged--will the conflicts between the spirits of national centralization and of provincial sovereignty, and the struggle between the church, the sword, and the magistracy for supremacy in a free commonwealth, as revealed in the first considerable republic of modern history, be found suggestive of deep reflection. those who look in this work for a history of the synod of dordtrecht will look in vain. the author has neither wish nor power to grapple with the mysteries and passions which at that epoch possessed so many souls. the assembly marks a political period. its political aspects have been anxiously examined, but beyond the ecclesiastical threshold there has been no attempt to penetrate. it was necessary for my purpose to describe in some detail the relations of henry iv. with the dutch republic during the last and most pregnant year of his life, which makes the first of the present history. these relations are of european importance, and the materials for appreciating them are of unexpected richness, in the dutch and belgian archives. especially the secret correspondence, now at the hague, of that very able diplomatist francis aerssens with barneveld during the years , , and , together with many papers at brussels, are full of vital importance. they throw much light both on the vast designs which filled the brain of henry at this fatal epoch and on his extraordinary infatuation for the young princess of conde by which they were traversed, and which was productive of such widespread political anal tragical results. this episode forms a necessary portion of my theme, and has therefore been set forth from original sources. i am under renewed obligations to my friend m. gachard, the eminent publicist and archivist of belgium, for his constant and friendly offices to me (which i have so often experienced before), while studying the documents under his charge relating to this epoch; especially the secret correspondence of archduke albert with philip iii, and his ministers, and with pecquius, the archduke's agent at paris. it is also a great pleasure to acknowledge the unceasing courtesy and zealous aid rendered me during my renewed studies in the archives at the hague--lasting through nearly two years--by the chief archivist, m. van den berg, and the gentlemen connected with that institution, especially m. de jonghe and m. hingman, without whose aid it would have been difficult for me to decipher and to procure copies of the almost illegible holographs of barneveld. i must also thank m. van deventer for communicating copies of some curious manuscripts relating to my subject, some from private archives in holland, and others from those of simancas. a single word only remains to be said in regard to the name of the statesman whose career i have undertaken to describe. his proper appellation and that by which he has always been known in his own country is oldenbarneveld, but in his lifetime and always in history from that time to this he has been called barneveld in english as well as french, and this transformation, as it were, of the name has become so settled a matter that after some hesitation it has been adopted in the present work. the author would take this opportunity of expressing his gratitude for the indulgence with which his former attempts to illustrate an important period of european history have been received by the public, and his anxious hope that the present volumes may be thought worthy of attention. they are the result at least of severe and conscientious labour at the original sources of history, but the subject is so complicated and difficult that it may well be feared that the ability to depict and unravel is unequal to the earnestness with which the attempt has been made. london, . the life and death of john of barneveld chapter i. john of barneveld the founder of the commonwealth of the united provinces--maurice of orange stadholder, but servant to the states- general--the union of utrecht maintained--barneveld makes a compromise between civil functionaries and church officials-- embassies to france, england, and to venice--the appointment of arminius to be professor of theology at leyden creates dissension-- the catholic league opposed by the great protestant union--death of the duke of cleve and struggle for his succession--the elector of brandenburg and palatine of neuburg hold the duchies at barneveld's advice against the emperor, though having rival claims themselves-- negotiations with the king of france--he becomes the ally of the states-general to protect the possessory princes, and prepares for war. i propose to retrace the history of a great statesman's career. that statesman's name, but for the dark and tragic scenes with which it was ultimately associated, might after the lapse of two centuries and a half have faded into comparative oblivion, so impersonal and shadowy his presence would have seemed upon the great european theatre where he was so long a chief actor, and where his efforts and his achievements were foremost among those productive of long enduring and widespread results. there is no doubt whatever that john of barneveld, advocate and seal keeper of the little province of holland during forty years of as troubled and fertile an epoch as any in human history, was second to none of his contemporary statesmen. yet the singular constitution and historical position of the republic whose destinies he guided and the peculiar and abnormal office which he held combined to cast a veil over his individuality. the ever-teeming brain, the restless almost omnipresent hand, the fertile pen, the eloquent and ready tongue, were seen, heard, and obeyed by the great european public, by the monarchs, statesmen, and warriors of the time, at many critical moments of history, but it was not john of barneveld that spoke to the world. those "high and puissant lords my masters the states-general" personified the young but already majestic republic. dignified, draped, and concealed by that overshadowing title the informing and master spirit performed its never ending task. those who study the enormous masses of original papers in the archives of the country will be amazed to find how the penmanship, most difficult to decipher, of the advocate meets them at every turn. letters to monarchs, generals, ambassadors, resolutions of councils, of sovereign assemblies, of trading corporations, of great indian companies, legal and historical disquisitions of great depth and length on questions agitating europe, constitutional arguments, drafts of treaties among the leading powers of the world, instructions to great commissions, plans for european campaigns, vast combinations covering the world, alliances of empire, scientific expeditions and discoveries--papers such as these covered now with the satirical dust of centuries, written in the small, crabbed, exasperating characters which make barneveld's handwriting almost cryptographic, were once, when fairly engrossed and sealed with the great seal of the haughty burgher-aristocracy, the documents which occupied the close attention of the cabinets of christendom. it is not unfrequent to find four or five important despatches compressed almost in miniature upon one sheet of gigantic foolscap. it is also curious to find each one of these rough drafts conscientiously beginning in the statesman's own hand with the elaborate phrases of compliment belonging to the epoch such as "noble, strenuous, severe, highly honourable, very learned, very discreet, and very wise masters," and ending with "may the lord god almighty eternally preserve you and hold you in his holy keeping in this world and for ever"--decorations which one might have thought it safe to leave to be filled in by the secretary or copying clerk. thus there have been few men at any period whose lives have been more closely identical than his with a national history. there have been few great men in any history whose names have become less familiar to the world, and lived less in the mouths of posterity. yet there can be no doubt that if william the silent was the founder of the independence of the united provinces barneveld was the founder of the commonwealth itself. he had never the opportunity, perhaps he might have never had the capacity, to make such prodigious sacrifices in the cause of country as the great prince had done. but he had served his country strenuously from youth to old age with an abiding sense of duty, a steadiness of purpose, a broad vision, a firm grasp, and an opulence of resource such as not one of his compatriots could even pretend to rival. had that country of which he was so long the first citizen maintained until our own day the same proportionate position among the empires of christendom as it held in the seventeenth century, the name of john of barneveld would have perhaps been as familiar to all men as it is at this moment to nearly every inhabitant of the netherlands. even now political passion is almost as ready to flame forth either in ardent affection or enthusiastic hatred as if two centuries and a half had not elapsed since his death. his name is so typical of a party, a polity, and a faith, so indelibly associated with a great historical cataclysm, as to render it difficult even for the grave, the conscientious, the learned, the patriotic of his own compatriots to speak of him with absolute impartiality. a foreigner who loves and admires all that is great and noble in the history of that famous republic and can have no hereditary bias as to its ecclesiastical or political theories may at least attempt the task with comparative coldness, although conscious of inability to do thorough justice to a most complex subject. in former publications devoted to netherland history i have endeavoured to trace the course of events of which the life and works of the advocate were a vital ingredient down to the period when spain after more than forty years of hard fighting virtually acknowledged the independence of the republic and concluded with her a truce of twelve years. that convention was signed in the spring of . the ten ensuing years in europe were comparatively tranquil, but they were scarcely to be numbered among the full and fruitful sheaves of a pacific epoch. it was a pause, a breathing spell during which the sulphurous clouds which had made the atmosphere of christendom poisonous for nearly half a century had sullenly rolled away, while at every point of the horizon they were seen massing themselves anew in portentous and ever accumulating strength. at any moment the faint and sickly sunshine in which poor exhausted humanity was essaying a feeble twitter of hope as it plumed itself for a peaceful flight might be again obscured. to us of a remote posterity the momentary division of epochs seems hardly discernible. so rapidly did that fight of demons which we call the thirty years' war tread on the heels of the forty years' struggle for dutch independence which had just been suspended that we are accustomed to think and speak of the eighty years' war as one pure, perfect, sanguinary whole. and indeed the tragedy which was soon to sweep solemnly across europe was foreshadowed in the first fitful years of peace. the throb of the elementary forces already shook the soil of christendom. the fantastic but most significant conflict in the territories of the dead duke of clove reflected the distant and gigantic war as in a mirage. it will be necessary to direct the reader's attention at the proper moment to that episode, for it was one in which the beneficent sagacity of barneveld was conspicuously exerted in the cause of peace and conservation. meantime it is not agreeable to reflect that this brief period of nominal and armed peace which the republic had conquered after nearly two generations of warfare was employed by her in tearing her own flesh. the heroic sword which had achieved such triumphs in the cause of freedom could have been bitter employed than in an attempt at political suicide. in a picture of the last decade of barneveld's eventful life his personality may come more distinctly forward perhaps than in previous epochs. it will however be difficult to disentangle a single thread from the great historical tapestry of the republic and of europe in which his life and achievements are interwoven. he was a public man in the fullest sense of the word, and without his presence and influence the record of holland, france, spain, britain, and germany might have been essentially modified. the republic was so integral a part of that system which divided europe into two great hostile camps according to creeds rather than frontiers that the history of its foremost citizen touches at every point the general history of christendom. the great peculiarity of the dutch constitution at this epoch was that no principle was absolutely settled. in throwing off a foreign tyranny and successfully vindicating national independence the burghers and nobles had not had leisure to lay down any organic law. nor had the day for profound investigation of the political or social contract arrived. men dealt almost exclusively with facts, and when the facts arranged themselves illogically and incoherently the mischief was grave and difficult to remedy. it is not a trifling inconvenience for an organized commonwealth to be in doubt as to where, in whom, and of what nature is its sovereignty. yet this was precisely the condition of the united netherlands. to the eternal world so dazzling were the reputation and the achievements of their great captain that he was looked upon by many as the legitimate chief of the state and doubtless friendly monarchs would have cordially welcomed him into their brotherhood. during the war he had been surrounded by almost royal state. two hundred officers lived daily at his table. great nobles and scions of sovereign houses were his pupils or satellites. the splendour of military despotism and the awe inspired by his unquestioned supremacy in what was deemed the greatest of all sciences invested the person of maurice of nassau with a grandeur which many a crowned potentate might envy. his ample appointments united with the spoils of war provided him with almost royal revenues, even before the death of his elder brother philip william had placed in his hands the principality and wealthy possessions of orange. hating contradiction, arbitrary by instinct and by military habit, impatient of criticism, and having long acknowledged no master in the chief business of state, he found himself at the conclusion of the truce with his great occupation gone, and, although generously provided for by the treasury of the republic, yet with an income proportionately limited. politics and theology were fields in which he had hardly served an apprenticeship, and it was possible that when he should step forward as a master in those complicated and difficult pursuits, soon to absorb the attention of the commonwealth and the world, it might appear that war was not the only science that required serious preliminary studies. meantime he found himself not a king, not the master of a nominal republic, but the servant of the states-general, and the limited stadholder of five out of seven separate provinces. and the states-general were virtually john of barneveld. could antagonism be more sharply defined? jealousy, that potent principle which controls the regular movements and accounts for the aberrations of humanity in widest spheres as well as narrowest circles far more generally and conclusively than philosophers or historians have been willing to admit, began forthwith to manifest its subtle and irresistible influence. and there were not to be wanting acute and dangerous schemers who saw their profit in augmenting its intensity. the seven provinces, when the truce of twelve years had been signed, were neither exhausted nor impoverished. yet they had just emerged from a forty years' conflict such as no people in human history had ever waged against a foreign tyranny. they had need to repose and recruit, but they stood among the foremost great powers of the day. it is not easy in imagination to thrust back the present leading empires of the earth into the contracted spheres of their not remote past. but to feel how a little confederacy of seven provinces loosely tied together by an ill-defined treaty could hold so prominent and often so controlling a place in the european system of the seventeenth century, we must remember that there was then no germany, no russia, no italy, no united states of america, scarcely even a great britain in the sense which belongs to that mighty empire now. france, spain, england, the pope, and the emperor were the leading powers with which the netherlands were daily called on to solve great problems and try conclusions; the study of political international equilibrium, now rapidly and perhaps fortunately becoming one of the lost arts, being then the most indispensable duty of kings and statesmen. spain and france, which had long since achieved for themselves the political union of many independent kingdoms and states into which they had been divided were the most considerable powers and of necessity rivals. spain, or rather the house of austria divided into its two great branches, still pursued its persistent and by no means fantastic dream of universal monarchy. both spain and france could dispose of somewhat larger resources absolutely, although not relatively, than the seven provinces, while at least trebling them in population. the yearly revenue of spain after deduction of its pledged resources was perhaps equal to a million sterling, and that of france with the same reservation was about as much. england had hardly been able to levy and make up a yearly income of more than l , or l , at the end of elizabeth's reign or in the first years of james, while the netherlands had often proved themselves capable of furnishing annually ten or twelve millions of florins, which would be the equivalent of nearly a million sterling. the yearly revenues of the whole monarchy of the imperial house of habsburg can scarcely be stated at a higher figure than l , . thus the political game--for it was a game--was by no means a desperate one for the netherlands, nor the resources of the various players so unequally distributed as at first sight it might appear. the emancipation of the provinces from the grasp of spain and the establishment by them of a commonwealth, for that epoch a very free one, and which contained within itself the germs of a larger liberty, religious, political, and commercial, than had yet been known, was already one of the most considerable results of the reformation. the probability of its continued and independent existence was hardly believed in by potentate or statesman outside its own borders, and had not been very long a decided article of faith even within them. the knotty problem of an acknowledgment of that existence, the admission of the new-born state into the family of nations, and a temporary peace guaranteed by two great powers, had at last been solved mainly by the genius of barneveld working amid many disadvantages and against great obstructions. the truce had been made, and it now needed all the skill, coolness, and courage of a practical and original statesman to conduct the affairs of the confederacy. the troubled epoch of peace was even now heaving with warlike emotions, and was hardly less stormy than the war which had just been suspended. the republic was like a raft loosely strung together, floating almost on a level of the ocean, and often half submerged, but freighted with inestimable treasures for itself and the world. it needed an unsleeping eye and a powerful brain to conduct her over the quicksands and through the whirlpools of an unmapped and intricate course. the sovereignty of the country so far as its nature could be satisfactorily analysed seemed to be scattered through, and inherent in each one of, the multitudinous boards of magistracy--close corporations, self-elected--by which every city was governed. nothing could be more preposterous. practically, however, these boards were represented by deputies in each of the seven provincial assemblies, and these again sent councillors from among their number to the general assembly which was that of their high mightinesses the lords states-general. the province of holland, being richer and more powerful than all its six sisters combined, was not unwilling to impose a supremacy which on the whole was practically conceded by the rest. thus the union of utrecht established in was maintained for want of anything better as the foundation of the commonwealth. the advocate and keeper of the great seal of that province was therefore virtually prime minister, president, attorney-general, finance minister, and minister of foreign affairs of the whole republic. this was barneveld's position. he took the lead in the deliberations both of the states of holland and the states-general, moved resolutions, advocated great measures of state, gave heed to their execution, collected the votes, summed up the proceedings, corresponded with and instructed ambassadors, received and negotiated with foreign ministers, besides directing and holding in his hands the various threads of the home policy and the rapidly growing colonial system of the republic. all this work barneveld had been doing for thirty years. the reformation was by no mans assured even in the lands where it had at first made the most essential progress. but the existence of the new commonwealth depended on the success of that great movement which had called it into being. losing ground in france, fluctuating in england, protestantism was apparently more triumphant in vast territories where the ancient church was one day to recover its mastery. of the population of bohemia, there were perhaps ten protestants to one papist, while in the united netherlands at least one-third of the people were still attached to the catholic faith. the great religious struggle in bohemia and other dominions of the habsburg family was fast leading to a war of which no man could even imagine the horrors or foresee the vast extent. the catholic league and the protestant union were slowly arranging europe into two mighty confederacies. they were to give employment year after year to millions of mercenary freebooters who were to practise murder, pillage, and every imaginable and unimaginable outrage as the most legitimate industry that could occupy mankind. the holy empire which so ingeniously combined the worst characteristics of despotism and republicanism kept all germany and half europe in the turmoil of a perpetual presidential election. a theatre where trivial personages and graceless actors performed a tragi-comedy of mingled folly, intrigue, and crime, and where earnestness and vigour were destined to be constantly baffled, now offered the principal stage for the entertainment and excitement of christendom. there was but one king in europe, henry the bearnese. the men who sat on the thrones in madrid, vienna, london, would have lived and died unknown but for the crowns they wore, and while there were plenty of bustling politicians here and there in christendom, there were not many statesmen. among them there was no stronger man than john of barneveld, and no man had harder or more complicated work to do. born in amersfoort in , of the ancient and knightly house of oldenbarneveldt, of patrician blood through all his ancestors both male and female, he was not the heir to large possessions, and was a diligent student and hardworking man from youth upward. he was not wont to boast of his pedigree until in later life, being assailed by vilest slander, all his kindred nearest or most remote being charged with every possible and unmentionable crime, and himself stigmatized as sprung from the lowest kennels of humanity--as if thereby his private character and public services could be more legitimately blackened--he was stung into exhibiting to the world the purity and antiquity of his escutcheon, and a roll of respectably placed, well estated, and authentically noble, if not at all illustrious, forefathers in his country's records of the previous centuries. without an ancestor at his back he might have valued himself still more highly on the commanding place he held in the world by right divine of intellect, but as the father of lies seemed to have kept his creatures so busy with the barneveld genealogy, it was not amiss for the statesman once for all to make the truth known. his studies in the universities of holland, france, italy, and germany had been profound. at an early age he was one of the first civilians of the time. his manhood being almost contemporary with the great war of freedom, he had served as a volunteer and at his own expense through several campaigns, having nearly lost his life in the disastrous attempt to relieve the siege of haarlem, and having been so disabled by sickness and exposure at the heroic leaguer of leyden as to have been deprived of the joy of witnessing its triumphant conclusion. successfully practising his profession afterwards before the tribunals of holland, he had been called at the comparatively early age of twenty-nine to the important post of chief pensionary of rotterdam. so long as william the silent lived, that great prince was all in all to his country, and barneveld was proud and happy to be among the most trusted and assiduous of his counsellors. when the assassination of william seemed for an instant to strike the republic with paralysis, barneveld was foremost among the statesmen of holland to spring forward and help to inspire it with renewed energy. the almost completed negotiations for conferring the sovereignty, not of the confederacy, but of the province of holland, upon the prince had been abruptly brought to an end by his death. to confer that sovereign countship on his son maurice, then a lad of eighteen and a student at leyden, would have seemed to many at so terrible a crisis an act of madness, although barneveld had been willing to suggest and promote the scheme. the confederates under his guidance soon hastened however to lay the sovereignty, and if not the sovereignty, the protectorship, of all the provinces at the feet first of england and then of france. barneveld was at the head of the embassy, and indeed was the indispensable head of all important, embassies to each of those two countries throughout all this portion of his career. both monarchs refused, almost spurned, the offered crown in which was involved a war with the greatest power in the world, with no compensating dignity or benefit, as it was thought, beside. then elizabeth, although declining the sovereignty, promised assistance and sent the earl of leicester as governor-general at the head of a contingent of english troops. precisely to prevent the consolidation thus threatened of the provinces into one union, a measure which had been attempted more than once in the burgundian epoch, and always successfully resisted by the spirit of provincial separatism, barneveld now proposed and carried the appointment of maurice of nassau to the stadholdership of holland. this was done against great opposition and amid fierce debate. soon afterwards barneveld was vehemently urged by the nobles and regents of the cities of holland to accept the post of advocate of that province. after repeatedly declining the arduous and most responsible office, he was at last induced to accept it. he did it under the remarkable condition that in case any negotiation should be undertaken for the purpose of bringing back the province of holland under the dominion of the king of spain, he should be considered as from that moment relieved from the service. his brother elias barneveld succeeded him as pensionary of rotterdam, and thenceforth the career of the advocate is identical with the history of the netherlands. although a native of utrecht, he was competent to exercise such functions in holland, a special and ancient convention between those two provinces allowing the citizens of either to enjoy legal and civic rights in both. gradually, without intrigue or inordinate ambition, but from force of circumstances and the commanding power of the man, the native authority stamped upon his forehead, he became the political head of the confederacy. he created and maintained a system of public credit absolutely marvellous in the circumstances, by means of which an otherwise impossible struggle was carried to a victorious end. when the stadholderate of the provinces of gelderland, utrecht, and overyssel became vacant, it was again barneveld's potent influence and sincere attachment to the house of nassau that procured the election of maurice to those posts. thus within six years after his father's death the youthful soldier who had already given proof of his surpassing military genius had become governor, commander-in-chief, and high admiral, of five of the seven provinces constituting the confederacy. at about the same period the great question of church and state, which barneveld had always felt to be among the vital problems of the age, and on which his opinions were most decided, came up for partial solution. it would have been too much to expect the opinion of any statesman to be so much in advance of his time as to favor religious equality. toleration of various creeds, including the roman catholic, so far as abstinence from inquisition into consciences and private parlours could be called toleration, was secured, and that was a considerable step in advance of the practice of the sixteenth century. burning, hanging, and burying alive of culprits guilty of another creed than the dominant one had become obsolete. but there was an established creed--the reformed religion, founded on the netherland confession and the heidelberg catechism. and there was one established principle then considered throughout europe the grand result of the reformation; "cujus regio ejus religio;" which was in reality as impudent an invasion of human right as any heaven-born dogma of infallibility. the sovereign of a country, having appropriated the revenues of the ancient church, prescribed his own creed to his subjects. in the royal conscience were included the million consciences of his subjects. the inevitable result in a country like the netherlands, without a personal sovereign, was a struggle between the new church and the civil government for mastery. and at this period, and always in barneveld's opinion, the question of dogma was subordinate to that of church government. that there should be no authority over the king had been settled in england. henry viii., elizabeth, and afterwards james, having become popes in their own realm, had no great hostility to, but rather an affection for, ancient dogma and splendid ceremonial. but in the seven provinces, even as in france, germany, and switzerland, the reform where it had been effected at all had been more thorough, and there was little left of popish pomp or aristocratic hierarchy. nothing could be severer than the simplicity of the reformed church, nothing more imperious than its dogma, nothing more infallible than its creed. it was the true religion, and there was none other. but to whom belonged the ecclesiastical edifices, the splendid old minsters in the cities--raised by the people's confiding piety and the purchased remission of their sins in a bygone age--and the humbler but beautiful parish churches in every town and village? to the state; said barneveld, speaking for government; to the community represented by the states of the provinces, the magistracies of the cities and municipalities. to the church itself, the one true church represented by its elders, and deacons, and preachers, was the reply. and to whom belonged the right of prescribing laws and ordinances of public worship, of appointing preachers, church servants, schoolmasters, sextons? to the holy ghost inspiring the class and the synod, said the church. to the civil authority, said the magistrates, by which the churches are maintained, and the salaries of the ecclesiastics paid. the states of holland are as sovereign as the kings of england or denmark, the electors of saxony or brandenburg, the magistrates of zurich or basel or other swiss cantons. "cujus regio ejus religio." in there was a compromise under the guidance of barneveld. it was agreed that an appointing board should be established composed of civil functionaries and church officials in equal numbers. thus should the interests of religion and of education be maintained. the compromise was successful enough during the war. external pressure kept down theological passion, and there were as yet few symptoms of schism in the dominant church. but there was to come a time when the struggle between church and government was to break forth with an intensity and to rage to an extent which no man at that moment could imagine. towards the end of the century henry iv. made peace with spain. it was a trying moment for the provinces. barneveld was again sent forth on an embassy to the king. the cardinal point in his policy, as it had ever been in that of william the silent, was to maintain close friendship with france, whoever might be its ruler. an alliance between that kingdom and spain would be instantaneous ruin to the republic. with the french and english sovereigns united with the provinces, the cause of the reformation might triumph, the spanish world-empire be annihilated, national independence secured. henry assured the ambassador that the treaty of vervins was indispensable, but that he would never desert his old allies. in proof of this, although he had just bound himself to spain to give no assistance to the provinces, open or secret, he would furnish them with thirteen hundred thousand crowns, payable at intervals during four years. he was under great obligations to his good friends the states, he said, and nothing in the treaty forbade him to pay his debts. it was at this period too that barneveld was employed by the king to attend to certain legal and other private business for which he professed himself too poor at the moment to compensate him. there seems to have been nothing in the usages of the time or country to make the transaction, innocent in itself, in any degree disreputable. the king promised at some future clay, when he should be more in funds, to pay him a liberal fee. barneveld, who a dozen years afterwards received , florins for his labour, professed that he would much rather have had one thousand at the time. thence the advocate, accompanied by his colleague, justinus de nassau, proceeded to england, where they had many stormy interviews with elizabeth. the queen swore with many an oath that she too would make peace with philip, recommended the provinces to do the same thing with submission to their ancient tyrant, and claimed from the states immediate payment of one million sterling in satisfaction of their old debts to her. it would have been as easy for them at that moment to pay a thousand million. it was at last agreed that the sum of the debt should be fixed at l , , and that the cautionary towns should be held in elizabeth's hands by english troops until all the debt should be discharged. thus england for a long time afterwards continued to regard itself, as in a measure the sovereign and proprietor of the confederacy, and barneveld then and there formed the resolve to relieve the country of the incubus, and to recover those cautionary towns and fortresses at the earliest possible moment. so long as foreign soldiers commanded by military governors existed on the soil of the netherlands, they could hardly account themselves independent. besides, there was the perpetual and horrid nightmare, that by a sudden pacification between spain and england those important cities, keys to the country's defence, might be handed over to their ancient tyrant. elizabeth had been pacified at last, however, by the eloquence of the ambassador. "i will assist you even if you were up to the neck in water," she said. "jusque la," she added, pointing to her chin. five years later barneveld, for the fifth time at the head of a great embassy, was sent to england to congratulate james on his accession. it was then and there that he took measure of the monarch with whom he was destined to have many dealings, and who was to exert so baleful an influence on his career. at last came the time when it was felt that peace between spain and her revolted provinces might be made. the conservation of their ancient laws, privileges, and charters, the independence of the states, and included therein the freedom to establish the reformed religion, had been secured by forty years of fighting. the honour of spain was saved by a conjunction. she agreed to treat with her old dependencies "as" with states over which she had no pretensions. through virtue of an "as," a truce after two years' negotiation, perpetually traversed and secretly countermined by the military party under the influence of maurice, was carried by the determination of barneveld. the great objects of the war had been secured. the country was weary of nearly half a century of bloodshed. it was time to remember that there could be such a condition as peace. the treaty was signed, ratifications exchanged, and the usual presents of considerable sums of money to the negotiators made. barneveld earnestly protested against carrying out the custom on this occasion, and urged that those presents should be given for the public use. he was overruled by those who were more desirous of receiving their reward than he was, and he accordingly, in common with the other diplomatists, accepted the gifts. the various details of these negotiations have been related by the author in other volumes, to which the present one is intended as a sequel. it has been thought necessary merely to recall very briefly a few salient passages in the career of the advocate up to the period when the present history really opens. their bearing upon subsequent events will easily be observed. the truce was the work of barneveld. it was detested by maurice and by maurice's partisans. "i fear that our enemies and evil reports are the cause of many of our difficulties," said the advocate to the states' envoy in paris, in . "you are to pay no heed to private advices. believe and make others believe that more than one half the inhabitants of the cities and in the open country are inclined to peace. and i believe, in case of continuing adversities, that the other half will not remain constant, principally because the provinces are robbed of all traffic, prosperity, and navigation, through the actions of france and england. i have always thought it for the advantage of his majesty to sustain us in such wise as would make us useful in his service. as to his remaining permanently at peace with spain, that would seem quite out of the question." the king had long kept, according to treaty, a couple of french regiments in the states' service, and furnished, or was bound to furnish, a certain yearly sum for their support. but the expenses of the campaigning had been rapidly increasing and the results as swiftly dwindling. the advocate now explained that, "without loss both of important places and of reputation," the states could not help spending every month that they took the field , florins over and above the regular contributions, and some months a great deal more. this sum, he said, in nine months, would more than eat up the whole subsidy of the king. if they were to be in the field by march or beginning of april, they would require from him an extraordinary sum of , crowns, and as much more in june or july. eighteen months later, when the magnificent naval victory of heemskerk in the bay of gibraltar had just made a startling interlude to the languishing negotiations for peace, the advocate again warned the french king of the difficulty in which the republic still laboured of carrying on the mighty struggle alone. spain was the common enemy of all. no peace or hope was possible for the leading powers as long as spain was perpetually encamped in the very heart of western europe. the netherlands were not fighting their own battle merely, but that of freedom and independence against the all-encroaching world-power. and their means to carry on the conflict were dwindling, while at the same time there was a favourable opportunity for cropping some fruit from their previous labours and sacrifices. "we are led to doubt," he wrote once more to the envoy in france, "whether the king's full powers will come from spain. this defeat is hard for the spaniards to digest. meantime our burdens are quite above our capacity, as you will understand by the enclosed statement, which is made out with much exactness to show what is absolutely necessary for a vigorous defence on land and a respectable position at sea to keep things from entire confusion. the provinces could raise means for the half of this estimate. but, it is a great difference when the means differ one half from the expenses. the sovereignst and most assured remedy would be the one so often demanded, often projected, and sometimes almost prepared for execution, namely that our neighbour kings, princes, and republics should earnestly take the matter in hand and drive the spaniards and their adherents out of the netherlands and over the mountains. their own dignity and security ought not to permit such great bodies of troops of both belligerents permanently massed in the netherlands. still less ought they to allow these provinces to fall into the hands of the spaniards, whence they could with so much more power and convenience make war upon all kings, princes, and republics. this must be prevented by one means or another. it ought to be enough for every one that we have been between thirty and forty years a firm bulwark against spanish ambition. our constancy and patience ought to be strengthened by counsel and by deed in order that we may exist; a christian sympathy and a small assistance not being sufficient. believe and cause to be believed that the present condition of our affairs requires more aid in counsel and money than ever before, and that nothing could be better bestowed than to further this end. "messieurs jeannin, buzenval, and de russy have been all here these twelve days. we have firm hopes that other kings, princes, and republics will not stay upon formalities, but will also visit the patients here in order to administer sovereign remedies. "lend no ear to any flying reports. we say with the wise men over there, 'metuo danaos et dons ferentes.' we know our antagonists well, and trust their hearts no more than before, 'sed ultra posse non est esse.' to accept more burthens than we can pay for will breed military mutiny; to tax the community above its strength will cause popular tumults, especially in 'rebus adversis,' of which the beginnings were seen last year, and without a powerful army the enemy is not to be withstood. i have received your letters to the th may. my advice is to trust to his upright proceedings and with patience to overcome all things. thus shall the detractors and calumniators best be confounded. assure his majesty and his ministers that i will do my utmost to avert our ruin and his majesty's disservice." the treaty was made, and from that time forth the antagonism between the eminent statesman and the great military chieftain became inevitable. the importance of the one seemed likely to increase day by day. the occupation of the other for a time was over. during the war maurice had been, with exception of henry iv., the most considerable personage in europe. he was surrounded with that visible atmosphere of power the poison of which it is so difficult to resist, and through the golden haze of which a mortal seems to dilate for the vulgar eye into the supernatural. the attention of christendom was perpetually fixed upon him. nothing like his sieges, his encampments, his military discipline, his scientific campaigning had been seen before in modern europe. the youthful aristocracy from all countries thronged to his camp to learn the game of war, for he had restored by diligent study of the ancients much that was noble in that pursuit, and had elevated into an art that which had long since degenerated into a system of butchery, marauding, and rapine. and he had fought with signal success and unquestionable heroism the most important and most brilliant pitched battle of the age. he was a central figure of the current history of europe. pagan nations looked up to him as one of the leading sovereigns of christendom. the emperor of japan addressed him as his brother monarch, assured him that his subjects trading to that distant empire should be welcomed and protected, and expressed himself ashamed that so great a prince, whose name and fame had spread through the world, should send his subjects to visit a country so distant and unknown, and offer its emperor a friendship which he was unconscious of deserving. he had been a commander of armies and a chief among men since he came to man's estate, and he was now in the very vigour of life, in his forty-second year. of imperial descent and closely connected by blood or alliance with many of the most illustrious of reigning houses, the acknowledged master of the most royal and noble of all sciences, he was of the stuff of which kings were made, and belonged by what was then accounted right divine to the family of kings. his father's death had alone prevented his elevation to the throne of holland, and such possession of half the sovereignty of the united netherlands would probably have expanded into dominion over all the seven with a not fantastic possibility of uniting the ten still obedient provinces into a single realm. such a kingdom would have been more populous and far wealthier than contemporary great britain and ireland. maurice, then a student at leyden, was too young at that crisis, and his powers too undeveloped to justify any serious attempt to place him in his father's place. the netherlands drifted into a confederacy of aristocratic republics, not because they had planned a republic, but because they could not get a king, foreign or native. the documents regarding the offer of the sovereign countship to william remained in the possession of maurice, and a few years before the peace there had been a private meeting of leading personages, of which barneveld was the promoter and chief spokesman, to take into consideration the propriety and possibility of conferring that sovereignty upon the son which had virtually belonged to the father. the obstacles were deemed so numerous, and especially the scheme seemed so fraught with danger to maurice, that it was reluctantly abandoned by his best friends, among whom unquestionably was the advocate. there was no reason whatever why the now successful and mature soldier, to whom the country was under such vast obligations, should not aspire to the sovereignty. the provinces had not pledged themselves to republicanism, but rather to monarchy, and the crown, although secretly coveted by henry iv., could by no possibility now be conferred on any other man than maurice. it was no impeachment on his character that he should nourish thoughts in which there was nothing criminal. but the peace negotiations had opened a chasm. it was obvious enough that barneveld having now so long exercised great powers, and become as it were the chief magistrate of an important commonwealth, would not be so friendly as formerly to its conversion into a monarchy and to the elevation of the great soldier to its throne. the advocate had even been sounded, cautiously and secretly, so men believed, by the princess-dowager, louise de coligny, widow of william the silent, as to the feasibility of procuring the sovereignty for maurice. she had done this at the instigation of maurice, who had expressed his belief that the favourable influence of the advocate would make success certain and who had represented to her that, as he was himself resolved never to marry, the inheritance after his death would fall to her son frederick henry. the princess, who was of a most amiable disposition, adored her son. devoted to the house of nassau and a great admirer of its chief, she had a long interview with barneveld, in which she urged the scheme upon his attention without in any probability revealing that she had come to him at the solicitation of maurice. the advocate spoke to her with frankness and out of the depths of his heart. he professed an ardent attachment to her family, a profound reverence for the virtues, sacrifices, and achievements of her lamented husband, and a warm desire to do everything to further the interests of the son who had proved himself so worthy of his parentage. but he proved to her that maurice, in seeking the sovereignty, was seeking his ruin. the hollanders, he said, liked to be persuaded and not forced. having triumphantly shaken off the yoke of a powerful king, they would scarcely consent now to accept the rule of any personal sovereign. the desire to save themselves from the claws of spain had led them formerly to offer the dominion over them to various potentates. now that they had achieved peace and independence and were delivered from the fears of spanish ferocity and french intrigue, they shuddered at the dangers from royal hands out of which they had at last escaped. he believed that they would be capable of tearing in pieces any one who might make the desired proposition. after all, he urged, maurice was a hundred times more fortunate as he was than if he should succeed in desires so opposed to his own good. this splendour of sovereignty was a false glare which would lead him to a precipice. he had now the power of a sovereign without the envy which ever followed it. having essentially such power, he ought, like his father, to despise an empty name, which would only make him hated. for it was well known that william the silent had only yielded to much solicitation, agreeing to accept that which then seemed desirable for the country's good but to him was more than indifferent. maurice was captain-general and admiral-general of five provinces. he appointed to governments and to all military office. he had a share of appointment to the magistracies. he had the same advantages and the same authority as had been enjoyed in the netherlands by the ancient sovereign counts, by the dukes of burgundy, by emperor charles v. himself. every one now was in favour of increasing his pensions, his salaries, his material splendour. should he succeed in seizing the sovereignty, men would envy him even to the ribbands of his pages' and his lackeys' shoes. he turned to the annals of holland and showed the princess that there had hardly been a sovereign count against whom his subjects had not revolted, marching generally into the very courtyard of the palace at the hague in order to take his life. convinced by this reasoning, louise de coligny had at once changed her mind, and subsequently besought her stepson to give up a project sure to be fatal to his welfare, his peace of mind, and the good of the country. maurice listened to her coldly, gave little heed to the advocate's logic, and hated him in his heart from that day forth. the princess remained loyal to barneveld to the last. thus the foundation was laid of that terrible enmity which, inflamed by theological passion, was to convert the period of peace into a hell, to rend the provinces asunder when they had most need of repose, and to lead to tragical results for ever to be deplored. already in francis aerssens had said that the two had become so embroiled and things had gone so far that one or the other would have to leave the country. he permitted also the ridiculous statement to be made in his house at paris, that henry iv. believed the advocate to have become spanish, and had declared that prince maurice would do well to have him put into a sack and thrown into the sea. his life had been regularly divided into two halves, the campaigning season and the period of winter quarters. in the one his business, and his talk was of camps, marches, sieges, and battles only. in the other he was devoted to his stud, to tennis, to mathematical and mechanical inventions, and to chess, of which he was passionately fond, and which he did not play at all well. a gascon captain serving in the states' army was his habitual antagonist in that game, and, although the stakes were but a crown a game, derived a steady income out of his gains, which were more than equal to his pay. the prince was sulky when he lost, sitting, when the candles were burned out and bed-time had arrived, with his hat pulled over his brows, without bidding his guest good night, and leaving him to find his way out as he best could; and, on the contrary, radiant with delight when successful, calling for valets to light the departing captain through the corridor, and accompanying him to the door of the apartment himself. that warrior was accordingly too shrewd not to allow his great adversary as fair a share of triumph as was consistent with maintaining the frugal income on which he reckoned. he had small love for the pleasures of the table, but was promiscuous and unlicensed in his amours. he was methodical in his household arrangements, and rather stingy than liberal in money matters. he personally read all his letters, accounts, despatches, and other documents trivial or important, but wrote few letters with his own hand, so that, unlike his illustrious father's correspondence, there is little that is characteristic to be found in his own. he was plain but not shabby in attire, and was always dressed in exactly the same style, wearing doublet and hose of brown woollen, a silk under vest, a short cloak lined with velvet, a little plaited ruff on his neck, and very loose boots. he ridiculed the smart french officers who, to show their fine legs, were wont to wear such tight boots as made them perspire to get into them, and maintained, in precept and practice, that a man should be able to jump into his boots and mount and ride at a moment's notice. the only ornaments he indulged in, except, of course, on state occasions, were a golden hilt to his famous sword, and a rope of diamonds tied around his felt hat. he was now in the full flower of his strength and his fame, in his forty-second year, and of a noble and martial presence. the face, although unquestionably handsome, offered a sharp contrast within itself; the upper half all intellect, the lower quite sensual. fair hair growing thin, but hardly tinged with grey, a bright, cheerful, and thoughtful forehead, large hazel eyes within a singularly large orbit of brow; a straight, thin, slightly aquiline, well-cut nose--such features were at open variance with the broad, thick-lipped, sensual mouth, the heavy pendant jowl, the sparse beard on the glistening cheek, and the moleskin-like moustachio and chin tuft. still, upon the whole, it was a face and figure which gave the world assurance of a man and a commander of men. power and intelligence were stamped upon him from his birth. barneveld was tall and majestic of presence, with large quadrangular face, austere, blue eyes looking authority and command, a vast forehead, and a grizzled beard. of fluent and convincing eloquence with tongue and pen, having the power of saying much in few words, he cared much more for the substance than the graces of speech or composition. this tendency was not ill exemplified in a note of his written on a sheet of questions addressed to him by a states' ambassador about to start on an important mission, but a novice in his business, the answers to which questions were to serve for his diplomatic instructions. "item and principally," wrote the envoy, "to request of m. de barneveld a formulary or copy of the best, soundest, wisest, and best couched despatches done by several preceding ambassadors in order to regulate myself accordingly for the greater service of the province and for my uttermost reputation." the advocate's answer, scrawled in his nearly illegible hand, was-- "unnecessary. the truth in shortest about matters of importance shall be taken for good style." with great love of power, which he was conscious of exerting with ease to himself and for the good of the public, he had little personal vanity, and not the smallest ambition of authorship. many volumes might be collected out of the vast accumulation of his writings now mouldering and forgotten in archives. had the language in which they are written become a world's language, they would be worthy of attentive study, as containing noble illustrations of the history and politics of his age, with theories and sentiments often far in advance of his age. but he cared not for style. "the truth in shortest about matters of importance" was enough for him; but the world in general, and especially the world of posterity, cares much for style. the vehicle is often prized more than the freight. the name of barneveld is fast fading out of men's memory. the fame of his pupil and companion in fortune and misfortune, hugo grotius, is ever green. but grotius was essentially an author rather than a statesman: he wrote for the world and posterity with all the love, pride, and charm of the devotee of literature, and he composed his noblest works in a language which is ever living because it is dead. some of his writings, epochmaking when they first appeared, are text-books still familiar in every cultivated household on earth. yet barneveld was vastly his superior in practical statesmanship, in law, in the science of government, and above all in force of character, while certainly not his equal in theology, nor making any pretensions to poetry. although a ripe scholar, he rarely wrote in latin, and not often in french. his ambition was to do his work thoroughly according to his view of duty, and to ask god's blessing upon it without craving overmuch the applause of men. such were the two men, the soldier and the statesman. would the republic, fortunate enough to possess two such magnificent and widely contrasted capacities, be wise enough to keep them in its service, each supplementing the other, and the two combining in a perfect whole? or was the great law of the discords of the world, as potent as that other principle of universal harmony and planetary motion which an illustrious contemporary--that wurtemberg astronomer, once a soldier of the fierce alva, now the half-starved astrologer of the brain-sick rudolph--was at that moment discovering, after "god had waited six thousand years for him to do it," to prevail for the misery of the republic and shame of europe? time was to show. the new state had forced itself into the family of sovereignties somewhat to the displeasure of most of the lord's anointed. rebellious and republican, it necessarily excited the jealousy of long-established and hereditary governments. the king of spain had not formally acknowledged the independence of the united provinces. he had treated with them as free, and there was supposed to be much virtue in the conjunction. but their sovereign independence was virtually recognized by the world. great nations had entered into public and diplomatic relations and conventions with them, and their agents at foreign courts were now dignified with the rank and title of ambassadors. the spanish king had likewise refused to them the concession of the right of navigation and commerce in the east indies, but it was a matter of notoriety that the absence of the word india, suppressed as it was in the treaty, implied an immense triumph on the part of the states, and that their flourishing and daily increasing commerce in the farthest east and the imperial establishments already rising there were cause of envy and jealousy not to spain alone, but to friendly powers. yet the government of great britain affected to regard them as something less than a sovereign state. although elizabeth had refused the sovereignty once proffered to her, although james had united with henry iv. in guaranteeing the treaty just concluded between the states and spain, that monarch had the wonderful conception that the republic was in some sort a province of his own, because he still held the cautionary towns in pledge for the loans granted by his predecessor. his agents at constantinople were instructed to represent the new state as unworthy to accredit its envoys as those of an independent power. the provinces were represented as a collection of audacious rebels, a piratical scum of the sea. but the sultan knew his interests better than to incur the enmity of this rising maritime power. the dutch envoy declaring that he would sooner throw himself into the bosphorus than remain to be treated with less consideration than that accorded to the ministers of all great powers, the remonstrances of envious colleagues were hushed, and haga was received with all due honours. even at the court of the best friend of the republic, the french king, men looked coldly at the upstart commonwealth. francis aerssens, the keen and accomplished minister of the states, resident in paris for many years, was received as ambassador after the truce with all the ceremonial befitting the highest rank in the diplomatic service; yet henry could not yet persuade himself to look upon the power accrediting him as a thoroughly organized commonwealth. the english ambassador asked the king if he meant to continue his aid and assistance to the states during the truce. "yes," answered henry. "and a few years beyond it?" "no. i do not wish to offend the king of spain from mere gaiety of heart." "but they are free," replied the ambassador; "the king of spain could have no cause for offence." "they are free," said the king, "but not sovereign."--"judge then," wrote aerssens to barneveld, "how we shall be with the king of spain at the end of our term when our best friends make this distinction among themselves to our disadvantage. they insist on making a difference between liberty and sovereignty; considering liberty as a mean term between servitude and sovereignty." "you would do well," continued the dutch ambassador, "to use the word 'sovereignty' on all occasions instead of 'liberty.'" the hint was significant and the advice sound. the haughty republic of venice, too, with its "golden book" and its pedigree of a thousand years, looked askance at the republic of yesterday rising like herself out of lagunes and sand banks, and affecting to place herself side by side with emperors, kings, and the lion of st. mark. but the all-accomplished council of that most serene commonwealth had far too much insight and too wide experience in political combinations to make the blunder of yielding to this aristocratic sentiment. the natural enemy of the pope, of spain, of austria, must of necessity be the friend of venice, and it was soon thought highly desirable to intimate half officially that a legation from the states-general to the queen of the adriatic, announcing the conclusion of the twelve years' truce, would be extremely well received. the hint was given by the venetian ambassador at paris to francis aerssens, who instantly recommended van der myle, son-in-law of barneveld, as a proper personage to be entrusted with this important mission. at this moment an open breach had almost occurred between spain and venice, and the spanish ambassador at paris, don pedro de toledo, naturally very irate with holland, venice, and even with france, was vehement in his demonstrations. the arrogant spaniard had for some time been employed in an attempt to negotiate a double marriage between the dauphin and the eldest daughter of philip iii., and between the eldest son of that king and the princess elizabeth of france. an indispensable but secret condition of this negotiation was the absolute renunciation by france of its alliance and friendly relations with the united provinces. the project was in truth a hostile measure aimed directly at the life of the republic. henry held firm however, and don pedro was about to depart malcontent, his mission having totally failed. he chanced, when going to his audience of leave-taking, after the arrival of his successor, don inigo de cardenas, to meet the venetian ambassador, antonio foscarini. an altercation took place between them, during which the spaniard poured out his wrath so vehemently, calling his colleague with neat alliteration "a poltroon, a pantaloon, and a pig," that henry heard him. what signor antonio replied has not been preserved, but it is stated that he was first to seek a reconciliation, not liking, he said, spanish assassinations. meantime the double marriage project was for a season at least suspended, and the alliance between the two republics went forwards. van der myle, appointed ambassador to venice, soon afterwards arrived in paris, where he made a very favourable impression, and was highly lauded by aerssens in his daily correspondence with barneveld. no portentous shadow of future and fatal discord between those statesmen fell upon the cheerful scene. before the year closed, he arrived at his post, and was received with great distinction, despite the obstacles thrown in his way by spain and other powers; the ambassador of france itself, de champigny, having privately urged that he ought to be placed on the same footing with the envoys of savoy and of florence. van der myle at starting committed the trifling fault of styling the states-general "most illustrious" (illustrissimi) instead of "most serene," the title by which venice designated herself. the fault was at once remedied, however, priuli the doge seating the dutch ambassador on his right hand at his solemn reception, and giving directions that van der myle should be addressed as excellency, his post being assigned him directly after his seniors, the ambassadors of pope, emperor, and kings. the same precedence was settled in paris, while aerssens, who did not consider himself placed in a position of greater usefulness by his formal installation as ambassador, received private intimation from henry, with whom he was on terms of great confidence and intimacy, that he should have private access to the king as frequently and as in formally as before. the theory that the ambassador, representing the personality of his sovereign, may visit the monarch to whom he is accredited, without ceremony and at his own convenience, was as rarely carried into practice in the sixteenth century as in the nineteenth, while on the other hand aerssens, as the private and confidential agent of a friendly but not publicly recognized commonwealth, had been for many years in almost daily personal communication with the king. it is also important to note that the modern fallacy according to which republics being impersonal should not be represented by ambassadors had not appeared in that important epoch in diplomatic history. on the contrary, the two great republics of the age, holland and venice, vindicated for themselves, with as much dignity and reason as success, their right to the highest diplomatic honours. the distinction was substantial not shadowy; those haughty commonwealths not considering it advantageous or decorous that their representatives should for want of proper official designations be ranked on great ceremonial occasions with the ministers of petty italian principalities or of the three hundred infinitesimal sovereignties of germany. it was the advice of the french king especially, who knew politics and the world as well as any man, that the envoys of the republic which he befriended and which stood now on the threshold of its official and national existence, should assert themselves at every court with the self-reliance and courtesy becoming the functionaries of a great power. that those ministers were second to the representatives of no other european state in capacity and accomplishment was a fact well known to all who had dealings with them, for the states required in their diplomatic representatives knowledge of history and international law, modern languages, and the classics, as well as familiarity with political customs and social courtesies; the breeding of gentlemen in short, and the accomplishments of scholars. it is both a literary enjoyment and a means of historical and political instruction to read after the lapse of centuries their reports and despatches. they worthily compare as works of art with those diplomatic masterpieces the letters and 'relazioni' of the venetian ambassadors; and it is well known that the earlier and some of the most important treatises on public and international law ever written are from the pens of hollanders, who indeed may be said to have invented that science.' the republic having thus steadily shouldered its way into the family of nations was soon called upon to perform a prominent part in the world's affairs. more than in our own epoch there was a close political commingling of such independent states as held sympathetic views on the great questions agitating europe. the policy of isolation so wisely and successfully carried out by our own trans-atlantic commonwealth was impossible for the dutch republic, born as it was of a great religious schism, and with its narrow territory wedged between the chief political organizations of christendom. moreover the same jealousy on the part of established powers which threw so many obstacles in its path to recognized sovereignty existed in the highest degree between its two sponsors and allies, france and england, in regard to their respective relations to the new state. "if ever there was an obliged people," said henry's secretary of state, villeroy, to aerssens, "then it is you netherlanders to his majesty. he has converted your war into peace, and has never abandoned you. it is for you now to show your affection and gratitude." in the time of elizabeth, and now in that of her successor, there was scarcely a day in which the envoys of the states were not reminded of the immense load of favour from england under which they tottered, and of the greater sincerity and value of english friendship over that of france. sully often spoke to aerssens on the subject in even stronger language, deeming himself the chief protector and guardian angel of the republic, to whom they were bound by ties of eternal gratitude. "but if the states," he said, "should think of caressing the king of england more than him, or even of treating him on an equality with his majesty, henry would be very much affronted. he did not mean that they should neglect the friendship of the king of britain, but that they should cultivate it after and in subordination to his own, for they might be sure that james held all things indifferent, their ruin or their conservation, while his majesty had always manifested the contrary both by his counsels and by the constant furnishing of supplies." henry of france and navarre--soldier, statesman, wit, above all a man and every inch a king--brimful of human vices, foibles, and humours, and endowed with those high qualities of genius which enabled him to mould events and men by his unscrupulous and audacious determination to conform to the spirit of his times which no man better understood than himself, had ever been in such close relations with the netherlands as to seem in some sort their sovereign. james stuart, emerging from the school of buchanan and the atmosphere of calvinism in which he had been bred, now reigned in those more sunny and liberal regions where elizabeth so long had ruled. finding himself at once, after years of theological study, face to face with a foreign commonwealth and a momentous epoch, in which politics were so commingled with divinity as to offer daily the most puzzling problems, the royal pedant hugged himself at beholding so conspicuous a field for his talents. to turn a throne into a pulpit, and amaze mankind with his learning, was an ambition most sweet to gratify. the calvinist of scotland now proclaimed his deadly hatred of puritans in england and holland, and denounced the netherlanders as a pack of rebels whom it always pleased him to irritate, and over whom he too claimed, through the possession of the cautionary towns, a kind of sovereignty. instinctively feeling that in the rough and unlovely husk of puritanism was enclosed the germ of a wider human liberty than then existed, he was determined to give battle to it with his tongue, his pen, with everything but his sword. doubtless the states had received most invaluable assistance from both france and england, but the sovereigns of those countries were too apt to forget that it was their own battles, as well as those of the hollanders, that had been fought in flanders and brabant. but for the alliance and subsidies of the faithful states, henry would not so soon have ascended the throne of his ancestors, while it was matter of history that the spanish government had for years been steadily endeavouring to subjugate england not so much for the value of the conquest in itself as for a stepping-stone to the recovery of the revolted netherlands. for the dividing line of nations or at least of national alliances was a frontier not of language but of faith. germany was but a geographical expression. the union of protestantism, subscribed by a large proportion of its three hundred and seven sovereigns, ran zigzag through the country, a majority probably of the people at that moment being opposed to the roman church. it has often been considered amazing that protestantism having accomplished so much should have fallen backwards so soon, and yielded almost undisputed sway in vast regions to the long dominant church. but in truth there is nothing surprising about it. catholicism was and remained a unit, while its opponents were eventually broken up into hundreds of warring and politically impotent organizations. religious faith became distorted into a weapon for selfish and greedy territorial aggrandizement in the hands of protestant princes. "cujus regio ejus religio" was the taunt hurled in the face of the imploring calvinists of france and the low countries by the arrogant lutherans of germany. such a sword smote the principle of religious freedom and mutual toleration into the dust, and rendered them comparatively weak in the conflict with the ancient and splendidly organized church. the huguenots of france, notwithstanding the protection grudgingly afforded them by their former chieftain, were dejected and discomfited by his apostasy, and henry, placed in a fearfully false position, was an object of suspicion to both friends and foes. in england it is difficult to say whether a jesuit or a puritan was accounted the more noxious animal by the dominant party. in the united provinces perhaps one half the population was either openly or secretly attached to the ancient church, while among the protestant portion a dire and tragic convulsion was about to break forth, which for a time at least was to render remonstrants and contra-remonstrants more fiercely opposed to each other than to papists. the doctrine of predestination in its sternest and strictest sense had long been the prevailing one in the reformed church of the revolted netherlands, as in those of scotland, france, geneva, and the palatinate. no doubt up to the period of the truce a majority had acquiesced in that dogma and its results, although there had always been many preachers to advocate publicly a milder creed. it was not until the appointment of jacob arminius to the professorship of theology at leyden, in the place of francis junius, in the year , that a danger of schism in the church, seemed impending. then rose the great gomarus in his wrath, and with all the powers of splendid eloquence, profound learning, and the intense bigotry of conviction, denounced the horrible heresy. conferences between the two before the court of holland, theological tournaments between six champions on a side, gallantly led by their respective chieftains, followed, with the usual result of confirming both parties in the conviction that to each alone belonged exclusively the truth. the original influence of arminius had however been so great that when the preachers of holland had been severally called on by a synod to sign the heidelberg catechism, many of them refused. here was open heresy and revolt. it was time for the true church to vindicate its authority. the great war with spain had been made, so it was urged and honestly believed, not against the inquisition, not to prevent netherlanders from being burned and buried alive by the old true church, not in defence of ancient charters, constitutions, and privileges--the precious result of centuries of popular resistance to despotic force--not to maintain an amount of civil liberty and local self-government larger in extent than any then existing in the world, not to assert equality of religion for all men, but simply to establish the true religion, the one church, the only possible creed; the creed and church of calvin. it is perfectly certain that the living fire which glowed in the veins of those hot gospellers had added intense enthusiasm to the war spirit throughout that immense struggle. it is quite possible that without that enthusiasm the war might not have been carried on to its successful end. but it is equally certain that catholics, lutherans, baptists, and devotees of many other creeds, had taken part in the conflict in defence both of hearth and altar, and that without that aid the independence of the provinces would never have been secured. yet before the war was ended the arrogance of the reformed priesthood had begun to dig a chasm. men who with william the silent and barneveld had indulged in the vision of religious equality as a possible result of so much fighting against the holy inquisition were perhaps to be disappointed. preachers under the influence of the gentle arminius having dared to refuse signing the creed were to be dealt with. it was time to pass from censure to action. heresy must be trampled down. the churches called for a national synod, and they did this as by divine right. "my lords the states-general must observe," they said, "that this assembly now demanded is not a human institution but an ordinance of the holy ghost in its community, not depending upon any man's authority, but proceeding from god to the community." they complained that the true church was allowed to act only through the civil government, and was thus placed at a disadvantage compared even with catholics and other sects, whose proceedings were winked at. "thus the true church suffered from its apparent and public freedom, and hostile sects gained by secret connivance." a crisis was fast approaching. the one church claimed infallibility and superiority to the civil power. the holy ghost was placed in direct, ostentatious opposition to my lords the states-general. it was for netherlanders to decide whether, after having shaken off the holy inquisition, and subjected the old true church to the public authority, they were now to submit to the imperious claims of the new true church. there were hundreds of links connecting the church with the state. in that day a divorce between the two was hardly possible or conceivable. the system of congregationalism so successfully put into practice soon afterwards in the wilderness of new england, and to which so much of american freedom political as well as religious is due, was not easy to adopt in an old country like the netherlands. splendid churches and cathedrals, the legal possession of which would be contended for by rival sects, could scarcely be replaced by temporary structures of lath and plaster, or by humble back parlours of mechanics' shops. there were questions of property of complicated nature. not only the states and the communities claimed in rivalry the ownership of church property, but many private families could show ancient advowsons and other claims to present or to patronize, derived from imperial or ducal charters. so long as there could be liberty of opinion within the church upon points not necessarily vital, open schism could be avoided, by which the cause of protestantism throughout europe must be weakened, while at the same time subordination of the priesthood to the civil authority would be maintained. but if the holy ghost, through the assembled clergy, were to dictate an iron formulary to which all must conform, to make laws for church government which every citizen must obey, and to appoint preachers and school-masters from whom alone old and young could receive illumination and instruction religious or lay, a theocracy would be established which no enlightened statesman could tolerate. the states-general agreed to the synod, but imposed a condition that there should be a revision of creed and catechism. this was thundered down with one blast. the condition implied a possibility that the vile heresy of arminius might be correct. an unconditional synod was demanded. the heidelberg creed and netherland catechism were sacred, infallible, not to be touched. the answer of the government, through the mouth of barneveld, was that "to my lords the states-general as the foster-fathers and protectors of the churches every right belonged." thus far the states-general under the leadership of the advocate were unanimous. the victory remained with state against church. but very soon after the truce had been established, and men had liberty to devote themselves to peaceful pursuits, the ecclesiastical trumpet again sounded far and wide, and contending priests and laymen rushed madly to the fray. the remonstrance and contra-remonstrance, and the appointment of conrad vorstius, a more abominable heretic than arminius, to the vacant chair of arminius--a step which drove gomarus and the gomarites to frenzy, although gomarus and vorstius remained private and intimate friends to the last--are matters briefly to be mentioned on a later page. thus to the four chief actors in the politico-religious drama, soon to be enacted as an interlude to an eighty years' war, were assigned parts at first sight inconsistent with their private convictions. the king of france, who had often abjured his religion, and was now the best of catholics, was denounced ferociously in every catholic pulpit in christendom as secretly an apostate again, and the open protector of heretics and rebels. but the cheerful henry troubled himself less than he perhaps had cause to do with these thunderblasts. besides, as we shall soon see, he had other objects political and personal to sway his opinions. james the ex-calvinist, crypto-arminian, pseudo-papist, and avowed puritan hater, was girding on his armour to annihilate arminians and to defend and protect puritans in holland, while swearing that in england he would pepper them and harry them and hang them and that he would even like to bury them alive. barneveld, who turned his eyes, as much as in such an inflammatory age it was possible, from subtle points of theology, and relied on his great-grandfather's motto of humility, "nil scire tutissima fides" was perhaps nearer to the dogma of the dominant reformed church than he knew, although always the consistent and strenuous champion of the civil authority over church as well as state. maurice was no theologian. he was a steady churchgoer, and his favorite divine, the preacher at his court chapel, was none other than uytenbogaert. the very man who was instantly to be the champion of the arminians, the author of the remonstrance, the counsellor and comrade of barneveld and grotius, was now sneered at by the gomarites as the "court trumpeter." the preacher was not destined to change his opinions. perhaps the prince might alter. but maurice then paid no heed to the great point at issue, about which all the netherlanders were to take each other by the throat--absolute predestination. he knew that the advocate had refused to listen to his stepmother's suggestion as to his obtaining the sovereignty. "he knew nothing of predestination," he was wont to say, "whether it was green or whether it was blue. he only knew that his pipe and the advocate's were not likely to make music together." this much of predestination he did know, that if the advocate and his friends were to come to open conflict with the prince of orange-nassau, the conqueror of nieuwpoort, it was predestined to go hard with the advocate and his friends. the theological quibble did not interest him much, and he was apt to blunder about it. "well, preacher," said he one day to albert huttenus, who had come to him to intercede for a deserter condemned to be hanged, "are you one of those arminians who believe that one child is born to salvation and another to damnation?" huttenus, amazed to the utmost at the extraordinary question, replied, "your excellency will be graciously pleased to observe that this is not the opinion of those whom one calls by the hateful name of arminians, but the opinion of their adversaries." "well, preacher," rejoined maurice, "don't you think i know better?" and turning to count lewis william, stadholder of friesland, who was present, standing by the hearth with his hand on a copper ring of the chimneypiece, he cried, "which is right, cousin, the preacher or i?" "no, cousin," answered count lewis, "you are in the wrong." thus to the catholic league organized throughout europe in solid and consistent phalanx was opposed the great protestant union, ardent and enthusiastic in detail, but undisciplined, disobedient, and inharmonious as a whole. the great principle, not of religious toleration, which is a phrase of insult, but of religious equality, which is the natural right of mankind, was to be evolved after a lapse of, additional centuries out of the elemental conflict which had already lasted so long. still later was the total divorce of state and church to be achieved as the final consummation of the great revolution. meantime it was almost inevitable that the privileged and richly endowed church, with ecclesiastical armies and arsenals vastly superior to anything which its antagonist could improvise, should more than hold its own. at the outset of the epoch which now occupies our attention, europe was in a state of exhaustion and longing for repose. spain had submitted to the humiliation of a treaty of truce with its rebellious subjects which was substantially a recognition of their independence. nothing could be more deplorable than the internal condition of the country which claimed to be mistress of the world and still aspired to universal monarchy. it had made peace because it could no longer furnish funds for the war. the french ambassador, barante, returning from madrid, informed his sovereign that he had often seen officers in the army prostrating themselves on their knees in the streets before their sovereign as he went to mass, and imploring him for payment of their salaries, or at least an alms to keep them from starving, and always imploring in vain. the king, who was less than a cipher, had neither capacity to feel emotion, nor intelligence to comprehend the most insignificant affair of state. moreover the means were wanting to him even had he been disposed to grant assistance. the terrible duke of lerma was still his inexorably lord and master, and the secretary of that powerful personage, who kept an open shop for the sale of offices of state both high and low, took care that all the proceeds should flow into the coffers of the duke and his own lap instead of the royal exchequer. in france both king and people declared themselves disgusted with war. sully disapproved of the treaty just concluded between spain and the netherlands, feeling sure that the captious and equivocal clauses contained in it would be interpreted to the disadvantage of the republic and of the reformed religion whenever spain felt herself strong enough to make the attempt. he was especially anxious that the states should make no concessions in regard to the exercise of the catholic worship within their territory, believing that by so doing they would compromise their political independence besides endangering the cause of protestantism everywhere. a great pressure was put upon sully that moment by the king to change his religion. "you will all be inevitably ruined if you make concessions in this regard," said he to aerssens. "take example by me. i should be utterly undone if i had listened to any overture on this subject." nevertheless it was the opinion of the astute and caustic envoy that the duke would be forced to yield at last. the pope was making great efforts to gain him, and thus to bring about the extirpation of protestantism in france. and the king, at that time much under the influence of the jesuits, had almost set his heart on the conversion. aerssens insinuated that sully was dreading a minute examination into the affairs of his administration of the finances--a groundless calumny--and would be thus forced to comply. other enemies suggested that nothing would effect this much desired apostasy but the office of constable of france, which it was certain would never be bestowed on him. at any rate it was very certain that henry at this period was bent on peace. "make your account," said aerssens to barneveld, as the time for signing the truce drew nigh, "on this indubitable foundation that the king is determined against war, whatever pretences he may make. his bellicose demeanour has been assumed only to help forward our treaty, which he would never have favoured, and ought never to have favoured, if he had not been too much in love with peace. this is a very important secret if we manage it discreetly, and a very dangerous one if our enemies discover it." sully would have much preferred that the states should stand out for a peace rather than for a truce, and believed it might have been obtained if the king had not begun the matter so feebly, and if he had let it be understood that he would join his arms to those of the provinces in case of rupture. he warned the states very strenuously that the pope, and the king of spain, and a host of enemies open and covert, were doing their host to injure them at the french court. they would find little hindrance in this course if the republic did not show its teeth, and especially if it did not stiffly oppose all encroachments of the roman religion, without even showing any deference to the king in this regard, who was much importuned on the subject. he advised the states to improve the interval of truce by restoring order to their finances and so arranging their affairs that on the resumption of hostilities, if come they must, their friends might be encouraged to help them, by the exhibition of thorough vigour on their part. france then, although utterly indisposed for war at that moment, was thoroughly to be relied on as a friend and in case of need an ally, so long as it was governed by its present policy. there was but one king left in europe since the death of elizabeth of england. but henry was now on the abhorred threshold of old age which he obstinately refused to cross. there is something almost pathetic, in spite of the censure which much of his private life at this period provokes, in the isolation which now seemed his lot. deceived and hated by his wife and his mistresses, who were conspiring with each other and with his ministers, not only against his policy but against his life; with a vile italian adventurer, dishonouring his household, entirely dominating the queen, counteracting the royal measures, secretly corresponding, by assumed authority, with spain, in direct violation of the king's instructions to his ambassadors, and gorging himself with wealth and offices at the expense of everything respectable in france; surrounded by a pack of malignant and greedy nobles, who begrudged him his fame, his authority, his independence; without a home, and almost without a friend, the most christian king in these latter days led hardly as merry a life as when fighting years long for his crown, at the head of his gascon chivalry, the beloved chieftain of huguenots. of the triumvirate then constituting his council, villeroy, sillery, and sully, the two first were ancient leaguers, and more devoted at heart to philip of spain than to henry of france and navarre. both silent, laborious, plodding, plotting functionaries, thriftily gathering riches; skilled in routine and adepts at intrigue; steady self-seekers, and faithful to office in which their lives had passed, they might be relied on at any emergency to take part against their master, if to ruin would prove more profitable than to serve him. there was one man who was truer to henry than henry had been to himself. the haughty, defiant, austere grandee, brave soldier, sagacious statesman, thrifty financier, against whom the poisoned arrows of religious hatred, envious ambition, and petty court intrigue were daily directed, who watched grimly over the exchequer confided to him, which was daily growing fuller in despite of the cormorants who trembled at his frown; hard worker, good hater, conscientious politician, who filled his own coffers without dishonesty, and those of the state without tyranny; unsociable, arrogant; pious, very avaricious, and inordinately vain, maximilian de bethune, duke of sully, loved and respected henry as no man or woman loved and respected him. in truth, there was but one living being for whom the duke had greater reverence and affection than for the king, and that was the duke of sully himself. at this moment he considered himself, as indeed he was, in full possession of his sovereign's confidence. but he was alone in this conviction. those about the court, men like epernon and his creatures, believed the great financier on the brink of perdition. henry, always the loosest of talkers even in regard to his best friends, had declared, on some temporary vexation in regard to the affair between aiguillon and balagny, that he would deal with the duke as with the late marshal de biron, and make him smaller than he had ever made him great: goading him on this occasion with importunities, almost amounting to commands, that both he and his son should forthwith change their religion or expect instant ruin. the blow was so severe that sully shut himself up, refused to see anyone, and talked of retiring for good to his estates. but he knew, and henry knew, how indispensable he was, and the anger of the master was as shortlived as the despair of the minister. there was no living statesman for whom henry had a more sincere respect than for the advocate of holland. "his majesty admires and greatly extols your wisdom, which he judges necessary for the preservation of our state; deeming you one of the rare and sage counsellors of the age." it is true that this admiration was in part attributed to the singular coincidence of barneveld's views of policy with the king's own. sully, on his part, was a severe critic of that policy. he believed that better terms might have been exacted from spain in the late negotiations, and strongly objected to the cavilling and equivocal language of the treaty. rude in pen as in speech, he expressed his mind very freely in his conversation and correspondence with henry in regard to leading personages and great affairs, and made no secret of his opinions to the states' ambassador. he showed his letters in which he had informed the king that he ought never to have sanctioned the truce without better securities than existed, and that the states would never have moved in any matter without him. it would have been better to throw himself into a severe war than to see the republic perish. he further expressed the conviction that henry ought to have such authority over the netherlands that they would embrace blindly whatever counsel he chose to give them, even if they saw in it their inevitable ruin; and this not so much from remembrance of assistance rendered by him, but from the necessity in which they should always feel of depending totally upon him. "you may judge, therefore," concluded aerssens, "as to how much we can build on such foundations as these. i have been amazed at these frank communications, for in those letters he spares neither my lords the states, nor his excellency prince maurice, nor yourself; giving his judgment of each of you with far too much freedom and without sufficient knowledge." thus the alliance between the netherlands and france, notwithstanding occasional traces of caprice and flaws of personal jealousy, was on the whole sincere, for it was founded on the surest foundation of international friendship, the self-interest of each. henry, although boasting of having bought paris with a mass, knew as well as his worst enemy that in that bargain he had never purchased the confidence of the ancient church, on whose bosom he had flung himself with so much dramatic pomp. his noble position, as champion of religious toleration, was not only unappreciated in an age in which each church and every sect arrogated to itself a monopoly of the truth, but it was one in which he did not himself sincerely believe. after all, he was still the chieftain of the protestant union, and, although eldest son of the church, was the bitter antagonist of the league and the sworn foe to the house of austria. he was walking through pitfalls with a crowd of invisible but relentless foes dogging his every footstep. in his household or without were daily visions of dagger and bowl, and he felt himself marching to his doom. how could the man on whom the heretic and rebellious hollanders and the protestant princes of germany relied as on their saviour escape the unutterable wrath and the patient vengeance of a power that never forgave? in england the jealousy of the republic and of france as co-guardian and protector of the republic was even greater than in france. though placed by circumstances in the position of ally to the netherlands and enemy to spain, james hated the netherlands and adored spain. his first thought on escaping the general destruction to which the gunpowder plot was to have involved himself and family and all the principal personages of the realm seems to have been to exculpate spain from participation in the crime. his next was to deliver a sermon to parliament, exonerating the catholics and going out of his way to stigmatize the puritans as entertaining doctrines which should be punished with fire. as the puritans had certainly not been accused of complicity with guy fawkes or garnet, this portion of the discourse was at least superfluous. but james loathed nothing so much as a puritan. a catholic at heart, he would have been the warmest ally of the league had he only been permitted to be pope of great britain. he hated and feared a jesuit, not for his religious doctrines, for with these he sympathized, but for his political creed. he liked not that either roman pontiff or british presbyterian should abridge his heaven-born prerogative. the doctrine of papal superiority to temporal sovereigns was as odious to him as puritan rebellion to the hierarchy of which he was the chief. moreover, in his hostility to both papists and presbyterians, there was much of professional rivalry. having been deprived by the accident of birth of his true position as theological professor, he lost no opportunity of turning his throne into a pulpit and his sceptre into a controversial pen. henry of france, who rarely concealed his contempt for master jacques, as he called him, said to the english ambassador, on receiving from him one of the king's books, and being asked what he thought of it--"it is not the business of us kings to write, but to fight. everybody should mind his own business, but it is the vice of most men to wish to appear learned in matters of which they are ignorant." the flatterers of james found their account in pandering to his sacerdotal and royal vanity. "i have always believed," said the lord chancellor, after hearing the king argue with and browbeat a presbyterian deputation, "that the high-priesthood and royalty ought to be united, but i never witnessed the actual junction till now, after hearing the learned discourse of your majesty." archbishop whitgift, grovelling still lower, declared his conviction that james, in the observations he had deigned to make, had been directly inspired by the holy ghost. nothing could be more illogical and incoherent with each other than his theological and political opinions. he imagined himself a defender of the protestant faith, while hating holland and fawning on the house of austria. in england he favoured arminianism, because the anglican church recognized for its head the temporal chief of the state. in holland he vehemently denounced the arminians, indecently persecuting their preachers and statesmen, who were contending for exactly the same principle--the supremacy of state over church. he sentenced bartholomew legate to be burned alive in smithfield as a blasphemous heretic, and did his best to compel the states of holland to take the life of professor vorstius of leyden. he persecuted the presbyterians in england as furiously as he defended them in holland. he drove bradford and carver into the new england wilderness, and applauded gomarus and walaeus and the other famous leaders of the presbyterian party in the netherlands with all his soul and strength. he united with the french king in negotiations for netherland independence, while denouncing the provinces as guilty of criminal rebellion against their lawful sovereign. "he pretends," said jeannin, "to assist in bringing about the peace, and nevertheless does his best openly to prevent it." richardot declared that the firmness of the king of spain proceeded entirely from reliance on the promise of james that there should be no acknowledgment in the treaty of the liberty of the states. henry wrote to jeannin that he knew very well "what that was capable of, but that he should not be kept awake by anything he could do." as a king he spent his reign--so much of it as could be spared from gourmandizing, drunkenness, dalliance with handsome minions of his own sex, and theological pursuits--in rescuing the crown from dependence on parliament; in straining to the utmost the royal prerogative; in substituting proclamations for statutes; in doing everything in his power, in short, to smooth the path for his successor to the scaffold. as father of a family he consecrated many years of his life to the wondrous delusion of the spanish marriages. the gunpowder plot seemed to have inspired him with an insane desire for that alliance, and few things in history are more amazing than the persistency with which he pursued the scheme, until the pursuit became not only ridiculous, but impossible. with such a man, frivolous, pedantic, conceited, and licentious, the earnest statesmen of holland were forced into close alliance. it is pathetic to see men like barneveld and hugo grotius obliged, on great occasions of state, to use the language of respect and affection to one by whom they were hated, and whom they thoroughly despised. but turning away from france, it was in vain for them to look for kings or men either among friends or foes. in germany religious dissensions were gradually ripening into open war, and it would be difficult to imagine a more hopelessly incompetent ruler than the man who was nominally chief of the holy roman realm. yet the distracted rudolph was quite as much an emperor as the chaos over which he was supposed to preside was an empire. perhaps the very worst polity ever devised by human perverseness was the system under which the great german race was then writhing and groaning. a mad world with a lunatic to govern it; a democracy of many princes, little and big, fighting amongst each other, and falling into daily changing combinations as some masterly or mischievous hand whirled the kaleidoscope; drinking rhenish by hogsheads, and beer by the tun; robbing churches, dictating creeds to their subjects, and breaking all the commandments themselves; a people at the bottom dimly striving towards religious freedom and political life out of abject social, ecclesiastical, and political serfdom, and perhaps even then dumbly feeling within its veins, with that prophetic instinct which never abandons great races, a far distant and magnificent future of national unity and imperial splendour, the very reverse of the confusion which was then the hideous present; an imperial family at top with many heads and slender brains; a band of brothers and cousins wrangling, intriguing, tripping up each others' heels, and unlucky rudolph, in his hradschin, looking out of window over the peerless prague, spread out in its beauteous landscape of hill and dale, darkling forest, dizzy cliffs, and rushing river, at his feet, feebly cursing the unhappy city for its ingratitude to an invisible and impotent sovereign; his excellent brother matthias meanwhile marauding through the realms and taking one crown after another from his poor bald head. it would be difficult to depict anything more precisely what an emperor in those portentous times should not be. he collected works of art of many kinds--pictures, statues, gems. he passed his days in his galleries contemplating in solitary grandeur these treasures, or in his stables, admiring a numerous stud of horses which he never drove or rode. ambassadors and ministers of state disguised themselves as grooms and stable-boys to obtain accidental glimpses of a sovereign who rarely granted audiences. his nights were passed in star-gazing with tycho de brake, or with that illustrious suabian whose name is one of the great lights and treasures of the world. but it was not to study the laws of planetary motion nor to fathom mysteries of divine harmony that the monarch stood with kepler in the observatory. the influence of countless worlds upon the destiny of one who, by capricious accident, if accident ever exists in history, had been entrusted with the destiny of so large a portion of one little world; the horoscope, not of the universe, but of himself; such were the limited purposes with which the kaiser looked upon the constellations. for the catholic rudolph had received the protestant kepler, driven from tubingen because lutheran doctors, knowing from holy writ that the sun had stood still in ajalon, had denounced his theory of planetary motion. his mother had just escaped being burned as a witch, and the world owes a debt of gratitude to the emperor for protecting the astrologer, when enlightened theologians might, perhaps, have hanged the astronomer. a red-faced, heavy fowled, bald-headed, somewhat goggle-eyed old gentleman, rudolph did his best to lead the life of a hermit, and escape the cares of royalty. timid by temperament, yet liable to fits of uncontrollable anger, he broke his furniture to pieces when irritated, and threw dishes that displeased him in his butler's face, but left affairs of state mainly to his valet, who earned many a penny by selling the imperial signature. he had just signed the famous "majestatsbrief," by which he granted vast privileges to the protestants of bohemia, and had bitten the pen to pieces in a paroxysm of anger, after dimly comprehending the extent of the concessions which he had made. there were hundreds of sovereign states over all of which floated the shadowy and impalpable authority of an imperial crown scarcely fixed on the head of any one of the rival brethren and cousins; there was a confederation of protestants, with the keen-sighted and ambitious christian of anhalt acting as its chief, and dreaming of the bohemian crown; there was the just-born catholic league, with the calm, far-seeing, and egotistical rather than self-seeking maximilian at its head; each combination extending over the whole country, stamped with imbecility of action from its birth, and perverted and hampered by inevitable jealousies. in addition to all these furrows ploughed by the very genius of discord throughout the unhappy land was the wild and secret intrigue with which leopold, archduke and bishop, dreaming also of the crown of wenzel, was about to tear its surface as deeply as he dared. thus constituted were the leading powers of europe in the earlier part of --the year in which a peaceful period seemed to have begun. to those who saw the entangled interests of individuals, and the conflict of theological dogmas and religious and political intrigue which furnished so much material out of which wide-reaching schemes of personal ambition could be spun, it must have been obvious that the interval of truce was necessarily but a brief interlude between two tragedies. it seemed the very mockery of fate that, almost at the very instant when after two years' painful negotiation a truce had been made, the signal for universal discord should be sounded. one day in the early summer of , henry iv. came to the royal arsenal, the residence of sully, accompanied by zamet and another of his intimate companions. he asked for the duke and was told that he was busy in his study. "of course," said the king, turning to his followers, "i dare say you expected to be told that he was out shooting, or with the ladies, or at the barber's. but who works like sully? tell him," he said, "to come to the balcony in his garden, where he and i are not accustomed to be silent." as soon as sully appeared, the king observed: "well; here the duke of cleve is dead, and has left everybody his heir." it was true enough, and the inheritance was of vital importance to the world. it was an apple of discord thrown directly between the two rival camps into which christendom was divided. the duchies of cleve, berg, and julich, and the counties and lordships of mark, ravensberg, and ravenstein, formed a triangle, political and geographical, closely wedged between catholicism and protestantism, and between france, the united provinces, belgium, and germany. should it fall into catholic hands, the netherlands were lost, trampled upon in every corner, hedged in on all sides, with the house of austria governing the rhine, the meuse, and the scheldt. it was vital to them to exclude the empire from the great historic river which seemed destined to form the perpetual frontier of jealous powers and rival creeds. should it fall into heretic hands, the states were vastly strengthened, the archduke albert isolated and cut off from the protection of spain and of the empire. france, although catholic, was the ally of holland and the secret but well known enemy of the house of austria. it was inevitable that the king of that country, the only living statesman that wore a crown, should be appealed to by all parties and should find himself in the proud but dangerous position of arbiter of europe. in this emergency he relied upon himself and on two men besides, maximilian de bethune and john of barneveld. the conference between the king and sully and between both and francis aerssens, ambassador of the states, were of almost daily occurrence. the minute details given in the adroit diplomatist's correspondence indicate at every stage the extreme deference paid by henry to the opinion of holland's advocate and the confidence reposed by him in the resources and the courage of the republic. all the world was claiming the heritage of the duchies. it was only strange that an event which could not be long deferred and the consequences of which were soon to be so grave, the death of the duke of cleve, should at last burst like a bomb-shell on the council tables of the sovereigns and statesmen of europe. that mischievous madman john william died childless in the spring of . his sister sibylla, an ancient and malignant spinster, had governed him and his possessions except in his lucid intervals. the mass of the population over which he ruled being protestant, while the reigning family and the chief nobles were of the ancient faith, it was natural that the catholic party under, the lead of maximilian of bavaria should deem it all-important that there should be direct issue to that family. otherwise the inheritance on his death would probably pass to protestant princes. the first wife provided for him was a beautiful princess; jacobea of baden. the pope blessed the nuptials, and sent the bride a golden rose, but the union was sterile and unhappy. the duke, who was in the habit of careering through his palace in full armour, slashing at and wounding anyone that came in his way, was at last locked up. the hapless jacobea, accused by sibylla of witchcraft and other crimes possible and impossible, was thrown into prison. two years long the devilish malignity of the sister-in-law was exercised upon her victim, who, as it is related, was not allowed natural sleep during all that period, being at every hour awakened by command of sibylla. at last the duchess was strangled in prison. a new wife was at once provided for the lunatic, antonia of lorraine. the two remained childless, and sibylla at the age of forty-nine took to herself a husband, the margrave of burgau, of the house of austria, the humble birth of whose mother, however, did not allow him the rank of archduke. her efforts thus to provide catholic heirs to the rich domains of clove proved as fruitless as her previous attempts. and now duke john william had died, and the representatives of his three dead sisters, and the living sibylla were left to fight for the duchies. it would be both cruel and superfluous to inflict on the reader a historical statement of the manner in which these six small provinces were to be united into a single state. it would be an equally sterile task to retrace the legal arguments by which the various parties prepared themselves to vindicate their claims, each pretender more triumphantly than the other. the naked facts alone retain vital interest, and of these facts the prominent one was the assertion of the emperor that the duchies, constituting a fief masculine, could descend to none of the pretenders, but were at his disposal as sovereign of germany. on the other hand nearly all the important princes of that country sent their agents into the duchies to look after the interests real or imaginary which they claimed. there were but four candidates who in reality could be considered serious ones. mary eleanor, eldest sister of the duke, had been married in the lifetime of their father to albert frederic of brandenburg, duke of prussia. to the children of this marriage was reserved the succession of the whole property in case of the masculine line becoming extinct. two years afterwards the second sister, anne, was married to duke philip lewis, count-palatine of neuburg; the children of which marriage stood next in succession to those of the eldest sister, should that become extinguished. four years later the third sister, magdalen, espoused the duke john, count-palatine of deux-ponts; who, like neuburg, made resignation of rights of succession in favour of the descendants of the brandenburg marriage. the marriage of the youngest sister, sibylla, with the margrave of burgau has been already mentioned. it does not appear that her brother, whose lunatic condition hardly permitted him to assure her the dowry which had been the price of renunciation in the case of her three elder sisters, had obtained that renunciation from her. the claims of the childless sibylla as well as those of the deux-ponts branch were not destined to be taken into serious consideration. the real competitors were the emperor on the one side and the elector of brandenburg and the count-palatine of neuburg on the other. it is not necessary to my purpose to say a single word as to the legal and historical rights of the controversy. volumes upon volumes of forgotten lore might be consulted, and they would afford exactly as much refreshing nutriment as would the heaps of erudition hardly ten years old, and yet as antiquated as the title-deeds of the pharaohs, concerning the claims to the duchies of schleswig-holstein. the fortunate house of brandenburg may have been right or wrong in both disputes. it is certain that it did not lack a more potent factor in settling the political problems of the world in the one case any more than in the other. but on the occasion with which we are occupied it was not on the might of his own right hand that the elector of brandenburg relied. moreover, he was dilatory in appealing to the two great powers on whose friendship he must depend for the establishment of his claims: the united republic and the king of france. james of england was on the whole inclined to believe in the rights of brandenburg. his ambassador, however, with more prophetic vision than perhaps the king ever dreamt--of, expressed a fear lest brandenburg should grow too great and one day come to the imperial crown. the states openly favoured the elector. henry as at first disposed towards neuburg, but at his request barneveld furnished a paper on the subject, by which the king seems to have been entirely converted to the pretensions of brandenburg. but the solution of the question had but little to do with the legal claim of any man. it was instinctively felt throughout christendom that the great duel between the ancient church and the spirit of the reformation was now to be renewed upon that narrow, debateable spot. the emperor at once proclaimed his right to arbitrate on the succession and to hold the territory until decision should be made; that is to say, till the greek kalends. his familiar and most tricksy spirit, bishop-archduke leopold, played at once on his fears and his resentments, against the ever encroaching, ever menacing, protestantism of germany, with which he had just sealed a compact so bitterly detested. that bold and bustling prelate, brother of the queen of spain and of ferdinand of styria, took post from prague in the middle of july. accompanied by a certain canon of the church and disguised as his servant, he arrived after a rapid journey before the gates of julich, chief city and fortress of the duchies. the governor of the place, nestelraed, inclined like most of the functionaries throughout the duchies to the catholic cause, was delighted to recognize under the livery of the lackey the cousin and representative of the emperor. leopold, who had brought but five men with him, had conquered his capital at a blow. for while thus comfortably established as temporary governor of the duchies he designed through the fears or folly of rudolph to become their sovereign lord. strengthened by such an acquisition and reckoning on continued assistance in men and money from spain and the catholic league, he meant to sweep back to the rescue of the perishing rudolph, smite the protestants of bohemia, and achieve his appointment to the crown of that kingdom. the spanish ambassador at prague had furnished him with a handsome sum of money for the expenses of his journey and preliminary enterprise. it should go hard but funds should be forthcoming to support him throughout this audacious scheme. the champion of the church, the sovereign prince of important provinces, the possession of which ensured conclusive triumph to the house of austria and to rome--who should oppose him in his path to empire? certainly not the moody rudolph, the slippery and unstable matthias, the fanatic and jesuit-ridden ferdinand. "leopold in julich," said henry's agent in germany, "is a ferret in a rabbit warren." but early in the spring and before the arrival of leopold, the two pretenders, john sigismund, elector of brandenburg, and philip lewis, palatine of neuburg, had made an arrangement. by the earnest advice of barneveld in the name of the states-general and as the result of a general council of many protestant princes of germany, it had been settled that those two should together provisionally hold and administer the duchies until the principal affair could be amicably settled. the possessory princes were accordingly established in dusseldorf with the consent of the provincial estates, in which place those bodies were wont to assemble. here then was spain in the person of leopold quietly perched in the chief citadel of the country, while protestantism in the shape of the possessory princes stood menacingly in the capital. hardly was the ink dry on the treaty which had suspended for twelve years the great religious war of forty years, not yet had the ratifications been exchanged, but the trumpet was again sounding, and the hostile forces were once more face to face. leopold, knowing where his great danger lay, sent a friendly message to the states-general, expressing the hope that they would submit to his arrangements until the imperial decision should be made. the states, through the pen and brain of barneveld, replied that they had already recognized the rights of the possessory princes, and were surprised that the bishop-archduke should oppose them. they expressed the hope that, when better informed, he would see the validity of the treaty of dortmund. "my lords the states-general," said the advocate, "will protect the princes against violence and actual disturbances, and are assured that the neighbouring kings and princes will do the same. they trust that his imperial highness will not allow matters, to proceed to extremities." this was language not to be mistaken. it was plain that the republic did not intend the emperor to decide a question of life and death to herself, nor to permit spain, exhausted by warfare, to achieve this annihilating triumph by a petty intrigue. while in reality the clue to what seemed to the outside world a labyrinthine maze of tangled interests and passions was firmly held in the hand of barneveld, it was not to him nor to my lords the states-general that the various parties to the impending conflict applied in the first resort. mankind were not yet sufficiently used to this young republic, intruding herself among the family of kings, to defer at once to an authority which they could not but feel. moreover, henry of france was universally looked to both by friends and foes as the probable arbiter or chief champion in the great debate. he had originally been inclined to favour neuberg, chiefly, so aerssens thought, on account of his political weakness. the states-general on the other hand were firmly disposed for brandenburg from the first, not only as a strenuous supporter of the reformation and an ancient ally of their own always interested in their safety, but because the establishment of the elector on the rhine would roll back the empire beyond that river. as aerssens expressed it, they would have the empire for a frontier, and have no longer reason to fear the rhine. the king, after the representations of the states, saw good ground to change his opinion and; becoming convinced that the palatine had long been coquetting with the austrian party, soon made no secret of his preference for brandenburg. subsequently neuburg and brandenburg fell into a violent quarrel notwithstanding an arrangement that the palatine should marry the daughter of the elector. in the heat of discussion brandenburg on one occasion is said to have given his intended son-in-law a box on the ear! an argument 'ad hominem' which seems to have had the effect of sending the palatine into the bosom of the ancient church and causing him to rely thenceforth upon the assistance of the league. meantime, however, the condominium settled by the treaty of dortmund continued in force; the third brother of brandenburg and the eldest son of neuburg sharing possession and authority at dusseldorf until a final decision could be made. a flock of diplomatists, professional or volunteers, openly accredited or secret, were now flying busily about through the troubled atmosphere, indicating the coming storm in which they revelled. the keen-sighted, subtle, but dangerously intriguing ambassador of the republic, francis aerssens, had his hundred eyes at all the keyholes in paris, that centre of ceaseless combination and conspiracy, and was besides in almost daily confidential intercourse with the king. most patiently and minutely he kept the advocate informed, almost from hour to hour, of every web that was spun, every conversation public or whispered in which important affairs were treated anywhere and by anybody. he was all-sufficient as a spy and intelligencer, although not entirely trustworthy as a counsellor. still no man on the whole could scan the present or forecast the future more accurately than he was able to do from his advantageous position and his long experience of affairs. there was much general jealousy between the states and the despotic king, who loved to be called the father of the republic and to treat the hollanders as his deeply obliged and very ungrateful and miserly little children. the india trade was a sore subject, henry having throughout the negotiations sought to force or wheedle the states into renouncing that commerce at the command of spain, because he wished to help himself to it afterwards, and being now in the habit of secretly receiving isaac le maire and other dutch leaders in that lucrative monopoly, who lay disguised in paris and in the house of zamet--but not concealed from aerssens, who pledged himself to break, the neck of their enterprise--and were planning with the king a french east india company in opposition to that of the netherlands. on the whole, however, despite these commercial intrigues which barneveld through the aid of aerssens was enabled to baffle, there was much cordiality and honest friendship between the two countries. henry, far from concealing his political affection for the republic, was desirous of receiving a special embassy of congratulation and gratitude from the states on conclusion of the truce; not being satisfied with the warm expressions of respect and attachment conveyed through the ordinary diplomatic channel. "he wishes," wrote aerssens to the advocate, "a public demonstration--in order to show on a theatre to all christendom the regard and deference of my lords the states for his majesty." the ambassador suggested that cornelis van der myle, son-in-law of barneveld, soon to be named first envoy for holland to the venetian republic, might be selected as chief of such special embassy. "without the instructions you gave me," wrote aerssens, "neuburg might have gained his cause in this court. brandenburg is doing himself much injury by not soliciting the king." "much deference will be paid to your judgment," added the envoy, "if you see fit to send it to his majesty." meantime, although the agent of neuburg was busily dinning in henry's ears the claims of the palatine, and even urging old promises which, as he pretended, had been made, thanks to barneveld, he took little by his importunity, notwithstanding that in the opinion both of barneveld and villeroy his claim 'stricti-juris' was the best. but it was policy and religious interests, not the strict letter of the law, that were likely to prevail. henry, while loudly asserting that he would oppose any usurpation on the part of the emperor or any one else against the condominium, privately renewed to the states assurances of his intention to support ultimately the claims of brandenburg, and notified them to hold the two regiments of french infantry, which by convention they still kept at his expense in their service, to be ready at a moment's warning for the great enterprise which he was already planning. "you would do well perhaps," wrote aerssens to barneveld, "to set forth the various interests in regard to this succession, and of the different relations of the claimants towards our commonwealth; but in such sort nevertheless and so dexterously that the king may be able to understand your desires, and on the other hand may see the respect you bear him in appearing to defer to his choice." neuburg, having always neglected the states and made advances to archduke albert, and being openly preferred over brandenburg by the austrians, who had however no intention of eventually tolerating either, could make but small headway at court, notwithstanding henry's indignation that brandenburg had not yet made the slightest demand upon him for assistance. the elector had keenly solicited the aid of the states, who were bound to him by ancient contract on this subject, but had manifested wonderful indifference or suspicion in regard to france. "these nonchalant germans," said henry on more than one occasion, "do nothing but sleep or drink." it was supposed that the memory of metz might haunt the imagination of the elector. that priceless citadel, fraudulently extorted by henry ii. as a forfeit for assistance to the elector of saxony three quarters of a century before, gave solemn warning to brandenburg of what might be exacted by a greater henry, should success be due to his protection. it was also thought that he had too many dangers about him at home, the poles especially, much stirred up by emissaries from rome, making many troublesome demonstrations against the duchy of prussia. it was nearly midsummer before a certain baron donals arrived as emissary of the elector. he brought with him, many documents in support of the brandenburg claims, and was charged with excuses for the dilatoriness of his master. much stress was laid of course on the renunciation made by neuburg at the tithe of his marriage, and henry was urged to grant his protection to the elector in his good rights. but thus far there were few signs of any vigorous resolution for active measures in an affair which could scarcely fail to lead to war. "i believe," said henry to the states ambassador, "that the right of brandenburg is indubitable, and it is better for you and for me that he should be the man rather than neuburg, who has always sought assistance from the house of austria. but he is too lazy in demanding possession. it is the fault of the doctors by whom he is guided. this delay works in favour of the emperor, whose course however is less governed by any determination of his own than by the irresolution of the princes." then changing the conversation, henry asked the ambassador whether the daughter of de maldere, a leading statesman of zealand, was married or of age to be married, and if she was rich; adding that they must make a match between her and barneveld's second son, then a young gentleman in the king's service, and very much liked by him. two months later a regularly accredited envoy, belin by name, arrived from the elector. his instructions were general. he was to thank the king for his declarations in favour of the possessory princes, and against all usurpation on the part of the spanish party. should the religious cord be touched, he was to give assurances that no change would be made in this regard. he was charged with loads of fine presents in yellow amber, such as ewers, basins, tables, cups, chessboards, for the king and queen, the dauphin, the chancellor, villeroy, sully, bouillon, and other eminent personages. beyond the distribution of these works of art and the exchange of a few diplomatic commonplaces, nothing serious in the way of warlike business was transacted, and henry was a few weeks later much amused by receiving a letter from the possessory princes coolly thrown into the post-office, and addressed like an ordinary letter to a private person, in which he was requested to advance them a loan of , crowns. there was a great laugh at court at a demand made like a bill of exchange at sight upon his majesty as if he had been a banker, especially as there happened to be no funds of the drawers in his hands. it was thought that a proper regard for the king's quality and the amount of the sum demanded required that the letter should be brought at least by an express messenger, and henry was both diverted and indignant at these proceedings, at the months long delay before the princes had thought proper to make application for his protection, and then for this cool demand for alms on a large scale as a proper beginning of their enterprise. such was the languid and extremely nonchalant manner in which the early preparations for a conflict which seemed likely to set europe in a blaze, and of which possibly few living men might witness the termination, were set on foot by those most interested in the immediate question. chessboards in yellow amber and a post-office order for , crowns could not go far in settling the question of the duchies in which the great problem dividing christendom as by an abyss was involved. meantime, while such were the diplomatic beginnings of the possessory princes, the league was leaving no stone unturned to awaken henry to a sense of his true duty to the church of which he was eldest son. don pedro de toledo's mission in regard to the spanish marriages had failed because henry had spurned the condition which was unequivocally attached to them on the part of spain, the king's renunciation of his alliance with the dutch republic, which then seemed an equivalent to its ruin. but the treaty of truce and half-independence had been signed at last by the states and their ancient master, and the english and french negotiators had taken their departure, each receiving as a present for concluding the convention , livres from the archdukes, and , from the states-general. henry, returning one summer's morning from the chase and holding the count of soissons by one hand and ambassador aerssens by the other, told them he had just received letters from spain by which he learned that people were marvellously rejoiced at the conclusion of the truce. many had regretted that its conditions were so disadvantageous and so little honourable to the grandeur and dignity of spain, but to these it was replied that there were strong reasons why spain should consent to peace on these terms rather than not have it at all. during the twelve years to come the king could repair his disasters and accumulate mountains of money in order to finish the war by the subjugation of the provinces by force of gold. soissons here interrupted the king by saying that the states on their part would finish it by force of iron. aerssens, like an accomplished courtier, replied they would finish it by means of his majesty's friendship. the king continued by observing that the clear-sighted in spain laughed at these rodomontades, knowing well that it was pure exhaustion that had compelled the king to such extremities. "i leave you to judge," said henry, "whether he is likely to have any courage at forty-five years of age, having none now at thirty-two. princes show what they have in them of generosity and valour at the age of twenty-five or never." he said that orders had been sent from spain to disband all troops in the obedient netherlands except spaniards and italians, telling the archdukes that they must raise the money out of the country to content them. they must pay for a war made for their benefit, said philip. as for him he would not furnish one maravedi. aerssens asked if the archdukes would disband their troops so long as the affair of cleve remained unsettled. "you are very lucky," replied the king, "that europe is governed by such princes as you wot of. the king of spain thinks of nothing but tranquillity. the archdukes will never move except on compulsion. the emperor, whom every one is so much afraid of in this matter, is in such plight that one of these days, and before long, he will be stripped of all his possessions. i have news that the bohemians are ready to expel him." it was true enough that rudolph hardly seemed a formidable personage. the utraquists and bohemian brothers, making up nearly the whole population of the country, were just extorting religious liberty from their unlucky master in his very palace and at the point of the knife. the envoy of matthias was in paris demanding recognition of his master as king of hungary, and henry did not suspect the wonderful schemes of leopold, the ferret in the rabbit warren of the duchies, to come to the succour of his cousin and to get himself appointed his successor and guardian. nevertheless, the emperor's name had been used to protest solemnly against the entrance into dusseldorf of the margrave ernest of brandenburg and palatine wolfgang william of neuburg, representatives respectively of their brother and father. the induction was nevertheless solemnly made by the elector-palatine and the landgrave of hesse, and joint possession solemnly taken by brandenburg and neuburg in the teeth of the protest, and expressly in order to cut short the dilatory schemes and the artifices of the imperial court. henry at once sent a corps of observation consisting of cavalry to the luxemburg frontier by way of toul, mezieres, verdun, and metz, to guard against movements by the disbanded troops of the archdukes, and against any active demonstration against the possessory princes on the part of the emperor. the 'condominium' was formally established, and henry stood before the world as its protector threatening any power that should attempt usurpation. he sent his agent vidomacq to the landgrave of hesse with instructions to do his utmost to confirm the princes of the union in organized resistance to the schemes of spain, and to prevent any interference with the condominium. he wrote letters to the archdukes and to the elector of cologne, sternly notifying them that he would permit no assault upon the princes, and meant to protect them in their rights. he sent one of his most experienced diplomatists, de boississe, formerly ambassador in england, to reside for a year or more in the duchies as special representative of france, and directed him on his way thither to consult especially with barneveld and the states-general as to the proper means of carrying out their joint policy either by diplomacy or, if need should be, by their united arms. troops began at once to move towards the frontier to counteract the plans of the emperor's council and the secret levies made by duchess sibylla's husband, the margrave of burgau. the king himself was perpetually at monceaux watching the movements of his cavalry towards the luxemburg frontier, and determined to protect the princes in their possession until some definite decision as to the sovereignty of the duchies should be made. meantime great pressure was put upon him by the opposite party. the pope did his best through the nuncius at paris directly, and through agents at prague, brussels, and madrid indirectly, to awaken the king to a sense of the enormity of his conduct. being a catholic prince, it was urged, he had no right to assist heretics. it was an action entirely contrary to his duty as a christian and of his reputation as eldest son of the church. even if the right were on the side of the princes, his majesty would do better to strip them of it and to clothe himself with it than to suffer the catholic faith and religion to receive such notable detriment in an affair likely to have such important consequences. such was some of the advice given by the pontiff. the suggestions were subtle, for they were directed to henry's self-interest both as champion of the ancient church and as a possible sovereign of the very territories in dispute. they were also likely, and were artfully so intended, to excite suspicion of henry's designs in the breasts of the protestants generally and of the possessory princes especially. allusions indeed to the rectification of the french border in henry ii.'s time at the expense of lorraine were very frequent. they probably accounted for much of the apparent supineness and want of respect for the king of which he complained every day and with so much bitterness. the pope's insinuations, however, failed to alarm him, for he had made up his mind as to the great business of what might remain to him of life; to humble the house of austria and in doing so to uphold the dutch republic on which he relied for his most efficient support. the situation was a false one viewed from the traditional maxims which governed europe. how could the eldest son of the church and the chief of an unlimited monarchy make common cause with heretics and republicans against spain and rome? that the position was as dangerous as it was illogical, there could be but little doubt. but there was a similarity of opinion between the king and the political chief of the republic on the great principle which was to illume the distant future but which had hardly then dawned upon the present; the principle of religious equality. as he protected protestants in france so he meant to protect catholics in the duchies. apostate as he was from the reformed church as he had already been from the catholic, he had at least risen above the paltry and insolent maxim of the princely protestantism of germany: "cujus regio ejus religio." while refusing to tremble before the wrath of rome or to incline his ear to its honeyed suggestions, he sent cardinal joyeuse with a special mission to explain to the pope that while the interests of france would not permit him to allow the spaniard's obtaining possession of provinces so near to her, he should take care that the church received no detriment and that he should insist as a price of the succour he intended for the possessory princes that they should give ample guarantees for the liberty of catholic worship. there was no doubt in the mind either of henry or of barneveld that the secret blows attempted by spain at the princes were in reality aimed at the republic and at himself as her ally. while the nuncius was making these exhortations in paris, his colleague from spain was authorized to propound a scheme of settlement which did not seem deficient in humour. at any rate henry was much diverted with the suggestion, which was nothing less than that the decision as to the succession to the duchies should be left to a board of arbitration consisting of the king of spain, the emperor, and the king of france. as henry would thus be painfully placed by himself in a hopeless minority, the only result of the scheme would be to compel him to sanction a decision sure to be directly the reverse of his own resolve. he was hardly such a schoolboy in politics as to listen to the proposal except to laugh at it. meantime arrived from julich, without much parade, a quiet but somewhat pompous gentleman named teynagel. he had formerly belonged to the reformed religion, but finding it more to his taste or advantage to become privy councillor of the emperor, he had returned to the ancient church. he was one of the five who had accompanied the archduke leopold to julich. that prompt undertaking having thus far succeeded so well, the warlike bishop had now despatched teynagel on a roving diplomatic mission. ostensibly he came to persuade henry that, by the usages and laws of the empire, fiefs left vacant for want of heirs male were at the disposal of the emperor. he expressed the hope therefore of obtaining the king's approval of leopold's position in julich as temporary vicegerent of his sovereign and cousin. the real motive of his mission, however, was privately to ascertain whether henry was really ready to go to war for the protection of the possessory princes, and then, to proceed to spain. it required an astute politician, however, to sound all the shoals, quicksands, and miseries through which the french government was then steering, and to comprehend with accuracy the somewhat varying humours of the monarch and the secret schemes of the ministers who immediately surrounded him. people at court laughed at teynagel and his mission, and henry treated him as a crackbrained adventurer. he announced himself as envoy of the emperor, although he had instructions from leopold only. he had interviews with the chancellor and with villeroy, and told them that rudolf claimed the right of judge between the various pretenders to the duchies. the king would not be pleased, he observed, if the king of great britain should constitute himself arbiter among claimants that might make their appearance for the crown of france; but henry had set himself up as umpire without being asked by any one to act in that capacity among the princes of germany. the emperor, on the contrary, had been appealed to by the duke of nevers, the elector of saxony, the margrave of burgau, and other liege subjects of the imperial crown as a matter of course and of right. this policy of the king, if persisted in, said teynagel, must lead to war. henry might begin such a war, but he would be obliged to bequeath it to the dauphin. he should remember that france had always been unlucky when waging war with the empire and with the house of austria.' the chancellor and villeroy, although in their hearts not much in love with henry's course, answered the emissary with arrogance equal to his own that their king could finish the war as well as begin it, that he confided in his strength and the justice of his cause, and that he knew very well and esteemed very little the combined forces of spain and the empire. they added that france was bound by the treaty of vervins to protect the princes, but they offered no proof of that rather startling proposition. meantime teynagel was busy in demonstrating that the princes of germany were in reality much more afraid of henry than of the emperor. his military movements and deep designs excited more suspicion throughout that country and all europe than the quiet journey of leopold and five friends by post to julich. he had come provided with copies of the king's private letters to the princes, and seemed fully instructed as to his most secret thoughts. for this convenient information he was supposed to be indebted to the revelations of father cotton, who was then in disgrace; having been detected in transmitting to the general of jesuits henry's most sacred confidences and confessions as to his political designs. fortified with this private intelligence, and having been advised by father cotton to carry matters with a high hand in order to inspire the french court with a wholesome awe, he talked boldly about the legitimate functions of the emperor. to interfere with them, he assured the ministers, would lead to a long and bloody war, as neither the king nor the archduke albert would permit the emperor to be trampled upon. peter pecquius, the crafty and experienced agent of the archduke at paris, gave the bouncing envoy more judicious advice, however, than that of the jesuit, assuring him that he would spoil his whole case should he attempt to hold such language to the king. he was admitted to an audience of henry at monceaux, but found him prepared to show his teeth as aerssens had predicted. he treated teynagel as a mere madcap and, adventurer who had no right to be received as a public minister at all, and cut short his rodomontades by assuring him that his mind was fully made up to protect the possessory princes. jeannin was present at the interview, although, as aerssens well observed, the king required no pedagogue on such an occasion? teynagel soon afterwards departed malcontent to spain, having taken little by his abnormal legation to henry, and being destined to find at the court of philip as urgent demands on that monarch for assistance to the league as he was to make for leopold and the house of austria. for the league, hardly yet thoroughly organized under the leadership of maximilian of bavaria, was rather a catholic corrival than cordial ally of the imperial house. it was universally suspected that henry meant to destroy and discrown the habsburgs, and it lay not in the schemes of maximilian to suffer the whole catholic policy to be bound to the fortunes of that one family. whether or not henry meant to commit the anachronism and blunder of reproducing the part of charlemagne might be doubtful. the supposed design of maximilian to renew the glories of the house of wittelsbach was equally vague. it is certain, however, that a belief in such ambitious schemes on the part of both had been insinuated into the ears of rudolf, and had sunk deeply into his unsettled mind. scarcely had teynagel departed than the ancient president richardot appeared upon the scene. "the mischievous old monkey," as he had irreverently been characterized during the truce negotiations, "who showed his tail the higher he climbed," was now trembling at the thought that all the good work he had been so laboriously accomplishing during the past two years should be annihilated. the archdukes, his masters, being sincerely bent on peace, had deputed him to henry, who, as they believed, was determined to rekindle war. as frequently happens in such cases, they were prepared to smooth over the rough and almost impassable path to a cordial understanding by comfortable and cheap commonplaces concerning the blessings of peace, and to offer friendly compromises by which they might secure the prizes of war without the troubles and dangers of making it. they had been solemnly notified by henry that he would go to war rather than permit the house of austria to acquire the succession to the duchies. they now sent richardot to say that neither the archdukes nor the king of spain would interfere in the matter, and that they hoped the king of france would not prevent the emperor from exercising his rightful functions of judge. henry, who knew that don baltasar de cuniga, spanish ambassador at the imperial court, had furnished leopold, the emperor's cousin, with , crowns to defray his first expenses in the julich expedition, considered that the veteran politician had come to perform a school boy's task. he was more than ever convinced by this mission of richardot that the spaniards had organized the whole scheme, and he was likely only to smile at any propositions the president might make. at the beginning of his interview, in which the king was quite alone, richardot asked if he would agree to maintain neutrality like the king of spain and the archdukes, and allow the princes to settle their business with the emperor. "no," said the king. he then asked if henry would assist them in their wrong. "no," said the king. he then asked if the king thought that the princes had justice on their side, and whether, if the contrary were shown, he would change his policy? henry replied that the emperor could not be both judge and party in the suit and that the king of spain was plotting to usurp the provinces through the instrumentality of his brother-in-law leopold and under the name of the emperor. he would not suffer it, he said. "then there will be a general war," replied richardot, "since you are determined to assist these princes." "be it so," said the king. "you are right," said the president, "for you are a great and puissant monarch, having all the advantages that could be desired, and in case of rupture i fear that all this immense power will be poured out over us who are but little princes." "cause leopold to retire then and leave the princes in their right," was the reply. "you will then have nothing to fear. are you not very unhappy to live under those poor weak archdukes? don't you foresee that as soon as they die you will lose all the little you have acquired in the obedient netherlands during the last fifty years?" the president had nothing to reply to this save that he had never approved of leopold's expedition, and that when spaniards make mistakes they always had recourse to their servants to repair their faults. he had accepted this mission inconsiderately, he said, inspired by a hope to conjure the rising storms mingled with fears as to the result which were now justified. he regretted having come, he said. the king shrugged his shoulders. richardot then suggested that leopold might be recognized in julich, and the princes at dusseldorf, or that all parties might retire until the emperor should give his decision. all these combinations were flatly refused by the king, who swore that no one of the house of austria should ever perch in any part of those provinces. if leopold did not withdraw at once, war was inevitable. he declared that he would break up everything and dare everything, whether the possessory princes formally applied to him or not. he would not see his friends oppressed nor allow the spaniard by this usurpation to put his foot on the throat of the states-general, for it was against them that this whole scheme was directed. to the president's complaints that the states-general had been moving troops in gelderland, henry replied at once that it was done by his command, and that they were his troops. with this answer richardot was fain to retire crestfallen, mortified, and unhappy. he expressed repentance and astonishment at the result, and protested that those peoples were happy whose princes understood affairs. his princes were good, he said, but did not give themselves the trouble to learn their business. richardot then took his departure from paris, and very soon afterwards from the world. he died at arras early in september, as many thought of chagrin at the ill success of his mission, while others ascribed it to a surfeit of melons and peaches. "senectus edam maorbus est," said aerssens with seneca. henry said he could not sufficiently wonder at these last proceedings at his court, of a man he had deemed capable and sagacious, but who had been committing an irreparable blunder. he had never known two such impertinent ambassadors as don pedro de toledo and richardot on this occasion. the one had been entirely ignorant of the object of his mission; the other had shown a vain presumption in thinking he could drive him from his fixed purpose by a flood of words. he had accordingly answered him on the spot without consulting his council, at which poor richardot had been much amazed. and now another envoy appeared upon the scene, an ambassador coming directly from the emperor. count hohenzollern, a young man, wild, fierce, and arrogant, scarcely twenty-three years of age, arrived in paris on the th of september, with a train of forty horsemen. de colly, agent of the elector-palatine, had received an outline of his instructions, which the prince of anhalt had obtained at prague. he informed henry that hohenzollern would address him thus: "you are a king. you would not like that the emperor should aid your subjects in rebellion. he did not do this in the time of the league, although often solicited to do so. you should not now sustain the princes in disobeying the imperial decree. kings should unite in maintaining the authority and majesty of each other." he would then in the emperor's name urge the claims of the house of saxony to the duchies. henry was much pleased with this opportune communication by de colly of the private instructions to the emperor's envoy, by which he was enabled to meet the wild and fierce young man with an arrogance at least equal to his own. the interview was a stormy one. the king was alone in the gallery of the louvre, not choosing that his words and gestures should be observed. the envoy spoke much in the sense which de colly had indicated; making a long argument in favour of the emperor's exclusive right of arbitration, and assuring the king that the emperor was resolved on war if interference between himself and his subjects was persisted in. he loudly pronounced the proceedings of the possessory princes to be utterly illegal, and contrary to all precedent. the emperor would maintain his authority at all hazards, and one spark of war would set everything in a blaze within the empire and without. henry replied sternly but in general terms, and referred him for a final answer to his council. "what will you do," asked the envoy, categorically, at a subsequent interview about a month later, "to protect the princes in case the emperor constrains them to leave the provinces which they have unjustly occupied?" "there is none but god to compel me to say more than i choose to say," replied the king. "it is enough for you to know that i will never abandon my friends in a just cause. the emperor can do much for the general peace. he is not to lend his name to cover this usurpation." and so the concluding interview terminated in an exchange of threats rather than with any hope of accommodation. hohenzollern used as high language to the ministers as to the monarch, and received payment in the same coin. he rebuked their course not very adroitly as being contrary to the interests of catholicism. they were placing the provinces in the hands of protestants, he urged. it required no envoy from prague to communicate this startling fact. friends and foes, villeroy and jeannin, as well as sully and duplessis, knew well enough that henry was not taking up arms for rome. "sir! do you look at the matter in that way?" cried sully, indignantly. "the huguenots are as good as the catholics. they fight like the devil!" "the emperor will never permit the princes to remain nor leopold to withdraw," said the envoy to jeannin. jeannin replied that the king was always ready to listen to reason, but there was no use in holding language of authority to him. it was money he would not accept. "fiat justitia pereat mundus," said the haggard hohenzollern. "your world may perish," replied jeannin, "but not ours. it is much better put together." a formal letter was then written by the king to the emperor, in which henry expressed his desire to maintain peace and fraternal relations, but notified him that if, under any pretext whatever, he should trouble the princes in their possession, he would sustain them with all his power, being bound thereto by treaties and by reasons of state. this letter was committed to the care of hohenzollern, who forthwith departed, having received a present of crowns. his fierce, haggard face thus vanishes for the present from our history. the king had taken his ground, from which there was no receding. envoys or agents of emperor, pope, king of spain, archduke at brussels, and archduke at julich, had failed to shake his settled purpose. yet the road was far from smooth. he had thus far no ally but the states-general. he could not trust james of great britain. boderie came back late in the summer from his mission to that monarch, reporting him as being favourably inclined to brandenburg, but hoping for an amicable settlement in the duchies. no suggestion being made even by the sagacious james as to the manner in which the ferret and rabbits were to come to a compromise, henry inferred, if it came to fighting, that the english government would refuse assistance. james had asked boderie in fact whether his sovereign and the states, being the parties chiefly interested, would be willing to fight it out without allies. he had also sent sir ralph winwood on a special mission to the hague, to dusseldorf, and with letters to the emperor, in which he expressed confidence that rudolph would approve the proceedings of the possessory princes. as he could scarcely do that while loudly claiming through his official envoy in paris that the princes should instantly withdraw on pain of instant war, the value of the english suggestion of an amicable compromise might easily be deduced. great was the jealousy in france of this mission from england. that the princes should ask the interference of james while neglecting, despising, or fearing henry, excited henry's wrath. he was ready, and avowed his readiness, to put on armour at once in behalf of the princes, and to arbitrate on the destiny of germany, but no one seemed ready to follow his standard. no one asked him to arbitrate. the spanish faction wheedled and threatened by turns, in order to divert him from his purpose, while the protestant party held aloof, and babbled of charlemagne and of henry ii. he said he did not mean to assist the princes by halves, but as became a king of france, and the princes expressed suspicion of him, talked of the example of metz, and called the emperor their very clement lord. it was not strange that henry was indignant and jealous. he was holding the wolf by the ears, as he himself observed more than once. the war could not long be delayed; yet they in whose behalf it was to be waged treated him with a disrespect and flippancy almost amounting to scorn. they tried to borrow money of him through the post, and neglected to send him an ambassador. this was most decidedly putting the cart before the oxen, so henry said, and so thought all his friends. when they had blockaded the road to julich, in order to cut off leopold's supplies, they sent to request that the two french regiments in the states' service might be ordered to their assistance, archduke albert having threatened to open the passage by force of arms. "this is a fine stratagem," said aerssens, "to fling the states-general headlong into the war, and, as it were, without knowing it." but the states-general, under the guidance of barneveld, were not likely to be driven headlong by brandenburg and neuburg. they managed with caution, but with perfect courage, to move side by side with henry, and to leave the initiative to him, while showing an unfaltering front to the enemy. that the princes were lost, spain and the emperor triumphant, unless henry and the states should protect them with all their strength, was as plain as a mathematical demonstration. yet firm as were the attitude and the language of henry, he was thought to be hoping to accomplish much by bluster. it was certain that the bold and unexpected stroke of leopold had produced much effect upon his mind, and for a time those admitted to his intimacy saw, or thought they saw, a decided change in his demeanour. to the world at large his language and his demonstrations were even more vehement than they had been at the outset of the controversy; but it was believed that there was now a disposition to substitute threats for action. the military movements set on foot were thought to be like the ringing of bells and firing of cannon to dissipate a thunderstorm. yet it was treason at court to doubt the certainty of war. the king ordered new suits of armour, bought splendid chargers, and gave himself all the airs of a champion rushing to a tournament as gaily as in the earliest days of his king-errantry. he spoke of his eager desire to break a lance with spinola, and give a lesson to the young volunteer who had sprung into so splendid a military reputation, while he had been rusting, as he thought, in pacific indolence, and envying the laurels of the comparatively youthful maurice. yet those most likely to be well informed believed that nothing would come of all this fire and fury. the critics were wrong. there was really no doubt of henry's sincerity, but his isolation was terrible. there was none true to him at home but sully. abroad, the states-general alone were really friendly, so far as positive agreements existed. above all, the intolerable tergiversations and suspicions of those most interested, the princes in possession, and their bickerings among themselves, hampered his movements. treason and malice in his cabinet and household, jealousy and fear abroad, were working upon and undermining him like a slow fever. his position was most pathetic, but his purpose was fixed. james of england, who admired, envied, and hated henry, was wont to moralize on his character and his general unpopularity, while engaged in negotiations with him. he complained that in the whole affair of the truce he had sought only his particular advantage. "this is not to be wondered at in one of his nature," said the king, "who only careth to provide for the felicities of his present life, without any respect for his life to come. indeed, the consideration of his own age and the youth of his children, the doubt of their legitimation, the strength of competitioners, and the universal hatred borne unto him, makes him seek all means of security for preventing of all dangers." there were changes from day to day; hot and cold fits necessarily resulting from the situation. as a rule, no eminent general who has had much experience wishes to go into a new war inconsiderately and for the mere love of war. the impatience is often on the part of the non-combatants. henry was no exception to the rule. he felt that the complications then existing, the religious, political, and dynastic elements arrayed against each other, were almost certain to be brought to a crisis and explosion by the incident of the duchies. he felt that the impending struggle was probably to be a desperate and a general one, but there was no inconsistency in hoping that the show of a vigorous and menacing attitude might suspend, defer, or entirely dissipate the impending storm. the appearance of vacillation on his part from day to day was hardly deserving of the grave censure which it received, and was certainly in the interests of humanity. his conferences with sully were almost daily and marked by intense anxiety. he longed for barneveld, and repeatedly urged that the advocate, laying aside all other business, would come to paris, that they might advise together thoroughly and face to face. it was most important that the combination of alliances should be correctly arranged before hostilities began, and herein lay the precise difficulty. the princes applied formally and freely to the states-general for assistance. they applied to the king of great britain. the agents of the opposite party besieged henry with entreaties, and, failing in those, with threats; going off afterwards to spain, to the archdukes, and to other catholic powers in search of assistance. the states-general professed their readiness to put an army of , foot and horse in the field for the spring campaign, so soon as they were assured of henry's determination for a rupture. "i am fresh enough still," said he to their ambassador, "to lead an army into cleve. i shall have a cheap bargain enough of the provinces. but these germans do nothing but eat and sleep. they will get the profit and assign to me the trouble. no matter, i will never suffer the aggrandizement of the house of austria. the states-general must disband no troops, but hold themselves in readiness." secretary of state villeroy held the same language, but it was easy to trace beneath his plausible exterior a secret determination to traverse the plans of his sovereign. "the cleve affair must lead to war," he said. "the spaniard, considering how necessary it is for him to have a prince there at his devotion, can never quietly suffer brandenburg and neuburg to establish themselves in those territories. the support thus gained by the states-general would cause the loss of the spanish netherlands." this was the view of henry, too, but the secretary of state, secretly devoted to the cause of spain, looked upon the impending war with much aversion. "all that can come to his majesty from war," he said, "is the glory of having protected the right. counterbalance this with the fatigue, the expense, and the peril of a great conflict, after our long repose, and you will find this to be buying glory too dearly." when a frenchman talked of buying glory too dearly, it seemed probable that the particular kind of glory was not to his taste. henry had already ordered the officers, then in france, of the french infantry kept in the states' service at his expense to depart at once to holland, and he privately announced his intention of moving to the frontier at the head of , men. 'yet not only villeroy, but the chancellor and the constable, while professing opposition to the designs of austria and friendliness to those of brandenburg and neuburg, deprecated this precipitate plunge into war. "those most interested," they said, "refuse to move; fearing austria, distrusting france. they leave us the burden and danger, and hope for the spoils themselves. we cannot play cat to their monkey. the king must hold himself in readiness to join in the game when the real players have shuffled and dealt the cards. it is no matter to us whether the spaniard or brandenburg or anyone else gets the duchies. the states-general require a friendly sovereign there, and ought to say how much they will do for that result." the constable laughed at the whole business. coming straight from the louvre, he said "there would be no serious military movement, and that all those fine freaks would evaporate in air." but sully never laughed. he was quietly preparing the ways and means for the war, and he did not intend, so far as he had influence, that france should content herself with freaks and let spain win the game. alone in the council he maintained that "france had gone too far to recede without sacrifice of reputation."--"the king's word is engaged both within and without," he said. "not to follow it with deeds would be dangerous to the kingdom. the spaniard will think france afraid of war. we must strike a sudden blow, either to drive the enemy away or to crush him at once. there is no time for delay. the netherlands must prevent the aggrandizement of austria or consent to their own ruin." thus stood the game therefore. the brother of brandenburg and son of neuburg had taken possession of dusseldorf. the emperor, informed of this, ordered them forthwith to decamp. he further summoned all pretenders to the duchies to appear before him, in person or by proxy, to make good their claims. they refused and appealed for advice and assistance to the states-general. barneveld, aware of the intrigues of spain, who disguised herself in the drapery of the emperor, recommended that the estates of cleve, julich, berg, mark, ravensberg, and ravenstein, should be summoned in dusseldorf. this was done and a resolution taken to resist any usurpation. the king of france wrote to the elector of cologne, who, by directions of rome and by means of the jesuits, had been active in the intrigue, that he would not permit the princes to be disturbed. the archduke leopold suddenly jumped into the chief citadel of the country and published an edict of the emperor. all the proceedings were thereby nullified as illegal and against the dignity of the realm and the princes proclaimed under ban. a herald brought the edict and ban to the princes in full assembly. the princes tore it to pieces on the spot. nevertheless they were much frightened, and many members of the estates took themselves off; others showing an inclination to follow. the princes sent forth with a deputation to the hague to consult my lords the states-general. the states-general sent an express messenger to paris. their ambassador there sent him back a week later, with notice of the king's determination to risk everything against everything to preserve the rights of the princes. it was added that henry required to be solicited by them, in order not by volunteer succour to give cause for distrust as to his intentions. the states-general were further apprised by the king that his interests and theirs were so considerable in the matter that they would probably be obliged to go into a brisk and open war, in order to prevent the spaniard from establishing himself in the duchies. he advised them to notify the archdukes in brussels that they would regard the truce as broken if, under pretext of maintaining the emperor's rights, they should molest the princes. he desired them further to send their forces at once to the frontier of gelderland under prince maurice, without committing any overt act of hostility, but in order to show that both the king and the states were thoroughly in earnest. the king then sent to archduke albert, as well as to the elector of cologne, and despatched a special envoy to the king of great britain. immediately afterwards came communications from barneveld to henry, with complete adhesion to the king's plans. the states would move in exact harmony with him, neither before him nor after him, which was precisely what he wished. he complained bitterly to aerssens, when he communicated the advocate's despatches, of the slothful and timid course of the princes. he ascribed it to the arts of leopold, who had written and inspired many letters against him insinuating that he was secretly in league and correspondence with the emperor; that he was going to the duchies simply in the interest of the catholics; that he was like henry ii. only seeking to extend the french frontier; and leopold, by these intrigues and falsehoods, had succeeded in filling the princes with distrust, and they had taken umbrage at the advance of his cavalry. henry professed himself incapable of self-seeking or ambition. he meant to prevent the aggrandizement of austria, and was impatient at the dilatoriness and distrust of the princes. "all their enemies are rushing to the king of spain. let them address themselves to the king of france," he said, "for it is we two that must play this game." and when at last they did send an embassy, they prefaced it by a post letter demanding an instant loan, and with an intimation that they would rather have his money than his presence! was it surprising that the king's course should seem occasionally wavering when he found it so difficult to stir up such stagnant waters into honourable action? was it strange that the rude and stern sully should sometimes lose his patience, knowing so much and suspecting more of the foul designs by which his master was encompassed, of the web of conspiracy against his throne, his life, and his honour, which was daily and hourly spinning? "we do nothing and you do nothing," he said one day to aerssens. "you are too soft, and we are too cowardly. i believe that we shall spoil everything, after all. i always suspect these sudden determinations of ours. they are of bad augury. we usually founder at last when we set off so fiercely at first. there are words enough an every side, but there will be few deeds. there is nothing to be got out of the king of great britain, and the king of spain will end by securing these provinces for himself by a treaty." sully knew better than this, but he did not care to let even the dutch envoy know, as yet, the immense preparations he had been making for the coming campaign. the envoys of the possessory princes, the counts solms, colonel pallandt, and dr. steyntgen, took their departure, after it had been arranged that final measures should be concerted at the general congress of the german protestants to be held early in the ensuing year at hall, in suabia. at that convention de boississe would make himself heard on the part of france, and the representatives of the states-general, of venice, and savoy, would also be present. meantime the secret conferences between henry and his superintendent of finances and virtual prime minister were held almost every day. scarcely an afternoon passed that the king did not make his appearance at the arsenal, sully's residence, and walk up and down the garden with him for hours, discussing the great project of which his brain was full. this great project was to crush for ever the power of the austrian house; to drive spain back into her own limits, putting an end to her projects for universal monarchy; and taking the imperial crown from the house of habsburg. by thus breaking up the mighty cousinship which, with the aid of rome, overshadowed germany and the two peninsulas, besides governing the greater part of both the indies, he meant to bring france into the preponderant position over christendom which he believed to be her due. it was necessary, he thought, for the continued existence of the dutch commonwealth that the opportunity should be taken once for all, now that a glorious captain commanded its armies and a statesman unrivalled for experience, insight, and patriotism controlled its politics and its diplomacy, to drive the spaniard out of the netherlands. the cleve question, properly and vigorously handled, presented exactly the long desired opportunity for carrying out these vast designs. the plan of assault upon spanish power was to be threefold. the king himself at the head of , men, supported by prince maurice and the states' forces amounting to at least , , would move to the rhine and seize the duchies. the duke de la force would command the army of the pyrenees and act in concert with the moors of spain, who roused to frenzy by their expulsion from the kingdom could be relied on for a revolt or at least a most vigorous diversion. thirdly, a treaty with the duke of savoy by which henry accorded his daughter to the duke's eldest son, the prince of piedmont, a gift of , crowns, and a monthly pension during the war of , crowns a month, was secretly concluded. early in the spring the duke was to take the field with at least , foot and horse, supported by a french army of , to , men under the experienced marshal de lesdiguieres. these forces were to operate against the duchy of milan with the intention of driving the spaniards out of that rich possession, which the duke of savoy claimed for himself, and of assuring to henry the dictatorship of italy. with the cordial alliance of venice, and by playing off the mutual jealousies of the petty italian princes, like florence, mantua, montserrat, and others, against each other and against the pope, it did not seem doubtful to sully that the result would be easily accomplished. he distinctly urged the wish that the king should content himself with political influence, with the splendid position of holding all italy dependent upon his will and guidance, but without annexing a particle of territory to his own crown. it was henry's intention, however, to help himself to the duchy of savoy, and to the magnificent city and port of genoa as a reward to himself for the assistance, matrimonial alliance, and aggrandizement which he was about to bestow upon charles emmanuel. sully strenuously opposed these self-seeking views on the part of his sovereign, however, constantly placing before him the far nobler aim of controlling the destinies of christendom, of curbing what tended to become omnipotent, of raising up and protecting that which had been abased, of holding the balance of empire with just and steady hand in preference to the more vulgar and commonplace ambition of annexing a province or two to the realms of france. it is true that these virtuous homilies, so often preached by him against territorial aggrandizement in one direction, did not prevent him from indulging in very extensive visions of it in another. but the dreams pointed to the east rather than to the south. it was sully's policy to swallow a portion not of italy but of germany. he persuaded his master that the possessory princes, if placed by the help of france in the heritage which they claimed, would hardly be able to maintain themselves against the dangers which surrounded them except by a direct dependence upon france. in the end the position would become an impossible one, and it would be easy after the war was over to indemnify brandenburg with money and with private property in the heart of france for example, and obtain the cession of those most coveted provinces between the meuse and the weser to the king. "what an advantage for france," whispered sully, "to unite to its power so important a part of germany. for it cannot be denied that by accepting the succour given by the king now those princes oblige themselves to ask for help in the future in order to preserve their new acquisition. thus your majesty will make them pay for it very dearly." thus the very virtuous self-denial in regard to the duke of savoy did not prevent a secret but well developed ambition at the expense of the elector of brandenburg. for after all it was well enough known that the elector was the really important and serious candidate. henry knew full well that neuburg was depending on the austrians and the catholics, and that the claims of saxony were only put forward by the emperor in order to confuse the princes and excite mutual distrust. the king's conferences with the great financier were most confidential, and sully was as secret as the grave. but henry never could keep a secret even when it concerned his most important interests, and nothing would serve him but he must often babble of his great projects even to their minutest details in presence of courtiers and counsellors whom in his heart he knew to be devoted to spain and in receipt of pensions from her king. he would boast to them of the blows by which he meant to demolish spain and the whole house of austria, so that there should be no longer danger to be feared from that source to the tranquillity and happiness of europe, and he would do this so openly and in presence of those who, as he knew, were perpetually setting traps for him and endeavouring to discover his deepest secrets as to make sully's hair stand on end. the faithful minister would pluck his master by the cloak at times, and the king, with the adroitness which never forsook him when he chose to employ it, would contrive to extricate himself from a dilemma and pause at the brink of tremendous disclosures.--[memoires de sully, t. vii. p. .]--but sully could not be always at his side, nor were the nuncius or don inigo de cardenas or their confidential agents and spies always absent. enough was known of the general plan, while as to the probability of its coming into immediate execution, perhaps the enemies of the king were often not more puzzled than his friends. but what the spanish ambassador did not know, nor the nuncius, nor even the friendly aerssens, was the vast amount of supplies which had been prepared for the coming conflict by the finance minister. henry did not know it himself. "the war will turn on france as on a pivot," said sully; "it remains to be seen if we have supplies and money enough. i will engage if the war is not to last more than three years and you require no more than , men at a time that i will show you munitions and ammunition and artillery and the like to such an extent that you will say, 'it is enough.' "as to money--" "how much money have i got?" asked the king; "a dozen millions?" "a little more than that," answered the minister. "fourteen millions?" "more still." "sixteen?" continued the king. "more yet," said sully. and so the king went on adding two millions at each question until thirty millions were reached, and when the question as to this sum was likewise answered in the affirmative, he jumped from his chair, hugged his minister around the neck, and kissed him on both cheeks. "i want no more than that," he cried. sully answered by assuring him that he had prepared a report showing a reserve of forty millions on which he might draw for his war expenses, without in the least degree infringing on the regular budget for ordinary expenses. the king was in a transport of delight, and would have been capable of telling the story on the spot to the nuncius had he met him that afternoon, which fortunately did not occur. but of all men in europe after the faithful sully, henry most desired to see and confer daily and secretly with barneveld. he insisted vehemently that, neglecting all other business, he should come forthwith to paris at the head of the special embassy which it had been agreed that the states should send. no living statesman, he said, could compare to holland's advocate in sagacity, insight, breadth of view, knowledge of mankind and of great affairs, and none he knew was more sincerely attached to his person or felt more keenly the value of the french alliance. with him he indeed communicated almost daily through the medium of aerssens, who was in constant receipt of most elaborate instructions from barneveld, but he wished to confer with him face to face, so that there would be no necessity of delay in sending back for instructions, limitations, and explanation. no man knew better than the king did that so far as foreign affairs were concerned the states-general were simply barneveld. on the nd january the states' ambassador had a long and secret interview with the king.' he informed him that the prince of anhalt had been assured by barneveld that the possessory princes would be fully supported in their position by the states, and that the special deputies of archduke albert, whose presence at the hague made henry uneasy, as he regarded them as perpetual spies, had been dismissed. henry expressed his gratification. they are there, he said, entirely in the interest of leopold, who has just received , crowns from the king of spain, and is to have that sum annually, and they are only sent to watch all your proceedings in regard to cleve. the king then fervently pressed the ambassador to urge barneveld's coming to paris with the least possible delay. he signified his delight with barneveld's answer to anhalt, who thus fortified would be able to do good service at the assembly at hall. he had expected nothing else from barneveld's sagacity, from his appreciation of the needs of christendom, and from his affection for himself. he told the ambassador that he was anxiously waiting for the advocate in order to consult with him as to all the details of the war. the affair of cleve, he said, was too special a cause. a more universal one was wanted. the king preferred to begin with luxemburg, attacking charlemont or namur, while the states ought at the same time to besiege venlo, with the intention afterwards of uniting with the king in laying siege to maestricht. he was strong enough, he said, against all the world, but he still preferred to invite all princes interested to join him in putting down the ambitious and growing power of spain. cleve was a plausible pretext, but the true cause, he said, should be found in the general safety of christendom. boississe had been sent to the german princes to ascertain whether and to what extent they would assist the king. he supposed that once they found him engaged in actual warfare in luxemburg, they would get rid of their jealousy and panic fears of him and his designs. he expected them to furnish at least as large a force as he would supply as a contingent. for it was understood that anhalt as generalissimo of the german forces would command a certain contingent of french troops, while the main army of the king would be led by himself in person. henry expressed the conviction that the king of spain would be taken by surprise finding himself attacked in three places and by three armies at once, he believing that the king of france was entirely devoted to his pleasures and altogether too old for warlike pursuits, while the states, just emerging from the misery of their long and cruel conflict, would be surely unwilling to plunge headlong into a great and bloody war. henry inferred this, he said, from observing the rude and brutal manner in which the soldiers in the spanish netherlands were now treated. it seemed, he said, as if the archdukes thought they had no further need of them, or as if a stamp of the foot could raise new armies out of the earth. "my design," continued the king, "is the more likely to succeed as the king of spain, being a mere gosling and a valet of the duke of lerma, will find himself stripped of all his resources and at his wits' end; unexpectedly embarrassed as he will be on the italian side, where we shall be threatening to cut the jugular vein of his pretended universal monarchy." he intimated that there was no great cause for anxiety in regard to the catholic league just formed at wurzburg. he doubted whether the king of spain would join it, and he had learned that the elector of cologne was making very little progress in obtaining the emperor's adhesion. as to this point the king had probably not yet thoroughly understood that the bavarian league was intended to keep clear of the house of habsburg, maximilian not being willing to identify the success of german catholicism with the fortunes of that family. henry expressed the opinion that the king of spain, that is to say, his counsellors, meant to make use of the emperor's name while securing all the profit, and that rudolph quite understood their game, while matthias was sure to make use of this opportunity, supported by the protestants of bohemia, austria, and moravia, to strip the emperor of the last shred of empire. the king was anxious that the states should send a special embassy at once to the king of great britain. his ambassador, de la boderie, gave little encouragement of assistance from that quarter, but it was at least desirable to secure his neutrality. "'tis a prince too much devoted to repose," said henry, "to be likely to help in this war, but at least he must not be allowed to traverse our great designs. he will probably refuse the league offensive and defensive which i have proposed to him, but he must be got, if possible, to pledge himself to the defensive. i mean to assemble my army on the frontier, as if to move upon julich, and then suddenly sweep down on the meuse, where, sustained by the states' army and that of the princes, i will strike my blows and finish my enterprise before our adversary has got wind of what is coming. we must embark james in the enterprise if we can, but at any rate we must take measures to prevent his spoiling it." henry assured the envoy that no one would know anything of the great undertaking but by its effect; that no one could possibly talk about it with any knowledge except himself, sully, villeroy, barneveld, and aerssens. with them alone he conferred confidentially, and he doubted not that the states would embrace this opportunity to have done for ever with the spaniards. he should take the field in person, he said, and with several powerful armies would sweep the enemy away from the meuse, and after obtaining control of that river would quietly take possession of the sea-coast of flanders, shut up archduke albert between the states and the french, who would thus join hands and unite their frontiers. again the king expressed his anxiety for barneveld's coming, and directed the ambassador to urge it, and to communicate to him the conversation which had just taken place. he much preferred, he said, a general war. he expressed doubts as to the prince of anhalt's capacity as chief in the cleve expedition, and confessed that being jealous of his own reputation he did not like to commit his contingent of troops to the care of a stranger and one so new to his trade. the shame would fall on himself, not on anhalt in case of any disaster. therefore, to avoid all petty jealousies and inconveniences of that nature by which the enterprise might be ruined, it was best to make out of this small affair a great one, and the king signified his hope that the advocate would take this view of the case and give him his support. he had plenty of grounds of war himself, and the states had as good cause of hostilities in the rupture of the truce by the usurpation attempted by leopold with the assistance of spain and in the name of the emperor. he hoped, he said, that the states would receive no more deputations from archduke albert, but decide to settle everything at the point of the sword. the moment was propitious, and, if neglected, might never return. marquis spinola was about to make a journey to spain on various matters of business. on his return, henry said, he meant to make him prisoner as a hostage for the prince of conde, whom the archdukes were harbouring and detaining. this would be the pretext, he said, but the object would be to deprive the archdukes of any military chief, and thus to throw them into utter confusion. count van den berg would never submit to the authority of don luis de velasco, nor velasco to his, and not a man could come from spain or italy, for the passages would all be controlled by france. fortunately for the king's reputation, spinola's journey was deferred, so that this notable plan for disposing of the great captain fell to the ground. henry agreed to leave the two french regiments and the two companies of cavalry in the states' service as usual, but stipulated in certain contingencies for their use. passing to another matter concerning which there had been so much jealousy on the part of the states, the formation of the french east india company--to organize which undertaking le roy and isaac le maire of amsterdam had been living disguised in the house of henry's famous companion, the financier zamet at paris--the king said that barneveld ought not to envy him a participation in the great profits of this business. nothing would be done without consulting him after his arrival in paris. he would discuss the matter privately with him, he said, knowing that barneveld was a great personage, but however obstinate he might be, he felt sure that he would always yield to reason. on the other hand the king expressed his willingness to submit to the advocate's opinions if they should seem the more just. on leaving the king the ambassador had an interview with sully, who again expressed his great anxiety for the arrival of barneveld, and his hopes that he might come with unlimited powers, so that the great secret might not leak out through constant referring of matters back to the provinces. after rendering to the advocate a detailed account of this remarkable conversation, aerssens concluded with an intimation that perhaps his own opinion might be desired as to the meaning of all those movements developing themselves so suddenly and on so many sides. "i will say," he observed, "exactly what the poet sings of the army of ants-- 'hi motus animorum atque haec certamina tanta pulveris exigui jactu contacts quiescunt.' if the prince of conde comes back, we shall be more plausible than ever. if he does not come back, perhaps the consideration of the future will sweep us onwards. all have their special views, and m. de villeroy more warmly than all the rest." etext editor's bookmarks: abstinence from inquisition into consciences and private parlour allowed the demon of religious hatred to enter into its body behead, torture, burn alive, and bury alive all heretics christian sympathy and a small assistance not being sufficient contained within itself the germs of a larger liberty could not be both judge and party in the suit covered now with the satirical dust of centuries deadly hatred of puritans in england and holland doctrine of predestination in its sternest and strictest sense emperor of japan addressed him as his brother monarch estimating his character and judging his judges everybody should mind his own business he was a sincere bigot impatience is often on the part of the non-combatants intense bigotry of conviction international friendship, the self-interest of each it was the true religion, and there was none other james of england, who admired, envied, and hated henry jealousy, that potent principle language which is ever living because it is dead more fiercely opposed to each other than to papists none but god to compel me to say more than i choose to say power the poison of which it is so difficult to resist presents of considerable sums of money to the negotiators made princes show what they have in them at twenty-five or never putting the cart before the oxen religious toleration, which is a phrase of insult secure the prizes of war without the troubles and dangers senectus edam maorbus est so much in advance of his time as to favor religious equality the catholic league and the protestant union the truth in shortest about matters of importance the vehicle is often prized more than the freight there was but one king in europe, henry the bearnese there was no use in holding language of authority to him thirty years' war tread on the heels of the forty years unimaginable outrage as the most legitimate industry wish to appear learned in matters of which they are ignorant chapter ii. - passion of henry iv. for margaret de montmorency--her marriage with the prince of conde--their departure for the country-their flight to the netherlands-rage of the king--intrigues of spain--reception of the prince and princess of conde by the archdukes at brussels-- splendid entertainments by spinola--attempts of the king to bring the fugitives back--mission of de coeuvres to brussels--difficult position of the republic--vast but secret preparations for war. "if the prince of conde comes back." what had the prince of conde, his comings and his goings, to do with this vast enterprise? it is time to point to the golden thread of most fantastic passion which runs throughout this dark and eventful history. one evening in the beginning of the year which had just come to its close there was to be a splendid fancy ball at the louvre in the course of which several young ladies of highest rank were to perform a dance in mythological costume. the king, on ill terms with the queen, who harassed him with scenes of affected jealousy, while engaged in permanent plots with her paramour and master, the italian concini, against his policy and his life; on still worse terms with his latest mistress in chief, the marquise de verneuil, who hated him and revenged herself for enduring his caresses by making him the butt of her venomous wit, had taken the festivities of a court in dudgeon where he possessed hosts of enemies and flatterers but scarcely a single friend. he refused to attend any of the rehearsals of the ballet, but one day a group of diana and her nymphs passed him in the great gallery of the palace. one of the nymphs as she went by turned and aimed her gilded javelin at his heart. henry looked and saw the most beautiful young creature, so he thought, that mortal eye had ever gazed upon, and according to his wont fell instantly over head and ears in love. he said afterwards that he felt himself pierced to the heart and was ready to faint away. the lady was just fifteen years of age. the king was turned of fifty-five. the disparity of age seemed to make the royal passion ridiculous. to henry the situation seemed poetical and pathetic. after this first interview he never missed a single rehearsal. in the intervals he called perpetually for the services of the court poet malherbe, who certainly contrived to perpetrate in his behalf some of the most detestable verses that even he had ever composed. the nymph was marguerite de montmorency, daughter of the constable of france, and destined one day to become the mother of the great conde, hero of rocroy. there can be no doubt that she was exquisitely beautiful. fair-haired, with a complexion of dazzling purity, large expressive eyes, delicate but commanding features, she had a singular fascination of look and gesture, and a winning, almost childlike, simplicity of manner. without feminine artifice or commonplace coquetry, she seemed to bewitch and subdue at a glance men of all ranks, ages, and pursuits; kings and cardinals, great generals, ambassadors and statesmen, as well as humbler mortals whether spanish, italian, french, or flemish. the constable, an ignorant man who, as the king averred, could neither write nor read, understood as well as more learned sages the manners and humours of the court. he had destined his daughter for the young and brilliant bassompierre, the most dazzling of all the cavaliers of the day. the two were betrothed. but the love-stricken henry, then confined to his bed with the gout, sent for the chosen husband of the beautiful margaret. "bassompierre, my friend," said the aged king, as the youthful lover knelt before him at the bedside, "i have become not in love, but mad, out of my senses, furious for mademoiselle de montmorency. if she should love you, i should hate you. if she should love me, you would hate me. 'tis better that this should not be the cause of breaking up our good intelligence, for i love you with affection and inclination. i am resolved to marry her to my nephew the prince of conde, and to keep her near my family. she will be the consolation and support of my old age into which i am now about to enter. i shall give my nephew, who loves the chase a thousand times better than he does ladies, , livres a year, and i wish no other favour from her than her affection without making further pretensions." it was eight o'clock of a black winter's morning, and the tears as he spoke ran down the cheeks of the hero of ivry and bedewed the face of the kneeling bassompierre. the courtly lover sighed and--obeyed. he renounced the hand of the beautiful margaret, and came daily to play at dice with the king at his bedside with one or two other companions. and every day the duchess of angouleme, sister of the constable, brought her fair niece to visit and converse with the royal invalid. but for the dark and tragic clouds which were gradually closing around that eventful and heroic existence there would be something almost comic in the spectacle of the sufferer making the palace and all france ring with the howlings of his grotesque passion for a child of fifteen as he lay helpless and crippled with the gout. one day as the duchess of angouleme led her niece away from their morning visit to the king, margaret as she passed by bassompierre shrugged her shoulders with a scornful glance. stung by this expression of contempt, the lover who had renounced her sprang from the dice table, buried his face in his hat, pretending that his nose was bleeding, and rushed frantically from the palace. two days long he spent in solitude, unable to eat, drink, or sleep, abandoned to despair and bewailing his wretched fate, and it was long before he could recover sufficient equanimity to face his lost margaret and resume his place at the king's dicing table. when he made his appearance, he was according to his own account so pale, changed, and emaciated that his friends could not recognise him. the marriage with conde, first prince of the blood, took place early in the spring. the bride received magnificent presents, and the husband a pension of , livres a year. the attentions of the king became soon outrageous and the reigning scandal of the hour. henry, discarding the grey jacket and simple costume on which he was wont to pride himself, paraded himself about in perfumed ruffs and glittering doublet, an ancient fop, very little heroic, and much ridiculed. the princess made merry with the antics of her royal adorer, while her vanity at least, if not her affection, was really touched, and there was one great round of court festivities in her honour, at which the king and herself were ever the central figures. but conde was not at all amused. not liking the part assigned to him in the comedy thus skilfully arranged by his cousin king, never much enamoured of his bride, while highly appreciating the , livres of pension, he remonstrated violently with his wife, bitterly reproached the king, and made himself generally offensive. "the prince is here," wrote henry to sully, "and is playing the very devil. you would be in a rage and be ashamed of the things he says of me. but at last i am losing patience, and am resolved to give him a bit of my mind." he wrote in the same terms to montmorency. the constable, whose conduct throughout the affair was odious and pitiable, promised to do his best to induce the prince, instead of playing the devil, to listen to reason, as he and the duchess of angouleme understood reason. henry had even the ineffable folly to appeal to the queen to use her influence with the refractory conde. mary de' medici replied that there were already thirty go-betweens at work, and she had no idea of being the thirty-first--[henrard, ]. conde, surrounded by a conspiracy against his honour and happiness, suddenly carried off his wife to the country, much to the amazement and rage of henry. in the autumn he entertained a hunting party at a seat of his, the abbey of verneuille, on the borders of picardy. de traigny, governor of amiens, invited the prince, princess, and the dowager-princess to a banquet at his chateau not far from the abbey. on their road thither they passed a group of huntsmen and grooms in the royal livery. among them was an aged lackey with a plaister over one eye, holding a couple of hounds in leash. the princess recognized at a glance under that ridiculous disguise the king. "what a madman!" she murmured as she passed him, "i will never forgive you;" but as she confessed many years afterwards, this act of gallantly did not displease her.' in truth, even in mythological fable, trove has scarcely ever reduced demi-god or hero to more fantastic plight than was this travesty of the great henry. after dinner madame de traigny led her fair guest about the castle to show her the various points of view. at one window she paused, saying that it commanded a particularly fine prospect. the princess looked from it across a courtyard, and saw at an opposite window an old gentleman holding his left hand tightly upon his heart to show that it was wounded, and blowing kisses to her with the other: "my god! it is the king himself," she cried to her hostess. the princess with this exclamation rushed from the window, feeling or affecting much indignation, ordered horses to her carriage instantly, and overwhelmed madame de traigny with reproaches. the king himself, hastening to the scene, was received with passionate invectives, and in vain attempted to assuage the princess's wrath and induce her to remain. they left the chateau at once, both prince and princess. one night, not many weeks afterwards, the due de sully, in the arsenal at paris, had just got into bed at past eleven o'clock when he received a visit from captain de praslin, who walked straight into his bed-chamber, informing him that the king instantly required his presence. sully remonstrated. he was obliged to rise at three the next morning, he said, enumerating pressing and most important work which henry required to be completed with all possible haste. "the king said you would be very angry," replied praslin; "but there is no help for it. come you must, for the man you know of has gone out of the country, as you said he would, and has carried away the lady on the crupper behind him." "ho, ho," said the duke, "i am wanted for that affair, am i?" and the two proceeded straightway to the louvre, and were ushered, of all apartments in the world, into the queen's bedchamber. mary de' medici had given birth only four days before to an infant, henrietta maria, future queen of charles i. of england. the room was crowded with ministers and courtiers; villeroy, the chancellor, bassompierre, and others, being stuck against the wall at small intervals like statues, dumb, motionless, scarcely daring to breathe. the king, with his hands behind him and his grey beard sunk on his breast, was pacing up and down the room in a paroxysm of rage and despair. "well," said he, turning to sully as he entered, "our man has gone off and carried everything with him. what do you say to that?" the duke beyond the boding "i told you so" phrase of consolation which he was entitled to use, having repeatedly warned his sovereign that precisely this catastrophe was impending, declined that night to offer advice. he insisted on sleeping on it. the manner in which the proceedings of the king at this juncture would be regarded by the archdukes albert and isabella--for there could be no doubt that conde had escaped to their territory--and by the king of spain, in complicity with whom the step had unquestionably been taken--was of gravest political importance. henry had heard the intelligence but an hour before. he was at cards in his cabinet with bassompierre and others when d'elbene entered and made a private communication to him. "bassompierre, my friend," whispered the king immediately in that courtier's ear, "i am lost. this man has carried his wife off into a wood. i don't know if it is to kill her or to take her out of france. take care of my money and keep up the game." bassompierre followed the king shortly afterwards and brought him his money. he said that he had never seen a man so desperate, so transported. the matter was indeed one of deepest and universal import. the reader has seen by the preceding narrative how absurd is the legend often believed in even to our own days that war was made by france upon the archdukes and upon spain to recover the princess of conde from captivity in brussels. from contemporary sources both printed and unpublished; from most confidential conversations and revelations, we have seen how broad, deliberate, and deeply considered were the warlike and political combinations in the king's ever restless brain. but although the abduction of the new helen by her own menelaus was not the cause of the impending, iliad, there is no doubt whatever that the incident had much to do with the crisis, was the turning point in a great tragedy, and that but for the vehement passion of the king for this youthful princess events might have developed themselves on a far different scale from that which they were destined to assume. for this reason a court intrigue, which history under other conditions might justly disdain, assumes vast proportions and is taken quite away from the scandalous chronicle which rarely busies itself with grave affairs of state. "the flight of conde," wrote aerssens, "is the catastrophe to the comedy which has been long enacting. 'tis to be hoped that the sequel may not prove tragical." "the prince," for simply by that title he was usually called to distinguish him from all other princes in france, was next of blood. had henry no sons, he would have succeeded him on the throne. it was a favourite scheme of the spanish party to invalidate henry's divorce from margaret of valois, and thus to cast doubts on the legitimacy of the dauphin and the other children of mary de' medici. the prince in the hands of the spanish government might prove a docile and most dangerous instrument to the internal repose of france not only after henry's death but in his life-time. conde's character was frivolous, unstable, excitable, weak, easy to be played upon by designing politicians, and he had now the deepest cause for anger and for indulging in ambitious dreams. he had been wont during this unhappy first year of his marriage to loudly accuse henry of tyranny, and was now likely by public declaration to assign that as the motive of his flight. henry had protested in reply that he had never been guilty of tyranny but once in his life, and that was when he allowed this youth to take the name and title of conde? for the princess-dowager his mother had lain for years in prison, under the terrible accusation of having murdered her husband, in complicity with her paramour, a gascon page, named belcastel. the present prince had been born several months after his reputed father's death. henry, out of good nature, or perhaps for less creditable reasons, had come to the rescue of the accused princess, and had caused the process to be stopped, further enquiry to be quashed, and the son to be recognized as legitimate prince of conde. the dowager had subsequently done her best to further the king's suit to her son's wife, for which the prince bitterly reproached her to her face, heaping on her epithets which she well deserved. henry at once began to threaten a revival of the criminal suit, with a view of bastardizing him again, although the dowager had acted on all occasions with great docility in henry's interests. the flight of the prince and princess was thus not only an incident of great importance to the internal politics of trance, but had a direct and important bearing on the impending hostilities. its intimate connection with the affairs of the netherland commonwealth was obvious. it was probable that the fugitives would make their way towards the archdukes' territory, and that afterwards their first point of destination would be breda, of which philip william of orange, eldest brother of prince maurice, was the titular proprietor. since the truce recently concluded the brothers, divided so entirely by politics and religion, could meet on fraternal and friendly terms, and breda, although a city of the commonwealth, received its feudal lord. the princess of orange was the sister of conde. the morning after the flight the king, before daybreak, sent for the dutch ambassador. he directed him to despatch a courier forthwith to barneveld, notifying him that the prince had left the kingdom without the permission or knowledge of his sovereign, and stating the king's belief that he had fled to the territory of the archdukes. if he should come to breda or to any other place within the jurisdiction of the states, they were requested to make sure of his person at once, and not to permit him to retire until further instructions should be received from the king. de praslin, captain of the body-guards and lieutenant of champagne, it was further mentioned, was to be sent immediately on secret mission concerning this affair to the states and to the archdukes. the king suspected conde of crime, so the advocate was to be informed. he believed him to be implicated in the conspiracy of poitou; the six who had been taken prisoners having confessed that they had thrice conferred with a prince at paris, and that the motive of the plot was to free themselves and france from the tyranny of henry iv. the king insisted peremptorily, despite of any objections from aerssens, that the thing must be done and his instructions carried out to the letter. so much he expected of the states, and they should care no more for ulterior consequences, he said, than he had done for the wrath of spain when he frankly undertook their cause. conde was important only because his relative, and he declared that if the prince should escape, having once entered the territory of the republic, he should lay the blame on its government. "if you proceed languidly in the affair," wrote aerssens to barneveld, "our affairs will suffer for ever." nobody at court believed in the poitou conspiracy, or that conde had any knowledge of it. the reason of his flight was a mystery to none, but as it was immediately followed by an intrigue with spain, it seemed ingenious to henry to make, use of a transparent pretext to conceal the ugliness of the whole affair. he hoped that the prince would be arrested at breda and sent back by the states. villeroy said that if it was not done, they would be guilty of black ingratitude. it would be an awkward undertaking, however, and the states devoutly prayed that they might not be put to the test. the crafty aerssens suggested to barneveld that if conde was not within their territory it would be well to assure the king that, had he been there, he would have been delivered up at once. "by this means," said the ambassador, "you will give no cause of offence to the prince, and will at the same time satisfy the king. it is important that he should think that you depend immediately upon him. if you see that after his arrest they take severe measures against him, you will have a thousand ways of parrying the blame which posterity might throw upon you. history teaches you plenty of them." he added that neither sully nor anyone else thought much of the poitou conspiracy. those implicated asserted that they had intended to raise troops there to assist the king in the cleve expedition. some people said that henry had invented this plot against his throne and life. the ambassador, in a spirit of prophecy, quoted the saying of domitian: "misera conditio imperantium quibus de conspiratione non creditor nisi occisis." meantime the fugitives continued their journey. the prince was accompanied by one of his dependants, a rude officer, de rochefort, who carried the princess on a pillion behind him. she had with her a lady-in-waiting named du certeau and a lady's maid named philippote. she had no clothes but those on her back, not even a change of linen. thus the young and delicate lady made the wintry journey through the forests. they crossed the frontier at landrecies, then in the spanish netherlands, intending to traverse the archduke's territory in order to reach breda, where conde meant to leave his wife in charge of his sister, the princess of orange, and then to proceed to brussels. he wrote from the little inn at landrecies to notify the archduke of his project. he was subsequently informed that albert would not prevent his passing through his territories, but should object to his making a fixed residence within them. the prince also wrote subsequently to the king of spain and to the king of france. to henry he expressed his great regret at being obliged to leave the kingdom in order to save his honour and his life, but that he had no intention of being anything else than his very humble and faithful cousin, subject, and servant. he would do nothing against his service, he said, unless forced thereto, and he begged the king not to take it amiss if he refused to receive letters from any one whomsoever at court, saving only such letters as his majesty himself might honour him by writing. the result of this communication to the king was of course to enrage that monarch to the utmost, and his first impulse on finding that the prince was out of his reach was to march to brussels at once and take possession of him and the princess by main force. more moderate counsels prevailed for the moment however, and negotiations were attempted. praslin did not contrive to intercept the fugitives, but the states-general, under the advice of barneveld, absolutely forbade their coming to breda or entering any part of their jurisdiction. the result of conde's application to the king of spain was an ultimate offer of assistance and asylum, through a special emissary, one anover; for the politicians of madrid were astute enough to see what a card the prince might prove in their hands. henry instructed his ambassador in spain to use strong and threatening language in regard to the harbouring a rebel and a conspirator against the throne of france; while on the other hand he expressed his satisfaction with the states for having prohibited the prince from entering their territory. he would have preferred, he said, if they had allowed him entrance and forbidden his departure, but on the whole he was content. it was thought in paris that the netherland government had acted with much adroitness in thus abstaining both from a violation of the law of nations and from giving offence to the king. a valet of conde was taken with some papers of the prince about him, which proved a determination on his part never to return to france during the lifetime of henry. they made no statement of the cause of his flight, except to intimate that it might be left to the judgment of every one, as it was unfortunately but too well known to all. refused entrance into the dutch territory, the prince was obliged to renounce his project in regard to breda, and brought his wife to brussels. he gave bentivoglio, the papal nuncio, two letters to forward to italy, one to the pope, the other to his nephew, cardinal borghese. encouraged by the advices which he had received from spain, he justified his flight from france both by the danger to his honour and to his life, recommending both to the protection of his holiness and his eminence. bentivoglio sent the letters, but while admitting the invincible reasons for his departure growing out of the king's pursuit of the princess, he refused all credence to the pretended violence against conde himself. conde informed de praslin that he would not consent to return to france. subsequently he imposed as conditions of return that the king should assign to him certain cities and strongholds in guienne, of which province he was governor, far from paris and very near the spanish frontier; a measure dictated by spain and which inflamed henry's wrath almost to madness. the king insisted on his instant return, placing himself and of course the princess entirely in his hands and receiving a full pardon for this effort to save his honour. the prince and princess of orange came from breda to brussels to visit their brother and his wife. here they established them in the palace of nassau, once the residence in his brilliant youth of william the silent; a magnificent mansion, surrounded by park and garden, built on the brow of the almost precipitous hill, beneath which is spread out so picturesquely the antique and beautiful capital of brabant. the archdukes received them with stately courtesy at their own palace. on their first ceremonious visit to the sovereigns of the land, the formal archduke, coldest and chastest of mankind, scarcely lifted his eyes to gaze on the wondrous beauty of the princess, yet assured her after he had led her through a portrait gallery of fair women that formerly these had been accounted beauties, but that henceforth it was impossible to speak of any beauty but her own. the great spinola fell in love with her at once, sent for the illustrious rubens from antwerp to paint her portrait, and offered mademoiselle de chateau vert , crowns in gold if she would do her best to further his suit with her mistress. the genoese banker-soldier made love, war, and finance on a grand scale. he gave a magnificent banquet and ball in her honour on twelfth night, and the festival was the wonder of the town. nothing like it had been seen in brussels for years. at six in the evening spinola in splendid costume, accompanied by don luis velasco, count ottavio visconti, count bucquoy, with other nobles of lesser note, drove to the nassau palace to bring the prince and princess and their suite to the marquis's mansion. here a guard of honour of thirty musketeers was standing before the door, and they were conducted from their coaches by spinola preceded by twenty-four torch-bearers up the grand staircase to a hall, where they were received by the princesses of mansfeld, velasco, and other distinguished dames. thence they were led through several apartments rich with tapestry and blazing with crystal and silver plate to a splendid saloon where was a silken canopy, under which the princess of conde and the princess of orange seated themselves, the nuncius bentivoglio to his delight being placed next the beautiful margaret. after reposing for a little while they were led to the ball-room, brilliantly lighted with innumerable torches of perfumed wax and hung with tapestry of gold and silk, representing in fourteen embroidered designs the chief military exploits of spinola. here the banquet, a cold collation, was already spread on a table decked and lighted with regal splendour. as soon as the guests were seated, an admirable concert of instrumental music began. spinola walked up and down providing for the comforts of his company, the duke of aumale stood behind the two princesses to entertain them with conversation, don luis velasco served the princess of conde with plates, handed her the dishes, the wine, the napkins, while bucquoy and visconti in like manner waited upon the princess of orange; other nobles attending to the other ladies. forty-eight pages in white, yellow, and red scarves brought and removed the dishes. the dinner, of courses innumerable, lasted two hours and a half, and the ladies, being thus fortified for the more serious business of the evening, were led to the tiring-rooms while the hall was made ready for dancing. the ball was opened by the princess of conde and spinola, and lasted until two in the morning. as the apartment grew warm, two of the pages went about with long staves and broke all the windows until not a single pane of glass remained. the festival was estimated by the thrifty chronicler of antwerp to have cost from to crowns. it was, he says, "an earthly paradise of which soon not a vapour remained." he added that he gave a detailed account of it "not because he took pleasure in such voluptuous pomp and extravagance, but that one might thus learn the vanity of the world." these courtesies and assiduities on the part of the great "shopkeeper," as the constable called him, had so much effect, if not on the princess, at least on conde himself, that he threatened to throw his wife out of window if she refused to caress spinola. these and similar accusations were made by the father and aunt when attempting to bring about a divorce of the princess from her husband. the nuncius bentivoglio, too, fell in love with her, devoting himself to her service, and his facile and eloquent pen to chronicling her story. even poor little philip of spain in the depths of the escurial heard of her charms, and tried to imagine himself in love with her by proxy. thenceforth there was a succession of brilliant festivals in honour of the princess. the spanish party was radiant with triumph, the french maddened with rage. henry in paris was chafing like a lion at bay. a petty sovereign whom he could crush at one vigorous bound was protecting the lady for whose love he was dying. he had secured conde's exclusion from holland, but here were the fugitives splendidly established in brussels; the princess surrounded by most formidable suitors, the prince encouraged in his rebellious and dangerous schemes by the power which the king most hated on earth, and whose eternal downfall he had long since sworn to accomplish. for the weak and frivolous conde began to prattle publicly of his deep projects of revenge. aided by spanish money and spanish troops he would show one day who was the real heir to the throne of france--the illegitimately born dauphin or himself. the king sent for the first president of parliament, harlay, and consulted with him as to the proper means of reviving the suppressed process against the dowager and of publicly degrading conde from his position of first prince of the blood which he had been permitted to usurp. he likewise procured a decree accusing him of high-treason and ordering him to be punished at his majesty's pleasure, to be prepared by the parliament of paris; going down to the court himself in his impatience and seating himself in everyday costume on the bench of judges to see that it was immediately proclaimed. instead of at once attacking the archdukes in force as he intended in the first ebullition of his wrath, he resolved to send de boutteville-montmorency, a relative of the constable, on special and urgent mission to brussels. he was to propose that conde and his wife should return with the prince and princess of orange to breda, the king pledging himself that for three or four months nothing should be undertaken against him. here was a sudden change of determination fit to surprise the states-general, but the king's resolution veered and whirled about hourly in the tempests of his wrath and love. that excellent old couple, the constable and the duchess of angouleme, did their best to assist their sovereign in his fierce attempts to get their daughter and niece into his power. the constable procured a piteous letter to be written to archduke albert, signed "montmorency his mark," imploring him not to "suffer that his daughter, since the prince refused to return to france, should leave brussels to be a wanderer about the world following a young prince who had no fixed purpose in his mind." archduke albert, through his ambassador in paris, peter pecquius, suggested the possibility of a reconciliation between henry and his kinsman, and offered himself as intermediary. he enquired whether the king would find it agreeable that he should ask for pardon in name of the prince. henry replied that he was willing that the archduke should accord to conde secure residence for the time within his dominions on three inexorable conditions:--firstly, that the prince should ask for pardon without any stipulations, the king refusing to listen to any treaty or to assign him towns or places of security as had been vaguely suggested, and holding it utterly unreasonable that a man sueing for pardon should, instead of deserved punishment, talk of terms and acquisitions; secondly, that, if conde should reject the proposition, albert should immediately turn him out of his country, showing himself justly irritated at finding his advice disregarded; thirdly, that, sending away the prince, the archduke should forthwith restore the princess to her father the constable and her aunt angouleme, who had already made their petitions to albert and isabella for that end, to which the king now added his own most particular prayers. if the archduke should refuse consent to these three conditions, henry begged that he would abstain from any farther attempt to effect a reconciliation and not suffer conde to remain any longer within his territories. pecquius replied that he thought his master might agree to the two first propositions while demurring to the third, as it would probably not seem honourable to him to separate man and wife, and as it was doubtful whether the princess would return of her own accord. the king, in reporting the substance of this conversation to aerssens, intimated his conviction that they were only wishing in brussels to gain time; that they were waiting for letters from spain, which they were expecting ever since the return of conde's secretary from milan, whither he had been sent to confer with the governor, count fuentes. he said farther that he doubted whether the princess would go to breda, which he should now like, but which conde would not now permit. this he imputed in part to the princess of orange, who had written a letter full of invectives against himself to the dowager--princess of conde which she had at once sent to him. henry expressed at the same time his great satisfaction with the states-general and with barneveld in this affair, repeating his assurances that they were the truest and best friends he had. the news of conde's ceremonious visit to leopold in julich could not fail to exasperate the king almost as much as the pompous manner in which he was subsequently received at brussels; spinola and the spanish ambassador going forth to meet him. at the same moment the secretary of vaucelles, henry's ambassador in madrid, arrived in paris, confirming the king's suspicions that conde's flight had been concerted with don inigo de cardenas, and was part of a general plot of spain against the peace of the kingdom. the duc d'epernon, one of the most dangerous plotters at the court, and deep in the intimacy of the queen and of all the secret adherents of the spanish policy, had been sojourning a long time at metz, under pretence of attending to his health, had sent his children to spain, as hostages according to henry's belief, had made himself master of the citadel, and was turning a deaf ear to all the commands of the king. the supporters of conde in france were openly changing their note and proclaiming by the prince's command that he had left the kingdom in order to preserve his quality of first prince of the blood, and that he meant to make good his right of primogeniture against the dauphin and all competitors. such bold language and such open reliance on the support of spain in disputing the primogeniture of the dauphin were fast driving the most pacifically inclined in france into enthusiasm for the war. the states, too, saw their opportunity more vividly every day. "what could we desire more," wrote aerssens to barneveld, "than open war between france and spain? posterity will for ever blame us if we reject this great occasion." peter pecquius, smoothest and sliest of diplomatists, did his best to make things comfortable, for there could be little doubt that his masters most sincerely deprecated war. on their heads would come the first blows, to their provinces would return the great desolation out of which they had hardly emerged. still the archduke, while racking his brains for the means of accommodation, refused, to his honour, to wink at any violation of the law of nations, gave a secret promise, in which the infanta joined, that the princess should not be allowed to leave brussels without her husband's permission, and resolutely declined separating the pair except with the full consent of both. in order to protect himself from the king's threats, he suggested sending conde to some neutral place for six or eight months, to prague, to breda, or anywhere else; but henry knew that conde would never allow this unless he had the means by spanish gold of bribing the garrison there, and so of holding the place in pretended neutrality, but in reality at the devotion of the king of spain. meantime henry had despatched the marquis de coeuvres, brother of the beautiful gabrielle, duchess de beaufort, and one of the most audacious and unscrupulous of courtiers, on a special mission to brussels. de coeuvres saw conde before presenting his credentials to the archduke, and found him quite impracticable. acting under the advice of the prince of orange, he expressed his willingness to retire to some neutral city of germany or italy, drawing meanwhile from henry a pension of , crowns a year. but de coeuvres firmly replied that the king would make no terms with his vassal nor allow conde to prescribe conditions to him. to leave him in germany or italy, he said, was to leave him in the dependence of spain. the king would not have this constant apprehension of her intrigues while, living, nor leave such matter in dying for turbulence in his kingdom. if it appeared that the spaniards wished to make use of the prince for such purposes, he would be beforehand with them, and show them how much more injury he could inflict on spain than they on france. obviously committed to spain, conde replied to the entreaties of the emissary that if the king would give him half his kingdom he would not accept the offer nor return to france; at least before the th of february, by which date he expected advices from spain. he had given his word, he said, to lend his ear to no overtures before that time. he made use of many threats, and swore that he would throw himself entirely into the arms of the spanish king if henry would not accord him the terms which he had proposed. to do this was an impossibility. to grant him places of security would, as the king said, be to plant a standard for all the malcontents of france to rally around. conde had evidently renounced all hopes of a reconciliation, however painfully his host the archduke might intercede for it. he meant to go to spain. spinola was urging this daily and hourly, said henry, for he had fallen in love with the princess, who complained of all these persecutions in her letters to her father, and said that she would rather die than go to spain. the king's advices from de coeuvres were however to the effect that the step would probably be taken, that the arrangements were making, and that spinola had been shut up with conde six hours long with nobody present but rochefort and a certain counsellor of the prince of orange named keeremans. henry was taking measures to intercept them on their flight by land, but there was some thought of their proceeding to spain by sea. he therefore requested the states to send two ships of war, swift sailors, well equipped, one to watch in the roads of st. jean and the other on the english coast. these ships were to receive their instructions from admiral de vicq, who would be well informed of all the movements of the prince and give warning to the captains of the dutch vessels by a preconcerted signal. the king begged that barneveld would do him this favour, if he loved him, and that none might have knowledge of it but the advocate and prince maurice. the ships would be required for two or three months only, but should be equipped and sent forth as soon as possible. the states had no objection to performing this service, although it subsequently proved to be unnecessary, and they were quite ready at that moment to go openly into the war to settle the affairs of clove, and once for all to drive the spaniards out of the netherlands and beyond seas and mountains. yet strange to say, those most conversant with the state of affairs could not yet quite persuade themselves that matters were serious, and that the king's mind was fixed. should conde return, renounce his spanish stratagems, and bring back the princess to court, it was felt by the king's best and most confidential friends that all might grow languid again, the spanish faction get the upper hand in the king's councils, and the states find themselves in a terrible embarrassment. on the other hand, the most prying and adroit of politicians were puzzled to read the signs of the times. despite henry's garrulity, or perhaps in consequence of it, the envoys of spain, the empire, and of archduke albert were ignorant whether peace were likely to be broken or not, in spite of rumours which filled the air. so well had the secrets been kept which the reader has seen discussed in confidential conversations--the record of which has always remained unpublished--between the king and those admitted to his intimacy that very late in the winter pecquius, while sadly admitting to his masters that the king was likely to take part against the emperor in the affair of the duchies, expressed the decided opinion that it would be limited to the secret sending of succour to brandenburg and neuburg as formerly to the united provinces, but that he would never send troops into cleve, or march thither himself. it is important, therefore, to follow closely the development of these political and amorous intrigues, for they furnish one of the most curious and instructive lessons of history; there being not the slightest doubt that upon their issue chiefly depended the question of a great and general war. pecquius, not yet despairing that his master would effect a reconciliation between the king and conde, proposed again that the prince should be permitted to reside for a time in some place not within the jurisdiction of spain or of the archdukes, being allowed meantime to draw his annual pension of , livres. henry ridiculed the idea of conde's drawing money from him while occupying his time abroad with intrigues against his throne and his children's succession. he scoffed at the envoy's pretences that conde was not in receipt of money from spain, as if a man so needy and in so embarrassing a position could live without money from some source; and as if he were not aware, from his correspondents in spain, that funds were both promised and furnished to the prince. he repeated his determination not to accord him pardon unless he returned to france, which he had no cause to leave, and, turning suddenly on pecquius, demanded why, the subject of reconciliation having failed, the archduke did not immediately fulfil his promise of turning conde out of his dominions. upon this albert's minister drew back with the air of one amazed, asking how and when the archduke had ever made such a promise. "to the marquis de coeuvres," replied henry. pecquius asked if his ears had not deceived him, and if the king had really said that de coeuvres had made such a statement. henry repeated and confirmed the story. upon the minister's reply that he had himself received no such intelligence from the archduke, the king suddenly changed his tone, and said, "no, i was mistaken--i was confused--the marquis never wrote me this; but did you not say yourself that i might be assured that there would be no difficulty about it if the prince remained obstinate." pecquius replied that he had made such a proposition to his masters by his majesty's request; but there had been no answer received, nor time for one, as the hope of reconciliation had not yet been renounced. he begged henry to consider whether, without instructions from his master, he could have thus engaged his word. "well," said the king, "since you disavow it, i see very well that the archduke has no wish to give me pleasure, and that these are nothing but tricks that you have been amusing me with all this time. very good; each of us will know what we have to do." pecquius considered that the king had tried to get him into a net, and to entrap him into the avowal of a promise which he had never made. henry remained obstinate in his assertions, notwithstanding all the envoy's protestations. "a fine trick, indeed, and unworthy of a king, 'si dicere fas est,'" he wrote to secretary of state praets. "but the force of truth is such that he who spreads the snare always tumbles into the ditch himself." henry concluded the subject of conde at this interview by saying that he could have his pardon on the conditions already named, and not otherwise. he also made some complaints about archduke leopold, who, he said, notwithstanding his demonstrations of wishing a treaty of compromise, was taking towns by surprise which he could not hold, and was getting his troops massacred on credit. pecquius expressed the opinion that it would be better to leave the germans to make their own arrangements among themselves, adding that neither his masters nor the king of spain meant to mix themselves up in the matter. "let them mix themselves in it or keep out of it, as they like," said henry, "i shall not fail to mix myself up in it." the king was marvellously out of humour. before finishing the interview, he asked pecquius whether marquis spinola was going to spain very soon, as he had permission from his majesty to do so, and as he had information that he would be on the road early in lent. the minister replied that this would depend on the will of the archduke, and upon various circumstances. the answer seemed to displease the king, and pecquius was puzzled to know why. he was not aware, of course, of henry's project to kidnap the marquis on the road, and keep him as a surety for conde. the envoy saw villeroy after the audience, who told him not to mind the king's ill-temper, but to bear it as patiently as he could. his majesty could not digest, he said, his infinite displeasure at the obstinacy of the prince; but they must nevertheless strive for a reconciliation. the king was quick in words, but slow in deeds, as the ambassador might have observed before, and they must all try to maintain peace, to which he would himself lend his best efforts. as the secretary of state was thoroughly aware that the king was making vast preparations for war, and had given in his own adhesion to the project, it is refreshing to observe the candour with which he assured the representative of the adverse party of his determination that friendliest relations should be preserved. it is still more refreshing to find villeroy, the same afternoon, warmly uniting with sully, lesdiguieres, and the chancellor, in the decision that war should begin forthwith. for the king held a council at the arsenal immediately after this interview with pecquius, in which he had become convinced that conde would never return. he took the queen with him, and there was not a dissentient voice as to the necessity of beginning hostilities at once. sully, however, was alone in urging that the main force of the attack should be in the north, upon the rhine and meuse. villeroy and those who were secretly in the spanish interest were for beginning it with the southern combination and against milan. sully believed the duke of savoy to be variable and attached in his heart to spain, and he thought it contrary to the interests of france to permit an italian prince to grow so great on her frontier. he therefore thoroughly disapproved the plan, and explained to the dutch ambassador that all this urgency to carry on the war in the south came from hatred to the united provinces, jealousy of their aggrandizement, detestation of the reformed religion, and hope to engage henry in a campaign which he could not carry on successfully. but he assured aerssens that he had the means of counteracting these designs and of bringing on an invasion for obtaining possession of the meuse. if the possessory princes found henry making war in the milanese only, they would feel themselves ruined, and might throw up the game. he begged that barneveld would come on to paris at once, as now or never was the moment to assure the republic for all time. the king had acted with malicious adroitness in turning the tables upon the prince and treating him as a rebel and a traitor because, to save his own and his wife's honour, he had fled from a kingdom where he had but too good reason to suppose that neither was safe. the prince, with infinite want of tact, had played into the king's hands. he had bragged of his connection with spain and of his deep designs, and had shown to all the world that he was thenceforth but an instrument in the hands of the spanish cabinet, while all the world knew the single reason for which he had fled. the king, hopeless now of compelling the return of conde, had become most anxious to separate him from his wife. already the subject of divorce between the two had been broached, and it being obvious that the prince would immediately betake himself into the spanish dominions, the king was determined that the princess should not follow him thither. he had the incredible effrontery and folly to request the queen to address a letter to her at brussels, urging her to return to france. but mary de' medici assured her husband that she had no intention of becoming his assistant, using, to express her thought, the plainest and most vigorous word that the italian language could supply. henry had then recourse once more to the father and aunt. that venerable couple being about to wait upon the archduke's envoy, in compliance with the royal request, pecquius, out of respect to their advanced age, went to the constable's residence. here both the duchess and constable, with tears in their eyes, besought that diplomatist to do his utmost to prevent the princess from the sad fate of any longer sharing her husband's fortunes. the father protested that he would never have consented to her marriage, preferring infinitely that she should have espoused any honest gentleman with crowns a year than this first prince of the blood, with a character such as it had proved to be; but that he had not dared to disobey the king. he spoke of the indignities and cruelties to which she was subjected, said that rochefort, whom conde had employed to assist him in their flight from france, and on the crupper of whose horse the princess had performed the journey, was constantly guilty of acts of rudeness and incivility towards her; that but a few days past he had fired off pistols in her apartment where she was sitting alone with the princess of orange, exclaiming that this was the way he would treat anyone who interfered with the commands of his master, conde; that the prince was incessantly railing at her for refusing to caress the marquis of spinola; and that, in short, he would rather she were safe in the palace of the archduchess isabella, even in the humblest position among her gentlewomen, than to know her vagabondizing miserably about the world with her husband. this, he said, was the greatest fear he had, and he would rather see her dead than condemned to such a fate. he trusted that the archdukes were incapable of believing the stories that he and the duchess of angouleme were influenced in the appeals they made for the separation of the prince and princess by a desire to serve the purposes of the king. those were fables put about by conde. all that the constable and his sister desired was that the archduchess would receive the princess kindly when she should throw herself at her feet, and not allow her to be torn away against her will. the constable spoke with great gravity and simplicity, and with all the signs of genuine emotion, and peter pecquius was much moved. he assured the aged pair that he would do his best to comply with their wishes, and should immediately apprise the archdukes of the interview which had just taken place. most certainly they were entirely disposed to gratify the constable and the duchess as well as the princess herself, whose virtues, qualities, and graces had inspired them with affection, but it must be remembered that the law both human and divine required wives to submit themselves to the commands of their husbands and to be the companions of their good and evil fortunes. nevertheless, he hoped that the lord would so conduct the affairs of the prince of conde that the most christian king and the archdukes would all be satisfied. these pious and consolatory commonplaces on the part of peter pecquius deeply affected the constable. he fell upon the envoy's neck, embraced him repeatedly, and again wept plentifully. chapter iii. strange scene at the archduke's palace--henry's plot frustrated-- his triumph changed to despair--conversation of the dutch ambassador with the king--the war determined upon. it was in the latter part of the carnival, the saturday night preceding shrove tuesday, . the winter had been a rigorous one in brussels, and the snow lay in drifts three feet deep in the streets. within and about the splendid palace of nassau there was much commotion. lights and flambeaux were glancing, loud voices, martial music, discharge of pistols and even of artillery were heard together with the trampling of many feet, but there was nothing much resembling the wild revelry or cheerful mummery of that holiday season. a throng of the great nobles of belgium with drawn swords and menacing aspect were assembled in the chief apartments, a detachment of the archduke's mounted body-guard was stationed in the courtyard, and five hundred halberdiers of the burgher guilds kept watch and ward about the palace. the prince of conde, a square-built, athletic young man of middle stature, with regular features, but a sulky expression, deepened at this moment into ferocity, was seen chasing the secretary of the french resident minister out of the courtyard, thwacking him lustily about the shoulders with his drawn sword, and threatening to kill him or any other frenchman on the spot, should he show himself in that palace. he was heard shouting rather than speaking, in furious language against the king, against coeuvres, against berny, and bitterly bewailing his misfortunes, as if his wife were already in paris instead of brussels. upstairs in her own apartment which she had kept for some days on pretext of illness sat the princess margaret, in company' of madame de berny, wife of the french minister, and of the marquis de coeuvres, henry's special envoy, and a few other frenchmen. she was passionately fond of dancing. the adoring cardinal described her as marvellously graceful and perfect in that accomplishment. she had begged her other adorer, the marquis spinola, "with sweetest words," that she might remain a few days longer in the nassau palace before removing to the archduke's residence, and that the great general, according to the custom in france and flanders, would be the one to present her with the violins. but spinola, knowing the artifice concealed beneath these "sweetest words," had summoned up valour enough to resist her blandishments, and had refused a second entertainment. it was not, therefore, the disappointment at losing her ball that now made the princess sad. she and her companions saw that there had been a catastrophe; a plot discovered. there was bitter disappointment and deep dismay upon their faces. the plot had been an excellent one. de coeuvres had arranged it all, especially instigated thereto by the father of the princess acting in concurrence with the king. that night when all was expected to be in accustomed quiet, the princess, wrapped in her mantilla, was to have stolen down into the garden, accompanied only by her maid the adventurous and faithful philipotte, to have gone through a breach which led through a garden wall to the city ramparts, thence across the foss to the counterscarp, where a number of horsemen under trustworthy commanders were waiting. mounting on the crupper behind one of the officers of the escort, she was then to fly to the frontier, relays of horses having been provided at every stage until she should reach rocroy, the first pausing place within french territory; a perilous adventure for the young and delicate princess in a winter of almost unexampled severity. on the very morning of the day assigned for the adventure, despatches brought by special couriers from the nuncius and the spanish ambassador at paris gave notice of the plot to the archdukes and to conde, although up to that moment none knew of it in brussels. albert, having been apprised that many frenchmen had been arriving during the past few days, and swarming about the hostelries of the city and suburbs, was at once disposed to believe in the story. when conde came to him, therefore, with confirmation from his own letters, and demanding a detachment of the body-guard in addition to the burgher militiamen already granted by the magistrates, he made no difficulty granting the request. it was as if there had been a threatened assault of the city, rather than the attempted elopement of a young lady escorted by a handful of cavaliers. the courtyard of the nassau palace was filled with cavalry sent by the archduke, while five hundred burgher guards sent by the magistrates were drawn up around the gate. the noise and uproar, gaining at every moment more mysterious meaning by the darkness of night, soon spread through the city. the whole population was awake, and swarming through the streets. such a tumult had not for years been witnessed in brussels, and the rumour flew about and was generally believed that the king of france at the head of an army was at the gates of the city determined to carry off the princess by force. but although the superfluous and very scandalous explosion might have been prevented, there could be no doubt that the stratagem had been defeated. nevertheless, the effrontery and ingenuity of de coeuvres became now sublime. accompanied by his colleague, the resident minister, de berny, who was sure not to betray the secret because he had never known it--his wife alone having been in the confidence of the princess--he proceeded straightway to the archduke's palace, and, late in the night as it was, insisted on an audience. here putting on his boldest face when admitted to the presence, he complained loudly of the plot, of which he had just become aware, contrived by the prince of conde to carry off his wife to spain against her will, by main force, and by assistance of flemish nobles, archiducal body-guard, and burgher militia. it was all a plot of conde, he said, to palliate still more his flight from france. every one knew that the princess could not fly back to paris through the air. to take her out of a house filled with people, to pierce or scale the walls of the city, to arrange her journey by ordinary means, and to protect the whole route by stations of cavalry, reaching from brussels to the frontier, and to do all this in profound secrecy, was equally impossible. such a scheme had never been arranged nor even imagined, he said. the true plotter was conde, aided by ministers in flanders hostile to france, and as the honour of the king and the reputation of the princess had been injured by this scandal, the ambassador loudly demanded a thorough investigation of the affair in order that vengeance might fall where it was due. the prudent albert was equal to the occasion. not wishing to state the full knowledge which he possessed of de coeuvres' agency and the king's complicity in the scheme of abduction to france, he reasoned calmly with the excited marquis, while his colleague looked and listened in dumb amazement, having previously been more vociferous and infinitely more sincere than his colleague in expressions of indignation. the archduke said that he had not thought the plot imputed to the king and his ambassador very probable. nevertheless, the assertions of the prince had been so positive as to make it impossible to refuse the guards requested by him. he trusted, however, that the truth would soon be known, and that it would leave no stain on the princess, nor give any offence to the king. surprised and indignant at the turn given to the adventure by the french envoys, he nevertheless took care to conceal these sentiments, to abstain from accusation, and calmly to inform them that the princess next morning would be established under his own roof; and enjoy the protection of the archduchess. for it had been arranged several days before that margaret should leave the palace of nassau for that of albert and isabella on the th, and the abduction had been fixed for the night of the th precisely because the conspirators wished to profit by the confusion incident on a change of domicile. the irrepressible de coeuvres, even then hardly willing to give up the whole stratagem as lost, was at least determined to discover how and by whom the plot had been revealed. in a cemetery piled three feet deep with snow on the evening following that mid-winter's night which had been fixed for the princess's flight, the unfortunate ambassador waited until a certain vallobre, a gentleman of spinola's, who was the go-between of the enamoured genoese and the princess, but whom de coeuvres had gained over, came at last to meet him by appointment. when he arrived, it was only to inform him of the manner in which he had been baffled, to convince him that the game was up, and that nothing was left him but to retreat utterly foiled in his attempt, and to be stigmatized as a blockhead by his enraged sovereign. next day the princess removed her residence to the palace of the archdukes, where she was treated with distinguished honour by isabella, and installed ceremoniously in the most stately, the most virtuous, and the most dismal of courts. her father and aunt professed themselves as highly pleased with the result, and pecquius wrote that "they were glad to know her safe from the importunities of the old fop who seemed as mad as if he had been stung by a tarantula." and how had the plot been revealed? simply through the incorrigible garrulity of the king himself. apprised of the arrangement in all its details by the constable, who had first received the special couriers of de coeuvres, he could not keep the secret to himself for a moment, and the person of all others in the world to whom he thought good to confide it was the queen herself. she received the information with a smile, but straightway sent for the nuncius ubaldini, who at her desire instantly despatched a special courier to spinola with full particulars of the time and mode of the proposed abduction. nevertheless the ingenuous henry, confiding in the capacity of his deeply offended queen to keep the secret which he had himself divulged, could scarcely contain himself for joy. off he went to saint-germain with a train of coaches, impatient to get the first news from de coeuvres after the scheme should have been carried into effect, and intending to travel post towards flanders to meet and welcome the princess. "pleasant farce for shrove tuesday," wrote the secretary of pecquius, "is that which the frenchmen have been arranging down there! he in whose favour the abduction is to be made was seen going out the same day spangled and smart, contrary to his usual fashion, making a gambado towards saint-germain-en-laye with four carriages and four to meet the nymph." great was the king's wrath and mortification at this ridiculous exposure of his detestable scheme. vociferous were villeroy's expressions of henry's indignation at being supposed to have had any knowledge of or complicity in the affair. "his majesty cannot approve of the means one has taken to guard against a pretended plot for carrying off the princess," said the secretary of state; "a fear which was simulated by the prince in order to defame the king." he added that there was no reason to suspect the king, as he had never attempted anything of the sort in his life, and that the archduke might have removed the princess to his palace without sending an army to the hotel of the prince of orange, and causing such an alarm in the city, firing artillery on the rampart as if the town had been full of frenchmen in arms, whereas one was ashamed next morning to find that there had been but fifteen in all. "but it was all marquis spinola's fault," he said, "who wished to show himself off as a warrior." the king, having thus through the mouth of his secretary of state warmly protested against his supposed implication in the attempted abduction, began as furiously to rail at de coeuvres for its failure; telling the duc de vendome that his uncle was an idiot, and writing that unlucky envoy most abusive letters for blundering in the scheme which had been so well concerted between them. then he sent for malherbe, who straightway perpetrated more poems to express the king's despair, in which henry was made to liken himself to a skeleton with a dried skin, and likewise to a violet turned up by the ploughshare and left to wither. he kept up through madame de berny a correspondence with "his beautiful angel," as he called the princess, whom he chose to consider a prisoner and a victim; while she, wearied to death with the frigid monotony and sepulchral gaieties of the archiducal court, which she openly called her "dungeon" diverted herself with the freaks and fantasies of her royal adorer, called him in very ill-spelled letters "her chevalier, her heart, her all the world," and frequently wrote to beg him, at the suggestion of the intriguing chateau vert, to devise some means of rescuing her from prison. the constable and duchess meanwhile affected to be sufficiently satisfied with the state of things. conde, however, received a letter from the king, formally summoning him to return to france, and, in case of refusal, declaring him guilty of high-treason for leaving the kingdom without the leave and against the express commands of the king. to this letter, brought to him by de coeuvres, the prince replied by a paper, drawn up and served by a notary of brussels, to the effect that he had left france to save his life and honour; that he was ready to return when guarantees were given him for the security of both. he would live and die, he said, faithful to the king. but when the king, departing from the paths of justice, proceeded through those of violence against him, he maintained that every such act against his person was null and invalid. henry had even the incredible meanness and folly to request the queen to write to the archdukes, begging that the princess might be restored to assist at her coronation. mary de' medici vigorously replied once more that, although obliged to wink at the king's amours, she declined to be his procuress. conde then went off to milan very soon after the scene at the nassau palace and the removal of the princess to the care of the archdukes. he was very angry with his wife, from whom he expressed a determination to be divorced, and furious with the king, the validity of whose second marriage and the legitimacy of whose children he proposed with spanish help to dispute. the constable was in favour of the divorce, or pretended to be so, and caused importunate letters to be written, which he signed, to both albert and isabella, begging that his daughter might be restored to him to be the staff of his old age, and likewise to be present at the queen's coronation. the archdukes, however, resolutely refused to permit her to leave their protection without conde's consent, or until after a divorce had been effected, notwithstanding that the father and aunt demanded it. the constable and duchess however, acquiesced in the decision, and expressed immense gratitude to isabella. "the father and aunt have been talking to pecquius," said henry very dismally; "but they give me much pain. they are even colder than the season, but my fire thaws them as soon as i approach." "p. s.--i am so pining away in my anguish that i am nothing but skin and bones. nothing gives me pleasure. i fly from company, and if in order to comply with the law of nations i go into some assembly or other, instead of enlivening, it nearly kills me."--[lettres missives de henri vii. ]. and the king took to his bed. whether from gout, fever, or the pangs of disappointed love, he became seriously ill. furious with every one, with conde, the constable, de coeuvres, the queen, spinola, with the prince of orange, whose councillor keeremans had been encouraging conde in his rebellion and in going to spain with spinola, he was now resolved that the war should go on. aerssens, cautious of saying too much on paper of this very delicate affair, always intimated to barneveld that, if the princess could be restored, peace was still possible, and that by moving an inch ahead of the king in the cleve matter the states at the last moment might be left in the lurch. he distinctly told the advocate, on his expressing a hope that henry might consent to the prince's residence in some neutral place until a reconciliation could be effected, that the pinch of the matter was not there, and that van der myle, who knew all about it, could easily explain it. alluding to the project of reviving the process against the dowager, and of divorcing the prince and princess, he said these steps would do much harm, as they would too much justify the true cause of the retreat of the prince, who was not believed when he merely talked of his right of primogeniture: "the matter weighs upon us very heavily," he said, "but the trouble is that we don't search for the true remedies. the matter is so delicate that i don't dare to discuss it to the very bottom." the ambassador had a long interview with the king as he lay in his bed feverish and excited. he was more impatient than ever for the arrival of the states' special embassy, reluctantly acquiesced in the reasons assigned for the delay, but trusted that it would arrive soon with barneveld at the head, and with count lewis william as a member for "the sword part of it." he railed at the prince of orange, not believing that keeremans would have dared to do what he had done but with the orders of his master. he said that the king of spain would supply conde with money and with everything he wanted, knowing that he could make use of him to trouble his kingdom. it was strange, he thought, that philip should venture to these extremities with his affairs in such condition, and when he had so much need of repose. he recalled all his ancient grievances against spain, his rights to the kingdom of navarre and the county of st. pol violated; the conspiracy of biron, the intrigues of bouillon, the plots of the count of auvergne and the marchioness of verneuil, the treason of meragne, the corruption of l'hoste, and an infinity of other plots of the king and his ministers; of deep injuries to him and to the public repose, not to be tolerated by a mighty king like himself, with a grey beard. he would be revenged, he said, for this last blow, and so for all the rest. he would not leave a troublesome war on the hands of his young son. the occasion was favourable. it was just to defend the oppressed princes with the promptly accorded assistance of the states-general. the king of great britain was favourable. the duke of savoy was pledged. it was better to begin the war in his green old age than to wait the pleasure and opportunity of the king of spain. all this he said while racked with fever, and dismissed the envoy at last, after a long interview, with these words: "mr. ambassador--i have always spoken roundly and frankly to you, and you will one day be my witness that i have done all that i could to draw the prince out of the plight into which he has put himself. but he is struggling for the succession to this crown under instructions from the spaniards, to whom he has entirely pledged himself. he has already received crowns for his equipment. i know that you and my other friends will work for the conservation of this monarchy, and will never abandon me in my designs to weaken the power of spain. pray god for my health." the king kept his bed a few days afterwards, but soon recovered. villeroy sent word to barneveld in answer to his suggestions of reconciliation that it was too late, that conde was entirely desperate and spanish. the crown of france was at stake, he said, and the prince was promising himself miracles and mountains with the aid of spain, loudly declaring the marriage of mary de' medici illegal, and himself heir to the throne. the secretary of state professed himself as impatient as his master for the arrival of the embassy; the states being the best friends france ever had and the only allies to make the war succeed. jeannin, who was now never called to the council, said that the war was not for germany but for conde, and that henry could carry it on for eight years. he too was most anxious for barneveld's arrival, and was of his opinion that it would have been better for conde to be persuaded to remain at breda and be supported by his brother-in-law, the prince of orange. the impetuosity of the king had however swept everything before it, and conde had been driven to declare himself spanish and a pretender to the crown. there was no issue now but war. boderie, the king's envoy in great britain, wrote that james would be willing to make a defensive league for the affairs of cleve and julich only, which was the slenderest amount of assistance; but henry always suspected master jacques of intentions to baulk him if possible and traverse his designs. but the die was cast. spinola had carried off conde in triumph; the princess was pining in her gilt cage in brussels, and demanding a divorce for desertion and cruel treatment; the king considered himself as having done as much as honour allowed him to effect a reconciliation, and it was obvious that, as the states' ambassador said, he could no longer retire from the war without shame, which would be the greatest danger of all. "the tragedy is ready to begin," said aerssens. "they are only waiting now for the arrival of our ambassadors." on the th march the king before going to fontainebleau for a few days summoned that envoy to the louvre. impatient at a slight delay in his arrival, henry came down into the courtyard as he was arriving and asked eagerly if barneveld was coming to paris. aerssens replied, that the advocate had been hastening as much as possible the departure of the special embassy, but that the condition of affairs at home was such as not to permit him to leave the country at that moment. van der myle, who would be one of the ambassadors, would more fully explain this by word of mouth. the king manifested infinite annoyance and disappointment that barneveld was not to make part of the embassy. "he says that he reposes such singular confidence in your authority in the state, experience in affairs, and affection for himself," wrote aerssens, "that he might treat with you in detail and with open heart of all his designs. he fears now that the ambassadors will be limited in their powers and instructions, and unable to reply at once on the articles which at different times have been proposed to me for our enterprise. thus much valuable time will be wasted in sending backwards and forwards." the king also expressed great anxiety to consult with count lewis william in regard to military details, but his chief sorrow was in regard to the advocate. "he acquiesced only with deep displeasure and regret in your reasons," said the ambassador, "and says that he can hope for nothing firm now that you refuse to come." villeroy intimated that barneveld did not come for fear of exciting the jealousy of the english. etext editor's bookmarks: he who spreads the snare always tumbles into the ditch himself most detestable verses that even he had ever composed she declined to be his procuress chapter iv. difficult position of barneveld--insurrection at utrecht subdued by the states' army--special embassies to england and france--anger of the king with spain and the archdukes--arrangements of henry for the coming war--position of spain--anxiety of the king for the presence of barneveld in paris--arrival of the dutch commissioners in france and their brilliant reception--their interview with the king and his ministers--negotiations--delicate position of the dutch government-- india trade--simon danzer, the corsair--conversations of henry with the dutch commissioners--letter of the king to archduke albert-- preparations for the queen's coronation, and of henry to open the campaign in person--perplexities of henry--forebodings and warnings --the murder accomplished--terrible change in france--triumph of concini and of spain--downfall of sully--disputes of the grandees among themselves--special mission of condelence from the republic-- conference on the great enterprise--departure of van der myle from paris. there were reasons enough why the advocate could not go to paris at this juncture. it was absurd in henry to suppose it possible. everything rested on barneveld's shoulders. during the year which had just passed he had drawn almost every paper, every instruction in regard to the peace negotiations, with his own hand, had assisted at every conference, guided and mastered the whole course of a most difficult and intricate negotiation, in which he had not only been obliged to make allowance for the humbled pride and baffled ambition of the ancient foe of the netherlands, but to steer clear of the innumerable jealousies, susceptibilities, cavillings, and insolences of their patronizing friends. it was his brain that worked, his tongue that spoke, his restless pen that never paused. his was not one of those easy posts, not unknown in the modern administration of great affairs, where the subordinate furnishes the intellect, the industry, the experience, while the bland superior, gratifying the world with his sign-manual, appropriates the applause. so long as he lived and worked, the states-general and the states of holland were like a cunningly contrived machine, which seemed to be alive because one invisible but mighty mind vitalized the whole. and there had been enough to do. it was not until midsummer of that the ratifications of the treaty of truce, one of the great triumphs in the history of diplomacy, had been exchanged, and scarcely had this period been put to the eternal clang of arms when the death of a lunatic threw the world once more into confusion. it was obvious to barneveld that the issue of the cleve-julich affair, and of the tremendous religious fermentation in bohemia, moravia, and austria, must sooner or later lead to an immense war. it was inevitable that it would devolve upon the states to sustain their great though vacillating, their generous though encroaching, their sincere though most irritating, ally. and yet, thoroughly as barneveld had mastered all the complications and perplexities of the religious and political question, carefully as he had calculated the value of the opposing forces which were shaking christendom, deeply as he had studied the characters of matthias and rudolph, of charles of denmark and ferdinand of graz, of anhalt and maximilian, of brandenburg and neuburg, of james and philip, of paul v. and charles emmanuel, of sully and yilleroy, of salisbury and bacon, of lerma and infantado; adroitly as he could measure, weigh, and analyse all these elements in the great problem which was forcing itself on the attention of europe--there was one factor with which it was difficult for this austere republican, this cold, unsusceptible statesman, to deal: the intense and imperious passion of a greybeard for a woman of sixteen. for out of the cauldron where the miscellaneous elements of universal war were bubbling rose perpetually the fantastic image of margaret montmorency: the fatal beauty at whose caprice the heroic sword of ivry and cahors was now uplifted and now sheathed. aerssens was baffled, and reported the humours of the court where he resided as changing from hour to hour. to the last he reported that all the mighty preparations then nearly completed "might evaporate in smoke" if the princess of conde should come back. every ambassador in paris was baffled. peter pecquius was as much in the dark as don inigo de cardenas, as ubaldini or edmonds. no one save sully, aerssens, barneveld, and the king knew the extensive arrangements and profound combinations which had been made for the war. yet not sully, aerssens, barneveld, or the king, knew whether or not the war would really be made. barneveld had to deal with this perplexing question day by day. his correspondence with his ambassador at henry's court was enormous, and we have seen that the ambassador was with the king almost daily; sleeping or waking; at dinner or the chase; in the cabinet or the courtyard. but the advocate was also obliged to carry in his arms, as it were, the brood of snarling, bickering, cross-grained german princes, to supply them with money, with arms, with counsel, with brains; to keep them awake when they went to sleep, to steady them in their track, to teach them to go alone. he had the congress at hall in suabia to supervise and direct; he had to see that the ambassadors of the new republic, upon which they in reality were already half dependent and chafing at their dependence, were treated with the consideration due to the proud position which the commonwealth had gained. questions of etiquette were at that moment questions of vitality. he instructed his ambassadors to leave the congress on the spot if they were ranked after the envoys of princes who were only feudatories of the emperor. the dutch ambassadors, "recognising and relying upon no superiors but god and their sword," placed themselves according to seniority with the representatives of proudest kings. he had to extemporize a system of free international communication with all the powers of the earth--with the turk at constantinople, with the czar of muscovy; with the potentates of the baltic, with both the indies. the routine of a long established and well organized foreign office in a time-honoured state running in grooves; with well-balanced springs and well oiled wheels, may be a luxury of civilization; but it was a more arduous task to transact the greatest affairs of a state springing suddenly into recognized existence and mainly dependent for its primary construction and practical working on the hand of one man. worse than all, he had to deal on the most dangerous and delicate topics of state with a prince who trembled at danger and was incapable of delicacy; to show respect for a character that was despicable, to lean on a royal word falser than water, to inhale almost daily the effluvia from a court compared to which the harem of henry was a temple of vestals. the spectacle of the slobbering james among his kars and hays and villiers's and other minions is one at which history covers her eyes and is dumb; but the republican envoys, with instructions from a barneveld, were obliged to face him daily, concealing their disgust, and bowing reverentially before him as one of the arbiters of their destinies and the solomon of his epoch. a special embassy was sent early in the year to england to convey the solemn thanks of the republic to the king for his assistance in the truce negotiations, and to treat of the important matters then pressing on the attention of both powers. contemporaneously was to be despatched the embassy for which henry was waiting so impatiently at paris. certainly the advocate had enough with this and other, important business already mentioned to detain him at his post. moreover the first year of peace had opened disastrously in the netherlands. tremendous tempests such as had rarely been recorded even in that land of storms had raged all the winter. the waters everywhere had burst their dykes and inundations, which threatened to engulph the whole country, and which had caused enormous loss of property and even of life, were alarming the most courageous. it was difficult in many district to collect the taxes for the every-day expenses of the community, and yet the advocate knew that the republic would soon be forced to renew the war on a prodigious scale. still more to embarrass the action of the government and perplex its statesmen, an alarming and dangerous insurrection broke out in utrecht. in that ancient seat of the hard-fighting, imperious, and opulent sovereign archbishops of the ancient church an important portion of the population had remained catholic. another portion complained of the abolition of various privileges which they had formerly enjoyed; among others that of a monopoly of beer-brewing for the province. all the population, as is the case with all populations in all countries and all epochs, complained of excessive taxation. a clever politician, dirk kanter by name, a gentleman by birth, a scholar and philosopher by pursuit and education, and a demagogue by profession, saw an opportunity of taking an advantage of this state of things. more than twenty years before he had been burgomaster of the city, and had much enjoyed himself in that position. he was tired of the learned leisure to which the ingratitude of his fellow-citizens had condemned him. he seems to have been of easy virtue in the matter of religion, a catholic, an arminian, an ultra orthodox contra-remonstrant by turns. he now persuaded a number of determined partisans that the time had come for securing a church for the public worship of the ancient faith, and at the same time for restoring the beer brewery, reducing the taxes, recovering lost privileges, and many other good things. beneath the whole scheme lay a deep design to effect the secession of the city and with it of the opulent and important province of utrecht from the union. kanter had been heard openly to avow that after all the netherlands had flourished under the benign sway of the house of burgundy, and that the time would soon come for returning to that enviable condition. by a concerted assault the city hall was taken possession of by main force, the magistracy was overpowered, and a new board of senators and common council-men appointed, kanter and a devoted friend of his, heldingen by name, being elected burgomasters. the states-provincial of utrecht, alarmed at these proceedings in the city, appealed for protection against violence to the states-general under the rd article of the union, the fundamental pact which bore the name of utrecht itself. prince maurice proceeded to the city at the head of a detachment of troops to quell the tumults. kanter and his friends were plausible enough to persuade him of the legality and propriety of the revolution which they had effected, and to procure his formal confirmation of the new magistracy. intending to turn his military genius and the splendour of his name to account, they contrived to keep him for a time at least in an amiable enthralment, and induced him to contemplate in their interest the possibility of renouncing the oath which subjected him to the authority of the states of utrecht. but the far-seeing eye of barneveld could not be blind to the danger which at this crisis beset the stadholder and the whole republic. the prince was induced to return to the hague, but the city continued by armed revolt to maintain the new magistracy. they proceeded to reduce the taxes, and in other respects to carry out the measures on the promise of which they had come into power. especially the catholic party sustained kanter and his friends, and promised themselves from him and from his influence over prince maurice to obtain a power of which they had long been deprived. the states-general now held an assembly at woerden, and summoned the malcontents of utrecht to bring before that body a statement of their grievances. this was done, but there was no satisfactory arrangement possible, and the deputation returned to utrecht, the states-general to the hague. the states-provincial of utrecht urged more strongly than ever upon the assembly of the union to save the city from the hands of a reckless and revolutionary government. the states-general resolved accordingly to interfere by force. a considerable body of troops was ordered to march at once upon utrecht and besiege the city. maurice, in his capacity of captain-general and stadholder of the province, was summoned to take charge of the army. he was indisposed to do so, and pleaded sickness. the states, determined that the name of nassau should not be used as an encouragement to disobedience, and rebellion, then directed the brother of maurice, frederic henry, youngest son of william the silent, to assume the command. maurice insisted that his brother was too young, and that it was unjust to allow so grave a responsibility to fall upon his shoulders. the states, not particularly pleased with the prince's attitude at this alarming juncture, and made anxious by the glamour which seemed to possess him since his conferences with the revolutionary party at utrecht, determined not to yield. the army marched forth and laid siege to the city, prince frederic henry at its head. he was sternly instructed by the states-general, under whose orders he acted, to take possession of the city at all hazards. he was to insist on placing there a garrison of foot and horse, and to permit not another armed man within the walls. the members of the council of state and of the states of utrecht accompanied the army. for a moment the party in power was disposed to resist the forces of the union. dick kanter and his friends were resolute enough; the catholic priests turned out among the rest with their spades and worked on the entrenchments. the impossibility of holding the city against the overwhelming power of the states was soon obvious, and the next day the gates were opened, and easy terms were granted. the new magistracy was set aside, the old board that had been deposed by the rebels reinstated. the revolution and the counterrevolution were alike bloodless, and it was determined that the various grievances of which the discontented party had complained should be referred to the states-general, to prince maurice, to the council of state, and to the ambassadors of france and england. amnesty was likewise decreed on submission. the restored government was arminian in its inclinations, the revolutionary one was singularly compounded both of catholic and of ultra-orthodox elements. quiet was on the whole restored, but the resources of the city were crippled. the event occurring exactly at the crisis of the clove and julich expedition angered the king of france. "the trouble of utrecht," wrote aerssens to barneveld, "has been turned to account here marvellously, the archdukes and spaniards boasting that many more revolts like this may be at once expected. i have explained to his majesty, who has been very much alarmed about it, both its source and the hopes that it will be appeased by the prudence of his excellency prince maurice and the deputies of the states. the king desires that everything should be pacified as soon as possible, so that there may be no embarrassment to the course of public affairs. but he fears, he tells me, that this may create some new jealousy between prince maurice and yourself. i don't comprehend what he means, although he held this language to me very expressly and without reserve. i could only answer that you were living on the best of terms together in perfect amity and intelligence. if you know if this talk of his has any other root, please to enlighten me, that i may put a stop to false reports, for i know nothing of affairs except what you tell me." king james, on the other hand, thoroughly approved the promptness of the states-general in suppressing the tumult. nothing very serious of alike nature occurred in utrecht until the end of the year, when a determined and secret conspiracy was discovered, having for its object to overpower the garrison and get bodily possession of colonel john ogle, the military commander of the town. at the bottom of the movement were the indefatigable dirk kanter and his friend heldingen. the attempt was easily suppressed, and the two were banished from the town. kanter died subsequently in north holland, in the odour of ultra-orthodoxy. four of the conspirators--a post-master, two shoemakers, and a sexton, who had bound themselves by oath to take the lives of two eminent arminian preachers, besides other desperate deeds--were condemned to death, but pardoned on the scaffold. thus ended the first revolution at utrecht. its effect did not cease, however, with the tumults which were its original manifestations. this earliest insurrection in organized shape against the central authority of the states-general; this violent though abortive effort to dissolve the union and to nullify its laws; this painful necessity for the first time imposed upon the federal government to take up arms against misguided citizens of the republic, in order to save itself from disintegration and national death, were destined to be followed by far graver convulsions on the self-same spot. religious differences and religious hatreds were to mingle their poison with antagonistic political theories and personal ambitions, and to develop on a wide scale the danger ever lurking in a constitution whose fundamental law was unstable, ill defined, and liable to contradictory interpretations. for the present it need only be noticed that the states-general, guided by barneveld, most vigorously suppressed the local revolt and the incipient secession, while prince maurice, the right arm of the executive, the stadholder of the province, and the representative of the military power of the commonwealth, was languid in the exertion of that power, inclined to listen to the specious arguments of the utrecht rebels, and accused at least of tampering with the fell spirit which the advocate was resolute to destroy. yet there was no suspicion of treason, no taint of rebellion, no accusation of unpatriotic motives uttered against the stadholder. there was a doubt as to the true maxims by which the confederacy was to be governed, and at this moment, certainly, the prince and the advocate represented opposite ideas. there was a possibility, at a future day, when the religious and political parties might develop themselves on a wider scale and the struggles grow fiercer, that the two great champions in the conflict might exchange swords and inflict mutual and poisoned wounds. at present the party of the union had triumphed, with barneveld at its head. at a later but not far distant day, similar scenes might be enacted in the ancient city of utrecht, but with a strange difference and change in the cast of parts and with far more tragical results. for the moment the moderate party in the church, those more inclined to arminianism and the supremacy of the civil authority in religious matters, had asserted their ascendency in the states-general, and had prevented the threatened rupture. meantime it was doubly necessary to hasten the special embassies to france and to england, in both which countries much anxiety as to the political health and strength of the new republic had been excited by these troubles in utrecht. it was important for the states-general to show that they were not crippled, and would not shrink from the coming conflict, but would justify the reliance placed on them by their allies. thus there were reasons enough why barneveld could not himself leave the country in the eventful spring of . it must be admitted, however, that he was not backward in placing his nearest relatives in places of honour, trust, and profit. his eldest son reinier, seignior of groeneveld, had been knighted by henry iv.; his youngest, william, afterwards called seignior of stoutenburg, but at this moment bearing the not very mellifluous title of craimgepolder, was a gentleman-in-waiting at that king's court, with a salary of crowns a year. he was rather a favourite with the easy-going monarch, but he gave infinite trouble to the dutch ambassador aerssens, who, feeling himself under immense obligations to the advocate and professing for him boundless gratitude, did his best to keep the idle, turbulent, extravagant, and pleasure-loving youth up to the strict line of his duties. "your son is in debt again," wrote aerssens, on one occasion, "and troubled for money. he is in danger of going to the usurers. he says he cannot keep himself for less than crowns a month. this is a large allowance, but he has spent much more than that. his life is not irregular nor his dress remarkably extravagant. his difficulty is that he will not dine regularly with me nor at court. he will keep his own table and have company to dinner. that is what is ruining him. he comes sometimes to me, not for the dinner nor the company, but for tennis, which he finds better in my faubourg than in town. his trouble comes from the table, and i tell you frankly that you must regulate his expenses or they will become very onerous to you. i am ashamed of them and have told him so a hundred times, more than if he had been my own brother. it is all for love of you . . . . i have been all to him that could be expected of a man who is under such vast obligations to you; and i so much esteem the honour of your friendship that i should always neglect my private affairs in order to do everything for your service and meet your desires . . . . . if m. de craimgepolder comes back from his visit home, you must restrict him in two things, the table and tennis, and you can do this if you require him to follow the king assiduously as his service requires." something at a future day was to be heard of william of barneveld, as well as of his elder brother reinier, and it is good, therefore, to have these occasional glimpses of him while in the service of the king and under the supervision of one who was then his father's devoted friend, francis aerssens. there were to be extraordinary and tragical changes in the relations of parties and of individuals ere many years should go by. besides the sons of the advocate, his two sons-in-law, brederode, seignior of veenhuizep, and cornelis van der myle, were constantly employed? in important embassies. van der myle had been the first ambassador to the great venetian republic, and was now placed at the head of the embassy to france, an office which it was impossible at that moment for the advocate to discharge. at the same critical moment barneveld's brother elias, pensionary of rotterdam, was appointed one of the special high commissioners to the king of great britain. it is necessary to give an account of this embassy. they were provided with luminous and minute instructions from the hand of the advocate. they were, in the first place, and ostensibly, to thank the king for his services in bringing about the truce, which, truly, had been of the slightest, as was very well known. they were to explain, on the part of the states, their delay in sending this solemn commission, caused by the tardiness of the king of spain in sending his ratification to the treaty, and by the many disputations caused by the irresolutions of the archdukes and the obstinacy of their commissioners in regard to their many contraventions of the treaty. after those commissioners had gone, further hindrances had been found in the "extraordinary tempests, high floods, rising of the waters, both of the ocean and the rivers, and the very disastrous inundations throughout nearly all the united provinces, with the immense and exorbitant damage thus inflicted, both on the public and on many individuals; in addition to all which were to be mentioned the troubles in the city of utrecht." they were, in almost hyperbolical language, directed to express the eternal gratitude of the states for the constant favours received by them from the crown of england, and their readiness to stand forth at any moment with sincere affection and to the utmost of their power, at all times and seasons, in resistance of any attempts against his majesty's person or crown, or against the prince of wales or the royal family. they were to thank him for his "prudent, heroic, and courageous resolve to suffer nothing to be done under colour of justice, authority, or any other pretext, to the hindrance of the elector of brandenburg and palatine of neuburg, in the maintenance of their lawful rights and possession of the principalities of julich, cleve, and berg, and other provinces." by this course his majesty, so the commissioners were to state, would put an end to the imaginations of those who thought they could give the law to everybody according to their pleasure. they were to assure the king that the states-general would exert themselves to the utmost to second his heroic resolution, notwithstanding the enormous burthens of their everlasting war, the very exorbitant damage caused by the inundations, and the sensible diminution in the contributions and other embarrassments then existing in the country. they were to offer foot and horse for the general purpose under prince henry of nassau, besides the succours furnished by the king of france and the electors and princes of germany. further assistance in men, artillery, and supplies were promised under certain contingencies, and the plan of the campaign on the meuse in conjunction with the king of france was duly mapped. they were to request a corresponding promise of men and money from the king of great britain, and they were to propose for his approval a closer convention for mutual assistance between his majesty, the united netherlands, the king of france, the electors and princes and other powers of germany; as such close union would be very beneficial to all christendom. it would put a stop to all unjust occupations, attempts, and intrigues, and if the king was thereto inclined, he was requested to indicate time and place for making such a convention. the commissioners were further to point out the various contraventions on the part of the archdukes of the treaty of truce, and were to give an exposition of the manner in which the states-general had quelled the tumults at utrecht, and reasons why such a course had of necessity been adopted. they were instructed to state that, "over and above the great expenses of the late war and the necessary maintenance of military forces to protect their frontiers against their suspected new friends or old enemies, the provinces were burthened with the cost of the succour to the elector of brandenburg and palatine of neuburg, and would be therefore incapable of furnishing the payments coming due to his majesty. they were accordingly to sound his majesty as to whether a good part of the debt might not be remitted or at least an arrangement made by which the terms should begin to run only after a certain number of years." they were also directed to open the subject of the fisheries on the coasts of great britain, and to remonstrate against the order lately published by the king forbidding all foreigners from fishing on those coasts. this was to be set forth as an infringement both of natural law and of ancient treaties, and as a source of infinite danger to the inhabitants of the united provinces. the seignior of warmond, chief of the commission, died on the th april. his colleagues met at brielle on the th, ready to take passage to england in the ship of war, the hound. they were, however, detained there six days by head winds and great storms, and it was not until the nd that they were able to put to sea. the following evening their ship cast anchor in gravesend. half an hour before, the duke of wurtemberg had arrived from flushing in a ship of war brought from france by the prince of anhalt. sir lewis lewkener, master of ceremonies, had been waiting for the ambassadors at gravesend, and informed them that the royal barges were to come next morning from london to take them to town. they remained that night on board the hound, and next morning, the wind blowing up the river, they proceeded in their ship as far as blackwall, where they were formally received and bade welcome in the name of the king by sir thomas cornwallis and sir george carew, late ambassador in france. escorted by them and sir lewis, they were brought in the court barges to tower wharf. here the royal coaches were waiting, in which they were taken to lodgings provided for them in the city at the house of a dutch merchant. noel de caron, seignior of schonewal, resident ambassador of the states in london, was likewise there to greet them. this was saturday night: on the following tuesday they went by appointment to the palace of whitehall in royal carriages for their first audience. manifestations of as entire respect and courtesy had thus been made to the republican envoys as could be shown to the ambassadors of the greatest sovereigns. they found the king seated on his throne in the audience chamber, accompanied by the prince of wales, the duke of york, the lord high treasurer and lord high admiral, the duke of lenox, the earls of arundel and northampton, and many other great nobles and dignitaries. james rose from his seat, took off his hat, and advanced several paces to meet the ambassadors, and bade them courteously and respectfully welcome. he then expressed his regret at the death of the seignior of warmond, and after the exchange of a few commonplaces listened, still with uncovered head, to the opening address. the spokesman, after thanking the king for his condolences on the death of the chief commissioner, whom, as was stated with whimsical simplicity, "the good god had called to himself after all his luggage had been put on board ship," proceeded in the french language to give a somewhat abbreviated paraphrase of barneveld's instructions. when this was done and intimation made that they would confer more fully with his majesty's council on the subjects committed to their charge, the ambassadors were conducted home with the same ceremonies as had accompanied their arrival. they received the same day the first visit from the ambassadors of france and venice, boderie and carrero, and had a long conference a few days afterwards with the high treasurer, lord salisbury. on the rd may they were invited to attend the pompous celebration of the festival of st. george in the palace at westminster, where they were placed together with the french ambassador in the king's oratorium; the dukes of wurtemberg and brunswick being in that of the queen. these details are especially to be noted, and were at the moment of considerable importance, for this was the first solemn and extraordinary embassy sent by the rebel netherlanders, since their independent national existence had been formally vindicated, to great britain, a power which a quarter of a century before had refused the proffered sovereignty over them. placed now on exactly the same level with the representatives of emperors and kings, the republican envoys found themselves looked upon by the world with different eyes from those which had regarded their predecessors askance, and almost with derision, only seven years before. at that epoch the states' commissioners, barneveld himself at the head of them, had gone solemnly to congratulate king james on his accession, had scarcely been admitted to audience by king or minister, and had found themselves on great festivals unsprinkled with the holy water of the court, and of no more account than the crowd of citizens and spectators who thronged the streets, gazing with awe at the distant radiance of the throne. but although the ambassadors were treated with every external consideration befitting their official rank, they were not likely to find themselves in the most genial atmosphere when they should come to business details. if there was one thing in the world that james did not intend to do, it was to get himself entangled in war with spain, the power of all others which he most revered and loved. his "heroic and courageous resolve" to defend the princes, on which the commissioners by instructions of the advocate had so highly complimented him, was not strong enough to carry him much beyond a vigorous phraseology. he had not awoke from the delusive dream of the spanish marriage which had dexterously been made to flit before him, and he was not inclined, for the sake of the republic which he hated the more because obliged to be one of its sponsors, to risk the animosity of a great power which entertained the most profound contempt for him. he was destined to find himself involved more closely than he liked, and through family ties, with the great protestant movement in germany, and the unfortunate "winter king" might one day find his father-in-law as unstable a reed to lean upon as the states had found their godfather, or the brandenburgs and neuburgs at the present juncture their great ally. meantime, as the bohemian troubles had not yet reached the period of actual explosion, and as henry's wide-reaching plan against the house of austria had been strangely enough kept an inviolable secret by the few statesmen, like sully and barneveld, to whom they had been confided, it was necessary for the king and his ministers to deal cautiously and plausibly with the dutch ambassadors. their conferences were mere dancing among eggs, and if no actual mischief were done, it was the best result that could be expected. on the th of may, the commissioners met in the council chamber at westminster, and discussed all the matters contained in their instructions with the members of the council; the lord treasurer salisbury, earl of northampton, privy seal and warden of the cinque ports, lord nottingham, lord high admiral, the lord chamberlain, earl of suffolk, earls of shrewsbury, worcester, and several others being present. the result was not entirely satisfactory. in regard to the succour demanded for the possessory princes, the commissioners were told that they seemed to come with a long narrative of their great burthens during the war, damage from inundations, and the like, to excuse themselves from doing their share in the succour, and thus the more to overload his majesty, who was not much interested in the matter, and was likewise greatly encumbered by various expenses. the king had already frankly declared his intention to assist the princes with the payment of men, and to send proportionate artillery and powder from england. as the states had supplies in their magazines enough to move , men, he proposed to draw upon those, reimbursing the states for what was thus consumed by his contingent. with regard to the treaty of close alliance between france, great britain, the princes, and the republic, which the ambassadors had proposed, the--lord treasurer and his colleagues gave a reply far from gratifying. his majesty had not yet decided on this point, they said. the king of france had already proposed to treat for such an alliance, but it did not at present seem worth while for all to negotiate together. this was a not over-courteous hint that the republic was after all not expected to place herself at the council-board of kings on even terms of intimacy and fraternal alliance. what followed was even less flattering. if his majesty, it was intimated, should decide to treat with the king of france, he would not shut the door on their high mightinesses; but his majesty was not yet exactly informed whether his majesty had not certain rights over the provinces 'in petitorio.' this was a scarcely veiled insinuation against the sovereignty of the states, a sufficiently broad hint that they were to be considered in a certain degree as british provinces. to a soldier like maurice, to a statesman like barneveld, whose sympathies already were on the side of france, such rebuffs and taunts were likely to prove unpalatable. the restiveness of the states at the continual possession by great britain of those important sea-ports the cautionary towns, a fact which gave colour to these innuendoes, was sure to be increased by arrogant language on the part of the english ministers. the determination to be rid of their debt to so overbearing an ally, and to shake off the shackles imposed by the costly mortgages, grew in strength from that hour. in regard to the fisheries, the lord treasurer and his colleagues expressed amazement that the ambassadors should consider the subjects of their high mightinesses to be so much beloved by his majesty. why should they of all other people be made an exception of, and be exempt from, the action of a general edict? the reasons for these orders in council ought to be closely examined. it would be very difficult to bring the opinions of the english jurists into harmony with those of the states. meantime it would be well to look up such treaties as might be in existence, and have a special joint commission to confer together on the subject. it was very plain, from the course of the conversation, that the netherland fishermen were not to be allowed, without paying roundly for a license, to catch herrings on the british coasts as they had heretofore done. not much more of importance was transacted at this first interview between the ambassadors and the ding's ministers. certainly they had not yet succeeded in attaining their great object, the formation of an alliance offensive and defensive between great britain and the republic in accordance with the plan concerted between henry and barneveld. they could find but slender encouragement for the warlike plans to which france and the states were secretly committed; nor could they obtain satisfactory adjustment of affairs more pacific and commercial in their tendencies. the english ministers rather petulantly remarked that, while last year everybody was talking of a general peace, and in the present conjuncture all seemed to think, or at least to speak, of nothing but a general war, they thought best to defer consideration of the various subjects connected with duties on the manufactures and products of the respective countries, the navigation laws, the "entrecours," and other matters of ancient agreement and controversy, until a more convenient season. after the termination of the verbal conference, the ambassadors delivered to the king's government, in writing, to be pondered by the council and recorded in the archives, a summary of the statements which had been thus orally treated. the document was in french, and in the main a paraphrase of the advocate's instructions, the substance of which has been already indicated. in regard, however, to the far-reaching designs of spain, and the corresponding attitude which it would seem fitting for great britain to assume, and especially the necessity of that alliance the proposal for which had in the conference been received so haughtily, their language was far plainer, bolder, and more vehement than that of the instructions. "considering that the effects show," they said, "that those who claim the monarchy of christendom, and indeed of the whole world, let slip no opportunity which could in any way serve their designs, it is suitable to the grandeur of his majesty the king, and to the station in which by the grace of the good god he is placed, to oppose himself thereto for the sake of the common liberty of christendom, to which end, and in order the better to prevent all unjust usurpations, there could be no better means devised than a closer alliance between his majesty and the most christian king, my lords the states-general, and the electors, princes, and states of germany. their high mightinesses would therefore be most glad to learn that his majesty was inclined to such a course, and would be glad to discuss the subject when and wherever his majesty should appoint, or would readily enter into such an alliance on reasonable conditions." this language and the position taken up by the ambassadors were highly approved by their government, but it was fated that no very great result was to be achieved by this embassy. very elaborate documents, exhaustive in legal lore, on the subject of the herring fisheries, and of the right to fish in the ocean and on foreign coasts, fortified by copious citations from the 'pandects' and 'institutes' of justinian, were presented for the consideration of the british government, and were answered as learnedly, exhaustively, and ponderously. the english ministers were also reminded that the curing of herrings had been invented in the fifteenth century by a citizen of biervliet, the inscription on whose tombstone recording that faces might still be read in the church of that town. all this did not prevent, however, the dutch herring fishermen from being excluded from the british waters unless they chose to pay for licenses. the conferences were however for a season interrupted, and a new aspect was given to affairs by an unforeseen and terrible event. meanwhile it is necessary to glance for a moment at the doings of the special embassy to france, the instructions for which were prepared by barneveld almost at the same moment at which he furnished those for the commission to england. the ambassadors were walraven, seignior of brederode, cornelis van der myle, son-in-law of the advocate, and jacob van maldere. remembering how impatient the king of france had long been for their coming, and that all the preparations and decisions for a great war were kept in suspense until the final secret conferences could be held with the representatives of the states-general, it seems strange enough to us to observe the extreme deliberation with which great affairs of state were then conducted and the vast amount of time consumed in movements and communications which modern science has either annihilated or abridged from days to hours. while henry was chafing with anxiety in paris, the ambassadors, having received barneveld's instructions dated st march, set forth on the th april from the hague, reached rotterdam at noon, and slept at dordrecht. newt day they went to breda, where the prince of orange insisted upon their passing a couple of days with him in his castle, easter-day being th april. he then provided them with a couple of coaches and pair in which they set forth on their journey, going by way of antwerp, ghent, courtray, ryssel, to arras, making easy stages, stopping in the middle of the day to bait, and sleeping at each of the cities thus mentioned, where they duly received the congratulatory visit and hospitalities of their respective magistracies. while all this time had been leisurely employed in the netherlands in preparing, instructing, and despatching the commissioners, affairs were reaching a feverish crisis in france. the states' ambassador resident thought that it would have been better not to take such public offence at the retreat of the prince of conde. the king had enough of life and vigour in him; he could afford to leave the dauphin to grow up, and when he should one day be established on the throne, he would be able to maintain his heritage. "but," said aerssens, "i fear that our trouble is not where we say it is, and we don't dare to say where it is." writing to carew, former english ambassador in paris, whom we have just seen in attendance on the states' commissioners in london, he said: "people think that the princess is wearying herself much under the protection of the infanta, and very impatient at not obtaining the dissolution of her marriage, which the duchess of angouleme is to go to brussels to facilitate. this is not our business, but i mention it only as the continuation of the tragedy which you saw begin. nevertheless i don't know if the greater part of our deliberations is not founded on this matter." it had been decided to cause the queen to be solemnly crowned after easter. she had set her heart with singular persistency upon the ceremony, and it was thought that so public a sacrament would annihilate all the wild projects attributed to spain through the instrumentality of conde to cast doubts on the validity of her marriage and the legitimacy of the dauphin. the king from the first felt and expressed a singular repugnance, a boding apprehension in regard to the coronation, but had almost yielded to the queen's importunity. he told her he would give his consent provided she sent concini to brussels to invite in her own name the princess of conde to be present on the occasion. otherwise he declared that at least the festival should be postponed till september. the marquis de coeuvres remained in disgrace after the failure of his mission, henry believing that like all the world he had fallen in love with the princess, and had only sought to recommend himself, not to further the suit of his sovereign. meanwhile henry had instructed his ambassador in spain, m. de vaucelas, to tell the king that his reception of conde within his dominions would be considered an infraction of the treaty of vervins and a direct act of hostility. the duke of lerma answered with a sneer that the most christian king had too greatly obliged his most catholic majesty by sustaining his subjects in their rebellion and by aiding them to make their truce to hope now that conde would be sent back. france had ever been the receptacle of spanish traitors and rebels from antonio perez down, and the king of spain would always protect wronged and oppressed princes like conde. france had just been breaking up the friendly relations between savoy and spain and goading the duke into hostilities. on the other hand the king had more than one stormy interview with don inigo de cardenas in paris. that ambassador declared that his master would never abandon his only sister the most serene infanta, such was the affection he born her, whose dominions were obviously threatened by these french armies about to move to the frontiers. henry replied that the friends for whom he was arming had great need of his assistance; that his catholic majesty was quite right to love his sister, whom he also loved; but that he did not choose that his own relatives should be so much beloved in spain as they were. "what relatives?" asked don inigo. "the prince of conde," replied the king, in a rage, "who has been debauched by the spaniards just as marshal biron was, and the marchioness verneuil, and so many others. there are none left for them to debauch now but the dauphin and his brothers." the ambassador replied that, if the king had consulted him about the affair of conde, he could have devised a happy issue from it. henry rejoined that he had sent messages on the subject to his catholic majesty, who had not deigned a response, but that the duke of lerma had given a very indiscreet one to his ambassador. don inigo professed ignorance of any such reply. the king said it was a mockery to affect ignorance of such matters. thereupon both grew excited and very violent in their discourses; the more so as henry knowing but little spanish and the envoy less french they could only understand from tone and gesture that each was using exceedingly unpleasant language. at last don inigo asked what he should write to his sovereign. "whatever you like," replied the king, and so the audience terminated, each remaining in a towering passion. subsequently villeroy assured the archduke's ambassador that the king considered the reception given to the prince in the spanish dominions as one of the greatest insults and injuries that could be done to him. nothing could excuse it, said the secretary of state, and for this reason it was very difficult for the two kings to remain at peace with each other, and that it would be wiser to prevent at once the evil designs of his catholic majesty than to leave leisure for the plans to be put into execution, and the claims of the dauphin to his father's crown to be disputed at a convenient season. he added that war would not be made for the princess, but for the prince, and that even the war in germany, although spain took the emperor's side and france that of the possessory princes, would not necessarily produce a rupture between the two kings if it were not for this affair of the prince--true cause of the disaster now hanging over christianity. pecquius replied by smooth commonplaces in favour of peace with which villeroy warmly concurred; both sadly expressing the conviction however that the wrath divine had descended on them all on account of their sins. a few days later, however, the secretary changed his tone. "i will speak to you frankly and clearly," he said to pecquius, "and tell you as from myself that there is passion, and if one is willing to arrange the affair of the princess, everything else can be accommodated and appeased. put if the princess remain where she is, we are on the eve of a rupture which may set fire to the four corners of christendom." pecquius said he liked to talk roundly, and was glad to find that he had not been mistaken in his opinion, that all these commotions were only made for the princess, and if all the world was going to war, she would be the principal subject of it. he could not marvel sufficiently, he said, at this vehement passion which brought in its train so great and horrible a conflagration; adding many arguments to show that it was no fault of the archdukes, but that he who was the cause of all might one day have reason to repent. villeroy replied that "the king believed the princess to be suffering and miserable for love of him, and that therefore he felt obliged to have her sent back to her father." pecquius asked whether in his conscience the secretary of state believed it right or reasonable to make war for such a cause. villeroy replied by asking "whether even admitting the negative, the ambassador thought it were wisely done for such a trifle, for a formality, to plunge into extremities and to turn all christendom upside down." pecquius, not considering honour a trifle or a formality, said that "for nothing in the world would his highness the archduke descend to a cowardly action or to anything that would sully his honour." villeroy said that the prince had compelled his wife, pistol in hand, to follow him to the netherlands, and that she was no longer bound to obey a husband who forsook country and king. her father demanded her, and she said "she would rather be strangled than ever to return to the company of her husband." the archdukes were not justified in keeping her against her will in perpetual banishment. he implored the ambassador in most pathetic terms to devise some means of sending back the princess, saying that he who should find such expedient would do the greatest good that was ever done to christianity, and that otherwise there was no guarantee against a universal war. the first design of the king had been merely to send a moderate succour to the princes of brandenburg and neuburg, which could have given no umbrage to the archdukes, but now the bitterness growing out of the affairs of the prince and princess had caused him to set on foot a powerful army to do worse. he again implored pecquius to invent some means of sending back the princess, and the ambassador besought him ardently to divert the king from his designs. of this the secretary of state left little hope and they parted, both very low and dismal in mind. subsequent conversations with the leading councillors of state convinced pecquius that these violent menaces were only used to shake the constancy of the archduke, but that they almost all highly disapproved the policy of the king. "if this war goes on, we are all ruined," said the duke d'epernon to the nuncius. thus there had almost ceased to be any grimacing between the two kings, although it was still a profound mystery where or when hostilities would begin, and whether they would break out at all. henry frequently remarked that the common opinion all over europe was working in his favour. few people in or out of france believed that he meant a rupture, or that his preparations were serious. thus should he take his enemies unawares and unprepared. even aerssens, who saw him almost daily, was sometimes mystified, in spite of henry's vehement assertions that he was resolved to make war at all hazards and on all sides, provided my lords the states would second him as they ought, their own existence being at stake. "for god's sake," cried the king, "let us take the bit into our mouths. tell your masters that i am quite resolved, and that i am shrieking loudly at their delays." he asked if he could depend on the states, if barneveld especially would consent to a league with him. the ambassador replied that for the affair of cleve and julich he had instructions to promise entire concurrence, that barneveld was most resolute in the matter, and had always urged the enterprise and wished information as to the levies making in france and other military preparations. "tell him," said henry, "that they are going on exactly as often before stated, but that we are holding everything in suspense until i have talked with your ambassadors, from whom i wish counsel, safety, and encouragement for doing much more than the julich business. that alone does not require so great a league and such excessive and unnecessary expense." the king observed however that the question of the duchies would serve as just cause and excellent pretext to remove those troublesome fellows for ever from his borders and those of the states. thus the princes would be established safely in their possession and the republic as well as himself freed from the perpetual suspicions which the spaniards excited by their vile intrigues, and it was on this general subject that he wished to confer with the special commissioners. it would not be possible for him to throw succour into julich without passing through luxemburg in arms. the archdukes would resist this, and thus a cause of war would arise. his campaign on the meuse would help the princes more than if he should only aid them by the contingent he had promised. nor could the jealousy of king james be excited since the war would spring out of the archdukes' opposition to his passage towards the duchies, as he obviously could not cut himself off from his supplies, leaving a hostile province between himself and his kingdom. nevertheless he could not stir, he said, without the consent and active support of the states, on whom he relied as his principal buttress and foundation. the levies for the milanese expedition were waiting until marshal de lesdiguieres could confer personally with the duke of savoy. the reports as to the fidelity of that potentate were not to be believed. he was trifling with the spanish ambassadors, so henry was convinced, who were offering him , crowns a year besides piombino, monaco, and two places in the milanese, if he would break his treaty with france. but he was thought to be only waiting until they should be gone before making his arrangements with lesdiguieres. "he knows that he can put no trust in spain, and that he can confide in me," said the king. "i have made a great stroke by thus entangling the king of spain by the use of a few troops in italy. but i assure you that there is none but me and my lords the states that can do anything solid. whether the duke breaks or holds fast will make no difference in our first and great designs. for the honour of god i beg them to lose no more time, but to trust in me. i will never deceive them, never abandon them." at last , infantry and cavalry were already in marching order, and indeed had begun to move towards the luxemburg frontier, ready to co-operate with the states' army and that of the possessory princes for the campaign of the meuse and rhine. twelve thousand more french troops under lesdiguieres were to act with the duke of savoy, and an army as large was to assemble in the pyrenees and to operate on the spanish frontier, in hope of exciting and fomenting an insurrection caused by the expulsion of the moors. that gigantic act of madness by which spain thought good at this juncture to tear herself to pieces, driving hundreds of thousands of the most industrious, most intelligent, and most opulent of her population into hopeless exile, had now been accomplished, and was to stand prominent for ever on the records of human fatuity. twenty-five thousand moorish families had arrived at bayonne, and the viceroy of canada had been consulted as to the possibility and expediency of establishing them in that province, although emigration thither seemed less tempting to them than to virginia. certainly it was not unreasonable for henry to suppose that a kingdom thus torn by internal convulsions might be more open to a well organized attack, than capable of carrying out at that moment fresh projects of universal dominion. as before observed, sully was by no means in favour of this combined series of movements, although at a later day, when dictating his famous memoirs to his secretaries, he seems to describe himself as enthusiastically applauding and almost originating them. but there is no doubt at all that throughout this eventful spring he did his best to concentrate the whole attack on luxemburg and the meuse districts, and wished that the movements in the milanese and in provence should be considered merely a slight accessory, as not much more than a diversion to the chief design, while villeroy and his friends chose to consider the duke of savoy as the chief element in the war. sully thoroughly distrusted the duke, whom he deemed to be always put up at auction between spain and france and incapable of a sincere or generous policy. he was entirely convinced that villeroy and epernon and jeannin and other earnest papists in france were secretly inclined to the cause of spain, that the whole faction of the queen, in short, were urging this scattering of the very considerable forces now at henry's command in the hope of bringing him into a false position, in which defeat or an ignominious peace would be the alternative. to concentrate an immense attack upon the archdukes in the spanish netherlands and the debateable duchies would have for its immediate effect the expulsion of the spaniards out of all those provinces and the establishment of the dutch commonwealth on an impregnable basis. that this would be to strengthen infinitely the huguenots in france and the cause of protestantism in bohemia, moravia and austria, was unquestionable. it was natural, therefore, that the stern and ardent huguenot should suspect the plans of the catholics with whom he was in daily council. one day he asked the king plumply in the presence of villeroy if his majesty meant anything serious by all these warlike preparations. henry was wroth, and complained bitterly that one who knew him to the bottom of his soul should doubt him. but sully could not persuade himself that a great and serious war would be carried on both in the netherlands and in italy. as much as his sovereign he longed for the personal presence of barneveld, and was constantly urging the states' ambassador to induce his coming to paris. "you know," said aerssens, writing to the french ambassador at the hague, de russy, "that it is the advocate alone that has the universal knowledge of the outside and the inside of our commonwealth." sully knew his master as well as any man knew him, but it was difficult to fix the chameleon hues of henry at this momentous epoch. to the ambassador expressing doubts as to the king's sincerity the duke asserted that henry was now seriously piqued with the spaniard on account of the conde business. otherwise anhalt and the possessory princes and the affair of cleve might have had as little effect in driving him into war as did the interests of the netherlands in times past. but the bold demonstration projected would make the "whole spanish party bleed at the nose; a good result for the public peace." therefore sully sent word to barneveld, although he wished his name concealed, that he ought to come himself, with full powers to do everything, without referring to any superiors or allowing any secrets to be divulged. the king was too far committed to withdraw, unless coldness on part of the states should give him cause. the advocate must come prepared to answer all questions; to say how much in men and money the states would contribute, and whether they would go into the war with the king as their only ally. he must come with the bridle on his neck. all that henry feared was being left in the lurch by the states; otherwise he was not afraid of rome. sully was urgent that the provinces should now go vigorously into the war without stumbling at any consideration. thus they would confirm their national power for all time, but if the opportunity were now lost, it would be their ruin, and posterity would most justly blame them. the king of spain was so stripped of troops and resources, so embarrassed by the moors, that in ten months he would not be able to send one man to the netherlands. meantime the nuncius in paris was moving heaven and earth; storming, intriguing, and denouncing the course of the king in protecting heresy, when it would have been so easy to extirpate it, encouraging rebellion and disorder throughout christendom, and embarking in an action against the church and against his conscience. a new legate was expected daily with the pope's signature to the new league, and a demand upon the king to sign it likewise, and to pause in a career of which something was suspected, but very little accurately known. the preachers in paris and throughout the kingdom delivered most vehement sermons against the king, the government, and the protestants, and seemed to the king to be such "trumpeters of sedition" that he ordered the seneschals and other officers to put a stop to these turbulent discourses, censure their authors, and compel them to stick to their texts. but the preparations were now so far advanced and going on so warmly that nothing more was wanting than, in the words of aerssens, "to uncouple the dogs and let them run." recruits were pouring steadily to their places of rendezvous; their pay having begun to run from the th march at the rate of eight sous a day for the private foot soldier and ten sous for a corporal. they were moved in small parties of ten, lodged in the wayside inns, and ordered, on pain of death, to pay for everything they consumed. it was growing difficult to wait much longer for the arrival of the special ambassadors, when at last they were known to be on their way. aerssens obtained for their use the hotel gondy, formerly the residence of don pedro de toledo, the most splendid private palace in paris, and recently purchased by the queen. it was considered expedient that the embassy should make as stately an appearance as that of royal or imperial envoys. he engaged an upholsterer by the king's command to furnish, at his majesty's expense, the apartments, as the baron de gondy, he said, had long since sold and eaten up all the furniture. he likewise laid in six pieces of wine and as many of beer, "tavern drinks" being in the opinion of the thrifty ambassador "both dear and bad." he bought a carriage lined with velvet for the commissioners, and another lined with broadcloth for the principal persons of their suite, and with his own coach as a third he proposed to go to amiens to meet them. they could not get on with fewer than these, he said, and the new carriages would serve their purpose in paris. he had paid crowns for the two, and they could be sold, when done with, at a slight loss. he bought likewise four dapple-grey horses, which would be enough, as nobody had more than two horses to a carriage in town, and for which he paid crowns--a very low price, he thought, at a season when every one was purchasing. he engaged good and experienced coachmen at two crowns a month, and; in short, made all necessary arrangements for their comfort and the honour of the state. the king had been growing more and more displeased at the tardiness of the commission, petulantly ascribing it to a design on the part of the states to "excuse themselves from sharing in his bold conceptions," but said that "he could resolve on nothing without my lords the states, who were the only power with which he could contract confidently, as mighty enough and experienced enough to execute the designs to be proposed to them; so that his army was lying useless on his hands until the commissioners arrived," and lamented more loudly than ever that barneveld was not coming with them. he was now rejoiced, however, to hear that they would soon arrive, and went in person to the hotel gondy to see that everything was prepared in a manner befitting their dignity and comfort. his anxiety had moreover been increased, as already stated, by the alarming reports from utrecht and by his other private accounts from the netherlands. de russy expressed in his despatches grave doubts whether the states would join the king in a war against the king of spain, because they feared the disapprobation of the king of great britain, "who had already manifested but too much jealousy of the power and grandeur of the republic." pecquius asserted that the archdukes had received assurances from the states that they would do nothing to violate the truce. the prince of anhalt, who, as chief of the army of the confederated princes, was warm in his demonstrations for a general war by taking advantage of the cleve expedition, was entirely at cross purposes with the states' ambassador in paris, aerssens maintaining that the forty-three years' experience in their war justified the states in placing no dependence on german princes except with express conventions. they had no such conventions now, and if they should be attacked by spain in consequence of their assistance in the cleve business, what guarantee of aid had they from those whom anhalt represented? anhalt was loud in expressions of sympathy with henry's designs against spain, but said that he and the states meant a war of thirty or forty years, while the princes would finish what they meant to do in one. a more erroneous expression of opinion, when viewed in the light of subsequent events, could hardly have been hazarded. villeroy made as good use as he could of these conversations to excite jealousy between the princes and the states for the furtherance of his own ends, while affecting warm interest in the success of the king's projects. meantime archduke albert had replied manfully and distinctly to the menaces of the king and to the pathetic suggestions made by villeroy to pecquius as to a device for sending back the princess. her stay at brussels being the chief cause of the impending war, it would be better, he said, to procure a divorce or to induce the constable to obtain the consent of the prince to the return of his wife to her father's house. to further either of these expedients, the archduke would do his best. "but if one expects by bravados and threats," he added, "to force us to do a thing against our promise, and therefore against reason, our reputation, and honour, resolutely we will do nothing of the kind. and if the said lord king decided on account of this misunderstanding for a rupture and to make war upon us, we will do our best to wage war on him. in such case, however, we shall be obliged to keep the princess closer in our own house, and probably to send her to such parts as may be most convenient in order to remove from us an instrument of the infinite evils which this war will produce." meantime the special commissioners whom we left at arras had now entered the french kingdom. on the th april, aerssens with his three coaches met them on their entrance into amiens, having been waiting there for them eight days. as they passed through the gate, they found a guard of soldiers drawn up to receive them with military honours, and an official functionary to apologize for the necessary absence of the governor, who had gone with most of the troops stationed in the town to the rendezvous in champagne. he expressed regret, therefore, that the king's orders for their solemn reception could not be literally carried out. the whole board of magistrates, however, in their costumes of ceremony, with sergeants bearing silver maces marching before them, came forth to bid the ambassadors welcome. an advocate made a speech in the name of the city authorities, saying that they were expressly charged by the king to receive them as coming from his very best friends, and to do them all honour. he extolled the sage government of their high mightinesses and the valour of the republic, which had become known to the whole world by the successful conduct of their long and mighty war. the commissioners replied in words of compliment, and the magistrates then offered them, according to ancient usage, several bottles of hippocras. next day, sending back the carriages of the prince of orange, in which they had thus far performed the journey, they set forth towards paris, reaching saint-denis at noon of the third day. here they were met by de bonoeil, introducer of ambassadors, sent thither by the king to give them welcome, and to say that they would be received on the road by the duke of vendome, eldest of the legitimatized children of the king. accordingly before reaching the saint-denis gate of paris, a splendid cavalcade of nearly five hundred noblemen met them, the duke at their head, accompanied by two marshals of france, de brissac and boisdaulphin. the three instantly dismounted, and the ambassadors alighted from their coach. the duke then gave them solemn and cordial welcome, saying that he had been sent by his father the king to receive them as befitted envoys of the best and most faithful friends he possessed in the world. the ambassadors expressed their thanks for the great and extraordinary honour thus conferred on them, and they were then requested to get into a royal carriage which had been sent out for that purpose. after much ceremonious refusal they at last consented and, together with the duke of vendome, drove through paris in that vehicle into the faubourg saint germain. arriving at the hotel gondy, they were, notwithstanding all their protestations, escorted up the staircase into the apartments by the duke. "this honour is notable," said the commissioners in their report to the states, "and never shown to anyone before, so that our ill-wishers are filled with spite." and peter pecquius was of the same opinion. "everyone is grumbling here," about the reception of the states' ambassadors, "because such honours were never paid to any ambassador whatever, whether from spain, england, or any other country." and there were many men living and employed in great affairs of state, both in france and in the republic--the king and villeroy, barneveld and maurice--who could remember how twenty-six years before a solemn embassy from the states had proceeded from the hague to france to offer the sovereignty of their country to henry's predecessor, had been kept ignominiously and almost like prisoners four weeks long in rouen, and had been thrust back into the netherlands without being admitted even to one audience by the monarch. truly time, in the course of less than one generation of mankind, had worked marvellous changes in the fortunes of the dutch republic. president jeannin came to visit them next day, with friendly proffers of service, and likewise the ambassador of venice and the charge d'affaires of great britain. on the nd the royal carriages came by appointment to the hotel gondy, and took them for their first audience to the louvre. they were received at the gate by a guard of honour, drums beating and arms presented, and conducted with the greatest ceremony to an apartment in the palace. soon afterwards they were ushered into a gallery where the king stood, surrounded by a number of princes and distinguished officers of the crown. these withdrew on the approach of the netherlanders, leaving the king standing alone. they made their reverence, and henry saluted them all with respectful cordiality. begging them to put on their hats again, he listened attentively to their address. the language of the discourse now pronounced was similar in tenour to that almost contemporaneously held by the states' special envoys in london. both documents, when offered afterwards in writing, bore the unmistakable imprint of the one hand that guided the whole political machine. in various passages the phraseology was identical, and, indeed, the advocate had prepared and signed the instructions for both embassies on the same day. the commissioners acknowledged in the strongest possible terms the great and constant affection, quite without example, that henry had manifested to the netherlands during the whole course of their war. they were at a loss to find language adequately to express their gratitude for that friendship, and the assistance subsequently afforded them in the negotiations for truce. they apologized for the tardiness of the states in sending this solemn embassy of thanksgiving, partly on the ground of the delay in receiving the ratifications from spain, partly by the protracted contraventions by the archdukes of certain articles in the treaty, but principally by the terrible disasters occasioned throughout their country by the great inundations, and by the commotions in the city of utrecht, which had now been "so prudently and happily pacified." they stated that the chief cause of their embassy was to express their respectful gratitude, and to say that never had prince or state treasured more deeply in memory benefits received than did their republic the favours of his majesty, or could be more disposed to do their utmost to defend his majesty's person, crown, or royal family against all attack. they expressed their joy that the king had with prudence, and heroic courage undertaken the defence of the just rights of brandenburg and neuburg to the duchies of cleve, julich, and the other dependent provinces. thus had he put an end to the presumption of those who thought they could give the law to all the world. they promised the co-operation of the states in this most important enterprise of their ally, notwithstanding their great losses in the war just concluded, and the diminution of revenue occasioned by the inundations by which they had been afflicted; for they were willing neither to tolerate so unjust an usurpation as that attempted by the emperor nor to fail to second his majesty in his generous designs. they observed also that they had been instructed to enquire whether his majesty would not approve the contracting of a strict league of mutual assistance between france, england, the united provinces, and the princes of germany. the king, having listened with close attention, thanked the envoys in words of earnest and vigorous cordiality for their expressions of affection to himself. he begged them to remember that he had always been their good friend, and that he never would forsake them; that he had always hated the spaniards, and should ever hate them; and that the affairs of julich must be arranged not only for the present but for the future. he requested them to deliver their propositions in writing to him, and to be ready to put themselves into communication with the members of his council, in order that they might treat with each other roundly and without reserve. he should always deal with the netherlanders as with his own people, keeping no back-door open, but pouring out everything as into the lap of his best and most trusty friends. after this interview conferences followed daily between the ambassadors and villeroy, sully, jeannin, the chancellor, and puysieug. the king's counsellors, after having read the written paraphrase of barneveld's instructions, the communication of which followed their oral statements, and which, among other specifications, contained a respectful remonstrance against the projected french east india company, as likely to benefit the spaniards only, while seriously injuring the states, complained that "the representations were too general, and that the paper seemed to contain nothing but compliments." the ambassadors, dilating on the various points and articles, maintained warmly that there was much more than compliments in their instructions. the ministers wished to know what the states practically were prepared to do in the affair of cleve, which they so warmly and encouragingly recommended to the king. they asked whether the states' army would march at once to dusseldorf to protect the princes at the moment when the king moved from mezieres, and they made many enquiries as to what amount of supplies and munitions they could depend upon from the states' magazines. the envoys said that they had no specific instructions on these points, and could give therefore no conclusive replies. more than ever did henry regret the absence of the great advocate at this juncture. if he could have come, with the bridle on his neck, as henry had so repeatedly urged upon the resident ambassador, affairs might have marched more rapidly. the despotic king could never remember that barneveld was not the unlimited sovereign of the united states, but only the seal-keeper of one of the seven provinces and the deputy of holland to the general assembly. his indirect power, however vast, was only great because it was so carefully veiled. it was then proposed by villeroy and sully, and agreed to by the commissioners, that m. de bethune, a relative of the great financier, should be sent forthwith to the hague, to confer privately with prince maurice and barneveld especially, as to military details of the coming campaign. it was also arranged that the envoys should delay their departure until de bethune's return. meantime henry and the nuncius had been exchanging plain and passionate language. ubaldini reproached the king with disregarding all the admonitions of his holiness, and being about to plunge christendom into misery and war for the love of the princess of conde. he held up to him the enormity of thus converting the king of spain and the archdukes into his deadly enemies, and warned him that he would by such desperate measures make even the states-general and the king of britain his foes, who certainly would never favour such schemes. the king replied that "he trusted to his own forces, not to those of his neighbours, and even if the hollanders should not declare for him still he would execute his designs. on the th of may most certainly he would put himself at the head of his army, even if he was obliged to put off the queen's coronation till october, and he could not consider the king of spain nor the archdukes his friends unless they at once made him some demonstration of friendship. being asked by the nuncius what demonstration he wished, he answered flatly that he wished the princess to be sent back to the constable her father, in which case the affair of julich could be arranged amicably, and, at all events, if the war continued there, he need not send more than men." thus, in spite of his mighty preparations, vehement demands for barneveld, and profound combinations revealed to that statesman, to aerssens, and to the duke of sully only, this wonderful monarch was ready to drop his sword on the spot, to leave his friends in the lurch, to embrace his enemies, the archduke first of all, instead of bombarding brussels the very next week, as he had been threatening to do, provided the beautiful margaret could be restored to his arms through those of her venerable father. he suggested to the nuncius his hope that the archduke would yet be willing to wink at her escape, which he was now trying to arrange through de preaux at brussels, while ubaldini, knowing the archduke incapable of anything so dishonourable, felt that the war was inevitable. at the very same time too, father cotton, who was only too ready to betray the secrets of the confessional when there was an object to gain, had a long conversation with the archduke's ambassador, in which the holy man said that the king had confessed to him that he made the war expressly to cause the princess to be sent back to france, so that as there could be no more doubt on the subject the father-confessor begged pecquius, in order to prevent so great an evil, to devise "some prompt and sudden means to induce his highness the archduke to order the princess to retire secretly to her own country." the jesuit had different notions of honour, reputation, and duty from those which influenced the archduke. he added that "at easter the king had been so well disposed to seek his salvation that he could easily have forgotten his affection for the princess, had she not rekindled the fire by her letters, in which she caressed him with amorous epithets, calling him 'my heart,' 'my chevalier,' and similar terms of endearment." father cotton also drew up a paper, which he secretly conveyed to pecquius, "to prove that the archduke, in terms of conscience and honour, might decide to permit this escape, but he most urgently implored the ambassador that for the love of god and the public good he would influence his serene highness to prevent this from ever coming to the knowledge of the world, but to keep the secret inviolably." thus, while henry was holding high council with his own most trusted advisers, and with the most profound statesmen of europe, as to the opening campaign within a fortnight of a vast and general war, he was secretly plotting with his father-confessor to effect what he avowed to be the only purpose of that war, by jesuitical bird-lime to be applied to the chief of his antagonists. certainly barneveld and his colleagues were justified in their distrust. to move one step in advance of their potent but slippery ally might be a step off a precipice. on the st of may, sully made a long visit to the commissioners. he earnestly urged upon them the necessity of making the most of the present opportunity. there were people in plenty, he said, who would gladly see the king take another course, for many influential persons about him were altogether spanish in their inclinations. the king had been scandalized to hear from the prince of anhalt, without going into details, that on his recent passage through the netherlands he had noticed some change of feeling, some coolness in their high mightinesses. the duke advised that they should be very heedful, that they should remember how much more closely these matters regarded them than anyone else, that they should not deceive themselves, but be firmly convinced that unless they were willing to go head foremost into the business the french would likewise not commit themselves. sully spoke with much earnestness and feeling, for it was obvious that both he and his master had been disappointed at the cautious and limited nature of the instructions given to the ambassadors. an opinion had indeed prevailed, and, as we have seen, was to a certain extent shared in by aerssens, and even by sully himself, that the king's military preparations were after all but a feint, and that if the prince of conde, and with him the princess, could be restored to france, the whole war cloud would evaporate in smoke. it was even asserted that henry had made a secret treaty with the enemy, according to which, while apparently ready to burst upon the house of austria with overwhelming force, he was in reality about to shake hands cordially with that power, on condition of being allowed to incorporate into his own kingdom the very duchies in dispute, and of receiving the prince of conde and his wife from spain. he was thus suspected of being about to betray his friends and allies in the most ignoble manner and for the vilest of motives. the circulation of these infamous reports no doubt paralysed for a time the energy of the enemy who had made no requisite preparations against the threatened invasion, but it sickened his friends with vague apprehensions, while it cut the king himself to the heart and infuriated him to madness. he asked the nuncius one day what people thought in rome and italy of the war about to be undertaken. ubaldini replied that those best informed considered the princess of conde as the principal subject of hostilities; they thought that he meant to have her back. "i do mean to have her back," cried henry, with a mighty oath, and foaming with rage, "and i shall have her back. no one shall prevent it, not even the lieutenant of god on earth." but the imputation of this terrible treason weighed upon his mind and embittered every hour. the commissioners assured sully that they had no knowledge of any coolness or change such as anhalt had reported on the part of their principals, and the duke took his leave. it will be remembered that villeroy had, it was thought, been making mischief between anhalt and the states by reporting and misreporting private conversations between that prince and the dutch ambassador. as soon as sully had gone, van der myle waited upon villeroy to ask, in name of himself and colleagues, for audience of leave-taking, the object of their mission having been accomplished. the secretary of state, too, like sully, urged the importance of making the most of the occasion. the affair of cleve, he said, did not very much concern the king, but his majesty had taken it to heart chiefly on account of the states and for their security. they were bound, therefore, to exert themselves to the utmost, but more would not be required of them than it would be possible to fulfil. van der myle replied that nothing would be left undone by their high mightinesses to support the king faithfully and according to their promise. on the th, villeroy came to the ambassadors, bringing with him a letter from the king for the states-general, and likewise a written reply to the declarations made orally and in writing by the ambassadors to his majesty. the letter of henry to "his very dear and good friends, allies, and confederates," was chiefly a complimentary acknowledgment of the expressions of gratitude made to him on part of the states-general, and warm approbation of their sage resolve to support the cause of brandenburg and neuburg. he referred them for particulars to the confidential conferences held between the commissioners and himself. they would state how important he thought it that this matter should be settled now so thoroughly as to require no second effort at any future time when circumstances might not be so propitious; and that he intended to risk his person, at the head of his army, to accomplish this result. to the ambassadors he expressed his high satisfaction at their assurances of affection, devotion, and gratitude on the part of the states. he approved and commended their resolution to assist the elector and the palatine in the affair of the duchies. he considered this a proof of their prudence and good judgment, as showing their conviction that they were more interested and bound to render this assistance than any other potentates or states, as much from the convenience and security to be derived from the neighbourhood of princes who were their friends as from dangers to be apprehended from other princes who were seeking to appropriate those provinces. the king therefore begged the states to move forward as soon as possible the forces which they offered for this enterprise according to his majesty's suggestion sent through de bethune. the king on his part would do the same with extreme care and diligence, from the anxiety he felt to prevent my lords the states from receiving detriment in places so vital to their preservation. he begged the states likewise to consider that it was meet not only to make a first effort to put the princes into entire possession of the duchies, but to provide also for the durable success of the enterprise; to guard against any invasions that might be made in the future to eject those princes. otherwise all their present efforts would be useless; and his majesty therefore consented on this occasion to enter into the new league proposed by the states with all the princes and states mentioned in the memoir of the ambassadors for mutual assistance against all unjust occupations, attempts, and baneful intrigues. having no special information as to the infractions by the archdukes of the recent treaty of truce, the king declined to discuss that subject for the moment, although holding himself bound to all required of him as one of the guarantees of that treaty. in regard to the remonstrance made by the ambassadors concerning the trade of the east indies, his majesty disclaimed any intention of doing injury to the states in permitting his subjects to establish a company in his kingdom for that commerce. he had deferred hitherto taking action in the matter only out of respect to the states, but he could no longer refuse the just claims of his subjects if they should persist in them as urgently as they had thus far been doing. the right and liberty which they demanded was common to all, said the king, and he was certainly bound to have as great care for the interests of his subjects as for those of his friends and allies. here, certainly, was an immense difference in tone and in terms towards the republic adopted respectively by their great and good friends and allies the kings of france and great britain. it was natural enough that henry, having secretly expressed his most earnest hope that the states would move at his side in his broad and general assault upon the house of austria, should impress upon them his conviction, which was a just one, that no power in the world was more interested in keeping a spanish and catholic prince out of the duchies than they were themselves. but while thus taking a bond of them as it were for the entire fulfilment of the primary enterprise, he accepted with cordiality, and almost with gratitude, their proposition of a close alliance of the republic with himself and with the protestant powers which james had so superciliously rejected. it would have been difficult to inflict a more petty and, more studied insult upon the republic than did the king of great britain at that supreme moment by his preposterous claim of sovereign rights over the netherlands. he would make no treaty with them, he said, but should he find it worth while to treat with his royal brother of france, he should probably not shut the door in their faces. certainly henry's reply to the remonstrances of the ambassadors in regard to the india trade was as moderate as that of james had been haughty and peremptory in regard to the herring fishery. it is however sufficiently amusing to see those excellent hollanders nobly claiming that "the sea was as free as air" when the right to take scotch pilchards was in question, while at the very same moment they were earnest for excluding their best allies and all the world besides from their east india monopoly. but isaac le maire and jacques le roy had not lain so long disguised in zamet's house in paris for nothing, nor had aerssens so completely "broke the neck of the french east india company" as he supposed. a certain dutch freebooter, however, simon danzer by name, a native of dordrecht, who had been alternately in the service of spain, france, and the states, but a general marauder upon all powers, was exercising at that moment perhaps more influence on the east india trade than any potentate or commonwealth. he kept the seas just then with four swift-sailing and well-armed vessels, that potent skimmer of the ocean, and levied tribute upon protestant and catholic, turk or christian, with great impartiality. the king of spain had sent him letters of amnesty and safe-conduct, with large pecuniary offers, if he would enter his service. the king of france had outbid his royal brother and enemy, and implored him to sweep the seas under the white flag. the states' ambassador begged his masters to reflect whether this "puissant and experienced corsair" should be permitted to serve spaniard or frenchman, and whether they could devise no expedient for turning him into another track. "he is now with his fine ships at marseilles," said aerssens. "he is sought for in all quarters by the spaniard and by the directors of the new french east india company, private persons who equip vessels of war. if he is not satisfied with this king's offers, he is likely to close with the king of spain, who offers him crowns a month. avarice tickles him, but he is neither spaniard nor papist, and i fear will be induced to serve with his ships the east india company, and so will return to his piracy, the evil of which will always fall on our heads. if my lords the states will send me letters of abolition for him, in imitation of the french king, on condition of his returning to his home in zealand and quitting the sea altogether, something might be done. otherwise he will be off to marseilles again, and do more harm to us than ever. isaac le maire is doing as much evil as he can, and one holds daily council with him here." thus the slippery simon skimmed the seas from marseilles to the moluccas, from java to mexico, never to be held firmly by philip, or henry, or barneveld. a dissolute but very daring ship's captain, born in zealand, and formerly in the service of the states, out of which he had been expelled for many evil deeds, simon danzer had now become a professional pirate, having his head-quarters chiefly at algiers. his english colleague warde stationed himself mainly at tunis, and both acted together in connivance with the pachas of the turkish government. they with their considerable fleet, one vessel of which mounted sixty guns, were the terror of the mediterranean, extorted tribute from the commerce of all nations indifferently, and sold licenses to the greatest governments of europe. after growing rich with his accumulated booty, simon was inclined to become respectable, a recourse which was always open to him--france, england, spain, the united provinces, vieing with each other to secure him by high rank and pay as an honoured member of their national marine. he appears however to have failed in his plan of retiring upon his laurels, having been stabbed in paris by a man whom he had formerly robbed and ruined. villeroy, having delivered the letters with his own hands to the ambassadors, was asked by them when and where it would be convenient for the king to arrange the convention of close alliance. the secretary of state--in his secret heart anything but kindly disposed for this loving union with a republic he detested and with heretics whom he would have burned--answered briefly that his majesty was ready at any time, and that it might take place then if they were provided with the necessary powers. he said in parting that the states should "have an eye to everything, for occasions like the present were irrecoverable." he then departed, saying that the king would receive them in final audience on the following day. next morning accordingly marshal de boisdaulphin and de bonoeil came with royal coaches to the hotel gondy and escorted the ambassadors to the louvre. on the way they met de bethune, who had returned solo from the hague bringing despatches for the king and for themselves. while in the antechamber, they had opportunity to read their letters from the states-general, his majesty sending word that he was expecting them with impatience, but preferred that they should read the despatches before the audience. they found the king somewhat out of humour. he expressed himself as tolerably well satisfied with the general tenour of the despatches brought by de bethune, but complained loudly of the request now made by the states, that the maintenance and other expenses of french in the states' service should be paid in the coming campaign out of the royal exchequer. he declared that this proposition was "a small manifestation of ingratitude," that my lords the states were "little misers," and that such proceedings were "little avaricious tricks" such as he had not expected of them. so far as england was concerned, he said there was a great difference. the english took away what he was giving. he did cheerfully a great deal for his friends, he said, and was always ready doubly to repay what they did for him. if, however, the states persisted in this course, he should call his troops home again. the king, as he went on, became more and more excited, and showed decided dissatisfaction in his language and manner. it was not to be wondered at, for we have seen how persistently he had been urging that the advocate should come in person with "the bridle on his neck," and now he had sent his son-in-law and two colleagues tightly tied up by stringent instructions. and over an above all this, while he was contemplating a general war with intention to draw upon the states for unlimited supplies, behold, they were haggling for the support of a couple of regiments which were virtually their own troops. there were reasons, however, for this cautiousness besides those unfounded, although not entirely chimerical, suspicions as to the king's good faith, to which we have alluded. it should not be forgotten that, although henry had conversed secretly with the states' ambassador at full length on his far-reaching plans, with instructions that he should confidentially inform the advocate and demand his co-operation, not a word of it had been officially propounded to the states-general, nor to the special embassy with whom he was now negotiating. no treaty of alliance offensive or defensive existed between the kingdom and the republic or between the republic and any power whatever. it would have been culpable carelessness therefore at this moment for the prime minister of the states to have committed his government in writing to a full participation in a general assault upon the house of austria; the first step in which would have been a breach of the treaty just concluded and instant hostilities with the archdukes albert and isabella. that these things were in the immediate future was as plain as that night would follow day, but the hour had not yet struck for the states to throw down the gauntlet. hardly two months before, the king, in his treaty with the princes at hall, had excluded both the king of great britain and the states-general from participation in those arrangements, and it was grave matter for consideration, therefore, for the states whether they should allow such succour as they might choose to grant the princes to be included in the french contingent. the opportunity for treating as a sovereign power with the princes and making friends with them was tempting, but it did not seem reasonable to the states that france should make use of them in this war without a treaty, and should derive great advantage from the alliance, but leave the expense to them. henry, on the other hand, forgetting, when it was convenient to him, all about the princess of conde, his hatred of spain, and his resolution to crush the house of austria, chose to consider the war as made simply for the love of the states-general and to secure them for ever from danger. the ambassadors replied to the king's invectives with great respect, and endeavoured to appease his anger. they had sent a special despatch to their government, they said, in regard to all those matters, setting forth all the difficulties that had been raised, but had not wished to trouble his majesty with premature discussions of them. they did not doubt, however, that their high mightinesses would so conduct this great affair as to leave the king no ground of complaint. henry then began to talk of the intelligence brought by de bethune from the hague, especially in regard to the sending of states' troops to dusseldorf and the supply of food for the french army. he did not believe, he said, that the archdukes would refuse him the passage with his forces through their territory, inasmuch as the states' army would be on the way to meet him. in case of any resistance, however, he declared his resolution to strike his blow and to cause people to talk of him. he had sent his quartermaster-general to examine the passes, who had reported that it would be impossible to prevent his majesty's advance. he was also distinctly informed that marquis spinola, keeping his places garrisoned, could not bring more than men into the field. the duke of bouillon, however, was sending advices that his communications were liable to be cut off, and that for this purpose spinola could set on foot about , infantry and horse. if the passage should be allowed by the archdukes, the king stated his intention of establishing magazines for his troops along the whole line of march through the spanish netherlands and neighbouring districts, and to establish and fortify himself everywhere in order to protect his supplies and cover his possible retreat. he was still in doubt, he said, whether to demand the passage at once or to wait until he had began to move his army. he was rather inclined to make the request instantly in order to gain time, being persuaded that he should receive no answer either of consent or refusal. leaving all these details, the king then frankly observed that the affair of cleve had a much wider outlook than people thought. therefore the states must consider well what was to be done to secure the whole work as soon as the cleve business had been successfully accomplished. upon this subject it was indispensable that he should consult especially with his excellency (prince maurice) and some members of the general assembly, whom he wished that my lords the states-general should depute to the army. "for how much good will it do," said the king, "if we drive off archduke leopold without establishing the princes in security for the future? nothing is easier than to put the princes in possession. every one will yield or run away before our forces, but two months after we have withdrawn the enemy will return and drive the princes out again. i cannot always be ready to spring out of my kingdom, nor to assemble such great armies. i am getting old, and my army moreover costs me , crowns a month, which is enough to exhaust all the treasures of france, spain, venice, and the states-general together." he added that, if the present occasion were neglected, the states would afterwards bitterly lament and never recover it. the pope was very much excited, and was sending out his ambassadors everywhere. only the previous saturday the new nuncius destined for france had left rome. if my lords the states would send deputies to the camp with full powers, he stood there firm and unchangeable, but if they remained cool in the business, he warned them that they would enrage him. the states must seize the occasion, he repeated. it was bald behind, and must be grasped by the forelock. it was not enough to have begun well. one must end well. "finis coronat opus." it was very easy to speak of a league, but a league was not to be made in order to sit with arms tied, but to do good work. the states ought not to suffer that the germans should prove themselves more energetic, more courageous, than themselves. and again the king vehemently urged the necessity of his excellency and some deputies of the states coming to him "with absolute power" to treat. he could not doubt in that event of something solid being accomplished. "there are three things," he continued, "which cause me to speak freely. i am talking with my friends whom i hold dear--yes, dearer, perhaps, than they hold themselves. i am a great king, and say what i choose to say. i am old, and know by experience the ways of this world's affairs. i tell you, then, that it is most important that you should come to me resolved and firm on all points." he then requested the ambassadors to make full report of all that he had said to their masters, to make the journey as rapidly as possible, in order to encourage the states to the great enterprise and to meet his wishes. he required from them, he said, not only activity of the body, but labour of the intellect. he was silent for a few moments, and then spoke again. "i shall not always be here," he said, "nor will you always have prince maurice, and a few others whose knowledge of your commonwealth is perfect. my lords the states must be up and doing while they still possess them. nest tuesday i shall cause the queen to be crowned at saint-denis; the following thursday she will make her entry into paris. next day, friday, i shall take my departure. at the end of this month i shall cross the meuse at mezieres or in that neighbourhood." he added that he should write immediately to holland, to urge upon his excellency and the states to be ready to make the junction of their army with his forces without delay. he charged the ambassadors to assure their high mightinesses that he was and should remain their truest friend, their dearest neighbour. he then said a few gracious and cordial words to each of them, warmly embraced each, and bade them all farewell. the next day was passed by the ambassadors in paying and receiving farewell visits, and on saturday, the th, they departed from paris, being escorted out of the gate by the marshal de boisdaulphin, with a cavalcade of noblemen. they slept that night at saint denis, and then returned to holland by the way of calais and rotterdam, reaching the hague on the th of may. i make no apology for the minute details thus given of the proceedings of this embassy, and especially of the conversations of henry. the very words of those conversations were taken down on the spot by the commissioners who heard them, and were carefully embodied in their report made to the states-general on their return, from which i have transcribed them. it was a memorable occasion. the great king--for great he was, despite his numerous vices and follies--stood there upon the threshold of a vast undertaking, at which the world, still half incredulous, stood gazing, half sick with anxiety. he relied on his own genius and valour chiefly, and after these on the brain of barneveld and the sword of maurice. nor was his confidence misplaced. but let the reader observe the date of the day when those striking utterances were made, and which have never before been made public. it was thursday, the th may. "i shall not always be here," said the king, . . . "i cannot be ready at any moment to spring out of my kingdom." . . . "friday of next week i take my departure." how much of heroic pathos in henry's attitude at this supreme moment! how mournfully ring those closing words of his address to the ambassadors! the die was cast. a letter drawn up by the duc de sully was sent to archduke albert by the king. "my brother," he said; "not being able to refuse my best allies and confederates the help which they have asked of me against those who wish to trouble them in the succession to the duchies and counties of cleve, julich, mark, berg, ravensberg, and ravenstein, i am advancing towards them with my army. as my road leads me through your country, i desire to notify you thereof, and to know whether or not i am to enter as a friend or enemy." such was the draft as delivered to the secretary of state; "and as such it was sent," said sully, "unless villeroy changed it, as he had a great desire to do." henry was mistaken in supposing that the archduke would leave the letter without an answer. a reply was sent in due time, and the permission demanded was not refused. for although france was now full of military movement, and the regiments everywhere were hurrying hourly to the places of rendezvous, though the great storm at last was ready to burst, the archdukes made no preparations for resistance, and lapped themselves in fatal security that nothing was intended but an empty demonstration. six thousand swiss newly levied, with , french infantry and horse, were waiting for henry to place himself at their head at mezieres. twelve thousand foot and cavalry, including the french and english contingents--a splendid army, led by prince maurice--were ready to march from holland to dusseldorf. the army of the princes under prince christian of anhalt numbered , men. the last scruples of the usually unscrupulous charles emmanuel had been overcome, and the duke was quite ready to act, , strong, with marshal de lesdiguieres, in the milanese; while marshal de la force was already at the head of his forces in the pyrenees, amounting to , foot and horse. sully had already despatched his splendid trains of artillery to the frontier. "never was seen in france, and perhaps never will be seen there again, artillery more complete and better furnished," said the duke, thinking probably that artillery had reached the climax of perfect destructiveness in the first decade of the seventeenth century. his son, the marquis de rosny, had received the post of grand master of artillery, and placed himself at its head. his father was to follow as its chief, carrying with him as superintendent of finance a cash-box of eight millions. the king had appointed his wife, mary de' medici, regent, with an eminent council. the new nuncius had been requested to present himself with his letters of credence in the camp. henry was unwilling that he should enter paris, being convinced that he came to do his best, by declamation, persuasion, and intrigue, to paralyse the enterprise. sully's promises to ubaldini, the former nuncius, that his holiness should be made king, however flattering to paul v., had not prevented his representatives from vigorously denouncing henry's monstrous scheme to foment heresy and encourage rebellion. the king's chagrin at the cautious limitations imposed upon the states' special embassy was, so he hoped, to be removed by full conferences in the camp. certainly he had shown in the most striking manner the respect he felt for the states, and the confidence he reposed in them. "in the reception of your embassy," wrote aerssens to the advocate, "certainly the king has so loosened the strap of his affection that he has reserved nothing by which he could put the greatest king in the world above your level." he warned the states, however, that henry had not found as much in their propositions as the common interest had caused him to promise himself. "nevertheless he informs me in confidence," said aerssens, "that he will engage himself in nothing without you; nay, more, he has expressly told me that he could hardly accomplish his task without your assistance, and it was for our sakes alone that he has put himself into this position and incurred this great expense." some days later he informed barneveld that he would leave to van der myle and his colleagues the task of describing the great dissatisfaction of the king at the letters brought by de bethune. he told him in confidence that the states must equip the french regiments and put them in marching order if they wished to preserve henry's friendship. he added that since the departure of the special embassy the king had been vehemently and seriously urging that prince maurice, count lewis william, barneveld, and three or four of the most qualified deputies of the states-general, entirely authorized to treat for the common safety, should meet with him in the territory of julich on a fixed day. the crisis was reached. the king stood fully armed, thoroughly prepared, with trustworthy allies at his side, disposing of overwhelming forces ready to sweep down with irresistible strength upon the house of austria, which, as he said and the states said, aspired to give the law to the whole world. nothing was left to do save, as the ambassador said, to "uncouple the dogs of war and let them run." what preparations had spain and the empire, the pope and the league, set on foot to beat back even for a moment the overwhelming onset? none whatever. spinola in the netherlands, fuentes in milan, bucquoy and lobkowitz and lichtenstein in prague, had hardly the forces of a moderate peace establishment at their disposal, and all the powers save france and the states were on the verge of bankruptcy. even james of great britain--shuddering at the vast thundercloud which had stretched itself over christendom growing blacker and blacker, precisely at this moment, in which he had proved to his own satisfaction that the peace just made would perpetually endure--even james did not dare to traverse the designs of the king whom he feared, and the republic which he hated, in favour of his dearly loved spain. sweden, denmark, the hanse towns, were in harmony with france, holland, savoy, and the whole protestant force of germany--a majority both in population and resources of the whole empire. what army, what combination, what device, what talisman, could save the house of austria, the cause of papacy, from the impending ruin? a sudden, rapid, conclusive victory for the allies seemed as predestined a result as anything could be in the future of human affairs. on the th or th day of may, as he had just been informing the states' ambassadors, henry meant to place himself at the head of his army. that was the moment fixed by himself for "taking his departure." and now the ides of may had come--but not gone. in the midst of all the military preparations with which paris had been resounding, the arrangements for the queen's coronation had been simultaneously going forward. partly to give check in advance to the intrigues which would probably at a later date be made by conde, supported by the power of spain, to invalidate the legitimacy of the dauphin, but more especially perhaps to further and to conceal what the faithful sully called the "damnable artifices" of the queen's intimate councillors--sinister designs too dark to be even whispered at that epoch, and of which history, during the lapse of more than two centuries and a half, has scarcely dared to speak above its breath--it was deemed all important that the coronation should take place. a certain astrologer, thomassin by name, was said to have bidden the king to beware the middle of the next month of may. henry had tweaked the soothsayer by the beard and made him dance twice or thrice about the room. to the duc de vendome expressing great anxiety in regard to thomassin, henry replied, "the astrologer is an old fool, and you are a young fool." a certain prophetess called pasithea had informed the queen that the king could not survive his fifty-seventh year. she was much in the confidence of mary de' medici, who had insisted this year on her returning to paris. henry, who was ever chafing and struggling to escape the invisible and dangerous net which he felt closing about him, and who connected the sorceress with all whom he most loathed among the intimate associates of the queen, swore a mighty oath that she should not show her face again at court. "my heart presages that some signal disaster will befall me on this coronation. concini and his wife are urging the queen obstinately to send for this fanatic. if she should come, there is no doubt that my wife and i shall squabble well about her. if i discover more about these private plots of hers with spain, i shall be in a mighty passion." and the king then assured the faithful minister of his conviction that all the jealousy affected by the queen in regard to the princess of conde was but a veil to cover dark designs. it was necessary in the opinion of those who governed her, the vile concini and his wife, that there should be some apparent and flagrant cause of quarrel. the public were to receive payment in these pretexts for want of better coin. henry complained that even sully and all the world besides attributed to jealousy that which was really the effect of a most refined malice. and the minister sometimes pauses in the midst of these revelations made in his old age, and with self-imposed and shuddering silence intimates that there are things he could tell which are too odious and dreadful to be breathed. henry had an invincible repugnance to that coronation on which the queen had set her heart. nothing could be more pathetic than the isolated position in which he found himself, standing thus as he did on the threshold of a mighty undertaking in which he was the central figure, an object for the world to gaze upon with palpitating interest. at his hearth in the louvre were no household gods. danger lurked behind every tapestry in that magnificent old palace. a nameless dread dogged his footsteps through those resounding corridors. and by an exquisite refinement in torture the possible father of several of his children not only dictated to the queen perpetual outbreaks of frantic jealousy against her husband, but moved her to refuse with suspicion any food and drink offered her by his hands. the concini's would even with unparalleled and ingenious effrontery induce her to make use of the kitchen arrangements in their apartments for the preparation of her daily meals? driven from house and home, henry almost lived at the arsenal. there he would walk for hours in the long alleys of the garden, discussing with the great financier and soldier his vast, dreamy, impracticable plans. strange combination of the hero, the warrior, the voluptuary, the sage, and the schoolboy--it would be difficult to find in the whole range of history a more human, a more attractive, a more provoking, a less venerable character. haunted by omens, dire presentiments, dark suspicions with and without cause, he was especially averse from the coronation to which in a moment of weakness he had given his consent. sitting in sully's cabinet, in a low chair which the duke had expressly provided for his use, tapping and drumming on his spectacle case, or starting up and smiting himself on the thigh, he would pour out his soul hours long to his one confidential minister. "ah, my friend, how this sacrament displeases me," he said; "i know not why it is, but my heart tells me that some misfortune is to befall me. by god i shall die in this city, i shall never go out of it; i see very well that they are finding their last resource in my death. ah, accursed coronation! thou wilt be the cause of my death." so many times did he give utterance to these sinister forebodings that sully implored him at last for leave to countermand the whole ceremony notwithstanding the great preparations which had been made for the splendid festival. "yes, yes," replied the king, "break up this coronation at once. let me hear no more of it. then i shall have my mind cured of all these impressions. i shall leave the town and fear nothing." he then informed his friend that he had received intimations that he should lose his life at the first magnificent festival he should give, and that he should die in a carriage. sully admitted that he had often, when in a carriage with him, been amazed at his starting and crying out at the slightest shock, having so often seen him intrepid among guns and cannon, pikes and naked swords. the duke went to the queen three days in succession, and with passionate solicitations and arguments and almost upon his knees implored her to yield to the king's earnest desire, and renounce for the time at least the coronation. in vain. mary de' medici was obdurate as marble to his prayers. the coronation was fixed for thursday, the th may, two days later than the time originally appointed when the king conversed with the states' ambassadors. on the following sunday was to be the splendid and solemn entrance of the crowned queen. on the monday, henry, postponing likewise for two days his original plan of departure, would leave for the army. meantime there were petty annoyances connected with the details of the coronation. henry had set his heart on having his legitimatized children, the offspring of the fair gabrielle, take their part in the ceremony on an equal footing with the princes of the blood. they were not entitled to wear the lilies of france upon their garments, and the king was solicitous that "the count"--as soissons, brother of prince conti and uncle of conde, was always called--should dispense with those ensigns for his wife upon this solemn occasion, and that the other princesses of the blood should do the same. thus there would be no appearance of inferiority on the part of the duchess of vendome. the count protested that he would have his eyes torn out of his head rather than submit to an arrangement which would do him so much shame. he went to the queen and urged upon her that to do this would likewise be an injury to her children, the dukes of orleans and of anjou. he refused flatly to appear or allow his wife to appear except in the costume befitting their station. the king on his part was determined not to abandon his purpose. he tried to gain over the count by the most splendid proposals, offering him the command of the advance-guard of the army, or the lieutenancy-general of france in the absence of the king, , crowns for his equipment and an increase of his pension if he would cause his wife to give up the fleurs-de-lys on this occasion. the alternative was to be that, if she insisted upon wearing them, his majesty would never look upon him again with favourable eyes. the count never hesitated, but left paris, refusing to appear at the ceremony. the king was in a towering passion, for to lose the presence of this great prince of the blood at a solemnity expressly intended as a demonstration against the designs hatching by the first of all the princes of the blood under patronage of spain was a severe blow to his pride and a check to his policy.' yet it was inconceivable that he could at such a moment commit so superfluous and unmeaning a blunder. he had forced conde into exile, intrigue with the enemy, and rebellion, by open and audacious efforts to destroy his domestic peace, and now he was willing to alienate one of his most powerful subjects in order to place his bastards on a level with royalty. while it is sufficiently amusing to contemplate this proposed barter of a chief command in a great army or the lieutenancy-general of a mighty kingdom at the outbreak of a general european war against a bit of embroidery on the court dress of a lady, yet it is impossible not to recognize something ideal and chivalrous from his own point of view in the refusal of soissons to renounce those emblems of pure and high descent, those haughty lilies of st. louis, against any bribes of place and pelf however dazzling. the coronation took place on thursday, th may, with the pomp and glitter becoming great court festivals; the more pompous and glittering the more the monarch's heart was wrapped in gloom. the representatives of the great powers were conspicuous in the procession; aerssens, the dutch ambassador, holding a foremost place. the ambassadors of spain and venice as usual squabbled about precedence and many other things, and actually came to fisticuffs, the fight lasting a long time and ending somewhat to the advantage of the venetian. but the sacrament was over, and mary de' medici was crowned queen of france and regent of the kingdom during the absence of the sovereign with his army. meantime there had been mysterious warnings darker and more distinct than the babble of the soothsayer thomassin or the ravings of the lunatic pasithea. count schomberg, dining at the arsenal with sully, had been called out to converse with mademoiselle de gournay, who implored that a certain madame d'escomans might be admitted to audience of the king. that person, once in direct relations with the marchioness of verneuil, the one of henry's mistresses who most hated him, affirmed that a man from the duke of epernon's country was in paris, agent of a conspiracy seeking the king's life. the woman not enjoying a very reputable character found it impossible to obtain a hearing, although almost frantic with her desire to save her sovereign's life. the queen observed that it was a wicked woman, who was accusing all the world, and perhaps would accuse her too. the fatal friday came. henry drove out, in his carriage to see the preparations making for the triumphal entrance of the queen into paris on the following sunday. what need to repeat the tragic, familiar tale? the coach was stopped by apparent accident in the narrow street de la feronniere, and francis ravaillac, standing on the wheel, drove his knife through the monarch's heart. the duke of epernon, sitting at his side, threw his cloak over the body and ordered the carriage back to the louvre. "they have killed him, 'e ammazato,'" cried concini (so says tradition), thrusting his head into the queen's bedchamber. [michelet, . it is not probable that the documents concerning the trial, having been so carefully suppressed from the beginning, especially the confession dictated to voisin--who wrote it kneeling on the ground, and was perhaps so appalled at its purport that he was afraid to write it legibly--will ever see the light. i add in the appendix some contemporary letters of persons, as likely as any one to know what could be known, which show how dreadful were the suspicions which men entertained, and which they hardly ventured to whisper to each other]. that blow had accomplished more than a great army could have done, and spain now reigned in paris. the house of austria, without making any military preparations, had conquered, and the great war of religion and politics was postponed for half a dozen years. this history has no immediate concern with solving the mysteries of that stupendous crime. the woman who had sought to save the king's life now denounced epernon as the chief murderer, and was arrested, examined, accused of lunacy, proved to be perfectly sane, and, persisting in her statements with perfect coherency, was imprisoned for life for her pains; the duke furiously demanding her instant execution. the documents connected with the process were carefully suppressed. the assassin, tortured and torn by four horses, was supposed to have revealed nothing and to have denied the existence of accomplices. the great accused were too omnipotent to be dealt with by humble accusers or by convinced but powerless tribunals. the trial was all mystery, hugger-mugger, horror. yet the murderer is known to have dictated to the greflier voisin, just before expiring on the greve, a declaration which that functionary took down in a handwriting perhaps purposely illegible. two centuries and a half have passed away, yet the illegible original record is said to exist, to have been plainly read, and to contain the names of the queen and the duke of epernon. twenty-six years before, the pistol of balthasar gerard had destroyed the foremost man in europe and the chief of a commonwealth just struggling into existence. yet spain and rome, the instigators and perpetrators of the crime, had not reaped the victory which they had the right to expect. the young republic, guided by barneveld and loyal to the son of the murdered stadholder, was equal to the burthen suddenly descending upon its shoulders. instead of despair there had been constancy. instead of distracted counsels there had been heroic union of heart and hand. rather than bend to rome and grovel to philip, it had taken its sovereignty in its hands, offered it successively, without a thought of self-aggrandizement on the part of its children, to the crowns of france and great britain, and, having been repulsed by both, had learned after fiery trials and incredible exertions to assert its own high and foremost place among the independent powers of the world. and now the knife of another priest-led fanatic, the wretched but unflinching instrument of a great conspiracy, had at a blow decapitated france. no political revolution could be much more thorough than that which had been accomplished in a moment of time by francis ravaillac. on the th of may, france, while in spiritual matters obedient to the pope, stood at the head of the forces of protestantism throughout europe, banded together to effect the downfall of the proud house of austria, whose fortunes and fate were synonymous with catholicism. the baltic powers, the majority of the teutonic races, the kingdom of britain, the great republic of the netherlands, the northernmost and most warlike governments of italy, all stood at the disposition of the warrior-king. venice, who had hitherto, in the words of a veteran diplomatist, "shunned to look a league or a confederation in the face, if there was any protestant element in it, as if it had been the head of medusa," had formally forbidden the passage of troops northwards to the relief of the assailed power. savoy, after direful hesitations, had committed herself body and soul to the great enterprise. even the pope, who feared the overshadowing personality of henry, and was beginning to believe his house's private interests more likely to flourish under the protection of the french than the spanish king, was wavering in his fidelity to spain and tempted by french promises: if he should prove himself incapable of effecting a pause in the great crusade, it was doubtful on which side he would ultimately range himself; for it was at least certain that the new catholic league, under the chieftainship of maximilian of bavaria, was resolved not to entangle its fortunes inextricably with those of the austrian house. the great enterprise, first unfolding itself with the episode of cleve and berg and whimsically surrounding itself with the fantastic idyl of the princess of conde, had attained vast and misty proportions in the brain of its originator. few political visions are better known in history than the "grand design" of henry for rearranging the map of the world at the moment when, in the middle of may, he was about to draw his sword. spain reduced to the mediterranean and the pyrenees, but presented with both the indies, with all america and the whole orient in fee; the empire taken from austria and given to bavaria; a constellation of states in italy, with the pope for president-king; throughout the rest of christendom a certain number of republics, of kingdoms, of religions--a great confederation of the world, in short--with the most christian king for its dictator and protector, and a great amphictyonic council to regulate all disputes by solemn arbitration, and to make war in the future impossible, such in little was his great design. nothing could be more humane, more majestic, more elaborate, more utterly preposterous. and all this gigantic fabric had passed away in an instant--at one stroke of a broken table knife sharpened on a carriage wheel. most pitiful was the condition of france on the day after, and for years after, the murder of the king. not only was the kingdom for the time being effaced from the roll of nations, so far as external relations were concerned, but it almost ceased to be a kingdom. the ancient monarchy of hugh capet, of saint-louis, of henry of france and navarre, was transformed into a turbulent, self-seeking, quarrelsome, pillaging, pilfering democracy of grandees. the queen-regent was tossed hither and thither at the sport of the winds and waves which shifted every hour in that tempestuous court. no man pretended to think of the state. every man thought only of himself. the royal exchequer was plundered with a celerity and cynical recklessness such as have been rarely seen in any age or country. the millions so carefully hoarded by sully, and exhibited so dramatically by that great minister to the enraptured eyes of his sovereign; that treasure in the bastille on which henry relied for payment of the armies with which he was to transform the world, all disappeared in a few weeks to feed the voracious maw of courtiers, paramours, and partisans! the queen showered gold like water upon her beloved concini that he might purchase his marquisate of ancre, and the charge of first gentleman of the court from bouillon; that he might fit himself for the government of picardy; that he might elevate his marquisate into a dukedom. conde, having no further reason to remain in exile, received as a gift from the trembling mary de' medici the magnificent hotel gondy, where the dutch ambassadors had so recently been lodged, for which she paid , crowns, together with , crowns to furnish it, , crowns to pay his debts, , more as yearly pension. he claimed double, and was soon at sword's point with the queen in spite of her lavish bounty. epernon, the true murderer of henry, trampled on courts of justice and councils of ministers, frightened the court by threatening to convert his possession of metz into an independent sovereignty, as balagny had formerly seized upon cambray, smothered for ever the process of ravaillac, caused those to be put to death or immured for life in dungeons who dared to testify to his complicity in the great crime, and strode triumphantly over friends and enemies throughout france, although so crippled by the gout that he could scarcely walk up stairs. there was an end to the triumvirate. sully's influence was gone for ever. the other two dropped the mask. the chancellor and villeroy revealed themselves to be what they secretly had always been--humble servants and stipendiaries of spain. the formal meetings of the council were of little importance, and were solemn, tearful, and stately; draped in woe for the great national loss. in the private cabinet meetings in the entresol of the louvre, where the nuncius and the spanish ambassador held counsel with epernon and villeroy and jeannin and sillery, the tone was merry and loud; the double spanish marriage and confusion to the dutch being the chief topics of consultation. but the anarchy grew day by day into almost hopeless chaos. there was no satisfying the princes of the blood nor the other grandees. conde, whose reconciliation with the princess followed not long after the death of henry and his own return to france, was insatiable in his demands for money, power, and citadels of security. soissons, who might formerly have received the lieutenancy-general of the kingdom by sacrificing the lilies on his wife's gown, now disputed for that office with his elder brother conti, the prince claiming it by right of seniority, the count denouncing conti as deaf, dumb, and imbecile, till they drew poniards on each other in the very presence of the queen; while conde on one occasion, having been refused the citadels which he claimed, blaye and chateau trompette, threw his cloak over his nose and put on his hat while the queen was speaking, and left the council in a fury, declaring that villeroy and the chancellor were traitors, and that he would have them both soundly cudgelled. guise, lorraine, epernon, bouillon, and other great lords always appeared in the streets of paris at the head of three, four, or five hundred mounted and armed retainers; while the queen in her distraction gave orders to arm the paris mob to the number of fifty thousand, and to throw chains across the streets to protect herself and her son against the turbulent nobles. sully, hardly knowing to what saint to burn his candle, being forced to resign his great posts, was found for a time in strange political combination with the most ancient foes of his party and himself. the kaleidoscope whirling with exasperating quickness showed ancient leaguers and lorrainers banded with and protecting huguenots against the crown, while princes of the blood, hereditary patrons and chiefs of the huguenots, became partisans and stipendiaries of spain. it is easy to see that circumstances like these rendered the position of the dutch commonwealth delicate and perilous. sully informed aerssens and van der myle, who had been sent back to paris on special mission very soon after the death of the king, that it took a hundred hours now to accomplish a single affair, whereas under henry a hundred affairs were transacted in a single hour. but sully's sun had set, and he had few business conferences now with the ambassadors. villeroy and the chancellor had fed fat their ancient grudge to the once omnipotent minister, and had sworn his political ruin. the old secretary of state had held now complete control of the foreign alliances and combinations of france, and the dutch ambassadors could be under no delusion as to the completeness of the revolution. "you will find a passion among the advisers of the queen," said villeroy to aerssens and van der myle, "to move in diametrical opposition to the plans of the late king." and well might the ancient leaguer and present pensionary of spain reveal this foremost fact in a policy of which he was in secret the soul. he wept profusely when he first received francis aerssens, but after these "useless tears," as the envoy called them, he soon made it manifest that there was no more to be expected of france, in the great project which its government had so elaborately set on foot. villeroy was now sixty-six years of age, and had been secretary of state during forty-two years and under four kings. a man of delicate health, frail body, methodical habits, capacity for routine, experience in political intrigue, he was not personally as greedy of money as many of his contemporaries, and was not without generosity; but he loved power, the pope, and the house of austria. he was singularly reserved in public, practised successfully the talent of silence, and had at last arrived at the position he most coveted, the virtual presidency of the council, and saw the men he most hated beneath his feet. at the first interview of aerssens with the queen-regent she was drowned in tears, and could scarcely articulate an intelligible sentence. so far as could be understood she expressed her intention of carrying out the king's plans, of maintaining the old alliances, of protecting both religions. nothing, however, could be more preposterous than such phrases. villeroy, who now entirely directed the foreign affairs of the kingdom, assured the ambassador that france was much more likely to apply to the states for assistance than render them aid in any enterprise whatever. "there is no doubt," said aerssens, "that the queen is entirely in the hands of spain and the priests." villeroy, whom henry was wont to call the pedagogue of the council, went about sighing dismally, wishing himself dead, and perpetually ejaculating, "ho! poor france, how much hast thou still to suffer!" in public he spoke of nothing but of union, and of the necessity of carrying out the designs of the king, instructing the docile queen to hold the same language. in private he was quite determined to crush those designs for ever, and calmly advised the dutch government to make an amicable agreement with the emperor in regard to the cleve affair as soon as possible; a treaty which would have been shameful for france and the possessory princes, and dangerous, if not disastrous, for the states-general. "nothing but feverish and sick counsels," he said, "could be expected from france, which had now lost its vigour and could do nothing but groan." not only did the french council distinctly repudiate the idea of doing anything more for the princes than had been stipulated by the treaty of hall--that is to say, a contingent of foot and horse--but many of them vehemently maintained that the treaty, being a personal one of the late king, was dead with him? the duty of france was now in their opinion to withdraw from these mad schemes as soon as possible, to make peace with the house of austria without delay, and to cement the friendship by the double marriages. bouillon, who at that moment hated sully as much as the most vehement catholic could do, assured the dutch envoy that the government was, under specious appearances, attempting to deceive the states; a proposition which it needed not the evidence of that most intriguing duke to make manifest to so astute a politician; particularly as there was none more bent on playing the most deceptive game than bouillon. there would be no troops to send, he said, and even if there were, there would be no possibility of agreeing on a chief. the question of religion would at once arise. as for himself, the duke protested that he would not accept the command if offered him. he would not agree to serve under the prince of anhalt, nor would he for any consideration in the world leave the court at that moment. at the same time aerssens was well aware that bouillon, in his quality of first marshal of france, a protestant and a prince having great possessions on the frontier, and the brother-in-law of prince maurice, considered himself entitled to the command of the troops should they really be sent, and was very indignant at the idea of its being offered to any one else. [aerssens worked assiduously, two hours long on one occasion, to effect a reconciliation between the two great protestant chiefs, but found bouillon's demands "so shameful and unreasonable" that he felt obliged to renounce all further attempts. in losing sully from the royal councils, the states' envoy acknowledged that the republic had lost everything that could be depended on at the french court. "all the others are time-serving friends," he said, "or saints without miracles."--aerssens to barneveld, june, . ] he advised earnestly therefore that the states should make a firm demand for money instead of men, specifying the amount that might be considered the equivalent of the number of troops originally stipulated. it is one of the most singular spectacles in history; france sinking into the background of total obscurity in an instant of time, at one blow of a knife, while the republic, which she had been patronizing, protecting, but keeping always in a subordinate position while relying implicitly upon its potent aid, now came to the front, and held up on its strong shoulders an almost desperate cause. henry had been wont to call the states-general "his courage and his right arm," but he had always strictly forbidden them to move an inch in advance of him, but ever to follow his lead, and to take their directions from himself. they were a part, and an essential one, in his vast designs; but france, or he who embodied france, was the great providence, the destiny, the all-directing, all-absorbing spirit, that was to remodel and control the whole world. he was dead, and france and her policy were already in a state of rapid decomposition. barneveld wrote to encourage and sustain the sinking state. "our courage is rising in spite and in consequence of the great misfortune," he said. he exhorted the queen to keep her kingdom united, and assured her that my lords the states would maintain themselves against all who dared to assail them. he offered in their name the whole force of the republic to take vengeance on those who had procured the assassination, and to defend the young king and the queen-mother against all who might make any attempt against their authority. he further declared, in language not to be mistaken, that the states would never abandon the princes and their cause. this was the earliest indication on the part of the advocate of the intention of the republic--so long as it should be directed by his counsels--to support the cause of the young king, helpless and incapable as he was, and directed for the time being by a weak and wicked mother, against the reckless and depraved grandees, who were doing their best to destroy the unity and the independence of france, cornelis van der myle was sent back to paris on special mission of condolence and comfort from the states-general to the sorely afflicted kingdom. on the th of june, accompanied by aerssens, he had a long interview with villeroy. that minister, as usual, wept profusely, and said that in regard to cleve it was impossible for france to carry out the designs of the late king. he then listened to what the ambassadors had to urge, and continued to express his melancholy by weeping. drying his tears for a time, he sought by a long discourse to prove that france during this tender minority of the king would be incapable of pursuing the policy of his father. it would be even too burthensome to fulfil the treaty of hall. the friends of the crown, he said, had no occasion to further it, and it would be much better to listen to propositions for a treaty. archduke albert was content not to interfere in the quarrel if the queen would likewise abstain; leopold's forces were altogether too weak to make head against the army of the princes, backed by the power of my lords the states, and julich was neither strong nor well garrisoned. he concluded by calmly proposing that the states should take the matter in hand by themselves alone, in order to lighten the burthen of france, whose vigour had been cut in two by that accursed knife. a more sneaking and shameful policy was never announced by the minister of a great kingdom. surely it might seem that ravaillac had cut in twain not the vigour only but the honour and the conscience of france. but the envoys, knowing in their hearts that they were talking not with a french but a spanish secretary of state, were not disposed to be the dupes of his tears or his blandishments. they reminded him that the queen-regent and her ministers since the murder of the king had assured the states-general and the princes of their firm intention to carry out the treaty of hall, and they observed that they had no authority to talk of any negotiation. the affair of the duchies was not especially the business of the states, and the secretary was well aware that they had promised their succour on the express condition that his majesty and his army should lead the way, and that they should follow. this was very far from the plan now suggested, that they should do it all, which would be quite out of the question. france had a strong army, they said, and it would be better to use it than to efface herself so pitiably. the proposition of abstention on the part of the archduke was a delusion intended only to keep france out of the field. villeroy replied by referring to english affairs. king james, he said, was treating them perfidiously. his first letters after the murder had been good, but by the following ones england seemed to wish to put her foot on france's throat, in order to compel her to sue for an alliance. the british ministers had declared their resolve not to carry out that convention of alliance, although it had been nearly concluded in the lifetime of the late king, unless the queen would bind herself to make good to the king of great britain that third part of the subsidies advanced by france to the states which had been furnished on english account! this was the first announcement of a grievance devised by the politicians now governing france to make trouble for the states with that kingdom and with great britain likewise. according to a treaty made at hampton court by sully during his mission to england at the accession of james, it had been agreed that one-third of the moneys advanced by france in aid of the united provinces should be credited to the account of great britain, in diminution of the debt for similar assistance rendered by elizabeth to henry. in regard to this treaty the states had not been at all consulted, nor did they acknowledge the slightest obligation in regard to it. the subsidies in men and in money provided for them both by france and by england in their struggle for national existence had always been most gratefully acknowledged by the republic, but it had always been perfectly understood that these expenses had been incurred by each kingdom out of an intelligent and thrifty regard for its own interest. nothing could be more ridiculous than to suppose france and england actuated by disinterested sympathy and benevolence when assisting the netherland people in its life-and-death struggle against the dire and deadly enemy of both crowns. henry protested that, while adhering to rome in spiritual matters, his true alliances and strength had been found in the united provinces, in germany, and in great britain. as for the states, he had spent sixteen millions of livres, he said, in acquiring a perfect benevolence on the part of the states to his person. it was the best bargain he had ever made, and he should take care to preserve it at any cost whatever, for he considered himself able, when closely united with them, to bid defiance to all the kings in europe together. yet it was now the settled policy of the queen-regent's council, so far as the knot of politicians guided by the nuncius and the spanish ambassador in the entresols of the louvre could be called a council, to force the states to refund that third, estimated at something between three and four million livres, which france had advanced them on account of great britain. villeroy told the two ambassadors at this interview that, if great britain continued to treat the queen-regent in such fashion, she would be obliged to look about for other allies. there could hardly be doubt as to the quarter in which mary de' medici was likely to look. meantime, the secretary of state urged the envoys "to intervene at once to-mediate the difference." there could be as little doubt that to mediate the difference was simply to settle an account which they did not owe. the whole object of the minister at this first interview was to induce the states to take the whole cleve enterprise upon their own shoulders, and to let france off altogether. the queen-regent as then advised meant to wash her hands of the possessory princes once and for ever. the envoys cut the matter short by assuring villeroy that they would do nothing of the kind. he begged them piteously not to leave the princes in the lurch, and at the same time not to add to the burthens of france at so disastrous a moment. so they parted. next day, however, they visited the secretary again, and found him more dismal and flaccid than ever. he spoke feebly and drearily about the succour for the great enterprise, recounted all the difficulties in the way, and, having thrown down everything that the day before had been left standing, he tried to excuse an entire change of policy by the one miserable crime. he painted a forlorn picture of the council and of france. "i can myself do nothing as i wish," added the undisputed controller of that government's policy, and then with a few more tears he concluded by requesting the envoys to address their demands to the queen in writing. this was done with the customary formalities and fine speeches on both sides; a dull comedy by which no one was amused. then bouillon came again, and assured them that there had been a chance that the engagements of henry, followed up by the promise of the queen-regent, would be carried out, but now the fact was not to be concealed that the continued battery of the nuncius, of the ambassadors of spain and of the archdukes, had been so effective that nothing sure or solid was thenceforth to be expected; the council being resolved to accept the overtures of the archduke for mutual engagement to abstain from the julich enterprise. nothing in truth could be more pitiable than the helpless drifting of the once mighty kingdom, whenever the men who governed it withdrew their attention for an instant from their private schemes of advancement and plunder to cast a glance at affairs of state. in their secret heart they could not doubt that france was rushing on its ruin, and that in the alliance of the dutch commonwealth, britain, and the german protestants, was its only safety. but they trembled before the pope, grown bold and formidable since the death of the dreaded henry. to offend his holiness, the king of spain, the emperor, and the great catholics of france, was to make a crusade against the church. garnier, the jesuit, preached from his pulpit that "to strike a blow in the cleve enterprise was no less a sin than to inflict a stab in the body of our lord." the parliament of paris having ordered the famous treatise of the jesuit mariana--justifying the killing of excommunicated kings by their subjects--to be publicly burned before notre dame, the bishop opposed the execution of the decree. the parliament of paris, although crushed by epernon in its attempts to fix the murder of the king upon himself as the true culprit, was at least strong enough to carry out this sentence upon a printed, volume recommending the deed, and the queen's council could only do its best to mitigate the awakened wrath of the jesuits at this exercise of legal authority.--at the same time, it found on the whole so many more difficulties in a cynical and shameless withdrawal from the treaty of hall than in a nominal and tardy fulfilment of its conditions that it resolved at last to furnish the foot and horse promised to the possessory princes. the next best thing to abandoning entirely even this little shred, this pitiful remnant, of the splendid designs of henry was to so arrange matters that the contingent should be feebly commanded, and set on foot in so dilatory a manner that the petty enterprise should on the part of france be purely perfunctory. the grandees of the kingdom had something more important to do than to go crusading in germany, with the help of a heretic republic, to set up the possessory princes. they were fighting over the prostrate dying form of their common mother for their share of the spoils, stripping france before she was dead, and casting lots for her vesture. soissons was on the whole in favour of the cleve expedition. epernon was desperately opposed to it, and maltreated villeroy in full council when he affected to say a word, insincere as the duke knew it to be, in favour of executing agreements signed by the monarch, and sealed with the great seal of france. the duke of guise, finding himself abandoned by the queen, and bitterly opposed and hated by soissons, took sides with his deaf and dumb and imbecile brother, and for a brief interval the duke of sully joined this strange combination of the house of lorraine and chiefs of ancient leaguers, who welcomed him with transport, and promised him security. then bouillon, potent by his rank, his possessions, and his authority among the protestants, publicly swore that he would ruin sully and change the whole order of the government. what more lamentable spectacle, what more desolate future for the cause of religious equality, which for a moment had been achieved in france, than this furious alienation of the trusted leaders of the huguenots, while their adversaries were carrying everything before them? at the council board bouillon quarrelled ostentatiously with sully, shook his fist in his face, and but for the queen's presence would have struck him. next day he found that the queen was intriguing against himself as well as against sully, was making a cat's-paw of him, and was holding secret councils daily from which he as well as sully was excluded. at once he made overtures of friendship to sully, and went about proclaiming to the world that all huguenots were to be removed from participation in affairs of state. his vows of vengeance were for a moment hushed by the unanimous resolution of the council that, as first marshal of france, having his principality on the frontier, and being of the reformed religion, he was the fittest of all to command the expedition. surely it might be said that the winds and tides were not more changeful than the politics of the queen's government. the dutch ambassador was secretly requested by villeroy to negotiate with bouillon and offer him the command of the julich expedition. the duke affected to make difficulties, although burning to obtain the post, but at last consented. all was settled. aerssens communicated at once with villeroy, and notice of bouillon's acceptance was given to the queen, when, behold, the very next day marshal de la chatre was appointed to the command expressly because he was a catholic. of course the duke of bouillon, furious with soissons and epernon and the rest of the government, was more enraged than ever against the queen. his only hope was now in conde, but conde at the outset, on arriving at the louvre, offered his heart to the queen as a sheet of white paper. epernon and soissons received him with delight, and exchanged vows of an eternal friendship of several weeks' duration. and thus all the princes of the blood, all the cousins of henry of navarre, except the imbecile conti, were ranged on the side of spain, rome, mary de' medici, and concino concini, while the son of the balafre, the duke of mayenne, and all their adherents were making common cause with the huguenots. what better example had been seen before, even in that country of pantomimic changes, of the effrontery with which religion was made the strumpet of political ambition? all that day and the next paris was rife with rumours that there was to be a general massacre of the huguenots to seal the new-born friendship of a conde with a medici. france was to renounce all her old alliances and publicly to enter into treaties offensive and defensive with spain. a league like that of bayonne made by the former medicean queen-regent of france was now, at villeroy's instigation, to be signed by mary de' medici. meantime, marshal de la chatre, an honest soldier and fervent papist, seventy-three years of age, ignorant of the language, the geography, the politics of the country to which he was sent, and knowing the road thither about as well, according to aerssens, who was requested to give him a little preliminary instruction, as he did the road to india, was to co-operate with barneveld and maurice of nassau in the enterprise against the duchies. these were the cheerful circumstances amid which the first step in the dead henry's grand design against the house of austria and in support of protestantism in half europe and of religious equality throughout christendom, was now to be ventured. cornelis van der myle took leave of the queen on terminating his brief special embassy, and was fain to content himself with languid assurances from that corpulent tuscan dame of her cordial friendship for the united provinces. villeroy repeated that the contingent to be sent was furnished out of pure love to the netherlands, the present government being in no wise bound by the late king's promises. he evaded the proposition of the states for renewing the treaty of close alliance by saying that he was then negotiating with the british government on the subject, who insisted as a preliminary step on the repayment of the third part of the sums advanced to the states by the late king. he exchanged affectionate farewell greetings and good wishes with jeannin and with the dropsical duke of mayenne, who was brought in his chair to his old fellow leaguer's apartments at the moment of the ambassador's parting interview. there was abundant supply of smooth words, in the plentiful lack of any substantial nutriment, from the representatives of each busy faction into which the medicean court was divided. even epernon tried to say a gracious word to the retiring envoy, assuring him that he would do as much for the cause as a good frenchman and lover of his fatherland could do. he added, in rather a surly way, that he knew very well how foully he had been described to the states, but that the devil was not as black as he was painted. it was necessary, he said, to take care of one's own house first of all, and he knew very well that the states and all prudent persons would do the same thing. etext editor's bookmarks: and now the knife of another priest-led fanatic as with his own people, keeping no back-door open at a blow decapitated france conclusive victory for the allies seemed as predestined epernon, the true murderer of henry father cotton, who was only too ready to betray the secrets great war of religion and politics was postponed jesuit mariana--justifying the killing of excommunicated kings no man pretended to think of the state practised successfully the talent of silence queen is entirely in the hands of spain and the priests religion was made the strumpet of political ambition smooth words, in the plentiful lack of any substantial stroke of a broken table knife sharpened on a carriage wheel the assassin, tortured and torn by four horses they have killed him, 'e ammazato,' cried concini things he could tell which are too odious and dreadful uncouple the dogs and let them run vows of an eternal friendship of several weeks' duration what could save the house of austria, the cause of papacy wrath of the jesuits at this exercise of legal authority chapter v. - interviews between the dutch commissioners and king james--prince maurice takes command of the troops--surrender of julich--matthias crowned king of bohemia--death of rudolph--james's dream of a spanish marriage--appointment of vorstius in place of arminius at leyden--interview between maurice and winwood--increased bitterness between barneveld and maurice--projects of spanish marriages in france. it is refreshing to escape from the atmosphere of self-seeking faction, feverish intrigue, and murderous stratagem in which unhappy france was stifling into the colder and calmer regions of netherland policy. no sooner had the tidings of henry's murder reached the states than they felt that an immense responsibility had fallen on their shoulders. it is to the eternal honour of the republic, of barneveld, who directed her councils, and of prince maurice, who wielded her sword, that she was equal to the task imposed upon her. there were open bets on the exchange in antwerp, after the death of henry, that maurice would likewise be killed within the month. nothing seemed more probable, and the states implored the stadholder to take special heed to himself. but this was a kind of caution which the prince was not wont to regard. nor was there faltering, distraction, cowardice, or parsimony in republican councils. we have heard the strong words of encouragement and sympathy addressed by the advocate's instructions to the queen-regent and the leading statesmen of france. we have seen their effects in that lingering sentiment of shame which prevented the spanish stipendiaries who governed the kingdom from throwing down the mask as cynically as they were at first inclined to do. not less manful and statesmanlike was the language held to the king of great britain and his ministers by the advocate's directions. the news of the assassination reached the special ambassadors in london at three o'clock of monday, the th may. james returned to whitehall from a hunting expedition on the st, and immediately signified his intention of celebrating the occasion by inviting the high commissioners of the states to a banquet and festival at the palace. meantime they were instructed by barneveld to communicate the results of the special embassy of the states to the late king according to the report just delivered to the assembly. thus james was to be informed of the common resolution and engagement then taken to support the cause of the princes. he was now seriously and explicitly to be summoned to assist the princes not only with the stipulated men, but with a much greater force, proportionate to the demands for the security and welfare of christendom, endangered by this extraordinary event. he was assured that the states would exert themselves to the full measure of their ability to fortify and maintain the high interests of france, of the possessory princes, and of christendom, so that the hopes of the perpetrators of the foul deed would be confounded. "they hold this to be the occasion," said the envoys, "to show to all the world that it is within your power to rescue the affairs of france, germany, and of the united provinces from the claws of those who imagine for themselves universal monarchy." they concluded by requesting the king to come to "a resolution on this affair royally, liberally, and promptly, in order to take advantage of the time, and not to allow the adversary to fortify himself in his position"; and they pledged the states-general to stand by and second him with all their power. the commissioners, having read this letter to lord salisbury before communicating it to the king, did not find the lord treasurer very prompt or sympathetic in his reply. there had evidently been much jealousy at the english court of the confidential and intimate relations recently established with henry, to which allusions were made in the documents read at the present conference. cecil, while expressing satisfaction in formal terms at the friendly language of the states, and confidence in the sincerity of their friendship for his sovereign, intimated very plainly that more had passed between the late king and the authorities of the republic than had been revealed by either party to the king of great britain, or than could be understood from the letters and papers now communicated. he desired further information from the commissioners, especially in regard to those articles of their instructions which referred to a general rupture. they professed inability to give more explanations than were contained in the documents themselves. if suspicion was felt, they said, that the french king had been proposing anything in regard to a general rupture, either on account of the retreat of conde, the affair of savoy, or anything else, they would reply that the ambassadors in france had been instructed to decline committing the states until after full communication and advice and ripe deliberation with his british majesty and council, as well as the assembly of the states-general; and it had been the intention of the late king to have conferred once more and very confidentially with prince maurice and count lewis william before coming to a decisive resolution. it was very obvious however to the commissioners that their statement gave no thorough satisfaction, and that grave suspicions remained of something important kept back by them. cecil's manner was constrained and cold, and certainly there were no evidences of profound sorrow at the english court for the death of henry. "the king of france," said the high treasurer, "meant to make a master-stroke--a coup de maistre--but he who would have all may easily lose all. such projects as these should not have been formed or taken in hand without previous communication with his majesty of great britain." all arguments on the part of the ambassadors to induce the lord treasurer or other members of the government to enlarge the succour intended for the cleve affair were fruitless. the english troops regularly employed in the states' service might be made use of with the forces sent by the republic itself. more assistance than this it was idle to expect, unless after a satisfactory arrangement with the present regency of france. the proposition, too, of the states for a close and general alliance was coldly repulsed. "no resolution can be taken as to that," said cecil; "the death of the french king has very much altered such matters." at a little later hour on the same day the commissioners, according to previous invitation, dined with the king. no one sat at the table but his majesty and themselves, and they all kept their hats on their heads. the king was hospitable, gracious, discursive, loquacious, very theological. he expressed regret for the death of the king of france, and said that the pernicious doctrine out of which such vile crimes grew must be uprooted. he asked many questions in regard to the united netherlands, enquiring especially as to the late commotions at utrecht, and the conduct of prince maurice on that occasion. he praised the resolute conduct of the states-general in suppressing those tumults with force, adding, however, that they should have proceeded with greater rigour against the ringleaders of the riot. he warmly recommended the union of the provinces. he then led the conversation to the religious controversies in the netherlands, and in reply to his enquiries was informed that the points in dispute related to predestination and its consequences. "i have studied that subject," said james, "as well as anybody, and have come to the conclusion that nothing certain can be laid down in regard to it. i have myself not always been of one mind about it, but i will bet that my opinion is the best of any, although i would not hang my salvation upon it. my lords the states would do well to order their doctors and teachers to be silent on this topic. i have hardly ventured, moreover, to touch upon the matter of justification in my own writings, because that also seemed to hang upon predestination." thus having spoken with the air of a man who had left nothing further to be said on predestination or justification, the king rose, took off his hat, and drank a bumper to the health of the states-general and his excellency prince maurice, and success to the affair of cleve. after dinner there was a parting interview in the gallery. the king, attended by many privy councillors and high functionaries of state, bade the commissioners a cordial farewell, and, in order to show his consideration for their government, performed the ceremony of knighthood upon them, as was his custom in regard to the ambassadors of venice. the sword being presented to him by the lord chamberlain, james touched each of the envoys on the shoulder as he dismissed him. "out of respect to my lords the states," said they in their report, "we felt compelled to allow ourselves to be burthened with this honour." thus it became obvious to the states-general that there was but little to hope for from great britain or france. france, governed by concini and by spain, was sure to do her best to traverse the designs of the republic, and, while perfunctorily and grudgingly complying with the letter of the hall treaty, was secretly neutralizing by intrigue the slender military aid which de la chatre was to bring to prince maurice. the close alliance of france and protestantism had melted into air. on the other hand the new catholic league sprang into full luxuriance out of the grave of henry, and both spain and the pope gave their hearty adhesion to the combinations of maximilian of bavaria, now that the mighty designs of the french king were buried with him. the duke of savoy, caught in the trap of his own devising, was fain to send his son to sue to spain for pardon for the family upon his knees, and expiated by draining a deep cup of humiliation his ambitious designs upon the milanese and the matrimonial alliance with france. venice recoiled in horror from the position she found herself in as soon as the glamour of henry's seductive policy was dispelled, while james of great britain, rubbing his hands with great delight at the disappearance from the world of the man he so admired, bewailed, and hated, had no comfort to impart to the states-general thus left in virtual isolation. the barren burthen of knighthood and a sermon on predestination were all he could bestow upon the high commissioners in place of the alliance which he eluded, and the military assistance which he point-blank refused. the possessory princes, in whose cause the sword was drawn, were too quarrelsome and too fainthearted to serve for much else than an incumbrance either in the cabinet or the field. and the states-general were equal to the immense responsibility. steadily, promptly, and sagaciously they confronted the wrath, the policy, and the power of the empire, of spain, and of the pope. had the republic not existed, nothing could have prevented that debateable and most important territory from becoming provinces of spain, whose power thus dilated to gigantic proportions in the very face of england would have been more menacing than in the days of the armada. had the republic faltered, she would have soon ceased to exist. but the republic did not falter. on the th july, prince maurice took command of the states' forces, , foot and horse, with thirty pieces of cannon, assembled at schenkenschans. the july english and french regiments in the regular service of the united provinces were included in these armies, but there were no additions to them: "the states did seven times as much," barneveld justly averred, "as they had stipulated to do." maurice, moving with the precision and promptness which always marked his military operations, marched straight upon julich, and laid siege to that important fortress. the archdukes at brussels, determined to keep out of the fray as long as possible, offered no opposition to the passage of his supplies up the rhine, which might have been seriously impeded by them at rheinberg. the details of the siege, as of all the prince's sieges, possess no more interest to the general reader than the working out of a geometrical problem. he was incapable of a flaw in his calculations, but it was impossible for him quite to complete the demonstration before the arrival of de la chatre. maurice received with courtesy the marshal, who arrived on the th august, at the head of his contingent of foot and a few squadrons of cavalry, and there was great show of harmony between them. for any practical purposes, de la chatre might as well have remained in france. for political ends his absence would have been preferable to his presence. maurice would have rejoiced, had the marshal blundered longer along the road to the debateable land than he had done. he had almost brought julich to reduction. a fortnight later the place surrendered. the terms granted by the conqueror were equitable. no change was to be made in the liberty of roman catholic worship, nor in the city magistracy. the citadel and its contents were to be handed over to the princes of brandenburg and neuburg. archduke leopold and his adherents departed to prague, to carry out as he best could his farther designs upon the crown of bohemia, this first portion of them having so lamentably failed, and sergeant-major frederick pithan, of the regiment of count ernest casimir of nassau, was appointed governor of julich in the interest of the possessory princes. thus without the loss of a single life, the republic, guided by her consummate statesman and unrivalled general, had gained an immense victory, had installed the protestant princes in the full possession of those splendid and important provinces, and had dictated her decrees on german soil to the emperor of germany, and had towed, as it were, great britain and france along in her wake, instead of humbly following those powers, and had accomplished all that she had ever proposed to do, even in alliance with them both. the king of england considered that quite enough had been done, and was in great haste to patch up a reconciliation. he thought his ambassador would soon "have as good occasion to employ his tongue and his pen as general cecil and his soldiers have done their swords and their mattocks." he had no sympathy with the cause of protestantism, and steadily refused to comprehend the meaning of the great movements in the duchies. "i only wish that i may handsomely wind myself out of this quarrel, where the principal parties do so little for themselves," he said. de la chatre returned with his troops to france within a fortnight after his arrival on the scene. a mild proposition made by the french government through the marshal, that the provinces should be held in seguestration by france until a decision as to the true sovereignty could be reached, was promptly declined. maurice of nassau had hardly gained so signal a triumph for the republic and for the protestant cause only to hand it over to concini and villeroy for the benefit of spain. julich was thought safer in the keeping of sergeant pithan. by the end of september the states' troops had returned to their own country. thus the republic, with eminent success, had accomplished a brief and brilliant campaign, but no statesman could suppose that the result was more than a temporary one. these coveted provinces, most valuable in themselves and from their important position, would probably not be suffered peacefully to remain very long under the protection of the heretic states-general and in the 'condominium' of two protestant princes. there was fear among the imperialists, catholics, and spaniards, lest the baleful constellation of the seven provinces might be increased by an eighth star. and this was a project not to be tolerated. it was much already that the upstart confederacy had defied pope, emperor, and king, as it were, on their own domains, had dictated arrangements in germany directly in the teeth of its emperor, using france as her subordinate, and compelling the british king to acquiesce in what he most hated. but it was not merely to surprise julich, and to get a foothold in the duchies, that leopold had gone forth on his adventure. his campaign, as already intimated, was part of a wide scheme in which he had persuaded his emperor-cousin to acquiesce. poor rudolph had been at last goaded into a feeble attempt at revolt against his three brothers and his cousin ferdinand. peace-loving, inert, fond of his dinner, fonder of his magnificent collections of gems and intagli, liking to look out of window at his splendid collection of horses, he was willing to pass a quiet life, afar from the din of battles and the turmoil of affairs. as he happened to be emperor of half europe, these harmless tastes could not well be indulged. moon-faced and fat, silent and slow, he was not imperial of aspect on canvas or coin, even when his brows were decorated with the conventional laurel wreath. he had been stripped of his authority and all but discrowned by his more bustling brothers matthias and max, while the sombre figure of styrian ferdinand, pupil of the jesuits, and passionate admirer of philip ii., stood ever in the background, casting a prophetic shadow over the throne and over germany. the brothers were endeavouring to persuade rudolph that he would find more comfort in innsbruck than in prague; that he required repose after the strenuous labours of government. they told him, too, that it would be wise to confer the royal crown of bohemia upon matthias, lest, being elective and also an electorate, the crown and vote of that country might pass out of the family, and so both bohemia and the empire be lost to the habsburgs. the kingdom being thus secured to matthias and his heirs, the next step, of course, was to proclaim him king of the romans. otherwise there would be great danger and detriment to hungary, and other hereditary states of that conglomerate and anonymous monarchy which owned the sway of the great habsburg family. the unhappy emperor was much piqued. he had been deprived by his brother of hungary, moravia, and austria, while matthias was now at prague with an army, ostensibly to obtain ratification of the peace with turkey, but in reality to force the solemn transfer of those realms and extort the promise of bohemia. could there be a better illustration of the absurdities of such a system of imperialism? and now poor rudolph was to be turned out of the hradschin, and sent packing with or without his collections to the tyrol. the bellicose bishop of strassburg and passau, brother of ferdinand, had little difficulty in persuading the downtrodden man to rise to vengeance. it had been secretly agreed between the two that leopold, at the head of a considerable army of mercenaries which he had contrived to levy, should dart into julich as the emperor's representative, seize the debateable duchies, and hold them in sequestration until the emperor should decide to whom they belonged, and, then, rushing back to bohemia, should annihilate matthias, seize prague, and deliver rudolph from bondage. it was further agreed that leopold, in requital of these services, should receive the crown of bohemia, be elected king of the romans, and declared heir to the emperor, so far as rudolph could make him his heir. the first point in the program he had only in part accomplished. he had taken julich, proclaimed the intentions of the emperor, and then been driven out of his strong position by the wise policy of the states under the guidance of barneveld and by the consummate strategy of maurice. it will be seen therefore that the republic was playing a world's game at this moment, and doing it with skill and courage. on the issue of the conflict which had been begun and was to be long protracted in the duchies, and to spread over nearly all christendom besides, would depend the existence of the united netherlands and the fate of protestantism. the discomfited leopold swept back at the head of his mercenaries, foot and horse, through alsace and along the danube to linz and so to prague, marauding, harrying, and black-mailing the country as he went. he entered the city on the th of february , fighting his way through crowds of exasperated burghers. sitting in full harness on horseback in the great square before the cathedral, the warlike bishop compelled the population to make oath to him as the emperor's commissary. the street fighting went on however day by day, poor rudolph meantime cowering in the hradschin. on the third day, leopold, driven out of the town, took up a position on the heights, from which he commanded it with his artillery. then came a feeble voice from the hradschin, telling all men that these passau marauders and their episcopal chief were there by the emperor's orders. the triune city--the old, the new, and the jew--was bidden to send deputies to the palace and accept the imperial decrees. no deputies came at the bidding. the bohemians, especially the praguers, being in great majority protestants knew very well that leopold was fighting the cause of the papacy and spain in bohemia as well as in the duchies. and now matthias appeared upon the scene. the estates had already been in communication with him, better hopes, for the time at least, being entertained from him than from the flaccid rudolph. moreover a kind of compromise had been made in the autumn between matthias and the emperor after the defeat of leopold in the duchies. the real king had fallen at the feet of the nominal one by proxy of his brother maximilian. seven thousand men of the army of matthias now came before prague under command of colonitz. the passauers, receiving three months pay from the emperor, marched quietly off. leopold disappeared for the time. his chancellor and counsellor in the duchies, francis teynagel, a geldrian noble, taken prisoner and put to the torture, revealed the little plot of the emperor in favour of the bishop, and it was believed that the pope, the king of spain, and maximilian of bavaria were friendly to the scheme. this was probable, for leopold at last made no mystery of his resolve to fight protestantism to the death, and to hold the duchies, if he could, for the cause of rome and austria. both rudolph and matthias had committed themselves to the toleration of the reformed religion. the famous "majesty-letter," freshly granted by the emperor ( ), and the compromise between the catholic and protestant estates had become the law of the land. those of the bohemian confession, a creed commingled of hussism, lutheranism, and calvinism, had obtained toleration. in a country where nine-tenths of the population were protestants it was permitted to protestants to build churches and to worship god in them unmolested. but these privileges had been extorted by force, and there was a sullen, dogged determination which might be easily guessed at to revoke them should it ever become possible. the house of austria, reigning in spain, italy, and germany, was bound by the very law of their being to the roman religion. toleration of other worship signified in their eyes both a defeat and a crime. thus the great conflict, to be afterwards known as the thirty years' war, had in reality begun already, and the netherlands, in spite of the truce, were half unconsciously taking a leading part in it. the odds at that moment in germany seemed desperately against the house of austria, so deep and wide was the abyss between throne and subjects which religious difference had created. but the reserved power in spain, italy, and southern germany was sure enough to make itself felt sooner or later on the catholic side. meantime the estates of bohemia knew well enough that the imperial house was bent on destroying the elective principle of the empire, and on keeping the crown of bohemia in perpetuity. they had also discovered that bishop-archduke leopold had been selected by rudolph as chief of the reactionary movement against protestantism. they could not know at that moment whether his plans were likely to prove fantastic or dangerous. so matthias came to prague at the invitation of the estates, entering the city with all the airs of a conqueror. rudolph received his brother with enforced politeness, and invited him to reside in the hradschin. this proposal was declined by matthias, who sent a colonel however, with six pieces of artillery, to guard and occupy that palace. the passau prisoners were pardoned and released, and there was a general reconciliation. a month later, matthias went in pomp to the chapel of the holy wenceslaus, that beautiful and barbarous piece of mediaeval, sclavonic architecture, with its sombre arches, and its walls encrusted with huge precious stones. the estates of bohemia, arrayed in splendid zchech costume, and kneeling on the pavement, were asked whether they accepted matthias, king of hungary, as their lawful king. thrice they answered aye. cardinal dietrichstein then put the historic crown of st. wenceslaus on the king's head, and matthias swore to maintain the laws and privileges of bohemia, including the recent charters granting liberty of religion to protestants. thus there was temporary, if hollow, truce between the religious parties, and a sham reconciliation between the emperor and his brethren. the forlorn rudolph moped away the few months of life left to him in the hradschin, and died soon after the new year. the house of austria had not been divided, matthias succeeded his brother, leopold's visions melted into air, and it was for the future to reveal whether the majesty-letter and the compromise had been written on very durable material. and while such was the condition of affairs in germany immediately following the cleve and julich campaign, the relations of the republic both to england and france were become rapidly more dangerous than they ever had been. it was a severe task for barneveld, and enough to overtax the energies of any statesman, to maintain his hold on two such slippery governments as both had become since the death of their great monarchs. it had been an easier task for william the silent to steer his course, notwithstanding all the perversities, short-comings, brow-beatings, and inconsistencies that he had been obliged to endure from elizabeth and henry. genius, however capricious and erratic at times, has at least vision, and it needed no elaborate arguments to prove to both those sovereigns that the severance of their policy from that of the netherlands was impossible without ruin to the republic and incalculable danger themselves. but now france and england were both tending towards spain through a stupidity on the part of their rulers such as the gods are said to contend against in vain. barneveld was not a god nor a hero, but a courageous and wide-seeing statesman, and he did his best. obliged by his position to affect admiration, or at least respect, where no emotion but contempt was possible, his daily bread was bitter enough. it was absolutely necessary to humour those whom knew to be traversing his policy and desiring his ruin, for there was no other way to serve his country and save it from impending danger. so long as he was faithfully served by his subordinates, and not betrayed by those to whom he gave his heart, he could confront external enemies and mould the policy of wavering allies. few things in history are more pitiable than the position of james in regard to spain. for seven long years he was as one entranced, the slave to one idea, a spanish marriage for his son. it was in vain that his counsellors argued, parliament protested, allies implored. parliament was told that a royal family matter regarded himself alone, and that interference on their part was an impertinence. parliament's duty was a simple one, to give him advice if he asked it, and money when he required it, without asking for reasons. it was already a great concession that he should ask for it in person. they had nothing to do with his affairs nor with general politics. the mystery of government was a science beyond their reach, and with which they were not to meddle. "ne sutor ultra crepidam," said the pedant. upon that one point his policy was made to turn. spain held him in the hollow of her hand. the infanta, with two million crowns in dowry, was promised, withheld, brought forward again like a puppet to please or irritate a froward child. gondemar, the spanish ambassador, held him spellbound. did he falter in his opposition to the states--did he cease to goad them for their policy in the duchies--did he express sympathy with bohemian protestantism, or, as time went on, did he dare to lift a finger or touch his pocket in behalf of his daughter and the unlucky elector-palatine; did he, in short, move a step in the road which england had ever trod and was bound to tread--the road of determined resistance to spanish ambition--instantaneously the infanta withheld, and james was on his knees again. a few years later, when the great raleigh returned from his trans-alantic expedition, gondemar fiercely denounced him to the king as the worst enemy of spain. the usual threat was made, the wand was waved, and the noblest head in england fell upon the block, in pursuance of an obsolete sentence fourteen years old. it is necessary to hold fast this single clue to the crooked and amazing entanglements of the policy of james. the insolence, the meanness, and the prevarications of this royal toad-eater are only thus explained. yet philip iii. declared on his death-bed that he had never had a serious intention of bestowing his daughter on the prince. the vanity and the hatreds of theology furnished the chief additional material in the policy of james towards the provinces. the diplomacy of his reign so far as the republic was concerned is often a mere mass of controversial divinity, and gloomy enough of its kind. exactly at this moment conrad vorstius had been called by the university of leyden to the professorship vacant by the death of arminius, and the wrath of peter plancius and the whole orthodox party knew no bounds. born in cologne, vorstius had been a lecturer in geneva, and beloved by beza. he had written a book against the jesuit belarmino, which he had dedicated to the states-general. but he was now accused of arminianism, socianism, pelagianism, atheism--one knew not what. he defended himself in writing against these various charges, and declared himself a believer in the trinity, in the divinity of christ, in the atonement. but he had written a book on the nature of god, and the wrath of gomarus and plancius and bogerman was as nothing to the ire of james when that treatise was one day handed to him on returning from hunting. he had scarcely looked into it before he was horror-struck, and instantly wrote to sir ralph winwood, his ambassador at the hague, ordering him to insist that this blasphemous monster should at once be removed from the country. who but james knew anything of the nature of god, for had he not written a work in latin explaining it all, so that humbler beings might read and be instructed. sir ralph accordingly delivered a long sermon to the states on the brief supplied by his majesty, told them that to have vorstius as successor to arminius was to fall out of the frying-pan into the fire, and handed them a "catalogue" prepared by the king of the blasphemies, heresies, and atheisms of the professor. "notwithstanding that the man in full assembly of the states of holland," said the ambassador with headlong and confused rhetoric, "had found the means to palliate and plaster the dung of his heresies, and thus to dazzle the eyes of good people," yet it was necessary to protest most vigorously against such an appointment, and to advise that "his works should be publicly burned in the open places of all the cities." the professor never was admitted to perform his functions of theology, but he remained at leyden, so winwood complained, "honoured, recognized as a singularity and ornament to the academy in place of the late joseph scaliger."--"the friendship of the king and the heresy of vorstius are quite incompatible," said the envoy. meantime the advocate, much distressed at the animosity of england bursting forth so violently on occasion of the appointment of a divinity professor at leyden, and at the very instant too when all the acuteness of his intellect was taxed to keep on good or even safe terms with france, did his best to stem these opposing currents. his private letters to his old and confidential friend, noel de carom, states' ambassador in london, reveal the perplexities of his soul and the upright patriotism by which he was guided in these gathering storms. and this correspondence, as well as that maintained by him at a little later period with the successor of aerssens at paris, will be seen subsequently to have had a direct and most important bearing upon the policy of the republic and upon his own fate. it is necessary therefore that the reader, interested in these complicated affairs which were soon to bring on a sanguinary war on a scale even vaster than the one which had been temporarily suspended, should give close attention to papers never before exhumed from the musty sepulchre of national archives, although constantly alluded to in the records of important state trials. it is strange enough to observe the apparent triviality of the circumstances out of which gravest events seem to follow. but the circumstances were in reality threads of iron which led down to the very foundations of the earth. "i wish to know," wrote the advocate to caron, "from whom the archbishop of canterbury received the advices concerning vorstius in order to find out what is meant by all this." it will be remembered that whitgift was of opinion that james was directly inspired by the holy ghost, and that as he affected to deem him the anointed high-priest of england, it was natural that he should encourage the king in his claims to be 'pontifex maximus' for the netherlands likewise. "we are busy here," continued barneveld, "in examining all things for the best interests of the country and the churches. i find the nobles and cities here well resolved in this regard, although there be some disagreements 'in modo.' vorstius, having been for many years professor and minister of theology at steinfurt, having manifested his learning in many books written against the jesuits, and proved himself pure and moderate in doctrine, has been called to the vacant professorship at leyden. this appointment is now countermined by various means. we are doing our best to arrange everything for the highest good of the provinces and the churches. believe this and believe nothing else. pay heed to no other information. remember what took place in flanders, events so well known to you. it is not for me to pass judgment in these matters. do you, too, suspend your judgment." the advocate's allusion was to the memorable course of affairs in flanders at an epoch when many of the most inflammatory preachers and politicians of the reformed religion, men who refused to employ a footman or a housemaid not certified to be thoroughly orthodox, subsequently after much sedition and disturbance went over to spain and the catholic religion. a few weeks later barneveld sent copies to caron of the latest harangues of winwood in the assembly and the reply of my lords on the vorstian business; that is to say, the freshest dialogue on predestination between the king and the advocate. for as james always dictated word for word the orations of his envoy, so had their mightinesses at this period no head and no mouthpiece save barneveld alone. nothing could be drearier than these controversies, and the reader shall be spared as much, as possible the infliction of reading them. it will be necessary, however, for the proper understanding of subsequent events that he should be familiar with portions of the advocate's confidential letters. "sound well the gentleman you wot of," said barneveld, "and other personages as to the conclusive opinions over there. the course of the propositions does not harmonize with what i have myself heard out of the king's mouth at other times, nor with the reports of former ambassadors. i cannot well understand that the king should, with such preciseness, condemn all other opinions save those of calvin and beza. it is important to the service of this country that one should know the final intention of his majesty." and this was the misery of the position. for it was soon to appear that the king's definite and final intentions, varied from day to day. it was almost humorous to find him at that moment condemning all opinions but those of calvin and beza in holland, while his course to the strictest confessors of that creed in england was so ferocious. but vorstius was a rival author to his majesty on subjects treated of by both, so that literary spite of the most venomous kind, stirred into theological hatred, was making a dangerous mixture. had a man with the soul and sense of the advocate sat on the throne which james was regarding at that moment as a professor's chair, the world's history would have been changed. "i fear," continued barneveld, "that some of our own precisians have been spinning this coil for us over there, and if the civil authority can be thus countermined, things will go as in flanders in your time. pray continue to be observant, discreet, and moderate." the advocate continued to use his best efforts to smooth the rising waves. he humoured and even flattered the king, although perpetually denounced by winwood in his letters to his sovereign as tyrannical, over-bearing, malignant, and treacherous. he did his best to counsel moderation and mutual toleration, for he felt that these needless theological disputes about an abstract and insoluble problem of casuistry were digging an abyss in which the republic might be swallowed up for ever. if ever man worked steadily with the best lights of experience and inborn sagacity for the good of his country and in defence of a constitutional government, horribly defective certainly, but the only legal one, and on the whole a more liberal polity than any then existing, it was barneveld. courageously, steadily, but most patiently, he stood upon that position so vital and daily so madly assailed; the defence of the civil authority against the priesthood. he felt instinctively and keenly that where any portion of the subjects or citizens of a country can escape from the control of government and obey other head than the lawful sovereignty, whether monarchical or republican, social disorder and anarchy must be ever impending. "we are still tortured by ecclesiastical disputes," he wrote a few weeks later to caron. "besides many libels which have appeared in print, the letters of his majesty and the harangues of winwood have been published; to what end you who know these things by experience can judge. the truth of the matter of vorstius is that he was legally called in july , that he was heard last may before my lords the states with six preachers to oppose him, and in the same month duly accepted and placed in office. he has given no public lectures as yet. you will cause this to be known on fitting opportunity. believe and cause to be believed that his majesty's letters and sir r. winwood's propositions have been and shall be well considered, and that i am working with all my strength to that end. you know the constitution of our country, and can explain everything for the best. many pious and intelligent people in this state hold themselves assured that his majesty according to his royal exceeding great wisdom, foresight, and affection for the welfare of this land will not approve that his letters and winwood's propositions should be scattered by the press among the common people. believe and cause to be believed, to your best ability, that my lords the states of holland desire to maintain the true christian, reformed religion as well in the university of leyden as in all their cities and villages. the only dispute is on the high points of predestination and its adjuncts, concerning which moderation and a more temperate teaching is furthered by some amongst us. many think that such is the edifying practice in england. pray have the kindness to send me the english confession of the year , with the corrections and alterations up to this year." but the fires were growing hotter, fanned especially by flemish ministers, a brotherhood of whom barneveld had an especial distrust, and who certainly felt great animosity to him. his moderate counsels were but oil to the flames. he was already depicted by zealots and calumniators as false to the reformed creed. "be assured and assure others," he wrote again to caron, "that in the matter of religion i am, and by god's grace shall remain, what i ever have been. make the same assurances as to my son-in-law and brother. we are not a little amazed that a few extraordinary puritans, mostly flemings and frisians, who but a short time ago had neither property nor kindred in the country, and have now very little of either, and who have given but slender proofs of constancy or service to the fatherland, could through pretended zeal gain credit over there against men well proved in all respects. we wonder the more because they are endeavouring, in ecclesiastical matters at least, to usurp an extraordinary authority, against which his majesty, with very weighty reasons, has so many times declared his opinion founded upon god's word and upon all laws and principles of justice." it was barneveld's practice on this as on subsequent occasions very courteously to confute the king out of his own writings and speeches, and by so doing to be unconsciously accumulating an undying hatred against himself in the royal breast. certainly nothing could be easier than to show that james, while encouraging in so reckless a manner the emancipation of the ministers of an advanced sect in the reformed church from control of government, and their usurpation of supreme authority which had been destroyed in england, was outdoing himself in dogmatism and inconsistency. a king-highpriest, who dictated his supreme will to bishops and ministers as well as to courts and parliaments, was ludicrously employed in a foreign country in enforcing the superiority of the church to the state. "you will give good assurances," said the advocate, "upon my word, that the conservation of the true reformed religion is as warmly cherished here, especially by me, as at any time during the war." he next alluded to the charges then considered very grave against certain writings of vorstius, and with equal fairness to his accusers as he had been to the professor gave a pledge that the subject should be examined. "if the man in question," he said, "be the author, as perhaps falsely imputed, of the work 'de filiatione christi' or things of that sort, you may be sure that he shall have no furtherance here." he complained, however, that before proof the cause was much prejudiced by the circulation through the press of letters on the subject from important personages in england. his own efforts to do justice in the matter were traversed by such machinations. if the professor proved to be guilty of publications fairly to be deemed atheistical and blasphemous, he should be debarred from his functions, but the outcry from england was doing more harm than good. "the published extract from the letter of the archbishop," he wrote, "to the effect that the king will declare my lords the states to be his enemies if they are not willing to send the man away is doing much harm." truly, if it had come to this--that a king of england was to go to war with a neighbouring and friendly republic because an obnoxious professor of theology was not instantly hurled from a university of which his majesty was not one of the overseers--it was time to look a little closely into the functions of governments and the nature of public and international law. not that the sword of james was in reality very likely to be unsheathed, but his shriekings and his scribblings, pacific as he was himself, were likely to arouse passions which torrents of blood alone could satiate. "the publishing and spreading among the community," continued barneveld, "of m. winwood's protestations and of many indecent libels are also doing much mischief, for the nature of this people does not tolerate such things. i hope, however, to obtain the removal according to his majesty's desire. keep me well informed, and send me word what is thought in england by the four divines of the book of vorstius, 'de deo,' and of his declarations on the points sent here by his majesty. let me know, too, if there has been any later confession published in england than that of the year , and whether the nine points pressed in the year were accepted and published in . if so, pray send them, as they maybe made use of in settling our differences here." thus it will be seen that the spirit of conciliation, of a calm but earnest desire to obtain a firm grasp of the most reasonable relations between church and state through patient study of the phenomena exhibited in other countries, were the leading motives of the man. yet he was perpetually denounced in private as an unbeliever, an atheist, a tyrant, because he resisted dictation from the clergy within the provinces and from kings outside them. "it was always held here to be one of the chief infractions of the laws and privileges of this country," he said, "that former princes had placed themselves in matter of religion in the tutelage of the pope and the spanish inquisition, and that they therefore on complaint of their good subjects could take no orders on that subject. therefore it cannot be considered strange that we are not willing here to fall into the same obloquy. that one should now choose to turn the magistrates, who were once so seriously summoned on their conscience and their office to adopt the reformation and to take the matter of religion to heart, into ignorants, to deprive them of knowledge, and to cause them to see with other eyes than their own, cannot by many be considered right and reasonable. 'intelligenti pauca.'" [the interesting letter from which i have given these copious extracts was ordered by its writer to be burned. "lecta vulcano" was noted at the end of it, as was not unfrequently the case with the advocate. it never was burned; but, innocent and reasonable as it seems, was made use of by barneveld's enemies with deadly effect. j.l.m.] meantime m. de refuge, as before stated, was on his way to the hague, to communicate the news of the double marriage. he had fallen sick at rotterdam, and the nature of his instructions and of the message he brought remained unknown, save from the previous despatches of aerssens. but reports were rife that he was about to propose new terms of alliance to the states, founded on large concessions to the roman catholic religion. of course intense jealousy was excited at the english court, and calumny plumed her wings for a fresh attack upon the advocate. of course he was sold to spain, the reformed religion was to be trampled out in the provinces, and the papacy and holy inquisition established on its ruins. nothing could be more diametrically the reverse of the fact than such hysterical suspicions as to the instructions of the ambassador extraordinary from france, and this has already appeared. the vorstian affair too was still in the same phase, the advocate professing a willingness that justice should be done in the matter, while courteously but firmly resisting the arrogant pretensions of james to take the matter out of the jurisdiction of the states. "i stand amazed," he said, "at the partisanship and the calumnious representations which you tell me of, and cannot imagine what is thought nor what is proposed. should m. de refuge make any such propositions as are feared, believe, and cause his majesty and his counsellors to believe, that they would be of no effect. make assurances upon my word, notwithstanding all advices to the contrary, that such things would be flatly refused. if anything is published or proven to the discredit of vorstius, send it to me. believe that we shall not defend heretics nor schismatics against the pure evangelical doctrine, but one cannot conceive here that the knowledge and judicature of the matter belongs anywhere else than to my lords the states of holland, in whose service he has legally been during four months before his majesty made the least difficulty about it. called hither legally a year before, with the knowledge and by the order of his excellency and the councillors of state of holland, he has been countermined by five or six flemings and frisians, who, without recognizing the lawful authority of the magistrates, have sought assistance in foreign countries--in germany and afterwards in england. yes, they have been so presumptuous as to designate one of their own men for the place. if such a proceeding should be attempted in england, i leave it to those whose business it would be to deal with it to say what would be done. i hope therefore that one will leave the examination and judgment of this matter freely to us, without attempting to make us--against the principles of the reformation and the liberties and laws of the land--executors of the decrees of others, as the man here wishes to obtrude it upon us." he alluded to the difficulty in raising the ways and means; saying that the quota of holland, as usual, which was more than half the whole, was ready, while other provinces were in arrears. yet they were protected, while holland was attacked. "methinks i am living in a strange world," he said, "when those who have received great honour from holland, and who in their conscience know that they alone have conserved the commonwealth, are now traduced with such great calumnies. but god the lord almighty is just, and will in his own time do chastisement." the affair of vorstius dragged its slow length along, and few things are more astounding at this epoch than to see such a matter, interesting enough certainly to theologians, to the university, and to the rising generation of students, made the topic of unceasing and embittered diplomatic controversy between two great nations, who had most pressing and momentous business on their hands. but it was necessary to humour the king, while going to the verge of imprudence in protecting the professor. in march he was heard, three or four hours long, before the assembly of holland, in answer to various charges made against him, being warned that "he stood before the lord god and before the sovereign authority of the states." although thought by many to have made a powerful defence, he was ordered to set it forth in writing, both in latin and in the vernacular. furthermore it was ordained that he should make a complete refutation of all the charges already made or that might be made during the ensuing three months against him in speech, book, or letter in england, germany, the netherlands, or anywhere else. he was allowed one year and a half to accomplish this work, and meantime was to reside not in leyden, nor the hague, but in some other town of holland, not delivering lectures or practising his profession in any way. it might be supposed that sufficient work had been thus laid out for the unfortunate doctor of divinity without lecturing or preaching. the question of jurisdiction was saved. the independence of the civil authority over the extreme pretensions of the clergy had been vindicated by the firmness of the advocate. james bad been treated with overflowing demonstrations of respect, but his claim to expel a dutch professor from his chair and country by a royal fiat had been signally rebuked. certainly if the provinces were dependent upon the british king in regard to such a matter, it was the merest imbecility for them to affect independence. barneveld had carried his point and served his country strenuously and well in this apparently small matter which human folly had dilated into a great one. but deep was the wrath treasured against him in consequence in clerical and royal minds. returning from wesel after the negotiations, sir ralph winwood had an important interview at arnheim with prince maurice, in which they confidentially exchanged their opinions in regard to the advocate, and mutually confirmed their suspicions and their jealousies in regard to that statesman. the ambassador earnestly thanked the prince in the king's name for his "careful and industrious endeavours for the maintenance of the truth of religion, lively expressed in prosecuting the cause against vorstius and his adherents." he then said: "i am expressly commanded that his majesty conferring the present condition of affairs of this quarter of the world with those advertisements he daily receives from his ministers abroad, together with the nature and disposition of those men who have in their hands the managing of all business in these foreign parts, can make no other judgment than this. "there is a general ligue and confederation complotted far the subversion and ruin of religion upon the subsistence whereof his majesty doth judge the main welfare of your realms and of these provinces solely to consist. "therefore his majesty has given me charge out of the knowledge he has of your great worth and sufficiency," continued winwood, "and the confidence he reposes in your faith and affection, freely to treat with you on these points, and withal to pray you to deliver your opinion what way would be the most compendious and the most assured to contrequarr these complots, and to frustrate the malice of these mischievous designs." the prince replied by acknowledging the honour the king had vouchsafed to do him in holding so gracious an opinion of him, wherein his majesty should never be deceived. "i concur in judgment with his majesty," continued the prince, "that the main scope at which these plots and practices do aim, for instance, the alliance between france and spain, is this, to root out religion, and by consequence to bring under their yoke all those countries in which religion is professed. "the first attempt," continued the prince, "is doubtless intended against these provinces. the means to countermine and defeat these projected designs i take to be these: the continuance of his majesty's constant resolution for the protection of religion, and then that the king would be pleased to procure a general confederation between the kings, princes, and commonwealths professing religion, namely, denmark, sweden, the german princes, the protestant cantons of switzerland, and our united provinces. "of this confederation, his majesty must be not only the director, but the head and protector. "lastly, the protestants of france should be, if not supported, at least relieved from that oppression which the alliance of spain doth threaten upon them. this, i insist," repeated maurice with great fervour, "is the only coupegorge of all plots whatever between france and spain." he enlarged at great length on these points, which he considered so vital. "and what appearance can there be," asked winwood insidiously and maliciously, "of this general confederation now that these provinces, which heretofore have been accounted a principal member of the reformed church, begin to falter in the truth of religion? "he who solely governs the metropolitan province of holland," continued the ambassador, with a direct stab in the back at barneveld, "is reputed generally, as your excellency best knows, to be the only patron of vorstius, and the protector of the schisms of arminius. and likewise, what possibility is there that the protestants of france can expect favour from these provinces when the same man is known to depend at the devotion of france?" the international, theological, and personal jealousy of the king against holland's advocate having been thus plainly developed, the ambassador proceeded to pour into the prince's ear the venom of suspicion, and to inflame his jealousy against his great rival. the secret conversation showed how deeply laid was the foundation of the political hatred, both of james and of maurice, against the advocate, and certainly nothing could be more preposterous than to imagine the king as the director and head of the great protestant league. we have but lately seen him confidentially assuring his minister that his only aim was "to wind himself handsomely out of the whole business." maurice must have found it difficult to preserve his gravity when assigning such a part to "master jacques." "although monsieur barneveld has cast off all care of religion," said maurice, "and although some towns in holland, wherein his power doth reign, are infected with the like neglect, yet so long as so many good towns in holland stand sound, and all the other provinces of this confederacy, the proposition would at the first motion be cheerfully accepted. "i confess i find difficulty in satisfying your second question," continued the prince, "for i acknowledge that barneveld is wholly devoted to the service of france. during the truce negotiations, when some difference arose between him and myself, president jeannin came to me, requiring me in the french king's name to treat monsieur barneveld well, whom the king had received into his protection. the letters which the states' ambassador in france wrote to barneveld (and to him all ambassadors address their despatches of importance), the very autographs themselves, he sent back into the hands of villeroy." here the prince did not scruple to accuse the advocate of doing the base and treacherous trick against aerssens which he had expressly denied doing, and which had been done during his illness, as he solemnly avowed, by a subordinate probably for the sake of making mischief. maurice then discoursed largely and vehemently of the suspicious proceedings of barneveld, and denounced him as dangerous to the state. "when one man who has the conduct of all affairs in his sole power," he said, "shall hold underhand intelligence with the ministers of spain and the archduke, and that without warrant, thereby he may have the means so to carry the course of affairs that, do what they will, these provinces must fall or stand at the mercy and discretion of spain. therefore some good resolutions must be taken in time to hold up this state from a sudden downfall, but in this much moderation and discretion must be used." the prince added that he had invited his cousin lewis william to appear at the hague at may day, in order to consult as to the proper means to preserve the provinces from confusion under his majesty's safeguard, and with the aid of the englishmen in the states' service whom maurice pronounced to be "the strength and flower of his army." thus the prince developed his ideas at great length, and accused the advocate behind his back, and without the faintest shadow of proof, of base treachery to his friends and of high-treason. surely barneveld was in danger, and was walking among pitfalls. most powerful and deadly enemies were silently banding themselves together against him. could he long maintain his hold on the slippery heights of power, where he was so consciously serving his country, but where he became day by day a mere shining mark for calumny and hatred? the ambassador then signified to the prince that he had been instructed to carry to him the king's purpose to confer on him the order of the garter. "if his majesty holds me worthy of so great honour," said the prince, "i and my family shall ever remain bound to his service and that of his royal posterity. "that the states should be offended i see no cause, but holding the charge i do in their service, i could not accept the honour without first acquainting them and receiving their approbation." winwood replied that, as the king knew the terms on which the prince lived with the states, he doubted not his majesty would first notify them and say that he honoured the mutual amity between his realms and these provinces by honouring the virtues of their general, whose services, as they had been most faithful and affectionate, so had they been accompanied with the blessings of happiness and prosperous success. thus said winwood to the king: "your majesty may plaster two walls with one trowel ('una fidelia duos dealbare parietes'), reverse the designs of them who to facilitate their own practices do endeavour to alienate your affections from the good of these provinces, and oblige to your service the well-affected people, who know that there is no surety for themselves, their wives and children, but under the protection of your majesty's favour. perhaps, however, the favourers of vorstius and arminius will buzz into the ears of their associates that your majesty would make a party in these provinces by maintaining the truth of religion and also by gaining unto you the affections of their chief commander. but your majesty will be pleased to pass forth whose worthy ends will take their place, which is to honour virtue where you find it, and the suspicious surmises of malice and envy in one instant will vanish into smoke." winwood made no scruple in directly stating to the english government that barneveld's purpose was to "cause a divorce between the king's realms and the provinces, the more easily to precipitate them into the arms of spain." he added that the negotiation with count maurice then on foot was to be followed, but with much secrecy, on account of the place he held in the state. soon after the ambassador's secret conversation with maurice he had an interview with barneveld. he assured the advocate that no contentment could be given to his majesty but by the banishment of vorstius. "if the town of leyden should understand so much," replied barneveld, "i fear the magistrates would retain him still in their town." "if the town of leyden should retain vorstius," answered winwood, "to brave or despight his majesty, the king has the means, if it pleases him to use them, and that without drawing sword, to range them to reason, and to make the magistrates on their knees demand his pardon, and i say as much of rotterdam." such insolence on the part of an ambassador to the first minister of a great republic was hard to bear. barneveld was not the man to brook it. he replied with great indignation. "i was born in liberty," he said with rising choler, "i cannot digest this kind of language. the king of spain himself never dared to speak in so high a style." "i well understand that logic," returned the ambassador with continued insolence. "you hold your argument to be drawn 'a majori ad minus;' but i pray you to believe that the king of great britain is peer and companion to the king of spain, and that his motto is, 'nemo me impune lacessit.'" and so they parted in a mutual rage; winwood adding on going out of the room, "whatsoever i propose to you in his majesty's name can find with you neither goust nor grace." he then informed lord rochester that "the man was extremely distempered and extremely distasted with his majesty. "some say," he added, "that on being in england when his majesty first came to the throne he conceived some offence, which ever since hath rankled in his heart, and now doth burst forth with more violent malice." nor was the matter so small as it superficially appeared. dependence of one nation upon the dictation of another can never be considered otherwise than grave. the subjection of all citizens, clerical or lay, to the laws of the land, the supremacy of the state over the church, were equally grave subjects. and the question of sovereignty now raised for the first time, not academically merely, but practically, was the gravest one of all. it was soon to be mooted vigorously and passionately whether the united provinces were a confederacy or a union; a league of sovereign and independent states bound together by treaty for certain specified purposes or an incorporated whole. the advocate and all the principal lawyers in the country had scarcely a doubt on the subject. whether it were a reasonable system or an absurd one, a vigorous or an imbecile form of government, they were confident that the union of utrecht, made about a generation of mankind before, and the only tie by which the provinces were bound together at all, was a compact between sovereigns. barneveld styled himself always the servant and officer of the states of holland. to them was his allegiance, for them he spoke, wrought, and thought, by them his meagre salary was paid. at the congress of the states-general, the scene of his most important functions, he was the ambassador of holland, acting nominally according to their instructions, and exercising the powers of minister of foreign affairs and, as it were, prime minister for the other confederates by their common consent. the system would have been intolerable, the great affairs of war and peace could never have been carried on so triumphantly, had not the preponderance of the one province holland, richer, more powerful, more important in every way than the other six provinces combined, given to the confederacy illegally, but virtually, many of the attributes of union. rather by usucaption than usurpation holland had in many regards come to consider herself and be considered as the republic itself. and barneveld, acting always in the name of holland and with the most modest of titles and appointments, was for a long time in all civil matters the chief of the whole country. this had been convenient during the war, still more convenient during negotiations for peace, but it was inevitable that there should be murmurs now that the cessation from military operations on a large scale had given men time to look more deeply into the nature of a constitution partly inherited and partly improvised, and having many of the defects usually incident to both sources of government. the military interest, the ecclesiastical power, and the influence of foreign nations exerted through diplomatic intrigue, were rapidly arraying themselves in determined hostility to barneveld and to what was deemed his tyrannous usurpation. a little later the national spirit, as opposed to provincial and municipal patriotism, was to be aroused against him, and was likely to prove the most formidable of all the elements of antagonism. it is not necessary to anticipate here what must be developed on a subsequent page. this much, however, it is well to indicate for the correct understanding of passing events. barneveld did not consider himself the officer or servant of their high mightinesses the states-general, while in reality often acting as their master, but the vassal and obedient functionary of their great mightinesses the states of holland, whom he almost absolutely controlled. his present most pressing business was to resist the encroachments of the sacerdotal power and to defend the magistracy. the casuistical questions which were fast maddening the public mind seemed of importance to him only as enclosing within them a more vital and practical question of civil government. but the anger of his opponents, secret and open, was rapidly increasing. envy, jealousy, political and clerical hate, above all, that deadliest and basest of malignant spirits which in partisan warfare is bred out of subserviency to rising and rival power, were swarming about him and stinging him at every step. no parasite of maurice could more effectively pay his court and more confidently hope for promotion or reward than by vilipending barneveld. it would be difficult to comprehend the infinite extent and power of slander without a study of the career of the advocate of holland. "i thank you for your advices," he wrote to carom' "and i wish from my heart that his majesty, according to his royal wisdom and clemency towards the condition of this country, would listen only to my lords the states or their ministers, and not to his own or other passionate persons who, through misunderstanding or malice, furnish him with information and so frequently flatter him. i have tried these twenty years to deserve his majesty's confidence, and have many letters from him reaching through twelve or fifteen years, in which he does me honour and promises his royal favour. i am the more chagrined that through false and passionate reports and information--because i am resolved to remain good and true to my lords the states, to the fatherland, and to the true christian religion--i and mine should now be so traduced. i hope that god almighty will second my upright conscience, and cause his majesty soon to see the injustice done to me and mine. to defend the resolutions of my lords the states of holland is my office, duty, and oath, and i assure you that those resolutions are taken with wider vision and scope than his majesty can believe. let this serve for my lords' defence and my own against indecent calumny, for my duty allows me to pursue no other course." he again alluded to the dreary affair of vorstius, and told the envoy that the venation caused by it was incredible. "that men unjustly defame our cities and their regents is nothing new," he said; "but i assure you that it is far more damaging to the common weal than the defamers imagine." some of the private admirers of arminius who were deeply grieved at so often hearing him "publicly decried as the enemy of god" had been defending the great heretic to james, and by so doing had excited the royal wrath not only against the deceased doctor and themselves, but against the states of holland who had given them no commission. on the other hand the advanced orthodox party, most bitter haters of barneveld, and whom in his correspondence with england he uniformly and perhaps designedly called the puritans, knowing that the very word was a scarlet rag to james, were growing louder and louder in their demands. "some thirty of these puritans," said he, "of whom at least twenty are flemings or other foreigners equally violent, proclaim that they and the like of them mean alone to govern the church. let his majesty compare this proposal with his royal present, with his salutary declaration at london in the year to doctor reynolds and his associates, and with his admonition delivered to the emperor, kings, sovereigns, and republics, and he will best understand the mischievous principles of these people, who are now gaining credit with him to the detriment of the freedom and laws of these provinces." a less enlightened statesman than barneveld would have found it easy enough to demonstrate the inconsistency of the king in thus preaching subserviency of government to church and favouring the rule of puritans over both. it needed but slender logic to reduce such a policy on his part to absurdity, but neither kings nor governments are apt to value themselves on their logic. so long as james could play the pedagogue to emperors, kings, and republics, it mattered little to him that the doctrines which he preached in one place he had pronounced flat blasphemy in another. that he would cheerfully hang in england the man whom he would elevate to power in holland might be inconsistency in lesser mortals; but what was the use of his infallibility if he was expected to be consistent? but one thing was certain. the advocate saw through him as if he had been made of glass, and james knew that he did. this fatal fact outweighed all the decorous and respectful phraseology under which barneveld veiled his remorseless refutations. it was a dangerous thing to incur the wrath of this despot-theologian. prince maurice, who had originally joined in the invitation given by the overseers of leyden to vorstius, and had directed one of the deputies and his own "court trumpeter," uytenbogaert, to press him earnestly to grant his services to the university, now finding the coldness of barneveld to the fiery remonstrances of the king, withdrew his protection of the professor. "the count maurice, who is a wise and understanding prince," said winwood, "and withal most affectionate to his majesty's service, doth foresee the miseries into which these countries are likely to fall, and with grief doth pine away." it is probable that the great stadholder had never been more robust, or indeed inclining to obesity, than precisely at this epoch; but sir ralph was of an imaginative turn. he had discovered, too, that the advocate's design was "of no other nature than so to stem the course of the state that insensibly the provinces shall fall by relapse into the hands of spain." a more despicable idea never entered a human brain. every action, word, and thought, of barneveld's life was a refutation of it. but he was unwilling, at the bidding of a king, to treat a professor with contumely who had just been solemnly and unanimously invited by the great university, by the states of holland, and by the stadholder to an important chair; and that was enough for the diplomatist and courtier. "he, and only he," said winwood passionately, "hath opposed his majesty's purposes with might and main." formerly the ambassador had been full of complaints of "the craving humour of count maurice," and had censured him bitterly in his correspondence for having almost by his inordinate pretensions for money and other property brought the treaty of truce to a standstill. and in these charges he was as unjust and as reckless as he was now in regard to barneveld. the course of james and his agents seemed cunningly devised to sow discord in the provinces, to inflame the growing animosity of the stadholder to the advocate, and to paralyse the action of the republic in the duchies. if the king had received direct instructions from the spanish cabinet how to play the spanish game, he could hardly have done it with more docility. but was not gondemar ever at his elbow, and the infanta always in the perspective? and it is strange enough that, at the same moment, spanish marriages were in france as well as england the turning-point of policy. henry had been willing enough that the dauphin should espouse a spanish infanta, and that one of the spanish princes should be affianced to one of his daughters. but the proposition from spain had been coupled with a condition that the friendship between france and the netherlands should be at once broken off, and the rebellious heretics left to their fate. and this condition had been placed before him with such arrogance that he had rejected the whole scheme. henry was not the man to do anything dishonourable at the dictation of another sovereign. he was also not the man to be ignorant that the friendship of the provinces was necessary to him, that cordial friendship between france and spain was impossible, and that to allow spain to reoccupy that splendid possession between his own realms and germany, from which she had been driven by the hollanders in close alliance with himself, would be unworthy of the veriest schoolboy in politics. but henry was dead, and a medici reigned in his place, whose whole thought was to make herself agreeable to spain. aerssens, adroit, prying, experienced, unscrupulous, knew very well that these double spanish marriages were resolved upon, and that the inevitable condition refused by the king would be imposed upon his widow. he so informed the states-general, and it was known to the french government that he had informed them. his position soon became almost untenable, not because he had given this information, but because the information and the inference made from it were correct. it will be observed that the policy of the advocate was to preserve friendly relations between france and england, and between both and the united provinces. it was for this reason that he submitted to the exhortations and denunciations of the english ambassadors. it was for this that he kept steadily in view the necessity of dealing with and supporting corporate france, the french government, when there were many reasons for feeling sympathy with the internal rebellion against that government. maurice felt differently. he was connected by blood or alliance with more than one of the princes now perpetually in revolt. bouillon was his brother-in-law, the sister of conde was his brother's wife. another cousin, the elector-palatine, was already encouraging distant and extravagant hopes of the imperial crown. it was not unnatural that he should feel promptings of ambition and sympathy difficult to avow even to himself, and that he should feel resentment against the man by whom this secret policy was traversed in the well-considered interest of the republican government. aerssens, who, with the keen instinct of self-advancement was already attaching himself to maurice as to the wheels of the chariot going steadily up the hill, was not indisposed to loosen his hold upon the man through whose friendship he had first risen, and whose power was now perhaps on the decline. moreover, events had now caused him to hate the french government with much fervour. with henry iv. he had been all-powerful. his position had been altogether exceptional, and he had wielded an influence at paris more than that exerted by any foreign ambassador. the change naturally did not please him, although he well knew the reasons. it was impossible for the dutch ambassador to be popular at a court where spain ruled supreme. had he been willing to eat humiliation as with a spoon, it would not have sufficed. they knew him, they feared him, and they could not doubt that his sympathies would ever be with the malcontent princes. at the same time he did not like to lose his hold upon the place, nor to have it known, as yet, to the world that his power was diminished. "the queen commands me to tell you," said the french ambassador de russy to the states-general, "that the language of the sieur aerssens has not only astonished her, but scandalized her to that degree that she could not refrain from demanding if it came from my lords the states or from himself. he having, however, affirmed to her majesty that he had express charge to justify it by reasons so remote from the hope and the belief that she had conceived of your gratitude to the most christian king and herself, she is constrained to complain of it, and with great frankness." some months later than this aerssens communicated to the states-general the project of the spanish marriage, "which," said he, "they have declared to me with so many oaths to be false." he informed them that m. de refuge was to go on special mission to the hague, "having been designated to that duty before aerssens' discovery of the marriage project." he was to persuade their mightinesses that the marriages were by no means concluded, and that, even if they were, their mightinesses were not interested therein, their majesties intending to remain by the old maxims and alliances of the late king. marriages, he would be instructed to say, were mere personal conventions, which remained of no consideration when the interests of the crown were touched. "nevertheless, i know very well," said aerssens, "that in england these negotiations are otherwise understood, and that the king has uttered great complaints about them, saying that such a negotiation as this ought not to have been concealed from him. he is pressing more than ever for reimbursement of the debt to him, and especially for the moneys pretended to have been furnished to your mightinesses in his majesty's name." thus it will be seen how closely the spanish marriages were connected with the immediate financial arrangements of france, england, and the states, without reference to the wider political consequences anticipated. "the princes and most gentlemen," here continued the ambassador, "believe that these reciprocal and double marriages will bring about great changes in christendom if they take the course which the authors of them intend, however much they may affect to believe that no novelties are impending. the marriages were proposed to the late king, and approved by him, during the negotiations for the truce, and had don pedro do toledo been able to govern himself, as jeannin has just been telling me, the united provinces would have drawn from it their assured security. what he means by that, i certainly cannot conceive, for don pedro proposed the marriage of the dauphin (now louis xiii.) with the infanta on the condition that henry should renounce all friendship with your mightinesses, and neither openly nor secretly give you any assistance. you were to be entirely abandoned, as an example for all who throw off the authority of their lawful prince. but his majesty answered very generously that he would take no conditions; that he considered your mightinesses as his best friends, whom he could not and would not forsake. upon this don pedro broke off the negotiation. what should now induce the king of spain to resume the marriage negotiations but to give up the conditions, i am sure i don't know, unless, through the truce, his designs and his ambition have grown flaccid. this i don't dare to hope, but fear, on the contrary, that he will so manage the irresolution, weakness, and faintheartedness of this kingdom as through the aid of his pensioned friends here to arrive at all his former aims." certainly the ambassador painted the condition of france in striking and veracious colours, and he was quite right in sending the information which he was first to discover, and which it was so important for the states to know. it was none the less certain in barneveld's mind that the best, not the worst, must be made of the state of affairs, and that france should not be assisted in throwing herself irrecoverably into the arms of spain. "refuge will tell you," said aerssens, a little later, "that these marriages will not interfere with the friendship of france for you nor with her subsidies, and that no advantage will be given to spain in the treaty to your detriment or that of her other allies. but whatever fine declarations they may make, it is sure to be detrimental. and all the princes, gentlemen, and officers here have the same conviction. those of the reformed religion believe that the transaction is directed solely against the religion which your mightinesses profess, and that the next step will be to effect a total separation between the two religions and the two countries." refuge arrived soon afterwards, and made the communication to the states-general of the approaching nuptials between the king of france and the infanta of spain; and of the prince of spain with madame, eldest daughter of france, exactly as aerssens had predicted four months before. there was a great flourish of compliments, much friendly phrase-making, and their mightinesses were informed that the communication of the marriages was made to them before any other power had been notified, in proof of the extraordinary affection entertained for them by france. "you are so much interested in the happiness of france," said refuge, "that this treaty by which it is secured will be for your happiness also. he did not indicate, however, the precise nature of the bliss beyond the indulgence of a sentimental sympathy, not very refreshing in the circumstances, which was to result to the confederacy from this close alliance between their firmest friend and their ancient and deadly enemy. he would have found it difficult to do so. "don rodrigo de calderon, secretary of state, is daily expected from spain," wrote, aerssens once more. "he brings probably the articles of the marriages, which have hitherto been kept secret, so they say. 'tis a shrewd negotiator; and in this alliance the king's chief design is to injure your mightinesses, as m. de villeroy now confesses, although he says that this will not be consented to on this side. it behoves your mightinesses to use all your ears and eyes. it is certain these are much more than private conventions. yes, there is nothing private about them, save the conjunction of the persons whom they concern. in short, all the conditions regard directly the state, and directly likewise, or by necessary consequence, the state of your mightinesses' provinces. i reserve explanations until it shall please your mightinesses to hear me by word of mouth." for it was now taken into consideration by the states' government whether aerssens was to remain at his post or to return. whether it was his wish to be relieved of his embassy or not was a question. but there was no question that the states at this juncture, and in spite of the dangers impending from the spanish marriages, must have an ambassador ready to do his best to keep france from prematurely sliding into positive hostility to them. aerssens was enigmatical in his language, and barneveld was somewhat puzzled. "i have according to your reiterated requests," wrote the advocate to the ambassador, "sounded the assembly of my lords the states as to your recall; but i find among some gentlemen the opinion that if earnestly pressed to continue you would be willing to listen to the proposal. this i cannot make out from your letters. please to advise me frankly as to your wishes, and assure yourself in everything of my friendship." nothing could be more straightforward than this language, but the envoy was less frank than barneveld, as will subsequently appear. the subject was a most important one, not only in its relation to the great affairs of state, but to momentous events touching the fate of illustrious personages. meantime a resolution was passed by the states of holland "in regard to the question whether ambassador aerssens should retain his office, yes or no?" and it was decided by a majority of votes "to leave it to his candid opinion if in his free conscience he thinks he can serve the public cause there any longer. if yes, he may keep his office one year more. if no, he may take leave and come home. in no case is his salary to be increased." surely the states, under the guidance of the advocate, had thus acted with consummate courtesy towards a diplomatist whose position from no apparent fault of his own but by the force of circumstances--and rather to his credit than otherwise--was gravely compromised. etext editor's bookmarks: advanced orthodox party-puritans atheist, a tyrant, because he resisted dictation from the clergy give him advice if he asked it, and money when he required he was not imperial of aspect on canvas or coin he who would have all may easily lose all king's definite and final intentions, varied from day to day neither kings nor governments are apt to value logic outdoing himself in dogmatism and inconsistency small matter which human folly had dilated into a great one the defence of the civil authority against the priesthood chapter vi. - establishment of the condominium in the duchies--dissensions between the neuburgers and brandenburgers--occupation of julich by the brandenburgers assisted by the states-general--indignation in spain and at the court of the archdukes--subsidy despatched to brussels spinola descends upon aix-la-chapelle and takes possession of orsoy and other places--surrender of wesel--conference at xanten--treaty permanently dividing the territory between brandenburg and neuburg-- prohibition from spain--delays and disagreements. thus the 'condominium' had been peaceably established. three or four years passed away in the course of which the evils of a joint and undivided sovereignty of two rival houses over the same territory could not fail to manifest themselves. brandenburg, calvinist in religion, and for other reasons more intimately connected with and more favoured by the states' government than his rival, gained ground in the duchies. the palatine of neuburg, originally of lutheran faith like his father, soon manifested catholic tendencies, which excited suspicion in the netherlands. these suspicions grew into certainties at the moment when he espoused the sister of maximilian of bavaria and of the elector of cologne. that this close connection with the very heads of the catholic league could bode no good to the cause of which the states-general were the great promoters was self-evident. very soon afterwards the palatine, a man of mature age and of considerable talents, openly announced his conversion to the ancient church. obviously the sympathies of the states could not thenceforth fail to be on the side of brandenburg. the elector's brother died and was succeeded in the governorship of the condeminium by the elector's brother, a youth of eighteen. he took up his abode in cleve, leaving dusseldorf to be the sole residence of his co-stadholder. rivalry growing warmer, on account of this difference of religion, between the respective partisans of neuburg and brandenburg, an attempt was made in dusseldorf by a sudden entirely unsuspected rising of the brandenburgers to drive their antagonist colleagues and their portion of the garrison out of the city. it failed, but excited great anger. a more successful effort was soon afterwards made in julich; the neuburgers were driven out, and the brandenburgers remained in sole possession of the town and citadel, far the most important stronghold in the whole territory. this was partly avenged by the neuburgers, who gained absolute control of dusseldorf. here were however no important fortifications, the place being merely an agreeable palatial residence and a thriving mart. the states-general, not concealing their predilection for brandenburg, but under pretext of guarding the peace which they had done so much to establish, placed a garrison of infantry and a troop or two of horse in the citadel of julich. dire was the anger not unjustly excited in spain when the news of this violation of neutrality reached that government. julich, placed midway between liege and cologne, and commanding those fertile plains which make up the opulent duchy, seemed virtually converted into a province of the detested heretical republic. the german gate of the spanish netherlands was literally in the hands of its most formidable foe. the spaniards about the court of the archduke did not dissemble their rage. the seizure of julich was a stain upon his reputation, they cried. was it not enough, they asked, for the united provinces to have made a truce to the manifest detriment and discredit of spain, and to have treated her during all the negotiation with such insolence? were they now to be permitted to invade neutral territory, to violate public faith, to act under no responsibility save to their own will? what was left for them to do except to set up a tribunal in holland for giving laws to the whole of northern europe? arrogating to themselves absolute power over the controverted states of cleve, julich, and the dependencies, they now pretended to dispose of them at their pleasure in order at the end insolently to take possession of them for themselves. these were the egregious fruits of the truce, they said tauntingly to the discomfited archduke. it had caused a loss of reputation, the very soul of empires, to the crown of spain. and now, to conclude her abasement, the troops in flanders had been shaven down with such parsimony as to make the monarch seem a shopkeeper, not a king. one would suppose the obedient netherlands to be in the heart of spain rather than outlying provinces surrounded by their deadliest enemies. the heretics had gained possession of the government at aix-la-chapelle; they had converted the insignificant town of mulheim into a thriving and fortified town in defiance of cologne and to its manifest detriment, and in various other ways they had insulted the catholics throughout those regions. and who could wonder at such insolence, seeing that the army in flanders, formerly the terror of heretics, had become since the truce so weak as to be the laughing-stock of the united provinces? if it was expensive to maintain these armies in the obedient netherlands, let there be economy elsewhere, they urged. from india came gold and jewels. from other kingdoms came ostentation and a long series of vain titles for the crown of spain. flanders was its place of arms, its nursery of soldiers, its bulwark in europe, and so it should be preserved. there was ground for these complaints. the army at the disposition of the archduke had been reduced to infantry and a handful of cavalry. the peace establishment of the republic amounted to , foot, horse, besides the french and english regiments. so soon as the news of the occupation of julich was officially communicated to the spanish cabinet, a subsidy of , crowns was at once despatched to brussels. levies of walloons and germans were made without delay by order of archduke albert and under guidance of spinola, so that by midsummer the army was swollen to , foot and horse. with these the great genoese captain took the field in the middle of august. on the nd of that month the army was encamped on some plains mid-way between maestricht and aachen. there was profound mystery both at brussels and at the hague as to the objective point of these military movements. anticipating an attack upon julich, the states had meantime strengthened the garrison of that important place with infantry and a regiment of horse. it seemed scarcely probable therefore that spinola would venture a foolhardy blow at a citadel so well fortified and defended. moreover, there was not only no declaration of war, but strict orders had been given by each of the apparent belligerents to their military commanders to abstain from all offensive movements against the adversary. and now began one of the strangest series of warlike evolution's that were ever recorded. maurice at the head of an army of , foot and horse manoeuvred in the neighbourhood of his great antagonist and professional rival without exchanging a blow. it was a phantom campaign, the prophetic rehearsal of dreadful marches and tragic histories yet to be, and which were to be enacted on that very stage and on still wider ones during a whole generation of mankind. that cynical commerce in human lives which was to become one of the chief branches of human industry in the century had already begun. spinola, after hovering for a few days in the neighbourhood, descended upon the imperial city of aachen (aix-la-chapelle). this had been one of the earliest towns in germany to embrace the reformed religion, and up to the close of the sixteenth century the control of the magistracy had been in the hands of the votaries of that creed. subsequently the catholics had contrived to acquire and keep the municipal ascendency, secretly supported by archduke albert, and much oppressing the protestants with imprisonments, fines, and banishment, until a new revolution which had occurred in the year , and which aroused the wrath of spinola. certainly, according to the ideas of that day, it did not seem unnatural in a city where a very large majority of the population were protestants that protestants should have a majority in the town council. it seemed, however, to those who surrounded the archduke an outrage which could no longer be tolerated, especially as a garrison of germans, supposed to have formed part of the states' army, had recently been introduced into the town. aachen, lying mostly on an extended plain, had but very slight fortifications, and it was commanded by a neighbouring range of hills. it had no garrison but the germans. spinola placed a battery or two on the hills, and within three days the town surrendered. the inhabitants expected a scene of carnage and pillage, but not a life was lost. no injury whatever was inflicted on person or property, according to the strict injunctions of the archduke. the germans were driven out, and other germans then serving under catholic banners were put in their places to protect the catholic minority, to whose keeping the municipal government was now confided. spinola, then entering the territory of cleve, took session of orsoy, an important place on the rhine, besides duren, duisburg, kaster, greevenbroek and berchem. leaving garrisons in these places, he razed the fortifications of mulheim, much to the joy of the archbishop and his faithful subjects of cologne, then crossed the rhine at rheinberg, and swooped down upon wesel. this flourishing and prosperous city had formerly belonged to the duchy of cleve. placed at the junction of the rhine and lippe and commanding both rivers, it had become both powerful and protestant, and had set itself up as a free imperial city, recognising its dukes no longer as sovereigns, but only as protectors. so fervent was it in the practice of the reformed religion that it was called the rhenish geneva, the cradle of german calvinism. so important was its preservation considered to the cause of protestantism that the states-general had urged its authorities to accept from them a garrison. they refused. had they complied, the city would have been saved, because it was the rule in this extraordinary campaign that the belligerents made war not upon each other, nor in each others territory, but against neutrals and upon neutral soil. the catholic forces under spinola or his lieutenants, meeting occasionally and accidentally with the protestants under maurice or his generals, exchanged no cannon shots or buffets, but only acts of courtesy; falling away each before the other, and each ceding to the other with extreme politeness the possession of towns which one had preceded the other in besieging. the citizens of wesel were amazed at being attacked, considering themselves as imperial burghers. they regretted too late that they had refused a garrison from maurice, which would have prevented spinola from assailing them. they had now nothing for it but to surrender, which they did within three days. the principal condition of the capitulation was that when julich should be given up by the states wesel should be restored to its former position. spinola then took and garrisoned the city of xanten, but went no further. having weakened his army sufficiently by the garrisons taken from it for the cities captured by him, he declined to make any demonstration upon the neighbouring and important towns of emmerich and rees. the catholic commander falling back, the protestant moved forward. maurice seized both emmerich and rees, and placed garrisons within them, besides occupying goch, kranenburg, gennip, and various places in the county of mark. this closed the amicable campaign. spinola established himself and his forces near wesel. the prince encamped near rees. the two armies were within two hours' march of each other. the duke of neuburg--for the palatine had now succeeded on his father's death to the ancestral dukedom and to his share of the condominium of the debateable provinces--now joined spinola with an army of foot and horse. the young prince of brandenburg came to maurice with cavalry and an infantry regiment of the elector-palatine. negotiations destined to be as spectral and fleeting as the campaign had been illusory now began. the whole protestant world was aflame with indignation at the loss of wesel. the states' government had already proposed to deposit julich in the hands of a neutral power if the archduke would abstain from military movements. but albert, proud of his achievements in aachen, refused to pause in his career. let them make the deposit first, he said. both belligerents, being now satiated with such military glory as could flow from the capture of defenceless cities belonging to neutrals, agreed to hold conferences at xanten. to this town, in the duchy of cleve, and midway between the rival camps, came sir henry wotton and sir dudley carleton, ambassadors of great britain; de refuge and de russy, the special and the resident ambassador of france at the hague; chancellor peter pecquius and counsellor visser, to represent the archdukes; seven deputies from the united provinces, three from the elector of cologne, three from brandenburg, three from neuburg, and two from the elector-palatine, as representative of the protestant league. in the earlier conferences the envoys of the archduke and of the elector of cologne were left out, but they were informed daily of each step in the negotiation. the most important point at starting was thought to be to get rid of the 'condominium.' there could be no harmony nor peace in joint possession. the whole territory should be cut provisionally in halves, and each possessory prince rule exclusively within the portion assigned to him. there might also be an exchange of domain between the two every six months. as for wesel and julich, they could remain respectively in the hands then holding them, or the fortifications of julich might be dismantled and wesel restored to the status quo. the latter alternative would have best suited the states, who were growing daily more irritated at seeing wesel, that protestant stronghold, with an exclusively calvinistic population, in the hands of catholics. the spanish ambassador at brussels remonstrated, however, at the thought of restoring his precious conquest, obtained without loss of time, money, or blood, into the hands of heretics, at least before consultation with the government at madrid and without full consent of the king. "how important to your majesty's affairs in flanders," wrote guadaleste to philip, "is the acquisition of wesel may be seen by the manifest grief of your enemies. they see with immense displeasure your royal ensigns planted on the most important place on the rhine, and one which would become the chief military station for all the armies of flanders to assemble in at any moment. "as no acquisition could therefore be greater, so your majesty should never be deprived of it without thorough consideration of the case. the archduke fears, and so do his ministers, that if we refuse to restore wesel, the united provinces would break the truce. for my part i believe, and there are many who agree with me, that they would on the contrary be more inclined to stand by the truce, hoping to obtain by negotiation that which it must be obvious to them they cannot hope to capture by force. but let wesel be at once restored. let that be done which is so much desired by the united provinces and other great enemies and rivals of your majesty, and what security will there be that the same provinces will not again attempt the same invasion? is not the example of julich fresh? and how much more important is wesel! julich was after all not situate on their frontiers, while wesel lies at their principal gates. your majesty now sees the good and upright intentions of those provinces and their friends. they have made a settlement between brandenburg and neuburg, not in order to breed concord but confusion between those two, not tranquillity for the country, but greater turbulence than ever before. nor have they done this with any other thought than that the united provinces might find new opportunities to derive the same profit from fresh tumults as they have already done so shamelessly from those which are past. after all i don't say that wesel should never be restored, if circumstances require it, and if your majesty, approving the treaty of xanten, should sanction the measure. but such a result should be reached only after full consultation with your majesty, to whose glorious military exploits these splendid results are chiefly owing." the treaty finally decided upon rejected the principle of alternate possession, and established a permanent division of the territory in dispute between brandenburg and neuburg. the two portions were to be made as equal as possible, and lots were to be thrown or drawn by the two princes for the first choice. to the one side were assigned the duchy of cleve, the county of mark, and the seigniories of ravensberg and ravenstein, with some other baronies and feuds in brabant and flanders; to the other the duchies of julich and berg with their dependencies. each prince was to reside exclusively within the territory assigned to him by lot. the troops introduced by either party were to be withdrawn, fortifications made since the preceding month of may to be razed, and all persons who had been expelled, or who had emigrated, to be restored to their offices, property, or benefices. it was also stipulated that no place within the whole debateable territory should be put in the hands of a third power. these articles were signed by the ambassadors of france and england, by the deputies of the elector-palatine and of the united provinces, all binding their superiors to the execution of the treaty. the arrangement was supposed to refer to the previous conventions between those two crowns, with the republic, and the protestant princes and powers. count zollern, whom we have seen bearing himself so arrogantly as envoy from the emperor rudolph to henry iv., was now despatched by matthias on as fruitless a mission to the congress at xanten, and did his best to prevent the signature of the treaty, except with full concurrence of the imperial government. he likewise renewed the frivolous proposition that the emperor should hold all the provinces in sequestration until the question of rightful sovereignty should be decided. the "proud and haggard" ambassador was not more successful in this than in the diplomatic task previously entrusted to him, and he then went to brussels, there to renew his remonstrances, menaces, and intrigues. for the treaty thus elaborately constructed, and in appearance a triumphant settlement of questions so complicated and so burning as to threaten to set christendom at any moment in a blaze, was destined to an impotent and most unsatisfactory conclusion. the signatures were more easily obtained than the ratifications. execution was surrounded with insurmountable difficulties which in negotiation had been lightly skipped over at the stroke of a pen. at the very first step, that of military evacuation, there was a stumble. maurice and spinola were expected to withdraw their forces, and to undertake to bring in no troops in the future, and to make no invasion of the disputed territory. but spinola construed this undertaking as absolute; the prince as only binding in consequence of, with reference to, and for the duration of; the treaty of xanten. the ambassadors and other commissioners, disgusted with the long controversy which ensued, were making up their minds to depart when a courier arrived from spain, bringing not a ratification but strict prohibition of the treaty. the articles were not to be executed, no change whatever was to be made, and, above all, wesel was not to be restored without fresh negotiations with philip, followed by his explicit concurrence. thus the whole great negotiation began to dissolve into a shadowy, unsatisfactory pageant. the solid barriers which were to imprison the vast threatening elements of religious animosity and dynastic hatreds, and to secure a peaceful future for christendom, melted into films of gossamer, and the great war of demons, no longer to be quelled by the commonplaces of diplomatic exorcism, revealed its close approach. the prospects of europe grew blacker than ever. the ambassadors, thoroughly disheartened and disgusted, all took their departure from xanten, and the treaty remained rather a by-word than a solution or even a suggestion. "the accord could not be prevented," wrote archduke albert to philip, "because it depended alone on the will of the signers. nor can the promise to restore wesel be violated, should julich be restored. who can doubt that such contravention would arouse great jealousies in france, england, the united provinces, and all the members of the heretic league of germany? who can dispute that those interested ought to procure the execution of the treaty? suspicions will not remain suspicions, but they light up the flames of public evil and disturbance. either your majesty wishes to maintain the truce, in which case wesel must be restored, or to break the truce, a result which is certain if wesel be retained. but the reasons which induced your majesty to lay down your arms remain the same as ever. our affairs are not looking better, nor is the requisition of wesel of so great importance as to justify our involving flanders in a new and more atrocious war than that which has so lately been suspended. the restitution is due to the tribunal of public faith. it is a great advantage when actions done for the sole end of justice are united to that of utility. consider the great successes we have had. how well the affairs of aachen and mulbeim have been arranged; those of the duke of neuburg how completely re-established. the catholic cause, always identical with that of the house of austria, remains in great superiority to the cause of the heretics. we should use these advantages well, and to do so we should not immaturely pursue greater ones. fortune changes, flies when we most depend on her, and delights in making her chief sport of the highest quality of mortals." thus wrote the archduke sensibly, honourably from his point of view, and with an intelligent regard to the interests of spain and the catholic cause. after months of delay came conditional consent from madrid to the conventions, but with express condition that there should be absolute undertaking on the part of the united provinces never to send or maintain troops in the duchies. tedious and futile correspondence followed between brussels, the hague, london, paris. but the difficulties grew every moment. it was a penelope's web of negotiation, said one of the envoys. amid pertinacious and wire-drawn subtleties, every trace of practical business vanished. neuburg departed to look after his patrimonial estates; leaving his interests in the duchies to be watched over by the archduke. even count zollern, after six months of wrangling in brussels, took his departure. prince maurice distributed his army in various places within the debateable land, and spinola did the same, leaving a garrison of foot and horse in the important city of wesel. the town and citadel of julich were as firmly held by maurice for the protestant cause. thus the duchies were jointly occupied by the forces of catholicism and protestantism, while nominally possessed and administered by the princes of brandenburg and neuburg. and so they were destined to remain until that thirty years' war, now so near its outbreak, should sweep over the earth, and bring its fiery solution at last to all these great debates. chapter vii. proud position of the republic--france obeys her--hatred of carleton --position and character of aerssens--claim for the "third"--recall of aerssens--rivalry between maurice and barneveld, who always sustains the separate sovereignties of the provinces--conflict between church and state added to other elements of discord in the commonwealth--religion a necessary element in the life of all classes. thus the republic had placed itself in as proud a position as it was possible for commonwealth or kingdom to occupy. it had dictated the policy and directed the combined military movements of protestantism. it had gathered into a solid mass the various elements out of which the great germanic mutiny against rome, spain, and austria had been compounded. a breathing space of uncertain duration had come to interrupt and postpone the general and inevitable conflict. meantime the republic was encamped upon the enemy's soil. france, which had hitherto commanded, now obeyed. england, vacillating and discontented, now threatening and now cajoling, saw for the time at least its influence over the councils of the netherlands neutralized by the genius of the great statesman who still governed the provinces, supreme in all but name. the hatred of the british government towards the republic, while in reality more malignant than at any previous period, could now only find vent in tremendous, theological pamphlets, composed by the king in the form of diplomatic instructions, and hurled almost weekly at the heads of the states-general, by his ambassador, dudley carleton. few men hated barneveld more bitterly than did carleton. i wish to describe as rapidly, but as faithfully, as i can the outline at least of the events by which one of the saddest and most superfluous catastrophes in modern history was brought about. the web was a complex one, wrought apparently of many materials; but the more completely it is unravelled the more clearly we shall detect the presence of the few simple but elemental fibres which make up the tissue of most human destinies, whether illustrious or obscure, and out of which the most moving pictures of human history are composed. the religious element, which seems at first view to be the all pervading and controlling one, is in reality rather the atmosphere which surrounds and colours than the essence which constitutes the tragedy to be delineated. personal, sometimes even paltry, jealousy; love of power, of money, of place; rivalry between civil and military ambition for predominance in a free state; struggles between church and state to control and oppress each other; conflict between the cautious and healthy, but provincial and centrifugal, spirit on the one side, and the ardent centralizing, imperial, but dangerous, instinct on the other, for ascendancy in a federation; mortal combat between aristocracy disguised in the plebeian form of trading and political corporations and democracy sheltering itself under a famous sword and an ancient and illustrious name;--all these principles and passions will be found hotly at work in the melancholy five years with which we are now to be occupied, as they have entered, and will always enter, into every political combination in the great tragi-comedy which we call human history. as a study, a lesson, and a warning, perhaps the fate of barneveld is as deserving of serious attention as most political tragedies of the last few centuries. francis aerssens, as we have seen, continued to be the dutch ambassador after the murder of henry iv. many of the preceding pages of this volume have been occupied with his opinions, his pictures, his conversations, and his political intrigues during a memorable epoch in the history of the netherlands and of france. he was beyond all doubt one of the ablest diplomatists in europe. versed in many languages, a classical student, familiar with history and international law, a man of the world and familiar with its usages, accustomed to associate with dignity and tact on friendliest terms with sovereigns, eminent statesmen, and men of letters; endowed with a facile tongue, a fluent pen, and an eye and ear of singular acuteness and delicacy; distinguished for unflagging industry and singular aptitude for secret and intricate affairs;--he had by the exercise of these various qualities during a period of nearly twenty years at the court of henry the great been able to render inestimable services to the republic which he represented. of respectable but not distinguished lineage, not a hollander, but a belgian by birth, son of cornelis aerssens, grefter of the states-general, long employed in that important post, he had been brought forward from a youth by barneveld and early placed by him in the diplomatic career, of which through his favour and his own eminent talents he had now achieved the highest honours. he had enjoyed the intimacy and even the confidence of henry iv., so far as any man could be said to possess that monarch's confidence, and his friendly relations and familiar access to the king gave him political advantages superior to those of any of his colleagues at the same court. acting entirely and faithfully according to the instructions of the advocate of holland, he always gratefully and copiously acknowledged the privilege of being guided and sustained in the difficult paths he had to traverse by so powerful and active an intellect. i have seldom alluded in terms to the instructions and despatches of the chief, but every position, negotiation, and opinion of the envoy--and the reader has seen many of them--is pervaded by their spirit. certainly the correspondence of aerssens is full to overflowing of gratitude, respect, fervent attachment to the person and exalted appreciation of the intellect and high character of the advocate. there can be no question of aerssen's consummate abilities. whether his heart were as sound as his head, whether his protestations of devotion had the ring of true gold or not, time would show. hitherto barneveld had not doubted him, nor had he found cause to murmur at barneveld. but the france of henry iv., where the dutch envoy was so all-powerful, had ceased to exist. a duller eye than that of aerssens could have seen at a glance that the potent kingdom and firm ally of the republic had been converted, for a long time to come at least, into a spanish province. the double spanish marriages (that of the young louis xiii. with the infanta anna, and of his sister with the infante, one day to be philip iv.), were now certain, for it was to make them certain that the knife of ravaillac had been employed. the condition precedent to those marriages had long been known. it was the renunciation of the alliance between france and holland. it was the condemnation to death, so far as france had the power to condemn her to death, of the young republic. had not don pedro de toledo pompously announced this condition a year and a half before? had not henry spurned the bribe with scorn? and now had not francis aerssens been the first to communicate to his masters the fruit which had already ripened upon henry's grave? as we have seen, he had revealed these intrigues long before they were known to the world, and the french court knew that he had revealed them. his position had become untenable. his friendship for henry could not be of use to him with the delicate-featured, double-chinned, smooth and sluggish florentine, who had passively authorized and actively profited by her husband's murder. it was time for the envoy to be gone. the queen-regent and concini thought so. and so did villeroy and sillery and the rest of the old servants of the king, now become pensionaries of spain. but aerssens did not think so. he liked his position, changed as it was. he was deep in the plottings of bouillon and conde and the other malcontents against the queen-regent. these schemes, being entirely personal, the rank growth of the corruption and apparent disintegration of france, were perpetually changing, and could be reduced to no principle. it was a mere struggle of the great lords of france to wrest places, money, governments, military commands from the queen-regent, and frantic attempts on her part to save as much as possible of the general wreck for her lord and master concini. it was ridiculous to ascribe any intense desire on the part of the duc de bouillon to aid the protestant cause against spain at that moment, acting as he was in combination with conde, whom we have just seen employed by spain as the chief instrument to effect the destruction of france and the bastardy of the queen's children. nor did the sincere and devout protestants who had clung to the cause through good and bad report, men like duplessis-mornay, for example, and those who usually acted with him, believe in any of these schemes for partitioning france on pretence of saving protestantism. but bouillon, greatest of all french fishermen in troubled waters, was brother-in-law of prince maurice of nassau, and aerssens instinctively felt that the time had come when he should anchor himself to firm holding ground at home. the ambassador had also a personal grievance. many of his most secret despatches to the states-general in which he expressed himself very freely, forcibly, and accurately on the general situation in france, especially in regard to the spanish marriages and the treaty of hampton court, had been transcribed at the hague and copies of them sent to the french government. no baser act of treachery to an envoy could be imagined. it was not surprising that aerssens complained bitterly of the deed. he secretly suspected barneveld, but with injustice, of having played him this evil turn, and the incident first planted the seeds of the deadly hatred which was to bear such fatal fruit. "a notable treason has been played upon me," he wrote to jacques de maldere, "which has outraged my heart. all the despatches which i have been sending for several months to m. de barneveld have been communicated by copy in whole or in extracts to this court. villeroy quoted from them at our interview to-day, and i was left as it were without power of reply. the despatches were long, solid, omitting no particularity for giving means to form the best judgment of the designs and intrigues of this court. no greater damage could be done to me and my usefulness. all those from whom i have hitherto derived information, princes and great personages, will shut themselves up from me . . . . what can be more ticklish than to pass judgment on the tricks of those who are governing this state? this single blow has knocked me down completely. for i was moving about among all of them, making my profit of all, without any reserve. m. de barneveld knew by this means the condition of this kingdom as well as i do. certainly in a well-ordered republic it would cost the life of a man who had thus trifled with the reputation of an ambassador. i believe m. de barneveld will be sorry, but this will never restore to me the confidence which i have lost. if one was jealous of my position at this court, certainly i deserved rather pity from those who should contemplate it closely. if one wished to procure my downfall in order to raise oneself above me, there was no need of these tricks. i have been offering to resign my embassy this long time, which will now produce nothing but thorns for me. how can i negotiate after my private despatches have been read? l'hoste, the clerk of villeroy, was not so great a criminal as the man who revealed my despatches; and l'hoste was torn by four horses after his death. four months long i have been complaining of this to m. de barneveld. . . . patience! i am groaning without being able to hope for justice. i console myself, for my term of office will soon arrive. would that my embassy could have finished under the agreeable and friendly circumstances with which it began. the man who may succeed me will not find that this vile trick will help him much. . . . pray find out whence and from whom this intrigue has come." certainly an envoy's position could hardly be more utterly compromised. most unquestionably aerssens had reason to be indignant, believing as he did that his conscientious efforts in the service of his government had been made use of by his chief to undermine his credit and blast his character. there was an intrigue between the newly appointed french minister, de russy, at the hague and the enemies of aerssens to represent him to his own government as mischievous, passionate, unreasonably vehement in supporting the claims and dignity of his own country at the court to which he was accredited. not often in diplomatic history has an ambassador of a free state been censured or removed for believing and maintaining in controversy that his own government is in the right. it was natural that the french government should be disturbed by the vivid light which he had flashed upon their pernicious intrigues with spain to the detriment of the republic, and at the pertinacity with which he resisted their preposterous claim to be reimbursed for one-third of the money which the late king had advanced as a free subsidy towards the war of the netherlands for independence. but no injustice could be more outrageous than for the envoy's own government to unite with the foreign state in damaging the character of its own agent for the crime of fidelity to itself. of such cruel perfidy aerssens had been the victim, and he most wrongfully suspected his chief as its real perpetrator. the claim for what was called the "third" had been invented after the death of henry. as already explained, the "third" was not a gift from england to the netherlands. it was a loan from england to france, or more properly a consent to abstain from pressing for payment for this proportion of an old debt. james, who was always needy, had often desired, but never obtained, the payment of this sum from henry. now that the king was dead, he applied to the regent's government, and the regent's government called upon the netherlands, to pay the money. aerssens, as the agent of the republic, protested firmly against such claim. the money had been advanced by the king as a free gift, as his contribution to a war in which he was deeply interested, although he was nominally at peace with spain. as to the private arrangements between france and england, the republic, said the dutch envoy, was in no sense bound by them. he was no party to the treaty of hampton court, and knew nothing of its stipulations. courtiers and politicians in plenty at the french court, now that henry was dead, were quite sure that they had heard him say over and over again that the netherlands had bound themselves to pay the third. they persuaded mary de' medici that she likewise had often heard him say so, and induced her to take high ground on the subject in her interviews with aerssens. the luckless queen, who was always in want of money to satisfy the insatiable greed of her favourites, and to buy off the enmity of the great princes, was very vehement--although she knew as much of those transactions as of the finances of prester john or the lama of thibet--in maintaining this claim of her government upon the states. "after talking with the ministers," said aerssens, "i had an interview with the queen. i knew that she had been taught her lesson, to insist on the payment of the third. so i did not speak at all of the matter, but talked exclusively and at length of the french regiments in the states' service. she was embarrassed, and did not know exactly what to say. at last, without replying a single word to what i had been saying, she became very red in the face, and asked me if i were not instructed to speak of the money due to england. whereupon i spoke in the sense already indicated. she interrupted me by saying she had a perfect recollection that the late king intended and understood that we were to pay the third to england, and had talked with her very seriously on the subject. if he were living, he would think it very strange, she said, that we refused; and so on. "soissons, too, pretends to remember perfectly that such were the king's intentions. 'tis a very strange thing, sir. every one knows now the secrets of the late king, if you are willing to listen. yet he was not in the habit of taking all the world into his confidence. the queen takes her opinions as they give them to her. 'tis a very good princess, but i am sorry she is so ignorant of affairs. as she says she remembers, one is obliged to say one believes her. but i, who knew the king so intimately, and saw him so constantly, know that he could only have said that the third was paid in acquittal of his debts to and for account of the king of england, and not that we were to make restitution thereof. the chancellor tells me my refusal has been taken as an affront by the queen, and puysieux says it is a contempt which she can't swallow." aerssens on his part remained firm; his pertinacity being the greater as he thoroughly understood the subject which he was talking about, an advantage which was rarely shared in by those with whom he conversed. the queen, highly scandalized by his demeanour, became from that time forth his bitter enemy, and, as already stated, was resolved to be rid of him. nor was the envoy at first desirous of remaining. he had felt after henry's death and sully's disgrace, and the complete transformation of the france which he had known, that his power of usefulness was gone. "our enemies," he said, "have got the advantage which i used to have in times past, and i recognize a great coldness towards us, which is increasing every day." nevertheless, he yielded reluctantly to barneveld's request that he should for the time at least remain at his post. later on, as the intrigues against him began to unfold themselves, and his faithful services were made use of at home to blacken his character and procure his removal, he refused to resign, as to do so would be to play into the hands of his enemies, and by inference at least to accuse himself of infidelity to his trust. but his concealed rage and his rancor grew more deadly every day. he was fully aware of the plots against him, although he found it difficult to trace them to their source. "i doubt not," he wrote to jacques de maldere, the distinguished diplomatist and senator, who had recently returned from his embassy to england, "that this beautiful proposition of de russy has been sent to your province of zealand. does it not seem to you a plot well woven as well in holland as at this court to remove me from my post with disreputation? what have i done that should cause the queen to disapprove my proceedings? since the death of the late king i have always opposed the third, which they have been trying to fix upon the treasury, on the ground that henry never spoke to me of restitution, that the receipts given were simple ones, and that the money given was spent for the common benefit of france and the states under direction of the king's government. but i am expected here to obey m. de villeroy, who says that it was the intention of the late king to oblige us to make the payment. i am not accustomed to obey authority if it be not supported by reason. it is for my masters to reply and to defend me. the queen has no reason to complain. i have maintained the interests of my superiors. but this is not the cause of the complaints. my misfortune is that all my despatches have been sent from holland in copy to this court. most of them contained free pictures of the condition and dealings of those who govern here. m. de villeroy has found himself depicted often, and now under pretext of a public negotiation he has found an opportunity of revenging himself. . . . besides this cause which villeroy has found for combing my head, russy has given notice here that i have kept my masters in the hopes of being honourably exempted from the claims of this government. the long letter which i wrote to m. de barneveld justifies my proceedings." it is no wonder that the ambassador was galled to the quick by the outrage which those concerned in the government were seeking to put upon him. how could an honest man fail to be overwhelmed with rage and anguish at being dishonoured before the world by his masters for scrupulously doing his duty, and for maintaining the rights and dignity of his own country? he knew that the charges were but pretexts, that the motives of his enemies were as base as the intrigues themselves, but he also knew that the world usually sides with the government against the individual, and that a man's reputation is rarely strong enough to maintain itself unsullied in a foreign land when his own government stretches forth its hand not to, shield, but to stab him. [see the similarity of aerssens position to that of motley years later, in the biographical sketch of motley by oliver wendell holmes. d.w.] "i know," he said, "that this plot has been woven partly in holland and partly here by good correspondence, in order to drive me from my post with disreputation. to this has tended the communication of my despatches to make me lose my best friends. this too was the object of the particular imparting to de russy of all my propositions, in order to draw a complaint against me from this court. "but as i have discovered this accurately, i have resolved to offer to my masters the continuance of my very humble service for such time and under such conditions as they may think good to prescribe. i prefer forcing my natural and private inclinations to giving an opportunity for the ministers of this kingdom to discredit us, and to my enemies to succeed in injuring me, and by fraud and malice to force me from my post . . . i am truly sorry, being ready to retire, wishing to have an honourable testimony in recompense of my labours, that one is in such hurry to take advantage of my fall. i cannot believe that my masters wish to suffer this. they are too prudent, and cannot be ignorant of the treachery which has been practised on me. i have maintained their cause. if they have chosen to throw down the fruits of my industry, the blame should be imputed to those who consider their own ambition more than the interests of the public . . . . what envoy will ever dare to speak with vigour if he is not sustained by the government at home? . . . . . . my enemies have misrepresented my actions, and my language as passionate, exaggerated, mischievous, but i have no passion except for the service of my superiors. they say that i have a dark and distrustful disposition, but i have been alarmed at the alliance now forming here with the king of spain, through the policy of m. de villeroy. i was the first to discover this intrigue, which they thought buried in the bosom of the triumvirate. i gave notice of it to my lords the states as in duty bound. it all came back to the government in the copies furnished of my secret despatches. this is the real source of the complaints against me. the rest of the charges, relating to the third and other matters, are but pretexts. to parry the blow, they pretend that all that is said and done with the spaniard is but feigning. who is going to believe that? has not the pope intervened in the affair? . . . i tell you they are furious here because i have my eyes open. i see too far into their affairs to suit their purposes. a new man would suit them better." his position was hopelessly compromised. he remained in paris, however, month after month, and even year after year, defying his enemies both at the queen's court and in holland, feeding fat the grudge he bore to barneveld as the supposed author of the intrigue against him, and drawing closer the personal bands which united him to bouillon and through him to prince maurice. the wrath of the ambassador flamed forth without disguise against barneveld and all his adherents when his removal, as will be related on a subsequent page, was at last effected. and his hatred was likely to be deadly. a man with a shrewd, vivid face, cleanly cut features and a restless eye; wearing a close-fitting skull cap, which gave him something the lock of a monk, but with the thoroughbred and facile demeanour of one familiar with the world; stealthy, smooth, and cruel, a man coldly intellectual, who feared no one, loved but few, and never forgot or forgave; francis d'aerssens, devoured by ambition and burning with revenge, was a dangerous enemy. time was soon to show whether it was safe to injure him. barneveld, from well-considered motives of public policy, was favouring his honourable recall. but he allowed a decorous interval of more than three years to elapse in which to terminate his affairs, and to take a deliberate departure from that french embassy to which the advocate had originally promoted him, and in which there had been so many years of mutual benefit and confidence between the two statesmen. he used no underhand means. he did not abuse the power of the states-general which he wielded to cast him suddenly and brutally from the distinguished post which he occupied, and so to attempt to dishonour him before the world. nothing could be more respectful and conciliatory than the attitude of the government from first to last towards this distinguished functionary. the republic respected itself too much to deal with honourable agents whose services it felt obliged to dispense with as with vulgar malefactors who had been detected in crime. but aerssens believed that it was the advocate who had caused copies of his despatches to be sent to the french court, and that he had deliberately and for a fixed purpose been undermining his influence at home and abroad and blackening his character. all his ancient feelings of devotion, if they had ever genuinely existed towards his former friend and patron, turned to gall. he was almost ready to deny that he had ever respected barneveld, appreciated his public services, admired his intellect, or felt gratitude for his guidance. a fierce controversy--to which at a later period it will be necessary to call the reader's attention, because it is intimately connected with dark scenes afterwards to be enacted--took place between the late ambassador and cornelis van der myle. meantime barneveld pursued the policy which he had marked out for the states-general in regard to france. certainly it was a difficult problem. there could be no doubt that metamorphosed france could only be a dangerous ally for the republic. it was in reality impossible that she should be her ally at all. and this barneveld knew. still it was better, so he thought, for the netherlands that france should exist than that it should fall into utter decomposition. france, though under the influence of spain, and doubly allied by marriage contracts to spain, was better than spain itself in the place of france. this seemed to be the only choice between two evils. should the whole weight of the states-general be thrown into the scale of the malcontent and mutinous princes against the established but tottering government of france, it was difficult to say how soon spain might literally, as well as inferentially, reign in paris. between the rebellion and the legitimate government, therefore, barneveld did not hesitate. france, corporate france, with which the republic had bean so long in close and mutually advantageous alliance, and from whose late monarch she had received such constant and valuable benefits, was in the advocate's opinion the only power to be recognised, papal and spanish though it was. the advantage of an alliance with the fickle, self-seeking, and ever changing mutiny, that was seeking to make use of protestantism to effect its own ends, was in his eyes rather specious than real. by this policy, while making the breach irreparable with aerssens and as many leading politicians as aerssens could influence, he first brought on himself the stupid accusation of swerving towards spain. dull murmurs like these, which were now but faintly making themselves heard against the reputation of the advocate, were destined ere long to swell into a mighty roar; but he hardly listened now to insinuations which seemed infinitely below his contempt. he still effectually ruled the nation through his influence in the states of holland, where he reigned supreme. thus far barneveld and my lords the states-general were one personage. but there was another great man in the state who had at last grown impatient of the advocate's power, and was secretly resolved to brook it no longer. maurice of nassau had felt himself too long rebuked by the genius of the advocate. the prince had perhaps never forgiven him for the political guardianship which he had exercised over him ever since the death of william the silent. he resented the leading strings by which his youthful footstep had been sustained, and which he seemed always to feel about his limbs so long as barneveld existed. he had never forgotten the unpalatable advice given to him by the advocate through the princess-dowager. the brief campaign in cleve and julich was the last great political operation in which the two were likely to act in even apparent harmony. but the rivalry between the two had already pronounced itself emphatically during the negotiations for the truce. the advocate had felt it absolutely necessary for the republic to suspend the war at the first moment when she could treat with her ancient sovereign on a footing of equality. spain, exhausted with the conflict, had at last consented to what she considered the humiliation of treating with her rebellious provinces as with free states over which she claimed no authority. the peace party, led by barneveld, had triumphed, notwithstanding the steady opposition of prince maurice and his adherents. why had maurice opposed the treaty? because his vocation was over, because he was the greatest captain of the age, because his emoluments, his consideration, his dignity before the world, his personal power, were all vastly greater in war than in his opinion they could possibly be in peace. it was easy for him to persuade himself that what was manifestly for his individual interest was likewise essential to the prosperity of the country. the diminution in his revenues consequent on the return to peace was made good to him, his brother, and his cousin, by most munificent endowments and pensions. and it was owing to the strenuous exertions of the advocate that these large sums were voted. a hollow friendship was kept up between the two during the first few years of the truce, but resentment and jealousy lay deep in maurice's heart. at about the period of the return of aerssens from his french embassy, the suppressed fire was ready to flame forth at the first fanning by that artful hand. it was impossible, so aerssens thought and whispered, that two heads could remain on one body politic. there was no room in the netherlands for both the advocate and the prince. barneveld was in all civil affairs dictator, chief magistrate, supreme judge; but he occupied this high station by the force of intellect, will, and experience, not through any constitutional provision. in time of war the prince was generalissimo, commander-in-chief of all the armies of the republic. yet constitutionally he was not captain-general at all. he was only stadholder of five out of seven provinces. barneveld suspected him of still wishing to make himself sovereign of the country. perhaps his suspicions were incorrect. yet there was every reason why maurice should be ambitious of that position. it would have been in accordance with the openly expressed desire of henry iv. and other powerful allies of the netherlands. his father's assassination had alone prevented his elevation to the rank of sovereign count of holland. the federal policy of the provinces had drifted into a republican form after their renunciation of their spanish sovereign, not because the people, or the states as representing the people, had deliberately chosen a republican system, but because they could get no powerful monarch to accept the sovereignty. they had offered to become subjects of protestant england and of catholic france. both powers had refused the offer, and refused it with something like contumely. however deep the subsequent regret on the part of both, there was no doubt of the fact. but the internal policy in all the provinces, and in all the towns, was republican. local self-government existed everywhere. each city magistracy was a little republic in itself. the death of william the silent, before he had been invested with the sovereign power of all seven provinces, again left that sovereignty in abeyance. was the supreme power of the union, created at utrecht in , vested in the states-general? they were beginning theoretically to claim it, but barneveld denied the existence of any such power either in law or fact. it was a league of sovereignties, he maintained; a confederacy of seven independent states, united for certain purposes by a treaty made some thirty years before. nothing could be more imbecile, judging by the light of subsequent events and the experience of centuries, than such an organization. the independent and sovereign republic of zealand or of groningen, for example, would have made a poor figure campaigning, or negotiating, or exhibiting itself on its own account before the world. yet it was difficult to show any charter, precedent, or prescription for the sovereignty of the states-general. necessary as such an incorporation was for the very existence of the union, no constitutional union had ever been enacted. practically the province of holland, representing more than half the population, wealth, strength, and intellect of the whole confederation, had achieved an irregular supremacy in the states-general. but its undeniable superiority was now causing a rank growth of envy, hatred, and jealousy throughout the country, and the great advocate of holland, who was identified with the province, and had so long wielded its power, was beginning to reap the full harvest of that malice. thus while there was so much of vagueness in theory and practice as to the sovereignty, there was nothing criminal on the part of maurice if he was ambitious of obtaining the sovereignty himself. he was not seeking to compass it by base artifice or by intrigue of any kind. it was very natural that he should be restive under the dictatorship of the advocate. if a single burgher and lawyer could make himself despot of the netherlands, how much more reasonable that he--with the noblest blood of europe in his veins, whose direct ancestor three centuries before had been emperor not only of those provinces, but of all germany and half christendom besides, whose immortal father had under god been the creator and saviour of the new commonwealth, had made sacrifices such as man never made for a people, and had at last laid down his life in its defence; who had himself fought daily from boyhood upwards in the great cause, who had led national armies from victory to victory till he had placed his country as a military school and a belligerent power foremost among the nations, and had at last so exhausted and humbled the great adversary and former tyrant that he had been glad of a truce while the rebel chief would have preferred to continue the war--should aspire to rule by hereditary right a land with which his name and his race were indelibly associated by countless sacrifices and heroic achievements. it was no crime in maurice to desire the sovereignty. it was still less a crime in barneveld to believe that he desired it. there was no special reason why the prince should love the republican form of government provided that an hereditary one could be legally substituted for it. he had sworn allegiance to the statutes, customs, and privileges of each of the provinces of which he had been elected stadholder, but there would have been no treason on his part if the name and dignity of stadholder should be changed by the states themselves for those of king or sovereign prince. yet it was a chief grievance against the advocate on the part of the prince that barneveld believed him capable of this ambition. the republic existed as a fact, but it had not long existed, nor had it ever received a formal baptism. so undefined was its constitution, and so conflicting were the various opinions in regard to it of eminent men, that it would be difficult to say how high-treason could be committed against it. great lawyers of highest intellect and learning believed the sovereign power to reside in the separate states, others found that sovereignty in the city magistracies, while during a feverish period of war and tumult the supreme function had without any written constitution, any organic law, practically devolved upon the states-general, who had now begun to claim it as a right. the republic was neither venerable by age nor impregnable in law. it was an improvised aristocracy of lawyers, manufacturers, bankers, and corporations which had done immense work and exhibited astonishing sagacity and courage, but which might never have achieved the independence of the provinces unaided by the sword of orange-nassau and the magic spell which belonged to that name. thus a bitter conflict was rapidly developing itself in the heart of the commonwealth. there was the civil element struggling with the military for predominance; sword against gown; states' rights against central authority; peace against war; above all the rivalry of one prominent personage against another, whose mutual hatred was now artfully inflamed by partisans. and now another element of discord had come, more potent than all the rest: the terrible, never ending, struggle of church against state. theological hatred which forty years long had found vent in the exchange of acrimony between the ancient and the reformed churches was now assuming other shapes. religion in that age and country was more than has often been the case in history the atmosphere of men's daily lives. but during the great war for independence, although the hostility between the two religious forces was always intense, it was modified especially towards the close of the struggle by other controlling influences. the love of independence and the passion for nationality, the devotion to ancient political privileges, was often as fervid and genuine in catholic bosoms as in those of protestants, and sincere adherents of the ancient church had fought to the death against spain in defence of chartered rights. at that very moment it is probable that half the population of the united provinces was catholic. yet it would be ridiculous to deny that the aggressive, uncompromising; self-sacrificing, intensely believing, perfectly fearless spirit of calvinism had been the animating soul, the motive power of the great revolt. for the provinces to have encountered spain and rome without calvinism, and relying upon municipal enthusiasm only, would have been to throw away the sword and fight with the scabbard. but it is equally certain that those hot gospellers who had suffered so much martyrdom and achieved so many miracles were fully aware of their power and despotic in its exercise. against the oligarchy of commercial and juridical corporations they stood there the most terrible aristocracy of all: the aristocracy of god's elect, predestined from all time and to all eternity to take precedence of and to look down upon their inferior and lost fellow creatures. it was inevitable that this aristocracy, which had done so much, which had breathed into a new-born commonwealth the breath of its life, should be intolerant, haughty, dogmatic. the church of rome, which had been dethroned after inflicting such exquisite tortures during its period of power, was not to raise its head. although so large a proportion of the inhabitants of the country were secretly or openly attached to that faith, it was a penal offence to participate openly in its rites and ceremonies. religious equality, except in the minds of a few individuals, was an unimaginable idea. there was still one church which arrogated to itself the sole possession of truth, the church of geneva. those who admitted the possibility of other forms and creeds were either atheists or, what was deemed worse than atheists, papists, because papists were assumed to be traitors also, and desirous of selling the country to spain. an undevout man in that land and at that epoch was an almost unknown phenomenon. religion was as much a recognized necessity of existence as food or drink. it were as easy to find people about without clothes as without religious convictions. the advocate, who had always adhered to the humble spirit of his ancestral device, "nil scire tutissima fedes," and almost alone among his fellow citizens (save those immediate apostles and pupils of his who became involved in his fate) in favour of religious toleration, began to be suspected of treason and papacy because, had he been able to give the law, it was thought he would have permitted such horrors as the public exercise of the roman catholic religion. the hissings and screamings of the vulgar against him as he moved forward on his stedfast course he heeded less than those of geese on a common. but there was coming a time when this proud and scornful statesman, conscious of the superiority conferred by great talents and unparalleled experience, would find it less easy to treat the voice of slanderers, whether idiots or powerful and intellectual enemies, with contempt. chapter viii. schism in the church a public fact--struggle for power between the sacerdotal and political orders--dispute between arminius and gomarus--rage of james i. at the appointment of voratius--arminians called remonstrants--hague conference--contra-remonstrance by gomarites of seven points to the remonstrants' five--fierce theological disputes throughout the country--ryswyk secession-- maurice wishes to remain neutral, but finds himself the chieftain of the contra-remonstrant party--the states of holland remonstrant by a large majority--the states-general contra-remonstrant--sir ralph winwood leaves the hague--three armies to take the field against protestantism. schism in the church had become a public fact, and theological hatred was in full blaze throughout the country. the great practical question in the church had been as to the appointment of preachers, wardens, schoolmasters, and other officers. by the ecclesiastical arrangements of great power was conceded to the civil authority in church matters, especially in regard to such appointments, which were made by a commission consisting of four members named by the churches and four by the magistrates in each district. barneveld, who above all things desired peace in the church, had wished to revive this ordinance, and in it had been resolved by the states of holland that each city or village should, if the magistracy approved, provisionally conform to it. the states of utrecht made at the same time a similar arrangement. it was the controversy which has been going on since the beginning of history and is likely to be prolonged to the end of time--the struggle for power between the sacerdotal and political orders; the controversy whether priests shall control the state or the state govern the priests. this was the practical question involved in the fierce dispute as to dogma. the famous duel between arminius and gomarus; the splendid theological tournaments which succeeded; six champions on a side armed in full theological panoply and swinging the sharpest curtal axes which learning, passion, and acute intellect could devise, had as yet produced no beneficent result. nobody had been convinced by the shock of argument, by the exchange of those desperate blows. the high council of the hague had declared that no difference of opinion in the church existed sufficient to prevent fraternal harmony and happiness. but gomarus loudly declared that, if there were no means of putting down the heresy of arminius, there would before long be a struggle such as would set province against province, village against village, family against family, throughout the land. he should be afraid to die in such doctrine. he shuddered that any one should dare to come before god's tribunal with such blasphemies. meantime his great adversary, the learned and eloquent, the musical, frolicsome, hospitable heresiarch was no more. worn out with controversy, but peaceful and happy in the convictions which were so bitterly denounced by gomarus and a large proportion of both preachers and laymen in the netherlands, and convinced that the schism which in his view had been created by those who called themselves the orthodox would weaken the cause of protestantism throughout europe, arminius died at the age of forty-nine. the magistrates throughout holland, with the exception of a few cities, were arminian, the preachers gomarian; for arminius ascribed to the civil authority the right to decide upon church matters, while gomarus maintained that ecclesiastical affairs should be regulated in ecclesiastical assemblies. the overseers of leyden university appointed conrad vorstius to be professor of theology in place of arminius. the selection filled to the brim the cup of bitterness, for no man was more audaciously latitudinarian than he. he was even suspected of socinianism. there came a shriek from king james, fierce and shrill enough to rouse arminius from his grave. james foamed to the mouth at the insolence of the overseers in appointing such a monster of infidelity to the professorship. he ordered his books to be publicly burned in st. paul's churchyard and at both universities, and would have burned the professor himself with as much delight as torquemada or peter titelman ever felt in roasting their victims, had not the day for such festivities gone by. he ordered the states of holland on pain of for ever forfeiting his friendship to exclude vorstius at once from the theological chair and to forbid him from "nestling anywhere in the country." he declared his amazement that they should tolerate such a pest as conrad vorstius. had they not had enough of the seed sown by that foe of god, arminius? he ordered the states-general to chase the blasphemous monster from the land, or else he would cut off all connection with their false and heretic churches and make the other reformed churches of europe do the same, nor should the youth of england ever be allowed to frequent the university of leyden. in point of fact the professor was never allowed to qualify, to preach, or to teach; so tremendous was the outcry of peter plancius and many orthodox preachers, echoing the wrath of the king. he lived at gouda in a private capacity for several years, until the synod of dordrecht at last publicly condemned his opinions and deprived him of his professorship. meantime, the preachers who were disciples of arminius had in a private assembly drawn up what was called a remonstrance, addressed to the states of holland, and defending themselves from the reproach that they were seeking change in the divine service and desirous of creating tumult and schism. this remonstrance, set forth by the pen of the famous uytenbogaert, whom gomarus called the court trumpeter, because for a long time he had been prince maurice's favourite preacher, was placed in the hands of barneveld, for delivery to the states of holland. thenceforth the arminians were called remonstrants. the hague conference followed, six preachers on a side, and the states of holland exhorted to fraternal compromise. until further notice, they decreed that no man should be required to believe more than had been laid down in the five points: i. god has from eternity resolved to choose to eternal life those who through his grace believe in jesus christ, and in faith and obedience so continue to the end, and to condemn the unbelieving and unconverted to eternal damnation. ii. jesus christ died for all; so, nevertheless, that no one actually except believers is redeemed by his death. iii. man has not the saving belief from himself, nor out of his free will, but he needs thereto god's grace in christ. iv. this grace is the beginning, continuation, and completion of man's salvation; all good deeds must be ascribed to it, but it does not work irresistibly. v. god's grace gives sufficient strength to the true believers to overcome evil; but whether they cannot lose grace should be more closely examined before it should be taught in full security. afterwards they expressed themselves more distinctly on this point, and declared that a true believer, through his own fault, can fall away from god and lose faith. before the conference, however, the gomarite preachers had drawn up a contra-remonstrance of seven points in opposition to the remonstrants' five. they demanded the holding of a national synod to settle the difference between these five and seven points, or the sending of them to foreign universities for arbitration, a mutual promise being given by the contending parties to abide by the decision. thus much it has been necessary to state concerning what in the seventeenth century was called the platform of the two great parties: a term which has been perpetuated in our own country, and is familiar to all the world in the nineteenth. these were the seven points: i. god has chosen from eternity certain persons out of the human race, which in and with adam fell into sin and has no more power to believe and convert itself than a dead man to restore himself to life, in order to make them blessed through christ; while he passes by the rest through his righteous judgment, and leaves them lying in their sins. ii. children of believing parents, as well as full-grown believers, are to be considered as elect so long as they with action do not prove the contrary. iii. god in his election has not looked at the belief and the repentance of the elect; but, on the contrary, in his eternal and unchangeable design, has resolved to give to the elect faith and stedfastness, and thus to make them blessed. iv. he, to this end, in the first place, presented to them his only begotten son, whose sufferings, although sufficient for the expiation of all men's sins, nevertheless, according to god's decree, serves alone to the reconciliation of the elect. v. god causest he gospel to be preached to them, making the same through the holy ghost, of strength upon their minds; so that they not merely obtain power to repent and to believe, but also actually and voluntarily do repent and believe. vi. such elect, through the same power of the holy ghost through which they have once become repentant and believing, are kept in such wise that they indeed through weakness fall into heavy sins; but can never wholly and for always lose the true faith. vii. true believers from this, however, draw no reason for fleshly quiet, it being impossible that they who through a true faith were planted in christ should bring forth no fruits of thankfulness; the promises of god's help and the warnings of scripture tending to make their salvation work in them in fear and trembling, and to cause them more earnestly to desire help from that spirit without which they can do nothing. there shall be no more setting forth of these subtle and finely wrought abstractions in our pages. we aspire not to the lofty heights of theological and supernatural contemplation, where the atmosphere becomes too rarefied for ordinary constitutions. rather we attempt an objective and level survey of remarkable phenomena manifesting themselves on the earth; direct or secondary emanations from those distant spheres. for in those days, and in that land especially, theology and politics were one. it may be questioned at least whether this practical fusion of elements, which may with more safety to the commonwealth be kept separate, did not tend quite as much to lower and contaminate the religious sentiments as to elevate the political idea. to mix habitually the solemn phraseology which men love to reserve for their highest and most sacred needs with the familiar slang of politics and trade seems to our generation not a very desirable proceeding. the aroma of doubly distilled and highly sublimated dogma is more difficult to catch than to comprehend the broader and more practical distinctions of every-day party strife. king james was furious at the thought that common men--the vulgar, the people in short--should dare to discuss deep problems of divinity which, as he confessed, had puzzled even his royal mind. barneveld modestly disclaimed the power of seeing with absolute clearness into things beyond the reach of the human intellect. but the honest netherlanders were not abashed by thunder from the royal pulpit, nor perplexed by hesitations which darkened the soul of the great advocate. in burghers' mansions, peasants' cottages, mechanics' back-parlours, on board herring smacks, canal boats, and east indiamen; in shops, counting-rooms, farmyards, guard-rooms, ale-houses; on the exchange, in the tennis-court, on the mall; at banquets, at burials, christenings, or bridals; wherever and whenever human creatures met each other, there was ever to be found the fierce wrangle of remonstrant and contra-remonstrant, the hissing of red-hot theological rhetoric, the pelting of hostile texts. the blacksmith's iron cooled on the anvil, the tinker dropped a kettle half mended, the broker left a bargain unclinched, the scheveningen fisherman in his wooden shoes forgot the cracks in his pinkie, while each paused to hold high converse with friend or foe on fate, free will, or absolute foreknowledge; losing himself in wandering mazes whence there was no issue. province against province, city against city, family against family; it was one vast scene of bickering, denunciation, heart-burnings, mutual excommunication and hatred. alas! a generation of mankind before, men had stood banded together to resist, with all the might that comes from union, the fell spirit of the holy inquisition, which was dooming all who had wandered from the ancient fold or resisted foreign tyranny to the axe, the faggot, the living grave. there had been small leisure then for men who fought for fatherland, and for comparative liberty of conscience, to tear each others' characters in pieces, and to indulge in mutual hatreds and loathing on the question of predestination. as a rule the population, especially of the humbler classes, and a great majority of the preachers were contra-remonstrant; the magistrates, the burgher patricians, were remonstrant. in holland the controlling influence was remonstrant; but amsterdam and four or five other cities of that province held to the opposite doctrine. these cities formed therefore a small minority in the states assembly of holland sustained by a large majority in the states-general. the province of utrecht was almost unanimously remonstrant. the five other provinces were decidedly contra-remonstrant. it is obvious therefore that the influence of barneveld, hitherto so all-controlling in the states-general, and which rested on the complete submission of the states of holland to his will, was tottering. the battle-line between church and state was now drawn up; and it was at the same time a battle between the union and the principles of state sovereignty. it had long since been declared through the mouth of the advocate, but in a solemn state manifesto, that my lords the states-general were the foster-fathers and the natural protectors of the church, to whom supreme authority in church matters belonged. the contra-remonstrants, on the other hand, maintained that all the various churches made up one indivisible church, seated above the states, whether provincial or general, and governed by the holy ghost acting directly upon the congregations. as the schism grew deeper and the states-general receded from the position which they had taken up under the lead of the advocate, the scene was changed. a majority of the provinces being contra-remonstrant, and therefore in favour of a national synod, the states-general as a body were of necessity for the synod. it was felt by the clergy that, if many churches existed, they would all remain subject to the civil authority. the power of the priesthood would thus sink before that of the burgher aristocracy. there must be one church--the church of geneva and heidelberg--if that theocracy which the gomarites meant to establish was not to vanish as a dream. it was founded on divine right, and knew no chief magistrate but the holy ghost. a few years before the states-general had agreed to a national synod, but with a condition that there should be revision of the netherland confession and the heidelberg catechism. against this the orthodox infallibilists had protested and thundered, because it was an admission that the vile arminian heresy might perhaps be declared correct. it was now however a matter of certainty that the states-general would cease to oppose the unconditional synod, because the majority sided with the priesthood. the magistrates of leyden had not long before opposed the demand for a synod on the ground that the war against spain was not undertaken to maintain one sect; that men of various sects and creeds had fought with equal valour against the common foe; that religious compulsion was hateful, and that no synod had a right to claim netherlanders as slaves. to thoughtful politicians like barneveld, hugo grotius, and men who acted with them, fraught with danger to the state, that seemed a doctrine by which mankind were not regarded as saved or doomed according to belief or deeds, but as individuals divided from all eternity into two classes which could never be united, but must ever mutually regard each other as enemies. and like enemies netherlanders were indeed beginning to regard each other. the man who, banded like brothers, had so heroically fought for two generations long for liberty against an almost superhuman despotism, now howling and jeering against each other like demons, seemed determined to bring the very name of liberty into contempt. where the remonstrants were in the ascendant, they excited the hatred and disgust of the orthodox by their overbearing determination to carry their five points. a broker in rotterdam of the contra-remonstrant persuasion, being about to take a wife, swore he had rather be married by a pig than a parson. for this sparkling epigram he was punished by the remonstrant magistracy with loss of his citizenship for a year and the right to practise his trade for life. a casuistical tinker, expressing himself violently in the same city against the five points, and disrespectfully towards the magistrates for tolerating them, was banished from the town. a printer in the neighbourhood, disgusted with these and similar efforts of tyranny on the part of the dominant party, thrust a couple of lines of doggrel into the lottery: "in name of the prince of orange, i ask once and again, what difference between the inquisition of rotterdam and spain?" for this poetical effort the printer was sentenced to forfeit the prize that he had drawn in the lottery, and to be kept in prison on bread and water for a fortnight. certainly such punishments were hardly as severe as being beheaded or burned or buried alive, as would have been the lot of tinkers and printers and brokers who opposed the established church in the days of alva, but the demon of intolerance, although its fangs were drawn, still survived, and had taken possession of both parties in the reformed church. for it was the remonstrants who had possession of the churches at rotterdam, and the printer's distich is valuable as pointing out that the name of orange was beginning to identify itself with the contra-remonstrant faction. at this time, on the other hand, the gabble that barneveld had been bought by spanish gold, and was about to sell his country to spain, became louder than a whisper. men were not ashamed, from theological hatred, to utter such senseless calumnies against a venerable statesman whose long life had been devoted to the cause of his country's independence and to the death struggle with spain. as if because a man admitted the possibility of all his fellow-creatures being saved from damnation through repentance and the grace of god, he must inevitably be a traitor to his country and a pensionary of her deadliest foe. and where the contra-remonstrants held possession of the churches and the city governments, acts of tyranny which did not then seem ridiculous were of everyday occurrence. clergymen, suspected of the five points, were driven out of the pulpits with bludgeons or assailed with brickbats at the church door. at amsterdam, simon goulart, for preaching the doctrine of universal salvation and for disputing the eternal damnation of young children, was forbidden thenceforth to preach at all. but it was at the hague that the schism in religion and politics first fatally widened itself. henry rosaeus, an eloquent divine, disgusted with his colleague uytenbogaert, refused all communion with him, and was in consequence suspended. excluded from the great church, where he had formerly ministered, he preached every sunday at ryswyk, two or three miles distant. seven hundred contra-remonstrants of the hague followed their beloved pastor, and, as the roads to ryswyk were muddy and sloppy in winter, acquired the unsavoury nickname of the "mud beggars." the vulgarity of heart which suggested the appellation does not inspire to-day great sympathy with the remonstrant party, even if one were inclined to admit, what is not the fact, that they represented the cause of religious equality. for even the illustrious grotius was at that very moment repudiating the notion that there could be two religions in one state. "difference in public worship," he said, "was in kingdoms pernicious, but in free commonwealths in the highest degree destructive." it was the struggle between church and state for supremacy over the whole body politic. "the reformation," said grotius, "was not brought about by synods, but by kings, princes, and magistrates." it was the same eternal story, the same terrible two-edged weapon, "cujus reggio ejus religio," found in the arsenal of the first reformers, and in every politico-religious arsenal of history. "by an eternal decree of god," said gomarus in accordance with calvin, "it has been fixed who are to be saved and who damned. by his decree some are drawn to faith and godliness, and, being drawn, can never fall away. god leaves all the rest in the general corruption of human nature and their own misdeeds." "god has from eternity made this distinction in the fallen human race," said arminius, "that he pardons those who desist from their sins and put their faith in christ, and will give them eternal life, but will punish those who remain impenitent. moreover, it is pleasanter to god that all men should repent, and, coming to knowledge of truth, remain therein, but he compels none." this was the vital difference of dogma. and it was because they could hold no communion with those who believed in the efficacy of repentance that rosaeus and his followers had seceded to ryswyk, and the reformed church had been torn into two very unequal parts. but it is difficult to believe that out of this arid field of controversy so plentiful a harvest of hatred and civil convulsion could have ripened. more practical than the insoluble problems, whether repentance could effect salvation, and whether dead infants were hopelessly damned, was the question who should rule both church and state. there could be but one church. on that remonstrants and contra-remonstrants were agreed. but should the five points or the seven points obtain the mastery? should that framework of hammered iron, the confession and catechism, be maintained in all its rigidity around the sheepfold, or should the disciples of the arch-heretic arminius, the salvation-mongers, be permitted to prowl within it? was barneveld, who hated the reformed religion (so men told each other), and who believed in nothing, to continue dictator of the whole republic through his influence over one province, prescribing its religious dogmas and laying down its laws; or had not the time come for the states-general to vindicate the rights of the church, and to crush for ever the pernicious principle of state sovereignty and burgher oligarchy? the abyss was wide and deep, and the wild waves were raging more madly every hour. the advocate, anxious and troubled, but undismayed, did his best in the terrible emergency. he conferred with prince maurice on the subject of the ryswyk secession, and men said that he sought to impress upon him, as chief of the military forces, the necessity of putting down religious schism with the armed hand. the prince had not yet taken a decided position. he was still under the influence of john uytenbogaert, who with arminius and the advocate made up the fateful three from whom deadly disasters were deemed to have come upon the commonwealth. he wished to remain neutral. but no man can be neutral in civil contentions threatening the life of the body politic any more than the heart can be indifferent if the human frame is sawn in two. "i am a soldier," said maurice, "not a divine. these are matters of theology which i don't understand, and about which i don't trouble myself." on another occasion he is reported to have said, "i know nothing of predestination, whether it is green or whether it is blue; but i do know that the advocate's pipe and mine will never play the same tune." it was not long before he fully comprehended the part which he must necessarily play. to say that he was indifferent to religious matters was as ridiculous as to make a like charge against barneveld. both were religious men. it would have been almost impossible to find an irreligious character in that country, certainly not among its highest-placed and leading minds. maurice had strong intellectual powers. he was a regular attendant on divine worship, and was accustomed to hear daily religious discussions. to avoid them indeed, he would have been obliged not only to fly his country, but to leave europe. he had a profound reverence for the memory of his father, calbo y calbanista, as william the silent had called himself. but the great prince had died before these fierce disputes had torn the bosom of the reformed church, and while reformers still were brethren. but if maurice were a religious man, he was also a keen politician; a less capable politician, however, than a soldier, for he was confessedly the first captain of his age. he was not rapid in his conceptions, but he was sure in the end to comprehend his opportunity. the church, the people, the union--the sacerdotal, the democratic, and the national element--united under a name so potent to conjure with as the name of orange-nassau, was stronger than any other possible combination. instinctively and logically therefore the stadholder found himself the chieftain of the contra-remonstrant party, and without the necessity of an apostasy such as had been required of his great contemporary to make himself master of france. the power of barneveld and his partisans was now put to a severe strain. his efforts to bring back the hague seceders were powerless. the influence of uytenbogaert over the stadholder steadily diminished. he prayed to be relieved from his post in the great church of the hague, especially objecting to serve with a contra-remonstrant preacher whom maurice wished to officiate there in place of the seceding rosaeus. but the stadholder refused to let him go, fearing his influence in other places. "there is stuff in him," said maurice, "to outweigh half a dozen contra-remonstrant preachers." everywhere in holland the opponents of the five points refused to go to the churches, and set up tabernacles for themselves in barns, outhouses, canal-boats. and the authorities in town and village nailed up the barn-doors, and dispersed the canal boat congregations, while the populace pelted them with stones. the seceders appealed to the stadholder, pleading that at least they ought to be allowed to hear the word of god as they understood it without being forced into churches where they were obliged to hear arminian blasphemy. at least their barns might be left them. "barns," said maurice, "barns and outhouses! are we to preach in barns? the churches belong to us, and we mean to have them too." not long afterwards the stadholder, clapping his hand on his sword hilt, observed that these differences could only be settled by force of arms. an ominous remark and a dreary comment on the forty years' war against the inquisition. and the same scenes that were enacting in holland were going on in overyssel and friesland and groningen; but with a difference. here it was the five points men who were driven into secession, whose barns were nailed up, and whose preachers were mobbed. a lugubrious spectacle, but less painful certainly than the hangings and drownings and burnings alive in the previous century to prevent secession from the indivisible church. it is certain that stadholders and all other magistrates ever since the establishment of independence were sworn to maintain the reformed religion and to prevent a public divine worship under any other form. it is equally certain that by the th article of the act of union--the organic law of the confederation made at utrecht in --each province reserved for itself full control of religious questions. it would indeed seem almost unimaginable in a country where not only every province, but every city, every municipal board, was so jealous of its local privileges and traditional rights that the absolute disposition over the highest, gravest, and most difficult questions that can inspire and perplex humanity should be left to a general government, and one moreover which had scarcely come into existence. yet into this entirely illogical position the commonwealth was steadily drifting. the cause was simple enough. the states of holland, as already observed, were remonstrant by a large majority. the states-general were contra-remonstrant by a still greater majority. the church, rigidly attached to the confession and catechism, and refusing all change except through decree of a synod to be called by the general government which it controlled, represented the national idea. it thus identified itself with the republic, and was in sympathy with a large majority of the population. logic, law, historical tradition were on the side of the advocate and the states' right party. the instinct of national self-preservation, repudiating the narrow and destructive doctrine of provincial sovereignty, were on the side of the states-general and the church. meantime james of great britain had written letters both to the states of holland and the states-general expressing his satisfaction with the five points, and deciding that there was nothing objectionable in the doctrine of predestination therein set forth. he had recommended unity and peace in church and assembly, and urged especially that these controverted points should not be discussed in the pulpit to the irritation and perplexity of the common people. the king's letters had produced much satisfaction in the moderate party. barneveld and his followers were then still in the ascendant, and it seemed possible that the commonwealth might enjoy a few moments of tranquillity. that james had given a new exhibition of his astounding inconsistency was a matter very indifferent to all but himself, and he was the last man to trouble himself for that reproach. it might happen, when he should come to realize how absolutely he had obeyed the tuition of the advocate and favoured the party which he had been so vehemently opposing, that he might regret and prove willing to retract. but for the time being the course of politics had seemed running smoother. the acrimony of the relations between the english government and dominant party at the hague was sensibly diminished. the king seemed for an instant to have obtained a true insight into the nature of the struggle in the states. that it was after all less a theological than a political question which divided parties had at last dawned upon him. "if you have occasion to write on the subject," said barneveld, "it is above all necessary to make it clear that ecclesiastical persons and their affairs must stand under the direction of the sovereign authority, for our preachers understand that the disposal of ecclesiastical persons and affairs belongs to them, so that they alone are to appoint preachers, elders, deacons, and other clerical persons, and to regulate the whole ecclesiastical administration according to their pleasure or by a popular government which they call the community." "the counts of holland from all ancient times were never willing under the papacy to surrender their right of presentation to the churches and control of all spiritual and ecclesiastical benefices. the emperor charles and king philip even, as counts of holland, kept these rights to themselves, save that they in enfeoffing more than a hundred gentlemen, of noble and ancient families with seigniorial manors, enfeoffed them also with the right of presentation to churches and benefices on their respective estates. our preachers pretend to have won this right against the countship, the gentlemen, nobles, and others, and that it belongs to them." it is easy to see that this was a grave, constitutional, legal, and historical problem not to be solved offhand by vehement citations from scripture, nor by pragmatical dissertations from the lips of foreign ambassadors. "i believe this point," continued barneveld, "to be the most difficult question of all, importing far more than subtle searchings and conflicting sentiments as to passages of holy writ, or disputations concerning god's eternal predestination and other points thereupon depending. of these doctrines the archbishop of canterbury well observed in the conference of that one ought to teach them ascendendo and not descendendo." the letters of the king had been very favourably received both in the states-general and in the assembly of holland. "you will present the replies," wrote barneveld to the ambassador in london, "at the best opportunity and with becoming compliments. you may be assured and assure his majesty that they have been very agreeable to both assemblies. our commissioners over there on the east indian matter ought to know nothing of these letters." this statement is worthy of notice, as grotius was one of those commissioners, and, as will subsequently appear, was accused of being the author of the letters. "i understand from others," continued the advocate, "that the gentleman well known to you--[obviously francis aerssens]--is not well pleased that through other agency than his these letters have been written and presented. i think too that the other business is much against his grain, but on the whole since your departure he has accommodated himself to the situation." but if aerssens for the moment seemed quiet, the orthodox clergy were restive. "i know," said barneveld, "that some of our ministers are so audacious that of themselves, or through others, they mean to work by direct or indirect means against these letters. they mean to show likewise that there are other and greater differences of doctrine than those already discussed. you will keep a sharp eye on the sails and provide against the effect of counter-currents. to maintain the authority of their great mightinesses over ecclesiastical matters is more than necessary for the conservation of the country's welfare and of the true christian religion. as his majesty would not allow this principle to be controverted in his own realms, as his books clearly prove, so we trust that he will not find it good that it should be controverted in our state as sure to lead to a very disastrous and inequitable sequel." and a few weeks later the advocate and the whole party of toleration found themselves, as is so apt to be the case, between two fires. the catholics became as turbulent as the extreme calvinists, and already hopes were entertained by spanish emissaries and spies that this rapidly growing schism in the reformed church might be dexterously made use of to bring the provinces, when they should become fairly distracted, back to the dominion of spain. "our precise zealots in the reformed religion, on the one side," wrote barneveld, "and the jesuits on the other, are vigorously kindling the fire of discord. keep a good lookout for the countermine which is now working against the good advice of his majesty for mutual toleration. the publication of the letters was done without order, but i believe with good intent, in the hope that the vehemence and exorbitance of some precise puritans in our state should thereby be checked. that which is now doing against us in printed libels is the work of the aforesaid puritans and a few jesuits. the pretence in those libels, that there are other differences in the matter of doctrine, is mere fiction designed to make trouble and confusion." in the course of the autumn, sir ralph winwood departed from the hague, to assume soon afterwards in england the position of secretary of state for foreign affairs. he did not take personal farewell of barneveld, the advocate being absent in north holland at the moment, and detained there by indisposition. the leave-taking was therefore by letter. he had done much to injure the cause which the dutch statesman held vital to the republic, and in so doing he had faithfully carried out the instructions of his master. now that james had written these conciliatory letters to the states, recommending toleration, letters destined to be famous, barneveld was anxious that the retiring ambassador should foster the spirit of moderation, which for a moment prevailed at the british court. but he was not very hopeful in the matter. "mr. winwood is doubtless over there now," he wrote to caron. "he has promised in public and private to do all good offices. the states-general made him a present on his departure of the value of l . i fear nevertheless that he, especially in religious matters, will not do the best offices. for besides that he is himself very hard and precise, those who in this country are hard and precise have made a dead set at him, and tried to make him devoted to their cause, through many fictitious and untruthful means." the advocate, as so often before, sent assurances to the king that "the states-general, and especially the states of holland, were resolved to maintain the genuine reformed religion, and oppose all novelties and impurities conflicting with it," and the ambassador was instructed to see that the countermine, worked so industriously against his majesty's service and the honour and reputation of the provinces, did not prove successful. "to let the good mob play the master," he said, "and to permit hypocrites and traitors in the flemish manner to get possession of the government of the provinces and cities, and to cause upright patriots whose faith and truth has so long been proved, to be abandoned, by the blessing of god, shall never be accomplished. be of good heart, and cause these flemish tricks to be understood on every occasion, and let men know that we mean to maintain, with unchanging constancy, the authority of the government, the privileges and laws of the country, as well as the true reformed religion." the statesman was more than ever anxious for moderate counsels in the religious questions, for it was now more important than ever that there should be concord in the provinces, for the cause of protestantism, and with it the existence of the republic, seemed in greater danger than at any moment since the truce. it appeared certain that the alliance between france and spain had been arranged, and that the pope, spain, the grand-duke of tuscany, and their various adherents had organized a strong combination, and were enrolling large armies to take the field in the spring, against the protestant league of the princes and electors in germany. the great king was dead. the queen-regent was in the hand of spain, or dreamed at least of an impossible neutrality, while the priest who was one day to resume the part of henry, and to hang upon the sword of france the scales in which the opposing weights of protestantism and catholicism in europe were through so many awful years to be balanced, was still an obscure bishop. the premonitory signs of the great religious war in germany were not to be mistaken. in truth, the great conflict had already opened in the duchies, although few men as yet comprehended the full extent of that movement. the superficial imagined that questions of hereditary succession, like those involved in the dispute, were easily to be settled by statutes of descent, expounded by doctors of law, and sustained, if needful, by a couple of comparatively bloodless campaigns. those who looked more deeply into causes felt that the limitations of imperial authority, the ambition of a great republic, suddenly starting into existence out of nothing, and the great issues of the religious reformation, were matters not so easily arranged. when the scene shifted, as it was so soon to do, to the heart of bohemia, when protestantism had taken the holy roman empire by the beard in its ancient palace, and thrown imperial stadholders out of window, it would be evident to the blindest that something serious was taking place. meantime barneveld, ever watchful of passing events, knew that great forces of catholicism were marshalling in the south. three armies were to take the field against protestantism at the orders of spain and the pope. one at the door of the republic, and directed especially against the netherlands, was to resume the campaign in the duchies, and to prevent any aid going to protestant germany from great britain or from holland. another in the upper palatinate was to make the chief movement against the evangelical hosts. a third in austria was to keep down the protestant party in bohemia, hungary, austria, moravia, and silesia. to sustain this movement, it was understood that all the troops then in italy were to be kept all the winter on a war footing.' was this a time for the great protestant party in the netherlands to tear itself in pieces for a theological subtlety, about which good christians might differ without taking each other by the throat? "i do not lightly believe or fear," said the advocate, in communicating a survey of european affairs at that moment to carom "but present advices from abroad make me apprehend dangers." etext editor's bookmarks: aristocracy of god's elect determined to bring the very name of liberty into contempt disputing the eternal damnation of young children fate, free will, or absolute foreknowledge louis xiii. no man can be neutral in civil contentions no synod had a right to claim netherlanders as slaves philip iv. priests shall control the state or the state govern the priests schism in the church had become a public fact that cynical commerce in human lives the voice of slanderers theological hatred was in full blaze throughout the country theology and politics were one to look down upon their inferior and lost fellow creatures whether dead infants were hopelessly damned whether repentance could effect salvation whose mutual hatred was now artfully inflamed by partisans work of the aforesaid puritans and a few jesuits chapter ix. - aerssens remains two years longer in france--derives many personal advantages from his post--he visits the states-general--aubery du maurier appointed french ambassador--he demands the recall of aerssens--peace of sainte-menehould--asperen de langerac appointed in aerssens' place. francis aerssens had remained longer at his post than had been intended by the resolution of the states of holland, passed in may . it is an exemplification of the very loose constitutional framework of the united provinces that the nomination of the ambassador to france belonged to the states of holland, by whom his salary was paid, although, of course, he was the servant of the states-general, to whom his public and official correspondence was addressed. his most important despatches were however written directly to barneveld so long as he remained in power, who had also the charge of the whole correspondence, public or private, with all the envoys of the states. aerssens had, it will be remembered, been authorized to stay one year longer in france if he thought he could be useful there. he stayed two years, and on the whole was not useful. he had too many eyes and too many ears. he had become mischievous by the very activity of his intelligence. he was too zealous. there were occasions in france at that moment in which it was as well to be blind and deaf. it was impossible for the republic, unless driven to it by dire necessity, to quarrel with its great ally. it had been calculated by duplessis-mornay that france had paid subsidies to the provinces amounting from first to last to millions of livres. this was an enormous exaggeration. it was barneveld's estimate that before the truce the states had received from france eleven millions of florins in cash, and during the truce up to the year , , , in addition, besides a million still due, making a total of about fifteen millions. during the truce france kept two regiments of foot amounting to soldiers and two companies of cavalry in holland at the service of the states, for which she was bound to pay yearly , livres. and the queen-regent had continued all the treaties by which these arrangements were secured, and professed sincere and continuous friendship for the states. while the french-spanish marriages gave cause for suspicion, uneasiness, and constant watchfulness in the states, still the neutrality of france was possible in the coming storm. so long as that existed, particularly when the relations of england with holland through the unfortunate character of king james were perpetually strained to a point of imminent rupture, it was necessary to hold as long as it was possible to the slippery embrace of france. but aerssens was almost aggressive in his attitude. he rebuked the vacillations, the shortcomings, the imbecility, of the queen's government in offensive terms. he consorted openly with the princes who were on the point of making war upon the queen-regent. he made a boast to the secretary of state villeroy that he had unravelled all his secret plots against the netherlands. he declared it to be understood in france, since the king's death, by the dominant and jesuitical party that the crown depended temporally as well as spiritually on the good pleasure of the pope. no doubt he was perfectly right in many of his opinions. no ruler or statesman in france worthy of the name would hesitate, in the impending religious conflict throughout europe and especially in germany, to maintain for the kingdom that all controlling position which was its splendid privilege. but to preach this to mary de' medici was waste of breath. she was governed by the concini's, and the concini's were governed by spain. the woman who was believed to have known beforehand of the plot to murder her great husband, who had driven the one powerful statesman on whom the king relied, maximilian de bethune, into retirement, and whose foreign affairs were now completely in the hands of the ancient leaguer villeroy--who had served every government in the kingdom for forty years--was not likely to be accessible to high views of public policy. two years had now elapsed since the first private complaints against the ambassador, and the french government were becoming impatient at his presence. aerssens had been supported by prince maurice, to whom he had long paid his court. he was likewise loyally protected by barneveld, whom he publicly flattered and secretly maligned. but it was now necessary that he should be gone if peaceful relations with france were to be preserved. after all, the ambassador had not made a bad business of his embassy from his own point of view. a stranger in the republic, for his father the greffier was a refugee from brabant, he had achieved through his own industry and remarkable talents, sustained by the favour of barneveld--to whom he owed all his diplomatic appointments--an eminent position in europe. secretary to the legation to france in , he had been successively advanced to the post of resident agent, and when the republic had been acknowledged by the great powers, to that of ambassador. the highest possible functions that representatives of emperors and kings could enjoy had been formally recognized in the person of the minister of a new-born republic. and this was at a moment when, with exception of the brave but insignificant cantons of switzerland, the republic had long been an obsolete idea. in a pecuniary point of view, too, he had not fared badly during his twenty years of diplomatic office. he had made much money in various ways. the king not long before his death sent him one day , florins as a present, with a promise soon to do much more for him. having been placed in so eminent a post, he considered it as due to himself to derive all possible advantage from it. "those who serve at the altar," he said a little while after his return, "must learn to live by it. i served their high mightinesses at the court of a great king, and his majesty's liberal and gracious favours were showered upon me. my upright conscience and steady obsequiousness greatly aided me. i did not look upon opportunity with folded arms, but seized it and made my profit by it. had i not met with such fortunate accidents, my office would not have given me dry bread." nothing could exceed the frankness and indeed the cynicism with which the ambassador avowed his practice of converting his high and sacred office into merchandise. and these statements of his should be scanned closely, because at this very moment a cry was distantly rising, which at a later day was to swell into a roar, that the great advocate had been bribed and pensioned. nothing had occurred to justify such charges, save that at the period of the truce he had accepted from the king of france a fee of , florins for extra official and legal services rendered him a dozen years before, and had permitted his younger son to hold the office of gentleman-in-waiting at the french court with the usual salary attached to it. the post, certainly not dishonourable in itself, had been intended by the king as a kindly compliment to the leading statesman of his great and good ally the republic. it would be difficult to say why such a favour conferred on the young man should be held more discreditable to the receiver than the order of the garter recently bestowed upon the great soldier of the republic by another friendly sovereign. it is instructive however to note the language in which francis aerssens spoke of favours and money bestowed by a foreign monarch upon himself, for aerssens had come back from his embassy full of gall and bitterness against barneveld. thenceforth he was to be his evil demon. "i didn't inherit property," said this diplomatist. "my father and mother, thank god, are yet living. i have enjoyed the king's liberality. it was from an ally, not an enemy, of our country. were every man obliged to give a reckoning of everything he possesses over and above his hereditary estates, who in the government would pass muster? those who declare that they have served their country in her greatest trouble, and lived in splendid houses and in service of princes and great companies and the like on a yearly salary of florins, may not approve these maxims." it should be remembered that barneveld, if this was a fling at the advocate, had acquired a large fortune by marriage, and, although certainly not averse from gathering gear, had, as will be seen on a subsequent page, easily explained the manner in which his property had increased. no proof was ever offered or attempted of the anonymous calumnies levelled at him in this regard. "i never had the management of finances," continued aerssens. "my profits i have gained in foreign parts. my condition of life is without excess, and in my opinion every means are good so long as they are honourable and legal. they say my post was given me by the advocate. ergo, all my fortune comes from the advocate. strenuously to have striven to make myself agreeable to the king and his counsellors, while fulfilling my office with fidelity and honour, these are the arts by which i have prospered, so that my splendour dazzles the eyes of the envious. the greediness of those who believe that the sun should shine for them alone was excited, and so i was obliged to resign the embassy." so long as henry lived, the dutch ambassador saw him daily, and at all hours, privately, publicly, when he would. rarely has a foreign envoy at any court, at any period of history, enjoyed such privileges of being useful to his government. and there is no doubt that the services of aerssens had been most valuable to his country, notwithstanding his constant care to increase his private fortune through his public opportunities. he was always ready to be useful to henry likewise. when that monarch same time before the truce, and occasionally during the preliminary negotiations for it, had formed a design to make himself sovereign of the provinces, it was aerssens who charged himself with the scheme, and would have furthered it with all his might, had the project not met with opposition both from the advocate and the stadholder. subsequently it appeared probable that maurice would not object to the sovereignty himself, and the ambassador in paris, with the king's consent, was not likely to prove himself hostile to the prince's ambition. "there is but this means alone," wrote jeannini to villeroy, "that can content him, although hitherto he has done like the rowers, who never look toward the place whither they wish to go." the attempt of the prince to sound barneveld on this subject through the princess-dowager has already been mentioned, and has much intrinsic probability. thenceforward, the republican form of government, the municipal oligarchies, began to consolidate their power. yet although the people as such were not sovereigns, but subjects, and rarely spoken of by the aristocratic magistrates save with a gentle and patronizing disdain, they enjoyed a larger liberty than was known anywhere else in the world. buzenval was astonished at the "infinite and almost unbridled freedom" which he witnessed there during his embassy, and which seemed to him however "without peril to the state." the extraordinary means possessed by aerssens to be important and useful vanished with the king's death. his secret despatches, painting in sombre and sarcastic colours the actual condition of affairs at the french court, were sent back in copy to the french court itself. it was not known who had played the ambassador this vilest of tricks, but it was done during an illness of barneveld, and without his knowledge. early in the year aerssens resolved, not to take his final departure, but to go home on leave of absence. his private intention was to look for some substantial office of honour and profit at home. failing of this, he meant to return to paris. but with an eye to the main chance as usual, he ingeniously caused it to be understood at court, without making positive statements to that effect, that his departure was final. on his leavetaking, accordingly, he received larger presents from the crown than had been often given to a retiring ambassador. at least , florins were thus added to the frugal store of profits on which he prided himself. had he merely gone away on leave of absence, he would have received no presents whatever. but he never went back. the queen-regent and her ministers were so glad to get rid of him, and so little disposed, in the straits in which they found themselves, to quarrel with the powerful republic, as to be willing to write very complimentary public letters to the states, concerning the character and conduct of the man whom they so much detested. pluming himself upon these, aerssens made his appearance in the assembly of the states-general, to give account by word of mouth of the condition of affairs, speaking as if he had only come by permission of their mightinesses for temporary purposes. two months later he was summoned before the assembly, and ordered to return to his post. meantime a new french ambassador had arrived at the hague, in the spring of . aubery du maurier, a son of an obscure country squire, a protestant, of moderate opinions, of a sincere but rather obsequious character, painstaking, diligent, and honest, had been at an earlier day in the service of the turbulent and intriguing due de bouillon. he had also been employed by sully as an agent in financial affairs between holland and france, and had long been known to villeroy. he was living on his estate, in great retirement from all public business, when secretary villeroy suddenly proposed him the embassy to the hague. there was no more important diplomatic post at that time in europe. other countries were virtually at peace, but in holland, notwithstanding the truce, there was really not much more than an armistice, and great armies lay in the netherlands, as after a battle, sleeping face to face with arms in their hands. the politics of christendom were at issue in the open, elegant, and picturesque village which was the social capital of the united provinces. the gentry from spain, italy, the south of europe, catholic germany, had clustered about spinola at brussels, to learn the art of war in his constant campaigning against maurice. english and scotch officers, frenchmen, bohemians, austrians, youths from the palatinate and all protestant countries in germany, swarmed to the banners of the prince who had taught the world how alexander farnese could be baffled, and the great spinola outmanoeuvred. especially there was a great number of frenchmen of figure and quality who thronged to the hague, besides the officers of the two french regiments which formed a regular portion of the states' army. that army was the best appointed and most conspicuous standing force in europe. besides the french contingent there were always nearly , infantry and cavalry on a war footing, splendidly disciplined, experienced, and admirably armed. the navy, consisting of thirty war ships, perfectly equipped and manned, was a match for the combined marine forces of all europe, and almost as numerous. when the ambassador went to solemn audience of the states-general, he was attended by a brilliant group of gentlemen and officers, often to the number of three hundred, who volunteered to march after him on foot to honour their sovereign in the person of his ambassador; the envoy's carriage following empty behind. such were the splendid diplomatic processions often received by the stately advocate in his plain civic garb, when grave international questions were to be publicly discussed. there was much murmuring in france when the appointment of a personage comparatively so humble to a position so important was known. it was considered as a blow aimed directly at the malcontent princes of the blood, who were at that moment plotting their first levy of arms against the queen. du maurier had been ill-treated by the due de bouillon, who naturally therefore now denounced the man whom he had injured to the government to which he was accredited. being the agent of mary de' medici, he was, of course, described as a tool of the court and a secret pensioner of spain. he was to plot with the arch traitor barneveld as to the best means for distracting the provinces and bringing them back into spanish subjection. du maurier, being especially but secretly charged to prevent the return of francis aerssens to paris, incurred of course the enmity of that personage and of the french grandees who ostentatiously protected him. it was even pretended by jeannin that the appointment of a man so slightly known to the world, so inexperienced in diplomacy, and of a parentage so little distinguished, would be considered an affront by the states-general. but on the whole, villeroy had made an excellent choice. no safer man could perhaps have been found in france for a post of such eminence, in circumstances so delicate, and at a crisis so grave. the man who had been able to make himself agreeable and useful, while preserving his integrity, to characters so dissimilar as the refining, self-torturing, intellectual duplessis-mornay, the rude, aggressive, and straightforward sully, the deep-revolving, restlessly plotting bouillon, and the smooth, silent, and tortuous villeroy--men between whom there was no friendship, but, on the contrary, constant rancour--had material in him to render valuable services at this particular epoch. everything depended on patience, tact, watchfulness in threading the distracting, almost inextricable, maze which had been created by personal rivalries, ambitions, and jealousies in the state he represented and the one to which he was accredited. "i ascribe it all to god," he said, in his testament to his children, "the impenetrable workman who in his goodness has enabled me to make myself all my life obsequious, respectful, and serviceable to all, avoiding as much as possible, in contenting some, not to discontent others." he recommended his children accordingly to endeavour "to succeed in life by making themselves as humble, intelligent, and capable as possible." this is certainly not a very high type of character, but a safer one for business than that of the arch intriguer francis aerssens. and he had arrived at the hague under trying circumstances. unknown to the foreign world he was now entering, save through the disparaging rumours concerning him, sent thither in advance by the powerful personages arrayed against his government, he might have sunk under such a storm at the outset, but for the incomparable kindness and friendly aid of the princess-dowager, louise de coligny. "i had need of her protection and recommendation as much as of life," said du maurier; "and she gave them in such excess as to annihilate an infinity of calumnies which envy had excited against me on every side." he had also a most difficult and delicate matter to arrange at the very moment of his arrival. for aerssens had done his best not only to produce a dangerous division in the politics of the republic, but to force a rupture between the french government and the states. he had carried matters before the assembly with so high a hand as to make it seem impossible to get rid of him without public scandal. he made a parade of the official letters from the queen-regent and her ministers, in which he was spoken of in terms of conventional compliment. he did not know, and barneveld wished, if possible, to spare him the annoyance of knowing, that both queen and ministers, so soon as informed that there was a chance of coming back to them, had written letters breathing great repugnance to him and intimating that he would not be received. other high personages of state had written to express their resentment at his duplicity, perpetual mischief-making, and machinations against the peace of the kingdom, and stating the impossibility of his resuming the embassy at paris. and at last the queen wrote to the states-general to say that, having heard their intention to send him back to a post "from which he had taken leave formally and officially," she wished to prevent such a step. "we should see m. aerssens less willingly than comports with our friendship for you and good neighbourhood. any other you could send would be most welcome, as m. du maurier will explain to you more amply." and to du maurier himself she wrote distinctly, "rather than suffer the return of the said aerssens, you will declare that for causes which regard the good of our affairs and our particular satisfaction we cannot and will not receive him in the functions which he has exercised here, and we rely too implicitly upon the good friendship of my lords the states to do anything in this that would so much displease us." and on the same day villeroy privately wrote to the ambassador, "if, in spite of all this, aerssens should endeavour to return, he will not be received, after the knowledge we have of his factious spirit, most dangerous in a public personage in a state such as ours and in the minority of the king." meantime aerssens had been going about flaunting letters in everybody's face from the duc de bouillon insisting on the necessity of his return! the fact in itself would have been sufficient to warrant his removal, for the duke was just taking up arms against his sovereign. unless the states meant to interfere officially and directly in the civil war about to break out in france, they could hardly send a minister to the government on recommendation of the leader of the rebellion. it had, however, become impossible to remove him without an explosion. barneveld, who, said du maurier, "knew the man to his finger nails," had been reluctant to "break the ice," and wished for official notice in the matter from the queen. maurice protected the troublesome diplomatist. "'tis incredible," said the french ambassador "how covertly prince maurice is carrying himself, contrary to his wont, in this whole affair. i don't know whether it is from simple jealousy to barneveld, or if there is some mystery concealed below the surface." du maurier had accordingly been obliged to ask his government for distinct and official instructions. "he holds to his place," said he, "by so slight and fragile a root as not to require two hands to pluck him up, the little finger being enough. there is no doubt that he has been in concert with those who are making use of him to re-establish their credit with the states, and to embark prince maurice contrary to his preceding custom in a cabal with them." thus a question of removing an obnoxious diplomatist could hardly be graver, for it was believed that he was doing his best to involve the military chief of his own state in a game of treason and rebellion against the government to which he was accredited. it was not the first nor likely to be the last of bouillon's deadly intrigues. but the man who had been privy to biron's conspiracy against the crown and life of his sovereign was hardly a safe ally for his brother-in-law, the straightforward stadholder. the instructions desired by du maurier and by barneveld had, as we have seen, at last arrived. the french ambassador thus fortified appeared before the assembly of the states-general and officially demanded the recall of aerssens. in a letter addressed privately and confidentially to their mightinesses, he said, "if in spite of us you throw him at our feet, we shall fling him back at your head." at last maurice yielded to, the representations of the french envoy, and aerssens felt obliged to resign his claims to the post. the states-general passed a resolution that it would be proper to employ him in some other capacity in order to show that his services had been agreeable to them, he having now declared that he could no longer be useful in france. maurice, seeing that it was impossible to save him, admitted to du maurier his unsteadiness and duplicity, and said that, if possessed of the confidence of a great king, he would be capable of destroying the state in less than a year. but this had not always been the prince's opinion, nor was it likely to remain unchanged. as for villeroy, he denied flatly that the cause of his displeasure had been that aerssens had penetrated into his most secret affairs. he protested, on the contrary, that his annoyance with him had partly proceeded from the slight acquaintance he had acquired of his policy, and that, while boasting to be better informed than any one, he was in the habit of inventing and imagining things in order to get credit for himself. it was highly essential that the secret of this affair should be made clear; for its influence on subsequent events was to be deep and wide. for the moment aerssens remained without employment, and there was no open rupture with barneveld. the only difference of opinion between the advocate and himself, he said, was whether he had or had not definitely resigned his post on leaving paris. meantime it was necessary to fix upon a successor for this most important post. the war soon after the new year had broken out in france. conde, bouillon, and the other malcontent princes with their followers had taken possession of the fortress of mezieres, and issued a letter in the name of conde to the queen-regent demanding an assembly of the states-general of the kingdom and rupture of the spanish marriages. both parties, that of the government and that of the rebellion, sought the sympathy and active succour of the states. maurice, acting now in perfect accord with the advocate, sustained the queen and execrated the rebellion of his relatives with perfect frankness. conde, he said, had got his head stuffed full of almanacs whose predictions he wished to see realized. he vowed he would have shortened by a head the commander of the garrison who betrayed mezieres, if he had been under his control. he forbade on pain of death the departure of any officer or private of the french regiments from serving the rebels, and placed the whole french force at the disposal of the queen, with as many netherland regiments as could be spared. one soldier was hanged and three others branded with the mark of a gibbet on the face for attempting desertion. the legal government was loyally sustained by the authority of the states, notwithstanding all the intrigues of aerssens with the agents of the princes to procure them assistance. the mutiny for the time was brief, and was settled on the th of may , by the peace of sainte-menehould, as much a caricature of a treaty as the rising had been the parody of a war. van der myle, son-in-law of barneveld, who had been charged with a special and temporary mission to france, brought back the terms, of the convention to the states-general. on the other hand, conde and his confederates sent a special agent to the netherlands to give their account of the war and the negotiation, who refused to confer either with du maurier or barneveld, but who held much conference with aerssens. it was obvious enough that the mutiny of the princes would become chronic. in truth, what other condition was possible with two characters like mary de' medici and the prince of conde respectively at the head of the government and the revolt? what had france to hope for but to remain the bloody playground for mischievous idiots, who threw about the firebrands and arrows of reckless civil war in pursuit of the paltriest of personal aims? van der myle had pretensions to the vacant place of aerssens. he had some experience in diplomacy. he had conducted skilfully enough the first mission of the states to venice, and had subsequently been employed in matters of moment. but he was son-in-law to barneveld, and although the advocate was certainly not free from the charge of nepotism, he shrank from the reproach of having apparently removed aerssens to make a place for one of his own family. van der myle remained to bear the brunt of the late ambassador's malice, and to engage at a little later period in hottest controversy with him, personal and political. "why should van der myle strut about, with his arms akimbo like a peacock?" complained aerssens one day in confused metaphor. a question not easy to answer satisfactorily. the minister selected was a certain baron asperen de langerac, wholly unversed in diplomacy or other public affairs, with abilities not above the average. a series of questions addressed by him to the advocate, the answers to which, scrawled on the margin of the paper, were to serve for his general instructions, showed an ingenuousness as amusing as the replies of barneveld were experienced and substantial. in general he was directed to be friendly and respectful to every one, to the queen-regent and her counsellors especially, and, within the limits of becoming reverence for her, to cultivate the good graces of the prince of conde and the other great nobles still malcontent and rebellious, but whose present movement, as barneveld foresaw, was drawing rapidly to a close. langerac arrived in paris on the th of april . du maurier thought the new ambassador likely to "fall a prey to the specious language and gentle attractions of the due de bouillon." he also described him as very dependent upon prince maurice. on the other hand langerac professed unbounded and almost childlike reverence for barneveld, was devoted to his person, and breathed as it were only through his inspiration. time would show whether those sentiments would outlast every possible storm. chapter x weakness of the rulers of france and england--the wisdom of barneveld inspires jealousy--sir dudley carleton succeeds winwood-- young neuburg under the guidance of maximilian--barneveld strives to have the treaty of xanten enforced--spain and the emperor wish to make the states abandon their position with regard to the duchies-- the french government refuses to aid the states--spain and the emperor resolve to hold wesel--the great religious war begun--the protestant union and catholic league both wish to secure the border provinces--troubles in turkey--spanish fleet seizes la roche--spain places large armies on a war footing. few things are stranger in history than the apathy with which the wide designs of the catholic party were at that moment regarded. the preparations for the immense struggle which posterity learned to call the thirty years' war, and to shudder when speaking of it, were going forward on every side. in truth the war had really begun, yet those most deeply menaced by it at the outset looked on with innocent calmness because their own roofs were not quite yet in a blaze. the passage of arms in the duchies, the outlines of which have just been indicated, and which was the natural sequel of the campaign carried out four years earlier on the same territory, had been ended by a mockery. in france, reduced almost to imbecility by the absence of a guiding brain during a long minority, fallen under the distaff of a dowager both weak and wicked, distracted by the intrigues and quarrels of a swarm of self-seeking grandees, and with all its offices, from highest to lowest, of court, state, jurisprudence, and magistracy, sold as openly and as cynically as the commonest wares, there were few to comprehend or to grapple with the danger. it should have seemed obvious to the meanest capacity in the kingdom that the great house of austria, reigning supreme in spain and in germany, could not be allowed to crush the duke of savoy on the one side, and bohemia, moravia, and the netherlands on the other without danger of subjection for france. yet the aim of the queen-regent was to cultivate an impossible alliance with her inevitable foe. and in england, ruled as it then was with no master mind to enforce against its sovereign the great lessons of policy, internal and external, on which its welfare and almost its imperial existence depended, the only ambition of those who could make their opinions felt was to pursue the same impossibility, intimate alliance with the universal foe. any man with slightest pretensions to statesmanship knew that the liberty for protestant worship in imperial germany, extorted by force, had been given reluctantly, and would be valid only as long as that force could still be exerted or should remain obviously in reserve. the "majesty-letter" and the "convention" of the two religions would prove as flimsy as the parchment on which they were engrossed, the protestant churches built under that sanction would be shattered like glass, if once the catholic rulers could feel their hands as clear as their consciences would be for violating their sworn faith to heretics. men knew, even if the easy-going and uxorious emperor, into which character the once busy and turbulent archduke matthias had subsided, might be willing to keep his pledges, that ferdinand of styria, who would soon succeed him, and maximilian of bavaria were men who knew their own minds, and had mentally never resigned one inch of the ground which protestantism imagined itself to have conquered. these things seem plain as daylight to all who look back upon them through the long vista of the past; but the sovereign of england did not see them or did not choose to see them. he saw only the infanta and her two millions of dowry, and he knew that by calling parliament together to ask subsidies for an anti-catholic war he should ruin those golden matrimonial prospects for his son, while encouraging those "shoemakers," his subjects, to go beyond their "last," by consulting the representatives of his people on matters pertaining to the mysteries of government. he was slowly digging the grave of the monarchy and building the scaffold of his son; but he did his work with a laborious and pedantic trifling, when really engaged in state affairs, most amazing to contemplate. he had no penny to give to the cause in which his nearest relatives mere so deeply involved and for which his only possible allies were pledged; but he was ready to give advice to all parties, and with ludicrous gravity imagined himself playing the umpire between great contending hosts, when in reality he was only playing the fool at the beck of masters before whom he quaked. "you are not to vilipend my counsel," said he one day to a foreign envoy. "i am neither a camel nor an ass to take up all this work on my shoulders. where would you find another king as willing to do it as i am?" the king had little time and no money to give to serve his own family and allies and the cause of protestantism, but he could squander vast sums upon worthless favourites, and consume reams of paper on controverted points of divinity. the appointment of vorstius to the chair of theology in leyden aroused more indignation in his bosom, and occupied more of his time, than the conquests of spinola in the duchies, and the menaces of spain against savoy and bohemia. he perpetually preached moderation to the states in the matter of the debateable territory, although moderation at that moment meant submission to the house of austria. he chose to affect confidence in the good faith of those who were playing a comedy by which no statesman could be deceived, but which had secured the approbation of the solomon of the age. but there was one man who was not deceived. the warnings and the lamentations of barneveld sound to us out of that far distant time like the voice of an inspired prophet. it is possible that a portion of the wrath to come might have been averted had there been many men in high places to heed his voice. i do not wish to exaggerate the power and wisdom of the man, nor to set him forth as one of the greatest heroes of history. but posterity has done far less than justice to a statesman and sage who wielded a vast influence at a most critical period in the fate of christendom, and uniformly wielded it to promote the cause of temperate human liberty, both political and religious. viewed by the light of two centuries and a half of additional experience, he may appear to have made mistakes, but none that were necessarily disastrous or even mischievous. compared with the prevailing idea of the age in which he lived, his schemes of polity seem to dilate into large dimensions, his sentiments of religious freedom, however limited to our modern ideas, mark an epoch in human progress, and in regard to the general commonwealth of christendom, of which he was so leading a citizen, the part he played was a lofty one. no man certainly understood the tendency of his age more exactly, took a broader and more comprehensive view than he did of the policy necessary to preserve the largest portion of the results of the past three-quarters of a century, or had pondered the relative value of great conflicting forces more skilfully. had his counsels been always followed, had illustrious birth placed him virtually upon a throne, as was the case with william the silent, and thus allowed him occasionally to carry out the designs of a great mind with almost despotic authority, it might have been better for the world. but in that age it was royal blood alone that could command unflinching obedience without exciting personal rivalry. men quailed before his majestic intellect, but hated him for the power which was its necessary result. they already felt a stupid delight in cavilling at his pedigree. to dispute his claim to a place among the ancient nobility to which he was an honour was to revenge themselves for the rank he unquestionably possessed side by side in all but birth with the kings and rulers of the world. whether envy and jealousy be vices more incident to the republican form of government than to other political systems may be an open question. but it is no question whatever that barneveld's every footstep from this period forward was dogged by envy as patient as it was devouring. jealousy stuck to him like his shadow. we have examined the relations which existed between winwood and himself; we have seen that ambassador, now secretary of state for james, never weary in denouncing the advocate's haughtiness and grim resolution to govern the country according to its laws rather than at the dictate of a foreign sovereign, and in flinging forth malicious insinuations in regard to his relations to spain. the man whose every hour was devoted in spite of a thousand obstacles strewn by stupidity, treachery, and apathy, as well as by envy, hatred, and bigotry--to the organizing of a grand and universal league of protestantism against spain, and to rolling up with strenuous and sometimes despairing arms a dead mountain weight, ever ready to fall back upon and crush him, was accused in dark and mysterious whispers, soon to grow louder and bolder, of a treacherous inclination for spain. there is nothing less surprising nor more sickening for those who observe public life, and wish to retain faith in the human species, than the almost infinite power of the meanest of passions. the advocate was obliged at the very outset of langerac's mission to france to give him a warning on this subject. "should her majesty make kindly mention of me," he said, "you will say nothing of it in your despatches as you did in your last, although i am sure with the best intentions. it profits me not, and many take umbrage at it; wherefore it is wise to forbear." but this was a trifle. by and by there would be many to take umbrage at every whisper in his favour, whether from crowned heads or from the simplest in the social scale. meantime he instructed the ambassador, without paying heed to personal compliments to his chief, to do his best to keep the french government out of the hands of spain, and with that object in view to smooth over the differences between the two great parties in the kingdom, and to gain the confidence, if possible, of conde and nevers and bouillon, while never failing in straightforward respect and loyal friendship to the queen-regent and her ministers, as the legitimate heads of the government. from england a new ambassador was soon to take the place of winwood. sir dudley carleton was a diplomatist of respectable abilities, and well trained to business and routine. perhaps on the whole there was none other, in that epoch of official mediocrity, more competent than he to fill what was then certainly the most important of foreign posts. his course of life had in no wise familiarized him with the intricacies of the dutch constitution, nor could the diplomatic profession, combined with a long residence at venice, be deemed especially favourable for deep studies of the mysteries of predestination. yet he would be found ready at the bidding of his master to grapple with grotius and barneveld on the field of history and law, and thread with uytenbogaert or taurinus all the subtleties of arminianism and gomarism as if he had been half his life both a regular practitioner at the supreme court of the hague and professor of theology at the university of leyden. whether the triumphs achieved in such encounters were substantial and due entirely to his own genius might be doubtful. at all events he had a sovereign behind him who was incapable of making a mistake on any subject. "you shall not forget," said james in his instructions to sir dudley, "that you are the minister of that master whom god hath made the sole protector of his religion . . . . . and you may let fall how hateful the maintaining of erroneous opinions is to the majesty of god and how displeasing to us." the warlike operations of had been ended by the abortive peace of xanten. the two rival pretenders to the duchies were to halve the territory, drawing lots for the first choice, all foreign troops were to be withdrawn, and a pledge was to be given that no fortress should be placed in the hands of any power. but spain at the last moment had refused to sanction the treaty, and everything was remitted to what might be exactly described as a state of sixes and sevens. subsequently it was hoped that the states' troops might be induced to withdraw simultaneously with the catholic forces on an undertaking by spinola that there should be no re-occupation of the disputed territory either by the republic or by spain. but barneveld accurately pointed out that, although the marquis was a splendid commander and, so long as he was at the head of the armies, a most powerful potentate, he might be superseded at any moment. count bucquoy, for example, might suddenly appear in his place and refuse to be bound by any military arrangement of his predecessor. then the archduke proposed to give a guarantee that in case of a mutual withdrawal there should be no return of the troops, no recapture of garrisons. but barneveld, speaking for the states, liked not the security. the archduke was but the puppet of spain, and spain had no part in the guarantee. she held the strings, and might cause him at any moment to play what pranks she chose. it would be the easiest thing in the world for despotic spain, so the advocate thought, to reappear suddenly in force again at a moment's notice after the states' troops had been withdrawn and partially disbanded, and it would be difficult for the many-headed and many-tongued republic to act with similar promptness. to withdraw without a guarantee from spain to the treaty of xanten, which had once been signed, sealed, and all but ratified, would be to give up fifty points in the game. nothing but disaster could ensue. the advocate as leader in all these negotiations and correspondence was ever actuated by the favourite quotation of william the silent from demosthenes, that the safest citadel against an invader and a tyrant is distrust. and he always distrusted in these dealings, for he was sure the spanish cabinet was trying to make fools of the states, and there were many ready to assist it in the task. now that one of the pretenders, temporary master of half the duchies, the prince of neuburg, had espoused both catholicism and the sister of the archbishop of cologne and the duke of bavaria, it would be more safe than ever for spain to make a temporary withdrawal. maximilian of bavaria was beyond all question the ablest and most determined leader of the catholic party in germany, and the most straightforward and sincere. no man before or since his epoch had, like him, been destined to refuse, and more than once refuse, the imperial crown. through his apostasy the prince of neuburg was in danger of losing his hereditary estates, his brothers endeavouring to dispossess him on the ground of the late duke's will, disinheriting any one of his heirs who should become a convert to catholicism. he had accordingly implored aid from the king of spain. archduke albert had urged philip to render such assistance as a matter of justice, and the emperor had naturally declared that the whole right as eldest son belonged, notwithstanding the will, to the prince. with the young neuburg accordingly under the able guidance of maximilian, it was not likely that the grasp of the spanish party upon these all-important territories would be really loosened. the emperor still claimed the right to decide among the candidates and to hold the provinces under sequestration till the decision should be made--that was to say, until the greek kalends. the original attempt to do this through archduke leopold had been thwarted, as we have seen, by the prompt movements of maurice sustained by the policy of barneveld. the advocate was resolved that the emperor's name should not be mentioned either in the preamble or body of the treaty. and his course throughout the simulations, which were never negotiations, was perpetually baffled as much by the easiness and languor of his allies as the ingenuity of the enemy. he was reproached with the loss of wesel, that geneva of the rhine, which would never be abandoned by spain if it was not done forthwith. let spain guarantee the treaty of xanten, he said, and then she cannot come back. all else is illusion. moreover, the emperor had given positive orders that wesel should not be given up. he was assured by villeroy that france would never put on her harness for aachen, that cradle of protestantism. that was for the states-general to do, whom it so much more nearly concerned. the whole aim of barneveld was not to destroy the treaty of xanten, but to enforce it in the only way in which it could be enforced, by the guarantee of spain. so secured, it would be a barrier in the universal war of religion which he foresaw was soon to break out. but it was the resolve of spain, instead of pledging herself to the treaty, to establish the legal control of the territory in the hand of the emperor. neuburg complained that philip in writing to him did not give him the title of duke of julich and cleve, although he had been placed in possession of those estates by the arms of spain. philip, referring to archduke albert for his opinion on this subject, was advised that, as the emperor had not given neuburg the investiture of the duchies, the king was quite right in refusing him the title. even should the treaty of xanten be executed, neither he nor the elector of brandenburg would be anything but administrators until the question of right was decided by the emperor. spain had sent neuburg the order of the golden fleece as a reward for his conversion, but did not intend him to be anything but a man of straw in the territories which he claimed by sovereign right. they were to form a permanent bulwark to the empire, to spain, and to catholicism. barneveld of course could never see the secret letters passing between brussels and madrid, but his insight into the purposes of the enemy was almost as acute as if the correspondence of philip and albert had been in the pigeonholes of his writing-desk in the kneuterdyk. the whole object of spain and the emperor, acting through the archduke, was to force the states to abandon their positions in the duchies simultaneously with the withdrawal of the spanish troops, and to be satisfied with a bare convention between themselves and archduke albert that there should be no renewed occupation by either party. barneveld, finding it impossible to get spain upon the treaty, was resolved that at least the two mediating powers, their great allies, the sovereigns of great britain and france, should guarantee the convention, and that the promises of the archduke should be made to them. this was steadily refused by spain; for the archduke never moved an inch in the matter except according to the orders of spain, and besides battling and buffeting with the archduke, barneveld was constantly deafened with the clamour of the english king, who always declared spain to be in the right whatever she did, and forced to endure with what patience he might the goading of that king's envoy. france, on the other hand, supported the states as firmly as could have been reasonably expected. "we proposed," said the archduke, instructing an envoy whom he was sending to madrid with detailed accounts of these negotiations, "that the promise should be made to each other as usual in treaties. but the hollanders said the promise should be made to the kings of france and england, at which the emperor would have been deeply offended, as if in the affair he was of no account at all. at any moment by this arrangement in concert with france and england the hollanders might walk in and do what they liked." certainly there could have been no succincter eulogy of the policy steadily recommended, as we shall have occasion to see, by barneveld. had he on this critical occasion been backed by england and france combined, spain would have been forced to beat a retreat, and protestantism in the great general war just beginning would have had an enormous advantage in position. but the english solomon could not see the wisdom of this policy. "the king of england says we are right," continued the archduke, "and has ordered his ambassador to insist on our view. the french ambassador here says that his colleague at the hague has similar instructions, but admits that he has not acted up to them. there is not much chance of the hollanders changing. it would be well that the king should send a written ultimatum that the hollanders should sign the convention which we propose. if they don't agree, the world at least will see that it is not we who are in fault." the world would see, and would never have forgiven a statesman in the position of barneveld, had he accepted a bald agreement from a subordinate like the archduke, a perfectly insignificant personage in the great drama then enacting, and given up guarantees both from the archduke's master and from the two great allies of the republic. he stood out manfully against spain and england at every hazard, and under a pelting storm of obloquy, and this was the man whose designs the english secretary of state had dared to describe "as of no other nature than to cause the provinces to relapse into the hands of spain." it appeared too a little later that barneveld's influence with the french government, owing to his judicious support of it so long as it was a government, had been decidedly successful. drugged as france was by the spanish marriage treaty, she was yet not so sluggish nor spell-bound as the king of great britain. "france will not urge upon the hollanders to execute the proposal as we made it," wrote the archduke to the king, "so negotiations are at a standstill. the hollanders say it is better that each party should remain with what each possesses. so that if it does not come to blows, and if these insolences go on as they have done, the hollanders will be gaining and occupying more territory every day." thus once more the ancient enemies and masters of the republic were making the eulogy of the dutch statesman. it was impossible at present for the states to regain wesel, nor that other early stronghold of the reformation, the old imperial city of aachen (aix-la-chapelle). the price to be paid was too exorbitant. the french government had persistently refused to assist the states and possessory princes in the recovery of this stronghold. the queen-regent was afraid of offending spain, although her government had induced the citizens of the place to make the treaty now violated by that country. the dutch ambassador had been instructed categorically to enquire whether their majesties meant to assist aachen and the princes if attacked by the archdukes. "no," said villeroy; "we are not interested in aachen, 'tis too far off. let them look for assistance to those who advised their mutiny." to the ambassador's remonstrance that france was both interested in and pledged to them, the secretary of state replied, "we made the treaty through compassion and love, but we shall not put on harness for aachen. don't think it. you, the states and the united provinces, may assist them if you like." the envoy then reminded the minister that the states-general had always agreed to go forward evenly in this business with the kings of great britain and france and the united princes, the matter being of equal importance to all. they had given no further pledge than this to the union. it was plain, however, that france was determined not to lift a finger at that moment. the duke of bouillon and those acting with him had tried hard to induce their majesties "to write seriously to the archduke in order at least to intimidate him by stiff talk," but it was hopeless. they thought it was not a time then to quarrel with their neighbour and give offence to spain. so the stiff talk was omitted, and the archduke was not intimidated. the man who had so often intimidated him was in his grave, and his widow was occupied in marrying her son to the infanta. "these are the first-fruits," said aerssens, "of the new negotiations with spain." both the spanish king and the emperor were resolved to hold wesel to the very last. until the states should retire from all their positions on the bare word of the archduke, that the spanish forces once withdrawn would never return, the protestants of those two cities must suffer. there was no help for it. to save them would be to abandon all. for no true statesman could be so ingenuous as thus to throw all the cards on the table for the spanish and imperial cabinet to shuffle them at pleasure for a new deal. the duke of neuburg, now catholic and especially protected by spain, had become, instead of a pretender with more or less law on his side, a mere standard-bearer and agent of the great catholic league in the debateable land. he was to be supported at all hazard by the spanish forces, according to the express command of philip's government, especially now that his two brothers with the countenance of the states were disputing his right to his hereditary dominions in germany. the archduke was sullen enough at what he called the weak-mindedness of france. notwithstanding that by express orders from spain he had sent troops under command of juan de rivas to the queen's assistance just before the peace of sainte-menehould, he could not induce her government to take the firm part which the english king did in browbeating the hollanders. "'tis certain," he complained, "that if, instead of this sluggishness on the part of france, they had done us there the same good services we have had from england, the hollanders would have accepted the promise just as it was proposed by us." he implored the king, therefore, to use his strongest influence with the french government that it should strenuously intervene with the hollanders, and compel them to sign the proposal which they rejected. "there is no means of composition if france does not oblige them to sign," said albert rather piteously. but it was not without reason that barneveld had in many of his letters instructed the states' ambassador, langerac, "to caress the old gentleman" (meaning and never naming villeroy), for he would prove to be in spite of all obstacles a good friend to the states, as he always had been. and villeroy did hold firm. whether the archduke was right or not in his conviction, that, if france would only unite with england in exerting a strong pressure on the hollanders, they would evacuate the duchies, and so give up the game, the correspondence of barneveld shows very accurately. but the archduke, of course, had not seen that correspondence. the advocate knew what was plotting, what was impending, what was actually accomplished, for he was accustomed to sweep the whole horizon with an anxious and comprehensive glance. he knew without requiring to read the secret letters of the enemy that vast preparations for an extensive war against the reformation were already completed. the movements in the duchies were the first drops of a coming deluge. the great religious war which was to last a generation of mankind had already begun; the immediate and apparent pretext being a little disputed succession to some petty sovereignties, the true cause being the necessity for each great party--the protestant union and the catholic league--to secure these border provinces, the possession of which would be of such inestimable advantage to either. if nothing decisive occurred in the year , the following year would still be more convenient for the league. there had been troubles in turkey. the grand vizier had been murdered. the sultan was engaged in a war with persia. there was no eastern bulwark in europe to the ever menacing power of the turk and of mahometanism in europe save hungary alone. supported and ruled as that kingdom was by the house of austria, the temper of the populations of germany had become such as to make it doubtful in the present conflict of religious opinions between them and their rulers whether the turk or the spaniard would be most odious as an invader. but for the moment, spain and the emperor had their hands free. they were not in danger of an attack from below the danube. moreover, the spanish fleet had been achieving considerable successes on the barbary coast, having seized la roche, and one or two important citadels, useful both against the corsairs and against sudden attacks by sea from the turk. there were at least , men on a war footing ready to take the field at command of the two branches of the house of austria, spanish and german. in the little war about montserrat, savoy was on the point of being crushed, and savoy was by position and policy the only possible ally, in the south, of the netherlands and of protestant germany. while professing the most pacific sentiments towards the states, and a profound anxiety to withdraw his troops from their borders, the king of spain, besides daily increasing those forces, had just raised , , ducats, a large portion of which was lodged with his bankers in brussels. deeds like those were of more significance than sugared words. etext editor's bookmarks: almost infinite power of the meanest of passions ludicrous gravity safest citadel against an invader and a tyrant is distrust their own roofs were not quite yet in a blaze therefore now denounced the man whom he had injured etext editor's bookmarks, entire john of barneveld - : abstinence from inquisition into consciences and private parlour advanced orthodox party-puritans allowed the demon of religious hatred to enter into its body almost infinite power of the meanest of passions and now the knife of another priest-led fanatic aristocracy of god's elect as with his own people, keeping no back-door open at a blow decapitated france atheist, a tyrant, because he resisted dictation from the clergy behead, torture, burn alive, and bury alive all heretics christian sympathy and a small assistance not being sufficient conclusive victory for the allies seemed as predestined contained within itself the germs of a larger liberty could not be both judge and party in the suit covered now with the satirical dust of centuries deadly hatred of puritans in england and holland determined to bring the very name of liberty into contempt disputing the eternal damnation of young children doctrine of predestination in its sternest and strictest sense emperor of japan addressed him as his brother monarch epernon, the true murderer of henry estimating his character and judging his judges everybody should mind his own business fate, free will, or absolute foreknowledge father cotton, who was only too ready to betray the secrets give him advice if he asked it, and money when he required great war of religion and politics was postponed he was not imperial of aspect on canvas or coin he was a sincere bigot he who would have all may easily lose all he who spreads the snare always tumbles into the ditch himself impatience is often on the part of the non-combatants intense bigotry of conviction international friendship, the self-interest of each it was the true religion, and there was none other james of england, who admired, envied, and hated henry jealousy, that potent principle jesuit mariana--justifying the killing of excommunicated kings king's definite and final intentions, varied from day to day language which is ever living because it is dead louis xiii. ludicrous gravity more fiercely opposed to each other than to papists most detestable verses that even he had ever composed neither kings nor governments are apt to value logic no man can be neutral in civil contentions no synod had a right to claim netherlanders as slaves no man pretended to think of the state none but god to compel me to say more than i choose to say outdoing himself in dogmatism and inconsistency philip iv. power the poison of which it is so difficult to resist practised successfully the talent of silence presents of considerable sums of money to the negotiators made priests shall control the state or the state govern the priests princes show what they have in them at twenty-five or never putting the cart before the oxen queen is entirely in the hands of spain and the priests religion was made the strumpet of political ambition religious toleration, which is a phrase of insult safest citadel against an invader and a tyrant is distrust schism in the church had become a public fact secure the prizes of war without the troubles and dangers senectus edam maorbus est she declined to be his procuress small matter which human folly had dilated into a great one smooth words, in the plentiful lack of any substantial so much in advance of his time as to favor religious equality stroke of a broken table knife sharpened on a carriage wheel that cynical commerce in human lives the defence of the civil authority against the priesthood the assassin, tortured and torn by four horses the truth in shortest about matters of importance the voice of slanderers the catholic league and the protestant union the vehicle is often prized more than the freight their own roofs were not quite yet in a blaze theological hatred was in full blaze throughout the country theology and politics were one there was no use in holding language of authority to him there was but one king in europe, henry the bearnese therefore now denounced the man whom he had injured they have killed him, 'e ammazato,' cried concini things he could tell which are too odious and dreadful thirty years' war tread on the heels of the forty years to look down upon their inferior and lost fellow creatures uncouple the dogs and let them run unimaginable outrage as the most legitimate industry vows of an eternal friendship of several weeks' duration what could save the house of austria, the cause of papacy whether repentance could effect salvation whether dead infants were hopelessly damned whose mutual hatred was now artfully inflamed by partisans wish to appear learned in matters of which they are ignorant work of the aforesaid puritans and a few jesuits wrath of the jesuits at this exercise of legal authority the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war volume ii. - by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. chapter xi. - the advocate sounds the alarm in germany--his instructions to langerac and his forethought--the prince--palatine and his forces take aachen, mulheim, and other towns--supineness of the protestants--increased activity of austria and the league--barneveld strives to obtain help from england--neuburg departs for germany-- barneveld the prime minister of protestantism--ernest mansfield takes service under charles emmanuel--count john of nassau goes to savoy--slippery conduct of king james in regard to the new treaty proposed--barneveld's influence greater in france than in england-- sequestration feared--the elector of brandenburg cited to appear before the emperor at prague--murder of john van wely--uytenbogaert incurs maurice's displeasure--marriage of the king of france with anne of austria--conference between king james and caron concerning piracy, cloth trade and treaty of xanten--barneveld's survey of the condition of europe--his efforts to avert the impending general war. i have thus purposely sketched the leading features of a couple of momentous, although not eventful, years--so far as the foreign policy of the republic is concerned--in order that the reader may better understand the bearings and the value of the advocate's actions and writings at that period. this work aims at being a political study. i would attempt to exemplify the influence of individual humours and passions--some of them among the highest and others certainly the basest that agitate humanity-upon the march of great events, upon general historical results at certain epochs, and upon the destiny of eminent personages. it may also be not uninteresting to venture a glance into the internal structure and workings of a republican and federal system of government, then for the first time reproduced almost spontaneously upon an extended scale. perhaps the revelation of some of its defects, in spite of the faculty and vitality struggling against them, may not be without value for our own country and epoch. the system of switzerland was too limited and homely, that of venice too purely oligarchical, to have much moral for us now, or to render a study of their pathological phenomena especially instructive. the lessons taught us by the history of the netherland confederacy may have more permanent meaning. moreover, the character of a very considerable statesman at an all-important epoch, and in a position of vast responsibility, is always an historical possession of value to mankind. that of him who furnishes the chief theme for these pages has been either overlooked and neglected or perhaps misunderstood by posterity. history has not too many really important and emblematic men on its records to dispense with the memory of barneveld, and the writer therefore makes no apology for dilating somewhat fully upon his lifework by means of much of his entirely unpublished and long forgotten utterances. the advocate had ceaselessly been sounding the alarm in germany. for the protestant union, fascinated, as it were, by the threatening look of the catholic league, seemed relapsing into a drowse. "i believe," he said to one of his agents in that country, "that the evangelical electors and princes and the other estates are not alive to the danger. i am sure that it is not apprehended in great britain. france is threatened with troubles. these are the means to subjugate the religion, the laws and liberties of germany. without an army the troops now on foot in italy cannot be kept out of germany. yet we do not hear that the evangelicals are making provision of troops, money, or any other necessaries. in this country we have about one hundred places occupied with our troops, among whom are many who could destroy a whole army. but the maintenance of these places prevents our being very strong in the field, especially outside our frontiers. but if in all germany there be many places held by the evangelicals which would disperse a great army is very doubtful. keep a watchful eye. economy is a good thing, but the protection of a country and its inhabitants must be laid to heart. watch well if against these provinces, and against bohemia, austria, and other as it is pretended rebellious states, these plans are not directed. look out for the movements of the italian and bavarian troops against germany. you see how they are nursing the troubles and misunderstandings in france, and turning them to account." he instructed the new ambassador in paris to urge upon the french government the absolute necessity of punctuality in furnishing the payment of their contingent in the netherlands according to convention. the states of holland themselves had advanced the money during three years' past, but this anticipation was becoming very onerous. it was necessary to pay the troops every month regularly, but the funds from paris were always in arrear. england contributed about one-half as much in subsidy, but these moneys went in paying the garrisons of brielle, flushing, and rammekens, fortresses pledged to that crown. the ambassador was shrewdly told not to enlarge on the special employment of the english funds while holding up to the queen's government that she was not the only potentate who helped bear burthens for the provinces, and insisted on a continuation of this aid. "remember and let them remember," said the advocate, "that the reforms which they are pretending to make there by relieving the subjects of contributions tends to enervate the royal authority and dignity both within and without, to diminish its lustre and reputation, and in sum to make the king unable to gratify and assist his subjects, friends, and allies. make them understand that the taxation in these provinces is ten times higher than there, and that my lords the states hitherto by the grace of god and good administration have contrived to maintain it in order to be useful to themselves and their friends. take great pains to have it well understood that this is even more honourable and more necessary for a king of france, especially in his minority, than for a republic 'hoc turbato seculo.' we all see clearly how some potentates in europe are keeping at all time under one pretext or another strong forces well armed on a war footing. it therefore behoves his majesty to be likewise provided with troops, and at least with a good exchequer and all the requirements of war, as well for the security of his own state as for the maintenance of the grandeur and laudable reputation left to him by the deceased king." truly here was sound and substantial advice, never and nowhere more needed than in france. it was given too with such good effect as to bear fruit even upon stoniest ground, and it is a refreshing spectacle to see this plain advocate of a republic, so lately sprung into existence out of the depths of oppression and rebellion, calmly summoning great kings as it were before him and instructing them in those vital duties of government in discharge of which the country he administered already furnished a model. had england and france each possessed a barneveld at that epoch, they might well have given in exchange for him a wilderness of epernons and sillerys, bouillons and conde's; of winwoods, lakes, carrs, and villierses. but elizabeth with her counsellors was gone, and henry was gone, and richelieu had not come; while in england james and his minions were diligently opening an abyss between government and people which in less than half a lifetime more should engulph the kingdom. two months later he informed the states' ambassador of the communications made by the prince of conde and the dukes of nevers and bouillon to the government at the hague now that they had effected a kind of reconciliation with the queen. langerac was especially instructed to do his best to assist in bringing about cordial relations, if that were possible, between the crown and the rebels, and meantime he was especially directed to defend du maurier against the calumnious accusations brought against him, of which aerssens had been the secret sower. "you will do your best to manage," he said, "that no special ambassador be sent hither, and that m. du maurier may remain with us, he being a very intelligent and moderate person now well instructed as to the state of our affairs, a professor of the reformed religion, and having many other good qualities serviceable to their majesties and to us. "you will visit the prince, and other princes and officers of the crown who are coming to court again, and do all good offices as well for the court as for m. du maurier, in order that through evil plots and slanderous reports no harm may come to him. "take great pains to find out all you can there as to the designs of the king of spain, the archdukes, and the emperor, in the affair of julich. you are also to let it be known that the change of religion on the part of the prince-palatine of neuburg will not change our good will and affection for him, so far as his legal claims are concerned." so long as it was possible for the states to retain their hold on both the claimants, the advocate, pursuant to his uniform policy of moderation, was not disposed to help throw the palatine into the hands of the spanish party. he was well aware, however, that neuburg by his marriage and his conversion was inevitably to become the instrument of the league and to be made use of in the duchies at its pleasure, and that he especially would be the first to submit with docility to the decree of the emperor. the right to issue such decree the states under guidance of barneveld were resolved to resist at all hazards. "work diligently, nevertheless," said he, "that they permit nothing there directly or indirectly that may tend to the furtherance of the league, as too prejudicial to us and to all our fellow religionists. tell them too that the late king, the king of great britain, the united electors and princes of germany, and ourselves, have always been resolutely opposed to making the dispute about the succession in the duchies depend on the will of the emperor and his court. all our movements in the year against the attempted sequestration under leopold were to carry out that purpose. hold it for certain that our present proceedings for strengthening and maintaining the city and fortress of julich are considered serviceable and indispensable by the british king and the german electors and princes. use your best efforts to induce the french government to pursue the same policy--if it be not possible openly, then at least secretly. my conviction is that, unless the prince-palatine is supported by, and his whole designs founded upon, the general league against all our brethren of the religion, affairs may be appeased." the envoy was likewise instructed to do his best to further the matrimonial alliance which had begun to be discussed between the prince of wales and the second daughter of france. had it been possible at that moment to bring the insane dream of james for a spanish alliance to naught, the states would have breathed more freely. he was also to urge payment of the money for the french regiments, always in arrears since henry's death and sully's dismissal, and always supplied by the exchequer of holland. he was informed that the republic had been sending some war ships to the levant, to watch the armada recently sent thither by spain, and other armed vessels into the baltic, to pursue the corsairs with whom every sea was infested. in one year alone he estimated the loss to dutch merchants by these pirates at , florins. "we have just captured two of the rovers, but the rascally scum is increasing," he said. again alluding to the resistance to be made by the states to the imperial pretensions, he observed, "the emperor is about sending us a herald in the julich matter, but we know how to stand up to him." and notwithstanding the bare possibility which he had admitted, that the prince of neuburg might not yet have wholly sold himself, body and soul, to the papists, he gave warning a day or two afterwards in france that all should be prepared for the worst. "the archdukes and the prince of neuburg appear to be taking the war earnestly in hand," he said. "we believe that the papistical league is about to make a great effort against all the co-religionists. we are watching closely their movements. aachen is first threatened, and the elector-palatine likewise. france surely, for reasons of state, cannot permit that they should be attacked. she did, and helped us to do, too much in the julich campaign to suffer the spaniards to make themselves masters there now." it has been seen that the part played by france in the memorable campaign of was that of admiring auxiliary to the states' forces; marshal de la chatre having in all things admitted the superiority of their army and the magnificent generalship of prince maurice. but the government of the dowager had been committed by that enterprise to carry out the life-long policy of henry, and to maintain his firm alliance with the republic. whether any of the great king's acuteness and vigour in countermining and shattering the plans of the house of austria was left in the french court, time was to show. meantime barneveld was crying himself hoarse with warnings into the dull ears of england and france. a few weeks later the prince of neuburg had thrown off the mask. twelve thousand foot and horse had been raised in great haste, so the advocate informed the french court, by spain and the archdukes, for the use of that pretender. five or six thousand spaniards were coming by sea to flanders, and as many italians were crossing the mountains, besides a great number mustering for the same purpose in germany and lorraine. barneveld was constantly receiving most important intelligence of military plans and movements from prague, which he placed daily before the eyes of governments wilfully blind. "i ponder well at this crisis," he said to his friend caron, "the intelligence i received some months back from ratisbon, out of the cabinet of the jesuits, that the design of the catholic or roman league is to bring this year a great army into the field, in order to make neuburg, who was even then said to be of the roman profession and league, master of julich and the duchies; to execute the imperial decree against aachen and mulheim, preventing any aid from being sent into germany by these provinces, or by great britain, and placing the archduke and marquis spinola in command of the forces; to put another army on the frontiers of austria, in order to prevent any succour coming from hungary, bohemia, austria, moravia, and silesia into germany; to keep all these disputed territories in subjection and devotion to the emperor, and to place the general conduct of all these affairs in the hands of archduke leopold and other princes of the house of austria. a third army is to be brought into the upper palatinate, under command of the duke of bavaria and others of the league, destined to thoroughly carry out its designs against the elector-palatine, and the other electors, princes, and estates belonging to the religion." this intelligence, plucked by barneveld out of the cabinet of the jesuits, had been duly communicated by him months before to those whom it most concerned, and as usual it seemed to deepen the lethargy of the destined victims and their friends. not only the whole spanish campaign of the present year had thus been duly mapped out by the advocate, long before it occurred, but this long buried and forgotten correspondence of the statesman seems rather like a chronicle of transactions already past, so closely did the actual record, which posterity came to know too well, resemble that which he saw, and was destined only to see, in prophetic vision. could this political seer have cast his horoscope of the thirty years' war at this hour of its nativity for the instruction of such men as walsingham or burleigh, henry of navarre or sully, richelieu or gustavus adolphus, would the course of events have been modified? these very idlest of questions are precisely those which inevitably occur as one ponders the seeming barrenness of an epoch in reality so pregnant. "one would think," said barneveld, comparing what was then the future with the real past, "that these plans in prague against the elector-palatine are too gross for belief; but when i reflect on the intense bitterness of these people, when i remember what was done within living men's memory to the good elector hans frederic of saxony for exactly the same reasons, to wit, hatred of our religion, and determination to establish imperial authority, i have great apprehension. i believe that the roman league will use the present occasion to carry out her great design; holding france incapable of opposition to her, germany in too great division, and imagining to themselves that neither the king of great britain nor these states are willing or able to offer effectual and forcible resistance. yet his majesty of great britain ought to be able to imagine how greatly the religious matter in general concerns himself and the electoral house of the palatine, as principal heads of the religion, and that these vast designs should be resisted betimes, and with all possible means and might. my lords the states have good will, but not sufficient strength, to oppose these great forces single-handed. one must not believe that without great and prompt assistance in force from his majesty and other fellow religionists my lords the states can undertake so vast an affair. do your uttermost duty there, in order that, ere it be too late, this matter be taken to heart by his majesty, and that his authority and credit be earnestly used with other kings, electors, princes, and republics, that they do likewise. the promptest energy, good will, and affection may be reckoned on from us." alas! it was easy for his majesty to take to heart the matter of conrad vorstius, to spend reams of diplomatic correspondence, to dictate whole volumes for orations brimming over with theological wrath, for the edification of the states-general, against that doctor of divinity. but what were the special interests of his son-in-law, what the danger to all the other protestant electors and kings, princes and republics, what the imperilled condition of the united provinces, and, by necessary consequence, the storm gathering over his own throne, what the whole fate of protestantism, from friesland to hungary, threatened by the insatiable, all-devouring might of the double house of austria, the ancient church, and the papistical league, what were hundred thousands of men marching towards bohemia, the netherlands, and the duchies, with the drum beating for mercenary recruits in half the villages of spain, italy, and catholic germany, compared with the danger to christendom from an arminian clergyman being appointed to the theological professorship at leyden? the world was in a blaze, kings and princes were arming, and all the time that the monarch of the powerful, adventurous, and heroic people of great britain could spare from slobbering over his minions, and wasting the treasures of the realm to supply their insatiate greed, was devoted to polemical divinity, in which he displayed his learning, indeed, but changed his positions and contradicted himself day by day. the magnitude of this wonderful sovereign's littleness oppresses the imagination. moreover, should he listen to the adjurations of the states and his fellow religionists, should he allow himself to be impressed by the eloquence of barneveld and take a manly and royal decision in the great emergency, it would be indispensable for him to come before that odious body, the parliament of great britain, and ask for money. it would be perhaps necessary for him to take them into his confidence, to degrade himself by speaking to them of the national affairs. they might not be satisfied with the honour of voting the supplies at his demand, but were capable of asking questions as to their appropriation. on the whole it was more king-like and statesman-like to remain quiet, and give advice. of that, although always a spendthrift, he had an inexhaustible supply. barneveld had just hopes from the commons of great britain, if the king could be brought to appeal to parliament. once more he sounded the bugle of alarm. "day by day the archdukes are making greater and greater enrolments of riders and infantry in ever increasing mass," he cried, "and therewith vast provision of artillery and all munitions of war. within ten or twelve days they will be before julich in force. we are sending great convoys to reinforce our army there. the prince of neuburg is enrolling more and more troops every day. he will soon be master of mulheim. if the king of great britain will lay this matter earnestly to heart for the preservation of the princes, electors, and estates of the religion, i cannot doubt that parliament would cooperate well with his majesty, and this occasion should be made use of to redress the whole state of affairs." it was not the parliament nor the people of great britain that would be in fault when the question arose of paying in money and in blood for the defence of civil and religious liberty. but if james should venture openly to oppose spain, what would the count of gondemar say, and what would become of the infanta and the two millions of dowry? it was not for want of some glimmering consciousness in the mind of james of the impending dangers to northern europe and to protestantism from the insatiable ambition of spain, and the unrelenting grasp of the papacy upon those portions of christendom which were slipping from its control, that his apathy to those perils was so marked. we have seen his leading motives for inaction, and the world was long to feel its effects. "his majesty firmly believes," wrote secretary winwood, "that the papistical league is brewing great and dangerous plots. to obviate them in everything that may depend upon him, my lords the states will find him prompt. the source of all these entanglements comes from spain. we do not think that the archduke will attack julich this year, but rather fear for mulheim and aix-la-chapelle." but the secretary of state, thus acknowledging the peril, chose to be blind to its extent, while at the same time undervaluing the powers by which it might be resisted. "to oppose the violence of the enemy," he said, "if he does resort to violence, is entirely impossible. it would be furious madness on our part to induce him to fall upon the elector-palatine, for this would be attacking great britain and all her friends and allies. germany is a delicate morsel, but too much for the throat of spain to swallow all at once. behold the evil which troubles the conscience of the papistical league. the emperor and his brothers are all on the brink of their sepulchre, and the infants of spain are too young to succeed to the empire. the pope would more willingly permit its dissolution than its falling into the hands of a prince not of his profession. all that we have to do in this conjuncture is to attend the best we can to our own affairs, and afterwards to strengthen the good alliance existing among us, and not to let ourselves be separated by the tricks and sleights of hand of our adversaries. the common cause can reckon firmly upon the king of great britain, and will not find itself deceived." excellent commonplaces, but not very safe ones. unluckily for the allies, to attend each to his own affairs when the enemy was upon them, and to reckon firmly upon a king who thought it furious madness to resist the enemy, was hardly the way to avert the danger. a fortnight later, the man who thought it possible to resist, and time to resist, before the net was over every head, replied to the secretary by a picture of the spaniards' progress. "since your letter," he said, "you have seen the course of spinola with the army of the king and the archdukes. you have seen the prince-palatine of neuburg with his forces maintained by the pope and other members of the papistical league. on the th of august they forced aachen, where the magistrates and those of the reformed religion have been extremely maltreated. twelve hundred soldiers are lodged in the houses there of those who profess our religion. mulheim is taken and dismantled, and the very houses about to be torn down. duren, castre, grevenborg, orsoy, duisburg, ruhrort, and many other towns, obliged to receive spanish garrisons. on the th of september they invested wesel. on the th it was held certain that the cities of cleve, emmerich, rees, and others in that quarter, had consented to be occupied. the states have put one hundred and thirty-five companies of foot (about , men) and horse and a good train of artillery in the field, and sent out some ships of war. prince maurice left the hague on the th of september to assist wesel, succour the prince of brandenburg, and oppose the hostile proceedings of spinola and the palatine of neuburg . . . . consider, i pray you, this state of things, and think how much heed they have paid to the demands of the kings of great britain and france to abstain from hostilities. be sure that without our strong garrison in julich they would have snapped up every city in julich, cleve, and berg. but they will now try to make use of their slippery tricks, their progress having been arrested by our army. the prince of neuburg is sending his chancellor here 'cum mediis componendae pacis,' in appearance good and reasonable, in reality deceptive . . . . if their majesties, my lords the states, and the princes of the union, do not take an energetic resolution for making head against their designs, behold their league in full vigour and ours without soul. neither the strength nor the wealth of the states are sufficient of themselves to withstand their ambitious and dangerous designs. we see the possessory princes treated as enemies upon their own estates, and many thousand souls of the reformed religion cruelly oppressed by the papistical league. for myself i am confirmed in my apprehensions and believe that neither our religion nor our union can endure such indignities. the enemy is making use of the minority in france and the divisions among the princes of germany to their great advantage . . . . i believe that the singular wisdom of his majesty will enable him to apply promptly the suitable remedies, and that your parliament will make no difficulty in acquitting itself well in repairing those disorders." the year dragged on to its close. the supineness of the protestants deepened in direct proportion to the feverish increase of activity on the part of austria and the league. the mockery of negotiation in which nothing could be negotiated, the parade of conciliation when war of extermination was intended, continued on the part of spain and austria. barneveld was doing his best to settle all minor differences between the states and great britain, that these two bulwarks of protestantism might stand firmly together against the rising tide. he instructed the ambassador to exhaust every pacific means of arrangement in regard to the greenland fishery disputes, the dyed cloth question, and like causes of ill feeling. he held it more than necessary, he said, that the inhabitants of the two countries should now be on the very best terms with each other. above all, he implored the king through the ambassador to summon parliament in order that the kingdom might be placed in position to face the gathering danger. "i am amazed and distressed," he said, "that the statesmen of england do not comprehend the perils with which their fellow religionists are everywhere threatened, especially in germany and in these states. to assist us with bare advice and sometimes with traducing our actions, while leaving us to bear alone the burthens, costs, and dangers, is not serviceable to us." referring to the information and advice which he had sent to england and to france fifteen months before, he now gave assurance that the prince of neuburg and spinola were now in such force, both foot and cavalry, with all necessary munitions, as to hold these most important territories as a perpetual "sedem bedli," out of which to attack germany at their pleasure and to cut off all possibility of aid from england and the states. he informed the court of st. james that besides the forces of the emperor and the house of austria, the duke of bavaria and spanish italy, there were now several thousand horse and foot under the bishop of wurzburg, or under the bishop-elector of mayence, and strong bodies of cavalry under count vaudemont in lorraine, all mustering for the war. the pretext seems merely to reduce frankfurt to obedience, even as donauworth had previously been used as a colour for vast designs. the real purpose was to bring the elector-palatine and the whole protestant party in germany to submission. "his majesty," said the advocate, "has now a very great and good subject upon which to convoke parliament and ask for a large grant. this would be doubtless consented to if parliament receives the assurance that the money thus accorded shall be applied to so wholesome a purpose. you will do your best to further this great end. we are waiting daily to hear if the xanten negotiation is broken off or not. i hope and i fear. meantime we bear as heavy burthens as if we were actually at war." he added once more the warning, which it would seem superfluous to repeat even to schoolboys in diplomacy, that this xanten treaty, as proposed by the enemy, was a mere trap. spinola and neuburg, in case of the mutual disbanding, stood ready at an instant's warning to re-enlist for the league not only all the troops that the catholic army should nominally discharge, but those which would be let loose from the states' army and that of brandenburg as well. they would hold rheinberg, groll, lingen, oldenzaal, wachtendonk, maestricht, aachen, and mulheim with a permanent force of more than , men. and they could do all this in four days' time. a week or two later all his prophesies had been fulfilled. "the prince of neuburg," he said, "and marquis spinola have made game of us most impudently in the matter of the treaty. this is an indignity for us, their majesties, and the electors and princes. we regard it as intolerable. a despatch came from spain forbidding a further step in the negotiation without express order from the king. the prince and spinola are gone to brussels, the ambassadors have returned to the hague, the armies are established in winter-quarters. the cavalry are ravaging the debateable land and living upon the inhabitants at their discretion. m. de refuge is gone to complain to the archdukes of the insult thus put upon his sovereign. sir henry wotton is still here. we have been plunged into an immensity of extraordinary expense, and are amazed that at this very moment england should demand money from us when we ought to be assisted by a large subsidy by her. we hope that now at least his majesty will take a vigorous resolution and not suffer his grandeur and dignity to be vilipended longer. if the spaniard is successful in this step, he is ready for greater ones, and will believe that mankind is ready to bear and submit to everything. his majesty is the first king of the religion. he bears the title of defender of the faith. his religion, his only daughter, his son-in-law, his grandson are all especially interested besides his own dignity, besides the common weal." he then adverted to the large subsidies from queen elizabeth many years before, guaranteed, it was true, by the cautionary towns, and to the gallant english regiments, sent by that great sovereign, which had been fighting so long and so splendidly in the netherlands for the common cause of protestantism and liberty. yet england was far weaker then, for she had always her northern frontier to defend against scotland, ever ready to strike her in the back. "but now his majesty," said barneveld, "is king of england and scotland both. his frontier is free. ireland is at peace. he possesses quietly twice as much as the queen ever did. he is a king. her majesty was a woman. the king has children and heirs. his nearest blood is engaged in this issue. his grandeur and dignity have been wronged. each one of these considerations demands of itself a manly resolution. you will do your best to further it." the almost ubiquitous power of spain, gaining after its exhaustion new life through the strongly developed organization of the league, and the energy breathed into that mighty conspiracy against human liberty by the infinite genius of the "cabinet of jesuits," was not content with overshadowing germany, the netherlands, and england, but was threatening savoy with , men, determined to bring charles emmanuel either to perdition or submission. like england, france was spell-bound by the prospect of spanish marriages, which for her at least were not a chimera, and looked on composedly while savoy was on point of being sacrificed by the common invader of independent nationality whether protestant or catholic. nothing ever showed more strikingly the force residing in singleness of purpose with breadth and unity of design than all these primary movements of the great war now beginning. the chances superficially considered were vastly in favour of the protestant cause. in the chief lands, under the sceptre of the younger branch of austria, the protestants outnumbered the catholics by nearly ten to one. bohemia, the austrias, moravia, silesia, hungary were filled full of the spirit of huss, of luther, and even of calvin. if spain was a unit, now that the moors and jews had been expelled, and the heretics of castille and aragon burnt into submission, she had a most lukewarm ally in venice, whose policy was never controlled by the church, and a dangerous neighbour in the warlike, restless, and adventurous house of savoy, to whom geographical considerations were ever more vital than religious scruples. a sincere alliance of france, the very flower of whose nobility and people inclined to the reformed religion, was impossible, even if there had been fifty infantes to espouse fifty daughters of france. great britain, the netherlands, and the united princes of germany seemed a solid and serried phalanx of protestantism, to break through which should be hopeless. yet at that moment, so pregnant with a monstrous future, there was hardly a sound protestant policy anywhere but in holland. how long would that policy remain sound and united? how long would the republic speak through the imperial voice of barneveld? time was to show and to teach many lessons. the united princes of germany were walking, talking, quarrelling in their sleep; england and france distracted and bedrugged, while maximilian of bavaria and ferdinand of gratz, the cabinets of madrid and the vatican, were moving forward to their aims slowly, steadily, relentlessly as fate. and spain was more powerful than she had been since the truce began. in five years she had become much more capable of aggression. she had strengthened her positions in the mediterranean by the acquisition and enlargement of considerable fortresses in barbary and along a large sweep of the african coast, so as to be almost supreme in africa. it was necessary for the states, the only power save turkey that could face her in those waters, to maintain a perpetual squadron of war ships there to defend their commerce against attack from the spaniard and from the corsairs, both mahometan and christian, who infested every sea. spain was redoubtable everywhere, and the turk, engaged in persian campaigns, was offering no diversion against hungary and vienna. "reasons of state worthy of his majesty's consideration and wisdom," said barneveld, "forbid the king of great britain from permitting the spaniard to give the law in italy. he is about to extort obedience and humiliation from the duke of savoy, or else with , men to mortify and ruin him, while entirely assuring himself of france by the double marriages. then comes the attack on these provinces, on protestant germany, and all other states and realms of the religion." with the turn of the year, affairs were growing darker and darker. the league was rolling up its forces in all directions; its chiefs proposed absurd conditions of pacification, while war was already raging, and yet scarcely any government but that of the netherlands paid heed to the rising storm. james, fatuous as ever, listened to gondemar, and wrote admonitory letters to the archduke. it was still gravely proposed by the catholic party that there should be mutual disbanding in the duchies, with a guarantee from marquis spinola that there should be no more invasion of those territories. but powers and pledges from the king of spain were what he needed. to suppose that the republic and her allies would wait quietly, and not lift a finger until blows were actually struck against the protestant electors or cities of germany, was expecting too much ingenuousness on the part of statesmen who had the interests of protestantism at heart. what they wanted was the signed, sealed, ratified treaty faithfully carried out. then if the king of spain and the archdukes were willing to contract with the states never to make an attempt against the holy german empire, but to leave everything to take its course according to the constitutions, liberties, and traditions and laws of that empire, under guidance of its electors, princes, estates, and cities, the united provinces were ready, under mediation of the two kings, their allies and friends, to join in such an arrangement. thus there might still be peace in germany, and religious equality as guaranteed by the "majesty-letter," and the "compromise" between the two great churches, roman and reformed, be maintained. to bring about this result was the sincere endeavour of barneveld, hoping against hope. for he knew that all was hollowness and sham on the part of the great enemy. even as walsingham almost alone had suspected and denounced the delusive negotiations by which spain continued to deceive elizabeth and her diplomatists until the armada was upon her coasts, and denounced them to ears that were deafened and souls that were stupified by the frauds practised upon them, so did barneveld, who had witnessed all that stupendous trickery of a generation before, now utter his cries of warning that germany might escape in time from her impending doom. "nothing but deceit is lurking in the spanish proposals," he said. "every man here wonders that the english government does not comprehend these malversations. truly the affair is not to be made straight by new propositions, but by a vigorous resolution of his majesty. it is in the highest degree necessary to the salvation of christendom, to the conservation of his majesty's dignity and greatness, to the service of the princes and provinces, and of all germany, nor can this vigorous resolution be longer delayed without enormous disaster to the common weal . . . . . i have the deepest affection for the cause of the duke of savoy, but i cannot further it so long as i cannot tell what his majesty specifically is resolved to do, and what hope is held out from venice, germany, and other quarters. our taxes are prodigious, the ordinary and extraordinary, and we have a spanish army at our front door." the armaments, already so great, had been enlarged during the last month of the year. vaudemont was at the head of a further force of cavalry and foot, paid for by spain and the pope; , additional soldiers, riders and infantry together, had been gathered by maximilian of bavaria at the expense of the league. even if the reports were exaggerated, the advocate thought it better to be too credulous than as apathetic as the rest of the protestants. "we receive advices every day," he wrote to caron, "that the spaniards and the roman league are going forward with their design. they are trying to amuse the british king and to gain time, in order to be able to deal the heavier blows. do all possible duty to procure a timely and vigorous resolution there. to wait again until we are anticipated will be fatal to the cause of the evangelical electors and princes of germany and especially of his electoral highness of brandenburg. we likewise should almost certainly suffer irreparable damage, and should again bear our cross, as men said last year in regard to aachen, wesel, and so many other places. the spaniard is sly, and has had a long time to contrive how he can throw the net over the heads of all our religious allies. remember all the warnings sent from here last year, and how they were all tossed to the winds, to the ruin of so many of our co-religionists. if it is now intended over there to keep the spaniards in check merely by speeches or letters, it would be better to say so clearly to our friends. so long as parliament is not convoked in order to obtain consents and subsidies for this most necessary purpose, so long i fail to believe that this great common cause of christendom, and especially of germany, is taken to heart by england." he adverted with respectfully subdued scorn to king james's proposition that spinola should give a guarantee. "i doubt if he accepts the suggestion," said barneveld, "unless as a notorious trick, and if he did, what good would the promise of spinola do us? we consider spinola a great commander having the purses and forces of the spaniards and the leaguers in his control; but should they come into other hands, he would not be a very considerable personage for us. and that may happen any day. they don't seem in england to understand the difference between prince maurice in his relations to our state and that of marquis spinola to his superiors. try to make them comprehend it. a promise from the emperor, king of spain, and the princes of the league, such as his majesty in his wisdom has proposed to spinola, would be most tranquillizing for all the protestant princes and estates of the empire, especially for the elector and electress palatine, and for ourselves. in such a case no difficulty would be made on our side." after expressing his mind thus freely in regard to james and his policy, he then gave the ambassador a word of caution in characteristic fashion. "cogita," he said, "but beware of censuring his majesty's projects. i do not myself mean to censure them, nor are they publicly laughed at here, but look closely at everything that comes from brussels, and let me know with diligence." and even as the advocate was endeavouring with every effort of his skill and reason to stir the sluggish james into vigorous resolution in behalf of his own children, as well as of the great cause of protestantism and national liberty, so was he striving to bear up on his strenuous shoulders the youthful king of france, and save him from the swollen tides of court intrigue and jesuitical influence fast sweeping him to destruction. he had denounced the recent and paltry proposition made on the part of the league, and originally suggested by james, as a most open and transparent trap, into which none but the blind would thrust themselves. the treaty of xanten, carried out as it had been signed and guaranteed by the great catholic powers, would have brought peace to christendom. to accept in place of such guarantee the pledge of a simple soldier, who to-morrow might be nothing, was almost too ridiculous a proposal to be answered gravely. yet barneveld through the machinations of the catholic party was denounced both at the english and french courts as an obstacle to peace, when in reality his powerful mind and his immense industry were steadily directed to the noblest possible end--to bring about a solemn engagement on the part of spain, the emperor, and the princes of the league, to attack none of the protestant powers of germany, especially the elector-palatine, but to leave the laws, liberties, and privileges of the states within the empire in their original condition. and among those laws were the great statutes of and , the "majesty-letter" and the "compromise," granting full right of religious worship to the protestants of the kingdom of bohemia. if ever a policy deserved to be called truly liberal and truly conservative, it was the policy thus steadily maintained by barneveld. adverting to the subterfuge by which the catholic party had sought to set aside the treaty of xanten, he instructed langerac, the states' ambassador in paris, and his own pupils to make it clear to the french government that it was impossible that in such arrangements the spanish armies would not be back again in the duchies at a moment's notice. it could not be imagined even that they were acting sincerely. "if their upright intention," he said, "is that no actual, hostile, violent attack shall be made upon the duchies, or upon any of the princes, estates, or cities of the holy empire, as is required for the peace and tranquillity of christendom, and if all the powers interested therein will come into a good and solid convention to that effect. my lords the states will gladly join in such undertaking and bind themselves as firmly as the other powers. if no infraction of the laws and liberties of the holy empire be attempted, there will be peace for germany and its neighbours. but the present extravagant proposition can only lead to chicane and quarrels. to press such a measure is merely to inflict a disgrace upon us. it is an attempt to prevent us from helping the elector-palatine and the other protestant princes of germany and coreligionists everywhere against hostile violence. for the elector-palatine can receive aid from us and from great britain through the duchies only. it is plainly the object of the enemy to seclude us from the palatine and the rest of protestant germany. it is very suspicious that the proposition of prince maurice, supported by the two kings and the united princes of germany, has been rejected." the advocate knew well enough that the religious franchises granted by the house of habsburg at the very moment in which spain signed her peace with the netherlands, and exactly as the mad duke of cleve was expiring--with a dozen princes, catholic and protestant, to dispute his inheritance--would be valuable just so long as they could be maintained by the united forces of protestantism and of national independence and no longer. what had been extorted from the catholic powers by force would be retracted by force whenever that force could be concentrated. it had been necessary for the republic to accept a twelve years' truce with spain in default of a peace, while the death of john of cleve, and subsequently of henry iv., had made the acquisition of a permanent pacification between catholicism and protestantism, between the league and the union, more difficult than ever. the so-called thirty years' war--rather to be called the concluding portion of the eighty years' war--had opened in the debateable duchies exactly at the moment when its forerunner, the forty years' war of the netherlands, had been temporarily and nominally suspended. barneveld was perpetually baffled in his efforts to obtain a favourable peace for protestant europe, less by the open diplomacy and military force of the avowed enemies of protestantism than by the secret intrigues and faintheartedness of its nominal friends. he was unwearied in his efforts simultaneously to arouse the courts of england and france to the danger to europe from the overshadowing power of the house of austria and the league, and he had less difficulty in dealing with the catholic lewis and his mother than with protestant james. at the present moment his great designs were not yet openly traversed by a strong protestant party within the very republic which he administered. "look to it with earnestness and grave deliberation," he said to langerac, "that they do not pursue us there with vain importunity to accept something so notoriously inadmissible and detrimental to the common weal. we know that from the enemy's side every kind of unseemly trick is employed, with the single object of bringing about misunderstanding between us and the king of france. a prompt and vigorous resolution on the part of his majesty, to see the treaty which we made duly executed, would be to help the cause. otherwise, not. we cannot here believe that his majesty, in this first year of his majority, will submit to such a notorious and flagrant affront, or that he will tolerate the oppression of the duke of savoy. such an affair in the beginning of his majesty's reign cannot but have very great and prejudicial consequences, nor can it be left to linger on in uncertainty and delay. let him be prompt in this. let him also take a most christian--kingly, vigorous resolution against the great affront put upon him in the failure to carry out the treaty. such a resolve on the part of the two kings would restore all things to tranquillity and bring the spaniard and his adherents 'in terminos modestiae. but so long as france is keeping a suspicious eye upon england, and england upon france, everything will run to combustion, detrimental to their majesties and to us, and ruinous to all the good inhabitants." to the treaty of xanten faithfully executed he held as to an anchor in the tempest until it was torn away, not by violence from without, but by insidious mutiny within. at last the government of james proposed that the pledges on leaving the territory should be made to the two allied kings as mediators and umpires. this was better than the naked promises originally suggested, but even in this there was neither heartiness nor sincerity. meantime the prince of neuburg, negotiations being broken off, departed for germany, a step which the advocate considered ominous. soon afterwards that prince received a yearly pension of , crowns from spain, and for this stipend his claims on the sovereignty of the duchies were supposed to be surrendered. "if this be true," said barneveld, "we have been served with covered dishes." the king of england wrote spirited and learned letters to the elector-palatine, assuring him of his father-in-law's assistance in case he should be attacked by the league. sir henry wotton, then on special mission at the hague, showed these epistles to barneveld. "when i hear that parliament has been assembled and has granted great subsidies," was the advocate's comment, "i shall believe that effects may possibly follow from all these assurances." it was wearisome for the advocate thus ever to be foiled; by the pettinesses and jealousies of those occupying the highest earthly places, in his efforts to stem the rising tide of spanish and catholic aggression, and to avert the outbreak of a devastating war to which he saw europe doomed. it may be wearisome to read the record. yet it is the chronicle of christendom during one of the most important and fateful epochs of modern history. no man can thoroughly understand the complication and precession of phenomena attending the disastrous dawn of the renewed war, on an even more awful scale than the original conflict in the netherlands, without studying the correspondence of barneveld. the history of europe is there. the fate of christendom is there. the conflict of elements, the crash of contending forms of religion and of nationalities, is pictured there in vivid if homely colours. the advocate, while acting only in the name of a slender confederacy, was in truth, so long as he held his place, the prime minister of european protestantism. there was none other to rival him, few to comprehend him, fewer still to sustain him. as prince maurice was at that moment the great soldier of protestantism without clearly scanning the grandeur of the field in which he was a chief actor, or foreseeing the vastness of its future, so the advocate was its statesman and its prophet. could the two have worked together as harmoniously as they had done at an earlier day, it would have been a blessing for the common weal of europe. but, alas! the evil genius of jealousy, which so often forbids cordial relations between soldier and statesman, already stood shrouded in the distance, darkly menacing the strenuous patriot, who was wearing his life out in exertions for what he deemed the true cause of progress and humanity. nor can the fate of the man himself, his genuine character, and the extraordinary personal events towards which he was slowly advancing, be accurately unfolded without an attempt by means of his letters to lay bare his inmost thoughts. especially it will be seen at a later moment how much value was attached to this secret correspondence with the ambassadors in london and paris. the advocate trusted to the support of france, papal and medicean as the court of the young king was, because the protestant party throughout the kingdom was too powerful, warlike, and numerous to be trifled with, and because geographical considerations alone rendered a cordial alliance between spain and france very difficult. notwithstanding the spanish marriages, which he opposed so long as opposition was possible, he knew that so long as a statesman remained in the kingdom, or a bone for one existed, the international policy of henry, of sully, and of jeannin could not be wholly abandoned. he relied much on villeroy, a political hack certainly, an ancient leaguer, and a papist, but a man too cool, experienced, and wily to be ignorant of the very hornbook of diplomacy, or open to the shallow stratagems by which spain found it so easy to purchase or to deceive. so long as he had a voice in the council, it was certain that the netherland alliance would not be abandoned, nor the duke of savoy crushed. the old secretary of state was not especially in favour at that moment, but barneveld could not doubt his permanent place in french affairs until some man of real power should arise there. it was a dreary period of barrenness and disintegration in that kingdom while france was mourning henry and waiting for richelieu. the dutch ambassador at paris was instructed accordingly to maintain. good relations with villeroy, who in barneveld's opinion had been a constant and sincere friend to the netherlands. "don't forget to caress the old gentleman you wot of," said the advocate frequently, but suppressing his name, "without troubling yourself with the reasons mentioned in your letter. i am firmly convinced that he will overcome all difficulties. don't believe either that france will let the duke of savoy be ruined. it is against every reason of state." yet there were few to help charles emmanuel in this montferrat war, which was destined to drag feebly on, with certain interludes of negotiations, for two years longer. the already notorious condottiere ernest mansfeld, natural son of old prince peter ernest, who played so long and so high a part in command of the spanish armies in the netherlands, had, to be sure, taken service under the duke. thenceforth he was to be a leader and a master in that wild business of plunder, burning, blackmailing, and murder, which was opening upon europe, and was to afford occupation for many thousands of adventurers of high and low degree. mansfeld, reckless and profligate, had already changed his banner more than once. commanding a company under leopold in the duchies, he had been captured by the forces of the union, and, after waiting in vain to be ransomed by the archduke, had gone secretly over to the enemy. thus recovering his liberty, he had enlisted a regiment under leopold's name to fight the union, and had then, according to contract, transferred himself and most of his adventurers to the flag of the union. the military operations fading away in the duchies without being succeeded by permanent peace, the count, as he was called, with no particular claim to such title, had accepted a thousand florins a year as retainer from the union and had found occupation under charles emmanuel. here the spanish soldier of a year or two before found much satisfaction and some profit in fighting spanish soldiers. he was destined to reappear in the netherlands, in france, in bohemia, in many places where there were villages to be burned, churches to be plundered, cities to be sacked, nuns and other women to be outraged, dangerous political intrigues to be managed. a man in the prime of his age, fair-haired, prematurely wrinkled, battered, and hideous of visage, with a hare-lip and a humpback; slovenly of dress, and always wearing an old grey hat without a band to it; audacious, cruel, crafty, and licentious--such was ernest mansfeld, whom some of his contemporaries spoke of as ulysses germanicus, others as the new attila, all as a scourge to the human race. the cockneys of paris called him "machefer," and nurses long kept children quiet by threatening them with that word. he was now enrolled on the protestant side, although at the moment serving savoy against spain in a question purely personal. his armies, whether in italy or in germany, were a miscellaneous collection of adventurers of high and low degree, of all religions, of all countries, unfrocked priests and students, ruined nobles, bankrupt citizens, street vagabonds--earliest type perhaps of the horrible military vermin which were destined to feed so many years long on the unfortunate dismembered carcass of germany. many demands had been made upon the states for assistance to savoy,--as if they and they alone were to bear the brunt and pay the expense of all the initiatory campaigns against spain. "we are much importuned," said the advocate, "to do something for the help of savoy . . . . we wish and we implore that france, great britain, the german princes, the venetians, and the swiss would join us in some scheme of effective assistance. but we have enough on our shoulders at this moment." they had hardly money enough in their exchequer, admirably ordered as it was, for enterprises so far from home when great spanish armies were permanently encamped on their border. partly to humour king james and partly from love of adventure, count john of nassau had gone to savoy at the head of a small well disciplined body of troops furnished by the states. "make use of this piece of news," said barneveld, communicating the fact to langerac, "opportunely and with discretion. besides the wish to give some contentment to the king of great britain, we consider it inconsistent with good conscience and reasons of state to refuse help to a great prince against oppression by those who mean to give the law to everybody; especially as we have been so earnestly and frequently importuned to do so." and still the spaniards and the league kept their hold on the duchies, while their forces, their munitions, their accumulation of funds waged hourly. the war of chicane was even more deadly than an actual campaign, for when there was no positive fighting the whole world seemed against the republic. and the chicane was colossal. "we cannot understand," said barneveld, "why m. de prevaulx is coming here on special mission. when a treaty is signed and sealed, it only remains to execute it. the archduke says he is himself not known in the treaty, and that nothing can be demanded of him in relation to it. this he says in his letters to the king of great britain. m. de refuge knows best whether or not marquis spinola, ottavio visconti, chancellor pecquius, and others, were employed in the negotiation by the archduke. we know very well here that the whole business was conducted by them. the archduke is willing to give a clean and sincere promise not to re-occupy, and asks the same from the states. if he were empowered by the emperor, the king of spain, and the league, and acted in such quality, something might be done for the tranquillity of germany. but he promises for himself only, and emperor, king, or league, may send any general to do what they like to-morrow. what is to prevent it? "and so my lords the states, the elector of brandenburg, and others interested are cheated and made fools of. and we are as much troubled by these tricks as by armed force. yes, more; for we know that great enterprises are preparing this year against germany and ourselves, that all neuburg's troops have been disbanded and re-enlisted under the spanish commanders, and that forces are levying not only in italy and spain, but in germany, lorraine, luxemburg, and upper burgundy, and that wesel has been stuffed full of gunpowder and other munitions, and very strongly fortified." for the states to agree to a treaty by which the disputed duchies should be held jointly by the princes of neuburg and of brandenburg, and the territory be evacuated by all foreign troops; to look quietly on while neuburg converted himself to catholicism, espoused the sister of maximilian of bavaria, took a pension from spain, resigned his claims in favour of spain, and transferred his army to spain; and to expect that brandenburg and all interested in brandenburg, that is to say, every protestant in europe, should feel perfectly easy under such arrangement and perfectly protected by the simple promise of a soldier of fortune against catholic aggression, was a fantastic folly hardly worthy of a child. yet the states were asked to accept this position, brandenburg and all protestant germany were asked to accept it, and barneveld was howled at by his allies as a marplot and mischief-maker, and denounced and insulted by diplomatists daily, because he mercilessly tore away the sophistries of the league and of the league's secret friend, james stuart. the king of spain had more than , men under arms, and was enlisting more soldiers everywhere and every day, had just deposited , , crowns with his antwerp bankers for a secret purpose, and all the time was exuberant in his assurances of peace. one would have thought that there had never been negotiations in bourbourg, that the spanish armada had never sailed from coruna. "you are wise and prudent in france," said the advocate, "but we are used to spanish proceedings, and from much disaster sustained are filled with distrust. the king of england seems now to wish that the archduke should draw up a document according to his good pleasure, and that the states should make an explanatory deed, which the king should sign also and ask the king of france to do the same. but this is very hazardous. "we do not mean to receive laws from the king of spain, nor the archduke . . . . the spanish proceedings do not indicate peace but war. one must not take it ill of us that we think these matters of grave importance to our friends and ourselves. affairs have changed very much in the last four months. the murder of the first vizier of the turkish emperor and his designs against persia leave the spanish king and the emperor free from attack in that quarter, and their armaments are far greater than last year . . . . i cannot understand why the treaty of xanten, formerly so highly applauded, should now be so much disapproved. . . . the king of spain and the emperor with their party have a vast design to give the law to all christendom, to choose a roman king according to their will, to reduce the evangelical electors, princes, and estates of germany to obedience, to subject all italy, and, having accomplished this, to proceed to triumph over us and our allies, and by necessary consequence over france and england. they say they have established the emperor's authority by means of aachen and mulheim, will soon have driven us out of julich, and have thus arranged matters entirely to their heart's content. they can then, in name of the emperor, the league, the prince of neuburg, or any one else, make themselves in eight days masters of the places which they are now imaginarily to leave as well as of those which we are actually to surrender, and by possession of which we could hold out a long time against all their power." those very places held by the states--julich, emmerich, and others--had recently been fortified at much expense, under the superintendence of prince maurice, and by advice of the advocate. it would certainly be an act of madness to surrender them on the terms proposed. these warnings and forebodings of barneveld sound in our ears like recorded history, yet they were far earlier than the actual facts. and now to please the english king, the states had listened to his suggestion that his name and that of the king of france should be signed as mediators to a new arrangement proposed in lieu of the xanten treaty. james had suggested this, lewis had agreed to it. yet before the ink had dried in james's pen, he was proposing that the names of the mediating sovereigns should be omitted from the document? and why? because gondemar was again whispering in his ear. "they are renewing the negotiations in england," said the advocate, "about the alliance between the prince of wales and the second daughter of spain; and the king of great britain is seriously importuning us that the archdukes and my lords the states should make their pledges 'impersonaliter' and not to the kings." james was also willing that the name of the emperor should appear upon it. to prevent this, barneveld would have had himself burned at the stake. it would be an ignominious and unconditional surrender of the whole cause. "the archduke will never be contented," said the advocate, "unless his majesty of great britain takes a royal resolution to bring him to reason. that he tries to lay the fault on us is pure malice. we have been ready and are still ready to execute the treaty of xanten. the archduke is the cause of the dispute concerning the act. we approved the formularies of their majesties, and have changed them three times to suit the king of great britain. our provincial states have been notified in the matter, so that we can no longer digest the spanish impudence, and are amazed that his majesty can listen any more to the spanish ministers. we fear that those ministers are working through many hands, in order by one means or another to excite quarrels between his majesty, us, and the respective inhabitants of the two countries . . . . . take every precaution that no attempt be made there to bring the name of the emperor into the act. this would be contrary to their majesties' first resolution, very prejudicial to the elector of brandenburg, to the duchies, and to ourselves. and it is indispensable that the promise be made to the two kings as mediators, as much for their reputation and dignity as for the interests of the elector, the territories, and ourselves. otherwise too the spaniards will triumph over us as if they had driven us by force of arms into this promise." the seat of war, at the opening of the apparently inevitable conflict between the catholic league and the protestant union, would be those debateable duchies, those border provinces, the possession of which was of such vital importance to each of the great contending parties, and the populations of which, although much divided, were on the whole more inclined to the league than to the union. it was natural enough that the dutch statesman should chafe at the possibility of their being lost to the union through the adroitness of the catholic managers and the supineness of the great allies of the republic. three weeks later than these last utterances of the advocate, he was given to understand that king james was preparing to slide away from the position which had been three times changed to make it suitable for him. his indignation was hot. "sir henry wotton," he said, "has communicated to me his last despatches from newmarket. i am in the highest degree amazed that after all our efforts at accommodation, with so much sacrifice to the electors, the provinces, and ourselves, they are trying to urge us there to consent that the promise be not made to the kings of france and great britain as mediators, although the proposition came from the spanish side. after we had renounced, by desire of his majesty, the right to refer the promise to the treaty of xanten, it was judged by both kings to be needful and substantial that the promise be made to their majesties. to change this now would be prejudicial to the kings, to the electors, the duchies, and to our commonwealth; to do us a wrong and to leave us naked. france maintains her position as becoming and necessary. that great britain should swerve from it is not to be digested here. you will do your utmost according to my previous instructions to prevent any pressure to this end. you will also see that the name of the emperor is mentioned neither in the preamble nor the articles of the treaty. it would be contrary to all our policy since . you may be firmly convinced that malice is lurking under the emperor's name, and that he and the king of spain and their adherents, now as before, are attempting a sequestration. this is simply a pretext to bring those principalities and provinces into the hands of the spaniards, for which they have been labouring these thirty years. we are constantly cheated by these spanish tricks. their intention is to hold wesel and all the other places until the conclusion of the italian affair, and then to strike a great blow." certainly were never words more full of sound statesmanship, and of prophecy too soon to be fulfilled, than these simple but pregnant warnings. they awakened but little response from the english government save cavils and teasing reminders that wesel had been the cradle of german calvinism, the rhenish geneva, and that it was sinful to leave it longer in the hands of spain. as if the advocate had not proved to demonstration that to stock hands for a new deal at that moment was to give up the game altogether. his influence in france was always greater than in england, and this had likewise been the case with william the silent. and even now that the spanish matrimonial alliance was almost a settled matter at the french court, while with the english king it was but a perpetual will-o'the-wisp conducting to quagmires ineffable, the government at paris sustained the policy of the advocate with tolerable fidelity, while it was constantly and most capriciously traversed by james. barneveld sighed over these approaching nuptials, but did not yet despair. "we hope that the spanish-french marriages," he said, "may be broken up of themselves; but we fear that if we should attempt to delay or prevent them authoritatively, or in conjunction with others, the effort would have the contrary effect." in this certainly he was doomed to disappointment. he had already notified the french court of the absolute necessity of the great points to be insisted upon in the treaty, and there he found more docility than in london or newmarket. all summer he was occupied with this most important matter, uttering cassandra-like warnings into ears wilfully deaf. the states had gone as far as possible in concession. to go farther would be to wreck the great cause upon the very quicksands which he had so ceaselessly pointed out. "we hope that nothing further will be asked of us, no scruples be felt as to our good intentions," he said, "and that if spain and the archdukes are not ready now to fulfil the treaty, their majesties will know how to resent this trifling with their authority and dignity, and how to set matters to rights with their own hands in the duchies. a new treaty, still less a sequestration, is not to be thought of for a moment." yet the month of august came and still the names of the mediating kings were not on the treaty, and still the spectre of sequestration had not been laid. on the contrary, the peace of asti, huddled up between spain and savoy, to be soon broken again, had caused new and painful apprehensions of an attempt at sequestration, for it was established by several articles in that treaty that all questions between savoy and mantua should be referred to the emperor's decision. this precedent was sure to be followed in the duchies if not resisted by force, as it had been so successfully resisted five years before by the armies of the states associated with those of france. moreover the first step at sequestration had been actually taken. the emperor had peremptorily summoned the elector of brandenburg and all other parties interested to appear before him on the st of august in prague. there could be but one object in this citation, to drive brandenburg and the states out of the duchies until the imperial decision as to the legitimate sovereignty should be given. neuburg being already disposed of and his claims ceded to the emperor, what possibility was there in such circumstances of saving one scrap of the territory from the clutch of the league? none certainly if the republic faltered in its determination, and yielded to the cowardly advice of james. "to comply with the summons," said barneveld, "and submit to its consequences will be an irreparable injury to the electoral house of brandenburg, to the duchies, and to our co-religionists everywhere, and a very great disgrace to both their majesties and to us." he continued, through the ambassador in london, to hold up to the king, in respectful but plain language, the shamelessness of his conduct in dispensing the enemy from his pledge to the mediators, when the republic expressly, in deference to james, had given up the ampler guarantees of the treaty. the arrangement had been solemnly made, and consented to by all the provinces, acting in their separate and sovereign capacity. such a radical change, even if it were otherwise permissible, could not be made without long debates, consultations, and votes by the several states. what could be more fatal at such a crisis than this childish and causeless delay. there could be no doubt in any statesman's eyes that the spanish party meant war and a preparatory hoodwinking. and it was even worse for the government of the republic to be outwitted in diplomacy than beaten in the field. "every man here," said the advocate, "has more apprehension of fraud than of force. according to the constitution of our state, to be overcome by superior power must be endured, but to be overreached by trickery is a reproach to the government." the summer passed away. the states maintained their positions in the duchies, notwithstanding the objurgations of james, and barneveld remained on his watch-tower observing every movement of the fast-approaching war, and refusing at the price of the whole territory in dispute to rescue wesel and aix-la-chapelle from the grasp of the league. caron came to the hague to have personal consultations with the states-general, the advocate, and prince maurice, and returned before the close of the year. he had an audience of the king at the palace of whitehall early in november, and found him as immovable as ever in his apathetic attitude in regard to the affairs of germany. the murder of sir thomas overbury and the obscene scandals concerning the king's beloved carr and his notorious bride were then occupying the whole attention of the monarch, so that he had not even time for theological lucubrations, still less for affairs of state on which the peace of christendom and the fate of his own children were hanging. the ambassador found him sulky and dictatorial, but insisted on expressing once more to him the apprehensions felt by the states-general in regard to the trickery of the spanish party in the matter of cleve and julich. he assured his majesty that they had no intention of maintaining the treaty of xanten, and respectfully requested that the king would no longer urge the states to surrender the places held by them. it was a matter of vital importance to retain them, he said. "sir henry wotton told me," replied james, "that the states at his arrival were assembled to deliberate on this matter, and he had no doubt that they would take a resolution in conformity with my intention. now i see very well that you don't mean to give up the places. if i had known that before, i should not have warned the archduke so many times, which i did at the desire of the states themselves. and now that the archdukes are ready to restore their cities, you insist on holding yours. that is the dish you set before me." and upon this james swore a mighty oath, and beat himself upon the breast. "now and nevermore will i trouble myself about the states' affairs, come what come will," he continued. "i have always been upright in my words and my deeds, and i am not going to embark myself in a wicked war because the states have plunged themselves into one so entirely unjust. next summer the spaniard means to divide himself into two or three armies in order to begin his enterprises in germany." caron respectfully intimated that these enterprises would be most conveniently carried on from the very advantageous positions which he occupied in the duchies. "no," said the king, "he must restore them on the same day on which you make your surrender, and he will hardly come back in a hurry." "quite the contrary," said the ambassador, "they will be back again in a twinkling, and before we have the slightest warning of their intention." but it signified not the least what caron said. the king continued to vociferate that the states had never had any intention of restoring the cities. "you mean to keep them for yourselves," he cried, "which is the greatest injustice that could be perpetrated. you have no right to them, and they belong to other people." the ambassador reminded him that the elector of brandenburg was well satisfied that they should be occupied by the states for his greater security and until the dispute should be concluded. "and that will never be," said james; "never, never. the states are powerful enough to carry on the war all alone and against all the world." and so he went on, furiously reiterating the words with which he had begun the conversation, "without accepting any reasons whatever in payment," as poor caron observed. "it makes me very sad," said the ambassador, "to find your majesty so impatient and so resolved. if the names of the kings are to be omitted from the document, the treaty of xanten should at least be modified accordingly." "nothing of the kind," said james; "i don't understand it so at all. i speak plainly and without equivocation. it must be enough for the states that i promise them, in case the enemy is cheating or is trying to play any trick whatever, or is seeking to break the treaty of xanten in a single point, to come to their assistance in person." and again the warlike james swore a big oath and smote his breast, affirming that he meant everything sincerely; that he cheated no one, but always spoke his thoughts right on, clearly and uprightly. it was certainly not a cheerful prospect for the states. their chief ally was determined that they should disarm, should strip themselves naked, when the mightiest conspiracy against the religious freedom and international independence of europe ever imagined was perfecting itself before their eyes, and when hostile armies, more numerous than ever before known, were at their very door. to wait until the enemy was at their throat, and then to rely upon a king who trembled at the sight of a drawn sword, was hardly the highest statesmanship. even if it had been the chivalrous henry instead of the pacific james that had held out the promise of help, they would have been mad to follow such counsel. the conversation lasted more than an hour. it was in vain that caron painted in dark colours the cruel deeds done by the spaniards in mulheim and aachen, and the proceedings of the archbishop of cologne in rees. the king was besotted, and no impression could be made upon him. "at any rate," said the envoy, "the arrangement cannot be concluded without the king of france." "what excuse is that?" said james. "now that the king is entirely spanish, you are trying to excuse your delays by referring to him. you have deferred rescuing the poor city of wesel from the hands of the spaniard long enough. i am amazed to have heard never a word from you on that subject since your departure. i had expressed my wish to you clearly enough that you should inform the states of my intention to give them any assurance they chose to demand." caron was much disappointed at the humour of his majesty. coming freshly as he did from the council of the states, and almost from the seat of war, he had hoped to convince and content him. but the king was very angry with the states for putting him so completely in the wrong. he had also been much annoyed at their having failed to notify him of their military demonstration in the electorate of cologne to avenge the cruelties practised upon the protestants there. he asked caron if he was instructed to give him information regarding it. being answered in the negative, he said he had thought himself of sufficient importance to the states and enough in their confidence to be apprised of their military movements. it was for this, he said, that his ambassador sat in their council. caron expressed the opinion that warlike enterprises of the kind should be kept as secret as possible in order to be successful. this the king disputed, and loudly declared his vexation at being left in ignorance of the matter. the ambassador excused himself as well as he could, on the ground that he had been in zealand when the troops were marching, but told the king his impression that they had been sent to chastise the people of cologne for their cruelty in burning and utterly destroying the city of mulheim. "that is none of your affair," said the king. "pardon me, your majesty," replied caron, "they are our fellow religionists, and some one at least ought to resent the cruelty practised upon them." the king admitted that the destruction of the city had been an unheard--of cruelty, and then passed on to speak of the quarrel between the duke and city of brunswick, and other matters. the interview ended, and the ambassador, very downhearted, went to confer with the secretary of state sir ralph winwood, and sir henry wotton. he assured these gentlemen that without fully consulting the french government these radical changes in the negotiations would never be consented to by the states. winwood promised to confer at once with the french ambassador, admitting it to be impossible for the king to take up this matter alone. he would also talk with the archduke's ambassador next day noon at dinner, who was about leaving for brussels, and "he would put something into his hand that he might take home with him." "when he is fairly gone," said caron, "it is to be hoped that the king's head will no longer be so muddled about these things. i wish it with all my heart." it was a dismal prospect for the states. the one ally on whom they had a right to depend, the ex-calvinist and royal defender of the faith, in this mortal combat of protestantism with the league, was slipping out of their grasp with distracting lubricity. on the other hand, the most christian king, a boy of fourteen years, was still in the control of a mother heart and soul with the league--so far as she had heart or soul--was betrothed to the daughter of spain, and saw his kingdom torn to pieces and almost literally divided among themselves by rebellious princes, who made use of the spanish marriages as a pretext for unceasing civil war. the queen-mother was at that moment at bordeaux, and an emissary from the princes was in london. james had sent to offer his mediation between them and the queen. he was fond of mediation. he considered it his special mission in the world to mediate. he imagined himself as looked up to by the nations as the great arbitrator of christendom, and was wont to issue his decrees as if binding in force and infallible by nature. he had protested vigorously against the spanish-french marriages, and declared that the princes were justified in formalizing an opposition to them, at least until affairs in france were restored to something like order. he warned the queen against throwing the kingdom "into the combustion of war without necessity," and declared that, if she would trust to his guidance, she might make use of him as if her affairs were his own. an indispensable condition for much assistance, however, would be that the marriages should be put off. as james was himself pursuing a spanish marriage for his son as the chief end and aim of his existence, there was something almost humorous in this protest to the queen-dowager and in his encouragement of mutiny in france in order to prevent a catastrophe there which he desired at home. the same agent of the princes, de monbaran by name, was also privately accredited by them to the states with instructions to borrow , crowns of them if he could. but so long as the policy of the republic was directed by barneveld, it was not very probable that, while maintaining friendly and even intimate relations with the legitimate government, she would enter into negotiations with rebels against it, whether princes or plebeians, and oblige them with loans. "he will call on me soon, no doubt," said caron, "but being so well instructed as to your mightinesses intentions in this matter, i hope i shall keep him away from you." monbaran was accordingly kept away, but a few weeks later another emissary of conde and bouillon made his appearance at the hague, de valigny by name. he asked for money and for soldiers to reinforce bouillon's city of sedan, but he was refused an audience of the states-general. even the martial ardour of maurice and his sympathy for his relatives were cooled by this direct assault on his pocket. "the prince," wrote the french ambassador, du maurier, "will not furnish him or his adherents a thousand crowns, not if they had death between their teeth. those who think it do not know how he loves his money." in the very last days of the year ( ) caron had another interview with the king in which james was very benignant. he told the ambassador that he should wish the states to send him some special commissioners to make a new treaty with him, and to treat of all unsettled affairs which were daily arising between the inhabitants of the respective countries. he wished to make a firmer union and accord between great britain and the netherlands. he was very desirous of this, "because," said he, "if we can unite with and understand each other, we have under god no one what ever to fear, however mighty they may be." caron duly notified barneveld of these enthusiastic expressions of his majesty. the advocate too was most desirous of settling the troublesome questions about the cloth trade, the piracies, and other matters, and was in favour of the special commission. in regard to a new treaty of alliance thus loosely and vaguely suggested, he was not so sanguine however. he had too much difficulty in enforcing the interests of protestantism in the duchies against the infatuation of james in regard to spain, and he was too well aware of the spanish marriage delusion, which was the key to the king's whole policy, to put much faith in these casual outbursts of eternal friendship with the states. he contented himself therefore with cautioning caron to pause before committing himself to any such projects. he had frequently instructed him, however, to bring the disputed questions to his majesty's notice as often as possible with a view to amicable arrangement. this preventive policy in regard to france was highly approved by barneveld, who was willing to share in the blame profusely heaped upon such sincere patriots and devoted protestants as duplessis-mornay and others, who saw small advantage to the great cause from a mutiny against established government, bad as it was, led by such intriguers as conde and bouillon. men who had recently been in the pay of spain, and one of whom had been cognizant of biron's plot against the throne and life of henry iv., to whom sedition was native atmosphere and daily bread, were not likely to establish a much more wholesome administration than that of mary de' medici. prince maurice sympathized with his relatives by marriage, who were leading the civil commotions in france and endeavouring to obtain funds in the netherlands. it is needless to say that francis aerssens was deep in their intrigues, and feeding full the grudge which the stadholder already bore the advocate for his policy on this occasion. the advocate thought it best to wait until the young king should himself rise in mutiny against his mother and her minions. perhaps the downfall of the concini's and their dowager and the escape of lewis from thraldom might not be so distant as it seemed. meantime this was the legal government, bound to the states by treaties of friendship and alliance, and it would be a poor return for the many favours and the constant aid bestowed by henry iv. on the republic, and an imbecile mode of avenging his murder to help throw his kingdom into bloodshed and confusion before his son was able to act for himself. at the same time he did his best to cultivate amicable relations with the princes, while scrupulously abstaining from any sympathy with their movements. "if the prince and the other gentlemen come to court," he wrote to langerac, "you will treat them with all possible caresses so far as can be done without disrespect to the government." while the british court was occupied with the foul details of the overbury murder and its consequences, a crime of a more commonplace nature, but perhaps not entirely without influence on great political events, had startled the citizens of the hague. it was committed in the apartments of the stadholder and almost under his very eyes. a jeweller of amsterdam, one john van wely, had come to the court of maurice to lay before him a choice collection of rare jewellery. in his caskets were rubies and diamonds to the value of more than , florins, which would be the equivalent of perhaps ten times as much to-day. in the prince's absence the merchant was received by a confidential groom of the chambers, john of paris by name, and by him, with the aid of a third john, a soldier of his excellency's guard, called jean de la vigne, murdered on the spot. the deed was done in the prince's private study. the unfortunate jeweller was shot, and to make sure was strangled with the blue riband of the order of the garter recently conferred upon maurice, and which happened to be lying conspicuously in the room. the ruffians had barely time to take possession of the booty, to thrust the body behind the tapestry of the chamber, and to remove the more startling evidences of the crime, when the prince arrived. he supped soon afterwards in the same room, the murdered jeweller still lying behind the arras. in the night the valet and soldier carried the corpse away from the room, down the stairs, and through the great courtyard, where, strange to say, no sentinels were on duty, and threw it into an ashpit. a deed so bloody, audacious, and stupid was of course soon discovered and the murderers arrested and executed. nothing would remove the incident from the catalogue of vulgar crimes, or even entitle it to a place in history save a single circumstance. the celebrated divine john uytenbogaert, leader among the arminians, devoted friend of barneveld, and up to that moment the favorite preacher of maurice, stigmatized indeed, as we have seen, by the orthodox as "court trumpeter," was requested by the prince to prepare the chief criminal for death. he did so, and from that day forth the stadholder ceased to be his friend, although regularly listening to his preaching in the french chapel of the court for more than a year longer. some time afterwards the advocate informed uytenbogaert that the prince was very much embittered against him. "i knew it well," says the clergyman in his memoirs, "but not the reasons for it, nor do i exactly comprehend them to this day. truly i have some ideas relating to certain things which i was obliged to do in discharge of my official duty, but i will not insist upon them, nor will i reveal them to any man." these were mysterious words, and the mystery is said to have been explained; for it would seem that the eminent preacher was not so entirely reticent among his confidential friends as before the public. uytenbogaert--so ran the tale--in the course of his conversation with the condemned murderer, john of paris, expressed a natural surprise that there should have been no soldiers on guard in the court on the evening when the crime was committed and the body subsequently removed. the valet informed him that he had for a long time been empowered by the prince to withdraw the sentinels from that station, and that they had been instructed to obey his orders--maurice not caring that they should be witnesses to the equivocal kind of female society that john of paris was in the habit of introducing of an evening to his master's apartments. the valet had made use of this privilege on the night in question to rid himself of the soldiers who would have been otherwise on guard. the preacher felt it his duty to communicate these statements to the prince, and to make perhaps a somewhat severe comment upon them. maurice received the information sullenly, and, as soon as uytenbogaert was gone, fell into a violent passion, throwing his hat upon the floor, stamping upon it, refusing to eat his supper, and allowing no one to speak to him. next day some courtiers asked the clergyman what in the world he had been saying to the stadholder. from that time forth his former partiality for the divine, on whose preaching he had been a regular attendant, was changed to hatred; a sentiment which lent a lurid colour to subsequent events. the attempts of the spanish party by chicane or by force to get possession of the coveted territories continued year after year, and were steadily thwarted by the watchfulness of the states under guidance of barneveld. the martial stadholder was more than ever for open war, in which he was opposed by the advocate, whose object was to postpone and, if possible, to avert altogether the dread catastrophe which he foresaw impending over europe. the xanten arrangement seemed hopelessly thrown to the winds, nor was it destined to be carried out; the whole question of sovereignty and of mastership in those territories being swept subsequently into the general whirlpool of the thirty years' war. so long as there was a possibility of settlement upon that basis, the advocate was in favour of settlement, but to give up the guarantees and play into the hands of the catholic league was in his mind to make the republic one of the conspirators against the liberties of christendom. "spain, the emperor and the rest of them," said he, "make all three modes of pacification--the treaty, the guarantee by the mediating kings, the administration divided between the possessory princes--alike impossible. they mean, under pretext of sequestration, to make themselves absolute masters there. i have no doubt that villeroy means sincerely, and understands the matter, but meantime we sit by the fire and burn. if the conflagration is neglected, all the world will throw the blame on us." thus the spaniards continued to amuse the british king with assurances of their frank desire to leave those fortresses and territories which they really meant to hold till the crack of doom. and while gondemar was making these ingenuous assertions in london, his colleagues at paris and at brussels distinctly and openly declared that there was no authority whatever for them, that the ambassador had received no such instructions, and that there was no thought of giving up wesel or any other of the protestant strongholds captured, whether in the duchies or out of them. and gondemar, still more to keep that monarch in subjection, had been unusually flattering in regard to the spanish marriage. "we are in great alarm here," said the advocate, "at the tidings that the projected alliance of the prince of wales with the daughter of spain is to be renewed; from which nothing good for his majesty's person, his kingdom, nor for our state can be presaged. we live in hope that it will never be." but the other marriage was made. despite the protest of james, the forebodings of barneveld, and the mutiny of the princes, the youthful king of france had espoused anne of austria early in the year . the british king did his best to keep on terms with france and spain, and by no means renounced his own hopes. at the same time, while fixed as ever in his approbation of the policy pursued by the emperor and the league, and as deeply convinced of their artlessness in regard to the duchies, the protestant princes of germany, and the republic, he manifested more cordiality than usual in his relations with the states. minor questions between the countries he was desirous of arranging--so far as matters of state could be arranged by orations--and among the most pressing of these affairs were the systematic piracy existing and encouraged in english ports, to the great damage of all seafaring nations and to the hollanders most of all, and the quarrel about the exportation of undyed cloths, which had almost caused a total cessation of the woollen trade between the two countries. the english, to encourage their own artisans, had forbidden the export of undyed cloths, and the dutch had retorted by prohibiting the import of dyed ones. the king had good sense enough to see the absurdity of this condition of things, and it will be remembered that barneveld had frequently urged upon the dutch ambassador to bring his majesty's attention to these dangerous disputes. now that the recovery of the cautionary towns had been so dexterously and amicably accomplished, and at so cheap a rate, it seemed a propitious moment to proceed to a general extinction of what would now be called "burning questions." james was desirous that new high commissioners might be sent from the states to confer with himself and his ministers upon the subjects just indicated, as well as upon the fishery questions as regarded both greenland and scotland, and upon the general affairs of india. he was convinced, he said to caron, that the sea had become more and more unsafe and so full of freebooters that the like was never seen or heard of before. it will be remembered that the advocate had recently called his attention to the fact that the dutch merchants had lost in two months , florins' worth of goods by english pirates. the king now assured the ambassador of his intention of equipping a fleet out of hand and to send it forth as speedily as possible under command of a distinguished nobleman, who would put his honour and credit in a successful expedition, without any connivance or dissimulation whatever. in order thoroughly to scour these pirates from the seas, he expressed the hope that their mightinesses the states would do the same either jointly or separately as they thought most advisable. caron bluntly replied that the states had already ten or twelve war-ships at sea for this purpose, but that unfortunately, instead of finding any help from the english in this regard, they had always found the pirates favoured in his majesty's ports, especially in ireland and wales. "thus they have so increased in numbers," continued the ambassador, "that i quite believe what your majesty says, that not a ship can pass with safety over the seas. more over, your majesty has been graciously pleased to pardon several of these corsairs, in consequence of which they have become so impudent as to swarm everywhere, even in the river thames, where they are perpetually pillaging honest merchantmen." "i confess," said the king, "to having pardoned a certain manning, but this was for the sake of his old father, and i never did anything so unwillingly in my life. but i swear that if it were the best nobleman in england, i would never grant one of them a pardon again." caron expressed his joy at hearing such good intentions on the part of his majesty, and assured him that the states-general would be equally delighted. in the course of the summer the dutch ambassador had many opportunities of seeing the king very confidentially, james having given him the use of the royal park at bayscot, so that during the royal visits to that place caron was lodged under his roof. on the whole, james had much regard and respect for noel de caron. he knew him to be able, although he thought him tiresome. it is amusing to observe the king and ambassador in their utterances to confidential friends each frequently making the charge of tediousness against the other. "caron's general education," said james on one occasion to cecil, "cannot amend his native german prolixity, for had i not interrupted him, it had been tomorrow morning before i had begun to speak. god preserve me from hearing a cause debated between don diego and him! . . . but in truth it is good dealing with so wise and honest a man, although he be somewhat longsome." subsequently james came to whitehall for a time, and then stopped at theobalds for a few days on his way to newmarket, where he stayed until christmas. at theobalds he sent again for the ambassador, saying that at whitehall he was so broken down with affairs that it would be impossible to live if he stayed there. he asked if the states were soon to send the commissioners, according to his request, to confer in regard to the cloth-trade. without interference of the two governments, he said, the matter would never be settled. the merchants of the two countries would never agree except under higher authority. "i have heard both parties," he said, "the new and the old companies, two or three times in full council, and tried to bring them to an agreement, but it won't do. i have heard that my lords the states have been hearing both sides, english and the hollanders, over and over again, and that the states have passed a provisional resolution, which however does not suit us. now it is not reasonable, as we are allies, that our merchants should be obliged to send their cloths roundabout, not being allowed either to sell them in the united provinces or to pass them through your territories. i wish i could talk with them myself, for i am certain, if they would send some one here, we could make an agreement. it is not necessary that one should take everything from them, or that one should refuse everything to us. i am sure there are people of sense in your assembly who will justify me in favouring my own people so far as i reasonably can, and i know very well that my lords the states must stand up for their own citizens. if we have been driving this matter to an extreme and see that we are ruining each other, we must take it up again in other fashion, for yesterday is the preceptor of to-morrow. let the commissioners come as soon as possible. i know they have complaints to make, and i have my complaints also. therefore we must listen to each other, for i protest before god that i consider the community of your state with mine to be so entire that, if one goes to perdition, the other must quickly follow it." thus spoke james, like a wise and thoughtful sovereign interested in the welfare of his subjects and allies, with enlightened ideas for the time upon public economy. it is difficult, in the man conversing thus amicably and sensibly with the dutch ambassador, to realise the shrill pedant shrieking against vorstius, the crapulous comrade of carrs and steenies, the fawning solicitor of spanish marriages, the "pepperer" and hangman of puritans, the butt and dupe of gondemar and spinola. "i protest," he said further, "that i seek nothing in your state but all possible friendship and good fellowship. my own subjects complain sometimes that your people follow too closely on their heels, and confess that your industry goes far above their own. if this be so, it is a lean kind of reproach; for the english should rather study to follow you. nevertheless, when industry is directed by malice, each may easily be attempting to snap an advantage from the other. i have sometimes complained of many other things in which my subjects suffered great injustice from you, but all that is excusable. i will willingly listen to your people and grant them to be in the right when they are so. but i will never allow them to be in the right when they mistrust me. if i had been like many other princes, i should never have let the advantage of the cautionary towns slip out of my fingers, but rather by means of them attempted to get even a stronger hold on your country. i have had plenty of warnings from great statesmen in france, germany, and other nations that i ought to give them up nevermore. yet you know how frankly and sincerely i acquitted myself in that matter without ever making pretensions upon your state than the pretensions i still make to your friendship and co-operation." james, after this allusion to an important transaction to be explained in the next chapter, then made an observation or two on a subject which was rapidly overtopping all others in importance to the states, and his expressions were singularly at variance with his last utterances in that regard. "i tell you," he said, "that you have no right to mistrust me in anything, not even in the matter of religion. i grieve indeed to hear that your religious troubles continue. you know that in the beginning i occupied myself with this affair, but fearing that my course might be misunderstood, and that it might be supposed that i was seeking to exercise authority in your republic, i gave it up, and i will never interfere with the matter again, but will ever pray god that he may give you a happy issue out of these troubles." alas! if the king had always kept himself on that height of amiable neutrality, if he had been able to govern himself in the future by these simplest principles of reason and justice, there might have been perhaps a happier issue from the troubles than time was like to reveal. once more james referred to the crisis pending in german affairs, and as usual spoke of the clove and julich question as if it were a simple matter to be settled by a few strokes of the pen and a pennyworth of sealing-wax, instead of being the opening act in a vast tragedy, of which neither he, nor carom nor barneveld, nor prince maurice, nor the youthful king of france, nor philip, nor matthias, nor any of the men now foremost in the conduct of affairs, was destined to see the end. the king informed caron that he had just received most satisfactory assurances from the spanish ambassador in his last audience at whitehall. "he has announced to me on the part of the king his master with great compliments that his majesty seeks to please me and satisfy me in everything that i could possibly desire of him," said james, rolling over with satisfaction these unctuous phrases as if they really had any meaning whatever. "his majesty says further," added the king, "that as he has been at various times admonished by me, and is daily admonished by other princes, that he ought to execute the treaty of xanten by surrendering the city of wesel and all other places occupied by spinola, he now declares himself ready to carry out that treaty in every point. he will accordingly instruct the archduke to do this, provided the margrave of brandenburg and the states will do the same in regard to their captured places. as he understands however that the states have been fortifying julich even as he might fortify wesel, he would be glad that no innovation be made before the end of the coming month of march. when this term shall have expired, he will no longer be bound by these offers, but will proceed to fortify wesel and the other places, and to hold them as he best may for himself. respect for me has alone induced his majesty to make this resolution." we have already seen that the spanish ambassador in paris was at this very time loudly declaring that his colleague in london had no commission whatever to make these propositions. nor when they were in the slightest degree analysed, did they appear after all to be much better than threats. not a word was said of guarantees. the names of the two kings were not mentioned. it was nothing but albert and spinola then as always, and a recommendation that brandenburg and the states and all the protestant princes of germany should trust to the candour of the catholic league. caron pointed out to the king that in these proposals there were no guarantees nor even promises that the fortresses would not be reoccupied at convenience of the spaniards. he engaged however to report the whole statement to his masters. a few weeks afterwards the advocate replied in his usual vein, reminding the king through the ambassador that the republic feared fraud on the part of the league much more than force. he also laid stress on the affairs of italy, considering the fate of savoy and the conflicts in which venice was engaged as components of a general scheme. the states had been much solicited, as we have seen, to render assistance to the duke of savoy, the temporary peace of asti being already broken, and barneveld had been unceasing in his efforts to arouse france as well as england to the danger to themselves and to all christendom should savoy be crushed. we shall have occasion to see the prominent part reserved to savoy in the fast opening debate in germany. meantime the states had sent one count of nassau with a couple of companies to charles emmanuel, while another (ernest) had just gone to venice at the head of more than three thousand adventurers. with so many powerful armies at their throats, as barneveld had more than once observed, it was not easy for them to despatch large forces to the other end of europe, but he justly reminded his allies that the states were now rendering more effective help to the common cause by holding great spanish armies in check on their own frontier than if they assumed a more aggressive line in the south. the advocate, like every statesman worthy of the name, was accustomed to sweep the whole horizon in his consideration of public policy, and it will be observed that he always regarded various and apparently distinct and isolated movements in different parts of europe as parts of one great whole. it is easy enough for us, centuries after the record has been made up, to observe the gradual and, as it were, harmonious manner in which the great catholic conspiracy against the liberties of europe was unfolded in an ever widening sphere. but to the eyes of contemporaries all was then misty and chaotic, and it required the keen vision of a sage and a prophet to discern the awful shape which the future might assume. absorbed in the contemplation of these portentous phenomena, it was not unnatural that the advocate should attach less significance to perturbations nearer home. devoted as was his life to save the great european cause of protestantism, in which he considered political and religious liberty bound up, from the absolute extinction with which it was menaced, he neglected too much the furious hatreds growing up among protestants within the narrow limits of his own province. he was destined one day to be rudely awakened. meantime he was occupied with organizing a general defence of italy, germany, france, and england, as well as the netherlands, against the designs of spain and the league. "we wish to know," he said in answer to the affectionate messages and fine promises of the king of spain to james as reported by caron, "what his majesty of great britain has done, is doing, and is resolved to do for the duke of savoy and the republic of venice. if they ask you what we are doing, answer that we with our forces and vigour are keeping off from the throats of savoy and venice riders and , infantry, with which forces, let alone their experience, more would be accomplished than with four times the number of new troops brought to the field in italy. this is our succour, a great one and a very costly one, for the expense of maintaining our armies to hold the enemy in check here is very great." he alluded with his usual respectful and quiet scorn to the arrangements by which james so wilfully allowed himself to be deceived. "if the spaniard really leaves the duchies," he said, "it is a grave matter to decide whether on the one side he is not resolved by that means to win more over us and the elector of brandenburg in the debateable land in a few days than he could gain by force in many years, or on the other whether by it he does not intend despatching or cavalry and or foot, all his most experienced soldiers, from the netherlands to italy, in order to give the law at his pleasure to the duke of savoy and the republic of venice, reserving his attack upon germany and ourselves to the last. the spaniards, standing under a monarchical government, can in one hour resolve to seize to-morrow all that they and we may abandon to-day. and they can carry such a resolution into effect at once. our form of government does not permit this, so that our republic must be conserved by distrust and good garrisons." thus during this long period of half hostilities barneveld, while sincerely seeking to preserve the peace in europe, was determined, if possible, that the republic should maintain the strongest defensive position when the war which he foreboded should actually begin. maurice and the war party had blamed him for the obstacles which he interposed to the outbreak of hostilities, while the british court, as we have seen, was perpetually urging him to abate from his demands and abandon both the well strengthened fortresses in the duchies and that strong citadel of distrust which in his often repeated language he was determined never to surrender. spinola and the military party of spain, while preaching peace, had been in truth most anxious for fighting. "the only honour i desire henceforth," said that great commander, "is to give battle to prince maurice." the generals were more anxious than the governments to make use of the splendid armies arrayed against each other in such proximity that, the signal for conflict not having been given, it was not uncommon for the soldiers of the respective camps to aid each other in unloading munition waggons, exchanging provisions and other articles of necessity, and performing other small acts of mutual service. but heavy thunder clouds hanging over the earth so long and so closely might burst into explosion at any moment. had it not been for the distracted condition of france, the infatuation of the english king, and the astounding inertness of the princes of the german union, great advantages might have been gained by the protestant party before the storm should break. but, as the french ambassador at the hague well observed, "the great protestant union of germany sat with folded arms while hannibal was at their gate, the princes of which it was composed amusing themselves with staring at each other. it was verifying," he continued, bitterly, "the saying of the duke of alva, 'germany is an old dog which still can bark, but has lost its teeth to bite with.'" to such imbecility had that noble and gifted people--which had never been organized into a nation since it crushed the roman empire and established a new civilization on its ruins, and was to wait centuries longer until it should reconstruct itself into a whole--been reduced by subdivision, disintegration, the perpetual dissolvent of religious dispute, and the selfish policy of infinitesimal dynasties. chapter xii. james still presses for the payment of the dutch republic's debt to him--a compromise effected, with restitution of the cautionary towns--treaty of loudun--james's dream of a spanish marriage revives--james visits scotland--the states-general agree to furnish money and troops in fulfilment of the treaty of --death of concini--villeroy returns to power. besides matters of predestination there were other subjects political and personal which increased the king's jealousy and hatred. the debt of the republic to the british crown, secured by mortgage of the important sea-ports and fortified towns of flushing, brielle, rammekens, and other strong places, still existed. the possession of those places by england was a constant danger and irritation to the states. it was an axe perpetually held over their heads. it threatened their sovereignty, their very existence. on more than one occasion, in foreign courts, the representatives of the netherlands had been exposed to the taunt that the republic was after all not an independent power, but a british province. the gibe had always been repelled in a manner becoming the envoys of a proud commonwealth; yet it was sufficiently galling that english garrisons should continue to hold dutch towns; one of them among the most valuable seaports of the republic,--the other the very cradle of its independence, the seizure of which in alva's days had always been reckoned a splendid achievement. moreover, by the fifth article of the treaty of peace between james and philip iii., although the king had declared himself bound by the treaties made by elizabeth to deliver up the cautionary towns to no one but the united states, he promised spain to allow those states a reasonable time to make peace with the archdukes on satisfactory conditions. should they refuse to do so, he held himself bound by no obligations to them, and would deal with the cities as he thought proper, and as the archdukes themselves might deem just. the king had always been furious at "the huge sum of money to be advanced, nay, given, to the states," as he phrased it. "it is so far out of all square," he had said, "as on my conscience i cannot think that ever they craved it 'animo obtinendi,' but only by that objection to discourage me from any thought of getting any repayment of my debts from them when they shall be in peace. . . . should i ruin myself for maintaining them? should i bestow as much on them as cometh to the value of my whole yearly rent?" he had proceeded to say very plainly that, if the states did not make great speed to pay him all his debt so soon as peace was established, he should treat their pretence at independence with contempt, and propose dividing their territory between himself and the king of france. "if they be so weak as they cannot subsist either in peace or war," he said, "without i ruin myself for upholding them, in that case surely 'minus malunv est eligendum,' the nearest harm is first to be eschewed, a man will leap out of a burning ship and drown himself in the sea; and it is doubtless a farther off harm for me to suffer them to fall again in the hands of spain, and let god provide for the danger that may with time fall upon me or my posterity than presently to starve myself and mine with putting the meat in their mouth. nay, rather if they be so weak as they can neither sustain themselves in peace nor war, let them leave this vainglorious thirsting for the title of a free state (which no people are worthy or able to enjoy that cannot stand by themselves like substantives), and 'dividantur inter nos;' i mean, let their countries be divided between france and me, otherwise the king of spain shall be sure to consume us." such were the eyes with which james had always regarded the great commonwealth of which he affected to be the ally, while secretly aspiring to be its sovereign, and such was his capacity to calculate political forces and comprehend coming events. certainly the sword was hanging by a thread. the states had made no peace either with the archdukes or with spain. they had made a truce, half the term of which had already run by. at any moment the keys of their very house-door might be placed in the hands of their arch enemy. treacherous and base as the deed would be, it might be defended by the letter of a treaty in which the republic had no part; and was there anything too treacherous or too base to be dreaded from james stuart? but the states owed the crown of england eight millions of florins, equivalent to about l , . where was this vast sum to be found? it was clearly impossible for the states to beg or to borrow it, although they were nearly as rich as any of the leading powers at that day. it was the merit of barneveld, not only that he saw the chance for a good bargain, but that he fully comprehended a great danger. years long james had pursued the phantom of a spanish marriage for his son. to achieve this mighty object, he had perverted the whole policy of the realm; he had grovelled to those who despised him, had repaid attempts at wholesale assassination with boundless sycophancy. it is difficult to imagine anything more abject than the attitude of james towards philip. prince henry was dead, but charles had now become prince of wales in his turn, and there was a younger infanta whose hand was not yet disposed of. so long as the possible prize of a most catholic princess was dangling before the eyes of the royal champion of protestantism, so long there was danger that the netherlanders might wake up some fine morning and see the flag of spain waving over the walls of flushing, brielle, and rammekens. it was in the interest of spain too that the envoys of james at the hague were perpetually goading barneveld to cause the states' troops to be withdrawn from the duchies and the illusory treaty of xanten to be executed. instead of an eighth province added to the free netherlands, the result of such a procedure would have been to place that territory enveloping them in the hands of the enemy; to strengthen and sharpen the claws, as the advocate had called them, by which spain was seeking to clutch and to destroy the republic. the advocate steadily refused to countenance such policy in the duchies, and he resolved on a sudden stroke to relieve the commonwealth from the incubus of the english mortgage. james was desperately pushed for money. his minions, as insatiable in their demands on english wealth as the parasites who fed on the queen-regent were exhaustive of the french exchequer, were greedier than ever now that james, who feared to face a parliament disgusted with the meanness of his policy and depravity of his life, could not be relied upon to minister to their wants. the advocate judiciously contrived that the proposal of a compromise should come from the english government. noel de caron, the veteran ambassador of the states in london, after receiving certain proposals, offered, under instructions' from barneveld, to pay l , in full of all demands. it was made to appear that the additional l , was in reality in advance of his instructions. the mouths of the minions watered at the mention of so magnificent a sum of money in one lump. the bargain was struck. on the th june , sir robert sidney, who had become lord lisle, gave over the city of flushing to the states, represented by the seignior van maldere, while sir horace vere placed the important town of brielle in the hands of the seignior van mathenesse. according to the terms of the bargain, the english garrisons were converted into two regiments, respectively to be commanded by lord lisle's son, now sir robert sidney, and by sir horace vere, and were to serve the states. lisle, who had been in the netherlands since the days of his uncle leicester and his brother sir philip sidney, now took his final departure for england. thus this ancient burthen had been taken off the republic by the masterly policy of the advocate. a great source of dread for foreign complication was closed for ever. the french-spanish marriages had been made. henry iv. had not been murdered in vain. conde and his confederates had issued their manifesto. a crisis came to the states, for maurice, always inclined to take part for the princes, and urged on by aerssens, who was inspired by a deadly hatred for the french government ever since they had insisted on his dismissal from his post, and who fed the stadholder's growing jealousy of the advocate to the full, was at times almost ready for joining in the conflict. it was most difficult for the states-general, led by barneveld, to maintain relations of amity with a government controlled by spain, governed by the concini's, and wafted to and fro by every wind that blew. still it was the government, and the states might soon be called upon, in virtue of their treaties with henry, confirmed by mary de' medici, not only to prevent the daily desertion of officers and soldiers of the french regiments to the rebellious party, but to send the regiments themselves to the assistance of the king and queen. there could be no doubt that the alliance of the french huguenots at grenoble with the princes made the position of the states very critical. bouillon was loud in his demands upon maurice and the states for money and reinforcements, but the prince fortunately understood the character of the duke and of conde, and comprehended the nature of french politics too clearly to be led into extremities by passion or by pique. he said loudly to any one that chose to listen: "it is not necessary to ruin the son in order to avenge the death of the father. that should be left to the son, who alone has legitimate authority to do it." nothing could be more sensible, and the remark almost indicated a belief on the prince's part in mary's complicity in the murder of her husband. duplessis-mornay was in despair, and, like all true patriots and men of earnest character, felt it almost an impossibility to choose between the two ignoble parties contending for the possession of france, and both secretly encouraged by france's deadly enemy. the treaty of loudun followed, a treaty which, said du maurier, had about as many negotiators as there were individuals interested in the arrangements. the rebels were forgiven, conde sold himself out for a million and a half livres and the presidency of the council, came to court, and paraded himself in greater pomp and appearance of power than ever. four months afterwards he was arrested and imprisoned. he submitted like a lamb, and offered to betray his confederates. king james, faithful to his self-imposed part of mediator-general, which he thought so well became him, had been busy in bringing about this pacification, and had considered it eminently successful. he was now angry at this unexpected result. he admitted that conde had indulged in certain follies and extravagancies, but these in his opinion all came out of the quiver of the spaniard, "who was the head of the whole intrigue." he determined to recall lord hayes from madrid and even sir thomas edmonds from paris, so great was his indignation. but his wrath was likely to cool under the soothing communications of gondemar, and the rumour of the marriage of the second infanta with the prince of wales soon afterwards started into new life. "we hope," wrote barneveld, "that the alliance of his highness the prince of wales with the daughter of the spanish king will make no further progress, as it will place us in the deepest embarrassment and pain." for the reports had been so rife at the english court in regard to this dangerous scheme that caron had stoutly gone to the king and asked him what he was to think about it. "the king told me," said the ambassador, "that there was nothing at all in it, nor any appearance that anything ever would come of it. it was true, he said, that on the overtures made to him by the spanish ambassador he had ordered his minister in spain to listen to what they had to say, and not to bear himself as if the overtures would be rejected." the coyness thus affected by james could hardly impose on so astute a diplomatist as noel de caron, and the effect produced upon the policy of one of the republic's chief allies by the spanish marriages naturally made her statesmen shudder at the prospect of their other powerful friend coming thus under the malign influence of spain. "he assured me, however," said the envoy, "that the spaniard is not sincere in the matter, and that he has himself become so far alienated from the scheme that we may sleep quietly upon it." and james appeared at that moment so vexed at the turn affairs were taking in france, so wounded in his self-love, and so bewildered by the ubiquitous nature of nets and pitfalls spreading over europe by spain, that he really seemed waking from his delusion. even caron was staggered? "in all his talk he appears so far estranged from the spaniard," said he, "that it would seem impossible that he should consider this marriage as good for his state. i have also had other advices on the subject which in the highest degree comfort me. now your mightinesses may think whatever you like about it." the mood of the king was not likely to last long in so comfortable a state. meantime he took the part of conde and the other princes, justified their proceedings to the special envoy sent over by mary de' medici, and wished the states to join with him in appealing to that queen to let the affair, for his sake, pass over once more. "and now i will tell your mightinesses," said caron, reverting once more to the dreaded marriage which occupies so conspicuous a place in the strangely mingled and party-coloured tissue of the history of those days, "what the king has again been telling me about the alliance between his son and the infanta. he hears from carleton that you are in very great alarm lest this event may take place. he understands that the special french envoy at the hague, m. de la none, has been representing to you that the king of great britain is following after and begging for the daughter of spain for his son. he says it is untrue. but it is true that he has been sought and solicited thereto, and that in consequence there have been talks and propositions and rejoinders, but nothing of any moment. as he had already told me not to be alarmed until he should himself give me cause for it, he expressed his amazement that i had not informed your mightinesses accordingly. he assured me again that he should not proceed further in the business without communicating it to his good friends and neighbours, that he considered my lords the states as his best friends and allies, who ought therefore to conceive no jealousy in the matter." this certainly was cold comfort. caron knew well enough, not a clerk in his office but knew well enough, that james had been pursuing this prize for years. for the king to represent himself as persecuted by spain to give his son to the infanta was about as ridiculous as it would have been to pretend that emperor matthias was persuading him to let his son-in-law accept the crown of bohemia. it was admitted that negotiations for the marriage were going on, and the assertion that the spanish court was more eager for it than the english government was not especially calculated to allay the necessary alarm of the states at such a disaster. nor was it much more tranquillizing for them to be assured, not that the marriage was off, but that, when it was settled, they, as the king's good friends and neighbours, should have early information of it. "i told him," said the ambassador, "that undoubtedly this matter was of the highest 'importance to your mightinesses, for it was not good for us to sit between two kingdoms both so nearly allied with the spanish monarch, considering the pretensions he still maintained to sovereignty over us. although his majesty might not now be willing to treat to our prejudice, yet the affair itself in the sequence of time must of necessity injure our commonwealth. we hoped therefore that it would never come to pass." caron added that ambassador digby was just going to spain on extraordinary mission in regard to this affair, and that eight or ten gentlemen of the council had been deputed to confer with his majesty about it. he was still inclined to believe that the whole negotiation would blow over, the king continuing to exhort him not to be alarmed, and assuring him that there were many occasions moving princes to treat of great affairs although often without any effective issue. at that moment too the king was in a state of vehement wrath with the spanish netherlands on account of a stinging libel against himself, "an infamous and wonderfully scandalous pamphlet," as he termed it, called 'corona regis', recently published at louvain. he had sent sir john bennet as special ambassador to the archdukes to demand from them justice and condign and public chastisement on the author of the work--a rector putianus as he believed, successor of justus lipsius in his professorship at louvain--and upon the printer, one flaminius. delays and excuses having followed instead of the punishment originally demanded, james had now instructed his special envoy in case of further delay or evasion to repudiate all further friendship or intercourse with the archduke, to ratify the recall of his minister-resident trumbull, and in effect to announce formal hostilities. "the king takes the thing wonderfully to heart," said caron. james in effect hated to be made ridiculous, and we shall have occasion to see how important a part other publications which he deemed detrimental to the divinity of his person were to play in these affairs. meantime it was characteristic of this sovereign that--while ready to talk of war with philip's brother-in-law for a pamphlet, while seeking the hand of philip's daughter for his son--he was determined at the very moment when the world was on fire to take himself, the heaven-born extinguisher of all political conflagrations, away from affairs and to seek the solace of along holiday in scotland. his counsellors persistently and vehemently implored him to defer that journey until the following year at least, all the neighbouring nations being now in a state of war and civil commotion. but it was in vain. he refused to listen to them for a moment, and started for scotland before the middle of march. conde, who had kept france in a turmoil, had sought aid alternately from the calvinists at grenoble and the jesuits in rome, from spain and from the netherlands, from the pope and from maurice of nassau, had thus been caged at last. but there was little gained. there was one troublesome but incompetent rebel the less, but there was no king in the land. he who doubts the influence of the individual upon the fate of a country and upon his times through long passages of history may explain the difference between france of , with a martial king aided by great statesmen at its head, with an exchequer overflowing with revenue hoarded for a great cause--and that cause an attempt at least to pacificate christendom and avert a universal and almost infinite conflict now already opening--and the france of , with its treasures already squandered among ignoble and ruffianly favourites, with every office in state, church, court, and magistracy sold to the highest bidder, with a queen governed by an italian adventurer who was governed by spain, and with a little king who had but lately expressed triumph at his confirmation because now he should no longer be whipped, and who was just married to a daughter of the hereditary and inevitable foe of france. to contemplate this dreary interlude in the history of a powerful state is to shiver at the depths of inanity and crime to which mankind can at once descend. what need to pursue the barren, vulgar, and often repeated chronicle? france pulled at by scarcely concealed strings and made to perform fantastic tricks according as its various puppets were swerved this way or that by supple bands at madrid and rome is not a refreshing spectacle. the states-general at last, after an agitated discussion, agreed in fulfilment of the treaty of to send men, being french, to help the king against the princes still in rebellion. but the contest was a most bitter one, and the advocate had a difficult part to play between a government and a rebellion, each more despicable than the other. still louis xiii. and his mother were the legitimate government even if ruled by concini. the words of the treaty made with henry iv. were plain, and the ambassadors of his son had summoned the states to fulfil it. but many impediments were placed in the path of obvious duty by the party led by francis aerssens. "i know very well," said the advocate to ex-burgomaster hooft of amsterdam, father of the great historian, sending him confidentially a copy of the proposals made by the french ambassadors, "that many in this country are striving hard to make us refuse to the king the aid demanded, notwithstanding that we are bound to do it by the pledges given not only by the states-general but by each province in particular. by this no one will profit but the spaniard, who unquestionably will offer much, aye, very much, to bring about dissensions between france and us, from which i foresee great damage, inconvenience, and difficulties for the whole commonwealth and for holland especially. this province has already advanced , , florins to the general government on the money still due from france, which will all be lost in case the subsidy should be withheld, besides other evils which cannot be trusted to the pen." on the same day on which it had been decided at the hague to send the troops, a captain of guards came to the aid of the poor little king and shot concini dead one fine spring morning on the bridge of the louvre. "by order of the king," said vitry. his body was burned before the statue of henry iv. by the people delirious with joy. "l'hanno ammazzato" was shouted to his wife, eleanora galigai, the supposed sorceress. they were the words in which concini had communicated to the queen the murder of her husband seven years before. eleanora, too, was burned after having been beheaded. thus the marshal d'ancre and wife ceased to reign in france. the officers of the french regiments at the hague danced for joy on the vyverberg when the news arrived there. the states were relieved from an immense embarrassment, and the advocate was rewarded for having pursued what was after all the only practicable policy. "do your best," said he to langerac, "to accommodate differences so far as consistent with the conservation of the king's authority. we hope the princes will submit themselves now that the 'lapis offensionis,' according to their pretence, is got rid of. we received a letter from them to-day sealed with the king's arms, with the circumscription 'periclitante regno, regis vita et regia familia." the shooting of concini seemed almost to convert the little king into a hero. everyone in the netherlands, without distinction of party, was delighted with the achievement. "i cannot represent to the king," wrote du maurier to villeroy, "one thousandth part of the joy of all these people who are exalting him to heaven for having delivered the earth from this miserable burthen. i can't tell you in what execration this public pest was held. his majesty has not less won the hearts of this state than if he had gained a great victory over the spaniards. you would not believe it, and yet it is true, that never were the name and reputation of the late king in greater reverence than those of our reigning king at this moment." truly here was glory cheaply earned. the fame of henry the great, after a long career of brilliant deeds of arms, high statesmanship, and twenty years of bountiful friendship for the states, was already equalled by that of louis xiii., who had tremblingly acquiesced in the summary execution of an odious adventurer--his own possible father--and who never had done anything else but feed his canary birds. as for villeroy himself, the ambassador wrote that he could not find portraits enough of him to furnish those who were asking for them since his return to power. barneveld had been right in so often instructing langerac to "caress the old gentleman." etext editor's bookmarks: and give advice. of that, although always a spendthrift casual outbursts of eternal friendship changed his positions and contradicted himself day by day conciliation when war of extermination was intended considered it his special mission in the world to mediate denoungced as an obstacle to peace france was mourning henry and waiting for richelieu hardly a sound protestant policy anywhere but in holland history has not too many really important and emblematic men i hope and i fear king who thought it furious madness to resist the enemy mockery of negotiation in which nothing could be negotiated more apprehension of fraud than of force opening an abyss between government and people successful in this step, he is ready for greater ones that he tries to lay the fault on us is pure malice the magnitude of this wonderful sovereign's littleness this wonderful sovereign's littleness oppresses the imagination wise and honest a man, although he be somewhat longsome yesterday is the preceptor of to-morrow chapter xiii. ferdinand of gratz crowned king of bohemia--his enmity to protestants--slawata and martinitz thrown from the windows of the hradschin--real beginning of the thirty years' war--the elector- palatine's intrigues in opposition to the house of austria--he supports the duke of savoy--the emperor matthias visits dresden-- jubilee for the hundredth anniversary of the reformation. when the forlorn emperor rudolph had signed the permission for his brother matthias to take the last crown but one from his head, he bit the pen in a paroxysm of helpless rage. then rushing to the window of his apartment, he looked down on one of the most stately prospects that the palaces of the earth can offer. from the long monotonous architectural lines of the hradschin, imposing from its massiveness and its imperial situation, and with the dome and minarets of the cathedral clustering behind them, the eye swept across the fertile valley, through which the rapid, yellow moldau courses, to the opposite line of cliffs crested with the half imaginary fortress-palaces of the wyscherad. there, in the mythical legendary past of bohemia had dwelt the shadowy libuscha, daughter of krok, wife of king premysl, foundress of prague, who, when wearied of her lovers, was accustomed to toss them from those heights into the river. between these picturesque precipices lay the two pragues, twin-born and quarrelsome, fighting each other for centuries, and growing up side by side into a double, bellicose, stormy, and most splendid city, bristling with steeples and spires, and united by the ancient many-statued bridge with its blackened mediaeval entrance towers. but it was not to enjoy the prospect that the aged, discrowned, solitary emperor, almost as dim a figure among sovereigns as the mystic libuscha herself, was gazing from the window upon the imperial city. "ungrateful prague," he cried, "through me thou hast become thus magnificent, and now thou hast turned upon and driven away thy benefactor. may the vengeance of god descend upon thee; may my curse come upon thee and upon all bohemia." history has failed to record the special benefits of the emperor through which the city had derived its magnificence and deserved this malediction. but surely if ever an old man's curse was destined to be literally fulfilled, it seemed to be this solemn imprecation of rudolph. meantime the coronation of matthias had gone on with pomp and popular gratulations, while rudolph had withdrawn into his apartments to pass the little that was left to him of life in solitude and in a state of hopeless pique with matthias, with the rest of his brethren, with all the world. and now that five years had passed since his death, matthias, who had usurped so much power prematurely, found himself almost in the same condition as that to which he had reduced rudolph. ferdinand of styria, his cousin, trod closely upon his heels. he was the presumptive successor to all his crowns, had not approved of the movements of matthias in the lifetime of his brother, and hated the vienna protestant baker's son, cardinal clesel, by whom all those movements had been directed. professor taubmann, of wittenberg, ponderously quibbling on the name of that prelate, had said that he was of "one hundred and fifty ass power." whether that was a fair measure of his capacity may be doubted, but it certainly was not destined to be sufficient to elude the vengeance of ferdinand, and ferdinand would soon have him in his power. matthias, weary of ambitious intrigue, infirm of purpose, and shattered in health, had withdrawn from affairs to devote himself to his gout and to his fair young wife, archduchess anna of tyrol, whom at the age of fifty-four he had espoused. on the th june , ferdinand of gratz was crowned king of bohemia. the event was a shock and a menace to the protestant cause all over the world. the sombre figure of the archduke had for years appeared in the background, foreshadowing as it were the wrath to come, while throughout bohemia and the neighbouring countries of moravia, silesia, and the austrias, the cause of protestantism had been making such rapid progress. the emperor maximilian ii. had left five stalwart sons, so that there had seemed little probability that the younger line, the sons of his brother, would succeed. but all the five were childless, and now the son of archduke charles, who had died in , had become the natural heir after the death of matthias to the immense family honours--his cousins maximilian and albert having resigned their claims in his favour. ferdinand, twelve years old at his father's death, had been placed under the care of his maternal uncle, duke william of bavaria. by him the boy was placed at the high school of ingolstadt, to be brought up by the jesuits, in company with duke william's own son maximilian, five years his senior. between these youths, besides the tie of cousinship, there grew up the most intimate union founded on perfect sympathy in religion and politics. when ferdinand entered upon the government of his paternal estates of styria, carinthia, and carniola, he found that the new religion, at which the jesuits had taught him to shudder as at a curse and a crime, had been widely spreading. his father had fought against heresy with all his might, and had died disappointed and broken-hearted at its progress. his uncle of bavaria, in letters to his son and nephew, had stamped into their minds with the enthusiasm of perfect conviction that all happiness and blessing for governments depended on the restoration and maintenance of the unity of the catholic faith. all the evils in times past and present resulting from religious differences had been held up to the two youths by the jesuits in the most glaring colours. the first duty of a prince, they had inculcated, was to extirpate all false religions, to give the opponents of the true church no quarter, and to think no sacrifice too great by which the salvation of human society, brought almost to perdition by the new doctrines, could be effected. never had jesuits an apter scholar than ferdinand. after leaving school, he made a pilgrimage to loretto to make his vows to the virgin mary of extirpation of heresy, and went to rome to obtain the blessing of pope clement viii. then, returning to the government of his inheritance, he seized that terrible two-edged weapon of which the protestants of germany had taught him the use. "cujus regio ejus religio;" to the prince the choice of religion, to the subject conformity with the prince, as if that formula of shallow and selfish princelings, that insult to the dignity of mankind, were the grand result of a movement which was to go on centuries after they had all been forgotten in their tombs. for the time however it was a valid and mischievous maxim. in saxony catholics and calvinists were proscribed; in heidelberg catholics and lutherans. why should either calvinists or lutherans be tolerated in styria? why, indeed? no logic could be more inexorable, and the pupil of the ingolstadt jesuits hesitated not an instant to carry out their teaching with the very instrument forged for him by the reformation. gallows were erected in the streets of all his cities, but there was no hanging. the sight of them proved enough to extort obedience to his edict, that every man, woman, and child not belonging to the ancient church should leave his dominions. they were driven out in hordes in broad daylight from gratz and other cities. rather reign over a wilderness than over heretics was the device of the archduke, in imitation of his great relative, philip ii. of spain. in short space of time his duchies were as empty of protestants as the palatinate of lutherans, or saxony of calvinists, or both of papists. even the churchyards were rifled of dead lutherans and utraquists, their carcasses thrown where they could no longer pollute the true believers mouldering by their side. it was not strange that the coronation as king of bohemia of a man of such decided purposes--a country numbering ten protestants to one catholic--should cause a thrill and a flutter. could it be doubted that the great elemental conflict so steadily prophesied by barneveld and instinctively dreaded by all capable of feeling the signs of the time would now begin? it had begun. of what avail would be majesty-letters and compromises extorted by force from trembling or indolent emperors, now that a man who knew his own mind, and felt it to be a crime not to extirpate all religions but the one orthodox religion, had mounted the throne? it is true that he had sworn at his coronation to maintain the laws of bohemia, and that the majesty-letter and the compromise were part of the laws. but when were doctors ever wanting to prove the unlawfulness of law which interferes with the purposes of a despot and the convictions of the bigot? "novus rex, nova lex," muttered the catholics, lifting up their heads and hearts once more out of the oppression and insults which they had unquestionably suffered at the hands of the triumphant reformers. "there are many empty poppy-heads now flaunting high that shall be snipped off," said others. "that accursed german count thurn and his fellows, whom the devil has sent from hell to bohemia for his own purposes, shall be disposed of now," was the general cry. it was plain that heresy could no longer be maintained except by the sword. that which had been extorted by force would be plucked back by force. the succession of ferdinand was in brief a warshout to be echoed by all the catholics of europe. before the end of the year the protestant churches of brunnau were sealed up. those at klostergrab were demolished in three days by command of the archbishop of prague. these dumb walls preached in their destruction more stirring sermons than perhaps would ever have been heard within them had they stood. this tearing in pieces of the imperial patent granting liberty of protestant worship, this summary execution done upon senseless bricks and mortar, was an act of defiance to the reformed religion everywhere. protestantism was struck in the face, spat upon, defied. the effect was instantaneous. thurn and the other defenders of the protestant faith were as prompt in action as the catholics had been in words. a few months passed away. the emperor was in vienna, but his ten stadholders were in prague. the fateful rd of may arrived. slawata, a bohemian protestant, who had converted himself to the roman church in order to marry a rich widow, and who converted his peasants by hunting them to mass with his hounds, and martinitz, the two stadholders who at ferdinand's coronation had endeavoured to prevent him from including the majesty-letter among the privileges he was swearing to support, and who were considered the real authors of the royal letters revoking all religious rights of protestants, were the most obnoxious of all. they were hurled from the council-chamber window of the hradschin. the unfortunate secretary fabricius was tossed out after them. twenty-eight ells deep they fell, and all escaped unhurt by the fall; fabricius being subsequently ennobled by a grateful emperor with the well-won title of baron summerset. the thirty years' war, which in reality had been going on for several years already, is dated from that day. a provisional government was established in prague by the estates under protestant guidance, a college of thirty directors managing affairs. the window-tumble, as the event has always been called in history, excited a sensation in europe. especially the young king of france, whose political position should bring him rather into alliance with the rebels than the emperor, was disgusted and appalled. he was used to rebellion. since he was ten years old there had been a rebellion against himself every year. there was rebellion now. but his ministers had never been thrown out of window. perhaps one might take some day to tossing out kings as well. he disapproved the process entirely. thus the great conflict of christendom, so long impending, seemed at last to have broken forth in full fury on a comparatively insignificant incident. thus reasoned the superficial public, as if the throwing out of window of twenty stadholders could have created a general war in europe had not the causes of war lain deep and deadly in the whole framework of society. the succession of ferdinand to the throne of the holy wenzel, in which his election to the german imperial crown was meant to be involved, was a matter which concerned almost every household in christendom. liberty of religion, civil franchise, political charters, contract between government and subject, right to think, speak, or act, these were the human rights everywhere in peril. a compromise between the two religious parties had existed for half a dozen years in germany, a feeble compromise by which men had hardly been kept from each others' throats. that compromise had now been thrown to the winds. the vast conspiracy of spain, rome, the house of austria, against human liberty had found a chief in the docile, gloomy pupil of the jesuits now enthroned in bohemia, and soon perhaps to wield the sceptre of the holy roman empire. there was no state in europe that had not cause to put hand on sword-hilt. "distrust and good garrisons," in the prophetic words of barneveld, would now be the necessary resource for all intending to hold what had been gained through long years of toil, martyrdom, and hard fighting. the succession of ferdinand excited especial dismay and indignation in the palatinate. the young elector had looked upon the prize as his own. the marked advance of protestant sentiment throughout the kingdom and its neighbour provinces had seemed to render the succession of an extreme papist impossible. when frederic had sued for and won the hand of the fair elizabeth, daughter of the king of great britain, it was understood that the alliance would be more brilliant for her than it seemed. james with his usual vanity spoke of his son-in-law as a future king. it was a golden dream for the elector and for the general cause of the reformed religion. heidelberg enthroned in the ancient capital of the wenzels, maximilians, and rudolphs, the catechism and confession enrolled among the great statutes of the land, this was progress far beyond flimsy majesty-letters and compromises, made only to be torn to pieces. through the dim vista of futurity and in ecstatic vision no doubt even the imperial crown might seem suspended over the palatine's head. but this would be merely a midsummer's dream. events did not whirl so rapidly as they might learn to do centuries later, and--the time for a protestant to grasp at the crown of germany could then hardly be imagined as ripening. but what the calvinist branch of the house of wittelsbach had indeed long been pursuing was to interrupt the succession of the house of austria to the german throne. that a catholic prince must for the immediate future continue to occupy it was conceded even by frederic, but the electoral votes might surely be now so manipulated as to prevent a slave of spain and a tool of the jesuits from wielding any longer the sceptre of charlemagne. on the other hand the purpose of the house of austria was to do away with the elective principle and the prescriptive rights of the estates in bohemia first, and afterwards perhaps to send the golden bull itself to the limbo of wornout constitutional devices. at present however their object was to secure their hereditary sovereignty in prague first, and then to make sure of the next imperial election at frankfurt. time afterwards might fight still more in their favour, and fix them in hereditary possession of the german throne. the elector-palatine had lost no time. his counsellors even before the coronation of ferdinand at prague had done their best to excite alarm throughout germany at the document by which archdukes maximilian and albert had resigned all their hereditary claims in favour of ferdinand and his male children. should there be no such issue, the king of spain claimed the succession for his own sons as great-grandchildren of emperor maximilian, considering himself nearer in the line than the styrian branch, but being willing to waive his own rights in favour of so ardent a catholic as ferdinand. there was even a secret negotiation going on a long time between the new king of bohemia and philip to arrange for the precedence of the spanish males over the styrian females to the hereditary austrian states, and to cede the province of alsace to spain. it was not wonderful that protestant germany should be alarmed. after a century of protestantism, that spain should by any possibility come to be enthroned again over germany was enough to raise both luther and calvin from their graves. it was certainly enough to set the lively young palatine in motion. so soon as the election of frederic was proclaimed, he had taken up the business in person. fond of amusement, young, married to a beautiful bride of the royal house of england, he had hitherto left politics to his counsellors. finding himself frustrated in his ambition by the election of another to the seat he had fondly deemed his own, he resolved to unseat him if he could, and, at any rate, to prevent the ulterior consequences of his elevation. he made a pilgrimage to sedan, to confer with that irrepressible intriguer and huguenot chieftain, the duc de bouillon. he felt sure of the countenance of the states-general, and, of course, of his near relative the great stadholder. he was resolved to invite the duke of lorraine to head the anti-austrian party, and to stand for the kingship of the romans and the empire in opposition to ferdinand. an emissary sent to nancy came back with a discouraging reply. the duke not only flatly refused the candidacy, but warned the palatine that if it really came to a struggle he could reckon on small support anywhere, not even from those who now seemed warmest for the scheme. then frederic resolved to try his cousin, the great maximilian of bavaria, to whom all catholics looked with veneration and whom all german protestants respected. had the two branches of the illustrious house of wittelsbach been combined in one purpose, the opposition to the house of austria might indeed have been formidable. but what were ties of blood compared to the iron bands of religious love and hatred? how could maximilian, sternest of papists, and frederick v., flightiest of calvinists, act harmoniously in an imperial election? moreover, maximilian was united by ties of youthful and tender friendship as well as by kindred and perfect religious sympathy to his other cousin, king ferdinand himself. the case seemed hopeless, but the elector went to munich, and held conferences with his cousin. not willing to take no for an answer so long as it was veiled under evasive or ornamental phraseology, he continued to negotiate with maximilian through his envoys camerarius and secretary neu, who held long debates with the duke's chief councillor, doctor jocher. camerarius assured jocher that his master was the hercules to untie the gordian knot, and the lion of the tribe of judah. how either the lion of judah or hercules were to untie the knot which was popularly supposed to have been cut by the sword of alexander did not appear, but maximilian at any rate was moved neither by entreaties nor tropes. being entirely averse from entering himself for the german crown, he grew weary at last of the importunity with which the scheme was urged. so he wrote a short billet to his councillor, to be shown to secretary neu. "dear jocher," he said, "i am convinced one must let these people understand the matter in a little plainer german. i am once for all determined not to let myself into any misunderstanding or even amplifications with the house of austria in regard to the succession. i think also that it would rather be harmful than useful to my house to take upon myself so heavy a burthen as the german crown." this time the german was plain enough and produced its effect. maximilian was too able a statesman and too conscientious a friend to wish to exchange his own proud position as chief of the league, acknowledged head of the great catholic party, for the slippery, comfortless, and unmeaning throne of the holy empire, which he considered ferdinand's right. the chiefs of the anti-austrian party, especially the prince of anhalt and the margrave of anspach, in unison with the heidelberg cabinet, were forced to look for another candidate. accordingly the margrave and the elector-palatine solemnly agreed that it was indispensable to choose an emperor who should not be of the house of austria nor a slave of spain. it was, to be sure, not possible to think of a protestant prince. bavaria would not oppose austria, would also allow too much influence to the jesuits. so there remained no one but the duke of savoy. he was a prince of the empire. he was of german descent, of saxon race, a great general, father of his soldiers, who would protect europe against a turkish invasion better than the bastions of vienna could do. he would be agreeable to the catholics, while the protestants could live under him without anxiety because the jesuits would be powerless with him. it would be a master-stroke if the princes would unite upon him. the king of france would necessarily be pleased with it, the king of great britain delighted. at last the model candidate had been found. the duke of savoy having just finished for a second time his chronic war with spain, in which the united provinces, notwithstanding the heavy drain on their resources, had allowed him , florins a month besides the soldiers under count ernest of nassau, had sent mansfeld with men to aid the revolted estates in bohemia. geographically, hereditarily, necessarily the deadly enemy of the house of austria, he listened favourably to the overtures made to him by the princes of the union, expressed undying hatred for the imperial race, and thought the bohemian revolt a priceless occasion for expelling them from power. he was informed by the first envoy sent to him, christopher van dohna, that the object of the great movement now contemplated was to raise him to the imperial throne at the next election, to assist the bohemian estates, to secure the crown of bohemia for the elector-palatine, to protect the protestants of germany, and to break down the overweening power of the austrian house. the duke displayed no eagerness for the crown of germany, while approving the election of frederic, but expressed entire sympathy with the enterprise. it was indispensable however to form a general federation in europe of england, the netherlands, venice, together with protestant germany and himself, before undertaking so mighty a task. while the negotiations were going on, both anspach and anhalt were in great spirits. the margrave cried out exultingly, "in a short time the means will be in our hands for turning the world upside down." he urged the prince of anhalt to be expeditious in his decisions and actions. "he who wishes to trade," he said, "must come to market early." there was some disappointment at heidelberg when the first news from turin arrived, the materials for this vast scheme for an overwhelming and universal european war not seeming to be at their disposition. by and by the duke's plans seem to deepen and broaden. he told mansfeld, who, accompanied by secretary neu, was glad at a pause in his fighting and brandschatzing in bohemia to be employed on diplomatic business, that on the whole he should require the crown of bohemia for himself. he also proposed to accept the imperial crown, and as for frederic, he would leave him the crown of hungary, and would recommend him to round himself out by adding to his hereditary dominions the province of alsace, besides upper austria and other territories in convenient proximity to the palatinate. venice, it had been hoped, would aid in the great scheme and might in her turn round herself out with friuli and istria and other tempting possessions of ferdinand, in reward for the men and money she was expected to furnish. that republic had however just concluded a war with ferdinand, caused mainly by the depredations of the piratical uscoques, in which, as we have seen, she had received the assistance of hollanders under command of count john of nassau. the venetians had achieved many successes, had taken the city of gortz, and almost reduced the city of gradiska. a certain colonel albert waldstein however, of whom more might one day be heard in the history of the war now begun, had beaten the venetians and opened a pathway through their ranks for succour to the beleaguered city. soon afterwards peace was made on an undertaking that the uscoques should be driven from their haunts, their castles dismantled, and their ships destroyed. venice declined an engagement to begin a fresh war. she hated ferdinand and matthias and the whole imperial brood, but, as old barbarigo declared in the senate, the republic could not afford to set her house on fire in order to give austria the inconvenience of the smoke. meantime, although the elector-palatine had magnanimously agreed to use his influence in bohemia in favour of charles emmanuel, the duke seems at last to have declined proposing himself for that throne. he knew, he said, that king james wished that station for his son-in-law. the imperial crown belonged to no one as yet after the death of matthias, and was open therefore to his competition. anhalt demanded of savoy , men for the maintenance of the good cause, asserting that "it would be better to have the turk or the devil himself on the german throne than leave it to ferdinand." the triumvirate ruling at prague-thurn, ruppa, and hohenlohe--were anxious for a decision from frederic. that simple-hearted and ingenuous young elector had long been troubled both with fears lest after all he might lose the crown of bohemia and with qualms of conscience as to the propriety of taking it even if he could get it. he wrestled much in prayer and devout meditation whether as anointed prince himself he were justified in meddling with the anointment of other princes. ferdinand had been accepted, proclaimed, crowned. he artlessly sent to prague to consult the estates whether they possessed the right to rebel, to set aside the reigning dynasty, and to choose a new king. at the same time, with an eye to business, he stipulated that on account of the great expense and trouble devolving upon him the crown must be made hereditary in his family. the impression made upon the grim thurn and his colleagues by the simplicity of these questions may be imagined. the splendour and width of the savoyard's conceptions fascinated the leaders of the union. it seemed to anspach and anhalt that it was as well that frederic should reign in hungary as in bohemia, and the elector was docile. all had relied however on the powerful assistance of the great defender of the protestant faith, the father-in-law of the elector, the king of great britain. but james had nothing but cold water and virgilian quotations for his son's ardour. he was more under the influence of gondemar than ever before, more eagerly hankering for the infanta, more completely the slave of spain. he pledged himself to that government that if the protestants in bohemia continued rebellious, he would do his best to frustrate their designs, and would induce his son-in-law to have no further connection with them. and spain delighted his heart not by immediately sending over the infanta, but by proposing that he should mediate between the contending parties. it would be difficult to imagine a greater farce. all central europe was now in arms. the deepest and gravest questions about which men can fight: the right to worship god according to their conscience and to maintain civil franchises which have been earned by the people with the blood and treasure of centuries, were now to be solved by the sword, and the pupil of buchanan and the friend of buckingham was to step between hundreds of thousands of men in arms with a classical oration. but james was very proud of the proposal and accepted it with alacrity. "you know, my dear son," he wrote to frederic, "that we are the only king in europe that is sought for by friend and foe for his mediation. it would be for this our lofty part very unbecoming if we were capable of favouring one of the parties. your suggestion that we might secretly support the bohemians we must totally reject, as it is not our way to do anything that we would not willingly confess to the whole world." and to do james justice, he had never fed frederic with false hopes, never given a penny for his great enterprise, nor promised him a penny. he had contented himself with suggesting from time to time that he might borrow money of the states-general. his daughter elizabeth must take care of herself, else what would become of her brother's marriage to the daughter of spain. and now it was war to the knife, in which it was impossible that holland, as well as all the other great powers should not soon be involved. it was disheartening to the cause of freedom and progress, not only that the great kingdom on which the world, had learned to rely in all movements upward and onward should be neutralized by the sycophancy of its monarch to the general oppressor, but that the great republic which so long had taken the lead in maintaining the liberties of europe should now be torn by religious discord within itself, and be turning against the great statesman who had so wisely guided her councils and so accurately foretold the catastrophe which was now upon the world. meantime the emperor matthias, not less forlorn than through his intrigues and rebellions his brother rudolph had been made, passed his days in almost as utter retirement as if he had formally abdicated. ferdinand treated him as if in his dotage. his fair young wife too had died of hard eating in the beginning of the winter to his inexpressible grief, so that there was nothing left to solace him now but the rudolphian museum. he had made but one public appearance since the coronation of ferdinand in prague. attended by his brother maximilian, by king ferdinand, and by cardinal khlesl, he had towards the end of the year paid a visit to the elector john george at dresden. the imperial party had been received with much enthusiasm by the great leader of lutheranism. the cardinal had seriously objected to accompanying the emperor on this occasion. since the reformation no cardinal had been seen at the court of saxony. he cared not personally for the pomps and glories of his rank, but still as prince of the church he had settled right of precedence over electors. to waive it would be disrespectful to the pope, to claim it would lead to squabbles. but ferdinand had need of his skill to secure the vote of saxony at the next imperial election. the cardinal was afraid of ferdinand with good reason, and complied. by an agreeable fiction he was received at court not as cardinal but as minister, and accommodated with an humble place at table. many looking on with astonishment thought he would have preferred to dine by himself in retirement. but this was not the bitterest of the mortifications that the pastor and guide of matthias was to suffer at the hands of ferdinand before his career should be closed. the visit at dresden was successful, however. john george, being a claimant, as we have seen, for the duchies of cleve and julich, had need of the emperor. the king had need of john george's vote. there was a series of splendid balls, hunting parties, carousings. the emperor was an invalid, the king was abstemious, but the elector was a mighty drinker. it was not his custom nor that of his councillors to go to bed. they were usually carried there. but it was the wish of ferdinand to be conciliatory, and he bore himself as well as he could at the banquet. the elector was also a mighty hunter. neither of his imperial guests cared for field sports, but they looked out contentedly from the window of a hunting-lodge, before which for their entertainment the elector and his courtiers slaughtered eight bears, ten stags, ten pigs, and eleven badgers, besides a goodly number of other game; john george shooting also three martens from a pole erected for that purpose in the courtyard. it seemed proper for him thus to exhibit a specimen of the skill for which he was justly famed. the elector before his life closed, so says the chronicle, had killed , wild boars, bears, wolves, badgers, , foxes, besides stags and roedeer in still greater number, making a grand total of , beasts. the leader of the lutheran party of germany had not lived in vain. thus the great chiefs of catholicism and of protestantism amicably disported themselves in the last days of the year, while their respective forces were marshalling for mortal combat all over christendom. the elector certainly loved neither matthias nor ferdinand, but he hated the palatine. the chief of the german calvinists disputed that protestant hegemony which john george claimed by right. indeed the immense advantage enjoyed by the catholics at the outbreak of the religious war from the mutual animosities between the two great divisions of the reformed church was already terribly manifest. what an additional power would it derive from the increased weakness of the foe, should there be still other and deeper and more deadly schisms within one great division itself! "the calvinists and lutherans," cried the jesuit scioppius, "are so furiously attacking each other with calumnies and cursings and are persecuting each other to such extent as to give good hope that the devilish weight and burthen of them will go to perdition and shame of itself, and the heretics all do bloody execution upon each other. certainly if ever a golden time existed for exterminating the heretics, it is the present time." the imperial party took their leave of dresden, believing themselves to have secured the electoral vote of saxony; the elector hoping for protection to his interests in the duchies through that sequestration to which barneveld had opposed such vigorous resistance. there had been much slavish cringing before these catholic potentates by the courtiers of dresden, somewhat amazing to the ruder churls of saxony, the common people, who really believed in the religion which their prince had selected for them and himself. and to complete the glaring contrast, ferdinand and matthias had scarcely turned their backs before tremendous fulminations upon the ancient church came from the elector and from all the doctors of theology in saxony. for the jubilee of the hundredth anniversary of the reformation was celebrated all over germany in the autumn of this very year, and nearly at the exact moment of all this dancing, and fuddling, and pig shooting at dresden in honour of emperors and cardinals. and pope paul v. had likewise ordained a jubilee for true believers at almost the same time. the elector did not mince matters in his proclamation from any regard to the feelings of his late guests. he called on all protestants to rejoice, "because the light of the holy gospel had now shone brightly in the electoral dominions for a hundred years, the omnipotent keeping it burning notwithstanding the raging and roaring of the hellish enemy and all his scaly servants." the doctors of divinity were still more emphatic in their phraseology. they called on all professors and teachers of the true evangelical churches, not only in germany but throughout christendom, to keep the great jubilee. they did this in terms not calculated certainly to smother the flames of religious and party hatred, even if it had been possible at that moment to suppress the fire. "the great god of heaven," they said, "had caused the undertaking of his holy instrument mr. doctor martin luther to prosper. through his unspeakable mercy he has driven away the papal darkness and caused the sun of righteousness once more to beam upon the world. the old idolatries, blasphemies, errors, and horrors of the benighted popedom have been exterminated in many kingdoms and countries. innumerable sheep of the lord christ have been fed on the wholesome pasture of the divine word in spite of those monstrous, tearing, ravenous wolves, the pope and his followers. the enemy of god and man, the ancient serpent, may hiss and rage. yes, the roman antichrist in his frantic blusterings may bite off his own tongue, may fulminate all kinds of evils, bans, excommunications, wars, desolations, and burnings, as long and as much as he likes. but if we take refuge with the lord god, what can this inane, worn-out man and water-bubble do to us?" with more in the same taste. the pope's bull for the catholic jubilee was far more decorous and lofty in tone, for it bewailed the general sin in christendom, and called on all believers to flee from the wrath about to descend upon the earth, in terms that were almost prophetic. he ordered all to pray that the lord might lift up his church, protect it from the wiles of the enemy, extirpate heresies, grant peace and true unity among christian princes, and mercifully avert disasters already coming near. but if the language of paul v. was measured and decent, the swarm of jesuit pamphleteers that forthwith began to buzz and to sting all over christendom were sufficiently venomous. scioppius, in his alarm trumpet to the holy war, and a hundred others declared that all heresies and heretics were now to be extirpated, the one true church to be united and re-established, and that the only road to such a consummation was a path of blood. the lutheran preachers, on the other hand, obedient to the summons from dresden, vied with each other in every town and village in heaping denunciations, foul names, and odious imputations on the catholics; while the calvinists, not to be behindhand with their fellow reformers, celebrated the jubilee, especially at heidelberg, by excluding papists from hope of salvation, and bewailing the fate of all churches sighing under the yoke of rome. and not only were the papists and the reformers exchanging these blasts and counterblasts of hatred, not less deadly in their effects than the artillery of many armies, but as if to make a thorough exhibition of human fatuity when drunk with religious passion, the lutherans were making fierce paper and pulpit war upon the calvinists. especially hoe, court preacher of john george, ceaselessly hurled savage libels against them. in the name of the theological faculty of wittenberg, he addressed a "truehearted warning to all lutheran christians in bohemia, moravia, silesia, and other provinces, to beware of the erroneous calvinistic religion." he wrote a letter to count schlick, foremost leader in the bohemian movement, asking whether "the unquiet calvinist spirit, should it gain ascendency, would be any more endurable than the papists. oh what woe, what infinite woe," he cried, "for those noble countries if they should all be thrust into the jaws of calvinism!" did not preacher hoe's master aspire to the crown of bohemia himself? was he not furious at the start which heidelberg had got of him in the race for that golden prize? was he not mad with jealousy of the palatine, of the palatine's religion, and of the palatine's claim to "hegemony" in germany? thus embittered and bloodthirsty towards each other were the two great sections of the reformed religion on the first centennial jubilee of the reformation. such was the divided front which the anti-catholic party presented at the outbreak of the war with catholicism. ferdinand, on the other hand, was at the head of a comparatively united party. he could hardly hope for more than benevolent neutrality from the french government, which, in spite of the spanish marriages, dared not wholly desert the netherlands and throw itself into the hands of spain; but spanish diplomacy had enslaved the british king, and converted what should have been an active and most powerful enemy into an efficient if concealed ally. the spanish and archiducal armies were enveloping the dutch republic, from whence the most powerful support could be expected for the protestant cause. had it not been for the steadiness of barneveld, spain would have been at that moment established in full panoply over the whole surface of those inestimable positions, the disputed duchies. venice was lukewarm, if not frigid; and savoy, although deeply pledged by passion and interest to the downfall of the house of austria, was too dangerously situated herself, too distant, too poor, and too catholic to be very formidable. ferdinand was safe from the turkish side. a twenty years' peace, renewable by agreement, between the holy empire and the sultan had been negotiated by those two sons of bakers, cardinal khlesl and the vizier etmekdschifade. it was destined to endure through all the horrors of the great war, a stronger protection to vienna than all the fortifications which the engineering art could invent. he was safe too from poland, king sigmund being not only a devoted catholic but doubly his brother-in-law. spain, therefore, the spanish netherlands, the pope, and the german league headed by maximilian of bavaria, the ablest prince on the continent of europe, presented a square, magnificent phalanx on which ferdinand might rely. the states-general, on the other hand, were a most dangerous foe. with a centennial hatred of spain, splendidly disciplined armies and foremost navy of the world, with an admirable financial system and vast commercial resources, with a great stadholder, first captain of the age, thirsting for war, and allied in blood as well as religion to the standard-bearer of the bohemian revolt; with councils directed by the wisest and most experienced of living statesman, and with the very life blood of her being derived from the fountain of civil and religious liberty, the great republic of the united netherlands--her truce with the hereditary foe just expiring was, if indeed united, strong enough at the head of the protestant forces of europe to dictate to a world in arms. alas! was it united? as regarded internal affairs of most pressing interest, the electoral vote at the next election at frankfurt had been calculated as being likely to yield a majority of one for the opposition candidate, should the savoyard or any other opposition candidate be found. but the calculation was a close one and might easily be fallacious. supposing the palatine elected king of bohemia by the rebellious estates, as was probable, he could of course give the vote of that electorate and his own against ferdinand, and the vote of brandenburg at that time seemed safe. but ferdinand by his visit to dresden had secured the vote of saxony, while of the three ecclesiastical electors, cologne and mayence were sure for him. thus it would be three and three, and the seventh and decisive vote would be that of the elector-bishop of treves. the sanguine frederic thought that with french influence and a round sum of money this ecclesiastic might be got to vote for the opposition candidate. the ingenious combination was not destined to be successful, and as there has been no intention in the present volume to do more than slightly indicate the most prominent movements and mainsprings of the great struggle so far as germany is concerned, without entering into detail, it may be as well to remind the reader that it proved wonderfully wrong. matthias died on the th march, , the election of a new emperor took place at frankfurt on the th of the following august, and not only did saxony and all three ecclesiastical electors vote for ferdinand, but brandenburg likewise, as well as the elector-palatine himself, while ferdinand, personally present in the assembly as elector of bohemia, might according to the golden bull have given the seventh vote for himself had he chosen to do so. thus the election was unanimous. strange to say, as the electors proceeded through the crowd from the hall of election to accompany the new emperor to the church where he was to receive the popular acclaim, the news reached them from prague that the elector-palatine had been elected king of bohemia. thus frederic, by voting for ferdinand, had made himself voluntarily a rebel should he accept the crown now offered him. had the news arrived sooner, a different result and even a different history might have been possible. chapter xiv. barneveld connected with the east india company, but opposed to the west india company--carleton comes from venice inimical to barneveld--maurice openly the chieftain of the contra-remonstrants--tumults about the churches--"orange or spain" the cry of prince maurice and his party--they take possession of the cloister church--"the sharp resolve"--carleton's orations before the states-general. king james never forgave barneveld for drawing from him those famous letters to the states in which he was made to approve the five points and to admit the possibility of salvation under them. these epistles had brought much ridicule upon james, who was not amused by finding his theological discussions a laughing-stock. he was still more incensed by the biting criticisms made upon the cheap surrender of the cautionary towns, and he hated more than ever the statesman who, as he believed, had twice outwitted him. on the other hand, maurice, inspired by his brother-in-law the duke of bouillon and by the infuriated francis aerssens, abhorred barneveld's french policy, which was freely denounced by the french calvinists and by the whole orthodox church. in holland he was still warmly sustained except in the contra-remonstrant amsterdam and a few other cities of less importance. but there were perhaps deeper reasons for the advocate's unpopularity in the great commercial metropolis than theological pretexts. barneveld's name and interests were identified with the great east india company, which was now powerful and prosperous beyond anything ever dreamt of before in the annals of commerce. that trading company had already founded an empire in the east. fifty ships of war, fortresses guarded by pieces of artillery and , soldiers and sailors, obeyed the orders of a dozen private gentlemen at home seated in a back parlour around a green table. the profits of each trading voyage were enormous, and the shareholders were growing rich beyond their wildest imaginings. to no individual so much as to holland's advocate was this unexampled success to be ascribed. the vast prosperity of the east india company had inspired others with the ambition to found a similar enterprise in the west. but to the west india company then projected and especially favoured in amsterdam, barneveld was firmly opposed. he considered it as bound up with the spirit of military adventure and conquest, and as likely to bring on prematurely and unwisely a renewed conflict with spain. the same reasons which had caused him to urge the truce now influenced his position in regard to the west india company. thus the clouds were gathering every day more darkly over the head of the advocate. the powerful mercantile interest in the great seat of traffic in the republic, the personal animosity of the stadholder, the execrations of the orthodox party in france, england, and all the netherlands, the anger of the french princes and all those of the old huguenot party who had been foolish enough to act with the princes in their purely selfish schemes against the government, and the overflowing hatred of king james, whose darling schemes of spanish marriages and a spanish alliance had been foiled by the advocate's masterly policy in france and in the duchies, and whose resentment at having been so completely worsted and disarmed in the predestination matter and in the redemption of the great mortgage had deepened into as terrible wrath as outraged bigotry and vanity could engender; all these elements made up a stormy atmosphere in which the strongest heart might have quailed. but barneveld did not quail. doubtless he loved power, and the more danger he found on every side the less inclined he was to succumb. but he honestly believed that the safety and prosperity of the country he had so long and faithfully served were identified with the policy which he was pursuing. arrogant, overbearing, self-concentrated, accustomed to lead senates and to guide the councils and share the secrets of kings, familiar with and almost an actor in every event in the political history not only of his own country but of every important state in christendom during nearly two generations of mankind, of unmatched industry, full of years and experience, yet feeling within him the youthful strength of a thousand intellects compared to most of those by which he was calumniated, confronted, and harassed; he accepted the great fight which was forced upon him. irascible, courageous, austere, contemptuous, he looked around and saw the republic whose cradle he had rocked grown to be one of the most powerful and prosperous among the states of the world, and could with difficulty imagine that in this supreme hour of her strength and her felicity she was ready to turn and rend the man whom she was bound by every tie of duty to cherish and to revere. sir dudley carleton, the new english ambassador to the states, had arrived during the past year red-hot from venice. there he had perhaps not learned especially to love the new republic which had arisen among the northern lagunes, and whose admission among the nations had been at last accorded by the proud queen of the adriatic, notwithstanding the objections and the intrigues both of french and english representatives. he had come charged to the brim with the political spite of james against the advocate, and provided too with more than seven vials of theological wrath. such was the king's revenge for barneveld's recent successes. the supporters in the netherlands of the civil authority over the church were moreover to be instructed by the political head of the english church that such supremacy, although highly proper for a king, was "thoroughly unsuitable for a many-headed republic." so much for church government. as for doctrine, arminianism and vorstianism were to be blasted with one thunderstroke from the british throne. "in holland," said james to his envoy, "there have been violent and sharp contestations amongst the towns in the cause of religion . . . . . if they shall be unhappily revived during your time, you shall not forget that you are the minister of that master whom god hath made the sole protector of his religion." there was to be no misunderstanding in future as to the dogmas which the royal pope of great britain meant to prescribe to his netherland subjects. three years before, at the dictation of the advocate, he had informed the states that he was convinced of their ability to settle the deplorable dissensions as to religion according to their wisdom and the power which belonged to them over churches and church servants. he had informed them of his having learned by experience that such questions could hardly be decided by the wranglings of theological professors, and that it was better to settle them by public authority and to forbid their being brought into the pulpit or among common people. he had recommended mutual toleration of religious difference until otherwise ordained by the public civil authority, and had declared that neither of the two opinions in regard to predestination was in his opinion far from the truth or inconsistent with christian faith or the salvation of souls. it was no wonder that these utterances were quite after the advocate's heart, as james had faithfully copied them from the advocate's draft. but now in the exercise of his infallibility the king issued other decrees. his minister was instructed to support the extreme views of the orthodox both as to government and dogma, and to urge the national synod, as it were, at push of pike. "besides the assistance," said he to carleton, "which we would have you give to the true professors of the gospel in your discourse and conferences, you may let fall how hateful the maintenance of these erroneous opinions is to the majesty of god, how displeasing unto us their dearest friends, and how disgraceful to the honour and government of that state." and faithfully did the ambassador act up to his instructions. most sympathetically did he embody the hatred of the king. an able, experienced, highly accomplished diplomatist and scholar, ready with tongue and pen, caustic, censorious, prejudiced, and partial, he was soon foremost among the foes of the advocate in the little court of the hague, and prepared at any moment to flourish the political and theological goad when his master gave the word. nothing in diplomatic history is more eccentric than the long sermons upon abstruse points of divinity and ecclesiastical history which the english ambassador delivered from time to time before the states-general in accordance with elaborate instructions drawn up by his sovereign with his own hand. rarely has a king been more tedious, and he bestowed all his tediousness upon my lords the states-general. nothing could be more dismal than these discourses, except perhaps the contemporaneous and interminable orations of grotius to the states of holland, to the magistrates of amsterdam, to the states of utrecht; yet carleton was a man of the world, a good debater, a ready writer, while hugo grotius was one of the great lights of that age and which shone for all time. among the diplomatic controversies of history, rarely refreshing at best, few have been more drouthy than those once famous disquisitions, and they shall be left to shrivel into the nothingness of the past, so far as is consistent with the absolute necessities of this narrative. the contest to which the advocate was called had become mainly a personal and a political one, although the weapons with which it was fought were taken from ecclesiastical arsenals. it was now an unequal contest. for the great captain of the country and of his time, the son of william the silent, the martial stadholder, in the fulness of his fame and vigour of his years, had now openly taken his place as the chieftain of the contra-remonstrants. the conflict between the civil and the military element for supremacy in a free commonwealth has never been more vividly typified than in this death-grapple between maurice and barneveld. the aged but still vigorous statesman, ripe with half a century of political lore, and the high-born, brilliant, and scientific soldier, with the laurels of turnhout and nieuwpoort and of a hundred famous sieges upon his helmet, reformer of military science, and no mean proficient in the art of politics and government, were the representatives and leaders of the two great parties into which the commonwealth had now unhappily divided itself. but all history shows that the brilliant soldier of a republic is apt to have the advantage, in a struggle for popular affection and popular applause, over the statesman, however consummate. the general imagination is more excited by the triumphs of the field than by those of the tribune, and the man who has passed many years of life in commanding multitudes with necessarily despotic sway is often supposed to have gained in the process the attributes likely to render him most valuable as chief citizen of a flee commonwealth. yet national enthusiasm is so universally excited by splendid military service as to forbid a doubt that the sentiment is rooted deeply in our nature, while both in antiquity and in modern times there are noble although rare examples of the successful soldier converting himself into a valuable and exemplary magistrate. in the rivalry of maurice and barneveld however for the national affection the chances were singularly against the advocate. the great battles and sieges of the prince had been on a world's theatre, had enchained the attention of christendom, and on their issue had frequently depended, or seemed to depend, the very existence of the nation. the labours of the statesman, on the contrary, had been comparatively secret. his noble orations and arguments had been spoken with closed doors to assemblies of colleagues--rather envoys than senators--were never printed or even reported, and could be judged of only by their effects; while his vast labours in directing both the internal administration and especially the foreign affairs of the commonwealth had been by their very nature as secret as they were perpetual and enormous. moreover, there was little of what we now understand as the democratic sentiment in the netherlands. there was deep and sturdy attachment to ancient traditions, privileges, special constitutions extorted from a power acknowledged to be superior to the people. when partly to save those chartered rights, and partly to overthrow the horrible ecclesiastical tyranny of the sixteenth century, the people had accomplished a successful revolt, they never dreamt of popular sovereignty, but allowed the municipal corporations, by which their local affairs had been for centuries transacted, to unite in offering to foreign princes, one after another, the crown which they had torn from the head of the spanish king. when none was found to accept the dangerous honour, they had acquiesced in the practical sovereignty of the states; but whether the states-general or the states-provincial were the supreme authority had certainly not been definitely and categorically settled. so long as the states of holland, led by the advocate, had controlled in great matters the political action of the states-general, while the stadholder stood without a rival at the head of their military affairs, and so long as there were no fierce disputes as to government and dogma within the bosom of the reformed church, the questions which were now inflaming the whole population had been allowed to slumber. the termination of the war and the rise of arminianism were almost contemporaneous. the stadholder, who so unwillingly had seen the occupation in which he had won so much glory taken from him by the truce, might perhaps find less congenial but sufficiently engrossing business as champion of the church and of the union. the new church--not freedom of worship for different denominations of christians, but supremacy of the church of heidelberg and geneva--seemed likely to be the result of the overthrow of the ancient church. it is the essence of the catholic church to claim supremacy over and immunity from the civil authority, and to this claim for the reformed church, by which that of rome had been supplanted, barneveld was strenuously opposed. the stadholder was backed, therefore, by the church in its purity, by the majority of the humbler classes--who found in membership of the oligarchy of heaven a substitute for those democratic aspirations on earth which were effectually suppressed between the two millstones of burgher aristocracy and military discipline--and by the states-general, a majority of which were contra-remonstrant in their faith. if the sword is usually an overmatch for the long robe in political struggles, the cassock has often proved superior to both combined. but in the case now occupying our attention the cassock was in alliance with the sword. clearly the contest was becoming a desperate one for the statesman. and while the controversy between the chiefs waged hotter and hotter, the tumults around the churches on sundays in every town and village grew more and more furious, ending generally in open fights with knives, bludgeons, and brickbats; preachers and magistrates being often too glad to escape with a whole skin. one can hardly be ingenuous enough to consider all this dirking, battering, and fisticuffing as the legitimate and healthy outcome of a difference as to the knotty point whether all men might or might not be saved by repentance and faith in christ. the greens and blues of the byzantine circus had not been more typical of fierce party warfare in the lower empire than the greens and blues of predestination in the rising commonwealth, according to the real or imagined epigram of prince maurice. "your divisions in religion," wrote secretary lake to carleton, "have, i doubt not, a deeper root than is discerned by every one, and i doubt not that the prince maurice's carriage doth make a jealousy of affecting a party under the pretence of supporting one side, and that the states fear his ends and aims, knowing his power with the men of war; and that howsoever all be shadowed under the name of religion there is on either part a civil end, of the one seeking a step of higher authority, of the other a preservation of liberty." and in addition to other advantages the contra-remonstrants had now got a good cry--an inestimable privilege in party contests. "there are two factions in the land," said maurice, "that of orange and that of spain, and the two chiefs of the spanish faction are those political and priestly arminians, uytenbogaert and oldenbarneveld." orange and spain! the one name associated with all that was most venerated and beloved throughout the country, for william the silent since his death was almost a god; the other ineradicably entwined at that moment with, everything execrated throughout the land. the prince of orange's claim to be head of the orange faction could hardly be disputed, but it was a master stroke of political malice to fix the stigma of spanish partisanship on the advocate. if the venerable patriot who had been fighting spain, sometimes on the battle-field and always in the council, ever since he came to man's estate, could be imagined even in a dream capable of being bought with spanish gold to betray his country, who in the ranks of the remonstrant party could be safe from such accusations? each party accused the other of designs for altering or subverting the government. maurice was suspected of what were called leicestrian projects, "leycestrana consilia"--for the earl's plots to gain possession of leyden and utrecht had never been forgotten--while the prince and those who acted with him asserted distinctly that it was the purpose of barneveld to pave the way for restoring the spanish sovereignty and the popish religion so soon as the truce had reached its end? spain and orange. nothing for a faction fight could be neater. moreover the two words rhyme in netherlandish, which is the case in no other language, "spanje-oranje." the sword was drawn and the banner unfurled. the "mud beggars" of the hague, tired of tramping to ryswyk of a sunday to listen to henry rosaeus, determined on a private conventicle in the capital. the first barn selected was sealed up by the authorities, but epoch much, book-keeper of prince maurice, then lent them his house. the prince declared that sooner than they should want a place of assembling he would give them his own. but he meant that they should have a public church to themselves, and that very soon. king james thoroughly approved of all these proceedings. at that very instant such of his own subjects as had seceded from the established church to hold conventicles in barns and breweries and backshops in london were hunted by him with bishops' pursuivants and other beagles like vilest criminals, thrown into prison to rot, or suffered to escape from their fatherland into the trans-atlantic wilderness, there to battle with wild beasts and savages, and to die without knowing themselves the fathers of a more powerful united states than the dutch republic, where they were fain to seek in passing a temporary shelter. he none the less instructed his envoy at the hague to preach the selfsame doctrines for which the new england puritans were persecuted, and importunately and dictatorially to plead the cause of those hollanders who, like bradford and robinson, winthrop and cotton, maintained the independence of the church over the state. logic is rarely the quality on which kings pride themselves, and puritanism in the netherlands, although under temporary disadvantage at the hague, was evidently the party destined to triumph throughout the country. james could safely sympathize therefore in holland with what he most loathed in england, and could at the same time feed fat the grudge he owed the advocate. the calculations of barneveld as to the respective political forces of the commonwealth seem to have been to a certain extent defective. he allowed probably too much weight to the catholic party as a motive power at that moment, and he was anxious both from that consideration and from his honest natural instinct for general toleration; his own broad and unbigoted views in religious matters, not to force that party into a rebellious attitude dangerous to the state. we have seen how nearly a mutiny in the important city of utrecht, set on foot by certain romanist conspirators in the years immediately succeeding the truce, had subverted the government, had excited much anxiety amongst the firmest allies of the republic, and had been suppressed only by the decision of the advocate and a show of military force. he had informed carleton not long after his arrival that in the united provinces, and in holland in particular, were many sects and religions of which, according to his expression, "the healthiest and the richest part were the papists, while the protestants did not make up one-third part of the inhabitants." certainly, if these statistics were correct or nearly correct, there could be nothing more stupid from a purely political point of view than to exasperate so influential a portion of the community to madness and rebellion by refusing them all rights of public worship. yet because the advocate had uniformly recommended indulgence, he had incurred more odium at home than from any other cause. of course he was a papist in disguise, ready to sell his country to spain, because he was willing that more than half the population of the country should be allowed to worship god according to their conscience. surely it would be wrong to judge the condition of things at that epoch by the lights of to-day, and perhaps in the netherlands there had before been no conspicuous personage, save william the silent alone, who had risen to the height of toleration on which the advocate essayed to stand. other leading politicians considered that the national liberties could be preserved only by retaining the catholics in complete subjection. at any rate the advocate was profoundly convinced of the necessity of maintaining harmony and mutual toleration among the protestants themselves, who, as he said, made up but one-third of the whole people. in conversing with the english ambassador he divided them into "puritans and double puritans," as they would be called, he said, in england. if these should be at variance with each other, he argued, the papists would be the strongest of all. "to prevent this inconvenience," he said, "the states were endeavouring to settle some certain form of government in the church; which being composed of divers persecuted churches such as in the beginning of the wars had their refuge here, that which during the wars could not be so well done they now thought seasonable for a time of truce; and therefore would show their authority in preventing the schism of the church which would follow the separation of those they call remonstrants and contra-remonstrants." there being no word so offensive to carleton's sovereign as the word puritan, the ambassador did his best to persuade the advocate that a puritan in holland was a very different thing from a puritan in england. in england he was a noxious vermin, to be hunted with dogs. in the netherlands he was the governing power. but his arguments were vapourous enough and made little impression on barneveld. "he would no ways yield," said sir dudley. meantime the contra-remonstrants of the hague, not finding sufficient accommodation in enoch much's house, clamoured loudly for the use of a church. it was answered by the city magistrates that two of their persuasion, la motte and la faille, preached regularly in the great church, and that rosaeus had been silenced only because he refused to hold communion with uytenbogaert. maurice insisted that a separate church should be assigned them. "but this is open schism," said uytenbogaert. early in the year there was a meeting of the holland delegation to the states-general, of the state council, and of the magistracy of the hague, of deputies from the tribunals, and of all the nobles resident in the capital. they sent for maurice and asked his opinion as to the alarming situation of affairs. he called for the register-books of the states of holland, and turning back to the pages on which was recorded his accession to the stadholderate soon after his father's murder, ordered the oath then exchanged between himself and the states to be read aloud. that oath bound them mutually to support the reformed religion till the last drop of blood in their veins. "that oath i mean to keep," said the stadholder, "so long as i live." no one disputed the obligation of all parties to maintain the reformed religion. but the question was whether the five points were inconsistent with the reformed religion. the contrary was clamorously maintained by most of those present: in the year this difference in dogma had not arisen, and as the large majority of the people at the hague, including nearly all those of rank and substance, were of the remonstrant persuasion, they naturally found it not agreeable to be sent out of the church by a small minority. but maurice chose to settle the question very summarily. his father had been raised to power by the strict calvinists, and he meant to stand by those who had always sustained william the silent. "for this religion my father lost his life, and this religion will i defend," said he. "you hold then," said barneveld, "that the almighty has created one child for damnation and another for salvation, and you wish this doctrine to be publicly preached." "did you ever hear any one preach that?" replied the prince. "if they don't preach it, it is their inmost conviction," said the other. and he proceeded to prove his position by copious citations. "and suppose our ministers do preach this doctrine, is there anything strange in it, any reason why they should not do so?" the advocate expressed his amazement and horror at the idea. "but does not god know from all eternity who is to be saved and who to be damned; and does he create men for any other end than that to which he from eternity knows they will come?" and so they enclosed themselves in the eternal circle out of which it was not probable that either the soldier or the statesman would soon find an issue. "i am no theologian," said barneveld at last, breaking off the discussion. "neither am i," said the stadholder. "so let the parsons come together. let the synod assemble and decide the question. thus we shall get out of all this." next day a deputation of the secessionists waited by appointment on prince maurice. they found him in the ancient mediaeval hall of the sovereign counts of holland, and seated on their old chair of state. he recommended them to use caution and moderation for the present, and to go next sunday once more to ryswyk. afterwards he pledged himself that they should have a church at the hague, and, if necessary, the great church itself. but the great church, although a very considerable catholic cathedral before the reformation, was not big enough now to hold both henry rosaeus and john uytenbogaert. those two eloquent, learned, and most pugnacious divines were the respective champions in the pulpit of the opposing parties, as were the advocate and the stadholder in the council. and there was as bitter personal rivalry between the two as between the soldier and statesman. "the factions begin to divide themselves," said carleton, "betwixt his excellency and monsieur barneveld as heads who join to this present difference their ancient quarrels. and the schism rests actually between uytenbogaert and rosaeus, whose private emulation and envy (both being much applauded and followed) doth no good towards the public pacification." uytenbogaert repeatedly offered, however, to resign his functions and to leave the hague. "he was always ready to play the jonah," he said. a temporary arrangement was made soon afterwards by which rosaeus and his congregation should have the use of what was called the gasthuis kerk, then appropriated to the english embassy. carleton of course gave his consent most willingly. the prince declared that the states of holland and the city magistracy had personally affronted him by the obstacles they had interposed to the public worship of the contra-remonstrants. with their cause he had now thoroughly identified himself. the hostility between the representatives of the civil and military authority waxed fiercer every hour. the tumults were more terrible than ever. plainly there was no room in the commonwealth for the advocate and the stadholder. some impartial persons believed that there would be no peace until both were got rid of. "there are many words among this free-spoken people," said carleton, "that to end these differences they must follow the example of france in marshal d'ancre's case, and take off the heads of both chiefs." but these decided persons were in a small minority. meantime the states of holland met in full assembly; sixty delegates being present. it was proposed to invite his excellency to take part in the deliberations. a committee which had waited upon him the day before had reported him as in favour of moderate rather than harsh measures in the church affair, while maintaining his plighted word to the seceders. barneveld stoutly opposed the motion. "what need had the sovereign states of holland of advice from a stadholder, from their servant, their functionary?" he cried. but the majority for once thought otherwise. the prince was invited to come. the deliberations were moderate but inconclusive. he appeared again at an adjourned meeting when the councils were not so harmonious. barneveld, grotius, and other eloquent speakers endeavoured to point out that the refusal of the seceders to hold communion with the remonstrant preachers and to insist on a separation was fast driving the state to perdition. they warmly recommended mutual toleration and harmony. grotius exhausted learning and rhetoric to prove that the five points were not inconsistent with salvation nor with the constitution of the united provinces. the stadholder grew impatient at last and clapped his hand on his rapier. "no need here," he said, "of flowery orations and learned arguments. with this good sword i will defend the religion which my father planted in these provinces, and i should like to see the man who is going to prevent me!" the words had an heroic ring in the ears of such as are ever ready to applaud brute force, especially when wielded by a prince. the argumentum ad ensem, however, was the last plea that william the silent would have been likely to employ on such an occasion, nor would it have been easy to prove that the reformed religion had been "planted" by one who had drawn the sword against the foreign tyrant, and had made vast sacrifices for his country's independence years before abjuring communion with the roman catholic church. when swords are handled by the executive in presence of civil assemblies there is usually but one issue to be expected. moreover, three whales had recently been stranded at scheveningen, one of them more than sixty feet long, and men wagged their beards gravely as they spoke of the event, deeming it a certain presage of civil commotions. it was remembered that at the outbreak of the great war two whales had been washed ashore in the scheldt. although some free-thinking people were inclined to ascribe the phenomenon to a prevalence of strong westerly gales, while others found proof in it of a superabundance of those creatures in the polar seas, which should rather give encouragement to the dutch and zealand fisheries, it is probable that quite as dark forebodings of coming disaster were caused by this accident as by the trumpet-like defiance which the stadholder had just delivered to the states of holland. meantime the seceding congregation of the hague had become wearied of the english or gasthuis church, and another and larger one had been promised them. this was an ancient convent on one of the principal streets of the town, now used as a cannon-foundry. the prince personally superintended the preparations for getting ready this place of worship, which was thenceforth called the cloister church. but delays were, as the contra-remonstrants believed, purposely interposed, so that it was nearly midsummer before there were any signs of the church being fit for use. they hastened accordingly to carry it, as it were, by assault. not wishing peaceably to accept as a boon from the civil authority what they claimed as an indefeasible right, they suddenly took possession one sunday night of the cloister church. it was in a state of utter confusion--part monastery, part foundry, part conventicle. there were few seats, no altar, no communion-table, hardly any sacramental furniture, but a pulpit was extemporized. rosaeus preached in triumph to an enthusiastic congregation, and three children were baptized with the significant names of william, maurice, and henry. on the following monday there was a striking scene on the voorhout. this most beautiful street of a beautiful city was a broad avenue, shaded by a quadruple row of limetrees, reaching out into the thick forest of secular oaks and beeches--swarming with fallow-deer and alive with the notes of singing birds--by which the hague, almost from time immemorial, has been embowered. the ancient cloisterhouse and church now reconverted to religious uses--was a plain, rather insipid structure of red brick picked out with white stone, presenting three symmetrical gables to the street, with a slender belfry and spire rising in the rear. nearly adjoining it on the north-western side was the elegant and commodious mansion of barneveld, purchased by him from the representatives of the arenberg family, surrounded by shrubberies and flower-gardens; not a palace, but a dignified and becoming abode for the first citizen of a powerful republic. on that midsummer's morning it might well seem that, in rescuing the old cloister from the military purposes to which it had for years been devoted, men had given an even more belligerent aspect to the scene than if it had been left as a foundry. the miscellaneous pieces of artillery and other fire-arms lying about, with piles of cannon-ball which there had not been time to remove, were hardly less belligerent and threatening of aspect than the stern faces of the crowd occupied in thoroughly preparing the house for its solemn destination. it was determined that there should be accommodation on the next sunday for all who came to the service. an army of carpenters, joiners, glaziers, and other workmen-assisted by a mob of citizens of all ranks and ages, men and women, gentle and simple were busily engaged in bringing planks and benches; working with plane, adze, hammer and saw, trowel and shovel, to complete the work. on the next sunday the prince attended public worship for the last time at the great church under the ministration of uytenbogaert. he was infuriated with the sermon, in which the bold remonstrant bitterly inveighed against the proposition for a national synod. to oppose that measure publicly in the very face of the stadholder, who now considered himself as the synod personified, seemed to him flat blasphemy. coming out of the church with his step-mother, the widowed louise de coligny, princess of orange, he denounced the man in unmeasured terms. "he is the enemy of god," said maurice. at least from that time forth, and indeed for a year before, maurice was the enemy of the preacher. on the following sunday, july , maurice went in solemn state to the divine service at the cloister church now thoroughly organized. he was accompanied by his cousin, the famous count william lewis of nassau, stadholder of friesland, who had never concealed his warm sympathy with the contra-remonstrants, and by all the chief officers of his household and members of his staff. it was an imposing demonstration and meant for one. as the martial stadholder at the head of his brilliant cavalcade rode forth across the drawbridge from the inner court of the old moated palace--where the ancient sovereign dirks and florences of holland had so long ruled their stout little principality--along the shady and stately kneuterdyk and so through the voorhout, an immense crowd thronged around his path and accompanied him to the church. it was as if the great soldier were marching to siege or battle-field where fresher glories than those of sluys or geertruidenberg were awaiting him. the train passed by barneveld's house and entered the cloister. more than four thousand persons were present at the service or crowded around the doors vainly attempting to gain admission into the overflowing aisles; while the great church was left comparatively empty, a few hundred only worshipping there. the cloister church was thenceforth called the prince's church, and a great revolution was beginning even in the hague. the advocate was wroth as he saw the procession graced by the two stadholders and their military attendants. he knew that he was now to bow his head to the church thus championed by the chief personage and captain-general of the state, to renounce his dreams of religious toleration, to sink from his post of supreme civic ruler, or to accept an unequal struggle in which he might utterly succumb. but his iron nature would break sooner than bend. in the first transports of his indignation he is said to have vowed vengeance against the immediate instruments by which the cloister church had, as he conceived, been surreptitiously and feloniously seized. he meant to strike a blow which should startle the whole population of the hague, send a thrill of horror through the country, and teach men to beware how they trifled with the sovereign states of holland, whose authority had so long been undisputed, and with him their chief functionary. he resolved--so ran the tale of the preacher trigland, who told it to prince maurice, and has preserved it in his chronicle--to cause to be seized at midnight from their beds four men whom he considered the ringleaders in this mutiny, to have them taken to the place of execution on the square in the midst of the city, to have their heads cut off at once by warrant from the chief tribunal without any previous warning, and then to summon all the citizens at dawn of day, by ringing of bells and firing of cannon, to gaze on the ghastly spectacle, and teach them to what fate this pestilential schism and revolt against authority had brought its humble tools. the victims were to be enoch much, the prince's book-keeper, and three others, an attorney, an engraver, and an apothecary, all of course of the contra-remonstrant persuasion. it was necessary, said the advocate, to make once for all an example, and show that there was a government in the land. he had reckoned on a ready adhesion to this measure and a sentence from the tribunal through the influence of his son-in-law, the seignior van veenhuyzen, who was president of the chief court. his attempt was foiled however by the stern opposition of two zealand members of the court, who managed to bring up from a bed of sickness, where he had long been lying, a holland councillor whom they knew to be likewise opposed to the fierce measure, and thus defeated it by a majority of one. such is the story as told by contemporaries and repeated from that day to this. it is hardly necessary to say that barneveld calmly denied having conceived or even heard of the scheme. that men could go about looking each other in the face and rehearsing such gibberish would seem sufficiently dispiriting did we not know to what depths of credulity men in all ages can sink when possessed by the demon of party malice. if it had been narrated on the exchange at amsterdam or flushing during that portentous midsummer that barneveld had not only beheaded but roasted alive, and fed the dogs and cats upon the attorney, the apothecary, and the engraver, there would have been citizens in plenty to devour the news with avidity. but although the advocate had never imagined such extravagances as these, it is certain that he had now resolved upon very bold measures, and that too without an instant's delay. he suspected the prince of aiming at sovereignty not only over holland but over all the provinces and to be using the synod as a principal part of his machinery. the gauntlet was thrown down by the stadholder, and the advocate lifted it at once. the issue of the struggle would depend upon the political colour of the town magistracies. barneveld instinctively felt that maurice, being now resolved that the synod should be held, would lose no time in making a revolution in all the towns through the power he held or could plausibly usurp. such a course would, in his opinion, lead directly to an unconstitutional and violent subversion of the sovereign rights of each province, to the advantage of the central government. a religious creed would be forced upon holland and perhaps upon two other provinces which was repugnant to a considerable majority of the people. and this would be done by a majority vote of the states-general, on a matter over which, by the th article of the fundamental compact--the union of utrecht--the states-general had no control, each province having reserved the disposition of religious affairs to itself. for let it never be forgotten that the union of the netherlands was a compact, a treaty, an agreement between sovereign states. there was no pretence that it was an incorporation, that the people had laid down a constitution, an organic law. the people were never consulted, did not exist, had not for political purposes been invented. it was the great primal defect of their institutions, but the netherlanders would have been centuries before their age had they been able to remedy that defect. yet the netherlanders would have been much behind even that age of bigotry had they admitted the possibility in a free commonwealth, of that most sacred and important of all subjects that concern humanity, religious creed--the relation of man to his maker--to be regulated by the party vote of a political board. it was with no thought of treason in his heart or his head therefore that the advocate now resolved that the states of holland and the cities of which that college was composed should protect their liberties and privileges, the sum of which in his opinion made up the sovereignty of the province he served, and that they should protect them, if necessary, by force. force was apprehended. it should be met by force. to be forewarned was to be forearmed. barneveld forewarned the states of holland. on the th august , he proposed to that assembly a resolution which was destined to become famous. a majority accepted it after brief debate. it was to this effect. the states having seen what had befallen in many cities, and especially in the hague, against the order, liberties, and laws of the land, and having in vain attempted to bring into harmony with the states certain cities which refused to co-operate with the majority, had at last resolved to refuse the national synod, as conflicting with the sovereignty and laws of holland. they had thought good to set forth in public print their views as to religious worship, and to take measures to prevent all deeds of violence against persons and property. to this end the regents of cities were authorized in case of need, until otherwise ordained, to enrol men-at-arms for their security and prevention of violence. furthermore, every one that might complain of what the regents of cities by strength of this resolution might do was ordered to have recourse to no one else than the states of holland, as no account would be made of anything that might be done or undertaken by the tribunals. finally, it was resolved to send a deputation to prince maurice, the princess-widow, and prince henry, requesting them to aid in carrying out this resolution. thus the deed was done. the sword was drawn. it was drawn in self-defence and in deliberate answer to the stadholder's defiance when he rapped his sword hilt in face of the assembly, but still it was drawn. the states of holland were declared sovereign and supreme. the national synod was peremptorily rejected. any decision of the supreme courts of the union in regard to the subject of this resolution was nullified in advance. thenceforth this measure of the th august was called the "sharp resolve." it might prove perhaps to be double-edged. it was a stroke of grim sarcasm on the part of the advocate thus solemnly to invite the stadholder's aid in carrying out a law which was aimed directly at his head; to request his help for those who meant to defeat with the armed hand that national synod which he had pledged himself to bring about. the question now arose what sort of men-at-arms it would be well for the city governments to enlist. the officers of the regular garrisons had received distinct orders from prince maurice as their military superior to refuse any summons to act in matters proceeding from the religious question. the prince, who had chief authority over all the regular troops, had given notice that he would permit nothing to be done against "those of the reformed religion," by which he meant the contra-remonstrants and them only. in some cities there were no garrisons, but only train-bands. but the train bands (schutters) could not be relied on to carry out the sharp resolve, for they were almost to a man contra-remonstrants. it was therefore determined to enlist what were called "waartgelders;" soldiers, inhabitants of the place, who held themselves ready to serve in time of need in consideration of a certain wage; mercenaries in short. this resolution was followed as a matter of course by a solemn protest from amsterdam and the five cities who acted with her. on the same day maurice was duly notified of the passage of the law. his wrath was great. high words passed between him and the deputies. it could hardly have been otherwise expected. next-day he came before the assembly to express his sentiments, to complain of the rudeness with which the resolution of th august had been communicated to him, and to demand further explanations. forthwith the advocate proceeded to set forth the intentions of the states, and demanded that the prince should assist the magistrates in carrying out the policy decided upon. reinier pauw, burgomaster of amsterdam, fiercely interrupted the oration of barneveld, saying that although these might be his views, they were not to be held by his excellency as the opinions of all. the advocate, angry at the interruption, answered him sternly, and a violent altercation, not unmixed with personalities, arose. maurice, who kept his temper admirably on this occasion, interfered between the two and had much difficulty in quieting the dispute. he then observed that when he took the oath as stadholder these unfortunate differences had not arisen, but all had been good friends together. this was perfectly true, but he could have added that they might all continue good friends unless the plan of imposing a religious creed upon the minority by a clerical decision were persisted in. he concluded that for love of one of the two great parties he would not violate the oath he had taken to maintain the reformed religion to the last drop of his blood. still, with the same 'petitio principii' that the reformed religion and the dogmas of the contra-remonstrants were one and the same thing, he assured the assembly that the authority of the magistrates would be sustained by him so long as it did not lead to the subversion of religion. clearly the time for argument had passed. as dudley carleton observed, men had been disputing 'pro aris' long enough. they would soon be fighting 'pro focis.' in pursuance of the policy laid down by the sharp resolution, the states proceeded to assure themselves of the various cities of the province by means of waartgelders. they sent to the important seaport of brielle and demanded a new oath from the garrison. it was intimated that the prince would be soon coming there in person to make himself master of the place, and advice was given to the magistrates to be beforehand with him. these statements angered maurice, and angered him the more because they happened to be true. it was also charged that he was pursuing his leicestrian designs and meant to make himself, by such steps, sovereign of the country. the name of leicester being a byword of reproach ever since that baffled noble had a generation before left the provinces in disgrace, it was a matter of course that such comparisons were excessively exasperating. it was fresh enough too in men's memory that the earl in his netherland career had affected sympathy with the strictest denomination of religious reformers, and that the profligate worldling and arrogant self-seeker had used the mask of religion to cover flagitious ends. as it had indeed been the object of the party at the head of which the advocate had all his life acted to raise the youthful maurice to the stadholderate expressly to foil the plots of leicester, it could hardly fail to be unpalatable to maurice to be now accused of acting the part of leicester. he inveighed bitterly on the subject before the state council: the state council, in a body, followed him to a meeting of the states-general. here the stadholder made a vehement speech and demanded that the states of holland should rescind the "sharp resolution," and should desist from the new oaths required from the soldiery. barneveld, firm as a rock, met these bitter denunciations. speaking in the name of holland, he repelled the idea that the sovereign states of that province were responsible to the state council or to the states-general either. he regretted, as all regretted, the calumnies uttered against the prince, but in times of such intense excitement every conspicuous man was the mark of calumny. the stadholder warmly repudiated leicestrian designs, and declared that he had been always influenced by a desire to serve his country and maintain the reformed religion. if he had made mistakes, he desired to be permitted to improve in the future. thus having spoken, the soldier retired from the assembly with the state council at his heels. the advocate lost no time in directing the military occupation of the principal towns of holland, such as leyden, gouda, rotterdam, schoonhoven, hoorn, and other cities. at leyden especially, where a strong orange party was with difficulty kept in obedience by the remonstrant magistracy, it was found necessary to erect a stockade about the town-hall and to plant caltrops and other obstructions in the squares and streets. the broad space in front; of the beautiful medieval seat of the municipal government, once so sacred for the sublime and pathetic scenes enacted there during the famous siege and in the magistracy of peter van der werff, was accordingly enclosed by a solid palisade of oaken planks, strengthened by rows of iron bars with barbed prongs: the entrenchment was called by the populace the arminian fort, and the iron spear heads were baptized barneveld's teeth. cannon were planted at intervals along the works, and a company or two of the waartgelders, armed from head to foot, with snaphances on their shoulders, stood ever ready to issue forth to quell any disturbances. occasionally a life or two was lost of citizen or soldier, and many doughty blows were interchanged. it was a melancholy spectacle. no commonwealth could be more fortunate than this republic in possessing two such great leading minds. no two men could be more patriotic than both stadholder and advocate. no two men could be prouder, more overbearing, less conciliatory. "i know mons. barneveld well," said sir ralph winwood, "and know that he hath great powers and abilities, and malice itself must confess that man never hath done more faithful and powerful service to his country than he. but 'finis coronat opus' and 'il di lodi lacera; oportet imperatorem stantem mori.'" the cities of holland were now thoroughly "waartgeldered," and barneveld having sufficiently shown his "teeth" in that province departed for change of air to utrecht. his failing health was assigned as the pretext for the visit, although the atmosphere of that city has never been considered especially salubrious in the dog-days. meantime the stadholder remained quiet, but biding his time. he did not choose to provoke a premature conflict in the strongholds of the arminians as he called them, but with a true military instinct preferred making sure of the ports. amsterdam, enkhuyzen, flushing, being without any effort of his own within his control, he quietly slipped down the river meuse on the night of the th september, accompanied by his brother frederic henrys and before six o'clock next morning had introduced a couple of companies of trustworthy troops into brielle, had summoned the magistrates before him, and compelled them to desist from all further intention of levying mercenaries. thus all the fortresses which barneveld had so recently and in such masterly fashion rescued from the grasp of england were now quietly reposing in the hands of the stadholder. maurice thought it not worth his while for the present to quell the mutiny--as he considered it the legal and constitutional defence of vested right--as great jurists like barneveld and hugo grotius accounted the movement--at its "fountain head leyden or its chief stream utrecht;" to use the expression of carleton. there had already been bloodshed in leyden, a burgher or two having been shot and a soldier stoned to death in the streets, but the stadholder deemed it unwise to precipitate matters. feeling himself, with his surpassing military knowledge and with a large majority of the nation at his back, so completely master of the situation, he preferred waiting on events. and there is no doubt that he was proving himself a consummate politician and a perfect master of fence. "he is much beloved and followed both of soldiers and people," said the english ambassador, "he is a man 'innoxiae popularitatis' so as this jealousy cannot well be fastened upon him; and in this cause of religion he stirred not until within these few months he saw he must declare himself or suffer the better party to be overborne." the chief tribunal-high council so called-of the country soon gave evidence that the "sharp resolution" had judged rightly in reckoning on its hostility and in nullifying its decisions in advance. they decided by a majority vote that the resolution ought not to be obeyed, but set aside. amsterdam, and the three or four cities usually acting with her, refused to enlist troops. rombout hoogerbeets, a member of the tribunal, informed prince maurice that he "would no longer be present on a bench where men disputed the authority of the states of holland, which he held to be the supreme sovereignty over him." this was plain speaking; a distinct enunciation of what the states' right party deemed to be constitutional law. and what said maurice in reply? "i, too, recognize the states of holland as sovereign; but we might at least listen to each other occasionally." hoogerbeets, however, deeming that listening had been carried far enough, decided to leave the tribunal altogether, and to resume the post which he had formerly occupied as pensionary or chief magistrate of leyden. here he was soon to find himself in the thick of the conflict. meantime the states-general, in full assembly, on th november , voted that the national synod should be held in the course of the following year. the measure was carried by a strict party vote and by a majority of one. the representatives of each province voting as one, there were four in favour of to three against the synod. the minority, consisting of holland, utrecht, and overyssel, protested against the vote as an outrageous invasion of the rights of each province, as an act of flagrant tyranny and usurpation. the minority in the states of holland, the five cities often named, protested against the protest. the defective part of the netherland constitutions could not be better illustrated. the minority of the states of holland refused to be bound by a majority of the provincial assembly. the minority of the states-general refused to be bound by the majority of the united assembly. this was reducing politics to an absurdity and making all government impossible. it is however quite certain that in the municipal governments a majority had always governed, and that a majority vote in the provincial assemblies had always prevailed. the present innovation was to govern the states-general by a majority. yet viewed by the light of experience and of common sense, it would be difficult to conceive of a more preposterous proceeding than thus to cram a religious creed down the throats of half the population of a country by the vote of a political assembly. but it was the seventeenth and not the nineteenth century. moreover, if there were any meaning in words, the th article of union, reserving especially the disposition over religious matters to each province, had been wisely intended to prevent the possibility of such tyranny. when the letters of invitation to the separate states and to others were drawing up in the general assembly, the representatives of the three states left the chamber. a solitary individual from holland remained however, a burgomaster of amsterdam. uytenbogaert, conversing with barneveld directly afterwards, advised him to accept the vote. yielding to the decision of the majority, it would be possible, so thought the clergyman, for the great statesman so to handle matters as to mould the synod to his will, even as he had so long controlled the states-provincial and the states-general. "if you are willing to give away the rights of the land," said the advocate very sharply, "i am not." probably the priest's tactics might have proved more adroit than the stony opposition on which barneveld was resolved. but it was with the aged statesman a matter of principle, not of policy. his character and his personal pride, the dignity of opinion and office, his respect for constitutional law, were all at stake. shallow observers considered the struggle now taking place as a personal one. lovers of personal government chose to look upon the advocate's party as a faction inspired with an envious resolve to clip the wings of the stadholder, who was at last flying above their heads. there could be no doubt of the bitter animosity between the two men. there could be no doubt that jealousy was playing the part which that master passion will ever play in all the affairs of life. but there could be no doubt either that a difference of principle as wide as the world separated the two antagonists. even so keen an observer as dudley carleton, while admitting the man's intellectual power and unequalled services, could see nothing in the advocate's present course but prejudice, obstinacy, and the insanity of pride. "he doth no whit spare himself in pains nor faint in his resolution," said the envoy, "wherein notwithstanding he will in all appearance succumb ere afore long, having the disadvantages of a weak body, a weak party, and a weak cause." but carleton hated barneveld, and considered it the chief object of his mission to destroy him, if he could. in so doing he would best carry out the wishes of his sovereign. the king of britain had addressed a somewhat equivocal letter to the states-general on the subject of religion in the spring of . it certainly was far from being as satisfactory as, the epistles of prepared under the advocate's instructions, had been, while the exuberant commentary upon the royal text, delivered in full assembly by his ambassador soon after the reception of the letter, was more than usually didactic, offensive, and ignorant. sir dudley never omitted an opportunity of imparting instruction to the states-general as to the nature of their constitution and the essential dogmas on which their church was founded. it is true that the great lawyers and the great theologians of the country were apt to hold very different opinions from his upon those important subjects, but this was so much the worse for the lawyers and theologians, as time perhaps might prove. the king in this last missive had proceeded to unsay the advice which he had formerly bestowed upon the states, by complaining that his earlier letters had been misinterpreted. they had been made use of, he said, to authorize the very error against which they had been directed. they had been held to intend the very contrary of what they did mean. he felt himself bound in conscience therefore, finding these differences ready to be "hatched into schisms," to warn the states once more against pests so pernicious. although the royal language was somewhat vague so far as enunciation of doctrine, a point on which he had once confessed himself fallible, was concerned, there was nothing vague in his recommendation of a national synod. to this the opposition of barneveld was determined not upon religious but upon constitutional grounds. the confederacy did not constitute a nation, and therefore there could not be a national synod nor a national religion. carleton came before the states-general soon afterwards with a prepared oration, wearisome as a fast-day sermon after the third turn of the hour-glass, pragmatical as a schoolmaster's harangue to fractious little boys. he divided his lecture into two heads--the peace of the church, and the peace of the provinces--starting with the first. "a jove principium," he said, "i will begin with that which is both beginning and end. it is the truth of god's word and its maintenance that is the bond of our common cause. reasons of state invite us as friends and neighbours by the preservation of our lives and property, but the interest of religion binds us as christians and brethren to the mutual defence of the liberty of our consciences." he then proceeded to point out the only means by which liberty of conscience could be preserved. it was by suppressing all forms of religion but one, and by silencing all religious discussion. peter titelman and philip ii. could not have devised a more pithy formula. all that was wanting was the axe and faggot to reduce uniformity to practice. then liberty of conscience would be complete. "one must distinguish," said the ambassador, "between just liberty and unbridled license, and conclude that there is but one truth single and unique. those who go about turning their brains into limbecks for distilling new notions in religious matters only distract the union of the church which makes profession of this unique truth. if it be permitted to one man to publish the writings and fantasies of a sick spirit and for another moved by christian zeal to reduce this wanderer 'ad sanam mentem;' why then 'patet locus adversus utrumque,' and the common enemy (the devil) slips into the fortress." he then proceeded to illustrate this theory on liberty of conscience by allusions to conrad vorstius. this infamous sectary had in fact reached such a pitch of audacity, said the ambassador, as not only to inveigh against the eternal power of god but to indulge in irony against the honour of his majesty king james. and in what way had he scandalized the government of the republic? he had dared to say that within its borders there was religious toleration. he had distinctly averred that in the united provinces heretics were not punished with death or with corporal chastisement. "he declares openly," said carleton, "that contra haereticos etiam vere dictos (ne dum falso et calumniose sic traductos) there is neither sentence of death nor other corporal punishment, so that in order to attract to himself a great following of birds of the name feather he publishes to all the world that here in this country one can live and die a heretic, unpunished, without being arrested and without danger." in order to suppress this reproach upon the republic at which the ambassador stood aghast, and to prevent the vorstian doctrines of religious toleration and impunity of heresy from spreading among "the common people, so subject by their natures to embrace new opinions," he advised of course that "the serpent be sent back to the nest where he was born before the venom had spread through the whole body of the republic." a week afterwards a long reply was delivered on part of the states-general to the ambassador's oration. it is needless to say that it was the work of the advocate, and that it was in conformity with the opinions so often exhibited in the letters to caron and others of which the reader has seen many samples. that religious matters were under the control of the civil government, and that supreme civil authority belonged to each one of the seven sovereign provinces, each recognizing no superior within its own sphere, were maxims of state always enforced in the netherlands and on which the whole religious controversy turned. "the states-general have always cherished the true christian apostolic religion," they said, "and wished it to be taught under the authority and protection of the legal government of these provinces in all purity, and in conformity with the holy scriptures, to the good people of these provinces. and my lords the states and magistrates of the respective provinces, each within their own limits, desire the same." they had therefore given express orders to the preachers "to keep the peace by mutual and benign toleration of the different opinions on the one side and the other at least until with full knowledge of the subject the states might otherwise ordain. they had been the more moved to this because his majesty having carefully examined the opinions of the learned hereon each side had found both consistent with christian belief and the salvation of souls." it was certainly not the highest expression of religious toleration for the civil authority to forbid the clergymen of the country from discussing in their pulpits the knottiest and most mysterious points of the schoolmen lest the "common people" should be puzzled. nevertheless, where the close union of church and state and the necessity of one church were deemed matters of course, it was much to secure subordination of the priesthood to the magistracy, while to enjoin on preachers abstention from a single exciting cause of quarrel, on the ground that there was more than one path to salvation, and that mutual toleration was better than mutual persecution, was; in that age, a stride towards religious equality. it was at least an advance on carleton's dogma, that there was but one unique and solitary truth, and that to declare heretics not punishable with death was an insult to the government of the republic. the states-general answered the ambassador's plea, made in the name of his master, for immediate and unguaranteed evacuation of the debatable land by the arguments already so often stated in the advocate's instructions to caron. they had been put to great trouble and expense already in their campaigning and subsequent fortification of important places in the duchies. they had seen the bitter spirit manifested by the spaniards in the demolition of the churches and houses of mulheim and other places. "while the affair remained in its present terms of utter uncertainty their mightinesses," said the states-general, "find it most objectionable to forsake the places which they have been fortifying and to leave the duchies and all their fellow-religionists, besides the rights of the possessory princes a prey to those who have been hankering for the territories for long years, and who would unquestionably be able to make themselves absolute masters of all within a very few days." a few months later carleton came before the states-general again and delivered another elaborate oration, duly furnished to him by the king, upon the necessity of the national synod, the comparative merits of arminianism and contra-remonstrantism, together with a full exposition of the constitutions of the netherlands. it might be supposed that barneveld and grotius and hoogerbeets knew something of the law and history of their country. but james knew much better, and so his envoy endeavoured to convince his audience. he received on the spot a temperate but conclusive reply from the delegates of holland. they informed him that the war with spain--the cause of the utrecht union--was not begun about religion but on account of the violation of liberties, chartered rights and privileges, not the least of which rights was that of each province to regulate religious matters within its borders. a little later a more vehement reply was published anonymously in the shape of a pamphlet called 'the balance,' which much angered the ambassador and goaded his master almost to frenzy. it was deemed so blasphemous, so insulting to the majesty of england, so entirely seditious, that james, not satisfied with inditing a rejoinder, insisted through carleton that a reward should be offered by the states for the detection of the author, in order that he might be condignly punished. this was done by a majority vote, florins being offered for the discovery of the author and for that of the printer. naturally the step was opposed in the states-general; two deputies in particular making themselves conspicuous. one of them was an audacious old gentleman named brinius of gelderland, "much corrupted with arminianism," so carleton informed his sovereign. he appears to have inherited his audacity through his pedigree, descending, as it was ludicrously enough asserted he did, from a chief of the caninefates, the ancient inhabitants of gelderland, called brinio. and brinio the caninefat had been as famous for his stolid audacity as for his illustrious birth; "erat in caninefatibus stolidae audaciae brinio claritate natalium insigni." the patronizing manner in which the ambassador alluded to the other member of the states-general who opposed the decree was still more diverting. it was "grotius, the pensioner of rotterdam, a young petulant brain, not unknown to your majesty," said carleton. two centuries and a half have rolled away, and there are few majesties, few nations, and few individuals to whom the name of that petulant youth is unknown; but how many are familiar with the achievements of the able representative of king james? nothing came of the measure, however, and the offer of course helped the circulation of the pamphlet. it is amusing to see the ferocity thus exhibited by the royal pamphleteer against a rival; especially when one can find no crime in 'the balance' save a stinging and well-merited criticism of a very stupid oration. gillis van ledenberg was generally supposed to be the author of it. carleton inclined, however, to suspect grotius, "because," said he, "having always before been a stranger to my house, he has made me the day before the publication thereof a complimentary visit, although it was sunday and church time; whereby the italian proverb, 'chi ti caresse piu che suole,' &c.,' is added to other likelihoods." it was subsequently understood however that the pamphlet was written by a remonstrant preacher of utrecht, named jacobus taurinus; one of those who had been doomed to death by the mutinous government in that city seven years before. it was now sufficiently obvious that either the governments in the three opposition provinces must be changed or that the national synod must be imposed by a strict majority vote in the teeth of the constitution and of vigorous and eloquent protests drawn up by the best lawyers in the country. the advocate and grotius recommended a provincial synod first and, should that not succeed in adjusting the differences of church government, then the convocation of a general or oecumenical synod. they resisted the national synod because, in their view, the provinces were not a nation. a league of seven sovereign and independent mates was all that legally existed in the netherlands. it was accordingly determined that the governments should be changed, and the stadholder set himself to prepare the way for a thorough and, if possible, a bloodless revolution. he departed on the th november for a tour through the chief cities, and before leaving the hague addressed an earnest circular letter to the various municipalities of holland. a more truly dignified, reasonable, right royal letter, from the stadholder's point of view, could not have been indited. the imperial "we" breathing like a morning breeze through the whole of it blew away all legal and historical mistiness. but the clouds returned again nevertheless. unfortunately for maurice it could not be argued by the pen, however it might be proved by the sword, that the netherlands constituted a nation, and that a convocation of doctors of divinity summoned by a body of envoys had the right to dictate a creed to seven republics. all parties were agreed on one point. there must be unity of divine worship. the territory of the netherlands was not big enough to hold two systems of religion, two forms of christianity, two sects of protestantism. it was big enough to hold seven independent and sovereign states, but would be split into fragments--resolved into chaos--should there be more than one church or if once a schism were permitted in that church. grotius was as much convinced of this as gomarus. and yet the th article of the union stared them all in the face, forbidding the hideous assumptions now made by the general government. perhaps no man living fully felt its import save barneveld alone. for groping however dimly and hesitatingly towards the idea of religious liberty, of general toleration, he was denounced as a papist, an atheist, a traitor, a miscreant, by the fanatics for the sacerdotal and personal power. yet it was a pity that he could never contemplate the possibility of his country's throwing off the swaddling clothes of provincialism which had wrapped its infancy. doubtless history, law, tradition, and usage pointed to the independent sovereignty of each province. yet the period of the truce was precisely the time when a more generous constitution, a national incorporation might have been constructed to take the place of the loose confederacy by which the gigantic war had been fought out. after all, foreign powers had no connection with the states, and knew only the union with which and with which alone they made treaties, and the reality of sovereignty in each province was as ridiculous as in theory it was impregnable. but barneveld, under the modest title of advocate of one province, had been in reality president and prime minister of the whole commonwealth. he had himself been the union and the sovereignty. it was not wonderful that so imperious a nature objected to transfer its powers to the church, to the states-general, or to maurice. moreover, when nationality assumed the unlovely form of rigid religious uniformity; when union meant an exclusive self-governed church enthroned above the state, responsible to no civic authority and no human law, the boldest patriot might shiver at emerging from provincialism. chapter xv. the commonwealth bent on self-destruction--evils of a confederate system of government--rem bischop's house sacked--aerssens' unceasing efforts against barneveld--the advocate's interview with maurice--the states of utrecht raise the troops--the advocate at utrecht--barneveld urges mutual toleration--barneveld accused of being partisan of spain--carleton takes his departure. it is not cheerful after widely contemplating the aspect of christendom in the year of supreme preparation to examine with the minuteness absolutely necessary the narrow theatre to which the political affairs of the great republic had been reduced. that powerful commonwealth, to which the great party of the reformation naturally looked for guidance in the coming conflict, seemed bent on self-destruction. the microcosm of the netherlands now represented, alas! the war of elements going on without on a world-wide scale. as the calvinists and lutherans of germany were hotly attacking each other even in sight of the embattled front of spain and the league, so the gomarites and the arminians by their mutual rancour were tearing the political power of the dutch republic to shreds and preventing her from assuming a great part in the crisis. the consummate soldier, the unrivalled statesman, each superior in his sphere to any contemporary rival, each supplementing the other, and making up together, could they have been harmonized, a double head such as no political organism then existing could boast, were now in hopeless antagonism to each other. a mass of hatred had been accumulated against the advocate with which he found it daily more and more difficult to struggle. the imperious, rugged, and suspicious nature of the stadholder had been steadily wrought upon by the almost devilish acts of francis aerssens until he had come to look upon his father's most faithful adherent, his own early preceptor in statesmanship and political supporter, as an antagonist, a conspirator, and a tyrant. the soldier whose unrivalled ability, experience, and courage in the field should have placed him at the very head of the great european army of defence against the general crusade upon protestantism, so constantly foretold by barneveld, was now to be engaged in making bloodless but mischievous warfare against an imaginary conspiracy and a patriot foe. the advocate, keeping steadily in view the great principles by which his political life had been guided, the supremacy of the civil authority in any properly organized commonwealth over the sacerdotal and military, found himself gradually forced into mortal combat with both. to the individual sovereignty of each province he held with the tenacity of a lawyer and historian. in that he found the only clue through the labyrinth which ecclesiastical and political affairs presented. so close was the tangle, so confused the medley, that without this slender guide all hope of legal issue seemed lost. no doubt the difficulty of the doctrine of individual sovereignty was great, some of the provinces being such slender morsels of territory, with resources so trivial, as to make the name of sovereignty ludicrous. yet there could be as little doubt that no other theory was tenable. if so powerful a mind as that of the advocate was inclined to strain the theory to its extreme limits, it was because in the overshadowing superiority of the one province holland had been found the practical remedy for the imbecility otherwise sure to result from such provincial and meagre federalism. moreover, to obtain union by stretching all the ancient historical privileges and liberties of the separate provinces upon the procrustean bed of a single dogma, to look for nationality only in common subjection to an infallible priesthood, to accept a catechism as the palladium upon which the safety of the state was to depend for all time, and beyond which there was to be no further message from heaven--such was not healthy constitutionalism in the eyes of a great statesman. no doubt that without the fervent spirit of calvinism it would have been difficult to wage war with such immortal hate as the netherlands had waged it, no doubt the spirit of republican and even democratic liberty lay hidden within that rigid husk, but it was dishonour to the martyrs who had died by thousands at the stake and on the battle field for the rights of conscience if the only result of their mighty warfare against wrong had been to substitute a new dogma for an old one, to stifle for ever the right of free enquiry, theological criticism, and the hope of further light from on high, and to proclaim it a libel on the republic that within its borders all heretics, whether arminian or papist, were safe from the death penalty or even from bodily punishment. a theological union instead of a national one and obtained too at the sacrifice of written law and immemorial tradition, a congress in which clerical deputations from all the provinces and from foreign nations should prescribe to all netherlanders an immutable creed and a shadowy constitution, were not the true remedies for the evils of confederacy, nor, if they had been, was the time an appropriate one for their application. it was far too early in the world's history to hope for such redistribution of powers and such a modification of the social compact as would place in separate spheres the church and the state, double the sanctions and the consolations of religion by removing it from the pollutions of political warfare, and give freedom to individual conscience by securing it from the interference of government. it is melancholy to see the republic thus perversely occupying its energies. it is melancholy to see the great soldier becoming gradually more ardent for battle with barneveld and uytenbogaert than with spinola and bucquoy, against whom he had won so many imperishable laurels. it is still sadder to see the man who had been selected by henry iv. as the one statesman of europe to whom he could confide his great projects for the pacification of christendom, and on whom he could depend for counsel and support in schemes which, however fantastic in some of their details, had for their object to prevent the very european war of religion against which barneveld had been struggling, now reduced to defend himself against suspicion hourly darkening and hatred growing daily more insane. the eagle glance and restless wing, which had swept the whole political atmosphere, now caged within the stifling limits of theological casuistry and personal rivalry were afflicting to contemplate. the evils resulting from a confederate system of government, from a league of petty sovereignties which dared not become a nation, were as woefully exemplified in the united provinces as they were destined to be more than a century and a half later, and in another hemisphere, before that most fortunate and sagacious of written political instruments, the american constitution of , came to remedy the weakness of the old articles of union. meantime the netherlands were a confederacy, not a nation. their general government was but a committee. it could ask of, but not command, the separate provinces. it had no dealings with nor power over the inhabitants of the country; it could say "thou shalt" neither to state nor citizen; it could consult only with corporations--fictitious and many-headed personages--itself incorporate. there was no first magistrate, no supreme court, no commander-in-chief, no exclusive mint nor power of credit, no national taxation, no central house of representation and legislation, no senate. unfortunately it had one church, and out of this single matrix of centralism was born more discord than had been produced by all the centrifugal forces of provincialism combined. there had been working substitutes found, as we well know, for the deficiencies of this constitution, but the advocate felt himself bound to obey and enforce obedience to the laws and privileges of his country so long as they remained without authorized change. his country was the province of holland, to which his allegiance was due and whose servant he was. that there was but one church paid and sanctioned by law, he admitted, but his efforts were directed to prevent discord within that church, by counselling moderation, conciliation, mutual forbearance, and abstention from irritating discussion of dogmas deemed by many thinkers and better theologians than himself not essential to salvation. in this he was much behind his age or before it. he certainly was not with the majority. and thus, while the election of ferdinand had given the signal of war all over christendom, while from the demolished churches in bohemia the tocsin was still sounding, whose vibrations were destined to be heard a generation long through the world, there was less sympathy felt with the call within the territory of the great republic of protestantism than would have seemed imaginable a few short years before. the capture of the cloister church at the hague in the summer of seemed to minds excited by personal rivalries and minute theological controversy a more momentous event than the destruction of the churches in the klostergrab in the following december. the triumph of gomarism in a single dutch city inspired more enthusiasm for the moment than the deadly buffet to european protestantism could inspire dismay. the church had been carried and occupied, as it were, by force, as if an enemy's citadel. it seemed necessary to associate the idea of practical warfare with a movement which might have been a pacific clerical success. barneveld and those who acted with him, while deploring the intolerance out of which the schism had now grown to maturity, had still hoped for possible accommodation of the quarrel. they dreaded popular tumults leading to oppression of the magistracy by the mob or the soldiery and ending in civil war. but what was wanted by the extreme partisans on either side was not accommodation but victory. "religious differences are causing much trouble and discontents in many cities," he said. "at amsterdam there were in the past week two assemblages of boys and rabble which did not disperse without violence, crime, and robbery. the brother of professor episcopius (rem bischop) was damaged to the amount of several thousands. we are still hoping that some better means of accommodation may be found." the calmness with which the advocate spoke of these exciting and painful events is remarkable. it was exactly a week before the date of his letter that this riot had taken place at amsterdam; very significant in its nature and nearly tragical in its results. there were no remonstrant preachers left in the city, and the people of that persuasion were excluded from the communion service. on sunday morning, th february ( ), a furious mob set upon the house of rem bischop, a highly respectable and wealthy citizen, brother of the remonstrant professor episcopius, of leyden. the house, an elegant mansion in one of the principal streets, was besieged and after an hour's resistance carried by storm. the pretext of the assault was that arminian preaching was going on within its walls, which was not the fact. the mistress of the house, half clad, attempted to make her escape by the rear of the building, was pursued by the rabble with sticks and stones, and shrieks of "kill the arminian harlot, strike her dead," until she fortunately found refuge in the house of a neighbouring carpenter. there the hunted creature fell insensible on the ground, the master of the house refusing to give her up, though the maddened mob surged around it, swearing that if the "arminian harlot"--as respectable a matron as lived in the city--were not delivered over to them, they would tear the house to pieces. the hope of plunder and of killing rem bischop himself drew them at last back to his mansion. it was thoroughly sacked; every portable article of value, linen, plate, money, furniture, was carried off, the pictures and objects of art destroyed, the house gutted from top to bottom. a thousand spectators were looking on placidly at the work of destruction as they returned from church, many of them with bible and psalm-book in their hands. the master effected his escape over the roof into an adjoining building. one of the ringleaders, a carpenter by trade, was arrested carrying an armful of valuable plunder. he was asked by the magistrate why he had entered the house. "out of good zeal," he replied; "to help beat and kill the arminians who were holding conventicle there." he was further asked why he hated the arminians so much. "are we to suffer such folk here," he replied, "who preach the vile doctrine that god has created one man for damnation and another for salvation?"--thus ascribing the doctrine of the church of which he supposed himself a member to the arminians whom he had been plundering and wished to kill. rem bischop received no compensation for the damage and danger; the general cry in the town being that the money he was receiving from barneveld and the king of spain would make him good even if not a stone of the house had been left standing. on the following thursday two elders of the church council waited upon and informed him that he must in future abstain from the communion service. it may well be supposed that the virtual head of the government liked not the triumph of mob law, in the name of religion, over the civil authority. the advocate was neither democrat nor demagogue. a lawyer, a magistrate, and a noble, he had but little sympathy with the humbler classes, which he was far too much in the habit of designating as rabble and populace. yet his anger was less against them than against the priests, the foreigners, the military and diplomatic mischief-makers, by whom they were set upon to dangerous demonstrations. the old patrician scorned the arts by which highborn demagogues in that as in every age affect adulation for inferiors whom they despise. it was his instinct to protect, and guide the people, in whom he recognized no chartered nor inherent right to govern. it was his resolve, so long as breath was in him, to prevent them from destroying life and property and subverting the government under the leadership of an inflamed priesthood. it was with this intention, as we have just seen, and in order to avoid bloodshed, anarchy, and civil war in the streets of every town and village, that a decisive but in the advocate's opinion a perfectly legal step had been taken by the states of holland. it had become necessary to empower the magistracies of towns to defend themselves by enrolled troops against mob violence and against an enforced synod considered by great lawyers as unconstitutional. aerssens resided in zealand, and the efforts of that ex-ambassador were unceasing to excite popular animosity against the man he hated and to trouble the political waters in which no man knew better than he how to cast the net. "the states of zealand," said the advocate to the ambassador in london, "have a deputation here about the religious differences, urging the holding of a national synod according to the king's letters, to which some other provinces and some of the cities of holland incline. the questions have not yet been defined by a common synod, so that a national one could make no definition, while the particular synods and clerical personages are so filled with prejudices and so bound by mutual engagements of long date as to make one fear an unfruitful issue. we are occupied upon this point in our assembly of holland to devise some compromise and to discover by what means these difficulties may be brought into a state of tranquillity." it will be observed that in all these most private and confidential utterances of the advocate a tone of extreme moderation, an anxious wish to save the provinces from dissensions, dangers, and bloodshed, is distinctly visible. never is he betrayed into vindictive, ambitious, or self-seeking expressions, while sometimes, although rarely, despondent in mind. nor was his opposition to a general synod absolute. he was probably persuaded however, as we have just seen, that it should of necessity be preceded by provincial ones, both in due regard to the laws of the land and to the true definition of the points to be submitted to its decision. he had small hope of a successful result from it. the british king gave him infinite distress. as towards france so towards england the advocate kept steadily before him the necessity of deferring to powerful sovereigns whose friendship was necessary to the republic he served, however misguided, perverse, or incompetent those monarchs might be. "i had always hoped," he said, "that his majesty would have adhered to his original written advice, that such questions as these ought to be quietly settled by authority of law and not by ecclesiastical persons, and i still hope that his majesty's intention is really to that effect, although he speaks of synods." a month later he felt even more encouraged. "the last letter of his majesty concerning our religious questions," he said, "has given rise to various constructions, but the best advised, who have peace and unity at heart, understand the king's intention to be to conserve the state of these provinces and the religion in its purity. my hope is that his majesty's good opinion will be followed and adopted according to the most appropriate methods." can it be believed that the statesman whose upright patriotism, moderation, and nobleness of purpose thus breathed through every word spoken by him in public or whispered to friends was already held up by a herd of ravening slanderers to obloquy as a traitor and a tyrant? he was growing old and had suffered much from illness during this eventful summer, but his anxiety for the commonwealth, caused by these distressing and superfluous squabbles, were wearing into him more deeply than years or disease could do. "owing to my weakness and old age i can't go up-stairs as well as i used," he said,--[barneveld to caron july and aug. . (h. arch. ms.)]--"and these religious dissensions cause me sometimes such disturbance of mind as will ere long become intolerable, because of my indisposition and because of the cry of my heart at the course people are pursuing here. i reflect that at the time of duke casimir and the prince of chimay exactly such a course was held in flanders and in lord leicester's time in the city of utrecht, as is best known to yourself. my hope is fixed on the lord god almighty, and that he will make those well ashamed who are laying anything to heart save his honour and glory and the welfare of our country with maintenance of its freedom and laws. i mean unchangeably to live and die for them . . . . believe firmly that all representations to the contrary are vile calumnies." before leaving for vianen in the middle of august of this year ( ) the advocate had an interview with the prince. there had been no open rupture between them, and barneveld was most anxious to avoid a quarrel with one to whose interests and honour he had always been devoted. he did not cling to power nor office. on the contrary, he had repeatedly importuned the states to accept his resignation, hoping that perhaps these unhappy dissensions might be quieted by his removal from the scene. he now told the prince that the misunderstanding between them arising from these religious disputes was so painful to his heart that he would make and had made every possible effort towards conciliation and amicable settlement of the controversy. he saw no means now, he said, of bringing about unity, unless his excellency were willing to make some proposition for arrangement. this he earnestly implored the prince to do, assuring him of his sincere and upright affection for him and his wish to support such measures to the best of his ability and to do everything for the furtherance of his reputation and necessary authority. he was so desirous of this result, he said, that he would propose now as he did at the time of the truce negotiations to lay down all his offices, leaving his excellency to guide the whole course of affairs according to his best judgment. he had already taken a resolution, if no means of accommodation were possible, to retire to his gunterstein estate and there remain till the next meeting of the assembly; when he would ask leave to retire for at least a year; in order to occupy himself with a revision and collation of the charters, laws, and other state papers of the country which were in his keeping, and which it was needful to bring into an orderly condition. meantime some scheme might be found for arranging the religious differences, more effective than any he had been able to devise. his appeal seems to have glanced powerlessly upon the iron reticence of maurice, and the advocate took his departure disheartened. later in the autumn, so warm a remonstrance was made to him by the leading nobles and deputies of holland against his contemplated withdrawal from his post that it seemed a dereliction of duty on his part to retire. he remained to battle with the storm and to see "with anguish of heart," as he expressed it, the course religious affairs were taking. the states of utrecht on the th august resolved that on account of the gathering of large masses of troops in the countries immediately adjoining their borders, especially in the episcopate of cologne, by aid of spanish money, it was expedient for them to enlist a protective force of six companies of regular soldiers in order to save the city from sudden and overwhelming attack by foreign troops. even if the danger from without were magnified in this preamble, which is by no means certain, there seemed to be no doubt on the subject in the minds of the magistrates. they believed that they had the right to protect and that they were bound to protect their ancient city from sudden assault, whether by spanish soldiers or by organized mobs attempting, as had been done in rotterdam, oudewater, and other towns, to overawe the civil authority in the interest of the contra-remonstrants. six nobles of utrecht were accordingly commissioned to raise the troops. a week later they had been enlisted, sworn to obey in all things the states of utrecht, and to take orders from no one else. three days later the states of utrecht addressed a letter to their mightinesses the states-general and to his excellency the prince, notifying them that for the reasons stated in the resolution cited the six companies had been levied. there seemed in these proceedings to be no thought of mutiny or rebellion, the province considering itself as acting within its unquestionable rights as a sovereign state and without any exaggeration of the imperious circumstances of the case. nor did the states-general and the stadholder at that moment affect to dispute the rights of utrecht, nor raise a doubt as to the legality of the proceedings. the committee sent thither by the states-general, the prince, and the council of state in their written answer to the letter of the utrecht government declared the reasons given for the enrolment of the six companies to be insufficient and the measure itself highly dangerous. they complained, but in very courteous language, that the soldiers had been levied without giving the least notice thereof to the general government, without asking its advice, or waiting for any communication from it, and they reminded the states of utrecht that they might always rely upon the states-general and his excellency, who were still ready, as they had been seven years before ( ), to protect them against every enemy and any danger. the conflict between a single province of the confederacy and the authority of the general government had thus been brought to a direct issue; to the test of arms. for, notwithstanding the preamble to the resolution of the utrecht assembly just cited, there could be little question that the resolve itself was a natural corollary of the famous "sharp resolution," passed by the states of holland three weeks before. utrecht was in arms to prevent, among other things at least, the forcing upon them by a majority of the states-general of the national synod to which they were opposed, the seizure of churches by the contra-remonstrants, and the destruction of life and property by inflamed mobs. there is no doubt that barneveld deeply deplored the issue, but that he felt himself bound to accept it. the innate absurdity of a constitutional system under which each of the seven members was sovereign and independent and the head was at the mercy of the members could not be more flagrantly illustrated. in the bloody battles which seemed impending in the streets of utrecht and in all the principal cities of the netherlands between the soldiers of sovereign states and soldiers of a general government which was not sovereign, the letter of the law and the records of history were unquestionably on the aide of the provincial and against the general authority. yet to nullify the authority of the states-general by force of arms at this supreme moment was to stultify all government whatever. it was an awful dilemma, and it is difficult here fully to sympathize with the advocate, for he it was who inspired, without dictating, the course of the utrecht proceedings. with him patriotism seemed at this moment to dwindle into provincialism, the statesman to shrink into the lawyer. certainly there was no guilt in the proceedings. there was no crime in the heart of the advocate. he had exhausted himself with appeals in favour of moderation, conciliation, compromise. he had worked night and day with all the energy of a pure soul and a great mind to assuage religious hatreds and avert civil dissensions. he was overpowered. he had frequently desired to be released from all his functions, but as dangers thickened over the provinces, he felt it his duty so long as he remained at his post to abide by the law as the only anchor in the storm. not rising in his mind to the height of a national idea, and especially averse from it when embodied in the repulsive form of religious uniformity, he did not shrink from a contest which he had not provoked, but had done his utmost to avert. but even then he did not anticipate civil war. the enrolling of the waartgelders was an armed protest, a symbol of legal conviction rather than a serious effort to resist the general government. and this is the chief justification of his course from a political point of view. it was ridiculous to suppose that with a few hundred soldiers hastily enlisted--and there were less than waartgelders levied throughout the provinces and under the orders of civil magistrates--a serious contest was intended against a splendidly disciplined army of veteran troops, commanded by the first general of the age. from a legal point of view barneveld considered his position impregnable. the controversy is curious, especially for americans, and for all who are interested in the analysis of federal institutions and of republican principles, whether aristocratic or democratic. the states of utrecht replied in decorous but firm language to the committee of the states-general that they had raised the six companies in accordance with their sovereign right so to do, and that they were resolved to maintain them. they could not wait as they had been obliged to do in the time of the earl of leicester and more recently in until they had been surprised and overwhelmed by the enemy before the states-general and his excellency the prince could come to their rescue. they could not suffer all the evils of tumults, conspiracies, and foreign invasion, without defending themselves. making use, they said, of the right of sovereignty which in their province belonged to them alone, they thought it better to prevent in time and by convenient means such fire and mischief than to look on while it kindled and spread into a conflagration, and to go about imploring aid from their fellow confederates who, god better it, had enough in these times to do at home. this would only be to bring them as well as this province into trouble, disquiet, and expense. "my lords the states of utrecht have conserved and continually exercised this right of sovereignty in its entireness ever since renouncing the king of spain. every contract, ordinance, and instruction of the states-general has been in conformity with it, and the states of utrecht are convinced that the states of not one of their confederate provinces would yield an atom of its sovereignty." they reminded the general government that by the st article of the "closer union" of utrecht, on which that assembly was founded, it was bound to support the states of the respective provinces and strengthen them with counsel, treasure, and blood if their respective rights, more especially their individual sovereignty, the most precious of all, should be assailed. to refrain from so doing would be to violate a solemn contract. they further reminded the council of state that by its institution the states-provincial had not abdicated their respective sovereignties, but had reserved it in all matters not specifically mentioned in the original instruction by which it was created. two days afterwards arnold van randwyck and three other commissioners were instructed by the general government to confer with the states of utrecht, to tell them that their reply was deemed unsatisfactory, that their reasons for levying soldiers in times when all good people should be seeking to restore harmony and mitigate dissension were insufficient, and to request them to disband those levies without prejudice in so doing to the laws and liberties of the province and city of utrecht. here was perhaps an opening for a compromise, the instruction being not without ingenuity, and the word sovereignty in regard either to the general government or the separate provinces being carefully omitted. soon afterwards, too, the states-general went many steps farther in the path of concession, for they made another appeal to the government of utrecht to disband the waartgelders on the ground of expediency, and in so doing almost expressly admitted the doctrine of provincial sovereignty. it is important in regard to subsequent events to observe this virtual admission. "your honours lay especial stress upon the right of sovereignty as belonging to you alone in your province," they said, "and dispute therefore at great length upon the power and authority of the generality, of his excellency, and of the state council. but you will please to consider that there is here no question of this, as our commissioners had no instructions to bring this into dispute in the least, and most certainly have not done so. we have only in effect questioned whether that which one has an undoubted right to do can at all times be appropriately and becomingly done, whether it was fitting that your honours, contrary to custom, should undertake these new levies upon a special oath and commission, and effectively complete the measure without giving the slightest notice thereof to the generality." it may fairly be said that the question in debate was entirely conceded in this remarkable paper, which was addressed by the states-general, the prince-stadholder, and the council of state to the government of utrecht. it should be observed, too, that while distinctly repudiating the intention of disputing the sovereignty of that province, they carefully abstain from using the word in relation to themselves, speaking only of the might and authority of the generality, the prince, and the council. there was now a pause in the public discussion. the soldiers were not disbanded, as the states of utrecht were less occupied with establishing the soundness of their theory than with securing its practical results. they knew very well, and the advocate knew very well, that the intention to force a national synod by a majority vote of the assembly of the states-general existed more strongly than ever, and they meant to resist it to the last. the attempt was in their opinion an audacious violation of the fundamental pact on which the confederacy was founded. its success would be to establish the sacerdotal power in triumph over the civil authority. during this period the advocate was resident in utrecht. for change of air, ostensibly at least, he had absented himself from the seat of government, and was during several weeks under the hands of his old friend and physician dr. saul. he was strictly advised to abstain altogether from political business, but he might as well have attempted to abstain from food and drink. gillis van ledenberg, secretary of the states of utrecht, visited him frequently. the proposition to enlist the waartgelders had been originally made in the assembly by its president, and warmly seconded by van ledenberg, who doubtless conferred afterwards with barneveld in person, but informally and at his lodgings. it was almost inevitable that this should be the case, nor did the advocate make much mystery as to the course of action which he deemed indispensable at this period. believing it possible that some sudden and desperate attempt might be made by evil disposed people, he agreed with the states of utrecht in the propriety of taking measures of precaution. they were resolved not to look quietly on while soldiers and rabble under guidance perhaps of violent contra-remonstrant preachers took possession of the churches and even of the city itself, as had already been done in several towns. the chief practical object of enlisting the six companies was that the city might be armed against popular tumults, and they feared that the ordinary military force might be withdrawn. when captain hartvelt, in his own name and that of the other officers of those companies, said that they were all resolved never to use their weapons against the stadholder or the states-general, he was answered that they would never be required to do so. they, however, made oath to serve against those who should seek to trouble the peace of the province of utrecht in ecclesiastical or political matters, and further against all enemies of the common country. at the same time it was deemed expedient to guard against a surprise of any kind and to keep watch and ward. "i cannot quite believe in the french companies," said the advocate in a private billet to ledenberg. "it would be extremely well that not only good watch should be kept at the city gates, but also that one might from above and below the river lek be assuredly advised from the nearest cities if any soldiers are coming up or down, and that the same might be done in regard to amersfoort." at the bottom of this letter, which was destined to become historical and will be afterwards referred to, the advocate wrote, as he not unfrequently did, upon his private notes, "when read, burn, and send me back the two enclosed letters." the letter lies in the archives unburned to this day, but, harmless as it looked, it was to serve as a nail in more than one coffin. in his confidential letters to trusted friends he complained of "great physical debility growing out of heavy sorrow," and described himself as entering upon his seventy-first year and no longer fit for hard political labour. the sincere grief, profound love of country, and desire that some remedy might be found for impending disaster, is stamped upon all his utterances whether official or secret. "the troubles growing out of the religious differences," he said, "are running into all sorts of extremities. it is feared that an attempt will be made against the laws of the land through extraordinary ways, and by popular tumults to take from the supreme authority of the respective provinces the right to govern clerical persons and regulate clerical disputes, and to place it at the disposition of ecclesiastics and of a national synod. "it is thought too that the soldiers will be forbidden to assist the civil supreme power and the government of cities in defending themselves from acts of violence which under pretext of religion will be attempted against the law and the commands of the magistrates. "this seems to conflict with the common law of the respective provinces, each of which from all times had right of sovereignty and supreme authority within its territory and specifically reserved it in all treaties and especially in that of the nearer union . . . . the provinces have always regulated clerical matters each for itself. the province of utrecht, which under the pretext of religion is now most troubled, made stipulations to this effect, when it took his excellency for governor, even more stringent than any others. as for holland, she never imagined that one could ever raise a question on the subject . . . . all good men ought to do their best to prevent the enemies to the welfare of these provinces from making profit out of our troubles." the whole matter he regarded as a struggle between the clergy and the civil power for mastery over the state, as an attempt to subject provincial autonomy to the central government purely in the interest of the priesthood of a particular sect. the remedy he fondly hoped for was moderation and union within the church itself. he could never imagine the necessity for this ferocious animosity not only between christians but between two branches of the reformed church. he could never be made to believe that the five points of the remonstrance had dug an abyss too deep and wide ever to be bridged between brethren lately of one faith as of one fatherland. he was unceasing in his prayers and appeals for "mutual toleration on the subject of predestination." perhaps the bitterness, almost amounting to frenzy, with which abstruse points of casuistry were then debated, and which converted differences of opinion upon metaphysical divinity into deadly hatred and thirst for blood, is already obsolete or on the road to become so. if so, then was barneveld in advance of his age, and it would have been better for the peace of the world and the progress of christianity if more of his contemporaries had placed themselves on his level. he was no theologian, but he believed himself to be a christian, and he certainly was a thoughtful and a humble one. he had not the arrogance to pierce behind the veil and assume to read the inscrutable thoughts of the omnipotent. it was a cruel fate that his humility upon subjects which he believed to be beyond the scope of human reason should have been tortured by his enemies into a crime, and that because he hoped for religious toleration he should be accused of treason to the commonwealth. "believe and cause others to believe," he said, "that i am and with the grace of god hope to continue an upright patriot as i have proved myself to be in these last forty-two years spent in the public service. in the matter of differential religious points i remain of the opinions which i have held for more than fifty years, and in which i hope to live and die, to wit, that a good christian man ought to believe that he is predestined to eternal salvation through god's grace, giving for reasons that he through god's grace has a firm belief that his salvation is founded purely on god's grace and the expiation of our sins through our saviour jesus christ, and that if he should fall into any sins his firm trust is that god will not let him perish in them, but mercifully turn him to repentance, so that he may continue in the same belief to the last." these expressions were contained in a letter to caron with the intention doubtless that they should be communicated to the king of great britain, and it is a curious illustration of the spirit of the age, this picture of the leading statesman of a great republic unfolding his religious convictions for private inspection by the monarch of an allied nation. more than anything else it exemplifies the close commixture of theology, politics, and diplomacy in that age, and especially in those two countries. formerly, as we have seen, the king considered a too curious fathoming of divine mysteries as highly reprehensible, particularly for the common people. although he knew more about them than any one else, he avowed that even his knowledge in this respect was not perfect. it was matter of deep regret with the advocate that his majesty had not held to his former positions, and that he had disowned his original letters. "i believe my sentiments thus expressed," he said, "to be in accordance with scripture, and i have always held to them without teasing my brains with the precise decrees of reprobation, foreknowledge, or the like, as matters above my comprehension. i have always counselled christian moderation. the states of holland have followed the spirit of his majesty's letters, but our antagonists have rejected them and with seditious talk, sermons, and the spreading of infamous libels have brought matters to their present condition. there have been excesses on the other side as well." he then made a slight, somewhat shadowy allusion to schemes known to be afloat for conferring the sovereignty upon maurice. we have seen that at former periods he had entertained this subject and discussed it privately with those who were not only friendly but devoted to the stadholder, and that he had arrived at the conclusion that it would not be for the interest of the prince to encourage the project. above all he was sternly opposed to the idea of attempting to compass it by secret intrigue. should such an arrangement be publicly discussed and legally completed, it would not meet with his unconditional opposition. "the lord god knows," he said, "whether underneath all these movements does not lie the design of the year , well known to you. as for me, believe that i am and by god's grace hope to remain, what i always was, an upright patriot, a defender of the true christian religion, of the public authority, and of all the power that has been and in future may be legally conferred upon his excellency. believe that all things said, written, or spread to the contrary are falsehoods and calumnies." he was still in utrecht, but about to leave for the hague, with health somewhat improved and in better spirits in regard to public matters. "although i have entered my seventy-first year," he said, "i trust still to be of some service to the commonwealth and to my friends . . . . don't consider an arrangement of our affairs desperate. i hope for better things." soon after his return he was waited upon one sunday evening, late in october--being obliged to keep his house on account of continued indisposition--by a certain solicitor named nordlingen and informed that the prince was about to make a sudden visit to leyden at four o'clock next morning. barneveld knew that the burgomasters and regents were holding a great banquet that night, and that many of them would probably have been indulging in potations too deep to leave them fit for serious business. the agitation of people's minds at that moment made the visit seem rather a critical one, as there would probably be a mob collected to see the stadholder, and he was anxious both in the interest of the prince and the regents and of both religious denominations that no painful incidents should occur if it was in his power to prevent them. he was aware that his son-in-law, cornelis van der myle, had been invited to the banquet, and that he was wont to carry his wine discreetly. he therefore requested nordlingen to proceed to leyden that night and seek an interview with van der myle without delay. by thus communicating the intelligence of the expected visit to one who, he felt sure, would do his best to provide for a respectful and suitable reception of the prince, notwithstanding the exhilarated condition in which the magistrates would probably find themselves, the advocate hoped to prevent any riot or tumultuous demonstration of any kind. at least he would act conformably to his duty and keep his conscience clear should disasters ensue. later in the night he learned that maurice was going not to leyden but to delft, and he accordingly despatched a special messenger to arrive before dawn at leyden in order to inform van der myle of this change in the prince's movements. nothing seemed simpler or more judicious than these precautions on the part of barneveld. they could not fail, however, to be tortured into sedition, conspiracy, and treason. towards the end of the year a meeting of the nobles and knights of holland under the leadership of barneveld was held to discuss the famous sharp resolution of th august and the letters and arguments advanced against it by the stadholder and the council of state. it was unanimously resolved by this body, in which they were subsequently followed by a large majority of the states of holland, to maintain that resolution and its consequences and to oppose the national synod. they further resolved that a legal provincial synod should be convoked by the states of holland and under their authority and supervision. the object of such synod should be to devise "some means of accommodation, mutual toleration, and christian settlement of differences in regard to the five points in question." in case such compromise should unfortunately not be arranged, then it was resolved to invite to the assembly two or three persons from france, as many from england, from germany, and from switzerland, to aid in the consultations. should a method of reconciliation and mutual toleration still remain undiscovered, then, in consideration that the whole christian world was interested in composing these dissensions, it was proposed that a "synodal assembly of all christendom," a protestant oecumenical council, should in some solemn manner be convoked. these resolutions and propositions were all brought forward by the advocate, and the draughts of them in his handwriting remain. they are the unimpeachable evidences of his earnest desire to put an end to these unhappy disputes and disorders in the only way which he considered constitutional. before the close of the year the states of holland, in accordance with the foregoing advice of the nobles, passed a resolution, the minutes of which were drawn up by the hand of the advocate, and in which they persisted in their opposition to the national synod. they declared by a large majority of votes that the assembly of the states-general without the unanimous consent of the provincial states were not competent according to the union of utrecht--the fundamental law of the general assembly--to regulate religious affairs, but that this right belonged to the separate provinces, each within its own domain. they further resolved that as they were bound by solemn oath to maintain the laws and liberties of holland, they could not surrender this right to the generality, nor allow it to be usurped by any one, but in order to settle the question of the five points, the only cause known to them of the present disturbances, they were content under: their own authority to convoke a provincial synod within three months, at their own cost, and to invite the respective provinces, as many of them as thought good, to send to this meeting a certain number of pious and learned theologians. it is difficult to see why the course thus unanimously proposed by the nobles of holland, under guidance of barneveld, and subsequently by a majority of the states of that province, would not have been as expedient as it was legal. but we are less concerned with that point now than with the illustrations afforded by these long buried documents of the patriotism and sagacity of a man than whom no human creature was ever more foully slandered. it will be constantly borne in mind that he regarded this religious controversy purely from a political, legal, and constitutional--and not from a theological-point of view. he believed that grave danger to the fatherland was lurking under this attempt, by the general government, to usurp the power of dictating the religious creed of all the provinces. especially he deplored the evil influence exerted by the king of england since his abandonment of the principles announced in his famous letter to the states in the year . all that the advocate struggled for was moderation and mutual toleration within the reformed church. he felt that a wider scheme of forbearance was impracticable. if a dream of general religious equality had ever floated before him or before any one in that age, he would have felt it to be a dream which would be a reality nowhere until centuries should have passed away. yet that moderation, patience, tolerance, and respect for written law paved the road to that wider and loftier region can scarcely be doubted. carleton, subservient to every changing theological whim of his master, was as vehement and as insolent now in enforcing the intolerant views of james as he had previously been in supporting the counsels to tolerance contained in the original letters of that monarch. the ambassador was often at the advocate's bed-side during his illness that summer, enforcing, instructing, denouncing, contradicting. he was never weary of fulfilling his duties of tuition, but the patient barneveld; haughty and overbearing as he was often described to be, rarely used a harsh or vindictive word regarding him in his letters. "the ambassador of france," he said, "has been heard before the assembly of the states-general, and has made warm appeals in favour of union and mutual toleration as his majesty of great britain so wisely did in his letters of . . . . if his majesty could only be induced to write fresh letters in similar tone, i should venture to hope better fruits from them than from this attempt to thrust a national synod upon our necks, which many of us hold to be contrary to law, reason, and the act of union." so long as it was possible to hope that the action of the states of holland would prevent such a catastrophe, he worked hard to direct them in what he deemed the right course. "our political and religious differences," he said, "stand between hope and fear." the hope was in the acceptance of the provincial synod--the fear lest the national synod should be carried by a minority of the cities of holland combining with a majority of the other provincial states. "this would be in violation," he said, "of the so-called religious peace, the act of union, the treaty with the duke of anjou, the negotiations of the states of utrecht, and with prince maurice in with cognizance of the states-general and those of holland for, the governorship of that province, the custom of the generality for the last thirty years according to which religious matters have always been left to the disposition of the states of each province . . . . carleton is strenuously urging this course in his majesty's name, and i fear that in the present state of our humours great troubles will be the result." the expulsion by an armed mob, in the past year, of a remonstrant preacher at oudewater, the overpowering of the magistracy and the forcing on of illegal elections in that and other cities, had given him and all earnest patriots grave cause for apprehension. they were dreading, said barneveld, a course of crimes similar to those which under the earl of leicester's government had afflicted leyden and utrecht. "efforts are incessant to make the remonstrants hateful," he said to caron, "but go forward resolutely and firmly in the conviction that our friends here are as animated in their opposition to the spanish dominion now and by god's grace will so remain as they have ever proved themselves to be, not only by words, but works. i fear that mr. carleton gives too much belief to the enviers of our peace and tranquillity under pretext of religion, but it is more from ignorance than malice." those who have followed the course of the advocate's correspondence, conversation, and actions, as thus far detailed, can judge of the gigantic nature of the calumny by which he was now assailed. that this man, into every fibre of whose nature was woven undying hostility to spain, as the great foe to national independence and religious liberty throughout the continent of europe, whose every effort, as we have seen, during all these years of nominal peace had been to organize a system of general european defence against the war now actually begun upon protestantism, should be accused of being a partisan of spain, a creature of spain, a pensioner of spain, was enough to make honest men pray that the earth might be swallowed up. if such idiotic calumnies could be believed, what patriot in the world could not be doubted? yet they were believed. barneveld was bought by spanish gold. he had received whole boxes full of spanish pistoles, straight from brussels! for his part in the truce negotiations he had received , ducats in one lump. "it was plain," said the greatest man in the country to another great man, "that barneveld and his party are on the road to spain." "then it were well to have proof of it," said the great man. "not yet time," was the reply. "we must flatten out a few of them first." prince maurice had told the princess-dowager the winter before ( th december ) that those dissensions would never be decided except by use of weapons; and he now mentioned to her that he had received information from brussels, which he in part believed, that the advocate was a stipendiary of spain. yet he had once said, to the same princess louise, of this stipendiary that "the services which the advocate had rendered to the house of nassau were so great that all the members of that house might well look upon him not as their friend but their father." councillor van maldere, president of the states of zealand, and a confidential friend of maurice, was going about the hague saying that "one must string up seven or eight remonstrants on the gallows; then there might be some improvement." as for arminius and uytenbogaert, people had long told each other and firmly believed it, and were amazed when any incredulity was expressed in regard to it, that they were in regular and intimate correspondence with the jesuits, that they had received large sums from rome, and that both had been promised cardinals' hats. that barneveld and his friend uytenbogaert were regular pensioners of spain admitted of no dispute whatever. "it was as true as the holy evangel." the ludicrous chatter had been passed over with absolute disdain by the persons attacked, but calumny is often a stronger and more lasting power than disdain. it proved to be in these cases. "you have the plague mark on your flesh, oh pope, oh pensioner," said one libeller. "there are letters safely preserved to make your process for you. look out for your head. many have sworn your death, for it is more than time that you were out of the world. we shall prove, oh great bribed one, that you had the , little ducats." the preacher uytenbogaert was also said to have had , ducats for his share. "go to brussels," said the pamphleteer; "it all stands clearly written out on the register with the names and surnames of all you great bribe-takers." these were choice morsels from the lampoon of the notary danckaerts. "we are tortured more and more with religious differences," wrote barneveld; "with acts of popular violence growing out of them the more continuously as they remain unpunished, and with ever increasing jealousies and suspicions. the factious libels become daily more numerous and more impudent, and no man comes undamaged from the field. i, as a reward for all my troubles, labours, and sorrows, have three double portions of them. i hope however to overcome all by god's grace and to defend my actions with all honourable men so long as right and reason have place in the world, as to which many begin to doubt. if his majesty had been pleased to stick to the letters of , we should never have got into these difficulties . . . . it were better in my opinion that carleton should be instructed to negotiate in the spirit of those epistles rather than to torment us with the national synod, which will do more harm than good." it is impossible not to notice the simplicity and patience with which the advocate, in the discharge of his duty as minister of foreign affairs, kept the leading envoys of the republic privately informed of events which were becoming day by day more dangerous to the public interests and his own safety. if ever a perfectly quiet conscience was revealed in the correspondence of a statesman, it was to be found in these letters. calmly writing to thank caron for some very satisfactory english beer which the ambassador had been sending him from london, he proceeded to speak again of the religious dissensions and their consequences. he sent him the letter and remonstrance which he had felt himself obliged to make, and which he had been urged by his ever warm and constant friend the widow of william the silent to make on the subject of "the seditious libels, full of lies and calumnies got up by conspiracy against him." these letters were never published, however, until years after he had been in his grave. "i know that you are displeased with the injustice done me," he said, "but i see no improvement. people are determined to force through the national synod. the two last ones did much harm. this will do ten times more, so intensely embittered are men's tempers against each other." again he deplored the king's departure from his letters of , by adherence to which almost all the troubles would have been spared. it is curious too to observe the contrast between public opinion in great britain, including its government, in regard to the constitution of the united provinces at that period of domestic dissensions and incipient civil war and the general impressions manifested in the same nation two centuries and a half later, on the outbreak of the slavery rebellion, as to the constitution of the united states. the states in arms against the general government on the other side of the atlantic were strangely but not disingenuously assumed to be sovereign and independent, and many statesmen and a leading portion of the public justified them in their attempt to shake off the central government as if it were but a board of agency established by treaty and terminable at pleasure of any one of among sovereigns and terminable at pleasure of any one of them. yet even a superficial glance at the written constitution of the republic showed that its main object was to convert what had been a confederacy into an incorporation; and that the very essence of its renewed political existence was an organic law laid down by a whole people in their primitive capacity in place of a league banding together a group of independent little corporations. the chief attributes of sovereignty--the rights of war and peace, of coinage, of holding armies and navies, of issuing bills of credit, of foreign relations, of regulating and taxing foreign commerce--having been taken from the separate states by the united people thereof and bestowed upon a government provided with a single executive head, with a supreme tribunal, with a popular house of representatives and a senate, and with power to deal directly with the life and property of every individual in the land, it was strange indeed that the feudal, and in america utterly unmeaning, word sovereign should have been thought an appropriate term for the different states which had fused themselves three-quarters of a century before into a union. when it is remembered too that the only dissolvent of this union was the intention to perpetuate human slavery, the logic seemed somewhat perverse by which the separate sovereignty of the states was deduced from the constitution of . on the other hand, the union of utrecht of was a league of petty sovereignties; a compact less binding and more fragile than the articles of union made almost exactly two hundred years later in america, and the worthlessness of which, after the strain of war was over, had been demonstrated in the dreary years immediately following the peace of . one after another certain netherland provinces had abjured their allegiance to spain, some of them afterwards relapsing under it, some having been conquered by the others, while one of them, holland, had for a long time borne the greater part of the expense and burthen of the war. "holland," said the advocate, "has brought almost all the provinces to their liberty. to receive laws from them or from their clerical people now is what our state cannot endure. it is against her laws and customs, in the enjoyment of which the other provinces and his excellency as governor of holland are bound to protect us." and as the preservation of chattel slavery in the one case seemed a legitimate ground for destroying a government which had as definite an existence as any government known to mankind, so the resolve to impose a single religious creed upon many millions of individuals was held by the king and government of great britain to be a substantial reason for imagining a central sovereignty which had never existed at all. this was still more surprising as the right to dispose of ecclesiastical affairs and persons had been expressly reserved by the separate provinces in perfectly plain language in the treaty of union. "if the king were better informed," said barneveld, "of our system and laws, we should have better hope than now. but one supposes through notorious error in foreign countries that the sovereignty stands with the states-general which is not the case, except in things which by the articles of closer union have been made common to all the provinces, while in other matters, as religion, justice, and polity, the sovereignty remains with each province, which foreigners seem unable to comprehend." early in june, carleton took his departure for england on leave of absence. he received a present from the states of florins, and went over in very ill-humour with barneveld. "mr. ambassador is much offended and prejudiced," said the advocate, "but i know that he will religiously carry out the orders of his majesty. i trust that his majesty can admit different sentiments on predestination and its consequences, and that in a kingdom where the supreme civil authority defends religion the system of the puritans will have no foothold." certainly james could not be accused of allowing the system of the puritans much foothold in england, but he had made the ingenious discovery that puritanism in holland was a very different thing from puritanism in the netherlands. etext editor's bookmarks: acts of violence which under pretext of religion adulation for inferiors whom they despise calumny is often a stronger and more lasting power than disdain created one child for damnation and another for salvation depths of credulity men in all ages can sink devote himself to his gout and to his fair young wife furious mob set upon the house of rem bischop highborn demagogues in that as in every age affect adulation in this he was much behind his age or before it logic is rarely the quality on which kings pride themselves necessity of deferring to powerful sovereigns not his custom nor that of his councillors to go to bed partisans wanted not accommodation but victory puritanism in holland was a very different thing from england seemed bent on self-destruction stand between hope and fear the evils resulting from a confederate system of government to stifle for ever the right of free enquiry chapter xvi. maurice revolutionizes the provinces--danckaert's libellous pamphlet --barneveld's appeal to the prince--barneveld's remonstrance to the states--the stadholder at amsterdam--the treaty of truce nearly expired--king of spain and archduke albert--scheme for recovering the provinces--secret plot to make maurice sovereign. early in the year ( ) maurice set himself about revolutionizing the provinces on which he could not yet thoroughly rely. the town of nymegen since its recovery from the spaniards near the close of the preceding century had held its municipal government, as it were, at the option of the prince. during the war he had been, by the terms of surrender, empowered to appoint and to change its magistracy at will. no change had occurred for many years, but as the government had of late fallen into the hands of the barneveldians, and as maurice considered the truce to be a continuance of the war, he appeared suddenly, in the city at the head of a body of troops and surrounded by his lifeguard. summoning the whole board of magistrates into the townhouse, he gave them all notice to quit, disbanding them like a company of mutinous soldiery, and immediately afterwards appointed a fresh list of functionaries in their stead. this done, he proceeded to arnhem, where the states of gelderland were in session, appeared before that body, and made a brief announcement of the revolution which he had so succinctly effected in the most considerable town of their province. the assembly, which seems, like many other assemblies at precisely this epoch, to have had an extraordinary capacity for yielding to gentle violence, made but little resistance to the extreme measures now undertaken by the stadholder, and not only highly applauded the subjugation of nymegen, but listened with sympathy to his arguments against the waartgelders and in favour of the synod. having accomplished so much by a very brief visit to gelderland, the prince proceeded, to overyssel, and had as little difficulty in bringing over the wavering minds of that province into orthodoxy and obedience. thus there remained but two provinces out of seven that were still "waartgeldered" and refused to be "synodized." it was rebellion against rebellion. maurice and his adherents accused the states' right party of mutiny against himself and the states-general. the states' right party accused the contra-remonstrants in the cities of mutiny against the lawful sovereignty of each province. the oath of the soldiery, since the foundation of the republic, had been to maintain obedience and fidelity to the states-general, the stadholder, and the province in which they were garrisoned, and at whose expense they were paid. it was impossible to harmonize such conflicting duties and doctrines. theory had done its best and its worst. the time was fast approaching, as it always must approach, when fact with its violent besom would brush away the fine-spun cobwebs which had been so long undisturbed. "i will grind the advocate and all his party into fine meal," said the prince on one occasion. a clever caricature of the time represented a pair of scales hung up in a great hall. in the one was a heap of parchments, gold chains, and magisterial robes; the whole bundle being marked the "holy right of each city." in the other lay a big square, solid, ironclasped volume, marked "institutes of calvin." each scale was respectively watched by gomarus and by arminius. the judges, gowned, furred, and ruffed, were looking decorously on, when suddenly the stadholder, in full military attire, was seen rushing into the apartment and flinging his sword into the scale with the institutes. the civic and legal trumpery was of course made to kick the beam. maurice had organized his campaign this year against the advocate and his party as deliberately as he had ever arranged the details of a series of battles and sieges against the spaniard. and he was proving himself as consummate master in political strife as in the great science of war. he no longer made any secret of his conviction that barneveld was a traitor to his country, bought with spanish gold. there was not the slightest proof for these suspicions, but he asserted them roundly. "the advocate is travelling straight to spain," he said to count cuylenborg. "but we will see who has got the longest purse." and as if it had been a part of the campaign, a prearranged diversion to the more direct and general assault on the entrenchments of the states' right party, a horrible personal onslaught was now made from many quarters upon the advocate. it was an age of pamphleteering, of venomous, virulent, unscrupulous libels. and never even in that age had there been anything to equal the savage attacks upon this great statesman. it moves the gall of an honest man, even after the lapse of two centuries and a half, to turn over those long forgotten pages and mark the depths to which political and theological party spirit could descend. that human creatures can assimilate themselves so closely to the reptile, and to the subtle devil within the reptile, when a party end is to be gained is enough to make the very name of man a term of reproach. day by day appeared pamphlets, each one more poisonous than its predecessor. there was hardly a crime that was not laid at the door of barneveld and all his kindred. the man who had borne a matchlock in early youth against the foreign tyrant in days when unsuccessful rebellion meant martyrdom and torture; who had successfully guided the councils of the infant commonwealth at a period when most of his accusers were in their cradles, and when mistake was ruin to the republic; he on whose strong arm the father of his country had leaned for support; the man who had organized a political system out of chaos; who had laid down the internal laws, negotiated the great indispensable alliances, directed the complicated foreign policy, established the system of national defence, presided over the successful financial administration of a state struggling out of mutiny into national existence; who had rocked the republic in its cradle and ever borne her in his heart; who had made her name beloved at home and honoured and dreaded abroad; who had been the first, when the great taciturn had at last fallen a victim to the murderous tyrant of spain, to place the youthful maurice in his father's place, and to inspire the whole country with sublime courage to persist rather than falter in purpose after so deadly a blow; who was as truly the founder of the republic as william had been the author of its independence,--was now denounced as a traitor, a pope, a tyrant, a venal hucksterer of his country's liberties. his family name, which had long been an ancient and knightly one, was defiled and its nobility disputed; his father and mother, sons and daughters, sisters and brothers, accused of every imaginable and unimaginable crime, of murder, incest, robbery, bastardy, fraud, forgery, blasphemy. he had received waggon-loads of spanish pistoles; he had been paid , ducats by spain for negotiating the truce; he was in secret treaty with archduke albert to bring , spanish mercenaries across the border to defeat the machinations of prince maurice, destroy his life, or drive him from the country; all these foul and bitter charges and a thousand similar ones were rained almost daily upon that grey head. one day the loose sheets of a more than commonly libellous pamphlet were picked up in the streets of the hague and placed in the advocate's hands. it was the work of the drunken notary danckaerts already mentioned, then resident in amsterdam, and among the papers thus found was a list of wealthy merchants of that city who had contributed to the expense of its publication. the opposition of barneveld to the west india corporation could never be forgiven. the advocate was notified in this production that he was soon to be summoned to answer for his crimes. the country was weary of him, he was told, and his life was forfeited. stung at last beyond endurance by the persistent malice of his enemies, he came before the states of holland for redress. upon his remonstrance the author of this vile libel was summoned to answer before the upper tribunal at the hague for his crime. the city of amsterdam covered him with the shield 'de non evocando,' which had so often in cases of less consequence proved of no protective value, and the notary was never punished, but on the contrary after a brief lapse of time rewarded as for a meritorious action. meantime, the states of holland, by formal act, took the name and honour of barneveld under their immediate protection as a treasure belonging specially to themselves. heavy penalties were denounced upon the authors and printers of these libellous attacks, and large rewards offered for their detection. nothing came, however, of such measures. on the th april the advocate addressed a frank, dignified, and conciliatory letter to the prince. the rapid progress of calumny against him had at last alarmed even his steadfast soul, and he thought it best to make a last appeal to the justice and to the clear intellect of william the silent's son. "gracious prince," he said, "i observe to my greatest sorrow an entire estrangement of your excellency from me, and i fear lest what was said six months since by certain clerical persons and afterwards by some politicians concerning your dissatisfaction with me, which until now i have not been able to believe, must be true. i declare nevertheless with a sincere heart to have never willingly given cause for any such feeling; having always been your very faithful servant and with god's help hoping as such to die. ten years ago during the negotiations for the truce i clearly observed the beginning of this estrangement, but your excellency will be graciously pleased to remember that i declared to you at that time my upright and sincere intention in these negotiations to promote the service of the country and the interests of your excellency, and that i nevertheless offered at the time not only to resign all my functions but to leave the country rather than remain in office and in the country to the dissatisfaction of your excellency." he then rapidly reviewed the causes which had produced the alienation of which he complained and the melancholy divisions caused by the want of mutual religious toleration in the provinces; spoke of his efforts to foster a spirit of conciliation on the dread subject of predestination, and referred to the letter of the king of great britain deprecating discussion and schism on this subject, and urging that those favourable to the views of the remonstrants ought not to be persecuted. referring to the intimate relations which uytenbogaert had so long enjoyed with the prince, the advocate alluded to the difficulty he had in believing that his excellency intended to act in opposition to the efforts of the states of holland in the cause of mutual toleration, to the manifest detriment of the country and of many of its best and truest patriots and the greater number of the magistrates in all the cities. he reminded the prince that all attempts to accommodate these fearful quarrels had been frustrated, and that on his departure the previous year to utrecht on account of his health he had again offered to resign all his offices and to leave holland altogether rather than find himself in perpetual opposition to his excellency. "i begged you in such case," he said, "to lend your hand to the procuring for me an honourable discharge from my lords the states, but your excellency declared that you could in no wise approve such a step and gave me hope that some means of accommodating the dissensions would yet be proposed." "i went then to vianen, being much indisposed; thence i repaired to utrecht to consult my old friend doctor saulo saul, in whose hands i remained six weeks, not being able, as i hoped, to pass my seventieth birthday on the th september last in my birthplace, the city of amersfoort. all this time i heard not one single word or proposal of accommodation. on the contrary it was determined that by a majority vote, a thing never heard of before, it was intended against the solemn resolves of the states of holland, of utrecht, and of overyssel to bring these religious differences before the assembly of my lords the states-general, a proceeding directly in the teeth of the act of union and other treaties, and before a synod which people called national, and that meantime every effort was making to discredit all those who stood up for the laws of these provinces and to make them odious and despicable in the eyes of the common people. "especially it was i that was thus made the object of hatred and contempt in their eyes. hundreds of lies and calumnies, circulated in the form of libels, seditious pamphlets, and lampoons, compelled me to return from utrecht to the hague. since that time i have repeatedly offered my services to your excellency for the promotion of mutual accommodation and reconciliation of differences, but without success." he then alluded to the publication with which the country was ringing, 'the necessary and living discourse of a spanish counsellor', and which was attributed to his former confidential friend, now become his deadliest foe, ex-ambassador francis aerssens, and warned the prince that if he chose, which god forbid, to follow the advice of that seditious libel, nothing but ruin to the beloved fatherland and its lovers, to the princely house of orange-nassau and to the christian religion could be the issue. "the spanish government could desire no better counsel," he said, "than this which these fellows give you; to encourage distrust and estrangement between your excellency and the nobles, the cities, and the magistrates of the land and to propose high and haughty imaginings which are easy enough to write, but most difficult to practise, and which can only enure to the advantage of spain. therefore most respectfully i beg your excellency not to believe these fellows, but to reject their counsels . . . . among them are many malignant hypocrites and ambitious men who are seeking their own profit in these changes of government--many utterly ragged and beggarly fellows and many infamous traitors coming from the provinces which have remained under the dominion of the spaniard, and who are filled with revenge, envy, and jealousy at the greater prosperity and bloom of these independent states than they find at home. "i fear," he said in conclusion, "that i have troubled your excellency too long, but to the fulfilment of my duty and discharge of my conscience i could not be more brief. it saddens me deeply that in recompense for my long and manifold services i am attacked by so many calumnious, lying, seditious, and fraudulent libels, and that these indecencies find their pretext and their food in the evil disposition of your excellency towards me. and although for one-and-thirty years long i have been able to live down such things with silence, well-doing, and truth, still do i now find myself compelled in this my advanced old age and infirmity to make some utterances in defence of myself and those belonging to me, however much against my heart and inclinations." he ended by enclosing a copy of the solemn state paper which he was about to lay before the states of holland in defence of his honour, and subscribed himself the lifelong and faithful servant of the prince. the remonstrance to the states contained a summary review of the political events of his life, which was indeed nothing more nor less than the history of his country and almost of europe itself during that period, broadly and vividly sketched with the hand of a master. it was published at once and strengthened the affection of his friends and the wrath of his enemies. it is not necessary to our purpose to reproduce or even analyse the document, the main facts and opinions contained in it being already familiar to the reader. the frankness however with which, in reply to the charges so profusely brought against him of having grown rich by extortion, treason, and corruption, of having gorged himself with plunder at home and bribery from the enemy, of being the great pensioner of europe and the marshal d'ancre of the netherlands--he alluded to the exact condition of his private affairs and the growth and sources of his revenue, giving, as it were, a kind of schedule of his property, has in it something half humorous, half touching in its simplicity. he set forth the very slender salaries attached to his high offices of advocate of holland, keeper of the seals, and other functions. he answered the charge that he always had at his disposition , florins to bribe foreign agents withal by saying that his whole allowance for extraordinary expenses and trouble in maintaining his diplomatic and internal correspondence was exactly florins yearly. he alluded to the slanders circulated as to his wealth and its sources by those who envied him for his position and hated him for his services. "but i beg you to believe, my lords," he continued, "that my property is neither so great nor so small as some people represent it to be. "in the year ' i married my wife," he said. "i was pleased with her person. i was likewise pleased with the dowry which was promptly paid over to me, with firm expectation of increase and betterment . . . . i ac knowledge that forty-three years ago my wife and myself had got together so much of real and personal property that we could live honourably upon it. i had at that time as good pay and practice as any advocate in the courts which brought me in a good florins a year; there being but eight advocates practising at the time, of whom i was certainly not the one least employed. in the beginning of the year ' i came into the service of the city of rotterdam as 'pensionary. upon my salary from that town i was enabled to support my family, having then but two children. now i can clearly prove that between the years and inclusive i have inherited in my own right or that of my wife, from our relatives, for ourselves and our children by lawful succession, more than holland morgens of land (about acres), more than florins yearly of redeemable rents, a good house in the city of delft, some houses in the open country, and several thousand florins in ready money. i have likewise reclaimed in the course of the past forty years out of the water and swamps by dyking more than an equal number of acres to those inherited, and have bought and sold property during the same period to the value of , florins; having sometimes bought , florins' worth and sold , of it for , , and so on." it was evident that the thrifty advocate during his long life had understood how to turn over his money, and it was not necessary to imagine "waggon-loads of spanish pistoles" and bribes on a gigantic scale from the hereditary enemy in order to account for a reasonable opulence on his part. "i have had nothing to do with trade," he continued, "it having been the custom of my ancestors to risk no money except where the plough goes. in the great east india company however, which with four years of hard work, public and private, i have helped establish, in order to inflict damage on the spaniards and portuguese, i have adventured somewhat more than florins . . . . now even if my condition be reasonably good, i think no one has reason to envy me. nevertheless i have said it in your lordships' assembly, and i repeat it solemnly on this occasion, that i have pondered the state of my affairs during my recent illness and found that in order to leave my children unencumbered estates i must sell property to the value of , or , florins. this i would rather do than leave the charge to my children. that i should have got thus behindhand through bad management, i beg your highnesses not to believe. but i have inherited, with the succession of four persons whose only heir i was and with that of others to whom i was co-heir, many burthens as well. i have bought property with encumbrances, and i have dyked and bettered several estates with borrowed money. now should it please your lordships to institute a census and valuation of the property of your subjects, i for one should be very well pleased. for i know full well that those who in the estimates of capital in the year rated themselves at , or , florins now may boast of having twice as much property as i have. yet in that year out of patriotism i placed myself on the list of those liable for the very highest contributions, being assessed on a property of , florins." the advocate alluded with haughty contempt to the notorious lies circulated by his libellers in regard to his lineage, as if the vast services and unquestioned abilities of such a statesman would not have illustrated the obscurest origin. but as he happened to be of ancient and honourable descent, he chose to vindicate his position in that regard. "i was born in the city of amersfoort," he said, "by the father's side an oldenbarneveld; an old and noble race, from generation to generation steadfast and true; who have been duly summoned for many hundred years to the assembly of the nobles of their province as they are to this day. by my mother's side i am sprung from the ancient and knightly family of amersfoort, which for three or four hundred years has been known as foremost among the nobles of utrecht in all state affairs and as landed proprietors." it is only for the sake of opening these domestic and private lights upon an historical character whose life was so pre-eminently and almost exclusively a public one that we have drawn some attention to this stately defence made by the advocate of his birth, life, and services to the state. the public portions of the state paper belong exclusively to history, and have already been sufficiently detailed. the letter to prince maurice was delivered into his hands by cornelis van der myle, son-in-law of barneveld. no reply to it was ever sent, but several days afterwards the stadholder called from his open window to van der myle, who happened to be passing by. he then informed him that he neither admitted the premises nor the conclusion of the advocate's letter, saying that many things set down in it were false. he furthermore told him a story of a certain old man who, having in his youth invented many things and told them often for truth, believed them when he came to old age to be actually true and was ever ready to stake his salvation upon them. whereupon he shut the window and left van der myle to make such application of the parable as he thought proper, vouchsafing no further answer to barneveld's communication. dudley carleton related the anecdote to his government with much glee, but it may be doubted whether this bold way of giving the lie to a venerable statesman through his son-in-law would have been accounted as triumphant argumentation anywhere out of a barrack. as for the remonstrance to the states of holland, although most respectfully received in that assembly except by the five opposition cities, its immediate effect on the public was to bring down a fresh "snow storm"--to use the expression of a contemporary--of pamphlets, libels, caricatures, and broadsheets upon the head of the advocate. in every bookseller's and print shop window in all the cities of the country, the fallen statesman was represented in all possible ludicrous, contemptible, and hateful shapes, while hags and blind beggars about the streets screeched filthy and cursing ballads against him, even at his very doors. the effect of energetic, uncompromising calumny has rarely been more strikingly illustrated than in the case of this statesman. blackened daily all over by a thousand trowels, the purest and noblest character must have been defiled, and it is no wonder that the incrustation upon the advocate's fame should have lasted for two centuries and a half. it may perhaps endure for as many more: not even the vile marshal d'ancre, who had so recently perished, was more the mark of obloquy in a country which he had dishonoured, flouted, and picked to the bone than was barneveld in a commonwealth which he had almost created and had served faithfully from youth to old age. it was even the fashion to compare him with concini in order to heighten the wrath of the public, as if any parallel between the ignoble, foreign paramour of a stupid and sensual queen, and the great statesman, patriot, and jurist of whom civilization will be always proud, could ever enter any but an idiot's brain. meantime the stadholder, who had so successfully handled the assembly of gelderland and overyssel, now sailed across the zuiderzee from kampen to amsterdam. on his approach to the stately northern venice, standing full of life and commercial bustle upon its vast submerged forest of norwegian pines, he was met by a fleet of yachts and escorted through the water gates of the into the city. here an immense assemblage of vessels of every class, from the humble gondola to the bulky east indianian and the first-rate ship of war, gaily bannered with the orange colours and thronged from deck to topmast by enthusiastic multitudes, was waiting to receive their beloved stadholder. a deafening cannonade saluted him on his approach. the prince was escorted to the square or dam, where on a high scaffolding covered with blue velvet in front of the stately mediaeval town-hall the burgomasters and board of magistrates in their robes of office were waiting to receive him. the strains of that most inspiriting and suggestive of national melodies, the 'wilhelmus van nassouwen,' rang through the air, and when they were silent, the chief magistrate poured forth a very eloquent and tedious oration, and concluded by presenting him with a large orange in solid gold; maurice having succeeded to the principality a few months before on the death of his half-brother philip william. the "blooming in love," as one of the chambers of "rhetoric" in which the hard-handed but half-artistic mechanics and shopkeepers of the netherlands loved to disport themselves was called, then exhibited upon an opposite scaffold a magnificent representation of jupiter astride upon an eagle and banding down to the stadholder as if from the clouds that same principality. nothing could be neater or more mythological. the prince and his escort, sitting in the windows of the town-hall, the square beneath being covered with or burgher militia in full uniform, with orange plumes in their hats and orange scarves on their breasts, saw still other sights. a gorgeous procession set forth by the "netherlandish academy," another chamber of rhetoric, and filled with those emblematic impersonations so dear to the hearts of netherlanders, had been sweeping through all the canals and along the splendid quays of the city. the maid of holland, twenty feet high, led the van, followed by the counterfeit presentment of each of her six sisters. an orange tree full of flowers and fruit was conspicuous in one barge, while in another, strangely and lugubriously enough, lay the murdered william the silent in the arms of his wife and surrounded by his weeping sons and daughters all attired in white satin. in the evening the netherland academy, to improve the general hilarity, and as if believing exhibitions of murder the most appropriate means of welcoming the prince, invited him to a scenic representation of the assassination of count florence v. of holland by gerrit van velsen and other nobles. there seemed no especial reason for the selection, unless perhaps the local one; one of the perpetrators of this crime against an ancient predecessor of william the silent in the sovereignty of holland having been a former lord proprietor of amsterdam and the adjacent territories, gysbrecht van amatel. maurice returned to the hague. five of the seven provinces were entirely his own. utrecht too was already wavering, while there could be no doubt of the warm allegiance to himself of the important commercial metropolis of holland, the only province in which barneveld's influence was still paramount. owing to the watchfulness and distrust of barneveld, which had never faltered, spain had not secured the entire control of the disputed duchies, but she had at least secured the head of a venerated saint. "the bargain is completed for the head of the glorious saint lawrence, which you know i so much desire," wrote philip triumphantly to the archduke albert. he had, however, not got it for nothing. the abbot of glamart in julich, then in possession of that treasure, had stipulated before delivering it that if at any time the heretics or other enemies should destroy the monastery his majesty would establish them in spanish flanders and give them the same revenues as they now enjoyed in julich. count herman van den berg was to give a guarantee to that effect. meantime the long controversy in the duchies having tacitly come to a standstill upon the basis of 'uti possidetis,' the spanish government had leisure in the midst of their preparation for the general crusade upon european heresy to observe and enjoy the internal religious dissensions in their revolted provinces. although they had concluded the convention with them as with countries over which they had no pretensions, they had never at heart allowed more virtue to the conjunction "as," which really contained the essence of the treaty, than grammatically belonged to it. spain still chose to regard the independence of the seven provinces as a pleasant fiction to be dispelled when, the truce having expired by its own limitation, she should resume, as she fully meant to do, her sovereignty over all the seventeen netherlands, the united as well as the obedient. thus at any rate the question of state rights or central sovereignty would be settled by a very summary process. the spanish ambassador was wroth, as may well be supposed, when the agent of the rebel provinces received in london the rank, title, and recognition of ambassador. gondemar at least refused to acknowledge noel de caron as his diplomatic equal or even as his colleague, and was vehement in his protestations on the subject. but james, much as he dreaded the spanish envoy and fawned upon his master, was not besotted enough to comply with these demands at the expense of his most powerful ally, the republic of the netherlands. the spanish king however declared his ambassador's proceedings to be in exact accordance with his instructions. he was sorry, he said, if the affair had caused discontent to the king of great britain; he intended in all respects to maintain the treaty of truce of which his majesty had been one of the guarantors, but as that treaty had but a few more years to run, after which he should be reinstated in his former right of sovereignty over all the netherlands, he entirely justified the conduct of count gondemar. it may well be conceived that, as the years passed by, as the period of the truce grew nearer and the religious disputes became every day more envenomed, the government at madrid should look on the tumultuous scene with saturnine satisfaction. there was little doubt now, they thought, that the provinces, sick of their rebellion and that fancied independence which had led them into a whirlpool of political and religious misery, and convinced of their incompetence to govern themselves, would be only too happy to seek the forgiving arms of their lawful sovereign. above all they must have learned that their great heresy had carried its chastisement with it, that within something they called a reformed church other heresies had been developed which demanded condign punishment at the hands of that new church, and that there could be neither rest for them in this world nor salvation in the next except by returning to the bosom of their ancient mother. now was the time, so it was thought, to throw forward a strong force of jesuits as skirmishers into the provinces by whom the way would be opened for the reconquest of the whole territory. "by the advices coming to us continually from thence," wrote the king of spain to archduke albert, "we understand that the disquiets and differences continue in holland on matters relating to their sects, and that from this has resulted the conversion of many to the catholic religion. so it has been taken into consideration whether it would not be expedient that some fathers of the company of jesuits be sent secretly from rome to holland, who should negotiate concerning the conversion of that people. before taking a resolution, i have thought best to give an account of this matter to your highness. i should be glad if you would inform me what priests are going to holland, what fruits they yield, and what can be done for the continuance of their labours. please to advise me very particularly together with any suggestions that may occur to you in this matter." the archduke, who was nearer the scene, was not so sure that the old religion was making such progress as his royal nephew or those who spoke in his name believed. at any rate, if it were not rapidly gaining ground, it would be neither for want of discord among the protestants nor for lack of jesuits to profit by it. "i do not understand," said he in reply, "nor is it generally considered certain that from the differences and disturbances that the hollanders are having among themselves there has resulted the conversion of any of them to our blessed catholic faith, because their disputes are of certain points concerning which there are different opinions within their sect. there has always been a goodly number of priests here, the greater part of whom belong to the company. they are very diligent and fervent, and the catholics derive much comfort from them. to send more of them would do more harm than good. it might be found out, and then they would perhaps be driven out of holland or even chastised. so it seems better to leave things as they are for the present." the spanish government was not discouraged however, but was pricking up its ears anew at strange communications it was receiving from the very bosom of the council of state in the netherlands. this body, as will be remembered, had been much opposed to barneveld and to the policy pursued under his leadership by the states of holland. some of its members were secretly catholic and still more secretly disposed to effect a revolution in the government, the object of which should be to fuse the united provinces with the obedient netherlands in a single independent monarchy to be placed under the sceptre of the son of philip iii. a paper containing the outlines of this scheme had been sent to spain, and the king at once forwarded it in cipher to the archduke at brussels for his opinion and co-operation. "you will see," he said, "the plan which a certain person zealous for the public good has proposed for reducing the netherlanders to my obedience. . . . . you will please advise with count frederic van den berg and let me know with much particularity and profound secrecy what is thought, what is occurring, and the form in which this matter ought to be negotiated, and the proper way to make it march." unquestionably the paper was of grave importance. it informed the king of spain that some principal personages in the united netherlands, members of the council of state, were of opinion that if his majesty or archduke albert should propose peace, it could be accomplished at that moment more easily than ever before. they had arrived at the conviction that no assistance was to be obtained from the king of france, who was too much weakened by tumults and sedition at home, while nothing good could be expected from the king of england. the greater part of the province of gelderland, they said, with all friesland, utrecht, groningen, and overyssel were inclined to a permanent peace. being all of them frontier provinces, they were constantly exposed to the brunt of hostilities. besides this, the war expenses alone would now be more than , , florins a year. thus the people were kept perpetually harassed, and although evil-intentioned persons approved these burthens under the pretence that such heavy taxation served to free them from the tyranny of spain, those of sense and quality reproved them and knew the contrary to be true. "many here know," continued these traitors in the heart of the state council, "how good it would be for the people of the netherlands to have a prince, and those having this desire being on the frontier are determined to accept the son of your majesty for their ruler." the conditions of the proposed arrangement were to be that the prince with his successors who were thus to possess all the netherlands were to be independent sovereigns not subject in any way to the crown of spain, and that the great governments and dignities of the country were to remain in the hands then holding them. this last condition was obviously inserted in the plan for the special benefit of prince maurice and count lewis, although there is not an atom of evidence that they had ever heard of the intrigue or doubt that, if they had, they would have signally chastised its guilty authors. it was further stated that the catholics having in each town a church and free exercise of their religion would soon be in a great majority. thus the political and religious counter-revolution would be triumphantly accomplished. it was proposed that the management of the business should be entrusted to some gentleman of the country possessing property there who "under pretext of the public good should make people comprehend what a great thing it would be if they could obtain this favour from the spanish king, thus extricating themselves from so many calamities and miseries, and obtaining free traffic and a prince of their own." it would be necessary for the king and archduke to write many letters and promise great rewards to persons who might otherwise embarrass the good work. the plot was an ingenious one. there seemed in the opinion of these conspirators in the state council but one great obstacle to its success. it should be kept absolutely concealed from the states of holland. the great stipendiary of spain, john of barneveld, whose coffers were filled with spanish pistoles, whose name and surname might be read by all men in the account-books at brussels heading the register of mighty bribe-takers, the man who was howled at in a thousand lampoons as a traitor ever ready to sell his country, whom even prince maurice "partly believed" to be the pensionary of philip, must not hear a whisper of this scheme to restore the republic to spanish control and place it under the sceptre of a spanish prince. the states of holland at that moment and so long as he was a member of the body were barneveld and barneveld only; thinking his thoughts, speaking with his tongue, writing with his pen. of this neither friend nor foe ever expressed a doubt. indeed it was one of the staple accusations against him. yet this paper in which the spanish king in confidential cipher and profound secrecy communicated to archduke albert his hopes and his schemes for recovering the revolted provinces as a kingdom for his son contained these words of caution. "the states of holland and zealand will be opposed to the plan," it said. "if the treaty come to the knowledge of the states and council of holland before it has been acted upon by the five frontier provinces the whole plan will be demolished." such was the opinion entertained by philip himself of the man who was supposed to be his stipendiary. i am not aware that this paper has ever been alluded to in any document or treatise private or public from the day of its date to this hour. it certainly has never been published, but it lies deciphered in the archives of the kingdom at brussels, and is alone sufficient to put to shame the slanderers of the advocate's loyalty. yet let it be remembered that in this very summer exactly at the moment when these intrigues were going on between the king of spain and the class of men most opposed to barneveld, the accusations against his fidelity were loudest and rifest. before the stadholder had so suddenly slipped down to brielle in order to secure that important stronghold for the contra-remonstrant party, reports had been carefully strewn among the people that the advocate was about to deliver that place and other fortresses to spain. brielle, flushing, rammekens, the very cautionary towns and keys to the country which he had so recently and in such masterly manner delivered from the grasp of the hereditary ally he was now about to surrender to the ancient enemy. the spaniards were already on the sea, it was said. had it not been for his excellency's watchfulness and promptitude, they would already under guidance of barneveld and his crew have mastered the city of brielle. flushing too through barneveld's advice and connivance was open at a particular point, in order that the spaniards, who had their eye upon it, might conveniently enter and take possession of the place. the air was full of wild rumours to this effect, and already the humbler classes who sided with the stadholder saw in him the saviour of the country from the treason of the advocate and the renewed tyranny of spain. the prince made no such pretence, but simply took possession of the fortress in order to be beforehand with the waartgelders. the contra-remonstrants in brielle had desired that "men should see who had the hardest fists," and it would certainly have been difficult to find harder ones than those of the hero of nieuwpoort. besides the jesuits coming in so skilfully to triumph over the warring sects of calvinists, there were other engineers on whom the spanish government relied to effect the reconquest of the netherlands. especially it was an object to wreak vengeance on holland, that head and front of the revolt, both for its persistence in rebellion and for the immense prosperity and progress by which that rebellion had been rewarded. holland had grown fat and strong, while the obedient netherlands were withered to the marrow of their bones. but there was a practical person then resident in spain to whom the netherlands were well known, to whom indeed everything was well known, who had laid before the king a magnificent scheme for destroying the commerce and with it the very existence of holland to the great advantage of the spanish finances and of the spanish netherlands. philip of course laid it before the archduke as usual, that he might ponder it well and afterwards, if approved, direct its execution. the practical person set forth in an elaborate memoir that the hollanders were making rapid progress in commerce, arts, and manufactures, while the obedient provinces were sinking as swiftly into decay. the spanish netherlands were almost entirely shut off from the sea, the rivers scheldt and meuse being hardly navigable for them on account of the control of those waters by holland. the dutch were attracting to their dominions all artisans, navigators, and traders. despising all other nations and giving them the law, they had ruined the obedient provinces. ostend, nieuwpoort, dunkerk were wasting away, and ought to be restored. "i have profoundly studied forty years long the subjects of commerce and navigation," said the practical person, "and i have succeeded in penetrating the secrets and acquiring, as it were, universal knowledge--let me not be suspected of boasting--of the whole discovered world and of the ocean. i have been assisted by study of the best works of geography and history, by my own labours, and by those of my late father, a man of illustrious genius and heroical conceptions and very zealous in the catholic faith." the modest and practical son of an illustrious but anonymous father, then coming to the point, said it would be the easiest thing in the world to direct the course of the scheldt into an entirely new channel through spanish flanders to the sea. thus the dutch ports and forts which had been constructed with such magnificence and at such vast expense would be left high and dry; the spaniards would build new ones in flanders, and thus control the whole navigation and deprive the hollanders of that empire of the sea which they now so proudly arrogated. this scheme was much simpler to carry out than the vulgar might suppose, and, when accomplished, it would destroy the commerce, navigation, and fisheries of the hollanders, throwing it all into the hands of the archdukes. this would cause such ruin, poverty, and tumults everywhere that all would be changed. the republic of the united states would annihilate itself and fall to pieces; the religious dissensions, the war of one sect with another, and the jealousy of the house of nassau, suspected of plans hostile to popular liberties, finishing the work of destruction. "then the republic," said the man of universal science, warming at sight of the picture he was painting, "laden with debt and steeped in poverty, will fall to the ground of its own weight, and thus debilitated will crawl humbly to place itself in the paternal hands of the illustrious house of austria." it would be better, he thought, to set about the work, before the expiration of the truce. at any rate, the preparation for it, or the mere threat of it, would ensure a renewal of that treaty on juster terms. it was most important too to begin at once the construction of a port on the coast of flanders, looking to the north. there was a position, he said, without naming it, in which whole navies could ride in safety, secure from all tempests, beyond the reach of the hollanders, open at all times to traffic to and from england, france, spain, norway, sweden, russia--a perfectly free commerce, beyond the reach of any rights or duties claimed or levied by the insolent republic. in this port would assemble all the navigators of the country, and it would become in time of war a terror to the hollanders, english, and all northern peoples. in order to attract, protect, and preserve these navigators and this commerce, many great public edifices must be built, together with splendid streets of houses and impregnable fortifications. it should be a walled and stately city, and its name should be philipopolis. if these simple projects, so easy of execution, pleased his majesty, the practical person was ready to explain them in all their details. his majesty was enchanted with the glowing picture, but before quite deciding on carrying the scheme into execution thought it best to consult the archduke. the reply of albert has not been preserved. it was probably not enthusiastic, and the man who without boasting had declared himself to know everything was never commissioned to convert his schemes into realities. that magnificent walled city, philipopolis, with its gorgeous streets and bristling fortresses, remained unbuilt, the scheldt has placidly flowed through its old channel to the sea from that day to this, and the republic remained in possession of the unexampled foreign trade with which rebellion had enriched it. these various intrigues and projects show plainly enough however the encouragement given to the enemies of the united provinces and of protestantism everywhere by these disastrous internal dissensions. but yesterday and the republic led by barneveld in council and maurice of nassau in the field stood at the head of the great army of resistance to the general crusade organized by spain and rome against all unbelievers. and now that the war was absolutely beginning in bohemia, the republic was falling upon its own sword instead of smiting with it the universal foe. it was not the king of spain alone that cast longing eyes on the fair territory of that commonwealth which the unparalleled tyranny of his father had driven to renounce his sceptre. both in the netherlands and france, among the extreme orthodox party, there were secret schemes, to which maurice was not privy, to raise maurice to the sovereignty of the provinces. other conspirators with a wider scope and more treasonable design were disposed to surrender their country to the dominion of france, stipulating of course large rewards and offices for themselves and the vice-royalty of what should then be the french netherlands to maurice. the schemes were wild enough perhaps, but their very existence, which is undoubted, is another proof, if more proof were wanted, of the lamentable tendency, in times of civil and religious dissension, of political passion to burn out the very first principles of patriotism. it is also important, on account of the direct influence exerted by these intrigues upon subsequent events of the gravest character, to throw a beam of light on matters which were thought to have been shrouded for ever in impenetrable darkness. langerac, the states' ambassador in paris, was the very reverse of his predecessor, the wily, unscrupulous, and accomplished francis aerssens. the envoys of the republic were rarely dull, but langerac was a simpleton. they were renowned for political experience, skill, familiarity with foreign languages, knowledge of literature, history, and public law; but he was ignorant, spoke french very imperfectly, at a court where not a human being could address him in his own tongue, had never been employed in diplomacy or in high office of any kind, and could carry but small personal weight at a post where of all others the representative of the great republic should have commanded deference both for his own qualities and for the majesty of his government. at a period when france was left without a master or a guide the dutch ambassador, under a becoming show of profound respect, might really have governed the country so far as regarded at least the all important relations which bound the two nations together. but langerac was a mere picker-up of trifles, a newsmonger who wrote a despatch to-day with information which a despatch was written on the morrow to contradict, while in itself conveying additional intelligence absolutely certain to be falsified soon afterwards. the emperor of germany had gone mad; prince maurice had been assassinated in the hague, a fact which his correspondents, the states-general, might be supposed already to know, if it were one; there had been a revolution in the royal bed-chamber; the spanish cook of the young queen had arrived from madrid; the duke of nevers was behaving very oddly at vienna; such communications, and others equally startling, were the staple of his correspondence. still he was honest enough, very mild, perfectly docile to barneveld, dependent upon his guidance, and fervently attached to that statesman so long as his wheel was going up the hill. moreover, his industry in obtaining information and his passion for imparting it made it probable that nothing very momentous would be neglected should it be laid before him, but that his masters, and especially the advocate, would be enabled to judge for themselves as to the attention due to it. "with this you will be apprised of some very high and weighty matters," he wrote privately and in cipher to barneveld, "which you will make use of according to your great wisdom and forethought for the country's service." he requested that the matter might also be confided to m. van der myle, that he might assist his father-in-law, so overburdened with business, in the task of deciphering the communication. he then stated that he had been "very earnestly informed three days before by m. du agean"--member of the privy council of france--"that it had recently come to the king's ears, and his majesty knew it to be authentic, that there was a secret and very dangerous conspiracy in holland of persons belonging to the reformed religion in which others were also mixed. this party held very earnest and very secret correspondence with the factious portion of the contra-remonstrants both in the netherlands and france, seeking under pretext of the religious dissensions or by means of them to confer the sovereignty upon prince maurice by general consent of the contra-remonstrants. their object was also to strengthen and augment the force of the same religious party in france, to which end the duc de bouillon and m. de chatillon were very earnestly co-operating. langerac had already been informed by chatillon that the contra-remonstrants had determined to make a public declaration against the remonstrants, and come to an open separation from them. "others propose however," said the ambassador, "that the king himself should use the occasion to seize the sovereignty of the united provinces for himself and to appoint prince maurice viceroy, giving him in marriage madame henriette of france." the object of this movement would be to frustrate the plots of the contra-remonstrants, who were known to be passionately hostile to the king and to france, and who had been constantly traversing the negotiations of m. du maurier. there was a disposition to send a special and solemn embassy to the states, but it was feared that the british king would at once do the same, to the immense disadvantage of the remonstrants. "m. de barneveld," said the envoy, "is deeply sympathized with here and commiserated. the chancellor has repeatedly requested me to present to you his very sincere and very hearty respects, exhorting you to continue in your manly steadfastness and courage." he also assured the advocate that the french ambassador, m. du maurier, enjoyed the entire confidence of his government, and of the principal members of the council, and that the king, although contemplating, as we have seen, the seizure of the sovereignty of the country, was most amicably disposed towards it, and so soon as the peace of savoy was settled "had something very good for it in his mind." whether the something very good was this very design to deprive it of independence, the ambassador did not state. he however recommended the use of sundry small presents at the french court--especially to madame de luynes, wife of the new favourite of lewis since the death of concini, in which he had aided, now rising rapidly to consideration, and to madame du agean--and asked to be supplied with funds accordingly. by these means he thought it probable that at least the payment to the states of the long arrears of the french subsidy might be secured. three weeks later, returning to the subject, the ambassador reported another conversation with m. du agean. that politician assured him, "with high protestations," as a perfectly certain fact that a frenchman duly qualified had arrived in paris from holland who had been in communication not only with him but with several of the most confidential members of the privy council of france. this duly qualified gentleman had been secretly commissioned to say that in opinion of the conspirators already indicated the occasion was exactly offered by these religious dissensions in the netherlands for bringing the whole country under the obedience of the king. this would be done with perfect ease if he would only be willing to favour a little the one party, that of the contra-remonstrants, and promise his excellency "perfect and perpetual authority in the government with other compensations." the proposition, said du agean, had been rejected by the privy councillors with a declaration that they would not mix themselves up with any factions, nor assist any party, but that they would gladly work with the government for the accommodation of these difficulties and differences in the provinces. "i send you all this nakedly," concluded langerac, "exactly as it has been communicated to me, having always answered according to my duty and with a view by negotiating with these persons to discover the intentions as well of one side as the other." the advocate was not profoundly impressed by these revelations. he was too experienced a statesman to doubt that in times when civil and religious passion was running high there was never lack of fishers in troubled waters, and that if a body of conspirators could secure a handsome compensation by selling their country to a foreign prince, they would always be ready to do it. but although believed by maurice to be himself a stipendiary of spain, he was above suspecting the prince of any share in the low and stupid intrigue which du agean had imagined or disclosed. that the stadholder was ambitious of greater power, he hardly doubted, but that he was seeking to acquire it by such corrupt and circuitous means, he did not dream. he confidentially communicated the plot as in duty bound to some members of the states, and had the prince been accused in any conversation or statement of being privy to the scheme, he would have thought himself bound to mention it to him. the story came to the ears of maurice however, and helped to feed his wrath against the advocate, as if he were responsible for a plot, if plot it were, which had been concocted by his own deadliest enemies. the prince wrote a letter alluding to this communication of langerac and giving much alarm to that functionary. he thought his despatches must have been intercepted and proposed in future to write always by special courier. barneveld thought that unnecessary except when there were more important matters than those appeared to him to be and requiring more haste. "the letter of his excellency," said he to the ambassador, "is caused in my opinion by the fact that some of the deputies to this assembly to whom i secretly imparted your letter or its substance did not rightly comprehend or report it. you did not say that his excellency had any such design or project, but that it had been said that the contra-remonstrants were entertaining such a scheme. i would have shown the letter to him myself, but i thought it not fair, for good reasons, to make m. du agean known as the informant. i do not think it amiss for you to write yourself to his excellency and tell him what is said, but whether it would be proper to give up the name of your author, i think doubtful. at all events one must consult about it. we live in a strange world, and one knows not whom to trust." he instructed the ambassador to enquire into the foundation of these statements of du agean and send advices by every occasion of this affair and others of equal interest. he was however much more occupied with securing the goodwill of the french government, which he no more suspected of tampering in these schemes against the independence of the republic than he did maurice himself. he relied and he had reason to rely on their steady good offices in the cause of moderation and reconciliation. "we are not yet brought to the necessary and much desired unity," he said, "but we do not despair, hoping that his majesty's efforts through m. du maurier, both privately and publicly, will do much good. be assured that they are very agreeable to all rightly disposed people . . . . my trust is that god the lord will give us a happy issue and save this country from perdition." he approved of the presents to the two ladies as suggested by langerac if by so doing the payment of the arrearages could be furthered. he was still hopeful and confident in the justice of his cause and the purity of his conscience. "aerssens is crowing like a cock," he said, "but the truth will surely prevail." chapter xvii. a deputation from utrecht to maurice--the fair at utrecht--maurice and the states' deputies at utrecht--ogle refuses to act in opposition to the states--the stadholder disbands the waartgelders-- the prince appoints forty magistrates--the states formally disband the waartgelders. the eventful midsummer had arrived. the lime-tree blossoms were fragrant in the leafy bowers overshadowing the beautiful little rural capital of the commonwealth. the anniversary of the nieuwpoort victory, july , had come and gone, and the stadholder was known to be resolved that his political campaign this year should be as victorious as that memorable military one of eighteen years before. before the dog-days should begin to rage, the fierce heats of theological and political passion were to wax daily more and more intense. the party at utrecht in favour of a compromise and in awe of the stadholder sent a deputation to the hague with the express but secret purpose of conferring with maurice. they were eight in number, three of whom, including gillis van ledenberg, lodged at the house of daniel tressel, first clerk of the states-general. the leaders of the barneveld party, aware of the purport of this mission and determined to frustrate it, contrived a meeting between the utrecht commissioners and grotius, hoogerbeets, de haan, and de lange at tressel's house. grotius was spokesman. maurice had accused the states of holland of mutiny and rebellion, and the distinguished pensionary of rotterdam now retorted the charges of mutiny, disobedience, and mischief-making upon those who, under the mask of religion, were attempting to violate the sovereignty of the states, the privileges and laws of the province, the authority of the magistrates, and to subject them to the power of others. to prevent such a catastrophe many cities had enlisted waartgelders. by this means they had held such mutineers to their duty, as had been seen at leyden, haarlem, and other places. the states of utrecht had secured themselves in the same way. but the mischiefmakers and the ill-disposed had been seeking everywhere to counteract these wholesome measures and to bring about a general disbanding of these troops. this it was necessary to resist with spirit. it was the very foundation of the provinces' sovereignty, to maintain which the public means must be employed. it was in vain to drive the foe out of the country if one could not remain in safety within one's own doors. they had heard with sorrow that utrecht was thinking of cashiering its troops, and the speaker proceeded therefore to urge with all the eloquence he was master of the necessity of pausing before taking so fatal a step. the deputies of utrecht answered by pleading the great pecuniary burthen which the maintenance of the mercenaries imposed upon that province, and complained that there was no one to come to their assistance, exposed as they were to a sudden and overwhelming attack from many quarters. the states-general had not only written but sent commissioners to utrecht insisting on the disbandment. they could plainly see the displeasure of the prince. it was a very different affair in holland, but the states of utrecht found it necessary of two evils to choose the least. they had therefore instructed their commissioners to request the prince to remove the foreign garrison from their capital and to send the old companies of native militia in their place, to be in the pay of the episcopate. in this case the states would agree to disband the new levies. grotius in reply again warned the commissioners against communicating with maurice according to their instructions, intimated that the native militia on which they were proposing to rely might have been debauched, and he held out hopes that perhaps the states of utrecht might derive some relief from certain financial measures now contemplated in holland. the utrechters resolved to wait at least several days before opening the subject of their mission to the prince. meantime ledenberg made a rough draft of a report of what had occurred between them and grotius and his colleagues which it was resolved to lay secretly before the states of utrecht. the hollanders hoped that they had at last persuaded the commissioners to maintain the waartgelders. the states of holland now passed a solemn resolution to the effect that these new levies had been made to secure municipal order and maintain the laws from subversion by civil tumults. if this object could be obtained by other means, if the stadholder were willing to remove garrisons of foreign mercenaries on whom there could be no reliance, and supply their place with native troops both in holland and utrecht, an arrangement could be made for disbanding the waartgelders. barneveld, at the head of thirty deputies from the nobles and cities, waited upon maurice and verbally communicated to him this resolution. he made a cold and unsatisfactory reply, although it seems to have been understood that by according twenty companies of native troops he might have contented both holland and utrecht. ledenberg and his colleagues took their departure from the hague without communicating their message to maurice. soon afterwards the states-general appointed a commission to utrecht with the stadholder at the head of it. the states of holland appointed another with grotius as its chairman. on the th july grotius and pensionary hoogerbeets with two colleagues arrived in utrecht. gillis van ledenberg was there to receive them. a tall, handsome, bald-headed, well-featured, mild, gentlemanlike man was this secretary of the utrecht assembly, and certainly not aware, while passing to and fro on such half diplomatic missions between two sovereign assemblies, that he was committing high-treason. he might well imagine however, should maurice discover that it was he who had prevented the commissioners from conferring with him as instructed, that it would go hard with him. ledenberg forthwith introduced grotius and his committee to the assembly at utrecht. while these great personages were thus holding solemn and secret council, another and still greater personage came upon the scene. the stadholder with the deputation from the states-general arrived at utrecht. evidently the threads of this political drama were converging to a catastrophe, and it might prove a tragical one. meantime all looked merry enough in the old episcopal city. there were few towns in lower or in upper germany more elegant and imposing than utrecht. situate on the slender and feeble channel of the ancient rhine as it falters languidly to the sea, surrounded by trim gardens and orchards, and embowered in groves of beeches and limetrees, with busy canals fringed with poplars, lined with solid quays, and crossed by innumerable bridges; with the stately brick tower of st. martin's rising to a daring height above one of the most magnificent gothic cathedrals in the netherlands; this seat of the anglo-saxon willebrord, who eight hundred years before had preached christianity to the frisians, and had founded that long line of hard-fighting, indomitable bishops, obstinately contesting for centuries the possession of the swamps and pastures about them with counts, kings, and emperors, was still worthy of its history and its position. it was here too that sixty-one years before the famous articles of union were signed. by that fundamental treaty of the confederacy, the provinces agreed to remain eternally united as if they were but one province, to make no war nor peace save by unanimous consent, while on lesser matters a majority should rule; to admit both catholics and protestants to the union provided they obeyed its articles and conducted themselves as good patriots, and expressly declared that no province or city should interfere with another in the matter of divine worship. from this memorable compact, so enduring a landmark in the history of human freedom, and distinguished by such breadth of view for the times both in religion and politics, the city had gained the title of cradle of liberty: 'cunabula libertatis'. was it still to deserve the name? at that particular moment the mass of the population was comparatively indifferent to the terrible questions pending. it was the kermis or annual fair, and all the world was keeping holiday in utrecht. the pedlars and itinerant merchants from all the cities and provinces had brought their wares jewellery and crockery, ribbons and laces, ploughs and harrows, carriages and horses, cows and sheep, cheeses and butter firkins, doublets and petticoats, guns and pistols, everything that could serve the city and country-side for months to come--and displayed them in temporary booths or on the ground, in every street and along every canal. the town was one vast bazaar. the peasant-women from the country, with their gold and silver tiaras and the year's rent of a comfortable farm in their earrings and necklaces, and the sturdy frisian peasants, many of whom had borne their matchlocks in the great wars which had lasted through their own and their fathers' lifetime, trudged through the city, enjoying the blessings of peace. bands of music and merry-go-rounds in all the open places and squares; open-air bakeries of pancakes and waffles; theatrical exhibitions, raree-shows, jugglers, and mountebanks at every corner--all these phenomena which had been at every kermis for centuries, and were to repeat themselves for centuries afterwards, now enlivened the atmosphere of the grey, episcopal city. pasted against the walls of public edifices were the most recent placards and counter-placards of the states-general and the states of utrecht on the great subject of religious schisms and popular tumults. in the shop-windows and on the bookstalls of contra-remonstrant tradesmen, now becoming more and more defiant as the last allies of holland, the states of utrecht, were gradually losing courage, were seen the freshest ballads and caricatures against the advocate. here an engraving represented him seated at table with grotius, hoogerbeets, and others, discussing the national synod, while a flap of the picture being lifted put the head of the duke of alva on the legs of barneveld, his companions being transformed in similar manner into spanish priests and cardinals assembled at the terrible council of blood-with rows of protestant martyrs burning and hanging in the distance. another print showed prince maurice and the states-general shaking the leading statesmen of the commonwealth in a mighty sieve through which came tumbling head foremost to perdition the hated advocate and his abettors. another showed the arminians as a row of crest-fallen cocks rained upon by the wrath of the stadholder--arminians by a detestable pun being converted into "arme haenen" or "poor cocks." one represented the pope and king of spain blowing thousands of ducats out of a golden bellows into the lap of the advocate, who was holding up his official robes to receive them, or whole carriage-loads of arminians starting off bag and baggage on the road to rome, with lucifer in the perspective waiting to give them a warm welcome in his own dominions; and so on, and so on. moving through the throng, with iron calque on their heads and halberd in hand, were groups of waartgelders scowling fiercely at many popular demonstrations such as they had been enlisted to suppress, but while off duty concealing outward symptoms of wrath which in many instances perhaps would have been far from genuine. for although these mercenaries knew that the states of holland, who were responsible for the pay of the regular troops then in utrecht, authorized them to obey no orders save from the local authorities, yet it was becoming a grave question for the waartgelders whether their own wages were perfectly safe, a circumstance which made them susceptible to the atmosphere of contra-remonstrantism which was steadily enwrapping the whole country. a still graver question was whether such resistance as they could offer to the renowned stadholder, whose name was magic to every soldier's heart not only in his own land but throughout christendom, would not be like parrying a lance's thrust with a bulrush. in truth the senior captain of the waartgelders, harteveld by name, had privately informed the leaders of the barneveld party in utrecht that he would not draw his sword against prince maurice and the states-general. "who asks you to do so?" said some of the deputies, while ledenberg on the other hand flatly accused him of cowardice. for this affront the captain had vowed revenge. and in the midst of this scene of jollity and confusion, that midsummer night, entered the stern stadholder with his fellow commissioners; the feeble plans for shutting the gates upon him not having been carried into effect. "you hardly expected such a guest at your fair," said he to the magistrates, with a grim smile on his face as who should say, "and what do you think of me now i have came?" meantime the secret conference of grotius and colleagues with the states of utrecht proceeded. as a provisional measure, sir john ogle, commander of the forces paid by holland, had been warned as to where his obedience was due. it had likewise been intimated that the guard should be doubled at the amersfoort gate, and a watch set on the river lek above and below the city in order to prevent fresh troops of the states-general from being introduced by surprise. these precautions had been suggested a year before, as we have seen, in a private autograph letter from barneveld to secretary ledenberg. sir john ogle had flatly refused to act in opposition to the stadholder and the states-general, whom he recognized as his lawful superiors and masters, and he warned ledenberg and his companions as to the perilous nature of the course which they were pursuing. great was the indignation of the utrechters and the holland commissioners in consequence. grotius in his speech enlarged on the possibility of violence being used by the stadholder, while some of the members of the assembly likewise thought it likely that he would smite the gates open by force. grotius, when reproved afterwards for such strong language towards prince maurice, said that true hollanders were no courtiers, but were wont to call everything by its right name. he stated in strong language the regret felt by holland that a majority of the states of utrecht had determined to disband the waartgelders which had been constitutionally enlisted according to the right of each province under the st article of the union of utrecht to protect itself and its laws. next day there were conferences between maurice and the states of utrecht and between him and the holland deputies. the stadholder calmly demanded the disbandment and the synod. the hollanders spoke of securing first the persons and rights of the magistracy. "the magistrates are to be protected," said maurice, "but we must first know how they are going to govern. people have tried to introduce five false points into the divine worship. people have tried to turn me out of the stadholdership and to drive me from the country. but i have taken my measures. i know well what i am about. i have got five provinces on my side, and six cities of holland will send deputies to utrecht to sustain me here." the hollanders protested that there was no design whatever, so far as they knew, against his princely dignity or person. all were ready to recognize his rank and services by every means in their power. but it was desirable by conciliation and compromise, not by stern decree, to arrange these religious and political differences. the stadholder replied by again insisting on the synod. "as for the waartgelders," he continued, "they are worse than spanish fortresses. they must away." after a little further conversation in this vein the prince grew more excited. "everything is the fault of the advocate," he cried. "if barneveld were dead," replied grotius, "all the rest of us would still deem ourselves bound to maintain the laws. people seem to despise holland and to wish to subject it to the other provinces." "on the contrary," cried the prince, "it is the advocate who wishes to make holland the states-general." maurice was tired of argument. there had been much ale-house talk some three months before by a certain blusterous gentleman called van ostrum about the necessity of keeping the stadholder in check. "if the prince should undertake," said this pot-valiant hero, "to attack any of the cities of utrecht or holland with the hard hand, it is settled to station or , soldiers in convenient places. then we shall say to the prince, if you don't leave us alone, we shall make an arrangement with the archduke of austria and resume obedience to him. we can make such a treaty with him as will give us religious freedom and save us from tyranny of any kind. i don't say this for myself, but have heard it on good authority from very eminent persons." this talk had floated through the air to the stadholder. what evidence could be more conclusive of a deep design on the part of barneveld to sell the republic to the archduke and drive maurice into exile? had not esquire van ostrum solemnly declared it at a tavern table? and although he had mentioned no names, could the "eminent personages" thus cited at second hand be anybody but the advocate? three nights after his last conference with the hollanders, maurice quietly ordered a force of regular troops in utrecht to be under arms at half past three o'clock next morning. about infantry, including companies of ernest of nassau's command at arnhem and of brederode's from vianen, besides a portion of the regular garrison of the place, had accordingly been assembled without beat of drum, before half past three in the morning, and were now drawn up on the market-place or neu. at break of day the prince himself appeared on horseback surrounded by his staff on the neu or neude, a large, long, irregular square into which the seven or eight principal streets and thoroughfares of the town emptied themselves. it was adorned by public buildings and other handsome edifices, and the tall steeple of st. martin's with its beautiful open-work spire, lighted with the first rays of the midsummer sun, looked tranquilly down upon the scene. each of the entrances to the square had been securely guarded by maurice's orders, and cannon planted to command all the streets. a single company of the famous waartgelders was stationed in the neu or near it. the prince rode calmly towards them and ordered them to lay down their arms. they obeyed without a murmur. he then sent through the city to summon all the other companies of waartgelders to the neu. this was done with perfect promptness, and in a short space of time the whole body of mercenaries, nearly in number, had laid down their arms at the feet of the prince. the snaphances and halberds being then neatly stacked in the square, the stadholder went home to his early breakfast. there was an end to those mercenaries thenceforth and for ever. the faint and sickly resistance to the authority of maurice offered at utrecht was attempted nowhere else. for days there had been vague but fearful expectations of a "blood bath," of street battles, rioting, and plunder. yet the stadholder with the consummate art which characterized all his military manoeuvres had so admirably carried out his measure that not a shot was fired, not a blow given, not a single burgher disturbed in his peaceful slumbers. when the population had taken off their nightcaps, they woke to find the awful bugbear removed which had so long been appalling them. the waartgelders were numbered with the terrors of the past, and not a cat had mewed at their disappearance. charter-books, parchments, th articles, barneveld's teeth, arminian forts, flowery orations of grotius, tavern talk of van ostrum, city immunities, states' rights, provincial laws, waartgelders and all--the martial stadholder, with the orange plume in his hat and the sword of nieuwpoort on his thigh, strode through them as easily as through the whirligigs and mountebanks, the wades and fritters, encumbering the streets of utrecht on the night of his arrival. secretary ledenberg and other leading members of the states had escaped the night before. grotius and his colleagues also took a precipitate departure. as they drove out of town in the twilight, they met the deputies of the six opposition cities of holland just arriving in their coach from the hague. had they tarried an hour longer, they would have found themselves safely in prison. four days afterwards the stadholder at the head of his body-guard appeared at the town-house. his halberdmen tramped up the broad staircase, heralding his arrival to the assembled magistracy. he announced his intention of changing the whole board then and there. the process was summary. the forty members were required to supply forty other names, and the prince added twenty more. from the hundred candidates thus furnished the prince appointed forty magistrates such as suited himself. it is needless to say that but few of the old bench remained, and that those few were devoted to the synod, the states-general, and the stadholder. he furthermore announced that these new magistrates were to hold office for life, whereas the board had previously been changed every year. the cathedral church was at once assigned for the use of the contra-remonstrants. this process was soon to be repeated throughout the two insubordinate provinces utrecht and holland. the prince was accused of aiming at the sovereignty of the whole country, and one of his grief's against the advocate was that he had begged the princess-widow, louise de coligny, to warn her son-in-law of the dangers of such ambition. but so long as an individual, sword in hand, could exercise such unlimited sway over the whole municipal, and provincial organization of the commonwealth, it mattered but little whether he was called king or kaiser, doge or stadholder. sovereign he was for the time being at least, while courteously acknowledging the states-general as his sovereign. less than three weeks afterwards the states-general issued a decree formally disbanding the waartgelders; an almost superfluous edict, as they had almost ceased to exist, and there were none to resist the measure. grotius recommended complete acquiescence. barneveld's soul could no longer animate with courage a whole people. the invitations which had already in the month of june been prepared for the synod to meet in the city of dortor dordtrecht-were now issued. the states of holland sent back the notification unopened, deeming it an unwarrantable invasion of their rights that an assembly resisted by a large majority of their body should be convoked in a city on their own territory. but this was before the disbandment of the waartgelders and the general change of magistracies had been effected. earnest consultations were now held as to the possibility of devising some means of compromise; of providing that the decisions of the synod should not be considered binding until after having been ratified by the separate states. in the opinion of barneveld they were within a few hours' work of a favourable result when their deliberations were interrupted by a startling event. chapter xviii. fruitless interview between barneveld and maurice--the advocate, warned of his danger, resolves to remain at the hague--arrest of barneveld, of qrotius, and of hoogerbeets--the states-general assume the responsibility in a "billet"--the states of holland protest-- the advocate's letter to his family--audience of boississe-- mischief-making of aerssens--the french ambassadors intercede for barneveld--the king of england opposes their efforts--langerac's treachery to the advocate--maurice continues his changes in the magistracy throughout the country--vote of thanks by the states of holland. the advocate, having done what he believed to be his duty, and exhausted himself in efforts to defend ancient law and to procure moderation and mutual toleration in religion, was disposed to acquiesce in the inevitable. his letters giving official and private information of those grave events were neither vindictive nor vehement. "i send you the last declaration of my lords of holland," he said to caron, "in regard to the national synod, with the counter-declaration of dordtrecht and the other five cities. yesterday was begun the debate about cashiering the enrolled soldiers called waartgelders. to-day the late m. van kereburg was buried." nothing could be calmer than his tone. after the waartgelders had been disbanded, utrecht revolutionized by main force, the national synod decided upon, and the process of changing the municipal magistracies everywhere in the interest of contra-remonstrants begun, he continued to urge moderation and respect for law. even now, although discouraged, he was not despondent, and was disposed to make the best even of the synod. he wished at this supreme moment to have a personal interview with the prince in order to devise some means for calming the universal agitation and effecting, if possible, a reconciliation among conflicting passions and warring sects. he had stood at the side of maurice and of maurice's great father in darker hours even than these. they had turned to him on all trying and tragical occasions and had never found his courage wavering or his judgment at fault. "not a friend to the house of nassau, but a father," thus had maurice with his own lips described the advocate to the widow of william the silent. incapable of an unpatriotic thought, animated by sincere desire to avert evil and procure moderate action, barneveld saw no reason whatever why, despite all that had been said and done, he should not once more hold council with the prince. he had a conversation accordingly with count lewis, who had always honoured the advocate while differing with him on the religious question. the stadholder of friesland, one of the foremost men of his day in military and scientific affairs, in administrative ability and philanthropic instincts, and, in a family perhaps the most renowned in europe for heroic qualities and achievements, hardly second to any who had borne the name, was in favour of the proposed interview, spoke immediately to prince maurice about it, but was not hopeful as to its results. he knew his cousin well and felt that he was at that moment resentful, perhaps implacably so, against the whole remonstrant party and especially against their great leader. count lewis was small of stature, but dignified, not to say pompous, in demeanour. his style of writing to one of lower social rank than himself was lofty, almost regal, and full of old world formality. "noble, severe, right worshipful, highly learned and discreet, special good friend," he wrote to barneveld; "we have spoken to his excellency concerning the expediency of what you requested of us this forenoon. we find however that his excellency is not to be moved to entertain any other measure than the national synod which he has himself proposed in person to all the provinces, to the furtherance of which he has made so many exertions, and which has already been announced by the states-general. "we will see by what opportunity his excellency will appoint the interview, and so far as lies in us you may rely on our good offices. we could not answer sooner as the french ambassadors had audience of us this forenoon and we were visiting his excellency in the afternoon. wishing your worship good evening, we are your very good friend." next day count william wrote again. "we have taken occasion," he said, "to inform his excellency that you were inclined to enter into communication with him in regard to an accommodation of the religious difficulties and to the cashiering of the waartgelders. he answered that he could accept no change in the matter of the national synod, but nevertheless would be at your disposal whenever your worship should be pleased to come to him." two days afterwards barneveld made his appearance at the apartments of the stadholder. the two great men on whom the fabric of the republic had so long rested stood face to face once more. the advocate, with long grey beard and stern blue eye, haggard with illness and anxiety, tall but bent with age, leaning on his staff and wrapped in black velvet cloak--an imposing magisterial figure; the florid, plethoric prince in brown doublet, big russet boots, narrow ruff, and shabby felt hat with its string of diamonds, with hand clutched on swordhilt, and eyes full of angry menace, the very type of the high-born, imperious soldier--thus they surveyed each other as men, once friends, between whom a gulf had opened. barneveld sought to convince the prince that in the proceedings at utrecht, founded as they were on strict adherence to the laws and traditions of the provinces, no disrespect had been intended to him, no invasion of his constitutional rights, and that on his part his lifelong devotion to the house of nassau had suffered no change. he repeated his usual incontrovertible arguments against the synod, as illegal and directly tending to subject the magistracy to the priesthood, a course of things which eight-and-twenty years before had nearly brought destruction on the country and led both the prince and himself to captivity in a foreign land. the prince sternly replied in very few words that the national synod was a settled matter, that he would never draw back from his position, and could not do so without singular disservice to the country and to his own disreputation. he expressed his displeasure at the particular oath exacted from the waartgelders. it diminished his lawful authority and the respect due to him, and might be used per indirectum to the oppression of those of the religion which he had sworn to maintain. his brow grew black when he spoke of the proceedings at utrecht, which he denounced as a conspiracy against his own person and the constitution of the country. barneveld used in vain the powers of argument by which he had guided kings and republics, cabinets and assemblies, during so many years. his eloquence fell powerless upon the iron taciturnity of the stadholder. maurice had expressed his determination and had no other argument to sustain it but his usual exasperating silence. the interview ended as hopelessly as count lewis william had anticipated, and the prince and the advocate separated to meet no more on earth. "you have doubtless heard already," wrote barneveld to the ambassador in london, "of all that has been passing here and in utrecht. one must pray to god that everything may prosper to his honour and the welfare of the country. they are resolved to go through with the national synod, the government of utrecht after the change made in it having consented with the rest. i hope that his majesty, according to your statement, will send some good, learned, and peace-loving personages here, giving them wholesome instructions to help bring our affairs into christian unity, accommodation, and love, by which his majesty and these provinces would be best served." were these the words of a baffled conspirator and traitor? were they uttered to produce an effect upon public opinion and avert a merited condemnation by all good men? there is not in them a syllable of reproach, of anger, of despair. and let it be remembered that they were not written for the public at all. they were never known to the public, hardly heard of either by the advocate's enemies or friends, save the one to whom they were addressed and the monarch to whom that friend was accredited. they were not contained in official despatches, but in private, confidential outpourings to a trusted political and personal associate of many years. from the day they were written until this hour they have never been printed, and for centuries perhaps not read. he proceeded to explain what he considered to be the law in the netherlands with regard to military allegiance. it is not probable that there was in the country a more competent expounder of it; and defective and even absurd as such a system was, it had carried the provinces successfully through a great war, and a better method for changing it might have been found among so law-loving and conservative a people as the netherlanders than brute force. "information has apparently been sent to england," he said, "that my lords of holland through their commissioners in utrecht dictated to the soldiery standing at their charges something that was unreasonable. the truth is that the states of holland, as many of them as were assembled, understanding that great haste was made to send his excellency and some deputies from the other provinces to utrecht, while the members of the utrecht assembly were gone to report these difficulties to their constituents and get fresh instructions from them, wishing that the return of those members should be waited for and that the assembly of holland might also be complete--a request which was refused--sent a committee to utrecht, as the matter brooked no delay, to give information to the states of that province of what was passing here and to offer their good offices. "they sent letters also to his excellency to move him to reasonable accommodation without taking extreme measures in opposition to those resolutions of the states of utrecht which his excellency had promised to conform with and to cause to be maintained by all officers and soldiers. should his excellency make difficulty in this, the commissioners were instructed to declare to him that they were ordered to warn the colonels and captains standing in the payment of holland, by letter and word of mouth, that they were bound by oath to obey the states of holland as their paymasters and likewise to carry out the orders of the provincial and municipal magistrates in the places where they were employed. the soldiery was not to act or permit anything to be done against those resolutions, but help to carry them out, his excellency himself and the troops paid by the states of holland being indisputably bound by oath and duty so to do." doubtless a more convenient arrangement from a military point of view might be imagined than a system of quotas by which each province in a confederacy claimed allegiance and exacted obedience from the troops paid by itself in what was after all a general army. still this was the logical and inevitable result of state rights pushed to the extreme and indeed had been the indisputable theory and practice in the netherlands ever since their revolt from spain. to pretend that the proceedings and the oath were new because they were embarrassing was absurd. it was only because the dominant party saw the extreme inconvenience of the system, now that it was turned against itself, that individuals contemptuous of law and ignorant of history denounced it as a novelty. but the strong and beneficent principle that lay at the bottom of the advocate's conduct was his unflagging resolve to maintain the civil authority over the military in time of peace. what liberal or healthy government would be possible otherwise? exactly as he opposed the subjection of the magistracy by the priesthood or the mob, so he now defended it against the power of the sword. there was no justification whatever for a claim on the part of maurice to exact obedience from all the armies of the republic, especially in time of peace. he was himself by oath sworn to obey the states of holland, of utrecht, and of the three other provinces of which he was governor. he was not commander-in-chief. in two of the seven provinces he had no functions whatever, military or civil. they had another governor. yet the exposition of the law, as it stood, by the advocate and his claim that both troops and stadholder should be held to their oaths was accounted a crime. he had invented a new oath--it was said--and sought to diminish the power of the prince. these were charges, unjust as they were, which might one day be used with deadly effect. "we live in a world where everything is interpreted to the worst," he said. "my physical weakness continues and is increased by this affliction. i place my trust in god the lord and in my upright and conscientious determination to serve the country, his excellency, and the religion in which through god's grace i hope to continue to the end." on the th august of a warm afternoon, barneveld was seated on a porcelain seat in an arbor in his garden. councillor berkhout, accompanied by a friend, called to see him, and after a brief conversation gave him solemn warning that danger was impending, that there was even a rumour of an intention to arrest him. the advocate answered gravely, "yes, there are wicked men about." presently he lifted his hat courteously and said, "i thank you, gentlemen, for the warning." it seems scarcely to have occurred to him that he had been engaged in anything beyond a constitutional party struggle in which he had defended what in his view was the side of law and order. he never dreamt of seeking safety in flight. some weeks before, he had been warmly advised to do as both he and maurice had done in former times in order to escape the stratagems of leicester, to take refuge in some strong city devoted to his interests rather than remain at the hague. but he had declined the counsel. "i will await the issue of this business," he said, "in the hague, where my home is, and where i have faithfully served my masters. i had rather for the sake of the fatherland suffer what god chooses to send me for having served well than that through me and on my account any city should fall into trouble and difficulties." next morning, wednesday, at seven o'clock, uytenbogaert paid him a visit. he wished to consult him concerning a certain statement in regard to the synod which he desired him to lay before the states of holland. the preacher did not find his friend busily occupied at his desk, as usual, with writing and other work. the advocate had pushed his chair away from the table encumbered with books and papers, and sat with his back leaning against it, lost in thought. his stern, stoical face was like that of a lion at bay. uytenbogaert tried to arouse him from his gloom, consoling him by reflections on the innumerable instances, in all countries and ages, of patriotic statesmen who for faithful service had reaped nothing but ingratitude. soon afterwards he took his leave, feeling a presentiment of evil within him which it was impossible for him to shake off as he pressed barneveld's hand at parting. two hours later, the advocate went in his coach to the session of the states of holland. the place of the assembly as well as that of the states-general was within what was called the binnenhof or inner court; the large quadrangle enclosing the ancient hall once the residence of the sovereign counts of holland. the apartments of the stadholder composed the south-western portion of the large series of buildings surrounding this court. passing by these lodgings on his way to the assembly, he was accosted by a chamberlain of the prince and informed that his highness desired to speak with him. he followed him towards the room where such interviews were usually held, but in the antechamber was met by lieutenant nythof, of the prince's bodyguard. this officer told him that he had been ordered to arrest him in the name of the states-general. the advocate demanded an interview with the prince. it was absolutely refused. physical resistance on the part of a man of seventy-two, stooping with age and leaning on a staff, to military force, of which nythof was the representative, was impossible. barneveld put a cheerful face on the matter, and was even inclined to converse. he was at once carried off a prisoner and locked up in a room belonging to maurice's apartments. soon afterwards, grotius on his way to the states-general was invited in precisely the same manner to go to the prince, with whom, as he was informed, the advocate was at that moment conferring. as soon as he had ascended the stairs however, he was arrested by captain van der meulen in the name of the states-general, and taken to a chamber in the same apartments, where he was guarded by two halberdmen. in the evening he was removed to another chamber where the window shutters were barred, and where he remained three days and nights. he was much cast down and silent. pensionary hoogerbeets was made prisoner in precisely the same manner. thus the three statesmen--culprits as they were considered by their enemies--were secured without noise or disturbance, each without knowing the fate that had befallen the other. nothing could have been more neatly done. in the same quiet way orders were sent to secure secretary ledenberg, who had returned to utrecht, and who now after a short confinement in that city was brought to the hague and imprisoned in the hof. at the very moment of the advocate's arrest his son-in-law van der myle happened to be paying a visit to sir dudley carleton, who had arrived very late the night before from england. it was some hours before he or any other member of the family learned what had befallen. the ambassador reported to his sovereign that the deed was highly applauded by the well disposed as the only means left for the security of the state. "the arminians," he said, "condemn it as violent and insufferable in a free republic." impartial persons, he thought, considered it a superfluous proceeding now that the synod had been voted and the waartgelders disbanded. while he was writing his despatch, the stadholder came to call upon him, attended by his cousin count lewis william. the crowd of citizens following at a little distance, excited by the news with which the city was now ringing, mingled with maurice's gentlemen and bodyguards and surged up almost into the ambassador's doors. carleton informed his guests, in the course of conversation, as to the general opinion of indifferent judges of these events. maurice replied that he had disbanded the waartgelders, but it had now become necessary to deal with their colonel and the chief captains, meaning thereby barneveld and the two other prisoners. the news of this arrest was soon carried to the house of barneveld, and filled his aged wife, his son, and sons-in-law with grief and indignation. his eldest son william, commonly called the seignior van groeneveld, accompanied by his two brothers-in-law, veenhuyzen, president of the upper council, and van der myle, obtained an interview with the stadholder that same afternoon. they earnestly requested that the advocate, in consideration of his advanced age, might on giving proper bail be kept prisoner in his own house. the prince received them at first with courtesy. "it is the work of the states-general," he said, "no harm shall come to your father any more than to myself." veenhuyzen sought to excuse the opposition which the advocate had made to the cloister church. the word was scarcely out of his mouth when the prince fiercely interrupted him--"any man who says a word against the cloister church," he cried in a rage, "his feet shall not carry him from this place." the interview gave them on the whole but little satisfaction. very soon afterwards two gentlemen, asperen and schagen, belonging to the chamber of nobles, and great adherents of barneveld, who had procured their enrolment in that branch, forced their way into the stadholder's apartments and penetrated to the door of the room where the advocate was imprisoned. according to carleton they were filled with wine as well as rage, and made a great disturbance, loudly demanding their patron's liberation. maurice came out of his own cabinet on hearing the noise in the corridor, and ordered them to be disarmed and placed under arrest. in the evening however they were released. soon afterwards van der myle fled to paris, where he endeavoured to make influence with the government in favour of the advocate. his departure without leave, being, as he was, a member of the chamber of nobles and of the council of state, was accounted a great offence. uytenbogaert also made his escape, as did taurinus, author of the balance, van moersbergen of utrecht, and many others more or less implicated in these commotions. there was profound silence in the states of holland when the arrest of barneveld was announced. the majority sat like men distraught. at last matenesse said, "you have taken from us our head, our tongue, and our hand, henceforth we can only sit still and look on." the states-general now took the responsibility of the arrest, which eight individuals calling themselves the states-general had authorized by secret resolution the day before ( th august). on the th accordingly, the following "billet," as it was entitled, was read to the assembly and ordered to be printed and circulated among the community. it was without date or signature. "whereas in the course of the changes within the city of utrecht and in other places brought about by the high and mighty lords the states-general of the united netherlands, through his excellency and their lordships' committee to him adjoined, sundry things have been discovered of which previously there had been great suspicion, tending to the great prejudice of the provinces in general and of each province in particular, not without apparent danger to the state of the country, and that thereby not only the city of utrecht, but various other cities of the united provinces would have fallen into a blood bath; and whereas the chief ringleaders in these things are considered to be john van barneveld, advocate of holland, rombout hoogerbeets, and hugo grotius, whereof hereafter shall declaration and announcement be made, therefore their high mightinesses, in order to prevent these and similar inconveniences, to place the country in security, and to bring the good burghers of all the cities into friendly unity again, have resolved to arrest those three persons, in order that out of their imprisonment they may be held to answer duly for their actions and offences." the deputies of holland in the states-general protested on the same day against the arrest, declaring themselves extraordinarily amazed at such proceedings, without their knowledge, with usurpation of their jurisdiction, and that they should refer to their principals for instructions in the matter. they reported accordingly at once to the states of holland in session in the same building. soon afterwards however a committee of five from the states-general appeared before the assembly to justify the proceeding. on their departure there arose a great debate, the six cities of course taking part with maurice and the general government. it was finally resolved by the majority to send a committee to the stadholder to remonstrate with, and by the six opposition cities another committee to congratulate him, on his recent performances. his answer was to this effect: "what had happened was not by his order, but had been done by the states-general, who must be supposed not to have acted without good cause. touching the laws and jurisdiction of holland he would not himself dispute, but the states of holland would know how to settle that matter with the states-general." next day it was resolved in the holland assembly to let the affair remain as it was for the time being. rapid changes were soon to be expected in that body, hitherto so staunch for the cause of municipal laws and state rights. meantime barneveld sat closely guarded in the apartments of the stadholder, while the country and very soon all europe were ringing with the news of his downfall, imprisonment, and disgrace. the news was a thunder-bolt to the lovers of religious liberty, a ray of dazzling sunlight after a storm to the orthodox. the showers of pamphlets, villanous lampoons, and libels began afresh. the relatives of the fallen statesman could not appear in the streets without being exposed to insult, and without hearing scurrilous and obscene verses against their father and themselves, in which neither sex nor age was spared, howled in their ears by all the ballad-mongers and broadsheet vendors of the town. the unsigned publication of the states-general, with its dark allusions to horrible discoveries and promised revelations which were never made, but which reduced themselves at last to the gibberish of a pot-house bully, the ingenious libels, the powerfully concocted and poisonous calumnies, caricatures, and lampoons, had done their work. people stared at each other in the streets with open mouths as they heard how the advocate had for years and years been the hireling of spain, whose government had bribed him largely to bring about the truce and kill the west india company; how his pockets and his coffers were running over with spanish ducats; how his plot to sell the whole country to the ancient tyrant, drive the prince of orange into exile, and bring every city of the netherlands into a "blood-bath," had, just in time, been discovered. and the people believed it and hated the man they had so lately honoured, and were ready to tear him to pieces in the streets. men feared to defend him lest they too should be accused of being stipendiaries of spain. it was a piteous spectacle; not for the venerable statesman sitting alone there in his prison, but for the republic in its lunacy, for human nature in its meanness and shame. he whom count lewis, although opposed to his politics, had so lately called one of the two columns on which the whole fabric of the states reposed, prince maurice being the other, now lay prostrate in the dust and reviled of all men. "many who had been promoted by him to high places," said a contemporary, "and were wont to worship him as a god, in hope that he would lift them up still higher, now deserted him, and ridiculed him, and joined the rest of the world in heaping dirt upon him." on the third day of his imprisonment the advocate wrote this letter to his family:-- "my very dear wife, children, children-in-law, and grandchildren,--i know that you are sorrowful for the troubles which have come upon me, but i beg you to seek consolation from god the almighty and to comfort each other. i know before the lord god of having given no single lawful reason for the misfortunes which have come upon me, and i will with patience await from his divine hand and from my lawful superiors a happy issue, knowing well that you and my other well-wishers will with your prayers and good offices do all that you can to that end. "and so, very dear wife, children, children-in-law, and grandchildren, i commend you to god's holy keeping. "i have been thus far well and honourably treated and accommodated, for which i thank his princely excellency. "from my chamber of arrest, last of august, anno . "your dear husband, father, father-in-law, and grand father, "john of barneveld." on the margin was written: "from the first i have requested and have at last obtained materials for writing." a fortnight before the arrest, but while great troubles were known to be impending, the french ambassador extraordinary, de boississe, had audience before the assembly of the states-general. he entreated them to maintain the cause of unity and peace as the foundation of their state; "that state," he said, "which lifts its head so high that it equals or surpasses the mightiest republics that ever existed, and which could not have risen to such a height of honour and grandeur in so short a time, but through harmony and union of all the provinces, through the valour of his excellency, and through your own wise counsels, both sustained by our great king, whose aid is continued by his son."--"the king my master," he continued, "knows not the cause of your disturbances. you have not communicated them to him, but their most apparent cause is a difference of opinion, born in the schools, thence brought before the public, upon a point of theology. that point has long been deemed by many to be so hard and so high that the best advice to give about it is to follow what god's word teaches touching god's secrets; to wit, that one should use moderation and modesty therein and should not rashly press too far into that which he wishes to be covered with the veil of reverence and wonder. that is a wise ignorance to keep one's eyes from that which god chooses to conceal. he calls us not to eternal life through subtle and perplexing questions." and further exhorting them to conciliation and compromise, he enlarged on the effect of their internal dissensions on their exterior relations. "what joy, what rapture you are preparing for your neighbours by your quarrels! how they will scorn you! how they will laugh! what a hope do you give them of revenging themselves upon you without danger to themselves! let me implore you to baffle their malice, to turn their joy into mourning, to unite yourselves to confound them." he spoke much more in the same vein, expressing wise and moderate sentiments. he might as well have gone down to the neighbouring beach when a south-west gale was blowing and talked of moderation to the waves of the german ocean. the tempest of passion and prejudice had risen in its might and was sweeping all before it. yet the speech, like other speeches and intercessions made at this epoch by de boississe and by the regular french ambassador, du maurier, was statesmanlike and reasonable. it is superfluous to say that it was in unison with the opinions of barneveld, for barneveld had probably furnished the text of the oration. even as he had a few years before supplied the letters which king james had signed and subsequently had struggled so desperately to disavow, so now the advocate's imperious intellect had swayed the docile and amiable minds of the royal envoys into complete sympathy with his policy. he usually dictated their general instructions. but an end had come to such triumphs. dudley carleton had returned from his leave of absence in england, where he had found his sovereign hating the advocate as doctors hate who have been worsted in theological arguments and despots who have been baffled in their imperious designs. who shall measure the influence on the destiny of this statesman caused by the french-spanish marriages, the sermons of james through the mouth of carleton, and the mutual jealousy of france and england? but the advocate was in prison, and the earth seemed to have closed over him. hardly a ripple of indignation was perceptible on the calm surface of affairs, although in the states-general as in the states of holland his absence seemed to have reduced both bodies to paralysis. they were the more easily handled by the prudent, skilful, and determined maurice. the arrest of the four gentlemen had been communicated to the kings of france and great britain and the elector-palatine in an identical letter from the states-general. it is noticeable that on this occasion the central government spoke of giving orders to the prince of orange, over whom they would seem to have had no legitimate authority, while on the other hand he had expressed indignation on more than one occasion that the respective states of the five provinces where he was governor and to whom he had sworn obedience should presume to issue commands to him. in france, where the advocate was honoured and beloved, the intelligence excited profound sorrow. a few weeks previously the government of that country had, as we have seen, sent a special ambassador to the states, m. de boississe, to aid the resident envoy, du maurier, in his efforts to bring about a reconciliation of parties and a termination of the religious feud. their exertions were sincere and unceasing. they were as steadily countermined by francis aerssens, for the aim of that diplomatist was to bring about a state of bad feeling, even at cost of rupture, between the republic and france, because france was friendly to the man he most hated and whose ruin he had sworn. during the summer a bitter personal controversy had been going on, sufficiently vulgar in tone, between aerssens and another diplomatist, barneveld's son-in-law, cornelis van der myle. it related to the recall of aerssens from the french embassy of which enough has already been laid before the reader. van der myle by the production of the secret letters of the queen-dowager and her counsellors had proved beyond dispute that it was at the express wish of the french government that the ambassador had retired, and that indeed they had distinctly refused to receive him, should he return. foul words resulting in propositions for a hostile meeting on the frontier, which however came to nothing, were interchanged and aerssens in the course of his altercation with the son-inlaw had found ample opportunity for venting his spleen upon his former patron the now fallen statesman. four days after the arrest of barneveld he brought the whole matter before the states-general, and the intention with which he thus raked up the old quarrel with france after the death of henry, and his charges in regard to the spanish marriages, was as obvious as it was deliberate. the french ambassadors were furious. boississe had arrived not simply as friend of the advocate, but to assure the states of the strong desire entertained by the french government to cultivate warmest relations with them. it had been desired by the contra-remonstrant party that deputies from the protestant churches of france should participate in the synod, and the french king had been much assailed by the catholic powers for listening to those suggestions. the papal nuncius, the spanish ambassador, the envoy of the archduke, had made a great disturbance at court concerning the mission of boississe. they urged with earnestness that his majesty was acting against the sentiments of spain, rome, and the whole catholic church, and that he ought not to assist with his counsel those heretics who were quarrelling among themselves over points in their heretical religion and wishing to destroy each other. notwithstanding this outcry the weather was smooth enough until the proceedings of aerssens came to stir up a tempest at the french court. a special courier came from boississe, a meeting of the whole council, although it was sunday, was instantly called, and the reply of the states-general to the remonstrance of the ambassador in the aerssens affair was pronounced to be so great an affront to the king that, but for overpowering reasons, diplomatic intercourse would have at once been suspended. "now instead of friendship there is great anger here," said langerac. the king forbade under vigorous penalties the departure of any french theologians to take part in the synod, although the royal consent had nearly been given. the government complained that no justice was done in the netherlands to the french nation, that leading personages there openly expressed contempt for the french alliance, denouncing the country as "hispaniolized," and declaring that all the council were regularly pensioned by spain for the express purpose of keeping up the civil dissensions in the united provinces. aerssens had publicly and officially declared that a majority of the french council since the death of henry had declared the crown in its temporal as well as spiritual essence to be dependent on the pope, and that the spanish marriages had been made under express condition of the renunciation of the friendship and alliance of the states. such were among the first-fruits of the fall of barneveld and the triumph of aerssens, for it was he in reality who had won the victory, and he had gained it over both stadholder and advocate. who was to profit by the estrangement between the republic and its powerful ally at a moment too when that great kingdom was at last beginning to emerge from the darkness and nothingness of many years, with the faint glimmering dawn of a new great policy? barneveld, whose masterful statesmanship, following out the traditions of william the silent, had ever maintained through good and ill report cordial and beneficent relations between the two countries, had always comprehended, even as a great cardinal-minister was ere long to teach the world, that the permanent identification of france with spain and the roman league was unnatural and impossible. meantime barneveld sat in his solitary prison, knowing not what was passing on that great stage where he had so long been the chief actor, while small intriguers now attempted to control events. it was the intention of aerssens to return to the embassy in paris whence he had been driven, in his own opinion, so unjustly. to render himself indispensable, he had begun by making himself provisionally formidable to the king's government. later, there would be other deeds to do before the prize was within his grasp. thus the very moment when france was disposed to cultivate the most earnest friendship with the republic had been seized for fastening an insult upon her. the twelve years' truce with spain was running to its close, the relations between france and spain were unusually cold, and her friendship therefore more valuable than ever. on the other hand the british king was drawing closer his relations with spain, and his alliance was demonstrably of small account. the phantom of the spanish bride had become more real to his excited vision than ever, so that early in the year, in order to please gondemar, he had been willing to offer an affront to the french ambassador. the prince of wales had given a splendid masquerade at court, to which the envoy of his most catholic majesty was bidden. much to his amazement the representative of the most christian king received no invitation, notwithstanding that he had taken great pains to procure one. m. de la boderie was very angry, and went about complaining to the states' ambassador and his other colleagues of the slight, and darkened the lives of the court functionaries having charge of such matters with his vengeance and despair. it was represented to him that he had himself been asked to a festival the year before when count gondemar was left out. it was hinted to him that the king had good reasons for what he did, as the marriage with the daughter of spain was now in train, and it was desirable that the spanish ambassador should be able to observe the prince's disposition and make a more correct report of it to his government. it was in vain. m. de la boderie refused to be comforted, and asserted that one had no right to leave the french ambassador uninvited to any "festival or triumph" at court. there was an endless disturbance. de la boderie sent his secretary off to paris to complain to the king that his ambassador was of no account in london, while much favour was heaped upon the spaniard. the secretary returned with instructions from lewis that the ambassador was to come home immediately, and he went off accordingly in dudgeon. "i could see that he was in the highest degree indignant," said caron, who saw him before he left, "and i doubt not that his departure will increase and keep up the former jealousy between the governments." the ill-humor created by this event lasted a long time, serving to neutralize or at least perceptibly diminish the spanish influence produced in france by the spanish marriages. in the autumn, secretary de puysieux by command of the king ordered every spaniard to leave the french court. all the "spanish ladies and gentlemen, great and small," who had accompanied the queen from madrid were included in this expulsion with the exception of four individuals, her majesty's father confessor, physician, apothecary, and cook. the fair young queen was much vexed and shed bitter tears at this calamity, which, as she spoke nothing but spanish, left her isolated at the court, but she was a little consoled by the promise that thenceforth the king would share her couch. it had not yet occurred to him that he was married. the french envoys at the hague exhausted themselves in efforts, both private and public, in favour of the prisoners, but it was a thankless task. now that the great man and his chief pupils and adherents were out of sight, a war of shameless calumny was began upon him, such as has scarcely a parallel in political history. it was as if a whole tribe of noxious and obscene reptiles were swarming out of the earth which had suddenly swallowed him. but it was not alone the obscure or the anonymous who now triumphantly vilified him. men in high places who had partaken of his patronage, who had caressed him and grovelled before him, who had grown great through his tuition and rich through his bounty, now rejoiced in his ruin or hastened at least to save themselves from being involved in it. not a man of them all but fell away from him like water. even the great soldier forgot whose respectful but powerful hand it was which, at the most tragical moment, had lifted him from the high school at leyden into the post of greatest power and responsibility, and had guided his first faltering footsteps by the light of his genius and experience. francis aerssens, master of the field, had now become the political tutor of the mature stadholder. step by step we have been studying the inmost thoughts of the advocate as revealed in his secret and confidential correspondence, and the reader has been enabled to judge of the wantonness of the calumny which converted the determined antagonist into the secret friend of spain. yet it had produced its effect upon maurice. he told the french ambassadors a month after the arrest that barneveld had been endeavouring, during and since the truce negotiations, to bring back the provinces, especially holland, if not under the dominion of, at least under some kind of vassalage to spain. persons had been feeling the public pulse as to the possibility of securing permanent peace by paying tribute to spain, and this secret plan of barneveld had so alienated him from the prince as to cause him to attempt every possible means of diminishing or destroying altogether his authority. he had spread through many cities that maurice wished to make himself master of the state by using the religious dissensions to keep the people weakened and divided. there is not a particle of evidence, and no attempt was ever made to produce any, that the advocate had such plan, but certainly, if ever, man had made himself master of a state, that man was maurice. he continued however to place himself before the world as the servant of the states-general, which he never was, either theoretically or in fact. the french ambassadors became every day more indignant and more discouraged. it was obvious that aerssens, their avowed enemy, was controlling the public policy of the government. not only was there no satisfaction to be had for the offensive manner in which he had filled the country with his ancient grievances and his nearly forgotten charges against the queen-dowager and those who had assisted her in the regency, but they were repulsed at every turn when by order of their sovereign they attempted to use his good offices in favour of the man who had ever been the steady friend of france. the stadholder also professed friendship for that country, and referred to colonel-general chatillon, who had for a long time commanded the french regiments in the netherlands, for confirmation of his uniform affection for those troops and attachment to their sovereign. he would do wonders, he said, if lewis would declare war upon spain by land and sea. "such fruits are not ripe," said boississe, "nor has your love for france been very manifest in recent events." "barneveld," replied the prince, "has personally offended me, and has boasted that he would drive me out of the country like leicester. he is accused of having wished to trouble the country in order to bring it back under the yoke of spain. justice will decide. the states only are sovereign to judge this question. you must address yourself to them." "the states," replied the ambassadors, "will require to be aided by your counsels." the prince made no reply and remained chill and "impregnable." the ambassadors continued their intercessions in behalf of the prisoners both by public address to the assembly and by private appeals to the stadholder and his influential friends. in virtue of the intimate alliance and mutual guarantees existing between their government and the republic they claimed the acceptance of their good offices. they insisted upon a regular trial of the prisoners according to the laws of the land, that is to say, by the high court of holland, which alone had jurisdiction in the premises. if they had been guilty of high-treason, they should be duly arraigned. in the name of the signal services of barneveld and of the constant friendship of that great magistrate for france, the king demanded clemency or proof of his crimes. his majesty complained through his ambassadors of the little respect shown for his counsels and for his friendship. "in times past you found ever prompt and favourable action in your time of need." "this discourse," said maurice to chatillon, "proceeds from evil intention." thus the prisoners had disappeared from human sight, and their enemies ran riot in slandering them. yet thus far no public charges had been made. "nothing appears against them," said du maurier, "and people are beginning to open their mouths with incredible freedom. while waiting for the condemnation of the prisoners, one is determined to dishonour them." the french ambassadors were instructed to intercede to the last, but they were steadily repulsed--while the king of great britain, anxious to gain favour with spain by aiding in the ruin of one whom he knew and spain knew to be her determined foe, did all he could through his ambassador to frustrate their efforts and bring on a catastrophe. the states-general and maurice were now on as confidential terms with carleton as they were cold and repellent to boississe and du maurier. "to recall to them the benefits of the king," said du maurier, "is to beat the air. and then aerssens bewitches them, and they imagine that after having played runaway horses his majesty will be only too happy to receive them back, caress them, and, in order to have their friendship, approve everything they have been doing right or wrong." aerssens had it all his own way, and the states-general had just paid him , francs in cash on the ground that langerac's salary was larger than his had been when at the head of the same embassy many years before. his elevation into the body of nobles, which maurice had just stocked with five other of his partisans, was accounted an additional affront to france, while on the other hand the queen-mother, having through epernon's assistance made her escape from blois, where she had been kept in durance since the death of concini, now enumerated among other grievances for which she was willing to take up arms against her son that the king's government had favoured barneveld. it was strange that all the devotees of spain--mary de' medici, and epernon, as well as james i. and his courtiers--should be thus embittered against the man who had sold the netherlands to spain. at last the prince told the french ambassadors that the "people of the provinces considered their persistent intercessions an invasion of their sovereignty." few would have anything to say to them. "no one listens to us, no one replies to us," said du maurier, "everyone visiting us is observed, and it is conceived a reproach here to speak to the ambassadors of france." certainly the days were changed since henry iv. leaned on the arm of barneveld, and consulted with him, and with him only, among all the statesmen of europe on his great schemes for regenerating christendom and averting that general war which, now that the great king had been murdered and the advocate imprisoned, had already begun to ravage europe. van der myle had gone to paris to make such exertions as he could among the leading members of the council in favour of his father-in-law. langerac, the states' ambassador there, who but yesterday had been turning at every moment to the advocate for light and warmth as to the sun, now hastened to disavow all respect or regard for him. he scoffed at the slender sympathy van der myle was finding in the bleak political atmosphere. he had done his best to find out what he had been negotiating with the members of the council and was glad to say that it was so inconsiderable as to be not worth reporting. he had not spoken with or seen the king. jeannin, his own and his father-in-law's principal and most confidential friend, had only spoken with him half an hour and then departed for burgundy, although promising to confer with him sympathetically on his return. "i am very displeased at his coming here," said langerac, ". . . . but he has found little friendship or confidence, and is full of woe and apprehension." the ambassador's labours were now confined to personally soliciting the king's permission for deputations from the reformed churches of france to go to the synod, now opened ( th november) at dordtrecht, and to clearing his own skirts with the prince and states-general of any suspicion of sympathy with barneveld. in the first object he was unsuccessful, the king telling him at last "with clear and significant words that this was impossible, on account of his conscience, his respect for the catholic religion, and many other reasons." in regard to the second point he acted with great promptness. he received a summons in january from the states-general and the prince to send them all letters that he had ever received from barneveld. he crawled at once to maurice on his knees, with the letters in his hand. "most illustrious, high-born prince, most gracious lord," he said; "obeying the commands which it has pleased the states and your princely grace to give me, i send back the letters of advocate barneveld. if your princely grace should find anything in them showing that the said advocate had any confidence in me, i most humbly beg your princely grace to believe that i never entertained any affection for, him, except only in respect to and so far as he was in credit and good authority with the government, and according to the upright zeal which i thought i could see in him for the service of my high and puissant lords the states-general and of your princely grace." greater humbleness could be expected of no ambassador. most nobly did the devoted friend and pupil of the great statesman remember his duty to the illustrious prince and their high mightinesses. most promptly did he abjure his patron now that he had fallen into the abyss. "nor will it be found," he continued, "that i have had any sympathy or communication with the said advocate except alone in things concerning my service. the great trust i had in him as the foremost and oldest counsellor of the state, as the one who so confidentially instructed me on my departure for france, and who had obtained for himself so great authority that all the most important affairs of the country were entrusted to him, was the cause that i simply and sincerely wrote to him all that people were in the habit of saying at this court. "if i had known in the least or suspected that he was not what he ought to be in the service of my lords the states and of your princely grace and for the welfare and tranquillity of the land, i should have been well on my guard against letting myself in the least into any kind of communication with him whatever." the reader has seen how steadily and frankly the advocate had kept langerac as well as caron informed of passing events, and how little concealment he made of his views in regard to the synod, the waartgelders, and the respective authority of the states-general and states-provincial. not only had langerac no reason to suspect that barneveld was not what he ought to be, but he absolutely knew the contrary from that most confidential correspondence with him which he was now so abjectly repudiating. the advocate, in a protracted constitutional controversy, had made no secret of his views either officially or privately. whether his positions were tenable or flimsy, they had been openly taken. "what is more," proceeded the ambassador, "had i thought that any account ought to be made of what i wrote to him concerning the sovereignty of the provinces, i should for a certainty not have failed to advise your grace of it above all." he then, after profuse and maudlin protestations of his most dutiful zeal all the days of his life for "the service, honour, reputation, and contentment of your princely grace," observed that he had not thought it necessary to give him notice of such idle and unfounded matters, as being likely to give the prince annoyance and displeasure. he had however always kept within himself the resolution duly to notify him in case he found that any belief was attached to the reports in paris. "but the reports," he said, "were popular and calumnious inventions of which no man had ever been willing or able to name to him the authors." the ambassador's memory was treacherous, and he had doubtless neglected to read over the minutes, if he had kept them, of his wonderful disclosures on the subject of the sovereignty before thus exculpating himself. it will be remembered that he had narrated the story of the plot for conferring sovereignty upon maurice not as a popular calumny flying about paris with no man to father it, but he had given it to barneveld on the authority of a privy councillor of france and of the king himself. "his majesty knows it to be authentic," he had said in his letter. that letter was a pompous one, full of mystery and so secretly ciphered that he had desired that his friend van der myle, whom he was now deriding for his efforts in paris to save his father-inlaw from his fate, might assist the advocate in unravelling its contents. he had now discovered that it had been idle gossip not worthy of a moment's attention. the reader will remember too that barneveld, without attaching much importance to the tale, had distinctly pointed out to langerac that the prince himself was not implicated in the plot and had instructed the ambassador to communicate the story to maurice. this advice had not been taken, but he had kept the perilous stuff upon his breast. he now sought to lay the blame, if it were possible to do so, upon the man to whom he had communicated it and who had not believed it. the business of the states-general, led by the advocate's enemies this winter, was to accumulate all kind of tales, reports, and accusations to his discredit on which to form something like a bill of indictment. they had demanded all his private and confidential correspondence with caron and langerae. the ambassador in paris had been served, moreover, with a string of nine interrogatories which he was ordered to answer on oath and honour. this he did and appended the reply to his letter. the nine questions had simply for their object to discover what barneveld had been secretly writing to the ambassador concerning the synod, the enlisted troops, and the supposed projects of maurice concerning the sovereignty. langerac was obliged to admit in his replies that nothing had been written except the regular correspondence which he endorsed, and of which the reader has been able to see the sum and substance in the copious extracts which have been given. he stated also that he had never received any secret instructions save the marginal notes to the list of questions addressed by him, when about leaving for paris in , to barneveld. most of these were of a trivial and commonplace nature. they had however a direct bearing on the process to be instituted against the advocate, and the letter too which we have been examining will prove to be of much importance. certainly pains enough were taken to detect the least trace of treason in a very loyal correspondence. langerac concluded by enclosing the barneveld correspondence since the beginning of the year , protesting that not a single letter had been kept back or destroyed. "once more i recommend myself to mercy, if not to favour," he added, "as the most faithful, most obedient, most zealous servant of their high mightinesses and your princely grace, to whom i have devoted and sacrificed my honour and life in most humble service; and am now and forever the most humble, most obedient, most faithful servant of my most serene, most illustrious, most highly born prince, most gracious lord and princeliest grace." the former adherent of plain advocate barneveld could hardly find superlatives enough to bestow upon the man whose displeasure that prisoner had incurred. directly after the arrest the stadholder had resumed his tour through the provinces in order to change the governments. sliding over any opposition which recent events had rendered idle, his course in every city was nearly the same. a regiment or two and a train of eighty or a hundred waggons coming through the city-gate preceded by the prince and his body-guard of , a tramp of halberdmen up the great staircase of the town-hall, a jingle of spurs in the assembly-room, and the whole board of magistrates were summoned into the presence of the stadholder. they were then informed that the world had no further need of their services, and were allowed to bow themselves out of the presence. a new list was then announced, prepared beforehand by maurice on the suggestion of those on whom he could rely. a faint resistance was here and there attempted by magistrates and burghers who could not forget in a moment the rights of self-government and the code of laws which had been enjoyed for centuries. at hoorn, for instance, there was deep indignation among the citizens. an imprudent word or two from the authorities might have brought about a "blood-bath." the burgomaster ventured indeed to expostulate. they requested the prince not to change the magistracy. "this is against our privileges," they said, "which it is our duty to uphold. you will see what deep displeasure will seize the burghers, and how much disturbance and tumult will follow. if any faults have been committed by any member of the government, let him be accused and let him answer for them. let your excellency not only dismiss but punish such as cannot properly justify themselves." but his excellency summoned them all to the town-house and as usual deposed them all. a regiment was drawn up in half-moon on the square beneath the windows. to the magistrates asking why they were deposed, he briefly replied, "the quiet of the land requires it. it is necessary to have unanimous resolutions in the states-general at the hague. this cannot be accomplished without these preliminary changes. i believe that you had good intentions and have been faithful servants of the fatherland. but this time it must be so." and so the faithful servants of the fatherland were dismissed into space. otherwise how could there be unanimous voting in parliament? it must be regarded perhaps as fortunate that the force of character, undaunted courage, and quiet decision of maurice enabled him to effect this violent series of revolutions with such masterly simplicity. it is questionable whether the stadholder's commission technically empowered him thus to trample on municipal law; it is certain that, if it did, the boasted liberties of the netherlands were a dream; but it is equally true that, in the circumstances then existing, a vulgar, cowardly, or incompetent personage might have marked his pathway with massacres without restoring tranquillity. sometimes there was even a comic aspect to these strokes of state. the lists of new magistrates being hurriedly furnished by the prince's adherents to supply the place of those evicted, it often happened that men not quahified by property, residence, or other attributes were appointed to the government, so that many became magistrates before they were citizens. on being respectfully asked sometimes who such a magistrate might be whose face and name were equally unknown to his colleagues and to the townsmen in general; "do i know the fellows?" he would say with a cheerful laugh. and indeed they might have all been dead men, those new functionaries, for aught he did know. and so on through medemblik and alkmaar, brielle, delft, monnikendam, and many other cities progressed the prince, sowing new municipalities broadcast as he passed along. at the hague on his return a vote of thanks to the prince was passed by the nobles and most of the cities for the trouble he had taken in this reforming process. but the unanimous vote had not yet been secured, the strongholds of arminianism, as it was the fashion to call them, not being yet reduced. the prince, in reply to the vote of thanks, said that "in what he had done and was going to do his intention sincerely and uprightly had been no other than to promote the interests and tranquillity of the country, without admixture of anything personal and without prejudice to the general commonwealth or the laws and privileges of the cities." he desired further that "note might be taken of this declaration as record of his good and upright intentions." but the sincerest and most upright intentions may be refracted by party atmosphere from their aim, and the purest gold from the mint elude the direct grasp through the clearest fluid in existence. at any rate it would have been difficult to convince the host of deposed magistrates hurled from office, although recognized as faithful servants of the fatherland, that such violent removal had taken place without detriment to the laws and privileges. and the stadholder went to the few cities where some of the leaven still lingered. he arrived at leyden on the nd october, "accompanied by a great suite of colonels, ritmeesters, and captains," having sent on his body-guard to the town strengthened by other troops. he was received by the magistrates at the "prince's court" with great reverence and entertained by them in the evening at a magnificent banquet. next morning he summoned the whole forty of them to the town-house, disbanded them all, and appointed new ones in their stead; some of the old members however who could be relied upon being admitted to the revolutionized board. the populace, mainly of the stadholder's party, made themselves merry over the discomfited "arminians". they hung wisps of straw as derisive wreaths of triumph over the dismantled palisade lately encircling the town-hall, disposed of the famous "oldenbarneveld's teeth" at auction in the public square, and chased many a poor cock and hen, with their feathers completely plucked from their bodies, about the street, crying "arme haenen, arme haenen"--arminians or poor fowls--according to the practical witticism much esteemed at that period. certainly the unfortunate barneveldians or arminians, or however the remonstrants might be designated, had been sufficiently stripped of their plumes. the prince, after having made proclamation from the town-house enjoining "modesty upon the mob" and a general abstention from "perverseness and petulance," went his way to haarlem, where he dismissed the magistrates and appointed new ones, and then proceeded to rotterdam, to gouda, and to amsterdam. it seemed scarcely necessary to carry, out the process in the commercial capital, the abode of peter plancius, the seat of the west india company, the head-quarters of all most opposed to the advocate, most devoted to the stadholder. but although the majority of the city government was an overwhelming one, there was still a respectable minority who, it was thought possible, might under a change of circumstances effect much mischief and even grow into a majority. the prince therefore summoned the board before him according to his usual style of proceeding and dismissed them all. they submitted without a word of remonstrance. ex-burgomaster hooft, a man of seventy-two-father of the illustrious pieter corneliszoon hooft, one of the greatest historians of the netherlands or of any country, then a man of thirty-seven-shocked at the humiliating silence, asked his colleagues if they had none of them a word to say in defence of their laws and privileges. they answered with one accord "no." the old man, a personal friend of barneveld and born the same year, then got on his feet and addressed the stadholder. he spoke manfully and well, characterizing the summary deposition of the magistracy as illegal and unnecessary, recalling to the memory of those who heard him that he had been thirty-six years long a member of the government and always a warm friend of the house of nassau, and respectfully submitting that the small minority in the municipal government, while differing from their colleagues and from the greater number of the states-general, had limited their opposition to strictly constitutional means, never resorting to acts of violence or to secret conspiracy. nothing could be more truly respectable than the appearance of this ancient magistrate, in long black robe with fur edgings, high ruff around his thin, pointed face, and decent skull-cap covering his bald old head, quavering forth to unsympathetic ears a temperate and unanswerable defence of things which in all ages the noblest minds have deemed most valuable. his harangue was not very long. maurice's reply was very short. "grandpapa," he said, "it must be so this time. necessity and the service of the country require it." with that he dismissed the thirty-six magistrates and next day appointed a new board, who were duly sworn to fidelity to the states-general. of course a large proportion of the old members were renominated. scarcely had the echo of the prince's footsteps ceased to resound through the country as he tramped from one city to another, moulding each to his will, when the states of holland, now thoroughly reorganized, passed a solemn vote of thanks to him for all that he had done. the six cities of the minority had now become the majority, and there was unanimity at the hague. the seven provinces, states-general and states-provincial, were as one, and the synod was secured. whether the prize was worth the sacrifices which it had cost and was still to cost might at least be considered doubtful. etext editor's bookmarks: affection of his friends and the wrath of his enemies depths theological party spirit could descend extraordinary capacity for yielding to gentle violence human nature in its meanness and shame it had not yet occurred to him that he was married make the very name of man a term of reproach never lack of fishers in troubled waters opposed the subjection of the magistracy by the priesthood pot-valiant hero resolve to maintain the civil authority over the military tempest of passion and prejudice the effect of energetic, uncompromising calumny yes, there are wicked men about chapter xix. - rancour between the politico-religious parties--spanish intrigues inconsistency of james--brewster and robinson's congregation at leyden--they decide to leave for america--robinson's farewell sermon and prayer at parting. during this dark and mournful winter the internal dissensions and, as a matter of course, the foreign intrigues had become more dangerous than ever. while the man who for a whole generation had guided the policy of the republic and had been its virtual chief magistrate lay hidden from all men's sight, the troubles which he had sought to avert were not diminished by his removal from the scene. the extreme or gomarist party which had taken a pride in secret conventicles where they were in a minority, determined, as they said, to separate christ from belial and, meditating the triumph which they had at last secured, now drove the arminians from the great churches. very soon it was impossible for these heretics to enjoy the rights of public worship anywhere. but they were not dismayed. the canons of dordtrecht had not yet been fulminated. they avowed themselves ready to sacrifice worldly goods and life itself in defence of the five points. in rotterdam, notwithstanding a garrison of fifteen companies, more than a thousand remonstrants assembled on christmas-day in the exchange for want of a more appropriate place of meeting and sang the th psalm in mighty chorus. a clergyman of their persuasion accidentally passing through the street was forcibly laid hands upon and obliged to preach to them, which he did with great unction. the magistracy, where now the contra-remonstrants had the control, forbade, under severe penalties, a repetition of such scenes. it was impossible not to be reminded of the days half a century before, when the early reformers had met in the open fields or among the dunes, armed to the teeth, and with outlying pickets to warn the congregation of the approach of red rod and the functionaries of the holy inquisition. in schoonhoven the authorities attempted one sunday by main force to induct a contra-remonstrant into the pulpit from which a remonstrant had just been expelled. the women of the place turned out with their distaffs and beat them from the field. the garrison was called out, and there was a pitched battle in the streets between soldiers, police officers, and women, not much to the edification certainly of the sabbath-loving community on either side, the victory remaining with the ladies. in short it would be impossible to exaggerate the rancour felt between the different politico-religious parties. all heed for the great war now raging in the outside world between the hostile elements of catholicism and protestantism, embattled over an enormous space, was lost in the din of conflict among the respective supporters of conditional and unconditional damnation within the pale of the reformed church. the earthquake shaking europe rolled unheeded, as it was of old said to have done at cannae, amid the fierce shock of mortal foes in that narrow field. the respect for authority which had so long been the distinguishing characteristic of the netherlanders seemed to have disappeared. it was difficult--now that the time-honoured laws and privileges in defence of which, and of liberty of worship included in them, the provinces had made war forty years long had been trampled upon by military force--for those not warmed by the fire of gomarus to feel their ancient respect for the magistracy. the magistracy at that moment seemed to mean the sword. the spanish government was inevitably encouraged by the spectacle thus presented. we have seen the strong hopes entertained by the council at madrid, two years before the crisis now existing had occurred. we have witnessed the eagerness with which the king indulged the dream of recovering the sovereignty which his father had lost, and the vast schemes which he nourished towards that purpose, founded on the internal divisions which were reducing the republic to impotence. subsequent events had naturally made him more sanguine than ever. there was now a web of intrigue stretching through the provinces to bring them all back under the sceptre of spain. the imprisonment of the great stipendiary, the great conspirator, the man who had sold himself and was on the point of selling his country, had not terminated those plots. where was the supposed centre of that intrigue? in the council of state of the netherlands, ever fiercely opposed to barneveld and stuffed full of his mortal enemies. whose name was most familiar on the lips of the spanish partisans engaged in these secret schemes? that of adrian manmaker, president of the council, representative of prince maurice as first noble of zealand in the states-general, chairman of the committee sent by that body to utrecht to frustrate the designs of the advocate, and one of the twenty-four commissioners soon to be appointed to sit in judgment upon him. the tale seems too monstrous for belief, nor is it to be admitted with certainty, that manmaker and the other councillors implicated had actually given their adhesion to the plot, because the spanish emissaries in their correspondence with the king assured him of the fact. but if such a foundation for suspicion could have been found against barneveld and his friends, the world would not have heard the last of it from that hour to this. it is superfluous to say that the prince was entirely foreign to these plans. he had never been mentioned as privy to the little arrangements of councillor du agean and others, although he was to benefit by them. in the spanish schemes he seems to have been considered as an impediment, although indirectly they might tend to advance him. "we have managed now, i hope, that his majesty will be recognized as sovereign of the country," wrote the confidential agent of the king of spain in the netherlands, emmanuel sueyro, to the government of madrid. "the english will oppose it with all their strength. but they can do nothing except by making count maurice sovereign of holland and duke of julich and cleve. maurice will also contrive to make himself master of wesel, so it is necessary for the archduke to be beforehand with him and make sure of the place. it is also needful that his majesty should induce the french government to talk with the netherlanders and convince them that it is time to prolong the truce." this was soon afterwards accomplished. the french minister at brussels informed archduke albert that du maurier had been instructed to propose the prolongation, and that he had been conferring with the prince of orange and the states-general on the subject. at first the prince had expressed disinclination, but at the last interview both he and the states had shown a desire for it, and the french king had requested from the archduke a declaration whether the spanish government would be willing to treat for it. in such case lewis would offer himself as mediator and do his best to bring about a successful result. but it was not the intention of the conspirators in the netherlands that the truce should be prolonged. on the contrary the negotiation for it was merely to furnish the occasion for fully developing their plot. "the states and especially those of zealand will reply that they no longer wish the truce," continued sueyro, "and that they would prefer war to such a truce. they desire to put ships on the coast of flanders, to which the hollanders are opposed because it would be disagreeable to the french. so the zealanders will be the first to say that the netherlanders must come back to his majesty. this their president hanmaker has sworn. the states of overyssel will likewise give their hand to this because they say they will be the first to feel the shock of the war. thus we shall very easily carry out our design, and as we shall concede to the zealanders their demands in regard to the navigation they at least will place themselves under the dominion of his majesty as will be the case with friesland as well as overyssel." it will be observed that in this secret arrangement for selling the republic to its ancient master it was precisely the provinces and the politicians most steadily opposed to barneveld that took the lead. zealand, friesland, overyssel were in the plot, but not a word was said of utrecht. as for holland itself, hopes were founded on the places where hatred to the advocate was fiercest. "between ourselves," continued the agent, "we are ten here in the government of holland to support the plan, but we must not discover ourselves for fear of suffering what has happened to barneveld." he added that the time for action had not yet come, and that if movements were made before the synod had finished its labours, "the gomarists would say that they were all sold." he implored the government at madrid to keep the whole matter for the present profoundly secret because "prince maurice and the gomarists had the forces of the country at their disposition." in case the plot was sprung too suddenly therefore, he feared that with the assistance of england maurice might, at the head of the gomarists and the army, make himself sovereign of holland and duke of cleve, while he and the rest of the spanish partisans might be in prison with barneveld for trying to accomplish what barneveld had been trying to prevent. the opinions and utterances of such a man as james i. would be of little worth to our history had he not happened to occupy the place he did. but he was a leading actor in the mournful drama which filled up the whole period of the twelve years' truce. his words had a direct influence on great events. he was a man of unquestionable erudition, of powers of mind above the average, while the absolute deformity of his moral constitution made him incapable of thinking, feeling, or acting rightly on any vital subject, by any accident or on any occasion. if there were one thing that he thoroughly hated in the world, it was the reformed religion. if in his thought there were one term of reproach more loathsome than another to be applied to a human creature, it was the word puritan. in the word was subversion of all established authority in church and state--revolution, republicanism, anarchy. "there are degrees in heaven," he was wont to say, "there are degrees in hell, there must be degrees on earth." he forbade the calvinist churches of scotland to hold their customary synod in , passionately reviling them and their belief, and declaring "their aim to be nothing else than to deprive kings and princes of their sovereignty, and to reduce the whole world to a popular form of government where everybody would be master." when the prince of neuburg embraced catholicism, thus complicating matters in the duchies and strengthening the hand of spain and the emperor in the debateable land, he seized the occasion to assure the agent of the archduke in london, councillor boissetot, of his warm catholic sympathies. "they say that i am the greatest heretic in the world!" he exclaimed; "but i will never deny that the true religion is that of rome even if corrupted." he expressed his belief in the real presence, and his surprise that the roman catholics did not take the chalice for the blood of christ. the english bishops, he averred, drew their consecration through the bishops in mary tudor's time from the pope. as philip ii., and ferdinand ii. echoing the sentiments of his illustrious uncle, had both sworn they would rather reign in a wilderness than tolerate a single heretic in their dominions, so james had said "he would rather be a hermit in a forest than a king over such people as the pack of puritans were who overruled the lower house." for the netherlanders he had an especial hatred, both as rebels and puritans. soon after coming to the english throne he declared that their revolt, which had been going on all his lifetime and of which he never expected to see the end, had begun by petition for matters of religion. "his mother and he from their cradles," he said, "had been haunted with a puritan devil, which he feared would not leave him to his grave. and he would hazard his crown but he would suppress those malicious spirits." it seemed a strange caprice of destiny that assigned to this hater of netherlanders, of puritans, and of the reformed religion, the decision of disputed points between puritans and anti-puritans in the reformed church of the netherlands. it seemed stranger that his opinions should be hotly on the side of the puritans. barneveld, who often used the expression in later years, as we have seen in his correspondence, was opposed to the dutch puritans because they had more than once attempted subversion of the government on pretext of religion, especially at the memorable epoch of leicester's government. the business of stirring up these religious conspiracies against the magistracy he was apt to call "flanderizing," in allusion to those disastrous days and to the origin of the ringleaders in those tumults. but his main object, as we have seen, was to effect compromises and restore good feeling between members of the one church, reserving the right of disposing over religious matters to the government of the respective provinces. but james had remedied his audacious inconsistency by discovering that puritanism in england and in the netherlands resembled each other no more than certain letters transposed into totally different words meant one and the same thing. the anagrammatic argument had been neatly put by sir dudley carleton, convincing no man. puritanism in england "denied the right of human invention or imposition in religious matters." puritanism in the netherlands denied the right of the legal government to impose its authority in religious matters. this was the great matter of debate in the provinces. in england the argument had been settled very summarily against the puritans by sheriffs' officers, bishops' pursuivants, and county jails. as the political tendencies, so too the religious creed and observances of the english puritans were identical with that of the contra-remonstrants, whom king james had helped to their great triumph. this was not very difficult to prove. it so happened that there were some english puritans living at that moment in leyden. they formed an independent society by themselves, which they called a congregational church, and in which were some three hundred communicants. the length of their residence there was almost exactly coeval with the twelve years' truce. they knew before leaving england that many relics of the roman ceremonial, with which they were dissatisfied, and for the discontinuance of which they had in vain petitioned the crown--the ring, the sign of the cross, white surplices, and the like--besides the whole hierarchical system, had been disused in the reformed churches of france, switzerland, and the united provinces, where the forms of worship in their view had been brought more nearly to the early apostolic model. they admitted for truth the doctrinal articles of the dutch reformed churches. they had not come to the netherlands without cause. at an early period of king james's reign this congregation of seceders from the establishment had been wont to hold meetings at scrooby in nottinghamshire, once a manor of the archbishop of york, but then the residence of one william brewster. this was a gentleman of some fortune, educated at cambridge, a good scholar, who in queen elizabeth's time had been in the service of william davison when secretary of state. he seemed to have been a confidential private secretary of that excellent and unlucky statesman, who found him so discreet and faithful as to deserve employment before all others in matters of trust and secrecy. he was esteemed by davison "rather as a son than a servant," and he repaid his confidence by doing him many faithful offices in the time of his troubles. he had however long since retired from connection with public affairs, living a retired life, devoted to study, meditation, and practical exertion to promote the cause of religion, and in acts of benevolence sometimes beyond his means. the pastor of the scrooby church, one john robinson, a graduate of cambridge, who had been a benefited clergyman in norfolk, was a man of learning, eloquence, and lofty intellect. but what were such good gifts in the possession of rebels, seceders, and puritans? it is needless to say that brewster and robinson were baited, persecuted, watched day and night, some of the congregation often clapped into prison, others into the stocks, deprived of the means of livelihood, outlawed, famished, banned. plainly their country was no place for them. after a few years of such work they resolved to establish themselves in holland, where at least they hoped to find refuge and toleration. but it proved as difficult for them to quit the country as to remain in it. watched and hunted like gangs of coiners, forgers, or other felons attempting to flee from justice, set upon by troopers armed with "bills and guns and other weapons," seized when about to embark, pillaged and stripped by catchpoles, exhibited as a show to grinning country folk, the women and children dealt with like drunken tramps, led before magistrates, committed to jail; mr. brewster and six other of the principal ones being kept in prison and bound over to the assizes; they were only able after attempts lasting through two years' time to effect their escape to amsterdam. after remaining there a year they had removed to leyden, which they thought "a fair and beautiful city, and of a sweet situation." they settled in leyden in the very year in which arminius was buried beneath the pavement of st. peter's church in that town. it was the year too in which the truce was signed. they were a singularly tranquil and brotherly community. their pastor, who was endowed with remarkable gentleness and tact in dealing with his congregation, settled amicably all their occasional disputes. the authorities of the place held them up as a model. to a walloon congregation in which there were many troublesome and litigious members they said: "these english have lived among us ten years, and yet we never had any suit or accusation against any of them, but your quarrels are continual." although many of them were poor, finding it difficult to earn their living in a foreign land among people speaking a strange tongue, and with manners and habits differing from their own, and where they were obliged to learn new trades, having most of them come out of an agricultural population, yet they enjoyed a singular reputation for probity. bakers and butchers and the like willingly gave credit to the poorest of these english, and sought their custom if known to be of the congregation. mr. brewster, who had been reduced almost to poverty by his charities and munificent aid to his struggling brethren, earned his living by giving lessons in english, having first composed a grammar according to the latin model for the use of his pupils. he also set up a printing establishment, publishing many controversial works prohibited in england, a proceeding which roused the wrath of carleton, impelling him to do his best to have him thrown into prison. it was not the first time that this plain, mechanical, devout englishman, now past middle age, had visited the netherlands. more than twenty-five years before he had accompanied william davison on his famous embassy to the states, as private secretary. when the keys of flushing, one of the cautionary towns, were committed to the ambassador, he confided them to the care of brewster, who slept with them under his pillow. the gold chain which davison received as a present from the provincial government on leaving the country was likewise placed in his keeping, with orders to wear it around his neck until they should appear before the queen. to a youth of ease and affluence, familiar with ambassadors and statesmen and not unknown at courts, had succeeded a mature age of obscurity, deep study, and poverty. no human creature would have heard of him had his career ended with his official life. two centuries and a half have passed away and the name of the outlawed puritan of scrooby and leyden is still familiar to millions of the english race. all these englishmen were not poor. many of them occupied houses of fair value, and were admitted to the freedom of the city. the pastor with three of his congregation lived in a comfortable mansion, which they had purchased for the considerable sum of florins, and on the garden of which they subsequently erected twenty-one lesser tenements for the use of the poorer brethren. mr. robinson was himself chosen a member of the famous university and admitted to its privileges. during his long residence in leyden, besides the daily care of his congregation, spiritual and temporal, he wrote many learned works. thus the little community, which grew gradually larger by emigration from england, passed many years of tranquillity. their footsteps were not dogged by constables and pursuivants, they were not dragged daily before the magistrates, they were not thrown into the town jails, they were not hunted from place to place with bows and bills and mounted musketeers. they gave offence to none, and were respected by all. "such was their singleheartedness and sincere affection one towards another," says their historian and magistrate, "that they came as near the primitive pattern of the first churches as any other church of these later times has done, according to their rank and quality." here certainly were english puritans more competent than any men else in the world to judge if it were a slander upon the english government to identify them with dutch puritans. did they sympathize with the party in holland which the king, who had so scourged and trampled upon themselves in england, was so anxious to crush, the hated arminians? did they abhor the contra-remonstrants whom james and his ambassador carleton doted upon and whom barneveld called "double puritans" and "flanderizers?" their pastor may answer for himself and his brethren. "we profess before god and men," said robinson in his apologia, "that we agree so entirely with the reformed dutch churches in the matter of religion as to be ready to subscribe to all and each of their articles exactly as they are set forth in the netherland confession. we acknowledge those reformed churches as true and genuine, we profess and cultivate communion with them as much as in us lies. those of us who understand the dutch language attend public worship under their pastors. we administer the holy supper to such of their members as, known to us, appear at our meetings." this was the position of the puritans. absolute, unqualified accordance with the contra-remonstrants. as the controversy grew hot in the university between the arminians and their adversaries, mr. robinson, in the language of his friend bradford, became "terrible to the arminians . . . . who so greatly molested the whole state and that city in particular." when episcopius, the arminian professor of theology, set forth sundry theses, challenging all the world to the onset, it was thought that "none was fitter to buckle with them" than robinson. the orthodox professor polyander so importuned the english puritan to enter the lists on behalf of the contra-remonstrants that at last he consented and overthrew the challenger, horse and man, in three successive encounters. such at least was the account given by his friend and admirer the historian. "the lord did so help him to defend the truth and foil this adversary as he put him to an apparent nonplus in this great and public audience. and the like he did a second or third time upon such like occasions," said bradford, adding that, if it had not been for fear of offending the english government, the university would have bestowed preferments and honours upon the champion. we are concerned with this ancient and exhausted controversy only for the intense light it threw, when burning, on the history which occupies us. of the extinct volcano itself which once caused such devastation, and in which a great commonwealth was well-nigh swallowed up, little is left but slag and cinders. the past was made black and barren with them. let us disturb them as little as possible. the little english congregation remained at leyden till toward the end of the truce, thriving, orderly, respected, happy. they were witnesses to the tumultuous, disastrous, and tragical events which darkened the republic in those later years, themselves unobserved and unmolested. not a syllable seems to remain on record of the views or emotions which may have been excited by those scenes in their minds, nor is there a trace left on the national records of the netherlands of their protracted residence on the soil. they got their living as best they might by weaving, printing, spinning, and other humble trades; they borrowed money on mortgages, they built houses, they made wills, and such births, deaths, and marriages as occurred among them were registered by the town-clerk. and at last for a variety of reasons they resolved to leave the netherlands. perhaps the solution of the problem between church and state in that country by the temporary subjection of state to church may have encouraged them to realize a more complete theocracy, if a sphere of action could be found where the experiment might be tried without a severe battle against time-hallowed institutions and vested rights. perhaps they were appalled by the excesses into which men of their own religious sentiments had been carried by theological and political passion. at any rate depart they would; the larger half of the congregation remaining behind however till the pioneers should have broken the way, and in their own language "laid the stepping-stones." they had thought of the lands beneath the equator, raleigh having recently excited enthusiasm by his poetical descriptions of guiana. but the tropical scheme was soon abandoned. they had opened negotiations with the stadholder and the states-general through amsterdam merchants in regard to settling in new amsterdam, and offered to colonize that country if assured of the protection of the united provinces. their petition had been rejected. they had then turned their faces to their old master and their own country, applying to the virginia company for a land-patent, which they were only too happy to promise, and to the king for liberty of religion in the wilderness confirmed under his broad seal, which his majesty of course refused. it was hinted however that james would connive at them and not molest them if they carried themselves peaceably. so they resolved to go without the seal, for, said their magistrate very wisely, "if there should be a purpose or desire to wrong them, a seal would not serve their turn though it were as broad as the house-floor." before they left leyden, their pastor preached to them a farewell sermon, which for loftiness of spirit and breadth of vision has hardly a parallel in that age of intolerance. he laid down the principle that criticism of the scriptures had not been exhausted merely because it had been begun; that the human conscience was of too subtle a nature to be imprisoned for ever in formulas however ingeniously devised; that the religious reformation begun a century ago was not completed; and that the creator had not necessarily concluded all his revelations to mankind. the words have long been familiar to students of history, but they can hardly be too often laid to heart. noble words, worthy to have been inscribed over the altar of the first church to be erected by the departing brethren, words to bear fruit after centuries should go by. had not the deeply injured and misunderstood grotius already said, "if the trees we plant do not shade us, they will yet serve for our descendants?" yet it is passing strange that the preacher of that sermon should be the recent champion of the contra-remonstrants in the great controversy; the man who had made himself so terrible to the pupils of the gentle and tolerant arminius. and thus half of that english congregation went down to delftshaven, attended by the other half who were to follow at a later period with their beloved pastor. there was a pathetic leave-taking. even many of the hollanders, mere casual spectators, were in tears. robinson, kneeling on the deck of the little vessel, offered a prayer and a farewell. who could dream that this departure of an almost nameless band of emigrants to the wilderness was an epoch in the world's history? yet these were the pilgrim fathers of new england, the founders of what was to be the mightiest republic of modern history, mighty and stable because it had been founded upon an idea. they were not in search of material comfort and the chances of elevating their condition, by removing from an overpeopled country to an organized commonwealth, offering a wide field for pauper labourers. some of them were of good social rank and highest education, most of them in decent circumstances, none of them in absolute poverty. and a few years later they were to be joined by a far larger company with leaders and many brethren of ancient birth and landed possessions, men of "education, figure; and estate," all ready to convert property into cash and to place it in joint-stock, not as the basis of promising speculation, but as the foundation of a church. it signifies not how much or how little one may sympathize with their dogma or their discipline now. to the fact that the early settlement of that wilderness was by self-sacrificing men of earnestness and faith, who were bent on "advancing the gospel of christ in remote parts of the world," in the midst of savage beasts, more savage men, and unimaginable difficulties and dangers, there can be little doubt that the highest forms of western civilization are due. through their provisional theocracy, the result of the independent church system was to establish the true purport of the reformation, absolute religious equality. civil and political equality followed as a matter of course. two centuries and a half have passed away. there are now some seventy or eighty millions of the english-speaking race on both sides the atlantic, almost equally divided between the united kingdom and the united republic, and the departure of those outcasts of james has interest and significance for them all. most fitly then, as a distinguished american statesman has remarked, does that scene on board the little english vessel, with the english pastor uttering his farewell blessing to a handful of english exiles for conscience sake; depicted on canvas by eminent artists, now adorn the halls of the american congress and of the british parliament. sympathy with one of the many imperishable bonds of union between the two great and scarcely divided peoples. we return to barneveld in his solitary prison. chapter xx. barneveld's imprisonment--ledenberg's examination and death-- remonstrance of de boississe--aerssens admitted to the order of knights--trial of the advocate--barneveld's defence--the states proclaim a public fast--du maurier's speech before the assembly-- barneveld's sentence--barneveld prepares for death--goes to execution. the advocate had been removed within a few days after the arrest from the chamber in maurice's apartments, where he had originally been confined, and was now in another building. it was not a dungeon nor a jail. indeed the commonplace and domestic character of the scenery in which these great events were transacted has in it something pathetic. there was and still remains a two-storied structure, then of modern date, immediately behind the antique hall of the old counts within the binnenhof. on the first floor was a courtroom of considerable extent, the seat of one of the chief tribunals of justice the story above was divided into three chambers with a narrow corridor on each side. the first chamber, on the north-eastern side, was appropriated for the judges when the state prisoners should be tried. in the next hugo grotius was imprisoned. in the third was barneveld. there was a tower at the north-east angle of the building, within which a winding and narrow staircase of stone led up to the corridor and so to the prisoners' apartments. rombout hoogerbeets was confined in another building. as the advocate, bent with age and a life of hard work, and leaning on his staff, entered the room appropriated to him, after toiling up the steep staircase, he observed-- "this is the admiral of arragon's apartment." it was true. eighteen years before, the conqueror of nieuwpoort had assigned this lodging to the chief prisoner of war in that memorable victory over the spaniards, and now maurice's faithful and trusted counsellor at that epoch was placed in durance here, as the result of the less glorious series of victories which had just been achieved. it was a room of moderate dimensions, some twenty-five feet square, with a high vaulted roof and decently furnished. below and around him in the courtyard were the scenes of the advocate's life-long and triumphant public services. there in the opposite building were the windows of the beautiful "hall of truce," with its sumptuous carvings and gildings, its sculptures and portraits, where he had negotiated with the representatives of all the great powers of christendom the famous treaty which had suspended the war of forty years, and where he was wont almost daily to give audience to the envoys of the greatest sovereigns or the least significant states of europe and asia, all of whom had been ever solicitous of his approbation and support. farther along in the same building was the assembly room of the states-general, where some of the most important affairs of the republic and of europe had for years been conducted, and where he had been so indispensable that, in the words of a contemporary who loved him not, "absolutely nothing could be transacted in his absence, all great affairs going through him alone." there were two dull windows, closely barred, looking northward over an irregular assemblage of tile-roofed houses and chimney-stacks, while within a stone's throw to the west, but unseen, was his own elegant mansion on the voorhout, surrounded by flower gardens and shady pleasure grounds, where now sat his aged wife and her children all plunged in deep affliction. he was allowed the attendance of a faithful servant, jan franken by name, and a sentinel stood constantly before his door. his papers had been taken from him, and at first he was deprived of writing materials. he had small connection with the outward world. the news of the municipal revolution which had been effected by the stadholder had not penetrated to his solitude, but his wife was allowed to send him fruit from their garden. one day a basket of fine saffron pears was brought to him. on slicing one with a knife he found a portion of a quill inside it. within the quill was a letter on thinnest paper, in minutest handwriting in latin. it was to this effect. "don't rely upon the states of holland, for the prince of orange has changed the magistracies in many cities. dudley carleton is not your friend." a sergeant of the guard however, before bringing in these pears, had put a couple of them in his pocket to take home to his wife. the letter, copies of which perhaps had been inserted for safety in several of them, was thus discovered and the use of this ingenious device prevented for the future. secretary ledenberg, who had been brought to the hague in the early days of september, was the first of the prisoners subjected to examination. he was much depressed at the beginning of it, and is said to have exclaimed with many sighs, "oh barneveld, barneveld, what have you brought us to!" he confessed that the waartgelders at utrecht had been enlisted on notification by the utrecht deputies in the hague with knowledge of barneveld, and in consequence of a resolution of the states in order to prevent internal tumults. he said that the advocate had advised in the previous month of march a request to the prince not to come to utrecht; that the communication of the message, in regard to disbanding the waartgelders, to his excellency had been postponed after the deputies of the states of holland had proposed a delay in that disbandment; that those deputies had come to utrecht of their own accord; . . . . that they had judged it possible to keep everything in proper order in utrecht if the garrison in the city paid by holland were kept quiet, and if the states of utrecht gave similar orders to the waartgelders; for they did not believe that his excellency would bring in troops from the outside. he said that he knew nothing of a new oath to be demanded of the garrison. he stated that the advocate, when at utrecht, had exhorted the states, according to his wont, to maintain their liberties and privileges, representing to them that the right to decide on the synod and the waartgelders belonged to them. lastly, he denied knowing who was the author of the balance, except by common report. now these statements hardly amounted to a confession of abominable and unpardonable crimes by ledenberg, nor did they establish a charge of high-treason and corrupt correspondence with the enemy against barneveld. it is certain that the extent of the revelations seemed far from satisfactory to the accusers, and that some pressure would be necessary in order to extract anything more conclusive. lieutenant nythof told grotius that ledenberg had accordingly been threatened with torture, and that the executioner had even handled him for that purpose. this was however denied by the judges of instruction who had been charged with the preliminary examination. that examination took place on the th september. after it had been concluded, ledenberg prayed long and earnestly on returning to prison. he then entrusted a paper written in french to his son joost, a boy of eighteen, who did not understand that language. the youth had been allowed to keep his father company in his confinement, and slept in the same room. the next night but one, at two o'clock, joost heard his father utter a deep groan. he was startled, groped in the darkness towards his bed and felt his arm, which was stone cold. he spoke to him and received no answer. he gave the alarm, the watch came in with lights, and it was found that ledenberg had given himself two mortal wounds in the abdomen with a penknife and then cut his throat with a table-knife which he had secreted, some days before, among some papers. the paper in french given to his son was found to be to this effect. "i know that there is an inclination to set an example in my person, to confront me with my best friends, to torture me, afterwards to convict me of contradictions and falsehoods as they say, and then to found an ignominious sentence upon points and trifles, for this it will be necessary to do in order to justify the arrest and imprisonment. to escape all this i am going to god by the shortest road. against a dead man there can be pronounced no sentence of confiscation of property. done th september (o. s.) ." the family of the unhappy gentleman begged his body for decent burial. the request was refused. it was determined to keep the dead secretary above ground and in custody until he could be tried, and, if possible, convicted and punished. it was to be seen whether it were so easy to baffle the power of the states-general, the synod, and the stadholder, and whether "going to god by the shortest road" was to save a culprit's carcass from ignominy, and his property from confiscation. the french ambassadors, who had been unwearied in their endeavour to restore harmony to the distracted commonwealth before the arrest of the prisoners, now exerted themselves to throw the shield of their sovereign's friendship around the illustrious statesman and his fellow-sufferers. "it is with deepest sorrow," said de boississe, "that i have witnessed the late hateful commotions. especially from my heart i grieve for the arrest of the seignior barneveld, who with his discretion and wise administration for the past thirty years has so drawn the hearts of all neighbouring princes to himself, especially that of the king my master, that on taking up my pen to apprize him of these events i am gravely embarrassed, fearing to infringe on the great respect due to your mightinesses or against the honour and merits of the seignior barneveld. . . . my lords, take heed to your situation, for a great discontent is smouldering among your citizens. until now, the union has been the chief source of your strength. and i now fear that the king my master, the adviser of your renowned commonwealth, maybe offended that you have taken this resolution after consulting with others, and without communicating your intention to his ambassador . . . . it is but a few days that an open edict was issued testifying to the fidelity of barneveld, and can it be possible that within so short a time you have discovered that you have been deceived? i summon you once more in the name of the king to lay aside all passion, to judge these affairs without partiality, and to inform me what i am to say to the king. such very conflicting accounts are given of these transactions that i must beg you to confide to me the secret of the affair. the wisest in the land speak so strongly of these proceedings that it will be no wonder if the king my master should give me orders to take the seignior barneveld under his protection. should this prove to be the case, your lordships will excuse my course . . . i beg you earnestly in your wisdom not to give cause of offence to neighbouring princes, especially to my sovereign, who wishes from his heart to maintain your dignity and interests and to assure you of his friendship." the language was vigorous and sincere, but the ambassador forgot that the france of to-day was not the france of yesterday; that louis xiii. was not henry iv.; that it was but a cheerful fiction to call the present king the guide and counsellor of the republic, and that, distraught as she was by the present commotions, her condition was strength and tranquillity compared with the apparently decomposing and helpless state of the once great kingdom of france. de boississe took little by his demonstration. on the th december both de boississe and du maurier came before the states-general once more, and urged a speedy and impartial trial for the illustrious prisoners. if they had committed acts of treason and rebellion, they deserved exemplary punishment, but the ambassadors warned the states-general with great earnestness against the dangerous doctrine of constructive treason, and of confounding acts dictated by violence of party spirit at an excited period with the crime of high-treason against the sovereignty of the state. "barneveld so honourable," they said, "for his immense and long continued services has both this republic and all princes and commonwealths for his witnesses. it is most difficult to believe that he has attempted the destruction of his fatherland, for which you know that he has toiled so faithfully." they admitted that so grave charges ought now to be investigated. "to this end," said the ambassadors, "you ought to give him judges who are neither suspected nor impassioned, and who will decide according to the laws of the land, and on clear and undeniable evidence . . . . so doing you will show to the whole world that you are worthy to possess and to administer this commonwealth to whose government god has called you." should they pursue another and a sterner course, the envoys warned the assembly that the king would be deeply offended, deeming it thus proved how little value they set upon his advice and his friendship. the states-general replied on the th december, assuring the ambassadors that the delay in the trial was in order to make the evidence of the great conspiracy complete, and would not tend to the prejudice of the prisoners "if they had a good consciousness of their innocence." they promised that the sentence upon them when pronounced would give entire satisfaction to all their allies and to the king of france in particular, of whom they spoke throughout the document in terms of profound respect. but they expressed their confidence that "his majesty would not place the importunate and unfounded solicitations of a few particular criminals or their supporters before the general interests of the dignity and security of the republic." on the same day the states-general addressed a letter filled with very elaborate and courteous commonplaces to the king, in which they expressed a certainty that his majesty would be entirely satisfied with their actions. the official answer of the states-general to the ambassadors, just cited, gave but little comfort to the friends of the imprisoned statesman and his companions. such expressions as "ambitious and factious spirits,"--"authors and patrons of the faction,"--"attempts at novelty through changes in religion, in justice and in the fundamental laws of all orders of polity," and the frequent mention of the word "conspiracy" boded little good. information of this condition of affairs was conveyed to hoogerbeets and grotius by means of an ingenious device of the distinguished scholar, who was then editing the latin works of the hague poet, janus secundus. while the sheets were going through the press, some of the verses were left out, and their place supplied by others conveying the intelligence which it was desired to send to the prisoners. the pages which contained the secret were stitched together in such wise that in cutting the book open they were not touched but remained closed. the verses were to this effect. "the examination of the advocate proceeds slowly, but there is good hope from the serious indignation of the french king, whose envoys are devoted to the cause of the prisoners, and have been informed that justice will be soon rendered. the states of holland are to assemble on the th january, at which a decision will certainly be taken for appointing judges. the preachers here at leyden are despised, and men are speaking strongly of war. the tumult which lately occurred at rotterdam may bring forth some good." the quick-wited grotius instantly discovered the device, read the intelligence thus communicated in the proofsheets of secundus, and made use of the system to obtain further intelligence. hoogerbeets laid the book aside, not taking much interest at that time in the works of the hague poet. constant efforts made to attract his attention to those poems however excited suspicion among his keepers, and the scheme was discovered before the leyden pensionary had found the means to profit by it.' the allusions to the trial of the advocate referred to the preliminary examination which took place, like the first interrogatories of grotius and hoogerbeets, in the months of november and december. the thorough manner in which maurice had reformed the states of holland has been described. there was one department of that body however which still required attention. the order of knights, small in number but potential in influence, which always voted first on great occasions, was still through a majority of its members inclined to barneveld. both his sons-in-law had seats in that college. the stadholder had long believed in a spirit of hostility on the part of those nobles towards himself. he knew that a short time before this epoch there had been a scheme for introducing his young brother, frederic henry, into the chamber of knights. the count had become proprietor of the barony of naaldwyk, a property which he had purchased of the counts of arenberg, and which carried with it the hereditary dignity of great equerry of the counts of holland. as the counts of holland had ceased to exist, although their sovereignty had nearly been revived and conferred upon william the silent, the office of their chief of the stables might be deemed a sinecure. but the jealousy of maurice was easily awakened, especially by any movement made or favoured by the advocate. he believed that in the election of frederic henry as a member of the college of knights a plan lay concealed to thrust him into power and to push this elder brother from his place. the scheme, if scheme it were, was never accomplished, but the prince's rancour remained. he now informed the nobles that they must receive into their body francis aerssens, who had lately purchased the barony of sommelsdyk, and daniel de hartaing, seignior of marquette. with the presence of this deadly enemy of barneveld and another gentleman equally devoted to the stadholder's interest it seemed probable that the refractory majority of the board of nobles would be overcome. but there were grave objections to the admission of these new candidates. they were not eligible. the constitution of the states and of the college of nobles prescribed that hollanders only of ancient and noble race and possessing estates in the province could sit in that body. neither aerssens nor hartaing was born in holland or possessed of the other needful qualifications. nevertheless, the prince, who had just remodelled all the municipalities throughout the union which offered resistance to his authority, was not to be checked by so trifling an impediment as the statutes of the house of nobles. he employed very much the same arguments which he had used to "good papa" hooft. "this time it must be so." another time it might not be necessary. so after a controversy which ended as controversies are apt to do when one party has a sword in his hand and the other is seated at a green-baize-covered table, sommelsdyk and marquette took their seats among the knights. of course there was a spirited protest. nothing was easier for the stadholder than to concede the principle while trampling it with his boot-heels in practice. "whereas it is not competent for the said two gentlemen to be admitted to our board," said the nobles in brief, "as not being constitutionally eligible, nevertheless, considering the strong desire of his excellency the prince of orange, we, the nobles and knights of holland, admit them with the firm promise to each other by noble and knightly faith ever in future for ourselves and descendants to maintain the privileges of our order now violated and never again to let them be directly or indirectly infringed." and so aerssens, the unscrupulous plotter, and dire foe of the advocate and all his house, burning with bitter revenge for all the favours he had received from him during many years, and the author of the venomous pamphlets and diatribes which had done so much of late to blacken the character of the great statesman before the public, now associated himself officially with his other enemies, while the preliminary proceedings for the state trials went forward. meantime the synod had met at dordtrecht. the great john bogerman, with fierce, handsome face, beak and eye of a bird of prey, and a deluge of curly brown beard reaching to his waist, took his seat as president. short work was made with the armenians. they and their five points were soon thrust out into outer darkness. it was established beyond all gainsaying that two forms of divine worship in one country were forbidden by god's word, and that thenceforth by netherland law there could be but one religion, namely, the reformed or calvinistic creed. it was settled that one portion of the netherlanders and of the rest of the human race had been expressly created by the deity to be for ever damned, and another portion to be eternally blessed. but this history has little to do with that infallible council save in the political effect of its decrees on the fate of barneveld. it was said that the canons of dordtrecht were likely to shoot off the head of the advocate. their sessions and the trial of the advocate were simultaneous, but not technically related to each other. the conclusions of both courts were preordained, for the issue of the great duel between priesthood and state had been decided when the military chieftain threw his sword into the scale of the church. there had been purposely a delay, before coming to a decision as to the fate of the state prisoners, until the work of the synod should have approached completion. it was thought good that the condemnation of the opinions of the arminians and the chastisement of their leaders should go hand-in-hand. on the rd april , the canons were signed by all the members of the synod. arminians were pronounced heretics, schismatics, teachers of false doctrines. they were declared incapable of filling any clerical or academical post. no man thenceforth was to teach children, lecture to adolescents, or preach to the mature, unless a subscriber to the doctrines of the unchanged, unchangeable, orthodox church. on the th april and st may the netherland confession and the heidelberg catechism were declared to be infallible. no change was to be possible in either formulary. schools and pulpits were inexorably bound to the only true religion. on the th may there was a great festival at dordtrecht in honour of the conclusion of the synod. the canons, the sentence, and long prayers and orations in latin by president bogerman gladdened the souls of an immense multitude, which were further enlivened by the decree that both creed and catechism had stood the test of several criticisms and come out unchanged by a single hair. nor did the orator of the occasion forget to render thanks "to the most magnanimous king james of great britain, through whose godly zeal, fiery sympathy, and truly royal labour god had so often refreshed the weary synod in the midst of their toil." the synod held one hundred and eighty sessions between the th november and th may , all the doings of which have been recorded in chronicles innumerable. there need be no further mention of them here. barneveld and the companions of his fate remained in prison. on the th march the trial of the great advocate began. he had sat in prison since the th of the preceding august. for nearly seven months he had been deprived of all communication with the outward world save such atoms of intelligence as could be secretly conveyed to him in the inside of a quill concealed in a pear and by other devices. the man who had governed one of the most important commonwealths of the world for nearly a generation long--during the same period almost controlling the politics of europe--had now been kept in ignorance of the most insignificant everyday events. during the long summer-heat of the dog-days immediately succeeding his arrest, and the long, foggy, snowy, icy winter of holland which ensued, he had been confined in that dreary garret-room to which he had been brought when he left his temporary imprisonment in the apartments of prince maurice. there was nothing squalid in the chamber, nothing specially cruel or repulsive in the arrangements of his captivity. he was not in fetters, nor fed upon bread and water. he was not put upon the rack, nor even threatened with it as ledenberg had been. he was kept in a mean, commonplace, meagerly furnished, tolerably spacious room, and he was allowed the services of his faithful domestic servant john franken. a sentinel paced day and night up the narrow corridor before his door. as spring advanced, the notes of the nightingale came through the prison-window from the neighbouring thicket. one day john franken, opening the window that his master might the better enjoy its song, exchanged greeting with a fellow-servant in the barneveld mansion who happened to be crossing the courtyard. instantly workmen were sent to close and barricade the windows, and it was only after earnest remonstrances and pledges that this resolve to consign the advocate to darkness was abandoned. he was not permitted the help of lawyer, clerk, or man of business. alone and from his chamber of bondage, suffering from bodily infirmities and from the weakness of advancing age, he was compelled to prepare his defence against a vague, heterogeneous collection of charges, to meet which required constant reference, not only to the statutes, privileges, and customs of the country and to the roman law, but to a thousand minute incidents out of which the history of the provinces during the past dozen years or more had been compounded. it is true that no man could be more familiar with the science and practice of the law than he was, while of contemporary history he was himself the central figure. his biography was the chronicle of his country. nevertheless it was a fearful disadvantage for him day by day to confront two dozen hostile judges comfortably seated at a great table piled with papers, surrounded by clerks with bags full of documents and with a library of authorities and precedents duly marked and dog's-eared and ready to their hands, while his only library and chronicle lay in his brain. from day to day, with frequent intermissions, he was led down through the narrow turret-stairs to a wide chamber on the floor immediately below his prison, where a temporary tribunal had been arranged for the special commission. there had been an inclination at first on the part of his judges to treat him as a criminal, and to require him to answer, standing, to the interrogatories propounded to him. but as the terrible old man advanced into the room, leaning on his staff, and surveying them with the air of haughty command habitual to him, they shrank before his glance; several involuntarily, rising uncovered, to salute him and making way for him to the fireplace about which many were standing that wintry morning. he was thenceforth always accommodated with a seat while he listened to and answered 'ex tempore' the elaborate series of interrogatories which had been prepared to convict him. nearly seven months he had sat with no charges brought against him. this was in itself a gross violation of the laws of the land, for according to all the ancient charters of holland it was provided that accusation should follow within six weeks of arrest, or that the prisoner should go free. but the arrest itself was so gross a violation of law that respect for it was hardly to be expected in the subsequent proceedings. he was a great officer of the states of holland. he had been taken under their especial protection. he was on his way to the high council. he was in no sense a subject of the states-general. he was in the discharge of his official duty. he was doubly and trebly sacred from arrest. the place where he stood was on the territory of holland and in the very sanctuary of her courts and house of assembly. the states-general were only as guests on her soil, and had no domain or jurisdiction there whatever. he was not apprehended by any warrant or form of law. it was in time of peace, and there was no pretence of martial law. the highest civil functionary of holland was invited in the name of its first military officer to a conference, and thus entrapped was forcibly imprisoned. at last a board of twenty-four commissioners was created, twelve from holland and two from each of the other six provinces. this affectation of concession to holland was ridiculous. either the law 'de non evocando'--according to which no citizen of holland could be taken out of the province for trial--was to be respected or it was to be trampled upon. if it was to be trampled upon, it signified little whether more commissioners were to be taken from holland than from each of the other provinces, or fewer, or none at all. moreover it was pretended that a majority of the whole board was to be assigned to that province. but twelve is not a majority of twenty-four. there were three fascals or prosecuting officers, leeuwen of utrecht, sylla of gelderland, and antony duyck of holland. duyck was notoriously the deadly enemy of barneveld, and was destined to succeed to his offices. it would have been as well to select francis aerssens himself. it was necessary to appoint a commission because there was no tribunal appertaining to the states-general. the general government of the confederacy had no power to deal with an individual. it could only negotiate with the sovereign province to which the individual was responsible, and demand his punishment if proved guilty of an offence. there was no supreme court of appeal. machinery was provided for settling or attempting to settle disputes among the members of the confederacy, and if there was a culprit in this great process it was holland itself. neither the advocate nor any one of his associates had done any act except by authority, express or implied, of that sovereign state. supposing them unquestionably guilty of blackest crimes against the generality, the dilemma was there which must always exist by the very nature of things in a confederacy. no sovereign can try a fellow sovereign. the subject can be tried at home by no sovereign but his own. the accused in this case were amenable to the laws of holland only. it was a packed tribunal. several of the commissioners, like pauw and muis for example, were personal enemies of barneveld. many of them were totally ignorant of law. some of them knew not a word of any language but their mother tongue, although much of the law which they were to administer was written in latin. before such a court the foremost citizen of the netherlands, the first living statesman of europe, was brought day by day during a period of nearly three months; coming down stairs from the mean and desolate room where he was confined to the comfortable apartment below, which had been fitted up for the commission. there was no bill of indictment, no arraignment, no counsel. there were no witnesses and no arguments. the court-room contained, as it were, only a prejudiced and partial jury to pronounce both on law and fact without a judge to direct them, or advocates to sift testimony and contend for or against the prisoner's guilt. the process, for it could not be called a trial, consisted of a vast series of rambling and tangled interrogatories reaching over a space of forty years without apparent connection or relevancy, skipping fantastically about from one period to another, back and forthwith apparently no other intent than to puzzle the prisoner, throw him off his balance, and lead him into self-contradiction. the spectacle was not a refreshing one. it was the attempt of a multitude of pigmies to overthrow and bind the giant. barneveld was served with no articles of impeachment. he asked for a list in writing of the charges against him, that he might ponder his answer. the demand was refused. he was forbidden the use of pen and ink or any writing materials. his papers and books were all taken from him. he was allowed to consult neither with an advocate nor even with a single friend. alone in his chamber of bondage he was to meditate on his defence. out of his memory and brain, and from these alone, he was to supply himself with the array of historical facts stretching over a longer period than the lifetime of many of his judges, and with the proper legal and historical arguments upon those facts for the justification of his course. that memory and brain were capacious and powerful enough for the task. it was well for the judges that they had bound themselves, at the outset, by an oath never to make known what passed in the courtroom, but to bury all the proceedings in profound secrecy forever. had it been otherwise, had that been known to the contemporary public which has only been revealed more than two centuries later, had a portion only of the calm and austere eloquence been heard in which the advocate set forth his defence, had the frivolous and ignoble nature of the attack been comprehended, it might have moved the very stones in the streets to mutiny. hateful as the statesman had been made by an organized system of calumny, which was continued with unabated vigour and increased venom sine he had been imprisoned, there was enough of justice and of gratitude left in the hearts of netherlanders to resent the tyranny practised against their greatest man, and the obloquy thus brought against a nation always devoted to their liberties and laws. that the political system of the country was miserably defective was no fault of barneveld. he was bound by oath and duty to administer, not make the laws. a handful of petty feudal sovereignties such as had once covered the soil of europe, a multitude of thriving cities which had wrested or purchased a mass of liberties, customs, and laws from their little tyrants, all subjected afterwards, without being blended together, to a single foreign family, had at last one by one, or two by two, shaken off that supremacy, and, resuming their ancient and as it were decapitated individualities, had bound themselves by treaty in the midst of a war to stand by each other, as if they were but one province, for purposes of common defence against the common foe. there had been no pretence of laying down a constitution, of enacting an organic law. the day had not come for even the conception of a popular constitution. the people had not been invented. it was not provinces only, but cities, that had contracted with each other, according to the very first words of the first article of union. some of these cities, like ghent, bruges, antwerp, were catholic by overwhelming majority, and had subsequently either fallen away from the confederacy or been conquered. and as if to make assurance doubly sure, the articles of union not only reserved to each province all powers not absolutely essential for carrying on the war in common, but by an express article (the th), declared that holland and zealand should regulate the matter of religion according to their own discretion, while the other provinces might conform to the provisions of the "religious peace" which included mutual protection for catholics and protestants--or take such other order as seemed most conducive to the religious and secular rights of the inhabitants. it was stipulated that no province should interfere with another in such matters, and that every individual in them all should remain free in his religion, no man being molested or examined on account of his creed. a farther declaration in regard to this famous article was made to the effect that no provinces or cities which held to the roman catholic religion were to be excluded from the league of union if they were ready to conform to its conditions and comport themselves patriotically. language could not be devised to declare more plainly than was done by this treaty that the central government of the league had neither wish nor right to concern itself with the religious affairs of the separate cities or provinces. if it permitted both papists and protestants to associate themselves against the common foe, it could hardly have been imagined, when the articles were drawn, that it would have claimed the exclusive right to define the minutest points in a single protestant creed. and if the exclusively secular parts of the polity prevailing in the country were clumsy, irregular, and even monstrous, and if its defects had been flagrantly demonstrated by recent events, a more reasonable method of reforming the laws might have been found than the imprisonment of a man who had faithfully administered them forty years long. a great commonwealth had grown out of a petty feudal organism, like an oak from an acorn in a crevice, gnarled and distorted, though wide-spreading and vigorous. it seemed perilous to deal radically with such a polity, and an almost timid conservatism on the part of its guardians in such an age of tempests might be pardonable. moreover, as before remarked, the apparent imbecility resulting from confederacy and municipalism combined was for a season remedied by the actual preponderance of holland. two-thirds of the total wealth and strength of the seven republics being concentrated in one province, the desired union seemed almost gained by the practical solution of all in that single republic. but this was one great cause of the general disaster. it would be a thankless and tedious task to wander through the wilderness of interrogatories and answers extending over three months of time, which stood in the place of a trial. the defence of barneveld was his own history, and that i have attempted to give in the preceding pages. a great part of the accusation was deduced from his private and official correspondence, and it is for this reason that i have laid such copious extracts from it before the reader. no man except the judges and the states-general had access to those letters, and it was easy therefore, if needful, to give them a false colouring. it is only very recently that they have been seen at all, and they have never been published from that day to this. out of the confused mass of documents appertaining to the trial, a few generalizations can be made which show the nature of the attack upon him. he was accused of having permitted arminius to infuse new opinions into the university of leyden, and of having subsequently defended the appointment of vorstius to the same place. he had opposed the national synod. he had made drafts of letters for the king of great britain to sign, recommending mutual toleration on the five disputed points regarding predestination. he was the author of the famous sharp resolution. he had recommended the enlistment by the provinces and towns of waartgelders or mercenaries. he had maintained that those mercenaries as well as the regular troops were bound in time of peace to be obedient and faithful, not only to the generality and the stadholders, but to the magistrates of the cities and provinces where they were employed, and to the states by whom they were paid. he had sent to leyden, warning the authorities of the approach of the prince. he had encouraged all the proceedings at utrecht, writing a letter to the secretary of that province advising a watch to be kept at the city gates as well as in the river, and ordering his letter when read to be burned. he had received presents from foreign potentates. he had attempted to damage the character of his excellency the prince by declaring on various occasions that he aspired to the sovereignty of the country. he had held a ciphered correspondence on the subject with foreign ministers of the republic. he had given great offence to the king of great britain by soliciting from him other letters in the sense of those which his majesty had written in , advising moderation and mutual toleration. he had not brought to condign punishment the author of 'the balance', a pamphlet in which an oration of the english ambassador had been criticised, and aspersions made on the order of the garter. he had opposed the formation of the west india company. he had said many years before to nicolas van berk that the provinces had better return to the dominion of spain. and in general, all his proceedings had tended to put the provinces into a "blood bath." there was however no accusation that he had received bribes from the enemy or held traitorous communication with him, or that he had committed any act of high-treason. his private letters to caron and to the ambassadors in paris, with which the reader has been made familiar, had thus been ransacked to find treasonable matter, but the result was meagre in spite of the minute and microscopic analysis instituted to detect traces of poison in them. but the most subtle and far-reaching research into past transactions was due to the greffier cornelis aerssens, father of the ambassador francis, and to a certain nicolas van berk, burgomaster of utrecht. the process of tale-bearing, hearsay evidence, gossip, and invention went back a dozen years, even to the preliminary and secret conferences in regard to the treaty of truce. readers familiar with the history of those memorable negotiations are aware that cornelis van aerssens had compromised himself by accepting a valuable diamond and a bill of exchange drawn by marquis spinola on a merchant in amsterdam, henry beekman by name, for , ducats. these were handed by father neyen, the secret agent of the spanish government, to the greffier as a prospective reward for his services in furthering the truce. he did not reject them, but he informed prince maurice and the advocate of the transaction. both diamond and bill of exchange were subsequently deposited in the hands of the treasurer of the states-general, joris de bie, the assembly being made officially acquainted with the whole course of the affair. it is passing strange that this somewhat tortuous business, which certainly cast a shade upon the fair fame of the elder aerssens, and required him to publish as good a defence as he could against the consequent scandal, should have furnished a weapon wherewith to strike at the advocate of holland some dozen years later. but so it was. krauwels, a relative of aerssens, through whom father neyen had first obtained access to the greffier, had stated, so it seemed, that the monk had, in addition to the bill, handed to him another draft of spinola's for , ducats, to be given to a person of more consideration than aerssens. krauwels did not know who the person was, nor whether he took the money. he expressed his surprise however that leading persons in the government "even old and authentic beggars"--should allow themselves to be so seduced as to accept presents from the enemy. he mentioned two such persons, namely, a burgomaster at delft and a burgomaster at haarlem. aerssens now deposed that he had informed the advocate of this story, who had said, "be quiet about it, i will have it investigated," and some days afterwards on being questioned stated that he had made enquiry and found there was something in it. so the fact that cornelis aerssens had taken bribes, and that two burgomasters were strongly suspected by aerssens of having taken bribes, seems to have been considered as evidence that barneveld had taken a bribe. it is true that aerssens by advice of maurice and barneveld had made a clean breast of it to the states-general and had given them over the presents. but the states-general could neither wear the diamond nor cash the bill of exchange, and it would have been better for the greffier not to contaminate his fingers with them, but to leave the gifts in the monk's palm. his revenge against the advocate for helping him out of his dilemma, and for subsequently advancing his son francis in a brilliant diplomatic career, seems to have been--when the clouds were thickening and every man's hand was against the fallen statesman--to insinuate that he was the anonymous personage who had accepted the apocryphal draft for , ducats. the case is a pregnant example of the proceedings employed to destroy the advocate. the testimony of nicolas van berk was at any rate more direct. on the st december the burgomaster testified that the advocate had once declared to him that the differences in regard to divine worship were not so great but that they might be easily composed; asking him at the same time "whether it would not be better that we should submit ourselves again to the king of spain." barneveld had also referred, so said van berk, to the conduct of the spanish king towards those who had helped him to the kingdom of portugal. the burgomaster was unable however to specify the date, year, or month in which the advocate had held this language. he remembered only that the conversation occurred when barneveld was living on the spui at the hague, and that having been let into the house through the hall on the side of the vestibule, he had been conducted by the advocate down a small staircase into the office. the only fact proved by the details seems to be that the story had lodged in the tenacious memory of the burgomaster for eight years, as barneveld had removed from the spui to arenberg house in the voorhout in the year . no other offers from the king of spain or the archdukes had ever been made to him, said van berk, than those indicated in this deposition against the advocate as coming from that statesman. nor had barneveld ever spoken to him upon such subjects except on that one occasion. it is not necessary and would be wearisome to follow the unfortunate statesman through the long line of defence which he was obliged to make, in fragmentary and irregular form, against these discursive and confused assaults upon him. a continuous argument might be built up with the isolated parts which should be altogether impregnable. it is superfluous. always instructive to his judges as he swept at will through the record of nearly half a century of momentous european history, in which he was himself a conspicuous figure, or expounding the ancient laws and customs of the country with a wealth and accuracy of illustration which testified to the strength of his memory, he seemed rather like a sage expounding law and history to a class of pupils than a criminal defending himself before a bench of commissioners. moved occasionally from his austere simplicity, the majestic old man rose to a strain of indignant eloquence which might have shaken the hall of a vast assembly and found echo in the hearts of a thousand hearers as he denounced their petty insults or ignoble insinuations; glaring like a caged lion at his tormentors, who had often shrunk before him when free, and now attempted to drown his voice by contradictions, interruptions, threats, and unmeaning howls. he protested, from the outset and throughout the proceedings, against the jurisdiction of the tribunal. the treaty of union on which the assembly and states-general were founded gave that assembly no power over him. they could take no legal cognizance of his person or his acts. he had been deprived of writing materials, or he would have already drawn up his solemn protest and argument against the existence of the commission. he demanded that they should be provided for him, together with a clerk to engross his defence. it is needless to say that the demand was refused. it was notorious to all men, he said, that on the day when violent hands were laid upon him he was not bound to the states-general by oath, allegiance, or commission. he was a well-known inhabitant of the hague, a householder there, a vassal of the commonwealth of holland, enfeoffed of many notable estates in that country, serving many honourable offices by commission from its government. by birth, promotion, and conferred dignities he was subject to the supreme authority of holland, which for forty years had been a free state possessed of all the attributes of sovereignty, political, religious, judicial, and recognizing no superior save god almighty alone. he was amenable to no tribunal save that of their mightinesses the states of holland and their ordinary judges. not only those states but the prince of orange as their governor and vassal, the nobles of holland, the colleges of justice, the regents of cities, and all other vassals, magistrates, and officers were by their respective oaths bound to maintain and protect him in these his rights. after fortifying this position by legal argument and by an array of historical facts within his own experience, and alluding to the repeated instances in which, sorely against his will, he had been solicited and almost compelled to remain in offices of which he was weary, he referred with dignity to the record of his past life. from the youthful days when he had served as a volunteer at his own expense in the perilous sieges of haarlem and leyden down to the time of his arrest, through an unbroken course of honourable and most arduous political services, embassies, and great negotiations, he had ever maintained the laws and liberties of the fatherland and his own honour unstained. that he should now in his seventy-second year be dragged, in violation of every privilege and statute of the country, by extraordinary means, before unknown judges, was a grave matter not for himself alone but for their mightinesses the states of holland and for the other provinces. the precious right 'de non evocando' had ever been dear to all the provinces, cities, and inhabitants of the netherlands. it was the most vital privilege in their possession as well in civil as criminal, in secular as in ecclesiastical affairs. when the king of spain in , and afterwards, set up an extraordinary tribunal and a course of extraordinary trials, it was an undeniable fact, he said, that on the solemn complaint of the states all princes, nobles, and citizens not only in the netherlands but in foreign countries, and all foreign kings and sovereigns, held those outrages to be the foremost and fundamental reason for taking up arms against that king, and declaring him to have forfeited his right of sovereignty. yet that monarch was unquestionably the born and accepted sovereign of each one of the provinces, while the general assembly was but a gathering of confederates and allies, in no sense sovereign. it was an unimaginable thing, he said, that the states of each province should allow their whole authority and right of sovereignty to be transferred to a board of commissioners like this before which he stood. if, for example, a general union of france, england, and the states of the united netherlands should be formed (and the very words of the act of union contemplated such possibility), what greater absurdity could there be than to suppose that a college of administration created for the specific purposes of such union would be competent to perform acts of sovereignty within each of those countries in matters of justice, polity, and religion? it was known to mankind, he said, that when negotiations were entered into for bestowing the sovereignty of the provinces on france and on england, special and full powers were required from, and furnished by, the states of each individual province. had the sovereignty been in the assembly of the states-general, they might have transferred it of their own motion or kept it for themselves. even in the ordinary course of affairs the commissioners from each province to the general assembly always required a special power from their constituents before deciding any matter of great importance. in regard to the defence of the respective provinces and cities, he had never heard it doubted, he said, that the states or the magistrates of cities had full right to provide for it by arming a portion of their own inhabitants or by enlisting paid troops. the sovereign counts of holland and bishops of utrecht certainly possessed and exercised that right for many hundred years, and by necessary tradition it passed to the states succeeding to their ancient sovereignty. he then gave from the stores of his memory innumerable instances in which soldiers had been enlisted by provinces and cities all over the netherlands from the time of the abjuration of spain down to that moment. through the whole period of independence in the time of anjou, matthias, leicester, as well as under the actual government, it had been the invariable custom thus to provide both by land and sea and on the rivers against robbers, rebels, pirates, mischief-makers, assailing thieves, domestic or foreign. it had been done by the immortal william the silent on many memorable occasions, and in fact the custom was so notorious that soldiers so enlisted were known by different and peculiar nicknames in the different provinces and towns. that the central government had no right to meddle with religious matters was almost too self-evident an axiom to prove. indeed the chief difficulty under which the advocate laboured throughout this whole process was the monstrous assumption by his judges of a political and judicial system which never had any existence even in imagination. the profound secrecy which enwrapped the proceedings from that day almost to our own and an ignorant acquiescence of a considerable portion of the public in accomplished facts offer the only explanation of a mystery which must ever excite our wonder. if there were any impeachment at all, it was an impeachment of the form of government itself. if language could mean anything whatever, a mere perusal of the articles of union proved that the prisoner had never violated that fundamental pact. how could the general government prescribe an especial formulary for the reformed church, and declare opposition to its decrees treasonable, when it did not prohibit, but absolutely admitted and invited, provinces and cities exclusively catholic to enter the union, guaranteeing to them entire liberty of religion? barneveld recalled the fact that when the stadholdership of utrecht thirty years before had been conferred on prince maurice the states of that province had solemnly reserved for themselves the disposition over religious matters in conformity with the union, and that maurice had sworn to support that resolution. five years later the prince had himself assured a deputation from brabant that the states of each province were supreme in religious matters, no interference the one with the other being justifiable or possible. in the states general in letters addressed to the states of the obedient provinces under dominion of the archdukes had invited them to take up arms to help drive the spaniards from the provinces and to join the confederacy, assuring them that they should regulate the matter of religion at their good pleasure, and that no one else should be allowed to interfere therewith. the advocate then went into an historical and critical disquisition, into which we certainly have no need to follow him, rapidly examining the whole subject of predestination and conditional and unconditional damnation from the days of st. augustine downward, showing a thorough familiarity with a subject of theology which then made up so much of the daily business of life, political and private, and lay at the bottom of the terrible convulsion then existing in the netherlands. we turn from it with a shudder, reminding the reader only how persistently the statesman then on his trial had advocated conciliation, moderation, and kindness between brethren of the reformed church who were not able to think alike on one of the subtlest and most mysterious problems that casuistry has ever propounded. for fifty years, he said, he had been an enemy of all compulsion of the human conscience. he had always opposed rigorous ecclesiastical decrees. he had done his best to further, and did not deny having inspired, the advice given in the famous letters from the king of great britain to the states in , that there should be mutual toleration and abstinence from discussion of disputed doctrines, neither of them essential to salvation. he thought that neither calvin nor beza would have opposed freedom of opinion on those points. for himself he believed that the salvation of mankind would be through god's unmerited grace and the redemption of sins though the saviour, and that the man who so held and persevered to the end was predestined to eternal happiness, and that his children dying before the age of reason were destined not to hell but to heaven. he had thought fifty years long that the passion and sacrifice of christ the saviour were more potent to salvation than god's wrath and the sin of adam and eve to damnation. he had done his best practically to avert personal bickerings among the clergy. he had been, so far as lay in his power, as friendly to remonstrants as to contra-remonstrants, to polyander and festus hommius as to uytenbogaert and episcopius. he had almost finished a negotiation with councillor kromhout for the peaceable delivery of the cloister church on the thursday preceding the sunday on which it had been forcibly seized by the contra-remonstrants. when asked by one of his judges how he presumed to hope for toleration between two parties, each of which abhorred the other's opinions, and likened each other to turks and devil-worshippers, he replied that he had always detested and rebuked those mutual revilings by every means in his power, and would have wished to put down such calumniators of either persuasion by the civil authority, but the iniquity of the times and the exasperation of men's humours had prevented him. being perpetually goaded by one judge after another as to his disrespectful conduct towards the king of great britain, and asked why his majesty had not as good right to give the advice of as the recommendation of tolerance in , he scrupulously abstained, as he had done in all his letters, from saying a disrespectful word as to the glaring inconsistency between the two communications, or to the hostility manifested towards himself personally by the british ambassador. he had always expressed the hope, he said, that the king would adhere to his original position, but did not dispute his right to change his mind, nor the good faith which had inspired his later letters. it had been his object, if possible, to reconcile the two different systems recommended by his majesty into one harmonious whole. his whole aim had been to preserve the public peace as it was the duty of every magistrate, especially in times of such excitement, to do. he could never comprehend why the toleration of the five points should be a danger to the reformed religion. rather, he thought, it would strengthen the church and attract many lutherans, baptists, catholics, and other good patriots into its pale. he had always opposed the compulsory acceptance by the people of the special opinions of scribes and doctors. he did not consider, he said, the difference in doctrine on this disputed point between the contra-remonstrants and remonstrants as one-tenth the value of the civil authority and its right to make laws and ordinances regulating ecclesiastical affairs. he believed the great bulwark of the independence of the country to be the reformed church, and his efforts had ever been to strengthen that bulwark by preventing the unnecessary schism which might prove its ruin. many questions of property, too, were involved in the question--the church buildings, lands and pastures belonging to the counts of holland and their successors--the states having always exercised the right of church patronage--'jus patronatus'--a privilege which, as well as inherited or purchased advowsons, had been of late flagrantly interfered with. he was asked if he had not said that it had never been the intention of the states-general to carry on the war for this or that religion. he replied that he had told certain clergymen expressing to him their opinion that the war had been waged solely for the furtherance of their especial shade of belief, that in his view the war had been undertaken for the conservation of the liberties and laws of the land, and of its good people. of that freedom the first and foremost point was the true christian religion and liberty of conscience and opinion. there must be religion in the republic, he had said, but that the war was carried on to sustain the opinion of one doctor of divinity or another on--differential points was something he had never heard of and could never believe. the good citizens of the country had as much right to hold by melancthon as by calvin or beza. he knew that the first proclamations in regard to the war declared it to be undertaken for freedom of conscience, and so to his, own knowledge it had been always carried on. he was asked if he had not promised during the truce negotiations so to direct matters that the catholics with time might obtain public exercise of their religion. he replied that this was a notorious falsehood and calumny, adding that it ill accorded with the proclamation against the jesuits drawn up by himself some years after the truce. he furthermore stated that it was chiefly by his direction that the discourse of president jeannin--urging on part of the french king that liberty of worship might be granted to the papists--was kept secret, copies of it not having been furnished even to the commissioners of the provinces. his indignant denial of this charge, especially taken in connection with his repeated assertions during the trial, that among the most patriotic netherlanders during and since the war were many adherents of the ancient church, seems marvellously in contradiction with his frequent and most earnest pleas for liberty of conscience. but it did not appear contradictory even to his judges nor to any contemporary. his position had always been that the civil authority of each province was supreme in all matters political or ecclesiastical. the states-general, all the provinces uniting in the vote, had invited the catholic provinces on more than one occasion to join the union, promising that there should be no interference on the part of any states or individuals with the internal affairs religious or otherwise of the provinces accepting the invitation. but it would have been a gross contradiction of his own principle if he had promised so to direct matters that the catholics should have public right of worship in holland where he knew that the civil authority was sure to refuse it, or in any of the other six provinces in whose internal affairs he had no voice whatever. he was opposed to all tyranny over conscience, he would have done his utmost to prevent inquisition into opinion, violation of domicile, interference with private worship, compulsory attendance in protestant churches of those professing the roman creed. this was not attempted. no catholic was persecuted on account of his religion. compared with the practice in other countries this was a great step in advance. religious tolerance lay on the road to religious equality, a condition which had hardly been imagined then and scarcely exists in europe even to this day. but among the men in history whose life and death contributed to the advancement of that blessing, it would be vain to deny that barneveld occupies a foremost place. moreover, it should be remembered that religious equality then would have been a most hazardous experiment. so long as church and state were blended, it was absolutely essential at that epoch for the preservation of protestantism to assign the predominance to the state. should the catholics have obtained religious equality, the probable result would before long have been religious inequality, supremacy of the catholics in the church, and supremacy of the church over the state. the fruits of the forty years' war would have become dust and ashes. it would be mere weak sentimentalism to doubt--after the bloody history which had just closed and the awful tragedy, then reopening--that every spark of religious liberty would have soon been trodden out in the netherlands. the general onslaught of the league with ferdinand, maximilian of bavaria, and philip of spain at its head against the distracted, irresolute, and wavering line of protestantism across the whole of europe was just preparing. rather a wilderness to reign over than a single heretic, was the war-cry of the emperor. the king of spain, as we have just been reading in his most secret, ciphered despatches to the archduke at brussels, was nursing sanguine hopes and weaving elaborate schemes for recovering his dominion over the united netherlands, and proposing to send an army of jesuits thither to break the way to the reconquest. to play into his hands then, by granting public right of worship to the papists, would have been in barneveld's opinion like giving up julich and other citadels in the debatable land to spain just as the great war between catholicism and protestantism was breaking out. there had been enough of burning and burying alive in the netherlands during the century which had closed. it was not desirable to give a chance for their renewal now. in regard to the synod, barneveld justified his course by a simple reference to the th article of the union. words could not more plainly prohibit the interference by the states-general with the religious affairs of any one of the provinces than had been done by that celebrated clause. in there had been an attempt made to amend that article by insertion of a pledge to maintain the evangelical, reformed, religion solely, but it was never carried out. he disdained to argue so self-evident a truth, that a confederacy which had admitted and constantly invited catholic states to membership, under solemn pledge of noninterference with their religious affairs, had no right to lay down formulas for the reformed church throughout all the netherlands. the oath of stadholder and magistrates in holland to maintain the reformed religion was framed before this unhappy controversy on predestination had begun, and it was mere arrogant assumption on the part of the contra-remonstrants to claim a monopoly of that religion, and to exclude the remonstrants from its folds. he had steadily done his utmost to assuage those dissensions while maintaining the laws which he was sworn to support. he had advocated a provincial synod to be amicably assisted by divines from neighbouring countries. he had opposed a national synod unless unanimously voted by the seven provinces, because it would have been an open violation of the fundamental law of the confederacy, of its whole spirit, and of liberty of conscience. he admitted that he had himself drawn up a protest on the part of three provinces (holland, utrecht, and overyssel) against the decree for the national synod as a breach of the union, declaring it to be therefore null and void and binding upon no man. he had dictated the protest as oldest member present, while grotius as the youngest had acted as scribe. he would have supported the synod if legally voted, but would have preferred the convocation, under the authority of all the provinces, of a general, not a national, synod, in which, besides clergy and laymen from the netherlands, deputations from all protestant states and churches should take part; a kind of protestant oecumenical council. as to the enlistment, by the states of a province, of soldiers to keep the peace and suppress tumults in its cities during times of political and religious excitement, it was the most ordinary of occurrences. in his experience of more than forty years he had never heard the right even questioned. it was pure ignorance of law and history to find it a novelty. to hire temporarily a sufficient number of professional soldiers, he considered a more wholesome means of keeping the peace than to enlist one portion of the citizens of a town against another portion, when party and religious spirit was running high. his experience had taught him that the mutual hatred of the inhabitants, thus inflamed, became more lasting and mischievous than the resentment caused through suppression of disorder by an armed and paid police of strangers. it was not only the right but the most solemn duty of the civil authority to preserve the tranquillity, property, and lives of citizens committed to their care. "i have said these fifty years," said barneveld, "that it is better to be governed by magistrates than mobs. i have always maintained and still maintain that the most disastrous, shameful, and ruinous condition into which this land can fall is that in which the magistrates are overcome by the rabble of the towns and receive laws from them. nothing but perdition can follow from that." there had been good reason to believe that the french garrisons as well as some of the train bands could not be thoroughly relied upon in emergencies like those constantly breaking out, and there had been advices of invasion by sympathizers from neighbouring countries. in many great cities the civil authority had been trampled upon and mob rule had prevailed. certainly the recent example in the great commercial capital of the country--where the house of a foremost citizen had been besieged, stormed, and sacked, and a virtuous matron of the higher class hunted like a wild beast through the streets by a rabble grossly ignorant of the very nature of the religious quibble which had driven them mad, pelted with stones, branded with vilest names, and only saved by accident from assassination, while a church-going multitude looked calmly on--with constantly recurring instances in other important cities were sufficient reasons for the authorities to be watchful. he denied that he had initiated the proceedings at utrecht in conversation with ledenberg or any one else, but he had not refused, he said, his approval of the perfectly legal measures adopted for keeping the peace there when submitted to him. he was himself a born citizen of that province, and therefore especially interested in its welfare, and there was an old and intimate friendship between utrecht and holland. it would have been painful to him to see that splendid city in the control of an ignorant mob, making use of religious problems, which they did not comprehend, to plunder the property and take the lives of peaceful citizens more comfortably housed than themselves. he had neither suggested nor controlled the proceedings at utrecht. on the contrary, at an interview with the prince and count william on the th july, and in the presence of nearly thirty members of the general assembly, he had submitted a plan for cashiering the enlisted soldiery and substituting for them other troops, native-born, who should be sworn in the usual form to obey the laws of the union. the deputation from holland to utrecht, according to his personal knowledge, had received no instructions personal or oral to authorize active steps by the troops of the holland quota, but to abstain from them and to request the prince that they should not be used against the will and commands of the states of utrecht, whom they were bound by oath to obey so long as they were in garrison there. no man knew better than he whether the military oath which was called new-fangled were a novelty or not, for he had himself, he said, drawn it up thirty years before at command of the states-general by whom it was then ordained. from that day to this he had never heard a pretence that it justified anything not expressly sanctioned by the articles of union, and neither the states of holland nor those of utrecht had made any change in the oath. the states of utrecht were sovereign within their own territory, and in the time of peace neither the prince of orange without their order nor the states-general had the right to command the troops in their territory. the governor of a province was sworn to obey the laws of the province and conform to the articles of the general union. he was asked why he wrote the warning letter to ledenberg, and why he was so anxious that the letter should be burned; as if that were a deadly offence. he said that he could not comprehend why it should be imputed to him as a crime that he wished in such turbulent times to warn so important a city as utrecht, the capital of his native province, against tumults, disorders, and sudden assaults such as had often happened to her in times past. as for the postscript requesting that the letter might be put in the fire, he said that not being a member of, the government of that province he was simply unwilling to leave a record that "he had been too curious in aliens republics, although that could hardly be considered a grave offence." in regard to the charge that he had accused prince maurice of aspiring to the sovereignty of the country, he had much to say. he had never brought such accusation in public or private. he had reason to believe however--he had indeed convincing proofs--that many people, especially those belonging to the contra-remonstrant party, cherished such schemes. he had never sought to cast suspicion on the prince himself on account of those schemes. on the contrary, he had not even formally opposed them. what he wished had always been that such projects should be discussed formally, legally, and above board. after the lamentable murder of the late prince he had himself recommended to the authorities of some of the cities that the transaction for bestowing the sovereignty of holland upon william, interrupted by his death, "should be completed in favour of prince maurice in despite of the spaniard." recently he had requested grotius to look up the documents deposited in rotterdam belonging to this affair, in order that they might be consulted. he was asked whether according to buzenval, the former french ambassador, prince maurice had not declared he would rather fling himself from the top of the hague tower than accept the sovereignty. barneveld replied that the prince according to the same authority had added "under the conditions which had been imposed upon his father;" a clause which considerably modified the self-denying statement. it was desirable therefore to search the acts for the limitations annexed to the sovereignty. three years long there had been indications from various sources that a party wished to change the form of government. he had not heard nor ever intimated that the prince suggested such intrigues. in anonymous pamphlets and common street and tavern conversations the contra-remonstrants were described by those of their own persuasion as "prince's beggars" and the like. he had received from foreign countries information worthy of attention, that it was the design of the contra-remonstrants to raise the prince to the sovereignty. he had therefore in brought the matter before the nobles and cities in a communication setting forth to the best of his recollection that under these religious disputes something else was intended. he had desired ripe conclusions on the matter, such as should most conduce to the service of the country. this had been in good faith both to the prince and the provinces, in order that, should a change in the government be thought desirable, proper and peaceful means might be employed to bring it about. he had never had any other intention than to sound the inclinations of those with whom he spoke, and he had many times since that period, by word of mouth and in writing, so lately as the month of april last assured the prince that he had ever been his sincere and faithful servant and meant to remain so to the end of his life, desiring therefore that he would explain to him his wishes and intentions. subsequently he had publicly proposed in full assembly of holland that the states should ripely deliberate and roundly declare if they were discontented with the form of government, and if so, what change they would desire. he had assured their mightinesses that they might rely upon him to assist in carrying out their intentions whatever they might be. he had inferred however from the prince's intimations, when he had broached the subject to him in , that he was not inclined towards these supposed projects, and had heard that opinion distinctly expressed from the mouth of count william. that the contra-remonstrants secretly entertained these schemes, he had been advised from many quarters, at home and abroad. in the year he had received information to that effect from france. certain confidential counsellors of the prince had been with him recently to confer on the subject. he had told them that, if his excellency chose to speak to him in regard to it, would listen to his reasoning about it, both as regarded the interests of the country and the prince himself, and then should desire him to propose and advocate it before the assembly, he would do so with earnestness, zeal, and affection. he had desired however that, in case the attempt failed, the prince would allow him to be relieved from service and to leave the country. what he wished from the bottom of his heart was that his excellency would plainly discover to him the exact nature of his sentiments in regard to the business. he fully admitted receiving a secret letter from ambassador langerac, apprising him that a man of quality in france had information of the intention of the contra-remonstrants throughout the provinces, should they come into power, to raise prince maurice to the sovereignty. he had communicated on the subject with grotius and other deputies in order that, if this should prove to be the general inclination, the affair might be handled according to law, without confusion or disorder. this, he said, would be serving both the country and the prince most judiciously. he was asked why he had not communicated directly with maurice. he replied that he had already seen how unwillingly the prince heard him allude to the subject, and that moreover there was another clause in the letter of different meaning, and in his view worthy of grave consideration by the states. no question was asked him as to this clause, but we have seen that it referred to the communication by du agean to langerac of a scheme for bestowing the sovereignty of the provinces on the king of france. the reader will also recollect that barneveld had advised the ambassador to communicate the whole intelligence to the prince himself. barneveld proceeded to inform the judges that he had never said a word to cast suspicion upon the prince, but had been actuated solely by the desire to find out the inclination of the states. the communications which he had made on the subject were neither for discrediting the prince nor for counteracting the schemes for his advancement. on the contrary, he had conferred with deputies from great cities like dordtrecht, enkhuyzen, and amsterdam, most devoted to the contra-remonstrant party, and had told them that, if they chose to propose the subject themselves, he would conduct himself to the best of his abilities in accordance with the wishes of the prince. it would seem almost impossible for a statesman placed in barneveld's position to bear himself with more perfect loyalty both to the country and to the stadholder. his duty was to maintain the constitution and laws so long as they remained unchanged. should it appear that the states, which legally represented the country, found the constitution defective, he was ready to aid in its amendment by fair public and legal methods. if maurice wished to propose himself openly as a candidate for the sovereignty, which had a generation before been conferred upon his father, barneveld would not only acquiesce in the scheme, but propose it. should it fail, he claimed the light to lay down all his offices and go into exile. he had never said that the prince was intriguing for, or even desired, the sovereignty. that the project existed among the party most opposed to himself, he had sufficient proof. to the leaders of that party therefore he suggested that the subject should be publicly discussed, guaranteeing freedom of debate and his loyal support so far as lay within his power. this was his answer to the accusation that he had meanly, secretly, and falsely circulated statements that the prince was aspiring to the sovereignty. [great pains were taken, in the course of the interrogatories, to elicit proof that the advocate had concealed important diplomatic information from the prince. he was asked why, in his secret instructions to ambassador langerac, he ordered him by an express article to be very cautious about making communications to the prince. searching questions were put in regard to these secret instructions, which i have read in the archives, and a copy of which now lies before me. they are in the form of questions, some of them almost puerile ones, addressed to barneveld by the ambassador then just departing on his mission to france in , with the answers written in the margin by the advocate. the following is all that has reference to the prince: "of what matters may i ordinarily write to his excellency?" answer--"of all great and important matters." it was difficult to find much that was treasonable in that.] among the heterogeneous articles of accusation he was asked why he had given no attention to those who had so, frequently proposed the formation of the west india company. he replied that it had from old time been the opinion of the states of holland, and always his own, that special and private licenses for traffic, navigation, and foreign commerce, were prejudicial to the welfare of the land. he had always been most earnestly opposed to them, detesting monopolies which interfered with that free trade and navigation which should be common to all mankind. he had taken great pains however in the years and to study the nature of the navigation and trade to the east indies in regard to the nations to be dealt with in those regions, the nature of the wares bought and sold there, the opposition to be encountered from the spaniards and portuguese against the commerce of the netherlanders, and the necessity of equipping vessels both for traffic and defence, and had come to the conclusion that these matters could best be directed by a general company. he explained in detail the manner in which he had procured the blending of all the isolated chambers into one great east india corporation, the enormous pains which it had cost him to bring it about, and the great commercial and national success which had been the result. the admiral of aragon, when a prisoner after the battle of nieuwpoort, had told him, he said, that the union of these petty corporations into one great whole had been as disastrous a blow to the kingdoms of spain and portugal as the union of the provinces at utrecht had been. in regard to the west india company, its sole object, so far as he could comprehend it, had been to equip armed vessels, not for trade but to capture and plunder spanish merchantmen and silver fleets in the west indies and south america. this was an advantageous war measure which he had favoured while the war lasted. it was in no sense a commercial scheme however, and when the truce had been made--the company not having come into existence--he failed to comprehend how its formation could be profitable for the netherlanders. on the contrary it would expressly invite or irritate the spaniards into a resumption of the war, an object which in his humble opinion was not at all desirable. certainly these ideas were not especially reprehensible, but had they been as shallow and despicable as they seem to us enlightened, it is passing strange that they should have furnished matter for a criminal prosecution. it was doubtless a disappointment for the promoters of the company, the chief of whom was a bankrupt, to fail in obtaining their charter, but it was scarcely high-treason to oppose it. there is no doubt however that the disapprobation with which barneveld regarded the west india company, the seat of which was at amsterdam, was a leading cause of the deadly hostility entertained for him by the great commercial metropolis. it was bad enough for the advocate to oppose unconditional predestination and the damnation of infants, but to frustrate a magnificent system of privateering on the spaniards in time of truce was an unpardonable crime. the patience with which the venerable statesman submitted to the taunts, ignorant and insolent cross-questionings, and noisy interruptions of his judges, was not less remarkable than the tenacity of memory which enabled him thus day after day, alone, unaided by books, manuscripts, or friendly counsel, to reconstruct the record of forty years, and to expound the laws of the land by an array of authorities, instances, and illustrations in a manner that would be deemed masterly by one who had all the resources of libraries, documents, witnesses, and secretaries at command. only when insidious questions were put tending to impute to him corruption, venality, and treacherous correspondence with the enemy--for they never once dared formally to accuse him of treason--did that almost superhuman patience desert him. he was questioned as to certain payments made by him to a certain van der vecken in spanish coin. he replied briefly at first that his money transactions with that man of business extended over a period of twenty or thirty years, and amounted to many hundred thousands of florins, growing out of purchases and sales of lands, agricultural enterprises on his estates, moneys derived from his professional or official business and the like. it was impossible for him to remember the details of every especial money payment that might have occurred between them. then suddenly breaking forth into a storm of indignation; he could mark from these questions, he said, that his enemies, not satisfied with having wounded his heart with their falsehoods, vile forgeries, and honour-robbing libels, were determined to break it. this he prayed that god almighty might avert and righteously judge between him and them. it was plain that among other things they were alluding to the stale and senseless story of the sledge filled with baskets of coin sent by the spanish envoys on their departure from the hague, on conclusion of the truce, to defray expenses incurred by them for board and lodging of servants, forage of horses, and the like-which had accidentally stopped at barneveld's door and was forthwith sent on to john spronssen, superintendent of such affairs. passing over this wanton bit of calumny with disgust, he solemnly asserted that he had never at any period of his life received one penny nor the value of one penny from the king of spain, the archdukes, spinola, or any other person connected with the enemy, saving only the presents publicly and mutually conferred according to invariable custom by the high contracting parties, upon the respective negotiators at conclusion of the treaty of truce. even these gifts barneveld had moved his colleagues not to accept, but proposed that they should all be paid into the public treasury. he had been overruled, he said, but that any dispassionate man of tolerable intelligence could imagine him, whose whole life had been a perpetual offence to spain, to be in suspicious relations with that power seemed to him impossible. the most intense party spirit, yea, envy itself, must confess that he had been among the foremost to take up arms for his country's liberties, and had through life never faltered in their defence. and once more in that mean chamber, and before a row of personal enemies calling themselves judges, he burst into an eloquent and most justifiable sketch of the career of one whom there was none else to justify and so many to assail. from his youth, he said, he had made himself by his honourable and patriotic deeds hopelessly irreconcilable with the spaniards. he was one of the advocates practising in the supreme court of holland, who in the very teeth of the duke of alva had proclaimed him a tyrant and had sworn obedience to the prince of orange as the lawful governor of the land. he was one of those who in the same year had promoted and attended private gatherings for the advancement of the reformed religion. he had helped to levy, and had contributed to, funds for the national defence in the early days of the revolt. these were things which led directly to the council of blood and the gibbet. he had borne arms himself on various bloody fields and had been perpetually a deputy to the rebel camps. he had been the original mover of the treaty of union which was concluded between the provinces at utrecht. he had been the first to propose and to draw up the declaration of netherland independence and the abjuration of the king of spain. he had been one of those who had drawn and passed the act establishing the late prince of orange as stadholder. of the sixty signers of these memorable declarations none were now living save himself and two others. when the prince had been assassinated, he had done his best to secure for his son maurice the sovereign position of which murder had so suddenly deprived the father. he had been member of the memorable embassies to france and england by which invaluable support for the struggling provinces had been obtained. and thus he rapidly sketched the history of the great war of independence in which he had ever been conspicuously employed on the patriotic side. when the late king of france at the close of the century had made peace with spain, he had been sent as special ambassador to that monarch, and had prevailed on him, notwithstanding his treaty with the enemy, to continue his secret alliance with the states and to promise them a large subsidy, pledges which had been sacredly fulfilled. it was on that occasion that henry, who was his debtor for past services, professional, official, and perfectly legitimate, had agreed, when his finances should be in better condition, to discharge his obligations; over and above the customary diplomatic present which he received publicly in common with his colleague admiral nassau. this promise, fulfilled a dozen years later, had been one of the senseless charges of corruption brought against him. he had been one of the negotiators of the truce in which spain had been compelled to treat with her revolted provinces as with free states and her equals. he had promoted the union of the protestant princes and their alliance with france and the united states in opposition to the designs of spain and the league. he had organized and directed the policy by which the forces of england, france, and protestant germany had possessed themselves of the debateable land. he had resisted every scheme by which it was hoped to force the states from their hold of those important citadels. he had been one of the foremost promoters of the east india company, an organization which the spaniards confessed had been as damaging to them as the union of the provinces itself had been. the idiotic and circumstantial statements, that he had conducted burgomaster van berk through a secret staircase of his house into his private study for the purpose of informing him that the only way for the states to get out of the war was to submit themselves once more to their old masters, so often forced upon him by the judges, he contradicted with disdain and disgust. he had ever abhorred and dreaded, he said, the house of spain, austria, and burgundy. his life had passed in open hostility to that house, as was known to all mankind. his mere personal interests, apart from higher considerations, would make an approach to the former sovereign impossible, for besides the deeds he had already alluded to, he had committed at least twelve distinct and separate acts, each one of which would be held high-treason by the house of austria, and he had learned from childhood that these are things which monarchs never forget. the tales of van berk were those of a personal enemy, falsehoods scarcely worth contradicting. he was grossly and enormously aggrieved by the illegal constitution of the commission. he had protested and continued to protest against it. if that protest were unheeded, he claimed at least that those men should be excluded from the board and the right to sit in judgment upon his person and his deeds who had proved themselves by words and works to be his capital enemies, of which fact he could produce irrefragable evidence. he claimed that the supreme court of holland, or the high council, or both together, should decide upon that point. he held as his personal enemies, he said, all those who had declared that he, before or since the truce down to the day of his arrest, had held correspondence with the spaniards, the archdukes, the marquis spinola, or any one on that side, had received money, money value, or promises of money from them, and in consequence had done or omitted to do anything whatever. he denounced such tales as notorious, shameful, and villainous falsehoods, the utterers and circulators of them as wilful liars, and this he was ready to maintain in every appropriate way for the vindication of the truth and his own honour. he declared solemnly before god almighty to the states-general and to the states of holland that his course in the religious matter had been solely directed to the strengthening of the reformed religion and to the political security of the provinces and cities. he had simply desired that, in the awful and mysterious matter of predestination, the consciences of many preachers and many thousands of good citizens might be placed in tranquillity, with moderate and christian limitations against all excesses. from all these reasons, he said, the commissioners, the states-general, the prince, and every man in the land could clearly see, and were bound to see, that he was the same man now that he was at the beginning of the war, had ever been, and with god's help should ever remain. the proceedings were kept secret from the public and, as a matter of course, there had been conflicting rumours from day to day as to the probable result of these great state trials. in general however it was thought that the prisoner would be acquitted of the graver charges, or that at most he would be permanently displaced from all office and declared incapable thenceforth to serve the state. the triumph of the contra-remonstrants since the stadholder had placed himself at the head of them, and the complete metamorphosis of the city governments even in the strongholds of the arminian party seemed to render the permanent political disgrace of the advocate almost a matter of certainty. the first step that gave rise to a belief that he might be perhaps more severely dealt with than had been anticipated was the proclamation by the states-general of a public fast and humiliation for the th april. in this document it was announced that "church and state--during several years past having been brought into great danger of utter destruction through certain persons in furtherance of their ambitious designs--had been saved by the convocation of a national synod; that a lawful sentence was soon to be expected upon those who had been disturbing the commonwealth; that through this sentence general tranquillity would probably be restored; and that men were now to thank god for this result, and pray to him that he would bring the wicked counsels and stratagems of the enemy against these provinces to naught." all the prisoners were asked if they too would like in their chambers of bondage to participate in the solemnity, although the motive for the fasting and prayer was not mentioned to them. each of them in his separate prison room, of course without communication together, selected the th psalm and sang it with his servant and door-keeper. from the date of this fast-day barneveld looked upon the result of his trial as likely to be serious. many clergymen refused or objected to comply with the terms of this declaration. others conformed with it greedily, and preached lengthy thanksgiving sermons, giving praise to god that, he had confounded the devices of the ambitious and saved the country from the "blood bath" which they had been preparing for it. the friends of barneveld became alarmed at the sinister language of this proclamation, in which for the first time allusions had been made to a forthcoming sentence against the accused. especially the staunch and indefatigable du maurier at once addressed himself again to the states-general. de boississe had returned to france, having found that the government of a country torn, weakened, and rendered almost impotent by its own internecine factions, was not likely to exert any very potent influence on the fate of the illustrious prisoner. the states had given him to understand that they were wearied with his perpetual appeals, intercessions, and sermons in behalf of mercy. they made him feel in short that lewis xiii. and henry iv. were two entirely different personages. du maurier however obtained a hearing before the assembly on the st may, where he made a powerful and manly speech in presence of the prince, urging that the prisoners ought to be discharged unless they could be convicted of treason, and that the states ought to show as much deference to his sovereign as they had always done to elizabeth of england. he made a personal appeal to prince maurice, urging upon him how much it would redound to his glory if he should now in generous and princely fashion step forward in behalf of those by whom he deemed himself to have been personally offended. his speech fell upon ears hardened against such eloquence and produced no effect. meantime the family of barneveld, not yet reduced to despair, chose to take a less gloomy view of the proclamation. relying on the innocence of the great statesman, whose aims, in their firm belief, had ever been for the welfare and glory of his fatherland, and in whose heart there had never been kindled one spark of treason, they bravely expected his triumphant release from his long and, as they deemed it, his iniquitous imprisonment. on this very st of may, in accordance with ancient custom, a may-pole was erected on the voorhout before the mansion of the captive statesman, and wreaths of spring flowers and garlands of evergreen decorated the walls within which were such braised and bleeding hearts. these demonstrations of a noble hypocrisy, if such it were, excited the wrath, not the compassion, of the stadholder, who thought that the aged matron and her sons and daughters, who dwelt in that house of mourning, should rather have sat in sackcloth with ashes on their heads than indulge in these insolent marks of hope and joyful expectation. it is certain however that count william lewis, who, although most staunch on the contra-remonstrant side, had a veneration for the advocate and desired warmly to save him, made a last and strenuous effort for that purpose. it was believed then, and it seems almost certain, that, if the friends of the advocate had been willing to implore pardon for him, the sentence would have been remitted or commuted. their application would have been successful, for through it his guilt would seem to be acknowledged. count william sent for the fiscal duyck. he asked him if there were no means of saving the life of a man who was so old and had done the country so much service. after long deliberation, it was decided that prince maurice should be approached on the subject. duyck wished that the count himself would speak with his cousin, but was convinced by his reasoning that it would be better that the fiscal should do it. duyck had a long interview accordingly with maurice, which was followed by a very secret one between them both and count william. the three were locked up together, three hours long, in the prince's private cabinet. it was then decided that count william should go, as if of his own accord, to the princess-dowager louise, and induce her to send for some one of barneveld's children and urge that the family should ask pardon for him. she asked if this was done with the knowledge of the prince of orange, or whether he would not take it amiss. the count eluded the question, but implored her to follow his advice. the result was an interview between the princess and madame de groeneveld, wife of the eldest son. that lady was besought to apply, with the rest of the advocate's children, for pardon to the lords states, but to act as if it were done of her own impulse, and to keep their interview profoundly secret. madame de groeneveld took time to consult the other members of the family and some friends. soon afterwards she came again to the princess, and informed her that she had spoken with the other children, and that they could not agree to the suggestion. "they would not move one step in it--no, not if it should cost him his head." the princess reported the result of this interview to count william, at which both were so distressed that they determined to leave the hague. there is something almost superhuman in the sternness of this stoicism. yet it lay in the proud and highly tempered character of the netherlanders. there can be no doubt that the advocate would have expressly dictated this proceeding if he had been consulted. it was precisely the course adopted by himself. death rather than life with a false acknowledgment of guilt and therefore with disgrace. the loss of his honour would have been an infinitely greater triumph to his enemies than the loss of his head. there was no delay in drawing up the sentence. previously to this interview with the widow of william the silent, the family of the advocate had presented to the judges three separate documents, rather in the way of arguments than petitions, undertaking to prove by elaborate reasoning and citations of precedents and texts of the civil law that the proceedings against him were wholly illegal, and that he was innocent of every crime. no notice had been taken of those appeals. upon the questions and answers as already set forth the sentence soon followed, and it may be as well that the reader should be aware, at this point in the narrative, of the substance of that sentence so soon to be pronounced. there had been no indictment, no specification of crime. there had been no testimony or evidence. there had been no argument for the prosecution or the defence. there had been no trial whatever. the prisoner was convicted on a set of questions to which he had put in satisfactory replies. he was sentenced on a preamble. the sentence was a string of vague generalities, intolerably long, and as tangled as the interrogatories. his proceedings during a long career had on the whole tended to something called a "blood bath"--but the blood bath had never occurred. with an effrontery which did not lack ingenuity, barneveld's defence was called by the commissioners his confession, and was formally registered as such in the process and the sentence; while the fact that he had not been stretched upon the rack during his trial, nor kept in chains for the eight months of his imprisonment, were complacently mentioned as proofs of exceptionable indulgence. "whereas the prisoner john of barneveld," said the sentence, "without being put to the torture and without fetters of iron, has confessed . . . to having perturbed religion, greatly afflicted the church of god, and carried into practice exorbitant and pernicious maxims of state . . . inculcating by himself and accomplices that each province had the right to regulate religious affairs within its own territory, and that other provinces were not to concern themselves therewith"--therefore and for many other reasons he merited punishment. he had instigated a protest by vote of three provinces against the national synod. he had despised the salutary advice of many princes and notable personages. he had obtained from the king of great britain certain letters furthering his own opinions, the drafts of which he had himself suggested, and corrected and sent over to the states' ambassador in london, and when written out, signed, and addressed by the king to the states-general, had delivered them without stating how they had been procured. afterwards he had attempted to get other letters of a similar nature from the king, and not succeeding had defamed his majesty as being a cause of the troubles in the provinces. he had permitted unsound theologians to be appointed to church offices, and had employed such functionaries in political affairs as were most likely to be the instruments of his own purposes. he had not prevented vigorous decrees from being enforced in several places against those of the true religion. he had made them odious by calling them puritans, foreigners, and "flanderizers," although the united provinces had solemnly pledged to each other their lives, fortunes, and blood by various conventions, to some of which the prisoner was himself a party, to maintain the reformed, evangelical, religion only, and to, suffer no change in it to be made for evermore. in order to carry out his design and perturb the political state of the provinces he had drawn up and caused to be enacted the sharp resolution of th august . he had thus nullified the ordinary course of justice. he had stimulated the magistrates to disobedience, and advised them to strengthen themselves with freshly enlisted military companies. he had suggested new-fangled oaths for the soldiers, authorizing them to refuse obedience to the states-general and his excellency. he had especially stimulated the proceedings at utrecht. when it was understood that the prince was to pass through utrecht, the states of that province not without the prisoner's knowledge had addressed a letter to his excellency, requesting him not to pass through their city. he had written a letter to ledenberg suggesting that good watch should be held at the town gates and up and down the river lek. he had desired that ledenberg having read that letter should burn it. he had interfered with the cashiering of the mercenaries at utrecht. he had said that such cashiering without the consent of the states of that province was an act of force which would justify resistance by force. although those states had sent commissioners to concert measures with the prince for that purpose, he had advised them to conceal their instructions until his own plan for the disbandment could be carried out. at a secret meeting in the house of tresel, clerk of the states-general, between grotius, hoogerbeets, and other accomplices, it was decided that this advice should be taken. report accordingly was made to the prisoner. he had advised them to continue in their opposition to the national synod. he had sought to calumniate and blacken his excellency by saying that he aspired to the sovereignty of the provinces. he had received intelligence on that subject from abroad in ciphered letters. he had of his own accord rejected a certain proposed, notable alliance of the utmost importance to this republic. [this refers, i think without doubt, to the conversation between king james and caron at the end of the year .] he had received from foreign potentates various large sums of money and other presents. all "these proceedings tended to put the city of utrecht into a blood-bath, and likewise to bring the whole country, and the person of his excellency into the uttermost danger." this is the substance of the sentence, amplified by repetitions and exasperating tautology into thirty or forty pages. it will have been perceived by our analysis of barneveld's answers to the commissioners that all the graver charges which he was now said to have confessed had been indignantly denied by him or triumphantly justified. it will also be observed that he was condemned for no categorical crime--lese-majesty, treason, or rebellion. the commissioners never ventured to assert that the states-general were sovereign, or that the central government had a right to prescribe a religious formulary for all the united provinces. they never dared to say that the prisoner had been in communication with the enemy or had received bribes from him. of insinuation and implication there was much, of assertion very little, of demonstration nothing whatever. but supposing that all the charges had been admitted or proved, what course would naturally be taken in consequence? how was a statesman who adhered to the political, constitutional, and religious opinions on which he had acted, with the general acquiescence, during a career of more than forty years, but which were said to be no longer in accordance with public opinion, to be dealt with? would the commissioners request him to retire honourably from the high functions which he had over and over again offered to resign? would they consider that, having fairly impeached and found him guilty of disturbing the public peace by continuing to act on his well-known legal theories, they might deprive him summarily of power and declare him incapable of holding office again? the conclusion of the commissioners was somewhat more severe than either of these measures. their long rambling preamble ended with these decisive words: "therefore the judges, in name of the lords states-general, condemn the prisoner to be taken to the binnenhof, there to be executed with the sword that death may follow, and they declare all his property confiscated." the execution was to take place so soon as the sentence had been read to the prisoner. after the st of may barneveld had not appeared before his judges. he had been examined in all about sixty times. in the beginning of may his servant became impatient. "you must not be impatient," said his master. "the time seems much longer because we get no news now from the outside. but the end will soon come. this delay cannot last for ever." intimation reached him on saturday the th may that the sentence was ready and would soon be pronounced. "it is a bitter folk," said barneveld as he went to bed. "i have nothing good to expect of them." next day was occupied in sewing up and concealing his papers, including a long account of his examination, with the questions and answers, in his spanish arm-chair. next day van der meulen said to the servant, "i will bet you a hundred florins that you'll not be here next thursday." the faithful john was delighted, not dreaming of the impending result. it was sunday afternoon, th may, and about half past five o'clock. barneveld sat in his prison chamber, occupied as usual in writing, reviewing the history of the past, and doing his best to reduce into something like order the rambling and miscellaneous interrogatories, out of which his trial had been concocted, while the points dwelt in his memory, and to draw up a concluding argument in his own defence. work which according to any equitable, reasonable, or even decent procedure should have been entrusted to the first lawyers of the country--preparing the case upon the law and the facts with the documents before them, with the power of cross-questioning witnesses and sifting evidence, and enlightened by constant conferences with the illustrious prisoner himself--came entirely upon his own shoulders, enfeebled as he was by age, physical illness, and by the exhaustion of along imprisonment. without books, notes of evidence, or even copies of the charges of which he stood accused, he was obliged to draw up his counter-arguments against the impeachment and then by aid of a faithful valet to conceal his manuscript behind the tapestry of the chamber, or cause them to be sewed up in the lining of his easy-chair, lest they should be taken from him by order of the judges who sat in the chamber below. while he was thus occupied in preparations for his next encounter with the tribunal, the door opened, and three gentlemen entered. two were the prosecuting officers of the government, fiscal sylla and fiscal van leeuwen. the other was the provost-marshal, carel de nijs. the servant was directed to leave the room. barneveld had stepped into his dressing-room on hearing footsteps, but came out again with his long furred gown about him as the three entered. he greeted them courteously and remained standing, with his hands placed on the back of his chair and with one knee resting carelessly against the arm of it. van leeuwen asked him if he would not rather be seated, as they brought a communication from the judges. he answered in the negative. von leeuwen then informed him that he was summoned to appear before the judges the next morning to hear his sentence of death. "the sentence of death!" he exclaimed, without in the least changing his position; "the sentence of death! the sentence of death!" saying the words over thrice, with an air of astonishment rather than of horror. "i never expected that! i thought they were going to hear my defence again. i had intended to make some change in my previous statements, having set some things down when beside myself with choler." he then made reference to his long services. van leeuwen expressed himself as well acquainted with them. "he was sorry," he said, "that his lordship took this message ill of him." "i do not take it ill of you," said barneveld, "but let them," meaning the judges, "see how they will answer it before god. are they thus to deal with a true patriot? let me have pen, ink, and paper, that for the last time i may write farewell to my wife." "i will go ask permission of the judges," said van leenwen, "and i cannot think that my lord's request will be refused." while van leeuwen was absent, the advocate exclaimed, looking at the other legal officer: "oh, sylla, sylla, if your father could only have seen to what uses they would put you!" sylla was silent. permission to write the letter was soon received from de voogt, president of the commission. pen, ink, and paper were brought, and the prisoner calmly sat down to write, without the slightest trace of discomposure upon his countenance or in any of his movements. while he was writing, sylla said with some authority, "beware, my lord, what you write, lest you put down something which may furnish cause for not delivering the letter." barneveld paused in his writing, took the glasses from his eyes, and looked sylla in the face. "well, sylla," he said very calmly, "will you in these my last moments lay down the law to me as to what i shall write to my wife?" he then added with a half-smile, "well, what is expected of me?" "we have no commission whatever to lay down the law," said van leeuwen. "your worship will write whatever you like." while he was writing, anthony walaeus came in, a preacher and professor of middelburg, a deputy to the synod of dordtrecht, a learned and amiable man, sent by the states-general to minister to the prisoner on this supreme occasion; and not unworthy to be thus selected. the advocate, not knowing him, asked him why he came. "i am not here without commission," said the clergyman. "i come to console my lord in his tribulation." "i am a man," said barneveld; "have come to my present age, and i know how to console myself. i must write, and have now other things to do." the preacher said that he would withdraw and return when his worship was at leisure. "do as you like," said the advocate, calmly going on with his writing. when the letter was finished, it was sent to the judges for their inspection, by whom it was at once forwarded to the family mansion in the voorhout, hardly a stone's throw from the prison chamber. thus it ran: "very dearly beloved wife, children, sons-in-law, and grandchildren, i greet you altogether most affectionately. i receive at this moment the very heavy and sorrowful tidings that i, an old man, for all my services done well and faithfully to the fatherland for so many years (after having performed all respectful and friendly offices to his excellency the prince with upright affection so far as my official duty and vocation would permit, shown friendship to many people of all sorts, and wittingly injured no man), must prepare myself to die to-morrow. "i console myself in god the lord, who knows all hearts, and who will judge all men. i beg you all together to do the same. i have steadily and faithfully served my lords the states of holland and their nobles and cities. to the states of utrecht as sovereigns of my own fatherland i have imparted at their request upright and faithful counsel, in order to save them from tumults of the populace, and from the bloodshed with which they had so long been threatened. i had the same views for the cities of holland in order that every one might be protected and no one injured. "live together in love and peace. pray for me to almighty god, who will graciously hold us all in his holy keeping. "from my chamber of sorrow, the th may . "your very dear husband, father, father-in-law, and grandfather, "john of barneveld." it was thought strange that the judges should permit so simple and clear a statement, an argument in itself, to be forwarded. the theory of his condemnation was to rest before the public on his confessions of guilt, and here in the instant of learning the nature of the sentence in a few hours to be pronounced upon him he had in a few telling periods declared his entire innocence. nevertheless the letter had been sent at once to its address. so soon as this sad business had been disposed of, anthony walaeus returned. the advocate apologized to the preacher for his somewhat abrupt greeting on his first appearance. he was much occupied and did not know him, he said, although he had often heard of him. he begged him, as well as the provost-marshal, to join him at supper, which was soon brought. barneveld ate with his usual appetite, conversed cheerfully on various topics, and pledged the health of each of his guests in a glass of beer. contrary to his wont he drank at that repast no wine. after supper he went out into the little ante-chamber and called his servant, asking him how he had been faring. now john franken had just heard with grief unspeakable the melancholy news of his master's condemnation from two soldiers of the guard, who had been sent by the judges to keep additional watch over the prisoner. he was however as great a stoic as his master, and with no outward and superfluous manifestations of woe had simply implored the captain-at-arms, van der meulen, to intercede with the judges that he might be allowed to stay with his lord to the last. meantime he had been expressly informed that he was to say nothing to the advocate in secret, and that his master was not to speak to him in a low tone nor whisper in his ear. when the advocate came out into the ante-chamber and looking over his shoulder saw the two soldiers he at once lowered his voice. "hush-speak low," he whispered; "this is too cruel." john then informed him of van der meulen's orders, and that the soldiers had also been instructed to look to it sharply that no word was exchanged between master and man except in a loud voice. "is it possible," said the advocate, "that so close an inspection is held over me in these last hours? can i not speak a word or two in freedom? this is a needless mark of disrespect." the soldiers begged him not to take their conduct amiss as they were obliged strictly to obey orders. he returned to his chamber, sat down in his chair, and begged walaeus to go on his behalf to prince maurice. "tell his excellency," said he, "that i have always served him with upright affection so far as my office, duties, and principles permitted. if i, in the discharge of my oath and official functions, have ever done anything contrary to his views, i hope that he will forgive it, and that he will hold my children in his gracious favour." it was then ten o'clock. the preacher went downstairs and crossed the courtyard to the stadholder's apartments, where he at once gained admittance. maurice heard the message with tears in his eyes, assuring walaeus that he felt deeply for the advocate's misfortunes. he had always had much affection for him, he said, and had often warned him against his mistaken courses. two things, however, had always excited his indignation. one was that barneveld had accused him of aspiring to sovereignty. the other that he had placed him in such danger at utrecht. yet he forgave him all. as regarded his sons, so long as they behaved themselves well they might rely on his favour. as walaeus was about to leave the apartment, the prince called him back. "did he say anything of a pardon?" he asked, with some eagerness. "my lord," answered the clergyman, "i cannot with truth say that i understood him to make any allusion to it." walaeus returned immediately to the prison chamber and made his report of the interview. he was unwilling however to state the particulars of the offence which maurice declared himself to have taken at the acts of the advocate. but as the prisoner insisted upon knowing, the clergyman repeated the whole conversation. "his excellency has been deceived in regard to the utrecht business," said barneveld, "especially as to one point. but it is true that i had fear and apprehension that he aspired to the sovereignty or to more authority in the country. ever since the year i have felt this fear and have tried that these apprehensions might be rightly understood." while walaeus had been absent, the reverend jean la motte (or lamotius) and another clergyman of the hague had come to the prisoner's apartment. la motte could not look upon the advocate's face without weeping, but the others were more collected. conversation now ensued among the four; the preachers wishing to turn the doomed statesman's thought to the consolations of religion. but it was characteristic of the old lawyer's frame of mind that even now he looked at the tragical position in which he found himself from a constitutional and controversial point of view. he was perfectly calm and undaunted at the awful fate so suddenly and unexpectedly opened before his eyes, but he was indignant at what he esteemed the ignorance, injustice, and stupidity of the sentence to be pronounced against him. "i am ready enough to die," he said to the three clergymen, "but i cannot comprehend why i am to die. i have done nothing except in obedience to the laws and privileges of the land and according to my oath, honour, and conscience." "these judges," he continued, "come in a time when other maxims prevail in the state than those of my day. they have no right therefore to sit in judgment upon me." the clergymen replied that the twenty-four judges who had tried the case were no children and were conscientious men; that it was no small thing to condemn a man, and that they would have to answer it before the supreme judge of all. "i console myself," he answered, "in the lord my god, who knows all hearts and shall judge all men. god is just. "they have not dealt with me," he continued, "as according to law and justice they were bound to deal. they have taken away from me my own sovereign lords and masters and deposed them. to them alone i was responsible. in their place they have put many of my enemies who were never before in the government, and almost all of whom are young men who have not seen much or read much. i have seen and read much, and know that from such examples no good can follow. after my death they will learn for the first time what governing means." "the twenty-four judges are nearly all of them my enemies. what they have reproached me with, i have been obliged to hear. i have appealed against these judges, but it has been of no avail. they have examined me in piecemeal, not in statesmanlike fashion. the proceedings against me have been much too hard. i have frequently requested to see the notes of my examination as it proceeded, and to confer upon it with aid and counsel of friends, as would be the case in all lands governed by law. the request was refused. during this long and wearisome affliction and misery i have not once been allowed to speak to my wife and children. these are indecent proceedings against a man seventy-two years of age, who has served his country faithfully for three-and-forty years. i bore arms with the volunteers at my own charges at the siege of haarlem and barely escaped with life." it was not unnatural that the aged statesman's thoughts should revert in this supreme moment to the heroic scenes in which he had been an actor almost a half-century before. he could not but think with bitterness of those long past but never forgotten days when he, with other patriotic youths, had faced the terrible legions of alva in defence of the fatherland, at a time when the men who were now dooming him to a traitor's death were unborn, and who, but for his labours, courage, wisdom, and sacrifices, might have never had a fatherland to serve, or a judgment-seat on which to pronounce his condemnation. not in a spirit of fretfulness, but with disdainful calm, he criticised and censured the proceedings against himself as a violation of the laws of the land and of the first principles of justice, discussing them as lucidly and steadily as if they had been against a third person. the preachers listened, but had nothing to say. they knew not of such matters, they said, and had no instructions to speak of them. they had been sent to call him to repentance for his open and hidden sins and to offer the consolations of religion. "i know that very well," he said, "but i too have something to say notwithstanding." the conversation then turned upon religious topics, and the preachers spoke of predestination. "i have never been able to believe in the matter of high predestination," said the advocate. "i have left it in the hands of god the lord. i hold that a good christian man must believe that he through god's grace and by the expiation of his sin through our redeemer jesus christ is predestined to be saved, and that this belief in his salvation, founded alone on god's grace and the merits of our redeemer jesus christ, comes to him through the same grace of god. and if he falls into great sins, his firm hope and confidence must be that the lord god will not allow him to continue in them, but that, through prayer for grace and repentance, he will be converted from evil and remain in the faith to the end of his life." these feelings, he said, he had expressed fifty-two years before to three eminent professors of theology in whom he confided, and they had assured him that he might tranquilly continue in such belief without examining further. "and this has always been my creed," he said. the preachers replied that faith is a gift of god and not given to all men, that it must be given out of heaven to a man before he could be saved. hereupon they began to dispute, and the advocate spoke so earnestly and well that the clergymen were astonished and sat for a time listening to him in silence. he asked afterwards about the synod, and was informed that its decrees had not yet been promulgated, but that the remonstrants had been condemned. "it is a pity," said he. "one is trying to act on the old papal system, but it will never do. things have gone too far. as to the synod, if my lords the states of holland had been heeded there would have been first a provincial synod and then a national one."--"but," he added, looking the preachers in the face, "had you been more gentle with each other, matters would not have taken so high a turn. but you have been too fierce one against the other, too full of bitter party spirit." they replied that it was impossible for them to act against their conscience and the supreme authority. and then they asked him if there was nothing that troubled him in, his conscience in the matters for which he must die; nothing for which he repented and sorrowed, and for which he would call upon god for mercy. "this i know well," he said, "that i have never willingly done wrong to any man. people have been ransacking my letters to caron--confidential ones written several years ago to an old friend when i was troubled and seeking for counsel and consolation. it is hard that matter of impeachment against me to-day should be sought for thus." and then he fell into political discourse again on the subject of the waartgelders and the state rights, and the villainous pasquils and libels that had circulated so long through the country. "i have sometimes spoken hastily, i confess," he said; "but that was when i was stung by the daily swarm of infamous and loathsome pamphlets, especially those directed against my sovereign masters the states of holland. that i could not bear. old men cannot well brush such things aside. all that was directly aimed at me in particular i endeavoured to overcome with such patience as i could muster. the disunion and mutual enmity in the country have wounded me to the heart. i have made use of all means in my power to accommodate matters, to effect with all gentleness a mutual reconciliation. i have always felt a fear lest the enemy should make use of our internal dissensions to strike a blow against us. i can say with perfect truth that ever since the year ' i have been as resolutely and unchangeably opposed to the spaniards and their adherents, and their pretensions over these provinces, as any man in the world, no one excepted, and as ready to sacrifice property and shed my blood in defence of the fatherland. i have been so devoted to the service of the country that i have not been able to take the necessary care of my own private affairs." so spoke the great statesman in the seclusion of his prison, in the presence of those clergymen whom he respected, at a supreme moment, when, if ever, a man might be expected to tell the truth. and his whole life which belonged to history, and had been passed on the world's stage before the eyes of two generations of spectators, was a demonstration of the truth of his words. but burgomaster van berk knew better. had he not informed the twenty-four commissioners that, twelve years before, the advocate wished to subject the country to spain, and that spinola had drawn a bill of exchange for , ducats as a compensation for his efforts? it was eleven o'clock. barneveld requested one of the brethren to say an evening prayer. this was done by la motte, and they were then requested to return by three or four o'clock next morning. they had been directed, they said, to remain with him all night. "that is unnecessary," said the advocate, and they retired. his servant then helped his master to undress, and he went to bed as usual. taking off his signet-ring, he gave it to john franken. "for my eldest son," he said. the valet sat down at the head of his bed in order that his master might speak to him before he slept. but the soldiers ordered him away and compelled him to sit in a distant part of the room. an hour after midnight, the advocate having been unable to lose himself, his servant observed that isaac, one of the soldiers, was fast asleep. he begged the other, tilman schenk by name, to permit him some private words with his master. he had probably last messages, he thought, to send to his wife and children, and the eldest son, m. de groeneveld, would no doubt reward him well for it. but the soldier was obstinate in obedience to the orders of the judges. barneveld, finding it impossible to sleep, asked his servant to read to him from the prayer-book. the soldier called in a clergyman however, another one named hugo bayerus, who had been sent to the prison, and who now read to him the consolations of the sick. as he read, he made exhortations and expositions, which led to animated discussion, in which the advocate expressed himself with so much fervour and eloquence that all present were astonished, and the preacher sat mute a half-hour long at the bed-side. "had there been ten clergymen," said the simple-hearted sentry to the valet, "your master would have enough to say to all of them." barneveld asked where the place had been prepared in which he was to die. "in front of the great hall, as i understand," said bayerus, "but i don't know the localities well, having lived here but little." "have you heard whether my grotius is to die, and hoogerbeets also?" he asked? "i have heard nothing to that effect," replied the clergyman. "i should most deeply grieve for those two gentlemen," said barneveld, "were that the case. they may yet live to do the land great service. that great rising light, de groot, is still young, but a very wise and learned gentleman, devoted to his fatherland with all zeal, heart, and soul, and ready to stand up for her privileges, laws, and rights. as for me, i am an old and worn-out man. i can do no more. i have already done more than i was really able to do. i have worked so zealously in public matters that i have neglected my private business. i had expressly ordered my house at loosduinen" [a villa by the seaside] "to be got ready, that i might establish myself there and put my affairs in order. i have repeatedly asked the states of holland for my discharge, but could never obtain it. it seems that the almighty had otherwise disposed of me." he then said he would try once more if he could sleep. the clergyman and the servant withdrew for an hour, but his attempt was unsuccessful. after an hour he called for his french psalm book and read in it for some time. sometime after two o'clock the clergymen came in again and conversed with him. they asked him if he had slept, if he hoped to meet christ, and if there was anything that troubled his conscience. "i have not slept, but am perfectly tranquil," he replied. "i am ready to die, but cannot comprehend why i must die. i wish from my heart that, through my death and my blood, all disunion and discord in this land may cease." he bade them carry his last greetings to his fellow prisoners. "say farewell for me to my good grotius," said he, "and tell him that i must die." the clergymen then left him, intending to return between five and six o'clock. he remained quiet for a little while and then ordered his valet to cut open the front of his shirt. when this was done, he said, "john, are you to stay by me to the last?" "yes," he replied, "if the judges permit it." "remind me to send one of the clergymen to the judges with the request," said his master. the faithful john, than whom no servant or friend could be more devoted, seized the occasion, with the thrift and stoicism of a true hollander, to suggest that his lord might at the same time make some testamentary disposition in his favour. "tell my wife and children," said the advocate, "that they must console each other in mutual love and union. say that through god's grace i am perfectly at ease, and hope that they will be equally tranquil. tell my children that i trust they will be loving and friendly to their mother during the short time she has yet to live. say that i wish to recommend you to them that they may help you to a good situation either with themselves or with others. tell them that this was my last request." he bade him further to communicate to the family the messages sent that night through walaeus by the stadholder. the valet begged his master to repeat these instructions in presence of the clergyman, or to request one of them to convey them himself to the family. he promised to do so. "as long as i live," said the grateful servant, "i shall remember your lordship in my prayers." "no, john," said the advocate, "that is popish. when i am dead, it is all over with prayers. pray for me while i still live. now is the time to pray. when one is dead, one should no longer be prayed for." la motte came in. barneveld repeated his last wishes exactly as he desired them to be communicated to his wife and children. the preacher made no response. "will you take the message?" asked the prisoner. la motte nodded, but did not speak, nor did he subsequently fulfil the request. before five o'clock the servant heard the bell ring in the apartment of the judges directly below the prison chamber, and told his master he had understood that they were to assemble at five o'clock. "i may as well get up then," said the advocate; "they mean to begin early, i suppose. give me my doublet and but one pair of stockings." he was accustomed to wear two or three pair at a time. he took off his underwaistcoat, saying that the silver bog which was in one of the pockets was to be taken to his wife, and that the servant should keep the loose money there for himself. then he found an opportunity to whisper to him, "take good care of the papers which are in the apartment." he meant the elaborate writings which he had prepared during his imprisonment and concealed in the tapestry and within the linings of the chair. as his valet handed him the combs and brushes, he said with a smile, "john, this is for the last time." when he was dressed, he tried, in rehearsal of the approaching scene, to pull over his eyes the silk skull-cap which he usually wore under his hat. finding it too tight he told the valet to put the nightcap in his pocket and give it him when he should call for it. he then swallowed a half-glass of wine with a strengthening cordial in it, which he was wont to take. the clergymen then re-entered, and asked if he had been able to sleep. he answered no, but that he had been much consoled by many noble things which he had been reading in the french psalm book. the clergymen said that they had been thinking much of the beautiful confession of faith which he had made to them that evening. they rejoiced at it, they said, on his account, and had never thought it of him. he said that such had always been his creed. at his request walaeus now offered a morning prayer barneveld fell on his knees and prayed inwardly without uttering a sound. la motte asked when he had concluded, "did my lord say amen?"--"yes, lamotius," he replied; "amen."--"has either of the brethren," he added, "prepared a prayer to be offered outside there?" la motte informed him that this duty had been confided to him. some passages from isaiah were now read aloud, and soon afterwards walaeus was sent for to speak with the judges. he came back and said to the prisoner, "has my lord any desire to speak with his wife or children, or any of his friends?" it was then six o'clock, and barneveld replied: "no, the time is drawing near. it would excite a new emotion." walaeus went back to the judges with this answer, who thereupon made this official report: "the husband and father of the petitioners, being asked if he desired that any of the petitioners should come to him, declared that he did not approve of it, saying that it would cause too great an emotion for himself as well as for them. this is to serve as an answer to the petitioners." now the advocate knew nothing of the petition. up to the last moment his family had been sanguine as to his ultimate acquittal and release. they relied on a promise which they had received or imagined that they had received from the stadholder that no harm should come to the prisoner in consequence of the arrest made of his person in the prince's apartments on the th of august. they had opened this tragical month of may with flagstaffs and flower garlands, and were making daily preparations to receive back the revered statesman in triumph. the letter written by him from his "chamber of sorrow," late in the evening of th may, had at last dispelled every illusion. it would be idle to attempt to paint the grief and consternation into which the household in the voorhout was plunged, from the venerable dame at its head, surrounded by her sons and daughters and children's children, down to the humblest servant in their employment. for all revered and loved the austere statesman, but simple and benignant father and master. no heed had been taken of the three elaborate and argumentative petitions which, prepared by learned counsel in name of the relatives, had been addressed to the judges. they had not been answered because they were difficult to answer, and because it was not intended that the accused should have the benefit of counsel. an urgent and last appeal was now written late at night, and signed by each member of the family, to his excellency the prince and the judge commissioners, to this effect: "the afflicted wife and children of m. van barneveld humbly show that having heard the sorrowful tidings of his coming execution, they humbly beg that it may be granted them to see and speak to him for the last time." the two sons delivered this petition at four o'clock in the morning into the hands of de voogd, one of the judges. it was duly laid before the commission, but the prisoner was never informed, when declining a last interview with his family, how urgently they had themselves solicited the boon. louise de coligny, on hearing late at night the awful news, had been struck with grief and horror. she endeavoured, late as it was, to do something to avert the doom of one she so much revered, the man on whom her illustrious husband had leaned his life long as on a staff of iron. she besought an interview of the stadholder, but it was refused. the wife of william the silent had no influence at that dire moment with her stepson. she was informed at first that maurice was asleep, and at four in the morning that all intervention was useless. the faithful and energetic du maurier, who had already exhausted himself in efforts to save the life of the great prisoner, now made a last appeal. he, too, heard at four o'clock in the morning of the th that sentence of death was to be pronounced. before five o'clock he made urgent application to be heard before the assembly of the states-general as ambassador of a friendly sovereign who took the deepest interest in the welfare of the republic and the fate of its illustrious statesman. the appeal was refused. as a last resource he drew up an earnest and eloquent letter to the states-general, urging clemency in the name of his king. it was of no avail. the letter may still be seen in the royal archives at the hague, drawn up entirely in du maurier's clear and beautiful handwriting. although possibly a first draft, written as it was under such a mortal pressure for time, its pages have not one erasure or correction. it was seven o'clock. barneveld having observed by the preacher (la motte's) manner that he was not likely to convey the last messages which he had mentioned to his wife and children, sent a request to the judges to be allowed to write one more letter. captain van der meulen came back with the permission, saying he would wait and take it to the judges for their revision. the letter has been often published. "must they see this too? why, it is only a line in favour of john," said the prisoner, sitting quietly down to write this letter: "very dear wife and children, it is going to an end with me. i am, through the grace of god, very tranquil. i hope that you are equally so, and that you may by mutual love, union, and peace help each other to overcome all things, which i pray to the omnipotent as my last request. john franken has served me faithfully for many years and throughout all these my afflictions, and is to remain with me to the end. he deserves to be recommended to you and to be furthered to good employments with you or with others. i request you herewith to see to this. "i have requested his princely excellency to hold my sons and children in his favour, to which he has answered that so long as you conduct yourselves well this shall be the case. i recommend this to you in the best form and give you all into god's holy keeping. kiss each other and all my grandchildren, for the last time in my name, and fare you well. out of the chamber of sorrow, th may . your dear husband and father, john of barneveld. "p.s. you will make john franken a present in memory of me." certainly it would be difficult to find a more truly calm, courageous, or religious spirit than that manifested by this aged statesman at an hour when, if ever, a human soul is tried and is apt to reveal its innermost depths or shallows. whatever gomarus or bogerman, or the whole council of dordtrecht, may have thought of his theology, it had at least taught him forgiveness of his enemies, kindness to his friends, and submission to the will of the omnipotent. every moment of his last days on earth had been watched and jealously scrutinized, and his bitterest enemies had failed to discover one trace of frailty, one manifestation of any vacillating, ignoble, or malignant sentiment. the drums had been sounding through the quiet but anxiously expectant town since four o'clock that morning, and the tramp of soldiers marching to the inner court had long been audible in the prison chamber. walaeus now came back with a message from the judges. "the high commissioners," he said, "think it is beginning. will my lord please to prepare himself?" "very well, very well," said the prisoner. "shall we go at once?" but walaeus suggested a prayer. upon its conclusion, barneveld gave his hand to the provost-marshal and to the two soldiers, bidding them adieu, and walked downstairs, attended by them, to the chamber of the judges. as soon as he appeared at the door, he was informed that there had been a misunderstanding, and he was requested to wait a little. he accordingly went upstairs again with perfect calmness, sat down in his chamber again, and read in his french psalm book. half an hour later he was once more summoned, the provost-marshal and captain van der meulen reappearing to escort him. "mr. provost," said the prisoner, as they went down the narrow staircase, "i have always been a good friend to you."--"it is true," replied that officer, "and most deeply do i grieve to see you in this affliction." he was about to enter the judges' chamber as usual, but was informed that the sentence would be read in the great hall of judicature. they descended accordingly to the basement story, and passed down the narrow flight of steps which then as now connected the more modern structure, where the advocate had been imprisoned and tried, with what remained of the ancient palace of the counts of holland. in the centre of the vast hall--once the banqueting chamber of those petty sovereigns; with its high vaulted roof of cedar which had so often in ancient days rung with the sounds of mirth and revelry--was a great table at which the twenty-four judges and the three prosecuting officers were seated, in their black caps and gowns of office. the room was lined with soldiers and crowded with a dark, surging mass of spectators, who had been waiting there all night. a chair was placed for the prisoner. he sat down, and the clerk of the commission, pots by name, proceeded at once to read the sentence. a summary of this long, rambling, and tiresome paper has been already laid before the reader. if ever a man could have found it tedious to listen to his own death sentence, the great statesman might have been in that condition as he listened to secretary pots. during the reading of the sentence the advocate moved uneasily on his seat, and seemed about to interrupt the clerk at several passages which seemed to him especially preposterous. but he controlled himself by a strong effort, and the clerk went steadily on to the conclusion. then barneveld said: "the judges have put down many things which they have no right to draw from my confession. let this protest be added." "i thought too," he continued, "that my lords the states-general would have had enough in my life and blood, and that my wife and children might keep what belongs to them. is this my recompense for forty-three years' service to these provinces?" president de voogd rose: "your sentence has been pronounced," he said. "away! away!" so saying he pointed to the door into which one of the great windows at the south-eastern front of the hall had been converted. without another word the old man rose from his chair and strode, leaning on his staff, across the hall, accompanied by his faithful valet and the provost and escorted by a file of soldiers. the mob of spectators flowed out after him at every door into the inner courtyard in front of the ancient palace. etext editor's bookmarks: better to be governed by magistrates than mobs burning with bitter revenge for all the favours he had received death rather than life with a false acknowledgment of guilt enemy of all compulsion of the human conscience heidelberg catechism were declared to be infallible i know how to console myself implication there was much, of assertion very little john robinson magistracy at that moment seemed to mean the sword only true religion rather a wilderness to reign over than a single heretic william brewster chapter xxi. - barneveld's execution--the advocate's conduct on the scaffold--the sentence printed and sent to the provinces--the proceedings irregular and inequitable. in the beautiful village capital of the "count's park," commonly called the hague, the most striking and picturesque spot then as now was that where the transformed remains of the old moated castle of those feudal sovereigns were still to be seen. a three-storied range of simple, substantial buildings in brown brickwork, picked out with white stone in a style since made familiar both in england and america, and associated with a somewhat later epoch in the history of the house of orange, surrounded three sides of a spacious inner paved quadrangle called the inner court, the fourth or eastern side being overshadowed by a beechen grove. a square tower flanked each angle, and on both sides of the south-western turret extended the commodious apartments of the stadholder. the great gateway on the south-west opened into a wide open space called the outer courtyard. along the north-west side a broad and beautiful sheet of water, in which the walls, turrets, and chapel-spires of the enclosed castle mirrored themselves, was spread between the mass of buildings and an umbrageous promenade called the vyverberg, consisting of a sextuple alley of lime-trees and embowering here and there a stately villa. a small island, fringed with weeping willows and tufted all over with lilacs, laburnums, and other shrubs then in full flower, lay in the centre of the miniature lake, and the tall solid tower of the great church, surmounted by a light openwork spire, looked down from a little distance over the scene. it was a bright morning in may. the white swans were sailing tranquilly to and fro over the silver basin, and the mavis, blackbird, and nightingale, which haunted the groves surrounding the castle and the town, were singing as if the daybreak were ushering in a summer festival. but it was not to a merry-making that the soldiers were marching and the citizens thronging so eagerly from every street and alley towards the castle. by four o'clock the outer and inner courts had been lined with detachments of the prince's guard and companies of other regiments to the number of men. occupying the north-eastern side of the court rose the grim, time-worn front of the ancient hall, consisting of one tall pyramidal gable of ancient grey brickwork flanked with two tall slender towers, the whole with the lancet-shaped windows and severe style of the twelfth century, excepting a rose-window in the centre with the decorated mullions of a somewhat later period. in front of the lower window, with its gothic archway hastily converted into a door, a shapeless platform of rough, unhewn planks had that night been rudely patched together. this was the scaffold. a slight railing around it served to protect it from the crowd, and a heap of coarse sand had been thrown upon it. a squalid, unclean box of unplaned boards, originally prepared as a coffin for a frenchman who some time before had been condemned to death for murdering the son of goswyn meurskens, a hague tavern-keeper, but pardoned by the stadholder--lay on the scaffold. it was recognized from having been left for a long time, half forgotten, at the public execution-place of the hague. upon this coffin now sat two common soldiers of ruffianly aspect playing at dice, betting whether the lord or the devil would get the soul of barneveld. many a foul and ribald jest at the expense of the prisoner was exchanged between these gamblers, some of their comrades, and a few townsmen, who were grouped about at that early hour. the horrible libels, caricatures, and calumnies which had been circulated, exhibited, and sung in all the streets for so many months had at last thoroughly poisoned the minds of the vulgar against the fallen statesman. the great mass of the spectators had forced their way by daybreak into the hall itself to hear the sentence, so that the inner courtyard had remained comparatively empty. at last, at half past nine o'clock, a shout arose, "there he comes! there he comes!" and the populace flowed out from the hall of judgment into the courtyard like a tidal wave. in an instant the binnenhof was filled with more than three thousand spectators. the old statesman, leaning on his staff, walked out upon the scaffold and calmly surveyed the scene. lifting his eyes to heaven, he was heard to murmur, "o god! what does man come to!" then he said bitterly once more: "this, then, is the reward of forty years' service to the state!" la motte, who attended him, said fervently: "it is no longer time to think of this. let us prepare your coming before god." "is there no cushion or stool to kneel upon?" said barneveld, looking around him. the provost said he would send for one, but the old man knelt at once on the bare planks. his servant, who waited upon him as calmly and composedly as if he had been serving him at dinner, held him by the arm. it was remarked that neither master nor man, true stoics and hollanders both, shed a single tear upon the scaffold. la motte prayed for a quarter of an hour, the advocate remaining on his knees. he then rose and said to john franken, "see that he does not come near me," pointing to the executioner who stood in the background grasping his long double-handed sword. barneveld then rapidly unbuttoned his doublet with his own hands and the valet helped him off with it. "make haste! make haste!" said his master. the statesman then came forward and said in a loud, firm voice to the people: "men, do not believe that i am a traitor to the country. i have ever acted uprightly and loyally as a good patriot, and as such i shall die." the crowd was perfectly silent. he then took his cap from john franken, drew it over his eyes, and went forward towards the sand, saying: "christ shall be my guide. o lord, my heavenly father, receive my spirit." as he was about to kneel with his face to the south, the provost said: "my lord will be pleased to move to the other side, not where the sun is in his face." he knelt accordingly with his face towards his own house. the servant took farewell of him, and barneveld said to the executioner: "be quick about it. be quick." the executioner then struck his head off at a single blow. many persons from the crowd now sprang, in spite of all opposition, upon the scaffold and dipped their handkerchiefs in his blood, cut wet splinters from the boards, or grubbed up the sand that was steeped in it; driving many bargains afterwards for these relics to be treasured, with various feelings of sorrow, joy, glutted or expiated vengeance. it has been recorded, and has been constantly repeated to this day, that the stadholder, whose windows exactly faced the scaffold, looked out upon the execution with a spy-glass; saying as he did so: "see the old scoundrel, how he trembles! he is afraid of the stroke." but this is calumny. colonel hauterive declared that he was with maurice in his cabinet during the whole period of the execution, that by order of the prince all the windows and shutters were kept closed, that no person wearing his livery was allowed to be abroad, that he anxiously received messages as to the proceedings, and heard of the final catastrophe with sorrowful emotion. it must be admitted, however, that the letter which maurice wrote on the same morning to his cousin william lewis does not show much pathos. "after the judges," he said, "have been busy here with the sentence against the advocate barneveld for several days, at last it has been pronounced, and this morning, between nine o'clock and half past, carried into execution with the sword, in the binnenhof before the great hall. "the reasons they had for this you will see from the sentence, which will doubtless be printed, and which i will send you. "the wife of the aforesaid barneveld and also some of his sons and sons-in-law or other friends have never presented any supplication for his pardon, but till now have vehemently demanded that law and justice should be done to him, and have daily let the report run through the people that he would soon come out. they also planted a may-pole before their house adorned with garlands and ribbands, and practised other jollities and impertinences, while they ought to have conducted themselves in a humble and lowly fashion. this is no proper manner of behaving, and moreover not a practical one to move the judges to any favour even if they had been thereto inclined." the sentence was printed and sent to the separate provinces. it was accompanied by a declaration of the states-general that they had received information from the judges of various points, not mentioned in the sentence, which had been laid to the charge of the late advocate, and which gave much reason to doubt whether he had not perhaps turned his eyes toward the enemy. they could not however legally give judgment to that effect without a sharper investigation, which on account of his great age and for other reasons it was thought best to spare him. a meaner or more malignant postscript to a state paper recounting the issue of a great trial it would be difficult to imagine. the first statesman of the country had just been condemned and executed on a narrative, without indictment of any specified crime. and now, by a kind of apologetic after-thought, six or eight individuals calling themselves the states-general insinuated that he had been looking towards the enemy, and that, had they not mercifully spared him the rack, which is all that could be meant by their sharper investigation, he would probably have confessed the charge. and thus the dead man's fame was blackened by those who had not hesitated to kill him, but had shrunk from enquiring into his alleged crime. not entirely without semblance of truth did grotius subsequently say that the men who had taken his life would hardly have abstained from torturing him if they had really hoped by so doing to extract from him a confession of treason. the sentence was sent likewise to france, accompanied with a statement that barneveld had been guilty of unpardonable crimes which had not been set down in the act of condemnation. complaints were also made of the conduct of du maurier in thrusting himself into the internal affairs of the states and taking sides so ostentatiously against the government. the king and his ministers were indignant with these rebukes, and sustained the ambassador. jeannin and de boississe expressed the opinion that he had died innocent of any crime, and only by reason of his strong political opposition to the prince. the judges had been unanimous in finding him guilty of the acts recorded in their narrative, but three of them had held out for some time in favour of a sentence of perpetual imprisonment rather than decapitation. they withdrew at last their opposition to the death penalty for the wonderful reason that reports had been circulated of attempts likely to be made to assassinate prince maurice. the stadholder himself treated these rumours and the consequent admonition of the states-general that he would take more than usual precautions for his safety with perfect indifference, but they were conclusive with the judges of barneveld. "republica poscit exemplum," said commissioner junius, one of the three, as he sided with the death-warrant party. the same doctor junius a year afterwards happened to dine, in company of one of his fellow-commissioners, with attorney-general sylla at utrecht, and took occasion to ask them why it was supposed that barneveld had been hanging his head towards spain, as not one word of that stood in the sentence. the question was ingenuous on the part of one learned judge to his colleagues in one of the most famous state trials of history, propounded as a bit of after-dinner casuistry, when the victim had been more than a year in his grave. but perhaps the answer was still more artless. his brother lawyers replied that the charge was easily to be deduced from the sentence, because a man who breaks up the foundation of the state makes the country indefensible, and therefore invites the enemy to invade it. and this barneveld had done, who had turned the union, religion, alliances, and finances upside down by his proceedings. certainly if every constitutional minister, accused by the opposition party of turning things upside down by his proceedings, were assumed to be guilty of deliberately inviting a hostile invasion of his country, there would have been few from that day to this to escape hanging. constructive treason could scarcely go farther than it was made to do in these attempts to prove, after his death, that the advocate had, as it was euphuistically expressed, been looking towards the enemy. and no better demonstrations than these have ever been discovered. he died at the age of seventy-one years seven months and eighteen days. his body and head were huddled into the box upon which the soldiers had been shaking the dice, and was placed that night in the vault of the chapel in the inner court. it was subsequently granted as a boon to the widow and children that it might be taken thence and decently buried in the family vault at amersfoort. on the day of the execution a formal entry was made in the register of the states of holland. "monday, th may . to-day was executed with the sword here in the hague, on a scaffold thereto erected in the binnenhof before the steps of the great hall, mr. john of barneveld, in his life knight, lord of berkel, rodenrys, &c., advocate of holland and west friesland, for reasons expressed in the sentence and otherwise, with confiscation of his property, after he had served the state thirty-three years two months and five days since th march .; a man of great activity, business, memory, and wisdom--yes, extraordinary in every respect. he that stands let him see that he does not fall, and may god be merciful to his soul. amen?" a year later-on application made by the widow and children of the deceased to compound for the confiscation of his property by payment of a certain sum, eighty florins or a similar trifle, according to an ancient privilege of the order of nobility--the question was raised whether he had been guilty of high-treason, as he had not been sentenced for such a crime, and as it was only in case of sentence for lese-majesty that this composition was disallowed. it was deemed proper therefore to ask the court for what crime the prisoner had been condemned. certainly a more sarcastic question could not have been asked. but the court had ceased to exist. the commission had done its work and was dissolved. some of its members were dead. letters however were addressed by the states-general to the individual commissioners requesting them to assemble at the hague for the purpose of stating whether it was because the prisoners had committed lese-majesty that their property had been confiscated. they never assembled. some of them were perhaps ignorant of the exact nature of that crime. several of them did not understand the words. twelve of them, among whom were a few jurists, sent written answers to the questions proposed. the question was, "did you confiscate the property because the crime was lese-majesty?" the reply was, "the crime was lese-majesty, although not so stated in the sentence, because we confiscated the property." in one of these remarkable documents this was stated to be "the unanimous opinion of almost all the judges." the point was referred to the commissioners, some of whom attended the court of the hague in person, while others sent written opinions. all agreed that the criminal had committed high-treason because otherwise his property would not have been confiscated. a more wonderful example of the argument in a circle was never heard of. moreover it is difficult to understand by what right the high commission, which had been dissolved a year before, after having completed its work, could be deemed competent to emit afterwards a judicial decision. but the fact is curious as giving one more proof of the irregular, unphilosophical, and inequitable nature of these famous proceedings. chapter xxii. grotius urged to ask forgiveness--grotius shows great weakness-- hoogerbeets and grotius imprisoned for life--grotius confined at loevestein--grotius' early attainments--grotius' deportment in prison--escape of grotius--deventer's rage at grotius' escape. two days after the execution of the advocate, judgment was pronounced upon gillis van ledenberg. it would have been difficult to try him, or to extort a confession of high-treason from him by the rack or otherwise, as the unfortunate gentleman had been dead for more than seven months. not often has a court of justice pronounced a man, without trial, to be guilty of a capital offence. not often has a dead man been condemned and executed. but this was the lot of secretary ledenberg. he was sentenced to be hanged, his property declared confiscated. his unburied corpse, reduced to the condition of a mummy, was brought out of its lurking-place, thrust into a coffin, dragged on a hurdle to the golgotha outside the hague, on the road to ryswyk, and there hung on a gibbet in company of the bodies of other malefactors swinging there in chains. his prudent scheme to save his property for his children by committing suicide in prison was thus thwarted. the reading of the sentence of ledenberg, as had been previously the case with that of barneveld, had been heard by grotius through the open window of his prison, as he lay on his bed. the scaffold on which the advocate had suffered was left standing, three executioners were still in the town, and there was every reason for both grotius and hoogerbeets to expect a similar doom. great efforts were made to induce the friends of the distinguished prisoners to sue for their pardon. but even as in the case of the barneveld family these attempts were fruitless. the austere stoicism both on the part of the sufferers and their relatives excites something like wonder. three of the judges went in person to the prison chamber of hoogerbeets, urging him to ask forgiveness himself or to allow his friends to demand it for him. "if my wife and children do ask," he said, "i will protest against it. i need no pardon. let justice take its course. think not, gentlemen, that i mean by asking for pardon to justify your proceedings." he stoutly refused to do either. the judges, astonished, took their departure, saying: "then you will fare as barneveld. the scaffold is still standing." he expected consequently nothing but death, and said many years afterwards that he knew from personal experience how a man feels who goes out of prison to be beheaded. the wife of grotius sternly replied to urgent intimations from a high source that she should ask pardon for her husband, "i shall not do it. if he has deserved it, let them strike off his head." yet no woman could be more devoted to her husband than was maria van reigersbergen to hugo de groot, as time was to prove. the prince subsequently told her at a personal interview that "one of two roads must be taken, that of the law or that of pardon." soon after the arrest it was rumoured that grotius was ready to make important revelations if he could first be assured of the prince's protection. his friends were indignant at the statement. his wife stoutly denied its truth, but, to make sure, wrote to her husband on the subject. "one thing amazes me," she said; "some people here pretend to say that you have stated to one gentleman in private that you have something to disclose greatly important to the country, but that you desired beforehand to be taken under the protection of his excellency. i have not chosen to believe this, nor do i, for i hold that to be certain which you have already told me--that you know no secrets. i see no reason therefore why you should require the protection of any man. and there is no one to believe this, but i thought best to write to you of it. let me, in order that i may contradict the story with more authority, have by the bearer of this a simple yes or no. study quietly, take care of your health, have some days' patience, for the advocate has not yet been heard." the answer has not been preserved, but there is an allusion to the subject in an unpublished memorandum of grotius written while he was in prison. it must be confessed that the heart of the great theologian and jurist seems to have somewhat failed him after his arrest, and although he was incapable of treachery--even if he had been possessed of any secrets, which certainly was not the case--he did not show the same spartan firmness as his wife, and was very far from possessing the heroic calm of barneveld. he was much disposed to extricate himself from his unhappy plight by making humble, if not abject, submission to maurice. he differed from his wife in thinking that he had no need of the prince's protection. "i begged the chamberlain, matthew de cors," he said, a few days after his arrest, "that i might be allowed to speak with his excellency of certain things which i would not willingly trust to the pen. my meaning was to leave all public employment and to offer my service to his excellency in his domestic affairs. thus i hoped that the motives for my imprisonment would cease. this was afterwards misinterpreted as if i had had wonderful things to reveal." but grotius towards the end of his trial showed still greater weakness. after repeated refusals, he had at last obtained permission of the judges to draw up in writing the heads of his defence. to do this he was allowed a single sheet of paper, and four hours of time, the trial having lasted several months. and in the document thus prepared he showed faltering in his faith as to his great friend's innocence, and admitted, without any reason whatever, the possibility of there being truth in some of the vile and anonymous calumnies against him. "the friendship of the advocate of holland i had always highly prized," he said, "hoping from the conversation of so wise and experienced a person to learn much that was good . . . . i firmly believed that his excellency, notwithstanding occasional differences as to the conduct of public affairs, considered him a true and upright servant of the land . . . . i have been therefore surprised to understand, during my imprisonment, that the gentlemen had proofs in hand not alone of his correspondence with the enemy, but also of his having received money from them. "he being thus accused, i have indicated by word of mouth and afterwards resumed in writing all matters which i thought--the above-mentioned proofs being made good--might be thereto indirectly referred, in order to show that for me no friendships were so dear as the preservation of the freedom of the land. i wish that he may give explanation of all to the contentment of the judges, and that therefore his actions--which, supposing the said correspondence to be true, are subject to a bad interpretation--may be taken in another sense." alas! could the advocate--among whose first words after hearing of his own condemnation to death were, "and must my grotius die too?" adding, with a sigh of relief when assured of the contrary, "i should deeply grieve for that; he is so young and may live to do the state much service." could he have read those faltering and ungenerous words from one he so held in his heart, he would have felt them like the stab of brutus. grotius lived to know that there were no such proofs, that the judges did not dare even allude to the charge in their sentence, and long years afterwards he drew a picture of the martyred patriot such as one might have expected from his pen. but these written words of doubt must have haunted him to his grave. on the th may --on the fifty-first anniversary, as grotius remarked, of the condemnation of egmont and hoorn by the blood tribunal of alva--the two remaining victims were summoned to receive their doom. the fiscal sylla, entering de groot's chamber early in the morning to conduct him before the judges, informed him that he was not instructed to communicate the nature of the sentence. "but," he said, maliciously, "you are aware of what has befallen the advocate." "i have heard with my own ears," answered grotius, "the judgment pronounced upon barneveld and upon ledenberg. whatever may be my fate, i have patience to bear it." the sentence, read in the same place and in the same manner as had been that upon the advocate, condemned both hoogerbeets and grotius to perpetual imprisonment. the course of the trial and the enumeration of the offences were nearly identical with the leading process which has been elaborately described. grotius made no remark whatever in the court-room. on returning to his chamber he observed that his admissions of facts had been tortured into confessions of guilt, that he had been tried and sentenced against all principles and forms of law, and that he had been deprived of what the humblest criminal could claim, the right of defence and the examination of testimony. in regard to the penalty against him, he said, there was no such thing as perpetual imprisonment except in hell. alluding to the leading cause of all these troubles, he observed that it was with the stadholder and the advocate as cato had said of caesar and pompey. the great misery had come not from their being enemies, but from their having once been friends. on the night of th june the prisoners were taken from their prison in the hague and conveyed to the castle of loevestein. this fortress, destined thenceforth to be famous in history and--from its frequent use in after-times as a state-prison for men of similar constitutional views to those of grotius and the advocate--to give its name to a political party, was a place of extraordinary strength. nature and art had made it, according to military ideas of that age, almost impregnable. as a prison it seemed the very castle of despair. "abandon all hope ye who enter" seemed engraven over its portal. situate in the very narrow, acute angle where the broad, deep, and turbid waal--the chief of the three branches into which the rhine divides itself on entering the netherlands--mingles its current with the silver meuse whose name it adopts as the united rivers roll to the sea, it was guarded on many sides by these deep and dangerous streams. on the land-side it was surrounded by high walls and a double foss, which protected it against any hostile invasion from brabant. as the twelve years' truce was running to its close, it was certain that pains would be taken to strengthen the walls and deepen the ditches, that the place might be proof against all marauders and land-robbers likely to swarm over from the territory of the archdukes. the town of gorcum was exactly opposite on the northern side of the waal, while worcum was about a league's distance from the castle on the southern side, but separated from it by the meuse. the prisoners, after crossing the drawbridge, were led through thirteen separate doors, each one secured by iron bolts and heavy locks, until they reached their separate apartments. they were never to see or have any communication with each other. it had been accorded by the states-general however that the wives of the two gentlemen were to have access to their prison, were to cook for them in the castle kitchen, and, if they chose to inhabit the fortress, might cross to the neighbouring town of gorcum from time to time to make purchases, and even make visits to the hague. twenty-four stuivers, or two shillings, a day were allowed by the states-general for the support of each prisoner and his family. as the family property of grotius was at once sequestered, with a view to its ultimate confiscation, it was clear that abject indigence as well as imprisonment was to be the lifelong lot of this illustrious person, who had hitherto lived in modest affluence, occupying the most considerable of social positions. the commandant of the fortress was inspired from the outset with a desire to render the prisoner's situation as hateful as it was in his power to make it. and much was in his power. he resolved that the family should really live upon their daily pittance. yet madame de groot, before the final confiscation of her own and her husband's estates, had been able to effect considerable loans, both to carry on process against government for what the prisoners contended was an unjust confiscation, and for providing for the household on a decent scale and somewhat in accordance with the requirements of the prisoner's health. thus there was a wearisome and ignoble altercation, revived from day to day, between the commandant and madame de groot. it might have been thought enough of torture for this virtuous and accomplished lady, but twenty-nine years of age and belonging to one of the eminent families of the country, to see her husband, for his genius and accomplishments the wonder of europe, thus cut off in the flower of his age and doomed to a living grave. she was nevertheless to be subjected to the perpetual inquisition of the market-basket, which she was not ashamed with her maid to take to and from gorcum, and to petty wrangles about the kitchen fire where she was proud to superintend the cooking of the scanty fare for her husband and her five children. there was a reason for the spite of the military jailer. lieutenant prouninx, called deventer, commandant of loevestein, was son of the notorious gerard prouninx, formerly burgomaster of utrecht, one of the ringleaders of the leicester faction in the days when the earl made his famous attempts upon the four cities. he had sworn revenge upon all those concerned in his father's downfall, and it was a delight therefore to wreak a personal vengeance on one who had since become so illustrious a member of that party by which the former burgomaster had been deposed, although grotius at the time of leicester's government had scarcely left his cradle. thus these ladies were to work in the kitchen and go to market from time to time, performing this menial drudgery under the personal inspection of the warrior who governed the garrison and fortress, but who in vain attempted to make maria van reigersbergen tremble at his frown. hugo de groot, when thus for life immured, after having already undergone a preliminary imprisonment of nine months, was just thirty-six years of age. although comparatively so young, he had been long regarded as one of the great luminaries of europe for learning and genius. of an ancient and knightly race, his immediate ancestors had been as famous for literature, science, and municipal abilities as their more distant progenitors for deeds of arms in the feudal struggles of holland in the middle ages. his father and grandfather had alike been eminent for hebrew, greek, and latin scholarship, and both had occupied high positions in the university of leyden from its beginning. hugo, born and nurtured under such quickening influences, had been a scholar and poet almost from his cradle. he wrote respectable latin verses at the age of seven, he was matriculated at leyden at the age of eleven. that school, founded amid the storms and darkness of terrible war, was not lightly to be entered. it was already illustrated by a galaxy of shining lights in science and letters, which radiated over christendom. his professors were joseph scaliger, francis junius, paulus merula, and a host of others. his fellow-students were men like scriverius, vossius, baudius, daniel heinsius. the famous soldier and poet douza, who had commanded the forces of leyden during the immortal siege, addressed him on his admission to the university as "magne peer magni dignissime cura parentis," in a copy of eloquent verses. when fourteen years old, he took his bachelor's degree, after a rigorous examination not only in the classics but astronomy, mathematics, jurisprudence, and theology, at an age when most youths would have been accounted brilliant if able to enter that high school with credit. on leaving the university he was attached to the embassy of barneveld and justinus van nassau to the court of henry iv. here he attracted the attention of that monarch, who pointed him out to his courtiers as the "miracle of holland," presented him with a gold chain with his miniature attached to it, and proposed to confer on him the dignity of knighthood, which the boy from motives of family pride appears to have refused. while in france he received from the university of orleans, before the age of fifteen, the honorary degree of doctor of laws in a very eulogistic diploma. on his return to holland he published an edition of the poet johannes capella with valuable annotations, besides giving to the public other learned and classical works and several tragedies of more or less merit. at the age of seventeen he was already an advocate in full practice before the supreme tribunals of the hague, and when twenty-three years old he was selected by prince maurice from a list of three candidates for the important post of fiscal or attorney-general of holland. other civic dignities, embassies, and offices of various kinds, had been thrust upon him one after another, in all of which he had acquitted himself with dignity and brilliancy. he was but twenty-six when he published his argument for the liberty of the sea, the famous mare liberum, and a little later appeared his work on the antiquity of the batavian republic, which procured for him in spain the title of "hugo grotius, auctor damnatus." at the age of twenty-nine he had completed his latin history of the netherlands from the period immediately preceding the war of independence down to the conclusion of the truce, - --a work which has been a classic ever since its appearance, although not published until after his death. a chief magistrate of rotterdam, member of the states of holland and the states-general, jurist, advocate, attorney-general, poet, scholar, historian, editor of the greek and latin classics, writer of tragedies, of law treatises, of theological disquisitions, he stood foremost among a crowd of famous contemporaries. his genius, eloquence, and learning were esteemed among the treasures not only of his own country but of europe. he had been part and parcel of his country's history from his earliest manhood, and although a child in years compared to barneveld, it was upon him that the great statesman had mainly relied ever since the youth's first appearance in public affairs. impressible, emotional, and susceptive, he had been accused from time to time, perhaps not entirely without reason, of infirmity of purpose, or at least of vacillation in opinion; but his worst enemies had never assailed the purity of his heart or integrity of his character. he had not yet written the great work on the 'rights of war and peace', which was to make an epoch in the history of civilization and to be the foundation of a new science, but the materials lay already in the ample storehouse of his memory and his brain. possessed of singular personal beauty--which the masterly portraits of miereveld attest to the present day--tall, brown-haired; straight-featured, with a delicate aquiline nose and piercing dark blue eyes, he was also athletic of frame and a proficient in manly exercises. this was the statesman and the scholar, of whom it is difficult to speak but in terms of affectionate but not exaggerated eulogy, and for whom the republic of the netherlands could now find no better use than to shut him up in the grim fortress of loevestein for the remainder of his days. a commonwealth must have deemed itself rich in men which, after cutting off the head of barneveld, could afford to bury alive hugo grotius. his deportment in prison was a magnificent moral lesson. shut up in a kind of cage consisting of a bedroom and a study, he was debarred from physical exercise, so necessary for his mental and bodily health. not choosing for the gratification of lieutenant deventer to indulge in weak complaints, he procured a huge top, which he employed himself in whipping several hours a day; while for intellectual employment he plunged once more into those classical, juridical, and theological studies which had always employed his leisure hours from childhood upwards. it had been forbidden by the states-general to sell his likeness in the shops. the copper plates on which they had been engraved had as far as possible been destroyed. the wish of the government, especially of his judges, was that his name and memory should die at once and for ever. they were not destined to be successful, for it would be equally difficult to-day to find an educated man in christendom ignorant of the name of hugo grotius, or acquainted with that of a single one of his judges. and his friends had not forgotten him as he lay there living in his tomb. especially the learned scriverius, vossius, and other professors, were permitted to correspond with him at intervals on literary subjects, the letters being subjected to preliminary inspection. scriverius sent him many books from his well-stocked library, de groot's own books and papers having been confiscated by the government. at a somewhat later period the celebrated orientalist erpenius sent him from time to time a large chest of books, the precious freight being occasionally renewed and the chest passing to and from loevestein by way of gorcum. at this town lived a sister of erpenius, married to one daatselaer, a considerable dealer in thread and ribbons, which he exported to england. the house of daatselaer became a place of constant resort for madame de groot as well as the wife of hoogerbeets, both dames going every few days from the castle across the waal to gorcum, to make their various purchases for the use of their forlorn little households in the prison. madame daatselaer therefore received and forwarded into loevestein or into holland many parcels and boxes, besides attending to the periodical transmission of the mighty chest of books. professor vossius was then publishing a new edition of the tragedies of seneca, and at his request grotius enriched that work, from his prison, with valuable notes. he employed himself also in translating the moral sentences extracted by stobaeus from the greek tragedies; drawing consolation from the ethics and philosophy of the ancient dramatists, whom he had always admired, especially the tragedies of euripides; he formed a complete moral anthology from that poet and from the works of sophocles, menander, and others, which he translated into fluent dutch verse. becoming more and more interested in the subject, he executed a masterly rhymed translation of the 'theban brothers' of euripides, thus seeking distraction from his own tragic doom in the portraiture of antique, distant, and heroic sorrow. turning again to legal science, he completed an introduction to the jurisprudence of holland, a work which as soon as published became thenceforward a text-book and an oracle in the law courts and the high schools of the country. not forgetting theology, he composed for the use of the humbler classes, especially for sailors, in whose lot, so exposed to danger and temptation, he ever took deep interest, a work on the proofs of christianity in easy and familiar rhyme--a book of gold, as it was called at once, which became rapidly popular with those for whom it was designed. at a somewhat later period professor erpenius, publishing a new edition of the new testament in greek, with translations in arabic, syriac, and ethiopian, solicited his friend's help both in translations and in the latin commentaries and expositions with which he proposed to accompany the work. the prisoner began with a modest disclaimer, saying that after the labours of erasmus and beza, maldonatus and jasenius, there was little for him to glean. becoming more enthusiastic as he went on, he completed a masterly commentary on the four evangelists, a work for which the learned and religious world has ever recognized a kind of debt of gratitude to the castle of loevestein, and hailed in him the founder of a school of manly biblical criticism. and thus nearly two years wore away. spinning his great top for exercise; soothing his active and prolific brain with greek tragedy, with flemish verse, with jurisprudence, history, theology; creating, expounding, adorning, by the warmth of his vivid intellect; moving the world, and doing good to his race from the depths of his stony sepulchre; hugo grotius rose superior to his doom and took captivity captive. the man is not to be envied who is not moved by so noble an example of great calamity manfully endured. the wife of hoogerbeets, already advanced in years, sickened during the imprisonment and died at loevestein after a lingering illness, leaving six children to the care of her unfortunate husband. madame de groot had not been permitted by the prison authorities to minister to her in sickness, nor to her children after her death. early in the year francis aerssens, lord of sommelsdyk, the arch enemy of barneveld and of grotius, was appointed special ambassador to paris. the intelligence--although hardly unexpected, for the stratagems of aerssens had been completely successful--moved the prisoner deeply. he felt that this mortal enemy, not glutted with vengeance by the beheading of the advocate and the perpetual imprisonment of his friend, would do his best at the french court to defame and to blacken him. he did what he could to obviate this danger by urgent letters to friends on whom he could rely. at about the same time muis van holy, one of the twenty-four commissioners, not yet satisfied with the misery he had helped to inflict, informed the states-general that madame de groot had been buying ropes at gorcum. on his motion a committee was sent to investigate the matter at castle loevestein, where it was believed that the ropes had been concealed for the purpose of enabling grotius to make his escape from prison. lieutenant deventer had heard nothing of the story. he was in high spirits at the rumour however, and conducted the committee very eagerly over the castle, causing minute search to be made in the apartment of grotius for the ropes which, as they were assured by him and his wife, had never existed save in the imagination of judge muis. they succeeded at least in inflicting much superfluous annoyance on their victims, and in satisfying themselves that it would be as easy for the prisoner to fly out of the fortress on wings as to make his escape with ropes, even if he had them. grotius soon afterwards addressed a letter to the states-general denouncing the statement of muis as a fable, and these persistent attempts to injure him as cowardly and wicked. a few months later madame de groot happened to be in the house of daatselaer on one of her periodical visits to gorcum. conversation turning on these rumours march of attempts at escape, she asked madame daatselaer if she would not be much embarrassed, should grotius suddenly make his appearance there. "oh no," said the good woman with a laugh; "only let him come. we will take excellent care of him." at another visit one saturday, th march, ( ) madame de groot asked her friend why all the bells of gorcum march were ringing. "because to-morrow begins our yearly fair," replied dame daatselaer. "well, i suppose that all exiles and outlaws may come to gorcum on this occasion," said madame de groot. "such is the law, they say," answered her friend. "and my husband might come too?" "no doubt," said madame daatselaer with a merry laugh, rejoiced at finding the wife of grotius able to speak so cheerfully of her husband in his perpetual and hopeless captivity. "send him hither. he shall have, a warm welcome." "what a good woman you are!" said madame de groot with a sigh as she rose to take leave. "but you know very well that if he were a bird he could never get out of the castle, so closely, he is caged there." next morning a wild equinoctial storm was howling around the battlements of the castle. of a sudden cornelia, daughter of the de groots, nine years of age, said to her mother without any reason whatever, "to-morrow papa must be off to gorcum, whatever the weather may be." de groot, as well as his wife, was aghast at the child's remark, and took it as a direct indication from heaven. for while madame daatselaer had considered the recent observations of her visitor from loevestein as idle jests, and perhaps wondered that madame de groot could be frivolous and apparently lighthearted on so dismal a topic, there had been really a hidden meaning in her words. for several weeks past the prisoner had been brooding over a means of escape. his wife, whose every thought was devoted to him, had often cast her eyes on the great chest or trunk in which the books of erpenius had been conveyed between loevestein and gorcum for the use of the prisoner. at first the trunk had been carefully opened and its contents examined every time it entered or left the castle. as nothing had ever been found in it save hebrew, greek, and latin folios, uninviting enough to the commandant, that warrior had gradually ceased to inspect the chest very closely, and had at last discontinued the practice altogether. it had been kept for some weeks past in the prisoner's study. his wife thought--although it was two finger breadths less than four feet in length, and not very broad or deep in proportion--that it might be possible for him to get into it. he was considerably above middle height, but found that by curling himself up very closely he could just manage to lie in it with the cover closed. very secretly they had many times rehearsed the scheme which had now taken possession of their minds, but had not breathed a word of it to any one. he had lain in the chest with the lid fastened, and with his wife sitting upon the top of it, two hours at a time by the hour-glass. they had decided at last that the plan, though fraught with danger, was not absolutely impossible, and they were only waiting now for a favourable opportunity. the chance remark of the child cornelia settled the time for hazarding the adventure. by a strange coincidence, too, the commandant of the fortress, lieutenant deventer, had just been promoted to a captaincy, and was to go to heusden to receive his company. he left the castle for a brief absence that very sunday evening. as a precautionary measure, the trunk filled with books had been sent to gorcum and returned after the usual interval only a few days before. the maid-servant of the de groots, a young girl of twenty, elsje van houwening by name, quick, intelligent, devoted, and courageous, was now taken into their confidence. the scheme was explained to her, and she was asked if she were willing to take the chest under her charge with her master in it, instead of the usual freight of books, and accompany it to gorcum. she naturally asked what punishment could be inflicted upon her in case the plot were discovered. "none legally," answered her master; "but i too am innocent of any crime, and you see to what sufferings i have been condemned." "whatever come of it," said elsje stoutly; "i will take the risk and accompany my master." every detail was then secretly arranged, and it was provided beforehand, as well as possible, what should be said or done in the many contingencies that might arise. on sunday evening madame de groot then went to the wife of the commandant, with whom she had always been on more friendly terms than with her malicious husband. she had also recently propitiated her affections by means of venison and other dainties brought from gorcum. she expressed the hope that, notwithstanding the absence of captain deventer, she might be permitted to send the trunk full of books next day from the castle. "my husband is wearing himself out," she said, "with his perpetual studies. i shall be glad for a little time to be rid of some of these folios." the commandant's wife made no objection to this slight request. on monday morning the gale continued to beat with unabated violence on the turrets. the turbid waal, swollen by the tempest, rolled darkly and dangerously along the castle walls. but the die was cast. grotius rose betimes, fell on his knees, and prayed fervently an hour long. dressed only in linen underclothes with a pair of silk stockings, he got into the chest with the help of his wife. the big testament of erpenius, with some bunches of thread placed upon it, served him as a pillow. a few books and papers were placed in the interstices left by the curves of his body, and as much pains as possible taken to prevent his being seriously injured or incommoded during the hazardous journey he was contemplating. his wife then took solemn farewell of him, fastened the lock, which she kissed, and gave the key to elsje. the usual garments worn by the prisoner were thrown on a chair by the bedside and his slippers placed before it. madame de groot then returned to her bed, drew the curtains close, and rang the bell. it was answered by the servant who usually waited on the prisoner, and who was now informed by the lady that it had been her intention to go herself to gorcum, taking charge of the books which were valuable. as the weather was so tempestuous however, and as she was somewhat indisposed, it had been decided that elsje should accompany the trunk. she requested that some soldiers might be sent as usual to take it down to the vessel. two or three of the garrison came accordingly, and seeing the clothes and slippers of grotius lying about, and the bed-curtains closed, felt no suspicion. on lifting the chest, however, one of them said, half in jest: "the arminian must be in it himself, it seems so heavy!" "not the arminian," replied madame de groot, in a careless voice, from the bed; "only heavy arminian books." partly lifting, partly dragging the ponderous box, the soldiers managed to get it down the stairs and through the thirteen barred and bolted doors. four several times one or other of the soldiers expressed the opinion that grotius himself must be locked within it, but they never spoke quite seriously, and elsje was ever ready to turn aside the remark with a jest. a soldier's wife, just as the box was approaching the wharf, told a story of a malefactor who had once been carried out of the castle in a chest. "and if a malefactor, why not a lawyer?" she added. a soldier said he would get a gimlet and bore a hole into the arminian. "then you must get a gimlet that will reach to the top of the castle, where the arminian lies abed and asleep," said elsje. not much heed was given to this careless talk, the soldiers, before leaving the chamber of grotius, having satisfied themselves that there were no apertures in the chest save the keyhole, and that it would be impossible by that means alone for sufficient air to penetrate to keep a man enclosed in it from smothering. madame deventer was asked if she chose to inspect the contents of the trunk, and she enquired whether the commandant had been wont so to do. when told that such search had been for a long time discontinued, as nothing had ever been found there but books, she observed that there was no reason why she should be more strict than her husband, and ordered the soldiers to take their heavy load to the vessel. elsje insisted that the boatmen should place a doubly thick plank for sliding the box on board, as it seemed probable, she said, that the usual one would break in two, and then the valuable books borrowed of professor erpenius would be damaged or destroyed. the request caused much further grumbling, but was complied with at last and the chest deposited on the deck. the wind still continued to blow with great fury, and as soon as the sails were set the vessel heeled over so much, that elsje implored the skipper to cause the box to be securely lashed, as it seemed in imminent danger, at the first lurch of the vessel, of sliding into the sea. this done, elsje sat herself down and threw her white handkerchief over her head, letting it flutter in the wind. one of the crew asked her why she did so, and she replied that the servant in the castle had been tormenting her, saying that she would never dare to sail to gorcum in such tempestuous weather, and she was now signalling him that she had been as good as her word. whereupon she continued to wave the handkerchief. in reality the signal was for her mistress, who was now straining her eyes from the barred window which looked out upon the waal, and with whom the maid had agreed that if all went prosperously she would give this token of success. otherwise she would sit with her head in her hands. during the voyage an officer of the garrison, who happened to be on board, threw himself upon the chest as a convenient seat, and began drumming and pounding with his heels upon it. the ever watchful elsje, feeling the dreadful inconvenience to the prisoner of these proceedings, who perhaps was already smothering and would struggle for air if not relieved, politely addressed the gentleman and induced him to remove to another seat by telling him that, besides the books, there was some valuable porcelain in the chest which might easily be broken. no further incident occurred. the wind, although violent, was favourable, and gorcum in due time was reached. elsje insisted upon having her own precious freight carried first into the town, although the skipper for some time was obstinately bent on leaving it to the very last, while all the other merchandise in the vessel should be previously unshipped. at last on promise of payment of ten stuivers, which was considered an exorbitant sum, the skipper and son agreed to transport the chest between them on a hand-barrow. while they were trudging with it to the town, the son remarked to his father that there was some living thing in the box. for the prisoner in the anguish of his confinement had not been able to restrain a slight movement. "do you hear what my son says?" cried the skipper to elsje. "he says you have got something alive in your trunk." "yes, yes," replied the cheerful maid-servant; "arminian books are always alive, always full of motion and spirit." they arrived at daatselaer's house, moving with difficulty through the crowd which, notwithstanding the boisterous weather, had been collected by the annual fair. many people were assembled in front of the building, which was a warehouse of great resort, while next door was a book-seller's shop thronged with professors, clergymen, and other literary persons. the carriers accordingly entered by the backway, and elsje, deliberately paying them their ten stuivers, and seeing them depart, left the box lying in a room at the rear and hastened to the shop in front. here she found the thread and ribbon dealer and his wife, busy with their customers, unpacking and exhibiting their wares. she instantly whispered in madame daatselaer's ear, "i have got my master here in your back parlour." the dame turned white as a sheet, and was near fainting on the spot. it was the first imprudence elsje had committed. the good woman recovered somewhat of her composure by a strong effort however, and instantly went with elsje to the rear of the house. "master! master!" cried elsje, rapping on the chest. there was no answer. "my god! my god!" shrieked the poor maid-servant. "my poor master is dead." "ah!" said madame daatselaer, "your mistress has made a bad business of it. yesterday she had a living husband. now she has a dead one." but soon there was a vigorous rap on the inside of the lid, and a cry from the prisoner: "open the chest! i am not dead, but did not at first recognize your voice." the lock was instantly unfastened, the lid thrown open, and grotius arose in his linen clothing, like a dead man from his coffin. the dame instantly accompanied the two through a trapdoor into an upper room. grotius asked her if she was always so deadly pale. "no," she replied, "but i am frightened to see you here. my lord is no common person. the whole world is talking of you. i fear this will cause the loss of all my property and perhaps bring my husband into prison in your place." grotius rejoined: "i made my prayers to god before as much as this had been gained, and i have just been uttering fervent thanks to him for my deliverance so far as it has been effected. but if the consequences are to be as you fear, i am ready at once to get into the chest again and be carried back to prison." but she answered, "no; whatever comes of it, we have you here and will do all that we can to help you on." grotius being faint from his sufferings, the lady brought him a glass of spanish wine, but was too much flustered to find even a cloak or shawl to throw over him. leaving him sitting there in his very thin attire, just as he had got out of the chest, she went to the front warehouse to call her husband. but he prudently declined to go to his unexpected guest. it would be better in the examination sure to follow, he said, for him to say with truth that he had not seen him and knew nothing of the escape, from first to last. grotius entirely approved of the answer when told to him. meantime madame daatselaer had gone to her brother-in-law van der veen, a clothier by trade, whom she found in his shop talking with an officer of the loevestein garrison. she whispered in the clothier's ear, and he, making an excuse to the officer, followed her home at once. they found grotius sitting where he had been left. van der veen gave him his hand, saying: "sir, you are the man of whom the whole country is talking?" "yes, here i am," was the reply, "and i put myself in your hands--" "there isn't a moment to lose," replied the clothier. "we must help you away at once." he went immediately in search of one john lambertsen, a man in whom he knew he could confide, a lutheran in religion, a master-mason by occupation. he found him on a scaffold against the gable-end of a house, working at his trade. he told him that there was a good deed to be done which he could do better than any man, that his conscience would never reproach him for it, and that he would at the same time earn no trifling reward. he begged the mason to procure a complete dress as for a journeyman, and to follow him to the house of his brother-in-law daatselaer. lambertsen soon made his appearance with the doublet, trunk-hose, and shoes of a bricklayer, together with trowel and measuring-rod. he was informed who his new journeyman was to be, and grotius at once put on the disguise. the doublet did not reach to the waistband of the trunkhose, while those nether garments stopped short of his knees; the whole attire belonging to a smaller man than the unfortunate statesman. his delicate white hands, much exposed by the shortness of the sleeves, looked very unlike those of a day-labourer, and altogether the new mason presented a somewhat incongruous and wobegone aspect. grotius was fearful too lest some of the preachers and professors frequenting the book-shop next door would recognize him through his disguise. madame daatselaer smeared his face and hands with chalk and plaster however and whispered encouragement, and so with a felt hat slouched over his forehead and a yardstick in his hand, he walked calmly forth into the thronged marketplace and through the town to the ferry, accompanied by the friendly lambertsen. it had been agreed that van der veen should leave the house in another direction and meet them at the landing-place. when they got to the ferry, they found the weather as boisterous as ever. the boatmen absolutely refused to make the dangerous crossing of the merwede over which their course lay to the land of altona, and so into the spanish netherlands, for two such insignificant personages as this mason and his scarecrow journeyman. lambertsen assured them that it was of the utmost importance that he should cross the water at once. he had a large contract for purchasing stone at altona for a public building on which he was engaged. van der veen coming up added his entreaties, protesting that he too was interested in this great stone purchase, and so by means of offering a larger price than they at first dared to propose, they were able to effect their passage. after landing, lambertsen and grotius walked to waalwyk, van der veen returning the same evening to gorcum. it was four o'clock in the afternoon when they reached waalwyk, where a carriage was hired to convey the fugitive to antwerp. the friendly mason here took leave of his illustrious journeyman, having first told the driver that his companion was a disguised bankrupt fleeing from holland into foreign territory to avoid pursuit by his creditors. this would explain his slightly concealing his face in passing through a crowd in any village. grotius proved so ignorant of the value of different coins in making small payments on the road, that the honest waggoner, on being occasionally asked who the odd-looking stranger was, answered that he was a bankrupt, and no wonder, for he did not know one piece of money from another. for, his part he thought him little better than a fool. such was the depreciatory opinion formed by the waalwyk coachman as to the "rising light of the world" and the "miracle of holland." they travelled all night and, arriving on the morning of the st within a few leagues of antwerp, met a patrol of soldiers, who asked grotius for his passport. he enquired in whose service they were, and was told in that of "red rod," as the chief bailiff of antwerp was called. that functionary happened to be near, and the traveller approaching him said that his passport was on his feet, and forthwith told him his name and story. red rod treated him at once with perfect courtesy, offered him a horse for himself with a mounted escort, and so furthered his immediate entrance to antwerp. grotius rode straight to the house of a banished friend of his, the preacher grevinkhoven. he was told by the daughter of that clergyman that her father was upstairs ministering at the bedside of his sick wife. but so soon as the traveller had sent up his name, both the preacher and the invalid came rushing downstairs to fall upon the neck of one who seemed as if risen from the dead. the news spread, and episcopius and other exiled friends soon thronged to the house of grevinkhoven, where they all dined together in great glee, grotius, still in his journeyman's clothes, narrating the particulars of his wonderful escape. he had no intention of tarrying in his resting-place at antwerp longer than was absolutely necessary. intimations were covertly made to him that a brilliant destiny might be in store for him should he consent to enter the service of the archdukes, nor were there waning rumours, circulated as a matter of course by his host of enemies, that he was about to become a renegade to country and religion. there was as much truth in the slanders as in the rest of the calumnies of which he had been the victim during his career. he placed on record a proof of his loyal devotion to his country in the letters which he wrote from antwerp within a week of his arrival there. with his subsequent history, his appearance and long residence at the french court as ambassador of sweden, his memorable labours in history, diplomacy, poetry, theology, the present narrative is not concerned. driven from the service of his fatherland, of which his name to all time is one of the proudest garlands, he continued to be a benefactor not only to her but to all mankind. if refutation is sought of the charge that republics are ungrateful, it will certainly not be found in the history of hugo grotius or john of barneveld. nor is there need to portray the wrath of captain deventer when he returned to castle loevestein. "here is the cage, but your bird is flown," said corpulent maria grotius with a placid smile. the commandant solaced himself by uttering imprecations on her, on her husband, and on elsje van houwening. but these curses could not bring back the fugitive. he flew to gorcum to browbeat the daatselaers and to search the famous trunk. he found in it the big new testament and some skeins of thread, together with an octavo or two of theology and of greek tragedies; but the arminian was not in it, and was gone from the custody of the valiant deventer for ever. after a brief period madame de groot was released and rejoined her husband. elsje van houwening, true heroine of the adventure, was subsequently married to the faithful servant of grotius, who during the two years' imprisonment had been taught latin and the rudiments of law by his master, so that he subsequently rose to be a thriving and respectable advocate at the tribunals of holland. the stadholder, when informed of the escape of the prisoner, observed, "i always thought the black pig was deceiving me," making not very complimentary allusion to the complexion and size of the lady who had thus aided the escape of her husband. he is also reported as saying that it "is no wonder they could not keep grotius in prison, as he has more wit than all his judges put together." chapter xxiii. barneveld's sons plot against maurice--the conspiracy betrayed to maurice--escape of stoutenburg--groeneveld is arrested--mary of barneveld appeals to the stadholder--groeneveld condemned to death-- execution of groeneveld. the widow of barneveld had remained, since the last scene of the fatal tragedy on the binnenhof, in hopeless desolation. the wife of the man who during a whole generation of mankind had stood foremost among the foremost of the world, and had been one of those chief actors and directors in human affairs to whom men's eyes turned instinctively from near and from afar, had led a life of unbroken prosperity. an heiress in her own right, maria van utrecht had laid the foundation of her husband's wealth by her union with the rising young lawyer and statesman. her two sons and two daughters had grown up around her, all four being married into the leading families of the land, and with apparently long lives of prosperity and usefulness before them. and now the headsman's sword had shivered all this grandeur and happiness at a blow. the name of the dead statesman had become a word of scoffing and reproach; vagabond mountebanks enacted ribald scenes to his dishonour in the public squares and streets; ballad-mongers yelled blasphemous libels upon him in the very ears of his widow and children. for party hatred was not yet glutted with the blood it had drunk. it would be idle to paint the misery of this brokenhearted woman. the great painters of the epoch have preserved her face to posterity; the grief-stricken face of a hard-featured but commanding and not uncomely woman, the fountains of whose tears seem exhausted; a face of austere and noble despair. a decorous veil should be thrown over the form of that aged matron, for whose long life and prosperity fate took such merciless vengeance at last. for the woes of maria of barneveld had scarcely begun. desolation had become her portion, but dishonour had not yet crossed her threshold. there were sterner strokes in store for her than that which smote her husband on the scaffold. she had two sons, both in the prime of life. the eldest, reinier, lord of groeneveld, who had married a widow of rank and wealth, madame de brandwyk, was living since the death of his father in comparative ease, but entire obscurity. an easy-tempered, genial, kindly gentleman, he had been always much beloved by his friends and, until the great family catastrophe, was popular with the public, but of an infirm and vacillating character, easily impressed by others, and apt to be led by stronger natures than his own. he had held the lucrative office of head forester of delfland of which he had now been deprived. the younger son william, called, from an estate conferred on him by his father, lord of stoutenburg, was of a far different mould. we have seen him at an earlier period of this narrative attached to the embassy of francis aerssens in paris, bearing then from another estate the unmusical title of craimgepolder, and giving his subtle and dangerous chief great cause of complaint by his irregular, expensive habits. he had been however rather a favourite with henry iv., who had so profound a respect for the father as to consult him, and him only of all foreign statesmen, in the gravest affairs of his reign, and he had even held an office of honour and emolument at his court. subsequently he had embraced the military career, and was esteemed a soldier of courage and promise. as captain of cavalry and governor of the fortress of bergen op zoom, he occupied a distinguished and lucrative position, and was likely, so soon as the truce ran to its close, to make a name for himself in that gigantic political and religious war which had already opened in bohemia, and in which it was evident the republic would soon be desperately involved. his wife, walburg de marnix, was daughter to one of the noblest characters in the history of the netherlands, or of any history, the illustrious sainte-aldegonde. two thousand florins a year from his father's estate had been settled on him at his marriage, which, in addition to his official and military income, placed him in a position of affluence. after the death of his father the family estates were confiscated, and he was likewise deprived of his captaincy and his governorship. he was reduced at a blow from luxury and high station to beggary and obscurity. at the renewal of the war he found himself, for no fault of his own, excluded from the service of his country. yet the advocate almost in his last breath had recommended his sons to the stadholder, and maurice had sent a message in response that so long as the sons conducted themselves well they might rely upon his support. hitherto they had not conducted themselves otherwise than well. stoutenburg, who now dwelt in his house with his mother, was of a dark, revengeful, turbulent disposition. in the career of arms he had a right to look forward to success, but thus condemned to brood in idleness on the cruel wrongs to himself and his house it was not improbable that he might become dangerous. years long he fed on projects of vengeance as his daily bread. he was convinced that his personal grievances were closely entwined with the welfare of the commonwealth, and he had sworn to avenge the death of his father, the misery of his mother, and the wrongs which he was himself suffering, upon the stadholder, whom he considered the author of all their woe. to effect a revolution in the government, and to bring back to power all the municipal regents whom maurice had displaced so summarily, in order, as the son believed, to effect the downfall of the hated advocate, this was the determination of stoutenburg. he did not pause to reflect whether the arm which had been strong enough to smite to nothingness the venerable statesman in the plenitude of his power would be too weak to repel the attack of an obscure and disarmed partisan. he saw only a hated tyrant, murderer, and oppressor, as he considered him, and he meant to have his life. he had around him a set of daring and desperate men to whom he had from time to time half confided his designs. a certain unfrocked preacher of the remonstrant persuasion, who, according to the fashion of the learned of that day, had translated his name out of hendrik sleet into henricus slatius, was one of his most unscrupulous instruments. slatius, a big, swarthy, shag-eared, beetle-browed hollander, possessed learning of no ordinary degree, a tempestuous kind of eloquence, and a habit of dealing with men; especially those of the humbler classes. he was passionate, greedy, overbearing, violent, and loose of life. he had sworn vengeance upon the remonstrants in consequence of a private quarrel, but this did not prevent him from breathing fire and fury against the contra-remonstrants also, and especially against the stadholder, whom he affected to consider the arch-enemy of the whole commonwealth. another twelvemonth went by. the advocate had been nearly four years in his grave. the terrible german war was in full blaze. the twelve years' truce had expired, the republic was once more at war, and stoutenburg, forbidden at the head of his troop to campaign with the stadholder against the archdukes, nourished more fiercely than ever his plan against the stadholder's life. besides the ferocious slatius he had other associates. there was his cousin by marriage, van der dussen, a catholic gentleman, who had married a daughter of elias barneveld, and who shared all stoutenburg's feelings of resentment towards maurice. there was korenwinder, another catholic, formerly occupying an official position of responsibility as secretary of the town of berkel, a man of immense corpulence, but none the less an active and dangerous conspirator. there was van dyk, a secretary of bleiswyk, equally active and dangerous, and as lean and hungry as korenwinder was fat. stoutenburg, besides other rewards, had promised him a cornetcy of cavalry, should their plans be successful. and there was the brother-in-law of slatius, one cornelis gerritaen, a joiner by trade, living at rotterdam, who made himself very useful in all the details of the conspiracy. for the plot was now arranged, the men just mentioned being its active agents and in constant communication with stoutenburg. korenwinder and van dyk in the last days of december drew up a scheme on paper, which was submitted to their chief and met with his approval. the document began with a violent invective against the crimes and tyranny of the stadholder, demonstrated the necessity of a general change in the government, and of getting rid of maurice as an indispensable preliminary, and laid down the means and method of doing this deed. the prince was in the daily habit of driving, unattended by his body-guard, to ryswyk, about two miles from the hague. it would not be difficult for a determined band of men divided into two parties to set upon him between the stables and his coach, either when alighting from or about to enter it--the one party to kill him while the other protected the retreat of the assassins, and beat down such defence as the few lackeys of the stadholder could offer. the scheme, thus mapped out, was submitted to stoutenburg, who gave it his approval after suggesting a few amendments. the document was then burnt. it was estimated that twenty men would be needed for the job, and that to pay them handsomely would require about guilders. the expenses and other details of the infamous plot were discussed as calmly as if it had been an industrial or commercial speculation. but guilders was an immense sum to raise, and the seigneur de stoutenburg was a beggar. his associates were as forlorn as himself, but his brother-in-law, the ex-ambassador van der myle, was living at beverwyk under the supervision of the police, his property not having been confiscated. stoutenburg paid him a visit, accompanied by the reverend slatius, in hopes of getting funds from him, but at the first obscure hint of the infamous design van der myle faced them with such looks, gestures, and words of disgust and indignation that the murderous couple recoiled, the son of barneveld saying to the expreacher: "let us be off, slaet,'tis a mere cur. nothing is to be made of him." the other son of barneveld, the seigneur de groeneveld, had means and credit. his brother had darkly hinted to him the necessity of getting rid of maurice, and tried to draw him into the plot. groeneveld, more unstable than water, neither repelled nor encouraged these advances. he joined in many conversations with stoutenburg, van dyk, and korenwinder, but always weakly affected not to know what they were driving at. "when we talk of business," said van dyk to him one day, "you are always turning off from us and from the subject. you had better remain." many anonymous letters were sent to him, calling on him to strike for vengeance on the murderer of his father, and for the redemption of his native land and the remonstrant religion from foul oppression. at last yielding to the persuasions and threats of his fierce younger brother, who assured him that the plot would succeed, the government be revolutionized, and that then all property would be at the mercy of the victors, he agreed to endorse certain bills which korenwinder undertook to negotiate. nothing could be meaner, more cowardly, and more murderous than the proceedings of the seigneur de groeneveld. he seems to have felt no intense desire of vengeance upon maurice, which certainly would not have been unnatural, but he was willing to supply money for his assassination. at the same time he was careful to insist that this pecuniary advance was by no means a free gift, but only a loan to be repaid by his more bloodthirsty brother upon demand with interest. with a businesslike caution, in ghastly contrast with the foulness of the contract, he exacted a note of hand from stoutenburg covering the whole amount of his disbursements. there might come a time, he thought, when his brother's paper would be more negotiable than it was at that moment. korenwinder found no difficulty in discounting groeneveld's bills, and the necessary capital was thus raised for the vile enterprise. van dyk, the lean and hungry conspirator, now occupied himself vigorously in engaging the assassins, while his corpulent colleague remained as treasurer of the company. two brothers blansaerts, woollen manufacturers at leyden--one of whom had been a student of theology in the remonstrant church and had occasionally preached--and a certain william party, a walloon by birth, but likewise a woollen worker at leyden, agreed to the secretary's propositions. he had at first told, them that their services would be merely required for the forcible liberation of two remonstrant clergymen, niellius and poppius, from the prison at haarlem. entertaining his new companions at dinner, however, towards the end of january, van dyk, getting very drunk, informed them that the object of the enterprise was to kill the stadholder; that arrangements had been made for effecting an immediate change in the magistracies in all the chief cities of holland so soon as the deed was done; that all the recently deposed regents would enter the hague at once, supported by a train of armed peasants from the country; and that better times for the oppressed religion, for the fatherland, and especially for everyone engaged in the great undertaking, would begin with the death of the tyrant. each man taking direct part in the assassination would receive at least guilders, besides being advanced to offices of honour and profit according to his capacity. the blansaerts assured their superior that entire reliance might be placed on their fidelity, and that they knew of three or four other men in leyden "as firm as trees and fierce as lions," whom they would engage--a fustian worker, a tailor, a chimney-sweeper, and one or two other mechanics. the looseness and utter recklessness with which this hideous conspiracy was arranged excites amazement. van dyk gave the two brothers pistoles in gold--a coin about equal to a guinea--for their immediate reward as well as for that of the comrades to be engaged. yet it seems almost certain from subsequent revelations that they were intending all the time to deceive him, to take as much money as they could get from him, "to milk, the cow as long as she would give milk," as william party expressed it, and then to turn round upon and betray him. it was a dangerous game however, which might not prove entirely successful. van dyk duly communicated with stoutenburg, who grew more and more feverish with hatred and impatience as the time for gratifying those passions drew nigh, and frequently said that he would like to tear the stadholder to pieces with his own hands. he preferred however to act as controlling director over the band of murderers now enrolled. for in addition to the leyden party, the reverend slatius, supplied with funds by van dyk, had engaged at rotterdam his brother-in-law gerritsen, a joiner, living in that city, together with three sailors named respectively dirk, john, and herman. the ex-clergyman's house was also the arsenal of the conspiracy, and here were stored away a stock of pistols, snaphances, and sledge-hammers--together with that other death-dealing machinery, the whole edition of the 'clearshining torch', an inflammatory, pamphlet by slatius--all to be used on the fatal day fast approaching. on the st february van dyk visited slatius at rotterdam. he found gerritsen hard at work. there in a dark back kitchen, by the lurid light of the fire in a dim wintry afternoon, stood the burly slatius, with his swarthy face and heavy eyebrows, accompanied by his brother-in-law the joiner, both in workman's dress, melting lead, running bullets, drying powder, and burnishing and arranging the fire-arms and other tools to be used in the great crime now so rapidly maturing. the lean, busy, restless van dyk, with his adust and sinister visage, came peering in upon the couple thus engaged, and observed their preparations with warm approval. he recommended that in addition to dirk, john, and herman, a few more hardy seafaring men should be engaged, and slatius accordingly secured next day the services of one jerome ewouts and three other sailors. they were not informed of the exact nature of the enterprise, but were told that it was a dangerous although not a desperate one, and sure to be of great service to the fatherland. they received, as all the rest had done, between and guilders in gold, that they would all be promoted to be captains and first mates. it was agreed that all the conspirators should assemble four days later at the hague on sunday, the th february, at the inn of the "golden helmet." the next day, monday the th, had been fixed by stoutenburg for doing the deed. van dyk, who had great confidence in the eloquence of william party, the walloon wool manufacturer, had arranged that he should make a discourse to them all in a solitary place in the downs between that city and the sea-shore, taking for his theme or brief the clearshining torch of slatius. on saturday that eminent divine entertained his sister and her husband gerritsen, jerome ewouts, who was at dinner but half informed as to the scope of the great enterprise, and several other friends who were entirely ignorant of it. slatius was in high spirits, although his sister, who had at last become acquainted with the vile plot, had done nothing but weep all day long. they had better be worms, with a promise of further reward and an intimation she said, and eat dirt for their food, than crawl in so base a business. her brother comforted her with assurances that the project was sure to result in a triumph for religion and fatherland, and drank many healths at his table to the success of all engaged in it. that evening he sent off a great chest filled with arms and ammunition to the "golden helmet" at the hague under the charge of jerome ewouts and his three mates. van dyk had already written a letter to the landlord of that hostelry engaging a room there, and saying that the chest contained valuable books and documents to be used in a lawsuit, in which he was soon to be engaged, before the supreme tribunal. on the sunday this bustling conspirator had john blansaert and william party to dine with him at the "golden helmet" in the hague, and produced seven packages neatly folded, each containing gold pieces to the amount of twenty pounds sterling. these were for themselves and the others whom they had reported as engaged by them in leyden. getting drunk as usual, he began to bluster of the great political revolution impending, and after dinner examined the carbines of his guests. he asked if those weapons were to be relied upon. "we can blow a hair to pieces with them at twenty paces," they replied. "ah! would that i too could be of the party," said van dyk, seizing one of the carbines. "no, no," said john blansaert, "we can do the deed better without you than with you. you must look out for the defence." van dyk then informed them that they, with one of the rotterdam sailors, were to attack maurice as he got out of his coach at ryswyk, pin him between the stables and the coach, and then and there do him to death. "you are not to leave him," he cried, "till his soul has left his body." the two expressed their hearty concurrence with this arrangement, and took leave of their host for the night, going, they said, to distribute the seven packages of blood-money. they found adam blansaert waiting for them in the downs, and immediately divided the whole amount between themselves and him--the chimney-sweeper, tailor, and fustian worker, "firm as trees and fierce as lions," having never had any existence save in their fertile imaginations. on monday, th february, van dyk had a closing interview with stoutenburg and his brother at the house of groeneveld, and informed them that the execution of the plot had been deferred to the following day. stoutenburg expressed disgust and impatience at the delay. "i should like to tear the stadholder to pieces with my own hands!" he cried. he was pacified on hearing that the arrangements had been securely made for the morrow, and turning to his brother observed, "remember that you can never retract. you are in our power and all your estates at our mercy." he then explained the manner in which the magistracies of leyden, gouda, rotterdam, and other cities were to be instantly remodelled after the death of maurice, the ex-regents of the hague at the head of a band of armed peasants being ready at a moment's warning to take possession of the political capital. prince frederic henry moreover, he hinted darkly and falsely, but in a manner not to be mistaken, was favourable to the movement, and would after the murder of maurice take the government into his hands. stoutenburg then went quietly home to pass the day and sleep at his mother's house awaiting the eventful morning of tuesday. van dyk went back to his room at the "golden helmet" and began inspecting the contents of the arms and ammunition chest which jerome ewouts and his three mates had brought the night before from rotterdam. he had been somewhat unquiet at having seen nothing of those mariners during the day; when looking out of window, he saw one of them in conference with some soldiers. a minute afterwards he heard a bustle in the rooms below, and found that the house was occupied by a guard, and that gerritsen, with the three first engaged sailors dirk, peter, and herman, had been arrested at the zotje. he tried in vain to throw the arms back into the chest and conceal it under the bed, but it was too late. seizing his hat and wrapping himself in his cloak, with his sword by his side, he walked calmly down the stairs looking carelessly at the group of soldiers and prisoners who filled the passages. a waiter informed the provost-marshal in command that the gentleman was a respectable boarder at the tavern, well known to him for many years. the conspirator passed unchallenged and went straight to inform stoutenburg. the four mariners, last engaged by slatius at rotterdam, had signally exemplified the danger of half confidences. surprised that they should have been so mysteriously entrusted with the execution of an enterprise the particulars of which were concealed from them, and suspecting that crime alone could command such very high prices as had been paid and promised by the ex-clergyman, they had gone straight to the residence of the stadholder, after depositing the chest at the "golden helmet." finding that he had driven as usual to ryswyk, they followed him thither, and by dint of much importunity obtained an audience. if the enterprise was a patriotic one, they reasoned, he would probably know of it and approve it. if it were criminal, it would be useful for them to reveal and dangerous to conceal it. they told the story so far as they knew it to the prince and showed him the money, florins apiece, which they had already received from slatius. maurice hesitated not an instant. it was evident that a dark conspiracy was afoot. he ordered the sailors to return to the hague by another and circuitous road through voorburg, while he lost not a moment himself in hurrying back as fast as his horses would carry him. summoning the president and several councillors of the chief tribunal, he took instant measures to take possession of the two taverns, and arrest all the strangers found in them. meantime van dyk came into the house of the widow barneveld and found stoutenburg in the stable-yard. he told him the plot was discovered, the chest of arms at the "golden helmet" found. "are there any private letters or papers in the bog?" asked stoutenburg. "none relating to the affair," was the answer. "take yourself off as fast as possible," said stoutenburg. van dyk needed no urging. he escaped through the stables and across the fields in the direction of leyden. after skulking about for a week however and making very little progress, he was arrested at hazerswoude, having broken through the ice while attempting to skate across the inundated and frozen pastures in that region. proclamations were at once made, denouncing the foul conspiracy in which the sons of the late advocate barneveld, the remonstrant clergyman slatius, and others, were the ringleaders, and offering florins each for their apprehension. a public thanksgiving for the deliverance was made in all the churches on the th february. on the th february the states-general sent letters to all their ambassadors and foreign agents, informing them of this execrable plot to overthrow the commonwealth and take the life of the stadholder, set on foot by certain arminian preachers and others of that faction, and this too in winter, when the ice and snow made hostile invasion practicable, and when the enemy was encamped in so many places in the neighbourhood. "the arminians," said the despatch, "are so filled with bitterness that they would rather the republic should be lost than that their pretended grievances should go unredressed." almost every pulpit shook with contra-remonstrant thunder against the whole society of remonstrants, who were held up to the world as rebels and prince-murderers; the criminal conspiracy being charged upon them as a body. hardly a man of that persuasion dared venture into the streets and public places, for fear of being put to death by the rabble. the chevalier william of nassau, natural son of the stadholder, was very loud and violent in all the taverns and tap-rooms, drinking mighty draughts to the damnation of the arminians. many of the timid in consequence shrank away from the society and joined the contra-remonstrant church, while the more courageous members, together with the leaders of that now abhorred communion, published long and stirring appeals to the universal sense of justice, which was outraged by the spectacle of a whole sect being punished for a crime committed by a few individuals, who had once been unworthy members of it. meantime hue and cry was made after the fugitive conspirators. the blansaerts and william party having set off from leyden towards the hague on monday night, in order, as they said, to betray their employers, whose money they had taken, and whose criminal orders they had agreed to execute, attempted to escape, but were arrested within ten days. they were exhibited at their prison at amsterdam to an immense concourse at a shilling a peep, the sums thus collected being distributed to the poor. slatius made his way disguised as a boor into friesland, and after various adventures attempted to cross the bourtange moors to lingen. stopping to refresh himself at a tavern near koevorden, he found himself in the tap-room in presence of quartermaster blau and a company of soldiers from the garrison. the dark scowling boor, travel-stained and weary, with felt hat slouched over his forbidding visage, fierce and timorous at once like a hunted wild beast, excited their suspicion. seeing himself watched, he got up, paid his scot, and departed, leaving his can of beer untasted. this decided the quartermaster, who accordingly followed the peasant out of the house, and arrested him as a spanish spy on the watch for the train of specie which the soldiers were then conveying into koevorden castle. slatius protested his innocence of any such design, and vehemently besought the officer to release him, telling him as a reason for his urgency and an explanation of his unprepossessing aspect--that he was an oculist from amsterdam, john hermansen by name, that he had just committed a homicide in that place, and was fleeing from justice. the honest quartermaster saw no reason why a suspected spy should go free because he proclaimed himself a murderer, nor why an oculist should escape the penalties of homicide. "the more reason," he said, "why thou shouldst be my prisoner." the ex-preacher was arrested and shut up in the state prison at the hague. the famous engraver visser executed a likeness on copper-plate of the grim malefactor as he appeared in his boor's disguise. the portrait, accompanied by a fiercely written broadsheet attacking the remonstrant church, had a great circulation, and deepened the animosity against the sect upon which the unfrocked preacher had sworn vengeance. his evil face and fame thus became familiar to the public, while the term hendrik slaet became a proverb at pot-houses, being held equivalent among tipplers to shirking the bottle. korenwinder, the treasurer of the association, coming to visit stoutenburg soon after van dyk had left him, was informed of the discovery of the plot and did his best to escape, but was arrested within a fortnight's time. stoutenburg himself acted with his usual promptness and coolness. having gone straightway to his brother to notify him of the discovery and to urge him to instant flight, he contrived to disappear. a few days later a chest of merchandise was brought to the house of a certain citizen of rotterdam, who had once been a fiddler, but was now a man of considerable property. the chest, when opened, was found to contain the seigneur de stoutenburg, who in past times had laid the fiddler under obligations, and in whose house he now lay concealed for many days, and until the strictness with which all roads and ferries in the neighbourhood were watched at first had somewhat given way. meantime his cousin van der dussen had also effected his escape, and had joined him in rotterdam. the faithful fiddler then, for a thousand florins, chartered a trading vessel commanded by one jacob beltje to take a cargo of dutch cheese to wesel on the rhine. by this means, after a few adventures, they effected their escape, and, arriving not long afterwards at brussels, were formally taken under the protection of the archduchess isabella. stoutenburg afterwards travelled in france and italy, and returned to brussels. his wife, loathing his crime and spurning all further communication with him, abandoned him to his fate. the daughter of marnix of sainte-aldegonde had endured poverty, obscurity, and unmerited obloquy, which had become the lot of the great statesman's family after his tragic end, but she came of a race that would not brook dishonour. the conspirator and suborner of murder and treason, the hirer and companion of assassins, was no mate for her. stoutenburg hesitated for years as to his future career, strangely enough keeping up a hope of being allowed to return to his country. subsequently he embraced the cause of his country's enemies, converted himself to the roman church, and obtained a captaincy of horse in the spanish service. he was seen one day, to the disgust of many spectators, to enter antwerp in black foreign uniform, at the head of his troopers, waving a standard with a death's-head embroidered upon it, and wearing, like his soldiers, a sable scarf and plume. history disdains to follow further the career of the renegade, traitor, end assassin. when the seigneur de groeneveld learned from his younger brother, on the eventful th of february, that the plot had been discovered, he gave himself up for lost. remorse and despair, fastening upon his naturally feeble character, seemed to render him powerless. his wife, of more hopeful disposition than himself and of less heroic mould than walburg de marnix, encouraged him to fly. he fled accordingly, through the desolate sandy downs which roll between the hague and the sea, to scheveningen, then an obscure fishing village on the coast, at a league's distance from the capital. here a fisherman, devoted to him and his family, received him in his hut, disguised him in boatman's attire, and went with him to the strand, proposing to launch his pinkie, put out at once to sea, and to land him on the english coast, the french coast, in hamburg--where he would. the sight of that long, sandy beach stretching for more than seventy miles in an unbroken, melancholy line, without cove, curve, or indentation to break its cruel monotony, and with the wild waves of the german ocean, lashed by a wintry storm, breaking into white foam as far as the eye could reach, appalled the fugitive criminal. with the certainty of an ignominious death behind him, he shrank abjectly from the terrors of the sea, and, despite the honest fisherman's entreaties, refused to enter the boat and face the storm. he wandered feebly along the coast, still accompanied by his humble friend, to another little village, where the fisherman procured a waggon, which took them as far as sandvoort. thence he made his way through egmond and petten and across the marsdiep to tegel, where not deeming himself safe he had himself ferried over to the neighbouring island of vlieland. here amongst the quicksands, whirlpools, and shallows which mark the last verge of habitable holland, the unhappy fugitive stood at bay. meantime information had come to the authorities that a suspicious stranger had been seen at scheveningen. the fisherman's wife was arrested. threatened with torture she at last confessed with whom her husband had fled and whither. information was sent to the bailiff of vlieland, who with a party of followers made a strict search through his narrow precincts. a group of seamen seated on the sands was soon discovered, among whom, dressed in shaggy pea jacket with long fisherman's boots, was the seigneur de groeneveld, who, easily recognized through his disguise, submitted to his captors without a struggle. the scheveningen fisherman, who had been so faithful to him, making a sudden spring, eluded his pursuers and disappeared; thus escaping the gibbet which would probably have been his doom instead of the reward of golden guilders which he might have had for betraying him. thus a sum more than double the amount originally furnished by groeneveld, as the capital of the assassination company, had been rejected by the rotterdam boatman who saved stoutenburg, and by the scheveningen fisherman who was ready to save groeneveld. on the th february, within less than a fortnight from the explosion of the conspiracy, the eldest son of barneveld was lodged in the gevangen poort or state prison of the hague. the awful news of the th february had struck the widow of barneveld as with a thunderbolt. both her sons were proclaimed as murderers and suborners of assassins, and a price put upon their heads. she remained for days neither speaking nor weeping; scarcely eating, drinking, or sleeping. she seemed frozen to stone. her daughters and friends could not tell whether she were dying or had lost her reason. at length the escape of stoutenburg and the capture of groeneveld seemed to rouse her from her trance. she then stooped to do what she had sternly refused to do when her husband was in the hands of the authorities. accompanied by the wife and infant son of groeneveld she obtained an audience of the stern stadholder, fell on her knees before him, and implored mercy and pardon for her son. maurice received her calmly and not discourteously, but held out no hopes of pardon. the criminal was in the hands of justice, he said, and he had no power to interfere. but there can scarcely be a doubt that he had power after the sentence to forgive or to commute, and it will be remembered that when barneveld himself was about to suffer, the prince had asked the clergyman walaeus with much anxiety whether the prisoner in his message had said nothing of pardon. referring to the bitter past, maurice asked madame de barneveld why she not asked mercy for her son, having refused to do so for her husband. her answer was simple and noble: "my husband was innocent of crime," she said; "my son is guilty." the idea of pardon in this case was of course preposterous. certainly if groeneveld had been forgiven, it would have been impossible to punish the thirteen less guilty conspirators, already in the hands of justice, whom he had hired to commit the assassination. the spectacle of the two cowardly ringleaders going free while the meaner criminals were gibbeted would have been a shock to the most rudimentary ideas of justice. it would have been an equal outrage to pardon the younger barnevelds for intended murder, in which they had almost succeeded, when their great father had already suffered for a constructive lese-majesty, the guilt of which had been stoutly denied. yet such is the dreary chain of cause and effect that it is certain, had pardon been nobly offered to the statesman, whose views of constitutional law varied from those of the dominant party, the later crime would never have been committed. but francis aerssens--considering his own and other partisans lives at stake if the states' right party did not fall--had been able to bear down all thoughts of mercy. he was successful, was called to the house of nobles, and regained the embassy of paris, while the house of barneveld was trodden into the dust of dishonour and ruin. rarely has an offended politician's revenge been more thorough than his. never did the mocking fiend betray his victims into the hands of the avenger more sardonically than was done in this sombre tragedy. the trials of the prisoners were rapidly conducted. van dyk, cruelly tortured, confessed on the rack all the details of the conspiracy as they were afterwards embodied in the sentences and have been stated in the preceding narrative. groeneveld was not tortured. his answers to the interrogatories were so vague as to excite amazement at his general ignorance of the foul transaction or at the feebleness of his memory, while there was no attempt on his part to exculpate himself from the damning charge. that it was he who had furnished funds for the proposed murder and mutiny, knowing the purpose to which they were to be applied, was proved beyond all cavil and fully avowed by him. on the th may, he, korenwinder, and van dyk were notified that they were to appear next day in the courthouse to hear their sentence, which would immediately afterwards be executed. that night his mother, wife, and son paid him a long visit of farewell in his prison. the gevangen poort of the hague, an antique but mean building of brown brick and commonplace aspect, still stands in one of the most public parts of the city. a gloomy archway, surmounted by windows grimly guarded by iron lattice-work, forms the general thoroughfare from the aristocratic plaats and kneuterdyk and vyverberg to the inner court of the ancient palace. the cells within are dark, noisome, and dimly lighted, and even to this day the very instruments of torture, used in the trials of these and other prisoners, may be seen by the curious. half a century later the brothers de witt were dragged from this prison to be literally torn to pieces by an infuriated mob. the misery of that midnight interview between the widow of barneveld, her daughter-in-law, and the condemned son and husband need not be described. as the morning approached, the gaoler warned the matrons to take their departure that the prisoner might sleep. "what a woful widow you will be," said groeneveld to his wife, as she sank choking with tears upon the ground. the words suddenly aroused in her the sense of respect for their name. "at least for all this misery endured," she said firmly, "do me enough honour to die like a gentleman." he promised it. the mother then took leave of the son, and history drops a decorous veil henceforth over the grief-stricken form of mary of barneveld. next morning the life-guards of the stadholder and other troops were drawn up in battle-array in the outer and inner courtyard of the supreme tribunal and palace. at ten o'clock groeneveld came forth from the prison. the stadholder had granted as a boon to the family that he might be neither fettered nor guarded as he walked to the tribunal. the prisoner did not forget his parting promise to his wife. he appeared full-dressed in velvet cloak and plumed hat, with rapier by his side, walking calmly through the inner courtyard to the great hall. observing the windows of the stadholder's apartments crowded with spectators, among whom he seemed to recognize the prince's face, he took off his hat and made a graceful and dignified salute. he greeted with courtesy many acquaintances among the crowd through which he passed. he entered the hall and listened in silence to the sentence condemning him to be immediately executed with the sword. van dyk and korenwinder shared the same doom, but were provisionally taken back to prison. groeneveld then walked calmly and gracefully as before from the hall to the scaffold, attended by his own valet, and preceded by the provost-marshal and assistants. he was to suffer, not where his father had been beheaded, but on the "green sod." this public place of execution for ordinary criminals was singularly enough in the most elegant and frequented quarter of the hague. a few rods from the gevangen poort, at the western end of the vyverberg, on the edge of the cheerful triangle called the plaats, and looking directly down the broad and stately kneuterdyk, at the end of which stood aremberg house, lately the residence of the great advocate, was the mean and sordid scaffold. groeneveld ascended it with perfect composure. the man who had been browbeaten into crime by an overbearing and ferocious brother, who had quailed before the angry waves of the north sea, which would have borne him to a place of entire security, now faced his fate with a smile upon his lips. he took off his hat, cloak, and sword, and handed them to his valet. he calmly undid his ruff and wristbands of pointlace, and tossed them on the ground. with his own hands and the assistance of his servant he unbuttoned his doublet, laying breast and neck open without suffering the headsman's hands to approach him. he then walked to the heap of sand and spoke a very few words to the vast throng of spectators. "desire of vengeance and evil counsel," he said, "have brought me here. if i have wronged any man among you, i beg him for christ's sake to forgive me." kneeling on the sand with his face turned towards his father's house at the end of the kneuterdyk, he said his prayers. then putting a red velvet cap over his eyes, he was heard to mutter: "o god! what a man i was once, and what am i now?" calmly folding his hands, he said, "patience." the executioner then struck off his head at a blow. his body, wrapped in a black cloak, was sent to his house and buried in his father's tomb. van dyk and korenwinder were executed immediately afterwards. they were quartered and their heads exposed on stakes. the joiner gerritsen and the three sailors had already been beheaded. the blansaerts and william party, together with the grim slatius, who was savage and turbulent to the last, had suffered on the th of may. fourteen in all were executed for this crime, including an unfortunate tailor and two other mechanics of leyden, who had heard something whispered about the conspiracy, had nothing whatever to do with it, but from ignorance, apathy, or timidity did not denounce it. the ringleader and the equally guilty van der dussen had, as has been seen, effected their escape. thus ended the long tragedy of the barnevelds. the result of this foul conspiracy and its failure to effect the crime proposed strengthened immensely the power, popularity, and influence of the stadholder, made the orthodox church triumphant, and nearly ruined the sect of the remonstrants, the arminians--most unjustly in reality, although with a pitiful show of reason--being held guilty of the crime of stoutenburg and slatius. the republic--that magnificent commonwealth which in its infancy had confronted, single-handed, the greatest empire of the earth, and had wrested its independence from the ancient despot after a forty years' struggle--had now been rent in twain, although in very unequal portions, by the fiend of political and religious hatred. thus crippled, she was to go forth and take her share in that awful conflict now in full blaze, and of which after-ages were to speak with a shudder as the thirty years' war. etext editor's bookmarks: argument in a circle he that stands let him see that he does not fall if he has deserved it, let them strike off his head misery had come not from their being enemies o god! what does man come to! party hatred was not yet glutted with the blood it had drunk rose superior to his doom and took captivity captive this, then, is the reward of forty years' service to the state to milk, the cow as long as she would give milk etext editor's bookmarks, entire john of barneveld, - : acts of violence which under pretext of religion adulation for inferiors whom they despise affection of his friends and the wrath of his enemies and give advice. of that, although always a spendthrift argument in a circle better to be governed by magistrates than mobs burning with bitter revenge for all the favours he had received calumny is often a stronger and more lasting power than disdain casual outbursts of eternal friendship changed his positions and contradicted himself day by day conciliation when war of extermination was intended considered it his special mission in the world to mediate created one child for damnation and another for salvation death rather than life with a false acknowledgment of guilt denoungced as an obstacle to peace depths theological party spirit could descend depths of credulity men in all ages can sink devote himself to his gout and to his fair young wife enemy of all compulsion of the human conscience extraordinary capacity for yielding to gentle violence france was mourning henry and waiting for richelieu furious mob set upon the house of rem bischop hardly a sound protestant policy anywhere but in holland he that stands let him see that he does not fall heidelberg catechism were declared to be infallible highborn demagogues in that as in every age affect adulation history has not too many really important and emblematic men human nature in its meanness and shame i hope and i fear i know how to console myself if he has deserved it, let them strike off his head implication there was much, of assertion very little in this he was much behind his age or before it it had not yet occurred to him that he was married john robinson king who thought it furious madness to resist the enemy logic is rarely the quality on which kings pride themselves magistracy at that moment seemed to mean the sword make the very name of man a term of reproach misery had come not from their being enemies mockery of negotiation in which nothing could be negotiated more apprehension of fraud than of force necessity of deferring to powerful sovereigns never lack of fishers in troubled waters not his custom nor that of his councillors to go to bed o god! what does man come to! only true religion opening an abyss between government and people opposed the subjection of the magistracy by the priesthood partisans wanted not accommodation but victory party hatred was not yet glutted with the blood it had drunk pot-valiant hero puritanism in holland was a very different thing from england rather a wilderness to reign over than a single heretic resolve to maintain the civil authority over the military rose superior to his doom and took captivity captive seemed bent on self-destruction stand between hope and fear successful in this step, he is ready for greater ones tempest of passion and prejudice that he tries to lay the fault on us is pure malice the magnitude of this wonderful sovereign's littleness the effect of energetic, uncompromising calumny the evils resulting from a confederate system of government this, then, is the reward of forty years' service to the state this wonderful sovereign's littleness oppresses the imagination to milk, the cow as long as she would give milk to stifle for ever the right of free enquiry william brewster wise and honest a man, although he be somewhat longsome yes, there are wicked men about yesterday is the preceptor of to-morrow etext editor's bookmarks, entire john of barneveld - : abstinence from inquisition into consciences and private parlour acts of violence which under pretext of religion adulation for inferiors whom they despise advanced orthodox party-puritans affection of his friends and the wrath of his enemies allowed the demon of religious hatred to enter into its body almost infinite power of the meanest of passions and give advice. of that, although always a spendthrift and now the knife of another priest-led fanatic argument in a circle aristocracy of god's elect as with his own people, keeping no back-door open at a blow decapitated france atheist, a tyrant, because he resisted dictation from the clergy behead, torture, burn alive, and bury alive all heretics better to be governed by magistrates than mobs burning with bitter revenge for all the favours he had received calumny is often a stronger and more lasting power than disdain casual outbursts of eternal friendship changed his positions and contradicted himself day by day christian sympathy and a small assistance not being sufficient conciliation when war of extermination was intended conclusive victory for the allies seemed as predestined considered it his special mission in the world to mediate contained within itself the germs of a larger liberty could not be both judge and party in the suit covered now with the satirical dust of centuries created one child for damnation and another for salvation deadly hatred of puritans in england and holland death rather than life with a false acknowledgment of guilt denoungced as an obstacle to peace depths of credulity men in all ages can sink depths theological party spirit could descend determined to bring the very name of liberty into contempt devote himself to his gout and to his fair young wife disputing the eternal damnation of young children doctrine of predestination in its sternest and strictest sense emperor of japan addressed him as his brother monarch enemy of all compulsion of the human conscience epernon, the true murderer of henry estimating his character and judging his judges everybody should mind his own business extraordinary capacity for yielding to gentle violence fate, free will, or absolute foreknowledge father cotton, who was only too ready to betray the secrets france was mourning henry and waiting for richelieu furious mob set upon the house of rem bischop give him advice if he asked it, and money when he required great war of religion and politics was postponed hardly a sound protestant policy anywhere but in holland he was not imperial of aspect on canvas or coin he who would have all may easily lose all he who spreads the snare always tumbles into the ditch himself he was a sincere bigot he that stands let him see that he does not fall heidelberg catechism were declared to be infallible highborn demagogues in that as in every age affect adulation history has not too many really important and emblematic men human nature in its meanness and shame i know how to console myself i hope and i fear if he has deserved it, let them strike off his head impatience is often on the part of the non-combatants implication there was much, of assertion very little in this he was much behind his age or before it intense bigotry of conviction international friendship, the self-interest of each it had not yet occurred to him that he was married it was the true religion, and there was none other james of england, who admired, envied, and hated henry jealousy, that potent principle jesuit mariana--justifying the killing of excommunicated kings john robinson king who thought it furious madness to resist the enemy king's definite and final intentions, varied from day to day language which is ever living because it is dead logic is rarely the quality on which kings pride themselves louis xiii. ludicrous gravity magistracy at that moment seemed to mean the sword make the very name of man a term of reproach misery had come not from their being enemies mockery of negotiation in which nothing could be negotiated more apprehension of fraud than of force more fiercely opposed to each other than to papists most detestable verses that even he had ever composed necessity of deferring to powerful sovereigns neither kings nor governments are apt to value logic never lack of fishers in troubled waters no man pretended to think of the state no man can be neutral in civil contentions no synod had a right to claim netherlanders as slaves none but god to compel me to say more than i choose to say not his custom nor that of his councillors to go to bed o god! what does man come to! only true religion opening an abyss between government and people opposed the subjection of the magistracy by the priesthood outdoing himself in dogmatism and inconsistency partisans wanted not accommodation but victory party hatred was not yet glutted with the blood it had drunk philip iv. pot-valiant hero power the poison of which it is so difficult to resist practised successfully the talent of silence presents of considerable sums of money to the negotiators made priests shall control the state or the state govern the priests princes show what they have in them at twenty-five or never puritanism in holland was a very different thing from england putting the cart before the oxen queen is entirely in the hands of spain and the priests rather a wilderness to reign over than a single heretic religion was made the strumpet of political ambition religious toleration, which is a phrase of insult resolve to maintain the civil authority over the military rose superior to his doom and took captivity captive safest citadel against an invader and a tyrant is distrust schism in the church had become a public fact secure the prizes of war without the troubles and dangers seemed bent on self-destruction senectus edam maorbus est she declined to be his procuress small matter which human folly had dilated into a great one smooth words, in the plentiful lack of any substantial so much in advance of his time as to favor religious equality stand between hope and fear stroke of a broken table knife sharpened on a carriage wheel successful in this step, he is ready for greater ones tempest of passion and prejudice that he tries to lay the fault on us is pure malice that cynical commerce in human lives the effect of energetic, uncompromising calumny the evils resulting from a confederate system of government the vehicle is often prized more than the freight the voice of slanderers the truth in shortest about matters of importance the assassin, tortured and torn by four horses the defence of the civil authority against the priesthood the magnitude of this wonderful sovereign's littleness the catholic league and the protestant union their own roofs were not quite yet in a blaze theological hatred was in full blaze throughout the country theology and politics were one there was no use in holding language of authority to him there was but one king in europe, henry the bearnese therefore now denounced the man whom he had injured they have killed him, 'e ammazato,' cried concini things he could tell which are too odious and dreadful thirty years' war tread on the heels of the forty years this wonderful sovereign's littleness oppresses the imagination this, then, is the reward of forty years' service to the state to milk, the cow as long as she would give milk to stifle for ever the right of free enquiry to look down upon their inferior and lost fellow creatures uncouple the dogs and let them run unimaginable outrage as the most legitimate industry vows of an eternal friendship of several weeks' duration what could save the house of austria, the cause of papacy whether repentance could effect salvation whether dead infants were hopelessly damned whose mutual hatred was now artfully inflamed by partisans william brewster wise and honest a man, although he be somewhat longsome wish to appear learned in matters of which they are ignorant work of the aforesaid puritans and a few jesuits wrath of the jesuits at this exercise of legal authority yes, there are wicked men about yesterday is the preceptor of to-morrow this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, volume life and death of john of barneveld, v , - chapter xix. rancour between the politico-religious parties--spanish intrigues inconsistency of james--brewster and robinson's congregation at leyden--they decide to leave for america--robinson's farewell sermon and prayer at parting. during this dark and mournful winter the internal dissensions and, as a matter of course, the foreign intrigues had become more dangerous than ever. while the man who for a whole generation had guided the policy of the republic and had been its virtual chief magistrate lay hidden from all men's sight, the troubles which he had sought to avert were not diminished by his removal from the scene. the extreme or gomarist party which had taken a pride in secret conventicles where they were in a minority, determined, as they said, to separate christ from belial and, meditating the triumph which they had at last secured, now drove the arminians from the great churches. very soon it was impossible for these heretics to enjoy the rights of public worship anywhere. but they were not dismayed. the canons of dordtrecht had not yet been fulminated. they avowed themselves ready to sacrifice worldly goods and life itself in defence of the five points. in rotterdam, notwithstanding a garrison of fifteen companies, more than a thousand remonstrants assembled on christmas-day in the exchange for want of a more appropriate place of meeting and sang the th psalm in mighty chorus. a clergyman of their persuasion accidentally passing through the street was forcibly laid hands upon and obliged to preach to them, which he did with great unction. the magistracy, where now the contra-remonstrants had the control, forbade, under severe penalties, a repetition of such scenes. it was impossible not to be reminded of the days half a century before, when the early reformers had met in the open fields or among the dunes, armed to the teeth, and with outlying pickets to warn the congregation of the approach of red rod and the functionaries of the holy inquisition. in schoonhoven the authorities attempted one sunday by main force to induct a contra-remonstrant into the pulpit from which a remonstrant had just been expelled. the women of the place turned out with their distaffs and beat them from the field. the garrison was called out, and there was a pitched battle in the streets between soldiers, police officers, and women, not much to the edification certainly of the sabbath-loving community on either side, the victory remaining with the ladies. in short it would be impossible to exaggerate the rancour felt between the different politico-religious parties. all heed for the great war now raging in the outside world between the hostile elements of catholicism and protestantism, embattled over an enormous space, was lost in the din of conflict among the respective supporters of conditional and unconditional damnation within the pale of the reformed church. the earthquake shaking europe rolled unheeded, as it was of old said to have done at cannae, amid the fierce shock of mortal foes in that narrow field. the respect for authority which had so long been the distinguishing characteristic of the netherlanders seemed to have disappeared. it was difficult--now that the time-honoured laws and privileges in defence of which, and of liberty of worship included in them, the provinces had made war forty years long had been trampled upon by military force--for those not warmed by the fire of gomarus to feel their ancient respect for the magistracy. the magistracy at that moment seemed to mean the sword. the spanish government was inevitably encouraged by the spectacle thus presented. we have seen the strong hopes entertained by the council at madrid, two years before the crisis now existing had occurred. we have witnessed the eagerness with which the king indulged the dream of recovering the sovereignty which his father had lost, and the vast schemes which he nourished towards that purpose, founded on the internal divisions which were reducing the republic to impotence. subsequent events had naturally made him more sanguine than ever. there was now a web of intrigue stretching through the provinces to bring them all back under the sceptre of spain. the imprisonment of the great stipendiary, the great conspirator, the man who had sold himself and was on the point of selling his country, had not terminated those plots. where was the supposed centre of that intrigue? in the council of state of the netherlands, ever fiercely opposed to barneveld and stuffed full of his mortal enemies. whose name was most familiar on the lips of the spanish partisans engaged in these secret schemes? that of adrian manmaker, president of the council, representative of prince maurice as first noble of zealand in the states-general, chairman of the committee sent by that body to utrecht to frustrate the designs of the advocate, and one of the twenty-four commissioners soon to be appointed to sit in judgment upon him. the tale seems too monstrous for belief, nor is it to be admitted with certainty, that manmaker and the other councillors implicated had actually given their adhesion to the plot, because the spanish emissaries in their correspondence with the king assured him of the fact. but if such a foundation for suspicion could have been found against barneveld and his friends, the world would not have heard the last of it from that hour to this. it is superfluous to say that the prince was entirely foreign to these plans. he had never been mentioned as privy to the little arrangements of councillor du agean and others, although he was to benefit by them. in the spanish schemes he seems to have been considered as an impediment, although indirectly they might tend to advance him. "we have managed now, i hope, that his majesty will be recognized as sovereign of the country," wrote the confidential agent of the king of spain in the netherlands, emmanuel sueyro, to the government of madrid. "the english will oppose it with all their strength. but they can do nothing except by making count maurice sovereign of holland and duke of julich and cleve. maurice will also contrive to make himself master of wesel, so it is necessary for the archduke to be beforehand with him and make sure of the place. it is also needful that his majesty should induce the french government to talk with the netherlanders and convince them that it is time to prolong the truce." this was soon afterwards accomplished. the french minister at brussels informed archduke albert that du maurier had been instructed to propose the prolongation, and that he had been conferring with the prince of orange and the states-general on the subject. at first the prince had expressed disinclination, but at the last interview both he and the states had shown a desire for it, and the french king had requested from the archduke a declaration whether the spanish government would be willing to treat for it. in such case lewis would offer himself as mediator and do his best to bring about a successful result. but it was not the intention of the conspirators in the netherlands that the truce should be prolonged. on the contrary the negotiation for it was merely to furnish the occasion for fully developing their plot. "the states and especially those of zealand will reply that they no longer wish the truce," continued sueyro, "and that they would prefer war to such a truce. they desire to put ships on the coast of flanders, to which the hollanders are opposed because it would be disagreeable to the french. so the zealanders will be the first to say that the netherlanders must come back to his majesty. this their president hanmaker has sworn. the states of overyssel will likewise give their hand to this because they say they will be the first to feel the shock of the war. thus we shall very easily carry out our design, and as we shall concede to the zealanders their demands in regard to the navigation they at least will place themselves under the dominion of his majesty as will be the case with friesland as well as overyssel." it will be observed that in this secret arrangement for selling the republic to its ancient master it was precisely the provinces and the politicians most steadily opposed to barneveld that took the lead. zealand, friesland, overyssel were in the plot, but not a word was said of utrecht. as for holland itself, hopes were founded on the places where hatred to the advocate was fiercest. "between ourselves," continued the agent, "we are ten here in the government of holland to support the plan, but we must not discover ourselves for fear of suffering what has happened to barneveld." he added that the time for action had not yet come, and that if movements were made before the synod had finished its labours, "the gomarists would say that they were all sold." he implored the government at madrid to keep the whole matter for the present profoundly secret because "prince maurice and the gomarists had the forces of the country at their disposition." in case the plot was sprung too suddenly therefore, he feared that with the assistance of england maurice might, at the head of the gomarists and the army, make himself sovereign of holland and duke of cleve, while he and the rest of the spanish partisans might be in prison with barneveld for trying to accomplish what barneveld had been trying to prevent. the opinions and utterances of such a man as james i. would be of little worth to our history had he not happened to occupy the place he did. but he was a leading actor in the mournful drama which filled up the whole period of the twelve years' truce. his words had a direct influence on great events. he was a man of unquestionable erudition, of powers of mind above the average, while the absolute deformity of his moral constitution made him incapable of thinking, feeling, or acting rightly on any vital subject, by any accident or on any occasion. if there were one thing that he thoroughly hated in the world, it was the reformed religion. if in his thought there were one term of reproach more loathsome than another to be applied to a human creature, it was the word puritan. in the word was subversion of all established authority in church and state--revolution, republicanism, anarchy. "there are degrees in heaven," he was wont to say, "there are degrees in hell, there must be degrees on earth." he forbade the calvinist churches of scotland to hold their customary synod in , passionately reviling them and their belief, and declaring "their aim to be nothing else than to deprive kings and princes of their sovereignty, and to reduce the whole world to a popular form of government where everybody would be master." when the prince of neuburg embraced catholicism, thus complicating matters in the duchies and strengthening the hand of spain and the emperor in the debateable land, he seized the occasion to assure the agent of the archduke in london, councillor boissetot, of his warm catholic sympathies. "they say that i am the greatest heretic in the world!" he exclaimed; "but i will never deny that the true religion is that of rome even if corrupted." he expressed his belief in the real presence, and his surprise that the roman catholics did not take the chalice for the blood of christ. the english bishops, he averred, drew their consecration through the bishops in mary tudor's time from the pope. as philip ii., and ferdinand ii. echoing the sentiments of his illustrious uncle, had both sworn they would rather reign in a wilderness than tolerate a single heretic in their dominions, so james had said "he would rather be a hermit in a forest than a king over such people as the pack of puritans were who overruled the lower house." for the netherlanders he had an especial hatred, both as rebels and puritans. soon after coming to the english throne he declared that their revolt, which had been going on all his lifetime and of which he never expected to see the end, had begun by petition for matters of religion. "his mother and he from their cradles," he said, "had been haunted with a puritan devil, which he feared would not leave him to his grave. and he would hazard his crown but he would suppress those malicious spirits." it seemed a strange caprice of destiny that assigned to this hater of netherlanders, of puritans, and of the reformed religion, the decision of disputed points between puritans and anti-puritans in the reformed church of the netherlands. it seemed stranger that his opinions should be hotly on the side of the puritans. barneveld, who often used the expression in later years, as we have seen in his correspondence, was opposed to the dutch puritans because they had more than once attempted subversion of the government on pretext of religion, especially at the memorable epoch of leicester's government. the business of stirring up these religious conspiracies against the magistracy he was apt to call "flanderizing," in allusion to those disastrous days and to the origin of the ringleaders in those tumults. but his main object, as we have seen, was to effect compromises and restore good feeling between members of the one church, reserving the right of disposing over religious matters to the government of the respective provinces. but james had remedied his audacious inconsistency by discovering that puritanism in england and in the netherlands resembled each other no more than certain letters transposed into totally different words meant one and the same thing. the anagrammatic argument had been neatly put by sir dudley carleton, convincing no man. puritanism in england "denied the right of human invention or imposition in religious matters." puritanism in the netherlands denied the right of the legal government to impose its authority in religious matters. this was the great matter of debate in the provinces. in england the argument had been settled very summarily against the puritans by sheriffs' officers, bishops' pursuivants, and county jails. as the political tendencies, so too the religious creed and observances of the english puritans were identical with that of the contra- remonstrants, whom king james had helped to their great triumph. this was not very difficult to prove. it so happened that there were some english puritans living at that moment in leyden. they formed an independent society by themselves, which they called a congregational church, and in which were some three hundred communicants. the length of their residence there was almost exactly coeval with the twelve years' truce. they knew before leaving england that many relics of the roman ceremonial, with which they were dissatisfied, and for the discontinuance of which they had in vain petitioned the crown--the ring, the sign of the cross, white surplices, and the like--besides the whole hierarchical system, had been disused in the reformed churches of france, switzerland, and the united provinces, where the forms of worship in their view had been brought more nearly to the early apostolic model. they admitted for truth the doctrinal articles of the dutch reformed churches. they had not come to the netherlands without cause. at an early period of king james's reign this congregation of seceders from the establishment had been wont to hold meetings at scrooby in nottinghamshire, once a manor of the archbishop of york, but then the residence of one william brewster. this was a gentleman of some fortune, educated at cambridge, a good scholar, who in queen elizabeth's time had been in the service of william davison when secretary of state. he seemed to have been a confidential private secretary of that excellent and unlucky statesman, who found him so discreet and faithful as to deserve employment before all others in matters of trust and secrecy. he was esteemed by davison "rather as a son than a servant," and he repaid his confidence by doing him many faithful offices in the time of his troubles. he had however long since retired from connection with public affairs, living a retired life, devoted to study, meditation, and practical exertion to promote the cause of religion, and in acts of benevolence sometimes beyond his means. the pastor of the scrooby church, one john robinson, a graduate of cambridge, who had been a benefited clergyman in norfolk, was a man of learning, eloquence, and lofty intellect. but what were such good gifts in the possession of rebels, seceders, and puritans? it is needless to say that brewster and robinson were baited, persecuted, watched day and night, some of the congregation often clapped into prison, others into the stocks, deprived of the means of livelihood, outlawed, famished, banned. plainly their country was no place for them. after a few years of such work they resolved to establish themselves in holland, where at least they hoped to find refuge and toleration. but it proved as difficult for them to quit the country as to remain in it. watched and hunted like gangs of coiners, forgers, or other felons attempting to flee from justice, set upon by troopers armed with "bills and guns and other weapons," seized when about to embark, pillaged and stripped by catchpoles, exhibited as a show to grinning country folk, the women and children dealt with like drunken tramps, led before magistrates, committed to jail; mr. brewster and six other of the principal ones being kept in prison and bound over to the assizes; they were only able after attempts lasting through two years' time to effect their escape to amsterdam. after remaining there a year they had removed to leyden, which they thought "a fair and beautiful city, and of a sweet situation." they settled in leyden in the very year in which arminius was buried beneath the pavement of st. peter's church in that town. it was the year too in which the truce was signed. they were a singularly tranquil and brotherly community. their pastor, who was endowed with remarkable gentleness and tact in dealing with his congregation, settled amicably all their occasional disputes. the authorities of the place held them up as a model. to a walloon congregation in which there were many troublesome and litigious members they said: "these english have lived among us ten years, and yet we never had any suit or accusation against any of them, but your quarrels are continual." although many of them were poor, finding it difficult to earn their living in a foreign land among people speaking a strange tongue, and with manners and habits differing from their own, and where they were obliged to learn new trades, having most of them come out of an agricultural population, yet they enjoyed a singular reputation for probity. bakers and butchers and the like willingly gave credit to the poorest of these english, and sought their custom if known to be of the congregation. mr. brewster, who had been reduced almost to poverty by his charities and munificent aid to his struggling brethren, earned his living by giving lessons in english, having first composed a grammar according to the latin model for the use of his pupils. he also set up a printing establishment, publishing many controversial works prohibited in england, a proceeding which roused the wrath of carleton, impelling him to do his best to have him thrown into prison. it was not the first time that this plain, mechanical, devout englishman, now past middle age, had visited the netherlands. more than twenty-five years before he had accompanied william davison on his famous embassy to the states, as private secretary. when the keys of flushing, one of the cautionary towns, were committed to the ambassador, he confided them to the care of brewster, who slept with them under his pillow. the gold chain which davison received as a present from the provincial government on leaving the country was likewise placed in his keeping, with orders to wear it around his neck until they should appear before the queen. to a youth of ease and affluence, familiar with ambassadors and statesmen and not unknown at courts, had succeeded a mature age of obscurity, deep study, and poverty. no human creature would have heard of him had his career ended with his official life. two centuries and a half have passed away and the name of the outlawed puritan of scrooby and leyden is still familiar to millions of the english race. all these englishmen were not poor. many of them occupied houses of fair value, and were admitted to the freedom of the city. the pastor with three of his congregation lived in a comfortable mansion, which they had purchased for the considerable sum of florins, and on the garden of which they subsequently erected twenty-one lesser tenements for the use of the poorer brethren. mr. robinson was himself chosen a member of the famous university and admitted to its privileges. during his long residence in leyden, besides the daily care of his congregation, spiritual and temporal, he wrote many learned works. thus the little community, which grew gradually larger by emigration from england, passed many years of tranquillity. their footsteps were not dogged by constables and pursuivants, they were not dragged daily before the magistrates, they were not thrown into the town jails, they were not hunted from place to place with bows and bills and mounted musketeers. they gave offence to none, and were respected by all. "such was their singleheartedness and sincere affection one towards another," says their historian and magistrate, "that they came as near the primitive pattern of the first churches as any other church of these later times has done, according to their rank and quality." here certainly were english puritans more competent than any men else in the world to judge if it were a slander upon the english government to identify them with dutch puritans. did they sympathize with the party in holland which the king, who had so scourged and trampled upon themselves in england, was so anxious to crush, the hated arminians? did they abhor the contra-remonstrants whom james and his ambassador carleton doted upon and whom barneveld called "double puritans" and "flanderizers?" their pastor may answer for himself and his brethren. "we profess before god and men," said robinson in his apologia, "that we agree so entirely with the reformed dutch churches in the matter of religion as to be ready to subscribe to all and each of their articles exactly as they are set forth in the netherland confession. we acknowledge those reformed churches as true and genuine, we profess and cultivate communion with them as much as in us lies. those of us who understand the dutch language attend public worship under their pastors. we administer the holy supper to such of their members as, known to us, appear at our meetings." this was the position of the puritans. absolute, unqualified accordance with the contra-remonstrants. as the controversy grew hot in the university between the arminians and their adversaries, mr. robinson, in the language of his friend bradford, became "terrible to the arminians . . . . who so greatly molested the whole state and that city in particular." when episcopius, the arminian professor of theology, set forth sundry theses, challenging all the world to the onset, it was thought that "none was fitter to buckle with them" than robinson. the orthodox professor polyander so importuned the english puritan to enter the lists on behalf of the contra-remonstrants that at last he consented and overthrew the challenger, horse and man, in three successive encounters. such at least was the account given by his friend and admirer the historian. "the lord did so help him to defend the truth and foil this adversary as he put him to an apparent nonplus in this great and public audience. and the like he did a second or third time upon such like occasions," said bradford, adding that, if it had not been for fear of offending the english government, the university would have bestowed preferments and honours upon the champion. we are concerned with this ancient and exhausted controversy only for the intense light it threw, when burning, on the history which occupies us. of the extinct volcano itself which once caused such devastation, and in which a great commonwealth was well-nigh swallowed up, little is left but slag and cinders. the past was made black and barren with them. let us disturb them as little as possible. the little english congregation remained at leyden till toward the end of the truce, thriving, orderly, respected, happy. they were witnesses to the tumultuous, disastrous, and tragical events which darkened the republic in those later years, themselves unobserved and unmolested. not a syllable seems to remain on record of the views or emotions which may have been excited by those scenes in their minds, nor is there a trace left on the national records of the netherlands of their protracted residence on the soil. they got their living as best they might by weaving, printing, spinning, and other humble trades; they borrowed money on mortgages, they built houses, they made wills, and such births, deaths, and marriages as occurred among them were registered by the town-clerk. and at last for a variety of reasons they resolved to leave the netherlands. perhaps the solution of the problem between church and state in that country by the temporary subjection of state to church may have encouraged them to realize a more complete theocracy, if a sphere of action could be found where the experiment might be tried without a severe battle against time-hallowed institutions and vested rights. perhaps they were appalled by the excesses into which men of their own religious sentiments had been carried by theological and political passion. at any rate depart they would; the larger half of the congregation remaining behind however till the pioneers should have broken the way, and in their own language "laid the stepping-stones." they had thought of the lands beneath the equator, raleigh having recently excited enthusiasm by his poetical descriptions of guiana. but the tropical scheme was soon abandoned. they had opened negotiations with the stadholder and the states-general through amsterdam merchants in regard to settling in new amsterdam, and offered to colonize that country if assured of the protection of the united provinces. their petition had been rejected. they had then turned their faces to their old master and their own country, applying to the virginia company for a land-patent, which they were only too happy to promise, and to the king for liberty of religion in the wilderness confirmed under his broad seal, which his majesty of course refused. it was hinted however that james would connive at them and not molest them if they carried themselves peaceably. so they resolved to go without the seal, for, said their magistrate very wisely, "if there should be a purpose or desire to wrong them, a seal would not serve their turn though it were as broad as the house-floor." before they left leyden, their pastor preached to them a farewell sermon, which for loftiness of spirit and breadth of vision has hardly a parallel in that age of intolerance. he laid down the principle that criticism of the scriptures had not been exhausted merely because it had been begun; that the human conscience was of too subtle a nature to be imprisoned for ever in formulas however ingeniously devised; that the religious reformation begun a century ago was not completed; and that the creator had not necessarily concluded all his revelations to mankind. the words have long been familiar to students of history, but they can hardly be too often laid to heart. noble words, worthy to have been inscribed over the altar of the first church to be erected by the departing brethren, words to bear fruit after centuries should go by. had not the deeply injured and misunderstood grotius already said, "if the trees we plant do not shade us, they will yet serve for our descendants?" yet it is passing strange that the preacher of that sermon should be the recent champion of the contra-remonstrants in the great controversy; the man who had made himself so terrible to the pupils of the gentle and tolerant arminius. and thus half of that english congregation went down to delftshaven, attended by the other half who were to follow at a later period with their beloved pastor. there was a pathetic leave-taking. even many of the hollanders, mere casual spectators, were in tears. robinson, kneeling on the deck of the little vessel, offered a prayer and a farewell. who could dream that this departure of an almost nameless band of emigrants to the wilderness was an epoch in the world's history? yet these were the pilgrim fathers of new england, the founders of what was to be the mightiest republic of modern history, mighty and stable because it had been founded upon an idea. they were not in search of material comfort and the chances of elevating their condition, by removing from an overpeopled country to an organized commonwealth, offering a wide field for pauper labourers. some of them were of good social rank and highest education, most of them in decent circumstances, none of them in absolute poverty. and a few years later they were to be joined by a far larger company with leaders and many brethren of ancient birth and landed possessions, men of "education, figure; and estate," all ready to convert property into cash and to place it in joint-stock, not as the basis of promising speculation, but as the foundation of a church. it signifies not how much or how little one may sympathize with their dogma or their discipline now. to the fact that the early settlement of that wilderness was by self-sacrificing men of earnestness and faith, who were bent on "advancing the gospel of christ in remote parts of the world," in the midst of savage beasts, more savage men, and unimaginable difficulties and dangers, there can be little doubt that the highest forms of western civilization are due. through their provisional theocracy, the result of the independent church system was to establish the true purport of the reformation, absolute religious equality. civil and political equality followed as a matter of course. two centuries and a half have passed away. there are now some seventy or eighty millions of the english-speaking race on both sides the atlantic, almost equally divided between the united kingdom and the united republic, and the departure of those outcasts of james has interest and significance for them all. most fitly then, as a distinguished american statesman has remarked, does that scene on board the little english vessel, with the english pastor uttering his farewell blessing to a handful of english exiles for conscience sake; depicted on canvas by eminent artists, now adorn the halls of the american congress and of the british parliament. sympathy with one of the many imperishable bonds of union between the two great and scarcely divided peoples. we return to barneveld in his solitary prison. chapter xx. barneveld's imprisonment--ledenberg's examination and death-- remonstrance of de boississe--aerssens admitted to the order of knights--trial of the advocate--barneveld's defence--the states proclaim a public fast--du maurier's speech before the assembly-- barneveld's sentence--barneveld prepares for death--goes to execution. the advocate had been removed within a few days after the arrest from the chamber in maurice's apartments, where he had originally been confined, and was now in another building. it was not a dungeon nor a jail. indeed the commonplace and domestic character of the scenery in which these great events were transacted has in it something pathetic. there was and still remains a two-storied structure, then of modern date, immediately behind the antique hall of the old counts within the binnenhof. on the first floor was a courtroom of considerable extent, the seat of one of the chief tribunals of justice the story above was divided into three chambers with a narrow corridor on each side. the first chamber, on the north-eastern side, was appropriated for the judges when the state prisoners should be tried. in the next hugo grotius was imprisoned. in the third was barneveld. there was a tower at the north-east angle of the building, within which a winding and narrow staircase of stone led up to the corridor and so to the prisoners' apartments. rombout hoogerbeets was confined in another building. as the advocate, bent with age and a life of hard work, and leaning on his staff, entered the room appropriated to him, after toiling up the steep staircase, he observed-- "this is the admiral of arragon's apartment." it was true. eighteen years before, the conqueror of nieuwpoort had assigned this lodging to the chief prisoner of war in that memorable victory over the spaniards, and now maurice's faithful and trusted counsellor at that epoch was placed in durance here, as the result of the less glorious series of victories which had just been achieved. it was a room of moderate dimensions, some twenty-five feet square, with a high vaulted roof and decently furnished. below and around him in the courtyard were the scenes of the advocate's life-long and triumphant public services. there in the opposite building were the windows of the beautiful "hall of truce," with its sumptuous carvings and gildings, its sculptures and portraits, where he had negotiated with the representatives of all the great powers of christendom the famous treaty which had suspended the war of forty years, and where he was wont almost daily to give audience to the envoys of the greatest sovereigns or the least significant states of europe and asia, all of whom had been ever solicitous of his approbation and support. farther along in the same building was the assembly room of the states- general, where some of the most important affairs of the republic and of europe had for years been conducted, and where he had been so indispensable that, in the words of a contemporary who loved him not, "absolutely nothing could be transacted in his absence, all great affairs going through him alone." there were two dull windows, closely barred, looking northward over an irregular assemblage of tile-roofed houses and chimney-stacks, while within a stone's throw to the west, but unseen, was his own elegant mansion on the voorhout, surrounded by flower gardens and shady pleasure grounds, where now sat his aged wife and her children all plunged in deep affliction. he was allowed the attendance of a faithful servant, jan franken by name, and a sentinel stood constantly before his door. his papers had been taken from him, and at first he was deprived of writing materials. he had small connection with the outward world. the news of the municipal revolution which had been effected by the stadholder had not penetrated to his solitude, but his wife was allowed to send him fruit from their garden. one day a basket of fine saffron pears was brought to him. on slicing one with a knife he found a portion of a quill inside it. within the quill was a letter on thinnest paper, in minutest handwriting in latin. it was to this effect. "don't rely upon the states of holland, for the prince of orange has changed the magistracies in many cities. dudley carleton is not your friend." a sergeant of the guard however, before bringing in these pears, had put a couple of them in his pocket to take home to his wife. the letter, copies of which perhaps had been inserted for safety in several of them, was thus discovered and the use of this ingenious device prevented for the future. secretary ledenberg, who had been brought to the hague in the early days of september, was the first of the prisoners subjected to examination. he was much depressed at the beginning of it, and is said to have exclaimed with many sighs, "oh barneveld, barneveld, what have you brought us to!" he confessed that the waartgelders at utrecht had been enlisted on notification by the utrecht deputies in the hague with knowledge of barneveld, and in consequence of a resolution of the states in order to prevent internal tumults. he said that the advocate had advised in the previous month of march a request to the prince not to come to utrecht; that the communication of the message, in regard to disbanding the waartgelders, to his excellency had been postponed after the deputies of the states of holland had proposed a delay in that disbandment; that those deputies had come to utrecht of their own accord; . . . . that they had judged it possible to keep everything in proper order in utrecht if the garrison in the city paid by holland were kept quiet, and if the states of utrecht gave similar orders to the waartgelders; for they did not believe that his excellency would bring in troops from the outside. he said that he knew nothing of a new oath to be demanded of the garrison. he stated that the advocate, when at utrecht, had exhorted the states, according to his wont, to maintain their liberties and privileges, representing to them that the right to decide on the synod and the waartgelders belonged to them. lastly, he denied knowing who was the author of the balance, except by common report. now these statements hardly amounted to a confession of abominable and unpardonable crimes by ledenberg, nor did they establish a charge of high-treason and corrupt correspondence with the enemy against barneveld. it is certain that the extent of the revelations seemed far from satisfactory to the accusers, and that some pressure would be necessary in order to extract anything more conclusive. lieutenant nythof told grotius that ledenberg had accordingly been threatened with torture, and that the executioner had even handled him for that purpose. this was however denied by the judges of instruction who had been charged with the preliminary examination. that examination took place on the th september. after it had been concluded, ledenberg prayed long and earnestly on returning to prison. he then entrusted a paper written in french to his son joost, a boy of eighteen, who did not understand that language. the youth had been allowed to keep his father company in his confinement, and slept in the same room. the next night but one, at two o'clock, joost heard his father utter a deep groan. he was startled, groped in the darkness towards his bed and felt his arm, which was stone cold. he spoke to him and received no answer. he gave the alarm, the watch came in with lights, and it was found that ledenberg had given himself two mortal wounds in the abdomen with a penknife and then cut his throat with a table-knife which he had secreted, some days before, among some papers. the paper in french given to his son was found to be to this effect. "i know that there is an inclination to set an example in my person, to confront me with my best friends, to torture me, afterwards to convict me of contradictions and falsehoods as they say, and then to found an ignominious sentence upon points and trifles, for this it will be necessary to do in order to justify the arrest and imprisonment. to escape all this i am going to god by the shortest road. against a dead man there can be pronounced no sentence of confiscation of property. done th september (o. s.) ." the family of the unhappy gentleman begged his body for decent burial. the request was refused. it was determined to keep the dead secretary above ground and in custody until he could be tried, and, if possible, convicted and punished. it was to be seen whether it were so easy to baffle the power of the states-general, the synod, and the stadholder, and whether "going to god by the shortest road" was to save a culprit's carcass from ignominy, and his property from confiscation. the french ambassadors, who had been unwearied in their endeavour to restore harmony to the distracted commonwealth before the arrest of the prisoners, now exerted themselves to throw the shield of their sovereign's friendship around the illustrious statesman and his fellow- sufferers. "it is with deepest sorrow," said de boississe, "that i have witnessed the late hateful commotions. especially from my heart i grieve for the arrest of the seignior barneveld, who with his discretion and wise administration for the past thirty years has so drawn the hearts of all neighbouring princes to himself, especially that of the king my master, that on taking up my pen to apprize him of these events i am gravely embarrassed, fearing to infringe on the great respect due to your mightinesses or against the honour and merits of the seignior barneveld. . . . my lords, take heed to your situation, for a great discontent is smouldering among your citizens. until now, the union has been the chief source of your strength. and i now fear that the king my master, the adviser of your renowned commonwealth, maybe offended that you have taken this resolution after consulting with others, and without communicating your intention to his ambassador . . . . it is but a few days that an open edict was issued testifying to the fidelity of barneveld, and can it be possible that within so short a time you have discovered that you have been deceived? i summon you once more in the name of the king to lay aside all passion, to judge these affairs without partiality, and to inform me what i am to say to the king. such very conflicting accounts are given of these transactions that i must beg you to confide to me the secret of the affair. the wisest in the land speak so strongly of these proceedings that it will be no wonder if the king my master should give me orders to take the seignior barneveld under his protection. should this prove to be the case, your lordships will excuse my course . . . i beg you earnestly in your wisdom not to give cause of offence to neighbouring princes, especially to my sovereign, who wishes from his heart to maintain your dignity and interests and to assure you of his friendship." the language was vigorous and sincere, but the ambassador forgot that the france of to-day was not the france of yesterday; that louis xiii. was not henry iv.; that it was but a cheerful fiction to call the present king the guide and counsellor of the republic, and that, distraught as she was by the present commotions, her condition was strength and tranquillity compared with the apparently decomposing and helpless state of the once great kingdom of france. de boississe took little by his demonstration. on the th december both de boississe and du maurier came before the states-general once more, and urged a speedy and impartial trial for the illustrious prisoners. if they had committed acts of treason and rebellion, they deserved exemplary punishment, but the ambassadors warned the states-general with great earnestness against the dangerous doctrine of constructive treason, and of confounding acts dictated by violence of party spirit at an excited period with the crime of high-treason against the sovereignty of the state. "barneveld so honourable," they said, "for his immense and long continued services has both this republic and all princes and commonwealths for his witnesses. it is most difficult to believe that he has attempted the destruction of his fatherland, for which you know that he has toiled so faithfully." they admitted that so grave charges ought now to be investigated. "to this end," said the ambassadors, "you ought to give him judges who are neither suspected nor impassioned, and who will decide according to the laws of the land, and on clear and undeniable evidence . . . . so doing you will show to the whole world that you are worthy to possess and to administer this commonwealth to whose government god has called you." should they pursue another and a sterner course, the envoys warned the assembly that the king would be deeply offended, deeming it thus proved how little value they set upon his advice and his friendship. the states-general replied on the th december, assuring the ambassadors that the delay in the trial was in order to make the evidence of the great conspiracy complete, and would not tend to the prejudice of the prisoners "if they had a good consciousness of their innocence." they promised that the sentence upon them when pronounced would give entire satisfaction to all their allies and to the king of france in particular, of whom they spoke throughout the document in terms of profound respect. but they expressed their confidence that "his majesty would not place the importunate and unfounded solicitations of a few particular criminals or their supporters before the general interests of the dignity and security of the republic." on the same day the states-general addressed a letter filled with very elaborate and courteous commonplaces to the king, in which they expressed a certainty that his majesty would be entirely satisfied with their actions. the official answer of the states-general to the ambassadors, just cited, gave but little comfort to the friends of the imprisoned statesman and his companions. such expressions as "ambitious and factious spirits," --"authors and patrons of the faction,"--"attempts at novelty through changes in religion, in justice and in the fundamental laws of all orders of polity," and the frequent mention of the word "conspiracy" boded little good. information of this condition of affairs was conveyed to hoogerbeets and grotius by means of an ingenious device of the distinguished scholar, who was then editing the latin works of the hague poet, janus secundus. while the sheets were going through the press, some of the verses were left out, and their place supplied by others conveying the intelligence which it was desired to send to the prisoners. the pages which contained the secret were stitched together in such wise that in cutting the book open they were not touched but remained closed. the verses were to this effect. "the examination of the advocate proceeds slowly, but there is good hope from the serious indignation of the french king, whose envoys are devoted to the cause of the prisoners, and have been informed that justice will be soon rendered. the states of holland are to assemble on the th january, at which a decision will certainly be taken for appointing judges. the preachers here at leyden are despised, and men are speaking strongly of war. the tumult which lately occurred at rotterdam may bring forth some good." the quick-wited grotius instantly discovered the device, read the intelligence thus communicated in the proofsheets of secundus, and made use of the system to obtain further intelligence. hoogerbeets laid the book aside, not taking much interest at that time in the works of the hague poet. constant efforts made to attract his attention to those poems however excited suspicion among his keepers, and the scheme was discovered before the leyden pensionary had found the means to profit by it.' the allusions to the trial of the advocate referred to the preliminary examination which took place, like the first interrogatories of grotius and hoogerbeets, in the months of november and december. the thorough manner in which maurice had reformed the states of holland has been described. there was one department of that body however which still required attention. the order of knights, small in number but potential in influence, which always voted first on great occasions, was still through a majority of its members inclined to barneveld. both his sons-in-law had seats in that college. the stadholder had long believed in a spirit of hostility on the part of those nobles towards himself. he knew that a short time before this epoch there had been a scheme for introducing his young brother, frederic henry, into the chamber of knights. the count had become proprietor of the barony of naaldwyk, a property which he had purchased of the counts of arenberg, and which carried with it the hereditary dignity of great equerry of the counts of holland. as the counts of holland had ceased to exist, although their sovereignty had nearly been revived and conferred upon william the silent, the office of their chief of the stables might be deemed a sinecure. but the jealousy of maurice was easily awakened, especially by any movement made or favoured by the advocate. he believed that in the election of frederic henry as a member of the college of knights a plan lay concealed to thrust him into power and to push this elder brother from his place. the scheme, if scheme it were, was never accomplished, but the prince's rancour remained. he now informed the nobles that they must receive into their body francis aerssens, who had lately purchased the barony of sommelsdyk, and daniel de hartaing, seignior of marquette. with the presence of this deadly enemy of barneveld and another gentleman equally devoted to the stadholder's interest it seemed probable that the refractory majority of the board of nobles would be overcome. but there were grave objections to the admission of these new candidates. they were not eligible. the constitution of the states and of the college of nobles prescribed that hollanders only of ancient and noble race and possessing estates in the province could sit in that body. neither aerssens nor hartaing was born in holland or possessed of the other needful qualifications. nevertheless, the prince, who had just remodelled all the municipalities throughout the union which offered resistance to his authority, was not to be checked by so trifling an impediment as the statutes of the house of nobles. he employed very much the same arguments which he had used to "good papa" hooft. "this time it must be so." another time it might not be necessary. so after a controversy which ended as controversies are apt to do when one party has a sword in his hand and the other is seated at a green-baize-covered table, sommelsdyk and marquette took their seats among the knights. of course there was a spirited protest. nothing was easier for the stadholder than to concede the principle while trampling it with his boot-heels in practice. "whereas it is not competent for the said two gentlemen to be admitted to our board," said the nobles in brief, "as not being constitutionally eligible, nevertheless, considering the strong desire of his excellency the prince of orange, we, the nobles and knights of holland, admit them with the firm promise to each other by noble and knightly faith ever in future for ourselves and descendants to maintain the privileges of our order now violated and never again to let them be directly or indirectly infringed." and so aerssens, the unscrupulous plotter, and dire foe of the advocate and all his house, burning with bitter revenge for all the favours he had received from him during many years, and the author of the venomous pamphlets and diatribes which had done so much of late to blacken the character of the great statesman before the public, now associated himself officially with his other enemies, while the preliminary proceedings for the state trials went forward. meantime the synod had met at dordtrecht. the great john bogerman, with fierce, handsome face, beak and eye of a bird of prey, and a deluge of curly brown beard reaching to his waist, took his seat as president. short work was made with the armenians. they and their five points were soon thrust out into outer darkness. it was established beyond all gainsaying that two forms of divine worship in one country were forbidden by god's word, and that thenceforth by netherland law there could be but one religion, namely, the reformed or calvinistic creed. it was settled that one portion of the netherlanders and of the rest of the human race had been expressly created by the deity to be for ever damned, and another portion to be eternally blessed. but this history has little to do with that infallible council save in the political effect of its decrees on the fate of barneveld. it was said that the canons of dordtrecht were likely to shoot off the head of the advocate. their sessions and the trial of the advocate were simultaneous, but not technically related to each other. the conclusions of both courts were preordained, for the issue of the great duel between priesthood and state had been decided when the military chieftain threw his sword into the scale of the church. there had been purposely a delay, before coming to a decision as to the fate of the state prisoners, until the work of the synod should have approached completion. it was thought good that the condemnation of the opinions of the arminians and the chastisement of their leaders should go hand-in-hand. on the rd april , the canons were signed by all the members of the synod. arminians were pronounced heretics, schismatics, teachers of false doctrines. they were declared incapable of filling any clerical or academical post. no man thenceforth was to teach children, lecture to adolescents, or preach to the mature, unless a subscriber to the doctrines of the unchanged, unchangeable, orthodox church. on the th april and st may the netherland confession and the heidelberg catechism were declared to be infallible. no change was to be possible in either formulary. schools and pulpits were inexorably bound to the only true religion. on the th may there was a great festival at dordtrecht in honour of the conclusion of the synod. the canons, the sentence, and long prayers and orations in latin by president bogerman gladdened the souls of an immense multitude, which were further enlivened by the decree that both creed and catechism had stood the test of several criticisms and come out unchanged by a single hair. nor did the orator of the occasion forget to render thanks "to the most magnanimous king james of great britain, through whose godly zeal, fiery sympathy, and truly royal labour god had so often refreshed the weary synod in the midst of their toil." the synod held one hundred and eighty sessions between the th november and th may , all the doings of which have been recorded in chronicles innumerable. there need be no further mention of them here. barneveld and the companions of his fate remained in prison. on the th march the trial of the great advocate began. he had sat in prison since the th of the preceding august. for nearly seven months he had been deprived of all communication with the outward world save such atoms of intelligence as could be secretly conveyed to him in the inside of a quill concealed in a pear and by other devices. the man who had governed one of the most important commonwealths of the world for nearly a generation long--during the same period almost controlling the politics of europe--had now been kept in ignorance of the most insignificant everyday events. during the long summer-heat of the dog- days immediately succeeding his arrest, and the long, foggy, snowy, icy winter of holland which ensued, he had been confined in that dreary garret-room to which he had been brought when he left his temporary imprisonment in the apartments of prince maurice. there was nothing squalid in the chamber, nothing specially cruel or repulsive in the arrangements of his captivity. he was not in fetters, nor fed upon bread and water. he was not put upon the rack, nor even threatened with it as ledenberg had been. he was kept in a mean, commonplace, meagerly furnished, tolerably spacious room, and he was allowed the services of his faithful domestic servant john franken. a sentinel paced day and night up the narrow corridor before his door. as spring advanced, the notes of the nightingale came through the prison- window from the neighbouring thicket. one day john franken, opening the window that his master might the better enjoy its song, exchanged greeting with a fellow-servant in the barneveld mansion who happened to be crossing the courtyard. instantly workmen were sent to close and barricade the windows, and it was only after earnest remonstrances and pledges that this resolve to consign the advocate to darkness was abandoned. he was not permitted the help of lawyer, clerk, or man of business. alone and from his chamber of bondage, suffering from bodily infirmities and from the weakness of advancing age, he was compelled to prepare his defence against a vague, heterogeneous collection of charges, to meet which required constant reference, not only to the statutes, privileges, and customs of the country and to the roman law, but to a thousand minute incidents out of which the history of the provinces during the past dozen years or more had been compounded. it is true that no man could be more familiar with the science and practice of the law than he was, while of contemporary history he was himself the central figure. his biography was the chronicle of his country. nevertheless it was a fearful disadvantage for him day by day to confront two dozen hostile judges comfortably seated at a great table piled with papers, surrounded by clerks with bags full of documents and with a library of authorities and precedents duly marked and dog's-eared and ready to their hands, while his only library and chronicle lay in his brain. from day to day, with frequent intermissions, he was led down through the narrow turret-stairs to a wide chamber on the floor immediately below his prison, where a temporary tribunal had been arranged for the special commission. there had been an inclination at first on the part of his judges to treat him as a criminal, and to require him to answer, standing, to the interrogatories propounded to him. but as the terrible old man advanced into the room, leaning on his staff, and surveying them with the air of haughty command habitual to him, they shrank before his glance; several involuntarily, rising uncovered, to salute him and making way for him to the fireplace about which many were standing that wintry morning. he was thenceforth always accommodated with a seat while he listened to and answered 'ex tempore' the elaborate series of interrogatories which had been prepared to convict him. nearly seven months he had sat with no charges brought against him. this was in itself a gross violation of the laws of the land, for according to all the ancient charters of holland it was provided that accusation should follow within six weeks of arrest, or that the prisoner should go free. but the arrest itself was so gross a violation of law that respect for it was hardly to be expected in the subsequent proceedings. he was a great officer of the states of holland. he had been taken under their especial protection. he was on his way to the high council. he was in no sense a subject of the states-general. he was in the discharge of his official duty. he was doubly and trebly sacred from arrest. the place where he stood was on the territory of holland and in the very sanctuary of her courts and house of assembly. the states-general were only as guests on her soil, and had no domain or jurisdiction there whatever. he was not apprehended by any warrant or form of law. it was in time of peace, and there was no pretence of martial law. the highest civil functionary of holland was invited in the name of its first military officer to a conference, and thus entrapped was forcibly imprisoned. at last a board of twenty-four commissioners was created, twelve from holland and two from each of the other six provinces. this affectation of concession to holland was ridiculous. either the law 'de non evocando'--according to which no citizen of holland could be taken out of the province for trial--was to be respected or it was to be trampled upon. if it was to be trampled upon, it signified little whether more commissioners were to be taken from holland than from each of the other provinces, or fewer, or none at all. moreover it was pretended that a majority of the whole board was to be assigned to that province. but twelve is not a majority of twenty-four. there were three fascals or prosecuting officers, leeuwen of utrecht, sylla of gelderland, and antony duyck of holland. duyck was notoriously the deadly enemy of barneveld, and was destined to succeed to his offices. it would have been as well to select francis aerssens himself. it was necessary to appoint a commission because there was no tribunal appertaining to the states-general. the general government of the confederacy had no power to deal with an individual. it could only negotiate with the sovereign province to which the individual was responsible, and demand his punishment if proved guilty of an offence. there was no supreme court of appeal. machinery was provided for settling or attempting to settle disputes among the members of the confederacy, and if there was a culprit in this great process it was holland itself. neither the advocate nor any one of his associates had done any act except by authority, express or implied, of that sovereign state. supposing them unquestionably guilty of blackest crimes against the generality, the dilemma was there which must always exist by the very nature of things in a confederacy. no sovereign can try a fellow sovereign. the subject can be tried at home by no sovereign but his own. the accused in this case were amenable to the laws of holland only. it was a packed tribunal. several of the commissioners, like pauw and muis for example, were personal enemies of barneveld. many of them were totally ignorant of law. some of them knew not a word of any language but their mother tongue, although much of the law which they were to administer was written in latin. before such a court the foremost citizen of the netherlands, the first living statesman of europe, was brought day by day during a period of nearly three months; coming down stairs from the mean and desolate room where he was confined to the comfortable apartment below, which had been fitted up for the commission. there was no bill of indictment, no arraignment, no counsel. there were no witnesses and no arguments. the court-room contained, as it were, only a prejudiced and partial jury to pronounce both on law and fact without a judge to direct them, or advocates to sift testimony and contend for or against the prisoner's guilt. the process, for it could not be called a trial, consisted of a vast series of rambling and tangled interrogatories reaching over a space of forty years without apparent connection or relevancy, skipping fantastically about from one period to another, back and forthwith apparently no other intent than to puzzle the prisoner, throw him off his balance, and lead him into self- contradiction. the spectacle was not a refreshing one. it was the attempt of a multitude of pigmies to overthrow and bind the giant. barneveld was served with no articles of impeachment. he asked for a list in writing of the charges against him, that he might ponder his answer. the demand was refused. he was forbidden the use of pen and ink or any writing materials. his papers and books were all taken from him. he was allowed to consult neither with an advocate nor even with a single friend. alone in his chamber of bondage he was to meditate on his defence. out of his memory and brain, and from these alone, he was to supply himself with the array of historical facts stretching over a longer period than the lifetime of many of his judges, and with the proper legal and historical arguments upon those facts for the justification of his course. that memory and brain were capacious and powerful enough for the task. it was well for the judges that they had bound themselves, at the outset, by an oath never to make known what passed in the courtroom, but to bury all the proceedings in profound secrecy forever. had it been otherwise, had that been known to the contemporary public which has only been revealed more than two centuries later, had a portion only of the calm and austere eloquence been heard in which the advocate set forth his defence, had the frivolous and ignoble nature of the attack been comprehended, it might have moved the very stones in the streets to mutiny. hateful as the statesman had been made by an organized system of calumny, which was continued with unabated vigour and increased venom sine he had been imprisoned, there was enough of justice and of gratitude left in the hearts of netherlanders to resent the tyranny practised against their greatest man, and the obloquy thus brought against a nation always devoted to their liberties and laws. that the political system of the country was miserably defective was no fault of barneveld. he was bound by oath and duty to administer, not make the laws. a handful of petty feudal sovereignties such as had once covered the soil of europe, a multitude of thriving cities which had wrested or purchased a mass of liberties, customs, and laws from their little tyrants, all subjected afterwards, without being blended together, to a single foreign family, had at last one by one, or two by two, shaken off that supremacy, and, resuming their ancient and as it were decapitated individualities, had bound themselves by treaty in the midst of a war to stand by each other, as if they were but one province, for purposes of common defence against the common foe. there had been no pretence of laying down a constitution, of enacting an organic law. the day had not come for even the conception of a popular constitution. the people had not been invented. it was not provinces only, but cities, that had contracted with each other, according to the very first words of the first article of union. some of these cities, like ghent, bruges, antwerp, were catholic by overwhelming majority, and had subsequently either fallen away from the confederacy or been conquered. and as if to make assurance doubly sure, the articles of union not only reserved to each province all powers not absolutely essential for carrying on the war in common, but by an express article (the th), declared that holland and zealand should regulate the matter of religion according to their own discretion, while the other provinces might conform to the provisions of the "religious peace" which included mutual protection for catholics and protestants--or take such other order as seemed most conducive to the religious and secular rights of the inhabitants. it was stipulated that no province should interfere with another in such matters, and that every individual in them all should remain free in his religion, no man being molested or examined on account of his creed. a farther declaration in regard to this famous article was made to the effect that no provinces or cities which held to the roman catholic religion were to be excluded from the league of union if they were ready to conform to its conditions and comport themselves patriotically. language could not be devised to declare more plainly than was done by this treaty that the central government of the league had neither wish nor right to concern itself with the religious affairs of the separate cities or provinces. if it permitted both papists and protestants to associate themselves against the common foe, it could hardly have been imagined, when the articles were drawn, that it would have claimed the exclusive right to define the minutest points in a single protestant creed. and if the exclusively secular parts of the polity prevailing in the country were clumsy, irregular, and even monstrous, and if its defects had been flagrantly demonstrated by recent events, a more reasonable method of reforming the laws might have been found than the imprisonment of a man who had faithfully administered them forty years long. a great commonwealth had grown out of a petty feudal organism, like an oak from an acorn in a crevice, gnarled and distorted, though wide- spreading and vigorous. it seemed perilous to deal radically with such a polity, and an almost timid conservatism on the part of its guardians in such an age of tempests might be pardonable. moreover, as before remarked, the apparent imbecility resulting from confederacy and municipalism combined was for a season remedied by the actual preponderance of holland. two-thirds of the total wealth and strength of the seven republics being concentrated in one province, the desired union seemed almost gained by the practical solution of all in that single republic. but this was one great cause of the general disaster. it would be a thankless and tedious task to wander through the wilderness of interrogatories and answers extending over three months of time, which stood in the place of a trial. the defence of barneveld was his own history, and that i have attempted to give in the preceding pages. a great part of the accusation was deduced from his private and official correspondence, and it is for this reason that i have laid such copious extracts from it before the reader. no man except the judges and the states-general had access to those letters, and it was easy therefore, if needful, to give them a false colouring. it is only very recently that they have been seen at all, and they have never been published from that day to this. out of the confused mass of documents appertaining to the trial, a few generalizations can be made which show the nature of the attack upon him. he was accused of having permitted arminius to infuse new opinions into the university of leyden, and of having subsequently defended the appointment of vorstius to the same place. he had opposed the national synod. he had made drafts of letters for the king of great britain to sign, recommending mutual toleration on the five disputed points regarding predestination. he was the author of the famous sharp resolution. he had recommended the enlistment by the provinces and towns of waartgelders or mercenaries. he had maintained that those mercenaries as well as the regular troops were bound in time of peace to be obedient and faithful, not only to the generality and the stadholders, but to the magistrates of the cities and provinces where they were employed, and to the states by whom they were paid. he had sent to leyden, warning the authorities of the approach of the prince. he had encouraged all the proceedings at utrecht, writing a letter to the secretary of that province advising a watch to be kept at the city gates as well as in the river, and ordering his letter when read to be burned. he had received presents from foreign potentates. he had attempted to damage the character of his excellency the prince by declaring on various occasions that he aspired to the sovereignty of the country. he had held a ciphered correspondence on the subject with foreign ministers of the republic. he had given great offence to the king of great britain by soliciting from him other letters in the sense of those which his majesty had written in , advising moderation and mutual toleration. he had not brought to condign punishment the author of 'the balance', a pamphlet in which an oration of the english ambassador had been criticised, and aspersions made on the order of the garter. he had opposed the formation of the west india company. he had said many years before to nicolas van berk that the provinces had better return to the dominion of spain. and in general, all his proceedings had tended to put the provinces into a "blood bath." there was however no accusation that he had received bribes from the enemy or held traitorous communication with him, or that he had committed any act of high-treason. his private letters to caron and to the ambassadors in paris, with which the reader has been made familiar, had thus been ransacked to find treasonable matter, but the result was meagre in spite of the minute and microscopic analysis instituted to detect traces of poison in them. but the most subtle and far-reaching research into past transactions was due to the greffier cornelis aerssens, father of the ambassador francis, and to a certain nicolas van berk, burgomaster of utrecht. the process of tale-bearing, hearsay evidence, gossip, and invention went back a dozen years, even to the preliminary and secret conferences in regard to the treaty of truce. readers familiar with the history of those memorable negotiations are aware that cornelis van aerssens had compromised himself by accepting a valuable diamond and a bill of exchange drawn by marquis spinola on a merchant in amsterdam, henry beekman by name, for , ducats. these were handed by father neyen, the secret agent of the spanish government, to the greffier as a prospective reward for his services in furthering the truce. he did not reject them, but he informed prince maurice and the advocate of the transaction. both diamond and bill of exchange were subsequently deposited in the hands of the treasurer of the states- general, joris de bie, the assembly being made officially acquainted with the whole course of the affair. it is passing strange that this somewhat tortuous business, which certainly cast a shade upon the fair fame of the elder aerssens, and required him to publish as good a defence as he could against the consequent scandal, should have furnished a weapon wherewith to strike at the advocate of holland some dozen years later. but so it was. krauwels, a relative of aerssens, through whom father neyen had first obtained access to the greffier, had stated, so it seemed, that the monk had, in addition to the bill, handed to him another draft of spinola's for , ducats, to be given to a person of more consideration than aerssens. krauwels did not know who the person was, nor whether he took the money. he expressed his surprise however that leading persons in the government "even old and authentic beggars"-- should allow themselves to be so seduced as to accept presents from the enemy. he mentioned two such persons, namely, a burgomaster at delft and a burgomaster at haarlem. aerssens now deposed that he had informed the advocate of this story, who had said, "be quiet about it, i will have it investigated," and some days afterwards on being questioned stated that he had made enquiry and found there was something in it. so the fact that cornelis aerssens had taken bribes, and that two burgomasters were strongly suspected by aerssens of having taken bribes, seems to have been considered as evidence that barneveld had taken a bribe. it is true that aerssens by advice of maurice and barneveld had made a clean breast of it to the states-general and had given them over the presents. but the states-general could neither wear the diamond nor cash the bill of exchange, and it would have been better for the greffier not to contaminate his fingers with them, but to leave the gifts in the monk's palm. his revenge against the advocate for helping him out of his dilemma, and for subsequently advancing his son francis in a brilliant diplomatic career, seems to have been--when the clouds were thickening and every man's hand was against the fallen statesman--to insinuate that he was the anonymous personage who had accepted the apocryphal draft for , ducats. the case is a pregnant example of the proceedings employed to destroy the advocate. the testimony of nicolas van berk was at any rate more direct. on the st december the burgomaster testified that the advocate had once declared to him that the differences in regard to divine worship were not so great but that they might be easily composed; asking him at the same time "whether it would not be better that we should submit ourselves again to the king of spain." barneveld had also referred, so said van berk, to the conduct of the spanish king towards those who had helped him to the kingdom of portugal. the burgomaster was unable however to specify the date, year, or month in which the advocate had held this language. he remembered only that the conversation occurred when barneveld was living on the spui at the hague, and that having been let into the house through the hall on the side of the vestibule, he had been conducted by the advocate down a small staircase into the office. the only fact proved by the details seems to be that the story had lodged in the tenacious memory of the burgomaster for eight years, as barneveld had removed from the spui to arenberg house in the voorhout in the year . no other offers from the king of spain or the archdukes had ever been made to him, said van berk, than those indicated in this deposition against the advocate as coming from that statesman. nor had barneveld ever spoken to him upon such subjects except on that one occasion. it is not necessary and would be wearisome to follow the unfortunate statesman through the long line of defence which he was obliged to make, in fragmentary and irregular form, against these discursive and confused assaults upon him. a continuous argument might be built up with the isolated parts which should be altogether impregnable. it is superfluous. always instructive to his judges as he swept at will through the record of nearly half a century of momentous european history, in which he was himself a conspicuous figure, or expounding the ancient laws and customs of the country with a wealth and accuracy of illustration which testified to the strength of his memory, he seemed rather like a sage expounding law and history to a class of pupils than a criminal defending himself before a bench of commissioners. moved occasionally from his austere simplicity, the majestic old man rose to a strain of indignant eloquence which might have shaken the hall of a vast assembly and found echo in the hearts of a thousand hearers as he denounced their petty insults or ignoble insinuations; glaring like a caged lion at his tormentors, who had often shrunk before him when free, and now attempted to drown his voice by contradictions, interruptions, threats, and unmeaning howls. he protested, from the outset and throughout the proceedings, against the jurisdiction of the tribunal. the treaty of union on which the assembly and states-general were founded gave that assembly no power over him. they could take no legal cognizance of his person or his acts. he had been deprived of writing materials, or he would have already drawn up his solemn protest and argument against the existence of the commission. he demanded that they should be provided for him, together with a clerk to engross his defence. it is needless to say that the demand was refused. it was notorious to all men, he said, that on the day when violent hands were laid upon him he was not bound to the states-general by oath, allegiance, or commission. he was a well-known inhabitant of the hague, a householder there, a vassal of the commonwealth of holland, enfeoffed of many notable estates in that country, serving many honourable offices by commission from its government. by birth, promotion, and conferred dignities he was subject to the supreme authority of holland, which for forty years had been a free state possessed of all the attributes of sovereignty, political, religious, judicial, and recognizing no superior save god almighty alone. he was amenable to no tribunal save that of their mightinesses the states of holland and their ordinary judges. not only those states but the prince of orange as their governor and vassal, the nobles of holland, the colleges of justice, the regents of cities, and all other vassals, magistrates, and officers were by their respective oaths bound to maintain and protect him in these his rights. after fortifying this position by legal argument and by an array of historical facts within his own experience, and alluding to the repeated instances in which, sorely against his will, he had been solicited and almost compelled to remain in offices of which he was weary, he referred with dignity to the record of his past life. from the youthful days when he had served as a volunteer at his own expense in the perilous sieges of haarlem and leyden down to the time of his arrest, through an unbroken course of honourable and most arduous political services, embassies, and great negotiations, he had ever maintained the laws and liberties of the fatherland and his own honour unstained. that he should now in his seventy-second year be dragged, in violation of every privilege and statute of the country, by extraordinary means, before unknown judges, was a grave matter not for himself alone but for their mightinesses the states of holland and for the other provinces. the precious right 'de non evocando' had ever been dear to all the provinces, cities, and inhabitants of the netherlands. it was the most vital privilege in their possession as well in civil as criminal, in secular as in ecclesiastical affairs. when the king of spain in , and afterwards, set up an extraordinary tribunal and a course of extraordinary trials, it was an undeniable fact, he said, that on the solemn complaint of the states all princes, nobles, and citizens not only in the netherlands but in foreign countries, and all foreign kings and sovereigns, held those outrages to be the foremost and fundamental reason for taking up arms against that king, and declaring him to have forfeited his right of sovereignty. yet that monarch was unquestionably the born and accepted sovereign of each one of the provinces, while the general assembly was but a gathering of confederates and allies, in no sense sovereign. it was an unimaginable thing, he said, that the states of each province should allow their whole authority and right of sovereignty to be transferred to a board of commissioners like this before which he stood. if, for example, a general union of france, england, and the states of the united netherlands should be formed (and the very words of the act of union contemplated such possibility), what greater absurdity could there be than to suppose that a college of administration created for the specific purposes of such union would be competent to perform acts of sovereignty within each of those countries in matters of justice, polity, and religion? it was known to mankind, he said, that when negotiations were entered into for bestowing the sovereignty of the provinces on france and on england, special and full powers were required from, and furnished by, the states of each individual province. had the sovereignty been in the assembly of the states-general, they might have transferred it of their own motion or kept it for themselves. even in the ordinary course of affairs the commissioners from each province to the general assembly always required a special power from their constituents before deciding any matter of great importance. in regard to the defence of the respective provinces and cities, he had never heard it doubted, he said, that the states or the magistrates of cities had full right to provide for it by arming a portion of their own inhabitants or by enlisting paid troops. the sovereign counts of holland and bishops of utrecht certainly possessed and exercised that right for many hundred years, and by necessary tradition it passed to the states succeeding to their ancient sovereignty. he then gave from the stores of his memory innumerable instances in which soldiers had been enlisted by provinces and cities all over the netherlands from the time of the abjuration of spain down to that moment. through the whole period of independence in the time of anjou, matthias, leicester, as well as under the actual government, it had been the invariable custom thus to provide both by land and sea and on the rivers against robbers, rebels, pirates, mischief-makers, assailing thieves, domestic or foreign. it had been done by the immortal william the silent on many memorable occasions, and in fact the custom was so notorious that soldiers so enlisted were known by different and peculiar nicknames in the different provinces and towns. that the central government had no right to meddle with religious matters was almost too self-evident an axiom to prove. indeed the chief difficulty under which the advocate laboured throughout this whole process was the monstrous assumption by his judges of a political and judicial system which never had any existence even in imagination. the profound secrecy which enwrapped the proceedings from that day almost to our own and an ignorant acquiescence of a considerable portion of the public in accomplished facts offer the only explanation of a mystery which must ever excite our wonder. if there were any impeachment at all, it was an impeachment of the form of government itself. if language could mean anything whatever, a mere perusal of the articles of union proved that the prisoner had never violated that fundamental pact. how could the general government prescribe an especial formulary for the reformed church, and declare opposition to its decrees treasonable, when it did not prohibit, but absolutely admitted and invited, provinces and cities exclusively catholic to enter the union, guaranteeing to them entire liberty of religion? barneveld recalled the fact that when the stadholdership of utrecht thirty years before had been conferred on prince maurice the states of that province had solemnly reserved for themselves the disposition over religious matters in conformity with the union, and that maurice had sworn to support that resolution. five years later the prince had himself assured a deputation from brabant that the states of each province were supreme in religious matters, no interference the one with the other being justifiable or possible. in the states general in letters addressed to the states of the obedient provinces under dominion of the archdukes had invited them to take up arms to help drive the spaniards from the provinces and to join the confederacy, assuring them that they should regulate the matter of religion at their good pleasure, and that no one else should be allowed to interfere therewith. the advocate then went into an historical and critical disquisition, into which we certainly have no need to follow him, rapidly examining the whole subject of predestination and conditional and unconditional damnation from the days of st. augustine downward, showing a thorough familiarity with a subject of theology which then made up so much of the daily business of life, political and private, and lay at the bottom of the terrible convulsion then existing in the netherlands. we turn from it with a shudder, reminding the reader only how persistently the statesman then on his trial had advocated conciliation, moderation, and kindness between brethren of the reformed church who were not able to think alike on one of the subtlest and most mysterious problems that casuistry has ever propounded. for fifty years, he said, he had been an enemy of all compulsion of the human conscience. he had always opposed rigorous ecclesiastical decrees. he had done his best to further, and did not deny having inspired, the advice given in the famous letters from the king of great britain to the states in , that there should be mutual toleration and abstinence from discussion of disputed doctrines, neither of them essential to salvation. he thought that neither calvin nor beza would have opposed freedom of opinion on those points. for himself he believed that the salvation of mankind would be through god's unmerited grace and the redemption of sins though the saviour, and that the man who so held and persevered to the end was predestined to eternal happiness, and that his children dying before the age of reason were destined not to hell but to heaven. he had thought fifty years long that the passion and sacrifice of christ the saviour were more potent to salvation than god's wrath and the sin of adam and eve to damnation. he had done his best practically to avert personal bickerings among the clergy. he had been, so far as lay in his power, as friendly to remonstrants as to contra-remonstrants, to polyander and festus hommius as to uytenbogaert and episcopius. he had almost finished a negotiation with councillor kromhout for the peaceable delivery of the cloister church on the thursday preceding the sunday on which it had been forcibly seized by the contra-remonstrants. when asked by one of his judges how he presumed to hope for toleration between two parties, each of which abhorred the other's opinions, and likened each other to turks and devil-worshippers, he replied that he had always detested and rebuked those mutual revilings by every means in his power, and would have wished to put down such calumniators of either persuasion by the civil authority, but the iniquity of the times and the exasperation of men's humours had prevented him. being perpetually goaded by one judge after another as to his disrespectful conduct towards the king of great britain, and asked why his majesty had not as good right to give the advice of as the recommendation of tolerance in , he scrupulously abstained, as he had done in all his letters, from saying a disrespectful word as to the glaring inconsistency between the two communications, or to the hostility manifested towards himself personally by the british ambassador. he had always expressed the hope, he said, that the king would adhere to his original position, but did not dispute his right to change his mind, nor the good faith which had inspired his later letters. it had been his object, if possible, to reconcile the two different systems recommended by his majesty into one harmonious whole. his whole aim had been to preserve the public peace as it was the duty of every magistrate, especially in times of such excitement, to do. he could never comprehend why the toleration of the five points should be a danger to the reformed religion. rather, he thought, it would strengthen the church and attract many lutherans, baptists, catholics, and other good patriots into its pale. he had always opposed the compulsory acceptance by the people of the special opinions of scribes and doctors. he did not consider, he said, the difference in doctrine on this disputed point between the contra-remonstrants and remonstrants as one-tenth the value of the civil authority and its right to make laws and ordinances regulating ecclesiastical affairs. he believed the great bulwark of the independence of the country to be the reformed church, and his efforts had ever been to strengthen that bulwark by preventing the unnecessary schism which might prove its ruin. many questions of property, too, were involved in the question--the church buildings, lands and pastures belonging to the counts of holland and their successors--the states having always exercised the right of church patronage--'jus patronatus'--a privilege which, as well as inherited or purchased advowsons, had been of late flagrantly interfered with. he was asked if he had not said that it had never been the intention of the states-general to carry on the war for this or that religion. he replied that he had told certain clergymen expressing to him their opinion that the war had been waged solely for the furtherance of their especial shade of belief, that in his view the war had been undertaken for the conservation of the liberties and laws of the land, and of its good people. of that freedom the first and foremost point was the true christian religion and liberty of conscience and opinion. there must be religion in the republic, he had said, but that the war was carried on to sustain the opinion of one doctor of divinity or another on--differential points was something he had never heard of and could never believe. the good citizens of the country had as much right to hold by melancthon as by calvin or beza. he knew that the first proclamations in regard to the war declared it to be undertaken for freedom of conscience, and so to his, own knowledge it had been always carried on. he was asked if he had not promised during the truce negotiations so to direct matters that the catholics with time might obtain public exercise of their religion. he replied that this was a notorious falsehood and calumny, adding that it ill accorded with the proclamation against the jesuits drawn up by himself some years after the truce. he furthermore stated that it was chiefly by his direction that the discourse of president jeannin--urging on part of the french king that liberty of worship might be granted to the papists--was kept secret, copies of it not having been furnished even to the commissioners of the provinces. his indignant denial of this charge, especially taken in connection with his repeated assertions during the trial, that among the most patriotic netherlanders during and since the war were many adherents of the ancient church, seems marvellously in contradiction with his frequent and most earnest pleas for liberty of conscience. but it did not appear contradictory even to his judges nor to any contemporary. his position had always been that the civil authority of each province was supreme in all matters political or ecclesiastical. the states-general, all the provinces uniting in the vote, had invited the catholic provinces on more than one occasion to join the union, promising that there should be no interference on the part of any states or individuals with the internal affairs religious or otherwise of the provinces accepting the invitation. but it would have been a gross contradiction of his own principle if he had promised so to direct matters that the catholics should have public right of worship in holland where he knew that the civil authority was sure to refuse it, or in any of the other six provinces in whose internal affairs he had no voice whatever. he was opposed to all tyranny over conscience, he would have done his utmost to prevent inquisition into opinion, violation of domicile, interference with private worship, compulsory attendance in protestant churches of those professing the roman creed. this was not attempted. no catholic was persecuted on account of his religion. compared with the practice in other countries this was a great step in advance. religious tolerance lay on the road to religious equality, a condition which had hardly been imagined then and scarcely exists in europe even to this day. but among the men in history whose life and death contributed to the advancement of that blessing, it would be vain to deny that barneveld occupies a foremost place. moreover, it should be remembered that religious equality then would have been a most hazardous experiment. so long as church and state were blended, it was absolutely essential at that epoch for the preservation of protestantism to assign the predominance to the state. should the catholics have obtained religious equality, the probable result would before long have been religious inequality, supremacy of the catholics in the church, and supremacy of the church over the state. the fruits of the forty years' war would have become dust and ashes. it would be mere weak sentimentalism to doubt--after the bloody history which had just closed and the awful tragedy, then reopening--that every spark of religious liberty would have soon been trodden out in the netherlands. the general onslaught of the league with ferdinand, maximilian of bavaria, and philip of spain at its head against the distracted, irresolute, and wavering line of protestantism across the whole of europe was just preparing. rather a wilderness to reign over than a single heretic, was the war-cry of the emperor. the king of spain, as we have just been reading in his most secret, ciphered despatches to the archduke at brussels, was nursing sanguine hopes and weaving elaborate schemes for recovering his dominion over the united netherlands, and proposing to send an army of jesuits thither to break the way to the reconquest. to play into his hands then, by granting public right of worship to the papists, would have been in barneveld's opinion like giving up julich and other citadels in the debatable land to spain just as the great war between catholicism and protestantism was breaking out. there had been enough of burning and burying alive in the netherlands during the century which had closed. it was not desirable to give a chance for their renewal now. in regard to the synod, barneveld justified his course by a simple reference to the th article of the union. words could not more plainly prohibit the interference by the states-general with the religious affairs of any one of the provinces than had been done by that celebrated clause. in there had been an attempt made to amend that article by insertion of a pledge to maintain the evangelical, reformed, religion solely, but it was never carried out. he disdained to argue so self- evident a truth, that a confederacy which had admitted and constantly invited catholic states to membership, under solemn pledge of noninterference with their religious affairs, had no right to lay down formulas for the reformed church throughout all the netherlands. the oath of stadholder and magistrates in holland to maintain the reformed religion was framed before this unhappy controversy on predestination had begun, and it was mere arrogant assumption on the part of the contra- remonstrants to claim a monopoly of that religion, and to exclude the remonstrants from its folds. he had steadily done his utmost to assuage those dissensions while maintaining the laws which he was sworn to support. he had advocated a provincial synod to be amicably assisted by divines from neighbouring countries. he had opposed a national synod unless unanimously voted by the seven provinces, because it would have been an open violation of the fundamental law of the confederacy, of its whole spirit, and of liberty of conscience. he admitted that he had himself drawn up a protest on the part of three provinces (holland, utrecht, and overyssel) against the decree for the national synod as a breach of the union, declaring it to be therefore null and void and binding upon no man. he had dictated the protest as oldest member present, while grotius as the youngest had acted as scribe. he would have supported the synod if legally voted, but would have preferred the convocation, under the authority of all the provinces, of a general, not a national, synod, in which, besides clergy and laymen from the netherlands, deputations from all protestant states and churches should take part; a kind of protestant oecumenical council. as to the enlistment, by the states of a province, of soldiers to keep the peace and suppress tumults in its cities during times of political and religious excitement, it was the most ordinary of occurrences. in his experience of more than forty years he had never heard the right even questioned. it was pure ignorance of law and history to find it a novelty. to hire temporarily a sufficient number of professional soldiers, he considered a more wholesome means of keeping the peace than to enlist one portion of the citizens of a town against another portion, when party and religious spirit was running high. his experience had taught him that the mutual hatred of the inhabitants, thus inflamed, became more lasting and mischievous than the resentment caused through suppression of disorder by an armed and paid police of strangers. it was not only the right but the most solemn duty of the civil authority to preserve the tranquillity, property, and lives of citizens committed to their care. "i have said these fifty years," said barneveld, "that it is better to be governed by magistrates than mobs. i have always maintained and still maintain that the most disastrous, shameful, and ruinous condition into which this land can fall is that in which the magistrates are overcome by the rabble of the towns and receive laws from them. nothing but perdition can follow from that." there had been good reason to believe that the french garrisons as well as some of the train bands could not be thoroughly relied upon in emergencies like those constantly breaking out, and there had been advices of invasion by sympathizers from neighbouring countries. in many great cities the civil authority had been trampled upon and mob rule had prevailed. certainly the recent example in the great commercial capital of the country--where the house of a foremost citizen had been besieged, stormed, and sacked, and a virtuous matron of the higher class hunted like a wild beast through the streets by a rabble grossly ignorant of the very nature of the religious quibble which had driven them mad, pelted with stones, branded with vilest names, and only saved by accident from assassination, while a church-going multitude looked calmly on--with constantly recurring instances in other important cities were sufficient reasons for the authorities to be watchful. he denied that he had initiated the proceedings at utrecht in conversation with ledenberg or any one else, but he had not refused, he said, his approval of the perfectly legal measures adopted for keeping the peace there when submitted to him. he was himself a born citizen of that province, and therefore especially interested in its welfare, and there was an old and intimate friendship between utrecht and holland. it would have been painful to him to see that splendid city in the control of an ignorant mob, making use of religious problems, which they did not comprehend, to plunder the property and take the lives of peaceful citizens more comfortably housed than themselves. he had neither suggested nor controlled the proceedings at utrecht. on the contrary, at an interview with the prince and count william on the th july, and in the presence of nearly thirty members of the general assembly, he had submitted a plan for cashiering the enlisted soldiery and substituting for them other troops, native-born, who should be sworn in the usual form to obey the laws of the union. the deputation from holland to utrecht, according to his personal knowledge, had received no instructions personal or oral to authorize active steps by the troops of the holland quota, but to abstain from them and to request the prince that they should not be used against the will and commands of the states of utrecht, whom they were bound by oath to obey so long as they were in garrison there. no man knew better than he whether the military oath which was called new-fangled were a novelty or not, for he had himself, he said, drawn it up thirty years before at command of the states-general by whom it was then ordained. from that day to this he had never heard a pretence that it justified anything not expressly sanctioned by the articles of union, and neither the states of holland nor those of utrecht had made any change in the oath. the states of utrecht were sovereign within their own territory, and in the time of peace neither the prince of orange without their order nor the states-general had the right to command the troops in their territory. the governor of a province was sworn to obey the laws of the province and conform to the articles of the general union. he was asked why he wrote the warning letter to ledenberg, and why he was so anxious that the letter should be burned; as if that were a deadly offence. he said that he could not comprehend why it should be imputed to him as a crime that he wished in such turbulent times to warn so important a city as utrecht, the capital of his native province, against tumults, disorders, and sudden assaults such as had often happened to her in times past. as for the postscript requesting that the letter might be put in the fire, he said that not being a member of, the government of that province he was simply unwilling to leave a record that "he had been too curious in aliens republics, although that could hardly be considered a grave offence." in regard to the charge that he had accused prince maurice of aspiring to the sovereignty of the country, he had much to say. he had never brought such accusation in public or private. he had reason to believe however-- he had indeed convincing proofs--that many people, especially those belonging to the contra-remonstrant party, cherished such schemes. he had never sought to cast suspicion on the prince himself on account of those schemes. on the contrary, he had not even formally opposed them. what he wished had always been that such projects should be discussed formally, legally, and above board. after the lamentable murder of the late prince he had himself recommended to the authorities of some of the cities that the transaction for bestowing the sovereignty of holland upon william, interrupted by his death, "should be completed in favour of prince maurice in despite of the spaniard." recently he had requested grotius to look up the documents deposited in rotterdam belonging to this affair, in order that they might be consulted. he was asked whether according to buzenval, the former french ambassador, prince maurice had not declared he would rather fling himself from the top of the hague tower than accept the sovereignty. barneveld replied that the prince according to the same authority had added "under the conditions which had been imposed upon his father;" a clause which considerably modified the self-denying statement. it was desirable therefore to search the acts for the limitations annexed to the sovereignty. three years long there had been indications from various sources that a party wished to change the form of government. he had not heard nor ever intimated that the prince suggested such intrigues. in anonymous pamphlets and common street and tavern conversations the contra- remonstrants were described by those of their own persuasion as "prince's beggars" and the like. he had received from foreign countries information worthy of attention, that it was the design of the contra- remonstrants to raise the prince to the sovereignty. he had therefore in brought the matter before the nobles and cities in a communication setting forth to the best of his recollection that under these religious disputes something else was intended. he had desired ripe conclusions on the matter, such as should most conduce to the service of the country. this had been in good faith both to the prince and the provinces, in order that, should a change in the government be thought desirable, proper and peaceful means might be employed to bring it about. he had never had any other intention than to sound the inclinations of those with whom he spoke, and he had many times since that period, by word of mouth and in writing, so lately as the month of april last assured the prince that he had ever been his sincere and faithful servant and meant to remain so to the end of his life, desiring therefore that he would explain to him his wishes and intentions. subsequently he had publicly proposed in full assembly of holland that the states should ripely deliberate and roundly declare if they were discontented with the form of government, and if so, what change they would desire. he had assured their mightinesses that they might rely upon him to assist in carrying out their intentions whatever they might be. he had inferred however from the prince's intimations, when he had broached the subject to him in , that he was not inclined towards these supposed projects, and had heard that opinion distinctly expressed from the mouth of count william. that the contra-remonstrants secretly entertained these schemes, he had been advised from many quarters, at home and abroad. in the year he had received information to that effect from france. certain confidential counsellors of the prince had been with him recently to confer on the subject. he had told them that, if his excellency chose to speak to him in regard to it, would listen to his reasoning about it, both as regarded the interests of the country and the prince himself, and then should desire him to propose and advocate it before the assembly, he would do so with earnestness, zeal, and affection. he had desired however that, in case the attempt failed, the prince would allow him to be relieved from service and to leave the country. what he wished from the bottom of his heart was that his excellency would plainly discover to him the exact nature of his sentiments in regard to the business. he fully admitted receiving a secret letter from ambassador langerac, apprising him that a man of quality in france had information of the intention of the contra-remonstrants throughout the provinces, should they come into power, to raise prince maurice to the sovereignty. he had communicated on the subject with grotius and other deputies in order that, if this should prove to be the general inclination, the affair might be handled according to law, without confusion or disorder. this, he said, would be serving both the country and the prince most judiciously. he was asked why he had not communicated directly with maurice. he replied that he had already seen how unwillingly the prince heard him allude to the subject, and that moreover there was another clause in the letter of different meaning, and in his view worthy of grave consideration by the states. no question was asked him as to this clause, but we have seen that it referred to the communication by du agean to langerac of a scheme for bestowing the sovereignty of the provinces on the king of france. the reader will also recollect that barneveld had advised the ambassador to communicate the whole intelligence to the prince himself. barneveld proceeded to inform the judges that he had never said a word to cast suspicion upon the prince, but had been actuated solely by the desire to find out the inclination of the states. the communications which he had made on the subject were neither for discrediting the prince nor for counteracting the schemes for his advancement. on the contrary, he had conferred with deputies from great cities like dordtrecht, enkhuyzen, and amsterdam, most devoted to the contra-remonstrant party, and had told them that, if they chose to propose the subject themselves, he would conduct himself to the best of his abilities in accordance with the wishes of the prince. it would seem almost impossible for a statesman placed in barneveld's position to bear himself with more perfect loyalty both to the country and to the stadholder. his duty was to maintain the constitution and laws so long as they remained unchanged. should it appear that the states, which legally represented the country, found the constitution defective, he was ready to aid in its amendment by fair public and legal methods. if maurice wished to propose himself openly as a candidate for the sovereignty, which had a generation before been conferred upon his father, barneveld would not only acquiesce in the scheme, but propose it. should it fail, he claimed the light to lay down all his offices and go into exile. he had never said that the prince was intriguing for, or even desired, the sovereignty. that the project existed among the party most opposed to himself, he had sufficient proof. to the leaders of that party therefore he suggested that the subject should be publicly discussed, guaranteeing freedom of debate and his loyal support so far as lay within his power. this was his answer to the accusation that he had meanly, secretly, and falsely circulated statements that the prince was aspiring to the sovereignty. [great pains were taken, in the course of the interrogatories, to elicit proof that the advocate had concealed important diplomatic information from the prince. he was asked why, in his secret instructions to ambassador langerac, he ordered him by an express article to be very cautious about making communications to the prince. searching questions were put in regard to these secret instructions, which i have read in the archives, and a copy of which now lies before me. they are in the form of questions, some of them almost puerile ones, addressed to barneveld by the ambassador then just departing on his mission to france in , with the answers written in the margin by the advocate. the following is all that has reference to the prince: "of what matters may i ordinarily write to his excellency?" answer--"of all great and important matters." it was difficult to find much that was treasonable in that.] among the heterogeneous articles of accusation he was asked why he had given no attention to those who had so, frequently proposed the formation of the west india company. he replied that it had from old time been the opinion of the states of holland, and always his own, that special and private licenses for traffic, navigation, and foreign commerce, were prejudicial to the welfare of the land. he had always been most earnestly opposed to them, detesting monopolies which interfered with that free trade and navigation which should be common to all mankind. he had taken great pains however in the years and to study the nature of the navigation and trade to the east indies in regard to the nations to be dealt with in those regions, the nature of the wares bought and sold there, the opposition to be encountered from the spaniards and portuguese against the commerce of the netherlanders, and the necessity of equipping vessels both for traffic and defence, and had come to the conclusion that these matters could best be directed by a general company. he explained in detail the manner in which he had procured the blending of all the isolated chambers into one great east india corporation, the enormous pains which it had cost him to bring it about, and the great commercial and national success which had been the result. the admiral of aragon, when a prisoner after the battle of nieuwpoort, had told him, he said, that the union of these petty corporations into one great whole had been as disastrous a blow to the kingdoms of spain and portugal as the union of the provinces at utrecht had been. in regard to the west india company, its sole object, so far as he could comprehend it, had been to equip armed vessels, not for trade but to capture and plunder spanish merchantmen and silver fleets in the west indies and south america. this was an advantageous war measure which he had favoured while the war lasted. it was in no sense a commercial scheme however, and when the truce had been made--the company not having come into existence--he failed to comprehend how its formation could be profitable for the netherlanders. on the contrary it would expressly invite or irritate the spaniards into a resumption of the war, an object which in his humble opinion was not at all desirable. certainly these ideas were not especially reprehensible, but had they been as shallow and despicable as they seem to us enlightened, it is passing strange that they should have furnished matter for a criminal prosecution. it was doubtless a disappointment for the promoters of the company, the chief of whom was a bankrupt, to fail in obtaining their charter, but it was scarcely high-treason to oppose it. there is no doubt however that the disapprobation with which barneveld regarded the west india company, the seat of which was at amsterdam, was a leading cause of the deadly hostility entertained for him by the great commercial metropolis. it was bad enough for the advocate to oppose unconditional predestination and the damnation of infants, but to frustrate a magnificent system of privateering on the spaniards in time of truce was an unpardonable crime. the patience with which the venerable statesman submitted to the taunts, ignorant and insolent cross-questionings, and noisy interruptions of his judges, was not less remarkable than the tenacity of memory which enabled him thus day after day, alone, unaided by books, manuscripts, or friendly counsel, to reconstruct the record of forty years, and to expound the laws of the land by an array of authorities, instances, and illustrations in a manner that would be deemed masterly by one who had all the resources of libraries, documents, witnesses, and secretaries at command. only when insidious questions were put tending to impute to him corruption, venality, and treacherous correspondence with the enemy--for they never once dared formally to accuse him of treason--did that almost superhuman patience desert him. he was questioned as to certain payments made by him to a certain van der vecken in spanish coin. he replied briefly at first that his money transactions with that man of business extended over a period of twenty or thirty years, and amounted to many hundred thousands of florins, growing out of purchases and sales of lands, agricultural enterprises on his estates, moneys derived from his professional or official business and the like. it was impossible for him to remember the details of every especial money payment that might have occurred between them. then suddenly breaking forth into a storm of indignation; he could mark from these questions, he said, that his enemies, not satisfied with having wounded his heart with their falsehoods, vile forgeries, and honour-robbing libels, were determined to break it. this he prayed that god almighty might avert and righteously judge between him and them. it was plain that among other things they were alluding to the stale and senseless story of the sledge filled with baskets of coin sent by the spanish envoys on their departure from the hague, on conclusion of the truce, to defray expenses incurred by them for board and lodging of servants, forage of horses, and the like-which had accidentally stopped at barneveld's door and was forthwith sent on to john spronssen, superintendent of such affairs. passing over this wanton bit of calumny with disgust, he solemnly asserted that he had never at any period of his life received one penny nor the value of one penny from the king of spain, the archdukes, spinola, or any other person connected with the enemy, saving only the presents publicly and mutually conferred according to invariable custom by the high contracting parties, upon the respective negotiators at conclusion of the treaty of truce. even these gifts barneveld had moved his colleagues not to accept, but proposed that they should all be paid into the public treasury. he had been overruled, he said, but that any dispassionate man of tolerable intelligence could imagine him, whose whole life had been a perpetual offence to spain, to be in suspicious relations with that power seemed to him impossible. the most intense party spirit, yea, envy itself, must confess that he had been among the foremost to take up arms for his country's liberties, and had through life never faltered in their defence. and once more in that mean chamber, and before a row of personal enemies calling themselves judges, he burst into an eloquent and most justifiable sketch of the career of one whom there was none else to justify and so many to assail. from his youth, he said, he had made himself by his honourable and patriotic deeds hopelessly irreconcilable with the spaniards. he was one of the advocates practising in the supreme court of holland, who in the very teeth of the duke of alva had proclaimed him a tyrant and had sworn obedience to the prince of orange as the lawful governor of the land. he was one of those who in the same year had promoted and attended private gatherings for the advancement of the reformed religion. he had helped to levy, and had contributed to, funds for the national defence in the early days of the revolt. these were things which led directly to the council of blood and the gibbet. he had borne arms himself on various bloody fields and had been perpetually a deputy to the rebel camps. he had been the original mover of the treaty of union which was concluded between the provinces at utrecht. he had been the first to propose and to draw up the declaration of netherland independence and the abjuration of the king of spain. he had been one of those who had drawn and passed the act establishing the late prince of orange as stadholder. of the sixty signers of these memorable declarations none were now living save himself and two others. when the prince had been assassinated, he had done his best to secure for his son maurice the sovereign position of which murder had so suddenly deprived the father. he had been member of the memorable embassies to france and england by which invaluable support for the struggling provinces had been obtained. and thus he rapidly sketched the history of the great war of independence in which he had ever been conspicuously employed on the patriotic side. when the late king of france at the close of the century had made peace with spain, he had been sent as special ambassador to that monarch, and had prevailed on him, notwithstanding his treaty with the enemy, to continue his secret alliance with the states and to promise them a large subsidy, pledges which had been sacredly fulfilled. it was on that occasion that henry, who was his debtor for past services, professional, official, and perfectly legitimate, had agreed, when his finances should be in better condition, to discharge his obligations; over and above the customary diplomatic present which he received publicly in common with his colleague admiral nassau. this promise, fulfilled a dozen years later, had been one of the senseless charges of corruption brought against him. he had been one of the negotiators of the truce in which spain had been compelled to treat with her revolted provinces as with free states and her equals. he had promoted the union of the protestant princes and their alliance with france and the united states in opposition to the designs of spain and the league. he had organized and directed the policy by which the forces of england, france, and protestant germany had possessed themselves of the debateable land. he had resisted every scheme by which it was hoped to force the states from their hold of those important citadels. he had been one of the foremost promoters of the east india company, an organization which the spaniards confessed had been as damaging to them as the union of the provinces itself had been. the idiotic and circumstantial statements, that he had conducted burgomaster van berk through a secret staircase of his house into his private study for the purpose of informing him that the only way for the states to get out of the war was to submit themselves once more to their old masters, so often forced upon him by the judges, he contradicted with disdain and disgust. he had ever abhorred and dreaded, he said, the house of spain, austria, and burgundy. his life had passed in open hostility to that house, as was known to all mankind. his mere personal interests, apart from higher considerations, would make an approach to the former sovereign impossible, for besides the deeds he had already alluded to, he had committed at least twelve distinct and separate acts, each one of which would be held high-treason by the house of austria, and he had learned from childhood that these are things which monarchs never forget. the tales of van berk were those of a personal enemy, falsehoods scarcely worth contradicting. he was grossly and enormously aggrieved by the illegal constitution of the commission. he had protested and continued to protest against it. if that protest were unheeded, he claimed at least that those men should be excluded from the board and the right to sit in judgment upon his person and his deeds who had proved themselves by words and works to be his capital enemies, of which fact he could produce irrefragable evidence. he claimed that the supreme court of holland, or the high council, or both together, should decide upon that point. he held as his personal enemies, he said, all those who had declared that he, before or since the truce down to the day of his arrest, had held correspondence with the spaniards, the archdukes, the marquis spinola, or any one on that side, had received money, money value, or promises of money from them, and in consequence had done or omitted to do anything whatever. he denounced such tales as notorious, shameful, and villainous falsehoods, the utterers and circulators of them as wilful liars, and this he was ready to maintain in every appropriate way for the vindication of the truth and his own honour. he declared solemnly before god almighty to the states-general and to the states of holland that his course in the religious matter had been solely directed to the strengthening of the reformed religion and to the political security of the provinces and cities. he had simply desired that, in the awful and mysterious matter of predestination, the consciences of many preachers and many thousands of good citizens might be placed in tranquillity, with moderate and christian limitations against all excesses. from all these reasons, he said, the commissioners, the states-general, the prince, and every man in the land could clearly see, and were bound to see, that he was the same man now that he was at the beginning of the war, had ever been, and with god's help should ever remain. the proceedings were kept secret from the public and, as a matter of course, there had been conflicting rumours from day to day as to the probable result of these great state trials. in general however it was thought that the prisoner would be acquitted of the graver charges, or that at most he would be permanently displaced from all office and declared incapable thenceforth to serve the state. the triumph of the contra-remonstrants since the stadholder had placed himself at the head of them, and the complete metamorphosis of the city governments even in the strongholds of the arminian party seemed to render the permanent political disgrace of the advocate almost a matter of certainty. the first step that gave rise to a belief that he might be perhaps more severely dealt with than had been anticipated was the proclamation by the states-general of a public fast and humiliation for the th april. in this document it was announced that "church and state--during several years past having been brought into great danger of utter destruction through certain persons in furtherance of their ambitious designs--had been saved by the convocation of a national synod; that a lawful sentence was soon to be expected upon those who had been disturbing the commonwealth; that through this sentence general tranquillity would probably be restored; and that men were now to thank god for this result, and pray to him that he would bring the wicked counsels and stratagems of the enemy against these provinces to naught." all the prisoners were asked if they too would like in their chambers of bondage to participate in the solemnity, although the motive for the fasting and prayer was not mentioned to them. each of them in his separate prison room, of course without communication together, selected the th psalm and sang it with his servant and door-keeper. from the date of this fast-day barneveld looked upon the result of his trial as likely to be serious. many clergymen refused or objected to comply with the terms of this declaration. others conformed with it greedily, and preached lengthy thanksgiving sermons, giving praise to god that, he had confounded the devices of the ambitious and saved the country from the "blood bath" which they had been preparing for it. the friends of barneveld became alarmed at the sinister language of this proclamation, in which for the first time allusions had been made to a forthcoming sentence against the accused. especially the staunch and indefatigable du maurier at once addressed himself again to the states-general. de boississe had returned to france, having found that the government of a country torn, weakened, and rendered almost impotent by its own internecine factions, was not likely to exert any very potent influence on the fate of the illustrious prisoner. the states had given him to understand that they were wearied with his perpetual appeals, intercessions, and sermons in behalf of mercy. they made him feel in short that lewis xiii. and henry iv. were two entirely different personages. du maurier however obtained a hearing before the assembly on the st may, where he made a powerful and manly speech in presence of the prince, urging that the prisoners ought to be discharged unless they could be convicted of treason, and that the states ought to show as much deference to his sovereign as they had always done to elizabeth of england. he made a personal appeal to prince maurice, urging upon him how much it would redound to his glory if he should now in generous and princely fashion step forward in behalf of those by whom he deemed himself to have been personally offended. his speech fell upon ears hardened against such eloquence and produced no effect. meantime the family of barneveld, not yet reduced to despair, chose to take a less gloomy view of the proclamation. relying on the innocence of the great statesman, whose aims, in their firm belief, had ever been for the welfare and glory of his fatherland, and in whose heart there had never been kindled one spark of treason, they bravely expected his triumphant release from his long and, as they deemed it, his iniquitous imprisonment. on this very st of may, in accordance with ancient custom, a may-pole was erected on the voorhout before the mansion of the captive statesman, and wreaths of spring flowers and garlands of evergreen decorated the walls within which were such braised and bleeding hearts. these demonstrations of a noble hypocrisy, if such it were, excited the wrath, not the compassion, of the stadholder, who thought that the aged matron and her sons and daughters, who dwelt in that house of mourning, should rather have sat in sackcloth with ashes on their heads than indulge in these insolent marks of hope and joyful expectation. it is certain however that count william lewis, who, although most staunch on the contra-remonstrant side, had a veneration for the advocate and desired warmly to save him, made a last and strenuous effort for that purpose. it was believed then, and it seems almost certain, that, if the friends of the advocate had been willing to implore pardon for him, the sentence would have been remitted or commuted. their application would have been successful, for through it his guilt would seem to be acknowledged. count william sent for the fiscal duyck. he asked him if there were no means of saving the life of a man who was so old and had done the country so much service. after long deliberation, it was decided that prince maurice should be approached on the subject. duyck wished that the count himself would speak with his cousin, but was convinced by his reasoning that it would be better that the fiscal should do it. duyck had a long interview accordingly with maurice, which was followed by a very secret one between them both and count william. the three were locked up together, three hours long, in the prince's private cabinet. it was then decided that count william should go, as if of his own accord, to the princess-dowager louise, and induce her to send for some one of barneveld's children and urge that the family should ask pardon for him. she asked if this was done with the knowledge of the prince of orange, or whether he would not take it amiss. the count eluded the question, but implored her to follow his advice. the result was an interview between the princess and madame de groeneveld, wife of the eldest son. that lady was besought to apply, with the rest of the advocate's children, for pardon to the lords states, but to act as if it were done of her own impulse, and to keep their interview profoundly secret. madame de groeneveld took time to consult the other members of the family and some friends. soon afterwards she came again to the princess, and informed her that she had spoken with the other children, and that they could not agree to the suggestion. "they would not move one step in it-- no, not if it should cost him his head." the princess reported the result of this interview to count william, at which both were so distressed that they determined to leave the hague. there is something almost superhuman in the sternness of this stoicism. yet it lay in the proud and highly tempered character of the netherlanders. there can be no doubt that the advocate would have expressly dictated this proceeding if he had been consulted. it was precisely the course adopted by himself. death rather than life with a false acknowledgment of guilt and therefore with disgrace. the loss of his honour would have been an infinitely greater triumph to his enemies than the loss of his head. there was no delay in drawing up the sentence. previously to this interview with the widow of william the silent, the family of the advocate had presented to the judges three separate documents, rather in the way of arguments than petitions, undertaking to prove by elaborate reasoning and citations of precedents and texts of the civil law that the proceedings against him were wholly illegal, and that he was innocent of every crime. no notice had been taken of those appeals. upon the questions and answers as already set forth the sentence soon followed, and it may be as well that the reader should be aware, at this point in the narrative, of the substance of that sentence so soon to be pronounced. there had been no indictment, no specification of crime. there had been no testimony or evidence. there had been no argument for the prosecution or the defence. there had been no trial whatever. the prisoner was convicted on a set of questions to which he had put in satisfactory replies. he was sentenced on a preamble. the sentence was a string of vague generalities, intolerably long, and as tangled as the interrogatories. his proceedings during a long career had on the whole tended to something called a "blood bath"--but the blood bath had never occurred. with an effrontery which did not lack ingenuity, barneveld's defence was called by the commissioners his confession, and was formally registered as such in the process and the sentence; while the fact that he had not been stretched upon the rack during his trial, nor kept in chains for the eight months of his imprisonment, were complacently mentioned as proofs of exceptionable indulgence. "whereas the prisoner john of barneveld," said the sentence, "without being put to the torture and without fetters of iron, has confessed . . . . to having perturbed religion, greatly afflicted the church of god, and carried into practice exorbitant and pernicious maxims of state . . . . inculcating by himself and accomplices that each province had the right to regulate religious affairs within its own territory, and that other provinces were not to concern themselves therewith"--therefore and for many other reasons he merited punishment. he had instigated a protest by vote of three provinces against the national synod. he had despised the salutary advice of many princes and notable personages. he had obtained from the king of great britain certain letters furthering his own opinions, the drafts of which he had himself suggested, and corrected and sent over to the states' ambassador in london, and when written out, signed, and addressed by the king to the states-general, had delivered them without stating how they had been procured. afterwards he had attempted to get other letters of a similar nature from the king, and not succeeding had defamed his majesty as being a cause of the troubles in the provinces. he had permitted unsound theologians to be appointed to church offices, and had employed such functionaries in political affairs as were most likely to be the instruments of his own purposes. he had not prevented vigorous decrees from being enforced in several places against those of the true religion. he had made them odious by calling them puritans, foreigners, and "flanderizers," although the united provinces had solemnly pledged to each other their lives, fortunes, and blood by various conventions, to some of which the prisoner was himself a party, to maintain the reformed, evangelical, religion only, and to, suffer no change in it to be made for evermore. in order to carry out his design and perturb the political state of the provinces he had drawn up and caused to be enacted the sharp resolution of th august . he had thus nullified the ordinary course of justice. he had stimulated the magistrates to disobedience, and advised them to strengthen themselves with freshly enlisted military companies. he had suggested new-fangled oaths for the soldiers, authorizing them to refuse obedience to the states-general and his excellency. he had especially stimulated the proceedings at utrecht. when it was understood that the prince was to pass through utrecht, the states of that province not without the prisoner's knowledge had addressed a letter to his excellency, requesting him not to pass through their city. he had written a letter to ledenberg suggesting that good watch should be held at the town gates and up and down the river lek. he had desired that ledenberg having read that letter should burn it. he had interfered with the cashiering of the mercenaries at utrecht. he had said that such cashiering without the consent of the states of that province was an act of force which would justify resistance by force. although those states had sent commissioners to concert measures with the prince for that purpose, he had advised them to conceal their instructions until his own plan for the disbandment could be carried out. at a secret meeting in the house of tresel, clerk of the states-general, between grotius, hoogerbeets, and other accomplices, it was decided that this advice should be taken. report accordingly was made to the prisoner. he had advised them to continue in their opposition to the national synod. he had sought to calumniate and blacken his excellency by saying that he aspired to the sovereignty of the provinces. he had received intelligence on that subject from abroad in ciphered letters. he had of his own accord rejected a certain proposed, notable alliance of the utmost importance to this republic. [this refers, i think without doubt, to the conversation between king james and caron at the end of the year .] he had received from foreign potentates various large sums of money and other presents. all "these proceedings tended to put the city of utrecht into a blood- bath, and likewise to bring the whole country, and the person of his excellency into the uttermost danger." this is the substance of the sentence, amplified by repetitions and exasperating tautology into thirty or forty pages. it will have been perceived by our analysis of barneveld's answers to the commissioners that all the graver charges which he was now said to have confessed had been indignantly denied by him or triumphantly justified. it will also be observed that he was condemned for no categorical crime-- lese-majesty, treason, or rebellion. the commissioners never ventured to assert that the states-general were sovereign, or that the central government had a right to prescribe a religious formulary for all the united provinces. they never dared to say that the prisoner had been in communication with the enemy or had received bribes from him. of insinuation and implication there was much, of assertion very little, of demonstration nothing whatever. but supposing that all the charges had been admitted or proved, what course would naturally be taken in consequence? how was a statesman who adhered to the political, constitutional, and religious opinions on which he had acted, with the general acquiescence, during a career of more than forty years, but which were said to be no longer in accordance with public opinion, to be dealt with? would the commissioners request him to retire honourably from the high functions which he had over and over again offered to resign? would they consider that, having fairly impeached and found him guilty of disturbing the public peace by continuing to act on his well-known legal theories, they might deprive him summarily of power and declare him incapable of holding office again? the conclusion of the commissioners was somewhat more severe than either of these measures. their long rambling preamble ended with these decisive words: "therefore the judges, in name of the lords states-general, condemn the prisoner to be taken to the binnenhof, there to be executed with the sword that death may follow, and they declare all his property confiscated." the execution was to take place so soon as the sentence had been read to the prisoner. after the st of may barneveld had not appeared before his judges. he had been examined in all about sixty times. in the beginning of may his servant became impatient. "you must not be impatient," said his master. "the time seems much longer because we get no news now from the outside. but the end will soon come. this delay cannot last for ever." intimation reached him on saturday the th may that the sentence was ready and would soon be pronounced. "it is a bitter folk," said barneveld as he went to bed. "i have nothing good to expect of them." next day was occupied in sewing up and concealing his papers, including a long account of his examination, with the questions and answers, in his spanish arm-chair. next day van der meulen said to the servant, "i will bet you a hundred florins that you'll not be here next thursday." the faithful john was delighted, not dreaming of the impending result. it was sunday afternoon, th may, and about half past five o'clock. barneveld sat in his prison chamber, occupied as usual in writing, reviewing the history of the past, and doing his best to reduce into something like order the rambling and miscellaneous interrogatories, out of which his trial had been concocted, while the points dwelt in his memory, and to draw up a concluding argument in his own defence. work which according to any equitable, reasonable, or even decent procedure should have been entrusted to the first lawyers of the country--preparing the case upon the law and the facts with the documents before them, with the power of cross-questioning witnesses and sifting evidence, and enlightened by constant conferences with the illustrious prisoner himself--came entirely upon his own shoulders, enfeebled as he was by age, physical illness, and by the exhaustion of along imprisonment. without books, notes of evidence, or even copies of the charges of which he stood accused, he was obliged to draw up his counter-arguments against the impeachment and then by aid of a faithful valet to conceal his manuscript behind the tapestry of the chamber, or cause them to be sewed up in the lining of his easy-chair, lest they should be taken from him by order of the judges who sat in the chamber below. while he was thus occupied in preparations for his next encounter with the tribunal, the door opened, and three gentlemen entered. two were the prosecuting officers of the government, fiscal sylla and fiscal van leeuwen. the other was the provost-marshal, carel de nijs. the servant was directed to leave the room. barneveld had stepped into his dressing-room on hearing footsteps, but came out again with his long furred gown about him as the three entered. he greeted them courteously and remained standing, with his hands placed on the back of his chair and with one knee resting carelessly against the arm of it. van leeuwen asked him if he would not rather be seated, as they brought a communication from the judges. he answered in the negative. von leeuwen then informed him that he was summoned to appear before the judges the next morning to hear his sentence of death. "the sentence of death!" he exclaimed, without in the least changing his position; "the sentence of death! the sentence of death!" saying the words over thrice, with an air of astonishment rather than of horror. "i never expected that! i thought they were going to hear my defence again. i had intended to make some change in my previous statements, having set some things down when beside myself with choler." he then made reference to his long services. van leeuwen expressed himself as well acquainted with them. "he was sorry," he said, "that his lordship took this message ill of him." "i do not take it ill of you," said barneveld, "but let them," meaning the judges, "see how they will answer it before god. are they thus to deal with a true patriot? let me have pen, ink, and paper, that for the last time i may write farewell to my wife." "i will go ask permission of the judges," said van leenwen, "and i cannot think that my lord's request will be refused." while van leeuwen was absent, the advocate exclaimed, looking at the other legal officer: "oh, sylla, sylla, if your father could only have seen to what uses they would put you!" sylla was silent. permission to write the letter was soon received from de voogt, president of the commission. pen, ink, and paper were brought, and the prisoner calmly sat down to write, without the slightest trace of discomposure upon his countenance or in any of his movements. while he was writing, sylla said with some authority, "beware, my lord, what you write, lest you put down something which may furnish cause for not delivering the letter." barneveld paused in his writing, took the glasses from his eyes, and looked sylla in the face. "well, sylla," he said very calmly, "will you in these my last moments lay down the law to me as to what i shall write to my wife?" he then added with a half-smile, "well, what is expected of me?" "we have no commission whatever to lay down the law," said van leeuwen. "your worship will write whatever you like." while he was writing, anthony walaeus came in, a preacher and professor of middelburg, a deputy to the synod of dordtrecht, a learned and amiable man, sent by the states-general to minister to the prisoner on this supreme occasion; and not unworthy to be thus selected. the advocate, not knowing him, asked him why he came. "i am not here without commission," said the clergyman. "i come to console my lord in his tribulation." "i am a man," said barneveld; "have come to my present age, and i know how to console myself. i must write, and have now other things to do." the preacher said that he would withdraw and return when his worship was at leisure. "do as you like," said the advocate, calmly going on with his writing. when the letter was finished, it was sent to the judges for their inspection, by whom it was at once forwarded to the family mansion in the voorhout, hardly a stone's throw from the prison chamber. thus it ran: "very dearly beloved wife, children, sons-in-law, and grandchildren, i greet you altogether most affectionately. i receive at this moment the very heavy and sorrowful tidings that i, an old man, for all my services done well and faithfully to the fatherland for so many years (after having performed all respectful and friendly offices to his excellency the prince with upright affection so far as my official duty and vocation would permit, shown friendship to many people of all sorts, and wittingly injured no man), must prepare myself to die to-morrow. "i console myself in god the lord, who knows all hearts, and who will judge all men. i beg you all together to do the same. i have steadily and faithfully served my lords the states of holland and their nobles and cities. to the states of utrecht as sovereigns of my own fatherland i have imparted at their request upright and faithful counsel, in order to save them from tumults of the populace, and from the bloodshed with which they had so long been threatened. i had the same views for the cities of holland in order that every one might be protected and no one injured. "live together in love and peace. pray for me to almighty god, who will graciously hold us all in his holy keeping. "from my chamber of sorrow, the th may . "your very dear husband, father, father-in-law, and grandfather, "john of barneveld." it was thought strange that the judges should permit so simple and clear a statement, an argument in itself, to be forwarded. the theory of his condemnation was to rest before the public on his confessions of guilt, and here in the instant of learning the nature of the sentence in a few hours to be pronounced upon him he had in a few telling periods declared his entire innocence. nevertheless the letter had been sent at once to its address. so soon as this sad business had been disposed of, anthony walaeus returned. the advocate apologized to the preacher for his somewhat abrupt greeting on his first appearance. he was much occupied and did not know him, he said, although he had often heard of him. he begged him, as well as the provost-marshal, to join him at supper, which was soon brought. barneveld ate with his usual appetite, conversed cheerfully on various topics, and pledged the health of each of his guests in a glass of beer. contrary to his wont he drank at that repast no wine. after supper he went out into the little ante-chamber and called his servant, asking him how he had been faring. now john franken had just heard with grief unspeakable the melancholy news of his master's condemnation from two soldiers of the guard, who had been sent by the judges to keep additional watch over the prisoner. he was however as great a stoic as his master, and with no outward and superfluous manifestations of woe had simply implored the captain-at-arms, van der meulen, to intercede with the judges that he might be allowed to stay with his lord to the last. meantime he had been expressly informed that he was to say nothing to the advocate in secret, and that his master was not to speak to him in a low tone nor whisper in his ear. when the advocate came out into the ante-chamber and looking over his shoulder saw the two soldiers he at once lowered his voice. "hush-speak low," he whispered; "this is too cruel." john then informed him of van der meulen's orders, and that the soldiers had also been instructed to look to it sharply that no word was exchanged between master and man except in a loud voice. "is it possible," said the advocate, "that so close an inspection is held over me in these last hours? can i not speak a word or two in freedom? this is a needless mark of disrespect." the soldiers begged him not to take their conduct amiss as they were obliged strictly to obey orders. he returned to his chamber, sat down in his chair, and begged walaeus to go on his behalf to prince maurice. "tell his excellency," said he, "that i have always served him with upright affection so far as my office, duties, and principles permitted. if i, in the discharge of my oath and official functions, have ever done anything contrary to his views, i hope that he will forgive it, and that he will hold my children in his gracious favour." it was then ten o'clock. the preacher went downstairs and crossed the courtyard to the stadholder's apartments, where he at once gained admittance. maurice heard the message with tears in his eyes, assuring walaeus that he felt deeply for the advocate's misfortunes. he had always had much affection for him, he said, and had often warned him against his mistaken courses. two things, however, had always excited his indignation. one was that barneveld had accused him of aspiring to sovereignty. the other that he had placed him in such danger at utrecht. yet he forgave him all. as regarded his sons, so long as they behaved themselves well they might rely on his favour. as walaeus was about to leave the apartment, the prince called him back. "did he say anything of a pardon?" he asked, with some eagerness. "my lord," answered the clergyman, "i cannot with truth say that i understood him to make any allusion to it." walaeus returned immediately to the prison chamber and made his report of the interview. he was unwilling however to state the particulars of the offence which maurice declared himself to have taken at the acts of the advocate. but as the prisoner insisted upon knowing, the clergyman repeated the whole conversation. "his excellency has been deceived in regard to the utrecht business," said barneveld, "especially as to one point. but it is true that i had fear and apprehension that he aspired to the sovereignty or to more authority in the country. ever since the year i have felt this fear and have tried that these apprehensions might be rightly understood." while walaeus had been absent, the reverend jean la motte (or lamotius) and another clergyman of the hague had come to the prisoner's apartment. la motte could not look upon the advocate's face without weeping, but the others were more collected. conversation now ensued among the four; the preachers wishing to turn the doomed statesman's thought to the consolations of religion. but it was characteristic of the old lawyer's frame of mind that even now he looked at the tragical position in which he found himself from a constitutional and controversial point of view. he was perfectly calm and undaunted at the awful fate so suddenly and unexpectedly opened before his eyes, but he was indignant at what he esteemed the ignorance, injustice, and stupidity of the sentence to be pronounced against him. "i am ready enough to die," he said to the three clergymen, "but i cannot comprehend why i am to die. i have done nothing except in obedience to the laws and privileges of the land and according to my oath, honour, and conscience." "these judges," he continued, "come in a time when other maxims prevail in the state than those of my day. they have no right therefore to sit in judgment upon me." the clergymen replied that the twenty-four judges who had tried the case were no children and were conscientious men; that it was no small thing to condemn a man, and that they would have to answer it before the supreme judge of all. "i console myself," he answered, "in the lord my god, who knows all hearts and shall judge all men. god is just. "they have not dealt with me," he continued, "as according to law and justice they were bound to deal. they have taken away from me my own sovereign lords and masters and deposed them. to them alone i was responsible. in their place they have put many of my enemies who were never before in the government, and almost all of whom are young men who have not seen much or read much. i have seen and read much, and know that from such examples no good can follow. after my death they will learn for the first time what governing means." "the twenty-four judges are nearly all of them my enemies. what they have reproached me with, i have been obliged to hear. i have appealed against these judges, but it has been of no avail. they have examined me in piecemeal, not in statesmanlike fashion. the proceedings against me have been much too hard. i have frequently requested to see the notes of my examination as it proceeded, and to confer upon it with aid and counsel of friends, as would be the case in all lands governed by law. the request was refused. during this long and wearisome affliction and misery i have not once been allowed to speak to my wife and children. these are indecent proceedings against a man seventy-two years of age, who has served his country faithfully for three-and-forty years. i bore arms with the volunteers at my own charges at the siege of haarlem and barely escaped with life." it was not unnatural that the aged statesman's thoughts should revert in this supreme moment to the heroic scenes in which he had been an actor almost a half-century before. he could not but think with bitterness of those long past but never forgotten days when he, with other patriotic youths, had faced the terrible legions of alva in defence of the fatherland, at a time when the men who were now dooming him to a traitor's death were unborn, and who, but for his labours, courage, wisdom, and sacrifices, might have never had a fatherland to serve, or a judgment-seat on which to pronounce his condemnation. not in a spirit of fretfulness, but with disdainful calm, he criticised and censured the proceedings against himself as a violation of the laws of the land and of the first principles of justice, discussing them as lucidly and steadily as if they had been against a third person. the preachers listened, but had nothing to say. they knew not of such matters, they said, and had no instructions to speak of them. they had been sent to call him to repentance for his open and hidden sins and to offer the consolations of religion. "i know that very well," he said, "but i too have something to say notwithstanding." the conversation then turned upon religious topics, and the preachers spoke of predestination. "i have never been able to believe in the matter of high predestination," said the advocate. "i have left it in the hands of god the lord. i hold that a good christian man must believe that he through god's grace and by the expiation of his sin through our redeemer jesus christ is predestined to be saved, and that this belief in his salvation, founded alone on god's grace and the merits of our redeemer jesus christ, comes to him through the same grace of god. and if he falls into great sins, his firm hope and confidence must be that the lord god will not allow him to continue in them, but that, through prayer for grace and repentance, he will be converted from evil and remain in the faith to the end of his life." these feelings, he said, he had expressed fifty-two years before to three eminent professors of theology in whom he confided, and they had assured him that he might tranquilly continue in such belief without examining further. "and this has always been my creed," he said. the preachers replied that faith is a gift of god and not given to all men, that it must be given out of heaven to a man before he could be saved. hereupon they began to dispute, and the advocate spoke so earnestly and well that the clergymen were astonished and sat for a time listening to him in silence. he asked afterwards about the synod, and was informed that its decrees had not yet been promulgated, but that the remonstrants had been condemned. "it is a pity," said he. "one is trying to act on the old papal system, but it will never do. things have gone too far. as to the synod, if my lords the states of holland had been heeded there would have been first a provincial synod and then a national one."--"but," he added, looking the preachers in the face, "had you been more gentle with each other, matters would not have taken so high a turn. but you have been too fierce one against the other, too full of bitter party spirit." they replied that it was impossible for them to act against their conscience and the supreme authority. and then they asked him if there was nothing that troubled him in, his conscience in the matters for which he must die; nothing for which he repented and sorrowed, and for which he would call upon god for mercy. "this i know well," he said, "that i have never willingly done wrong to any man. people have been ransacking my letters to caron--confidential ones written several years ago to an old friend when i was troubled and seeking for counsel and consolation. it is hard that matter of impeachment against me to-day should be sought for thus." and then he fell into political discourse again on the subject of the waartgelders and the state rights, and the villainous pasquils and libels that had circulated so long through the country. "i have sometimes spoken hastily, i confess," he said; "but that was when i was stung by the daily swarm of infamous and loathsome pamphlets, especially those directed against my sovereign masters the states of holland. that i could not bear. old men cannot well brush such things aside. all that was directly aimed at me in particular i endeavoured to overcome with such patience as i could muster. the disunion and mutual enmity in the country have wounded me to the heart. i have made use of all means in my power to accommodate matters, to effect with all gentleness a mutual reconciliation. i have always felt a fear lest the enemy should make use of our internal dissensions to strike a blow against us. i can say with perfect truth that ever since the year ' i have been as resolutely and unchangeably opposed to the spaniards and their adherents, and their pretensions over these provinces, as any man in the world, no one excepted, and as ready to sacrifice property and shed my blood in defence of the fatherland. i have been so devoted to the service of the country that i have not been able to take the necessary care of my own private affairs." so spoke the great statesman in the seclusion of his prison, in the presence of those clergymen whom he respected, at a supreme moment, when, if ever, a man might be expected to tell the truth. and his whole life which belonged to history, and had been passed on the world's stage before the eyes of two generations of spectators, was a demonstration of the truth of his words. but burgomaster van berk knew better. had he not informed the twenty- four commissioners that, twelve years before, the advocate wished to subject the country to spain, and that spinola had drawn a bill of exchange for , ducats as a compensation for his efforts? it was eleven o'clock. barneveld requested one of the brethren to say an evening prayer. this was done by la motte, and they were then requested to return by three or four o'clock next morning. they had been directed, they said, to remain with him all night. "that is unnecessary," said the advocate, and they retired. his servant then helped his master to undress, and he went to bed as usual. taking off his signet-ring, he gave it to john franken. "for my eldest son," he said. the valet sat down at the head of his bed in order that his master might speak to him before he slept. but the soldiers ordered him away and compelled him to sit in a distant part of the room. an hour after midnight, the advocate having been unable to lose himself, his servant observed that isaac, one of the soldiers, was fast asleep. he begged the other, tilman schenk by name, to permit him some private words with his master. he had probably last messages, he thought, to send to his wife and children, and the eldest son, m. de groeneveld, would no doubt reward him well for it. but the soldier was obstinate in obedience to the orders of the judges. barneveld, finding it impossible to sleep, asked his servant to read to him from the prayer-book. the soldier called in a clergyman however, another one named hugo bayerus, who had been sent to the prison, and who now read to him the consolations of the sick. as he read, he made exhortations and expositions, which led to animated discussion, in which the advocate expressed himself with so much fervour and eloquence that all present were astonished, and the preacher sat mute a half-hour long at the bed-side. "had there been ten clergymen," said the simple-hearted sentry to the valet, "your master would have enough to say to all of them." barneveld asked where the place had been prepared in which he was to die. "in front of the great hall, as i understand," said bayerus, "but i don't know the localities well, having lived here but little." "have you heard whether my grotius is to die, and hoogerbeets also?" he asked? i have heard nothing to that effect," replied the clergyman. "i should most deeply grieve for those two gentlemen," said barneveld, "were that the case. they may yet live to do the land great service. that great rising light, de groot, is still young, but a very wise and learned gentleman, devoted to his fatherland with all zeal, heart, and soul, and ready to stand up for her privileges, laws, and rights. as for me, i am an old and worn-out man. i can do no more. i have already done more than i was really able to do. i have worked so zealously in public matters that i have neglected my private business. i had expressly ordered my house at loosduinen" [a villa by the seaside] "to be got ready, that i might establish myself there and put my affairs in order. i have repeatedly asked the states of holland for my discharge, but could never obtain it. it seems that the almighty had otherwise disposed of me." he then said he would try once more if he could sleep. the clergyman and the servant withdrew for an hour, but his attempt was unsuccessful. after an hour he called for his french psalm book and read in it for some time. sometime after two o'clock the clergymen came in again and conversed with him. they asked him if he had slept, if he hoped to meet christ, and if there was anything that troubled his conscience. "i have not slept, but am perfectly tranquil," he replied. "i am ready to die, but cannot comprehend why i must die. i wish from my heart that, through my death and my blood, all disunion and discord in this land may cease." he bade them carry his last greetings to his fellow prisoners. "say farewell for me to my good grotius," said he, "and tell him that i must die." the clergymen then left him, intending to return between five and six o'clock. he remained quiet for a little while and then ordered his valet to cut open the front of his shirt. when this was done, he said, "john, are you to stay by me to the last?" "yes," he replied, "if the judges permit it." "remind me to send one of the clergymen to the judges with the request," said his master. the faithful john, than whom no servant or friend could be more devoted, seized the occasion, with the thrift and stoicism of a true hollander, to suggest that his lord might at the same time make some testamentary disposition in his favour. "tell my wife and children," said the advocate, "that they must console each other in mutual love and union. say that through god's grace i am perfectly at ease, and hope that they will be equally tranquil. tell my children that i trust they will be loving and friendly to their mother during the short time she has yet to live. say that i wish to recommend you to them that they may help you to a good situation either with themselves or with others. tell them that this was my last request." he bade him further to communicate to the family the messages sent that night through walaeus by the stadholder. the valet begged his master to repeat these instructions in presence of the clergyman, or to request one of them to convey them himself to the family. he promised to do so. "as long as i live," said the grateful servant, "i shall remember your lordship in my prayers." "no, john," said the advocate, "that is popish. when i am dead, it is all over with prayers. pray for me while i still live. now is the time to pray. when one is dead, one should no longer be prayed for." la motte came in. barneveld repeated his last wishes exactly as he desired them to be communicated to his wife and children. the preacher made no response. "will you take the message?" asked the prisoner. la motte nodded, but did not speak, nor did he subsequently fulfil the request. before five o'clock the servant heard the bell ring in the apartment of the judges directly below the prison chamber, and told his master he had understood that they were to assemble at five o'clock. "i may as well get up then," said the advocate; "they mean to begin early, i suppose. give me my doublet and but one pair of stockings." he was accustomed to wear two or three pair at a time. he took off his underwaistcoat, saying that the silver bog which was in one of the pockets was to be taken to his wife, and that the servant should keep the loose money there for himself. then he found an opportunity to whisper to him, "take good care of the papers which are in the apartment." he meant the elaborate writings which he had prepared during his imprisonment and concealed in the tapestry and within the linings of the chair. as his valet handed him the combs and brushes, he said with a smile, "john, this is for the last time." when he was dressed, he tried, in rehearsal of the approaching scene, to pull over his eyes the silk skull-cap which he usually wore under his hat. finding it too tight he told the valet to put the nightcap in his pocket and give it him when he should call for it. he then swallowed a half-glass of wine with a strengthening cordial in it, which he was wont to take. the clergymen then re-entered, and asked if he had been able to sleep. he answered no, but that he had been much consoled by many noble things which he had been reading in the french psalm book. the clergymen said that they had been thinking much of the beautiful confession of faith which he had made to them that evening. they rejoiced at it, they said, on his account, and had never thought it of him. he said that such had always been his creed. at his request walaeus now offered a morning prayer barneveld fell on his knees and prayed inwardly without uttering a sound. la motte asked when he had concluded, "did my lord say amen?"--"yes, lamotius," he replied; "amen."--"has either of the brethren," he added, "prepared a prayer to be offered outside there?" la motte informed him that this duty had been confided to him. some passages from isaiah were now read aloud, and soon afterwards walaeus was sent for to speak with the judges. he came back and said to the prisoner, "has my lord any desire to speak with his wife or children, or any of his friends?" it was then six o'clock, and barneveld replied: "no, the time is drawing near. it would excite a new emotion." walaeus went back to the judges with this answer, who thereupon made this official report: "the husband and father of the petitioners, being asked if he desired that any of the petitioners should come to him, declared that he did not approve of it, saying that it would cause too great an emotion for himself as well as for them. this is to serve as an answer to the petitioners." now the advocate knew nothing of the petition. up to the last moment his family had been sanguine as to his ultimate acquittal and release. they relied on a promise which they had received or imagined that they had received from the stadholder that no harm should come to the prisoner in consequence of the arrest made of his person in the prince's apartments on the th of august. they had opened this tragical month of may with flagstaffs and flower garlands, and were making daily preparations to receive back the revered statesman in triumph. the letter written by him from his "chamber of sorrow," late in the evening of th may, had at last dispelled every illusion. it would be idle to attempt to paint the grief and consternation into which the household in the voorhout was plunged, from the venerable dame at its head, surrounded by her sons and daughters and children's children, down to the humblest servant in their employment. for all revered and loved the austere statesman, but simple and benignant father and master. no heed had been taken of the three elaborate and argumentative petitions which, prepared by learned counsel in name of the relatives, had been addressed to the judges. they had not been answered because they were difficult to answer, and because it was not intended that the accused should have the benefit of counsel. an urgent and last appeal was now written late at night, and signed by each member of the family, to his excellency the prince and the judge commissioners, to this effect: "the afflicted wife and children of m. van barneveld humbly show that having heard the sorrowful tidings of his coming execution, they humbly beg that it may be granted them to see and speak to him for the last time." the two sons delivered this petition at four o'clock in the morning into the hands of de voogd, one of the judges. it was duly laid before the commission, but the prisoner was never informed, when declining a last interview with his family, how urgently they had themselves solicited the boon. louise de coligny, on hearing late at night the awful news, had been struck with grief and horror. she endeavoured, late as it was, to do something to avert the doom of one she so much revered, the man on whom her illustrious husband had leaned his life long as on a staff of iron. she besought an interview of the stadholder, but it was refused. the wife of william the silent had no influence at that dire moment with her stepson. she was informed at first that maurice was asleep, and at four in the morning that all intervention was useless. the faithful and energetic du maurier, who had already exhausted himself in efforts to save the life of the great prisoner, now made a last appeal. he, too, heard at four o'clock in the morning of the th that sentence of death was to be pronounced. before five o'clock he made urgent application to be heard before the assembly of the states-general as ambassador of a friendly sovereign who took the deepest interest in the welfare of the republic and the fate of its illustrious statesman. the appeal was refused. as a last resource he drew up an earnest and eloquent letter to the states-general, urging clemency in the name of his king. it was of no avail. the letter may still be seen in the royal archives at the hague, drawn up entirely in du maurier's clear and beautiful handwriting. although possibly a, first draft, written as it was under such a mortal pressure for time, its pages have not one erasure or correction. it was seven o'clock. barneveld having observed by the preacher (la motte's) manner that he was not likely to convey the last messages which he had mentioned to his wife and children, sent a request to the judges to be allowed to write one more letter. captain van der meulen came back with the permission, saying he would wait and take it to the judges for their revision. the letter has been often published. "must they see this too? why, it is only a line in favour of john," said the prisoner, sitting quietly down to write this letter: "very dear wife and children, it is going to an end with me. i am, through the grace of god, very tranquil. i hope that you are equally so, and that you may by mutual love, union, and peace help each other to overcome all things, which i pray to the omnipotent as my last request. john franken has served me faithfully for many years and throughout all these my afflictions, and is to remain with me to the end. he deserves to be recommended to you and to be furthered to good employments with you or with others. i request you herewith to see to this. "i have requested his princely excellency to hold my sons and children in his favour, to which he has answered that so long as you conduct yourselves well this shall be the case. i recommend this to you in the best form and give you all into god's holy keeping. kiss each other and all my grandchildren, for the last time in my name, and fare you well. out of the chamber of sorrow, th may . your dear husband and father, john of barneveld. "p.s. you will make john franken a present in memory of me." certainly it would be difficult to find a more truly calm, courageous, or religious spirit than that manifested by this aged statesman at an hour when, if ever, a human soul is tried and is apt to reveal its innermost depths or shallows. whatever gomarus or bogerman, or the whole council of dordtrecht, may have thought of his theology, it had at least taught him forgiveness of his enemies, kindness to his friends, and submission to the will of the omnipotent. every moment of his last days on earth had been watched and jealously scrutinized, and his bitterest enemies had failed to discover one trace of frailty, one manifestation of any vacillating, ignoble, or malignant sentiment. the drums had been sounding through the quiet but anxiously expectant town since four o'clock that morning, and the tramp of soldiers marching to the inner court had long been audible in the prison chamber. walaeus now came back with a message from the judges. "the high commissioners," he said, "think it is beginning. will my lord please to prepare himself?" "very well, very well," said the prisoner. "shall we go at once?" but walaeus suggested a prayer. upon its conclusion, barneveld gave his hand to the provost-marshal and to the two soldiers, bidding them adieu, and walked downstairs, attended by them, to the chamber of the judges. as soon as he appeared at the door, he was informed that there had been a misunderstanding, and he was requested to wait a little. he accordingly went upstairs again with perfect calmness, sat down in his chamber again, and read in his french psalm book. half an hour later he was once more summoned, the provost-marshal and captain van der meulen reappearing to escort him. "mr. provost," said the prisoner, as they went down the narrow staircase, "i have always been a good friend to you."--"it is true," replied that officer, "and most deeply do i grieve to see you in this affliction." he was about to enter the judges' chamber as usual, but was informed that the sentence would be read in the great hall of judicature. they descended accordingly to the basement story, and passed down the narrow flight of steps which then as now connected the more modern structure, where the advocate had been imprisoned and tried, with what remained of the ancient palace of the counts of holland. in the centre of the vast hall--once the banqueting chamber of those petty sovereigns; with its high vaulted roof of cedar which had so often in ancient days rung with the sounds of mirth and revelry--was a great table at which the twenty- four judges and the three prosecuting officers were seated, in their black caps and gowns of office. the room was lined with soldiers and crowded with a dark, surging mass of spectators, who had been waiting there all night. a chair was placed for the prisoner. he sat down, and the clerk of the commission, pots by name, proceeded at once to read the sentence. a summary of this long, rambling, and tiresome paper has been already laid before the reader. if ever a man could have found it tedious to listen to his own death sentence, the great statesman might have been in that condition as he listened to secretary pots. during the reading of the sentence the advocate moved uneasily on his seat, and seemed about to interrupt the clerk at several passages which seemed to him especially preposterous. but he controlled himself by a strong effort, and the clerk went steadily on to the conclusion. then barneveld said: "the judges have put down many things which they have no right to draw from my confession. let this protest be added." "i thought too," he continued, "that my lords the states-general would have had enough in my life and blood, and that my wife and children might keep what belongs to them. is this my recompense for forty-three years' service to these provinces?" president de voogd rose: "your sentence has been pronounced," he said. "away! away! "so saying he pointed to the door into which one of the great windows at the south- eastern front of the hall had been converted. without another word the old man rose from his chair and strode, leaning on his staff, across the hall, accompanied by his faithful valet and the provost and escorted by a file of soldiers. the mob of spectators flowed out after him at every door into the inner courtyard in front of the ancient palace. etext editor's bookmarks: better to be governed by magistrates than mobs burning with bitter revenge for all the favours he had received death rather than life with a false acknowledgment of guilt enemy of all compulsion of the human conscience heidelberg catechism were declared to be infallible i know how to console myself implication there was much, of assertion very little john robinson magistracy at that moment seemed to mean the sword only true religion rather a wilderness to reign over than a single heretic william brewster this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, volume life and death of john of barneveld, v , chapter xiii. ferdinand of gratz crowned king of bohemia--his enmity to protestants--slawata and martinitz thrown from the windows of the hradschin--real beginning of the thirty years' war--the elector- palatine's intrigues in opposition to the house of austria--he supports the duke of savoy--the emperor matthias visits dresden-- jubilee for the hundredth anniversary of the reformation. when the forlorn emperor rudolph had signed the permission for his brother matthias to take the last crown but one from his head, he bit the pen in a paroxysm of helpless rage. then rushing to the window of his apartment, he looked down on one of the most stately prospects that the palaces of the earth can offer. from the long monotonous architectural lines of the hradschin, imposing from its massiveness and its imperial situation, and with the dome and minarets of the cathedral clustering behind them, the eye swept across the fertile valley, through which the rapid, yellow moldau courses, to the opposite line of cliffs crested with the half imaginary fortress-palaces of the wyscherad. there, in the mythical legendary past of bohemia had dwelt the shadowy libuscha, daughter of krok, wife of king premysl, foundress of prague, who, when wearied of her lovers, was accustomed to toss them from those heights into the river. between these picturesque precipices lay the two pragues, twin-born and quarrelsome, fighting each other for centuries, and growing up side by side into a double, bellicose, stormy, and most splendid city, bristling with steeples and spires, and united by the ancient many-statued bridge with its blackened mediaeval entrance towers. but it was not to enjoy the prospect that the aged, discrowned, solitary emperor, almost as dim a figure among sovereigns as the mystic libuscha herself, was gazing from the window upon the imperial city. "ungrateful prague," he cried, "through me thou hast become thus magnificent, and now thou hast turned upon and driven away thy benefactor. may the vengeance of god descend upon thee; may my curse come upon thee and upon all bohemia." history has failed to record the special benefits of the emperor through which the city had derived its magnificence and deserved this malediction. but surely if ever an old man's curse was destined to be literally fulfilled, it seemed to be this solemn imprecation of rudolph. meantime the coronation of matthias had gone on with pomp and popular gratulations, while rudolph had withdrawn into his apartments to pass the little that was left to him of life in solitude and in a state of hopeless pique with matthias, with the rest of his brethren, with all the world. and now that five years had passed since his death, matthias, who had usurped so much power prematurely, found himself almost in the same condition as that to which he had reduced rudolph. ferdinand of styria, his cousin, trod closely upon his heels. he was the presumptive successor to all his crowns, had not approved of the movements of matthias in the lifetime of his brother, and hated the vienna protestant baker's son, cardinal clesel, by whom all those movements had been directed. professor taubmann, of wittenberg, ponderously quibbling on the name of that prelate, had said that he was of "one hundred and fifty ass power." whether that was a fair measure of his capacity may be doubted, but it certainly was not destined to be sufficient to elude the vengeance of ferdinand, and ferdinand would soon have him in his power. matthias, weary of ambitious intrigue, infirm of purpose, and shattered in health, had withdrawn from affairs to devote himself to his gout and to his fair young wife, archduchess anna of tyrol, whom at the age of fifty-four he had espoused. on the th june , ferdinand of gratz was crowned king of bohemia. the event was a shock and a menace to the protestant cause all over the world. the sombre figure of the archduke had for years appeared in the background, foreshadowing as it were the wrath to come, while throughout bohemia and the neighbouring countries of moravia, silesia, and the austrias, the cause of protestantism had been making such rapid progress. the emperor maximilian ii. had left five stalwart sons, so that there had seemed little probability that the younger line, the sons of his brother, would succeed. but all the five were childless, and now the son of archduke charles, who had died in , had become the natural heir after the death of matthias to the immense family honours--his cousins maximilian and albert having resigned their claims in his favour. ferdinand, twelve years old at his father's death, had been placed under the care of his maternal uncle, duke william of bavaria. by him the boy was placed at the high school of ingolstadt, to be brought up by the jesuits, in company with duke william's own son maximilian, five years his senior. between these youths, besides the tie of cousinship, there grew up the most intimate union founded on perfect sympathy in religion and politics. when ferdinand entered upon the government of his paternal estates of styria, carinthia, and carniola, he found that the new religion, at which the jesuits had taught him to shudder as at a curse and a crime, had been widely spreading. his father had fought against heresy with all his might, and had died disappointed and broken-hearted at its progress. his uncle of bavaria, in letters to his son and nephew, had stamped into their minds with the enthusiasm of perfect conviction that all happiness and blessing for governments depended on the restoration and maintenance of the unity of the catholic faith. all the evils in times past and present resulting from religious differences had been held up to the two youths by the jesuits in the most glaring colours. the first duty of a prince, they had inculcated, was to extirpate all false religions, to give the opponents of the true church no quarter, and to think no sacrifice too great by which the salvation of human society, brought almost to perdition by the new doctrines, could be effected. never had jesuits an apter scholar than ferdinand. after leaving school, he made a pilgrimage to loretto to make his vows to the virgin mary of extirpation of heresy, and went to rome to obtain the blessing of pope clement viii. then, returning to the government of his inheritance, he seized that terrible two-edged weapon of which the protestants of germany had taught him the use. "cujus regio ejus religio;" to the prince the choice of religion, to the subject conformity with the prince, as if that formula of shallow and selfish princelings, that insult to the dignity of mankind, were the grand result of a movement which was to go on centuries after they had all been forgotten in their tombs. for the time however it was a valid and mischievous maxim. in saxony catholics and calvinists were proscribed; in heidelberg catholics and lutherans. why should either calvinists or lutherans be tolerated in styria? why, indeed? no logic could be more inexorable, and the pupil of the ingolstadt jesuits hesitated not an instant to carry out their teaching with the very instrument forged for him by the reformation. gallows were erected in the streets of all his cities, but there was no hanging. the sight of them proved enough to extort obedience to his edict, that every man, woman, and child not belonging to the ancient church should leave his dominions. they were driven out in hordes in broad daylight from gratz and other cities. rather reign over a wilderness than over heretics was the device of the archduke, in imitation of his great relative, philip ii. of spain. in short space of time his duchies were as empty of protestants as the palatinate of lutherans, or saxony of calvinists, or both of papists. even the churchyards were rifled of dead lutherans and utraquists, their carcasses thrown where they could no longer pollute the true believers mouldering by their side. it was not strange that the coronation as king of bohemia of a man of such decided purposes--a country numbering ten protestants to one catholic--should cause a thrill and a flutter. could it be doubted that the great elemental conflict so steadily prophesied by barneveld and instinctively dreaded by all capable of feeling the signs of the time would now begin? it had begun. of what avail would be majesty-letters and compromises extorted by force from trembling or indolent emperors, now that a man who knew his own mind, and felt it to be a crime not to extirpate all religions but the one orthodox religion, had mounted the throne? it is true that he had sworn at his coronation to maintain the laws of bohemia, and that the majesty-letter and the compromise were part of the laws. but when were doctors ever wanting to prove the unlawfulness of law which interferes with the purposes of a despot and the convictions of the bigot? "novus rex, nova lex," muttered the catholics, lifting up their heads and hearts once more out of the oppression and insults which they had unquestionably suffered at the hands of the triumphant reformers. "there are many empty poppy-heads now flaunting high that shall be snipped off," said others. "that accursed german count thurn and his fellows, whom the devil has sent from hell to bohemia for his own purposes, shall be disposed of now," was the general cry. it was plain that heresy could no longer be maintained except by the sword. that which had been extorted by force would be plucked back by force. the succession of ferdinand was in brief a warshout to be echoed by all the catholics of europe. before the end of the year the protestant churches of brunnau were sealed up. those at klostergrab were demolished in three days by command of the archbishop of prague. these dumb walls preached in their destruction more stirring sermons than perhaps would ever have been heard within them had they stood. this tearing in pieces of the imperial patent granting liberty of protestant worship, this summary execution done upon senseless bricks and mortar, was an act of defiance to the reformed religion everywhere. protestantism was struck in the face, spat upon, defied. the effect was instantaneous. thurn and the other defenders of the protestant faith were as prompt in action as the catholics had been in words. a few months passed away. the emperor was in vienna, but his ten stadholders were in prague. the fateful rd of may arrived. slawata, a bohemian protestant, who had converted himself to the roman church in order to marry a rich widow, and who converted his peasants by hunting them to mass with his hounds, and martinitz, the two stadholders who at ferdinand's coronation had endeavoured to prevent him from including the majesty-letter among the privileges he was swearing to support, and who were considered the real authors of the royal letters revoking all religious rights of protestants, were the most obnoxious of all. they were hurled from the council-chamber window of the hradschin. the unfortunate secretary fabricius was tossed out after them. twenty- eight ells deep they fell, and all escaped unhurt by the fall; fabricius being subsequently ennobled by a grateful emperor with the well-won title of baron summerset. the thirty years' war, which in reality had been going on for several years already, is dated from that day. a provisional government was established in prague by the estates under protestant guidance, a college of thirty directors managing affairs. the window-tumble, as the event has always been called in history, excited a sensation in europe. especially the young king of france, whose political position should bring him rather into alliance with the rebels than the emperor, was disgusted and appalled. he was used to rebellion. since he was ten years old there had been a rebellion against himself every year. there was rebellion now. but his ministers had never been thrown out of window. perhaps one might take some day to tossing out kings as well. he disapproved the process entirely. thus the great conflict of christendom, so long impending, seemed at last to have broken forth in full fury on a comparatively insignificant incident. thus reasoned the superficial public, as if the throwing out of window of twenty stadholders could have created a general war in europe had not the causes of war lain deep and deadly in the whole framework of society. the succession of ferdinand to the throne of the holy wenzel, in which his election to the german imperial crown was meant to be involved, was a matter which concerned almost every household in christendom. liberty of religion, civil franchise, political charters, contract between government and subject, right to think, speak, or act, these were the human rights everywhere in peril. a compromise between the two religious parties had existed for half a dozen years in germany, a feeble compromise by which men had hardly been kept from each others' throats. that compromise had now been thrown to the winds. the vast conspiracy of spain, rome, the house of austria, against human liberty had found a chief in the docile, gloomy pupil of the jesuits now enthroned in bohemia, and soon perhaps to wield the sceptre of the holy roman empire. there was no state in europe that had not cause to put hand on sword- hilt. "distrust and good garrisons," in the prophetic words of barneveld, would now be the necessary resource for all intending to hold what had been gained through long years of toil, martyrdom, and hard fighting, the succession of ferdinand excited especial dismay and indignation in the palatinate. the young elector had looked upon the prize as his own. the marked advance of protestant sentiment throughout the kingdom and its neighbour provinces had seemed to render the succession of an extreme papist impossible. when frederic had sued for and won the hand of the fair elizabeth, daughter of the king of great britain, it was understood that the alliance would be more brilliant for her than it seemed. james with his usual vanity spoke of his son-in-law as a future king. it was a golden dream for the elector and for the general cause of the reformed religion. heidelberg enthroned in the ancient capital of the wenzels, maximilians, and rudolphs, the catechism and confession enrolled among the great statutes of the land, this was progress far beyond flimsy majesty-letters and compromises, made only to be torn to pieces. through the dim vista of futurity and in ecstatic vision no doubt even the imperial crown might seem suspended over the palatine's head. but this would be merely a midsummer's dream. events did not whirl so rapidly as they might learn to do centuries later, and--the time for a protestant to grasp at the crown of germany could then hardly be imagined as ripening. but what the calvinist branch of the house of wittelsbach had indeed long been pursuing was to interrupt the succession of the house of austria to the german throne. that a catholic prince must for the immediate future continue to occupy it was conceded even by frederic, but the electoral votes might surely be now so manipulated as to prevent a slave of spain and a tool of the jesuits from wielding any longer the sceptre of charlemagne. on the other hand the purpose of the house of austria was to do away with the elective principle and the prescriptive rights of the estates in bohemia first, and afterwards perhaps to send the golden bull itself to the limbo of wornout constitutional devices. at present however their object was to secure their hereditary sovereignty in prague first, and then to make sure of the next imperial election at frankfurt. time afterwards might fight still more in their favour, and fix them in hereditary possession of the german throne. the elector-palatine had lost no time. his counsellors even before the coronation of ferdinand at prague had done their best to excite alarm throughout germany at the document by which archdukes maximilian and albert had resigned all their hereditary claims in favour of ferdinand and his male children. should there be no such issue, the king of spain claimed the succession for his own sons as great-grandchildren of emperor maximilian, considering himself nearer in the line than the styrian branch, but being willing to waive his own rights in favour of so ardent a catholic as ferdinand. there was even a secret negotiation going on a long time between the new king of bohemia and philip to arrange for the precedence of the spanish males over the styrian females to the hereditary austrian states, and to cede the province of alsace to spain. it was not wonderful that protestant germany should be alarmed. after a century of protestantism, that spain should by any possibility come to be enthroned again over germany was enough to raise both luther and calvin from their graves. it was certainly enough to set the lively young palatine in motion. so soon as the election of frederic was proclaimed, he had taken up the business in person. fond of amusement, young, married to a beautiful bride of the royal house of england, he had hitherto left politics to his counsellors. finding himself frustrated in his ambition by the election of another to the seat he had fondly deemed his own, he resolved to unseat him if he could, and, at any rate, to prevent the ulterior consequences of his elevation. he made a pilgrimage to sedan, to confer with that irrepressible intriguer and huguenot chieftain, the duc de bouillon. he felt sure of the countenance of the states-general, and, of course, of his near relative the great stadholder. he was resolved to invite the duke of lorraine to head the anti-austrian party, and to stand for the kingship of the romans and the empire in opposition to ferdinand. an emissary sent to nancy came back with a discouraging reply. the duke not only flatly refused the candidacy, but warned the palatine that if it really came to a struggle he could reckon on small support anywhere, not even from those who now seemed warmest for the scheme. then frederic resolved to try his cousin, the great maximilian of bavaria, to whom all catholics looked with veneration and whom all german protestants respected. had the two branches of the illustrious house of wittelsbach been combined in one purpose, the opposition to the house of austria might indeed have been formidable. but what were ties of blood compared to the iron bands of religious love and hatred? how could maximilian, sternest of papists, and frederick v., flightiest of calvinists, act harmoniously in an imperial election? moreover, maximilian was united by ties of youthful and tender friendship as well as by kindred and perfect religious sympathy to his other cousin, king ferdinand himself. the case seemed hopeless, but the elector went to munich, and held conferences with his cousin. not willing to take no for an answer so long as it was veiled under evasive or ornamental phraseology, he continued to negotiate with maximilian through his envoys camerarius and secretary neu, who held long debates with the duke's chief councillor, doctor jocher. camerarius assured jocher that his master was the hercules to untie the gordian knot, and the lion of the tribe of judah. how either the lion of judah or hercules were to untie the knot which was popularly supposed to have been cut by the sword of alexander did not appear, but maximilian at any rate was moved neither by entreaties nor tropes. being entirely averse from entering himself for the german crown, he grew weary at last of the importunity with which the scheme was urged. so he wrote a short billet to his councillor, to be shown to secretary neu. "dear jocher," he said, "i am convinced one must let these people understand the matter in a little plainer german. i am once for all determined not to let myself into any misunderstanding or even amplifications with the house of austria in regard to the succession. i think also that it would rather be harmful than useful to my house to take upon myself so heavy a burthen as the german crown." this time the german was plain enough and produced its effect. maximilian was too able a statesman and too conscientious a friend to wish to exchange his own proud position as chief of the league, acknowledged head of the great catholic party, for the slippery, comfortless, and unmeaning throne of the holy empire, which he considered ferdinand's right. the chiefs of the anti-austrian party, especially the prince of anhalt and the margrave of anspach, in unison with the heidelberg cabinet, were forced to look for another candidate. accordingly the margrave and the elector-palatine solemnly agreed that it was indispensable to choose an emperor who should not be of the house of austria nor a slave of spain. it was, to be sure, not possible to think of a protestant prince. bavaria would not oppose austria, would also allow too much influence to the jesuits. so there remained no one but the duke of savoy. he was a prince of the empire. he was of german descent, of saxon race, a great general, father of his soldiers, who would protect europe against a turkish invasion better than the bastions of vienna could do. he would be agreeable to the catholics, while the protestants could live under him without anxiety because the jesuits would be powerless with him. it would be a master-stroke if the princes would unite upon him. the king of france would necessarily be pleased with it, the king of great britain delighted. at last the model candidate had been found. the duke of savoy having just finished for a second time his chronic war with spain, in which the united provinces, notwithstanding the heavy drain on their resources, had allowed him , florins a month besides the soldiers under count ernest of nassau, had sent mansfeld with men to aid the revolted estates in bohemia. geographically, hereditarily, necessarily the deadly enemy of the house of austria, he listened favourably to the overtures made to him by the princes of the union, expressed undying hatred for the imperial race, and thought the bohemian revolt a priceless occasion for expelling them from power. he was informed by the first envoy sent to him, christopher van dohna, that the object of the great movement now contemplated was to raise him to the imperial throne at the next election, to assist the bohemian estates, to secure the crown of bohemia for the elector-palatine, to protect the protestants of germany, and to break down the overweening power of the austrian house. the duke displayed no eagerness for the crown of germany, while approving the election of frederic, but expressed entire sympathy with the enterprise. it was indispensable however to form a general federation in europe of england, the netherlands, venice, together with protestant germany and himself, before undertaking so mighty a task. while the negotiations were going on, both anspach and anhalt were in great spirits. the margrave cried out exultingly, "in a short time the means will be in our hands for turning the world upside down." he urged the prince of anhalt to be expeditious in his decisions and actions. "he who wishes to trade," he said, "must come to market early." there was some disappointment at heidelberg when the first news from turin arrived, the materials for this vast scheme for an overwhelming and universal european war not seeming to be at their disposition. by and by the duke's plans seem to deepen and broaden. he told mansfeld, who, accompanied by secretary neu, was glad at a pause in his fighting and brandschatzing in bohemia to be employed on diplomatic business, that on the whole he should require the crown of bohemia for himself. he also proposed to accept the imperial crown, and as for frederic, he would leave him the crown of hungary, and would recommend him to round himself out by adding to his hereditary dominions the province of alsace, besides upper austria and other territories in convenient proximity to the palatinate. venice, it had been hoped, would aid in the great scheme and might in her turn round herself out with friuli and istria and other tempting possessions of ferdinand, in reward for the men and money she was expected to furnish. that republic had however just concluded a war with ferdinand, caused mainly by the depredations of the piratical uscoques, in which, as we have seen, she had received the assistance of hollanders under command of count john of nassau. the venetians had achieved many successes, had taken the city of gortz, and almost reduced the city of gradiska. a certain colonel albert waldstein however, of whom more might one day be heard in the history of the war now begun, had beaten the venetians and opened a pathway through their ranks for succour to the beleaguered city. soon afterwards peace was made on an undertaking that the uscoques should be driven from their haunts, their castles dismantled, and their ships destroyed. venice declined an engagement to begin a fresh war. she hated ferdinand and matthias and the whole imperial brood, but, as old barbarigo declared in the senate, the republic could not afford to set her house on fire in order to give austria the inconvenience of the smoke. meantime, although the elector-palatine had magnanimously agreed to use his influence in bohemia in favour of charles emmanuel, the duke seems at last to have declined proposing himself for that throne. he knew, he said, that king james wished that station for his son-in-law. the imperial crown belonged to no one as yet after the death of matthias, and was open therefore to his competition. anhalt demanded of savoy , men for the maintenance of the good cause, asserting that "it would be better to have the turk or the devil himself on the german throne than leave it to ferdinand." the triumvirate ruling at prague-thurn, ruppa, and hohenlohe--were anxious for a decision from frederic. that simple-hearted and ingenuous young elector had long been troubled both with fears lest after all he might lose the crown of bohemia and with qualms of conscience as to the propriety of taking it even if he could get it. he wrestled much in prayer and devout meditation whether as anointed prince himself he were justified in meddling with the anointment of other princes. ferdinand had been accepted, proclaimed, crowned. he artlessly sent to prague to consult the estates whether they possessed the right to rebel, to set aside the reigning dynasty, and to choose a new king. at the same time, with an eye to business, he stipulated that on account of the great expense and trouble devolving upon him the crown must be made hereditary in his family. the impression made upon the grim thurn and his colleagues by the simplicity of these questions may be imagined. the splendour and width of the savoyard's conceptions fascinated the leaders of the union. it seemed to anspach and anhalt that it was as well that frederic should reign in hungary as in bohemia, and the elector was docile. all had relied however on the powerful assistance of the great defender of the protestant faith, the father-in-law of the elector, the king of great britain. but james had nothing but cold water and virgilian quotations for his son's ardour. he was more under the influence of gondemar than ever before, more eagerly hankering for the infanta, more completely the slave of spain. he pledged himself to that government that if the protestants in bohemia continued rebellious, he would do his best to frustrate their designs, and would induce his son- in-law to have no further connection with them. and spain delighted his heart not by immediately sending over the infanta, but by proposing that he should mediate between the contending parties. it would be difficult to imagine a greater farce. all central europe was now in arms. the deepest and gravest questions about which men can fight: the right to worship god according to their conscience and to maintain civil franchises which have been earned by the people with the blood and treasure of centuries, were now to be solved by the sword, and the pupil of buchanan and the friend of buckingham was to step between hundreds of thousands of men in arms with a classical oration. but james was very proud of the proposal and accepted it with alacrity. "you know, my dear son," he wrote to frederic, "that we are the only king in europe that is sought for by friend and foe for his mediation. it would be for this our lofty part very unbecoming if we were capable of favouring one of the parties. your suggestion that we might secretly support the bohemians we must totally reject, as it is not our way to do anything that we would not willingly confess to the whole world." and to do james justice, he had never fed frederic with false hopes, never given a penny for his great enterprise, nor promised him a penny. he had contented himself with suggesting from time to time that he might borrow money of the states-general. his daughter elizabeth must take care of herself, else what would become of her brother's marriage to the daughter of spain. and now it was war to the knife, in which it was impossible that holland, as well as all the other great powers should not soon be involved. it was disheartening to the cause of freedom and progress, not only that the great kingdom on which the world, had learned to rely in all movements upward and onward should be neutralized by the sycophancy of its monarch to the general oppressor, but that the great republic which so long had taken the lead in maintaining the liberties of europe should now be torn by religious discord within itself, and be turning against the great statesman who had so wisely guided her councils and so accurately foretold the catastrophe which was now upon the world. meantime the emperor matthias, not less forlorn than through his intrigues and rebellions his brother rudolph had been made, passed his days in almost as utter retirement as if he had formally abdicated. ferdinand treated him as if in his dotage. his fair young wife too had died of hard eating in the beginning of the winter to his inexpressible grief, so that there was nothing left to solace him now but the rudolphian museum. he had made but one public appearance since the coronation of ferdinand in prague. attended by his brother maximilian, by king ferdinand, and by cardinal khlesl, he had towards the end of the year paid a visit to the elector john george at dresden. the imperial party had been received with much enthusiasm by the great leader of lutheranism. the cardinal had seriously objected to accompanying the emperor on this occasion. since the reformation no cardinal had been seen at the court of saxony. he cared not personally for the pomps and glories of his rank, but still as prince of the church he had settled right of precedence over electors. to waive it would be disrespectful to the pope, to claim it would lead to squabbles. but ferdinand had need of his skill to secure the vote of saxony at the next imperial election. the cardinal was afraid of ferdinand with good reason, and complied. by an agreeable fiction he was received at court not as cardinal but as minister, and accommodated with an humble place at table. many looking on with astonishment thought he would have preferred to dine by himself in retirement. but this was not the bitterest of the mortifications that the pastor and guide of matthias was to suffer at the hands of ferdinand before his career should be closed. the visit at dresden was successful, however. john george, being a claimant, as we have seen, for the duchies of cleve and julich, had need of the emperor. the king had need of john george's vote. there was a series of splendid balls, hunting parties, carousings. the emperor was an invalid, the king was abstemious, but the elector was a mighty drinker. it was not his custom nor that of his councillors to go to bed. they were usually carried there. but it was the wish of ferdinand to be conciliatory, and he bore himself as well as he could at the banquet. the elector was also a mighty hunter. neither of his imperial guests cared for field sports, but they looked out contentedly from the window of a hunting-lodge, before which for their entertainment the elector and his courtiers slaughtered eight bears, ten stags, ten pigs, and eleven badgers, besides a goodly number of other game; john george shooting also three martens from a pole erected for that purpose in the courtyard. it seemed proper for him thus to exhibit a specimen of the skill for which he was justly famed. the elector before his life closed, so says the chronicle, had killed , wild boars, bears, wolves, badgers, , foxes, besides stags and roedeer in still greater number, making a grand total of , beasts. the leader of the lutheran party of germany had not lived in vain. thus the great chiefs of catholicism and of protestantism amicably disported themselves in the last days of the year, while their respective forces were marshalling for mortal combat all over christendom. the elector certainly loved neither matthias nor ferdinand, but he hated the palatine. the chief of the german calvinists disputed that protestant hegemony which john george claimed by right. indeed the immense advantage enjoyed by the catholics at the outbreak of the religious war from the mutual animosities between the two great divisions of the reformed church was already terribly manifest. what an additional power would it derive from the increased weakness of the foe, should there be still other and deeper and more deadly schisms within one great division itself! "the calvinists and lutherans," cried the jesuit scioppius, "are so furiously attacking each other with calumnies and cursings and are persecuting each other to such extent as to give good hope that the devilish weight and burthen of them will go to perdition and shame of itself, and the heretics all do bloody execution upon each other. certainly if ever a golden time existed for exterminating the heretics, it is the present time." the imperial party took their leave of dresden, believing themselves to have secured the electoral vote of saxony; the elector hoping for protection to his interests in the duchies through that sequestration to which barneveld had opposed such vigorous resistance. there had been much slavish cringing before these catholic potentates by the courtiers of dresden, somewhat amazing to the ruder churls of saxony, the common people, who really believed in the religion which their prince had selected for them and himself. and to complete the glaring contrast, ferdinand and matthias had scarcely turned their backs before tremendous fulminations upon the ancient church came from the elector and from all the doctors of theology in saxony. for the jubilee of the hundredth anniversary of the reformation was celebrated all over germany in the autumn of this very year, and nearly at the exact moment of all this dancing, and fuddling, and pig shooting at dresden in honour of emperors and cardinals. and pope paul v. had likewise ordained a jubilee for true believers at almost the same time. the elector did not mince matters in his proclamation from any regard to the feelings of his late guests. he called on all protestants to rejoice, "because the light of the holy gospel had now shone brightly in the electoral dominions for a hundred years, the omnipotent keeping it burning notwithstanding the raging and roaring of the hellish enemy and all his scaly servants." the doctors of divinity were still more emphatic in their phraseology. they called on all professors and teachers of the true evangelical churches, not only in germany but throughout christendom, to keep the great jubilee. they did this in terms not calculated certainly to smother the flames of religious and party hatred, even if it had been possible at that moment to suppress the fire. "the great god of heaven," they said, "had caused the undertaking of his holy instrument mr. doctor martin luther to prosper. through his unspeakable mercy he has driven away the papal darkness and caused the sun of righteousness once more to beam upon the world. the old idolatries, blasphemies, errors, and horrors of the benighted popedom have been exterminated in many kingdoms and countries. innumerable sheep of the lord christ have been fed on the wholesome pasture of the divine word in spite of those monstrous, tearing, ravenous wolves, the pope and his followers. the enemy of god and man, the ancient serpent, may hiss and rage. yes, the roman antichrist in his frantic blusterings may bite off his own tongue, may fulminate all kinds of evils, bans, excommunications, wars, desolations, and burnings, as long and as much as he likes. but if we take refuge with the lord god, what can this inane, worn-out man and water-bubble do to us?" with more in the same taste. the pope's bull for the catholic jubilee was far more decorous and lofty in tone, for it bewailed the general sin in christendom, and called on all believers to flee from the wrath about to descend upon the earth, in terms that were almost prophetic. he ordered all to pray that the lord might lift up his church, protect it from the wiles of the enemy, extirpate heresies, grant peace and true unity among christian princes, and mercifully avert disasters already coming near. but if the language of paul v. was measured and decent, the swarm of jesuit pamphleteers that forthwith began to buzz and to sting all over christendom were sufficiently venomous. scioppius, in his alarm trumpet to the holy war, and a hundred others declared that all heresies and heretics were now to be extirpated, the one true church to be united and re-established, and that the only road to such a consummation was a path of blood. the lutheran preachers, on the other hand, obedient to the summons from dresden, vied with each other in every town and village in heaping denunciations, foul names, and odious imputations on the catholics; while the calvinists, not to be behindhand with their fellow reformers, celebrated the jubilee, especially at heidelberg, by excluding papists from hope of salvation, and bewailing the fate of all churches sighing under the yoke of rome. and not only were the papists and the reformers exchanging these blasts and counterblasts of hatred, not less deadly in their effects than the artillery of many armies, but as if to make a thorough exhibition of human fatuity when drunk with religious passion, the lutherans were making fierce paper and pulpit war upon the calvinists. especially hoe, court preacher of john george, ceaselessly hurled savage libels against them. in the name of the theological faculty of wittenberg, he addressed a "truehearted warning to all lutheran christians in bohemia, moravia, silesia, and other provinces, to beware of the erroneous calvinistic religion." he wrote a letter to count schlick, foremost leader in the bohemian movement, asking whether "the unquiet calvinist spirit, should it gain ascendency, would be any more endurable than the papists. oh what woe, what infinite woe," he cried, "for those noble countries if they should all be thrust into the jaws of calvinism!" did not preacher hoe's master aspire to the crown of bohemia himself? was he not furious at the start which heidelberg had got of him in the race for that golden prize? was he not mad with jealousy of the palatine, of the palatine's religion, and of the palatine's claim to "hegemony" in germany? thus embittered and bloodthirsty towards each other were the two great sections of the reformed religion on the first centennial jubilee of the reformation. such was the divided front which the anti-catholic party presented at the outbreak of the war with catholicism. ferdinand, on the other hand, was at the head of a comparatively united party. he could hardly hope for more than benevolent neutrality from the french government, which, in spite of the spanish marriages, dared not wholly desert the netherlands and throw itself into the hands of spain; but spanish diplomacy had enslaved the british king, and converted what should have been an active and most powerful enemy into an efficient if concealed ally. the spanish and archiducal armies were enveloping the dutch republic, from whence the most powerful support could be expected for the protestant cause. had it not been for the steadiness of barneveld, spain would have been at that moment established in full panoply over the whole surface of those inestimable positions, the disputed duchies. venice was lukewarm, if not frigid; and savoy, although deeply pledged by passion and interest to the downfall of the house of austria, was too dangerously situated herself, too distant, too poor, and too catholic to be very formidable. ferdinand was safe from the turkish side. a twenty years' peace, renewable by agreement, between the holy empire and the sultan had been negotiated by those two sons of bakers, cardinal khlesl and the vizier etmekdschifade. it was destined to endure through all the horrors of the great war, a stronger protection to vienna than all the fortifications which the engineering art could invent. he was safe too from poland, king sigmund being not only a devoted catholic but doubly his brother-in- law. spain, therefore, the spanish netherlands, the pope, and the german league headed by maximilian of bavaria, the ablest prince on the continent of europe, presented a square, magnificent phalanx on which ferdinand might rely. the states-general, on the other hand, were a most dangerous foe. with a centennial hatred of spain, splendidly disciplined armies and foremost navy of the world, with an admirable financial system and vast commercial resources, with a great stadholder, first captain of the age, thirsting for war, and allied in blood as well as religion to the standard-bearer of the bohemian revolt; with councils directed by the wisest and most experienced of living statesman, and with the very life blood of her being derived from the fountain of civil and religious liberty, the great republic of the united netherlands--her truce with the hereditary foe just expiring was, if indeed united, strong enough at the head of the protestant forces of europe to dictate to a world in arms. alas! was it united? as regarded internal affairs of most pressing interest, the electoral vote at the next election at frankfurt had been calculated as being likely to yield a majority of one for the opposition candidate, should the savoyard or any other opposition candidate be found. but the calculation was a close one and might easily be fallacious. supposing the palatine elected king of bohemia by the rebellious estates, as was probable, he could of course give the vote of that electorate and his own against ferdinand, and the vote of brandenburg at that time seemed safe. but ferdinand by his visit to dresden had secured the vote of saxony, while of the three ecclesiastical electors, cologne and mayence were sure for him. thus it would be three and three, and the seventh and decisive vote would be that of the elector-bishop of treves. the sanguine frederic thought that with french influence and a round sum of money this ecclesiastic might be got to vote for the opposition candidate. the ingenious combination was not destined to be successful, and as there has been no intention in the present volume to do more than slightly indicate the most prominent movements and mainsprings of the great struggle so far as germany is concerned, without entering into detail, it may be as well to remind the reader that it proved wonderfully wrong. matthias died on the th march, , the election of a new emperor took place at frankfurt on the th of the following august, and not only did saxony and all three ecclesiastical electors vote for ferdinand, but brandenburg likewise, as well as the elector-palatine himself, while ferdinand, personally present in the assembly as elector of bohemia, might according to the golden bull have given the seventh vote for himself had he chosen to do so. thus the election was unanimous. strange to say, as the electors proceeded through the crowd from the hall of election to accompany the new emperor to the church where he was to receive the popular acclaim, the news reached them from prague that the elector-palatine had been elected king of bohemia. thus frederic, by voting for ferdinand, had made himself voluntarily a rebel should he accept the crown now offered him. had the news arrived sooner, a different result and even a different history might have been possible. chapter xiv. barneveld connected with the east india company, but opposed to the west india company--carleton comes from venice inimical to barneveld-- maurice openly the chieftain of the contra-remonstrants--tumults about the churches--"orange or spain" the cry of prince maurice and his party--they take possession of the cloister church--"the sharp resolve"--carleton's orations before the states-general. king james never forgave barneveld for drawing from him those famous letters to the states in which he was made to approve the five points and to admit the possibility of salvation under them. these epistles had brought much ridicule upon james, who was not amused by finding his theological discussions a laughing-stock. he was still more incensed by the biting criticisms made upon the cheap surrender of the cautionary towns, and he hated more than ever the statesman who, as he believed, had twice outwitted him. on the other hand, maurice, inspired by his brother-in-law the duke of bouillon and by the infuriated francis aerssens, abhorred barneveld's french policy, which was freely denounced by the french calvinists and by the whole orthodox church. in holland he was still warmly sustained except in the contra-remonstrant amsterdam and a few other cities of less importance. but there were perhaps deeper reasons for the advocate's unpopularity in the great commercial metropolis than theological pretexts. barneveld's name and interests were identified with the great east india company, which was now powerful and prosperous beyond anything ever dreamt of before in the annals of commerce. that trading company had already founded an empire in the east. fifty ships of war, fortresses guarded by pieces of artillery and , soldiers and sailors, obeyed the orders of a dozen private gentlemen at home seated in a back parlour around a green table. the profits of each trading voyage were enormous, and the shareholders were growing rich beyond their wildest imaginings. to no individual so much as to holland's advocate was this unexampled success to be ascribed. the vast prosperity of the east india company had inspired others with the ambition to found a similar enterprise in the west. but to the west india company then projected and especially favoured in amsterdam, barneveld was firmly opposed. he considered it as bound up with the spirit of military adventure and conquest, and as likely to bring on prematurely and unwisely a renewed conflict with spain. the same reasons which had caused him to urge the truce now influenced his position in regard to the west india company. thus the clouds were gathering every day more darkly over the head of the advocate. the powerful mercantile interest in the great seat of traffic in the republic, the personal animosity of the stadholder, the execrations of the orthodox party in france, england, and all the netherlands, the anger of the french princes and all those of the old huguenot party who had been foolish enough to act with the princes in their purely selfish schemes against the, government, and the overflowing hatred of king james, whose darling schemes of spanish marriages and a spanish alliance had been foiled by the advocate's masterly policy in france and in the duchies, and whose resentment at having been so completely worsted and disarmed in the predestination matter and in the redemption of the great mortgage had deepened into as terrible wrath as outraged bigotry and vanity could engender; all these elements made up a stormy atmosphere in which the strongest heart might have quailed. but barneveld did not quail. doubtless he loved power, and the more danger he found on every side the less inclined he was to succumb. but he honestly believed that the safety and prosperity of the country he had so long and faithfully served were identified with the policy which he was pursuing. arrogant, overbearing, self-concentrated, accustomed to lead senates and to guide the councils and share the secrets of kings, familiar with and almost an actor in every event in the political history not only of his own country but of every important state in christendom during nearly two generations of mankind, of unmatched industry, full of years and experience, yet feeling within him the youthful strength of a thousand intellects compared to most of those by which he was calumniated, confronted, and harassed; he accepted the great fight which was forced upon him. irascible, courageous, austere, contemptuous, he looked around and saw the republic whose cradle he had rocked grown to be one of the most powerful and prosperous among the states of the world, and could with difficulty imagine that in this supreme hour of her strength and her felicity she was ready to turn and rend the man whom she was bound by every tie of duty to cherish and to revere. sir dudley carleton, the new english ambassador to the states, had arrived during the past year red-hot from venice. there he had perhaps not learned especially to love the new republic which had arisen among the northern lagunes, and whose admission among the nations had been at last accorded by the proud queen of the adriatic, notwithstanding the objections and the intrigues both of french and english representatives. he had come charged to the brim with the political spite of james against the advocate, and provided too with more than seven vials of theological wrath. such was the king's revenge for barneveld's recent successes. the supporters in the netherlands of the civil authority over the church were moreover to be instructed by the political head of the english church that such supremacy, although highly proper for a king, was "thoroughly unsuitable for a many-headed republic." so much for church government. as for doctrine, arminianism and vorstianism were to be blasted with one thunderstroke from the british throne. "in holland," said james to his envoy, "there have been violent and sharp contestations amongst the towns in the cause of religion . . . . . if they shall be unhappily revived during your time, you shall not forget that you are the minister of that master whom god hath made the sole protector of his religion." there was to be no misunderstanding in future as to the dogmas which the royal pope of great britain meant to prescribe to his netherland subjects. three years before, at the dictation of the advocate, he had informed the states that he was convinced of their ability to settle the deplorable dissensions as to religion according to their wisdom and the power which belonged to them over churches and church servants. he had informed them of his having learned by experience that such questions could hardly be decided by the wranglings of theological professors, and that it was better to settle them by public authority and to forbid their being brought into the pulpit or among common people. he had recommended mutual toleration of religious difference until otherwise ordained by the public civil authority, and had declared that neither of the two opinions in regard to predestination was in his opinion far from the truth or inconsistent with christian faith or the salvation of souls. it was no wonder that these utterances were quite after the advocate's heart, as james had faithfully copied them from the advocate's draft. but now in the exercise of his infallibility the king issued other decrees. his minister was instructed to support the extreme views of the orthodox both as to government and dogma, and to urge the national synod, as it were, at push of pike. "besides the assistance," said he to carleton, "which we would have you give to the true professors of the gospel in your discourse and conferences, you may let fall how hateful the maintenance of these erroneous opinions is to the majesty of god, how displeasing unto us their dearest friends, and how disgraceful to the honour and government of that state." and faithfully did the ambassador act up to his instructions. most sympathetically did he embody the hatred of the king. an able, experienced, highly accomplished diplomatist and scholar, ready with tongue and pen, caustic, censorious, prejudiced, and partial, he was soon foremost among the foes of the advocate in the little court of the hague, and prepared at any moment to flourish the political and theological goad when his master gave the word. nothing in diplomatic history is more eccentric than the long sermons upon abstruse points of divinity and ecclesiastical history which the english ambassador delivered from time to time before the states-general in accordance with elaborate instructions drawn up by his sovereign with his own hand. rarely has a king been more tedious, and he bestowed all his tediousness upon my lords the states-general. nothing could be more dismal than these discourses, except perhaps the contemporaneous and interminable orations of grotius to the states of holland, to the magistrates of amsterdam, to the states of utrecht; yet carleton was a man of the world, a good debater, a ready writer, while hugo grotius was one of the great lights of that age and which shone for all time. among the diplomatic controversies of history, rarely refreshing at best, few have been more drouthy than those once famous disquisitions, and they shall be left to shrivel into the nothingness of the past, so far as is consistent with the absolute necessities of this narrative. the contest to which the advocate was called had become mainly a personal and a political one, although the weapons with which it was fought were taken from ecclesiastical arsenals. it was now an unequal contest. for the great captain of the country and of his time, the son of william the silent, the martial stadholder, in the fulness of his fame and vigour of his years, had now openly taken his place as the chieftain of the contra-remonstrants. the conflict between the civil and the military element for supremacy in a free commonwealth has never been more vividly typified than in this death-grapple between maurice and barneveld. the aged but still vigorous statesman, ripe with half a century of political lore, and the high-born, brilliant, and scientific soldier, with the laurels of turnhout and nieuwpoort and of a hundred famous sieges upon his helmet, reformer of military science, and no mean proficient in the art of politics and government, were the representatives and leaders of the two great parties into which the commonwealth had now unhappily divided itself. but all history shows that the brilliant soldier of a republic is apt to have the advantage, in a struggle for popular affection and popular applause, over the statesman, however consummate. the general imagination is more excited by the triumphs of the field than by those of the tribune, and the man who has passed many years of life in commanding multitudes with necessarily despotic sway is often supposed to have gained in the process the attributes likely to render him most valuable as chief citizen of a flee commonwealth. yet national enthusiasm is so universally excited by splendid military service as to forbid a doubt that the sentiment is rooted deeply in our nature, while both in antiquity and in modern times there are noble although rare examples of the successful soldier converting himself into a valuable and exemplary magistrate. in the rivalry of maurice and barneveld however for the national affection the chances were singularly against the advocate. the great battles and sieges of the prince had been on a world's theatre, had enchained the attention of christendom, and on their issue had frequently depended, or seemed to depend, the very existence of the nation. the labours of the statesman, on the contrary, had been comparatively secret. his noble orations and arguments had been spoken with closed doors to assemblies of colleagues--rather envoys than senators--were never printed or even reported, and could be judged of only by their effects; while his vast labours in directing both the internal administration and especially the foreign affairs of the commonwealth had been by their very nature as secret as they were perpetual and enormous. moreover, there was little of what we now understand as the democratic sentiment in the netherlands. there was deep and sturdy attachment to ancient traditions, privileges, special constitutions extorted from a power acknowledged to be superior to the people. when partly to save those chartered rights, and partly to overthrow the horrible ecclesiastical tyranny of the sixteenth century, the people had accomplished a successful revolt, they never dreamt of popular sovereignty, but allowed the municipal corporations, by which their local affairs had been for centuries transacted, to unite in offering to foreign princes, one after another, the crown which they had torn from the head of the spanish king. when none was found to accept the dangerous honour, they had acquiesced in the practical sovereignty of the states; but whether the states-general or the states-provincial were the supreme authority had certainly not been definitely and categorically settled. so long as the states of holland, led by the advocate, had controlled in great matters the political action of the states-general, while the stadholder stood without a rival at the head of their military affairs, and so long as there were no fierce disputes as to government and dogma within the bosom of the reformed church, the questions which were now inflaming the whole population had been allowed to slumber. the termination of the war and the rise of arminianism were almost contemporaneous. the stadholder, who so unwillingly had seen the occupation in which he had won so much glory taken from him by the truce, might perhaps find less congenial but sufficiently engrossing business as champion of the church and of the union. the new church--not freedom of worship for different denominations of christians, but supremacy of the church of heidelberg and geneva--seemed likely to be the result of the overthrow of the ancient church. it is the essence of the catholic church to claim supremacy over and immunity from the civil authority, and to this claim for the reformed church, by which that of rome had been supplanted, barneveld was strenuously opposed. the stadholder was backed, therefore, by the church in its purity, by the majority of the humbler classes--who found in membership of the oligarchy of heaven a substitute for those democratic aspirations on earth which were effectually suppressed between the two millstones of burgher aristocracy and military discipline--and by the states-general, a majority of which were contra-remonstrant in their faith. if the sword is usually an overmatch for the long robe in political struggles, the cassock has often proved superior to both combined. but in the case now occupying our attention the cassock was in alliance with the sword. clearly the contest was becoming a desperate one for the statesman. and while the controversy between the chiefs waged hotter and hotter, the tumults around the churches on sundays in every town and village grew more and more furious, ending generally in open fights with knives, bludgeons, and brickbats; preachers and magistrates being often too glad to escape with a whole skin. one can hardly be ingenuous enough to consider all this dirking, battering, and fisticuffing as the legitimate and healthy outcome of a difference as to the knotty point whether all men might or might not be saved by repentance and faith in christ. the greens and blues of the byzantine circus had not been more typical of fierce party warfare in the lower empire than the greens and blues of predestination in the rising commonwealth, according to the real or imagined epigram of prince maurice. "your divisions in religion," wrote secretary lake to carleton, "have, i doubt not, a deeper root than is discerned by every one, and i doubt not that the prince maurice's carriage doth make a jealousy of affecting a party under the pretence of supporting one side, and that the states fear his ends and aims, knowing his power with the men of war; and that howsoever all be shadowed under the name of religion there is on either part a civil end, of the one seeking a step of higher authority, of the other a preservation of liberty." and in addition to other advantages the contra-remonstrants had now got a good cry--an inestimable privilege in party contests. "there are two factions in the land," said maurice, "that of orange and that of spain, and the two chiefs of the spanish faction are those political and priestly arminians, uytenbogaert and oldenbarneveld." orange and spain! the one name associated with all that was most venerated and beloved throughout the country, for william the silent since his death was almost a god; the other ineradicably entwined at that moment with, everything execrated throughout the land. the prince of orange's claim to be head of the orange faction could hardly be disputed, but it was a master stroke of political malice to fix the stigma of spanish partisanship on the advocate. if the venerable patriot who had been fighting spain, sometimes on the battle-field and always in the council, ever since he came to man's estate, could be imagined even in a dream capable of being bought with spanish gold to betray his country, who in the ranks of the remonstrant party could be safe from such accusations? each party accused the other of designs for altering or subverting the government. maurice was suspected of what were called leicestrian projects, "leycestrana consilia"--for the earl's plots to gain possession of leyden and utrecht had never been forgotten--while the prince and those who acted with him asserted distinctly that it was the purpose of barneveld to pave the way for restoring the spanish sovereignty and the popish religion so soon as the truce had reached its end? spain and orange. nothing for a faction fight could be neater. moreover the two words rhyme in netherlandish, which is the case in no other language, "spanje-oranje." the sword was drawn and the banner unfurled. the "mud beggars" of the hague, tired of tramping to ryswyk of a sunday to listen to henry rosaeus, determined on a private conventicle in the capital. the first barn selected was sealed up by the authorities, but epoch much, book-keeper of prince maurice, then lent them his house. the prince declared that sooner than they should want a place of assembling he would give them his own. but he meant that they should have a public church to themselves, and that very soon. king james thoroughly approved of all these proceedings. at that very instant such of his own subjects as had seceded from the established church to hold conventicles in barns and breweries and backshops in london were hunted by him with bishops' pursuivants and other beagles like vilest criminals, thrown into prison to rot, or suffered to escape from their fatherland into the trans- atlantic wilderness, there to battle with wild beasts and savages, and to die without knowing themselves the fathers of a more powerful united states than the dutch republic, where they were fain to seek in passing a temporary shelter. he none the less instructed his envoy at the hague to preach the selfsame doctrines for which the new england puritans were persecuted, and importunately and dictatorially to plead the cause of those hollanders who, like bradford and robinson, winthrop and cotton, maintained the independence of the church over the state. logic is rarely the quality on which kings pride themselves, and puritanism in the netherlands, although under temporary disadvantage at the hague, was evidently the party destined to triumph throughout the country. james could safely sympathize therefore in holland with what he most loathed in england, and could at the same time feed fat the grudge he owed the advocate. the calculations of barneveld as to the respective political forces of the commonwealth seem to have been to a certain extent defective. he allowed probably too much weight to the catholic party as a motive power at that moment, and he was anxious both from that consideration and from his honest natural instinct for general toleration; his own broad and unbigoted views in religious matters, not to force that party into a rebellious attitude dangerous to the state. we have seen how nearly a mutiny in the important city of utrecht, set on foot by certain romanist conspirators in the years immediately succeeding the truce, had subverted the government, had excited much anxiety amongst the firmest allies of the republic, and had been suppressed only by the decision of the advocate and a show of military force. he had informed carleton not long after his arrival that in the united provinces, and in holland in particular, were many sects and religions of which, according to his expression, "the healthiest and the richest part were the papists, while the protestants did not make up one-third part of the inhabitants." certainly, if these statistics were correct or nearly correct, there could be nothing more stupid from a purely political point of view than to exasperate so influential a portion of the community to madness and rebellion by refusing them all rights of public worship. yet because the advocate had uniformly recommended indulgence, he had incurred more odium at home than from any other cause. of course he was a papist in disguise, ready to sell his country to spain, because he was willing that more than half the population of the country should be allowed to worship god according to their conscience. surely it would be wrong to judge the condition of things at that epoch by the lights of to-day, and perhaps in the netherlands there had before been no conspicuous personage, save william the silent alone, who had risen to the height of toleration on which the advocate essayed to stand. other leading politicians considered that the national liberties could be preserved only by retaining the catholics in complete subjection. at any rate the advocate was profoundly convinced of the necessity of maintaining harmony and mutual toleration among the protestants themselves, who, as he said, made up but one-third of the whole people. in conversing with the english ambassador he divided them into "puritans and double puritans," as they would be called, he said, in england. if these should be at variance with each other, he argued, the papists would be the strongest of all. "to prevent this inconvenience," he said, "the states were endeavouring to settle some certain form of government in the church; which being composed of divers persecuted churches such as in the beginning of the wars had their refuge here, that which during the wars could not be so well done they now thought seasonable for a time of truce; and therefore would show their authority in preventing the schism of the church which would follow the separation of those they call remonstrants and contra-remonstrants." there being no word so offensive to carleton's sovereign as the word puritan, the ambassador did his best to persuade the advocate that a puritan in holland was a very different thing from a puritan in england. in england he was a noxious vermin, to be hunted with dogs. in the netherlands he was the governing power. but his arguments were vapourous enough and made little impression on barneveld. "he would no ways yield," said sir dudley. meantime the contra-remonstrants of the hague, not finding sufficient accommodation in enoch much's house, clamoured loudly for the use of a church. it was answered by the city magistrates that two of their persuasion, la motte and la faille, preached regularly in the great church, and that rosaeus had been silenced only because he refused to hold communion with uytenbogaert. maurice insisted that a separate church should be assigned them. "but this is open schism," said uytenbogaert. early in the year there was a meeting of the holland delegation to the states-general, of the state council, and of the magistracy of the hague, of deputies from the tribunals, and of all the nobles resident in the capital. they sent for maurice and asked his opinion as to the alarming situation of affairs. he called for the register-books of the states of holland, and turning back to the pages on which was recorded his accession to the stadholderate soon after his father's murder, ordered the oath then exchanged between himself and the states to be read aloud. that oath bound them mutually to support the reformed religion till the last drop of blood in their veins. "that oath i mean to keep," said the stadholder, "so long as i live." no one disputed the obligation of all parties to maintain the reformed religion. but the question was whether the five points were inconsistent with the reformed religion. the contrary was clamorously maintained by most of those present: in the year this difference in dogma had not arisen, and as the large majority of the people at the hague, including nearly all those of rank and substance, were of the remonstrant persuasion, they naturally found it not agreeable to be sent out of the church by a small minority. but maurice chose to settle the question very summarily. his father had been raised to power by the strict calvinists, and he meant to stand by those who had always sustained william the silent. "for this religion my father lost his life, and this religion will i defend," said he. "you hold then," said barneveld, "that the almighty has created one child for damnation and another for salvation, and you wish this doctrine to be publicly preached." "did you ever hear any one preach that?" replied the prince. "if they don't preach it, it is their inmost conviction," said the other. and he proceeded to prove his position by copious citations. "and suppose our ministers do preach this doctrine, is there anything strange in it, any reason why they should not do so?" the advocate expressed his amazement and horror at the idea. "but does not god know from all eternity who is to be saved and who to be damned; and does he create men for any other end than that to which he from eternity knows they will come?" and so they enclosed themselves in the eternal circle out of which it was not probable that either the soldier or the statesman would soon find an issue. "i am no theologian," said barneveld at last, breaking off the discussion. "neither am i," said the stadholder. "so let the parsons come together. let the synod assemble and decide the question. thus we shall get out of all this." next day a deputation of the secessionists waited by appointment on prince maurice. they found him in the ancient mediaeval hall of the sovereign counts of holland, and seated on their old chair of state. he recommended them to use caution and moderation for the present, and to go next sunday once more to ryswyk. afterwards he pledged himself that they should have a church at the hague, and, if necessary, the great church itself. but the great church, although a very considerable catholic cathedral before the reformation, was not big enough now to hold both henry rosaeus and john uytenbogaert. those two eloquent, learned, and most pugnacious divines were the respective champions in the pulpit of the opposing parties, as were the advocate and the stadholder in the council. and there was as bitter personal rivalry between the two as between the soldier and statesman. "the factions begin to divide themselves," said carleton, "betwixt his excellency and monsieur barneveld as heads who join to this present difference their ancient quarrels. and the schism rests actually between uytenbogaert and rosaeus, whose private emulation and envy (both being much applauded and followed) doth no good towards the public pacification." uytenbogaert repeatedly offered, however, to resign his functions and to leave the hague. "he was always ready to play the jonah," he said. a temporary arrangement was made soon afterwards by which rosaeus and his congregation should have the use of what was called the gasthuis kerk, then appropriated to the english embassy. carleton of course gave his consent most willingly. the prince declared that the states of holland and the city magistracy had personally affronted him by the obstacles they had interposed to the public worship of the contra-remonstrants. with their cause he had now thoroughly identified himself. the hostility between the representatives of the civil and military authority waxed fiercer every hour. the tumults were more terrible than ever. plainly there was no room in the commonwealth for the advocate and the stadholder. some impartial persons believed that there would be no peace until both were got rid of. "there are many words among this free- spoken people," said carleton, "that to end these differences they must follow the example of france in marshal d'ancre's case, and take off the heads of both chiefs." but these decided persons were in a small minority. meantime the states of holland met in full assembly; sixty delegates being present. it was proposed to invite his excellency to take part in the deliberations. a committee which had waited upon him the day before had reported him as in favour of moderate rather than harsh measures in the church affair, while maintaining his plighted word to the seceders. barneveld stoutly opposed the motion. "what need had the sovereign states of holland of advice from a stadholder, from their servant, their functionary?" he cried. but the majority for once thought otherwise. the prince was invited to come. the deliberations were moderate but inconclusive. he appeared again at an adjourned meeting when the councils were not so harmonious. barneveld, grotius, and other eloquent speakers endeavoured to point out that the refusal of the seceders to hold communion with the remonstrant preachers and to insist on a separation was fast driving the state to perdition. they warmly recommended mutual toleration and harmony. grotius exhausted learning and rhetoric to prove that the five points were not inconsistent with salvation nor with the constitution of the united provinces. the stadholder grew impatient at last and clapped his hand on his rapier. "no need here," he said, "of flowery orations and learned arguments. with this good sword i will defend the religion which my father planted in these provinces, and i should like to see the man who is going to prevent me!" the words had an heroic ring in the ears of such as are ever ready to applaud brute force, especially when wielded by a prince. the argumentum ad ensem, however, was the last plea that william the silent would have been likely to employ on such an occasion, nor would it have been easy to prove that the reformed religion had been "planted" by one who had drawn the sword against the foreign tyrant, and had made vast sacrifices for his country's independence years before abjuring communion with the roman catholic church. when swords are handled by the executive in presence of civil assemblies there is usually but one issue to be expected. moreover, three whales had recently been stranded at scheveningen, one of them more than sixty feet long, and men wagged their beards gravely as they spoke of the event, deeming it a certain presage of civil commotions. it was remembered that at the outbreak of the great war two whales had been washed ashore in the scheldt. although some free-thinking people were inclined to ascribe the phenomenon to a prevalence of strong westerly gales, while others found proof in it of a superabundance of those creatures in the polar seas, which should rather give encouragement to the dutch and zealand fisheries, it is probable that quite as dark forebodings of coming disaster were caused by this accident as by the trumpet-like defiance which the stadholder had just delivered to the states of holland. meantime the seceding congregation of the hague had become wearied of the english or gasthuis church, and another and larger one had been promised them. this was an ancient convent on one of the principal streets of the town, now used as a cannon-foundry. the prince personally superintended the preparations for getting ready this place of worship, which was thenceforth called the cloister church. but delays were, as the contra- remonstrants believed, purposely interposed, so that it was nearly midsummer before there were any signs of the church being fit for use. they hastened accordingly to carry it, as it were, by assault. not wishing peaceably to accept as a boon from the civil authority what they claimed as an indefeasible right, they suddenly took possession one sunday night of the cloister church. it was in a state of utter confusion--part monastery, part foundry, part conventicle. there were few seats, no altar, no communion-table, hardly any sacramental furniture, but a pulpit was extemporized. rosaeus preached in triumph to an enthusiastic congregation, and three children were baptized with the significant names of william, maurice, and henry. on the following monday there was a striking scene on the voorhout. this most beautiful street of a beautiful city was a broad avenue, shaded by a quadruple row of limetrees, reaching out into the thick forest of secular oaks and beeches--swarming with fallow-deer and alive with the notes of singing birds--by which the hague, almost from time immemorial, has been embowered. the ancient cloisterhouse and church now reconverted to religious uses--was a plain, rather insipid structure of red brick picked out with white stone, presenting three symmetrical gables to the street, with a slender belfry and spire rising in the rear. nearly adjoining it on the north-western side was the elegant and commodious mansion of barneveld, purchased by him from the representatives of the arenberg family, surrounded by shrubberies and flower-gardens; not a palace, but a dignified and becoming abode for the first citizen of a powerful republic. on that midsummer's morning it might well seem that, in rescuing the old cloister from the military purposes to which it had for years been devoted, men had given an even more belligerent aspect to the scene than if it had been left as a foundry. the miscellaneous pieces of artillery and other fire-arms lying about, with piles of cannon-ball which there had not been time to remove, were hardly less belligerent and threatening of aspect than the stern faces of the crowd occupied in thoroughly preparing the house for its solemn destination. it was determined that there should be accommodation on the next sunday for all who came to the service. an army of carpenters, joiners, glaziers, and other workmen- assisted by a mob of citizens of all ranks and ages, men and women, gentle and simple were busily engaged in bringing planks and benches; working with plane, adze, hammer and saw, trowel and shovel, to complete the work. on the next sunday the prince attended public worship for the last time at the great church under the ministration of uytenbogaert. he was infuriated with the sermon, in which the bold remonstrant bitterly inveighed against the proposition for a national synod. to oppose that measure publicly in the very face of the stadholder, who now considered himself as the synod personified, seemed to him flat blasphemy. coming out of the church with his step-mother, the widowed louise de coligny, princess of orange, he denounced the man in unmeasured terms. "he is the enemy of god," said maurice. at least from that time forth, and indeed for a year before, maurice was the enemy of the preacher. on the following sunday, july , maurice went in solemn state to the divine service at the cloister church now thoroughly organized. he was accompanied by his cousin, the famous count william lewis of nassau, stadholder of friesland, who had never concealed his warm sympathy with the contra-remonstrants, and by all the chief officers of his household and members of his staff. it was an imposing demonstration and meant for one. as the martial stadholder at the head of his brilliant cavalcade rode forth across the drawbridge from the inner court of the old moated palace--where the ancient sovereign dirks and florences of holland had so long ruled their stout little principality--along the shady and stately kneuterdyk and so through the voorhout, an immense crowd thronged around his path and accompanied him to the church. it was as if the great soldier were marching to siege or battle-field where fresher glories than those of sluys or geertruidenberg were awaiting him. the train passed by barneveld's house and entered the cloister. more than four thousand persons were present at the service or crowded around the doors vainly attempting to gain admission into the overflowing aisles; while the great church was left comparatively empty, a few hundred only worshipping there. the cloister church was thenceforth called the prince's church, and a great revolution was beginning even in the hague. the advocate was wroth as he saw the procession graced by the two stadholders and their military attendants. he knew that he was now to bow his head to the church thus championed by the chief personage and captain-general of the state, to renounce his dreams of religious toleration, to sink from his post of supreme civic ruler, or to accept an unequal struggle in which he might utterly succumb. but his iron nature would break sooner than bend. in the first transports of his indignation he is said to have vowed vengeance against the immediate instruments by which the cloister church had, as he conceived, been surreptitiously and feloniously seized. he meant to strike a blow which should startle the whole population of the hague, send a thrill of horror through the country, and teach men to beware how they trifled with the sovereign states of holland, whose authority had so long been undisputed, and with him their chief functionary. he resolved--so ran the tale of the preacher trigland, who told it to prince maurice, and has preserved it in his chronicle--to cause to be seized at midnight from their beds four men whom he considered the ringleaders in this mutiny, to have them taken to the place of execution on the square in the midst of the city, to have their heads cut off at once by warrant from the chief tribunal without any previous warning, and then to summon all the citizens at dawn of day, by ringing of bells and firing of cannon, to gaze on the ghastly spectacle, and teach them to what fate this pestilential schism and revolt against authority had brought its humble tools. the victims were to be enoch much, the prince's book-keeper, and three others, an attorney, an engraver, and an apothecary, all of course of the contra-remonstrant persuasion. it was necessary, said the advocate, to make once for all an example, and show that there was a government in the land. he had reckoned on a ready adhesion to this measure and a sentence from the tribunal through the influence of his son-in-law, the seignior van veenhuyzen, who was president of the chief court. his attempt was foiled however by the stern opposition of two zealand members of the court, who managed to bring up from a bed of sickness, where he had long been lying, a holland councillor whom they knew to be likewise opposed to the fierce measure, and thus defeated it by a majority of one. such is the story as told by contemporaries and repeated from that day to this. it is hardly necessary to say that barneveld calmly denied having conceived or even heard of the scheme. that men could go about looking each other in the face and rehearsing such gibberish would seem sufficiently dispiriting did we not know to what depths of credulity men in all ages can sink when possessed by the demon of party malice. if it had been narrated on the exchange at amsterdam or flushing during that portentous midsummer that barneveld had not only beheaded but roasted alive, and fed the dogs and cats upon the attorney, the apothecary, and the engraver, there would have been citizens in plenty to devour the news with avidity. but although the advocate had never imagined such extravagances as these, it is certain that he had now resolved upon very bold measures, and that too without an instant's delay. he suspected the prince of aiming at sovereignty not only over holland but over all the provinces and to be using the synod as a principal part of his machinery. the gauntlet was thrown down by the stadholder, and the advocate lifted it at once. the issue of the struggle would depend upon the political colour of the town magistracies. barneveld instinctively felt that maurice, being now resolved that the synod should be held, would lose no time in making a revolution in all the towns through the power he held or could plausibly usurp. such a course would, in his opinion, lead directly to an unconstitutional and violent subversion of the sovereign rights of each province, to the advantage of the central government. a religious creed would be forced upon holland and perhaps upon two other provinces which was repugnant to a considerable majority of the people. and this would be done by a majority vote of the states-general, on a matter over which, by the th article of the fundamental compact--the union of utrecht-- the states-general had no control, each province having reserved the disposition of religious affairs to itself. for let it never be forgotten that the union of the netherlands was a compact, a treaty, an agreement between sovereign states. there was no pretence that it was an incorporation, that the people had laid down a constitution, an organic law. the people were never consulted, did not exist, had not for political purposes been invented. it was the great primal defect of their institutions, but the netherlanders would have been centuries before their age had they been able to remedy that defect. yet the netherlanders would have been much behind even that age of bigotry had they admitted the possibility in a free commonwealth, of that most sacred and important of all subjects that concern humanity, religious creed--the relation of man to his maker--to be regulated by the party vote of a political board. it was with no thought of treason in his heart or his head therefore that the advocate now resolved that the states of holland and the cities of which that college was composed should protect their liberties and privileges, the sum of which in his opinion made up the sovereignty of the province he served, and that they should protect them, if necessary, by force. force was apprehended. it should be met by force. to be forewarned was to be forearmed. barneveld forewarned the states of holland. on the th august , he proposed to that assembly a resolution which was destined to become famous. a majority accepted it after brief debate. it was to this effect. the states having seen what had befallen in many cities, and especially in the hague, against the order, liberties, and laws of the land, and having in vain attempted to bring into harmony with the states certain cities which refused to co-operate with the majority, had at last resolved to refuse the national synod, as conflicting with the sovereignty and laws of holland. they had thought good to set forth in public print their views as to religious worship, and to take measures to prevent all deeds of violence against persons and property. to this end the regents of cities were authorized in case of need, until otherwise ordained, to enrol men-at-arms for their security and prevention of violence. furthermore, every one that might complain of what the regents of cities by strength of this resolution might do was ordered to have recourse to no one else than the states of holland, as no account would be made of anything that might be done or undertaken by the tribunals. finally, it was resolved to send a deputation to prince maurice, the princess-widow, and prince henry, requesting them to aid in carrying out this resolution. thus the deed was done. the sword was drawn. it was drawn in self- defence and in deliberate answer to the stadholder's defiance when he rapped his sword hilt in face of the assembly, but still it was drawn. the states of holland were declared sovereign and supreme. the national synod was peremptorily rejected. any decision of the supreme courts of the union in regard to the subject of this resolution was nullified in advance. thenceforth this measure of the th august was called the "sharp resolve." it might prove perhaps to be double-edged. it was a stroke of grim sarcasm on the part of the advocate thus solemnly to invite the stadholder's aid in carrying out a law which was aimed directly at his head; to request his help for those who meant to defeat with the armed hand that national synod which he had pledged himself to bring about. the question now arose what sort of men-at-arms it would be well for the city governments to enlist. the officers of the regular garrisons had received distinct orders from prince maurice as their military superior to refuse any summons to act in matters proceeding from the religious question. the prince, who had chief authority over all the regular troops, had given notice that he would permit nothing to be done against "those of the reformed religion," by which he meant the contra- remonstrants and them only. in some cities there were no garrisons, but only train-bands. but the train bands (schutters) could not be relied on to carry out the sharp resolve, for they were almost to a man contra-remonstrants. it was therefore determined to enlist what were called "waartgelders;" soldiers, inhabitants of the place, who held themselves ready to serve in time of need in consideration of a certain wage; mercenaries in short. this resolution was followed as a matter of course by a solemn protest from amsterdam and the five cities who acted with her. on the same day maurice was duly notified of the passage of the law. his wrath was great. high words passed between him and the deputies. it could hardly have been otherwise expected. next-day he came before the assembly to express his sentiments, to complain of the rudeness with which the resolution of th august had been communicated to him, and to demand further explanations. forthwith the advocate proceeded to set forth the intentions of the states, and demanded that the prince should assist the magistrates in carrying out the policy decided upon. reinier pauw, burgomaster of amsterdam, fiercely interrupted the oration of barneveld, saying that although these might be his views, they were not to be held by his excellency as the opinions of all. the advocate, angry at the interruption, answered him sternly, and a violent altercation, not unmixed with personalities, arose. maurice, who kept his temper admirably on this occasion, interfered between the two and had much difficulty in quieting the dispute. he then observed that when he took the oath as stadholder these unfortunate differences had not arisen, but all had been good friends together. this was perfectly true, but he could have added that they might all continue good friends unless the plan of imposing a religious creed upon the minority by a clerical decision were persisted in. he concluded that for love of one of the two great parties he would not violate the oath he had taken to maintain the reformed religion to the last drop of his blood. still, with the same 'petitio principii' that the reformed religion and the dogmas of the contra-remonstrants were one and the same thing, he assured the assembly that the authority of the magistrates would be sustained by him so long as it did not lead to the subversion of religion. clearly the time for argument had passed. as dudley carleton observed, men had been disputing 'pro aris' long enough. they would soon be fighting 'pro focis.' in pursuance of the policy laid down by the sharp resolution, the states proceeded to assure themselves of the various cities of the province by means of waartgelders. they sent to the important seaport of brielle and demanded a new oath from the garrison. it was intimated that the prince would be soon coming there in person to make himself master of the place, and advice was given to the magistrates to be beforehand with him. these statements angered maurice, and angered him the more because they happened to be true. it was also charged that he was pursuing his leicestrian designs and meant to make himself, by such steps, sovereign of the country. the name of leicester being a byword of reproach ever since that baffled noble had a generation before left the provinces in disgrace, it was a matter of course that such comparisons were excessively exasperating. it was fresh enough too in men's memory that the earl in his netherland career had affected sympathy with the strictest denomination of religious reformers, and that the profligate worldling and arrogant self-seeker had used the mask of religion to cover flagitious ends. as it had indeed been the object of the party at the head of which the advocate had all his life acted to raise the youthful maurice to the stadholderate expressly to foil the plots of leicester, it could hardly fail to be unpalatable to maurice to be now accused of acting the part of leicester. he inveighed bitterly on the subject before the state council: the state council, in a body, followed him to a meeting of the states-general. here the stadholder made a vehement speech and demanded that the states of holland should rescind the "sharp resolution," and should desist from the new oaths required from the soldiery. barneveld, firm as a rock, met these bitter denunciations. speaking in the name of holland, he repelled the idea that the sovereign states of that province were responsible to the state council or to the states-general either. he regretted, as all regretted, the calumnies uttered against the prince, but in times of such intense excitement every conspicuous man was the mark of calumny. the stadholder warmly repudiated leicestrian designs, and declared that he had been always influenced by a desire to serve his country and maintain the reformed religion. if he had made mistakes, he desired to be permitted to improve in the future. thus having spoken, the soldier retired from the assembly with the state council at his heels. the advocate lost no time in directing the military occupation of the principal towns of holland, such as leyden, gouda, rotterdam, schoonhoven, hoorn, and other cities. at leyden especially, where a strong orange party was with difficulty kept in obedience by the remonstrant magistracy, it was found necessary to erect a stockade about the town-hall and to plant caltrops and other obstructions in the squares and streets. the broad space in front; of the beautiful medieval seat of the municipal government, once so sacred for the sublime and pathetic scenes enacted there during the famous siege and in the magistracy of peter van der werff, was accordingly enclosed by a solid palisade of oaken planks, strengthened by rows of iron bars with barbed prongs: the entrenchment was called by the populace the arminian fort, and the iron spear heads were baptized barneveld's teeth. cannon were planted at intervals along the works, and a company or two of the waartgelders, armed from head to foot, with snaphances on their shoulders, stood ever ready to issue forth to quell any disturbances. occasionally a life or two was lost of citizen or soldier, and many doughty blows were interchanged. it was a melancholy spectacle. no commonwealth could be more fortunate than this republic in possessing two such great leading minds. no two men could be more patriotic than both stadholder and advocate. no two men could be prouder, more overbearing, less conciliatory. "i know mons. barneveld well," said sir ralph winwood, "and know that he hath great powers and abilities, and malice itself must confess that man never hath done more faithful and powerful service to his country than he. but 'finis coronat opus' and 'il di lodi lacera; oportet imperatorem stantem mori.'" the cities of holland were now thoroughly "waartgeldered," and barneveld having sufficiently shown his "teeth" in that province departed for change of air to utrecht. his failing health was assigned as the pretext for the visit, although the atmosphere of that city has never been considered especially salubrious in the dog-days. meantime the stadholder remained quiet, but biding his time. he did not choose to provoke a premature conflict in the strongholds of the arminians as he called them, but with a true military instinct preferred making sure of the ports. amsterdam, enkhuyzen, flushing, being without any effort of his own within his control, he quietly slipped down the river meuse on the night of the th september, accompanied by his brother frederic henrys and before six o'clock next morning had introduced a couple of companies of trustworthy troops into brielle, had summoned the magistrates before him, and compelled them to desist from all further intention of levying mercenaries. thus all the fortresses which barneveld had so recently and in such masterly fashion rescued from the grasp of england were now quietly reposing in the hands of the stadholder. maurice thought it not worth his while for the present to quell the mutiny--as he considered it the legal and constitutional defence of vested right--as great jurists like barneveld and hugo grotius accounted the movement--at its "fountain head leyden or its chief stream utrecht;" to use the expression of carleton. there had already been bloodshed in leyden, a burgher or two having been shot and a soldier stoned to death in the streets, but the stadholder deemed it unwise to precipitate matters. feeling himself, with his surpassing military knowledge and with a large majority of the nation at his back, so completely master of the situation, he preferred waiting on events. and there is no doubt that he was proving himself a consummate politician and a perfect master of fence. "he is much beloved and followed both of soldiers and people," said the english ambassador, "he is a man 'innoxiae popularitatis' so as this jealousy cannot well be fastened upon him; and in this cause of religion he stirred not until within these few months he saw he must declare himself or suffer the better party to be overborne." the chief tribunal-high council so called-of the country soon gave evidence that the "sharp resolution" had judged rightly in reckoning on its hostility and in nullifying its decisions in advance. they decided by a majority vote that the resolution ought not to be obeyed, but set aside. amsterdam, and the three or four cities usually acting with her, refused to enlist troops. rombout hoogerbeets, a member of the tribunal, informed prince maurice that he "would no longer be present on a bench where men disputed the authority of the states of holland, which he held to be the supreme sovereignty over him." this was plain speaking; a distinct enunciation of what the states' right party deemed to be constitutional law. and what said maurice in reply? "i, too, recognize the states of holland as sovereign; but we might at least listen to each other occasionally." hoogerbeets, however, deeming that listening had been carried far enough, decided to leave the tribunal altogether, and to resume the post which he had formerly occupied as pensionary or chief magistrate of leyden. here he was soon to find himself in the thick of the conflict. meantime the states-general, in full assembly, on th november , voted that the national synod should be held in the course of the following year. the measure was carried by a strict party vote and by a majority of one. the representatives of each province voting as one, there were four in favour of to three against the synod. the minority, consisting of holland, utrecht, and overyssel, protested against the vote as an outrageous invasion of the rights of each province, as an act of flagrant tyranny and usurpation. the minority in the states of holland, the five cities often named, protested against the protest. the defective part of the netherland constitutions could not be better illustrated. the minority of the states of holland refused to be bound by a majority of the provincial assembly. the minority of the states- general refused to be bound by the majority of the united assembly. this was reducing politics to an absurdity and making all government impossible. it is however quite certain that in the municipal governments a majority had always governed, and that a majority vote in the provincial assemblies had always prevailed. the present innovation was to govern the states-general by a majority. yet viewed by the light of experience and of common sense, it would be difficult to conceive of a more preposterous proceeding than thus to cram a religious creed down the throats of half the population of a country by the vote of a political assembly. but it was the seventeenth and not the nineteenth century. moreover, if there were any meaning in words, the th article of union, reserving especially the disposition over religious matters to each province, had been wisely intended to prevent the possibility of such tyranny. when the letters of invitation to the separate states and to others were drawing up in the general assembly, the representatives of the three states left the chamber. a solitary individual from holland remained however, a burgomaster of amsterdam. uytenbogaert, conversing with barneveld directly afterwards, advised him to accept the vote. yielding to the decision of the majority, it would be possible, so thought the clergyman, for the great statesman so to handle matters as to mould the synod to his will, even as he had so long controlled the states-provincial and the states-general. "if you are willing to give away the rights of the land," said the advocate very sharply, "i am not." probably the priest's tactics might have proved more adroit than the stony opposition on which barneveld was resolved. but it was with the aged statesman a matter of principle, not of policy. his character and his personal pride, the dignity of opinion and office, his respect for constitutional law, were all at stake. shallow observers considered the struggle now taking place as a personal one. lovers of personal government chose to look upon the advocate's party as a faction inspired with an envious resolve to clip the wings of the stadholder, who was at last flying above their heads. there could be no doubt of the bitter animosity between the two men. there could be no doubt that jealousy was playing the part which that master passion will ever play in all the affairs of life. but there could be no doubt either that a difference of principle as wide as the world separated the two antagonists. even so keen an observer as dudley carleton, while admitting the man's intellectual power and unequalled services, could see nothing in the advocate's present course but prejudice, obstinacy, and the insanity of pride. "he doth no whit spare himself in pains nor faint in his resolution," said the envoy, "wherein notwithstanding he will in all appearance succumb ere afore long, having the disadvantages of a weak body, a weak party, and a weak cause." but carleton hated barneveld, and considered it the chief object of his mission to destroy him, if he could. in so doing he would best carry out the wishes of his sovereign. the king of britain had addressed a somewhat equivocal letter to the states-general on the subject of religion in the spring of . it certainly was far from being as satisfactory as, the epistles of prepared under the advocate's instructions, had been, while the exuberant commentary upon the royal text, delivered in full assembly by his ambassador soon after the reception of the letter, was more than usually didactic, offensive, and ignorant. sir dudley never omitted an opportunity of imparting instruction to the states-general as to the nature of their constitution and the essential dogmas on which their church was founded. it is true that the great lawyers and the great theologians of the country were apt to hold very different opinions from his upon those important subjects, but this was so much the worse for the lawyers and theologians, as time perhaps might prove. the king in this last missive had proceeded to unsay the advice which he had formerly bestowed upon the states, by complaining that his earlier letters had been misinterpreted. they had been made use of, he said, to authorize the very error against which they had been directed. they had been held to intend the very contrary of what they did mean. he felt himself bound in conscience therefore, finding these differences ready to be "hatched into schisms," to warn the states once more against pests so pernicious. although the royal language was somewhat vague so far as enunciation of doctrine, a point on which he had once confessed himself fallible, was concerned, there was nothing vague in his recommendation of a national synod. to this the opposition of barneveld was determined not upon religious but upon constitutional grounds. the confederacy did not constitute a nation, and therefore there could not be a national synod nor a national religion. carleton came before the states-general soon afterwards with a prepared oration, wearisome as a fast-day sermon after the third turn of the hour- glass, pragmatical as a schoolmaster's harangue to fractious little boys. he divided his lecture into two heads--the peace of the church, and the peace of the provinces--starting with the first. "a jove principium," he said, "i will begin with that which is both beginning and end. it is the truth of god's word and its maintenance that is the bond of our common cause. reasons of state invite us as friends and neighbours by the preservation of our lives and property, but the interest of religion binds us as christians and brethren to the mutual defence of the liberty of our consciences." he then proceeded to point out the only means by which liberty of conscience could be preserved. it was by suppressing all forms of religion but one, and by silencing all religious discussion. peter titelman and philip ii. could not have devised a more pithy formula. all that was wanting was the axe and faggot to reduce uniformity to practice. then liberty of conscience would be complete. "one must distinguish," said the ambassador, "between just liberty and unbridled license, and conclude that there is but one truth single and unique. those who go about turning their brains into limbecks for distilling new notions in religious matters only distract the union of the church which makes profession of this unique truth. if it be permitted to one man to publish the writings and fantasies of a sick spirit and for another moved by christian zeal to reduce this wanderer 'ad sanam mentem;' why then 'patet locus adversus utrumque,' and the common enemy (the devil) slips into the fortress." he then proceeded to illustrate this theory on liberty of conscience by allusions to conrad vorstius. this infamous sectary had in fact reached such a pitch of audacity, said the ambassador, as not only to inveigh against the eternal power of god but to indulge in irony against the honour of his majesty king james. and in what way had he scandalized the government of the republic? he had dared to say that within its borders there was religious toleration. he had distinctly averred that in the united provinces heretics were not punished with death or with corporal chastisement. "he declares openly," said carleton, "that contra haereticos etiam vere dictos (ne dum falso et calumniose sic traductos) there is neither sentence of death nor other corporal punishment, so that in order to attract to himself a great following of birds of the name feather he publishes to all the world that here in this country one can live and die a heretic, unpunished, without being arrested and without danger." in order to suppress this reproach upon the republic at which the ambassador stood aghast, and to prevent the vorstian doctrines of religious toleration and impunity of heresy from spreading among "the common people, so subject by their natures to embrace new opinions," he advised of course that "the serpent be sent back to the nest where he was born before the venom had spread through the whole body of the republic." a week afterwards a long reply was delivered on part of the states- general to the ambassador's oration. it is needless to say that it was the work of the advocate, and that it was in conformity with the opinions so often exhibited in the letters to caron and others of which the reader has seen many samples. that religious matters were under the control of the civil government, and that supreme civil authority belonged to each one of the seven sovereign provinces, each recognizing no superior within its own sphere, were maxims of state always enforced in the netherlands and on which the whole religious controversy turned. "the states-general have always cherished the true christian apostolic religion," they said, "and wished it to be taught under the authority and protection of the legal government of these provinces in all purity, and in conformity with the holy scriptures, to the good people of these provinces. and my lords the states and magistrates of the respective provinces, each within their own limits, desire the same." they had therefore given express orders to the preachers "to keep the peace by mutual and benign toleration of the different opinions on the one side and the other at least until with full knowledge of the subject the states might otherwise ordain. they had been the more moved to this because his majesty having carefully examined the opinions of the learned hereon each side had found both consistent with christian belief and the salvation of souls." it was certainly not the highest expression of religious toleration for the civil authority to forbid the clergymen of the country from discussing in their pulpits the knottiest and most mysterious points of the schoolmen lest the "common people" should be puzzled. nevertheless, where the close union of church and state and the necessity of one church were deemed matters of course, it was much to secure subordination of the priesthood to the magistracy, while to enjoin on preachers abstention from a single exciting cause of quarrel, on the ground that there was more than one path to salvation, and that mutual toleration was better than mutual persecution, was; in that age, a stride towards religious equality. it was at least an advance on carleton's dogma, that there was but one unique and solitary truth, and that to declare heretics not punishable with death was an insult to the government of the republic. the states-general answered the ambassador's plea, made in the name of his master, for immediate and unguaranteed evacuation of the debatable land by the arguments already so often stated in the advocate's instructions to caron. they had been put to great trouble and expense already in their campaigning and subsequent fortification of important places in the duchies. they had seen the bitter spirit manifested by the spaniards in the demolition of the churches and houses of mulheim and other places. "while the affair remained in its present terms of utter uncertainty their mightinesses," said the states-general, "find it most objectionable to forsake the places which they have been fortifying and to leave the duchies and all their fellow-religionists, besides the rights of the possessory princes a prey to those who have been hankering for the territories for long years, and who would unquestionably be able to make themselves absolute masters of all within a very few days." a few months later carleton came before the states-general again and delivered another elaborate oration, duly furnished to him by the king, upon the necessity of the national synod, the comparative merits of arminianism and contra-remonstrantism, together with a full exposition of the constitutions of the netherlands. it might be supposed that barneveld and grotius and hoogerbeets knew something of the law and history of their country. but james knew much better, and so his envoy endeavoured to convince his audience. he received on the spot a temperate but conclusive reply from the delegates of holland. they informed him that the war with spain--the cause of the utrecht union--was not begun about religion but on account of the violation of liberties, chartered rights and privileges, not the least of which rights was that of each province to regulate religious matters within its borders. a little later a more vehement reply was published anonymously in the shape of a pamphlet called 'the balance,' which much angered the ambassador and goaded his master almost to frenzy. it was deemed so blasphemous, so insulting to the majesty of england, so entirely seditious, that james, not satisfied with inditing a rejoinder, insisted through carleton that a reward should be offered by the states for the detection of the author, in order that he might be condignly punished. this was done by a majority vote, florins being offered for the discovery of the author and for that of the printer. naturally the step was opposed in the states-general; two deputies in particular making themselves conspicuous. one of them was an audacious old gentleman named brinius of gelderland, "much corrupted with arminianism," so carleton informed his sovereign. he appears to have inherited his audacity through his pedigree, descending, as it was ludicrously enough asserted he did, from a chief of the caninefates, the ancient inhabitants of gelderland, called brinio. and brinio the caninefat had been as famous for his stolid audacity as for his illustrious birth; "erat in caninefatibus stolidae audaciae brinio claritate natalium insigni." the patronizing manner in which the ambassador alluded to the other member of the states-general who opposed the decree was still more diverting. it was "grotius, the pensioner of rotterdam, a young petulant brain, not unknown to your majesty," said carleton. two centuries and a half have rolled away, and there are few majesties, few nations, and few individuals to whom the name of that petulant youth is unknown; but how many are familiar with the achievements of the able representative of king james? nothing came of the measure, however, and the offer of course helped the circulation of the pamphlet. it is amusing to see the ferocity thus exhibited by the royal pamphleteer against a rival; especially when one can find no crime in 'the balance' save a stinging and well-merited criticism of a very stupid oration. gillis van ledenberg was generally supposed to be the author of it. carleton inclined, however, to suspect grotius, "because," said he, "having always before been a stranger to my house, he has made me the day before the publication thereof a complimentary visit, although it was sunday and church time; whereby the italian proverb, 'chi ti caresse piu che suole,' &c.,' is added to other likelihoods." it was subsequently understood however that the pamphlet was written by a remonstrant preacher of utrecht, named jacobus taurinus; one of those who had been doomed to death by the mutinous government in that city seven years before. it was now sufficiently obvious that either the governments in the three opposition provinces must be changed or that the national synod must be imposed by a strict majority vote in the teeth of the constitution and of vigorous and eloquent protests drawn up by the best lawyers in the country. the advocate and grotius recommended a provincial synod first and, should that not succeed in adjusting the differences of church government, then the convocation of a general or oecumenical synod. they resisted the national synod because, in their view, the provinces were not a nation. a league of seven sovereign and independent mates was all that legally existed in the netherlands. it was accordingly determined that the governments should be changed, and the stadholder set himself to prepare the way for a thorough and, if possible, a bloodless revolution. he departed on the th november for a tour through the chief cities, and before leaving the hague addressed an earnest circular letter to the various municipalities of holland. a more truly dignified, reasonable, right royal letter, from the stadholder's point of view, could not have been indited. the imperial "we" breathing like a morning breeze through the whole of it blew away all legal and historical mistiness. but the clouds returned again nevertheless. unfortunately for maurice it could not be argued by the pen, however it might be proved by the sword, that the netherlands constituted a nation, and that a convocation of doctors of divinity summoned by a body of envoys had the right to dictate a creed to seven republics. all parties were agreed on one point. there must be unity of divine worship. the territory of the netherlands was not big enough to hold two systems of religion, two forms of christianity, two sects of protestantism. it was big enough to hold seven independent and sovereign states, but would be split into fragments--resolved into chaos--should there be more than one church or if once a schism were permitted in that church. grotius was as much convinced of this as gomarus. and yet the th article of the union stared them all in the face, forbidding the hideous assumptions now made by the general government. perhaps no man living fully felt its import save barneveld alone. for groping however dimly and hesitatingly towards the idea of religious liberty, of general toleration, he was denounced as a papist, an atheist, a traitor, a miscreant, by the fanatics for the sacerdotal and personal power. yet it was a pity that he could never contemplate the possibility of his country's throwing off the swaddling clothes of provincialism which had wrapped its infancy. doubtless history, law, tradition, and usage pointed to the independent sovereignty of each province. yet the period of the truce was precisely the time when a more generous constitution, a national incorporation might have been constructed to take the place of the loose confederacy by which the gigantic war had been fought out. after all, foreign powers had no connection with the states, and knew only the union with which and with which alone they made treaties, and the reality of sovereignty in each province was as ridiculous as in theory it was impregnable. but barneveld, under the modest title of advocate of one province, had been in reality president and prime minister of the whole commonwealth. he had himself been the union and the sovereignty. it was not wonderful that so imperious a nature objected to transfer its powers to the church, to the states-general, or to maurice. moreover, when nationality assumed the unlovely form of rigid religious uniformity; when union meant an exclusive self-governed church enthroned above the state, responsible to no civic authority and no human law, the boldest patriot might shiver at emerging from provincialism. chapter xv. the commonwealth bent on self-destruction--evils of a confederate system of government--rem bischop's house sacked--aerssens' unceasing efforts against barneveld--the advocate's interview with maurice--the states of utrecht raise the troops--the advocate at utrecht--barneveld urges mutual toleration--barneveld accused of being partisan of spain--carleton takes his departure. it is not cheerful after widely contemplating the aspect of christendom in the year of supreme preparation to examine with the minuteness absolutely necessary the narrow theatre to which the political affairs of the great republic had been reduced. that powerful commonwealth, to which the great party of the reformation naturally looked for guidance in the coming conflict, seemed bent on self-destruction. the microcosm of the netherlands now represented, alas! the war of elements going on without on a world-wide scale. as the calvinists and lutherans of germany were hotly attacking each other even in sight of the embattled front of spain and the league, so the gomarites and the arminians by their mutual rancour were tearing the political power of the dutch republic to shreds and preventing her from assuming a great part in the crisis. the consummate soldier, the unrivalled statesman, each superior in his sphere to any contemporary rival, each supplementing the other, and making up together, could they have been harmonized, a double head such as no political organism then existing could boast, were now in hopeless antagonism to each other. a mass of hatred had been accumulated against the advocate with which he found it daily more and more difficult to struggle. the imperious, rugged, and suspicious nature of the stadholder had been steadily wrought upon by the almost devilish acts of francis aerssens until he had come to look upon his father's most faithful adherent, his own early preceptor in statesmanship and political supporter, as an antagonist, a conspirator, and a tyrant. the soldier whose unrivalled ability, experience, and courage in the field should have placed him at the very head of the great european army of defence against the general crusade upon protestantism, so constantly foretold by barneveld, was now to be engaged in making bloodless but mischievous warfare against an imaginary conspiracy and a patriot foe. the advocate, keeping steadily in view the great principles by which his political life had been guided, the supremacy of the civil authority in any properly organized commonwealth over the sacerdotal and military, found himself gradually forced into mortal combat with both. to the individual sovereignty of each province he held with the tenacity of a lawyer and historian. in that he found the only clue through the labyrinth which ecclesiastical and political affairs presented. so close was the tangle, so confused the medley, that without this slender guide all hope of legal issue seemed lost. no doubt the difficulty of the doctrine of individual sovereignty was great, some of the provinces being such slender morsels of territory, with resources so trivial, as to make the name of sovereignty ludicrous. yet there could be as little doubt that no other theory was tenable. if so powerful a mind as that of the advocate was inclined to strain the theory to its extreme limits, it was because in the overshadowing superiority of the one province holland had been found the practical remedy for the imbecility otherwise sure to result from such provincial and meagre federalism. moreover, to obtain union by stretching all the ancient historical privileges and liberties of the separate provinces upon the procrustean bed of a single dogma, to look for nationality only in common subjection to an infallible priesthood, to accept a catechism as the palladium upon which the safety of the state was to depend for all time, and beyond which there was to be no further message from heaven--such was not healthy constitutionalism in the eyes of a great statesman. no doubt that without the fervent spirit of calvinism it would have been difficult to wage war with such immortal hate as the netherlands had waged it, no doubt the spirit of republican and even democratic liberty lay hidden within that rigid husk, but it was dishonour to the martyrs who had died by thousands at the stake and on the battle field for the rights of conscience if the only result of their mighty warfare against wrong had been to substitute a new dogma for an old one, to stifle for ever the right of free enquiry, theological criticism, and the hope of further light from on high, and to proclaim it a libel on the republic that within its borders all heretics, whether arminian or papist, were safe from the death penalty or even from bodily punishment. a theological union instead of a national one and obtained too at the sacrifice of written law and immemorial tradition, a congress in which clerical deputations from all the provinces and from foreign nations should prescribe to all netherlanders an immutable creed and a shadowy constitution, were not the true remedies for the evils of confederacy, nor, if they had been, was the time an appropriate one for their application. it was far too early in the world's history to hope for such redistribution of powers and such a modification of the social compact as would place in separate spheres the church and the state, double the sanctions and the consolations of religion by removing it from the pollutions of political warfare, and give freedom to individual conscience by securing it from the interference of government. it is melancholy to see the republic thus perversely occupying its energies. it is melancholy to see the great soldier becoming gradually more ardent for battle with barneveld and uytenbogaert than with spinola and bucquoy, against whom he had won so many imperishable laurels. it is still sadder to see the man who had been selected by henry iv. as the one statesman of europe to whom he could confide his great projects for the pacification of christendom, and on whom he could depend for counsel and support in schemes which, however fantastic in some of their details, had for their object to prevent the very european war of religion against which barneveld had been struggling, now reduced to defend himself against suspicion hourly darkening and hatred growing daily more insane. the eagle glance and restless wing, which had swept the whole political atmosphere, now caged within the stifling limits of theological casuistry and personal rivalry were afflicting to contemplate. the evils resulting from a confederate system of government, from a league of petty sovereignties which dared not become a nation, were as woefully exemplified in the united provinces as they were destined to be more than a century and a half later, and in another hemisphere, before that most fortunate and sagacious of written political instruments, the american constitution of , came to remedy the weakness of the old articles of union. meantime the netherlands were a confederacy, not a nation. their general government was but a committee. it could ask of, but not command, the separate provinces. it had no dealings with nor power over the inhabitants of the country; it could say "thou shalt" neither to state nor citizen; it could consult only with corporations--fictitious and many-headed personages--itself incorporate. there was no first magistrate, no supreme court, no commander-in-chief, no exclusive mint nor power of credit, no national taxation, no central house of representation and legislation, no senate. unfortunately it had one church, and out of this single matrix of centralism was born more discord than had been produced by all the centrifugal forces of provincialism combined. there had been working substitutes found, as we well know, for the deficiencies of this constitution, but the advocate felt himself bound to obey and enforce obedience to the laws and privileges of his country so long as they remained without authorized change. his country was the province of holland, to which his allegiance was due and whose servant he was. that there was but one church paid and sanctioned by law, he admitted, but his efforts were directed to prevent discord within that church, by counselling moderation, conciliation, mutual forbearance, and abstention from irritating discussion of dogmas deemed by many thinkers and better theologians than himself not essential to salvation. in this he was much behind his age or before it. he certainly was not with the majority. and thus, while the election of ferdinand had given the signal of war all over christendom, while from the demolished churches in bohemia the tocsin was still sounding, whose vibrations were destined to be heard a generation long through the world, there was less sympathy felt with the call within the territory of the great republic of protestantism than would have seemed imaginable a few short years before. the capture of the cloister church at the hague in the summer of seemed to minds excited by personal rivalries and minute theological controversy a more momentous event than the destruction of the churches in the klostergrab in the following december. the triumph of gomarism in a single dutch city inspired more enthusiasm for the moment than the deadly buffet to european protestantism could inspire dismay. the church had been carried and occupied, as it were, by force, as if an enemy's citadel. it seemed necessary to associate the idea of practical warfare with a movement which might have been a pacific clerical success. barneveld and those who acted with him, while deploring the intolerance out of which the schism had now grown to maturity, had still hoped for possible accommodation of the quarrel. they dreaded popular tumults leading to oppression of the magistracy by the mob or the soldiery and ending in civil war. but what was wanted by the extreme partisans on either side was not accommodation but victory. "religious differences are causing much trouble and discontents in many cities," he said. "at amsterdam there were in the past week two assemblages of boys and rabble which did not disperse without violence, crime, and robbery. the brother of professor episcopius (rem bischop) was damaged to the amount of several thousands. we are still hoping that some better means of accommodation may be found." the calmness with which the advocate spoke of these exciting and painful events is remarkable. it was exactly a week before the date of his letter that this riot had taken place at amsterdam; very significant in its nature and nearly tragical in its results. there were no remonstrant preachers left in the city, and the people of that persuasion were excluded from the communion service. on sunday morning, th february ( ), a furious mob set upon the house of rem bischop, a highly respectable and wealthy citizen, brother of the remonstrant professor episcopius, of leyden. the house, an elegant mansion in one of the principal streets, was besieged and after an hour's resistance carried by storm. the pretext of the assault was that arminian preaching was going on within its walls, which was not the fact. the mistress of the house, half clad, attempted to make her escape by the rear of the building, was pursued by the rabble with sticks and stones, and shrieks of "kill the arminian harlot, strike her dead," until she fortunately found refuge in the house of a neighbouring carpenter. there the hunted creature fell insensible on the ground, the master of the house refusing to give her up, though the maddened mob surged around it, swearing that if the "arminian harlot"--as respectable a matron as lived in the city--were not delivered over to them, they would tear the house to pieces. the hope of plunder and of killing rem bischop himself drew them at last back to his mansion. it was thoroughly sacked; every portable article of value, linen, plate, money, furniture, was carried off, the pictures and objects of art destroyed, the house gutted from top to bottom. a thousand spectators were looking on placidly at the work of destruction as they returned from church, many of them with bible and psalm-book in their hands. the master effected his escape over the roof into an adjoining building. one of the ringleaders, a carpenter by trade, was arrested carrying an armful of valuable plunder. he was asked by the magistrate why he had entered the house. "out of good zeal," he replied; "to help beat and kill the arminians who were holding conventicle there." he was further asked why he hated the arminians so much. "are we to suffer such folk here," he replied, "who preach the vile doctrine that god has created one man for damnation and another for salvation?"--thus ascribing the doctrine of the church of which he supposed himself a member to the arminians whom he had been plundering and wished to kill. rem bischop received no compensation for the damage and danger; the general cry in the town being that the money he was receiving from barneveld and the king of spain would make him good even if not a stone of the house had been left standing. on the following thursday two elders of the church council waited upon and informed him that he must in future abstain from the communion service. it may well be supposed that the virtual head of the government liked not the triumph of mob law, in the name of religion, over the civil authority. the advocate was neither democrat nor demagogue. a lawyer, a magistrate, and a noble, he had but little sympathy with the humbler classes, which he was far too much in the habit of designating as rabble and populace. yet his anger was less against them than against the priests, the foreigners, the military and diplomatic mischief-makers, by whom they were set upon to dangerous demonstrations. the old patrician scorned the arts by which highborn demagogues in that as in every age affect adulation for inferiors whom they despise. it was his instinct to protect, and guide the people, in whom he recognized no chartered nor inherent right to govern. it was his resolve, so long as breath was in him, to prevent them from destroying life and property and subverting the government under the leadership of an inflamed priesthood. it was with this intention, as we have just seen, and in order to avoid bloodshed, anarchy, and civil war in the streets of every town and village, that a decisive but in the advocate's opinion a perfectly legal step had been taken by the states of holland. it had become necessary to empower the magistracies of towns to defend themselves by enrolled troops against mob violence and against an enforced synod considered by great lawyers as unconstitutional. aerssens resided in zealand, and the efforts of that ex-ambassador were unceasing to excite popular animosity against the man he hated and to trouble the political waters in which no man knew better than he how to cast the net. "the states of zealand," said the advocate to the ambassador in london, "have a deputation here about the religious differences, urging the holding of a national synod according to the king's letters, to which some other provinces and some of the cities of holland incline. the questions have not yet been defined by a common synod, so that a national one could make no definition, while the particular synods and clerical personages are so filled with prejudices and so bound by mutual engagements of long date as to make one fear an unfruitful issue. we are occupied upon this point in our assembly of holland to devise some compromise and to discover by what means these difficulties may be brought into a state of tranquillity." it will be observed that in all these most private and confidential utterances of the advocate a tone of extreme moderation, an anxious wish to save the provinces from dissensions, dangers, and bloodshed, is distinctly visible. never is he betrayed into vindictive, ambitious, or self-seeking expressions, while sometimes, although rarely, despondent in mind. nor was his opposition to a general synod absolute. he was probably persuaded however, as we have just seen, that it should of necessity be preceded by provincial ones, both in due regard to the laws of the land and to the true definition of the points to be submitted to its decision. he had small hope of a successful result from it. the british king gave him infinite distress. as towards france so towards england the advocate kept steadily before him the necessity of deferring to powerful sovereigns whose friendship was necessary to the republic he served, however misguided, perverse, or incompetent those monarchs might be. "i had always hoped," he said, "that his majesty would have adhered to his original written advice, that such questions as these ought to be quietly settled by authority of law and not by ecclesiastical persons, and i still hope that his majesty's intention is really to that effect, although he speaks of synods." a month later he felt even more encouraged. "the last letter of his majesty concerning our religious questions," he said, "has given rise to various constructions, but the best advised, who have peace and unity at heart, understand the king's intention to be to conserve the state of these provinces and the religion in its purity. my hope is that his majesty's good opinion will be followed and adopted according to the most appropriate methods." can it be believed that the statesman whose upright patriotism, moderation, and nobleness of purpose thus breathed through every word spoken by him in public or whispered to friends was already held up by a herd of ravening slanderers to obloquy as a traitor and a tyrant? he was growing old and had suffered much from illness during this eventful summer, but his anxiety for the commonwealth, caused by these distressing and superfluous squabbles, were wearing into him more deeply than years or disease could do. "owing to my weakness and old age i can't go up-stairs as well as i used," he said,--[barneveld to caron july and aug. . (h. arch. ms.)]--"and these religious dissensions cause me sometimes such disturbance of mind as will ere long become intolerable, because of my indisposition and because of the cry of my heart at the course people are pursuing here. i reflect that at the time of duke casimir and the prince of chimay exactly such a course was held in flanders and in lord leicester's time in the city of utrecht, as is best known to yourself. my hope is fixed on the lord god almighty, and that he will make those well ashamed who are laying anything to heart save his honour and glory and the welfare of our country with maintenance of its freedom and laws. i mean unchangeably to live and die for them . . . . believe firmly that all representations to the contrary are vile calumnies." before leaving for vianen in the middle of august of this year ( ) the advocate had an interview with the prince. there had been no open rupture between them, and barneveld was most anxious to avoid a quarrel with one to whose interests and honour he had always been devoted. he did not cling to power nor office. on the contrary, he had repeatedly importuned the states to accept his resignation, hoping that perhaps these unhappy dissensions might be quieted by his removal from the scene. he now told the prince that the misunderstanding between them arising from these religious disputes was so painful to his heart that he would make and had made every possible effort towards conciliation and amicable settlement of the controversy. he saw no means now, he said, of bringing about unity, unless his excellency were willing to make some proposition for arrangement. this he earnestly implored the prince to do, assuring him of his sincere and upright affection for him and his wish to support such measures to the best of his ability and to do everything for the furtherance of his reputation and necessary authority. he was so desirous of this result, he said, that he would propose now as he did at the time of the truce negotiations to lay down all his offices, leaving his excellency to guide the whole course of affairs according to his best judgment. he had already taken a resolution, if no means of accommodation were possible, to retire to his gunterstein estate and there remain till the next meeting of the assembly; when he would ask leave to retire for at least a year; in order to occupy himself with a revision and collation of the charters, laws, and other state papers of the country which were in his keeping, and which it was needful to bring into an orderly condition. meantime some scheme might be found for arranging the religious differences, more effective than any he had been able to devise. his appeal seems to have glanced powerlessly upon the iron reticence of maurice, and the advocate took his departure disheartened. later in the autumn, so warm a remonstrance was made to him by the leading nobles and deputies of holland against his contemplated withdrawal from his post that it seemed a dereliction of duty on his part to retire. he remained to battle with the storm and to see "with anguish of heart," as he expressed it, the course religious affairs were taking. the states of utrecht on the th august resolved that on account of the gathering of large masses of troops in the countries immediately adjoining their borders, especially in the episcopate of cologne, by aid of spanish money, it was expedient for them to enlist a protective force of six companies of regular soldiers in order to save the city from sudden and overwhelming attack by foreign troops. even if the danger from without were magnified in this preamble, which is by no means certain, there seemed to be no doubt on the subject in the minds of the magistrates. they believed that they had the right to protect and that they were bound to protect their ancient city from sudden assault, whether by spanish soldiers or by organized mobs attempting, as had been done in rotterdam, oudewater, and other towns, to overawe the civil authority in the interest of the contra-remonstrants. six nobles of utrecht were accordingly commissioned to raise the troops. a week later they had been enlisted, sworn to obey in all things the states of utrecht, and to take orders from no one else. three days later the states of utrecht addressed a letter to their mightinesses the states-general and to his excellency the prince, notifying them that for the reasons stated in the resolution cited the six companies had been levied. there seemed in these proceedings to be no thought of mutiny or rebellion, the province considering itself as acting within its unquestionable rights as a sovereign state and without any exaggeration of the imperious circumstances of the case. nor did the states-general and the stadholder at that moment affect to dispute the rights of utrecht, nor raise a doubt as to the legality of the proceedings. the committee sent thither by the states-general, the prince, and the council of state in their written answer to the letter of the utrecht government declared the reasons given for the enrolment of the six companies to be insufficient and the measure itself highly dangerous. they complained, but in very courteous language, that the soldiers had been levied without giving the least notice thereof to the general government, without asking its advice, or waiting for any communication from it, and they reminded the states of utrecht that they might always rely upon the states-general and his excellency, who were still ready, as they had been seven years before ( ), to protect them against every enemy and any danger. the conflict between a single province of the confederacy and the authority of the general government had thus been brought to a direct issue; to the test of arms. for, notwithstanding the preamble to the resolution of the utrecht assembly just cited, there could be little question that the resolve itself was a natural corollary of the famous "sharp resolution," passed by the states of holland three weeks before. utrecht was in arms to prevent, among other things at least, the forcing upon them by a majority of the states-general of the national synod to which they were opposed, the seizure of churches by the contra- remonstrants, and the destruction of life and property by inflamed mobs. there is no doubt that barneveld deeply deplored the issue, but that he felt himself bound to accept it. the innate absurdity of a constitutional system under which each of the seven members was sovereign and independent and the head was at the mercy of the members could not be more flagrantly illustrated. in the bloody battles which seemed impending in the streets of utrecht and in all the principal cities of the netherlands between the soldiers of sovereign states and soldiers of a general government which was not sovereign, the letter of the law and the records of history were unquestionably on the aide of the provincial and against the general authority. yet to nullify the authority of the states-general by force of arms at this supreme moment was to stultify all government whatever. it was an awful dilemma, and it is difficult here fully to sympathize with the advocate, for he it was who inspired, without dictating, the course of the utrecht proceedings. with him patriotism seemed at this moment to dwindle into provincialism, the statesman to shrink into the lawyer. certainly there was no guilt in the proceedings. there was no crime in the heart of the advocate. he had exhausted himself with appeals in favour of moderation, conciliation, compromise. he had worked night and day with all the energy of a pure soul and a great mind to assuage religious hatreds and avert civil dissensions. he was overpowered. he had frequently desired to be released from all his functions, but as dangers thickened over the provinces, he felt it his duty so long as he remained at his post to abide by the law as the only anchor in the storm. not rising in his mind to the height of a national idea, and especially averse from it when embodied in the repulsive form of religious uniformity, he did not shrink from a contest which he had not provoked, but had done his utmost to avert. but even then he did not anticipate civil war. the enrolling of the waartgelders was an armed protest, a symbol of legal conviction rather than a serious effort to resist the general government. and this is the chief justification of his course from a political point of view. it was ridiculous to suppose that with a few hundred soldiers hastily enlisted--and there were less than waartgelders levied throughout the provinces and under the orders of civil magistrates--a serious contest was intended against a splendidly disciplined army of veteran troops, commanded by the first general of the age. from a legal point of view barneveld considered his position impregnable. the controversy is curious, especially for americans, and for all who are interested in the analysis of federal institutions and of republican principles, whether aristocratic or democratic. the states of utrecht replied in decorous but firm language to the committee of the states- general that they had raised the six companies in accordance with their sovereign right so to do, and that they were resolved to maintain them. they could not wait as they had been obliged to do in the time of the earl of leicester and more recently in until they had been surprised and overwhelmed by the enemy before the states-general and his excellency the prince could come to their rescue. they could not suffer all the evils of tumults, conspiracies, and foreign invasion, without defending themselves. making use, they said, of the right of sovereignty which in their province belonged to them alone, they thought it better to prevent in time and by convenient means such fire and mischief than to look on while it kindled and spread into a conflagration, and to go about imploring aid from their fellow confederates who, god better it, had enough in these times to do at home. this would only be to bring them as well as this province into trouble, disquiet, and expense. "my lords the states of utrecht have conserved and continually exercised this right of sovereignty in its entireness ever since renouncing the king of spain. every contract, ordinance, and instruction of the states-general has been in conformity with it, and the states of utrecht are convinced that the states of not one of their confederate provinces would yield an atom of its sovereignty." they reminded the general government that by the st article of the "closer union" of utrecht, on which that assembly was founded, it was bound to support the states of the respective provinces and strengthen them with counsel, treasure, and blood if their respective rights, more especially their individual sovereignty, the most precious of all, should be assailed. to refrain from so doing would be to violate a solemn contract. they further reminded the council of state that by its institution the states-provincial had not abdicated their respective sovereignties, but had reserved it in all matters not specifically mentioned in the original instruction by which it was created. two days afterwards arnold van randwyck and three other commissioners were instructed by the general government to confer with the states of utrecht, to tell them that their reply was deemed unsatisfactory, that their reasons for levying soldiers in times when all good people should be seeking to restore harmony and mitigate dissension were insufficient, and to request them to disband those levies without prejudice in so doing to the laws and liberties of the province and city of utrecht. here was perhaps an opening for a compromise, the instruction being not without ingenuity, and the word sovereignty in regard either to the general government or the separate provinces being carefully omitted. soon afterwards, too, the states-general went many steps farther in the path of concession, for they made another appeal to the government of utrecht to disband the waartgelders on the ground of expediency, and in so doing almost expressly admitted the doctrine of provincial sovereignty. it is important in regard to subsequent events to observe this virtual admission. "your honours lay especial stress upon the right of sovereignty as belonging to you alone in your province," they said, "and dispute therefore at great length upon the power and authority of the generality, of his excellency, and of the state council. but you will please to consider that there is here no question of this, as our commissioners had no instructions to bring this into dispute in the least, and most certainly have not done so. we have only in effect questioned whether that which one has an undoubted right to do can at all times be appropriately and becomingly done, whether it was fitting that your honours, contrary to custom, should undertake these new levies upon a special oath and commission, and effectively complete the measure without giving the slightest notice thereof to the generality." it may fairly be said that the question in debate was entirely conceded in this remarkable paper, which was addressed by the states-general, the prince-stadholder, and the council of state to the government of utrecht. it should be observed, too, that while distinctly repudiating the intention of disputing the sovereignty of that province, they carefully abstain from using the word in relation to themselves, speaking only of the might and authority of the generality, the prince, and the council. there was now a pause in the public discussion. the soldiers were not disbanded, as the states of utrecht were less occupied with establishing the soundness of their theory than with securing its practical results. they knew very well, and the advocate knew very well, that the intention to force a national synod by a majority vote of the assembly of the states-general existed more strongly than ever, and they meant to resist it to the last. the attempt was in their opinion an audacious violation of the fundamental pact on which the confederacy was founded. its success would be to establish the sacerdotal power in triumph over the civil authority. during this period the advocate was resident in utrecht. for change of air, ostensibly at least, he had absented himself from the seat of government, and was during several weeks under the hands of his old friend and physician dr. saul. he was strictly advised to abstain altogether from political business, but he might as well have attempted to abstain from food and drink. gillis van ledenberg, secretary of the states of utrecht, visited him frequently. the proposition to enlist the waartgelders had been originally made in the assembly by its president, and warmly seconded by van ledenberg, who doubtless conferred afterwards with barneveld in person, but informally and at his lodgings. it was almost inevitable that this should be the case, nor did the advocate make much mystery as to the course of action which he deemed indispensable at this period. believing it possible that some sudden and desperate attempt might be made by evil disposed people, he agreed with the states of utrecht in the propriety of taking measures of precaution. they were resolved not to look quietly on while soldiers and rabble under guidance perhaps of violent contra-remonstrant preachers took possession of the churches and even of the city itself, as had already been done in several towns. the chief practical object of enlisting the six companies was that the city might be armed against popular tumults, and they feared that the ordinary military force might be withdrawn. when captain hartvelt, in his own name and that of the other officers of those companies, said that they were all resolved never to use their weapons against the stadholder or the states-general, he was answered that they would never be required to do so. they, however, made oath to serve against those who should seek to trouble the peace of the province of utrecht in ecclesiastical or political matters, and further against all enemies of the common country. at the same time it was deemed expedient to guard against a surprise of any kind and to keep watch and ward. "i cannot quite believe in the french companies," said the advocate in a private billet to ledenberg. "it would be extremely well that not only good watch should be kept at the city gates, but also that one might from above and below the river lek be assuredly advised from the nearest cities if any soldiers are coming up or down, and that the same might be done in regard to amersfoort." at the bottom of this letter, which was destined to become historical and will be afterwards referred to, the advocate wrote, as he not unfrequently did, upon his private notes, "when read, burn, and send me back the two enclosed letters." the letter lies in the archives unburned to this day, but, harmless as it looked, it was to serve as a nail in more than one coffin. in his confidential letters to trusted friends he complained of "great physical debility growing out of heavy sorrow," and described himself as entering upon his seventy-first year and no longer fit for hard political labour. the sincere grief, profound love of country, and desire that some remedy might be found for impending disaster, is stamped upon all his utterances whether official or secret. "the troubles growing out of the religious differences," he said, "are running into all sorts of extremities. it is feared that an attempt will be made against the laws of the land through extraordinary ways, and by popular tumults to take from the supreme authority of the respective provinces the right to govern clerical persons and regulate clerical disputes, and to place it at the disposition of ecclesiastics and of a national synod. "it is thought too that the soldiers will be forbidden to assist the civil supreme power and the government of cities in defending themselves from acts of violence which under pretext of religion will be attempted against the law and the commands of the magistrates. "this seems to conflict with the common law of the respective provinces, each of which from all times had right of sovereignty and supreme authority within its territory and specifically reserved it in all treaties and especially in that of the nearer union . . . . the provinces have always regulated clerical matters each for itself. the province of utrecht, which under the pretext of religion is now most troubled, made stipulations to this effect, when it took his excellency for governor, even more stringent than any others. as for holland, she never imagined that one could ever raise a question on the subject . . . . all good men ought to do their best to prevent the enemies to the welfare of these provinces from making profit out of our troubles." the whole matter he regarded as a struggle between the clergy and the civil power for mastery over the state, as an attempt to subject provincial autonomy to the central government purely in the interest of the priesthood of a particular sect. the remedy he fondly hoped for was moderation and union within the church itself. he could never imagine the necessity for this ferocious animosity not only between christians but between two branches of the reformed church. he could never be made to believe that the five points of the remonstrance had dug an abyss too deep and wide ever to be bridged between brethren lately of one faith as of one fatherland. he was unceasing in his prayers and appeals for "mutual toleration on the subject of predestination." perhaps the bitterness, almost amounting to frenzy, with which abstruse points of casuistry were then debated, and which converted differences of opinion upon metaphysical divinity into deadly hatred and thirst for blood, is already obsolete or on the road to become so. if so, then was barneveld in advance of his age, and it would have been better for the peace of the world and the progress of christianity if more of his contemporaries had placed themselves on his level. he was no theologian, but he believed himself to be a christian, and he certainly was a thoughtful and a humble one. he had not the arrogance to pierce behind the veil and assume to read the inscrutable thoughts of the omnipotent. it was a cruel fate that his humility upon subjects which he believed to be beyond the scope of human reason should have been tortured by his enemies into a crime, and that because he hoped for religious toleration he should be accused of treason to the commonwealth. "believe and cause others to believe," he said, "that i am and with the grace of god hope to continue an upright patriot as i have proved myself to be in these last forty-two years spent in the public service. in the matter of differential religious points i remain of the opinions which i have held for more than fifty years, and in which i hope to live and die, to wit, that a good christian man ought to believe that he is predestined to eternal salvation through god's grace, giving for reasons that he through god's grace has a firm belief that his salvation is founded purely on god's grace and the expiation of our sins through our saviour jesus christ, and that if he should fall into any sins his firm trust is that god will not let him perish in them, but mercifully turn him to repentance, so that he may continue in the same belief to the last." these expressions were contained in a letter to caron with the intention doubtless that they should be communicated to the king of great britain, and it is a curious illustration of the spirit of the age, this picture of the leading statesman of a great republic unfolding his religious convictions for private inspection by the monarch of an allied nation. more than anything else it exemplifies the close commixture of theology, politics, and diplomacy in that age, and especially in those two countries. formerly, as we have seen, the king considered a too curious fathoming of divine mysteries as highly reprehensible, particularly for the common people. although he knew more about them than any one else, he avowed that even his knowledge in this respect was not perfect. it was matter of deep regret with the advocate that his majesty had not held to his former positions, and that he had disowned his original letters. "i believe my sentiments thus expressed," he said, "to be in accordance with scripture, and i have always held to them without teasing my brains with the precise decrees of reprobation, foreknowledge, or the like, as matters above my comprehension. i have always counselled christian moderation. the states of holland have followed the spirit of his majesty's letters, but our antagonists have rejected them and with seditious talk, sermons, and the spreading of infamous libels have brought matters to their present condition. there have been excesses on the other side as well." he then made a slight, somewhat shadowy allusion to schemes known to be afloat for conferring the sovereignty upon maurice. we have seen that at former periods he had entertained this subject and discussed it privately with those who were not only friendly but devoted to the stadholder, and that he had arrived at the conclusion that it would not be for the interest of the prince to encourage the project. above all he was sternly opposed to the idea of attempting to compass it by secret intrigue. should such an arrangement be publicly discussed and legally completed, it would not meet with his unconditional opposition. "the lord god knows," he said, "whether underneath all these movements does not lie the design of the year , well known to you. as for me, believe that i am and by god's grace hope to remain, what i always was, an upright patriot, a defender of the true christian religion, of the public authority, and of all the power that has been and in future may be legally conferred upon his excellency. believe that all things said, written, or spread to the contrary are falsehoods and calumnies." he was still in utrecht, but about to leave for the hague, with health somewhat improved and in better spirits in regard to public matters. "although i have entered my seventy-first year," he said, "i trust still to be of some service to the commonwealth and to my friends . . . . don't consider an arrangement of our affairs desperate. i hope for better things." soon after his return he was waited upon one sunday evening, late in october--being obliged to keep his house on account of continued indisposition--by a certain solicitor named nordlingen and informed that the prince was about to make a sudden visit to leyden at four o'clock next morning. barneveld knew that the burgomasters and regents were holding a great banquet that night, and that many of them would probably have been indulging in potations too deep to leave them fit for serious business. the agitation of people's minds at that moment made the visit seem rather a critical one, as there would probably be a mob collected to see the stadholder, and he was anxious both in the interest of the prince and the regents and of both religious denominations that no painful incidents should occur if it was in his power to prevent them. he was aware that his son-in-law, cornelis van der myle, had been invited to the banquet, and that he was wont to carry his wine discreetly. he therefore requested nordlingen to proceed to leyden that night and seek an interview with van der myle without delay. by thus communicating the intelligence of the expected visit to one who, he felt sure, would do his best to provide for a respectful and suitable reception of the prince, notwithstanding the exhilarated condition in which the magistrates would probably find themselves, the advocate hoped to prevent any riot or tumultuous demonstration of any kind. at least he would act conformably to his duty and keep his conscience clear should disasters ensue. later in the night he learned that maurice was going not to leyden but to delft, and he accordingly despatched a special messenger to arrive before dawn at leyden in order to inform van der myle of this change in the prince's movements. nothing seemed simpler or more judicious than these precautions on the part of barneveld. they could not fail, however, to be tortured into sedition, conspiracy, and treason. towards the end of the year a meeting of the nobles and knights of holland under the leadership of barneveld was held to discuss the famous sharp resolution of th august and the letters and arguments advanced against it by the stadholder and the council of state. it was unanimously resolved by this body, in which they were subsequently followed by a large majority of the states of holland, to maintain that resolution and its consequences and to oppose the national synod. they further resolved that a legal provincial synod should be convoked by the states of holland and under their authority and supervision. the object of such synod should be to devise "some means of accommodation, mutual toleration, and christian settlement of differences in regard to the five points in question." in case such compromise should unfortunately not be arranged, then it was resolved to invite to the assembly two or three persons from france, as many from england, from germany, and from switzerland, to aid in the consultations. should a method of reconciliation and mutual toleration still remain undiscovered, then, in consideration that the whole christian world was interested in composing these dissensions, it was proposed that a "synodal assembly of all christendom," a protestant oecumenical council, should in some solemn manner be convoked. these resolutions and propositions were all brought forward by the advocate, and the draughts of them in his handwriting remain. they are the unimpeachable evidences of his earnest desire to put an end to these unhappy disputes and disorders in the only way which he considered constitutional. before the close of the year the states of holland, in accordance with the foregoing advice of the nobles, passed a resolution, the minutes of which were drawn up by the hand of the advocate, and in which they persisted in their opposition to the national synod. they declared by a large majority of votes that the assembly of the states-general without the unanimous consent of the provincial states were not competent according to the union of utrecht--the fundamental law of the general assembly--to regulate religious affairs, but that this right belonged to the separate provinces, each within its own domain. they further resolved that as they were bound by solemn oath to maintain the laws and liberties of holland, they could not surrender this right to the generality, nor allow it to be usurped by any one, but in order to settle the question of the five points, the only cause known to them of the present disturbances, they were content under: their own authority to convoke a provincial synod within three months, at their own cost, and to invite the respective provinces, as many of them as thought good, to send to this meeting a certain number of pious and learned theologians. it is difficult to see why the course thus unanimously proposed by the nobles of holland, under guidance of barneveld, and subsequently by a majority of the states of that province, would not have been as expedient as it was legal. but we are less concerned with that point now than with the illustrations afforded by these long buried documents of the patriotism and sagacity of a man than whom no human creature was ever more foully slandered. it will be constantly borne in mind that he regarded this religious controversy purely from a political, legal, and constitutional--and not from a theological-point of view. he believed that grave danger to the fatherland was lurking under this attempt, by the general government, to usurp the power of dictating the religious creed of all the provinces. especially he deplored the evil influence exerted by the king of england since his abandonment of the principles announced in his famous letter to the states in the year . all that the advocate struggled for was moderation and mutual toleration within the reformed church. he felt that a wider scheme of forbearance was impracticable. if a dream of general religious equality had ever floated before him or before any one in that age, he would have felt it to be a dream which would be a reality nowhere until centuries should have passed away. yet that moderation, patience, tolerance, and respect for written law paved the road to that wider and loftier region can scarcely be doubted. carleton, subservient to every changing theological whim of his master, was as vehement and as insolent now in enforcing the intolerant views of james as he had previously been in supporting the counsels to tolerance contained in the original letters of that monarch. the ambassador was often at the advocate's bed-side during his illness that summer, enforcing, instructing, denouncing, contradicting. he was never weary of fulfilling his duties of tuition, but the patient barneveld; haughty and overbearing as he was often described to be, rarely used a harsh or vindictive word regarding him in his letters. "the ambassador of france," he said, "has been heard before the assembly of the states-general, and has made warm appeals in favour of union and mutual toleration as his majesty of great britain so wisely did in his letters of . . . . if his majesty could only be induced to write fresh letters in similar tone, i should venture to hope better fruits from them than from this attempt to thrust a national synod upon our necks, which many of us hold to be contrary to law, reason, and the act of union." so long as it was possible to hope that the action of the states of holland would prevent such a catastrophe, he worked hard to direct them in what he deemed the right course. "our political and religious differences," he said, "stand between hope and fear." the hope was in the acceptance of the provincial synod--the fear lest the national synod should be carried by a minority of the cities of holland combining with a majority of the other provincial states. "this would be in violation," he said, "of the so-called religious peace, the act of union, the treaty with the duke of anjou, the negotiations of the states of utrecht, and with prince maurice in with cognizance of the states-general and those of holland for, the governorship of that province, the custom of the generality for the last thirty years according to which religious matters have always been left to the disposition of the states of each province . . . . carleton is strenuously urging this course in his majesty's name, and i fear that in the present state of our humours great troubles will be the result." the expulsion by an armed mob, in the past year, of a remonstrant preacher at oudewater, the overpowering of the magistracy and the forcing on of illegal elections in that and other cities, had given him and all earnest patriots grave cause for apprehension. they were dreading, said barneveld, a course of crimes similar to those which under the earl of leicester's government had afflicted leyden and utrecht. "efforts are incessant to make the remonstrants hateful," he said to caron, "but go forward resolutely and firmly in the conviction that our friends here are as animated in their opposition to the spanish dominion now and by god's grace will so remain as they have ever proved themselves to be, not only by words, but works. i fear that mr. carleton gives too much belief to the enviers of our peace and tranquillity under pretext of religion, but it is more from ignorance than malice." those who have followed the course of the advocate's correspondence, conversation, and actions, as thus far detailed, can judge of the gigantic nature of the calumny by which he was now assailed. that this man, into every fibre of whose nature was woven undying hostility to spain, as the great foe to national independence and religious liberty throughout the continent of europe, whose every effort, as we have seen, during all these years of nominal peace had been to organize a system of general european defence against the war now actually begun upon protestantism, should be accused of being a partisan of spain, a creature of spain, a pensioner of spain, was enough to make honest men pray that the earth might be swallowed up. if such idiotic calumnies could be believed, what patriot in the world could not be doubted? yet they were believed. barneveld was bought by spanish gold. he had received whole boxes full of spanish pistoles, straight from brussels! for his part in the truce negotiations he had received , ducats in one lump. "it was plain," said the greatest man in the country to another great man, "that barneveld and his party are on the road to spain." "then it were well to have proof of it," said the great man. "not yet time," was the reply. "we must flatten out a few of them first." prince maurice had told the princess-dowager the winter before ( th december ) that those dissensions would never be decided except by use of weapons; and he now mentioned to her that he had received information from brussels, which he in part believed, that the advocate was a stipendiary of spain. yet he had once said, to the same princess louise, of this stipendiary that "the services which the advocate had rendered to the house of nassau were so great that all the members of that house might well look upon him not as their friend but their father." councillor van maldere, president of the states of zealand, and a confidential friend of maurice, was going about the hague saying that "one must string up seven or eight remonstrants on the gallows; then there might be some improvement." as for arminius and uytenbogaert, people had long told each other and firmly believed it, and were amazed when any incredulity was expressed in regard to it, that they were in regular and intimate correspondence with the jesuits, that they had received large sums from rome, and that both had been promised cardinals' hats. that barneveld and his friend uytenbogaert were regular pensioners of spain admitted of no dispute whatever. "it was as true as the holy evangel." the ludicrous chatter had been passed over with absolute disdain by the persons attacked, but calumny is often a stronger and more lasting power than disdain. it proved to be in these cases. "you have the plague mark on your flesh, oh pope, oh pensioner," said one libeller. "there are letters safely preserved to make your process for you. look out for your head. many have sworn your death, for it is more than time that you were out of the world. we shall prove, oh great bribed one, that you had the , little ducats." the preacher uytenbogaert was also said to have had , ducats for his share. "go to brussels," said the pamphleteer; "it all stands clearly written out on the register with the names and surnames of all you great bribe- takers." these were choice morsels from the lampoon of the notary danckaerts. "we are tortured more and more with religious differences," wrote barneveld; "with acts of popular violence growing out of them the more continuously as they remain unpunished, and with ever increasing jealousies and suspicions. the factious libels become daily more numerous and more impudent, and no man comes undamaged from the field. i, as a reward for all my troubles, labours, and sorrows, have three double portions of them. i hope however to overcome all by god's grace and to defend my actions with all honourable men so long as right and reason have place in the world, as to which many begin to doubt. if his majesty had been pleased to stick to the letters of , we should never have got into these difficulties . . . . it were better in my opinion that carleton should be instructed to negotiate in the spirit of those epistles rather than to torment us with the national synod, which will do more harm than good." it is impossible not to notice the simplicity and patience with which the advocate, in the discharge of his duty as minister of foreign affairs, kept the leading envoys of the republic privately informed of events which were becoming day by day more dangerous to the public interests and his own safety. if ever a perfectly quiet conscience was revealed in the correspondence of a statesman, it was to be found in these letters. calmly writing to thank caron for some very satisfactory english beer which the ambassador had been sending him from london, he proceeded to speak again of the religious dissensions and their consequences. he sent him the letter and remonstrance which he had felt himself obliged to make, and which he had been urged by his ever warm and constant friend the widow of william the silent to make on the subject of "the seditious libels, full of lies and calumnies got up by conspiracy against him." these letters were never published, however, until years after he had been in his grave. "i know that you are displeased with the injustice done me," he said, "but i see no improvement. people are determined to force through the national synod. the two last ones did much harm. this will do ten times more, so intensely embittered are men's tempers against each other." again he deplored the king's departure from his letters of , by adherence to which almost all the troubles would have been spared. it is curious too to observe the contrast between public opinion in great britain, including its government, in regard to the constitution of the united provinces at that period of domestic dissensions and incipient civil war and the general impressions manifested in the same nation two centuries and a half later, on the outbreak of the slavery rebellion, as to the constitution of the united states. the states in arms against the general government on the other side of the atlantic were strangely but not disingenuously assumed to be sovereign and independent, and many statesmen and a leading portion of the public justified them in their attempt to shake off the central government as if it were but a board of agency established by treaty and terminable at pleasure of any one of among sovereigns and terminable at pleasure of any one of them. yet even a superficial glance at the written constitution of the republic showed that its main object was to convert what had been a confederacy into an incorporation; and that the very essence of its renewed political existence was an organic law laid down by a whole people in their primitive capacity in place of a league banding together a group of independent little corporations. the chief attributes of sovereignty-- the rights of war and peace, of coinage, of holding armies and navies, of issuing bills of credit, of foreign relations, of regulating and taxing foreign commerce--having been taken from the separate states by the united people thereof and bestowed upon a government provided with a single executive head, with a supreme tribunal, with a popular house of representatives and a senate, and with power to deal directly with the life and property of every individual in the land, it was strange indeed that the feudal, and in america utterly unmeaning, word sovereign should have been thought an appropriate term for the different states which had fused themselves three-quarters of a century before into a union. when it is remembered too that the only dissolvent of this union was the intention to perpetuate human slavery, the logic seemed somewhat perverse by which the separate sovereignty of the states was deduced from the constitution of . on the other hand, the union of utrecht of was a league of petty sovereignties; a compact less binding and more fragile than the articles of union made almost exactly two hundred years later in america, and the worthlessness of which, after the strain of war was over, had been demonstrated in the dreary years immediately following the peace of . one after another certain netherland provinces had abjured their allegiance to spain, some of them afterwards relapsing under it, some having been conquered by the others, while one of them, holland, had for a long time borne the greater part of the expense and burthen of the war. "holland," said the advocate, "has brought almost all the provinces to their liberty. to receive laws from them or from their clerical people now is what our state cannot endure. it is against her laws and customs, in the enjoyment of which the other provinces and his excellency as governor of holland are bound to protect us." and as the preservation of chattel slavery in the one case seemed a legitimate ground for destroying a government which had as definite an existence as any government known to mankind, so the resolve to impose a single religious creed upon many millions of individuals was held by the king and government of great britain to be a substantial reason for imagining a central sovereignty which had never existed at all. this was still more surprising as the right to dispose of ecclesiastical affairs and persons had been expressly reserved by the separate provinces in perfectly plain language in the treaty of union. "if the king were better informed," said barneveld, "of our system and laws, we should have better hope than now. but one supposes through notorious error in foreign countries that the sovereignty stands with the states-general which is not the case, except in things which by the articles of closer union have been made common to all the provinces, while in other matters, as religion, justice, and polity, the sovereignty remains with each province, which foreigners seem unable to comprehend." early in june, carleton took his departure for england on leave of absence. he received a present from the states of florins, and went over in very ill-humour with barneveld. "mr. ambassador is much offended and prejudiced," said the advocate, "but i know that he will religiously carry out the orders of his majesty. i trust that his majesty can admit different sentiments on predestination and its consequences, and that in a kingdom where the supreme civil authority defends religion the system of the puritans will have no foothold." certainly james could not be accused of allowing the system of the puritans much foothold in england, but he had made the ingenious discovery that puritanism in holland was a very different thing from puritanism in the netherlands. etext editor's bookmarks: acts of violence which under pretext of religion adulation for inferiors whom they despise calumny is often a stronger and more lasting power than disdain created one child for damnation and another for salvation depths of credulity men in all ages can sink devote himself to his gout and to his fair young wife furious mob set upon the house of rem bischop highborn demagogues in that as in every age affect adulation in this he was much behind his age or before it logic is rarely the quality on which kings pride themselves necessity of deferring to powerful sovereigns not his custom nor that of his councillors to go to bed partisans wanted not accommodation but victory puritanism in holland was a very different thing from england seemed bent on self-destruction stand between hope and fear the evils resulting from a confederate system of government to stifle for ever the right of free enquiry this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, volume life and death of john of barneveld, v , chapter xvi. maurice revolutionizes the provinces--danckaert's libellous pamphlet --barneveld's appeal to the prince--barneveld'a remonstrance to the states--the stadholder at amsterdam--the treaty of truce nearly expired--king of spain and archduke albert--scheme for recovering the provinces--secret plot to make maurice sovereign. early in the year ( ) maurice set himself about revolutionizing the provinces on which he could not yet thoroughly rely. the town of nymegen since its recovery from the spaniards near the close of the preceding century had held its municipal government, as it were, at the option of the prince. during the war he had been, by the terms of surrender, empowered to appoint and to change its magistracy at will. no change had occurred for many years, but as the government had of late fallen into the hands of the barneveldians, and as maurice considered the truce to be a continuance of the war, he appeared suddenly, in the city at the head of a body of troops and surrounded by his lifeguard. summoning the whole board of magistrates into the townhouse, he gave them all notice to quit, disbanding them like a company of mutinous soldiery, and immediately afterwards appointed a fresh list of functionaries in their stead. this done, he proceeded to arnhem, where the states of gelderland were in session, appeared before that body, and made a brief announcement of the revolution which he had so succinctly effected in the most considerable town of their province. the assembly, which seems, like many other assemblies at precisely this epoch, to have had an extraordinary capacity for yielding to gentle violence, made but little resistance to the extreme measures now undertaken by the stadholder, and not only highly applauded the subjugation of nymegen, but listened with sympathy to his arguments against the waartgelders and in favour of the synod. having accomplished so much by a very brief visit to gelderland, the prince proceeded, to overyssel, and had as little difficulty in bringing over the wavering minds of that province into orthodoxy and obedience. thus there remained but two provinces out of seven that were still "waartgeldered" and refused to be "synodized." it was rebellion against rebellion. maurice and his adherents accused the states' right party of mutiny against himself and the states-general. the states' right party accused the contra-remonstrants in the cities of mutiny against the lawful sovereignty of each province. the oath of the soldiery, since the foundation of the republic, had been to maintain obedience and fidelity to the states-general, the stadholder, and the province in which they were garrisoned, and at whose expense they were paid. it was impossible to harmonize such conflicting duties and doctrines. theory had done its best and its worst. the time was fast approaching, as it always must approach, when fact with its violent besom would brush away the fine-spun cobwebs which had been so long undisturbed. "i will grind the advocate and all his party into fine meal," said the prince on one occasion. a clever caricature of the time represented a pair of scales hung up in a great hall. in the one was a heap of parchments, gold chains, and magisterial robes; the whole bundle being marked the "holy right of each city." in the other lay a big square, solid, ironclasped volume, marked "institutes of calvin." each scale was respectively watched by gomarus and by arminius. the judges, gowned, furred, and ruffed, were looking decorously on, when suddenly the stadholder, in full military attire, was seen rushing into the apartment and flinging his sword into the scale with the institutes. the civic and legal trumpery was of course made to kick the beam. maurice had organized his campaign this year against the advocate and his party as deliberately as he had ever arranged the details of a series of battles and sieges against the spaniard. and he was proving himself as consummate master in political strife as in the great science of war. he no longer made any secret of his conviction that barneveld was a traitor to his country, bought with spanish gold. there was not the slightest proof for these suspicions, but he asserted them roundly. "the advocate is travelling straight to spain," he said to count cuylenborg. "but we will see who has got the longest purse." and as if it had been a part of the campaign, a prearranged diversion to the more direct and general assault on the entrenchments of the states' right party, a horrible personal onslaught was now made from many quarters upon the advocate. it was an age of pamphleteering, of venomous, virulent, unscrupulous libels. and never even in that age had there been anything to equal the savage attacks upon this great statesman. it moves the gall of an honest man, even after the lapse of two centuries and a half, to turn over those long forgotten pages and mark the depths to which political and theological party spirit could descend. that human creatures can assimilate themselves so closely to the reptile, and to the subtle devil within the reptile, when a party end is to be gained is enough to make the very name of man a term of reproach. day by day appeared pamphlets, each one more poisonous than its predecessor. there was hardly a crime that was not laid at the door of barneveld and all his kindred. the man who had borne a matchlock in early youth against the foreign tyrant in days when unsuccessful rebellion meant martyrdom and torture; who had successfully guided the councils of the infant commonwealth at a period when most of his accusers were in their cradles, and when mistake was ruin to the republic; he on whose strong arm the father of his country had leaned for support; the man who had organized a political system out of chaos; who had laid down the internal laws, negotiated the great indispensable alliances, directed the complicated foreign policy, established the system of national defence, presided over the successful financial administration of a state struggling out of mutiny into national existence; who had rocked the republic in its cradle and ever borne her in his heart; who had made her name beloved at home and honoured and dreaded abroad; who had been the first, when the great taciturn had at last fallen a victim to the murderous tyrant of spain, to place the youthful maurice in his father's place, and to inspire the whole country with sublime courage to persist rather than falter in purpose after so deadly a blow; who was as truly the founder of the republic as william had been the author of its independence,--was now denounced as a traitor, a pope, a tyrant, a venal hucksterer of his country's liberties. his family name, which had long been an ancient and knightly one, was defiled and its nobility disputed; his father and mother, sons and daughters, sisters and brothers, accused of every imaginable and unimaginable crime, of murder, incest, robbery, bastardy, fraud, forgery, blasphemy. he had received waggon-loads of spanish pistoles; he had been paid , ducats by spain for negotiating the truce; he was in secret treaty with archduke albert to bring , spanish mercenaries across the border to defeat the machinations of prince maurice, destroy his life, or drive him from the country; all these foul and bitter charges and a thousand similar ones were rained almost daily upon that grey head. one day the loose sheets of a more than commonly libellous pamphlet were picked up in the streets of the hague and placed in the advocate's hands. it was the work of the drunken notary danckaerts already mentioned, then resident in amsterdam, and among the papers thus found was a list of wealthy merchants of that city who had contributed to the expense of its publication. the opposition of barneveld to the west india corporation could never be forgiven. the advocate was notified in this production that he was soon to be summoned to answer for his crimes. the country was weary of him, he was told, and his life was forfeited. stung at last beyond endurance by the persistent malice of his enemies, he came before the states of holland for redress. upon his remonstrance the author of this vile libel was summoned to answer before the upper tribunal at the hague for his crime. the city of amsterdam covered him with the shield 'de non evocando,' which had so often in cases of less consequence proved of no protective value, and the notary was never punished, but on the contrary after a brief lapse of time rewarded as for a meritorious action. meantime, the states of holland, by formal act, took the name and honour of barneveld under their immediate protection as a treasure belonging specially to themselves. heavy penalties were denounced upon the authors and printers of these libellous attacks, and large rewards offered for their detection. nothing came, however, of such measures. on the th april the advocate addressed a frank, dignified, and conciliatory letter to the prince. the rapid progress of calumny against him had at last alarmed even his steadfast soul, and he thought it best to make a last appeal to the justice and to the clear intellect of william the silent's son. "gracious prince," he said, "i observe to my greatest sorrow an entire estrangement of your excellency from me, and i fear lest what was said six months since by certain clerical persons and afterwards by some politicians concerning your dissatisfaction with me, which until now i have not been able to believe, must be true. i declare nevertheless with a sincere heart to have never willingly given cause for any such feeling; having always been your very faithful servant and with god's help hoping as such to die. ten years ago during the negotiations for the truce i clearly observed the beginning of this estrangement, but your excellency will be graciously pleased to remember that i declared to you at that time my upright and sincere intention in these negotiations to promote the service of the country and the interests of your excellency, and that i nevertheless offered at the time not only to resign all my functions but to leave the country rather than remain in office and in the country to the dissatisfaction of your excellency." he then rapidly reviewed the causes which had produced the alienation of which he complained and the melancholy divisions caused by the want of mutual religious toleration in the provinces; spoke of his efforts to foster a spirit of conciliation on the dread subject of predestination, and referred to the letter of the king of great britain deprecating discussion and schism on this subject, and urging that those favourable to the views of the remonstrants ought not to be persecuted. referring to the intimate relations which uytenbogaert had so long enjoyed with the prince, the advocate alluded to the difficulty he had in believing that his excellency intended to act in opposition to the efforts of the states of holland in the cause of mutual toleration, to the manifest detriment of the country and of many of its best and truest patriots and the greater number of the magistrates in all the cities. he reminded the prince that all attempts to accommodate these fearful quarrels had been frustrated, and that on his departure the previous year to utrecht on account of his health he had again offered to resign all his offices and to leave holland altogether rather than find himself in perpetual opposition to his excellency. "i begged you in such case," he said, "to lend your hand to the procuring for me an honourable discharge from my lords the states, but your excellency declared that you could in no wise approve such a step and gave me hope that some means of accommodating the dissensions would yet be proposed." "i went then to vianen, being much indisposed; thence i repaired to utrecht to consult my old friend doctor saulo saul, in whose hands i remained six weeks, not being able, as i hoped, to pass my seventieth birthday on the th september last in my birthplace, the city of amersfoort. all this time i heard not one single word or proposal of accommodation. on the contrary it was determined that by a majority vote, a thing never heard of before, it was intended against the solemn resolves of the states of holland, of utrecht, and of overyssel to bring these religious differences before the assembly of my lords the states- general, a proceeding directly in the teeth of the act of union and other treaties, and before a synod which people called national, and that meantime every effort was making to discredit all those who stood up for the laws of these provinces and to make them odious and despicable in the eyes of the common people. "especially it was i that was thus made the object of hatred and contempt in their eyes. hundreds of lies and calumnies, circulated in the form of libels, seditious pamphlets, and lampoons, compelled me to return from utrecht to the hague. since that time i have repeatedly offered my services to your excellency for the promotion of mutual accommodation and reconciliation of differences, but without success." he then alluded to the publication with which the country was ringing, 'the necessary and living discourse of a spanish counsellor', and which was attributed to his former confidential friend, now become his deadliest foe, ex-ambassador francis aerssens, and warned the prince that if he chose, which god forbid, to follow the advice of that seditious libel, nothing but ruin to the beloved fatherland and its lovers, to the princely house of orange-nassau and to the christian religion could be the issue. "the spanish government could desire no better counsel," he said, "than this which these fellows give you; to encourage distrust and estrangement between your excellency and the nobles, the cities, and the magistrates of the land and to propose high and haughty imaginings which are easy enough to write, but most difficult to practise, and which can only enure to the advantage of spain. therefore most respectfully i beg your excellency not to believe these fellows, but to reject their counsels . . . . among them are many malignant hypocrites and ambitious men who are seeking their own profit in these changes of government--many utterly ragged and beggarly fellows and many infamous traitors coming from the provinces which have remained under the dominion of the spaniard, and who are filled with revenge, envy, and jealousy at the greater prosperity and bloom of these independent states than they find at home. "i fear," he said in conclusion, "that i have troubled your excellency too long, but to the fulfilment of my duty and discharge of my conscience i could not be more brief. it saddens me deeply that in recompense for my long and manifold services i am attacked by so many calumnious, lying, seditious, and fraudulent libels, and that these indecencies find their pretext and their food in the evil disposition of your excellency towards me. and although for one-and-thirty years long i have been able to live down such things with silence, well-doing, and truth, still do i now find myself compelled in this my advanced old age and infirmity to make some utterances in defence of myself and those belonging to me, however much against my heart and inclinations." he ended by enclosing a copy of the solemn state paper which he was about to lay before the states of holland in defence of his honour, and subscribed himself the lifelong and faithful servant of the prince. the remonstrance to the states contained a summary review of the political events of his life, which was indeed nothing more nor less than the history of his country and almost of europe itself during that period, broadly and vividly sketched with the hand of a master. it was published at once and strengthened the affection of his friends and the wrath of his enemies. it is not necessary to our purpose to reproduce or even analyse the document, the main facts and opinions contained in it being already familiar to the reader. the frankness however with which, in reply to the charges so profusely brought against him of having grown rich by extortion, treason, and corruption, of having gorged himself with plunder at home and bribery from the enemy, of being the great pensioner of europe and the marshal d'ancre of the netherlands--he alluded to the exact condition of his private affairs and the growth and sources of his revenue, giving, as it were, a kind of schedule of his property, has in it something half humorous, half touching in its simplicity. he set forth the very slender salaries attached to his high offices of advocate of holland, keeper of the seals, and other functions. he answered the charge that he always had at his disposition , florins to bribe foreign agents withal by saying that his whole allowance for extraordinary expenses and trouble in maintaining his diplomatic and internal correspondence was exactly florins yearly. he alluded to the slanders circulated as to his wealth and its sources by those who envied him for his position and hated him for his services. "but i beg you to believe, my lords," he continued, "that my property is neither so great nor so small as some people represent it to be. "in the year ' i married my wife," he said. "i was pleased with her person. i was likewise pleased with the dowry which was promptly paid over to me, with firm expectation of increase and betterment . . . . i ac knowledge that forty-three years ago my wife and myself had got together so much of real and personal property that we could live honourably upon it. i had at that time as good pay and practice as any advocate in the courts which brought me in a good florins a year; there being but eight advocates practising at the time, of whom i was certainly not the one least employed. in the beginning of the year ' i came into the service of the city of rotterdam as 'pensionary. upon my salary from that town i was enabled to support my family, having then but two children. now i can clearly prove that between the years and inclusive i have inherited in my own right or that of my wife, from our relatives, for ourselves and our children by lawful succession, more than holland morgens of land (about acres), more than florins yearly of redeemable rents, a good house in the city of delft, some houses in the open country, and several thousand florins in ready money. i have likewise reclaimed in the course of the past forty years out of the water and swamps by dyking more than an equal number of acres to those inherited, and have bought and sold property during the same period to the value of , florins; having sometimes bought , florins' worth and sold , of it for , , and so on." it was evident that the thrifty advocate during his long life had understood how to turn over his money, and it was not necessary to imagine "waggon-loads of spanish pistoles" and bribes on a gigantic scale from the hereditary enemy in order to account for a reasonable opulence on his part. "i have had nothing to do with trade," he continued, "it having been the custom of my ancestors to risk no money except where the plough goes. in the great east india company however, which with four years of hard work, public and private, i have helped establish, in order to inflict damage on the spaniards and portuguese, i have adventured somewhat more than florins . . . . now even if my condition be reasonably good, i think no one has reason to envy me. nevertheless i have said it in your lordships' assembly, and i repeat it solemnly on this occasion, that i have pondered the state of my affairs during my recent illness and found that in order to leave my children unencumbered estates i must sell property to the value of , or , florins. this i would rather do than leave the charge to my children. that i should have got thus behindhand through bad management, i beg your highnesses not to believe. but i have inherited, with the succession of four persons whose only heir i was and with that of others to whom i was co-heir, many burthens as well. i have bought property with encumbrances, and i have dyked and bettered several estates with borrowed money. now should it please your lordships to institute a census and valuation of the property of your subjects, i for one should be very well pleased. for i know full well that those who in the estimates of capital in the year rated themselves at , or , florins now may boast of having twice as much property as i have. yet in that year out of patriotism i placed myself on the list of those liable for the very highest contributions, being assessed on a property of , florins." the advocate alluded with haughty contempt to the notorious lies circulated by his libellers in regard to his lineage, as if the vast services and unquestioned abilities of such a statesman would not have illustrated the obscurest origin. but as he happened to be of ancient and honourable descent, he chose to vindicate his position in that regard. "i was born in the city of amersfoort," he said, "by the father's side an oldenbarneveld; an old and noble race, from generation to generation steadfast and true; who have been duly summoned for many hundred years to the assembly of the nobles of their province as they are to this day. by my mother's side i am sprung from the ancient and knightly family of amersfoort, which for three or four hundred years has been known as foremost among the nobles of utrecht in all state affairs and as landed proprietors." it is only for the sake of opening these domestic and private lights upon an historical character whose life was so pre-eminently and almost exclusively a public one that we have drawn some attention to this stately defence made by the advocate of his birth, life, and services to the state. the public portions of the state paper belong exclusively to history, and have already been sufficiently detailed. the letter to prince maurice was delivered into his hands by cornelis van der myle, son-in-law of barneveld. no reply to it was ever sent, but several days afterwards the stadholder called from his open window to van der myle, who happened to be passing by. he then informed him that he neither admitted the premises nor the conclusion of the advocate's letter, saying that many things set down in it were false. he furthermore told him a story of a certain old man who, having in his youth invented many things and told them often for truth, believed them when he came to old age to be actually true and was ever ready to stake his salvation upon them. whereupon he shut the window and left van der myle to make such application of the parable as he thought proper, vouchsafing no further answer to barneveld's communication. dudley carleton related the anecdote to his government with much glee, but it may be doubted whether this bold way of giving the lie to a venerable statesman through his son-in-law would have been accounted as triumphant argumentation anywhere out of a barrack. as for the remonstrance to the states of holland, although most respectfully received in that assembly except by the five opposition cities, its immediate effect on the public was to bring down a fresh "snow storm"--to use the expression of a contemporary--of pamphlets, libels, caricatures, and broadsheets upon the head of the advocate. in every bookseller's and print shop window in all the cities of the country, the fallen statesman was represented in all possible ludicrous, contemptible, and hateful shapes, while hags and blind beggars about the streets screeched filthy and cursing ballads against him, even at his very doors. the effect of energetic, uncompromising calumny has rarely been more strikingly illustrated than in the case of this statesman. blackened daily all over by a thousand trowels, the purest and noblest character must have been defiled, and it is no wonder that the incrustation upon the advocate's fame should have lasted for two centuries and a half. it may perhaps endure for as many more: not even the vile marshal d'ancre, who had so recently perished, was more the mark of obloquy in a country which he had dishonoured, flouted, and picked to the bone than was barneveld in a commonwealth which he had almost created and had served faithfully from youth to old age. it was even the fashion to compare him with concini in order to heighten the wrath of the public, as if any parallel between the ignoble, foreign paramour of a stupid and sensual queen, and the great statesman, patriot, and jurist of whom civilization will be always proud, could ever enter any but an idiot's brain. meantime the stadholder, who had so successfully handled the assembly of gelderland and overyssel, now sailed across the zuiderzee from kampen to amsterdam. on his approach to the stately northern venice, standing full of life and commercial bustle upon its vast submerged forest of norwegian pines, he was met by a fleet of yachts and escorted through the water gates of the into the city. here an immense assemblage of vessels of every class, from the humble gondola to the bulky east indianian and the first-rate ship of war, gaily bannered with the orange colours and thronged from deck to topmast by enthusiastic multitudes, was waiting to receive their beloved stadholder. a deafening cannonade saluted him on his approach. the prince was escorted to the square or dam, where on a high scaffolding covered with blue velvet in front of the stately mediaeval town-hall the burgomasters and board of magistrates in their robes of office were waiting to receive him. the strains of that most inspiriting and suggestive of national melodies, the 'wilhelmus van nassouwen,' rang through the air, and when they were silent, the chief magistrate poured forth a very eloquent and tedious oration, and concluded by presenting him with a large orange in solid gold; maurice having succeeded to the principality a few months before on the death of his half-brother philip william. the "blooming in love," as one of the chambers of "rhetoric " in which the hard-handed but half-artistic mechanics and shopkeepers of the netherlands loved to disport themselves was called, then exhibited upon an opposite scaffold a magnificent representation of jupiter astride upon an eagle and banding down to the stadholder as if from the clouds that same principality. nothing could be neater or more mythological. the prince and his escort, sitting in the windows of the town-hall, the square beneath being covered with or burgher militia in full uniform, with orange plumes in their hats and orange scarves on their breasts, saw still other sights. a gorgeous procession set forth by the "netherlandish academy," another chamber of rhetoric, and filled with those emblematic impersonations so dear to the hearts of netherlanders, had been sweeping through all the canals and along the splendid quays of the city. the maid of holland, twenty feet high, led the van, followed by the counterfeit presentment of each of her six sisters. an orange tree full of flowers and fruit was conspicuous in one barge, while in another, strangely and lugubriously enough, lay the murdered william the silent in the arms of his wife and surrounded by his weeping sons and daughters all attired in white satin. in the evening the netherland academy, to improve the general hilarity, and as if believing exhibitions of murder the most appropriate means of welcoming the prince, invited him to a scenic representation of the assassination of count florence v. of holland by gerrit van velsen and other nobles. there seemed no especial reason for the selection, unless perhaps the local one; one of the perpetrators of this crime against an ancient predecessor of william the silent in the sovereignty of holland having been a former lord proprietor of amsterdam and the adjacent territories, gysbrecht van amatel. maurice returned to the hague. five of the seven provinces were entirely his own. utrecht too was already wavering, while there could be no doubt of the warm allegiance to himself of the important commercial metropolis of holland, the only province in which barneveld's influence was still paramount. owing to the watchfulness and distrust of barneveld, which had never faltered, spain had not secured the entire control of the disputed duchies, but she had at least secured the head of a venerated saint. "the bargain is completed for the head of the glorious saint lawrence, which you know i so much desire," wrote philip triumphantly to the archduke albert. he had, however, not got it for nothing. the abbot of glamart in julich, then in possession of that treasure, had stipulated before delivering it that if at any time the heretics or other enemies should destroy the monastery his majesty would establish them in spanish flanders and give them the same revenues as they now enjoyed in julich. count herman van den berg was to give a guarantee to that effect. meantime the long controversy in the duchies having tacitly come to a standstill upon the basis of 'uti possidetis,' the spanish government had leisure in the midst of their preparation for the general crusade upon european heresy to observe and enjoy the internal religious dissensions in their revolted provinces. although they had concluded the convention with them as with countries over which they had no pretensions, they had never at heart allowed more virtue to the conjunction "as," which really contained the essence of the treaty, than grammatically belonged to it. spain still chose to regard the independence of the seven provinces as a pleasant fiction to be dispelled when, the truce having expired by its own limitation, she should resume, as she fully meant to do, her sovereignty over all the seventeen netherlands, the united as well as the obedient. thus at any rate the question of state rights or central sovereignty would be settled by a very summary process. the spanish ambassador was wroth, as may well be supposed, when the agent of the rebel provinces received in london the rank, title, and recognition of ambassador. gondemar at least refused to acknowledge noel de caron as his diplomatic equal or even as his colleague, and was vehement in his protestations on the subject. but james, much as he dreaded the spanish envoy and fawned upon his master, was not besotted enough to comply with these demands at the expense of his most powerful ally, the republic of the netherlands. the spanish king however declared his ambassador's proceedings to be in exact accordance with his instructions. he was sorry, he said, if the affair had caused discontent to the king of great britain; he intended in all respects to maintain the treaty of truce of which his majesty had been one of the guarantors, but as that treaty had but a few more years to run, after which he should be reinstated in his former right of sovereignty over all the netherlands, he entirely justified the conduct of count gondemar. it may well be conceived that, as the years passed by, as the period of the truce grew nearer and the religious disputes became every day more envenomed, the government at madrid should look on the tumultuous scene with saturnine satisfaction. there was little doubt now, they thought, that the provinces, sick of their rebellion and that fancied independence which had led them into a whirlpool of political and religious misery, and convinced of their incompetence to govern themselves, would be only too happy to seek the forgiving arms of their lawful sovereign. above all they must have learned that their great heresy had carried its chastisement with it, that within something they called a reformed church other heresies had been developed which demanded condign punishment at the hands of that new church, and that there could be neither rest for them in this world nor salvation in the next except by returning to the bosom of their ancient mother. now was the time, so it was thought, to throw forward a strong force of jesuits as skirmishers into the provinces by whom the way would be opened for the reconquest of the whole territory. "by the advices coming to us continually from thence," wrote the king of spain to archduke albert, "we understand that the disquiets and differences continue in holland on matters relating to their sects, and that from this has resulted the conversion of many to the catholic religion. so it has been taken into consideration whether it would not be expedient that some fathers of the company of jesuits be sent secretly from rome to holland, who should negotiate concerning the conversion of that people. before taking a resolution, i have thought best to give an account of this matter to your highness. i should be glad if you would inform me what priests are going to holland, what fruits they yield, and what can be done for the continuance of their labours. please to advise me very particularly together with any suggestions that may occur to you in this matter." the archduke, who was nearer the scene, was not so sure that the old religion was making such progress as his royal nephew or those who spoke in his name believed. at any rate, if it were not rapidly gaining ground, it would be neither for want of discord among the protestants nor for lack of jesuits to profit by it. "i do not understand," said he in reply, "nor is it generally considered certain that from the differences and disturbances that the hollanders are having among themselves there has resulted the conversion of any of them to our blessed catholic faith, because their disputes are of certain points concerning which there are different opinions within their sect. there has always been a goodly number of priests here, the greater part of whom belong to the company. they are very diligent and fervent, and the catholics derive much comfort from them. to send more of them would do more harm than good. it might be found out, and then they would perhaps be driven out of holland or even chastised. so it seems better to leave things as they are for the present." the spanish government was not discouraged however, but was pricking up its ears anew at strange communications it was receiving from the very bosom of the council of state in the netherlands. this body, as will be remembered, had been much opposed to barneveld and to the policy pursued under his leadership by the states of holland. some of its members were secretly catholic and still more secretly disposed to effect a revolution in the government, the object of which should be to fuse the united provinces with the obedient netherlands in a single independent monarchy to be placed under the sceptre of the son of philip iii. a paper containing the outlines of this scheme had been sent to spain, and the king at once forwarded it in cipher to the archduke at brussels for his opinion and co-operation. "you will see," he said, "the plan which a certain person zealous for the public good has proposed for reducing the netherlanders to my obedience. . . . . you will please advise with count frederic van den berg and let me know with much particularity and profound secrecy what is thought, what is occurring, and the form in which this matter ought to be negotiated, and the proper way to make it march." unquestionably the paper was of grave importance. it informed the king of spain that some principal personages in the united netherlands, members of the council of state, were of opinion that if his majesty or archduke albert should propose peace, it could be accomplished at that moment more easily than ever before. they had arrived at the conviction that no assistance was to be obtained from the king of france, who was too much weakened by tumults and sedition at home, while nothing good could be expected from the king of england. the greater part of the province of gelderland, they said, with all friesland, utrecht, groningen, and overyssel were inclined to a permanent peace. being all of them frontier provinces, they were constantly exposed to the brunt of hostilities. besides this, the war expenses alone would now be more than , , florins a year. thus the people were kept perpetually harassed, and although evil-intentioned persons approved these burthens under the pretence that such heavy taxation served to free them from the tyranny of spain, those of sense and quality reproved them and knew the contrary to be true. "many here know," continued these traitors in the heart of the state council, "how good it would be for the people of the netherlands to have a prince, and those having this desire being on the frontier are determined to accept the son of your majesty for their ruler." the conditions of the proposed arrangement were to be that the prince with his successors who were thus to possess all the netherlands were to be independent sovereigns not subject in any way to the crown of spain, and that the great governments and dignities of the country were to remain in the hands then holding them. this last condition was obviously inserted in the plan for the special benefit of prince maurice and count lewis, although there is not an atom of evidence that they had ever heard of the intrigue or doubt that, if they had, they would have signally chastised its guilty authors. it was further stated that the catholics having in each town a church and free exercise of their religion would soon be in a great majority. thus the political and religious counter-revolution would be triumphantly accomplished. it was proposed that the management of the business should be entrusted to some gentleman of the country possessing property there who "under pretext of the public good should make people comprehend what a great thing it would be if they could obtain this favour from the spanish king, thus extricating themselves from so many calamities and miseries, and obtaining free traffic and a prince of their own." it would be necessary for the king and archduke to write many letters and promise great rewards to persons who might otherwise embarrass the good work. the plot was an ingenious one. there seemed in the opinion of these conspirators in the state council but one great obstacle to its success. it should be kept absolutely concealed from the states of holland. the great stipendiary of spain, john of barneveld, whose coffers were filled with spanish pistoles, whose name and surname might be read by all men in the account-books at brussels heading the register of mighty bribe- takers, the man who was howled at in a thousand lampoons as a traitor ever ready to sell his country, whom even prince maurice "partly believed" to be the pensionary of philip, must not hear a whisper of this scheme to restore the republic to spanish control and place it under the sceptre of a spanish prince. the states of holland at that moment and so long as he was a member of the body were barneveld and barneveld only; thinking his thoughts, speaking with his tongue, writing with his pen. of this neither friend nor foe ever expressed a doubt. indeed it was one of the staple accusations against him. yet this paper in which the spanish king in confidential cipher and profound secrecy communicated to archduke albert his hopes and his schemes for recovering the revolted provinces as a kingdom for his son contained these words of caution. "the states of holland and zealand will be opposed to the plan," it said. "if the treaty come to the knowledge of the states and council of holland before it has been acted upon by the five frontier provinces the whole plan will be demolished." such was the opinion entertained by philip himself of the man who was supposed to be his stipendiary. i am not aware that this paper has ever been alluded to in any document or treatise private or public from the day of its date to this hour. it certainly has never been published, but it lies deciphered in the archives of the kingdom at brussels, and is alone sufficient to put to shame the slanderers of the advocate's loyalty. yet let it be remembered that in this very summer exactly at the moment when these intrigues were going on between the king of spain and the class of men most opposed to barneveld, the accusations against his fidelity were loudest and rifest. before the stadholder had so suddenly slipped down to brielle in order to secure that important stronghold for the contra-remonstrant party, reports had been carefully strewn among the people that the advocate was about to deliver that place and other fortresses to spain. brielle, flushing, rammekens, the very cautionary towns and keys to the country which he had so recently and in such masterly manner delivered from the grasp of the hereditary ally he was now about to surrender to the ancient enemy. the spaniards were already on the sea, it was said. had it not been for his excellency's watchfulness and promptitude, they would already under guidance of barneveld and his crew have mastered the city of brielle. flushing too through barneveld's advice and connivance was open at a particular point, in order that the spaniards, who had their eye upon it, might conveniently enter and take possession of the place. the air was full of wild rumours to this effect, and already the humbler classes who sided with the stadholder saw in him the saviour of the country from the treason of the advocate and the renewed tyranny of spain. the prince made no such pretence, but simply took possession of the fortress in order to be beforehand with the waartgelders. the contra- remonstrants in brielle had desired that "men should see who had the hardest fists," and it would certainly have been difficult to find harder ones than those of the hero of nieuwpoort. besides the jesuits coming in so skilfully to triumph over the warring sects of calvinists, there were other engineers on whom the spanish government relied to effect the reconquest of the netherlands. especially it was an object to wreak vengeance on holland, that head and front of the revolt, both for its persistence in rebellion and for the immense prosperity and progress by which that rebellion had been rewarded. holland had grown fat and strong, while the obedient netherlands were withered to the marrow of their bones. but there was a practical person then resident in spain to whom the netherlands were well known, to whom indeed everything was well known, who had laid before the king a magnificent scheme for destroying the commerce and with it the very existence of holland to the great advantage of the spanish finances and of the spanish netherlands. philip of course laid it before the archduke as usual, that he might ponder it well and afterwards, if approved, direct its execution. the practical person set forth in an elaborate memoir that the hollanders were making rapid progress in commerce, arts, and manufactures, while the obedient provinces were sinking as swiftly into decay. the spanish netherlands were almost entirely shut off from the sea, the rivers scheldt and meuse being hardly navigable for them on account of the control of those waters by holland. the dutch were attracting to their dominions all artisans, navigators, and traders. despising all other nations and giving them the law, they had ruined the obedient provinces. ostend, nieuwpoort, dunkerk were wasting away, and ought to be restored. "i have profoundly studied forty years long the subjects of commerce and navigation," said the practical person, "and i have succeeded in penetrating the secrets and acquiring, as it were, universal knowledge-- let me not be suspected of boasting--of the whole discovered world and of the ocean. i have been assisted by study of the best works of geography and history, by my own labours, and by those of my late father, a man of illustrious genius and heroical conceptions and very zealous in the catholic faith." the modest and practical son of an illustrious but anonymous father, then coming to the point, said it would be the easiest thing in the world to direct the course of the scheldt into an entirely new channel through spanish flanders to the sea. thus the dutch ports and forts which had been constructed with such magnificence and at such vast expense would be left high and dry; the spaniards would build new ones in flanders, and thus control the whole navigation and deprive the hollanders of that empire of the sea which they now so proudly arrogated. this scheme was much simpler to carry out than the vulgar might suppose, and, when. accomplished, it would destroy the commerce, navigation, and fisheries of the hollanders, throwing it all into the hands of the archdukes. this would cause such ruin, poverty, and tumults everywhere that all would be changed. the republic of the united states would annihilate itself and fall to pieces; the religious dissensions, the war of one sect with another, and the jealousy of the house of nassau, suspected of plans hostile to popular liberties, finishing the work of destruction. "then the republic," said the man of universal science, warming at sight of the picture he was painting, "laden with debt and steeped in poverty, will fall to the ground of its own weight, and thus debilitated will crawl humbly to place itself in the paternal hands of the illustrious house of austria." it would be better, he thought, to set about the work, before the expiration of the truce. at any rate, the preparation for it, or the mere threat of it, would ensure a renewal of that treaty on juster terms. it was most important too to begin at once the construction of a port on the coast of flanders, looking to the north. there was a position, he said, without naming it, in which whole navies could ride in safety, secure from all tempests, beyond the reach of the hollanders, open at all times to traffic to and from england, france, spain, norway, sweden, russia--a perfectly free commerce, beyond the reach of any rights or duties claimed or levied by the insolent republic. in this port would assemble all the navigators of the country, and it would become in time of war a terror to the hollanders, english, and all northern peoples. in order to attract, protect, and preserve these navigators and this commerce, many great public edifices must be built, together with splendid streets of houses and impregnable fortifications. it should be a walled and stately city, and its name should be philipopolis. if these simple projects, so easy of execution, pleased his majesty, the practical person was ready to explain them in all their details. his majesty was enchanted with the glowing picture, but before quite deciding on carrying the scheme into execution thought it best to consult the archduke. the reply of albert has not been preserved. it was probably not enthusiastic, and the man who without boasting had declared himself to know everything was never commissioned to convert his schemes into realities. that magnificent walled city, philipopolis, with its gorgeous streets and bristling fortresses, remained unbuilt, the scheldt has placidly flowed through its old channel to the sea from that day to this, and the republic remained in possession of the unexampled foreign trade with which rebellion had enriched it. these various intrigues and projects show plainly enough however the encouragement given to the enemies of the united provinces and of protestantism everywhere by these disastrous internal dissensions. but yesterday and the republic led by barneveld in council and maurice of nassau in the field stood at the head of the great army of resistance to the general crusade organized by spain and rome against all unbelievers. and now that the war was absolutely beginning in bohemia, the republic was falling upon its own sword instead of smiting with it the universal foe. it was not the king of spain alone that cast longing eyes on the fair territory of that commonwealth which the unparalleled tyranny of his father had driven to renounce his sceptre. both in the netherlands and france, among the extreme orthodox party, there were secret schemes, to which maurice was not privy, to raise maurice to the sovereignty of the provinces. other conspirators with a wider scope and more treasonable design were disposed to surrender their country to the dominion of france, stipulating of course large rewards and offices for themselves and the vice-royalty of what should then be the french netherlands to maurice. the schemes were wild enough perhaps, but their very existence, which is undoubted, is another proof, if more proof were wanted, of the lamentable tendency, in times of civil and religious dissension, of political passion to burn out the very first principles of patriotism. it is also important, on account of the direct influence exerted by these intrigues upon subsequent events of the gravest character, to throw a beam of light on matters which were thought to have been shrouded for ever in impenetrable darkness. langerac, the states' ambassador in paris, was the very reverse of his predecessor, the wily, unscrupulous, and accomplished francis aerssens. the envoys of the republic were rarely dull, but langerac was a simpleton. they were renowned for political experience, skill, familiarity with foreign languages, knowledge of literature, history, and public law; but he was ignorant, spoke french very imperfectly, at a court where not a human being could address him in his own tongue, had never been employed in diplomacy or in high office of any kind, and could carry but small personal weight at a post where of all others the representative of the great republic should have commanded deference both for his own qualities and for the majesty of his government. at a period when france was left without a master or a guide the dutch ambassador, under a becoming show of profound respect, might really have governed the country so far as regarded at least the all important relations which bound the two nations together. but langerac was a mere picker-up of trifles, a newsmonger who wrote a despatch to-day with information which a despatch was written on the morrow to contradict, while in itself conveying additional intelligence absolutely certain to be falsified soon afterwards. the emperor of germany had gone mad; prince maurice had been assassinated in the hague, a fact which his correspondents, the states-general, might be supposed already to know, if it were one; there had been a revolution in the royal bed-chamber; the spanish cook of the young queen had arrived from madrid; the duke of nevers was behaving very oddly at vienna; such communications, and others equally startling, were the staple of his correspondence. still he was honest enough, very mild, perfectly docile to barneveld, dependent upon his guidance, and fervently attached to that statesman so long as his wheel was going up the hill. moreover, his industry in obtaining information and his passion for imparting it made it probable that nothing very momentous would be neglected should it be laid before him, but that his masters, and especially the advocate, would be enabled to judge for themselves as to the attention due to it. "with this you will be apprised of some very high and weighty matters," he wrote privately and in cipher to barneveld, "which you will make use of according to your great wisdom and forethought for the country's service." he requested that the matter might also be confided to m. van der myle, that he might assist his father-in-law, so overburdened with business, in the task of deciphering the communication. he then stated that he had been "very earnestly informed three days before by m. du agean"--member of the privy council of france--"that it had recently come to the king's ears, and his majesty knew it to be authentic, that there was a secret and very dangerous conspiracy in holland of persons belonging to the reformed religion in which others were also mixed. this party held very earnest and very secret correspondence with the factious portion of the contra-remonstrants both in the netherlands and france, seeking under pretext of the religious dissensions or by means of them to confer the sovereignty upon prince maurice by general consent of the contra- remonstrants. their object was also to strengthen and augment the force of the same religious party in france, to which end the duc de bouillon and m. de chatillon were very earnestly co-operating. langerac had already been informed by chatillon that the contra-remonstrants had determined to make a public declaration against the remonstrants, and come to an open separation from them. "others propose however," said the ambassador, "that the king himself should use the occasion to seize the sovereignty of the united provinces for himself and to appoint prince maurice viceroy, giving him in marriage madame henriette of france." the object of this movement would be to frustrate the plots of the contra-remonstrants, who were known to be passionately hostile to the king and to france, and who had been constantly traversing the negotiations of m. du maurier. there was a disposition to send a special and solemn embassy to the states, but it was feared that the british king would at once do the same, to the immense disadvantage of the remonstrants. "m. de barneveld," said the envoy, "is deeply sympathized with here and commiserated. the chancellor has repeatedly requested me to present to you his very sincere and very hearty respects, exhorting you to continue in your manly steadfastness and courage." he also assured the advocate that the french ambassador, m. du maurier, enjoyed the entire confidence of his government, and of the principal members of the council, and that the king, although contemplating, as we have seen, the seizure of the sovereignty of the country, was most amicably disposed towards it, and so soon as the peace of savoy was settled "had something very good for it in his mind." whether the something very good was this very design to deprive it of independence, the ambassador did not state. he however recommended the use of sundry small presents at the french court--especially to madame de luynes, wife of the new favourite of lewis since the death of concini, in which he had aided, now rising rapidly to consideration, and to madame du agean--and asked to be supplied with funds accordingly. by these means he thought it probable that at least the payment to the states of the long arrears of the french subsidy might be secured. three weeks later, returning to the subject, the ambassador reported another conversation with m. du agean. that politician assured him, "with high protestations," as a perfectly certain fact that a frenchman duly qualified had arrived in paris from holland who had been in communication not only with him but with several of the most confidential members of the privy council of france. this duly qualified gentleman had been secretly commissioned to say that in opinion of the conspirators already indicated the occasion was exactly offered by these religious dissensions in the netherlands for bringing the whole country under the obedience of the king. this would be done with perfect ease if he would only be willing to favour a little the one party, that of the contra- remonstrants, and promise his excellency "perfect and perpetual authority in the government with other compensations." the proposition, said du agean, had been rejected by the privy councillors with a declaration that they would not mix themselves up with any factions, nor assist any party, but that they would gladly work with the government for the accommodation of these difficulties and differences in the provinces. "i send you all this nakedly," concluded langerac, "exactly as it has been communicated to me, having always answered according to my duty and with a view by negotiating with these persons to discover the intentions as well of one side as the other." the advocate was not profoundly impressed by these revelations. he was too experienced a statesman to doubt that in times when civil and religious passion was running high there was never lack of fishers in troubled waters, and that if a body of conspirators could secure a handsome compensation by selling their country to a foreign prince, they would always be ready to do it. but although believed by maurice to be himself a stipendiary of spain, he was above suspecting the prince of any share in the low and stupid intrigue which du agean had imagined or disclosed. that the stadholder was ambitious of greater power, he hardly doubted, but that he was seeking to acquire it by such corrupt and circuitous means, he did not dream. he confidentially communicated the plot as in duty bound to some members of the states, and had the prince been accused in any conversation or statement of being privy to the scheme, he would have thought himself bound to mention it to him. the story came to the ears of maurice however, and helped to feed his wrath against the advocate, as if he were responsible for a plot, if plot it were, which had been concocted by his own deadliest enemies. the prince wrote a letter alluding to this communication of langerac and giving much alarm to that functionary. he thought his despatches must have been intercepted and proposed in future to write always by special courier. barneveld thought that unnecessary except when there were more important matters than those appeared to him to be and requiring more haste. "the letter of his excellency," said he to the ambassador, "is caused in my opinion by the fact that some of the deputies to this assembly to whom i secretly imparted your letter or its substance did not rightly comprehend or report it. you did not say that his excellency had any such design or project, but that it had been said that the contra- remonstrants were entertaining such a scheme. i would have shown the letter to him myself, but i thought it not fair, for good reasons, to make m. du agean known as the informant. i do not think it amiss for you to write yourself to his excellency and tell him what is said, but whether it would be proper to give up the name of your author, i think doubtful. at all events one must consult about it. we live in a strange world, and one knows not whom to trust." he instructed the ambassador to enquire into the foundation of these statements of du agean and send advices by every occasion of this affair and others of equal interest. he was however much more occupied with securing the goodwill of the french government, which he no more suspected of tampering in these schemes against the independence of the republic than he did maurice himself. he relied and he had reason to rely on their steady good offices in the cause of moderation and reconciliation. "we are not yet brought to the necessary and much desired unity," he said, "but we do not despair, hoping that his majesty's efforts through m. du maurier, both privately and publicly, will do much good. be assured that they are very agreeable to all rightly disposed people . . . . my trust is that god the lord will give us a happy issue and save this country from perdition." he approved of the presents to the two ladies as suggested by langerac if by so doing the payment of the arrearages could be furthered. he was still hopeful and confident in the justice of his cause and the purity of his conscience. "aerssens is crowing like a cock," he said, "but the truth will surely prevail." chapter xvii. a deputation from utrecht to maurice--the fair at utrecht--maurice and the states' deputies at utrecht--ogle refuses to act in opposition to the states--the stadholder disbands the waartgelders-- the prince appoints forty magistrates--the states formally disband the waartgelders. the eventful midsummer had arrived. the lime-tree blossoms were fragrant in the leafy bowers overshadowing the beautiful little rural capital of the commonwealth. the anniversary of the nieuwpoort victory, july , had come and gone, and the stadholder was known to be resolved that his political campaign this year should be as victorious as that memorable military one of eighteen years before. before the dog-days should begin to rage, the fierce heats of theological and political passion were to wax daily more and more intense. the party at utrecht in favour of a compromise and in awe of the stadholder sent a deputation to the hague with the express but secret purpose of conferring with maurice. they were eight in number, three of whom, including gillis van ledenberg, lodged at the house of daniel tressel, first clerk of the states-general. the leaders of the barneveld party, aware of the purport of this mission and determined to frustrate it, contrived a meeting between the utrecht commissioners and grotius, hoogerbeets, de haan, and de lange at tressel's house. grotius was spokesman. maurice had accused the states of holland of mutiny and rebellion, and the distinguished pensionary of rotterdam now retorted the charges of mutiny, disobedience, and mischief-making upon those who, under the mask of religion, were attempting to violate the sovereignty of the states, the privileges and laws of the province, the authority of the, magistrates, and to subject them to the power of others. to prevent such a catastrophe many cities had enlisted waartgelders. by this means they had held such mutineers to their duty, as had been seen at leyden, haarlem, and other places. the states of utrecht had secured themselves in the same way. but the mischiefmakers and the ill-disposed had been seeking everywhere to counteract these wholesome measures and to bring about a general disbanding of these troops. this it was necessary to resist with spirit. it was the very foundation of the provinces' sovereignty, to maintain which the public means must be employed. it was in vain to drive the foe out of the country if one could not remain in safety within one's own doors. they had heard with sorrow that utrecht was thinking of cashiering its troops, and the speaker proceeded therefore to urge with all the eloquence he was master of the necessity of pausing before taking so fatal a step. the deputies of utrecht answered by pleading the great pecuniary burthen which the maintenance of the mercenaries imposed upon that province, and complained that there was no one to come to their assistance, exposed as they were to a sudden and overwhelming attack from many quarters. the states-general had not only written but sent commissioners to utrecht insisting on the disbandment. they could plainly see the displeasure of the prince. it was a very different affair in holland, but the states of utrecht found it necessary of two evils to choose the least. they had therefore instructed their commissioners to request the prince to remove the foreign garrison from their capital and to send the old companies of native militia in their place, to be in the pay of the episcopate. in this case the states would agree to disband the new levies. grotius in reply again warned the commissioners against communicating with maurice according to their instructions, intimated that the native militia on which they were proposing to rely might have been debauched, and he held out hopes that perhaps the states of utrecht might derive some relief from certain financial measures now contemplated in holland. the utrechters resolved to wait at least several days before opening the subject of their mission to the prince. meantime ledenberg made a rough draft of a report of what had occurred between them and grotius and his colleagues which it was resolved to lay secretly before the states of utrecht. the hollanders hoped that they had at last persuaded the commissioners to maintain the waartgelders. the states of holland now passed a solemn resolution to the effect that these new levies had been made to secure municipal order and maintain the laws from subversion by civil tumults. if this object could be obtained by other means, if the stadholder were willing to remove garrisons of foreign mercenaries on whom there could be no reliance, and supply their place with native troops both in holland and utrecht, an arrangement could be made for disbanding the waartgelders. barneveld, at the head of thirty deputies from the nobles and cities, waited upon maurice and verbally communicated to him this resolution. he made a cold and unsatisfactory reply, although it seems to have been understood that by according twenty companies of native troops he might have contented both holland and utrecht. ledenberg and his colleagues took their departure from the hague without communicating their message to maurice. soon afterwards the states- general appointed a commission to utrecht with the stadholder at the head of it. the states of holland appointed another with grotius as its chairman. on the th july grotius and pensionary hoogerbeets with two colleagues arrived in utrecht. gillis van ledenberg was there to receive them. a tall, handsome, bald- headed, well-featured, mild, gentlemanlike man was this secretary of the utrecht assembly, and certainly not aware, while passing to and fro on such half diplomatic missions between two sovereign assemblies, that he was committing high-treason. he might well imagine however, should maurice discover that it was he who had prevented the commissioners from conferring with him as instructed, that it would go hard with him. ledenberg forthwith introduced grotius and his committee to the assembly at utrecht. while these great personages were thus holding solemn and secret council, another and still greater personage came upon the scene. the stadholder with the deputation from the states-general arrived at utrecht. evidently the threads of this political drama were converging to a catastrophe, and it might prove a tragical one. meantime all looked merry enough in the old episcopal city. there were few towns in lower or in upper germany more elegant and imposing than utrecht. situate on the slender and feeble channel of the ancient rhine as it falters languidly to the sea, surrounded by trim gardens and orchards, and embowered in groves of beeches and limetrees, with busy canals fringed with poplars, lined with solid quays, and crossed by innumerable bridges; with the stately brick tower of st. martin's rising to a daring height above one of the most magnificent gothic cathedrals in the netherlands; this seat of the anglo-saxon willebrord, who eight hundred years before had preached christianity to the frisians, and had founded that long line of hard-fighting, indomitable bishops, obstinately contesting for centuries the possession of the swamps and pastures about them with counts, kings, and emperors, was still worthy of its history and its position. it was here too that sixty-one years before the famous articles of union were signed. by that fundamental treaty of the confederacy, the provinces agreed to remain eternally united as if they were but one province, to make no war nor peace save by unanimous consent, while on lesser matters a majority should rule; to admit both catholics and protestants to the union provided they obeyed its articles and conducted themselves as good patriots, and expressly declared that no province or city should interfere with another in the matter of divine worship. from this memorable compact, so enduring a landmark in the history of human freedom, and distinguished by such breadth of view for the times both in religion and politics, the city had gained the title of cradle of liberty: 'cunabula libertatis'. was it still to deserve the name? at that particular moment the mass of the population was comparatively indifferent to the terrible questions pending. it was the kermis or annual fair, and all the world was keeping holiday in utrecht. the pedlars and itinerant merchants from all the cities and provinces had brought their wares jewellery and crockery, ribbons and laces, ploughs and harrows, carriages and horses, cows and sheep, cheeses and butter firkins, doublets and petticoats, guns and pistols, everything that could serve the city and country-side for months to come--and displayed them in temporary booths or on the ground, in every street and along every canal. the town was one vast bazaar. the peasant-women from the country, with their gold and silver tiaras and the year's rent of a comfortable farm in their earrings and necklaces, and the sturdy frisian peasants, many of whom had borne their matchlocks in the great wars which had lasted through their own and their fathers' lifetime, trudged through the city, enjoying the blessings of peace. bands of music and merry-go-rounds in all the open places and squares; open-air bakeries of pancakes and waffles; theatrical exhibitions, raree- shows, jugglers, and mountebanks at every corner--all these phenomena which had been at every kermis for centuries, and were to repeat themselves for centuries afterwards, now enlivened the atmosphere of the grey, episcopal city. pasted against the walls of public edifices were the most recent placards and counter-placards of the states-general and the states of utrecht on the great subject of religious schisms and popular tumults. in the shop-windows and on the bookstalls of contra- remonstrant tradesmen, now becoming more and more defiant as the last allies of holland, the states of utrecht, were gradually losing courage, were seen the freshest ballads and caricatures against the advocate. here an engraving represented him seated at table with grotius, hoogerbeets, and others, discussing the national synod, while a flap of the picture being lifted put the head of the duke of alva on the legs of barneveld, his companions being transformed in similar manner into spanish priests and cardinals assembled at the terrible council of blood- with rows of protestant martyrs burning and hanging in the distance. another print showed prince maurice and the states-general shaking the leading statesmen of the commonwealth in a mighty sieve through which came tumbling head foremost to perdition the hated advocate and his abettors. another showed the arminians as a row of crest-fallen cocks rained upon by the wrath of the stadholder--arminians by a detestable pun being converted into "arme haenen" or "poor cocks." one represented the pope and king of spain blowing thousands of ducats out of a golden bellows into the lap of the advocate, who was holding up his official robes to receive them, or whole carriage-loads of arminians starting off bag and baggage on the road to rome, with lucifer in the perspective waiting to give them a warm welcome in his own dominions; and so on, and so on. moving through the throng, with iron calque on their heads and halberd in hand, were groups of waartgelders scowling fiercely at many popular demonstrations such as they had been enlisted to suppress, but while off duty concealing outward symptoms of wrath which in many instances perhaps would have been far from genuine. for although these mercenaries knew that the states of holland, who were responsible for the pay of the regular troops then in utrecht, authorized them to obey no orders save from the local authorities, yet it was becoming a grave question for the waartgelders whether their own wages were perfectly safe, a circumstance which made them susceptible to the atmosphere of contra-remonstrantism which was steadily enwrapping the whole country. a still graver question was whether such resistance as they could offer to the renowned stadholder, whose name was magic to every soldier's heart not only in his own land but throughout christendom, would not be like parrying a lance's thrust with a bulrush. in truth the senior captain of the waartgelders, harteveld by name, had privately informed the leaders of the barneveld party in utrecht that he would not draw his sword against prince maurice and the states-general. "who asks you to do so?" said some of the deputies, while ledenberg on the other hand flatly accused him of cowardice. for this affront the captain had vowed revenge. and in the midst of this scene of jollity and confusion, that midsummer night, entered the stern stadholder with his fellow commissioners; the feeble plans for shutting the gates upon him not having been carried into effect. "you hardly expected such a guest at your fair," said he to the magistrates, with a grim smile on his face as who should say, "and what do you think of me now i have came?" meantime the secret conference of grotius and colleagues with the states of utrecht proceeded. as a provisional measure, sir john ogle, commander of the forces paid by holland, had been warned as to where his obedience was due. it had likewise been intimated that the guard should be doubled at the amersfoort gate, and a watch set on the river lek above and below the city in order to prevent fresh troops of the states-general from being introduced by surprise. these precautions had been suggested a year before, as we have seen, in a private autograph letter from barneveld to secretary ledenberg. sir john ogle had flatly refused to act in opposition to the stadholder and the states-general, whom he recognized as his lawful superiors and masters, and he warned ledenberg and his companions as to the perilous nature of the course which they were pursuing. great was the indignation of the utrechters and the holland commissioners in consequence. grotius in his speech enlarged on the possibility of violence being used by the stadholder, while some of the members of the assembly likewise thought it likely that he would smite the gates open by force. grotius, when reproved afterwards for such strong language towards prince maurice, said that true hollanders were no courtiers, but were wont to call everything by its right name. he stated in strong language the regret felt by holland that a majority of the states of utrecht had determined to disband the waartgelders which had been constitutionally enlisted according to the right of each province under the st article of the union of utrecht to protect itself and its laws. next day there were conferences between maurice and the states of utrecht and between him and the holland deputies. the stadholder calmly demanded the disbandment and the synod. the hollanders spoke of securing first the persons and rights of the magistracy. "the magistrates are to be protected," said maurice, "but we must first know how they are going to govern. people have tried to introduce five false points into the divine worship. people have tried to turn me out of the stadholdership and to drive me from the country. but i have taken my measures. i know well what i am about. i have got five provinces on my side, and six cities of holland will send deputies to utrecht to sustain me here." the hollanders protested that there was no design whatever, so far as they knew, against his princely dignity or person. all were ready to recognize his rank and services by every means in their power. but it was desirable by conciliation and compromise, not by stern decree, to arrange these religious and political differences. the stadholder replied by again insisting on the synod. "as for the waartgelders," he continued, "they are worse than spanish fortresses. they must away." after a little further conversation in this vein the prince grew more excited. "everything is the fault of the advocate," he cried. "if barneveld were dead," replied grotius, "all the rest of us would still deem ourselves bound to maintain the laws. people seem to despise holland and to wish to subject it to the other provinces." "on the contrary," cried the prince, "it is the advocate who wishes to make holland the states-general." maurice was tired of argument. there had been much ale-house talk some three months before by a certain blusterous gentleman called van ostrum about the necessity of keeping the stadholder in check. "if the prince should undertake," said this pot-valiant hero, "to attack any of the cities of utrecht or holland with the hard hand, it is settled to station or , soldiers in convenient places. then we shall say to the prince, if you don't leave us alone, we shall make an arrangement with the archduke of austria and resume obedience to him. we can make such a treaty with him as will give us religious freedom and save us from tyranny of any kind. i don't say this for myself, but have heard it on good authority from very eminent persons." this talk had floated through the air to the stadholder. what evidence could be more conclusive of a deep design on the part of barneveld to sell the republic to the archduke and drive maurice into exile? had not esquire van ostrum solemnly declared it at a tavern table? and although he had mentioned no names, could the "eminent personages" thus cited at second hand be anybody but the advocate? three nights after his last conference with the hollanders, maurice quietly ordered a force of regular troops in utrecht to be under arms at half past three o'clock next morning. about infantry, including companies of ernest of nassau's command at arnhem and of brederode's from vianen, besides a portion of the regular garrison of the place, had accordingly been assembled without beat of drum, before half past three in the morning, and were now drawn up on the market-place or neu. at break of day the prince himself appeared on horseback surrounded by his staff on the neu or neude, a large, long, irregular square into which the seven or eight principal streets and thoroughfares of the town emptied themselves. it was adorned by public buildings and other handsome edifices, and the tall steeple of st. martin's with its beautiful open- work spire, lighted with the first rays of the midsummer sun, looked tranquilly down upon the scene. each of the entrances to the square had been securely guarded by maurice's orders, and cannon planted to command all the streets. a single company of the famous waartgelders was stationed in the neu or near it. the prince rode calmly towards them and ordered them to lay down their arms. they obeyed without a murmur. he then sent through the city to summon all the other companies of waartgelders to the neu. this was done with perfect promptness, and in a short space of time the whole body of mercenaries, nearly in number, had laid down their arms at the feet of the prince. the snaphances and halberds being then neatly stacked in the square, the stadholder went home to his early breakfast. there was an end to those mercenaries thenceforth and for ever. the faint and sickly resistance to the authority of maurice offered at utrecht was attempted nowhere else. for days there had been vague but fearful expectations of a "blood bath," of street battles, rioting, and plunder. yet the stadholder with the consummate art which characterized all his military manoeuvres had so admirably carried out his measure that not a shot was fired, not a blow given, not a single burgher disturbed in his peaceful slumbers. when the population had taken off their nightcaps, they woke to find the awful bugbear removed which had so long been appalling them. the waartgelders were numbered with the terrors of the past, and not a cat had mewed at their disappearance. charter-books, parchments, th articles, barneveld's teeth, arminian forts, flowery orations of grotius, tavern talk of van ostrum, city immunities, states' rights, provincial laws, waartgelders and all--the martial stadholder, with the orange plume in his hat and the sword of nieuwpoort on his thigh, strode through them as easily as through the whirligigs and mountebanks, the wades and fritters, encumbering the streets of utrecht on the night of his arrival. secretary ledenberg and other leading members of the states had escaped the night before. grotius and his colleagues also took a precipitate departure. as they drove out of town in the twilight, they met the deputies of the six opposition cities of holland just arriving in their coach from the hague. had they tarried an hour longer, they would have found themselves safely in prison. four days afterwards the stadholder at the head of his body-guard appeared at the town-house. his halberdmen tramped up the broad staircase, heralding his arrival to the assembled magistracy. he announced his intention of changing the whole board then and there. the process was summary. the forty members were required to supply forty other names, and the prince added twenty more. from the hundred candidates thus furnished the prince appointed forty magistrates such as suited himself. it is needless to say that but few of the old bench remained, and that those few were devoted to the synod, the states- general, and the stadholder. he furthermore announced that these new magistrates were to hold office for life, whereas the board had previously been changed every year. the cathedral church was at once assigned for the use of the contra-remonstrants. this process was soon to be repeated throughout the two insubordinate provinces utrecht and holland. the prince was accused of aiming at the sovereignty of the whole country, and one of his grief's against the advocate was that he had begged the princess-widow, louise de coligny, to warn her son-in-law of the dangers of such ambition. but so long as an individual, sword in hand, could exercise such unlimited sway over the whole municipal, and provincial organization of the commonwealth, it mattered but little whether he was called king or kaiser, doge or stadholder. sovereign he was for the time being at least, while courteously acknowledging the states-general as his sovereign. less than three weeks afterwards the states-general issued a decree formally disbanding the waartgelders; an almost superfluous edict, as they had almost ceased to exist, and there were none to resist the measure. grotius recommended complete acquiescence. barneveld's soul could no longer animate with courage a whole people. the invitations which had already in the month of june been prepared for the synod to meet in the city of dortor dordtrecht-were now issued. the states of holland sent back the notification unopened, deeming it an unwarrantable invasion of their rights that an assembly resisted by a large majority of their body should be convoked in a city on their own territory. but this was before the disbandment of the waartgelders and the general change of magistracies had been effected. earnest consultations were now held as to the possibility of devising some means of compromise; of providing that the decisions of the synod should not be considered binding until after having been ratified by the separate states. in the opinion of barneveld they were within a few hours' work of a favourable result when their deliberations were interrupted by a startling event. chapter xviii. fruitless interview between barneveld and maurice--the advocate, warned of his danger, resolves to remain at the hague--arrest of barneveld, of qrotius, and of hoogerbeets--the states-general assume the responsibility in a "billet"--the states of holland protest-- the advocate's letter to his family--audience of boississe-- mischief-making of aerssens--the french ambassadors intercede for barneveld--the king of england opposes their efforts--langerac's treachery to the advocate--maurice continues his changes in the magistracy throughout the country--vote of thanks by the states of holland. the advocate, having done what he believed to be his duty, and exhausted himself in efforts to defend ancient law and to procure moderation and mutual toleration in religion, was disposed to acquiesce in the inevitable. his letters giving official and private information of those grave events were neither vindictive nor vehement. "i send you the last declaration of my lords of holland," he said to caron, "in regard to the national synod, with the counter-declaration of dordtrecht and the other five cities. yesterday was begun the debate about cashiering the enrolled soldiers called waartgelders. to-day the late m. van kereburg was buried." nothing could be calmer than his tone. after the waartgelders had been disbanded, utrecht revolutionized by main force, the national synod decided upon, and the process of changing the municipal magistracies everywhere in the interest of contra-remonstrants begun, he continued to urge moderation and respect for law. even now, although discouraged, he was not despondent, and was disposed to make the best even of the synod. he wished at this supreme moment to have a personal interview with the prince in order to devise some means for calming the universal agitation and effecting, if possible, a reconciliation among conflicting passions and warring sects. he had stood at the side of maurice and of maurice's great father in darker hours even than these. they had turned to him on all trying and tragical occasions and had never found his courage wavering or his judgment at fault. "not a friend to the house of nassau, but a father," thus had maurice with his own lips described the advocate to the widow of william the silent. incapable of an unpatriotic thought, animated by sincere desire to avert evil and procure moderate action, barneveld saw no reason whatever why, despite all that had been said and done, he should not once more hold council with the prince. he had a conversation accordingly with count lewis, who had always honoured the advocate while differing with him on the religious question. the stadholder of friesland, one of the foremost men of his day in military and scientific affairs, in administrative ability and philanthropic instincts, and, in a family perhaps the most renowned in europe for heroic qualities and achievements, hardly second to any who had borne the name, was in favour of the proposed interview, spoke immediately to prince maurice about it, but was not hopeful as to its results. he knew his cousin well and felt that he was at that moment resentful, perhaps implacably so, against the whole remonstrant party and especially against their great leader. count lewis was small of stature, but dignified, not to say pompous, in demeanour. his style of writing to one of lower social rank than himself was lofty, almost regal, and full of old world formality. noble, severe, right worshipful, highly learned and discreet, special good friend," he wrote to barneveld; "we have spoken to his excellency concerning the expediency of what you requested of us this forenoon. we find however that his excellency is not to be moved to entertain any other measure than the national synod which he has himself proposed in person to all the provinces, to the furtherance of which he has made so many exertions, and which has already been announced by the states- general. "we will see by what opportunity his excellency will appoint the interview, and so far as lies in us you may rely on our good offices. we could not answer sooner as the french ambassadors had audience of us this forenoon and we were visiting his excellency in the afternoon. wishing your worship good evening, we are your very good friend." next day count william wrote again. "we have taken occasion," he said, "to inform his excellency that you were inclined to enter into communication with him in regard to an accommodation of the religious difficulties and to the cashiering of the waartgelders. he answered that he could accept no change in the matter of the national synod, but nevertheless would be at your disposal whenever your worship should be pleased to come to him." two days afterwards barneveld made his appearance at the apartments of the stadholder. the two great men on whom the fabric of the republic had so long rested stood face to face once more. the advocate, with long grey beard and stern blue eye, haggard with illness and anxiety, tall but bent with age, leaning on his staff and wrapped in black velvet cloak--an imposing magisterial figure; the florid, plethoric prince in brown doublet, big russet boots, narrow ruff, and shabby felt hat with its string of diamonds, with hand clutched on swordhilt, and eyes full of angry menace, the very type of the high-born, imperious soldier--thus they surveyed each other as men, once friends, between whom a gulf had opened. barneveld sought to convince the prince that in the proceedings at utrecht, founded as they were on strict adherence to the laws and traditions of the provinces, no disrespect had been intended to him, no invasion of his constitutional rights, and that on his part his lifelong devotion to the house of nassau had suffered no change. he repeated his usual incontrovertible arguments against the synod, as illegal and directly tending to subject the magistracy to the priesthood, a course of things which eight-and-twenty years before had nearly brought destruction on the country and led both the prince and himself to captivity in a foreign land. the prince sternly replied in very few words that the national synod was a settled matter, that he would never draw back from his position, and could not do so without singular disservice to the country and to his own disreputation. he expressed his displeasure at the particular oath exacted from the waartgelders. it diminished his lawful authority and the respect due to him, and might be used per indirectum to the oppression of those of the religion which he had sworn to maintain. his brow grew black when he spoke of the proceedings at utrecht, which he denounced as a conspiracy against his own person and the constitution of the country. barneveld used in vain the powers of argument by which he had guided kings and republics, cabinets and assemblies, during so many years. his eloquence fell powerless upon the iron taciturnity of the stadholder. maurice had expressed his determination and had no other argument to sustain it but his usual exasperating silence. the interview ended as hopelessly as count lewis william had anticipated, and the prince and the advocate separated to meet no more on earth. "you have doubtless heard already," wrote barneveld to the ambassador in london, "of all that has been passing here and in utrecht. one must pray to god that everything may prosper to his honour and the welfare of the country. they are resolved to go through with the national synod, the government of utrecht after the change made in it having consented with the rest. i hope that his majesty, according to your statement, will send some good, learned, and peace-loving personages here, giving them wholesome instructions to help bring our affairs into christian unity, accommodation, and love, by which his majesty and these provinces would be best served." were these the words of a baffled conspirator and traitor? were they uttered to produce an effect upon public opinion and avert a merited condemnation by all good men? there is not in them a syllable of reproach, of anger, of despair. and let it be remembered that they were not written for the public at all. they were never known to the public, hardly heard of either by the advocate's enemies or friends, save the one to whom they were addressed and the monarch to whom that friend was accredited. they were not contained in official despatches, but in private, confidential outpourings to a trusted political and personal associate of many years. from the day they were written until this hour they have never been printed, and for centuries perhaps not read. he proceeded to explain what he considered to be the law in the netherlands with regard to military allegiance. it is not probable that there was in the country a more competent expounder of it; and defective and even absurd as such a system was, it had carried the provinces successfully through a great war, and a better method for changing it might have been found among so law-loving and conservative a people as the netherlanders than brute force. "information has apparently been sent to england," he said, "that my lords of holland through their commissioners in utrecht dictated to the soldiery standing at their charges something that was unreasonable. the truth is that the states of holland, as many of them as were assembled, understanding that great haste was made to send his excellency and some deputies from the other provinces to utrecht, while the members of the utrecht assembly were gone to report these difficulties to their constituents and get fresh instructions from them, wishing that the return of those members should be waited for and that the assembly of holland might also be complete--a request which was refused--sent a committee to utrecht, as the matter brooked no delay, to give information to the states of that province of what was passing here and to offer their good offices. "they sent letters also to his excellency to move him to reasonable accommodation without taking extreme measures in opposition to those resolutions of the states of utrecht which his excellency had promised to conform with and to cause to be maintained by all officers and soldiers. should his excellency make difficulty in this, the commissioners were instructed to declare to him that they were ordered to warn the colonels and captains standing in the payment of holland, by letter and word of mouth, that they were bound by oath to obey the states of holland as their paymasters and likewise to carry out the orders of the provincial and municipal magistrates in the places where they were employed. the soldiery was not to act or permit anything to be done against those resolutions, but help to carry them out, his excellency himself and the troops paid by the states of holland being indisputably bound by oath and duty so to do." doubtless a more convenient arrangement from a military point of view might be imagined than a system of quotas by which each province in a confederacy claimed allegiance and exacted obedience from the troops paid by itself in what was after all a general army. still this was the logical and inevitable result of state rights pushed to the extreme and indeed had been the indisputable theory and practice in the netherlands ever since their revolt from spain. to pretend that the proceedings and the oath were new because they were embarrassing was absurd. it was only because the dominant party saw the extreme inconvenience of the system, now that it was turned against itself, that individuals contemptuous of law and ignorant of history denounced it as a novelty. but the strong and beneficent principle that lay at the bottom of the advocate's conduct was his unflagging resolve to maintain the civil authority over the military in time of peace. what liberal or healthy government would be possible otherwise? exactly as he opposed the subjection of the magistracy by the priesthood or the mob, so he now defended it against the power of the sword. there was no justification whatever for a claim on the part of maurice to exact obedience from all the armies of the republic, especially in time of peace. he was himself by oath sworn to obey the states of holland, of utrecht, and of the three other provinces of which he was governor. he was not commander-in-chief. in two of the seven provinces he had no functions whatever, military or civil. they had another governor. yet the exposition of the law, as it stood, by the advocate and his claim that both troops and stadholder should be held to their oaths was accounted a crime. he had invented a new oath--it was said--and sought to diminish the power of the prince. these were charges, unjust as they were, which might one day be used with deadly effect. "we live in a world where everything is interpreted to the worst," he said. "my physical weakness continues and is increased by this affliction. i place my trust in god the lord and in my upright and conscientious determination to serve the country, his excellency, and the religion in which through god's grace i hope to continue to the end." on the th august of a warm afternoon, barneveld was seated on a porcelain seat in an arbor in his garden. councillor berkhout, accompanied by a friend, called to see him, and after a brief conversation gave him solemn warning that danger was impending, that there was even a rumour of an intention to arrest him. the advocate answered gravely, "yes, there are wicked men about." presently he lifted his hat courteously and said, "i thank you, gentlemen, for the warning." it seems scarcely to have occurred to him that he had been engaged in anything beyond a constitutional party struggle in which he had defended what in his view was the side of law and order. he never dreamt of seeking safety in flight. some weeks before, he had been warmly advised to do as both he and maurice had done in former times in order to escape the stratagems of leicester, to take refuge in some strong city devoted to his interests rather than remain at the hague. but he had declined the counsel. "i will await the issue of this business," he said, "in the hague, where my home is, and where i have faithfully served my masters. i had rather for the sake of the fatherland suffer what god chooses to send me for having served well than that through me and on my account any city should fall into trouble and difficulties." next morning, wednesday, at seven o'clock, uytenbogaert paid him a visit. he wished to consult him concerning a certain statement in regard to the synod which he desired him to lay before the states of holland. the preacher did not find his friend busily occupied at his desk, as usual, with writing and other work. the advocate had pushed his chair away from the table encumbered with books and papers, and sat with his back leaning against it, lost in thought. his stern, stoical face was like that of a lion at bay. uytenbogaert tried to arouse him from his gloom, consoling him by reflections on the innumerable instances, in all countries and ages, of patriotic statesmen who for faithful service had reaped nothing but ingratitude. soon afterwards he took his leave, feeling a presentiment of evil within him which it was impossible for him to shake off as he pressed barneveld's hand at parting. two hours later, the advocate went in his coach to the session of the states of holland. the place of the assembly as well as that of the states-general was within what was called the binnenhof or inner court; the large quadrangle enclosing the ancient hall once the residence of the sovereign counts of holland. the apartments of the stadholder composed the south-western portion of the large series of buildings surrounding this court. passing by these lodgings on his way to the assembly, he was accosted by a chamberlain of the prince and informed that his highness desired to speak with him. he followed him towards the room where such interviews were usually held, but in the antechamber was met by lieutenant nythof, of the prince's bodyguard. this officer told him that he had been ordered to arrest him in the name of the states-general. the advocate demanded an interview with the prince. it was absolutely refused. physical resistance on the part of a man of seventy-two, stooping with age and leaning on a staff, to military force, of which nythof was the representative, was impossible. barneveld put a cheerful face on the matter, and was even inclined to converse. he was at once carried off a prisoner and locked up in a room belonging to maurice's apartments. soon afterwards, grotius on his way to the states-general was invited in precisely the same manner to go to the prince, with whom, as he was informed, the advocate was at that moment conferring. as soon as he had ascended the stairs however, he was arrested by captain van der meulen in the name of the states-general, and taken to a chamber in the same apartments, where he was guarded by two halberdmen. in the evening he was removed to another chamber where the window shutters were barred, and where he remained three days and nights. he was much cast down and silent. pensionary hoogerbeets was made prisoner in precisely the same manner. thus the three statesmen--culprits as they were considered by their enemies--were secured without noise or disturbance, each without knowing the fate that had befallen the other. nothing could have been more neatly done. in the same quiet way orders were sent to secure secretary ledenberg, who had returned to utrecht, and who now after a short confinement in that city was brought to the hague and imprisoned in the hof. at the very moment of the advocate's arrest his son-in-law van der myle happened to be paying a visit to sir dudley carleton, who had arrived very late the night before from england. it was some hours before he or any other member of the family learned what had befallen. the ambassador reported to his sovereign that the deed was highly applauded by the well disposed as the only means left for the security of the state. "the arminians," he said, "condemn it as violent and insufferable in a free republic." impartial persons, he thought, considered it a superfluous proceeding now that the synod had been voted and the waartgelders disbanded. while he was writing his despatch, the stadholder came to call upon him, attended by his cousin count lewis william. the crowd of citizens following at a little distance, excited by the news with which the city was now ringing, mingled with maurice's gentlemen and bodyguards and surged up almost into the ambassador's doors. carleton informed his guests, in the course of conversation, as to the general opinion of indifferent judges of these events. maurice replied that he had disbanded the waartgelders, but it had now become necessary to deal with their colonel and the chief captains, meaning thereby barneveld and the two other prisoners. the news of this arrest was soon carried to the house of barneveld, and filled his aged wife, his son, and sons-in-law with grief and indignation. his eldest son william, commonly called the seignior van groeneveld, accompanied by his two brothers-in-law, veenhuyzen, president of the upper council, and van der myle, obtained an interview with the stadholder that same afternoon. they earnestly requested that the advocate, in consideration of his advanced age, might on giving proper bail be kept prisoner in his own house. the prince received them at first with courtesy. "it is the work of the states-general," he said, " no harm shall come to your father any more than to myself." veenhuyzen sought to excuse the opposition which the advocate had made to the cloister church. the word was scarcely out of his mouth when the prince fiercely interrupted him--"any man who says a word against the cloister church," he cried in a rage, "his feet shall not carry him from this place." the interview gave them on the whole but little satisfaction. very soon afterwards two gentlemen, asperen and schagen, belonging to the chamber of nobles, and great adherents of barneveld, who had procured their enrolment in that branch, forced their way into the stadholder's apartments and penetrated to the door of the room where the advocate was imprisoned. according to carleton they were filled with wine as well as rage, and made a great disturbance, loudly demanding their patron's liberation. maurice came out of his own cabinet on hearing the noise in the corridor, and ordered them to be disarmed and placed under arrest. in the evening however they were released. soon afterwards van der myle fled to paris, where he endeavoured to make influence with the government in favour of the advocate. his departure without leave, being, as he was, a member of the chamber of nobles and of the council of state, was accounted a great offence. uytenbogaert also made his escape, as did taurinus, author of the balance, van moersbergen of utrecht, and many others more or less implicated in these commotions. there was profound silence in the states of holland when the arrest of barneveld was announced. the majority sat like men distraught. at last matenesse said, "you have taken from us our head, our tongue, and our hand, henceforth we can only sit still and look on." the states-general now took the responsibility of the arrest, which eight individuals calling themselves the states-general had authorized by secret resolution the day before ( th august). on the th accordingly, the following "billet," as it was entitled, was read to the assembly and ordered to be printed and circulated among the community. it was without date or signature. "whereas in the course of the changes within the city of utrecht and in other places brought about by the high and mighty lords the states- general of the united netherlands, through his excellency and their lordships' committee to him adjoined, sundry things have been discovered of which previously there had been great suspicion, tending to the great prejudice of the provinces in general and of each province in particular, not without apparent danger to the state of the country, and that thereby not only the city of utrecht, but various other cities of the united provinces would have fallen into a blood bath; and whereas the chief ringleaders in these things are considered to be john van barneveld, advocate of holland, rombout hoogerbeets, and hugo grotius, whereof hereafter shall declaration and announcement be made, therefore their high mightinesses, in order to prevent these and similar inconveniences, to place the country in security, and to bring the good burghers of all the cities into friendly unity again, have resolved to arrest those three persons, in order that out of their imprisonment they may be held to answer duly for their actions and offences." the deputies of holland in the states-general protested on the same day against the arrest, declaring themselves extraordinarily amazed at such proceedings, without their knowledge, with usurpation of their jurisdiction, and that they should refer to their principals for instructions in the matter. they reported accordingly at once to the states of holland in session in the same building. soon afterwards however a committee of five from the states-general appeared before the assembly to justify the proceeding. on their departure there arose a great debate, the six cities of course taking part with maurice and the general government. it was finally resolved by the majority to send a committee to the stadholder to remonstrate with, and by the six opposition cities another committee to congratulate him, on his recent performances. his answer was to this effect: "what had happened was not by his order, but had been done by the states- general, who must be supposed not to have acted without good cause. touching the laws and jurisdiction of holland he would not himself dispute, but the states of holland would know how to settle that matter with the states-general." next day it was resolved in the holland assembly to let the affair remain as it was for the time being. rapid changes were soon to be expected in that body, hitherto so staunch for the cause of municipal laws and state rights. meantime barneveld sat closely guarded in the apartments of the stadholder, while the country and very soon all europe were ringing with the news of his downfall, imprisonment, and disgrace. the news was a thunder-bolt to the lovers of religious liberty, a ray of dazzling sunlight after a storm to the orthodox. the showers of pamphlets, villanous lampoons, and libels began afresh. the relatives of the fallen statesman could not appear in the streets without being exposed to insult, and without hearing scurrilous and obscene verses against their father and themselves, in which neither sex nor age was spared, howled in their ears by all the ballad-mongers and broadsheet vendors of the town. the unsigned publication of the states- general, with its dark allusions to horrible discoveries and promised revelations which were never made, but which reduced themselves at last to the gibberish of a pot-house bully, the ingenious libels, the powerfully concocted and poisonous calumnies, caricatures, and lampoons, had done their work. people stared at each other in the streets with open mouths as they heard how the advocate had for years and years been the hireling of spain, whose government had bribed him largely to bring about the truce and kill the west india company; how his pockets and his coffers were running over with spanish ducats; how his plot to sell the whole country to the ancient tyrant, drive the prince of orange into exile, and bring every city of the netherlands into a "blood-bath," had, just in time, been discovered. and the people believed it and hated the man they had so lately honoured, and were ready to tear him to pieces in the streets. men feared to defend him lest they too should be accused of being stipendiaries of spain. it was a piteous spectacle; not for the venerable statesman sitting alone there in his prison, but for the republic in its lunacy, for human nature in its meanness and shame. he whom count lewis, although opposed to his politics, had so lately called one of the two columns on which the whole fabric of the states reposed, prince maurice being the other, now lay prostrate in the dust and reviled of all men. "many who had been promoted by him to high places," said a contemporary, "and were wont to worship him as a god, in hope that he would lift them up still higher, now deserted him, and ridiculed him, and joined the rest of the world in heaping dirt upon him." on the third day of his imprisonment the advocate wrote this letter to his family:-- "my very dear wife, children, children-in-law, and grandchildren,--i know that you are sorrowful for the troubles which have come upon me, but i beg you to seek consolation from god the almighty and to comfort each other. i know before the lord god of having given no single lawful reason for the misfortunes which have come upon me, and i will with patience await from his divine hand and from my lawful superiors a happy issue, knowing well that you and my other well-wishers will with your prayers and good offices do all that you can to that end. "and so, very dear wife, children, children-in-law, and grandchildren, i commend you to god's holy keeping. "i have been thus far well and honourably treated and accommodated, for which i thank his princely excellency. "from my chamber of arrest, last of august, anno . "your dear husband, father, father-in-law, and grand father, "john of barneveld." on the margin was written: "from the first i have requested and have at last obtained materials for writing." a fortnight before the arrest, but while great troubles were known to be impending, the french ambassador extraordinary, de boississe, had audience before the assembly of the states-general. he entreated them to maintain the cause of unity and peace as the foundation of their state; "that state," he said, "which lifts its head so high that it equals or surpasses the mightiest republics that ever existed, and which could not have risen to such a height of honour and grandeur in so short a time, but through harmony and union of all the provinces, through the valour of his excellency, and through your own wise counsels, both sustained by our great king, whose aid is continued by his son."--"the king my master," he continued, "knows not the cause of your disturbances. you have not communicated them to him, but their most apparent cause is a difference of opinion, born in the schools, thence brought before the public, upon a point of theology. that point has long been deemed by many to be so hard and so high that the best advice to give about it is to follow what god's word teaches touching god's secrets; to wit, that one should use moderation and modesty therein and should not rashly press too far into that which he wishes to be covered with the veil of reverence and wonder. that is a wise ignorance to keep one's eyes from that which god chooses to conceal. he calls us not to eternal life through subtle and perplexing questions." and further exhorting them to conciliation and compromise, he enlarged on the effect of their internal dissensions on their exterior relations. "what joy, what rapture you are preparing for your neighbours by your quarrels! how they will scorn you! how they will laugh! what a hope do you give them of revenging themselves upon you without danger to themselves! let me implore you to baffle their malice, to turn their joy into mourning, to unite yourselves to confound them." he spoke much more in the same vein, expressing wise and moderate sentiments. he might as well have gone down to the neighbouring beach when a south-west gale was blowing and talked of moderation to the waves of the german ocean. the tempest of passion and prejudice had risen in its might and was sweeping all before it. yet the speech, like other speeches and intercessions made at this epoch by de boississe and by the regular french ambassador, du maurier, was statesmanlike and reasonable. it is superfluous to say that it was in unison with the opinions of barneveld, for barneveld had probably furnished the text of the oration. even as he had a few years before supplied the letters which king james had signed and subsequently had struggled so desperately to disavow, so now the advocate's imperious intellect had swayed the docile and amiable minds of the royal envoys into complete sympathy with his policy. he usually dictated their general instructions. but an end had come to such triumphs. dudley carleton had returned from his leave of absence in england, where he had found his sovereign hating the advocate as doctors hate who have been worsted in theological arguments and despots who have been baffled in their imperious designs. who shall measure the influence on the destiny of this statesman caused by the french-spanish marriages, the sermons of james through the mouth of carleton, and the mutual jealousy of france and england? but the advocate was in prison, and the earth seemed to have closed over him. hardly a ripple of indignation was perceptible on the calm surface of affairs, although in the states-general as in the states of holland his absence seemed to have reduced both bodies to paralysis. they were the more easily handled by the prudent, skilful, and determined maurice. the arrest of the four gentlemen had been communicated to the kings of france and great britain and the elector-palatine in an identical letter from the states-general. it is noticeable that on this occasion the central government spoke of giving orders to the prince of orange, over whom they would seem to have had no legitimate authority, while on the other hand he had expressed indignation on more than one occasion that the respective states of the five provinces where he was governor and to whom he had sworn obedience should presume to issue commands to him. in france, where the advocate was honoured and beloved, the intelligence excited profound sorrow. a few weeks previously the government of that country had, as we have seen, sent a special ambassador to the states, m. de boississe, to aid the resident envoy, du maurier, in his efforts to bring about a reconciliation of parties and a termination of the religious feud. their exertions were sincere and unceasing. they were as steadily countermined by francis aerssens, for the aim of that diplomatist was to bring about a state of bad feeling, even at cost of rupture, between the republic and france, because france was friendly to the man he most hated and whose ruin he had sworn. during the summer a bitter personal controversy had been going on, sufficiently vulgar in tone, between aerssens and another diplomatist, barneveld's son-in-law, cornelis van der myle. it related to the recall of aerssens from the french embassy of which enough has already been laid before the reader. van der myle by the production of the secret letters of the queen-dowager and her counsellors had proved beyond dispute that it was at the express wish of the french government that the ambassador had retired, and that indeed they had distinctly refused to receive him, should he return. foul words resulting in propositions for a hostile meeting on the frontier, which however came to nothing, were interchanged and aerssens in the course of his altercation with the son-inlaw had found ample opportunity for venting his spleen upon his former patron the now fallen statesman. four days after the arrest of barneveld he brought the whole matter before the states-general, and the intention with which he thus raked up the old quarrel with france after the death of henry, and his charges in regard to the spanish marriages, was as obvious as it was deliberate. the french ambassadors were furious. boississe had arrived not simply as friend of the advocate, but to assure the states of the strong desire entertained by the french government to cultivate warmest relations with them. it had been desired by the contra-remonstrant party that deputies from the protestant churches of france should participate in the synod, and the french king had been much assailed by the catholic powers for listening to those suggestions. the papal nuncius, the spanish ambassador, the envoy of the archduke, had made a great disturbance at court concerning the mission of boississe. they urged with earnestness that his majesty was acting against the sentiments of spain, rome, and the whole catholic church, and that he ought not to assist with his counsel those heretics who were quarrelling among themselves over points in their heretical religion and wishing to destroy each other. notwithstanding this outcry the weather was smooth enough until the proceedings of aerssens came to stir up a tempest at the french court. a special courier came from boississe, a meeting of the whole council, although it was sunday, was instantly called, and the reply of the states-general to the remonstrance of the ambassador in the aerssens affair was pronounced to be so great an affront to the king that, but for overpowering reasons, diplomatic intercourse would have at once been suspended. "now instead of friendship there is great anger here," said langerac. the king forbade under vigorous penalties the departure of any french theologians to take part in the synod, although the royal consent had nearly been given. the government complained that no justice was done in the netherlands to the french nation, that leading personages there openly expressed contempt for the french alliance, denouncing the country as "hispaniolized," and declaring that all the council were regularly pensioned by spain for the express purpose of keeping up the civil dissensions in the united provinces. aerssens had publicly and officially declared that a majority of the french council since the death of henry had declared the crown in its temporal as well as spiritual essence to be dependent on the pope, and that the spanish marriages had been made under express condition of the renunciation of the friendship and alliance of the states. such were among the first-fruits of the fall of barneveld and the triumph of aerssens, for it was he in reality who had won the victory, and he had gained it over both stadholder and advocate. who was to profit by the estrangement between the republic and its powerful ally at a moment too when that great kingdom was at last beginning to emerge from the darkness and nothingness of many years, with the faint glimmering dawn of a new great policy? barneveld, whose masterful statesmanship, following out the traditions of william the silent, had ever maintained through good and ill report cordial and beneficent relations between the two countries, had always comprehended, even as a great cardinal-minister was ere long to teach the world, that the permanent identification of france with spain and the roman league was unnatural and impossible. meantime barneveld sat in his solitary prison, knowing not what was passing on that great stage where he had so long been the chief actor, while small intriguers now attempted to control events. it was the intention of aerssens to return to the embassy in paris whence he had been driven, in his own opinion, so unjustly. to render himself indispensable, he had begun by making himself provisionally formidable to the king's government. later, there would be other deeds to do before the prize was within his grasp. thus the very moment when france was disposed to cultivate the most earnest friendship with the republic had been seized for fastening an insult upon her. the twelve years' truce with spain was running to its close, the relations between france and spain were unusually cold, and her friendship therefore more valuable than ever. on the other hand the british king was drawing closer his relations with spain, and his alliance was demonstrably of small account. the phantom of the spanish bride had become more real to his excited vision than ever, so that early in the year, in order to please gondemar, he had been willing to offer an affront to the french ambassador. the prince of wales had given a splendid masquerade at court, to which the envoy of his most catholic majesty was bidden. much to his amazement the representative of the most christian king received no invitation, notwithstanding that he had taken great pains to procure one. m. de la boderie was very angry, and went about complaining to the states' ambassador and his other colleagues of the slight, and darkened the lives of the court functionaries having charge of such matters with his vengeance and despair. it was represented to him that he had himself been asked to a festival the year before when count gondemar was left out. it was hinted to him that the king had good reasons for what he did, as the marriage with the daughter of spain was now in train, and it was desirable that the spanish ambassador should be able to observe the prince's disposition and make a more correct report of it to his government. it was in vain. m. de la boderie refused to be comforted, and asserted that one had no right to leave the french ambassador uninvited to any "festival or triumph" at court. there was an endless disturbance. de la boderie sent his secretary off to paris to complain to the king that his ambassador was of no account in london, while much favour was heaped upon the spaniard. the secretary returned with instructions from lewis that the ambassador was to come home immediately, and he went off accordingly in dudgeon. "i could see that he was in the highest degree indignant," said caron, who saw him before he left, "and i doubt not that his departure will increase and keep up the former jealousy between the governments." the ill-humor created by this event lasted a long time, serving to neutralize or at least perceptibly diminish the spanish influence produced in france by the spanish marriages. in the autumn, secretary de puysieux by command of the king ordered every spaniard to leave the french court. all the "spanish ladies and gentlemen, great and small," who had accompanied the queen from madrid were included in this expulsion with the exception of four individuals, her majesty's father confessor, physician, apothecary, and cook. the fair young queen was much vexed and shed bitter tears at this calamity, which, as she spoke nothing but spanish, left her isolated at the court, but she was a little consoled by the promise that thenceforth the king would share her couch. it had not yet occurred to him that he was married. the french envoys at the hague exhausted themselves in efforts, both private and public, in favour of the prisoners, but it was a thankless task. now that the great man and his chief pupils and adherents were out of sight, a war of shameless calumny was began upon him, such as has scarcely a parallel in political history. it was as if a whole tribe of noxious and obscene reptiles were swarming out of the earth which had suddenly swallowed him. but it was not alone the obscure or the anonymous who now triumphantly vilified him. men in high places who had partaken of his patronage, who had caressed him and grovelled before him, who had grown great through his tuition and rich through his bounty, now rejoiced in his ruin or hastened at least to save themselves from being involved in it. not a man of them all but fell away from him like water. even the great soldier forgot whose respectful but powerful hand it was which, at the most tragical moment, had lifted him from the high school at leyden into the post of greatest power and responsibility, and had guided his first faltering footsteps by the light of his genius and experience. francis aerssens, master of the field, had now become the political tutor of the mature stadholder. step by step we have been studying the inmost thoughts of the advocate as revealed in his secret and confidential correspondence, and the reader has been enabled to judge of the wantonness of the calumny which converted the determined antagonist into the secret friend of spain. yet it had produced its effect upon maurice. he told the french ambassadors a month after the arrest that barneveld had been endeavouring, during and since the truce negotiations, to bring back the provinces, especially holland, if not under the dominion of, at least under some kind of vassalage to spain. persons had been feeling the public pulse as to the possibility of securing permanent peace by paying tribute to spain, and this secret plan of barneveld had so alienated him from the prince as to cause him to attempt every possible means of diminishing or destroying altogether his authority. he had spread through many cities that maurice wished to make himself master of the state by using the religious dissensions to keep the people weakened and divided. there is not a particle of evidence, and no attempt was ever made to produce any, that the advocate had such plan, but certainly, if ever, man had made himself master of a state, that man was maurice. he continued however to place himself before the world as the servant of the states- general, which he never was, either theoretically or in fact. the french ambassadors became every day more indignant and more discouraged. it was obvious that aerssens, their avowed enemy, was controlling the public policy of the government. not only was there no satisfaction to be had for the offensive manner in which he had filled the country with his ancient grievances and his nearly forgotten charges against the queen-dowager and those who had assisted her in the regency, but they were repulsed at every turn when by order of their sovereign they attempted to use his good offices in favour of the man who had ever been the steady friend of france. the stadholder also professed friendship for that country, and referred to colonel-general chatillon, who had for a long time commanded the french regiments in the netherlands, for confirmation of his uniform affection for those troops and attachment to their sovereign. he would do wonders, he said, if lewis would declare war upon spain by land and sea. "such fruits are not ripe," said boississe, "nor has your love for france been very manifest in recent events." "barneveld," replied the prince, "has personally offended me, and has boasted that he would drive me out of the country like leicester. he is accused of having wished to trouble the country in order to bring it back under the yoke of spain. justice will decide. the states only are sovereign to judge this question. you must address yourself to them." "the states," replied the ambassadors, "will require to be aided by your counsels." the prince made no reply and remained chill and "impregnable." the ambassadors continued their intercessions in behalf of the prisoners both by public address to the assembly and by private appeals to the stadholder and his influential friends. in virtue of the intimate alliance and mutual guarantees existing between their government and the republic they claimed the acceptance of their good offices. they insisted upon a regular trial of the prisoners according to the laws of the land, that is to say, by the high court of holland, which alone had jurisdiction in the premises. if they had been guilty of high-treason, they should be duly arraigned. in the name of the signal services of barneveld and of the constant friendship of that great magistrate for france, the king demanded clemency or proof of his crimes. his majesty complained through his ambassadors of the little respect shown for his counsels and for his friendship. "in times past you found ever prompt and favourable action in your time of need." "this discourse," said maurice to chatillon, "proceeds from evil intention." thus the prisoners had disappeared from human sight, and their enemies ran riot in slandering them. yet thus far no public charges had been made. "nothing appears against them," said du maurier, "and people are beginning to open their mouths with incredible freedom. while waiting for the condemnation of the prisoners, one is determined to dishonour them." the french ambassadors were instructed to intercede to the last, but they were steadily repulsed--while the king of great britain, anxious to gain favour with spain by aiding in the ruin of one whom he knew and spain knew to be her determined foe, did all he could through his ambassador to frustrate their efforts and bring on a catastrophe. the states-general and maurice were now on as confidential terms with carleton as they were cold and repellent to boississe and du maurier. "to recall to them the benefits of the king," said du maurier, "is to beat the air. and then aerssens bewitches them, and they imagine that after having played runaway horses his majesty will be only too happy to receive them back, caress them, and, in order to have their friendship, approve everything they have been doing right or wrong." aerssens had it all his own way, and the states-general had just paid him , francs in cash on the ground that langerac's salary was larger than his had been when at the head of the same embassy many years before. his elevation into the body of nobles, which maurice had just stocked with five other of his partisans, was accounted an additional affront to france, while on the other hand the queen-mother, having through epernon's assistance made her escape from blois, where she had been kept in durance since the death of concini, now enumerated among other grievances for which she was willing to take up arms against her son that the king's government had favoured barneveld. it was strange that all the devotees of spain--mary de' medici, and epernon, as well as james i. and his courtiers--should be thus embittered against the man who had sold the netherlands to spain. at last the prince told the french ambassadors that the "people of the provinces considered their persistent intercessions an invasion of their sovereignty." few would have anything to say to them. "no one listens to us, no one replies to us," said du maurier, "everyone visiting us is observed, and it is conceived a reproach here to speak to the ambassadors of france." certainly the days were changed since henry iv. leaned on the arm of barneveld, and consulted with him, and with him only, among all the statesmen of europe on his great schemes for regenerating christendom and averting that general war which, now that the great king had been murdered and the advocate imprisoned, had already begun to ravage europe. van der myle had gone to paris to make such exertions as he could among the leading members of the council in favour of his father-in-law. langerac, the states' ambassador there, who but yesterday had been turning at every moment to the advocate for light and warmth as to the sun, now hastened to disavow all respect or regard for him. he scoffed at the slender sympathy van der myle was finding in the bleak political atmosphere. he had done his best to find out what he had been negotiating with the members of the council and was glad to say that it was so inconsiderable as to be not worth reporting. he had not spoken with or seen the king. jeannin, his own and his father-in-law's principal and most confidential friend, had only spoken with him half an hour and then departed for burgundy, although promising to confer with him sympathetically on his return. "i am very displeased at his coming here," said langerac, " . . . . . but he has found little friendship or confidence, and is full of woe and apprehension." the ambassador's labours were now confined to personally soliciting the king's permission for deputations from the reformed churches of france to go to the synod, now opened ( th november) at dordtrecht, and to clearing his own skirts with the prince and states-general of any suspicion of sympathy with barneveld. in the first object he was unsuccessful, the king telling him at last "with clear and significant words that this was impossible, on account of his conscience, his respect for the catholic religion, and many other reasons." in regard to the second point he acted with great promptness. he received a summons in january from the states-general and the prince to send them all letters that he had ever received from barneveld. he crawled at once to maurice on his knees, with the letters in his hand. "most illustrious, high-born prince, most gracious lord," he said; "obeying the commands which it has pleased the states and your princely grace to give me, i send back the letters of advocate barneveld. if your princely grace should find anything in them showing that the said advocate had any confidence in me, i most humbly beg your princely grace to believe that i never entertained any affection for, him, except only in respect to and so far as he was in credit and good authority with the government, and according to the upright zeal which i thought i could see in him for the service of my high and puissant lords the states-general and of your princely grace." greater humbleness could be expected of no ambassador. most nobly did the devoted friend and pupil of the great statesman remember his duty to the illustrious prince and their high mightinesses. most promptly did he abjure his patron now that he had fallen into the abyss. "nor will it be found," he continued, "that i have had any sympathy or communication with the said advocate except alone in things concerning my service. the great trust i had in him as the foremost and oldest counsellor of the state, as the one who so confidentially instructed me on my departure for france, and who had obtained for himself so great authority that all the most important affairs of the country were entrusted to him, was the cause that i simply and sincerely wrote to him all that people were in the habit of saying at this court. "if i had known in the least or suspected that he was not what he ought to be in the service of my lords the states and of your princely grace and for the welfare and tranquillity of the land, i should have been well on my guard against letting myself in the least into any kind of communication with him whatever." the reader has seen how steadily and frankly the advocate had kept langerac as well as caron informed of passing events, and how little concealment he made of his views in regard to the synod, the waartgelders, and the respective authority of the states-general and states-provincial. not only had langerac no reason to suspect that barneveld was not what he ought to be, but he absolutely knew the contrary from that most confidential correspondence with him which he was now so abjectly repudiating. the advocate, in a protracted constitutional controversy, had made no secret of his views either officially or privately. whether his positions were tenable or flimsy, they had been openly taken. "what is more," proceeded the ambassador, "had i thought that any account ought to be made of what i wrote to him concerning the sovereignty of the provinces, i should for a certainty not have failed to advise your grace of it above all." he then, after profuse and maudlin protestations of his most dutiful zeal all the days of his life for "the service, honour, reputation, and contentment of your princely grace," observed that he had not thought it necessary to give him notice of such idle and unfounded matters, as being likely to give the prince annoyance and displeasure. he had however always kept within himself the resolution duly to notify him in case he found that any belief was attached to the reports in paris. "but the reports," he said, "were popular and calumnious inventions of which no man had ever been willing or able to name to him the authors." the ambassador's memory was treacherous, and he had doubtless neglected to read over the minutes, if he had kept them, of his wonderful disclosures on the subject of the sovereignty before thus exculpating himself. it will be remembered that he had narrated the story of the plot for conferring sovereignty upon maurice not as a popular calumny flying about paris with no man to father it, but he had given it to barneveld on the authority of a privy councillor of france and of the king himself. "his majesty knows it to be authentic," he had said in his letter. that letter was a pompous one, full of mystery and so secretly ciphered that he had desired that his friend van der myle, whom he was now deriding for his efforts in paris to save his father-inlaw from his fate, might assist the advocate in unravelling its contents. he had now discovered that it had been idle gossip not worthy of a moment's attention. the reader will remember too that barneveld, without attaching much importance to the tale, had distinctly pointed out to langerac that the prince himself was not implicated in the plot and had instructed the ambassador to communicate the story to maurice. this advice had not been taken, but he had kept the perilous stuff upon his breast. he now sought to lay the blame, if it were possible to do so, upon the man to whom he had communicated it and who had not believed it. the business of the states-general, led by the advocate's enemies this winter, was to accumulate all kind of tales, reports, and accusations to his discredit on which to form something like a bill of indictment. they had demanded all his private and confidential correspondence with caron and langerae. the ambassador in paris had been served, moreover, with a string of nine interrogatories which he was ordered to answer on oath and honour. this he did and appended the reply to his letter. the nine questions had simply for their object to discover what barneveld had been secretly writing to the ambassador concerning the synod, the enlisted troops, and the supposed projects of maurice concerning the sovereignty. langerac was obliged to admit in his replies that nothing had been written except the regular correspondence which he endorsed, and of which the reader has been able to see the sum and substance in the copious extracts which have been given. he stated also that he had never received any secret instructions save the marginal notes to the list of questions addressed by him, when about leaving for paris in , to barneveld. most of these were of a trivial and commonplace nature. they had however a direct bearing on the process to be instituted against the advocate, and the letter too which we have been examining will prove to be of much importance. certainly pains enough were taken to detect the least trace of treason in a very loyal correspondence. langerac concluded by enclosing the barneveld correspondence since the beginning of the year , protesting that not a single letter had been kept back or destroyed. "once more i recommend myself to mercy, if not to favour," he added, "as the most faithful, most obedient, most zealous servant of their high mightinesses and your princely grace, to whom i have devoted and sacrificed my honour and life in most humble service; and am now and forever the most humble, most obedient, most faithful servant of my most serene, most illustrious, most highly born prince, most gracious lord and princeliest grace." the former adherent of plain advocate barneveld could hardly find superlatives enough to bestow upon the man whose displeasure that prisoner had incurred. directly after the arrest the stadholder had resumed his tour through the provinces in order to change the governments. sliding over any opposition which recent events had rendered idle, his course in every city was nearly the same. a regiment or two and a train of eighty or a hundred waggons coming through the city-gate preceded by the prince and his body-guard of , a tramp of halberdmen up the great staircase of the town-hall, a jingle of spurs in the assembly-room, and the whole board of magistrates were summoned into the presence of the stadholder. they were then informed that the world had no further need of their services, and were allowed to bow themselves out of the presence. a new list was then announced, prepared beforehand by maurice on the suggestion of those on whom he could rely. a faint resistance was here and there attempted by magistrates and burghers who could not forget in a moment the rights of self-government and the code of laws which had been enjoyed for centuries. at hoorn, for instance, there was deep indignation among the citizens. an imprudent word or two from the authorities might have brought about a "blood-bath." the burgomaster ventured indeed to expostulate. they requested the prince not to change the magistracy. "this is against our privileges," they said, "which it is our duty to uphold. you will see what deep displeasure will seize the burghers, and how much disturbance and tumult will follow. if any faults have been committed by any member of the government, let him be accused and let him answer for them. let your excellency not only dismiss but punish such as cannot properly justify themselves." but his excellency summoned them all to the town-house and as usual deposed them all. a regiment was drawn up in half-moon on the square beneath the windows. to the magistrates asking why they were deposed, he briefly replied, "the quiet of the land requires it. it is necessary to have unanimous resolutions in the states-general at the hague. this cannot be accomplished without these preliminary changes. i believe that you had good intentions and have been faithful servants of the fatherland. but this time it must be so." and so the faithful servants of the fatherland were dismissed into space. otherwise how could there be unanimous voting in parliament? it must be regarded perhaps as fortunate that the force of character, undaunted courage, and quiet decision of maurice enabled him to effect this violent series of revolutions with such masterly simplicity. it is questionable whether the stadholder's commission technically empowered him thus to trample on municipal law; it is certain that, if it did, the boasted liberties of the netherlands were a dream; but it is equally true that, in the circumstances then existing, a vulgar, cowardly, or incompetent personage might have marked his pathway with massacres without restoring tranquillity. sometimes there was even a comic aspect to these strokes of state. the lists of new magistrates being hurriedly furnished by the prince's adherents to supply the place of those evicted, it often happened that men not quahified by property, residence, or other attributes were appointed to the government, so that many became magistrates before they were citizens. on being respectfully asked sometimes who such a magistrate might be whose face and name were equally unknown to his colleagues and to the townsmen in general; "do i know the fellows?" he would say with a cheerful laugh. and indeed they might have all been dead men, those new functionaries, for aught he did know. and so on through medemblik and alkmaar, brielle, delft, monnikendam, and many other cities progressed the prince, sowing new municipalities broadcast as he passed along. at the hague on his return a vote of thanks to the prince was passed by the nobles and most of the cities for the trouble he had taken in this reforming process. but the unanimous vote had not yet been secured, the strongholds of arminianism, as it was the fashion to call them, not being yet reduced. the prince, in reply to the vote of thanks, said that "in what he had done and was going to do his intention sincerely and uprightly had been no other than to promote the interests and tranquillity of the country, without admixture of anything personal and without prejudice to the general commonwealth or the laws and privileges of the cities." he desired further that "note might be taken of this declaration as record of his good and upright intentions." but the sincerest and most upright intentions may be refracted by party atmosphere from their aim, and the purest gold from the mint elude the direct grasp through the clearest fluid in existence. at any rate it would have been difficult to convince the host of deposed magistrates hurled from office, although recognized as faithful servants of the fatherland, that such violent removal had taken place without detriment to the laws and privileges. and the stadholder went to the few cities where some of the leaven still lingered. he arrived at leyden on the nd october, "accompanied by a great suite of colonels, ritmeesters, and captains," having sent on his body-guard to the town strengthened by other troops. he was received by the magistrates at the "prince's court" with great reverence and entertained by them in the evening at a magnificent banquet. next morning he summoned the whole forty of them to the town-house, disbanded them all, and appointed new ones in their stead; some of the old members however who could be relied upon being admitted to the revolutionized board. the populace, mainly of the stadholder's party, made themselves merry over the discomfited "arminians". they hung wisps of straw as derisive wreaths of triumph over the dismantled palisade lately encircling the town-hall, disposed of the famous "oldenbarneveld's teeth" at auction in the public square, and chased many a poor cock and hen, with their feathers completely plucked from their bodies, about the street, crying "arme haenen, arme haenen"--arminians or poor fowls--according to the practical witticism much esteemed at that period. certainly the unfortunate barneveldians or arminians, or however the remonstrants might be designated, had been sufficiently stripped of their plumes. the prince, after having made proclamation from the town-house enjoining "modesty upon the mob" and a general abstention from "perverseness and petulance," went his way to haarlem, where he dismissed the magistrates and appointed new ones, and then proceeded to rotterdam, to gouda, and to amsterdam. it seemed scarcely necessary to carry, out the process in the commercial capital, the abode of peter plancius, the seat of the west india company, the head-quarters of all most opposed to the advocate, most devoted to the stadholder. but although the majority of the city government was an overwhelming one, there was still a respectable minority who, it was thought possible, might under a change of circumstances effect much mischief and even grow into a majority. the prince therefore summoned the board before him according to his usual style of proceeding and dismissed them all. they submitted without a word of remonstrance. ex-burgomaster hooft, a man of seventy-two-father of the illustrious pieter corneliszoon hooft, one of the greatest historians of the netherlands or of any country, then a man of thirty-seven-shocked at the humiliating silence, asked his colleagues if they had none of them a word to say in defence of their laws and privileges. they answered with one accord "no." the old man, a personal friend of barneveld and born the same year, then got on his feet and addressed the stadholder. he spoke manfully and well, characterizing the summary deposition of the magistracy as illegal and unnecessary, recalling to the memory of those who heard him that he had been thirty-six years long a member of the government and always a warm friend of the house of nassau, and respectfully submitting that the small minority in the municipal government, while differing from their colleagues and from the greater number of the states-general, had limited their opposition to strictly constitutional means, never resorting to acts of violence or to secret conspiracy. nothing could be more truly respectable than the appearance of this ancient magistrate, in long black robe with fur edgings, high ruff around his thin, pointed face, and decent skull-cap covering his bald old head, quavering forth to unsympathetic ears a temperate and unanswerable defence of things which in all ages the noblest minds have deemed most valuable. his harangue was not very long. maurice's reply was very short. "grandpapa," he said, "it must be so this time. necessity and the service of the country require it." with that he dismissed the thirty-six magistrates and next day appointed a new board, who were duly sworn to fidelity to the states-general. of course a large proportion of the old members were renominated. scarcely had the echo of the prince's footsteps ceased to resound through the country as he tramped from one city to another, moulding each to his will, when the states of holland, now thoroughly reorganized, passed a solemn vote of thanks to him for all that he had done. the six cities of the minority had now become the majority, and there was unanimity at the hague. the seven provinces, states-general and states-provincial, were as one, and the synod was secured. whether the prize was worth the sacrifices which it had cost and was still to cost might at least be considered doubtful. etext editor's bookmarks: affection of his friends and the wrath of his enemies depths theological party spirit could descend extraordinary capacity for yielding to gentle violence human nature in its meanness and shame it had not yet occurred to him that he was married make the very name of man a term of reproach never lack of fishers in troubled waters opposed the subjection of the magistracy by the priesthood pot-valiant hero resolve to maintain the civil authority over the military tempest of passion and prejudice the effect of energetic, uncompromising calumny yes, there are wicked men about this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, volume life and death of john of barneveld, v , - chapter xi. the advocate sounds the alarm in germany--his instructions to langerac and his forethought--the prince--palatine and his forces take aachen, mulheim, and other towns--supineness of the protestants--increased activity of austria and the league--barneveld strives to obtain help from england--neuburg departs for germany-- barneveld the prime minister of protestantism--ernest mansfield takes service under charles emmanuel--count john of nassau goes to savoy--slippery conduct of king james in regard to the new treaty proposed--barneveld's influence greater in france than in england-- sequestration feared--the elector of brandenburg cited to appear before the emperor at prague--murder of john van wely--uytenbogaert incurs maurice's displeasure--marriage of the king of france with anne of austria--conference between king james and caron concerning piracy, cloth trade and treaty of xanten--barneveld's survey of the condition of europe--his efforts to avert the impending general war. i have thus purposely sketched the leading features of a couple of momentous, although not eventful, years--so far as the foreign policy of the republic is concerned--in order that the reader may better understand the bearings and the value of the advocate's actions and writings at that period. this work aims at being a political study. i would attempt to exemplify the influence of individual humours and passions--some of them among the highest and others certainly the basest that agitate humanity- upon the march of great events, upon general historical results at certain epochs, and upon the destiny of eminent personages. it may also be not uninteresting to venture a glance into the internal structure and workings of a republican and federal system of government, then for the first time reproduced almost spontaneously upon an extended scale. perhaps the revelation of some of its defects, in spite of the faculty and vitality struggling against them, may not be without value for our own country and epoch. the system of switzerland was too limited and homely, that of venice too purely oligarchical, to have much moral for us now, or to render a study of their pathological phenomena especially instructive. the lessons taught us by the history of the netherland confederacy may have more permanent meaning. moreover, the character of a very considerable statesman at an all- important epoch, and in a position of vast responsibility, is always an historical possession of value to mankind. that of him who furnishes the chief theme for these pages has been either overlooked and neglected or perhaps misunderstood by posterity. history has not too many really important and emblematic men on its records to dispense with the memory of barneveld, and the writer therefore makes no apology for dilating somewhat fully upon his lifework by means of much of his entirely unpublished and long forgotten utterances. the advocate had ceaselessly been sounding the alarm in germany. for the protestant union, fascinated, as it were, by the threatening look of the catholic league, seemed relapsing into a drowse. "i believe," he said to one of his agents in that country, "that the evangelical electors and princes and the other estates are not alive to the danger. i am sure that it is not apprehended in great britain. france is threatened with troubles. these are the means to subjugate the religion, the laws and liberties of germany. without an army the troops now on foot in italy cannot be kept out of germany. yet we do not hear that the evangelicals are making provision of troops, money, or any other necessaries. in this country we have about one hundred places occupied with our troops, among whom are many who could destroy a whole army. but the maintenance of these places prevents our being very strong in the field, especially outside our frontiers. but if in all germany there be many places held by the evangelicals which would disperse a great army is very doubtful. keep a watchful eye. economy is a good thing, but the protection of a country and its inhabitants must be laid to heart. watch well if against these provinces, and against bohemia, austria, and other as it is pretended rebellious states, these plans are not directed. look out for the movements of the italian and bavarian troops against germany. you see how they are nursing the troubles and misunderstandings in france, and turning them to account." he instructed the new ambassador in paris to urge upon the french government the absolute necessity of punctuality in furnishing the payment of their contingent in the netherlands according to convention. the states of holland themselves had advanced the money during three years' past, but this anticipation was becoming very onerous. it was necessary to pay the troops every month regularly, but the funds from paris were always in arrear. england contributed about one-half as much in subsidy, but these moneys went in paying the garrisons of brielle, flushing, and rammekens, fortresses pledged to that crown. the ambassador was shrewdly told not to enlarge on the special employment of the english funds while holding up to the queen's government that she was not the only potentate who helped bear burthens for the provinces, and insisted on a continuation of this aid. "remember and let them remember," said the advocate, "that the reforms which they are pretending to make there by relieving the subjects of contributions tends to enervate the royal authority and dignity both within and without, to diminish its lustre and reputation, and in sum to make the king unable to gratify and assist his subjects, friends, and allies. make them understand that the taxation in these provinces is ten times higher than there, and that my lords the states hitherto by the grace of god and good administration have contrived to maintain it in order to be useful to themselves and their friends. take great pains to have it well understood that this is even more honourable and more necessary for a king of france, especially in his minority, than for a republic 'hoc turbato seculo.' we all see clearly how some potentates in europe are keeping at all time under one pretext or another strong forces well armed on a war footing. it therefore behoves his majesty to be likewise provided with troops, and at least with a good exchequer and all the requirements of war, as well for the security of his own state as for the maintenance of the grandeur and laudable reputation left to him by the deceased king." truly here was sound and substantial advice, never and nowhere more needed than in france. it was given too with such good effect as to bear fruit even upon stoniest ground, and it is a refreshing spectacle to see this plain advocate of a republic, so lately sprung into existence out of the depths of oppression and rebellion, calmly summoning great kings as it were before him and instructing them in those vital duties of government in discharge of which the country he administered already furnished a model. had england and france each possessed a barneveld at that epoch, they might well have given in exchange for him a wilderness of epernons and sillerys, bouillons and conde's; of winwoods, lakes, carrs, and villierses. but elizabeth with her counsellors was gone, and henry was gone, and richelieu had not come; while in england james and his minions were diligently opening an abyss between government and people which in less than half a lifetime more should engulph the kingdom. two months later he informed the states' ambassador of the communications made by the prince of conde and the dukes of nevers and bouillon to the government at the hague now that they had effected a kind of reconciliation with the queen. langerac was especially instructed to do his best to assist in bringing about cordial relations, if that were possible, between the crown and the rebels, and meantime he was especially directed to defend du maurier against the calumnious accusations brought against him, of which aerssens had been the secret sower. "you will do your best to manage," he said, "that no special ambassador be sent hither, and that m. du maurier may remain with us, he being a very intelligent and moderate person now well instructed as to the state of our affairs, a professor of the reformed religion, and having many other good qualities serviceable to their majesties and to us. "you will visit the prince, and other princes and officers of the crown who are coming to court again, and do all good offices as well for the court as for m. du maurier, in order that through evil plots and slanderous reports no harm may come to him. "take great pains to find out all you can there as to the designs of the king of spain, the archdukes, and the emperor, in the affair of julich. you are also to let it be known that the change of religion on the part of the prince-palatine of neuburg will not change our good will and affection for him, so far as his legal claims are concerned." so long as it was possible for the states to retain their hold on both the claimants, the advocate, pursuant to his uniform policy of moderation, was not disposed to help throw the palatine into the hands of the spanish party. he was well aware, however, that neuburg by his marriage and his conversion was inevitably to become the instrument of the league and to be made use of in the duchies at its pleasure, and that he especially would be the first to submit with docility to the decree of the emperor. the right to issue such decree the states under guidance of barneveld were resolved to resist at all hazards. "work diligently, nevertheless," said he, "that they permit nothing there directly or indirectly that may tend to the furtherance of the league, as too prejudicial to us and to all our fellow religionists. tell them too that the late king, the king of great britain, the united electors and princes of germany, and ourselves, have always been resolutely opposed to making the dispute about the succession in the duchies depend on the will of the emperor and his court. all our movements in the year against the attempted sequestration under leopold were to carry out that purpose. hold it for certain that our present proceedings for strengthening and maintaining the city and fortress of julich are considered serviceable and indispensable by the british king and the german electors and princes. use your best efforts to induce the french government to pursue the same policy--if it be not possible openly, then at least secretly. my conviction is that, unless the prince-palatine is supported by, and his whole designs founded upon, the general league against all our brethren of the religion, affairs may be appeased." the envoy was likewise instructed to do his best to further the matrimonial alliance which had begun to be discussed between the prince of wales and the second daughter of france. had it been possible at that moment to bring the insane dream of james for a spanish alliance to naught, the states would have breathed more freely. he was also to urge payment of the money for the french regiments, always in arrears since henry's death and sully's dismissal, and always supplied by the exchequer of holland. he was informed that the republic had been sending some war ships to the levant, to watch the armada recently sent thither by spain, and other armed vessels into the baltic, to pursue the corsairs with whom every sea was infested. in one year alone he estimated the loss to dutch merchants by these pirates at , florins. "we have just captured two of the rovers, but the rascally scum is increasing," he said. again alluding to the resistance to be made by the states to the imperial pretensions, he observed, "the emperor is about sending us a herald in the julich matter, but we know how to stand up to him." and notwithstanding the bare possibility which he had admitted, that the prince of neuburg might not yet have wholly sold himself, body and soul, to the papists, he gave warning a day or two afterwards in france that all should be prepared for the worst. "the archdukes and the prince of neuburg appear to be taking the war earnestly in hand," he said. "we believe that the papistical league is about to make a great effort against all the co-religionists. we are watching closely their movements. aachen is first threatened, and the elector-palatine likewise. france surely, for reasons of state, cannot permit that they should be attacked. she did, and helped us to do, too much in the julich campaign to suffer the spaniards to make themselves masters there now." it has been seen that the part played by france in the memorable campaign of was that of admiring auxiliary to the states' forces; marshal de la chatre having in all things admitted the superiority of their army and the magnificent generalship of prince maurice. but the government of the dowager had been committed by that enterprise to carry out the life-long policy of henry, and to maintain his firm alliance with the republic. whether any of the great king's acuteness and vigour in countermining and shattering the plans of the house of austria was left in the french court, time was to show. meantime barneveld was crying himself hoarse with warnings into the dull ears of england and france. a few weeks later the prince of neuburg had thrown off the mask. twelve thousand foot and horse had been raised in great haste, so the advocate informed the french court, by spain and the archdukes, for the use of that pretender. five or six thousand spaniards were coming by sea to flanders, and as many italians were crossing the mountains, besides a great number mustering for the same purpose in germany and lorraine. barneveld was constantly receiving most important intelligence of military plans and movements from prague, which he placed daily before the eyes of governments wilfully blind. "i ponder well at this crisis," he said to his friend caron, "the intelligence i received some months back from ratisbon, out of the cabinet of the jesuits, that the design of the catholic or roman league is to bring this year a great army into the field, in order to make neuburg, who was even then said to be of the roman profession and league, master of julich and the duchies; to execute the imperial decree against aachen and mulheim, preventing any aid from being sent into germany by these provinces, or by great britain, and placing the archduke and marquis spinola in command of the forces; to put another army on the frontiers of austria, in order to prevent any succour coming from hungary, bohemia, austria, moravia, and silesia into germany; to keep all these disputed territories in subjection and devotion to the emperor, and to place the general conduct of all these affairs in the hands of archduke leopold and other princes of the house of austria. a third army is to be brought into the upper palatinate, under command of the duke of bavaria and others of the league, destined to thoroughly carry out its designs against the elector-palatine, and the other electors, princes, and estates belonging to the religion." this intelligence, plucked by barneveld out of the cabinet of the jesuits, had been duly communicated by him months before to those whom it most concerned, and as usual it seemed to deepen the lethargy of the destined victims and their friends. not only the whole spanish campaign of the present year had thus been duly mapped out by the advocate, long before it occurred, but this long buried and forgotten correspondence of the statesman seems rather like a chronicle of transactions already past, so closely did the actual record, which posterity came to know too well, resemble that which he saw, and was destined only to see, in prophetic vision. could this political seer have cast his horoscope of the thirty years' war at this hour of its nativity for the instruction of such men as walsingham or burleigh, henry of navarre or sully, richelieu or gustavus adolphus, would the course of events have been modified? these very idlest of questions are precisely those which inevitably occur as one ponders the seeming barrenness of an epoch in reality so pregnant. "one would think," said barneveld, comparing what was then the future with the real past, "that these plans in prague against the elector- palatine are too gross for belief; but when i reflect on the intense bitterness of these people, when i remember what was done within living men's memory to the good elector hans frederic of saxony for exactly the same reasons, to wit, hatred of our religion, and determination to establish imperial authority, i have great apprehension. i believe that the roman league will use the present occasion to carry out her great design; holding france incapable of opposition to her, germany in too great division, and imagining to themselves that neither the king of great britain nor these states are willing or able to offer effectual and forcible resistance. yet his majesty of great britain ought to be able to imagine how greatly the religious matter in general concerns himself and the electoral house of the palatine, as principal heads of the religion, and that these vast designs should be resisted betimes, and with all possible means and might. my lords the states have good will, but not sufficient strength, to oppose these great forces single-handed. one must not believe that without great and prompt assistance in force from his majesty and other fellow religionists my lords the states can undertake so vast an affair. do your uttermost duty there, in order that, ere it be too late, this matter be taken to heart by his majesty, and that his authority and credit be earnestly used with other kings, electors, princes, and republics, that they do likewise. the promptest energy, good will, and affection may be reckoned on from us." alas! it was easy for his majesty to take to heart the matter of conrad vorstius, to spend reams of diplomatic correspondence, to dictate whole volumes for orations brimming over with theological wrath, for the edification of the states-general, against that doctor of divinity. but what were the special interests of his son-in-law, what the danger to all the other protestant electors and kings, princes and republics, what the imperilled condition of the united provinces, and, by necessary consequence, the storm gathering over his own throne, what the whole fate of protestantism, from friesland to hungary, threatened by the insatiable, all-devouring might of the double house of austria, the ancient church, and the papistical league, what were hundred thousands of men marching towards bohemia, the netherlands, and the duchies, with the drum beating for mercenary recruits in half the villages of spain, italy, and catholic germany, compared with the danger to christendom from an arminian clergyman being appointed to the theological professorship at leyden? the world was in a blaze, kings and princes were arming, and all the time that the monarch of the powerful, adventurous, and heroic people of great britain could spare from slobbering over his minions, and wasting the treasures of the realm to supply their insatiate greed, was devoted to polemical divinity, in which he displayed his learning, indeed, but changed his positions and contradicted himself day by day. the magnitude of this wonderful sovereign's littleness oppresses the imagination. moreover, should he listen to the adjurations of the states and his fellow religionists, should he allow himself to be impressed by the eloquence of barneveld and take a manly and royal decision in the great emergency, it would be indispensable for him to come before that odious body, the parliament of great britain, and ask for money. it would be perhaps necessary for him to take them into his confidence, to degrade himself by speaking to them of the national affairs. they might not be satisfied with the honour of voting the supplies at his demand, but were capable of asking questions as to their appropriation. on the whole it was more king-like and statesman-like to remain quiet, and give advice. of that, although always a spendthrift, he had an inexhaustible supply. barneveld had just hopes from the commons of great britain, if the king could be brought to appeal to parliament. once more he sounded the bugle of alarm. "day by day the archdukes are making greater and greater enrolments of riders and infantry in ever increasing mass," he cried, "and therewith vast provision of artillery and all munitions of war. within ten or twelve days they will be before julich in force. we are sending great convoys to reinforce our army there. the prince of neuburg is enrolling more and more troops every day. he will soon be master of mulheim. if the king of great britain will lay this matter earnestly to heart for the preservation of the princes, electors, and estates of the religion, i cannot doubt that parliament would cooperate well with his majesty, and this occasion should be made use of to redress the whole state of affairs." it was not the parliament nor the people of great britain that would be in fault when the question arose of paying in money and in blood for the defence of civil and religious liberty. but if james should venture openly to oppose spain, what would the count of gondemar say, and what would become of the infanta and the two millions of dowry? it was not for want of some glimmering consciousness in the mind of james of the impending dangers to northern europe and to protestantism from the insatiable ambition of spain, and the unrelenting grasp of the papacy upon those portions of christendom which were slipping from its control, that his apathy to those perils was so marked. we have seen his leading motives for inaction, and the world was long to feel its effects. "his majesty firmly believes," wrote secretary winwood, "that the papistical league is brewing great and dangerous plots. to obviate them in everything that may depend upon him, my lords the states will find him prompt. the source of all these entanglements comes from spain. we do not think that the archduke will attack julich this year, but rather fear for mulheim and aix-la-chapelle." but the secretary of state, thus acknowledging the peril, chose to be blind to its extent, while at the same time undervaluing the powers by which it might be resisted. "to oppose the violence of the enemy," he said, "if he does resort to violence, is entirely impossible. it would be furious madness on our part to induce him to fall upon the elector- palatine, for this would be attacking great britain and all her friends and allies. germany is a delicate morsel, but too much for the throat of spain to swallow all at once. behold the evil which troubles the conscience of the papistical league. the emperor and his brothers are all on the brink of their sepulchre, and the infants of spain are too young to succeed to the empire. the pope would more willingly permit its dissolution than its falling into the hands of a prince not of his profession. all that we have to do in this conjuncture is to attend the best we can to our own affairs, and afterwards to strengthen the good alliance existing among us, and not to let ourselves be separated by the tricks and sleights of hand of our adversaries. the common cause can reckon firmly upon the king of great britain, and will not find itself deceived." excellent commonplaces, but not very safe ones. unluckily for the allies, to attend each to his own affairs when the enemy was upon them, and to reckon firmly upon a king who thought it furious madness to resist the enemy, was hardly the way to avert the danger. a fortnight later, the man who thought it possible to resist, and time to resist, before the net was over every head, replied to the secretary by a picture of the spaniards' progress. "since your letter," he said, "you have seen the course of spinola with the army of the king and the archdukes. you have seen the prince- palatine of neuburg with his forces maintained by the pope and other members of the papistical league. on the th of august they forced aachen, where the magistrates and those of the reformed religion have been extremely maltreated. twelve hundred soldiers are lodged in the houses there of those who profess our religion. mulheim is taken and dismantled, and the very houses about to be torn down. duren, castre, grevenborg, orsoy, duisburg, ruhrort, and many other towns, obliged to receive spanish garrisons. on the th of september they invested wesel. on the th it was held certain that the cities of cleve, emmerich, rees, and others in that quarter, had consented to be occupied. the states have put one hundred and thirty-five companies of foot (about , men) and horse and a good train of artillery in the field, and sent out some ships of war. prince maurice left the hague on the th of september to assist wesel, succour the prince of brandenburg, and oppose the hostile proceedings of spinola and the palatine of neuburg . . . . consider, i pray you, this state of things, and think how much heed they have paid to the demands of the kings of great britain and france to abstain from hostilities. be sure that without our strong garrison in julich they would have snapped up every city in julich, cleve, and berg. but they will now try to make use of their slippery tricks, their progress having been arrested by our army. the prince of neuburg is sending his chancellor here 'cum mediis componendae pacis,' in appearance good and reasonable, in reality deceptive . . . . if their majesties, my lords the states, and the princes of the union, do not take an energetic resolution for making head against their designs, behold their league in full vigour and ours without soul. neither the strength nor the wealth of the states are sufficient of themselves to withstand their ambitious and dangerous designs. we see the possessory princes treated as enemies upon their own estates, and many thousand souls of the reformed religion cruelly oppressed by the papistical league. for myself i am confirmed in my apprehensions and believe that neither our religion nor our union can endure such indignities. the enemy is making use of the minority in france and the divisions among the princes of germany to their great advantage . . . . i believe that the singular wisdom of his majesty will enable him to apply promptly the suitable remedies, and that your parliament will make no difficulty in acquitting itself well in repairing those disorders." the year dragged on to its close. the supineness of the protestants deepened in direct proportion to the feverish increase of activity on the part of austria and the league. the mockery of negotiation in which nothing could be negotiated, the parade of conciliation when war of extermination was intended, continued on the part of spain and austria. barneveld was doing his best to settle all minor differences between the states and great britain, that these two bulwarks of protestantism might stand firmly together against the rising tide. he instructed the ambassador to exhaust every pacific means of arrangement in regard to the greenland fishery disputes, the dyed cloth question, and like causes of ill feeling. he held it more than necessary, he said, that the inhabitants of the two countries should now be on the very best terms with each other. above all, he implored the king through the ambassador to summon parliament in order that the kingdom might be placed in position to face the gathering danger. "i am amazed and distressed," he said, "that the statesmen of england do not comprehend the perils with which their fellow religionists are everywhere threatened, especially in germany and in these states. to assist us with bare advice and sometimes with traducing our actions, while leaving us to bear alone the burthens, costs, and dangers, is not serviceable to us." referring to the information and advice which he had sent to england and to france fifteen months before, he now gave assurance that the prince of neuburg and spinola were now in such force, both foot and cavalry, with all necessary munitions, as to hold these most important territories as a perpetual "sedem bedli," out of which to attack germany at their pleasure and to cut off all possibility of aid from england and the states. he informed the court of st. james that besides the forces of the emperor and the house of austria, the duke of bavaria and spanish italy, there were now several thousand horse and foot under the bishop of wurzburg, or under the bishop-elector of mayence, and strong bodies of cavalry under count vaudemont in lorraine, all mustering for the war. the pretext seems merely to reduce frankfurt to obedience, even as donauworth had previously been used as a colour for vast designs. the real purpose was to bring the elector-palatine and the whole protestant party in germany to submission. "his majesty," said the advocate, "has now a very great and good subject upon which to convoke parliament and ask for a large grant. this would be doubtless consented to if parliament receives the assurance that the money thus accorded shall be applied to so wholesome a purpose. you will do your best to further this great end. we are waiting daily to hear if the xanten negotiation is broken off or not. i hope and i fear. meantime we bear as heavy burthens as if we were actually at war." he added once more the warning, which it would seem superfluous to repeat even to schoolboys in diplomacy, that this xanten treaty, as proposed by the enemy, was a mere trap. spinola and neuburg, in case of the mutual disbanding, stood ready at an instant's warning to re-enlist for the league not only all the troops that the catholic army should nominally discharge, but those which would be let loose from the states' army and that of brandenburg as well. they would hold rheinberg, groll, lingen, oldenzaal, wachtendonk, maestricht, aachen, and mulheim with a permanent force of more than , men. and they could do all this in four days' time. a week or two later all his prophesies had been fulfilled. "the prince of neuburg," he said, "and marquis spinola have made game of us most impudently in the matter of the treaty. this is an indignity for us, their majesties, and the electors and princes. we regard it as intolerable. a despatch came from spain forbidding a further step in the negotiation without express order from the king. the prince and spinola are gone to brussels, the ambassadors have returned to the hague, the armies are established in winter-quarters. the cavalry are ravaging the debateable land and living upon the inhabitants at their discretion. m. de refuge is gone to complain to the archdukes of the insult thus put upon his sovereign. sir henry wotton is still here. we have been plunged into an immensity of extraordinary expense, and are amazed that at this very moment england should demand money from us when we ought to be assisted by a large subsidy by her. we hope that now at least his majesty will take a vigorous resolution and not suffer his grandeur and dignity to be vilipended longer. if the spaniard is successful in this step, he is ready for greater ones, and will believe that mankind is ready to bear and submit to everything. his majesty is the first king of the religion. he bears the title of defender of the faith. his religion, his only daughter, his son-in-law, his grandson are all especially interested besides his own dignity, besides the common weal." he then adverted to the large subsidies from queen elizabeth many years before, guaranteed, it was true, by the cautionary towns, and to the gallant english regiments, sent by that great sovereign, which had been fighting so long and so splendidly in the netherlands for the common cause of protestantism and liberty. yet england was far weaker then, for she had always her northern frontier to defend against scotland, ever ready to strike her in the back. "but now his majesty," said barneveld, "is king of england and scotland both. his frontier is free. ireland is at peace. he possesses quietly twice as much as the queen ever did. he is a king. her majesty was a woman. the king has children and heirs. his nearest blood is engaged in this issue. his grandeur and dignity have been wronged. each one of these considerations demands of itself a manly resolution. you will do your best to further it." the almost ubiquitous power of spain, gaining after its exhaustion new life through the strongly developed organization of the league, and the energy breathed into that mighty conspiracy against human liberty by the infinite genius of the "cabinet of jesuits," was not content with overshadowing germany, the netherlands, and england, but was threatening savoy with , men, determined to bring charles emmanuel either to perdition or submission. like england, france was spell-bound by the prospect of spanish marriages, which for her at least were not a chimera, and looked on composedly while savoy was on point of being sacrificed by the common invader of independent nationality whether protestant or catholic. nothing ever showed more strikingly the force residing in singleness of purpose with breadth and unity of design than all these primary movements of the great war now beginning. the chances superficially considered were vastly in favour of the protestant cause. in the chief lands, under the sceptre of the younger branch of austria, the protestants outnumbered the catholics by nearly ten to one. bohemia, the austrias, moravia, silesia, hungary were filled full of the spirit of huss, of luther, and even of calvin. if spain was a unit, now that the moors and jews had been expelled, and the heretics of castille and aragon burnt into submission, she had a most lukewarm ally in venice, whose policy was never controlled by the church, and a dangerous neighbour in the warlike, restless, and adventurous house of savoy, to whom geographical considerations were ever more vital than religious scruples. a sincere alliance of france, the very flower of whose nobility and people inclined to the reformed religion, was impossible, even if there had been fifty infantes to espouse fifty daughters of france. great britain, the netherlands, and the united princes of germany seemed a solid and serried phalanx of protestantism, to break through which should be hopeless. yet at that moment, so pregnant with a monstrous future, there was hardly a sound protestant policy anywhere but in holland. how long would that policy remain sound and united? how long would the republic speak through the imperial voice of barneveld? time was to show and to teach many lessons. the united princes of germany were walking, talking, quarrelling in their sleep; england and france distracted and bedrugged, while maximilian of bavaria and ferdinand of gratz, the cabinets of madrid and the vatican, were moving forward to their aims slowly, steadily, relentlessly as fate. and spain was more powerful than she had been since the truce began. in five years she had become much more capable of aggression. she had strengthened her positions in the mediterranean by the acquisition and enlargement of considerable fortresses in barbary and along a large sweep of the african coast, so as to be almost supreme in africa. it was necessary for the states, the only power save turkey that could face her in those waters, to maintain a perpetual squadron of war ships there to defend their commerce against attack from the spaniard and from the corsairs, both mahometan and christian, who infested every sea. spain was redoubtable everywhere, and the turk, engaged in persian campaigns, was offering no diversion against hungary and vienna. "reasons of state worthy of his majesty's consideration and wisdom," said barneveld, "forbid the king of great britain from permitting the spaniard to give the law in italy. he is about to extort obedience and humiliation from the duke of savoy, or else with , men to mortify and ruin him, while entirely assuring himself of france by the double marriages. then comes the attack on these provinces, on protestant germany, and all other states and realms of the religion." with the turn of the year, affairs were growing darker and darker. the league was rolling up its forces in all directions; its chiefs proposed absurd conditions of pacification, while war was already raging, and yet scarcely any government but that of the netherlands paid heed to the rising storm. james, fatuous as ever, listened to gondemar, and wrote admonitory letters to the archduke. it was still gravely proposed by the catholic party that there should be mutual disbanding in the duchies, with a guarantee from marquis spinola that there should be no more invasion of those territories. but powers and pledges from the king of spain were what he needed. to suppose that the republic and her allies would wait quietly, and not lift a finger until blows were actually struck against the protestant electors or cities of germany, was expecting too much ingenuousness on the part of statesmen who had the interests of protestantism at heart. what they wanted was the signed, sealed, ratified treaty faithfully carried out. then if the king of spain and the archdukes were willing to contract with the states never to make an attempt against the holy german empire, but to leave everything to take its course according to the constitutions, liberties, and traditions and laws of that empire, under guidance of its electors, princes, estates, and cities, the united provinces were ready, under mediation of the two kings, their allies and friends, to join in such an arrangement. thus there might still be peace in germany, and religious equality as guaranteed by the "majesty-letter," and the "compromise" between the two great churches, roman and reformed, be maintained. to bring about this result was the sincere endeavour of barneveld, hoping against hope. for he knew that all was hollowness and sham on the part of the great enemy. even as walsingham almost alone had suspected and denounced the delusive negotiations by which spain continued to deceive elizabeth and her diplomatists until the armada was upon her coasts, and denounced them to ears that were deafened and souls that were stupified by the frauds practised upon them, so did barneveld, who had witnessed all that stupendous trickery of a generation before, now utter his cries of warning that germany might escape in time from her impending doom. "nothing but deceit is lurking in the spanish proposals," he said. "every man here wonders that the english government does not comprehend these malversations. truly the affair is not to be made straight by new propositions, but by a vigorous resolution of his majesty. it is in the highest degree necessary to the salvation of christendom, to the conservation of his majesty's dignity and greatness, to the service of the princes and provinces, and of all germany, nor can this vigorous resolution be longer delayed without enormous disaster to the common weal . . . . . i have the deepest affection for the cause of the duke of savoy, but i cannot further it so long as i cannot tell what his majesty specifically is resolved to do, and what hope is held out from venice, germany, and other quarters. our taxes are prodigious, the ordinary and extraordinary, and we have a spanish army at our front door." the armaments, already so great, had been enlarged during the last month of the year. vaudemont was at the head of a further force of cavalry and foot, paid for by spain and the pope; , additional soldiers, riders and infantry together, had been gathered by maximilian of bavaria at the expense of the league. even if the reports were exaggerated, the advocate thought it better to be too credulous than as apathetic as the rest of the protestants. "we receive advices every day," he wrote to caron, "that the spaniards and the roman league are going forward with their design. they are trying to amuse the british king and to gain time, in order to be able to deal the heavier blows. do all possible duty to procure a timely and vigorous resolution there. to wait again until we are anticipated will be fatal to the cause of the evangelical electors and princes of germany and especially of his electoral highness of brandenburg. we likewise should almost certainly suffer irreparable damage, and should again bear our cross, as men said last year in regard to aachen, wesel, and so many other places. the spaniard is sly, and has had a long time to contrive how he can throw the net over the heads of all our religious allies. remember all the warnings sent from here last year, and how they were all tossed to the winds, to the ruin of so many of our co-religionists. if it is now intended over there to keep the spaniards in check merely by speeches or letters, it would be better to say so clearly to our friends. so long as parliament is not convoked in order to obtain consents and subsidies for this most necessary purpose, so long i fail to believe that this great common cause of christendom, and especially of germany, is taken to heart by england." he adverted with respectfully subdued scorn to king james's proposition that spinola should give a guarantee. "i doubt if he accepts the suggestion," said barneveld, "unless as a notorious trick, and if he did, what good would the promise of spinola do us? we consider spinola a great commander having the purses and forces of the spaniards and the leaguers in his control; but should they come into other hands, he would not be a very considerable personage for us. and that may happen any day. they don't seem in england to understand the difference between prince maurice in his relations to our state and that of marquis spinola to his superiors. try to make them comprehend it. a promise from the emperor, king of spain, and the princes of the league, such as his majesty in his wisdom has proposed to spinola, would be most tranquillizing for all the protestant princes and estates of the empire, especially for the elector and electress palatine, and for ourselves. in such a case no difficulty would be made on our side." after expressing his mind thus freely in regard to james and his policy, he then gave the ambassador a word of caution in characteristic fashion. "cogita," he said, "but beware of censuring his majesty's projects. i do not myself mean to censure them, nor are they publicly laughed at here, but look closely at everything that comes from brussels, and let me know with diligence." and even as the advocate was endeavouring with every effort of his skill and reason to stir the sluggish james into vigorous resolution in behalf of his own children, as well as of the great cause of protestantism and national liberty, so was he striving to bear up on his strenuous shoulders the youthful king of france, and save him from the swollen tides of court intrigue and jesuitical influence fast sweeping him to destruction. he had denounced the recent and paltry proposition made on the part of the league, and originally suggested by james, as a most open and transparent trap, into which none but the blind would thrust themselves. the treaty of xanten, carried out as it had been signed and guaranteed by the great catholic powers, would have brought peace to christendom. to accept in place of such guarantee the pledge of a simple soldier, who to-morrow might be nothing, was almost too ridiculous a proposal to be answered gravely. yet barneveld through the machinations of the catholic party was denounced both at the english and french courts as an obstacle to peace, when in reality his powerful mind and his immense industry were steadily directed to the noblest possible end--to bring about a solemn engagement on the part of spain, the emperor, and the princes of the league, to attack none of the protestant powers of germany, especially the elector-palatine, but to leave the laws, liberties, and privileges of the states within the empire in their original condition. and among those laws were the great statutes of and , the "majesty-letter" and the "compromise," granting full right of religious worship to the protestants of the kingdom of bohemia. if ever a policy deserved to be called truly liberal and truly conservative, it was the policy thus steadily maintained by barneveld. adverting to the subterfuge by which the catholic party had sought to set aside the treaty of xanten, he instructed langerac, the states' ambassador in paris, and his own pupils to make it clear to the french government that it was impossible that in such arrangements the spanish armies would not be back again in the duchies at a moment's notice. it could not be imagined even that they were acting sincerely. "if their upright intention," he said, "is that no actual, hostile, violent attack shall be made upon the duchies, or upon any of the princes, estates, or cities of the holy empire, as is required for the peace and tranquillity of christendom, and if all the powers interested therein will come into a good and solid convention to that effect. my lords the states will gladly join in such undertaking and bind themselves as firmly as the other powers. if no infraction of the laws and liberties of the holy empire be attempted, there will be peace for germany and its neighbours. but the present extravagant proposition can only lead to chicane and quarrels. to press such a measure is merely to inflict a disgrace upon us. it is an attempt to prevent us from helping the elector-palatine and the other protestant princes of germany and coreligionists everywhere against hostile violence. for the elector- palatine can receive aid from us and from great britain through the duchies only. it is plainly the object of the enemy to seclude us from the palatine and the rest of protestant germany. it is very suspicious that the proposition of prince maurice, supported by the two kings and the united princes of germany, has been rejected." the advocate knew well enough that the religious franchises granted by the house of habsburg at the very moment in which spain signed her peace with the netherlands, and exactly as the mad duke of cleve was expiring --with a dozen princes, catholic and protestant, to dispute his inheritance--would be valuable just so long as they could be maintained by the united forces of protestantism and of national independence and no longer. what had been extorted from the catholic powers by force would be retracted by force whenever that force could be concentrated. it had been necessary for the republic to accept a twelve years' truce with spain in default of a peace, while the death of john of cleve, and subsequently of henry iv., had made the acquisition of a permanent pacification between catholicism and protestantism, between the league and the union, more difficult than ever. the so-called thirty years' war--rather to be called the concluding portion of the eighty years' war --had opened in the debateable duchies exactly at the moment when its forerunner, the forty years' war of the netherlands, had been temporarily and nominally suspended. barneveld was perpetually baffled in his efforts to obtain a favourable peace for protestant europe, less by the open diplomacy and military force of the avowed enemies of protestantism than by the secret intrigues and faintheartedness of its nominal friends. he was unwearied in his efforts simultaneously to arouse the courts of england and france to the danger to europe from the overshadowing power of the house of austria and the league, and he had less difficulty in dealing with the catholic lewis and his mother than with protestant james. at the present moment his great designs were not yet openly traversed by a strong protestant party within the very republic which he administered. "look to it with earnestness and grave deliberation," he said to langerac, "that they do not pursue us there with vain importunity to accept something so notoriously inadmissible and detrimental to the common weal. we know that from the enemy's side every kind of unseemly trick is employed, with the single object of bringing about misunderstanding between us and the king of france. a prompt and vigorous resolution on the part of his majesty, to see the treaty which we made duly executed, would be to help the cause. otherwise, not. we cannot here believe that his majesty, in this first year of his majority, will submit to such a notorious and flagrant affront, or that he will tolerate the oppression of the duke of savoy. such an affair in the beginning of his majesty's reign cannot but have very great and prejudicial consequences, nor can it be left to linger on in uncertainty and delay. let him be prompt in this. let him also take a most christian--kingly, vigorous resolution against the great affront put upon him in the failure to carry out the treaty. such a resolve on the part of the two kings would restore all things to tranquillity and bring the spaniard and his adherents 'in terminos modestiae. but so long as france is keeping a suspicious eye upon england, and england upon france, everything will run to combustion, detrimental to their majesties and to us, and ruinous to all the good inhabitants." to the treaty of xanten faithfully executed he held as to an anchor in the tempest until it was torn away, not by violence from without, but by insidious mutiny within. at last the government of james proposed that the pledges on leaving the territory should be made to the two allied kings as mediators and umpires. this was better than the naked promises originally suggested, but even in this there was neither heartiness nor sincerity. meantime the prince of neuburg, negotiations being broken off, departed for germany, a step which the advocate considered ominous. soon afterwards that prince received a yearly pension of , crowns from spain, and for this stipend his claims on the sovereignty of the duchies were supposed to be surrendered. "if this be true," said barneveld, "we have been served with covered dishes." the king of england wrote spirited and learned letters to the elector- palatine, assuring him of his father-in-law's assistance in case he should be attacked by the league. sir henry wotton, then on special mission at the hague, showed these epistles to barneveld. "when i hear that parliament has been assembled and has granted great subsidies," was the advocate's comment, "i shall believe that effects may possibly follow from all these assurances." it was wearisome for the advocate thus ever to be foiled; by the pettinesses and jealousies of those occupying the highest earthly places, in his efforts to stem the rising tide of spanish and catholic aggression, and to avert the outbreak of a devastating war to which he saw europe doomed. it may be wearisome to read the record. yet it is the chronicle of christendom during one of the most important and fateful epochs of modern history. no man can thoroughly understand the complication and precession of phenomena attending the disastrous dawn of the renewed war, on an even more awful scale than the original conflict in the netherlands, without studying the correspondence of barneveld. the history of europe is there. the fate of christendom is there. the conflict of elements, the crash of contending forms of religion and of nationalities, is pictured there in vivid if homely colours. the advocate, while acting only in the name of a slender confederacy, was in truth, so long as he held his place, the prime minister of european protestantism. there was none other to rival him, few to comprehend him, fewer still to sustain him. as prince maurice was at that moment the great soldier of protestantism without clearly scanning the grandeur of the field in which he was a chief actor, or foreseeing the vastness of its future, so the advocate was its statesman and its prophet. could the two have worked together as harmoniously as they had done at an earlier day, it would have been a blessing for the common weal of europe. but, alas! the evil genius of jealousy, which so often forbids cordial relations between soldier and statesman, already stood shrouded in the distance, darkly menacing the strenuous patriot, who was wearing his life out in exertions for what he deemed the true cause of progress and humanity. nor can the fate of the man himself, his genuine character, and the extraordinary personal events towards which he was slowly advancing, be accurately unfolded without an attempt by means of his letters to lay bare his inmost thoughts. especially it will be seen at a later moment how much value was attached to this secret correspondence with the ambassadors in london and paris. the advocate trusted to the support of france, papal and medicean as the court of the young king was, because the protestant party throughout the kingdom was too powerful, warlike, and numerous to be trifled with, and because geographical considerations alone rendered a cordial alliance between spain and france very difficult. notwithstanding the spanish marriages, which he opposed so long as opposition was possible, he knew that so long as a statesman remained in the kingdom, or a bone for one existed, the international policy of henry, of sully, and of jeannin could not be wholly abandoned. he relied much on villeroy, a political hack certainly, an ancient leaguer, and a papist, but a man too cool, experienced, and wily to be ignorant of the very hornbook of diplomacy, or open to the shallow stratagems by which spain found it so easy to purchase or to deceive. so long as he had a voice in the council, it was certain that the netherland alliance would not be abandoned, nor the duke of savoy crushed. the old secretary of state was not especially in favour at that moment, but barneveld could not doubt his permanent place in french affairs until some man of real power should arise there. it was a dreary period of barrenness and disintegration in that kingdom while france was mourning henry and waiting for richelieu. the dutch ambassador at paris was instructed accordingly to maintain. good relations with villeroy, who in barneveld's opinion had been a constant and sincere friend to the netherlands. "don't forget to caress the old gentleman you wot of," said the advocate frequently, but suppressing his name, "without troubling yourself with the reasons mentioned in your letter. i am firmly convinced that he will overcome all difficulties. don't believe either that france will let the duke of savoy be ruined. it is against every reason of state." yet there were few to help charles emmanuel in this montferrat war, which was destined to drag feebly on, with certain interludes of negotiations, for two years longer. the already notorious condottiere ernest mansfeld, natural son of old prince peter ernest, who played so long and so high a part in command of the spanish armies in the netherlands, had, to be sure, taken service under the duke. thenceforth he was to be a leader and a master in that wild business of plunder, burning, blackmailing, and murder, which was opening upon europe, and was to afford occupation for many thousands of adventurers of high and low degree. mansfeld, reckless and profligate, had already changed his banner more than once. commanding a company under leopold in the duchies, he had been captured by the forces of the union, and, after waiting in vain to be ransomed by the archduke, had gone secretly over to the enemy. thus recovering his liberty, he had enlisted a regiment under leopold's name to fight the union, and had then, according to contract, transferred himself and most of his adventurers to the flag of the union. the military operations fading away in the duchies without being succeeded by permanent peace, the count, as he was called, with no particular claim to such title, had accepted a thousand florins a year as retainer from the union and had found occupation under charles emmanuel. here the spanish soldier of a year or two before found much satisfaction and some profit in fighting spanish soldiers. he was destined to reappear in the netherlands, in france, in bohemia, in many places where there were villages to be burned, churches to be plundered, cities to be sacked, nuns and other women to be outraged, dangerous political intrigues to be managed. a man in the prime of his age, fair-haired, prematurely wrinkled, battered, and hideous of visage, with a hare-lip and a humpback; slovenly of dress, and always wearing an old grey hat without a band to it; audacious, cruel, crafty, and licentious--such was ernest mansfeld, whom some of his contemporaries spoke of as ulysses germanicus, others as the new attila, all as a scourge to the human race. the cockneys of paris called him "machefer," and nurses long kept children quiet by threatening them with that word. he was now enrolled on the protestant side, although at the moment serving savoy against spain in a question purely personal. his armies, whether in italy or in germany, were a miscellaneous collection of adventurers of high and low degree, of all religions, of all countries, unfrocked priests and students, ruined nobles, bankrupt citizens, street vagabonds--earliest type perhaps of the horrible military vermin which were destined to feed so many years long on the unfortunate dismembered carcass of germany. many demands had been made upon the states for assistance to savoy,--as if they and they alone were to bear the brunt and pay the expense of all the initiatory campaigns against spain. "we are much importuned," said the advocate, "to do something for the help of savoy . . . . we wish and we implore that france, great britain, the german princes, the venetians, and the swiss would join us in some scheme of effective assistance. but we have enough on our shoulders at this moment." they had hardly money enough in their exchequer, admirably ordered as it was, for enterprises so far from home when great spanish armies were permanently encamped on their border. partly to humour king james and partly from love of adventure, count john of nassau had gone to savoy at the head of a small well disciplined body of troops furnished by the states. "make use of this piece of news," said barneveld, communicating the fact to langerac, "opportunely and with discretion. besides the wish to give some contentment to the king of great britain, we consider it inconsistent with good conscience and reasons of state to refuse help to a great prince against oppression by those who mean to give the law to everybody; especially as we have been so earnestly and frequently importuned to do so." and still the spaniards and the league kept their hold on the duchies, while their forces, their munitions, their accumulation of funds waged hourly. the war of chicane was even more deadly than an actual campaign, for when there was no positive fighting the whole world seemed against the republic. and the chicane was colossal. "we cannot understand," said barneveld, "why m. de prevaulx is coming here on special mission. when a treaty is signed and sealed, it only remains to execute it. the archduke says he is himself not known in the treaty, and that nothing can be demanded of him in relation to it. this he says in his letters to the king of great britain. m. de refuge knows best whether or not marquis spinola, ottavio visconti, chancellor pecquius, and others, were employed in the negotiation by the archduke. we know very well here that the whole business was conducted by them. the archduke is willing to give a clean and sincere promise not to re- occupy, and asks the same from the states. if he were empowered by the emperor, the king of spain, and the league, and acted in such quality, something might be done for the tranquillity of germany. but he promises for himself only, and emperor, king, or league, may send any general to do what they like to-morrow. what is to prevent it? "and so my lords the states, the elector of brandenburg, and others interested are cheated and made fools of. and we are as much troubled by these tricks as by armed force. yes, more; for we know that great enterprises are preparing this year against germany and ourselves, that all neuburg's troops have been disbanded and re-enlisted under the spanish commanders, and that forces are levying not only in italy and spain, but in germany, lorraine, luxemburg, and upper burgundy, and that wesel has been stuffed full of gunpowder and other munitions, and very strongly fortified." for the states to agree to a treaty by which the disputed duchies should be held jointly by the princes of neuburg and of brandenburg, and the territory be evacuated by all foreign troops; to look quietly on while neuburg converted himself to catholicism, espoused the sister of maximilian of bavaria, took a pension from spain, resigned his claims in favour of spain, and transferred his army to spain; and to expect that brandenburg and all interested in brandenburg, that is to say, every protestant in europe, should feel perfectly easy under such arrangement and perfectly protected by the simple promise of a soldier of fortune against catholic aggression, was a fantastic folly hardly worthy of a child. yet the states were asked to accept this position, brandenburg and all protestant germany were asked to accept it, and barneveld was howled at by his allies as a marplot and mischief-maker, and denounced and insulted by diplomatists daily, because he mercilessly tore away the sophistries of the league and of the league's secret friend, james stuart. the king of spain had more than , men under arms, and was enlisting more soldiers everywhere and every day, had just deposited , , crowns with his antwerp bankers for a secret purpose, and all the time was exuberant in his assurances of peace. one would have thought that there had never been negotiations in bourbourg, that the spanish armada had never sailed from coruna. "you are wise and prudent in france," said the advocate, "but we are used to spanish proceedings, and from much disaster sustained are filled with distrust. the king of england seems now to wish that the archduke should draw up a document according to his good pleasure, and that the states should make an explanatory deed, which the king should sign also and ask the king of france to do the same. but this is very hazardous. "we do not mean to receive laws from the king of spain, nor the archduke . . . . the spanish proceedings do not indicate peace but war. one must not take it ill of us that we think these matters of grave importance to our friends and ourselves. affairs have changed very much in the last four months. the murder of the first vizier of the turkish emperor and his designs against persia leave the spanish king and the emperor free from attack in that quarter, and their armaments are far greater than last year . . . . i cannot understand why the treaty of xanten, formerly so highly applauded, should now be so much disapproved. . . . the king of spain and the emperor with their party have a vast design to give the law to all christendom, to choose a roman king according to their will, to reduce the evangelical electors, princes, and estates of germany to obedience, to subject all italy, and, having accomplished this, to proceed to triumph over us and our allies, and by necessary consequence over france and england. they say they have established the emperor's authority by means of aachen and mulheim, will soon have driven us out of julich, and have thus arranged matters entirely to their heart's content. they can then, in name of the emperor, the league, the prince of neuburg, or any one else, make themselves in eight days masters of the places which they are now imaginarily to leave as well as of those which we are actually to surrender, and by possession of which we could hold out a long time against all their power." those very places held by the states--julich, emmerich, and others--had recently been fortified at much expense, under the superintendence of prince maurice, and by advice of the advocate. it would certainly be an act of madness to surrender them on the terms proposed. these warnings and forebodings of barneveld sound in our ears like recorded history, yet they were far earlier than the actual facts. and now to please the english king, the states had listened to his suggestion that his name and that of the king of france should be signed as mediators to a new arrangement proposed in lieu of the xanten treaty. james had suggested this, lewis had agreed to it. yet before the ink had dried in james's pen, he was proposing that the names of the mediating sovereigns should be omitted from the document? and why? because gondemar was again whispering in his ear. "they are renewing the negotiations in england," said the advocate, "about the alliance between the prince of wales and the second daughter of spain; and the king of great britain is seriously importuning us that the archdukes and my lords the states should make their pledges 'impersonaliter' and not to the kings." james was also willing that the name of the emperor should appear upon it. to prevent this, barneveld would have had himself burned at the stake. it would be an ignominious and unconditional surrender of the whole cause. "the archduke will never be contented," said the advocate, "unless his majesty of great britain takes a royal resolution to bring him to reason. that he tries to lay the fault on us is pure malice. we have been ready and are still ready to execute the treaty of xanten. the archduke is the cause of the dispute concerning the act. we approved the formularies of their majesties, and have changed them three times to suit the king of great britain. our provincial states have been notified in the matter, so that we can no longer digest the spanish impudence, and are amazed that his majesty can listen any more to the spanish ministers. we fear that those ministers are working through many hands, in order by one means or another to excite quarrels between his majesty, us, and the respective inhabitants of the two countries . . . . . take every precaution that no attempt be made there to bring the name of the emperor into the act. this would be contrary to their majesties' first resolution, very prejudicial to the elector of brandenburg, to the duchies, and to ourselves. and it is indispensable that the promise be made to the two kings as mediators, as much for their reputation and dignity as for the interests of the elector, the territories, and ourselves. otherwise too the spaniards will triumph over us as if they had driven us by force of arms into this promise." the seat of war, at the opening of the apparently inevitable conflict between the catholic league and the protestant union, would be those debateable duchies, those border provinces, the possession of which was of such vital importance to each of the great contending parties, and the populations of which, although much divided, were on the whole more inclined to the league than to the union. it was natural enough that the dutch statesman should chafe at the possibility of their being lost to the union through the adroitness of the catholic managers and the supineness of the great allies of the republic. three weeks later than these last utterances of the advocate, he was given to understand that king james was preparing to slide away from the position which had been three times changed to make it suitable for him. his indignation was hot. "sir henry wotton," he said, "has communicated to me his last despatches from newmarket. i am in the highest degree amazed that after all our efforts at accommodation, with so much sacrifice to the electors, the provinces, and ourselves, they are trying to urge us there to consent that the promise be not made to the kings of france and great britain as mediators, although the proposition came from the spanish side. after we had renounced, by desire of his majesty, the right to refer the promise to the treaty of xanten, it was judged by both kings to be needful and substantial that the promise be made to their majesties. to change this now would be prejudicial to the kings, to the electors, the duchies, and to our commonwealth; to do us a wrong and to leave us naked. france maintains her position as becoming and necessary. that great britain should swerve from it is not to be digested here. you will do your utmost according to my previous instructions to prevent any pressure to this end. you will also see that the name of the emperor is mentioned neither in the preamble nor the articles of the treaty. it would be contrary to all our policy since . you may be firmly convinced that malice is lurking under the emperor's name, and that he and the king of spain and their adherents, now as before, are attempting a sequestration. this is simply a pretext to bring those principalities and provinces into the hands of the spaniards, for which they have been labouring these thirty years. we are constantly cheated by these spanish tricks. their intention is to hold wesel and all the other places until the conclusion of the italian affair, and then to strike a great blow." certainly were never words more full of sound statesmanship, and of prophecy too soon to be fulfilled, than these simple but pregnant warnings. they awakened but little response from the english government save cavils and teasing reminders that wesel had been the cradle of german calvinism, the rhenish geneva, and that it was sinful to leave it longer in the hands of spain. as if the advocate had not proved to demonstration that to stock hands for a new deal at that moment was to give up the game altogether. his influence in france was always greater than in england, and this had likewise been the case with william the silent. and even now that the spanish matrimonial alliance was almost a settled matter at the french court, while with the english king it was but a perpetual will-o'the-wisp conducting to quagmires ineffable, the government at paris sustained the policy of the advocate with tolerable fidelity, while it was constantly and most capriciously traversed by james. barneveld sighed over these approaching nuptials, but did not yet despair. "we hope that the spanish-french marriages," he said, "may be broken up of themselves; but we fear that if we should attempt to delay or prevent them authoritatively, or in conjunction with others, the effort would have the contrary effect." in this certainly he was doomed to disappointment. he had already notified the french court of the absolute necessity of the great points to be insisted upon in the treaty, and there he found more docility than in london or newmarket. all summer he was occupied with this most important matter, uttering cassandra-like warnings into ears wilfully deaf. the states had gone as far as possible in concession. to go farther would be to wreck the great cause upon the very quicksands which he had so ceaselessly pointed out. "we hope that nothing further will be asked of us, no scruples be felt as to our good intentions," he said, "and that if spain and the archdukes are not ready now to fulfil the treaty, their majesties will know how to resent this trifling with their authority and dignity, and how to set matters to rights with their own hands in the duchies. a new treaty, still less a sequestration, is not to be thought of for a moment." yet the month of august came and still the names of the mediating kings were not on the treaty, and still the spectre of sequestration had not been laid. on the contrary, the peace of asti, huddled up between spain and savoy, to be soon broken again, had caused new and painful apprehensions of an attempt at sequestration, for it was established by several articles in that treaty that all questions between savoy and mantua should be referred to the emperor's decision. this precedent was sure to be followed in the duchies if not resisted by force, as it had been so successfully resisted five years before by the armies of the states associated with those of france. moreover the first step at sequestration had been actually taken. the emperor had peremptorily summoned the elector of brandenburg and all other parties interested to appear before him on the st of august in prague. there could be but one object in this citation, to drive brandenburg and the states out of the duchies until the imperial decision as to the legitimate sovereignty should be given. neuburg being already disposed of and his claims ceded to the emperor, what possibility was there in such circumstances of saving one scrap of the territory from the clutch of the league? none certainly if the republic faltered in its determination, and yielded to the cowardly advice of james. "to comply with the summons," said barneveld, "and submit to its consequences will be an irreparable injury to the electoral house of brandenburg, to the duchies, and to our co- religionists everywhere, and a very great disgrace to both their majesties and to us." he continued, through the ambassador in london, to hold up to the king, in respectful but plain language, the shamelessness of his conduct in dispensing the enemy from his pledge to the mediators, when the republic expressly, in deference to james, had given up the ampler guarantees of the treaty. the arrangement had been solemnly made, and consented to by all the provinces, acting in their separate and sovereign capacity. such a radical change, even if it were otherwise permissible, could not be made without long debates, consultations, and votes by the several states. what could be more fatal at such a crisis than this childish and causeless delay. there could be no doubt in any statesman's eyes that the spanish party meant war and a preparatory hoodwinking. and it was even worse for the government of the republic to be outwitted in diplomacy than beaten in the field. "every man here," said the advocate, "has more apprehension of fraud than of force. according to the constitution of our state, to be overcome by superior power must be endured, but to be overreached by trickery is a reproach to the government." the summer passed away. the states maintained their positions in the duchies, notwithstanding the objurgations of james, and barneveld remained on his watch-tower observing every movement of the fast- approaching war, and refusing at the price of the whole territory in dispute to rescue wesel and aix-la-chapelle from the grasp of the league. caron came to the hague to have personal consultations with the states- general, the advocate, and prince maurice, and returned before the close of the year. he had an audience of the king at the palace of whitehall early in november, and found him as immovable as ever in his apathetic attitude in regard to the affairs of germany. the murder of sir thomas overbury and the obscene scandals concerning the king's beloved carr and his notorious bride were then occupying the whole attention of the monarch, so that he had not even time for theological lucubrations, still less for affairs of state on which the peace of christendom and the fate of his own children were hanging. the ambassador found him sulky and dictatorial, but insisted on expressing once more to him the apprehensions felt by the states-general in regard to the trickery of the spanish party in the matter of cleve and julich. he assured his majesty that they had no intention of maintaining the treaty of xanten, and respectfully requested that the king would no longer urge the states to surrender the places held by them. it was a matter of vital importance to retain them, he said. "sir henry wotton told me," replied james, "that the states at his arrival were assembled to deliberate on this matter, and he had no doubt that they would take a resolution in conformity with my intention. now i see very well that you don't mean to give up the places. if i had known that before, i should not have warned the archduke so many times, which i did at the desire of the states themselves. and now that the archdukes are ready to restore their cities, you insist on holding yours. that is the dish you set before me." and upon this james swore a mighty oath, and beat himself upon the breast. "now and nevermore will i trouble myself about the states' affairs, come what come will," he continued. "i have always been upright in my words and my deeds, and i am not going to embark myself in a wicked war because the states have plunged themselves into one so entirely unjust. next summer the spaniard means to divide himself into two or three armies in order to begin his enterprises in germany." caron respectfully intimated that these enterprises would be most conveniently carried on from the very advantageous positions which be occupied in the duchies. "no," said the king, "he must restore them on the same day on which you make your surrender, and he will hardly come back in a hurry." "quite the contrary," said the ambassador, "they will be back again in a twinkling, and before we have the slightest warning of their intention." but it signified not the least what caron said. the king continued to vociferate that the states had never had any intention of restoring the cities. "you mean to keep them for yourselves," he cried, "which is the greatest injustice that could be perpetrated. you have no right to them, and they belong to other people." the ambassador reminded him that the elector of brandenburg was well satisfied that they should be occupied by the states for his greater security and until the dispute should be concluded. "and that will never be," said james; "never, never. the states are powerful enough to carry on the war all alone and against all the world." and so he went on, furiously reiterating the words with which he had begun the conversation, "without accepting any reasons whatever in payment," as poor caron observed. "it makes me very sad," said the ambassador, "to find your majesty so impatient and so resolved. if the names of the kings are to be omitted from the document, the treaty of xanten should at least be modified accordingly." "nothing of the kind," said james; "i don't understand it so at all. i speak plainly and without equivocation. it must be enough for the states that i promise them, in case the enemy is cheating or is trying to play any trick whatever, or is seeking to break the treaty of xanten in a single point, to come to their assistance in person." and again the warlike james swore a big oath and smote his breast, affirming that he meant everything sincerely; that he cheated no one, but always spoke his thoughts right on, clearly and uprightly. it was certainly not a cheerful prospect for the states. their chief ally was determined that they should disarm, should strip themselves naked, when the mightiest conspiracy against the religious freedom and international independence of europe ever imagined was perfecting itself before their eyes, and when hostile armies, more numerous than ever before known, were at their very door. to wait until the enemy was at their throat, and then to rely upon a king who trembled at the sight of a drawn sword, was hardly the highest statesmanship. even if it had been the chivalrous henry instead of the pacific james that had held out the promise of help, they would have been mad to follow such counsel. the conversation lasted more than an hour. it was in vain that caron painted in dark colours the cruel deeds done by the spaniards in mulheim and aachen, and the proceedings of the archbishop of cologne in rees. the king was besotted, and no impression could be made upon him. "at any rate," said the envoy, "the arrangement cannot be concluded without the king of france." "what excuse is that?" said james. "now that the king is entirely spanish, you are trying to excuse your delays by referring to him. you have deferred rescuing the poor city of wesel from the hands of the spaniard long enough. i am amazed to have heard never a word from you on that subject since your departure. i had expressed my wish to you clearly enough that you should inform the states of my intention to give them any assurance they chose to demand." caron was much disappointed at the humour of his majesty. coming freshly as he did from the council of the states, and almost from the seat of war, he had hoped to convince and content him. but the king was very angry with the states for putting him so completely in the wrong. he had also been much annoyed at their having failed to notify him of their military demonstration in the electorate of cologne to avenge the cruelties practised upon the protestants there. he asked caron if he was instructed to give him information regarding it. being answered in the negative, he said he had thought himself of sufficient importance to the states and enough in their confidence to be apprised of their military movements. it was for this, he said, that his ambassador sat in their council. caron expressed the opinion that warlike enterprises of the kind should be kept as secret as possible in order to be successful. this the king disputed, and loudly declared his vexation at being left in ignorance of the matter. the ambassador excused himself as well as he could, on the ground that he had been in zealand when the troops were marching, but told the king his impression that they had been sent to chastise the people of cologne for their cruelty in burning and utterly destroying the city of mulheim. "that is none of your affair," said the king. "pardon me, your majesty," replied caron, "they are our fellow religionists, and some one at least ought to resent the cruelty practised upon them." the king admitted that the destruction of the city had been an unheard-- of cruelty, and then passed on to speak of the quarrel between the duke and city of brunswick, and other matters. the interview ended, and the ambassador, very downhearted, went to confer with the secretary of state sir ralph winwood, and sir henry wotton. he assured these gentlemen that without fully consulting the french government these radical changes in the negotiations would never be consented to by the states. winwood promised to confer at once with the french ambassador, admitting it to be impossible for the king to take up this matter alone. he would also talk with the archduke's ambassador next day noon at dinner, who was about leaving for brussels, and "he would put something into his hand that he might take home with him." "when he is fairly gone," said caron, "it is to be hoped that the king's head will no longer be so muddled about these things. i wish it with all my heart." it was a dismal prospect for the states. the one ally on whom they had a right to depend, the ex-calvinist and royal defender of the faith, in this mortal combat of protestantism with the league, was slipping out of their grasp with distracting lubricity. on the other hand, the most christian king, a boy of fourteen years, was still in the control of a mother heart and soul with the league--so far as she had heart or soul-- was betrothed to the daughter of spain, and saw his kingdom torn to pieces and almost literally divided among themselves by rebellious princes, who made use of the spanish marriages as a pretext for unceasing civil war. the queen-mother was at that moment at bordeaux, and an emissary from the princes was in london. james had sent to offer his mediation between them and the queen. he was fond of mediation. he considered it his special mission in the world to mediate. he imagined himself as looked up to by the nations as the great arbitrator of christendom, and was wont to issue his decrees as if binding in force and infallible by nature. he had protested vigorously against the spanish-french marriages, and declared that the princes were justified in formalizing an opposition to them, at least until affairs in france were restored to something like order. he warned the queen against throwing the kingdom "into the combustion of war without necessity," and declared that, if she would trust to his guidance, she might make use of him as if her affairs were his own. an indispensable condition for much assistance, however, would be that the marriages should be put off. as james was himself pursuing a spanish marriage for his son as the chief end and aim of his existence, there was something almost humorous in this protest to the queen-dowager and in his encouragement of mutiny in france in order to prevent a catastrophe there which he desired at home. the same agent of the princes, de monbaran by name, was also privately accredited by them to the states with instructions to borrow , crowns of them if he could. but so long as the policy of the republic was directed by barneveld, it was not very probable that, while maintaining friendly and even intimate relations with the legitimate government, she would enter into negotiations with rebels against it, whether princes or plebeians, and oblige them with loans. "he will call on me soon, no doubt," said caron, "but being so well instructed as to your mightinesses intentions in this matter, i hope i shall keep him away from you." monbaran was accordingly kept away, but a few weeks later another emissary of conde and bouillon made his appearance at the hague, de valigny by name. he asked for money and for soldiers to reinforce bouillon's city of sedan, but he was refused an audience of the states- general. even the martial ardour of maurice and his sympathy for his relatives were cooled by this direct assault on his pocket. "the prince," wrote the french ambassador, du maurier, "will not furnish him or his adherents a thousand crowns, not if they had death between their teeth. those who think it do not know how he loves his money." in the very last days of the year ( ) caron had another interview with the king in which james was very benignant. he told the ambassador that he should wish the states to send him some special commissioners to make a new treaty with him, and to treat of all unsettled affairs which were daily arising between the inhabitants of the respective countries. he wished to make a firmer union and accord between great britain and the netherlands. he was very desirous of this, "because," said he, "if we can unite with and understand each other, we have under god no one what ever to fear, however mighty they may be." caron duly notified barneveld of these enthusiastic expressions of his majesty. the advocate too was most desirous of settling the troublesome questions about the cloth trade, the piracies, and other matters, and was in favour of the special commission. in regard to a new treaty of alliance thus loosely and vaguely suggested, he was not so sanguine however. he had too much difficulty in enforcing the interests of protestantism in the duchies against the infatuation of james in regard to spain, and he was too well aware of the spanish marriage delusion, which was the key to the king's whole policy, to put much faith in these casual outbursts of eternal friendship with the states. he contented himself therefore with cautioning caron to pause before committing himself to any such projects. he had frequently instructed him, however, to bring the disputed questions to his majesty's notice as often as possible with a view to amicable arrangement. this preventive policy in regard to france was highly approved by barneveld, who was willing to share in the blame profusely heaped upon such sincere patriots and devoted protestants as duplessis-mornay and others, who saw small advantage to the great cause from a mutiny against established government, bad as it was, led by such intriguers as conde and bouillon. men who had recently been in the pay of spain, and one of whom had been cognizant of biron's plot against the throne and life of henry iv., to whom sedition was native atmosphere and daily bread, were not likely to establish a much more wholesome administration than that of mary de' medici. prince maurice sympathized with his relatives by marriage, who were leading the civil commotions in france and endeavouring to obtain funds in the netherlands. it is needless to say that francis aerssens was deep in their intrigues, and feeding full the grudge which the stadholder already bore the advocate for his policy on this occasion. the advocate thought it best to wait until the young king should himself rise in mutiny against his mother and her minions. perhaps the downfall of the concini's and their dowager and the escape of lewis from thraldom might not be so distant as it seemed. meantime this was the legal government, bound to the states by treaties of friendship and alliance, and it would be a poor return for the many favours and the constant aid bestowed by henry iv. on the republic, and an imbecile mode of avenging his murder to help throw his kingdom into bloodshed and confusion before his son was able to act for himself. at the same time he did his best to cultivate amicable relations with the princes, while scrupulously abstaining from any sympathy with their movements. "if the prince and the other gentlemen come to court," he wrote to langerac, "you will treat them with all possible caresses so far as can be done without disrespect to the government." while the british court was occupied with the foul details of the overbury murder and its consequences, a crime of a more commonplace nature, but perhaps not entirely without influence on great political events, had startled the citizens of the hague. it was committed in the apartments of the stadholder and almost under his very eyes. a jeweller of amsterdam, one john van wely, had come to the court of maurice to lay before him a choice collection of rare jewellery. in his caskets were rubies and diamonds to the value of more than , florins, which would be the equivalent of perhaps ten times as much to-day. in the prince's absence the merchant was received by a confidential groom of the chambers, john of paris by name, and by him, with the aid of a third john, a soldier of his excellency's guard, called jean de la vigne, murdered on the spot. the deed was done in the prince's private study. the unfortunate jeweller was shot, and to make sure was strangled with the blue riband of the order of the garter recently conferred upon maurice, and which happened to be lying conspicuously in the room. the ruffians had barely time to take possession of the booty, to thrust the body behind the tapestry of the chamber, and to remove the more startling evidences of the crime, when the prince arrived. he supped soon afterwards in the same room, the murdered jeweller still lying behind the arras. in the night the valet and soldier carried the corpse away from the room, down the stairs, and through the great courtyard, where, strange to say, no sentinels were on duty, and threw it into an ashpit. a deed so bloody, audacious, and stupid was of course soon discovered and the murderers arrested and executed. nothing would remove the incident from the catalogue of vulgar crimes, or even entitle it to a place in history save a single circumstance. the celebrated divine john uytenbogaert, leader among the arminians, devoted friend of barneveld, and up to that moment the favorite preacher of maurice, stigmatized indeed, as we have seen, by the orthodox as "court trumpeter," was requested by the prince to prepare the chief criminal for death. he did so, and from that day forth the stadholder ceased to be his friend, although regularly listening to his preaching in the french chapel of the court for more than a year longer. some time afterwards the advocate informed uytenbogaert that the prince was very much embittered against him. "i knew it well," says the clergyman in his memoirs, "but not the reasons for it, nor do i exactly comprehend them to this day. truly i have some ideas relating to certain things which i was obliged to do in discharge of my official duty, but i will not insist upon them, nor will i reveal them to any man." these were mysterious words, and the mystery is said to have been explained; for it would seem that the eminent preacher was not so entirely reticent among his confidential friends as before the public. uytenbogaert--so ran the tale--in the course of his conversation with the condemned murderer, john of paris, expressed a natural surprise that there should have been no soldiers on guard in the court on the evening when the crime was committed and the body subsequently removed. the valet informed him that he had for a long time been empowered by the prince to withdraw the sentinels from that station, and that they had been instructed to obey his orders--maurice not caring that they should be witnesses to the equivocal kind of female society that john of paris was in the habit of introducing of an evening to his master's apartments. the valet had made use of this privilege on the night in question to rid himself of the soldiers who would have been otherwise on guard. the preacher felt it his duty to communicate these statements to the prince, and to make perhaps a somewhat severe comment upon them. maurice received the information sullenly, and, as soon as uytenbogaert was gone, fell into a violent passion, throwing his hat upon the floor, stamping upon it, refusing to eat his supper, and allowing no one to speak to him. next day some courtiers asked the clergyman what in the world he had been saying to the stadholder. from that time forth his former partiality for the divine, on whose preaching he had been a regular attendant, was changed to hatred; a sentiment which lent a lurid colour to subsequent events. the attempts of the spanish party by chicane or by force to get possession of the coveted territories continued year after year, and were steadily thwarted by the watchfulness of the states under guidance of barneveld. the martial stadholder was more than ever for open war, in which he was opposed by the advocate, whose object was to postpone and, if possible, to avert altogether the dread catastrophe which he foresaw impending over europe. the xanten arrangement seemed hopelessly thrown to the winds, nor was it destined to be carried out; the whole question of sovereignty and of mastership in those territories being swept subsequently into the general whirlpool of the thirty years' war. so long as there was a possibility of settlement upon that basis, the advocate was in favour of settlement, but to give up the guarantees and play into the hands of the catholic league was in his mind to make the republic one of the conspirators against the liberties of christendom. "spain, the emperor and the rest of them," said he, "make all three modes of pacification--the treaty, the guarantee by the mediating kings, the administration divided between the possessory princes--alike impossible. they mean, under pretext of sequestration, to make themselves absolute masters there. i have no doubt that villeroy means sincerely, and understands the matter, but meantime we sit by the fire and burn. if the conflagration is neglected, all the world will throw the blame on us." thus the spaniards continued to amuse the british king with assurances of their frank desire to leave those fortresses and territories which they really meant to hold till the crack of doom. and while gondemar was making these ingenuous assertions in london, his colleagues at paris and at brussels distinctly and openly declared that there was no authority whatever for them, that the ambassador had received no such instructions, and that there was no thought of giving up wesel or any other of the protestant strongholds captured, whether in the duchies or out of them. and gondemar, still more to keep that monarch in subjection, had been unusually flattering in regard to the spanish marriage. "we are in great alarm here," said the advocate, "at the tidings that the projected alliance of the prince of wales with the daughter of spain is to be renewed; from which nothing good for his majesty's person, his kingdom, nor for our state can be presaged. we live in hope that it will never be." but the other marriage was made. despite the protest of james, the forebodings of barneveld, and the mutiny of the princes, the youthful king of france had espoused anne of austria early in the year . the british king did his best to keep on terms with france and spain, and by no means renounced his own hopes. at the same time, while fixed as ever in his approbation of the policy pursued by the emperor and the league, and as deeply convinced of their artlessness in regard to the duchies, the protestant princes of germany, and the republic, he manifested more cordiality than usual in his relations with the states. minor questions between the countries he was desirous of arranging--so far as matters of state could be arranged by orations--and among the most pressing of these affairs were the systematic piracy existing and encouraged in english ports, to the great damage of all seafaring nations and to the hollanders most of all, and the quarrel about the exportation of undyed cloths, which had almost caused a total cessation of the woollen trade between the two countries. the english, to encourage their own artisans, had forbidden the export of undyed cloths, and the dutch had retorted by prohibiting the import of dyed ones. the king had good sense enough to see the absurdity of this condition of things, and it will be remembered that barneveld had frequently urged upon the dutch ambassador to bring his majesty's attention to these dangerous disputes. now that the recovery of the cautionary towns had been so dexterously and amicably accomplished, and at so cheap a rate, it seemed a propitious moment to proceed to a general extinction of what would now be called "burning questions." james was desirous that new high commissioners might be sent from the states to confer with himself and his ministers upon the subjects just indicated, as well as upon the fishery questions as regarded both greenland and scotland, and upon the general affairs of india. he was convinced, he said to caron, that the sea had become more and more unsafe and so full of freebooters that the like was never seen or heard of before. it will be remembered that the advocate had recently called his attention to the fact that the dutch merchants had lost in two months , florins' worth of goods by english pirates. the king now assured the ambassador of his intention of equipping a fleet out of hand and to send it forth as speedily as possible under command of a distinguished nobleman, who would put his honour and credit in a successful expedition, without any connivance or dissimulation whatever. in order thoroughly to scour these pirates from the seas, he expressed the hope that their mightinesses the states would do the same either jointly or separately as they thought most advisable. caron bluntly replied that the states had already ten or twelve war-ships at sea for this purpose, but that unfortunately, instead of finding any help from the english in this regard, they had always found the pirates favoured in his majesty's ports, especially in ireland and wales. "thus they have so increased in numbers," continued the ambassador, "that i quite believe what your majesty says, that not a ship can pass with safety over the seas. more over, your majesty has been graciously pleased to pardon several of these corsairs, in consequence of which they have become so impudent as to swarm everywhere, even in the river thames, where they are perpetually pillaging honest merchantmen." "i confess," said the king, "to having pardoned a certain manning, but this was for the sake of his old father, and i never did anything so unwillingly in my life. but i swear that if it were the best nobleman in england, i would never grant one of them a pardon again." caron expressed his joy at hearing such good intentions on the part of his majesty, and assured him that the states-general would be equally delighted. in the course of the summer the dutch ambassador had many opportunities of seeing the king very confidentially, james having given him the use of the royal park at bayscot, so that during the royal visits to that place caron was lodged under his roof. on the whole, james had much regard and respect for noel de caron. he knew him to be able, although he thought him tiresome. it is amusing to observe the king and ambassador in their utterances to confidential friends each frequently making the charge of tediousness against the other. "caron's general education," said james on one occasion to cecil, "cannot amend his native german prolixity, for had i not interrupted him, it had been tomorrow morning before i had begun to speak. god preserve me from hearing a cause debated between don diego and him! . . . but in truth it is good dealing with so wise and honest a man, although he be somewhat longsome." subsequently james came to whitehall for a time, and then stopped at theobalds for a few days on his way to newmarket, where he stayed until christmas. at theobalds he sent again for the ambassador, saying that at whitehall he was so broken down with affairs that it would be impossible to live if he stayed there. he asked if the states were soon to send the commissioners, according to his request, to confer in regard to the cloth-trade. without interference of the two governments, he said, the matter would never be settled. the merchants of the two countries would never agree except under higher authority. "i have heard both parties," he said, "the new and the old companies, two or three times in full council, and tried to bring them to an agreement, but it won't do. i have heard that my lords the states have been hearing both sides, english and the hollanders, over and over again, and that the states have passed a provisional resolution, which however does not suit us. now it is not reasonable, as we are allies, that our merchants should be obliged to send their cloths roundabout, not being allowed either to sell them in the united provinces or to pass them through your territories. i wish i could talk with them myself, for i am certain, if they would send some one here, we could make an agreement. it is not necessary that one should take everything from them, or that one should refuse everything to us. i am sure there are people of sense in your assembly who will justify me in favouring my own people so far as i reasonably can, and i know very well that my lords the states must stand up for their own citizens. if we have been driving this matter to an extreme and see that we are ruining each other, we must take it up again in other fashion, for yesterday is the preceptor of to-morrow. let the commissioners come as soon as possible. i know they have complaints to make, and i have my complaints also. therefore we must listen to each other, for i protest before god that i consider the community of your state with mine to be so entire that, if one goes to perdition, the other must quickly follow it." thus spoke james, like a wise and thoughtful sovereign interested in the welfare of his subjects and allies, with enlightened ideas for the time upon public economy. it is difficult, in the man conversing thus amicably and sensibly with the dutch ambassador, to realise the shrill pedant shrieking against vorstius, the crapulous comrade of carrs and steenies, the fawning solicitor of spanish marriages, the "pepperer" and hangman of puritans, the butt and dupe of gondemar and spinola. "i protest," he said further, "that i seek nothing in your state but all possible friendship and good fellowship. my own subjects complain sometimes that your people follow too closely on their heels, and confess that your industry goes far above their own. if this be so, it is a lean kind of reproach; for the english should rather study to follow you. nevertheless, when industry is directed by malice, each may easily be attempting to snap an advantage from the other. i have sometimes complained of many other things in which my subjects suffered great injustice from you, but all that is excusable. i will willingly listen to your people and grant them to be in the right when they are so. but i will never allow them to be in the right when they mistrust me. if i had been like many other princes, i should never have let the advantage of the cautionary towns slip out of my fingers, but rather by means of them attempted to get even a stronger hold on your country. i have had plenty of warnings from great statesmen in france, germany, and other nations that i ought to give them up nevermore. yet you know how frankly and sincerely i acquitted myself in that matter without ever making pretensions upon your state than the pretensions i still make to your friendship and co-operation." james, after this allusion to an important transaction to be explained in the next chapter, then made an observation or two on a subject which was rapidly overtopping all others in importance to the states, and his expressions were singularly at variance with his last utterances in that regard. "i tell you," he said, "that you have no right to mistrust me in anything, not even in the matter of religion. i grieve indeed to hear that your religious troubles continue. you know that in the beginning i occupied myself with this affair, but fearing that my course might be misunderstood, and that it might be supposed that i was seeking to exercise authority in your republic, i gave it up, and i will never interfere with the matter again, but will ever pray god that he may give you a happy issue out of these troubles." alas! if the king had always kept himself on that height of amiable neutrality, if he had been able to govern himself in the future by these simplest principles of reason and justice, there might have been perhaps a happier issue from the troubles than time was like to reveal. once more james referred to the crisis pending in german affairs, and as usual spoke of the clove and julich question as if it were a simple matter to be settled by a few strokes of the pen and a pennyworth of sealing-wax, instead of being the opening act in a vast tragedy, of which neither he, nor carom nor barneveld, nor prince maurice, nor the youthful king of france, nor philip, nor matthias, nor any of the men now foremost in the conduct of affairs, was destined to see the end. the king informed caron that he had just received most satisfactory assurances from the spanish ambassador in his last audience at whitehall. "he has announced to me on the part of the king his master with great compliments that his majesty seeks to please me and satisfy me in everything that i could possibly desire of him," said james, rolling over with satisfaction these unctuous phrases as if they really had any meaning whatever. "his majesty says further," added the king, "that as he has been at various times admonished by me, and is daily admonished by other princes, that he ought to execute the treaty of xanten by surrendering the city of wesel and all other places occupied by spinola, he now declares himself ready to carry out that treaty in every point. he will accordingly instruct the archduke to do this, provided the margrave of brandenburg and the states will do the same in regard to their captured places. as he understands however that the states have been fortifying julich even as he might fortify wesel, he would be glad that no innovation be made before the end of the coming month of march. when this term shall have expired, he will no longer be bound by these offers, but will proceed to fortify wesel and the other places, and to hold them as he best may for himself. respect for me has alone induced his majesty to make this resolution." we have already seen that the spanish ambassador in paris was at this very time loudly declaring that his colleague in london had no commission whatever to make these propositions. nor when they were in the slightest degree analysed, did they appear after all to be much better than threats. not a word was said of guarantees. the names of the two kings were not mentioned. it was nothing but albert and spinola then as always, and a recommendation that brandenburg and the states and all the protestant princes of germany should trust to the candour of the catholic league. caron pointed out to the king that in these proposals there were no guarantees nor even promises that the fortresses would not be reoccupied at convenience of the spaniards. he engaged however to report the whole statement to his masters. a few weeks afterwards the advocate replied in his usual vein, reminding the king through the ambassador that the republic feared fraud on the part of the league much more than force. he also laid stress on the affairs of italy, considering the fate of savoy and the conflicts in which venice was engaged as components of a general scheme. the states had been much solicited, as we have seen, to render assistance to the duke of savoy, the temporary peace of asti being already broken, and barneveld had been unceasing in his efforts to arouse france as well as england to the danger to themselves and to all christendom should savoy be crushed. we shall have occasion to see the prominent part reserved to savoy in the fast opening debate in germany. meantime the states had sent one count of nassau with a couple of companies to charles emmanuel, while another (ernest) had just gone to venice at the head of more than three thousand adventurers. with so many powerful armies at their throats, as barneveld had more than once observed, it was not easy for them to despatch large forces to the other end of europe, but he justly reminded his allies that the states were now rendering more effective help to the common cause by holding great spanish armies in check on their own frontier than if they assumed a more aggressive line in the south. the advocate, like every statesman worthy of the name, was accustomed to sweep the whole horizon in his consideration of public policy, and it will be observed that he always regarded various and apparently distinct and isolated movements in different parts of europe as parts of one great whole. it is easy enough for us, centuries after the record has been made up, to observe the gradual and, as it were, harmonious manner in which the great catholic conspiracy against the liberties of europe was unfolded in an ever widening sphere. but to the eyes of contemporaries all was then misty and chaotic, and it required the keen vision of a sage and a prophet to discern the awful shape which the future might assume. absorbed in the contemplation of these portentous phenomena, it was not unnatural that the advocate should attach less significance to perturbations nearer home. devoted as was his life to save the great european cause of protestantism, in which he considered political and religious liberty bound up, from the absolute extinction with which it was menaced, he neglected too much the furious hatreds growing up among protestants within the narrow limits of his own province. he was destined one day to be rudely awakened. meantime he was occupied with organizing a general defence of italy, germany, france, and england, as well as the netherlands, against the designs of spain and the league. "we wish to know," he said in answer to the affectionate messages and fine promises of the king of spain to james as reported by caron, "what his majesty of great britain has done, is doing, and is resolved to do for the duke of savoy and the republic of venice. if they ask you what we are doing, answer that we with our forces and vigour are keeping off from the throats of savoy and venice riders and , infantry, with which forces, let alone their experience, more would be accomplished than with four times the number of new troops brought to the field in italy. this is our succour, a great one and a very costly one, for the expense of maintaining our armies to hold the enemy in check here is very great." he alluded with his usual respectful and quiet scorn to the arrangements by which james so wilfully allowed himself to be deceived. "if the spaniard really leaves the duchies," he said, "it is a grave matter to decide whether on the one side he is not resolved by that means to win more over us and the elector of brandenburg in the debateable land in a few days than he could gain by force in many years, or on the other whether by it he does not intend despatching or cavalry and or foot, all his most experienced soldiers, from the netherlands to italy, in order to give the law at his pleasure to the duke of savoy and the republic of venice, reserving his attack upon germany and ourselves to the last. the spaniards, standing under a monarchical government, can in one hour resolve to seize to-morrow all that they and we may abandon to-day. and they can carry such a resolution into effect at once. our form of government does not permit this, so that our republic must be conserved by distrust and good garrisons." thus during this long period of half hostilities barneveld, while sincerely seeking to preserve the peace in europe, was determined, if possible, that the republic should maintain the strongest defensive position when the war which he foreboded should actually begin. maurice and the war party had blamed him for the obstacles which he interposed to the outbreak of hostilities, while the british court, as we have seen, was perpetually urging him to abate from his demands and abandon both the well strengthened fortresses in the duchies and that strong citadel of distrust which in his often repeated language he was determined never to surrender. spinola and the military party of spain, while preaching peace, had been in truth most anxious for fighting. "the only honour i desire henceforth," said that great commander, "is to give battle to prince maurice." the generals were more anxious than the governments to make use of the splendid armies arrayed against each other in such proximity that, the signal for conflict not having been given, it was not uncommon for the soldiers of the respective camps to aid each other in unloading munition waggons, exchanging provisions and other articles of necessity, and performing other small acts of mutual service. but heavy thunder clouds hanging over the earth so long and so closely might burst into explosion at any moment. had it not been for the distracted condition of france, the infatuation of the english king, and the astounding inertness of the princes of the german union, great advantages might have been gained by the protestant party before the storm should break. but, as the french ambassador at the hague well observed, "the great protestant union of germany sat with folded arms while hannibal was at their gate, the princes of which it was composed amusing themselves with staring at each other. it was verifying," he continued, bitterly, "the saying of the duke of alva, 'germany is an old dog which still can bark, but has lost its teeth to bite with.'" to such imbecility had that noble and gifted people--which had never been organized into a nation since it crushed the roman empire and established a new civilization on its ruins, and was to wait centuries longer until it should reconstruct itself into a whole--been reduced by subdivision, disintegration, the perpetual dissolvent of religious dispute, and the selfish policy of infinitesimal dynasties. chapter xii. james still presses for the payment of the dutch republic's debt to him--a compromise effected, with restitution of the cautionary towns--treaty of loudun--james's dream of a spanish marriage revives--james visits scotland--the states-general agree to furnish money and troops in fulfilment of the treaty of --death of concini--villeroy returns to power. besides matters of predestination there were other subjects political and personal which increased the king's jealousy and hatred. the debt of the republic to the british crown, secured by mortgage of the important sea- ports and fortified towns of flushing, brielle, rammekens, and other strong places, still existed. the possession of those places by england was a constant danger and irritation to the states. it was an axe perpetually held over their heads. it threatened their sovereignty, their very existence. on more than one occasion, in foreign courts, the representatives of the netherlands had been exposed to the taunt that the republic was after all not an independent power, but a british province. the gibe had always been repelled in a manner becoming the envoys of a proud commonwealth; yet it was sufficiently galling that english garrisons should continue to hold dutch towns; one of them among the most valuable seaports of the republic,--the other the very cradle of its independence, the seizure of which in alva's days had always been reckoned a splendid achievement. moreover, by the fifth article of the treaty of peace between james and philip iii., although the king had declared himself bound by the treaties made by elizabeth to deliver up the cautionary towns to no one but the united states, he promised spain to allow those states a reasonable time to make peace with the archdukes on satisfactory conditions. should they refuse to do so, he held himself bound by no obligations to them, and would deal with the cities as he thought proper, and as the archdukes themselves might deem just. the king had always been furious at "the huge sum of money to be advanced, nay, given, to the states," as he phrased it. "it is so far out of all square," he had said, "as on my conscience i cannot think that ever they craved it 'animo obtinendi,' but only by that objection to discourage me from any thought of getting any repayment of my debts from them when they shall be in peace . . .. . . . should i ruin myself for maintaining them? should i bestow as much on them as cometh to the value of my whole yearly rent? "he had proceeded to say very plainly that, if the states did not make great speed to pay him all his debt so soon as peace was established, he should treat their pretence at independence with contempt, and propose dividing their territory between himself and the king of france. "if they be so weak as they cannot subsist either in peace or war," he said, "without i ruin myself for upholding them, in that case surely 'minus malunv est eligendum,' the nearest harm is first to be eschewed, a man will leap out of a burning ship and drown himself in the sea; and it is doubtless a farther off harm for me to suffer them to fall again in the hands of spain, and let god provide for the danger that may with time fall upon me or my posterity than presently to starve myself and mine with putting the meat in their mouth. nay, rather if they be so weak as they can neither sustain themselves in peace nor war, let them leave this vainglorious thirsting for the title of a free state (which no people are worthy or able to enjoy that cannot stand by themselves like substantives), and 'dividantur inter nos;' i mean, let their countries be divided between france and me, otherwise the king of spain shall be sure to consume us." such were the eyes with which james had always regarded the great commonwealth of which he affected to be the ally, while secretly aspiring to be its sovereign, and such was his capacity to calculate political forces and comprehend coming events. certainly the sword was hanging by a thread. the states had made no peace either with the archdukes or with spain. they had made a truce, half the term of which had already run by. at any moment the keys of their very house-door might be placed in the hands of their arch enemy. treacherous and base as the deed would be, it might be defended by the letter of a treaty in which the republic had no part; and was there anything too treacherous or too base to be dreaded from james stuart? but the states owed the crown of england eight millions of florins, equivalent to about l , . where was this vast sum to be found? it was clearly impossible for the states to beg or to borrow it, although they were nearly as rich as any of the leading powers at that day. it was the merit of barneveld, not only that he saw the chance for a good bargain, but that he fully comprehended a great danger. years long james had pursued the phantom of a spanish marriage for his son. to achieve this mighty object, he had perverted the whole policy of the realm; he had grovelled to those who despised him, had repaid attempts at wholesale assassination with boundless sycophancy. it is difficult to imagine anything more abject than the attitude of james towards philip. prince henry was dead, but charles had now become prince of wales in his turn, and there was a younger infanta whose hand was not yet disposed of. so long as the possible prize of a most catholic princess was dangling before the eyes of the royal champion of protestantism, so long there was danger that the netherlanders might wake up some fine morning and see the flag of spain waving over the walls of flushing, brielle, and rammekens. it was in the interest of spain too that the envoys of james at the hague were perpetually goading barneveld to cause the states' troops to be withdrawn from the duchies and the illusory treaty of xanten to be executed. instead of an eighth province added to the free netherlands, the result of such a procedure would have been to place that territory enveloping them in the hands of the enemy; to strengthen and sharpen the claws, as the advocate had called them, by which spain was seeking to clutch and to destroy the republic. the advocate steadily refused to countenance such policy in the duchies, and he resolved on a sudden stroke to relieve the commonwealth from the incubus of the english mortgage. james was desperately pushed for money. his minions, as insatiable in their demands on english wealth as the parasites who fed on the queen- regent were exhaustive of the french exchequer, were greedier than ever now that james, who feared to face a parliament disgusted with the meanness of his policy and depravity of his life, could not be relied upon to minister to their wants. the advocate judiciously contrived that the proposal of a compromise should come from the english government. noel de caron, the veteran ambassador of the states in london, after receiving certain proposals, offered, under instructions' from barneveld, to pay l , in full of all demands. it was made to appear that the additional l , was in reality in advance of his instructions. the mouths of the minions watered at the mention of so magnificent a sum of money in one lump. the bargain was struck. on the th june , sir robert sidney, who had become lord lisle, gave over the city of flushing to the states, represented by the seignior van maldere, while sir horace vere placed the important town of brielle in the hands of the seignior van mathenesse. according to the terms of the bargain, the english garrisons were converted into two regiments, respectively to be commanded by lord lisle's son, now sir robert sidney, and by sir horace vere, and were to serve the states. lisle, who had been in the netherlands since the days of his uncle leicester and his brother sir philip sidney, now took his final departure for england. thus this ancient burthen had been taken off the republic by the masterly policy of the advocate. a great source of dread for foreign complication was closed for ever. the french-spanish marriages had been made. henry iv. had not been murdered in vain. conde and his confederates had issued their manifesto. a crisis came to the states, for maurice, always inclined to take part for the princes, and urged on by aerssens, who was inspired by a deadly hatred for the french government ever since they had insisted on his dismissal from his post, and who fed the stadholder's growing jealousy of the advocate to the full, was at times almost ready for joining in the conflict. it was most difficult for the states-general, led by barneveld, to maintain relations of amity with a government controlled by spain, governed by the concini's, and wafted to and fro by every wind that blew. still it was the government, and the states might soon be called upon, in virtue of their treaties with henry, confirmed by mary de' medici, not only to prevent the daily desertion of officers and soldiers of the french regiments to the rebellious party, but to send the regiments themselves to the assistance of the king and queen. there could be no doubt that the alliance of the french huguenots at grenoble with the princes made the position of the states very critical. bouillon was loud in his demands upon maurice and the states for money and reinforcements, but the prince fortunately understood the character of the duke and of conde, and comprehended the nature of french politics too clearly to be led into extremities by passion or by pique. he said loudly to any one that chose to listen: "it is not necessary to ruin the son in order to avenge the death of the father. that should be left to the son, who alone has legitimate authority to do it." nothing could be more sensible, and the remark almost indicated a belief on the prince's part in mary's complicity in the murder of her husband. duplessis-mornay was in despair, and, like all true patriots and men of earnest character, felt it almost an impossibility to choose between the two ignoble parties contending for the possession of france, and both secretly encouraged by france's deadly enemy. the treaty of loudun followed, a treaty which, said du maurier, had about as many negotiators as there were individuals interested in the arrangements. the rebels were forgiven, conde sold himself out for a million and a half livres and the presidency of the council, came to court, and paraded himself in greater pomp and appearance of power than ever. four months afterwards he was arrested and imprisoned. he submitted like a lamb, and offered to betray his confederates. king james, faithful to his self-imposed part of mediator-general, which he thought so well became him, had been busy in bringing about this pacification, and had considered it eminently successful. he was now angry at this unexpected result. he admitted that conde had indulged in certain follies and extravagancies, but these in his opinion all came out of the quiver of the spaniard, "who was the head of the whole intrigue." he determined to recall lord hayes from madrid and even sir thomas edmonds from paris, so great was his indignation. but his wrath was likely to cool under the soothing communications of gondemar, and the rumour of the marriage of the second infanta with the prince of wales soon afterwards started into new life. "we hope," wrote barneveld, "that the alliance of his highness the prince of wales with the daughter of the spanish king will make no further progress, as it will place us in the deepest embarrassment and pain." for the reports had been so rife at the english court in regard to this dangerous scheme that caron had stoutly gone to the king and asked him what he was to think about it. "the king told me," said the ambassador, "that there was nothing at all in it, nor any appearance that anything ever would come of it. it was true, he said, that on the overtures made to him by the spanish ambassador he had ordered his minister in spain to listen to what they had to say, and not to bear himself as if the overtures would be rejected." the coyness thus affected by james could hardly impose on so astute a diplomatist as noel de caron, and the effect produced upon the policy of one of the republic's chief allies by the spanish marriages naturally made her statesmen shudder at the prospect of their other powerful friend coming thus under the malign influence of spain. "he assured me, however," said the envoy, "that the spaniard is not sincere in the matter, and that he has himself become so far alienated from the scheme that we may sleep quietly upon it." and james appeared at that moment so vexed at the turn affairs were taking in france, so wounded in his self-love, and so bewildered by the ubiquitous nature of nets and pitfalls spreading over europe by spain, that he really seemed waking from his delusion. even caron was staggered? "in all his talk he appears so far estranged from the spaniard," said he, "that it would seem impossible that he should consider this marriage as good for his state. i have also had other advices on the subject which in the highest degree comfort me. now your mightinesses may think whatever you like about it." the mood of the king was not likely to last long in so comfortable a state. meantime he took the part of conde and the other princes, justified their proceedings to the special envoy sent over by mary de' medici, and wished the states to join with him in appealing to that queen to let the affair, for his sake, pass over once more. "and now i will tell your mightinesses," said caron, reverting once more to the dreaded marriage which occupies so conspicuous a place in the strangely mingled and party-coloured tissue of the history of those days, "what the king has again been telling me about the alliance between his son and the infanta. he hears from carleton that you are in very great alarm lest this event may take place. he understands that the special french envoy at the hague, m. de la none, has been representing to you that the king of great britain is following after and begging for the daughter of spain for his son. he says it is untrue. but it is true that he has been sought and solicited thereto, and that in consequence there have been talks and propositions and rejoinders, but nothing of any moment. as he had already told me not to be alarmed until he should himself give me cause for it, he expressed his amazement that i had not informed your mightinesses accordingly. he assured me again that he should not proceed further in the business without communicating it to his good friends and neighbours, that he considered my lords the states as his best friends and allies, who ought therefore to conceive no jealousy in the matter." this certainly was cold comfort. caron knew well enough, not a clerk in his office but knew well enough, that james had been pursuing this prize for years. for the king to represent himself as persecuted by spain to give his son to the infanta was about as ridiculous as it would have been to pretend that emperor matthias was persuading him to let his son-in-law accept the crown of bohemia. it was admitted that negotiations for the marriage were going on, and the assertion that the spanish court was more eager for it than the english government was not especially calculated to allay the necessary alarm of the states at such a disaster. nor was it much more tranquillizing for them to be assured, not that the marriage was off, but that, when it was settled, they, as the king's good friends and neighbours, should have early information of it. "i told him," said the ambassador, "that undoubtedly this matter was of the highest 'importance to your mightinesses, for it was not good for us to sit between two kingdoms both so nearly allied with the spanish monarch, considering the pretensions he still maintained to sovereignty over us. although his majesty might not now be willing to treat to our prejudice, yet the affair itself in the sequence of time must of necessity injure our commonwealth. we hoped therefore that it would never come to pass." caron added that ambassador digby was just going to spain on extraordinary mission in regard to this affair, and that eight or ten gentlemen of the council had been deputed to confer with his majesty about it. he was still inclined to believe that the whole negotiation would blow over, the king continuing to exhort him not to be alarmed, and assuring him that there were many occasions moving princes to treat of great affairs although often without any effective issue. at that moment too the king was in a state of vehement wrath with the spanish netherlands on account of a stinging libel against himself, "an infamous and wonderfully scandalous pamphlet," as he termed it, called 'corona regis', recently published at louvain. he had sent sir john bennet as special ambassador to the archdukes to demand from them justice and condign and public chastisement on the author of the work--a rector putianus as he believed, successor of justus lipsius in his professorship at louvain--and upon the printer, one flaminius. delays and excuses having followed instead of the punishment originally demanded, james had now instructed his special envoy in case of further delay or evasion to repudiate all further friendship or intercourse with the archduke, to ratify the recall of his minister-resident trumbull, and in effect to announce formal hostilities. "the king takes the thing wonderfully to heart," said caron. james in effect hated to be made ridiculous, and we shall have occasion to see how important a part other publications which he deemed detrimental to the divinity of his person were to play in these affairs. meantime it was characteristic of this sovereign that--while ready to talk of war with philip's brother-in-law for a pamphlet, while seeking the hand of philip's daughter for his son--he was determined at the very moment when the world was on fire to take himself, the heaven-born extinguisher of all political conflagrations, away from affairs and to seek the solace of along holiday in scotland. his counsellors persistently and vehemently implored him to defer that journey until the following year at least, all the neighbouring nations being now in a state of war and civil commotion. but it was in vain. he refused to listen to them for a moment, and started for scotland before the middle of march. conde, who had kept france in a turmoil, had sought aid alternately from the calvinists at grenoble and the jesuits in rome, from spain and from the netherlands, from the pope and from maurice of nassau, had thus been caged at last. but there was little gained. there was one troublesome but incompetent rebel the less, but there was no king in the land. he who doubts the influence of the individual upon the fate of a country and upon his times through long passages of history may explain the difference between france of , with a martial king aided by great statesmen at its head, with an exchequer overflowing with revenue hoarded for a great cause--and that cause an attempt at least to pacificate christendom and avert a universal and almost infinite conflict now already opening--and the france of , with its treasures already squandered among ignoble and ruffianly favourites, with every office in state, church, court, and magistracy sold to the highest bidder, with a queen governed by an italian adventurer who was governed by spain, and with a little king who had but lately expressed triumph at his confirmation because now he should no longer be whipped, and who was just married to a daughter of the hereditary and inevitable foe of france. to contemplate this dreary interlude in the history of a powerful state is to shiver at the depths of inanity and crime to which mankind can at once descend. what need to pursue the barren, vulgar, and often repeated chronicle? france pulled at by scarcely concealed strings and made to perform fantastic tricks according as its various puppets were swerved this way or that by supple bands at madrid and rome is not a refreshing spectacle. the states-general at last, after an agitated discussion, agreed in fulfilment of the treaty of to send men, being french, to help the king against the princes still in rebellion. but the contest was a most bitter one, and the advocate had a difficult part to play between a government and a rebellion, each more despicable than the other. still louis xiii. and his mother were the legitimate government even if ruled by concini. the words of the treaty made with henry iv. were plain, and the ambassadors of his son had summoned the states to fulfil it. but many impediments were placed in the path of obvious duty by the party led by francis aerssens. "i know very well," said the advocate to ex-burgomaster hooft of amsterdam, father of the great historian, sending him confidentially a copy of the proposals made by the french ambassadors, "that many in this country are striving hard to make us refuse to the king the aid demanded, notwithstanding that we are bound to do it by the pledges given not only by the states-general but by each province in particular. by this no one will profit but the spaniard, who unquestionably will offer much, aye, very much, to bring about dissensions between france and us, from which i foresee great damage, inconvenience, and difficulties for the whole commonwealth and for holland especially. this province has already advanced , , florins to the general government on the money still due from france, which will all be lost in case the subsidy should be withheld, besides other evils which cannot be trusted to the pen." on the same day on which it had been decided at the hague to send the troops, a captain of guards came to the aid of the poor little king and shot concini dead one fine spring morning on the bridge of the louvre. "by order of the king," said vitry. his body was burned before the statue of henry iv. by the people delirious with joy. "l'hanno ammazzato" was shouted to his wife, eleanora galigai, the supposed sorceress. they were the words in which concini had communicated to the queen the murder of her husband seven years before. eleanora, too, was burned after having been beheaded. thus the marshal d'ancre and wife ceased to reign in france. the officers of the french regiments at the hague danced for joy on the vyverberg when the news arrived there. the states were relieved from an immense embarrassment, and the advocate was rewarded for having pursued what was after all the only practicable policy. "do your best," said he to langerac, "to accommodate differences so far as consistent with the conservation of the king's authority. we hope the princes will submit themselves now that the 'lapis offensionis,' according to their pretence, is got rid of. we received a letter from them to-day sealed with the king's arms, with the circumscription 'periclitante regno, regis vita et regia familia." the shooting of concini seemed almost to convert the little king into a hero. everyone in the netherlands, without distinction of party, was delighted with the achievement. "i cannot represent to the king," wrote du maurier to villeroy, "one thousandth part of the joy of all these people who are exalting him to heaven for having delivered the earth from this miserable burthen. i can't tell you in what execration this public pest was held. his majesty has not less won the hearts of this state than if he had gained a great victory over the spaniards. you would not believe it, and yet it is true, that never were the name and reputation of the late king in greater reverence than those of our reigning king at this moment." truly here was glory cheaply earned. the fame of henry the great, after a long career of brilliant deeds of arms, high statesmanship, and twenty years of bountiful friendship for the states, was already equalled by that of louis xiii., who had tremblingly acquiesced in the summary execution of an odious adventurer--his own possible father--and who never had done anything else but feed his canary birds. as for villeroy himself, the ambassador wrote that he could not find portraits enough of him to furnish those who were asking for them since his return to power. barneveld had been right in so often instructing langerac to "caress the old gentleman." etext editor's bookmarks: and give advice. of that, although always a spendthrift casual outbursts of eternal friendship changed his positions and contradicted himself day by day conciliation when war of extermination was intended considered it his special mission in the world to mediate denoungced as an obstacle to peace france was mourning henry and waiting for richelieu hardly a sound protestant policy anywhere but in holland history has not too many really important and emblematic men i hope and i fear king who thought it furious madness to resist the enemy mockery of negotiation in which nothing could be negotiated more apprehension of fraud than of force opening an abyss between government and people successful in this step, he is ready for greater ones that he tries to lay the fault on us is pure malice the magnitude of this wonderful sovereign's littleness this wonderful sovereign's littleness oppresses the imagination wise and honest a man, although he be somewhat longsome yesterday is the preceptor of to-morrow this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, volume life and death of john of barneveld, v , - chapter xxi. barneveld's execution--the advocate's conduct on the scaffold--the sentence printed and sent to the provinces--the proceedings irregular and inequitable. in the beautiful village capital of the "count's park," commonly called the hague, the most striking and picturesque spot then as now was that where the transformed remains of the old moated castle of those feudal sovereigns were still to be seen. a three-storied range of simple, substantial buildings in brown brickwork, picked out with white stone in a style since made familiar both in england and america, and associated with a somewhat later epoch in the history of the house of orange, surrounded three sides of a spacious inner paved quadrangle called the inner court, the fourth or eastern side being overshadowed by a beechen grove. a square tower flanked each angle, and on both sides of the south-western turret extended the commodious apartments of the stadholder. the great gateway on the south-west opened into a wide open space called the outer courtyard. along the north-west side a broad and beautiful sheet of water, in which the walls, turrets, and chapel-spires of the enclosed castle mirrored themselves, was spread between the mass of buildings and an umbrageous promenade called the vyverberg, consisting of a sextuple alley of lime-trees and embowering here and there a stately villa. a small island, fringed with weeping willows and tufted all over with lilacs, laburnums, and other shrubs then in full flower, lay in the centre of the miniature lake, and the tall solid tower of the great church, surmounted by a light openwork spire, looked down from a little distance over the scene. it was a bright morning in may. the white swans were sailing tranquilly to and fro over the silver basin, and the mavis, blackbird, and nightingale, which haunted the groves surrounding the castle and the town, were singing as if the daybreak were ushering in a summer festival. but it was not to a merry-making that the soldiers were marching and the citizens. thronging so eagerly from every street and alley towards the castle. by four o'clock the outer and inner courts had been lined with detachments of the prince's guard and companies of other regiments to the number of men. occupying the north-eastern side of the court rose the grim, time-worn front of the ancient hall, consisting of one tall pyramidal gable of ancient grey brickwork flanked with two tall slender towers, the whole with the lancet-shaped windows and severe style of the twelfth century, excepting a rose-window in the centre with the decorated mullions of a somewhat later period. in front of the lower window, with its gothic archway hastily converted into a door, a shapeless platform of rough, unhewn planks had that night been rudely patched together. this was the scaffold. a slight railing around it served to protect it from the crowd, and a heap of coarse sand had been thrown upon it. a squalid, unclean box of unplaned boards, originally prepared as a coffin for a frenchman who some time before had been condemned to death for murdering the son of goswyn meurskens, a hague tavern-keeper, but pardoned by the stadholder--lay on the scaffold. it was recognized from having been left for a long time, half forgotten, at the public execution-place of the hague. upon this coffin now sat two common soldiers of ruffianly aspect playing at dice, betting whether the lord or the devil would get the soul of barneveld. many a foul and ribald jest at the expense of the prisoner was exchanged between these gamblers, some of their comrades, and a few townsmen, who were grouped about at that early hour. the horrible libels, caricatures, and calumnies which had been circulated, exhibited, and sung in all the streets for so many months had at last thoroughly poisoned the minds of the vulgar against the fallen statesman. the great mass of the spectators had forced their way by daybreak into the hall itself to hear the sentence, so that the inner courtyard had remained comparatively empty. at last, at half past nine o'clock, a shout arose, "there he comes! there he comes!" and the populace flowed out from the hall of judgment into the courtyard like a tidal wave. in an instant the binnenhof was filled with more than three thousand spectators. the old statesman, leaning on his staff, walked out upon the scaffold and calmly surveyed the scene. lifting his eyes to heaven, he was heard to murmur, "o god! what does man come to!" then he said bitterly once more: "this, then, is the reward of forty years' service to the state!" la motte, who attended him, said fervently: "it is no longer time to think of this. let us prepare your coming before god." "is there no cushion or stool to kneel upon?" said barneveld, looking around him. the provost said he would send for one, but the old man knelt at once on the bare planks. his servant, who waited upon him as calmly and composedly as if he had been serving him at dinner, held him by the arm. it was remarked that neither master nor man, true stoics and hollanders both, shed a single tear upon the scaffold. la motte prayed for a quarter of an hour, the advocate remaining on his knees. he then rose and said to john franken, "see that he does not come near me," pointing to the executioner who stood in the background grasping his long double-handed sword. barneveld then rapidly unbuttoned his doublet with his own hands and the valet helped him off with it. "make haste! make haste!" said his master. the statesman then came forward and said in a loud, firm voice to the people: "men, do not believe that i am a traitor to the country. i have ever acted uprightly and loyally as a good patriot, and as such i shall die." the crowd was perfectly silent. he then took his cap from john franken, drew it over his eyes, and went forward towards the sand, saying: "christ shall be my guide. o lord, my heavenly father, receive my spirit." as he was about to kneel with his face to the south, the provost said: "my lord will be pleased to move to the other side, not where the sun is in his face." he knelt accordingly with his face towards his own house. the servant took farewell of him, and barneveld said to the executioner: "be quick about it. be quick." the executioner then struck his head off at a single blow. many persons from the crowd now sprang, in spite of all opposition, upon the scaffold and dipped their handkerchiefs in his blood, cut wet splinters from the boards, or grubbed up the sand that was steeped in it; driving many bargains afterwards for these relics to be treasured, with various feelings of sorrow, joy, glutted or expiated vengeance. it has been recorded, and has been constantly repeated to this day, that the stadholder, whose windows exactly faced the scaffold, looked out upon the execution with a spy-glass; saying as he did so: "see the old scoundrel, how he trembles! he is afraid of the stroke." but this is calumny. colonel hauterive declared that he was with maurice in his cabinet during the whole period of the execution, that by order of the prince all the windows and shutters were kept closed, that no person wearing his livery was allowed to be abroad, that he anxiously received messages as to the proceedings, and heard of the final catastrophe with sorrowful emotion. it must be admitted, however, that the letter which maurice wrote on the same morning to his cousin william lewis does not show much pathos. "after the judges," he said, "have been busy here with the sentence against the advocate barneveld for several days, at last it has been pronounced, and this morning, between nine o'clock and half past, carried into execution with the sword, in the binnenhof before the great hall. "the reasons they had for this you will see from the sentence, which will doubtless be printed, and which i will send you. "the wife of the aforesaid barneveld and also some of his sons and sons- in-law or other friends have never presented any supplication for his pardon, but till now have vehemently demanded that law and justice should be done to him, and have daily let the report run through the people that he would soon come out. they also planted a may-pole before their house adorned with garlands and ribbands, and practised other jollities and impertinences, while they ought to have conducted themselves in a humble and lowly fashion. this is no proper manner of behaving, and moreover not a practical one to move the judges to any favour even if they had been thereto inclined." the sentence was printed and sent to the separate provinces. it was accompanied by a declaration of the states-general that they had received information from the judges of various points, not mentioned in the sentence, which had been laid to the charge of the late advocate, and which gave much reason to doubt whether he had not perhaps turned his eyes toward the enemy. they could not however legally give judgment to that effect without a sharper investigation, which on account of his great age and for other reasons it was thought best to spare him. a meaner or more malignant postscript to a state paper recounting the issue of a great trial it would be difficult to imagine. the first statesman of the country had just been condemned and executed on a narrative, without indictment of any specified crime. and now, by a kind of apologetic after-thought, six or eight individuals calling themselves the states-general insinuated that he had been looking towards the enemy, and that, had they not mercifully spared him the rack, which is all that could be meant by their sharper investigation, he would probably have confessed the charge. and thus the dead man's fame was blackened by those who had not hesitated to kill him, but had shrunk from enquiring into his alleged crime. not entirely without semblance of truth did grotius subsequently say that the men who had taken his life would hardly have abstained from torturing him if they had really hoped by so doing to extract from him a confession of treason. the sentence was sent likewise to france, accompanied with a statement that barneveld had been guilty of unpardonable crimes which had not been set down in the act of condemnation. complaints were also made of the conduct of du maurier in thrusting himself into the internal affairs of the states and taking sides so ostentatiously against the government. the king and his ministers were indignant with these rebukes, and sustained the ambassador. jeannin and de boississe expressed the opinion that he had died innocent of any crime, and only by reason of his strong political opposition to the prince. the judges had been unanimous in finding him guilty of the acts recorded in their narrative, but three of them had held out for some time in favour of a sentence of perpetual imprisonment rather than decapitation. they withdrew at last their opposition to the death penalty for the wonderful reason that reports had been circulated of attempts likely to be made to assassinate prince maurice. the stadholder himself treated these rumours and the consequent admonition of the states-general that he would take more than usual precautions for his safety with perfect indifference, but they were conclusive with the judges of barneveld. "republica poscit exemplum," said commissioner junius, one of the three, as he sided with the death-warrant party. the same doctor junius a year afterwards happened to dine, in company of one of his fellow-commissioners, with attorney-general sylla at utrecht, and took occasion to ask them why it was supposed that barneveld had been hanging his head towards spain, as not one word of that stood in the sentence. the question was ingenuous on the part of one learned judge to his colleagues in one of the most famous state trials of history, propounded as a bit of after-dinner casuistry, when the victim had been more than a year in his grave. but perhaps the answer was still more artless. his brother lawyers replied that the charge was easily to be deduced from the sentence, because a man who breaks up the foundation of the state makes the country indefensible, and therefore invites the enemy to invade it. and this barneveld had done, who had turned the union, religion, alliances, and finances upside down by his proceedings. certainly if every constitutional minister, accused by the opposition party of turning things upside down by his proceedings, were assumed to be guilty of deliberately inviting a hostile invasion of his country, there would have been few from that day to this to escape hanging. constructive treason could scarcely go farther than it was made to do in these attempts to prove, after his death, that the advocate had, as it was euphuistically expressed, been looking towards the enemy. and no better demonstrations than these have ever been discovered. he died at the age of seventy-one years seven months and eighteen days. his body and head were huddled into the box upon which the soldiers had been shaking the dice, and was placed that night in the vault of the chapel in the inner court. it was subsequently granted as a boon to the widow and children that it might be taken thence and decently buried in the family vault at amersfoort. on the day of the execution a formal entry was made in the register of the states of holland. "monday, th may . to-day was executed with the sword here in the hague, on a scaffold thereto erected in the binnenhof before the steps of the great hall, mr. john of barneveld, in his life knight, lord of berkel, rodenrys, &c., advocate of holland and west friesland, for reasons expressed in the sentence and otherwise, with confiscation of his property, after he had served the state thirty-three years two months and five days since th march .; a man of great activity, business, memory, and wisdom--yes, extraordinary in every respect. he that stands let him see that he does not fall, and may god be merciful to his soul. amen?" a year later-on application made by the widow and children of the deceased to compound for the confiscation of his property by payment of a certain sum, eighty florins or a similar trifle, according to an ancient privilege of the order of nobility--the question was raised whether he had been guilty of high-treason, as he had not been sentenced for such a crime, and as it was only in case of sentence for lese-majesty that this composition was disallowed. it was deemed proper therefore to ask the court for what crime the prisoner had been condemned. certainly a more sarcastic question could not have been asked. but the court had ceased to exist. the commission had done its work and was dissolved. some of its members were dead. letters however were addressed by the states- general to the individual commissioners requesting them to assemble at the hague for the purpose of stating whether it was because the prisoners had committed lese-majesty that their property had been confiscated. they never assembled. some of them were perhaps ignorant of the exact nature of that crime. several of them did not understand the words. twelve of them, among whom were a few jurists, sent written answers to the questions proposed. the question was, "did you confiscate the property because the crime was lese-majesty?" the reply was, "the crime was lese-majesty, although not so stated in the sentence, because we confiscated the property." in one of these remarkable documents this was stated to be "the unanimous opinion of almost all the judges." the point was referred to the commissioners, some of whom attended the court of the hague in person, while others sent written opinions. all agreed that the criminal had committed high-treason because otherwise his property would not have been confiscated. a more wonderful example of the argument in a circle was never heard of. moreover it is difficult to understand by what right the high commission, which had been dissolved a year before, after having completed its work, could be deemed competent to emit afterwards a judicial decision. but the fact is curious as giving one more proof of the irregular, unphilosophical, and inequitable nature of these famous proceedings. chapter xxii. grotius urged to ask forgiveness--grotius shows great weakness-- hoogerbeets and grotius imprisoned for life--grotius confined at loevestein--grotius' early attainments--grotius' deportment in prison--escape of grotius--deventer's rage at grotius' escape. two days after the execution of the advocate, judgment was pronounced upon gillis van ledenberg. it would have been difficult to try him, or to extort a confession of high-treason from him by the rack or otherwise, as the unfortunate gentleman had been dead for more than seven months. not often has a court of justice pronounced a man, without trial, to be guilty of a capital offence. not often has a dead man been condemned and executed. but this was the lot of secretary ledenberg. he was sentenced to be hanged, his property declared confiscated. his unburied corpse, reduced to the condition of a mummy, was brought out of its lurking-place, thrust into a coffin, dragged on a hurdle to the golgotha outside the hague, on the road to ryswyk, and there hung on a gibbet in company of the bodies of other malefactors swinging there in chains. his prudent scheme to save his property for his children by committing suicide in prison was thus thwarted. the reading of the sentence of ledenberg, as had been previously the case with that of barneveld, had been heard by grotius through the open window of his prison, as he lay on his bed. the scaffold on which the advocate had suffered was left standing, three executioners were still in the town, and there was every reason for both grotius and hoogerbeets to expect a similar doom. great efforts were made to induce the friends of the distinguished prisoners to sue for their pardon. but even as in the case of the barneveld family these attempts were fruitless. the austere stoicism both on the part of the sufferers and their relatives excites something like wonder. three of the judges went in person to the prison chamber of hoogerbeets, urging him to ask forgiveness himself or to allow his friends to demand it for him. "if my wife and children do ask," he said, "i will protest against it. i need no pardon. let justice take its course. think not, gentlemen, that i mean by asking for pardon to justify your proceedings." he stoutly refused to do either. the judges, astonished, took their departure, saying: "then you will fare as barneveld. the scaffold is still standing." he expected consequently nothing but death, and said many years afterwards that he knew from personal experience how a man feels who goes out of prison to be beheaded. the wife of grotius sternly replied to urgent intimations from a high source that she should ask pardon for her husband, "i shall not do it. if he has deserved it, let them strike off his head." yet no woman could be more devoted to her husband than was maria van reigersbergen to hugo de groot, as time was to prove. the prince subsequently told her at a personal interview that "one of two roads must be taken, that of the law or that of pardon." soon after the arrest it was rumoured that grotius was ready to make important revelations if he could first be assured of the prince's protection. his friends were indignant at the statement. his wife stoutly denied its truth, but, to make sure, wrote to her husband on the subject. "one thing amazes me," she said; "some people here pretend to say that you have stated to one gentleman in private that you have something to disclose greatly important to the country, but that you desired beforehand to be taken under the protection of his excellency. i have not chosen to believe this, nor do i, for i hold that to be certain which you have already told me--that you know no secrets. i see no reason therefore why you should require the protection of any man. and there is no one to believe this, but i thought best to write to you of it. let me, in order that i may contradict the story with more authority, have by the bearer of this a simple yes or no. study quietly, take care of your health, have some days' patience, for the advocate has not yet been heard." the answer has not been preserved, but there is an allusion to the subject in an unpublished memorandum of grotius written while he was in prison. it must be confessed that the heart of the great theologian and jurist seems to have somewhat failed him after his arrest, and although he was incapable of treachery--even if he had been possessed of any secrets, which certainly was not the case--he did not show the same spartan firmness as his wife, and was very far from possessing the heroic calm of barneveld. he was much disposed to extricate himself from his unhappy plight by making humble, if not abject, submission to maurice. he differed from his wife in thinking that he had no need of the prince's protection. "i begged the chamberlain, matthew de cors," he said, a few days after his arrest, "that i might be allowed to speak with his excellency of certain things which i would not willingly trust to the pen. my meaning was to leave all public employment and to offer my service to his excellency in his domestic affairs. thus i hoped that the motives for my imprisonment would cease. this was afterwards misinterpreted as if i had had wonderful things to reveal." but grotius towards the end of his trial showed still greater weakness. after repeated refusals, he had at last obtained permission of the judges to draw up in writing the heads of his defence. to do this he was allowed a single sheet of paper, and four hours of time, the trial having lasted several months. and in the document thus prepared he showed faltering in his faith as to his great friend's innocence, and admitted, without any reason whatever, the possibility of there being truth in some of the vile and anonymous calumnies against him. "the friendship of the advocate of holland i had always highly prized," he said, "hoping from the conversation of so wise and experienced a person to learn much that was good . . . . i firmly believed that his excellency, notwithstanding occasional differences as to the conduct of public affairs, considered him a true and upright servant of the land . . . i have been therefore surprised to understand, during my imprisonment, that the gentlemen had proofs in hand not alone of his correspondence with the enemy, but also of his having received money from them. "he being thus accused, i have indicated by word of mouth and afterwards resumed in writing all matters which i thought--the above-mentioned proofs being made good--might be thereto indirectly referred, in order to show that for me no friendships were so dear as the preservation of the freedom of the land. i wish that he may give explanation of all to the contentment of the judges, and that therefore his actions--which, supposing the said correspondence to be true, are subject to a bad interpretation--may be taken in another sense." alas! could the advocate--among whose first words after hearing of his own condemnation to death were, "and must my grotius die too?" adding, with a sigh of relief when assured of the contrary, "i should deeply grieve for that; he is so young and may live to do the state much service "could he have read those faltering and ungenerous words from one he so held in his heart, he would have felt them like the stab of brutus. grotius lived to know that there were no such proofs, that the judges did not dare even allude to the charge in their sentence, and long years afterwards he drew a picture of the martyred patriot such as one might have expected from his pen. but these written words of doubt must have haunted him to his grave. on the th may --on the fifty-first anniversary, as grotius remarked, of the condemnation of egmont and hoorn by the blood tribunal of alva--the two remaining victims were summoned to receive their doom. the fiscal sylla, entering de groot's chamber early in the morning to conduct him before the judges, informed him that he was not instructed to communicate the nature of the sentence. "but," he said, maliciously, "you are aware of what has befallen the advocate." "i have heard with my own ears," answered grotius, "the judgment pronounced upon barneveld and upon ledenberg. whatever may be my fate, i have patience to bear it." the sentence, read in the same place and in the same manner as had been that upon the advocate, condemned both hoogerbeets and grotius to perpetual imprisonment. the course of the trial and the enumeration of the offences were nearly identical with the leading process which has been elaborately described. grotius made no remark whatever in the court-room. on returning to his chamber he observed that his admissions of facts had been tortured into confessions of guilt, that he had been tried and sentenced against all principles and forms of law, and that he had been deprived of what the humblest criminal could claim, the right of defence and the examination of testimony. in regard to the penalty against him, he said, there was no such thing as perpetual imprisonment except in hell. alluding to the leading cause of all these troubles, he observed that it was with the stadholder and the advocate as cato had said of caesar and pompey. the great misery had come not from their being enemies, but from their having once been friends. on the night of th june the prisoners were taken from their prison in the hague and conveyed to the castle of loevestein. this fortress, destined thenceforth to be famous in history and--from its frequent use in after-times as a state-prison for men of similar constitutional views to those of grotius and the advocate--to give its name to a political party, was a place of extraordinary strength. nature and art had made it, according to military ideas of that age, almost impregnable. as a prison it seemed the very castle of despair. "abandon all hope ye who enter" seemed engraven over its portal. situate in the very narrow, acute angle where the broad, deep, and turbid waal--the chief of the three branches into which the rhine divides itself on entering the netherlands--mingles its current with the silver meuse whose name it adopts as the united rivers roll to the sea, it was guarded on many sides by these deep and dangerous streams. on the land-side it was surrounded by high walls and a double foss, which protected it against any hostile invasion from brabant. as the twelve years' truce was running to its close, it was certain that pains would be taken to strengthen the walls and deepen the ditches, that the place might be proof against all marauders and land-robbers likely to swarm over from the territory of the archdukes. the town of gorcum was exactly opposite on the northern side of the waal, while worcum was about a league's distance from the castle on the southern side, but separated from it by the meuse. the prisoners, after crossing the drawbridge, were led through thirteen separate doors, each one secured by iron bolts and heavy locks, until they reached their separate apartments. they were never to see or have any communication with each other. it had been accorded by the states-general however that the wives of the two gentlemen were to have access to their prison, were to cook for them in the castle kitchen, and, if they chose to inhabit the fortress, might cross to the neighbouring town of gorcum from time to time to make purchases, and even make visits to the hague. twenty-four stuivers, or two shillings, a day were allowed by the states-general for the support of each prisoner and his family. as the family property of grotius was at once sequestered, with a view to its ultimate confiscation, it was clear that abject indigence as well as imprisonment was to be the lifelong lot of this illustrious person, who had hitherto lived in modest affluence, occupying the most considerable of social positions. the commandant of the fortress was inspired from the outset with a desire to render the prisoner's situation as hateful as it was in his power to make it. and much was in his power. he resolved that the family should really live upon their daily pittance. yet madame de groot, before the final confiscation of her own and her husband's estates, had been able to effect considerable loans, both to carry on process against government for what the prisoners contended was an unjust confiscation, and for providing for the household on a decent scale and somewhat in accordance with the requirements of the prisoner's health. thus there was a wearisome and ignoble altercation, revived from day to day, between the commandant and madame de groot. it might have been thought enough of torture for this virtuous and accomplished lady, but twenty-nine years of age and belonging to one of the eminent families of the country, to see her husband, for his genius and accomplishments the wonder of europe, thus cut off in the flower of his age and doomed to a living grave. she was nevertheless to be subjected to the perpetual inquisition of the market-basket, which she was not ashamed with her maid to take to and from gorcum, and to petty wrangles about the kitchen fire where she was proud to superintend the cooking of the scanty fare for her husband and her five children. there was a reason for the spite of the military jailer. lieutenant prouninx, called deventer, commandant of loevestein, was son of the notorious gerard prouninx, formerly burgomaster of utrecht, one of the ringleaders of the leicester faction in the days when the earl made his famous attempts upon the four cities. he had sworn revenge upon all those concerned in his father's downfall, and it was a delight therefore to wreak a personal vengeance on one who had since become so illustrious a member of that party by which the former burgomaster had been deposed, although grotius at the time of leicester's government had scarcely left his cradle. thus these ladies were to work in the kitchen and go to market from time to time, performing this menial drudgery under the personal inspection of the warrior who governed the garrison and fortress, but who in vain attempted to make maria van reigersbergen tremble at his frown. hugo de groot, when thus for life immured, after having already undergone a preliminary imprisonment of nine months, was just thirty-six years of age. although comparatively so young, he had been long regarded as one of the great luminaries of europe for learning and genius. of an ancient and knightly race, his immediate ancestors had been as famous for literature, science, and municipal abilities as their more distant progenitors for deeds of arms in the feudal struggles of holland in the middle ages. his father and grandfather had alike been eminent for hebrew, greek, and latin scholarship, and both had occupied high positions in the university of leyden from its beginning. hugo, born and nurtured under such quickening influences, had been a scholar and poet almost from his cradle. he wrote respectable latin verses at the age of seven, he was matriculated at leyden at the age of eleven. that school, founded amid the storms and darkness of terrible war, was not lightly to be entered. it was already illustrated by a galaxy of shining lights in science and letters, which radiated over christendom. his professors were joseph scaliger, francis junius, paulus merula, and a host of others. his fellow-students were men like scriverius, vossius, baudius, daniel heinsius. the famous soldier and poet douza, who had commanded the forces of leyden during the immortal siege, addressed him on his admission to the university as "magne peer magni dignissime cura parentis," in a copy of eloquent verses. when fourteen years old, he took his bachelor's degree, after a rigorous examination not only in the classics but astronomy, mathematics, jurisprudence, and theology, at an age when most youths would have been accounted brilliant if able to enter that high school with credit. on leaving the university he was attached to the embassy of barneveld and justinus van nassau to the court of henry iv. here he attracted the attention of that monarch, who pointed him out to his courtiers as the "miracle of holland," presented him with a gold chain with his miniature attached to it, and proposed to confer on him the dignity of knighthood, which the boy from motives of family pride appears to have refused. while in france he received from the university of orleans, before the age of fifteen, the honorary degree of doctor of laws in a very eulogistic diploma. on his return to holland he published an edition of the poet johannes capella with valuable annotations, besides giving to the public other learned and classical works and several tragedies of more or less merit. at the age of seventeen he was already an advocate in full practice before the supreme tribunals of the hague, and when twenty-three years old he was selected by prince maurice from a list of three candidates for the important post of fiscal or attorney-general of holland. other civic dignities, embassies, and offices of various kinds, had been thrust upon him one after another, in all of which he had acquitted himself with dignity and brilliancy. he was but twenty-six when he published his argument for the liberty of the sea, the famous mare liberum, and a little later appeared his work on the antiquity of the batavian republic, which procured for him in spain the title of "hugo grotius, auctor damnatus." at the age of twenty-nine he had completed his latin history of the netherlands from the period immediately preceding the war of independence down to the conclusion of the truce, - --a work which has been a classic ever since its appearance, although not published until after his death. a chief magistrate of rotterdam, member of the states of holland and the states-general, jurist, advocate, attorney-general, poet, scholar, historian, editor of the greek and latin classics, writer of tragedies, of law treatises, of theological disquisitions, he stood foremost among a crowd of famous contemporaries. his genius, eloquence, and learning were esteemed among the treasures not only of his own country but of europe. he had been part and parcel of his country's history from his earliest manhood, and although a child in years compared to barneveld, it was upon him that the great statesman had mainly relied ever since the youth's first appearance in public affairs. impressible, emotional, and susceptive, he had been accused from time to time, perhaps not entirely without reason, of infirmity of purpose, or at least of vacillation in opinion; but his worst enemies had never assailed the purity of his heart or integrity of his character. he had not yet written the great work on the 'rights of war and peace', which was to make an epoch in the history of civilization and to be the foundation of a new science, but the materials lay already in the ample storehouse of his memory and his brain. possessed of singular personal beauty--which the masterly portraits of miereveld attest to the present day--tall, brown-haired; straight- featured, with a delicate aquiline nose and piercing dark blue eyes, he was also athletic of frame and a proficient in manly exercises. this was the statesman and the scholar, of whom it is difficult to speak but in terms of affectionate but not exaggerated eulogy, and for whom the republic of the netherlands could now find no better use than to shut him up in the grim fortress of loevestein for the remainder of his days. a commonwealth must have deemed itself rich in men which, after cutting off the head of barneveld, could afford to bury alive hugo grotius. his deportment in prison was a magnificent moral lesson. shut up in a kind of cage consisting of a bedroom and a study, he was debarred from physical exercise, so necessary for his mental and bodily health. not choosing for the gratification of lieutenant deventer to indulge in weak complaints, he procured a huge top, which he employed himself in whipping several hours a day; while for intellectual employment he plunged once more into those classical, juridical, and theological studies which had always employed his leisure hours from childhood upwards. it had been forbidden by the states-general to sell his likeness in the shops. the copper plates on which they had been engraved had as far as possible been destroyed. the wish of the government, especially of his judges, was that his name and memory should die at once and for ever. they were not destined to be successful, for it would be equally difficult to-day to find an educated man in christendom ignorant of the name of hugo grotius, or acquainted with that of a single one of his judges. and his friends had not forgotten him as he lay there living in his tomb. especially the learned scriverius, vossius, and other professors, were permitted to correspond with him at intervals on literary subjects, the letters being subjected to preliminary inspection. scriverius sent him many books from his well-stocked library, de groot's own books and papers having been confiscated by the government. at a somewhat later period the celebrated orientalist erpenius sent him from time to time a large chest of books, the precious freight being occasionally renewed and the chest passing to and from loevestein by way of gorcum. at this town lived a sister of erpenius, married to one daatselaer, a considerable dealer in thread and ribbons, which he exported to england. the house of daatselaer became a place of constant resort for madame de groot as well as the wife of hoogerbeets, both dames going every few days from the castle across the waal to gorcum, to make their various purchases for the use of their forlorn little households in the prison. madame daatselaer therefore received and forwarded into loevestein or into holland many parcels and boxes, besides attending to the periodical transmission of the mighty chest of books. professor vossius was then publishing a new edition of the tragedies of seneca, and at his request grotius enriched that work, from his prison, with valuable notes. he employed himself also in translating the moral sentences extracted by stobaeus from the greek tragedies; drawing consolation from the ethics and philosophy of the ancient dramatists, whom he had always admired, especially the tragedies of euripides; he formed a complete moral anthology from that poet and from the works of sophocles, menander, and others, which he translated into fluent dutch verse. becoming more and more interested in the subject, he executed a masterly rhymed translation of the 'theban brothers' of euripides, thus seeking distraction from his own tragic doom in the portraiture of antique, distant, and heroic sorrow. turning again to legal science, he completed an introduction to the jurisprudence of holland, a work which as soon as published became thenceforward a text-book and an oracle in the law courts and the high schools of the country. not forgetting theology, he composed for the use of the humbler classes, especially for sailors, in whose lot, so exposed to danger and temptation, be ever took deep interest, a work on the proofs of christianity in easy and familiar rhyme--a book of gold, as it was called at once, which became rapidly popular with those for whom it was designed. at a somewhat later period professor erpenius, publishing a new edition of the new testament in greek, with translations in arabic, syriac, and ethiopian, solicited his friend's help both in translations and in the latin commentaries and expositions with which he proposed to accompany the work. the prisoner began with a modest disclaimer, saying that after the labours of erasmus and beza, maldonatus and jasenius, there was little for him to glean. becoming more enthusiastic as he went on, he completed a masterly commentary on the four evangelists, a work for which the learned and religious world has ever recognized a kind of debt of gratitude to the castle of loevestein, and hailed in him the founder of a school of manly biblical criticism. and thus nearly two years wore away. spinning his great top for exercise; soothing his active and prolific brain with greek tragedy, with flemish verse, with jurisprudence, history, theology; creating, expounding, adorning, by the warmth of his vivid intellect; moving the world, and doing good to his race from the depths of his stony sepulchre; hugo grotius rose superior to his doom and took captivity captive. the man is not to be envied who is not moved by so noble an example of great calamity manfully endured. the wife of hoogerbeets, already advanced in years, sickened during the imprisonment and died at loevestein after a lingering illness, leaving six children to the care of her unfortunate husband. madame de groot had not been permitted by the prison authorities to minister to her in sickness, nor to her children after her death. early in the year francis aerssens, lord of sommelsdyk, the arch enemy of barneveld and of grotius, was appointed special ambassador to paris. the intelligence--although hardly unexpected, for the stratagems of aerssens had been completely successful--moved the prisoner deeply. he felt that this mortal enemy, not glutted with vengeance by the beheading of the advocate and the perpetual imprisonment of his friend, would do his best at the french court to defame and to blacken him. he did what he could to obviate this danger by urgent letters to friends on whom he could rely. at about the same time muis van holy, one of the twenty-four commissioners, not yet satisfied with the misery he had helped to inflict, informed the states-general that madame de groot had been buying ropes at gorcum. on his motion a committee was sent to investigate the matter at castle loevestein, where it was believed that the ropes had been concealed for the purpose of enabling grotius to make his escape from prison. lieutenant deventer had heard nothing of the story. he was in high spirits at the rumour however, and conducted the committee very eagerly over the castle, causing minute search to be made in the apartment of grotius for the ropes which, as they were assured by him and his wife, had never existed save in the imagination of judge muis. they succeeded at least in inflicting much superfluous annoyance on their victims, and in satisfying themselves that it would be as easy for the prisoner to fly out of the fortress on wings as to make his escape with ropes, even if he had them. grotius soon afterwards addressed a letter to the states-general denouncing the statement of muis as a fable, and these persistent attempts to injure him as cowardly and wicked. a few months later madame de groot happened to be in the house of daatselaer on one of her periodical visits to gorcum. conversation turning on these rumours march of attempts at escape, she asked madame daatselaer if she would not be much embarrassed, should grotius suddenly make his appearance there. "oh no," said the good woman with a laugh; "only let him come. we will take excellent care of him." at another visit one saturday, th march, ( ) madame de groot asked her friend why all the bells of gorcum march were ringing. "because to-morrow begins our yearly fair," replied dame daatselaer. "well, i suppose that all exiles and outlaws may come to gorcum on this occasion," said madame de groot. "such is the law, they say," answered her friend. "and my husband might come too?" "no doubt," said madame daatselaer with a merry laugh, rejoiced at finding the wife of grotius able to speak so cheerfully of her husband in his perpetual and hopeless captivity. "send him hither. he shall have, a warm welcome." "what a good woman you are!" said madame de groot with a sigh as she rose to take leave. "but you know very well that if he were a bird he could never get out of the castle, so closely, he is caged there." next morning a wild equinoctial storm was howling around the battlements of the castle. of a sudden cornelia, daughter of the de groots, nine years of age, said to her mother without any reason whatever, "to-morrow papa must be off to gorcum, whatever the weather may be." de groot, as well as his wife, was aghast at the child's remark, and took it as a direct indication from heaven. for while madame daatselaer had considered the recent observations of her visitor from loevestein as idle jests, and perhaps wondered that madame de groot could be frivolous and apparently lighthearted on so dismal a topic, there had been really a hidden meaning in her words. for several weeks past the prisoner had been brooding over a means of escape. his wife, whose every thought was devoted to him, had often cast her eyes on the great chest or trunk in which the books of erpenius had been conveyed between loevestein and gorcum for the use of the prisoner. at first the trunk had been carefully opened and its contents examined every time it entered or left the castle. as nothing had ever been found in it save hebrew, greek, and latin folios, uninviting enough to the commandant, that warrior had gradually ceased to inspect the chest very closely, and had at last discontinued the practice altogether. it had been kept for some weeks past in the prisoner's study. his wife thought--although it was two finger breadths less than four feet in length, and not very broad or deep in proportion--that it might be possible for him to get into it. he was considerably above middle height, but found that by curling himself up very closely he could just manage to lie in it with the cover closed. very secretly they had many times rehearsed the scheme which had now taken possession of their minds, but had not breathed a word of it to any one. he had lain in the chest with the lid fastened, and with his wife sitting upon the top of it, two hours at a time by the hour-glass. they had decided at last that the plan, though fraught with danger, was not absolutely impossible, and they were only waiting now for a favourable opportunity. the chance remark of the child cornelia settled the time for hazarding the adventure. by a strange coincidence, too, the commandant of the fortress, lieutenant deventer, had just been promoted to a captaincy, and was to go to heusden to receive his company. he left the castle for a brief absence that very sunday evening. as a precautionary measure, the trunk filled with books had been sent to gorcum and returned after the usual interval only a few days before. the maid-servant of the de groots, a young girl of twenty, elsje van houwening by name, quick, intelligent, devoted, and courageous, was now taken into their confidence. the scheme was explained to her, and she was asked if she were willing to take the chest under her charge with her master in it, instead of the usual freight of books, and accompany it to gorcum. she naturally asked what punishment could be inflicted upon her in case the plot were discovered. "none legally," answered her master; "but i too am innocent of any crime, and you see to what sufferings i have been condemned." "whatever come of it," said elsje stoutly; "i will take the risk and accompany my master." every detail was then secretly arranged, and it was provided beforehand, as well as possible, what should be said or done in the many contingencies that might arise. on sunday evening madame de groot then went to the wife of the commandant, with whom she had always been on more friendly terms than with her malicious husband. she had also recently propitiated her affections by means of venison and other dainties brought from gorcum. she expressed the hope that, notwithstanding the absence of captain deventer, she might be permitted to send the trunk full of books next day from the castle. "my husband is wearing himself out," she said, "with his perpetual studies. i shall be glad for a little time to be rid of some of these folios." the commandant's wife made no objection to this slight request. on monday morning the gale continued to beat with unabated violence on the turrets. the turbid waal, swollen by the tempest, rolled darkly and dangerously along the castle walls. but the die was cast. grotius rose betimes, fell on his knees, and prayed fervently an hour long. dressed only in linen underclothes with a pair of silk stockings, he got into the chest with the help of his wife. the big testament of erpenius, with some bunches of thread placed upon it, served him as a pillow. a few books and papers were placed in the interstices left by the curves of his body, and as much pains as possible taken to prevent his being seriously injured or incommoded during the hazardous journey he was contemplating. his wife then took solemn farewell of him, fastened the lock, which she kissed, and gave the key to elsje. the usual garments worn by the prisoner were thrown on a chair by the bedside and his slippers placed before it. madame de groot then returned to her bed, drew the curtains close, and rang the bell. it was answered by the servant who usually waited on the prisoner, and who was now informed by the lady that it had been her intention to go herself to gorcum, taking charge of the books which were valuable. as the weather was so tempestuous however, and as she was somewhat indisposed, it had been decided that elsje should accompany the trunk. she requested that some soldiers might be sent as usual to take it down to the vessel. two or three of the garrison came accordingly, and seeing the clothes and slippers of grotius lying about, and the bed-curtains closed, felt no suspicion. on lifting the chest, however, one of them said, half in jest: "the arminian must be in it himself, it seems so heavy," "not the arminian," replied madame de groot, in a careless voice, from the bed; "only heavy arminian books." partly lifting, partly dragging the ponderous box, the soldiers managed to get it down the stairs and through the thirteen barred and bolted doors. four several times one or other of the soldiers expressed the opinion that grotius himself must be locked within it, but they never spoke quite seriously, and elsje was ever ready to turn aside the remark with a jest. a soldier's wife, just as the box was approaching the wharf, told a story of a malefactor who had once been carried out of the castle in a chest. "and if a malefactor, why not a lawyer?" she added. a soldier said he would get a gimlet and bore a hole into the arminian. "then you must get a gimlet that will reach to the top of the castle, where the arminian lies abed and asleep," said elsje. not much heed was given to this careless talk, the soldiers, before leaving the chamber of grotius, having satisfied themselves that there were no apertures in the chest save the keyhole, and that it would be impossible by that means alone for sufficient air to penetrate to keep a man enclosed in it from smothering. madame deventer was asked if she chose to inspect the contents of the trunk, and she enquired whether the commandant had been wont so to do. when told that such search had been for a long time discontinued, as nothing had ever been found there but books, she observed that there was no reason why she should be more strict than her husband, and ordered the soldiers to take their heavy load to the vessel. elsje insisted that the boatmen should place a doubly thick plank for sliding the box on board, as it seemed probable, she said, that the usual one would break in two, and then the valuable books borrowed of professor erpenius would be damaged or destroyed. the request caused much further grumbling, but was complied with at last and the chest deposited on the deck. the wind still continued to blow with great fury, and as soon as the sails were set the vessel heeled over so much, that elsje implored the skipper to cause the box to be securely lashed, as it seemed in imminent danger, at the first lurch of the vessel, of sliding into the sea. this done, elsje sat herself down and threw her white handkerchief over her head, letting it flutter in the wind. one of the crew asked her why she did so, and she replied that the servant in the castle had been tormenting her, saying that she would never dare to sail to gorcum in such tempestuous weather, and she was now signalling him that she had been as good as her word. whereupon she continued to wave the handkerchief. in reality the signal was for her mistress, who was now straining her eyes from the barred window which looked out upon the waal, and with whom the maid had agreed that if all went prosperously she would give this token of success. otherwise she would sit with her head in her hands. during the voyage an officer of the garrison, who happened to be on board, threw himself upon the chest as a convenient seat, and began drumming and pounding with his heels upon it. the ever watchful elsje, feeling the dreadful inconvenience to the prisoner of these proceedings, who perhaps was already smothering and would struggle for air if not relieved, politely addressed the gentleman and induced him to remove to another seat by telling him that, besides the books, there was some valuable porcelain in the chest which might easily be broken. no further incident occurred. the wind, although violent, was favourable, and gorcum in due time was reached. elsje insisted upon having her own precious freight carried first into the town, although the skipper for some time was obstinately bent on leaving it to the very last, while all the other merchandise in the vessel should be previously unshipped. at last on promise of payment of ten stuivers, which was considered an exorbitant sum, the skipper and son agreed to transport the chest between them on a hand-barrow. while they were trudging with it to the town, the son remarked to his father that there was some living thing in the box. for the prisoner in the anguish of his confinement had not been able to restrain a slight movement. "do you hear what my son says?" cried the skipper to elsje. "he says you have got something alive in your trunk." "yes, yes," replied the cheerful maid-servant; "arminian books are always alive, always full of motion and spirit." they arrived at daatselaer's house, moving with difficulty through the crowd which, notwithstanding the boisterous weather, had been collected by the annual fair. many people were assembled in front of the building, which was a warehouse of great resort, while next door was a book- seller's shop thronged with professors, clergymen, and other literary persons. the carriers accordingly entered by the backway, and elsje, deliberately paying them their ten stuivers, and seeing them depart, left the box lying in a room at the rear and hastened to the shop in front. here she found the thread and ribbon dealer and his wife, busy with their customers, unpacking and exhibiting their wares. she instantly whispered in madame daatselaer's ear, "i have got my master here in your back parlour." the dame turned white as a sheet, and was near fainting on the spot. it was the first imprudence elsje had committed. the good woman recovered somewhat of her composure by a strong effort however, and instantly went with elsje to the rear of the house. "master! master!" cried elsje, rapping on the chest. there was no answer. "my god! my god!" shrieked the poor maid-servant. "my poor master is dead." "ah!" said madame daatselaer, "your mistress has made a bad business of it. yesterday she had a living husband. now she has a dead one." but soon there was a vigorous rap on the inside of the lid, and a cry from the prisoner: "open the chest! i am not dead, but did not at first recognize your voice." the lock was instantly unfastened, the lid thrown open, and grotius arose in his linen clothing, like a dead man from his coffin. the dame instantly accompanied the two through a trapdoor into an upper room. grotius asked her if she was always so deadly pale. "no," she replied, "but i am frightened to see you here. my lord is no common person. the whole world is talking of you. i fear this will cause the loss of all my property and perhaps bring my husband into prison in your place." grotius rejoined: "i made my prayers to god before as much as this had been gained, and i have just been uttering fervent thanks to him for my deliverance so far as it has been effected. but if the consequences are to be as you fear, i am ready at once to get into the chest again and be carried back to prison." but she answered, "no; whatever comes of it, we have you here and will do all that we can to help you on." grotius being faint from his sufferings, the lady brought him a glass of spanish wine, but was too much flustered to find even a cloak or shawl to throw over him. leaving him sitting there in his very thin attire, just as he had got out of the chest, she went to the front warehouse to call her husband. but he prudently declined to go to his unexpected guest. it would be better in the examination sure to follow, he said, for him to say with truth that he had not seen him and knew nothing of the escape, from first to last. grotius entirely approved of the answer when told to him. meantime madame daatselaer had gone to her brother-in-law van der veen, a clothier by trade, whom she found in his shop talking with an officer of the loevestein garrison. she whispered in the clothier's ear, and he, making an excuse to the officer, followed her home at once. they found grotius sitting where he had been left. van der veen gave him his hand, saying: "sir, you are the man of whom the whole country is talking?" "yes, here i am," was the reply, "and i put myself in your hands--" "there isn't a moment to lose," replied the clothier. "we must help you away at once." he went immediately in search of one john lambertsen, a man in whom he knew he could confide, a lutheran in religion, a master-mason by occupation. he found him on a scaffold against the gable-end of a house, working at his trade. he told him that there was a good deed to be done which he could do better than any man, that his conscience would never reproach him for it, and that he would at the same time earn no trifling reward. he begged the mason to procure a complete dress as for a journeyman, and to follow him to the house of his brother-in-law daatselaer. lambertsen soon made his appearance with the doublet, trunk-hose, and shoes of a bricklayer, together with trowel and measuring-rod. he was informed who his new journeyman was to be, and grotius at once put on the disguise. the doublet did not reach to the waistband of the trunkhose, while those nether garments stopped short of his knees; the whole attire belonging to a smaller man than the unfortunate statesman. his delicate white hands, much exposed by the shortness of the sleeves, looked very unlike those of a day-labourer, and altogether the new mason presented a somewhat incongruous and wobegone aspect. grotius was fearful too lest some of the preachers and professors frequenting the book-shop next door would recognize him through his disguise. madame daatselaer smeared his face and hands with chalk and plaster however and whispered encouragement, and so with a felt hat slouched over his forehead and a yardstick in his hand, he walked calmly forth into the thronged marketplace and through the town to the ferry, accompanied by the friendly lambertsen. it had been agreed that van der veen should leave the house in another direction and meet them at the landing-place. when they got to the ferry, they found the weather as boisterous as ever. the boatmen absolutely refused to make the dangerous crossing of the merwede over which their course lay to the land of altona, and so into the spanish netherlands, for two such insignificant personages as this mason and his scarecrow journeyman. lambertsen assured them that it was of the utmost importance that he should cross the water at once. he had a large contract for purchasing stone at altona for a public building on which he was engaged. van der veen coming up added his entreaties, protesting that he too was interested in this great stone purchase, and so by means of offering a larger price than they at first dared to propose, they were able to effect their passage. after landing, lambertsen and grotius walked to waalwyk, van der veen returning the same evening to gorcum. it was four o'clock in the afternoon when they reached waalwyk, where a carriage was hired to convey the fugitive to antwerp. the friendly mason here took leave of his illustrious journeyman, having first told the driver that his companion was a disguised bankrupt fleeing from holland into foreign territory to avoid pursuit by his creditors. this would explain his slightly concealing his face in passing through a crowd in any village. grotius proved so ignorant of the value of different coins in making small payments on the road, that the honest waggoner, on being occasionally asked who the odd-looking stranger was, answered that he was a bankrupt, and no wonder, for he did not know one piece of money from another. for, his part he thought him little better than a fool. such was the depreciatory opinion formed by the waalwyk coachman as to the "rising light of the world" and the "miracle of holland." they travelled all night and, arriving on the morning of the st within a few leagues of antwerp, met a patrol of soldiers, who asked grotius for his passport. he enquired in whose service they were, and was told in that of "red rod," as the chief bailiff of antwerp was called. that functionary happened to be near, and the traveller approaching him said that his passport was on his feet, and forthwith told him his name and story. red rod treated him at once with perfect courtesy, offered him a horse for himself with a mounted escort, and so furthered his immediate entrance to antwerp. grotius rode straight to the house of a banished friend of his, the preacher grevinkhoven. he was told by the daughter of that clergyman that her father was upstairs ministering at the bedside of his sick wife. but so soon as the traveller had sent up his name, both the preacher and the invalid came rushing downstairs to fall upon the neck of one who seemed as if risen from the dead. the news spread, and episcopius and other exiled friends soon thronged to the house of grevinkhoven, where they all dined together in great glee, grotius, still in his journeyman's clothes, narrating the particulars of his wonderful escape. he had no intention of tarrying in his resting-place at antwerp longer than was absolutely necessary. intimations were covertly made to him that a brilliant destiny might be in store for him should he consent to enter the service of the archdukes, nor were there waning rumours, circulated as a matter of course by his host of enemies, that he was about to become a renegade to country and religion. there was as much truth in the slanders as in the rest of the calumnies of which he had been the victim during his career. he placed on record a proof of his loyal devotion to his country in the letters which he wrote from antwerp within a week of his arrival there. with his subsequent history, his appearance and long residence at the french court as ambassador of sweden, his memorable labours in history, diplomacy, poetry, theology, the present narrative is not concerned. driven from the service of his fatherland, of which his name to all time is one of the proudest garlands, he continued to be a benefactor not only to her but to all mankind. if refutation is sought of the charge that republics are ungrateful, it will certainly not be found in the history of hugo grotius or john of barneveld. nor is there need to portray the wrath of captain deventer when he returned to castle loevestein. "here is the cage, but your bird is flown," said corpulent maria grotius with a placid smile. the commandant solaced himself by uttering imprecations on her, on her husband, and on elsje van houwening. but these curses could not bring back the fugitive. he flew to gorcum to browbeat the daatselaers and to search the famous trunk. he found in it the big new testament and some skeins of thread, together with an octavo or two of theology and of greek tragedies; but the arminian was not in it, and was gone from the custody of the valiant deventer for ever. after a brief period madame de groot was released and rejoined her husband. elsje van houwening, true heroine of the adventure, was subsequently married to the faithful servant of grotius, who during the two years' imprisonment had been taught latin and the rudiments of law by his master, so that he subsequently rose to be a thriving and respectable advocate at the tribunals of holland. the stadholder, when informed of the escape of the prisoner, observed, "i always thought the black pig was deceiving me," making not very complimentary allusion to the complexion and size of the lady who had thus aided the escape of her husband. he is also reported as saying that it "is no wonder they could not keep grotius in prison, as he has more wit than all his judges put together." chapter xxiii. barneveld's sons plot against maurice--the conspiracy betrayed to maurice--escape of stoutenburg--groeneveld is arrested--mary of barneveld appeals to the stadholder--groeneveld condemned to death-- execution of groeneveld. the widow of barneveld had remained, since the last scene of the fatal tragedy on the binnenhof, in hopeless desolation. the wife of the man who during a whole generation of mankind had stood foremost among the foremost of the world, and had been one of those chief actors and directors in human affairs to whom men's eyes turned instinctively from near and from afar, had led a life of unbroken prosperity. an heiress in her own right, maria van utrecht had laid the foundation of her husband's wealth by her union with the rising young lawyer and statesman. her two sons and two daughters had grown up around her, all four being married into the leading families of the land, and with apparently long lives of prosperity and usefulness before them. and now the headsman's sword had shivered all this grandeur and happiness at a blow. the name of the dead statesman had become a word of scoffing and reproach; vagabond mountebanks enacted ribald scenes to his dishonour in the public squares and streets; ballad-mongers yelled blasphemous libels upon him in the very ears of his widow and children. for party hatred was not yet glutted with the blood it had drunk. it would be idle to paint the misery of this brokenhearted woman. the great painters of the epoch have preserved her face to posterity; the grief-stricken face of a hard-featured but commanding and not uncomely woman, the fountains of whose tears seem exhausted; a face of austere and noble despair. a decorous veil should be thrown over the form of that aged matron, for whose long life and prosperity fate took such merciless vengeance at last. for the woes of maria of barneveld had scarcely begun. desolation had become her portion, but dishonour had not yet crossed her threshold. there were sterner strokes in store for her than that which smote her husband on the scaffold. she had two sons, both in the prime of life. the eldest, reinier, lord of groeneveld, who had married a widow of rank and wealth, madame de brandwyk, was living since the death of his father in comparative ease, but entire obscurity. an easy-tempered, genial, kindly gentleman, he had been always much beloved by his friends and, until the great family catastrophe, was popular with the public, but of an infirm and vacillating character, easily impressed by others, and apt to be led by stronger natures than his own. he had held the lucrative office of head forester of delfland of which he had now been deprived. the younger son william, called, from an estate conferred on him by his father, lord of stoutenburg, was of a far different mould. we have seen him at an earlier period of this narrative attached to the embassy of francis aerssens in paris, bearing then from another estate the unmusical title of craimgepolder, and giving his subtle and dangerous chief great cause of complaint by his irregular, expensive habits. he had been however rather a favourite with henry iv., who had so profound a respect for the father as to consult him, and him only of all foreign statesmen, in the gravest affairs of his reign, and he had even held an office of honour and emolument at his court. subsequently he had embraced the military career, and was esteemed a soldier of courage and promise. as captain of cavalry and governor of the fortress of bergen op zoom, he occupied a distinguished and lucrative position, and was likely, so soon as the truce ran to its close, to make a name for himself in that gigantic political and religious war which had already opened in bohemia, and in which it was evident the republic would soon be desperately involved. his wife, walburg de marnix, was daughter to one of the noblest characters in the history of the netherlands, or of any history, the illustrious sainte-aldegonde. two thousand florins a year from his father's estate had been settled on him at his marriage, which, in addition to his official and military income, placed him in a position of affluence. after the death of his father the family estates were confiscated, and he was likewise deprived of his captaincy and his governorship. he was reduced at a blow from luxury and high station to beggary and obscurity. at the renewal of the war he found himself, for no fault of his own, excluded from the service of his country. yet the advocate almost in his last breath had recommended his sons to the stadholder, and maurice had sent a message in response that so long as the sons conducted themselves well they might rely upon his support. hitherto they had not conducted themselves otherwise than well. stoutenburg, who now dwelt in his house with his mother, was of a dark, revengeful, turbulent disposition. in the career of arms he had a right to look forward to success, but thus condemned to brood in idleness on the cruel wrongs to himself and his house it was not improbable that he might become dangerous. years long he fed on projects of vengeance as his daily bread. he was convinced that his personal grievances were closely entwined with the welfare of the commonwealth, and he had sworn to avenge the death of his father, the misery of his mother, and the wrongs which he was himself suffering, upon the stadholder, whom he considered the author of all their woe. to effect a revolution in the government, and to bring back to power all the municipal regents whom maurice had displaced so summarily, in order, as the son believed, to effect the downfall of the hated advocate, this was the determination of stoutenburg. he did not pause to reflect whether the arm which had been strong enough to smite to nothingness the venerable statesman in the plenitude of his power would be too weak to repel the attack of an obscure and disarmed partisan. he saw only a hated tyrant, murderer, and oppressor, as he considered him, and he meant to have his life. he had around him a set of daring and desperate men to whom he had from time to time half confided his designs. a certain unfrocked preacher of the remonstrant persuasion, who, according to the fashion of the learned of that day, had translated his name out of hendrik sleet into henricus slatius, was one of his most unscrupulous instruments. slatius, a big, swarthy, shag-eared, beetle-browed hollander, possessed learning of no ordinary degree, a tempestuous kind of eloquence, and a habit of dealing with men; especially those of the humbler classes. he was passionate, greedy, overbearing, violent, and loose of life. he had sworn vengeance upon the remonstrants in consequence of a private quarrel, but this did not prevent him from breathing fire and fury against the contra- remonstrants also, and especially against the stadholder, whom he affected to consider the arch-enemy of the whole commonwealth. another twelvemonth went by. the advocate had been nearly four years in his grave. the terrible german war was in full blaze. the twelve years' truce had expired, the republic was once more at war, and stoutenburg, forbidden at the head of his troop to campaign with the stadholder against the archdukes, nourished more fiercely than ever his plan against the stadholder's life. besides the ferocious slatius he had other associates. there was his cousin by marriage, van der dussen, a catholic gentleman, who had married a daughter of elias barneveld, and who shared all stoutenburg's feelings of resentment towards maurice. there was korenwinder, another catholic, formerly occupying an official position of responsibility as secretary of the town of berkel, a man of immense corpulence, but none the less an active and dangerous conspirator. there was van dyk, a secretary of bleiswyk, equally active and dangerous, and as lean and hungry as korenwinder was fat. stoutenburg, besides other rewards, had promised him a cornetcy of cavalry, should their plans be successful. and there was the brother-in-law of slatius, one cornelis gerritaen, a joiner by trade, living at rotterdam, who made himself very useful in all the details of the conspiracy. for the plot was now arranged, the men just mentioned being its active agents and in constant communication with stoutenburg. korenwinder and van dyk in the last days of december drew up a scheme on paper, which was submitted to their chief and met with his approval. the document began with a violent invective against the crimes and tyranny of the stadholder, demonstrated the necessity of a general change in the government, and of getting rid of maurice as an indispensable preliminary, and laid down the means and method of doing this deed. the prince was in the daily habit of driving, unattended by his body- guard, to ryswyk, about two miles from the hague. it would not be difficult for a determined band of men divided into two parties to set upon him between the stables and his coach, either when alighting from or about to enter it--the one party to kill him while the other protected the retreat of the assassins, and beat down such defence as the few lackeys of the stadholder could offer. the scheme, thus mapped out, was submitted to stoutenburg, who gave it his approval after suggesting a few amendments. the document was then burnt. it was estimated that twenty men would be needed for the job, and that to pay them handsomely would require about guilders. the expenses and other details of the infamous plot were discussed as calmly as if it had been an industrial or commercial speculation. but guilders was an immense sum to raise, and the seigneur de stoutenburg was a beggar. his associates were as forlorn as himself, but his brother-in-law, the ex-ambassador van der myle, was living at beverwyk under the supervision of the police, his property not having been confiscated. stoutenburg paid him a visit, accompanied by the reverend slatius, in hopes of getting funds from him, but at the first obscure hint of the infamous design van der myle faced them with such looks, gestures, and words of disgust and indignation that the murderous couple recoiled, the son of barneveld saying to the expreacher: "let us be off, slaet,'tis a mere cur. nothing is to be made of him." the other son of barneveld, the seigneur de groeneveld, had means and credit. his brother had darkly hinted to him the necessity of getting rid of maurice, and tried to draw him into the plot. groeneveld, more unstable than water, neither repelled nor encouraged these advances. he joined in many conversations with stoutenburg, van dyk, and korenwinder, but always weakly affected not to know what they were driving at. "when we talk of business," said van dyk to him one day, "you are always turning off from us and from the subject. you had better remain." many anonymous letters were sent to him, calling on him to strike for vengeance on the murderer of his father, and for the redemption of his native land and the remonstrant religion from foul oppression. at last yielding to the persuasions and threats of his fierce younger brother, who assured him that the plot would succeed, the government be revolutionized, and that then all property would be at the mercy of the victors, he agreed to endorse certain bills which korenwinder undertook to negotiate. nothing could be meaner, more cowardly, and more murderous than the proceedings of the seigneur de groeneveld. he seems to have felt no intense desire of vengeance upon maurice, which certainly would not have been unnatural, but he was willing to supply money for his assassination. at the same time he was careful to insist that this pecuniary advance was by no means a free gift, but only a loan to be repaid by his more bloodthirsty brother upon demand with interest. with a businesslike caution, in ghastly contrast with the foulness of the contract, he exacted a note of hand from stoutenburg covering the whole amount of his disbursements. there might come a time, he thought, when his brother's paper would be more negotiable than it was at that moment. korenwinder found no difficulty in discounting groeneveld's bills, and the necessary capital was thus raised for the vile enterprise. van dyk, the lean and hungry conspirator, now occupied himself vigorously in engaging the assassins, while his corpulent colleague remained as treasurer of the company. two brothers blansaerts, woollen manufacturers at leyden--one of whom had been a student of theology in the remonstrant church and had occasionally preached--and a certain william party, a walloon by birth, but likewise a woollen worker at leyden, agreed to the secretary's propositions. he had at first told, them that their services would be merely required for the forcible liberation of two remonstrant clergymen, niellius and poppius, from the prison at haarlem. entertaining his new companions at dinner, however, towards the end of january, van dyk, getting very drunk, informed them that the object of the enterprise was to kill the stadholder; that arrangements had been made for effecting an immediate change in the magistracies in all the chief cities of holland so soon as the deed was done; that all the recently deposed regents would enter the hague at once, supported by a train of armed peasants from the country; and that better times for the oppressed religion, for the fatherland, and especially for everyone engaged in the great undertaking, would begin with the death of the tyrant. each man taking direct part in the assassination would receive at least guilders, besides being advanced to offices of honour and profit according to his capacity. the blansaerts assured their superior that entire reliance might be placed on their fidelity, and that they knew of three or four other men in leyden "as firm as trees and fierce as lions," whom they would engage --a fustian worker, a tailor, a chimney-sweeper, and one or two other mechanics. the looseness and utter recklessness with which this hideous conspiracy was arranged excites amazement. van dyk gave the two brothers pistoles in gold--a coin about equal to a guinea--for their immediate reward as well as for that of the comrades to be engaged. yet it seems almost certain from subsequent revelations that they were intending all the time to deceive him, to take as much money as they could get from him, "to milk, the cow as long as she would give milk," as william party expressed it, and then to turn round upon and betray him. it was a dangerous game however, which might not prove entirely successful. van dyk duly communicated with stoutenburg, who grew more and more feverish with hatred and impatience as the time for gratifying those passions drew nigh, and frequently said that he would like to tear the stadholder to pieces with his own hands. he preferred however to act as controlling director over the band of murderers now enrolled. for in addition to the leyden party, the reverend slatius, supplied with funds by van dyk, had engaged at rotterdam his brother-in-law gerritsen, a joiner, living in that city, together with three sailors named respectively dirk, john, and herman. the ex-clergyman's house was also the arsenal of the conspiracy, and here were stored away a stock of pistols, snaphances, and sledge-hammers-- together with that other death-dealing machinery, the whole edition of the 'clearshining torch', an inflammatory, pamphlet by slatius--all to be used on the fatal day fast approaching. on the st february van dyk visited slatius at rotterdam. he found gerritsen hard at work. there in a dark back kitchen, by the lurid light of the fire in a dim wintry afternoon, stood the burly slatius, with his swarthy face and heavy eyebrows, accompanied by his brother-in-law the joiner, both in workman's dress, melting lead, running bullets, drying powder, and burnishing and arranging the fire-arms and other tools to be used in the great crime now so rapidly maturing. the lean, busy, restless van dyk, with his adust and sinister visage, came peering in upon the couple thus engaged, and observed their preparations with warm approval. he recommended that in addition to dirk, john, and herman, a few more hardy seafaring men should be engaged, and slatius accordingly secured next day the services of one jerome ewouts and three other sailors. they were not informed of the exact nature of the enterprise, but were told that it was a dangerous although not a desperate one, and sure to be of great service to the fatherland. they received, as all the rest had done, between and guilders in gold, that they would all be promoted to be captains and first mates. it was agreed that all the conspirators should assemble four days later at the hague on sunday, the th february, at the inn of the "golden helmet." the next day, monday the th, had been fixed by stoutenburg for doing the deed. van dyk, who had great confidence in the eloquence of william party, the walloon wool manufacturer, had arranged that he should make a discourse to them all in a solitary place in the downs between that city and the sea-shore, taking for his theme or brief the clearshining torch of slatius. on saturday that eminent divine entertained his sister and her husband gerritsen, jerome ewouts, who was at dinner but half informed as to the scope of the great enterprise, and several other friends who were entirely ignorant of it. slatius was in high spirits, although his sister, who had at last become acquainted with the vile plot, had done nothing but weep all day long. they had better be worms, with a promise of further reward and an intimation she said, and eat dirt for their food, than crawl in so base a business. her brother comforted her with assurances that the project was sure to result in a triumph for religion and fatherland, and drank many healths at his table to the success of all engaged in it. that evening he sent off a great chest filled with arms and ammunition to the "golden helmet" at the hague under the charge of jerome ewouts and his three mates. van dyk had already written a letter to the landlord of that hostelry engaging a room there, and saying that the chest contained valuable books and documents to be used in a lawsuit, in which he was soon to be engaged, before the supreme tribunal. on the sunday this bustling conspirator had john blansaert and william party to dine with him at the "golden helmet" in the hague, and produced seven packages neatly folded, each containing gold pieces to the amount of twenty pounds sterling. these were for themselves and the others whom they had reported as engaged by them in leyden. getting drunk as usual, he began to bluster of the great political revolution impending, and after dinner examined the carbines of his guests. he asked if those weapons were to be relied upon. "we can blow a hair to pieces with them at twenty paces," they replied. "ah! would that i too could be of the party," said van dyk, seizing one of the carbines. "no, no," said john blansaert, "we can do the deed better without you than with you. you must look out for the defence." van dyk then informed them that they, with one of the rotterdam sailors, were to attack maurice as he got out of his coach at ryswyk, pin him between the stables and the coach, and then and there do him to death. "you are not to leave him," he cried, "till his soul has left his body." the two expressed their hearty concurrence with this arrangement, and took leave of their host for the night, going, they said, to distribute the seven packages of blood-money. they found adam blansaert waiting for them in the downs, and immediately divided the whole amount between themselves and him--the chimney-sweeper, tailor, and fustian worker, "firm as trees and fierce as lions," having never had any existence save in their fertile imaginations. on monday, th february, van dyk had a closing interview with stoutenburg and his brother at the house of groeneveld, and informed them that the execution of the plot had been deferred to the following day. stoutenburg expressed disgust and impatience at the delay. "i should like to tear the stadholder to pieces with my own hands!" he cried. he was pacified on hearing that the arrangements had been securely made for the morrow, and turning to his brother observed, "remember that you can never retract. you are in our power and all your estates at our mercy." he then explained the manner in which the magistracies of leyden, gouda, rotterdam, and other cities were to be instantly remodelled after the death of maurice, the ex-regents of the hague at the head of a band of armed peasants being ready at a moment's warning to take possession of the political capital. prince frederic henry moreover, he hinted darkly and falsely, but in a manner not to be mistaken, was favourable to the movement, and would after the murder of maurice take the government into his hands. stoutenburg then went quietly home to pass the day and sleep at his mother's house awaiting the eventful morning of tuesday. van dyk went back to his room at the "golden helmet" and began inspecting the contents of the arms and ammunition chest which jerome ewouts and his three mates had brought the night before from rotterdam. he had been somewhat unquiet at having seen nothing of those mariners during the day; when looking out of window, he saw one of them in conference with some soldiers. a minute afterwards he heard a bustle in the rooms below, and found that the house was occupied by a guard, and that gerritsen, with the three first engaged sailors dirk, peter, and herman, had been arrested at the zotje. he tried in vain to throw the arms back into the chest and conceal it under the bed, but it was too late. seizing his hat and wrapping himself in his cloak, with his sword by his side, he walked calmly down the stairs looking carelessly at the group of soldiers and prisoners who filled the passages. a waiter informed the provost-marshal in command that the gentleman was a respectable boarder at the tavern, well known to him for many years. the conspirator passed unchallenged and went straight to inform stoutenburg. the four mariners, last engaged by slatius at rotterdam, had signally exemplified the danger of half confidences. surprised that they should have been so mysteriously entrusted with the execution of an enterprise the particulars of which were concealed from them, and suspecting that crime alone could command such very high prices as had been paid and promised by the ex-clergyman, they had gone straight to the residence of the stadholder, after depositing the chest at the "golden helmet." finding that he had driven as usual to ryswyk, they followed him thither, and by dint of much importunity obtained an audience. if the enterprise was a patriotic one, they reasoned, he would probably know of it and approve it. if it were criminal, it would be useful for them to reveal and dangerous to conceal it. they told the story so far as they knew it to the prince and showed him the money, florins apiece, which they had already received from slatius. maurice hesitated not an instant. it was evident that a dark conspiracy was afoot. he ordered the sailors to return to the hague by another and circuitous road through voorburg, while he lost not a moment himself in hurrying back as fast as his horses would carry him. summoning the president and several councillors of the chief tribunal, he took instant measures to take possession of the two taverns, and arrest all the strangers found in them. meantime van dyk came into the house of the widow barneveld and found stoutenburg in the stable-yard. he told him the plot was discovered, the chest of arms at the "golden helmet" found. "are there any private letters or papers in the bog?" asked stoutenburg. "none relating to the affair," was the answer. "take yourself off as fast as possible," said stoutenburg. van dyk needed no urging. he escaped through the stables and across the fields in the direction of leyden. after skulking about for a week however and making very little progress, he was arrested at hazerswoude, having broken through the ice while attempting to skate across the inundated and frozen pastures in that region. proclamations were at once made, denouncing the foul conspiracy in which the sons of the late advocate barneveld, the remonstrant clergyman slatius, and others, were the ringleaders, and offering florins each for their apprehension. a public thanksgiving for the deliverance was made in all the churches on the th february. on the th february the states-general sent letters to all their ambassadors and foreign agents, informing them of this execrable plot to overthrow the commonwealth and take the life of the stadholder, set on foot by certain arminian preachers and others of that faction, and this too in winter, when the ice and snow made hostile invasion practicable, and when the enemy was encamped in so many places in the neighbourhood. "the arminians," said the despatch, "are so filled with bitterness that they would rather the republic should be lost than that their pretended grievances should go unredressed." almost every pulpit shook with contra-remonstrant thunder against the whole society of remonstrants, who were held up to the world as rebels and prince-murderers; the criminal conspiracy being charged upon them as a body. hardly a man of that persuasion dared venture into the streets and public places, for fear of being put to death by the rabble. the chevalier william of nassau, natural son of the stadholder, was very loud and violent in all the taverns and tap-rooms, drinking mighty draughts to the damnation of the arminians. many of the timid in consequence shrank away from the society and joined the contra-remonstrant church, while the more courageous members, together with the leaders of that now abhorred communion, published long and stirring appeals to the universal sense of justice, which was outraged by the spectacle of a whole sect being punished for a crime committed by a few individuals, who had once been unworthy members of it. meantime hue and cry was made after the fugitive conspirators. the blansaerts and william party having set off from leyden towards the hague on monday night, in order, as they said, to betray their employers, whose money they had taken, and whose criminal orders they had agreed to execute, attempted to escape, but were arrested within ten days. they were exhibited at their prison at amsterdam to an immense concourse at a shilling a peep, the sums thus collected being distributed to the poor. slatius made his way disguised as a boor into friesland, and after various adventures attempted to cross the bourtange moors to lingen. stopping to refresh himself at a tavern near koevorden, he found himself in the tap-room in presence of quartermaster blau and a company of soldiers from the garrison. the dark scowling boor, travel-stained and weary, with felt hat slouched over his forbidding visage, fierce and timorous at once like a hunted wild beast, excited their suspicion. seeing himself watched, he got up, paid his scot, and departed, leaving his can of beer untasted. this decided the quartermaster, who accordingly followed the peasant out of the house, and arrested him as a spanish spy on the watch for the train of specie which the soldiers were then conveying into koevorden castle. slatius protested his innocence of any such design, and vehemently besought the officer to release him, telling him as a reason for his urgency and an explanation of his unprepossessing aspect--that he was an oculist from amsterdam, john hermansen by name, that he had just committed a homicide in that place, and was fleeing from justice. the honest quartermaster saw no reason why a suspected spy should go free because he proclaimed himself a murderer, nor why an oculist should escape the penalties of homicide. "the more reason," he said, "why thou shouldst be my prisoner." the ex-preacher was arrested and shut up in the state prison at the hague. the famous engraver visser executed a likeness on copper-plate of the grim malefactor as he appeared in his boor's disguise. the portrait, accompanied by a fiercely written broadsheet attacking the remonstrant church, had a great circulation, and deepened the animosity against the sect upon which the unfrocked preacher had sworn vengeance. his evil face and fame thus became familiar to the public, while the term hendrik slaet became a proverb at pot-houses, being held equivalent among tipplers to shirking the bottle. korenwinder, the treasurer of the association, coming to visit stoutenburg soon after van dyk had left him, was informed of the discovery of the plot and did his best to escape, but was arrested within a fortnight's time. stoutenburg himself acted with his usual promptness and coolness. having gone straightway to his brother to notify him of the discovery and to urge him to instant flight, he contrived to disappear. a few days later a chest of merchandise was brought to the house of a certain citizen of rotterdam, who had once been a fiddler, but was now a man of considerable property. the chest, when opened, was found to contain the seigneur de stoutenburg, who in past times had laid the fiddler under obligations, and in whose house he now lay concealed for many days, and until the strictness with which all roads and ferries in the neighbourhood were watched at first had somewhat given way. meantime his cousin van der dussen had also effected his escape, and had joined him in rotterdam. the faithful fiddler then, for a thousand florins, chartered a trading vessel commanded by one jacob beltje to take a cargo of dutch cheese to wesel on the rhine. by this means, after a few adventures, they effected their escape, and, arriving not long afterwards at brussels, were formally taken under the protection of the archduchess isabella. stoutenburg afterwards travelled in france and italy, and returned to brussels. his wife, loathing his crime and spurning all further communication with him, abandoned him to his fate. the daughter of marnix of sainte-aldegonde had endured poverty, obscurity, and unmerited obloquy, which had become the lot of the great statesman's family after his tragic end, but she came of a race that would not brook dishonour. the conspirator and suborner of murder and treason, the hirer and companion of assassins, was no mate for her. stoutenburg hesitated for years as to his future career, strangely enough keeping up a hope of being allowed to return to his country. subsequently he embraced the cause of his country's enemies, converted himself to the roman church, and obtained a captaincy of horse in the spanish service. he was seen one day, to the disgust of many spectators, to enter antwerp in black foreign uniform, at the head of his troopers, waving a standard with a death's-head embroidered upon it, and wearing, like his soldiers, a sable scarf and plume. history disdains to follow further the career of the renegade, traitor, end assassin. when the seigneur de groeneveld learned from his younger brother, on the eventful th of february, that the plot had been discovered, he gave himself up for lost. remorse and despair, fastening upon his naturally feeble character, seemed to render him powerless. his wife, of more hopeful disposition than himself and of less heroic mould than walburg de marnix, encouraged him to fly. he fled accordingly, through the desolate sandy downs which roll between the hague and the sea, to scheveningen, then an obscure fishing village on the coast, at a league's distance from the capital. here a fisherman, devoted to him and his family, received him in his hut, disguised him in boatman's attire, and went with him to the strand, proposing to launch his pinkie, put out at once to sea, and to land him on the english coast, the french coast, in hamburg--where he would. the sight of that long, sandy beach stretching for more than seventy miles in an unbroken, melancholy line, without cove, curve, or indentation to break its cruel monotony, and with the wild waves of the german ocean, lashed by a wintry storm, breaking into white foam as far as the eye could reach, appalled the fugitive criminal. with the certainty of an ignominious death behind him, he shrank abjectly from the terrors of the sea, and, despite the honest fisherman's entreaties, refused to enter the boat and face the storm. he wandered feebly along the coast, still accompanied by his humble friend, to another little village, where the fisherman procured a waggon, which took them as far as sandvoort. thence he made his way through egmond and petten and across the marsdiep to tegel, where not deeming himself safe he had himself ferried over to the neighbouring island of vlieland. here amongst the quicksands, whirlpools, and shallows which mark the last verge of habitable holland, the unhappy fugitive stood at bay. meantime information had come to the authorities that a suspicious stranger had been seen at scheveningen. the fisherman's wife was arrested. threatened with torture she at last confessed with whom her husband had fled and whither. information was sent to the bailiff of vlieland, who with a party of followers made a strict search through his narrow precincts. a group of seamen seated on the sands was soon discovered, among whom, dressed in shaggy pea jacket with long fisherman's boots, was the seigneur de groeneveld, who, easily recognized through his disguise, submitted to his captors without a struggle. the scheveningen fisherman, who had been so faithful to him, making a sudden spring, eluded his pursuers and disappeared; thus escaping the gibbet which would probably have been his doom instead of the reward of golden guilders which he might have had for betraying him. thus a sum more than double the amount originally furnished by groeneveld, as the capital of the assassination company, had been rejected by the rotterdam boatman who saved stoutenburg, and by the scheveningen fisherman who was ready to save groeneveld. on the th february, within less than a fortnight from the explosion of the conspiracy, the eldest son of barneveld was lodged in the gevangen poort or state prison of the hague. the awful news of the th february had struck the widow of barneveld as with a thunderbolt. both her sons were proclaimed as murderers and suborners of assassins, and a price put upon their heads. she remained for days neither speaking nor weeping; scarcely eating, drinking, or sleeping. she seemed frozen to stone. her daughters and friends could not tell whether she were dying or had lost her reason. at length the escape of stoutenburg and the capture of groeneveld seemed to rouse her from her trance. she then stooped to do what she had sternly refused to do when her husband was in the hands of the authorities. accompanied by the wife and infant son of groeneveld she obtained an audience of the stern stadholder, fell on her knees before him, and implored mercy and pardon for her son. maurice received her calmly and not discourteously, but held out no hopes of pardon. the criminal was in the hands of justice, he said, and he had no power to interfere. but there can scarcely be a doubt that he had power after the sentence to forgive or to commute, and it will be remembered that when barneveld himself was about to suffer, the prince had asked the clergyman walaeus with much anxiety whether the prisoner in his message had said nothing of pardon. referring to the bitter past, maurice asked madame de barneveld why she not asked mercy for her son, having refused to do so for her husband. her answer was simple and noble: "my husband was innocent of crime," she said; "my son is guilty." the idea of pardon in this case was of course preposterous. certainly if groeneveld had been forgiven, it would have been impossible to punish the thirteen less guilty conspirators, already in the hands of justice, whom he had hired to commit the assassination. the spectacle of the two cowardly ringleaders going free while the meaner criminals were gibbeted would have been a shock to the most rudimentary ideas of justice. it would have been an equal outrage to pardon the younger barnevelds for intended murder, in which they had almost succeeded, when their great father had already suffered for a constructive lese-majesty, the guilt of which had been stoutly denied. yet such is the dreary chain of cause and effect that it is certain, had pardon been nobly offered to the statesman, whose views of constitutional law varied from those of the dominant party, the later crime would never have been committed. but francis aerssens--considering his own and other partisans lives at stake if the states' right party did not fall--had been able to bear down all thoughts of mercy. he was successful, was called to the house of nobles, and regained the embassy of paris, while the house of barneveld was trodden into the dust of dishonour and ruin. rarely has an offended politician's revenge been more thorough than his. never did the mocking fiend betray his victims into the hands of the avenger more sardonically than was done in this sombre tragedy. the trials of the prisoners were rapidly conducted. van dyk, cruelly tortured, confessed on the rack all the details of the conspiracy as they were afterwards embodied in the sentences and have been stated in the preceding narrative. groeneveld was not tortured. his answers to the interrogatories were so vague as to excite amazement at his general ignorance of the foul transaction or at the feebleness of his memory, while there was no attempt on his part to exculpate himself from the damning charge. that it was he who had furnished funds for the proposed murder and mutiny, knowing the purpose to which they were to be applied, was proved beyond all cavil and fully avowed by him. on the th may, he, korenwinder, and van dyk were notified that they were to appear next day in the courthouse to hear their sentence, which would immediately afterwards be executed. that night his mother, wife, and son paid him a long visit of farewell in his prison. the gevangen poort of the hague, an antique but mean building of brown brick and commonplace aspect, still stands in one of the most public parts of the city. a gloomy archway, surmounted by windows grimly guarded by iron lattice-work, forms the general thoroughfare from the aristocratic plaats and kneuterdyk and vyverberg to the inner court of the ancient palace. the cells within are dark, noisome, and dimly lighted, and even to this day the very instruments of torture, used in the trials of these and other prisoners, may be seen by the curious. half a century later the brothers de witt were dragged from this prison to be literally torn to pieces by an infuriated mob. the misery of that midnight interview between the widow of barneveld, her daughter-in-law, and the condemned son and husband need not be described. as the morning approached, the gaoler warned the matrons to take their departure that the prisoner might sleep. "what a woful widow you will be," said groeneveld to his wife, as she sank choking with tears upon the ground. the words suddenly aroused in her the sense of respect for their name. "at least for all this misery endured," she said firmly, "do me enough honour to die like a gentleman." he promised it. the mother then took leave of the son, and history drops a decorous veil henceforth over the grief-stricken form of mary of barneveld. next morning the life-guards of the stadholder and other troops were drawn up in battle-array in the outer and inner courtyard of the supreme tribunal and palace. at ten o'clock groeneveld came forth from the prison. the stadholder had granted as a boon to the family that he might be neither fettered nor guarded as he walked to the tribunal. the prisoner did not forget his parting promise to his wife. he appeared full-dressed in velvet cloak and plumed hat, with rapier by his side, walking calmly through the inner courtyard to the great hall. observing the windows of the stadholder's apartments crowded with spectators, among whom he seemed to recognize the prince's face, he took off his hat and made a graceful and dignified salute. he greeted with courtesy many acquaintances among the crowd through which he passed. he entered the hall and listened in silence to the sentence condemning him to be immediately executed with the sword. van dyk and korenwinder shared the same doom, but were provisionally taken back to prison. groeneveld then walked calmly and gracefully as before from the hall to the scaffold, attended by his own valet, and preceded by the provost- marshal and assistants. he was to suffer, not where his father had been beheaded, but on the "green sod." this public place of execution for ordinary criminals was singularly enough in the most elegant and frequented quarter of the hague. a few rods from the gevangen poort, at the western end of the vyverberg, on the edge of the cheerful triangle called the plaats, and looking directly down the broad and stately kneuterdyk, at the end of which stood aremberg house, lately the residence of the great advocate, was the mean and sordid scaffold. groeneveld ascended it with perfect composure. the man who had been browbeaten into crime by an overbearing and ferocious brother, who had quailed before the angry waves of the north sea, which would have borne him to a place of entire security, now faced his fate with a smile upon his lips. he took off his hat, cloak, and sword, and handed them to his valet. he calmly undid his ruff and wristbands of pointlace, and tossed them on the ground. with his own hands and the assistance of his servant he unbuttoned his doublet, laying breast and neck open without suffering the headsman's hands to approach him. he then walked to the heap of sand and spoke a very few words to the vast throng of spectators. "desire of vengeance and evil counsel," he said, "have brought me here. if i have wronged any man among you, i beg him for christ's sake to forgive me." kneeling on the sand with his face turned towards his father's house at the end of the kneuterdyk, he said his prayers. then putting a red velvet cap over his eyes, he was heard to mutter: "o god! what a man i was once, and what am i now?" calmly folding his hands, he said, "patience." the executioner then struck off his head at a blow. his body, wrapped in a black cloak, was sent to his house and buried in his father's tomb. van dyk and korenwinder were executed immediately afterwards. they were quartered and their heads exposed on stakes. the joiner gerritsen and the three sailors had already been beheaded. the blansaerts and william party, together with the grim slatius, who was savage and turbulent to the last, had suffered on the th of may. fourteen in all were executed for this crime, including an unfortunate tailor and two other mechanics of leyden, who had heard something whispered about the conspiracy, had nothing whatever to do with it, but from ignorance, apathy, or timidity did not denounce it. the ringleader and the equally guilty van der dussen had, as has been seen, effected their escape. thus ended the long tragedy of the barnevelds. the result of this foul conspiracy and its failure to effect the crime proposed strengthened immensely the power, popularity, and influence of the stadholder, made the orthodox church triumphant, and nearly ruined the sect of the remonstrants, the arminians--most unjustly in reality, although with a pitiful show of reason--being held guilty of the crime of stoutenburg and slatius. the republic--that magnificent commonwealth which in its infancy had confronted, single-handed, the greatest empire of the earth, and had wrested its independence from the ancient despot after a forty years' struggle--had now been rent in twain, although in very unequal portions, by the fiend of political and religious hatred. thus crippled, she was to go forth and take her share in that awful conflict now in full blaze, and of which after-ages were to speak with a shudder as the thirty years' war. etext editor's bookmarks: argument in a circle he that stands let him see that he does not fall if he has deserved it, let them strike off his head misery had come not from their being enemies o god! what does man come to! party hatred was not yet glutted with the blood it had drunk rose superior to his doom and took captivity captive this, then, is the reward of forty years' service to the state to milk, the cow as long as she would give milk this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, volume life of john of barneveld, - chapter ix. aerssens remains two years longer in france--derives many personal advantages from his post--he visits the states-general--aubery du maurier appointed french ambassador--he demands the recall of aerssens--peace of sainte-menehould--asperen de langerac appointed in aerssens' place. francis aerssens had remained longer at his post than had been intended by the resolution of the states of holland, passed in may . it is an exemplification of the very loose constitutional framework of the united provinces that the nomination of the ambassador to france belonged to the states of holland, by whom his salary was paid, although, of course, he was the servant of the states-general, to whom his public and official correspondence was addressed. his most important despatches were however written directly to barneveld so long as he remained in power, who had also the charge of the whole correspondence, public or private, with all the envoys of the states. aerssens had, it will be remembered, been authorized to stay one year longer in france if he thought he could be useful there. he stayed two years, and on the whole was not useful. he had too many eyes and too many ears. he had become mischievous by the very activity of his intelligence. he was too zealous. there were occasions in france at that moment in which it was as well to be blind and deaf. it was impossible for the republic, unless driven to it by dire necessity, to quarrel with its great ally. it had been calculated by duplessis-mornay that france had paid subsidies to the provinces amounting from first to last to millions of livres. this was an enormous exaggeration. it was barneveld's estimate that before the truce the states had received from france eleven millions of florins in cash, and during the truce up to the year , , , in addition, besides a million still due, making a total of about fifteen millions. during the truce france kept two regiments of foot amounting to soldiers and two companies of cavalry in holland at the service of the states, for which she was bound to pay yearly , livres. and the queen-regent had continued all the treaties by which these arrangements were secured, and professed sincere and continuous friendship for the states. while the french-spanish marriages gave cause for suspicion, uneasiness, and constant watchfulness in the states, still the neutrality of france was possible in the coming storm. so long as that existed, particularly when the relations of england with holland through the unfortunate character of king james were perpetually strained to a point of imminent rupture, it was necessary to hold as long as it vas possible to the slippery embrace of france. but aerssens was almost aggressive in his attitude. he rebuked the vacillations, the shortcomings, the imbecility, of the queen's government in offensive terms. he consorted openly with the princes who were on the point of making war upon the queen-regent. he made a boast to the secretary of state villeroy that he had unravelled all his secret plots against the netherlands. he declared it to be understood in france, since the king's death, by the dominant and jesuitical party that the crown depended temporally as well as spiritually on the good pleasure of the pope. no doubt he was perfectly right in many of his opinions. no ruler or statesman in france worthy of the name would hesitate, in the impending religious conflict throughout europe and especially in germany, to maintain for the kingdom that all controlling position which was its splendid privilege. but to preach this to mary de' medici was waste of breath. she was governed by the concini's, and the concini's were governed by spain. the woman who was believed to have known beforehand of the plot to murder her great husband, who had driven the one powerful statesman on whom the king relied, maximilian de bethune, into retirement, and whose foreign affairs were now completely in the hands of the ancient leaguer villeroy--who had served every government in the kingdom for forty years--was not likely to be accessible to high views of public policy. two years had now elapsed since the first private complaints against the ambassador, and the french government were becoming impatient at his presence. aerssens had been supported by prince maurice, to whom he had long paid his court. he was likewise loyally protected by barneveld, whom he publicly flattered and secretly maligned. but it was now necessary that he should be gone if peaceful relations with france were to be preserved. after all, the ambassador had not made a bad business of his embassy from his own point of view. a stranger in the republic, for his father the greffier was a refugee from brabant, he had achieved through his own industry and remarkable talents, sustained by the favour of barneveld-- to whom he owed all his diplomatic appointments--an eminent position in europe. secretary to the legation to france in , he had been successively advanced to the post of resident agent, and when the republic had been acknowledged by the great powers, to that of ambassador. the highest possible functions that representatives of emperors and kings could enjoy had been formally recognized in the person of the minister of a new-born republic. and this was at a moment when, with exception of the brave but insignificant cantons of switzerland, the republic had long been an obsolete idea. in a pecuniary point of view, too, he had not fared badly during his twenty years of diplomatic office. he had made much money in various ways. the king not long before his death sent him one day , florins as a present, with a promise soon to do much more for him. having been placed in so eminent a post, he considered it as due to himself to derive all possible advantage from it. "those who serve at the altar," he said a little while after his return, "must learn to live by it. i served their high mightinesses at the court of a great king, and his majesty's liberal and gracious favours were showered upon me. my upright conscience and steady obsequiousness greatly aided me. i did not look upon opportunity with folded arms, but seized it and made my profit by it. had i not met with such fortunate accidents, my office would not have given me dry bread." nothing could exceed the frankness and indeed the cynicism with which the ambassador avowed his practice of converting his high and sacred office into merchandise. and these statements of his should be scanned closely, because at this very moment a cry was distantly rising, which at a later day was to swell into a roar, that the great advocate had been bribed and pensioned. nothing had occurred to justify such charges, save that at the period of the truce he had accepted from the king of france a fee of , florins for extra official and legal services rendered him a dozen years before, and had permitted his younger son to hold the office of gentleman-in-waiting at the french court with the usual salary attached to it. the post, certainly not dishonourable in itself, had been intended by the king as a kindly compliment to the leading statesman of his great and good ally the republic. it would be difficult to say why such a favour conferred on the young man should be held more discreditable to the receiver than the order of the garter recently bestowed upon the great soldier of the republic by another friendly sovereign. it is instructive however to note the language in which francis aerssens spoke of favours and money bestowed by a foreign monarch upon himself, for aerssens had come back from his embassy full of gall and bitterness against barneveld. thenceforth he was to be his evil demon. "i didn't inherit property," said this diplomatist. "my father and mother, thank god, are yet living. i have enjoyed the king's liberality. it was from an ally, not an enemy, of our country. were every man obliged to give a reckoning of everything he possesses over and above his hereditary estates, who in the government would pass muster? those who declare that they have served their country in her greatest trouble, and lived in splendid houses and in service of princes and great companies and the like on a yearly salary of florins, may not approve these maxims." it should be remembered that barneveld, if this was a fling at the advocate, had acquired a large fortune by marriage, and, although certainly not averse from gathering gear, had, as will be seen on a subsequent page, easily explained the manner in which his property had increased. no proof was ever offered or attempted of the anonymous calumnies levelled at him in this regard. "i never had the management of finances," continued aerssens. "my profits i have gained in foreign parts. my condition of life is without excess, and in my opinion every means are good so long as they are honourable and legal. they say my post was given me by the advocate. ergo, all my fortune comes from the advocate. strenuously to have striven to make myself agreeable to the king and his counsellors, while fulfilling my office with fidelity and honour, these are the arts by which i have prospered, so that my splendour dazzles the eyes of the envious. the greediness of those who believe that the sun should shine for them alone was excited, and so i was obliged to resign the embassy." so long as henry lived, the dutch ambassador saw him daily, and at all hours, privately, publicly, when he would. rarely has a foreign envoy at any court, at any period of history, enjoyed such privileges of being useful to his government. and there is no doubt that the services of aerssens had been most valuable to his country, notwithstanding his constant care to increase his private fortune through his public opportunities. he was always ready to be useful to henry likewise. when that monarch same time before the truce, and occasionally during the preliminary negotiations for it, had formed a design to make himself sovereign of the provinces, it was aerssens who charged himself with the scheme, and would have furthered it with all his might, had the project not met with opposition both from the advocate and the stadholder. subsequently it appeared probable that maurice would not object to the sovereignty himself, and the ambassador in paris, with the king's consent, was not likely to prove himself hostile to the prince's ambition. "there is but this means alone," wrote jeannini to villeroy, "that can content him, although hitherto he has done like the rowers, who never look toward the place whither they wish to go." the attempt of the prince to sound barneveld on this subject through the princess-dowager has already been mentioned, and has much intrinsic probability. thenceforward, the republican form of government, the municipal oligarchies, began to consolidate their power. yet although the people as such were not sovereigns, but subjects, and rarely spoken of by the aristocratic magistrates save with a gentle and patronizing disdain, they enjoyed a larger liberty than was known anywhere else in the world. buzenval was astonished at the "infinite and almost unbridled freedom" which he witnessed there during his embassy, and which seemed to him however "without peril to the state." the extraordinary means possessed by aerssens to be important and useful vanished with the king's death. his secret despatches, painting in sombre and sarcastic colours the actual condition of affairs at the french court, were sent back in copy to the french court itself. it was not known who had played the ambassador this vilest of tricks, but it was done during an illness of barneveld, and without his knowledge. early in the year aerssens resolved, not to take his final departure, but to go home on leave of absence. his private intention was to look for some substantial office of honour and profit at home. failing of this, he meant to return to paris. but with an eye to the main chance as usual, he ingeniously caused it to be understood at court, without making positive statements to that effect, that his departure was final. on his leavetaking, accordingly, he received larger presents from the crown than had been often given to a retiring ambassador. at least , florins were thus added to the frugal store of profits on which he prided himself. had he merely gone away on leave of absence, he would have received no presents whatever. but he never went back. the queen-regent and her ministers were so glad to get rid of him, and so little disposed, in the straits in which they found themselves, to quarrel with the powerful republic, as to be willing to write very complimentary public letters to the states, concerning the character and conduct of the man whom they so much detested. pluming himself upon these, aerssens made his appearance in the assembly of the states-general, to give account by word of mouth of the condition of affairs, speaking as if he had only come by permission of their mightinesses for temporary purposes. two months later he was summoned before the assembly, and ordered to return to his post. meantime a new french ambassador had arrived at the hague, in the spring of . aubery du maurier, a son of an obscure country squire, a protestant, of moderate opinions, of a sincere but rather obsequious character, painstaking, diligent, and honest, had been at an earlier day in the service of the turbulent and intriguing due de bouillon. he had also been employed by sully as an agent in financial affairs between holland and france, and had long been known to villeroy. he was living on his estate, in great retirement from all public business, when secretary villeroy suddenly proposed him the embassy to the hague. there was no more important diplomatic post at that time in europe. other countries were virtually at peace, but in holland, notwithstanding the truce, there vas really not much more than an armistice, and great armies lay in the netherlands, as after a battle, sleeping face to face with arms in their hands. the politics of christendom were at issue in the open, elegant, and picturesque village which was the social capital of the united provinces. the gentry from spain, italy, the south of europe, catholic germany, had clustered about spinola at brussels, to learn the art of war in his constant campaigning against maurice. english and scotch officers, frenchmen, bohemians, austrians, youths from the palatinate and all protestant countries in germany, swarmed to the banners of the prince who had taught the world how alexander farnese could be baffled, and the great spinola outmanoeuvred. especially there was a great number of frenchmen of figure and quality who thronged to the hague, besides the officers of the two french regiments which formed a regular portion of the states' army. that army was the best appointed and most conspicuous standing force in europe. besides the french contingent there were always nearly , infantry and cavalry on a war footing, splendidly disciplined, experienced, and admirably armed. the navy, consisting of thirty war ships, perfectly equipped and manned, was a match for the combined marine forces of all europe, and almost as numerous. when the ambassador went to solemn audience of the states-general, he was attended by a brilliant group of gentlemen and officers, often to the number of three hundred, who volunteered to march after him on foot to honour their sovereign in the person of his ambassador; the envoy's carriage following empty behind. such were the splendid diplomatic processions often received by the stately advocate in his plain civic garb, when grave international questions were to be publicly discussed. there was much murmuring in france when the appointment of a personage comparatively so humble to a position so important was known. it was considered as a blow aimed directly at the malcontent princes of the blood, who were at that moment plotting their first levy of arms against the queen. du maurier had been ill-treated by the due de bouillon, who naturally therefore now denounced the man whom he had injured to the government to which he was accredited. being the agent of mary de' medici, he was, of course, described as a tool of the court and a secret pensioner of spain. he was to plot with the arch traitor barneveld as to the best means for distracting the provinces and bringing them back into spanish subjection. du maurier, being especially but secretly charged to prevent the return of francis aerssens to paris, incurred of course the enmity of that personage and of the french grandees who ostentatiously protected him. it was even pretended by jeannin that the appointment of a man so slightly known to the world, so inexperienced in diplomacy, and of a parentage so little distinguished, would be considered an affront by the states-general. but on the whole, villeroy had made an excellent choice. no safer man could perhaps have been found in france for a post of such eminence, in circumstances so delicate, and at a crisis so grave. the man who had been able to make himself agreeable and useful, while preserving his integrity, to characters so dissimilar as the refining, self-torturing, intellectual duplessis-mornay, the rude, aggressive, and straightforward sully, the deep-revolving, restlessly plotting bouillon, and the smooth, silent, and tortuous villeroy--men between whom there was no friendship, but, on the contrary, constant rancour--had material in him to render valuable services at this particular epoch. everything depended on patience, tact, watchfulness in threading the distracting, almost inextricable, maze which had been created by personal rivalries, ambitions, and jealousies in the state he represented and the one to which he was accredited. "i ascribe it all to god," he said, in his testament to his children, "the impenetrable workman who in his goodness has enabled me to make myself all my life obsequious, respectful, and serviceable to all, avoiding as much as possible, in contenting some, not to discontent others." he recommended his children accordingly to endeavour "to succeed in life by making themselves as humble, intelligent, and capable as possible." this is certainly not a very high type of character, but a safer one for business than that of the arch intriguer francis aerssens. and he had arrived at the hague under trying circumstances. unknown to the foreign world he was now entering, save through the disparaging rumours concerning him, sent thither in advance by the powerful personages arrayed against his government, he might have sunk under such a storm at the outset, but for the incomparable kindness and friendly aid of the princess-dowager, louise de coligny. "i had need of her protection and recommendation as much as of life," said du maurier; "and she gave them in such excess as to annihilate an infinity of calumnies which envy had excited against me on every side." he had also a most difficult and delicate matter to arrange at the very moment of his arrival. for aerssens had done his best not only to produce a dangerous division in the politics of the republic, but to force a rupture between the french government and the states. he had carried matters before the assembly with so high a hand as to make it seem impossible to get rid of him without public scandal. he made a parade of the official letters from the queen-regent and her ministers, in which he was spoken of in terms of conventional compliment. he did not know, and barneveld wished, if possible, to spare him the annoyance of knowing, that both queen and ministers, so soon as informed that there was a chance of coming back to them, had written letters breathing great repugnance to him and intimating that he would not be received. other high personages of state had written to express their resentment at his duplicity, perpetual mischief-making, and machinations against the peace of the kingdom, and stating the impossibility of his resuming the embassy at paris. and at last the queen wrote to the states-general to say that, having heard their intention to send him back to a post "from which he had taken leave formally and officially," she wished to prevent such a step. "we should see m. aerssens less willingly than comports with our friendship for you and good neighbourhood. any other you could send would be most welcome, as m. du maurier will explain to you more amply." and to du maurier himself she wrote distinctly, "rather than suffer the return of the said aerssens, you will declare that for causes which regard the good of our affairs and our particular satisfaction we cannot and will not receive him in the functions which he has exercised here, and we rely too implicitly upon the good friendship of my lords the states to do anything in this that would so much displease us." and on the same day villeroy privately wrote to the ambassador, "if, in spite of all this, aerssens should endeavour to return, he will not be received, after the knowledge we have of his factious spirit, most dangerous in a public personage in a state such as ours and in the minority of the king." meantime aerssens had been going about flaunting letters in everybody's face from the duc de bouillon insisting on the necessity of his return! the fact in itself would have been sufficient to warrant his removal, for the duke was just taking up arms against his sovereign. unless the states meant to interfere officially and directly in the civil war about to break out in france, they could hardly send a minister to the government on recommendation of the leader of the rebellion. it had, however, become impossible to remove him without an explosion. barneveld, who, said du maurier, "knew the man to his finger nails," had been reluctant to "break the ice," and wished for official notice in the matter from the queen. maurice protected the troublesome diplomatist. "'tis incredible," said the french ambassador "how covertly prince maurice is carrying himself, contrary to his wont, in this whole affair. i don't know whether it is from simple jealousy to barneveld, or if there is some mystery concealed below the surface." du maurier had accordingly been obliged to ask his government for distinct and official instructions. "he holds to his place," said he, "by so slight and fragile a root as not to require two hands to pluck him up, the little finger being enough. there is no doubt that he has been in concert with those who are making use of him to re-establish their credit with the states, and to embark prince maurice contrary to his preceding custom in a cabal with them." thus a question of removing an obnoxious diplomatist could hardly be graver, for it was believed that he was doing his best to involve the military chief of his own state in a game of treason and rebellion against the government to which he was accredited. it was not the first nor likely to be the last of bouillon's deadly intrigues. but the man who had been privy to biron's conspiracy against the crown and life of his sovereign was hardly a safe ally for his brother-in-law, the straightforward stadholder. the instructions desired by du maurier and by barneveld had, as we have seen, at last arrived. the french ambassador thus fortified appeared before the assembly of the states-general and officially demanded the recall of aerssens. in a letter addressed privately and confidentially to their mightinesses, he said, "if in spite of us you throw him at our feet, we shall fling him back at your head." at last maurice yielded to, the representations of the french envoy, and aerssens felt obliged to resign his claims to the post. the states- general passed a resolution that it would be proper to employ him in some other capacity in order to show that his services had been agreeable to them, he having now declared that he could no longer be useful in france. maurice, seeing that it was impossible to save him, admitted to du maurier his unsteadiness and duplicity, and said that, if possessed of the confidence of a great king, he would be capable of destroying the state in less than a year. but this had not always been the prince's opinion, nor was it likely to remain unchanged. as for villeroy, he denied flatly that the cause of his displeasure had been that aerssens had penetrated into his most secret affairs. he protested, on the contrary, that his annoyance with him had partly proceeded from the slight acquaintance he had acquired of his policy, and that, while boasting to be better informed than any one, he was in the habit of inventing and imagining things in order to get credit for himself. it was highly essential that the secret of this affair should be made clear; for its influence on subsequent events was to be deep and wide. for the moment aerssens remained without employment, and there was no open rupture with barneveld. the only difference of opinion between the advocate and himself, he said, was whether he had or had not definitely resigned his post on leaving paris. meantime it was necessary to fix upon a successor for this most important post. the war soon after the new year had broken out in france. conde, bouillon, and the other malcontent princes with their followers had taken possession of the fortress of mezieres, and issued a letter in the name of conde to the queen-regent demanding an assembly of the states-general of the kingdom and rupture of the spanish marriages. both parties, that of the government and that of the rebellion, sought the sympathy and active succour of the states. maurice, acting now in perfect accord with the advocate, sustained the queen and execrated the rebellion of his relatives with perfect frankness. conde, he said, had got his head stuffed full of almanacs whose predictions he wished to see realized. he vowed he would have shortened by a head the commander of the garrison who betrayed mezieres, if he had been under his control. he forbade on pain of death the departure of any officer or private of the french regiments from serving the rebels, and placed the whole french force at the disposal of the queen, with as many netherland regiments as could be spared. one soldier was hanged and three others branded with the mark of a gibbet on the face for attempting desertion. the legal government was loyally sustained by the authority of the states, notwithstanding all the intrigues of aerssens with the agents of the princes to procure them assistance. the mutiny for the time was brief, and was settled on the th of may , by the peace of sainte-menehould, as much a caricature of a treaty as the rising had been the parody of a war. van der myle, son-in-law of barneveld, who had been charged with a special and temporary mission to france, brought back the terms, of the convention to the states-general. on the other hand, conde and his confederates sent a special agent to the netherlands to give their account of the war and the negotiation, who refused to confer either with du maurier or barneveld, but who held much conference with aerssens. it was obvious enough that the mutiny of the princes would become chronic. in truth, what other condition was possible with two characters like mary de' medici and the prince of conde respectively at the head of the government and the revolt? what had france to hope for but to remain the bloody playground for mischievous idiots, who threw about the firebrands and arrows of reckless civil war in pursuit of the paltriest of personal aims? van der myle had pretensions to the vacant place of aerssens. he had some experience in diplomacy. he had conducted skilfully enough the first mission of the states to venice, and had subsequently been employed in matters of moment. but he was son-in-law to barneveld, and although the advocate was certainly not free from the charge of nepotism, he shrank from the reproach of having apparently removed aerssens to make a place for one of his own family. van der myle remained to bear the brunt of the late ambassador's malice, and to engage at a little later period in hottest controversy with him, personal and political. "why should van der myle strut about, with his arms akimbo like a peacock?" complained aerssens one day in confused metaphor. a question not easy to answer satisfactorily. the minister selected was a certain baron asperen de langerac, wholly unversed in diplomacy or other public affairs, with abilities not above the average. a series of questions addressed by him to the advocate, the answers to which, scrawled on the margin of the paper, were to serve for his general instructions, showed an ingenuousness as amusing as the replies of barneveld were experienced and substantial. in general he was directed to be friendly and respectful to every one, to the queen-regent and her counsellors especially, and, within the limits of becoming reverence for her, to cultivate the good graces of the prince of conde and the other great nobles still malcontent and rebellious, but whose present movement, as barneveld foresaw, was drawing rapidly to a close. langerac arrived in paris on the th of april . du maurier thought the new ambassador likely to "fall a prey to the specious language and gentle attractions of the due de bouillon." he also described him as very dependent upon prince maurice. on the other hand langerac professed unbounded and almost childlike reverence for barneveld, was devoted to his person, and breathed as it were only through his inspiration. time would show whether those sentiments would outlast every possible storm. chapter x weakness of the rulers of france and england--the wisdom of barneveld inspires jealousy--sir dudley carleton succeeds winwood-- young neuburg under the guidance of maximilian--barneveld strives to have the treaty of xanten enforced--spain and the emperor wish to make the states abandon their position with regard to the duchies-- the french government refuses to aid the states--spain and the emperor resolve to hold wesel--the great religious war begun--the protestant union and catholic league both wish to secure the border provinces--troubles in turkey--spanish fleet seizes la roche--spain places large armies on a war footing. few things are stranger in history than the apathy with which the wide designs of the catholic party were at that moment regarded. the preparations for the immense struggle which posterity learned to call the thirty years' war, and to shudder when speaking of it, were going forward on every side. in truth the war had really begun, yet those most deeply menaced by it at the outset looked on with innocent calmness because their own roofs were not quite yet in a blaze. the passage of arms in the duchies, the outlines of which have just been indicated, and which was the natural sequel of the campaign carried out four years earlier on the same territory, had been ended by a mockery. in france, reduced almost to imbecility by the absence of a guiding brain during a long minority, fallen under the distaff of a dowager both weak and wicked, distracted by the intrigues and quarrels of a swarm of self-seeking grandees, and with all its offices, from highest to lowest, of court, state, jurisprudence, and magistracy, sold as openly and as cynically as the commonest wares, there were few to comprehend or to grapple with the danger. it should have seemed obvious to the meanest capacity in the kingdom that the great house of austria, reigning supreme in spain and in germany, could not be allowed to crush the duke of savoy on the one side, and bohemia, moravia, and the netherlands on the other without danger of subjection for france. yet the aim of the queen-regent was to cultivate an impossible alliance with her inevitable foe. and in england, ruled as it then was with no master mind to enforce against its sovereign the great lessons of policy, internal and external, on which its welfare and almost its imperial existence depended, the only ambition of those who could make their opinions felt was to pursue the same impossibility, intimate alliance with the universal foe. any man with slightest pretensions to statesmanship knew that the liberty for protestant worship in imperial germany, extorted by force, had been given reluctantly, and would be valid only as long as that force could still be exerted or should remain obviously in reserve. the "majesty-letter" and the "convention" of the two religions would prove as flimsy as the parchment on which they were engrossed, the protestant churches built under that sanction would be shattered like glass, if once the catholic rulers could feel their hands as clear as their consciences would be for violating their sworn faith to heretics. men knew, even if the easy-going and uxorious emperor, into which character the once busy and turbulent archduke matthias had subsided, might be willing to keep his pledges, that ferdinand of styria, who would soon succeed him, and maximilian of bavaria were men who knew their own minds, and had mentally never resigned one inch of the ground which protestantism imagined itself to have conquered. these things seem plain as daylight to all who look back upon them through the long vista of the past; but the sovereign of england did not see them or did not choose to see them. he saw only the infanta and her two millions of dowry, and he knew that by calling parliament together to ask subsidies for an anti-catholic war he should ruin those golden matrimonial prospects for his son, while encouraging those "shoemakers," his subjects, to go beyond their "last," by consulting the representatives of his people on matters pertaining to the mysteries of government. he was slowly digging the grave of the monarchy and building the scaffold of his son; but he did his work with a laborious and pedantic trifling, when really engaged in state affairs, most amazing to contemplate. he had no penny to give to the cause in which his nearest relatives mere so deeply involved and for which his only possible allies were pledged; but he was ready to give advice to all parties, and with ludicrous gravity imagined himself playing the umpire between great contending hosts, when in reality he was only playing the fool at the beck of masters before whom he quaked. "you are not to vilipend my counsel," said he one day to a foreign envoy. "i am neither a camel nor an ass to take up all this work on my shoulders. where would you find another king as willing to do it as i am?" the king had little time and no money to give to serve his own family and allies and the cause of protestantism, but he could squander vast sums upon worthless favourites, and consume reams of paper on controverted points of divinity. the appointment of vorstius to the chair of theology in leyden aroused more indignation in his bosom, and occupied more of his time, than the conquests of spinola in the duchies, and the menaces of spain against savoy and bohemia. he perpetually preached moderation to the states in the matter of the debateable territory, although moderation at that moment meant submission to the house of austria. he chose to affect confidence in the good faith of those who were playing a comedy by which no statesman could be deceived, but which had secured the approbation of the solomon of the age. but there was one man who was not deceived. the warnings and the lamentations of barneveld sound to us out of that far distant time like the voice of an inspired prophet. it is possible that a portion of the wrath to come might have been averted had there been many men in high places to heed his voice. i do not wish to exaggerate the power and wisdom of the man, nor to set him forth as one of the greatest heroes of history. but posterity has done far less than justice to a statesman and sage who wielded a vast influence at a most critical period in the fate of christendom, and uniformly wielded it to promote the cause of temperate human liberty, both political and religious. viewed by the light of two centuries and a half of additional experience, he may appear to have made mistakes, but none that were necessarily disastrous or even mischievous. compared with the prevailing idea of the age in which he lived, his schemes of polity seem to dilate into large dimensions, his sentiments of religious freedom, however limited to our modern ideas, mark an epoch in human progress, and in regard to the general commonwealth of christendom, of which he was so leading a citizen, the part he played was a lofty one. no man certainly understood the tendency of his age more exactly, took a broader and more comprehensive view than he did of the policy necessary to preserve the largest portion of the results of the past three-quarters of a century, or had pondered the relative value of great conflicting forces more skilfully. had his counsels been always followed, had illustrious birth placed him virtually upon a throne, as was the case with william the silent, and thus allowed him occasionally to carry out the designs of a great mind with almost despotic authority, it might have been better for the world. but in that age it was royal blood alone that could command unflinching obedience without exciting personal rivalry. men quailed before his majestic intellect, but hated him for the power which was its necessary result. they already felt a stupid delight in cavilling at his pedigree. to dispute his claim to a place among the ancient nobility to which he was an honour was to revenge themselves for the rank he unquestionably possessed side by side in all but birth with the kings and rulers of the world. whether envy and jealousy be vices more incident to the republican form of government than to other political systems may be an open question. but it is no question whatever that barneveld's every footstep from this period forward was dogged by envy as patient as it was devouring. jealousy stuck to him like his shadow. we have examined the relations which existed between winwood and himself; we have seen that ambassador, now secretary of state for james, never weary in denouncing the advocate's haughtiness and grim resolution to govern the country according to its laws rather than at the dictate of a foreign sovereign, and in flinging forth malicious insinuations in regard to his relations to spain. the man whose every hour was devoted in spite of a thousand obstacles strewn by stupidity, treachery, and apathy, as well as by envy, hatred, and bigotry--to the organizing of a grand and universal league of protestantism against spain, and to rolling up with strenuous and sometimes despairing arms a dead mountain weight, ever ready to fall back upon and crush him, was accused in dark and mysterious whispers, soon to grow louder and bolder, of a treacherous inclination for spain. there is nothing less surprising nor more sickening for those who observe public life, and wish to retain faith in the human species, than the almost infinite power of the meanest of passions. the advocate was obliged at the very outset of langerac's mission to france to give him a warning on this subject. "should her majesty make kindly mention of me," he said, "you will say nothing of it in your despatches as you did in your last, although i am sure with the best intentions. it profits me not, and many take umbrage at it; wherefore it is wise to forbear." but this was a trifle. by and by there would be many to take umbrage at every whisper in his favour, whether from crowned heads or from the simplest in the social scale. meantime he instructed the ambassador, without paying heed to personal compliments to his chief, to do his best to keep the french government out of the hands of spain, and with that object in view to smooth over the differences between the two great parties in the kingdom, and to gain the confidence, if possible, of conde and nevers and bouillon, while never failing in straightforward respect and loyal friendship to the queen-regent and her ministers, as the legitimate heads of the government. from england a new ambassador was soon to take the place of winwood. sir dudley carleton was a diplomatist of respectable abilities, and well trained to business and routine. perhaps on the whole there was none other, in that epoch of official mediocrity, more competent than he to fill what was then certainly the most important of foreign posts. his course of life had in no wise familiarized him with the intricacies of the dutch constitution, nor could the diplomatic profession, combined with a long residence at venice, be deemed especially favourable for deep studies of the mysteries of predestination. yet he would be found ready at the bidding of his master to grapple with grotius and barneveld on the field of history and law, and thread with uytenbogaert or taurinus all the subtleties of arminianism and gomarism as if he had been half his life both a regular practitioner at the supreme court of the hague and professor of theology at the university of leyden. whether the triumphs achieved in such encounters were substantial and due entirely to his own genius might be doubtful. at all events he had a sovereign behind him who was incapable of making a mistake on any subject. "you shall not forget," said james in his instructions to sir dudley, "that you are the minister of that master whom god hath made the sole protector of his religion . . . . . and you may let fall how hateful the maintaining of erroneous opinions is to the majesty of god and how displeasing to us." the warlike operations of had been ended by the abortive peace of xanten. the two rival pretenders to the duchies were to halve the territory, drawing lots for the first choice, all foreign troops were to be withdrawn, and a pledge was to be given that no fortress should be placed in the hands of any power. but spain at the last moment had refused to sanction the treaty, and everything was remitted to what might be exactly described as a state of sixes and sevens. subsequently it was hoped that the states' troops might be induced to withdraw simultaneously with the catholic forces on an undertaking by spinola that there should be no re-occupation of the disputed territory either by the republic or by spain. but barneveld accurately pointed out that, although the marquis was a splendid commander and, so long as he was at the head of the armies, a most powerful potentate, he might be superseded at any moment. count bucquoy, for example, might suddenly appear in his place and refuse to be bound by any military arrangement of his predecessor. then the archduke proposed to give a guarantee that in case of a mutual withdrawal there should be no return of the troops, no recapture of garrisons. but barneveld, speaking for the states, liked not the security. the archduke was but the puppet of spain, and spain had no part in the guarantee. she held the strings, and might cause him at any moment to play what pranks she chose. it would be the easiest thing in the world for despotic spain, so the advocate thought, to reappear suddenly in force again at a moment's notice after the states' troops had been withdrawn and partially disbanded, and it would be difficult for the many-headed and many-tongued republic to act with similar promptness. to withdraw without a guarantee from spain to the treaty of xanten, which had once been signed, sealed, and all but ratified, would be to give up fifty points in the game. nothing but disaster could ensue. the advocate as leader in all these negotiations and correspondence was ever actuated by the favourite quotation of william the silent from demosthenes, that the safest citadel against an invader and a tyrant is distrust. and he always distrusted in these dealings, for he was sure the spanish cabinet was trying to make fools of the states, and there were many ready to assist it in the task. now that one of the pretenders, temporary master of half the duchies, the prince of neuburg, had espoused both catholicism and the sister of the archbishop of cologne and the duke of bavaria, it would be more safe than ever for spain to make a temporary withdrawal. maximilian of bavaria was beyond all question the ablest and most determined leader of the catholic party in germany, and the most straightforward and sincere. no man before or since his epoch had, like him, been destined to refuse, and more than once refuse, the imperial crown. through his apostasy the prince of neuburg was in danger of losing his hereditary estates, his brothers endeavouring to dispossess him on the ground of the late duke's will, disinheriting any one of his heirs who should become a convert to catholicism. he had accordingly implored aid from the king of spain. archduke albert had urged philip to render such assistance as a matter of justice, and the emperor had naturally declared that the whole right as eldest son belonged, notwithstanding the will, to the prince. with the young neuburg accordingly under the able guidance of maximilian, it was not likely that the grasp of the spanish party upon these all- important territories would be really loosened. the emperor still claimed the right to decide among the candidates and to hold the provinces under sequestration till the decision should be made--that was to say, until the greek kalends. the original attempt to do this through archduke leopold had been thwarted, as we have seen, by the prompt movements of maurice sustained by the policy of barneveld. the advocate was resolved that the emperor's name should not be mentioned either in the preamble or body of the treaty. and his course throughout the simulations, which were never negotiations, was perpetually baffled as much by the easiness and languor of his allies as the ingenuity of the enemy. he was reproached with the loss of wesel, that geneva of the rhine, which would never be abandoned by spain if it was not done forthwith. let spain guarantee the treaty of xanten, he said, and then she cannot come back. all else is illusion. moreover, the emperor had given positive orders that wesel should not be given up. he was assured by villeroy that france would never put on her harness for aachen, that cradle of protestantism. that was for the states-general to do, whom it so much more nearly concerned. the whole aim of barneveld was not to destroy the treaty of xanten, but to enforce it in the only way in which it could be enforced, by the guarantee of spain. so secured, it would be a barrier in the universal war of religion which he foresaw was soon to break out. but it was the resolve of spain, instead of pledging herself to the treaty, to establish the legal control of the territory in the hand of the emperor. neuburg complained that philip in writing to him did not give him the title of duke of julich and cleve, although be had been placed in possession of those estates by the arms of spain. philip, referring to archduke albert for his opinion on this subject, was advised that, as the emperor had not given neuburg the investiture of the duchies, the king was quite right in refusing him the title. even should the treaty of xanten be executed, neither he nor the elector of brandenburg would be anything but administrators until the question of right was decided by the emperor. spain had sent neuburg the order of the golden fleece as a reward for his conversion, but did not intend him to be anything but a man of straw in the territories which he claimed by sovereign right. they were to form a permanent bulwark to the empire, to spain, and to catholicism. barneveld of course could never see the secret letters passing between brussels and madrid, but his insight into the purposes of the enemy was almost as acute as if the correspondence of philip and albert had been in the pigeonholes of his writing-desk in the kneuterdyk. the whole object of spain and the emperor, acting through the archduke, was to force the states to abandon their positions in the duchies simultaneously with the withdrawal of the spanish troops, and to be satisfied with a bare convention between themselves and archduke albert that there should be no renewed occupation by either party. barneveld, finding it impossible to get spain upon the treaty, was resolved that at least the two mediating powers, their great allies, the sovereigns of great britain and france, should guarantee the convention, and that the promises of the archduke should be made to them. this was steadily refused by spain; for the archduke never moved an inch in the matter except according to the orders of spain, and besides battling and buffeting with the archduke, barneveld was constantly deafened with the clamour of the english king, who always declared spain to be in the right whatever she did, and forced to endure with what patience he might the goading of that king's envoy. france, on the other hand, supported the states as firmly as could have been reasonably expected. "we proposed," said the archduke, instructing an envoy whom he was sending to madrid with detailed accounts of these negotiations, "that the promise should be made to each other as usual in treaties. but the hollanders said the promise should be made to the kings of france and england, at which the emperor would have been deeply offended, as if in the affair he was of no account at all. at any moment by this arrangement in concert with france and england the hollanders might walk in and do what they liked." certainly there could have been no succincter eulogy of the policy steadily recommended, as we shall have occasion to see, by barneveld. had he on this critical occasion been backed by england and france combined, spain would have been forced to beat a retreat, and protestantism in the great general war just beginning would have had an enormous advantage in position. but the english solomon could not see the wisdom of this policy. "the king of england says we are right," continued the archduke, "and has ordered his ambassador to insist on our view. the french ambassador here says that his colleague at the hague has similar instructions, but admits that he has not acted up to them. there is not much chance of the hollanders changing. it would be well that the king should send a written ultimatum that the hollanders should sign the convention which we propose. if they don't agree, the world at least will see that it is not we who are in fault." the world would see, and would never have forgiven a statesman in the position of barneveld, had he accepted a bald agreement from a subordinate like the archduke, a perfectly insignificant personage in the great drama then enacting, and given up guarantees both from the archduke's master and from the two great allies of the republic. he stood out manfully against spain and england at every hazard, and under a pelting storm of obloquy, and this was the man whose designs the english secretary of state had dared to describe "as of no other nature than to cause the provinces to relapse into the hands of spain." it appeared too a little later that barneveld's influence with the french government, owing to his judicious support of it so long as it was a government, had been decidedly successful. drugged as france was by the spanish marriage treaty, she was yet not so sluggish nor spell-bound as the king of great britain. "france will not urge upon the hollanders to execute the proposal as we made it," wrote the archduke to the king, "so negotiations are at a standstill. the hollanders say it is better that each party should remain with what each possesses. so that if it does not come to blows, and if these insolences go on as they have done, the hollanders will be gaining and occupying more territory every day." thus once more the ancient enemies and masters of the republic were making the eulogy of the dutch statesman. it was impossible at present for the states to regain wesel, nor that other early stronghold of the reformation, the old imperial city of aachen (aix-la-chapelle). the price to be paid was too exorbitant. the french government had persistently refused to assist the states and possessory princes in the recovery of this stronghold. the queen-regent was afraid of offending spain, although her government had induced the citizens of the place to make the treaty now violated by that country. the dutch ambassador had been instructed categorically to enquire whether their majesties meant to assist aachen and the princes if attacked by the archdukes. "no," said villeroy; "we are not interested in aachen, 'tis too far off. let them look for assistance to those who advised their mutiny." to the ambassador's remonstrance that france was both interested in and pledged to them, the secretary of state replied, "we made the treaty through compassion and love, but we shall not put on harness for aachen. don't think it. you, the states and the united provinces, may assist them if you like." the envoy then reminded the minister that the states-general had always agreed to go forward evenly in this business with the kings of great britain and france and the united princes, the matter being of equal importance to all. they had given no further pledge than this to the union. it was plain, however, that france was determined not to lift a finger at that moment. the duke of bouillon and those acting with him had tried hard to induce their majesties "to write seriously to the archduke in order at least to intimidate him by stiff talk," but it was hopeless. they thought it was not a time then to quarrel with their neighbour and give offence to spain. so the stiff talk was omitted, and the archduke was not intimidated. the man who had so often intimidated him was in his grave, and his widow was occupied in marrying her son to the infanta. "these are the first- fruits," said aerssens, "of the new negotiations with spain." both the spanish king and the emperor were resolved to hold wesel to the very last. until the states should retire from all their positions on the bare word of the archduke, that the spanish forces once withdrawn would never return, the protestants of those two cities must suffer. there was no help for it. to save them would be to abandon all. for no true statesman could be so ingenuous as thus to throw all the cards on the table for the spanish and imperial cabinet to shuffle them at pleasure for a new deal. the duke of neuburg, now catholic and especially protected by spain, had become, instead of a pretender with more or less law on his side, a mere standard-bearer and agent of the great catholic league in the debateable land. he was to be supported at all hazard by the spanish forces, according to the express command of philip's government, especially now that his two brothers with the countenance of the states were disputing his right to his hereditary dominions in germany. the archduke was sullen enough at what he called the weak-mindedness of france. notwithstanding that by express orders from spain he had sent troops under command of juan de rivas to the queen's assistance just before the peace of sainte-menehould, he could not induce her government to take the firm part which the english king did in browbeating the hollanders. "'tis certain," he complained, "that if, instead of this sluggishness on the part of france, they had done us there the same good services we have had from england, the hollanders would have accepted the promise just as it was proposed by us." he implored the king, therefore, to use his strongest influence with the french government that it should strenuously intervene with the hollanders, and compel them to sign the proposal which they rejected. "there is no means of composition if france does not oblige them to sign," said albert rather piteously. but it was not without reason that barneveld had in many of his letters instructed the states' ambassador, langerac, "to caress the old gentleman" (meaning and never naming villeroy), for he would prove to be in spite of all obstacles a good friend to the states, as he always had been. and villeroy did hold firm. whether the archduke was right or not in his conviction, that, if france would only unite with england in exerting a strong pressure on the hollanders, they would evacuate the duchies, and so give up the game, the correspondence of barneveld shows very accurately. but the archduke, of course, had not seen that correspondence. the advocate knew what was plotting, what was impending, what was actually accomplished, for he was accustomed to sweep the whole horizon with an anxious and comprehensive glance. he knew without requiring to read the secret letters of the enemy that vast preparations for an extensive war against the reformation were already completed. the movements in the duchies were the first drops of a coming deluge. the great religious war which was to last a generation of mankind had already begun; the immediate and apparent pretext being a little disputed succession to some petty sovereignties, the true cause being the necessity for each great party--the protestant union and the catholic league--to secure these border provinces, the possession of which would be of such inestimable advantage to either. if nothing decisive occurred in the year , the following year would still be more convenient for the league. there had been troubles in turkey. the grand vizier had been murdered. the sultan was engaged in a war with persia. there was no eastern bulwark in europe to the ever menacing power of the turk and of mahometanism in europe save hungary alone. supported and ruled as that kingdom was by the house of austria, the temper of the populations of germany had become such as to make it doubtful in the present conflict of religious opinions between them and their rulers whether the turk or the spaniard would be most odious as an invader. but for the moment, spain and the emperor had their hands free. they were not in danger of an attack from below the danube. moreover, the spanish fleet had been achieving considerable successes on the barbary coast, having seized la roche, and one or two important citadels, useful both against the corsairs and against sudden attacks by sea from the turk. there were at least , men on a war footing ready to take the field at command of the two branches of the house of austria, spanish and german. in the little war about montserrat, savoy was on the point of being crushed, and savoy was by position and policy the only possible ally, in the south, of the netherlands and of protestant germany. while professing the most pacific sentiments towards the states, and a profound anxiety to withdraw his troops from their borders, the king of spain, besides daily increasing those forces, had just raised , , ducats, a large portion of which was lodged with his bankers in brussels. deeds like those were of more significance than sugared words. etext editor's bookmarks: almost infinite power of the meanest of passions ludicrous gravity safest citadel against an invader and a tyrant is distrust their own roofs were not quite yet in a blaze therefore now denounced the man whom he had injured this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, volume the life of john of barneveld, v , - chapter vi. establishment of the condominium in the duchies--dissensions between the neuburgers and brandenburgers--occupation of julich by the brandenburgers assisted by the states-general--indignation in spain and at the court of the archdukes--subsidy despatched to brussels spinola descends upon aix-la-chapelle and takes possession of orsoy and other places--surrender of wesel--conference at xanten--treaty permanently dividing the territory between brandenburg and neuburg-- prohibition from spain--delays and disagreements. thus the 'condominium' had been peaceably established. three or four years passed away in the course of which the evils of a joint and undivided sovereignty of two rival houses over the same territory could not fail to manifest themselves. brandenburg, calvinist in religion, and for other reasons more intimately connected with and more favoured by the states' government than his rival, gained ground in the duchies. the palatine of neuburg, originally of lutheran faith like his father, soon manifested catholic tendencies, which excited suspicion in the netherlands. these suspicions grew into certainties at the moment when he espoused the sister of maximilian of bavaria and of the elector of cologne. that this close connection with the very heads of the catholic league could bode no good to the cause of which the states- general were the great promoters was self-evident. very soon afterwards the palatine, a man of mature age and of considerable talents, openly announced his conversion to the ancient church. obviously the sympathies of the states could not thenceforth fail to be on the side of brandenburg. the elector's brother died and was succeeded in the governorship of the condeminium by the elector's brother, a youth of eighteen. he took up his abode in cleve, leaving dusseldorf to be the sole residence of his co-stadholder. rivalry growing warmer, on account of this difference of religion, between the respective partisans of neuburg and brandenburg, an attempt was made in dusseldorf by a sudden entirely unsuspected rising of the brandenburgers to drive their antagonist colleagues and their portion of the garrison out of the city. it failed, but excited great anger. a more successful effort was soon afterwards made in julich; the neuburgers were driven out, and the brandenburgers remained in sole possession of the town and citadel, far the most important stronghold in the whole territory. this was partly avenged by the neuburgers, who gained absolute control of dusseldorf. here were however no important fortifications, the place being merely an agreeable palatial residence and a thriving mart. the states-general, not concealing their predilection for brandenburg, but under pretext of guarding the peace which they had done so much to establish, placed a garrison of infantry and a troop or two of horse in the citadel of julich. dire was the anger not unjustly excited in spain when the news of this violation of neutrality reached that government. julich, placed midway between liege and cologne, and commanding those fertile plains which make up the opulent duchy, seemed virtually converted into a province of the detested heretical republic. the german gate of the spanish netherlands was literally in the hands of its most formidable foe. the spaniards about the court of the archduke did not dissemble their rage. the seizure of julich was a stain upon his reputation, they cried. was it not enough, they asked, for the united provinces to have made a truce to the manifest detriment and discredit of spain, and to have treated her during all the negotiation with such insolence? were they now to be permitted to invade neutral territory, to violate public faith, to act under no responsibility save to their own will? what was left for them to do except to set up a tribunal in holland for giving laws to the whole of northern europe? arrogating to themselves absolute power over the controverted states of cleve, julich, and the dependencies, they now pretended to dispose of them at their pleasure in order at the end insolently to take possession of them for themselves. these were the egregious fruits of the truce, they said tauntingly to the discomfited archduke. it had caused a loss of reputation, the very soul of empires, to the crown of spain. and now, to conclude her abasement, the troops in flanders had been shaven down with such parsimony as to make the monarch seem a shopkeeper, not a king. one would suppose the obedient netherlands to be in the heart of spain rather than outlying provinces surrounded by their deadliest enemies. the heretics had gained possession of the government at aix-la-chapelle; they had converted the insignificant town of mulheim into a thriving and fortified town in defiance of cologne and to its manifest detriment, and in various other ways they had insulted the catholics throughout those regions. and who could wonder at such insolence, seeing that the army in flanders, formerly the terror of heretics, had become since the truce so weak as to be the laughing-stock of the united provinces? if it was expensive to maintain these armies in the obedient netherlands, let there be economy elsewhere, they urged. from india came gold and jewels. from other kingdoms came ostentation and a long series of vain titles for the crown of spain. flanders was its place of arms, its nursery of soldiers, its bulwark in europe, and so it should be preserved. there was ground for these complaints. the army at the disposition of the archduke had been reduced to infantry and a handful of cavalry. the peace establishment of the republic amounted to , foot, horse, besides the french and english regiments. so soon as the news of the occupation of julich was officially communicated to the spanish cabinet, a subsidy of , crowns was at once despatched to brussels. levies of walloons and germans were made without delay by order of archduke albert and under guidance of spinola, so that by midsummer the army was swollen to , foot and horse. with these the great genoese captain took the field in the middle of august. on the nd of that month the army was encamped on some plains mid-way between maestricht and aachen. there was profound mystery both at brussels and at the hague as to the objective point of these military movements. anticipating an attack upon julich, the states had meantime strengthened the garrison of that important place with infantry and a regiment of horse. it seemed scarcely probable therefore that spinola would venture a foolhardy blow at a citadel so well fortified and defended. moreover, there was not only no declaration of war, but strict orders had been given by each of the apparent belligerents to their military commanders to abstain from all offensive movements against the adversary. and now began one of the strangest series of warlike evolution's that were ever recorded. maurice at the head of an army of , foot and horse manoeuvred in the neighbourhood of his great antagonist and professional rival without exchanging a blow. it was a phantom campaign, the prophetic rehearsal of dreadful marches and tragic histories yet to be, and which were to be enacted on that very stage and on still wider ones during a whole generation of mankind. that cynical commerce in human lives which was to become one of the chief branches of human industry in the century had already begun. spinola, after hovering for a few days in the neighbourhood, descended upon the imperial city of aachen (aix-la-chapelle). this had been one of the earliest towns in germany to embrace the reformed religion, and up to the close of the sixteenth century the control of the magistracy had been in the hands of the votaries of that creed. subsequently the catholics had contrived to acquire and keep the municipal ascendency, secretly supported by archduke albert, and much oppressing the protestants with imprisonments, fines, and banishment, until a new revolution which had occurred in the year , and which aroused the wrath of spinola. certainly, according to the ideas of that day, it did not seem unnatural in a city where a very large majority of the population were protestants that protestants should have a majority in the town council. it seemed, however, to those who surrounded the archduke an outrage which could no longer be tolerated, especially as a garrison of germans, supposed to have formed part of the states' army, had recently been introduced into the town. aachen, lying mostly on an extended plain, had but very slight fortifications, and it was commanded by a neighbouring range of hills. it had no garrison but the germans. spinola placed a battery or two on the hills, and within three days the town surrendered. the inhabitants expected a scene of carnage and pillage, but not a life was lost. no injury whatever was inflicted on person or property, according to the strict injunctions of the archduke. the germans were driven out, and other germans then serving under catholic banners were put in their places to protect the catholic minority, to whose keeping the municipal government was now confided. spinola, then entering the territory of cleve, took session of orsoy, an important place on the rhine, besides duren, duisburg, kaster, greevenbroek and berchem. leaving garrisons in these places, he razed the fortifications of mulheim, much to the joy of the archbishop and his faithful subjects of cologne, then crossed the rhine at rheinberg, and swooped down upon wesel. this flourishing and prosperous city had formerly belonged to the duchy of cleve. placed at the junction of the rhine and lippe and commanding both rivers, it had become both powerful and protestant, and had set itself up as a free imperial city, recognising its dukes no longer as sovereigns, but only as protectors. so fervent was it in the practice of the reformed religion that it was called the rhenish geneva, the cradle of german calvinism. so important was its preservation considered to the cause of protestantism that the states-general had urged its authorities to accept from them a garrison. they refused. had they complied, the city would have been saved, because it was the rule in this extraordinary campaign that the belligerents made war not upon each other, nor in each others territory, but against neutrals and upon neutral soil. the catholic forces under spinola or his lieutenants, meeting occasionally and accidentally with the protestants under maurice or his generals, exchanged no cannon shots or buffets, but only acts of courtesy; falling away each before the other, and each ceding to the other with extreme politeness the possession of towns which one had preceded the other in besieging. the citizens of wesel were amazed at being attacked, considering themselves as imperial burghers. they regretted too late that they had refused a garrison from maurice, which would have prevented spinola from assailing them. they had now nothing for it but to surrender, which they did within three days. the principal condition of the capitulation was that when julich should be given up by the states wesel should be restored to its former position. spinola then took and garrisoned the city of xanten, but went no further. having weakened his army sufficiently by the garrisons taken from it for the cities captured by him, he declined to make any demonstration upon the neighbouring and important towns of emmerich and rees. the catholic commander falling back, the protestant moved forward. maurice seized both emmerich and rees, and placed garrisons within them, besides occupying goch, kranenburg, gennip, and various places in the county of mark. this closed the amicable campaign. spinola established himself and his forces near wesel. the prince encamped near rees. the two armies were within two hours' march of each other. the duke of neuburg--for the palatine had now succeeded on his father's death to the ancestral dukedom and to his share of the condominium of the debateable provinces--now joined spinola with an army of foot and horse. the young prince of brandenburg came to maurice with cavalry and an infantry regiment of the elector- palatine. negotiations destined to be as spectral and fleeting as the campaign had been illusory now began. the whole protestant world was aflame with indignation at the loss of wesel. the states' government had already proposed to deposit julich in the hands of a neutral power if the archduke would abstain from military movements. but albert, proud of his achievements in aachen, refused to pause in his career. let them make the deposit first, he said. both belligerents, being now satiated with such military glory as could flow from the capture of defenceless cities belonging to neutrals, agreed to hold conferences at xanten. to this town, in the duchy of cleve, and midway between the rival camps, came sir henry wotton and sir dudley carleton, ambassadors of great britain; de refuge and de russy, the special and the resident ambassador of france at the hague; chancellor peter pecquius and counsellor visser, to represent the archdukes; seven deputies from the united provinces, three from the elector of cologne, three from brandenburg, three from neuburg, and two from the elector- palatine, as representative of the protestant league. in the earlier conferences the envoys of the archduke and of the elector of cologne were left out, but they were informed daily of each step in the negotiation. the most important point at starting was thought to be to get rid of the 'condominium.' there could be no harmony nor peace in joint possession. the whole territory should be cut provisionally in halves, and each possessory prince rule exclusively within the portion assigned to him. there might also be an exchange of domain between the two every six months. as for wesel and julich, they could remain respectively in the hands then holding them, or the fortifications of julich might be dismantled and wesel restored to the status quo. the latter alternative would have best suited the states, who were growing daily more irritated at seeing wesel, that protestant stronghold, with an exclusively calvinistic population, in the hands of catholics. the spanish ambassador at brussels remonstrated, however, at the thought of restoring his precious conquest, obtained without loss of time, money, or blood, into the hands of heretics, at least before consultation with the government at madrid and without full consent of the king. "how important to your majesty's affairs in flanders," wrote guadaleste to philip, "is the acquisition of wesel may be seen by the manifest grief of your enemies. they see with immense displeasure your royal ensigns planted on the most important place on the rhine, and one which would become the chief military station for all the armies of flanders to assemble in at any moment. "as no acquisition could therefore be greater, so your majesty should never be deprived of it without thorough consideration of the case. the archduke fears, and so do his ministers, that if we refuse to restore wesel, the united provinces would break the truce. for my part i believe, and there are many who agree with me, that they would on the contrary be more inclined to stand by the truce, hoping to obtain by negotiation that which it must be obvious to them they cannot hope to capture by force. but let wesel be at once restored. let that be done which is so much desired by the united provinces and other great enemies and rivals of your majesty, and what security will there be that the same provinces will not again attempt the same invasion? is not the example of julich fresh? and how much more important is wesel! julich was after all not situate on their frontiers, while wesel lies at their principal gates. your majesty now sees the good and upright intentions of those provinces and their friends. they have made a settlement between brandenburg and neuburg, not in order to breed concord but confusion between those two, not tranquillity for the country, but greater turbulence than ever before. nor have they done this with any other thought than that the united provinces might find new opportunities to derive the same profit from fresh tumults as they have already done so shamelessly from those which are past. after all i don't say that wesel should never be restored, if circumstances require it, and if your majesty, approving the treaty of xanten, should sanction the measure. but such a result should be reached only after full consultation with your majesty, to whose glorious military exploits these splendid results are chiefly owing." the treaty finally decided upon rejected the principle of alternate possession, and established a permanent division of the territory in dispute between brandenburg and neuburg. the two portions were to be made as equal as possible, and lots were to be thrown or drawn by the two princes for the first choice. to the one side were assigned the duchy of cleve, the county of mark, and the seigniories of ravensberg and ravenstein, with some other baronies and feuds in brabant and flanders; to the other the duchies of julich and berg with their dependencies. each prince was to reside exclusively within the territory assigned to him by lot. the troops introduced by either party were to be withdrawn, fortifications made since the preceding month of may to be razed, and all persons who had been expelled, or who had emigrated, to be restored to their offices, property, or benefices. it was also stipulated that no place within the whole debateable territory should be put in the hands of a third power. these articles were signed by the ambassadors of france and england, by the deputies of the elector-palatine and of the united provinces, all binding their superiors to the execution of the treaty. the arrangement was supposed to refer to the previous conventions between those two crowns, with the republic, and the protestant princes and powers. count zollern, whom we have seen bearing himself so arrogantly as envoy from the emperor rudolph to henry iv., was now despatched by matthias on as fruitless a mission to the congress at xanten, and did his best to prevent the signature of the treaty, except with full concurrence of the imperial government. he likewise renewed the frivolous proposition that the emperor should hold all the provinces in sequestration until the question of rightful sovereignty should be decided. the "proud and haggard" ambassador was not more successful in this than in the diplomatic task previously entrusted to him, and he then went to brussels, there to renew his remonstrances, menaces, and intrigues. for the treaty thus elaborately constructed, and in appearance a triumphant settlement of questions so complicated and so burning as to threaten to set christendom at any moment in a blaze, was destined to an impotent and most unsatisfactory conclusion. the signatures were more easily obtained than the ratifications. execution was surrounded with insurmountable difficulties which in negotiation had been lightly skipped over at the stroke of a pen. at the very first step, that of military evacuation, there was a stumble. maurice and spinola were expected to withdraw their forces, and to undertake to bring in no troops in the future, and to make no invasion of the disputed territory. but spinola construed this undertaking as absolute; the prince as only binding in consequence of, with reference to, and for the duration of; the treaty of xanten. the ambassadors and other commissioners, disgusted with the long controversy which ensued, were making up their minds to depart when a courier arrived from spain, bringing not a ratification but strict prohibition of the treaty. the articles were not to be executed, no change whatever was to be made, and, above all, wesel was not to be restored without fresh negotiations with philip, followed by his explicit concurrence. thus the whole great negotiation began to dissolve into a shadowy, unsatisfactory pageant. the solid barriers which were to imprison the vast threatening elements of religious animosity and dynastic hatreds, and to secure a peaceful future for christendom, melted into films of gossamer, and the great war of demons, no longer to be quelled by the commonplaces of diplomatic exorcism, revealed its close approach. the prospects of europe grew blacker than ever. the ambassadors, thoroughly disheartened and disgusted, all took their departure from xanten, and the treaty remained rather a by-word than a solution or even a suggestion. "the accord could not be prevented," wrote archduke albert to philip, "because it depended alone on the will of the signers. nor can the promise to restore wesel be violated, should julich be restored. who can doubt that such contravention would arouse great jealousies in france, england, the united provinces, and all the members of the heretic league of germany? who can dispute that those interested ought to procure the execution of the treaty? suspicions will not remain suspicions, but they light up the flames of public evil and disturbance. either your majesty wishes to maintain the truce, in which case wesel must be restored, or to break the truce, a result which is certain if wesel be retained. but the reasons which induced your majesty to lay down your arms remain the same as ever. our affairs are not looking better, nor is the requisition of wesel of so great importance as to justify our involving flanders in a new and more atrocious war than that which has so lately been suspended. the restitution is due to the tribunal of public faith. it is a great advantage when actions done for the sole end of justice are united to that of utility. consider the great successes we have had. how well the affairs of aachen and mulbeim have been arranged; those of the duke of neuburg how completely re-established. the catholic cause, always identical with that of the house of austria, remains in great superiority to the cause of the heretics. we should use these advantages well, and to do so we should not immaturely pursue greater ones. fortune changes, flies when we most depend on her, and delights in making her chief sport of the highest quality of mortals." thus wrote the archduke sensibly, honourably from his point of view, and with an intelligent regard to the interests of spain and the catholic cause. after months of delay came conditional consent from madrid to the conventions, but with express condition that there should be absolute undertaking on the part of the united provinces never to send or maintain troops in the duchies. tedious and futile correspondence followed between brussels, the hague, london, paris. but the difficulties grew every moment. it was a penelope's web of negotiation, said one of the envoys. amid pertinacious and wire-drawn subtleties, every trace of practical business vanished. neuburg departed to look after his patrimonial estates; leaving his interests in the duchies to be watched over by the archduke. even count zollern, after six months of wrangling in brussels, took his departure. prince maurice distributed his army in various places within the debateable land, and spinola did the same, leaving a garrison of foot and horse in the important city of wesel. the town and citadel of julich were as firmly held by maurice for the protestant cause. thus the duchies were jointly occupied by the forces of catholicism and protestantism, while nominally possessed and administered by the princes of brandenburg and neuburg. and so they were destined to remain until that thirty years' war, now so near its outbreak, should sweep over the earth, and bring its fiery solution at last to all these great debates. chapter vii. proud position of the republic--france obeys her--hatred of carleton --position and character of aerssens--claim for the "third"--recall of aerssens--rivalry between maurice and barneveld, who always sustains the separate sovereignties of the provinces--conflict between church and state added to other elements of discord in the commonwealth--religion a necessary element in the life of all classes. thus the republic had placed itself in as proud a position as it was possible for commonwealth or kingdom to occupy. it had dictated the policy and directed the combined military movements of protestantism. it had gathered into a solid mass the various elements out of which the great germanic mutiny against rome, spain, and austria had been compounded. a breathing space of uncertain duration had come to interrupt and postpone the general and inevitable conflict. meantime the republic was encamped upon the enemy's soil. france, which had hitherto commanded, now obeyed. england, vacillating and discontented, now threatening and now cajoling, saw for the time at least its influence over the councils of the netherlands neutralized by the genius of the great statesman who still governed the provinces, supreme in all but name. the hatred of the british government towards the republic, while in reality more malignant than at any previous period, could now only find vent in tremendous, theological pamphlets, composed by the king in the form of diplomatic instructions, and hurled almost weekly at the heads of the states-general, by his ambassador, dudley carleton. few men hated barneveld more bitterly than did carleton. i wish to describe as rapidly, but as faithfully, as i can the outline at least of the events by which one of the saddest and most superfluous catastrophes in modern history was brought about. the web was a complex one, wrought apparently of many materials; but the more completely it is unravelled the more clearly we shall detect the presence of the few simple but elemental fibres which make up the tissue of most human destinies, whether illustrious or obscure, and out of which the most moving pictures of human history are composed. the religious element, which seems at first view to be the all pervading and controlling one, is in reality rather the atmosphere which surrounds and colours than the essence which constitutes the tragedy to be delineated. personal, sometimes even paltry, jealousy; love of power, of money, of place; rivalry between civil and military ambition for predominance in a free state; struggles between church and state to control and oppress each other; conflict between the cautious and healthy, but provincial and centrifugal, spirit on the one side, and the ardent centralizing, imperial, but dangerous, instinct on the other, for ascendancy in a federation; mortal combat between aristocracy disguised in the plebeian form of trading and political corporations and democracy sheltering itself under a famous sword and an ancient and illustrious name;--all these principles and passions will be found hotly at work in the melancholy five years with which we are now to be occupied, as they have entered, and will always enter, into every political combination in the great tragi-comedy which we call human history. as a study, a lesson, and a warning, perhaps the fate of barneveld is as deserving of serious attention as most political tragedies of the last few centuries. francis aerssens, as we have seen, continued to be the dutch ambassador after the murder of henry iv. many of the preceding pages of this volume have been occupied with his opinions, his pictures, his conversations, and his political intrigues during a memorable epoch in the history of the netherlands and of france. he was beyond all doubt one of the ablest diplomatists in europe. versed in many languages, a classical student, familiar with history and international law, a man of the world and familiar with its usages, accustomed to associate with dignity and tact on friendliest terms with sovereigns, eminent statesmen, and men of letters; endowed with a facile tongue, a fluent pen, and an eye and ear of singular acuteness and delicacy; distinguished for unflagging industry and singular aptitude for secret and intricate affairs;--he had by the exercise of these various qualities during a period of nearly twenty years at the court of henry the great been able to render inestimable services to the republic which he represented. of respectable but not distinguished lineage, not a hollander, but a belgian by birth, son of cornelis aerssens, grefter of the states-general, long employed in that important post, he had been brought forward from a youth by barneveld and early placed by him in the diplomatic career, of which through his favour and his own eminent talents he had now achieved the highest honours. he had enjoyed the intimacy and even the confidence of henry iv., so far as any man could be said to possess that monarch's confidence, and his friendly relations and familiar access to the king gave him political advantages superior to those of any of his colleagues at the same court. acting entirely and faithfully according to the instructions of the advocate of holland, he always gratefully and copiously acknowledged the privilege of being guided and sustained in the difficult paths he had to traverse by so powerful and active an intellect. i have seldom alluded in terms to the instructions and despatches of the chief, but every position, negotiation, and opinion of the envoy--and the reader has seen many of them--is pervaded by their spirit. certainly the correspondence of aerssens is full to overflowing of gratitude, respect, fervent attachment to the person and exalted appreciation of the intellect and high character of the advocate. there can be no question of aerssen's consummate abilities. whether his heart were as sound as his head, whether his protestations of devotion had the ring of true gold or not, time would show. hitherto barneveld had not doubted him, nor had he found cause to murmur at barneveld. but the france of henry iv., where the dutch envoy was so all-powerful, had ceased to exist. a duller eye than that of aerssens could have seen at a glance that the potent kingdom and firm ally of the republic had been converted, for a long time to come at least, into a spanish province. the double spanish marriages (that of the young louis xiii. with the infanta anna, and of his sister with the infante, one day to be philip iv.), were now certain, for it was to make them certain that the knife of ravaillac had been employed. the condition precedent to those marriages had long been known. it was the renunciation of the alliance between france and holland. it was the condemnation to death, so far as france had the power to condemn her to death, of the young republic. had not don pedro de toledo pompously announced this condition a year and a half before? had not henry spurned the bribe with scorn? and now had not francis aerssens been the first to communicate to his masters the fruit which had already ripened upon henry's grave? as we have seen, he had revealed these intrigues long before they were known to the world, and the french court knew that he had revealed them. his position had become untenable. his friendship for henry could not be of use to him with the delicate-featured, double-chinned, smooth and sluggish florentine, who had passively authorized and actively profited by her husband's murder. it was time for the envoy to be gone. the queen-regent and concini thought so. and so did villeroy and sillery and the rest of the old servants of the king, now become pensionaries of spain. but aerssens did not think so. he liked his position, changed as it was. he was deep in the plottings of bouillon and conde and the other malcontents against the queen-regent. these schemes, being entirely personal, the rank growth of the corruption and apparent disintegration of france, were perpetually changing, and could be reduced to no principle. it was a mere struggle of the great lords of france to wrest places, money, governments, military commands from the queen-regent, and frantic attempts on her part to save as much as possible of the general wreck for her lord and master concini. it was ridiculous to ascribe any intense desire on the part of the duc de bouillon to aid the protestant cause against spain at that moment, acting as he was in combination with conde, whom we have just seen employed by spain as the chief instrument to effect the destruction of france and the bastardy of the queen's children. nor did the sincere and devout protestants who had clung to the cause through good and bad report, men like duplessis-mornay, for example, and those who usually acted with him, believe in any of these schemes for partitioning france on pretence of saving protestantism. but bouillon, greatest of all french fishermen in troubled waters, was brother-in-law of prince maurice of nassau, and aerssens instinctively felt that the time had come when he should anchor himself to firm holding ground at home. the ambassador had also a personal grievance. many of his most secret despatches to the states-general in which he expressed himself very freely, forcibly, and accurately on the general situation in france, especially in regard to the spanish marriages and the treaty of hampton court, had been transcribed at the hague and copies of them sent to the french government. no baser act of treachery to an envoy could be imagined. it was not surprising that aerssens complained bitterly of the deed. he secretly suspected barneveld, but with injustice, of having played him this evil turn, and the incident first planted the seeds of the deadly hatred which was to bear such fatal fruit. "a notable treason has been played upon me," he wrote to jacques de maldere, "which has outraged my heart. all the despatches which i have been sending for several months to m. de barneveld have been communicated by copy in whole or in extracts to this court. villeroy quoted from them at our interview to-day, and i was left as it were without power of reply. the despatches were long, solid, omitting no particularity for giving means to form the best judgment of the designs and intrigues of this court. no greater damage could be done to me and my usefulness. all those from whom i have hitherto derived information, princes and great personages, will shut themselves up from me . . . . what can be more ticklish than to pass judgment on the tricks of those who are governing this state? this single blow has knocked me down completely. for i was moving about among all of them, making my profit of all, without any reserve. m. de barneveld knew by this means the condition of this kingdom as well as i do. certainly in a well-ordered republic it would cost the life of a man who had thus trifled with the reputation of an ambassador. i believe m. de barneveld will be sorry, but this will never restore to me the confidence which i have lost. if one was jealous of my position at this court, certainly i deserved rather pity from those who should contemplate it closely. if one wished to procure my downfall in order to raise oneself above me, there was no need of these tricks. i have been offering to resign my embassy this long time, which will now produce nothing but thorns for me. how can i negotiate after my private despatches have been read? l'hoste, the clerk of villeroy, was not so great a criminal as the man who revealed my despatches; and l'hoste was torn by four horses after his death. four months long i have been complaining of this to m. de barneveld. . . . patience! i am groaning without being able to hope for justice. i console myself, for my term of office will soon arrive. would that my embassy could have finished under the agreeable and friendly circumstances with which it began. the man who may succeed me will not find that this vile trick will help him much . . . . pray find out whence and from whom this intrigue has come." certainly an envoy's position could hardly be more utterly compromised. most unquestionably aerssens had reason to be indignant, believing as he did that his conscientious efforts in the service of his government had been made use of by his chief to undermine his credit and blast his character. there was an intrigue between the newly appointed french minister, de russy, at the hague and the enemies of aerssens to represent him to his own government as mischievous, passionate, unreasonably vehement in supporting the claims and dignity of his own country at the court to which he was accredited. not often in diplomatic history has an ambassador of a free state been censured or removed for believing and maintaining in controversy that his own government is in the right. it was natural that the french government should be disturbed by the vivid light which he had flashed upon their pernicious intrigues with spain to the detriment of the republic, and at the pertinacity with which he resisted their preposterous claim to be reimbursed for one-third of the money which the late king had advanced as a free subsidy towards the war of the netherlands for independence. but no injustice could be more outrageous than for the envoy's own government to unite with the foreign state in damaging the character of its own agent for the crime of fidelity to itself. of such cruel perfidy aerssens had been the victim, and he most wrongfully suspected his chief as its real perpetrator. the claim for what was called the "third" had been invented after the death of henry. as already explained, the "third" was not a gift from england to the netherlands. it was a loan from england to france, or more properly a consent to abstain from pressing for payment for this proportion of an old debt. james, who was always needy, had often desired, but never obtained, the payment of this sum from henry. now that the king was dead, he applied to the regent's government, and the regent's government called upon the netherlands, to pay the money. aerssens, as the agent of the republic, protested firmly against such claim. the money had been advanced by the king as a free gift, as his contribution to a war in which he was deeply interested, although he was nominally at peace with spain. as to the private arrangements between france and england, the republic, said the dutch envoy, was in no sense bound by them. he was no party to the treaty of hampton court, and knew nothing of its stipulations. courtiers and politicians in plenty at the french court, now that henry was dead, were quite sure that they had heard him say over and over again that the netherlands had bound themselves to pay the third. they persuaded mary de' medici that she likewise had often heard him say so, and induced her to take high ground on the subject in her interviews with aerssens. the luckless queen, who was always in want of money to satisfy the insatiable greed of her favourites, and to buy off the enmity of the great princes, was very vehement--although she knew as much of those transactions as of the finances of prester john or the lama of thibet --in maintaining this claim of her government upon the states. "after talking with the ministers," said aerssens, "i had an interview with the queen. i knew that she had been taught her lesson, to insist on the payment of the third. so i did not speak at all of the matter, but talked exclusively and at length of the french regiments in the states' service. she was embarrassed, and did not know exactly what to say. at last, without replying a single word to what i had been saying, she became very red in the face, and asked me if i were not instructed to speak of the money due to england. whereupon i spoke in the sense already indicated. she interrupted me by saying she had a perfect recollection that the late king intended and understood that we were to pay the third to england, and had talked with her very seriously on the subject. if he were living, he would think it very strange, she said, that we refused; and so on. "soissons, too, pretends to remember perfectly that such were the king's intentions. 'tis a very strange thing, sir. every one knows now the secrets of the late king, if you are willing to listen. yet he was not in the habit of taking all the world into his confidence. the queen takes her opinions as they give them to her. 'tis a very good princess, but i am sorry she is so ignorant of affairs. as she says she remembers, one is obliged to say one believes her. but i, who knew the king so intimately, and saw him so constantly, know that he could only have said that the third was paid in acquittal of his debts to and for account of the king of england, and not that we were to make restitution thereof. the chancellor tells me my refusal has been taken as an affront by the queen, and puysieux says it is a contempt which she can't swallow." aerssens on his part remained firm; his pertinacity being the greater as he thoroughly understood the subject which he was talking about, an advantage which was rarely shared in by those with whom he conversed. the queen, highly scandalized by his demeanour, became from that time forth his bitter enemy, and, as already stated, was resolved to be rid of him. nor was the envoy at first desirous of remaining. he had felt after henry's death and sully's disgrace, and the complete transformation of the france which he had known, that his power of usefulness was gone. "our enemies," he said, "have got the advantage which i used to have in times past, and i recognize a great coldness towards us, which is increasing every day." nevertheless, he yielded reluctantly to barneveld's request that he should for the time at least remain at his post. later on, as the intrigues against him began to unfold themselves, and his faithful services were made use of at home to blacken his character and procure his removal, he refused to resign, as to do so would be to play into the hands of his enemies, and by inference at least to accuse himself of infidelity to his trust. but his concealed rage and his rancor grew more deadly every day. he was fully aware of the plots against him, although he found it difficult to trace them to their source. "i doubt not," he wrote to jacques de maldere, the distinguished diplomatist and senator, who had recently returned from his embassy to england, "that this beautiful proposition of de russy has been sent to your province of zealand. does it not seem to you a plot well woven as well in holland as at this court to remove me from my post with disreputation? what have i done that should cause the queen to disapprove my proceedings? since the death of the late king i have always opposed the third, which they have been trying to fix upon the treasury, on the ground that henry never spoke to me of restitution, that the receipts given were simple ones, and that the money given was spent for the common benefit of france and the states under direction of the king's government. but i am expected here to obey m. de villeroy, who says that it was the intention of the late king to oblige us to make the payment. i am not accustomed to obey authority if it be not supported by reason. it is for my masters to reply and to defend me. the queen has no reason to complain. i have maintained the interests of my superiors. but this is not the cause of the complaints. my misfortune is that all my despatches have been sent from holland in copy to this court. most of them contained free pictures of the condition and dealings of those who govern here. m. de villeroy has found himself depicted often, and now under pretext of a public negotiation he has found an opportunity of revenging himself . . . . besides this cause which villeroy has found for combing my head, russy has given notice here that i have kept my masters in the hopes of being honourably exempted from the claims of this government. the long letter which i wrote to m. de barneveld justifies my proceedings." it is no wonder that the ambassador was galled to the quick by the outrage which those concerned in the government were seeking to put upon him. how could an honest man fail to be overwhelmed with rage and anguish at being dishonoured before the world by his masters for scrupulously doing his duty, and for maintaining the rights and dignity of his own country? he knew that the charges were but pretexts, that the motives of his enemies were as base as the intrigues themselves, but he also knew that the world usually sides with the government against the individual, and that a man's reputation is rarely strong enough to maintain itself unsullied in a foreign land when his own government stretches forth its hand not to, shield, but to stab him. [see the similarity of aerssens position to that of motley years later, in the biographical sketch of motley by oliver wendell holmes. d.w.] "i know," he said, "that this plot has been woven partly in holland and partly here by good correspondence, in order to drive me from my post with disreputation. to this has tended the communication of my despatches to make me lose my best friends. this too was the object of the particular imparting to de russy of all my propositions, in order to draw a complaint against me from this court. "but as i have discovered this accurately, i have resolved to offer to my masters the continuance of my very humble service for such time and under such conditions as they may think good to prescribe. i prefer forcing my natural and private inclinations to giving an opportunity for the ministers of this kingdom to discredit us, and to my enemies to succeed in injuring me, and by fraud and malice to force me from my post . . . i am truly sorry, being ready to retire, wishing to have an honourable testimony in recompense of my labours, that one is in such hurry to take advantage of my fall. i cannot believe that my masters wish to suffer this. they are too prudent, and cannot be ignorant of the treachery which has been practised on me. i have maintained their cause. if they have chosen to throw down the fruits of my industry, the blame should be imputed to those who consider their own ambition more than the interests of the public . . . . what envoy will ever dare to speak with vigour if he is not sustained by the government at home? . . . . . . my enemies have misrepresented my actions, and my language as passionate, exaggerated, mischievous, but i have no passion except for the service of my superiors. they say that i have a dark and distrustful disposition, but i have been alarmed at the alliance now forming here with the king of spain, through the policy of m. de villeroy. i was the first to discover this intrigue, which they thought buried in the bosom of the triumvirate. i gave notice of it to my lords the states as in duty bound. it all came back to the government in the copies furnished of my secret despatches. this is the real source of the complaints against me. the rest of the charges, relating to the third and other matters, are but pretexts. to parry the blow, they pretend that all that is said and done with the spaniard is but feigning. who is going to believe that? has not the pope intervened in the affair? . . . i tell you they are furious here because i have my eyes open. i see too far into their affairs to suit their purposes. a new man would suit them better." his position was hopelessly compromised. he remained in paris, however, month after month, and even year after year, defying his enemies both at the queen's court and in holland, feeding fat the grudge he bore to barneveld as the supposed author of the intrigue against him, and drawing closer the personal bands which united him to bouillon and through him to prince maurice. the wrath of the ambassador flamed forth without disguise against barneveld and all his adherents when his removal, as will be related on a subsequent page, was at last effected. and his hatred was likely to be deadly. a man with a shrewd, vivid face, cleanly cut features and a restless eye; wearing a close-fitting skull cap, which gave him something the lock of a monk, but with the thoroughbred and facile demeanour of one familiar with the world; stealthy, smooth, and cruel, a man coldly intellectual, who feared no one, loved but few, and never forgot or forgave; francis d'aerssens, devoured by ambition and burning with revenge, was a dangerous enemy. time was soon to show whether it was safe to injure him. barneveld, from well-considered motives of public policy, was favouring his honourable recall. but he allowed a decorous interval of more than three years to elapse in which to terminate his affairs, and to take a deliberate departure from that french embassy to which the advocate had originally promoted him, and in which there had been so many years of mutual benefit and confidence between the two statesmen. he used no underhand means. he did not abuse the power of the states-general which he wielded to cast him suddenly and brutally from the distinguished post which he occupied, and so to attempt to dishonour him before the world. nothing could be more respectful and conciliatory than the attitude of the government from first to last towards this distinguished functionary. the republic respected itself too much to deal with honourable agents whose services it felt obliged to dispense with as with vulgar malefactors who had been detected in crime. but aerssens believed that it was the advocate who had caused copies of his despatches to be sent to the french court, and that he had deliberately and for a fixed purpose been undermining his influence at home and abroad and blackening his character. all his ancient feelings of devotion, if they had ever genuinely existed towards his former friend and patron, turned to gall. he was almost ready to deny that he had ever respected barneveld, appreciated his public services, admired his intellect, or felt gratitude for his guidance. a fierce controversy--to which at a later period it will be necessary to call the reader's attention, because it is intimately connected with dark scenes afterwards to be enacted--took place between the late ambassador and cornelis van der myle. meantime barneveld pursued the policy which he had marked out for the states-general in regard to france. certainly it was a difficult problem. there could be no doubt that metamorphosed france could only be a dangerous ally for the republic. it was in reality impossible that she should be her ally at all. and this barneveld knew. still it was better, so he thought, for the netherlands that france should exist than that it should fall into utter decomposition. france, though under the influence of spain, and doubly allied by marriage contracts to spain, was better than spain itself in the place of france. this seemed to be the only choice between two evils. should the whole weight of the states-general be thrown into the scale of the malcontent and mutinous princes against the established but tottering government of france, it was difficult to say how soon spain might literally, as well as inferentially, reign in paris. between the rebellion and the legitimate government, therefore, barneveld did not hesitate. france, corporate france, with which the republic had bean so long in close and mutually advantageous alliance, and from whose late monarch she had received such constant and valuable benefits, was in the advocate's opinion the only power to be recognised, papal and spanish though it was. the advantage of an alliance with the fickle, self- seeking, and ever changing mutiny, that was seeking to make use of protestantism to effect its own ends, was in his eyes rather specious than real. by this policy, while making the breach irreparable with aerssens and as many leading politicians as aerssens could influence, he first brought on himself the stupid accusation of swerving towards spain. dull murmurs like these, which were now but faintly making themselves heard against the reputation of the advocate, were destined ere long to swell into a mighty roar; but he hardly listened now to insinuations which seemed infinitely below his contempt. he still effectually ruled the nation through his influence in the states of holland, where he reigned supreme. thus far barneveld and my lords the states-general were one personage. but there was another great man in the state who had at last grown impatient of the advocate's power, and was secretly resolved to brook it no longer. maurice of nassau had felt himself too long rebuked by the genius of the advocate. the prince had perhaps never forgiven him for the political guardianship which he had exercised over him ever since the death of william the silent. he resented the leading strings by which his youthful footstep had been sustained, and which he seemed always to feel about his limbs so long as barneveld existed. he had never forgotten the unpalatable advice given to him by the advocate through the princess-dowager. the brief campaign in cleve and julich was the last great political operation in which the two were likely to act in even apparent harmony. but the rivalry between the two had already pronounced itself emphatically during the negotiations for the truce. the advocate had felt it absolutely necessary for the republic to suspend the war at the first moment when she could treat with her ancient sovereign on a footing of equality. spain, exhausted with the conflict, had at last consented to what she considered the humiliation of treating with her rebellious provinces as with free states over which she claimed no authority. the peace party, led by barneveld, had triumphed, notwithstanding the steady opposition of prince maurice and his adherents. why had maurice opposed the treaty? because his vocation was over, because he was the greatest captain of the age, because his emoluments, his consideration, his dignity before the world, his personal power, were all vastly greater in war than in his opinion they could possibly be in peace. it was easy for him to persuade himself that what was manifestly for his individual interest was likewise essential to the prosperity of the country. the diminution in his revenues consequent on the return to peace was made good to him, his brother, and his cousin, by most munificent endowments and pensions. and it was owing to the strenuous exertions of the advocate that these large sums were voted. a hollow friendship was kept up between the two during the first few years of the truce, but resentment and jealousy lay deep in maurice's heart. at about the period of the return of aerssens from his french embassy, the suppressed fire was ready to flame forth at the first fanning by that artful hand. it was impossible, so aerssens thought and whispered, that two heads could remain on one body politic. there was no room in the netherlands for both the advocate and the prince. barneveld was in all civil affairs dictator, chief magistrate, supreme judge; but he occupied this high station by the force of intellect, will, and experience, not through any constitutional provision. in time of war the prince was generalissimo, commander-in-chief of all the armies of the republic. yet constitutionally he was not captain-general at all. he was only stadholder of five out of seven provinces. barneveld suspected him of still wishing to make himself sovereign of the country. perhaps his suspicions were incorrect. yet there was every reason why maurice should be ambitious of that position. it would have been in accordance with the openly expressed desire of henry iv. and other powerful allies of the netherlands. his father's assassination had alone prevented his elevation to the rank of sovereign count of holland. the federal policy of the provinces had drifted into a republican form after their renunciation of their spanish sovereign, not because the people, or the states as representing the people, had deliberately chosen a republican system, but because they could get no powerful monarch to accept the sovereignty. they had offered to become subjects of protestant england and of catholic france. both powers had refused the offer, and refused it with something like contumely. however deep the subsequent regret on the part of both, there was no doubt of the fact. but the internal policy in all the provinces, and in all the towns, was republican. local self-government existed everywhere. each city magistracy was a little republic in itself. the death of william the silent, before he had been invested with the sovereign power of all seven provinces, again left that sovereignty in abeyance. was the supreme power of the union, created at utrecht in , vested in the states- general? they were beginning theoretically to claim it, but barneveld denied the existence of any such power either in law or fact. it was a league of sovereignties, he maintained; a confederacy of seven independent states, united for certain purposes by a treaty made some thirty years before. nothing could be more imbecile, judging by the light of subsequent events and the experience of centuries, than such an organization. the independent and sovereign republic of zealand or of groningen, for example, would have made a poor figure campaigning, or negotiating, or exhibiting itself on its own account before the world. yet it was difficult to show any charter, precedent, or prescription for the sovereignty of the states-general. necessary as such an incorporation was for the very existence of the union, no constitutional union had ever been enacted. practically the province of holland, representing more than half the population, wealth, strength, and intellect of the whole confederation, had achieved an irregular supremacy in the states-general. but its undeniable superiority was now causing a rank growth of envy, hatred, and jealousy throughout the country, and the great advocate of holland, who was identified with the province, and had so long wielded its power, was beginning to reap the full harvest of that malice. thus while there was so much of vagueness in theory and practice as to the sovereignty, there was nothing criminal on the part of maurice if he was ambitious of obtaining the sovereignty himself. he was not seeking to compass it by base artifice or by intrigue of any kind. it was very natural that he should be restive under the dictatorship of the advocate. if a single burgher and lawyer could make himself despot of the netherlands, how much more reasonable that he--with the noblest blood of europe in his veins, whose direct ancestor three centuries before had been emperor not only of those provinces, but of all germany and half christendom besides, whose immortal father had under god been the creator and saviour of the new commonwealth, had made sacrifices such as man never made for a people, and had at last laid down his life in its defence; who had himself fought daily from boyhood upwards in the great cause, who had led national armies from victory to victory till he had placed his country as a military school and a belligerent power foremost among the nations, and had at last so exhausted and humbled the great adversary and former tyrant that he had been glad of a truce while the rebel chief would have preferred to continue the war--should aspire to rule by hereditary right a land with which his name and his race were indelibly associated by countless sacrifices and heroic achievements. it was no crime in maurice to desire the sovereignty. it was still less a crime in barneveld to believe that he desired it. there was no special reason why the prince should love the republican form of government provided that an hereditary one could be legally substituted for it. he had sworn allegiance to the statutes, customs, and privileges of each of the provinces of which he had been elected stadholder, but there would have been no treason on his part if the name and dignity of stadholder should be changed by the states themselves for those of king or sovereign prince. yet it was a chief grievance against the advocate on the part of the prince that barneveld believed him capable of this ambition. the republic existed as a fact, but it had not long existed, nor had it ever received a formal baptism. so undefined was its constitution, and so conflicting were the various opinions in regard to it of eminent men, that it would be difficult to say how high-treason could be committed against it. great lawyers of highest intellect and learning believed the sovereign power to reside in the separate states, others found that sovereignty in the city magistracies, while during a feverish period of war and tumult the supreme function had without any written constitution, any organic law, practically devolved upon the states-general, who had now begun to claim it as a right. the republic was neither venerable by age nor impregnable in law. it was an improvised aristocracy of lawyers, manufacturers, bankers, and corporations which had done immense work and exhibited astonishing sagacity and courage, but which might never have achieved the independence of the provinces unaided by the sword of orange-nassau and the magic spell which belonged to that name. thus a bitter conflict was rapidly developing itself in the heart of the commonwealth. there was the civil element struggling with the military for predominance; sword against gown; states' rights against central authority; peace against war; above all the rivalry of one prominent personage against another, whose mutual hatred was now artfully inflamed by partisans. and now another element of discord had come, more potent than all the rest: the terrible, never ending, struggle of church against state. theological hatred which forty years long had found vent in the exchange of acrimony between the ancient and the reformed churches was now assuming other shapes. religion in that age and country was more than has often been the case in history the atmosphere of men's daily lives. but during the great war for independence, although the hostility between the two religious forces was always intense, it was modified especially towards the close of the struggle by other controlling influences. the love of independence and the passion for nationality, the devotion to ancient political privileges, was often as fervid and genuine in catholic bosoms as in those of protestants, and sincere adherents of the ancient church had fought to the death against spain in defence of chartered rights. at that very moment it is probable that half the population of the united provinces was catholic. yet it would be ridiculous to deny that the aggressive, uncompromising; self-sacrificing, intensely believing, perfectly fearless spirit of calvinism had been the animating soul, the motive power of the great revolt. for the provinces to have encountered spain and rome without calvinism, and relying upon municipal enthusiasm only, would have been to throw away the sword and fight with the scabbard. but it is equally certain that those hot gospellers who had suffered so much martyrdom and achieved so many miracles were fully aware of their power and despotic in its exercise. against the oligarchy of commercial and juridical corporations they stood there the most terrible aristocracy of all: the aristocracy of god's elect, predestined from all time and to all eternity to take precedence of and to look down upon their inferior and lost fellow creatures. it was inevitable that this aristocracy, which had done so much, which had breathed into a new-born commonwealth the breath of its life, should be intolerant, haughty, dogmatic. the church of rome, which had been dethroned after inflicting such exquisite tortures during its period of power, was not to raise its head. although so large a proportion of the inhabitants of the country were secretly or openly attached to that faith, it was a penal offence to participate openly in its rites and ceremonies. religious equality, except in the minds of a few individuals, was an unimaginable idea. there was still one church which arrogated to itself the sole possession of truth, the church of geneva. those who admitted the possibility of other forms and creeds were either atheists or, what was deemed worse than atheists, papists, because papists were assumed to be traitors also, and desirous of selling the country to spain. an undevout man in that land and at that epoch was an almost unknown phenomenon. religion was as much a recognized necessity of existence as food or drink. it were as easy to find people about without clothes as without religious convictions. the advocate, who had always adhered to the humble spirit of his ancestral device, "nil scire tutissima fedes," and almost alone among his fellow citizens (save those immediate apostles and pupils of his who became involved in his fate) in favour of religious toleration, began to be suspected of treason and papacy because, had he been able to give the law, it was thought he would have permitted such horrors as the public exercise of the roman catholic religion. the hissings and screamings of the vulgar against him as he moved forward on his stedfast course he heeded less than those of geese on a common. but there was coming a time when this proud and scornful statesman, conscious of the superiority conferred by great talents and unparalleled experience, would find it less easy to treat the voice of slanderers, whether idiots or powerful and intellectual enemies, with contempt. chapter viii. schism in the church a public fact--struggle for power between the sacerdotal and political orders--dispute between arminius and gomarus--rage of james i. at the appointment of voratius--arminians called remonstrants--hague conference--contra-remonstrance by gomarites of seven points to the remonstrants' five--fierce theological disputes throughout the country--ryswyk secession-- maurice wishes to remain neutral, but finds himself the chieftain of the contra-remonstrant party--the states of holland remonstrant by a large majority--the states-general contra-remonstrant--sir ralph winwood leaves the hague--three armies to take the field against protestantism. schism in the church had become a public fact, and theological hatred was in full blaze throughout the country. the great practical question in the church had been as to the appointment of preachers, wardens, schoolmasters, and other officers. by the ecclesiastical arrangements of great power was conceded to the civil authority in church matters, especially in regard to such appointments, which were made by a commission consisting of four members named by the churches and four by the magistrates in each district. barneveld, who above all things desired peace in the church, had wished to revive this ordinance, and in it had been resolved by the states of holland that each city or village should, if the magistracy approved, provisionally conform to it. the states of utrecht made at the same time a similar arrangement. it was the controversy which has been going on since the beginning of history and is likely to be prolonged to the end of time--the struggle for power between the sacerdotal and political orders; the controversy whether priests shall control the state or the state govern the priests. this was the practical question involved in the fierce dispute as to dogma. the famous duel between arminius and gomarus; the splendid theological tournaments which succeeded; six champions on a side armed in full theological panoply and swinging the sharpest curtal axes which learning, passion, and acute intellect could devise, had as yet produced no beneficent result. nobody had been convinced by the shock of argument, by the exchange of those desperate blows. the high council of the hague had declared that no difference of opinion in the church existed sufficient to prevent fraternal harmony and happiness. but gomarus loudly declared that, if there were no means of putting down the heresy of arminius, there would before long be a struggle such as would set province against province, village against village, family against family, throughout the land. he should be afraid to die in such doctrine. he shuddered that any one should dare to come before god's tribunal with such blasphemies. meantime his great adversary, the learned and eloquent, the musical, frolicsome, hospitable heresiarch was no more. worn out with controversy, but peaceful and happy in the convictions which were so bitterly denounced by gomarus and a large proportion of both preachers and laymen in the netherlands, and convinced that the schism which in his view had been created by those who called themselves the orthodox would weaken the cause of protestantism throughout europe, arminius died at the age of forty-nine. the magistrates throughout holland, with the exception of a few cities, were arminian, the preachers gomarian; for arminius ascribed to the civil authority the right to decide upon church matters, while gomarus maintained that ecclesiastical affairs should be regulated in ecclesiastical assemblies. the overseers of leyden university appointed conrad vorstius to be professor of theology in place of arminius. the selection filled to the brim the cup of bitterness, for no man was more audaciously latitudinarian than he. he was even suspected of socinianism. there came a shriek from king james, fierce and shrill enough to rouse arminius from his grave. james foamed to the mouth at the insolence of the overseers in appointing such a monster of infidelity to the professorship. he ordered his books to be publicly burned in st. paul's churchyard and at both universities, and would have burned the professor himself with as much delight as torquemada or peter titelman ever felt in roasting their victims, had not the day for such festivities gone by. he ordered the states of holland on pain of for ever forfeiting his friendship to exclude vorstius at once from the theological chair and to forbid him from "nestling anywhere in the country." he declared his amazement that they should tolerate such a pest as conrad vorstius. had they not had enough of the seed sown by that foe of god, arminius? he ordered the states-general to chase the blasphemous monster from the land, or else he would cut off all connection with their false and heretic churches and make the other reformed churches of europe do the same, nor should the youth of england ever be allowed to frequent the university of leyden. in point of fact the professor was never allowed to qualify, to preach, or to teach; so tremendous was the outcry of peter plancius and many orthodox preachers, echoing the wrath of the king. he lived at gouda in a private capacity for several years, until the synod of dordrecht at last publicly condemned his opinions and deprived him of his professorship. meantime, the preachers who were disciples of arminius had in a private assembly drawn up what was called a remonstrance, addressed to the states of holland, and defending themselves from the reproach that they were seeking change in the divine service and desirous of creating tumult and schism. this remonstrance, set forth by the pen of the famous uytenbogaert, whom gomarus called the court trumpeter, because for a long time he had been prince maurice's favourite preacher, was placed in the hands of barneveld, for delivery to the states of holland. thenceforth the arminians were called remonstrants. the hague conference followed, six preachers on a side, and the states of holland exhorted to fraternal compromise. until further notice, they decreed that no man should be required to believe more than had been laid down in the five points: i. god has from eternity resolved to choose to eternal life those who through his grace believe in jesus christ, and in faith and obedience so continue to the end, and to condemn the unbelieving and unconverted to eternal damnation. ii. jesus christ died for all; so, nevertheless, that no one actually except believers is redeemed by his death. iii. man has not the saving belief from himself, nor out of his free will, but he needs thereto god's grace in christ. iv. this grace is the beginning, continuation, and completion of man's salvation; all good deeds must be ascribed to it, but it does not work irresistibly. v. god's grace gives sufficient strength to the true believers to overcome evil; but whether they cannot lose grace should be more closely examined before it should be taught in full security. afterwards they expressed themselves more distinctly on this point, and declared that a true believer, through his own fault, can fall away from god and lose faith. before the conference, however, the gomarite preachers had drawn up a contra-remonstrance of seven points in opposition to the remonstrants' five. they demanded the holding of a national synod to settle the difference between these five and seven points, or the sending of them to foreign universities for arbitration, a mutual promise being given by the contending parties to abide by the decision. thus much it has been necessary to state concerning what in the seventeenth century was called the platform of the two great parties: a term which has been perpetuated in our own country, and is familiar to all the world in the nineteenth. these were the seven points: i. god has chosen from eternity certain persons out of the human race, which in and with adam fell into sin and has no more power to believe and convert itself than a dead man to restore himself to life, in order to make them blessed through christ; while he passes by the rest through his righteous judgment, and leaves them lying in their sins. ii. children of believing parents, as well as full-grown believers, are to be considered as elect so long as they with action do not prove the contrary. iii. god in his election has not looked at the belief and the repentance of the elect; but, on the contrary, in his eternal and unchangeable design, has resolved to give to the elect faith and stedfastness, and thus to make them blessed. iv. he, to this end, in the first place, presented to them his only begotten son, whose sufferings, although sufficient for the expiation of all men's sins, nevertheless, according to god's decree, serves alone to the reconciliation of the elect. v. god causest he gospel to be preached to them, making the same through the holy ghost, of strength upon their minds; so that they not merely obtain power to repent and to believe, but also actually and voluntarily do repent and believe. vi. such elect, through the same power of the holy ghost through which they have once become repentant and believing, are kept in such wise that they indeed through weakness fall into heavy sins; but can never wholly and for always lose the true faith. vii. true believers from this, however, draw no reason for fleshly quiet, it being impossible that they who through a true faith were planted in christ should bring forth no fruits of thankfulness; the promises of god's help and the warnings of scripture tending to make their salvation work in them in fear and trembling, and to cause them more earnestly to desire help from that spirit without which they can do nothing. there shall be no more setting forth of these subtle and finely wrought abstractions in our pages. we aspire not to the lofty heights of theological and supernatural contemplation, where the atmosphere becomes too rarefied for ordinary constitutions. rather we attempt an objective and level survey of remarkable phenomena manifesting themselves on the earth; direct or secondary emanations from those distant spheres. for in those days, and in that land especially, theology and politics were one. it may be questioned at least whether this practical fusion of elements, which may with more safety to the commonwealth be kept separate, did not tend quite as much to lower and contaminate the religious sentiments as to elevate the political idea. to mix habitually the solemn phraseology which men love to reserve for their highest and most sacred needs with the familiar slang of politics and trade seems to our generation not a very desirable proceeding. the aroma of doubly distilled and highly sublimated dogma is more difficult to catch than to comprehend the broader and more practical distinctions of every-day party strife. king james was furious at the thought that common men--the vulgar, the people in short--should dare to discuss deep problems of divinity which, as he confessed, had puzzled even his royal mind. barneveld modestly disclaimed the power of seeing with absolute clearness into things beyond the reach of the human intellect. but the honest netherlanders were not abashed by thunder from the royal pulpit, nor perplexed by hesitations which darkened the soul of the great advocate. in burghers' mansions, peasants' cottages, mechanics' back-parlours, on board herring smacks, canal boats, and east indiamen; in shops, counting- rooms, farmyards, guard-rooms, ale-houses; on the exchange, in the tennis-court, on the mall; at banquets, at burials, christenings, or bridals; wherever and whenever human creatures met each other, there was ever to be found the fierce wrangle of remonstrant and contra- remonstrant, the hissing of red-hot theological rhetoric, the pelting of hostile texts. the blacksmith's iron cooled on the anvil, the tinker dropped a kettle half mended, the broker left a bargain unclinched, the scheveningen fisherman in his wooden shoes forgot the cracks in his pinkie, while each paused to hold high converse with friend or foe on fate, free will, or absolute foreknowledge; losing himself in wandering mazes whence there was no issue. province against province, city against city, family against family; it was one vast scene of bickering, denunciation, heart-burnings, mutual excommunication and hatred. alas! a generation of mankind before, men had stood banded together to resist, with all the might that comes from union, the fell spirit of the holy inquisition, which was dooming all who had wandered from the ancient fold or resisted foreign tyranny to the axe, the faggot, the living grave. there had been small leisure then for men who fought for fatherland, and for comparative liberty of conscience, to tear each others' characters in pieces, and to indulge in mutual hatreds and loathing on the question of predestination. as a rule the population, especially of the humbler classes, and a great majority of the preachers were contra-remonstrant; the magistrates, the burgher patricians, were remonstrant. in holland the controlling influence was remonstrant; but amsterdam and four or five other cities of that province held to the opposite doctrine. these cities formed therefore a small minority in the states assembly of holland sustained by a large majority in the states-general. the province of utrecht was almost unanimously remonstrant. the five other provinces were decidedly contra-remonstrant. it is obvious therefore that the influence of barneveld, hitherto so all- controlling in the states-general, and which rested on the complete submission of the states of holland to his will, was tottering. the battle-line between church and state was now drawn up; and it was at the same time a battle between the union and the principles of state sovereignty. it had long since been declared through the mouth of the advocate, but in a solemn state manifesto, that my lords the states-general were the foster-fathers and the natural protectors of the church, to whom supreme authority in church matters belonged. the contra-remonstrants, on the other hand, maintained that all the various churches made up one indivisible church, seated above the states, whether provincial or general, and governed by the holy ghost acting directly upon the congregations. as the schism grew deeper and the states-general receded from the position which they had taken up under the lead of the advocate, the scene was changed. a majority of the provinces being contra-remonstrant, and therefore in favour of a national synod, the states-general as a body were of necessity for the synod. it was felt by the clergy that, if many churches existed, they would all remain subject to the civil authority. the power of the priesthood would thus sink before that of the burgher aristocracy. there must be one church--the church of geneva and heidelberg--if that theocracy which the gomarites meant to establish was not to vanish as a dream. it was founded on divine right, and knew no chief magistrate but the holy ghost. a few years before the states-general had agreed to a national synod, but with a condition that there should be revision of the netherland confession and the heidelberg catechism. against this the orthodox infallibilists had protested and thundered, because it was an admission that the vile arminian heresy might perhaps be declared correct. it was now however a matter of certainty that the states-general would cease to oppose the unconditional synod, because the majority sided with the priesthood. the magistrates of leyden had not long before opposed the demand for a synod on the ground that the war against spain was not undertaken to maintain one sect; that men of various sects and creeds had fought with equal valour against the common foe; that religious compulsion was hateful, and that no synod had a right to claim netherlanders as slaves. to thoughtful politicians like barneveld, hugo grotius, and men who acted with them, fraught with danger to the state, that seemed a doctrine by which mankind were not regarded as saved or doomed according to belief or deeds, but as individuals divided from all eternity into two classes which could never be united, but must ever mutually regard each other as enemies. and like enemies netherlanders were indeed beginning to regard each other. the man who, banded like brothers, had so heroically fought for two generations long for liberty against an almost superhuman despotism, now howling and jeering against each other like demons, seemed determined to bring the very name of liberty into contempt. where the remonstrants were in the ascendant, they excited the hatred and disgust of the orthodox by their overbearing determination to carry their five points. a broker in rotterdam of the contra-remonstrant persuasion, being about to take a wife, swore he had rather be married by a pig than a parson. for this sparkling epigram he was punished by the remonstrant magistracy with loss of his citizenship for a year and the right to practise his trade for life. a casuistical tinker, expressing himself violently in the same city against the five points, and disrespectfully towards the magistrates for tolerating them, was banished from the town. a printer in the neighbourhood, disgusted with these and similar efforts of tyranny on the part of the dominant party, thrust a couple of lines of doggrel into the lottery: "in name of the prince of orange, i ask once and again, what difference between the inquisition of rotterdam and spain?" for this poetical effort the printer was sentenced to forfeit the prize that he had drawn in the lottery, and to be kept in prison on bread and water for a fortnight. certainly such punishments were hardly as severe as being beheaded or burned or buried alive, as would have been the lot of tinkers and printers and brokers who opposed the established church in the days of alva, but the demon of intolerance, although its fangs were drawn, still survived, and had taken possession of both parties in the reformed church. for it was the remonstrants who had possession of the churches at rotterdam, and the printer's distich is valuable as pointing out that the name of orange was beginning to identify itself with the contra- remonstrant faction. at this time, on the other hand, the gabble that barneveld had been bought by spanish gold, and was about to sell his country to spain, became louder than a whisper. men were not ashamed, from theological hatred, to utter such senseless calumnies against a venerable statesman whose long life had been devoted to the cause of his country's independence and to the death struggle with spain. as if because a man admitted the possibility of all his fellow-creatures being saved from damnation through repentance and the grace of god, he must inevitably be a traitor to his country and a pensionary of her deadliest foe. and where the contra-remonstrants held possession of the churches and the city governments, acts of tyranny which did not then seem ridiculous were of everyday occurrence. clergymen, suspected of the five points, were driven out of the pulpits with bludgeons or assailed with brickbats at the church door. at amsterdam, simon goulart, for preaching the doctrine of universal salvation and for disputing the eternal damnation of young children, was forbidden thenceforth to preach at all. but it was at the hague that the schism in religion and politics first fatally widened itself. henry rosaeus, an eloquent divine, disgusted with his colleague uytenbogaert, refused all communion with him, and was in consequence suspended. excluded from the great church, where he had formerly ministered, he preached every sunday at ryswyk, two or three miles distant. seven hundred contra-remonstrants of the hague followed their beloved pastor, and, as the roads to ryswyk were muddy and sloppy in winter, acquired the unsavoury nickname of the "mud beggars." the vulgarity of heart which suggested the appellation does not inspire to-day great sympathy with the remonstrant party, even if one were inclined to admit, what is not the fact, that they represented the cause of religious equality. for even the illustrious grotius was at that very moment repudiating the notion that there could be two religions in one state. "difference in public worship," he said, "was in kingdoms pernicious, but in free commonwealths in the highest degree destructive." it was the struggle between church and state for supremacy over the whole body politic. "the reformation," said grotius, "was not brought about by synods, but by kings, princes, and magistrates." it was the same eternal story, the same terrible two-edged weapon, "cujus reggio ejus religio," found in the arsenal of the first reformers, and in every politico- religious arsenal of history. "by an eternal decree of god," said gomarus in accordance with calvin, "it has been fixed who are to be saved and who damned. by his decree some are drawn to faith and godliness, and, being drawn, can never fall away. god leaves all the rest in the general corruption of human nature and their own misdeeds." "god has from eternity made this distinction in the fallen human race," said arminius, "that he pardons those who desist from their sins and put their faith in christ, and will give them eternal life, but will punish those who remain impenitent. moreover, it is pleasanter to god that all men should repent, and, coming to knowledge of truth, remain therein, but he compels none." this was the vital difference of dogma. and it was because they could hold no communion with those who believed in the efficacy of repentance that rosaeus and his followers had seceded to ryswyk, and the reformed church had been torn into two very unequal parts. but it is difficult to believe that out of this arid field of controversy so plentiful a harvest of hatred and civil convulsion could have ripened. more practical than the insoluble problems, whether repentance could effect salvation, and whether dead infants were hopelessly damned, was the question who should rule both church and state. there could be but one church. on that remonstrants and contra- remonstrants were agreed. but should the five points or the seven points obtain the mastery? should that framework of hammered iron, the confession and catechism, be maintained in all its rigidity around the sheepfold, or should the disciples of the arch-heretic arminius, the salvation-mongers, be permitted to prowl within it? was barneveld, who hated the reformed religion (so men told each other), and who believed in nothing, to continue dictator of the whole republic through his influence over one province, prescribing its religious dogmas and laying down its laws; or had not the time come for the states-general to vindicate the rights of the church, and to crush for ever the pernicious principle of state sovereignty and burgher oligarchy? the abyss was wide and deep, and the wild waves were raging more madly every hour. the advocate, anxious and troubled, but undismayed, did his best in the terrible emergency. he conferred with prince maurice on the subject of the ryswyk secession, and men said that he sought to impress upon him, as chief of the military forces, the necessity of putting down religious schism with the armed hand. the prince had not yet taken a decided position. he was still under the influence of john uytenbogaert, who with arminius and the advocate made up the fateful three from whom deadly disasters were deemed to have come upon the commonwealth. he wished to remain neutral. but no man can be neutral in civil contentions threatening the life of the body politic any more than the heart can be indifferent if the human frame is sawn in two. "i am a soldier," said maurice, "not a divine. these are matters of theology which i don't understand, and about which i don't trouble myself." on another occasion he is reported to have said, "i know nothing of predestination, whether it is green or whether it is blue; but i do know that the advocate's pipe and mine will never play the same tune." it was not long before he fully comprehended the part which he must necessarily play. to say that he was indifferent to religious matters was as ridiculous as to make a like charge against barneveld. both were religious men. it would have been almost impossible to find an irreligious character in that country, certainly not among its highest- placed and leading minds. maurice had strong intellectual powers. he was a regular attendant on divine worship, and was accustomed to hear daily religious discussions. to avoid them indeed, he would have been obliged not only to fly his country, but to leave europe. he had a profound reverence for the memory of his father, calbo y calbanista, as william the silent had called himself. but the great prince had died before these fierce disputes had torn the bosom of the reformed church, and while reformers still were brethren. but if maurice were a religious man, he was also a keen politician; a less capable politician, however, than a soldier, for he was confessedly the first captain of his age. he was not rapid in his conceptions, but he was sure in the end to comprehend his opportunity. the church, the people, the union--the sacerdotal, the democratic, and the national element--united under a name so potent to conjure with as the name of orange-nassau, was stronger than any other possible combination. instinctively and logically therefore the stadholder found himself the chieftain of the contra-remonstrant party, and without the necessity of an apostasy such as had been required of his great contemporary to make himself master of france. the power of barneveld and his partisans was now put to a severe strain. his efforts to bring back the hague seceders were powerless. the influence of uytenbogaert over the stadholder steadily diminished. he prayed to be relieved from his post in the great church of the hague, especially objecting to serve with a contra-remonstrant preacher whom maurice wished to officiate there in place of the seceding rosaeus. but the stadholder refused to let him go, fearing his influence in other places. "there is stuff in him," said maurice, "to outweigh half a dozen contra-remonstrant preachers." everywhere in holland the opponents of the five points refused to go to the churches, and set up tabernacles for themselves in barns, outhouses, canal-boats. and the authorities in town and village nailed up the barn-doors, and dispersed the canal boat congregations, while the populace pelted them with stones. the seceders appealed to the stadholder, pleading that at least they ought to be allowed to hear the word of god as they understood it without being forced into churches where they were obliged to hear arminian blasphemy. at least their barns might be left them. "barns," said maurice, "barns and outhouses! are we to preach in barns? the churches belong to us, and we mean to have them too." not long afterwards the stadholder, clapping his hand on his sword hilt, observed that these differences could only be settled by force of arms. an ominous remark and a dreary comment on the forty years' war against the inquisition. and the same scenes that were enacting in holland were going on in overyssel and friesland and groningen; but with a difference. here it was the five points men who were driven into secession, whose barns were nailed up, and whose preachers were mobbed. a lugubrious spectacle, but less painful certainly than the hangings and drownings and burnings alive in the previous century to prevent secession from the indivisible church. it is certain that stadholders and all other magistrates ever since the establishment of independence were sworn to maintain the reformed religion and to prevent a public divine worship under any other form. it is equally certain that by the th article of the act of union--the organic law of the confederation made at utrecht in --each province reserved for itself full control of religious questions. it would indeed seem almost unimaginable in a country where not only every province, but every city, every municipal board, was so jealous of its local privileges and traditional rights that the absolute disposition over the highest, gravest, and most difficult questions that can inspire and perplex humanity should be left to a general government, and one moreover which had scarcely come into existence. yet into this entirely illogical position the commonwealth was steadily drifting. the cause was simple enough. the states of holland, as already observed, were remonstrant by a large majority. the states- general were contra-remonstrant by a still greater majority. the church, rigidly attached to the confession and catechism, and refusing all change except through decree of a synod to be called by the general government which it controlled, represented the national idea. it thus identified itself with the republic, and was in sympathy with a large majority of the population. logic, law, historical tradition were on the side of the advocate and the states' right party. the instinct of national self-preservation, repudiating the narrow and destructive doctrine of provincial sovereignty, were on the side of the states-general and the church. meantime james of great britain had written letters both to the states of holland and the states-general expressing his satisfaction with the five points, and deciding that there was nothing objectionable in the doctrine of predestination therein set forth. he had recommended unity and peace in church and assembly, and urged especially that these controverted points should not be discussed in the pulpit to the irritation and perplexity of the common people. the king's letters had produced much satisfaction in the moderate party. barneveld and his followers were then still in the ascendant, and it seemed possible that the commonwealth might enjoy a few moments of tranquillity. that james had given a new exhibition of his astounding inconsistency was a matter very indifferent to all but himself, and he was the last man to trouble himself for that reproach. it might happen, when be should come to realize how absolutely he had obeyed the tuition of the advocate and favoured the party which he had been so vehemently opposing, that he might regret and prove willing to retract. but for the time being the course of politics had seemed running smoother. the acrimony of the relations between the english government and dominant party at the hague was sensibly diminished. the king seemed for an instant to have obtained a true insight into the nature of the struggle in the states. that it was after all less a theological than a political question which divided parties had at last dawned upon him. "if you have occasion to write on the subject," said barneveld, "it is above all necessary to make it clear that ecclesiastical persons and their affairs must stand under the direction of the sovereign authority, for our preachers understand that the disposal of ecclesiastical persons and affairs belongs to them, so that they alone are to appoint preachers, elders, deacons, and other clerical persons, and to regulate the whole ecclesiastical administration according to their pleasure or by a popular government which they call the community." "the counts of holland from all ancient times were never willing under the papacy to surrender their right of presentation to the churches and control of all spiritual and ecclesiastical benefices. the emperor charles and king philip even, as counts of holland, kept these rights to themselves, save that they in enfeoffing more than a hundred gentlemen, of noble and ancient families with seigniorial manors, enfeoffed them also with the right of presentation to churches and benefices on their respective estates. our preachers pretend to have won this right against the countship, the gentlemen, nobles, and others, and that it belongs to them." it is easy to see that this was a grave, constitutional, legal, and historical problem not to be solved offhand by vehement citations from scripture, nor by pragmatical dissertations from the lips of foreign ambassadors. "i believe this point," continued barneveld, "to be the most difficult question of all, importing far more than subtle searchings and conflicting sentiments as to passages of holy writ, or disputations concerning god's eternal predestination and other points thereupon depending. of these doctrines the archbishop of canterbury well observed in the conference of that one ought to teach them ascendendo and not descendendo." the letters of the king had been very favourably received both in the states-general and in the assembly of holland. "you will present the replies," wrote barneveld to the ambassador in london, "at the best opportunity and with becoming compliments. you may be assured and assure his majesty that they have been very agreeable to both assemblies. our commissioners over there on the east indian matter ought to know nothing of these letters." this statement is worthy of notice, as grotius was one of those commissioners, and, as will subsequently appear, was accused of being the author of the letters. "i understand from others," continued the advocate, "that the gentleman well known to you--[obviously francis aerssens]--is not well pleased that through other agency than his these letters have been written and presented. i think too that the other business is much against his grain, but on the whole since your departure he has accommodated himself to the situation." but if aerssens for the moment seemed quiet, the orthodox clergy were restive. "i know," said barneveld, "that some of our ministers are so audacious that of themselves, or through others, they mean to work by direct or indirect means against these letters. they mean to show likewise that there are other and greater differences of doctrine than those already discussed. you will keep a sharp eye on the sails and provide against the effect of counter-currents. to maintain the authority of their great mightinesses over ecclesiastical matters is more than necessary for the conservation of the country's welfare and of the true christian religion. as his majesty would not allow this principle to be controverted in his own realms, as his books clearly prove, so we trust that he will not find it good that it should be controverted in our state as sure to lead to a very disastrous and inequitable sequel." and a few weeks later the advocate and the whole party of toleration found themselves, as is so apt to be the case, between two fires. the catholics became as turbulent as the extreme calvinists, and already hopes were entertained by spanish emissaries and spies that this rapidly growing schism in the reformed church might be dexterously made use of to bring the provinces, when they should become fairly distracted, back to the dominion of spain. "our precise zealots in the reformed religion, on the one side," wrote barneveld, "and the jesuits on the other, are vigorously kindling the fire of discord. keep a good lookout for the countermine which is now working against the good advice of his majesty for mutual toleration. the publication of the letters was done without order, but i believe with good intent, in the hope that the vehemence and exorbitance of some precise puritans in our state should thereby be checked. that which is now doing against us in printed libels is the work of the aforesaid puritans and a few jesuits. the pretence in those libels, that there are other differences in the matter of doctrine, is mere fiction designed to make trouble and confusion." in the course of the autumn, sir ralph winwood departed from the hague, to assume soon afterwards in england the position of secretary of state for foreign affairs. he did not take personal farewell of barneveld, the advocate being absent in north holland at the moment, and detained there by indisposition. the leave-taking was therefore by letter. he had done much to injure the cause which the dutch statesman held vital to the republic, and in so doing he had faithfully carried out the instructions of his master. now that james had written these conciliatory letters to the states, recommending toleration, letters destined to be famous, barneveld was anxious that the retiring ambassador should foster the spirit of moderation, which for a moment prevailed at the british court. but he was not very hopeful in the matter. "mr. winwood is doubtless over there now," he wrote to caron. "he has promised in public and private to do all good offices. the states- general made him a present on his departure of the value of l . i fear nevertheless that he, especially in religious matters, will not do the best offices. for besides that he is himself very hard and precise, those who in this country are hard and precise have made a dead set at him, and tried to make him devoted to their cause, through many fictitious and untruthful means." the advocate, as so often before, sent assurances to the king that "the states-general, and especially the states of holland, were resolved to maintain the genuine reformed religion, and oppose all novelties and impurities conflicting with it," and the ambassador was instructed to see that the countermine, worked so industriously against his majesty's service and the honour and reputation of the provinces, did not prove successful. "to let the good mob play the master," he said, "and to permit hypocrites and traitors in the flemish manner to get possession of the government of the provinces and cities, and to cause upright patriots whose faith and truth has so long been proved, to be abandoned, by the blessing of god, shall never be accomplished. be of good heart, and cause these flemish tricks to be understood on every occasion, and let men know that we mean to maintain, with unchanging constancy, the authority of the government, the privileges and laws of the country, as well as the true reformed religion." the statesman was more than ever anxious for moderate counsels in the religious questions, for it was now more important than ever that there should be concord in the provinces, for the cause of protestantism, and with it the existence of the republic, seemed in greater danger than at any moment since the truce. it appeared certain that the alliance between france and spain had been arranged, and that the pope, spain, the grand-duke of tuscany, and their various adherents had organized a strong combination, and were enrolling large armies to take the field in the spring, against the protestant league of the princes and electors in germany. the great king was dead. the queen-regent was in the hand of spain, or dreamed at least of an impossible neutrality, while the priest who was one day to resume the part of henry, and to hang upon the sword of france the scales in which the opposing weights of protestantism and catholicism in europe were through so many awful years to be balanced, was still an obscure bishop. the premonitory signs of the great religious war in germany were not to be mistaken. in truth, the great conflict had already opened in the duchies, although few men as yet comprehended the full extent of that movement. the superficial imagined that questions of hereditary succession, like those involved in the dispute, were easily to be settled by statutes of descent, expounded by doctors of law, and sustained, if needful, by a couple of comparatively bloodless campaigns. those who looked more deeply into causes felt that the limitations of imperial authority, the ambition of a great republic, suddenly starting into existence out of nothing, and the great issues of the religious reformation, were matters not so easily arranged. when the scene shifted, as it was so soon to do, to the heart of bohemia, when protestantism had taken the holy roman empire by the beard in its ancient palace, and thrown imperial stadholders out of window, it would be evident to the blindest that something serious was taking place. meantime barneveld, ever watchful of passing events, knew that great forces of catholicism were marshalling in the south. three armies were to take the field against protestantism at the orders of spain and the pope. one at the door of the republic, and directed especially against the netherlands, was to resume the campaign in the duchies, and to prevent any aid going to protestant germany from great britain or from holland. another in the upper palatinate was to make the chief movement against the evangelical hosts. a third in austria was to keep down the protestant party in bohemia, hungary, austria, moravia, and silesia. to sustain this movement, it was understood that all the troops then in italy were to be kept all the winter on a war footing.' was this a time for the great protestant party in the netherlands to tear itself in pieces for a theological subtlety, about which good christians might differ without taking each other by the throat? "i do not lightly believe or fear," said the advocate, in communicating a survey of european affairs at that moment to carom "but present advices from abroad make me apprehend dangers." etext editor's bookmarks: aristocracy of god's elect determined to bring the very name of liberty into contempt disputing the eternal damnation of young children fate, free will, or absolute foreknowledge louis xiii. no man can be neutral in civil contentions no synod had a right to claim netherlanders as slaves philip iv. priests shall control the state or the state govern the priests schism in the church had become a public fact that cynical commerce in human lives the voice of slanderers theological hatred was in full blaze throughout the country theology and politics were one to look down upon their inferior and lost fellow creatures whether dead infants were hopelessly damned whether repentance could effect salvation whose mutual hatred was now artfully inflamed by partisans work of the aforesaid puritans and a few jesuits the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, volume the life and death of john of barneveld, - , complete preface: these volumes make a separate work in themselves. they form also the natural sequel to the other histories already published by the author, as well as the necessary introduction to that concluding portion of his labours which he has always desired to lay before the public; a history of the thirty years' war. for the two great wars which successively established the independence of holland and the disintegration of germany are in reality but one; a prolonged tragedy of eighty years. the brief pause, which in the netherlands was known as the twelve years' truce with spain, was precisely the epoch in which the elements were slowly and certainly gathering for the renewal over nearly the whole surface of civilized europe of that immense conflict which for more than forty years had been raging within the narrow precincts of the netherlands. the causes and character of the two wars were essentially the same. there were many changes of persons and of scenery during a struggle which lasted for nearly three generations of mankind; yet a natural succession both of actors, motives, and events will be observed from the beginning to the close. the designs of charles v. to establish universal monarchy, which he had passionately followed for a lifetime through a series of colossal crimes against humanity and of private misdeeds against individuals, such as it has rarely been permitted to a single despot to perpetrate, had been baffled at last. disappointed, broken, but even to our own generation never completely unveiled, the tyrant had withdrawn from the stage of human affairs, leaving his son to carry on the great conspiracy against human right, independence of nations, liberty of thought, and equality of religions, with the additional vigour which sprang from intensity of conviction. for philip possessed at least that superiority over his father that he was a sincere bigot. in the narrow and gloomy depths of his soul he had doubtless persuaded himself that it was necessary for the redemption of the human species that the empire of the world should be vested in his hands, that protestantism in all its forms should be extirpated as a malignant disease, and that to behead, torture, burn alive, and bury alive all heretics who opposed the decree of himself and the holy church was the highest virtue by which he could merit heaven. the father would have permitted protestantism if protestantism would have submitted to universal monarchy. there would have been small difficulty in the early part of his reign in effecting a compromise between rome and augsburg, had the gigantic secular ambition of charles not preferred to weaken the church and to convert conscientious religious reform into political mutiny; a crime against him who claimed the sovereignty of christendom. the materials for the true history of that reign lie in the archives of spain, austria, rome, venice, and the netherlands, and in many other places. when out of them one day a complete and authentic narrative shall have been constructed, it will be seen how completely the policy of charles foreshadowed and necessitated that of philip, how logically, under the successors of philip, the austrian dream of universal empire ended in the shattering, in the minute subdivision, and the reduction to a long impotence of that germanic empire which had really belonged to charles. unfortunately the great republic which, notwithstanding the aid of england on the one side and of france on the other, had withstood almost single-handed the onslaughts of spain, now allowed the demon of religious hatred to enter into its body at the first epoch of peace, although it had successfully exorcised the evil spirit during the long and terrible war. there can be no doubt whatever that the discords within the interior of the dutch republic during the period of the truce, and their tragic catastrophe, had weakened her purpose and partially paralysed her arm. when the noble commonwealth went forward to the renewed and general conflict which succeeded the concentrated one in which it had been the chief actor, the effect of those misspent twelve years became apparent. indeed the real continuity of the war was scarcely broken by the fitful, armistice. the death of john of cleve, an event almost simultaneous with the conclusion of the truce, seemed to those gifted with political vision the necessary precursor of a new and more general war. the secret correspondence of barneveld shows the almost prophetic accuracy with which he indicated the course of events and the approach of an almost universal conflict, while that tragedy was still in the future, and was to be enacted after he had been laid in his bloody grave. no man then living was so accustomed as he was to sweep the political horizon, and to estimate the signs and portents of the times. no statesman was left in europe during the epoch of the twelve years' truce to compare with him in experience, breadth of vision, political tact, or administrative sagacity. imbued with the grand traditions and familiar with the great personages of a most heroic epoch; the trusted friend or respected counsellor of william the silent, henry iv., elizabeth, and the sages and soldiers on whom they leaned; having been employed during an already long lifetime in the administration of greatest affairs, he stood alone after the deaths of henry of france and the second cecil, and the retirement of sully, among the natural leaders of mankind. to the england of elizabeth, of walsingham, raleigh, and the cecils, had succeeded the great britain of james, with his carrs and carletons, nauntons, lakes, and winwoods. france, widowed of henry and waiting for richelieu, lay in the clutches of concini's, epernons, and bouillons, bound hand and foot to spain. germany, falling from rudolph to matthias, saw styrian ferdinand in the background ready to shatter the fabric of a hundred years of attempted reformation. in the republic of the netherlands were the great soldier and the only remaining statesman of the age. at a moment when the breathing space had been agreed upon before the conflict should be renewed; on a wider field than ever, between spanish-austrian world-empire and independence of the nations; between the ancient and only church and the spirit of religious equality; between popular right and royal and sacerdotal despotism; it would have been desirable that the soldier and the statesman should stand side by side, and that the fortunate confederacy, gifted with two such champions and placed by its own achievements at the very head of the great party of resistance, should be true to herself. these volumes contain a slight and rapid sketch of barneveld's career up to the point at which the twelve years' truce with spain was signed in the year . in previous works the author has attempted to assign the great advocate's place as part and parcel of history during the continuance of the war for independence. during the period of the truce he will be found the central figure. the history of europe, especially of the netherlands, britain, france, and germany, cannot be thoroughly appreciated without a knowledge of the designs, the labours, and the fate of barneveld. the materials for estimating his character and judging his judges lie in the national archives of the land of which he was so long the foremost citizen. but they have not long been accessible. the letters, state papers, and other documents remain unprinted, and have rarely been read. m. van deventer has published three most interesting volumes of the advocate's correspondence, but they reach only to the beginning of . he has suspended his labours exactly at the moment when these volumes begin. i have carefully studied however nearly the whole of that correspondence, besides a mass of other papers. the labour is not light, for the handwriting of the great advocate is perhaps the worst that ever existed, and the papers, although kept in the admirable order which distinguishes the archives of the hague, have passed through many hands at former epochs before reaching their natural destination in the treasure-house of the nation. especially the documents connected with the famous trial were for a long time hidden from mortal view, for barneveld's judges had bound themselves by oath to bury the proceedings out of sight. and the concealment lasted for centuries. very recently a small portion of those papers has been published by the historical society of utrecht. the "verhooren," or interrogatories of the judges, and the replies of barneveld, have thus been laid before the reading public of holland, while within the last two years the distinguished and learned historian, professor fruin, has edited the "verhooren" of hugo grotius. but papers like these, important as they are, make but a slender portion of the material out of which a judgment concerning these grave events can be constructed. i do not therefore offer an apology for the somewhat copious extracts which i have translated and given in these volumes from the correspondence of barneveld and from other manuscripts of great value--most of them in the royal archives of holland and belgium--which are unknown to the public. i have avoided as much as possible any dealings with the theological controversies so closely connected with the events which i have attempted to describe. this work aims at being a political study. the subject is full of lessons, examples, and warnings for the inhabitants of all free states. especially now that the republican system of government is undergoing a series of experiments with more or less success in one hemisphere--while in our own land it is consolidated, powerful, and unchallenged--will the conflicts between the spirits of national centralization and of provincial sovereignty, and the struggle between the church, the sword, and the magistracy for supremacy in a free commonwealth, as revealed in the first considerable republic of modern history, be found suggestive of deep reflection. those who look in this work for a history of the synod of dordtrecht will look in vain. the author has neither wish nor power to grapple with the mysteries and passions which at that epoch possessed so many souls. the assembly marks a political period. its political aspects have been anxiously examined, but beyond the ecclesiastical threshold there has been no attempt to penetrate. it was necessary for my purpose to describe in some detail the relations of henry iv. with the dutch republic during the last and most pregnant year of his life, which makes the first of the present history. these relations are of european importance, and the materials for appreciating them are of unexpected richness, in the dutch and belgian archives. especially the secret correspondence, now at the hague, of that very able diplomatist francis aerssens with barneveld during the years , , and , together with many papers at brussels, are full of vital importance. they throw much light both on the vast designs which filled the brain of henry at this fatal epoch and on his extraordinary infatuation for the young princess of conde by which they were traversed, and which was productive of such widespread political anal tragical results. this episode forms a necessary portion of my theme, and has therefore been set forth from original sources. i am under renewed obligations to my friend m. gachard, the eminent publicist and archivist of belgium, for his constant and friendly offices to me (which i have so often experienced before), while studying the documents under his charge relating to this epoch; especially the secret correspondence of archduke albert with philip iii, and his ministers, and with pecquius, the archduke's agent at paris. it is also a great pleasure to acknowledge the unceasing courtesy and zealous aid rendered me during my renewed studies in the archives at the hague--lasting through nearly two years--by the chief archivist, m. van den berg, and the gentlemen connected with that institution, especially m. de jonghe and m. hingman, without whose aid it would have been difficult for me to decipher and to procure copies of the almost illegible holographs of barneveld. i must also thank m. van deventer for communicating copies of some curious manuscripts relating to my subject, some from private archives in holland, and others from those of simancas. a single word only remains to be said in regard to the name of the statesman whose career i have undertaken to describe. his proper appellation and that by which he has always been known in his own country is oldenbarneveld, but in his lifetime and always in history from that time to this he has been called barneveld in english as well as french, and this transformation, as it were, of the name has become so settled a matter that after some hesitation it has been adopted in the present work. the author would take this opportunity of expressing his gratitude for the indulgence with which his former attempts to illustrate an important period of european history have been received by the public, and his anxious hope that the present volumes may be thought worthy of attention. they are the result at least of severe and conscientious labour at the original sources of history, but the subject is so complicated and difficult that it may well be feared that the ability to depict and unravel is unequal to the earnestness with which the attempt has been made. london, . the life and death of john of barneveld, v , chapter i. john of barneveld the founder of the commonwealth of the united provinces--maurice of orange stadholder, but servant to the states- general--the union of utrecht maintained--barneveld makes a compromise between civil functionaries and church officials-- embassies to france, england, and to venice--the appointment of arminius to be professor of theology at leyden creates dissension-- the catholic league opposed by the great protestant union--death of the duke of cleve and struggle for his succession--the elector of brandenburg and palatine of neuburg hold the duchies at barneveld's advice against the emperor, though having rival claims themselves-- negotiations with the king of france--he becomes the ally of the states-general to protect the possessory princes, and prepares for war. i propose to retrace the history of a great statesman's career. that statesman's name, but for the dark and tragic scenes with which it was ultimately associated, might after the lapse of two centuries and a half have faded into comparative oblivion, so impersonal and shadowy his presence would have seemed upon the great european theatre where he was so long a chief actor, and where his efforts and his achievements were foremost among those productive of long enduring and widespread results. there is no doubt whatever that john of barneveld, advocate and seal keeper of the little province of holland during forty years of as troubled and fertile an epoch as any in human history, was second to none of his contemporary statesmen. yet the singular constitution and historical position of the republic whose destinies he guided and the peculiar and abnormal office which he held combined to cast a veil over his individuality. the ever-teeming brain, the restless almost omnipresent hand, the fertile pen, the eloquent and ready tongue, were seen, heard, and obeyed by the great european public, by the monarchs, statesmen, and warriors of the time, at many critical moments of history, but it was not john of barneveld that spoke to the world. those "high and puissant lords my masters the states-general" personified the young but already majestic republic. dignified, draped, and concealed by that overshadowing title the informing and master spirit performed its never ending task. those who study the enormous masses of original papers in the archives of the country will be amazed to find how the penmanship, most difficult to decipher, of the advocate meets them at every turn. letters to monarchs, generals, ambassadors, resolutions of councils, of sovereign assemblies, of trading corporations, of great indian companies, legal and historical disquisitions of great depth and length on questions agitating europe, constitutional arguments, drafts of treaties among the leading powers of the world, instructions to great commissions, plans for european campaigns, vast combinations covering the world, alliances of empire, scientific expeditions and discoveries--papers such as these covered now with the satirical dust of centuries, written in the small, crabbed, exasperating characters which make barneveld's handwriting almost cryptographic, were once, when fairly engrossed and sealed with the great seal of the haughty burgher-aristocracy, the documents which occupied the close attention of the cabinets of christendom. it is not unfrequent to find four or five important despatches compressed almost in miniature upon one sheet of gigantic foolscap. it is also curious to find each one of these rough drafts conscientiously beginning in the statesman's own hand with the elaborate phrases of compliment belonging to the epoch such as "noble, strenuous, severe, highly honourable, very learned, very discreet, and very wise masters," and ending with "may the lord god almighty eternally preserve you and hold you in his holy keeping in this world and for ever"--decorations which one might have thought it safe to leave to be filled in by the secretary or copying clerk. thus there have been few men at any period whose lives have been more closely identical than his with a national history. there have been few great men in any history whose names have become less familiar to the world, and lived less in the mouths of posterity. yet there can be no doubt that if william the silent was the founder of the independence of the united provinces barneveld was the founder of the commonwealth itself. he had never the opportunity, perhaps he might have never had the capacity, to make such prodigious sacrifices in the cause of country as the great prince had done. but he had served his country strenuously from youth to old age with an abiding sense of duty, a steadiness of purpose, a broad vision, a firm grasp, and an opulence of resource such as not one of his compatriots could even pretend to rival. had that country of which he was so long the first citizen maintained until our own day the same proportionate position among the empires of christendom as it held in the seventeenth century, the name of john of barneveld would have perhaps been as familiar to all men as it is at this moment to nearly every inhabitant of the netherlands. even now political passion is almost as ready to flame forth either in ardent affection or enthusiastic hatred as if two centuries and a half had not elapsed since his death. his name is so typical of a party, a polity, and a faith, so indelibly associated with a great historical cataclysm, as to render it difficult even for the grave, the conscientious, the learned, the patriotic of his own compatriots to speak of him with absolute impartiality. a foreigner who loves and admires all that is great and noble in the history of that famous republic and can have no hereditary bias as to its ecclesiastical or political theories may at least attempt the task with comparative coldness, although conscious of inability to do thorough justice to a most complex subject. in former publications devoted to netherland history i have endeavoured to trace the course of events of which the life and works of the advocate were a vital ingredient down to the period when spain after more than forty years of hard fighting virtually acknowledged the independence of the republic and concluded with her a truce of twelve years. that convention was signed in the spring of . the ten ensuing years in europe were comparatively tranquil, but they were scarcely to be numbered among the full and fruitful sheaves of a pacific epoch. it was a pause, a breathing spell during which the sulphurous clouds which had made the atmosphere of christendom poisonous for nearly half a century had sullenly rolled away, while at every point of the horizon they were seen massing themselves anew in portentous and ever accumulating strength. at any moment the faint and sickly sunshine in which poor exhausted humanity was essaying a feeble twitter of hope as it plumed itself for a peaceful flight might be again obscured. to us of a remote posterity the momentary division of epochs seems hardly discernible. so rapidly did that fight of demons which we call the thirty years' war tread on the heels of the forty years' struggle for dutch independence which had just been suspended that we are accustomed to think and speak of the eighty years' war as one pure, perfect, sanguinary whole. and indeed the tragedy which was soon to sweep solemnly across europe was foreshadowed in the first fitful years of peace. the throb of the elementary forces already shook the soil of christendom. the fantastic but most significant conflict in the territories of the dead duke of clove reflected the distant and gigantic war as in a mirage. it will be necessary to direct the reader's attention at the proper moment to that episode, for it was one in which the beneficent sagacity of barneveld was conspicuously exerted in the cause of peace and conservation. meantime it is not agreeable to reflect that this brief period of nominal and armed peace which the republic had conquered after nearly two generations of warfare was employed by her in tearing her own flesh. the heroic sword which had achieved such triumphs in the cause of freedom could have been bitter employed than in an attempt at political suicide. in a picture of the last decade of barneveld's eventful life his personality may come more distinctly forward perhaps than in previous epochs. it will however be difficult to disentangle a single thread from the great historical tapestry of the republic and of europe in which his life and achievements are interwoven. he was a public man in the fullest sense of the word, and without his presence and influence the record of holland, france, spain, britain, and germany might have been essentially modified. the republic was so integral a part of that system which divided europe into two great hostile camps according to creeds rather than frontiers that the history of its foremost citizen touches at every point the general history of christendom. the great peculiarity of the dutch constitution at this epoch was that no principle was absolutely settled. in throwing off a foreign tyranny and successfully vindicating national independence the burghers and nobles had not had leisure to lay down any organic law. nor had the day for profound investigation of the political or social contract arrived. men dealt almost exclusively with facts, and when the facts arranged themselves illogically and incoherently the mischief was grave and difficult to remedy. it is not a trifling inconvenience for an organized commonwealth to be in doubt as to where, in whom, and of what nature is its sovereignty. yet this was precisely the condition of the united netherlands. to the eternal world so dazzling were the reputation and the achievements of their great captain that he was looked upon by many as the legitimate chief of the state and doubtless friendly monarchs would have cordially welcomed him into their brotherhood. during the war he had been surrounded by almost royal state. two hundred officers lived daily at his table. great nobles and scions of sovereign houses were his pupils or satellites. the splendour of military despotism and the awe inspired by his unquestioned supremacy in what was deemed the greatest of all sciences invested the person of maurice of nassau with a grandeur which many a crowned potentate might envy. his ample appointments united with the spoils of war provided him with almost royal revenues, even before the death of his elder brother philip william had placed in his hands the principality and wealthy possessions of orange. hating contradiction, arbitrary by instinct and by military habit, impatient of criticism, and having long acknowledged no master in the chief business of state, he found himself at the conclusion of the truce with his great occupation gone, and, although generously provided for by the treasury of the republic, yet with an income proportionately limited. politics and theology were fields in which he had hardly served an apprenticeship, and it was possible that when he should step forward as a master in those complicated and difficult pursuits, soon to absorb the attention of the commonwealth and the world, it might appear that war was not the only science that required serious preliminary studies. meantime he found himself not a king, not the master of a nominal republic, but the servant of the states-general, and the limited stadholder of five out of seven separate provinces. and the states-general were virtually john of barneveld. could antagonism be more sharply defined? jealousy, that potent principle which controls the regular movements and accounts for the aberrations of humanity in widest spheres as well as narrowest circles far more generally and conclusively than philosophers or historians have been willing to admit, began forthwith to manifest its subtle and irresistible influence. and there were not to be wanting acute and dangerous schemers who saw their profit in augmenting its intensity. the seven provinces, when the truce of twelve years had been signed, were neither exhausted nor impoverished. yet they had just emerged from a forty years' conflict such as no people in human history had ever waged against a foreign tyranny. they had need to repose and recruit, but they stood among the foremost great powers of the day. it is not easy in imagination to thrust back the present leading empires of the earth into the contracted spheres of their not remote past. but to feel how a little confederacy of seven provinces loosely tied together by an ill-defined treaty could hold so prominent and often so controlling a place in the european system of the seventeenth century, we must remember that there was then no germany, no russia, no italy, no united states of america, scarcely even a great britain in the sense which belongs to that mighty empire now. france, spain, england, the pope, and the emperor were the leading powers with which the netherlands were daily called on to solve great problems and try conclusions; the study of political international equilibrium, now rapidly and perhaps fortunately becoming one of the lost arts, being then the most indispensable duty of kings and statesmen. spain and france, which had long since achieved for themselves the political union of many independent kingdoms and states into which they had been divided were the most considerable powers and of necessity rivals. spain, or rather the house of austria divided into its two great branches, still pursued its persistent and by no means fantastic dream of universal monarchy. both spain and france could dispose of somewhat larger resources absolutely, although not relatively, than the seven provinces, while at least trebling them in population. the yearly revenue of spain after deduction of its pledged resources was perhaps equal to a million sterling, and that of france with the same reservation was about as much. england had hardly been able to levy and make up a yearly income of more than l , or l , at the end of elizabeth's reign or in the first years of james, while the netherlands had often proved themselves capable of furnishing annually ten or twelve millions of florins, which would be the equivalent of nearly a million sterling. the yearly revenues of the whole monarchy of the imperial house of habsburg can scarcely be stated at a higher figure than l , . thus the political game--for it was a game--was by no means a desperate one for the netherlands, nor the resources of the various players so unequally distributed as at first sight it might appear. the emancipation of the provinces from the grasp of spain and the establishment by them of a commonwealth, for that epoch a very free one, and which contained within itself the germs of a larger liberty, religious, political, and commercial, than had yet been known, was already one of the most considerable results of the reformation. the probability of its continued and independent existence was hardly believed in by potentate or statesman outside its own borders, and had not been very long a decided article of faith even within them. the knotty problem of an acknowledgment of that existence, the admission of the new-born state into the family of nations, and a temporary peace guaranteed by two great powers, had at last been solved mainly by the genius of barneveld working amid many disadvantages and against great obstructions. the truce had been made, and it now needed all the skill, coolness, and courage of a practical and original statesman to conduct the affairs of the confederacy. the troubled epoch of peace was even now heaving with warlike emotions, and was hardly less stormy than the war which had just been suspended. the republic was like a raft loosely strung together, floating almost on a level of the ocean, and often half submerged, but freighted with inestimable treasures for itself and the world. it needed an unsleeping eye and a powerful brain to conduct her over the quicksands and through the whirlpools of an unmapped and intricate course. the sovereignty of the country so far as its nature could be satisfactorily analysed seemed to be scattered through, and inherent in each one of, the multitudinous boards of magistracy--close corporations, self-elected--by which every city was governed. nothing could be more preposterous. practically, however, these boards were represented by deputies in each of the seven provincial assemblies, and these again sent councillors from among their number to the general assembly which was that of their high mightinesses the lords states-general. the province of holland, being richer and more powerful than all its six sisters combined, was not unwilling to impose a supremacy which on the whole was practically conceded by the rest. thus the union of utrecht established in was maintained for want of anything better as the foundation of the commonwealth. the advocate and keeper of the great seal of that province was therefore virtually prime minister, president, attorney-general, finance minister, and minister of foreign affairs of the whole republic. this was barneveld's position. he took the lead in the deliberations both of the states of holland and the states-general, moved resolutions, advocated great measures of state, gave heed to their execution, collected the votes, summed up the proceedings, corresponded with and instructed ambassadors, received and negotiated with foreign ministers, besides directing and holding in his hands the various threads of the home policy and the rapidly growing colonial system of the republic. all this work barneveld had been doing for thirty years. the reformation was by no mans assured even in the lands where it had at first made the most essential progress. but the existence of the new commonwealth depended on the success of that great movement which had called it into being. losing ground in france, fluctuating in england, protestantism was apparently more triumphant in vast territories where the ancient church was one day to recover its mastery. of the population of bohemia, there were perhaps ten protestants to one papist, while in the united netherlands at least one-third of the people were still attached to the catholic faith. the great religious struggle in bohemia and other dominions of the habsburg family was fast leading to a war of which no man could even imagine the horrors or foresee the vast extent. the catholic league and the protestant union were slowly arranging europe into two mighty confederacies. they were to give employment year after year to millions of mercenary freebooters who were to practise murder, pillage, and every imaginable and unimaginable outrage as the most legitimate industry that could occupy mankind. the holy empire which so ingeniously combined the worst characteristics of despotism and republicanism kept all germany and half europe in the turmoil of a perpetual presidential election. a theatre where trivial personages and graceless actors performed a tragi-comedy of mingled folly, intrigue, and crime, and where earnestness and vigour were destined to be constantly baffled, now offered the principal stage for the entertainment and excitement of christendom. there was but one king in europe, henry the bearnese. the men who sat on the thrones in madrid, vienna, london, would have lived and died unknown but for the crowns they wore, and while there were plenty of bustling politicians here and there in christendom, there were not many statesmen. among them there was no stronger man than john of barneveld, and no man had harder or more complicated work to do. born in amersfoort in , of the ancient and knightly house of oldenbarneveldt, of patrician blood through all his ancestors both male and female, he was not the heir to large possessions, and was a diligent student and hardworking man from youth upward. he was not wont to boast of his pedigree until in later life, being assailed by vilest slander, all his kindred nearest or most remote being charged with every possible and unmentionable crime, and himself stigmatized as sprung from the lowest kennels of humanity--as if thereby his private character and public services could be more legitimately blackened--he was stung into exhibiting to the world the purity and antiquity of his escutcheon, and a roll of respectably placed, well estated, and authentically noble, if not at all illustrious, forefathers in his country's records of the previous centuries. without an ancestor at his back he might have valued himself still more highly on the commanding place he held in the world by right divine of intellect, but as the father of lies seemed to have kept his creatures so busy with the barneveld genealogy, it was not amiss for the statesman once for all to make the truth known. his studies in the universities of holland, france, italy, and germany had been profound. at an early age he was one of the first civilians of the time. his manhood being almost contemporary with the great war of freedom, he had served as a volunteer and at his own expense through several campaigns, having nearly lost his life in the disastrous attempt to relieve the siege of haarlem, and having been so disabled by sickness and exposure at the heroic leaguer of leyden as to have been deprived of the joy of witnessing its triumphant conclusion. successfully practising his profession afterwards before the tribunals of holland, he had been called at the comparatively early age of twenty-nine to the important post of chief pensionary of rotterdam. so long as william the silent lived, that great prince was all in all to his country, and barneveld was proud and happy to be among the most trusted and assiduous of his counsellors. when the assassination of william seemed for an instant to strike the republic with paralysis, barneveld was foremost among the statesmen of holland to spring forward and help to inspire it with renewed energy. the almost completed negotiations for conferring the sovereignty, not of the confederacy, but of the province of holland, upon the prince had been abruptly brought to an end by his death. to confer that sovereign countship on his son maurice, then a lad of eighteen and a student at leyden, would have seemed to many at so terrible a crisis an act of madness, although barneveld had been willing to suggest and promote the scheme. the confederates under his guidance soon hastened however to lay the sovereignty, and if not the sovereignty, the protectorship, of all the provinces at the feet first of england and then of france. barneveld was at the head of the embassy, and indeed was the indispensable head of all important, embassies to each of those two countries throughout all this portion of his career. both monarchs refused, almost spurned, the offered crown in which was involved a war with the greatest power in the world, with no compensating dignity or benefit, as it was thought, beside. then elizabeth, although declining the sovereignty, promised assistance and sent the earl of leicester as governor-general at the head of a contingent of english troops. precisely to prevent the consolidation thus threatened of the provinces into one union, a measure which had been attempted more than once in the burgundian epoch, and always successfully resisted by the spirit of provincial separatism, barneveld now proposed and carried the appointment of maurice of nassau to the stadholdership of holland. this was done against great opposition and amid fierce debate. soon afterwards barneveld was vehemently urged by the nobles and regents of the cities of holland to accept the post of advocate of that province. after repeatedly declining the arduous and most responsible office, he was at last induced to accept it. he did it under the remarkable condition that in case any negotiation should be undertaken for the purpose of bringing back the province of holland under the dominion of the king of spain, he should be considered as from that moment relieved from the service. his brother elias barneveld succeeded him as pensionary of rotterdam, and thenceforth the career of the advocate is identical with the history of the netherlands. although a native of utrecht, he was competent to exercise such functions in holland, a special and ancient convention between those two provinces allowing the citizens of either to enjoy legal and civic rights in both. gradually, without intrigue or inordinate ambition, but from force of circumstances and the commanding power of the man, the native authority stamped upon his forehead, he became the political head of the confederacy. he created and maintained a system of public credit absolutely marvellous in the circumstances, by means of which an otherwise impossible struggle was carried to a victorious end. when the stadholderate of the provinces of gelderland, utrecht, and overyssel became vacant, it was again barneveld's potent influence and sincere attachment to the house of nassau that procured the election of maurice to those posts. thus within six years after his father's death the youthful soldier who had already given proof of his surpassing military genius had become governor, commander-in-chief, and high admiral, of five of the seven provinces constituting the confederacy. at about the same period the great question of church and state, which barneveld had always felt to be among the vital problems of the age, and on which his opinions were most decided, came up for partial solution. it would have been too much to expect the opinion of any statesman to be so much in advance of his time as to favor religious equality. toleration of various creeds, including the roman catholic, so far as abstinence from inquisition into consciences and private parlours could be called toleration, was secured, and that was a considerable step in advance of the practice of the sixteenth century. burning, hanging, and burying alive of culprits guilty of another creed than the dominant one had become obsolete. but there was an established creed--the reformed religion, founded on the netherland confession and the heidelberg catechism. and there was one established principle then considered throughout europe the grand result of the reformation; "cujus regio ejus religio;" which was in reality as impudent an invasion of human right as any heaven-born dogma of infallibility. the sovereign of a country, having appropriated the revenues of the ancient church, prescribed his own creed to his subjects. in the royal conscience were included the million consciences of his subjects. the inevitable result in a country like the netherlands, without a personal sovereign, was a struggle between the new church and the civil government for mastery. and at this period, and always in barneveld's opinion, the question of dogma was subordinate to that of church government. that there should be no authority over the king had been settled in england. henry viii., elizabeth, and afterwards james, having become popes in their own realm, had no great hostility to, but rather an affection for, ancient dogma and splendid ceremonial. but in the seven provinces, even as in france, germany, and switzerland, the reform where it had been effected at all had been more thorough, and there was little left of popish pomp or aristocratic hierarchy. nothing could be severer than the simplicity of the reformed church, nothing more imperious than its dogma, nothing more infallible than its creed. it was the true religion, and there was none other. but to whom belonged the ecclesiastical edifices, the splendid old minsters in the cities--raised by the people's confiding piety and the purchased remission of their sins in a bygone age--and the humbler but beautiful parish churches in every town and village? to the state; said barneveld, speaking for government; to the community represented by the states of the provinces, the magistracies of the cities and municipalities. to the church itself, the one true church represented by its elders, and deacons, and preachers, was the reply. and to whom belonged the right of prescribing laws and ordinances of public worship, of appointing preachers, church servants, schoolmasters, sextons? to the holy ghost inspiring the class and the synod, said the church. to the civil authority, said the magistrates, by which the churches are maintained, and the salaries of the ecclesiastics paid. the states of holland are as sovereign as the kings of england or denmark, the electors of saxony or brandenburg, the magistrates of zurich or basel or other swiss cantons. "cujus regio ejus religio." in there was a compromise under the guidance of barneveld. it was agreed that an appointing board should be established composed of civil functionaries and church officials in equal numbers. thus should the interests of religion and of education be maintained. the compromise was successful enough during the war. external pressure kept down theological passion, and there were as yet few symptoms of schism in the dominant church. but there was to come a time when the struggle between church and government was to break forth with an intensity and to rage to an extent which no man at that moment could imagine. towards the end of the century henry iv. made peace with spain. it was a trying moment for the provinces. barneveld was again sent forth on an embassy to the king. the cardinal point in his policy, as it had ever been in that of william the silent, was to maintain close friendship with france, whoever might be its ruler. an alliance between that kingdom and spain would be instantaneous ruin to the republic. with the french and english sovereigns united with the provinces, the cause of the reformation might triumph, the spanish world-empire be annihilated, national independence secured. henry assured the ambassador that the treaty of vervins was indispensable, but that he would never desert his old allies. in proof of this, although he had just bound himself to spain to give no assistance to the provinces, open or secret, he would furnish them with thirteen hundred thousand crowns, payable at intervals during four years. he was under great obligations to his good friends the states, he said, and nothing in the treaty forbade him to pay his debts. it was at this period too that barneveld was employed by the king to attend to certain legal and other private business for which he professed himself too poor at the moment to compensate him. there seems to have been nothing in the usages of the time or country to make the transaction, innocent in itself, in any degree disreputable. the king promised at some future clay, when he should be more in funds, to pay him a liberal fee. barneveld, who a dozen years afterwards received , florins for his labour, professed that he would much rather have had one thousand at the time. thence the advocate, accompanied by his colleague, justinus de nassau, proceeded to england, where they had many stormy interviews with elizabeth. the queen swore with many an oath that she too would make peace with philip, recommended the provinces to do the same thing with submission to their ancient tyrant, and claimed from the states immediate payment of one million sterling in satisfaction of their old debts to her. it would have been as easy for them at that moment to pay a thousand million. it was at last agreed that the sum of the debt should be fixed at l , , and that the cautionary towns should be held in elizabeth's hands by english troops until all the debt should be discharged. thus england for a long time afterwards continued to regard itself, as in a measure the sovereign and proprietor of the confederacy, and barneveld then and there formed the resolve to relieve the country of the incubus, and to recover those cautionary towns and fortresses at the earliest possible moment. so long as foreign soldiers commanded by military governors existed on the soil of the netherlands, they could hardly account themselves independent. besides, there was the perpetual and horrid nightmare, that by a sudden pacification between spain and england those important cities, keys to the country's defence, might be handed over to their ancient tyrant. elizabeth had been pacified at last, however, by the eloquence of the ambassador. "i will assist you even if you were up to the neck in water," she said. "jusque la," she added, pointing to her chin. five years later barneveld, for the fifth time at the head of a great embassy, was sent to england to congratulate james on his accession. it was then and there that he took measure of the monarch with whom he was destined to have many dealings, and who was to exert so baleful an influence on his career. at last came the time when it was felt that peace between spain and her revolted provinces might be made. the conservation of their ancient laws, privileges, and charters, the independence of the states, and included therein the freedom to establish the reformed religion, had been secured by forty years of fighting. the honour of spain was saved by a conjunction. she agreed to treat with her old dependencies "as" with states over which she had no pretensions. through virtue of an "as," a truce after two years' negotiation, perpetually traversed and secretly countermined by the military party under the influence of maurice, was carried by the determination of barneveld. the great objects of the war had been secured. the country was weary of nearly half a century of bloodshed. it was time to remember that there could be such a condition as peace. the treaty was signed, ratifications exchanged, and the usual presents of considerable sums of money to the negotiators made. barneveld earnestly protested against carrying out the custom on this occasion, and urged that those presents should be given for the public use. he was overruled by those who were more desirous of receiving their reward than he was, and he accordingly, in common with the other diplomatists, accepted the gifts. the various details of these negotiations have been related by the author in other volumes, to which the present one is intended as a sequel. it has been thought necessary merely to recall very briefly a few salient passages in the career of the advocate up to the period when the present history really opens. their bearing upon subsequent events will easily be observed. the truce was the work of barneveld. it was detested by maurice and by maurice's partisans. "i fear that our enemies and evil reports are the cause of many of our difficulties," said the advocate to the states' envoy in paris, in . "you are to pay no heed to private advices. believe and make others believe that more than one half the inhabitants of the cities and in the open country are inclined to peace. and i believe, in case of continuing adversities, that the other half will not remain constant, principally because the provinces are robbed of all traffic, prosperity, and navigation, through the actions of france and england. i have always thought it for the advantage of his majesty to sustain us in such wise as would make us useful in his service. as to his remaining permanently at peace with spain, that would seem quite out of the question." the king had long kept, according to treaty, a couple of french regiments in the states' service, and furnished, or was bound to furnish, a certain yearly sum for their support. but the expenses of the campaigning had been rapidly increasing and the results as swiftly dwindling. the advocate now explained that, "without loss both of important places and of reputation," the states could not help spending every month that they took the field , florins over and above the regular contributions, and some months a great deal more. this sum, he said, in nine months, would more than eat up the whole subsidy of the king. if they were to be in the field by march or beginning of april, they would require from him an extraordinary sum of , crowns, and as much more in june or july. eighteen months later, when the magnificent naval victory of heemskerk in the bay of gibraltar had just made a startling interlude to the languishing negotiations for peace, the advocate again warned the french king of the difficulty in which the republic still laboured of carrying on the mighty struggle alone. spain was the common enemy of all. no peace or hope was possible for the leading powers as long as spain was perpetually encamped in the very heart of western europe. the netherlands were not fighting their own battle merely, but that of freedom and independence against the all-encroaching world-power. and their means to carry on the conflict were dwindling, while at the same time there was a favourable opportunity for cropping some fruit from their previous labours and sacrifices. "we are led to doubt," he wrote once more to the envoy in france, "whether the king's full powers will come from spain. this defeat is hard for the spaniards to digest. meantime our burdens are quite above our capacity, as you will understand by the enclosed statement, which is made out with much exactness to show what is absolutely necessary for a vigorous defence on land and a respectable position at sea to keep things from entire confusion. the provinces could raise means for the half of this estimate. but, it is a great difference when the means differ one half from the expenses. the sovereignst and most assured remedy would be the one so often demanded, often projected, and sometimes almost prepared for execution, namely that our neighbour kings, princes, and republics should earnestly take the matter in hand and drive the spaniards and their adherents out of the netherlands and over the mountains. their own dignity and security ought not to permit such great bodies of troops of both belligerents permanently massed in the netherlands. still less ought they to allow these provinces to fall into the hands of the spaniards, whence they could with so much more power and convenience make war upon all kings, princes, and republics. this must be prevented by one means or another. it ought to be enough for every one that we have been between thirty and forty years a firm bulwark against spanish ambition. our constancy and patience ought to be strengthened by counsel and by deed in order that we may exist; a christian sympathy and a small assistance not being sufficient. believe and cause to be believed that the present condition of our affairs requires more aid in counsel and money than ever before, and that nothing could be better bestowed than to further this end. "messieurs jeannin, buzenval, and de russy have been all here these twelve days. we have firm hopes that other kings, princes, and republics will not stay upon formalities, but will also visit the patients here in order to administer sovereign remedies. "lend no ear to any flying reports. we say with the wise men over there, 'metuo danaos et dons ferentes.' we know our antagonists well, and trust their hearts no more than before, 'sed ultra posse non est esse.' to accept more burthens than we can pay for will breed military mutiny; to tax the community above its strength will cause popular tumults, especially in 'rebus adversis,' of which the beginnings were seen last year, and without a powerful army the enemy is not to be withstood. i have received your letters to the th may. my advice is to trust to his upright proceedings and with patience to overcome all things. thus shall the detractors and calumniators best be confounded. assure his majesty and his ministers that i will do my utmost to avert our ruin and his majesty's disservice." the treaty was made, and from that time forth the antagonism between the eminent statesman and the great military chieftain became inevitable. the importance of the one seemed likely to increase day by day. the occupation of the other for a time was over. during the war maurice had been, with exception of henry iv., the most considerable personage in europe. he was surrounded with that visible atmosphere of power the poison of which it is so difficult to resist, and through the golden haze of which a mortal seems to dilate for the vulgar eye into the supernatural. the attention of christendom was perpetually fixed upon him. nothing like his sieges, his encampments, his military discipline, his scientific campaigning had been seen before in modern europe. the youthful aristocracy from all countries thronged to his camp to learn the game of war, for he had restored by diligent study of the ancients much that was noble in that pursuit, and had elevated into an art that which had long since degenerated into a system of butchery, marauding, and rapine. and he had fought with signal success and unquestionable heroism the most important and most brilliant pitched battle of the age. he was a central figure of the current history of europe. pagan nations looked up to him as one of the leading sovereigns of christendom. the emperor of japan addressed him as his brother monarch, assured him that his subjects trading to that distant empire should be welcomed and protected, and expressed himself ashamed that so great a prince, whose name and fame had spread through the world, should send his subjects to visit a country so distant and unknown, and offer its emperor a friendship which he was unconscious of deserving. he had been a commander of armies and a chief among men since he came to man's estate, and he was now in the very vigour of life, in his forty-second year. of imperial descent and closely connected by blood or alliance with many of the most illustrious of reigning houses, the acknowledged master of the most royal and noble of all sciences, he was of the stuff of which kings were made, and belonged by what was then accounted right divine to the family of kings. his father's death had alone prevented his elevation to the throne of holland, and such possession of half the sovereignty of the united netherlands would probably have expanded into dominion over all the seven with a not fantastic possibility of uniting the ten still obedient provinces into a single realm. such a kingdom would have been more populous and far wealthier than contemporary great britain and ireland. maurice, then a student at leyden, was too young at that crisis, and his powers too undeveloped to justify any serious attempt to place him in his father's place. the netherlands drifted into a confederacy of aristocratic republics, not because they had planned a republic, but because they could not get a king, foreign or native. the documents regarding the offer of the sovereign countship to william remained in the possession of maurice, and a few years before the peace there had been a private meeting of leading personages, of which barneveld was the promoter and chief spokesman, to take into consideration the propriety and possibility of conferring that sovereignty upon the son which had virtually belonged to the father. the obstacles were deemed so numerous, and especially the scheme seemed so fraught with danger to maurice, that it was reluctantly abandoned by his best friends, among whom unquestionably was the advocate. there was no reason whatever why the now successful and mature soldier, to whom the country was under such vast obligations, should not aspire to the sovereignty. the provinces had not pledged themselves to republicanism, but rather to monarchy, and the crown, although secretly coveted by henry iv., could by no possibility now be conferred on any other man than maurice. it was no impeachment on his character that he should nourish thoughts in which there was nothing criminal. but the peace negotiations had opened a chasm. it was obvious enough that barneveld having now so long exercised great powers, and become as it were the chief magistrate of an important commonwealth, would not be so friendly as formerly to its conversion into a monarchy and to the elevation of the great soldier to its throne. the advocate had even been sounded, cautiously and secretly, so men believed, by the princess-dowager, louise de coligny, widow of william the silent, as to the feasibility of procuring the sovereignty for maurice. she had done this at the instigation of maurice, who had expressed his belief that the favourable influence of the advocate would make success certain and who had represented to her that, as he was himself resolved never to marry, the inheritance after his death would fall to her son frederick henry. the princess, who was of a most amiable disposition, adored her son. devoted to the house of nassau and a great admirer of its chief, she had a long interview with barneveld, in which she urged the scheme upon his attention without in any probability revealing that she had come to him at the solicitation of maurice. the advocate spoke to her with frankness and out of the depths of his heart. he professed an ardent attachment to her family, a profound reverence for the virtues, sacrifices, and achievements of her lamented husband, and a warm desire to do everything to further the interests of the son who had proved himself so worthy of his parentage. but he proved to her that maurice, in seeking the sovereignty, was seeking his ruin. the hollanders, he said, liked to be persuaded and not forced. having triumphantly shaken off the yoke of a powerful king, they would scarcely consent now to accept the rule of any personal sovereign. the desire to save themselves from the claws of spain had led them formerly to offer the dominion over them to various potentates. now that they had achieved peace and independence and were delivered from the fears of spanish ferocity and french intrigue, they shuddered at the dangers from royal hands out of which they had at last escaped. he believed that they would be capable of tearing in pieces any one who might make the desired proposition. after all, he urged, maurice was a hundred times more fortunate as he was than if he should succeed in desires so opposed to his own good. this splendour of sovereignty was a false glare which would lead him to a precipice. he had now the power of a sovereign without the envy which ever followed it. having essentially such power, he ought, like his father, to despise an empty name, which would only make him hated. for it was well known that william the silent had only yielded to much solicitation, agreeing to accept that which then seemed desirable for the country's good but to him was more than indifferent. maurice was captain-general and admiral-general of five provinces. he appointed to governments and to all military office. he had a share of appointment to the magistracies. he had the same advantages and the same authority as had been enjoyed in the netherlands by the ancient sovereign counts, by the dukes of burgundy, by emperor charles v. himself. every one now was in favour of increasing his pensions, his salaries, his material splendour. should he succeed in seizing the sovereignty, men would envy him even to the ribbands of his pages' and his lackeys' shoes. he turned to the annals of holland and showed the princess that there had hardly been a sovereign count against whom his subjects had not revolted, marching generally into the very courtyard of the palace at the hague in order to take his life. convinced by this reasoning, louise de coligny had at once changed her mind, and subsequently besought her stepson to give up a project sure to be fatal to his welfare, his peace of mind, and the good of the country. maurice listened to her coldly, gave little heed to the advocate's logic, and hated him in his heart from that day forth. the princess remained loyal to barneveld to the last. thus the foundation was laid of that terrible enmity which, inflamed by theological passion, was to convert the period of peace into a hell, to rend the provinces asunder when they had most need of repose, and to lead to tragical results for ever to be deplored. already in francis aerssens had said that the two had become so embroiled and things had gone so far that one or the other would have to leave the country. he permitted also the ridiculous statement to be made in his house at paris, that henry iv. believed the advocate to have become spanish, and had declared that prince maurice would do well to have him put into a sack and thrown into the sea. his life had been regularly divided into two halves, the campaigning season and the period of winter quarters. in the one his business, and his talk was of camps, marches, sieges, and battles only. in the other he was devoted to his stud, to tennis, to mathematical and mechanical inventions, and to chess, of which he was passionately fond, and which he did not play at all well. a gascon captain serving in the states' army was his habitual antagonist in that game, and, although the stakes were but a crown a game, derived a steady income out of his gains, which were more than equal to his pay. the prince was sulky when he lost, sitting, when the candles were burned out and bed-time had arrived, with his hat pulled over his brows, without bidding his guest good night, and leaving him to find his way out as he best could; and, on the contrary, radiant with delight when successful, calling for valets to light the departing captain through the corridor, and accompanying him to the door of the apartment himself. that warrior was accordingly too shrewd not to allow his great adversary as fair a share of triumph as was consistent with maintaining the frugal income on which he reckoned. he had small love for the pleasures of the table, but was promiscuous and unlicensed in his amours. he was methodical in his household arrangements, and rather stingy than liberal in money matters. he personally read all his letters, accounts, despatches, and other documents trivial or important, but wrote few letters with his own hand, so that, unlike his illustrious father's correspondence, there is little that is characteristic to be found in his own. he was plain but not shabby in attire, and was always dressed in exactly the same style, wearing doublet and hose of brown woollen, a silk under vest, a short cloak lined with velvet, a little plaited ruff on his neck, and very loose boots. he ridiculed the smart french officers who, to show their fine legs, were wont to wear such tight boots as made them perspire to get into them, and maintained, in precept and practice, that a man should be able to jump into his boots and mount and ride at a moment's notice. the only ornaments he indulged in, except, of course, on state occasions, were a golden hilt to his famous sword, and a rope of diamonds tied around his felt hat. he was now in the full flower of his strength and his fame, in his forty-second year, and of a noble and martial presence. the face, although unquestionably handsome, offered a sharp contrast within itself; the upper half all intellect, the lower quite sensual. fair hair growing thin, but hardly tinged with grey, a bright, cheerful, and thoughtful forehead, large hazel eyes within a singularly large orbit of brow; a straight, thin, slightly aquiline, well-cut nose--such features were at open variance with the broad, thick-lipped, sensual mouth, the heavy pendant jowl, the sparse beard on the glistening cheek, and the moleskin-like moustachio and chin tuft. still, upon the whole, it was a face and figure which gave the world assurance of a man and a commander of men. power and intelligence were stamped upon him from his birth. barneveld was tall and majestic of presence, with large quadrangular face, austere, blue eyes looking authority and command, a vast forehead, and a grizzled beard. of fluent and convincing eloquence with tongue and pen, having the power of saying much in few words, he cared much more for the substance than the graces of speech or composition. this tendency was not ill exemplified in a note of his written on a sheet of questions addressed to him by a states' ambassador about to start on an important mission, but a novice in his business, the answers to which questions were to serve for his diplomatic instructions. "item and principally," wrote the envoy, "to request of m. de barneveld a formulary or copy of the best, soundest, wisest, and best couched despatches done by several preceding ambassadors in order to regulate myself accordingly for the greater service of the province and for my uttermost reputation." the advocate's answer, scrawled in his nearly illegible hand, was-- "unnecessary. the truth in shortest about matters of importance shall be taken for good style." with great love of power, which he was conscious of exerting with ease to himself and for the good of the public, he had little personal vanity, and not the smallest ambition of authorship. many volumes might be collected out of the vast accumulation of his writings now mouldering and forgotten in archives. had the language in which they are written become a world's language, they would be worthy of attentive study, as containing noble illustrations of the history and politics of his age, with theories and sentiments often far in advance of his age. but he cared not for style. "the truth in shortest about matters of importance" was enough for him; but the world in general, and especially the world of posterity, cares much for style. the vehicle is often prized more than the freight. the name of barneveld is fast fading out of men's memory. the fame of his pupil and companion in fortune and misfortune, hugo grotius, is ever green. but grotius was essentially an author rather than a statesman: he wrote for the world and posterity with all the love, pride, and charm of the devotee of literature, and he composed his noblest works in a language which is ever living because it is dead. some of his writings, epochmaking when they first appeared, are text-books still familiar in every cultivated household on earth. yet barneveld was vastly his superior in practical statesmanship, in law, in the science of government, and above all in force of character, while certainly not his equal in theology, nor making any pretensions to poetry. although a ripe scholar, he rarely wrote in latin, and not often in french. his ambition was to do his work thoroughly according to his view of duty, and to ask god's blessing upon it without craving overmuch the applause of men. such were the two men, the soldier and the statesman. would the republic, fortunate enough to possess two such magnificent and widely contrasted capacities, be wise enough to keep them in its service, each supplementing the other, and the two combining in a perfect whole? or was the great law of the discords of the world, as potent as that other principle of universal harmony and planetary motion which an illustrious contemporary--that wurtemberg astronomer, once a soldier of the fierce alva, now the half-starved astrologer of the brain-sick rudolph--was at that moment discovering, after "god had waited six thousand years for him to do it," to prevail for the misery of the republic and shame of europe? time was to show. the new state had forced itself into the family of sovereignties somewhat to the displeasure of most of the lord's anointed. rebellious and republican, it necessarily excited the jealousy of long-established and hereditary governments. the king of spain had not formally acknowledged the independence of the united provinces. he had treated with them as free, and there was supposed to be much virtue in the conjunction. but their sovereign independence was virtually recognized by the world. great nations had entered into public and diplomatic relations and conventions with them, and their agents at foreign courts were now dignified with the rank and title of ambassadors. the spanish king had likewise refused to them the concession of the right of navigation and commerce in the east indies, but it was a matter of notoriety that the absence of the word india, suppressed as it was in the treaty, implied an immense triumph on the part of the states, and that their flourishing and daily increasing commerce in the farthest east and the imperial establishments already rising there were cause of envy and jealousy not to spain alone, but to friendly powers. yet the government of great britain affected to regard them as something less than a sovereign state. although elizabeth had refused the sovereignty once proffered to her, although james had united with henry iv. in guaranteeing the treaty just concluded between the states and spain, that monarch had the wonderful conception that the republic was in some sort a province of his own, because he still held the cautionary towns in pledge for the loans granted by his predecessor. his agents at constantinople were instructed to represent the new state as unworthy to accredit its envoys as those of an independent power. the provinces were represented as a collection of audacious rebels, a piratical scum of the sea. but the sultan knew his interests better than to incur the enmity of this rising maritime power. the dutch envoy declaring that he would sooner throw himself into the bosphorus than remain to be treated with less consideration than that accorded to the ministers of all great powers, the remonstrances of envious colleagues were hushed, and haga was received with all due honours. even at the court of the best friend of the republic, the french king, men looked coldly at the upstart commonwealth. francis aerssens, the keen and accomplished minister of the states, resident in paris for many years, was received as ambassador after the truce with all the ceremonial befitting the highest rank in the diplomatic service; yet henry could not yet persuade himself to look upon the power accrediting him as a thoroughly organized commonwealth. the english ambassador asked the king if he meant to continue his aid and assistance to the states during the truce. "yes," answered henry. "and a few years beyond it?" "no. i do not wish to offend the king of spain from mere gaiety of heart." "but they are free," replied the ambassador; "the king of spain could have no cause for offence." "they are free," said the king, "but not sovereign."--"judge then," wrote aerssens to barneveld, "how we shall be with the king of spain at the end of our term when our best friends make this distinction among themselves to our disadvantage. they insist on making a difference between liberty and sovereignty; considering liberty as a mean term between servitude and sovereignty." "you would do well," continued the dutch ambassador, "to use the word 'sovereignty' on all occasions instead of 'liberty.'" the hint was significant and the advice sound. the haughty republic of venice, too, with its "golden book" and its pedigree of a thousand years, looked askance at the republic of yesterday rising like herself out of lagunes and sand banks, and affecting to place herself side by side with emperors, kings, and the lion of st. mark. but the all-accomplished council of that most serene commonwealth had far too much insight and too wide experience in political combinations to make the blunder of yielding to this aristocratic sentiment. the natural enemy of the pope, of spain, of austria, must of necessity be the friend of venice, and it was soon thought highly desirable to intimate half officially that a legation from the states-general to the queen of the adriatic, announcing the conclusion of the twelve years' truce, would be extremely well received. the hint was given by the venetian ambassador at paris to francis aerssens, who instantly recommended van der myle, son-in-law of barneveld, as a proper personage to be entrusted with this important mission. at this moment an open breach had almost occurred between spain and venice, and the spanish ambassador at paris, don pedro de toledo, naturally very irate with holland, venice, and even with france, was vehement in his demonstrations. the arrogant spaniard had for some time been employed in an attempt to negotiate a double marriage between the dauphin and the eldest daughter of philip iii., and between the eldest son of that king and the princess elizabeth of france. an indispensable but secret condition of this negotiation was the absolute renunciation by france of its alliance and friendly relations with the united provinces. the project was in truth a hostile measure aimed directly at the life of the republic. henry held firm however, and don pedro was about to depart malcontent, his mission having totally failed. he chanced, when going to his audience of leave-taking, after the arrival of his successor, don inigo de cardenas, to meet the venetian ambassador, antonio foscarini. an altercation took place between them, during which the spaniard poured out his wrath so vehemently, calling his colleague with neat alliteration "a poltroon, a pantaloon, and a pig," that henry heard him. what signor antonio replied has not been preserved, but it is stated that he was first to seek a reconciliation, not liking, he said, spanish assassinations. meantime the double marriage project was for a season at least suspended, and the alliance between the two republics went forwards. van der myle, appointed ambassador to venice, soon afterwards arrived in paris, where he made a very favourable impression, and was highly lauded by aerssens in his daily correspondence with barneveld. no portentous shadow of future and fatal discord between those statesmen fell upon the cheerful scene. before the year closed, he arrived at his post, and was received with great distinction, despite the obstacles thrown in his way by spain and other powers; the ambassador of france itself, de champigny, having privately urged that he ought to be placed on the same footing with the envoys of savoy and of florence. van der myle at starting committed the trifling fault of styling the states-general "most illustrious" (illustrissimi) instead of "most serene," the title by which venice designated herself. the fault was at once remedied, however, priuli the doge seating the dutch ambassador on his right hand at his solemn reception, and giving directions that van der myle should be addressed as excellency, his post being assigned him directly after his seniors, the ambassadors of pope, emperor, and kings. the same precedence was settled in paris, while aerssens, who did not consider himself placed in a position of greater usefulness by his formal installation as ambassador, received private intimation from henry, with whom he was on terms of great confidence and intimacy, that he should have private access to the king as frequently and as in formally as before. the theory that the ambassador, representing the personality of his sovereign, may visit the monarch to whom he is accredited, without ceremony and at his own convenience, was as rarely carried into practice in the sixteenth century as in the nineteenth, while on the other hand aerssens, as the private and confidential agent of a friendly but not publicly recognized commonwealth, had been for many years in almost daily personal communication with the king. it is also important to note that the modern fallacy according to which republics being impersonal should not be represented by ambassadors had not appeared in that important epoch in diplomatic history. on the contrary, the two great republics of the age, holland and venice, vindicated for themselves, with as much dignity and reason as success, their right to the highest diplomatic honours. the distinction was substantial not shadowy; those haughty commonwealths not considering it advantageous or decorous that their representatives should for want of proper official designations be ranked on great ceremonial occasions with the ministers of petty italian principalities or of the three hundred infinitesimal sovereignties of germany. it was the advice of the french king especially, who knew politics and the world as well as any man, that the envoys of the republic which he befriended and which stood now on the threshold of its official and national existence, should assert themselves at every court with the self-reliance and courtesy becoming the functionaries of a great power. that those ministers were second to the representatives of no other european state in capacity and accomplishment was a fact well known to all who had dealings with them, for the states required in their diplomatic representatives knowledge of history and international law, modern languages, and the classics, as well as familiarity with political customs and social courtesies; the breeding of gentlemen in short, and the accomplishments of scholars. it is both a literary enjoyment and a means of historical and political instruction to read after the lapse of centuries their reports and despatches. they worthily compare as works of art with those diplomatic masterpieces the letters and 'relazioni' of the venetian ambassadors; and it is well known that the earlier and some of the most important treatises on public and international law ever written are from the pens of hollanders, who indeed may be said to have invented that science.' the republic having thus steadily shouldered its way into the family of nations was soon called upon to perform a prominent part in the world's affairs. more than in our own epoch there was a close political commingling of such independent states as held sympathetic views on the great questions agitating europe. the policy of isolation so wisely and successfully carried out by our own trans-atlantic commonwealth was impossible for the dutch republic, born as it was of a great religious schism, and with its narrow territory wedged between the chief political organizations of christendom. moreover the same jealousy on the part of established powers which threw so many obstacles in its path to recognized sovereignty existed in the highest degree between its two sponsors and allies, france and england, in regard to their respective relations to the new state. "if ever there was an obliged people," said henry's secretary of state, villeroy, to aerssens, "then it is you netherlanders to his majesty. he has converted your war into peace, and has never abandoned you. it is for you now to show your affection and gratitude." in the time of elizabeth, and now in that of her successor, there was scarcely a day in which the envoys of the states were not reminded of the immense load of favour from england under which they tottered, and of the greater sincerity and value of english friendship over that of france. sully often spoke to aerssens on the subject in even stronger language, deeming himself the chief protector and guardian angel of the republic, to whom they were bound by ties of eternal gratitude. "but if the states," he said, "should think of caressing the king of england more than him, or even of treating him on an equality with his majesty, henry would be very much affronted. he did not mean that they should neglect the friendship of the king of britain, but that they should cultivate it after and in subordination to his own, for they might be sure that james held all things indifferent, their ruin or their conservation, while his majesty had always manifested the contrary both by his counsels and by the constant furnishing of supplies." henry of france and navarre--soldier, statesman, wit, above all a man and every inch a king--brimful of human vices, foibles, and humours, and endowed with those high qualities of genius which enabled him to mould events and men by his unscrupulous and audacious determination to conform to the spirit of his times which no man better understood than himself, had ever been in such close relations with the netherlands as to seem in some sort their sovereign. james stuart, emerging from the school of buchanan and the atmosphere of calvinism in which he had been bred, now reigned in those more sunny and liberal regions where elizabeth so long had ruled. finding himself at once, after years of theological study, face to face with a foreign commonwealth and a momentous epoch, in which politics were so commingled with divinity as to offer daily the most puzzling problems, the royal pedant hugged himself at beholding so conspicuous a field for his talents. to turn a throne into a pulpit, and amaze mankind with his learning, was an ambition most sweet to gratify. the calvinist of scotland now proclaimed his deadly hatred of puritans in england and holland, and denounced the netherlanders as a pack of rebels whom it always pleased him to irritate, and over whom he too claimed, through the possession of the cautionary towns, a kind of sovereignty. instinctively feeling that in the rough and unlovely husk of puritanism was enclosed the germ of a wider human liberty than then existed, he was determined to give battle to it with his tongue, his pen, with everything but his sword. doubtless the states had received most invaluable assistance from both france and england, but the sovereigns of those countries were too apt to forget that it was their own battles, as well as those of the hollanders, that had been fought in flanders and brabant. but for the alliance and subsidies of the faithful states, henry would not so soon have ascended the throne of his ancestors, while it was matter of history that the spanish government had for years been steadily endeavouring to subjugate england not so much for the value of the conquest in itself as for a stepping-stone to the recovery of the revolted netherlands. for the dividing line of nations or at least of national alliances was a frontier not of language but of faith. germany was but a geographical expression. the union of protestantism, subscribed by a large proportion of its three hundred and seven sovereigns, ran zigzag through the country, a majority probably of the people at that moment being opposed to the roman church. it has often been considered amazing that protestantism having accomplished so much should have fallen backwards so soon, and yielded almost undisputed sway in vast regions to the long dominant church. but in truth there is nothing surprising about it. catholicism was and remained a unit, while its opponents were eventually broken up into hundreds of warring and politically impotent organizations. religious faith became distorted into a weapon for selfish and greedy territorial aggrandizement in the hands of protestant princes. "cujus regio ejus religio" was the taunt hurled in the face of the imploring calvinists of france and the low countries by the arrogant lutherans of germany. such a sword smote the principle of religious freedom and mutual toleration into the dust, and rendered them comparatively weak in the conflict with the ancient and splendidly organized church. the huguenots of france, notwithstanding the protection grudgingly afforded them by their former chieftain, were dejected and discomfited by his apostasy, and henry, placed in a fearfully false position, was an object of suspicion to both friends and foes. in england it is difficult to say whether a jesuit or a puritan was accounted the more noxious animal by the dominant party. in the united provinces perhaps one half the population was either openly or secretly attached to the ancient church, while among the protestant portion a dire and tragic convulsion was about to break forth, which for a time at least was to render remonstrants and contra-remonstrants more fiercely opposed to each other than to papists. the doctrine of predestination in its sternest and strictest sense had long been the prevailing one in the reformed church of the revolted netherlands, as in those of scotland, france, geneva, and the palatinate. no doubt up to the period of the truce a majority had acquiesced in that dogma and its results, although there had always been many preachers to advocate publicly a milder creed. it was not until the appointment of jacob arminius to the professorship of theology at leyden, in the place of francis junius, in the year , that a danger of schism in the church, seemed impending. then rose the great gomarus in his wrath, and with all the powers of splendid eloquence, profound learning, and the intense bigotry of conviction, denounced the horrible heresy. conferences between the two before the court of holland, theological tournaments between six champions on a side, gallantly led by their respective chieftains, followed, with the usual result of confirming both parties in the conviction that to each alone belonged exclusively the truth. the original influence of arminius had however been so great that when the preachers of holland had been severally called on by a synod to sign the heidelberg catechism, many of them refused. here was open heresy and revolt. it was time for the true church to vindicate its authority. the great war with spain had been made, so it was urged and honestly believed, not against the inquisition, not to prevent netherlanders from being burned and buried alive by the old true church, not in defence of ancient charters, constitutions, and privileges--the precious result of centuries of popular resistance to despotic force--not to maintain an amount of civil liberty and local self-government larger in extent than any then existing in the world, not to assert equality of religion for all men, but simply to establish the true religion, the one church, the only possible creed; the creed and church of calvin. it is perfectly certain that the living fire which glowed in the veins of those hot gospellers had added intense enthusiasm to the war spirit throughout that immense struggle. it is quite possible that without that enthusiasm the war might not have been carried on to its successful end. but it is equally certain that catholics, lutherans, baptists, and devotees of many other creeds, had taken part in the conflict in defence both of hearth and altar, and that without that aid the independence of the provinces would never have been secured. yet before the war was ended the arrogance of the reformed priesthood had begun to dig a chasm. men who with william the silent and barneveld had indulged in the vision of religious equality as a possible result of so much fighting against the holy inquisition were perhaps to be disappointed. preachers under the influence of the gentle arminius having dared to refuse signing the creed were to be dealt with. it was time to pass from censure to action. heresy must be trampled down. the churches called for a national synod, and they did this as by divine right. "my lords the states-general must observe," they said, "that this assembly now demanded is not a human institution but an ordinance of the holy ghost in its community, not depending upon any man's authority, but proceeding from god to the community." they complained that the true church was allowed to act only through the civil government, and was thus placed at a disadvantage compared even with catholics and other sects, whose proceedings were winked at. "thus the true church suffered from its apparent and public freedom, and hostile sects gained by secret connivance." a crisis was fast approaching. the one church claimed infallibility and superiority to the civil power. the holy ghost was placed in direct, ostentatious opposition to my lords the states-general. it was for netherlanders to decide whether, after having shaken off the holy inquisition, and subjected the old true church to the public authority, they were now to submit to the imperious claims of the new true church. there were hundreds of links connecting the church with the state. in that day a divorce between the two was hardly possible or conceivable. the system of congregationalism so successfully put into practice soon afterwards in the wilderness of new england, and to which so much of american freedom political as well as religious is due, was not easy to adopt in an old country like the netherlands. splendid churches and cathedrals, the legal possession of which would be contended for by rival sects, could scarcely be replaced by temporary structures of lath and plaster, or by humble back parlours of mechanics' shops. there were questions of property of complicated nature. not only the states and the communities claimed in rivalry the ownership of church property, but many private families could show ancient advowsons and other claims to present or to patronize, derived from imperial or ducal charters. so long as there could be liberty of opinion within the church upon points not necessarily vital, open schism could be avoided, by which the cause of protestantism throughout europe must be weakened, while at the same time subordination of the priesthood to the civil authority would be maintained. but if the holy ghost, through the assembled clergy, were to dictate an iron formulary to which all must conform, to make laws for church government which every citizen must obey, and to appoint preachers and school-masters from whom alone old and young could receive illumination and instruction religious or lay, a theocracy would be established which no enlightened statesman could tolerate. the states-general agreed to the synod, but imposed a condition that there should be a revision of creed and catechism. this was thundered down with one blast. the condition implied a possibility that the vile heresy of arminius might be correct. an unconditional synod was demanded. the heidelberg creed and netherland catechism were sacred, infallible, not to be touched. the answer of the government, through the mouth of barneveld, was that "to my lords the states-general as the foster-fathers and protectors of the churches every right belonged." thus far the states-general under the leadership of the advocate were unanimous. the victory remained with state against church. but very soon after the truce had been established, and men had liberty to devote themselves to peaceful pursuits, the ecclesiastical trumpet again sounded far and wide, and contending priests and laymen rushed madly to the fray. the remonstrance and contra-remonstrance, and the appointment of conrad vorstius, a more abominable heretic than arminius, to the vacant chair of arminius--a step which drove gomarus and the gomarites to frenzy, although gomarus and vorstius remained private and intimate friends to the last--are matters briefly to be mentioned on a later page. thus to the four chief actors in the politico-religious drama, soon to be enacted as an interlude to an eighty years' war, were assigned parts at first sight inconsistent with their private convictions. the king of france, who had often abjured his religion, and was now the best of catholics, was denounced ferociously in every catholic pulpit in christendom as secretly an apostate again, and the open protector of heretics and rebels. but the cheerful henry troubled himself less than he perhaps had cause to do with these thunderblasts. besides, as we shall soon see, he had other objects political and personal to sway his opinions. james the ex-calvinist, crypto-arminian, pseudo-papist, and avowed puritan hater, was girding on his armour to annihilate arminians and to defend and protect puritans in holland, while swearing that in england he would pepper them and harry them and hang them and that he would even like to bury them alive. barneveld, who turned his eyes, as much as in such an inflammatory age it was possible, from subtle points of theology, and relied on his great-grandfather's motto of humility, "nil scire tutissima fides" was perhaps nearer to the dogma of the dominant reformed church than he knew, although always the consistent and strenuous champion of the civil authority over church as well as state. maurice was no theologian. he was a steady churchgoer, and his favorite divine, the preacher at his court chapel, was none other than uytenbogaert. the very man who was instantly to be the champion of the arminians, the author of the remonstrance, the counsellor and comrade of barneveld and grotius, was now sneered at by the gomarites as the "court trumpeter." the preacher was not destined to change his opinions. perhaps the prince might alter. but maurice then paid no heed to the great point at issue, about which all the netherlanders were to take each other by the throat--absolute predestination. he knew that the advocate had refused to listen to his stepmother's suggestion as to his obtaining the sovereignty. "he knew nothing of predestination," he was wont to say, "whether it was green or whether it was blue. he only knew that his pipe and the advocate's were not likely to make music together." this much of predestination he did know, that if the advocate and his friends were to come to open conflict with the prince of orange-nassau, the conqueror of nieuwpoort, it was predestined to go hard with the advocate and his friends. the theological quibble did not interest him much, and he was apt to blunder about it. "well, preacher," said he one day to albert huttenus, who had come to him to intercede for a deserter condemned to be hanged, "are you one of those arminians who believe that one child is born to salvation and another to damnation?" huttenus, amazed to the utmost at the extraordinary question, replied, "your excellency will be graciously pleased to observe that this is not the opinion of those whom one calls by the hateful name of arminians, but the opinion of their adversaries." "well, preacher," rejoined maurice, "don't you think i know better?" and turning to count lewis william, stadholder of friesland, who was present, standing by the hearth with his hand on a copper ring of the chimneypiece, he cried, "which is right, cousin, the preacher or i?" "no, cousin," answered count lewis, "you are in the wrong." thus to the catholic league organized throughout europe in solid and consistent phalanx was opposed the great protestant union, ardent and enthusiastic in detail, but undisciplined, disobedient, and inharmonious as a whole. the great principle, not of religious toleration, which is a phrase of insult, but of religious equality, which is the natural right of mankind, was to be evolved after a lapse of, additional centuries out of the elemental conflict which had already lasted so long. still later was the total divorce of state and church to be achieved as the final consummation of the great revolution. meantime it was almost inevitable that the privileged and richly endowed church, with ecclesiastical armies and arsenals vastly superior to anything which its antagonist could improvise, should more than hold its own. at the outset of the epoch which now occupies our attention, europe was in a state of exhaustion and longing for repose. spain had submitted to the humiliation of a treaty of truce with its rebellious subjects which was substantially a recognition of their independence. nothing could be more deplorable than the internal condition of the country which claimed to be mistress of the world and still aspired to universal monarchy. it had made peace because it could no longer furnish funds for the war. the french ambassador, barante, returning from madrid, informed his sovereign that he had often seen officers in the army prostrating themselves on their knees in the streets before their sovereign as he went to mass, and imploring him for payment of their salaries, or at least an alms to keep them from starving, and always imploring in vain. the king, who was less than a cipher, had neither capacity to feel emotion, nor intelligence to comprehend the most insignificant affair of state. moreover the means were wanting to him even had he been disposed to grant assistance. the terrible duke of lerma was still his inexorably lord and master, and the secretary of that powerful personage, who kept an open shop for the sale of offices of state both high and low, took care that all the proceeds should flow into the coffers of the duke and his own lap instead of the royal exchequer. in france both king and people declared themselves disgusted with war. sully disapproved of the treaty just concluded between spain and the netherlands, feeling sure that the captious and equivocal clauses contained in it would be interpreted to the disadvantage of the republic and of the reformed religion whenever spain felt herself strong enough to make the attempt. he was especially anxious that the states should make no concessions in regard to the exercise of the catholic worship within their territory, believing that by so doing they would compromise their political independence besides endangering the cause of protestantism everywhere. a great pressure was put upon sully that moment by the king to change his religion. "you will all be inevitably ruined if you make concessions in this regard," said he to aerssens. "take example by me. i should be utterly undone if i had listened to any overture on this subject." nevertheless it was the opinion of the astute and caustic envoy that the duke would be forced to yield at last. the pope was making great efforts to gain him, and thus to bring about the extirpation of protestantism in france. and the king, at that time much under the influence of the jesuits, had almost set his heart on the conversion. aerssens insinuated that sully was dreading a minute examination into the affairs of his administration of the finances--a groundless calumny--and would be thus forced to comply. other enemies suggested that nothing would effect this much desired apostasy but the office of constable of france, which it was certain would never be bestowed on him. at any rate it was very certain that henry at this period was bent on peace. "make your account," said aerssens to barneveld, as the time for signing the truce drew nigh, "on this indubitable foundation that the king is determined against war, whatever pretences he may make. his bellicose demeanour has been assumed only to help forward our treaty, which he would never have favoured, and ought never to have favoured, if he had not been too much in love with peace. this is a very important secret if we manage it discreetly, and a very dangerous one if our enemies discover it." sully would have much preferred that the states should stand out for a peace rather than for a truce, and believed it might have been obtained if the king had not begun the matter so feebly, and if he had let it be understood that he would join his arms to those of the provinces in case of rupture. he warned the states very strenuously that the pope, and the king of spain, and a host of enemies open and covert, were doing their host to injure them at the french court. they would find little hindrance in this course if the republic did not show its teeth, and especially if it did not stiffly oppose all encroachments of the roman religion, without even showing any deference to the king in this regard, who was much importuned on the subject. he advised the states to improve the interval of truce by restoring order to their finances and so arranging their affairs that on the resumption of hostilities, if come they must, their friends might be encouraged to help them, by the exhibition of thorough vigour on their part. france then, although utterly indisposed for war at that moment, was thoroughly to be relied on as a friend and in case of need an ally, so long as it was governed by its present policy. there was but one king left in europe since the death of elizabeth of england. but henry was now on the abhorred threshold of old age which he obstinately refused to cross. there is something almost pathetic, in spite of the censure which much of his private life at this period provokes, in the isolation which now seemed his lot. deceived and hated by his wife and his mistresses, who were conspiring with each other and with his ministers, not only against his policy but against his life; with a vile italian adventurer, dishonouring his household, entirely dominating the queen, counteracting the royal measures, secretly corresponding, by assumed authority, with spain, in direct violation of the king's instructions to his ambassadors, and gorging himself with wealth and offices at the expense of everything respectable in france; surrounded by a pack of malignant and greedy nobles, who begrudged him his fame, his authority, his independence; without a home, and almost without a friend, the most christian king in these latter days led hardly as merry a life as when fighting years long for his crown, at the head of his gascon chivalry, the beloved chieftain of huguenots. of the triumvirate then constituting his council, villeroy, sillery, and sully, the two first were ancient leaguers, and more devoted at heart to philip of spain than to henry of france and navarre. both silent, laborious, plodding, plotting functionaries, thriftily gathering riches; skilled in routine and adepts at intrigue; steady self-seekers, and faithful to office in which their lives had passed, they might be relied on at any emergency to take part against their master, if to ruin would prove more profitable than to serve him. there was one man who was truer to henry than henry had been to himself. the haughty, defiant, austere grandee, brave soldier, sagacious statesman, thrifty financier, against whom the poisoned arrows of religious hatred, envious ambition, and petty court intrigue were daily directed, who watched grimly over the exchequer confided to him, which was daily growing fuller in despite of the cormorants who trembled at his frown; hard worker, good hater, conscientious politician, who filled his own coffers without dishonesty, and those of the state without tyranny; unsociable, arrogant; pious, very avaricious, and inordinately vain, maximilian de bethune, duke of sully, loved and respected henry as no man or woman loved and respected him. in truth, there was but one living being for whom the duke had greater reverence and affection than for the king, and that was the duke of sully himself. at this moment he considered himself, as indeed he was, in full possession of his sovereign's confidence. but he was alone in this conviction. those about the court, men like epernon and his creatures, believed the great financier on the brink of perdition. henry, always the loosest of talkers even in regard to his best friends, had declared, on some temporary vexation in regard to the affair between aiguillon and balagny, that he would deal with the duke as with the late marshal de biron, and make him smaller than he had ever made him great: goading him on this occasion with importunities, almost amounting to commands, that both he and his son should forthwith change their religion or expect instant ruin. the blow was so severe that sully shut himself up, refused to see anyone, and talked of retiring for good to his estates. but he knew, and henry knew, how indispensable he was, and the anger of the master was as shortlived as the despair of the minister. there was no living statesman for whom henry had a more sincere respect than for the advocate of holland. "his majesty admires and greatly extols your wisdom, which he judges necessary for the preservation of our state; deeming you one of the rare and sage counsellors of the age." it is true that this admiration was in part attributed to the singular coincidence of barneveld's views of policy with the king's own. sully, on his part, was a severe critic of that policy. he believed that better terms might have been exacted from spain in the late negotiations, and strongly objected to the cavilling and equivocal language of the treaty. rude in pen as in speech, he expressed his mind very freely in his conversation and correspondence with henry in regard to leading personages and great affairs, and made no secret of his opinions to the states' ambassador. he showed his letters in which he had informed the king that he ought never to have sanctioned the truce without better securities than existed, and that the states would never have moved in any matter without him. it would have been better to throw himself into a severe war than to see the republic perish. he further expressed the conviction that henry ought to have such authority over the netherlands that they would embrace blindly whatever counsel he chose to give them, even if they saw in it their inevitable ruin; and this not so much from remembrance of assistance rendered by him, but from the necessity in which they should always feel of depending totally upon him. "you may judge, therefore," concluded aerssens, "as to how much we can build on such foundations as these. i have been amazed at these frank communications, for in those letters he spares neither my lords the states, nor his excellency prince maurice, nor yourself; giving his judgment of each of you with far too much freedom and without sufficient knowledge." thus the alliance between the netherlands and france, notwithstanding occasional traces of caprice and flaws of personal jealousy, was on the whole sincere, for it was founded on the surest foundation of international friendship, the self-interest of each. henry, although boasting of having bought paris with a mass, knew as well as his worst enemy that in that bargain he had never purchased the confidence of the ancient church, on whose bosom he had flung himself with so much dramatic pomp. his noble position, as champion of religious toleration, was not only unappreciated in an age in which each church and every sect arrogated to itself a monopoly of the truth, but it was one in which he did not himself sincerely believe. after all, he was still the chieftain of the protestant union, and, although eldest son of the church, was the bitter antagonist of the league and the sworn foe to the house of austria. he was walking through pitfalls with a crowd of invisible but relentless foes dogging his every footstep. in his household or without were daily visions of dagger and bowl, and he felt himself marching to his doom. how could the man on whom the heretic and rebellious hollanders and the protestant princes of germany relied as on their saviour escape the unutterable wrath and the patient vengeance of a power that never forgave? in england the jealousy of the republic and of france as co-guardian and protector of the republic was even greater than in france. though placed by circumstances in the position of ally to the netherlands and enemy to spain, james hated the netherlands and adored spain. his first thought on escaping the general destruction to which the gunpowder plot was to have involved himself and family and all the principal personages of the realm seems to have been to exculpate spain from participation in the crime. his next was to deliver a sermon to parliament, exonerating the catholics and going out of his way to stigmatize the puritans as entertaining doctrines which should be punished with fire. as the puritans had certainly not been accused of complicity with guy fawkes or garnet, this portion of the discourse was at least superfluous. but james loathed nothing so much as a puritan. a catholic at heart, he would have been the warmest ally of the league had he only been permitted to be pope of great britain. he hated and feared a jesuit, not for his religious doctrines, for with these he sympathized, but for his political creed. he liked not that either roman pontiff or british presbyterian should abridge his heaven-born prerogative. the doctrine of papal superiority to temporal sovereigns was as odious to him as puritan rebellion to the hierarchy of which he was the chief. moreover, in his hostility to both papists and presbyterians, there was much of professional rivalry. having been deprived by the accident of birth of his true position as theological professor, he lost no opportunity of turning his throne into a pulpit and his sceptre into a controversial pen. henry of france, who rarely concealed his contempt for master jacques, as he called him, said to the english ambassador, on receiving from him one of the king's books, and being asked what he thought of it--"it is not the business of us kings to write, but to fight. everybody should mind his own business, but it is the vice of most men to wish to appear learned in matters of which they are ignorant." the flatterers of james found their account in pandering to his sacerdotal and royal vanity. "i have always believed," said the lord chancellor, after hearing the king argue with and browbeat a presbyterian deputation, "that the high-priesthood and royalty ought to be united, but i never witnessed the actual junction till now, after hearing the learned discourse of your majesty." archbishop whitgift, grovelling still lower, declared his conviction that james, in the observations he had deigned to make, had been directly inspired by the holy ghost. nothing could be more illogical and incoherent with each other than his theological and political opinions. he imagined himself a defender of the protestant faith, while hating holland and fawning on the house of austria. in england he favoured arminianism, because the anglican church recognized for its head the temporal chief of the state. in holland he vehemently denounced the arminians, indecently persecuting their preachers and statesmen, who were contending for exactly the same principle--the supremacy of state over church. he sentenced bartholomew legate to be burned alive in smithfield as a blasphemous heretic, and did his best to compel the states of holland to take the life of professor vorstius of leyden. he persecuted the presbyterians in england as furiously as he defended them in holland. he drove bradford and carver into the new england wilderness, and applauded gomarus and walaeus and the other famous leaders of the presbyterian party in the netherlands with all his soul and strength. he united with the french king in negotiations for netherland independence, while denouncing the provinces as guilty of criminal rebellion against their lawful sovereign. "he pretends," said jeannin, "to assist in bringing about the peace, and nevertheless does his best openly to prevent it." richardot declared that the firmness of the king of spain proceeded entirely from reliance on the promise of james that there should be no acknowledgment in the treaty of the liberty of the states. henry wrote to jeannin that he knew very well "what that was capable of, but that he should not be kept awake by anything he could do." as a king he spent his reign--so much of it as could be spared from gourmandizing, drunkenness, dalliance with handsome minions of his own sex, and theological pursuits--in rescuing the crown from dependence on parliament; in straining to the utmost the royal prerogative; in substituting proclamations for statutes; in doing everything in his power, in short, to smooth the path for his successor to the scaffold. as father of a family he consecrated many years of his life to the wondrous delusion of the spanish marriages. the gunpowder plot seemed to have inspired him with an insane desire for that alliance, and few things in history are more amazing than the persistency with which he pursued the scheme, until the pursuit became not only ridiculous, but impossible. with such a man, frivolous, pedantic, conceited, and licentious, the earnest statesmen of holland were forced into close alliance. it is pathetic to see men like barneveld and hugo grotius obliged, on great occasions of state, to use the language of respect and affection to one by whom they were hated, and whom they thoroughly despised. but turning away from france, it was in vain for them to look for kings or men either among friends or foes. in germany religious dissensions were gradually ripening into open war, and it would be difficult to imagine a more hopelessly incompetent ruler than the man who was nominally chief of the holy roman realm. yet the distracted rudolph was quite as much an emperor as the chaos over which he was supposed to preside was an empire. perhaps the very worst polity ever devised by human perverseness was the system under which the great german race was then writhing and groaning. a mad world with a lunatic to govern it; a democracy of many princes, little and big, fighting amongst each other, and falling into daily changing combinations as some masterly or mischievous hand whirled the kaleidoscope; drinking rhenish by hogsheads, and beer by the tun; robbing churches, dictating creeds to their subjects, and breaking all the commandments themselves; a people at the bottom dimly striving towards religious freedom and political life out of abject social, ecclesiastical, and political serfdom, and perhaps even then dumbly feeling within its veins, with that prophetic instinct which never abandons great races, a far distant and magnificent future of national unity and imperial splendour, the very reverse of the confusion which was then the hideous present; an imperial family at top with many heads and slender brains; a band of brothers and cousins wrangling, intriguing, tripping up each others' heels, and unlucky rudolph, in his hradschin, looking out of window over the peerless prague, spread out in its beauteous landscape of hill and dale, darkling forest, dizzy cliffs, and rushing river, at his feet, feebly cursing the unhappy city for its ingratitude to an invisible and impotent sovereign; his excellent brother matthias meanwhile marauding through the realms and taking one crown after another from his poor bald head. it would be difficult to depict anything more precisely what an emperor in those portentous times should not be. he collected works of art of many kinds--pictures, statues, gems. he passed his days in his galleries contemplating in solitary grandeur these treasures, or in his stables, admiring a numerous stud of horses which he never drove or rode. ambassadors and ministers of state disguised themselves as grooms and stable-boys to obtain accidental glimpses of a sovereign who rarely granted audiences. his nights were passed in star-gazing with tycho de brake, or with that illustrious suabian whose name is one of the great lights and treasures of the world. but it was not to study the laws of planetary motion nor to fathom mysteries of divine harmony that the monarch stood with kepler in the observatory. the influence of countless worlds upon the destiny of one who, by capricious accident, if accident ever exists in history, had been entrusted with the destiny of so large a portion of one little world; the horoscope, not of the universe, but of himself; such were the limited purposes with which the kaiser looked upon the constellations. for the catholic rudolph had received the protestant kepler, driven from tubingen because lutheran doctors, knowing from holy writ that the sun had stood still in ajalon, had denounced his theory of planetary motion. his mother had just escaped being burned as a witch, and the world owes a debt of gratitude to the emperor for protecting the astrologer, when enlightened theologians might, perhaps, have hanged the astronomer. a red-faced, heavy fowled, bald-headed, somewhat goggle-eyed old gentleman, rudolph did his best to lead the life of a hermit, and escape the cares of royalty. timid by temperament, yet liable to fits of uncontrollable anger, he broke his furniture to pieces when irritated, and threw dishes that displeased him in his butler's face, but left affairs of state mainly to his valet, who earned many a penny by selling the imperial signature. he had just signed the famous "majestatsbrief," by which he granted vast privileges to the protestants of bohemia, and had bitten the pen to pieces in a paroxysm of anger, after dimly comprehending the extent of the concessions which he had made. there were hundreds of sovereign states over all of which floated the shadowy and impalpable authority of an imperial crown scarcely fixed on the head of any one of the rival brethren and cousins; there was a confederation of protestants, with the keen-sighted and ambitious christian of anhalt acting as its chief, and dreaming of the bohemian crown; there was the just-born catholic league, with the calm, far-seeing, and egotistical rather than self-seeking maximilian at its head; each combination extending over the whole country, stamped with imbecility of action from its birth, and perverted and hampered by inevitable jealousies. in addition to all these furrows ploughed by the very genius of discord throughout the unhappy land was the wild and secret intrigue with which leopold, archduke and bishop, dreaming also of the crown of wenzel, was about to tear its surface as deeply as he dared. thus constituted were the leading powers of europe in the earlier part of --the year in which a peaceful period seemed to have begun. to those who saw the entangled interests of individuals, and the conflict of theological dogmas and religious and political intrigue which furnished so much material out of which wide-reaching schemes of personal ambition could be spun, it must have been obvious that the interval of truce was necessarily but a brief interlude between two tragedies. it seemed the very mockery of fate that, almost at the very instant when after two years' painful negotiation a truce had been made, the signal for universal discord should be sounded. one day in the early summer of , henry iv. came to the royal arsenal, the residence of sully, accompanied by zamet and another of his intimate companions. he asked for the duke and was told that he was busy in his study. "of course," said the king, turning to his followers, "i dare say you expected to be told that he was out shooting, or with the ladies, or at the barber's. but who works like sully? tell him," he said, "to come to the balcony in his garden, where he and i are not accustomed to be silent." as soon as sully appeared, the king observed: "well; here the duke of cleve is dead, and has left everybody his heir." it was true enough, and the inheritance was of vital importance to the world. it was an apple of discord thrown directly between the two rival camps into which christendom was divided. the duchies of cleve, berg, and julich, and the counties and lordships of mark, ravensberg, and ravenstein, formed a triangle, political and geographical, closely wedged between catholicism and protestantism, and between france, the united provinces, belgium, and germany. should it fall into catholic hands, the netherlands were lost, trampled upon in every corner, hedged in on all sides, with the house of austria governing the rhine, the meuse, and the scheldt. it was vital to them to exclude the empire from the great historic river which seemed destined to form the perpetual frontier of jealous powers and rival creeds. should it fall into heretic hands, the states were vastly strengthened, the archduke albert isolated and cut off from the protection of spain and of the empire. france, although catholic, was the ally of holland and the secret but well known enemy of the house of austria. it was inevitable that the king of that country, the only living statesman that wore a crown, should be appealed to by all parties and should find himself in the proud but dangerous position of arbiter of europe. in this emergency he relied upon himself and on two men besides, maximilian de bethune and john of barneveld. the conference between the king and sully and between both and francis aerssens, ambassador of the states, were of almost daily occurrence. the minute details given in the adroit diplomatist's correspondence indicate at every stage the extreme deference paid by henry to the opinion of holland's advocate and the confidence reposed by him in the resources and the courage of the republic. all the world was claiming the heritage of the duchies. it was only strange that an event which could not be long deferred and the consequences of which were soon to be so grave, the death of the duke of cleve, should at last burst like a bomb-shell on the council tables of the sovereigns and statesmen of europe. that mischievous madman john william died childless in the spring of . his sister sibylla, an ancient and malignant spinster, had governed him and his possessions except in his lucid intervals. the mass of the population over which he ruled being protestant, while the reigning family and the chief nobles were of the ancient faith, it was natural that the catholic party under, the lead of maximilian of bavaria should deem it all-important that there should be direct issue to that family. otherwise the inheritance on his death would probably pass to protestant princes. the first wife provided for him was a beautiful princess; jacobea of baden. the pope blessed the nuptials, and sent the bride a golden rose, but the union was sterile and unhappy. the duke, who was in the habit of careering through his palace in full armour, slashing at and wounding anyone that came in his way, was at last locked up. the hapless jacobea, accused by sibylla of witchcraft and other crimes possible and impossible, was thrown into prison. two years long the devilish malignity of the sister-in-law was exercised upon her victim, who, as it is related, was not allowed natural sleep during all that period, being at every hour awakened by command of sibylla. at last the duchess was strangled in prison. a new wife was at once provided for the lunatic, antonia of lorraine. the two remained childless, and sibylla at the age of forty-nine took to herself a husband, the margrave of burgau, of the house of austria, the humble birth of whose mother, however, did not allow him the rank of archduke. her efforts thus to provide catholic heirs to the rich domains of clove proved as fruitless as her previous attempts. and now duke john william had died, and the representatives of his three dead sisters, and the living sibylla were left to fight for the duchies. it would be both cruel and superfluous to inflict on the reader a historical statement of the manner in which these six small provinces were to be united into a single state. it would be an equally sterile task to retrace the legal arguments by which the various parties prepared themselves to vindicate their claims, each pretender more triumphantly than the other. the naked facts alone retain vital interest, and of these facts the prominent one was the assertion of the emperor that the duchies, constituting a fief masculine, could descend to none of the pretenders, but were at his disposal as sovereign of germany. on the other hand nearly all the important princes of that country sent their agents into the duchies to look after the interests real or imaginary which they claimed. there were but four candidates who in reality could be considered serious ones. mary eleanor, eldest sister of the duke, had been married in the lifetime of their father to albert frederic of brandenburg, duke of prussia. to the children of this marriage was reserved the succession of the whole property in case of the masculine line becoming extinct. two years afterwards the second sister, anne, was married to duke philip lewis, count-palatine of neuburg; the children of which marriage stood next in succession to those of the eldest sister, should that become extinguished. four years later the third sister, magdalen, espoused the duke john, count-palatine of deux-ponts; who, like neuburg, made resignation of rights of succession in favour of the descendants of the brandenburg marriage. the marriage of the youngest sister, sibylla, with the margrave of burgau has been already mentioned. it does not appear that her brother, whose lunatic condition hardly permitted him to assure her the dowry which had been the price of renunciation in the case of her three elder sisters, had obtained that renunciation from her. the claims of the childless sibylla as well as those of the deux-ponts branch were not destined to be taken into serious consideration. the real competitors were the emperor on the one side and the elector of brandenburg and the count-palatine of neuburg on the other. it is not necessary to my purpose to say a single word as to the legal and historical rights of the controversy. volumes upon volumes of forgotten lore might be consulted, and they would afford exactly as much refreshing nutriment as would the heaps of erudition hardly ten years old, and yet as antiquated as the title-deeds of the pharaohs, concerning the claims to the duchies of schleswig-holstein. the fortunate house of brandenburg may have been right or wrong in both disputes. it is certain that it did not lack a more potent factor in settling the political problems of the world in the one case any more than in the other. but on the occasion with which we are occupied it was not on the might of his own right hand that the elector of brandenburg relied. moreover, he was dilatory in appealing to the two great powers on whose friendship he must depend for the establishment of his claims: the united republic and the king of france. james of england was on the whole inclined to believe in the rights of brandenburg. his ambassador, however, with more prophetic vision than perhaps the king ever dreamt--of, expressed a fear lest brandenburg should grow too great and one day come to the imperial crown. the states openly favoured the elector. henry as at first disposed towards neuburg, but at his request barneveld furnished a paper on the subject, by which the king seems to have been entirely converted to the pretensions of brandenburg. but the solution of the question had but little to do with the legal claim of any man. it was instinctively felt throughout christendom that the great duel between the ancient church and the spirit of the reformation was now to be renewed upon that narrow, debateable spot. the emperor at once proclaimed his right to arbitrate on the succession and to hold the territory until decision should be made; that is to say, till the greek kalends. his familiar and most tricksy spirit, bishop-archduke leopold, played at once on his fears and his resentments, against the ever encroaching, ever menacing, protestantism of germany, with which he had just sealed a compact so bitterly detested. that bold and bustling prelate, brother of the queen of spain and of ferdinand of styria, took post from prague in the middle of july. accompanied by a certain canon of the church and disguised as his servant, he arrived after a rapid journey before the gates of julich, chief city and fortress of the duchies. the governor of the place, nestelraed, inclined like most of the functionaries throughout the duchies to the catholic cause, was delighted to recognize under the livery of the lackey the cousin and representative of the emperor. leopold, who had brought but five men with him, had conquered his capital at a blow. for while thus comfortably established as temporary governor of the duchies he designed through the fears or folly of rudolph to become their sovereign lord. strengthened by such an acquisition and reckoning on continued assistance in men and money from spain and the catholic league, he meant to sweep back to the rescue of the perishing rudolph, smite the protestants of bohemia, and achieve his appointment to the crown of that kingdom. the spanish ambassador at prague had furnished him with a handsome sum of money for the expenses of his journey and preliminary enterprise. it should go hard but funds should be forthcoming to support him throughout this audacious scheme. the champion of the church, the sovereign prince of important provinces, the possession of which ensured conclusive triumph to the house of austria and to rome--who should oppose him in his path to empire? certainly not the moody rudolph, the slippery and unstable matthias, the fanatic and jesuit-ridden ferdinand. "leopold in julich," said henry's agent in germany, "is a ferret in a rabbit warren." but early in the spring and before the arrival of leopold, the two pretenders, john sigismund, elector of brandenburg, and philip lewis, palatine of neuburg, had made an arrangement. by the earnest advice of barneveld in the name of the states-general and as the result of a general council of many protestant princes of germany, it had been settled that those two should together provisionally hold and administer the duchies until the principal affair could be amicably settled. the possessory princes were accordingly established in dusseldorf with the consent of the provincial estates, in which place those bodies were wont to assemble. here then was spain in the person of leopold quietly perched in the chief citadel of the country, while protestantism in the shape of the possessory princes stood menacingly in the capital. hardly was the ink dry on the treaty which had suspended for twelve years the great religious war of forty years, not yet had the ratifications been exchanged, but the trumpet was again sounding, and the hostile forces were once more face to face. leopold, knowing where his great danger lay, sent a friendly message to the states-general, expressing the hope that they would submit to his arrangements until the imperial decision should be made. the states, through the pen and brain of barneveld, replied that they had already recognized the rights of the possessory princes, and were surprised that the bishop-archduke should oppose them. they expressed the hope that, when better informed, he would see the validity of the treaty of dortmund. "my lords the states-general," said the advocate, "will protect the princes against violence and actual disturbances, and are assured that the neighbouring kings and princes will do the same. they trust that his imperial highness will not allow matters, to proceed to extremities." this was language not to be mistaken. it was plain that the republic did not intend the emperor to decide a question of life and death to herself, nor to permit spain, exhausted by warfare, to achieve this annihilating triumph by a petty intrigue. while in reality the clue to what seemed to the outside world a labyrinthine maze of tangled interests and passions was firmly held in the hand of barneveld, it was not to him nor to my lords the states-general that the various parties to the impending conflict applied in the first resort. mankind were not yet sufficiently used to this young republic, intruding herself among the family of kings, to defer at once to an authority which they could not but feel. moreover, henry of france was universally looked to both by friends and foes as the probable arbiter or chief champion in the great debate. he had originally been inclined to favour neuberg, chiefly, so aerssens thought, on account of his political weakness. the states-general on the other hand were firmly disposed for brandenburg from the first, not only as a strenuous supporter of the reformation and an ancient ally of their own always interested in their safety, but because the establishment of the elector on the rhine would roll back the empire beyond that river. as aerssens expressed it, they would have the empire for a frontier, and have no longer reason to fear the rhine. the king, after the representations of the states, saw good ground to change his opinion and; becoming convinced that the palatine had long been coquetting with the austrian party, soon made no secret of his preference for brandenburg. subsequently neuburg and brandenburg fell into a violent quarrel notwithstanding an arrangement that the palatine should marry the daughter of the elector. in the heat of discussion brandenburg on one occasion is said to have given his intended son-in-law a box on the ear! an argument 'ad hominem' which seems to have had the effect of sending the palatine into the bosom of the ancient church and causing him to rely thenceforth upon the assistance of the league. meantime, however, the condominium settled by the treaty of dortmund continued in force; the third brother of brandenburg and the eldest son of neuburg sharing possession and authority at dusseldorf until a final decision could be made. a flock of diplomatists, professional or volunteers, openly accredited or secret, were now flying busily about through the troubled atmosphere, indicating the coming storm in which they revelled. the keen-sighted, subtle, but dangerously intriguing ambassador of the republic, francis aerssens, had his hundred eyes at all the keyholes in paris, that centre of ceaseless combination and conspiracy, and was besides in almost daily confidential intercourse with the king. most patiently and minutely he kept the advocate informed, almost from hour to hour, of every web that was spun, every conversation public or whispered in which important affairs were treated anywhere and by anybody. he was all-sufficient as a spy and intelligencer, although not entirely trustworthy as a counsellor. still no man on the whole could scan the present or forecast the future more accurately than he was able to do from his advantageous position and his long experience of affairs. there was much general jealousy between the states and the despotic king, who loved to be called the father of the republic and to treat the hollanders as his deeply obliged and very ungrateful and miserly little children. the india trade was a sore subject, henry having throughout the negotiations sought to force or wheedle the states into renouncing that commerce at the command of spain, because he wished to help himself to it afterwards, and being now in the habit of secretly receiving isaac le maire and other dutch leaders in that lucrative monopoly, who lay disguised in paris and in the house of zamet--but not concealed from aerssens, who pledged himself to break, the neck of their enterprise--and were planning with the king a french east india company in opposition to that of the netherlands. on the whole, however, despite these commercial intrigues which barneveld through the aid of aerssens was enabled to baffle, there was much cordiality and honest friendship between the two countries. henry, far from concealing his political affection for the republic, was desirous of receiving a special embassy of congratulation and gratitude from the states on conclusion of the truce; not being satisfied with the warm expressions of respect and attachment conveyed through the ordinary diplomatic channel. "he wishes," wrote aerssens to the advocate, "a public demonstration--in order to show on a theatre to all christendom the regard and deference of my lords the states for his majesty." the ambassador suggested that cornelis van der myle, son-in-law of barneveld, soon to be named first envoy for holland to the venetian republic, might be selected as chief of such special embassy. "without the instructions you gave me," wrote aerssens, "neuburg might have gained his cause in this court. brandenburg is doing himself much injury by not soliciting the king." "much deference will be paid to your judgment," added the envoy, "if you see fit to send it to his majesty." meantime, although the agent of neuburg was busily dinning in henry's ears the claims of the palatine, and even urging old promises which, as he pretended, had been made, thanks to barneveld, he took little by his importunity, notwithstanding that in the opinion both of barneveld and villeroy his claim 'stricti-juris' was the best. but it was policy and religious interests, not the strict letter of the law, that were likely to prevail. henry, while loudly asserting that he would oppose any usurpation on the part of the emperor or any one else against the condominium, privately renewed to the states assurances of his intention to support ultimately the claims of brandenburg, and notified them to hold the two regiments of french infantry, which by convention they still kept at his expense in their service, to be ready at a moment's warning for the great enterprise which he was already planning. "you would do well perhaps," wrote aerssens to barneveld, "to set forth the various interests in regard to this succession, and of the different relations of the claimants towards our commonwealth; but in such sort nevertheless and so dexterously that the king may be able to understand your desires, and on the other hand may see the respect you bear him in appearing to defer to his choice." neuburg, having always neglected the states and made advances to archduke albert, and being openly preferred over brandenburg by the austrians, who had however no intention of eventually tolerating either, could make but small headway at court, notwithstanding henry's indignation that brandenburg had not yet made the slightest demand upon him for assistance. the elector had keenly solicited the aid of the states, who were bound to him by ancient contract on this subject, but had manifested wonderful indifference or suspicion in regard to france. "these nonchalant germans," said henry on more than one occasion, "do nothing but sleep or drink." it was supposed that the memory of metz might haunt the imagination of the elector. that priceless citadel, fraudulently extorted by henry ii. as a forfeit for assistance to the elector of saxony three quarters of a century before, gave solemn warning to brandenburg of what might be exacted by a greater henry, should success be due to his protection. it was also thought that he had too many dangers about him at home, the poles especially, much stirred up by emissaries from rome, making many troublesome demonstrations against the duchy of prussia. it was nearly midsummer before a certain baron donals arrived as emissary of the elector. he brought with him, many documents in support of the brandenburg claims, and was charged with excuses for the dilatoriness of his master. much stress was laid of course on the renunciation made by neuburg at the tithe of his marriage, and henry was urged to grant his protection to the elector in his good rights. but thus far there were few signs of any vigorous resolution for active measures in an affair which could scarcely fail to lead to war. "i believe," said henry to the states ambassador, "that the right of brandenburg is indubitable, and it is better for you and for me that he should be the man rather than neuburg, who has always sought assistance from the house of austria. but he is too lazy in demanding possession. it is the fault of the doctors by whom he is guided. this delay works in favour of the emperor, whose course however is less governed by any determination of his own than by the irresolution of the princes." then changing the conversation, henry asked the ambassador whether the daughter of de maldere, a leading statesman of zealand, was married or of age to be married, and if she was rich; adding that they must make a match between her and barneveld's second son, then a young gentleman in the king's service, and very much liked by him. two months later a regularly accredited envoy, belin by name, arrived from the elector. his instructions were general. he was to thank the king for his declarations in favour of the possessory princes, and against all usurpation on the part of the spanish party. should the religious cord be touched, he was to give assurances that no change would be made in this regard. he was charged with loads of fine presents in yellow amber, such as ewers, basins, tables, cups, chessboards, for the king and queen, the dauphin, the chancellor, villeroy, sully, bouillon, and other eminent personages. beyond the distribution of these works of art and the exchange of a few diplomatic commonplaces, nothing serious in the way of warlike business was transacted, and henry was a few weeks later much amused by receiving a letter from the possessory princes coolly thrown into the post-office, and addressed like an ordinary letter to a private person, in which he was requested to advance them a loan of , crowns. there was a great laugh at court at a demand made like a bill of exchange at sight upon his majesty as if he had been a banker, especially as there happened to be no funds of the drawers in his hands. it was thought that a proper regard for the king's quality and the amount of the sum demanded required that the letter should be brought at least by an express messenger, and henry was both diverted and indignant at these proceedings, at the months long delay before the princes had thought proper to make application for his protection, and then for this cool demand for alms on a large scale as a proper beginning of their enterprise. such was the languid and extremely nonchalant manner in which the early preparations for a conflict which seemed likely to set europe in a blaze, and of which possibly few living men might witness the termination, were set on foot by those most interested in the immediate question. chessboards in yellow amber and a post-office order for , crowns could not go far in settling the question of the duchies in which the great problem dividing christendom as by an abyss was involved. meantime, while such were the diplomatic beginnings of the possessory princes, the league was leaving no stone unturned to awaken henry to a sense of his true duty to the church of which he was eldest son. don pedro de toledo's mission in regard to the spanish marriages had failed because henry had spurned the condition which was unequivocally attached to them on the part of spain, the king's renunciation of his alliance with the dutch republic, which then seemed an equivalent to its ruin. but the treaty of truce and half-independence had been signed at last by the states and their ancient master, and the english and french negotiators had taken their departure, each receiving as a present for concluding the convention , livres from the archdukes, and , from the states-general. henry, returning one summer's morning from the chase and holding the count of soissons by one hand and ambassador aerssens by the other, told them he had just received letters from spain by which he learned that people were marvellously rejoiced at the conclusion of the truce. many had regretted that its conditions were so disadvantageous and so little honourable to the grandeur and dignity of spain, but to these it was replied that there were strong reasons why spain should consent to peace on these terms rather than not have it at all. during the twelve years to come the king could repair his disasters and accumulate mountains of money in order to finish the war by the subjugation of the provinces by force of gold. soissons here interrupted the king by saying that the states on their part would finish it by force of iron. aerssens, like an accomplished courtier, replied they would finish it by means of his majesty's friendship. the king continued by observing that the clear-sighted in spain laughed at these rodomontades, knowing well that it was pure exhaustion that had compelled the king to such extremities. "i leave you to judge," said henry, "whether he is likely to have any courage at forty-five years of age, having none now at thirty-two. princes show what they have in them of generosity and valour at the age of twenty-five or never." he said that orders had been sent from spain to disband all troops in the obedient netherlands except spaniards and italians, telling the archdukes that they must raise the money out of the country to content them. they must pay for a war made for their benefit, said philip. as for him he would not furnish one maravedi. aerssens asked if the archdukes would disband their troops so long as the affair of cleve remained unsettled. "you are very lucky," replied the king, "that europe is governed by such princes as you wot of. the king of spain thinks of nothing but tranquillity. the archdukes will never move except on compulsion. the emperor, whom every one is so much afraid of in this matter, is in such plight that one of these days, and before long, he will be stripped of all his possessions. i have news that the bohemians are ready to expel him." it was true enough that rudolph hardly seemed a formidable personage. the utraquists and bohemian brothers, making up nearly the whole population of the country, were just extorting religious liberty from their unlucky master in his very palace and at the point of the knife. the envoy of matthias was in paris demanding recognition of his master as king of hungary, and henry did not suspect the wonderful schemes of leopold, the ferret in the rabbit warren of the duchies, to come to the succour of his cousin and to get himself appointed his successor and guardian. nevertheless, the emperor's name had been used to protest solemnly against the entrance into dusseldorf of the margrave ernest of brandenburg and palatine wolfgang william of neuburg, representatives respectively of their brother and father. the induction was nevertheless solemnly made by the elector-palatine and the landgrave of hesse, and joint possession solemnly taken by brandenburg and neuburg in the teeth of the protest, and expressly in order to cut short the dilatory schemes and the artifices of the imperial court. henry at once sent a corps of observation consisting of cavalry to the luxemburg frontier by way of toul, mezieres, verdun, and metz, to guard against movements by the disbanded troops of the archdukes, and against any active demonstration against the possessory princes on the part of the emperor. the 'condominium' was formally established, and henry stood before the world as its protector threatening any power that should attempt usurpation. he sent his agent vidomacq to the landgrave of hesse with instructions to do his utmost to confirm the princes of the union in organized resistance to the schemes of spain, and to prevent any interference with the condominium. he wrote letters to the archdukes and to the elector of cologne, sternly notifying them that he would permit no assault upon the princes, and meant to protect them in their rights. he sent one of his most experienced diplomatists, de boississe, formerly ambassador in england, to reside for a year or more in the duchies as special representative of france, and directed him on his way thither to consult especially with barneveld and the states-general as to the proper means of carrying out their joint policy either by diplomacy or, if need should be, by their united arms. troops began at once to move towards the frontier to counteract the plans of the emperor's council and the secret levies made by duchess sibylla's husband, the margrave of burgau. the king himself was perpetually at monceaux watching the movements of his cavalry towards the luxemburg frontier, and determined to protect the princes in their possession until some definite decision as to the sovereignty of the duchies should be made. meantime great pressure was put upon him by the opposite party. the pope did his best through the nuncius at paris directly, and through agents at prague, brussels, and madrid indirectly, to awaken the king to a sense of the enormity of his conduct. being a catholic prince, it was urged, he had no right to assist heretics. it was an action entirely contrary to his duty as a christian and of his reputation as eldest son of the church. even if the right were on the side of the princes, his majesty would do better to strip them of it and to clothe himself with it than to suffer the catholic faith and religion to receive such notable detriment in an affair likely to have such important consequences. such was some of the advice given by the pontiff. the suggestions were subtle, for they were directed to henry's self-interest both as champion of the ancient church and as a possible sovereign of the very territories in dispute. they were also likely, and were artfully so intended, to excite suspicion of henry's designs in the breasts of the protestants generally and of the possessory princes especially. allusions indeed to the rectification of the french border in henry ii.'s time at the expense of lorraine were very frequent. they probably accounted for much of the apparent supineness and want of respect for the king of which he complained every day and with so much bitterness. the pope's insinuations, however, failed to alarm him, for he had made up his mind as to the great business of what might remain to him of life; to humble the house of austria and in doing so to uphold the dutch republic on which he relied for his most efficient support. the situation was a false one viewed from the traditional maxims which governed europe. how could the eldest son of the church and the chief of an unlimited monarchy make common cause with heretics and republicans against spain and rome? that the position was as dangerous as it was illogical, there could be but little doubt. but there was a similarity of opinion between the king and the political chief of the republic on the great principle which was to illume the distant future but which had hardly then dawned upon the present; the principle of religious equality. as he protected protestants in france so he meant to protect catholics in the duchies. apostate as he was from the reformed church as he had already been from the catholic, he had at least risen above the paltry and insolent maxim of the princely protestantism of germany: "cujus regio ejus religio." while refusing to tremble before the wrath of rome or to incline his ear to its honeyed suggestions, he sent cardinal joyeuse with a special mission to explain to the pope that while the interests of france would not permit him to allow the spaniard's obtaining possession of provinces so near to her, he should take care that the church received no detriment and that he should insist as a price of the succour he intended for the possessory princes that they should give ample guarantees for the liberty of catholic worship. there was no doubt in the mind either of henry or of barneveld that the secret blows attempted by spain at the princes were in reality aimed at the republic and at himself as her ally. while the nuncius was making these exhortations in paris, his colleague from spain was authorized to propound a scheme of settlement which did not seem deficient in humour. at any rate henry was much diverted with the suggestion, which was nothing less than that the decision as to the succession to the duchies should be left to a board of arbitration consisting of the king of spain, the emperor, and the king of france. as henry would thus be painfully placed by himself in a hopeless minority, the only result of the scheme would be to compel him to sanction a decision sure to be directly the reverse of his own resolve. he was hardly such a schoolboy in politics as to listen to the proposal except to laugh at it. meantime arrived from julich, without much parade, a quiet but somewhat pompous gentleman named teynagel. he had formerly belonged to the reformed religion, but finding it more to his taste or advantage to become privy councillor of the emperor, he had returned to the ancient church. he was one of the five who had accompanied the archduke leopold to julich. that prompt undertaking having thus far succeeded so well, the warlike bishop had now despatched teynagel on a roving diplomatic mission. ostensibly he came to persuade henry that, by the usages and laws of the empire, fiefs left vacant for want of heirs male were at the disposal of the emperor. he expressed the hope therefore of obtaining the king's approval of leopold's position in julich as temporary vicegerent of his sovereign and cousin. the real motive of his mission, however, was privately to ascertain whether henry was really ready to go to war for the protection of the possessory princes, and then, to proceed to spain. it required an astute politician, however, to sound all the shoals, quicksands, and miseries through which the french government was then steering, and to comprehend with accuracy the somewhat varying humours of the monarch and the secret schemes of the ministers who immediately surrounded him. people at court laughed at teynagel and his mission, and henry treated him as a crackbrained adventurer. he announced himself as envoy of the emperor, although he had instructions from leopold only. he had interviews with the chancellor and with villeroy, and told them that rudolf claimed the right of judge between the various pretenders to the duchies. the king would not be pleased, he observed, if the king of great britain should constitute himself arbiter among claimants that might make their appearance for the crown of france; but henry had set himself up as umpire without being asked by any one to act in that capacity among the princes of germany. the emperor, on the contrary, had been appealed to by the duke of nevers, the elector of saxony, the margrave of burgau, and other liege subjects of the imperial crown as a matter of course and of right. this policy of the king, if persisted in, said teynagel, must lead to war. henry might begin such a war, but he would be obliged to bequeath it to the dauphin. he should remember that france had always been unlucky when waging war with the empire and with the house of austria.' the chancellor and villeroy, although in their hearts not much in love with henry's course, answered the emissary with arrogance equal to his own that their king could finish the war as well as begin it, that he confided in his strength and the justice of his cause, and that he knew very well and esteemed very little the combined forces of spain and the empire. they added that france was bound by the treaty of vervins to protect the princes, but they offered no proof of that rather startling proposition. meantime teynagel was busy in demonstrating that the princes of germany were in reality much more afraid of henry than of the emperor. his military movements and deep designs excited more suspicion throughout that country and all europe than the quiet journey of leopold and five friends by post to julich. he had come provided with copies of the king's private letters to the princes, and seemed fully instructed as to his most secret thoughts. for this convenient information he was supposed to be indebted to the revelations of father cotton, who was then in disgrace; having been detected in transmitting to the general of jesuits henry's most sacred confidences and confessions as to his political designs. fortified with this private intelligence, and having been advised by father cotton to carry matters with a high hand in order to inspire the french court with a wholesome awe, he talked boldly about the legitimate functions of the emperor. to interfere with them, he assured the ministers, would lead to a long and bloody war, as neither the king nor the archduke albert would permit the emperor to be trampled upon. peter pecquius, the crafty and experienced agent of the archduke at paris, gave the bouncing envoy more judicious advice, however, than that of the jesuit, assuring him that he would spoil his whole case should he attempt to hold such language to the king. he was admitted to an audience of henry at monceaux, but found him prepared to show his teeth as aerssens had predicted. he treated teynagel as a mere madcap and, adventurer who had no right to be received as a public minister at all, and cut short his rodomontades by assuring him that his mind was fully made up to protect the possessory princes. jeannin was present at the interview, although, as aerssens well observed, the king required no pedagogue on such an occasion? teynagel soon afterwards departed malcontent to spain, having taken little by his abnormal legation to henry, and being destined to find at the court of philip as urgent demands on that monarch for assistance to the league as he was to make for leopold and the house of austria. for the league, hardly yet thoroughly organized under the leadership of maximilian of bavaria, was rather a catholic corrival than cordial ally of the imperial house. it was universally suspected that henry meant to destroy and discrown the habsburgs, and it lay not in the schemes of maximilian to suffer the whole catholic policy to be bound to the fortunes of that one family. whether or not henry meant to commit the anachronism and blunder of reproducing the part of charlemagne might be doubtful. the supposed design of maximilian to renew the glories of the house of wittelsbach was equally vague. it is certain, however, that a belief in such ambitious schemes on the part of both had been insinuated into the ears of rudolf, and had sunk deeply into his unsettled mind. scarcely had teynagel departed than the ancient president richardot appeared upon the scene. "the mischievous old monkey," as he had irreverently been characterized during the truce negotiations, "who showed his tail the higher he climbed," was now trembling at the thought that all the good work he had been so laboriously accomplishing during the past two years should be annihilated. the archdukes, his masters, being sincerely bent on peace, had deputed him to henry, who, as they believed, was determined to rekindle war. as frequently happens in such cases, they were prepared to smooth over the rough and almost impassable path to a cordial understanding by comfortable and cheap commonplaces concerning the blessings of peace, and to offer friendly compromises by which they might secure the prizes of war without the troubles and dangers of making it. they had been solemnly notified by henry that he would go to war rather than permit the house of austria to acquire the succession to the duchies. they now sent richardot to say that neither the archdukes nor the king of spain would interfere in the matter, and that they hoped the king of france would not prevent the emperor from exercising his rightful functions of judge. henry, who knew that don baltasar de cuniga, spanish ambassador at the imperial court, had furnished leopold, the emperor's cousin, with , crowns to defray his first expenses in the julich expedition, considered that the veteran politician had come to perform a school boy's task. he was more than ever convinced by this mission of richardot that the spaniards had organized the whole scheme, and he was likely only to smile at any propositions the president might make. at the beginning of his interview, in which the king was quite alone, richardot asked if he would agree to maintain neutrality like the king of spain and the archdukes, and allow the princes to settle their business with the emperor. "no," said the king. he then asked if henry would assist them in their wrong. "no," said the king. he then asked if the king thought that the princes had justice on their side, and whether, if the contrary were shown, he would change his policy? henry replied that the emperor could not be both judge and party in the suit and that the king of spain was plotting to usurp the provinces through the instrumentality of his brother-in-law leopold and under the name of the emperor. he would not suffer it, he said. "then there will be a general war," replied richardot, "since you are determined to assist these princes." "be it so," said the king. "you are right," said the president, "for you are a great and puissant monarch, having all the advantages that could be desired, and in case of rupture i fear that all this immense power will be poured out over us who are but little princes." "cause leopold to retire then and leave the princes in their right," was the reply. "you will then have nothing to fear. are you not very unhappy to live under those poor weak archdukes? don't you foresee that as soon as they die you will lose all the little you have acquired in the obedient netherlands during the last fifty years?" the president had nothing to reply to this save that he had never approved of leopold's expedition, and that when spaniards make mistakes they always had recourse to their servants to repair their faults. he had accepted this mission inconsiderately, he said, inspired by a hope to conjure the rising storms mingled with fears as to the result which were now justified. he regretted having come, he said. the king shrugged his shoulders. richardot then suggested that leopold might be recognized in julich, and the princes at dusseldorf, or that all parties might retire until the emperor should give his decision. all these combinations were flatly refused by the king, who swore that no one of the house of austria should ever perch in any part of those provinces. if leopold did not withdraw at once, war was inevitable. he declared that he would break up everything and dare everything, whether the possessory princes formally applied to him or not. he would not see his friends oppressed nor allow the spaniard by this usurpation to put his foot on the throat of the states-general, for it was against them that this whole scheme was directed. to the president's complaints that the states-general had been moving troops in gelderland, henry replied at once that it was done by his command, and that they were his troops. with this answer richardot was fain to retire crestfallen, mortified, and unhappy. he expressed repentance and astonishment at the result, and protested that those peoples were happy whose princes understood affairs. his princes were good, he said, but did not give themselves the trouble to learn their business. richardot then took his departure from paris, and very soon afterwards from the world. he died at arras early in september, as many thought of chagrin at the ill success of his mission, while others ascribed it to a surfeit of melons and peaches. "senectus edam maorbus est," said aerssens with seneca. henry said he could not sufficiently wonder at these last proceedings at his court, of a man he had deemed capable and sagacious, but who had been committing an irreparable blunder. he had never known two such impertinent ambassadors as don pedro de toledo and richardot on this occasion. the one had been entirely ignorant of the object of his mission; the other had shown a vain presumption in thinking he could drive him from his fixed purpose by a flood of words. he had accordingly answered him on the spot without consulting his council, at which poor richardot had been much amazed. and now another envoy appeared upon the scene, an ambassador coming directly from the emperor. count hohenzollern, a young man, wild, fierce, and arrogant, scarcely twenty-three years of age, arrived in paris on the th of september, with a train of forty horsemen. de colly, agent of the elector-palatine, had received an outline of his instructions, which the prince of anhalt had obtained at prague. he informed henry that hohenzollern would address him thus: "you are a king. you would not like that the emperor should aid your subjects in rebellion. he did not do this in the time of the league, although often solicited to do so. you should not now sustain the princes in disobeying the imperial decree. kings should unite in maintaining the authority and majesty of each other." he would then in the emperor's name urge the claims of the house of saxony to the duchies. henry was much pleased with this opportune communication by de colly of the private instructions to the emperor's envoy, by which he was enabled to meet the wild and fierce young man with an arrogance at least equal to his own. the interview was a stormy one. the king was alone in the gallery of the louvre, not choosing that his words and gestures should be observed. the envoy spoke much in the sense which de colly had indicated; making a long argument in favour of the emperor's exclusive right of arbitration, and assuring the king that the emperor was resolved on war if interference between himself and his subjects was persisted in. he loudly pronounced the proceedings of the possessory princes to be utterly illegal, and contrary to all precedent. the emperor would maintain his authority at all hazards, and one spark of war would set everything in a blaze within the empire and without. henry replied sternly but in general terms, and referred him for a final answer to his council. "what will you do," asked the envoy, categorically, at a subsequent interview about a month later, "to protect the princes in case the emperor constrains them to leave the provinces which they have unjustly occupied?" "there is none but god to compel me to say more than i choose to say," replied the king. "it is enough for you to know that i will never abandon my friends in a just cause. the emperor can do much for the general peace. he is not to lend his name to cover this usurpation." and so the concluding interview terminated in an exchange of threats rather than with any hope of accommodation. hohenzollern used as high language to the ministers as to the monarch, and received payment in the same coin. he rebuked their course not very adroitly as being contrary to the interests of catholicism. they were placing the provinces in the hands of protestants, he urged. it required no envoy from prague to communicate this startling fact. friends and foes, villeroy and jeannin, as well as sully and duplessis, knew well enough that henry was not taking up arms for rome. "sir! do you look at the matter in that way?" cried sully, indignantly. "the huguenots are as good as the catholics. they fight like the devil!" "the emperor will never permit the princes to remain nor leopold to withdraw," said the envoy to jeannin. jeannin replied that the king was always ready to listen to reason, but there was no use in holding language of authority to him. it was money he would not accept. "fiat justitia pereat mundus," said the haggard hohenzollern. "your world may perish," replied jeannin, "but not ours. it is much better put together." a formal letter was then written by the king to the emperor, in which henry expressed his desire to maintain peace and fraternal relations, but notified him that if, under any pretext whatever, he should trouble the princes in their possession, he would sustain them with all his power, being bound thereto by treaties and by reasons of state. this letter was committed to the care of hohenzollern, who forthwith departed, having received a present of crowns. his fierce, haggard face thus vanishes for the present from our history. the king had taken his ground, from which there was no receding. envoys or agents of emperor, pope, king of spain, archduke at brussels, and archduke at julich, had failed to shake his settled purpose. yet the road was far from smooth. he had thus far no ally but the states-general. he could not trust james of great britain. boderie came back late in the summer from his mission to that monarch, reporting him as being favourably inclined to brandenburg, but hoping for an amicable settlement in the duchies. no suggestion being made even by the sagacious james as to the manner in which the ferret and rabbits were to come to a compromise, henry inferred, if it came to fighting, that the english government would refuse assistance. james had asked boderie in fact whether his sovereign and the states, being the parties chiefly interested, would be willing to fight it out without allies. he had also sent sir ralph winwood on a special mission to the hague, to dusseldorf, and with letters to the emperor, in which he expressed confidence that rudolph would approve the proceedings of the possessory princes. as he could scarcely do that while loudly claiming through his official envoy in paris that the princes should instantly withdraw on pain of instant war, the value of the english suggestion of an amicable compromise might easily be deduced. great was the jealousy in france of this mission from england. that the princes should ask the interference of james while neglecting, despising, or fearing henry, excited henry's wrath. he was ready, and avowed his readiness, to put on armour at once in behalf of the princes, and to arbitrate on the destiny of germany, but no one seemed ready to follow his standard. no one asked him to arbitrate. the spanish faction wheedled and threatened by turns, in order to divert him from his purpose, while the protestant party held aloof, and babbled of charlemagne and of henry ii. he said he did not mean to assist the princes by halves, but as became a king of france, and the princes expressed suspicion of him, talked of the example of metz, and called the emperor their very clement lord. it was not strange that henry was indignant and jealous. he was holding the wolf by the ears, as he himself observed more than once. the war could not long be delayed; yet they in whose behalf it was to be waged treated him with a disrespect and flippancy almost amounting to scorn. they tried to borrow money of him through the post, and neglected to send him an ambassador. this was most decidedly putting the cart before the oxen, so henry said, and so thought all his friends. when they had blockaded the road to julich, in order to cut off leopold's supplies, they sent to request that the two french regiments in the states' service might be ordered to their assistance, archduke albert having threatened to open the passage by force of arms. "this is a fine stratagem," said aerssens, "to fling the states-general headlong into the war, and, as it were, without knowing it." but the states-general, under the guidance of barneveld, were not likely to be driven headlong by brandenburg and neuburg. they managed with caution, but with perfect courage, to move side by side with henry, and to leave the initiative to him, while showing an unfaltering front to the enemy. that the princes were lost, spain and the emperor triumphant, unless henry and the states should protect them with all their strength, was as plain as a mathematical demonstration. yet firm as were the attitude and the language of henry, he was thought to be hoping to accomplish much by bluster. it was certain that the bold and unexpected stroke of leopold had produced much effect upon his mind, and for a time those admitted to his intimacy saw, or thought they saw, a decided change in his demeanour. to the world at large his language and his demonstrations were even more vehement than they had been at the outset of the controversy; but it was believed that there was now a disposition to substitute threats for action. the military movements set on foot were thought to be like the ringing of bells and firing of cannon to dissipate a thunderstorm. yet it was treason at court to doubt the certainty of war. the king ordered new suits of armour, bought splendid chargers, and gave himself all the airs of a champion rushing to a tournament as gaily as in the earliest days of his king-errantry. he spoke of his eager desire to break a lance with spinola, and give a lesson to the young volunteer who had sprung into so splendid a military reputation, while he had been rusting, as he thought, in pacific indolence, and envying the laurels of the comparatively youthful maurice. yet those most likely to be well informed believed that nothing would come of all this fire and fury. the critics were wrong. there was really no doubt of henry's sincerity, but his isolation was terrible. there was none true to him at home but sully. abroad, the states-general alone were really friendly, so far as positive agreements existed. above all, the intolerable tergiversations and suspicions of those most interested, the princes in possession, and their bickerings among themselves, hampered his movements. treason and malice in his cabinet and household, jealousy and fear abroad, were working upon and undermining him like a slow fever. his position was most pathetic, but his purpose was fixed. james of england, who admired, envied, and hated henry, was wont to moralize on his character and his general unpopularity, while engaged in negotiations with him. he complained that in the whole affair of the truce he had sought only his particular advantage. "this is not to be wondered at in one of his nature," said the king, "who only careth to provide for the felicities of his present life, without any respect for his life to come. indeed, the consideration of his own age and the youth of his children, the doubt of their legitimation, the strength of competitioners, and the universal hatred borne unto him, makes him seek all means of security for preventing of all dangers." there were changes from day to day; hot and cold fits necessarily resulting from the situation. as a rule, no eminent general who has had much experience wishes to go into a new war inconsiderately and for the mere love of war. the impatience is often on the part of the non-combatants. henry was no exception to the rule. he felt that the complications then existing, the religious, political, and dynastic elements arrayed against each other, were almost certain to be brought to a crisis and explosion by the incident of the duchies. he felt that the impending struggle was probably to be a desperate and a general one, but there was no inconsistency in hoping that the show of a vigorous and menacing attitude might suspend, defer, or entirely dissipate the impending storm. the appearance of vacillation on his part from day to day was hardly deserving of the grave censure which it received, and was certainly in the interests of humanity. his conferences with sully were almost daily and marked by intense anxiety. he longed for barneveld, and repeatedly urged that the advocate, laying aside all other business, would come to paris, that they might advise together thoroughly and face to face. it was most important that the combination of alliances should be correctly arranged before hostilities began, and herein lay the precise difficulty. the princes applied formally and freely to the states-general for assistance. they applied to the king of great britain. the agents of the opposite party besieged henry with entreaties, and, failing in those, with threats; going off afterwards to spain, to the archdukes, and to other catholic powers in search of assistance. the states-general professed their readiness to put an army of , foot and horse in the field for the spring campaign, so soon as they were assured of henry's determination for a rupture. "i am fresh enough still," said he to their ambassador, "to lead an army into cleve. i shall have a cheap bargain enough of the provinces. but these germans do nothing but eat and sleep. they will get the profit and assign to me the trouble. no matter, i will never suffer the aggrandizement of the house of austria. the states-general must disband no troops, but hold themselves in readiness." secretary of state villeroy held the same language, but it was easy to trace beneath his plausible exterior a secret determination to traverse the plans of his sovereign. "the cleve affair must lead to war," he said. "the spaniard, considering how necessary it is for him to have a prince there at his devotion, can never quietly suffer brandenburg and neuburg to establish themselves in those territories. the support thus gained by the states-general would cause the loss of the spanish netherlands." this was the view of henry, too, but the secretary of state, secretly devoted to the cause of spain, looked upon the impending war with much aversion. "all that can come to his majesty from war," he said, "is the glory of having protected the right. counterbalance this with the fatigue, the expense, and the peril of a great conflict, after our long repose, and you will find this to be buying glory too dearly." when a frenchman talked of buying glory too dearly, it seemed probable that the particular kind of glory was not to his taste. henry had already ordered the officers, then in france, of the french infantry kept in the states' service at his expense to depart at once to holland, and he privately announced his intention of moving to the frontier at the head of , men. 'yet not only villeroy, but the chancellor and the constable, while professing opposition to the designs of austria and friendliness to those of brandenburg and neuburg, deprecated this precipitate plunge into war. "those most interested," they said, "refuse to move; fearing austria, distrusting france. they leave us the burden and danger, and hope for the spoils themselves. we cannot play cat to their monkey. the king must hold himself in readiness to join in the game when the real players have shuffled and dealt the cards. it is no matter to us whether the spaniard or brandenburg or anyone else gets the duchies. the states-general require a friendly sovereign there, and ought to say how much they will do for that result." the constable laughed at the whole business. coming straight from the louvre, he said "there would be no serious military movement, and that all those fine freaks would evaporate in air." but sully never laughed. he was quietly preparing the ways and means for the war, and he did not intend, so far as he had influence, that france should content herself with freaks and let spain win the game. alone in the council he maintained that "france had gone too far to recede without sacrifice of reputation."--"the king's word is engaged both within and without," he said. "not to follow it with deeds would be dangerous to the kingdom. the spaniard will think france afraid of war. we must strike a sudden blow, either to drive the enemy away or to crush him at once. there is no time for delay. the netherlands must prevent the aggrandizement of austria or consent to their own ruin." thus stood the game therefore. the brother of brandenburg and son of neuburg had taken possession of dusseldorf. the emperor, informed of this, ordered them forthwith to decamp. he further summoned all pretenders to the duchies to appear before him, in person or by proxy, to make good their claims. they refused and appealed for advice and assistance to the states-general. barneveld, aware of the intrigues of spain, who disguised herself in the drapery of the emperor, recommended that the estates of cleve, julich, berg, mark, ravensberg, and ravenstein, should be summoned in dusseldorf. this was done and a resolution taken to resist any usurpation. the king of france wrote to the elector of cologne, who, by directions of rome and by means of the jesuits, had been active in the intrigue, that he would not permit the princes to be disturbed. the archduke leopold suddenly jumped into the chief citadel of the country and published an edict of the emperor. all the proceedings were thereby nullified as illegal and against the dignity of the realm and the princes proclaimed under ban. a herald brought the edict and ban to the princes in full assembly. the princes tore it to pieces on the spot. nevertheless they were much frightened, and many members of the estates took themselves off; others showing an inclination to follow. the princes sent forth with a deputation to the hague to consult my lords the states-general. the states-general sent an express messenger to paris. their ambassador there sent him back a week later, with notice of the king's determination to risk everything against everything to preserve the rights of the princes. it was added that henry required to be solicited by them, in order not by volunteer succour to give cause for distrust as to his intentions. the states-general were further apprised by the king that his interests and theirs were so considerable in the matter that they would probably be obliged to go into a brisk and open war, in order to prevent the spaniard from establishing himself in the duchies. he advised them to notify the archdukes in brussels that they would regard the truce as broken if, under pretext of maintaining the emperor's rights, they should molest the princes. he desired them further to send their forces at once to the frontier of gelderland under prince maurice, without committing any overt act of hostility, but in order to show that both the king and the states were thoroughly in earnest. the king then sent to archduke albert, as well as to the elector of cologne, and despatched a special envoy to the king of great britain. immediately afterwards came communications from barneveld to henry, with complete adhesion to the king's plans. the states would move in exact harmony with him, neither before him nor after him, which was precisely what he wished. he complained bitterly to aerssens, when he communicated the advocate's despatches, of the slothful and timid course of the princes. he ascribed it to the arts of leopold, who had written and inspired many letters against him insinuating that he was secretly in league and correspondence with the emperor; that he was going to the duchies simply in the interest of the catholics; that he was like henry ii. only seeking to extend the french frontier; and leopold, by these intrigues and falsehoods, had succeeded in filling the princes with distrust, and they had taken umbrage at the advance of his cavalry. henry professed himself incapable of self-seeking or ambition. he meant to prevent the aggrandizement of austria, and was impatient at the dilatoriness and distrust of the princes. "all their enemies are rushing to the king of spain. let them address themselves to the king of france," he said, "for it is we two that must play this game." and when at last they did send an embassy, they prefaced it by a post letter demanding an instant loan, and with an intimation that they would rather have his money than his presence! was it surprising that the king's course should seem occasionally wavering when he found it so difficult to stir up such stagnant waters into honourable action? was it strange that the rude and stern sully should sometimes lose his patience, knowing so much and suspecting more of the foul designs by which his master was encompassed, of the web of conspiracy against his throne, his life, and his honour, which was daily and hourly spinning? "we do nothing and you do nothing," he said one day to aerssens. "you are too soft, and we are too cowardly. i believe that we shall spoil everything, after all. i always suspect these sudden determinations of ours. they are of bad augury. we usually founder at last when we set off so fiercely at first. there are words enough an every side, but there will be few deeds. there is nothing to be got out of the king of great britain, and the king of spain will end by securing these provinces for himself by a treaty." sully knew better than this, but he did not care to let even the dutch envoy know, as yet, the immense preparations he had been making for the coming campaign. the envoys of the possessory princes, the counts solms, colonel pallandt, and dr. steyntgen, took their departure, after it had been arranged that final measures should be concerted at the general congress of the german protestants to be held early in the ensuing year at hall, in suabia. at that convention de boississe would make himself heard on the part of france, and the representatives of the states-general, of venice, and savoy, would also be present. meantime the secret conferences between henry and his superintendent of finances and virtual prime minister were held almost every day. scarcely an afternoon passed that the king did not make his appearance at the arsenal, sully's residence, and walk up and down the garden with him for hours, discussing the great project of which his brain was full. this great project was to crush for ever the power of the austrian house; to drive spain back into her own limits, putting an end to her projects for universal monarchy; and taking the imperial crown from the house of habsburg. by thus breaking up the mighty cousinship which, with the aid of rome, overshadowed germany and the two peninsulas, besides governing the greater part of both the indies, he meant to bring france into the preponderant position over christendom which he believed to be her due. it was necessary, he thought, for the continued existence of the dutch commonwealth that the opportunity should be taken once for all, now that a glorious captain commanded its armies and a statesman unrivalled for experience, insight, and patriotism controlled its politics and its diplomacy, to drive the spaniard out of the netherlands. the cleve question, properly and vigorously handled, presented exactly the long desired opportunity for carrying out these vast designs. the plan of assault upon spanish power was to be threefold. the king himself at the head of , men, supported by prince maurice and the states' forces amounting to at least , , would move to the rhine and seize the duchies. the duke de la force would command the army of the pyrenees and act in concert with the moors of spain, who roused to frenzy by their expulsion from the kingdom could be relied on for a revolt or at least a most vigorous diversion. thirdly, a treaty with the duke of savoy by which henry accorded his daughter to the duke's eldest son, the prince of piedmont, a gift of , crowns, and a monthly pension during the war of , crowns a month, was secretly concluded. early in the spring the duke was to take the field with at least , foot and horse, supported by a french army of , to , men under the experienced marshal de lesdiguieres. these forces were to operate against the duchy of milan with the intention of driving the spaniards out of that rich possession, which the duke of savoy claimed for himself, and of assuring to henry the dictatorship of italy. with the cordial alliance of venice, and by playing off the mutual jealousies of the petty italian princes, like florence, mantua, montserrat, and others, against each other and against the pope, it did not seem doubtful to sully that the result would be easily accomplished. he distinctly urged the wish that the king should content himself with political influence, with the splendid position of holding all italy dependent upon his will and guidance, but without annexing a particle of territory to his own crown. it was henry's intention, however, to help himself to the duchy of savoy, and to the magnificent city and port of genoa as a reward to himself for the assistance, matrimonial alliance, and aggrandizement which he was about to bestow upon charles emmanuel. sully strenuously opposed these self-seeking views on the part of his sovereign, however, constantly placing before him the far nobler aim of controlling the destinies of christendom, of curbing what tended to become omnipotent, of raising up and protecting that which had been abased, of holding the balance of empire with just and steady hand in preference to the more vulgar and commonplace ambition of annexing a province or two to the realms of france. it is true that these virtuous homilies, so often preached by him against territorial aggrandizement in one direction, did not prevent him from indulging in very extensive visions of it in another. but the dreams pointed to the east rather than to the south. it was sully's policy to swallow a portion not of italy but of germany. he persuaded his master that the possessory princes, if placed by the help of france in the heritage which they claimed, would hardly be able to maintain themselves against the dangers which surrounded them except by a direct dependence upon france. in the end the position would become an impossible one, and it would be easy after the war was over to indemnify brandenburg with money and with private property in the heart of france for example, and obtain the cession of those most coveted provinces between the meuse and the weser to the king. "what an advantage for france," whispered sully, "to unite to its power so important a part of germany. for it cannot be denied that by accepting the succour given by the king now those princes oblige themselves to ask for help in the future in order to preserve their new acquisition. thus your majesty will make them pay for it very dearly." thus the very virtuous self-denial in regard to the duke of savoy did not prevent a secret but well developed ambition at the expense of the elector of brandenburg. for after all it was well enough known that the elector was the really important and serious candidate. henry knew full well that neuburg was depending on the austrians and the catholics, and that the claims of saxony were only put forward by the emperor in order to confuse the princes and excite mutual distrust. the king's conferences with the great financier were most confidential, and sully was as secret as the grave. but henry never could keep a secret even when it concerned his most important interests, and nothing would serve him but he must often babble of his great projects even to their minutest details in presence of courtiers and counsellors whom in his heart he knew to be devoted to spain and in receipt of pensions from her king. he would boast to them of the blows by which he meant to demolish spain and the whole house of austria, so that there should be no longer danger to be feared from that source to the tranquillity and happiness of europe, and he would do this so openly and in presence of those who, as he knew, were perpetually setting traps for him and endeavouring to discover his deepest secrets as to make sully's hair stand on end. the faithful minister would pluck his master by the cloak at times, and the king, with the adroitness which never forsook him when he chose to employ it, would contrive to extricate himself from a dilemma and pause at the brink of tremendous disclosures.--[memoires de sully, t. vii. p. .]--but sully could not be always at his side, nor were the nuncius or don inigo de cardenas or their confidential agents and spies always absent. enough was known of the general plan, while as to the probability of its coming into immediate execution, perhaps the enemies of the king were often not more puzzled than his friends. but what the spanish ambassador did not know, nor the nuncius, nor even the friendly aerssens, was the vast amount of supplies which had been prepared for the coming conflict by the finance minister. henry did not know it himself. "the war will turn on france as on a pivot," said sully; "it remains to be seen if we have supplies and money enough. i will engage if the war is not to last more than three years and you require no more than , men at a time that i will show you munitions and ammunition and artillery and the like to such an extent that you will say, 'it is enough.' "as to money--" "how much money have i got?" asked the king; "a dozen millions?" "a little more than that," answered the minister. "fourteen millions?" "more still." "sixteen?" continued the king. "more yet," said sully. and so the king went on adding two millions at each question until thirty millions were reached, and when the question as to this sum was likewise answered in the affirmative, he jumped from his chair, hugged his minister around the neck, and kissed him on both cheeks. "i want no more than that," he cried. sully answered by assuring him that he had prepared a report showing a reserve of forty millions on which he might draw for his war expenses, without in the least degree infringing on the regular budget for ordinary expenses. the king was in a transport of delight, and would have been capable of telling the story on the spot to the nuncius had he met him that afternoon, which fortunately did not occur. but of all men in europe after the faithful sully, henry most desired to see and confer daily and secretly with barneveld. he insisted vehemently that, neglecting all other business, he should come forthwith to paris at the head of the special embassy which it had been agreed that the states should send. no living statesman, he said, could compare to holland's advocate in sagacity, insight, breadth of view, knowledge of mankind and of great affairs, and none he knew was more sincerely attached to his person or felt more keenly the value of the french alliance. with him he indeed communicated almost daily through the medium of aerssens, who was in constant receipt of most elaborate instructions from barneveld, but he wished to confer with him face to face, so that there would be no necessity of delay in sending back for instructions, limitations, and explanation. no man knew better than the king did that so far as foreign affairs were concerned the states-general were simply barneveld. on the nd january the states' ambassador had a long and secret interview with the king.' he informed him that the prince of anhalt had been assured by barneveld that the possessory princes would be fully supported in their position by the states, and that the special deputies of archduke albert, whose presence at the hague made henry uneasy, as he regarded them as perpetual spies, had been dismissed. henry expressed his gratification. they are there, he said, entirely in the interest of leopold, who has just received , crowns from the king of spain, and is to have that sum annually, and they are only sent to watch all your proceedings in regard to cleve. the king then fervently pressed the ambassador to urge barneveld's coming to paris with the least possible delay. he signified his delight with barneveld's answer to anhalt, who thus fortified would be able to do good service at the assembly at hall. he had expected nothing else from barneveld's sagacity, from his appreciation of the needs of christendom, and from his affection for himself. he told the ambassador that he was anxiously waiting for the advocate in order to consult with him as to all the details of the war. the affair of cleve, he said, was too special a cause. a more universal one was wanted. the king preferred to begin with luxemburg, attacking charlemont or namur, while the states ought at the same time to besiege venlo, with the intention afterwards of uniting with the king in laying siege to maestricht. he was strong enough, he said, against all the world, but he still preferred to invite all princes interested to join him in putting down the ambitious and growing power of spain. cleve was a plausible pretext, but the true cause, he said, should be found in the general safety of christendom. boississe had been sent to the german princes to ascertain whether and to what extent they would assist the king. he supposed that once they found him engaged in actual warfare in luxemburg, they would get rid of their jealousy and panic fears of him and his designs. he expected them to furnish at least as large a force as he would supply as a contingent. for it was understood that anhalt as generalissimo of the german forces would command a certain contingent of french troops, while the main army of the king would be led by himself in person. henry expressed the conviction that the king of spain would be taken by surprise finding himself attacked in three places and by three armies at once, he believing that the king of france was entirely devoted to his pleasures and altogether too old for warlike pursuits, while the states, just emerging from the misery of their long and cruel conflict, would be surely unwilling to plunge headlong into a great and bloody war. henry inferred this, he said, from observing the rude and brutal manner in which the soldiers in the spanish netherlands were now treated. it seemed, he said, as if the archdukes thought they had no further need of them, or as if a stamp of the foot could raise new armies out of the earth. "my design," continued the king, "is the more likely to succeed as the king of spain, being a mere gosling and a valet of the duke of lerma, will find himself stripped of all his resources and at his wits' end; unexpectedly embarrassed as he will be on the italian side, where we shall be threatening to cut the jugular vein of his pretended universal monarchy." he intimated that there was no great cause for anxiety in regard to the catholic league just formed at wurzburg. he doubted whether the king of spain would join it, and he had learned that the elector of cologne was making very little progress in obtaining the emperor's adhesion. as to this point the king had probably not yet thoroughly understood that the bavarian league was intended to keep clear of the house of habsburg, maximilian not being willing to identify the success of german catholicism with the fortunes of that family. henry expressed the opinion that the king of spain, that is to say, his counsellors, meant to make use of the emperor's name while securing all the profit, and that rudolph quite understood their game, while matthias was sure to make use of this opportunity, supported by the protestants of bohemia, austria, and moravia, to strip the emperor of the last shred of empire. the king was anxious that the states should send a special embassy at once to the king of great britain. his ambassador, de la boderie, gave little encouragement of assistance from that quarter, but it was at least desirable to secure his neutrality. "'tis a prince too much devoted to repose," said henry, "to be likely to help in this war, but at least he must not be allowed to traverse our great designs. he will probably refuse the league offensive and defensive which i have proposed to him, but he must be got, if possible, to pledge himself to the defensive. i mean to assemble my army on the frontier, as if to move upon julich, and then suddenly sweep down on the meuse, where, sustained by the states' army and that of the princes, i will strike my blows and finish my enterprise before our adversary has got wind of what is coming. we must embark james in the enterprise if we can, but at any rate we must take measures to prevent his spoiling it." henry assured the envoy that no one would know anything of the great undertaking but by its effect; that no one could possibly talk about it with any knowledge except himself, sully, villeroy, barneveld, and aerssens. with them alone he conferred confidentially, and he doubted not that the states would embrace this opportunity to have done for ever with the spaniards. he should take the field in person, he said, and with several powerful armies would sweep the enemy away from the meuse, and after obtaining control of that river would quietly take possession of the sea-coast of flanders, shut up archduke albert between the states and the french, who would thus join hands and unite their frontiers. again the king expressed his anxiety for barneveld's coming, and directed the ambassador to urge it, and to communicate to him the conversation which had just taken place. he much preferred, he said, a general war. he expressed doubts as to the prince of anhalt's capacity as chief in the cleve expedition, and confessed that being jealous of his own reputation he did not like to commit his contingent of troops to the care of a stranger and one so new to his trade. the shame would fall on himself, not on anhalt in case of any disaster. therefore, to avoid all petty jealousies and inconveniences of that nature by which the enterprise might be ruined, it was best to make out of this small affair a great one, and the king signified his hope that the advocate would take this view of the case and give him his support. he had plenty of grounds of war himself, and the states had as good cause of hostilities in the rupture of the truce by the usurpation attempted by leopold with the assistance of spain and in the name of the emperor. he hoped, he said, that the states would receive no more deputations from archduke albert, but decide to settle everything at the point of the sword. the moment was propitious, and, if neglected, might never return. marquis spinola was about to make a journey to spain on various matters of business. on his return, henry said, he meant to make him prisoner as a hostage for the prince of conde, whom the archdukes were harbouring and detaining. this would be the pretext, he said, but the object would be to deprive the archdukes of any military chief, and thus to throw them into utter confusion. count van den berg would never submit to the authority of don luis de velasco, nor velasco to his, and not a man could come from spain or italy, for the passages would all be controlled by france. fortunately for the king's reputation, spinola's journey was deferred, so that this notable plan for disposing of the great captain fell to the ground. henry agreed to leave the two french regiments and the two companies of cavalry in the states' service as usual, but stipulated in certain contingencies for their use. passing to another matter concerning which there had been so much jealousy on the part of the states, the formation of the french east india company--to organize which undertaking le roy and isaac le maire of amsterdam had been living disguised in the house of henry's famous companion, the financier zamet at paris--the king said that barneveld ought not to envy him a participation in the great profits of this business. nothing would be done without consulting him after his arrival in paris. he would discuss the matter privately with him, he said, knowing that barneveld was a great personage, but however obstinate he might be, he felt sure that he would always yield to reason. on the other hand the king expressed his willingness to submit to the advocate's opinions if they should seem the more just. on leaving the king the ambassador had an interview with sully, who again expressed his great anxiety for the arrival of barneveld, and his hopes that he might come with unlimited powers, so that the great secret might not leak out through constant referring of matters back to the provinces. after rendering to the advocate a detailed account of this remarkable conversation, aerssens concluded with an intimation that perhaps his own opinion might be desired as to the meaning of all those movements developing themselves so suddenly and on so many sides. "i will say," he observed, "exactly what the poet sings of the army of ants-- 'hi motus animorum atque haec certamina tanta pulveris exigui jactu contacts quiescunt.' if the prince of conde comes back, we shall be more plausible than ever. if he does not come back, perhaps the consideration of the future will sweep us onwards. all have their special views, and m. de villeroy more warmly than all the rest." etext editor's bookmarks: abstinence from inquisition into consciences and private parlour allowed the demon of religious hatred to enter into its body behead, torture, burn alive, and bury alive all heretics christian sympathy and a small assistance not being sufficient contained within itself the germs of a larger liberty could not be both judge and party in the suit covered now with the satirical dust of centuries deadly hatred of puritans in england and holland doctrine of predestination in its sternest and strictest sense emperor of japan addressed him as his brother monarch estimating his character and judging his judges everybody should mind his own business he was a sincere bigot impatience is often on the part of the non-combatants intense bigotry of conviction international friendship, the self-interest of each it was the true religion, and there was none other james of england, who admired, envied, and hated henry jealousy, that potent principle language which is ever living because it is dead more fiercely opposed to each other than to papists none but god to compel me to say more than i choose to say power the poison of which it is so difficult to resist presents of considerable sums of money to the negotiators made princes show what they have in them at twenty-five or never putting the cart before the oxen religious toleration, which is a phrase of insult secure the prizes of war without the troubles and dangers senectus edam maorbus est so much in advance of his time as to favor religious equality the catholic league and the protestant union the truth in shortest about matters of importance the vehicle is often prized more than the freight there was but one king in europe, henry the bearnese there was no use in holding language of authority to him thirty years' war tread on the heels of the forty years unimaginable outrage as the most legitimate industry wish to appear learned in matters of which they are ignorant the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. the life and death of john of barneveld, v , - chapter ii. passion of henry iv. for margaret de montmorency--her marriage with the prince of conde--their departure for the country-their flight to the netherlands-rage of the king--intrigues of spain--reception of the prince and princess of conde by the archdukes at brussels-- splendid entertainments by spinola--attempts of the king to bring the fugitives back--mission of de coeuvres to brussels--difficult position of the republic--vast but secret preparations for war. "if the prince of conde comes back." what had the prince of conde, his comings and his goings, to do with this vast enterprise? it is time to point to the golden thread of most fantastic passion which runs throughout this dark and eventful history. one evening in the beginning of the year which had just come to its close there was to be a splendid fancy ball at the louvre in the course of which several young ladies of highest rank were to perform a dance in mythological costume. the king, on ill terms with the queen, who harassed him with scenes of affected jealousy, while engaged in permanent plots with her paramour and master, the italian concini, against his policy and his life; on still worse terms with his latest mistress in chief, the marquise de verneuil, who hated him and revenged herself for enduring his caresses by making him the butt of her venomous wit, had taken the festivities of a court in dudgeon where he possessed hosts of enemies and flatterers but scarcely a single friend. he refused to attend any of the rehearsals of the ballet, but one day a group of diana and her nymphs passed him in the great gallery of the palace. one of the nymphs as she went by turned and aimed her gilded javelin at his heart. henry looked and saw the most beautiful young creature, so he thought, that mortal eye had ever gazed upon, and according to his wont fell instantly over head and ears in love. he said afterwards that he felt himself pierced to the heart and was ready to faint away. the lady was just fifteen years of age. the king was turned of fifty-five. the disparity of age seemed to make the royal passion ridiculous. to henry the situation seemed poetical and pathetic. after this first interview he never missed a single rehearsal. in the intervals he called perpetually for the services of the court poet malherbe, who certainly contrived to perpetrate in his behalf some of the most detestable verses that even he had ever composed. the nymph was marguerite de montmorency, daughter of the constable of france, and destined one day to become the mother of the great conde, hero of rocroy. there can be no doubt that she was exquisitely beautiful. fair-haired, with a complexion of dazzling purity, large expressive eyes, delicate but commanding features, she had a singular fascination of look and gesture, and a winning, almost childlike, simplicity of manner. without feminine artifice or commonplace coquetry, she seemed to bewitch and subdue at a glance men of all ranks, ages, and pursuits; kings and cardinals, great generals, ambassadors and statesmen, as well as humbler mortals whether spanish, italian, french, or flemish. the constable, an ignorant man who, as the king averred, could neither write nor read, understood as well as more learned sages the manners and humours of the court. he had destined his daughter for the young and brilliant bassompierre, the most dazzling of all the cavaliers of the day. the two were betrothed. but the love-stricken henry, then confined to his bed with the gout, sent for the chosen husband of the beautiful margaret. "bassompierre, my friend," said the aged king, as the youthful lover knelt before him at the bedside, "i have become not in love, but mad, out of my senses, furious for mademoiselle de montmorency. if she should love you, i should hate you. if she should love me, you would hate me. 'tis better that this should not be the cause of breaking up our good intelligence, for i love you with affection and inclination. i am resolved to marry her to my nephew the prince of conde, and to keep her near my family. she will be the consolation and support of my old age into which i am now about to enter. i shall give my nephew, who loves the chase a thousand times better than he does ladies, , livres a year, and i wish no other favour from her than her affection without making further pretensions." it was eight o'clock of a black winter's morning, and the tears as he spoke ran down the cheeks of the hero of ivry and bedewed the face of the kneeling bassompierre. the courtly lover sighed and--obeyed. he renounced the hand of the beautiful margaret, and came daily to play at dice with the king at his bedside with one or two other companions. and every day the duchess of angouleme, sister of the constable, brought her fair niece to visit and converse with the royal invalid. but for the dark and tragic clouds which were gradually closing around that eventful and heroic existence there would be something almost comic in the spectacle of the sufferer making the palace and all france ring with the howlings of his grotesque passion for a child of fifteen as he lay helpless and crippled with the gout. one day as the duchess of angouleme led her niece away from their morning visit to the king, margaret as she passed by bassompierre shrugged her shoulders with a scornful glance. stung by this expression of contempt, the lover who had renounced her sprang from the dice table, buried his face in his hat, pretending that his nose was bleeding, and rushed frantically from the palace. two days long he spent in solitude, unable to eat, drink, or sleep, abandoned to despair and bewailing his wretched fate, and it was long before he could recover sufficient equanimity to face his lost margaret and resume his place at the king's dicing table. when he made his appearance, he was according to his own account so pale, changed, and emaciated that his friends could not recognise him. the marriage with conde, first prince of the blood, took place early in the spring. the bride received magnificent presents, and the husband a pension of , livres a year. the attentions of the king became soon outrageous and the reigning scandal of the hour. henry, discarding the grey jacket and simple costume on which he was wont to pride himself, paraded himself about in perfumed ruffs and glittering doublet, an ancient fop, very little heroic, and much ridiculed. the princess made merry with the antics of her royal adorer, while her vanity at least, if not her affection, was really touched, and there was one great round of court festivities in her honour, at which the king and herself were ever the central figures. but conde was not at all amused. not liking the part assigned to him in the comedy thus skilfully arranged by his cousin king, never much enamoured of his bride, while highly appreciating the , livres of pension, he remonstrated violently with his wife, bitterly reproached the king, and made himself generally offensive. "the prince is here," wrote henry to sully, "and is playing the very devil. you would be in a rage and be ashamed of the things he says of me. but at last i am losing patience, and am resolved to give him a bit of my mind." he wrote in the same terms to montmorency. the constable, whose conduct throughout the affair was odious and pitiable, promised to do his best to induce the prince, instead of playing the devil, to listen to reason, as he and the duchess of angouleme understood reason. henry had even the ineffable folly to appeal to the queen to use her influence with the refractory conde. mary de' medici replied that there were already thirty go-betweens at work, and she had no idea of being the thirty-first--[henrard, ]. conde, surrounded by a conspiracy against his honour and happiness, suddenly carried off his wife to the country, much to the amazement and rage of henry. in the autumn he entertained a hunting party at a seat of his, the abbey of verneuille, on the borders of picardy. de traigny, governor of amiens, invited the prince, princess, and the dowager-princess to a banquet at his chateau not far from the abbey. on their road thither they passed a group of huntsmen and grooms in the royal livery. among them was an aged lackey with a plaister over one eye, holding a couple of hounds in leash. the princess recognized at a glance under that ridiculous disguise the king. "what a madman!" she murmured as she passed him, "i will never forgive you;" but as she confessed many years afterwards, this act of gallantly did not displease her.' in truth, even in mythological fable, trove has scarcely ever reduced demi-god or hero to more fantastic plight than was this travesty of the great henry. after dinner madame de traigny led her fair guest about the castle to show her the various points of view. at one window she paused, saying that it commanded a particularly fine prospect. the princess looked from it across a courtyard, and saw at an opposite window an old gentleman holding his left hand tightly upon his heart to show that it was wounded, and blowing kisses to her with the other: "my god! it is the king himself," she cried to her hostess. the princess with this exclamation rushed from the window, feeling or affecting much indignation, ordered horses to her carriage instantly, and overwhelmed madame de traigny with reproaches. the king himself, hastening to the scene, was received with passionate invectives, and in vain attempted to assuage the princess's wrath and induce her to remain. they left the chateau at once, both prince and princess. one night, not many weeks afterwards, the due de sully, in the arsenal at paris, had just got into bed at past eleven o'clock when he received a visit from captain de praslin, who walked straight into his bed-chamber, informing him that the king instantly required his presence. sully remonstrated. he was obliged to rise at three the next morning, he said, enumerating pressing and most important work which henry required to be completed with all possible haste. "the king said you would be very angry," replied praslin; "but there is no help for it. come you must, for the man you know of has gone out of the country, as you said he would, and has carried away the lady on the crupper behind him." "ho, ho," said the duke, "i am wanted for that affair, am i?" and the two proceeded straightway to the louvre, and were ushered, of all apartments in the world, into the queen's bedchamber. mary de' medici had given birth only four days before to an infant, henrietta maria, future queen of charles i. of england. the room was crowded with ministers and courtiers; villeroy, the chancellor, bassompierre, and others, being stuck against the wall at small intervals like statues, dumb, motionless, scarcely daring to breathe. the king, with his hands behind him and his grey beard sunk on his breast, was pacing up and down the room in a paroxysm of rage and despair. "well," said he, turning to sully as he entered, "our man has gone off and carried everything with him. what do you say to that?" the duke beyond the boding "i told you so" phrase of consolation which he was entitled to use, having repeatedly warned his sovereign that precisely this catastrophe was impending, declined that night to offer advice. he insisted on sleeping on it. the manner in which the proceedings of the king at this juncture would be regarded by the archdukes albert and isabella--for there could be no doubt that conde had escaped to their territory--and by the king of spain, in complicity with whom the step had unquestionably been taken--was of gravest political importance. henry had heard the intelligence but an hour before. he was at cards in his cabinet with bassompierre and others when d'elbene entered and made a private communication to him. "bassompierre, my friend," whispered the king immediately in that courtier's ear, "i am lost. this man has carried his wife off into a wood. i don't know if it is to kill her or to take her out of france. take care of my money and keep up the game." bassompierre followed the king shortly afterwards and brought him his money. he said that he had never seen a man so desperate, so transported. the matter was indeed one of deepest and universal import. the reader has seen by the preceding narrative how absurd is the legend often believed in even to our own days that war was made by france upon the archdukes and upon spain to recover the princess of conde from captivity in brussels. from contemporary sources both printed and unpublished; from most confidential conversations and revelations, we have seen how broad, deliberate, and deeply considered were the warlike and political combinations in the king's ever restless brain. but although the abduction of the new helen by her own menelaus was not the cause of the impending, iliad, there is no doubt whatever that the incident had much to do with the crisis, was the turning point in a great tragedy, and that but for the vehement passion of the king for this youthful princess events might have developed themselves on a far different scale from that which they were destined to assume. for this reason a court intrigue, which history under other conditions might justly disdain, assumes vast proportions and is taken quite away from the scandalous chronicle which rarely busies itself with grave affairs of state. "the flight of conde," wrote aerssens, "is the catastrophe to the comedy which has been long enacting. 'tis to be hoped that the sequel may not prove tragical." "the prince," for simply by that title he was usually called to distinguish him from all other princes in france, was next of blood. had henry no sons, he would have succeeded him on the throne. it was a favourite scheme of the spanish party to invalidate henry's divorce from margaret of valois, and thus to cast doubts on the legitimacy of the dauphin and the other children of mary de' medici. the prince in the hands of the spanish government might prove a docile and most dangerous instrument to the internal repose of france not only after henry's death but in his life-time. conde's character was frivolous, unstable, excitable, weak, easy to be played upon by designing politicians, and he had now the deepest cause for anger and for indulging in ambitious dreams. he had been wont during this unhappy first year of his marriage to loudly accuse henry of tyranny, and was now likely by public declaration to assign that as the motive of his flight. henry had protested in reply that he had never been guilty of tyranny but once in his life, and that was when he allowed this youth to take the name and title of conde? for the princess-dowager his mother had lain for years in prison, under the terrible accusation of having murdered her husband, in complicity with her paramour, a gascon page, named belcastel. the present prince had been born several months after his reputed father's death. henry, out of good nature, or perhaps for less creditable reasons, had come to the rescue of the accused princess, and had caused the process to be stopped, further enquiry to be quashed, and the son to be recognized as legitimate prince of conde. the dowager had subsequently done her best to further the king's suit to her son's wife, for which the prince bitterly reproached her to her face, heaping on her epithets which she well deserved. henry at once began to threaten a revival of the criminal suit, with a view of bastardizing him again, although the dowager had acted on all occasions with great docility in henry's interests. the flight of the prince and princess was thus not only an incident of great importance to the internal politics of trance, but had a direct and important bearing on the impending hostilities. its intimate connection with the affairs of the netherland commonwealth was obvious. it was probable that the fugitives would make their way towards the archdukes' territory, and that afterwards their first point of destination would be breda, of which philip william of orange, eldest brother of prince maurice, was the titular proprietor. since the truce recently concluded the brothers, divided so entirely by politics and religion, could meet on fraternal and friendly terms, and breda, although a city of the commonwealth, received its feudal lord. the princess of orange was the sister of conde. the morning after the flight the king, before daybreak, sent for the dutch ambassador. he directed him to despatch a courier forthwith to barneveld, notifying him that the prince had left the kingdom without the permission or knowledge of his sovereign, and stating the king's belief that he had fled to the territory of the archdukes. if he should come to breda or to any other place within the jurisdiction of the states, they were requested to make sure of his person at once, and not to permit him to retire until further instructions should be received from the king. de praslin, captain of the body-guards and lieutenant of champagne, it was further mentioned, was to be sent immediately on secret mission concerning this affair to the states and to the archdukes. the king suspected conde of crime, so the advocate was to be informed. he believed him to be implicated in the conspiracy of poitou; the six who had been taken prisoners having confessed that they had thrice conferred with a prince at paris, and that the motive of the plot was to free themselves and france from the tyranny of henry iv. the king insisted peremptorily, despite of any objections from aerssens, that the thing must be done and his instructions carried out to the letter. so much he expected of the states, and they should care no more for ulterior consequences, he said, than he had done for the wrath of spain when he frankly undertook their cause. conde was important only because his relative, and he declared that if the prince should escape, having once entered the territory of the republic, he should lay the blame on its government. "if you proceed languidly in the affair," wrote aerssens to barneveld, "our affairs will suffer for ever." nobody at court believed in the poitou conspiracy, or that conde had any knowledge of it. the reason of his flight was a mystery to none, but as it was immediately followed by an intrigue with spain, it seemed ingenious to henry to make, use of a transparent pretext to conceal the ugliness of the whole affair. he hoped that the prince would be arrested at breda and sent back by the states. villeroy said that if it was not done, they would be guilty of black ingratitude. it would be an awkward undertaking, however, and the states devoutly prayed that they might not be put to the test. the crafty aerssens suggested to barneveld that if conde was not within their territory it would be well to assure the king that, had he been there, he would have been delivered up at once. "by this means," said the ambassador, "you will give no cause of offence to the prince, and will at the same time satisfy the king. it is important that he should think that you depend immediately upon him. if you see that after his arrest they take severe measures against him, you will have a thousand ways of parrying the blame which posterity might throw upon you. history teaches you plenty of them." he added that neither sully nor anyone else thought much of the poitou conspiracy. those implicated asserted that they had intended to raise troops there to assist the king in the cleve expedition. some people said that henry had invented this plot against his throne and life. the ambassador, in a spirit of prophecy, quoted the saying of domitian: "misera conditio imperantium quibus de conspiratione non creditor nisi occisis." meantime the fugitives continued their journey. the prince was accompanied by one of his dependants, a rude officer, de rochefort, who carried the princess on a pillion behind him. she had with her a lady-in-waiting named du certeau and a lady's maid named philippote. she had no clothes but those on her back, not even a change of linen. thus the young and delicate lady made the wintry journey through the forests. they crossed the frontier at landrecies, then in the spanish netherlands, intending to traverse the archduke's territory in order to reach breda, where conde meant to leave his wife in charge of his sister, the princess of orange, and then to proceed to brussels. he wrote from the little inn at landrecies to notify the archduke of his project. he was subsequently informed that albert would not prevent his passing through his territories, but should object to his making a fixed residence within them. the prince also wrote subsequently to the king of spain and to the king of france. to henry he expressed his great regret at being obliged to leave the kingdom in order to save his honour and his life, but that he had no intention of being anything else than his very humble and faithful cousin, subject, and servant. he would do nothing against his service, he said, unless forced thereto, and he begged the king not to take it amiss if he refused to receive letters from any one whomsoever at court, saving only such letters as his majesty himself might honour him by writing. the result of this communication to the king was of course to enrage that monarch to the utmost, and his first impulse on finding that the prince was out of his reach was to march to brussels at once and take possession of him and the princess by main force. more moderate counsels prevailed for the moment however, and negotiations were attempted. praslin did not contrive to intercept the fugitives, but the states-general, under the advice of barneveld, absolutely forbade their coming to breda or entering any part of their jurisdiction. the result of conde's application to the king of spain was an ultimate offer of assistance and asylum, through a special emissary, one anover; for the politicians of madrid were astute enough to see what a card the prince might prove in their hands. henry instructed his ambassador in spain to use strong and threatening language in regard to the harbouring a rebel and a conspirator against the throne of france; while on the other hand he expressed his satisfaction with the states for having prohibited the prince from entering their territory. he would have preferred, he said, if they had allowed him entrance and forbidden his departure, but on the whole he was content. it was thought in paris that the netherland government had acted with much adroitness in thus abstaining both from a violation of the law of nations and from giving offence to the king. a valet of conde was taken with some papers of the prince about him, which proved a determination on his part never to return to france during the lifetime of henry. they made no statement of the cause of his flight, except to intimate that it might be left to the judgment of every one, as it was unfortunately but too well known to all. refused entrance into the dutch territory, the prince was obliged to renounce his project in regard to breda, and brought his wife to brussels. he gave bentivoglio, the papal nuncio, two letters to forward to italy, one to the pope, the other to his nephew, cardinal borghese. encouraged by the advices which he had received from spain, he justified his flight from france both by the danger to his honour and to his life, recommending both to the protection of his holiness and his eminence. bentivoglio sent the letters, but while admitting the invincible reasons for his departure growing out of the king's pursuit of the princess, he refused all credence to the pretended violence against conde himself. conde informed de praslin that he would not consent to return to france. subsequently he imposed as conditions of return that the king should assign to him certain cities and strongholds in guienne, of which province he was governor, far from paris and very near the spanish frontier; a measure dictated by spain and which inflamed henry's wrath almost to madness. the king insisted on his instant return, placing himself and of course the princess entirely in his hands and receiving a full pardon for this effort to save his honour. the prince and princess of orange came from breda to brussels to visit their brother and his wife. here they established them in the palace of nassau, once the residence in his brilliant youth of william the silent; a magnificent mansion, surrounded by park and garden, built on the brow of the almost precipitous hill, beneath which is spread out so picturesquely the antique and beautiful capital of brabant. the archdukes received them with stately courtesy at their own palace. on their first ceremonious visit to the sovereigns of the land, the formal archduke, coldest and chastest of mankind, scarcely lifted his eyes to gaze on the wondrous beauty of the princess, yet assured her after he had led her through a portrait gallery of fair women that formerly these had been accounted beauties, but that henceforth it was impossible to speak of any beauty but her own. the great spinola fell in love with her at once, sent for the illustrious rubens from antwerp to paint her portrait, and offered mademoiselle de chateau vert , crowns in gold if she would do her best to further his suit with her mistress. the genoese banker-soldier made love, war, and finance on a grand scale. he gave a magnificent banquet and ball in her honour on twelfth night, and the festival was the wonder of the town. nothing like it had been seen in brussels for years. at six in the evening spinola in splendid costume, accompanied by don luis velasco, count ottavio visconti, count bucquoy, with other nobles of lesser note, drove to the nassau palace to bring the prince and princess and their suite to the marquis's mansion. here a guard of honour of thirty musketeers was standing before the door, and they were conducted from their coaches by spinola preceded by twenty-four torch-bearers up the grand staircase to a hall, where they were received by the princesses of mansfeld, velasco, and other distinguished dames. thence they were led through several apartments rich with tapestry and blazing with crystal and silver plate to a splendid saloon where was a silken canopy, under which the princess of conde and the princess of orange seated themselves, the nuncius bentivoglio to his delight being placed next the beautiful margaret. after reposing for a little while they were led to the ball-room, brilliantly lighted with innumerable torches of perfumed wax and hung with tapestry of gold and silk, representing in fourteen embroidered designs the chief military exploits of spinola. here the banquet, a cold collation, was already spread on a table decked and lighted with regal splendour. as soon as the guests were seated, an admirable concert of instrumental music began. spinola walked up and down providing for the comforts of his company, the duke of aumale stood behind the two princesses to entertain them with conversation, don luis velasco served the princess of conde with plates, handed her the dishes, the wine, the napkins, while bucquoy and visconti in like manner waited upon the princess of orange; other nobles attending to the other ladies. forty-eight pages in white, yellow, and red scarves brought and removed the dishes. the dinner, of courses innumerable, lasted two hours and a half, and the ladies, being thus fortified for the more serious business of the evening, were led to the tiring-rooms while the hall was made ready for dancing. the ball was opened by the princess of conde and spinola, and lasted until two in the morning. as the apartment grew warm, two of the pages went about with long staves and broke all the windows until not a single pane of glass remained. the festival was estimated by the thrifty chronicler of antwerp to have cost from to crowns. it was, he says, "an earthly paradise of which soon not a vapour remained." he added that he gave a detailed account of it "not because he took pleasure in such voluptuous pomp and extravagance, but that one might thus learn the vanity of the world." these courtesies and assiduities on the part of the great "shopkeeper," as the constable called him, had so much effect, if not on the princess, at least on conde himself, that he threatened to throw his wife out of window if she refused to caress spinola. these and similar accusations were made by the father and aunt when attempting to bring about a divorce of the princess from her husband. the nuncius bentivoglio, too, fell in love with her, devoting himself to her service, and his facile and eloquent pen to chronicling her story. even poor little philip of spain in the depths of the escurial heard of her charms, and tried to imagine himself in love with her by proxy. thenceforth there was a succession of brilliant festivals in honour of the princess. the spanish party was radiant with triumph, the french maddened with rage. henry in paris was chafing like a lion at bay. a petty sovereign whom he could crush at one vigorous bound was protecting the lady for whose love he was dying. he had secured conde's exclusion from holland, but here were the fugitives splendidly established in brussels; the princess surrounded by most formidable suitors, the prince encouraged in his rebellious and dangerous schemes by the power which the king most hated on earth, and whose eternal downfall he had long since sworn to accomplish. for the weak and frivolous conde began to prattle publicly of his deep projects of revenge. aided by spanish money and spanish troops he would show one day who was the real heir to the throne of france--the illegitimately born dauphin or himself. the king sent for the first president of parliament, harlay, and consulted with him as to the proper means of reviving the suppressed process against the dowager and of publicly degrading conde from his position of first prince of the blood which he had been permitted to usurp. he likewise procured a decree accusing him of high-treason and ordering him to be punished at his majesty's pleasure, to be prepared by the parliament of paris; going down to the court himself in his impatience and seating himself in everyday costume on the bench of judges to see that it was immediately proclaimed. instead of at once attacking the archdukes in force as he intended in the first ebullition of his wrath, he resolved to send de boutteville-montmorency, a relative of the constable, on special and urgent mission to brussels. he was to propose that conde and his wife should return with the prince and princess of orange to breda, the king pledging himself that for three or four months nothing should be undertaken against him. here was a sudden change of determination fit to surprise the states-general, but the king's resolution veered and whirled about hourly in the tempests of his wrath and love. that excellent old couple, the constable and the duchess of angouleme, did their best to assist their sovereign in his fierce attempts to get their daughter and niece into his power. the constable procured a piteous letter to be written to archduke albert, signed "montmorency his mark," imploring him not to "suffer that his daughter, since the prince refused to return to france, should leave brussels to be a wanderer about the world following a young prince who had no fixed purpose in his mind." archduke albert, through his ambassador in paris, peter pecquius, suggested the possibility of a reconciliation between henry and his kinsman, and offered himself as intermediary. he enquired whether the king would find it agreeable that he should ask for pardon in name of the prince. henry replied that he was willing that the archduke should accord to conde secure residence for the time within his dominions on three inexorable conditions:--firstly, that the prince should ask for pardon without any stipulations, the king refusing to listen to any treaty or to assign him towns or places of security as had been vaguely suggested, and holding it utterly unreasonable that a man sueing for pardon should, instead of deserved punishment, talk of terms and acquisitions; secondly, that, if conde should reject the proposition, albert should immediately turn him out of his country, showing himself justly irritated at finding his advice disregarded; thirdly, that, sending away the prince, the archduke should forthwith restore the princess to her father the constable and her aunt angouleme, who had already made their petitions to albert and isabella for that end, to which the king now added his own most particular prayers. if the archduke should refuse consent to these three conditions, henry begged that he would abstain from any farther attempt to effect a reconciliation and not suffer conde to remain any longer within his territories. pecquius replied that he thought his master might agree to the two first propositions while demurring to the third, as it would probably not seem honourable to him to separate man and wife, and as it was doubtful whether the princess would return of her own accord. the king, in reporting the substance of this conversation to aerssens, intimated his conviction that they were only wishing in brussels to gain time; that they were waiting for letters from spain, which they were expecting ever since the return of conde's secretary from milan, whither he had been sent to confer with the governor, count fuentes. he said farther that he doubted whether the princess would go to breda, which he should now like, but which conde would not now permit. this he imputed in part to the princess of orange, who had written a letter full of invectives against himself to the dowager--princess of conde which she had at once sent to him. henry expressed at the same time his great satisfaction with the states-general and with barneveld in this affair, repeating his assurances that they were the truest and best friends he had. the news of conde's ceremonious visit to leopold in julich could not fail to exasperate the king almost as much as the pompous manner in which he was subsequently received at brussels; spinola and the spanish ambassador going forth to meet him. at the same moment the secretary of vaucelles, henry's ambassador in madrid, arrived in paris, confirming the king's suspicions that conde's flight had been concerted with don inigo de cardenas, and was part of a general plot of spain against the peace of the kingdom. the duc d'epernon, one of the most dangerous plotters at the court, and deep in the intimacy of the queen and of all the secret adherents of the spanish policy, had been sojourning a long time at metz, under pretence of attending to his health, had sent his children to spain, as hostages according to henry's belief, had made himself master of the citadel, and was turning a deaf ear to all the commands of the king. the supporters of conde in france were openly changing their note and proclaiming by the prince's command that he had left the kingdom in order to preserve his quality of first prince of the blood, and that he meant to make good his right of primogeniture against the dauphin and all competitors. such bold language and such open reliance on the support of spain in disputing the primogeniture of the dauphin were fast driving the most pacifically inclined in france into enthusiasm for the war. the states, too, saw their opportunity more vividly every day. "what could we desire more," wrote aerssens to barneveld, "than open war between france and spain? posterity will for ever blame us if we reject this great occasion." peter pecquius, smoothest and sliest of diplomatists, did his best to make things comfortable, for there could be little doubt that his masters most sincerely deprecated war. on their heads would come the first blows, to their provinces would return the great desolation out of which they had hardly emerged. still the archduke, while racking his brains for the means of accommodation, refused, to his honour, to wink at any violation of the law of nations, gave a secret promise, in which the infanta joined, that the princess should not be allowed to leave brussels without her husband's permission, and resolutely declined separating the pair except with the full consent of both. in order to protect himself from the king's threats, he suggested sending conde to some neutral place for six or eight months, to prague, to breda, or anywhere else; but henry knew that conde would never allow this unless he had the means by spanish gold of bribing the garrison there, and so of holding the place in pretended neutrality, but in reality at the devotion of the king of spain. meantime henry had despatched the marquis de coeuvres, brother of the beautiful gabrielle, duchess de beaufort, and one of the most audacious and unscrupulous of courtiers, on a special mission to brussels. de coeuvres saw conde before presenting his credentials to the archduke, and found him quite impracticable. acting under the advice of the prince of orange, he expressed his willingness to retire to some neutral city of germany or italy, drawing meanwhile from henry a pension of , crowns a year. but de coeuvres firmly replied that the king would make no terms with his vassal nor allow conde to prescribe conditions to him. to leave him in germany or italy, he said, was to leave him in the dependence of spain. the king would not have this constant apprehension of her intrigues while, living, nor leave such matter in dying for turbulence in his kingdom. if it appeared that the spaniards wished to make use of the prince for such purposes, he would be beforehand with them, and show them how much more injury he could inflict on spain than they on france. obviously committed to spain, conde replied to the entreaties of the emissary that if the king would give him half his kingdom he would not accept the offer nor return to france; at least before the th of february, by which date he expected advices from spain. he had given his word, he said, to lend his ear to no overtures before that time. he made use of many threats, and swore that he would throw himself entirely into the arms of the spanish king if henry would not accord him the terms which he had proposed. to do this was an impossibility. to grant him places of security would, as the king said, be to plant a standard for all the malcontents of france to rally around. conde had evidently renounced all hopes of a reconciliation, however painfully his host the archduke might intercede for it. he meant to go to spain. spinola was urging this daily and hourly, said henry, for he had fallen in love with the princess, who complained of all these persecutions in her letters to her father, and said that she would rather die than go to spain. the king's advices from de coeuvres were however to the effect that the step would probably be taken, that the arrangements were making, and that spinola had been shut up with conde six hours long with nobody present but rochefort and a certain counsellor of the prince of orange named keeremans. henry was taking measures to intercept them on their flight by land, but there was some thought of their proceeding to spain by sea. he therefore requested the states to send two ships of war, swift sailors, well equipped, one to watch in the roads of st. jean and the other on the english coast. these ships were to receive their instructions from admiral de vicq, who would be well informed of all the movements of the prince and give warning to the captains of the dutch vessels by a preconcerted signal. the king begged that barneveld would do him this favour, if he loved him, and that none might have knowledge of it but the advocate and prince maurice. the ships would be required for two or three months only, but should be equipped and sent forth as soon as possible. the states had no objection to performing this service, although it subsequently proved to be unnecessary, and they were quite ready at that moment to go openly into the war to settle the affairs of clove, and once for all to drive the spaniards out of the netherlands and beyond seas and mountains. yet strange to say, those most conversant with the state of affairs could not yet quite persuade themselves that matters were serious, and that the king's mind was fixed. should conde return, renounce his spanish stratagems, and bring back the princess to court, it was felt by the king's best and most confidential friends that all might grow languid again, the spanish faction get the upper hand in the king's councils, and the states find themselves in a terrible embarrassment. on the other hand, the most prying and adroit of politicians were puzzled to read the signs of the times. despite henry's garrulity, or perhaps in consequence of it, the envoys of spain, the empire, and of archduke albert were ignorant whether peace were likely to be broken or not, in spite of rumours which filled the air. so well had the secrets been kept which the reader has seen discussed in confidential conversations--the record of which has always remained unpublished--between the king and those admitted to his intimacy that very late in the winter pecquius, while sadly admitting to his masters that the king was likely to take part against the emperor in the affair of the duchies, expressed the decided opinion that it would be limited to the secret sending of succour to brandenburg and neuburg as formerly to the united provinces, but that he would never send troops into cleve, or march thither himself. it is important, therefore, to follow closely the development of these political and amorous intrigues, for they furnish one of the most curious and instructive lessons of history; there being not the slightest doubt that upon their issue chiefly depended the question of a great and general war. pecquius, not yet despairing that his master would effect a reconciliation between the king and conde, proposed again that the prince should be permitted to reside for a time in some place not within the jurisdiction of spain or of the archdukes, being allowed meantime to draw his annual pension of , livres. henry ridiculed the idea of conde's drawing money from him while occupying his time abroad with intrigues against his throne and his children's succession. he scoffed at the envoy's pretences that conde was not in receipt of money from spain, as if a man so needy and in so embarrassing a position could live without money from some source; and as if he were not aware, from his correspondents in spain, that funds were both promised and furnished to the prince. he repeated his determination not to accord him pardon unless he returned to france, which he had no cause to leave, and, turning suddenly on pecquius, demanded why, the subject of reconciliation having failed, the archduke did not immediately fulfil his promise of turning conde out of his dominions. upon this albert's minister drew back with the air of one amazed, asking how and when the archduke had ever made such a promise. "to the marquis de coeuvres," replied henry. pecquius asked if his ears had not deceived him, and if the king had really said that de coeuvres had made such a statement. henry repeated and confirmed the story. upon the minister's reply that he had himself received no such intelligence from the archduke, the king suddenly changed his tone, and said, "no, i was mistaken--i was confused--the marquis never wrote me this; but did you not say yourself that i might be assured that there would be no difficulty about it if the prince remained obstinate." pecquius replied that he had made such a proposition to his masters by his majesty's request; but there had been no answer received, nor time for one, as the hope of reconciliation had not yet been renounced. he begged henry to consider whether, without instructions from his master, he could have thus engaged his word. "well," said the king, "since you disavow it, i see very well that the archduke has no wish to give me pleasure, and that these are nothing but tricks that you have been amusing me with all this time. very good; each of us will know what we have to do." pecquius considered that the king had tried to get him into a net, and to entrap him into the avowal of a promise which he had never made. henry remained obstinate in his assertions, notwithstanding all the envoy's protestations. "a fine trick, indeed, and unworthy of a king, 'si dicere fas est,'" he wrote to secretary of state praets. "but the force of truth is such that he who spreads the snare always tumbles into the ditch himself." henry concluded the subject of conde at this interview by saying that he could have his pardon on the conditions already named, and not otherwise. he also made some complaints about archduke leopold, who, he said, notwithstanding his demonstrations of wishing a treaty of compromise, was taking towns by surprise which he could not hold, and was getting his troops massacred on credit. pecquius expressed the opinion that it would be better to leave the germans to make their own arrangements among themselves, adding that neither his masters nor the king of spain meant to mix themselves up in the matter. "let them mix themselves in it or keep out of it, as they like," said henry, "i shall not fail to mix myself up in it." the king was marvellously out of humour. before finishing the interview, he asked pecquius whether marquis spinola was going to spain very soon, as he had permission from his majesty to do so, and as he had information that he would be on the road early in lent. the minister replied that this would depend on the will of the archduke, and upon various circumstances. the answer seemed to displease the king, and pecquius was puzzled to know why. he was not aware, of course, of henry's project to kidnap the marquis on the road, and keep him as a surety for conde. the envoy saw villeroy after the audience, who told him not to mind the king's ill-temper, but to bear it as patiently as he could. his majesty could not digest, he said, his infinite displeasure at the obstinacy of the prince; but they must nevertheless strive for a reconciliation. the king was quick in words, but slow in deeds, as the ambassador might have observed before, and they must all try to maintain peace, to which he would himself lend his best efforts. as the secretary of state was thoroughly aware that the king was making vast preparations for war, and had given in his own adhesion to the project, it is refreshing to observe the candour with which he assured the representative of the adverse party of his determination that friendliest relations should be preserved. it is still more refreshing to find villeroy, the same afternoon, warmly uniting with sully, lesdiguieres, and the chancellor, in the decision that war should begin forthwith. for the king held a council at the arsenal immediately after this interview with pecquius, in which he had become convinced that conde would never return. he took the queen with him, and there was not a dissentient voice as to the necessity of beginning hostilities at once. sully, however, was alone in urging that the main force of the attack should be in the north, upon the rhine and meuse. villeroy and those who were secretly in the spanish interest were for beginning it with the southern combination and against milan. sully believed the duke of savoy to be variable and attached in his heart to spain, and he thought it contrary to the interests of france to permit an italian prince to grow so great on her frontier. he therefore thoroughly disapproved the plan, and explained to the dutch ambassador that all this urgency to carry on the war in the south came from hatred to the united provinces, jealousy of their aggrandizement, detestation of the reformed religion, and hope to engage henry in a campaign which he could not carry on successfully. but he assured aerssens that he had the means of counteracting these designs and of bringing on an invasion for obtaining possession of the meuse. if the possessory princes found henry making war in the milanese only, they would feel themselves ruined, and might throw up the game. he begged that barneveld would come on to paris at once, as now or never was the moment to assure the republic for all time. the king had acted with malicious adroitness in turning the tables upon the prince and treating him as a rebel and a traitor because, to save his own and his wife's honour, he had fled from a kingdom where he had but too good reason to suppose that neither was safe. the prince, with infinite want of tact, had played into the king's hands. he had bragged of his connection with spain and of his deep designs, and had shown to all the world that he was thenceforth but an instrument in the hands of the spanish cabinet, while all the world knew the single reason for which he had fled. the king, hopeless now of compelling the return of conde, had become most anxious to separate him from his wife. already the subject of divorce between the two had been broached, and it being obvious that the prince would immediately betake himself into the spanish dominions, the king was determined that the princess should not follow him thither. he had the incredible effrontery and folly to request the queen to address a letter to her at brussels, urging her to return to france. but mary de' medici assured her husband that she had no intention of becoming his assistant, using, to express her thought, the plainest and most vigorous word that the italian language could supply. henry had then recourse once more to the father and aunt. that venerable couple being about to wait upon the archduke's envoy, in compliance with the royal request, pecquius, out of respect to their advanced age, went to the constable's residence. here both the duchess and constable, with tears in their eyes, besought that diplomatist to do his utmost to prevent the princess from the sad fate of any longer sharing her husband's fortunes. the father protested that he would never have consented to her marriage, preferring infinitely that she should have espoused any honest gentleman with crowns a year than this first prince of the blood, with a character such as it had proved to be; but that he had not dared to disobey the king. he spoke of the indignities and cruelties to which she was subjected, said that rochefort, whom conde had employed to assist him in their flight from france, and on the crupper of whose horse the princess had performed the journey, was constantly guilty of acts of rudeness and incivility towards her; that but a few days past he had fired off pistols in her apartment where she was sitting alone with the princess of orange, exclaiming that this was the way he would treat anyone who interfered with the commands of his master, conde; that the prince was incessantly railing at her for refusing to caress the marquis of spinola; and that, in short, he would rather she were safe in the palace of the archduchess isabella, even in the humblest position among her gentlewomen, than to know her vagabondizing miserably about the world with her husband. this, he said, was the greatest fear he had, and he would rather see her dead than condemned to such a fate. he trusted that the archdukes were incapable of believing the stories that he and the duchess of angouleme were influenced in the appeals they made for the separation of the prince and princess by a desire to serve the purposes of the king. those were fables put about by conde. all that the constable and his sister desired was that the archduchess would receive the princess kindly when she should throw herself at her feet, and not allow her to be torn away against her will. the constable spoke with great gravity and simplicity, and with all the signs of genuine emotion, and peter pecquius was much moved. he assured the aged pair that he would do his best to comply with their wishes, and should immediately apprise the archdukes of the interview which had just taken place. most certainly they were entirely disposed to gratify the constable and the duchess as well as the princess herself, whose virtues, qualities, and graces had inspired them with affection, but it must be remembered that the law both human and divine required wives to submit themselves to the commands of their husbands and to be the companions of their good and evil fortunes. nevertheless, he hoped that the lord would so conduct the affairs of the prince of conde that the most christian king and the archdukes would all be satisfied. these pious and consolatory commonplaces on the part of peter pecquius deeply affected the constable. he fell upon the envoy's neck, embraced him repeatedly, and again wept plentifully. chapter iii. strange scene at the archduke's palace--henry's plot frustrated-- his triumph changed to despair--conversation of the dutch ambassador with the king--the war determined upon. it was in the latter part of the carnival, the saturday night preceding shrove tuesday, . the winter had been a rigorous one in brussels, and the snow lay in drifts three feet deep in the streets. within and about the splendid palace of nassau there was much commotion. lights and flambeaux were glancing, loud voices, martial music, discharge of pistols and even of artillery were heard together with the trampling of many feet, but there was nothing much resembling the wild revelry or cheerful mummery of that holiday season. a throng of the great nobles of belgium with drawn swords and menacing aspect were assembled in the chief apartments, a detachment of the archduke's mounted body-guard was stationed in the courtyard, and five hundred halberdiers of the burgher guilds kept watch and ward about the palace. the prince of conde, a square-built, athletic young man of middle stature, with regular features, but a sulky expression, deepened at this moment into ferocity, was seen chasing the secretary of the french resident minister out of the courtyard, thwacking him lustily about the shoulders with his drawn sword, and threatening to kill him or any other frenchman on the spot, should he show himself in that palace. he was heard shouting rather than speaking, in furious language against the king, against coeuvres, against berny, and bitterly bewailing his misfortunes, as if his wife were already in paris instead of brussels. upstairs in her own apartment which she had kept for some days on pretext of illness sat the princess margaret, in company' of madame de berny, wife of the french minister, and of the marquis de coeuvres, henry's special envoy, and a few other frenchmen. she was passionately fond of dancing. the adoring cardinal described her as marvellously graceful and perfect in that accomplishment. she had begged her other adorer, the marquis spinola, "with sweetest words," that she might remain a few days longer in the nassau palace before removing to the archduke's residence, and that the great general, according to the custom in france and flanders, would be the one to present her with the violins. but spinola, knowing the artifice concealed beneath these "sweetest words," had summoned up valour enough to resist her blandishments, and had refused a second entertainment. it was not, therefore, the disappointment at losing her ball that now made the princess sad. she and her companions saw that there had been a catastrophe; a plot discovered. there was bitter disappointment and deep dismay upon their faces. the plot had been an excellent one. de coeuvres had arranged it all, especially instigated thereto by the father of the princess acting in concurrence with the king. that night when all was expected to be in accustomed quiet, the princess, wrapped in her mantilla, was to have stolen down into the garden, accompanied only by her maid the adventurous and faithful philipotte, to have gone through a breach which led through a garden wall to the city ramparts, thence across the foss to the counterscarp, where a number of horsemen under trustworthy commanders were waiting. mounting on the crupper behind one of the officers of the escort, she was then to fly to the frontier, relays of horses having been provided at every stage until she should reach rocroy, the first pausing place within french territory; a perilous adventure for the young and delicate princess in a winter of almost unexampled severity. on the very morning of the day assigned for the adventure, despatches brought by special couriers from the nuncius and the spanish ambassador at paris gave notice of the plot to the archdukes and to conde, although up to that moment none knew of it in brussels. albert, having been apprised that many frenchmen had been arriving during the past few days, and swarming about the hostelries of the city and suburbs, was at once disposed to believe in the story. when conde came to him, therefore, with confirmation from his own letters, and demanding a detachment of the body-guard in addition to the burgher militiamen already granted by the magistrates, he made no difficulty granting the request. it was as if there had been a threatened assault of the city, rather than the attempted elopement of a young lady escorted by a handful of cavaliers. the courtyard of the nassau palace was filled with cavalry sent by the archduke, while five hundred burgher guards sent by the magistrates were drawn up around the gate. the noise and uproar, gaining at every moment more mysterious meaning by the darkness of night, soon spread through the city. the whole population was awake, and swarming through the streets. such a tumult had not for years been witnessed in brussels, and the rumour flew about and was generally believed that the king of france at the head of an army was at the gates of the city determined to carry off the princess by force. but although the superfluous and very scandalous explosion might have been prevented, there could be no doubt that the stratagem had been defeated. nevertheless, the effrontery and ingenuity of de coeuvres became now sublime. accompanied by his colleague, the resident minister, de berny, who was sure not to betray the secret because he had never known it--his wife alone having been in the confidence of the princess--he proceeded straightway to the archduke's palace, and, late in the night as it was, insisted on an audience. here putting on his boldest face when admitted to the presence, he complained loudly of the plot, of which he had just become aware, contrived by the prince of conde to carry off his wife to spain against her will, by main force, and by assistance of flemish nobles, archiducal body-guard, and burgher militia. it was all a plot of conde, he said, to palliate still more his flight from france. every one knew that the princess could not fly back to paris through the air. to take her out of a house filled with people, to pierce or scale the walls of the city, to arrange her journey by ordinary means, and to protect the whole route by stations of cavalry, reaching from brussels to the frontier, and to do all this in profound secrecy, was equally impossible. such a scheme had never been arranged nor even imagined, he said. the true plotter was conde, aided by ministers in flanders hostile to france, and as the honour of the king and the reputation of the princess had been injured by this scandal, the ambassador loudly demanded a thorough investigation of the affair in order that vengeance might fall where it was due. the prudent albert was equal to the occasion. not wishing to state the full knowledge which he possessed of de coeuvres' agency and the king's complicity in the scheme of abduction to france, he reasoned calmly with the excited marquis, while his colleague looked and listened in dumb amazement, having previously been more vociferous and infinitely more sincere than his colleague in expressions of indignation. the archduke said that he had not thought the plot imputed to the king and his ambassador very probable. nevertheless, the assertions of the prince had been so positive as to make it impossible to refuse the guards requested by him. he trusted, however, that the truth would soon be known, and that it would leave no stain on the princess, nor give any offence to the king. surprised and indignant at the turn given to the adventure by the french envoys, he nevertheless took care to conceal these sentiments, to abstain from accusation, and calmly to inform them that the princess next morning would be established under his own roof; and enjoy the protection of the archduchess. for it had been arranged several days before that margaret should leave the palace of nassau for that of albert and isabella on the th, and the abduction had been fixed for the night of the th precisely because the conspirators wished to profit by the confusion incident on a change of domicile. the irrepressible de coeuvres, even then hardly willing to give up the whole stratagem as lost, was at least determined to discover how and by whom the plot had been revealed. in a cemetery piled three feet deep with snow on the evening following that mid-winter's night which had been fixed for the princess's flight, the unfortunate ambassador waited until a certain vallobre, a gentleman of spinola's, who was the go-between of the enamoured genoese and the princess, but whom de coeuvres had gained over, came at last to meet him by appointment. when he arrived, it was only to inform him of the manner in which he had been baffled, to convince him that the game was up, and that nothing was left him but to retreat utterly foiled in his attempt, and to be stigmatized as a blockhead by his enraged sovereign. next day the princess removed her residence to the palace of the archdukes, where she was treated with distinguished honour by isabella, and installed ceremoniously in the most stately, the most virtuous, and the most dismal of courts. her father and aunt professed themselves as highly pleased with the result, and pecquius wrote that "they were glad to know her safe from the importunities of the old fop who seemed as mad as if he had been stung by a tarantula." and how had the plot been revealed? simply through the incorrigible garrulity of the king himself. apprised of the arrangement in all its details by the constable, who had first received the special couriers of de coeuvres, he could not keep the secret to himself for a moment, and the person of all others in the world to whom he thought good to confide it was the queen herself. she received the information with a smile, but straightway sent for the nuncius ubaldini, who at her desire instantly despatched a special courier to spinola with full particulars of the time and mode of the proposed abduction. nevertheless the ingenuous henry, confiding in the capacity of his deeply offended queen to keep the secret which he had himself divulged, could scarcely contain himself for joy. off he went to saint-germain with a train of coaches, impatient to get the first news from de coeuvres after the scheme should have been carried into effect, and intending to travel post towards flanders to meet and welcome the princess. "pleasant farce for shrove tuesday," wrote the secretary of pecquius, "is that which the frenchmen have been arranging down there! he in whose favour the abduction is to be made was seen going out the same day spangled and smart, contrary to his usual fashion, making a gambado towards saint-germain-en-laye with four carriages and four to meet the nymph." great was the king's wrath and mortification at this ridiculous exposure of his detestable scheme. vociferous were villeroy's expressions of henry's indignation at being supposed to have had any knowledge of or complicity in the affair. "his majesty cannot approve of the means one has taken to guard against a pretended plot for carrying off the princess," said the secretary of state; "a fear which was simulated by the prince in order to defame the king." he added that there was no reason to suspect the king, as he had never attempted anything of the sort in his life, and that the archduke might have removed the princess to his palace without sending an army to the hotel of the prince of orange, and causing such an alarm in the city, firing artillery on the rampart as if the town had been full of frenchmen in arms, whereas one was ashamed next morning to find that there had been but fifteen in all. "but it was all marquis spinola's fault," he said, "who wished to show himself off as a warrior." the king, having thus through the mouth of his secretary of state warmly protested against his supposed implication in the attempted abduction, began as furiously to rail at de coeuvres for its failure; telling the duc de vendome that his uncle was an idiot, and writing that unlucky envoy most abusive letters for blundering in the scheme which had been so well concerted between them. then he sent for malherbe, who straightway perpetrated more poems to express the king's despair, in which henry was made to liken himself to a skeleton with a dried skin, and likewise to a violet turned up by the ploughshare and left to wither. he kept up through madame de berny a correspondence with "his beautiful angel," as he called the princess, whom he chose to consider a prisoner and a victim; while she, wearied to death with the frigid monotony and sepulchral gaieties of the archiducal court, which she openly called her "dungeon" diverted herself with the freaks and fantasies of her royal adorer, called him in very ill-spelled letters "her chevalier, her heart, her all the world," and frequently wrote to beg him, at the suggestion of the intriguing chateau vert, to devise some means of rescuing her from prison. the constable and duchess meanwhile affected to be sufficiently satisfied with the state of things. conde, however, received a letter from the king, formally summoning him to return to france, and, in case of refusal, declaring him guilty of high-treason for leaving the kingdom without the leave and against the express commands of the king. to this letter, brought to him by de coeuvres, the prince replied by a paper, drawn up and served by a notary of brussels, to the effect that he had left france to save his life and honour; that he was ready to return when guarantees were given him for the security of both. he would live and die, he said, faithful to the king. but when the king, departing from the paths of justice, proceeded through those of violence against him, he maintained that every such act against his person was null and invalid. henry had even the incredible meanness and folly to request the queen to write to the archdukes, begging that the princess might be restored to assist at her coronation. mary de' medici vigorously replied once more that, although obliged to wink at the king's amours, she declined to be his procuress. conde then went off to milan very soon after the scene at the nassau palace and the removal of the princess to the care of the archdukes. he was very angry with his wife, from whom he expressed a determination to be divorced, and furious with the king, the validity of whose second marriage and the legitimacy of whose children he proposed with spanish help to dispute. the constable was in favour of the divorce, or pretended to be so, and caused importunate letters to be written, which he signed, to both albert and isabella, begging that his daughter might be restored to him to be the staff of his old age, and likewise to be present at the queen's coronation. the archdukes, however, resolutely refused to permit her to leave their protection without conde's consent, or until after a divorce had been effected, notwithstanding that the father and aunt demanded it. the constable and duchess however, acquiesced in the decision, and expressed immense gratitude to isabella. "the father and aunt have been talking to pecquius," said henry very dismally; "but they give me much pain. they are even colder than the season, but my fire thaws them as soon as i approach." "p. s.--i am so pining away in my anguish that i am nothing but skin and bones. nothing gives me pleasure. i fly from company, and if in order to comply with the law of nations i go into some assembly or other, instead of enlivening, it nearly kills me."--[lettres missives de henri vii. ]. and the king took to his bed. whether from gout, fever, or the pangs of disappointed love, he became seriously ill. furious with every one, with conde, the constable, de coeuvres, the queen, spinola, with the prince of orange, whose councillor keeremans had been encouraging conde in his rebellion and in going to spain with spinola, he was now resolved that the war should go on. aerssens, cautious of saying too much on paper of this very delicate affair, always intimated to barneveld that, if the princess could be restored, peace was still possible, and that by moving an inch ahead of the king in the cleve matter the states at the last moment might be left in the lurch. he distinctly told the advocate, on his expressing a hope that henry might consent to the prince's residence in some neutral place until a reconciliation could be effected, that the pinch of the matter was not there, and that van der myle, who knew all about it, could easily explain it. alluding to the project of reviving the process against the dowager, and of divorcing the prince and princess, he said these steps would do much harm, as they would too much justify the true cause of the retreat of the prince, who was not believed when he merely talked of his right of primogeniture: "the matter weighs upon us very heavily," he said, "but the trouble is that we don't search for the true remedies. the matter is so delicate that i don't dare to discuss it to the very bottom." the ambassador had a long interview with the king as he lay in his bed feverish and excited. he was more impatient than ever for the arrival of the states' special embassy, reluctantly acquiesced in the reasons assigned for the delay, but trusted that it would arrive soon with barneveld at the head, and with count lewis william as a member for "the sword part of it." he railed at the prince of orange, not believing that keeremans would have dared to do what he had done but with the orders of his master. he said that the king of spain would supply conde with money and with everything he wanted, knowing that he could make use of him to trouble his kingdom. it was strange, he thought, that philip should venture to these extremities with his affairs in such condition, and when he had so much need of repose. he recalled all his ancient grievances against spain, his rights to the kingdom of navarre and the county of st. pol violated; the conspiracy of biron, the intrigues of bouillon, the plots of the count of auvergne and the marchioness of verneuil, the treason of meragne, the corruption of l'hoste, and an infinity of other plots of the king and his ministers; of deep injuries to him and to the public repose, not to be tolerated by a mighty king like himself, with a grey beard. he would be revenged, he said, for this last blow, and so for all the rest. he would not leave a troublesome war on the hands of his young son. the occasion was favourable. it was just to defend the oppressed princes with the promptly accorded assistance of the states-general. the king of great britain was favourable. the duke of savoy was pledged. it was better to begin the war in his green old age than to wait the pleasure and opportunity of the king of spain. all this he said while racked with fever, and dismissed the envoy at last, after a long interview, with these words: "mr. ambassador--i have always spoken roundly and frankly to you, and you will one day be my witness that i have done all that i could to draw the prince out of the plight into which he has put himself. but he is struggling for the succession to this crown under instructions from the spaniards, to whom he has entirely pledged himself. he has already received crowns for his equipment. i know that you and my other friends will work for the conservation of this monarchy, and will never abandon me in my designs to weaken the power of spain. pray god for my health." the king kept his bed a few days afterwards, but soon recovered. villeroy sent word to barneveld in answer to his suggestions of reconciliation that it was too late, that conde was entirely desperate and spanish. the crown of france was at stake, he said, and the prince was promising himself miracles and mountains with the aid of spain, loudly declaring the marriage of mary de' medici illegal, and himself heir to the throne. the secretary of state professed himself as impatient as his master for the arrival of the embassy; the states being the best friends france ever had and the only allies to make the war succeed. jeannin, who was now never called to the council, said that the war was not for germany but for conde, and that henry could carry it on for eight years. he too was most anxious for barneveld's arrival, and was of his opinion that it would have been better for conde to be persuaded to remain at breda and be supported by his brother-in-law, the prince of orange. the impetuosity of the king had however swept everything before it, and conde had been driven to declare himself spanish and a pretender to the crown. there was no issue now but war. boderie, the king's envoy in great britain, wrote that james would be willing to make a defensive league for the affairs of cleve and julich only, which was the slenderest amount of assistance; but henry always suspected master jacques of intentions to baulk him if possible and traverse his designs. but the die was cast. spinola had carried off conde in triumph; the princess was pining in her gilt cage in brussels, and demanding a divorce for desertion and cruel treatment; the king considered himself as having done as much as honour allowed him to effect a reconciliation, and it was obvious that, as the states' ambassador said, he could no longer retire from the war without shame, which would be the greatest danger of all. "the tragedy is ready to begin," said aerssens. "they are only waiting now for the arrival of our ambassadors." on the th march the king before going to fontainebleau for a few days summoned that envoy to the louvre. impatient at a slight delay in his arrival, henry came down into the courtyard as he was arriving and asked eagerly if barneveld was coming to paris. aerssens replied, that the advocate had been hastening as much as possible the departure of the special embassy, but that the condition of affairs at home was such as not to permit him to leave the country at that moment. van der myle, who would be one of the ambassadors, would more fully explain this by word of mouth. the king manifested infinite annoyance and disappointment that barneveld was not to make part of the embassy. "he says that he reposes such singular confidence in your authority in the state, experience in affairs, and affection for himself," wrote aerssens, "that he might treat with you in detail and with open heart of all his designs. he fears now that the ambassadors will be limited in their powers and instructions, and unable to reply at once on the articles which at different times have been proposed to me for our enterprise. thus much valuable time will be wasted in sending backwards and forwards." the king also expressed great anxiety to consult with count lewis william in regard to military details, but his chief sorrow was in regard to the advocate. "he acquiesced only with deep displeasure and regret in your reasons," said the ambassador, "and says that he can hope for nothing firm now that you refuse to come." villeroy intimated that barneveld did not come for fear of exciting the jealousy of the english. etext editor's bookmarks: he who spreads the snare always tumbles into the ditch himself most detestable verses that even he had ever composed she declined to be his procuress the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. the life and death of john of barneveld, v , chapter iv. difficult position of barneveld--insurrection at utrecht subdued by the states' army--special embassies to england and france--anger of the king with spain and the archdukes--arrangements of henry for the coming war--position of spain--anxiety of the king for the presence of barneveld in paris--arrival of the dutch commissioners in france and their brilliant reception--their interview with the king and his ministers--negotiations--delicate position of the dutch government-- india trade--simon danzer, the corsair--conversations of henry with the dutch commissioners--letter of the king to archduke albert-- preparations for the queen's coronation, and of henry to open the campaign in person--perplexities of henry--forebodings and warnings --the murder accomplished--terrible change in france--triumph of concini and of spain--downfall of sully--disputes of the grandees among themselves--special mission of condelence from the republic-- conference on the great enterprise--departure of van der myle from paris. there were reasons enough why the advocate could not go to paris at this juncture. it was absurd in henry to suppose it possible. everything rested on barneveld's shoulders. during the year which had just passed he had drawn almost every paper, every instruction in regard to the peace negotiations, with his own hand, had assisted at every conference, guided and mastered the whole course of a most difficult and intricate negotiation, in which he had not only been obliged to make allowance for the humbled pride and baffled ambition of the ancient foe of the netherlands, but to steer clear of the innumerable jealousies, susceptibilities, cavillings, and insolences of their patronizing friends. it was his brain that worked, his tongue that spoke, his restless pen that never paused. his was not one of those easy posts, not unknown in the modern administration of great affairs, where the subordinate furnishes the intellect, the industry, the experience, while the bland superior, gratifying the world with his sign-manual, appropriates the applause. so long as he lived and worked, the states-general and the states of holland were like a cunningly contrived machine, which seemed to be alive because one invisible but mighty mind vitalized the whole. and there had been enough to do. it was not until midsummer of that the ratifications of the treaty of truce, one of the great triumphs in the history of diplomacy, had been exchanged, and scarcely had this period been put to the eternal clang of arms when the death of a lunatic threw the world once more into confusion. it was obvious to barneveld that the issue of the cleve-julich affair, and of the tremendous religious fermentation in bohemia, moravia, and austria, must sooner or later lead to an immense war. it was inevitable that it would devolve upon the states to sustain their great though vacillating, their generous though encroaching, their sincere though most irritating, ally. and yet, thoroughly as barneveld had mastered all the complications and perplexities of the religious and political question, carefully as he had calculated the value of the opposing forces which were shaking christendom, deeply as he had studied the characters of matthias and rudolph, of charles of denmark and ferdinand of graz, of anhalt and maximilian, of brandenburg and neuburg, of james and philip, of paul v. and charles emmanuel, of sully and yilleroy, of salisbury and bacon, of lerma and infantado; adroitly as he could measure, weigh, and analyse all these elements in the great problem which was forcing itself on the attention of europe--there was one factor with which it was difficult for this austere republican, this cold, unsusceptible statesman, to deal: the intense and imperious passion of a greybeard for a woman of sixteen. for out of the cauldron where the miscellaneous elements of universal war were bubbling rose perpetually the fantastic image of margaret montmorency: the fatal beauty at whose caprice the heroic sword of ivry and cahors was now uplifted and now sheathed. aerssens was baffled, and reported the humours of the court where he resided as changing from hour to hour. to the last he reported that all the mighty preparations then nearly completed "might evaporate in smoke" if the princess of conde should come back. every ambassador in paris was baffled. peter pecquius was as much in the dark as don inigo de cardenas, as ubaldini or edmonds. no one save sully, aerssens, barneveld, and the king knew the extensive arrangements and profound combinations which had been made for the war. yet not sully, aerssens, barneveld, or the king, knew whether or not the war would really be made. barneveld had to deal with this perplexing question day by day. his correspondence with his ambassador at henry's court was enormous, and we have seen that the ambassador was with the king almost daily; sleeping or waking; at dinner or the chase; in the cabinet or the courtyard. but the advocate was also obliged to carry in his arms, as it were, the brood of snarling, bickering, cross-grained german princes, to supply them with money, with arms, with counsel, with brains; to keep them awake when they went to sleep, to steady them in their track, to teach them to go alone. he had the congress at hall in suabia to supervise and direct; he had to see that the ambassadors of the new republic, upon which they in reality were already half dependent and chafing at their dependence, were treated with the consideration due to the proud position which the commonwealth had gained. questions of etiquette were at that moment questions of vitality. he instructed his ambassadors to leave the congress on the spot if they were ranked after the envoys of princes who were only feudatories of the emperor. the dutch ambassadors, "recognising and relying upon no superiors but god and their sword," placed themselves according to seniority with the representatives of proudest kings. he had to extemporize a system of free international communication with all the powers of the earth--with the turk at constantinople, with the czar of muscovy; with the potentates of the baltic, with both the indies. the routine of a long established and well organized foreign office in a time-honoured state running in grooves; with well-balanced springs and well oiled wheels, may be a luxury of civilization; but it was a more arduous task to transact the greatest affairs of a state springing suddenly into recognized existence and mainly dependent for its primary construction and practical working on the hand of one man. worse than all, he had to deal on the most dangerous and delicate topics of state with a prince who trembled at danger and was incapable of delicacy; to show respect for a character that was despicable, to lean on a royal word falser than water, to inhale almost daily the effluvia from a court compared to which the harem of henry was a temple of vestals. the spectacle of the slobbering james among his kars and hays and villiers's and other minions is one at which history covers her eyes and is dumb; but the republican envoys, with instructions from a barneveld, were obliged to face him daily, concealing their disgust, and bowing reverentially before him as one of the arbiters of their destinies and the solomon of his epoch. a special embassy was sent early in the year to england to convey the solemn thanks of the republic to the king for his assistance in the truce negotiations, and to treat of the important matters then pressing on the attention of both powers. contemporaneously was to be despatched the embassy for which henry was waiting so impatiently at paris. certainly the advocate had enough with this and other, important business already mentioned to detain him at his post. moreover the first year of peace had opened disastrously in the netherlands. tremendous tempests such as had rarely been recorded even in that land of storms had raged all the winter. the waters everywhere had burst their dykes and inundations, which threatened to engulph the whole country, and which had caused enormous loss of property and even of life, were alarming the most courageous. it was difficult in many district to collect the taxes for the every-day expenses of the community, and yet the advocate knew that the republic would soon be forced to renew the war on a prodigious scale. still more to embarrass the action of the government and perplex its statesmen, an alarming and dangerous insurrection broke out in utrecht. in that ancient seat of the hard-fighting, imperious, and opulent sovereign archbishops of the ancient church an important portion of the population had remained catholic. another portion complained of the abolition of various privileges which they had formerly enjoyed; among others that of a monopoly of beer-brewing for the province. all the population, as is the case with all populations in all countries and all epochs, complained of excessive taxation. a clever politician, dirk kanter by name, a gentleman by birth, a scholar and philosopher by pursuit and education, and a demagogue by profession, saw an opportunity of taking an advantage of this state of things. more than twenty years before he had been burgomaster of the city, and had much enjoyed himself in that position. he was tired of the learned leisure to which the ingratitude of his fellow-citizens had condemned him. he seems to have been of easy virtue in the matter of religion, a catholic, an arminian, an ultra orthodox contra-remonstrant by turns. he now persuaded a number of determined partisans that the time had come for securing a church for the public worship of the ancient faith, and at the same time for restoring the beer brewery, reducing the taxes, recovering lost privileges, and many other good things. beneath the whole scheme lay a deep design to effect the secession of the city and with it of the opulent and important province of utrecht from the union. kanter had been heard openly to avow that after all the netherlands had flourished under the benign sway of the house of burgundy, and that the time would soon come for returning to that enviable condition. by a concerted assault the city hall was taken possession of by main force, the magistracy was overpowered, and a new board of senators and common council-men appointed, kanter and a devoted friend of his, heldingen by name, being elected burgomasters. the states-provincial of utrecht, alarmed at these proceedings in the city, appealed for protection against violence to the states-general under the rd article of the union, the fundamental pact which bore the name of utrecht itself. prince maurice proceeded to the city at the head of a detachment of troops to quell the tumults. kanter and his friends were plausible enough to persuade him of the legality and propriety of the revolution which they had effected, and to procure his formal confirmation of the new magistracy. intending to turn his military genius and the splendour of his name to account, they contrived to keep him for a time at least in an amiable enthralment, and induced him to contemplate in their interest the possibility of renouncing the oath which subjected him to the authority of the states of utrecht. but the far-seeing eye of barneveld could not be blind to the danger which at this crisis beset the stadholder and the whole republic. the prince was induced to return to the hague, but the city continued by armed revolt to maintain the new magistracy. they proceeded to reduce the taxes, and in other respects to carry out the measures on the promise of which they had come into power. especially the catholic party sustained kanter and his friends, and promised themselves from him and from his influence over prince maurice to obtain a power of which they had long been deprived. the states-general now held an assembly at woerden, and summoned the malcontents of utrecht to bring before that body a statement of their grievances. this was done, but there was no satisfactory arrangement possible, and the deputation returned to utrecht, the states-general to the hague. the states-provincial of utrecht urged more strongly than ever upon the assembly of the union to save the city from the hands of a reckless and revolutionary government. the states-general resolved accordingly to interfere by force. a considerable body of troops was ordered to march at once upon utrecht and besiege the city. maurice, in his capacity of captain-general and stadholder of the province, was summoned to take charge of the army. he was indisposed to do so, and pleaded sickness. the states, determined that the name of nassau should not be used as an encouragement to disobedience, and rebellion, then directed the brother of maurice, frederic henry, youngest son of william the silent, to assume the command. maurice insisted that his brother was too young, and that it was unjust to allow so grave a responsibility to fall upon his shoulders. the states, not particularly pleased with the prince's attitude at this alarming juncture, and made anxious by the glamour which seemed to possess him since his conferences with the revolutionary party at utrecht, determined not to yield. the army marched forth and laid siege to the city, prince frederic henry at its head. he was sternly instructed by the states-general, under whose orders he acted, to take possession of the city at all hazards. he was to insist on placing there a garrison of foot and horse, and to permit not another armed man within the walls. the members of the council of state and of the states of utrecht accompanied the army. for a moment the party in power was disposed to resist the forces of the union. dick kanter and his friends were resolute enough; the catholic priests turned out among the rest with their spades and worked on the entrenchments. the impossibility of holding the city against the overwhelming power of the states was soon obvious, and the next day the gates were opened, and easy terms were granted. the new magistracy was set aside, the old board that had been deposed by the rebels reinstated. the revolution and the counterrevolution were alike bloodless, and it was determined that the various grievances of which the discontented party had complained should be referred to the states-general, to prince maurice, to the council of state, and to the ambassadors of france and england. amnesty was likewise decreed on submission. the restored government was arminian in its inclinations, the revolutionary one was singularly compounded both of catholic and of ultra-orthodox elements. quiet was on the whole restored, but the resources of the city were crippled. the event occurring exactly at the crisis of the clove and julich expedition angered the king of france. "the trouble of utrecht," wrote aerssens to barneveld, "has been turned to account here marvellously, the archdukes and spaniards boasting that many more revolts like this may be at once expected. i have explained to his majesty, who has been very much alarmed about it, both its source and the hopes that it will be appeased by the prudence of his excellency prince maurice and the deputies of the states. the king desires that everything should be pacified as soon as possible, so that there may be no embarrassment to the course of public affairs. but he fears, he tells me, that this may create some new jealousy between prince maurice and yourself. i don't comprehend what he means, although he held this language to me very expressly and without reserve. i could only answer that you were living on the best of terms together in perfect amity and intelligence. if you know if this talk of his has any other root, please to enlighten me, that i may put a stop to false reports, for i know nothing of affairs except what you tell me." king james, on the other hand, thoroughly approved the promptness of the states-general in suppressing the tumult. nothing very serious of alike nature occurred in utrecht until the end of the year, when a determined and secret conspiracy was discovered, having for its object to overpower the garrison and get bodily possession of colonel john ogle, the military commander of the town. at the bottom of the movement were the indefatigable dirk kanter and his friend heldingen. the attempt was easily suppressed, and the two were banished from the town. kanter died subsequently in north holland, in the odour of ultra-orthodoxy. four of the conspirators--a post-master, two shoemakers, and a sexton, who had bound themselves by oath to take the lives of two eminent arminian preachers, besides other desperate deeds--were condemned to death, but pardoned on the scaffold. thus ended the first revolution at utrecht. its effect did not cease, however, with the tumults which were its original manifestations. this earliest insurrection in organized shape against the central authority of the states-general; this violent though abortive effort to dissolve the union and to nullify its laws; this painful necessity for the first time imposed upon the federal government to take up arms against misguided citizens of the republic, in order to save itself from disintegration and national death, were destined to be followed by far graver convulsions on the self-same spot. religious differences and religious hatreds were to mingle their poison with antagonistic political theories and personal ambitions, and to develop on a wide scale the danger ever lurking in a constitution whose fundamental law was unstable, ill defined, and liable to contradictory interpretations. for the present it need only be noticed that the states-general, guided by barneveld, most vigorously suppressed the local revolt and the incipient secession, while prince maurice, the right arm of the executive, the stadholder of the province, and the representative of the military power of the commonwealth, was languid in the exertion of that power, inclined to listen to the specious arguments of the utrecht rebels, and accused at least of tampering with the fell spirit which the advocate was resolute to destroy. yet there was no suspicion of treason, no taint of rebellion, no accusation of unpatriotic motives uttered against the stadholder. there was a doubt as to the true maxims by which the confederacy was to be governed, and at this moment, certainly, the prince and the advocate represented opposite ideas. there was a possibility, at a future day, when the religious and political parties might develop themselves on a wider scale and the struggles grow fiercer, that the two great champions in the conflict might exchange swords and inflict mutual and poisoned wounds. at present the party of the union had triumphed, with barneveld at its head. at a later but not far distant day, similar scenes might be enacted in the ancient city of utrecht, but with a strange difference and change in the cast of parts and with far more tragical results. for the moment the moderate party in the church, those more inclined to arminianism and the supremacy of the civil authority in religious matters, had asserted their ascendency in the states-general, and had prevented the threatened rupture. meantime it was doubly necessary to hasten the special embassies to france and to england, in both which countries much anxiety as to the political health and strength of the new republic had been excited by these troubles in utrecht. it was important for the states-general to show that they were not crippled, and would not shrink from the coming conflict, but would justify the reliance placed on them by their allies. thus there were reasons enough why barneveld could not himself leave the country in the eventful spring of . it must be admitted, however, that he was not backward in placing his nearest relatives in places of honour, trust, and profit. his eldest son reinier, seignior of groeneveld, had been knighted by henry iv.; his youngest, william, afterwards called seignior of stoutenburg, but at this moment bearing the not very mellifluous title of craimgepolder, was a gentleman-in-waiting at that king's court, with a salary of crowns a year. he was rather a favourite with the easy-going monarch, but he gave infinite trouble to the dutch ambassador aerssens, who, feeling himself under immense obligations to the advocate and professing for him boundless gratitude, did his best to keep the idle, turbulent, extravagant, and pleasure-loving youth up to the strict line of his duties. "your son is in debt again," wrote aerssens, on one occasion, "and troubled for money. he is in danger of going to the usurers. he says he cannot keep himself for less than crowns a month. this is a large allowance, but he has spent much more than that. his life is not irregular nor his dress remarkably extravagant. his difficulty is that he will not dine regularly with me nor at court. he will keep his own table and have company to dinner. that is what is ruining him. he comes sometimes to me, not for the dinner nor the company, but for tennis, which he finds better in my faubourg than in town. his trouble comes from the table, and i tell you frankly that you must regulate his expenses or they will become very onerous to you. i am ashamed of them and have told him so a hundred times, more than if he had been my own brother. it is all for love of you . . . . i have been all to him that could be expected of a man who is under such vast obligations to you; and i so much esteem the honour of your friendship that i should always neglect my private affairs in order to do everything for your service and meet your desires . . . . . if m. de craimgepolder comes back from his visit home, you must restrict him in two things, the table and tennis, and you can do this if you require him to follow the king assiduously as his service requires." something at a future day was to be heard of william of barneveld, as well as of his elder brother reinier, and it is good, therefore, to have these occasional glimpses of him while in the service of the king and under the supervision of one who was then his father's devoted friend, francis aerssens. there were to be extraordinary and tragical changes in the relations of parties and of individuals ere many years should go by. besides the sons of the advocate, his two sons-in-law, brederode, seignior of veenhuizep, and cornelis van der myle, were constantly employed? in important embassies. van der myle had been the first ambassador to the great venetian republic, and was now placed at the head of the embassy to france, an office which it was impossible at that moment for the advocate to discharge. at the same critical moment barneveld's brother elias, pensionary of rotterdam, was appointed one of the special high commissioners to the king of great britain. it is necessary to give an account of this embassy. they were provided with luminous and minute instructions from the hand of the advocate. they were, in the first place, and ostensibly, to thank the king for his services in bringing about the truce, which, truly, had been of the slightest, as was very well known. they were to explain, on the part of the states, their delay in sending this solemn commission, caused by the tardiness of the king of spain in sending his ratification to the treaty, and by the many disputations caused by the irresolutions of the archdukes and the obstinacy of their commissioners in regard to their many contraventions of the treaty. after those commissioners had gone, further hindrances had been found in the "extraordinary tempests, high floods, rising of the waters, both of the ocean and the rivers, and the very disastrous inundations throughout nearly all the united provinces, with the immense and exorbitant damage thus inflicted, both on the public and on many individuals; in addition to all which were to be mentioned the troubles in the city of utrecht." they were, in almost hyperbolical language, directed to express the eternal gratitude of the states for the constant favours received by them from the crown of england, and their readiness to stand forth at any moment with sincere affection and to the utmost of their power, at all times and seasons, in resistance of any attempts against his majesty's person or crown, or against the prince of wales or the royal family. they were to thank him for his "prudent, heroic, and courageous resolve to suffer nothing to be done under colour of justice, authority, or any other pretext, to the hindrance of the elector of brandenburg and palatine of neuburg, in the maintenance of their lawful rights and possession of the principalities of julich, cleve, and berg, and other provinces." by this course his majesty, so the commissioners were to state, would put an end to the imaginations of those who thought they could give the law to everybody according to their pleasure. they were to assure the king that the states-general would exert themselves to the utmost to second his heroic resolution, notwithstanding the enormous burthens of their everlasting war, the very exorbitant damage caused by the inundations, and the sensible diminution in the contributions and other embarrassments then existing in the country. they were to offer foot and horse for the general purpose under prince henry of nassau, besides the succours furnished by the king of france and the electors and princes of germany. further assistance in men, artillery, and supplies were promised under certain contingencies, and the plan of the campaign on the meuse in conjunction with the king of france was duly mapped. they were to request a corresponding promise of men and money from the king of great britain, and they were to propose for his approval a closer convention for mutual assistance between his majesty, the united netherlands, the king of france, the electors and princes and other powers of germany; as such close union would be very beneficial to all christendom. it would put a stop to all unjust occupations, attempts, and intrigues, and if the king was thereto inclined, he was requested to indicate time and place for making such a convention. the commissioners were further to point out the various contraventions on the part of the archdukes of the treaty of truce, and were to give an exposition of the manner in which the states-general had quelled the tumults at utrecht, and reasons why such a course had of necessity been adopted. they were instructed to state that, "over and above the great expenses of the late war and the necessary maintenance of military forces to protect their frontiers against their suspected new friends or old enemies, the provinces were burthened with the cost of the succour to the elector of brandenburg and palatine of neuburg, and would be therefore incapable of furnishing the payments coming due to his majesty. they were accordingly to sound his majesty as to whether a good part of the debt might not be remitted or at least an arrangement made by which the terms should begin to run only after a certain number of years." they were also directed to open the subject of the fisheries on the coasts of great britain, and to remonstrate against the order lately published by the king forbidding all foreigners from fishing on those coasts. this was to be set forth as an infringement both of natural law and of ancient treaties, and as a source of infinite danger to the inhabitants of the united provinces. the seignior of warmond, chief of the commission, died on the th april. his colleagues met at brielle on the th, ready to take passage to england in the ship of war, the hound. they were, however, detained there six days by head winds and great storms, and it was not until the nd that they were able to put to sea. the following evening their ship cast anchor in gravesend. half an hour before, the duke of wurtemberg had arrived from flushing in a ship of war brought from france by the prince of anhalt. sir lewis lewkener, master of ceremonies, had been waiting for the ambassadors at gravesend, and informed them that the royal barges were to come next morning from london to take them to town. they remained that night on board the hound, and next morning, the wind blowing up the river, they proceeded in their ship as far as blackwall, where they were formally received and bade welcome in the name of the king by sir thomas cornwallis and sir george carew, late ambassador in france. escorted by them and sir lewis, they were brought in the court barges to tower wharf. here the royal coaches were waiting, in which they were taken to lodgings provided for them in the city at the house of a dutch merchant. noel de caron, seignior of schonewal, resident ambassador of the states in london, was likewise there to greet them. this was saturday night: on the following tuesday they went by appointment to the palace of whitehall in royal carriages for their first audience. manifestations of as entire respect and courtesy had thus been made to the republican envoys as could be shown to the ambassadors of the greatest sovereigns. they found the king seated on his throne in the audience chamber, accompanied by the prince of wales, the duke of york, the lord high treasurer and lord high admiral, the duke of lenox, the earls of arundel and northampton, and many other great nobles and dignitaries. james rose from his seat, took off his hat, and advanced several paces to meet the ambassadors, and bade them courteously and respectfully welcome. he then expressed his regret at the death of the seignior of warmond, and after the exchange of a few commonplaces listened, still with uncovered head, to the opening address. the spokesman, after thanking the king for his condolences on the death of the chief commissioner, whom, as was stated with whimsical simplicity, "the good god had called to himself after all his luggage had been put on board ship," proceeded in the french language to give a somewhat abbreviated paraphrase of barneveld's instructions. when this was done and intimation made that they would confer more fully with his majesty's council on the subjects committed to their charge, the ambassadors were conducted home with the same ceremonies as had accompanied their arrival. they received the same day the first visit from the ambassadors of france and venice, boderie and carrero, and had a long conference a few days afterwards with the high treasurer, lord salisbury. on the rd may they were invited to attend the pompous celebration of the festival of st. george in the palace at westminster, where they were placed together with the french ambassador in the king's oratorium; the dukes of wurtemberg and brunswick being in that of the queen. these details are especially to be noted, and were at the moment of considerable importance, for this was the first solemn and extraordinary embassy sent by the rebel netherlanders, since their independent national existence had been formally vindicated, to great britain, a power which a quarter of a century before had refused the proffered sovereignty over them. placed now on exactly the same level with the representatives of emperors and kings, the republican envoys found themselves looked upon by the world with different eyes from those which had regarded their predecessors askance, and almost with derision, only seven years before. at that epoch the states' commissioners, barneveld himself at the head of them, had gone solemnly to congratulate king james on his accession, had scarcely been admitted to audience by king or minister, and had found themselves on great festivals unsprinkled with the holy water of the court, and of no more account than the crowd of citizens and spectators who thronged the streets, gazing with awe at the distant radiance of the throne. but although the ambassadors were treated with every external consideration befitting their official rank, they were not likely to find themselves in the most genial atmosphere when they should come to business details. if there was one thing in the world that james did not intend to do, it was to get himself entangled in war with spain, the power of all others which he most revered and loved. his "heroic and courageous resolve" to defend the princes, on which the commissioners by instructions of the advocate had so highly complimented him, was not strong enough to carry him much beyond a vigorous phraseology. he had not awoke from the delusive dream of the spanish marriage which had dexterously been made to flit before him, and he was not inclined, for the sake of the republic which he hated the more because obliged to be one of its sponsors, to risk the animosity of a great power which entertained the most profound contempt for him. he was destined to find himself involved more closely than he liked, and through family ties, with the great protestant movement in germany, and the unfortunate "winter king" might one day find his father-in-law as unstable a reed to lean upon as the states had found their godfather, or the brandenburgs and neuburgs at the present juncture their great ally. meantime, as the bohemian troubles had not yet reached the period of actual explosion, and as henry's wide-reaching plan against the house of austria had been strangely enough kept an inviolable secret by the few statesmen, like sully and barneveld, to whom they had been confided, it was necessary for the king and his ministers to deal cautiously and plausibly with the dutch ambassadors. their conferences were mere dancing among eggs, and if no actual mischief were done, it was the best result that could be expected. on the th of may, the commissioners met in the council chamber at westminster, and discussed all the matters contained in their instructions with the members of the council; the lord treasurer salisbury, earl of northampton, privy seal and warden of the cinque ports, lord nottingham, lord high admiral, the lord chamberlain, earl of suffolk, earls of shrewsbury, worcester, and several others being present. the result was not entirely satisfactory. in regard to the succour demanded for the possessory princes, the commissioners were told that they seemed to come with a long narrative of their great burthens during the war, damage from inundations, and the like, to excuse themselves from doing their share in the succour, and thus the more to overload his majesty, who was not much interested in the matter, and was likewise greatly encumbered by various expenses. the king had already frankly declared his intention to assist the princes with the payment of men, and to send proportionate artillery and powder from england. as the states had supplies in their magazines enough to move , men, he proposed to draw upon those, reimbursing the states for what was thus consumed by his contingent. with regard to the treaty of close alliance between france, great britain, the princes, and the republic, which the ambassadors had proposed, the--lord treasurer and his colleagues gave a reply far from gratifying. his majesty had not yet decided on this point, they said. the king of france had already proposed to treat for such an alliance, but it did not at present seem worth while for all to negotiate together. this was a not over-courteous hint that the republic was after all not expected to place herself at the council-board of kings on even terms of intimacy and fraternal alliance. what followed was even less flattering. if his majesty, it was intimated, should decide to treat with the king of france, he would not shut the door on their high mightinesses; but his majesty was not yet exactly informed whether his majesty had not certain rights over the provinces 'in petitorio.' this was a scarcely veiled insinuation against the sovereignty of the states, a sufficiently broad hint that they were to be considered in a certain degree as british provinces. to a soldier like maurice, to a statesman like barneveld, whose sympathies already were on the side of france, such rebuffs and taunts were likely to prove unpalatable. the restiveness of the states at the continual possession by great britain of those important sea-ports the cautionary towns, a fact which gave colour to these innuendoes, was sure to be increased by arrogant language on the part of the english ministers. the determination to be rid of their debt to so overbearing an ally, and to shake off the shackles imposed by the costly mortgages, grew in strength from that hour. in regard to the fisheries, the lord treasurer and his colleagues expressed amazement that the ambassadors should consider the subjects of their high mightinesses to be so much beloved by his majesty. why should they of all other people be made an exception of, and be exempt from, the action of a general edict? the reasons for these orders in council ought to be closely examined. it would be very difficult to bring the opinions of the english jurists into harmony with those of the states. meantime it would be well to look up such treaties as might be in existence, and have a special joint commission to confer together on the subject. it was very plain, from the course of the conversation, that the netherland fishermen were not to be allowed, without paying roundly for a license, to catch herrings on the british coasts as they had heretofore done. not much more of importance was transacted at this first interview between the ambassadors and the ding's ministers. certainly they had not yet succeeded in attaining their great object, the formation of an alliance offensive and defensive between great britain and the republic in accordance with the plan concerted between henry and barneveld. they could find but slender encouragement for the warlike plans to which france and the states were secretly committed; nor could they obtain satisfactory adjustment of affairs more pacific and commercial in their tendencies. the english ministers rather petulantly remarked that, while last year everybody was talking of a general peace, and in the present conjuncture all seemed to think, or at least to speak, of nothing but a general war, they thought best to defer consideration of the various subjects connected with duties on the manufactures and products of the respective countries, the navigation laws, the "entrecours," and other matters of ancient agreement and controversy, until a more convenient season. after the termination of the verbal conference, the ambassadors delivered to the king's government, in writing, to be pondered by the council and recorded in the archives, a summary of the statements which had been thus orally treated. the document was in french, and in the main a paraphrase of the advocate's instructions, the substance of which has been already indicated. in regard, however, to the far-reaching designs of spain, and the corresponding attitude which it would seem fitting for great britain to assume, and especially the necessity of that alliance the proposal for which had in the conference been received so haughtily, their language was far plainer, bolder, and more vehement than that of the instructions. "considering that the effects show," they said, "that those who claim the monarchy of christendom, and indeed of the whole world, let slip no opportunity which could in any way serve their designs, it is suitable to the grandeur of his majesty the king, and to the station in which by the grace of the good god he is placed, to oppose himself thereto for the sake of the common liberty of christendom, to which end, and in order the better to prevent all unjust usurpations, there could be no better means devised than a closer alliance between his majesty and the most christian king, my lords the states-general, and the electors, princes, and states of germany. their high mightinesses would therefore be most glad to learn that his majesty was inclined to such a course, and would be glad to discuss the subject when and wherever his majesty should appoint, or would readily enter into such an alliance on reasonable conditions." this language and the position taken up by the ambassadors were highly approved by their government, but it was fated that no very great result was to be achieved by this embassy. very elaborate documents, exhaustive in legal lore, on the subject of the herring fisheries, and of the right to fish in the ocean and on foreign coasts, fortified by copious citations from the 'pandects' and 'institutes' of justinian, were presented for the consideration of the british government, and were answered as learnedly, exhaustively, and ponderously. the english ministers were also reminded that the curing of herrings had been invented in the fifteenth century by a citizen of biervliet, the inscription on whose tombstone recording that faces might still be read in the church of that town. all this did not prevent, however, the dutch herring fishermen from being excluded from the british waters unless they chose to pay for licenses. the conferences were however for a season interrupted, and a new aspect was given to affairs by an unforeseen and terrible event. meanwhile it is necessary to glance for a moment at the doings of the special embassy to france, the instructions for which were prepared by barneveld almost at the same moment at which he furnished those for the commission to england. the ambassadors were walraven, seignior of brederode, cornelis van der myle, son-in-law of the advocate, and jacob van maldere. remembering how impatient the king of france had long been for their coming, and that all the preparations and decisions for a great war were kept in suspense until the final secret conferences could be held with the representatives of the states-general, it seems strange enough to us to observe the extreme deliberation with which great affairs of state were then conducted and the vast amount of time consumed in movements and communications which modern science has either annihilated or abridged from days to hours. while henry was chafing with anxiety in paris, the ambassadors, having received barneveld's instructions dated st march, set forth on the th april from the hague, reached rotterdam at noon, and slept at dordrecht. newt day they went to breda, where the prince of orange insisted upon their passing a couple of days with him in his castle, easter-day being th april. he then provided them with a couple of coaches and pair in which they set forth on their journey, going by way of antwerp, ghent, courtray, ryssel, to arras, making easy stages, stopping in the middle of the day to bait, and sleeping at each of the cities thus mentioned, where they duly received the congratulatory visit and hospitalities of their respective magistracies. while all this time had been leisurely employed in the netherlands in preparing, instructing, and despatching the commissioners, affairs were reaching a feverish crisis in france. the states' ambassador resident thought that it would have been better not to take such public offence at the retreat of the prince of conde. the king had enough of life and vigour in him; he could afford to leave the dauphin to grow up, and when he should one day be established on the throne, he would be able to maintain his heritage. "but," said aerssens, "i fear that our trouble is not where we say it is, and we don't dare to say where it is." writing to carew, former english ambassador in paris, whom we have just seen in attendance on the states' commissioners in london, he said: "people think that the princess is wearying herself much under the protection of the infanta, and very impatient at not obtaining the dissolution of her marriage, which the duchess of angouleme is to go to brussels to facilitate. this is not our business, but i mention it only as the continuation of the tragedy which you saw begin. nevertheless i don't know if the greater part of our deliberations is not founded on this matter." it had been decided to cause the queen to be solemnly crowned after easter. she had set her heart with singular persistency upon the ceremony, and it was thought that so public a sacrament would annihilate all the wild projects attributed to spain through the instrumentality of conde to cast doubts on the validity of her marriage and the legitimacy of the dauphin. the king from the first felt and expressed a singular repugnance, a boding apprehension in regard to the coronation, but had almost yielded to the queen's importunity. he told her he would give his consent provided she sent concini to brussels to invite in her own name the princess of conde to be present on the occasion. otherwise he declared that at least the festival should be postponed till september. the marquis de coeuvres remained in disgrace after the failure of his mission, henry believing that like all the world he had fallen in love with the princess, and had only sought to recommend himself, not to further the suit of his sovereign. meanwhile henry had instructed his ambassador in spain, m. de vaucelas, to tell the king that his reception of conde within his dominions would be considered an infraction of the treaty of vervins and a direct act of hostility. the duke of lerma answered with a sneer that the most christian king had too greatly obliged his most catholic majesty by sustaining his subjects in their rebellion and by aiding them to make their truce to hope now that conde would be sent back. france had ever been the receptacle of spanish traitors and rebels from antonio perez down, and the king of spain would always protect wronged and oppressed princes like conde. france had just been breaking up the friendly relations between savoy and spain and goading the duke into hostilities. on the other hand the king had more than one stormy interview with don inigo de cardenas in paris. that ambassador declared that his master would never abandon his only sister the most serene infanta, such was the affection he born her, whose dominions were obviously threatened by these french armies about to move to the frontiers. henry replied that the friends for whom he was arming had great need of his assistance; that his catholic majesty was quite right to love his sister, whom he also loved; but that he did not choose that his own relatives should be so much beloved in spain as they were. "what relatives?" asked don inigo. "the prince of conde," replied the king, in a rage, "who has been debauched by the spaniards just as marshal biron was, and the marchioness verneuil, and so many others. there are none left for them to debauch now but the dauphin and his brothers." the ambassador replied that, if the king had consulted him about the affair of conde, he could have devised a happy issue from it. henry rejoined that he had sent messages on the subject to his catholic majesty, who had not deigned a response, but that the duke of lerma had given a very indiscreet one to his ambassador. don inigo professed ignorance of any such reply. the king said it was a mockery to affect ignorance of such matters. thereupon both grew excited and very violent in their discourses; the more so as henry knowing but little spanish and the envoy less french they could only understand from tone and gesture that each was using exceedingly unpleasant language. at last don inigo asked what he should write to his sovereign. "whatever you like," replied the king, and so the audience terminated, each remaining in a towering passion. subsequently villeroy assured the archduke's ambassador that the king considered the reception given to the prince in the spanish dominions as one of the greatest insults and injuries that could be done to him. nothing could excuse it, said the secretary of state, and for this reason it was very difficult for the two kings to remain at peace with each other, and that it would be wiser to prevent at once the evil designs of his catholic majesty than to leave leisure for the plans to be put into execution, and the claims of the dauphin to his father's crown to be disputed at a convenient season. he added that war would not be made for the princess, but for the prince, and that even the war in germany, although spain took the emperor's side and france that of the possessory princes, would not necessarily produce a rupture between the two kings if it were not for this affair of the prince--true cause of the disaster now hanging over christianity. pecquius replied by smooth commonplaces in favour of peace with which villeroy warmly concurred; both sadly expressing the conviction however that the wrath divine had descended on them all on account of their sins. a few days later, however, the secretary changed his tone. "i will speak to you frankly and clearly," he said to pecquius, "and tell you as from myself that there is passion, and if one is willing to arrange the affair of the princess, everything else can be accommodated and appeased. put if the princess remain where she is, we are on the eve of a rupture which may set fire to the four corners of christendom." pecquius said he liked to talk roundly, and was glad to find that he had not been mistaken in his opinion, that all these commotions were only made for the princess, and if all the world was going to war, she would be the principal subject of it. he could not marvel sufficiently, he said, at this vehement passion which brought in its train so great and horrible a conflagration; adding many arguments to show that it was no fault of the archdukes, but that he who was the cause of all might one day have reason to repent. villeroy replied that "the king believed the princess to be suffering and miserable for love of him, and that therefore he felt obliged to have her sent back to her father." pecquius asked whether in his conscience the secretary of state believed it right or reasonable to make war for such a cause. villeroy replied by asking "whether even admitting the negative, the ambassador thought it were wisely done for such a trifle, for a formality, to plunge into extremities and to turn all christendom upside down." pecquius, not considering honour a trifle or a formality, said that "for nothing in the world would his highness the archduke descend to a cowardly action or to anything that would sully his honour." villeroy said that the prince had compelled his wife, pistol in hand, to follow him to the netherlands, and that she was no longer bound to obey a husband who forsook country and king. her father demanded her, and she said "she would rather be strangled than ever to return to the company of her husband." the archdukes were not justified in keeping her against her will in perpetual banishment. he implored the ambassador in most pathetic terms to devise some means of sending back the princess, saying that he who should find such expedient would do the greatest good that was ever done to christianity, and that otherwise there was no guarantee against a universal war. the first design of the king had been merely to send a moderate succour to the princes of brandenburg and neuburg, which could have given no umbrage to the archdukes, but now the bitterness growing out of the affairs of the prince and princess had caused him to set on foot a powerful army to do worse. he again implored pecquius to invent some means of sending back the princess, and the ambassador besought him ardently to divert the king from his designs. of this the secretary of state left little hope and they parted, both very low and dismal in mind. subsequent conversations with the leading councillors of state convinced pecquius that these violent menaces were only used to shake the constancy of the archduke, but that they almost all highly disapproved the policy of the king. "if this war goes on, we are all ruined," said the duke d'epernon to the nuncius. thus there had almost ceased to be any grimacing between the two kings, although it was still a profound mystery where or when hostilities would begin, and whether they would break out at all. henry frequently remarked that the common opinion all over europe was working in his favour. few people in or out of france believed that he meant a rupture, or that his preparations were serious. thus should he take his enemies unawares and unprepared. even aerssens, who saw him almost daily, was sometimes mystified, in spite of henry's vehement assertions that he was resolved to make war at all hazards and on all sides, provided my lords the states would second him as they ought, their own existence being at stake. "for god's sake," cried the king, "let us take the bit into our mouths. tell your masters that i am quite resolved, and that i am shrieking loudly at their delays." he asked if he could depend on the states, if barneveld especially would consent to a league with him. the ambassador replied that for the affair of cleve and julich he had instructions to promise entire concurrence, that barneveld was most resolute in the matter, and had always urged the enterprise and wished information as to the levies making in france and other military preparations. "tell him," said henry, "that they are going on exactly as often before stated, but that we are holding everything in suspense until i have talked with your ambassadors, from whom i wish counsel, safety, and encouragement for doing much more than the julich business. that alone does not require so great a league and such excessive and unnecessary expense." the king observed however that the question of the duchies would serve as just cause and excellent pretext to remove those troublesome fellows for ever from his borders and those of the states. thus the princes would be established safely in their possession and the republic as well as himself freed from the perpetual suspicions which the spaniards excited by their vile intrigues, and it was on this general subject that he wished to confer with the special commissioners. it would not be possible for him to throw succour into julich without passing through luxemburg in arms. the archdukes would resist this, and thus a cause of war would arise. his campaign on the meuse would help the princes more than if he should only aid them by the contingent he had promised. nor could the jealousy of king james be excited since the war would spring out of the archdukes' opposition to his passage towards the duchies, as he obviously could not cut himself off from his supplies, leaving a hostile province between himself and his kingdom. nevertheless he could not stir, he said, without the consent and active support of the states, on whom he relied as his principal buttress and foundation. the levies for the milanese expedition were waiting until marshal de lesdiguieres could confer personally with the duke of savoy. the reports as to the fidelity of that potentate were not to be believed. he was trifling with the spanish ambassadors, so henry was convinced, who were offering him , crowns a year besides piombino, monaco, and two places in the milanese, if he would break his treaty with france. but he was thought to be only waiting until they should be gone before making his arrangements with lesdiguieres. "he knows that he can put no trust in spain, and that he can confide in me," said the king. "i have made a great stroke by thus entangling the king of spain by the use of a few troops in italy. but i assure you that there is none but me and my lords the states that can do anything solid. whether the duke breaks or holds fast will make no difference in our first and great designs. for the honour of god i beg them to lose no more time, but to trust in me. i will never deceive them, never abandon them." at last , infantry and cavalry were already in marching order, and indeed had begun to move towards the luxemburg frontier, ready to co-operate with the states' army and that of the possessory princes for the campaign of the meuse and rhine. twelve thousand more french troops under lesdiguieres were to act with the duke of savoy, and an army as large was to assemble in the pyrenees and to operate on the spanish frontier, in hope of exciting and fomenting an insurrection caused by the expulsion of the moors. that gigantic act of madness by which spain thought good at this juncture to tear herself to pieces, driving hundreds of thousands of the most industrious, most intelligent, and most opulent of her population into hopeless exile, had now been accomplished, and was to stand prominent for ever on the records of human fatuity. twenty-five thousand moorish families had arrived at bayonne, and the viceroy of canada had been consulted as to the possibility and expediency of establishing them in that province, although emigration thither seemed less tempting to them than to virginia. certainly it was not unreasonable for henry to suppose that a kingdom thus torn by internal convulsions might be more open to a well organized attack, than capable of carrying out at that moment fresh projects of universal dominion. as before observed, sully was by no means in favour of this combined series of movements, although at a later day, when dictating his famous memoirs to his secretaries, he seems to describe himself as enthusiastically applauding and almost originating them. but there is no doubt at all that throughout this eventful spring he did his best to concentrate the whole attack on luxemburg and the meuse districts, and wished that the movements in the milanese and in provence should be considered merely a slight accessory, as not much more than a diversion to the chief design, while villeroy and his friends chose to consider the duke of savoy as the chief element in the war. sully thoroughly distrusted the duke, whom he deemed to be always put up at auction between spain and france and incapable of a sincere or generous policy. he was entirely convinced that villeroy and epernon and jeannin and other earnest papists in france were secretly inclined to the cause of spain, that the whole faction of the queen, in short, were urging this scattering of the very considerable forces now at henry's command in the hope of bringing him into a false position, in which defeat or an ignominious peace would be the alternative. to concentrate an immense attack upon the archdukes in the spanish netherlands and the debateable duchies would have for its immediate effect the expulsion of the spaniards out of all those provinces and the establishment of the dutch commonwealth on an impregnable basis. that this would be to strengthen infinitely the huguenots in france and the cause of protestantism in bohemia, moravia and austria, was unquestionable. it was natural, therefore, that the stern and ardent huguenot should suspect the plans of the catholics with whom he was in daily council. one day he asked the king plumply in the presence of villeroy if his majesty meant anything serious by all these warlike preparations. henry was wroth, and complained bitterly that one who knew him to the bottom of his soul should doubt him. but sully could not persuade himself that a great and serious war would be carried on both in the netherlands and in italy. as much as his sovereign he longed for the personal presence of barneveld, and was constantly urging the states' ambassador to induce his coming to paris. "you know," said aerssens, writing to the french ambassador at the hague, de russy, "that it is the advocate alone that has the universal knowledge of the outside and the inside of our commonwealth." sully knew his master as well as any man knew him, but it was difficult to fix the chameleon hues of henry at this momentous epoch. to the ambassador expressing doubts as to the king's sincerity the duke asserted that henry was now seriously piqued with the spaniard on account of the conde business. otherwise anhalt and the possessory princes and the affair of cleve might have had as little effect in driving him into war as did the interests of the netherlands in times past. but the bold demonstration projected would make the "whole spanish party bleed at the nose; a good result for the public peace." therefore sully sent word to barneveld, although he wished his name concealed, that he ought to come himself, with full powers to do everything, without referring to any superiors or allowing any secrets to be divulged. the king was too far committed to withdraw, unless coldness on part of the states should give him cause. the advocate must come prepared to answer all questions; to say how much in men and money the states would contribute, and whether they would go into the war with the king as their only ally. he must come with the bridle on his neck. all that henry feared was being left in the lurch by the states; otherwise he was not afraid of rome. sully was urgent that the provinces should now go vigorously into the war without stumbling at any consideration. thus they would confirm their national power for all time, but if the opportunity were now lost, it would be their ruin, and posterity would most justly blame them. the king of spain was so stripped of troops and resources, so embarrassed by the moors, that in ten months he would not be able to send one man to the netherlands. meantime the nuncius in paris was moving heaven and earth; storming, intriguing, and denouncing the course of the king in protecting heresy, when it would have been so easy to extirpate it, encouraging rebellion and disorder throughout christendom, and embarking in an action against the church and against his conscience. a new legate was expected daily with the pope's signature to the new league, and a demand upon the king to sign it likewise, and to pause in a career of which something was suspected, but very little accurately known. the preachers in paris and throughout the kingdom delivered most vehement sermons against the king, the government, and the protestants, and seemed to the king to be such "trumpeters of sedition" that he ordered the seneschals and other officers to put a stop to these turbulent discourses, censure their authors, and compel them to stick to their texts. but the preparations were now so far advanced and going on so warmly that nothing more was wanting than, in the words of aerssens, "to uncouple the dogs and let them run." recruits were pouring steadily to their places of rendezvous; their pay having begun to run from the th march at the rate of eight sous a day for the private foot soldier and ten sous for a corporal. they were moved in small parties of ten, lodged in the wayside inns, and ordered, on pain of death, to pay for everything they consumed. it was growing difficult to wait much longer for the arrival of the special ambassadors, when at last they were known to be on their way. aerssens obtained for their use the hotel gondy, formerly the residence of don pedro de toledo, the most splendid private palace in paris, and recently purchased by the queen. it was considered expedient that the embassy should make as stately an appearance as that of royal or imperial envoys. he engaged an upholsterer by the king's command to furnish, at his majesty's expense, the apartments, as the baron de gondy, he said, had long since sold and eaten up all the furniture. he likewise laid in six pieces of wine and as many of beer, "tavern drinks" being in the opinion of the thrifty ambassador "both dear and bad." he bought a carriage lined with velvet for the commissioners, and another lined with broadcloth for the principal persons of their suite, and with his own coach as a third he proposed to go to amiens to meet them. they could not get on with fewer than these, he said, and the new carriages would serve their purpose in paris. he had paid crowns for the two, and they could be sold, when done with, at a slight loss. he bought likewise four dapple-grey horses, which would be enough, as nobody had more than two horses to a carriage in town, and for which he paid crowns--a very low price, he thought, at a season when every one was purchasing. he engaged good and experienced coachmen at two crowns a month, and; in short, made all necessary arrangements for their comfort and the honour of the state. the king had been growing more and more displeased at the tardiness of the commission, petulantly ascribing it to a design on the part of the states to "excuse themselves from sharing in his bold conceptions," but said that "he could resolve on nothing without my lords the states, who were the only power with which he could contract confidently, as mighty enough and experienced enough to execute the designs to be proposed to them; so that his army was lying useless on his hands until the commissioners arrived," and lamented more loudly than ever that barneveld was not coming with them. he was now rejoiced, however, to hear that they would soon arrive, and went in person to the hotel gondy to see that everything was prepared in a manner befitting their dignity and comfort. his anxiety had moreover been increased, as already stated, by the alarming reports from utrecht and by his other private accounts from the netherlands. de russy expressed in his despatches grave doubts whether the states would join the king in a war against the king of spain, because they feared the disapprobation of the king of great britain, "who had already manifested but too much jealousy of the power and grandeur of the republic." pecquius asserted that the archdukes had received assurances from the states that they would do nothing to violate the truce. the prince of anhalt, who, as chief of the army of the confederated princes, was warm in his demonstrations for a general war by taking advantage of the cleve expedition, was entirely at cross purposes with the states' ambassador in paris, aerssens maintaining that the forty-three years' experience in their war justified the states in placing no dependence on german princes except with express conventions. they had no such conventions now, and if they should be attacked by spain in consequence of their assistance in the cleve business, what guarantee of aid had they from those whom anhalt represented? anhalt was loud in expressions of sympathy with henry's designs against spain, but said that he and the states meant a war of thirty or forty years, while the princes would finish what they meant to do in one. a more erroneous expression of opinion, when viewed in the light of subsequent events, could hardly have been hazarded. villeroy made as good use as he could of these conversations to excite jealousy between the princes and the states for the furtherance of his own ends, while affecting warm interest in the success of the king's projects. meantime archduke albert had replied manfully and distinctly to the menaces of the king and to the pathetic suggestions made by villeroy to pecquius as to a device for sending back the princess. her stay at brussels being the chief cause of the impending war, it would be better, he said, to procure a divorce or to induce the constable to obtain the consent of the prince to the return of his wife to her father's house. to further either of these expedients, the archduke would do his best. "but if one expects by bravados and threats," he added, "to force us to do a thing against our promise, and therefore against reason, our reputation, and honour, resolutely we will do nothing of the kind. and if the said lord king decided on account of this misunderstanding for a rupture and to make war upon us, we will do our best to wage war on him. in such case, however, we shall be obliged to keep the princess closer in our own house, and probably to send her to such parts as may be most convenient in order to remove from us an instrument of the infinite evils which this war will produce." meantime the special commissioners whom we left at arras had now entered the french kingdom. on the th april, aerssens with his three coaches met them on their entrance into amiens, having been waiting there for them eight days. as they passed through the gate, they found a guard of soldiers drawn up to receive them with military honours, and an official functionary to apologize for the necessary absence of the governor, who had gone with most of the troops stationed in the town to the rendezvous in champagne. he expressed regret, therefore, that the king's orders for their solemn reception could not be literally carried out. the whole board of magistrates, however, in their costumes of ceremony, with sergeants bearing silver maces marching before them, came forth to bid the ambassadors welcome. an advocate made a speech in the name of the city authorities, saying that they were expressly charged by the king to receive them as coming from his very best friends, and to do them all honour. he extolled the sage government of their high mightinesses and the valour of the republic, which had become known to the whole world by the successful conduct of their long and mighty war. the commissioners replied in words of compliment, and the magistrates then offered them, according to ancient usage, several bottles of hippocras. next day, sending back the carriages of the prince of orange, in which they had thus far performed the journey, they set forth towards paris, reaching saint-denis at noon of the third day. here they were met by de bonoeil, introducer of ambassadors, sent thither by the king to give them welcome, and to say that they would be received on the road by the duke of vendome, eldest of the legitimatized children of the king. accordingly before reaching the saint-denis gate of paris, a splendid cavalcade of nearly five hundred noblemen met them, the duke at their head, accompanied by two marshals of france, de brissac and boisdaulphin. the three instantly dismounted, and the ambassadors alighted from their coach. the duke then gave them solemn and cordial welcome, saying that he had been sent by his father the king to receive them as befitted envoys of the best and most faithful friends he possessed in the world. the ambassadors expressed their thanks for the great and extraordinary honour thus conferred on them, and they were then requested to get into a royal carriage which had been sent out for that purpose. after much ceremonious refusal they at last consented and, together with the duke of vendome, drove through paris in that vehicle into the faubourg saint germain. arriving at the hotel gondy, they were, notwithstanding all their protestations, escorted up the staircase into the apartments by the duke. "this honour is notable," said the commissioners in their report to the states, "and never shown to anyone before, so that our ill-wishers are filled with spite." and peter pecquius was of the same opinion. "everyone is grumbling here," about the reception of the states' ambassadors, "because such honours were never paid to any ambassador whatever, whether from spain, england, or any other country." and there were many men living and employed in great affairs of state, both in france and in the republic--the king and villeroy, barneveld and maurice--who could remember how twenty-six years before a solemn embassy from the states had proceeded from the hague to france to offer the sovereignty of their country to henry's predecessor, had been kept ignominiously and almost like prisoners four weeks long in rouen, and had been thrust back into the netherlands without being admitted even to one audience by the monarch. truly time, in the course of less than one generation of mankind, had worked marvellous changes in the fortunes of the dutch republic. president jeannin came to visit them next day, with friendly proffers of service, and likewise the ambassador of venice and the charge d'affaires of great britain. on the nd the royal carriages came by appointment to the hotel gondy, and took them for their first audience to the louvre. they were received at the gate by a guard of honour, drums beating and arms presented, and conducted with the greatest ceremony to an apartment in the palace. soon afterwards they were ushered into a gallery where the king stood, surrounded by a number of princes and distinguished officers of the crown. these withdrew on the approach of the netherlanders, leaving the king standing alone. they made their reverence, and henry saluted them all with respectful cordiality. begging them to put on their hats again, he listened attentively to their address. the language of the discourse now pronounced was similar in tenour to that almost contemporaneously held by the states' special envoys in london. both documents, when offered afterwards in writing, bore the unmistakable imprint of the one hand that guided the whole political machine. in various passages the phraseology was identical, and, indeed, the advocate had prepared and signed the instructions for both embassies on the same day. the commissioners acknowledged in the strongest possible terms the great and constant affection, quite without example, that henry had manifested to the netherlands during the whole course of their war. they were at a loss to find language adequately to express their gratitude for that friendship, and the assistance subsequently afforded them in the negotiations for truce. they apologized for the tardiness of the states in sending this solemn embassy of thanksgiving, partly on the ground of the delay in receiving the ratifications from spain, partly by the protracted contraventions by the archdukes of certain articles in the treaty, but principally by the terrible disasters occasioned throughout their country by the great inundations, and by the commotions in the city of utrecht, which had now been "so prudently and happily pacified." they stated that the chief cause of their embassy was to express their respectful gratitude, and to say that never had prince or state treasured more deeply in memory benefits received than did their republic the favours of his majesty, or could be more disposed to do their utmost to defend his majesty's person, crown, or royal family against all attack. they expressed their joy that the king had with prudence, and heroic courage undertaken the defence of the just rights of brandenburg and neuburg to the duchies of cleve, julich, and the other dependent provinces. thus had he put an end to the presumption of those who thought they could give the law to all the world. they promised the co-operation of the states in this most important enterprise of their ally, notwithstanding their great losses in the war just concluded, and the diminution of revenue occasioned by the inundations by which they had been afflicted; for they were willing neither to tolerate so unjust an usurpation as that attempted by the emperor nor to fail to second his majesty in his generous designs. they observed also that they had been instructed to enquire whether his majesty would not approve the contracting of a strict league of mutual assistance between france, england, the united provinces, and the princes of germany. the king, having listened with close attention, thanked the envoys in words of earnest and vigorous cordiality for their expressions of affection to himself. he begged them to remember that he had always been their good friend, and that he never would forsake them; that he had always hated the spaniards, and should ever hate them; and that the affairs of julich must be arranged not only for the present but for the future. he requested them to deliver their propositions in writing to him, and to be ready to put themselves into communication with the members of his council, in order that they might treat with each other roundly and without reserve. he should always deal with the netherlanders as with his own people, keeping no back-door open, but pouring out everything as into the lap of his best and most trusty friends. after this interview conferences followed daily between the ambassadors and villeroy, sully, jeannin, the chancellor, and puysieug. the king's counsellors, after having read the written paraphrase of barneveld's instructions, the communication of which followed their oral statements, and which, among other specifications, contained a respectful remonstrance against the projected french east india company, as likely to benefit the spaniards only, while seriously injuring the states, complained that "the representations were too general, and that the paper seemed to contain nothing but compliments." the ambassadors, dilating on the various points and articles, maintained warmly that there was much more than compliments in their instructions. the ministers wished to know what the states practically were prepared to do in the affair of cleve, which they so warmly and encouragingly recommended to the king. they asked whether the states' army would march at once to dusseldorf to protect the princes at the moment when the king moved from mezieres, and they made many enquiries as to what amount of supplies and munitions they could depend upon from the states' magazines. the envoys said that they had no specific instructions on these points, and could give therefore no conclusive replies. more than ever did henry regret the absence of the great advocate at this juncture. if he could have come, with the bridle on his neck, as henry had so repeatedly urged upon the resident ambassador, affairs might have marched more rapidly. the despotic king could never remember that barneveld was not the unlimited sovereign of the united states, but only the seal-keeper of one of the seven provinces and the deputy of holland to the general assembly. his indirect power, however vast, was only great because it was so carefully veiled. it was then proposed by villeroy and sully, and agreed to by the commissioners, that m. de bethune, a relative of the great financier, should be sent forthwith to the hague, to confer privately with prince maurice and barneveld especially, as to military details of the coming campaign. it was also arranged that the envoys should delay their departure until de bethune's return. meantime henry and the nuncius had been exchanging plain and passionate language. ubaldini reproached the king with disregarding all the admonitions of his holiness, and being about to plunge christendom into misery and war for the love of the princess of conde. he held up to him the enormity of thus converting the king of spain and the archdukes into his deadly enemies, and warned him that he would by such desperate measures make even the states-general and the king of britain his foes, who certainly would never favour such schemes. the king replied that "he trusted to his own forces, not to those of his neighbours, and even if the hollanders should not declare for him still he would execute his designs. on the th of may most certainly he would put himself at the head of his army, even if he was obliged to put off the queen's coronation till october, and he could not consider the king of spain nor the archdukes his friends unless they at once made him some demonstration of friendship. being asked by the nuncius what demonstration he wished, he answered flatly that he wished the princess to be sent back to the constable her father, in which case the affair of julich could be arranged amicably, and, at all events, if the war continued there, he need not send more than men." thus, in spite of his mighty preparations, vehement demands for barneveld, and profound combinations revealed to that statesman, to aerssens, and to the duke of sully only, this wonderful monarch was ready to drop his sword on the spot, to leave his friends in the lurch, to embrace his enemies, the archduke first of all, instead of bombarding brussels the very next week, as he had been threatening to do, provided the beautiful margaret could be restored to his arms through those of her venerable father. he suggested to the nuncius his hope that the archduke would yet be willing to wink at her escape, which he was now trying to arrange through de preaux at brussels, while ubaldini, knowing the archduke incapable of anything so dishonourable, felt that the war was inevitable. at the very same time too, father cotton, who was only too ready to betray the secrets of the confessional when there was an object to gain, had a long conversation with the archduke's ambassador, in which the holy man said that the king had confessed to him that he made the war expressly to cause the princess to be sent back to france, so that as there could be no more doubt on the subject the father-confessor begged pecquius, in order to prevent so great an evil, to devise "some prompt and sudden means to induce his highness the archduke to order the princess to retire secretly to her own country." the jesuit had different notions of honour, reputation, and duty from those which influenced the archduke. he added that "at easter the king had been so well disposed to seek his salvation that he could easily have forgotten his affection for the princess, had she not rekindled the fire by her letters, in which she caressed him with amorous epithets, calling him 'my heart,' 'my chevalier,' and similar terms of endearment." father cotton also drew up a paper, which he secretly conveyed to pecquius, "to prove that the archduke, in terms of conscience and honour, might decide to permit this escape, but he most urgently implored the ambassador that for the love of god and the public good he would influence his serene highness to prevent this from ever coming to the knowledge of the world, but to keep the secret inviolably." thus, while henry was holding high council with his own most trusted advisers, and with the most profound statesmen of europe, as to the opening campaign within a fortnight of a vast and general war, he was secretly plotting with his father-confessor to effect what he avowed to be the only purpose of that war, by jesuitical bird-lime to be applied to the chief of his antagonists. certainly barneveld and his colleagues were justified in their distrust. to move one step in advance of their potent but slippery ally might be a step off a precipice. on the st of may, sully made a long visit to the commissioners. he earnestly urged upon them the necessity of making the most of the present opportunity. there were people in plenty, he said, who would gladly see the king take another course, for many influential persons about him were altogether spanish in their inclinations. the king had been scandalized to hear from the prince of anhalt, without going into details, that on his recent passage through the netherlands he had noticed some change of feeling, some coolness in their high mightinesses. the duke advised that they should be very heedful, that they should remember how much more closely these matters regarded them than anyone else, that they should not deceive themselves, but be firmly convinced that unless they were willing to go head foremost into the business the french would likewise not commit themselves. sully spoke with much earnestness and feeling, for it was obvious that both he and his master had been disappointed at the cautious and limited nature of the instructions given to the ambassadors. an opinion had indeed prevailed, and, as we have seen, was to a certain extent shared in by aerssens, and even by sully himself, that the king's military preparations were after all but a feint, and that if the prince of conde, and with him the princess, could be restored to france, the whole war cloud would evaporate in smoke. it was even asserted that henry had made a secret treaty with the enemy, according to which, while apparently ready to burst upon the house of austria with overwhelming force, he was in reality about to shake hands cordially with that power, on condition of being allowed to incorporate into his own kingdom the very duchies in dispute, and of receiving the prince of conde and his wife from spain. he was thus suspected of being about to betray his friends and allies in the most ignoble manner and for the vilest of motives. the circulation of these infamous reports no doubt paralysed for a time the energy of the enemy who had made no requisite preparations against the threatened invasion, but it sickened his friends with vague apprehensions, while it cut the king himself to the heart and infuriated him to madness. he asked the nuncius one day what people thought in rome and italy of the war about to be undertaken. ubaldini replied that those best informed considered the princess of conde as the principal subject of hostilities; they thought that he meant to have her back. "i do mean to have her back," cried henry, with a mighty oath, and foaming with rage, "and i shall have her back. no one shall prevent it, not even the lieutenant of god on earth." but the imputation of this terrible treason weighed upon his mind and embittered every hour. the commissioners assured sully that they had no knowledge of any coolness or change such as anhalt had reported on the part of their principals, and the duke took his leave. it will be remembered that villeroy had, it was thought, been making mischief between anhalt and the states by reporting and misreporting private conversations between that prince and the dutch ambassador. as soon as sully had gone, van der myle waited upon villeroy to ask, in name of himself and colleagues, for audience of leave-taking, the object of their mission having been accomplished. the secretary of state, too, like sully, urged the importance of making the most of the occasion. the affair of cleve, he said, did not very much concern the king, but his majesty had taken it to heart chiefly on account of the states and for their security. they were bound, therefore, to exert themselves to the utmost, but more would not be required of them than it would be possible to fulfil. van der myle replied that nothing would be left undone by their high mightinesses to support the king faithfully and according to their promise. on the th, villeroy came to the ambassadors, bringing with him a letter from the king for the states-general, and likewise a written reply to the declarations made orally and in writing by the ambassadors to his majesty. the letter of henry to "his very dear and good friends, allies, and confederates," was chiefly a complimentary acknowledgment of the expressions of gratitude made to him on part of the states-general, and warm approbation of their sage resolve to support the cause of brandenburg and neuburg. he referred them for particulars to the confidential conferences held between the commissioners and himself. they would state how important he thought it that this matter should be settled now so thoroughly as to require no second effort at any future time when circumstances might not be so propitious; and that he intended to risk his person, at the head of his army, to accomplish this result. to the ambassadors he expressed his high satisfaction at their assurances of affection, devotion, and gratitude on the part of the states. he approved and commended their resolution to assist the elector and the palatine in the affair of the duchies. he considered this a proof of their prudence and good judgment, as showing their conviction that they were more interested and bound to render this assistance than any other potentates or states, as much from the convenience and security to be derived from the neighbourhood of princes who were their friends as from dangers to be apprehended from other princes who were seeking to appropriate those provinces. the king therefore begged the states to move forward as soon as possible the forces which they offered for this enterprise according to his majesty's suggestion sent through de bethune. the king on his part would do the same with extreme care and diligence, from the anxiety he felt to prevent my lords the states from receiving detriment in places so vital to their preservation. he begged the states likewise to consider that it was meet not only to make a first effort to put the princes into entire possession of the duchies, but to provide also for the durable success of the enterprise; to guard against any invasions that might be made in the future to eject those princes. otherwise all their present efforts would be useless; and his majesty therefore consented on this occasion to enter into the new league proposed by the states with all the princes and states mentioned in the memoir of the ambassadors for mutual assistance against all unjust occupations, attempts, and baneful intrigues. having no special information as to the infractions by the archdukes of the recent treaty of truce, the king declined to discuss that subject for the moment, although holding himself bound to all required of him as one of the guarantees of that treaty. in regard to the remonstrance made by the ambassadors concerning the trade of the east indies, his majesty disclaimed any intention of doing injury to the states in permitting his subjects to establish a company in his kingdom for that commerce. he had deferred hitherto taking action in the matter only out of respect to the states, but he could no longer refuse the just claims of his subjects if they should persist in them as urgently as they had thus far been doing. the right and liberty which they demanded was common to all, said the king, and he was certainly bound to have as great care for the interests of his subjects as for those of his friends and allies. here, certainly, was an immense difference in tone and in terms towards the republic adopted respectively by their great and good friends and allies the kings of france and great britain. it was natural enough that henry, having secretly expressed his most earnest hope that the states would move at his side in his broad and general assault upon the house of austria, should impress upon them his conviction, which was a just one, that no power in the world was more interested in keeping a spanish and catholic prince out of the duchies than they were themselves. but while thus taking a bond of them as it were for the entire fulfilment of the primary enterprise, he accepted with cordiality, and almost with gratitude, their proposition of a close alliance of the republic with himself and with the protestant powers which james had so superciliously rejected. it would have been difficult to inflict a more petty and, more studied insult upon the republic than did the king of great britain at that supreme moment by his preposterous claim of sovereign rights over the netherlands. he would make no treaty with them, he said, but should he find it worth while to treat with his royal brother of france, he should probably not shut the door in their faces. certainly henry's reply to the remonstrances of the ambassadors in regard to the india trade was as moderate as that of james had been haughty and peremptory in regard to the herring fishery. it is however sufficiently amusing to see those excellent hollanders nobly claiming that "the sea was as free as air" when the right to take scotch pilchards was in question, while at the very same moment they were earnest for excluding their best allies and all the world besides from their east india monopoly. but isaac le maire and jacques le roy had not lain so long disguised in zamet's house in paris for nothing, nor had aerssens so completely "broke the neck of the french east india company" as he supposed. a certain dutch freebooter, however, simon danzer by name, a native of dordrecht, who had been alternately in the service of spain, france, and the states, but a general marauder upon all powers, was exercising at that moment perhaps more influence on the east india trade than any potentate or commonwealth. he kept the seas just then with four swift-sailing and well-armed vessels, that potent skimmer of the ocean, and levied tribute upon protestant and catholic, turk or christian, with great impartiality. the king of spain had sent him letters of amnesty and safe-conduct, with large pecuniary offers, if he would enter his service. the king of france had outbid his royal brother and enemy, and implored him to sweep the seas under the white flag. the states' ambassador begged his masters to reflect whether this "puissant and experienced corsair" should be permitted to serve spaniard or frenchman, and whether they could devise no expedient for turning him into another track. "he is now with his fine ships at marseilles," said aerssens. "he is sought for in all quarters by the spaniard and by the directors of the new french east india company, private persons who equip vessels of war. if he is not satisfied with this king's offers, he is likely to close with the king of spain, who offers him crowns a month. avarice tickles him, but he is neither spaniard nor papist, and i fear will be induced to serve with his ships the east india company, and so will return to his piracy, the evil of which will always fall on our heads. if my lords the states will send me letters of abolition for him, in imitation of the french king, on condition of his returning to his home in zealand and quitting the sea altogether, something might be done. otherwise he will be off to marseilles again, and do more harm to us than ever. isaac le maire is doing as much evil as he can, and one holds daily council with him here." thus the slippery simon skimmed the seas from marseilles to the moluccas, from java to mexico, never to be held firmly by philip, or henry, or barneveld. a dissolute but very daring ship's captain, born in zealand, and formerly in the service of the states, out of which he had been expelled for many evil deeds, simon danzer had now become a professional pirate, having his head-quarters chiefly at algiers. his english colleague warde stationed himself mainly at tunis, and both acted together in connivance with the pachas of the turkish government. they with their considerable fleet, one vessel of which mounted sixty guns, were the terror of the mediterranean, extorted tribute from the commerce of all nations indifferently, and sold licenses to the greatest governments of europe. after growing rich with his accumulated booty, simon was inclined to become respectable, a recourse which was always open to him--france, england, spain, the united provinces, vieing with each other to secure him by high rank and pay as an honoured member of their national marine. he appears however to have failed in his plan of retiring upon his laurels, having been stabbed in paris by a man whom he had formerly robbed and ruined. villeroy, having delivered the letters with his own hands to the ambassadors, was asked by them when and where it would be convenient for the king to arrange the convention of close alliance. the secretary of state--in his secret heart anything but kindly disposed for this loving union with a republic he detested and with heretics whom he would have burned--answered briefly that his majesty was ready at any time, and that it might take place then if they were provided with the necessary powers. he said in parting that the states should "have an eye to everything, for occasions like the present were irrecoverable." he then departed, saying that the king would receive them in final audience on the following day. next morning accordingly marshal de boisdaulphin and de bonoeil came with royal coaches to the hotel gondy and escorted the ambassadors to the louvre. on the way they met de bethune, who had returned solo from the hague bringing despatches for the king and for themselves. while in the antechamber, they had opportunity to read their letters from the states-general, his majesty sending word that he was expecting them with impatience, but preferred that they should read the despatches before the audience. they found the king somewhat out of humour. he expressed himself as tolerably well satisfied with the general tenour of the despatches brought by de bethune, but complained loudly of the request now made by the states, that the maintenance and other expenses of french in the states' service should be paid in the coming campaign out of the royal exchequer. he declared that this proposition was "a small manifestation of ingratitude," that my lords the states were "little misers," and that such proceedings were "little avaricious tricks" such as he had not expected of them. so far as england was concerned, he said there was a great difference. the english took away what he was giving. he did cheerfully a great deal for his friends, he said, and was always ready doubly to repay what they did for him. if, however, the states persisted in this course, he should call his troops home again. the king, as he went on, became more and more excited, and showed decided dissatisfaction in his language and manner. it was not to be wondered at, for we have seen how persistently he had been urging that the advocate should come in person with "the bridle on his neck," and now he had sent his son-in-law and two colleagues tightly tied up by stringent instructions. and over an above all this, while he was contemplating a general war with intention to draw upon the states for unlimited supplies, behold, they were haggling for the support of a couple of regiments which were virtually their own troops. there were reasons, however, for this cautiousness besides those unfounded, although not entirely chimerical, suspicions as to the king's good faith, to which we have alluded. it should not be forgotten that, although henry had conversed secretly with the states' ambassador at full length on his far-reaching plans, with instructions that he should confidentially inform the advocate and demand his co-operation, not a word of it had been officially propounded to the states-general, nor to the special embassy with whom he was now negotiating. no treaty of alliance offensive or defensive existed between the kingdom and the republic or between the republic and any power whatever. it would have been culpable carelessness therefore at this moment for the prime minister of the states to have committed his government in writing to a full participation in a general assault upon the house of austria; the first step in which would have been a breach of the treaty just concluded and instant hostilities with the archdukes albert and isabella. that these things were in the immediate future was as plain as that night would follow day, but the hour had not yet struck for the states to throw down the gauntlet. hardly two months before, the king, in his treaty with the princes at hall, had excluded both the king of great britain and the states-general from participation in those arrangements, and it was grave matter for consideration, therefore, for the states whether they should allow such succour as they might choose to grant the princes to be included in the french contingent. the opportunity for treating as a sovereign power with the princes and making friends with them was tempting, but it did not seem reasonable to the states that france should make use of them in this war without a treaty, and should derive great advantage from the alliance, but leave the expense to them. henry, on the other hand, forgetting, when it was convenient to him, all about the princess of conde, his hatred of spain, and his resolution to crush the house of austria, chose to consider the war as made simply for the love of the states-general and to secure them for ever from danger. the ambassadors replied to the king's invectives with great respect, and endeavoured to appease his anger. they had sent a special despatch to their government, they said, in regard to all those matters, setting forth all the difficulties that had been raised, but had not wished to trouble his majesty with premature discussions of them. they did not doubt, however, that their high mightinesses would so conduct this great affair as to leave the king no ground of complaint. henry then began to talk of the intelligence brought by de bethune from the hague, especially in regard to the sending of states' troops to dusseldorf and the supply of food for the french army. he did not believe, he said, that the archdukes would refuse him the passage with his forces through their territory, inasmuch as the states' army would be on the way to meet him. in case of any resistance, however, he declared his resolution to strike his blow and to cause people to talk of him. he had sent his quartermaster-general to examine the passes, who had reported that it would be impossible to prevent his majesty's advance. he was also distinctly informed that marquis spinola, keeping his places garrisoned, could not bring more than men into the field. the duke of bouillon, however, was sending advices that his communications were liable to be cut off, and that for this purpose spinola could set on foot about , infantry and horse. if the passage should be allowed by the archdukes, the king stated his intention of establishing magazines for his troops along the whole line of march through the spanish netherlands and neighbouring districts, and to establish and fortify himself everywhere in order to protect his supplies and cover his possible retreat. he was still in doubt, he said, whether to demand the passage at once or to wait until he had began to move his army. he was rather inclined to make the request instantly in order to gain time, being persuaded that he should receive no answer either of consent or refusal. leaving all these details, the king then frankly observed that the affair of cleve had a much wider outlook than people thought. therefore the states must consider well what was to be done to secure the whole work as soon as the cleve business had been successfully accomplished. upon this subject it was indispensable that he should consult especially with his excellency (prince maurice) and some members of the general assembly, whom he wished that my lords the states-general should depute to the army. "for how much good will it do," said the king, "if we drive off archduke leopold without establishing the princes in security for the future? nothing is easier than to put the princes in possession. every one will yield or run away before our forces, but two months after we have withdrawn the enemy will return and drive the princes out again. i cannot always be ready to spring out of my kingdom, nor to assemble such great armies. i am getting old, and my army moreover costs me , crowns a month, which is enough to exhaust all the treasures of france, spain, venice, and the states-general together." he added that, if the present occasion were neglected, the states would afterwards bitterly lament and never recover it. the pope was very much excited, and was sending out his ambassadors everywhere. only the previous saturday the new nuncius destined for france had left rome. if my lords the states would send deputies to the camp with full powers, he stood there firm and unchangeable, but if they remained cool in the business, he warned them that they would enrage him. the states must seize the occasion, he repeated. it was bald behind, and must be grasped by the forelock. it was not enough to have begun well. one must end well. "finis coronat opus." it was very easy to speak of a league, but a league was not to be made in order to sit with arms tied, but to do good work. the states ought not to suffer that the germans should prove themselves more energetic, more courageous, than themselves. and again the king vehemently urged the necessity of his excellency and some deputies of the states coming to him "with absolute power" to treat. he could not doubt in that event of something solid being accomplished. "there are three things," he continued, "which cause me to speak freely. i am talking with my friends whom i hold dear--yes, dearer, perhaps, than they hold themselves. i am a great king, and say what i choose to say. i am old, and know by experience the ways of this world's affairs. i tell you, then, that it is most important that you should come to me resolved and firm on all points." he then requested the ambassadors to make full report of all that he had said to their masters, to make the journey as rapidly as possible, in order to encourage the states to the great enterprise and to meet his wishes. he required from them, he said, not only activity of the body, but labour of the intellect. he was silent for a few moments, and then spoke again. "i shall not always be here," he said, "nor will you always have prince maurice, and a few others whose knowledge of your commonwealth is perfect. my lords the states must be up and doing while they still possess them. nest tuesday i shall cause the queen to be crowned at saint-denis; the following thursday she will make her entry into paris. next day, friday, i shall take my departure. at the end of this month i shall cross the meuse at mezieres or in that neighbourhood." he added that he should write immediately to holland, to urge upon his excellency and the states to be ready to make the junction of their army with his forces without delay. he charged the ambassadors to assure their high mightinesses that he was and should remain their truest friend, their dearest neighbour. he then said a few gracious and cordial words to each of them, warmly embraced each, and bade them all farewell. the next day was passed by the ambassadors in paying and receiving farewell visits, and on saturday, the th, they departed from paris, being escorted out of the gate by the marshal de boisdaulphin, with a cavalcade of noblemen. they slept that night at saint denis, and then returned to holland by the way of calais and rotterdam, reaching the hague on the th of may. i make no apology for the minute details thus given of the proceedings of this embassy, and especially of the conversations of henry. the very words of those conversations were taken down on the spot by the commissioners who heard them, and were carefully embodied in their report made to the states-general on their return, from which i have transcribed them. it was a memorable occasion. the great king--for great he was, despite his numerous vices and follies--stood there upon the threshold of a vast undertaking, at which the world, still half incredulous, stood gazing, half sick with anxiety. he relied on his own genius and valour chiefly, and after these on the brain of barneveld and the sword of maurice. nor was his confidence misplaced. but let the reader observe the date of the day when those striking utterances were made, and which have never before been made public. it was thursday, the th may. "i shall not always be here," said the king, . . . "i cannot be ready at any moment to spring out of my kingdom." . . . "friday of next week i take my departure." how much of heroic pathos in henry's attitude at this supreme moment! how mournfully ring those closing words of his address to the ambassadors! the die was cast. a letter drawn up by the duc de sully was sent to archduke albert by the king. "my brother," he said; "not being able to refuse my best allies and confederates the help which they have asked of me against those who wish to trouble them in the succession to the duchies and counties of cleve, julich, mark, berg, ravensberg, and ravenstein, i am advancing towards them with my army. as my road leads me through your country, i desire to notify you thereof, and to know whether or not i am to enter as a friend or enemy." such was the draft as delivered to the secretary of state; "and as such it was sent," said sully, "unless villeroy changed it, as he had a great desire to do." henry was mistaken in supposing that the archduke would leave the letter without an answer. a reply was sent in due time, and the permission demanded was not refused. for although france was now full of military movement, and the regiments everywhere were hurrying hourly to the places of rendezvous, though the great storm at last was ready to burst, the archdukes made no preparations for resistance, and lapped themselves in fatal security that nothing was intended but an empty demonstration. six thousand swiss newly levied, with , french infantry and horse, were waiting for henry to place himself at their head at mezieres. twelve thousand foot and cavalry, including the french and english contingents--a splendid army, led by prince maurice--were ready to march from holland to dusseldorf. the army of the princes under prince christian of anhalt numbered , men. the last scruples of the usually unscrupulous charles emmanuel had been overcome, and the duke was quite ready to act, , strong, with marshal de lesdiguieres, in the milanese; while marshal de la force was already at the head of his forces in the pyrenees, amounting to , foot and horse. sully had already despatched his splendid trains of artillery to the frontier. "never was seen in france, and perhaps never will be seen there again, artillery more complete and better furnished," said the duke, thinking probably that artillery had reached the climax of perfect destructiveness in the first decade of the seventeenth century. his son, the marquis de rosny, had received the post of grand master of artillery, and placed himself at its head. his father was to follow as its chief, carrying with him as superintendent of finance a cash-box of eight millions. the king had appointed his wife, mary de' medici, regent, with an eminent council. the new nuncius had been requested to present himself with his letters of credence in the camp. henry was unwilling that he should enter paris, being convinced that he came to do his best, by declamation, persuasion, and intrigue, to paralyse the enterprise. sully's promises to ubaldini, the former nuncius, that his holiness should be made king, however flattering to paul v., had not prevented his representatives from vigorously denouncing henry's monstrous scheme to foment heresy and encourage rebellion. the king's chagrin at the cautious limitations imposed upon the states' special embassy was, so he hoped, to be removed by full conferences in the camp. certainly he had shown in the most striking manner the respect he felt for the states, and the confidence he reposed in them. "in the reception of your embassy," wrote aerssens to the advocate, "certainly the king has so loosened the strap of his affection that he has reserved nothing by which he could put the greatest king in the world above your level." he warned the states, however, that henry had not found as much in their propositions as the common interest had caused him to promise himself. "nevertheless he informs me in confidence," said aerssens, "that he will engage himself in nothing without you; nay, more, he has expressly told me that he could hardly accomplish his task without your assistance, and it was for our sakes alone that he has put himself into this position and incurred this great expense." some days later he informed barneveld that he would leave to van der myle and his colleagues the task of describing the great dissatisfaction of the king at the letters brought by de bethune. he told him in confidence that the states must equip the french regiments and put them in marching order if they wished to preserve henry's friendship. he added that since the departure of the special embassy the king had been vehemently and seriously urging that prince maurice, count lewis william, barneveld, and three or four of the most qualified deputies of the states-general, entirely authorized to treat for the common safety, should meet with him in the territory of julich on a fixed day. the crisis was reached. the king stood fully armed, thoroughly prepared, with trustworthy allies at his side, disposing of overwhelming forces ready to sweep down with irresistible strength upon the house of austria, which, as he said and the states said, aspired to give the law to the whole world. nothing was left to do save, as the ambassador said, to "uncouple the dogs of war and let them run." what preparations had spain and the empire, the pope and the league, set on foot to beat back even for a moment the overwhelming onset? none whatever. spinola in the netherlands, fuentes in milan, bucquoy and lobkowitz and lichtenstein in prague, had hardly the forces of a moderate peace establishment at their disposal, and all the powers save france and the states were on the verge of bankruptcy. even james of great britain--shuddering at the vast thundercloud which had stretched itself over christendom growing blacker and blacker, precisely at this moment, in which he had proved to his own satisfaction that the peace just made would perpetually endure--even james did not dare to traverse the designs of the king whom he feared, and the republic which he hated, in favour of his dearly loved spain. sweden, denmark, the hanse towns, were in harmony with france, holland, savoy, and the whole protestant force of germany--a majority both in population and resources of the whole empire. what army, what combination, what device, what talisman, could save the house of austria, the cause of papacy, from the impending ruin? a sudden, rapid, conclusive victory for the allies seemed as predestined a result as anything could be in the future of human affairs. on the th or th day of may, as he had just been informing the states' ambassadors, henry meant to place himself at the head of his army. that was the moment fixed by himself for "taking his departure." and now the ides of may had come--but not gone. in the midst of all the military preparations with which paris had been resounding, the arrangements for the queen's coronation had been simultaneously going forward. partly to give check in advance to the intrigues which would probably at a later date be made by conde, supported by the power of spain, to invalidate the legitimacy of the dauphin, but more especially perhaps to further and to conceal what the faithful sully called the "damnable artifices" of the queen's intimate councillors--sinister designs too dark to be even whispered at that epoch, and of which history, during the lapse of more than two centuries and a half, has scarcely dared to speak above its breath--it was deemed all important that the coronation should take place. a certain astrologer, thomassin by name, was said to have bidden the king to beware the middle of the next month of may. henry had tweaked the soothsayer by the beard and made him dance twice or thrice about the room. to the duc de vendome expressing great anxiety in regard to thomassin, henry replied, "the astrologer is an old fool, and you are a young fool." a certain prophetess called pasithea had informed the queen that the king could not survive his fifty-seventh year. she was much in the confidence of mary de' medici, who had insisted this year on her returning to paris. henry, who was ever chafing and struggling to escape the invisible and dangerous net which he felt closing about him, and who connected the sorceress with all whom he most loathed among the intimate associates of the queen, swore a mighty oath that she should not show her face again at court. "my heart presages that some signal disaster will befall me on this coronation. concini and his wife are urging the queen obstinately to send for this fanatic. if she should come, there is no doubt that my wife and i shall squabble well about her. if i discover more about these private plots of hers with spain, i shall be in a mighty passion." and the king then assured the faithful minister of his conviction that all the jealousy affected by the queen in regard to the princess of conde was but a veil to cover dark designs. it was necessary in the opinion of those who governed her, the vile concini and his wife, that there should be some apparent and flagrant cause of quarrel. the public were to receive payment in these pretexts for want of better coin. henry complained that even sully and all the world besides attributed to jealousy that which was really the effect of a most refined malice. and the minister sometimes pauses in the midst of these revelations made in his old age, and with self-imposed and shuddering silence intimates that there are things he could tell which are too odious and dreadful to be breathed. henry had an invincible repugnance to that coronation on which the queen had set her heart. nothing could be more pathetic than the isolated position in which he found himself, standing thus as he did on the threshold of a mighty undertaking in which he was the central figure, an object for the world to gaze upon with palpitating interest. at his hearth in the louvre were no household gods. danger lurked behind every tapestry in that magnificent old palace. a nameless dread dogged his footsteps through those resounding corridors. and by an exquisite refinement in torture the possible father of several of his children not only dictated to the queen perpetual outbreaks of frantic jealousy against her husband, but moved her to refuse with suspicion any food and drink offered her by his hands. the concini's would even with unparalleled and ingenious effrontery induce her to make use of the kitchen arrangements in their apartments for the preparation of her daily meals? driven from house and home, henry almost lived at the arsenal. there he would walk for hours in the long alleys of the garden, discussing with the great financier and soldier his vast, dreamy, impracticable plans. strange combination of the hero, the warrior, the voluptuary, the sage, and the schoolboy--it would be difficult to find in the whole range of history a more human, a more attractive, a more provoking, a less venerable character. haunted by omens, dire presentiments, dark suspicions with and without cause, he was especially averse from the coronation to which in a moment of weakness he had given his consent. sitting in sully's cabinet, in a low chair which the duke had expressly provided for his use, tapping and drumming on his spectacle case, or starting up and smiting himself on the thigh, he would pour out his soul hours long to his one confidential minister. "ah, my friend, how this sacrament displeases me," he said; "i know not why it is, but my heart tells me that some misfortune is to befall me. by god i shall die in this city, i shall never go out of it; i see very well that they are finding their last resource in my death. ah, accursed coronation! thou wilt be the cause of my death." so many times did he give utterance to these sinister forebodings that sully implored him at last for leave to countermand the whole ceremony notwithstanding the great preparations which had been made for the splendid festival. "yes, yes," replied the king, "break up this coronation at once. let me hear no more of it. then i shall have my mind cured of all these impressions. i shall leave the town and fear nothing." he then informed his friend that he had received intimations that he should lose his life at the first magnificent festival he should give, and that he should die in a carriage. sully admitted that he had often, when in a carriage with him, been amazed at his starting and crying out at the slightest shock, having so often seen him intrepid among guns and cannon, pikes and naked swords. the duke went to the queen three days in succession, and with passionate solicitations and arguments and almost upon his knees implored her to yield to the king's earnest desire, and renounce for the time at least the coronation. in vain. mary de' medici was obdurate as marble to his prayers. the coronation was fixed for thursday, the th may, two days later than the time originally appointed when the king conversed with the states' ambassadors. on the following sunday was to be the splendid and solemn entrance of the crowned queen. on the monday, henry, postponing likewise for two days his original plan of departure, would leave for the army. meantime there were petty annoyances connected with the details of the coronation. henry had set his heart on having his legitimatized children, the offspring of the fair gabrielle, take their part in the ceremony on an equal footing with the princes of the blood. they were not entitled to wear the lilies of france upon their garments, and the king was solicitous that "the count"--as soissons, brother of prince conti and uncle of conde, was always called--should dispense with those ensigns for his wife upon this solemn occasion, and that the other princesses of the blood should do the same. thus there would be no appearance of inferiority on the part of the duchess of vendome. the count protested that he would have his eyes torn out of his head rather than submit to an arrangement which would do him so much shame. he went to the queen and urged upon her that to do this would likewise be an injury to her children, the dukes of orleans and of anjou. he refused flatly to appear or allow his wife to appear except in the costume befitting their station. the king on his part was determined not to abandon his purpose. he tried to gain over the count by the most splendid proposals, offering him the command of the advance-guard of the army, or the lieutenancy-general of france in the absence of the king, , crowns for his equipment and an increase of his pension if he would cause his wife to give up the fleurs-de-lys on this occasion. the alternative was to be that, if she insisted upon wearing them, his majesty would never look upon him again with favourable eyes. the count never hesitated, but left paris, refusing to appear at the ceremony. the king was in a towering passion, for to lose the presence of this great prince of the blood at a solemnity expressly intended as a demonstration against the designs hatching by the first of all the princes of the blood under patronage of spain was a severe blow to his pride and a check to his policy.' yet it was inconceivable that he could at such a moment commit so superfluous and unmeaning a blunder. he had forced conde into exile, intrigue with the enemy, and rebellion, by open and audacious efforts to destroy his domestic peace, and now he was willing to alienate one of his most powerful subjects in order to place his bastards on a level with royalty. while it is sufficiently amusing to contemplate this proposed barter of a chief command in a great army or the lieutenancy-general of a mighty kingdom at the outbreak of a general european war against a bit of embroidery on the court dress of a lady, yet it is impossible not to recognize something ideal and chivalrous from his own point of view in the refusal of soissons to renounce those emblems of pure and high descent, those haughty lilies of st. louis, against any bribes of place and pelf however dazzling. the coronation took place on thursday, th may, with the pomp and glitter becoming great court festivals; the more pompous and glittering the more the monarch's heart was wrapped in gloom. the representatives of the great powers were conspicuous in the procession; aerssens, the dutch ambassador, holding a foremost place. the ambassadors of spain and venice as usual squabbled about precedence and many other things, and actually came to fisticuffs, the fight lasting a long time and ending somewhat to the advantage of the venetian. but the sacrament was over, and mary de' medici was crowned queen of france and regent of the kingdom during the absence of the sovereign with his army. meantime there had been mysterious warnings darker and more distinct than the babble of the soothsayer thomassin or the ravings of the lunatic pasithea. count schomberg, dining at the arsenal with sully, had been called out to converse with mademoiselle de gournay, who implored that a certain madame d'escomans might be admitted to audience of the king. that person, once in direct relations with the marchioness of verneuil, the one of henry's mistresses who most hated him, affirmed that a man from the duke of epernon's country was in paris, agent of a conspiracy seeking the king's life. the woman not enjoying a very reputable character found it impossible to obtain a hearing, although almost frantic with her desire to save her sovereign's life. the queen observed that it was a wicked woman, who was accusing all the world, and perhaps would accuse her too. the fatal friday came. henry drove out, in his carriage to see the preparations making for the triumphal entrance of the queen into paris on the following sunday. what need to repeat the tragic, familiar tale? the coach was stopped by apparent accident in the narrow street de la feronniere, and francis ravaillac, standing on the wheel, drove his knife through the monarch's heart. the duke of epernon, sitting at his side, threw his cloak over the body and ordered the carriage back to the louvre. "they have killed him, 'e ammazato,'" cried concini (so says tradition), thrusting his head into the queen's bedchamber. [michelet, . it is not probable that the documents concerning the trial, having been so carefully suppressed from the beginning, especially the confession dictated to voisin--who wrote it kneeling on the ground, and was perhaps so appalled at its purport that he was afraid to write it legibly--will ever see the light. i add in the appendix some contemporary letters of persons, as likely as any one to know what could be known, which show how dreadful were the suspicions which men entertained, and which they hardly ventured to whisper to each other]. that blow had accomplished more than a great army could have done, and spain now reigned in paris. the house of austria, without making any military preparations, had conquered, and the great war of religion and politics was postponed for half a dozen years. this history has no immediate concern with solving the mysteries of that stupendous crime. the woman who had sought to save the king's life now denounced epernon as the chief murderer, and was arrested, examined, accused of lunacy, proved to be perfectly sane, and, persisting in her statements with perfect coherency, was imprisoned for life for her pains; the duke furiously demanding her instant execution. the documents connected with the process were carefully suppressed. the assassin, tortured and torn by four horses, was supposed to have revealed nothing and to have denied the existence of accomplices. the great accused were too omnipotent to be dealt with by humble accusers or by convinced but powerless tribunals. the trial was all mystery, hugger-mugger, horror. yet the murderer is known to have dictated to the greflier voisin, just before expiring on the greve, a declaration which that functionary took down in a handwriting perhaps purposely illegible. two centuries and a half have passed away, yet the illegible original record is said to exist, to have been plainly read, and to contain the names of the queen and the duke of epernon. twenty-six years before, the pistol of balthasar gerard had destroyed the foremost man in europe and the chief of a commonwealth just struggling into existence. yet spain and rome, the instigators and perpetrators of the crime, had not reaped the victory which they had the right to expect. the young republic, guided by barneveld and loyal to the son of the murdered stadholder, was equal to the burthen suddenly descending upon its shoulders. instead of despair there had been constancy. instead of distracted counsels there had been heroic union of heart and hand. rather than bend to rome and grovel to philip, it had taken its sovereignty in its hands, offered it successively, without a thought of self-aggrandizement on the part of its children, to the crowns of france and great britain, and, having been repulsed by both, had learned after fiery trials and incredible exertions to assert its own high and foremost place among the independent powers of the world. and now the knife of another priest-led fanatic, the wretched but unflinching instrument of a great conspiracy, had at a blow decapitated france. no political revolution could be much more thorough than that which had been accomplished in a moment of time by francis ravaillac. on the th of may, france, while in spiritual matters obedient to the pope, stood at the head of the forces of protestantism throughout europe, banded together to effect the downfall of the proud house of austria, whose fortunes and fate were synonymous with catholicism. the baltic powers, the majority of the teutonic races, the kingdom of britain, the great republic of the netherlands, the northernmost and most warlike governments of italy, all stood at the disposition of the warrior-king. venice, who had hitherto, in the words of a veteran diplomatist, "shunned to look a league or a confederation in the face, if there was any protestant element in it, as if it had been the head of medusa," had formally forbidden the passage of troops northwards to the relief of the assailed power. savoy, after direful hesitations, had committed herself body and soul to the great enterprise. even the pope, who feared the overshadowing personality of henry, and was beginning to believe his house's private interests more likely to flourish under the protection of the french than the spanish king, was wavering in his fidelity to spain and tempted by french promises: if he should prove himself incapable of effecting a pause in the great crusade, it was doubtful on which side he would ultimately range himself; for it was at least certain that the new catholic league, under the chieftainship of maximilian of bavaria, was resolved not to entangle its fortunes inextricably with those of the austrian house. the great enterprise, first unfolding itself with the episode of cleve and berg and whimsically surrounding itself with the fantastic idyl of the princess of conde, had attained vast and misty proportions in the brain of its originator. few political visions are better known in history than the "grand design" of henry for rearranging the map of the world at the moment when, in the middle of may, he was about to draw his sword. spain reduced to the mediterranean and the pyrenees, but presented with both the indies, with all america and the whole orient in fee; the empire taken from austria and given to bavaria; a constellation of states in italy, with the pope for president-king; throughout the rest of christendom a certain number of republics, of kingdoms, of religions--a great confederation of the world, in short--with the most christian king for its dictator and protector, and a great amphictyonic council to regulate all disputes by solemn arbitration, and to make war in the future impossible, such in little was his great design. nothing could be more humane, more majestic, more elaborate, more utterly preposterous. and all this gigantic fabric had passed away in an instant--at one stroke of a broken table knife sharpened on a carriage wheel. most pitiful was the condition of france on the day after, and for years after, the murder of the king. not only was the kingdom for the time being effaced from the roll of nations, so far as external relations were concerned, but it almost ceased to be a kingdom. the ancient monarchy of hugh capet, of saint-louis, of henry of france and navarre, was transformed into a turbulent, self-seeking, quarrelsome, pillaging, pilfering democracy of grandees. the queen-regent was tossed hither and thither at the sport of the winds and waves which shifted every hour in that tempestuous court. no man pretended to think of the state. every man thought only of himself. the royal exchequer was plundered with a celerity and cynical recklessness such as have been rarely seen in any age or country. the millions so carefully hoarded by sully, and exhibited so dramatically by that great minister to the enraptured eyes of his sovereign; that treasure in the bastille on which henry relied for payment of the armies with which he was to transform the world, all disappeared in a few weeks to feed the voracious maw of courtiers, paramours, and partisans! the queen showered gold like water upon her beloved concini that he might purchase his marquisate of ancre, and the charge of first gentleman of the court from bouillon; that he might fit himself for the government of picardy; that he might elevate his marquisate into a dukedom. conde, having no further reason to remain in exile, received as a gift from the trembling mary de' medici the magnificent hotel gondy, where the dutch ambassadors had so recently been lodged, for which she paid , crowns, together with , crowns to furnish it, , crowns to pay his debts, , more as yearly pension. he claimed double, and was soon at sword's point with the queen in spite of her lavish bounty. epernon, the true murderer of henry, trampled on courts of justice and councils of ministers, frightened the court by threatening to convert his possession of metz into an independent sovereignty, as balagny had formerly seized upon cambray, smothered for ever the process of ravaillac, caused those to be put to death or immured for life in dungeons who dared to testify to his complicity in the great crime, and strode triumphantly over friends and enemies throughout france, although so crippled by the gout that he could scarcely walk up stairs. there was an end to the triumvirate. sully's influence was gone for ever. the other two dropped the mask. the chancellor and villeroy revealed themselves to be what they secretly had always been--humble servants and stipendiaries of spain. the formal meetings of the council were of little importance, and were solemn, tearful, and stately; draped in woe for the great national loss. in the private cabinet meetings in the entresol of the louvre, where the nuncius and the spanish ambassador held counsel with epernon and villeroy and jeannin and sillery, the tone was merry and loud; the double spanish marriage and confusion to the dutch being the chief topics of consultation. but the anarchy grew day by day into almost hopeless chaos. there was no satisfying the princes of the blood nor the other grandees. conde, whose reconciliation with the princess followed not long after the death of henry and his own return to france, was insatiable in his demands for money, power, and citadels of security. soissons, who might formerly have received the lieutenancy-general of the kingdom by sacrificing the lilies on his wife's gown, now disputed for that office with his elder brother conti, the prince claiming it by right of seniority, the count denouncing conti as deaf, dumb, and imbecile, till they drew poniards on each other in the very presence of the queen; while conde on one occasion, having been refused the citadels which he claimed, blaye and chateau trompette, threw his cloak over his nose and put on his hat while the queen was speaking, and left the council in a fury, declaring that villeroy and the chancellor were traitors, and that he would have them both soundly cudgelled. guise, lorraine, epernon, bouillon, and other great lords always appeared in the streets of paris at the head of three, four, or five hundred mounted and armed retainers; while the queen in her distraction gave orders to arm the paris mob to the number of fifty thousand, and to throw chains across the streets to protect herself and her son against the turbulent nobles. sully, hardly knowing to what saint to burn his candle, being forced to resign his great posts, was found for a time in strange political combination with the most ancient foes of his party and himself. the kaleidoscope whirling with exasperating quickness showed ancient leaguers and lorrainers banded with and protecting huguenots against the crown, while princes of the blood, hereditary patrons and chiefs of the huguenots, became partisans and stipendiaries of spain. it is easy to see that circumstances like these rendered the position of the dutch commonwealth delicate and perilous. sully informed aerssens and van der myle, who had been sent back to paris on special mission very soon after the death of the king, that it took a hundred hours now to accomplish a single affair, whereas under henry a hundred affairs were transacted in a single hour. but sully's sun had set, and he had few business conferences now with the ambassadors. villeroy and the chancellor had fed fat their ancient grudge to the once omnipotent minister, and had sworn his political ruin. the old secretary of state had held now complete control of the foreign alliances and combinations of france, and the dutch ambassadors could be under no delusion as to the completeness of the revolution. "you will find a passion among the advisers of the queen," said villeroy to aerssens and van der myle, "to move in diametrical opposition to the plans of the late king." and well might the ancient leaguer and present pensionary of spain reveal this foremost fact in a policy of which he was in secret the soul. he wept profusely when he first received francis aerssens, but after these "useless tears," as the envoy called them, he soon made it manifest that there was no more to be expected of france, in the great project which its government had so elaborately set on foot. villeroy was now sixty-six years of age, and had been secretary of state during forty-two years and under four kings. a man of delicate health, frail body, methodical habits, capacity for routine, experience in political intrigue, he was not personally as greedy of money as many of his contemporaries, and was not without generosity; but he loved power, the pope, and the house of austria. he was singularly reserved in public, practised successfully the talent of silence, and had at last arrived at the position he most coveted, the virtual presidency of the council, and saw the men he most hated beneath his feet. at the first interview of aerssens with the queen-regent she was drowned in tears, and could scarcely articulate an intelligible sentence. so far as could be understood she expressed her intention of carrying out the king's plans, of maintaining the old alliances, of protecting both religions. nothing, however, could be more preposterous than such phrases. villeroy, who now entirely directed the foreign affairs of the kingdom, assured the ambassador that france was much more likely to apply to the states for assistance than render them aid in any enterprise whatever. "there is no doubt," said aerssens, "that the queen is entirely in the hands of spain and the priests." villeroy, whom henry was wont to call the pedagogue of the council, went about sighing dismally, wishing himself dead, and perpetually ejaculating, "ho! poor france, how much hast thou still to suffer!" in public he spoke of nothing but of union, and of the necessity of carrying out the designs of the king, instructing the docile queen to hold the same language. in private he was quite determined to crush those designs for ever, and calmly advised the dutch government to make an amicable agreement with the emperor in regard to the cleve affair as soon as possible; a treaty which would have been shameful for france and the possessory princes, and dangerous, if not disastrous, for the states-general. "nothing but feverish and sick counsels," he said, "could be expected from france, which had now lost its vigour and could do nothing but groan." not only did the french council distinctly repudiate the idea of doing anything more for the princes than had been stipulated by the treaty of hall--that is to say, a contingent of foot and horse--but many of them vehemently maintained that the treaty, being a personal one of the late king, was dead with him? the duty of france was now in their opinion to withdraw from these mad schemes as soon as possible, to make peace with the house of austria without delay, and to cement the friendship by the double marriages. bouillon, who at that moment hated sully as much as the most vehement catholic could do, assured the dutch envoy that the government was, under specious appearances, attempting to deceive the states; a proposition which it needed not the evidence of that most intriguing duke to make manifest to so astute a politician; particularly as there was none more bent on playing the most deceptive game than bouillon. there would be no troops to send, he said, and even if there were, there would be no possibility of agreeing on a chief. the question of religion would at once arise. as for himself, the duke protested that he would not accept the command if offered him. he would not agree to serve under the prince of anhalt, nor would he for any consideration in the world leave the court at that moment. at the same time aerssens was well aware that bouillon, in his quality of first marshal of france, a protestant and a prince having great possessions on the frontier, and the brother-in-law of prince maurice, considered himself entitled to the command of the troops should they really be sent, and was very indignant at the idea of its being offered to any one else. [aerssens worked assiduously, two hours long on one occasion, to effect a reconciliation between the two great protestant chiefs, but found bouillon's demands "so shameful and unreasonable" that he felt obliged to renounce all further attempts. in losing sully from the royal councils, the states' envoy acknowledged that the republic had lost everything that could be depended on at the french court. "all the others are time-serving friends," he said, "or saints without miracles."--aerssens to barneveld, june, . ] he advised earnestly therefore that the states should make a firm demand for money instead of men, specifying the amount that might be considered the equivalent of the number of troops originally stipulated. it is one of the most singular spectacles in history; france sinking into the background of total obscurity in an instant of time, at one blow of a knife, while the republic, which she had been patronizing, protecting, but keeping always in a subordinate position while relying implicitly upon its potent aid, now came to the front, and held up on its strong shoulders an almost desperate cause. henry had been wont to call the states-general "his courage and his right arm," but he had always strictly forbidden them to move an inch in advance of him, but ever to follow his lead, and to take their directions from himself. they were a part, and an essential one, in his vast designs; but france, or he who embodied france, was the great providence, the destiny, the all-directing, all-absorbing spirit, that was to remodel and control the whole world. he was dead, and france and her policy were already in a state of rapid decomposition. barneveld wrote to encourage and sustain the sinking state. "our courage is rising in spite and in consequence of the great misfortune," he said. he exhorted the queen to keep her kingdom united, and assured her that my lords the states would maintain themselves against all who dared to assail them. he offered in their name the whole force of the republic to take vengeance on those who had procured the assassination, and to defend the young king and the queen-mother against all who might make any attempt against their authority. he further declared, in language not to be mistaken, that the states would never abandon the princes and their cause. this was the earliest indication on the part of the advocate of the intention of the republic--so long as it should be directed by his counsels--to support the cause of the young king, helpless and incapable as he was, and directed for the time being by a weak and wicked mother, against the reckless and depraved grandees, who were doing their best to destroy the unity and the independence of france, cornelis van der myle was sent back to paris on special mission of condolence and comfort from the states-general to the sorely afflicted kingdom. on the th of june, accompanied by aerssens, he had a long interview with villeroy. that minister, as usual, wept profusely, and said that in regard to cleve it was impossible for france to carry out the designs of the late king. he then listened to what the ambassadors had to urge, and continued to express his melancholy by weeping. drying his tears for a time, he sought by a long discourse to prove that france during this tender minority of the king would be incapable of pursuing the policy of his father. it would be even too burthensome to fulfil the treaty of hall. the friends of the crown, he said, had no occasion to further it, and it would be much better to listen to propositions for a treaty. archduke albert was content not to interfere in the quarrel if the queen would likewise abstain; leopold's forces were altogether too weak to make head against the army of the princes, backed by the power of my lords the states, and julich was neither strong nor well garrisoned. he concluded by calmly proposing that the states should take the matter in hand by themselves alone, in order to lighten the burthen of france, whose vigour had been cut in two by that accursed knife. a more sneaking and shameful policy was never announced by the minister of a great kingdom. surely it might seem that ravaillac had cut in twain not the vigour only but the honour and the conscience of france. but the envoys, knowing in their hearts that they were talking not with a french but a spanish secretary of state, were not disposed to be the dupes of his tears or his blandishments. they reminded him that the queen-regent and her ministers since the murder of the king had assured the states-general and the princes of their firm intention to carry out the treaty of hall, and they observed that they had no authority to talk of any negotiation. the affair of the duchies was not especially the business of the states, and the secretary was well aware that they had promised their succour on the express condition that his majesty and his army should lead the way, and that they should follow. this was very far from the plan now suggested, that they should do it all, which would be quite out of the question. france had a strong army, they said, and it would be better to use it than to efface herself so pitiably. the proposition of abstention on the part of the archduke was a delusion intended only to keep france out of the field. villeroy replied by referring to english affairs. king james, he said, was treating them perfidiously. his first letters after the murder had been good, but by the following ones england seemed to wish to put her foot on france's throat, in order to compel her to sue for an alliance. the british ministers had declared their resolve not to carry out that convention of alliance, although it had been nearly concluded in the lifetime of the late king, unless the queen would bind herself to make good to the king of great britain that third part of the subsidies advanced by france to the states which had been furnished on english account! this was the first announcement of a grievance devised by the politicians now governing france to make trouble for the states with that kingdom and with great britain likewise. according to a treaty made at hampton court by sully during his mission to england at the accession of james, it had been agreed that one-third of the moneys advanced by france in aid of the united provinces should be credited to the account of great britain, in diminution of the debt for similar assistance rendered by elizabeth to henry. in regard to this treaty the states had not been at all consulted, nor did they acknowledge the slightest obligation in regard to it. the subsidies in men and in money provided for them both by france and by england in their struggle for national existence had always been most gratefully acknowledged by the republic, but it had always been perfectly understood that these expenses had been incurred by each kingdom out of an intelligent and thrifty regard for its own interest. nothing could be more ridiculous than to suppose france and england actuated by disinterested sympathy and benevolence when assisting the netherland people in its life-and-death struggle against the dire and deadly enemy of both crowns. henry protested that, while adhering to rome in spiritual matters, his true alliances and strength had been found in the united provinces, in germany, and in great britain. as for the states, he had spent sixteen millions of livres, he said, in acquiring a perfect benevolence on the part of the states to his person. it was the best bargain he had ever made, and he should take care to preserve it at any cost whatever, for he considered himself able, when closely united with them, to bid defiance to all the kings in europe together. yet it was now the settled policy of the queen-regent's council, so far as the knot of politicians guided by the nuncius and the spanish ambassador in the entresols of the louvre could be called a council, to force the states to refund that third, estimated at something between three and four million livres, which france had advanced them on account of great britain. villeroy told the two ambassadors at this interview that, if great britain continued to treat the queen-regent in such fashion, she would be obliged to look about for other allies. there could hardly be doubt as to the quarter in which mary de' medici was likely to look. meantime, the secretary of state urged the envoys "to intervene at once to-mediate the difference." there could be as little doubt that to mediate the difference was simply to settle an account which they did not owe. the whole object of the minister at this first interview was to induce the states to take the whole cleve enterprise upon their own shoulders, and to let france off altogether. the queen-regent as then advised meant to wash her hands of the possessory princes once and for ever. the envoys cut the matter short by assuring villeroy that they would do nothing of the kind. he begged them piteously not to leave the princes in the lurch, and at the same time not to add to the burthens of france at so disastrous a moment. so they parted. next day, however, they visited the secretary again, and found him more dismal and flaccid than ever. he spoke feebly and drearily about the succour for the great enterprise, recounted all the difficulties in the way, and, having thrown down everything that the day before had been left standing, he tried to excuse an entire change of policy by the one miserable crime. he painted a forlorn picture of the council and of france. "i can myself do nothing as i wish," added the undisputed controller of that government's policy, and then with a few more tears he concluded by requesting the envoys to address their demands to the queen in writing. this was done with the customary formalities and fine speeches on both sides; a dull comedy by which no one was amused. then bouillon came again, and assured them that there had been a chance that the engagements of henry, followed up by the promise of the queen-regent, would be carried out, but now the fact was not to be concealed that the continued battery of the nuncius, of the ambassadors of spain and of the archdukes, had been so effective that nothing sure or solid was thenceforth to be expected; the council being resolved to accept the overtures of the archduke for mutual engagement to abstain from the julich enterprise. nothing in truth could be more pitiable than the helpless drifting of the once mighty kingdom, whenever the men who governed it withdrew their attention for an instant from their private schemes of advancement and plunder to cast a glance at affairs of state. in their secret heart they could not doubt that france was rushing on its ruin, and that in the alliance of the dutch commonwealth, britain, and the german protestants, was its only safety. but they trembled before the pope, grown bold and formidable since the death of the dreaded henry. to offend his holiness, the king of spain, the emperor, and the great catholics of france, was to make a crusade against the church. garnier, the jesuit, preached from his pulpit that "to strike a blow in the cleve enterprise was no less a sin than to inflict a stab in the body of our lord." the parliament of paris having ordered the famous treatise of the jesuit mariana--justifying the killing of excommunicated kings by their subjects--to be publicly burned before notre dame, the bishop opposed the execution of the decree. the parliament of paris, although crushed by epernon in its attempts to fix the murder of the king upon himself as the true culprit, was at least strong enough to carry out this sentence upon a printed, volume recommending the deed, and the queen's council could only do its best to mitigate the awakened wrath of the jesuits at this exercise of legal authority.--at the same time, it found on the whole so many more difficulties in a cynical and shameless withdrawal from the treaty of hall than in a nominal and tardy fulfilment of its conditions that it resolved at last to furnish the foot and horse promised to the possessory princes. the next best thing to abandoning entirely even this little shred, this pitiful remnant, of the splendid designs of henry was to so arrange matters that the contingent should be feebly commanded, and set on foot in so dilatory a manner that the petty enterprise should on the part of france be purely perfunctory. the grandees of the kingdom had something more important to do than to go crusading in germany, with the help of a heretic republic, to set up the possessory princes. they were fighting over the prostrate dying form of their common mother for their share of the spoils, stripping france before she was dead, and casting lots for her vesture. soissons was on the whole in favour of the cleve expedition. epernon was desperately opposed to it, and maltreated villeroy in full council when he affected to say a word, insincere as the duke knew it to be, in favour of executing agreements signed by the monarch, and sealed with the great seal of france. the duke of guise, finding himself abandoned by the queen, and bitterly opposed and hated by soissons, took sides with his deaf and dumb and imbecile brother, and for a brief interval the duke of sully joined this strange combination of the house of lorraine and chiefs of ancient leaguers, who welcomed him with transport, and promised him security. then bouillon, potent by his rank, his possessions, and his authority among the protestants, publicly swore that he would ruin sully and change the whole order of the government. what more lamentable spectacle, what more desolate future for the cause of religious equality, which for a moment had been achieved in france, than this furious alienation of the trusted leaders of the huguenots, while their adversaries were carrying everything before them? at the council board bouillon quarrelled ostentatiously with sully, shook his fist in his face, and but for the queen's presence would have struck him. next day he found that the queen was intriguing against himself as well as against sully, was making a cat's-paw of him, and was holding secret councils daily from which he as well as sully was excluded. at once he made overtures of friendship to sully, and went about proclaiming to the world that all huguenots were to be removed from participation in affairs of state. his vows of vengeance were for a moment hushed by the unanimous resolution of the council that, as first marshal of france, having his principality on the frontier, and being of the reformed religion, he was the fittest of all to command the expedition. surely it might be said that the winds and tides were not more changeful than the politics of the queen's government. the dutch ambassador was secretly requested by villeroy to negotiate with bouillon and offer him the command of the julich expedition. the duke affected to make difficulties, although burning to obtain the post, but at last consented. all was settled. aerssens communicated at once with villeroy, and notice of bouillon's acceptance was given to the queen, when, behold, the very next day marshal de la chatre was appointed to the command expressly because he was a catholic. of course the duke of bouillon, furious with soissons and epernon and the rest of the government, was more enraged than ever against the queen. his only hope was now in conde, but conde at the outset, on arriving at the louvre, offered his heart to the queen as a sheet of white paper. epernon and soissons received him with delight, and exchanged vows of an eternal friendship of several weeks' duration. and thus all the princes of the blood, all the cousins of henry of navarre, except the imbecile conti, were ranged on the side of spain, rome, mary de' medici, and concino concini, while the son of the balafre, the duke of mayenne, and all their adherents were making common cause with the huguenots. what better example had been seen before, even in that country of pantomimic changes, of the effrontery with which religion was made the strumpet of political ambition? all that day and the next paris was rife with rumours that there was to be a general massacre of the huguenots to seal the new-born friendship of a conde with a medici. france was to renounce all her old alliances and publicly to enter into treaties offensive and defensive with spain. a league like that of bayonne made by the former medicean queen-regent of france was now, at villeroy's instigation, to be signed by mary de' medici. meantime, marshal de la chatre, an honest soldier and fervent papist, seventy-three years of age, ignorant of the language, the geography, the politics of the country to which he was sent, and knowing the road thither about as well, according to aerssens, who was requested to give him a little preliminary instruction, as he did the road to india, was to co-operate with barneveld and maurice of nassau in the enterprise against the duchies. these were the cheerful circumstances amid which the first step in the dead henry's grand design against the house of austria and in support of protestantism in half europe and of religious equality throughout christendom, was now to be ventured. cornelis van der myle took leave of the queen on terminating his brief special embassy, and was fain to content himself with languid assurances from that corpulent tuscan dame of her cordial friendship for the united provinces. villeroy repeated that the contingent to be sent was furnished out of pure love to the netherlands, the present government being in no wise bound by the late king's promises. he evaded the proposition of the states for renewing the treaty of close alliance by saying that he was then negotiating with the british government on the subject, who insisted as a preliminary step on the repayment of the third part of the sums advanced to the states by the late king. he exchanged affectionate farewell greetings and good wishes with jeannin and with the dropsical duke of mayenne, who was brought in his chair to his old fellow leaguer's apartments at the moment of the ambassador's parting interview. there was abundant supply of smooth words, in the plentiful lack of any substantial nutriment, from the representatives of each busy faction into which the medicean court was divided. even epernon tried to say a gracious word to the retiring envoy, assuring him that he would do as much for the cause as a good frenchman and lover of his fatherland could do. he added, in rather a surly way, that he knew very well how foully he had been described to the states, but that the devil was not as black as he was painted. it was necessary, he said, to take care of one's own house first of all, and he knew very well that the states and all prudent persons would do the same thing. etext editor's bookmarks: and now the knife of another priest-led fanatic as with his own people, keeping no back-door open at a blow decapitated france conclusive victory for the allies seemed as predestined epernon, the true murderer of henry father cotton, who was only too ready to betray the secrets great war of religion and politics was postponed jesuit mariana--justifying the killing of excommunicated kings no man pretended to think of the state practised successfully the talent of silence queen is entirely in the hands of spain and the priests religion was made the strumpet of political ambition smooth words, in the plentiful lack of any substantial stroke of a broken table knife sharpened on a carriage wheel the assassin, tortured and torn by four horses they have killed him, 'e ammazato,' cried concini things he could tell which are too odious and dreadful uncouple the dogs and let them run vows of an eternal friendship of several weeks' duration what could save the house of austria, the cause of papacy wrath of the jesuits at this exercise of legal authority the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. life and death of john of barneveld, v , - chapter v. interviews between the dutch commissioners and king james--prince maurice takes command of the troops--surrender of julich--matthias crowned king of bohemia--death of rudolph--james's dream of a spanish marriage--appointment of vorstius in place of arminius at leyden--interview between maurice and winwood--increased bitterness between barneveld and maurice--projects of spanish marriages in france. it is refreshing to escape from the atmosphere of self-seeking faction, feverish intrigue, and murderous stratagem in which unhappy france was stifling into the colder and calmer regions of netherland policy. no sooner had the tidings of henry's murder reached the states than they felt that an immense responsibility had fallen on their shoulders. it is to the eternal honour of the republic, of barneveld, who directed her councils, and of prince maurice, who wielded her sword, that she was equal to the task imposed upon her. there were open bets on the exchange in antwerp, after the death of henry, that maurice would likewise be killed within the month. nothing seemed more probable, and the states implored the stadholder to take special heed to himself. but this was a kind of caution which the prince was not wont to regard. nor was there faltering, distraction, cowardice, or parsimony in republican councils. we have heard the strong words of encouragement and sympathy addressed by the advocate's instructions to the queen-regent and the leading statesmen of france. we have seen their effects in that lingering sentiment of shame which prevented the spanish stipendiaries who governed the kingdom from throwing down the mask as cynically as they were at first inclined to do. not less manful and statesmanlike was the language held to the king of great britain and his ministers by the advocate's directions. the news of the assassination reached the special ambassadors in london at three o'clock of monday, the th may. james returned to whitehall from a hunting expedition on the st, and immediately signified his intention of celebrating the occasion by inviting the high commissioners of the states to a banquet and festival at the palace. meantime they were instructed by barneveld to communicate the results of the special embassy of the states to the late king according to the report just delivered to the assembly. thus james was to be informed of the common resolution and engagement then taken to support the cause of the princes. he was now seriously and explicitly to be summoned to assist the princes not only with the stipulated men, but with a much greater force, proportionate to the demands for the security and welfare of christendom, endangered by this extraordinary event. he was assured that the states would exert themselves to the full measure of their ability to fortify and maintain the high interests of france, of the possessory princes, and of christendom, so that the hopes of the perpetrators of the foul deed would be confounded. "they hold this to be the occasion," said the envoys, "to show to all the world that it is within your power to rescue the affairs of france, germany, and of the united provinces from the claws of those who imagine for themselves universal monarchy." they concluded by requesting the king to come to "a resolution on this affair royally, liberally, and promptly, in order to take advantage of the time, and not to allow the adversary to fortify himself in his position"; and they pledged the states-general to stand by and second him with all their power. the commissioners, having read this letter to lord salisbury before communicating it to the king, did not find the lord treasurer very prompt or sympathetic in his reply. there had evidently been much jealousy at the english court of the confidential and intimate relations recently established with henry, to which allusions were made in the documents read at the present conference. cecil, while expressing satisfaction in formal terms at the friendly language of the states, and confidence in the sincerity of their friendship for his sovereign, intimated very plainly that more had passed between the late king and the authorities of the republic than had been revealed by either party to the king of great britain, or than could be understood from the letters and papers now communicated. he desired further information from the commissioners, especially in regard to those articles of their instructions which referred to a general rupture. they professed inability to give more explanations than were contained in the documents themselves. if suspicion was felt, they said, that the french king had been proposing anything in regard to a general rupture, either on account of the retreat of conde, the affair of savoy, or anything else, they would reply that the ambassadors in france had been instructed to decline committing the states until after full communication and advice and ripe deliberation with his british majesty and council, as well as the assembly of the states-general; and it had been the intention of the late king to have conferred once more and very confidentially with prince maurice and count lewis william before coming to a decisive resolution. it was very obvious however to the commissioners that their statement gave no thorough satisfaction, and that grave suspicions remained of something important kept back by them. cecil's manner was constrained and cold, and certainly there were no evidences of profound sorrow at the english court for the death of henry. "the king of france," said the high treasurer, "meant to make a master-stroke--a coup de maistre--but he who would have all may easily lose all. such projects as these should not have been formed or taken in hand without previous communication with his majesty of great britain." all arguments on the part of the ambassadors to induce the lord treasurer or other members of the government to enlarge the succour intended for the cleve affair were fruitless. the english troops regularly employed in the states' service might be made use of with the forces sent by the republic itself. more assistance than this it was idle to expect, unless after a satisfactory arrangement with the present regency of france. the proposition, too, of the states for a close and general alliance was coldly repulsed. "no resolution can be taken as to that," said cecil; "the death of the french king has very much altered such matters." at a little later hour on the same day the commissioners, according to previous invitation, dined with the king. no one sat at the table but his majesty and themselves, and they all kept their hats on their heads. the king was hospitable, gracious, discursive, loquacious, very theological. he expressed regret for the death of the king of france, and said that the pernicious doctrine out of which such vile crimes grew must be uprooted. he asked many questions in regard to the united netherlands, enquiring especially as to the late commotions at utrecht, and the conduct of prince maurice on that occasion. he praised the resolute conduct of the states-general in suppressing those tumults with force, adding, however, that they should have proceeded with greater rigour against the ringleaders of the riot. he warmly recommended the union of the provinces. he then led the conversation to the religious controversies in the netherlands, and in reply to his enquiries was informed that the points in dispute related to predestination and its consequences. "i have studied that subject," said james, "as well as anybody, and have come to the conclusion that nothing certain can be laid down in regard to it. i have myself not always been of one mind about it, but i will bet that my opinion is the best of any, although i would not hang my salvation upon it. my lords the states would do well to order their doctors and teachers to be silent on this topic. i have hardly ventured, moreover, to touch upon the matter of justification in my own writings, because that also seemed to hang upon predestination." thus having spoken with the air of a man who had left nothing further to be said on predestination or justification, the king rose, took off his hat, and drank a bumper to the health of the states-general and his excellency prince maurice, and success to the affair of cleve. after dinner there was a parting interview in the gallery. the king, attended by many privy councillors and high functionaries of state, bade the commissioners a cordial farewell, and, in order to show his consideration for their government, performed the ceremony of knighthood upon them, as was his custom in regard to the ambassadors of venice. the sword being presented to him by the lord chamberlain, james touched each of the envoys on the shoulder as he dismissed him. "out of respect to my lords the states," said they in their report, "we felt compelled to allow ourselves to be burthened with this honour." thus it became obvious to the states-general that there was but little to hope for from great britain or france. france, governed by concini and by spain, was sure to do her best to traverse the designs of the republic, and, while perfunctorily and grudgingly complying with the letter of the hall treaty, was secretly neutralizing by intrigue the slender military aid which de la chatre was to bring to prince maurice. the close alliance of france and protestantism had melted into air. on the other hand the new catholic league sprang into full luxuriance out of the grave of henry, and both spain and the pope gave their hearty adhesion to the combinations of maximilian of bavaria, now that the mighty designs of the french king were buried with him. the duke of savoy, caught in the trap of his own devising, was fain to send his son to sue to spain for pardon for the family upon his knees, and expiated by draining a deep cup of humiliation his ambitious designs upon the milanese and the matrimonial alliance with france. venice recoiled in horror from the position she found herself in as soon as the glamour of henry's seductive policy was dispelled, while james of great britain, rubbing his hands with great delight at the disappearance from the world of the man he so admired, bewailed, and hated, had no comfort to impart to the states-general thus left in virtual isolation. the barren burthen of knighthood and a sermon on predestination were all he could bestow upon the high commissioners in place of the alliance which he eluded, and the military assistance which he point-blank refused. the possessory princes, in whose cause the sword was drawn, were too quarrelsome and too fainthearted to serve for much else than an incumbrance either in the cabinet or the field. and the states-general were equal to the immense responsibility. steadily, promptly, and sagaciously they confronted the wrath, the policy, and the power of the empire, of spain, and of the pope. had the republic not existed, nothing could have prevented that debateable and most important territory from becoming provinces of spain, whose power thus dilated to gigantic proportions in the very face of england would have been more menacing than in the days of the armada. had the republic faltered, she would have soon ceased to exist. but the republic did not falter. on the th july, prince maurice took command of the states' forces, , foot and horse, with thirty pieces of cannon, assembled at schenkenschans. the july english and french regiments in the regular service of the united provinces were included in these armies, but there were no additions to them: "the states did seven times as much," barneveld justly averred, "as they had stipulated to do." maurice, moving with the precision and promptness which always marked his military operations, marched straight upon julich, and laid siege to that important fortress. the archdukes at brussels, determined to keep out of the fray as long as possible, offered no opposition to the passage of his supplies up the rhine, which might have been seriously impeded by them at rheinberg. the details of the siege, as of all the prince's sieges, possess no more interest to the general reader than the working out of a geometrical problem. he was incapable of a flaw in his calculations, but it was impossible for him quite to complete the demonstration before the arrival of de la chatre. maurice received with courtesy the marshal, who arrived on the th august, at the head of his contingent of foot and a few squadrons of cavalry, and there was great show of harmony between them. for any practical purposes, de la chatre might as well have remained in france. for political ends his absence would have been preferable to his presence. maurice would have rejoiced, had the marshal blundered longer along the road to the debateable land than he had done. he had almost brought julich to reduction. a fortnight later the place surrendered. the terms granted by the conqueror were equitable. no change was to be made in the liberty of roman catholic worship, nor in the city magistracy. the citadel and its contents were to be handed over to the princes of brandenburg and neuburg. archduke leopold and his adherents departed to prague, to carry out as he best could his farther designs upon the crown of bohemia, this first portion of them having so lamentably failed, and sergeant-major frederick pithan, of the regiment of count ernest casimir of nassau, was appointed governor of julich in the interest of the possessory princes. thus without the loss of a single life, the republic, guided by her consummate statesman and unrivalled general, had gained an immense victory, had installed the protestant princes in the full possession of those splendid and important provinces, and had dictated her decrees on german soil to the emperor of germany, and had towed, as it were, great britain and france along in her wake, instead of humbly following those powers, and had accomplished all that she had ever proposed to do, even in alliance with them both. the king of england considered that quite enough had been done, and was in great haste to patch up a reconciliation. he thought his ambassador would soon "have as good occasion to employ his tongue and his pen as general cecil and his soldiers have done their swords and their mattocks." he had no sympathy with the cause of protestantism, and steadily refused to comprehend the meaning of the great movements in the duchies. "i only wish that i may handsomely wind myself out of this quarrel, where the principal parties do so little for themselves," he said. de la chatre returned with his troops to france within a fortnight after his arrival on the scene. a mild proposition made by the french government through the marshal, that the provinces should be held in seguestration by france until a decision as to the true sovereignty could be reached, was promptly declined. maurice of nassau had hardly gained so signal a triumph for the republic and for the protestant cause only to hand it over to concini and villeroy for the benefit of spain. julich was thought safer in the keeping of sergeant pithan. by the end of september the states' troops had returned to their own country. thus the republic, with eminent success, had accomplished a brief and brilliant campaign, but no statesman could suppose that the result was more than a temporary one. these coveted provinces, most valuable in themselves and from their important position, would probably not be suffered peacefully to remain very long under the protection of the heretic states-general and in the 'condominium' of two protestant princes. there was fear among the imperialists, catholics, and spaniards, lest the baleful constellation of the seven provinces might be increased by an eighth star. and this was a project not to be tolerated. it was much already that the upstart confederacy had defied pope, emperor, and king, as it were, on their own domains, had dictated arrangements in germany directly in the teeth of its emperor, using france as her subordinate, and compelling the british king to acquiesce in what he most hated. but it was not merely to surprise julich, and to get a foothold in the duchies, that leopold had gone forth on his adventure. his campaign, as already intimated, was part of a wide scheme in which he had persuaded his emperor-cousin to acquiesce. poor rudolph had been at last goaded into a feeble attempt at revolt against his three brothers and his cousin ferdinand. peace-loving, inert, fond of his dinner, fonder of his magnificent collections of gems and intagli, liking to look out of window at his splendid collection of horses, he was willing to pass a quiet life, afar from the din of battles and the turmoil of affairs. as he happened to be emperor of half europe, these harmless tastes could not well be indulged. moon-faced and fat, silent and slow, he was not imperial of aspect on canvas or coin, even when his brows were decorated with the conventional laurel wreath. he had been stripped of his authority and all but discrowned by his more bustling brothers matthias and max, while the sombre figure of styrian ferdinand, pupil of the jesuits, and passionate admirer of philip ii., stood ever in the background, casting a prophetic shadow over the throne and over germany. the brothers were endeavouring to persuade rudolph that he would find more comfort in innsbruck than in prague; that he required repose after the strenuous labours of government. they told him, too, that it would be wise to confer the royal crown of bohemia upon matthias, lest, being elective and also an electorate, the crown and vote of that country might pass out of the family, and so both bohemia and the empire be lost to the habsburgs. the kingdom being thus secured to matthias and his heirs, the next step, of course, was to proclaim him king of the romans. otherwise there would be great danger and detriment to hungary, and other hereditary states of that conglomerate and anonymous monarchy which owned the sway of the great habsburg family. the unhappy emperor was much piqued. he had been deprived by his brother of hungary, moravia, and austria, while matthias was now at prague with an army, ostensibly to obtain ratification of the peace with turkey, but in reality to force the solemn transfer of those realms and extort the promise of bohemia. could there be a better illustration of the absurdities of such a system of imperialism? and now poor rudolph was to be turned out of the hradschin, and sent packing with or without his collections to the tyrol. the bellicose bishop of strassburg and passau, brother of ferdinand, had little difficulty in persuading the downtrodden man to rise to vengeance. it had been secretly agreed between the two that leopold, at the head of a considerable army of mercenaries which he had contrived to levy, should dart into julich as the emperor's representative, seize the debateable duchies, and hold them in sequestration until the emperor should decide to whom they belonged, and, then, rushing back to bohemia, should annihilate matthias, seize prague, and deliver rudolph from bondage. it was further agreed that leopold, in requital of these services, should receive the crown of bohemia, be elected king of the romans, and declared heir to the emperor, so far as rudolph could make him his heir. the first point in the program he had only in part accomplished. he had taken julich, proclaimed the intentions of the emperor, and then been driven out of his strong position by the wise policy of the states under the guidance of barneveld and by the consummate strategy of maurice. it will be seen therefore that the republic was playing a world's game at this moment, and doing it with skill and courage. on the issue of the conflict which had been begun and was to be long protracted in the duchies, and to spread over nearly all christendom besides, would depend the existence of the united netherlands and the fate of protestantism. the discomfited leopold swept back at the head of his mercenaries, foot and horse, through alsace and along the danube to linz and so to prague, marauding, harrying, and black-mailing the country as he went. he entered the city on the th of february , fighting his way through crowds of exasperated burghers. sitting in full harness on horseback in the great square before the cathedral, the warlike bishop compelled the population to make oath to him as the emperor's commissary. the street fighting went on however day by day, poor rudolph meantime cowering in the hradschin. on the third day, leopold, driven out of the town, took up a position on the heights, from which he commanded it with his artillery. then came a feeble voice from the hradschin, telling all men that these passau marauders and their episcopal chief were there by the emperor's orders. the triune city--the old, the new, and the jew--was bidden to send deputies to the palace and accept the imperial decrees. no deputies came at the bidding. the bohemians, especially the praguers, being in great majority protestants knew very well that leopold was fighting the cause of the papacy and spain in bohemia as well as in the duchies. and now matthias appeared upon the scene. the estates had already been in communication with him, better hopes, for the time at least, being entertained from him than from the flaccid rudolph. moreover a kind of compromise had been made in the autumn between matthias and the emperor after the defeat of leopold in the duchies. the real king had fallen at the feet of the nominal one by proxy of his brother maximilian. seven thousand men of the army of matthias now came before prague under command of colonitz. the passauers, receiving three months pay from the emperor, marched quietly off. leopold disappeared for the time. his chancellor and counsellor in the duchies, francis teynagel, a geldrian noble, taken prisoner and put to the torture, revealed the little plot of the emperor in favour of the bishop, and it was believed that the pope, the king of spain, and maximilian of bavaria were friendly to the scheme. this was probable, for leopold at last made no mystery of his resolve to fight protestantism to the death, and to hold the duchies, if he could, for the cause of rome and austria. both rudolph and matthias had committed themselves to the toleration of the reformed religion. the famous "majesty-letter," freshly granted by the emperor ( ), and the compromise between the catholic and protestant estates had become the law of the land. those of the bohemian confession, a creed commingled of hussism, lutheranism, and calvinism, had obtained toleration. in a country where nine-tenths of the population were protestants it was permitted to protestants to build churches and to worship god in them unmolested. but these privileges had been extorted by force, and there was a sullen, dogged determination which might be easily guessed at to revoke them should it ever become possible. the house of austria, reigning in spain, italy, and germany, was bound by the very law of their being to the roman religion. toleration of other worship signified in their eyes both a defeat and a crime. thus the great conflict, to be afterwards known as the thirty years' war, had in reality begun already, and the netherlands, in spite of the truce, were half unconsciously taking a leading part in it. the odds at that moment in germany seemed desperately against the house of austria, so deep and wide was the abyss between throne and subjects which religious difference had created. but the reserved power in spain, italy, and southern germany was sure enough to make itself felt sooner or later on the catholic side. meantime the estates of bohemia knew well enough that the imperial house was bent on destroying the elective principle of the empire, and on keeping the crown of bohemia in perpetuity. they had also discovered that bishop-archduke leopold had been selected by rudolph as chief of the reactionary movement against protestantism. they could not know at that moment whether his plans were likely to prove fantastic or dangerous. so matthias came to prague at the invitation of the estates, entering the city with all the airs of a conqueror. rudolph received his brother with enforced politeness, and invited him to reside in the hradschin. this proposal was declined by matthias, who sent a colonel however, with six pieces of artillery, to guard and occupy that palace. the passau prisoners were pardoned and released, and there was a general reconciliation. a month later, matthias went in pomp to the chapel of the holy wenceslaus, that beautiful and barbarous piece of mediaeval, sclavonic architecture, with its sombre arches, and its walls encrusted with huge precious stones. the estates of bohemia, arrayed in splendid zchech costume, and kneeling on the pavement, were asked whether they accepted matthias, king of hungary, as their lawful king. thrice they answered aye. cardinal dietrichstein then put the historic crown of st. wenceslaus on the king's head, and matthias swore to maintain the laws and privileges of bohemia, including the recent charters granting liberty of religion to protestants. thus there was temporary, if hollow, truce between the religious parties, and a sham reconciliation between the emperor and his brethren. the forlorn rudolph moped away the few months of life left to him in the hradschin, and died soon after the new year. the house of austria had not been divided, matthias succeeded his brother, leopold's visions melted into air, and it was for the future to reveal whether the majesty-letter and the compromise had been written on very durable material. and while such was the condition of affairs in germany immediately following the cleve and julich campaign, the relations of the republic both to england and france were become rapidly more dangerous than they ever had been. it was a severe task for barneveld, and enough to overtax the energies of any statesman, to maintain his hold on two such slippery governments as both had become since the death of their great monarchs. it had been an easier task for william the silent to steer his course, notwithstanding all the perversities, short-comings, brow-beatings, and inconsistencies that he had been obliged to endure from elizabeth and henry. genius, however capricious and erratic at times, has at least vision, and it needed no elaborate arguments to prove to both those sovereigns that the severance of their policy from that of the netherlands was impossible without ruin to the republic and incalculable danger themselves. but now france and england were both tending towards spain through a stupidity on the part of their rulers such as the gods are said to contend against in vain. barneveld was not a god nor a hero, but a courageous and wide-seeing statesman, and he did his best. obliged by his position to affect admiration, or at least respect, where no emotion but contempt was possible, his daily bread was bitter enough. it was absolutely necessary to humour those whom knew to be traversing his policy and desiring his ruin, for there was no other way to serve his country and save it from impending danger. so long as he was faithfully served by his subordinates, and not betrayed by those to whom he gave his heart, he could confront external enemies and mould the policy of wavering allies. few things in history are more pitiable than the position of james in regard to spain. for seven long years he was as one entranced, the slave to one idea, a spanish marriage for his son. it was in vain that his counsellors argued, parliament protested, allies implored. parliament was told that a royal family matter regarded himself alone, and that interference on their part was an impertinence. parliament's duty was a simple one, to give him advice if he asked it, and money when he required it, without asking for reasons. it was already a great concession that he should ask for it in person. they had nothing to do with his affairs nor with general politics. the mystery of government was a science beyond their reach, and with which they were not to meddle. "ne sutor ultra crepidam," said the pedant. upon that one point his policy was made to turn. spain held him in the hollow of her hand. the infanta, with two million crowns in dowry, was promised, withheld, brought forward again like a puppet to please or irritate a froward child. gondemar, the spanish ambassador, held him spellbound. did he falter in his opposition to the states--did he cease to goad them for their policy in the duchies--did he express sympathy with bohemian protestantism, or, as time went on, did he dare to lift a finger or touch his pocket in behalf of his daughter and the unlucky elector-palatine; did he, in short, move a step in the road which england had ever trod and was bound to tread--the road of determined resistance to spanish ambition--instantaneously the infanta withheld, and james was on his knees again. a few years later, when the great raleigh returned from his trans-alantic expedition, gondemar fiercely denounced him to the king as the worst enemy of spain. the usual threat was made, the wand was waved, and the noblest head in england fell upon the block, in pursuance of an obsolete sentence fourteen years old. it is necessary to hold fast this single clue to the crooked and amazing entanglements of the policy of james. the insolence, the meanness, and the prevarications of this royal toad-eater are only thus explained. yet philip iii. declared on his death-bed that he had never had a serious intention of bestowing his daughter on the prince. the vanity and the hatreds of theology furnished the chief additional material in the policy of james towards the provinces. the diplomacy of his reign so far as the republic was concerned is often a mere mass of controversial divinity, and gloomy enough of its kind. exactly at this moment conrad vorstius had been called by the university of leyden to the professorship vacant by the death of arminius, and the wrath of peter plancius and the whole orthodox party knew no bounds. born in cologne, vorstius had been a lecturer in geneva, and beloved by beza. he had written a book against the jesuit belarmino, which he had dedicated to the states-general. but he was now accused of arminianism, socianism, pelagianism, atheism--one knew not what. he defended himself in writing against these various charges, and declared himself a believer in the trinity, in the divinity of christ, in the atonement. but he had written a book on the nature of god, and the wrath of gomarus and plancius and bogerman was as nothing to the ire of james when that treatise was one day handed to him on returning from hunting. he had scarcely looked into it before he was horror-struck, and instantly wrote to sir ralph winwood, his ambassador at the hague, ordering him to insist that this blasphemous monster should at once be removed from the country. who but james knew anything of the nature of god, for had he not written a work in latin explaining it all, so that humbler beings might read and be instructed. sir ralph accordingly delivered a long sermon to the states on the brief supplied by his majesty, told them that to have vorstius as successor to arminius was to fall out of the frying-pan into the fire, and handed them a "catalogue" prepared by the king of the blasphemies, heresies, and atheisms of the professor. "notwithstanding that the man in full assembly of the states of holland," said the ambassador with headlong and confused rhetoric, "had found the means to palliate and plaster the dung of his heresies, and thus to dazzle the eyes of good people," yet it was necessary to protest most vigorously against such an appointment, and to advise that "his works should be publicly burned in the open places of all the cities." the professor never was admitted to perform his functions of theology, but he remained at leyden, so winwood complained, "honoured, recognized as a singularity and ornament to the academy in place of the late joseph scaliger."--"the friendship of the king and the heresy of vorstius are quite incompatible," said the envoy. meantime the advocate, much distressed at the animosity of england bursting forth so violently on occasion of the appointment of a divinity professor at leyden, and at the very instant too when all the acuteness of his intellect was taxed to keep on good or even safe terms with france, did his best to stem these opposing currents. his private letters to his old and confidential friend, noel de carom, states' ambassador in london, reveal the perplexities of his soul and the upright patriotism by which he was guided in these gathering storms. and this correspondence, as well as that maintained by him at a little later period with the successor of aerssens at paris, will be seen subsequently to have had a direct and most important bearing upon the policy of the republic and upon his own fate. it is necessary therefore that the reader, interested in these complicated affairs which were soon to bring on a sanguinary war on a scale even vaster than the one which had been temporarily suspended, should give close attention to papers never before exhumed from the musty sepulchre of national archives, although constantly alluded to in the records of important state trials. it is strange enough to observe the apparent triviality of the circumstances out of which gravest events seem to follow. but the circumstances were in reality threads of iron which led down to the very foundations of the earth. "i wish to know," wrote the advocate to caron, "from whom the archbishop of canterbury received the advices concerning vorstius in order to find out what is meant by all this." it will be remembered that whitgift was of opinion that james was directly inspired by the holy ghost, and that as he affected to deem him the anointed high-priest of england, it was natural that he should encourage the king in his claims to be 'pontifex maximus' for the netherlands likewise. "we are busy here," continued barneveld, "in examining all things for the best interests of the country and the churches. i find the nobles and cities here well resolved in this regard, although there be some disagreements 'in modo.' vorstius, having been for many years professor and minister of theology at steinfurt, having manifested his learning in many books written against the jesuits, and proved himself pure and moderate in doctrine, has been called to the vacant professorship at leyden. this appointment is now countermined by various means. we are doing our best to arrange everything for the highest good of the provinces and the churches. believe this and believe nothing else. pay heed to no other information. remember what took place in flanders, events so well known to you. it is not for me to pass judgment in these matters. do you, too, suspend your judgment." the advocate's allusion was to the memorable course of affairs in flanders at an epoch when many of the most inflammatory preachers and politicians of the reformed religion, men who refused to employ a footman or a housemaid not certified to be thoroughly orthodox, subsequently after much sedition and disturbance went over to spain and the catholic religion. a few weeks later barneveld sent copies to caron of the latest harangues of winwood in the assembly and the reply of my lords on the vorstian business; that is to say, the freshest dialogue on predestination between the king and the advocate. for as james always dictated word for word the orations of his envoy, so had their mightinesses at this period no head and no mouthpiece save barneveld alone. nothing could be drearier than these controversies, and the reader shall be spared as much, as possible the infliction of reading them. it will be necessary, however, for the proper understanding of subsequent events that he should be familiar with portions of the advocate's confidential letters. "sound well the gentleman you wot of," said barneveld, "and other personages as to the conclusive opinions over there. the course of the propositions does not harmonize with what i have myself heard out of the king's mouth at other times, nor with the reports of former ambassadors. i cannot well understand that the king should, with such preciseness, condemn all other opinions save those of calvin and beza. it is important to the service of this country that one should know the final intention of his majesty." and this was the misery of the position. for it was soon to appear that the king's definite and final intentions, varied from day to day. it was almost humorous to find him at that moment condemning all opinions but those of calvin and beza in holland, while his course to the strictest confessors of that creed in england was so ferocious. but vorstius was a rival author to his majesty on subjects treated of by both, so that literary spite of the most venomous kind, stirred into theological hatred, was making a dangerous mixture. had a man with the soul and sense of the advocate sat on the throne which james was regarding at that moment as a professor's chair, the world's history would have been changed. "i fear," continued barneveld, "that some of our own precisians have been spinning this coil for us over there, and if the civil authority can be thus countermined, things will go as in flanders in your time. pray continue to be observant, discreet, and moderate." the advocate continued to use his best efforts to smooth the rising waves. he humoured and even flattered the king, although perpetually denounced by winwood in his letters to his sovereign as tyrannical, over-bearing, malignant, and treacherous. he did his best to counsel moderation and mutual toleration, for he felt that these needless theological disputes about an abstract and insoluble problem of casuistry were digging an abyss in which the republic might be swallowed up for ever. if ever man worked steadily with the best lights of experience and inborn sagacity for the good of his country and in defence of a constitutional government, horribly defective certainly, but the only legal one, and on the whole a more liberal polity than any then existing, it was barneveld. courageously, steadily, but most patiently, he stood upon that position so vital and daily so madly assailed; the defence of the civil authority against the priesthood. he felt instinctively and keenly that where any portion of the subjects or citizens of a country can escape from the control of government and obey other head than the lawful sovereignty, whether monarchical or republican, social disorder and anarchy must be ever impending. "we are still tortured by ecclesiastical disputes," he wrote a few weeks later to caron. "besides many libels which have appeared in print, the letters of his majesty and the harangues of winwood have been published; to what end you who know these things by experience can judge. the truth of the matter of vorstius is that he was legally called in july , that he was heard last may before my lords the states with six preachers to oppose him, and in the same month duly accepted and placed in office. he has given no public lectures as yet. you will cause this to be known on fitting opportunity. believe and cause to be believed that his majesty's letters and sir r. winwood's propositions have been and shall be well considered, and that i am working with all my strength to that end. you know the constitution of our country, and can explain everything for the best. many pious and intelligent people in this state hold themselves assured that his majesty according to his royal exceeding great wisdom, foresight, and affection for the welfare of this land will not approve that his letters and winwood's propositions should be scattered by the press among the common people. believe and cause to be believed, to your best ability, that my lords the states of holland desire to maintain the true christian, reformed religion as well in the university of leyden as in all their cities and villages. the only dispute is on the high points of predestination and its adjuncts, concerning which moderation and a more temperate teaching is furthered by some amongst us. many think that such is the edifying practice in england. pray have the kindness to send me the english confession of the year , with the corrections and alterations up to this year." but the fires were growing hotter, fanned especially by flemish ministers, a brotherhood of whom barneveld had an especial distrust, and who certainly felt great animosity to him. his moderate counsels were but oil to the flames. he was already depicted by zealots and calumniators as false to the reformed creed. "be assured and assure others," he wrote again to caron, "that in the matter of religion i am, and by god's grace shall remain, what i ever have been. make the same assurances as to my son-in-law and brother. we are not a little amazed that a few extraordinary puritans, mostly flemings and frisians, who but a short time ago had neither property nor kindred in the country, and have now very little of either, and who have given but slender proofs of constancy or service to the fatherland, could through pretended zeal gain credit over there against men well proved in all respects. we wonder the more because they are endeavouring, in ecclesiastical matters at least, to usurp an extraordinary authority, against which his majesty, with very weighty reasons, has so many times declared his opinion founded upon god's word and upon all laws and principles of justice." it was barneveld's practice on this as on subsequent occasions very courteously to confute the king out of his own writings and speeches, and by so doing to be unconsciously accumulating an undying hatred against himself in the royal breast. certainly nothing could be easier than to show that james, while encouraging in so reckless a manner the emancipation of the ministers of an advanced sect in the reformed church from control of government, and their usurpation of supreme authority which had been destroyed in england, was outdoing himself in dogmatism and inconsistency. a king-highpriest, who dictated his supreme will to bishops and ministers as well as to courts and parliaments, was ludicrously employed in a foreign country in enforcing the superiority of the church to the state. "you will give good assurances," said the advocate, "upon my word, that the conservation of the true reformed religion is as warmly cherished here, especially by me, as at any time during the war." he next alluded to the charges then considered very grave against certain writings of vorstius, and with equal fairness to his accusers as he had been to the professor gave a pledge that the subject should be examined. "if the man in question," he said, "be the author, as perhaps falsely imputed, of the work 'de filiatione christi' or things of that sort, you may be sure that he shall have no furtherance here." he complained, however, that before proof the cause was much prejudiced by the circulation through the press of letters on the subject from important personages in england. his own efforts to do justice in the matter were traversed by such machinations. if the professor proved to be guilty of publications fairly to be deemed atheistical and blasphemous, he should be debarred from his functions, but the outcry from england was doing more harm than good. "the published extract from the letter of the archbishop," he wrote, "to the effect that the king will declare my lords the states to be his enemies if they are not willing to send the man away is doing much harm." truly, if it had come to this--that a king of england was to go to war with a neighbouring and friendly republic because an obnoxious professor of theology was not instantly hurled from a university of which his majesty was not one of the overseers--it was time to look a little closely into the functions of governments and the nature of public and international law. not that the sword of james was in reality very likely to be unsheathed, but his shriekings and his scribblings, pacific as he was himself, were likely to arouse passions which torrents of blood alone could satiate. "the publishing and spreading among the community," continued barneveld, "of m. winwood's protestations and of many indecent libels are also doing much mischief, for the nature of this people does not tolerate such things. i hope, however, to obtain the removal according to his majesty's desire. keep me well informed, and send me word what is thought in england by the four divines of the book of vorstius, 'de deo,' and of his declarations on the points sent here by his majesty. let me know, too, if there has been any later confession published in england than that of the year , and whether the nine points pressed in the year were accepted and published in . if so, pray send them, as they maybe made use of in settling our differences here." thus it will be seen that the spirit of conciliation, of a calm but earnest desire to obtain a firm grasp of the most reasonable relations between church and state through patient study of the phenomena exhibited in other countries, were the leading motives of the man. yet he was perpetually denounced in private as an unbeliever, an atheist, a tyrant, because he resisted dictation from the clergy within the provinces and from kings outside them. "it was always held here to be one of the chief infractions of the laws and privileges of this country," he said, "that former princes had placed themselves in matter of religion in the tutelage of the pope and the spanish inquisition, and that they therefore on complaint of their good subjects could take no orders on that subject. therefore it cannot be considered strange that we are not willing here to fall into the same obloquy. that one should now choose to turn the magistrates, who were once so seriously summoned on their conscience and their office to adopt the reformation and to take the matter of religion to heart, into ignorants, to deprive them of knowledge, and to cause them to see with other eyes than their own, cannot by many be considered right and reasonable. 'intelligenti pauca.'" [the interesting letter from which i have given these copious extracts was ordered by its writer to be burned. "lecta vulcano" was noted at the end of it, as was not unfrequently the case with the advocate. it never was burned; but, innocent and reasonable as it seems, was made use of by barneveld's enemies with deadly effect. j.l.m.] meantime m. de refuge, as before stated, was on his way to the hague, to communicate the news of the double marriage. he had fallen sick at rotterdam, and the nature of his instructions and of the message he brought remained unknown, save from the previous despatches of aerssens. but reports were rife that he was about to propose new terms of alliance to the states, founded on large concessions to the roman catholic religion. of course intense jealousy was excited at the english court, and calumny plumed her wings for a fresh attack upon the advocate. of course he was sold to spain, the reformed religion was to be trampled out in the provinces, and the papacy and holy inquisition established on its ruins. nothing could be more diametrically the reverse of the fact than such hysterical suspicions as to the instructions of the ambassador extraordinary from france, and this has already appeared. the vorstian affair too was still in the same phase, the advocate professing a willingness that justice should be done in the matter, while courteously but firmly resisting the arrogant pretensions of james to take the matter out of the jurisdiction of the states. "i stand amazed," he said, "at the partisanship and the calumnious representations which you tell me of, and cannot imagine what is thought nor what is proposed. should m. de refuge make any such propositions as are feared, believe, and cause his majesty and his counsellors to believe, that they would be of no effect. make assurances upon my word, notwithstanding all advices to the contrary, that such things would be flatly refused. if anything is published or proven to the discredit of vorstius, send it to me. believe that we shall not defend heretics nor schismatics against the pure evangelical doctrine, but one cannot conceive here that the knowledge and judicature of the matter belongs anywhere else than to my lords the states of holland, in whose service he has legally been during four months before his majesty made the least difficulty about it. called hither legally a year before, with the knowledge and by the order of his excellency and the councillors of state of holland, he has been countermined by five or six flemings and frisians, who, without recognizing the lawful authority of the magistrates, have sought assistance in foreign countries--in germany and afterwards in england. yes, they have been so presumptuous as to designate one of their own men for the place. if such a proceeding should be attempted in england, i leave it to those whose business it would be to deal with it to say what would be done. i hope therefore that one will leave the examination and judgment of this matter freely to us, without attempting to make us--against the principles of the reformation and the liberties and laws of the land--executors of the decrees of others, as the man here wishes to obtrude it upon us." he alluded to the difficulty in raising the ways and means; saying that the quota of holland, as usual, which was more than half the whole, was ready, while other provinces were in arrears. yet they were protected, while holland was attacked. "methinks i am living in a strange world," he said, "when those who have received great honour from holland, and who in their conscience know that they alone have conserved the commonwealth, are now traduced with such great calumnies. but god the lord almighty is just, and will in his own time do chastisement." the affair of vorstius dragged its slow length along, and few things are more astounding at this epoch than to see such a matter, interesting enough certainly to theologians, to the university, and to the rising generation of students, made the topic of unceasing and embittered diplomatic controversy between two great nations, who had most pressing and momentous business on their hands. but it was necessary to humour the king, while going to the verge of imprudence in protecting the professor. in march he was heard, three or four hours long, before the assembly of holland, in answer to various charges made against him, being warned that "he stood before the lord god and before the sovereign authority of the states." although thought by many to have made a powerful defence, he was ordered to set it forth in writing, both in latin and in the vernacular. furthermore it was ordained that he should make a complete refutation of all the charges already made or that might be made during the ensuing three months against him in speech, book, or letter in england, germany, the netherlands, or anywhere else. he was allowed one year and a half to accomplish this work, and meantime was to reside not in leyden, nor the hague, but in some other town of holland, not delivering lectures or practising his profession in any way. it might be supposed that sufficient work had been thus laid out for the unfortunate doctor of divinity without lecturing or preaching. the question of jurisdiction was saved. the independence of the civil authority over the extreme pretensions of the clergy had been vindicated by the firmness of the advocate. james bad been treated with overflowing demonstrations of respect, but his claim to expel a dutch professor from his chair and country by a royal fiat had been signally rebuked. certainly if the provinces were dependent upon the british king in regard to such a matter, it was the merest imbecility for them to affect independence. barneveld had carried his point and served his country strenuously and well in this apparently small matter which human folly had dilated into a great one. but deep was the wrath treasured against him in consequence in clerical and royal minds. returning from wesel after the negotiations, sir ralph winwood had an important interview at arnheim with prince maurice, in which they confidentially exchanged their opinions in regard to the advocate, and mutually confirmed their suspicions and their jealousies in regard to that statesman. the ambassador earnestly thanked the prince in the king's name for his "careful and industrious endeavours for the maintenance of the truth of religion, lively expressed in prosecuting the cause against vorstius and his adherents." he then said: "i am expressly commanded that his majesty conferring the present condition of affairs of this quarter of the world with those advertisements he daily receives from his ministers abroad, together with the nature and disposition of those men who have in their hands the managing of all business in these foreign parts, can make no other judgment than this. "there is a general ligue and confederation complotted far the subversion and ruin of religion upon the subsistence whereof his majesty doth judge the main welfare of your realms and of these provinces solely to consist. "therefore his majesty has given me charge out of the knowledge he has of your great worth and sufficiency," continued winwood, "and the confidence he reposes in your faith and affection, freely to treat with you on these points, and withal to pray you to deliver your opinion what way would be the most compendious and the most assured to contrequarr these complots, and to frustrate the malice of these mischievous designs." the prince replied by acknowledging the honour the king had vouchsafed to do him in holding so gracious an opinion of him, wherein his majesty should never be deceived. "i concur in judgment with his majesty," continued the prince, "that the main scope at which these plots and practices do aim, for instance, the alliance between france and spain, is this, to root out religion, and by consequence to bring under their yoke all those countries in which religion is professed. "the first attempt," continued the prince, "is doubtless intended against these provinces. the means to countermine and defeat these projected designs i take to be these: the continuance of his majesty's constant resolution for the protection of religion, and then that the king would be pleased to procure a general confederation between the kings, princes, and commonwealths professing religion, namely, denmark, sweden, the german princes, the protestant cantons of switzerland, and our united provinces. "of this confederation, his majesty must be not only the director, but the head and protector. "lastly, the protestants of france should be, if not supported, at least relieved from that oppression which the alliance of spain doth threaten upon them. this, i insist," repeated maurice with great fervour, "is the only coupegorge of all plots whatever between france and spain." he enlarged at great length on these points, which he considered so vital. "and what appearance can there be," asked winwood insidiously and maliciously, "of this general confederation now that these provinces, which heretofore have been accounted a principal member of the reformed church, begin to falter in the truth of religion? "he who solely governs the metropolitan province of holland," continued the ambassador, with a direct stab in the back at barneveld, "is reputed generally, as your excellency best knows, to be the only patron of vorstius, and the protector of the schisms of arminius. and likewise, what possibility is there that the protestants of france can expect favour from these provinces when the same man is known to depend at the devotion of france?" the international, theological, and personal jealousy of the king against holland's advocate having been thus plainly developed, the ambassador proceeded to pour into the prince's ear the venom of suspicion, and to inflame his jealousy against his great rival. the secret conversation showed how deeply laid was the foundation of the political hatred, both of james and of maurice, against the advocate, and certainly nothing could be more preposterous than to imagine the king as the director and head of the great protestant league. we have but lately seen him confidentially assuring his minister that his only aim was "to wind himself handsomely out of the whole business." maurice must have found it difficult to preserve his gravity when assigning such a part to "master jacques." "although monsieur barneveld has cast off all care of religion," said maurice, "and although some towns in holland, wherein his power doth reign, are infected with the like neglect, yet so long as so many good towns in holland stand sound, and all the other provinces of this confederacy, the proposition would at the first motion be cheerfully accepted. "i confess i find difficulty in satisfying your second question," continued the prince, "for i acknowledge that barneveld is wholly devoted to the service of france. during the truce negotiations, when some difference arose between him and myself, president jeannin came to me, requiring me in the french king's name to treat monsieur barneveld well, whom the king had received into his protection. the letters which the states' ambassador in france wrote to barneveld (and to him all ambassadors address their despatches of importance), the very autographs themselves, he sent back into the hands of villeroy." here the prince did not scruple to accuse the advocate of doing the base and treacherous trick against aerssens which he had expressly denied doing, and which had been done during his illness, as he solemnly avowed, by a subordinate probably for the sake of making mischief. maurice then discoursed largely and vehemently of the suspicious proceedings of barneveld, and denounced him as dangerous to the state. "when one man who has the conduct of all affairs in his sole power," he said, "shall hold underhand intelligence with the ministers of spain and the archduke, and that without warrant, thereby he may have the means so to carry the course of affairs that, do what they will, these provinces must fall or stand at the mercy and discretion of spain. therefore some good resolutions must be taken in time to hold up this state from a sudden downfall, but in this much moderation and discretion must be used." the prince added that he had invited his cousin lewis william to appear at the hague at may day, in order to consult as to the proper means to preserve the provinces from confusion under his majesty's safeguard, and with the aid of the englishmen in the states' service whom maurice pronounced to be "the strength and flower of his army." thus the prince developed his ideas at great length, and accused the advocate behind his back, and without the faintest shadow of proof, of base treachery to his friends and of high-treason. surely barneveld was in danger, and was walking among pitfalls. most powerful and deadly enemies were silently banding themselves together against him. could he long maintain his hold on the slippery heights of power, where he was so consciously serving his country, but where he became day by day a mere shining mark for calumny and hatred? the ambassador then signified to the prince that he had been instructed to carry to him the king's purpose to confer on him the order of the garter. "if his majesty holds me worthy of so great honour," said the prince, "i and my family shall ever remain bound to his service and that of his royal posterity. "that the states should be offended i see no cause, but holding the charge i do in their service, i could not accept the honour without first acquainting them and receiving their approbation." winwood replied that, as the king knew the terms on which the prince lived with the states, he doubted not his majesty would first notify them and say that he honoured the mutual amity between his realms and these provinces by honouring the virtues of their general, whose services, as they had been most faithful and affectionate, so had they been accompanied with the blessings of happiness and prosperous success. thus said winwood to the king: "your majesty may plaster two walls with one trowel ('una fidelia duos dealbare parietes'), reverse the designs of them who to facilitate their own practices do endeavour to alienate your affections from the good of these provinces, and oblige to your service the well-affected people, who know that there is no surety for themselves, their wives and children, but under the protection of your majesty's favour. perhaps, however, the favourers of vorstius and arminius will buzz into the ears of their associates that your majesty would make a party in these provinces by maintaining the truth of religion and also by gaining unto you the affections of their chief commander. but your majesty will be pleased to pass forth whose worthy ends will take their place, which is to honour virtue where you find it, and the suspicious surmises of malice and envy in one instant will vanish into smoke." winwood made no scruple in directly stating to the english government that barneveld's purpose was to "cause a divorce between the king's realms and the provinces, the more easily to precipitate them into the arms of spain." he added that the negotiation with count maurice then on foot was to be followed, but with much secrecy, on account of the place he held in the state. soon after the ambassador's secret conversation with maurice he had an interview with barneveld. he assured the advocate that no contentment could be given to his majesty but by the banishment of vorstius. "if the town of leyden should understand so much," replied barneveld, "i fear the magistrates would retain him still in their town." "if the town of leyden should retain vorstius," answered winwood, "to brave or despight his majesty, the king has the means, if it pleases him to use them, and that without drawing sword, to range them to reason, and to make the magistrates on their knees demand his pardon, and i say as much of rotterdam." such insolence on the part of an ambassador to the first minister of a great republic was hard to bear. barneveld was not the man to brook it. he replied with great indignation. "i was born in liberty," he said with rising choler, "i cannot digest this kind of language. the king of spain himself never dared to speak in so high a style." "i well understand that logic," returned the ambassador with continued insolence. "you hold your argument to be drawn 'a majori ad minus;' but i pray you to believe that the king of great britain is peer and companion to the king of spain, and that his motto is, 'nemo me impune lacessit.'" and so they parted in a mutual rage; winwood adding on going out of the room, "whatsoever i propose to you in his majesty's name can find with you neither goust nor grace." he then informed lord rochester that "the man was extremely distempered and extremely distasted with his majesty. "some say," he added, "that on being in england when his majesty first came to the throne he conceived some offence, which ever since hath rankled in his heart, and now doth burst forth with more violent malice." nor was the matter so small as it superficially appeared. dependence of one nation upon the dictation of another can never be considered otherwise than grave. the subjection of all citizens, clerical or lay, to the laws of the land, the supremacy of the state over the church, were equally grave subjects. and the question of sovereignty now raised for the first time, not academically merely, but practically, was the gravest one of all. it was soon to be mooted vigorously and passionately whether the united provinces were a confederacy or a union; a league of sovereign and independent states bound together by treaty for certain specified purposes or an incorporated whole. the advocate and all the principal lawyers in the country had scarcely a doubt on the subject. whether it were a reasonable system or an absurd one, a vigorous or an imbecile form of government, they were confident that the union of utrecht, made about a generation of mankind before, and the only tie by which the provinces were bound together at all, was a compact between sovereigns. barneveld styled himself always the servant and officer of the states of holland. to them was his allegiance, for them he spoke, wrought, and thought, by them his meagre salary was paid. at the congress of the states-general, the scene of his most important functions, he was the ambassador of holland, acting nominally according to their instructions, and exercising the powers of minister of foreign affairs and, as it were, prime minister for the other confederates by their common consent. the system would have been intolerable, the great affairs of war and peace could never have been carried on so triumphantly, had not the preponderance of the one province holland, richer, more powerful, more important in every way than the other six provinces combined, given to the confederacy illegally, but virtually, many of the attributes of union. rather by usucaption than usurpation holland had in many regards come to consider herself and be considered as the republic itself. and barneveld, acting always in the name of holland and with the most modest of titles and appointments, was for a long time in all civil matters the chief of the whole country. this had been convenient during the war, still more convenient during negotiations for peace, but it was inevitable that there should be murmurs now that the cessation from military operations on a large scale had given men time to look more deeply into the nature of a constitution partly inherited and partly improvised, and having many of the defects usually incident to both sources of government. the military interest, the ecclesiastical power, and the influence of foreign nations exerted through diplomatic intrigue, were rapidly arraying themselves in determined hostility to barneveld and to what was deemed his tyrannous usurpation. a little later the national spirit, as opposed to provincial and municipal patriotism, was to be aroused against him, and was likely to prove the most formidable of all the elements of antagonism. it is not necessary to anticipate here what must be developed on a subsequent page. this much, however, it is well to indicate for the correct understanding of passing events. barneveld did not consider himself the officer or servant of their high mightinesses the states-general, while in reality often acting as their master, but the vassal and obedient functionary of their great mightinesses the states of holland, whom he almost absolutely controlled. his present most pressing business was to resist the encroachments of the sacerdotal power and to defend the magistracy. the casuistical questions which were fast maddening the public mind seemed of importance to him only as enclosing within them a more vital and practical question of civil government. but the anger of his opponents, secret and open, was rapidly increasing. envy, jealousy, political and clerical hate, above all, that deadliest and basest of malignant spirits which in partisan warfare is bred out of subserviency to rising and rival power, were swarming about him and stinging him at every step. no parasite of maurice could more effectively pay his court and more confidently hope for promotion or reward than by vilipending barneveld. it would be difficult to comprehend the infinite extent and power of slander without a study of the career of the advocate of holland. "i thank you for your advices," he wrote to carom' "and i wish from my heart that his majesty, according to his royal wisdom and clemency towards the condition of this country, would listen only to my lords the states or their ministers, and not to his own or other passionate persons who, through misunderstanding or malice, furnish him with information and so frequently flatter him. i have tried these twenty years to deserve his majesty's confidence, and have many letters from him reaching through twelve or fifteen years, in which he does me honour and promises his royal favour. i am the more chagrined that through false and passionate reports and information--because i am resolved to remain good and true to my lords the states, to the fatherland, and to the true christian religion--i and mine should now be so traduced. i hope that god almighty will second my upright conscience, and cause his majesty soon to see the injustice done to me and mine. to defend the resolutions of my lords the states of holland is my office, duty, and oath, and i assure you that those resolutions are taken with wider vision and scope than his majesty can believe. let this serve for my lords' defence and my own against indecent calumny, for my duty allows me to pursue no other course." he again alluded to the dreary affair of vorstius, and told the envoy that the venation caused by it was incredible. "that men unjustly defame our cities and their regents is nothing new," he said; "but i assure you that it is far more damaging to the common weal than the defamers imagine." some of the private admirers of arminius who were deeply grieved at so often hearing him "publicly decried as the enemy of god" had been defending the great heretic to james, and by so doing had excited the royal wrath not only against the deceased doctor and themselves, but against the states of holland who had given them no commission. on the other hand the advanced orthodox party, most bitter haters of barneveld, and whom in his correspondence with england he uniformly and perhaps designedly called the puritans, knowing that the very word was a scarlet rag to james, were growing louder and louder in their demands. "some thirty of these puritans," said he, "of whom at least twenty are flemings or other foreigners equally violent, proclaim that they and the like of them mean alone to govern the church. let his majesty compare this proposal with his royal present, with his salutary declaration at london in the year to doctor reynolds and his associates, and with his admonition delivered to the emperor, kings, sovereigns, and republics, and he will best understand the mischievous principles of these people, who are now gaining credit with him to the detriment of the freedom and laws of these provinces." a less enlightened statesman than barneveld would have found it easy enough to demonstrate the inconsistency of the king in thus preaching subserviency of government to church and favouring the rule of puritans over both. it needed but slender logic to reduce such a policy on his part to absurdity, but neither kings nor governments are apt to value themselves on their logic. so long as james could play the pedagogue to emperors, kings, and republics, it mattered little to him that the doctrines which he preached in one place he had pronounced flat blasphemy in another. that he would cheerfully hang in england the man whom he would elevate to power in holland might be inconsistency in lesser mortals; but what was the use of his infallibility if he was expected to be consistent? but one thing was certain. the advocate saw through him as if he had been made of glass, and james knew that he did. this fatal fact outweighed all the decorous and respectful phraseology under which barneveld veiled his remorseless refutations. it was a dangerous thing to incur the wrath of this despot-theologian. prince maurice, who had originally joined in the invitation given by the overseers of leyden to vorstius, and had directed one of the deputies and his own "court trumpeter," uytenbogaert, to press him earnestly to grant his services to the university, now finding the coldness of barneveld to the fiery remonstrances of the king, withdrew his protection of the professor. "the count maurice, who is a wise and understanding prince," said winwood, "and withal most affectionate to his majesty's service, doth foresee the miseries into which these countries are likely to fall, and with grief doth pine away." it is probable that the great stadholder had never been more robust, or indeed inclining to obesity, than precisely at this epoch; but sir ralph was of an imaginative turn. he had discovered, too, that the advocate's design was "of no other nature than so to stem the course of the state that insensibly the provinces shall fall by relapse into the hands of spain." a more despicable idea never entered a human brain. every action, word, and thought, of barneveld's life was a refutation of it. but he was unwilling, at the bidding of a king, to treat a professor with contumely who had just been solemnly and unanimously invited by the great university, by the states of holland, and by the stadholder to an important chair; and that was enough for the diplomatist and courtier. "he, and only he," said winwood passionately, "hath opposed his majesty's purposes with might and main." formerly the ambassador had been full of complaints of "the craving humour of count maurice," and had censured him bitterly in his correspondence for having almost by his inordinate pretensions for money and other property brought the treaty of truce to a standstill. and in these charges he was as unjust and as reckless as he was now in regard to barneveld. the course of james and his agents seemed cunningly devised to sow discord in the provinces, to inflame the growing animosity of the stadholder to the advocate, and to paralyse the action of the republic in the duchies. if the king had received direct instructions from the spanish cabinet how to play the spanish game, he could hardly have done it with more docility. but was not gondemar ever at his elbow, and the infanta always in the perspective? and it is strange enough that, at the same moment, spanish marriages were in france as well as england the turning-point of policy. henry had been willing enough that the dauphin should espouse a spanish infanta, and that one of the spanish princes should be affianced to one of his daughters. but the proposition from spain had been coupled with a condition that the friendship between france and the netherlands should be at once broken off, and the rebellious heretics left to their fate. and this condition had been placed before him with such arrogance that he had rejected the whole scheme. henry was not the man to do anything dishonourable at the dictation of another sovereign. he was also not the man to be ignorant that the friendship of the provinces was necessary to him, that cordial friendship between france and spain was impossible, and that to allow spain to reoccupy that splendid possession between his own realms and germany, from which she had been driven by the hollanders in close alliance with himself, would be unworthy of the veriest schoolboy in politics. but henry was dead, and a medici reigned in his place, whose whole thought was to make herself agreeable to spain. aerssens, adroit, prying, experienced, unscrupulous, knew very well that these double spanish marriages were resolved upon, and that the inevitable condition refused by the king would be imposed upon his widow. he so informed the states-general, and it was known to the french government that he had informed them. his position soon became almost untenable, not because he had given this information, but because the information and the inference made from it were correct. it will be observed that the policy of the advocate was to preserve friendly relations between france and england, and between both and the united provinces. it was for this reason that he submitted to the exhortations and denunciations of the english ambassadors. it was for this that he kept steadily in view the necessity of dealing with and supporting corporate france, the french government, when there were many reasons for feeling sympathy with the internal rebellion against that government. maurice felt differently. he was connected by blood or alliance with more than one of the princes now perpetually in revolt. bouillon was his brother-in-law, the sister of conde was his brother's wife. another cousin, the elector-palatine, was already encouraging distant and extravagant hopes of the imperial crown. it was not unnatural that he should feel promptings of ambition and sympathy difficult to avow even to himself, and that he should feel resentment against the man by whom this secret policy was traversed in the well-considered interest of the republican government. aerssens, who, with the keen instinct of self-advancement was already attaching himself to maurice as to the wheels of the chariot going steadily up the hill, was not indisposed to loosen his hold upon the man through whose friendship he had first risen, and whose power was now perhaps on the decline. moreover, events had now caused him to hate the french government with much fervour. with henry iv. he had been all-powerful. his position had been altogether exceptional, and he had wielded an influence at paris more than that exerted by any foreign ambassador. the change naturally did not please him, although he well knew the reasons. it was impossible for the dutch ambassador to be popular at a court where spain ruled supreme. had he been willing to eat humiliation as with a spoon, it would not have sufficed. they knew him, they feared him, and they could not doubt that his sympathies would ever be with the malcontent princes. at the same time he did not like to lose his hold upon the place, nor to have it known, as yet, to the world that his power was diminished. "the queen commands me to tell you," said the french ambassador de russy to the states-general, "that the language of the sieur aerssens has not only astonished her, but scandalized her to that degree that she could not refrain from demanding if it came from my lords the states or from himself. he having, however, affirmed to her majesty that he had express charge to justify it by reasons so remote from the hope and the belief that she had conceived of your gratitude to the most christian king and herself, she is constrained to complain of it, and with great frankness." some months later than this aerssens communicated to the states-general the project of the spanish marriage, "which," said he, "they have declared to me with so many oaths to be false." he informed them that m. de refuge was to go on special mission to the hague, "having been designated to that duty before aerssens' discovery of the marriage project." he was to persuade their mightinesses that the marriages were by no means concluded, and that, even if they were, their mightinesses were not interested therein, their majesties intending to remain by the old maxims and alliances of the late king. marriages, he would be instructed to say, were mere personal conventions, which remained of no consideration when the interests of the crown were touched. "nevertheless, i know very well," said aerssens, "that in england these negotiations are otherwise understood, and that the king has uttered great complaints about them, saying that such a negotiation as this ought not to have been concealed from him. he is pressing more than ever for reimbursement of the debt to him, and especially for the moneys pretended to have been furnished to your mightinesses in his majesty's name." thus it will be seen how closely the spanish marriages were connected with the immediate financial arrangements of france, england, and the states, without reference to the wider political consequences anticipated. "the princes and most gentlemen," here continued the ambassador, "believe that these reciprocal and double marriages will bring about great changes in christendom if they take the course which the authors of them intend, however much they may affect to believe that no novelties are impending. the marriages were proposed to the late king, and approved by him, during the negotiations for the truce, and had don pedro do toledo been able to govern himself, as jeannin has just been telling me, the united provinces would have drawn from it their assured security. what he means by that, i certainly cannot conceive, for don pedro proposed the marriage of the dauphin (now louis xiii.) with the infanta on the condition that henry should renounce all friendship with your mightinesses, and neither openly nor secretly give you any assistance. you were to be entirely abandoned, as an example for all who throw off the authority of their lawful prince. but his majesty answered very generously that he would take no conditions; that he considered your mightinesses as his best friends, whom he could not and would not forsake. upon this don pedro broke off the negotiation. what should now induce the king of spain to resume the marriage negotiations but to give up the conditions, i am sure i don't know, unless, through the truce, his designs and his ambition have grown flaccid. this i don't dare to hope, but fear, on the contrary, that he will so manage the irresolution, weakness, and faintheartedness of this kingdom as through the aid of his pensioned friends here to arrive at all his former aims." certainly the ambassador painted the condition of france in striking and veracious colours, and he was quite right in sending the information which he was first to discover, and which it was so important for the states to know. it was none the less certain in barneveld's mind that the best, not the worst, must be made of the state of affairs, and that france should not be assisted in throwing herself irrecoverably into the arms of spain. "refuge will tell you," said aerssens, a little later, "that these marriages will not interfere with the friendship of france for you nor with her subsidies, and that no advantage will be given to spain in the treaty to your detriment or that of her other allies. but whatever fine declarations they may make, it is sure to be detrimental. and all the princes, gentlemen, and officers here have the same conviction. those of the reformed religion believe that the transaction is directed solely against the religion which your mightinesses profess, and that the next step will be to effect a total separation between the two religions and the two countries." refuge arrived soon afterwards, and made the communication to the states-general of the approaching nuptials between the king of france and the infanta of spain; and of the prince of spain with madame, eldest daughter of france, exactly as aerssens had predicted four months before. there was a great flourish of compliments, much friendly phrase-making, and their mightinesses were informed that the communication of the marriages was made to them before any other power had been notified, in proof of the extraordinary affection entertained for them by france. "you are so much interested in the happiness of france," said refuge, "that this treaty by which it is secured will be for your happiness also. he did not indicate, however, the precise nature of the bliss beyond the indulgence of a sentimental sympathy, not very refreshing in the circumstances, which was to result to the confederacy from this close alliance between their firmest friend and their ancient and deadly enemy. he would have found it difficult to do so. "don rodrigo de calderon, secretary of state, is daily expected from spain," wrote, aerssens once more. "he brings probably the articles of the marriages, which have hitherto been kept secret, so they say. 'tis a shrewd negotiator; and in this alliance the king's chief design is to injure your mightinesses, as m. de villeroy now confesses, although he says that this will not be consented to on this side. it behoves your mightinesses to use all your ears and eyes. it is certain these are much more than private conventions. yes, there is nothing private about them, save the conjunction of the persons whom they concern. in short, all the conditions regard directly the state, and directly likewise, or by necessary consequence, the state of your mightinesses' provinces. i reserve explanations until it shall please your mightinesses to hear me by word of mouth." for it was now taken into consideration by the states' government whether aerssens was to remain at his post or to return. whether it was his wish to be relieved of his embassy or not was a question. but there was no question that the states at this juncture, and in spite of the dangers impending from the spanish marriages, must have an ambassador ready to do his best to keep france from prematurely sliding into positive hostility to them. aerssens was enigmatical in his language, and barneveld was somewhat puzzled. "i have according to your reiterated requests," wrote the advocate to the ambassador, "sounded the assembly of my lords the states as to your recall; but i find among some gentlemen the opinion that if earnestly pressed to continue you would be willing to listen to the proposal. this i cannot make out from your letters. please to advise me frankly as to your wishes, and assure yourself in everything of my friendship." nothing could be more straightforward than this language, but the envoy was less frank than barneveld, as will subsequently appear. the subject was a most important one, not only in its relation to the great affairs of state, but to momentous events touching the fate of illustrious personages. meantime a resolution was passed by the states of holland "in regard to the question whether ambassador aerssens should retain his office, yes or no?" and it was decided by a majority of votes "to leave it to his candid opinion if in his free conscience he thinks he can serve the public cause there any longer. if yes, he may keep his office one year more. if no, he may take leave and come home. in no case is his salary to be increased." surely the states, under the guidance of the advocate, had thus acted with consummate courtesy towards a diplomatist whose position from no apparent fault of his own but by the force of circumstances--and rather to his credit than otherwise--was gravely compromised. etext editor's bookmarks: advanced orthodox party-puritans atheist, a tyrant, because he resisted dictation from the clergy give him advice if he asked it, and money when he required he was not imperial of aspect on canvas or coin he who would have all may easily lose all king's definite and final intentions, varied from day to day neither kings nor governments are apt to value logic outdoing himself in dogmatism and inconsistency small matter which human folly had dilated into a great one the defence of the civil authority against the priesthood the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. the life of john of barneveld, v , - chapter vi. establishment of the condominium in the duchies--dissensions between the neuburgers and brandenburgers--occupation of julich by the brandenburgers assisted by the states-general--indignation in spain and at the court of the archdukes--subsidy despatched to brussels spinola descends upon aix-la-chapelle and takes possession of orsoy and other places--surrender of wesel--conference at xanten--treaty permanently dividing the territory between brandenburg and neuburg-- prohibition from spain--delays and disagreements. thus the 'condominium' had been peaceably established. three or four years passed away in the course of which the evils of a joint and undivided sovereignty of two rival houses over the same territory could not fail to manifest themselves. brandenburg, calvinist in religion, and for other reasons more intimately connected with and more favoured by the states' government than his rival, gained ground in the duchies. the palatine of neuburg, originally of lutheran faith like his father, soon manifested catholic tendencies, which excited suspicion in the netherlands. these suspicions grew into certainties at the moment when he espoused the sister of maximilian of bavaria and of the elector of cologne. that this close connection with the very heads of the catholic league could bode no good to the cause of which the states-general were the great promoters was self-evident. very soon afterwards the palatine, a man of mature age and of considerable talents, openly announced his conversion to the ancient church. obviously the sympathies of the states could not thenceforth fail to be on the side of brandenburg. the elector's brother died and was succeeded in the governorship of the condeminium by the elector's brother, a youth of eighteen. he took up his abode in cleve, leaving dusseldorf to be the sole residence of his co-stadholder. rivalry growing warmer, on account of this difference of religion, between the respective partisans of neuburg and brandenburg, an attempt was made in dusseldorf by a sudden entirely unsuspected rising of the brandenburgers to drive their antagonist colleagues and their portion of the garrison out of the city. it failed, but excited great anger. a more successful effort was soon afterwards made in julich; the neuburgers were driven out, and the brandenburgers remained in sole possession of the town and citadel, far the most important stronghold in the whole territory. this was partly avenged by the neuburgers, who gained absolute control of dusseldorf. here were however no important fortifications, the place being merely an agreeable palatial residence and a thriving mart. the states-general, not concealing their predilection for brandenburg, but under pretext of guarding the peace which they had done so much to establish, placed a garrison of infantry and a troop or two of horse in the citadel of julich. dire was the anger not unjustly excited in spain when the news of this violation of neutrality reached that government. julich, placed midway between liege and cologne, and commanding those fertile plains which make up the opulent duchy, seemed virtually converted into a province of the detested heretical republic. the german gate of the spanish netherlands was literally in the hands of its most formidable foe. the spaniards about the court of the archduke did not dissemble their rage. the seizure of julich was a stain upon his reputation, they cried. was it not enough, they asked, for the united provinces to have made a truce to the manifest detriment and discredit of spain, and to have treated her during all the negotiation with such insolence? were they now to be permitted to invade neutral territory, to violate public faith, to act under no responsibility save to their own will? what was left for them to do except to set up a tribunal in holland for giving laws to the whole of northern europe? arrogating to themselves absolute power over the controverted states of cleve, julich, and the dependencies, they now pretended to dispose of them at their pleasure in order at the end insolently to take possession of them for themselves. these were the egregious fruits of the truce, they said tauntingly to the discomfited archduke. it had caused a loss of reputation, the very soul of empires, to the crown of spain. and now, to conclude her abasement, the troops in flanders had been shaven down with such parsimony as to make the monarch seem a shopkeeper, not a king. one would suppose the obedient netherlands to be in the heart of spain rather than outlying provinces surrounded by their deadliest enemies. the heretics had gained possession of the government at aix-la-chapelle; they had converted the insignificant town of mulheim into a thriving and fortified town in defiance of cologne and to its manifest detriment, and in various other ways they had insulted the catholics throughout those regions. and who could wonder at such insolence, seeing that the army in flanders, formerly the terror of heretics, had become since the truce so weak as to be the laughing-stock of the united provinces? if it was expensive to maintain these armies in the obedient netherlands, let there be economy elsewhere, they urged. from india came gold and jewels. from other kingdoms came ostentation and a long series of vain titles for the crown of spain. flanders was its place of arms, its nursery of soldiers, its bulwark in europe, and so it should be preserved. there was ground for these complaints. the army at the disposition of the archduke had been reduced to infantry and a handful of cavalry. the peace establishment of the republic amounted to , foot, horse, besides the french and english regiments. so soon as the news of the occupation of julich was officially communicated to the spanish cabinet, a subsidy of , crowns was at once despatched to brussels. levies of walloons and germans were made without delay by order of archduke albert and under guidance of spinola, so that by midsummer the army was swollen to , foot and horse. with these the great genoese captain took the field in the middle of august. on the nd of that month the army was encamped on some plains mid-way between maestricht and aachen. there was profound mystery both at brussels and at the hague as to the objective point of these military movements. anticipating an attack upon julich, the states had meantime strengthened the garrison of that important place with infantry and a regiment of horse. it seemed scarcely probable therefore that spinola would venture a foolhardy blow at a citadel so well fortified and defended. moreover, there was not only no declaration of war, but strict orders had been given by each of the apparent belligerents to their military commanders to abstain from all offensive movements against the adversary. and now began one of the strangest series of warlike evolution's that were ever recorded. maurice at the head of an army of , foot and horse manoeuvred in the neighbourhood of his great antagonist and professional rival without exchanging a blow. it was a phantom campaign, the prophetic rehearsal of dreadful marches and tragic histories yet to be, and which were to be enacted on that very stage and on still wider ones during a whole generation of mankind. that cynical commerce in human lives which was to become one of the chief branches of human industry in the century had already begun. spinola, after hovering for a few days in the neighbourhood, descended upon the imperial city of aachen (aix-la-chapelle). this had been one of the earliest towns in germany to embrace the reformed religion, and up to the close of the sixteenth century the control of the magistracy had been in the hands of the votaries of that creed. subsequently the catholics had contrived to acquire and keep the municipal ascendency, secretly supported by archduke albert, and much oppressing the protestants with imprisonments, fines, and banishment, until a new revolution which had occurred in the year , and which aroused the wrath of spinola. certainly, according to the ideas of that day, it did not seem unnatural in a city where a very large majority of the population were protestants that protestants should have a majority in the town council. it seemed, however, to those who surrounded the archduke an outrage which could no longer be tolerated, especially as a garrison of germans, supposed to have formed part of the states' army, had recently been introduced into the town. aachen, lying mostly on an extended plain, had but very slight fortifications, and it was commanded by a neighbouring range of hills. it had no garrison but the germans. spinola placed a battery or two on the hills, and within three days the town surrendered. the inhabitants expected a scene of carnage and pillage, but not a life was lost. no injury whatever was inflicted on person or property, according to the strict injunctions of the archduke. the germans were driven out, and other germans then serving under catholic banners were put in their places to protect the catholic minority, to whose keeping the municipal government was now confided. spinola, then entering the territory of cleve, took session of orsoy, an important place on the rhine, besides duren, duisburg, kaster, greevenbroek and berchem. leaving garrisons in these places, he razed the fortifications of mulheim, much to the joy of the archbishop and his faithful subjects of cologne, then crossed the rhine at rheinberg, and swooped down upon wesel. this flourishing and prosperous city had formerly belonged to the duchy of cleve. placed at the junction of the rhine and lippe and commanding both rivers, it had become both powerful and protestant, and had set itself up as a free imperial city, recognising its dukes no longer as sovereigns, but only as protectors. so fervent was it in the practice of the reformed religion that it was called the rhenish geneva, the cradle of german calvinism. so important was its preservation considered to the cause of protestantism that the states-general had urged its authorities to accept from them a garrison. they refused. had they complied, the city would have been saved, because it was the rule in this extraordinary campaign that the belligerents made war not upon each other, nor in each others territory, but against neutrals and upon neutral soil. the catholic forces under spinola or his lieutenants, meeting occasionally and accidentally with the protestants under maurice or his generals, exchanged no cannon shots or buffets, but only acts of courtesy; falling away each before the other, and each ceding to the other with extreme politeness the possession of towns which one had preceded the other in besieging. the citizens of wesel were amazed at being attacked, considering themselves as imperial burghers. they regretted too late that they had refused a garrison from maurice, which would have prevented spinola from assailing them. they had now nothing for it but to surrender, which they did within three days. the principal condition of the capitulation was that when julich should be given up by the states wesel should be restored to its former position. spinola then took and garrisoned the city of xanten, but went no further. having weakened his army sufficiently by the garrisons taken from it for the cities captured by him, he declined to make any demonstration upon the neighbouring and important towns of emmerich and rees. the catholic commander falling back, the protestant moved forward. maurice seized both emmerich and rees, and placed garrisons within them, besides occupying goch, kranenburg, gennip, and various places in the county of mark. this closed the amicable campaign. spinola established himself and his forces near wesel. the prince encamped near rees. the two armies were within two hours' march of each other. the duke of neuburg--for the palatine had now succeeded on his father's death to the ancestral dukedom and to his share of the condominium of the debateable provinces--now joined spinola with an army of foot and horse. the young prince of brandenburg came to maurice with cavalry and an infantry regiment of the elector-palatine. negotiations destined to be as spectral and fleeting as the campaign had been illusory now began. the whole protestant world was aflame with indignation at the loss of wesel. the states' government had already proposed to deposit julich in the hands of a neutral power if the archduke would abstain from military movements. but albert, proud of his achievements in aachen, refused to pause in his career. let them make the deposit first, he said. both belligerents, being now satiated with such military glory as could flow from the capture of defenceless cities belonging to neutrals, agreed to hold conferences at xanten. to this town, in the duchy of cleve, and midway between the rival camps, came sir henry wotton and sir dudley carleton, ambassadors of great britain; de refuge and de russy, the special and the resident ambassador of france at the hague; chancellor peter pecquius and counsellor visser, to represent the archdukes; seven deputies from the united provinces, three from the elector of cologne, three from brandenburg, three from neuburg, and two from the elector-palatine, as representative of the protestant league. in the earlier conferences the envoys of the archduke and of the elector of cologne were left out, but they were informed daily of each step in the negotiation. the most important point at starting was thought to be to get rid of the 'condominium.' there could be no harmony nor peace in joint possession. the whole territory should be cut provisionally in halves, and each possessory prince rule exclusively within the portion assigned to him. there might also be an exchange of domain between the two every six months. as for wesel and julich, they could remain respectively in the hands then holding them, or the fortifications of julich might be dismantled and wesel restored to the status quo. the latter alternative would have best suited the states, who were growing daily more irritated at seeing wesel, that protestant stronghold, with an exclusively calvinistic population, in the hands of catholics. the spanish ambassador at brussels remonstrated, however, at the thought of restoring his precious conquest, obtained without loss of time, money, or blood, into the hands of heretics, at least before consultation with the government at madrid and without full consent of the king. "how important to your majesty's affairs in flanders," wrote guadaleste to philip, "is the acquisition of wesel may be seen by the manifest grief of your enemies. they see with immense displeasure your royal ensigns planted on the most important place on the rhine, and one which would become the chief military station for all the armies of flanders to assemble in at any moment. "as no acquisition could therefore be greater, so your majesty should never be deprived of it without thorough consideration of the case. the archduke fears, and so do his ministers, that if we refuse to restore wesel, the united provinces would break the truce. for my part i believe, and there are many who agree with me, that they would on the contrary be more inclined to stand by the truce, hoping to obtain by negotiation that which it must be obvious to them they cannot hope to capture by force. but let wesel be at once restored. let that be done which is so much desired by the united provinces and other great enemies and rivals of your majesty, and what security will there be that the same provinces will not again attempt the same invasion? is not the example of julich fresh? and how much more important is wesel! julich was after all not situate on their frontiers, while wesel lies at their principal gates. your majesty now sees the good and upright intentions of those provinces and their friends. they have made a settlement between brandenburg and neuburg, not in order to breed concord but confusion between those two, not tranquillity for the country, but greater turbulence than ever before. nor have they done this with any other thought than that the united provinces might find new opportunities to derive the same profit from fresh tumults as they have already done so shamelessly from those which are past. after all i don't say that wesel should never be restored, if circumstances require it, and if your majesty, approving the treaty of xanten, should sanction the measure. but such a result should be reached only after full consultation with your majesty, to whose glorious military exploits these splendid results are chiefly owing." the treaty finally decided upon rejected the principle of alternate possession, and established a permanent division of the territory in dispute between brandenburg and neuburg. the two portions were to be made as equal as possible, and lots were to be thrown or drawn by the two princes for the first choice. to the one side were assigned the duchy of cleve, the county of mark, and the seigniories of ravensberg and ravenstein, with some other baronies and feuds in brabant and flanders; to the other the duchies of julich and berg with their dependencies. each prince was to reside exclusively within the territory assigned to him by lot. the troops introduced by either party were to be withdrawn, fortifications made since the preceding month of may to be razed, and all persons who had been expelled, or who had emigrated, to be restored to their offices, property, or benefices. it was also stipulated that no place within the whole debateable territory should be put in the hands of a third power. these articles were signed by the ambassadors of france and england, by the deputies of the elector-palatine and of the united provinces, all binding their superiors to the execution of the treaty. the arrangement was supposed to refer to the previous conventions between those two crowns, with the republic, and the protestant princes and powers. count zollern, whom we have seen bearing himself so arrogantly as envoy from the emperor rudolph to henry iv., was now despatched by matthias on as fruitless a mission to the congress at xanten, and did his best to prevent the signature of the treaty, except with full concurrence of the imperial government. he likewise renewed the frivolous proposition that the emperor should hold all the provinces in sequestration until the question of rightful sovereignty should be decided. the "proud and haggard" ambassador was not more successful in this than in the diplomatic task previously entrusted to him, and he then went to brussels, there to renew his remonstrances, menaces, and intrigues. for the treaty thus elaborately constructed, and in appearance a triumphant settlement of questions so complicated and so burning as to threaten to set christendom at any moment in a blaze, was destined to an impotent and most unsatisfactory conclusion. the signatures were more easily obtained than the ratifications. execution was surrounded with insurmountable difficulties which in negotiation had been lightly skipped over at the stroke of a pen. at the very first step, that of military evacuation, there was a stumble. maurice and spinola were expected to withdraw their forces, and to undertake to bring in no troops in the future, and to make no invasion of the disputed territory. but spinola construed this undertaking as absolute; the prince as only binding in consequence of, with reference to, and for the duration of; the treaty of xanten. the ambassadors and other commissioners, disgusted with the long controversy which ensued, were making up their minds to depart when a courier arrived from spain, bringing not a ratification but strict prohibition of the treaty. the articles were not to be executed, no change whatever was to be made, and, above all, wesel was not to be restored without fresh negotiations with philip, followed by his explicit concurrence. thus the whole great negotiation began to dissolve into a shadowy, unsatisfactory pageant. the solid barriers which were to imprison the vast threatening elements of religious animosity and dynastic hatreds, and to secure a peaceful future for christendom, melted into films of gossamer, and the great war of demons, no longer to be quelled by the commonplaces of diplomatic exorcism, revealed its close approach. the prospects of europe grew blacker than ever. the ambassadors, thoroughly disheartened and disgusted, all took their departure from xanten, and the treaty remained rather a by-word than a solution or even a suggestion. "the accord could not be prevented," wrote archduke albert to philip, "because it depended alone on the will of the signers. nor can the promise to restore wesel be violated, should julich be restored. who can doubt that such contravention would arouse great jealousies in france, england, the united provinces, and all the members of the heretic league of germany? who can dispute that those interested ought to procure the execution of the treaty? suspicions will not remain suspicions, but they light up the flames of public evil and disturbance. either your majesty wishes to maintain the truce, in which case wesel must be restored, or to break the truce, a result which is certain if wesel be retained. but the reasons which induced your majesty to lay down your arms remain the same as ever. our affairs are not looking better, nor is the requisition of wesel of so great importance as to justify our involving flanders in a new and more atrocious war than that which has so lately been suspended. the restitution is due to the tribunal of public faith. it is a great advantage when actions done for the sole end of justice are united to that of utility. consider the great successes we have had. how well the affairs of aachen and mulbeim have been arranged; those of the duke of neuburg how completely re-established. the catholic cause, always identical with that of the house of austria, remains in great superiority to the cause of the heretics. we should use these advantages well, and to do so we should not immaturely pursue greater ones. fortune changes, flies when we most depend on her, and delights in making her chief sport of the highest quality of mortals." thus wrote the archduke sensibly, honourably from his point of view, and with an intelligent regard to the interests of spain and the catholic cause. after months of delay came conditional consent from madrid to the conventions, but with express condition that there should be absolute undertaking on the part of the united provinces never to send or maintain troops in the duchies. tedious and futile correspondence followed between brussels, the hague, london, paris. but the difficulties grew every moment. it was a penelope's web of negotiation, said one of the envoys. amid pertinacious and wire-drawn subtleties, every trace of practical business vanished. neuburg departed to look after his patrimonial estates; leaving his interests in the duchies to be watched over by the archduke. even count zollern, after six months of wrangling in brussels, took his departure. prince maurice distributed his army in various places within the debateable land, and spinola did the same, leaving a garrison of foot and horse in the important city of wesel. the town and citadel of julich were as firmly held by maurice for the protestant cause. thus the duchies were jointly occupied by the forces of catholicism and protestantism, while nominally possessed and administered by the princes of brandenburg and neuburg. and so they were destined to remain until that thirty years' war, now so near its outbreak, should sweep over the earth, and bring its fiery solution at last to all these great debates. chapter vii. proud position of the republic--france obeys her--hatred of carleton --position and character of aerssens--claim for the "third"--recall of aerssens--rivalry between maurice and barneveld, who always sustains the separate sovereignties of the provinces--conflict between church and state added to other elements of discord in the commonwealth--religion a necessary element in the life of all classes. thus the republic had placed itself in as proud a position as it was possible for commonwealth or kingdom to occupy. it had dictated the policy and directed the combined military movements of protestantism. it had gathered into a solid mass the various elements out of which the great germanic mutiny against rome, spain, and austria had been compounded. a breathing space of uncertain duration had come to interrupt and postpone the general and inevitable conflict. meantime the republic was encamped upon the enemy's soil. france, which had hitherto commanded, now obeyed. england, vacillating and discontented, now threatening and now cajoling, saw for the time at least its influence over the councils of the netherlands neutralized by the genius of the great statesman who still governed the provinces, supreme in all but name. the hatred of the british government towards the republic, while in reality more malignant than at any previous period, could now only find vent in tremendous, theological pamphlets, composed by the king in the form of diplomatic instructions, and hurled almost weekly at the heads of the states-general, by his ambassador, dudley carleton. few men hated barneveld more bitterly than did carleton. i wish to describe as rapidly, but as faithfully, as i can the outline at least of the events by which one of the saddest and most superfluous catastrophes in modern history was brought about. the web was a complex one, wrought apparently of many materials; but the more completely it is unravelled the more clearly we shall detect the presence of the few simple but elemental fibres which make up the tissue of most human destinies, whether illustrious or obscure, and out of which the most moving pictures of human history are composed. the religious element, which seems at first view to be the all pervading and controlling one, is in reality rather the atmosphere which surrounds and colours than the essence which constitutes the tragedy to be delineated. personal, sometimes even paltry, jealousy; love of power, of money, of place; rivalry between civil and military ambition for predominance in a free state; struggles between church and state to control and oppress each other; conflict between the cautious and healthy, but provincial and centrifugal, spirit on the one side, and the ardent centralizing, imperial, but dangerous, instinct on the other, for ascendancy in a federation; mortal combat between aristocracy disguised in the plebeian form of trading and political corporations and democracy sheltering itself under a famous sword and an ancient and illustrious name;--all these principles and passions will be found hotly at work in the melancholy five years with which we are now to be occupied, as they have entered, and will always enter, into every political combination in the great tragi-comedy which we call human history. as a study, a lesson, and a warning, perhaps the fate of barneveld is as deserving of serious attention as most political tragedies of the last few centuries. francis aerssens, as we have seen, continued to be the dutch ambassador after the murder of henry iv. many of the preceding pages of this volume have been occupied with his opinions, his pictures, his conversations, and his political intrigues during a memorable epoch in the history of the netherlands and of france. he was beyond all doubt one of the ablest diplomatists in europe. versed in many languages, a classical student, familiar with history and international law, a man of the world and familiar with its usages, accustomed to associate with dignity and tact on friendliest terms with sovereigns, eminent statesmen, and men of letters; endowed with a facile tongue, a fluent pen, and an eye and ear of singular acuteness and delicacy; distinguished for unflagging industry and singular aptitude for secret and intricate affairs;--he had by the exercise of these various qualities during a period of nearly twenty years at the court of henry the great been able to render inestimable services to the republic which he represented. of respectable but not distinguished lineage, not a hollander, but a belgian by birth, son of cornelis aerssens, grefter of the states-general, long employed in that important post, he had been brought forward from a youth by barneveld and early placed by him in the diplomatic career, of which through his favour and his own eminent talents he had now achieved the highest honours. he had enjoyed the intimacy and even the confidence of henry iv., so far as any man could be said to possess that monarch's confidence, and his friendly relations and familiar access to the king gave him political advantages superior to those of any of his colleagues at the same court. acting entirely and faithfully according to the instructions of the advocate of holland, he always gratefully and copiously acknowledged the privilege of being guided and sustained in the difficult paths he had to traverse by so powerful and active an intellect. i have seldom alluded in terms to the instructions and despatches of the chief, but every position, negotiation, and opinion of the envoy--and the reader has seen many of them--is pervaded by their spirit. certainly the correspondence of aerssens is full to overflowing of gratitude, respect, fervent attachment to the person and exalted appreciation of the intellect and high character of the advocate. there can be no question of aerssen's consummate abilities. whether his heart were as sound as his head, whether his protestations of devotion had the ring of true gold or not, time would show. hitherto barneveld had not doubted him, nor had he found cause to murmur at barneveld. but the france of henry iv., where the dutch envoy was so all-powerful, had ceased to exist. a duller eye than that of aerssens could have seen at a glance that the potent kingdom and firm ally of the republic had been converted, for a long time to come at least, into a spanish province. the double spanish marriages (that of the young louis xiii. with the infanta anna, and of his sister with the infante, one day to be philip iv.), were now certain, for it was to make them certain that the knife of ravaillac had been employed. the condition precedent to those marriages had long been known. it was the renunciation of the alliance between france and holland. it was the condemnation to death, so far as france had the power to condemn her to death, of the young republic. had not don pedro de toledo pompously announced this condition a year and a half before? had not henry spurned the bribe with scorn? and now had not francis aerssens been the first to communicate to his masters the fruit which had already ripened upon henry's grave? as we have seen, he had revealed these intrigues long before they were known to the world, and the french court knew that he had revealed them. his position had become untenable. his friendship for henry could not be of use to him with the delicate-featured, double-chinned, smooth and sluggish florentine, who had passively authorized and actively profited by her husband's murder. it was time for the envoy to be gone. the queen-regent and concini thought so. and so did villeroy and sillery and the rest of the old servants of the king, now become pensionaries of spain. but aerssens did not think so. he liked his position, changed as it was. he was deep in the plottings of bouillon and conde and the other malcontents against the queen-regent. these schemes, being entirely personal, the rank growth of the corruption and apparent disintegration of france, were perpetually changing, and could be reduced to no principle. it was a mere struggle of the great lords of france to wrest places, money, governments, military commands from the queen-regent, and frantic attempts on her part to save as much as possible of the general wreck for her lord and master concini. it was ridiculous to ascribe any intense desire on the part of the duc de bouillon to aid the protestant cause against spain at that moment, acting as he was in combination with conde, whom we have just seen employed by spain as the chief instrument to effect the destruction of france and the bastardy of the queen's children. nor did the sincere and devout protestants who had clung to the cause through good and bad report, men like duplessis-mornay, for example, and those who usually acted with him, believe in any of these schemes for partitioning france on pretence of saving protestantism. but bouillon, greatest of all french fishermen in troubled waters, was brother-in-law of prince maurice of nassau, and aerssens instinctively felt that the time had come when he should anchor himself to firm holding ground at home. the ambassador had also a personal grievance. many of his most secret despatches to the states-general in which he expressed himself very freely, forcibly, and accurately on the general situation in france, especially in regard to the spanish marriages and the treaty of hampton court, had been transcribed at the hague and copies of them sent to the french government. no baser act of treachery to an envoy could be imagined. it was not surprising that aerssens complained bitterly of the deed. he secretly suspected barneveld, but with injustice, of having played him this evil turn, and the incident first planted the seeds of the deadly hatred which was to bear such fatal fruit. "a notable treason has been played upon me," he wrote to jacques de maldere, "which has outraged my heart. all the despatches which i have been sending for several months to m. de barneveld have been communicated by copy in whole or in extracts to this court. villeroy quoted from them at our interview to-day, and i was left as it were without power of reply. the despatches were long, solid, omitting no particularity for giving means to form the best judgment of the designs and intrigues of this court. no greater damage could be done to me and my usefulness. all those from whom i have hitherto derived information, princes and great personages, will shut themselves up from me . . . . what can be more ticklish than to pass judgment on the tricks of those who are governing this state? this single blow has knocked me down completely. for i was moving about among all of them, making my profit of all, without any reserve. m. de barneveld knew by this means the condition of this kingdom as well as i do. certainly in a well-ordered republic it would cost the life of a man who had thus trifled with the reputation of an ambassador. i believe m. de barneveld will be sorry, but this will never restore to me the confidence which i have lost. if one was jealous of my position at this court, certainly i deserved rather pity from those who should contemplate it closely. if one wished to procure my downfall in order to raise oneself above me, there was no need of these tricks. i have been offering to resign my embassy this long time, which will now produce nothing but thorns for me. how can i negotiate after my private despatches have been read? l'hoste, the clerk of villeroy, was not so great a criminal as the man who revealed my despatches; and l'hoste was torn by four horses after his death. four months long i have been complaining of this to m. de barneveld. . . . patience! i am groaning without being able to hope for justice. i console myself, for my term of office will soon arrive. would that my embassy could have finished under the agreeable and friendly circumstances with which it began. the man who may succeed me will not find that this vile trick will help him much. . . . pray find out whence and from whom this intrigue has come." certainly an envoy's position could hardly be more utterly compromised. most unquestionably aerssens had reason to be indignant, believing as he did that his conscientious efforts in the service of his government had been made use of by his chief to undermine his credit and blast his character. there was an intrigue between the newly appointed french minister, de russy, at the hague and the enemies of aerssens to represent him to his own government as mischievous, passionate, unreasonably vehement in supporting the claims and dignity of his own country at the court to which he was accredited. not often in diplomatic history has an ambassador of a free state been censured or removed for believing and maintaining in controversy that his own government is in the right. it was natural that the french government should be disturbed by the vivid light which he had flashed upon their pernicious intrigues with spain to the detriment of the republic, and at the pertinacity with which he resisted their preposterous claim to be reimbursed for one-third of the money which the late king had advanced as a free subsidy towards the war of the netherlands for independence. but no injustice could be more outrageous than for the envoy's own government to unite with the foreign state in damaging the character of its own agent for the crime of fidelity to itself. of such cruel perfidy aerssens had been the victim, and he most wrongfully suspected his chief as its real perpetrator. the claim for what was called the "third" had been invented after the death of henry. as already explained, the "third" was not a gift from england to the netherlands. it was a loan from england to france, or more properly a consent to abstain from pressing for payment for this proportion of an old debt. james, who was always needy, had often desired, but never obtained, the payment of this sum from henry. now that the king was dead, he applied to the regent's government, and the regent's government called upon the netherlands, to pay the money. aerssens, as the agent of the republic, protested firmly against such claim. the money had been advanced by the king as a free gift, as his contribution to a war in which he was deeply interested, although he was nominally at peace with spain. as to the private arrangements between france and england, the republic, said the dutch envoy, was in no sense bound by them. he was no party to the treaty of hampton court, and knew nothing of its stipulations. courtiers and politicians in plenty at the french court, now that henry was dead, were quite sure that they had heard him say over and over again that the netherlands had bound themselves to pay the third. they persuaded mary de' medici that she likewise had often heard him say so, and induced her to take high ground on the subject in her interviews with aerssens. the luckless queen, who was always in want of money to satisfy the insatiable greed of her favourites, and to buy off the enmity of the great princes, was very vehement--although she knew as much of those transactions as of the finances of prester john or the lama of thibet--in maintaining this claim of her government upon the states. "after talking with the ministers," said aerssens, "i had an interview with the queen. i knew that she had been taught her lesson, to insist on the payment of the third. so i did not speak at all of the matter, but talked exclusively and at length of the french regiments in the states' service. she was embarrassed, and did not know exactly what to say. at last, without replying a single word to what i had been saying, she became very red in the face, and asked me if i were not instructed to speak of the money due to england. whereupon i spoke in the sense already indicated. she interrupted me by saying she had a perfect recollection that the late king intended and understood that we were to pay the third to england, and had talked with her very seriously on the subject. if he were living, he would think it very strange, she said, that we refused; and so on. "soissons, too, pretends to remember perfectly that such were the king's intentions. 'tis a very strange thing, sir. every one knows now the secrets of the late king, if you are willing to listen. yet he was not in the habit of taking all the world into his confidence. the queen takes her opinions as they give them to her. 'tis a very good princess, but i am sorry she is so ignorant of affairs. as she says she remembers, one is obliged to say one believes her. but i, who knew the king so intimately, and saw him so constantly, know that he could only have said that the third was paid in acquittal of his debts to and for account of the king of england, and not that we were to make restitution thereof. the chancellor tells me my refusal has been taken as an affront by the queen, and puysieux says it is a contempt which she can't swallow." aerssens on his part remained firm; his pertinacity being the greater as he thoroughly understood the subject which he was talking about, an advantage which was rarely shared in by those with whom he conversed. the queen, highly scandalized by his demeanour, became from that time forth his bitter enemy, and, as already stated, was resolved to be rid of him. nor was the envoy at first desirous of remaining. he had felt after henry's death and sully's disgrace, and the complete transformation of the france which he had known, that his power of usefulness was gone. "our enemies," he said, "have got the advantage which i used to have in times past, and i recognize a great coldness towards us, which is increasing every day." nevertheless, he yielded reluctantly to barneveld's request that he should for the time at least remain at his post. later on, as the intrigues against him began to unfold themselves, and his faithful services were made use of at home to blacken his character and procure his removal, he refused to resign, as to do so would be to play into the hands of his enemies, and by inference at least to accuse himself of infidelity to his trust. but his concealed rage and his rancor grew more deadly every day. he was fully aware of the plots against him, although he found it difficult to trace them to their source. "i doubt not," he wrote to jacques de maldere, the distinguished diplomatist and senator, who had recently returned from his embassy to england, "that this beautiful proposition of de russy has been sent to your province of zealand. does it not seem to you a plot well woven as well in holland as at this court to remove me from my post with disreputation? what have i done that should cause the queen to disapprove my proceedings? since the death of the late king i have always opposed the third, which they have been trying to fix upon the treasury, on the ground that henry never spoke to me of restitution, that the receipts given were simple ones, and that the money given was spent for the common benefit of france and the states under direction of the king's government. but i am expected here to obey m. de villeroy, who says that it was the intention of the late king to oblige us to make the payment. i am not accustomed to obey authority if it be not supported by reason. it is for my masters to reply and to defend me. the queen has no reason to complain. i have maintained the interests of my superiors. but this is not the cause of the complaints. my misfortune is that all my despatches have been sent from holland in copy to this court. most of them contained free pictures of the condition and dealings of those who govern here. m. de villeroy has found himself depicted often, and now under pretext of a public negotiation he has found an opportunity of revenging himself. . . . besides this cause which villeroy has found for combing my head, russy has given notice here that i have kept my masters in the hopes of being honourably exempted from the claims of this government. the long letter which i wrote to m. de barneveld justifies my proceedings." it is no wonder that the ambassador was galled to the quick by the outrage which those concerned in the government were seeking to put upon him. how could an honest man fail to be overwhelmed with rage and anguish at being dishonoured before the world by his masters for scrupulously doing his duty, and for maintaining the rights and dignity of his own country? he knew that the charges were but pretexts, that the motives of his enemies were as base as the intrigues themselves, but he also knew that the world usually sides with the government against the individual, and that a man's reputation is rarely strong enough to maintain itself unsullied in a foreign land when his own government stretches forth its hand not to, shield, but to stab him. [see the similarity of aerssens position to that of motley years later, in the biographical sketch of motley by oliver wendell holmes. d.w.] "i know," he said, "that this plot has been woven partly in holland and partly here by good correspondence, in order to drive me from my post with disreputation. to this has tended the communication of my despatches to make me lose my best friends. this too was the object of the particular imparting to de russy of all my propositions, in order to draw a complaint against me from this court. "but as i have discovered this accurately, i have resolved to offer to my masters the continuance of my very humble service for such time and under such conditions as they may think good to prescribe. i prefer forcing my natural and private inclinations to giving an opportunity for the ministers of this kingdom to discredit us, and to my enemies to succeed in injuring me, and by fraud and malice to force me from my post . . . i am truly sorry, being ready to retire, wishing to have an honourable testimony in recompense of my labours, that one is in such hurry to take advantage of my fall. i cannot believe that my masters wish to suffer this. they are too prudent, and cannot be ignorant of the treachery which has been practised on me. i have maintained their cause. if they have chosen to throw down the fruits of my industry, the blame should be imputed to those who consider their own ambition more than the interests of the public . . . . what envoy will ever dare to speak with vigour if he is not sustained by the government at home? . . . . . . my enemies have misrepresented my actions, and my language as passionate, exaggerated, mischievous, but i have no passion except for the service of my superiors. they say that i have a dark and distrustful disposition, but i have been alarmed at the alliance now forming here with the king of spain, through the policy of m. de villeroy. i was the first to discover this intrigue, which they thought buried in the bosom of the triumvirate. i gave notice of it to my lords the states as in duty bound. it all came back to the government in the copies furnished of my secret despatches. this is the real source of the complaints against me. the rest of the charges, relating to the third and other matters, are but pretexts. to parry the blow, they pretend that all that is said and done with the spaniard is but feigning. who is going to believe that? has not the pope intervened in the affair? . . . i tell you they are furious here because i have my eyes open. i see too far into their affairs to suit their purposes. a new man would suit them better." his position was hopelessly compromised. he remained in paris, however, month after month, and even year after year, defying his enemies both at the queen's court and in holland, feeding fat the grudge he bore to barneveld as the supposed author of the intrigue against him, and drawing closer the personal bands which united him to bouillon and through him to prince maurice. the wrath of the ambassador flamed forth without disguise against barneveld and all his adherents when his removal, as will be related on a subsequent page, was at last effected. and his hatred was likely to be deadly. a man with a shrewd, vivid face, cleanly cut features and a restless eye; wearing a close-fitting skull cap, which gave him something the lock of a monk, but with the thoroughbred and facile demeanour of one familiar with the world; stealthy, smooth, and cruel, a man coldly intellectual, who feared no one, loved but few, and never forgot or forgave; francis d'aerssens, devoured by ambition and burning with revenge, was a dangerous enemy. time was soon to show whether it was safe to injure him. barneveld, from well-considered motives of public policy, was favouring his honourable recall. but he allowed a decorous interval of more than three years to elapse in which to terminate his affairs, and to take a deliberate departure from that french embassy to which the advocate had originally promoted him, and in which there had been so many years of mutual benefit and confidence between the two statesmen. he used no underhand means. he did not abuse the power of the states-general which he wielded to cast him suddenly and brutally from the distinguished post which he occupied, and so to attempt to dishonour him before the world. nothing could be more respectful and conciliatory than the attitude of the government from first to last towards this distinguished functionary. the republic respected itself too much to deal with honourable agents whose services it felt obliged to dispense with as with vulgar malefactors who had been detected in crime. but aerssens believed that it was the advocate who had caused copies of his despatches to be sent to the french court, and that he had deliberately and for a fixed purpose been undermining his influence at home and abroad and blackening his character. all his ancient feelings of devotion, if they had ever genuinely existed towards his former friend and patron, turned to gall. he was almost ready to deny that he had ever respected barneveld, appreciated his public services, admired his intellect, or felt gratitude for his guidance. a fierce controversy--to which at a later period it will be necessary to call the reader's attention, because it is intimately connected with dark scenes afterwards to be enacted--took place between the late ambassador and cornelis van der myle. meantime barneveld pursued the policy which he had marked out for the states-general in regard to france. certainly it was a difficult problem. there could be no doubt that metamorphosed france could only be a dangerous ally for the republic. it was in reality impossible that she should be her ally at all. and this barneveld knew. still it was better, so he thought, for the netherlands that france should exist than that it should fall into utter decomposition. france, though under the influence of spain, and doubly allied by marriage contracts to spain, was better than spain itself in the place of france. this seemed to be the only choice between two evils. should the whole weight of the states-general be thrown into the scale of the malcontent and mutinous princes against the established but tottering government of france, it was difficult to say how soon spain might literally, as well as inferentially, reign in paris. between the rebellion and the legitimate government, therefore, barneveld did not hesitate. france, corporate france, with which the republic had bean so long in close and mutually advantageous alliance, and from whose late monarch she had received such constant and valuable benefits, was in the advocate's opinion the only power to be recognised, papal and spanish though it was. the advantage of an alliance with the fickle, self-seeking, and ever changing mutiny, that was seeking to make use of protestantism to effect its own ends, was in his eyes rather specious than real. by this policy, while making the breach irreparable with aerssens and as many leading politicians as aerssens could influence, he first brought on himself the stupid accusation of swerving towards spain. dull murmurs like these, which were now but faintly making themselves heard against the reputation of the advocate, were destined ere long to swell into a mighty roar; but he hardly listened now to insinuations which seemed infinitely below his contempt. he still effectually ruled the nation through his influence in the states of holland, where he reigned supreme. thus far barneveld and my lords the states-general were one personage. but there was another great man in the state who had at last grown impatient of the advocate's power, and was secretly resolved to brook it no longer. maurice of nassau had felt himself too long rebuked by the genius of the advocate. the prince had perhaps never forgiven him for the political guardianship which he had exercised over him ever since the death of william the silent. he resented the leading strings by which his youthful footstep had been sustained, and which he seemed always to feel about his limbs so long as barneveld existed. he had never forgotten the unpalatable advice given to him by the advocate through the princess-dowager. the brief campaign in cleve and julich was the last great political operation in which the two were likely to act in even apparent harmony. but the rivalry between the two had already pronounced itself emphatically during the negotiations for the truce. the advocate had felt it absolutely necessary for the republic to suspend the war at the first moment when she could treat with her ancient sovereign on a footing of equality. spain, exhausted with the conflict, had at last consented to what she considered the humiliation of treating with her rebellious provinces as with free states over which she claimed no authority. the peace party, led by barneveld, had triumphed, notwithstanding the steady opposition of prince maurice and his adherents. why had maurice opposed the treaty? because his vocation was over, because he was the greatest captain of the age, because his emoluments, his consideration, his dignity before the world, his personal power, were all vastly greater in war than in his opinion they could possibly be in peace. it was easy for him to persuade himself that what was manifestly for his individual interest was likewise essential to the prosperity of the country. the diminution in his revenues consequent on the return to peace was made good to him, his brother, and his cousin, by most munificent endowments and pensions. and it was owing to the strenuous exertions of the advocate that these large sums were voted. a hollow friendship was kept up between the two during the first few years of the truce, but resentment and jealousy lay deep in maurice's heart. at about the period of the return of aerssens from his french embassy, the suppressed fire was ready to flame forth at the first fanning by that artful hand. it was impossible, so aerssens thought and whispered, that two heads could remain on one body politic. there was no room in the netherlands for both the advocate and the prince. barneveld was in all civil affairs dictator, chief magistrate, supreme judge; but he occupied this high station by the force of intellect, will, and experience, not through any constitutional provision. in time of war the prince was generalissimo, commander-in-chief of all the armies of the republic. yet constitutionally he was not captain-general at all. he was only stadholder of five out of seven provinces. barneveld suspected him of still wishing to make himself sovereign of the country. perhaps his suspicions were incorrect. yet there was every reason why maurice should be ambitious of that position. it would have been in accordance with the openly expressed desire of henry iv. and other powerful allies of the netherlands. his father's assassination had alone prevented his elevation to the rank of sovereign count of holland. the federal policy of the provinces had drifted into a republican form after their renunciation of their spanish sovereign, not because the people, or the states as representing the people, had deliberately chosen a republican system, but because they could get no powerful monarch to accept the sovereignty. they had offered to become subjects of protestant england and of catholic france. both powers had refused the offer, and refused it with something like contumely. however deep the subsequent regret on the part of both, there was no doubt of the fact. but the internal policy in all the provinces, and in all the towns, was republican. local self-government existed everywhere. each city magistracy was a little republic in itself. the death of william the silent, before he had been invested with the sovereign power of all seven provinces, again left that sovereignty in abeyance. was the supreme power of the union, created at utrecht in , vested in the states-general? they were beginning theoretically to claim it, but barneveld denied the existence of any such power either in law or fact. it was a league of sovereignties, he maintained; a confederacy of seven independent states, united for certain purposes by a treaty made some thirty years before. nothing could be more imbecile, judging by the light of subsequent events and the experience of centuries, than such an organization. the independent and sovereign republic of zealand or of groningen, for example, would have made a poor figure campaigning, or negotiating, or exhibiting itself on its own account before the world. yet it was difficult to show any charter, precedent, or prescription for the sovereignty of the states-general. necessary as such an incorporation was for the very existence of the union, no constitutional union had ever been enacted. practically the province of holland, representing more than half the population, wealth, strength, and intellect of the whole confederation, had achieved an irregular supremacy in the states-general. but its undeniable superiority was now causing a rank growth of envy, hatred, and jealousy throughout the country, and the great advocate of holland, who was identified with the province, and had so long wielded its power, was beginning to reap the full harvest of that malice. thus while there was so much of vagueness in theory and practice as to the sovereignty, there was nothing criminal on the part of maurice if he was ambitious of obtaining the sovereignty himself. he was not seeking to compass it by base artifice or by intrigue of any kind. it was very natural that he should be restive under the dictatorship of the advocate. if a single burgher and lawyer could make himself despot of the netherlands, how much more reasonable that he--with the noblest blood of europe in his veins, whose direct ancestor three centuries before had been emperor not only of those provinces, but of all germany and half christendom besides, whose immortal father had under god been the creator and saviour of the new commonwealth, had made sacrifices such as man never made for a people, and had at last laid down his life in its defence; who had himself fought daily from boyhood upwards in the great cause, who had led national armies from victory to victory till he had placed his country as a military school and a belligerent power foremost among the nations, and had at last so exhausted and humbled the great adversary and former tyrant that he had been glad of a truce while the rebel chief would have preferred to continue the war--should aspire to rule by hereditary right a land with which his name and his race were indelibly associated by countless sacrifices and heroic achievements. it was no crime in maurice to desire the sovereignty. it was still less a crime in barneveld to believe that he desired it. there was no special reason why the prince should love the republican form of government provided that an hereditary one could be legally substituted for it. he had sworn allegiance to the statutes, customs, and privileges of each of the provinces of which he had been elected stadholder, but there would have been no treason on his part if the name and dignity of stadholder should be changed by the states themselves for those of king or sovereign prince. yet it was a chief grievance against the advocate on the part of the prince that barneveld believed him capable of this ambition. the republic existed as a fact, but it had not long existed, nor had it ever received a formal baptism. so undefined was its constitution, and so conflicting were the various opinions in regard to it of eminent men, that it would be difficult to say how high-treason could be committed against it. great lawyers of highest intellect and learning believed the sovereign power to reside in the separate states, others found that sovereignty in the city magistracies, while during a feverish period of war and tumult the supreme function had without any written constitution, any organic law, practically devolved upon the states-general, who had now begun to claim it as a right. the republic was neither venerable by age nor impregnable in law. it was an improvised aristocracy of lawyers, manufacturers, bankers, and corporations which had done immense work and exhibited astonishing sagacity and courage, but which might never have achieved the independence of the provinces unaided by the sword of orange-nassau and the magic spell which belonged to that name. thus a bitter conflict was rapidly developing itself in the heart of the commonwealth. there was the civil element struggling with the military for predominance; sword against gown; states' rights against central authority; peace against war; above all the rivalry of one prominent personage against another, whose mutual hatred was now artfully inflamed by partisans. and now another element of discord had come, more potent than all the rest: the terrible, never ending, struggle of church against state. theological hatred which forty years long had found vent in the exchange of acrimony between the ancient and the reformed churches was now assuming other shapes. religion in that age and country was more than has often been the case in history the atmosphere of men's daily lives. but during the great war for independence, although the hostility between the two religious forces was always intense, it was modified especially towards the close of the struggle by other controlling influences. the love of independence and the passion for nationality, the devotion to ancient political privileges, was often as fervid and genuine in catholic bosoms as in those of protestants, and sincere adherents of the ancient church had fought to the death against spain in defence of chartered rights. at that very moment it is probable that half the population of the united provinces was catholic. yet it would be ridiculous to deny that the aggressive, uncompromising; self-sacrificing, intensely believing, perfectly fearless spirit of calvinism had been the animating soul, the motive power of the great revolt. for the provinces to have encountered spain and rome without calvinism, and relying upon municipal enthusiasm only, would have been to throw away the sword and fight with the scabbard. but it is equally certain that those hot gospellers who had suffered so much martyrdom and achieved so many miracles were fully aware of their power and despotic in its exercise. against the oligarchy of commercial and juridical corporations they stood there the most terrible aristocracy of all: the aristocracy of god's elect, predestined from all time and to all eternity to take precedence of and to look down upon their inferior and lost fellow creatures. it was inevitable that this aristocracy, which had done so much, which had breathed into a new-born commonwealth the breath of its life, should be intolerant, haughty, dogmatic. the church of rome, which had been dethroned after inflicting such exquisite tortures during its period of power, was not to raise its head. although so large a proportion of the inhabitants of the country were secretly or openly attached to that faith, it was a penal offence to participate openly in its rites and ceremonies. religious equality, except in the minds of a few individuals, was an unimaginable idea. there was still one church which arrogated to itself the sole possession of truth, the church of geneva. those who admitted the possibility of other forms and creeds were either atheists or, what was deemed worse than atheists, papists, because papists were assumed to be traitors also, and desirous of selling the country to spain. an undevout man in that land and at that epoch was an almost unknown phenomenon. religion was as much a recognized necessity of existence as food or drink. it were as easy to find people about without clothes as without religious convictions. the advocate, who had always adhered to the humble spirit of his ancestral device, "nil scire tutissima fedes," and almost alone among his fellow citizens (save those immediate apostles and pupils of his who became involved in his fate) in favour of religious toleration, began to be suspected of treason and papacy because, had he been able to give the law, it was thought he would have permitted such horrors as the public exercise of the roman catholic religion. the hissings and screamings of the vulgar against him as he moved forward on his stedfast course he heeded less than those of geese on a common. but there was coming a time when this proud and scornful statesman, conscious of the superiority conferred by great talents and unparalleled experience, would find it less easy to treat the voice of slanderers, whether idiots or powerful and intellectual enemies, with contempt. chapter viii. schism in the church a public fact--struggle for power between the sacerdotal and political orders--dispute between arminius and gomarus--rage of james i. at the appointment of voratius--arminians called remonstrants--hague conference--contra-remonstrance by gomarites of seven points to the remonstrants' five--fierce theological disputes throughout the country--ryswyk secession-- maurice wishes to remain neutral, but finds himself the chieftain of the contra-remonstrant party--the states of holland remonstrant by a large majority--the states-general contra-remonstrant--sir ralph winwood leaves the hague--three armies to take the field against protestantism. schism in the church had become a public fact, and theological hatred was in full blaze throughout the country. the great practical question in the church had been as to the appointment of preachers, wardens, schoolmasters, and other officers. by the ecclesiastical arrangements of great power was conceded to the civil authority in church matters, especially in regard to such appointments, which were made by a commission consisting of four members named by the churches and four by the magistrates in each district. barneveld, who above all things desired peace in the church, had wished to revive this ordinance, and in it had been resolved by the states of holland that each city or village should, if the magistracy approved, provisionally conform to it. the states of utrecht made at the same time a similar arrangement. it was the controversy which has been going on since the beginning of history and is likely to be prolonged to the end of time--the struggle for power between the sacerdotal and political orders; the controversy whether priests shall control the state or the state govern the priests. this was the practical question involved in the fierce dispute as to dogma. the famous duel between arminius and gomarus; the splendid theological tournaments which succeeded; six champions on a side armed in full theological panoply and swinging the sharpest curtal axes which learning, passion, and acute intellect could devise, had as yet produced no beneficent result. nobody had been convinced by the shock of argument, by the exchange of those desperate blows. the high council of the hague had declared that no difference of opinion in the church existed sufficient to prevent fraternal harmony and happiness. but gomarus loudly declared that, if there were no means of putting down the heresy of arminius, there would before long be a struggle such as would set province against province, village against village, family against family, throughout the land. he should be afraid to die in such doctrine. he shuddered that any one should dare to come before god's tribunal with such blasphemies. meantime his great adversary, the learned and eloquent, the musical, frolicsome, hospitable heresiarch was no more. worn out with controversy, but peaceful and happy in the convictions which were so bitterly denounced by gomarus and a large proportion of both preachers and laymen in the netherlands, and convinced that the schism which in his view had been created by those who called themselves the orthodox would weaken the cause of protestantism throughout europe, arminius died at the age of forty-nine. the magistrates throughout holland, with the exception of a few cities, were arminian, the preachers gomarian; for arminius ascribed to the civil authority the right to decide upon church matters, while gomarus maintained that ecclesiastical affairs should be regulated in ecclesiastical assemblies. the overseers of leyden university appointed conrad vorstius to be professor of theology in place of arminius. the selection filled to the brim the cup of bitterness, for no man was more audaciously latitudinarian than he. he was even suspected of socinianism. there came a shriek from king james, fierce and shrill enough to rouse arminius from his grave. james foamed to the mouth at the insolence of the overseers in appointing such a monster of infidelity to the professorship. he ordered his books to be publicly burned in st. paul's churchyard and at both universities, and would have burned the professor himself with as much delight as torquemada or peter titelman ever felt in roasting their victims, had not the day for such festivities gone by. he ordered the states of holland on pain of for ever forfeiting his friendship to exclude vorstius at once from the theological chair and to forbid him from "nestling anywhere in the country." he declared his amazement that they should tolerate such a pest as conrad vorstius. had they not had enough of the seed sown by that foe of god, arminius? he ordered the states-general to chase the blasphemous monster from the land, or else he would cut off all connection with their false and heretic churches and make the other reformed churches of europe do the same, nor should the youth of england ever be allowed to frequent the university of leyden. in point of fact the professor was never allowed to qualify, to preach, or to teach; so tremendous was the outcry of peter plancius and many orthodox preachers, echoing the wrath of the king. he lived at gouda in a private capacity for several years, until the synod of dordrecht at last publicly condemned his opinions and deprived him of his professorship. meantime, the preachers who were disciples of arminius had in a private assembly drawn up what was called a remonstrance, addressed to the states of holland, and defending themselves from the reproach that they were seeking change in the divine service and desirous of creating tumult and schism. this remonstrance, set forth by the pen of the famous uytenbogaert, whom gomarus called the court trumpeter, because for a long time he had been prince maurice's favourite preacher, was placed in the hands of barneveld, for delivery to the states of holland. thenceforth the arminians were called remonstrants. the hague conference followed, six preachers on a side, and the states of holland exhorted to fraternal compromise. until further notice, they decreed that no man should be required to believe more than had been laid down in the five points: i. god has from eternity resolved to choose to eternal life those who through his grace believe in jesus christ, and in faith and obedience so continue to the end, and to condemn the unbelieving and unconverted to eternal damnation. ii. jesus christ died for all; so, nevertheless, that no one actually except believers is redeemed by his death. iii. man has not the saving belief from himself, nor out of his free will, but he needs thereto god's grace in christ. iv. this grace is the beginning, continuation, and completion of man's salvation; all good deeds must be ascribed to it, but it does not work irresistibly. v. god's grace gives sufficient strength to the true believers to overcome evil; but whether they cannot lose grace should be more closely examined before it should be taught in full security. afterwards they expressed themselves more distinctly on this point, and declared that a true believer, through his own fault, can fall away from god and lose faith. before the conference, however, the gomarite preachers had drawn up a contra-remonstrance of seven points in opposition to the remonstrants' five. they demanded the holding of a national synod to settle the difference between these five and seven points, or the sending of them to foreign universities for arbitration, a mutual promise being given by the contending parties to abide by the decision. thus much it has been necessary to state concerning what in the seventeenth century was called the platform of the two great parties: a term which has been perpetuated in our own country, and is familiar to all the world in the nineteenth. these were the seven points: i. god has chosen from eternity certain persons out of the human race, which in and with adam fell into sin and has no more power to believe and convert itself than a dead man to restore himself to life, in order to make them blessed through christ; while he passes by the rest through his righteous judgment, and leaves them lying in their sins. ii. children of believing parents, as well as full-grown believers, are to be considered as elect so long as they with action do not prove the contrary. iii. god in his election has not looked at the belief and the repentance of the elect; but, on the contrary, in his eternal and unchangeable design, has resolved to give to the elect faith and stedfastness, and thus to make them blessed. iv. he, to this end, in the first place, presented to them his only begotten son, whose sufferings, although sufficient for the expiation of all men's sins, nevertheless, according to god's decree, serves alone to the reconciliation of the elect. v. god causest he gospel to be preached to them, making the same through the holy ghost, of strength upon their minds; so that they not merely obtain power to repent and to believe, but also actually and voluntarily do repent and believe. vi. such elect, through the same power of the holy ghost through which they have once become repentant and believing, are kept in such wise that they indeed through weakness fall into heavy sins; but can never wholly and for always lose the true faith. vii. true believers from this, however, draw no reason for fleshly quiet, it being impossible that they who through a true faith were planted in christ should bring forth no fruits of thankfulness; the promises of god's help and the warnings of scripture tending to make their salvation work in them in fear and trembling, and to cause them more earnestly to desire help from that spirit without which they can do nothing. there shall be no more setting forth of these subtle and finely wrought abstractions in our pages. we aspire not to the lofty heights of theological and supernatural contemplation, where the atmosphere becomes too rarefied for ordinary constitutions. rather we attempt an objective and level survey of remarkable phenomena manifesting themselves on the earth; direct or secondary emanations from those distant spheres. for in those days, and in that land especially, theology and politics were one. it may be questioned at least whether this practical fusion of elements, which may with more safety to the commonwealth be kept separate, did not tend quite as much to lower and contaminate the religious sentiments as to elevate the political idea. to mix habitually the solemn phraseology which men love to reserve for their highest and most sacred needs with the familiar slang of politics and trade seems to our generation not a very desirable proceeding. the aroma of doubly distilled and highly sublimated dogma is more difficult to catch than to comprehend the broader and more practical distinctions of every-day party strife. king james was furious at the thought that common men--the vulgar, the people in short--should dare to discuss deep problems of divinity which, as he confessed, had puzzled even his royal mind. barneveld modestly disclaimed the power of seeing with absolute clearness into things beyond the reach of the human intellect. but the honest netherlanders were not abashed by thunder from the royal pulpit, nor perplexed by hesitations which darkened the soul of the great advocate. in burghers' mansions, peasants' cottages, mechanics' back-parlours, on board herring smacks, canal boats, and east indiamen; in shops, counting-rooms, farmyards, guard-rooms, ale-houses; on the exchange, in the tennis-court, on the mall; at banquets, at burials, christenings, or bridals; wherever and whenever human creatures met each other, there was ever to be found the fierce wrangle of remonstrant and contra-remonstrant, the hissing of red-hot theological rhetoric, the pelting of hostile texts. the blacksmith's iron cooled on the anvil, the tinker dropped a kettle half mended, the broker left a bargain unclinched, the scheveningen fisherman in his wooden shoes forgot the cracks in his pinkie, while each paused to hold high converse with friend or foe on fate, free will, or absolute foreknowledge; losing himself in wandering mazes whence there was no issue. province against province, city against city, family against family; it was one vast scene of bickering, denunciation, heart-burnings, mutual excommunication and hatred. alas! a generation of mankind before, men had stood banded together to resist, with all the might that comes from union, the fell spirit of the holy inquisition, which was dooming all who had wandered from the ancient fold or resisted foreign tyranny to the axe, the faggot, the living grave. there had been small leisure then for men who fought for fatherland, and for comparative liberty of conscience, to tear each others' characters in pieces, and to indulge in mutual hatreds and loathing on the question of predestination. as a rule the population, especially of the humbler classes, and a great majority of the preachers were contra-remonstrant; the magistrates, the burgher patricians, were remonstrant. in holland the controlling influence was remonstrant; but amsterdam and four or five other cities of that province held to the opposite doctrine. these cities formed therefore a small minority in the states assembly of holland sustained by a large majority in the states-general. the province of utrecht was almost unanimously remonstrant. the five other provinces were decidedly contra-remonstrant. it is obvious therefore that the influence of barneveld, hitherto so all-controlling in the states-general, and which rested on the complete submission of the states of holland to his will, was tottering. the battle-line between church and state was now drawn up; and it was at the same time a battle between the union and the principles of state sovereignty. it had long since been declared through the mouth of the advocate, but in a solemn state manifesto, that my lords the states-general were the foster-fathers and the natural protectors of the church, to whom supreme authority in church matters belonged. the contra-remonstrants, on the other hand, maintained that all the various churches made up one indivisible church, seated above the states, whether provincial or general, and governed by the holy ghost acting directly upon the congregations. as the schism grew deeper and the states-general receded from the position which they had taken up under the lead of the advocate, the scene was changed. a majority of the provinces being contra-remonstrant, and therefore in favour of a national synod, the states-general as a body were of necessity for the synod. it was felt by the clergy that, if many churches existed, they would all remain subject to the civil authority. the power of the priesthood would thus sink before that of the burgher aristocracy. there must be one church--the church of geneva and heidelberg--if that theocracy which the gomarites meant to establish was not to vanish as a dream. it was founded on divine right, and knew no chief magistrate but the holy ghost. a few years before the states-general had agreed to a national synod, but with a condition that there should be revision of the netherland confession and the heidelberg catechism. against this the orthodox infallibilists had protested and thundered, because it was an admission that the vile arminian heresy might perhaps be declared correct. it was now however a matter of certainty that the states-general would cease to oppose the unconditional synod, because the majority sided with the priesthood. the magistrates of leyden had not long before opposed the demand for a synod on the ground that the war against spain was not undertaken to maintain one sect; that men of various sects and creeds had fought with equal valour against the common foe; that religious compulsion was hateful, and that no synod had a right to claim netherlanders as slaves. to thoughtful politicians like barneveld, hugo grotius, and men who acted with them, fraught with danger to the state, that seemed a doctrine by which mankind were not regarded as saved or doomed according to belief or deeds, but as individuals divided from all eternity into two classes which could never be united, but must ever mutually regard each other as enemies. and like enemies netherlanders were indeed beginning to regard each other. the man who, banded like brothers, had so heroically fought for two generations long for liberty against an almost superhuman despotism, now howling and jeering against each other like demons, seemed determined to bring the very name of liberty into contempt. where the remonstrants were in the ascendant, they excited the hatred and disgust of the orthodox by their overbearing determination to carry their five points. a broker in rotterdam of the contra-remonstrant persuasion, being about to take a wife, swore he had rather be married by a pig than a parson. for this sparkling epigram he was punished by the remonstrant magistracy with loss of his citizenship for a year and the right to practise his trade for life. a casuistical tinker, expressing himself violently in the same city against the five points, and disrespectfully towards the magistrates for tolerating them, was banished from the town. a printer in the neighbourhood, disgusted with these and similar efforts of tyranny on the part of the dominant party, thrust a couple of lines of doggrel into the lottery: "in name of the prince of orange, i ask once and again, what difference between the inquisition of rotterdam and spain?" for this poetical effort the printer was sentenced to forfeit the prize that he had drawn in the lottery, and to be kept in prison on bread and water for a fortnight. certainly such punishments were hardly as severe as being beheaded or burned or buried alive, as would have been the lot of tinkers and printers and brokers who opposed the established church in the days of alva, but the demon of intolerance, although its fangs were drawn, still survived, and had taken possession of both parties in the reformed church. for it was the remonstrants who had possession of the churches at rotterdam, and the printer's distich is valuable as pointing out that the name of orange was beginning to identify itself with the contra-remonstrant faction. at this time, on the other hand, the gabble that barneveld had been bought by spanish gold, and was about to sell his country to spain, became louder than a whisper. men were not ashamed, from theological hatred, to utter such senseless calumnies against a venerable statesman whose long life had been devoted to the cause of his country's independence and to the death struggle with spain. as if because a man admitted the possibility of all his fellow-creatures being saved from damnation through repentance and the grace of god, he must inevitably be a traitor to his country and a pensionary of her deadliest foe. and where the contra-remonstrants held possession of the churches and the city governments, acts of tyranny which did not then seem ridiculous were of everyday occurrence. clergymen, suspected of the five points, were driven out of the pulpits with bludgeons or assailed with brickbats at the church door. at amsterdam, simon goulart, for preaching the doctrine of universal salvation and for disputing the eternal damnation of young children, was forbidden thenceforth to preach at all. but it was at the hague that the schism in religion and politics first fatally widened itself. henry rosaeus, an eloquent divine, disgusted with his colleague uytenbogaert, refused all communion with him, and was in consequence suspended. excluded from the great church, where he had formerly ministered, he preached every sunday at ryswyk, two or three miles distant. seven hundred contra-remonstrants of the hague followed their beloved pastor, and, as the roads to ryswyk were muddy and sloppy in winter, acquired the unsavoury nickname of the "mud beggars." the vulgarity of heart which suggested the appellation does not inspire to-day great sympathy with the remonstrant party, even if one were inclined to admit, what is not the fact, that they represented the cause of religious equality. for even the illustrious grotius was at that very moment repudiating the notion that there could be two religions in one state. "difference in public worship," he said, "was in kingdoms pernicious, but in free commonwealths in the highest degree destructive." it was the struggle between church and state for supremacy over the whole body politic. "the reformation," said grotius, "was not brought about by synods, but by kings, princes, and magistrates." it was the same eternal story, the same terrible two-edged weapon, "cujus reggio ejus religio," found in the arsenal of the first reformers, and in every politico-religious arsenal of history. "by an eternal decree of god," said gomarus in accordance with calvin, "it has been fixed who are to be saved and who damned. by his decree some are drawn to faith and godliness, and, being drawn, can never fall away. god leaves all the rest in the general corruption of human nature and their own misdeeds." "god has from eternity made this distinction in the fallen human race," said arminius, "that he pardons those who desist from their sins and put their faith in christ, and will give them eternal life, but will punish those who remain impenitent. moreover, it is pleasanter to god that all men should repent, and, coming to knowledge of truth, remain therein, but he compels none." this was the vital difference of dogma. and it was because they could hold no communion with those who believed in the efficacy of repentance that rosaeus and his followers had seceded to ryswyk, and the reformed church had been torn into two very unequal parts. but it is difficult to believe that out of this arid field of controversy so plentiful a harvest of hatred and civil convulsion could have ripened. more practical than the insoluble problems, whether repentance could effect salvation, and whether dead infants were hopelessly damned, was the question who should rule both church and state. there could be but one church. on that remonstrants and contra-remonstrants were agreed. but should the five points or the seven points obtain the mastery? should that framework of hammered iron, the confession and catechism, be maintained in all its rigidity around the sheepfold, or should the disciples of the arch-heretic arminius, the salvation-mongers, be permitted to prowl within it? was barneveld, who hated the reformed religion (so men told each other), and who believed in nothing, to continue dictator of the whole republic through his influence over one province, prescribing its religious dogmas and laying down its laws; or had not the time come for the states-general to vindicate the rights of the church, and to crush for ever the pernicious principle of state sovereignty and burgher oligarchy? the abyss was wide and deep, and the wild waves were raging more madly every hour. the advocate, anxious and troubled, but undismayed, did his best in the terrible emergency. he conferred with prince maurice on the subject of the ryswyk secession, and men said that he sought to impress upon him, as chief of the military forces, the necessity of putting down religious schism with the armed hand. the prince had not yet taken a decided position. he was still under the influence of john uytenbogaert, who with arminius and the advocate made up the fateful three from whom deadly disasters were deemed to have come upon the commonwealth. he wished to remain neutral. but no man can be neutral in civil contentions threatening the life of the body politic any more than the heart can be indifferent if the human frame is sawn in two. "i am a soldier," said maurice, "not a divine. these are matters of theology which i don't understand, and about which i don't trouble myself." on another occasion he is reported to have said, "i know nothing of predestination, whether it is green or whether it is blue; but i do know that the advocate's pipe and mine will never play the same tune." it was not long before he fully comprehended the part which he must necessarily play. to say that he was indifferent to religious matters was as ridiculous as to make a like charge against barneveld. both were religious men. it would have been almost impossible to find an irreligious character in that country, certainly not among its highest-placed and leading minds. maurice had strong intellectual powers. he was a regular attendant on divine worship, and was accustomed to hear daily religious discussions. to avoid them indeed, he would have been obliged not only to fly his country, but to leave europe. he had a profound reverence for the memory of his father, calbo y calbanista, as william the silent had called himself. but the great prince had died before these fierce disputes had torn the bosom of the reformed church, and while reformers still were brethren. but if maurice were a religious man, he was also a keen politician; a less capable politician, however, than a soldier, for he was confessedly the first captain of his age. he was not rapid in his conceptions, but he was sure in the end to comprehend his opportunity. the church, the people, the union--the sacerdotal, the democratic, and the national element--united under a name so potent to conjure with as the name of orange-nassau, was stronger than any other possible combination. instinctively and logically therefore the stadholder found himself the chieftain of the contra-remonstrant party, and without the necessity of an apostasy such as had been required of his great contemporary to make himself master of france. the power of barneveld and his partisans was now put to a severe strain. his efforts to bring back the hague seceders were powerless. the influence of uytenbogaert over the stadholder steadily diminished. he prayed to be relieved from his post in the great church of the hague, especially objecting to serve with a contra-remonstrant preacher whom maurice wished to officiate there in place of the seceding rosaeus. but the stadholder refused to let him go, fearing his influence in other places. "there is stuff in him," said maurice, "to outweigh half a dozen contra-remonstrant preachers." everywhere in holland the opponents of the five points refused to go to the churches, and set up tabernacles for themselves in barns, outhouses, canal-boats. and the authorities in town and village nailed up the barn-doors, and dispersed the canal boat congregations, while the populace pelted them with stones. the seceders appealed to the stadholder, pleading that at least they ought to be allowed to hear the word of god as they understood it without being forced into churches where they were obliged to hear arminian blasphemy. at least their barns might be left them. "barns," said maurice, "barns and outhouses! are we to preach in barns? the churches belong to us, and we mean to have them too." not long afterwards the stadholder, clapping his hand on his sword hilt, observed that these differences could only be settled by force of arms. an ominous remark and a dreary comment on the forty years' war against the inquisition. and the same scenes that were enacting in holland were going on in overyssel and friesland and groningen; but with a difference. here it was the five points men who were driven into secession, whose barns were nailed up, and whose preachers were mobbed. a lugubrious spectacle, but less painful certainly than the hangings and drownings and burnings alive in the previous century to prevent secession from the indivisible church. it is certain that stadholders and all other magistrates ever since the establishment of independence were sworn to maintain the reformed religion and to prevent a public divine worship under any other form. it is equally certain that by the th article of the act of union--the organic law of the confederation made at utrecht in --each province reserved for itself full control of religious questions. it would indeed seem almost unimaginable in a country where not only every province, but every city, every municipal board, was so jealous of its local privileges and traditional rights that the absolute disposition over the highest, gravest, and most difficult questions that can inspire and perplex humanity should be left to a general government, and one moreover which had scarcely come into existence. yet into this entirely illogical position the commonwealth was steadily drifting. the cause was simple enough. the states of holland, as already observed, were remonstrant by a large majority. the states-general were contra-remonstrant by a still greater majority. the church, rigidly attached to the confession and catechism, and refusing all change except through decree of a synod to be called by the general government which it controlled, represented the national idea. it thus identified itself with the republic, and was in sympathy with a large majority of the population. logic, law, historical tradition were on the side of the advocate and the states' right party. the instinct of national self-preservation, repudiating the narrow and destructive doctrine of provincial sovereignty, were on the side of the states-general and the church. meantime james of great britain had written letters both to the states of holland and the states-general expressing his satisfaction with the five points, and deciding that there was nothing objectionable in the doctrine of predestination therein set forth. he had recommended unity and peace in church and assembly, and urged especially that these controverted points should not be discussed in the pulpit to the irritation and perplexity of the common people. the king's letters had produced much satisfaction in the moderate party. barneveld and his followers were then still in the ascendant, and it seemed possible that the commonwealth might enjoy a few moments of tranquillity. that james had given a new exhibition of his astounding inconsistency was a matter very indifferent to all but himself, and he was the last man to trouble himself for that reproach. it might happen, when he should come to realize how absolutely he had obeyed the tuition of the advocate and favoured the party which he had been so vehemently opposing, that he might regret and prove willing to retract. but for the time being the course of politics had seemed running smoother. the acrimony of the relations between the english government and dominant party at the hague was sensibly diminished. the king seemed for an instant to have obtained a true insight into the nature of the struggle in the states. that it was after all less a theological than a political question which divided parties had at last dawned upon him. "if you have occasion to write on the subject," said barneveld, "it is above all necessary to make it clear that ecclesiastical persons and their affairs must stand under the direction of the sovereign authority, for our preachers understand that the disposal of ecclesiastical persons and affairs belongs to them, so that they alone are to appoint preachers, elders, deacons, and other clerical persons, and to regulate the whole ecclesiastical administration according to their pleasure or by a popular government which they call the community." "the counts of holland from all ancient times were never willing under the papacy to surrender their right of presentation to the churches and control of all spiritual and ecclesiastical benefices. the emperor charles and king philip even, as counts of holland, kept these rights to themselves, save that they in enfeoffing more than a hundred gentlemen, of noble and ancient families with seigniorial manors, enfeoffed them also with the right of presentation to churches and benefices on their respective estates. our preachers pretend to have won this right against the countship, the gentlemen, nobles, and others, and that it belongs to them." it is easy to see that this was a grave, constitutional, legal, and historical problem not to be solved offhand by vehement citations from scripture, nor by pragmatical dissertations from the lips of foreign ambassadors. "i believe this point," continued barneveld, "to be the most difficult question of all, importing far more than subtle searchings and conflicting sentiments as to passages of holy writ, or disputations concerning god's eternal predestination and other points thereupon depending. of these doctrines the archbishop of canterbury well observed in the conference of that one ought to teach them ascendendo and not descendendo." the letters of the king had been very favourably received both in the states-general and in the assembly of holland. "you will present the replies," wrote barneveld to the ambassador in london, "at the best opportunity and with becoming compliments. you may be assured and assure his majesty that they have been very agreeable to both assemblies. our commissioners over there on the east indian matter ought to know nothing of these letters." this statement is worthy of notice, as grotius was one of those commissioners, and, as will subsequently appear, was accused of being the author of the letters. "i understand from others," continued the advocate, "that the gentleman well known to you--[obviously francis aerssens]--is not well pleased that through other agency than his these letters have been written and presented. i think too that the other business is much against his grain, but on the whole since your departure he has accommodated himself to the situation." but if aerssens for the moment seemed quiet, the orthodox clergy were restive. "i know," said barneveld, "that some of our ministers are so audacious that of themselves, or through others, they mean to work by direct or indirect means against these letters. they mean to show likewise that there are other and greater differences of doctrine than those already discussed. you will keep a sharp eye on the sails and provide against the effect of counter-currents. to maintain the authority of their great mightinesses over ecclesiastical matters is more than necessary for the conservation of the country's welfare and of the true christian religion. as his majesty would not allow this principle to be controverted in his own realms, as his books clearly prove, so we trust that he will not find it good that it should be controverted in our state as sure to lead to a very disastrous and inequitable sequel." and a few weeks later the advocate and the whole party of toleration found themselves, as is so apt to be the case, between two fires. the catholics became as turbulent as the extreme calvinists, and already hopes were entertained by spanish emissaries and spies that this rapidly growing schism in the reformed church might be dexterously made use of to bring the provinces, when they should become fairly distracted, back to the dominion of spain. "our precise zealots in the reformed religion, on the one side," wrote barneveld, "and the jesuits on the other, are vigorously kindling the fire of discord. keep a good lookout for the countermine which is now working against the good advice of his majesty for mutual toleration. the publication of the letters was done without order, but i believe with good intent, in the hope that the vehemence and exorbitance of some precise puritans in our state should thereby be checked. that which is now doing against us in printed libels is the work of the aforesaid puritans and a few jesuits. the pretence in those libels, that there are other differences in the matter of doctrine, is mere fiction designed to make trouble and confusion." in the course of the autumn, sir ralph winwood departed from the hague, to assume soon afterwards in england the position of secretary of state for foreign affairs. he did not take personal farewell of barneveld, the advocate being absent in north holland at the moment, and detained there by indisposition. the leave-taking was therefore by letter. he had done much to injure the cause which the dutch statesman held vital to the republic, and in so doing he had faithfully carried out the instructions of his master. now that james had written these conciliatory letters to the states, recommending toleration, letters destined to be famous, barneveld was anxious that the retiring ambassador should foster the spirit of moderation, which for a moment prevailed at the british court. but he was not very hopeful in the matter. "mr. winwood is doubtless over there now," he wrote to caron. "he has promised in public and private to do all good offices. the states-general made him a present on his departure of the value of l . i fear nevertheless that he, especially in religious matters, will not do the best offices. for besides that he is himself very hard and precise, those who in this country are hard and precise have made a dead set at him, and tried to make him devoted to their cause, through many fictitious and untruthful means." the advocate, as so often before, sent assurances to the king that "the states-general, and especially the states of holland, were resolved to maintain the genuine reformed religion, and oppose all novelties and impurities conflicting with it," and the ambassador was instructed to see that the countermine, worked so industriously against his majesty's service and the honour and reputation of the provinces, did not prove successful. "to let the good mob play the master," he said, "and to permit hypocrites and traitors in the flemish manner to get possession of the government of the provinces and cities, and to cause upright patriots whose faith and truth has so long been proved, to be abandoned, by the blessing of god, shall never be accomplished. be of good heart, and cause these flemish tricks to be understood on every occasion, and let men know that we mean to maintain, with unchanging constancy, the authority of the government, the privileges and laws of the country, as well as the true reformed religion." the statesman was more than ever anxious for moderate counsels in the religious questions, for it was now more important than ever that there should be concord in the provinces, for the cause of protestantism, and with it the existence of the republic, seemed in greater danger than at any moment since the truce. it appeared certain that the alliance between france and spain had been arranged, and that the pope, spain, the grand-duke of tuscany, and their various adherents had organized a strong combination, and were enrolling large armies to take the field in the spring, against the protestant league of the princes and electors in germany. the great king was dead. the queen-regent was in the hand of spain, or dreamed at least of an impossible neutrality, while the priest who was one day to resume the part of henry, and to hang upon the sword of france the scales in which the opposing weights of protestantism and catholicism in europe were through so many awful years to be balanced, was still an obscure bishop. the premonitory signs of the great religious war in germany were not to be mistaken. in truth, the great conflict had already opened in the duchies, although few men as yet comprehended the full extent of that movement. the superficial imagined that questions of hereditary succession, like those involved in the dispute, were easily to be settled by statutes of descent, expounded by doctors of law, and sustained, if needful, by a couple of comparatively bloodless campaigns. those who looked more deeply into causes felt that the limitations of imperial authority, the ambition of a great republic, suddenly starting into existence out of nothing, and the great issues of the religious reformation, were matters not so easily arranged. when the scene shifted, as it was so soon to do, to the heart of bohemia, when protestantism had taken the holy roman empire by the beard in its ancient palace, and thrown imperial stadholders out of window, it would be evident to the blindest that something serious was taking place. meantime barneveld, ever watchful of passing events, knew that great forces of catholicism were marshalling in the south. three armies were to take the field against protestantism at the orders of spain and the pope. one at the door of the republic, and directed especially against the netherlands, was to resume the campaign in the duchies, and to prevent any aid going to protestant germany from great britain or from holland. another in the upper palatinate was to make the chief movement against the evangelical hosts. a third in austria was to keep down the protestant party in bohemia, hungary, austria, moravia, and silesia. to sustain this movement, it was understood that all the troops then in italy were to be kept all the winter on a war footing.' was this a time for the great protestant party in the netherlands to tear itself in pieces for a theological subtlety, about which good christians might differ without taking each other by the throat? "i do not lightly believe or fear," said the advocate, in communicating a survey of european affairs at that moment to carom "but present advices from abroad make me apprehend dangers." etext editor's bookmarks: aristocracy of god's elect determined to bring the very name of liberty into contempt disputing the eternal damnation of young children fate, free will, or absolute foreknowledge louis xiii. no man can be neutral in civil contentions no synod had a right to claim netherlanders as slaves philip iv. priests shall control the state or the state govern the priests schism in the church had become a public fact that cynical commerce in human lives the voice of slanderers theological hatred was in full blaze throughout the country theology and politics were one to look down upon their inferior and lost fellow creatures whether dead infants were hopelessly damned whether repentance could effect salvation whose mutual hatred was now artfully inflamed by partisans work of the aforesaid puritans and a few jesuits the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. life of john of barneveld, - chapter ix. aerssens remains two years longer in france--derives many personal advantages from his post--he visits the states-general--aubery du maurier appointed french ambassador--he demands the recall of aerssens--peace of sainte-menehould--asperen de langerac appointed in aerssens' place. francis aerssens had remained longer at his post than had been intended by the resolution of the states of holland, passed in may . it is an exemplification of the very loose constitutional framework of the united provinces that the nomination of the ambassador to france belonged to the states of holland, by whom his salary was paid, although, of course, he was the servant of the states-general, to whom his public and official correspondence was addressed. his most important despatches were however written directly to barneveld so long as he remained in power, who had also the charge of the whole correspondence, public or private, with all the envoys of the states. aerssens had, it will be remembered, been authorized to stay one year longer in france if he thought he could be useful there. he stayed two years, and on the whole was not useful. he had too many eyes and too many ears. he had become mischievous by the very activity of his intelligence. he was too zealous. there were occasions in france at that moment in which it was as well to be blind and deaf. it was impossible for the republic, unless driven to it by dire necessity, to quarrel with its great ally. it had been calculated by duplessis-mornay that france had paid subsidies to the provinces amounting from first to last to millions of livres. this was an enormous exaggeration. it was barneveld's estimate that before the truce the states had received from france eleven millions of florins in cash, and during the truce up to the year , , , in addition, besides a million still due, making a total of about fifteen millions. during the truce france kept two regiments of foot amounting to soldiers and two companies of cavalry in holland at the service of the states, for which she was bound to pay yearly , livres. and the queen-regent had continued all the treaties by which these arrangements were secured, and professed sincere and continuous friendship for the states. while the french-spanish marriages gave cause for suspicion, uneasiness, and constant watchfulness in the states, still the neutrality of france was possible in the coming storm. so long as that existed, particularly when the relations of england with holland through the unfortunate character of king james were perpetually strained to a point of imminent rupture, it was necessary to hold as long as it was possible to the slippery embrace of france. but aerssens was almost aggressive in his attitude. he rebuked the vacillations, the shortcomings, the imbecility, of the queen's government in offensive terms. he consorted openly with the princes who were on the point of making war upon the queen-regent. he made a boast to the secretary of state villeroy that he had unravelled all his secret plots against the netherlands. he declared it to be understood in france, since the king's death, by the dominant and jesuitical party that the crown depended temporally as well as spiritually on the good pleasure of the pope. no doubt he was perfectly right in many of his opinions. no ruler or statesman in france worthy of the name would hesitate, in the impending religious conflict throughout europe and especially in germany, to maintain for the kingdom that all controlling position which was its splendid privilege. but to preach this to mary de' medici was waste of breath. she was governed by the concini's, and the concini's were governed by spain. the woman who was believed to have known beforehand of the plot to murder her great husband, who had driven the one powerful statesman on whom the king relied, maximilian de bethune, into retirement, and whose foreign affairs were now completely in the hands of the ancient leaguer villeroy--who had served every government in the kingdom for forty years--was not likely to be accessible to high views of public policy. two years had now elapsed since the first private complaints against the ambassador, and the french government were becoming impatient at his presence. aerssens had been supported by prince maurice, to whom he had long paid his court. he was likewise loyally protected by barneveld, whom he publicly flattered and secretly maligned. but it was now necessary that he should be gone if peaceful relations with france were to be preserved. after all, the ambassador had not made a bad business of his embassy from his own point of view. a stranger in the republic, for his father the greffier was a refugee from brabant, he had achieved through his own industry and remarkable talents, sustained by the favour of barneveld--to whom he owed all his diplomatic appointments--an eminent position in europe. secretary to the legation to france in , he had been successively advanced to the post of resident agent, and when the republic had been acknowledged by the great powers, to that of ambassador. the highest possible functions that representatives of emperors and kings could enjoy had been formally recognized in the person of the minister of a new-born republic. and this was at a moment when, with exception of the brave but insignificant cantons of switzerland, the republic had long been an obsolete idea. in a pecuniary point of view, too, he had not fared badly during his twenty years of diplomatic office. he had made much money in various ways. the king not long before his death sent him one day , florins as a present, with a promise soon to do much more for him. having been placed in so eminent a post, he considered it as due to himself to derive all possible advantage from it. "those who serve at the altar," he said a little while after his return, "must learn to live by it. i served their high mightinesses at the court of a great king, and his majesty's liberal and gracious favours were showered upon me. my upright conscience and steady obsequiousness greatly aided me. i did not look upon opportunity with folded arms, but seized it and made my profit by it. had i not met with such fortunate accidents, my office would not have given me dry bread." nothing could exceed the frankness and indeed the cynicism with which the ambassador avowed his practice of converting his high and sacred office into merchandise. and these statements of his should be scanned closely, because at this very moment a cry was distantly rising, which at a later day was to swell into a roar, that the great advocate had been bribed and pensioned. nothing had occurred to justify such charges, save that at the period of the truce he had accepted from the king of france a fee of , florins for extra official and legal services rendered him a dozen years before, and had permitted his younger son to hold the office of gentleman-in-waiting at the french court with the usual salary attached to it. the post, certainly not dishonourable in itself, had been intended by the king as a kindly compliment to the leading statesman of his great and good ally the republic. it would be difficult to say why such a favour conferred on the young man should be held more discreditable to the receiver than the order of the garter recently bestowed upon the great soldier of the republic by another friendly sovereign. it is instructive however to note the language in which francis aerssens spoke of favours and money bestowed by a foreign monarch upon himself, for aerssens had come back from his embassy full of gall and bitterness against barneveld. thenceforth he was to be his evil demon. "i didn't inherit property," said this diplomatist. "my father and mother, thank god, are yet living. i have enjoyed the king's liberality. it was from an ally, not an enemy, of our country. were every man obliged to give a reckoning of everything he possesses over and above his hereditary estates, who in the government would pass muster? those who declare that they have served their country in her greatest trouble, and lived in splendid houses and in service of princes and great companies and the like on a yearly salary of florins, may not approve these maxims." it should be remembered that barneveld, if this was a fling at the advocate, had acquired a large fortune by marriage, and, although certainly not averse from gathering gear, had, as will be seen on a subsequent page, easily explained the manner in which his property had increased. no proof was ever offered or attempted of the anonymous calumnies levelled at him in this regard. "i never had the management of finances," continued aerssens. "my profits i have gained in foreign parts. my condition of life is without excess, and in my opinion every means are good so long as they are honourable and legal. they say my post was given me by the advocate. ergo, all my fortune comes from the advocate. strenuously to have striven to make myself agreeable to the king and his counsellors, while fulfilling my office with fidelity and honour, these are the arts by which i have prospered, so that my splendour dazzles the eyes of the envious. the greediness of those who believe that the sun should shine for them alone was excited, and so i was obliged to resign the embassy." so long as henry lived, the dutch ambassador saw him daily, and at all hours, privately, publicly, when he would. rarely has a foreign envoy at any court, at any period of history, enjoyed such privileges of being useful to his government. and there is no doubt that the services of aerssens had been most valuable to his country, notwithstanding his constant care to increase his private fortune through his public opportunities. he was always ready to be useful to henry likewise. when that monarch same time before the truce, and occasionally during the preliminary negotiations for it, had formed a design to make himself sovereign of the provinces, it was aerssens who charged himself with the scheme, and would have furthered it with all his might, had the project not met with opposition both from the advocate and the stadholder. subsequently it appeared probable that maurice would not object to the sovereignty himself, and the ambassador in paris, with the king's consent, was not likely to prove himself hostile to the prince's ambition. "there is but this means alone," wrote jeannini to villeroy, "that can content him, although hitherto he has done like the rowers, who never look toward the place whither they wish to go." the attempt of the prince to sound barneveld on this subject through the princess-dowager has already been mentioned, and has much intrinsic probability. thenceforward, the republican form of government, the municipal oligarchies, began to consolidate their power. yet although the people as such were not sovereigns, but subjects, and rarely spoken of by the aristocratic magistrates save with a gentle and patronizing disdain, they enjoyed a larger liberty than was known anywhere else in the world. buzenval was astonished at the "infinite and almost unbridled freedom" which he witnessed there during his embassy, and which seemed to him however "without peril to the state." the extraordinary means possessed by aerssens to be important and useful vanished with the king's death. his secret despatches, painting in sombre and sarcastic colours the actual condition of affairs at the french court, were sent back in copy to the french court itself. it was not known who had played the ambassador this vilest of tricks, but it was done during an illness of barneveld, and without his knowledge. early in the year aerssens resolved, not to take his final departure, but to go home on leave of absence. his private intention was to look for some substantial office of honour and profit at home. failing of this, he meant to return to paris. but with an eye to the main chance as usual, he ingeniously caused it to be understood at court, without making positive statements to that effect, that his departure was final. on his leavetaking, accordingly, he received larger presents from the crown than had been often given to a retiring ambassador. at least , florins were thus added to the frugal store of profits on which he prided himself. had he merely gone away on leave of absence, he would have received no presents whatever. but he never went back. the queen-regent and her ministers were so glad to get rid of him, and so little disposed, in the straits in which they found themselves, to quarrel with the powerful republic, as to be willing to write very complimentary public letters to the states, concerning the character and conduct of the man whom they so much detested. pluming himself upon these, aerssens made his appearance in the assembly of the states-general, to give account by word of mouth of the condition of affairs, speaking as if he had only come by permission of their mightinesses for temporary purposes. two months later he was summoned before the assembly, and ordered to return to his post. meantime a new french ambassador had arrived at the hague, in the spring of . aubery du maurier, a son of an obscure country squire, a protestant, of moderate opinions, of a sincere but rather obsequious character, painstaking, diligent, and honest, had been at an earlier day in the service of the turbulent and intriguing due de bouillon. he had also been employed by sully as an agent in financial affairs between holland and france, and had long been known to villeroy. he was living on his estate, in great retirement from all public business, when secretary villeroy suddenly proposed him the embassy to the hague. there was no more important diplomatic post at that time in europe. other countries were virtually at peace, but in holland, notwithstanding the truce, there was really not much more than an armistice, and great armies lay in the netherlands, as after a battle, sleeping face to face with arms in their hands. the politics of christendom were at issue in the open, elegant, and picturesque village which was the social capital of the united provinces. the gentry from spain, italy, the south of europe, catholic germany, had clustered about spinola at brussels, to learn the art of war in his constant campaigning against maurice. english and scotch officers, frenchmen, bohemians, austrians, youths from the palatinate and all protestant countries in germany, swarmed to the banners of the prince who had taught the world how alexander farnese could be baffled, and the great spinola outmanoeuvred. especially there was a great number of frenchmen of figure and quality who thronged to the hague, besides the officers of the two french regiments which formed a regular portion of the states' army. that army was the best appointed and most conspicuous standing force in europe. besides the french contingent there were always nearly , infantry and cavalry on a war footing, splendidly disciplined, experienced, and admirably armed. the navy, consisting of thirty war ships, perfectly equipped and manned, was a match for the combined marine forces of all europe, and almost as numerous. when the ambassador went to solemn audience of the states-general, he was attended by a brilliant group of gentlemen and officers, often to the number of three hundred, who volunteered to march after him on foot to honour their sovereign in the person of his ambassador; the envoy's carriage following empty behind. such were the splendid diplomatic processions often received by the stately advocate in his plain civic garb, when grave international questions were to be publicly discussed. there was much murmuring in france when the appointment of a personage comparatively so humble to a position so important was known. it was considered as a blow aimed directly at the malcontent princes of the blood, who were at that moment plotting their first levy of arms against the queen. du maurier had been ill-treated by the due de bouillon, who naturally therefore now denounced the man whom he had injured to the government to which he was accredited. being the agent of mary de' medici, he was, of course, described as a tool of the court and a secret pensioner of spain. he was to plot with the arch traitor barneveld as to the best means for distracting the provinces and bringing them back into spanish subjection. du maurier, being especially but secretly charged to prevent the return of francis aerssens to paris, incurred of course the enmity of that personage and of the french grandees who ostentatiously protected him. it was even pretended by jeannin that the appointment of a man so slightly known to the world, so inexperienced in diplomacy, and of a parentage so little distinguished, would be considered an affront by the states-general. but on the whole, villeroy had made an excellent choice. no safer man could perhaps have been found in france for a post of such eminence, in circumstances so delicate, and at a crisis so grave. the man who had been able to make himself agreeable and useful, while preserving his integrity, to characters so dissimilar as the refining, self-torturing, intellectual duplessis-mornay, the rude, aggressive, and straightforward sully, the deep-revolving, restlessly plotting bouillon, and the smooth, silent, and tortuous villeroy--men between whom there was no friendship, but, on the contrary, constant rancour--had material in him to render valuable services at this particular epoch. everything depended on patience, tact, watchfulness in threading the distracting, almost inextricable, maze which had been created by personal rivalries, ambitions, and jealousies in the state he represented and the one to which he was accredited. "i ascribe it all to god," he said, in his testament to his children, "the impenetrable workman who in his goodness has enabled me to make myself all my life obsequious, respectful, and serviceable to all, avoiding as much as possible, in contenting some, not to discontent others." he recommended his children accordingly to endeavour "to succeed in life by making themselves as humble, intelligent, and capable as possible." this is certainly not a very high type of character, but a safer one for business than that of the arch intriguer francis aerssens. and he had arrived at the hague under trying circumstances. unknown to the foreign world he was now entering, save through the disparaging rumours concerning him, sent thither in advance by the powerful personages arrayed against his government, he might have sunk under such a storm at the outset, but for the incomparable kindness and friendly aid of the princess-dowager, louise de coligny. "i had need of her protection and recommendation as much as of life," said du maurier; "and she gave them in such excess as to annihilate an infinity of calumnies which envy had excited against me on every side." he had also a most difficult and delicate matter to arrange at the very moment of his arrival. for aerssens had done his best not only to produce a dangerous division in the politics of the republic, but to force a rupture between the french government and the states. he had carried matters before the assembly with so high a hand as to make it seem impossible to get rid of him without public scandal. he made a parade of the official letters from the queen-regent and her ministers, in which he was spoken of in terms of conventional compliment. he did not know, and barneveld wished, if possible, to spare him the annoyance of knowing, that both queen and ministers, so soon as informed that there was a chance of coming back to them, had written letters breathing great repugnance to him and intimating that he would not be received. other high personages of state had written to express their resentment at his duplicity, perpetual mischief-making, and machinations against the peace of the kingdom, and stating the impossibility of his resuming the embassy at paris. and at last the queen wrote to the states-general to say that, having heard their intention to send him back to a post "from which he had taken leave formally and officially," she wished to prevent such a step. "we should see m. aerssens less willingly than comports with our friendship for you and good neighbourhood. any other you could send would be most welcome, as m. du maurier will explain to you more amply." and to du maurier himself she wrote distinctly, "rather than suffer the return of the said aerssens, you will declare that for causes which regard the good of our affairs and our particular satisfaction we cannot and will not receive him in the functions which he has exercised here, and we rely too implicitly upon the good friendship of my lords the states to do anything in this that would so much displease us." and on the same day villeroy privately wrote to the ambassador, "if, in spite of all this, aerssens should endeavour to return, he will not be received, after the knowledge we have of his factious spirit, most dangerous in a public personage in a state such as ours and in the minority of the king." meantime aerssens had been going about flaunting letters in everybody's face from the duc de bouillon insisting on the necessity of his return! the fact in itself would have been sufficient to warrant his removal, for the duke was just taking up arms against his sovereign. unless the states meant to interfere officially and directly in the civil war about to break out in france, they could hardly send a minister to the government on recommendation of the leader of the rebellion. it had, however, become impossible to remove him without an explosion. barneveld, who, said du maurier, "knew the man to his finger nails," had been reluctant to "break the ice," and wished for official notice in the matter from the queen. maurice protected the troublesome diplomatist. "'tis incredible," said the french ambassador "how covertly prince maurice is carrying himself, contrary to his wont, in this whole affair. i don't know whether it is from simple jealousy to barneveld, or if there is some mystery concealed below the surface." du maurier had accordingly been obliged to ask his government for distinct and official instructions. "he holds to his place," said he, "by so slight and fragile a root as not to require two hands to pluck him up, the little finger being enough. there is no doubt that he has been in concert with those who are making use of him to re-establish their credit with the states, and to embark prince maurice contrary to his preceding custom in a cabal with them." thus a question of removing an obnoxious diplomatist could hardly be graver, for it was believed that he was doing his best to involve the military chief of his own state in a game of treason and rebellion against the government to which he was accredited. it was not the first nor likely to be the last of bouillon's deadly intrigues. but the man who had been privy to biron's conspiracy against the crown and life of his sovereign was hardly a safe ally for his brother-in-law, the straightforward stadholder. the instructions desired by du maurier and by barneveld had, as we have seen, at last arrived. the french ambassador thus fortified appeared before the assembly of the states-general and officially demanded the recall of aerssens. in a letter addressed privately and confidentially to their mightinesses, he said, "if in spite of us you throw him at our feet, we shall fling him back at your head." at last maurice yielded to, the representations of the french envoy, and aerssens felt obliged to resign his claims to the post. the states-general passed a resolution that it would be proper to employ him in some other capacity in order to show that his services had been agreeable to them, he having now declared that he could no longer be useful in france. maurice, seeing that it was impossible to save him, admitted to du maurier his unsteadiness and duplicity, and said that, if possessed of the confidence of a great king, he would be capable of destroying the state in less than a year. but this had not always been the prince's opinion, nor was it likely to remain unchanged. as for villeroy, he denied flatly that the cause of his displeasure had been that aerssens had penetrated into his most secret affairs. he protested, on the contrary, that his annoyance with him had partly proceeded from the slight acquaintance he had acquired of his policy, and that, while boasting to be better informed than any one, he was in the habit of inventing and imagining things in order to get credit for himself. it was highly essential that the secret of this affair should be made clear; for its influence on subsequent events was to be deep and wide. for the moment aerssens remained without employment, and there was no open rupture with barneveld. the only difference of opinion between the advocate and himself, he said, was whether he had or had not definitely resigned his post on leaving paris. meantime it was necessary to fix upon a successor for this most important post. the war soon after the new year had broken out in france. conde, bouillon, and the other malcontent princes with their followers had taken possession of the fortress of mezieres, and issued a letter in the name of conde to the queen-regent demanding an assembly of the states-general of the kingdom and rupture of the spanish marriages. both parties, that of the government and that of the rebellion, sought the sympathy and active succour of the states. maurice, acting now in perfect accord with the advocate, sustained the queen and execrated the rebellion of his relatives with perfect frankness. conde, he said, had got his head stuffed full of almanacs whose predictions he wished to see realized. he vowed he would have shortened by a head the commander of the garrison who betrayed mezieres, if he had been under his control. he forbade on pain of death the departure of any officer or private of the french regiments from serving the rebels, and placed the whole french force at the disposal of the queen, with as many netherland regiments as could be spared. one soldier was hanged and three others branded with the mark of a gibbet on the face for attempting desertion. the legal government was loyally sustained by the authority of the states, notwithstanding all the intrigues of aerssens with the agents of the princes to procure them assistance. the mutiny for the time was brief, and was settled on the th of may , by the peace of sainte-menehould, as much a caricature of a treaty as the rising had been the parody of a war. van der myle, son-in-law of barneveld, who had been charged with a special and temporary mission to france, brought back the terms, of the convention to the states-general. on the other hand, conde and his confederates sent a special agent to the netherlands to give their account of the war and the negotiation, who refused to confer either with du maurier or barneveld, but who held much conference with aerssens. it was obvious enough that the mutiny of the princes would become chronic. in truth, what other condition was possible with two characters like mary de' medici and the prince of conde respectively at the head of the government and the revolt? what had france to hope for but to remain the bloody playground for mischievous idiots, who threw about the firebrands and arrows of reckless civil war in pursuit of the paltriest of personal aims? van der myle had pretensions to the vacant place of aerssens. he had some experience in diplomacy. he had conducted skilfully enough the first mission of the states to venice, and had subsequently been employed in matters of moment. but he was son-in-law to barneveld, and although the advocate was certainly not free from the charge of nepotism, he shrank from the reproach of having apparently removed aerssens to make a place for one of his own family. van der myle remained to bear the brunt of the late ambassador's malice, and to engage at a little later period in hottest controversy with him, personal and political. "why should van der myle strut about, with his arms akimbo like a peacock?" complained aerssens one day in confused metaphor. a question not easy to answer satisfactorily. the minister selected was a certain baron asperen de langerac, wholly unversed in diplomacy or other public affairs, with abilities not above the average. a series of questions addressed by him to the advocate, the answers to which, scrawled on the margin of the paper, were to serve for his general instructions, showed an ingenuousness as amusing as the replies of barneveld were experienced and substantial. in general he was directed to be friendly and respectful to every one, to the queen-regent and her counsellors especially, and, within the limits of becoming reverence for her, to cultivate the good graces of the prince of conde and the other great nobles still malcontent and rebellious, but whose present movement, as barneveld foresaw, was drawing rapidly to a close. langerac arrived in paris on the th of april . du maurier thought the new ambassador likely to "fall a prey to the specious language and gentle attractions of the due de bouillon." he also described him as very dependent upon prince maurice. on the other hand langerac professed unbounded and almost childlike reverence for barneveld, was devoted to his person, and breathed as it were only through his inspiration. time would show whether those sentiments would outlast every possible storm. chapter x weakness of the rulers of france and england--the wisdom of barneveld inspires jealousy--sir dudley carleton succeeds winwood-- young neuburg under the guidance of maximilian--barneveld strives to have the treaty of xanten enforced--spain and the emperor wish to make the states abandon their position with regard to the duchies-- the french government refuses to aid the states--spain and the emperor resolve to hold wesel--the great religious war begun--the protestant union and catholic league both wish to secure the border provinces--troubles in turkey--spanish fleet seizes la roche--spain places large armies on a war footing. few things are stranger in history than the apathy with which the wide designs of the catholic party were at that moment regarded. the preparations for the immense struggle which posterity learned to call the thirty years' war, and to shudder when speaking of it, were going forward on every side. in truth the war had really begun, yet those most deeply menaced by it at the outset looked on with innocent calmness because their own roofs were not quite yet in a blaze. the passage of arms in the duchies, the outlines of which have just been indicated, and which was the natural sequel of the campaign carried out four years earlier on the same territory, had been ended by a mockery. in france, reduced almost to imbecility by the absence of a guiding brain during a long minority, fallen under the distaff of a dowager both weak and wicked, distracted by the intrigues and quarrels of a swarm of self-seeking grandees, and with all its offices, from highest to lowest, of court, state, jurisprudence, and magistracy, sold as openly and as cynically as the commonest wares, there were few to comprehend or to grapple with the danger. it should have seemed obvious to the meanest capacity in the kingdom that the great house of austria, reigning supreme in spain and in germany, could not be allowed to crush the duke of savoy on the one side, and bohemia, moravia, and the netherlands on the other without danger of subjection for france. yet the aim of the queen-regent was to cultivate an impossible alliance with her inevitable foe. and in england, ruled as it then was with no master mind to enforce against its sovereign the great lessons of policy, internal and external, on which its welfare and almost its imperial existence depended, the only ambition of those who could make their opinions felt was to pursue the same impossibility, intimate alliance with the universal foe. any man with slightest pretensions to statesmanship knew that the liberty for protestant worship in imperial germany, extorted by force, had been given reluctantly, and would be valid only as long as that force could still be exerted or should remain obviously in reserve. the "majesty-letter" and the "convention" of the two religions would prove as flimsy as the parchment on which they were engrossed, the protestant churches built under that sanction would be shattered like glass, if once the catholic rulers could feel their hands as clear as their consciences would be for violating their sworn faith to heretics. men knew, even if the easy-going and uxorious emperor, into which character the once busy and turbulent archduke matthias had subsided, might be willing to keep his pledges, that ferdinand of styria, who would soon succeed him, and maximilian of bavaria were men who knew their own minds, and had mentally never resigned one inch of the ground which protestantism imagined itself to have conquered. these things seem plain as daylight to all who look back upon them through the long vista of the past; but the sovereign of england did not see them or did not choose to see them. he saw only the infanta and her two millions of dowry, and he knew that by calling parliament together to ask subsidies for an anti-catholic war he should ruin those golden matrimonial prospects for his son, while encouraging those "shoemakers," his subjects, to go beyond their "last," by consulting the representatives of his people on matters pertaining to the mysteries of government. he was slowly digging the grave of the monarchy and building the scaffold of his son; but he did his work with a laborious and pedantic trifling, when really engaged in state affairs, most amazing to contemplate. he had no penny to give to the cause in which his nearest relatives mere so deeply involved and for which his only possible allies were pledged; but he was ready to give advice to all parties, and with ludicrous gravity imagined himself playing the umpire between great contending hosts, when in reality he was only playing the fool at the beck of masters before whom he quaked. "you are not to vilipend my counsel," said he one day to a foreign envoy. "i am neither a camel nor an ass to take up all this work on my shoulders. where would you find another king as willing to do it as i am?" the king had little time and no money to give to serve his own family and allies and the cause of protestantism, but he could squander vast sums upon worthless favourites, and consume reams of paper on controverted points of divinity. the appointment of vorstius to the chair of theology in leyden aroused more indignation in his bosom, and occupied more of his time, than the conquests of spinola in the duchies, and the menaces of spain against savoy and bohemia. he perpetually preached moderation to the states in the matter of the debateable territory, although moderation at that moment meant submission to the house of austria. he chose to affect confidence in the good faith of those who were playing a comedy by which no statesman could be deceived, but which had secured the approbation of the solomon of the age. but there was one man who was not deceived. the warnings and the lamentations of barneveld sound to us out of that far distant time like the voice of an inspired prophet. it is possible that a portion of the wrath to come might have been averted had there been many men in high places to heed his voice. i do not wish to exaggerate the power and wisdom of the man, nor to set him forth as one of the greatest heroes of history. but posterity has done far less than justice to a statesman and sage who wielded a vast influence at a most critical period in the fate of christendom, and uniformly wielded it to promote the cause of temperate human liberty, both political and religious. viewed by the light of two centuries and a half of additional experience, he may appear to have made mistakes, but none that were necessarily disastrous or even mischievous. compared with the prevailing idea of the age in which he lived, his schemes of polity seem to dilate into large dimensions, his sentiments of religious freedom, however limited to our modern ideas, mark an epoch in human progress, and in regard to the general commonwealth of christendom, of which he was so leading a citizen, the part he played was a lofty one. no man certainly understood the tendency of his age more exactly, took a broader and more comprehensive view than he did of the policy necessary to preserve the largest portion of the results of the past three-quarters of a century, or had pondered the relative value of great conflicting forces more skilfully. had his counsels been always followed, had illustrious birth placed him virtually upon a throne, as was the case with william the silent, and thus allowed him occasionally to carry out the designs of a great mind with almost despotic authority, it might have been better for the world. but in that age it was royal blood alone that could command unflinching obedience without exciting personal rivalry. men quailed before his majestic intellect, but hated him for the power which was its necessary result. they already felt a stupid delight in cavilling at his pedigree. to dispute his claim to a place among the ancient nobility to which he was an honour was to revenge themselves for the rank he unquestionably possessed side by side in all but birth with the kings and rulers of the world. whether envy and jealousy be vices more incident to the republican form of government than to other political systems may be an open question. but it is no question whatever that barneveld's every footstep from this period forward was dogged by envy as patient as it was devouring. jealousy stuck to him like his shadow. we have examined the relations which existed between winwood and himself; we have seen that ambassador, now secretary of state for james, never weary in denouncing the advocate's haughtiness and grim resolution to govern the country according to its laws rather than at the dictate of a foreign sovereign, and in flinging forth malicious insinuations in regard to his relations to spain. the man whose every hour was devoted in spite of a thousand obstacles strewn by stupidity, treachery, and apathy, as well as by envy, hatred, and bigotry--to the organizing of a grand and universal league of protestantism against spain, and to rolling up with strenuous and sometimes despairing arms a dead mountain weight, ever ready to fall back upon and crush him, was accused in dark and mysterious whispers, soon to grow louder and bolder, of a treacherous inclination for spain. there is nothing less surprising nor more sickening for those who observe public life, and wish to retain faith in the human species, than the almost infinite power of the meanest of passions. the advocate was obliged at the very outset of langerac's mission to france to give him a warning on this subject. "should her majesty make kindly mention of me," he said, "you will say nothing of it in your despatches as you did in your last, although i am sure with the best intentions. it profits me not, and many take umbrage at it; wherefore it is wise to forbear." but this was a trifle. by and by there would be many to take umbrage at every whisper in his favour, whether from crowned heads or from the simplest in the social scale. meantime he instructed the ambassador, without paying heed to personal compliments to his chief, to do his best to keep the french government out of the hands of spain, and with that object in view to smooth over the differences between the two great parties in the kingdom, and to gain the confidence, if possible, of conde and nevers and bouillon, while never failing in straightforward respect and loyal friendship to the queen-regent and her ministers, as the legitimate heads of the government. from england a new ambassador was soon to take the place of winwood. sir dudley carleton was a diplomatist of respectable abilities, and well trained to business and routine. perhaps on the whole there was none other, in that epoch of official mediocrity, more competent than he to fill what was then certainly the most important of foreign posts. his course of life had in no wise familiarized him with the intricacies of the dutch constitution, nor could the diplomatic profession, combined with a long residence at venice, be deemed especially favourable for deep studies of the mysteries of predestination. yet he would be found ready at the bidding of his master to grapple with grotius and barneveld on the field of history and law, and thread with uytenbogaert or taurinus all the subtleties of arminianism and gomarism as if he had been half his life both a regular practitioner at the supreme court of the hague and professor of theology at the university of leyden. whether the triumphs achieved in such encounters were substantial and due entirely to his own genius might be doubtful. at all events he had a sovereign behind him who was incapable of making a mistake on any subject. "you shall not forget," said james in his instructions to sir dudley, "that you are the minister of that master whom god hath made the sole protector of his religion . . . . . and you may let fall how hateful the maintaining of erroneous opinions is to the majesty of god and how displeasing to us." the warlike operations of had been ended by the abortive peace of xanten. the two rival pretenders to the duchies were to halve the territory, drawing lots for the first choice, all foreign troops were to be withdrawn, and a pledge was to be given that no fortress should be placed in the hands of any power. but spain at the last moment had refused to sanction the treaty, and everything was remitted to what might be exactly described as a state of sixes and sevens. subsequently it was hoped that the states' troops might be induced to withdraw simultaneously with the catholic forces on an undertaking by spinola that there should be no re-occupation of the disputed territory either by the republic or by spain. but barneveld accurately pointed out that, although the marquis was a splendid commander and, so long as he was at the head of the armies, a most powerful potentate, he might be superseded at any moment. count bucquoy, for example, might suddenly appear in his place and refuse to be bound by any military arrangement of his predecessor. then the archduke proposed to give a guarantee that in case of a mutual withdrawal there should be no return of the troops, no recapture of garrisons. but barneveld, speaking for the states, liked not the security. the archduke was but the puppet of spain, and spain had no part in the guarantee. she held the strings, and might cause him at any moment to play what pranks she chose. it would be the easiest thing in the world for despotic spain, so the advocate thought, to reappear suddenly in force again at a moment's notice after the states' troops had been withdrawn and partially disbanded, and it would be difficult for the many-headed and many-tongued republic to act with similar promptness. to withdraw without a guarantee from spain to the treaty of xanten, which had once been signed, sealed, and all but ratified, would be to give up fifty points in the game. nothing but disaster could ensue. the advocate as leader in all these negotiations and correspondence was ever actuated by the favourite quotation of william the silent from demosthenes, that the safest citadel against an invader and a tyrant is distrust. and he always distrusted in these dealings, for he was sure the spanish cabinet was trying to make fools of the states, and there were many ready to assist it in the task. now that one of the pretenders, temporary master of half the duchies, the prince of neuburg, had espoused both catholicism and the sister of the archbishop of cologne and the duke of bavaria, it would be more safe than ever for spain to make a temporary withdrawal. maximilian of bavaria was beyond all question the ablest and most determined leader of the catholic party in germany, and the most straightforward and sincere. no man before or since his epoch had, like him, been destined to refuse, and more than once refuse, the imperial crown. through his apostasy the prince of neuburg was in danger of losing his hereditary estates, his brothers endeavouring to dispossess him on the ground of the late duke's will, disinheriting any one of his heirs who should become a convert to catholicism. he had accordingly implored aid from the king of spain. archduke albert had urged philip to render such assistance as a matter of justice, and the emperor had naturally declared that the whole right as eldest son belonged, notwithstanding the will, to the prince. with the young neuburg accordingly under the able guidance of maximilian, it was not likely that the grasp of the spanish party upon these all-important territories would be really loosened. the emperor still claimed the right to decide among the candidates and to hold the provinces under sequestration till the decision should be made--that was to say, until the greek kalends. the original attempt to do this through archduke leopold had been thwarted, as we have seen, by the prompt movements of maurice sustained by the policy of barneveld. the advocate was resolved that the emperor's name should not be mentioned either in the preamble or body of the treaty. and his course throughout the simulations, which were never negotiations, was perpetually baffled as much by the easiness and languor of his allies as the ingenuity of the enemy. he was reproached with the loss of wesel, that geneva of the rhine, which would never be abandoned by spain if it was not done forthwith. let spain guarantee the treaty of xanten, he said, and then she cannot come back. all else is illusion. moreover, the emperor had given positive orders that wesel should not be given up. he was assured by villeroy that france would never put on her harness for aachen, that cradle of protestantism. that was for the states-general to do, whom it so much more nearly concerned. the whole aim of barneveld was not to destroy the treaty of xanten, but to enforce it in the only way in which it could be enforced, by the guarantee of spain. so secured, it would be a barrier in the universal war of religion which he foresaw was soon to break out. but it was the resolve of spain, instead of pledging herself to the treaty, to establish the legal control of the territory in the hand of the emperor. neuburg complained that philip in writing to him did not give him the title of duke of julich and cleve, although he had been placed in possession of those estates by the arms of spain. philip, referring to archduke albert for his opinion on this subject, was advised that, as the emperor had not given neuburg the investiture of the duchies, the king was quite right in refusing him the title. even should the treaty of xanten be executed, neither he nor the elector of brandenburg would be anything but administrators until the question of right was decided by the emperor. spain had sent neuburg the order of the golden fleece as a reward for his conversion, but did not intend him to be anything but a man of straw in the territories which he claimed by sovereign right. they were to form a permanent bulwark to the empire, to spain, and to catholicism. barneveld of course could never see the secret letters passing between brussels and madrid, but his insight into the purposes of the enemy was almost as acute as if the correspondence of philip and albert had been in the pigeonholes of his writing-desk in the kneuterdyk. the whole object of spain and the emperor, acting through the archduke, was to force the states to abandon their positions in the duchies simultaneously with the withdrawal of the spanish troops, and to be satisfied with a bare convention between themselves and archduke albert that there should be no renewed occupation by either party. barneveld, finding it impossible to get spain upon the treaty, was resolved that at least the two mediating powers, their great allies, the sovereigns of great britain and france, should guarantee the convention, and that the promises of the archduke should be made to them. this was steadily refused by spain; for the archduke never moved an inch in the matter except according to the orders of spain, and besides battling and buffeting with the archduke, barneveld was constantly deafened with the clamour of the english king, who always declared spain to be in the right whatever she did, and forced to endure with what patience he might the goading of that king's envoy. france, on the other hand, supported the states as firmly as could have been reasonably expected. "we proposed," said the archduke, instructing an envoy whom he was sending to madrid with detailed accounts of these negotiations, "that the promise should be made to each other as usual in treaties. but the hollanders said the promise should be made to the kings of france and england, at which the emperor would have been deeply offended, as if in the affair he was of no account at all. at any moment by this arrangement in concert with france and england the hollanders might walk in and do what they liked." certainly there could have been no succincter eulogy of the policy steadily recommended, as we shall have occasion to see, by barneveld. had he on this critical occasion been backed by england and france combined, spain would have been forced to beat a retreat, and protestantism in the great general war just beginning would have had an enormous advantage in position. but the english solomon could not see the wisdom of this policy. "the king of england says we are right," continued the archduke, "and has ordered his ambassador to insist on our view. the french ambassador here says that his colleague at the hague has similar instructions, but admits that he has not acted up to them. there is not much chance of the hollanders changing. it would be well that the king should send a written ultimatum that the hollanders should sign the convention which we propose. if they don't agree, the world at least will see that it is not we who are in fault." the world would see, and would never have forgiven a statesman in the position of barneveld, had he accepted a bald agreement from a subordinate like the archduke, a perfectly insignificant personage in the great drama then enacting, and given up guarantees both from the archduke's master and from the two great allies of the republic. he stood out manfully against spain and england at every hazard, and under a pelting storm of obloquy, and this was the man whose designs the english secretary of state had dared to describe "as of no other nature than to cause the provinces to relapse into the hands of spain." it appeared too a little later that barneveld's influence with the french government, owing to his judicious support of it so long as it was a government, had been decidedly successful. drugged as france was by the spanish marriage treaty, she was yet not so sluggish nor spell-bound as the king of great britain. "france will not urge upon the hollanders to execute the proposal as we made it," wrote the archduke to the king, "so negotiations are at a standstill. the hollanders say it is better that each party should remain with what each possesses. so that if it does not come to blows, and if these insolences go on as they have done, the hollanders will be gaining and occupying more territory every day." thus once more the ancient enemies and masters of the republic were making the eulogy of the dutch statesman. it was impossible at present for the states to regain wesel, nor that other early stronghold of the reformation, the old imperial city of aachen (aix-la-chapelle). the price to be paid was too exorbitant. the french government had persistently refused to assist the states and possessory princes in the recovery of this stronghold. the queen-regent was afraid of offending spain, although her government had induced the citizens of the place to make the treaty now violated by that country. the dutch ambassador had been instructed categorically to enquire whether their majesties meant to assist aachen and the princes if attacked by the archdukes. "no," said villeroy; "we are not interested in aachen, 'tis too far off. let them look for assistance to those who advised their mutiny." to the ambassador's remonstrance that france was both interested in and pledged to them, the secretary of state replied, "we made the treaty through compassion and love, but we shall not put on harness for aachen. don't think it. you, the states and the united provinces, may assist them if you like." the envoy then reminded the minister that the states-general had always agreed to go forward evenly in this business with the kings of great britain and france and the united princes, the matter being of equal importance to all. they had given no further pledge than this to the union. it was plain, however, that france was determined not to lift a finger at that moment. the duke of bouillon and those acting with him had tried hard to induce their majesties "to write seriously to the archduke in order at least to intimidate him by stiff talk," but it was hopeless. they thought it was not a time then to quarrel with their neighbour and give offence to spain. so the stiff talk was omitted, and the archduke was not intimidated. the man who had so often intimidated him was in his grave, and his widow was occupied in marrying her son to the infanta. "these are the first-fruits," said aerssens, "of the new negotiations with spain." both the spanish king and the emperor were resolved to hold wesel to the very last. until the states should retire from all their positions on the bare word of the archduke, that the spanish forces once withdrawn would never return, the protestants of those two cities must suffer. there was no help for it. to save them would be to abandon all. for no true statesman could be so ingenuous as thus to throw all the cards on the table for the spanish and imperial cabinet to shuffle them at pleasure for a new deal. the duke of neuburg, now catholic and especially protected by spain, had become, instead of a pretender with more or less law on his side, a mere standard-bearer and agent of the great catholic league in the debateable land. he was to be supported at all hazard by the spanish forces, according to the express command of philip's government, especially now that his two brothers with the countenance of the states were disputing his right to his hereditary dominions in germany. the archduke was sullen enough at what he called the weak-mindedness of france. notwithstanding that by express orders from spain he had sent troops under command of juan de rivas to the queen's assistance just before the peace of sainte-menehould, he could not induce her government to take the firm part which the english king did in browbeating the hollanders. "'tis certain," he complained, "that if, instead of this sluggishness on the part of france, they had done us there the same good services we have had from england, the hollanders would have accepted the promise just as it was proposed by us." he implored the king, therefore, to use his strongest influence with the french government that it should strenuously intervene with the hollanders, and compel them to sign the proposal which they rejected. "there is no means of composition if france does not oblige them to sign," said albert rather piteously. but it was not without reason that barneveld had in many of his letters instructed the states' ambassador, langerac, "to caress the old gentleman" (meaning and never naming villeroy), for he would prove to be in spite of all obstacles a good friend to the states, as he always had been. and villeroy did hold firm. whether the archduke was right or not in his conviction, that, if france would only unite with england in exerting a strong pressure on the hollanders, they would evacuate the duchies, and so give up the game, the correspondence of barneveld shows very accurately. but the archduke, of course, had not seen that correspondence. the advocate knew what was plotting, what was impending, what was actually accomplished, for he was accustomed to sweep the whole horizon with an anxious and comprehensive glance. he knew without requiring to read the secret letters of the enemy that vast preparations for an extensive war against the reformation were already completed. the movements in the duchies were the first drops of a coming deluge. the great religious war which was to last a generation of mankind had already begun; the immediate and apparent pretext being a little disputed succession to some petty sovereignties, the true cause being the necessity for each great party--the protestant union and the catholic league--to secure these border provinces, the possession of which would be of such inestimable advantage to either. if nothing decisive occurred in the year , the following year would still be more convenient for the league. there had been troubles in turkey. the grand vizier had been murdered. the sultan was engaged in a war with persia. there was no eastern bulwark in europe to the ever menacing power of the turk and of mahometanism in europe save hungary alone. supported and ruled as that kingdom was by the house of austria, the temper of the populations of germany had become such as to make it doubtful in the present conflict of religious opinions between them and their rulers whether the turk or the spaniard would be most odious as an invader. but for the moment, spain and the emperor had their hands free. they were not in danger of an attack from below the danube. moreover, the spanish fleet had been achieving considerable successes on the barbary coast, having seized la roche, and one or two important citadels, useful both against the corsairs and against sudden attacks by sea from the turk. there were at least , men on a war footing ready to take the field at command of the two branches of the house of austria, spanish and german. in the little war about montserrat, savoy was on the point of being crushed, and savoy was by position and policy the only possible ally, in the south, of the netherlands and of protestant germany. while professing the most pacific sentiments towards the states, and a profound anxiety to withdraw his troops from their borders, the king of spain, besides daily increasing those forces, had just raised , , ducats, a large portion of which was lodged with his bankers in brussels. deeds like those were of more significance than sugared words. etext editor's bookmarks: almost infinite power of the meanest of passions ludicrous gravity safest citadel against an invader and a tyrant is distrust their own roofs were not quite yet in a blaze therefore now denounced the man whom he had injured etext editor's bookmarks, entire john of barneveld - : abstinence from inquisition into consciences and private parlour advanced orthodox party-puritans allowed the demon of religious hatred to enter into its body almost infinite power of the meanest of passions and now the knife of another priest-led fanatic aristocracy of god's elect as with his own people, keeping no back-door open at a blow decapitated france atheist, a tyrant, because he resisted dictation from the clergy behead, torture, burn alive, and bury alive all heretics christian sympathy and a small assistance not being sufficient conclusive victory for the allies seemed as predestined contained within itself the germs of a larger liberty could not be both judge and party in the suit covered now with the satirical dust of centuries deadly hatred of puritans in england and holland determined to bring the very name of liberty into contempt disputing the eternal damnation of young children doctrine of predestination in its sternest and strictest sense emperor of japan addressed him as his brother monarch epernon, the true murderer of henry estimating his character and judging his judges everybody should mind his own business fate, free will, or absolute foreknowledge father cotton, who was only too ready to betray the secrets give him advice if he asked it, and money when he required great war of religion and politics was postponed he was not imperial of aspect on canvas or coin he was a sincere bigot he who would have all may easily lose all he who spreads the snare always tumbles into the ditch himself impatience is often on the part of the non-combatants intense bigotry of conviction international friendship, the self-interest of each it was the true religion, and there was none other james of england, who admired, envied, and hated henry jealousy, that potent principle jesuit mariana--justifying the killing of excommunicated kings king's definite and final intentions, varied from day to day language which is ever living because it is dead louis xiii. ludicrous gravity more fiercely opposed to each other than to papists most detestable verses that even he had ever composed neither kings nor governments are apt to value logic no man can be neutral in civil contentions no synod had a right to claim netherlanders as slaves no man pretended to think of the state none but god to compel me to say more than i choose to say outdoing himself in dogmatism and inconsistency philip iv. power the poison of which it is so difficult to resist practised successfully the talent of silence presents of considerable sums of money to the negotiators made priests shall control the state or the state govern the priests princes show what they have in them at twenty-five or never putting the cart before the oxen queen is entirely in the hands of spain and the priests religion was made the strumpet of political ambition religious toleration, which is a phrase of insult safest citadel against an invader and a tyrant is distrust schism in the church had become a public fact secure the prizes of war without the troubles and dangers senectus edam maorbus est she declined to be his procuress small matter which human folly had dilated into a great one smooth words, in the plentiful lack of any substantial so much in advance of his time as to favor religious equality stroke of a broken table knife sharpened on a carriage wheel that cynical commerce in human lives the defence of the civil authority against the priesthood the assassin, tortured and torn by four horses the truth in shortest about matters of importance the voice of slanderers the catholic league and the protestant union the vehicle is often prized more than the freight their own roofs were not quite yet in a blaze theological hatred was in full blaze throughout the country theology and politics were one there was no use in holding language of authority to him there was but one king in europe, henry the bearnese therefore now denounced the man whom he had injured they have killed him, 'e ammazato,' cried concini things he could tell which are too odious and dreadful thirty years' war tread on the heels of the forty years to look down upon their inferior and lost fellow creatures uncouple the dogs and let them run unimaginable outrage as the most legitimate industry vows of an eternal friendship of several weeks' duration what could save the house of austria, the cause of papacy whether repentance could effect salvation whether dead infants were hopelessly damned whose mutual hatred was now artfully inflamed by partisans wish to appear learned in matters of which they are ignorant work of the aforesaid puritans and a few jesuits wrath of the jesuits at this exercise of legal authority the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, volume life and death of john of barneveld, complete, - life and death of john of barneveld, v , - chapter xi. the advocate sounds the alarm in germany--his instructions to langerac and his forethought--the prince--palatine and his forces take aachen, mulheim, and other towns--supineness of the protestants--increased activity of austria and the league--barneveld strives to obtain help from england--neuburg departs for germany-- barneveld the prime minister of protestantism--ernest mansfield takes service under charles emmanuel--count john of nassau goes to savoy--slippery conduct of king james in regard to the new treaty proposed--barneveld's influence greater in france than in england-- sequestration feared--the elector of brandenburg cited to appear before the emperor at prague--murder of john van wely--uytenbogaert incurs maurice's displeasure--marriage of the king of france with anne of austria--conference between king james and caron concerning piracy, cloth trade and treaty of xanten--barneveld's survey of the condition of europe--his efforts to avert the impending general war. i have thus purposely sketched the leading features of a couple of momentous, although not eventful, years--so far as the foreign policy of the republic is concerned--in order that the reader may better understand the bearings and the value of the advocate's actions and writings at that period. this work aims at being a political study. i would attempt to exemplify the influence of individual humours and passions--some of them among the highest and others certainly the basest that agitate humanity-upon the march of great events, upon general historical results at certain epochs, and upon the destiny of eminent personages. it may also be not uninteresting to venture a glance into the internal structure and workings of a republican and federal system of government, then for the first time reproduced almost spontaneously upon an extended scale. perhaps the revelation of some of its defects, in spite of the faculty and vitality struggling against them, may not be without value for our own country and epoch. the system of switzerland was too limited and homely, that of venice too purely oligarchical, to have much moral for us now, or to render a study of their pathological phenomena especially instructive. the lessons taught us by the history of the netherland confederacy may have more permanent meaning. moreover, the character of a very considerable statesman at an all-important epoch, and in a position of vast responsibility, is always an historical possession of value to mankind. that of him who furnishes the chief theme for these pages has been either overlooked and neglected or perhaps misunderstood by posterity. history has not too many really important and emblematic men on its records to dispense with the memory of barneveld, and the writer therefore makes no apology for dilating somewhat fully upon his lifework by means of much of his entirely unpublished and long forgotten utterances. the advocate had ceaselessly been sounding the alarm in germany. for the protestant union, fascinated, as it were, by the threatening look of the catholic league, seemed relapsing into a drowse. "i believe," he said to one of his agents in that country, "that the evangelical electors and princes and the other estates are not alive to the danger. i am sure that it is not apprehended in great britain. france is threatened with troubles. these are the means to subjugate the religion, the laws and liberties of germany. without an army the troops now on foot in italy cannot be kept out of germany. yet we do not hear that the evangelicals are making provision of troops, money, or any other necessaries. in this country we have about one hundred places occupied with our troops, among whom are many who could destroy a whole army. but the maintenance of these places prevents our being very strong in the field, especially outside our frontiers. but if in all germany there be many places held by the evangelicals which would disperse a great army is very doubtful. keep a watchful eye. economy is a good thing, but the protection of a country and its inhabitants must be laid to heart. watch well if against these provinces, and against bohemia, austria, and other as it is pretended rebellious states, these plans are not directed. look out for the movements of the italian and bavarian troops against germany. you see how they are nursing the troubles and misunderstandings in france, and turning them to account." he instructed the new ambassador in paris to urge upon the french government the absolute necessity of punctuality in furnishing the payment of their contingent in the netherlands according to convention. the states of holland themselves had advanced the money during three years' past, but this anticipation was becoming very onerous. it was necessary to pay the troops every month regularly, but the funds from paris were always in arrear. england contributed about one-half as much in subsidy, but these moneys went in paying the garrisons of brielle, flushing, and rammekens, fortresses pledged to that crown. the ambassador was shrewdly told not to enlarge on the special employment of the english funds while holding up to the queen's government that she was not the only potentate who helped bear burthens for the provinces, and insisted on a continuation of this aid. "remember and let them remember," said the advocate, "that the reforms which they are pretending to make there by relieving the subjects of contributions tends to enervate the royal authority and dignity both within and without, to diminish its lustre and reputation, and in sum to make the king unable to gratify and assist his subjects, friends, and allies. make them understand that the taxation in these provinces is ten times higher than there, and that my lords the states hitherto by the grace of god and good administration have contrived to maintain it in order to be useful to themselves and their friends. take great pains to have it well understood that this is even more honourable and more necessary for a king of france, especially in his minority, than for a republic 'hoc turbato seculo.' we all see clearly how some potentates in europe are keeping at all time under one pretext or another strong forces well armed on a war footing. it therefore behoves his majesty to be likewise provided with troops, and at least with a good exchequer and all the requirements of war, as well for the security of his own state as for the maintenance of the grandeur and laudable reputation left to him by the deceased king." truly here was sound and substantial advice, never and nowhere more needed than in france. it was given too with such good effect as to bear fruit even upon stoniest ground, and it is a refreshing spectacle to see this plain advocate of a republic, so lately sprung into existence out of the depths of oppression and rebellion, calmly summoning great kings as it were before him and instructing them in those vital duties of government in discharge of which the country he administered already furnished a model. had england and france each possessed a barneveld at that epoch, they might well have given in exchange for him a wilderness of epernons and sillerys, bouillons and conde's; of winwoods, lakes, carrs, and villierses. but elizabeth with her counsellors was gone, and henry was gone, and richelieu had not come; while in england james and his minions were diligently opening an abyss between government and people which in less than half a lifetime more should engulph the kingdom. two months later he informed the states' ambassador of the communications made by the prince of conde and the dukes of nevers and bouillon to the government at the hague now that they had effected a kind of reconciliation with the queen. langerac was especially instructed to do his best to assist in bringing about cordial relations, if that were possible, between the crown and the rebels, and meantime he was especially directed to defend du maurier against the calumnious accusations brought against him, of which aerssens had been the secret sower. "you will do your best to manage," he said, "that no special ambassador be sent hither, and that m. du maurier may remain with us, he being a very intelligent and moderate person now well instructed as to the state of our affairs, a professor of the reformed religion, and having many other good qualities serviceable to their majesties and to us. "you will visit the prince, and other princes and officers of the crown who are coming to court again, and do all good offices as well for the court as for m. du maurier, in order that through evil plots and slanderous reports no harm may come to him. "take great pains to find out all you can there as to the designs of the king of spain, the archdukes, and the emperor, in the affair of julich. you are also to let it be known that the change of religion on the part of the prince-palatine of neuburg will not change our good will and affection for him, so far as his legal claims are concerned." so long as it was possible for the states to retain their hold on both the claimants, the advocate, pursuant to his uniform policy of moderation, was not disposed to help throw the palatine into the hands of the spanish party. he was well aware, however, that neuburg by his marriage and his conversion was inevitably to become the instrument of the league and to be made use of in the duchies at its pleasure, and that he especially would be the first to submit with docility to the decree of the emperor. the right to issue such decree the states under guidance of barneveld were resolved to resist at all hazards. "work diligently, nevertheless," said he, "that they permit nothing there directly or indirectly that may tend to the furtherance of the league, as too prejudicial to us and to all our fellow religionists. tell them too that the late king, the king of great britain, the united electors and princes of germany, and ourselves, have always been resolutely opposed to making the dispute about the succession in the duchies depend on the will of the emperor and his court. all our movements in the year against the attempted sequestration under leopold were to carry out that purpose. hold it for certain that our present proceedings for strengthening and maintaining the city and fortress of julich are considered serviceable and indispensable by the british king and the german electors and princes. use your best efforts to induce the french government to pursue the same policy--if it be not possible openly, then at least secretly. my conviction is that, unless the prince-palatine is supported by, and his whole designs founded upon, the general league against all our brethren of the religion, affairs may be appeased." the envoy was likewise instructed to do his best to further the matrimonial alliance which had begun to be discussed between the prince of wales and the second daughter of france. had it been possible at that moment to bring the insane dream of james for a spanish alliance to naught, the states would have breathed more freely. he was also to urge payment of the money for the french regiments, always in arrears since henry's death and sully's dismissal, and always supplied by the exchequer of holland. he was informed that the republic had been sending some war ships to the levant, to watch the armada recently sent thither by spain, and other armed vessels into the baltic, to pursue the corsairs with whom every sea was infested. in one year alone he estimated the loss to dutch merchants by these pirates at , florins. "we have just captured two of the rovers, but the rascally scum is increasing," he said. again alluding to the resistance to be made by the states to the imperial pretensions, he observed, "the emperor is about sending us a herald in the julich matter, but we know how to stand up to him." and notwithstanding the bare possibility which he had admitted, that the prince of neuburg might not yet have wholly sold himself, body and soul, to the papists, he gave warning a day or two afterwards in france that all should be prepared for the worst. "the archdukes and the prince of neuburg appear to be taking the war earnestly in hand," he said. "we believe that the papistical league is about to make a great effort against all the co-religionists. we are watching closely their movements. aachen is first threatened, and the elector-palatine likewise. france surely, for reasons of state, cannot permit that they should be attacked. she did, and helped us to do, too much in the julich campaign to suffer the spaniards to make themselves masters there now." it has been seen that the part played by france in the memorable campaign of was that of admiring auxiliary to the states' forces; marshal de la chatre having in all things admitted the superiority of their army and the magnificent generalship of prince maurice. but the government of the dowager had been committed by that enterprise to carry out the life-long policy of henry, and to maintain his firm alliance with the republic. whether any of the great king's acuteness and vigour in countermining and shattering the plans of the house of austria was left in the french court, time was to show. meantime barneveld was crying himself hoarse with warnings into the dull ears of england and france. a few weeks later the prince of neuburg had thrown off the mask. twelve thousand foot and horse had been raised in great haste, so the advocate informed the french court, by spain and the archdukes, for the use of that pretender. five or six thousand spaniards were coming by sea to flanders, and as many italians were crossing the mountains, besides a great number mustering for the same purpose in germany and lorraine. barneveld was constantly receiving most important intelligence of military plans and movements from prague, which he placed daily before the eyes of governments wilfully blind. "i ponder well at this crisis," he said to his friend caron, "the intelligence i received some months back from ratisbon, out of the cabinet of the jesuits, that the design of the catholic or roman league is to bring this year a great army into the field, in order to make neuburg, who was even then said to be of the roman profession and league, master of julich and the duchies; to execute the imperial decree against aachen and mulheim, preventing any aid from being sent into germany by these provinces, or by great britain, and placing the archduke and marquis spinola in command of the forces; to put another army on the frontiers of austria, in order to prevent any succour coming from hungary, bohemia, austria, moravia, and silesia into germany; to keep all these disputed territories in subjection and devotion to the emperor, and to place the general conduct of all these affairs in the hands of archduke leopold and other princes of the house of austria. a third army is to be brought into the upper palatinate, under command of the duke of bavaria and others of the league, destined to thoroughly carry out its designs against the elector-palatine, and the other electors, princes, and estates belonging to the religion." this intelligence, plucked by barneveld out of the cabinet of the jesuits, had been duly communicated by him months before to those whom it most concerned, and as usual it seemed to deepen the lethargy of the destined victims and their friends. not only the whole spanish campaign of the present year had thus been duly mapped out by the advocate, long before it occurred, but this long buried and forgotten correspondence of the statesman seems rather like a chronicle of transactions already past, so closely did the actual record, which posterity came to know too well, resemble that which he saw, and was destined only to see, in prophetic vision. could this political seer have cast his horoscope of the thirty years' war at this hour of its nativity for the instruction of such men as walsingham or burleigh, henry of navarre or sully, richelieu or gustavus adolphus, would the course of events have been modified? these very idlest of questions are precisely those which inevitably occur as one ponders the seeming barrenness of an epoch in reality so pregnant. "one would think," said barneveld, comparing what was then the future with the real past, "that these plans in prague against the elector-palatine are too gross for belief; but when i reflect on the intense bitterness of these people, when i remember what was done within living men's memory to the good elector hans frederic of saxony for exactly the same reasons, to wit, hatred of our religion, and determination to establish imperial authority, i have great apprehension. i believe that the roman league will use the present occasion to carry out her great design; holding france incapable of opposition to her, germany in too great division, and imagining to themselves that neither the king of great britain nor these states are willing or able to offer effectual and forcible resistance. yet his majesty of great britain ought to be able to imagine how greatly the religious matter in general concerns himself and the electoral house of the palatine, as principal heads of the religion, and that these vast designs should be resisted betimes, and with all possible means and might. my lords the states have good will, but not sufficient strength, to oppose these great forces single-handed. one must not believe that without great and prompt assistance in force from his majesty and other fellow religionists my lords the states can undertake so vast an affair. do your uttermost duty there, in order that, ere it be too late, this matter be taken to heart by his majesty, and that his authority and credit be earnestly used with other kings, electors, princes, and republics, that they do likewise. the promptest energy, good will, and affection may be reckoned on from us." alas! it was easy for his majesty to take to heart the matter of conrad vorstius, to spend reams of diplomatic correspondence, to dictate whole volumes for orations brimming over with theological wrath, for the edification of the states-general, against that doctor of divinity. but what were the special interests of his son-in-law, what the danger to all the other protestant electors and kings, princes and republics, what the imperilled condition of the united provinces, and, by necessary consequence, the storm gathering over his own throne, what the whole fate of protestantism, from friesland to hungary, threatened by the insatiable, all-devouring might of the double house of austria, the ancient church, and the papistical league, what were hundred thousands of men marching towards bohemia, the netherlands, and the duchies, with the drum beating for mercenary recruits in half the villages of spain, italy, and catholic germany, compared with the danger to christendom from an arminian clergyman being appointed to the theological professorship at leyden? the world was in a blaze, kings and princes were arming, and all the time that the monarch of the powerful, adventurous, and heroic people of great britain could spare from slobbering over his minions, and wasting the treasures of the realm to supply their insatiate greed, was devoted to polemical divinity, in which he displayed his learning, indeed, but changed his positions and contradicted himself day by day. the magnitude of this wonderful sovereign's littleness oppresses the imagination. moreover, should he listen to the adjurations of the states and his fellow religionists, should he allow himself to be impressed by the eloquence of barneveld and take a manly and royal decision in the great emergency, it would be indispensable for him to come before that odious body, the parliament of great britain, and ask for money. it would be perhaps necessary for him to take them into his confidence, to degrade himself by speaking to them of the national affairs. they might not be satisfied with the honour of voting the supplies at his demand, but were capable of asking questions as to their appropriation. on the whole it was more king-like and statesman-like to remain quiet, and give advice. of that, although always a spendthrift, he had an inexhaustible supply. barneveld had just hopes from the commons of great britain, if the king could be brought to appeal to parliament. once more he sounded the bugle of alarm. "day by day the archdukes are making greater and greater enrolments of riders and infantry in ever increasing mass," he cried, "and therewith vast provision of artillery and all munitions of war. within ten or twelve days they will be before julich in force. we are sending great convoys to reinforce our army there. the prince of neuburg is enrolling more and more troops every day. he will soon be master of mulheim. if the king of great britain will lay this matter earnestly to heart for the preservation of the princes, electors, and estates of the religion, i cannot doubt that parliament would cooperate well with his majesty, and this occasion should be made use of to redress the whole state of affairs." it was not the parliament nor the people of great britain that would be in fault when the question arose of paying in money and in blood for the defence of civil and religious liberty. but if james should venture openly to oppose spain, what would the count of gondemar say, and what would become of the infanta and the two millions of dowry? it was not for want of some glimmering consciousness in the mind of james of the impending dangers to northern europe and to protestantism from the insatiable ambition of spain, and the unrelenting grasp of the papacy upon those portions of christendom which were slipping from its control, that his apathy to those perils was so marked. we have seen his leading motives for inaction, and the world was long to feel its effects. "his majesty firmly believes," wrote secretary winwood, "that the papistical league is brewing great and dangerous plots. to obviate them in everything that may depend upon him, my lords the states will find him prompt. the source of all these entanglements comes from spain. we do not think that the archduke will attack julich this year, but rather fear for mulheim and aix-la-chapelle." but the secretary of state, thus acknowledging the peril, chose to be blind to its extent, while at the same time undervaluing the powers by which it might be resisted. "to oppose the violence of the enemy," he said, "if he does resort to violence, is entirely impossible. it would be furious madness on our part to induce him to fall upon the elector-palatine, for this would be attacking great britain and all her friends and allies. germany is a delicate morsel, but too much for the throat of spain to swallow all at once. behold the evil which troubles the conscience of the papistical league. the emperor and his brothers are all on the brink of their sepulchre, and the infants of spain are too young to succeed to the empire. the pope would more willingly permit its dissolution than its falling into the hands of a prince not of his profession. all that we have to do in this conjuncture is to attend the best we can to our own affairs, and afterwards to strengthen the good alliance existing among us, and not to let ourselves be separated by the tricks and sleights of hand of our adversaries. the common cause can reckon firmly upon the king of great britain, and will not find itself deceived." excellent commonplaces, but not very safe ones. unluckily for the allies, to attend each to his own affairs when the enemy was upon them, and to reckon firmly upon a king who thought it furious madness to resist the enemy, was hardly the way to avert the danger. a fortnight later, the man who thought it possible to resist, and time to resist, before the net was over every head, replied to the secretary by a picture of the spaniards' progress. "since your letter," he said, "you have seen the course of spinola with the army of the king and the archdukes. you have seen the prince-palatine of neuburg with his forces maintained by the pope and other members of the papistical league. on the th of august they forced aachen, where the magistrates and those of the reformed religion have been extremely maltreated. twelve hundred soldiers are lodged in the houses there of those who profess our religion. mulheim is taken and dismantled, and the very houses about to be torn down. duren, castre, grevenborg, orsoy, duisburg, ruhrort, and many other towns, obliged to receive spanish garrisons. on the th of september they invested wesel. on the th it was held certain that the cities of cleve, emmerich, rees, and others in that quarter, had consented to be occupied. the states have put one hundred and thirty-five companies of foot (about , men) and horse and a good train of artillery in the field, and sent out some ships of war. prince maurice left the hague on the th of september to assist wesel, succour the prince of brandenburg, and oppose the hostile proceedings of spinola and the palatine of neuburg . . . . consider, i pray you, this state of things, and think how much heed they have paid to the demands of the kings of great britain and france to abstain from hostilities. be sure that without our strong garrison in julich they would have snapped up every city in julich, cleve, and berg. but they will now try to make use of their slippery tricks, their progress having been arrested by our army. the prince of neuburg is sending his chancellor here 'cum mediis componendae pacis,' in appearance good and reasonable, in reality deceptive . . . . if their majesties, my lords the states, and the princes of the union, do not take an energetic resolution for making head against their designs, behold their league in full vigour and ours without soul. neither the strength nor the wealth of the states are sufficient of themselves to withstand their ambitious and dangerous designs. we see the possessory princes treated as enemies upon their own estates, and many thousand souls of the reformed religion cruelly oppressed by the papistical league. for myself i am confirmed in my apprehensions and believe that neither our religion nor our union can endure such indignities. the enemy is making use of the minority in france and the divisions among the princes of germany to their great advantage . . . . i believe that the singular wisdom of his majesty will enable him to apply promptly the suitable remedies, and that your parliament will make no difficulty in acquitting itself well in repairing those disorders." the year dragged on to its close. the supineness of the protestants deepened in direct proportion to the feverish increase of activity on the part of austria and the league. the mockery of negotiation in which nothing could be negotiated, the parade of conciliation when war of extermination was intended, continued on the part of spain and austria. barneveld was doing his best to settle all minor differences between the states and great britain, that these two bulwarks of protestantism might stand firmly together against the rising tide. he instructed the ambassador to exhaust every pacific means of arrangement in regard to the greenland fishery disputes, the dyed cloth question, and like causes of ill feeling. he held it more than necessary, he said, that the inhabitants of the two countries should now be on the very best terms with each other. above all, he implored the king through the ambassador to summon parliament in order that the kingdom might be placed in position to face the gathering danger. "i am amazed and distressed," he said, "that the statesmen of england do not comprehend the perils with which their fellow religionists are everywhere threatened, especially in germany and in these states. to assist us with bare advice and sometimes with traducing our actions, while leaving us to bear alone the burthens, costs, and dangers, is not serviceable to us." referring to the information and advice which he had sent to england and to france fifteen months before, he now gave assurance that the prince of neuburg and spinola were now in such force, both foot and cavalry, with all necessary munitions, as to hold these most important territories as a perpetual "sedem bedli," out of which to attack germany at their pleasure and to cut off all possibility of aid from england and the states. he informed the court of st. james that besides the forces of the emperor and the house of austria, the duke of bavaria and spanish italy, there were now several thousand horse and foot under the bishop of wurzburg, or under the bishop-elector of mayence, and strong bodies of cavalry under count vaudemont in lorraine, all mustering for the war. the pretext seems merely to reduce frankfurt to obedience, even as donauworth had previously been used as a colour for vast designs. the real purpose was to bring the elector-palatine and the whole protestant party in germany to submission. "his majesty," said the advocate, "has now a very great and good subject upon which to convoke parliament and ask for a large grant. this would be doubtless consented to if parliament receives the assurance that the money thus accorded shall be applied to so wholesome a purpose. you will do your best to further this great end. we are waiting daily to hear if the xanten negotiation is broken off or not. i hope and i fear. meantime we bear as heavy burthens as if we were actually at war." he added once more the warning, which it would seem superfluous to repeat even to schoolboys in diplomacy, that this xanten treaty, as proposed by the enemy, was a mere trap. spinola and neuburg, in case of the mutual disbanding, stood ready at an instant's warning to re-enlist for the league not only all the troops that the catholic army should nominally discharge, but those which would be let loose from the states' army and that of brandenburg as well. they would hold rheinberg, groll, lingen, oldenzaal, wachtendonk, maestricht, aachen, and mulheim with a permanent force of more than , men. and they could do all this in four days' time. a week or two later all his prophesies had been fulfilled. "the prince of neuburg," he said, "and marquis spinola have made game of us most impudently in the matter of the treaty. this is an indignity for us, their majesties, and the electors and princes. we regard it as intolerable. a despatch came from spain forbidding a further step in the negotiation without express order from the king. the prince and spinola are gone to brussels, the ambassadors have returned to the hague, the armies are established in winter-quarters. the cavalry are ravaging the debateable land and living upon the inhabitants at their discretion. m. de refuge is gone to complain to the archdukes of the insult thus put upon his sovereign. sir henry wotton is still here. we have been plunged into an immensity of extraordinary expense, and are amazed that at this very moment england should demand money from us when we ought to be assisted by a large subsidy by her. we hope that now at least his majesty will take a vigorous resolution and not suffer his grandeur and dignity to be vilipended longer. if the spaniard is successful in this step, he is ready for greater ones, and will believe that mankind is ready to bear and submit to everything. his majesty is the first king of the religion. he bears the title of defender of the faith. his religion, his only daughter, his son-in-law, his grandson are all especially interested besides his own dignity, besides the common weal." he then adverted to the large subsidies from queen elizabeth many years before, guaranteed, it was true, by the cautionary towns, and to the gallant english regiments, sent by that great sovereign, which had been fighting so long and so splendidly in the netherlands for the common cause of protestantism and liberty. yet england was far weaker then, for she had always her northern frontier to defend against scotland, ever ready to strike her in the back. "but now his majesty," said barneveld, "is king of england and scotland both. his frontier is free. ireland is at peace. he possesses quietly twice as much as the queen ever did. he is a king. her majesty was a woman. the king has children and heirs. his nearest blood is engaged in this issue. his grandeur and dignity have been wronged. each one of these considerations demands of itself a manly resolution. you will do your best to further it." the almost ubiquitous power of spain, gaining after its exhaustion new life through the strongly developed organization of the league, and the energy breathed into that mighty conspiracy against human liberty by the infinite genius of the "cabinet of jesuits," was not content with overshadowing germany, the netherlands, and england, but was threatening savoy with , men, determined to bring charles emmanuel either to perdition or submission. like england, france was spell-bound by the prospect of spanish marriages, which for her at least were not a chimera, and looked on composedly while savoy was on point of being sacrificed by the common invader of independent nationality whether protestant or catholic. nothing ever showed more strikingly the force residing in singleness of purpose with breadth and unity of design than all these primary movements of the great war now beginning. the chances superficially considered were vastly in favour of the protestant cause. in the chief lands, under the sceptre of the younger branch of austria, the protestants outnumbered the catholics by nearly ten to one. bohemia, the austrias, moravia, silesia, hungary were filled full of the spirit of huss, of luther, and even of calvin. if spain was a unit, now that the moors and jews had been expelled, and the heretics of castille and aragon burnt into submission, she had a most lukewarm ally in venice, whose policy was never controlled by the church, and a dangerous neighbour in the warlike, restless, and adventurous house of savoy, to whom geographical considerations were ever more vital than religious scruples. a sincere alliance of france, the very flower of whose nobility and people inclined to the reformed religion, was impossible, even if there had been fifty infantes to espouse fifty daughters of france. great britain, the netherlands, and the united princes of germany seemed a solid and serried phalanx of protestantism, to break through which should be hopeless. yet at that moment, so pregnant with a monstrous future, there was hardly a sound protestant policy anywhere but in holland. how long would that policy remain sound and united? how long would the republic speak through the imperial voice of barneveld? time was to show and to teach many lessons. the united princes of germany were walking, talking, quarrelling in their sleep; england and france distracted and bedrugged, while maximilian of bavaria and ferdinand of gratz, the cabinets of madrid and the vatican, were moving forward to their aims slowly, steadily, relentlessly as fate. and spain was more powerful than she had been since the truce began. in five years she had become much more capable of aggression. she had strengthened her positions in the mediterranean by the acquisition and enlargement of considerable fortresses in barbary and along a large sweep of the african coast, so as to be almost supreme in africa. it was necessary for the states, the only power save turkey that could face her in those waters, to maintain a perpetual squadron of war ships there to defend their commerce against attack from the spaniard and from the corsairs, both mahometan and christian, who infested every sea. spain was redoubtable everywhere, and the turk, engaged in persian campaigns, was offering no diversion against hungary and vienna. "reasons of state worthy of his majesty's consideration and wisdom," said barneveld, "forbid the king of great britain from permitting the spaniard to give the law in italy. he is about to extort obedience and humiliation from the duke of savoy, or else with , men to mortify and ruin him, while entirely assuring himself of france by the double marriages. then comes the attack on these provinces, on protestant germany, and all other states and realms of the religion." with the turn of the year, affairs were growing darker and darker. the league was rolling up its forces in all directions; its chiefs proposed absurd conditions of pacification, while war was already raging, and yet scarcely any government but that of the netherlands paid heed to the rising storm. james, fatuous as ever, listened to gondemar, and wrote admonitory letters to the archduke. it was still gravely proposed by the catholic party that there should be mutual disbanding in the duchies, with a guarantee from marquis spinola that there should be no more invasion of those territories. but powers and pledges from the king of spain were what he needed. to suppose that the republic and her allies would wait quietly, and not lift a finger until blows were actually struck against the protestant electors or cities of germany, was expecting too much ingenuousness on the part of statesmen who had the interests of protestantism at heart. what they wanted was the signed, sealed, ratified treaty faithfully carried out. then if the king of spain and the archdukes were willing to contract with the states never to make an attempt against the holy german empire, but to leave everything to take its course according to the constitutions, liberties, and traditions and laws of that empire, under guidance of its electors, princes, estates, and cities, the united provinces were ready, under mediation of the two kings, their allies and friends, to join in such an arrangement. thus there might still be peace in germany, and religious equality as guaranteed by the "majesty-letter," and the "compromise" between the two great churches, roman and reformed, be maintained. to bring about this result was the sincere endeavour of barneveld, hoping against hope. for he knew that all was hollowness and sham on the part of the great enemy. even as walsingham almost alone had suspected and denounced the delusive negotiations by which spain continued to deceive elizabeth and her diplomatists until the armada was upon her coasts, and denounced them to ears that were deafened and souls that were stupified by the frauds practised upon them, so did barneveld, who had witnessed all that stupendous trickery of a generation before, now utter his cries of warning that germany might escape in time from her impending doom. "nothing but deceit is lurking in the spanish proposals," he said. "every man here wonders that the english government does not comprehend these malversations. truly the affair is not to be made straight by new propositions, but by a vigorous resolution of his majesty. it is in the highest degree necessary to the salvation of christendom, to the conservation of his majesty's dignity and greatness, to the service of the princes and provinces, and of all germany, nor can this vigorous resolution be longer delayed without enormous disaster to the common weal . . . . . i have the deepest affection for the cause of the duke of savoy, but i cannot further it so long as i cannot tell what his majesty specifically is resolved to do, and what hope is held out from venice, germany, and other quarters. our taxes are prodigious, the ordinary and extraordinary, and we have a spanish army at our front door." the armaments, already so great, had been enlarged during the last month of the year. vaudemont was at the head of a further force of cavalry and foot, paid for by spain and the pope; , additional soldiers, riders and infantry together, had been gathered by maximilian of bavaria at the expense of the league. even if the reports were exaggerated, the advocate thought it better to be too credulous than as apathetic as the rest of the protestants. "we receive advices every day," he wrote to caron, "that the spaniards and the roman league are going forward with their design. they are trying to amuse the british king and to gain time, in order to be able to deal the heavier blows. do all possible duty to procure a timely and vigorous resolution there. to wait again until we are anticipated will be fatal to the cause of the evangelical electors and princes of germany and especially of his electoral highness of brandenburg. we likewise should almost certainly suffer irreparable damage, and should again bear our cross, as men said last year in regard to aachen, wesel, and so many other places. the spaniard is sly, and has had a long time to contrive how he can throw the net over the heads of all our religious allies. remember all the warnings sent from here last year, and how they were all tossed to the winds, to the ruin of so many of our co-religionists. if it is now intended over there to keep the spaniards in check merely by speeches or letters, it would be better to say so clearly to our friends. so long as parliament is not convoked in order to obtain consents and subsidies for this most necessary purpose, so long i fail to believe that this great common cause of christendom, and especially of germany, is taken to heart by england." he adverted with respectfully subdued scorn to king james's proposition that spinola should give a guarantee. "i doubt if he accepts the suggestion," said barneveld, "unless as a notorious trick, and if he did, what good would the promise of spinola do us? we consider spinola a great commander having the purses and forces of the spaniards and the leaguers in his control; but should they come into other hands, he would not be a very considerable personage for us. and that may happen any day. they don't seem in england to understand the difference between prince maurice in his relations to our state and that of marquis spinola to his superiors. try to make them comprehend it. a promise from the emperor, king of spain, and the princes of the league, such as his majesty in his wisdom has proposed to spinola, would be most tranquillizing for all the protestant princes and estates of the empire, especially for the elector and electress palatine, and for ourselves. in such a case no difficulty would be made on our side." after expressing his mind thus freely in regard to james and his policy, he then gave the ambassador a word of caution in characteristic fashion. "cogita," he said, "but beware of censuring his majesty's projects. i do not myself mean to censure them, nor are they publicly laughed at here, but look closely at everything that comes from brussels, and let me know with diligence." and even as the advocate was endeavouring with every effort of his skill and reason to stir the sluggish james into vigorous resolution in behalf of his own children, as well as of the great cause of protestantism and national liberty, so was he striving to bear up on his strenuous shoulders the youthful king of france, and save him from the swollen tides of court intrigue and jesuitical influence fast sweeping him to destruction. he had denounced the recent and paltry proposition made on the part of the league, and originally suggested by james, as a most open and transparent trap, into which none but the blind would thrust themselves. the treaty of xanten, carried out as it had been signed and guaranteed by the great catholic powers, would have brought peace to christendom. to accept in place of such guarantee the pledge of a simple soldier, who to-morrow might be nothing, was almost too ridiculous a proposal to be answered gravely. yet barneveld through the machinations of the catholic party was denounced both at the english and french courts as an obstacle to peace, when in reality his powerful mind and his immense industry were steadily directed to the noblest possible end--to bring about a solemn engagement on the part of spain, the emperor, and the princes of the league, to attack none of the protestant powers of germany, especially the elector-palatine, but to leave the laws, liberties, and privileges of the states within the empire in their original condition. and among those laws were the great statutes of and , the "majesty-letter" and the "compromise," granting full right of religious worship to the protestants of the kingdom of bohemia. if ever a policy deserved to be called truly liberal and truly conservative, it was the policy thus steadily maintained by barneveld. adverting to the subterfuge by which the catholic party had sought to set aside the treaty of xanten, he instructed langerac, the states' ambassador in paris, and his own pupils to make it clear to the french government that it was impossible that in such arrangements the spanish armies would not be back again in the duchies at a moment's notice. it could not be imagined even that they were acting sincerely. "if their upright intention," he said, "is that no actual, hostile, violent attack shall be made upon the duchies, or upon any of the princes, estates, or cities of the holy empire, as is required for the peace and tranquillity of christendom, and if all the powers interested therein will come into a good and solid convention to that effect. my lords the states will gladly join in such undertaking and bind themselves as firmly as the other powers. if no infraction of the laws and liberties of the holy empire be attempted, there will be peace for germany and its neighbours. but the present extravagant proposition can only lead to chicane and quarrels. to press such a measure is merely to inflict a disgrace upon us. it is an attempt to prevent us from helping the elector-palatine and the other protestant princes of germany and coreligionists everywhere against hostile violence. for the elector-palatine can receive aid from us and from great britain through the duchies only. it is plainly the object of the enemy to seclude us from the palatine and the rest of protestant germany. it is very suspicious that the proposition of prince maurice, supported by the two kings and the united princes of germany, has been rejected." the advocate knew well enough that the religious franchises granted by the house of habsburg at the very moment in which spain signed her peace with the netherlands, and exactly as the mad duke of cleve was expiring--with a dozen princes, catholic and protestant, to dispute his inheritance--would be valuable just so long as they could be maintained by the united forces of protestantism and of national independence and no longer. what had been extorted from the catholic powers by force would be retracted by force whenever that force could be concentrated. it had been necessary for the republic to accept a twelve years' truce with spain in default of a peace, while the death of john of cleve, and subsequently of henry iv., had made the acquisition of a permanent pacification between catholicism and protestantism, between the league and the union, more difficult than ever. the so-called thirty years' war--rather to be called the concluding portion of the eighty years' war--had opened in the debateable duchies exactly at the moment when its forerunner, the forty years' war of the netherlands, had been temporarily and nominally suspended. barneveld was perpetually baffled in his efforts to obtain a favourable peace for protestant europe, less by the open diplomacy and military force of the avowed enemies of protestantism than by the secret intrigues and faintheartedness of its nominal friends. he was unwearied in his efforts simultaneously to arouse the courts of england and france to the danger to europe from the overshadowing power of the house of austria and the league, and he had less difficulty in dealing with the catholic lewis and his mother than with protestant james. at the present moment his great designs were not yet openly traversed by a strong protestant party within the very republic which he administered. "look to it with earnestness and grave deliberation," he said to langerac, "that they do not pursue us there with vain importunity to accept something so notoriously inadmissible and detrimental to the common weal. we know that from the enemy's side every kind of unseemly trick is employed, with the single object of bringing about misunderstanding between us and the king of france. a prompt and vigorous resolution on the part of his majesty, to see the treaty which we made duly executed, would be to help the cause. otherwise, not. we cannot here believe that his majesty, in this first year of his majority, will submit to such a notorious and flagrant affront, or that he will tolerate the oppression of the duke of savoy. such an affair in the beginning of his majesty's reign cannot but have very great and prejudicial consequences, nor can it be left to linger on in uncertainty and delay. let him be prompt in this. let him also take a most christian--kingly, vigorous resolution against the great affront put upon him in the failure to carry out the treaty. such a resolve on the part of the two kings would restore all things to tranquillity and bring the spaniard and his adherents 'in terminos modestiae. but so long as france is keeping a suspicious eye upon england, and england upon france, everything will run to combustion, detrimental to their majesties and to us, and ruinous to all the good inhabitants." to the treaty of xanten faithfully executed he held as to an anchor in the tempest until it was torn away, not by violence from without, but by insidious mutiny within. at last the government of james proposed that the pledges on leaving the territory should be made to the two allied kings as mediators and umpires. this was better than the naked promises originally suggested, but even in this there was neither heartiness nor sincerity. meantime the prince of neuburg, negotiations being broken off, departed for germany, a step which the advocate considered ominous. soon afterwards that prince received a yearly pension of , crowns from spain, and for this stipend his claims on the sovereignty of the duchies were supposed to be surrendered. "if this be true," said barneveld, "we have been served with covered dishes." the king of england wrote spirited and learned letters to the elector-palatine, assuring him of his father-in-law's assistance in case he should be attacked by the league. sir henry wotton, then on special mission at the hague, showed these epistles to barneveld. "when i hear that parliament has been assembled and has granted great subsidies," was the advocate's comment, "i shall believe that effects may possibly follow from all these assurances." it was wearisome for the advocate thus ever to be foiled; by the pettinesses and jealousies of those occupying the highest earthly places, in his efforts to stem the rising tide of spanish and catholic aggression, and to avert the outbreak of a devastating war to which he saw europe doomed. it may be wearisome to read the record. yet it is the chronicle of christendom during one of the most important and fateful epochs of modern history. no man can thoroughly understand the complication and precession of phenomena attending the disastrous dawn of the renewed war, on an even more awful scale than the original conflict in the netherlands, without studying the correspondence of barneveld. the history of europe is there. the fate of christendom is there. the conflict of elements, the crash of contending forms of religion and of nationalities, is pictured there in vivid if homely colours. the advocate, while acting only in the name of a slender confederacy, was in truth, so long as he held his place, the prime minister of european protestantism. there was none other to rival him, few to comprehend him, fewer still to sustain him. as prince maurice was at that moment the great soldier of protestantism without clearly scanning the grandeur of the field in which he was a chief actor, or foreseeing the vastness of its future, so the advocate was its statesman and its prophet. could the two have worked together as harmoniously as they had done at an earlier day, it would have been a blessing for the common weal of europe. but, alas! the evil genius of jealousy, which so often forbids cordial relations between soldier and statesman, already stood shrouded in the distance, darkly menacing the strenuous patriot, who was wearing his life out in exertions for what he deemed the true cause of progress and humanity. nor can the fate of the man himself, his genuine character, and the extraordinary personal events towards which he was slowly advancing, be accurately unfolded without an attempt by means of his letters to lay bare his inmost thoughts. especially it will be seen at a later moment how much value was attached to this secret correspondence with the ambassadors in london and paris. the advocate trusted to the support of france, papal and medicean as the court of the young king was, because the protestant party throughout the kingdom was too powerful, warlike, and numerous to be trifled with, and because geographical considerations alone rendered a cordial alliance between spain and france very difficult. notwithstanding the spanish marriages, which he opposed so long as opposition was possible, he knew that so long as a statesman remained in the kingdom, or a bone for one existed, the international policy of henry, of sully, and of jeannin could not be wholly abandoned. he relied much on villeroy, a political hack certainly, an ancient leaguer, and a papist, but a man too cool, experienced, and wily to be ignorant of the very hornbook of diplomacy, or open to the shallow stratagems by which spain found it so easy to purchase or to deceive. so long as he had a voice in the council, it was certain that the netherland alliance would not be abandoned, nor the duke of savoy crushed. the old secretary of state was not especially in favour at that moment, but barneveld could not doubt his permanent place in french affairs until some man of real power should arise there. it was a dreary period of barrenness and disintegration in that kingdom while france was mourning henry and waiting for richelieu. the dutch ambassador at paris was instructed accordingly to maintain. good relations with villeroy, who in barneveld's opinion had been a constant and sincere friend to the netherlands. "don't forget to caress the old gentleman you wot of," said the advocate frequently, but suppressing his name, "without troubling yourself with the reasons mentioned in your letter. i am firmly convinced that he will overcome all difficulties. don't believe either that france will let the duke of savoy be ruined. it is against every reason of state." yet there were few to help charles emmanuel in this montferrat war, which was destined to drag feebly on, with certain interludes of negotiations, for two years longer. the already notorious condottiere ernest mansfeld, natural son of old prince peter ernest, who played so long and so high a part in command of the spanish armies in the netherlands, had, to be sure, taken service under the duke. thenceforth he was to be a leader and a master in that wild business of plunder, burning, blackmailing, and murder, which was opening upon europe, and was to afford occupation for many thousands of adventurers of high and low degree. mansfeld, reckless and profligate, had already changed his banner more than once. commanding a company under leopold in the duchies, he had been captured by the forces of the union, and, after waiting in vain to be ransomed by the archduke, had gone secretly over to the enemy. thus recovering his liberty, he had enlisted a regiment under leopold's name to fight the union, and had then, according to contract, transferred himself and most of his adventurers to the flag of the union. the military operations fading away in the duchies without being succeeded by permanent peace, the count, as he was called, with no particular claim to such title, had accepted a thousand florins a year as retainer from the union and had found occupation under charles emmanuel. here the spanish soldier of a year or two before found much satisfaction and some profit in fighting spanish soldiers. he was destined to reappear in the netherlands, in france, in bohemia, in many places where there were villages to be burned, churches to be plundered, cities to be sacked, nuns and other women to be outraged, dangerous political intrigues to be managed. a man in the prime of his age, fair-haired, prematurely wrinkled, battered, and hideous of visage, with a hare-lip and a humpback; slovenly of dress, and always wearing an old grey hat without a band to it; audacious, cruel, crafty, and licentious--such was ernest mansfeld, whom some of his contemporaries spoke of as ulysses germanicus, others as the new attila, all as a scourge to the human race. the cockneys of paris called him "machefer," and nurses long kept children quiet by threatening them with that word. he was now enrolled on the protestant side, although at the moment serving savoy against spain in a question purely personal. his armies, whether in italy or in germany, were a miscellaneous collection of adventurers of high and low degree, of all religions, of all countries, unfrocked priests and students, ruined nobles, bankrupt citizens, street vagabonds--earliest type perhaps of the horrible military vermin which were destined to feed so many years long on the unfortunate dismembered carcass of germany. many demands had been made upon the states for assistance to savoy,--as if they and they alone were to bear the brunt and pay the expense of all the initiatory campaigns against spain. "we are much importuned," said the advocate, "to do something for the help of savoy . . . . we wish and we implore that france, great britain, the german princes, the venetians, and the swiss would join us in some scheme of effective assistance. but we have enough on our shoulders at this moment." they had hardly money enough in their exchequer, admirably ordered as it was, for enterprises so far from home when great spanish armies were permanently encamped on their border. partly to humour king james and partly from love of adventure, count john of nassau had gone to savoy at the head of a small well disciplined body of troops furnished by the states. "make use of this piece of news," said barneveld, communicating the fact to langerac, "opportunely and with discretion. besides the wish to give some contentment to the king of great britain, we consider it inconsistent with good conscience and reasons of state to refuse help to a great prince against oppression by those who mean to give the law to everybody; especially as we have been so earnestly and frequently importuned to do so." and still the spaniards and the league kept their hold on the duchies, while their forces, their munitions, their accumulation of funds waged hourly. the war of chicane was even more deadly than an actual campaign, for when there was no positive fighting the whole world seemed against the republic. and the chicane was colossal. "we cannot understand," said barneveld, "why m. de prevaulx is coming here on special mission. when a treaty is signed and sealed, it only remains to execute it. the archduke says he is himself not known in the treaty, and that nothing can be demanded of him in relation to it. this he says in his letters to the king of great britain. m. de refuge knows best whether or not marquis spinola, ottavio visconti, chancellor pecquius, and others, were employed in the negotiation by the archduke. we know very well here that the whole business was conducted by them. the archduke is willing to give a clean and sincere promise not to re-occupy, and asks the same from the states. if he were empowered by the emperor, the king of spain, and the league, and acted in such quality, something might be done for the tranquillity of germany. but he promises for himself only, and emperor, king, or league, may send any general to do what they like to-morrow. what is to prevent it? "and so my lords the states, the elector of brandenburg, and others interested are cheated and made fools of. and we are as much troubled by these tricks as by armed force. yes, more; for we know that great enterprises are preparing this year against germany and ourselves, that all neuburg's troops have been disbanded and re-enlisted under the spanish commanders, and that forces are levying not only in italy and spain, but in germany, lorraine, luxemburg, and upper burgundy, and that wesel has been stuffed full of gunpowder and other munitions, and very strongly fortified." for the states to agree to a treaty by which the disputed duchies should be held jointly by the princes of neuburg and of brandenburg, and the territory be evacuated by all foreign troops; to look quietly on while neuburg converted himself to catholicism, espoused the sister of maximilian of bavaria, took a pension from spain, resigned his claims in favour of spain, and transferred his army to spain; and to expect that brandenburg and all interested in brandenburg, that is to say, every protestant in europe, should feel perfectly easy under such arrangement and perfectly protected by the simple promise of a soldier of fortune against catholic aggression, was a fantastic folly hardly worthy of a child. yet the states were asked to accept this position, brandenburg and all protestant germany were asked to accept it, and barneveld was howled at by his allies as a marplot and mischief-maker, and denounced and insulted by diplomatists daily, because he mercilessly tore away the sophistries of the league and of the league's secret friend, james stuart. the king of spain had more than , men under arms, and was enlisting more soldiers everywhere and every day, had just deposited , , crowns with his antwerp bankers for a secret purpose, and all the time was exuberant in his assurances of peace. one would have thought that there had never been negotiations in bourbourg, that the spanish armada had never sailed from coruna. "you are wise and prudent in france," said the advocate, "but we are used to spanish proceedings, and from much disaster sustained are filled with distrust. the king of england seems now to wish that the archduke should draw up a document according to his good pleasure, and that the states should make an explanatory deed, which the king should sign also and ask the king of france to do the same. but this is very hazardous. "we do not mean to receive laws from the king of spain, nor the archduke . . . . the spanish proceedings do not indicate peace but war. one must not take it ill of us that we think these matters of grave importance to our friends and ourselves. affairs have changed very much in the last four months. the murder of the first vizier of the turkish emperor and his designs against persia leave the spanish king and the emperor free from attack in that quarter, and their armaments are far greater than last year . . . . i cannot understand why the treaty of xanten, formerly so highly applauded, should now be so much disapproved. . . . the king of spain and the emperor with their party have a vast design to give the law to all christendom, to choose a roman king according to their will, to reduce the evangelical electors, princes, and estates of germany to obedience, to subject all italy, and, having accomplished this, to proceed to triumph over us and our allies, and by necessary consequence over france and england. they say they have established the emperor's authority by means of aachen and mulheim, will soon have driven us out of julich, and have thus arranged matters entirely to their heart's content. they can then, in name of the emperor, the league, the prince of neuburg, or any one else, make themselves in eight days masters of the places which they are now imaginarily to leave as well as of those which we are actually to surrender, and by possession of which we could hold out a long time against all their power." those very places held by the states--julich, emmerich, and others--had recently been fortified at much expense, under the superintendence of prince maurice, and by advice of the advocate. it would certainly be an act of madness to surrender them on the terms proposed. these warnings and forebodings of barneveld sound in our ears like recorded history, yet they were far earlier than the actual facts. and now to please the english king, the states had listened to his suggestion that his name and that of the king of france should be signed as mediators to a new arrangement proposed in lieu of the xanten treaty. james had suggested this, lewis had agreed to it. yet before the ink had dried in james's pen, he was proposing that the names of the mediating sovereigns should be omitted from the document? and why? because gondemar was again whispering in his ear. "they are renewing the negotiations in england," said the advocate, "about the alliance between the prince of wales and the second daughter of spain; and the king of great britain is seriously importuning us that the archdukes and my lords the states should make their pledges 'impersonaliter' and not to the kings." james was also willing that the name of the emperor should appear upon it. to prevent this, barneveld would have had himself burned at the stake. it would be an ignominious and unconditional surrender of the whole cause. "the archduke will never be contented," said the advocate, "unless his majesty of great britain takes a royal resolution to bring him to reason. that he tries to lay the fault on us is pure malice. we have been ready and are still ready to execute the treaty of xanten. the archduke is the cause of the dispute concerning the act. we approved the formularies of their majesties, and have changed them three times to suit the king of great britain. our provincial states have been notified in the matter, so that we can no longer digest the spanish impudence, and are amazed that his majesty can listen any more to the spanish ministers. we fear that those ministers are working through many hands, in order by one means or another to excite quarrels between his majesty, us, and the respective inhabitants of the two countries . . . . . take every precaution that no attempt be made there to bring the name of the emperor into the act. this would be contrary to their majesties' first resolution, very prejudicial to the elector of brandenburg, to the duchies, and to ourselves. and it is indispensable that the promise be made to the two kings as mediators, as much for their reputation and dignity as for the interests of the elector, the territories, and ourselves. otherwise too the spaniards will triumph over us as if they had driven us by force of arms into this promise." the seat of war, at the opening of the apparently inevitable conflict between the catholic league and the protestant union, would be those debateable duchies, those border provinces, the possession of which was of such vital importance to each of the great contending parties, and the populations of which, although much divided, were on the whole more inclined to the league than to the union. it was natural enough that the dutch statesman should chafe at the possibility of their being lost to the union through the adroitness of the catholic managers and the supineness of the great allies of the republic. three weeks later than these last utterances of the advocate, he was given to understand that king james was preparing to slide away from the position which had been three times changed to make it suitable for him. his indignation was hot. "sir henry wotton," he said, "has communicated to me his last despatches from newmarket. i am in the highest degree amazed that after all our efforts at accommodation, with so much sacrifice to the electors, the provinces, and ourselves, they are trying to urge us there to consent that the promise be not made to the kings of france and great britain as mediators, although the proposition came from the spanish side. after we had renounced, by desire of his majesty, the right to refer the promise to the treaty of xanten, it was judged by both kings to be needful and substantial that the promise be made to their majesties. to change this now would be prejudicial to the kings, to the electors, the duchies, and to our commonwealth; to do us a wrong and to leave us naked. france maintains her position as becoming and necessary. that great britain should swerve from it is not to be digested here. you will do your utmost according to my previous instructions to prevent any pressure to this end. you will also see that the name of the emperor is mentioned neither in the preamble nor the articles of the treaty. it would be contrary to all our policy since . you may be firmly convinced that malice is lurking under the emperor's name, and that he and the king of spain and their adherents, now as before, are attempting a sequestration. this is simply a pretext to bring those principalities and provinces into the hands of the spaniards, for which they have been labouring these thirty years. we are constantly cheated by these spanish tricks. their intention is to hold wesel and all the other places until the conclusion of the italian affair, and then to strike a great blow." certainly were never words more full of sound statesmanship, and of prophecy too soon to be fulfilled, than these simple but pregnant warnings. they awakened but little response from the english government save cavils and teasing reminders that wesel had been the cradle of german calvinism, the rhenish geneva, and that it was sinful to leave it longer in the hands of spain. as if the advocate had not proved to demonstration that to stock hands for a new deal at that moment was to give up the game altogether. his influence in france was always greater than in england, and this had likewise been the case with william the silent. and even now that the spanish matrimonial alliance was almost a settled matter at the french court, while with the english king it was but a perpetual will-o'the-wisp conducting to quagmires ineffable, the government at paris sustained the policy of the advocate with tolerable fidelity, while it was constantly and most capriciously traversed by james. barneveld sighed over these approaching nuptials, but did not yet despair. "we hope that the spanish-french marriages," he said, "may be broken up of themselves; but we fear that if we should attempt to delay or prevent them authoritatively, or in conjunction with others, the effort would have the contrary effect." in this certainly he was doomed to disappointment. he had already notified the french court of the absolute necessity of the great points to be insisted upon in the treaty, and there he found more docility than in london or newmarket. all summer he was occupied with this most important matter, uttering cassandra-like warnings into ears wilfully deaf. the states had gone as far as possible in concession. to go farther would be to wreck the great cause upon the very quicksands which he had so ceaselessly pointed out. "we hope that nothing further will be asked of us, no scruples be felt as to our good intentions," he said, "and that if spain and the archdukes are not ready now to fulfil the treaty, their majesties will know how to resent this trifling with their authority and dignity, and how to set matters to rights with their own hands in the duchies. a new treaty, still less a sequestration, is not to be thought of for a moment." yet the month of august came and still the names of the mediating kings were not on the treaty, and still the spectre of sequestration had not been laid. on the contrary, the peace of asti, huddled up between spain and savoy, to be soon broken again, had caused new and painful apprehensions of an attempt at sequestration, for it was established by several articles in that treaty that all questions between savoy and mantua should be referred to the emperor's decision. this precedent was sure to be followed in the duchies if not resisted by force, as it had been so successfully resisted five years before by the armies of the states associated with those of france. moreover the first step at sequestration had been actually taken. the emperor had peremptorily summoned the elector of brandenburg and all other parties interested to appear before him on the st of august in prague. there could be but one object in this citation, to drive brandenburg and the states out of the duchies until the imperial decision as to the legitimate sovereignty should be given. neuburg being already disposed of and his claims ceded to the emperor, what possibility was there in such circumstances of saving one scrap of the territory from the clutch of the league? none certainly if the republic faltered in its determination, and yielded to the cowardly advice of james. "to comply with the summons," said barneveld, "and submit to its consequences will be an irreparable injury to the electoral house of brandenburg, to the duchies, and to our co-religionists everywhere, and a very great disgrace to both their majesties and to us." he continued, through the ambassador in london, to hold up to the king, in respectful but plain language, the shamelessness of his conduct in dispensing the enemy from his pledge to the mediators, when the republic expressly, in deference to james, had given up the ampler guarantees of the treaty. the arrangement had been solemnly made, and consented to by all the provinces, acting in their separate and sovereign capacity. such a radical change, even if it were otherwise permissible, could not be made without long debates, consultations, and votes by the several states. what could be more fatal at such a crisis than this childish and causeless delay. there could be no doubt in any statesman's eyes that the spanish party meant war and a preparatory hoodwinking. and it was even worse for the government of the republic to be outwitted in diplomacy than beaten in the field. "every man here," said the advocate, "has more apprehension of fraud than of force. according to the constitution of our state, to be overcome by superior power must be endured, but to be overreached by trickery is a reproach to the government." the summer passed away. the states maintained their positions in the duchies, notwithstanding the objurgations of james, and barneveld remained on his watch-tower observing every movement of the fast-approaching war, and refusing at the price of the whole territory in dispute to rescue wesel and aix-la-chapelle from the grasp of the league. caron came to the hague to have personal consultations with the states-general, the advocate, and prince maurice, and returned before the close of the year. he had an audience of the king at the palace of whitehall early in november, and found him as immovable as ever in his apathetic attitude in regard to the affairs of germany. the murder of sir thomas overbury and the obscene scandals concerning the king's beloved carr and his notorious bride were then occupying the whole attention of the monarch, so that he had not even time for theological lucubrations, still less for affairs of state on which the peace of christendom and the fate of his own children were hanging. the ambassador found him sulky and dictatorial, but insisted on expressing once more to him the apprehensions felt by the states-general in regard to the trickery of the spanish party in the matter of cleve and julich. he assured his majesty that they had no intention of maintaining the treaty of xanten, and respectfully requested that the king would no longer urge the states to surrender the places held by them. it was a matter of vital importance to retain them, he said. "sir henry wotton told me," replied james, "that the states at his arrival were assembled to deliberate on this matter, and he had no doubt that they would take a resolution in conformity with my intention. now i see very well that you don't mean to give up the places. if i had known that before, i should not have warned the archduke so many times, which i did at the desire of the states themselves. and now that the archdukes are ready to restore their cities, you insist on holding yours. that is the dish you set before me." and upon this james swore a mighty oath, and beat himself upon the breast. "now and nevermore will i trouble myself about the states' affairs, come what come will," he continued. "i have always been upright in my words and my deeds, and i am not going to embark myself in a wicked war because the states have plunged themselves into one so entirely unjust. next summer the spaniard means to divide himself into two or three armies in order to begin his enterprises in germany." caron respectfully intimated that these enterprises would be most conveniently carried on from the very advantageous positions which he occupied in the duchies. "no," said the king, "he must restore them on the same day on which you make your surrender, and he will hardly come back in a hurry." "quite the contrary," said the ambassador, "they will be back again in a twinkling, and before we have the slightest warning of their intention." but it signified not the least what caron said. the king continued to vociferate that the states had never had any intention of restoring the cities. "you mean to keep them for yourselves," he cried, "which is the greatest injustice that could be perpetrated. you have no right to them, and they belong to other people." the ambassador reminded him that the elector of brandenburg was well satisfied that they should be occupied by the states for his greater security and until the dispute should be concluded. "and that will never be," said james; "never, never. the states are powerful enough to carry on the war all alone and against all the world." and so he went on, furiously reiterating the words with which he had begun the conversation, "without accepting any reasons whatever in payment," as poor caron observed. "it makes me very sad," said the ambassador, "to find your majesty so impatient and so resolved. if the names of the kings are to be omitted from the document, the treaty of xanten should at least be modified accordingly." "nothing of the kind," said james; "i don't understand it so at all. i speak plainly and without equivocation. it must be enough for the states that i promise them, in case the enemy is cheating or is trying to play any trick whatever, or is seeking to break the treaty of xanten in a single point, to come to their assistance in person." and again the warlike james swore a big oath and smote his breast, affirming that he meant everything sincerely; that he cheated no one, but always spoke his thoughts right on, clearly and uprightly. it was certainly not a cheerful prospect for the states. their chief ally was determined that they should disarm, should strip themselves naked, when the mightiest conspiracy against the religious freedom and international independence of europe ever imagined was perfecting itself before their eyes, and when hostile armies, more numerous than ever before known, were at their very door. to wait until the enemy was at their throat, and then to rely upon a king who trembled at the sight of a drawn sword, was hardly the highest statesmanship. even if it had been the chivalrous henry instead of the pacific james that had held out the promise of help, they would have been mad to follow such counsel. the conversation lasted more than an hour. it was in vain that caron painted in dark colours the cruel deeds done by the spaniards in mulheim and aachen, and the proceedings of the archbishop of cologne in rees. the king was besotted, and no impression could be made upon him. "at any rate," said the envoy, "the arrangement cannot be concluded without the king of france." "what excuse is that?" said james. "now that the king is entirely spanish, you are trying to excuse your delays by referring to him. you have deferred rescuing the poor city of wesel from the hands of the spaniard long enough. i am amazed to have heard never a word from you on that subject since your departure. i had expressed my wish to you clearly enough that you should inform the states of my intention to give them any assurance they chose to demand." caron was much disappointed at the humour of his majesty. coming freshly as he did from the council of the states, and almost from the seat of war, he had hoped to convince and content him. but the king was very angry with the states for putting him so completely in the wrong. he had also been much annoyed at their having failed to notify him of their military demonstration in the electorate of cologne to avenge the cruelties practised upon the protestants there. he asked caron if he was instructed to give him information regarding it. being answered in the negative, he said he had thought himself of sufficient importance to the states and enough in their confidence to be apprised of their military movements. it was for this, he said, that his ambassador sat in their council. caron expressed the opinion that warlike enterprises of the kind should be kept as secret as possible in order to be successful. this the king disputed, and loudly declared his vexation at being left in ignorance of the matter. the ambassador excused himself as well as he could, on the ground that he had been in zealand when the troops were marching, but told the king his impression that they had been sent to chastise the people of cologne for their cruelty in burning and utterly destroying the city of mulheim. "that is none of your affair," said the king. "pardon me, your majesty," replied caron, "they are our fellow religionists, and some one at least ought to resent the cruelty practised upon them." the king admitted that the destruction of the city had been an unheard--of cruelty, and then passed on to speak of the quarrel between the duke and city of brunswick, and other matters. the interview ended, and the ambassador, very downhearted, went to confer with the secretary of state sir ralph winwood, and sir henry wotton. he assured these gentlemen that without fully consulting the french government these radical changes in the negotiations would never be consented to by the states. winwood promised to confer at once with the french ambassador, admitting it to be impossible for the king to take up this matter alone. he would also talk with the archduke's ambassador next day noon at dinner, who was about leaving for brussels, and "he would put something into his hand that he might take home with him." "when he is fairly gone," said caron, "it is to be hoped that the king's head will no longer be so muddled about these things. i wish it with all my heart." it was a dismal prospect for the states. the one ally on whom they had a right to depend, the ex-calvinist and royal defender of the faith, in this mortal combat of protestantism with the league, was slipping out of their grasp with distracting lubricity. on the other hand, the most christian king, a boy of fourteen years, was still in the control of a mother heart and soul with the league--so far as she had heart or soul--was betrothed to the daughter of spain, and saw his kingdom torn to pieces and almost literally divided among themselves by rebellious princes, who made use of the spanish marriages as a pretext for unceasing civil war. the queen-mother was at that moment at bordeaux, and an emissary from the princes was in london. james had sent to offer his mediation between them and the queen. he was fond of mediation. he considered it his special mission in the world to mediate. he imagined himself as looked up to by the nations as the great arbitrator of christendom, and was wont to issue his decrees as if binding in force and infallible by nature. he had protested vigorously against the spanish-french marriages, and declared that the princes were justified in formalizing an opposition to them, at least until affairs in france were restored to something like order. he warned the queen against throwing the kingdom "into the combustion of war without necessity," and declared that, if she would trust to his guidance, she might make use of him as if her affairs were his own. an indispensable condition for much assistance, however, would be that the marriages should be put off. as james was himself pursuing a spanish marriage for his son as the chief end and aim of his existence, there was something almost humorous in this protest to the queen-dowager and in his encouragement of mutiny in france in order to prevent a catastrophe there which he desired at home. the same agent of the princes, de monbaran by name, was also privately accredited by them to the states with instructions to borrow , crowns of them if he could. but so long as the policy of the republic was directed by barneveld, it was not very probable that, while maintaining friendly and even intimate relations with the legitimate government, she would enter into negotiations with rebels against it, whether princes or plebeians, and oblige them with loans. "he will call on me soon, no doubt," said caron, "but being so well instructed as to your mightinesses intentions in this matter, i hope i shall keep him away from you." monbaran was accordingly kept away, but a few weeks later another emissary of conde and bouillon made his appearance at the hague, de valigny by name. he asked for money and for soldiers to reinforce bouillon's city of sedan, but he was refused an audience of the states-general. even the martial ardour of maurice and his sympathy for his relatives were cooled by this direct assault on his pocket. "the prince," wrote the french ambassador, du maurier, "will not furnish him or his adherents a thousand crowns, not if they had death between their teeth. those who think it do not know how he loves his money." in the very last days of the year ( ) caron had another interview with the king in which james was very benignant. he told the ambassador that he should wish the states to send him some special commissioners to make a new treaty with him, and to treat of all unsettled affairs which were daily arising between the inhabitants of the respective countries. he wished to make a firmer union and accord between great britain and the netherlands. he was very desirous of this, "because," said he, "if we can unite with and understand each other, we have under god no one what ever to fear, however mighty they may be." caron duly notified barneveld of these enthusiastic expressions of his majesty. the advocate too was most desirous of settling the troublesome questions about the cloth trade, the piracies, and other matters, and was in favour of the special commission. in regard to a new treaty of alliance thus loosely and vaguely suggested, he was not so sanguine however. he had too much difficulty in enforcing the interests of protestantism in the duchies against the infatuation of james in regard to spain, and he was too well aware of the spanish marriage delusion, which was the key to the king's whole policy, to put much faith in these casual outbursts of eternal friendship with the states. he contented himself therefore with cautioning caron to pause before committing himself to any such projects. he had frequently instructed him, however, to bring the disputed questions to his majesty's notice as often as possible with a view to amicable arrangement. this preventive policy in regard to france was highly approved by barneveld, who was willing to share in the blame profusely heaped upon such sincere patriots and devoted protestants as duplessis-mornay and others, who saw small advantage to the great cause from a mutiny against established government, bad as it was, led by such intriguers as conde and bouillon. men who had recently been in the pay of spain, and one of whom had been cognizant of biron's plot against the throne and life of henry iv., to whom sedition was native atmosphere and daily bread, were not likely to establish a much more wholesome administration than that of mary de' medici. prince maurice sympathized with his relatives by marriage, who were leading the civil commotions in france and endeavouring to obtain funds in the netherlands. it is needless to say that francis aerssens was deep in their intrigues, and feeding full the grudge which the stadholder already bore the advocate for his policy on this occasion. the advocate thought it best to wait until the young king should himself rise in mutiny against his mother and her minions. perhaps the downfall of the concini's and their dowager and the escape of lewis from thraldom might not be so distant as it seemed. meantime this was the legal government, bound to the states by treaties of friendship and alliance, and it would be a poor return for the many favours and the constant aid bestowed by henry iv. on the republic, and an imbecile mode of avenging his murder to help throw his kingdom into bloodshed and confusion before his son was able to act for himself. at the same time he did his best to cultivate amicable relations with the princes, while scrupulously abstaining from any sympathy with their movements. "if the prince and the other gentlemen come to court," he wrote to langerac, "you will treat them with all possible caresses so far as can be done without disrespect to the government." while the british court was occupied with the foul details of the overbury murder and its consequences, a crime of a more commonplace nature, but perhaps not entirely without influence on great political events, had startled the citizens of the hague. it was committed in the apartments of the stadholder and almost under his very eyes. a jeweller of amsterdam, one john van wely, had come to the court of maurice to lay before him a choice collection of rare jewellery. in his caskets were rubies and diamonds to the value of more than , florins, which would be the equivalent of perhaps ten times as much to-day. in the prince's absence the merchant was received by a confidential groom of the chambers, john of paris by name, and by him, with the aid of a third john, a soldier of his excellency's guard, called jean de la vigne, murdered on the spot. the deed was done in the prince's private study. the unfortunate jeweller was shot, and to make sure was strangled with the blue riband of the order of the garter recently conferred upon maurice, and which happened to be lying conspicuously in the room. the ruffians had barely time to take possession of the booty, to thrust the body behind the tapestry of the chamber, and to remove the more startling evidences of the crime, when the prince arrived. he supped soon afterwards in the same room, the murdered jeweller still lying behind the arras. in the night the valet and soldier carried the corpse away from the room, down the stairs, and through the great courtyard, where, strange to say, no sentinels were on duty, and threw it into an ashpit. a deed so bloody, audacious, and stupid was of course soon discovered and the murderers arrested and executed. nothing would remove the incident from the catalogue of vulgar crimes, or even entitle it to a place in history save a single circumstance. the celebrated divine john uytenbogaert, leader among the arminians, devoted friend of barneveld, and up to that moment the favorite preacher of maurice, stigmatized indeed, as we have seen, by the orthodox as "court trumpeter," was requested by the prince to prepare the chief criminal for death. he did so, and from that day forth the stadholder ceased to be his friend, although regularly listening to his preaching in the french chapel of the court for more than a year longer. some time afterwards the advocate informed uytenbogaert that the prince was very much embittered against him. "i knew it well," says the clergyman in his memoirs, "but not the reasons for it, nor do i exactly comprehend them to this day. truly i have some ideas relating to certain things which i was obliged to do in discharge of my official duty, but i will not insist upon them, nor will i reveal them to any man." these were mysterious words, and the mystery is said to have been explained; for it would seem that the eminent preacher was not so entirely reticent among his confidential friends as before the public. uytenbogaert--so ran the tale--in the course of his conversation with the condemned murderer, john of paris, expressed a natural surprise that there should have been no soldiers on guard in the court on the evening when the crime was committed and the body subsequently removed. the valet informed him that he had for a long time been empowered by the prince to withdraw the sentinels from that station, and that they had been instructed to obey his orders--maurice not caring that they should be witnesses to the equivocal kind of female society that john of paris was in the habit of introducing of an evening to his master's apartments. the valet had made use of this privilege on the night in question to rid himself of the soldiers who would have been otherwise on guard. the preacher felt it his duty to communicate these statements to the prince, and to make perhaps a somewhat severe comment upon them. maurice received the information sullenly, and, as soon as uytenbogaert was gone, fell into a violent passion, throwing his hat upon the floor, stamping upon it, refusing to eat his supper, and allowing no one to speak to him. next day some courtiers asked the clergyman what in the world he had been saying to the stadholder. from that time forth his former partiality for the divine, on whose preaching he had been a regular attendant, was changed to hatred; a sentiment which lent a lurid colour to subsequent events. the attempts of the spanish party by chicane or by force to get possession of the coveted territories continued year after year, and were steadily thwarted by the watchfulness of the states under guidance of barneveld. the martial stadholder was more than ever for open war, in which he was opposed by the advocate, whose object was to postpone and, if possible, to avert altogether the dread catastrophe which he foresaw impending over europe. the xanten arrangement seemed hopelessly thrown to the winds, nor was it destined to be carried out; the whole question of sovereignty and of mastership in those territories being swept subsequently into the general whirlpool of the thirty years' war. so long as there was a possibility of settlement upon that basis, the advocate was in favour of settlement, but to give up the guarantees and play into the hands of the catholic league was in his mind to make the republic one of the conspirators against the liberties of christendom. "spain, the emperor and the rest of them," said he, "make all three modes of pacification--the treaty, the guarantee by the mediating kings, the administration divided between the possessory princes--alike impossible. they mean, under pretext of sequestration, to make themselves absolute masters there. i have no doubt that villeroy means sincerely, and understands the matter, but meantime we sit by the fire and burn. if the conflagration is neglected, all the world will throw the blame on us." thus the spaniards continued to amuse the british king with assurances of their frank desire to leave those fortresses and territories which they really meant to hold till the crack of doom. and while gondemar was making these ingenuous assertions in london, his colleagues at paris and at brussels distinctly and openly declared that there was no authority whatever for them, that the ambassador had received no such instructions, and that there was no thought of giving up wesel or any other of the protestant strongholds captured, whether in the duchies or out of them. and gondemar, still more to keep that monarch in subjection, had been unusually flattering in regard to the spanish marriage. "we are in great alarm here," said the advocate, "at the tidings that the projected alliance of the prince of wales with the daughter of spain is to be renewed; from which nothing good for his majesty's person, his kingdom, nor for our state can be presaged. we live in hope that it will never be." but the other marriage was made. despite the protest of james, the forebodings of barneveld, and the mutiny of the princes, the youthful king of france had espoused anne of austria early in the year . the british king did his best to keep on terms with france and spain, and by no means renounced his own hopes. at the same time, while fixed as ever in his approbation of the policy pursued by the emperor and the league, and as deeply convinced of their artlessness in regard to the duchies, the protestant princes of germany, and the republic, he manifested more cordiality than usual in his relations with the states. minor questions between the countries he was desirous of arranging--so far as matters of state could be arranged by orations--and among the most pressing of these affairs were the systematic piracy existing and encouraged in english ports, to the great damage of all seafaring nations and to the hollanders most of all, and the quarrel about the exportation of undyed cloths, which had almost caused a total cessation of the woollen trade between the two countries. the english, to encourage their own artisans, had forbidden the export of undyed cloths, and the dutch had retorted by prohibiting the import of dyed ones. the king had good sense enough to see the absurdity of this condition of things, and it will be remembered that barneveld had frequently urged upon the dutch ambassador to bring his majesty's attention to these dangerous disputes. now that the recovery of the cautionary towns had been so dexterously and amicably accomplished, and at so cheap a rate, it seemed a propitious moment to proceed to a general extinction of what would now be called "burning questions." james was desirous that new high commissioners might be sent from the states to confer with himself and his ministers upon the subjects just indicated, as well as upon the fishery questions as regarded both greenland and scotland, and upon the general affairs of india. he was convinced, he said to caron, that the sea had become more and more unsafe and so full of freebooters that the like was never seen or heard of before. it will be remembered that the advocate had recently called his attention to the fact that the dutch merchants had lost in two months , florins' worth of goods by english pirates. the king now assured the ambassador of his intention of equipping a fleet out of hand and to send it forth as speedily as possible under command of a distinguished nobleman, who would put his honour and credit in a successful expedition, without any connivance or dissimulation whatever. in order thoroughly to scour these pirates from the seas, he expressed the hope that their mightinesses the states would do the same either jointly or separately as they thought most advisable. caron bluntly replied that the states had already ten or twelve war-ships at sea for this purpose, but that unfortunately, instead of finding any help from the english in this regard, they had always found the pirates favoured in his majesty's ports, especially in ireland and wales. "thus they have so increased in numbers," continued the ambassador, "that i quite believe what your majesty says, that not a ship can pass with safety over the seas. more over, your majesty has been graciously pleased to pardon several of these corsairs, in consequence of which they have become so impudent as to swarm everywhere, even in the river thames, where they are perpetually pillaging honest merchantmen." "i confess," said the king, "to having pardoned a certain manning, but this was for the sake of his old father, and i never did anything so unwillingly in my life. but i swear that if it were the best nobleman in england, i would never grant one of them a pardon again." caron expressed his joy at hearing such good intentions on the part of his majesty, and assured him that the states-general would be equally delighted. in the course of the summer the dutch ambassador had many opportunities of seeing the king very confidentially, james having given him the use of the royal park at bayscot, so that during the royal visits to that place caron was lodged under his roof. on the whole, james had much regard and respect for noel de caron. he knew him to be able, although he thought him tiresome. it is amusing to observe the king and ambassador in their utterances to confidential friends each frequently making the charge of tediousness against the other. "caron's general education," said james on one occasion to cecil, "cannot amend his native german prolixity, for had i not interrupted him, it had been tomorrow morning before i had begun to speak. god preserve me from hearing a cause debated between don diego and him! . . . but in truth it is good dealing with so wise and honest a man, although he be somewhat longsome." subsequently james came to whitehall for a time, and then stopped at theobalds for a few days on his way to newmarket, where he stayed until christmas. at theobalds he sent again for the ambassador, saying that at whitehall he was so broken down with affairs that it would be impossible to live if he stayed there. he asked if the states were soon to send the commissioners, according to his request, to confer in regard to the cloth-trade. without interference of the two governments, he said, the matter would never be settled. the merchants of the two countries would never agree except under higher authority. "i have heard both parties," he said, "the new and the old companies, two or three times in full council, and tried to bring them to an agreement, but it won't do. i have heard that my lords the states have been hearing both sides, english and the hollanders, over and over again, and that the states have passed a provisional resolution, which however does not suit us. now it is not reasonable, as we are allies, that our merchants should be obliged to send their cloths roundabout, not being allowed either to sell them in the united provinces or to pass them through your territories. i wish i could talk with them myself, for i am certain, if they would send some one here, we could make an agreement. it is not necessary that one should take everything from them, or that one should refuse everything to us. i am sure there are people of sense in your assembly who will justify me in favouring my own people so far as i reasonably can, and i know very well that my lords the states must stand up for their own citizens. if we have been driving this matter to an extreme and see that we are ruining each other, we must take it up again in other fashion, for yesterday is the preceptor of to-morrow. let the commissioners come as soon as possible. i know they have complaints to make, and i have my complaints also. therefore we must listen to each other, for i protest before god that i consider the community of your state with mine to be so entire that, if one goes to perdition, the other must quickly follow it." thus spoke james, like a wise and thoughtful sovereign interested in the welfare of his subjects and allies, with enlightened ideas for the time upon public economy. it is difficult, in the man conversing thus amicably and sensibly with the dutch ambassador, to realise the shrill pedant shrieking against vorstius, the crapulous comrade of carrs and steenies, the fawning solicitor of spanish marriages, the "pepperer" and hangman of puritans, the butt and dupe of gondemar and spinola. "i protest," he said further, "that i seek nothing in your state but all possible friendship and good fellowship. my own subjects complain sometimes that your people follow too closely on their heels, and confess that your industry goes far above their own. if this be so, it is a lean kind of reproach; for the english should rather study to follow you. nevertheless, when industry is directed by malice, each may easily be attempting to snap an advantage from the other. i have sometimes complained of many other things in which my subjects suffered great injustice from you, but all that is excusable. i will willingly listen to your people and grant them to be in the right when they are so. but i will never allow them to be in the right when they mistrust me. if i had been like many other princes, i should never have let the advantage of the cautionary towns slip out of my fingers, but rather by means of them attempted to get even a stronger hold on your country. i have had plenty of warnings from great statesmen in france, germany, and other nations that i ought to give them up nevermore. yet you know how frankly and sincerely i acquitted myself in that matter without ever making pretensions upon your state than the pretensions i still make to your friendship and co-operation." james, after this allusion to an important transaction to be explained in the next chapter, then made an observation or two on a subject which was rapidly overtopping all others in importance to the states, and his expressions were singularly at variance with his last utterances in that regard. "i tell you," he said, "that you have no right to mistrust me in anything, not even in the matter of religion. i grieve indeed to hear that your religious troubles continue. you know that in the beginning i occupied myself with this affair, but fearing that my course might be misunderstood, and that it might be supposed that i was seeking to exercise authority in your republic, i gave it up, and i will never interfere with the matter again, but will ever pray god that he may give you a happy issue out of these troubles." alas! if the king had always kept himself on that height of amiable neutrality, if he had been able to govern himself in the future by these simplest principles of reason and justice, there might have been perhaps a happier issue from the troubles than time was like to reveal. once more james referred to the crisis pending in german affairs, and as usual spoke of the clove and julich question as if it were a simple matter to be settled by a few strokes of the pen and a pennyworth of sealing-wax, instead of being the opening act in a vast tragedy, of which neither he, nor carom nor barneveld, nor prince maurice, nor the youthful king of france, nor philip, nor matthias, nor any of the men now foremost in the conduct of affairs, was destined to see the end. the king informed caron that he had just received most satisfactory assurances from the spanish ambassador in his last audience at whitehall. "he has announced to me on the part of the king his master with great compliments that his majesty seeks to please me and satisfy me in everything that i could possibly desire of him," said james, rolling over with satisfaction these unctuous phrases as if they really had any meaning whatever. "his majesty says further," added the king, "that as he has been at various times admonished by me, and is daily admonished by other princes, that he ought to execute the treaty of xanten by surrendering the city of wesel and all other places occupied by spinola, he now declares himself ready to carry out that treaty in every point. he will accordingly instruct the archduke to do this, provided the margrave of brandenburg and the states will do the same in regard to their captured places. as he understands however that the states have been fortifying julich even as he might fortify wesel, he would be glad that no innovation be made before the end of the coming month of march. when this term shall have expired, he will no longer be bound by these offers, but will proceed to fortify wesel and the other places, and to hold them as he best may for himself. respect for me has alone induced his majesty to make this resolution." we have already seen that the spanish ambassador in paris was at this very time loudly declaring that his colleague in london had no commission whatever to make these propositions. nor when they were in the slightest degree analysed, did they appear after all to be much better than threats. not a word was said of guarantees. the names of the two kings were not mentioned. it was nothing but albert and spinola then as always, and a recommendation that brandenburg and the states and all the protestant princes of germany should trust to the candour of the catholic league. caron pointed out to the king that in these proposals there were no guarantees nor even promises that the fortresses would not be reoccupied at convenience of the spaniards. he engaged however to report the whole statement to his masters. a few weeks afterwards the advocate replied in his usual vein, reminding the king through the ambassador that the republic feared fraud on the part of the league much more than force. he also laid stress on the affairs of italy, considering the fate of savoy and the conflicts in which venice was engaged as components of a general scheme. the states had been much solicited, as we have seen, to render assistance to the duke of savoy, the temporary peace of asti being already broken, and barneveld had been unceasing in his efforts to arouse france as well as england to the danger to themselves and to all christendom should savoy be crushed. we shall have occasion to see the prominent part reserved to savoy in the fast opening debate in germany. meantime the states had sent one count of nassau with a couple of companies to charles emmanuel, while another (ernest) had just gone to venice at the head of more than three thousand adventurers. with so many powerful armies at their throats, as barneveld had more than once observed, it was not easy for them to despatch large forces to the other end of europe, but he justly reminded his allies that the states were now rendering more effective help to the common cause by holding great spanish armies in check on their own frontier than if they assumed a more aggressive line in the south. the advocate, like every statesman worthy of the name, was accustomed to sweep the whole horizon in his consideration of public policy, and it will be observed that he always regarded various and apparently distinct and isolated movements in different parts of europe as parts of one great whole. it is easy enough for us, centuries after the record has been made up, to observe the gradual and, as it were, harmonious manner in which the great catholic conspiracy against the liberties of europe was unfolded in an ever widening sphere. but to the eyes of contemporaries all was then misty and chaotic, and it required the keen vision of a sage and a prophet to discern the awful shape which the future might assume. absorbed in the contemplation of these portentous phenomena, it was not unnatural that the advocate should attach less significance to perturbations nearer home. devoted as was his life to save the great european cause of protestantism, in which he considered political and religious liberty bound up, from the absolute extinction with which it was menaced, he neglected too much the furious hatreds growing up among protestants within the narrow limits of his own province. he was destined one day to be rudely awakened. meantime he was occupied with organizing a general defence of italy, germany, france, and england, as well as the netherlands, against the designs of spain and the league. "we wish to know," he said in answer to the affectionate messages and fine promises of the king of spain to james as reported by caron, "what his majesty of great britain has done, is doing, and is resolved to do for the duke of savoy and the republic of venice. if they ask you what we are doing, answer that we with our forces and vigour are keeping off from the throats of savoy and venice riders and , infantry, with which forces, let alone their experience, more would be accomplished than with four times the number of new troops brought to the field in italy. this is our succour, a great one and a very costly one, for the expense of maintaining our armies to hold the enemy in check here is very great." he alluded with his usual respectful and quiet scorn to the arrangements by which james so wilfully allowed himself to be deceived. "if the spaniard really leaves the duchies," he said, "it is a grave matter to decide whether on the one side he is not resolved by that means to win more over us and the elector of brandenburg in the debateable land in a few days than he could gain by force in many years, or on the other whether by it he does not intend despatching or cavalry and or foot, all his most experienced soldiers, from the netherlands to italy, in order to give the law at his pleasure to the duke of savoy and the republic of venice, reserving his attack upon germany and ourselves to the last. the spaniards, standing under a monarchical government, can in one hour resolve to seize to-morrow all that they and we may abandon to-day. and they can carry such a resolution into effect at once. our form of government does not permit this, so that our republic must be conserved by distrust and good garrisons." thus during this long period of half hostilities barneveld, while sincerely seeking to preserve the peace in europe, was determined, if possible, that the republic should maintain the strongest defensive position when the war which he foreboded should actually begin. maurice and the war party had blamed him for the obstacles which he interposed to the outbreak of hostilities, while the british court, as we have seen, was perpetually urging him to abate from his demands and abandon both the well strengthened fortresses in the duchies and that strong citadel of distrust which in his often repeated language he was determined never to surrender. spinola and the military party of spain, while preaching peace, had been in truth most anxious for fighting. "the only honour i desire henceforth," said that great commander, "is to give battle to prince maurice." the generals were more anxious than the governments to make use of the splendid armies arrayed against each other in such proximity that, the signal for conflict not having been given, it was not uncommon for the soldiers of the respective camps to aid each other in unloading munition waggons, exchanging provisions and other articles of necessity, and performing other small acts of mutual service. but heavy thunder clouds hanging over the earth so long and so closely might burst into explosion at any moment. had it not been for the distracted condition of france, the infatuation of the english king, and the astounding inertness of the princes of the german union, great advantages might have been gained by the protestant party before the storm should break. but, as the french ambassador at the hague well observed, "the great protestant union of germany sat with folded arms while hannibal was at their gate, the princes of which it was composed amusing themselves with staring at each other. it was verifying," he continued, bitterly, "the saying of the duke of alva, 'germany is an old dog which still can bark, but has lost its teeth to bite with.'" to such imbecility had that noble and gifted people--which had never been organized into a nation since it crushed the roman empire and established a new civilization on its ruins, and was to wait centuries longer until it should reconstruct itself into a whole--been reduced by subdivision, disintegration, the perpetual dissolvent of religious dispute, and the selfish policy of infinitesimal dynasties. chapter xii. james still presses for the payment of the dutch republic's debt to him--a compromise effected, with restitution of the cautionary towns--treaty of loudun--james's dream of a spanish marriage revives--james visits scotland--the states-general agree to furnish money and troops in fulfilment of the treaty of --death of concini--villeroy returns to power. besides matters of predestination there were other subjects political and personal which increased the king's jealousy and hatred. the debt of the republic to the british crown, secured by mortgage of the important sea-ports and fortified towns of flushing, brielle, rammekens, and other strong places, still existed. the possession of those places by england was a constant danger and irritation to the states. it was an axe perpetually held over their heads. it threatened their sovereignty, their very existence. on more than one occasion, in foreign courts, the representatives of the netherlands had been exposed to the taunt that the republic was after all not an independent power, but a british province. the gibe had always been repelled in a manner becoming the envoys of a proud commonwealth; yet it was sufficiently galling that english garrisons should continue to hold dutch towns; one of them among the most valuable seaports of the republic,--the other the very cradle of its independence, the seizure of which in alva's days had always been reckoned a splendid achievement. moreover, by the fifth article of the treaty of peace between james and philip iii., although the king had declared himself bound by the treaties made by elizabeth to deliver up the cautionary towns to no one but the united states, he promised spain to allow those states a reasonable time to make peace with the archdukes on satisfactory conditions. should they refuse to do so, he held himself bound by no obligations to them, and would deal with the cities as he thought proper, and as the archdukes themselves might deem just. the king had always been furious at "the huge sum of money to be advanced, nay, given, to the states," as he phrased it. "it is so far out of all square," he had said, "as on my conscience i cannot think that ever they craved it 'animo obtinendi,' but only by that objection to discourage me from any thought of getting any repayment of my debts from them when they shall be in peace. . . . should i ruin myself for maintaining them? should i bestow as much on them as cometh to the value of my whole yearly rent?" he had proceeded to say very plainly that, if the states did not make great speed to pay him all his debt so soon as peace was established, he should treat their pretence at independence with contempt, and propose dividing their territory between himself and the king of france. "if they be so weak as they cannot subsist either in peace or war," he said, "without i ruin myself for upholding them, in that case surely 'minus malunv est eligendum,' the nearest harm is first to be eschewed, a man will leap out of a burning ship and drown himself in the sea; and it is doubtless a farther off harm for me to suffer them to fall again in the hands of spain, and let god provide for the danger that may with time fall upon me or my posterity than presently to starve myself and mine with putting the meat in their mouth. nay, rather if they be so weak as they can neither sustain themselves in peace nor war, let them leave this vainglorious thirsting for the title of a free state (which no people are worthy or able to enjoy that cannot stand by themselves like substantives), and 'dividantur inter nos;' i mean, let their countries be divided between france and me, otherwise the king of spain shall be sure to consume us." such were the eyes with which james had always regarded the great commonwealth of which he affected to be the ally, while secretly aspiring to be its sovereign, and such was his capacity to calculate political forces and comprehend coming events. certainly the sword was hanging by a thread. the states had made no peace either with the archdukes or with spain. they had made a truce, half the term of which had already run by. at any moment the keys of their very house-door might be placed in the hands of their arch enemy. treacherous and base as the deed would be, it might be defended by the letter of a treaty in which the republic had no part; and was there anything too treacherous or too base to be dreaded from james stuart? but the states owed the crown of england eight millions of florins, equivalent to about l , . where was this vast sum to be found? it was clearly impossible for the states to beg or to borrow it, although they were nearly as rich as any of the leading powers at that day. it was the merit of barneveld, not only that he saw the chance for a good bargain, but that he fully comprehended a great danger. years long james had pursued the phantom of a spanish marriage for his son. to achieve this mighty object, he had perverted the whole policy of the realm; he had grovelled to those who despised him, had repaid attempts at wholesale assassination with boundless sycophancy. it is difficult to imagine anything more abject than the attitude of james towards philip. prince henry was dead, but charles had now become prince of wales in his turn, and there was a younger infanta whose hand was not yet disposed of. so long as the possible prize of a most catholic princess was dangling before the eyes of the royal champion of protestantism, so long there was danger that the netherlanders might wake up some fine morning and see the flag of spain waving over the walls of flushing, brielle, and rammekens. it was in the interest of spain too that the envoys of james at the hague were perpetually goading barneveld to cause the states' troops to be withdrawn from the duchies and the illusory treaty of xanten to be executed. instead of an eighth province added to the free netherlands, the result of such a procedure would have been to place that territory enveloping them in the hands of the enemy; to strengthen and sharpen the claws, as the advocate had called them, by which spain was seeking to clutch and to destroy the republic. the advocate steadily refused to countenance such policy in the duchies, and he resolved on a sudden stroke to relieve the commonwealth from the incubus of the english mortgage. james was desperately pushed for money. his minions, as insatiable in their demands on english wealth as the parasites who fed on the queen-regent were exhaustive of the french exchequer, were greedier than ever now that james, who feared to face a parliament disgusted with the meanness of his policy and depravity of his life, could not be relied upon to minister to their wants. the advocate judiciously contrived that the proposal of a compromise should come from the english government. noel de caron, the veteran ambassador of the states in london, after receiving certain proposals, offered, under instructions' from barneveld, to pay l , in full of all demands. it was made to appear that the additional l , was in reality in advance of his instructions. the mouths of the minions watered at the mention of so magnificent a sum of money in one lump. the bargain was struck. on the th june , sir robert sidney, who had become lord lisle, gave over the city of flushing to the states, represented by the seignior van maldere, while sir horace vere placed the important town of brielle in the hands of the seignior van mathenesse. according to the terms of the bargain, the english garrisons were converted into two regiments, respectively to be commanded by lord lisle's son, now sir robert sidney, and by sir horace vere, and were to serve the states. lisle, who had been in the netherlands since the days of his uncle leicester and his brother sir philip sidney, now took his final departure for england. thus this ancient burthen had been taken off the republic by the masterly policy of the advocate. a great source of dread for foreign complication was closed for ever. the french-spanish marriages had been made. henry iv. had not been murdered in vain. conde and his confederates had issued their manifesto. a crisis came to the states, for maurice, always inclined to take part for the princes, and urged on by aerssens, who was inspired by a deadly hatred for the french government ever since they had insisted on his dismissal from his post, and who fed the stadholder's growing jealousy of the advocate to the full, was at times almost ready for joining in the conflict. it was most difficult for the states-general, led by barneveld, to maintain relations of amity with a government controlled by spain, governed by the concini's, and wafted to and fro by every wind that blew. still it was the government, and the states might soon be called upon, in virtue of their treaties with henry, confirmed by mary de' medici, not only to prevent the daily desertion of officers and soldiers of the french regiments to the rebellious party, but to send the regiments themselves to the assistance of the king and queen. there could be no doubt that the alliance of the french huguenots at grenoble with the princes made the position of the states very critical. bouillon was loud in his demands upon maurice and the states for money and reinforcements, but the prince fortunately understood the character of the duke and of conde, and comprehended the nature of french politics too clearly to be led into extremities by passion or by pique. he said loudly to any one that chose to listen: "it is not necessary to ruin the son in order to avenge the death of the father. that should be left to the son, who alone has legitimate authority to do it." nothing could be more sensible, and the remark almost indicated a belief on the prince's part in mary's complicity in the murder of her husband. duplessis-mornay was in despair, and, like all true patriots and men of earnest character, felt it almost an impossibility to choose between the two ignoble parties contending for the possession of france, and both secretly encouraged by france's deadly enemy. the treaty of loudun followed, a treaty which, said du maurier, had about as many negotiators as there were individuals interested in the arrangements. the rebels were forgiven, conde sold himself out for a million and a half livres and the presidency of the council, came to court, and paraded himself in greater pomp and appearance of power than ever. four months afterwards he was arrested and imprisoned. he submitted like a lamb, and offered to betray his confederates. king james, faithful to his self-imposed part of mediator-general, which he thought so well became him, had been busy in bringing about this pacification, and had considered it eminently successful. he was now angry at this unexpected result. he admitted that conde had indulged in certain follies and extravagancies, but these in his opinion all came out of the quiver of the spaniard, "who was the head of the whole intrigue." he determined to recall lord hayes from madrid and even sir thomas edmonds from paris, so great was his indignation. but his wrath was likely to cool under the soothing communications of gondemar, and the rumour of the marriage of the second infanta with the prince of wales soon afterwards started into new life. "we hope," wrote barneveld, "that the alliance of his highness the prince of wales with the daughter of the spanish king will make no further progress, as it will place us in the deepest embarrassment and pain." for the reports had been so rife at the english court in regard to this dangerous scheme that caron had stoutly gone to the king and asked him what he was to think about it. "the king told me," said the ambassador, "that there was nothing at all in it, nor any appearance that anything ever would come of it. it was true, he said, that on the overtures made to him by the spanish ambassador he had ordered his minister in spain to listen to what they had to say, and not to bear himself as if the overtures would be rejected." the coyness thus affected by james could hardly impose on so astute a diplomatist as noel de caron, and the effect produced upon the policy of one of the republic's chief allies by the spanish marriages naturally made her statesmen shudder at the prospect of their other powerful friend coming thus under the malign influence of spain. "he assured me, however," said the envoy, "that the spaniard is not sincere in the matter, and that he has himself become so far alienated from the scheme that we may sleep quietly upon it." and james appeared at that moment so vexed at the turn affairs were taking in france, so wounded in his self-love, and so bewildered by the ubiquitous nature of nets and pitfalls spreading over europe by spain, that he really seemed waking from his delusion. even caron was staggered? "in all his talk he appears so far estranged from the spaniard," said he, "that it would seem impossible that he should consider this marriage as good for his state. i have also had other advices on the subject which in the highest degree comfort me. now your mightinesses may think whatever you like about it." the mood of the king was not likely to last long in so comfortable a state. meantime he took the part of conde and the other princes, justified their proceedings to the special envoy sent over by mary de' medici, and wished the states to join with him in appealing to that queen to let the affair, for his sake, pass over once more. "and now i will tell your mightinesses," said caron, reverting once more to the dreaded marriage which occupies so conspicuous a place in the strangely mingled and party-coloured tissue of the history of those days, "what the king has again been telling me about the alliance between his son and the infanta. he hears from carleton that you are in very great alarm lest this event may take place. he understands that the special french envoy at the hague, m. de la none, has been representing to you that the king of great britain is following after and begging for the daughter of spain for his son. he says it is untrue. but it is true that he has been sought and solicited thereto, and that in consequence there have been talks and propositions and rejoinders, but nothing of any moment. as he had already told me not to be alarmed until he should himself give me cause for it, he expressed his amazement that i had not informed your mightinesses accordingly. he assured me again that he should not proceed further in the business without communicating it to his good friends and neighbours, that he considered my lords the states as his best friends and allies, who ought therefore to conceive no jealousy in the matter." this certainly was cold comfort. caron knew well enough, not a clerk in his office but knew well enough, that james had been pursuing this prize for years. for the king to represent himself as persecuted by spain to give his son to the infanta was about as ridiculous as it would have been to pretend that emperor matthias was persuading him to let his son-in-law accept the crown of bohemia. it was admitted that negotiations for the marriage were going on, and the assertion that the spanish court was more eager for it than the english government was not especially calculated to allay the necessary alarm of the states at such a disaster. nor was it much more tranquillizing for them to be assured, not that the marriage was off, but that, when it was settled, they, as the king's good friends and neighbours, should have early information of it. "i told him," said the ambassador, "that undoubtedly this matter was of the highest 'importance to your mightinesses, for it was not good for us to sit between two kingdoms both so nearly allied with the spanish monarch, considering the pretensions he still maintained to sovereignty over us. although his majesty might not now be willing to treat to our prejudice, yet the affair itself in the sequence of time must of necessity injure our commonwealth. we hoped therefore that it would never come to pass." caron added that ambassador digby was just going to spain on extraordinary mission in regard to this affair, and that eight or ten gentlemen of the council had been deputed to confer with his majesty about it. he was still inclined to believe that the whole negotiation would blow over, the king continuing to exhort him not to be alarmed, and assuring him that there were many occasions moving princes to treat of great affairs although often without any effective issue. at that moment too the king was in a state of vehement wrath with the spanish netherlands on account of a stinging libel against himself, "an infamous and wonderfully scandalous pamphlet," as he termed it, called 'corona regis', recently published at louvain. he had sent sir john bennet as special ambassador to the archdukes to demand from them justice and condign and public chastisement on the author of the work--a rector putianus as he believed, successor of justus lipsius in his professorship at louvain--and upon the printer, one flaminius. delays and excuses having followed instead of the punishment originally demanded, james had now instructed his special envoy in case of further delay or evasion to repudiate all further friendship or intercourse with the archduke, to ratify the recall of his minister-resident trumbull, and in effect to announce formal hostilities. "the king takes the thing wonderfully to heart," said caron. james in effect hated to be made ridiculous, and we shall have occasion to see how important a part other publications which he deemed detrimental to the divinity of his person were to play in these affairs. meantime it was characteristic of this sovereign that--while ready to talk of war with philip's brother-in-law for a pamphlet, while seeking the hand of philip's daughter for his son--he was determined at the very moment when the world was on fire to take himself, the heaven-born extinguisher of all political conflagrations, away from affairs and to seek the solace of along holiday in scotland. his counsellors persistently and vehemently implored him to defer that journey until the following year at least, all the neighbouring nations being now in a state of war and civil commotion. but it was in vain. he refused to listen to them for a moment, and started for scotland before the middle of march. conde, who had kept france in a turmoil, had sought aid alternately from the calvinists at grenoble and the jesuits in rome, from spain and from the netherlands, from the pope and from maurice of nassau, had thus been caged at last. but there was little gained. there was one troublesome but incompetent rebel the less, but there was no king in the land. he who doubts the influence of the individual upon the fate of a country and upon his times through long passages of history may explain the difference between france of , with a martial king aided by great statesmen at its head, with an exchequer overflowing with revenue hoarded for a great cause--and that cause an attempt at least to pacificate christendom and avert a universal and almost infinite conflict now already opening--and the france of , with its treasures already squandered among ignoble and ruffianly favourites, with every office in state, church, court, and magistracy sold to the highest bidder, with a queen governed by an italian adventurer who was governed by spain, and with a little king who had but lately expressed triumph at his confirmation because now he should no longer be whipped, and who was just married to a daughter of the hereditary and inevitable foe of france. to contemplate this dreary interlude in the history of a powerful state is to shiver at the depths of inanity and crime to which mankind can at once descend. what need to pursue the barren, vulgar, and often repeated chronicle? france pulled at by scarcely concealed strings and made to perform fantastic tricks according as its various puppets were swerved this way or that by supple bands at madrid and rome is not a refreshing spectacle. the states-general at last, after an agitated discussion, agreed in fulfilment of the treaty of to send men, being french, to help the king against the princes still in rebellion. but the contest was a most bitter one, and the advocate had a difficult part to play between a government and a rebellion, each more despicable than the other. still louis xiii. and his mother were the legitimate government even if ruled by concini. the words of the treaty made with henry iv. were plain, and the ambassadors of his son had summoned the states to fulfil it. but many impediments were placed in the path of obvious duty by the party led by francis aerssens. "i know very well," said the advocate to ex-burgomaster hooft of amsterdam, father of the great historian, sending him confidentially a copy of the proposals made by the french ambassadors, "that many in this country are striving hard to make us refuse to the king the aid demanded, notwithstanding that we are bound to do it by the pledges given not only by the states-general but by each province in particular. by this no one will profit but the spaniard, who unquestionably will offer much, aye, very much, to bring about dissensions between france and us, from which i foresee great damage, inconvenience, and difficulties for the whole commonwealth and for holland especially. this province has already advanced , , florins to the general government on the money still due from france, which will all be lost in case the subsidy should be withheld, besides other evils which cannot be trusted to the pen." on the same day on which it had been decided at the hague to send the troops, a captain of guards came to the aid of the poor little king and shot concini dead one fine spring morning on the bridge of the louvre. "by order of the king," said vitry. his body was burned before the statue of henry iv. by the people delirious with joy. "l'hanno ammazzato" was shouted to his wife, eleanora galigai, the supposed sorceress. they were the words in which concini had communicated to the queen the murder of her husband seven years before. eleanora, too, was burned after having been beheaded. thus the marshal d'ancre and wife ceased to reign in france. the officers of the french regiments at the hague danced for joy on the vyverberg when the news arrived there. the states were relieved from an immense embarrassment, and the advocate was rewarded for having pursued what was after all the only practicable policy. "do your best," said he to langerac, "to accommodate differences so far as consistent with the conservation of the king's authority. we hope the princes will submit themselves now that the 'lapis offensionis,' according to their pretence, is got rid of. we received a letter from them to-day sealed with the king's arms, with the circumscription 'periclitante regno, regis vita et regia familia." the shooting of concini seemed almost to convert the little king into a hero. everyone in the netherlands, without distinction of party, was delighted with the achievement. "i cannot represent to the king," wrote du maurier to villeroy, "one thousandth part of the joy of all these people who are exalting him to heaven for having delivered the earth from this miserable burthen. i can't tell you in what execration this public pest was held. his majesty has not less won the hearts of this state than if he had gained a great victory over the spaniards. you would not believe it, and yet it is true, that never were the name and reputation of the late king in greater reverence than those of our reigning king at this moment." truly here was glory cheaply earned. the fame of henry the great, after a long career of brilliant deeds of arms, high statesmanship, and twenty years of bountiful friendship for the states, was already equalled by that of louis xiii., who had tremblingly acquiesced in the summary execution of an odious adventurer--his own possible father--and who never had done anything else but feed his canary birds. as for villeroy himself, the ambassador wrote that he could not find portraits enough of him to furnish those who were asking for them since his return to power. barneveld had been right in so often instructing langerac to "caress the old gentleman." etext editor's bookmarks: and give advice. of that, although always a spendthrift casual outbursts of eternal friendship changed his positions and contradicted himself day by day conciliation when war of extermination was intended considered it his special mission in the world to mediate denoungced as an obstacle to peace france was mourning henry and waiting for richelieu hardly a sound protestant policy anywhere but in holland history has not too many really important and emblematic men i hope and i fear king who thought it furious madness to resist the enemy mockery of negotiation in which nothing could be negotiated more apprehension of fraud than of force opening an abyss between government and people successful in this step, he is ready for greater ones that he tries to lay the fault on us is pure malice the magnitude of this wonderful sovereign's littleness this wonderful sovereign's littleness oppresses the imagination wise and honest a man, although he be somewhat longsome yesterday is the preceptor of to-morrow the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. life and death of john of barneveld, v , chapter xiii. ferdinand of gratz crowned king of bohemia--his enmity to protestants--slawata and martinitz thrown from the windows of the hradschin--real beginning of the thirty years' war--the elector- palatine's intrigues in opposition to the house of austria--he supports the duke of savoy--the emperor matthias visits dresden-- jubilee for the hundredth anniversary of the reformation. when the forlorn emperor rudolph had signed the permission for his brother matthias to take the last crown but one from his head, he bit the pen in a paroxysm of helpless rage. then rushing to the window of his apartment, he looked down on one of the most stately prospects that the palaces of the earth can offer. from the long monotonous architectural lines of the hradschin, imposing from its massiveness and its imperial situation, and with the dome and minarets of the cathedral clustering behind them, the eye swept across the fertile valley, through which the rapid, yellow moldau courses, to the opposite line of cliffs crested with the half imaginary fortress-palaces of the wyscherad. there, in the mythical legendary past of bohemia had dwelt the shadowy libuscha, daughter of krok, wife of king premysl, foundress of prague, who, when wearied of her lovers, was accustomed to toss them from those heights into the river. between these picturesque precipices lay the two pragues, twin-born and quarrelsome, fighting each other for centuries, and growing up side by side into a double, bellicose, stormy, and most splendid city, bristling with steeples and spires, and united by the ancient many-statued bridge with its blackened mediaeval entrance towers. but it was not to enjoy the prospect that the aged, discrowned, solitary emperor, almost as dim a figure among sovereigns as the mystic libuscha herself, was gazing from the window upon the imperial city. "ungrateful prague," he cried, "through me thou hast become thus magnificent, and now thou hast turned upon and driven away thy benefactor. may the vengeance of god descend upon thee; may my curse come upon thee and upon all bohemia." history has failed to record the special benefits of the emperor through which the city had derived its magnificence and deserved this malediction. but surely if ever an old man's curse was destined to be literally fulfilled, it seemed to be this solemn imprecation of rudolph. meantime the coronation of matthias had gone on with pomp and popular gratulations, while rudolph had withdrawn into his apartments to pass the little that was left to him of life in solitude and in a state of hopeless pique with matthias, with the rest of his brethren, with all the world. and now that five years had passed since his death, matthias, who had usurped so much power prematurely, found himself almost in the same condition as that to which he had reduced rudolph. ferdinand of styria, his cousin, trod closely upon his heels. he was the presumptive successor to all his crowns, had not approved of the movements of matthias in the lifetime of his brother, and hated the vienna protestant baker's son, cardinal clesel, by whom all those movements had been directed. professor taubmann, of wittenberg, ponderously quibbling on the name of that prelate, had said that he was of "one hundred and fifty ass power." whether that was a fair measure of his capacity may be doubted, but it certainly was not destined to be sufficient to elude the vengeance of ferdinand, and ferdinand would soon have him in his power. matthias, weary of ambitious intrigue, infirm of purpose, and shattered in health, had withdrawn from affairs to devote himself to his gout and to his fair young wife, archduchess anna of tyrol, whom at the age of fifty-four he had espoused. on the th june , ferdinand of gratz was crowned king of bohemia. the event was a shock and a menace to the protestant cause all over the world. the sombre figure of the archduke had for years appeared in the background, foreshadowing as it were the wrath to come, while throughout bohemia and the neighbouring countries of moravia, silesia, and the austrias, the cause of protestantism had been making such rapid progress. the emperor maximilian ii. had left five stalwart sons, so that there had seemed little probability that the younger line, the sons of his brother, would succeed. but all the five were childless, and now the son of archduke charles, who had died in , had become the natural heir after the death of matthias to the immense family honours--his cousins maximilian and albert having resigned their claims in his favour. ferdinand, twelve years old at his father's death, had been placed under the care of his maternal uncle, duke william of bavaria. by him the boy was placed at the high school of ingolstadt, to be brought up by the jesuits, in company with duke william's own son maximilian, five years his senior. between these youths, besides the tie of cousinship, there grew up the most intimate union founded on perfect sympathy in religion and politics. when ferdinand entered upon the government of his paternal estates of styria, carinthia, and carniola, he found that the new religion, at which the jesuits had taught him to shudder as at a curse and a crime, had been widely spreading. his father had fought against heresy with all his might, and had died disappointed and broken-hearted at its progress. his uncle of bavaria, in letters to his son and nephew, had stamped into their minds with the enthusiasm of perfect conviction that all happiness and blessing for governments depended on the restoration and maintenance of the unity of the catholic faith. all the evils in times past and present resulting from religious differences had been held up to the two youths by the jesuits in the most glaring colours. the first duty of a prince, they had inculcated, was to extirpate all false religions, to give the opponents of the true church no quarter, and to think no sacrifice too great by which the salvation of human society, brought almost to perdition by the new doctrines, could be effected. never had jesuits an apter scholar than ferdinand. after leaving school, he made a pilgrimage to loretto to make his vows to the virgin mary of extirpation of heresy, and went to rome to obtain the blessing of pope clement viii. then, returning to the government of his inheritance, he seized that terrible two-edged weapon of which the protestants of germany had taught him the use. "cujus regio ejus religio;" to the prince the choice of religion, to the subject conformity with the prince, as if that formula of shallow and selfish princelings, that insult to the dignity of mankind, were the grand result of a movement which was to go on centuries after they had all been forgotten in their tombs. for the time however it was a valid and mischievous maxim. in saxony catholics and calvinists were proscribed; in heidelberg catholics and lutherans. why should either calvinists or lutherans be tolerated in styria? why, indeed? no logic could be more inexorable, and the pupil of the ingolstadt jesuits hesitated not an instant to carry out their teaching with the very instrument forged for him by the reformation. gallows were erected in the streets of all his cities, but there was no hanging. the sight of them proved enough to extort obedience to his edict, that every man, woman, and child not belonging to the ancient church should leave his dominions. they were driven out in hordes in broad daylight from gratz and other cities. rather reign over a wilderness than over heretics was the device of the archduke, in imitation of his great relative, philip ii. of spain. in short space of time his duchies were as empty of protestants as the palatinate of lutherans, or saxony of calvinists, or both of papists. even the churchyards were rifled of dead lutherans and utraquists, their carcasses thrown where they could no longer pollute the true believers mouldering by their side. it was not strange that the coronation as king of bohemia of a man of such decided purposes--a country numbering ten protestants to one catholic--should cause a thrill and a flutter. could it be doubted that the great elemental conflict so steadily prophesied by barneveld and instinctively dreaded by all capable of feeling the signs of the time would now begin? it had begun. of what avail would be majesty-letters and compromises extorted by force from trembling or indolent emperors, now that a man who knew his own mind, and felt it to be a crime not to extirpate all religions but the one orthodox religion, had mounted the throne? it is true that he had sworn at his coronation to maintain the laws of bohemia, and that the majesty-letter and the compromise were part of the laws. but when were doctors ever wanting to prove the unlawfulness of law which interferes with the purposes of a despot and the convictions of the bigot? "novus rex, nova lex," muttered the catholics, lifting up their heads and hearts once more out of the oppression and insults which they had unquestionably suffered at the hands of the triumphant reformers. "there are many empty poppy-heads now flaunting high that shall be snipped off," said others. "that accursed german count thurn and his fellows, whom the devil has sent from hell to bohemia for his own purposes, shall be disposed of now," was the general cry. it was plain that heresy could no longer be maintained except by the sword. that which had been extorted by force would be plucked back by force. the succession of ferdinand was in brief a warshout to be echoed by all the catholics of europe. before the end of the year the protestant churches of brunnau were sealed up. those at klostergrab were demolished in three days by command of the archbishop of prague. these dumb walls preached in their destruction more stirring sermons than perhaps would ever have been heard within them had they stood. this tearing in pieces of the imperial patent granting liberty of protestant worship, this summary execution done upon senseless bricks and mortar, was an act of defiance to the reformed religion everywhere. protestantism was struck in the face, spat upon, defied. the effect was instantaneous. thurn and the other defenders of the protestant faith were as prompt in action as the catholics had been in words. a few months passed away. the emperor was in vienna, but his ten stadholders were in prague. the fateful rd of may arrived. slawata, a bohemian protestant, who had converted himself to the roman church in order to marry a rich widow, and who converted his peasants by hunting them to mass with his hounds, and martinitz, the two stadholders who at ferdinand's coronation had endeavoured to prevent him from including the majesty-letter among the privileges he was swearing to support, and who were considered the real authors of the royal letters revoking all religious rights of protestants, were the most obnoxious of all. they were hurled from the council-chamber window of the hradschin. the unfortunate secretary fabricius was tossed out after them. twenty-eight ells deep they fell, and all escaped unhurt by the fall; fabricius being subsequently ennobled by a grateful emperor with the well-won title of baron summerset. the thirty years' war, which in reality had been going on for several years already, is dated from that day. a provisional government was established in prague by the estates under protestant guidance, a college of thirty directors managing affairs. the window-tumble, as the event has always been called in history, excited a sensation in europe. especially the young king of france, whose political position should bring him rather into alliance with the rebels than the emperor, was disgusted and appalled. he was used to rebellion. since he was ten years old there had been a rebellion against himself every year. there was rebellion now. but his ministers had never been thrown out of window. perhaps one might take some day to tossing out kings as well. he disapproved the process entirely. thus the great conflict of christendom, so long impending, seemed at last to have broken forth in full fury on a comparatively insignificant incident. thus reasoned the superficial public, as if the throwing out of window of twenty stadholders could have created a general war in europe had not the causes of war lain deep and deadly in the whole framework of society. the succession of ferdinand to the throne of the holy wenzel, in which his election to the german imperial crown was meant to be involved, was a matter which concerned almost every household in christendom. liberty of religion, civil franchise, political charters, contract between government and subject, right to think, speak, or act, these were the human rights everywhere in peril. a compromise between the two religious parties had existed for half a dozen years in germany, a feeble compromise by which men had hardly been kept from each others' throats. that compromise had now been thrown to the winds. the vast conspiracy of spain, rome, the house of austria, against human liberty had found a chief in the docile, gloomy pupil of the jesuits now enthroned in bohemia, and soon perhaps to wield the sceptre of the holy roman empire. there was no state in europe that had not cause to put hand on sword-hilt. "distrust and good garrisons," in the prophetic words of barneveld, would now be the necessary resource for all intending to hold what had been gained through long years of toil, martyrdom, and hard fighting. the succession of ferdinand excited especial dismay and indignation in the palatinate. the young elector had looked upon the prize as his own. the marked advance of protestant sentiment throughout the kingdom and its neighbour provinces had seemed to render the succession of an extreme papist impossible. when frederic had sued for and won the hand of the fair elizabeth, daughter of the king of great britain, it was understood that the alliance would be more brilliant for her than it seemed. james with his usual vanity spoke of his son-in-law as a future king. it was a golden dream for the elector and for the general cause of the reformed religion. heidelberg enthroned in the ancient capital of the wenzels, maximilians, and rudolphs, the catechism and confession enrolled among the great statutes of the land, this was progress far beyond flimsy majesty-letters and compromises, made only to be torn to pieces. through the dim vista of futurity and in ecstatic vision no doubt even the imperial crown might seem suspended over the palatine's head. but this would be merely a midsummer's dream. events did not whirl so rapidly as they might learn to do centuries later, and--the time for a protestant to grasp at the crown of germany could then hardly be imagined as ripening. but what the calvinist branch of the house of wittelsbach had indeed long been pursuing was to interrupt the succession of the house of austria to the german throne. that a catholic prince must for the immediate future continue to occupy it was conceded even by frederic, but the electoral votes might surely be now so manipulated as to prevent a slave of spain and a tool of the jesuits from wielding any longer the sceptre of charlemagne. on the other hand the purpose of the house of austria was to do away with the elective principle and the prescriptive rights of the estates in bohemia first, and afterwards perhaps to send the golden bull itself to the limbo of wornout constitutional devices. at present however their object was to secure their hereditary sovereignty in prague first, and then to make sure of the next imperial election at frankfurt. time afterwards might fight still more in their favour, and fix them in hereditary possession of the german throne. the elector-palatine had lost no time. his counsellors even before the coronation of ferdinand at prague had done their best to excite alarm throughout germany at the document by which archdukes maximilian and albert had resigned all their hereditary claims in favour of ferdinand and his male children. should there be no such issue, the king of spain claimed the succession for his own sons as great-grandchildren of emperor maximilian, considering himself nearer in the line than the styrian branch, but being willing to waive his own rights in favour of so ardent a catholic as ferdinand. there was even a secret negotiation going on a long time between the new king of bohemia and philip to arrange for the precedence of the spanish males over the styrian females to the hereditary austrian states, and to cede the province of alsace to spain. it was not wonderful that protestant germany should be alarmed. after a century of protestantism, that spain should by any possibility come to be enthroned again over germany was enough to raise both luther and calvin from their graves. it was certainly enough to set the lively young palatine in motion. so soon as the election of frederic was proclaimed, he had taken up the business in person. fond of amusement, young, married to a beautiful bride of the royal house of england, he had hitherto left politics to his counsellors. finding himself frustrated in his ambition by the election of another to the seat he had fondly deemed his own, he resolved to unseat him if he could, and, at any rate, to prevent the ulterior consequences of his elevation. he made a pilgrimage to sedan, to confer with that irrepressible intriguer and huguenot chieftain, the duc de bouillon. he felt sure of the countenance of the states-general, and, of course, of his near relative the great stadholder. he was resolved to invite the duke of lorraine to head the anti-austrian party, and to stand for the kingship of the romans and the empire in opposition to ferdinand. an emissary sent to nancy came back with a discouraging reply. the duke not only flatly refused the candidacy, but warned the palatine that if it really came to a struggle he could reckon on small support anywhere, not even from those who now seemed warmest for the scheme. then frederic resolved to try his cousin, the great maximilian of bavaria, to whom all catholics looked with veneration and whom all german protestants respected. had the two branches of the illustrious house of wittelsbach been combined in one purpose, the opposition to the house of austria might indeed have been formidable. but what were ties of blood compared to the iron bands of religious love and hatred? how could maximilian, sternest of papists, and frederick v., flightiest of calvinists, act harmoniously in an imperial election? moreover, maximilian was united by ties of youthful and tender friendship as well as by kindred and perfect religious sympathy to his other cousin, king ferdinand himself. the case seemed hopeless, but the elector went to munich, and held conferences with his cousin. not willing to take no for an answer so long as it was veiled under evasive or ornamental phraseology, he continued to negotiate with maximilian through his envoys camerarius and secretary neu, who held long debates with the duke's chief councillor, doctor jocher. camerarius assured jocher that his master was the hercules to untie the gordian knot, and the lion of the tribe of judah. how either the lion of judah or hercules were to untie the knot which was popularly supposed to have been cut by the sword of alexander did not appear, but maximilian at any rate was moved neither by entreaties nor tropes. being entirely averse from entering himself for the german crown, he grew weary at last of the importunity with which the scheme was urged. so he wrote a short billet to his councillor, to be shown to secretary neu. "dear jocher," he said, "i am convinced one must let these people understand the matter in a little plainer german. i am once for all determined not to let myself into any misunderstanding or even amplifications with the house of austria in regard to the succession. i think also that it would rather be harmful than useful to my house to take upon myself so heavy a burthen as the german crown." this time the german was plain enough and produced its effect. maximilian was too able a statesman and too conscientious a friend to wish to exchange his own proud position as chief of the league, acknowledged head of the great catholic party, for the slippery, comfortless, and unmeaning throne of the holy empire, which he considered ferdinand's right. the chiefs of the anti-austrian party, especially the prince of anhalt and the margrave of anspach, in unison with the heidelberg cabinet, were forced to look for another candidate. accordingly the margrave and the elector-palatine solemnly agreed that it was indispensable to choose an emperor who should not be of the house of austria nor a slave of spain. it was, to be sure, not possible to think of a protestant prince. bavaria would not oppose austria, would also allow too much influence to the jesuits. so there remained no one but the duke of savoy. he was a prince of the empire. he was of german descent, of saxon race, a great general, father of his soldiers, who would protect europe against a turkish invasion better than the bastions of vienna could do. he would be agreeable to the catholics, while the protestants could live under him without anxiety because the jesuits would be powerless with him. it would be a master-stroke if the princes would unite upon him. the king of france would necessarily be pleased with it, the king of great britain delighted. at last the model candidate had been found. the duke of savoy having just finished for a second time his chronic war with spain, in which the united provinces, notwithstanding the heavy drain on their resources, had allowed him , florins a month besides the soldiers under count ernest of nassau, had sent mansfeld with men to aid the revolted estates in bohemia. geographically, hereditarily, necessarily the deadly enemy of the house of austria, he listened favourably to the overtures made to him by the princes of the union, expressed undying hatred for the imperial race, and thought the bohemian revolt a priceless occasion for expelling them from power. he was informed by the first envoy sent to him, christopher van dohna, that the object of the great movement now contemplated was to raise him to the imperial throne at the next election, to assist the bohemian estates, to secure the crown of bohemia for the elector-palatine, to protect the protestants of germany, and to break down the overweening power of the austrian house. the duke displayed no eagerness for the crown of germany, while approving the election of frederic, but expressed entire sympathy with the enterprise. it was indispensable however to form a general federation in europe of england, the netherlands, venice, together with protestant germany and himself, before undertaking so mighty a task. while the negotiations were going on, both anspach and anhalt were in great spirits. the margrave cried out exultingly, "in a short time the means will be in our hands for turning the world upside down." he urged the prince of anhalt to be expeditious in his decisions and actions. "he who wishes to trade," he said, "must come to market early." there was some disappointment at heidelberg when the first news from turin arrived, the materials for this vast scheme for an overwhelming and universal european war not seeming to be at their disposition. by and by the duke's plans seem to deepen and broaden. he told mansfeld, who, accompanied by secretary neu, was glad at a pause in his fighting and brandschatzing in bohemia to be employed on diplomatic business, that on the whole he should require the crown of bohemia for himself. he also proposed to accept the imperial crown, and as for frederic, he would leave him the crown of hungary, and would recommend him to round himself out by adding to his hereditary dominions the province of alsace, besides upper austria and other territories in convenient proximity to the palatinate. venice, it had been hoped, would aid in the great scheme and might in her turn round herself out with friuli and istria and other tempting possessions of ferdinand, in reward for the men and money she was expected to furnish. that republic had however just concluded a war with ferdinand, caused mainly by the depredations of the piratical uscoques, in which, as we have seen, she had received the assistance of hollanders under command of count john of nassau. the venetians had achieved many successes, had taken the city of gortz, and almost reduced the city of gradiska. a certain colonel albert waldstein however, of whom more might one day be heard in the history of the war now begun, had beaten the venetians and opened a pathway through their ranks for succour to the beleaguered city. soon afterwards peace was made on an undertaking that the uscoques should be driven from their haunts, their castles dismantled, and their ships destroyed. venice declined an engagement to begin a fresh war. she hated ferdinand and matthias and the whole imperial brood, but, as old barbarigo declared in the senate, the republic could not afford to set her house on fire in order to give austria the inconvenience of the smoke. meantime, although the elector-palatine had magnanimously agreed to use his influence in bohemia in favour of charles emmanuel, the duke seems at last to have declined proposing himself for that throne. he knew, he said, that king james wished that station for his son-in-law. the imperial crown belonged to no one as yet after the death of matthias, and was open therefore to his competition. anhalt demanded of savoy , men for the maintenance of the good cause, asserting that "it would be better to have the turk or the devil himself on the german throne than leave it to ferdinand." the triumvirate ruling at prague-thurn, ruppa, and hohenlohe--were anxious for a decision from frederic. that simple-hearted and ingenuous young elector had long been troubled both with fears lest after all he might lose the crown of bohemia and with qualms of conscience as to the propriety of taking it even if he could get it. he wrestled much in prayer and devout meditation whether as anointed prince himself he were justified in meddling with the anointment of other princes. ferdinand had been accepted, proclaimed, crowned. he artlessly sent to prague to consult the estates whether they possessed the right to rebel, to set aside the reigning dynasty, and to choose a new king. at the same time, with an eye to business, he stipulated that on account of the great expense and trouble devolving upon him the crown must be made hereditary in his family. the impression made upon the grim thurn and his colleagues by the simplicity of these questions may be imagined. the splendour and width of the savoyard's conceptions fascinated the leaders of the union. it seemed to anspach and anhalt that it was as well that frederic should reign in hungary as in bohemia, and the elector was docile. all had relied however on the powerful assistance of the great defender of the protestant faith, the father-in-law of the elector, the king of great britain. but james had nothing but cold water and virgilian quotations for his son's ardour. he was more under the influence of gondemar than ever before, more eagerly hankering for the infanta, more completely the slave of spain. he pledged himself to that government that if the protestants in bohemia continued rebellious, he would do his best to frustrate their designs, and would induce his son-in-law to have no further connection with them. and spain delighted his heart not by immediately sending over the infanta, but by proposing that he should mediate between the contending parties. it would be difficult to imagine a greater farce. all central europe was now in arms. the deepest and gravest questions about which men can fight: the right to worship god according to their conscience and to maintain civil franchises which have been earned by the people with the blood and treasure of centuries, were now to be solved by the sword, and the pupil of buchanan and the friend of buckingham was to step between hundreds of thousands of men in arms with a classical oration. but james was very proud of the proposal and accepted it with alacrity. "you know, my dear son," he wrote to frederic, "that we are the only king in europe that is sought for by friend and foe for his mediation. it would be for this our lofty part very unbecoming if we were capable of favouring one of the parties. your suggestion that we might secretly support the bohemians we must totally reject, as it is not our way to do anything that we would not willingly confess to the whole world." and to do james justice, he had never fed frederic with false hopes, never given a penny for his great enterprise, nor promised him a penny. he had contented himself with suggesting from time to time that he might borrow money of the states-general. his daughter elizabeth must take care of herself, else what would become of her brother's marriage to the daughter of spain. and now it was war to the knife, in which it was impossible that holland, as well as all the other great powers should not soon be involved. it was disheartening to the cause of freedom and progress, not only that the great kingdom on which the world, had learned to rely in all movements upward and onward should be neutralized by the sycophancy of its monarch to the general oppressor, but that the great republic which so long had taken the lead in maintaining the liberties of europe should now be torn by religious discord within itself, and be turning against the great statesman who had so wisely guided her councils and so accurately foretold the catastrophe which was now upon the world. meantime the emperor matthias, not less forlorn than through his intrigues and rebellions his brother rudolph had been made, passed his days in almost as utter retirement as if he had formally abdicated. ferdinand treated him as if in his dotage. his fair young wife too had died of hard eating in the beginning of the winter to his inexpressible grief, so that there was nothing left to solace him now but the rudolphian museum. he had made but one public appearance since the coronation of ferdinand in prague. attended by his brother maximilian, by king ferdinand, and by cardinal khlesl, he had towards the end of the year paid a visit to the elector john george at dresden. the imperial party had been received with much enthusiasm by the great leader of lutheranism. the cardinal had seriously objected to accompanying the emperor on this occasion. since the reformation no cardinal had been seen at the court of saxony. he cared not personally for the pomps and glories of his rank, but still as prince of the church he had settled right of precedence over electors. to waive it would be disrespectful to the pope, to claim it would lead to squabbles. but ferdinand had need of his skill to secure the vote of saxony at the next imperial election. the cardinal was afraid of ferdinand with good reason, and complied. by an agreeable fiction he was received at court not as cardinal but as minister, and accommodated with an humble place at table. many looking on with astonishment thought he would have preferred to dine by himself in retirement. but this was not the bitterest of the mortifications that the pastor and guide of matthias was to suffer at the hands of ferdinand before his career should be closed. the visit at dresden was successful, however. john george, being a claimant, as we have seen, for the duchies of cleve and julich, had need of the emperor. the king had need of john george's vote. there was a series of splendid balls, hunting parties, carousings. the emperor was an invalid, the king was abstemious, but the elector was a mighty drinker. it was not his custom nor that of his councillors to go to bed. they were usually carried there. but it was the wish of ferdinand to be conciliatory, and he bore himself as well as he could at the banquet. the elector was also a mighty hunter. neither of his imperial guests cared for field sports, but they looked out contentedly from the window of a hunting-lodge, before which for their entertainment the elector and his courtiers slaughtered eight bears, ten stags, ten pigs, and eleven badgers, besides a goodly number of other game; john george shooting also three martens from a pole erected for that purpose in the courtyard. it seemed proper for him thus to exhibit a specimen of the skill for which he was justly famed. the elector before his life closed, so says the chronicle, had killed , wild boars, bears, wolves, badgers, , foxes, besides stags and roedeer in still greater number, making a grand total of , beasts. the leader of the lutheran party of germany had not lived in vain. thus the great chiefs of catholicism and of protestantism amicably disported themselves in the last days of the year, while their respective forces were marshalling for mortal combat all over christendom. the elector certainly loved neither matthias nor ferdinand, but he hated the palatine. the chief of the german calvinists disputed that protestant hegemony which john george claimed by right. indeed the immense advantage enjoyed by the catholics at the outbreak of the religious war from the mutual animosities between the two great divisions of the reformed church was already terribly manifest. what an additional power would it derive from the increased weakness of the foe, should there be still other and deeper and more deadly schisms within one great division itself! "the calvinists and lutherans," cried the jesuit scioppius, "are so furiously attacking each other with calumnies and cursings and are persecuting each other to such extent as to give good hope that the devilish weight and burthen of them will go to perdition and shame of itself, and the heretics all do bloody execution upon each other. certainly if ever a golden time existed for exterminating the heretics, it is the present time." the imperial party took their leave of dresden, believing themselves to have secured the electoral vote of saxony; the elector hoping for protection to his interests in the duchies through that sequestration to which barneveld had opposed such vigorous resistance. there had been much slavish cringing before these catholic potentates by the courtiers of dresden, somewhat amazing to the ruder churls of saxony, the common people, who really believed in the religion which their prince had selected for them and himself. and to complete the glaring contrast, ferdinand and matthias had scarcely turned their backs before tremendous fulminations upon the ancient church came from the elector and from all the doctors of theology in saxony. for the jubilee of the hundredth anniversary of the reformation was celebrated all over germany in the autumn of this very year, and nearly at the exact moment of all this dancing, and fuddling, and pig shooting at dresden in honour of emperors and cardinals. and pope paul v. had likewise ordained a jubilee for true believers at almost the same time. the elector did not mince matters in his proclamation from any regard to the feelings of his late guests. he called on all protestants to rejoice, "because the light of the holy gospel had now shone brightly in the electoral dominions for a hundred years, the omnipotent keeping it burning notwithstanding the raging and roaring of the hellish enemy and all his scaly servants." the doctors of divinity were still more emphatic in their phraseology. they called on all professors and teachers of the true evangelical churches, not only in germany but throughout christendom, to keep the great jubilee. they did this in terms not calculated certainly to smother the flames of religious and party hatred, even if it had been possible at that moment to suppress the fire. "the great god of heaven," they said, "had caused the undertaking of his holy instrument mr. doctor martin luther to prosper. through his unspeakable mercy he has driven away the papal darkness and caused the sun of righteousness once more to beam upon the world. the old idolatries, blasphemies, errors, and horrors of the benighted popedom have been exterminated in many kingdoms and countries. innumerable sheep of the lord christ have been fed on the wholesome pasture of the divine word in spite of those monstrous, tearing, ravenous wolves, the pope and his followers. the enemy of god and man, the ancient serpent, may hiss and rage. yes, the roman antichrist in his frantic blusterings may bite off his own tongue, may fulminate all kinds of evils, bans, excommunications, wars, desolations, and burnings, as long and as much as he likes. but if we take refuge with the lord god, what can this inane, worn-out man and water-bubble do to us?" with more in the same taste. the pope's bull for the catholic jubilee was far more decorous and lofty in tone, for it bewailed the general sin in christendom, and called on all believers to flee from the wrath about to descend upon the earth, in terms that were almost prophetic. he ordered all to pray that the lord might lift up his church, protect it from the wiles of the enemy, extirpate heresies, grant peace and true unity among christian princes, and mercifully avert disasters already coming near. but if the language of paul v. was measured and decent, the swarm of jesuit pamphleteers that forthwith began to buzz and to sting all over christendom were sufficiently venomous. scioppius, in his alarm trumpet to the holy war, and a hundred others declared that all heresies and heretics were now to be extirpated, the one true church to be united and re-established, and that the only road to such a consummation was a path of blood. the lutheran preachers, on the other hand, obedient to the summons from dresden, vied with each other in every town and village in heaping denunciations, foul names, and odious imputations on the catholics; while the calvinists, not to be behindhand with their fellow reformers, celebrated the jubilee, especially at heidelberg, by excluding papists from hope of salvation, and bewailing the fate of all churches sighing under the yoke of rome. and not only were the papists and the reformers exchanging these blasts and counterblasts of hatred, not less deadly in their effects than the artillery of many armies, but as if to make a thorough exhibition of human fatuity when drunk with religious passion, the lutherans were making fierce paper and pulpit war upon the calvinists. especially hoe, court preacher of john george, ceaselessly hurled savage libels against them. in the name of the theological faculty of wittenberg, he addressed a "truehearted warning to all lutheran christians in bohemia, moravia, silesia, and other provinces, to beware of the erroneous calvinistic religion." he wrote a letter to count schlick, foremost leader in the bohemian movement, asking whether "the unquiet calvinist spirit, should it gain ascendency, would be any more endurable than the papists. oh what woe, what infinite woe," he cried, "for those noble countries if they should all be thrust into the jaws of calvinism!" did not preacher hoe's master aspire to the crown of bohemia himself? was he not furious at the start which heidelberg had got of him in the race for that golden prize? was he not mad with jealousy of the palatine, of the palatine's religion, and of the palatine's claim to "hegemony" in germany? thus embittered and bloodthirsty towards each other were the two great sections of the reformed religion on the first centennial jubilee of the reformation. such was the divided front which the anti-catholic party presented at the outbreak of the war with catholicism. ferdinand, on the other hand, was at the head of a comparatively united party. he could hardly hope for more than benevolent neutrality from the french government, which, in spite of the spanish marriages, dared not wholly desert the netherlands and throw itself into the hands of spain; but spanish diplomacy had enslaved the british king, and converted what should have been an active and most powerful enemy into an efficient if concealed ally. the spanish and archiducal armies were enveloping the dutch republic, from whence the most powerful support could be expected for the protestant cause. had it not been for the steadiness of barneveld, spain would have been at that moment established in full panoply over the whole surface of those inestimable positions, the disputed duchies. venice was lukewarm, if not frigid; and savoy, although deeply pledged by passion and interest to the downfall of the house of austria, was too dangerously situated herself, too distant, too poor, and too catholic to be very formidable. ferdinand was safe from the turkish side. a twenty years' peace, renewable by agreement, between the holy empire and the sultan had been negotiated by those two sons of bakers, cardinal khlesl and the vizier etmekdschifade. it was destined to endure through all the horrors of the great war, a stronger protection to vienna than all the fortifications which the engineering art could invent. he was safe too from poland, king sigmund being not only a devoted catholic but doubly his brother-in-law. spain, therefore, the spanish netherlands, the pope, and the german league headed by maximilian of bavaria, the ablest prince on the continent of europe, presented a square, magnificent phalanx on which ferdinand might rely. the states-general, on the other hand, were a most dangerous foe. with a centennial hatred of spain, splendidly disciplined armies and foremost navy of the world, with an admirable financial system and vast commercial resources, with a great stadholder, first captain of the age, thirsting for war, and allied in blood as well as religion to the standard-bearer of the bohemian revolt; with councils directed by the wisest and most experienced of living statesman, and with the very life blood of her being derived from the fountain of civil and religious liberty, the great republic of the united netherlands--her truce with the hereditary foe just expiring was, if indeed united, strong enough at the head of the protestant forces of europe to dictate to a world in arms. alas! was it united? as regarded internal affairs of most pressing interest, the electoral vote at the next election at frankfurt had been calculated as being likely to yield a majority of one for the opposition candidate, should the savoyard or any other opposition candidate be found. but the calculation was a close one and might easily be fallacious. supposing the palatine elected king of bohemia by the rebellious estates, as was probable, he could of course give the vote of that electorate and his own against ferdinand, and the vote of brandenburg at that time seemed safe. but ferdinand by his visit to dresden had secured the vote of saxony, while of the three ecclesiastical electors, cologne and mayence were sure for him. thus it would be three and three, and the seventh and decisive vote would be that of the elector-bishop of treves. the sanguine frederic thought that with french influence and a round sum of money this ecclesiastic might be got to vote for the opposition candidate. the ingenious combination was not destined to be successful, and as there has been no intention in the present volume to do more than slightly indicate the most prominent movements and mainsprings of the great struggle so far as germany is concerned, without entering into detail, it may be as well to remind the reader that it proved wonderfully wrong. matthias died on the th march, , the election of a new emperor took place at frankfurt on the th of the following august, and not only did saxony and all three ecclesiastical electors vote for ferdinand, but brandenburg likewise, as well as the elector-palatine himself, while ferdinand, personally present in the assembly as elector of bohemia, might according to the golden bull have given the seventh vote for himself had he chosen to do so. thus the election was unanimous. strange to say, as the electors proceeded through the crowd from the hall of election to accompany the new emperor to the church where he was to receive the popular acclaim, the news reached them from prague that the elector-palatine had been elected king of bohemia. thus frederic, by voting for ferdinand, had made himself voluntarily a rebel should he accept the crown now offered him. had the news arrived sooner, a different result and even a different history might have been possible. chapter xiv. barneveld connected with the east india company, but opposed to the west india company--carleton comes from venice inimical to barneveld--maurice openly the chieftain of the contra-remonstrants--tumults about the churches--"orange or spain" the cry of prince maurice and his party--they take possession of the cloister church--"the sharp resolve"--carleton's orations before the states-general. king james never forgave barneveld for drawing from him those famous letters to the states in which he was made to approve the five points and to admit the possibility of salvation under them. these epistles had brought much ridicule upon james, who was not amused by finding his theological discussions a laughing-stock. he was still more incensed by the biting criticisms made upon the cheap surrender of the cautionary towns, and he hated more than ever the statesman who, as he believed, had twice outwitted him. on the other hand, maurice, inspired by his brother-in-law the duke of bouillon and by the infuriated francis aerssens, abhorred barneveld's french policy, which was freely denounced by the french calvinists and by the whole orthodox church. in holland he was still warmly sustained except in the contra-remonstrant amsterdam and a few other cities of less importance. but there were perhaps deeper reasons for the advocate's unpopularity in the great commercial metropolis than theological pretexts. barneveld's name and interests were identified with the great east india company, which was now powerful and prosperous beyond anything ever dreamt of before in the annals of commerce. that trading company had already founded an empire in the east. fifty ships of war, fortresses guarded by pieces of artillery and , soldiers and sailors, obeyed the orders of a dozen private gentlemen at home seated in a back parlour around a green table. the profits of each trading voyage were enormous, and the shareholders were growing rich beyond their wildest imaginings. to no individual so much as to holland's advocate was this unexampled success to be ascribed. the vast prosperity of the east india company had inspired others with the ambition to found a similar enterprise in the west. but to the west india company then projected and especially favoured in amsterdam, barneveld was firmly opposed. he considered it as bound up with the spirit of military adventure and conquest, and as likely to bring on prematurely and unwisely a renewed conflict with spain. the same reasons which had caused him to urge the truce now influenced his position in regard to the west india company. thus the clouds were gathering every day more darkly over the head of the advocate. the powerful mercantile interest in the great seat of traffic in the republic, the personal animosity of the stadholder, the execrations of the orthodox party in france, england, and all the netherlands, the anger of the french princes and all those of the old huguenot party who had been foolish enough to act with the princes in their purely selfish schemes against the government, and the overflowing hatred of king james, whose darling schemes of spanish marriages and a spanish alliance had been foiled by the advocate's masterly policy in france and in the duchies, and whose resentment at having been so completely worsted and disarmed in the predestination matter and in the redemption of the great mortgage had deepened into as terrible wrath as outraged bigotry and vanity could engender; all these elements made up a stormy atmosphere in which the strongest heart might have quailed. but barneveld did not quail. doubtless he loved power, and the more danger he found on every side the less inclined he was to succumb. but he honestly believed that the safety and prosperity of the country he had so long and faithfully served were identified with the policy which he was pursuing. arrogant, overbearing, self-concentrated, accustomed to lead senates and to guide the councils and share the secrets of kings, familiar with and almost an actor in every event in the political history not only of his own country but of every important state in christendom during nearly two generations of mankind, of unmatched industry, full of years and experience, yet feeling within him the youthful strength of a thousand intellects compared to most of those by which he was calumniated, confronted, and harassed; he accepted the great fight which was forced upon him. irascible, courageous, austere, contemptuous, he looked around and saw the republic whose cradle he had rocked grown to be one of the most powerful and prosperous among the states of the world, and could with difficulty imagine that in this supreme hour of her strength and her felicity she was ready to turn and rend the man whom she was bound by every tie of duty to cherish and to revere. sir dudley carleton, the new english ambassador to the states, had arrived during the past year red-hot from venice. there he had perhaps not learned especially to love the new republic which had arisen among the northern lagunes, and whose admission among the nations had been at last accorded by the proud queen of the adriatic, notwithstanding the objections and the intrigues both of french and english representatives. he had come charged to the brim with the political spite of james against the advocate, and provided too with more than seven vials of theological wrath. such was the king's revenge for barneveld's recent successes. the supporters in the netherlands of the civil authority over the church were moreover to be instructed by the political head of the english church that such supremacy, although highly proper for a king, was "thoroughly unsuitable for a many-headed republic." so much for church government. as for doctrine, arminianism and vorstianism were to be blasted with one thunderstroke from the british throne. "in holland," said james to his envoy, "there have been violent and sharp contestations amongst the towns in the cause of religion . . . . . if they shall be unhappily revived during your time, you shall not forget that you are the minister of that master whom god hath made the sole protector of his religion." there was to be no misunderstanding in future as to the dogmas which the royal pope of great britain meant to prescribe to his netherland subjects. three years before, at the dictation of the advocate, he had informed the states that he was convinced of their ability to settle the deplorable dissensions as to religion according to their wisdom and the power which belonged to them over churches and church servants. he had informed them of his having learned by experience that such questions could hardly be decided by the wranglings of theological professors, and that it was better to settle them by public authority and to forbid their being brought into the pulpit or among common people. he had recommended mutual toleration of religious difference until otherwise ordained by the public civil authority, and had declared that neither of the two opinions in regard to predestination was in his opinion far from the truth or inconsistent with christian faith or the salvation of souls. it was no wonder that these utterances were quite after the advocate's heart, as james had faithfully copied them from the advocate's draft. but now in the exercise of his infallibility the king issued other decrees. his minister was instructed to support the extreme views of the orthodox both as to government and dogma, and to urge the national synod, as it were, at push of pike. "besides the assistance," said he to carleton, "which we would have you give to the true professors of the gospel in your discourse and conferences, you may let fall how hateful the maintenance of these erroneous opinions is to the majesty of god, how displeasing unto us their dearest friends, and how disgraceful to the honour and government of that state." and faithfully did the ambassador act up to his instructions. most sympathetically did he embody the hatred of the king. an able, experienced, highly accomplished diplomatist and scholar, ready with tongue and pen, caustic, censorious, prejudiced, and partial, he was soon foremost among the foes of the advocate in the little court of the hague, and prepared at any moment to flourish the political and theological goad when his master gave the word. nothing in diplomatic history is more eccentric than the long sermons upon abstruse points of divinity and ecclesiastical history which the english ambassador delivered from time to time before the states-general in accordance with elaborate instructions drawn up by his sovereign with his own hand. rarely has a king been more tedious, and he bestowed all his tediousness upon my lords the states-general. nothing could be more dismal than these discourses, except perhaps the contemporaneous and interminable orations of grotius to the states of holland, to the magistrates of amsterdam, to the states of utrecht; yet carleton was a man of the world, a good debater, a ready writer, while hugo grotius was one of the great lights of that age and which shone for all time. among the diplomatic controversies of history, rarely refreshing at best, few have been more drouthy than those once famous disquisitions, and they shall be left to shrivel into the nothingness of the past, so far as is consistent with the absolute necessities of this narrative. the contest to which the advocate was called had become mainly a personal and a political one, although the weapons with which it was fought were taken from ecclesiastical arsenals. it was now an unequal contest. for the great captain of the country and of his time, the son of william the silent, the martial stadholder, in the fulness of his fame and vigour of his years, had now openly taken his place as the chieftain of the contra-remonstrants. the conflict between the civil and the military element for supremacy in a free commonwealth has never been more vividly typified than in this death-grapple between maurice and barneveld. the aged but still vigorous statesman, ripe with half a century of political lore, and the high-born, brilliant, and scientific soldier, with the laurels of turnhout and nieuwpoort and of a hundred famous sieges upon his helmet, reformer of military science, and no mean proficient in the art of politics and government, were the representatives and leaders of the two great parties into which the commonwealth had now unhappily divided itself. but all history shows that the brilliant soldier of a republic is apt to have the advantage, in a struggle for popular affection and popular applause, over the statesman, however consummate. the general imagination is more excited by the triumphs of the field than by those of the tribune, and the man who has passed many years of life in commanding multitudes with necessarily despotic sway is often supposed to have gained in the process the attributes likely to render him most valuable as chief citizen of a flee commonwealth. yet national enthusiasm is so universally excited by splendid military service as to forbid a doubt that the sentiment is rooted deeply in our nature, while both in antiquity and in modern times there are noble although rare examples of the successful soldier converting himself into a valuable and exemplary magistrate. in the rivalry of maurice and barneveld however for the national affection the chances were singularly against the advocate. the great battles and sieges of the prince had been on a world's theatre, had enchained the attention of christendom, and on their issue had frequently depended, or seemed to depend, the very existence of the nation. the labours of the statesman, on the contrary, had been comparatively secret. his noble orations and arguments had been spoken with closed doors to assemblies of colleagues--rather envoys than senators--were never printed or even reported, and could be judged of only by their effects; while his vast labours in directing both the internal administration and especially the foreign affairs of the commonwealth had been by their very nature as secret as they were perpetual and enormous. moreover, there was little of what we now understand as the democratic sentiment in the netherlands. there was deep and sturdy attachment to ancient traditions, privileges, special constitutions extorted from a power acknowledged to be superior to the people. when partly to save those chartered rights, and partly to overthrow the horrible ecclesiastical tyranny of the sixteenth century, the people had accomplished a successful revolt, they never dreamt of popular sovereignty, but allowed the municipal corporations, by which their local affairs had been for centuries transacted, to unite in offering to foreign princes, one after another, the crown which they had torn from the head of the spanish king. when none was found to accept the dangerous honour, they had acquiesced in the practical sovereignty of the states; but whether the states-general or the states-provincial were the supreme authority had certainly not been definitely and categorically settled. so long as the states of holland, led by the advocate, had controlled in great matters the political action of the states-general, while the stadholder stood without a rival at the head of their military affairs, and so long as there were no fierce disputes as to government and dogma within the bosom of the reformed church, the questions which were now inflaming the whole population had been allowed to slumber. the termination of the war and the rise of arminianism were almost contemporaneous. the stadholder, who so unwillingly had seen the occupation in which he had won so much glory taken from him by the truce, might perhaps find less congenial but sufficiently engrossing business as champion of the church and of the union. the new church--not freedom of worship for different denominations of christians, but supremacy of the church of heidelberg and geneva--seemed likely to be the result of the overthrow of the ancient church. it is the essence of the catholic church to claim supremacy over and immunity from the civil authority, and to this claim for the reformed church, by which that of rome had been supplanted, barneveld was strenuously opposed. the stadholder was backed, therefore, by the church in its purity, by the majority of the humbler classes--who found in membership of the oligarchy of heaven a substitute for those democratic aspirations on earth which were effectually suppressed between the two millstones of burgher aristocracy and military discipline--and by the states-general, a majority of which were contra-remonstrant in their faith. if the sword is usually an overmatch for the long robe in political struggles, the cassock has often proved superior to both combined. but in the case now occupying our attention the cassock was in alliance with the sword. clearly the contest was becoming a desperate one for the statesman. and while the controversy between the chiefs waged hotter and hotter, the tumults around the churches on sundays in every town and village grew more and more furious, ending generally in open fights with knives, bludgeons, and brickbats; preachers and magistrates being often too glad to escape with a whole skin. one can hardly be ingenuous enough to consider all this dirking, battering, and fisticuffing as the legitimate and healthy outcome of a difference as to the knotty point whether all men might or might not be saved by repentance and faith in christ. the greens and blues of the byzantine circus had not been more typical of fierce party warfare in the lower empire than the greens and blues of predestination in the rising commonwealth, according to the real or imagined epigram of prince maurice. "your divisions in religion," wrote secretary lake to carleton, "have, i doubt not, a deeper root than is discerned by every one, and i doubt not that the prince maurice's carriage doth make a jealousy of affecting a party under the pretence of supporting one side, and that the states fear his ends and aims, knowing his power with the men of war; and that howsoever all be shadowed under the name of religion there is on either part a civil end, of the one seeking a step of higher authority, of the other a preservation of liberty." and in addition to other advantages the contra-remonstrants had now got a good cry--an inestimable privilege in party contests. "there are two factions in the land," said maurice, "that of orange and that of spain, and the two chiefs of the spanish faction are those political and priestly arminians, uytenbogaert and oldenbarneveld." orange and spain! the one name associated with all that was most venerated and beloved throughout the country, for william the silent since his death was almost a god; the other ineradicably entwined at that moment with, everything execrated throughout the land. the prince of orange's claim to be head of the orange faction could hardly be disputed, but it was a master stroke of political malice to fix the stigma of spanish partisanship on the advocate. if the venerable patriot who had been fighting spain, sometimes on the battle-field and always in the council, ever since he came to man's estate, could be imagined even in a dream capable of being bought with spanish gold to betray his country, who in the ranks of the remonstrant party could be safe from such accusations? each party accused the other of designs for altering or subverting the government. maurice was suspected of what were called leicestrian projects, "leycestrana consilia"--for the earl's plots to gain possession of leyden and utrecht had never been forgotten--while the prince and those who acted with him asserted distinctly that it was the purpose of barneveld to pave the way for restoring the spanish sovereignty and the popish religion so soon as the truce had reached its end? spain and orange. nothing for a faction fight could be neater. moreover the two words rhyme in netherlandish, which is the case in no other language, "spanje-oranje." the sword was drawn and the banner unfurled. the "mud beggars" of the hague, tired of tramping to ryswyk of a sunday to listen to henry rosaeus, determined on a private conventicle in the capital. the first barn selected was sealed up by the authorities, but epoch much, book-keeper of prince maurice, then lent them his house. the prince declared that sooner than they should want a place of assembling he would give them his own. but he meant that they should have a public church to themselves, and that very soon. king james thoroughly approved of all these proceedings. at that very instant such of his own subjects as had seceded from the established church to hold conventicles in barns and breweries and backshops in london were hunted by him with bishops' pursuivants and other beagles like vilest criminals, thrown into prison to rot, or suffered to escape from their fatherland into the trans-atlantic wilderness, there to battle with wild beasts and savages, and to die without knowing themselves the fathers of a more powerful united states than the dutch republic, where they were fain to seek in passing a temporary shelter. he none the less instructed his envoy at the hague to preach the selfsame doctrines for which the new england puritans were persecuted, and importunately and dictatorially to plead the cause of those hollanders who, like bradford and robinson, winthrop and cotton, maintained the independence of the church over the state. logic is rarely the quality on which kings pride themselves, and puritanism in the netherlands, although under temporary disadvantage at the hague, was evidently the party destined to triumph throughout the country. james could safely sympathize therefore in holland with what he most loathed in england, and could at the same time feed fat the grudge he owed the advocate. the calculations of barneveld as to the respective political forces of the commonwealth seem to have been to a certain extent defective. he allowed probably too much weight to the catholic party as a motive power at that moment, and he was anxious both from that consideration and from his honest natural instinct for general toleration; his own broad and unbigoted views in religious matters, not to force that party into a rebellious attitude dangerous to the state. we have seen how nearly a mutiny in the important city of utrecht, set on foot by certain romanist conspirators in the years immediately succeeding the truce, had subverted the government, had excited much anxiety amongst the firmest allies of the republic, and had been suppressed only by the decision of the advocate and a show of military force. he had informed carleton not long after his arrival that in the united provinces, and in holland in particular, were many sects and religions of which, according to his expression, "the healthiest and the richest part were the papists, while the protestants did not make up one-third part of the inhabitants." certainly, if these statistics were correct or nearly correct, there could be nothing more stupid from a purely political point of view than to exasperate so influential a portion of the community to madness and rebellion by refusing them all rights of public worship. yet because the advocate had uniformly recommended indulgence, he had incurred more odium at home than from any other cause. of course he was a papist in disguise, ready to sell his country to spain, because he was willing that more than half the population of the country should be allowed to worship god according to their conscience. surely it would be wrong to judge the condition of things at that epoch by the lights of to-day, and perhaps in the netherlands there had before been no conspicuous personage, save william the silent alone, who had risen to the height of toleration on which the advocate essayed to stand. other leading politicians considered that the national liberties could be preserved only by retaining the catholics in complete subjection. at any rate the advocate was profoundly convinced of the necessity of maintaining harmony and mutual toleration among the protestants themselves, who, as he said, made up but one-third of the whole people. in conversing with the english ambassador he divided them into "puritans and double puritans," as they would be called, he said, in england. if these should be at variance with each other, he argued, the papists would be the strongest of all. "to prevent this inconvenience," he said, "the states were endeavouring to settle some certain form of government in the church; which being composed of divers persecuted churches such as in the beginning of the wars had their refuge here, that which during the wars could not be so well done they now thought seasonable for a time of truce; and therefore would show their authority in preventing the schism of the church which would follow the separation of those they call remonstrants and contra-remonstrants." there being no word so offensive to carleton's sovereign as the word puritan, the ambassador did his best to persuade the advocate that a puritan in holland was a very different thing from a puritan in england. in england he was a noxious vermin, to be hunted with dogs. in the netherlands he was the governing power. but his arguments were vapourous enough and made little impression on barneveld. "he would no ways yield," said sir dudley. meantime the contra-remonstrants of the hague, not finding sufficient accommodation in enoch much's house, clamoured loudly for the use of a church. it was answered by the city magistrates that two of their persuasion, la motte and la faille, preached regularly in the great church, and that rosaeus had been silenced only because he refused to hold communion with uytenbogaert. maurice insisted that a separate church should be assigned them. "but this is open schism," said uytenbogaert. early in the year there was a meeting of the holland delegation to the states-general, of the state council, and of the magistracy of the hague, of deputies from the tribunals, and of all the nobles resident in the capital. they sent for maurice and asked his opinion as to the alarming situation of affairs. he called for the register-books of the states of holland, and turning back to the pages on which was recorded his accession to the stadholderate soon after his father's murder, ordered the oath then exchanged between himself and the states to be read aloud. that oath bound them mutually to support the reformed religion till the last drop of blood in their veins. "that oath i mean to keep," said the stadholder, "so long as i live." no one disputed the obligation of all parties to maintain the reformed religion. but the question was whether the five points were inconsistent with the reformed religion. the contrary was clamorously maintained by most of those present: in the year this difference in dogma had not arisen, and as the large majority of the people at the hague, including nearly all those of rank and substance, were of the remonstrant persuasion, they naturally found it not agreeable to be sent out of the church by a small minority. but maurice chose to settle the question very summarily. his father had been raised to power by the strict calvinists, and he meant to stand by those who had always sustained william the silent. "for this religion my father lost his life, and this religion will i defend," said he. "you hold then," said barneveld, "that the almighty has created one child for damnation and another for salvation, and you wish this doctrine to be publicly preached." "did you ever hear any one preach that?" replied the prince. "if they don't preach it, it is their inmost conviction," said the other. and he proceeded to prove his position by copious citations. "and suppose our ministers do preach this doctrine, is there anything strange in it, any reason why they should not do so?" the advocate expressed his amazement and horror at the idea. "but does not god know from all eternity who is to be saved and who to be damned; and does he create men for any other end than that to which he from eternity knows they will come?" and so they enclosed themselves in the eternal circle out of which it was not probable that either the soldier or the statesman would soon find an issue. "i am no theologian," said barneveld at last, breaking off the discussion. "neither am i," said the stadholder. "so let the parsons come together. let the synod assemble and decide the question. thus we shall get out of all this." next day a deputation of the secessionists waited by appointment on prince maurice. they found him in the ancient mediaeval hall of the sovereign counts of holland, and seated on their old chair of state. he recommended them to use caution and moderation for the present, and to go next sunday once more to ryswyk. afterwards he pledged himself that they should have a church at the hague, and, if necessary, the great church itself. but the great church, although a very considerable catholic cathedral before the reformation, was not big enough now to hold both henry rosaeus and john uytenbogaert. those two eloquent, learned, and most pugnacious divines were the respective champions in the pulpit of the opposing parties, as were the advocate and the stadholder in the council. and there was as bitter personal rivalry between the two as between the soldier and statesman. "the factions begin to divide themselves," said carleton, "betwixt his excellency and monsieur barneveld as heads who join to this present difference their ancient quarrels. and the schism rests actually between uytenbogaert and rosaeus, whose private emulation and envy (both being much applauded and followed) doth no good towards the public pacification." uytenbogaert repeatedly offered, however, to resign his functions and to leave the hague. "he was always ready to play the jonah," he said. a temporary arrangement was made soon afterwards by which rosaeus and his congregation should have the use of what was called the gasthuis kerk, then appropriated to the english embassy. carleton of course gave his consent most willingly. the prince declared that the states of holland and the city magistracy had personally affronted him by the obstacles they had interposed to the public worship of the contra-remonstrants. with their cause he had now thoroughly identified himself. the hostility between the representatives of the civil and military authority waxed fiercer every hour. the tumults were more terrible than ever. plainly there was no room in the commonwealth for the advocate and the stadholder. some impartial persons believed that there would be no peace until both were got rid of. "there are many words among this free-spoken people," said carleton, "that to end these differences they must follow the example of france in marshal d'ancre's case, and take off the heads of both chiefs." but these decided persons were in a small minority. meantime the states of holland met in full assembly; sixty delegates being present. it was proposed to invite his excellency to take part in the deliberations. a committee which had waited upon him the day before had reported him as in favour of moderate rather than harsh measures in the church affair, while maintaining his plighted word to the seceders. barneveld stoutly opposed the motion. "what need had the sovereign states of holland of advice from a stadholder, from their servant, their functionary?" he cried. but the majority for once thought otherwise. the prince was invited to come. the deliberations were moderate but inconclusive. he appeared again at an adjourned meeting when the councils were not so harmonious. barneveld, grotius, and other eloquent speakers endeavoured to point out that the refusal of the seceders to hold communion with the remonstrant preachers and to insist on a separation was fast driving the state to perdition. they warmly recommended mutual toleration and harmony. grotius exhausted learning and rhetoric to prove that the five points were not inconsistent with salvation nor with the constitution of the united provinces. the stadholder grew impatient at last and clapped his hand on his rapier. "no need here," he said, "of flowery orations and learned arguments. with this good sword i will defend the religion which my father planted in these provinces, and i should like to see the man who is going to prevent me!" the words had an heroic ring in the ears of such as are ever ready to applaud brute force, especially when wielded by a prince. the argumentum ad ensem, however, was the last plea that william the silent would have been likely to employ on such an occasion, nor would it have been easy to prove that the reformed religion had been "planted" by one who had drawn the sword against the foreign tyrant, and had made vast sacrifices for his country's independence years before abjuring communion with the roman catholic church. when swords are handled by the executive in presence of civil assemblies there is usually but one issue to be expected. moreover, three whales had recently been stranded at scheveningen, one of them more than sixty feet long, and men wagged their beards gravely as they spoke of the event, deeming it a certain presage of civil commotions. it was remembered that at the outbreak of the great war two whales had been washed ashore in the scheldt. although some free-thinking people were inclined to ascribe the phenomenon to a prevalence of strong westerly gales, while others found proof in it of a superabundance of those creatures in the polar seas, which should rather give encouragement to the dutch and zealand fisheries, it is probable that quite as dark forebodings of coming disaster were caused by this accident as by the trumpet-like defiance which the stadholder had just delivered to the states of holland. meantime the seceding congregation of the hague had become wearied of the english or gasthuis church, and another and larger one had been promised them. this was an ancient convent on one of the principal streets of the town, now used as a cannon-foundry. the prince personally superintended the preparations for getting ready this place of worship, which was thenceforth called the cloister church. but delays were, as the contra-remonstrants believed, purposely interposed, so that it was nearly midsummer before there were any signs of the church being fit for use. they hastened accordingly to carry it, as it were, by assault. not wishing peaceably to accept as a boon from the civil authority what they claimed as an indefeasible right, they suddenly took possession one sunday night of the cloister church. it was in a state of utter confusion--part monastery, part foundry, part conventicle. there were few seats, no altar, no communion-table, hardly any sacramental furniture, but a pulpit was extemporized. rosaeus preached in triumph to an enthusiastic congregation, and three children were baptized with the significant names of william, maurice, and henry. on the following monday there was a striking scene on the voorhout. this most beautiful street of a beautiful city was a broad avenue, shaded by a quadruple row of limetrees, reaching out into the thick forest of secular oaks and beeches--swarming with fallow-deer and alive with the notes of singing birds--by which the hague, almost from time immemorial, has been embowered. the ancient cloisterhouse and church now reconverted to religious uses--was a plain, rather insipid structure of red brick picked out with white stone, presenting three symmetrical gables to the street, with a slender belfry and spire rising in the rear. nearly adjoining it on the north-western side was the elegant and commodious mansion of barneveld, purchased by him from the representatives of the arenberg family, surrounded by shrubberies and flower-gardens; not a palace, but a dignified and becoming abode for the first citizen of a powerful republic. on that midsummer's morning it might well seem that, in rescuing the old cloister from the military purposes to which it had for years been devoted, men had given an even more belligerent aspect to the scene than if it had been left as a foundry. the miscellaneous pieces of artillery and other fire-arms lying about, with piles of cannon-ball which there had not been time to remove, were hardly less belligerent and threatening of aspect than the stern faces of the crowd occupied in thoroughly preparing the house for its solemn destination. it was determined that there should be accommodation on the next sunday for all who came to the service. an army of carpenters, joiners, glaziers, and other workmen-assisted by a mob of citizens of all ranks and ages, men and women, gentle and simple were busily engaged in bringing planks and benches; working with plane, adze, hammer and saw, trowel and shovel, to complete the work. on the next sunday the prince attended public worship for the last time at the great church under the ministration of uytenbogaert. he was infuriated with the sermon, in which the bold remonstrant bitterly inveighed against the proposition for a national synod. to oppose that measure publicly in the very face of the stadholder, who now considered himself as the synod personified, seemed to him flat blasphemy. coming out of the church with his step-mother, the widowed louise de coligny, princess of orange, he denounced the man in unmeasured terms. "he is the enemy of god," said maurice. at least from that time forth, and indeed for a year before, maurice was the enemy of the preacher. on the following sunday, july , maurice went in solemn state to the divine service at the cloister church now thoroughly organized. he was accompanied by his cousin, the famous count william lewis of nassau, stadholder of friesland, who had never concealed his warm sympathy with the contra-remonstrants, and by all the chief officers of his household and members of his staff. it was an imposing demonstration and meant for one. as the martial stadholder at the head of his brilliant cavalcade rode forth across the drawbridge from the inner court of the old moated palace--where the ancient sovereign dirks and florences of holland had so long ruled their stout little principality--along the shady and stately kneuterdyk and so through the voorhout, an immense crowd thronged around his path and accompanied him to the church. it was as if the great soldier were marching to siege or battle-field where fresher glories than those of sluys or geertruidenberg were awaiting him. the train passed by barneveld's house and entered the cloister. more than four thousand persons were present at the service or crowded around the doors vainly attempting to gain admission into the overflowing aisles; while the great church was left comparatively empty, a few hundred only worshipping there. the cloister church was thenceforth called the prince's church, and a great revolution was beginning even in the hague. the advocate was wroth as he saw the procession graced by the two stadholders and their military attendants. he knew that he was now to bow his head to the church thus championed by the chief personage and captain-general of the state, to renounce his dreams of religious toleration, to sink from his post of supreme civic ruler, or to accept an unequal struggle in which he might utterly succumb. but his iron nature would break sooner than bend. in the first transports of his indignation he is said to have vowed vengeance against the immediate instruments by which the cloister church had, as he conceived, been surreptitiously and feloniously seized. he meant to strike a blow which should startle the whole population of the hague, send a thrill of horror through the country, and teach men to beware how they trifled with the sovereign states of holland, whose authority had so long been undisputed, and with him their chief functionary. he resolved--so ran the tale of the preacher trigland, who told it to prince maurice, and has preserved it in his chronicle--to cause to be seized at midnight from their beds four men whom he considered the ringleaders in this mutiny, to have them taken to the place of execution on the square in the midst of the city, to have their heads cut off at once by warrant from the chief tribunal without any previous warning, and then to summon all the citizens at dawn of day, by ringing of bells and firing of cannon, to gaze on the ghastly spectacle, and teach them to what fate this pestilential schism and revolt against authority had brought its humble tools. the victims were to be enoch much, the prince's book-keeper, and three others, an attorney, an engraver, and an apothecary, all of course of the contra-remonstrant persuasion. it was necessary, said the advocate, to make once for all an example, and show that there was a government in the land. he had reckoned on a ready adhesion to this measure and a sentence from the tribunal through the influence of his son-in-law, the seignior van veenhuyzen, who was president of the chief court. his attempt was foiled however by the stern opposition of two zealand members of the court, who managed to bring up from a bed of sickness, where he had long been lying, a holland councillor whom they knew to be likewise opposed to the fierce measure, and thus defeated it by a majority of one. such is the story as told by contemporaries and repeated from that day to this. it is hardly necessary to say that barneveld calmly denied having conceived or even heard of the scheme. that men could go about looking each other in the face and rehearsing such gibberish would seem sufficiently dispiriting did we not know to what depths of credulity men in all ages can sink when possessed by the demon of party malice. if it had been narrated on the exchange at amsterdam or flushing during that portentous midsummer that barneveld had not only beheaded but roasted alive, and fed the dogs and cats upon the attorney, the apothecary, and the engraver, there would have been citizens in plenty to devour the news with avidity. but although the advocate had never imagined such extravagances as these, it is certain that he had now resolved upon very bold measures, and that too without an instant's delay. he suspected the prince of aiming at sovereignty not only over holland but over all the provinces and to be using the synod as a principal part of his machinery. the gauntlet was thrown down by the stadholder, and the advocate lifted it at once. the issue of the struggle would depend upon the political colour of the town magistracies. barneveld instinctively felt that maurice, being now resolved that the synod should be held, would lose no time in making a revolution in all the towns through the power he held or could plausibly usurp. such a course would, in his opinion, lead directly to an unconstitutional and violent subversion of the sovereign rights of each province, to the advantage of the central government. a religious creed would be forced upon holland and perhaps upon two other provinces which was repugnant to a considerable majority of the people. and this would be done by a majority vote of the states-general, on a matter over which, by the th article of the fundamental compact--the union of utrecht--the states-general had no control, each province having reserved the disposition of religious affairs to itself. for let it never be forgotten that the union of the netherlands was a compact, a treaty, an agreement between sovereign states. there was no pretence that it was an incorporation, that the people had laid down a constitution, an organic law. the people were never consulted, did not exist, had not for political purposes been invented. it was the great primal defect of their institutions, but the netherlanders would have been centuries before their age had they been able to remedy that defect. yet the netherlanders would have been much behind even that age of bigotry had they admitted the possibility in a free commonwealth, of that most sacred and important of all subjects that concern humanity, religious creed--the relation of man to his maker--to be regulated by the party vote of a political board. it was with no thought of treason in his heart or his head therefore that the advocate now resolved that the states of holland and the cities of which that college was composed should protect their liberties and privileges, the sum of which in his opinion made up the sovereignty of the province he served, and that they should protect them, if necessary, by force. force was apprehended. it should be met by force. to be forewarned was to be forearmed. barneveld forewarned the states of holland. on the th august , he proposed to that assembly a resolution which was destined to become famous. a majority accepted it after brief debate. it was to this effect. the states having seen what had befallen in many cities, and especially in the hague, against the order, liberties, and laws of the land, and having in vain attempted to bring into harmony with the states certain cities which refused to co-operate with the majority, had at last resolved to refuse the national synod, as conflicting with the sovereignty and laws of holland. they had thought good to set forth in public print their views as to religious worship, and to take measures to prevent all deeds of violence against persons and property. to this end the regents of cities were authorized in case of need, until otherwise ordained, to enrol men-at-arms for their security and prevention of violence. furthermore, every one that might complain of what the regents of cities by strength of this resolution might do was ordered to have recourse to no one else than the states of holland, as no account would be made of anything that might be done or undertaken by the tribunals. finally, it was resolved to send a deputation to prince maurice, the princess-widow, and prince henry, requesting them to aid in carrying out this resolution. thus the deed was done. the sword was drawn. it was drawn in self-defence and in deliberate answer to the stadholder's defiance when he rapped his sword hilt in face of the assembly, but still it was drawn. the states of holland were declared sovereign and supreme. the national synod was peremptorily rejected. any decision of the supreme courts of the union in regard to the subject of this resolution was nullified in advance. thenceforth this measure of the th august was called the "sharp resolve." it might prove perhaps to be double-edged. it was a stroke of grim sarcasm on the part of the advocate thus solemnly to invite the stadholder's aid in carrying out a law which was aimed directly at his head; to request his help for those who meant to defeat with the armed hand that national synod which he had pledged himself to bring about. the question now arose what sort of men-at-arms it would be well for the city governments to enlist. the officers of the regular garrisons had received distinct orders from prince maurice as their military superior to refuse any summons to act in matters proceeding from the religious question. the prince, who had chief authority over all the regular troops, had given notice that he would permit nothing to be done against "those of the reformed religion," by which he meant the contra-remonstrants and them only. in some cities there were no garrisons, but only train-bands. but the train bands (schutters) could not be relied on to carry out the sharp resolve, for they were almost to a man contra-remonstrants. it was therefore determined to enlist what were called "waartgelders;" soldiers, inhabitants of the place, who held themselves ready to serve in time of need in consideration of a certain wage; mercenaries in short. this resolution was followed as a matter of course by a solemn protest from amsterdam and the five cities who acted with her. on the same day maurice was duly notified of the passage of the law. his wrath was great. high words passed between him and the deputies. it could hardly have been otherwise expected. next-day he came before the assembly to express his sentiments, to complain of the rudeness with which the resolution of th august had been communicated to him, and to demand further explanations. forthwith the advocate proceeded to set forth the intentions of the states, and demanded that the prince should assist the magistrates in carrying out the policy decided upon. reinier pauw, burgomaster of amsterdam, fiercely interrupted the oration of barneveld, saying that although these might be his views, they were not to be held by his excellency as the opinions of all. the advocate, angry at the interruption, answered him sternly, and a violent altercation, not unmixed with personalities, arose. maurice, who kept his temper admirably on this occasion, interfered between the two and had much difficulty in quieting the dispute. he then observed that when he took the oath as stadholder these unfortunate differences had not arisen, but all had been good friends together. this was perfectly true, but he could have added that they might all continue good friends unless the plan of imposing a religious creed upon the minority by a clerical decision were persisted in. he concluded that for love of one of the two great parties he would not violate the oath he had taken to maintain the reformed religion to the last drop of his blood. still, with the same 'petitio principii' that the reformed religion and the dogmas of the contra-remonstrants were one and the same thing, he assured the assembly that the authority of the magistrates would be sustained by him so long as it did not lead to the subversion of religion. clearly the time for argument had passed. as dudley carleton observed, men had been disputing 'pro aris' long enough. they would soon be fighting 'pro focis.' in pursuance of the policy laid down by the sharp resolution, the states proceeded to assure themselves of the various cities of the province by means of waartgelders. they sent to the important seaport of brielle and demanded a new oath from the garrison. it was intimated that the prince would be soon coming there in person to make himself master of the place, and advice was given to the magistrates to be beforehand with him. these statements angered maurice, and angered him the more because they happened to be true. it was also charged that he was pursuing his leicestrian designs and meant to make himself, by such steps, sovereign of the country. the name of leicester being a byword of reproach ever since that baffled noble had a generation before left the provinces in disgrace, it was a matter of course that such comparisons were excessively exasperating. it was fresh enough too in men's memory that the earl in his netherland career had affected sympathy with the strictest denomination of religious reformers, and that the profligate worldling and arrogant self-seeker had used the mask of religion to cover flagitious ends. as it had indeed been the object of the party at the head of which the advocate had all his life acted to raise the youthful maurice to the stadholderate expressly to foil the plots of leicester, it could hardly fail to be unpalatable to maurice to be now accused of acting the part of leicester. he inveighed bitterly on the subject before the state council: the state council, in a body, followed him to a meeting of the states-general. here the stadholder made a vehement speech and demanded that the states of holland should rescind the "sharp resolution," and should desist from the new oaths required from the soldiery. barneveld, firm as a rock, met these bitter denunciations. speaking in the name of holland, he repelled the idea that the sovereign states of that province were responsible to the state council or to the states-general either. he regretted, as all regretted, the calumnies uttered against the prince, but in times of such intense excitement every conspicuous man was the mark of calumny. the stadholder warmly repudiated leicestrian designs, and declared that he had been always influenced by a desire to serve his country and maintain the reformed religion. if he had made mistakes, he desired to be permitted to improve in the future. thus having spoken, the soldier retired from the assembly with the state council at his heels. the advocate lost no time in directing the military occupation of the principal towns of holland, such as leyden, gouda, rotterdam, schoonhoven, hoorn, and other cities. at leyden especially, where a strong orange party was with difficulty kept in obedience by the remonstrant magistracy, it was found necessary to erect a stockade about the town-hall and to plant caltrops and other obstructions in the squares and streets. the broad space in front; of the beautiful medieval seat of the municipal government, once so sacred for the sublime and pathetic scenes enacted there during the famous siege and in the magistracy of peter van der werff, was accordingly enclosed by a solid palisade of oaken planks, strengthened by rows of iron bars with barbed prongs: the entrenchment was called by the populace the arminian fort, and the iron spear heads were baptized barneveld's teeth. cannon were planted at intervals along the works, and a company or two of the waartgelders, armed from head to foot, with snaphances on their shoulders, stood ever ready to issue forth to quell any disturbances. occasionally a life or two was lost of citizen or soldier, and many doughty blows were interchanged. it was a melancholy spectacle. no commonwealth could be more fortunate than this republic in possessing two such great leading minds. no two men could be more patriotic than both stadholder and advocate. no two men could be prouder, more overbearing, less conciliatory. "i know mons. barneveld well," said sir ralph winwood, "and know that he hath great powers and abilities, and malice itself must confess that man never hath done more faithful and powerful service to his country than he. but 'finis coronat opus' and 'il di lodi lacera; oportet imperatorem stantem mori.'" the cities of holland were now thoroughly "waartgeldered," and barneveld having sufficiently shown his "teeth" in that province departed for change of air to utrecht. his failing health was assigned as the pretext for the visit, although the atmosphere of that city has never been considered especially salubrious in the dog-days. meantime the stadholder remained quiet, but biding his time. he did not choose to provoke a premature conflict in the strongholds of the arminians as he called them, but with a true military instinct preferred making sure of the ports. amsterdam, enkhuyzen, flushing, being without any effort of his own within his control, he quietly slipped down the river meuse on the night of the th september, accompanied by his brother frederic henrys and before six o'clock next morning had introduced a couple of companies of trustworthy troops into brielle, had summoned the magistrates before him, and compelled them to desist from all further intention of levying mercenaries. thus all the fortresses which barneveld had so recently and in such masterly fashion rescued from the grasp of england were now quietly reposing in the hands of the stadholder. maurice thought it not worth his while for the present to quell the mutiny--as he considered it the legal and constitutional defence of vested right--as great jurists like barneveld and hugo grotius accounted the movement--at its "fountain head leyden or its chief stream utrecht;" to use the expression of carleton. there had already been bloodshed in leyden, a burgher or two having been shot and a soldier stoned to death in the streets, but the stadholder deemed it unwise to precipitate matters. feeling himself, with his surpassing military knowledge and with a large majority of the nation at his back, so completely master of the situation, he preferred waiting on events. and there is no doubt that he was proving himself a consummate politician and a perfect master of fence. "he is much beloved and followed both of soldiers and people," said the english ambassador, "he is a man 'innoxiae popularitatis' so as this jealousy cannot well be fastened upon him; and in this cause of religion he stirred not until within these few months he saw he must declare himself or suffer the better party to be overborne." the chief tribunal-high council so called-of the country soon gave evidence that the "sharp resolution" had judged rightly in reckoning on its hostility and in nullifying its decisions in advance. they decided by a majority vote that the resolution ought not to be obeyed, but set aside. amsterdam, and the three or four cities usually acting with her, refused to enlist troops. rombout hoogerbeets, a member of the tribunal, informed prince maurice that he "would no longer be present on a bench where men disputed the authority of the states of holland, which he held to be the supreme sovereignty over him." this was plain speaking; a distinct enunciation of what the states' right party deemed to be constitutional law. and what said maurice in reply? "i, too, recognize the states of holland as sovereign; but we might at least listen to each other occasionally." hoogerbeets, however, deeming that listening had been carried far enough, decided to leave the tribunal altogether, and to resume the post which he had formerly occupied as pensionary or chief magistrate of leyden. here he was soon to find himself in the thick of the conflict. meantime the states-general, in full assembly, on th november , voted that the national synod should be held in the course of the following year. the measure was carried by a strict party vote and by a majority of one. the representatives of each province voting as one, there were four in favour of to three against the synod. the minority, consisting of holland, utrecht, and overyssel, protested against the vote as an outrageous invasion of the rights of each province, as an act of flagrant tyranny and usurpation. the minority in the states of holland, the five cities often named, protested against the protest. the defective part of the netherland constitutions could not be better illustrated. the minority of the states of holland refused to be bound by a majority of the provincial assembly. the minority of the states-general refused to be bound by the majority of the united assembly. this was reducing politics to an absurdity and making all government impossible. it is however quite certain that in the municipal governments a majority had always governed, and that a majority vote in the provincial assemblies had always prevailed. the present innovation was to govern the states-general by a majority. yet viewed by the light of experience and of common sense, it would be difficult to conceive of a more preposterous proceeding than thus to cram a religious creed down the throats of half the population of a country by the vote of a political assembly. but it was the seventeenth and not the nineteenth century. moreover, if there were any meaning in words, the th article of union, reserving especially the disposition over religious matters to each province, had been wisely intended to prevent the possibility of such tyranny. when the letters of invitation to the separate states and to others were drawing up in the general assembly, the representatives of the three states left the chamber. a solitary individual from holland remained however, a burgomaster of amsterdam. uytenbogaert, conversing with barneveld directly afterwards, advised him to accept the vote. yielding to the decision of the majority, it would be possible, so thought the clergyman, for the great statesman so to handle matters as to mould the synod to his will, even as he had so long controlled the states-provincial and the states-general. "if you are willing to give away the rights of the land," said the advocate very sharply, "i am not." probably the priest's tactics might have proved more adroit than the stony opposition on which barneveld was resolved. but it was with the aged statesman a matter of principle, not of policy. his character and his personal pride, the dignity of opinion and office, his respect for constitutional law, were all at stake. shallow observers considered the struggle now taking place as a personal one. lovers of personal government chose to look upon the advocate's party as a faction inspired with an envious resolve to clip the wings of the stadholder, who was at last flying above their heads. there could be no doubt of the bitter animosity between the two men. there could be no doubt that jealousy was playing the part which that master passion will ever play in all the affairs of life. but there could be no doubt either that a difference of principle as wide as the world separated the two antagonists. even so keen an observer as dudley carleton, while admitting the man's intellectual power and unequalled services, could see nothing in the advocate's present course but prejudice, obstinacy, and the insanity of pride. "he doth no whit spare himself in pains nor faint in his resolution," said the envoy, "wherein notwithstanding he will in all appearance succumb ere afore long, having the disadvantages of a weak body, a weak party, and a weak cause." but carleton hated barneveld, and considered it the chief object of his mission to destroy him, if he could. in so doing he would best carry out the wishes of his sovereign. the king of britain had addressed a somewhat equivocal letter to the states-general on the subject of religion in the spring of . it certainly was far from being as satisfactory as, the epistles of prepared under the advocate's instructions, had been, while the exuberant commentary upon the royal text, delivered in full assembly by his ambassador soon after the reception of the letter, was more than usually didactic, offensive, and ignorant. sir dudley never omitted an opportunity of imparting instruction to the states-general as to the nature of their constitution and the essential dogmas on which their church was founded. it is true that the great lawyers and the great theologians of the country were apt to hold very different opinions from his upon those important subjects, but this was so much the worse for the lawyers and theologians, as time perhaps might prove. the king in this last missive had proceeded to unsay the advice which he had formerly bestowed upon the states, by complaining that his earlier letters had been misinterpreted. they had been made use of, he said, to authorize the very error against which they had been directed. they had been held to intend the very contrary of what they did mean. he felt himself bound in conscience therefore, finding these differences ready to be "hatched into schisms," to warn the states once more against pests so pernicious. although the royal language was somewhat vague so far as enunciation of doctrine, a point on which he had once confessed himself fallible, was concerned, there was nothing vague in his recommendation of a national synod. to this the opposition of barneveld was determined not upon religious but upon constitutional grounds. the confederacy did not constitute a nation, and therefore there could not be a national synod nor a national religion. carleton came before the states-general soon afterwards with a prepared oration, wearisome as a fast-day sermon after the third turn of the hour-glass, pragmatical as a schoolmaster's harangue to fractious little boys. he divided his lecture into two heads--the peace of the church, and the peace of the provinces--starting with the first. "a jove principium," he said, "i will begin with that which is both beginning and end. it is the truth of god's word and its maintenance that is the bond of our common cause. reasons of state invite us as friends and neighbours by the preservation of our lives and property, but the interest of religion binds us as christians and brethren to the mutual defence of the liberty of our consciences." he then proceeded to point out the only means by which liberty of conscience could be preserved. it was by suppressing all forms of religion but one, and by silencing all religious discussion. peter titelman and philip ii. could not have devised a more pithy formula. all that was wanting was the axe and faggot to reduce uniformity to practice. then liberty of conscience would be complete. "one must distinguish," said the ambassador, "between just liberty and unbridled license, and conclude that there is but one truth single and unique. those who go about turning their brains into limbecks for distilling new notions in religious matters only distract the union of the church which makes profession of this unique truth. if it be permitted to one man to publish the writings and fantasies of a sick spirit and for another moved by christian zeal to reduce this wanderer 'ad sanam mentem;' why then 'patet locus adversus utrumque,' and the common enemy (the devil) slips into the fortress." he then proceeded to illustrate this theory on liberty of conscience by allusions to conrad vorstius. this infamous sectary had in fact reached such a pitch of audacity, said the ambassador, as not only to inveigh against the eternal power of god but to indulge in irony against the honour of his majesty king james. and in what way had he scandalized the government of the republic? he had dared to say that within its borders there was religious toleration. he had distinctly averred that in the united provinces heretics were not punished with death or with corporal chastisement. "he declares openly," said carleton, "that contra haereticos etiam vere dictos (ne dum falso et calumniose sic traductos) there is neither sentence of death nor other corporal punishment, so that in order to attract to himself a great following of birds of the name feather he publishes to all the world that here in this country one can live and die a heretic, unpunished, without being arrested and without danger." in order to suppress this reproach upon the republic at which the ambassador stood aghast, and to prevent the vorstian doctrines of religious toleration and impunity of heresy from spreading among "the common people, so subject by their natures to embrace new opinions," he advised of course that "the serpent be sent back to the nest where he was born before the venom had spread through the whole body of the republic." a week afterwards a long reply was delivered on part of the states-general to the ambassador's oration. it is needless to say that it was the work of the advocate, and that it was in conformity with the opinions so often exhibited in the letters to caron and others of which the reader has seen many samples. that religious matters were under the control of the civil government, and that supreme civil authority belonged to each one of the seven sovereign provinces, each recognizing no superior within its own sphere, were maxims of state always enforced in the netherlands and on which the whole religious controversy turned. "the states-general have always cherished the true christian apostolic religion," they said, "and wished it to be taught under the authority and protection of the legal government of these provinces in all purity, and in conformity with the holy scriptures, to the good people of these provinces. and my lords the states and magistrates of the respective provinces, each within their own limits, desire the same." they had therefore given express orders to the preachers "to keep the peace by mutual and benign toleration of the different opinions on the one side and the other at least until with full knowledge of the subject the states might otherwise ordain. they had been the more moved to this because his majesty having carefully examined the opinions of the learned hereon each side had found both consistent with christian belief and the salvation of souls." it was certainly not the highest expression of religious toleration for the civil authority to forbid the clergymen of the country from discussing in their pulpits the knottiest and most mysterious points of the schoolmen lest the "common people" should be puzzled. nevertheless, where the close union of church and state and the necessity of one church were deemed matters of course, it was much to secure subordination of the priesthood to the magistracy, while to enjoin on preachers abstention from a single exciting cause of quarrel, on the ground that there was more than one path to salvation, and that mutual toleration was better than mutual persecution, was; in that age, a stride towards religious equality. it was at least an advance on carleton's dogma, that there was but one unique and solitary truth, and that to declare heretics not punishable with death was an insult to the government of the republic. the states-general answered the ambassador's plea, made in the name of his master, for immediate and unguaranteed evacuation of the debatable land by the arguments already so often stated in the advocate's instructions to caron. they had been put to great trouble and expense already in their campaigning and subsequent fortification of important places in the duchies. they had seen the bitter spirit manifested by the spaniards in the demolition of the churches and houses of mulheim and other places. "while the affair remained in its present terms of utter uncertainty their mightinesses," said the states-general, "find it most objectionable to forsake the places which they have been fortifying and to leave the duchies and all their fellow-religionists, besides the rights of the possessory princes a prey to those who have been hankering for the territories for long years, and who would unquestionably be able to make themselves absolute masters of all within a very few days." a few months later carleton came before the states-general again and delivered another elaborate oration, duly furnished to him by the king, upon the necessity of the national synod, the comparative merits of arminianism and contra-remonstrantism, together with a full exposition of the constitutions of the netherlands. it might be supposed that barneveld and grotius and hoogerbeets knew something of the law and history of their country. but james knew much better, and so his envoy endeavoured to convince his audience. he received on the spot a temperate but conclusive reply from the delegates of holland. they informed him that the war with spain--the cause of the utrecht union--was not begun about religion but on account of the violation of liberties, chartered rights and privileges, not the least of which rights was that of each province to regulate religious matters within its borders. a little later a more vehement reply was published anonymously in the shape of a pamphlet called 'the balance,' which much angered the ambassador and goaded his master almost to frenzy. it was deemed so blasphemous, so insulting to the majesty of england, so entirely seditious, that james, not satisfied with inditing a rejoinder, insisted through carleton that a reward should be offered by the states for the detection of the author, in order that he might be condignly punished. this was done by a majority vote, florins being offered for the discovery of the author and for that of the printer. naturally the step was opposed in the states-general; two deputies in particular making themselves conspicuous. one of them was an audacious old gentleman named brinius of gelderland, "much corrupted with arminianism," so carleton informed his sovereign. he appears to have inherited his audacity through his pedigree, descending, as it was ludicrously enough asserted he did, from a chief of the caninefates, the ancient inhabitants of gelderland, called brinio. and brinio the caninefat had been as famous for his stolid audacity as for his illustrious birth; "erat in caninefatibus stolidae audaciae brinio claritate natalium insigni." the patronizing manner in which the ambassador alluded to the other member of the states-general who opposed the decree was still more diverting. it was "grotius, the pensioner of rotterdam, a young petulant brain, not unknown to your majesty," said carleton. two centuries and a half have rolled away, and there are few majesties, few nations, and few individuals to whom the name of that petulant youth is unknown; but how many are familiar with the achievements of the able representative of king james? nothing came of the measure, however, and the offer of course helped the circulation of the pamphlet. it is amusing to see the ferocity thus exhibited by the royal pamphleteer against a rival; especially when one can find no crime in 'the balance' save a stinging and well-merited criticism of a very stupid oration. gillis van ledenberg was generally supposed to be the author of it. carleton inclined, however, to suspect grotius, "because," said he, "having always before been a stranger to my house, he has made me the day before the publication thereof a complimentary visit, although it was sunday and church time; whereby the italian proverb, 'chi ti caresse piu che suole,' &c.,' is added to other likelihoods." it was subsequently understood however that the pamphlet was written by a remonstrant preacher of utrecht, named jacobus taurinus; one of those who had been doomed to death by the mutinous government in that city seven years before. it was now sufficiently obvious that either the governments in the three opposition provinces must be changed or that the national synod must be imposed by a strict majority vote in the teeth of the constitution and of vigorous and eloquent protests drawn up by the best lawyers in the country. the advocate and grotius recommended a provincial synod first and, should that not succeed in adjusting the differences of church government, then the convocation of a general or oecumenical synod. they resisted the national synod because, in their view, the provinces were not a nation. a league of seven sovereign and independent mates was all that legally existed in the netherlands. it was accordingly determined that the governments should be changed, and the stadholder set himself to prepare the way for a thorough and, if possible, a bloodless revolution. he departed on the th november for a tour through the chief cities, and before leaving the hague addressed an earnest circular letter to the various municipalities of holland. a more truly dignified, reasonable, right royal letter, from the stadholder's point of view, could not have been indited. the imperial "we" breathing like a morning breeze through the whole of it blew away all legal and historical mistiness. but the clouds returned again nevertheless. unfortunately for maurice it could not be argued by the pen, however it might be proved by the sword, that the netherlands constituted a nation, and that a convocation of doctors of divinity summoned by a body of envoys had the right to dictate a creed to seven republics. all parties were agreed on one point. there must be unity of divine worship. the territory of the netherlands was not big enough to hold two systems of religion, two forms of christianity, two sects of protestantism. it was big enough to hold seven independent and sovereign states, but would be split into fragments--resolved into chaos--should there be more than one church or if once a schism were permitted in that church. grotius was as much convinced of this as gomarus. and yet the th article of the union stared them all in the face, forbidding the hideous assumptions now made by the general government. perhaps no man living fully felt its import save barneveld alone. for groping however dimly and hesitatingly towards the idea of religious liberty, of general toleration, he was denounced as a papist, an atheist, a traitor, a miscreant, by the fanatics for the sacerdotal and personal power. yet it was a pity that he could never contemplate the possibility of his country's throwing off the swaddling clothes of provincialism which had wrapped its infancy. doubtless history, law, tradition, and usage pointed to the independent sovereignty of each province. yet the period of the truce was precisely the time when a more generous constitution, a national incorporation might have been constructed to take the place of the loose confederacy by which the gigantic war had been fought out. after all, foreign powers had no connection with the states, and knew only the union with which and with which alone they made treaties, and the reality of sovereignty in each province was as ridiculous as in theory it was impregnable. but barneveld, under the modest title of advocate of one province, had been in reality president and prime minister of the whole commonwealth. he had himself been the union and the sovereignty. it was not wonderful that so imperious a nature objected to transfer its powers to the church, to the states-general, or to maurice. moreover, when nationality assumed the unlovely form of rigid religious uniformity; when union meant an exclusive self-governed church enthroned above the state, responsible to no civic authority and no human law, the boldest patriot might shiver at emerging from provincialism. chapter xv. the commonwealth bent on self-destruction--evils of a confederate system of government--rem bischop's house sacked--aerssens' unceasing efforts against barneveld--the advocate's interview with maurice--the states of utrecht raise the troops--the advocate at utrecht--barneveld urges mutual toleration--barneveld accused of being partisan of spain--carleton takes his departure. it is not cheerful after widely contemplating the aspect of christendom in the year of supreme preparation to examine with the minuteness absolutely necessary the narrow theatre to which the political affairs of the great republic had been reduced. that powerful commonwealth, to which the great party of the reformation naturally looked for guidance in the coming conflict, seemed bent on self-destruction. the microcosm of the netherlands now represented, alas! the war of elements going on without on a world-wide scale. as the calvinists and lutherans of germany were hotly attacking each other even in sight of the embattled front of spain and the league, so the gomarites and the arminians by their mutual rancour were tearing the political power of the dutch republic to shreds and preventing her from assuming a great part in the crisis. the consummate soldier, the unrivalled statesman, each superior in his sphere to any contemporary rival, each supplementing the other, and making up together, could they have been harmonized, a double head such as no political organism then existing could boast, were now in hopeless antagonism to each other. a mass of hatred had been accumulated against the advocate with which he found it daily more and more difficult to struggle. the imperious, rugged, and suspicious nature of the stadholder had been steadily wrought upon by the almost devilish acts of francis aerssens until he had come to look upon his father's most faithful adherent, his own early preceptor in statesmanship and political supporter, as an antagonist, a conspirator, and a tyrant. the soldier whose unrivalled ability, experience, and courage in the field should have placed him at the very head of the great european army of defence against the general crusade upon protestantism, so constantly foretold by barneveld, was now to be engaged in making bloodless but mischievous warfare against an imaginary conspiracy and a patriot foe. the advocate, keeping steadily in view the great principles by which his political life had been guided, the supremacy of the civil authority in any properly organized commonwealth over the sacerdotal and military, found himself gradually forced into mortal combat with both. to the individual sovereignty of each province he held with the tenacity of a lawyer and historian. in that he found the only clue through the labyrinth which ecclesiastical and political affairs presented. so close was the tangle, so confused the medley, that without this slender guide all hope of legal issue seemed lost. no doubt the difficulty of the doctrine of individual sovereignty was great, some of the provinces being such slender morsels of territory, with resources so trivial, as to make the name of sovereignty ludicrous. yet there could be as little doubt that no other theory was tenable. if so powerful a mind as that of the advocate was inclined to strain the theory to its extreme limits, it was because in the overshadowing superiority of the one province holland had been found the practical remedy for the imbecility otherwise sure to result from such provincial and meagre federalism. moreover, to obtain union by stretching all the ancient historical privileges and liberties of the separate provinces upon the procrustean bed of a single dogma, to look for nationality only in common subjection to an infallible priesthood, to accept a catechism as the palladium upon which the safety of the state was to depend for all time, and beyond which there was to be no further message from heaven--such was not healthy constitutionalism in the eyes of a great statesman. no doubt that without the fervent spirit of calvinism it would have been difficult to wage war with such immortal hate as the netherlands had waged it, no doubt the spirit of republican and even democratic liberty lay hidden within that rigid husk, but it was dishonour to the martyrs who had died by thousands at the stake and on the battle field for the rights of conscience if the only result of their mighty warfare against wrong had been to substitute a new dogma for an old one, to stifle for ever the right of free enquiry, theological criticism, and the hope of further light from on high, and to proclaim it a libel on the republic that within its borders all heretics, whether arminian or papist, were safe from the death penalty or even from bodily punishment. a theological union instead of a national one and obtained too at the sacrifice of written law and immemorial tradition, a congress in which clerical deputations from all the provinces and from foreign nations should prescribe to all netherlanders an immutable creed and a shadowy constitution, were not the true remedies for the evils of confederacy, nor, if they had been, was the time an appropriate one for their application. it was far too early in the world's history to hope for such redistribution of powers and such a modification of the social compact as would place in separate spheres the church and the state, double the sanctions and the consolations of religion by removing it from the pollutions of political warfare, and give freedom to individual conscience by securing it from the interference of government. it is melancholy to see the republic thus perversely occupying its energies. it is melancholy to see the great soldier becoming gradually more ardent for battle with barneveld and uytenbogaert than with spinola and bucquoy, against whom he had won so many imperishable laurels. it is still sadder to see the man who had been selected by henry iv. as the one statesman of europe to whom he could confide his great projects for the pacification of christendom, and on whom he could depend for counsel and support in schemes which, however fantastic in some of their details, had for their object to prevent the very european war of religion against which barneveld had been struggling, now reduced to defend himself against suspicion hourly darkening and hatred growing daily more insane. the eagle glance and restless wing, which had swept the whole political atmosphere, now caged within the stifling limits of theological casuistry and personal rivalry were afflicting to contemplate. the evils resulting from a confederate system of government, from a league of petty sovereignties which dared not become a nation, were as woefully exemplified in the united provinces as they were destined to be more than a century and a half later, and in another hemisphere, before that most fortunate and sagacious of written political instruments, the american constitution of , came to remedy the weakness of the old articles of union. meantime the netherlands were a confederacy, not a nation. their general government was but a committee. it could ask of, but not command, the separate provinces. it had no dealings with nor power over the inhabitants of the country; it could say "thou shalt" neither to state nor citizen; it could consult only with corporations--fictitious and many-headed personages--itself incorporate. there was no first magistrate, no supreme court, no commander-in-chief, no exclusive mint nor power of credit, no national taxation, no central house of representation and legislation, no senate. unfortunately it had one church, and out of this single matrix of centralism was born more discord than had been produced by all the centrifugal forces of provincialism combined. there had been working substitutes found, as we well know, for the deficiencies of this constitution, but the advocate felt himself bound to obey and enforce obedience to the laws and privileges of his country so long as they remained without authorized change. his country was the province of holland, to which his allegiance was due and whose servant he was. that there was but one church paid and sanctioned by law, he admitted, but his efforts were directed to prevent discord within that church, by counselling moderation, conciliation, mutual forbearance, and abstention from irritating discussion of dogmas deemed by many thinkers and better theologians than himself not essential to salvation. in this he was much behind his age or before it. he certainly was not with the majority. and thus, while the election of ferdinand had given the signal of war all over christendom, while from the demolished churches in bohemia the tocsin was still sounding, whose vibrations were destined to be heard a generation long through the world, there was less sympathy felt with the call within the territory of the great republic of protestantism than would have seemed imaginable a few short years before. the capture of the cloister church at the hague in the summer of seemed to minds excited by personal rivalries and minute theological controversy a more momentous event than the destruction of the churches in the klostergrab in the following december. the triumph of gomarism in a single dutch city inspired more enthusiasm for the moment than the deadly buffet to european protestantism could inspire dismay. the church had been carried and occupied, as it were, by force, as if an enemy's citadel. it seemed necessary to associate the idea of practical warfare with a movement which might have been a pacific clerical success. barneveld and those who acted with him, while deploring the intolerance out of which the schism had now grown to maturity, had still hoped for possible accommodation of the quarrel. they dreaded popular tumults leading to oppression of the magistracy by the mob or the soldiery and ending in civil war. but what was wanted by the extreme partisans on either side was not accommodation but victory. "religious differences are causing much trouble and discontents in many cities," he said. "at amsterdam there were in the past week two assemblages of boys and rabble which did not disperse without violence, crime, and robbery. the brother of professor episcopius (rem bischop) was damaged to the amount of several thousands. we are still hoping that some better means of accommodation may be found." the calmness with which the advocate spoke of these exciting and painful events is remarkable. it was exactly a week before the date of his letter that this riot had taken place at amsterdam; very significant in its nature and nearly tragical in its results. there were no remonstrant preachers left in the city, and the people of that persuasion were excluded from the communion service. on sunday morning, th february ( ), a furious mob set upon the house of rem bischop, a highly respectable and wealthy citizen, brother of the remonstrant professor episcopius, of leyden. the house, an elegant mansion in one of the principal streets, was besieged and after an hour's resistance carried by storm. the pretext of the assault was that arminian preaching was going on within its walls, which was not the fact. the mistress of the house, half clad, attempted to make her escape by the rear of the building, was pursued by the rabble with sticks and stones, and shrieks of "kill the arminian harlot, strike her dead," until she fortunately found refuge in the house of a neighbouring carpenter. there the hunted creature fell insensible on the ground, the master of the house refusing to give her up, though the maddened mob surged around it, swearing that if the "arminian harlot"--as respectable a matron as lived in the city--were not delivered over to them, they would tear the house to pieces. the hope of plunder and of killing rem bischop himself drew them at last back to his mansion. it was thoroughly sacked; every portable article of value, linen, plate, money, furniture, was carried off, the pictures and objects of art destroyed, the house gutted from top to bottom. a thousand spectators were looking on placidly at the work of destruction as they returned from church, many of them with bible and psalm-book in their hands. the master effected his escape over the roof into an adjoining building. one of the ringleaders, a carpenter by trade, was arrested carrying an armful of valuable plunder. he was asked by the magistrate why he had entered the house. "out of good zeal," he replied; "to help beat and kill the arminians who were holding conventicle there." he was further asked why he hated the arminians so much. "are we to suffer such folk here," he replied, "who preach the vile doctrine that god has created one man for damnation and another for salvation?"--thus ascribing the doctrine of the church of which he supposed himself a member to the arminians whom he had been plundering and wished to kill. rem bischop received no compensation for the damage and danger; the general cry in the town being that the money he was receiving from barneveld and the king of spain would make him good even if not a stone of the house had been left standing. on the following thursday two elders of the church council waited upon and informed him that he must in future abstain from the communion service. it may well be supposed that the virtual head of the government liked not the triumph of mob law, in the name of religion, over the civil authority. the advocate was neither democrat nor demagogue. a lawyer, a magistrate, and a noble, he had but little sympathy with the humbler classes, which he was far too much in the habit of designating as rabble and populace. yet his anger was less against them than against the priests, the foreigners, the military and diplomatic mischief-makers, by whom they were set upon to dangerous demonstrations. the old patrician scorned the arts by which highborn demagogues in that as in every age affect adulation for inferiors whom they despise. it was his instinct to protect, and guide the people, in whom he recognized no chartered nor inherent right to govern. it was his resolve, so long as breath was in him, to prevent them from destroying life and property and subverting the government under the leadership of an inflamed priesthood. it was with this intention, as we have just seen, and in order to avoid bloodshed, anarchy, and civil war in the streets of every town and village, that a decisive but in the advocate's opinion a perfectly legal step had been taken by the states of holland. it had become necessary to empower the magistracies of towns to defend themselves by enrolled troops against mob violence and against an enforced synod considered by great lawyers as unconstitutional. aerssens resided in zealand, and the efforts of that ex-ambassador were unceasing to excite popular animosity against the man he hated and to trouble the political waters in which no man knew better than he how to cast the net. "the states of zealand," said the advocate to the ambassador in london, "have a deputation here about the religious differences, urging the holding of a national synod according to the king's letters, to which some other provinces and some of the cities of holland incline. the questions have not yet been defined by a common synod, so that a national one could make no definition, while the particular synods and clerical personages are so filled with prejudices and so bound by mutual engagements of long date as to make one fear an unfruitful issue. we are occupied upon this point in our assembly of holland to devise some compromise and to discover by what means these difficulties may be brought into a state of tranquillity." it will be observed that in all these most private and confidential utterances of the advocate a tone of extreme moderation, an anxious wish to save the provinces from dissensions, dangers, and bloodshed, is distinctly visible. never is he betrayed into vindictive, ambitious, or self-seeking expressions, while sometimes, although rarely, despondent in mind. nor was his opposition to a general synod absolute. he was probably persuaded however, as we have just seen, that it should of necessity be preceded by provincial ones, both in due regard to the laws of the land and to the true definition of the points to be submitted to its decision. he had small hope of a successful result from it. the british king gave him infinite distress. as towards france so towards england the advocate kept steadily before him the necessity of deferring to powerful sovereigns whose friendship was necessary to the republic he served, however misguided, perverse, or incompetent those monarchs might be. "i had always hoped," he said, "that his majesty would have adhered to his original written advice, that such questions as these ought to be quietly settled by authority of law and not by ecclesiastical persons, and i still hope that his majesty's intention is really to that effect, although he speaks of synods." a month later he felt even more encouraged. "the last letter of his majesty concerning our religious questions," he said, "has given rise to various constructions, but the best advised, who have peace and unity at heart, understand the king's intention to be to conserve the state of these provinces and the religion in its purity. my hope is that his majesty's good opinion will be followed and adopted according to the most appropriate methods." can it be believed that the statesman whose upright patriotism, moderation, and nobleness of purpose thus breathed through every word spoken by him in public or whispered to friends was already held up by a herd of ravening slanderers to obloquy as a traitor and a tyrant? he was growing old and had suffered much from illness during this eventful summer, but his anxiety for the commonwealth, caused by these distressing and superfluous squabbles, were wearing into him more deeply than years or disease could do. "owing to my weakness and old age i can't go up-stairs as well as i used," he said,--[barneveld to caron july and aug. . (h. arch. ms.)]--"and these religious dissensions cause me sometimes such disturbance of mind as will ere long become intolerable, because of my indisposition and because of the cry of my heart at the course people are pursuing here. i reflect that at the time of duke casimir and the prince of chimay exactly such a course was held in flanders and in lord leicester's time in the city of utrecht, as is best known to yourself. my hope is fixed on the lord god almighty, and that he will make those well ashamed who are laying anything to heart save his honour and glory and the welfare of our country with maintenance of its freedom and laws. i mean unchangeably to live and die for them . . . . believe firmly that all representations to the contrary are vile calumnies." before leaving for vianen in the middle of august of this year ( ) the advocate had an interview with the prince. there had been no open rupture between them, and barneveld was most anxious to avoid a quarrel with one to whose interests and honour he had always been devoted. he did not cling to power nor office. on the contrary, he had repeatedly importuned the states to accept his resignation, hoping that perhaps these unhappy dissensions might be quieted by his removal from the scene. he now told the prince that the misunderstanding between them arising from these religious disputes was so painful to his heart that he would make and had made every possible effort towards conciliation and amicable settlement of the controversy. he saw no means now, he said, of bringing about unity, unless his excellency were willing to make some proposition for arrangement. this he earnestly implored the prince to do, assuring him of his sincere and upright affection for him and his wish to support such measures to the best of his ability and to do everything for the furtherance of his reputation and necessary authority. he was so desirous of this result, he said, that he would propose now as he did at the time of the truce negotiations to lay down all his offices, leaving his excellency to guide the whole course of affairs according to his best judgment. he had already taken a resolution, if no means of accommodation were possible, to retire to his gunterstein estate and there remain till the next meeting of the assembly; when he would ask leave to retire for at least a year; in order to occupy himself with a revision and collation of the charters, laws, and other state papers of the country which were in his keeping, and which it was needful to bring into an orderly condition. meantime some scheme might be found for arranging the religious differences, more effective than any he had been able to devise. his appeal seems to have glanced powerlessly upon the iron reticence of maurice, and the advocate took his departure disheartened. later in the autumn, so warm a remonstrance was made to him by the leading nobles and deputies of holland against his contemplated withdrawal from his post that it seemed a dereliction of duty on his part to retire. he remained to battle with the storm and to see "with anguish of heart," as he expressed it, the course religious affairs were taking. the states of utrecht on the th august resolved that on account of the gathering of large masses of troops in the countries immediately adjoining their borders, especially in the episcopate of cologne, by aid of spanish money, it was expedient for them to enlist a protective force of six companies of regular soldiers in order to save the city from sudden and overwhelming attack by foreign troops. even if the danger from without were magnified in this preamble, which is by no means certain, there seemed to be no doubt on the subject in the minds of the magistrates. they believed that they had the right to protect and that they were bound to protect their ancient city from sudden assault, whether by spanish soldiers or by organized mobs attempting, as had been done in rotterdam, oudewater, and other towns, to overawe the civil authority in the interest of the contra-remonstrants. six nobles of utrecht were accordingly commissioned to raise the troops. a week later they had been enlisted, sworn to obey in all things the states of utrecht, and to take orders from no one else. three days later the states of utrecht addressed a letter to their mightinesses the states-general and to his excellency the prince, notifying them that for the reasons stated in the resolution cited the six companies had been levied. there seemed in these proceedings to be no thought of mutiny or rebellion, the province considering itself as acting within its unquestionable rights as a sovereign state and without any exaggeration of the imperious circumstances of the case. nor did the states-general and the stadholder at that moment affect to dispute the rights of utrecht, nor raise a doubt as to the legality of the proceedings. the committee sent thither by the states-general, the prince, and the council of state in their written answer to the letter of the utrecht government declared the reasons given for the enrolment of the six companies to be insufficient and the measure itself highly dangerous. they complained, but in very courteous language, that the soldiers had been levied without giving the least notice thereof to the general government, without asking its advice, or waiting for any communication from it, and they reminded the states of utrecht that they might always rely upon the states-general and his excellency, who were still ready, as they had been seven years before ( ), to protect them against every enemy and any danger. the conflict between a single province of the confederacy and the authority of the general government had thus been brought to a direct issue; to the test of arms. for, notwithstanding the preamble to the resolution of the utrecht assembly just cited, there could be little question that the resolve itself was a natural corollary of the famous "sharp resolution," passed by the states of holland three weeks before. utrecht was in arms to prevent, among other things at least, the forcing upon them by a majority of the states-general of the national synod to which they were opposed, the seizure of churches by the contra-remonstrants, and the destruction of life and property by inflamed mobs. there is no doubt that barneveld deeply deplored the issue, but that he felt himself bound to accept it. the innate absurdity of a constitutional system under which each of the seven members was sovereign and independent and the head was at the mercy of the members could not be more flagrantly illustrated. in the bloody battles which seemed impending in the streets of utrecht and in all the principal cities of the netherlands between the soldiers of sovereign states and soldiers of a general government which was not sovereign, the letter of the law and the records of history were unquestionably on the aide of the provincial and against the general authority. yet to nullify the authority of the states-general by force of arms at this supreme moment was to stultify all government whatever. it was an awful dilemma, and it is difficult here fully to sympathize with the advocate, for he it was who inspired, without dictating, the course of the utrecht proceedings. with him patriotism seemed at this moment to dwindle into provincialism, the statesman to shrink into the lawyer. certainly there was no guilt in the proceedings. there was no crime in the heart of the advocate. he had exhausted himself with appeals in favour of moderation, conciliation, compromise. he had worked night and day with all the energy of a pure soul and a great mind to assuage religious hatreds and avert civil dissensions. he was overpowered. he had frequently desired to be released from all his functions, but as dangers thickened over the provinces, he felt it his duty so long as he remained at his post to abide by the law as the only anchor in the storm. not rising in his mind to the height of a national idea, and especially averse from it when embodied in the repulsive form of religious uniformity, he did not shrink from a contest which he had not provoked, but had done his utmost to avert. but even then he did not anticipate civil war. the enrolling of the waartgelders was an armed protest, a symbol of legal conviction rather than a serious effort to resist the general government. and this is the chief justification of his course from a political point of view. it was ridiculous to suppose that with a few hundred soldiers hastily enlisted--and there were less than waartgelders levied throughout the provinces and under the orders of civil magistrates--a serious contest was intended against a splendidly disciplined army of veteran troops, commanded by the first general of the age. from a legal point of view barneveld considered his position impregnable. the controversy is curious, especially for americans, and for all who are interested in the analysis of federal institutions and of republican principles, whether aristocratic or democratic. the states of utrecht replied in decorous but firm language to the committee of the states-general that they had raised the six companies in accordance with their sovereign right so to do, and that they were resolved to maintain them. they could not wait as they had been obliged to do in the time of the earl of leicester and more recently in until they had been surprised and overwhelmed by the enemy before the states-general and his excellency the prince could come to their rescue. they could not suffer all the evils of tumults, conspiracies, and foreign invasion, without defending themselves. making use, they said, of the right of sovereignty which in their province belonged to them alone, they thought it better to prevent in time and by convenient means such fire and mischief than to look on while it kindled and spread into a conflagration, and to go about imploring aid from their fellow confederates who, god better it, had enough in these times to do at home. this would only be to bring them as well as this province into trouble, disquiet, and expense. "my lords the states of utrecht have conserved and continually exercised this right of sovereignty in its entireness ever since renouncing the king of spain. every contract, ordinance, and instruction of the states-general has been in conformity with it, and the states of utrecht are convinced that the states of not one of their confederate provinces would yield an atom of its sovereignty." they reminded the general government that by the st article of the "closer union" of utrecht, on which that assembly was founded, it was bound to support the states of the respective provinces and strengthen them with counsel, treasure, and blood if their respective rights, more especially their individual sovereignty, the most precious of all, should be assailed. to refrain from so doing would be to violate a solemn contract. they further reminded the council of state that by its institution the states-provincial had not abdicated their respective sovereignties, but had reserved it in all matters not specifically mentioned in the original instruction by which it was created. two days afterwards arnold van randwyck and three other commissioners were instructed by the general government to confer with the states of utrecht, to tell them that their reply was deemed unsatisfactory, that their reasons for levying soldiers in times when all good people should be seeking to restore harmony and mitigate dissension were insufficient, and to request them to disband those levies without prejudice in so doing to the laws and liberties of the province and city of utrecht. here was perhaps an opening for a compromise, the instruction being not without ingenuity, and the word sovereignty in regard either to the general government or the separate provinces being carefully omitted. soon afterwards, too, the states-general went many steps farther in the path of concession, for they made another appeal to the government of utrecht to disband the waartgelders on the ground of expediency, and in so doing almost expressly admitted the doctrine of provincial sovereignty. it is important in regard to subsequent events to observe this virtual admission. "your honours lay especial stress upon the right of sovereignty as belonging to you alone in your province," they said, "and dispute therefore at great length upon the power and authority of the generality, of his excellency, and of the state council. but you will please to consider that there is here no question of this, as our commissioners had no instructions to bring this into dispute in the least, and most certainly have not done so. we have only in effect questioned whether that which one has an undoubted right to do can at all times be appropriately and becomingly done, whether it was fitting that your honours, contrary to custom, should undertake these new levies upon a special oath and commission, and effectively complete the measure without giving the slightest notice thereof to the generality." it may fairly be said that the question in debate was entirely conceded in this remarkable paper, which was addressed by the states-general, the prince-stadholder, and the council of state to the government of utrecht. it should be observed, too, that while distinctly repudiating the intention of disputing the sovereignty of that province, they carefully abstain from using the word in relation to themselves, speaking only of the might and authority of the generality, the prince, and the council. there was now a pause in the public discussion. the soldiers were not disbanded, as the states of utrecht were less occupied with establishing the soundness of their theory than with securing its practical results. they knew very well, and the advocate knew very well, that the intention to force a national synod by a majority vote of the assembly of the states-general existed more strongly than ever, and they meant to resist it to the last. the attempt was in their opinion an audacious violation of the fundamental pact on which the confederacy was founded. its success would be to establish the sacerdotal power in triumph over the civil authority. during this period the advocate was resident in utrecht. for change of air, ostensibly at least, he had absented himself from the seat of government, and was during several weeks under the hands of his old friend and physician dr. saul. he was strictly advised to abstain altogether from political business, but he might as well have attempted to abstain from food and drink. gillis van ledenberg, secretary of the states of utrecht, visited him frequently. the proposition to enlist the waartgelders had been originally made in the assembly by its president, and warmly seconded by van ledenberg, who doubtless conferred afterwards with barneveld in person, but informally and at his lodgings. it was almost inevitable that this should be the case, nor did the advocate make much mystery as to the course of action which he deemed indispensable at this period. believing it possible that some sudden and desperate attempt might be made by evil disposed people, he agreed with the states of utrecht in the propriety of taking measures of precaution. they were resolved not to look quietly on while soldiers and rabble under guidance perhaps of violent contra-remonstrant preachers took possession of the churches and even of the city itself, as had already been done in several towns. the chief practical object of enlisting the six companies was that the city might be armed against popular tumults, and they feared that the ordinary military force might be withdrawn. when captain hartvelt, in his own name and that of the other officers of those companies, said that they were all resolved never to use their weapons against the stadholder or the states-general, he was answered that they would never be required to do so. they, however, made oath to serve against those who should seek to trouble the peace of the province of utrecht in ecclesiastical or political matters, and further against all enemies of the common country. at the same time it was deemed expedient to guard against a surprise of any kind and to keep watch and ward. "i cannot quite believe in the french companies," said the advocate in a private billet to ledenberg. "it would be extremely well that not only good watch should be kept at the city gates, but also that one might from above and below the river lek be assuredly advised from the nearest cities if any soldiers are coming up or down, and that the same might be done in regard to amersfoort." at the bottom of this letter, which was destined to become historical and will be afterwards referred to, the advocate wrote, as he not unfrequently did, upon his private notes, "when read, burn, and send me back the two enclosed letters." the letter lies in the archives unburned to this day, but, harmless as it looked, it was to serve as a nail in more than one coffin. in his confidential letters to trusted friends he complained of "great physical debility growing out of heavy sorrow," and described himself as entering upon his seventy-first year and no longer fit for hard political labour. the sincere grief, profound love of country, and desire that some remedy might be found for impending disaster, is stamped upon all his utterances whether official or secret. "the troubles growing out of the religious differences," he said, "are running into all sorts of extremities. it is feared that an attempt will be made against the laws of the land through extraordinary ways, and by popular tumults to take from the supreme authority of the respective provinces the right to govern clerical persons and regulate clerical disputes, and to place it at the disposition of ecclesiastics and of a national synod. "it is thought too that the soldiers will be forbidden to assist the civil supreme power and the government of cities in defending themselves from acts of violence which under pretext of religion will be attempted against the law and the commands of the magistrates. "this seems to conflict with the common law of the respective provinces, each of which from all times had right of sovereignty and supreme authority within its territory and specifically reserved it in all treaties and especially in that of the nearer union . . . . the provinces have always regulated clerical matters each for itself. the province of utrecht, which under the pretext of religion is now most troubled, made stipulations to this effect, when it took his excellency for governor, even more stringent than any others. as for holland, she never imagined that one could ever raise a question on the subject . . . . all good men ought to do their best to prevent the enemies to the welfare of these provinces from making profit out of our troubles." the whole matter he regarded as a struggle between the clergy and the civil power for mastery over the state, as an attempt to subject provincial autonomy to the central government purely in the interest of the priesthood of a particular sect. the remedy he fondly hoped for was moderation and union within the church itself. he could never imagine the necessity for this ferocious animosity not only between christians but between two branches of the reformed church. he could never be made to believe that the five points of the remonstrance had dug an abyss too deep and wide ever to be bridged between brethren lately of one faith as of one fatherland. he was unceasing in his prayers and appeals for "mutual toleration on the subject of predestination." perhaps the bitterness, almost amounting to frenzy, with which abstruse points of casuistry were then debated, and which converted differences of opinion upon metaphysical divinity into deadly hatred and thirst for blood, is already obsolete or on the road to become so. if so, then was barneveld in advance of his age, and it would have been better for the peace of the world and the progress of christianity if more of his contemporaries had placed themselves on his level. he was no theologian, but he believed himself to be a christian, and he certainly was a thoughtful and a humble one. he had not the arrogance to pierce behind the veil and assume to read the inscrutable thoughts of the omnipotent. it was a cruel fate that his humility upon subjects which he believed to be beyond the scope of human reason should have been tortured by his enemies into a crime, and that because he hoped for religious toleration he should be accused of treason to the commonwealth. "believe and cause others to believe," he said, "that i am and with the grace of god hope to continue an upright patriot as i have proved myself to be in these last forty-two years spent in the public service. in the matter of differential religious points i remain of the opinions which i have held for more than fifty years, and in which i hope to live and die, to wit, that a good christian man ought to believe that he is predestined to eternal salvation through god's grace, giving for reasons that he through god's grace has a firm belief that his salvation is founded purely on god's grace and the expiation of our sins through our saviour jesus christ, and that if he should fall into any sins his firm trust is that god will not let him perish in them, but mercifully turn him to repentance, so that he may continue in the same belief to the last." these expressions were contained in a letter to caron with the intention doubtless that they should be communicated to the king of great britain, and it is a curious illustration of the spirit of the age, this picture of the leading statesman of a great republic unfolding his religious convictions for private inspection by the monarch of an allied nation. more than anything else it exemplifies the close commixture of theology, politics, and diplomacy in that age, and especially in those two countries. formerly, as we have seen, the king considered a too curious fathoming of divine mysteries as highly reprehensible, particularly for the common people. although he knew more about them than any one else, he avowed that even his knowledge in this respect was not perfect. it was matter of deep regret with the advocate that his majesty had not held to his former positions, and that he had disowned his original letters. "i believe my sentiments thus expressed," he said, "to be in accordance with scripture, and i have always held to them without teasing my brains with the precise decrees of reprobation, foreknowledge, or the like, as matters above my comprehension. i have always counselled christian moderation. the states of holland have followed the spirit of his majesty's letters, but our antagonists have rejected them and with seditious talk, sermons, and the spreading of infamous libels have brought matters to their present condition. there have been excesses on the other side as well." he then made a slight, somewhat shadowy allusion to schemes known to be afloat for conferring the sovereignty upon maurice. we have seen that at former periods he had entertained this subject and discussed it privately with those who were not only friendly but devoted to the stadholder, and that he had arrived at the conclusion that it would not be for the interest of the prince to encourage the project. above all he was sternly opposed to the idea of attempting to compass it by secret intrigue. should such an arrangement be publicly discussed and legally completed, it would not meet with his unconditional opposition. "the lord god knows," he said, "whether underneath all these movements does not lie the design of the year , well known to you. as for me, believe that i am and by god's grace hope to remain, what i always was, an upright patriot, a defender of the true christian religion, of the public authority, and of all the power that has been and in future may be legally conferred upon his excellency. believe that all things said, written, or spread to the contrary are falsehoods and calumnies." he was still in utrecht, but about to leave for the hague, with health somewhat improved and in better spirits in regard to public matters. "although i have entered my seventy-first year," he said, "i trust still to be of some service to the commonwealth and to my friends . . . . don't consider an arrangement of our affairs desperate. i hope for better things." soon after his return he was waited upon one sunday evening, late in october--being obliged to keep his house on account of continued indisposition--by a certain solicitor named nordlingen and informed that the prince was about to make a sudden visit to leyden at four o'clock next morning. barneveld knew that the burgomasters and regents were holding a great banquet that night, and that many of them would probably have been indulging in potations too deep to leave them fit for serious business. the agitation of people's minds at that moment made the visit seem rather a critical one, as there would probably be a mob collected to see the stadholder, and he was anxious both in the interest of the prince and the regents and of both religious denominations that no painful incidents should occur if it was in his power to prevent them. he was aware that his son-in-law, cornelis van der myle, had been invited to the banquet, and that he was wont to carry his wine discreetly. he therefore requested nordlingen to proceed to leyden that night and seek an interview with van der myle without delay. by thus communicating the intelligence of the expected visit to one who, he felt sure, would do his best to provide for a respectful and suitable reception of the prince, notwithstanding the exhilarated condition in which the magistrates would probably find themselves, the advocate hoped to prevent any riot or tumultuous demonstration of any kind. at least he would act conformably to his duty and keep his conscience clear should disasters ensue. later in the night he learned that maurice was going not to leyden but to delft, and he accordingly despatched a special messenger to arrive before dawn at leyden in order to inform van der myle of this change in the prince's movements. nothing seemed simpler or more judicious than these precautions on the part of barneveld. they could not fail, however, to be tortured into sedition, conspiracy, and treason. towards the end of the year a meeting of the nobles and knights of holland under the leadership of barneveld was held to discuss the famous sharp resolution of th august and the letters and arguments advanced against it by the stadholder and the council of state. it was unanimously resolved by this body, in which they were subsequently followed by a large majority of the states of holland, to maintain that resolution and its consequences and to oppose the national synod. they further resolved that a legal provincial synod should be convoked by the states of holland and under their authority and supervision. the object of such synod should be to devise "some means of accommodation, mutual toleration, and christian settlement of differences in regard to the five points in question." in case such compromise should unfortunately not be arranged, then it was resolved to invite to the assembly two or three persons from france, as many from england, from germany, and from switzerland, to aid in the consultations. should a method of reconciliation and mutual toleration still remain undiscovered, then, in consideration that the whole christian world was interested in composing these dissensions, it was proposed that a "synodal assembly of all christendom," a protestant oecumenical council, should in some solemn manner be convoked. these resolutions and propositions were all brought forward by the advocate, and the draughts of them in his handwriting remain. they are the unimpeachable evidences of his earnest desire to put an end to these unhappy disputes and disorders in the only way which he considered constitutional. before the close of the year the states of holland, in accordance with the foregoing advice of the nobles, passed a resolution, the minutes of which were drawn up by the hand of the advocate, and in which they persisted in their opposition to the national synod. they declared by a large majority of votes that the assembly of the states-general without the unanimous consent of the provincial states were not competent according to the union of utrecht--the fundamental law of the general assembly--to regulate religious affairs, but that this right belonged to the separate provinces, each within its own domain. they further resolved that as they were bound by solemn oath to maintain the laws and liberties of holland, they could not surrender this right to the generality, nor allow it to be usurped by any one, but in order to settle the question of the five points, the only cause known to them of the present disturbances, they were content under: their own authority to convoke a provincial synod within three months, at their own cost, and to invite the respective provinces, as many of them as thought good, to send to this meeting a certain number of pious and learned theologians. it is difficult to see why the course thus unanimously proposed by the nobles of holland, under guidance of barneveld, and subsequently by a majority of the states of that province, would not have been as expedient as it was legal. but we are less concerned with that point now than with the illustrations afforded by these long buried documents of the patriotism and sagacity of a man than whom no human creature was ever more foully slandered. it will be constantly borne in mind that he regarded this religious controversy purely from a political, legal, and constitutional--and not from a theological-point of view. he believed that grave danger to the fatherland was lurking under this attempt, by the general government, to usurp the power of dictating the religious creed of all the provinces. especially he deplored the evil influence exerted by the king of england since his abandonment of the principles announced in his famous letter to the states in the year . all that the advocate struggled for was moderation and mutual toleration within the reformed church. he felt that a wider scheme of forbearance was impracticable. if a dream of general religious equality had ever floated before him or before any one in that age, he would have felt it to be a dream which would be a reality nowhere until centuries should have passed away. yet that moderation, patience, tolerance, and respect for written law paved the road to that wider and loftier region can scarcely be doubted. carleton, subservient to every changing theological whim of his master, was as vehement and as insolent now in enforcing the intolerant views of james as he had previously been in supporting the counsels to tolerance contained in the original letters of that monarch. the ambassador was often at the advocate's bed-side during his illness that summer, enforcing, instructing, denouncing, contradicting. he was never weary of fulfilling his duties of tuition, but the patient barneveld; haughty and overbearing as he was often described to be, rarely used a harsh or vindictive word regarding him in his letters. "the ambassador of france," he said, "has been heard before the assembly of the states-general, and has made warm appeals in favour of union and mutual toleration as his majesty of great britain so wisely did in his letters of . . . . if his majesty could only be induced to write fresh letters in similar tone, i should venture to hope better fruits from them than from this attempt to thrust a national synod upon our necks, which many of us hold to be contrary to law, reason, and the act of union." so long as it was possible to hope that the action of the states of holland would prevent such a catastrophe, he worked hard to direct them in what he deemed the right course. "our political and religious differences," he said, "stand between hope and fear." the hope was in the acceptance of the provincial synod--the fear lest the national synod should be carried by a minority of the cities of holland combining with a majority of the other provincial states. "this would be in violation," he said, "of the so-called religious peace, the act of union, the treaty with the duke of anjou, the negotiations of the states of utrecht, and with prince maurice in with cognizance of the states-general and those of holland for, the governorship of that province, the custom of the generality for the last thirty years according to which religious matters have always been left to the disposition of the states of each province . . . . carleton is strenuously urging this course in his majesty's name, and i fear that in the present state of our humours great troubles will be the result." the expulsion by an armed mob, in the past year, of a remonstrant preacher at oudewater, the overpowering of the magistracy and the forcing on of illegal elections in that and other cities, had given him and all earnest patriots grave cause for apprehension. they were dreading, said barneveld, a course of crimes similar to those which under the earl of leicester's government had afflicted leyden and utrecht. "efforts are incessant to make the remonstrants hateful," he said to caron, "but go forward resolutely and firmly in the conviction that our friends here are as animated in their opposition to the spanish dominion now and by god's grace will so remain as they have ever proved themselves to be, not only by words, but works. i fear that mr. carleton gives too much belief to the enviers of our peace and tranquillity under pretext of religion, but it is more from ignorance than malice." those who have followed the course of the advocate's correspondence, conversation, and actions, as thus far detailed, can judge of the gigantic nature of the calumny by which he was now assailed. that this man, into every fibre of whose nature was woven undying hostility to spain, as the great foe to national independence and religious liberty throughout the continent of europe, whose every effort, as we have seen, during all these years of nominal peace had been to organize a system of general european defence against the war now actually begun upon protestantism, should be accused of being a partisan of spain, a creature of spain, a pensioner of spain, was enough to make honest men pray that the earth might be swallowed up. if such idiotic calumnies could be believed, what patriot in the world could not be doubted? yet they were believed. barneveld was bought by spanish gold. he had received whole boxes full of spanish pistoles, straight from brussels! for his part in the truce negotiations he had received , ducats in one lump. "it was plain," said the greatest man in the country to another great man, "that barneveld and his party are on the road to spain." "then it were well to have proof of it," said the great man. "not yet time," was the reply. "we must flatten out a few of them first." prince maurice had told the princess-dowager the winter before ( th december ) that those dissensions would never be decided except by use of weapons; and he now mentioned to her that he had received information from brussels, which he in part believed, that the advocate was a stipendiary of spain. yet he had once said, to the same princess louise, of this stipendiary that "the services which the advocate had rendered to the house of nassau were so great that all the members of that house might well look upon him not as their friend but their father." councillor van maldere, president of the states of zealand, and a confidential friend of maurice, was going about the hague saying that "one must string up seven or eight remonstrants on the gallows; then there might be some improvement." as for arminius and uytenbogaert, people had long told each other and firmly believed it, and were amazed when any incredulity was expressed in regard to it, that they were in regular and intimate correspondence with the jesuits, that they had received large sums from rome, and that both had been promised cardinals' hats. that barneveld and his friend uytenbogaert were regular pensioners of spain admitted of no dispute whatever. "it was as true as the holy evangel." the ludicrous chatter had been passed over with absolute disdain by the persons attacked, but calumny is often a stronger and more lasting power than disdain. it proved to be in these cases. "you have the plague mark on your flesh, oh pope, oh pensioner," said one libeller. "there are letters safely preserved to make your process for you. look out for your head. many have sworn your death, for it is more than time that you were out of the world. we shall prove, oh great bribed one, that you had the , little ducats." the preacher uytenbogaert was also said to have had , ducats for his share. "go to brussels," said the pamphleteer; "it all stands clearly written out on the register with the names and surnames of all you great bribe-takers." these were choice morsels from the lampoon of the notary danckaerts. "we are tortured more and more with religious differences," wrote barneveld; "with acts of popular violence growing out of them the more continuously as they remain unpunished, and with ever increasing jealousies and suspicions. the factious libels become daily more numerous and more impudent, and no man comes undamaged from the field. i, as a reward for all my troubles, labours, and sorrows, have three double portions of them. i hope however to overcome all by god's grace and to defend my actions with all honourable men so long as right and reason have place in the world, as to which many begin to doubt. if his majesty had been pleased to stick to the letters of , we should never have got into these difficulties . . . . it were better in my opinion that carleton should be instructed to negotiate in the spirit of those epistles rather than to torment us with the national synod, which will do more harm than good." it is impossible not to notice the simplicity and patience with which the advocate, in the discharge of his duty as minister of foreign affairs, kept the leading envoys of the republic privately informed of events which were becoming day by day more dangerous to the public interests and his own safety. if ever a perfectly quiet conscience was revealed in the correspondence of a statesman, it was to be found in these letters. calmly writing to thank caron for some very satisfactory english beer which the ambassador had been sending him from london, he proceeded to speak again of the religious dissensions and their consequences. he sent him the letter and remonstrance which he had felt himself obliged to make, and which he had been urged by his ever warm and constant friend the widow of william the silent to make on the subject of "the seditious libels, full of lies and calumnies got up by conspiracy against him." these letters were never published, however, until years after he had been in his grave. "i know that you are displeased with the injustice done me," he said, "but i see no improvement. people are determined to force through the national synod. the two last ones did much harm. this will do ten times more, so intensely embittered are men's tempers against each other." again he deplored the king's departure from his letters of , by adherence to which almost all the troubles would have been spared. it is curious too to observe the contrast between public opinion in great britain, including its government, in regard to the constitution of the united provinces at that period of domestic dissensions and incipient civil war and the general impressions manifested in the same nation two centuries and a half later, on the outbreak of the slavery rebellion, as to the constitution of the united states. the states in arms against the general government on the other side of the atlantic were strangely but not disingenuously assumed to be sovereign and independent, and many statesmen and a leading portion of the public justified them in their attempt to shake off the central government as if it were but a board of agency established by treaty and terminable at pleasure of any one of among sovereigns and terminable at pleasure of any one of them. yet even a superficial glance at the written constitution of the republic showed that its main object was to convert what had been a confederacy into an incorporation; and that the very essence of its renewed political existence was an organic law laid down by a whole people in their primitive capacity in place of a league banding together a group of independent little corporations. the chief attributes of sovereignty--the rights of war and peace, of coinage, of holding armies and navies, of issuing bills of credit, of foreign relations, of regulating and taxing foreign commerce--having been taken from the separate states by the united people thereof and bestowed upon a government provided with a single executive head, with a supreme tribunal, with a popular house of representatives and a senate, and with power to deal directly with the life and property of every individual in the land, it was strange indeed that the feudal, and in america utterly unmeaning, word sovereign should have been thought an appropriate term for the different states which had fused themselves three-quarters of a century before into a union. when it is remembered too that the only dissolvent of this union was the intention to perpetuate human slavery, the logic seemed somewhat perverse by which the separate sovereignty of the states was deduced from the constitution of . on the other hand, the union of utrecht of was a league of petty sovereignties; a compact less binding and more fragile than the articles of union made almost exactly two hundred years later in america, and the worthlessness of which, after the strain of war was over, had been demonstrated in the dreary years immediately following the peace of . one after another certain netherland provinces had abjured their allegiance to spain, some of them afterwards relapsing under it, some having been conquered by the others, while one of them, holland, had for a long time borne the greater part of the expense and burthen of the war. "holland," said the advocate, "has brought almost all the provinces to their liberty. to receive laws from them or from their clerical people now is what our state cannot endure. it is against her laws and customs, in the enjoyment of which the other provinces and his excellency as governor of holland are bound to protect us." and as the preservation of chattel slavery in the one case seemed a legitimate ground for destroying a government which had as definite an existence as any government known to mankind, so the resolve to impose a single religious creed upon many millions of individuals was held by the king and government of great britain to be a substantial reason for imagining a central sovereignty which had never existed at all. this was still more surprising as the right to dispose of ecclesiastical affairs and persons had been expressly reserved by the separate provinces in perfectly plain language in the treaty of union. "if the king were better informed," said barneveld, "of our system and laws, we should have better hope than now. but one supposes through notorious error in foreign countries that the sovereignty stands with the states-general which is not the case, except in things which by the articles of closer union have been made common to all the provinces, while in other matters, as religion, justice, and polity, the sovereignty remains with each province, which foreigners seem unable to comprehend." early in june, carleton took his departure for england on leave of absence. he received a present from the states of florins, and went over in very ill-humour with barneveld. "mr. ambassador is much offended and prejudiced," said the advocate, "but i know that he will religiously carry out the orders of his majesty. i trust that his majesty can admit different sentiments on predestination and its consequences, and that in a kingdom where the supreme civil authority defends religion the system of the puritans will have no foothold." certainly james could not be accused of allowing the system of the puritans much foothold in england, but he had made the ingenious discovery that puritanism in holland was a very different thing from puritanism in the netherlands. etext editor's bookmarks: acts of violence which under pretext of religion adulation for inferiors whom they despise calumny is often a stronger and more lasting power than disdain created one child for damnation and another for salvation depths of credulity men in all ages can sink devote himself to his gout and to his fair young wife furious mob set upon the house of rem bischop highborn demagogues in that as in every age affect adulation in this he was much behind his age or before it logic is rarely the quality on which kings pride themselves necessity of deferring to powerful sovereigns not his custom nor that of his councillors to go to bed partisans wanted not accommodation but victory puritanism in holland was a very different thing from england seemed bent on self-destruction stand between hope and fear the evils resulting from a confederate system of government to stifle for ever the right of free enquiry the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. life and death of john of barneveld, v , chapter xvi. maurice revolutionizes the provinces--danckaert's libellous pamphlet --barneveld's appeal to the prince--barneveld'a remonstrance to the states--the stadholder at amsterdam--the treaty of truce nearly expired--king of spain and archduke albert--scheme for recovering the provinces--secret plot to make maurice sovereign. early in the year ( ) maurice set himself about revolutionizing the provinces on which he could not yet thoroughly rely. the town of nymegen since its recovery from the spaniards near the close of the preceding century had held its municipal government, as it were, at the option of the prince. during the war he had been, by the terms of surrender, empowered to appoint and to change its magistracy at will. no change had occurred for many years, but as the government had of late fallen into the hands of the barneveldians, and as maurice considered the truce to be a continuance of the war, he appeared suddenly, in the city at the head of a body of troops and surrounded by his lifeguard. summoning the whole board of magistrates into the townhouse, he gave them all notice to quit, disbanding them like a company of mutinous soldiery, and immediately afterwards appointed a fresh list of functionaries in their stead. this done, he proceeded to arnhem, where the states of gelderland were in session, appeared before that body, and made a brief announcement of the revolution which he had so succinctly effected in the most considerable town of their province. the assembly, which seems, like many other assemblies at precisely this epoch, to have had an extraordinary capacity for yielding to gentle violence, made but little resistance to the extreme measures now undertaken by the stadholder, and not only highly applauded the subjugation of nymegen, but listened with sympathy to his arguments against the waartgelders and in favour of the synod. having accomplished so much by a very brief visit to gelderland, the prince proceeded, to overyssel, and had as little difficulty in bringing over the wavering minds of that province into orthodoxy and obedience. thus there remained but two provinces out of seven that were still "waartgeldered" and refused to be "synodized." it was rebellion against rebellion. maurice and his adherents accused the states' right party of mutiny against himself and the states-general. the states' right party accused the contra-remonstrants in the cities of mutiny against the lawful sovereignty of each province. the oath of the soldiery, since the foundation of the republic, had been to maintain obedience and fidelity to the states-general, the stadholder, and the province in which they were garrisoned, and at whose expense they were paid. it was impossible to harmonize such conflicting duties and doctrines. theory had done its best and its worst. the time was fast approaching, as it always must approach, when fact with its violent besom would brush away the fine-spun cobwebs which had been so long undisturbed. "i will grind the advocate and all his party into fine meal," said the prince on one occasion. a clever caricature of the time represented a pair of scales hung up in a great hall. in the one was a heap of parchments, gold chains, and magisterial robes; the whole bundle being marked the "holy right of each city." in the other lay a big square, solid, ironclasped volume, marked "institutes of calvin." each scale was respectively watched by gomarus and by arminius. the judges, gowned, furred, and ruffed, were looking decorously on, when suddenly the stadholder, in full military attire, was seen rushing into the apartment and flinging his sword into the scale with the institutes. the civic and legal trumpery was of course made to kick the beam. maurice had organized his campaign this year against the advocate and his party as deliberately as he had ever arranged the details of a series of battles and sieges against the spaniard. and he was proving himself as consummate master in political strife as in the great science of war. he no longer made any secret of his conviction that barneveld was a traitor to his country, bought with spanish gold. there was not the slightest proof for these suspicions, but he asserted them roundly. "the advocate is travelling straight to spain," he said to count cuylenborg. "but we will see who has got the longest purse." and as if it had been a part of the campaign, a prearranged diversion to the more direct and general assault on the entrenchments of the states' right party, a horrible personal onslaught was now made from many quarters upon the advocate. it was an age of pamphleteering, of venomous, virulent, unscrupulous libels. and never even in that age had there been anything to equal the savage attacks upon this great statesman. it moves the gall of an honest man, even after the lapse of two centuries and a half, to turn over those long forgotten pages and mark the depths to which political and theological party spirit could descend. that human creatures can assimilate themselves so closely to the reptile, and to the subtle devil within the reptile, when a party end is to be gained is enough to make the very name of man a term of reproach. day by day appeared pamphlets, each one more poisonous than its predecessor. there was hardly a crime that was not laid at the door of barneveld and all his kindred. the man who had borne a matchlock in early youth against the foreign tyrant in days when unsuccessful rebellion meant martyrdom and torture; who had successfully guided the councils of the infant commonwealth at a period when most of his accusers were in their cradles, and when mistake was ruin to the republic; he on whose strong arm the father of his country had leaned for support; the man who had organized a political system out of chaos; who had laid down the internal laws, negotiated the great indispensable alliances, directed the complicated foreign policy, established the system of national defence, presided over the successful financial administration of a state struggling out of mutiny into national existence; who had rocked the republic in its cradle and ever borne her in his heart; who had made her name beloved at home and honoured and dreaded abroad; who had been the first, when the great taciturn had at last fallen a victim to the murderous tyrant of spain, to place the youthful maurice in his father's place, and to inspire the whole country with sublime courage to persist rather than falter in purpose after so deadly a blow; who was as truly the founder of the republic as william had been the author of its independence,--was now denounced as a traitor, a pope, a tyrant, a venal hucksterer of his country's liberties. his family name, which had long been an ancient and knightly one, was defiled and its nobility disputed; his father and mother, sons and daughters, sisters and brothers, accused of every imaginable and unimaginable crime, of murder, incest, robbery, bastardy, fraud, forgery, blasphemy. he had received waggon-loads of spanish pistoles; he had been paid , ducats by spain for negotiating the truce; he was in secret treaty with archduke albert to bring , spanish mercenaries across the border to defeat the machinations of prince maurice, destroy his life, or drive him from the country; all these foul and bitter charges and a thousand similar ones were rained almost daily upon that grey head. one day the loose sheets of a more than commonly libellous pamphlet were picked up in the streets of the hague and placed in the advocate's hands. it was the work of the drunken notary danckaerts already mentioned, then resident in amsterdam, and among the papers thus found was a list of wealthy merchants of that city who had contributed to the expense of its publication. the opposition of barneveld to the west india corporation could never be forgiven. the advocate was notified in this production that he was soon to be summoned to answer for his crimes. the country was weary of him, he was told, and his life was forfeited. stung at last beyond endurance by the persistent malice of his enemies, he came before the states of holland for redress. upon his remonstrance the author of this vile libel was summoned to answer before the upper tribunal at the hague for his crime. the city of amsterdam covered him with the shield 'de non evocando,' which had so often in cases of less consequence proved of no protective value, and the notary was never punished, but on the contrary after a brief lapse of time rewarded as for a meritorious action. meantime, the states of holland, by formal act, took the name and honour of barneveld under their immediate protection as a treasure belonging specially to themselves. heavy penalties were denounced upon the authors and printers of these libellous attacks, and large rewards offered for their detection. nothing came, however, of such measures. on the th april the advocate addressed a frank, dignified, and conciliatory letter to the prince. the rapid progress of calumny against him had at last alarmed even his steadfast soul, and he thought it best to make a last appeal to the justice and to the clear intellect of william the silent's son. "gracious prince," he said, "i observe to my greatest sorrow an entire estrangement of your excellency from me, and i fear lest what was said six months since by certain clerical persons and afterwards by some politicians concerning your dissatisfaction with me, which until now i have not been able to believe, must be true. i declare nevertheless with a sincere heart to have never willingly given cause for any such feeling; having always been your very faithful servant and with god's help hoping as such to die. ten years ago during the negotiations for the truce i clearly observed the beginning of this estrangement, but your excellency will be graciously pleased to remember that i declared to you at that time my upright and sincere intention in these negotiations to promote the service of the country and the interests of your excellency, and that i nevertheless offered at the time not only to resign all my functions but to leave the country rather than remain in office and in the country to the dissatisfaction of your excellency." he then rapidly reviewed the causes which had produced the alienation of which he complained and the melancholy divisions caused by the want of mutual religious toleration in the provinces; spoke of his efforts to foster a spirit of conciliation on the dread subject of predestination, and referred to the letter of the king of great britain deprecating discussion and schism on this subject, and urging that those favourable to the views of the remonstrants ought not to be persecuted. referring to the intimate relations which uytenbogaert had so long enjoyed with the prince, the advocate alluded to the difficulty he had in believing that his excellency intended to act in opposition to the efforts of the states of holland in the cause of mutual toleration, to the manifest detriment of the country and of many of its best and truest patriots and the greater number of the magistrates in all the cities. he reminded the prince that all attempts to accommodate these fearful quarrels had been frustrated, and that on his departure the previous year to utrecht on account of his health he had again offered to resign all his offices and to leave holland altogether rather than find himself in perpetual opposition to his excellency. "i begged you in such case," he said, "to lend your hand to the procuring for me an honourable discharge from my lords the states, but your excellency declared that you could in no wise approve such a step and gave me hope that some means of accommodating the dissensions would yet be proposed." "i went then to vianen, being much indisposed; thence i repaired to utrecht to consult my old friend doctor saulo saul, in whose hands i remained six weeks, not being able, as i hoped, to pass my seventieth birthday on the th september last in my birthplace, the city of amersfoort. all this time i heard not one single word or proposal of accommodation. on the contrary it was determined that by a majority vote, a thing never heard of before, it was intended against the solemn resolves of the states of holland, of utrecht, and of overyssel to bring these religious differences before the assembly of my lords the states-general, a proceeding directly in the teeth of the act of union and other treaties, and before a synod which people called national, and that meantime every effort was making to discredit all those who stood up for the laws of these provinces and to make them odious and despicable in the eyes of the common people. "especially it was i that was thus made the object of hatred and contempt in their eyes. hundreds of lies and calumnies, circulated in the form of libels, seditious pamphlets, and lampoons, compelled me to return from utrecht to the hague. since that time i have repeatedly offered my services to your excellency for the promotion of mutual accommodation and reconciliation of differences, but without success." he then alluded to the publication with which the country was ringing, 'the necessary and living discourse of a spanish counsellor', and which was attributed to his former confidential friend, now become his deadliest foe, ex-ambassador francis aerssens, and warned the prince that if he chose, which god forbid, to follow the advice of that seditious libel, nothing but ruin to the beloved fatherland and its lovers, to the princely house of orange-nassau and to the christian religion could be the issue. "the spanish government could desire no better counsel," he said, "than this which these fellows give you; to encourage distrust and estrangement between your excellency and the nobles, the cities, and the magistrates of the land and to propose high and haughty imaginings which are easy enough to write, but most difficult to practise, and which can only enure to the advantage of spain. therefore most respectfully i beg your excellency not to believe these fellows, but to reject their counsels . . . . among them are many malignant hypocrites and ambitious men who are seeking their own profit in these changes of government--many utterly ragged and beggarly fellows and many infamous traitors coming from the provinces which have remained under the dominion of the spaniard, and who are filled with revenge, envy, and jealousy at the greater prosperity and bloom of these independent states than they find at home. "i fear," he said in conclusion, "that i have troubled your excellency too long, but to the fulfilment of my duty and discharge of my conscience i could not be more brief. it saddens me deeply that in recompense for my long and manifold services i am attacked by so many calumnious, lying, seditious, and fraudulent libels, and that these indecencies find their pretext and their food in the evil disposition of your excellency towards me. and although for one-and-thirty years long i have been able to live down such things with silence, well-doing, and truth, still do i now find myself compelled in this my advanced old age and infirmity to make some utterances in defence of myself and those belonging to me, however much against my heart and inclinations." he ended by enclosing a copy of the solemn state paper which he was about to lay before the states of holland in defence of his honour, and subscribed himself the lifelong and faithful servant of the prince. the remonstrance to the states contained a summary review of the political events of his life, which was indeed nothing more nor less than the history of his country and almost of europe itself during that period, broadly and vividly sketched with the hand of a master. it was published at once and strengthened the affection of his friends and the wrath of his enemies. it is not necessary to our purpose to reproduce or even analyse the document, the main facts and opinions contained in it being already familiar to the reader. the frankness however with which, in reply to the charges so profusely brought against him of having grown rich by extortion, treason, and corruption, of having gorged himself with plunder at home and bribery from the enemy, of being the great pensioner of europe and the marshal d'ancre of the netherlands--he alluded to the exact condition of his private affairs and the growth and sources of his revenue, giving, as it were, a kind of schedule of his property, has in it something half humorous, half touching in its simplicity. he set forth the very slender salaries attached to his high offices of advocate of holland, keeper of the seals, and other functions. he answered the charge that he always had at his disposition , florins to bribe foreign agents withal by saying that his whole allowance for extraordinary expenses and trouble in maintaining his diplomatic and internal correspondence was exactly florins yearly. he alluded to the slanders circulated as to his wealth and its sources by those who envied him for his position and hated him for his services. "but i beg you to believe, my lords," he continued, "that my property is neither so great nor so small as some people represent it to be. "in the year ' i married my wife," he said. "i was pleased with her person. i was likewise pleased with the dowry which was promptly paid over to me, with firm expectation of increase and betterment . . . . i ac knowledge that forty-three years ago my wife and myself had got together so much of real and personal property that we could live honourably upon it. i had at that time as good pay and practice as any advocate in the courts which brought me in a good florins a year; there being but eight advocates practising at the time, of whom i was certainly not the one least employed. in the beginning of the year ' i came into the service of the city of rotterdam as 'pensionary. upon my salary from that town i was enabled to support my family, having then but two children. now i can clearly prove that between the years and inclusive i have inherited in my own right or that of my wife, from our relatives, for ourselves and our children by lawful succession, more than holland morgens of land (about acres), more than florins yearly of redeemable rents, a good house in the city of delft, some houses in the open country, and several thousand florins in ready money. i have likewise reclaimed in the course of the past forty years out of the water and swamps by dyking more than an equal number of acres to those inherited, and have bought and sold property during the same period to the value of , florins; having sometimes bought , florins' worth and sold , of it for , , and so on." it was evident that the thrifty advocate during his long life had understood how to turn over his money, and it was not necessary to imagine "waggon-loads of spanish pistoles" and bribes on a gigantic scale from the hereditary enemy in order to account for a reasonable opulence on his part. "i have had nothing to do with trade," he continued, "it having been the custom of my ancestors to risk no money except where the plough goes. in the great east india company however, which with four years of hard work, public and private, i have helped establish, in order to inflict damage on the spaniards and portuguese, i have adventured somewhat more than florins . . . . now even if my condition be reasonably good, i think no one has reason to envy me. nevertheless i have said it in your lordships' assembly, and i repeat it solemnly on this occasion, that i have pondered the state of my affairs during my recent illness and found that in order to leave my children unencumbered estates i must sell property to the value of , or , florins. this i would rather do than leave the charge to my children. that i should have got thus behindhand through bad management, i beg your highnesses not to believe. but i have inherited, with the succession of four persons whose only heir i was and with that of others to whom i was co-heir, many burthens as well. i have bought property with encumbrances, and i have dyked and bettered several estates with borrowed money. now should it please your lordships to institute a census and valuation of the property of your subjects, i for one should be very well pleased. for i know full well that those who in the estimates of capital in the year rated themselves at , or , florins now may boast of having twice as much property as i have. yet in that year out of patriotism i placed myself on the list of those liable for the very highest contributions, being assessed on a property of , florins." the advocate alluded with haughty contempt to the notorious lies circulated by his libellers in regard to his lineage, as if the vast services and unquestioned abilities of such a statesman would not have illustrated the obscurest origin. but as he happened to be of ancient and honourable descent, he chose to vindicate his position in that regard. "i was born in the city of amersfoort," he said, "by the father's side an oldenbarneveld; an old and noble race, from generation to generation steadfast and true; who have been duly summoned for many hundred years to the assembly of the nobles of their province as they are to this day. by my mother's side i am sprung from the ancient and knightly family of amersfoort, which for three or four hundred years has been known as foremost among the nobles of utrecht in all state affairs and as landed proprietors." it is only for the sake of opening these domestic and private lights upon an historical character whose life was so pre-eminently and almost exclusively a public one that we have drawn some attention to this stately defence made by the advocate of his birth, life, and services to the state. the public portions of the state paper belong exclusively to history, and have already been sufficiently detailed. the letter to prince maurice was delivered into his hands by cornelis van der myle, son-in-law of barneveld. no reply to it was ever sent, but several days afterwards the stadholder called from his open window to van der myle, who happened to be passing by. he then informed him that he neither admitted the premises nor the conclusion of the advocate's letter, saying that many things set down in it were false. he furthermore told him a story of a certain old man who, having in his youth invented many things and told them often for truth, believed them when he came to old age to be actually true and was ever ready to stake his salvation upon them. whereupon he shut the window and left van der myle to make such application of the parable as he thought proper, vouchsafing no further answer to barneveld's communication. dudley carleton related the anecdote to his government with much glee, but it may be doubted whether this bold way of giving the lie to a venerable statesman through his son-in-law would have been accounted as triumphant argumentation anywhere out of a barrack. as for the remonstrance to the states of holland, although most respectfully received in that assembly except by the five opposition cities, its immediate effect on the public was to bring down a fresh "snow storm"--to use the expression of a contemporary--of pamphlets, libels, caricatures, and broadsheets upon the head of the advocate. in every bookseller's and print shop window in all the cities of the country, the fallen statesman was represented in all possible ludicrous, contemptible, and hateful shapes, while hags and blind beggars about the streets screeched filthy and cursing ballads against him, even at his very doors. the effect of energetic, uncompromising calumny has rarely been more strikingly illustrated than in the case of this statesman. blackened daily all over by a thousand trowels, the purest and noblest character must have been defiled, and it is no wonder that the incrustation upon the advocate's fame should have lasted for two centuries and a half. it may perhaps endure for as many more: not even the vile marshal d'ancre, who had so recently perished, was more the mark of obloquy in a country which he had dishonoured, flouted, and picked to the bone than was barneveld in a commonwealth which he had almost created and had served faithfully from youth to old age. it was even the fashion to compare him with concini in order to heighten the wrath of the public, as if any parallel between the ignoble, foreign paramour of a stupid and sensual queen, and the great statesman, patriot, and jurist of whom civilization will be always proud, could ever enter any but an idiot's brain. meantime the stadholder, who had so successfully handled the assembly of gelderland and overyssel, now sailed across the zuiderzee from kampen to amsterdam. on his approach to the stately northern venice, standing full of life and commercial bustle upon its vast submerged forest of norwegian pines, he was met by a fleet of yachts and escorted through the water gates of the into the city. here an immense assemblage of vessels of every class, from the humble gondola to the bulky east indianian and the first-rate ship of war, gaily bannered with the orange colours and thronged from deck to topmast by enthusiastic multitudes, was waiting to receive their beloved stadholder. a deafening cannonade saluted him on his approach. the prince was escorted to the square or dam, where on a high scaffolding covered with blue velvet in front of the stately mediaeval town-hall the burgomasters and board of magistrates in their robes of office were waiting to receive him. the strains of that most inspiriting and suggestive of national melodies, the 'wilhelmus van nassouwen,' rang through the air, and when they were silent, the chief magistrate poured forth a very eloquent and tedious oration, and concluded by presenting him with a large orange in solid gold; maurice having succeeded to the principality a few months before on the death of his half-brother philip william. the "blooming in love," as one of the chambers of "rhetoric" in which the hard-handed but half-artistic mechanics and shopkeepers of the netherlands loved to disport themselves was called, then exhibited upon an opposite scaffold a magnificent representation of jupiter astride upon an eagle and banding down to the stadholder as if from the clouds that same principality. nothing could be neater or more mythological. the prince and his escort, sitting in the windows of the town-hall, the square beneath being covered with or burgher militia in full uniform, with orange plumes in their hats and orange scarves on their breasts, saw still other sights. a gorgeous procession set forth by the "netherlandish academy," another chamber of rhetoric, and filled with those emblematic impersonations so dear to the hearts of netherlanders, had been sweeping through all the canals and along the splendid quays of the city. the maid of holland, twenty feet high, led the van, followed by the counterfeit presentment of each of her six sisters. an orange tree full of flowers and fruit was conspicuous in one barge, while in another, strangely and lugubriously enough, lay the murdered william the silent in the arms of his wife and surrounded by his weeping sons and daughters all attired in white satin. in the evening the netherland academy, to improve the general hilarity, and as if believing exhibitions of murder the most appropriate means of welcoming the prince, invited him to a scenic representation of the assassination of count florence v. of holland by gerrit van velsen and other nobles. there seemed no especial reason for the selection, unless perhaps the local one; one of the perpetrators of this crime against an ancient predecessor of william the silent in the sovereignty of holland having been a former lord proprietor of amsterdam and the adjacent territories, gysbrecht van amatel. maurice returned to the hague. five of the seven provinces were entirely his own. utrecht too was already wavering, while there could be no doubt of the warm allegiance to himself of the important commercial metropolis of holland, the only province in which barneveld's influence was still paramount. owing to the watchfulness and distrust of barneveld, which had never faltered, spain had not secured the entire control of the disputed duchies, but she had at least secured the head of a venerated saint. "the bargain is completed for the head of the glorious saint lawrence, which you know i so much desire," wrote philip triumphantly to the archduke albert. he had, however, not got it for nothing. the abbot of glamart in julich, then in possession of that treasure, had stipulated before delivering it that if at any time the heretics or other enemies should destroy the monastery his majesty would establish them in spanish flanders and give them the same revenues as they now enjoyed in julich. count herman van den berg was to give a guarantee to that effect. meantime the long controversy in the duchies having tacitly come to a standstill upon the basis of 'uti possidetis,' the spanish government had leisure in the midst of their preparation for the general crusade upon european heresy to observe and enjoy the internal religious dissensions in their revolted provinces. although they had concluded the convention with them as with countries over which they had no pretensions, they had never at heart allowed more virtue to the conjunction "as," which really contained the essence of the treaty, than grammatically belonged to it. spain still chose to regard the independence of the seven provinces as a pleasant fiction to be dispelled when, the truce having expired by its own limitation, she should resume, as she fully meant to do, her sovereignty over all the seventeen netherlands, the united as well as the obedient. thus at any rate the question of state rights or central sovereignty would be settled by a very summary process. the spanish ambassador was wroth, as may well be supposed, when the agent of the rebel provinces received in london the rank, title, and recognition of ambassador. gondemar at least refused to acknowledge noel de caron as his diplomatic equal or even as his colleague, and was vehement in his protestations on the subject. but james, much as he dreaded the spanish envoy and fawned upon his master, was not besotted enough to comply with these demands at the expense of his most powerful ally, the republic of the netherlands. the spanish king however declared his ambassador's proceedings to be in exact accordance with his instructions. he was sorry, he said, if the affair had caused discontent to the king of great britain; he intended in all respects to maintain the treaty of truce of which his majesty had been one of the guarantors, but as that treaty had but a few more years to run, after which he should be reinstated in his former right of sovereignty over all the netherlands, he entirely justified the conduct of count gondemar. it may well be conceived that, as the years passed by, as the period of the truce grew nearer and the religious disputes became every day more envenomed, the government at madrid should look on the tumultuous scene with saturnine satisfaction. there was little doubt now, they thought, that the provinces, sick of their rebellion and that fancied independence which had led them into a whirlpool of political and religious misery, and convinced of their incompetence to govern themselves, would be only too happy to seek the forgiving arms of their lawful sovereign. above all they must have learned that their great heresy had carried its chastisement with it, that within something they called a reformed church other heresies had been developed which demanded condign punishment at the hands of that new church, and that there could be neither rest for them in this world nor salvation in the next except by returning to the bosom of their ancient mother. now was the time, so it was thought, to throw forward a strong force of jesuits as skirmishers into the provinces by whom the way would be opened for the reconquest of the whole territory. "by the advices coming to us continually from thence," wrote the king of spain to archduke albert, "we understand that the disquiets and differences continue in holland on matters relating to their sects, and that from this has resulted the conversion of many to the catholic religion. so it has been taken into consideration whether it would not be expedient that some fathers of the company of jesuits be sent secretly from rome to holland, who should negotiate concerning the conversion of that people. before taking a resolution, i have thought best to give an account of this matter to your highness. i should be glad if you would inform me what priests are going to holland, what fruits they yield, and what can be done for the continuance of their labours. please to advise me very particularly together with any suggestions that may occur to you in this matter." the archduke, who was nearer the scene, was not so sure that the old religion was making such progress as his royal nephew or those who spoke in his name believed. at any rate, if it were not rapidly gaining ground, it would be neither for want of discord among the protestants nor for lack of jesuits to profit by it. "i do not understand," said he in reply, "nor is it generally considered certain that from the differences and disturbances that the hollanders are having among themselves there has resulted the conversion of any of them to our blessed catholic faith, because their disputes are of certain points concerning which there are different opinions within their sect. there has always been a goodly number of priests here, the greater part of whom belong to the company. they are very diligent and fervent, and the catholics derive much comfort from them. to send more of them would do more harm than good. it might be found out, and then they would perhaps be driven out of holland or even chastised. so it seems better to leave things as they are for the present." the spanish government was not discouraged however, but was pricking up its ears anew at strange communications it was receiving from the very bosom of the council of state in the netherlands. this body, as will be remembered, had been much opposed to barneveld and to the policy pursued under his leadership by the states of holland. some of its members were secretly catholic and still more secretly disposed to effect a revolution in the government, the object of which should be to fuse the united provinces with the obedient netherlands in a single independent monarchy to be placed under the sceptre of the son of philip iii. a paper containing the outlines of this scheme had been sent to spain, and the king at once forwarded it in cipher to the archduke at brussels for his opinion and co-operation. "you will see," he said, "the plan which a certain person zealous for the public good has proposed for reducing the netherlanders to my obedience. . . . . you will please advise with count frederic van den berg and let me know with much particularity and profound secrecy what is thought, what is occurring, and the form in which this matter ought to be negotiated, and the proper way to make it march." unquestionably the paper was of grave importance. it informed the king of spain that some principal personages in the united netherlands, members of the council of state, were of opinion that if his majesty or archduke albert should propose peace, it could be accomplished at that moment more easily than ever before. they had arrived at the conviction that no assistance was to be obtained from the king of france, who was too much weakened by tumults and sedition at home, while nothing good could be expected from the king of england. the greater part of the province of gelderland, they said, with all friesland, utrecht, groningen, and overyssel were inclined to a permanent peace. being all of them frontier provinces, they were constantly exposed to the brunt of hostilities. besides this, the war expenses alone would now be more than , , florins a year. thus the people were kept perpetually harassed, and although evil-intentioned persons approved these burthens under the pretence that such heavy taxation served to free them from the tyranny of spain, those of sense and quality reproved them and knew the contrary to be true. "many here know," continued these traitors in the heart of the state council, "how good it would be for the people of the netherlands to have a prince, and those having this desire being on the frontier are determined to accept the son of your majesty for their ruler." the conditions of the proposed arrangement were to be that the prince with his successors who were thus to possess all the netherlands were to be independent sovereigns not subject in any way to the crown of spain, and that the great governments and dignities of the country were to remain in the hands then holding them. this last condition was obviously inserted in the plan for the special benefit of prince maurice and count lewis, although there is not an atom of evidence that they had ever heard of the intrigue or doubt that, if they had, they would have signally chastised its guilty authors. it was further stated that the catholics having in each town a church and free exercise of their religion would soon be in a great majority. thus the political and religious counter-revolution would be triumphantly accomplished. it was proposed that the management of the business should be entrusted to some gentleman of the country possessing property there who "under pretext of the public good should make people comprehend what a great thing it would be if they could obtain this favour from the spanish king, thus extricating themselves from so many calamities and miseries, and obtaining free traffic and a prince of their own." it would be necessary for the king and archduke to write many letters and promise great rewards to persons who might otherwise embarrass the good work. the plot was an ingenious one. there seemed in the opinion of these conspirators in the state council but one great obstacle to its success. it should be kept absolutely concealed from the states of holland. the great stipendiary of spain, john of barneveld, whose coffers were filled with spanish pistoles, whose name and surname might be read by all men in the account-books at brussels heading the register of mighty bribe-takers, the man who was howled at in a thousand lampoons as a traitor ever ready to sell his country, whom even prince maurice "partly believed" to be the pensionary of philip, must not hear a whisper of this scheme to restore the republic to spanish control and place it under the sceptre of a spanish prince. the states of holland at that moment and so long as he was a member of the body were barneveld and barneveld only; thinking his thoughts, speaking with his tongue, writing with his pen. of this neither friend nor foe ever expressed a doubt. indeed it was one of the staple accusations against him. yet this paper in which the spanish king in confidential cipher and profound secrecy communicated to archduke albert his hopes and his schemes for recovering the revolted provinces as a kingdom for his son contained these words of caution. "the states of holland and zealand will be opposed to the plan," it said. "if the treaty come to the knowledge of the states and council of holland before it has been acted upon by the five frontier provinces the whole plan will be demolished." such was the opinion entertained by philip himself of the man who was supposed to be his stipendiary. i am not aware that this paper has ever been alluded to in any document or treatise private or public from the day of its date to this hour. it certainly has never been published, but it lies deciphered in the archives of the kingdom at brussels, and is alone sufficient to put to shame the slanderers of the advocate's loyalty. yet let it be remembered that in this very summer exactly at the moment when these intrigues were going on between the king of spain and the class of men most opposed to barneveld, the accusations against his fidelity were loudest and rifest. before the stadholder had so suddenly slipped down to brielle in order to secure that important stronghold for the contra-remonstrant party, reports had been carefully strewn among the people that the advocate was about to deliver that place and other fortresses to spain. brielle, flushing, rammekens, the very cautionary towns and keys to the country which he had so recently and in such masterly manner delivered from the grasp of the hereditary ally he was now about to surrender to the ancient enemy. the spaniards were already on the sea, it was said. had it not been for his excellency's watchfulness and promptitude, they would already under guidance of barneveld and his crew have mastered the city of brielle. flushing too through barneveld's advice and connivance was open at a particular point, in order that the spaniards, who had their eye upon it, might conveniently enter and take possession of the place. the air was full of wild rumours to this effect, and already the humbler classes who sided with the stadholder saw in him the saviour of the country from the treason of the advocate and the renewed tyranny of spain. the prince made no such pretence, but simply took possession of the fortress in order to be beforehand with the waartgelders. the contra-remonstrants in brielle had desired that "men should see who had the hardest fists," and it would certainly have been difficult to find harder ones than those of the hero of nieuwpoort. besides the jesuits coming in so skilfully to triumph over the warring sects of calvinists, there were other engineers on whom the spanish government relied to effect the reconquest of the netherlands. especially it was an object to wreak vengeance on holland, that head and front of the revolt, both for its persistence in rebellion and for the immense prosperity and progress by which that rebellion had been rewarded. holland had grown fat and strong, while the obedient netherlands were withered to the marrow of their bones. but there was a practical person then resident in spain to whom the netherlands were well known, to whom indeed everything was well known, who had laid before the king a magnificent scheme for destroying the commerce and with it the very existence of holland to the great advantage of the spanish finances and of the spanish netherlands. philip of course laid it before the archduke as usual, that he might ponder it well and afterwards, if approved, direct its execution. the practical person set forth in an elaborate memoir that the hollanders were making rapid progress in commerce, arts, and manufactures, while the obedient provinces were sinking as swiftly into decay. the spanish netherlands were almost entirely shut off from the sea, the rivers scheldt and meuse being hardly navigable for them on account of the control of those waters by holland. the dutch were attracting to their dominions all artisans, navigators, and traders. despising all other nations and giving them the law, they had ruined the obedient provinces. ostend, nieuwpoort, dunkerk were wasting away, and ought to be restored. "i have profoundly studied forty years long the subjects of commerce and navigation," said the practical person, "and i have succeeded in penetrating the secrets and acquiring, as it were, universal knowledge--let me not be suspected of boasting--of the whole discovered world and of the ocean. i have been assisted by study of the best works of geography and history, by my own labours, and by those of my late father, a man of illustrious genius and heroical conceptions and very zealous in the catholic faith." the modest and practical son of an illustrious but anonymous father, then coming to the point, said it would be the easiest thing in the world to direct the course of the scheldt into an entirely new channel through spanish flanders to the sea. thus the dutch ports and forts which had been constructed with such magnificence and at such vast expense would be left high and dry; the spaniards would build new ones in flanders, and thus control the whole navigation and deprive the hollanders of that empire of the sea which they now so proudly arrogated. this scheme was much simpler to carry out than the vulgar might suppose, and, when accomplished, it would destroy the commerce, navigation, and fisheries of the hollanders, throwing it all into the hands of the archdukes. this would cause such ruin, poverty, and tumults everywhere that all would be changed. the republic of the united states would annihilate itself and fall to pieces; the religious dissensions, the war of one sect with another, and the jealousy of the house of nassau, suspected of plans hostile to popular liberties, finishing the work of destruction. "then the republic," said the man of universal science, warming at sight of the picture he was painting, "laden with debt and steeped in poverty, will fall to the ground of its own weight, and thus debilitated will crawl humbly to place itself in the paternal hands of the illustrious house of austria." it would be better, he thought, to set about the work, before the expiration of the truce. at any rate, the preparation for it, or the mere threat of it, would ensure a renewal of that treaty on juster terms. it was most important too to begin at once the construction of a port on the coast of flanders, looking to the north. there was a position, he said, without naming it, in which whole navies could ride in safety, secure from all tempests, beyond the reach of the hollanders, open at all times to traffic to and from england, france, spain, norway, sweden, russia--a perfectly free commerce, beyond the reach of any rights or duties claimed or levied by the insolent republic. in this port would assemble all the navigators of the country, and it would become in time of war a terror to the hollanders, english, and all northern peoples. in order to attract, protect, and preserve these navigators and this commerce, many great public edifices must be built, together with splendid streets of houses and impregnable fortifications. it should be a walled and stately city, and its name should be philipopolis. if these simple projects, so easy of execution, pleased his majesty, the practical person was ready to explain them in all their details. his majesty was enchanted with the glowing picture, but before quite deciding on carrying the scheme into execution thought it best to consult the archduke. the reply of albert has not been preserved. it was probably not enthusiastic, and the man who without boasting had declared himself to know everything was never commissioned to convert his schemes into realities. that magnificent walled city, philipopolis, with its gorgeous streets and bristling fortresses, remained unbuilt, the scheldt has placidly flowed through its old channel to the sea from that day to this, and the republic remained in possession of the unexampled foreign trade with which rebellion had enriched it. these various intrigues and projects show plainly enough however the encouragement given to the enemies of the united provinces and of protestantism everywhere by these disastrous internal dissensions. but yesterday and the republic led by barneveld in council and maurice of nassau in the field stood at the head of the great army of resistance to the general crusade organized by spain and rome against all unbelievers. and now that the war was absolutely beginning in bohemia, the republic was falling upon its own sword instead of smiting with it the universal foe. it was not the king of spain alone that cast longing eyes on the fair territory of that commonwealth which the unparalleled tyranny of his father had driven to renounce his sceptre. both in the netherlands and france, among the extreme orthodox party, there were secret schemes, to which maurice was not privy, to raise maurice to the sovereignty of the provinces. other conspirators with a wider scope and more treasonable design were disposed to surrender their country to the dominion of france, stipulating of course large rewards and offices for themselves and the vice-royalty of what should then be the french netherlands to maurice. the schemes were wild enough perhaps, but their very existence, which is undoubted, is another proof, if more proof were wanted, of the lamentable tendency, in times of civil and religious dissension, of political passion to burn out the very first principles of patriotism. it is also important, on account of the direct influence exerted by these intrigues upon subsequent events of the gravest character, to throw a beam of light on matters which were thought to have been shrouded for ever in impenetrable darkness. langerac, the states' ambassador in paris, was the very reverse of his predecessor, the wily, unscrupulous, and accomplished francis aerssens. the envoys of the republic were rarely dull, but langerac was a simpleton. they were renowned for political experience, skill, familiarity with foreign languages, knowledge of literature, history, and public law; but he was ignorant, spoke french very imperfectly, at a court where not a human being could address him in his own tongue, had never been employed in diplomacy or in high office of any kind, and could carry but small personal weight at a post where of all others the representative of the great republic should have commanded deference both for his own qualities and for the majesty of his government. at a period when france was left without a master or a guide the dutch ambassador, under a becoming show of profound respect, might really have governed the country so far as regarded at least the all important relations which bound the two nations together. but langerac was a mere picker-up of trifles, a newsmonger who wrote a despatch to-day with information which a despatch was written on the morrow to contradict, while in itself conveying additional intelligence absolutely certain to be falsified soon afterwards. the emperor of germany had gone mad; prince maurice had been assassinated in the hague, a fact which his correspondents, the states-general, might be supposed already to know, if it were one; there had been a revolution in the royal bed-chamber; the spanish cook of the young queen had arrived from madrid; the duke of nevers was behaving very oddly at vienna; such communications, and others equally startling, were the staple of his correspondence. still he was honest enough, very mild, perfectly docile to barneveld, dependent upon his guidance, and fervently attached to that statesman so long as his wheel was going up the hill. moreover, his industry in obtaining information and his passion for imparting it made it probable that nothing very momentous would be neglected should it be laid before him, but that his masters, and especially the advocate, would be enabled to judge for themselves as to the attention due to it. "with this you will be apprised of some very high and weighty matters," he wrote privately and in cipher to barneveld, "which you will make use of according to your great wisdom and forethought for the country's service." he requested that the matter might also be confided to m. van der myle, that he might assist his father-in-law, so overburdened with business, in the task of deciphering the communication. he then stated that he had been "very earnestly informed three days before by m. du agean"--member of the privy council of france--"that it had recently come to the king's ears, and his majesty knew it to be authentic, that there was a secret and very dangerous conspiracy in holland of persons belonging to the reformed religion in which others were also mixed. this party held very earnest and very secret correspondence with the factious portion of the contra-remonstrants both in the netherlands and france, seeking under pretext of the religious dissensions or by means of them to confer the sovereignty upon prince maurice by general consent of the contra-remonstrants. their object was also to strengthen and augment the force of the same religious party in france, to which end the duc de bouillon and m. de chatillon were very earnestly co-operating. langerac had already been informed by chatillon that the contra-remonstrants had determined to make a public declaration against the remonstrants, and come to an open separation from them. "others propose however," said the ambassador, "that the king himself should use the occasion to seize the sovereignty of the united provinces for himself and to appoint prince maurice viceroy, giving him in marriage madame henriette of france." the object of this movement would be to frustrate the plots of the contra-remonstrants, who were known to be passionately hostile to the king and to france, and who had been constantly traversing the negotiations of m. du maurier. there was a disposition to send a special and solemn embassy to the states, but it was feared that the british king would at once do the same, to the immense disadvantage of the remonstrants. "m. de barneveld," said the envoy, "is deeply sympathized with here and commiserated. the chancellor has repeatedly requested me to present to you his very sincere and very hearty respects, exhorting you to continue in your manly steadfastness and courage." he also assured the advocate that the french ambassador, m. du maurier, enjoyed the entire confidence of his government, and of the principal members of the council, and that the king, although contemplating, as we have seen, the seizure of the sovereignty of the country, was most amicably disposed towards it, and so soon as the peace of savoy was settled "had something very good for it in his mind." whether the something very good was this very design to deprive it of independence, the ambassador did not state. he however recommended the use of sundry small presents at the french court--especially to madame de luynes, wife of the new favourite of lewis since the death of concini, in which he had aided, now rising rapidly to consideration, and to madame du agean--and asked to be supplied with funds accordingly. by these means he thought it probable that at least the payment to the states of the long arrears of the french subsidy might be secured. three weeks later, returning to the subject, the ambassador reported another conversation with m. du agean. that politician assured him, "with high protestations," as a perfectly certain fact that a frenchman duly qualified had arrived in paris from holland who had been in communication not only with him but with several of the most confidential members of the privy council of france. this duly qualified gentleman had been secretly commissioned to say that in opinion of the conspirators already indicated the occasion was exactly offered by these religious dissensions in the netherlands for bringing the whole country under the obedience of the king. this would be done with perfect ease if he would only be willing to favour a little the one party, that of the contra-remonstrants, and promise his excellency "perfect and perpetual authority in the government with other compensations." the proposition, said du agean, had been rejected by the privy councillors with a declaration that they would not mix themselves up with any factions, nor assist any party, but that they would gladly work with the government for the accommodation of these difficulties and differences in the provinces. "i send you all this nakedly," concluded langerac, "exactly as it has been communicated to me, having always answered according to my duty and with a view by negotiating with these persons to discover the intentions as well of one side as the other." the advocate was not profoundly impressed by these revelations. he was too experienced a statesman to doubt that in times when civil and religious passion was running high there was never lack of fishers in troubled waters, and that if a body of conspirators could secure a handsome compensation by selling their country to a foreign prince, they would always be ready to do it. but although believed by maurice to be himself a stipendiary of spain, he was above suspecting the prince of any share in the low and stupid intrigue which du agean had imagined or disclosed. that the stadholder was ambitious of greater power, he hardly doubted, but that he was seeking to acquire it by such corrupt and circuitous means, he did not dream. he confidentially communicated the plot as in duty bound to some members of the states, and had the prince been accused in any conversation or statement of being privy to the scheme, he would have thought himself bound to mention it to him. the story came to the ears of maurice however, and helped to feed his wrath against the advocate, as if he were responsible for a plot, if plot it were, which had been concocted by his own deadliest enemies. the prince wrote a letter alluding to this communication of langerac and giving much alarm to that functionary. he thought his despatches must have been intercepted and proposed in future to write always by special courier. barneveld thought that unnecessary except when there were more important matters than those appeared to him to be and requiring more haste. "the letter of his excellency," said he to the ambassador, "is caused in my opinion by the fact that some of the deputies to this assembly to whom i secretly imparted your letter or its substance did not rightly comprehend or report it. you did not say that his excellency had any such design or project, but that it had been said that the contra-remonstrants were entertaining such a scheme. i would have shown the letter to him myself, but i thought it not fair, for good reasons, to make m. du agean known as the informant. i do not think it amiss for you to write yourself to his excellency and tell him what is said, but whether it would be proper to give up the name of your author, i think doubtful. at all events one must consult about it. we live in a strange world, and one knows not whom to trust." he instructed the ambassador to enquire into the foundation of these statements of du agean and send advices by every occasion of this affair and others of equal interest. he was however much more occupied with securing the goodwill of the french government, which he no more suspected of tampering in these schemes against the independence of the republic than he did maurice himself. he relied and he had reason to rely on their steady good offices in the cause of moderation and reconciliation. "we are not yet brought to the necessary and much desired unity," he said, "but we do not despair, hoping that his majesty's efforts through m. du maurier, both privately and publicly, will do much good. be assured that they are very agreeable to all rightly disposed people . . . . my trust is that god the lord will give us a happy issue and save this country from perdition." he approved of the presents to the two ladies as suggested by langerac if by so doing the payment of the arrearages could be furthered. he was still hopeful and confident in the justice of his cause and the purity of his conscience. "aerssens is crowing like a cock," he said, "but the truth will surely prevail." chapter xvii. a deputation from utrecht to maurice--the fair at utrecht--maurice and the states' deputies at utrecht--ogle refuses to act in opposition to the states--the stadholder disbands the waartgelders-- the prince appoints forty magistrates--the states formally disband the waartgelders. the eventful midsummer had arrived. the lime-tree blossoms were fragrant in the leafy bowers overshadowing the beautiful little rural capital of the commonwealth. the anniversary of the nieuwpoort victory, july , had come and gone, and the stadholder was known to be resolved that his political campaign this year should be as victorious as that memorable military one of eighteen years before. before the dog-days should begin to rage, the fierce heats of theological and political passion were to wax daily more and more intense. the party at utrecht in favour of a compromise and in awe of the stadholder sent a deputation to the hague with the express but secret purpose of conferring with maurice. they were eight in number, three of whom, including gillis van ledenberg, lodged at the house of daniel tressel, first clerk of the states-general. the leaders of the barneveld party, aware of the purport of this mission and determined to frustrate it, contrived a meeting between the utrecht commissioners and grotius, hoogerbeets, de haan, and de lange at tressel's house. grotius was spokesman. maurice had accused the states of holland of mutiny and rebellion, and the distinguished pensionary of rotterdam now retorted the charges of mutiny, disobedience, and mischief-making upon those who, under the mask of religion, were attempting to violate the sovereignty of the states, the privileges and laws of the province, the authority of the magistrates, and to subject them to the power of others. to prevent such a catastrophe many cities had enlisted waartgelders. by this means they had held such mutineers to their duty, as had been seen at leyden, haarlem, and other places. the states of utrecht had secured themselves in the same way. but the mischiefmakers and the ill-disposed had been seeking everywhere to counteract these wholesome measures and to bring about a general disbanding of these troops. this it was necessary to resist with spirit. it was the very foundation of the provinces' sovereignty, to maintain which the public means must be employed. it was in vain to drive the foe out of the country if one could not remain in safety within one's own doors. they had heard with sorrow that utrecht was thinking of cashiering its troops, and the speaker proceeded therefore to urge with all the eloquence he was master of the necessity of pausing before taking so fatal a step. the deputies of utrecht answered by pleading the great pecuniary burthen which the maintenance of the mercenaries imposed upon that province, and complained that there was no one to come to their assistance, exposed as they were to a sudden and overwhelming attack from many quarters. the states-general had not only written but sent commissioners to utrecht insisting on the disbandment. they could plainly see the displeasure of the prince. it was a very different affair in holland, but the states of utrecht found it necessary of two evils to choose the least. they had therefore instructed their commissioners to request the prince to remove the foreign garrison from their capital and to send the old companies of native militia in their place, to be in the pay of the episcopate. in this case the states would agree to disband the new levies. grotius in reply again warned the commissioners against communicating with maurice according to their instructions, intimated that the native militia on which they were proposing to rely might have been debauched, and he held out hopes that perhaps the states of utrecht might derive some relief from certain financial measures now contemplated in holland. the utrechters resolved to wait at least several days before opening the subject of their mission to the prince. meantime ledenberg made a rough draft of a report of what had occurred between them and grotius and his colleagues which it was resolved to lay secretly before the states of utrecht. the hollanders hoped that they had at last persuaded the commissioners to maintain the waartgelders. the states of holland now passed a solemn resolution to the effect that these new levies had been made to secure municipal order and maintain the laws from subversion by civil tumults. if this object could be obtained by other means, if the stadholder were willing to remove garrisons of foreign mercenaries on whom there could be no reliance, and supply their place with native troops both in holland and utrecht, an arrangement could be made for disbanding the waartgelders. barneveld, at the head of thirty deputies from the nobles and cities, waited upon maurice and verbally communicated to him this resolution. he made a cold and unsatisfactory reply, although it seems to have been understood that by according twenty companies of native troops he might have contented both holland and utrecht. ledenberg and his colleagues took their departure from the hague without communicating their message to maurice. soon afterwards the states-general appointed a commission to utrecht with the stadholder at the head of it. the states of holland appointed another with grotius as its chairman. on the th july grotius and pensionary hoogerbeets with two colleagues arrived in utrecht. gillis van ledenberg was there to receive them. a tall, handsome, bald-headed, well-featured, mild, gentlemanlike man was this secretary of the utrecht assembly, and certainly not aware, while passing to and fro on such half diplomatic missions between two sovereign assemblies, that he was committing high-treason. he might well imagine however, should maurice discover that it was he who had prevented the commissioners from conferring with him as instructed, that it would go hard with him. ledenberg forthwith introduced grotius and his committee to the assembly at utrecht. while these great personages were thus holding solemn and secret council, another and still greater personage came upon the scene. the stadholder with the deputation from the states-general arrived at utrecht. evidently the threads of this political drama were converging to a catastrophe, and it might prove a tragical one. meantime all looked merry enough in the old episcopal city. there were few towns in lower or in upper germany more elegant and imposing than utrecht. situate on the slender and feeble channel of the ancient rhine as it falters languidly to the sea, surrounded by trim gardens and orchards, and embowered in groves of beeches and limetrees, with busy canals fringed with poplars, lined with solid quays, and crossed by innumerable bridges; with the stately brick tower of st. martin's rising to a daring height above one of the most magnificent gothic cathedrals in the netherlands; this seat of the anglo-saxon willebrord, who eight hundred years before had preached christianity to the frisians, and had founded that long line of hard-fighting, indomitable bishops, obstinately contesting for centuries the possession of the swamps and pastures about them with counts, kings, and emperors, was still worthy of its history and its position. it was here too that sixty-one years before the famous articles of union were signed. by that fundamental treaty of the confederacy, the provinces agreed to remain eternally united as if they were but one province, to make no war nor peace save by unanimous consent, while on lesser matters a majority should rule; to admit both catholics and protestants to the union provided they obeyed its articles and conducted themselves as good patriots, and expressly declared that no province or city should interfere with another in the matter of divine worship. from this memorable compact, so enduring a landmark in the history of human freedom, and distinguished by such breadth of view for the times both in religion and politics, the city had gained the title of cradle of liberty: 'cunabula libertatis'. was it still to deserve the name? at that particular moment the mass of the population was comparatively indifferent to the terrible questions pending. it was the kermis or annual fair, and all the world was keeping holiday in utrecht. the pedlars and itinerant merchants from all the cities and provinces had brought their wares jewellery and crockery, ribbons and laces, ploughs and harrows, carriages and horses, cows and sheep, cheeses and butter firkins, doublets and petticoats, guns and pistols, everything that could serve the city and country-side for months to come--and displayed them in temporary booths or on the ground, in every street and along every canal. the town was one vast bazaar. the peasant-women from the country, with their gold and silver tiaras and the year's rent of a comfortable farm in their earrings and necklaces, and the sturdy frisian peasants, many of whom had borne their matchlocks in the great wars which had lasted through their own and their fathers' lifetime, trudged through the city, enjoying the blessings of peace. bands of music and merry-go-rounds in all the open places and squares; open-air bakeries of pancakes and waffles; theatrical exhibitions, raree-shows, jugglers, and mountebanks at every corner--all these phenomena which had been at every kermis for centuries, and were to repeat themselves for centuries afterwards, now enlivened the atmosphere of the grey, episcopal city. pasted against the walls of public edifices were the most recent placards and counter-placards of the states-general and the states of utrecht on the great subject of religious schisms and popular tumults. in the shop-windows and on the bookstalls of contra-remonstrant tradesmen, now becoming more and more defiant as the last allies of holland, the states of utrecht, were gradually losing courage, were seen the freshest ballads and caricatures against the advocate. here an engraving represented him seated at table with grotius, hoogerbeets, and others, discussing the national synod, while a flap of the picture being lifted put the head of the duke of alva on the legs of barneveld, his companions being transformed in similar manner into spanish priests and cardinals assembled at the terrible council of blood-with rows of protestant martyrs burning and hanging in the distance. another print showed prince maurice and the states-general shaking the leading statesmen of the commonwealth in a mighty sieve through which came tumbling head foremost to perdition the hated advocate and his abettors. another showed the arminians as a row of crest-fallen cocks rained upon by the wrath of the stadholder--arminians by a detestable pun being converted into "arme haenen" or "poor cocks." one represented the pope and king of spain blowing thousands of ducats out of a golden bellows into the lap of the advocate, who was holding up his official robes to receive them, or whole carriage-loads of arminians starting off bag and baggage on the road to rome, with lucifer in the perspective waiting to give them a warm welcome in his own dominions; and so on, and so on. moving through the throng, with iron calque on their heads and halberd in hand, were groups of waartgelders scowling fiercely at many popular demonstrations such as they had been enlisted to suppress, but while off duty concealing outward symptoms of wrath which in many instances perhaps would have been far from genuine. for although these mercenaries knew that the states of holland, who were responsible for the pay of the regular troops then in utrecht, authorized them to obey no orders save from the local authorities, yet it was becoming a grave question for the waartgelders whether their own wages were perfectly safe, a circumstance which made them susceptible to the atmosphere of contra-remonstrantism which was steadily enwrapping the whole country. a still graver question was whether such resistance as they could offer to the renowned stadholder, whose name was magic to every soldier's heart not only in his own land but throughout christendom, would not be like parrying a lance's thrust with a bulrush. in truth the senior captain of the waartgelders, harteveld by name, had privately informed the leaders of the barneveld party in utrecht that he would not draw his sword against prince maurice and the states-general. "who asks you to do so?" said some of the deputies, while ledenberg on the other hand flatly accused him of cowardice. for this affront the captain had vowed revenge. and in the midst of this scene of jollity and confusion, that midsummer night, entered the stern stadholder with his fellow commissioners; the feeble plans for shutting the gates upon him not having been carried into effect. "you hardly expected such a guest at your fair," said he to the magistrates, with a grim smile on his face as who should say, "and what do you think of me now i have came?" meantime the secret conference of grotius and colleagues with the states of utrecht proceeded. as a provisional measure, sir john ogle, commander of the forces paid by holland, had been warned as to where his obedience was due. it had likewise been intimated that the guard should be doubled at the amersfoort gate, and a watch set on the river lek above and below the city in order to prevent fresh troops of the states-general from being introduced by surprise. these precautions had been suggested a year before, as we have seen, in a private autograph letter from barneveld to secretary ledenberg. sir john ogle had flatly refused to act in opposition to the stadholder and the states-general, whom he recognized as his lawful superiors and masters, and he warned ledenberg and his companions as to the perilous nature of the course which they were pursuing. great was the indignation of the utrechters and the holland commissioners in consequence. grotius in his speech enlarged on the possibility of violence being used by the stadholder, while some of the members of the assembly likewise thought it likely that he would smite the gates open by force. grotius, when reproved afterwards for such strong language towards prince maurice, said that true hollanders were no courtiers, but were wont to call everything by its right name. he stated in strong language the regret felt by holland that a majority of the states of utrecht had determined to disband the waartgelders which had been constitutionally enlisted according to the right of each province under the st article of the union of utrecht to protect itself and its laws. next day there were conferences between maurice and the states of utrecht and between him and the holland deputies. the stadholder calmly demanded the disbandment and the synod. the hollanders spoke of securing first the persons and rights of the magistracy. "the magistrates are to be protected," said maurice, "but we must first know how they are going to govern. people have tried to introduce five false points into the divine worship. people have tried to turn me out of the stadholdership and to drive me from the country. but i have taken my measures. i know well what i am about. i have got five provinces on my side, and six cities of holland will send deputies to utrecht to sustain me here." the hollanders protested that there was no design whatever, so far as they knew, against his princely dignity or person. all were ready to recognize his rank and services by every means in their power. but it was desirable by conciliation and compromise, not by stern decree, to arrange these religious and political differences. the stadholder replied by again insisting on the synod. "as for the waartgelders," he continued, "they are worse than spanish fortresses. they must away." after a little further conversation in this vein the prince grew more excited. "everything is the fault of the advocate," he cried. "if barneveld were dead," replied grotius, "all the rest of us would still deem ourselves bound to maintain the laws. people seem to despise holland and to wish to subject it to the other provinces." "on the contrary," cried the prince, "it is the advocate who wishes to make holland the states-general." maurice was tired of argument. there had been much ale-house talk some three months before by a certain blusterous gentleman called van ostrum about the necessity of keeping the stadholder in check. "if the prince should undertake," said this pot-valiant hero, "to attack any of the cities of utrecht or holland with the hard hand, it is settled to station or , soldiers in convenient places. then we shall say to the prince, if you don't leave us alone, we shall make an arrangement with the archduke of austria and resume obedience to him. we can make such a treaty with him as will give us religious freedom and save us from tyranny of any kind. i don't say this for myself, but have heard it on good authority from very eminent persons." this talk had floated through the air to the stadholder. what evidence could be more conclusive of a deep design on the part of barneveld to sell the republic to the archduke and drive maurice into exile? had not esquire van ostrum solemnly declared it at a tavern table? and although he had mentioned no names, could the "eminent personages" thus cited at second hand be anybody but the advocate? three nights after his last conference with the hollanders, maurice quietly ordered a force of regular troops in utrecht to be under arms at half past three o'clock next morning. about infantry, including companies of ernest of nassau's command at arnhem and of brederode's from vianen, besides a portion of the regular garrison of the place, had accordingly been assembled without beat of drum, before half past three in the morning, and were now drawn up on the market-place or neu. at break of day the prince himself appeared on horseback surrounded by his staff on the neu or neude, a large, long, irregular square into which the seven or eight principal streets and thoroughfares of the town emptied themselves. it was adorned by public buildings and other handsome edifices, and the tall steeple of st. martin's with its beautiful open-work spire, lighted with the first rays of the midsummer sun, looked tranquilly down upon the scene. each of the entrances to the square had been securely guarded by maurice's orders, and cannon planted to command all the streets. a single company of the famous waartgelders was stationed in the neu or near it. the prince rode calmly towards them and ordered them to lay down their arms. they obeyed without a murmur. he then sent through the city to summon all the other companies of waartgelders to the neu. this was done with perfect promptness, and in a short space of time the whole body of mercenaries, nearly in number, had laid down their arms at the feet of the prince. the snaphances and halberds being then neatly stacked in the square, the stadholder went home to his early breakfast. there was an end to those mercenaries thenceforth and for ever. the faint and sickly resistance to the authority of maurice offered at utrecht was attempted nowhere else. for days there had been vague but fearful expectations of a "blood bath," of street battles, rioting, and plunder. yet the stadholder with the consummate art which characterized all his military manoeuvres had so admirably carried out his measure that not a shot was fired, not a blow given, not a single burgher disturbed in his peaceful slumbers. when the population had taken off their nightcaps, they woke to find the awful bugbear removed which had so long been appalling them. the waartgelders were numbered with the terrors of the past, and not a cat had mewed at their disappearance. charter-books, parchments, th articles, barneveld's teeth, arminian forts, flowery orations of grotius, tavern talk of van ostrum, city immunities, states' rights, provincial laws, waartgelders and all--the martial stadholder, with the orange plume in his hat and the sword of nieuwpoort on his thigh, strode through them as easily as through the whirligigs and mountebanks, the wades and fritters, encumbering the streets of utrecht on the night of his arrival. secretary ledenberg and other leading members of the states had escaped the night before. grotius and his colleagues also took a precipitate departure. as they drove out of town in the twilight, they met the deputies of the six opposition cities of holland just arriving in their coach from the hague. had they tarried an hour longer, they would have found themselves safely in prison. four days afterwards the stadholder at the head of his body-guard appeared at the town-house. his halberdmen tramped up the broad staircase, heralding his arrival to the assembled magistracy. he announced his intention of changing the whole board then and there. the process was summary. the forty members were required to supply forty other names, and the prince added twenty more. from the hundred candidates thus furnished the prince appointed forty magistrates such as suited himself. it is needless to say that but few of the old bench remained, and that those few were devoted to the synod, the states-general, and the stadholder. he furthermore announced that these new magistrates were to hold office for life, whereas the board had previously been changed every year. the cathedral church was at once assigned for the use of the contra-remonstrants. this process was soon to be repeated throughout the two insubordinate provinces utrecht and holland. the prince was accused of aiming at the sovereignty of the whole country, and one of his grief's against the advocate was that he had begged the princess-widow, louise de coligny, to warn her son-in-law of the dangers of such ambition. but so long as an individual, sword in hand, could exercise such unlimited sway over the whole municipal, and provincial organization of the commonwealth, it mattered but little whether he was called king or kaiser, doge or stadholder. sovereign he was for the time being at least, while courteously acknowledging the states-general as his sovereign. less than three weeks afterwards the states-general issued a decree formally disbanding the waartgelders; an almost superfluous edict, as they had almost ceased to exist, and there were none to resist the measure. grotius recommended complete acquiescence. barneveld's soul could no longer animate with courage a whole people. the invitations which had already in the month of june been prepared for the synod to meet in the city of dortor dordtrecht-were now issued. the states of holland sent back the notification unopened, deeming it an unwarrantable invasion of their rights that an assembly resisted by a large majority of their body should be convoked in a city on their own territory. but this was before the disbandment of the waartgelders and the general change of magistracies had been effected. earnest consultations were now held as to the possibility of devising some means of compromise; of providing that the decisions of the synod should not be considered binding until after having been ratified by the separate states. in the opinion of barneveld they were within a few hours' work of a favourable result when their deliberations were interrupted by a startling event. chapter xviii. fruitless interview between barneveld and maurice--the advocate, warned of his danger, resolves to remain at the hague--arrest of barneveld, of qrotius, and of hoogerbeets--the states-general assume the responsibility in a "billet"--the states of holland protest-- the advocate's letter to his family--audience of boississe-- mischief-making of aerssens--the french ambassadors intercede for barneveld--the king of england opposes their efforts--langerac's treachery to the advocate--maurice continues his changes in the magistracy throughout the country--vote of thanks by the states of holland. the advocate, having done what he believed to be his duty, and exhausted himself in efforts to defend ancient law and to procure moderation and mutual toleration in religion, was disposed to acquiesce in the inevitable. his letters giving official and private information of those grave events were neither vindictive nor vehement. "i send you the last declaration of my lords of holland," he said to caron, "in regard to the national synod, with the counter-declaration of dordtrecht and the other five cities. yesterday was begun the debate about cashiering the enrolled soldiers called waartgelders. to-day the late m. van kereburg was buried." nothing could be calmer than his tone. after the waartgelders had been disbanded, utrecht revolutionized by main force, the national synod decided upon, and the process of changing the municipal magistracies everywhere in the interest of contra-remonstrants begun, he continued to urge moderation and respect for law. even now, although discouraged, he was not despondent, and was disposed to make the best even of the synod. he wished at this supreme moment to have a personal interview with the prince in order to devise some means for calming the universal agitation and effecting, if possible, a reconciliation among conflicting passions and warring sects. he had stood at the side of maurice and of maurice's great father in darker hours even than these. they had turned to him on all trying and tragical occasions and had never found his courage wavering or his judgment at fault. "not a friend to the house of nassau, but a father," thus had maurice with his own lips described the advocate to the widow of william the silent. incapable of an unpatriotic thought, animated by sincere desire to avert evil and procure moderate action, barneveld saw no reason whatever why, despite all that had been said and done, he should not once more hold council with the prince. he had a conversation accordingly with count lewis, who had always honoured the advocate while differing with him on the religious question. the stadholder of friesland, one of the foremost men of his day in military and scientific affairs, in administrative ability and philanthropic instincts, and, in a family perhaps the most renowned in europe for heroic qualities and achievements, hardly second to any who had borne the name, was in favour of the proposed interview, spoke immediately to prince maurice about it, but was not hopeful as to its results. he knew his cousin well and felt that he was at that moment resentful, perhaps implacably so, against the whole remonstrant party and especially against their great leader. count lewis was small of stature, but dignified, not to say pompous, in demeanour. his style of writing to one of lower social rank than himself was lofty, almost regal, and full of old world formality. "noble, severe, right worshipful, highly learned and discreet, special good friend," he wrote to barneveld; "we have spoken to his excellency concerning the expediency of what you requested of us this forenoon. we find however that his excellency is not to be moved to entertain any other measure than the national synod which he has himself proposed in person to all the provinces, to the furtherance of which he has made so many exertions, and which has already been announced by the states-general. "we will see by what opportunity his excellency will appoint the interview, and so far as lies in us you may rely on our good offices. we could not answer sooner as the french ambassadors had audience of us this forenoon and we were visiting his excellency in the afternoon. wishing your worship good evening, we are your very good friend." next day count william wrote again. "we have taken occasion," he said, "to inform his excellency that you were inclined to enter into communication with him in regard to an accommodation of the religious difficulties and to the cashiering of the waartgelders. he answered that he could accept no change in the matter of the national synod, but nevertheless would be at your disposal whenever your worship should be pleased to come to him." two days afterwards barneveld made his appearance at the apartments of the stadholder. the two great men on whom the fabric of the republic had so long rested stood face to face once more. the advocate, with long grey beard and stern blue eye, haggard with illness and anxiety, tall but bent with age, leaning on his staff and wrapped in black velvet cloak--an imposing magisterial figure; the florid, plethoric prince in brown doublet, big russet boots, narrow ruff, and shabby felt hat with its string of diamonds, with hand clutched on swordhilt, and eyes full of angry menace, the very type of the high-born, imperious soldier--thus they surveyed each other as men, once friends, between whom a gulf had opened. barneveld sought to convince the prince that in the proceedings at utrecht, founded as they were on strict adherence to the laws and traditions of the provinces, no disrespect had been intended to him, no invasion of his constitutional rights, and that on his part his lifelong devotion to the house of nassau had suffered no change. he repeated his usual incontrovertible arguments against the synod, as illegal and directly tending to subject the magistracy to the priesthood, a course of things which eight-and-twenty years before had nearly brought destruction on the country and led both the prince and himself to captivity in a foreign land. the prince sternly replied in very few words that the national synod was a settled matter, that he would never draw back from his position, and could not do so without singular disservice to the country and to his own disreputation. he expressed his displeasure at the particular oath exacted from the waartgelders. it diminished his lawful authority and the respect due to him, and might be used per indirectum to the oppression of those of the religion which he had sworn to maintain. his brow grew black when he spoke of the proceedings at utrecht, which he denounced as a conspiracy against his own person and the constitution of the country. barneveld used in vain the powers of argument by which he had guided kings and republics, cabinets and assemblies, during so many years. his eloquence fell powerless upon the iron taciturnity of the stadholder. maurice had expressed his determination and had no other argument to sustain it but his usual exasperating silence. the interview ended as hopelessly as count lewis william had anticipated, and the prince and the advocate separated to meet no more on earth. "you have doubtless heard already," wrote barneveld to the ambassador in london, "of all that has been passing here and in utrecht. one must pray to god that everything may prosper to his honour and the welfare of the country. they are resolved to go through with the national synod, the government of utrecht after the change made in it having consented with the rest. i hope that his majesty, according to your statement, will send some good, learned, and peace-loving personages here, giving them wholesome instructions to help bring our affairs into christian unity, accommodation, and love, by which his majesty and these provinces would be best served." were these the words of a baffled conspirator and traitor? were they uttered to produce an effect upon public opinion and avert a merited condemnation by all good men? there is not in them a syllable of reproach, of anger, of despair. and let it be remembered that they were not written for the public at all. they were never known to the public, hardly heard of either by the advocate's enemies or friends, save the one to whom they were addressed and the monarch to whom that friend was accredited. they were not contained in official despatches, but in private, confidential outpourings to a trusted political and personal associate of many years. from the day they were written until this hour they have never been printed, and for centuries perhaps not read. he proceeded to explain what he considered to be the law in the netherlands with regard to military allegiance. it is not probable that there was in the country a more competent expounder of it; and defective and even absurd as such a system was, it had carried the provinces successfully through a great war, and a better method for changing it might have been found among so law-loving and conservative a people as the netherlanders than brute force. "information has apparently been sent to england," he said, "that my lords of holland through their commissioners in utrecht dictated to the soldiery standing at their charges something that was unreasonable. the truth is that the states of holland, as many of them as were assembled, understanding that great haste was made to send his excellency and some deputies from the other provinces to utrecht, while the members of the utrecht assembly were gone to report these difficulties to their constituents and get fresh instructions from them, wishing that the return of those members should be waited for and that the assembly of holland might also be complete--a request which was refused--sent a committee to utrecht, as the matter brooked no delay, to give information to the states of that province of what was passing here and to offer their good offices. "they sent letters also to his excellency to move him to reasonable accommodation without taking extreme measures in opposition to those resolutions of the states of utrecht which his excellency had promised to conform with and to cause to be maintained by all officers and soldiers. should his excellency make difficulty in this, the commissioners were instructed to declare to him that they were ordered to warn the colonels and captains standing in the payment of holland, by letter and word of mouth, that they were bound by oath to obey the states of holland as their paymasters and likewise to carry out the orders of the provincial and municipal magistrates in the places where they were employed. the soldiery was not to act or permit anything to be done against those resolutions, but help to carry them out, his excellency himself and the troops paid by the states of holland being indisputably bound by oath and duty so to do." doubtless a more convenient arrangement from a military point of view might be imagined than a system of quotas by which each province in a confederacy claimed allegiance and exacted obedience from the troops paid by itself in what was after all a general army. still this was the logical and inevitable result of state rights pushed to the extreme and indeed had been the indisputable theory and practice in the netherlands ever since their revolt from spain. to pretend that the proceedings and the oath were new because they were embarrassing was absurd. it was only because the dominant party saw the extreme inconvenience of the system, now that it was turned against itself, that individuals contemptuous of law and ignorant of history denounced it as a novelty. but the strong and beneficent principle that lay at the bottom of the advocate's conduct was his unflagging resolve to maintain the civil authority over the military in time of peace. what liberal or healthy government would be possible otherwise? exactly as he opposed the subjection of the magistracy by the priesthood or the mob, so he now defended it against the power of the sword. there was no justification whatever for a claim on the part of maurice to exact obedience from all the armies of the republic, especially in time of peace. he was himself by oath sworn to obey the states of holland, of utrecht, and of the three other provinces of which he was governor. he was not commander-in-chief. in two of the seven provinces he had no functions whatever, military or civil. they had another governor. yet the exposition of the law, as it stood, by the advocate and his claim that both troops and stadholder should be held to their oaths was accounted a crime. he had invented a new oath--it was said--and sought to diminish the power of the prince. these were charges, unjust as they were, which might one day be used with deadly effect. "we live in a world where everything is interpreted to the worst," he said. "my physical weakness continues and is increased by this affliction. i place my trust in god the lord and in my upright and conscientious determination to serve the country, his excellency, and the religion in which through god's grace i hope to continue to the end." on the th august of a warm afternoon, barneveld was seated on a porcelain seat in an arbor in his garden. councillor berkhout, accompanied by a friend, called to see him, and after a brief conversation gave him solemn warning that danger was impending, that there was even a rumour of an intention to arrest him. the advocate answered gravely, "yes, there are wicked men about." presently he lifted his hat courteously and said, "i thank you, gentlemen, for the warning." it seems scarcely to have occurred to him that he had been engaged in anything beyond a constitutional party struggle in which he had defended what in his view was the side of law and order. he never dreamt of seeking safety in flight. some weeks before, he had been warmly advised to do as both he and maurice had done in former times in order to escape the stratagems of leicester, to take refuge in some strong city devoted to his interests rather than remain at the hague. but he had declined the counsel. "i will await the issue of this business," he said, "in the hague, where my home is, and where i have faithfully served my masters. i had rather for the sake of the fatherland suffer what god chooses to send me for having served well than that through me and on my account any city should fall into trouble and difficulties." next morning, wednesday, at seven o'clock, uytenbogaert paid him a visit. he wished to consult him concerning a certain statement in regard to the synod which he desired him to lay before the states of holland. the preacher did not find his friend busily occupied at his desk, as usual, with writing and other work. the advocate had pushed his chair away from the table encumbered with books and papers, and sat with his back leaning against it, lost in thought. his stern, stoical face was like that of a lion at bay. uytenbogaert tried to arouse him from his gloom, consoling him by reflections on the innumerable instances, in all countries and ages, of patriotic statesmen who for faithful service had reaped nothing but ingratitude. soon afterwards he took his leave, feeling a presentiment of evil within him which it was impossible for him to shake off as he pressed barneveld's hand at parting. two hours later, the advocate went in his coach to the session of the states of holland. the place of the assembly as well as that of the states-general was within what was called the binnenhof or inner court; the large quadrangle enclosing the ancient hall once the residence of the sovereign counts of holland. the apartments of the stadholder composed the south-western portion of the large series of buildings surrounding this court. passing by these lodgings on his way to the assembly, he was accosted by a chamberlain of the prince and informed that his highness desired to speak with him. he followed him towards the room where such interviews were usually held, but in the antechamber was met by lieutenant nythof, of the prince's bodyguard. this officer told him that he had been ordered to arrest him in the name of the states-general. the advocate demanded an interview with the prince. it was absolutely refused. physical resistance on the part of a man of seventy-two, stooping with age and leaning on a staff, to military force, of which nythof was the representative, was impossible. barneveld put a cheerful face on the matter, and was even inclined to converse. he was at once carried off a prisoner and locked up in a room belonging to maurice's apartments. soon afterwards, grotius on his way to the states-general was invited in precisely the same manner to go to the prince, with whom, as he was informed, the advocate was at that moment conferring. as soon as he had ascended the stairs however, he was arrested by captain van der meulen in the name of the states-general, and taken to a chamber in the same apartments, where he was guarded by two halberdmen. in the evening he was removed to another chamber where the window shutters were barred, and where he remained three days and nights. he was much cast down and silent. pensionary hoogerbeets was made prisoner in precisely the same manner. thus the three statesmen--culprits as they were considered by their enemies--were secured without noise or disturbance, each without knowing the fate that had befallen the other. nothing could have been more neatly done. in the same quiet way orders were sent to secure secretary ledenberg, who had returned to utrecht, and who now after a short confinement in that city was brought to the hague and imprisoned in the hof. at the very moment of the advocate's arrest his son-in-law van der myle happened to be paying a visit to sir dudley carleton, who had arrived very late the night before from england. it was some hours before he or any other member of the family learned what had befallen. the ambassador reported to his sovereign that the deed was highly applauded by the well disposed as the only means left for the security of the state. "the arminians," he said, "condemn it as violent and insufferable in a free republic." impartial persons, he thought, considered it a superfluous proceeding now that the synod had been voted and the waartgelders disbanded. while he was writing his despatch, the stadholder came to call upon him, attended by his cousin count lewis william. the crowd of citizens following at a little distance, excited by the news with which the city was now ringing, mingled with maurice's gentlemen and bodyguards and surged up almost into the ambassador's doors. carleton informed his guests, in the course of conversation, as to the general opinion of indifferent judges of these events. maurice replied that he had disbanded the waartgelders, but it had now become necessary to deal with their colonel and the chief captains, meaning thereby barneveld and the two other prisoners. the news of this arrest was soon carried to the house of barneveld, and filled his aged wife, his son, and sons-in-law with grief and indignation. his eldest son william, commonly called the seignior van groeneveld, accompanied by his two brothers-in-law, veenhuyzen, president of the upper council, and van der myle, obtained an interview with the stadholder that same afternoon. they earnestly requested that the advocate, in consideration of his advanced age, might on giving proper bail be kept prisoner in his own house. the prince received them at first with courtesy. "it is the work of the states-general," he said, "no harm shall come to your father any more than to myself." veenhuyzen sought to excuse the opposition which the advocate had made to the cloister church. the word was scarcely out of his mouth when the prince fiercely interrupted him--"any man who says a word against the cloister church," he cried in a rage, "his feet shall not carry him from this place." the interview gave them on the whole but little satisfaction. very soon afterwards two gentlemen, asperen and schagen, belonging to the chamber of nobles, and great adherents of barneveld, who had procured their enrolment in that branch, forced their way into the stadholder's apartments and penetrated to the door of the room where the advocate was imprisoned. according to carleton they were filled with wine as well as rage, and made a great disturbance, loudly demanding their patron's liberation. maurice came out of his own cabinet on hearing the noise in the corridor, and ordered them to be disarmed and placed under arrest. in the evening however they were released. soon afterwards van der myle fled to paris, where he endeavoured to make influence with the government in favour of the advocate. his departure without leave, being, as he was, a member of the chamber of nobles and of the council of state, was accounted a great offence. uytenbogaert also made his escape, as did taurinus, author of the balance, van moersbergen of utrecht, and many others more or less implicated in these commotions. there was profound silence in the states of holland when the arrest of barneveld was announced. the majority sat like men distraught. at last matenesse said, "you have taken from us our head, our tongue, and our hand, henceforth we can only sit still and look on." the states-general now took the responsibility of the arrest, which eight individuals calling themselves the states-general had authorized by secret resolution the day before ( th august). on the th accordingly, the following "billet," as it was entitled, was read to the assembly and ordered to be printed and circulated among the community. it was without date or signature. "whereas in the course of the changes within the city of utrecht and in other places brought about by the high and mighty lords the states-general of the united netherlands, through his excellency and their lordships' committee to him adjoined, sundry things have been discovered of which previously there had been great suspicion, tending to the great prejudice of the provinces in general and of each province in particular, not without apparent danger to the state of the country, and that thereby not only the city of utrecht, but various other cities of the united provinces would have fallen into a blood bath; and whereas the chief ringleaders in these things are considered to be john van barneveld, advocate of holland, rombout hoogerbeets, and hugo grotius, whereof hereafter shall declaration and announcement be made, therefore their high mightinesses, in order to prevent these and similar inconveniences, to place the country in security, and to bring the good burghers of all the cities into friendly unity again, have resolved to arrest those three persons, in order that out of their imprisonment they may be held to answer duly for their actions and offences." the deputies of holland in the states-general protested on the same day against the arrest, declaring themselves extraordinarily amazed at such proceedings, without their knowledge, with usurpation of their jurisdiction, and that they should refer to their principals for instructions in the matter. they reported accordingly at once to the states of holland in session in the same building. soon afterwards however a committee of five from the states-general appeared before the assembly to justify the proceeding. on their departure there arose a great debate, the six cities of course taking part with maurice and the general government. it was finally resolved by the majority to send a committee to the stadholder to remonstrate with, and by the six opposition cities another committee to congratulate him, on his recent performances. his answer was to this effect: "what had happened was not by his order, but had been done by the states-general, who must be supposed not to have acted without good cause. touching the laws and jurisdiction of holland he would not himself dispute, but the states of holland would know how to settle that matter with the states-general." next day it was resolved in the holland assembly to let the affair remain as it was for the time being. rapid changes were soon to be expected in that body, hitherto so staunch for the cause of municipal laws and state rights. meantime barneveld sat closely guarded in the apartments of the stadholder, while the country and very soon all europe were ringing with the news of his downfall, imprisonment, and disgrace. the news was a thunder-bolt to the lovers of religious liberty, a ray of dazzling sunlight after a storm to the orthodox. the showers of pamphlets, villanous lampoons, and libels began afresh. the relatives of the fallen statesman could not appear in the streets without being exposed to insult, and without hearing scurrilous and obscene verses against their father and themselves, in which neither sex nor age was spared, howled in their ears by all the ballad-mongers and broadsheet vendors of the town. the unsigned publication of the states-general, with its dark allusions to horrible discoveries and promised revelations which were never made, but which reduced themselves at last to the gibberish of a pot-house bully, the ingenious libels, the powerfully concocted and poisonous calumnies, caricatures, and lampoons, had done their work. people stared at each other in the streets with open mouths as they heard how the advocate had for years and years been the hireling of spain, whose government had bribed him largely to bring about the truce and kill the west india company; how his pockets and his coffers were running over with spanish ducats; how his plot to sell the whole country to the ancient tyrant, drive the prince of orange into exile, and bring every city of the netherlands into a "blood-bath," had, just in time, been discovered. and the people believed it and hated the man they had so lately honoured, and were ready to tear him to pieces in the streets. men feared to defend him lest they too should be accused of being stipendiaries of spain. it was a piteous spectacle; not for the venerable statesman sitting alone there in his prison, but for the republic in its lunacy, for human nature in its meanness and shame. he whom count lewis, although opposed to his politics, had so lately called one of the two columns on which the whole fabric of the states reposed, prince maurice being the other, now lay prostrate in the dust and reviled of all men. "many who had been promoted by him to high places," said a contemporary, "and were wont to worship him as a god, in hope that he would lift them up still higher, now deserted him, and ridiculed him, and joined the rest of the world in heaping dirt upon him." on the third day of his imprisonment the advocate wrote this letter to his family:-- "my very dear wife, children, children-in-law, and grandchildren,--i know that you are sorrowful for the troubles which have come upon me, but i beg you to seek consolation from god the almighty and to comfort each other. i know before the lord god of having given no single lawful reason for the misfortunes which have come upon me, and i will with patience await from his divine hand and from my lawful superiors a happy issue, knowing well that you and my other well-wishers will with your prayers and good offices do all that you can to that end. "and so, very dear wife, children, children-in-law, and grandchildren, i commend you to god's holy keeping. "i have been thus far well and honourably treated and accommodated, for which i thank his princely excellency. "from my chamber of arrest, last of august, anno . "your dear husband, father, father-in-law, and grand father, "john of barneveld." on the margin was written: "from the first i have requested and have at last obtained materials for writing." a fortnight before the arrest, but while great troubles were known to be impending, the french ambassador extraordinary, de boississe, had audience before the assembly of the states-general. he entreated them to maintain the cause of unity and peace as the foundation of their state; "that state," he said, "which lifts its head so high that it equals or surpasses the mightiest republics that ever existed, and which could not have risen to such a height of honour and grandeur in so short a time, but through harmony and union of all the provinces, through the valour of his excellency, and through your own wise counsels, both sustained by our great king, whose aid is continued by his son."--"the king my master," he continued, "knows not the cause of your disturbances. you have not communicated them to him, but their most apparent cause is a difference of opinion, born in the schools, thence brought before the public, upon a point of theology. that point has long been deemed by many to be so hard and so high that the best advice to give about it is to follow what god's word teaches touching god's secrets; to wit, that one should use moderation and modesty therein and should not rashly press too far into that which he wishes to be covered with the veil of reverence and wonder. that is a wise ignorance to keep one's eyes from that which god chooses to conceal. he calls us not to eternal life through subtle and perplexing questions." and further exhorting them to conciliation and compromise, he enlarged on the effect of their internal dissensions on their exterior relations. "what joy, what rapture you are preparing for your neighbours by your quarrels! how they will scorn you! how they will laugh! what a hope do you give them of revenging themselves upon you without danger to themselves! let me implore you to baffle their malice, to turn their joy into mourning, to unite yourselves to confound them." he spoke much more in the same vein, expressing wise and moderate sentiments. he might as well have gone down to the neighbouring beach when a south-west gale was blowing and talked of moderation to the waves of the german ocean. the tempest of passion and prejudice had risen in its might and was sweeping all before it. yet the speech, like other speeches and intercessions made at this epoch by de boississe and by the regular french ambassador, du maurier, was statesmanlike and reasonable. it is superfluous to say that it was in unison with the opinions of barneveld, for barneveld had probably furnished the text of the oration. even as he had a few years before supplied the letters which king james had signed and subsequently had struggled so desperately to disavow, so now the advocate's imperious intellect had swayed the docile and amiable minds of the royal envoys into complete sympathy with his policy. he usually dictated their general instructions. but an end had come to such triumphs. dudley carleton had returned from his leave of absence in england, where he had found his sovereign hating the advocate as doctors hate who have been worsted in theological arguments and despots who have been baffled in their imperious designs. who shall measure the influence on the destiny of this statesman caused by the french-spanish marriages, the sermons of james through the mouth of carleton, and the mutual jealousy of france and england? but the advocate was in prison, and the earth seemed to have closed over him. hardly a ripple of indignation was perceptible on the calm surface of affairs, although in the states-general as in the states of holland his absence seemed to have reduced both bodies to paralysis. they were the more easily handled by the prudent, skilful, and determined maurice. the arrest of the four gentlemen had been communicated to the kings of france and great britain and the elector-palatine in an identical letter from the states-general. it is noticeable that on this occasion the central government spoke of giving orders to the prince of orange, over whom they would seem to have had no legitimate authority, while on the other hand he had expressed indignation on more than one occasion that the respective states of the five provinces where he was governor and to whom he had sworn obedience should presume to issue commands to him. in france, where the advocate was honoured and beloved, the intelligence excited profound sorrow. a few weeks previously the government of that country had, as we have seen, sent a special ambassador to the states, m. de boississe, to aid the resident envoy, du maurier, in his efforts to bring about a reconciliation of parties and a termination of the religious feud. their exertions were sincere and unceasing. they were as steadily countermined by francis aerssens, for the aim of that diplomatist was to bring about a state of bad feeling, even at cost of rupture, between the republic and france, because france was friendly to the man he most hated and whose ruin he had sworn. during the summer a bitter personal controversy had been going on, sufficiently vulgar in tone, between aerssens and another diplomatist, barneveld's son-in-law, cornelis van der myle. it related to the recall of aerssens from the french embassy of which enough has already been laid before the reader. van der myle by the production of the secret letters of the queen-dowager and her counsellors had proved beyond dispute that it was at the express wish of the french government that the ambassador had retired, and that indeed they had distinctly refused to receive him, should he return. foul words resulting in propositions for a hostile meeting on the frontier, which however came to nothing, were interchanged and aerssens in the course of his altercation with the son-inlaw had found ample opportunity for venting his spleen upon his former patron the now fallen statesman. four days after the arrest of barneveld he brought the whole matter before the states-general, and the intention with which he thus raked up the old quarrel with france after the death of henry, and his charges in regard to the spanish marriages, was as obvious as it was deliberate. the french ambassadors were furious. boississe had arrived not simply as friend of the advocate, but to assure the states of the strong desire entertained by the french government to cultivate warmest relations with them. it had been desired by the contra-remonstrant party that deputies from the protestant churches of france should participate in the synod, and the french king had been much assailed by the catholic powers for listening to those suggestions. the papal nuncius, the spanish ambassador, the envoy of the archduke, had made a great disturbance at court concerning the mission of boississe. they urged with earnestness that his majesty was acting against the sentiments of spain, rome, and the whole catholic church, and that he ought not to assist with his counsel those heretics who were quarrelling among themselves over points in their heretical religion and wishing to destroy each other. notwithstanding this outcry the weather was smooth enough until the proceedings of aerssens came to stir up a tempest at the french court. a special courier came from boississe, a meeting of the whole council, although it was sunday, was instantly called, and the reply of the states-general to the remonstrance of the ambassador in the aerssens affair was pronounced to be so great an affront to the king that, but for overpowering reasons, diplomatic intercourse would have at once been suspended. "now instead of friendship there is great anger here," said langerac. the king forbade under vigorous penalties the departure of any french theologians to take part in the synod, although the royal consent had nearly been given. the government complained that no justice was done in the netherlands to the french nation, that leading personages there openly expressed contempt for the french alliance, denouncing the country as "hispaniolized," and declaring that all the council were regularly pensioned by spain for the express purpose of keeping up the civil dissensions in the united provinces. aerssens had publicly and officially declared that a majority of the french council since the death of henry had declared the crown in its temporal as well as spiritual essence to be dependent on the pope, and that the spanish marriages had been made under express condition of the renunciation of the friendship and alliance of the states. such were among the first-fruits of the fall of barneveld and the triumph of aerssens, for it was he in reality who had won the victory, and he had gained it over both stadholder and advocate. who was to profit by the estrangement between the republic and its powerful ally at a moment too when that great kingdom was at last beginning to emerge from the darkness and nothingness of many years, with the faint glimmering dawn of a new great policy? barneveld, whose masterful statesmanship, following out the traditions of william the silent, had ever maintained through good and ill report cordial and beneficent relations between the two countries, had always comprehended, even as a great cardinal-minister was ere long to teach the world, that the permanent identification of france with spain and the roman league was unnatural and impossible. meantime barneveld sat in his solitary prison, knowing not what was passing on that great stage where he had so long been the chief actor, while small intriguers now attempted to control events. it was the intention of aerssens to return to the embassy in paris whence he had been driven, in his own opinion, so unjustly. to render himself indispensable, he had begun by making himself provisionally formidable to the king's government. later, there would be other deeds to do before the prize was within his grasp. thus the very moment when france was disposed to cultivate the most earnest friendship with the republic had been seized for fastening an insult upon her. the twelve years' truce with spain was running to its close, the relations between france and spain were unusually cold, and her friendship therefore more valuable than ever. on the other hand the british king was drawing closer his relations with spain, and his alliance was demonstrably of small account. the phantom of the spanish bride had become more real to his excited vision than ever, so that early in the year, in order to please gondemar, he had been willing to offer an affront to the french ambassador. the prince of wales had given a splendid masquerade at court, to which the envoy of his most catholic majesty was bidden. much to his amazement the representative of the most christian king received no invitation, notwithstanding that he had taken great pains to procure one. m. de la boderie was very angry, and went about complaining to the states' ambassador and his other colleagues of the slight, and darkened the lives of the court functionaries having charge of such matters with his vengeance and despair. it was represented to him that he had himself been asked to a festival the year before when count gondemar was left out. it was hinted to him that the king had good reasons for what he did, as the marriage with the daughter of spain was now in train, and it was desirable that the spanish ambassador should be able to observe the prince's disposition and make a more correct report of it to his government. it was in vain. m. de la boderie refused to be comforted, and asserted that one had no right to leave the french ambassador uninvited to any "festival or triumph" at court. there was an endless disturbance. de la boderie sent his secretary off to paris to complain to the king that his ambassador was of no account in london, while much favour was heaped upon the spaniard. the secretary returned with instructions from lewis that the ambassador was to come home immediately, and he went off accordingly in dudgeon. "i could see that he was in the highest degree indignant," said caron, who saw him before he left, "and i doubt not that his departure will increase and keep up the former jealousy between the governments." the ill-humor created by this event lasted a long time, serving to neutralize or at least perceptibly diminish the spanish influence produced in france by the spanish marriages. in the autumn, secretary de puysieux by command of the king ordered every spaniard to leave the french court. all the "spanish ladies and gentlemen, great and small," who had accompanied the queen from madrid were included in this expulsion with the exception of four individuals, her majesty's father confessor, physician, apothecary, and cook. the fair young queen was much vexed and shed bitter tears at this calamity, which, as she spoke nothing but spanish, left her isolated at the court, but she was a little consoled by the promise that thenceforth the king would share her couch. it had not yet occurred to him that he was married. the french envoys at the hague exhausted themselves in efforts, both private and public, in favour of the prisoners, but it was a thankless task. now that the great man and his chief pupils and adherents were out of sight, a war of shameless calumny was began upon him, such as has scarcely a parallel in political history. it was as if a whole tribe of noxious and obscene reptiles were swarming out of the earth which had suddenly swallowed him. but it was not alone the obscure or the anonymous who now triumphantly vilified him. men in high places who had partaken of his patronage, who had caressed him and grovelled before him, who had grown great through his tuition and rich through his bounty, now rejoiced in his ruin or hastened at least to save themselves from being involved in it. not a man of them all but fell away from him like water. even the great soldier forgot whose respectful but powerful hand it was which, at the most tragical moment, had lifted him from the high school at leyden into the post of greatest power and responsibility, and had guided his first faltering footsteps by the light of his genius and experience. francis aerssens, master of the field, had now become the political tutor of the mature stadholder. step by step we have been studying the inmost thoughts of the advocate as revealed in his secret and confidential correspondence, and the reader has been enabled to judge of the wantonness of the calumny which converted the determined antagonist into the secret friend of spain. yet it had produced its effect upon maurice. he told the french ambassadors a month after the arrest that barneveld had been endeavouring, during and since the truce negotiations, to bring back the provinces, especially holland, if not under the dominion of, at least under some kind of vassalage to spain. persons had been feeling the public pulse as to the possibility of securing permanent peace by paying tribute to spain, and this secret plan of barneveld had so alienated him from the prince as to cause him to attempt every possible means of diminishing or destroying altogether his authority. he had spread through many cities that maurice wished to make himself master of the state by using the religious dissensions to keep the people weakened and divided. there is not a particle of evidence, and no attempt was ever made to produce any, that the advocate had such plan, but certainly, if ever, man had made himself master of a state, that man was maurice. he continued however to place himself before the world as the servant of the states-general, which he never was, either theoretically or in fact. the french ambassadors became every day more indignant and more discouraged. it was obvious that aerssens, their avowed enemy, was controlling the public policy of the government. not only was there no satisfaction to be had for the offensive manner in which he had filled the country with his ancient grievances and his nearly forgotten charges against the queen-dowager and those who had assisted her in the regency, but they were repulsed at every turn when by order of their sovereign they attempted to use his good offices in favour of the man who had ever been the steady friend of france. the stadholder also professed friendship for that country, and referred to colonel-general chatillon, who had for a long time commanded the french regiments in the netherlands, for confirmation of his uniform affection for those troops and attachment to their sovereign. he would do wonders, he said, if lewis would declare war upon spain by land and sea. "such fruits are not ripe," said boississe, "nor has your love for france been very manifest in recent events." "barneveld," replied the prince, "has personally offended me, and has boasted that he would drive me out of the country like leicester. he is accused of having wished to trouble the country in order to bring it back under the yoke of spain. justice will decide. the states only are sovereign to judge this question. you must address yourself to them." "the states," replied the ambassadors, "will require to be aided by your counsels." the prince made no reply and remained chill and "impregnable." the ambassadors continued their intercessions in behalf of the prisoners both by public address to the assembly and by private appeals to the stadholder and his influential friends. in virtue of the intimate alliance and mutual guarantees existing between their government and the republic they claimed the acceptance of their good offices. they insisted upon a regular trial of the prisoners according to the laws of the land, that is to say, by the high court of holland, which alone had jurisdiction in the premises. if they had been guilty of high-treason, they should be duly arraigned. in the name of the signal services of barneveld and of the constant friendship of that great magistrate for france, the king demanded clemency or proof of his crimes. his majesty complained through his ambassadors of the little respect shown for his counsels and for his friendship. "in times past you found ever prompt and favourable action in your time of need." "this discourse," said maurice to chatillon, "proceeds from evil intention." thus the prisoners had disappeared from human sight, and their enemies ran riot in slandering them. yet thus far no public charges had been made. "nothing appears against them," said du maurier, "and people are beginning to open their mouths with incredible freedom. while waiting for the condemnation of the prisoners, one is determined to dishonour them." the french ambassadors were instructed to intercede to the last, but they were steadily repulsed--while the king of great britain, anxious to gain favour with spain by aiding in the ruin of one whom he knew and spain knew to be her determined foe, did all he could through his ambassador to frustrate their efforts and bring on a catastrophe. the states-general and maurice were now on as confidential terms with carleton as they were cold and repellent to boississe and du maurier. "to recall to them the benefits of the king," said du maurier, "is to beat the air. and then aerssens bewitches them, and they imagine that after having played runaway horses his majesty will be only too happy to receive them back, caress them, and, in order to have their friendship, approve everything they have been doing right or wrong." aerssens had it all his own way, and the states-general had just paid him , francs in cash on the ground that langerac's salary was larger than his had been when at the head of the same embassy many years before. his elevation into the body of nobles, which maurice had just stocked with five other of his partisans, was accounted an additional affront to france, while on the other hand the queen-mother, having through epernon's assistance made her escape from blois, where she had been kept in durance since the death of concini, now enumerated among other grievances for which she was willing to take up arms against her son that the king's government had favoured barneveld. it was strange that all the devotees of spain--mary de' medici, and epernon, as well as james i. and his courtiers--should be thus embittered against the man who had sold the netherlands to spain. at last the prince told the french ambassadors that the "people of the provinces considered their persistent intercessions an invasion of their sovereignty." few would have anything to say to them. "no one listens to us, no one replies to us," said du maurier, "everyone visiting us is observed, and it is conceived a reproach here to speak to the ambassadors of france." certainly the days were changed since henry iv. leaned on the arm of barneveld, and consulted with him, and with him only, among all the statesmen of europe on his great schemes for regenerating christendom and averting that general war which, now that the great king had been murdered and the advocate imprisoned, had already begun to ravage europe. van der myle had gone to paris to make such exertions as he could among the leading members of the council in favour of his father-in-law. langerac, the states' ambassador there, who but yesterday had been turning at every moment to the advocate for light and warmth as to the sun, now hastened to disavow all respect or regard for him. he scoffed at the slender sympathy van der myle was finding in the bleak political atmosphere. he had done his best to find out what he had been negotiating with the members of the council and was glad to say that it was so inconsiderable as to be not worth reporting. he had not spoken with or seen the king. jeannin, his own and his father-in-law's principal and most confidential friend, had only spoken with him half an hour and then departed for burgundy, although promising to confer with him sympathetically on his return. "i am very displeased at his coming here," said langerac, ". . . . but he has found little friendship or confidence, and is full of woe and apprehension." the ambassador's labours were now confined to personally soliciting the king's permission for deputations from the reformed churches of france to go to the synod, now opened ( th november) at dordtrecht, and to clearing his own skirts with the prince and states-general of any suspicion of sympathy with barneveld. in the first object he was unsuccessful, the king telling him at last "with clear and significant words that this was impossible, on account of his conscience, his respect for the catholic religion, and many other reasons." in regard to the second point he acted with great promptness. he received a summons in january from the states-general and the prince to send them all letters that he had ever received from barneveld. he crawled at once to maurice on his knees, with the letters in his hand. "most illustrious, high-born prince, most gracious lord," he said; "obeying the commands which it has pleased the states and your princely grace to give me, i send back the letters of advocate barneveld. if your princely grace should find anything in them showing that the said advocate had any confidence in me, i most humbly beg your princely grace to believe that i never entertained any affection for, him, except only in respect to and so far as he was in credit and good authority with the government, and according to the upright zeal which i thought i could see in him for the service of my high and puissant lords the states-general and of your princely grace." greater humbleness could be expected of no ambassador. most nobly did the devoted friend and pupil of the great statesman remember his duty to the illustrious prince and their high mightinesses. most promptly did he abjure his patron now that he had fallen into the abyss. "nor will it be found," he continued, "that i have had any sympathy or communication with the said advocate except alone in things concerning my service. the great trust i had in him as the foremost and oldest counsellor of the state, as the one who so confidentially instructed me on my departure for france, and who had obtained for himself so great authority that all the most important affairs of the country were entrusted to him, was the cause that i simply and sincerely wrote to him all that people were in the habit of saying at this court. "if i had known in the least or suspected that he was not what he ought to be in the service of my lords the states and of your princely grace and for the welfare and tranquillity of the land, i should have been well on my guard against letting myself in the least into any kind of communication with him whatever." the reader has seen how steadily and frankly the advocate had kept langerac as well as caron informed of passing events, and how little concealment he made of his views in regard to the synod, the waartgelders, and the respective authority of the states-general and states-provincial. not only had langerac no reason to suspect that barneveld was not what he ought to be, but he absolutely knew the contrary from that most confidential correspondence with him which he was now so abjectly repudiating. the advocate, in a protracted constitutional controversy, had made no secret of his views either officially or privately. whether his positions were tenable or flimsy, they had been openly taken. "what is more," proceeded the ambassador, "had i thought that any account ought to be made of what i wrote to him concerning the sovereignty of the provinces, i should for a certainty not have failed to advise your grace of it above all." he then, after profuse and maudlin protestations of his most dutiful zeal all the days of his life for "the service, honour, reputation, and contentment of your princely grace," observed that he had not thought it necessary to give him notice of such idle and unfounded matters, as being likely to give the prince annoyance and displeasure. he had however always kept within himself the resolution duly to notify him in case he found that any belief was attached to the reports in paris. "but the reports," he said, "were popular and calumnious inventions of which no man had ever been willing or able to name to him the authors." the ambassador's memory was treacherous, and he had doubtless neglected to read over the minutes, if he had kept them, of his wonderful disclosures on the subject of the sovereignty before thus exculpating himself. it will be remembered that he had narrated the story of the plot for conferring sovereignty upon maurice not as a popular calumny flying about paris with no man to father it, but he had given it to barneveld on the authority of a privy councillor of france and of the king himself. "his majesty knows it to be authentic," he had said in his letter. that letter was a pompous one, full of mystery and so secretly ciphered that he had desired that his friend van der myle, whom he was now deriding for his efforts in paris to save his father-inlaw from his fate, might assist the advocate in unravelling its contents. he had now discovered that it had been idle gossip not worthy of a moment's attention. the reader will remember too that barneveld, without attaching much importance to the tale, had distinctly pointed out to langerac that the prince himself was not implicated in the plot and had instructed the ambassador to communicate the story to maurice. this advice had not been taken, but he had kept the perilous stuff upon his breast. he now sought to lay the blame, if it were possible to do so, upon the man to whom he had communicated it and who had not believed it. the business of the states-general, led by the advocate's enemies this winter, was to accumulate all kind of tales, reports, and accusations to his discredit on which to form something like a bill of indictment. they had demanded all his private and confidential correspondence with caron and langerae. the ambassador in paris had been served, moreover, with a string of nine interrogatories which he was ordered to answer on oath and honour. this he did and appended the reply to his letter. the nine questions had simply for their object to discover what barneveld had been secretly writing to the ambassador concerning the synod, the enlisted troops, and the supposed projects of maurice concerning the sovereignty. langerac was obliged to admit in his replies that nothing had been written except the regular correspondence which he endorsed, and of which the reader has been able to see the sum and substance in the copious extracts which have been given. he stated also that he had never received any secret instructions save the marginal notes to the list of questions addressed by him, when about leaving for paris in , to barneveld. most of these were of a trivial and commonplace nature. they had however a direct bearing on the process to be instituted against the advocate, and the letter too which we have been examining will prove to be of much importance. certainly pains enough were taken to detect the least trace of treason in a very loyal correspondence. langerac concluded by enclosing the barneveld correspondence since the beginning of the year , protesting that not a single letter had been kept back or destroyed. "once more i recommend myself to mercy, if not to favour," he added, "as the most faithful, most obedient, most zealous servant of their high mightinesses and your princely grace, to whom i have devoted and sacrificed my honour and life in most humble service; and am now and forever the most humble, most obedient, most faithful servant of my most serene, most illustrious, most highly born prince, most gracious lord and princeliest grace." the former adherent of plain advocate barneveld could hardly find superlatives enough to bestow upon the man whose displeasure that prisoner had incurred. directly after the arrest the stadholder had resumed his tour through the provinces in order to change the governments. sliding over any opposition which recent events had rendered idle, his course in every city was nearly the same. a regiment or two and a train of eighty or a hundred waggons coming through the city-gate preceded by the prince and his body-guard of , a tramp of halberdmen up the great staircase of the town-hall, a jingle of spurs in the assembly-room, and the whole board of magistrates were summoned into the presence of the stadholder. they were then informed that the world had no further need of their services, and were allowed to bow themselves out of the presence. a new list was then announced, prepared beforehand by maurice on the suggestion of those on whom he could rely. a faint resistance was here and there attempted by magistrates and burghers who could not forget in a moment the rights of self-government and the code of laws which had been enjoyed for centuries. at hoorn, for instance, there was deep indignation among the citizens. an imprudent word or two from the authorities might have brought about a "blood-bath." the burgomaster ventured indeed to expostulate. they requested the prince not to change the magistracy. "this is against our privileges," they said, "which it is our duty to uphold. you will see what deep displeasure will seize the burghers, and how much disturbance and tumult will follow. if any faults have been committed by any member of the government, let him be accused and let him answer for them. let your excellency not only dismiss but punish such as cannot properly justify themselves." but his excellency summoned them all to the town-house and as usual deposed them all. a regiment was drawn up in half-moon on the square beneath the windows. to the magistrates asking why they were deposed, he briefly replied, "the quiet of the land requires it. it is necessary to have unanimous resolutions in the states-general at the hague. this cannot be accomplished without these preliminary changes. i believe that you had good intentions and have been faithful servants of the fatherland. but this time it must be so." and so the faithful servants of the fatherland were dismissed into space. otherwise how could there be unanimous voting in parliament? it must be regarded perhaps as fortunate that the force of character, undaunted courage, and quiet decision of maurice enabled him to effect this violent series of revolutions with such masterly simplicity. it is questionable whether the stadholder's commission technically empowered him thus to trample on municipal law; it is certain that, if it did, the boasted liberties of the netherlands were a dream; but it is equally true that, in the circumstances then existing, a vulgar, cowardly, or incompetent personage might have marked his pathway with massacres without restoring tranquillity. sometimes there was even a comic aspect to these strokes of state. the lists of new magistrates being hurriedly furnished by the prince's adherents to supply the place of those evicted, it often happened that men not quahified by property, residence, or other attributes were appointed to the government, so that many became magistrates before they were citizens. on being respectfully asked sometimes who such a magistrate might be whose face and name were equally unknown to his colleagues and to the townsmen in general; "do i know the fellows?" he would say with a cheerful laugh. and indeed they might have all been dead men, those new functionaries, for aught he did know. and so on through medemblik and alkmaar, brielle, delft, monnikendam, and many other cities progressed the prince, sowing new municipalities broadcast as he passed along. at the hague on his return a vote of thanks to the prince was passed by the nobles and most of the cities for the trouble he had taken in this reforming process. but the unanimous vote had not yet been secured, the strongholds of arminianism, as it was the fashion to call them, not being yet reduced. the prince, in reply to the vote of thanks, said that "in what he had done and was going to do his intention sincerely and uprightly had been no other than to promote the interests and tranquillity of the country, without admixture of anything personal and without prejudice to the general commonwealth or the laws and privileges of the cities." he desired further that "note might be taken of this declaration as record of his good and upright intentions." but the sincerest and most upright intentions may be refracted by party atmosphere from their aim, and the purest gold from the mint elude the direct grasp through the clearest fluid in existence. at any rate it would have been difficult to convince the host of deposed magistrates hurled from office, although recognized as faithful servants of the fatherland, that such violent removal had taken place without detriment to the laws and privileges. and the stadholder went to the few cities where some of the leaven still lingered. he arrived at leyden on the nd october, "accompanied by a great suite of colonels, ritmeesters, and captains," having sent on his body-guard to the town strengthened by other troops. he was received by the magistrates at the "prince's court" with great reverence and entertained by them in the evening at a magnificent banquet. next morning he summoned the whole forty of them to the town-house, disbanded them all, and appointed new ones in their stead; some of the old members however who could be relied upon being admitted to the revolutionized board. the populace, mainly of the stadholder's party, made themselves merry over the discomfited "arminians". they hung wisps of straw as derisive wreaths of triumph over the dismantled palisade lately encircling the town-hall, disposed of the famous "oldenbarneveld's teeth" at auction in the public square, and chased many a poor cock and hen, with their feathers completely plucked from their bodies, about the street, crying "arme haenen, arme haenen"--arminians or poor fowls--according to the practical witticism much esteemed at that period. certainly the unfortunate barneveldians or arminians, or however the remonstrants might be designated, had been sufficiently stripped of their plumes. the prince, after having made proclamation from the town-house enjoining "modesty upon the mob" and a general abstention from "perverseness and petulance," went his way to haarlem, where he dismissed the magistrates and appointed new ones, and then proceeded to rotterdam, to gouda, and to amsterdam. it seemed scarcely necessary to carry, out the process in the commercial capital, the abode of peter plancius, the seat of the west india company, the head-quarters of all most opposed to the advocate, most devoted to the stadholder. but although the majority of the city government was an overwhelming one, there was still a respectable minority who, it was thought possible, might under a change of circumstances effect much mischief and even grow into a majority. the prince therefore summoned the board before him according to his usual style of proceeding and dismissed them all. they submitted without a word of remonstrance. ex-burgomaster hooft, a man of seventy-two-father of the illustrious pieter corneliszoon hooft, one of the greatest historians of the netherlands or of any country, then a man of thirty-seven-shocked at the humiliating silence, asked his colleagues if they had none of them a word to say in defence of their laws and privileges. they answered with one accord "no." the old man, a personal friend of barneveld and born the same year, then got on his feet and addressed the stadholder. he spoke manfully and well, characterizing the summary deposition of the magistracy as illegal and unnecessary, recalling to the memory of those who heard him that he had been thirty-six years long a member of the government and always a warm friend of the house of nassau, and respectfully submitting that the small minority in the municipal government, while differing from their colleagues and from the greater number of the states-general, had limited their opposition to strictly constitutional means, never resorting to acts of violence or to secret conspiracy. nothing could be more truly respectable than the appearance of this ancient magistrate, in long black robe with fur edgings, high ruff around his thin, pointed face, and decent skull-cap covering his bald old head, quavering forth to unsympathetic ears a temperate and unanswerable defence of things which in all ages the noblest minds have deemed most valuable. his harangue was not very long. maurice's reply was very short. "grandpapa," he said, "it must be so this time. necessity and the service of the country require it." with that he dismissed the thirty-six magistrates and next day appointed a new board, who were duly sworn to fidelity to the states-general. of course a large proportion of the old members were renominated. scarcely had the echo of the prince's footsteps ceased to resound through the country as he tramped from one city to another, moulding each to his will, when the states of holland, now thoroughly reorganized, passed a solemn vote of thanks to him for all that he had done. the six cities of the minority had now become the majority, and there was unanimity at the hague. the seven provinces, states-general and states-provincial, were as one, and the synod was secured. whether the prize was worth the sacrifices which it had cost and was still to cost might at least be considered doubtful. etext editor's bookmarks: affection of his friends and the wrath of his enemies depths theological party spirit could descend extraordinary capacity for yielding to gentle violence human nature in its meanness and shame it had not yet occurred to him that he was married make the very name of man a term of reproach never lack of fishers in troubled waters opposed the subjection of the magistracy by the priesthood pot-valiant hero resolve to maintain the civil authority over the military tempest of passion and prejudice the effect of energetic, uncompromising calumny yes, there are wicked men about the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. life and death of john of barneveld, v , - chapter xix. rancour between the politico-religious parties--spanish intrigues inconsistency of james--brewster and robinson's congregation at leyden--they decide to leave for america--robinson's farewell sermon and prayer at parting. during this dark and mournful winter the internal dissensions and, as a matter of course, the foreign intrigues had become more dangerous than ever. while the man who for a whole generation had guided the policy of the republic and had been its virtual chief magistrate lay hidden from all men's sight, the troubles which he had sought to avert were not diminished by his removal from the scene. the extreme or gomarist party which had taken a pride in secret conventicles where they were in a minority, determined, as they said, to separate christ from belial and, meditating the triumph which they had at last secured, now drove the arminians from the great churches. very soon it was impossible for these heretics to enjoy the rights of public worship anywhere. but they were not dismayed. the canons of dordtrecht had not yet been fulminated. they avowed themselves ready to sacrifice worldly goods and life itself in defence of the five points. in rotterdam, notwithstanding a garrison of fifteen companies, more than a thousand remonstrants assembled on christmas-day in the exchange for want of a more appropriate place of meeting and sang the th psalm in mighty chorus. a clergyman of their persuasion accidentally passing through the street was forcibly laid hands upon and obliged to preach to them, which he did with great unction. the magistracy, where now the contra-remonstrants had the control, forbade, under severe penalties, a repetition of such scenes. it was impossible not to be reminded of the days half a century before, when the early reformers had met in the open fields or among the dunes, armed to the teeth, and with outlying pickets to warn the congregation of the approach of red rod and the functionaries of the holy inquisition. in schoonhoven the authorities attempted one sunday by main force to induct a contra-remonstrant into the pulpit from which a remonstrant had just been expelled. the women of the place turned out with their distaffs and beat them from the field. the garrison was called out, and there was a pitched battle in the streets between soldiers, police officers, and women, not much to the edification certainly of the sabbath-loving community on either side, the victory remaining with the ladies. in short it would be impossible to exaggerate the rancour felt between the different politico-religious parties. all heed for the great war now raging in the outside world between the hostile elements of catholicism and protestantism, embattled over an enormous space, was lost in the din of conflict among the respective supporters of conditional and unconditional damnation within the pale of the reformed church. the earthquake shaking europe rolled unheeded, as it was of old said to have done at cannae, amid the fierce shock of mortal foes in that narrow field. the respect for authority which had so long been the distinguishing characteristic of the netherlanders seemed to have disappeared. it was difficult--now that the time-honoured laws and privileges in defence of which, and of liberty of worship included in them, the provinces had made war forty years long had been trampled upon by military force--for those not warmed by the fire of gomarus to feel their ancient respect for the magistracy. the magistracy at that moment seemed to mean the sword. the spanish government was inevitably encouraged by the spectacle thus presented. we have seen the strong hopes entertained by the council at madrid, two years before the crisis now existing had occurred. we have witnessed the eagerness with which the king indulged the dream of recovering the sovereignty which his father had lost, and the vast schemes which he nourished towards that purpose, founded on the internal divisions which were reducing the republic to impotence. subsequent events had naturally made him more sanguine than ever. there was now a web of intrigue stretching through the provinces to bring them all back under the sceptre of spain. the imprisonment of the great stipendiary, the great conspirator, the man who had sold himself and was on the point of selling his country, had not terminated those plots. where was the supposed centre of that intrigue? in the council of state of the netherlands, ever fiercely opposed to barneveld and stuffed full of his mortal enemies. whose name was most familiar on the lips of the spanish partisans engaged in these secret schemes? that of adrian manmaker, president of the council, representative of prince maurice as first noble of zealand in the states-general, chairman of the committee sent by that body to utrecht to frustrate the designs of the advocate, and one of the twenty-four commissioners soon to be appointed to sit in judgment upon him. the tale seems too monstrous for belief, nor is it to be admitted with certainty, that manmaker and the other councillors implicated had actually given their adhesion to the plot, because the spanish emissaries in their correspondence with the king assured him of the fact. but if such a foundation for suspicion could have been found against barneveld and his friends, the world would not have heard the last of it from that hour to this. it is superfluous to say that the prince was entirely foreign to these plans. he had never been mentioned as privy to the little arrangements of councillor du agean and others, although he was to benefit by them. in the spanish schemes he seems to have been considered as an impediment, although indirectly they might tend to advance him. "we have managed now, i hope, that his majesty will be recognized as sovereign of the country," wrote the confidential agent of the king of spain in the netherlands, emmanuel sueyro, to the government of madrid. "the english will oppose it with all their strength. but they can do nothing except by making count maurice sovereign of holland and duke of julich and cleve. maurice will also contrive to make himself master of wesel, so it is necessary for the archduke to be beforehand with him and make sure of the place. it is also needful that his majesty should induce the french government to talk with the netherlanders and convince them that it is time to prolong the truce." this was soon afterwards accomplished. the french minister at brussels informed archduke albert that du maurier had been instructed to propose the prolongation, and that he had been conferring with the prince of orange and the states-general on the subject. at first the prince had expressed disinclination, but at the last interview both he and the states had shown a desire for it, and the french king had requested from the archduke a declaration whether the spanish government would be willing to treat for it. in such case lewis would offer himself as mediator and do his best to bring about a successful result. but it was not the intention of the conspirators in the netherlands that the truce should be prolonged. on the contrary the negotiation for it was merely to furnish the occasion for fully developing their plot. "the states and especially those of zealand will reply that they no longer wish the truce," continued sueyro, "and that they would prefer war to such a truce. they desire to put ships on the coast of flanders, to which the hollanders are opposed because it would be disagreeable to the french. so the zealanders will be the first to say that the netherlanders must come back to his majesty. this their president hanmaker has sworn. the states of overyssel will likewise give their hand to this because they say they will be the first to feel the shock of the war. thus we shall very easily carry out our design, and as we shall concede to the zealanders their demands in regard to the navigation they at least will place themselves under the dominion of his majesty as will be the case with friesland as well as overyssel." it will be observed that in this secret arrangement for selling the republic to its ancient master it was precisely the provinces and the politicians most steadily opposed to barneveld that took the lead. zealand, friesland, overyssel were in the plot, but not a word was said of utrecht. as for holland itself, hopes were founded on the places where hatred to the advocate was fiercest. "between ourselves," continued the agent, "we are ten here in the government of holland to support the plan, but we must not discover ourselves for fear of suffering what has happened to barneveld." he added that the time for action had not yet come, and that if movements were made before the synod had finished its labours, "the gomarists would say that they were all sold." he implored the government at madrid to keep the whole matter for the present profoundly secret because "prince maurice and the gomarists had the forces of the country at their disposition." in case the plot was sprung too suddenly therefore, he feared that with the assistance of england maurice might, at the head of the gomarists and the army, make himself sovereign of holland and duke of cleve, while he and the rest of the spanish partisans might be in prison with barneveld for trying to accomplish what barneveld had been trying to prevent. the opinions and utterances of such a man as james i. would be of little worth to our history had he not happened to occupy the place he did. but he was a leading actor in the mournful drama which filled up the whole period of the twelve years' truce. his words had a direct influence on great events. he was a man of unquestionable erudition, of powers of mind above the average, while the absolute deformity of his moral constitution made him incapable of thinking, feeling, or acting rightly on any vital subject, by any accident or on any occasion. if there were one thing that he thoroughly hated in the world, it was the reformed religion. if in his thought there were one term of reproach more loathsome than another to be applied to a human creature, it was the word puritan. in the word was subversion of all established authority in church and state--revolution, republicanism, anarchy. "there are degrees in heaven," he was wont to say, "there are degrees in hell, there must be degrees on earth." he forbade the calvinist churches of scotland to hold their customary synod in , passionately reviling them and their belief, and declaring "their aim to be nothing else than to deprive kings and princes of their sovereignty, and to reduce the whole world to a popular form of government where everybody would be master." when the prince of neuburg embraced catholicism, thus complicating matters in the duchies and strengthening the hand of spain and the emperor in the debateable land, he seized the occasion to assure the agent of the archduke in london, councillor boissetot, of his warm catholic sympathies. "they say that i am the greatest heretic in the world!" he exclaimed; "but i will never deny that the true religion is that of rome even if corrupted." he expressed his belief in the real presence, and his surprise that the roman catholics did not take the chalice for the blood of christ. the english bishops, he averred, drew their consecration through the bishops in mary tudor's time from the pope. as philip ii., and ferdinand ii. echoing the sentiments of his illustrious uncle, had both sworn they would rather reign in a wilderness than tolerate a single heretic in their dominions, so james had said "he would rather be a hermit in a forest than a king over such people as the pack of puritans were who overruled the lower house." for the netherlanders he had an especial hatred, both as rebels and puritans. soon after coming to the english throne he declared that their revolt, which had been going on all his lifetime and of which he never expected to see the end, had begun by petition for matters of religion. "his mother and he from their cradles," he said, "had been haunted with a puritan devil, which he feared would not leave him to his grave. and he would hazard his crown but he would suppress those malicious spirits." it seemed a strange caprice of destiny that assigned to this hater of netherlanders, of puritans, and of the reformed religion, the decision of disputed points between puritans and anti-puritans in the reformed church of the netherlands. it seemed stranger that his opinions should be hotly on the side of the puritans. barneveld, who often used the expression in later years, as we have seen in his correspondence, was opposed to the dutch puritans because they had more than once attempted subversion of the government on pretext of religion, especially at the memorable epoch of leicester's government. the business of stirring up these religious conspiracies against the magistracy he was apt to call "flanderizing," in allusion to those disastrous days and to the origin of the ringleaders in those tumults. but his main object, as we have seen, was to effect compromises and restore good feeling between members of the one church, reserving the right of disposing over religious matters to the government of the respective provinces. but james had remedied his audacious inconsistency by discovering that puritanism in england and in the netherlands resembled each other no more than certain letters transposed into totally different words meant one and the same thing. the anagrammatic argument had been neatly put by sir dudley carleton, convincing no man. puritanism in england "denied the right of human invention or imposition in religious matters." puritanism in the netherlands denied the right of the legal government to impose its authority in religious matters. this was the great matter of debate in the provinces. in england the argument had been settled very summarily against the puritans by sheriffs' officers, bishops' pursuivants, and county jails. as the political tendencies, so too the religious creed and observances of the english puritans were identical with that of the contra-remonstrants, whom king james had helped to their great triumph. this was not very difficult to prove. it so happened that there were some english puritans living at that moment in leyden. they formed an independent society by themselves, which they called a congregational church, and in which were some three hundred communicants. the length of their residence there was almost exactly coeval with the twelve years' truce. they knew before leaving england that many relics of the roman ceremonial, with which they were dissatisfied, and for the discontinuance of which they had in vain petitioned the crown--the ring, the sign of the cross, white surplices, and the like--besides the whole hierarchical system, had been disused in the reformed churches of france, switzerland, and the united provinces, where the forms of worship in their view had been brought more nearly to the early apostolic model. they admitted for truth the doctrinal articles of the dutch reformed churches. they had not come to the netherlands without cause. at an early period of king james's reign this congregation of seceders from the establishment had been wont to hold meetings at scrooby in nottinghamshire, once a manor of the archbishop of york, but then the residence of one william brewster. this was a gentleman of some fortune, educated at cambridge, a good scholar, who in queen elizabeth's time had been in the service of william davison when secretary of state. he seemed to have been a confidential private secretary of that excellent and unlucky statesman, who found him so discreet and faithful as to deserve employment before all others in matters of trust and secrecy. he was esteemed by davison "rather as a son than a servant," and he repaid his confidence by doing him many faithful offices in the time of his troubles. he had however long since retired from connection with public affairs, living a retired life, devoted to study, meditation, and practical exertion to promote the cause of religion, and in acts of benevolence sometimes beyond his means. the pastor of the scrooby church, one john robinson, a graduate of cambridge, who had been a benefited clergyman in norfolk, was a man of learning, eloquence, and lofty intellect. but what were such good gifts in the possession of rebels, seceders, and puritans? it is needless to say that brewster and robinson were baited, persecuted, watched day and night, some of the congregation often clapped into prison, others into the stocks, deprived of the means of livelihood, outlawed, famished, banned. plainly their country was no place for them. after a few years of such work they resolved to establish themselves in holland, where at least they hoped to find refuge and toleration. but it proved as difficult for them to quit the country as to remain in it. watched and hunted like gangs of coiners, forgers, or other felons attempting to flee from justice, set upon by troopers armed with "bills and guns and other weapons," seized when about to embark, pillaged and stripped by catchpoles, exhibited as a show to grinning country folk, the women and children dealt with like drunken tramps, led before magistrates, committed to jail; mr. brewster and six other of the principal ones being kept in prison and bound over to the assizes; they were only able after attempts lasting through two years' time to effect their escape to amsterdam. after remaining there a year they had removed to leyden, which they thought "a fair and beautiful city, and of a sweet situation." they settled in leyden in the very year in which arminius was buried beneath the pavement of st. peter's church in that town. it was the year too in which the truce was signed. they were a singularly tranquil and brotherly community. their pastor, who was endowed with remarkable gentleness and tact in dealing with his congregation, settled amicably all their occasional disputes. the authorities of the place held them up as a model. to a walloon congregation in which there were many troublesome and litigious members they said: "these english have lived among us ten years, and yet we never had any suit or accusation against any of them, but your quarrels are continual." although many of them were poor, finding it difficult to earn their living in a foreign land among people speaking a strange tongue, and with manners and habits differing from their own, and where they were obliged to learn new trades, having most of them come out of an agricultural population, yet they enjoyed a singular reputation for probity. bakers and butchers and the like willingly gave credit to the poorest of these english, and sought their custom if known to be of the congregation. mr. brewster, who had been reduced almost to poverty by his charities and munificent aid to his struggling brethren, earned his living by giving lessons in english, having first composed a grammar according to the latin model for the use of his pupils. he also set up a printing establishment, publishing many controversial works prohibited in england, a proceeding which roused the wrath of carleton, impelling him to do his best to have him thrown into prison. it was not the first time that this plain, mechanical, devout englishman, now past middle age, had visited the netherlands. more than twenty-five years before he had accompanied william davison on his famous embassy to the states, as private secretary. when the keys of flushing, one of the cautionary towns, were committed to the ambassador, he confided them to the care of brewster, who slept with them under his pillow. the gold chain which davison received as a present from the provincial government on leaving the country was likewise placed in his keeping, with orders to wear it around his neck until they should appear before the queen. to a youth of ease and affluence, familiar with ambassadors and statesmen and not unknown at courts, had succeeded a mature age of obscurity, deep study, and poverty. no human creature would have heard of him had his career ended with his official life. two centuries and a half have passed away and the name of the outlawed puritan of scrooby and leyden is still familiar to millions of the english race. all these englishmen were not poor. many of them occupied houses of fair value, and were admitted to the freedom of the city. the pastor with three of his congregation lived in a comfortable mansion, which they had purchased for the considerable sum of florins, and on the garden of which they subsequently erected twenty-one lesser tenements for the use of the poorer brethren. mr. robinson was himself chosen a member of the famous university and admitted to its privileges. during his long residence in leyden, besides the daily care of his congregation, spiritual and temporal, he wrote many learned works. thus the little community, which grew gradually larger by emigration from england, passed many years of tranquillity. their footsteps were not dogged by constables and pursuivants, they were not dragged daily before the magistrates, they were not thrown into the town jails, they were not hunted from place to place with bows and bills and mounted musketeers. they gave offence to none, and were respected by all. "such was their singleheartedness and sincere affection one towards another," says their historian and magistrate, "that they came as near the primitive pattern of the first churches as any other church of these later times has done, according to their rank and quality." here certainly were english puritans more competent than any men else in the world to judge if it were a slander upon the english government to identify them with dutch puritans. did they sympathize with the party in holland which the king, who had so scourged and trampled upon themselves in england, was so anxious to crush, the hated arminians? did they abhor the contra-remonstrants whom james and his ambassador carleton doted upon and whom barneveld called "double puritans" and "flanderizers?" their pastor may answer for himself and his brethren. "we profess before god and men," said robinson in his apologia, "that we agree so entirely with the reformed dutch churches in the matter of religion as to be ready to subscribe to all and each of their articles exactly as they are set forth in the netherland confession. we acknowledge those reformed churches as true and genuine, we profess and cultivate communion with them as much as in us lies. those of us who understand the dutch language attend public worship under their pastors. we administer the holy supper to such of their members as, known to us, appear at our meetings." this was the position of the puritans. absolute, unqualified accordance with the contra-remonstrants. as the controversy grew hot in the university between the arminians and their adversaries, mr. robinson, in the language of his friend bradford, became "terrible to the arminians . . . . who so greatly molested the whole state and that city in particular." when episcopius, the arminian professor of theology, set forth sundry theses, challenging all the world to the onset, it was thought that "none was fitter to buckle with them" than robinson. the orthodox professor polyander so importuned the english puritan to enter the lists on behalf of the contra-remonstrants that at last he consented and overthrew the challenger, horse and man, in three successive encounters. such at least was the account given by his friend and admirer the historian. "the lord did so help him to defend the truth and foil this adversary as he put him to an apparent nonplus in this great and public audience. and the like he did a second or third time upon such like occasions," said bradford, adding that, if it had not been for fear of offending the english government, the university would have bestowed preferments and honours upon the champion. we are concerned with this ancient and exhausted controversy only for the intense light it threw, when burning, on the history which occupies us. of the extinct volcano itself which once caused such devastation, and in which a great commonwealth was well-nigh swallowed up, little is left but slag and cinders. the past was made black and barren with them. let us disturb them as little as possible. the little english congregation remained at leyden till toward the end of the truce, thriving, orderly, respected, happy. they were witnesses to the tumultuous, disastrous, and tragical events which darkened the republic in those later years, themselves unobserved and unmolested. not a syllable seems to remain on record of the views or emotions which may have been excited by those scenes in their minds, nor is there a trace left on the national records of the netherlands of their protracted residence on the soil. they got their living as best they might by weaving, printing, spinning, and other humble trades; they borrowed money on mortgages, they built houses, they made wills, and such births, deaths, and marriages as occurred among them were registered by the town-clerk. and at last for a variety of reasons they resolved to leave the netherlands. perhaps the solution of the problem between church and state in that country by the temporary subjection of state to church may have encouraged them to realize a more complete theocracy, if a sphere of action could be found where the experiment might be tried without a severe battle against time-hallowed institutions and vested rights. perhaps they were appalled by the excesses into which men of their own religious sentiments had been carried by theological and political passion. at any rate depart they would; the larger half of the congregation remaining behind however till the pioneers should have broken the way, and in their own language "laid the stepping-stones." they had thought of the lands beneath the equator, raleigh having recently excited enthusiasm by his poetical descriptions of guiana. but the tropical scheme was soon abandoned. they had opened negotiations with the stadholder and the states-general through amsterdam merchants in regard to settling in new amsterdam, and offered to colonize that country if assured of the protection of the united provinces. their petition had been rejected. they had then turned their faces to their old master and their own country, applying to the virginia company for a land-patent, which they were only too happy to promise, and to the king for liberty of religion in the wilderness confirmed under his broad seal, which his majesty of course refused. it was hinted however that james would connive at them and not molest them if they carried themselves peaceably. so they resolved to go without the seal, for, said their magistrate very wisely, "if there should be a purpose or desire to wrong them, a seal would not serve their turn though it were as broad as the house-floor." before they left leyden, their pastor preached to them a farewell sermon, which for loftiness of spirit and breadth of vision has hardly a parallel in that age of intolerance. he laid down the principle that criticism of the scriptures had not been exhausted merely because it had been begun; that the human conscience was of too subtle a nature to be imprisoned for ever in formulas however ingeniously devised; that the religious reformation begun a century ago was not completed; and that the creator had not necessarily concluded all his revelations to mankind. the words have long been familiar to students of history, but they can hardly be too often laid to heart. noble words, worthy to have been inscribed over the altar of the first church to be erected by the departing brethren, words to bear fruit after centuries should go by. had not the deeply injured and misunderstood grotius already said, "if the trees we plant do not shade us, they will yet serve for our descendants?" yet it is passing strange that the preacher of that sermon should be the recent champion of the contra-remonstrants in the great controversy; the man who had made himself so terrible to the pupils of the gentle and tolerant arminius. and thus half of that english congregation went down to delftshaven, attended by the other half who were to follow at a later period with their beloved pastor. there was a pathetic leave-taking. even many of the hollanders, mere casual spectators, were in tears. robinson, kneeling on the deck of the little vessel, offered a prayer and a farewell. who could dream that this departure of an almost nameless band of emigrants to the wilderness was an epoch in the world's history? yet these were the pilgrim fathers of new england, the founders of what was to be the mightiest republic of modern history, mighty and stable because it had been founded upon an idea. they were not in search of material comfort and the chances of elevating their condition, by removing from an overpeopled country to an organized commonwealth, offering a wide field for pauper labourers. some of them were of good social rank and highest education, most of them in decent circumstances, none of them in absolute poverty. and a few years later they were to be joined by a far larger company with leaders and many brethren of ancient birth and landed possessions, men of "education, figure; and estate," all ready to convert property into cash and to place it in joint-stock, not as the basis of promising speculation, but as the foundation of a church. it signifies not how much or how little one may sympathize with their dogma or their discipline now. to the fact that the early settlement of that wilderness was by self-sacrificing men of earnestness and faith, who were bent on "advancing the gospel of christ in remote parts of the world," in the midst of savage beasts, more savage men, and unimaginable difficulties and dangers, there can be little doubt that the highest forms of western civilization are due. through their provisional theocracy, the result of the independent church system was to establish the true purport of the reformation, absolute religious equality. civil and political equality followed as a matter of course. two centuries and a half have passed away. there are now some seventy or eighty millions of the english-speaking race on both sides the atlantic, almost equally divided between the united kingdom and the united republic, and the departure of those outcasts of james has interest and significance for them all. most fitly then, as a distinguished american statesman has remarked, does that scene on board the little english vessel, with the english pastor uttering his farewell blessing to a handful of english exiles for conscience sake; depicted on canvas by eminent artists, now adorn the halls of the american congress and of the british parliament. sympathy with one of the many imperishable bonds of union between the two great and scarcely divided peoples. we return to barneveld in his solitary prison. chapter xx. barneveld's imprisonment--ledenberg's examination and death-- remonstrance of de boississe--aerssens admitted to the order of knights--trial of the advocate--barneveld's defence--the states proclaim a public fast--du maurier's speech before the assembly-- barneveld's sentence--barneveld prepares for death--goes to execution. the advocate had been removed within a few days after the arrest from the chamber in maurice's apartments, where he had originally been confined, and was now in another building. it was not a dungeon nor a jail. indeed the commonplace and domestic character of the scenery in which these great events were transacted has in it something pathetic. there was and still remains a two-storied structure, then of modern date, immediately behind the antique hall of the old counts within the binnenhof. on the first floor was a courtroom of considerable extent, the seat of one of the chief tribunals of justice the story above was divided into three chambers with a narrow corridor on each side. the first chamber, on the north-eastern side, was appropriated for the judges when the state prisoners should be tried. in the next hugo grotius was imprisoned. in the third was barneveld. there was a tower at the north-east angle of the building, within which a winding and narrow staircase of stone led up to the corridor and so to the prisoners' apartments. rombout hoogerbeets was confined in another building. as the advocate, bent with age and a life of hard work, and leaning on his staff, entered the room appropriated to him, after toiling up the steep staircase, he observed-- "this is the admiral of arragon's apartment." it was true. eighteen years before, the conqueror of nieuwpoort had assigned this lodging to the chief prisoner of war in that memorable victory over the spaniards, and now maurice's faithful and trusted counsellor at that epoch was placed in durance here, as the result of the less glorious series of victories which had just been achieved. it was a room of moderate dimensions, some twenty-five feet square, with a high vaulted roof and decently furnished. below and around him in the courtyard were the scenes of the advocate's life-long and triumphant public services. there in the opposite building were the windows of the beautiful "hall of truce," with its sumptuous carvings and gildings, its sculptures and portraits, where he had negotiated with the representatives of all the great powers of christendom the famous treaty which had suspended the war of forty years, and where he was wont almost daily to give audience to the envoys of the greatest sovereigns or the least significant states of europe and asia, all of whom had been ever solicitous of his approbation and support. farther along in the same building was the assembly room of the states-general, where some of the most important affairs of the republic and of europe had for years been conducted, and where he had been so indispensable that, in the words of a contemporary who loved him not, "absolutely nothing could be transacted in his absence, all great affairs going through him alone." there were two dull windows, closely barred, looking northward over an irregular assemblage of tile-roofed houses and chimney-stacks, while within a stone's throw to the west, but unseen, was his own elegant mansion on the voorhout, surrounded by flower gardens and shady pleasure grounds, where now sat his aged wife and her children all plunged in deep affliction. he was allowed the attendance of a faithful servant, jan franken by name, and a sentinel stood constantly before his door. his papers had been taken from him, and at first he was deprived of writing materials. he had small connection with the outward world. the news of the municipal revolution which had been effected by the stadholder had not penetrated to his solitude, but his wife was allowed to send him fruit from their garden. one day a basket of fine saffron pears was brought to him. on slicing one with a knife he found a portion of a quill inside it. within the quill was a letter on thinnest paper, in minutest handwriting in latin. it was to this effect. "don't rely upon the states of holland, for the prince of orange has changed the magistracies in many cities. dudley carleton is not your friend." a sergeant of the guard however, before bringing in these pears, had put a couple of them in his pocket to take home to his wife. the letter, copies of which perhaps had been inserted for safety in several of them, was thus discovered and the use of this ingenious device prevented for the future. secretary ledenberg, who had been brought to the hague in the early days of september, was the first of the prisoners subjected to examination. he was much depressed at the beginning of it, and is said to have exclaimed with many sighs, "oh barneveld, barneveld, what have you brought us to!" he confessed that the waartgelders at utrecht had been enlisted on notification by the utrecht deputies in the hague with knowledge of barneveld, and in consequence of a resolution of the states in order to prevent internal tumults. he said that the advocate had advised in the previous month of march a request to the prince not to come to utrecht; that the communication of the message, in regard to disbanding the waartgelders, to his excellency had been postponed after the deputies of the states of holland had proposed a delay in that disbandment; that those deputies had come to utrecht of their own accord; . . . . that they had judged it possible to keep everything in proper order in utrecht if the garrison in the city paid by holland were kept quiet, and if the states of utrecht gave similar orders to the waartgelders; for they did not believe that his excellency would bring in troops from the outside. he said that he knew nothing of a new oath to be demanded of the garrison. he stated that the advocate, when at utrecht, had exhorted the states, according to his wont, to maintain their liberties and privileges, representing to them that the right to decide on the synod and the waartgelders belonged to them. lastly, he denied knowing who was the author of the balance, except by common report. now these statements hardly amounted to a confession of abominable and unpardonable crimes by ledenberg, nor did they establish a charge of high-treason and corrupt correspondence with the enemy against barneveld. it is certain that the extent of the revelations seemed far from satisfactory to the accusers, and that some pressure would be necessary in order to extract anything more conclusive. lieutenant nythof told grotius that ledenberg had accordingly been threatened with torture, and that the executioner had even handled him for that purpose. this was however denied by the judges of instruction who had been charged with the preliminary examination. that examination took place on the th september. after it had been concluded, ledenberg prayed long and earnestly on returning to prison. he then entrusted a paper written in french to his son joost, a boy of eighteen, who did not understand that language. the youth had been allowed to keep his father company in his confinement, and slept in the same room. the next night but one, at two o'clock, joost heard his father utter a deep groan. he was startled, groped in the darkness towards his bed and felt his arm, which was stone cold. he spoke to him and received no answer. he gave the alarm, the watch came in with lights, and it was found that ledenberg had given himself two mortal wounds in the abdomen with a penknife and then cut his throat with a table-knife which he had secreted, some days before, among some papers. the paper in french given to his son was found to be to this effect. "i know that there is an inclination to set an example in my person, to confront me with my best friends, to torture me, afterwards to convict me of contradictions and falsehoods as they say, and then to found an ignominious sentence upon points and trifles, for this it will be necessary to do in order to justify the arrest and imprisonment. to escape all this i am going to god by the shortest road. against a dead man there can be pronounced no sentence of confiscation of property. done th september (o. s.) ." the family of the unhappy gentleman begged his body for decent burial. the request was refused. it was determined to keep the dead secretary above ground and in custody until he could be tried, and, if possible, convicted and punished. it was to be seen whether it were so easy to baffle the power of the states-general, the synod, and the stadholder, and whether "going to god by the shortest road" was to save a culprit's carcass from ignominy, and his property from confiscation. the french ambassadors, who had been unwearied in their endeavour to restore harmony to the distracted commonwealth before the arrest of the prisoners, now exerted themselves to throw the shield of their sovereign's friendship around the illustrious statesman and his fellow-sufferers. "it is with deepest sorrow," said de boississe, "that i have witnessed the late hateful commotions. especially from my heart i grieve for the arrest of the seignior barneveld, who with his discretion and wise administration for the past thirty years has so drawn the hearts of all neighbouring princes to himself, especially that of the king my master, that on taking up my pen to apprize him of these events i am gravely embarrassed, fearing to infringe on the great respect due to your mightinesses or against the honour and merits of the seignior barneveld. . . . my lords, take heed to your situation, for a great discontent is smouldering among your citizens. until now, the union has been the chief source of your strength. and i now fear that the king my master, the adviser of your renowned commonwealth, maybe offended that you have taken this resolution after consulting with others, and without communicating your intention to his ambassador . . . . it is but a few days that an open edict was issued testifying to the fidelity of barneveld, and can it be possible that within so short a time you have discovered that you have been deceived? i summon you once more in the name of the king to lay aside all passion, to judge these affairs without partiality, and to inform me what i am to say to the king. such very conflicting accounts are given of these transactions that i must beg you to confide to me the secret of the affair. the wisest in the land speak so strongly of these proceedings that it will be no wonder if the king my master should give me orders to take the seignior barneveld under his protection. should this prove to be the case, your lordships will excuse my course . . . i beg you earnestly in your wisdom not to give cause of offence to neighbouring princes, especially to my sovereign, who wishes from his heart to maintain your dignity and interests and to assure you of his friendship." the language was vigorous and sincere, but the ambassador forgot that the france of to-day was not the france of yesterday; that louis xiii. was not henry iv.; that it was but a cheerful fiction to call the present king the guide and counsellor of the republic, and that, distraught as she was by the present commotions, her condition was strength and tranquillity compared with the apparently decomposing and helpless state of the once great kingdom of france. de boississe took little by his demonstration. on the th december both de boississe and du maurier came before the states-general once more, and urged a speedy and impartial trial for the illustrious prisoners. if they had committed acts of treason and rebellion, they deserved exemplary punishment, but the ambassadors warned the states-general with great earnestness against the dangerous doctrine of constructive treason, and of confounding acts dictated by violence of party spirit at an excited period with the crime of high-treason against the sovereignty of the state. "barneveld so honourable," they said, "for his immense and long continued services has both this republic and all princes and commonwealths for his witnesses. it is most difficult to believe that he has attempted the destruction of his fatherland, for which you know that he has toiled so faithfully." they admitted that so grave charges ought now to be investigated. "to this end," said the ambassadors, "you ought to give him judges who are neither suspected nor impassioned, and who will decide according to the laws of the land, and on clear and undeniable evidence . . . . so doing you will show to the whole world that you are worthy to possess and to administer this commonwealth to whose government god has called you." should they pursue another and a sterner course, the envoys warned the assembly that the king would be deeply offended, deeming it thus proved how little value they set upon his advice and his friendship. the states-general replied on the th december, assuring the ambassadors that the delay in the trial was in order to make the evidence of the great conspiracy complete, and would not tend to the prejudice of the prisoners "if they had a good consciousness of their innocence." they promised that the sentence upon them when pronounced would give entire satisfaction to all their allies and to the king of france in particular, of whom they spoke throughout the document in terms of profound respect. but they expressed their confidence that "his majesty would not place the importunate and unfounded solicitations of a few particular criminals or their supporters before the general interests of the dignity and security of the republic." on the same day the states-general addressed a letter filled with very elaborate and courteous commonplaces to the king, in which they expressed a certainty that his majesty would be entirely satisfied with their actions. the official answer of the states-general to the ambassadors, just cited, gave but little comfort to the friends of the imprisoned statesman and his companions. such expressions as "ambitious and factious spirits,"--"authors and patrons of the faction,"--"attempts at novelty through changes in religion, in justice and in the fundamental laws of all orders of polity," and the frequent mention of the word "conspiracy" boded little good. information of this condition of affairs was conveyed to hoogerbeets and grotius by means of an ingenious device of the distinguished scholar, who was then editing the latin works of the hague poet, janus secundus. while the sheets were going through the press, some of the verses were left out, and their place supplied by others conveying the intelligence which it was desired to send to the prisoners. the pages which contained the secret were stitched together in such wise that in cutting the book open they were not touched but remained closed. the verses were to this effect. "the examination of the advocate proceeds slowly, but there is good hope from the serious indignation of the french king, whose envoys are devoted to the cause of the prisoners, and have been informed that justice will be soon rendered. the states of holland are to assemble on the th january, at which a decision will certainly be taken for appointing judges. the preachers here at leyden are despised, and men are speaking strongly of war. the tumult which lately occurred at rotterdam may bring forth some good." the quick-wited grotius instantly discovered the device, read the intelligence thus communicated in the proofsheets of secundus, and made use of the system to obtain further intelligence. hoogerbeets laid the book aside, not taking much interest at that time in the works of the hague poet. constant efforts made to attract his attention to those poems however excited suspicion among his keepers, and the scheme was discovered before the leyden pensionary had found the means to profit by it.' the allusions to the trial of the advocate referred to the preliminary examination which took place, like the first interrogatories of grotius and hoogerbeets, in the months of november and december. the thorough manner in which maurice had reformed the states of holland has been described. there was one department of that body however which still required attention. the order of knights, small in number but potential in influence, which always voted first on great occasions, was still through a majority of its members inclined to barneveld. both his sons-in-law had seats in that college. the stadholder had long believed in a spirit of hostility on the part of those nobles towards himself. he knew that a short time before this epoch there had been a scheme for introducing his young brother, frederic henry, into the chamber of knights. the count had become proprietor of the barony of naaldwyk, a property which he had purchased of the counts of arenberg, and which carried with it the hereditary dignity of great equerry of the counts of holland. as the counts of holland had ceased to exist, although their sovereignty had nearly been revived and conferred upon william the silent, the office of their chief of the stables might be deemed a sinecure. but the jealousy of maurice was easily awakened, especially by any movement made or favoured by the advocate. he believed that in the election of frederic henry as a member of the college of knights a plan lay concealed to thrust him into power and to push this elder brother from his place. the scheme, if scheme it were, was never accomplished, but the prince's rancour remained. he now informed the nobles that they must receive into their body francis aerssens, who had lately purchased the barony of sommelsdyk, and daniel de hartaing, seignior of marquette. with the presence of this deadly enemy of barneveld and another gentleman equally devoted to the stadholder's interest it seemed probable that the refractory majority of the board of nobles would be overcome. but there were grave objections to the admission of these new candidates. they were not eligible. the constitution of the states and of the college of nobles prescribed that hollanders only of ancient and noble race and possessing estates in the province could sit in that body. neither aerssens nor hartaing was born in holland or possessed of the other needful qualifications. nevertheless, the prince, who had just remodelled all the municipalities throughout the union which offered resistance to his authority, was not to be checked by so trifling an impediment as the statutes of the house of nobles. he employed very much the same arguments which he had used to "good papa" hooft. "this time it must be so." another time it might not be necessary. so after a controversy which ended as controversies are apt to do when one party has a sword in his hand and the other is seated at a green-baize-covered table, sommelsdyk and marquette took their seats among the knights. of course there was a spirited protest. nothing was easier for the stadholder than to concede the principle while trampling it with his boot-heels in practice. "whereas it is not competent for the said two gentlemen to be admitted to our board," said the nobles in brief, "as not being constitutionally eligible, nevertheless, considering the strong desire of his excellency the prince of orange, we, the nobles and knights of holland, admit them with the firm promise to each other by noble and knightly faith ever in future for ourselves and descendants to maintain the privileges of our order now violated and never again to let them be directly or indirectly infringed." and so aerssens, the unscrupulous plotter, and dire foe of the advocate and all his house, burning with bitter revenge for all the favours he had received from him during many years, and the author of the venomous pamphlets and diatribes which had done so much of late to blacken the character of the great statesman before the public, now associated himself officially with his other enemies, while the preliminary proceedings for the state trials went forward. meantime the synod had met at dordtrecht. the great john bogerman, with fierce, handsome face, beak and eye of a bird of prey, and a deluge of curly brown beard reaching to his waist, took his seat as president. short work was made with the armenians. they and their five points were soon thrust out into outer darkness. it was established beyond all gainsaying that two forms of divine worship in one country were forbidden by god's word, and that thenceforth by netherland law there could be but one religion, namely, the reformed or calvinistic creed. it was settled that one portion of the netherlanders and of the rest of the human race had been expressly created by the deity to be for ever damned, and another portion to be eternally blessed. but this history has little to do with that infallible council save in the political effect of its decrees on the fate of barneveld. it was said that the canons of dordtrecht were likely to shoot off the head of the advocate. their sessions and the trial of the advocate were simultaneous, but not technically related to each other. the conclusions of both courts were preordained, for the issue of the great duel between priesthood and state had been decided when the military chieftain threw his sword into the scale of the church. there had been purposely a delay, before coming to a decision as to the fate of the state prisoners, until the work of the synod should have approached completion. it was thought good that the condemnation of the opinions of the arminians and the chastisement of their leaders should go hand-in-hand. on the rd april , the canons were signed by all the members of the synod. arminians were pronounced heretics, schismatics, teachers of false doctrines. they were declared incapable of filling any clerical or academical post. no man thenceforth was to teach children, lecture to adolescents, or preach to the mature, unless a subscriber to the doctrines of the unchanged, unchangeable, orthodox church. on the th april and st may the netherland confession and the heidelberg catechism were declared to be infallible. no change was to be possible in either formulary. schools and pulpits were inexorably bound to the only true religion. on the th may there was a great festival at dordtrecht in honour of the conclusion of the synod. the canons, the sentence, and long prayers and orations in latin by president bogerman gladdened the souls of an immense multitude, which were further enlivened by the decree that both creed and catechism had stood the test of several criticisms and come out unchanged by a single hair. nor did the orator of the occasion forget to render thanks "to the most magnanimous king james of great britain, through whose godly zeal, fiery sympathy, and truly royal labour god had so often refreshed the weary synod in the midst of their toil." the synod held one hundred and eighty sessions between the th november and th may , all the doings of which have been recorded in chronicles innumerable. there need be no further mention of them here. barneveld and the companions of his fate remained in prison. on the th march the trial of the great advocate began. he had sat in prison since the th of the preceding august. for nearly seven months he had been deprived of all communication with the outward world save such atoms of intelligence as could be secretly conveyed to him in the inside of a quill concealed in a pear and by other devices. the man who had governed one of the most important commonwealths of the world for nearly a generation long--during the same period almost controlling the politics of europe--had now been kept in ignorance of the most insignificant everyday events. during the long summer-heat of the dog-days immediately succeeding his arrest, and the long, foggy, snowy, icy winter of holland which ensued, he had been confined in that dreary garret-room to which he had been brought when he left his temporary imprisonment in the apartments of prince maurice. there was nothing squalid in the chamber, nothing specially cruel or repulsive in the arrangements of his captivity. he was not in fetters, nor fed upon bread and water. he was not put upon the rack, nor even threatened with it as ledenberg had been. he was kept in a mean, commonplace, meagerly furnished, tolerably spacious room, and he was allowed the services of his faithful domestic servant john franken. a sentinel paced day and night up the narrow corridor before his door. as spring advanced, the notes of the nightingale came through the prison-window from the neighbouring thicket. one day john franken, opening the window that his master might the better enjoy its song, exchanged greeting with a fellow-servant in the barneveld mansion who happened to be crossing the courtyard. instantly workmen were sent to close and barricade the windows, and it was only after earnest remonstrances and pledges that this resolve to consign the advocate to darkness was abandoned. he was not permitted the help of lawyer, clerk, or man of business. alone and from his chamber of bondage, suffering from bodily infirmities and from the weakness of advancing age, he was compelled to prepare his defence against a vague, heterogeneous collection of charges, to meet which required constant reference, not only to the statutes, privileges, and customs of the country and to the roman law, but to a thousand minute incidents out of which the history of the provinces during the past dozen years or more had been compounded. it is true that no man could be more familiar with the science and practice of the law than he was, while of contemporary history he was himself the central figure. his biography was the chronicle of his country. nevertheless it was a fearful disadvantage for him day by day to confront two dozen hostile judges comfortably seated at a great table piled with papers, surrounded by clerks with bags full of documents and with a library of authorities and precedents duly marked and dog's-eared and ready to their hands, while his only library and chronicle lay in his brain. from day to day, with frequent intermissions, he was led down through the narrow turret-stairs to a wide chamber on the floor immediately below his prison, where a temporary tribunal had been arranged for the special commission. there had been an inclination at first on the part of his judges to treat him as a criminal, and to require him to answer, standing, to the interrogatories propounded to him. but as the terrible old man advanced into the room, leaning on his staff, and surveying them with the air of haughty command habitual to him, they shrank before his glance; several involuntarily, rising uncovered, to salute him and making way for him to the fireplace about which many were standing that wintry morning. he was thenceforth always accommodated with a seat while he listened to and answered 'ex tempore' the elaborate series of interrogatories which had been prepared to convict him. nearly seven months he had sat with no charges brought against him. this was in itself a gross violation of the laws of the land, for according to all the ancient charters of holland it was provided that accusation should follow within six weeks of arrest, or that the prisoner should go free. but the arrest itself was so gross a violation of law that respect for it was hardly to be expected in the subsequent proceedings. he was a great officer of the states of holland. he had been taken under their especial protection. he was on his way to the high council. he was in no sense a subject of the states-general. he was in the discharge of his official duty. he was doubly and trebly sacred from arrest. the place where he stood was on the territory of holland and in the very sanctuary of her courts and house of assembly. the states-general were only as guests on her soil, and had no domain or jurisdiction there whatever. he was not apprehended by any warrant or form of law. it was in time of peace, and there was no pretence of martial law. the highest civil functionary of holland was invited in the name of its first military officer to a conference, and thus entrapped was forcibly imprisoned. at last a board of twenty-four commissioners was created, twelve from holland and two from each of the other six provinces. this affectation of concession to holland was ridiculous. either the law 'de non evocando'--according to which no citizen of holland could be taken out of the province for trial--was to be respected or it was to be trampled upon. if it was to be trampled upon, it signified little whether more commissioners were to be taken from holland than from each of the other provinces, or fewer, or none at all. moreover it was pretended that a majority of the whole board was to be assigned to that province. but twelve is not a majority of twenty-four. there were three fascals or prosecuting officers, leeuwen of utrecht, sylla of gelderland, and antony duyck of holland. duyck was notoriously the deadly enemy of barneveld, and was destined to succeed to his offices. it would have been as well to select francis aerssens himself. it was necessary to appoint a commission because there was no tribunal appertaining to the states-general. the general government of the confederacy had no power to deal with an individual. it could only negotiate with the sovereign province to which the individual was responsible, and demand his punishment if proved guilty of an offence. there was no supreme court of appeal. machinery was provided for settling or attempting to settle disputes among the members of the confederacy, and if there was a culprit in this great process it was holland itself. neither the advocate nor any one of his associates had done any act except by authority, express or implied, of that sovereign state. supposing them unquestionably guilty of blackest crimes against the generality, the dilemma was there which must always exist by the very nature of things in a confederacy. no sovereign can try a fellow sovereign. the subject can be tried at home by no sovereign but his own. the accused in this case were amenable to the laws of holland only. it was a packed tribunal. several of the commissioners, like pauw and muis for example, were personal enemies of barneveld. many of them were totally ignorant of law. some of them knew not a word of any language but their mother tongue, although much of the law which they were to administer was written in latin. before such a court the foremost citizen of the netherlands, the first living statesman of europe, was brought day by day during a period of nearly three months; coming down stairs from the mean and desolate room where he was confined to the comfortable apartment below, which had been fitted up for the commission. there was no bill of indictment, no arraignment, no counsel. there were no witnesses and no arguments. the court-room contained, as it were, only a prejudiced and partial jury to pronounce both on law and fact without a judge to direct them, or advocates to sift testimony and contend for or against the prisoner's guilt. the process, for it could not be called a trial, consisted of a vast series of rambling and tangled interrogatories reaching over a space of forty years without apparent connection or relevancy, skipping fantastically about from one period to another, back and forthwith apparently no other intent than to puzzle the prisoner, throw him off his balance, and lead him into self-contradiction. the spectacle was not a refreshing one. it was the attempt of a multitude of pigmies to overthrow and bind the giant. barneveld was served with no articles of impeachment. he asked for a list in writing of the charges against him, that he might ponder his answer. the demand was refused. he was forbidden the use of pen and ink or any writing materials. his papers and books were all taken from him. he was allowed to consult neither with an advocate nor even with a single friend. alone in his chamber of bondage he was to meditate on his defence. out of his memory and brain, and from these alone, he was to supply himself with the array of historical facts stretching over a longer period than the lifetime of many of his judges, and with the proper legal and historical arguments upon those facts for the justification of his course. that memory and brain were capacious and powerful enough for the task. it was well for the judges that they had bound themselves, at the outset, by an oath never to make known what passed in the courtroom, but to bury all the proceedings in profound secrecy forever. had it been otherwise, had that been known to the contemporary public which has only been revealed more than two centuries later, had a portion only of the calm and austere eloquence been heard in which the advocate set forth his defence, had the frivolous and ignoble nature of the attack been comprehended, it might have moved the very stones in the streets to mutiny. hateful as the statesman had been made by an organized system of calumny, which was continued with unabated vigour and increased venom sine he had been imprisoned, there was enough of justice and of gratitude left in the hearts of netherlanders to resent the tyranny practised against their greatest man, and the obloquy thus brought against a nation always devoted to their liberties and laws. that the political system of the country was miserably defective was no fault of barneveld. he was bound by oath and duty to administer, not make the laws. a handful of petty feudal sovereignties such as had once covered the soil of europe, a multitude of thriving cities which had wrested or purchased a mass of liberties, customs, and laws from their little tyrants, all subjected afterwards, without being blended together, to a single foreign family, had at last one by one, or two by two, shaken off that supremacy, and, resuming their ancient and as it were decapitated individualities, had bound themselves by treaty in the midst of a war to stand by each other, as if they were but one province, for purposes of common defence against the common foe. there had been no pretence of laying down a constitution, of enacting an organic law. the day had not come for even the conception of a popular constitution. the people had not been invented. it was not provinces only, but cities, that had contracted with each other, according to the very first words of the first article of union. some of these cities, like ghent, bruges, antwerp, were catholic by overwhelming majority, and had subsequently either fallen away from the confederacy or been conquered. and as if to make assurance doubly sure, the articles of union not only reserved to each province all powers not absolutely essential for carrying on the war in common, but by an express article (the th), declared that holland and zealand should regulate the matter of religion according to their own discretion, while the other provinces might conform to the provisions of the "religious peace" which included mutual protection for catholics and protestants--or take such other order as seemed most conducive to the religious and secular rights of the inhabitants. it was stipulated that no province should interfere with another in such matters, and that every individual in them all should remain free in his religion, no man being molested or examined on account of his creed. a farther declaration in regard to this famous article was made to the effect that no provinces or cities which held to the roman catholic religion were to be excluded from the league of union if they were ready to conform to its conditions and comport themselves patriotically. language could not be devised to declare more plainly than was done by this treaty that the central government of the league had neither wish nor right to concern itself with the religious affairs of the separate cities or provinces. if it permitted both papists and protestants to associate themselves against the common foe, it could hardly have been imagined, when the articles were drawn, that it would have claimed the exclusive right to define the minutest points in a single protestant creed. and if the exclusively secular parts of the polity prevailing in the country were clumsy, irregular, and even monstrous, and if its defects had been flagrantly demonstrated by recent events, a more reasonable method of reforming the laws might have been found than the imprisonment of a man who had faithfully administered them forty years long. a great commonwealth had grown out of a petty feudal organism, like an oak from an acorn in a crevice, gnarled and distorted, though wide-spreading and vigorous. it seemed perilous to deal radically with such a polity, and an almost timid conservatism on the part of its guardians in such an age of tempests might be pardonable. moreover, as before remarked, the apparent imbecility resulting from confederacy and municipalism combined was for a season remedied by the actual preponderance of holland. two-thirds of the total wealth and strength of the seven republics being concentrated in one province, the desired union seemed almost gained by the practical solution of all in that single republic. but this was one great cause of the general disaster. it would be a thankless and tedious task to wander through the wilderness of interrogatories and answers extending over three months of time, which stood in the place of a trial. the defence of barneveld was his own history, and that i have attempted to give in the preceding pages. a great part of the accusation was deduced from his private and official correspondence, and it is for this reason that i have laid such copious extracts from it before the reader. no man except the judges and the states-general had access to those letters, and it was easy therefore, if needful, to give them a false colouring. it is only very recently that they have been seen at all, and they have never been published from that day to this. out of the confused mass of documents appertaining to the trial, a few generalizations can be made which show the nature of the attack upon him. he was accused of having permitted arminius to infuse new opinions into the university of leyden, and of having subsequently defended the appointment of vorstius to the same place. he had opposed the national synod. he had made drafts of letters for the king of great britain to sign, recommending mutual toleration on the five disputed points regarding predestination. he was the author of the famous sharp resolution. he had recommended the enlistment by the provinces and towns of waartgelders or mercenaries. he had maintained that those mercenaries as well as the regular troops were bound in time of peace to be obedient and faithful, not only to the generality and the stadholders, but to the magistrates of the cities and provinces where they were employed, and to the states by whom they were paid. he had sent to leyden, warning the authorities of the approach of the prince. he had encouraged all the proceedings at utrecht, writing a letter to the secretary of that province advising a watch to be kept at the city gates as well as in the river, and ordering his letter when read to be burned. he had received presents from foreign potentates. he had attempted to damage the character of his excellency the prince by declaring on various occasions that he aspired to the sovereignty of the country. he had held a ciphered correspondence on the subject with foreign ministers of the republic. he had given great offence to the king of great britain by soliciting from him other letters in the sense of those which his majesty had written in , advising moderation and mutual toleration. he had not brought to condign punishment the author of 'the balance', a pamphlet in which an oration of the english ambassador had been criticised, and aspersions made on the order of the garter. he had opposed the formation of the west india company. he had said many years before to nicolas van berk that the provinces had better return to the dominion of spain. and in general, all his proceedings had tended to put the provinces into a "blood bath." there was however no accusation that he had received bribes from the enemy or held traitorous communication with him, or that he had committed any act of high-treason. his private letters to caron and to the ambassadors in paris, with which the reader has been made familiar, had thus been ransacked to find treasonable matter, but the result was meagre in spite of the minute and microscopic analysis instituted to detect traces of poison in them. but the most subtle and far-reaching research into past transactions was due to the greffier cornelis aerssens, father of the ambassador francis, and to a certain nicolas van berk, burgomaster of utrecht. the process of tale-bearing, hearsay evidence, gossip, and invention went back a dozen years, even to the preliminary and secret conferences in regard to the treaty of truce. readers familiar with the history of those memorable negotiations are aware that cornelis van aerssens had compromised himself by accepting a valuable diamond and a bill of exchange drawn by marquis spinola on a merchant in amsterdam, henry beekman by name, for , ducats. these were handed by father neyen, the secret agent of the spanish government, to the greffier as a prospective reward for his services in furthering the truce. he did not reject them, but he informed prince maurice and the advocate of the transaction. both diamond and bill of exchange were subsequently deposited in the hands of the treasurer of the states-general, joris de bie, the assembly being made officially acquainted with the whole course of the affair. it is passing strange that this somewhat tortuous business, which certainly cast a shade upon the fair fame of the elder aerssens, and required him to publish as good a defence as he could against the consequent scandal, should have furnished a weapon wherewith to strike at the advocate of holland some dozen years later. but so it was. krauwels, a relative of aerssens, through whom father neyen had first obtained access to the greffier, had stated, so it seemed, that the monk had, in addition to the bill, handed to him another draft of spinola's for , ducats, to be given to a person of more consideration than aerssens. krauwels did not know who the person was, nor whether he took the money. he expressed his surprise however that leading persons in the government "even old and authentic beggars"--should allow themselves to be so seduced as to accept presents from the enemy. he mentioned two such persons, namely, a burgomaster at delft and a burgomaster at haarlem. aerssens now deposed that he had informed the advocate of this story, who had said, "be quiet about it, i will have it investigated," and some days afterwards on being questioned stated that he had made enquiry and found there was something in it. so the fact that cornelis aerssens had taken bribes, and that two burgomasters were strongly suspected by aerssens of having taken bribes, seems to have been considered as evidence that barneveld had taken a bribe. it is true that aerssens by advice of maurice and barneveld had made a clean breast of it to the states-general and had given them over the presents. but the states-general could neither wear the diamond nor cash the bill of exchange, and it would have been better for the greffier not to contaminate his fingers with them, but to leave the gifts in the monk's palm. his revenge against the advocate for helping him out of his dilemma, and for subsequently advancing his son francis in a brilliant diplomatic career, seems to have been--when the clouds were thickening and every man's hand was against the fallen statesman--to insinuate that he was the anonymous personage who had accepted the apocryphal draft for , ducats. the case is a pregnant example of the proceedings employed to destroy the advocate. the testimony of nicolas van berk was at any rate more direct. on the st december the burgomaster testified that the advocate had once declared to him that the differences in regard to divine worship were not so great but that they might be easily composed; asking him at the same time "whether it would not be better that we should submit ourselves again to the king of spain." barneveld had also referred, so said van berk, to the conduct of the spanish king towards those who had helped him to the kingdom of portugal. the burgomaster was unable however to specify the date, year, or month in which the advocate had held this language. he remembered only that the conversation occurred when barneveld was living on the spui at the hague, and that having been let into the house through the hall on the side of the vestibule, he had been conducted by the advocate down a small staircase into the office. the only fact proved by the details seems to be that the story had lodged in the tenacious memory of the burgomaster for eight years, as barneveld had removed from the spui to arenberg house in the voorhout in the year . no other offers from the king of spain or the archdukes had ever been made to him, said van berk, than those indicated in this deposition against the advocate as coming from that statesman. nor had barneveld ever spoken to him upon such subjects except on that one occasion. it is not necessary and would be wearisome to follow the unfortunate statesman through the long line of defence which he was obliged to make, in fragmentary and irregular form, against these discursive and confused assaults upon him. a continuous argument might be built up with the isolated parts which should be altogether impregnable. it is superfluous. always instructive to his judges as he swept at will through the record of nearly half a century of momentous european history, in which he was himself a conspicuous figure, or expounding the ancient laws and customs of the country with a wealth and accuracy of illustration which testified to the strength of his memory, he seemed rather like a sage expounding law and history to a class of pupils than a criminal defending himself before a bench of commissioners. moved occasionally from his austere simplicity, the majestic old man rose to a strain of indignant eloquence which might have shaken the hall of a vast assembly and found echo in the hearts of a thousand hearers as he denounced their petty insults or ignoble insinuations; glaring like a caged lion at his tormentors, who had often shrunk before him when free, and now attempted to drown his voice by contradictions, interruptions, threats, and unmeaning howls. he protested, from the outset and throughout the proceedings, against the jurisdiction of the tribunal. the treaty of union on which the assembly and states-general were founded gave that assembly no power over him. they could take no legal cognizance of his person or his acts. he had been deprived of writing materials, or he would have already drawn up his solemn protest and argument against the existence of the commission. he demanded that they should be provided for him, together with a clerk to engross his defence. it is needless to say that the demand was refused. it was notorious to all men, he said, that on the day when violent hands were laid upon him he was not bound to the states-general by oath, allegiance, or commission. he was a well-known inhabitant of the hague, a householder there, a vassal of the commonwealth of holland, enfeoffed of many notable estates in that country, serving many honourable offices by commission from its government. by birth, promotion, and conferred dignities he was subject to the supreme authority of holland, which for forty years had been a free state possessed of all the attributes of sovereignty, political, religious, judicial, and recognizing no superior save god almighty alone. he was amenable to no tribunal save that of their mightinesses the states of holland and their ordinary judges. not only those states but the prince of orange as their governor and vassal, the nobles of holland, the colleges of justice, the regents of cities, and all other vassals, magistrates, and officers were by their respective oaths bound to maintain and protect him in these his rights. after fortifying this position by legal argument and by an array of historical facts within his own experience, and alluding to the repeated instances in which, sorely against his will, he had been solicited and almost compelled to remain in offices of which he was weary, he referred with dignity to the record of his past life. from the youthful days when he had served as a volunteer at his own expense in the perilous sieges of haarlem and leyden down to the time of his arrest, through an unbroken course of honourable and most arduous political services, embassies, and great negotiations, he had ever maintained the laws and liberties of the fatherland and his own honour unstained. that he should now in his seventy-second year be dragged, in violation of every privilege and statute of the country, by extraordinary means, before unknown judges, was a grave matter not for himself alone but for their mightinesses the states of holland and for the other provinces. the precious right 'de non evocando' had ever been dear to all the provinces, cities, and inhabitants of the netherlands. it was the most vital privilege in their possession as well in civil as criminal, in secular as in ecclesiastical affairs. when the king of spain in , and afterwards, set up an extraordinary tribunal and a course of extraordinary trials, it was an undeniable fact, he said, that on the solemn complaint of the states all princes, nobles, and citizens not only in the netherlands but in foreign countries, and all foreign kings and sovereigns, held those outrages to be the foremost and fundamental reason for taking up arms against that king, and declaring him to have forfeited his right of sovereignty. yet that monarch was unquestionably the born and accepted sovereign of each one of the provinces, while the general assembly was but a gathering of confederates and allies, in no sense sovereign. it was an unimaginable thing, he said, that the states of each province should allow their whole authority and right of sovereignty to be transferred to a board of commissioners like this before which he stood. if, for example, a general union of france, england, and the states of the united netherlands should be formed (and the very words of the act of union contemplated such possibility), what greater absurdity could there be than to suppose that a college of administration created for the specific purposes of such union would be competent to perform acts of sovereignty within each of those countries in matters of justice, polity, and religion? it was known to mankind, he said, that when negotiations were entered into for bestowing the sovereignty of the provinces on france and on england, special and full powers were required from, and furnished by, the states of each individual province. had the sovereignty been in the assembly of the states-general, they might have transferred it of their own motion or kept it for themselves. even in the ordinary course of affairs the commissioners from each province to the general assembly always required a special power from their constituents before deciding any matter of great importance. in regard to the defence of the respective provinces and cities, he had never heard it doubted, he said, that the states or the magistrates of cities had full right to provide for it by arming a portion of their own inhabitants or by enlisting paid troops. the sovereign counts of holland and bishops of utrecht certainly possessed and exercised that right for many hundred years, and by necessary tradition it passed to the states succeeding to their ancient sovereignty. he then gave from the stores of his memory innumerable instances in which soldiers had been enlisted by provinces and cities all over the netherlands from the time of the abjuration of spain down to that moment. through the whole period of independence in the time of anjou, matthias, leicester, as well as under the actual government, it had been the invariable custom thus to provide both by land and sea and on the rivers against robbers, rebels, pirates, mischief-makers, assailing thieves, domestic or foreign. it had been done by the immortal william the silent on many memorable occasions, and in fact the custom was so notorious that soldiers so enlisted were known by different and peculiar nicknames in the different provinces and towns. that the central government had no right to meddle with religious matters was almost too self-evident an axiom to prove. indeed the chief difficulty under which the advocate laboured throughout this whole process was the monstrous assumption by his judges of a political and judicial system which never had any existence even in imagination. the profound secrecy which enwrapped the proceedings from that day almost to our own and an ignorant acquiescence of a considerable portion of the public in accomplished facts offer the only explanation of a mystery which must ever excite our wonder. if there were any impeachment at all, it was an impeachment of the form of government itself. if language could mean anything whatever, a mere perusal of the articles of union proved that the prisoner had never violated that fundamental pact. how could the general government prescribe an especial formulary for the reformed church, and declare opposition to its decrees treasonable, when it did not prohibit, but absolutely admitted and invited, provinces and cities exclusively catholic to enter the union, guaranteeing to them entire liberty of religion? barneveld recalled the fact that when the stadholdership of utrecht thirty years before had been conferred on prince maurice the states of that province had solemnly reserved for themselves the disposition over religious matters in conformity with the union, and that maurice had sworn to support that resolution. five years later the prince had himself assured a deputation from brabant that the states of each province were supreme in religious matters, no interference the one with the other being justifiable or possible. in the states general in letters addressed to the states of the obedient provinces under dominion of the archdukes had invited them to take up arms to help drive the spaniards from the provinces and to join the confederacy, assuring them that they should regulate the matter of religion at their good pleasure, and that no one else should be allowed to interfere therewith. the advocate then went into an historical and critical disquisition, into which we certainly have no need to follow him, rapidly examining the whole subject of predestination and conditional and unconditional damnation from the days of st. augustine downward, showing a thorough familiarity with a subject of theology which then made up so much of the daily business of life, political and private, and lay at the bottom of the terrible convulsion then existing in the netherlands. we turn from it with a shudder, reminding the reader only how persistently the statesman then on his trial had advocated conciliation, moderation, and kindness between brethren of the reformed church who were not able to think alike on one of the subtlest and most mysterious problems that casuistry has ever propounded. for fifty years, he said, he had been an enemy of all compulsion of the human conscience. he had always opposed rigorous ecclesiastical decrees. he had done his best to further, and did not deny having inspired, the advice given in the famous letters from the king of great britain to the states in , that there should be mutual toleration and abstinence from discussion of disputed doctrines, neither of them essential to salvation. he thought that neither calvin nor beza would have opposed freedom of opinion on those points. for himself he believed that the salvation of mankind would be through god's unmerited grace and the redemption of sins though the saviour, and that the man who so held and persevered to the end was predestined to eternal happiness, and that his children dying before the age of reason were destined not to hell but to heaven. he had thought fifty years long that the passion and sacrifice of christ the saviour were more potent to salvation than god's wrath and the sin of adam and eve to damnation. he had done his best practically to avert personal bickerings among the clergy. he had been, so far as lay in his power, as friendly to remonstrants as to contra-remonstrants, to polyander and festus hommius as to uytenbogaert and episcopius. he had almost finished a negotiation with councillor kromhout for the peaceable delivery of the cloister church on the thursday preceding the sunday on which it had been forcibly seized by the contra-remonstrants. when asked by one of his judges how he presumed to hope for toleration between two parties, each of which abhorred the other's opinions, and likened each other to turks and devil-worshippers, he replied that he had always detested and rebuked those mutual revilings by every means in his power, and would have wished to put down such calumniators of either persuasion by the civil authority, but the iniquity of the times and the exasperation of men's humours had prevented him. being perpetually goaded by one judge after another as to his disrespectful conduct towards the king of great britain, and asked why his majesty had not as good right to give the advice of as the recommendation of tolerance in , he scrupulously abstained, as he had done in all his letters, from saying a disrespectful word as to the glaring inconsistency between the two communications, or to the hostility manifested towards himself personally by the british ambassador. he had always expressed the hope, he said, that the king would adhere to his original position, but did not dispute his right to change his mind, nor the good faith which had inspired his later letters. it had been his object, if possible, to reconcile the two different systems recommended by his majesty into one harmonious whole. his whole aim had been to preserve the public peace as it was the duty of every magistrate, especially in times of such excitement, to do. he could never comprehend why the toleration of the five points should be a danger to the reformed religion. rather, he thought, it would strengthen the church and attract many lutherans, baptists, catholics, and other good patriots into its pale. he had always opposed the compulsory acceptance by the people of the special opinions of scribes and doctors. he did not consider, he said, the difference in doctrine on this disputed point between the contra-remonstrants and remonstrants as one-tenth the value of the civil authority and its right to make laws and ordinances regulating ecclesiastical affairs. he believed the great bulwark of the independence of the country to be the reformed church, and his efforts had ever been to strengthen that bulwark by preventing the unnecessary schism which might prove its ruin. many questions of property, too, were involved in the question--the church buildings, lands and pastures belonging to the counts of holland and their successors--the states having always exercised the right of church patronage--'jus patronatus'--a privilege which, as well as inherited or purchased advowsons, had been of late flagrantly interfered with. he was asked if he had not said that it had never been the intention of the states-general to carry on the war for this or that religion. he replied that he had told certain clergymen expressing to him their opinion that the war had been waged solely for the furtherance of their especial shade of belief, that in his view the war had been undertaken for the conservation of the liberties and laws of the land, and of its good people. of that freedom the first and foremost point was the true christian religion and liberty of conscience and opinion. there must be religion in the republic, he had said, but that the war was carried on to sustain the opinion of one doctor of divinity or another on--differential points was something he had never heard of and could never believe. the good citizens of the country had as much right to hold by melancthon as by calvin or beza. he knew that the first proclamations in regard to the war declared it to be undertaken for freedom of conscience, and so to his, own knowledge it had been always carried on. he was asked if he had not promised during the truce negotiations so to direct matters that the catholics with time might obtain public exercise of their religion. he replied that this was a notorious falsehood and calumny, adding that it ill accorded with the proclamation against the jesuits drawn up by himself some years after the truce. he furthermore stated that it was chiefly by his direction that the discourse of president jeannin--urging on part of the french king that liberty of worship might be granted to the papists--was kept secret, copies of it not having been furnished even to the commissioners of the provinces. his indignant denial of this charge, especially taken in connection with his repeated assertions during the trial, that among the most patriotic netherlanders during and since the war were many adherents of the ancient church, seems marvellously in contradiction with his frequent and most earnest pleas for liberty of conscience. but it did not appear contradictory even to his judges nor to any contemporary. his position had always been that the civil authority of each province was supreme in all matters political or ecclesiastical. the states-general, all the provinces uniting in the vote, had invited the catholic provinces on more than one occasion to join the union, promising that there should be no interference on the part of any states or individuals with the internal affairs religious or otherwise of the provinces accepting the invitation. but it would have been a gross contradiction of his own principle if he had promised so to direct matters that the catholics should have public right of worship in holland where he knew that the civil authority was sure to refuse it, or in any of the other six provinces in whose internal affairs he had no voice whatever. he was opposed to all tyranny over conscience, he would have done his utmost to prevent inquisition into opinion, violation of domicile, interference with private worship, compulsory attendance in protestant churches of those professing the roman creed. this was not attempted. no catholic was persecuted on account of his religion. compared with the practice in other countries this was a great step in advance. religious tolerance lay on the road to religious equality, a condition which had hardly been imagined then and scarcely exists in europe even to this day. but among the men in history whose life and death contributed to the advancement of that blessing, it would be vain to deny that barneveld occupies a foremost place. moreover, it should be remembered that religious equality then would have been a most hazardous experiment. so long as church and state were blended, it was absolutely essential at that epoch for the preservation of protestantism to assign the predominance to the state. should the catholics have obtained religious equality, the probable result would before long have been religious inequality, supremacy of the catholics in the church, and supremacy of the church over the state. the fruits of the forty years' war would have become dust and ashes. it would be mere weak sentimentalism to doubt--after the bloody history which had just closed and the awful tragedy, then reopening--that every spark of religious liberty would have soon been trodden out in the netherlands. the general onslaught of the league with ferdinand, maximilian of bavaria, and philip of spain at its head against the distracted, irresolute, and wavering line of protestantism across the whole of europe was just preparing. rather a wilderness to reign over than a single heretic, was the war-cry of the emperor. the king of spain, as we have just been reading in his most secret, ciphered despatches to the archduke at brussels, was nursing sanguine hopes and weaving elaborate schemes for recovering his dominion over the united netherlands, and proposing to send an army of jesuits thither to break the way to the reconquest. to play into his hands then, by granting public right of worship to the papists, would have been in barneveld's opinion like giving up julich and other citadels in the debatable land to spain just as the great war between catholicism and protestantism was breaking out. there had been enough of burning and burying alive in the netherlands during the century which had closed. it was not desirable to give a chance for their renewal now. in regard to the synod, barneveld justified his course by a simple reference to the th article of the union. words could not more plainly prohibit the interference by the states-general with the religious affairs of any one of the provinces than had been done by that celebrated clause. in there had been an attempt made to amend that article by insertion of a pledge to maintain the evangelical, reformed, religion solely, but it was never carried out. he disdained to argue so self-evident a truth, that a confederacy which had admitted and constantly invited catholic states to membership, under solemn pledge of noninterference with their religious affairs, had no right to lay down formulas for the reformed church throughout all the netherlands. the oath of stadholder and magistrates in holland to maintain the reformed religion was framed before this unhappy controversy on predestination had begun, and it was mere arrogant assumption on the part of the contra-remonstrants to claim a monopoly of that religion, and to exclude the remonstrants from its folds. he had steadily done his utmost to assuage those dissensions while maintaining the laws which he was sworn to support. he had advocated a provincial synod to be amicably assisted by divines from neighbouring countries. he had opposed a national synod unless unanimously voted by the seven provinces, because it would have been an open violation of the fundamental law of the confederacy, of its whole spirit, and of liberty of conscience. he admitted that he had himself drawn up a protest on the part of three provinces (holland, utrecht, and overyssel) against the decree for the national synod as a breach of the union, declaring it to be therefore null and void and binding upon no man. he had dictated the protest as oldest member present, while grotius as the youngest had acted as scribe. he would have supported the synod if legally voted, but would have preferred the convocation, under the authority of all the provinces, of a general, not a national, synod, in which, besides clergy and laymen from the netherlands, deputations from all protestant states and churches should take part; a kind of protestant oecumenical council. as to the enlistment, by the states of a province, of soldiers to keep the peace and suppress tumults in its cities during times of political and religious excitement, it was the most ordinary of occurrences. in his experience of more than forty years he had never heard the right even questioned. it was pure ignorance of law and history to find it a novelty. to hire temporarily a sufficient number of professional soldiers, he considered a more wholesome means of keeping the peace than to enlist one portion of the citizens of a town against another portion, when party and religious spirit was running high. his experience had taught him that the mutual hatred of the inhabitants, thus inflamed, became more lasting and mischievous than the resentment caused through suppression of disorder by an armed and paid police of strangers. it was not only the right but the most solemn duty of the civil authority to preserve the tranquillity, property, and lives of citizens committed to their care. "i have said these fifty years," said barneveld, "that it is better to be governed by magistrates than mobs. i have always maintained and still maintain that the most disastrous, shameful, and ruinous condition into which this land can fall is that in which the magistrates are overcome by the rabble of the towns and receive laws from them. nothing but perdition can follow from that." there had been good reason to believe that the french garrisons as well as some of the train bands could not be thoroughly relied upon in emergencies like those constantly breaking out, and there had been advices of invasion by sympathizers from neighbouring countries. in many great cities the civil authority had been trampled upon and mob rule had prevailed. certainly the recent example in the great commercial capital of the country--where the house of a foremost citizen had been besieged, stormed, and sacked, and a virtuous matron of the higher class hunted like a wild beast through the streets by a rabble grossly ignorant of the very nature of the religious quibble which had driven them mad, pelted with stones, branded with vilest names, and only saved by accident from assassination, while a church-going multitude looked calmly on--with constantly recurring instances in other important cities were sufficient reasons for the authorities to be watchful. he denied that he had initiated the proceedings at utrecht in conversation with ledenberg or any one else, but he had not refused, he said, his approval of the perfectly legal measures adopted for keeping the peace there when submitted to him. he was himself a born citizen of that province, and therefore especially interested in its welfare, and there was an old and intimate friendship between utrecht and holland. it would have been painful to him to see that splendid city in the control of an ignorant mob, making use of religious problems, which they did not comprehend, to plunder the property and take the lives of peaceful citizens more comfortably housed than themselves. he had neither suggested nor controlled the proceedings at utrecht. on the contrary, at an interview with the prince and count william on the th july, and in the presence of nearly thirty members of the general assembly, he had submitted a plan for cashiering the enlisted soldiery and substituting for them other troops, native-born, who should be sworn in the usual form to obey the laws of the union. the deputation from holland to utrecht, according to his personal knowledge, had received no instructions personal or oral to authorize active steps by the troops of the holland quota, but to abstain from them and to request the prince that they should not be used against the will and commands of the states of utrecht, whom they were bound by oath to obey so long as they were in garrison there. no man knew better than he whether the military oath which was called new-fangled were a novelty or not, for he had himself, he said, drawn it up thirty years before at command of the states-general by whom it was then ordained. from that day to this he had never heard a pretence that it justified anything not expressly sanctioned by the articles of union, and neither the states of holland nor those of utrecht had made any change in the oath. the states of utrecht were sovereign within their own territory, and in the time of peace neither the prince of orange without their order nor the states-general had the right to command the troops in their territory. the governor of a province was sworn to obey the laws of the province and conform to the articles of the general union. he was asked why he wrote the warning letter to ledenberg, and why he was so anxious that the letter should be burned; as if that were a deadly offence. he said that he could not comprehend why it should be imputed to him as a crime that he wished in such turbulent times to warn so important a city as utrecht, the capital of his native province, against tumults, disorders, and sudden assaults such as had often happened to her in times past. as for the postscript requesting that the letter might be put in the fire, he said that not being a member of, the government of that province he was simply unwilling to leave a record that "he had been too curious in aliens republics, although that could hardly be considered a grave offence." in regard to the charge that he had accused prince maurice of aspiring to the sovereignty of the country, he had much to say. he had never brought such accusation in public or private. he had reason to believe however--he had indeed convincing proofs--that many people, especially those belonging to the contra-remonstrant party, cherished such schemes. he had never sought to cast suspicion on the prince himself on account of those schemes. on the contrary, he had not even formally opposed them. what he wished had always been that such projects should be discussed formally, legally, and above board. after the lamentable murder of the late prince he had himself recommended to the authorities of some of the cities that the transaction for bestowing the sovereignty of holland upon william, interrupted by his death, "should be completed in favour of prince maurice in despite of the spaniard." recently he had requested grotius to look up the documents deposited in rotterdam belonging to this affair, in order that they might be consulted. he was asked whether according to buzenval, the former french ambassador, prince maurice had not declared he would rather fling himself from the top of the hague tower than accept the sovereignty. barneveld replied that the prince according to the same authority had added "under the conditions which had been imposed upon his father;" a clause which considerably modified the self-denying statement. it was desirable therefore to search the acts for the limitations annexed to the sovereignty. three years long there had been indications from various sources that a party wished to change the form of government. he had not heard nor ever intimated that the prince suggested such intrigues. in anonymous pamphlets and common street and tavern conversations the contra-remonstrants were described by those of their own persuasion as "prince's beggars" and the like. he had received from foreign countries information worthy of attention, that it was the design of the contra-remonstrants to raise the prince to the sovereignty. he had therefore in brought the matter before the nobles and cities in a communication setting forth to the best of his recollection that under these religious disputes something else was intended. he had desired ripe conclusions on the matter, such as should most conduce to the service of the country. this had been in good faith both to the prince and the provinces, in order that, should a change in the government be thought desirable, proper and peaceful means might be employed to bring it about. he had never had any other intention than to sound the inclinations of those with whom he spoke, and he had many times since that period, by word of mouth and in writing, so lately as the month of april last assured the prince that he had ever been his sincere and faithful servant and meant to remain so to the end of his life, desiring therefore that he would explain to him his wishes and intentions. subsequently he had publicly proposed in full assembly of holland that the states should ripely deliberate and roundly declare if they were discontented with the form of government, and if so, what change they would desire. he had assured their mightinesses that they might rely upon him to assist in carrying out their intentions whatever they might be. he had inferred however from the prince's intimations, when he had broached the subject to him in , that he was not inclined towards these supposed projects, and had heard that opinion distinctly expressed from the mouth of count william. that the contra-remonstrants secretly entertained these schemes, he had been advised from many quarters, at home and abroad. in the year he had received information to that effect from france. certain confidential counsellors of the prince had been with him recently to confer on the subject. he had told them that, if his excellency chose to speak to him in regard to it, would listen to his reasoning about it, both as regarded the interests of the country and the prince himself, and then should desire him to propose and advocate it before the assembly, he would do so with earnestness, zeal, and affection. he had desired however that, in case the attempt failed, the prince would allow him to be relieved from service and to leave the country. what he wished from the bottom of his heart was that his excellency would plainly discover to him the exact nature of his sentiments in regard to the business. he fully admitted receiving a secret letter from ambassador langerac, apprising him that a man of quality in france had information of the intention of the contra-remonstrants throughout the provinces, should they come into power, to raise prince maurice to the sovereignty. he had communicated on the subject with grotius and other deputies in order that, if this should prove to be the general inclination, the affair might be handled according to law, without confusion or disorder. this, he said, would be serving both the country and the prince most judiciously. he was asked why he had not communicated directly with maurice. he replied that he had already seen how unwillingly the prince heard him allude to the subject, and that moreover there was another clause in the letter of different meaning, and in his view worthy of grave consideration by the states. no question was asked him as to this clause, but we have seen that it referred to the communication by du agean to langerac of a scheme for bestowing the sovereignty of the provinces on the king of france. the reader will also recollect that barneveld had advised the ambassador to communicate the whole intelligence to the prince himself. barneveld proceeded to inform the judges that he had never said a word to cast suspicion upon the prince, but had been actuated solely by the desire to find out the inclination of the states. the communications which he had made on the subject were neither for discrediting the prince nor for counteracting the schemes for his advancement. on the contrary, he had conferred with deputies from great cities like dordtrecht, enkhuyzen, and amsterdam, most devoted to the contra-remonstrant party, and had told them that, if they chose to propose the subject themselves, he would conduct himself to the best of his abilities in accordance with the wishes of the prince. it would seem almost impossible for a statesman placed in barneveld's position to bear himself with more perfect loyalty both to the country and to the stadholder. his duty was to maintain the constitution and laws so long as they remained unchanged. should it appear that the states, which legally represented the country, found the constitution defective, he was ready to aid in its amendment by fair public and legal methods. if maurice wished to propose himself openly as a candidate for the sovereignty, which had a generation before been conferred upon his father, barneveld would not only acquiesce in the scheme, but propose it. should it fail, he claimed the light to lay down all his offices and go into exile. he had never said that the prince was intriguing for, or even desired, the sovereignty. that the project existed among the party most opposed to himself, he had sufficient proof. to the leaders of that party therefore he suggested that the subject should be publicly discussed, guaranteeing freedom of debate and his loyal support so far as lay within his power. this was his answer to the accusation that he had meanly, secretly, and falsely circulated statements that the prince was aspiring to the sovereignty. [great pains were taken, in the course of the interrogatories, to elicit proof that the advocate had concealed important diplomatic information from the prince. he was asked why, in his secret instructions to ambassador langerac, he ordered him by an express article to be very cautious about making communications to the prince. searching questions were put in regard to these secret instructions, which i have read in the archives, and a copy of which now lies before me. they are in the form of questions, some of them almost puerile ones, addressed to barneveld by the ambassador then just departing on his mission to france in , with the answers written in the margin by the advocate. the following is all that has reference to the prince: "of what matters may i ordinarily write to his excellency?" answer--"of all great and important matters." it was difficult to find much that was treasonable in that.] among the heterogeneous articles of accusation he was asked why he had given no attention to those who had so, frequently proposed the formation of the west india company. he replied that it had from old time been the opinion of the states of holland, and always his own, that special and private licenses for traffic, navigation, and foreign commerce, were prejudicial to the welfare of the land. he had always been most earnestly opposed to them, detesting monopolies which interfered with that free trade and navigation which should be common to all mankind. he had taken great pains however in the years and to study the nature of the navigation and trade to the east indies in regard to the nations to be dealt with in those regions, the nature of the wares bought and sold there, the opposition to be encountered from the spaniards and portuguese against the commerce of the netherlanders, and the necessity of equipping vessels both for traffic and defence, and had come to the conclusion that these matters could best be directed by a general company. he explained in detail the manner in which he had procured the blending of all the isolated chambers into one great east india corporation, the enormous pains which it had cost him to bring it about, and the great commercial and national success which had been the result. the admiral of aragon, when a prisoner after the battle of nieuwpoort, had told him, he said, that the union of these petty corporations into one great whole had been as disastrous a blow to the kingdoms of spain and portugal as the union of the provinces at utrecht had been. in regard to the west india company, its sole object, so far as he could comprehend it, had been to equip armed vessels, not for trade but to capture and plunder spanish merchantmen and silver fleets in the west indies and south america. this was an advantageous war measure which he had favoured while the war lasted. it was in no sense a commercial scheme however, and when the truce had been made--the company not having come into existence--he failed to comprehend how its formation could be profitable for the netherlanders. on the contrary it would expressly invite or irritate the spaniards into a resumption of the war, an object which in his humble opinion was not at all desirable. certainly these ideas were not especially reprehensible, but had they been as shallow and despicable as they seem to us enlightened, it is passing strange that they should have furnished matter for a criminal prosecution. it was doubtless a disappointment for the promoters of the company, the chief of whom was a bankrupt, to fail in obtaining their charter, but it was scarcely high-treason to oppose it. there is no doubt however that the disapprobation with which barneveld regarded the west india company, the seat of which was at amsterdam, was a leading cause of the deadly hostility entertained for him by the great commercial metropolis. it was bad enough for the advocate to oppose unconditional predestination and the damnation of infants, but to frustrate a magnificent system of privateering on the spaniards in time of truce was an unpardonable crime. the patience with which the venerable statesman submitted to the taunts, ignorant and insolent cross-questionings, and noisy interruptions of his judges, was not less remarkable than the tenacity of memory which enabled him thus day after day, alone, unaided by books, manuscripts, or friendly counsel, to reconstruct the record of forty years, and to expound the laws of the land by an array of authorities, instances, and illustrations in a manner that would be deemed masterly by one who had all the resources of libraries, documents, witnesses, and secretaries at command. only when insidious questions were put tending to impute to him corruption, venality, and treacherous correspondence with the enemy--for they never once dared formally to accuse him of treason--did that almost superhuman patience desert him. he was questioned as to certain payments made by him to a certain van der vecken in spanish coin. he replied briefly at first that his money transactions with that man of business extended over a period of twenty or thirty years, and amounted to many hundred thousands of florins, growing out of purchases and sales of lands, agricultural enterprises on his estates, moneys derived from his professional or official business and the like. it was impossible for him to remember the details of every especial money payment that might have occurred between them. then suddenly breaking forth into a storm of indignation; he could mark from these questions, he said, that his enemies, not satisfied with having wounded his heart with their falsehoods, vile forgeries, and honour-robbing libels, were determined to break it. this he prayed that god almighty might avert and righteously judge between him and them. it was plain that among other things they were alluding to the stale and senseless story of the sledge filled with baskets of coin sent by the spanish envoys on their departure from the hague, on conclusion of the truce, to defray expenses incurred by them for board and lodging of servants, forage of horses, and the like-which had accidentally stopped at barneveld's door and was forthwith sent on to john spronssen, superintendent of such affairs. passing over this wanton bit of calumny with disgust, he solemnly asserted that he had never at any period of his life received one penny nor the value of one penny from the king of spain, the archdukes, spinola, or any other person connected with the enemy, saving only the presents publicly and mutually conferred according to invariable custom by the high contracting parties, upon the respective negotiators at conclusion of the treaty of truce. even these gifts barneveld had moved his colleagues not to accept, but proposed that they should all be paid into the public treasury. he had been overruled, he said, but that any dispassionate man of tolerable intelligence could imagine him, whose whole life had been a perpetual offence to spain, to be in suspicious relations with that power seemed to him impossible. the most intense party spirit, yea, envy itself, must confess that he had been among the foremost to take up arms for his country's liberties, and had through life never faltered in their defence. and once more in that mean chamber, and before a row of personal enemies calling themselves judges, he burst into an eloquent and most justifiable sketch of the career of one whom there was none else to justify and so many to assail. from his youth, he said, he had made himself by his honourable and patriotic deeds hopelessly irreconcilable with the spaniards. he was one of the advocates practising in the supreme court of holland, who in the very teeth of the duke of alva had proclaimed him a tyrant and had sworn obedience to the prince of orange as the lawful governor of the land. he was one of those who in the same year had promoted and attended private gatherings for the advancement of the reformed religion. he had helped to levy, and had contributed to, funds for the national defence in the early days of the revolt. these were things which led directly to the council of blood and the gibbet. he had borne arms himself on various bloody fields and had been perpetually a deputy to the rebel camps. he had been the original mover of the treaty of union which was concluded between the provinces at utrecht. he had been the first to propose and to draw up the declaration of netherland independence and the abjuration of the king of spain. he had been one of those who had drawn and passed the act establishing the late prince of orange as stadholder. of the sixty signers of these memorable declarations none were now living save himself and two others. when the prince had been assassinated, he had done his best to secure for his son maurice the sovereign position of which murder had so suddenly deprived the father. he had been member of the memorable embassies to france and england by which invaluable support for the struggling provinces had been obtained. and thus he rapidly sketched the history of the great war of independence in which he had ever been conspicuously employed on the patriotic side. when the late king of france at the close of the century had made peace with spain, he had been sent as special ambassador to that monarch, and had prevailed on him, notwithstanding his treaty with the enemy, to continue his secret alliance with the states and to promise them a large subsidy, pledges which had been sacredly fulfilled. it was on that occasion that henry, who was his debtor for past services, professional, official, and perfectly legitimate, had agreed, when his finances should be in better condition, to discharge his obligations; over and above the customary diplomatic present which he received publicly in common with his colleague admiral nassau. this promise, fulfilled a dozen years later, had been one of the senseless charges of corruption brought against him. he had been one of the negotiators of the truce in which spain had been compelled to treat with her revolted provinces as with free states and her equals. he had promoted the union of the protestant princes and their alliance with france and the united states in opposition to the designs of spain and the league. he had organized and directed the policy by which the forces of england, france, and protestant germany had possessed themselves of the debateable land. he had resisted every scheme by which it was hoped to force the states from their hold of those important citadels. he had been one of the foremost promoters of the east india company, an organization which the spaniards confessed had been as damaging to them as the union of the provinces itself had been. the idiotic and circumstantial statements, that he had conducted burgomaster van berk through a secret staircase of his house into his private study for the purpose of informing him that the only way for the states to get out of the war was to submit themselves once more to their old masters, so often forced upon him by the judges, he contradicted with disdain and disgust. he had ever abhorred and dreaded, he said, the house of spain, austria, and burgundy. his life had passed in open hostility to that house, as was known to all mankind. his mere personal interests, apart from higher considerations, would make an approach to the former sovereign impossible, for besides the deeds he had already alluded to, he had committed at least twelve distinct and separate acts, each one of which would be held high-treason by the house of austria, and he had learned from childhood that these are things which monarchs never forget. the tales of van berk were those of a personal enemy, falsehoods scarcely worth contradicting. he was grossly and enormously aggrieved by the illegal constitution of the commission. he had protested and continued to protest against it. if that protest were unheeded, he claimed at least that those men should be excluded from the board and the right to sit in judgment upon his person and his deeds who had proved themselves by words and works to be his capital enemies, of which fact he could produce irrefragable evidence. he claimed that the supreme court of holland, or the high council, or both together, should decide upon that point. he held as his personal enemies, he said, all those who had declared that he, before or since the truce down to the day of his arrest, had held correspondence with the spaniards, the archdukes, the marquis spinola, or any one on that side, had received money, money value, or promises of money from them, and in consequence had done or omitted to do anything whatever. he denounced such tales as notorious, shameful, and villainous falsehoods, the utterers and circulators of them as wilful liars, and this he was ready to maintain in every appropriate way for the vindication of the truth and his own honour. he declared solemnly before god almighty to the states-general and to the states of holland that his course in the religious matter had been solely directed to the strengthening of the reformed religion and to the political security of the provinces and cities. he had simply desired that, in the awful and mysterious matter of predestination, the consciences of many preachers and many thousands of good citizens might be placed in tranquillity, with moderate and christian limitations against all excesses. from all these reasons, he said, the commissioners, the states-general, the prince, and every man in the land could clearly see, and were bound to see, that he was the same man now that he was at the beginning of the war, had ever been, and with god's help should ever remain. the proceedings were kept secret from the public and, as a matter of course, there had been conflicting rumours from day to day as to the probable result of these great state trials. in general however it was thought that the prisoner would be acquitted of the graver charges, or that at most he would be permanently displaced from all office and declared incapable thenceforth to serve the state. the triumph of the contra-remonstrants since the stadholder had placed himself at the head of them, and the complete metamorphosis of the city governments even in the strongholds of the arminian party seemed to render the permanent political disgrace of the advocate almost a matter of certainty. the first step that gave rise to a belief that he might be perhaps more severely dealt with than had been anticipated was the proclamation by the states-general of a public fast and humiliation for the th april. in this document it was announced that "church and state--during several years past having been brought into great danger of utter destruction through certain persons in furtherance of their ambitious designs--had been saved by the convocation of a national synod; that a lawful sentence was soon to be expected upon those who had been disturbing the commonwealth; that through this sentence general tranquillity would probably be restored; and that men were now to thank god for this result, and pray to him that he would bring the wicked counsels and stratagems of the enemy against these provinces to naught." all the prisoners were asked if they too would like in their chambers of bondage to participate in the solemnity, although the motive for the fasting and prayer was not mentioned to them. each of them in his separate prison room, of course without communication together, selected the th psalm and sang it with his servant and door-keeper. from the date of this fast-day barneveld looked upon the result of his trial as likely to be serious. many clergymen refused or objected to comply with the terms of this declaration. others conformed with it greedily, and preached lengthy thanksgiving sermons, giving praise to god that, he had confounded the devices of the ambitious and saved the country from the "blood bath" which they had been preparing for it. the friends of barneveld became alarmed at the sinister language of this proclamation, in which for the first time allusions had been made to a forthcoming sentence against the accused. especially the staunch and indefatigable du maurier at once addressed himself again to the states-general. de boississe had returned to france, having found that the government of a country torn, weakened, and rendered almost impotent by its own internecine factions, was not likely to exert any very potent influence on the fate of the illustrious prisoner. the states had given him to understand that they were wearied with his perpetual appeals, intercessions, and sermons in behalf of mercy. they made him feel in short that lewis xiii. and henry iv. were two entirely different personages. du maurier however obtained a hearing before the assembly on the st may, where he made a powerful and manly speech in presence of the prince, urging that the prisoners ought to be discharged unless they could be convicted of treason, and that the states ought to show as much deference to his sovereign as they had always done to elizabeth of england. he made a personal appeal to prince maurice, urging upon him how much it would redound to his glory if he should now in generous and princely fashion step forward in behalf of those by whom he deemed himself to have been personally offended. his speech fell upon ears hardened against such eloquence and produced no effect. meantime the family of barneveld, not yet reduced to despair, chose to take a less gloomy view of the proclamation. relying on the innocence of the great statesman, whose aims, in their firm belief, had ever been for the welfare and glory of his fatherland, and in whose heart there had never been kindled one spark of treason, they bravely expected his triumphant release from his long and, as they deemed it, his iniquitous imprisonment. on this very st of may, in accordance with ancient custom, a may-pole was erected on the voorhout before the mansion of the captive statesman, and wreaths of spring flowers and garlands of evergreen decorated the walls within which were such braised and bleeding hearts. these demonstrations of a noble hypocrisy, if such it were, excited the wrath, not the compassion, of the stadholder, who thought that the aged matron and her sons and daughters, who dwelt in that house of mourning, should rather have sat in sackcloth with ashes on their heads than indulge in these insolent marks of hope and joyful expectation. it is certain however that count william lewis, who, although most staunch on the contra-remonstrant side, had a veneration for the advocate and desired warmly to save him, made a last and strenuous effort for that purpose. it was believed then, and it seems almost certain, that, if the friends of the advocate had been willing to implore pardon for him, the sentence would have been remitted or commuted. their application would have been successful, for through it his guilt would seem to be acknowledged. count william sent for the fiscal duyck. he asked him if there were no means of saving the life of a man who was so old and had done the country so much service. after long deliberation, it was decided that prince maurice should be approached on the subject. duyck wished that the count himself would speak with his cousin, but was convinced by his reasoning that it would be better that the fiscal should do it. duyck had a long interview accordingly with maurice, which was followed by a very secret one between them both and count william. the three were locked up together, three hours long, in the prince's private cabinet. it was then decided that count william should go, as if of his own accord, to the princess-dowager louise, and induce her to send for some one of barneveld's children and urge that the family should ask pardon for him. she asked if this was done with the knowledge of the prince of orange, or whether he would not take it amiss. the count eluded the question, but implored her to follow his advice. the result was an interview between the princess and madame de groeneveld, wife of the eldest son. that lady was besought to apply, with the rest of the advocate's children, for pardon to the lords states, but to act as if it were done of her own impulse, and to keep their interview profoundly secret. madame de groeneveld took time to consult the other members of the family and some friends. soon afterwards she came again to the princess, and informed her that she had spoken with the other children, and that they could not agree to the suggestion. "they would not move one step in it--no, not if it should cost him his head." the princess reported the result of this interview to count william, at which both were so distressed that they determined to leave the hague. there is something almost superhuman in the sternness of this stoicism. yet it lay in the proud and highly tempered character of the netherlanders. there can be no doubt that the advocate would have expressly dictated this proceeding if he had been consulted. it was precisely the course adopted by himself. death rather than life with a false acknowledgment of guilt and therefore with disgrace. the loss of his honour would have been an infinitely greater triumph to his enemies than the loss of his head. there was no delay in drawing up the sentence. previously to this interview with the widow of william the silent, the family of the advocate had presented to the judges three separate documents, rather in the way of arguments than petitions, undertaking to prove by elaborate reasoning and citations of precedents and texts of the civil law that the proceedings against him were wholly illegal, and that he was innocent of every crime. no notice had been taken of those appeals. upon the questions and answers as already set forth the sentence soon followed, and it may be as well that the reader should be aware, at this point in the narrative, of the substance of that sentence so soon to be pronounced. there had been no indictment, no specification of crime. there had been no testimony or evidence. there had been no argument for the prosecution or the defence. there had been no trial whatever. the prisoner was convicted on a set of questions to which he had put in satisfactory replies. he was sentenced on a preamble. the sentence was a string of vague generalities, intolerably long, and as tangled as the interrogatories. his proceedings during a long career had on the whole tended to something called a "blood bath"--but the blood bath had never occurred. with an effrontery which did not lack ingenuity, barneveld's defence was called by the commissioners his confession, and was formally registered as such in the process and the sentence; while the fact that he had not been stretched upon the rack during his trial, nor kept in chains for the eight months of his imprisonment, were complacently mentioned as proofs of exceptionable indulgence. "whereas the prisoner john of barneveld," said the sentence, "without being put to the torture and without fetters of iron, has confessed . . . to having perturbed religion, greatly afflicted the church of god, and carried into practice exorbitant and pernicious maxims of state . . . inculcating by himself and accomplices that each province had the right to regulate religious affairs within its own territory, and that other provinces were not to concern themselves therewith"--therefore and for many other reasons he merited punishment. he had instigated a protest by vote of three provinces against the national synod. he had despised the salutary advice of many princes and notable personages. he had obtained from the king of great britain certain letters furthering his own opinions, the drafts of which he had himself suggested, and corrected and sent over to the states' ambassador in london, and when written out, signed, and addressed by the king to the states-general, had delivered them without stating how they had been procured. afterwards he had attempted to get other letters of a similar nature from the king, and not succeeding had defamed his majesty as being a cause of the troubles in the provinces. he had permitted unsound theologians to be appointed to church offices, and had employed such functionaries in political affairs as were most likely to be the instruments of his own purposes. he had not prevented vigorous decrees from being enforced in several places against those of the true religion. he had made them odious by calling them puritans, foreigners, and "flanderizers," although the united provinces had solemnly pledged to each other their lives, fortunes, and blood by various conventions, to some of which the prisoner was himself a party, to maintain the reformed, evangelical, religion only, and to, suffer no change in it to be made for evermore. in order to carry out his design and perturb the political state of the provinces he had drawn up and caused to be enacted the sharp resolution of th august . he had thus nullified the ordinary course of justice. he had stimulated the magistrates to disobedience, and advised them to strengthen themselves with freshly enlisted military companies. he had suggested new-fangled oaths for the soldiers, authorizing them to refuse obedience to the states-general and his excellency. he had especially stimulated the proceedings at utrecht. when it was understood that the prince was to pass through utrecht, the states of that province not without the prisoner's knowledge had addressed a letter to his excellency, requesting him not to pass through their city. he had written a letter to ledenberg suggesting that good watch should be held at the town gates and up and down the river lek. he had desired that ledenberg having read that letter should burn it. he had interfered with the cashiering of the mercenaries at utrecht. he had said that such cashiering without the consent of the states of that province was an act of force which would justify resistance by force. although those states had sent commissioners to concert measures with the prince for that purpose, he had advised them to conceal their instructions until his own plan for the disbandment could be carried out. at a secret meeting in the house of tresel, clerk of the states-general, between grotius, hoogerbeets, and other accomplices, it was decided that this advice should be taken. report accordingly was made to the prisoner. he had advised them to continue in their opposition to the national synod. he had sought to calumniate and blacken his excellency by saying that he aspired to the sovereignty of the provinces. he had received intelligence on that subject from abroad in ciphered letters. he had of his own accord rejected a certain proposed, notable alliance of the utmost importance to this republic. [this refers, i think without doubt, to the conversation between king james and caron at the end of the year .] he had received from foreign potentates various large sums of money and other presents. all "these proceedings tended to put the city of utrecht into a blood-bath, and likewise to bring the whole country, and the person of his excellency into the uttermost danger." this is the substance of the sentence, amplified by repetitions and exasperating tautology into thirty or forty pages. it will have been perceived by our analysis of barneveld's answers to the commissioners that all the graver charges which he was now said to have confessed had been indignantly denied by him or triumphantly justified. it will also be observed that he was condemned for no categorical crime--lese-majesty, treason, or rebellion. the commissioners never ventured to assert that the states-general were sovereign, or that the central government had a right to prescribe a religious formulary for all the united provinces. they never dared to say that the prisoner had been in communication with the enemy or had received bribes from him. of insinuation and implication there was much, of assertion very little, of demonstration nothing whatever. but supposing that all the charges had been admitted or proved, what course would naturally be taken in consequence? how was a statesman who adhered to the political, constitutional, and religious opinions on which he had acted, with the general acquiescence, during a career of more than forty years, but which were said to be no longer in accordance with public opinion, to be dealt with? would the commissioners request him to retire honourably from the high functions which he had over and over again offered to resign? would they consider that, having fairly impeached and found him guilty of disturbing the public peace by continuing to act on his well-known legal theories, they might deprive him summarily of power and declare him incapable of holding office again? the conclusion of the commissioners was somewhat more severe than either of these measures. their long rambling preamble ended with these decisive words: "therefore the judges, in name of the lords states-general, condemn the prisoner to be taken to the binnenhof, there to be executed with the sword that death may follow, and they declare all his property confiscated." the execution was to take place so soon as the sentence had been read to the prisoner. after the st of may barneveld had not appeared before his judges. he had been examined in all about sixty times. in the beginning of may his servant became impatient. "you must not be impatient," said his master. "the time seems much longer because we get no news now from the outside. but the end will soon come. this delay cannot last for ever." intimation reached him on saturday the th may that the sentence was ready and would soon be pronounced. "it is a bitter folk," said barneveld as he went to bed. "i have nothing good to expect of them." next day was occupied in sewing up and concealing his papers, including a long account of his examination, with the questions and answers, in his spanish arm-chair. next day van der meulen said to the servant, "i will bet you a hundred florins that you'll not be here next thursday." the faithful john was delighted, not dreaming of the impending result. it was sunday afternoon, th may, and about half past five o'clock. barneveld sat in his prison chamber, occupied as usual in writing, reviewing the history of the past, and doing his best to reduce into something like order the rambling and miscellaneous interrogatories, out of which his trial had been concocted, while the points dwelt in his memory, and to draw up a concluding argument in his own defence. work which according to any equitable, reasonable, or even decent procedure should have been entrusted to the first lawyers of the country--preparing the case upon the law and the facts with the documents before them, with the power of cross-questioning witnesses and sifting evidence, and enlightened by constant conferences with the illustrious prisoner himself--came entirely upon his own shoulders, enfeebled as he was by age, physical illness, and by the exhaustion of along imprisonment. without books, notes of evidence, or even copies of the charges of which he stood accused, he was obliged to draw up his counter-arguments against the impeachment and then by aid of a faithful valet to conceal his manuscript behind the tapestry of the chamber, or cause them to be sewed up in the lining of his easy-chair, lest they should be taken from him by order of the judges who sat in the chamber below. while he was thus occupied in preparations for his next encounter with the tribunal, the door opened, and three gentlemen entered. two were the prosecuting officers of the government, fiscal sylla and fiscal van leeuwen. the other was the provost-marshal, carel de nijs. the servant was directed to leave the room. barneveld had stepped into his dressing-room on hearing footsteps, but came out again with his long furred gown about him as the three entered. he greeted them courteously and remained standing, with his hands placed on the back of his chair and with one knee resting carelessly against the arm of it. van leeuwen asked him if he would not rather be seated, as they brought a communication from the judges. he answered in the negative. von leeuwen then informed him that he was summoned to appear before the judges the next morning to hear his sentence of death. "the sentence of death!" he exclaimed, without in the least changing his position; "the sentence of death! the sentence of death!" saying the words over thrice, with an air of astonishment rather than of horror. "i never expected that! i thought they were going to hear my defence again. i had intended to make some change in my previous statements, having set some things down when beside myself with choler." he then made reference to his long services. van leeuwen expressed himself as well acquainted with them. "he was sorry," he said, "that his lordship took this message ill of him." "i do not take it ill of you," said barneveld, "but let them," meaning the judges, "see how they will answer it before god. are they thus to deal with a true patriot? let me have pen, ink, and paper, that for the last time i may write farewell to my wife." "i will go ask permission of the judges," said van leenwen, "and i cannot think that my lord's request will be refused." while van leeuwen was absent, the advocate exclaimed, looking at the other legal officer: "oh, sylla, sylla, if your father could only have seen to what uses they would put you!" sylla was silent. permission to write the letter was soon received from de voogt, president of the commission. pen, ink, and paper were brought, and the prisoner calmly sat down to write, without the slightest trace of discomposure upon his countenance or in any of his movements. while he was writing, sylla said with some authority, "beware, my lord, what you write, lest you put down something which may furnish cause for not delivering the letter." barneveld paused in his writing, took the glasses from his eyes, and looked sylla in the face. "well, sylla," he said very calmly, "will you in these my last moments lay down the law to me as to what i shall write to my wife?" he then added with a half-smile, "well, what is expected of me?" "we have no commission whatever to lay down the law," said van leeuwen. "your worship will write whatever you like." while he was writing, anthony walaeus came in, a preacher and professor of middelburg, a deputy to the synod of dordtrecht, a learned and amiable man, sent by the states-general to minister to the prisoner on this supreme occasion; and not unworthy to be thus selected. the advocate, not knowing him, asked him why he came. "i am not here without commission," said the clergyman. "i come to console my lord in his tribulation." "i am a man," said barneveld; "have come to my present age, and i know how to console myself. i must write, and have now other things to do." the preacher said that he would withdraw and return when his worship was at leisure. "do as you like," said the advocate, calmly going on with his writing. when the letter was finished, it was sent to the judges for their inspection, by whom it was at once forwarded to the family mansion in the voorhout, hardly a stone's throw from the prison chamber. thus it ran: "very dearly beloved wife, children, sons-in-law, and grandchildren, i greet you altogether most affectionately. i receive at this moment the very heavy and sorrowful tidings that i, an old man, for all my services done well and faithfully to the fatherland for so many years (after having performed all respectful and friendly offices to his excellency the prince with upright affection so far as my official duty and vocation would permit, shown friendship to many people of all sorts, and wittingly injured no man), must prepare myself to die to-morrow. "i console myself in god the lord, who knows all hearts, and who will judge all men. i beg you all together to do the same. i have steadily and faithfully served my lords the states of holland and their nobles and cities. to the states of utrecht as sovereigns of my own fatherland i have imparted at their request upright and faithful counsel, in order to save them from tumults of the populace, and from the bloodshed with which they had so long been threatened. i had the same views for the cities of holland in order that every one might be protected and no one injured. "live together in love and peace. pray for me to almighty god, who will graciously hold us all in his holy keeping. "from my chamber of sorrow, the th may . "your very dear husband, father, father-in-law, and grandfather, "john of barneveld." it was thought strange that the judges should permit so simple and clear a statement, an argument in itself, to be forwarded. the theory of his condemnation was to rest before the public on his confessions of guilt, and here in the instant of learning the nature of the sentence in a few hours to be pronounced upon him he had in a few telling periods declared his entire innocence. nevertheless the letter had been sent at once to its address. so soon as this sad business had been disposed of, anthony walaeus returned. the advocate apologized to the preacher for his somewhat abrupt greeting on his first appearance. he was much occupied and did not know him, he said, although he had often heard of him. he begged him, as well as the provost-marshal, to join him at supper, which was soon brought. barneveld ate with his usual appetite, conversed cheerfully on various topics, and pledged the health of each of his guests in a glass of beer. contrary to his wont he drank at that repast no wine. after supper he went out into the little ante-chamber and called his servant, asking him how he had been faring. now john franken had just heard with grief unspeakable the melancholy news of his master's condemnation from two soldiers of the guard, who had been sent by the judges to keep additional watch over the prisoner. he was however as great a stoic as his master, and with no outward and superfluous manifestations of woe had simply implored the captain-at-arms, van der meulen, to intercede with the judges that he might be allowed to stay with his lord to the last. meantime he had been expressly informed that he was to say nothing to the advocate in secret, and that his master was not to speak to him in a low tone nor whisper in his ear. when the advocate came out into the ante-chamber and looking over his shoulder saw the two soldiers he at once lowered his voice. "hush-speak low," he whispered; "this is too cruel." john then informed him of van der meulen's orders, and that the soldiers had also been instructed to look to it sharply that no word was exchanged between master and man except in a loud voice. "is it possible," said the advocate, "that so close an inspection is held over me in these last hours? can i not speak a word or two in freedom? this is a needless mark of disrespect." the soldiers begged him not to take their conduct amiss as they were obliged strictly to obey orders. he returned to his chamber, sat down in his chair, and begged walaeus to go on his behalf to prince maurice. "tell his excellency," said he, "that i have always served him with upright affection so far as my office, duties, and principles permitted. if i, in the discharge of my oath and official functions, have ever done anything contrary to his views, i hope that he will forgive it, and that he will hold my children in his gracious favour." it was then ten o'clock. the preacher went downstairs and crossed the courtyard to the stadholder's apartments, where he at once gained admittance. maurice heard the message with tears in his eyes, assuring walaeus that he felt deeply for the advocate's misfortunes. he had always had much affection for him, he said, and had often warned him against his mistaken courses. two things, however, had always excited his indignation. one was that barneveld had accused him of aspiring to sovereignty. the other that he had placed him in such danger at utrecht. yet he forgave him all. as regarded his sons, so long as they behaved themselves well they might rely on his favour. as walaeus was about to leave the apartment, the prince called him back. "did he say anything of a pardon?" he asked, with some eagerness. "my lord," answered the clergyman, "i cannot with truth say that i understood him to make any allusion to it." walaeus returned immediately to the prison chamber and made his report of the interview. he was unwilling however to state the particulars of the offence which maurice declared himself to have taken at the acts of the advocate. but as the prisoner insisted upon knowing, the clergyman repeated the whole conversation. "his excellency has been deceived in regard to the utrecht business," said barneveld, "especially as to one point. but it is true that i had fear and apprehension that he aspired to the sovereignty or to more authority in the country. ever since the year i have felt this fear and have tried that these apprehensions might be rightly understood." while walaeus had been absent, the reverend jean la motte (or lamotius) and another clergyman of the hague had come to the prisoner's apartment. la motte could not look upon the advocate's face without weeping, but the others were more collected. conversation now ensued among the four; the preachers wishing to turn the doomed statesman's thought to the consolations of religion. but it was characteristic of the old lawyer's frame of mind that even now he looked at the tragical position in which he found himself from a constitutional and controversial point of view. he was perfectly calm and undaunted at the awful fate so suddenly and unexpectedly opened before his eyes, but he was indignant at what he esteemed the ignorance, injustice, and stupidity of the sentence to be pronounced against him. "i am ready enough to die," he said to the three clergymen, "but i cannot comprehend why i am to die. i have done nothing except in obedience to the laws and privileges of the land and according to my oath, honour, and conscience." "these judges," he continued, "come in a time when other maxims prevail in the state than those of my day. they have no right therefore to sit in judgment upon me." the clergymen replied that the twenty-four judges who had tried the case were no children and were conscientious men; that it was no small thing to condemn a man, and that they would have to answer it before the supreme judge of all. "i console myself," he answered, "in the lord my god, who knows all hearts and shall judge all men. god is just. "they have not dealt with me," he continued, "as according to law and justice they were bound to deal. they have taken away from me my own sovereign lords and masters and deposed them. to them alone i was responsible. in their place they have put many of my enemies who were never before in the government, and almost all of whom are young men who have not seen much or read much. i have seen and read much, and know that from such examples no good can follow. after my death they will learn for the first time what governing means." "the twenty-four judges are nearly all of them my enemies. what they have reproached me with, i have been obliged to hear. i have appealed against these judges, but it has been of no avail. they have examined me in piecemeal, not in statesmanlike fashion. the proceedings against me have been much too hard. i have frequently requested to see the notes of my examination as it proceeded, and to confer upon it with aid and counsel of friends, as would be the case in all lands governed by law. the request was refused. during this long and wearisome affliction and misery i have not once been allowed to speak to my wife and children. these are indecent proceedings against a man seventy-two years of age, who has served his country faithfully for three-and-forty years. i bore arms with the volunteers at my own charges at the siege of haarlem and barely escaped with life." it was not unnatural that the aged statesman's thoughts should revert in this supreme moment to the heroic scenes in which he had been an actor almost a half-century before. he could not but think with bitterness of those long past but never forgotten days when he, with other patriotic youths, had faced the terrible legions of alva in defence of the fatherland, at a time when the men who were now dooming him to a traitor's death were unborn, and who, but for his labours, courage, wisdom, and sacrifices, might have never had a fatherland to serve, or a judgment-seat on which to pronounce his condemnation. not in a spirit of fretfulness, but with disdainful calm, he criticised and censured the proceedings against himself as a violation of the laws of the land and of the first principles of justice, discussing them as lucidly and steadily as if they had been against a third person. the preachers listened, but had nothing to say. they knew not of such matters, they said, and had no instructions to speak of them. they had been sent to call him to repentance for his open and hidden sins and to offer the consolations of religion. "i know that very well," he said, "but i too have something to say notwithstanding." the conversation then turned upon religious topics, and the preachers spoke of predestination. "i have never been able to believe in the matter of high predestination," said the advocate. "i have left it in the hands of god the lord. i hold that a good christian man must believe that he through god's grace and by the expiation of his sin through our redeemer jesus christ is predestined to be saved, and that this belief in his salvation, founded alone on god's grace and the merits of our redeemer jesus christ, comes to him through the same grace of god. and if he falls into great sins, his firm hope and confidence must be that the lord god will not allow him to continue in them, but that, through prayer for grace and repentance, he will be converted from evil and remain in the faith to the end of his life." these feelings, he said, he had expressed fifty-two years before to three eminent professors of theology in whom he confided, and they had assured him that he might tranquilly continue in such belief without examining further. "and this has always been my creed," he said. the preachers replied that faith is a gift of god and not given to all men, that it must be given out of heaven to a man before he could be saved. hereupon they began to dispute, and the advocate spoke so earnestly and well that the clergymen were astonished and sat for a time listening to him in silence. he asked afterwards about the synod, and was informed that its decrees had not yet been promulgated, but that the remonstrants had been condemned. "it is a pity," said he. "one is trying to act on the old papal system, but it will never do. things have gone too far. as to the synod, if my lords the states of holland had been heeded there would have been first a provincial synod and then a national one."--"but," he added, looking the preachers in the face, "had you been more gentle with each other, matters would not have taken so high a turn. but you have been too fierce one against the other, too full of bitter party spirit." they replied that it was impossible for them to act against their conscience and the supreme authority. and then they asked him if there was nothing that troubled him in, his conscience in the matters for which he must die; nothing for which he repented and sorrowed, and for which he would call upon god for mercy. "this i know well," he said, "that i have never willingly done wrong to any man. people have been ransacking my letters to caron--confidential ones written several years ago to an old friend when i was troubled and seeking for counsel and consolation. it is hard that matter of impeachment against me to-day should be sought for thus." and then he fell into political discourse again on the subject of the waartgelders and the state rights, and the villainous pasquils and libels that had circulated so long through the country. "i have sometimes spoken hastily, i confess," he said; "but that was when i was stung by the daily swarm of infamous and loathsome pamphlets, especially those directed against my sovereign masters the states of holland. that i could not bear. old men cannot well brush such things aside. all that was directly aimed at me in particular i endeavoured to overcome with such patience as i could muster. the disunion and mutual enmity in the country have wounded me to the heart. i have made use of all means in my power to accommodate matters, to effect with all gentleness a mutual reconciliation. i have always felt a fear lest the enemy should make use of our internal dissensions to strike a blow against us. i can say with perfect truth that ever since the year ' i have been as resolutely and unchangeably opposed to the spaniards and their adherents, and their pretensions over these provinces, as any man in the world, no one excepted, and as ready to sacrifice property and shed my blood in defence of the fatherland. i have been so devoted to the service of the country that i have not been able to take the necessary care of my own private affairs." so spoke the great statesman in the seclusion of his prison, in the presence of those clergymen whom he respected, at a supreme moment, when, if ever, a man might be expected to tell the truth. and his whole life which belonged to history, and had been passed on the world's stage before the eyes of two generations of spectators, was a demonstration of the truth of his words. but burgomaster van berk knew better. had he not informed the twenty-four commissioners that, twelve years before, the advocate wished to subject the country to spain, and that spinola had drawn a bill of exchange for , ducats as a compensation for his efforts? it was eleven o'clock. barneveld requested one of the brethren to say an evening prayer. this was done by la motte, and they were then requested to return by three or four o'clock next morning. they had been directed, they said, to remain with him all night. "that is unnecessary," said the advocate, and they retired. his servant then helped his master to undress, and he went to bed as usual. taking off his signet-ring, he gave it to john franken. "for my eldest son," he said. the valet sat down at the head of his bed in order that his master might speak to him before he slept. but the soldiers ordered him away and compelled him to sit in a distant part of the room. an hour after midnight, the advocate having been unable to lose himself, his servant observed that isaac, one of the soldiers, was fast asleep. he begged the other, tilman schenk by name, to permit him some private words with his master. he had probably last messages, he thought, to send to his wife and children, and the eldest son, m. de groeneveld, would no doubt reward him well for it. but the soldier was obstinate in obedience to the orders of the judges. barneveld, finding it impossible to sleep, asked his servant to read to him from the prayer-book. the soldier called in a clergyman however, another one named hugo bayerus, who had been sent to the prison, and who now read to him the consolations of the sick. as he read, he made exhortations and expositions, which led to animated discussion, in which the advocate expressed himself with so much fervour and eloquence that all present were astonished, and the preacher sat mute a half-hour long at the bed-side. "had there been ten clergymen," said the simple-hearted sentry to the valet, "your master would have enough to say to all of them." barneveld asked where the place had been prepared in which he was to die. "in front of the great hall, as i understand," said bayerus, "but i don't know the localities well, having lived here but little." "have you heard whether my grotius is to die, and hoogerbeets also?" he asked? "i have heard nothing to that effect," replied the clergyman. "i should most deeply grieve for those two gentlemen," said barneveld, "were that the case. they may yet live to do the land great service. that great rising light, de groot, is still young, but a very wise and learned gentleman, devoted to his fatherland with all zeal, heart, and soul, and ready to stand up for her privileges, laws, and rights. as for me, i am an old and worn-out man. i can do no more. i have already done more than i was really able to do. i have worked so zealously in public matters that i have neglected my private business. i had expressly ordered my house at loosduinen" [a villa by the seaside] "to be got ready, that i might establish myself there and put my affairs in order. i have repeatedly asked the states of holland for my discharge, but could never obtain it. it seems that the almighty had otherwise disposed of me." he then said he would try once more if he could sleep. the clergyman and the servant withdrew for an hour, but his attempt was unsuccessful. after an hour he called for his french psalm book and read in it for some time. sometime after two o'clock the clergymen came in again and conversed with him. they asked him if he had slept, if he hoped to meet christ, and if there was anything that troubled his conscience. "i have not slept, but am perfectly tranquil," he replied. "i am ready to die, but cannot comprehend why i must die. i wish from my heart that, through my death and my blood, all disunion and discord in this land may cease." he bade them carry his last greetings to his fellow prisoners. "say farewell for me to my good grotius," said he, "and tell him that i must die." the clergymen then left him, intending to return between five and six o'clock. he remained quiet for a little while and then ordered his valet to cut open the front of his shirt. when this was done, he said, "john, are you to stay by me to the last?" "yes," he replied, "if the judges permit it." "remind me to send one of the clergymen to the judges with the request," said his master. the faithful john, than whom no servant or friend could be more devoted, seized the occasion, with the thrift and stoicism of a true hollander, to suggest that his lord might at the same time make some testamentary disposition in his favour. "tell my wife and children," said the advocate, "that they must console each other in mutual love and union. say that through god's grace i am perfectly at ease, and hope that they will be equally tranquil. tell my children that i trust they will be loving and friendly to their mother during the short time she has yet to live. say that i wish to recommend you to them that they may help you to a good situation either with themselves or with others. tell them that this was my last request." he bade him further to communicate to the family the messages sent that night through walaeus by the stadholder. the valet begged his master to repeat these instructions in presence of the clergyman, or to request one of them to convey them himself to the family. he promised to do so. "as long as i live," said the grateful servant, "i shall remember your lordship in my prayers." "no, john," said the advocate, "that is popish. when i am dead, it is all over with prayers. pray for me while i still live. now is the time to pray. when one is dead, one should no longer be prayed for." la motte came in. barneveld repeated his last wishes exactly as he desired them to be communicated to his wife and children. the preacher made no response. "will you take the message?" asked the prisoner. la motte nodded, but did not speak, nor did he subsequently fulfil the request. before five o'clock the servant heard the bell ring in the apartment of the judges directly below the prison chamber, and told his master he had understood that they were to assemble at five o'clock. "i may as well get up then," said the advocate; "they mean to begin early, i suppose. give me my doublet and but one pair of stockings." he was accustomed to wear two or three pair at a time. he took off his underwaistcoat, saying that the silver bog which was in one of the pockets was to be taken to his wife, and that the servant should keep the loose money there for himself. then he found an opportunity to whisper to him, "take good care of the papers which are in the apartment." he meant the elaborate writings which he had prepared during his imprisonment and concealed in the tapestry and within the linings of the chair. as his valet handed him the combs and brushes, he said with a smile, "john, this is for the last time." when he was dressed, he tried, in rehearsal of the approaching scene, to pull over his eyes the silk skull-cap which he usually wore under his hat. finding it too tight he told the valet to put the nightcap in his pocket and give it him when he should call for it. he then swallowed a half-glass of wine with a strengthening cordial in it, which he was wont to take. the clergymen then re-entered, and asked if he had been able to sleep. he answered no, but that he had been much consoled by many noble things which he had been reading in the french psalm book. the clergymen said that they had been thinking much of the beautiful confession of faith which he had made to them that evening. they rejoiced at it, they said, on his account, and had never thought it of him. he said that such had always been his creed. at his request walaeus now offered a morning prayer barneveld fell on his knees and prayed inwardly without uttering a sound. la motte asked when he had concluded, "did my lord say amen?"--"yes, lamotius," he replied; "amen."--"has either of the brethren," he added, "prepared a prayer to be offered outside there?" la motte informed him that this duty had been confided to him. some passages from isaiah were now read aloud, and soon afterwards walaeus was sent for to speak with the judges. he came back and said to the prisoner, "has my lord any desire to speak with his wife or children, or any of his friends?" it was then six o'clock, and barneveld replied: "no, the time is drawing near. it would excite a new emotion." walaeus went back to the judges with this answer, who thereupon made this official report: "the husband and father of the petitioners, being asked if he desired that any of the petitioners should come to him, declared that he did not approve of it, saying that it would cause too great an emotion for himself as well as for them. this is to serve as an answer to the petitioners." now the advocate knew nothing of the petition. up to the last moment his family had been sanguine as to his ultimate acquittal and release. they relied on a promise which they had received or imagined that they had received from the stadholder that no harm should come to the prisoner in consequence of the arrest made of his person in the prince's apartments on the th of august. they had opened this tragical month of may with flagstaffs and flower garlands, and were making daily preparations to receive back the revered statesman in triumph. the letter written by him from his "chamber of sorrow," late in the evening of th may, had at last dispelled every illusion. it would be idle to attempt to paint the grief and consternation into which the household in the voorhout was plunged, from the venerable dame at its head, surrounded by her sons and daughters and children's children, down to the humblest servant in their employment. for all revered and loved the austere statesman, but simple and benignant father and master. no heed had been taken of the three elaborate and argumentative petitions which, prepared by learned counsel in name of the relatives, had been addressed to the judges. they had not been answered because they were difficult to answer, and because it was not intended that the accused should have the benefit of counsel. an urgent and last appeal was now written late at night, and signed by each member of the family, to his excellency the prince and the judge commissioners, to this effect: "the afflicted wife and children of m. van barneveld humbly show that having heard the sorrowful tidings of his coming execution, they humbly beg that it may be granted them to see and speak to him for the last time." the two sons delivered this petition at four o'clock in the morning into the hands of de voogd, one of the judges. it was duly laid before the commission, but the prisoner was never informed, when declining a last interview with his family, how urgently they had themselves solicited the boon. louise de coligny, on hearing late at night the awful news, had been struck with grief and horror. she endeavoured, late as it was, to do something to avert the doom of one she so much revered, the man on whom her illustrious husband had leaned his life long as on a staff of iron. she besought an interview of the stadholder, but it was refused. the wife of william the silent had no influence at that dire moment with her stepson. she was informed at first that maurice was asleep, and at four in the morning that all intervention was useless. the faithful and energetic du maurier, who had already exhausted himself in efforts to save the life of the great prisoner, now made a last appeal. he, too, heard at four o'clock in the morning of the th that sentence of death was to be pronounced. before five o'clock he made urgent application to be heard before the assembly of the states-general as ambassador of a friendly sovereign who took the deepest interest in the welfare of the republic and the fate of its illustrious statesman. the appeal was refused. as a last resource he drew up an earnest and eloquent letter to the states-general, urging clemency in the name of his king. it was of no avail. the letter may still be seen in the royal archives at the hague, drawn up entirely in du maurier's clear and beautiful handwriting. although possibly a first draft, written as it was under such a mortal pressure for time, its pages have not one erasure or correction. it was seven o'clock. barneveld having observed by the preacher (la motte's) manner that he was not likely to convey the last messages which he had mentioned to his wife and children, sent a request to the judges to be allowed to write one more letter. captain van der meulen came back with the permission, saying he would wait and take it to the judges for their revision. the letter has been often published. "must they see this too? why, it is only a line in favour of john," said the prisoner, sitting quietly down to write this letter: "very dear wife and children, it is going to an end with me. i am, through the grace of god, very tranquil. i hope that you are equally so, and that you may by mutual love, union, and peace help each other to overcome all things, which i pray to the omnipotent as my last request. john franken has served me faithfully for many years and throughout all these my afflictions, and is to remain with me to the end. he deserves to be recommended to you and to be furthered to good employments with you or with others. i request you herewith to see to this. "i have requested his princely excellency to hold my sons and children in his favour, to which he has answered that so long as you conduct yourselves well this shall be the case. i recommend this to you in the best form and give you all into god's holy keeping. kiss each other and all my grandchildren, for the last time in my name, and fare you well. out of the chamber of sorrow, th may . your dear husband and father, john of barneveld. "p.s. you will make john franken a present in memory of me." certainly it would be difficult to find a more truly calm, courageous, or religious spirit than that manifested by this aged statesman at an hour when, if ever, a human soul is tried and is apt to reveal its innermost depths or shallows. whatever gomarus or bogerman, or the whole council of dordtrecht, may have thought of his theology, it had at least taught him forgiveness of his enemies, kindness to his friends, and submission to the will of the omnipotent. every moment of his last days on earth had been watched and jealously scrutinized, and his bitterest enemies had failed to discover one trace of frailty, one manifestation of any vacillating, ignoble, or malignant sentiment. the drums had been sounding through the quiet but anxiously expectant town since four o'clock that morning, and the tramp of soldiers marching to the inner court had long been audible in the prison chamber. walaeus now came back with a message from the judges. "the high commissioners," he said, "think it is beginning. will my lord please to prepare himself?" "very well, very well," said the prisoner. "shall we go at once?" but walaeus suggested a prayer. upon its conclusion, barneveld gave his hand to the provost-marshal and to the two soldiers, bidding them adieu, and walked downstairs, attended by them, to the chamber of the judges. as soon as he appeared at the door, he was informed that there had been a misunderstanding, and he was requested to wait a little. he accordingly went upstairs again with perfect calmness, sat down in his chamber again, and read in his french psalm book. half an hour later he was once more summoned, the provost-marshal and captain van der meulen reappearing to escort him. "mr. provost," said the prisoner, as they went down the narrow staircase, "i have always been a good friend to you."--"it is true," replied that officer, "and most deeply do i grieve to see you in this affliction." he was about to enter the judges' chamber as usual, but was informed that the sentence would be read in the great hall of judicature. they descended accordingly to the basement story, and passed down the narrow flight of steps which then as now connected the more modern structure, where the advocate had been imprisoned and tried, with what remained of the ancient palace of the counts of holland. in the centre of the vast hall--once the banqueting chamber of those petty sovereigns; with its high vaulted roof of cedar which had so often in ancient days rung with the sounds of mirth and revelry--was a great table at which the twenty-four judges and the three prosecuting officers were seated, in their black caps and gowns of office. the room was lined with soldiers and crowded with a dark, surging mass of spectators, who had been waiting there all night. a chair was placed for the prisoner. he sat down, and the clerk of the commission, pots by name, proceeded at once to read the sentence. a summary of this long, rambling, and tiresome paper has been already laid before the reader. if ever a man could have found it tedious to listen to his own death sentence, the great statesman might have been in that condition as he listened to secretary pots. during the reading of the sentence the advocate moved uneasily on his seat, and seemed about to interrupt the clerk at several passages which seemed to him especially preposterous. but he controlled himself by a strong effort, and the clerk went steadily on to the conclusion. then barneveld said: "the judges have put down many things which they have no right to draw from my confession. let this protest be added." "i thought too," he continued, "that my lords the states-general would have had enough in my life and blood, and that my wife and children might keep what belongs to them. is this my recompense for forty-three years' service to these provinces?" president de voogd rose: "your sentence has been pronounced," he said. "away! away!" so saying he pointed to the door into which one of the great windows at the south-eastern front of the hall had been converted. without another word the old man rose from his chair and strode, leaning on his staff, across the hall, accompanied by his faithful valet and the provost and escorted by a file of soldiers. the mob of spectators flowed out after him at every door into the inner courtyard in front of the ancient palace. etext editor's bookmarks: better to be governed by magistrates than mobs burning with bitter revenge for all the favours he had received death rather than life with a false acknowledgment of guilt enemy of all compulsion of the human conscience heidelberg catechism were declared to be infallible i know how to console myself implication there was much, of assertion very little john robinson magistracy at that moment seemed to mean the sword only true religion rather a wilderness to reign over than a single heretic william brewster the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. life and death of john of barneveld, v , - chapter xxi. barneveld's execution--the advocate's conduct on the scaffold--the sentence printed and sent to the provinces--the proceedings irregular and inequitable. in the beautiful village capital of the "count's park," commonly called the hague, the most striking and picturesque spot then as now was that where the transformed remains of the old moated castle of those feudal sovereigns were still to be seen. a three-storied range of simple, substantial buildings in brown brickwork, picked out with white stone in a style since made familiar both in england and america, and associated with a somewhat later epoch in the history of the house of orange, surrounded three sides of a spacious inner paved quadrangle called the inner court, the fourth or eastern side being overshadowed by a beechen grove. a square tower flanked each angle, and on both sides of the south-western turret extended the commodious apartments of the stadholder. the great gateway on the south-west opened into a wide open space called the outer courtyard. along the north-west side a broad and beautiful sheet of water, in which the walls, turrets, and chapel-spires of the enclosed castle mirrored themselves, was spread between the mass of buildings and an umbrageous promenade called the vyverberg, consisting of a sextuple alley of lime-trees and embowering here and there a stately villa. a small island, fringed with weeping willows and tufted all over with lilacs, laburnums, and other shrubs then in full flower, lay in the centre of the miniature lake, and the tall solid tower of the great church, surmounted by a light openwork spire, looked down from a little distance over the scene. it was a bright morning in may. the white swans were sailing tranquilly to and fro over the silver basin, and the mavis, blackbird, and nightingale, which haunted the groves surrounding the castle and the town, were singing as if the daybreak were ushering in a summer festival. but it was not to a merry-making that the soldiers were marching and the citizens thronging so eagerly from every street and alley towards the castle. by four o'clock the outer and inner courts had been lined with detachments of the prince's guard and companies of other regiments to the number of men. occupying the north-eastern side of the court rose the grim, time-worn front of the ancient hall, consisting of one tall pyramidal gable of ancient grey brickwork flanked with two tall slender towers, the whole with the lancet-shaped windows and severe style of the twelfth century, excepting a rose-window in the centre with the decorated mullions of a somewhat later period. in front of the lower window, with its gothic archway hastily converted into a door, a shapeless platform of rough, unhewn planks had that night been rudely patched together. this was the scaffold. a slight railing around it served to protect it from the crowd, and a heap of coarse sand had been thrown upon it. a squalid, unclean box of unplaned boards, originally prepared as a coffin for a frenchman who some time before had been condemned to death for murdering the son of goswyn meurskens, a hague tavern-keeper, but pardoned by the stadholder--lay on the scaffold. it was recognized from having been left for a long time, half forgotten, at the public execution-place of the hague. upon this coffin now sat two common soldiers of ruffianly aspect playing at dice, betting whether the lord or the devil would get the soul of barneveld. many a foul and ribald jest at the expense of the prisoner was exchanged between these gamblers, some of their comrades, and a few townsmen, who were grouped about at that early hour. the horrible libels, caricatures, and calumnies which had been circulated, exhibited, and sung in all the streets for so many months had at last thoroughly poisoned the minds of the vulgar against the fallen statesman. the great mass of the spectators had forced their way by daybreak into the hall itself to hear the sentence, so that the inner courtyard had remained comparatively empty. at last, at half past nine o'clock, a shout arose, "there he comes! there he comes!" and the populace flowed out from the hall of judgment into the courtyard like a tidal wave. in an instant the binnenhof was filled with more than three thousand spectators. the old statesman, leaning on his staff, walked out upon the scaffold and calmly surveyed the scene. lifting his eyes to heaven, he was heard to murmur, "o god! what does man come to!" then he said bitterly once more: "this, then, is the reward of forty years' service to the state!" la motte, who attended him, said fervently: "it is no longer time to think of this. let us prepare your coming before god." "is there no cushion or stool to kneel upon?" said barneveld, looking around him. the provost said he would send for one, but the old man knelt at once on the bare planks. his servant, who waited upon him as calmly and composedly as if he had been serving him at dinner, held him by the arm. it was remarked that neither master nor man, true stoics and hollanders both, shed a single tear upon the scaffold. la motte prayed for a quarter of an hour, the advocate remaining on his knees. he then rose and said to john franken, "see that he does not come near me," pointing to the executioner who stood in the background grasping his long double-handed sword. barneveld then rapidly unbuttoned his doublet with his own hands and the valet helped him off with it. "make haste! make haste!" said his master. the statesman then came forward and said in a loud, firm voice to the people: "men, do not believe that i am a traitor to the country. i have ever acted uprightly and loyally as a good patriot, and as such i shall die." the crowd was perfectly silent. he then took his cap from john franken, drew it over his eyes, and went forward towards the sand, saying: "christ shall be my guide. o lord, my heavenly father, receive my spirit." as he was about to kneel with his face to the south, the provost said: "my lord will be pleased to move to the other side, not where the sun is in his face." he knelt accordingly with his face towards his own house. the servant took farewell of him, and barneveld said to the executioner: "be quick about it. be quick." the executioner then struck his head off at a single blow. many persons from the crowd now sprang, in spite of all opposition, upon the scaffold and dipped their handkerchiefs in his blood, cut wet splinters from the boards, or grubbed up the sand that was steeped in it; driving many bargains afterwards for these relics to be treasured, with various feelings of sorrow, joy, glutted or expiated vengeance. it has been recorded, and has been constantly repeated to this day, that the stadholder, whose windows exactly faced the scaffold, looked out upon the execution with a spy-glass; saying as he did so: "see the old scoundrel, how he trembles! he is afraid of the stroke." but this is calumny. colonel hauterive declared that he was with maurice in his cabinet during the whole period of the execution, that by order of the prince all the windows and shutters were kept closed, that no person wearing his livery was allowed to be abroad, that he anxiously received messages as to the proceedings, and heard of the final catastrophe with sorrowful emotion. it must be admitted, however, that the letter which maurice wrote on the same morning to his cousin william lewis does not show much pathos. "after the judges," he said, "have been busy here with the sentence against the advocate barneveld for several days, at last it has been pronounced, and this morning, between nine o'clock and half past, carried into execution with the sword, in the binnenhof before the great hall. "the reasons they had for this you will see from the sentence, which will doubtless be printed, and which i will send you. "the wife of the aforesaid barneveld and also some of his sons and sons-in-law or other friends have never presented any supplication for his pardon, but till now have vehemently demanded that law and justice should be done to him, and have daily let the report run through the people that he would soon come out. they also planted a may-pole before their house adorned with garlands and ribbands, and practised other jollities and impertinences, while they ought to have conducted themselves in a humble and lowly fashion. this is no proper manner of behaving, and moreover not a practical one to move the judges to any favour even if they had been thereto inclined." the sentence was printed and sent to the separate provinces. it was accompanied by a declaration of the states-general that they had received information from the judges of various points, not mentioned in the sentence, which had been laid to the charge of the late advocate, and which gave much reason to doubt whether he had not perhaps turned his eyes toward the enemy. they could not however legally give judgment to that effect without a sharper investigation, which on account of his great age and for other reasons it was thought best to spare him. a meaner or more malignant postscript to a state paper recounting the issue of a great trial it would be difficult to imagine. the first statesman of the country had just been condemned and executed on a narrative, without indictment of any specified crime. and now, by a kind of apologetic after-thought, six or eight individuals calling themselves the states-general insinuated that he had been looking towards the enemy, and that, had they not mercifully spared him the rack, which is all that could be meant by their sharper investigation, he would probably have confessed the charge. and thus the dead man's fame was blackened by those who had not hesitated to kill him, but had shrunk from enquiring into his alleged crime. not entirely without semblance of truth did grotius subsequently say that the men who had taken his life would hardly have abstained from torturing him if they had really hoped by so doing to extract from him a confession of treason. the sentence was sent likewise to france, accompanied with a statement that barneveld had been guilty of unpardonable crimes which had not been set down in the act of condemnation. complaints were also made of the conduct of du maurier in thrusting himself into the internal affairs of the states and taking sides so ostentatiously against the government. the king and his ministers were indignant with these rebukes, and sustained the ambassador. jeannin and de boississe expressed the opinion that he had died innocent of any crime, and only by reason of his strong political opposition to the prince. the judges had been unanimous in finding him guilty of the acts recorded in their narrative, but three of them had held out for some time in favour of a sentence of perpetual imprisonment rather than decapitation. they withdrew at last their opposition to the death penalty for the wonderful reason that reports had been circulated of attempts likely to be made to assassinate prince maurice. the stadholder himself treated these rumours and the consequent admonition of the states-general that he would take more than usual precautions for his safety with perfect indifference, but they were conclusive with the judges of barneveld. "republica poscit exemplum," said commissioner junius, one of the three, as he sided with the death-warrant party. the same doctor junius a year afterwards happened to dine, in company of one of his fellow-commissioners, with attorney-general sylla at utrecht, and took occasion to ask them why it was supposed that barneveld had been hanging his head towards spain, as not one word of that stood in the sentence. the question was ingenuous on the part of one learned judge to his colleagues in one of the most famous state trials of history, propounded as a bit of after-dinner casuistry, when the victim had been more than a year in his grave. but perhaps the answer was still more artless. his brother lawyers replied that the charge was easily to be deduced from the sentence, because a man who breaks up the foundation of the state makes the country indefensible, and therefore invites the enemy to invade it. and this barneveld had done, who had turned the union, religion, alliances, and finances upside down by his proceedings. certainly if every constitutional minister, accused by the opposition party of turning things upside down by his proceedings, were assumed to be guilty of deliberately inviting a hostile invasion of his country, there would have been few from that day to this to escape hanging. constructive treason could scarcely go farther than it was made to do in these attempts to prove, after his death, that the advocate had, as it was euphuistically expressed, been looking towards the enemy. and no better demonstrations than these have ever been discovered. he died at the age of seventy-one years seven months and eighteen days. his body and head were huddled into the box upon which the soldiers had been shaking the dice, and was placed that night in the vault of the chapel in the inner court. it was subsequently granted as a boon to the widow and children that it might be taken thence and decently buried in the family vault at amersfoort. on the day of the execution a formal entry was made in the register of the states of holland. "monday, th may . to-day was executed with the sword here in the hague, on a scaffold thereto erected in the binnenhof before the steps of the great hall, mr. john of barneveld, in his life knight, lord of berkel, rodenrys, &c., advocate of holland and west friesland, for reasons expressed in the sentence and otherwise, with confiscation of his property, after he had served the state thirty-three years two months and five days since th march .; a man of great activity, business, memory, and wisdom--yes, extraordinary in every respect. he that stands let him see that he does not fall, and may god be merciful to his soul. amen?" a year later-on application made by the widow and children of the deceased to compound for the confiscation of his property by payment of a certain sum, eighty florins or a similar trifle, according to an ancient privilege of the order of nobility--the question was raised whether he had been guilty of high-treason, as he had not been sentenced for such a crime, and as it was only in case of sentence for lese-majesty that this composition was disallowed. it was deemed proper therefore to ask the court for what crime the prisoner had been condemned. certainly a more sarcastic question could not have been asked. but the court had ceased to exist. the commission had done its work and was dissolved. some of its members were dead. letters however were addressed by the states-general to the individual commissioners requesting them to assemble at the hague for the purpose of stating whether it was because the prisoners had committed lese-majesty that their property had been confiscated. they never assembled. some of them were perhaps ignorant of the exact nature of that crime. several of them did not understand the words. twelve of them, among whom were a few jurists, sent written answers to the questions proposed. the question was, "did you confiscate the property because the crime was lese-majesty?" the reply was, "the crime was lese-majesty, although not so stated in the sentence, because we confiscated the property." in one of these remarkable documents this was stated to be "the unanimous opinion of almost all the judges." the point was referred to the commissioners, some of whom attended the court of the hague in person, while others sent written opinions. all agreed that the criminal had committed high-treason because otherwise his property would not have been confiscated. a more wonderful example of the argument in a circle was never heard of. moreover it is difficult to understand by what right the high commission, which had been dissolved a year before, after having completed its work, could be deemed competent to emit afterwards a judicial decision. but the fact is curious as giving one more proof of the irregular, unphilosophical, and inequitable nature of these famous proceedings. chapter xxii. grotius urged to ask forgiveness--grotius shows great weakness-- hoogerbeets and grotius imprisoned for life--grotius confined at loevestein--grotius' early attainments--grotius' deportment in prison--escape of grotius--deventer's rage at grotius' escape. two days after the execution of the advocate, judgment was pronounced upon gillis van ledenberg. it would have been difficult to try him, or to extort a confession of high-treason from him by the rack or otherwise, as the unfortunate gentleman had been dead for more than seven months. not often has a court of justice pronounced a man, without trial, to be guilty of a capital offence. not often has a dead man been condemned and executed. but this was the lot of secretary ledenberg. he was sentenced to be hanged, his property declared confiscated. his unburied corpse, reduced to the condition of a mummy, was brought out of its lurking-place, thrust into a coffin, dragged on a hurdle to the golgotha outside the hague, on the road to ryswyk, and there hung on a gibbet in company of the bodies of other malefactors swinging there in chains. his prudent scheme to save his property for his children by committing suicide in prison was thus thwarted. the reading of the sentence of ledenberg, as had been previously the case with that of barneveld, had been heard by grotius through the open window of his prison, as he lay on his bed. the scaffold on which the advocate had suffered was left standing, three executioners were still in the town, and there was every reason for both grotius and hoogerbeets to expect a similar doom. great efforts were made to induce the friends of the distinguished prisoners to sue for their pardon. but even as in the case of the barneveld family these attempts were fruitless. the austere stoicism both on the part of the sufferers and their relatives excites something like wonder. three of the judges went in person to the prison chamber of hoogerbeets, urging him to ask forgiveness himself or to allow his friends to demand it for him. "if my wife and children do ask," he said, "i will protest against it. i need no pardon. let justice take its course. think not, gentlemen, that i mean by asking for pardon to justify your proceedings." he stoutly refused to do either. the judges, astonished, took their departure, saying: "then you will fare as barneveld. the scaffold is still standing." he expected consequently nothing but death, and said many years afterwards that he knew from personal experience how a man feels who goes out of prison to be beheaded. the wife of grotius sternly replied to urgent intimations from a high source that she should ask pardon for her husband, "i shall not do it. if he has deserved it, let them strike off his head." yet no woman could be more devoted to her husband than was maria van reigersbergen to hugo de groot, as time was to prove. the prince subsequently told her at a personal interview that "one of two roads must be taken, that of the law or that of pardon." soon after the arrest it was rumoured that grotius was ready to make important revelations if he could first be assured of the prince's protection. his friends were indignant at the statement. his wife stoutly denied its truth, but, to make sure, wrote to her husband on the subject. "one thing amazes me," she said; "some people here pretend to say that you have stated to one gentleman in private that you have something to disclose greatly important to the country, but that you desired beforehand to be taken under the protection of his excellency. i have not chosen to believe this, nor do i, for i hold that to be certain which you have already told me--that you know no secrets. i see no reason therefore why you should require the protection of any man. and there is no one to believe this, but i thought best to write to you of it. let me, in order that i may contradict the story with more authority, have by the bearer of this a simple yes or no. study quietly, take care of your health, have some days' patience, for the advocate has not yet been heard." the answer has not been preserved, but there is an allusion to the subject in an unpublished memorandum of grotius written while he was in prison. it must be confessed that the heart of the great theologian and jurist seems to have somewhat failed him after his arrest, and although he was incapable of treachery--even if he had been possessed of any secrets, which certainly was not the case--he did not show the same spartan firmness as his wife, and was very far from possessing the heroic calm of barneveld. he was much disposed to extricate himself from his unhappy plight by making humble, if not abject, submission to maurice. he differed from his wife in thinking that he had no need of the prince's protection. "i begged the chamberlain, matthew de cors," he said, a few days after his arrest, "that i might be allowed to speak with his excellency of certain things which i would not willingly trust to the pen. my meaning was to leave all public employment and to offer my service to his excellency in his domestic affairs. thus i hoped that the motives for my imprisonment would cease. this was afterwards misinterpreted as if i had had wonderful things to reveal." but grotius towards the end of his trial showed still greater weakness. after repeated refusals, he had at last obtained permission of the judges to draw up in writing the heads of his defence. to do this he was allowed a single sheet of paper, and four hours of time, the trial having lasted several months. and in the document thus prepared he showed faltering in his faith as to his great friend's innocence, and admitted, without any reason whatever, the possibility of there being truth in some of the vile and anonymous calumnies against him. "the friendship of the advocate of holland i had always highly prized," he said, "hoping from the conversation of so wise and experienced a person to learn much that was good . . . . i firmly believed that his excellency, notwithstanding occasional differences as to the conduct of public affairs, considered him a true and upright servant of the land . . . . i have been therefore surprised to understand, during my imprisonment, that the gentlemen had proofs in hand not alone of his correspondence with the enemy, but also of his having received money from them. "he being thus accused, i have indicated by word of mouth and afterwards resumed in writing all matters which i thought--the above-mentioned proofs being made good--might be thereto indirectly referred, in order to show that for me no friendships were so dear as the preservation of the freedom of the land. i wish that he may give explanation of all to the contentment of the judges, and that therefore his actions--which, supposing the said correspondence to be true, are subject to a bad interpretation--may be taken in another sense." alas! could the advocate--among whose first words after hearing of his own condemnation to death were, "and must my grotius die too?" adding, with a sigh of relief when assured of the contrary, "i should deeply grieve for that; he is so young and may live to do the state much service." could he have read those faltering and ungenerous words from one he so held in his heart, he would have felt them like the stab of brutus. grotius lived to know that there were no such proofs, that the judges did not dare even allude to the charge in their sentence, and long years afterwards he drew a picture of the martyred patriot such as one might have expected from his pen. but these written words of doubt must have haunted him to his grave. on the th may --on the fifty-first anniversary, as grotius remarked, of the condemnation of egmont and hoorn by the blood tribunal of alva--the two remaining victims were summoned to receive their doom. the fiscal sylla, entering de groot's chamber early in the morning to conduct him before the judges, informed him that he was not instructed to communicate the nature of the sentence. "but," he said, maliciously, "you are aware of what has befallen the advocate." "i have heard with my own ears," answered grotius, "the judgment pronounced upon barneveld and upon ledenberg. whatever may be my fate, i have patience to bear it." the sentence, read in the same place and in the same manner as had been that upon the advocate, condemned both hoogerbeets and grotius to perpetual imprisonment. the course of the trial and the enumeration of the offences were nearly identical with the leading process which has been elaborately described. grotius made no remark whatever in the court-room. on returning to his chamber he observed that his admissions of facts had been tortured into confessions of guilt, that he had been tried and sentenced against all principles and forms of law, and that he had been deprived of what the humblest criminal could claim, the right of defence and the examination of testimony. in regard to the penalty against him, he said, there was no such thing as perpetual imprisonment except in hell. alluding to the leading cause of all these troubles, he observed that it was with the stadholder and the advocate as cato had said of caesar and pompey. the great misery had come not from their being enemies, but from their having once been friends. on the night of th june the prisoners were taken from their prison in the hague and conveyed to the castle of loevestein. this fortress, destined thenceforth to be famous in history and--from its frequent use in after-times as a state-prison for men of similar constitutional views to those of grotius and the advocate--to give its name to a political party, was a place of extraordinary strength. nature and art had made it, according to military ideas of that age, almost impregnable. as a prison it seemed the very castle of despair. "abandon all hope ye who enter" seemed engraven over its portal. situate in the very narrow, acute angle where the broad, deep, and turbid waal--the chief of the three branches into which the rhine divides itself on entering the netherlands--mingles its current with the silver meuse whose name it adopts as the united rivers roll to the sea, it was guarded on many sides by these deep and dangerous streams. on the land-side it was surrounded by high walls and a double foss, which protected it against any hostile invasion from brabant. as the twelve years' truce was running to its close, it was certain that pains would be taken to strengthen the walls and deepen the ditches, that the place might be proof against all marauders and land-robbers likely to swarm over from the territory of the archdukes. the town of gorcum was exactly opposite on the northern side of the waal, while worcum was about a league's distance from the castle on the southern side, but separated from it by the meuse. the prisoners, after crossing the drawbridge, were led through thirteen separate doors, each one secured by iron bolts and heavy locks, until they reached their separate apartments. they were never to see or have any communication with each other. it had been accorded by the states-general however that the wives of the two gentlemen were to have access to their prison, were to cook for them in the castle kitchen, and, if they chose to inhabit the fortress, might cross to the neighbouring town of gorcum from time to time to make purchases, and even make visits to the hague. twenty-four stuivers, or two shillings, a day were allowed by the states-general for the support of each prisoner and his family. as the family property of grotius was at once sequestered, with a view to its ultimate confiscation, it was clear that abject indigence as well as imprisonment was to be the lifelong lot of this illustrious person, who had hitherto lived in modest affluence, occupying the most considerable of social positions. the commandant of the fortress was inspired from the outset with a desire to render the prisoner's situation as hateful as it was in his power to make it. and much was in his power. he resolved that the family should really live upon their daily pittance. yet madame de groot, before the final confiscation of her own and her husband's estates, had been able to effect considerable loans, both to carry on process against government for what the prisoners contended was an unjust confiscation, and for providing for the household on a decent scale and somewhat in accordance with the requirements of the prisoner's health. thus there was a wearisome and ignoble altercation, revived from day to day, between the commandant and madame de groot. it might have been thought enough of torture for this virtuous and accomplished lady, but twenty-nine years of age and belonging to one of the eminent families of the country, to see her husband, for his genius and accomplishments the wonder of europe, thus cut off in the flower of his age and doomed to a living grave. she was nevertheless to be subjected to the perpetual inquisition of the market-basket, which she was not ashamed with her maid to take to and from gorcum, and to petty wrangles about the kitchen fire where she was proud to superintend the cooking of the scanty fare for her husband and her five children. there was a reason for the spite of the military jailer. lieutenant prouninx, called deventer, commandant of loevestein, was son of the notorious gerard prouninx, formerly burgomaster of utrecht, one of the ringleaders of the leicester faction in the days when the earl made his famous attempts upon the four cities. he had sworn revenge upon all those concerned in his father's downfall, and it was a delight therefore to wreak a personal vengeance on one who had since become so illustrious a member of that party by which the former burgomaster had been deposed, although grotius at the time of leicester's government had scarcely left his cradle. thus these ladies were to work in the kitchen and go to market from time to time, performing this menial drudgery under the personal inspection of the warrior who governed the garrison and fortress, but who in vain attempted to make maria van reigersbergen tremble at his frown. hugo de groot, when thus for life immured, after having already undergone a preliminary imprisonment of nine months, was just thirty-six years of age. although comparatively so young, he had been long regarded as one of the great luminaries of europe for learning and genius. of an ancient and knightly race, his immediate ancestors had been as famous for literature, science, and municipal abilities as their more distant progenitors for deeds of arms in the feudal struggles of holland in the middle ages. his father and grandfather had alike been eminent for hebrew, greek, and latin scholarship, and both had occupied high positions in the university of leyden from its beginning. hugo, born and nurtured under such quickening influences, had been a scholar and poet almost from his cradle. he wrote respectable latin verses at the age of seven, he was matriculated at leyden at the age of eleven. that school, founded amid the storms and darkness of terrible war, was not lightly to be entered. it was already illustrated by a galaxy of shining lights in science and letters, which radiated over christendom. his professors were joseph scaliger, francis junius, paulus merula, and a host of others. his fellow-students were men like scriverius, vossius, baudius, daniel heinsius. the famous soldier and poet douza, who had commanded the forces of leyden during the immortal siege, addressed him on his admission to the university as "magne peer magni dignissime cura parentis," in a copy of eloquent verses. when fourteen years old, he took his bachelor's degree, after a rigorous examination not only in the classics but astronomy, mathematics, jurisprudence, and theology, at an age when most youths would have been accounted brilliant if able to enter that high school with credit. on leaving the university he was attached to the embassy of barneveld and justinus van nassau to the court of henry iv. here he attracted the attention of that monarch, who pointed him out to his courtiers as the "miracle of holland," presented him with a gold chain with his miniature attached to it, and proposed to confer on him the dignity of knighthood, which the boy from motives of family pride appears to have refused. while in france he received from the university of orleans, before the age of fifteen, the honorary degree of doctor of laws in a very eulogistic diploma. on his return to holland he published an edition of the poet johannes capella with valuable annotations, besides giving to the public other learned and classical works and several tragedies of more or less merit. at the age of seventeen he was already an advocate in full practice before the supreme tribunals of the hague, and when twenty-three years old he was selected by prince maurice from a list of three candidates for the important post of fiscal or attorney-general of holland. other civic dignities, embassies, and offices of various kinds, had been thrust upon him one after another, in all of which he had acquitted himself with dignity and brilliancy. he was but twenty-six when he published his argument for the liberty of the sea, the famous mare liberum, and a little later appeared his work on the antiquity of the batavian republic, which procured for him in spain the title of "hugo grotius, auctor damnatus." at the age of twenty-nine he had completed his latin history of the netherlands from the period immediately preceding the war of independence down to the conclusion of the truce, - --a work which has been a classic ever since its appearance, although not published until after his death. a chief magistrate of rotterdam, member of the states of holland and the states-general, jurist, advocate, attorney-general, poet, scholar, historian, editor of the greek and latin classics, writer of tragedies, of law treatises, of theological disquisitions, he stood foremost among a crowd of famous contemporaries. his genius, eloquence, and learning were esteemed among the treasures not only of his own country but of europe. he had been part and parcel of his country's history from his earliest manhood, and although a child in years compared to barneveld, it was upon him that the great statesman had mainly relied ever since the youth's first appearance in public affairs. impressible, emotional, and susceptive, he had been accused from time to time, perhaps not entirely without reason, of infirmity of purpose, or at least of vacillation in opinion; but his worst enemies had never assailed the purity of his heart or integrity of his character. he had not yet written the great work on the 'rights of war and peace', which was to make an epoch in the history of civilization and to be the foundation of a new science, but the materials lay already in the ample storehouse of his memory and his brain. possessed of singular personal beauty--which the masterly portraits of miereveld attest to the present day--tall, brown-haired; straight-featured, with a delicate aquiline nose and piercing dark blue eyes, he was also athletic of frame and a proficient in manly exercises. this was the statesman and the scholar, of whom it is difficult to speak but in terms of affectionate but not exaggerated eulogy, and for whom the republic of the netherlands could now find no better use than to shut him up in the grim fortress of loevestein for the remainder of his days. a commonwealth must have deemed itself rich in men which, after cutting off the head of barneveld, could afford to bury alive hugo grotius. his deportment in prison was a magnificent moral lesson. shut up in a kind of cage consisting of a bedroom and a study, he was debarred from physical exercise, so necessary for his mental and bodily health. not choosing for the gratification of lieutenant deventer to indulge in weak complaints, he procured a huge top, which he employed himself in whipping several hours a day; while for intellectual employment he plunged once more into those classical, juridical, and theological studies which had always employed his leisure hours from childhood upwards. it had been forbidden by the states-general to sell his likeness in the shops. the copper plates on which they had been engraved had as far as possible been destroyed. the wish of the government, especially of his judges, was that his name and memory should die at once and for ever. they were not destined to be successful, for it would be equally difficult to-day to find an educated man in christendom ignorant of the name of hugo grotius, or acquainted with that of a single one of his judges. and his friends had not forgotten him as he lay there living in his tomb. especially the learned scriverius, vossius, and other professors, were permitted to correspond with him at intervals on literary subjects, the letters being subjected to preliminary inspection. scriverius sent him many books from his well-stocked library, de groot's own books and papers having been confiscated by the government. at a somewhat later period the celebrated orientalist erpenius sent him from time to time a large chest of books, the precious freight being occasionally renewed and the chest passing to and from loevestein by way of gorcum. at this town lived a sister of erpenius, married to one daatselaer, a considerable dealer in thread and ribbons, which he exported to england. the house of daatselaer became a place of constant resort for madame de groot as well as the wife of hoogerbeets, both dames going every few days from the castle across the waal to gorcum, to make their various purchases for the use of their forlorn little households in the prison. madame daatselaer therefore received and forwarded into loevestein or into holland many parcels and boxes, besides attending to the periodical transmission of the mighty chest of books. professor vossius was then publishing a new edition of the tragedies of seneca, and at his request grotius enriched that work, from his prison, with valuable notes. he employed himself also in translating the moral sentences extracted by stobaeus from the greek tragedies; drawing consolation from the ethics and philosophy of the ancient dramatists, whom he had always admired, especially the tragedies of euripides; he formed a complete moral anthology from that poet and from the works of sophocles, menander, and others, which he translated into fluent dutch verse. becoming more and more interested in the subject, he executed a masterly rhymed translation of the 'theban brothers' of euripides, thus seeking distraction from his own tragic doom in the portraiture of antique, distant, and heroic sorrow. turning again to legal science, he completed an introduction to the jurisprudence of holland, a work which as soon as published became thenceforward a text-book and an oracle in the law courts and the high schools of the country. not forgetting theology, he composed for the use of the humbler classes, especially for sailors, in whose lot, so exposed to danger and temptation, he ever took deep interest, a work on the proofs of christianity in easy and familiar rhyme--a book of gold, as it was called at once, which became rapidly popular with those for whom it was designed. at a somewhat later period professor erpenius, publishing a new edition of the new testament in greek, with translations in arabic, syriac, and ethiopian, solicited his friend's help both in translations and in the latin commentaries and expositions with which he proposed to accompany the work. the prisoner began with a modest disclaimer, saying that after the labours of erasmus and beza, maldonatus and jasenius, there was little for him to glean. becoming more enthusiastic as he went on, he completed a masterly commentary on the four evangelists, a work for which the learned and religious world has ever recognized a kind of debt of gratitude to the castle of loevestein, and hailed in him the founder of a school of manly biblical criticism. and thus nearly two years wore away. spinning his great top for exercise; soothing his active and prolific brain with greek tragedy, with flemish verse, with jurisprudence, history, theology; creating, expounding, adorning, by the warmth of his vivid intellect; moving the world, and doing good to his race from the depths of his stony sepulchre; hugo grotius rose superior to his doom and took captivity captive. the man is not to be envied who is not moved by so noble an example of great calamity manfully endured. the wife of hoogerbeets, already advanced in years, sickened during the imprisonment and died at loevestein after a lingering illness, leaving six children to the care of her unfortunate husband. madame de groot had not been permitted by the prison authorities to minister to her in sickness, nor to her children after her death. early in the year francis aerssens, lord of sommelsdyk, the arch enemy of barneveld and of grotius, was appointed special ambassador to paris. the intelligence--although hardly unexpected, for the stratagems of aerssens had been completely successful--moved the prisoner deeply. he felt that this mortal enemy, not glutted with vengeance by the beheading of the advocate and the perpetual imprisonment of his friend, would do his best at the french court to defame and to blacken him. he did what he could to obviate this danger by urgent letters to friends on whom he could rely. at about the same time muis van holy, one of the twenty-four commissioners, not yet satisfied with the misery he had helped to inflict, informed the states-general that madame de groot had been buying ropes at gorcum. on his motion a committee was sent to investigate the matter at castle loevestein, where it was believed that the ropes had been concealed for the purpose of enabling grotius to make his escape from prison. lieutenant deventer had heard nothing of the story. he was in high spirits at the rumour however, and conducted the committee very eagerly over the castle, causing minute search to be made in the apartment of grotius for the ropes which, as they were assured by him and his wife, had never existed save in the imagination of judge muis. they succeeded at least in inflicting much superfluous annoyance on their victims, and in satisfying themselves that it would be as easy for the prisoner to fly out of the fortress on wings as to make his escape with ropes, even if he had them. grotius soon afterwards addressed a letter to the states-general denouncing the statement of muis as a fable, and these persistent attempts to injure him as cowardly and wicked. a few months later madame de groot happened to be in the house of daatselaer on one of her periodical visits to gorcum. conversation turning on these rumours march of attempts at escape, she asked madame daatselaer if she would not be much embarrassed, should grotius suddenly make his appearance there. "oh no," said the good woman with a laugh; "only let him come. we will take excellent care of him." at another visit one saturday, th march, ( ) madame de groot asked her friend why all the bells of gorcum march were ringing. "because to-morrow begins our yearly fair," replied dame daatselaer. "well, i suppose that all exiles and outlaws may come to gorcum on this occasion," said madame de groot. "such is the law, they say," answered her friend. "and my husband might come too?" "no doubt," said madame daatselaer with a merry laugh, rejoiced at finding the wife of grotius able to speak so cheerfully of her husband in his perpetual and hopeless captivity. "send him hither. he shall have, a warm welcome." "what a good woman you are!" said madame de groot with a sigh as she rose to take leave. "but you know very well that if he were a bird he could never get out of the castle, so closely, he is caged there." next morning a wild equinoctial storm was howling around the battlements of the castle. of a sudden cornelia, daughter of the de groots, nine years of age, said to her mother without any reason whatever, "to-morrow papa must be off to gorcum, whatever the weather may be." de groot, as well as his wife, was aghast at the child's remark, and took it as a direct indication from heaven. for while madame daatselaer had considered the recent observations of her visitor from loevestein as idle jests, and perhaps wondered that madame de groot could be frivolous and apparently lighthearted on so dismal a topic, there had been really a hidden meaning in her words. for several weeks past the prisoner had been brooding over a means of escape. his wife, whose every thought was devoted to him, had often cast her eyes on the great chest or trunk in which the books of erpenius had been conveyed between loevestein and gorcum for the use of the prisoner. at first the trunk had been carefully opened and its contents examined every time it entered or left the castle. as nothing had ever been found in it save hebrew, greek, and latin folios, uninviting enough to the commandant, that warrior had gradually ceased to inspect the chest very closely, and had at last discontinued the practice altogether. it had been kept for some weeks past in the prisoner's study. his wife thought--although it was two finger breadths less than four feet in length, and not very broad or deep in proportion--that it might be possible for him to get into it. he was considerably above middle height, but found that by curling himself up very closely he could just manage to lie in it with the cover closed. very secretly they had many times rehearsed the scheme which had now taken possession of their minds, but had not breathed a word of it to any one. he had lain in the chest with the lid fastened, and with his wife sitting upon the top of it, two hours at a time by the hour-glass. they had decided at last that the plan, though fraught with danger, was not absolutely impossible, and they were only waiting now for a favourable opportunity. the chance remark of the child cornelia settled the time for hazarding the adventure. by a strange coincidence, too, the commandant of the fortress, lieutenant deventer, had just been promoted to a captaincy, and was to go to heusden to receive his company. he left the castle for a brief absence that very sunday evening. as a precautionary measure, the trunk filled with books had been sent to gorcum and returned after the usual interval only a few days before. the maid-servant of the de groots, a young girl of twenty, elsje van houwening by name, quick, intelligent, devoted, and courageous, was now taken into their confidence. the scheme was explained to her, and she was asked if she were willing to take the chest under her charge with her master in it, instead of the usual freight of books, and accompany it to gorcum. she naturally asked what punishment could be inflicted upon her in case the plot were discovered. "none legally," answered her master; "but i too am innocent of any crime, and you see to what sufferings i have been condemned." "whatever come of it," said elsje stoutly; "i will take the risk and accompany my master." every detail was then secretly arranged, and it was provided beforehand, as well as possible, what should be said or done in the many contingencies that might arise. on sunday evening madame de groot then went to the wife of the commandant, with whom she had always been on more friendly terms than with her malicious husband. she had also recently propitiated her affections by means of venison and other dainties brought from gorcum. she expressed the hope that, notwithstanding the absence of captain deventer, she might be permitted to send the trunk full of books next day from the castle. "my husband is wearing himself out," she said, "with his perpetual studies. i shall be glad for a little time to be rid of some of these folios." the commandant's wife made no objection to this slight request. on monday morning the gale continued to beat with unabated violence on the turrets. the turbid waal, swollen by the tempest, rolled darkly and dangerously along the castle walls. but the die was cast. grotius rose betimes, fell on his knees, and prayed fervently an hour long. dressed only in linen underclothes with a pair of silk stockings, he got into the chest with the help of his wife. the big testament of erpenius, with some bunches of thread placed upon it, served him as a pillow. a few books and papers were placed in the interstices left by the curves of his body, and as much pains as possible taken to prevent his being seriously injured or incommoded during the hazardous journey he was contemplating. his wife then took solemn farewell of him, fastened the lock, which she kissed, and gave the key to elsje. the usual garments worn by the prisoner were thrown on a chair by the bedside and his slippers placed before it. madame de groot then returned to her bed, drew the curtains close, and rang the bell. it was answered by the servant who usually waited on the prisoner, and who was now informed by the lady that it had been her intention to go herself to gorcum, taking charge of the books which were valuable. as the weather was so tempestuous however, and as she was somewhat indisposed, it had been decided that elsje should accompany the trunk. she requested that some soldiers might be sent as usual to take it down to the vessel. two or three of the garrison came accordingly, and seeing the clothes and slippers of grotius lying about, and the bed-curtains closed, felt no suspicion. on lifting the chest, however, one of them said, half in jest: "the arminian must be in it himself, it seems so heavy!" "not the arminian," replied madame de groot, in a careless voice, from the bed; "only heavy arminian books." partly lifting, partly dragging the ponderous box, the soldiers managed to get it down the stairs and through the thirteen barred and bolted doors. four several times one or other of the soldiers expressed the opinion that grotius himself must be locked within it, but they never spoke quite seriously, and elsje was ever ready to turn aside the remark with a jest. a soldier's wife, just as the box was approaching the wharf, told a story of a malefactor who had once been carried out of the castle in a chest. "and if a malefactor, why not a lawyer?" she added. a soldier said he would get a gimlet and bore a hole into the arminian. "then you must get a gimlet that will reach to the top of the castle, where the arminian lies abed and asleep," said elsje. not much heed was given to this careless talk, the soldiers, before leaving the chamber of grotius, having satisfied themselves that there were no apertures in the chest save the keyhole, and that it would be impossible by that means alone for sufficient air to penetrate to keep a man enclosed in it from smothering. madame deventer was asked if she chose to inspect the contents of the trunk, and she enquired whether the commandant had been wont so to do. when told that such search had been for a long time discontinued, as nothing had ever been found there but books, she observed that there was no reason why she should be more strict than her husband, and ordered the soldiers to take their heavy load to the vessel. elsje insisted that the boatmen should place a doubly thick plank for sliding the box on board, as it seemed probable, she said, that the usual one would break in two, and then the valuable books borrowed of professor erpenius would be damaged or destroyed. the request caused much further grumbling, but was complied with at last and the chest deposited on the deck. the wind still continued to blow with great fury, and as soon as the sails were set the vessel heeled over so much, that elsje implored the skipper to cause the box to be securely lashed, as it seemed in imminent danger, at the first lurch of the vessel, of sliding into the sea. this done, elsje sat herself down and threw her white handkerchief over her head, letting it flutter in the wind. one of the crew asked her why she did so, and she replied that the servant in the castle had been tormenting her, saying that she would never dare to sail to gorcum in such tempestuous weather, and she was now signalling him that she had been as good as her word. whereupon she continued to wave the handkerchief. in reality the signal was for her mistress, who was now straining her eyes from the barred window which looked out upon the waal, and with whom the maid had agreed that if all went prosperously she would give this token of success. otherwise she would sit with her head in her hands. during the voyage an officer of the garrison, who happened to be on board, threw himself upon the chest as a convenient seat, and began drumming and pounding with his heels upon it. the ever watchful elsje, feeling the dreadful inconvenience to the prisoner of these proceedings, who perhaps was already smothering and would struggle for air if not relieved, politely addressed the gentleman and induced him to remove to another seat by telling him that, besides the books, there was some valuable porcelain in the chest which might easily be broken. no further incident occurred. the wind, although violent, was favourable, and gorcum in due time was reached. elsje insisted upon having her own precious freight carried first into the town, although the skipper for some time was obstinately bent on leaving it to the very last, while all the other merchandise in the vessel should be previously unshipped. at last on promise of payment of ten stuivers, which was considered an exorbitant sum, the skipper and son agreed to transport the chest between them on a hand-barrow. while they were trudging with it to the town, the son remarked to his father that there was some living thing in the box. for the prisoner in the anguish of his confinement had not been able to restrain a slight movement. "do you hear what my son says?" cried the skipper to elsje. "he says you have got something alive in your trunk." "yes, yes," replied the cheerful maid-servant; "arminian books are always alive, always full of motion and spirit." they arrived at daatselaer's house, moving with difficulty through the crowd which, notwithstanding the boisterous weather, had been collected by the annual fair. many people were assembled in front of the building, which was a warehouse of great resort, while next door was a book-seller's shop thronged with professors, clergymen, and other literary persons. the carriers accordingly entered by the backway, and elsje, deliberately paying them their ten stuivers, and seeing them depart, left the box lying in a room at the rear and hastened to the shop in front. here she found the thread and ribbon dealer and his wife, busy with their customers, unpacking and exhibiting their wares. she instantly whispered in madame daatselaer's ear, "i have got my master here in your back parlour." the dame turned white as a sheet, and was near fainting on the spot. it was the first imprudence elsje had committed. the good woman recovered somewhat of her composure by a strong effort however, and instantly went with elsje to the rear of the house. "master! master!" cried elsje, rapping on the chest. there was no answer. "my god! my god!" shrieked the poor maid-servant. "my poor master is dead." "ah!" said madame daatselaer, "your mistress has made a bad business of it. yesterday she had a living husband. now she has a dead one." but soon there was a vigorous rap on the inside of the lid, and a cry from the prisoner: "open the chest! i am not dead, but did not at first recognize your voice." the lock was instantly unfastened, the lid thrown open, and grotius arose in his linen clothing, like a dead man from his coffin. the dame instantly accompanied the two through a trapdoor into an upper room. grotius asked her if she was always so deadly pale. "no," she replied, "but i am frightened to see you here. my lord is no common person. the whole world is talking of you. i fear this will cause the loss of all my property and perhaps bring my husband into prison in your place." grotius rejoined: "i made my prayers to god before as much as this had been gained, and i have just been uttering fervent thanks to him for my deliverance so far as it has been effected. but if the consequences are to be as you fear, i am ready at once to get into the chest again and be carried back to prison." but she answered, "no; whatever comes of it, we have you here and will do all that we can to help you on." grotius being faint from his sufferings, the lady brought him a glass of spanish wine, but was too much flustered to find even a cloak or shawl to throw over him. leaving him sitting there in his very thin attire, just as he had got out of the chest, she went to the front warehouse to call her husband. but he prudently declined to go to his unexpected guest. it would be better in the examination sure to follow, he said, for him to say with truth that he had not seen him and knew nothing of the escape, from first to last. grotius entirely approved of the answer when told to him. meantime madame daatselaer had gone to her brother-in-law van der veen, a clothier by trade, whom she found in his shop talking with an officer of the loevestein garrison. she whispered in the clothier's ear, and he, making an excuse to the officer, followed her home at once. they found grotius sitting where he had been left. van der veen gave him his hand, saying: "sir, you are the man of whom the whole country is talking?" "yes, here i am," was the reply, "and i put myself in your hands--" "there isn't a moment to lose," replied the clothier. "we must help you away at once." he went immediately in search of one john lambertsen, a man in whom he knew he could confide, a lutheran in religion, a master-mason by occupation. he found him on a scaffold against the gable-end of a house, working at his trade. he told him that there was a good deed to be done which he could do better than any man, that his conscience would never reproach him for it, and that he would at the same time earn no trifling reward. he begged the mason to procure a complete dress as for a journeyman, and to follow him to the house of his brother-in-law daatselaer. lambertsen soon made his appearance with the doublet, trunk-hose, and shoes of a bricklayer, together with trowel and measuring-rod. he was informed who his new journeyman was to be, and grotius at once put on the disguise. the doublet did not reach to the waistband of the trunkhose, while those nether garments stopped short of his knees; the whole attire belonging to a smaller man than the unfortunate statesman. his delicate white hands, much exposed by the shortness of the sleeves, looked very unlike those of a day-labourer, and altogether the new mason presented a somewhat incongruous and wobegone aspect. grotius was fearful too lest some of the preachers and professors frequenting the book-shop next door would recognize him through his disguise. madame daatselaer smeared his face and hands with chalk and plaster however and whispered encouragement, and so with a felt hat slouched over his forehead and a yardstick in his hand, he walked calmly forth into the thronged marketplace and through the town to the ferry, accompanied by the friendly lambertsen. it had been agreed that van der veen should leave the house in another direction and meet them at the landing-place. when they got to the ferry, they found the weather as boisterous as ever. the boatmen absolutely refused to make the dangerous crossing of the merwede over which their course lay to the land of altona, and so into the spanish netherlands, for two such insignificant personages as this mason and his scarecrow journeyman. lambertsen assured them that it was of the utmost importance that he should cross the water at once. he had a large contract for purchasing stone at altona for a public building on which he was engaged. van der veen coming up added his entreaties, protesting that he too was interested in this great stone purchase, and so by means of offering a larger price than they at first dared to propose, they were able to effect their passage. after landing, lambertsen and grotius walked to waalwyk, van der veen returning the same evening to gorcum. it was four o'clock in the afternoon when they reached waalwyk, where a carriage was hired to convey the fugitive to antwerp. the friendly mason here took leave of his illustrious journeyman, having first told the driver that his companion was a disguised bankrupt fleeing from holland into foreign territory to avoid pursuit by his creditors. this would explain his slightly concealing his face in passing through a crowd in any village. grotius proved so ignorant of the value of different coins in making small payments on the road, that the honest waggoner, on being occasionally asked who the odd-looking stranger was, answered that he was a bankrupt, and no wonder, for he did not know one piece of money from another. for, his part he thought him little better than a fool. such was the depreciatory opinion formed by the waalwyk coachman as to the "rising light of the world" and the "miracle of holland." they travelled all night and, arriving on the morning of the st within a few leagues of antwerp, met a patrol of soldiers, who asked grotius for his passport. he enquired in whose service they were, and was told in that of "red rod," as the chief bailiff of antwerp was called. that functionary happened to be near, and the traveller approaching him said that his passport was on his feet, and forthwith told him his name and story. red rod treated him at once with perfect courtesy, offered him a horse for himself with a mounted escort, and so furthered his immediate entrance to antwerp. grotius rode straight to the house of a banished friend of his, the preacher grevinkhoven. he was told by the daughter of that clergyman that her father was upstairs ministering at the bedside of his sick wife. but so soon as the traveller had sent up his name, both the preacher and the invalid came rushing downstairs to fall upon the neck of one who seemed as if risen from the dead. the news spread, and episcopius and other exiled friends soon thronged to the house of grevinkhoven, where they all dined together in great glee, grotius, still in his journeyman's clothes, narrating the particulars of his wonderful escape. he had no intention of tarrying in his resting-place at antwerp longer than was absolutely necessary. intimations were covertly made to him that a brilliant destiny might be in store for him should he consent to enter the service of the archdukes, nor were there waning rumours, circulated as a matter of course by his host of enemies, that he was about to become a renegade to country and religion. there was as much truth in the slanders as in the rest of the calumnies of which he had been the victim during his career. he placed on record a proof of his loyal devotion to his country in the letters which he wrote from antwerp within a week of his arrival there. with his subsequent history, his appearance and long residence at the french court as ambassador of sweden, his memorable labours in history, diplomacy, poetry, theology, the present narrative is not concerned. driven from the service of his fatherland, of which his name to all time is one of the proudest garlands, he continued to be a benefactor not only to her but to all mankind. if refutation is sought of the charge that republics are ungrateful, it will certainly not be found in the history of hugo grotius or john of barneveld. nor is there need to portray the wrath of captain deventer when he returned to castle loevestein. "here is the cage, but your bird is flown," said corpulent maria grotius with a placid smile. the commandant solaced himself by uttering imprecations on her, on her husband, and on elsje van houwening. but these curses could not bring back the fugitive. he flew to gorcum to browbeat the daatselaers and to search the famous trunk. he found in it the big new testament and some skeins of thread, together with an octavo or two of theology and of greek tragedies; but the arminian was not in it, and was gone from the custody of the valiant deventer for ever. after a brief period madame de groot was released and rejoined her husband. elsje van houwening, true heroine of the adventure, was subsequently married to the faithful servant of grotius, who during the two years' imprisonment had been taught latin and the rudiments of law by his master, so that he subsequently rose to be a thriving and respectable advocate at the tribunals of holland. the stadholder, when informed of the escape of the prisoner, observed, "i always thought the black pig was deceiving me," making not very complimentary allusion to the complexion and size of the lady who had thus aided the escape of her husband. he is also reported as saying that it "is no wonder they could not keep grotius in prison, as he has more wit than all his judges put together." chapter xxiii. barneveld's sons plot against maurice--the conspiracy betrayed to maurice--escape of stoutenburg--groeneveld is arrested--mary of barneveld appeals to the stadholder--groeneveld condemned to death-- execution of groeneveld. the widow of barneveld had remained, since the last scene of the fatal tragedy on the binnenhof, in hopeless desolation. the wife of the man who during a whole generation of mankind had stood foremost among the foremost of the world, and had been one of those chief actors and directors in human affairs to whom men's eyes turned instinctively from near and from afar, had led a life of unbroken prosperity. an heiress in her own right, maria van utrecht had laid the foundation of her husband's wealth by her union with the rising young lawyer and statesman. her two sons and two daughters had grown up around her, all four being married into the leading families of the land, and with apparently long lives of prosperity and usefulness before them. and now the headsman's sword had shivered all this grandeur and happiness at a blow. the name of the dead statesman had become a word of scoffing and reproach; vagabond mountebanks enacted ribald scenes to his dishonour in the public squares and streets; ballad-mongers yelled blasphemous libels upon him in the very ears of his widow and children. for party hatred was not yet glutted with the blood it had drunk. it would be idle to paint the misery of this brokenhearted woman. the great painters of the epoch have preserved her face to posterity; the grief-stricken face of a hard-featured but commanding and not uncomely woman, the fountains of whose tears seem exhausted; a face of austere and noble despair. a decorous veil should be thrown over the form of that aged matron, for whose long life and prosperity fate took such merciless vengeance at last. for the woes of maria of barneveld had scarcely begun. desolation had become her portion, but dishonour had not yet crossed her threshold. there were sterner strokes in store for her than that which smote her husband on the scaffold. she had two sons, both in the prime of life. the eldest, reinier, lord of groeneveld, who had married a widow of rank and wealth, madame de brandwyk, was living since the death of his father in comparative ease, but entire obscurity. an easy-tempered, genial, kindly gentleman, he had been always much beloved by his friends and, until the great family catastrophe, was popular with the public, but of an infirm and vacillating character, easily impressed by others, and apt to be led by stronger natures than his own. he had held the lucrative office of head forester of delfland of which he had now been deprived. the younger son william, called, from an estate conferred on him by his father, lord of stoutenburg, was of a far different mould. we have seen him at an earlier period of this narrative attached to the embassy of francis aerssens in paris, bearing then from another estate the unmusical title of craimgepolder, and giving his subtle and dangerous chief great cause of complaint by his irregular, expensive habits. he had been however rather a favourite with henry iv., who had so profound a respect for the father as to consult him, and him only of all foreign statesmen, in the gravest affairs of his reign, and he had even held an office of honour and emolument at his court. subsequently he had embraced the military career, and was esteemed a soldier of courage and promise. as captain of cavalry and governor of the fortress of bergen op zoom, he occupied a distinguished and lucrative position, and was likely, so soon as the truce ran to its close, to make a name for himself in that gigantic political and religious war which had already opened in bohemia, and in which it was evident the republic would soon be desperately involved. his wife, walburg de marnix, was daughter to one of the noblest characters in the history of the netherlands, or of any history, the illustrious sainte-aldegonde. two thousand florins a year from his father's estate had been settled on him at his marriage, which, in addition to his official and military income, placed him in a position of affluence. after the death of his father the family estates were confiscated, and he was likewise deprived of his captaincy and his governorship. he was reduced at a blow from luxury and high station to beggary and obscurity. at the renewal of the war he found himself, for no fault of his own, excluded from the service of his country. yet the advocate almost in his last breath had recommended his sons to the stadholder, and maurice had sent a message in response that so long as the sons conducted themselves well they might rely upon his support. hitherto they had not conducted themselves otherwise than well. stoutenburg, who now dwelt in his house with his mother, was of a dark, revengeful, turbulent disposition. in the career of arms he had a right to look forward to success, but thus condemned to brood in idleness on the cruel wrongs to himself and his house it was not improbable that he might become dangerous. years long he fed on projects of vengeance as his daily bread. he was convinced that his personal grievances were closely entwined with the welfare of the commonwealth, and he had sworn to avenge the death of his father, the misery of his mother, and the wrongs which he was himself suffering, upon the stadholder, whom he considered the author of all their woe. to effect a revolution in the government, and to bring back to power all the municipal regents whom maurice had displaced so summarily, in order, as the son believed, to effect the downfall of the hated advocate, this was the determination of stoutenburg. he did not pause to reflect whether the arm which had been strong enough to smite to nothingness the venerable statesman in the plenitude of his power would be too weak to repel the attack of an obscure and disarmed partisan. he saw only a hated tyrant, murderer, and oppressor, as he considered him, and he meant to have his life. he had around him a set of daring and desperate men to whom he had from time to time half confided his designs. a certain unfrocked preacher of the remonstrant persuasion, who, according to the fashion of the learned of that day, had translated his name out of hendrik sleet into henricus slatius, was one of his most unscrupulous instruments. slatius, a big, swarthy, shag-eared, beetle-browed hollander, possessed learning of no ordinary degree, a tempestuous kind of eloquence, and a habit of dealing with men; especially those of the humbler classes. he was passionate, greedy, overbearing, violent, and loose of life. he had sworn vengeance upon the remonstrants in consequence of a private quarrel, but this did not prevent him from breathing fire and fury against the contra-remonstrants also, and especially against the stadholder, whom he affected to consider the arch-enemy of the whole commonwealth. another twelvemonth went by. the advocate had been nearly four years in his grave. the terrible german war was in full blaze. the twelve years' truce had expired, the republic was once more at war, and stoutenburg, forbidden at the head of his troop to campaign with the stadholder against the archdukes, nourished more fiercely than ever his plan against the stadholder's life. besides the ferocious slatius he had other associates. there was his cousin by marriage, van der dussen, a catholic gentleman, who had married a daughter of elias barneveld, and who shared all stoutenburg's feelings of resentment towards maurice. there was korenwinder, another catholic, formerly occupying an official position of responsibility as secretary of the town of berkel, a man of immense corpulence, but none the less an active and dangerous conspirator. there was van dyk, a secretary of bleiswyk, equally active and dangerous, and as lean and hungry as korenwinder was fat. stoutenburg, besides other rewards, had promised him a cornetcy of cavalry, should their plans be successful. and there was the brother-in-law of slatius, one cornelis gerritaen, a joiner by trade, living at rotterdam, who made himself very useful in all the details of the conspiracy. for the plot was now arranged, the men just mentioned being its active agents and in constant communication with stoutenburg. korenwinder and van dyk in the last days of december drew up a scheme on paper, which was submitted to their chief and met with his approval. the document began with a violent invective against the crimes and tyranny of the stadholder, demonstrated the necessity of a general change in the government, and of getting rid of maurice as an indispensable preliminary, and laid down the means and method of doing this deed. the prince was in the daily habit of driving, unattended by his body-guard, to ryswyk, about two miles from the hague. it would not be difficult for a determined band of men divided into two parties to set upon him between the stables and his coach, either when alighting from or about to enter it--the one party to kill him while the other protected the retreat of the assassins, and beat down such defence as the few lackeys of the stadholder could offer. the scheme, thus mapped out, was submitted to stoutenburg, who gave it his approval after suggesting a few amendments. the document was then burnt. it was estimated that twenty men would be needed for the job, and that to pay them handsomely would require about guilders. the expenses and other details of the infamous plot were discussed as calmly as if it had been an industrial or commercial speculation. but guilders was an immense sum to raise, and the seigneur de stoutenburg was a beggar. his associates were as forlorn as himself, but his brother-in-law, the ex-ambassador van der myle, was living at beverwyk under the supervision of the police, his property not having been confiscated. stoutenburg paid him a visit, accompanied by the reverend slatius, in hopes of getting funds from him, but at the first obscure hint of the infamous design van der myle faced them with such looks, gestures, and words of disgust and indignation that the murderous couple recoiled, the son of barneveld saying to the expreacher: "let us be off, slaet,'tis a mere cur. nothing is to be made of him." the other son of barneveld, the seigneur de groeneveld, had means and credit. his brother had darkly hinted to him the necessity of getting rid of maurice, and tried to draw him into the plot. groeneveld, more unstable than water, neither repelled nor encouraged these advances. he joined in many conversations with stoutenburg, van dyk, and korenwinder, but always weakly affected not to know what they were driving at. "when we talk of business," said van dyk to him one day, "you are always turning off from us and from the subject. you had better remain." many anonymous letters were sent to him, calling on him to strike for vengeance on the murderer of his father, and for the redemption of his native land and the remonstrant religion from foul oppression. at last yielding to the persuasions and threats of his fierce younger brother, who assured him that the plot would succeed, the government be revolutionized, and that then all property would be at the mercy of the victors, he agreed to endorse certain bills which korenwinder undertook to negotiate. nothing could be meaner, more cowardly, and more murderous than the proceedings of the seigneur de groeneveld. he seems to have felt no intense desire of vengeance upon maurice, which certainly would not have been unnatural, but he was willing to supply money for his assassination. at the same time he was careful to insist that this pecuniary advance was by no means a free gift, but only a loan to be repaid by his more bloodthirsty brother upon demand with interest. with a businesslike caution, in ghastly contrast with the foulness of the contract, he exacted a note of hand from stoutenburg covering the whole amount of his disbursements. there might come a time, he thought, when his brother's paper would be more negotiable than it was at that moment. korenwinder found no difficulty in discounting groeneveld's bills, and the necessary capital was thus raised for the vile enterprise. van dyk, the lean and hungry conspirator, now occupied himself vigorously in engaging the assassins, while his corpulent colleague remained as treasurer of the company. two brothers blansaerts, woollen manufacturers at leyden--one of whom had been a student of theology in the remonstrant church and had occasionally preached--and a certain william party, a walloon by birth, but likewise a woollen worker at leyden, agreed to the secretary's propositions. he had at first told, them that their services would be merely required for the forcible liberation of two remonstrant clergymen, niellius and poppius, from the prison at haarlem. entertaining his new companions at dinner, however, towards the end of january, van dyk, getting very drunk, informed them that the object of the enterprise was to kill the stadholder; that arrangements had been made for effecting an immediate change in the magistracies in all the chief cities of holland so soon as the deed was done; that all the recently deposed regents would enter the hague at once, supported by a train of armed peasants from the country; and that better times for the oppressed religion, for the fatherland, and especially for everyone engaged in the great undertaking, would begin with the death of the tyrant. each man taking direct part in the assassination would receive at least guilders, besides being advanced to offices of honour and profit according to his capacity. the blansaerts assured their superior that entire reliance might be placed on their fidelity, and that they knew of three or four other men in leyden "as firm as trees and fierce as lions," whom they would engage--a fustian worker, a tailor, a chimney-sweeper, and one or two other mechanics. the looseness and utter recklessness with which this hideous conspiracy was arranged excites amazement. van dyk gave the two brothers pistoles in gold--a coin about equal to a guinea--for their immediate reward as well as for that of the comrades to be engaged. yet it seems almost certain from subsequent revelations that they were intending all the time to deceive him, to take as much money as they could get from him, "to milk, the cow as long as she would give milk," as william party expressed it, and then to turn round upon and betray him. it was a dangerous game however, which might not prove entirely successful. van dyk duly communicated with stoutenburg, who grew more and more feverish with hatred and impatience as the time for gratifying those passions drew nigh, and frequently said that he would like to tear the stadholder to pieces with his own hands. he preferred however to act as controlling director over the band of murderers now enrolled. for in addition to the leyden party, the reverend slatius, supplied with funds by van dyk, had engaged at rotterdam his brother-in-law gerritsen, a joiner, living in that city, together with three sailors named respectively dirk, john, and herman. the ex-clergyman's house was also the arsenal of the conspiracy, and here were stored away a stock of pistols, snaphances, and sledge-hammers--together with that other death-dealing machinery, the whole edition of the 'clearshining torch', an inflammatory, pamphlet by slatius--all to be used on the fatal day fast approaching. on the st february van dyk visited slatius at rotterdam. he found gerritsen hard at work. there in a dark back kitchen, by the lurid light of the fire in a dim wintry afternoon, stood the burly slatius, with his swarthy face and heavy eyebrows, accompanied by his brother-in-law the joiner, both in workman's dress, melting lead, running bullets, drying powder, and burnishing and arranging the fire-arms and other tools to be used in the great crime now so rapidly maturing. the lean, busy, restless van dyk, with his adust and sinister visage, came peering in upon the couple thus engaged, and observed their preparations with warm approval. he recommended that in addition to dirk, john, and herman, a few more hardy seafaring men should be engaged, and slatius accordingly secured next day the services of one jerome ewouts and three other sailors. they were not informed of the exact nature of the enterprise, but were told that it was a dangerous although not a desperate one, and sure to be of great service to the fatherland. they received, as all the rest had done, between and guilders in gold, that they would all be promoted to be captains and first mates. it was agreed that all the conspirators should assemble four days later at the hague on sunday, the th february, at the inn of the "golden helmet." the next day, monday the th, had been fixed by stoutenburg for doing the deed. van dyk, who had great confidence in the eloquence of william party, the walloon wool manufacturer, had arranged that he should make a discourse to them all in a solitary place in the downs between that city and the sea-shore, taking for his theme or brief the clearshining torch of slatius. on saturday that eminent divine entertained his sister and her husband gerritsen, jerome ewouts, who was at dinner but half informed as to the scope of the great enterprise, and several other friends who were entirely ignorant of it. slatius was in high spirits, although his sister, who had at last become acquainted with the vile plot, had done nothing but weep all day long. they had better be worms, with a promise of further reward and an intimation she said, and eat dirt for their food, than crawl in so base a business. her brother comforted her with assurances that the project was sure to result in a triumph for religion and fatherland, and drank many healths at his table to the success of all engaged in it. that evening he sent off a great chest filled with arms and ammunition to the "golden helmet" at the hague under the charge of jerome ewouts and his three mates. van dyk had already written a letter to the landlord of that hostelry engaging a room there, and saying that the chest contained valuable books and documents to be used in a lawsuit, in which he was soon to be engaged, before the supreme tribunal. on the sunday this bustling conspirator had john blansaert and william party to dine with him at the "golden helmet" in the hague, and produced seven packages neatly folded, each containing gold pieces to the amount of twenty pounds sterling. these were for themselves and the others whom they had reported as engaged by them in leyden. getting drunk as usual, he began to bluster of the great political revolution impending, and after dinner examined the carbines of his guests. he asked if those weapons were to be relied upon. "we can blow a hair to pieces with them at twenty paces," they replied. "ah! would that i too could be of the party," said van dyk, seizing one of the carbines. "no, no," said john blansaert, "we can do the deed better without you than with you. you must look out for the defence." van dyk then informed them that they, with one of the rotterdam sailors, were to attack maurice as he got out of his coach at ryswyk, pin him between the stables and the coach, and then and there do him to death. "you are not to leave him," he cried, "till his soul has left his body." the two expressed their hearty concurrence with this arrangement, and took leave of their host for the night, going, they said, to distribute the seven packages of blood-money. they found adam blansaert waiting for them in the downs, and immediately divided the whole amount between themselves and him--the chimney-sweeper, tailor, and fustian worker, "firm as trees and fierce as lions," having never had any existence save in their fertile imaginations. on monday, th february, van dyk had a closing interview with stoutenburg and his brother at the house of groeneveld, and informed them that the execution of the plot had been deferred to the following day. stoutenburg expressed disgust and impatience at the delay. "i should like to tear the stadholder to pieces with my own hands!" he cried. he was pacified on hearing that the arrangements had been securely made for the morrow, and turning to his brother observed, "remember that you can never retract. you are in our power and all your estates at our mercy." he then explained the manner in which the magistracies of leyden, gouda, rotterdam, and other cities were to be instantly remodelled after the death of maurice, the ex-regents of the hague at the head of a band of armed peasants being ready at a moment's warning to take possession of the political capital. prince frederic henry moreover, he hinted darkly and falsely, but in a manner not to be mistaken, was favourable to the movement, and would after the murder of maurice take the government into his hands. stoutenburg then went quietly home to pass the day and sleep at his mother's house awaiting the eventful morning of tuesday. van dyk went back to his room at the "golden helmet" and began inspecting the contents of the arms and ammunition chest which jerome ewouts and his three mates had brought the night before from rotterdam. he had been somewhat unquiet at having seen nothing of those mariners during the day; when looking out of window, he saw one of them in conference with some soldiers. a minute afterwards he heard a bustle in the rooms below, and found that the house was occupied by a guard, and that gerritsen, with the three first engaged sailors dirk, peter, and herman, had been arrested at the zotje. he tried in vain to throw the arms back into the chest and conceal it under the bed, but it was too late. seizing his hat and wrapping himself in his cloak, with his sword by his side, he walked calmly down the stairs looking carelessly at the group of soldiers and prisoners who filled the passages. a waiter informed the provost-marshal in command that the gentleman was a respectable boarder at the tavern, well known to him for many years. the conspirator passed unchallenged and went straight to inform stoutenburg. the four mariners, last engaged by slatius at rotterdam, had signally exemplified the danger of half confidences. surprised that they should have been so mysteriously entrusted with the execution of an enterprise the particulars of which were concealed from them, and suspecting that crime alone could command such very high prices as had been paid and promised by the ex-clergyman, they had gone straight to the residence of the stadholder, after depositing the chest at the "golden helmet." finding that he had driven as usual to ryswyk, they followed him thither, and by dint of much importunity obtained an audience. if the enterprise was a patriotic one, they reasoned, he would probably know of it and approve it. if it were criminal, it would be useful for them to reveal and dangerous to conceal it. they told the story so far as they knew it to the prince and showed him the money, florins apiece, which they had already received from slatius. maurice hesitated not an instant. it was evident that a dark conspiracy was afoot. he ordered the sailors to return to the hague by another and circuitous road through voorburg, while he lost not a moment himself in hurrying back as fast as his horses would carry him. summoning the president and several councillors of the chief tribunal, he took instant measures to take possession of the two taverns, and arrest all the strangers found in them. meantime van dyk came into the house of the widow barneveld and found stoutenburg in the stable-yard. he told him the plot was discovered, the chest of arms at the "golden helmet" found. "are there any private letters or papers in the bog?" asked stoutenburg. "none relating to the affair," was the answer. "take yourself off as fast as possible," said stoutenburg. van dyk needed no urging. he escaped through the stables and across the fields in the direction of leyden. after skulking about for a week however and making very little progress, he was arrested at hazerswoude, having broken through the ice while attempting to skate across the inundated and frozen pastures in that region. proclamations were at once made, denouncing the foul conspiracy in which the sons of the late advocate barneveld, the remonstrant clergyman slatius, and others, were the ringleaders, and offering florins each for their apprehension. a public thanksgiving for the deliverance was made in all the churches on the th february. on the th february the states-general sent letters to all their ambassadors and foreign agents, informing them of this execrable plot to overthrow the commonwealth and take the life of the stadholder, set on foot by certain arminian preachers and others of that faction, and this too in winter, when the ice and snow made hostile invasion practicable, and when the enemy was encamped in so many places in the neighbourhood. "the arminians," said the despatch, "are so filled with bitterness that they would rather the republic should be lost than that their pretended grievances should go unredressed." almost every pulpit shook with contra-remonstrant thunder against the whole society of remonstrants, who were held up to the world as rebels and prince-murderers; the criminal conspiracy being charged upon them as a body. hardly a man of that persuasion dared venture into the streets and public places, for fear of being put to death by the rabble. the chevalier william of nassau, natural son of the stadholder, was very loud and violent in all the taverns and tap-rooms, drinking mighty draughts to the damnation of the arminians. many of the timid in consequence shrank away from the society and joined the contra-remonstrant church, while the more courageous members, together with the leaders of that now abhorred communion, published long and stirring appeals to the universal sense of justice, which was outraged by the spectacle of a whole sect being punished for a crime committed by a few individuals, who had once been unworthy members of it. meantime hue and cry was made after the fugitive conspirators. the blansaerts and william party having set off from leyden towards the hague on monday night, in order, as they said, to betray their employers, whose money they had taken, and whose criminal orders they had agreed to execute, attempted to escape, but were arrested within ten days. they were exhibited at their prison at amsterdam to an immense concourse at a shilling a peep, the sums thus collected being distributed to the poor. slatius made his way disguised as a boor into friesland, and after various adventures attempted to cross the bourtange moors to lingen. stopping to refresh himself at a tavern near koevorden, he found himself in the tap-room in presence of quartermaster blau and a company of soldiers from the garrison. the dark scowling boor, travel-stained and weary, with felt hat slouched over his forbidding visage, fierce and timorous at once like a hunted wild beast, excited their suspicion. seeing himself watched, he got up, paid his scot, and departed, leaving his can of beer untasted. this decided the quartermaster, who accordingly followed the peasant out of the house, and arrested him as a spanish spy on the watch for the train of specie which the soldiers were then conveying into koevorden castle. slatius protested his innocence of any such design, and vehemently besought the officer to release him, telling him as a reason for his urgency and an explanation of his unprepossessing aspect--that he was an oculist from amsterdam, john hermansen by name, that he had just committed a homicide in that place, and was fleeing from justice. the honest quartermaster saw no reason why a suspected spy should go free because he proclaimed himself a murderer, nor why an oculist should escape the penalties of homicide. "the more reason," he said, "why thou shouldst be my prisoner." the ex-preacher was arrested and shut up in the state prison at the hague. the famous engraver visser executed a likeness on copper-plate of the grim malefactor as he appeared in his boor's disguise. the portrait, accompanied by a fiercely written broadsheet attacking the remonstrant church, had a great circulation, and deepened the animosity against the sect upon which the unfrocked preacher had sworn vengeance. his evil face and fame thus became familiar to the public, while the term hendrik slaet became a proverb at pot-houses, being held equivalent among tipplers to shirking the bottle. korenwinder, the treasurer of the association, coming to visit stoutenburg soon after van dyk had left him, was informed of the discovery of the plot and did his best to escape, but was arrested within a fortnight's time. stoutenburg himself acted with his usual promptness and coolness. having gone straightway to his brother to notify him of the discovery and to urge him to instant flight, he contrived to disappear. a few days later a chest of merchandise was brought to the house of a certain citizen of rotterdam, who had once been a fiddler, but was now a man of considerable property. the chest, when opened, was found to contain the seigneur de stoutenburg, who in past times had laid the fiddler under obligations, and in whose house he now lay concealed for many days, and until the strictness with which all roads and ferries in the neighbourhood were watched at first had somewhat given way. meantime his cousin van der dussen had also effected his escape, and had joined him in rotterdam. the faithful fiddler then, for a thousand florins, chartered a trading vessel commanded by one jacob beltje to take a cargo of dutch cheese to wesel on the rhine. by this means, after a few adventures, they effected their escape, and, arriving not long afterwards at brussels, were formally taken under the protection of the archduchess isabella. stoutenburg afterwards travelled in france and italy, and returned to brussels. his wife, loathing his crime and spurning all further communication with him, abandoned him to his fate. the daughter of marnix of sainte-aldegonde had endured poverty, obscurity, and unmerited obloquy, which had become the lot of the great statesman's family after his tragic end, but she came of a race that would not brook dishonour. the conspirator and suborner of murder and treason, the hirer and companion of assassins, was no mate for her. stoutenburg hesitated for years as to his future career, strangely enough keeping up a hope of being allowed to return to his country. subsequently he embraced the cause of his country's enemies, converted himself to the roman church, and obtained a captaincy of horse in the spanish service. he was seen one day, to the disgust of many spectators, to enter antwerp in black foreign uniform, at the head of his troopers, waving a standard with a death's-head embroidered upon it, and wearing, like his soldiers, a sable scarf and plume. history disdains to follow further the career of the renegade, traitor, end assassin. when the seigneur de groeneveld learned from his younger brother, on the eventful th of february, that the plot had been discovered, he gave himself up for lost. remorse and despair, fastening upon his naturally feeble character, seemed to render him powerless. his wife, of more hopeful disposition than himself and of less heroic mould than walburg de marnix, encouraged him to fly. he fled accordingly, through the desolate sandy downs which roll between the hague and the sea, to scheveningen, then an obscure fishing village on the coast, at a league's distance from the capital. here a fisherman, devoted to him and his family, received him in his hut, disguised him in boatman's attire, and went with him to the strand, proposing to launch his pinkie, put out at once to sea, and to land him on the english coast, the french coast, in hamburg--where he would. the sight of that long, sandy beach stretching for more than seventy miles in an unbroken, melancholy line, without cove, curve, or indentation to break its cruel monotony, and with the wild waves of the german ocean, lashed by a wintry storm, breaking into white foam as far as the eye could reach, appalled the fugitive criminal. with the certainty of an ignominious death behind him, he shrank abjectly from the terrors of the sea, and, despite the honest fisherman's entreaties, refused to enter the boat and face the storm. he wandered feebly along the coast, still accompanied by his humble friend, to another little village, where the fisherman procured a waggon, which took them as far as sandvoort. thence he made his way through egmond and petten and across the marsdiep to tegel, where not deeming himself safe he had himself ferried over to the neighbouring island of vlieland. here amongst the quicksands, whirlpools, and shallows which mark the last verge of habitable holland, the unhappy fugitive stood at bay. meantime information had come to the authorities that a suspicious stranger had been seen at scheveningen. the fisherman's wife was arrested. threatened with torture she at last confessed with whom her husband had fled and whither. information was sent to the bailiff of vlieland, who with a party of followers made a strict search through his narrow precincts. a group of seamen seated on the sands was soon discovered, among whom, dressed in shaggy pea jacket with long fisherman's boots, was the seigneur de groeneveld, who, easily recognized through his disguise, submitted to his captors without a struggle. the scheveningen fisherman, who had been so faithful to him, making a sudden spring, eluded his pursuers and disappeared; thus escaping the gibbet which would probably have been his doom instead of the reward of golden guilders which he might have had for betraying him. thus a sum more than double the amount originally furnished by groeneveld, as the capital of the assassination company, had been rejected by the rotterdam boatman who saved stoutenburg, and by the scheveningen fisherman who was ready to save groeneveld. on the th february, within less than a fortnight from the explosion of the conspiracy, the eldest son of barneveld was lodged in the gevangen poort or state prison of the hague. the awful news of the th february had struck the widow of barneveld as with a thunderbolt. both her sons were proclaimed as murderers and suborners of assassins, and a price put upon their heads. she remained for days neither speaking nor weeping; scarcely eating, drinking, or sleeping. she seemed frozen to stone. her daughters and friends could not tell whether she were dying or had lost her reason. at length the escape of stoutenburg and the capture of groeneveld seemed to rouse her from her trance. she then stooped to do what she had sternly refused to do when her husband was in the hands of the authorities. accompanied by the wife and infant son of groeneveld she obtained an audience of the stern stadholder, fell on her knees before him, and implored mercy and pardon for her son. maurice received her calmly and not discourteously, but held out no hopes of pardon. the criminal was in the hands of justice, he said, and he had no power to interfere. but there can scarcely be a doubt that he had power after the sentence to forgive or to commute, and it will be remembered that when barneveld himself was about to suffer, the prince had asked the clergyman walaeus with much anxiety whether the prisoner in his message had said nothing of pardon. referring to the bitter past, maurice asked madame de barneveld why she not asked mercy for her son, having refused to do so for her husband. her answer was simple and noble: "my husband was innocent of crime," she said; "my son is guilty." the idea of pardon in this case was of course preposterous. certainly if groeneveld had been forgiven, it would have been impossible to punish the thirteen less guilty conspirators, already in the hands of justice, whom he had hired to commit the assassination. the spectacle of the two cowardly ringleaders going free while the meaner criminals were gibbeted would have been a shock to the most rudimentary ideas of justice. it would have been an equal outrage to pardon the younger barnevelds for intended murder, in which they had almost succeeded, when their great father had already suffered for a constructive lese-majesty, the guilt of which had been stoutly denied. yet such is the dreary chain of cause and effect that it is certain, had pardon been nobly offered to the statesman, whose views of constitutional law varied from those of the dominant party, the later crime would never have been committed. but francis aerssens--considering his own and other partisans lives at stake if the states' right party did not fall--had been able to bear down all thoughts of mercy. he was successful, was called to the house of nobles, and regained the embassy of paris, while the house of barneveld was trodden into the dust of dishonour and ruin. rarely has an offended politician's revenge been more thorough than his. never did the mocking fiend betray his victims into the hands of the avenger more sardonically than was done in this sombre tragedy. the trials of the prisoners were rapidly conducted. van dyk, cruelly tortured, confessed on the rack all the details of the conspiracy as they were afterwards embodied in the sentences and have been stated in the preceding narrative. groeneveld was not tortured. his answers to the interrogatories were so vague as to excite amazement at his general ignorance of the foul transaction or at the feebleness of his memory, while there was no attempt on his part to exculpate himself from the damning charge. that it was he who had furnished funds for the proposed murder and mutiny, knowing the purpose to which they were to be applied, was proved beyond all cavil and fully avowed by him. on the th may, he, korenwinder, and van dyk were notified that they were to appear next day in the courthouse to hear their sentence, which would immediately afterwards be executed. that night his mother, wife, and son paid him a long visit of farewell in his prison. the gevangen poort of the hague, an antique but mean building of brown brick and commonplace aspect, still stands in one of the most public parts of the city. a gloomy archway, surmounted by windows grimly guarded by iron lattice-work, forms the general thoroughfare from the aristocratic plaats and kneuterdyk and vyverberg to the inner court of the ancient palace. the cells within are dark, noisome, and dimly lighted, and even to this day the very instruments of torture, used in the trials of these and other prisoners, may be seen by the curious. half a century later the brothers de witt were dragged from this prison to be literally torn to pieces by an infuriated mob. the misery of that midnight interview between the widow of barneveld, her daughter-in-law, and the condemned son and husband need not be described. as the morning approached, the gaoler warned the matrons to take their departure that the prisoner might sleep. "what a woful widow you will be," said groeneveld to his wife, as she sank choking with tears upon the ground. the words suddenly aroused in her the sense of respect for their name. "at least for all this misery endured," she said firmly, "do me enough honour to die like a gentleman." he promised it. the mother then took leave of the son, and history drops a decorous veil henceforth over the grief-stricken form of mary of barneveld. next morning the life-guards of the stadholder and other troops were drawn up in battle-array in the outer and inner courtyard of the supreme tribunal and palace. at ten o'clock groeneveld came forth from the prison. the stadholder had granted as a boon to the family that he might be neither fettered nor guarded as he walked to the tribunal. the prisoner did not forget his parting promise to his wife. he appeared full-dressed in velvet cloak and plumed hat, with rapier by his side, walking calmly through the inner courtyard to the great hall. observing the windows of the stadholder's apartments crowded with spectators, among whom he seemed to recognize the prince's face, he took off his hat and made a graceful and dignified salute. he greeted with courtesy many acquaintances among the crowd through which he passed. he entered the hall and listened in silence to the sentence condemning him to be immediately executed with the sword. van dyk and korenwinder shared the same doom, but were provisionally taken back to prison. groeneveld then walked calmly and gracefully as before from the hall to the scaffold, attended by his own valet, and preceded by the provost-marshal and assistants. he was to suffer, not where his father had been beheaded, but on the "green sod." this public place of execution for ordinary criminals was singularly enough in the most elegant and frequented quarter of the hague. a few rods from the gevangen poort, at the western end of the vyverberg, on the edge of the cheerful triangle called the plaats, and looking directly down the broad and stately kneuterdyk, at the end of which stood aremberg house, lately the residence of the great advocate, was the mean and sordid scaffold. groeneveld ascended it with perfect composure. the man who had been browbeaten into crime by an overbearing and ferocious brother, who had quailed before the angry waves of the north sea, which would have borne him to a place of entire security, now faced his fate with a smile upon his lips. he took off his hat, cloak, and sword, and handed them to his valet. he calmly undid his ruff and wristbands of pointlace, and tossed them on the ground. with his own hands and the assistance of his servant he unbuttoned his doublet, laying breast and neck open without suffering the headsman's hands to approach him. he then walked to the heap of sand and spoke a very few words to the vast throng of spectators. "desire of vengeance and evil counsel," he said, "have brought me here. if i have wronged any man among you, i beg him for christ's sake to forgive me." kneeling on the sand with his face turned towards his father's house at the end of the kneuterdyk, he said his prayers. then putting a red velvet cap over his eyes, he was heard to mutter: "o god! what a man i was once, and what am i now?" calmly folding his hands, he said, "patience." the executioner then struck off his head at a blow. his body, wrapped in a black cloak, was sent to his house and buried in his father's tomb. van dyk and korenwinder were executed immediately afterwards. they were quartered and their heads exposed on stakes. the joiner gerritsen and the three sailors had already been beheaded. the blansaerts and william party, together with the grim slatius, who was savage and turbulent to the last, had suffered on the th of may. fourteen in all were executed for this crime, including an unfortunate tailor and two other mechanics of leyden, who had heard something whispered about the conspiracy, had nothing whatever to do with it, but from ignorance, apathy, or timidity did not denounce it. the ringleader and the equally guilty van der dussen had, as has been seen, effected their escape. thus ended the long tragedy of the barnevelds. the result of this foul conspiracy and its failure to effect the crime proposed strengthened immensely the power, popularity, and influence of the stadholder, made the orthodox church triumphant, and nearly ruined the sect of the remonstrants, the arminians--most unjustly in reality, although with a pitiful show of reason--being held guilty of the crime of stoutenburg and slatius. the republic--that magnificent commonwealth which in its infancy had confronted, single-handed, the greatest empire of the earth, and had wrested its independence from the ancient despot after a forty years' struggle--had now been rent in twain, although in very unequal portions, by the fiend of political and religious hatred. thus crippled, she was to go forth and take her share in that awful conflict now in full blaze, and of which after-ages were to speak with a shudder as the thirty years' war. etext editor's bookmarks: argument in a circle he that stands let him see that he does not fall if he has deserved it, let them strike off his head misery had come not from their being enemies o god! what does man come to! party hatred was not yet glutted with the blood it had drunk rose superior to his doom and took captivity captive this, then, is the reward of forty years' service to the state to milk, the cow as long as she would give milk etext editor's bookmarks, entire john of barneveld, - : acts of violence which under pretext of religion adulation for inferiors whom they despise affection of his friends and the wrath of his enemies and give advice. of that, although always a spendthrift argument in a circle better to be governed by magistrates than mobs burning with bitter revenge for all the favours he had received calumny is often a stronger and more lasting power than disdain casual outbursts of eternal friendship changed his positions and contradicted himself day by day conciliation when war of extermination was intended considered it his special mission in the world to mediate created one child for damnation and another for salvation death rather than life with a false acknowledgment of guilt denoungced as an obstacle to peace depths theological party spirit could descend depths of credulity men in all ages can sink devote himself to his gout and to his fair young wife enemy of all compulsion of the human conscience extraordinary capacity for yielding to gentle violence france was mourning henry and waiting for richelieu furious mob set upon the house of rem bischop hardly a sound protestant policy anywhere but in holland he that stands let him see that he does not fall heidelberg catechism were declared to be infallible highborn demagogues in that as in every age affect adulation history has not too many really important and emblematic men human nature in its meanness and shame i hope and i fear i know how to console myself if he has deserved it, let them strike off his head implication there was much, of assertion very little in this he was much behind his age or before it it had not yet occurred to him that he was married john robinson king who thought it furious madness to resist the enemy logic is rarely the quality on which kings pride themselves magistracy at that moment seemed to mean the sword make the very name of man a term of reproach misery had come not from their being enemies mockery of negotiation in which nothing could be negotiated more apprehension of fraud than of force necessity of deferring to powerful sovereigns never lack of fishers in troubled waters not his custom nor that of his councillors to go to bed o god! what does man come to! only true religion opening an abyss between government and people opposed the subjection of the magistracy by the priesthood partisans wanted not accommodation but victory party hatred was not yet glutted with the blood it had drunk pot-valiant hero puritanism in holland was a very different thing from england rather a wilderness to reign over than a single heretic resolve to maintain the civil authority over the military rose superior to his doom and took captivity captive seemed bent on self-destruction stand between hope and fear successful in this step, he is ready for greater ones tempest of passion and prejudice that he tries to lay the fault on us is pure malice the magnitude of this wonderful sovereign's littleness the effect of energetic, uncompromising calumny the evils resulting from a confederate system of government this, then, is the reward of forty years' service to the state this wonderful sovereign's littleness oppresses the imagination to milk, the cow as long as she would give milk to stifle for ever the right of free enquiry william brewster wise and honest a man, although he be somewhat longsome yes, there are wicked men about yesterday is the preceptor of to-morrow etext editor's bookmarks, entire john of barneveld - : abstinence from inquisition into consciences and private parlour acts of violence which under pretext of religion adulation for inferiors whom they despise advanced orthodox party-puritans affection of his friends and the wrath of his enemies allowed the demon of religious hatred to enter into its body almost infinite power of the meanest of passions and give advice. of that, although always a spendthrift and now the knife of another priest-led fanatic argument in a circle aristocracy of god's elect as with his own people, keeping no back-door open at a blow decapitated france atheist, a tyrant, because he resisted dictation from the clergy behead, torture, burn alive, and bury alive all heretics better to be governed by magistrates than mobs burning with bitter revenge for all the favours he had received calumny is often a stronger and more lasting power than disdain casual outbursts of eternal friendship changed his positions and contradicted himself day by day christian sympathy and a small assistance not being sufficient conciliation when war of extermination was intended conclusive victory for the allies seemed as predestined considered it his special mission in the world to mediate contained within itself the germs of a larger liberty could not be both judge and party in the suit covered now with the satirical dust of centuries created one child for damnation and another for salvation deadly hatred of puritans in england and holland death rather than life with a false acknowledgment of guilt denoungced as an obstacle to peace depths of credulity men in all ages can sink depths theological party spirit could descend determined to bring the very name of liberty into contempt devote himself to his gout and to his fair young wife disputing the eternal damnation of young children doctrine of predestination in its sternest and strictest sense emperor of japan addressed him as his brother monarch enemy of all compulsion of the human conscience epernon, the true murderer of henry estimating his character and judging his judges everybody should mind his own business extraordinary capacity for yielding to gentle violence fate, free will, or absolute foreknowledge father cotton, who was only too ready to betray the secrets france was mourning henry and waiting for richelieu furious mob set upon the house of rem bischop give him advice if he asked it, and money when he required great war of religion and politics was postponed hardly a sound protestant policy anywhere but in holland he was not imperial of aspect on canvas or coin he who would have all may easily lose all he who spreads the snare always tumbles into the ditch himself he was a sincere bigot he that stands let him see that he does not fall heidelberg catechism were declared to be infallible highborn demagogues in that as in every age affect adulation history has not too many really important and emblematic men human nature in its meanness and shame i know how to console myself i hope and i fear if he has deserved it, let them strike off his head impatience is often on the part of the non-combatants implication there was much, of assertion very little in this he was much behind his age or before it intense bigotry of conviction international friendship, the self-interest of each it had not yet occurred to him that he was married it was the true religion, and there was none other james of england, who admired, envied, and hated henry jealousy, that potent principle jesuit mariana--justifying the killing of excommunicated kings john robinson king who thought it furious madness to resist the enemy king's definite and final intentions, varied from day to day language which is ever living because it is dead logic is rarely the quality on which kings pride themselves louis xiii. ludicrous gravity magistracy at that moment seemed to mean the sword make the very name of man a term of reproach misery had come not from their being enemies mockery of negotiation in which nothing could be negotiated more apprehension of fraud than of force more fiercely opposed to each other than to papists most detestable verses that even he had ever composed necessity of deferring to powerful sovereigns neither kings nor governments are apt to value logic never lack of fishers in troubled waters no man pretended to think of the state no man can be neutral in civil contentions no synod had a right to claim netherlanders as slaves none but god to compel me to say more than i choose to say not his custom nor that of his councillors to go to bed o god! what does man come to! only true religion opening an abyss between government and people opposed the subjection of the magistracy by the priesthood outdoing himself in dogmatism and inconsistency partisans wanted not accommodation but victory party hatred was not yet glutted with the blood it had drunk philip iv. pot-valiant hero power the poison of which it is so difficult to resist practised successfully the talent of silence presents of considerable sums of money to the negotiators made priests shall control the state or the state govern the priests princes show what they have in them at twenty-five or never puritanism in holland was a very different thing from england putting the cart before the oxen queen is entirely in the hands of spain and the priests rather a wilderness to reign over than a single heretic religion was made the strumpet of political ambition religious toleration, which is a phrase of insult resolve to maintain the civil authority over the military rose superior to his doom and took captivity captive safest citadel against an invader and a tyrant is distrust schism in the church had become a public fact secure the prizes of war without the troubles and dangers seemed bent on self-destruction senectus edam maorbus est she declined to be his procuress small matter which human folly had dilated into a great one smooth words, in the plentiful lack of any substantial so much in advance of his time as to favor religious equality stand between hope and fear stroke of a broken table knife sharpened on a carriage wheel successful in this step, he is ready for greater ones tempest of passion and prejudice that he tries to lay the fault on us is pure malice that cynical commerce in human lives the effect of energetic, uncompromising calumny the evils resulting from a confederate system of government the vehicle is often prized more than the freight the voice of slanderers the truth in shortest about matters of importance the assassin, tortured and torn by four horses the defence of the civil authority against the priesthood the magnitude of this wonderful sovereign's littleness the catholic league and the protestant union their own roofs were not quite yet in a blaze theological hatred was in full blaze throughout the country theology and politics were one there was no use in holding language of authority to him there was but one king in europe, henry the bearnese therefore now denounced the man whom he had injured they have killed him, 'e ammazato,' cried concini things he could tell which are too odious and dreadful thirty years' war tread on the heels of the forty years this wonderful sovereign's littleness oppresses the imagination this, then, is the reward of forty years' service to the state to milk, the cow as long as she would give milk to stifle for ever the right of free enquiry to look down upon their inferior and lost fellow creatures uncouple the dogs and let them run unimaginable outrage as the most legitimate industry vows of an eternal friendship of several weeks' duration what could save the house of austria, the cause of papacy whether repentance could effect salvation whether dead infants were hopelessly damned whose mutual hatred was now artfully inflamed by partisans william brewster wise and honest a man, although he be somewhat longsome wish to appear learned in matters of which they are ignorant work of the aforesaid puritans and a few jesuits wrath of the jesuits at this exercise of legal authority yes, there are wicked men about yesterday is the preceptor of to-morrow this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, volume the life and death of john of barneveld, v , preface: these volumes make a separate work in themselves. they form also the natural sequel to the other histories already published by the author, as well as the necessary introduction to that concluding portion of his labours which he has always desired to lay before the public; a history of the thirty years' war. for the two great wars which successively established the independence of holland and the disintegration of germany are in reality but one; a prolonged tragedy of eighty years. the brief pause, which in the netherlands was known as the twelve years' truce with spain, was precisely the epoch in which the elements were slowly and certainly gathering for the renewal over nearly the whole surface of civilized europe of that immense conflict which for more than forty years had been raging within the narrow precincts of the netherlands. the causes and character of the two wars were essentially the same. there were many changes of persons and of scenery during a struggle which lasted for nearly three generations of mankind; yet a natural succession both of actors, motives, and events will be observed from the beginning to the close. the designs of charles v. to establish universal monarchy, which he had passionately followed for a lifetime through a series of colossal crimes against humanity and of private misdeeds against individuals, such as it has rarely been permitted to a single despot to perpetrate, had been baffled at last. disappointed, broken, but even to our own generation never completely unveiled, the tyrant had withdrawn from the stage of human affairs, leaving his son to carry on the great conspiracy against human right, independence of nations, liberty of thought, and equality of religions, with the additional vigour which sprang from intensity of conviction. for philip possessed at least that superiority over his father that he was a sincere bigot. in the narrow and gloomy depths of his soul he had doubtless persuaded himself that it was necessary for the redemption of the human species that the empire of the world should be vested in his hands, that protestantism in all its forms should be extirpated as a malignant disease, and that to behead, torture, burn alive, and bury alive all heretics who opposed the decree of himself and the holy church was the highest virtue by which he could merit heaven. the father would have permitted protestantism if protestantism would have submitted to universal monarchy. there would have been small difficulty in the early part of his reign in effecting a compromise between rome and augsburg, had the gigantic secular ambition of charles not preferred to weaken the church and to convert conscientious religious reform into political mutiny; a crime against him who claimed the sovereignty of christendom. the materials for the true history of that reign lie in the archives of spain, austria, rome, venice, and the netherlands, and in many other places. when out of them one day a complete and authentic narrative shall have been constructed, it will be seen how completely the policy of charles foreshadowed and necessitated that of philip, how logically, under the successors of philip, the austrian dream of universal empire ended in the shattering, in the minute subdivision, and the reduction to a long impotence of that germanic empire which had really belonged to charles. unfortunately the great republic which, notwithstanding the aid of england on the one side and of france on the other, had withstood almost single-handed the onslaughts of spain, now allowed the demon of religious hatred to enter into its body at the first epoch of peace, although it had successfully exorcised the evil spirit during the long and terrible war. there can be no doubt whatever that the discords within the interior of the dutch republic during the period of the truce, and their tragic catastrophe, had weakened her purpose and partially paralysed her arm. when the noble commonwealth went forward to the renewed and general conflict which succeeded the concentrated one in which it had been the chief actor, the effect of those misspent twelve years became apparent. indeed the real continuity of the war was scarcely broken by the fitful, armistice. the death of john of cleve, an event almost simultaneous with the conclusion of the truce, seemed to those gifted with political vision the necessary precursor of a new and more general war. the secret correspondence of barneveld shows the almost prophetic accuracy with which he indicated the course of events and the approach of an almost universal conflict, while that tragedy was still in the future, and was to be enacted after he had been laid in his bloody grave. no man then living was so accustomed as he was to sweep the political horizon, and to estimate the signs and portents of the times. no statesman was left in europe during the epoch of the twelve years' truce to compare with him in experience, breadth of vision, political tact, or administrative sagacity. imbued with the grand traditions and familiar with the great personages of a most heroic epoch; the trusted friend or respected counsellor of william the silent, henry iv., elizabeth, and the sages and soldiers on whom they leaned; having been employed during an already long lifetime in the administration of greatest affairs, he stood alone after the deaths of henry of france and the second cecil, and the retirement of sully, among the natural leaders of mankind. to the england of elizabeth, of walsingham, raleigh, and the cecils, had succeeded the great britain of james, with his carrs and carletons, nauntons, lakes, and winwoods. france, widowed of henry and waiting for richelieu, lay in the clutches of concini's, epernons, and bouillons, bound hand and foot to spain. germany, falling from rudolph to matthias, saw styrian ferdinand in the background ready to shatter the fabric of a hundred years of attempted reformation. in the republic of the netherlands were the great soldier and the only remaining statesman of the age. at a moment when the breathing space had been agreed upon before the conflict should be renewed; on a wider field than ever, between spanish-austrian world-empire and independence of the nations; between the ancient and only church and the spirit of religious equality; between popular right and royal and sacerdotal despotism; it would have been desirable that the soldier and the statesman should stand side by side, and that the fortunate confederacy, gifted with two such champions and placed by its own achievements at the very head of the great party of resistance, should be true to herself. these volumes contain a slight and rapid sketch of barneveld's career up to the point at which the twelve years' truce with spain was signed in the year . in previous works the author has attempted to assign the great advocate's place as part and parcel of history during the continuance of the war for independence. during the period of the truce he will be found the central figure. the history of europe, especially of the netherlands, britain, france, and germany, cannot be thoroughly appreciated without a knowledge of the designs, the labours, and the fate of barneveld. the materials for estimating his character and judging his judges lie in the national archives of the land of which he was so long the foremost citizen. but they have not long been accessible. the letters, state papers, and other documents remain unprinted, and have rarely been read. m. van deventer has published three most interesting volumes of the advocate's correspondence, but they reach only to the beginning of . he has suspended his labours exactly at the moment when these volumes begin. i have carefully studied however nearly the whole of that correspondence, besides a mass of other papers. the labour is not light, for the handwriting of the great advocate is perhaps the worst that ever existed, and the papers, although kept in the admirable order which distinguishes the archives of the hague, have passed through many hands at former epochs before reaching their natural destination in the treasure-house of the nation. especially the documents connected with the famous trial were for a long time hidden from mortal view, for barneveld's judges had bound themselves by oath to bury the proceedings out of sight. and the concealment lasted for centuries. very recently a small portion of those papers has been published by the historical society of utrecht. the "verhooren," or interrogatories of the judges, and the replies of barneveld, have thus been laid before the reading public of holland, while within the last two years the distinguished and learned historian, professor fruin, has edited the "verhooren" of hugo grotius. but papers like these, important as they are, make but a slender portion of the material out of which a judgment concerning these grave events can be constructed. i do not therefore offer an apology for the somewhat copious extracts which i have translated and given in these volumes from the correspondence of barneveld and from other manuscripts of great value--most of them in the royal archives of holland and belgium--which are unknown to the public. i have avoided as much as possible any dealings with the theological controversies so closely connected with the events which i have attempted to describe. this work aims at being a political study. the subject is full of lessons, examples, and warnings for the inhabitants of all free states. especially now that the republican system of government is undergoing a series of experiments with more or less success in one hemisphere--while in our own land it is consolidated, powerful, and unchallenged--will the conflicts between the spirits of national centralization and of provincial sovereignty, and the struggle between the church, the sword, and the magistracy for supremacy in a free commonwealth, as revealed in the first considerable republic of modern history, be found suggestive of deep reflection. those who look in this work for a history of the synod of dordtrecht will look in vain. the author has neither wish nor power to grapple with the mysteries and passions which at that epoch possessed so many souls. the assembly marks a political period. its political aspects have been anxiously examined, but beyond the ecclesiastical threshold there has been no attempt to penetrate. it was necessary for my purpose to describe in some detail the relations of henry iv. with the dutch republic during the last and most pregnant year of his life, which makes the first of the present history. these relations are of european importance, and the materials for appreciating them are of unexpected richness, in the dutch and belgian archives. especially the secret correspondence, now at the hague, of that very able diplomatist francis aerssens with barneveld during the years , , and , together with many papers at brussels, are full of vital importance. they throw much light both on the vast designs which filled the brain of henry at this fatal epoch and on his extraordinary infatuation for the young princess of conde by which they were traversed, and which was productive of such widespread political anal tragical results. this episode forms a necessary portion of my theme, and has therefore been set forth from original sources. i am under renewed obligations to my friend m. gachard, the eminent publicist and archivist of belgium, for his constant and friendly offices to me (which i have so often experienced before), while studying the documents under his charge relating to this epoch; especially the secret correspondence of archduke albert with philip iii, and his ministers, and with pecquius, the archduke's agent at paris. it is also a great pleasure to acknowledge the unceasing courtesy and zealous aid rendered me during my renewed studies in the archives at the hague--lasting through nearly two years--by the chief archivist, m. van den berg, and the gentlemen connected with that institution, especially m. de jonghe and m. hingman, without whose aid it would have been difficult for me to decipher and to procure copies of the almost illegible holographs of barneveld. i must also thank m. van deventer for communicating copies of some curious manuscripts relating to my subject, some from private archives in holland, and others from those of simancas. a single word only remains to be said in regard to the name of the statesman whose career i have undertaken to describe. his proper appellation and that by which he has always been known in his own country is oldenbarneveld, but in his lifetime and always in history from that time to this he has been called barneveld in english as well as french, and this transformation, as it were, of the name has become so settled a matter that after some hesitation it has been adopted in the present work. the author would take this opportunity of expressing his gratitude for the indulgence with which his former attempts to illustrate an important period of european history have been received by the public, and his anxious hope that the present volumes may be thought worthy of attention. they are the result at least of severe and conscientious labour at the original sources of history, but the subject is so complicated and difficult that it may well be feared that the ability to depict and unravel is unequal to the earnestness with which the attempt has been made. london, . the life and death of john of barneveld, v , chapter i. john of barneveld the founder of the commonwealth of the united provinces--maurice of orange stadholder, but servant to the states- general--the union of utrecht maintained--barneveld makes a compromise between civil functionaries and church officials-- embassies to france, england, and to venice--the appointment of arminius to be professor of theology at leyden creates dissension-- the catholic league opposed by the great protestant union--death of the duke of cleve and struggle for his succession--the elector of brandenburg and palatine of neuburg hold the duchies at barneveld's advice against the emperor, though having rival claims themselves-- negotiations with the king of france--he becomes the ally of the states-general to protect the possessory princes, and prepares for war. i propose to retrace the history of a great statesman's career. that statesman's name, but for the dark and tragic scenes with which it was ultimately associated, might after the lapse of two centuries and a half have faded into comparative oblivion, so impersonal and shadowy his presence would have seemed upon the great european theatre where he was so long a chief actor, and where his efforts and his achievements were foremost among those productive of long enduring and widespread results. there is no doubt whatever that john of barneveld, advocate and seal keeper of the little province of holland during forty years of as troubled and fertile an epoch as any in human history, was second to none of his contemporary statesmen. yet the singular constitution and historical position of the republic whose destinies he guided and the peculiar and abnormal office which he held combined to cast a veil over his individuality. the ever-teeming brain, the restless almost omnipresent hand, the fertile pen, the eloquent and ready tongue, were seen, heard, and obeyed by the great european public, by the monarchs, statesmen, and warriors of the time, at many critical moments of history, but it was not john of barneveld that spoke to the world. those "high and puissant lords my masters the states-general" personified the young but already majestic republic. dignified, draped, and concealed by that overshadowing title the informing and master spirit performed its never ending task. those who study the enormous masses of original papers in the archives of the country will be amazed to find how the penmanship, most difficult to decipher, of the advocate meets them at every turn. letters to monarchs, generals, ambassadors, resolutions of councils, of sovereign assemblies, of trading corporations, of great indian companies, legal and historical disquisitions of great depth and length on questions agitating europe, constitutional arguments, drafts of treaties among the leading powers of the world, instructions to great commissions, plans for european campaigns, vast combinations covering the world, alliances of empire, scientific expeditions and discoveries--papers such as these covered now with the satirical dust of centuries, written in the small, crabbed, exasperating characters which make barneveld's handwriting almost cryptographic, were once, when fairly engrossed and sealed with the great seal of the haughty burgher-aristocracy, the documents which occupied the close attention of the cabinets of christendom. it is not unfrequent to find four or five important despatches compressed almost in miniature upon one sheet of gigantic foolscap. it is also curious to find each one of these rough drafts conscientiously beginning in the statesman's own hand with the elaborate phrases of compliment belonging to the epoch such as "noble, strenuous, severe, highly honourable, very learned, very discreet, and very wise masters," and ending with "may the lord god almighty eternally preserve you and hold you in his holy keeping in this world and for ever"--decorations which one might have thought it safe to leave to be filled in by the secretary or copying clerk. thus there have been few men at any period whose lives have been more closely identical than his with a national history. there have been few great men in any history whose names have become less familiar to the world, and lived less in the mouths of posterity. yet there can be no doubt that if william the silent was the founder of the independence of the united provinces barneveld was the founder of the commonwealth itself. he had never the opportunity, perhaps he might have never had the capacity, to make such prodigious sacrifices in the cause of country as the great prince had done. but he had served his country strenuously from youth to old age with an abiding sense of duty, a steadiness of purpose, a broad vision, a firm grasp, and an opulence of resource such as not one of his compatriots could even pretend to rival. had that country of which he was so long the first citizen maintained until our own day the same proportionate position among the empires of christendom as it held in the seventeenth century, the name of john of barneveld would have perhaps been as familiar to all men as it is at this moment to nearly every inhabitant of the netherlands. even now political passion is almost as ready to flame forth either in ardent affection or enthusiastic hatred as if two centuries and a half had not elapsed since his death. his name is so typical of a party, a polity, and a faith, so indelibly associated with a great historical cataclysm, as to render it difficult even for the grave, the conscientious, the learned, the patriotic of his own compatriots to speak of him with absolute impartiality. a foreigner who loves and admires all that is great and noble in the history of that famous republic and can have no hereditary bias as to its ecclesiastical or political theories may at least attempt the task with comparative coldness, although conscious of inability to do thorough justice to a most complex subject. in former publications devoted to netherland history i have endeavoured to trace the course of events of which the life and works of the advocate were a vital ingredient down to the period when spain after more than forty years of hard fighting virtually acknowledged the independence of the republic and concluded with her a truce of twelve years. that convention was signed in the spring of . the ten ensuing years in europe were comparatively tranquil, but they were scarcely to be numbered among the full and fruitful sheaves of a pacific epoch. it was a pause, a breathing spell during which the sulphurous clouds which had made the atmosphere of christendom poisonous for nearly half a century had sullenly rolled away, while at every point of the horizon they were seen massing themselves anew in portentous and ever accumulating strength. at any moment the faint and sickly sunshine in which poor exhausted humanity was essaying a feeble twitter of hope as it plumed itself for a peaceful flight might be again obscured. to us of a remote posterity the momentary division of epochs seems hardly discernible. so rapidly did that fight of demons which we call the thirty years' war tread on the heels of the forty years' struggle for dutch independence which had just been suspended that we are accustomed to think and speak of the eighty years' war as one pure, perfect, sanguinary whole. and indeed the tragedy which was soon to sweep solemnly across europe was foreshadowed in the first fitful years of peace. the throb of the elementary forces already shook the soil of christendom. the fantastic but most significant conflict in the territories of the dead duke of clove reflected the distant and gigantic war as in a mirage. it will be necessary to direct the reader's attention at the proper moment to that episode, for it was one in which the beneficent sagacity of barneveld was conspicuously exerted in the cause of peace and conservation. meantime it is not agreeable to reflect that this brief period of nominal and armed peace which the republic had conquered after nearly two generations of warfare was employed by her in tearing her own flesh. the heroic sword which had achieved such triumphs in the cause of freedom could have been bitter employed than in an attempt at political suicide. in a picture of the last decade of barneveld's eventful life his personality may come more distinctly forward perhaps than in previous epochs. it will however be difficult to disentangle a single thread from the great historical tapestry of the republic and of europe in which his life and achievements are interwoven. he was a public man in the fullest sense of the word, and without his presence and influence the record of holland, france, spain, britain, and germany might have been essentially modified. the republic was so integral a part of that system which divided europe into two great hostile camps according to creeds rather than frontiers that the history of its foremost citizen touches at every point the general history of christendom. the great peculiarity of the dutch constitution at this epoch was that no principle was absolutely settled. in throwing off a foreign tyranny and successfully vindicating national independence the burghers and nobles had not had leisure to lay down any organic law. nor had the day for profound investigation of the political or social contract arrived. men dealt almost exclusively with facts, and when the facts arranged themselves illogically and incoherently the mischief was grave and difficult to remedy. it is not a trifling inconvenience for an organized commonwealth to be in doubt as to where, in whom, and of what nature is its sovereignty. yet this was precisely the condition of the united netherlands. to the eternal world so dazzling were the reputation and the achievements of their great captain that he was looked upon by many as the legitimate chief of the state and doubtless friendly monarchs would have cordially welcomed him into their brotherhood. during the war he had been surrounded by almost royal state. two hundred officers lived daily at his table. great nobles and scions of sovereign houses were his pupils or satellites. the splendour of military despotism and the awe inspired by his unquestioned supremacy in what was deemed the greatest of all sciences invested the person of maurice of nassau with a grandeur which many a crowned potentate might envy. his ample appointments united with the spoils of war provided him with almost royal revenues, even before the death of his elder brother philip william had placed in his hands the principality and wealthy possessions of orange. hating contradiction, arbitrary by instinct and by military habit, impatient of criticism, and having long acknowledged no master in the chief business of state, he found himself at the conclusion of the truce with his great occupation gone, and, although generously provided for by the treasury of the republic, yet with an income proportionately limited. politics and theology were fields in which he had hardly served an apprenticeship, and it was possible that when he should step forward as a master in those complicated and difficult pursuits, soon to absorb the attention of the commonwealth and the world, it might appear that war was not the only science that required serious preliminary studies. meantime he found himself not a king, not the master of a nominal republic, but the servant of the states-general, and the limited stadholder of five out of seven separate provinces. and the states-general were virtually john of barneveld. could antagonism be more sharply defined? jealousy, that potent principle which controls the regular movements and accounts for the aberrations of humanity in widest spheres as well as narrowest circles far more generally and conclusively than philosophers or historians have been willing to admit, began forthwith to manifest its subtle and irresistible influence. and there were not to be wanting acute and dangerous schemers who saw their profit in augmenting its intensity. the seven provinces, when the truce of twelve years had been signed, were neither exhausted nor impoverished. yet they had just emerged from a forty years' conflict such as no people in human history had ever waged against a foreign tyranny. they had need to repose and recruit, but they stood among the foremost great powers of the day. it is not easy in imagination to thrust back the present leading empires of the earth into the contracted spheres of their not remote past. but to feel how a little confederacy of seven provinces loosely tied together by an ill- defined treaty could hold so prominent and often so controlling a place in the european system of the seventeenth century, we must remember that there was then no germany, no russia, no italy, no united states of america, scarcely even a great britain in the sense which belongs to that mighty empire now. france, spain, england, the pope, and the emperor were the leading powers with which the netherlands were daily called on to solve great problems and try conclusions; the study of political international equilibrium, now rapidly and perhaps fortunately becoming one of the lost arts, being then the most indispensable duty of kings and statesmen. spain and france, which had long since achieved for themselves the political union of many independent kingdoms and states into which they had been divided were the most considerable powers and of necessity rivals. spain, or rather the house of austria divided into its two great branches, still pursued its persistent and by no means fantastic dream of universal monarchy. both spain and france could dispose of somewhat larger resources absolutely, although not relatively, than the seven provinces, while at least trebling them in population. the yearly revenue of spain after deduction of its pledged resources was perhaps equal to a million sterling, and that of france with the same reservation was about as much. england had hardly been able to levy and make up a yearly income of more than l , or l , at the end of elizabeth's reign or in the first years of james, while the netherlands had often proved themselves capable of furnishing annually ten or twelve millions of florins, which would be the equivalent of nearly a million sterling. the yearly revenues of the whole monarchy of the imperial house of habsburg can scarcely be stated at a higher figure than l , . thus the political game--for it was a game--was by no means a desperate one for the netherlands, nor the resources of the various players so unequally distributed as at first sight it might appear. the emancipation of the provinces from the grasp of spain and the establishment by them of a commonwealth, for that epoch a very free one, and which contained within itself the germs of a larger liberty, religious, political, and commercial, than had yet been known, was already one of the most considerable results of the reformation. the probability of its continued and independent existence was hardly believed in by potentate or statesman outside its own borders, and had not been very long a decided article of faith even within them. the knotty problem of an acknowledgment of that existence, the admission of the new-born state into the family of nations, and a temporary peace guaranteed by two great powers, had at last been solved mainly by the genius of barneveld working amid many disadvantages and against great obstructions. the truce had been made, and it now needed all the skill, coolness, and courage of a practical and original statesman to conduct the affairs of the confederacy. the troubled epoch of peace was even now heaving with warlike emotions, and was hardly less stormy than the war which had just been suspended. the republic was like a raft loosely strung together, floating almost on a level of the ocean, and often half submerged, but freighted with inestimable treasures for itself and the world. it needed an unsleeping eye and a powerful brain to conduct her over the quicksands and through the whirlpools of an unmapped and intricate course. the sovereignty of the country so far as its nature could be satisfactorily analysed seemed to be scattered through, and inherent in each one of, the multitudinous boards of magistracy--close corporations, self-elected--by which every city was governed. nothing could be more preposterous. practically, however, these boards were represented by deputies in each of the seven provincial assemblies, and these again sent councillors from among their number to the general assembly which was that of their high mightinesses the lords states-general. the province of holland, being richer and more powerful than all its six sisters combined, was not unwilling to impose a supremacy which on the whole was practically conceded by the rest. thus the union of utrecht established in was maintained for want of anything better as the foundation of the commonwealth. the advocate and keeper of the great seal of that province was therefore virtually prime minister, president, attorney-general, finance minister, and minister of foreign affairs of the whole republic. this was barneveld's position. he took the lead in the deliberations both of the states of holland and the states-general, moved resolutions, advocated great measures of state, gave heed to their execution, collected the votes, summed up the proceedings, corresponded with and instructed ambassadors, received and negotiated with foreign ministers, besides directing and holding in his hands the various threads of the home policy and the rapidly growing colonial system of the republic. all this work barneveld had been doing for thirty years. the reformation was by no mans assured even in the lands where it had at first made the most essential progress. but the existence of the new commonwealth depended on the success of that great movement which had called it into being. losing ground in france, fluctuating in england, protestantism was apparently more triumphant in vast territories where the ancient church was one day to recover its mastery. of the population of bohemia, there were perhaps ten protestants to one papist, while in the united netherlands at least one-third of the people were still attached to the catholic faith. the great religious struggle in bohemia and other dominions of the habsburg family was fast leading to a war of which no man could even imagine the horrors or foresee the vast extent. the catholic league and the protestant union were slowly arranging europe into two mighty confederacies. they were to give employment year after year to millions of mercenary freebooters who were to practise murder, pillage, and every imaginable and unimaginable outrage as the most legitimate industry that could occupy mankind. the holy empire which so ingeniously combined the worst characteristics of despotism and republicanism kept all germany and half europe in the turmoil of a perpetual presidential election. a theatre where trivial personages and graceless actors performed a tragi-comedy of mingled folly, intrigue, and crime, and where earnestness and vigour were destined to be constantly baffled, now offered the principal stage for the entertainment and excitement of christendom. there was but one king in europe, henry the bearnese. the men who sat on the thrones in madrid, vienna, london, would have lived and died unknown but for the crowns they wore, and while there were plenty of bustling politicians here and there in christendom, there were not many statesmen. among them there was no stronger man than john of barneveld, and no man had harder or more complicated work to do. born in amersfoort in , of the ancient and knightly house of oldenbarneveldt, of patrician blood through all his ancestors both male and female, he was not the heir to large possessions, and was a diligent student and hardworking man from youth upward. he was not wont to boast of his pedigree until in later life, being assailed by vilest slander, all his kindred nearest or most remote being charged with every possible and unmentionable crime, and himself stigmatized as sprung from the lowest kennels of humanity--as if thereby his private character and public services could be more legitimately blackened--he was stung into exhibiting to the world the purity and antiquity of his escutcheon, and a roll of respectably placed, well estated, and authentically noble, if not at all illustrious, forefathers in his country's records of the previous centuries. without an ancestor at his back he might have valued himself still more highly on the commanding place he held in the world by right divine of intellect, but as the father of lies seemed to have kept his creatures so busy with the barneveld genealogy, it was not amiss for the statesman once for all to make the truth known. his studies in the universities of holland, france, italy, and germany had been profound. at an early age he was one of the first civilians of the time. his manhood being almost contemporary with the great war of freedom, he had served as a volunteer and at his own expense through several campaigns, having nearly lost his life in the disastrous attempt to relieve the siege of haarlem, and having been so disabled by sickness and exposure at the heroic leaguer of leyden as to have been deprived of the joy of witnessing its triumphant conclusion. successfully practising his profession afterwards before the tribunals of holland, he had been called at the comparatively early age of twenty-nine to the important post of chief pensionary of rotterdam. so long as william the silent lived, that great prince was all in all to his country, and barneveld was proud and happy to be among the most trusted and assiduous of his counsellors. when the assassination of william seemed for an instant to strike the republic with paralysis, barneveld was foremost among the statesmen of holland to spring forward and help to inspire it with renewed energy. the almost completed negotiations for conferring the sovereignty, not of the confederacy, but of the province of holland, upon the prince had been abruptly brought to an end by his death. to confer that sovereign countship on his son maurice, then a lad of eighteen and a student at leyden, would have seemed to many at so terrible a crisis an act of madness, although barneveld had been willing to suggest and promote the scheme. the confederates under his guidance soon hastened however to lay the sovereignty, and if not the sovereignty, the protectorship, of all the provinces at the feet first of england and then of france. barneveld was at the head of the embassy, and indeed was the indispensable head of all important, embassies to each of those two countries throughout all this portion of his career. both monarchs refused, almost spurned, the offered crown in which was involved a war with the greatest power in the world, with no compensating dignity or benefit, as it was thought, beside. then elizabeth, although declining the sovereignty, promised assistance and sent the earl of leicester as governor-general at the head of a contingent of english troops. precisely to prevent the consolidation thus threatened of the provinces into one union, a measure which had been attempted more than once in the burgundian epoch, and always successfully resisted by the spirit of provincial separatism, barneveld now proposed and carried the appointment of maurice of nassau to the stadholdership of holland. this was done against great opposition and amid fierce debate. soon afterwards barneveld was vehemently urged by the nobles and regents of the cities of holland to accept the post of advocate of that province. after repeatedly declining the arduous and most responsible office, he was at last induced to accept it. he did it under the remarkable condition that in case any negotiation should be undertaken for the purpose of bringing back the province of holland under the dominion of the king of spain, he should be considered as from that moment relieved from the service. his brother elias barneveld succeeded him as pensionary of rotterdam, and thenceforth the career of the advocate is identical with the history of the netherlands. although a native of utrecht, he was competent to exercise such functions in holland, a special and ancient convention between those two provinces allowing the citizens of either to enjoy legal and civic rights in both. gradually, without intrigue or inordinate ambition, but from force of circumstances and the commanding power of the man, the native authority stamped upon his forehead, he became the political head of the confederacy. he created and maintained a system of public credit absolutely marvellous in the circumstances, by means of which an otherwise impossible struggle was carried to a victorious end. when the stadholderate of the provinces of gelderland, utrecht, and overyssel became vacant, it was again barneveld's potent influence and sincere attachment to the house of nassau that procured the election of maurice to those posts. thus within six years after his father's death the youthful soldier who had already given proof of his surpassing military genius had become governor, commander-in-chief, and high admiral, of five of the seven provinces constituting the confederacy. at about the same period the great question of church and state, which barneveld had always felt to be among the vital problems of the age, and on which his opinions were most decided, came up for partial solution. it would have been too much to expect the opinion of any statesman to be so much in advance of his time as to favor religious equality. toleration of various creeds, including the roman catholic, so far as abstinence from inquisition into consciences and private parlours could be called toleration, was secured, and that was a considerable step in advance of the practice of the sixteenth century. burning, hanging, and burying alive of culprits guilty of another creed than the dominant one had become obsolete. but there was an established creed--the reformed religion, founded on the netherland confession and the heidelberg catechism. and there was one established principle then considered throughout europe the grand result of the reformation; "cujus regio ejus religio;" which was in reality as impudent an invasion of human right as any heaven-born dogma of infallibility. the sovereign of a country, having appropriated the revenues of the ancient church, prescribed his own creed to his subjects. in the royal conscience were included the million consciences of his subjects. the inevitable result in a country like the netherlands, without a personal sovereign, was a struggle between the new church and the civil government for mastery. and at this period, and always in barneveld's opinion, the question of dogma was subordinate to that of church government. that there should be no authority over the king had been settled in england. henry viii., elizabeth, and afterwards james, having become popes in their own realm, had no great hostility to, but rather an affection for, ancient dogma and splendid ceremonial. but in the seven provinces, even as in france, germany, and switzerland, the reform where it had been effected at all had been more thorough, and there was little left of popish pomp or aristocratic hierarchy. nothing could be severer than the simplicity of the reformed church, nothing more imperious than its dogma, nothing more infallible than its creed. it was the true religion, and there was none other. but to whom belonged the ecclesiastical edifices, the splendid old minsters in the cities--raised by the people's confiding piety and the purchased remission of their sins in a bygone age--and the humbler but beautiful parish churches in every town and village? to the state; said barneveld, speaking for government; to the community represented by the states of the provinces, the magistracies of the cities and municipalities. to the church itself, the one true church represented by its elders, and deacons, and preachers, was the reply. and to whom belonged the right of prescribing laws and ordinances of public worship, of appointing preachers, church servants, schoolmasters, sextons? to the holy ghost inspiring the class and the synod, said the church. to the civil authority, said the magistrates, by which the churches are maintained, and the salaries of the ecclesiastics paid. the states of holland are as sovereign as the kings of england or denmark, the electors of saxony or brandenburg, the magistrates of zurich or basel or other swiss cantons. "cujus regio ejus religio." in there was a compromise under the guidance of barneveld. it was agreed that an appointing board should be established composed of civil functionaries and church officials in equal numbers. thus should the interests of religion and of education be maintained. the compromise was successful enough during the war. external pressure kept down theological passion, and there were as yet few symptoms of schism in the dominant church. but there was to come a time when the struggle between church and government was to break forth with an intensity and to rage to an extent which no man at that moment could imagine. towards the end of the century henry iv. made peace with spain. it was a trying moment for the provinces. barneveld was again sent forth on an embassy to the king. the cardinal point in his policy, as it had ever been in that of william the silent, was to maintain close friendship with france, whoever might be its ruler. an alliance between that kingdom and spain would be instantaneous ruin to the republic. with the french and english sovereigns united with the provinces, the cause of the reformation might triumph, the spanish world-empire be annihilated, national independence secured. henry assured the ambassador that the treaty of vervins was indispensable, but that he would never desert his old allies. in proof of this, although he had just bound himself to spain to give no assistance to the provinces, open or secret, he would furnish them with thirteen hundred thousand crowns, payable at intervals during four years. he was under great obligations to his good friends the states, he said, and nothing in the treaty forbade him to pay his debts. it was at this period too that barneveld was employed by the king to attend to certain legal and other private business for which he professed himself too poor at the moment to compensate him. there seems to have been nothing in the usages of the time or country to make the transaction, innocent in itself, in any degree disreputable. the king promised at some future clay, when he should be more in funds, to pay him a liberal fee. barneveld, who a dozen years afterwards received , florins for his labour, professed that he would much rather have had one thousand at the time. thence the advocate, accompanied by his colleague, justinus de nassau, proceeded to england, where they had many stormy interviews with elizabeth. the queen swore with many an oath that she too would make peace with philip, recommended the provinces to do the same thing with submission to their ancient tyrant, and claimed from the states immediate payment of one million sterling in satisfaction of their old debts to her. it would have been as easy for them at that moment to pay a thousand million. it was at last agreed that the sum of the debt should be fixed at l , , and that the cautionary towns should be held in elizabeth's hands by english troops until all the debt should be discharged. thus england for a long time afterwards continued to regard itself, as in a measure the sovereign and proprietor of the confederacy, and barneveld then and there formed the resolve to relieve the country of the incubus, and to recover those cautionary towns and fortresses at the earliest possible moment. so long as foreign soldiers commanded by military governors existed on the soil of the netherlands, they could hardly account themselves independent. besides, there was the perpetual and horrid nightmare, that by a sudden pacification between spain and england those important cities, keys to the country's defence, might be handed over to their ancient tyrant. elizabeth had been pacified at last, however, by the eloquence of the ambassador. "i will assist you even if you were up to the neck in water," she said. "jusque la," she added, pointing to her chin. five years later barneveld, for the fifth time at the head of a great embassy, was sent to england to congratulate james on his accession. it was then and there that he took measure of the monarch with whom he was destined to have many dealings, and who was to exert so baleful an influence on his career. at last came the time when it was felt that peace between spain and her revolted provinces might be made. the conservation of their ancient laws, privileges, and charters, the independence of the states, and included therein the freedom to establish the reformed religion, had been secured by forty years of fighting. the honour of spain was saved by a conjunction. she agreed to treat with her old dependencies "as" with states over which she had no pretensions. through virtue of an "as," a truce after two years' negotiation, perpetually traversed and secretly countermined by the military party under the influence of maurice, was carried by the determination of barneveld. the great objects of the war had been secured. the country was weary of nearly half a century of bloodshed. it was time to remember that there could be such a condition as peace. the treaty was signed, ratifications exchanged, and the usual presents of considerable sums of money to the negotiators made. barneveld earnestly protested against carrying out the custom on this occasion, and urged that those presents should be given for the public use. he was overruled by those who were more desirous of receiving their reward than he was, and he accordingly, in common with the other diplomatists, accepted the gifts. the various details of these negotiations have been related by the author in other volumes, to which the present one is intended as a sequel. it has been thought necessary merely to recall very briefly a few salient passages in the career of the advocate up to the period when the present history really opens. their bearing upon subsequent events will easily be observed. the truce was the work of barneveld. it was detested by maurice and by maurice's partisans. "i fear that our enemies and evil reports are the cause of many of our difficulties," said the advocate to the states' envoy in paris, in . "you are to pay no heed to private advices. believe and make others believe that more than one half the inhabitants of the cities and in the open country are inclined to peace. and i believe, in case of continuing adversities, that the other half will not remain constant, principally because the provinces are robbed of all traffic, prosperity, and navigation, through the actions of france and england. i have always thought it for the advantage of his majesty to sustain us in such wise as would make us useful in his service. as to his remaining permanently at peace with spain, that would seem quite out of the question." the king had long kept, according to treaty, a couple of french regiments in the states' service, and furnished, or was bound to furnish, a certain yearly sum for their support. but the expenses of the campaigning had been rapidly increasing and the results as swiftly dwindling. the advocate now explained that, "without loss both of important places and of reputation," the states could not help spending every month that they took the field , florins over and above the regular contributions, and some months a great deal more. this sum, he said, in nine months, would more than eat up the whole subsidy of the king. if they were to be in the field by march or beginning of april, they would require from him an extraordinary sum of , crowns, and as much more in june or july. eighteen months later, when the magnificent naval victory of heemskerk in the bay of gibraltar had just made a startling interlude to the languishing negotiations for peace, the advocate again warned the french king of the difficulty in which the republic still laboured of carrying on the mighty struggle alone. spain was the common enemy of all. no peace or hope was possible for the leading powers as long as spain was perpetually encamped in the very heart of western europe. the netherlands were not fighting their own battle merely, but that of freedom and independence against the all-encroaching world-power. and their means to carry on the conflict were dwindling, while at the same time there was a favourable opportunity for cropping some fruit from their previous labours and sacrifices. "we are led to doubt," he wrote once more to the envoy in france, "whether the king's full powers will come from spain. this defeat is hard for the spaniards to digest. meantime our burdens are quite above our capacity, as you will understand by the enclosed statement, which is made out with much exactness to show what is absolutely necessary for a vigorous defence on land and a respectable position at sea to keep things from entire confusion. the provinces could raise means for the half of this estimate. but, it is a great difference when the means differ one half from the expenses. the sovereignst and most assured remedy would be the one so often demanded, often projected, and sometimes almost prepared for execution, namely that our neighbour kings, princes, and republics should earnestly take the matter in hand and drive the spaniards and their adherents out of the netherlands and over the mountains. their own dignity and security ought not to permit such great bodies of troops of both belligerents permanently massed in the netherlands. still less ought they to allow these provinces to fall into the hands of the spaniards, whence they could with so much more power and convenience make war upon all kings, princes, and republics. this must be prevented by one means or another. it ought to be enough for every one that we have been between thirty and forty years a firm bulwark against spanish ambition. our constancy and patience ought to be strengthened by counsel and by deed in order that we may exist; a christian sympathy and a small assistance not being sufficient. believe and cause to be believed that the present condition of our affairs requires more aid in counsel and money than ever before, and that nothing could be better bestowed than to further this end. "messieurs jeannin, buzenval, and de russy have been all here these twelve days. we have firm hopes that other kings, princes, and republics will not stay upon formalities, but will also visit the patients here in order to administer sovereign remedies. "lend no ear to any flying reports. we say with the wise men over there, 'metuo danaos et dons ferentes.' we know our antagonists well, and trust their hearts no more than before, 'sed ultra posse non est esse.' to accept more burthens than we can pay for will breed military mutiny; to tax the community above its strength will cause popular tumults, especially in 'rebus adversis,' of which the beginnings were seen last year, and without a powerful army the enemy is not to be withstood. i have received your letters to the th may. my advice is to trust to his upright proceedings and with patience to overcome all things. thus shall the detractors and calumniators best be confounded. assure his majesty and his ministers that i will do my utmost to avert our ruin and his majesty's disservice." the treaty was made, and from that time forth the antagonism between the eminent statesman and the great military chieftain became inevitable. the importance of the one seemed likely to increase day by day. the occupation of the other for a time was over. during the war maurice had been, with exception of henry iv., the most considerable personage in europe. he was surrounded with that visible atmosphere of power the poison of which it is so difficult to resist, and through the golden haze of which a mortal seems to dilate for the vulgar eye into the supernatural. the attention of christendom was perpetually fixed upon him. nothing like his sieges, his encampments, his military discipline, his scientific campaigning had been seen before in modern europe. the youthful aristocracy from all countries thronged to his camp to learn the game of war, for he had restored by diligent study of the ancients much that was noble in that pursuit, and had elevated into an art that which had long since degenerated into a system of butchery, marauding, and rapine. and he had fought with signal success and unquestionable heroism the most important and most brilliant pitched battle of the age. he was a central figure of the current history of europe. pagan nations looked up to him as one of the leading sovereigns of christendom. the emperor of japan addressed him as his brother monarch, assured him that his subjects trading to that distant empire should be welcomed and protected, and expressed himself ashamed that so great a prince, whose name and fame had spread through the world, should send his subjects to visit a country so distant and unknown, and offer its emperor a friendship which he was unconscious of deserving. he had been a commander of armies and a chief among men since he came to man's estate, and he was now in the very vigour of life, in his forty- second year. of imperial descent and closely connected by blood or alliance with many of the most illustrious of reigning houses, the acknowledged master of the most royal and noble of all sciences, he was of the stuff of which kings were made, and belonged by what was then accounted right divine to the family of kings. his father's death had alone prevented his elevation to the throne of holland, and such possession of half the sovereignty of the united netherlands would probably have expanded into dominion over all the seven with a not fantastic possibility of uniting the ten still obedient provinces into a single realm. such a kingdom would have been more populous and far wealthier than contemporary great britain and ireland. maurice, then a student at leyden, was too young at that crisis, and his powers too undeveloped to justify any serious attempt to place him in his father's place. the netherlands drifted into a confederacy of aristocratic republics, not because they had planned a republic, but because they could not get a king, foreign or native. the documents regarding the offer of the sovereign countship to william remained in the possession of maurice, and a few years before the peace there had been a private meeting of leading personages, of which barneveld was the promoter and chief spokesman, to take into consideration the propriety and possibility of conferring that sovereignty upon the son which had virtually belonged to the father. the obstacles were deemed so numerous, and especially the scheme seemed so fraught with danger to maurice, that it was reluctantly abandoned by his best friends, among whom unquestionably was the advocate. there was no reason whatever why the now successful and mature soldier, to whom the country was under such vast obligations, should not aspire to the sovereignty. the provinces had not pledged themselves to republicanism, but rather to monarchy, and the crown, although secretly coveted by henry iv., could by no possibility now be conferred on any other man than maurice. it was no impeachment on his character that he should nourish thoughts in which there was nothing criminal. but the peace negotiations had opened a chasm. it was obvious enough that barneveld having now so long exercised great powers, and become as it were the chief magistrate of an important commonwealth, would not be so friendly as formerly to its conversion into a monarchy and to the elevation of the great soldier to its throne. the advocate had even been sounded, cautiously and secretly, so men believed, by the princess- dowager, louise de coligny, widow of william the silent, as to the feasibility of procuring the sovereignty for maurice. she had done this at the instigation of maurice, who had expressed his belief that the favourable influence of the advocate would make success certain and who had represented to her that, as he was himself resolved never to marry, the inheritance after his death would fall to her son frederick henry. the princess, who was of a most amiable disposition, adored her son. devoted to the house of nassau and a great admirer of its chief, she had a long interview with barneveld, in which she urged the scheme upon his attention without in any probability revealing that she had come to him at the solicitation of maurice. the advocate spoke to her with frankness and out of the depths of his heart. he professed an ardent attachment to her family, a profound reverence for the virtues, sacrifices, and achievements of her lamented husband, and a warm desire to do everything to further the interests of the son who had proved himself so worthy of his parentage. but he proved to her that maurice, in seeking the sovereignty, was seeking his ruin. the hollanders, he said, liked to be persuaded and not forced. having triumphantly shaken off the yoke of a powerful king, they would scarcely consent now to accept the rule of any personal sovereign. the desire to save themselves from the claws of spain had led them formerly to offer the dominion over them to various potentates. now that they had achieved peace and independence and were delivered from the fears of spanish ferocity and french intrigue, they shuddered at the dangers from royal hands out of which they had at last escaped. he believed that they would be capable of tearing in pieces any one who might make the desired proposition. after all, he urged, maurice was a hundred times more fortunate as he was than if he should succeed in desires so opposed to his own good. this splendour of sovereignty was a false glare which would lead him to a precipice. he had now the power of a sovereign without the envy which ever followed it. having essentially such power, he ought, like his father, to despise an empty name, which would only make him hated. for it was well known that william the silent had only yielded to much solicitation, agreeing to accept that which then seemed desirable for the country's good but to him was more than indifferent. maurice was captain-general and admiral-general of five provinces. he appointed to governments and to all military office. he had a share of appointment to the magistracies. he had the same advantages and the same authority as had been enjoyed in the netherlands by the ancient sovereign counts, by the dukes of burgundy, by emperor charles v. himself. every one now was in favour of increasing his pensions, his salaries, his material splendour. should he succeed in seizing the sovereignty, men would envy him even to the ribbands of his pages' and his lackeys' shoes. he turned to the annals of holland and showed the princess that there had hardly been a sovereign count against whom his subjects had not revolted, marching generally into the very courtyard of the palace at the hague in order to take his life. convinced by this reasoning, louise de coligny had at once changed her mind, and subsequently besought her stepson to give up a project sure to be fatal to his welfare, his peace of mind, and the good of the country. maurice listened to her coldly, gave little heed to the advocate's logic, and hated him in his heart from that day forth. the princess remained loyal to barneveld to the last. thus the foundation was laid of that terrible enmity which, inflamed by theological passion, was to convert the period of peace into a hell, to rend the provinces asunder when they had most need of repose, and to lead to tragical results for ever to be deplored. already in francis aerssens had said that the two had become so embroiled and things had gone so far that one or the other would have to leave the country. he permitted also the ridiculous statement to be made in his house at paris, that henry iv. believed the advocate to have become spanish, and had declared that prince maurice would do well to have him put into a sack and thrown into the sea. his life had been regularly divided into two halves, the campaigning season and the period of winter quarters. in the one his business, and his talk was of camps, marches, sieges, and battles only. in the other he was devoted to his stud, to tennis, to mathematical and mechanical inventions, and to chess, of which he was passionately fond, and which he did not play at all well. a gascon captain serving in the states' army was his habitual antagonist in that game, and, although the stakes were but a crown a game, derived a steady income out of his gains, which were more than equal to his pay. the prince was sulky when he lost, sitting, when the candles were burned out and bed-time had arrived, with his hat pulled over his brows, without bidding his guest good night, and leaving him to find his way out as he best could; and, on the contrary, radiant with delight when successful, calling for valets to light the departing captain through the corridor, and accompanying him to the door of the apartment himself. that warrior was accordingly too shrewd not to allow his great adversary as fair a share of triumph as was consistent with maintaining the frugal income on which he reckoned. he had small love for the pleasures of the table, but was promiscuous and unlicensed in his amours. he was methodical in his household arrangements, and rather stingy than liberal in money matters. he personally read all his letters, accounts, despatches, and other documents trivial or important, but wrote few letters with his own hand, so that, unlike his illustrious father's correspondence, there is little that is characteristic to be found in his own. he was plain but not shabby in attire, and was always dressed in exactly the same style, wearing doublet and hose of brown woollen, a silk under vest, a short cloak lined with velvet, a little plaited ruff on his neck, and very loose boots. he ridiculed the smart french officers who, to show their fine legs, were wont to wear such tight boots as made them perspire to get into them, and maintained, in precept and practice, that a man should be able to jump into his boots and mount and ride at a moment's notice. the only ornaments he indulged in, except, of course, on state occasions, were a golden hilt to his famous sword, and a rope of diamonds tied around his felt hat. he was now in the full flower of his strength and his fame, in his forty- second year, and of a noble and martial presence. the face, although unquestionably handsome, offered a sharp contrast within itself; the upper half all intellect, the lower quite sensual. fair hair growing thin, but hardly tinged with grey, a bright, cheerful, and thoughtful forehead, large hazel eyes within a singularly large orbit of brow; a straight, thin, slightly aquiline, well-cut nose--such features were at open variance with the broad, thick-lipped, sensual mouth, the heavy pendant jowl, the sparse beard on the glistening cheek, and the moleskin- like moustachio and chin tuft. still, upon the whole, it was a face and figure which gave the world assurance of a man and a commander of men. power and intelligence were stamped upon him from his birth. barneveld was tall and majestic of presence, with large quadrangular face, austere, blue eyes looking authority and command, a vast forehead, and a grizzled beard. of fluent and convincing eloquence with tongue and pen, having the power of saying much in few words, he cared much more for the substance than the graces of speech or composition. this tendency was not ill exemplified in a note of his written on a sheet of questions addressed to him by a states' ambassador about to start on an important mission, but a novice in his business, the answers to which questions were to serve for his diplomatic instructions. "item and principally," wrote the envoy, "to request of m. de barneveld a formulary or copy of the best, soundest, wisest, and best couched despatches done by several preceding ambassadors in order to regulate myself accordingly for the greater service of the province and for my uttermost reputation." the advocate's answer, scrawled in his nearly illegible hand, was-- "unnecessary. the truth in shortest about matters of importance shall be taken for good style." with great love of power, which he was conscious of exerting with ease to himself and for the good of the public, he had little personal vanity, and not the smallest ambition of authorship. many volumes might be collected out of the vast accumulation of his writings now mouldering and forgotten in archives. had the language in which they are written become a world's language, they would be worthy of attentive study, as containing noble illustrations of the history and politics of his age, with theories and sentiments often far in advance of his age. but he cared not for style. "the truth in shortest about matters of importance" was enough for him; but the world in general, and especially the world of posterity, cares much for style. the vehicle is often prized more than the freight. the name of barneveld is fast fading out of men's memory. the fame of his pupil and companion in fortune and misfortune, hugo grotius, is ever green. but grotius was essentially an author rather than a statesman: he wrote for the world and posterity with all the love, pride, and charm of the devotee of literature, and he composed his noblest works in a language which is ever living because it is dead. some of his writings, epochmaking when they first appeared, are text- books still familiar in every cultivated household on earth. yet barneveld was vastly his superior in practical statesmanship, in law, in the science of government, and above all in force of character, while certainly not his equal in theology, nor making any pretensions to poetry. although a ripe scholar, he rarely wrote in latin, and not often in french. his ambition was to do his work thoroughly according to his view of duty, and to ask god's blessing upon it without craving overmuch the applause of men. such were the two men, the soldier and the statesman. would the republic, fortunate enough to possess two such magnificent and widely contrasted capacities, be wise enough to keep them in its service, each supplementing the other, and the two combining in a perfect whole? or was the great law of the discords of the world, as potent as that other principle of universal harmony and planetary motion which an illustrious contemporary--that wurtemberg astronomer, once a soldier of the fierce alva, now the half-starved astrologer of the brain-sick rudolph--was at that moment discovering, after "god had waited six thousand years for him to do it," to prevail for the misery of the republic and shame of europe? time was to show. the new state had forced itself into the family of sovereignties somewhat to the displeasure of most of the lord's anointed. rebellious and republican, it necessarily excited the jealousy of long-established and hereditary governments. the king of spain had not formally acknowledged the independence of the united provinces. he had treated with them as free, and there was supposed to be much virtue in the conjunction. but their sovereign independence was virtually recognized by the world. great nations had entered into public and diplomatic relations and conventions with them, and their agents at foreign courts were now dignified with the rank and title of ambassadors. the spanish king had likewise refused to them the concession of the right of navigation and commerce in the east indies, but it was a matter of notoriety that the absence of the word india, suppressed as it was in the treaty, implied an immense triumph on the part of the states, and that their flourishing and daily increasing commerce in the farthest east and the imperial establishments already rising there were cause of envy and jealousy not to spain alone, but to friendly powers. yet the government of great britain affected to regard them as something less than a sovereign state. although elizabeth had refused the sovereignty once proffered to her, although james had united with henry iv. in guaranteeing the treaty just concluded between the states and spain, that monarch had the wonderful conception that the republic was in some sort a province of his own, because he still held the cautionary towns in pledge for the loans granted by his predecessor. his agents at constantinople were instructed to represent the new state as unworthy to accredit its envoys as those of an independent power. the provinces were represented as a collection of audacious rebels, a piratical scum of the sea. but the sultan knew his interests better than to incur the enmity of this rising maritime power. the dutch envoy declaring that he would sooner throw himself into the bosphorus than remain to be treated with less consideration than that accorded to the ministers of all great powers, the remonstrances of envious colleagues were hushed, and haga was received with all due honours. even at the court of the best friend of the republic, the french king, men looked coldly at the upstart commonwealth. francis aerssens, the keen and accomplished minister of the states, resident in paris for many years, was received as ambassador after the truce with all the ceremonial befitting the highest rank in the diplomatic service; yet henry could not yet persuade himself to look upon the power accrediting him as a thoroughly organized commonwealth. the english ambassador asked the king if he meant to continue his aid and assistance to the states during the truce. "yes," answered henry. "and a few years beyond it?" "no. i do not wish to offend the king of spain from mere gaiety of heart." "but they are free," replied the ambassador; "the king of spain could have no cause for offence." "they are free," said the king, "but not sovereign."--"judge then," wrote aerssens to barneveld, "how we shall be with the king of spain at the end of our term when our best friends make this distinction among themselves to our disadvantage. they insist on making a difference between liberty and sovereignty; considering liberty as a mean term between servitude and sovereignty." "you would do well," continued the dutch ambassador, "to use the word 'sovereignty' on all occasions instead of 'liberty.'" the hint was significant and the advice sound. the haughty republic of venice, too, with its "golden book" and its pedigree of a thousand years, looked askance at the republic of yesterday rising like herself out of lagunes and sand banks, and affecting to place herself side by side with emperors, kings, and the lion of st. mark. but the all-accomplished council of that most serene commonwealth had far too much insight and too wide experience in political combinations to make the blunder of yielding to this aristocratic sentiment. the natural enemy of the pope, of spain, of austria, must of necessity be the friend of venice, and it was soon thought highly desirable to intimate half officially that a legation from the states-general to the queen of the adriatic, announcing the conclusion of the twelve years' truce, would be extremely well received. the hint was given by the venetian ambassador at paris to francis aerssens, who instantly recommended van der myle, son-in-law of barneveld, as a proper personage to be entrusted with this important mission. at this moment an open breach had almost occurred between spain and venice, and the spanish ambassador at paris, don pedro de toledo, naturally very irate with holland, venice, and even with france, was vehement in his demonstrations. the arrogant spaniard had for some time been employed in an attempt to negotiate a double marriage between the dauphin and the eldest daughter of philip iii., and between the eldest son of that king and the princess elizabeth of france. an indispensable but secret condition of this negotiation was the absolute renunciation by france of its alliance and friendly relations with the united provinces. the project was in truth a hostile measure aimed directly at the life of the republic. henry held firm however, and don pedro was about to depart malcontent, his mission having totally failed. he chanced, when going to his audience of leave-taking, after the arrival of his successor, don inigo de cardenas, to meet the venetian ambassador, antonio foscarini. an altercation took place between them, during which the spaniard poured out his wrath so vehemently, calling his colleague with neat alliteration "a poltroon, a pantaloon, and a pig," that henry heard him. what signor antonio replied has not been preserved, but it is stated that he was first to seek a reconciliation, not liking, he said, spanish assassinations. meantime the double marriage project was for a season at least suspended, and the alliance between the two republics went forwards. van der myle, appointed ambassador to venice, soon afterwards arrived in paris, where he made a very favourable impression, and was highly lauded by aerssens in his daily correspondence with barneveld. no portentous shadow of future and fatal discord between those statesmen fell upon the cheerful scene. before the year closed, he arrived at his post, and was received with great distinction, despite the obstacles thrown in his way by spain and other powers; the ambassador of france itself, de champigny, having privately urged that he ought to be placed on the same footing with the envoys of savoy and of florence. van der myle at starting committed the trifling fault of styling the states-general "most illustrious" (illustrissimi) instead of "most serene," the title by which venice designated herself. the fault was at once remedied, however, priuli the doge seating the dutch ambassador on his right hand at his solemn reception, and giving directions that van der myle should be addressed as excellency, his post being assigned him directly after his seniors, the ambassadors of pope, emperor, and kings. the same precedence was settled in paris, while aerssens, who did not consider himself placed in a position of greater usefulness by his formal installation as ambassador, received private intimation from henry, with whom he was on terms of great confidence and intimacy, that he should have private access to the king as frequently and as in formally as before. the theory that the ambassador, representing the personality of his sovereign, may visit the monarch to whom he is accredited, without ceremony and at his own convenience, was as rarely carried into practice in the sixteenth century as in the nineteenth, while on the other hand aerssens, as the private and confidential agent of a friendly but not publicly recognized commonwealth, had been for many years in almost daily personal communication with the king. it is also important to note that the modern fallacy according to which republics being impersonal should not be represented by ambassadors had not appeared in that important epoch in diplomatic history. on the contrary, the two great republics of the age, holland and venice, vindicated for themselves, with as much dignity and reason as success, their right to the highest diplomatic honours. the distinction was substantial not shadowy; those haughty commonwealths not considering it advantageous or decorous that their representatives should for want of proper official designations be ranked on great ceremonial occasions with the ministers of petty italian principalities or of the three hundred infinitesimal sovereignties of germany. it was the advice of the french king especially, who knew politics and the world as well as any man, that the envoys of the republic which he befriended and which stood now on the threshold of its official and national existence, should assert themselves at every court with the self-reliance and courtesy becoming the functionaries of a great power. that those ministers were second to the representatives of no other european state in capacity and accomplishment was a fact well known to all who had dealings with them, for the states required in their diplomatic representatives knowledge of history and international law, modern languages, and the classics, as well as familiarity with political customs and social courtesies; the breeding of gentlemen in short, and the accomplishments of scholars. it is both a literary enjoyment and a means of historical and political instruction to read after the lapse of centuries their reports and despatches. they worthily compare as works of art with those diplomatic masterpieces the letters and 'relazioni' of the venetian ambassadors; and it is well known that the earlier and some of the most important treatises on public and international law ever written are from the pens of hollanders, who indeed may be said to have invented that science.' the republic having thus steadily shouldered its way into the family of nations was soon called upon to perform a prominent part in the world's affairs. more than in our own epoch there was a close political commingling of such independent states as held sympathetic views on the great questions agitating europe. the policy of isolation so wisely and successfully carried out by our own trans-atlantic commonwealth was impossible for the dutch republic, born as it was of a great religious schism, and with its narrow territory wedged between the chief political organizations of christendom. moreover the same jealousy on the part of established powers which threw so many obstacles in its path to recognized sovereignty existed in the highest degree between its two sponsors and allies, france and england, in regard to their respective relations to the new state. "if ever there was an obliged people," said henry's secretary of state, villeroy, to aerssens, "then it is you netherlanders to his majesty. he has converted your war into peace, and has never abandoned you. it is for you now to show your affection and gratitude." in the time of elizabeth, and now in that of her successor, there was scarcely a day in which the envoys of the states were not reminded of the immense load of favour from england under which they tottered, and of the greater sincerity and value of english friendship over that of france. sully often spoke to aerssens on the subject in even stronger language, deeming himself the chief protector and guardian angel of the republic, to whom they were bound by ties of eternal gratitude. "but if the states," he said, "should think of caressing the king of england more than him, or even of treating him on an equality with his majesty, henry would be very much affronted. he did not mean that they should neglect the friendship of the king of britain, but that they should cultivate it after and in subordination to his own, for they might be sure that james held all things indifferent, their ruin or their conservation, while his majesty had always manifested the contrary both by his counsels and by the constant furnishing of supplies." henry of france and navarre--soldier, statesman, wit, above all a man and every inch a king--brimful of human vices, foibles, and humours, and endowed with those high qualities of genius which enabled him to mould events and men by his unscrupulous and audacious determination to conform to the spirit of his times which no man better understood than himself, had ever been in such close relations with the netherlands as to seem in some sort their sovereign. james stuart, emerging from the school of buchanan and the atmosphere of calvinism in which he had been bred, now reigned in those more sunny and liberal regions where elizabeth so long had ruled. finding himself at once, after years of theological study, face to face with a foreign commonwealth and a momentous epoch, in which politics were so commingled with divinity as to offer daily the most puzzling problems, the royal pedant hugged himself at beholding so conspicuous a field for his talents. to turn a throne into a pulpit, and amaze mankind with his learning, was an ambition most sweet to gratify. the calvinist of scotland now proclaimed his deadly hatred of puritans in england and holland, and denounced the netherlanders as a pack of rebels whom it always pleased him to irritate, and over whom he too claimed, through the possession of the cautionary towns, a kind of sovereignty. instinctively feeling that in the rough and unlovely husk of puritanism was enclosed the germ of a wider human liberty than then existed, he was determined to give battle to it with his tongue, his pen, with everything but his sword. doubtless the states had received most invaluable assistance from both france and england, but the sovereigns of those countries were too apt to forget that it was their own battles, as well as those of the hollanders, that had been fought in flanders and brabant. but for the alliance and subsidies of the faithful states, henry would not so soon have ascended the throne of his ancestors, while it was matter of history that the spanish government had for years been steadily endeavouring to subjugate england not so much for the value of the conquest in itself as for a stepping-stone to the recovery of the revolted netherlands. for the dividing line of nations or at least of national alliances was a frontier not of language but of faith. germany was but a geographical expression. the union of protestantism, subscribed by a large proportion of its three hundred and seven sovereigns, ran zigzag through the country, a majority probably of the people at that moment being opposed to the roman church. it has often been considered amazing that protestantism having accomplished so much should have fallen backwards so soon, and yielded almost undisputed sway in vast regions to the long dominant church. but in truth there is nothing surprising about it. catholicism was and remained a unit, while its opponents were eventually broken up into hundreds of warring and politically impotent organizations. religious faith became distorted into a weapon for selfish and greedy territorial aggrandizement in the hands of protestant princes. "cujus regio ejus religio" was the taunt hurled in the face of the imploring calvinists of france and the low countries by the arrogant lutherans of germany. such a sword smote the principle of religious freedom and mutual toleration into the dust, and rendered them comparatively weak in the conflict with the ancient and splendidly organized church. the huguenots of france, notwithstanding the protection grudgingly afforded them by their former chieftain, were dejected and discomfited by his apostasy, and henry, placed in a fearfully false position, was an object of suspicion to both friends and foes. in england it is difficult to say whether a jesuit or a puritan was accounted the more noxious animal by the dominant party. in the united provinces perhaps one half the population was either openly or secretly attached to the ancient church, while among the protestant portion a dire and tragic convulsion was about to break forth, which for a time at least was to render remonstrants and contra-remonstrants more fiercely opposed to each other than to papists. the doctrine of predestination in its sternest and strictest sense had long been the prevailing one in the reformed church of the revolted netherlands, as in those of scotland, france, geneva, and the palatinate. no doubt up to the period of the truce a majority had acquiesced in that dogma and its results, although there had always been many preachers to advocate publicly a milder creed. it was not until the appointment of jacob arminius to the professorship of theology at leyden, in the place of francis junius, in the year , that a danger of schism in the church, seemed impending. then rose the great gomarus in his wrath, and with all the powers of splendid eloquence, profound learning, and the intense bigotry of conviction, denounced the horrible heresy. conferences between the two before the court of holland, theological tournaments between six champions on a side, gallantly led by their respective chieftains, followed, with the usual result of confirming both parties in the conviction that to each alone belonged exclusively the truth. the original influence of arminius had however been so great that when the preachers of holland had been severally called on by a synod to sign the heidelberg catechism, many of them refused. here was open heresy and revolt. it was time for the true church to vindicate its authority. the great war with spain had been made, so it was urged and honestly believed, not against the inquisition, not to prevent netherlanders from being burned and buried alive by the old true church, not in defence of ancient charters, constitutions, and privileges--the precious result of centuries of popular resistance to despotic force--not to maintain an amount of civil liberty and local self-government larger in extent than any then existing in the world, not to assert equality of religion for all men, but simply to establish the true religion, the one church, the only possible creed; the creed and church of calvin. it is perfectly certain that the living fire which glowed in the veins of those hot gospellers had added intense enthusiasm to the war spirit throughout that immense struggle. it is quite possible that without that enthusiasm the war might not have been carried on to its successful end. but it is equally certain that catholics, lutherans, baptists, and devotees of many other creeds, had taken part in the conflict in defence both of hearth and altar, and that without that aid the independence of the provinces would never have been secured. yet before the war was ended the arrogance of the reformed priesthood had begun to dig a chasm. men who with william the silent and barneveld had indulged in the vision of religious equality as a possible result of so much fighting against the holy inquisition were perhaps to be disappointed. preachers under the influence of the gentle arminius having dared to refuse signing the creed were to be dealt with. it was time to pass from censure to action. heresy must be trampled down. the churches called for a national synod, and they did this as by divine right. "my lords the states-general must observe," they said, "that this assembly now demanded is not a human institution but an ordinance of the holy ghost in its community, not depending upon any man's authority, but proceeding from god to the community." they complained that the true church was allowed to act only through the civil government, and was thus placed at a disadvantage compared even with catholics and other sects, whose proceedings were winked at. "thus the true church suffered from its apparent and public freedom, and hostile sects gained by secret connivance." a crisis was fast approaching. the one church claimed infallibility and superiority to the civil power. the holy ghost was placed in direct, ostentatious opposition to my lords the states-general. it was for netherlanders to decide whether, after having shaken off the holy inquisition, and subjected the old true church to the public authority, they were now to submit to the imperious claims of the new true church. there were hundreds of links connecting the church with the state. in that day a divorce between the two was hardly possible or conceivable. the system of congregationalism so successfully put into practice soon afterwards in the wilderness of new england, and to which so much of american freedom political as well as religious is due, was not easy to adopt in an old country like the netherlands. splendid churches and cathedrals, the legal possession of which would be contended for by rival sects, could scarcely be replaced by temporary structures of lath and plaster, or by humble back parlours of mechanics' shops. there were questions of property of complicated nature. not only the states and the communities claimed in rivalry the ownership of church property, but many private families could show ancient advowsons and other claims to present or to patronize, derived from imperial or ducal charters. so long as there could be liberty of opinion within the church upon points not necessarily vital, open schism could be avoided, by which the cause of protestantism throughout europe must be weakened, while at the same time subordination of the priesthood to the civil authority would be maintained. but if the holy ghost, through the assembled clergy, were to dictate an iron formulary to which all must conform, to make laws for church government which every citizen must obey, and to appoint preachers and school-masters from whom alone old and young could receive illumination and instruction religious or lay, a theocracy would be established which no enlightened statesman could tolerate. the states-general agreed to the synod, but imposed a condition that there should be a revision of creed and catechism. this was thundered down with one blast. the condition implied a possibility that the vile heresy of arminius might be correct. an unconditional synod was demanded. the heidelberg creed and netherland catechism were sacred, infallible, not to be touched. the answer of the government, through the mouth of barneveld, was that "to my lords the states-general as the foster-fathers and protectors of the churches every right belonged." thus far the states-general under the leadership of the advocate were unanimous. the victory remained with state against church. but very soon after the truce had been established, and men had liberty to devote themselves to peaceful pursuits, the ecclesiastical trumpet again sounded far and wide, and contending priests and laymen rushed madly to the fray. the remonstrance and contra-remonstrance, and the appointment of conrad vorstius, a more abominable heretic than arminius, to the vacant chair of arminius--a step which drove gomarus and the gomarites to frenzy, although gomarus and vorstius remained private and intimate friends to the last--are matters briefly to be mentioned on a later page. thus to the four chief actors in the politico-religious drama, soon to be enacted as an interlude to an eighty years' war, were assigned parts at first sight inconsistent with their private convictions. the king of france, who had often abjured his religion, and was now the best of catholics, was denounced ferociously in every catholic pulpit in christendom as secretly an apostate again, and the open protector of heretics and rebels. but the cheerful henry troubled himself less than he perhaps had cause to do with these thunderblasts. besides, as we shall soon see, he had other objects political and personal to sway his opinions. james the ex-calvinist, crypto-arminian, pseudo-papist, and avowed puritan hater, was girding on his armour to annihilate arminians and to defend and protect puritans in holland, while swearing that in england he would pepper them and harry them and hang them and that he would even like to bury them alive. barneveld, who turned his eyes, as much as in such an inflammatory age it was possible, from subtle points of theology, and relied on his great- grandfather's motto of humility, "nil scire tutissima fides" was perhaps nearer to the dogma of the dominant reformed church than he knew, although always the consistent and strenuous champion of the civil authority over church as well as state. maurice was no theologian. he was a steady churchgoer, and his favorite divine, the preacher at his court chapel, was none other than uytenbogaert. the very man who was instantly to be the champion of the arminians, the author of the remonstrance, the counsellor and comrade of barneveld and grotius, was now sneered at by the gomarites as the "court trumpeter." the preacher was not destined to change his opinions. perhaps the prince might alter. but maurice then paid no heed to the great point at issue, about which all the netherlanders were to take each other by the throat--absolute predestination. he knew that the advocate had refused to listen to his stepmother's suggestion as to his obtaining the sovereignty. "he knew nothing of predestination," he was wont to say, "whether it was green or whether it was blue. he only knew that his pipe and the advocate's were not likely to make music together." this much of predestination he did know, that if the advocate and his friends were to come to open conflict with the prince of orange-nassau, the conqueror of nieuwpoort, it was predestined to go hard with the advocate and his friends. the theological quibble did not interest him much, and he was apt to blunder about it. "well, preacher," said he one day to albert huttenus, who had come to him to intercede for a deserter condemned to be hanged, "are you one of those arminians who believe that one child is born to salvation and another to damnation?" huttenus, amazed to the utmost at the extraordinary question, replied, "your excellency will be graciously pleased to observe that this is not the opinion of those whom one calls by the hateful name of arminians, but the opinion of their adversaries." "well, preacher," rejoined maurice, "don't you think i know better?" and turning to count lewis william, stadholder of friesland, who was present, standing by the hearth with his hand on a copper ring of the chimneypiece, he cried, "which is right, cousin, the preacher or i?" "no, cousin," answered count lewis, "you are in the wrong." thus to the catholic league organized throughout europe in solid and consistent phalanx was opposed the great protestant union, ardent and enthusiastic in detail, but undisciplined, disobedient, and inharmonious as a whole. the great principle, not of religious toleration, which is a phrase of insult, but of religious equality, which is the natural right of mankind, was to be evolved after a lapse of, additional centuries out of the elemental conflict which had already lasted so long. still later was the total divorce of state and church to be achieved as the final consummation of the great revolution. meantime it was almost inevitable that the privileged and richly endowed church, with ecclesiastical armies and arsenals vastly superior to anything which its antagonist could improvise, should more than hold its own. at the outset of the epoch which now occupies our attention, europe was in a state of exhaustion and longing for repose. spain had submitted to the humiliation of a treaty of truce with its rebellious subjects which was substantially a recognition of their independence. nothing could be more deplorable than the internal condition of the country which claimed to be mistress of the world and still aspired to universal monarchy. it had made peace because it could no longer furnish funds for the war. the french ambassador, barante, returning from madrid, informed his sovereign that he had often seen officers in the army prostrating themselves on their knees in the streets before their sovereign as he went to mass, and imploring him for payment of their salaries, or at least an alms to keep them from starving, and always imploring in vain. the king, who was less than a cipher, had neither capacity to feel emotion, nor intelligence to comprehend the most insignificant affair of state. moreover the means were wanting to him even had he been disposed to grant assistance. the terrible duke of lerma was still his inexorably lord and master, and the secretary of that powerful personage, who kept an open shop for the sale of offices of state both high and low, took care that all the proceeds should flow into the coffers of the duke and his own lap instead of the royal exchequer. in france both king and people declared themselves disgusted with war. sully disapproved of the treaty just concluded between spain and the netherlands, feeling sure that the captious and equivocal clauses contained in it would be interpreted to the disadvantage of the republic and of the reformed religion whenever spain felt herself strong enough to make the attempt. he was especially anxious that the states should make no concessions in regard to the exercise of the catholic worship within their territory, believing that by so doing they would compromise their political independence besides endangering the cause of protestantism everywhere. a great pressure was put upon sully that moment by the king to change his religion. "you will all be inevitably ruined if you make concessions in this regard," said he to aerssens. "take example by me. i should be utterly undone if i had listened to any overture on this subject." nevertheless it was the opinion of the astute and caustic envoy that the duke would be forced to yield at last. the pope was making great efforts to gain him, and thus to bring about the extirpation of protestantism in france. and the king, at that time much under the influence of the jesuits, had almost set his heart on the conversion. aerssens insinuated that sully was dreading a minute examination into the affairs of his administration of the finances--a groundless calumny--and would be thus forced to comply. other enemies suggested that nothing would effect this much desired apostasy but the office of constable of france, which it was certain would never be bestowed on him. at any rate it was very certain that henry at this period was bent on peace. "make your account," said aerssens to barneveld, as the time for signing the truce drew nigh, "on this indubitable foundation that the king is determined against war, whatever pretences he may make. his bellicose demeanour has been assumed only to help forward our treaty, which he would never have favoured, and ought never to have favoured, if he had not been too much in love with peace. this is a very important secret if we manage it discreetly, and a very dangerous one if our enemies discover it." sully would have much preferred that the states should stand out for a peace rather than for a truce, and believed it might have been obtained if the king had not begun the matter so feebly, and if he had let it be understood that he would join his arms to those of the provinces in case of rupture. he warned the states very strenuously that the pope, and the king of spain, and a host of enemies open and covert, were doing their host to injure them at the french court. they would find little hindrance in this course if the republic did not show its teeth, and especially if it did not stiffly oppose all encroachments of the roman religion, without even showing any deference to the king in this regard, who was much importuned on the subject. he advised the states to improve the interval of truce by restoring order to their finances and so arranging their affairs that on the resumption of hostilities, if come they must, their friends might be encouraged to help them, by the exhibition of thorough vigour on their part. france then, although utterly indisposed for war at that moment, was thoroughly to be relied on as a friend and in case of need an ally, so long as it was governed by its present policy. there was but one king left in europe since the death of elizabeth of england. but henry was now on the abhorred threshold of old age which he obstinately refused to cross. there is something almost pathetic, in spite of the censure which much of his private life at this period provokes, in the isolation which now seemed his lot. deceived and hated by his wife and his mistresses, who were conspiring with each other and with his ministers, not only against his policy but against his life; with a vile italian adventurer, dishonouring his household, entirely dominating the queen, counteracting the royal measures, secretly corresponding, by assumed authority, with spain, in direct violation of the king's instructions to his ambassadors, and gorging himself with wealth and offices at the expense of everything respectable in france; surrounded by a pack of malignant and greedy nobles, who begrudged him his fame, his authority, his independence; without a home, and almost without a friend, the most christian king in these latter days led hardly as merry a life as when fighting years long for his crown, at the head of his gascon chivalry, the beloved chieftain of huguenots. of the triumvirate then constituting his council, villeroy, sillery, and sully, the two first were ancient leaguers, and more devoted at heart to philip of spain than to henry of france and navarre. both silent, laborious, plodding, plotting functionaries, thriftily gathering riches; skilled in routine and adepts at intrigue; steady self- seekers, and faithful to office in which their lives had passed, they might be relied on at any emergency to take part against their master, if to ruin would prove more profitable than to serve him. there was one man who was truer to henry than henry had been to himself. the haughty, defiant, austere grandee, brave soldier, sagacious statesman, thrifty financier, against whom the poisoned arrows of religious hatred, envious ambition, and petty court intrigue were daily directed, who watched grimly over the exchequer confided to him, which was daily growing fuller in despite of the cormorants who trembled at his frown; hard worker, good hater, conscientious politician, who filled his own coffers without dishonesty, and those of the state without tyranny; unsociable, arrogant; pious, very avaricious, and inordinately vain, maximilian de bethune, duke of sully, loved and respected henry as no man or woman loved and respected him. in truth, there was but one living being for whom the duke had greater reverence and affection than for the king, and that was the duke of sully himself. at this moment he considered himself, as indeed he was, in full possession of his sovereign's confidence. but he was alone in this conviction. those about the court, men like epernon and his creatures, believed the great financier on the brink of perdition. henry, always the loosest of talkers even in regard to his best friends, had declared, on some temporary vexation in regard to the affair between aiguillon and balagny, that he would deal with the duke as with the late marshal de biron, and make him smaller than he had ever made him great: goading him on this occasion with importunities, almost amounting to commands, that both he and his son should forthwith change their religion or expect instant ruin. the blow was so severe that sully shut himself up, refused to see anyone, and talked of retiring for good to his estates. but he knew, and henry knew, how indispensable he was, and the anger of the master was as shortlived as the despair of the minister. there was no living statesman for whom henry had a more sincere respect than for the advocate of holland. "his majesty admires and greatly extols your wisdom, which he judges necessary for the preservation of our state; deeming you one of the rare and sage counsellors of the age." it is true that this admiration was in part attributed to the singular coincidence of barneveld's views of policy with the king's own. sully, on his part, was a severe critic of that policy. he believed that better terms might have been exacted from spain in the late negotiations, and strongly objected to the cavilling and equivocal language of the treaty. rude in pen as in speech, he expressed his mind very freely in his conversation and correspondence with henry in regard to leading personages and great affairs, and made no secret of his opinions to the states' ambassador. he showed his letters in which he had informed the king that he ought never to have sanctioned the truce without better securities than existed, and that the states would never have moved in any matter without him. it would have been better to throw himself into a severe war than to see the republic perish. he further expressed the conviction that henry ought to have such authority over the netherlands that they would embrace blindly whatever counsel he chose to give them, even if they saw in it their inevitable ruin; and this not so much from remembrance of assistance rendered by him, but from the necessity in which they should always feel of depending totally upon him. "you may judge, therefore," concluded aerssens, "as to how much we can build on such foundations as these. i have been amazed at these frank communications, for in those letters he spares neither my lords the states, nor his excellency prince maurice, nor yourself; giving his judgment of each of you with far too much freedom and without sufficient knowledge." thus the alliance between the netherlands and france, notwithstanding occasional traces of caprice and flaws of personal jealousy, was on the whole sincere, for it was founded on the surest foundation of international friendship, the self-interest of each. henry, although boasting of having bought paris with a mass, knew as well as his worst enemy that in that bargain he had never purchased the confidence of the ancient church, on whose bosom he had flung himself with so much dramatic pomp. his noble position, as champion of religious toleration, was not only unappreciated in an age in which each church and every sect arrogated to itself a monopoly of the truth, but it was one in which he did not himself sincerely believe. after all, he was still the chieftain of the protestant union, and, although eldest son of the church, was the bitter antagonist of the league and the sworn foe to the house of austria. he was walking through pitfalls with a crowd of invisible but relentless foes dogging his every footstep. in his household or without were daily visions of dagger and bowl, and he felt himself marching to his doom. how could the man on whom the heretic and rebellious hollanders and the protestant princes of germany relied as on their saviour escape the unutterable wrath and the patient vengeance of a power that never forgave? in england the jealousy of the republic and of france as co-guardian and protector of the republic was even greater than in france. though placed by circumstances in the position of ally to the netherlands and enemy to spain, james hated the netherlands and adored spain. his first thought on escaping the general destruction to which the gunpowder plot was to have involved himself and family and all the principal personages of the realm seems to have been to exculpate spain from participation in the crime. his next was to deliver a sermon to parliament, exonerating the catholics and going out of his way to stigmatize the puritans as entertaining doctrines which should be punished with fire. as the puritans had certainly not been accused of complicity with guy fawkes or garnet, this portion of the discourse was at least superfluous. but james loathed nothing so much as a puritan. a catholic at heart, be would have been the warmest ally of the league had he only been permitted to be pope of great britain. he hated and feared a jesuit, not for his religious doctrines, for with these he sympathized, but for his political creed. he liked not that either roman pontiff or british presbyterian should abridge his heaven-born prerogative. the doctrine of papal superiority to temporal sovereigns was as odious to him as puritan rebellion to the hierarchy of which he was the chief. moreover, in his hostility to both papists and presbyterians, there was much of professional rivalry. having been deprived by the accident of birth of his true position as theological professor, he lost no opportunity of turning his throne into a pulpit and his sceptre into a controversial pen. henry of france, who rarely concealed his contempt for master jacques, as he called him, said to the english ambassador, on receiving from him one of the king's books, and being asked what he thought of it--"it is not the business of us kings to write, but to fight. everybody should mind his own business, but it is the vice of most men to wish to appear learned in matters of which they are ignorant." the flatterers of james found their account in pandering to his sacerdotal and royal vanity. "i have always believed," said the lord chancellor, after hearing the king argue with and browbeat a presbyterian deputation, "that the high-priesthood and royalty ought to be united, but i never witnessed the actual junction till now, after hearing the learned discourse of your majesty." archbishop whitgift, grovelling still lower, declared his conviction that james, in the observations he had deigned to make, had been directly inspired by the holy ghost. nothing could be more illogical and incoherent with each other than his theological and political opinions. he imagined himself a defender of the protestant faith, while hating holland and fawning on the house of austria. in england he favoured arminianism, because the anglican church recognized for its head the temporal chief of the state. in holland he vehemently denounced the arminians, indecently persecuting their preachers and statesmen, who were contending for exactly the same principle--the supremacy of state over church. he sentenced bartholomew legate to be burned alive in smithfield as a blasphemous heretic, and did his best to compel the states of holland to take the life of professor vorstius of leyden. he persecuted the presbyterians in england as furiously as he defended them in holland. he drove bradford and carver into the new england wilderness, and applauded gomarus and walaeus and the other famous leaders of the presbyterian party in the netherlands with all his soul and strength. he united with the french king in negotiations for netherland independence, while denouncing the provinces as guilty of criminal rebellion against their lawful sovereign. "he pretends," said jeannin, "to assist in bringing about the peace, and nevertheless does his best openly to prevent it." richardot declared that the firmness of the king of spain proceeded entirely from reliance on the promise of james that there should be no acknowledgment in the treaty of the liberty of the states. henry wrote to jeannin that he knew very well "what that was capable of, but that he should not be kept awake by anything he could do." as a king he spent his reign--so much of it as could be spared from gourmandizing, drunkenness, dalliance with handsome minions of his own sex, and theological pursuits--in rescuing the crown from dependence on parliament; in straining to the utmost the royal prerogative; in substituting proclamations for statutes; in doing everything in his power, in short, to smooth the path for his successor to the scaffold. as father of a family he consecrated many years of his life to the wondrous delusion of the spanish marriages. the gunpowder plot seemed to have inspired him with an insane desire for that alliance, and few things in history are more amazing than the persistency with which he pursued the scheme, until the pursuit became not only ridiculous, but impossible. with such a man, frivolous, pedantic, conceited, and licentious, the earnest statesmen of holland were forced into close alliance. it is pathetic to see men like barneveld and hugo grotius obliged, on great occasions of state, to use the language of respect and affection to one by whom they were hated, and whom they thoroughly despised. but turning away from france, it was in vain for them to look for kings or men either among friends or foes. in germany religious dissensions were gradually ripening into open war, and it would be difficult to imagine a more hopelessly incompetent ruler than the man who was nominally chief of the holy roman realm. yet the distracted rudolph was quite as much an emperor as the chaos over which he was supposed to preside was an empire. perhaps the very worst polity ever devised by human perverseness was the system under which the great german race was then writhing and groaning. a mad world with a lunatic to govern it; a democracy of many princes, little and big, fighting amongst each other, and falling into daily changing combinations as some masterly or mischievous hand whirled the kaleidoscope; drinking rhenish by hogsheads, and beer by the tun; robbing churches, dictating creeds to their subjects, and breaking all the commandments themselves; a people at the bottom dimly striving towards religious freedom and political life out of abject social, ecclesiastical, and political serfdom, and perhaps even then dumbly feeling within its veins, with that prophetic instinct which never abandons great races, a far distant and magnificent future of national unity and imperial splendour, the very reverse of the confusion which was then the hideous present; an imperial family at top with many heads and slender brains; a band of brothers and cousins wrangling, intriguing, tripping up each others' heels, and unlucky rudolph, in his hradschin, looking out of window over the peerless prague, spread out in its beauteous landscape of hill and dale, darkling forest, dizzy cliffs, and rushing river, at his feet, feebly cursing the unhappy city for its ingratitude to an invisible and impotent sovereign; his excellent brother matthias meanwhile marauding through the realms and taking one crown after another from his poor bald head. it would be difficult to depict anything more precisely what an emperor in those portentous times should not be. he collected works of art of many kinds--pictures, statues, gems. he passed his days in his galleries contemplating in solitary grandeur these treasures, or in his stables, admiring a numerous stud of horses which he never drove or rode. ambassadors and ministers of state disguised themselves as grooms and stable-boys to obtain accidental glimpses of a sovereign who rarely granted audiences. his nights were passed in star-gazing with tycho de brake, or with that illustrious suabian whose name is one of the great lights and treasures of the world. but it was not to study the laws of planetary motion nor to fathom mysteries of divine harmony that the monarch stood with kepler in the observatory. the influence of countless worlds upon the destiny of one who, by capricious accident, if accident ever exists in history, had been entrusted with the destiny of so large a portion of one little world; the horoscope, not of the universe, but of himself; such were the limited purposes with which the kaiser looked upon the constellations. for the catholic rudolph had received the protestant kepler, driven from tubingen because lutheran doctors, knowing from holy writ that the sun had stood still in ajalon, had denounced his theory of planetary motion. his mother had just escaped being burned as a witch, and the world owes a debt of gratitude to the emperor for protecting the astrologer, when enlightened theologians might, perhaps, have hanged the astronomer. a red-faced, heavy fowled, bald-headed, somewhat goggle-eyed old gentleman, rudolph did his best to lead the life of a hermit, and escape the cares of royalty. timid by temperament, yet liable to fits of uncontrollable anger, he broke his furniture to pieces when irritated, and threw dishes that displeased him in his butler's face, but left affairs of state mainly to his valet, who earned many a penny by selling the imperial signature. he had just signed the famous "majestatsbrief," by which he granted vast privileges to the protestants of bohemia, and had bitten the pen to pieces in a paroxysm of anger, after dimly comprehending the extent of the concessions which he had made. there were hundreds of sovereign states over all of which floated the shadowy and impalpable authority of an imperial crown scarcely fixed on the head of any one of the rival brethren and cousins; there was a confederation of protestants, with the keen-sighted and ambitious christian of anhalt acting as its chief, and dreaming of the bohemian crown; there was the just-born catholic league, with the calm, far- seeing, and egotistical rather than self-seeking maximilian at its head; each combination extending over the whole country, stamped with imbecility of action from its birth, and perverted and hampered by inevitable jealousies. in addition to all these furrows ploughed by the very genius of discord throughout the unhappy land was the wild and secret intrigue with which leopold, archduke and bishop, dreaming also of the crown of wenzel, was about to tear its surface as deeply as he dared. thus constituted were the leading powers of europe in the earlier part of --the year in which a peaceful period seemed to have begun. to those who saw the entangled interests of individuals, and the conflict of theological dogmas and religious and political intrigue which furnished so much material out of which wide-reaching schemes of personal ambition could be spun, it must have been obvious that the interval of truce was necessarily but a brief interlude between two tragedies. it seemed the very mockery of fate that, almost at the very instant when after two years' painful negotiation a truce had been made, the signal for universal discord should be sounded. one day in the early summer of , henry iv. came to the royal arsenal, the residence of sully, accompanied by zamet and another of his intimate companions. he asked for the duke and was told that he was busy in his study. "of course," said the king, turning to his followers, "i dare say you expected to be told that he was out shooting, or with the ladies, or at the barber's. but who works like sully? tell him," he said, "to come to the balcony in his garden, where he and i are not accustomed to be silent." as soon as sully appeared, the king observed: "well; here the duke of cleve is dead, and has left everybody his heir." it was true enough, and the inheritance was of vital importance to the world. it was an apple of discord thrown directly between the two rival camps into which christendom was divided. the duchies of cleve, berg, and julich, and the counties and lordships of mark, ravensberg, and ravenstein, formed a triangle, political and geographical, closely wedged between catholicism and protestantism, and between france, the united provinces, belgium, and germany. should it fall into catholic hands, the netherlands were lost, trampled upon in every corner, hedged in on all sides, with the house of austria governing the rhine, the meuse, and the scheldt. it was vital to them to exclude the empire from the great historic river which seemed destined to form the perpetual frontier of jealous powers and rival creeds. should it fall into heretic hands, the states were vastly strengthened, the archduke albert isolated and cut off from the protection of spain and of the empire. france, although catholic, was the ally of holland and the secret but well known enemy of the house of austria. it was inevitable that the king of that country, the only living statesman that wore a crown, should be appealed to by all parties and should find himself in the proud but dangerous position of arbiter of europe. in this emergency he relied upon himself and on two men besides, maximilian de bethune and john of barneveld. the conference between the king and sully and between both and francis aerssens, ambassador of the states, were of almost daily occurrence. the minute details given in the adroit diplomatist's correspondence indicate at every stage the extreme deference paid by henry to the opinion of holland's advocate and the confidence reposed by him in the resources and the courage of the republic. all the world was claiming the heritage of the duchies. it was only strange that an event which could not be long deferred and the consequences of which were soon to be so grave, the death of the duke of cleve, should at last burst like a bomb-shell on the council tables of the sovereigns and statesmen of europe. that mischievous madman john william died childless in the spring of . his sister sibylla, an ancient and malignant spinster, had governed him and his possessions except in his lucid intervals. the mass of the population over which he ruled being protestant, while the reigning family and the chief nobles were of the ancient faith, it was natural that the catholic party under, the lead of maximilian of bavaria should deem it all-important that there should be direct issue to that family. otherwise the inheritance on his death would probably pass to protestant princes. the first wife provided for him was a beautiful princess; jacobea of baden. the pope blessed the nuptials, and sent the bride a golden rose, but the union was sterile and unhappy. the duke, who was in the habit of careering through his palace in full armour, slashing at and wounding anyone that came in his way, was at last locked up. the hapless jacobea, accused by sibylla of witchcraft and other crimes possible and impossible, was thrown into prison. two years long the devilish malignity of the sister-in-law was exercised upon her victim, who, as it is related, was not allowed natural sleep during all that period, being at every hour awakened by command of sibylla. at last the duchess was strangled in prison. a new wife was at once provided for the lunatic, antonia of lorraine. the two remained childless, and sibylla at the age of forty-nine took to herself a husband, the margrave of burgau, of the house of austria, the humble birth of whose mother, however, did not allow him the rank of archduke. her efforts thus to provide catholic heirs to the rich domains of clove proved as fruitless as her previous attempts. and now duke john william had died, and the representatives of his three dead sisters, and the living sibylla were left to fight for the duchies. it would be both cruel and superfluous to inflict on the reader a historical statement of the manner in which these six small provinces were to be united into a single state. it would be an equally sterile task to retrace the legal arguments by which the various parties prepared themselves to vindicate their claims, each pretender more triumphantly than the other. the naked facts alone retain vital interest, and of these facts the prominent one was the assertion of the emperor that the duchies, constituting a fief masculine, could descend to none of the pretenders, but were at his disposal as sovereign of germany. on the other hand nearly all the important princes of that country sent their agents into the duchies to look after the interests real or imaginary which they claimed, there were but four candidates who in reality could be considered serious ones. mary eleanor, eldest sister of the duke, had been married in the lifetime of their father to albert frederic of brandenburg, duke of prussia. to the children of this marriage was reserved the succession of the whole property in case of the masculine line becoming extinct. two years afterwards the second sister, anne, was married to duke philip lewis, count-palatine of neuburg; the children of which marriage stood next in succession to those of the eldest sister, should that become extinguished. four years later the third sister, magdalen, espoused the duke john, count-palatine of deux-ponts; who, like neuburg, made resignation of rights of succession in favour of the descendants of the brandenburg marriage. the marriage of the youngest sister, sibylla, with the margrave of burgau has been already mentioned. it does not appear that her brother, whose lunatic condition hardly permitted him to assure her the dowry which had been the price of renunciation in the case of her three elder sisters, had obtained that renunciation from her. the claims of the childless sibylla as well as those of the deux-ponts branch were not destined to be taken into serious consideration. the real competitors were the emperor on the one side and the elector of brandenburg and the count-palatine of neuburg on the other. it is not necessary to my purpose to say a single word as to the legal and historical rights of the controversy. volumes upon volumes of forgotten lore might be consulted, and they would afford exactly as much refreshing nutriment as would the heaps of erudition hardly ten years old, and yet as antiquated as the title-deeds of the pharaohs, concerning the claims to the duchies of schleswig-holstein. the fortunate house of brandenburg may have been right or wrong in both disputes. it is certain that it did not lack a more potent factor in settling the political problems of the world in the one case any more than in the other. but on the occasion with which we are occupied it was not on the might of his own right hand that the elector of brandenburg relied. moreover, he was dilatory in appealing to the two great powers on whose friendship he must depend for the establishment of his claims: the united republic and the king of france. james of england was on the whole inclined to believe in the rights of brandenburg. his ambassador, however, with more prophetic vision than perhaps the king ever dreamt--of, expressed a fear lest brandenburg should grow too great and one day come to the imperial crown. the states openly favoured the elector. henry as at first disposed towards neuburg, but at his request barneveld furnished a paper on the subject, by which the king seems to have been entirely converted to the pretensions of brandenburg. but the solution of the question had but little to do with the legal claim of any man. it was instinctively felt throughout christendom that the great duel between the ancient church and the spirit of the reformation was now to be renewed upon that narrow, debateable spot. the emperor at once proclaimed his right to arbitrate on the succession and to hold the territory until decision should be made; that is to say, till the greek kalends. his familiar and most tricksy spirit, bishop- archduke leopold, played at once on his fears and his resentments, against the ever encroaching, ever menacing, protestantism of germany, with which he had just sealed a compact so bitterly detested. that bold and bustling prelate, brother of the queen of spain and of ferdinand of styria, took post from prague in the middle of july. accompanied by a certain canon of the church and disguised as his servant, he arrived after a rapid journey before the gates of julich, chief city and fortress of the duchies. the governor of the place, nestelraed, inclined like most of the functionaries throughout the duchies to the catholic cause, was delighted to recognize under the livery of the lackey the cousin and representative of the emperor. leopold, who had brought but five men with him, had conquered his capital at a blow. for while thus comfortably established as temporary governor of the duchies he designed through the fears or folly of rudolph to become their sovereign lord. strengthened by such an acquisition and reckoning on continued assistance in men and money from spain and the catholic league, he meant to sweep back to the rescue of the perishing rudolph, smite the protestants of bohemia, and achieve his appointment to the crown of that kingdom. the spanish ambassador at prague had furnished him with a handsome sum of money for the expenses of his journey and preliminary enterprise. it should go hard but funds should be forthcoming to support him throughout this audacious scheme. the champion of the church, the sovereign prince of important provinces, the possession of which ensured conclusive triumph to the house of austria and to rome--who should oppose him in his path to empire? certainly not the moody rudolph, the slippery and unstable matthias, the fanatic and jesuit-ridden ferdinand. "leopold in julich," said henry's agent in germany, "is a ferret in a rabbit warren." but early in the spring and before the arrival of leopold, the two pretenders, john sigismund, elector of brandenburg, and philip lewis, palatine of neuburg, had made an arrangement. by the earnest advice of barneveld in the name of the states-general and as the result of a general council of many protestant princes of germany, it had been settled that those two should together provisionally hold and administer the duchies until the principal affair could be amicably settled. the possessory princes were accordingly established in dusseldorf with the consent of the provincial estates, in which place those bodies were wont to assemble. here then was spain in the person of leopold quietly perched in the chief citadel of the country, while protestantism in the shape of the possessory princes stood menacingly in the capital. hardly was the ink dry on the treaty which had suspended for twelve years the great religious war of forty years, not yet had the ratifications been exchanged, but the trumpet was again sounding, and the hostile forces were once more face to face. leopold, knowing where his great danger lay, sent a friendly message to the states-general, expressing the hope that they would submit to his arrangements until the imperial decision should be made. the states, through the pen and brain of barneveld, replied that they had already recognized the rights of the possessory princes, and were surprised that the bishop-archduke should oppose them. they expressed the hope that, when better informed, he would see the validity of the treaty of dortmund. "my lords the states-general," said the advocate, "will protect the princes against violence and actual disturbances, and are assured that the neighbouring kings and princes will do the same. they trust that his imperial highness will not allow matters, to proceed to extremities." this was language not to be mistaken. it was plain that the republic did not intend the emperor to decide a question of life and death to herself, nor to permit spain, exhausted by warfare, to achieve this annihilating triumph by a petty intrigue. while in reality the clue to what seemed to the outside world a labyrinthine maze of tangled interests and passions was firmly held in the hand of barneveld, it was not to him nor to my lords the states- general that the various parties to the impending conflict applied in the first resort. mankind were not yet sufficiently used to this young republic, intruding herself among the family of kings, to defer at once to an authority which they could not but feel. moreover, henry of france was universally looked to both by friends and foes as the probable arbiter or chief champion in the great debate. he had originally been inclined to favour neuberg, chiefly, so aerssens thought, on account of his political weakness. the states-general on the other hand were firmly disposed for brandenburg from the first, not only as a strenuous supporter of the reformation and an ancient ally of their own always interested in their safety, but because the establishment of the elector on the rhine would roll back the empire beyond that river. as aerssens expressed it, they would have the empire for a frontier, and have no longer reason to fear the rhine. the king, after the representations of the states, saw good ground to change his opinion and; becoming convinced that the palatine had long been coquetting with the austrian party, soon made no secret of his preference for brandenburg. subsequently neuburg and brandenburg fell into a violent quarrel notwithstanding an arrangement that the palatine should marry the daughter of the elector. in the heat of discussion brandenburg on one occasion is said to have given his intended son-in-law a box on the ear! an argument 'ad hominem' which seems to have had the effect of sending the palatine into the bosom of the ancient church and causing him to rely thenceforth upon the assistance of the league. meantime, however, the condominium settled by the treaty of dortmund continued in force; the third brother of brandenburg and the eldest son of neuburg sharing possession and authority at dusseldorf until a final decision could be made. a flock of diplomatists, professional or volunteers, openly accredited or secret, were now flying busily about through the troubled atmosphere, indicating the coming storm in which they revelled. the keen-sighted, subtle, but dangerously intriguing ambassador of the republic, francis aerssens, had his hundred eyes at all the keyholes in paris, that centre of ceaseless combination and conspiracy, and was besides in almost daily confidential intercourse with the king. most patiently and minutely he kept the advocate informed, almost from hour to hour, of every web that was spun, every conversation public or whispered in which important affairs were treated anywhere and by anybody. he was all-sufficient as a spy and intelligencer, although not entirely trustworthy as a counsellor. still no man on the whole could scan the present or forecast the future more accurately than he was able to do from his advantageous position and his long experience of affairs. there was much general jealousy between the states and the despotic king, who loved to be called the father of the republic and to treat the hollanders as his deeply obliged and very ungrateful and miserly little children. the india trade was a sore subject, henry having throughout the negotiations sought to force or wheedle the states into renouncing that commerce at the command of spain, because he wished to help himself to it afterwards, and being now in the habit of secretly receiving isaac le maire and other dutch leaders in that lucrative monopoly, who lay disguised in paris and in the house of zamet--but not concealed from aerssens, who pledged himself to break, the neck of their enterprise--and were planning with the king a french east india company in opposition to that of the netherlands. on the whole, however, despite these commercial intrigues which barneveld through the aid of aerssens was enabled to baffle, there was much cordiality and honest friendship between the two countries. henry, far from concealing his political affection for the republic, was desirous of receiving a special embassy of congratulation and gratitude from the states on conclusion of the truce; not being satisfied with the warm expressions of respect and attachment conveyed through the ordinary diplomatic channel. "he wishes," wrote aerssens to the advocate, "a public demonstration--in order to show on a theatre to all christendom the regard and deference of my lords the states for his majesty." the ambassador suggested that cornelis van der myle, son-in-law of barneveld, soon to be named first envoy for holland to the venetian republic, might be selected as chief of such special embassy. "without the instructions you gave me," wrote aerssens, "neuburg might have gained his cause in this court. brandenburg is doing himself much injury by not soliciting the king." "much deference will be paid to your judgment," added the envoy, "if you see fit to send it to his majesty." meantime, although the agent of neuburg was busily dinning in henry's ears the claims of the palatine, and even urging old promises which, as he pretended, had been made, thanks to barneveld, he took little by his importunity, notwithstanding that in the opinion both of barneveld and villeroy his claim 'stricti-juris' was the best. but it was policy and religious interests, not the strict letter of the law, that were likely to prevail. henry, while loudly asserting that he would oppose any usurpation on the part of the emperor or any one else against the condominium, privately renewed to the states assurances of his intention to support ultimately the claims of brandenburg, and notified them to hold the two regiments of french infantry, which by convention they still kept at his expense in their service, to be ready at a moment's warning for the great enterprise which he was already planning. "you would do well perhaps," wrote aerssens to barneveld, "to set forth the various interests in regard to this succession, and of the different relations of the claimants towards our commonwealth; but in such sort nevertheless and so dexterously that the king may be able to understand your desires, and on the other hand may see the respect you bear him in appearing to defer to his choice." neuburg, having always neglected the states and made advances to archduke albert, and being openly preferred over brandenburg by the austrians, who had however no intention of eventually tolerating either, could make but small headway at court, notwithstanding henry's indignation that brandenburg had not yet made the slightest demand upon him for assistance. the elector had keenly solicited the aid of the states, who were bound to him by ancient contract on this subject, but had manifested wonderful indifference or suspicion in regard to france. "these nonchalant germans," said henry on more than one occasion, "do nothing but sleep or drink." it was supposed that the memory of metz might haunt the imagination of the elector. that priceless citadel, fraudulently extorted by henry ii. as a forfeit for assistance to the elector of saxony three quarters of a century before, gave solemn warning to brandenburg of what might be exacted by a greater henry, should success be due to his protection. it was also thought that he had too many dangers about him at home, the poles especially, much stirred up by emissaries from rome, making many troublesome demonstrations against the duchy of prussia. it was nearly midsummer before a certain baron donals arrived as emissary of the elector. he brought with him, many documents in support of the brandenburg claims, and was charged with excuses for the dilatoriness of his master. much stress was laid of course on the renunciation made by neuburg at the tithe of his marriage, and henry was urged to grant his protection to the elector in his good rights. but thus far there were few signs of any vigorous resolution for active measures in an affair which could scarcely fail to lead to war. "i believe," said henry to the states ambassador, "that the right of brandenburg is indubitable, and it is better for you and for me that he should be the man rather than neuburg, who has always sought assistance from the house of austria. but he is too lazy in demanding possession. it is the fault of the doctors by whom he is guided. this delay works in favour of the emperor, whose course however is less governed by any determination of his own than by the irresolution of the princes." then changing the conversation, henry asked the ambassador whether the daughter of de maldere, a leading statesman of zealand, was married or of age to be married, and if she was rich; adding that they must make a match between her and barneveld's second son, then a young gentleman in the king's service, and very much liked by him. two months later a regularly accredited envoy, belin by name, arrived from the elector. his instructions were general. he was to thank the king for his declarations in favour of the possessory princes, and against all usurpation on the part of the spanish party. should the religious cord be touched, he was to give assurances that no change would be made in this regard. he was charged with loads of fine presents in yellow amber, such as ewers, basins, tables, cups, chessboards, for the king and queen, the dauphin, the chancellor, villeroy, sully, bouillon, and other eminent personages. beyond the distribution of these works of art and the exchange of a few diplomatic commonplaces, nothing serious in the way of warlike business was transacted, and henry was a few weeks later much amused by receiving a letter from the possessory princes coolly thrown into the post-office, and addressed like an ordinary letter to a private person, in which he was requested to advance them a loan of , crowns. there was a great laugh at court at a demand made like a bill of exchange at sight upon his majesty as if he had been a banker, especially as there happened to be no funds of the drawers in his hands. it was thought that a proper regard for the king's quality and the amount of the sum demanded required that the letter should be brought at least by an express messenger, and henry was both diverted and indignant at these proceedings, at the months long delay before the princes had thought proper to make application for his protection, and then for this cool demand for alms on a large scale as a proper beginning of their enterprise. such was the languid and extremely nonchalant manner in which the early preparations for a conflict which seemed likely to set europe in a blaze, and of which possibly few living men might witness the termination, were set on foot by those most interested in the immediate question. chessboards in yellow amber and a post-office order for , crowns could not go far in settling the question of the duchies in which the great problem dividing christendom as by an abyss was involved. meantime, while such were the diplomatic beginnings of the possessory princes, the league was leaving no stone unturned to awaken henry to a sense of his true duty to the church of which he was eldest son. don pedro de toledo's mission in regard to the spanish marriages had failed because henry had spurned the condition which was unequivocally attached to them on the part of spain, the king's renunciation of his alliance with the dutch republic, which then seemed an equivalent to its ruin. but the treaty of truce and half-independence had been signed at last by the states and their ancient master, and the english and french negotiators had taken their departure, each receiving as a present for concluding the convention , livres from the archdukes, and , from the states-general. henry, returning one summer's morning from the chase and holding the count of soissons by one hand and ambassador aerssens by the other, told them he had just received letters from spain by which he learned that people were marvellously rejoiced at the conclusion of the truce. many had regretted that its conditions were so disadvantageous and so little honourable to the grandeur and dignity of spain, but to these it was replied that there were strong reasons why spain should consent to peace on these terms rather than not have it at all. during the twelve years to come the king could repair his disasters and accumulate mountains of money in order to finish the war by the subjugation of the provinces by force of gold. soissons here interrupted the king by saying that the states on their part would finish it by force of iron. aerssens, like an accomplished courtier, replied they would finish it by means of his majesty's friendship. the king continued by observing that the clear-sighted in spain laughed at these rodomontades, knowing well that it was pure exhaustion that had compelled the king to such extremities. "i leave you to judge," said henry, "whether he is likely to have any courage at forty-five years of age, having none now at thirty-two. princes show what they have in them of generosity and valour at the age of twenty-five or never." he said that orders had been sent from spain to disband all troops in the obedient netherlands except spaniards and italians, telling the archdukes that they must raise the money out of the country to content them. they must pay for a war made for their benefit, said philip. as for him he would not furnish one maravedi. aerssens asked if the archdukes would disband their troops so long as the affair of cleve remained unsettled. "you are very lucky," replied the king, "that europe is governed by such princes as you wot of. the king of spain thinks of nothing but tranquillity. the archdukes will never move except on compulsion. the emperor, whom every one is so much afraid of in this matter, is in such plight that one of these days, and before long, he will be stripped of all his possessions. i have news that the bohemians are ready to expel him." it was true enough that rudolph hardly seemed a formidable personage. the utraquists and bohemian brothers, making up nearly the whole population of the country, were just extorting religious liberty from their unlucky master in his very palace and at the point of the knife. the envoy of matthias was in paris demanding recognition of his master as king of hungary, and henry did not suspect the wonderful schemes of leopold, the ferret in the rabbit warren of the duchies, to come to the succour of his cousin and to get himself appointed his successor and guardian. nevertheless, the emperor's name had been used to protest solemnly against the entrance into dusseldorf of the margrave ernest of brandenburg and palatine wolfgang william of neuburg, representatives respectively of their brother and father. the induction was nevertheless solemnly made by the elector-palatine and the landgrave of hesse, and joint possession solemnly taken by brandenburg and neuburg in the teeth of the protest, and expressly in order to cut short the dilatory schemes and the artifices of the imperial court. henry at once sent a corps of observation consisting of cavalry to the luxemburg frontier by way of toul, mezieres, verdun, and metz, to guard against movements by the disbanded troops of the archdukes, and against any active demonstration against the possessory princes on the part of the emperor. the 'condominium' was formally established, and henry stood before the world as its protector threatening any power that should attempt usurpation. he sent his agent vidomacq to the landgrave of hesse with instructions to do his utmost to confirm the princes of the union in organized resistance to the schemes of spain, and to prevent any interference with the condominium. he wrote letters to the archdukes and to the elector of cologne, sternly notifying them that he would permit no assault upon the princes, and meant to protect them in their rights. he sent one of his most experienced diplomatists, de boississe, formerly ambassador in england, to reside for a year or more in the duchies as special representative of france, and directed him on his way thither to consult especially with barneveld and the states-general as to the proper means of carrying out their joint policy either by diplomacy or, if need should be, by their united arms. troops began at once to move towards the frontier to counteract the plans of the emperor's council and the secret levies made by duchess sibylla's husband, the margrave of burgau. the king himself was perpetually at monceaux watching the movements of his cavalry towards the luxemburg frontier, and determined to protect the princes in their possession until some definite decision as to the sovereignty of the duchies should be made. meantime great pressure was put upon him by the opposite party. the pope did his best through the nuncius at paris directly, and through agents at prague, brussels, and madrid indirectly, to awaken the king to a sense of the enormity of his conduct. being a catholic prince, it was urged, he had no right to assist heretics. it was an action entirely contrary to his duty as a christian and of his reputation as eldest son of the church. even if the right were on the side of the princes, his majesty would do better to strip them of it and to clothe himself with it than to suffer the catholic faith and religion to receive such notable detriment in an affair likely to have such important consequences. such was some of the advice given by the pontiff. the suggestions were subtle, for they were directed to henry's self-interest both as champion of the ancient church and as a possible sovereign of the very territories in dispute. they were also likely, and were artfully so intended, to excite suspicion of henry's designs in the breasts of the protestants generally and of the possessory princes especially. allusions indeed to the rectification of the french border in henry ii.'s time at the expense of lorraine were very frequent. they probably accounted for much of the apparent supineness and want of respect for the king of which he complained every day and with so much bitterness. the pope's insinuations, however, failed to alarm him, for he had made up his mind as to the great business of what might remain to him of life; to humble the house of austria and in doing so to uphold the dutch republic on which he relied for his most efficient support. the situation was a false one viewed from the traditional maxims which governed europe. how could the eldest son of the church and the chief of an unlimited monarchy make common cause with heretics and republicans against spain and rome? that the position was as dangerous as it was illogical, there could be but little doubt. but there was a similarity of opinion between the king and the political chief of the republic on the great principle which was to illume the distant future but which had hardly then dawned upon the present; the principle of religious equality. as he protected protestants in france so he meant to protect catholics in the duchies. apostate as he was from the reformed church as he had already been from the catholic, he had at least risen above the paltry and insolent maxim of the princely protestantism of germany: "cujus regio ejus religio." while refusing to tremble before the wrath of rome or to incline his ear to its honeyed suggestions, he sent cardinal joyeuse with a special mission to explain to the pope that while the interests of france would not permit him to allow the spaniard's obtaining possession of provinces so near to her, he should take care that the church received no detriment and that he should insist as a price of the succour he intended for the possessory princes that they should give ample guarantees for the liberty of catholic worship. there was no doubt in the mind either of henry or of barneveld that the secret blows attempted by spain at the princes were in reality aimed at the republic and at himself as her ally. while the nuncius was making these exhortations in paris, his colleague from spain was authorized to propound a scheme of settlement which did not seem deficient in humour. at any rate henry was much diverted with the suggestion, which was nothing less than that the decision as to the succession to the duchies should be left to a board of arbitration consisting of the king of spain, the emperor, and the king of france. as henry would thus be painfully placed by himself in a hopeless minority, the only result of the scheme would be to compel him to sanction a decision sure to be directly the reverse of his own resolve. he was hardly such a schoolboy in politics as to listen to the proposal except to laugh at it. meantime arrived from julich, without much parade, a quiet but somewhat pompous gentleman named teynagel. he had formerly belonged to the reformed religion, but finding it more to his taste or advantage to become privy councillor of the emperor, he had returned to the ancient church. he was one of the five who had accompanied the archduke leopold to julich. that prompt undertaking having thus far succeeded so well, the warlike bishop had now despatched teynagel on a roving diplomatic mission. ostensibly he came to persuade henry that, by the usages and laws of the empire, fiefs left vacant for want of heirs male were at the disposal of the emperor. he expressed the hope therefore of obtaining the king's approval of leopold's position in julich as temporary vicegerent of his sovereign and cousin. the real motive of his mission, however, was privately to ascertain whether henry was really ready to go to war for the protection of the possessory princes, and then, to proceed to spain. it required an astute politician, however, to sound all the shoals, quicksands, and miseries through which the french government was then steering, and to comprehend with accuracy the somewhat varying humours of the monarch and the secret schemes of the ministers who immediately surrounded him. people at court laughed at teynagel and his mission, and henry treated him as a crackbrained adventurer. he announced himself as envoy of the emperor, although he had instructions from leopold only. he had interviews with the chancellor and with villeroy, and told them that rudolf claimed the right of judge between the various pretenders to the duchies. the king would not be pleased, he observed, if the king of great britain should constitute himself arbiter among claimants that might make their appearance for the crown of france; but henry had set himself up as umpire without being asked by any one to act in that capacity among the princes of germany. the emperor, on the contrary, had been appealed to by the duke of nevers, the elector of saxony, the margrave of burgau, and other liege subjects of the imperial crown as a matter of course and of right. this policy of the king, if persisted in, said teynagel, must lead to war. henry might begin such a war, but he would be obliged to bequeath it to the dauphin. he should remember that france had always been unlucky when waging war with the empire and with the house of austria.' the chancellor and villeroy, although in their hearts not much in love with henry's course, answered the emissary with arrogance equal to his own that their king could finish the war as well as begin it, that he confided in his strength and the justice of his cause, and that he knew very well and esteemed very little the combined forces of spain and the empire. they added that france was bound by the treaty of vervins to protect the princes, but they offered no proof of that rather startling proposition. meantime teynagel was busy in demonstrating that the princes of germany were in reality much more afraid of henry than of the emperor. his military movements and deep designs excited more suspicion throughout that country and all europe than the quiet journey of leopold and five friends by post to julich. he had come provided with copies of the king's private letters to the princes, and seemed fully instructed as to his most secret thoughts. for this convenient information he was supposed to be indebted to the revelations of father cotton, who was then in disgrace; having been detected in transmitting to the general of jesuits henry's most sacred confidences and confessions as to his political designs. fortified with this private intelligence, and having been advised by father cotton to carry matters with a high hand in order to inspire the french court with a wholesome awe, he talked boldly about the legitimate functions of the emperor. to interfere with them, he assured the ministers, would lead to a long and bloody war, as neither the king nor the archduke albert would permit the emperor to be trampled upon. peter pecquius, the crafty and experienced agent of the archduke at paris, gave the bouncing envoy more judicious advice, however, than that of the jesuit, assuring him that he would spoil his whole case should he attempt to hold such language to the king. he was admitted to an audience of henry at monceaux, but found him prepared to show his teeth as aerssens had predicted. he treated teynagel as a mere madcap and, adventurer who had no right to be received as a public minister at all, and cut short his rodomontades by assuring him that his mind was fully made up to protect the possessory princes. jeannin was present at the interview, although, as aerssens well observed, the king required no pedagogue on such an occasion? teynagel soon afterwards departed malcontent to spain, having taken little by his abnormal legation to henry, and being destined to find at the court of philip as urgent demands on that monarch for assistance to the league as he was to make for leopold and the house of austria. for the league, hardly yet thoroughly organized under the leadership of maximilian of bavaria, was rather a catholic corrival than cordial ally of the imperial house. it was universally suspected that henry meant to destroy and discrown the habsburgs, and it lay not in the schemes of maximilian to suffer the whole catholic policy to be bound to the fortunes of that one family. whether or not henry meant to commit the anachronism and blunder of reproducing the part of charlemagne might be doubtful. the supposed design of maximilian to renew the glories of the house of wittelsbach was equally vague. it is certain, however, that a belief in such ambitious schemes on the part of both had been insinuated into the ears of rudolf, and had sunk deeply into his unsettled mind. scarcely had teynagel departed than the ancient president richardot appeared upon the scene. "the mischievous old monkey," as he had irreverently been characterized during the truce negotiations, "who showed his tail the higher he climbed," was now trembling at the thought that all the good work he had been so laboriously accomplishing during the past two years should be annihilated. the archdukes, his masters, being sincerely bent on peace, had deputed him to henry, who, as they believed, was determined to rekindle war. as frequently happens in such cases, they were prepared to smooth over the rough and almost impassable path to a cordial understanding by comfortable and cheap commonplaces concerning the blessings of peace, and to offer friendly compromises by which they might secure the prizes of war without the troubles and dangers of making it. they had been solemnly notified by henry that he would go to war rather than permit the house of austria to acquire the succession to the duchies. they now sent richardot to say that neither the archdukes nor the king of spain would interfere in the matter, and that they hoped the king of france would not prevent the emperor from exercising his rightful functions of judge. henry, who knew that don baltasar de cuniga, spanish ambassador at the imperial court, had furnished leopold, the emperor's cousin, with , crowns to defray his first expenses in the julich expedition, considered that the veteran politician had come to perform a school boy's task. he was more than ever convinced by this mission of richardot that the spaniards had organized the whole scheme, and he was likely only to smile at any propositions the president might make. at the beginning of his interview, in which the king was quite alone, richardot asked if he would agree to maintain neutrality like the king of spain and the archdukes, and allow the princes to settle their business with the emperor. "no," said the king. he then asked if henry would assist them in their wrong. "no," said the king. he then asked if the king thought that the princes had justice on their side, and whether, if the contrary were shown, he would change his policy? henry replied that the emperor could not be both judge and party in the suit and that the king of spain was plotting to usurp the provinces through the instrumentality of his brother-in-law leopold and under the name of the emperor. he would not suffer it, he said. "then there will be a general war," replied richardot, since you are determined to assist these princes." "be it so," said the king. "you are right," said the president, "for you are a great and puissant monarch, having all the advantages that could be desired, and in case of rupture i fear that all this immense power will be poured out over us who are but little princes." "cause leopold to retire then and leave the princes in their right," was the reply. "you will then have nothing to fear. are you not very unhappy to live under those poor weak archdukes? don't you foresee that as soon as they die you will lose all the little you have acquired in the obedient netherlands during the last fifty years?" the president had nothing to reply to this save that he had never approved of leopold's expedition, and that when spaniards make mistakes they always had recourse to their servants to repair their faults. he had accepted this mission inconsiderately, he said, inspired by a hope to conjure the rising storms mingled with fears as to the result which were now justified. he regretted having come, he said. the king shrugged his shoulders. richardot then suggested that leopold might be recognized in julich, and the princes at dusseldorf, or that all parties might retire until the emperor should give his decision. all these combinations were flatly refused by the king, who swore that no one of the house of austria should ever perch in any part of those provinces. if leopold did not withdraw at once, war was inevitable. he declared that he would break up everything and dare everything, whether the possessory princes formally applied to him or not. he would not see his friends oppressed nor allow the spaniard by this usurpation to put his foot on the throat of the states-general, for it was against them that this whole scheme was directed. to the president's complaints that the states-general had been moving troops in gelderland, henry replied at once that it was done by his command, and that they were his troops. with this answer richardot was fain to retire crestfallen, mortified, and unhappy. he expressed repentance and astonishment at the result, and protested that those peoples were happy whose princes understood affairs. his princes were good, he said, but did not give themselves the trouble to learn their business. richardot then took his departure from paris, and very soon afterwards from the world. he died at arras early in september, as many thought of chagrin at the ill success of his mission, while others ascribed it to a surfeit of melons and peaches. "senectus edam maorbus est," said aerssens with seneca. henry said he could not sufficiently wonder at these last proceedings at his court, of a man he had deemed capable and sagacious, but who had been committing an irreparable blunder. he had never known two such impertinent ambassadors as don pedro de toledo and richardot on this occasion. the one had been entirely ignorant of the object of his mission; the other had shown a vain presumption in thinking he could drive him from his fixed purpose by a flood of words. he had accordingly answered him on the spot without consulting his council, at which poor richardot had been much amazed. and now another envoy appeared upon the scene, an ambassador coming directly from the emperor. count hohenzollern, a young man, wild, fierce, and arrogant, scarcely twenty-three years of age, arrived in paris on the th of september, with a train of forty horsemen. de colly, agent of the elector-palatine, had received an outline of his instructions, which the prince of anhalt had obtained at prague. he informed henry that hohenzollern would address him thus: "you are a king. you would not like that the emperor should aid your subjects in rebellion. he did not do this in the time of the league, although often solicited to do so. you should not now sustain the princes in disobeying the imperial decree. kings should unite in maintaining the authority and majesty of each other." he would then in the emperor's name urge the claims of the house of saxony to the duchies. henry was much pleased with this opportune communication by de colly of the private instructions to the emperor's envoy, by which he was enabled to meet the wild and fierce young man with an arrogance at least equal to his own. the interview was a stormy one. the king was alone in the gallery of the louvre, not choosing that his words and gestures should be observed. the envoy spoke much in the sense which de colly had indicated; making a long argument in favour of the emperor's exclusive right of arbitration, and assuring the king that the emperor was resolved on war if interference between himself and his subjects was persisted in. he loudly pronounced the proceedings of the possessory princes to be utterly illegal, and contrary to all precedent. the emperor would maintain his authority at all hazards, and one spark of war would set everything in a blaze within the empire and without. henry replied sternly but in general terms, and referred him for a final answer to his council. "what will you do," asked the envoy, categorically, at a subsequent interview about a month later, "to protect the princes in case the emperor constrains them to leave the provinces which they have unjustly occupied?" "there is none but god to compel me to say more than i choose to say," replied the king. "it is enough for you to know that i will never abandon my friends in a just cause. the emperor can do much for the general peace. he is not to lend his name to cover this usurpation." and so the concluding interview terminated in an exchange of threats rather than with any hope of accommodation. hohenzollern used as high language to the ministers as to the monarch, and received payment in the same coin. he rebuked their course not very adroitly as being contrary to the interests of catholicism. they were placing the provinces in the hands of protestants, he urged. it required no envoy from prague to communicate this startling fact. friends and foes, villeroy and jeannin, as well as sully and duplessis, knew well enough that henry was not taking up arms for rome. "sir! do you look at the matter in that way?" cried sully, indignantly. "the huguenots are as good as the catholics. they fight like the devil!" "the emperor will never permit the, princes to remain nor leopold to withdraw," said the envoy to jeannin. jeannin replied that the king was always ready to listen to reason, but there was no use in holding language of authority to him. it was money he would not accept. "fiat justitia pereat mundus," said the haggard hohenzollern. "your world may perish," replied jeannin, "but not ours. it is much better put together." a formal letter was then written by the king to the emperor, in which henry expressed his desire to maintain peace and fraternal relations, but notified him that if, under any pretext whatever, he should trouble the princes in their possession, he would sustain them with all his power, being bound thereto by treaties and by reasons of state. this letter was committed to the care of hohenzollern, who forthwith departed, having received a present of crowns. his fierce, haggard face thus vanishes for the present from our history. the king had taken his ground, from which there was no receding. envoys or agents of emperor, pope, king of spain, archduke at brussels, and archduke at julich, had failed to shake his settled purpose. yet the road was far from smooth. he had thus far no ally but the states- general. he could not trust james of great britain. boderie came back late in the summer from his mission to that monarch, reporting him as being favourably inclined to brandenburg, but hoping for an amicable settlement in the duchies. no suggestion being made even by the sagacious james as to the manner in which the ferret and rabbits were to come to a compromise, henry inferred, if it came to fighting, that the english government would refuse assistance. james had asked boderie in fact whether his sovereign and the states, being the parties chiefly interested, would be willing to fight it out without allies. he had also sent sir ralph winwood on a special mission to the hague, to dusseldorf, and with letters to the emperor, in which he expressed confidence that rudolph would approve the proceedings of the possessory princes. as he could scarcely do that while loudly claiming through his official envoy in paris that the princes should instantly withdraw on pain of instant war, the value of the english suggestion of an amicable compromise might easily be deduced. great was the jealousy in france of this mission from england. that the princes should ask the interference of james while neglecting, despising, or fearing henry, excited henry's wrath. he was ready, and avowed his readiness, to put on armour at once in behalf of the princes, and to arbitrate on the destiny of germany, but no one seemed ready to follow his standard. no one asked him to arbitrate. the spanish faction wheedled and threatened by turns, in order to divert him from his purpose, while the protestant party held aloof, and babbled of charlemagne and of henry ii. he said he did not mean to assist the princes by halves, but as became a king of france, and the princes expressed suspicion of him, talked of the example of metz, and called the emperor their very clement lord. it was not strange that henry was indignant and jealous. he was holding the wolf by the ears, as he himself observed more than once. the war could not long be delayed; yet they in whose behalf it was to be waged treated him with a disrespect and flippancy almost amounting to scorn. they tried to borrow money of him through the post, and neglected to send him an ambassador. this was most decidedly putting the cart before the oxen, so henry said, and so thought all his friends. when they had blockaded the road to julich, in order to cut off leopold's supplies, they sent to request that the two french regiments in the states' service might be ordered to their assistance, archduke albert having threatened to open the passage by force of arms. "this is a fine stratagem," said aerssens, "to fling the states-general headlong into the war, and, as it were, without knowing it." but the states-general, under the guidance of barneveld, were not likely to be driven headlong by brandenburg and neuburg. they managed with caution, but with perfect courage, to move side by side with henry, and to leave the initiative to him, while showing an unfaltering front to the enemy. that the princes were lost, spain and the emperor triumphant, unless henry and the states should protect them with all their strength, was as plain as a mathematical demonstration. yet firm as were the attitude and the language of henry, he was thought to be hoping to accomplish much by bluster. it was certain that the bold and unexpected stroke of leopold had produced much effect upon his mind, and for a time those admitted to his intimacy saw, or thought they saw, a decided change in his demeanour. to the world at large his language and his demonstrations were even more vehement than they had been at the outset of the controversy; but it was believed that there was now a disposition to substitute threats for action. the military movements set on foot were thought to be like the ringing of bells and firing of cannon to dissipate a thunderstorm. yet it was treason at court to doubt the certainty of war. the king ordered new suits of armour, bought splendid chargers, and gave himself all the airs of a champion rushing to a tournament as gaily as in the earliest days of his king-errantry. he spoke of his eager desire to break a lance with spinola, and give a lesson to the young volunteer who had sprung into so splendid a military reputation, while he had been rusting, as he thought, in pacific indolence, and envying the laurels of the comparatively youthful maurice. yet those most likely to be well informed believed that nothing would come of all this fire and fury. the critics were wrong. there was really no doubt of henry's sincerity, but his isolation was terrible. there was none true to him at home but sully. abroad, the states-general alone were really friendly, so far as positive agreements existed. above all, the intolerable tergiversations and suspicions of those most interested, the princes in possession, and their bickerings among themselves, hampered his movements. treason and malice in his cabinet and household, jealousy and fear abroad, were working upon and undermining him like a slow fever. his position was most pathetic, but his purpose was fixed. james of england, who admired, envied, and hated henry, was wont to moralize on his character and his general unpopularity, while engaged in negotiations with him. he complained that in the whole affair of the truce he had sought only his particular advantage. "this is not to be wondered at in one of his nature," said the king, "who only careth to provide for the felicities of his present life, without any respect for his life to come. indeed, the consideration of his own age and the youth of his children, the doubt of their legitimation, the strength of competitioners, and the universal hatred borne unto him, makes him seek all means of security for preventing of all dangers." there were changes from day to day; hot and cold fits necessarily resulting from the situation. as a rule, no eminent general who has had much experience wishes to go into a new war inconsiderately and for the mere love of war. the impatience is often on the part of the non- combatants. henry was no exception to the rule. he felt that the complications then existing, the religious, political, and dynastic elements arrayed against each other, were almost certain to be brought to a crisis and explosion by the incident of the duchies. he felt that the impending struggle was probably to be a desperate and a general one, but there was no inconsistency in hoping that the show of a vigorous and menacing attitude might suspend, defer, or entirely dissipate the impending storm. the appearance of vacillation on his part from day to day was hardly deserving of the grave censure which it received, and was certainly in the interests of humanity. his conferences with sully were almost daily and marked by intense anxiety. he longed for barneveld, and repeatedly urged that the advocate, laying aside all other business, would come to paris, that they might advise together thoroughly and face to face. it was most important that the combination of alliances should be correctly arranged before hostilities began, and herein lay the precise difficulty. the princes applied formally and freely to the states-general for assistance. they applied to the king of great britain. the agents of the opposite party besieged henry with entreaties, and, failing in those, with threats; going off afterwards to spain, to the archdukes, and to other catholic powers in search of assistance. the states-general professed their readiness to put an army of , foot and horse in the field for the spring campaign, so soon as they were assured of henry's determination for a rupture. "i am fresh enough still," said he to their ambassador, "to lead an army into cleve. i shall have a cheap bargain enough of the provinces. but these germans do nothing but eat and sleep. they will get the profit and assign to me the trouble. no matter, i will never suffer the aggrandizement of the house of austria. the states-general must disband no troops, but hold themselves in readiness." secretary of state villeroy held the same language, but it was easy to trace beneath his plausible exterior a secret determination to traverse the plans of his sovereign. "the cleve affair must lead to war," he said. "the spaniard, considering how necessary it is for him to have a prince there at his devotion, can never quietly suffer brandenburg and neuburg to establish themselves in those territories. the support thus gained by the states-general would cause the loss of the spanish netherlands." this was the view of henry, too, but the secretary of state, secretly devoted to the cause of spain, looked upon the impending war with much aversion. "all that can come to his majesty from war," he said, "is the glory of having protected the right. counterbalance this with the fatigue, the expense, and the peril of a great conflict, after our long repose, and you will find this to be buying glory too dearly." when a frenchman talked of buying glory too dearly, it seemed probable that the particular kind of glory was not to his taste. henry had already ordered the officers, then in france, of the french infantry kept in the states' service at his expense to depart at once to holland, and he privately announced his intention of moving to the frontier at the head of , men. 'yet not only villeroy, but the chancellor and the constable, while professing opposition to the designs of austria and friendliness to those of brandenburg and neuburg, deprecated this precipitate plunge into war. "those most interested," they said, "refuse to move; fearing austria, distrusting france. they leave us the burden and danger, and hope for the spoils themselves. we cannot play cat to their monkey. the king must hold himself in readiness to join in the game when the real players have shuffled and dealt the cards. it is no matter to us whether the spaniard or brandenburg or anyone else gets the duchies. the states- general require a friendly sovereign there, and ought to say how much they will do for that result." the constable laughed at the whole business. coming straight from the louvre, he said "there would be no serious military movement, and that all those fine freaks would evaporate in air." but sully never laughed. he was quietly preparing the ways and means for the war, and he did not intend, so far as he had influence, that france should content herself with freaks and let spain win the game. alone in the council he maintained that "france had gone too far to recede without sacrifice of reputation."--"the king's word is engaged both within and without," he said. "not to follow it with deeds would be dangerous to the kingdom. the spaniard will think france afraid of war. we must strike a sudden blow, either to drive the enemy away or to crush him at once. there is no time for delay. the netherlands must prevent the aggrandizement of austria or consent to their own ruin." thus stood the game therefore. the brother of brandenburg and son of neuburg had taken possession of dusseldorf. the emperor, informed of this, ordered them forthwith to decamp. he further summoned all pretenders to the duchies to appear before him, in person or by proxy, to make good their claims. they refused and appealed for advice and assistance to the states-general. barneveld, aware of the intrigues of spain, who disguised herself in the drapery of the emperor, recommended that the estates of cleve, julich, berg, mark, ravensberg, and ravenstein, should be summoned in dusseldorf. this was done and a resolution taken to resist any usurpation. the king of france wrote to the elector of cologne, who, by directions of rome and by means of the jesuits, had been active in the intrigue, that he would not permit the princes to be disturbed. the archduke leopold suddenly jumped into the chief citadel of the country and published an edict of the emperor. all the proceedings were thereby nullified as illegal and against the dignity of the realm and the princes proclaimed under ban. a herald brought the edict and ban to the princes in full assembly. the princes tore it to pieces on the spot. nevertheless they were much frightened, and many members of the estates took themselves off; others showing an inclination to follow. the princes sent forth with a deputation to the hague to consult my lords the states-general. the states-general sent an express messenger to paris. their ambassador there sent him back a week later, with notice of the king's determination to risk everything against everything to preserve the rights of the princes. it was added that henry required to be solicited by them, in order not by volunteer succour to give cause for distrust as to his intentions. the states-general were further apprised by the king that his interests and theirs were so considerable in the matter that they would probably be obliged to go into a brisk and open war, in order to prevent the spaniard from establishing himself in the duchies. he advised them to notify the archdukes in brussels that they would regard the truce as broken if, under pretext of maintaining the emperor's rights, they should molest the princes. he desired them further to send their forces at once to the frontier of gelderland under prince maurice, without committing any overt act of hostility, but in order to show that both the king and the states were thoroughly in earnest. the king then sent to archduke albert, as well as to the elector of cologne, and despatched a special envoy to the king of great britain. immediately afterwards came communications from barneveld to henry, with complete adhesion to the king's plans. the states would move in exact harmony with him, neither before him nor after him, which was precisely what he wished. he complained bitterly to aerssens, when he communicated the advocate's despatches, of the slothful and timid course of the princes. he ascribed it to the arts of leopold, who had written and inspired many letters against him insinuating that he was secretly in league and correspondence with the emperor; that he was going to the duchies simply in the interest of the catholics; that he was like henry ii. only seeking to extend the french frontier; and leopold, by these intrigues and falsehoods, had succeeded in filling the princes with distrust, and they had taken umbrage at the advance of his cavalry. henry professed himself incapable of self-seeking or ambition. he meant to prevent the aggrandizement of austria, and was impatient at the dilatoriness and distrust of the princes. "all their enemies are rushing to the king of spain. let them address themselves to the king of france," he said, "for it is we two that must play this game." and when at last they did send an embassy, they prefaced it by a post letter demanding an instant loan, and with an intimation that they would rather have his money than his presence! was it surprising that the king's course should seem occasionally wavering when he found it so difficult to stir up such stagnant waters into honourable action? was it strange that the rude and stern sully should sometimes lose his patience, knowing so much and suspecting more of the foul designs by which his master was encompassed, of the web of conspiracy against his throne, his life, and his honour, which was daily and hourly spinning? "we do nothing and you do nothing," he said one day to aerssens. "you are too soft, and we are too cowardly. i believe that we shall spoil everything, after all. i always suspect these sudden determinations of ours. they are of bad augury. we usually founder at last when we set off so fiercely at first. there are words enough an every side, but there will be few deeds. there is nothing to be got out of the king of great britain, and the king of spain will end by securing these provinces for himself by a treaty." sully knew better than this, but he did not care to let even the dutch envoy know, as yet, the immense preparations he had been making for the coming campaign. the envoys of the possessory princes, the counts solms, colonel pallandt, and dr. steyntgen, took their departure, after it had been arranged that final measures should be concerted at the general congress of the german protestants to be held early in the ensuing year at hall, in suabia. at that convention de boississe would make himself heard on the part of france, and the representatives of the states-general, of venice, and savoy, would also be present. meantime the secret conferences between henry and his superintendent of finances and virtual prime minister were held almost every day. scarcely an afternoon passed that the king did not make his appearance at the arsenal, sully's residence, and walk up and down the garden with him for hours, discussing the great project of which his brain was full. this great project was to crush for ever the power of the austrian house; to drive spain back into her own limits, putting an end to her projects for universal monarchy; and taking the imperial crown from the house of habsburg. by thus breaking up the mighty cousinship which, with the aid of rome, overshadowed germany and the two peninsulas, besides governing the greater part of both the indies, he meant to bring france into the preponderant position over christendom which he believed to be her due. it was necessary, he thought, for the continued existence of the dutch commonwealth that the opportunity should be taken once for all, now that a glorious captain commanded its armies and a statesman unrivalled for experience, insight, and patriotism controlled its politics and its diplomacy, to drive the spaniard out of the netherlands. the cleve question, properly and vigorously handled, presented exactly the long desired opportunity for carrying out these vast designs. the plan of assault upon spanish power was to be threefold. the king himself at the head of , men, supported by prince maurice and the states' forces amounting to at least , , would move to the rhine and seize the duchies. the duke de la force would command the army of the pyrenees and act in concert with the moors of spain, who roused to frenzy by their expulsion from the kingdom could be relied on for a revolt or at least a most vigorous diversion. thirdly, a treaty with the duke of savoy by which henry accorded his daughter to the duke's eldest son, the prince of piedmont, a gift of , crowns, and a monthly pension during the war of , crowns a month, was secretly concluded. early in the spring the duke was to take the field with at least , foot and horse, supported by a french army of , to , men under the experienced marshal de lesdiguieres. these forces were to operate against the duchy of milan with the intention of driving the spaniards out of that rich possession, which the duke of savoy claimed for himself, and of assuring to henry the dictatorship of italy. with the cordial alliance of venice, and by playing off the mutual jealousies of the petty italian princes, like florence, mantua, montserrat, and others, against each other and against the pope, it did not seem doubtful to sully that the result would be easily accomplished. he distinctly urged the wish that the king should content himself with political influence, with the splendid position of holding all italy dependent upon his will and guidance, but without annexing a particle of territory to his own crown. it was henry's intention, however, to help himself to the duchy of savoy, and to the magnificent city and port of genoa as a reward to himself for the assistance, matrimonial alliance, and aggrandizement which he was about to bestow upon charles emmanuel. sully strenuously opposed these self-seeking views on the part of his sovereign, however, constantly placing before him the far nobler aim of controlling the destinies of christendom, of curbing what tended to become omnipotent, of raising up and protecting that which had been abased, of holding the balance of empire with just and steady hand in preference to the more vulgar and commonplace ambition of annexing a province or two to the realms of france. it is true that these virtuous homilies, so often preached by him against territorial aggrandizement in one direction, did not prevent him from indulging in very extensive visions of it in another. but the dreams pointed to the east rather than to the south. it was sully's policy to swallow a portion not of italy but of germany. he persuaded his master that the possessory princes, if placed by the help of france in the heritage which they claimed, would hardly be able to maintain themselves against the dangers which surrounded them except by a direct dependence upon france. in the end the position would become an impossible one, and it would be easy after the war was over to indemnify brandenburg with money and with private property in the heart of france for example, and obtain the cession of those most coveted provinces between the meuse and the weser to the king. "what an advantage for france," whispered sully, "to unite to its power so important a part of germany. for it cannot be denied that by accepting the succour given by the king now those princes oblige themselves to ask for help in the future in order to preserve their new acquisition. thus your majesty will make them pay for it very dearly." thus the very virtuous self-denial in regard to the duke of savoy did not prevent a secret but well developed ambition at the expense of the elector of brandenburg. for after all it was well enough known that the elector was the really important and serious candidate. henry knew full well that neuburg was depending on the austrians and the catholics, and that the claims of saxony were only put forward by the emperor in order to confuse the princes and excite mutual distrust. the king's conferences with the great financier were most confidential, and sully was as secret as the grave. but henry never could keep a secret even when it concerned his most important interests, and nothing would serve him but he must often babble of his great projects even to their minutest details in presence of courtiers and counsellors whom in his heart he knew to be devoted to spain and in receipt of pensions from her king. he would boast to them of the blows by which he meant to demolish spain and the whole house of austria, so that there should be no longer danger to be feared from that source to the tranquillity and happiness of europe, and he would do this so openly and in presence of those who, as he knew, were perpetually setting traps for him and endeavouring to discover his deepest secrets as to make sully's hair stand on end. the faithful minister would pluck his master by the cloak at times, and the king, with the adroitness which never forsook him when he chose to employ it, would contrive to extricate himself from a dilemma and pause at the brink of tremendous disclosures.--[memoires de sully, t. vii. p. .]--but sully could not be always at his side, nor were the nuncius or don inigo de cardenas or their confidential agents and spies always absent. enough was known of the general plan, while as to the probability of its coming into immediate execution, perhaps the enemies of the king were often not more puzzled than his friends. but what the spanish ambassador did not know, nor the nuncius, nor even the friendly aerssens, was the vast amount of supplies which had been prepared for the coming conflict by the finance minister. henry did not know it himself. "the war will turn on france as on a pivot," said sully; "it remains to be seen if we have supplies and money enough. i will engage if the war is not to last more than three years and you require no more than , men at a time that i will show you munitions and ammunition and artillery and the like to such an extent that you will say, 'it is enough.' "as to money--" "how much money have i got?" asked the king; "a dozen millions?" "a little more than that," answered the minister. "fourteen millions?" "more still." "sixteen?" continued the king. "more yet," said sully. and so the king went on adding two millions at each question until thirty millions were reached, and when the question as to this sum was likewise answered in the affirmative, he jumped from his chair, hugged his minister around the neck, and kissed him on both cheeks. "i want no more than that," he cried. sully answered by assuring him that he had prepared a report showing a reserve of forty millions on which he might draw for his war expenses, without in the least degree infringing on the regular budget for ordinary expenses. the king was in a transport of delight, and would have been capable of telling the story on the spot to the nuncius had he met him that afternoon, which fortunately did not occur. but of all men in europe after the faithful sully, henry most desired to see and confer daily and secretly with barneveld. he insisted vehemently that, neglecting all other business, he should come forthwith to paris at the head of the special embassy which it had been agreed that the states should send. no living statesman, he said, could compare to holland's advocate in sagacity, insight, breadth of view, knowledge of mankind and of great affairs, and none he knew was more sincerely attached to his person or felt more keenly the value of the french alliance. with him he indeed communicated almost daily through the medium of aerssens, who was in constant receipt of most elaborate instructions from barneveld, but he wished to confer with him face to face, so that there would be no necessity of delay in sending back for instructions, limitations, and explanation. no man knew better than the king did that so far as foreign affairs were concerned the states-general were simply barneveld. on the nd january the states' ambassador had a long and secret interview with the king.' he informed him that the prince of anhalt had been assured by barneveld that the possessory princes would be fully supported in their position by the states, and that the special deputies of archduke albert, whose presence at the hague made henry uneasy, as he regarded them as perpetual spies, had been dismissed. henry expressed his gratification. they are there, he said, entirely in the interest of leopold, who has just received , crowns from the king of spain, and is to have that sum annually, and they are only sent to watch all your proceedings in regard to cleve. the king then fervently pressed the ambassador to urge barneveld's coming to paris with the least possible delay. he signified his delight with barneveld's answer to anhalt, who thus fortified would be able to do good service at the assembly at hall. he had expected nothing else from barneveld's sagacity, from his appreciation of the needs of christendom, and from his affection for himself. he told the ambassador that he was anxiously waiting for the advocate in order to consult with him as to all the details of the war. the affair of cleve, he said, was too special a cause. a more universal one was wanted. the king preferred to begin with luxemburg, attacking charlemont or namur, while the states ought at the same time to besiege venlo, with the intention afterwards of uniting with the king in laying siege to maestricht. he was strong enough, he said, against all the world, but he still preferred to invite all princes interested to join him in putting down the ambitious and growing power of spain. cleve was a plausible pretext, but the true cause, he said, should be found in the general safety of christendom. boississe had been sent to the german princes to ascertain whether and to what extent they would assist the king. he supposed that once they found him engaged in actual warfare in luxemburg, they would get rid of their jealousy and panic fears of him and his designs. he expected them to furnish at least as large a force as he would supply as a contingent. for it was understood that anhalt as generalissimo of the german forces would command a certain contingent of french troops, while the main army of the king would be led by himself in person. henry expressed the conviction that the king of spain would be taken by surprise finding himself attacked in three places and by three armies at once, he believing that the king of france was entirely devoted to his pleasures and altogether too old for warlike pursuits, while the states, just emerging from the misery of their long and cruel conflict, would be surely unwilling to plunge headlong into a great and bloody war. henry inferred this, he said, from observing the rude and brutal manner in which the soldiers in the spanish netherlands were now treated. it seemed, he said, as if the archdukes thought they had no further need of them, or as if a stamp of the foot could raise new armies out of the earth. "my design," continued the king, "is the more likely to succeed as the king of spain, being a mere gosling and a valet of the duke of lerma, will find himself stripped of all his resources and at his wits' end; unexpectedly embarrassed as he will be on the italian side, where we shall be threatening to cut the jugular vein of his pretended universal monarchy." he intimated that there was no great cause for anxiety in regard to the catholic league just formed at wurzburg. he doubted whether the king of spain would join it, and he had learned that the elector of cologne was making very little progress in obtaining the emperor's adhesion. as to this point the king had probably not yet thoroughly understood that the bavarian league was intended to keep clear of the house of habsburg, maximilian not being willing to identify the success of german catholicism with the fortunes of that family. henry expressed the opinion that the king of spain, that is to say, his counsellors, meant to make use of the emperor's name while securing all the profit, and that rudolph quite understood their game, while matthias was sure to make use of this opportunity, supported by the protestants of bohemia, austria, and moravia, to strip the emperor of the last shred of empire. the king was anxious that the states should send a special embassy at once to the king of great britain. his ambassador, de la boderie, gave little encouragement of assistance from that quarter, but it was at least desirable to secure his neutrality. "'tis a prince too much devoted to repose," said henry, "to be likely to help in this war, but at least he must not be allowed to traverse our great designs. he will probably refuse the league offensive and defensive which i have proposed to him, but he must be got, if possible, to pledge himself to the defensive. i mean to assemble my army on the frontier, as if to move upon julich, and then suddenly sweep down on the meuse, where, sustained by the states' army and that of the princes, i will strike my blows and finish my enterprise before our adversary has got wind of what is coming. we must embark james in the enterprise if we can, but at any rate we must take measures to prevent his spoiling it." henry assured the envoy that no one would know anything of the great undertaking but by its effect; that no one could possibly talk about it with any knowledge except himself, sully, villeroy, barneveld, and aerssens. with them alone he conferred confidentially, and he doubted not that the states would embrace this opportunity to have done for ever with the spaniards. he should take the field in person, he said, and with several powerful armies would sweep the enemy away from the meuse, and after obtaining control of that river would quietly take possession of the sea-coast of flanders, shut up archduke albert between the states and the french, who would thus join hands and unite their frontiers. again the king expressed his anxiety for barneveld's coming, and directed the ambassador to urge it, and to communicate to him the conversation which had just taken place. he much preferred, he said, a general war. he expressed doubts as to the prince of anhalt's capacity as chief in the cleve expedition, and confessed that being jealous of his own reputation he did not like to commit his contingent of troops to the care of a stranger and one so new to his trade. the shame would fall on himself, not on anhalt in case of any disaster. therefore, to avoid all petty jealousies and inconveniences of that nature by which the enterprise might be ruined, it was best to make out of this small affair a great one, and the king signified his hope that the advocate would take this view of the case and give him his support. he had plenty of grounds of war himself, and the states had as good cause of hostilities in the rupture of the truce by the usurpation attempted by leopold with the assistance of spain and in the name of the emperor. he hoped, he said, that the states would receive no more deputations from archduke albert, but decide to settle everything at the point of the sword. the moment was propitious, and, if neglected, might never return. marquis spinola was about to make a journey to spain on various matters of business. on his return, henry said, he meant to make him prisoner as a hostage for the prince of conde, whom the archdukes were harbouring and detaining. this would be the pretext, he said, but the object would be to deprive the archdukes of any military chief, and thus to throw them into utter confusion. count van den berg would never submit to the authority of don luis de velasco, nor velasco to his, and not a man could come from spain or italy, for the passages would all be controlled by france. fortunately for the king's reputation, spinola's journey was deferred, so that this notable plan for disposing of the great captain fell to the ground. henry agreed to leave the two french regiments and the two companies of cavalry in the states' service as usual, but stipulated in certain contingencies for their use. passing to another matter concerning which there had been so much jealousy on the part of the states, the formation of the french east india company--to organize which undertaking le roy and isaac le maire of amsterdam had been living disguised in the house of henry's famous companion, the financier zamet at paris--the king said that barneveld ought not to envy him a participation in the great profits of this business. nothing would be done without consulting him after his arrival in paris. he would discuss the matter privately with him, he said, knowing that barneveld was a great personage, but however obstinate he might be, he felt sure that he would always yield to reason. on the other hand the king expressed his willingness to submit to the advocate's opinions if they should seem the more just. on leaving the king the ambassador had an interview with sully, who again expressed his great anxiety for the arrival of barneveld, and his hopes that he might come with unlimited powers, so that the great secret might not leak out through constant referring of matters back to the provinces. after rendering to the advocate a detailed account of this remarkable conversation, aerssens concluded with an intimation that perhaps his own opinion might be desired as to the meaning of all those movements developing themselves so suddenly and on so many sides. "i will say," he observed, "exactly what the poet sings of the army of ants-- 'hi motus animorum atque haec certamina tanta pulveris exigui jactu contacts quiescunt.' if the prince of conde comes back, we shall be more plausible than ever. if he does not come back, perhaps the consideration of the future will sweep us onwards. all have their special views, and m. de villeroy more warmly than all the rest." etext editor's bookmarks: abstinence from inquisition into consciences and private parlour allowed the demon of religious hatred to enter into its body behead, torture, burn alive, and bury alive all heretics christian sympathy and a small assistance not being sufficient contained within itself the germs of a larger liberty could not be both judge and party in the suit covered now with the satirical dust of centuries deadly hatred of puritans in england and holland doctrine of predestination in its sternest and strictest sense emperor of japan addressed him as his brother monarch estimating his character and judging his judges everybody should mind his own business he was a sincere bigot impatience is often on the part of the non-combatants intense bigotry of conviction international friendship, the self-interest of each it was the true religion, and there was none other james of england, who admired, envied, and hated henry jealousy, that potent principle language which is ever living because it is dead more fiercely opposed to each other than to papists none but god to compel me to say more than i choose to say power the poison of which it is so difficult to resist presents of considerable sums of money to the negotiators made princes show what they have in them at twenty-five or never putting the cart before the oxen religious toleration, which is a phrase of insult secure the prizes of war without the troubles and dangers senectus edam maorbus est so much in advance of his time as to favor religious equality the catholic league and the protestant union the truth in shortest about matters of importance the vehicle is often prized more than the freight there was but one king in europe, henry the bearnese there was no use in holding language of authority to him thirty years' war tread on the heels of the forty years unimaginable outrage as the most legitimate industry wish to appear learned in matters of which they are ignorant this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, chapter lii. vote of the states-general on the groundwork of the treaty-- meeting of the plenipotentiaries for arrangement of the truce-- signing of the twelve years' truce--its purport--the negotiations concluded--ratification by the states-general, the archdukes, and the king of spain--question of toleration--appeal of president jeannin on behalf of the catholics--religious liberty the fruit of the war--internal arrangements of the states under the rule of peace--deaths of john duke of cleves and jacob arminius--doctrines of arminius and gomarus--theological warfare--twenty years' truce between the turkish and roman empires--ferdinand of styria-- religious peace--prospects of the future. on the th january, , the states-general decided by unanimous vote that the first point in the treaty should be not otherwise fixed than, thus:-- "that the archdukes--to superfluity--declare, as well in their own name as in that of the king of spain, their willingness to treat with the lords states of the united provinces in the capacity of, and as holding them for, free countries, provinces, and states, over which they have no claim, and that they are making a treaty with them in those said names and qualities." it was also resolved not to permit that any ecclesiastical or secular matters, conflicting with the above-mentioned freedom, should be proposed; nor that any delay should be sought for, by reason of the india navigation or any other point. in case anything to the contrary should be attempted by the king or the archdukes, and the deliberations protracted in consequence more than eight days, it was further decided by unanimous vote that the negotiations should at once be broken off, and the war forthwith renewed, with the help, if possible, of the kings, princes, and states, friends of the good cause. this vigorous vote was entirely the work of barneveld, the man whom his enemies dared to denounce as the partisan of spain, and to hold up as a traitor deserving of death. it was entirely within his knowledge that a considerable party in the provinces had grown so weary of the war, and so much alarmed at the prospect of the negotiations for truce coming to nought, as to be ready to go into a treaty without a recognition of the independence of the states. this base faction was thought to be instigated by the english government, intriguing secretly with president richardot. the advocate, acting in full sympathy with jeannin, frustrated the effects of the manoeuvre by obtaining all the votes of holland and zeeland for this supreme resolution. the other five provinces dared to make no further effort in that direction against the two controlling states of the republic. it was now agreed that the french and english ambassadors should delay going to antwerp until informed of the arrival in that city of spinola and his colleagues; and that they should then proceed thither, taking with them the main points of the treaty, as laid down by themselves, and accepted with slight alterations by the states. when the spanish commissioners had signed these points the plenipotentiaries were to come to antwerp in order to settle other matters of less vital import. meantime, the states-general were to be summoned to assemble in bergen-op-zoom, that they might be ready to deal with difficulties, should any arise. the first meeting took place on the th february, . the first objection to the draught was made by the spaniards. it was about words and wind. they liked not the title of high and puissant lords which was given to the states-general, and they proposed to turn the difficulty by abstaining from giving any qualifications whatever, either to the archdukes or the republican authorities. the states refused to lower these ensigns of their new-born power. it was, however, at last agreed that, instead of high and mighty, they should be called illustrious and serene. this point being comfortably adjusted, the next and most important one was accepted by the spaniards. the independence of the states was recognised according to the prescribed form. then came the great bone of contention, over which there had been such persistent wrangling--the india trade. the spanish government had almost registered a vow in heaven that the word india should not be mentioned in the treaty. it was no less certain that india was stamped upon the very heart of the republic, and could not be torn from it while life remained. the subtle diplomatists now invented a phrase in which the word should not appear, while the thing itself should be granted. the spaniards, after much altercation, at last consented. by the end of february, most of the plenipotentiaries thought it safe to request the appearance of the states-general at bergen-op-zoom. jeannin, not altogether satisfied, however, with the language of the spaniards in regard to india, raised doubts as to the propriety of issuing the summons. putting on his most reverend and artless expression of countenance, he assured richardot that he had just received a despatch from the hague, to the effect that the india point would, in all probability, cause the states at that very moment to break off the negotiations. it was surely premature, therefore, to invite them to bergen. the despatch from the hague was a neat fiction on the part of the president, but it worked admirably. the other president, himself quite as ready at inventions as jeannin could possibly be, was nevertheless taken in; the two ex-leaguers being, on the whole, fully a match for each other in the art of intrigue. richardot, somewhat alarmed, insisted that the states should send their plenipotentiaries to antwerp as soon as possible. he would answer for it that they would not go away again without settling upon the treaty. the commissioners were forbidden, by express order from spain, to name the indies in writing, but they would solemnly declare, by word of mouth, that the states should have full liberty to trade to those countries; the king of spain having no intention of interfering with such traffic during the period of the truce. the commissioners came to antwerp. the states-general assembled at bergen. on the th april, , the truce for twelve years was signed. this was its purport: the preamble recited that the most serene princes and archdukes, albert and isabella clara eugenic, had made, on the th april, , a truce and cessation of arms for eight months with the illustrious lords the states-general of the united provinces of the netherlands, in quality of, and as holding them for, states, provinces, and free countries, over which they pretended to nothing; which truce was ratified by his catholic majesty, as to that which concerned him, by letters patent of th september, ; and that, moreover, a special power had been given to the archdukes on the th january, , to enable them in the king's name as well as their own to do everything that they might think proper to bring about a peace or a truce of many years. it then briefly recited the rupture of the negotiations for peace, and the subsequent, proposition, originated by the foreign ambassadors, to renew the conference for the purpose of concluding a truce. the articles of the treaty thus agreed upon were: that the archdukes declared, as well in their own name as that of the king, that they were content to treat with the lords the states-general of the united provinces in quality of, and as holding them for, countries, provinces, and free states, over which they pretended to nothing, and to, make with them a truce on certain following conditions--to wit: that the truce should be good, firm, loyal, inviolable, and for the term of twelve years, during which time there was to be cessation of all acts of hostility between the king, archdukes, and states-general, as well by sea and other waters as by land, in all their kingdoms, countries, lands, and lordships, and for all their subjects and inhabitants of whatever quality and condition, without exception of places or of persons. that each party should remain seized of their respective possessions, and be not troubled therein during the truce. that the subjects and inhabitants of the respective countries should preserve amity and good correspondence during the truce, without referring to past offences, and should freely and securely entertain communication and traffic with each other by land and sea. this provision, however, was to be expressly understood as limited by the king to the kingdoms and countries possessed by him in europe, and in other places and seas where the subjects of other kings and princes, his friends and allies, have amicable traffic. in regard, however, to places, cities, ports, and harbours which he possessed outside of those limits, the states and their subjects were to exercise no traffic, without express permission of the king. they could, however, if they chose, trade with the countries of all other princes, potentates, and peoples who were willing to permit it; even outside those limits, without any hindrance by the king; that the truce should begin in regard to those distant countries after a year from date, unless actual notification could be sooner served there on those concerned; that the subjects of the united provinces should have the same liberty and privilege within the states of the king and archdukes as had been accorded to the subjects of the by the king of great britain, according to the last treaty made with that sovereign; that letters of marque and reprisal should not be granted during the truce, except for special cause, and in cases permitted by the laws and imperial constitutions, and according to the rules therein prescribed; that those who had retired into neutral territory during the war were also to enjoy the benefit of the truce, and could reside wherever they liked without being deprived of their property; that the treaty should be ratified by the archdukes and the states- general within four days. as to the ratification of the king, the archdukes were bound to deliver it in good and due form within three months, in order that the lords the states-general, their subjects and inhabitants, might enjoy effectively the fruits of the treaty; that the treaty should be published everywhere immediately after the ratification of the archdukes and states-general. this document was signed by the ambassadors of the kings of france and great britain, as mediators, and then by the deputies of the archdukes, and afterwards by those of the lords the states-general. there were thirty-eight articles in all, but the chief provisions have been indicated. the other clauses, relating to boundaries, confiscations, regulations of duties, frontier fortifications, the estates of the nassau family, and other sequestrated property, have no abiding interest. there was also a secret and special treaty which was demanded of the king of spain by the states-general, and by him accorded. this secret treaty consisted of a single clause. that clause was made up of a brief preamble and of a promise. the preamble recited textually article fourth of the public treaty relative to the india trade. the promise was to this effect. for the period of the truce the spanish commissioners pledged the faith of the king and of his successors that his majesty would cause no impediment, whether by sea or land, to the states nor their subjects, in the traffic that thereafter might be made in the countries of all princes, potentates, and peoples who might permit the same, in whatever place it might be, even without the limits designated, and everywhere else, nor similarly to those carrying on such traffic with them, and that the king and his successors would faithfully carry into effect everything thus laid, down, so that the said traffic should be free and secure, consenting even, in order that the clause might be the more authentic, that it should be considered as inserted in the principal treaty, and as making part thereof. it will be perceived that the first article of all, and the last or secret article, contained the whole marrow of the treaty. it may be well understood, therefore, with what wry faces the spanish plenipotentiaries ultimately signed the document. after two years and a quarter of dreary negotiation, the republic had carried all its points, without swerving a hair's breadth from the principles laid down in the beginning. the only concession made was that the treaty was for a truce of twelve years, and not for peace. but as after all, in those days, an interval of twelve years might be almost considered an eternity of peace, and as calling a peace perpetual can never make it so, the difference was rather one of phraseology than of fact. on the other hand, the states had extorted from their former sovereign a recognition of their independence. they had secured the india trade. they had not conceded catholic worship. mankind were amazed at this result--an event hitherto unknown in history. when before had a sovereign acknowledged the independence of his rebellious subjects, and signed a treaty with them as with equals? when before had spain, expressly or by implication, admitted that the east and west indies were not her private property, and that navigators to those regions, from other countries than her own, were not to be chastised as trespassers and freebooters? yet the liberty of the netherlands was acknowledged in terms which convinced the world that it was thenceforth an established fact. and india was as plainly expressed by the omission of the word, as if it had been engrossed in large capitals in article iv. the king's government might seek solace in syntax. they might triumph in cardinal bentivoglio's subtleties, and persuade themselves that to treat with the republic as a free nation was not to hold it for a free nation then and for ever. but the whole world knew that the republic really was free, and that it had treated, face to face, with its former sovereign, exactly as the kings of france or great britain, or the grand turk, might treat with him. the new commonwealth had taken its place among the nations of the earth. other princes and potentates made not the slightest difficulty in recognising it for an independent power and entering into treaties and alliances with it as with any other realm. to the republic the substantial blessing of liberty: to his catholic majesty the grammatical quirk. when the twelve years should expire, spain might reconquer the united provinces if she could; relying upon the great truth that an adverb was not a preposition. and france or great britain might attempt the same thing if either felt strong enough for the purpose. did as plausible a pretext as that ever fail to a state ambitious of absorbing its neighbours? jeannin was right enough in urging that this famous clause of recognition ought to satisfy both parties. if the united provinces, he said, happened not to have the best muskets and cannons on their side when it should once more come to blows, small help would they derive from verbal bulwarks and advantages in the text of treaties. richardot consoled himself with his quibbles; for quibbles were his daily bread. "thank god our truce is made," said he, "and we have only lost the sovereignty for twelve years, if after that we have the means or the will to resume the war--whatever don pedro de toledo may say." barneveld, on his part, was devoutly and soberly pleased with the result. "to-day we have concluded our negotiations for the truce," he wrote to aerssens. "we must pray to the lord god, and we must do our highest duty that our work may redound to his honour and glory, and to the nation's welfare. it is certain that men will make their criticisms upon it according to their humours. but those who love their country, and all honest people who know the condition of the land, will say that it is well done." thus modestly, religiously, and sincerely spoke a statesman, who felt that he had accomplished a great work, and that he had indeed brought the commonwealth through the tempest at last. the republic had secured the india trade. on this point the negotiators had taken refuge in that most useful figure of speech for hard-pressed diplomatists and law-makers--the ellipsis. they had left out the word india, and his catholic majesty might persuade himself that by such omission a hemisphere had actually been taken away from the dutch merchants and navigators. but the whole world saw that article iv. really contained both the east and west indies. it hardly needed the secret clause to make assurance doubly sure. president richardot was facetiously wont to observe that this point in the treaty was so obscure that he did not understand it himself. but he knew better. he understood it very well. the world understood it very well. the united provinces had throughout the negotiations ridiculde the idea of being excluded from any part of the old world or, the new by reason of the borgian grant. all the commissioners knew that the war would be renewed if any attempt were to be seriously made to put up those famous railings around the ocean, of which the dutch diplomatists spoke in such bitter scorn. the spanish plenipotentiaries, therefore, had insisted that the word itself should be left out, and that the republic should be forbidden access to territories subject to the crown of spain. so the hollanders were thenceforth to deal directly with the kings of sumatra and the moluccas, and the republics of banda, and all the rich commonwealths and principalities of nutmegs; cloves, and indigo, unless, as grew every day more improbable, the spaniards and portuguese could exclude them from that traffic by main force. and the orange flag of the republic was to float with equal facility over all america, from the isle of manhattan to the shores of brazil and the straits of magellan, provided philip had not ships and soldiers to vindicate with the sword that sovereignty which spanish swords and spanish genius had once acquired. as for the catholic worship, the future was to prove that liberty for the old religion and for all forms of religion was a blessing more surely to flow from the enlightened public sentiment of a free people emerging out of the most tremendous war for liberty ever waged, than from the stipulations of a treaty with a foreign power. it was characteristic enough of the parties engaged in the great political drama that the republic now requested from france and great britain a written recognition of its independence, and that both france and england refused. it was strange that the new commonwealth, in the very moment of extorting her freedom from the ancient tyranny, should be so unconscious of her strength as to think free papers from neutral powers a boon. as if the sign-manual of james and henry were a better guarantee than the trophies of the nassaus, of heemskerk, of matelieff, and of olden-barneveld! it was not strange that the two sovereigns should decline the proposition; for we well know the secret aspirations of each, and it was natural that they should be unwilling to sign a formal quit-claim, however improbable it might be that those dreams should ever become a reality. both powers, however, united in a guarantee of the truce. this was signed on the th june, and stipulated that, without their knowledge and consent, the states should make no treaty during the period of truce with the king of spain or the archdukes. on the other hand, in case of an infraction of the truce by the enemy, the two kings agreed to lend assistance to the states in the manner provided--by the treaties concluded with the republic previously to the negotiation of the truce. the treaty had been at once ratified by the states-general, assembled for the purpose with an extraordinary number of deputies at bergen-op-zoom. it was also ratified without delay by the archdukes. the delivery of the confirmation by his catholic majesty had been promised within three months after the signatures of the plenipotentiaries. it would however have been altogether inconsistent with the dignity and the traditions of the spanish court to fulfil this stipulation. it was not to be expected that "i the king" could be written either by the monarch himself, or by his alter ego the duke of lerma, in so short a time as a quarter of a year. several weeks accordingly went by after the expiration of the stated period. the ratification did not come, and the netherlanders began to be once more indignant. before the storm had risen very high, however, the despatches arrived. the king's signature was ante-dated th april, being thus brought within the term of three months, and was a thorough confirmation of what had been done by his plenipotentiaries. his majesty, however, expressed a hope that during the truce the states would treat their catholic subjects with kindness. certainly no exception could be taken to so reasonable an intimation as this. president jeannin, too, just before his departure, handed in to the states-general an eloquent appeal on behalf of the catholics of the netherlands; a paper which was not immediately made public. "consider the great number of catholics," he said, "in your territory, both in the cities and the country. remember that they have worked with you; spent their property, have been exposed to the same dangers, and have always kept their fidelity to the commonwealth inviolate as long as the war endured, never complaining that they did not enjoy liberty of religious worship, believing that you had thus, ordained because the public safety required such guaranty. but they always promised themselves, should the end of the war be happy, and should you be placed in the enjoyment of entire freedom, that they too would have some part in this good fortune, even as they had been sharers in the inconveniences, the expenses, and the perils of the war. "but those cannot be said to share in any enjoyment from whom has been taken the power of serving god according to the religion in which they were brought up. on the contrary, no slavery is more intolerable nor more exasperates the mind than such restraint. you know this well, my lords states; you know too that it was the principal, the most puissant cause that made you fly to arms and scorn all dangers, in order to effect your deliverance from this servitude. you know that it has excited similar movements in various parts of christendom, and even in the kingdom of france, with such fortunate success everywhere as to make it appear that god had so willed it, in order to prove that religion ought to be taught and inspired by the movements which come from the holy ghost, and not by the force of man. thus kings and princes should be induced by the evils and ruin which they and their subjects have suffered from this cause, as by a sentiment of their own interest, to take more care than has hitherto been taken to practise in good earnest those remedies which were wont to be used at a time when the church was in its greatest piety, in order to correct the abuses and errors which the corruption of mankind had tried to introduce as being the true and sole means of uniting all christians in one and the same creed." surely the world had made progress in these forty years of war. was it not something to gain for humanity, for intellectual advancement, for liberty of thought, for the true interests of religion, that a roman catholic, an ex-leaguer, a trusted representative of the immediate successor of charles ix. and henry iii., could stand up on the blood- stained soil of the netherlands and plead for liberty of conscience for all mankind? "those cannot be said to share in, any enjoyment from whom has been taken the power of serving god according to the religion in which they have been brought up. no slavery is more intolerable nor more exasperating to the mind than such restraint." most true, o excellent president! no axiom in mathematics is more certain than this simple statement. to prove its truth william the silent had lived and died. to prove it a falsehood, emperors, and kings, and priests, had issued bans, and curses, and damnable decrees. to root it out they had butchered, drowned, shot, strangled, poisoned, tortured, roasted alive, buried alive, starved, and driven mad, thousands and tens of thousands of their fellow creatures. and behold there had been almost a century of this work, and yet the great truth was not rooted out after all; and the devil-worshippers, who had sought at the outset of the great war to establish the holy inquisition in the netherlands upon the ruins of religious and political liberty, were overthrown at last and driven back into the pit. it was progress; it was worth all the blood and treasure which had been spilled, that, instead of the holy inquisition, there was now holy liberty of thought. that there should have been a party, that there should have been an individual here and there, after the great victory was won, to oppose the doctrine which the catholic president now so nobly advocated, would be enough to cause every believer in progress to hide his face in the dust, did we not know that the march of events was destined to trample such opposition out of existence, and had not history proved to us that the great lesson of the war was not to be rendered nought by the efforts of a few fanatics. religious liberty was the ripened and consummate fruit, and it could not but be gathered. "consider too," continued the president, "how much injury your refusal, if you give it, will cause to those of your religion in the places where they are the weakest, and where they are every day imploring with tears and lamentations the grace of those catholic sovereigns to whom they are subject, to enable them to enjoy the same religious liberty which our king is now demanding in favour of the catholics among you. do not cause it to come again into the minds of those sovereigns and their peoples, whom an inconsiderate zeal has often driven into violence and ferocity against protestants, that a war to compel the weakest to follow the religion of the strongest is just and lawful." had not something been gained for the world when this language was held by a catholic on the very spot where less than a half century before the whole population of the netherlands, men, women, and children, had been condemned to death by a foreign tyrant, for the simple reason that it was just, legal, and a christian duty to punish the weak for refusing to follow the religion of the strong? "as for the perils which some affect to fear," said jeannin, further, "if this liberty of worship is accorded, experience teaches us every day that diversity of religion is not the cause of the ruin of states, and that a government does not cease to be good, nor its subjects to live in peace and friend ship with one another, rendering due obedience to the laws and to their, rulers as well as if they had all been of the same religion, without having another thought, save for the preservation of the dignity and grandeur of the state in which god had caused them to be born. the danger is not in the permission, but in the prohibition of religious liberty." all this seems commonplace enough to us on the western side of the atlantic, in the middle of the nineteenth century, but it would have been rank blasphemy in new england in the middle of the seventeenth, many years after jeannin spoke. it was a horrible sound, too, in the ears of some of his audience. to the pretence so often urged by the catholic persecutors, and now set up by their calvinistic imitators; that those who still clung to the old religion were at liberty to depart from the land, the president replied with dignified scorn. "with what justice," he asked, "can you drive into, exile people who have committed no offence, and who have helped to conquer the very country from which you would now banish them? if you do drive them away, you will make solitudes in your commonwealth, which will, be the cause of evils such as i prefer that you should reflect upon without my declaring them now. although these reasons," he continued, "would seem sufficient to induce you to accord the free and public exercise of the catholic religion, the king, not hoping as much as that, because aware that you are not disposed to go so far, is content to request only this grace in behalf of the catholics, that you will tolerate them, and suffer them to have some exercise of their religion within their own households, without interference or inquiry on that account, and without execution of the rigorous decrees heretofore enforced against them." certainly if such wholesome, moderate, and modest counsels as these had been rejected, it would have been sound doctrine to proclaim that the world did not move. and there were individuals enough, even an influential party, prepared to oppose them for both technical and practical reasons. and the cause of intolerance derived much warmth and comfort at this juncture from that great luminary of theology and political philosophy, the king of great britain. direful and solemn were the warnings uttered by james to the republic against permitting the old religion, or any religion save his own religion, to obtain the slightest foothold within her borders. "let the religion be taught and preached in its parity throughout your provinces without the least mixture," said sir ralph winwood, in the name of his sovereign. "on this foundation the justice of your cause is built. there is but one verity. those who are willing to tolerate any religion, whatever it may be, and try to make you believe that liberty for both is necessary in your commonwealth, are paving the way towards atheism." such were the counsels of king james to the united states of the netherlands against harbouring catholics. a few years later he was casting forth calvinists from his own dominions as if they had been lepers; and they went forth on their weary pilgrimage to the howling wilderness of north america, those exiled calvinists, to build a greater republic than had ever been dreamed of before on this planet; and they went forth, not to preach, but in their turn to denounce toleration and to hang heretics. "he who would tolerate another religion that his own may be tolerated, would if need be, hang god's bible at the devil's girdle." so spoke an early massachusetts pilgrim, in the very spirit, almost the very words of the royal persecutor; who had driven him into outer darkness beyond the seas. he had not learned the lesson of the mighty movement in which he was a pioneer, any more than gomarus or uytenbogaart had comprehended why the dutch republic had risen. yet the founders of the two commonwealths, the united states of the seventeenth and of the nineteenth centuries, although many of them fiercely intolerant, through a natural instinct of resistance, not only to the oppressor but to the creed of the oppressor, had been breaking out the way, not to atheism, as king james believed, but to the only garden in which christianity can perennially flourish--religious liberty. those most ardent and zealous path-finders may be forgiven, in view of the inestimable benefits conferred by them upon humanity, that they did not travel on their own road. it should be sufficient for us, if we make due use of their great imperishable work ourselves; and if we never cease rendering thanks to the omnipotent, that there is at least one great nation on the globe where the words toleration and dissenter have no meaning whatever. for the dutch fanatics of the reformed church, at the moment of the truce, to attempt to reverse the course of events, and to shut off the mighty movement of the great revolt from its destined expanse, was as hopeless a dream as to drive back the rhine, as it reached the ocean, into the narrow channel of the rheinwald glacier whence it sprang. the republic became the refuge for the oppressed of all nations, where jews and gentiles, catholics, calvinists, and anabaptistis, prayed after their own manner to the same god and father. it was too much, however, to hope that passions which had been so fiercely bubbling during fifty years would subside at once, and that the most intense religious hatreds that ever existed would exhale with the proclamation of truce. the march of humanity is rarely rapid enough to keep pace with the leaders in its most sublime movements, and it often happens that its chieftains are dwarfed in the estimation of the contemporaneous vulgar, by the very distance at which they precede their unconscious followers. but even if the progress of the human mind towards the truth is fated to be a spiral one, as if to remind us that mankind is of the earth, earthy--a worm in the dust while inhabiting this lower sphere--it is at least a consolation to reflect upon the gradual advancement of the intellect from age to age. the spirit of torquemada, of charles, of philip, of titelmann, is even now not extinct on this globe, but there are counter forces at work, which must ultimately blast it into insignificance. at the moment of the great truce, that evil spirit was not exorcised from the human breast, but the number of its victims and the intensity of its influence had already miraculously diminished. the truce was made and announced all over the netherlands by the ringing of bells, the happy discharge of innocent artillery, by illuminations, by te deums in all the churches. papist and presbyterian fell on their knees in every grand cathedral or humblest village church, to thank god that what had seemed the eternal butchery was over. the inhabitants of the united and of the obedient netherlands rushed across the frontiers into a fraternal embrace; like the meeting of many waters when the flood- gates are lifted. it was pity that the foreign sovereignty, established at brussels, could not then and there have been for ever swept away, and self-government and beneficent union extended over all the seventeen netherlands, walloon and flemish, catholic and reformed. but it hardly needs a word to show that the course of events had created a deeper chasm between the two sections than the gravest physical catastrophe could have produced. the opposing cliffs which religious hatred had rent asunder, and between which it seemed destined to flow for ever, seemed very close, and yet eternally separated. the great war had established the republic; and apparently doomed the obedient netherlands to perpetual servitude. there were many details of minor importance to be settled between the various governments involved in these great transactions; but this history draws to its predestined close, and it is necessary to glide rapidly over matters which rather belong to a later epoch than the one now under consideration. the treaty between the republic and the government of great britain, according to which each was to assist the other in case of war with four thousand troops and twenty ships of war, was confirmed in the treaty of truce. the debt of the united provinces to the crown of england was definitely reckoned at , , florins, and it was settled by the truce that , florins should be paid semi-annually, to begin with the year , until the whole debt should be discharged. the army establishment of the republic was fixed during the truce at thirty thousand infantry and three thousand horse. this was a reduction from the war footing of fifteen thousand men. of the force retained, four thousand were a french legion maintained by the king, two thousand other french at the expense of the states, and distributed among other troops, two thousand scotch, three thousand english, three thousand germans. the rest were native netherlanders, among whom, however, were very few hollanders and zeelanders, from which races the navy, both public and mercantile, was almost wholly supplied. the revenue of the united provinces was estimated at between seven and eight millions of florins. it is superfluous to call attention again to the wonderful smallness of the means, the minuteness of the physical enginry, as compared with more modern manifestations, especially in our own land and epoch, by which so stupendous a result had been reached. in the midst of an age in which regal and sacerdotal despotism had seemed as omnipotent and irreversible as the elemental laws of the universe, the republic had been reproduced. a commonwealth of sand-banks, lagoons, and meadows, less than fourteen thousand square miles in extent, had done battle, for nearly half a century, with the greatest of existing powers, a realm whose territory was nearly a third of the globe, and which claimed universal monarchy. and this had been done with an army averaging forty-six thousand men, half of them foreigners hired by the job, and by a sea-faring population, volunteering into ships of every class and denomination, from a fly-boat to a galleot of war. and when the republic had won its independence, after this almost eternal warfare, it owed four or five millions of dollars, and had sometimes an annual revenue of nearly that amount. it was estimated by barneveld, at the conclusion of the truce, that the interest on the public debt of spain was about thrice the amount of the yearly income of the republic, and it was characteristic of the financial ideas of the period, that fears were entertained lest a total repudiation of that burthen by the spanish government would enable it to resume the war against the provinces with redoubled energy. the annual salary of prince maurice, who was to see his chief occupation gone by the cessation of the war, was fixed by the states at , florins. it was agreed, that in case of his marriage he should receive a further yearly sum of , florins, and this addition was soon afterwards voted to him outright, it being obvious that the prince would remain all his days a bachelor. count frederic henry likewise received a military salary of , florins, while the emoluments of lewis william were placed at , florins a year. it must be admitted that the republic was grateful. , dollars a year, in the seventeenth century, not only for life, but to be inherited afterwards by his younger brother, frederic henry, was surely a munificent sum to be accorded from the puny exchequer of the states- general to the chief magistrate of the nation. the mighty transatlantic republic, with its population of thirty or forty millions, and its revenue of five hundred millions of dollars, pays , dollars annually for its president during his four years of office, and this in the second half of the nineteenth century, when a dollar is worth scarcely one-fifth of its value two hundred and fifty years ago. surely here is improvement, both in the capacity to produce and in the power to save. in the year , died john, the last sovereign of cleves and juliers, and jacob arminius, doctor of divinity at leyden. it would be difficult to imagine two more entirely dissimilar individuals of the human family than this lunatic duke and that theological professor. and yet, perhaps, the two names, more concisely than those of any other mortals, might serve as an index to the ghastly chronicle over which a coming generation was to shudder. the death of the duke was at first thought likely to break off the negotiations for truce. the states-general at once declared that they would permit no movements on the part of the spanish party to seize the inheritance in behalf of the catholic claimants. prince maurice, nothing loth to make use of so well-timed an event in order to cut for ever the tangled skein at the hague, was for marching forthwith into the duchies. but the archdukes gave such unequivocal assurances of abstaining from interference, and the desire for peace was so strong both in the obedient and in the united provinces, that the question of the duchies was postponed. it was to serve as both torch and fuel for one of the longest and most hideous tragedies that had ever disgraced humanity. a thirty years' war of demons was, after a brief interval, to succeed the forty years' struggle between slaves and masters, which had just ended in the recognition of dutch independence. the gentle arminius was in his grave, but a bloody harvest was fast ripening from the seeds which he had sown. that evil story must find its place in the melancholy chapter where the fortunes of the dutch republic are blended with the grim chronicle of the thirty years' war. until the time arrives for retracing the course of those united transactions to their final termination in the peace of westphalia, it is premature to characterize an epoch which, at the moment with which we are now occupied, had not fairly begun. the gomarites accused the arminians of being more lax than papists, and of filling the soul of man with vilest arrogance and confidence in good works; while the arminians complained that the god of the gomarites was an unjust god, himself the origin of sin. the disputes on these themes had been perpetual in the provinces ever since the early days of the reformation. of late, however, the acrimony of theological conflict had been growing day by day more intense. it was the eternal struggle of religious dogma to get possession of the state, and to make use of political forces in order to put fetters on the human soul; to condemn it to slavery where most it requires freedom. the conflict between gomarus and arminius proceeded with such ferocity in leyden, that, since the days of the memorable siege, to which the university owed its origin, men's minds had never been roused to such feverish anxiety: the theological cannonades, which thundered daily from the college buildings and caused all holland to quake, seemed more appalling to the burghers than the enginry of valdez and boisot had ever seemed to their fathers. the gomarite doctrine gained most favour with the clergy, the arminian creed with the municipal magistracies. the magistrates claimed that decisions concerning religious matters belonged to the supreme authority. the gomarites contended that sacred matters should be referred to synods of the clergy. here was the germ of a conflict which might one day shake the republic to its foundations. barneveld, the great leader of the municipal, party, who loved political power quite as well as he loved his country; was naturally a chieftain of the arminians; for church, matters were no more separated from political matters in the commonwealth at that moment than they were in the cabinets of henry, james, or philip. it was inevitable therefore that the war party should pour upon his head more than seven vials of theological wrath. the religious doctrines which he espoused were, odious not only because they were deemed vile in themselves but because he believed in them. arminianism was regarded as a new and horrible epidemic, daily gaining ground, and threatening to destroy the whole population. men deliberated concerning the best means to cut off communication with the infected regions, and to extirpate the plague even by desperate and heroic remedies, as men in later days take measures against the cholera or the rinderpest. theological hatred was surely not extinct in the netherlands. it was a consolation, however, that its influence was rendered less noxious by the vastly increased strength of principles long dormant in the atmosphere. anna van der hoven, buried alive in brussels, simply because her calvinistic creed was a crime in the eyes of the monks who murdered her, was the last victim to purely religious persecution. if there were one day to be still a tragedy or two in the netherlands it was inevitable that theological hatred would be obliged to combine with political party spirit in its most condensed form before any deadly effect could be produced. thus the year is a memorable one in the world's history. it forms a great landmark in human progress. it witnessed the recognition of a republic, powerful in itself, and whose example was destined to be most influential upon the career of two mighty commonwealths of the future. the british empire, just expanding for wider flight than it had hitherto essayed, and about to pass through a series of vast revolutions, gathering strength of wing as it emerged from cloud after cloud; and the american republic, whose frail and obscure beginnings at that very instant of time scarcely attracted a passing attention from the contemporaneous world--both these political organisms, to which so much of mankind's future liberties had been entrusted, were deeply indebted to the earlier self-governing commonwealth. the dutch republic was the first free nation to put a girdle of empire around the earth. it had courage, enterprise, intelligence, perseverance, faith in itself, the instinct of self-government and self- help, hatred of tyranny, the disposition to domineer, aggressiveness, greediness, inquisitiveness, insolence, the love of science, of liberty, and of money--all this in unlimited extent. it had one great defect, it had no country. upon that meagre standing ground its hand had moved the world with an impulse to be felt through all the ages, but there was not soil enough in those fourteen thousand, square miles to form the metropolis of the magnificent empire which the genius of liberty had created beyond the seas. that the political institutions bequeathed by the united states of the seventeenth century have been vastly improved, both in theory and practice, by the united states of the nineteenth, no american is likely to gainsay. that the elder republic showed us also what to avoid, and was a living example of the perils besetting a confederacy which dared not become a union, is a lesson which we might take closely to heart. but the year was not only memorable as marking an epoch in dutch history. it was the beginning of a great and universal pause. the world had need of rest. disintegration had been going on too rapidly, and it was absolutely necessary that there should be a new birth, if civilization were not to vanish. a twenty years' truce between the turkish and holy roman empires was nearly simultaneous with the twelve years' truce between spain and the united provinces. the emperor rudolph having refused to ratify the treaty which his brother matthias had made, was in consequence partially discrowned. the same archduke who, thirty years before, had slipped away from vienna in his nightgown; with his face blackened, to outwit and outgeneral william the silent at brussels, was now--more successful in his manoeuvres against his imperial brother. standing at the head of his army in battle array, in the open fields before the walls of prague, he received--from the unfortunate rudolph the crown and regalia of hungary, and was by solemn treaty declared sovereign of that ancient and chivalrous kingdom. his triumphal entrance into vienna succeeded, where, surrounded by great nobles and burghers, with his brother maximilian at his side, with immense pomp and with flowers strewn before his feet, he ratified that truce with ahmed which rudolph had rejected. three months later he was crowned at pressburg, having first accepted the conditions proposed by the estates of hungary. foremost among these was the provision that the exercise of the reformed religion should be free in all the cities and villages beneath his sceptre, and that every man in the kingdom was to worship god according to his conscience. in the following march, at the very moment accordingly when the conclusive negotiations were fast ripening at antwerp, matthias granted religious peace for austria likewise. great was the indignation of his nephew leopold, the nuncius, and the spanish ambassador in consequence, by each and all of whom the revolutionary mischief-maker, with his brother's crown on his head, was threatened with excommunication. as for ferdinand of styria, his wrath may well be imagined. he refused religious peace in his dominions with scorn ineffable. not gomarus in leyden could have shrunk from arminianism with more intense horror than that with which the archduke at gratz recoiled from any form of protestantism. he wrote to his brother-in-law the king of spain and to other potentates--as if the very soul of philip ii. were alive within him--that he would rather have a country without inhabitants than with a single protestant on its soil. he strongly urged upon his catholic majesty--as if such urging were necessary at the spanish court--the necessity of extirpating heresy, root and branch. here was one man at least who knew what he meant, and on whom the dread lessons of fifty years of bloodshed had been lost. magnificent was the contempt which this pupil of the jesuits felt for any little progress made by the world since the days of torquemada. in ferdinand's view alva was a christian hero, scarcely second to godfrey of bouillon, philip ii. a sainted martyr, while the dutch republic had never been born. and ferdinand was one day to sit on the throne of the holy roman empire. might not a shudder come over the souls of men as coming events vaguely shaped themselves to prophetic eyes? meantime there was religious peace in hungary, in austria, in bohemia, in france, in great britain, in the netherlands. the hangman's hands were for a period at rest, so far as theology had need of them. butchery in the name of christ was suspended throughout christendom. the cross and the crescent, santiago and the orange banner, were for a season in repose. there was a vast lull between two mighty storms. the forty years' war was in the past, the thirty years' war in the not far distant future. chapter liii. conclusion. forth-three years had passed since the memorable april morning in which the great nobles of the, netherlands presented their "request" to the regent margaret at brussels. they had requested that the holy spanish inquisition might not be established on their soil to the suppression of all their political and religious institutions. the war which those high-born "beggars" had then kindled, little knowing what they were doing, had now come to a close, and the successor of philip ii., instead of planting the inquisition in the provinces, had recognised them as an independent, sovereign, protestant republic. in the ratification which he had just signed of the treaty of truce the most catholic king had in his turn made a request. he had asked the states-general to deal kindly with their catholic subjects. that request was not answered with the age and faggot; with the avenging sword of mercenary legions. on the contrary, it was destined to be granted. the world had gained something in forty-three years. it had at least begun to learn that the hangman is not the most appropriate teacher of religion. during the period of apparent chaos with which this history of the great revolt has been occupied, there had in truth been a great reorganization, a perfected new birth. the republic had once more appeared in the world. its main characteristics have been indicated in the course of the narrative, for it was a polity which gradually unfolded itself out of the decay and change of previous organisms. it was, as it were, in their own despite and unwittingly that the united provinces became a republic at all. in vain, after originally declaring their independence of the ancient tyrant, had they attempted to annex themselves to france and to england. the sovereignty had been spurned. the magnificent prize which france for centuries since has so persistently coveted, and the attainment of which has been a cardinal point of her perpetual policy--the low countries and the banks of the rhine--was deliberately laid at her feet, and as deliberately refused. it was the secret hope of the present monarch to repair the loss which the kingdom had suffered through the imbecility of his two immediate predecessors. but a great nation cannot with impunity permit itself to be despotically governed for thirty years by lunatics. it was not for the bearnese, with all his valour, his wit, and his duplicity, to obtain the prize which charles ix. and henry iii. had thrown away. yet to make himself sovereign of the netherlands was his guiding but most secret thought during all the wearisome and tortuous negotiations which preceded the truce; nor did he abandon the great hope with the signature of the treaty of . maurice of nassau too was a formidable rival to henry. the stadholder- prince was no republican. he was a good patriot, a noble soldier, an honest man. but his father had been offered the sovereignty of holland and zeeland, and the pistol of balthasar gerard had alone, in all human probability, prevented the great prince from becoming constitutional monarch of all the netherlands, batavian and belgic. maurice himself asserted that not only had he been offered a million of dollars, and large estates besides in germany, if he would leave the provinces to their fate, but that the archdukes had offered, would he join his fortunes with theirs, to place him in a higher position over all the netherlands than he had ever enjoyed in the united provinces, and that they had even unequivocally offered him the sovereignty over the whole land. maurice was a man of truth, and we have no right to dispute the accuracy of the extraordinary statement. he must however have reflected upon the offer once made by the prince of darkness from the mountain top, and have asked himself by what machinery the archdukes proposed to place him in possession of such a kingdom. there had, however, been serious question among leading dutch statesmen of making him constitutional, hereditary monarch of the united netherlands. as late as a secret conference was held at the house of olden-barneveld, in which the advocate had himself urged the claims of the prince to the sovereignty, and reminded his guests that the signed and sealed documents--with the concurrence of the amsterdam municipality alone lacking--by which william the silent had been invited to assume the crown were still in the possession of his son. nothing came of these deliberations. it was agreed that to stir in the matter at that moment would be premature, and that the pursuit by maurice of the monarchy in the circumstances then existing would not only over- burthen him with expense, but make him a more conspicuous mark than ever for the assassin. it is certain that the prince manifested no undue anxiety at any period in regard to those transactions. subsequently, as olden-barneveld's personal power increased, and as the negotiations for peace became more and more likely to prove successful, the advocate lost all relish for placing his great rival on a throne. the whole project, with the documents and secret schemes therewith connected, became mere alms for oblivion. barneveld himself, although of comparatively humble birth and station, was likely with time to exercise more real power in the state than either henry or maurice; and thus while there were three individuals who in different ways aspired to supreme power, the republic, notwithstanding, asserted and established itself. freedom of government and freedom, of religion were, on the whole, assisted by this triple antagonism. the prince, so soon as war was over, hated the advocate and his daily increasing power more and more. he allied himself more closely than ever with the gomarites and the clerical party in general, and did his best to inflame the persecuting spirit, already existing in the provinces, against the catholics and the later sects of protestants. jeannin warned him that "by thus howling with the priests" he would be suspected of more desperately ambitious designs than he perhaps really cherished. on the other hand, barneveld was accused of a willingness to wink at the introduction, privately and quietly, of the roman catholic worship. that this was the deadliest of sins, there was no doubt whatever in the minds of his revilers. when it was added that he was suspected of the arminian leprosy, and that he could tolerate the thought that a virtuous man or woman, not predestined from all time for salvation, could possibly find the way to heaven, language becomes powerless to stigmatize his depravity. whatever the punishment impending over his head in this world or the next, it is certain that the cause of human freedom was not destined on the whole to lose ground through the life-work of barneveld. a champion of liberties rather than of liberty, he defended his fatherland with heart and soul against the stranger; yet the government of that fatherland was, in his judgments to be transferred from the hand of the foreigner, not to the self-governing people, but to the provincial corporations. for the people he had no respect, and perhaps little affection. he often spoke of popular rights with contempt. of popular sovereignty he had no conception. his patriotism, like his ambition, was provincial. yet his perceptions as to eternal necessity in all healthy governments taught him that comprehensible relations between the state and the population were needful to the very existence of a free commonwealth. the united provinces, he maintained, were not a republic, but a league of seven provinces very loosely hung together, a mere provisional organization for which it was not then possible to substitute anything better. he expressed this opinion with deep regret, just as the war of independence was closing, and added his conviction that, without some well-ordered government, no republic could stand. yet, as time wore on, the advocate was destined to acquiesce more and more in this defective constitution. a settled theory there was none, and it would have been difficult legally and historically to establish the central sovereignty of the states-general as matter of right. thus barneveld, who was anything but a democrat, became, almost unwittingly, the champion of the least venerable or imposing of all forms of aristocracy--an oligarchy of traders who imagined themselves patricians. corporate rights, not popular liberty, seemed, in his view, the precious gains made by such a prodigious expenditure of time, money, and blood. although such acquisitions were practically a vast addition to the stock of human freedom then existing in the world, yet torrents of blood and millions of treasure were to be wasted in the coming centuries before mankind was to convince itself that a republic is only to be made powerful and perpetual by placing itself upon the basis of popular right rather than on that of municipal privilege. the singular docility of the dutch people, combined with the simplicity, honesty, and practical sagacity of the earlier burgher patricians, made the defects of the system tolerable for a longer period than might have been expected; nor was it until theological dissensions had gathered to such intensity as to set the whole commonwealth aflame that the grave defects in the political structure could be fairly estimated. it would be anticipating a dark chapter in the history of the united provinces were the reader's attention now to be called to those fearful convulsions. the greatest reserve is therefore necessary at present in alluding to the subject. it was not to be expected that an imperious, energetic but somewhat limited nature like that of barneveld should at that epoch thoroughly comprehend the meaning of religious freedom. william the silent alone seems to have risen to that height. a conscientious calvinist himself, the father of his country would have been glad to see protestant and papist, lutheran, presbyterian, and anabaptist living together in harmony and political equality. this was not to be. the soul of the immortal prince could not inspire the hearts of his contemporaries. that barneveld was disposed to a breadth of religious sympathy unusual in those days, seems certain. it was inevitable, too, that the mild doctrines of arminius should be more in harmony with such a character than were the fierce dogmas of calvin. but the struggle, either to force arminianism upon the church which considered itself the established one in the netherlands, or to expel the calvinists from it, had not yet begun; although the seeds of religious persecution of protestants by protestants had already been sown broadcast. the day was not far distant when the very calvinists, to whom, more than to any other class of men, the political liberties of holland, england, and america are due, were to be hunted out of churches into farm-houses, suburban hovels, and canal-boats by the arm of provincial sovereignty and in the name of state-rights, as pitilessly as the early reformers had been driven out of cathedrals in the name of emperor and pope; and when even those refuges for conscientious worship were to be denied by the dominant sect. and the day was to come, too, when the calvinists, regaining ascendency in their turn, were to hunt the heterodox as they had themselves been hunted; and this, at the very moment when their fellow calvinists of england were driven by the church of that kingdom into the american wilderness. toleration--that intolerable term of insult to all who love liberty--had not yet been discovered. it had scarcely occurred to arminian or presbyterian that civil authority and ecclesiastical doctrine could be divorced from each other. as the individual sovereignty of the seven states established itself more and more securely, the right of provincial power to dictate religious dogmas, and to superintend the popular conscience, was exercised with a placid arrogance which papal infallibility could scarcely exceed. the alternation was only between the sects, each in its turn becoming orthodox, and therefore persecuting. the lessened intensity of persecution however, which priesthood and authority were now allowed to exercise, marked the gains secured. yet while we censure--as we have a right to do from the point of view which we have gained after centuries--the crimes committed by bigotry against liberty, we should be false, to our faith in human progress did we not acknowledge our debt of gratitude to the hot gospellers of holland and england. the doctrine of predestination, the consciousness of being chosen soldiers of christ, inspired those puritans, who founded the commonwealths of england, of holland, and of america, with a contempt of toil, danger, and death which enabled them to accomplish things almost supernatural. no uncouthness of phraseology, no unlovely austerity of deportment, could, except to vulgar minds, make that sublime enthusiasm ridiculous, which on either side the ocean ever confronted tyranny with dauntless front, and welcomed death on battle-field, scaffold, or rack with perfect composure. the early puritan at least believed. the very intensity of his belief made him--all unconsciously to himself, and narrowed as was his view of his position--the great instrument by which the widest human liberty was to be gained for all mankind. the elected favourite of the king of kings feared the power of no earthly king. accepting in rapture the decrees of a supernatural tyranny, he rose on mighty wings above the reach of human wrath. prostrating himself before a god of vengeance, of jealousy, and of injustice, be naturally imitated the attributes which he believed to be divine. it was inevitable, therefore, that barneveld, and those who thought with him, when they should attempt to force the children of belial into the company of the elect and to drive the faithful out of their own churches, should be detested as bitterly as papists had ever been. had barneveld's intellect been broad enough to imagine in a great republic the separation of church and state, he would deserve a tenderer sympathy, but he would have been far in advance of his age. it is not cheerful to see so powerful an intellect and so patriotic a character daring to entrust the relations between man and his maker to the decree of a trading corporation. but alas! the world was to wait for centuries until it should learn that the state can best defend religion by letting it alone, and that the political arm is apt to wither with palsy when it attempts to control the human conscience. it is not entirely the commonwealth of the united netherlands that is of importance in the epoch which i have endeavoured to illustrate. history can have neither value nor charm for those who are not impressed with a conviction of its continuity. more than ever during the period which we call modern history has this idea of the continuousness of our race, and especially of the inhabitants of europe and america, become almost oppressive to the imagination. there is a sense of immortality even upon earth when we see the succession of heritages in the domains of science, of intellectual and material wealth by which mankind, generation after generation, is enriching itself. if this progress be a dream, if mankind be describing a limited circle instead of advancing towards the infinite; then no study can be more contemptible than the study of history. few strides more gigantic have been taken in the march of humanity than those by which a parcel of outlying provinces in the north of europe exchanged slavery to a foreign despotism and to the holy inquisition for the position of a self-governing commonwealth, in the, front rank of contemporary powers, and in many respects the foremost of the world. it is impossible to calculate the amount of benefit tendered to civilization by the example of the dutch republic. it has been a model which has been imitated, in many respects, by great nations. it has even been valuable in its very defects; indicating to the patient observer many errors most important to avoid. therefore, had the little republic sunk for ever in the sea so soon as the treaty of peace had been signed at antwerp, its career would have been prolific of good for all succeeding time. exactly at the moment when a splendid but decaying despotism, founded upon wrong--upon oppression of the human body and the immortal soul, upon slavery, in short, of the worst kind--was awaking from its insane dream of universal empire to a consciousness of its own decay, the new republic was recognised among the nations. it would hardly be incorrect to describe the holland of the beginning of the seventeenth century as the exact reverse of spain. in, the commonwealth labour was most honourable; in the kingdom it was vile. in the north to be idle was accounted and punished as a crime. in the southern peninsula, to be contaminated with mechanical, mercantile, commercial, manufacturing pursuits, was to be accursed. labour was for slaves, and at last the mere spectacle of labour became so offensive that even the slaves were expelled from the land. to work was as degrading in the south as to beg or to steal was esteemed unworthy of humanity in the north. to think a man's thought upon high matters of religion and government, and through a thousand errors to pursue the truth; with the aid of the most high and with the best use of human reason, was a privilege secured by the commonwealth, at the expense of two generations of continuous bloodshed. to lie fettered, soul and body, at the feet of authority wielded by a priesthood in its last stage of corruption, and monarchy almost reduced to imbecility, was the lot of the chivalrous, genial; but much oppressed spaniard. the pictures painted of the republic by shrewd and caustic observers, not inclined by nature or craft to portray freedom in too engaging colours, seem, when contrasted with those revealed of spain, almost like enthusiastic fantasies of an ideal commonwealth. during the last twenty years of the great war the material prosperity of the netherlands had wonderfully increased. they had, become the first commercial nation in the world. they had acquired the supremacy of the seas. the population of amsterdam had in twenty years increased from seventy thousand to a hundred and thirty thousand, and was destined to be again more than doubled in the coming decade. the population of antwerp had sunk almost as rapidly as that of its rival had increased; having lessened by fifty thousand during the same period. the commercial capital of the obedient provinces, having already lost much of its famous traffic by the great changes in the commercial current of the world, was unable to compete with the cities of the united provinces in the vast trade which the geographical discoveries of the preceding century had opened to civilization. freedom of thought and action were denied, and without such liberty it was impossible for oceanic commerce to thrive. moreover, the possession by the hollanders of the scheld forts below antwerp, and of flushing at the river's mouth, suffocated the ancient city, and would of itself have been sufficient to paralyze all its efforts. in antwerp the exchange, where once thousands of the great merchants of the earth held their daily financial parliament, now echoed to the solitary footfall of the passing stranger. ships lay rotting at the quays; brambles grow in the commercial streets. in amsterdam the city had been enlarged by two-thirds, and those who swarmed thither to seek their fortunes could not wait for the streets to be laid out and houses to be built, but established themselves in the environs, building themselves hovels and temporary residences, although certain to find their encampments swept away with the steady expanse of the city. as much land as could be covered by a man's foot was worth a ducat in gold. in every branch of human industry these republicans took the lead. on that scrap of solid ground, rescued by human energy from the ocean, were the most fertile pastures in the world. on those pastures grazed the most famous cattle in the world. an ox often weighed more than two thousand pounds. the cows produced two and three calves at a time, the sheep four and five lambs. in a single village four thousand kine were counted. butter and cheese were exported to the annual value of a million, salted provisions to an incredible extent. the farmers were industrious, thriving, and independent. it is an amusing illustration of the agricultural thrift and republican simplicity of this people that on one occasion a farmer proposed to prince maurice that he should marry his daughter, promising with her a dowry of a hundred thousand florins. the mechanical ingenuity of the netherlanders, already celebrated by julius caesar and by tacitus, had lost nothing of its ancient fame. the contemporary world confessed that in many fabrics the hollanders were at the head of mankind. dutch linen, manufactured of the flax grown on their own fields or imported from the obedient provinces, was esteemed a fitting present for kings to make and to receive. the name of the country had passed into the literature of england as synonymous with the delicate fabric itself. the venetians confessed themselves equalled, if not outdone, by the crystal workers and sugar refiners of the northern republic. the tapestries of arras--the name of which walloon city had become a household word of luxury in all modern languages--were now transplanted to the soil of freedom, more congenial to the advancement of art. brocades of the precious metals; splendid satins and velvets; serges and homely fustians; laces of thread and silk; the finer and coarser manufactures of clay and porcelain; iron, steel, and all useful fabrics for the building and outfitting of ships; substantial broadcloths manufactured of wool imported from scotland--all this was but a portion of the industrial production of the provinces. they supplied the deficiency of coal, not then an article readily obtained by commerce, with other remains of antediluvian forests long since buried in the sea, and now recovered from its depths and made useful and portable by untiring industry. peat was not only the fuel for the fireside, but for the extensive fabrics of the country, and its advantages so much excited the admiration of the venetian envoys that they sent home samples of it, in the hope that the lagunes of venice might prove as prolific of this indispensable article as the polders of holland. but the foundation of the national wealth, the source of the apparently fabulous power by which the republic had at last overthrown her gigantic antagonist, was the ocean. the republic was sea-born and sea-sustained. she had nearly one hundred thousand sailors, and three thousand ships. the sailors were the boldest, the best disciplined, and the most experienced in the-world, whether for peaceable seafaring or ocean warfare. the ships were capable of furnishing from out of their number in time of need the most numerous and the best appointed navy then known to mankind. the republic had the carrying trade for all nations. feeling its very existence dependent upon commerce, it had strode centuries in advance of the contemporary world in the liberation of trade. but two or three per cent. ad valorem was levied upon imports; foreign goods however being subject, as well as internal products, to heavy imposts in the way of both direct and indirect taxation. every article of necessity or luxury known was to be purchased in profusion and at reasonable prices in the warehouses of holland. a swarm of river vessels and fly-boats were coming daily through the rivers of germany, france and the netherlands, laden with the agricultural products and the choice manufactures of central and western europe. wine and oil, and delicate fabrics in thread and wool, came from france, but no silks, velvets, nor satins; for the great sully had succeeded in persuading his master that the white mulberry would not grow in his kingdom, and that silk manufactures were an impossible dream for france. nearly a thousand ships were constantly employed in the baltic trade. the forests of holland were almost as extensive as those which grew on norwegian hills, but they were submerged. the foundation of a single mansion required a grove, and wood was extensively used in the superstructure. the houses, built of a framework of substantial timber, and filled in with brick or rubble, were raised almost as rapidly as tents, during the prodigious expansion of industry towards the end of the war. from the realms of the osterlings, or shores of the baltic, came daily fleets laden with wheat and other grains so that even in time of famine the granaries of the republic were overflowing, and ready to dispense the material of life to the outer world. eight hundred vessels of lesser size but compact build were perpetually fishing for herrings on the northern coasts. these hardy mariners, the militia of the sea, who had learned in their life of hardship and daring the art of destroying spanish and portuguese armadas, and confronting the dangers of either pole, passed a long season on the deep. commercial voyagers as well as fishermen, they salted their fish as soon as taken from the sea, and transported them to the various ports of europe, thus reducing their herrings into specie before their return, and proving that a fishery in such hands was worth more than the mines of mexico and peru. it is customary to speak of the natural resources of a country as furnishing a guarantee of material prosperity. but here was a republic almost without natural resources, which had yet supplied by human intelligence and thrift what a niggard nature had denied. spain was overflowing with unlimited treasure, and had possessed half the world in fee; and spain was bankrupt, decaying, sinking into universal pauperism. holland, with freedom of thought, of commerce, of speech, of action, placed itself, by intellectual power alone, in the front rank of civilization. from cathay, from the tropical coasts of africa, and from farthest ind, came every drug, spice, or plant, every valuable jewel, every costly fabric, that human ingenuity had discovered or created. the spaniards, maintaining a frail tenure upon a portion of those prolific regions, gathered their spice harvests at the point of the sword, and were frequently unable to prevent their northern rivals from ravaging such fields as they had not yet been able to appropriate. certainly this conduct of the hollanders was barbarism and supreme selfishness, if judged by the sounder political economy of our time. yet it should never be forgotten that the contest between spain and holland in those distant regions, as everywhere else, was war to the knife between superstition and freedom, between the spirits of progress and of dogma. hard blows and foul blows were struck in such a fight, and humanity, although gaining at last immense results, had much to suffer and much to learn ere the day was won. but spain was nearly beaten out of those eastern regions, and the very fact that the naval supremacy of the republic placed her ancient tyrant at her mercy was the main reason for spain to conclude the treaty of truce. lest she should lose the india trade entirely, spain consented to the treaty article by which, without mentioning the word, she conceded the thing. it was almost pathetic to witness, as we have witnessed, this despotism in its dotage, mumbling so long over the formal concession to her conqueror of a portion of that india trade which would have been entirely wrested from herself had the war continued. and of this spain was at heart entirely convinced. thus the portuguese, once the lords and masters, as they had been the european discoverers, of those prolific regions and of the ocean highways which led to them, now came with docility to the republic which they had once affected to despise, and purchased the cloves and the allspice, the nutmegs and the cinnamon, of which they had held the monopoly; or waited with patience until the untiring hollanders should bring the precious wares to the peninsula ports. a dutch indianian would make her voyage to the antipodes and her return in less time than was spent by a portuguese or a spaniard in the outward voyage. to accomplish such an enterprise in two years was accounted a wonder of rapidity, and when it is remembered that inland navigation through france by canal and river from the north sea to the mediterranean was considered both speedier and safer, because the sea voyage between the same points might last four or five months, it must be admitted that two years occupied in passing from one end of the earth to the other and back again might well seem a miracle. the republic was among the wealthiest and the most powerful of organized states. her population might be estimated at three millions and a half, about equal to that of england at the same period. but she was richer than england. nowhere in the world was so large a production in proportion to the numbers of a people. nowhere were so few unproductive consumers. every one was at work. vagabonds, idlers, and do-nothings, such as must be in every community, were caught up by the authorities and made to earn their bread. the devil's pillow, idleness, was smoothed for no portion of the population. there were no beggars, few paupers, no insolently luxurious and ostentatiously idle class. the modesty, thrift, and simple elegance of the housekeeping, even among the wealthy, was noted by travellers with surprise. it will be remembered with how much amused wonder, followed by something like contempt, the, magnificent household of spinola, during his embassy at the hague, was surveyed by the honest burghers of holland. the authorities showed their wisdom in permitting the absurd exhibition, as an example of what should be shunned, in spite of grave remonstrances from many of the citizens. drunken helotism is not the only form of erring humanity capable of reading lessons to a republic. there had been monasteries, convents, ecclesiastical establishments of all kinds in the country, before the great war between holland and the inquisition. these had, as a matter of course, been confiscated as the strife went on. the buildings, farms, and funds, once the property of the church, had not, however, been seized upon, as in other protestant lands, by rapacious monarchs, and distributed among great nobles according to royal caprice. monarchs might give the revenue of a suppressed convent to a cook, as reward for a successful pudding; the surface of britain and the continent might be covered with abbeys and monasteries now converted into lordly palaces--passing thus from the dead hand of the church into the idle and unproductive palm of the noble; but the ancient ecclesiastical establishments of the free netherlands were changed into eleemosynary institutions, admirably organized and administered with wisdom and economy, where orphans of the poor, widows of those slain in the battles for freedom by land and sea, and the aged and the infirm, who had deserved well of the republic in the days of their strength, were educated or cherished at the expense of the public, thus endowed from the spoils of the church. in spain, monasteries upon monasteries were rising day by day, as if there were not yet receptacles enough for monks and priests, while thousands upon thousands of spaniards were pressing into the ranks of the priesthood, and almost forcing themselves into monasteries, that they might be privileged to beg, because ashamed to work. in the united netherlands the confiscated convents, with their revenues, were appropriated for the good of those who were too young or too old to labour, and too poor to maintain themselves without work. need men look further than to this simple fact to learn why spain was decaying while the republic was rising? the ordinary budget of the united provinces was about equal to that of england, varying not much from four millions of florins, or four hundred thousand pounds. but the extraordinary revenue was comparatively without limits, and there had been years, during the war, when the citizens had taxed themselves as highly as fifty per cent. on each individual income, and doubled the receipts of the exchequer. the budget was proposed once a year, by the council of state, and voted by the states-general, who assigned the quota of each province; that of holland being always one- half of the whole, that of zeeland sixteen per cent., and that of the other five of course in lesser proportions. the revenue was collected in the separate provinces, one-third of the whole being retained for provincial expenses, and the balance paid into the general treasury. there was a public debt, the annual interest of which amounted to , florins. during the war, money had been borrowed at as high a rate as thirty-six per cent., but at the conclusion of hostilities the states could borrow at six per cent., and the whole debt was funded on that basis. taxation was enormously heavy, but patriotism caused it to be borne with cheerfulness, and productive industry made it comparatively light. rents were charged twenty-five per cent. a hundred per cent. was levied upon beer, wine, meat, salt, spirits. other articles of necessity and luxury were almost as severely taxed. it is not easy to enumerate the tax-list, scarcely anything foreign or domestic being exempted, while the grave error was often committed of taxing the same article, in different forms, four, five, and six times. the people virtually taxed themselves, although the superstition concerning the state, as something distinct from and superior to the people, was to linger long and work infinite mischief among those seven republics which were never destined to be welded theoretically and legally into a union. the sacredness of corporations had succeeded, in a measure, to the divinity which hedges kings. nevertheless, those corporations were so numerous as to be effectively open to a far larger proportion of the population than, in those days, had ever dreamed before of participating in the government. the magistracies were in general unpaid and little coveted, being regarded as a burthen and a responsibility rather than an object of ambition. the jurisconsults, called pensionaries, who assisted the municipal authorities, received, however, a modest salary, never exceeding florins a year. these numerous bodies, provincial and municipal, elected themselves themselves by supplying their own vacancies. the magistrates were appointed by the stadholder, on a double or triple nomination from the municipal board. this was not impartial suffrage nor manhood suffrage. the germ of a hateful burgher-oligarchy was in the system, but, as compared with spain, where municipal magistracies were sold by the crown at public auction; or with france, where every office in church, law, magistrature, or court was an object of merchandise disposed of in open market, the system was purity itself, and marked a great advance in the science of government. it should never be forgotten, moreover, that while the presidents and judges of the highest courts of judicature in other civilized lands were at the mercy of an irresponsible sovereign, and held office--even although it had been paid for in solid specie--at his pleasure, the supreme justices of the high courts of appeal at the hague were nominated by a senate, and confirmed by a stadholder, and that they exercised their functions for life, or so long as they conducted themselves virtuously in their high office--'quamdiu se bene gesserint.' if one of the great objects of a civilized community is to secure to all men their own--'ut sua tenerent'--surely it must be admitted that the republic was in advance of all contemporary states in the laying down of this vital principle, the independence of judges. as to the army and navy of the united provinces, enough has been said, in earlier chapters of these volumes, to indicate the improvements introduced by prince maurice, and now carried to the highest point of perfection ever attained in that period. there is no doubt whatever, that for discipline, experience, equipment, effectiveness of movement, and general organization, the army of the republic was the model army of europe. it amounted to but thirty thousand infantry and two thousand five hundred cavalry, but this number was a large one for a standing army at the beginning of the seventeenth century. it was composed of a variety of materials, hollanders, walloons, flemings, scotch, english, irish, germans, but all welded together into a machine of perfect regularity. the private foot-soldier received twelve florins for a so- called month of forty-two days, the drummer and corporal eighteen, the lieutenant fifty-two, and the captain one hundred and fifty florins. prompt payment was made every week. obedience was implicit; mutiny, such as was of periodical recurrence in the archduke's army, entirely unknown. the slightest theft was punished with the gallows, and there was therefore no thieving. the most accurate and critical observers confessed, almost against their will, that no army in europe could compare with the troops of the states. as to the famous regiments of sicily, and the ancient legions of naples and milan, a distinguished venetian envoy, who had seen all the camps and courts of christendom, and was certainly not disposed to overrate the hollanders at the expense of the italians, if any rivalry between them had been possible, declared that every private soldier in the republic was fit to be a captain in any italian army; while, on the other hand, there was scarcely an italian captain who would be accepted as a private in any company of the states. so low had the once famous soldiery of alva, don john, and alexander farnese descended. the cavalry of the republic was even more perfectly organized than was the infantry. "i want words to describe its perfection," said contarini. the pay was very high, and very prompt. a captain received four hundred florins a month (of forty-two days), a lieutenant one hundred and eighty florins, and other officers and privates in proportion. these rates would be very high in our own day. when allowance is made for the difference in the value of money at the respective epochs, the salaries are prodigious; but the thrifty republic found its account in paying well and paying regularly the champions on whom so much depended, and by whom such splendid services had been rendered. while the soldiers in the pay of queen elizabeth were crawling to her palace gates to die of starvation before her eyes; while the veterans of spain and of italy had organized themselves into a permanent military, mutinous republic, on the soil of the so-called obedient netherland, because they were left by their masters without clothing or food; the cavalry and infantry of the dutch commonwealth, thanks to the organizing spirit and the wholesome thrift of the burgher authorities, were contented, obedient, well fed, well clothed, and well paid; devoted to their government, and ever ready to die in its defence. nor was it only on the regular army that reliance was placed. on the contrary, every able-bodied man in the country was liable to be called upon to serve, at any moment, in the militia. all were trained to arms, and provided with arms, and there had been years during this perpetual war in which one man out of three of the whole male population was ready to be mustered at any moment into the field. even more could be said in praise of the navy than has been stated of the armies of the republic; for the contemporary accounts of foreigners, and of foreigners who were apt to be satirical, rather than enthusiastic, when describing the institutions, leading personages, and customs of other countries, seemed ever to speak of the united provinces in terms of eulogy. in commerce, as in war, the naval supremacy of the republic was indisputable. it was easy for the states to place two thousand vessels of war in commission, if necessary, of tonnage varying from four hundred to twelve hundred tons, to man them with the hardiest and boldest sailors in the world, and to despatch them with promptness to any quarter of the globe. it was recognised as nearly impossible to compel a war-vessel of the republic to surrender. hardly an instance was on her naval record of submission, even to far superior force, while it was filled with the tragic but heroic histories of commanders who had blown their ships, with every man on board, into the air, rather than strike their flag. such was the character, and such the capacity of the sea-born republic. that republic had serious and radical defects, but the design remained to be imitated and improved upon, centuries afterwards. the history of the rise and progress of the dutch republic is a leading chapter in the history of human liberty. the great misfortune of the commonwealth of the united provinces, next to the slenderness of its geographical proportions, was the fact that it was without a centre and without a head, and therefore not a nation capable of unlimited vitality. there were seven states. each claimed to be sovereign. the pretension on the part of several of them was ridiculous. overyssel, for example, contributed two and three-quarters per cent. of the general budget. it was a swamp of twelve hundred square miles in extent, with some heath-spots interspered, and it numbered perhaps a hundred thousand inhabitants. the doughty count of embden alone could have swallowed up such sovereignty, have annexed all the buckwheat patches and cranberry marshes of overyssel to his own meagre territories, and nobody the wiser. zeeland, as we have seen, was disposed at a critical moment to set up its independent sovereignty. zeeland, far more important than overyssel, had a revenue of perhaps five hundred thousand dollars,--rather a slender budget for an independent republic, wedged in as it was by the most powerful empires of the earth, and half drowned by the ocean, from which it had scarcely emerged. there was therefore no popular representation, and on the other hand no executive head. as sovereignty must be exercised in some way, however, in all living commonwealths, and as a low degree of vitality was certainly not the defect of those bustling provinces, the supreme functions had now fallen into the hands of holland. while william the silent lived, the management of war, foreign affairs, and finance, for the revolted provinces, was in his control. he was aided by two council boards, but the circumstances of history and the character of the man had invested him with an inevitable dictatorship. after his death, at least after leicester's time, the powers of the state-council, the head of which, prince maurice, was almost always absent at the wars, fell into comparative disuse. the great functions of the confederacy passed into the possession of the states-general. that body now came to sit permanently at the hague. the number of its members, deputies from the seven provinces-envoys from those seven immortal and soulless sovereigns--was not large. the extraordinary assembly held at bergen-op-zoom for confirmation of the truce was estimated by, bentivoglio at eight hundred. bentivoglio, who was on the spot, being then nuncius at brussels, ought to have been able to count them, yet it is very certain that the number was grossly exaggerated. at any rate the usual assembly at the hague rarely amounted to one hundred members. the presidency was changed once a week, the envoy of each province taking his turn as chairman. olden-barneveld, as member for holland, was always present in the diet. as advocate-general of the leading province, and keeper of its great seal, more especially as possessor of the governing intellect of the whole commonwealth, be led the administration of holland, and as the estates of holland contributed more than half of the whole budget of the confederacy, it was a natural consequence of the actual supremacy of that province, and of the vast legal hand political experience of the advocate, that holland should, govern the confederacy, and that barneveld should govern holland. the states-general remained virtually supreme, receiving envoys from all the great powers, sending abroad their diplomatic representatives, to whom the title and rank of ambassador was freely accorded, and dealing in a decorous and dignified way with all european affairs. the ability of the republican statesmen was as fully recognised all over the earth, as was the genius of their generals and great naval commanders. the people did not exist; but this was merely because, in theory, the people had not been invented. it was exactly because there was a people --an energetic and intelligent people--that the republic was possible. no scheme had yet been devised for laying down in primary assemblies a fundamental national law, for distributing the various functions of governmental power among selected servants, for appointing representatives according to population or property, and for holding all trustees responsible at reasonable intervals to the nation itself. thus government was involved, fold within fold, in successive and concentric municipal layers. the states-general were the outer husk, of which the separate town-council was the kernel or bulb. yet the number of these executive and legislative boards was so large, and the whole population comparatively so slender, as to cause the original inconveniences from so incomplete a system to be rather theoretic than practical. in point of fact, almost as large a variety of individuals served the state as would perhaps have been the case under a more philosophically arranged democracy. the difficulty was rather in obtaining a candidate for the post than in distributing the posts among candidates. men were occupied with their own affairs. in proportion to their numbers, they were more productive of wealth than any other nation then existing. an excellent reason why the people were so, well governed, so productive, and so enterprising, was the simple fact that they were an educated people. there was hardly a netherlander--man, woman, or child-- that could not read and write. the school was the common property of the people, paid for among the municipal expenses. in the cities, as well as in the rural districts, there were not only common schools but classical schools. in the burgher families it was rare to find boys who had not been taught latin, or girls unacquainted with french. capacity to write and speak several modern languages was very common, and there were many individuals in every city, neither professors nor pedants, who had made remarkable progress in science and classical literature. the position, too, of women in the commonwealth proved a high degree of civilization. they are described as virtuous, well-educated, energetic, sovereigns in their households, and accustomed to direct all the business at home. "it would be ridiculous," said donato, "to see a man occupying himself with domestic house-keeping. the women do it all, and command absolutely." the hollanders, so rebellious against church and king, accepted with meekness the despotism of woman. the great movement of emancipation from political and ecclesiastical tyranny had brought with it a general advancement of the human intellect. the foundation of the leyden university in memory of the heroism displayed by the burghers during the siege was as noble a monument as had ever been raised by a free people jealous of its fame. and the scientific lustre of the university well sustained the nobility of its origin. the proudest nation on earth might be more proud of a seat of learning, founded thus amidst carnage and tears, whence so much of profound learning and brilliant literature had already been diffused. the classical labours of joseph scaliger, heinsius father and son the elder dousa, almost as famous with his pen in latin poetry as his sword had made him in the vernacular chronicle; of dousa the son, whom grotius called "the crown and flower of all good learning, too soon snatched away by envious death, than whom no man more skilled in poetry, more consummate in acquaintance with ancient science and literature, had ever lived;" of hugo grotius himself, who at the age of fifteen had taken his doctor's degree at leyden who as a member of olden-barneveld's important legation to france and england very soon afterwards had excited the astonishment of henry iv. and elizabeth, who had already distinguished himself by editions of classic poets, and by original poems and dramas in latin, and was already, although but twenty-six years of age; laying the foundation of that magnificent reputation as a jurist, a philosopher, a historian, and a statesman, which was to be one of the enduring glories of humanity, all these were the precious possessions of the high school of leyden. the still more modern university of franeker, founded amid the din of perpetual warfare in friesland, could at least boast the name of arminius, whose theological writings and whose expansive views were destined to exert such influence over his contemporaries and posterity. the great history of hoofd, in which the splendid pictures and the impassioned drama of the great war of independence were to be preserved for his countrymen through all time, was not yet written. it was soon afterwards, however, to form not only a chief source of accurate information as to the great events themselves, but a model of style never since surpassed by any prose writer in either branch of the german tongue. had hoofd written for a wider audience, it would be difficult to name a contemporary author of any nation whose work would have been more profoundly studied or more generally admired. but the great war had not waited to be chronicled by the classic and impassioned hoofd. already there were thorough and exhaustive narrators of what was instinctively felt to be one of the most pregnant episodes of human history. bor of utrecht, a miracle of industry, of learning, of unwearied perseverance, was already engaged in the production of those vast folios in which nearly all the great transactions of the forty years' war were conscientiously portrayed, with a comprehensiveness of material and an impartiality of statement, such as might seem almost impossible for a contemporary writer. immersed in attentive study and profound contemplation, he seemed to lift his tranquil head from time to time over the wild ocean of those troublous times, and to survey with accuracy without being swayed or appalled by the tempest. there was something almost sublime in his steady, unimpassioned gaze. emanuel van meteren, too, a plain protestant merchant of antwerp and amsterdam, wrote an admirable history of the war and of his own times, full of precious details, especially rich in statistics--a branch of science which he almost invented--which still, remains as one of the leading authorities, not only for scholars, but for the general reader. reyd and burgundius, the one the calvinist private secretary of lewis william, the other a warm catholic partisan, both made invaluable contemporaneous contributions to the history of the war. the trophies already secured by the netherlanders in every department of the fine arts, as well as the splendour which was to enrich the coming epoch, are too familiar to the world to need more than a passing allusion. but it was especially in physical science that the republic was taking a leading part in the great intellectual march of the nations. the very necessities of its geographical position had forced it to pre- eminence in hydraulics and hydrostatics. it had learned to transform water into dry land with a perfection attained by no nation before or since. the wonders of its submarine horticulture were the despair of all gardeners in the world. and as in this gentlest of arts, so also in the dread science of war, the republic had been the instructor of mankind. the youthful maurice and his cousin lewis william had so restored and improved the decayed intelligence of antique strategy, that the greybeards of europe became docile pupils in their school. the mathematical teacher of prince maurice amazed the contemporary world with his combinations and mechanical inventions; the flying chariots of simon stevinua seeming products of magical art. yet the character of the dutch intellect was averse to sorcery. the small but mighty nation, which had emancipated itself from the tyranny of philip and of the holy inquisition, was foremost to shake off the fetters of superstition. out of holland came the first voice to rebuke one of the hideous delusions of the age. while grave magistrates and sages of other lands were exorcising the devil by murdering his supposed victims, john wier, a physician of grave, boldly denounced the demon which had taken possession, not of the wizards, but of the judges. the age was lunatic and sick, and it was fitting that the race which had done so much for the physical and intellectual emancipation of the world, should have been the first to apply a remedy for this monstrous madness. englishmen and their descendants were drowning and hanging witches in new england, long after john wier had rebuked and denounced the belief in witchcraft. it was a zeelander, too; who placed the instrument in the hand of galileo by which that daring genius traced the movements of the universe, and who, by another wondrous invention, enabled future discoverers to study the infinite life which lies all around us, hidden not by its remoteness but it's minuteness. zacharias jansens of middelburg, in , invented both the telescope and the microscope. the wonder-man of alkmaar, cornelius drebbel, who performed such astounding feats for the amusement of rudolph of germany and james of britain, is also supposed to have invented the thermometer and the barometer. but this claim has been disputed. the inventions of jansens are proved. willebrod snellius, mathematical professor of leyden, introduced the true method of measuring the degrees of longitude and latitude, and huygens, who had seen his manuscripts, asserted that snellius had invented, before descartes, the doctrine of refraction. but it was especially to that noble band of heroes and martyrs, the great navigators and geographical discoverers of the republic, that science is above all indebted. nothing is more sublime in human story than the endurance and audacity with which those pioneers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries confronted the nameless horrors of either pole, in the interests of commerce, and for the direct purpose of enlarging the bounds of the human intellect. the achievements, the sufferings, and the triumphs of barendz and cordes, heemskerk, van der hagen, and many others, have been slightly indicated in these pages. the contributions to botany, mineralogy, geometry, geography, and zoology, of linschoten, plancius, wagenaar, and houtmann, and so many other explorers of pole and tropic, can hardly be overrated. the netherlanders had wrung their original fatherland out of the grasp of the ocean. they had confronted for centuries the wrath of that ancient tyrant, ever ready to seize the prey of which he had been defrauded. they had waged fiercer and more perpetual battle with a tyranny more cruel than the tempest, with an ancient superstition more hungry than the sea. it was inevitable that a race, thus invigorated by the ocean, cradled to freedom by their conflicts with its power, and hardened almost to invincibility by their struggle against human despotism, should be foremost among the nations in the development of political, religious, and commercial freedom. the writer now takes an affectionate farewell of those who have followed him with an indulgent sympathy as he has attempted to trace the origin and the eventful course of the dutch commonwealth. if by his labours a generous love has been fostered for that blessing, without which everything that this earth can afford is worthless--freedom of thought, of speech, and of life--his highest wish has been fulfilled. etext editor's bookmarks: about equal to that of england at the same period an unjust god, himself the origin of sin butchery in the name of christ was suspended calling a peace perpetual can never make it so chieftains are dwarfed in the estimation of followers each in its turn becoming orthodox, and therefore persecuting exorcising the devil by murdering his supposed victims foremost to shake off the fetters of superstition god of vengeance, of jealousy, and of injustice gomarites accused the arminians of being more lax than papists hangman is not the most appropriate teacher of religion he often spoke of popular rights with contempt john wier, a physician of grave necessity of extirpating heresy, root and branch nowhere were so few unproductive consumers paving the way towards atheism (by toleration) privileged to beg, because ashamed to work religious persecution of protestants by protestants so unconscious of her strength state can best defend religion by letting it alone taxed themselves as highly as fifty per cent the people had not been invented the slightest theft was punished with the gallows tolerate another religion that his own may be tolerated toleration--that intolerable term of insult war to compel the weakest to follow the religion of the strongest this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, volume life and death of john of barneveld, v , - chapter v. interviews between the dutch commissioners and king james--prince maurice takes command of the troops--surrender of julich--matthias crowned king of bohemia--death of rudolph--james's dream of a spanish marriage--appointment of vorstius in place of arminius at leyden--interview between maurice and winwood--increased bitterness between barneveld and maurice--projects of spanish marriages in france. it is refreshing to escape from the atmosphere of self-seeking faction, feverish intrigue, and murderous stratagem in which unhappy france was stifling into the colder and calmer regions of netherland policy. no sooner had the tidings of henry's murder reached the states than they felt that an immense responsibility had fallen on their shoulders. it is to the eternal honour of the republic, of barneveld, who directed her councils, and of prince maurice, who wielded her sword, that she was equal to the task imposed upon her. there were open bets on the exchange in antwerp, after the death of henry, that maurice would likewise be killed within the month. nothing seemed more probable, and the states implored the stadholder to take special heed to himself. but this was a kind of caution which the prince was not wont to regard. nor was there faltering, distraction, cowardice, or parsimony in republican councils. we have heard the strong words of encouragement and sympathy addressed by the advocate's instructions to the queen-regent and the leading statesmen of france. we have seen their effects in that lingering sentiment of shame which prevented the spanish stipendiaries who governed the kingdom from throwing down the mask as cynically as they were at first inclined to do. not less manful and statesmanlike was the language held to the king of great britain and his ministers by the advocate's directions. the news of the assassination reached the special ambassadors in london at three o'clock of monday, the th may. james returned to whitehall from a hunting expedition on the st, and immediately signified his intention of celebrating the occasion by inviting the high commissioners of the states to a banquet and festival at the palace. meantime they were instructed by barneveld to communicate the results of the special embassy of the states to the late king according to the report just delivered to the assembly. thus james was to be informed of the common resolution and engagement then taken to support the cause of the princes. he was now seriously and explicitly to be summoned to assist the princes not only with the stipulated men, but with a much greater force, proportionate to the demands for the security and welfare of christendom, endangered by this extraordinary event. he was assured that the states would exert themselves to the full measure of their ability to fortify and maintain the high interests of france, of the possessory princes, and of christendom, so that the hopes of the perpetrators of the foul deed would be confounded. "they hold this to be the occasion," said the envoys, "to show to all the world that it is within your power to rescue the affairs of france, germany, and of the united provinces from the claws of those who imagine for themselves universal monarchy." they concluded by requesting the king to come to "a resolution on this affair royally, liberally, and promptly, in order to take advantage of the time, and not to allow the adversary to fortify himself in his position"; and they pledged the states-general to stand by and second him with all their power. the commissioners, having read this letter to lord salisbury before communicating it to the king, did not find the lord treasurer very prompt or sympathetic in his reply. there had evidently been much jealousy at the english court of the confidential and intimate relations recently established with henry, to which allusions were made in the documents read at the present conference. cecil, while expressing satisfaction in formal terms at the friendly language of the states, and confidence in the sincerity of their friendship for his sovereign, intimated very plainly that more had passed between the late king and the authorities of the republic than had been revealed by either party to the king of great britain, or than could be understood from the letters and papers now communicated. he desired further information from the commissioners, especially in regard to those articles of their instructions which referred to a general rupture. they professed inability to give more explanations than were contained in the documents themselves. if suspicion was felt, they said, that the french king had been proposing anything in regard to a general rupture, either on account of the retreat of conde, the affair of savoy, or anything else, they would reply that the ambassadors in france had been instructed to decline committing the states until after full communication and advice and ripe deliberation with his british majesty and council, as well as the assembly of the states-general; and it had been the intention of the late king to have conferred once more and very confidentially with prince maurice and count lewis william before coming to a decisive resolution. it was very obvious however to the commissioners that their statement gave no thorough satisfaction, and that grave suspicions remained of something important kept back by them. cecil's manner was constrained and cold, and certainly there were no evidences of profound sorrow at the english court for the death of henry. "the king of france," said the high treasurer, "meant to make a master- stroke--a coup de maistre--but he who would have all may easily lose all. such projects as these should not have been formed or taken in hand without previous communication with his majesty of great britain." all arguments on the part of the ambassadors to induce the lord treasurer or other members of the government to enlarge the succour intended for the cleve affair were fruitless. the english troops regularly employed in the states' service might be made use of with the forces sent by the republic itself. more assistance than this it was idle to expect, unless after a satisfactory arrangement with the present regency of france. the proposition, too, of the states for a close and general alliance was coldly repulsed. "no resolution can be taken as to that," said cecil; "the death of the french king has very much altered such matters." at a little later hour on the same day the commissioners, according to previous invitation, dined with the king. no one sat at the table but his majesty and themselves, and they all kept their hats on their heads. the king was hospitable, gracious, discursive, loquacious, very theological. he expressed regret for the death of the king of france, and said that the pernicious doctrine out of which such vile crimes grew must be uprooted. he asked many questions in regard to the united netherlands, enquiring especially as to the late commotions at utrecht, and the conduct of prince maurice on that occasion. he praised the resolute conduct of the states-general in suppressing those tumults with force, adding, however, that they should have proceeded with greater rigour against the ringleaders of the riot. he warmly recommended the union of the provinces. he then led the conversation to the religious controversies in the netherlands, and in reply to his enquiries was informed that the points in dispute related to predestination and its consequences. "i have studied that subject," said james, "as well as anybody, and have come to the conclusion that nothing certain can be laid down in regard to it. i have myself not always been of one mind about it, but i will bet that my opinion is the best of any, although i would not hang my salvation upon it. my lords the states would do well to order their doctors and teachers to be silent on this topic. i have hardly ventured, moreover, to touch upon the matter of justification in my own writings, because that also seemed to hang upon predestination." thus having spoken with the air of a man who had left nothing further to be said on predestination or justification, the king rose, took off his hat, and drank a bumper to the health of the states-general and his excellency prince maurice, and success to the affair of cleve. after dinner there was a parting interview in the gallery. the king, attended by many privy councillors and high functionaries of state, bade the commissioners a cordial farewell, and, in order to show his consideration for their government, performed the ceremony of knighthood upon them, as was his custom in regard to the ambassadors of venice. the sword being presented to him by the lord chamberlain, james touched each of the envoys on the shoulder as he dismissed him. "out of respect to my lords the states," said they in their report, "we felt compelled to allow ourselves to be burthened with this honour." thus it became obvious to the states-general that there was but little to hope for from great britain or france. france, governed by concini and by spain, was sure to do her best to traverse the designs of the republic, and, while perfunctorily and grudgingly complying with the letter of the hall treaty, was secretly neutralizing by intrigue the slender military aid which de la chatre was to bring to prince maurice. the close alliance of france and protestantism had melted into air. on the other hand the new catholic league sprang into full luxuriance out of the grave of henry, and both spain and the pope gave their hearty adhesion to the combinations of maximilian of bavaria, now that the mighty designs of the french king were buried with him. the duke of savoy, caught in the trap of his own devising, was fain to send his son to sue to spain for pardon for the family upon his knees, and expiated by draining a deep cup of humiliation his ambitious designs upon the milanese and the matrimonial alliance with france. venice recoiled in horror from the position she found herself in as soon as the glamour of henry's seductive policy was dispelled, while james of great britain, rubbing his hands with great delight at the disappearance from the world of the man he so admired, bewailed, and hated, had no comfort to impart to the states-general thus left in virtual isolation. the barren burthen of knighthood and a sermon on predestination were all he could bestow upon the high commissioners in place of the alliance which he eluded, and the military assistance which he point-blank refused. the possessory princes, in whose cause the sword was drawn, were too quarrelsome and too fainthearted to serve for much else than an incumbrance either in the cabinet or the field. and the states-general were equal to the immense responsibility. steadily, promptly, and sagaciously they confronted the wrath, the policy, and the power of the empire, of spain, and of the pope. had the republic not existed, nothing could have prevented that debateable and most important territory from becoming provinces of spain, whose power thus dilated to gigantic proportions in the very face of england would have been more menacing than in the days of the armada. had the republic faltered, she would have soon ceased to exist. but the republic did not falter. on the th july, prince maurice took command of the states' forces, , foot and horse, with thirty pieces of cannon, assembled at schenkenschans. the july english and french regiments in the regular service of the united provinces were included in these armies, but there were no additions to them: "the states did seven times as much," barneveld justly averred, "as they had stipulated to do." maurice, moving with the precision and promptness which always marked his military operations, marched straight upon julich, and laid siege to that important fortress. the archdukes at brussels, determined to keep out of the fray as long as possible, offered no opposition to the passage of his supplies up the rhine, which might have been seriously impeded by them at rheinberg. the details of the siege, as of all the prince's sieges, possess no more interest to the general reader than the working out of a geometrical problem. he was incapable of a flaw in his calculations, but it was impossible for him quite to complete the demonstration before the arrival of de la chatre. maurice received with courtesy the marshal, who arrived on the th august, at the head of his contingent of foot and a few squadrons of cavalry, and there was great show of harmony between them. for any practical purposes, de la chatre might as well have remained in france. for political ends his absence would have been preferable to his presence. maurice would have rejoiced, had the marshal blundered longer along the road to the debateable land than he had done. he had almost brought julich to reduction. a fortnight later the place surrendered. the terms granted by the conqueror were equitable. no change was to be made in the liberty of roman catholic worship, nor in the city magistracy. the citadel and its contents were to be handed over to the princes of brandenburg and neuburg. archduke leopold and his adherents departed to prague, to carry out as he best could his farther designs upon the crown of bohemia, this first portion of them having so lamentably failed, and sergeant-major frederick pithan, of the regiment of count ernest casimir of nassau, was appointed governor of julich in the interest of the possessory princes. thus without the loss of a single life, the republic, guided by her consummate statesman and unrivalled general, had gained an immense victory, had installed the protestant princes in the full possession of those splendid and important provinces, and had dictated her decrees on german soil to the emperor of germany, and had towed, as it were, great britain and france along in her wake, instead of humbly following those powers, and had accomplished all that she had ever proposed to do, even in alliance with them both. the king of england considered that quite enough had been done, and was in great haste to patch up a reconciliation. he thought his ambassador would soon "have as good occasion to employ his tongue and his pen as general cecil and his soldiers have done their swords and their mattocks." he had no sympathy with the cause of protestantism, and steadily refused to comprehend the meaning of the great movements in the duchies. "i only wish that i may handsomely wind myself out of this quarrel, where the principal parties do so little for themselves," he said. de la chatre returned with his troops to france within a fortnight after his arrival on the scene. a mild proposition made by the french government through the marshal, that the provinces should be held in seguestration by france until a decision as to the true sovereignty could be reached, was promptly declined. maurice of nassau had hardly gained so signal a triumph for the republic and for the protestant cause only to hand it over to concini and villeroy for the benefit of spain. julich was thought safer in the keeping of sergeant pithan. by the end of september the states' troops had returned to their own country. thus the republic, with eminent success, had accomplished a brief and brilliant campaign, but no statesman could suppose that the result was more than a temporary one. these coveted provinces, most valuable in themselves and from their important position, would probably not be suffered peacefully to remain very long under the protection of the heretic states-general and in the 'condominium' of two protestant princes. there was fear among the imperialists, catholics, and spaniards, lest the baleful constellation of the seven provinces might be increased by an eighth star. and this was a project not to be tolerated. it was much already that the upstart confederacy had defied pope, emperor, and king, as it were, on their own domains, had dictated arrangements in germany directly in the teeth of its emperor, using france as her subordinate, and compelling the british king to acquiesce in what he most hated. but it was not merely to surprise julich, and to get a foothold in the duchies, that leopold had gone forth on his adventure. his campaign, as already intimated, was part of a wide scheme in which he had persuaded his emperor-cousin to acquiesce. poor rudolph had been at last goaded into a feeble attempt at revolt against his three brothers and his cousin ferdinand. peace-loving, inert, fond of his dinner, fonder of his magnificent collections of gems and intagli, liking to look out of window at his splendid collection of horses, he was willing to pass a quiet life, afar from the din of battles and the turmoil of affairs. as he happened to be emperor of half europe, these harmless tastes could not well be indulged. moon-faced and fat, silent and slow, he was not imperial of aspect on canvas or coin, even when his brows were decorated with the conventional laurel wreath. he had been stripped of his authority and all but discrowned by his more bustling brothers matthias and max, while the sombre figure of styrian ferdinand, pupil of the jesuits, and passionate admirer of philip ii., stood ever in the background, casting a prophetic shadow over the throne and over germany. the brothers were endeavouring to persuade rudolph that he would find more comfort in innsbruck than in prague; that he required repose after the strenuous labours of government. they told him, too, that it would be wise to confer the royal crown of bohemia upon matthias, lest, being elective and also an electorate, the crown and vote of that country might pass out of the family, and so both bohemia and the empire be lost to the habsburgs. the kingdom being thus secured to matthias and his heirs, the next step, of course, was to proclaim him king of the romans. otherwise there would be great danger and detriment to hungary, and other hereditary states of that conglomerate and anonymous monarchy which owned the sway of the great habsburg family. the unhappy emperor was much piqued. he had been deprived by his brother of hungary, moravia, and austria, while matthias was now at prague with an army, ostensibly to obtain ratification of the peace with turkey, but in reality to force the solemn transfer of those realms and extort the promise of bohemia. could there be a better illustration of the absurdities of such a system of imperialism? and now poor rudolph was to be turned out of the hradschin, and sent packing with or without his collections to the tyrol. the bellicose bishop of strassburg and passau, brother of ferdinand, had little difficulty in persuading the downtrodden man to rise to vengeance. it had been secretly agreed between the two that leopold, at the head of a considerable army of mercenaries which he had contrived to levy, should dart into julich as the emperor's representative, seize the debateable duchies, and hold them in sequestration until the emperor should decide to whom they belonged, and, then, rushing back to bohemia, should annihilate matthias, seize prague, and deliver rudolph from bondage. it was further agreed that leopold, in requital of these services, should receive the crown of bohemia, be elected king of the romans, and declared heir to the emperor, so far as rudolph could make him his heir. the first point in the program he had only in part accomplished. he had taken julich, proclaimed the intentions of the emperor, and then been driven out of his strong position by the wise policy of the states under the guidance of barneveld and by the consummate strategy of maurice. it will be seen therefore that the republic was playing a world's game at this moment, and doing it with skill and courage. on the issue of the conflict which had been begun and was to be long protracted in the duchies, and to spread over nearly all christendom besides, would depend the existence of the united netherlands and the fate of protestantism. the discomfited leopold swept back at the head of his mercenaries, foot and horse, through alsace and along the danube to linz and so to prague, marauding, harrying, and black-mailing the country as he went. he entered the city on the th of february , fighting his way through crowds of exasperated burghers. sitting in full harness on horseback in the great square before the cathedral, the warlike bishop compelled the population to make oath to him as the emperor's commissary. the street fighting went on however day by day, poor rudolph meantime cowering in the hradschin. on the third day, leopold, driven out of the town, took up a position on the heights, from which he commanded it with his artillery. then came a feeble voice from the hradschin, telling all men that these passau marauders and their episcopal chief were there by the emperor's orders. the triune city--the old, the new, and the jew-- was bidden to send deputies to the palace and accept the imperial decrees. no deputies came at the bidding. the bohemians, especially the praguers, being in great majority protestants knew very well that leopold was fighting the cause of the papacy and spain in bohemia as well as in the duchies. and now matthias appeared upon the scene. the estates had already been in communication with him, better hopes, for the time at least, being entertained from him than from the flaccid rudolph. moreover a kind of compromise had been made in the autumn between matthias and the emperor after the defeat of leopold in the duchies. the real king had fallen at the feet of the nominal one by proxy of his brother maximilian. seven thousand men of the army of matthias now came before prague under command of colonitz. the passauers, receiving three months pay from the emperor, marched quietly off. leopold disappeared for the time. his chancellor and counsellor in the duchies, francis teynagel, a geldrian noble, taken prisoner and put to the torture, revealed the little plot of the emperor in favour of the bishop, and it was believed that the pope, the king of spain, and maximilian of bavaria were friendly to the scheme. this was probable, for leopold at last made no mystery of his resolve to fight protestantism to the death, and to hold the duchies, if he could, for the cause of rome and austria. both rudolph and matthias had committed themselves to the toleration of the reformed religion. the famous "majesty-letter," freshly granted by the emperor ( ), and the compromise between the catholic and protestant estates had become the law of the land. those of the bohemian confession, a creed commingled of hussism, lutheranism, and calvinism, had obtained toleration. in a country where nine-tenths of the population were protestants it was permitted to protestants to build churches and to worship god in them unmolested. but these privileges had been extorted by force, and there was a sullen, dogged determination which might be easily guessed at to revoke them should it ever become possible. the house of austria, reigning in spain, italy, and germany, was bound by the very law of their being to the roman religion. toleration of other worship signified in their eyes both a defeat and a crime. thus the great conflict, to be afterwards known as the thirty years' war, had in reality begun already, and the netherlands, in spite of the truce, were half unconsciously taking a leading part in it. the odds at that moment in germany seemed desperately against the house of austria, so deep and wide was the abyss between throne and subjects which religious difference had created. but the reserved power in spain, italy, and southern germany was sure enough to make itself felt sooner or later on the catholic side. meantime the estates of bohemia knew well enough that the imperial house was bent on destroying the elective principle of the empire, and on keeping the crown of bohemia in perpetuity. they had also discovered that bishop-archduke leopold had been selected by rudolph as chief of the reactionary movement against protestantism. they could not know at that moment whether his plans were likely to prove fantastic or dangerous. so matthias came to prague at the invitation of the estates, entering the city with all the airs of a conqueror. rudolph received his brother with enforced politeness, and invited him to reside in the hradschin. this proposal was declined by matthias, who sent a colonel however, with six pieces of artillery, to guard and occupy that palace. the passau prisoners were pardoned and released, and there was a general reconciliation. a month later, matthias went in pomp to the chapel of the holy wenceslaus, that beautiful and barbarous piece of mediaeval, sclavonic architecture, with its sombre arches, and its walls encrusted with huge precious stones. the estates of bohemia, arrayed in splendid zchech costume, and kneeling on the pavement, were asked whether they accepted matthias, king of hungary, as their lawful king. thrice they answered aye. cardinal dietrichstein then put the historic crown of st. wenceslaus on the king's head, and matthias swore to maintain the laws and privileges of bohemia, including the recent charters granting liberty of religion to protestants. thus there was temporary, if hollow, truce between the religious parties, and a sham reconciliation between the emperor and his brethren. the forlorn rudolph moped away the few months of life left to him in the hradschin, and died soon after the new year. the house of austria had not been divided, matthias succeeded his brother, leopold's visions melted into air, and it was for the future to reveal whether the majesty-letter and the compromise had been written on very durable material. and while such was the condition of affairs in germany immediately following the cleve and julich campaign, the relations of the republic both to england and france were become rapidly more dangerous than they ever had been. it was a severe task for barneveld, and enough to overtax the energies of any statesman, to maintain his hold on two such slippery governments as both had become since the death of their great monarchs. it had been an easier task for william the silent to steer his course, notwithstanding all the perversities, short-comings, brow-beatings, and inconsistencies that he had been obliged to endure from elizabeth and henry. genius, however capricious and erratic at times, has at least vision, and it needed no elaborate arguments to prove to both those sovereigns that the severance of their policy from that of the netherlands was impossible without ruin to the republic and incalculable danger themselves. but now france and england were both tending towards spain through a stupidity on the part of their rulers such as the gods are said to contend against in vain. barneveld was not a god nor a hero, but a courageous and wide-seeing statesman, and he did his best. obliged by his position to affect admiration, or at least respect, where no emotion but contempt was possible, his daily bread was bitter enough. it was absolutely necessary to humour those whom knew to be traversing his policy and desiring his ruin, for there was no other way to serve his country and save it from impending danger. so long as he was faithfully served by his subordinates, and not betrayed by those to whom he gave his heart, he could confront external enemies and mould the policy of wavering allies. few things in history are more pitiable than the position of james in regard to spain. for seven long years he was as one entranced, the slave to one idea, a spanish marriage for his son. it was in vain that his counsellors argued, parliament protested, allies implored. parliament was told that a royal family matter regarded himself alone, and that interference on their part was an impertinence. parliament's duty was a simple one, to give him advice if he asked it, and money when he required it, without asking for reasons. it was already a great concession that he should ask for it in person. they had nothing to do with his affairs nor with general politics. the mystery of government was a science beyond their reach, and with which they were not to meddle. "ne sutor ultra crepidam," said the pedant. upon that one point his policy was made to turn. spain held him in the hollow of her hand. the infanta, with two million crowns in dowry, was promised, withheld, brought forward again like a puppet to please or irritate a froward child. gondemar, the spanish ambassador, held him spellbound. did he falter in his opposition to the states--did he cease to goad them for their policy in the duchies--did he express sympathy with bohemian protestantism, or, as time went on, did he dare to lift a finger or touch his pocket in behalf of his daughter and the unlucky elector-palatine; did he, in short, move a step in the road which england had ever trod and was bound to tread--the road of determined resistance to spanish ambition--instantaneously the infanta withheld, and james was on his knees again. a few years later, when the great raleigh returned from his trans-alantic expedition, gondemar fiercely denounced him to the king as the worst enemy of spain. the usual threat was made, the wand was waved, and the noblest head in england fell upon the block, in pursuance of an obsolete sentence fourteen years old. it is necessary to hold fast this single clue to the crooked and amazing entanglements of the policy of james. the insolence, the meanness, and the prevarications of this royal toad-eater are only thus explained. yet philip iii. declared on his death-bed that he had never had a serious intention of bestowing his daughter on the prince. the vanity and the hatreds of theology furnished the chief additional material in the policy of james towards the provinces. the diplomacy of his reign so far as the republic was concerned is often a mere mass of controversial divinity, and gloomy enough of its kind. exactly at this moment conrad vorstius had been called by the university of leyden to the professorship vacant by the death of arminius, and the wrath of peter plancius and the whole orthodox party knew no bounds. born in cologne, vorstius had been a lecturer in geneva, and beloved by beza. he had written a book against the jesuit belarmino, which he had dedicated to the states-general. but he was now accused of arminianism, socianism, pelagianism, atheism--one knew not what. he defended himself in writing against these various charges, and declared himself a believer in the trinity, in the divinity of christ, in the atonement. but he had written a book on the nature of god, and the wrath of gomarus and plancius and bogerman was as nothing to the ire of james when that treatise was one day handed to him on returning from hunting. he had scarcely looked into it before he was horror-struck, and instantly wrote to sir ralph winwood, his ambassador at the hague, ordering him to insist that this blasphemous monster should at once be removed from the country. who but james knew anything of the nature of god, for had he not written a work in latin explaining it all, so that humbler beings might read and be instructed. sir ralph accordingly delivered a long sermon to the states on the brief supplied by his majesty, told them that to have vorstius as successor to arminius was to fall out of the frying-pan into the fire, and handed them a "catalogue" prepared by the king of the blasphemies, heresies, and atheisms of the professor. "notwithstanding that the man in full assembly of the states of holland," said the ambassador with headlong and confused rhetoric, "had found the means to palliate and plaster the dung of his heresies, and thus to dazzle the eyes of good people," yet it was necessary to protest most vigorously against such an appointment, and to advise that "his works should be publicly burned in the open places of all the cities." the professor never was admitted to perform his functions of theology, but he remained at leyden, so winwood complained, "honoured, recognized as a singularity and ornament to the academy in place of the late joseph scaliger."--"the friendship of the king and the heresy of vorstius are quite incompatible," said the envoy. meantime the advocate, much distressed at the animosity of england bursting forth so violently on occasion of the appointment of a divinity professor at leyden, and at the very instant too when all the acuteness of his intellect was taxed to keep on good or even safe terms with france, did his best to stem these opposing currents. his private letters to his old and confidential friend, noel de carom, states' ambassador in london, reveal the perplexities of his soul and the upright patriotism by which he was guided in these gathering storms. and this correspondence, as well as that maintained by him at a little later period with the successor of aerssens at paris, will be seen subsequently to have had a direct and most important bearing upon the policy of the republic and upon his own fate. it is necessary therefore that the reader, interested in these complicated affairs which were soon to bring on a sanguinary war on a scale even vaster than the one which had been temporarily suspended, should give close attention to papers never before exhumed from the musty sepulchre of national archives, although constantly alluded to in the records of important state trials. it is strange enough to observe the apparent triviality of the circumstances out of which gravest events seem to follow. but the circumstances were in reality threads of iron which led down to the very foundations of the earth. "i wish to know," wrote the advocate to caron, "from whom the archbishop of canterbury received the advices concerning vorstius in order to find out what is meant by all this." it will be remembered that whitgift was of opinion that james was directly inspired by the holy ghost, and that as he affected to deem him the anointed high-priest of england, it was natural that he should encourage the king in his claims to be 'pontifex maximus' for the netherlands likewise. "we are busy here," continued barneveld, "in examining all things for the best interests of the country and the churches. i find the nobles and cities here well resolved in this regard, although there be some disagreements 'in modo.' vorstius, having been for many years professor and minister of theology at steinfurt, having manifested his learning in many books written against the jesuits, and proved himself pure and moderate in doctrine, has been called to the vacant professorship at leyden. this appointment is now countermined by various means. we are doing our best to arrange everything for the highest good of the provinces and the churches. believe this and believe nothing else. pay heed to no other information. remember what took place in flanders, events so well known to you. it is not for me to pass judgment in these matters. do you, too, suspend your judgment." the advocate's allusion was to the memorable course of affairs in flanders at an epoch when many of the most inflammatory preachers and politicians of the reformed religion, men who refused to employ a footman or a housemaid not certified to be thoroughly orthodox, subsequently after much sedition and disturbance went over to spain and the catholic religion. a few weeks later barneveld sent copies to caron of the latest harangues of winwood in the assembly and the reply of my lords on the vorstian business; that is to say, the freshest dialogue on predestination between the king and the advocate. for as james always dictated word for word the orations of his envoy, so had their mightinesses at this period no head and no mouthpiece save barneveld alone. nothing could be drearier than these controversies, and the reader shall be spared as much, as possible the infliction of reading them. it will be necessary, however, for the proper understanding of subsequent events that he should be familiar with portions of the advocate's confidential letters. "sound well the gentleman you wot of," said barneveld, "and other personages as to the conclusive opinions over there. the course of the propositions does not harmonize with what i have myself heard out of the king's mouth at other times, nor with the reports of former ambassadors. i cannot well understand that the king should, with such preciseness, condemn all other opinions save those of calvin and beza. it is important to the service of this country that one should know the final intention of his majesty." and this was the misery of the position. for it was soon to appear that the king's definite and final intentions, varied from day to day. it was almost humorous to find him at that moment condemning all opinions but those of calvin and beza in holland, while his course to the strictest confessors of that creed in england was so ferocious. but vorstius was a rival author to his majesty on subjects treated of by both, so that literary spite of the most venomous kind, stirred into theological hatred, was making a dangerous mixture. had a man with the soul and sense of the advocate sat on the throne which james was regarding at that moment as a professor's chair, the world's history would have been changed. "i fear," continued barneveld, "that some of our own precisians have been spinning this coil for us over there, and if the civil authority can be thus countermined, things will go as in flanders in your time. pray continue to be observant, discreet, and moderate." the advocate continued to use his best efforts to smooth the rising waves. he humoured and even flattered the king, although perpetually denounced by winwood in his letters to his sovereign as tyrannical, over-bearing, malignant, and treacherous. he did his best to counsel moderation and mutual toleration, for he felt that these needless theological disputes about an abstract and insoluble problem of casuistry were digging an abyss in which the republic might be swallowed up for ever. if ever man worked steadily with the best lights of experience and inborn sagacity for the good of his country and in defence of a constitutional government, horribly defective certainly, but the only legal one, and on the whole a more liberal polity than any then existing, it was barneveld. courageously, steadily, but most patiently, he stood upon that position so vital and daily so madly assailed; the defence of the civil authority against the priesthood. he felt instinctively and keenly that where any portion of the subjects or citizens of a country can escape from the control of government and obey other head than the lawful sovereignty, whether monarchical or republican, social disorder and anarchy must be ever impending. "we are still tortured by ecclesiastical disputes," he wrote a few weeks later to caron. "besides many libels which have appeared in print, the letters of his majesty and the harangues of winwood have been published; to what end you who know these things by experience can judge. the truth of the matter of vorstius is that he was legally called in july , that he was heard last may before my lords the states with six preachers to oppose him, and in the same month duly accepted and placed in office. he has given no public lectures as yet. you will cause this to be known on fitting opportunity. believe and cause to be believed that his majesty's letters and sir r. winwood's propositions have been and shall be well considered, and that i am working with all my strength to that end. you know the constitution of our country, and can explain everything for the best. many pious and intelligent people in this state hold themselves assured that his majesty according to his royal exceeding great wisdom, foresight, and affection for the welfare of this land will not approve that his letters and winwood's propositions should be scattered by the press among the common people. believe and cause to be believed, to your best ability, that my lords the states of holland desire to maintain the true christian, reformed religion as well in the university of leyden as in all their cities and villages. the only dispute is on the high points of predestination and its adjuncts, concerning which moderation and a more temperate teaching is furthered by some amongst us. many think that such is the edifying practice in england. pray have the kindness to send me the english confession of the year , with the corrections and alterations up to this year." but the fires were growing hotter, fanned especially by flemish ministers, a brotherhood of whom barneveld had an especial distrust, and who certainly felt great animosity to him. his moderate counsels were but oil to the flames. he was already depicted by zealots and calumniators as false to the reformed creed. "be assured and assure others," he wrote again to caron, "that in the matter of religion i am, and by god's grace shall remain, what i ever have been. make the same assurances as to my son-in-law and brother. we are not a little amazed that a few extraordinary puritans, mostly flemings and frisians, who but a short time ago had neither property nor kindred in the country, and have now very little of either, and who have given but slender proofs of constancy or service to the fatherland, could through pretended zeal gain credit over there against men well proved in all respects. we wonder the more because they are endeavouring, in ecclesiastical matters at least, to usurp an extraordinary authority, against which his majesty, with very weighty reasons, has so many times declared his opinion founded upon god's word and upon all laws and principles of justice." it was barneveld's practice on this as on subsequent occasions very courteously to confute the king out of his own writings and speeches, and by so doing to be unconsciously accumulating an undying hatred against himself in the royal breast. certainly nothing could be easier than to show that james, while encouraging in so reckless a manner the emancipation of the ministers of an advanced sect in the reformed church from control of government, and their usurpation of supreme authority which had been destroyed in england, was outdoing himself in dogmatism and inconsistency. a king-highpriest, who dictated his supreme will to bishops and ministers as well as to courts and parliaments, was ludicrously employed in a foreign country in enforcing the superiority of the church to the state. "you will give good assurances," said the advocate, "upon my word, that the conservation of the true reformed religion is as warmly cherished here, especially by me, as at any time during the war." he next alluded to the charges then considered very grave against certain writings of vorstius, and with equal fairness to his accusers as he had been to the professor gave a pledge that the subject should be examined. "if the man in question," he said, "be the author, as perhaps falsely imputed, of the work 'de filiatione christi' or things of that sort, you may be sure that he shall have no furtherance here." he complained, however, that before proof the cause was much prejudiced by the circulation through the press of letters on the subject from important personages in england. his own efforts to do justice in the matter were traversed by such machinations. if the professor proved to be guilty of publications fairly to be deemed atheistical and blasphemous, he should be debarred from his functions, but the outcry from england was doing more harm than good. "the published extract from the letter of the archbishop," he wrote, "to the effect that the king will declare my lords the states to be his enemies if they are not willing to send the man away is doing much harm." truly, if it had come to this--that a king of england was to go to war with a neighbouring and friendly republic because an obnoxious professor of theology was not instantly hurled from a university of which his majesty was not one of the overseers--it was time to look a little closely into the functions of governments and the nature of public and international law. not that the sword of james was in reality very likely to be unsheathed, but his shriekings and his scribblings, pacific as he was himself, were likely to arouse passions which torrents of blood alone could satiate. "the publishing and spreading among the community," continued barneveld, "of m. winwood's protestations and of many indecent libels are also doing much mischief, for the nature of this people does not tolerate such things. i hope, however, to obtain the removal according to his majesty's desire. keep me well informed, and send me word what is thought in england by the four divines of the book of vorstius, 'de deo,' and of his declarations on the points sent here by his majesty. let me know, too, if there has been any later confession published in england than that of the year , and whether the nine points pressed in the year were accepted and published in . if so, pray send them, as they maybe made use of in settling our differences here." thus it will be seen that the spirit of conciliation, of a calm but earnest desire to obtain a firm grasp of the most reasonable relations between church and state through patient study of the phenomena exhibited in other countries, were the leading motives of the man. yet he was perpetually denounced in private as an unbeliever, an atheist, a tyrant, because he resisted dictation from the clergy within the provinces and from kings outside them. "it was always held here to be one of the chief infractions of the laws and privileges of this country," he said, "that former princes had placed themselves in matter of religion in the tutelage of the pope and the spanish inquisition, and that they therefore on complaint of their good subjects could take no orders on that subject. therefore it cannot be considered strange that we are not willing here to fall into the same obloquy. that one should now choose to turn the magistrates, who were once so seriously summoned on their conscience and their office to adopt the reformation and to take the matter of religion to heart, into ignorants, to deprive them of knowledge, and to cause them to see with other eyes than their own, cannot by many be considered right and reasonable. 'intelligenti pauca.'" [the interesting letter from which i have given these copious extracts was ordered by its writer to be burned. "lecta vulcano" was noted at the end of it, as was not unfrequently the case with the advocate. it never was burned; but, innocent and reasonable as it seems, was made use of by barneveld's enemies with deadly effect. j.l.m.] meantime m. de refuge, as before stated, was on his way to the hague, to communicate the news of the double marriage. he had fallen sick at rotterdam, and the nature of his instructions and of the message he brought remained unknown, save from the previous despatches of aerssens. but reports were rife that he was about to propose new terms of alliance to the states, founded on large concessions to the roman catholic religion. of course intense jealousy was excited at the english court, and calumny plumed her wings for a fresh attack upon the advocate. of course he was sold to spain, the reformed religion was to be trampled out in the provinces, and the papacy and holy inquisition established on its ruins. nothing could be more diametrically the reverse of the fact than such hysterical suspicions as to the instructions of the ambassador extraordinary from france, and this has already appeared. the vorstian affair too was still in the same phase, the advocate professing a willingness that justice should be done in the matter, while courteously but firmly resisting the arrogant pretensions of james to take the matter out of the jurisdiction of the states. "i stand amazed," he said, "at the partisanship and the calumnious representations which you tell me of, and cannot imagine what is thought nor what is proposed. should m. de refuge make any such propositions as are feared, believe, and cause his majesty and his counsellors to believe, that they would be of no effect. make assurances upon my word, notwithstanding all advices to the contrary, that such things would be flatly refused. if anything is published or proven to the discredit of vorstius, send it to me. believe that we shall not defend heretics nor schismatics against the pure evangelical doctrine, but one cannot conceive here that the knowledge and judicature of the matter belongs anywhere else than to my lords the states of holland, in whose service he has legally been during four months before his majesty made the least difficulty about it. called hither legally a year before, with the knowledge and by the order of his excellency and the councillors of state of holland, he has been countermined by five or six flemings and frisians, who, without recognizing the lawful authority of the magistrates, have sought assistance in foreign countries--in germany and afterwards in england. yes, they have been so presumptuous as to designate one of their own men for the place. if such a proceeding should be attempted in england, i leave it to those whose business it would be to deal with it to say what would be done. i hope therefore that one will leave the examination and judgment of this matter freely to us, without attempting to make us--against the principles of the reformation and the liberties and laws of the land--executors of the decrees of others, as the man here wishes to obtrude it upon us." he alluded to the difficulty in raising the ways and means; saying that the quota of holland, as usual, which was more than half the whole, was ready, while other provinces were in arrears. yet they were protected, while holland was attacked. "methinks i am living in a strange world," he said, "when those who have received great honour from holland, and who in their conscience know that they alone have conserved the commonwealth, are now traduced with such great calumnies. but god the lord almighty is just, and will in his own time do chastisement." the affair of vorstius dragged its slow length along, and few things are more astounding at this epoch than to see such a matter, interesting enough certainly to theologians, to the university, and to the rising generation of students, made the topic of unceasing and embittered diplomatic controversy between two great nations, who had most pressing and momentous business on their hands. but it was necessary to humour the king, while going to the verge of imprudence in protecting the professor. in march he was heard, three or four hours long, before the assembly of holland, in answer to various charges made against him, being warned that "he stood before the lord god and before the sovereign authority of the states." although thought by many to have made a powerful defence, he was ordered to set it forth in writing, both in latin and in the vernacular. furthermore it was ordained that he should make a complete refutation of all the charges already made or that might be made during the ensuing three months against him in speech, book, or letter in england, germany, the netherlands, or anywhere else. he was allowed one year and a half to accomplish this work, and meantime was to reside not in leyden, nor the hague, but in some other town of holland, not delivering lectures or practising his profession in any way. it might be supposed that sufficient work had been thus laid out for the unfortunate doctor of divinity without lecturing or preaching. the question of jurisdiction was saved. the independence of the civil authority over the extreme pretensions of the clergy had been vindicated by the firmness of the advocate. james had been treated with overflowing demonstrations of respect, but his claim to expel a dutch professor from his chair and country by a royal fiat had been signally rebuked. certainly if the provinces were dependent upon the british king in regard to such a matter, it was the merest imbecility for them to affect independence. barneveld had carried his point and served his country strenuously and well in this apparently small matter which human folly had dilated into a great one. but deep was the wrath treasured against him in consequence in clerical and royal minds. returning from wesel after the negotiations, sir ralph winwood had an important interview at arnheim with prince maurice, in which they confidentially exchanged their opinions in regard to the advocate, and mutually confirmed their suspicions and their jealousies in regard to that statesman. the ambassador earnestly thanked the prince in the king's name for his "careful and industrious endeavours for the maintenance of the truth of religion, lively expressed in prosecuting the cause against vorstius and his adherents." he then said: "i am expressly commanded that his majesty conferring the present condition of affairs of this quarter of the world with those advertisements he daily receives from his ministers abroad, together with the nature and disposition of those men who have in their hands the managing of all business in these foreign parts, can make no other judgment than this. "there is a general ligue and confederation complotted for the subversion and ruin of religion upon the subsistence whereof his majesty doth judge the main welfare of your realms and of these provinces solely to consist. "therefore his majesty has given me charge out of the knowledge he has of your great worth and sufficiency," continued winwood," and the confidence he reposes in your faith and affection, freely to treat with you on these points, and withal to pray you to deliver your opinion what way would be the most compendious and the most assured to contrequarr these complots, and to frustrate the malice of these mischievous designs." the prince replied by acknowledging the honour the king had vouchsafed to do him in holding so gracious an opinion of him, wherein his majesty should never be deceived. "i concur in judgment with his majesty," continued the prince, "that the main scope at which these plots and practices do aim, for instance, the alliance between france and spain, is this, to root out religion, and by consequence to bring under their yoke all those countries in which religion is professed. "the first attempt," continued the prince, "is doubtless intended against these provinces. the means to countermine and defeat these projected designs i take to be these: the continuance of his majesty's constant resolution for the protection of religion, and then that the king would be pleased to procure a general confederation between the kings, princes, and commonwealths professing religion, namely, denmark, sweden, the german princes, the protestant cantons of switzerland, and our united provinces. "of this confederation, his majesty must be not only the director, but the head and protector. "lastly, the protestants of france should be, if not supported, at least relieved from that oppression which the alliance of spain doth threaten upon them. this, i insist," repeated maurice with great fervour, "is the only coupegorge of all plots whatever between france and spain." he enlarged at great length on these points, which he considered so vital. "and what appearance can there be," asked winwood insidiously and maliciously, "of this general confederation now that these provinces, which heretofore have been accounted a principal member of the reformed church, begin to falter in the truth of religion? "he who solely governs the metropolitan province of holland," continued the ambassador, with a direct stab in the back at barneveld, "is reputed generally, as your excellency best knows, to be the only patron of vorstius, and the protector of the schisms of arminius. and likewise, what possibility is there that the protestants of france can expect favour from these provinces when the same man is known to depend at the devotion of france?" the international, theological, and personal jealousy of the king against holland's advocate having been thus plainly developed, the ambassador proceeded to pour into the prince's ear the venom of suspicion, and to inflame his jealousy against his great rival. the secret conversation showed how deeply laid was the foundation of the political hatred, both of james and of maurice, against the advocate, and certainly nothing could be more preposterous than to imagine the king as the director and head of the great protestant league. we have but lately seen him confidentially assuring his minister that his only aim was "to wind himself handsomely out of the whole business." maurice must have found it difficult to preserve his gravity when assigning such a part to "master jacques." "although monsieur barneveld has cast off all care of religion," said maurice, "and although some towns in holland, wherein his power doth reign, are infected with the like neglect, yet so long as so many good towns in holland stand sound, and all the other provinces of this confederacy, the proposition would at the first motion be cheerfully accepted. "i confess i find difficulty in satisfying your second question," continued the prince, "for i acknowledge that barneveld is wholly devoted to the service of france. during the truce negotiations, when some difference arose between him and myself, president jeannin came to me, requiring me in the french king's name to treat monsieur barneveld well, whom the king had received into his protection. the letters which the states' ambassador in france wrote to barneveld (and to him all ambassadors address their despatches of importance), the very autographs themselves, he sent back into the hands of villeroy." here the prince did not scruple to accuse the advocate of doing the base and treacherous trick against aerssens which he had expressly denied doing, and which had been done during his illness, as he solemnly avowed, by a subordinate probably for the sake of making mischief. maurice then discoursed largely and vehemently of the suspicious proceedings of barneveld, and denounced him as dangerous to the state. "when one man who has the conduct of all affairs in his sole power," he said, "shall hold underhand intelligence with the ministers of spain and the archduke, and that without warrant, thereby he may have the means so to carry the course of affairs that, do what they will, these provinces must fall or stand at the mercy and discretion of spain. therefore some good resolutions must be taken in time to hold up this state from a sudden downfall, but in this much moderation and discretion must be used." the prince added that he had invited his cousin lewis william to appear at the hague at may day, in order to consult as to the proper means to preserve the provinces from confusion under his majesty's safeguard, and with the aid of the englishmen in the states' service whom maurice pronounced to be "the strength and flower of his army." thus the prince developed his ideas at great length, and accused the advocate behind his back, and without the faintest shadow of proof, of base treachery to his friends and of high-treason. surely barneveld was in danger, and was walking among pitfalls. most powerful and deadly enemies were silently banding themselves together against him. could he long maintain his hold on the slippery heights of power, where he was so consciously serving his country, but where he became day by day a mere shining mark for calumny and hatred? the ambassador then signified to the prince that he had been instructed to carry to him the king's purpose to confer on him the order of the garter. "if his majesty holds me worthy of so great honour," said the prince, "i and my family shall ever remain bound to his service and that of his royal posterity. "that the states should be offended i see no cause, but holding the charge i do in their service, i could not accept the honour without first acquainting them and receiving their approbation." winwood replied that, as the king knew the terms on which the prince lived with the states, he doubted not his majesty would first notify them and say that he honoured the mutual amity between his realms and these provinces by honouring the virtues of their general, whose services, as they had been most faithful and affectionate, so had they been accompanied with the blessings of happiness and prosperous success. thus said winwood to the king: "your majesty may plaster two walls with one trowel ('una fidelia duos dealbare parietes'), reverse the designs of them who to facilitate their own practices do endeavour to alienate your affections from the good of these provinces, and oblige to your service the well-affected people, who know that there is no surety for themselves, their wives and children, but under the protection of your majesty's favour. perhaps, however, the favourers of vorstius and arminius will buzz into the ears of their associates that your majesty would make a party in these provinces by maintaining the truth of religion and also by gaining unto you the affections of their chief commander. but your majesty will be pleased to pass forth whose worthy ends will take their place, which is to honour virtue where you find it, and the suspicious surmises of malice and envy in one instant will vanish into smoke." winwood made no scruple in directly stating to the english government that barneveld's purpose was to "cause a divorce between the king's realms and the provinces, the more easily to precipitate them into the arms of spain." he added that the negotiation with count maurice then on foot was to be followed, but with much secrecy, on account of the place he held in the state. soon after the ambassador's secret conversation with maurice he had an interview with barneveld. he assured the advocate that no contentment could be given to his majesty but by the banishment of vorstius. "if the town of leyden should understand so much," replied barneveld, "i fear the magistrates would retain him still in their town." "if the town of leyden should retain vorstius," answered winwood, "to brave or despight his majesty, the king has the means, if it pleases him to use them, and that without drawing sword, to range them to reason, and to make the magistrates on their knees demand his pardon, and i say as much of rotterdam." such insolence on the part of an ambassador to the first minister of a great republic was hard to bear. barneveld was not the man to brook it. he replied with great indignation. "i was born in liberty," he said with rising choler, "i cannot digest this kind of language. the king of spain himself never dared to speak in so high a style." "i well understand that logic," returned the ambassador with continued insolence. "you hold your argument to be drawn 'a majori ad minus;' but i pray you to believe that the king of great britain is peer and companion to the king of spain, and that his motto is, 'nemo me impune lacessit.'" and so they parted in a mutual rage; winwood adding on going out of the room, "whatsoever i propose to you in his majesty's name can find with you neither goust nor grace." he then informed lord rochester that "the man was extremely distempered and extremely distasted with his majesty. "some say," he added, "that on being in england when his majesty first came to the throne he conceived some offence, which ever since hath rankled in his heart, and now doth burst forth with more violent malice." nor was the matter so small as it superficially appeared. dependence of one nation upon the dictation of another can never be considered otherwise than grave. the subjection of all citizens, clerical or lay, to the laws of the land, the supremacy of the state over the church, were equally grave subjects. and the question of sovereignty now raised for the first time, not academically merely, but practically, was the gravest one of all. it was soon to be mooted vigorously and passionately whether the united provinces were a confederacy or a union; a league of sovereign and independent states bound together by treaty for certain specified purposes or an incorporated whole. the advocate and all the principal lawyers in the country had scarcely a doubt on the subject. whether it were a reasonable system or an absurd one, a vigorous or an imbecile form of government, they were confident that the union of utrecht, made about a generation of mankind before, and the only tie by which the provinces were bound together at all, was a compact between sovereigns. barneveld styled himself always the servant and officer of the states of holland. to them was his allegiance, for them he spoke, wrought, and thought, by them his meagre salary was paid. at the congress of the states-general, the scene of his most important functions, he was the ambassador of holland, acting nominally according to their instructions, and exercising the powers of minister of foreign affairs and, as it were, prime minister for the other confederates by their common consent. the system would have been intolerable, the great affairs of war and peace could never have been carried on so triumphantly, had not the preponderance of the one province holland, richer, more powerful, more important in every way than the other six provinces combined, given to the confederacy illegally, but virtually, many of the attributes of union. rather by usucaption than usurpation holland had in many regards come to consider herself and be considered as the republic itself. and barneveld, acting always in the name of holland and with the most modest of titles and appointments, was for a long time in all civil matters the chief of the whole country. this had been convenient during the war, still more convenient during negotiations for peace, but it was inevitable that there should be murmurs now that the cessation from military operations on a large scale had given men time to look more deeply into the nature of a constitution partly inherited and partly improvised, and having many of the defects usually incident to both sources of government. the military interest, the ecclesiastical power, and the influence of foreign nations exerted through diplomatic intrigue, were rapidly arraying themselves in determined hostility to barneveld and to what was deemed his tyrannous usurpation. a little later the national spirit, as opposed to provincial and municipal patriotism, was to be aroused against him, and was likely to prove the most formidable of all the elements of antagonism. it is not necessary to anticipate here what must be developed on a subsequent page. this much, however, it is well to indicate for the correct understanding of passing events. barneveld did not consider himself the officer or servant of their high mightinesses the states- general, while in reality often acting as their master, but the vassal and obedient functionary of their great mightinesses the states of holland, whom he almost absolutely controlled. his present most pressing business was to resist the encroachments of the sacerdotal power and to defend the magistracy. the casuistical questions which were fast maddening the public mind seemed of importance to him only as enclosing within them a more vital and practical question of civil government. but the anger of his opponents, secret and open, was rapidly increasing. envy, jealousy, political and clerical hate, above all, that deadliest and basest of malignant spirits which in partisan warfare is bred out of subserviency to rising and rival power, were swarming about him and stinging him at every step. no parasite of maurice could more effectively pay his court and more confidently hope for promotion or reward than by vilipending barneveld. it would be difficult to comprehend the infinite extent and power of slander without a study of the career of the advocate of holland. "i thank you for your advices," he wrote to carom' "and i wish from my heart that his majesty, according to his royal wisdom and clemency towards the condition of this country, would listen only to my lords the states or their ministers, and not to his own or other passionate persons who, through misunderstanding or malice, furnish him with information and so frequently flatter him. i have tried these twenty years to deserve his majesty's confidence, and have many letters from him reaching through twelve or fifteen years, in which he does me honour and promises his royal favour. i am the more chagrined that through false and passionate reports and information--because i am resolved to remain good and true to my lords the states, to the fatherland, and to the true christian religion--i and mine should now be so traduced. i hope that god almighty will second my upright conscience, and cause his majesty soon to see the injustice done to me and mine. to defend the resolutions of my lords the states of holland is my office, duty, and oath, and i assure you that those resolutions are taken with wider vision and scope than his majesty can believe. let this serve for my lords' defence and my own against indecent calumny, for my duty allows me to pursue no other course." he again alluded to the dreary affair of vorstius, and told the envoy that the venation caused by it was incredible. "that men unjustly defame our cities and their regents is nothing new," he said; "but i assure you that it is far more damaging to the common weal than the defamers imagine." some of the private admirers of arminius who were deeply grieved at so often hearing him "publicly decried as the enemy of god" had been defending the great heretic to james, and by so doing had excited the royal wrath not only against the deceased doctor and themselves, but against the states of holland who had given them no commission. on the other hand the advanced orthodox party, most bitter haters of barneveld, and whom in his correspondence with england he uniformly and perhaps designedly called the puritans, knowing that the very word was a scarlet rag to james, were growing louder and louder in their demands. "some thirty of these puritans," said he, "of whom at least twenty are flemings or other foreigners equally violent, proclaim that they and the like of them mean alone to govern the church. let his majesty compare this proposal with his royal present, with his salutary declaration at london in the year to doctor reynolds and his associates, and with his admonition delivered to the emperor, kings, sovereigns, and republics, and he will best understand the mischievous principles of these people, who are now gaining credit with him to the detriment of the freedom and laws of these provinces." a less enlightened statesman than barneveld would have found it easy enough to demonstrate the inconsistency of the king in thus preaching subserviency of government to church and favouring the rule of puritans over both. it needed but slender logic to reduce such a policy on his part to absurdity, but neither kings nor governments are apt to value themselves on their logic. so long as james could play the pedagogue to emperors, kings, and republics, it mattered little to him that the doctrines which he preached in one place he had pronounced flat blasphemy in another. that he would cheerfully hang in england the man whom he would elevate to power in holland might be inconsistency in lesser mortals; but what was the use of his infallibility if he was expected to be consistent? but one thing was certain. the advocate saw through him as if he had been made of glass, and james knew that he did. this fatal fact outweighed all the decorous and respectful phraseology under which barneveld veiled his remorseless refutations. it was a dangerous thing to incur the wrath of this despot-theologian. prince maurice, who had originally joined in the invitation given by the overseers of leyden to vorstius, and had directed one of the deputies and his own "court trumpeter," uytenbogaert, to press him earnestly to grant his services to the university, now finding the coldness of barneveld to the fiery remonstrances of the king, withdrew his protection of the professor. "the count maurice, who is a wise and understanding prince," said winwood, "and withal most affectionate to his majesty's service, doth foresee the miseries into which these countries are likely to fall, and with grief doth pine away." it is probable that the great stadholder had never been more robust, or indeed inclining to obesity, than precisely at this epoch; but sir ralph was of an imaginative turn. he had discovered, too, that the advocate's design was "of no other nature than so to stem the course of the state that insensibly the provinces shall fall by relapse into the hands of spain." a more despicable idea never entered a human brain. every action, word, and thought, of barneveld's life was a refutation of it. but he was unwilling, at the bidding of a king, to treat a professor with contumely who had just been solemnly and unanimously invited by the great university, by the states of holland, and by the stadholder to an important chair; and that was enough for the diplomatist and courtier. "he, and only he," said winwood passionately, "hath opposed his majesty's purposes with might and main." formerly the ambassador had been full of complaints of "the craving humour of count maurice," and had censured him bitterly in his correspondence for having almost by his inordinate pretensions for money and other property brought the treaty of truce to a standstill. and in these charges he was as unjust and as reckless as he was now in regard to barneveld. the course of james and his agents seemed cunningly devised to sow discord in the provinces, to inflame the growing animosity of the stadholder to the advocate, and to paralyse the action of the republic in the duchies. if the king had received direct instructions from the spanish cabinet how to play the spanish game, he could hardly have done it with more docility. but was not gondemar ever at his elbow, and the infanta always in the perspective? and it is strange enough that, at the same moment, spanish marriages were in france as well as england the turning-point of policy. henry had been willing enough that the dauphin should espouse a spanish infanta, and that one of the spanish princes should be affianced to one of his daughters. but the proposition from spain had been coupled with a condition that the friendship between france and the netherlands should be at once broken off, and the rebellious heretics left to their fate. and this condition had been placed before him with such arrogance that he had rejected the whole scheme. henry was not the man to do anything dishonourable at the dictation of another sovereign. he was also not the man to be ignorant that the friendship of the provinces was necessary to him, that cordial friendship between france and spain was impossible, and that to allow spain to reoccupy that splendid possession between his own realms and germany, from which she had been driven by the hollanders in close alliance with himself, would be unworthy of the veriest schoolboy in politics. but henry was dead, and a medici reigned in his place, whose whole thought was to make herself agreeable to spain. aerssens, adroit, prying, experienced, unscrupulous, knew very well that these double spanish marriages were resolved upon, and that the inevitable condition refused by the king would be imposed upon his widow. he so informed the states-general, and it was known to the french government that he had informed them. his position soon became almost untenable, not because he had given this information, but because the information and the inference made from it were correct. it will be observed that the policy of the advocate was to preserve friendly relations between france and england, and between both and the united provinces. it was for this reason that he submitted to the exhortations and denunciations of the english ambassadors. it was for this that he kept steadily in view the necessity of dealing with and supporting corporate france, the french government, when there were many reasons for feeling sympathy with the internal rebellion against that government. maurice felt differently. he was connected by blood or alliance with more than one of the princes now perpetually in revolt. bouillon was his brother-in-law, the sister of conde was his brother's wife. another cousin, the elector-palatine, was already encouraging distant and extravagant hopes of the imperial crown. it was not unnatural that he should feel promptings of ambition and sympathy difficult to avow even to himself, and that he should feel resentment against the man by whom this secret policy was traversed in the well- considered interest of the republican government. aerssens, who, with the keen instinct of self-advancement was already attaching himself to maurice as to the wheels of the chariot going steadily up the hill, was not indisposed to loosen his hold upon the man through whose friendship he had first risen, and whose power was now perhaps on the decline. moreover, events had now caused him to hate the french government with much fervour. with henry iv. he had been all- powerful. his position had been altogether exceptional, and he had wielded an influence at paris more than that exerted by any foreign ambassador. the change naturally did not please him, although he well knew the reasons. it was impossible for the dutch ambassador to be popular at a court where spain ruled supreme. had he been willing to eat humiliation as with a spoon, it would not have sufficed. they knew him, they feared him, and they could not doubt that his sympathies would ever be with the malcontent princes. at the same time he did not like to lose his hold upon the place, nor to have it known, as yet, to the world that his power was diminished. "the queen commands me to tell you," said the french ambassador de russy to the states-general, "that the language of the sieur aerssens has not only astonished her, but scandalized her to that degree that she could not refrain from demanding if it came from my lords the states or from himself. he having, however, affirmed to her majesty that he had express charge to justify it by reasons so remote from the hope and the belief that she had conceived of your gratitude to the most christian king and herself, she is constrained to complain of it, and with great frankness." some months later than this aerssens communicated to the states-general the project of the spanish marriage, "which," said he, "they have declared to me with so many oaths to be false." he informed them that m. de refuge was to go on special mission to the hague, "having been designated to that duty before aerssens' discovery of the marriage project." he was to persuade their mightinesses that the marriages were by no means concluded, and that, even if they were, their mightinesses were not interested therein, their majesties intending to remain by the old maxims and alliances of the late king. marriages, he would be instructed to say, were mere personal conventions, which remained of no consideration when the interests of the crown were touched. "nevertheless, i know very well," said aerssens, "that in england these negotiations are otherwise understood, and that the king has uttered great complaints about them, saying that such a negotiation as this ought not to have been concealed from him. he is pressing more than ever for reimbursement of the debt to him, and especially for the moneys pretended to have been furnished to your mightinesses in his majesty's name." thus it will be seen how closely the spanish marriages were connected with the immediate financial arrangements of france, england, and the states, without reference to the wider political consequences anticipated. "the princes and most gentlemen," here continued the ambassador, "believe that these reciprocal and double marriages will bring about great changes in christendom if they take the course which the authors of them intend, however much they may affect to believe that no novelties are impending. the marriages were proposed to the late king, and approved by him, during the negotiations for the truce, and had don pedro do toledo been able to govern himself, as jeannin has just been telling me, the united provinces would have drawn from it their assured security. what he means by that, i certainly cannot conceive, for don pedro proposed the marriage of the dauphin (now louis xiii.) with the infanta on the condition that henry should renounce all friendship with your mightinesses, and neither openly nor secretly give you any assistance. you were to be entirely abandoned, as an example for all who throw off the authority of their lawful prince. but his majesty answered very generously that he would take no conditions; that he considered your mightinesses as his best friends, whom he could not and would not forsake. upon this don pedro broke off the negotiation. what should now induce the king of spain to resume the marriage negotiations but to give up the conditions, i am sure i don't know, unless, through the truce, his designs and his ambition have grown flaccid. this i don't dare to hope, but fear, on the contrary, that he will so manage the irresolution, weakness, and faintheartedness of this kingdom as through the aid of his pensioned friends here to arrive at all his former aims." certainly the ambassador painted the condition of france in striking and veracious colours, and he was quite right in sending the information which he was first to discover, and which it was so important for the states to know. it was none the less certain in barneveld's mind that the best, not the worst, must be made of the state of affairs, and that france should not be assisted in throwing herself irrecoverably into the arms of spain. "refuge will tell you," said aerssens, a little later, "that these marriages will not interfere with the friendship of france for you nor with her subsidies, and that no advantage will be given to spain in the treaty to your detriment or that of her other allies. but whatever fine declarations they may make, it is sure to be detrimental. and all the princes, gentlemen, and officers here have the same conviction. those of the reformed religion believe that the transaction is directed solely against the religion which your mightinesses profess, and that the next step will be to effect a total separation between the two religions and the two countries." refuge arrived soon afterwards, and made the communication to the states- general of the approaching nuptials between the king of france and the infanta of spain; and of the prince of spain with madame, eldest daughter of france, exactly as aerssens had predicted four months before. there was a great flourish of compliments, much friendly phrase-making, and their mightinesses were informed that the communication of the marriages was made to them before any other power had been notified, in proof of the extraordinary affection entertained for them by france. "you are so much interested in the happiness of france," said refuge, "that this treaty by which it is secured will be for your happiness also. he did not indicate, however, the precise nature of the bliss beyond the indulgence of a sentimental sympathy, not very refreshing in the circumstances, which was to result to the confederacy from this close alliance between their firmest friend and their ancient and deadly enemy. he would have found it difficult to do so. "don rodrigo de calderon, secretary of state, is daily expected from spain," wrote, aerssens once more. "he brings probably the articles of the marriages, which have hitherto been kept secret, so they say. 'tis a shrewd negotiator; and in this alliance the king's chief design is to injure your mightinesses, as m. de villeroy now confesses, although he says that this will not be consented to on this side. it behoves your mightinesses to use all your ears and eyes. it is certain these are much more than private conventions. yes, there is nothing private about them, save the conjunction of the persons whom they concern. in short, all the conditions regard directly the state, and directly likewise, or by necessary consequence, the state of your mightinesses' provinces. i reserve explanations until it shall please your mightinesses to hear me by word of mouth." for it was now taken into consideration by the states' government whether aerssens was to remain at his post or to return. whether it was his wish to be relieved of his embassy or not was a question. but there was no question that the states at this juncture, and in spite of the dangers impending from the spanish marriages, must have an ambassador ready to do his best to keep france from prematurely sliding into positive hostility to them. aerssens was enigmatical in his language, and barneveld was somewhat puzzled. "i have according to your reiterated requests," wrote the advocate to the ambassador, "sounded the assembly of my lords the states as to your recall; but i find among some gentlemen the opinion that if earnestly pressed to continue you would be willing to listen to the proposal. this i cannot make out from your letters. please to advise me frankly as to your wishes, and assure yourself in everything of my friendship." nothing could be more straightforward than this language, but the envoy was less frank than barneveld, as will subsequently appear. the subject was a most important one, not only in its relation to the great affairs of state, but to momentous events touching the fate of illustrious personages. meantime a resolution was passed by the states of holland "in regard to the question whether ambassador aerssens should retain his office, yes or no?" and it was decided by a majority of votes "to leave it to his candid opinion if in his free conscience he thinks he can serve the public cause there any longer. if yes, he may keep his office one year more. if no, he may take leave and come home. in no case is his salary to be increased." surely the states, under the guidance of the advocate, had thus acted with consummate courtesy towards a diplomatist whose position from no apparent fault of his own but by the force of circumstances--and rather to his credit than otherwise--was gravely compromised. etext editor's bookmarks: advanced orthodox party-puritans atheist, a tyrant, because he resisted dictation from the clergy give him advice if he asked it, and money when he required he was not imperial of aspect on canvas or coin he who would have all may easily lose all king's definite and final intentions, varied from day to day neither kings nor governments are apt to value logic outdoing himself in dogmatism and inconsistency small matter which human folly had dilated into a great one the defence of the civil authority against the priesthood this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, volume the life and death of john of barneveld, v , chapter iv. difficult position of barneveld--insurrection at utrecht subdued by the states' army--special embassies to england and france--anger of the king with spain and the archdukes--arrangements of henry for the coming war--position of spain--anxiety of the king for the presence of barneveld in paris--arrival of the dutch commissioners in france and their brilliant reception--their interview with the king and his ministers--negotiations--delicate position of the dutch government-- india trade--simon danzer, the corsair--conversations of henry with the dutch commissioners--letter of the king to archduke albert-- preparations for the queen's coronation, and of henry to open the campaign in person--perplexities of henry--forebodings and warnings --the murder accomplished--terrible change in france--triumph of concini and of spain--downfall of sully--disputes of the grandees among themselves--special mission of condelence from the republic-- conference on the great enterprise--departure of van der myle from paris. there were reasons enough why the advocate could not go to paris at this juncture. it was absurd in henry to suppose it possible. everything rested on barneveld's shoulders. during the year which had just passed he had drawn almost every paper, every instruction in regard to the peace negotiations, with his own hand, had assisted at every conference, guided and mastered the whole course of a most difficult and intricate negotiation, in which he had not only been obliged to make allowance for the humbled pride and baffled ambition of the ancient foe of the netherlands, but to steer clear of the innumerable jealousies, susceptibilities, cavillings, and insolences of their patronizing friends. it was his brain that worked, his tongue that spoke, his restless pen that never paused. his was not one of those easy posts, not unknown in the modern administration of great affairs, where the subordinate furnishes the intellect, the industry, the experience, while the bland superior, gratifying the world with his sign-manual, appropriates the applause. so long as he lived and worked, the states-general and the states of holland were like a cunningly contrived machine, which seemed to be alive because one invisible but mighty mind vitalized the whole. and there had been enough to do. it was not until midsummer of that the ratifications of the treaty of truce, one of the great triumphs in the history of diplomacy, had been exchanged, and scarcely had this period been put to the eternal clang of arms when the death of a lunatic threw the world once more into confusion. it was obvious to barneveld that the issue of the cleve-julich affair, and of the tremendous religious fermentation in bohemia, moravia, and austria, must sooner or later lead to an immense war. it was inevitable that it would devolve upon the states to sustain their great though vacillating, their generous though encroaching, their sincere though most irritating, ally. and yet, thoroughly as barneveld had mastered all the complications and perplexities of the religious and political question, carefully as he had calculated the value of the opposing forces which were shaking christendom, deeply as he had studied the characters of matthias and rudolph, of charles of denmark and ferdinand of graz, of anhalt and maximilian, of brandenburg and neuburg, of james and philip, of paul v. and charles emmanuel, of sully and yilleroy, of salisbury and bacon, of lerma and infantado; adroitly as he could measure, weigh, and analyse all these elements in the great problem which was forcing itself on the attention of europe--there was one factor with which it was difficult for this austere republican, this cold, unsuseeptible statesman, to deal: the intense and imperious passion of a greybeard for a woman of sixteen. for out of the cauldron where the miscellaneous elements of universal war were bubbling rose perpetually the fantastic image of margaret montmorency: the fatal beauty at whose caprice the heroic sword of ivry and cahors was now uplifted and now sheathed. aerssens was baffled, and reported the humours of the court where he resided as changing from hour to hour. to the last he reported that all the mighty preparations then nearly completed "might evaporate in smoke" if the princess of conde should come back. every ambassador in paris was baffled. peter pecquius was as much in the dark as don inigo de cardenas, as ubaldini or edmonds. no one save sully, aerssens, barneveld, and the king knew the extensive arrangements and profound combinations which had been made for the war. yet not sully, aerssens, barneveld, or the king, knew whether or not the war would really be made. barneveld had to deal with this perplexing question day by day. his correspondence with his ambassador at henry's court was enormous, and we have seen that the ambassador was with the king almost daily; sleeping or waking; at dinner or the chase; in the cabinet or the courtyard. but the advocate was also obliged to carry in his arms, as it were, the brood of snarling, bickering, cross-grained german princes, to supply them with money, with arms, with counsel, with brains; to keep them awake when they went to sleep, to steady them in their track, to teach them to go alone. he had the congress at hall in suabia to supervise and direct; he had to see that the ambassadors of the new republic, upon which they in reality were already half dependent and chafing at their dependence, were treated with the consideration due to the proud position which the commonwealth had gained. questions of etiquette were at that moment questions of vitality. he instructed his ambassadors to leave the congress on the spot if they were ranked after the envoys of princes who were only feudatories of the emperor. the dutch ambassadors, "recognising and relying upon no superiors but god and their sword," placed themselves according to seniority with the representatives of proudest kings. he had to extemporize a system of free international communication with all the powers of the earth--with the turk at constantinople, with the czar of muscovy; with the potentates of the baltic, with both the indies. the routine of a long established and well organized foreign office in a time-honoured state running in grooves; with well-balanced springs and well oiled wheels, may be a luxury of civilization; but it was a more arduous task to transact the greatest affairs of a state springing suddenly into recognized existence and mainly dependent for its primary construction and practical working on the hand of one man. worse than all, he had to deal on the most dangerous and delicate topics of state with a prince who trembled at danger and was incapable of delicacy; to show respect for a character that was despicable, to lean on a royal word falser than water, to inhale almost daily the effluvia from a court compared to which the harem of henry was a temple of vestals. the spectacle of the slobbering james among his kars and hays and villiers's and other minions is one at which history covers her eyes and is dumb; but the republican envoys, with instructions from a barneveld, were obliged to face him daily, concealing their disgust, and bowing reverentially before him as one of the arbiters of their destinies and the solomon of his epoch. a special embassy was sent early in the year to england to convey the solemn thanks of the republic to the king for his assistance in the truce negotiations, and to treat of the important matters then pressing on the attention of both powers. contemporaneously was to be despatched the embassy for which henry was waiting so impatiently at paris. certainly the advocate had enough with this and other, important business already mentioned to detain him at his post. moreover the first year of peace had opened disastrously in the netherlands. tremendous tempests such as had rarely been recorded even in that land of storms had raged all the winter. the waters everywhere had burst their dykes and inundations, which threatened to engulph the whole country, and which had caused enormous loss of property and even of life, were alarming the most courageous. it was difficult in many district to collect the taxes for the every-day expenses of the community, and yet the advocate knew that the republic would soon be forced to renew the war on a prodigious scale. still more to embarrass the action of the government and perplex its statesmen, an alarming and dangerous insurrection broke out in utrecht. in that ancient seat of the hard-fighting, imperious, and opulent sovereign archbishops of the ancient church an important portion of the population had remained catholic. another portion complained of the abolition of various privileges which they had formerly enjoyed; among others that of a monopoly of beer-brewing for the province. all the population, as is the case with all populations in all countries and all epochs, complained of excessive taxation. a clever politician, dirk kanter by name, a gentleman by birth, a scholar and philosopher by pursuit and education, and a demagogue by profession, saw an opportunity of taking an advantage of this state of things. more than twenty years before he had been burgomaster of the city, and had much enjoyed himself in that position. he was tired of the learned leisure to which the ingratitude of his fellow-citizens had condemned him. he seems to have been of easy virtue in the matter of religion, a catholic, an arminian, an ultra orthodox contra-remonstrant by turns. he now persuaded a number of determined partisans that the time had come for securing a church for the public worship of the ancient faith, and at the same time for restoring the beer brewery, reducing the taxes, recovering lost privileges, and many other good things. beneath the whole scheme lay a deep design to effect the secession of the city and with it of the opulent and important province of utrecht from the union. kanter had been heard openly to avow that after all the netherlands had flourished under the benign sway of the house of burgundy, and that the time would soon come for returning to that enviable condition. by a concerted assault the city hall was taken possession of by main force, the magistracy was overpowered, and a new board of senators and common council-men appointed, kanter and a devoted friend of his, heldingen by name, being elected burgomasters. the states-provincial of utrecht, alarmed at these proceedings in the city, appealed for protection against violence to the states-general under the rd article of the union, the fundamental pact which bore the name of utrecht itself. prince maurice proceeded to the city at the head of a detachment of troops to quell the tumults. kanter and his friends were plausible enough to persuade him of the legality and propriety of the revolution which they had effected, and to procure his formal confirmation of the new magistracy. intending to turn his military genius and the splendour of his name to account, they contrived to keep him for a time at least in an amiable enthralment, and induced him to contemplate in their interest the possibility of renouncing the oath which subjected him to the authority of the states of utrecht. but the far-seeing eye of barneveld could not be blind to the danger which at this crisis beset the stadholder and the whole republic. the prince was induced to return to the hague, but the city continued by armed revolt to maintain the new magistracy. they proceeded to reduce the taxes, and in other respects to carry out the measures on the promise of which they had come into power. especially the catholic party sustained kanter and his friends, and promised themselves from him and from his influence over prince maurice to obtain a power of which they had long been deprived. the states-general now held an assembly at woerden, and summoned the malcontents of utrecht to bring before that body a statement of their grievances. this was done, but there was no satisfactory arrangement possible, and the deputation returned to utrecht, the states-general to the hague. the states-provincial of utrecht urged more strongly than ever upon the assembly of the union to save the city from the hands of a reckless and revolutionary government. the states-general resolved accordingly to interfere by force. a considerable body of troops was ordered to march at once upon utrecht and besiege the city. maurice, in his capacity of captain-general and stadholder of the province, was summoned to take charge of the army. he was indisposed to do so, and pleaded sickness. the states, determined that the name of nassau should not be used as an encouragement to disobedience, and rebellion, then directed the brother of maurice, frederic henry, youngest son of william the silent, to assume the command. maurice insisted that his brother was too young, and that it was unjust to allow so grave a responsibility to fall upon his shoulders. the states, not particularly pleased with the prince's attitude at this alarming juncture, and made anxious by the glamour which seemed to possess him since his conferences with the revolutionary party at utrecht, determined not to yield. the army marched forth and laid siege to the city, prince frederic henry at its head. he was sternly instructed by the states-general, under whose orders he acted, to take possession of the city at all hazards. he was to insist on placing there a garrison of foot and horse, and to permit not another armed man within the walls. the members of the council of state and of the states of utrecht accompanied the army. for a moment the party in power was disposed to resist the forces of the union. dick kanter and his friends were resolute enough; the catholic priests turned out among the rest with their spades and worked on the entrenchments. the impossibility of holding the city against the overwhelming power of the states was soon obvious, and the next day the gates were opened, and easy terms were granted. the new magistracy was set aside, the old board that had been deposed by the rebels reinstated. the revolution and the counterrevolution were alike bloodless, and it was determined that the various grievances of which the discontented party had complained should be referred to the states-general, to prince maurice, to the council of state, and to the ambassadors of france and england. amnesty was likewise decreed on submission. the restored government was arminian in its inclinations, the revolutionary one was singularly compounded both of catholic and of ultra-orthodox elements. quiet was on the whole restored, but the resources of the city were crippled. the event occurring exactly at the crisis of the clove and julich expedition angered the king of france. "the trouble of utrecht," wrote aerssens to barneveld, "has been turned to account here marvellously, the archdukes and spaniards boasting that many more revolts like this may be at once expected. i have explained to his majesty, who has been very much alarmed about it, both its source and the hopes that it will be appeased by the prudence of his excellency prince maurice and the deputies of the states. the king desires that everything should be pacified as soon as possible, so that there may be no embarrassment to the course of public affairs. but he fears, he tells me, that this may create some new jealousy between prince maurice and yourself. i don't comprehend what he means, although he held this language to me very expressly and without reserve. i could only answer that you were living on the best of terms together in perfect amity and intelligence. if you know if this talk of his has any other root, please to enlighten me, that i may put a stop to false reports, for i know nothing of affairs except what you tell me." king james, on the other hand, thoroughly approved the promptness of the states-general in suppressing the tumult. nothing very serious of alike nature occurred in utrecht until the end of the year, when a determined and secret conspiracy was discovered, having for its object to overpower the garrison and get bodily possession of colonel john ogle, the military commander of the town. at the bottom of the movement were the indefatigable dirk kanter and his friend heldingen. the attempt was easily suppressed, and the two were banished from the town. kanter died subsequently in north holland, in the odour of ultra- orthodoxy. four of the conspirators--a post-master, two shoemakers, and a sexton, who had bound themselves by oath to take the lives of two eminent arminian preachers, besides other desperate deeds--were condemned to death, but pardoned on the scaffold. thus ended the first revolution at utrecht. its effect did not cease, however, with the tumults which were its original manifestations. this earliest insurrection in organized shape against the central authority of the states-general; this violent though abortive effort to dissolve the union and to nullify its laws; this painful necessity for the first time imposed upon the federal government to take up arms against misguided citizens of the republic, in order to save itself from disintegration and national death, were destined to be followed by far graver convulsions on the self-same spot. religious differences and religious hatreds were to mingle their poison with antagonistic political theories and personal ambitions, and to develop on a wide scale the danger ever lurking in a constitution whose fundamental law was unstable, ill defined, and liable to contradictory interpretations. for the present it need only be noticed that the states-general, guided by barneveld, most vigorously suppressed the local revolt and the incipient secession, while prince maurice, the right arm of the executive, the stadholder of the province, and the representative of the military power of the commonwealth, was languid in the exertion of that power, inclined to listen to the specious arguments of the utrecht rebels, and accused at least of tampering with the fell spirit which the advocate was resolute to destroy. yet there was no suspicion of treason, no taint of rebellion, no accusation of unpatriotic motives uttered against the stadholder. there was a doubt as to the true maxims by which the confederacy was to be governed, and at this moment, certainly, the prince and the advocate represented opposite ideas. there was a possibility, at a future day, when the religious and political parties might develop themselves on a wider scale and the struggles grow fiercer, that the two great champions in the conflict might exchange swords and inflict mutual and poisoned wounds. at present the party of the union had triumphed, with barneveld at its head. at a later but not far distant day, similar scenes might be enacted in the ancient city of utrecht, but with a strange difference and change in the cast of parts and with far more tragical results. for the moment the moderate party in the church, those more inclined to arminianism and the supremacy of the civil authority in religious matters, had asserted their ascendency in the states-general, and had prevented the threatened rupture. meantime it was doubly necessary to hasten the special embassies to france and to england, in both which countries much anxiety as to the political health and strength of the new republic had been excited by these troubles in utrecht. it was important for the states-general to show that they were not crippled, and would not shrink from the coming conflict, but would justify the reliance placed on them by their allies. thus there were reasons enough why barneveld could not himself leave the country in the eventful spring of . it must be admitted, however, that he was not backward in placing his nearest relatives in places of honour, trust, and profit. his eldest son reinier, seignior of groeneveld, had been knighted by henry iv.; his youngest, william, afterwards called seignior of stoutenburg, but at this moment bearing the not very mellifluous title of craimgepolder, was a gentleman-in-waiting at that king's court, with a salary of crowns a year. he was rather a favourite with the easy- going monarch, but he gave infinite trouble to the dutch ambassador aerssens, who, feeling himself under immense obligations to the advocate and professing for him boundless gratitude, did his best to keep the idle, turbulent, extravagant, and pleasure-loving youth up to the strict line of his duties. "your son is in debt again," wrote aerssens, on one occasion, "and troubled for money. he is in danger of going to the usurers. he says he cannot keep himself for less than crowns a month. this is a large allowance, but he has spent much more than that. his life is not irregular nor his dress remarkably extravagant. his difficulty is that he will not dine regularly with me nor at court. he will keep his own table and have company to dinner. that is what is ruining him. he comes sometimes to me, not for the dinner nor the company, but for tennis, which he finds better in my faubourg than in town. his trouble comes from the table, and i tell you frankly that you must regulate his expenses or they will become very onerous to you. i am ashamed of them and have told him so a hundred times, more than if he had been my own brother. it is all for love of you . . . . i have been all to him that could be expected of a man who is under such vast obligations to you; and i so much esteem the honour of your friendship that i should always neglect my private affairs in order to do everything for your service and meet your desires . . . . . if m. de craimgepolder comes back from his visit home, you must restrict him in two things, the table and tennis, and you can do this if you require him to follow the king assiduously as his service requires." something at a future day was to be heard of william of barneveld, as well as of his elder brother reinier, and it is good, therefore, to have these occasional glimpses of him while in the service of the king and under the supervision of one who was then his father's devoted friend, francis aerssens. there were to be extraordinary and tragical changes in the relations of parties and of individuals ere many years should go by. besides the sons of the advocate, his two sons-in-law, brederode, seignior of veenhuizep, and cornelis van der myle, were constantly employed? in important embassies. van der myle had been the first ambassador to the great venetian republic, and was now placed at the head of the embassy to france, an office which it was impossible at that moment for the advocate to discharge. at the same critical moment barneveld's brother elias, pensionary of rotterdam, was appointed one of the special high commissioners to the king of great britain. it is necessary to give an account of this embassy. they were provided with luminous and minute instructions from the hand of the advocate. they were, in the first place, and ostensibly, to thank the king for his services in bringing about the truce, which, truly, had been of the slightest, as was very well known. they were to explain, on the part of the states, their delay in sending this solemn commission, caused by the tardiness of the king of spain in sending his ratification to the treaty, and by the many disputations caused by the irresolutions of the archdukes and the obstinacy of their commissioners in regard to their many contraventions of the treaty. after those commissioners had gone, further hindrances had been found in the "extraordinary tempests, high floods, rising of the waters, both of the ocean and the rivers, and the very disastrous inundations throughout nearly all the united provinces, with the immense and exorbitant damage thus inflicted, both on the public and on many individuals; in addition to all which were to be mentioned the troubles in the city of utrecht." they were, in almost hyperbolical language, directed to express the eternal gratitude of the states for the constant favours received by them from the crown of england, and their readiness to stand forth at any moment with sincere affection and to the utmost of their power, at all times and seasons, in resistance of any attempts against his majesty's person or crown, or against the prince of wales or the royal family. they were to thank him for his "prudent, heroic, and courageous resolve to suffer nothing to be done under colour of justice, authority, or any other pretext, to the hindrance of the elector of brandenburg and palatine of neuburg, in the maintenance of their lawful rights and possession of the principalities of julich, cleve, and berg, and other provinces." by this course his majesty, so the commissioners were to state, would put an end to the imaginations of those who thought they could give the law to everybody according to their pleasure. they were to assure the king that the states-general would exert themselves to the utmost to second his heroic resolution, notwithstanding the enormous burthens of their everlasting war, the very exorbitant damage caused by the inundations, and the sensible diminution in the contributions and other embarrassments then existing in the country. they were to offer foot and horse for the general purpose under prince henry of nassau, besides the succours furnished by the king of france and the electors and princes of germany. further assistance in men, artillery, and supplies were promised under certain contingencies, and the plan of the campaign on the meuse in conjunction with the king of france was duly mapped. they were to request a corresponding promise of men and money from the king of great britain, and they were to propose for his approval a closer convention for mutual assistance between his majesty, the united netherlands, the king of france, the electors and princes and other powers of germany; as such close union would be very beneficial to all christendom. it would put a stop to all unjust occupations, attempts, and intrigues, and if the king was thereto inclined, he was requested to indicate time and place for making such a convention. the commissioners were further to point out the various contraventions on the part of the archdukes of the treaty of truce, and were to give an exposition of the manner in which the states-general had quelled the tumults at utrecht, and reasons why such a course had of necessity been adopted. they were instructed to state that, "over and above the great expenses of the late war and the necessary maintenance of military forces to protect their frontiers against their suspected new friends or old enemies, the provinces were burthened with the cost of the succour to the elector of brandenburg and palatine of neuburg, and would be therefore incapable of furnishing the payments coming due to his majesty. they were accordingly to sound his majesty as to whether a good part of the debt might not be remitted or at least an arrangement made by which the terms should begin to run only after a certain number of years." they were also directed to open the subject of the fisheries on the coasts of great britain, and to remonstrate against the order lately published by the king forbidding all foreigners from fishing on those coasts. this was to be set forth as an infringement both of natural law and of ancient treaties, and as a source of infinite danger to the inhabitants of the united provinces. the seignior of warmond, chief of the commission, died on the th april. his colleagues met at brielle on the th, ready to take passage to england in the ship of war, the hound. they were, however, detained there six days by head winds and great storms, and it was not until the nd that they were able to put to sea. the following evening their ship cast anchor in gravesend. half an hour before, the duke of wurtemberg had arrived from flushing in a ship of war brought from france by the prince of anhalt. sir lewis lewkener, master of ceremonies, had been waiting for the ambassadors at gravesend, and informed them that the royal barges were to come next morning from london to take them to town. they remained that night on board the hound, and next morning, the wind blowing up the river, they proceeded in their ship as far as blackwall, where they were formally received and bade welcome in the name of the king by sir thomas cornwallis and sir george carew, late ambassador in france. escorted by them and sir lewis, they were brought in the court barges to tower wharf. here the royal coaches were waiting, in which they were taken to lodgings provided for them in the city at the house of a dutch merchant. noel de caron, seignior of schonewal, resident ambassador of the states in london, was likewise there to greet them. this was saturday night: on the following tuesday they went by appointment to the palace of whitehall in royal carriages for their first audience. manifestations of as entire respect and courtesy had thus been made to the republican envoys as could be shown to the ambassadors of the greatest sovereigns. they found the king seated on his throne in the audience chamber, accompanied by the prince of wales, the duke of york, the lord high treasurer and lord high admiral, the duke of lenox, the earls of arundel and northampton, and many other great nobles and dignitaries. james rose from his seat, took off his hat, and advanced several paces to meet the ambassadors, and bade them courteously and respectfully welcome. he then expressed his regret at the death of the seignior of warmond, and after the exchange of a few commonplaces listened, still with uncovered head, to the opening address. the spokesman, after thanking the king for his condolences on the death of the chief commissioner, whom, as was stated with whimsical simplicity, "the good god had called to himself after all his luggage had been put on board ship," proceeded in the french language to give a somewhat abbreviated paraphrase of barneveld's instructions. when this was done and intimation made that they would confer more fully with his majesty's council on the subjects committed to their charge, the ambassadors were conducted home with the same ceremonies as had accompanied their arrival. they received the same day the first visit from the ambassadors of france and venice, boderie and carrero, and had a long conference a few days afterwards with the high treasurer, lord salisbury. on the rd may they were invited to attend the pompous celebration of the festival of st. george in the palace at westminster, where they were placed together with the french ambassador in the king's oratorium; the dukes of wurtemberg and brunswick being in that of the queen. these details are especially to be noted, and were at the moment of considerable importance, for this was the first solemn and extraordinary embassy sent by the rebel netherlanders, since their independent national existence had been formally vindicated, to great britain, a power which a quarter of a century before had refused the proffered sovereignty over them. placed now on exactly the same level with the representatives of emperors and kings, the republican envoys found themselves looked upon by the world with different eyes from those which had regarded their predecessors askance, and almost with derision, only seven years before. at that epoch the states' commissioners, barneveld himself at the head of them, had gone solemnly to congratulate king james on his accession, had scarcely been admitted to audience by king or minister, and had found themselves on great festivals unsprinkled with the holy water of the court, and of no more account than the crowd of citizens and spectators who thronged the streets, gazing with awe at the distant radiance of the throne. but although the ambassadors were treated with every external consideration befitting their official rank, they were not likely to find themselves in the most genial atmosphere when they should come to business details. if there was one thing in the world that james did not intend to do, it was to get himself entangled in war with spain, the power of all others which he most revered and loved. his "heroic and courageous resolve" to defend the princes, on which the commissioners by instructions of the advocate had so highly complimented him, was not strong enough to carry him much beyond a vigorous phraseology. he had not awoke from the delusive dream of the spanish marriage which had dexterously been made to flit before him, and he was not inclined, for the sake of the republic which he hated the more because obliged to be one of its sponsors, to risk the animosity of a great power which entertained the most profound contempt for him. he was destined to find himself involved more closely than he liked, and through family ties, with the great protestant movement in germany, and the unfortunate "winter king" might one day find his father-in-law as unstable a reed to lean upon as the states had found their godfather, or the brandenburgs and neuburgs at the present juncture their great ally. meantime, as the bohemian troubles had not yet reached the period of actual explosion, and as henry's wide-reaching plan against the house of austria had been strangely enough kept an inviolable secret by the few statesmen, like sully and barneveld, to whom they had been confided, it was necessary for the king and his ministers to deal cautiously and plausibly with the dutch ambassadors. their conferences were mere dancing among eggs, and if no actual mischief were done, it was the best result that could be expected. on the th of may, the commissioners met in the council chamber at westminster, and discussed all the matters contained in their instructions with the members of the council; the lord treasurer salisbury, earl of northampton, privy seal and warden of the cinque ports, lord nottingham, lord high admiral, the lord chamberlain, earl of suffolk, earls of shrewsbury, worcester, and several others being present. the result was not entirely satisfactory. in regard to the succour demanded for the possessory princes, the commissioners were told that they seemed to come with a long narrative of their great burthens during the war, damage from inundations, and the like, to excuse themselves from doing their share in the succour, and thus the more to overload his majesty, who was not much interested in the matter, and was likewise greatly encumbered by various expenses. the king had already frankly declared his intention to assist the princes with the payment of men, and to send proportionate artillery and powder from england. as the states had supplies in their magazines enough to move , men, he proposed to draw upon those, reimbursing the states for what was thus consumed by his contingent. with regard to the treaty of close alliance between france, great britain, the princes, and the republic, which the ambassadors had proposed, the--lord treasurer and his colleagues gave a reply far from gratifying. his majesty had not yet decided on this point, they said. the king of france had already proposed to treat for such an alliance, but it did not at present seem worth while for all to negotiate together. this was a not over-courteous hint that the republic was after all not expected to place herself at the council-board of kings on even terms of intimacy and fraternal alliance. what followed was even less flattering. if his majesty, it was intimated, should decide to treat with the king of france, he would not shut the door on their high mightinesses; but his majesty was not yet exactly informed whether his majesty had not certain rights over the provinces 'in petitorio.' this was a scarcely veiled insinuation against the sovereignty of the states, a sufficiently broad hint that they were to be considered in a certain degree as british provinces. to a soldier like maurice, to a statesman like barneveld, whose sympathies already were on the side of france, such rebuffs and taunts were likely to prove unpalatable. the restiveness of the states at the continual possession by great britain of those important sea-ports the cautionary towns, a fact which gave colour to these innuendoes, was sure to be increased by arrogant language on the part of the english ministers. the determination to be rid of their debt to so overbearing an ally, and to shake off the shackles imposed by the costly mortgages, grew in strength from that hour. in regard to the fisheries, the lord treasurer and his colleagues expressed amazement that the ambassadors should consider the subjects of their high mightinesses to be so much beloved by his majesty. why should they of all other people be made an exception of, and be exempt from, the action of a general edict? the reasons for these orders in council ought to be closely examined. it would be very difficult to bring the opinions of the english jurists into harmony with those of the states. meantime it would be well to look up such treaties as might be in existence, and have a special joint commission to confer together on the subject. it was very plain, from the course of the conversation, that the netherland fishermen were not to be allowed, without paying roundly for a license, to catch herrings on the british coasts as they had heretofore done. not much more of importance was transacted at this first interview between the ambassadors and the ding's ministers. certainly they had not yet succeeded in attaining their great object, the formation of an alliance offensive and defensive between great britain and the republic in accordance with the plan concerted between henry and barneveld. they could find but slender encouragement for the warlike plans to which france and the states were secretly committed; nor could they obtain satisfactory adjustment of affairs more pacific and commercial in their tendencies. the english ministers rather petulantly remarked that, while last year everybody was talking of a general peace, and in the present conjuncture all seemed to think, or at least to speak, of nothing but a general war, they thought best to defer consideration of the various subjects connected with duties on the manufactures and products of the respective countries, the navigation laws, the "entrecours," and other matters of ancient agreement and controversy, until a more convenient season. after the termination of the verbal conference, the ambassadors delivered to the king's government, in writing, to be pondered by the council and recorded in the archives, a summary of the statements which had been thus orally treated. the document was in french, and in the main a paraphrase of the advocate's instructions, the substance of which has been already indicated. in regard, however, to the far-reaching designs of spain, and the corresponding attitude which it would seem fitting for great britain to assume, and especially the necessity of that alliance the proposal for which had in the conference been received so haughtily, their language was far plainer, bolder, and more vehement than that of the instructions. "considering that the effects show," they said, "that those who claim the monarchy of christendom, and indeed of the whole world, let slip no opportunity which could in any way serve their designs, it is suitable to the grandeur of his majesty the king, and to the station in which by the grace of the good god he is placed, to oppose himself thereto for the sake of the common liberty of christendom, to which end, and in order the better to prevent all unjust usurpatiops, there could be no better means devised than a closer alliance between his majesty and the most christian king, my lords the states-general, and the electors, princes, and states of germany. their high mightinesses would therefore be most glad to learn that his majesty was inclined to such a course, and would be glad to discuss the subject when and wherever his majesty should appoint, or would readily enter into such an alliance on reasonable conditions." this language and the position taken up by the ambassadors were highly approved by their government, but it was fated that no very great result was to be achieved by this embassy. very elaborate documents, exhaustive in legal lore, on the subject of the herring fisheries, and of the right to fish in the ocean and on foreign coasts, fortified by copious citations from the 'pandects' and 'institutes' of justinian, were presented for the consideration of the british government, and were answered as learnedly, exhaustively, and ponderously. the english ministers were also reminded that the curing of herrings had been invented in the fifteenth century by a citizen of biervliet, the inscription on whose tombstone recording that faces might still be read in the church of that town. all this did not prevent, however, the dutch herring fishermen from being excluded from the british waters unless they chose to pay for licenses. the conferences were however for a season interrupted, and a new aspect was given to affairs by an unforeseen and terrible event. meanwhile it is necessary to glance for a moment at the doings of the special embassy to france, the instructions for which were prepared by barneveld almost at the same moment at which he furnished those for the commission to england. the ambassadors were walraven, seignior of brederode, cornelis van der myle, son-in-law of the advocate, and jacob van maldere. remembering how impatient the king of france had long been for their coming, and that all the preparations and decisions for a great war were kept in suspense until the final secret conferences could be held with the representatives of the states-general, it seems strange enough to us to observe the extreme deliberation with which great affairs of state were then conducted and the vast amount of time consumed in movements and communications which modern science has either annihilated or abridged from days to hours. while henry was chafing with anxiety in paris, the ambassadors, having received barneveld's instructions dated st march, set forth on the th april from the hague, reached rotterdam at noon, and slept at dordrecht. newt day they went to breda, where the prince of orange insisted upon their passing a couple of days with him in his castle, easter-day being th april. he then provided them with a couple of coaches and pair in which they set forth on their journey, going by way of antwerp, ghent, courtray, ryssel, to arras, making easy stages, stopping in the middle of the day to bait, and sleeping at each of the cities thus mentioned, where they duly received the congratulatory visit and hospitalities of their respective magistracies. while all this time had been leisurely employed in the netherlands in preparing, instructing, and despatching the commissioners, affairs were reaching a feverish crisis in france. the states' ambassador resident thought that it would have been better not to take such public offence at the retreat of the prince of conde. the king had enough of life and vigour in him; he could afford to leave the dauphin to grow up, and when he should one day be established on the throne, he would be able to maintain his heritage. "but," said aerssens, "i fear that our trouble is not where we say it is, and we don't dare to say where it is." writing to carew, former english ambassador in paris, whom we have just seen in attendance on the states' commissioners in london, he said: "people think that the princess is wearying herself much under the protection of the infanta, and very impatient at not obtaining the dissolution of her marriage, which the duchess of angouleme is to go to brussels to facilitate. this is not our business, but i mention it only as the continuation of the tragedy which you saw begin. nevertheless i don't know if the greater part of our deliberations is not founded on this matter." it had been decided to cause the queen to be solemnly crowned after easter. she had set her heart with singular persistency upon the ceremony, and it was thought that so public a sacrament would annihilate all the wild projects attributed to spain through the instrumentality of conde to cast doubts on the validity of her marriage and the legitimacy of the dauphin. the king from the first felt and expressed a singular repugnance, a boding apprehension in regard to the coronation, but had almost yielded to the queen's importunity. he told her he would give his consent provided she sent concini to brussels to invite in her own name the princess of conde to be present on the occasion. otherwise he declared that at least the festival should be postponed till september. the marquis de coeuvres remained in disgrace after the failure of his mission, henry believing that like all the world he had fallen in love with the princess, and had only sought to recommend himself, not to further the suit of his sovereign. meanwhile henry had instructed his ambassador in spain, m. de vaucelas, to tell the king that his reception of conde within his dominions would be considered an infraction of the treaty of vervins and a direct act of hostility. the duke of lerma answered with a sneer that the most christian king had too greatly obliged his most catholic majesty by sustaining his subjects in their rebellion and by aiding them to make their truce to hope now that conde would be sent back. france had ever been the receptacle of spanish traitors and rebels from antonio perez down, and the king of spain would always protect wronged and oppressed princes like conde. france had just been breaking up the friendly relations between savoy and spain and goading the duke into hostilities. on the other hand the king had more than one stormy interview with don inigo de cardenas in paris. that ambassador declared that his master would never abandon his only sister the most serene infanta, such was the affection he born her, whose dominions were obviously threatened by these french armies about to move to the frontiers. henry replied that the friends for whom he was arming had great need of his assistance; that his catholic majesty was quite right to love his sister, whom he also loved; but that he did not choose that his own relatives should be so much beloved in spain as they were. "what relatives?" asked don inigo. "the prince of conde," replied the king, in a rage, "who has been debauched by the spaniards just as marshal biron was, and the marchioness verneuil, and so many others. there are none left for them to debauch now but the dauphin and his brothers." the ambassador replied that, if the king had consulted him about the affair of conde, he could have devised a happy issue from it. henry rejoined that he had sent messages on the subject to his catholic majesty, who had not deigned a response, but that the duke of lerma had given a very indiscreet one to his ambassador. don inigo professed ignorance of any such reply. the king said it was a mockery to affect ignorance of such matters. thereupon both grew excited and very violent in their discourses; the more so as henry knowing but little spanish and the envoy less french they could only understand from tone and gesture that each was using exceedingly unpleasant language. at last don inigo asked what he should write to his sovereign. "whatever you like," replied the king, and so the audience terminated, each remaining in a towering passion. subsequently villeroy assured the archduke's ambassador that the king considered the reception given to the prince in the spanish dominions as one of the greatest insults and injuries that could be done to him. nothing could excuse it, said the secretary of state, and for this reason it was very difficult for the two kings to remain at peace with each other, and that it would be wiser to prevent at once the evil designs of his catholic majesty than to leave leisure for the plans to be put into execution, and the claims of the dauphin to his father's crown to be disputed at a convenient season. he added that war would not be made for the princess, but for the prince, and that even the war in germany, although spain took the emperor's side and france that of the possessory princes, would not necessarily produce a rupture between the two kings if it were not for this affair of the prince--true cause of the disaster now hanging over christianity. pecquius replied by smooth commonplaces in favour of peace with which villeroy warmly concurred; both sadly expressing the conviction however that the wrath divine had descended on them all on account of their sins. a few days later, however, the secretary changed his tone. "i will speak to you frankly and clearly," he said to pecquius, "and tell you as from myself that there is passion, and if one is willing to arrange the affair of the princess, everything else can be accommodated and appeased. put if the princess remain where she is, we are on the eve of a rupture which may set fire to the four corners of christendom." pecquius said he liked to talk roundly, and was glad to find that he had not been mistaken in his opinion, that all these commotions were only made for the princess, and if all the world was going to war, she would be the principal subject of it. he could not marvel sufficiently, he said, at this vehement passion which brought in its train so great and horrible a conflagration; adding many arguments to show that it was no fault of the archdukes, but that he who was the cause of all might one day have reason to repent. villeroy replied that "the king believed the princess to be suffering and miserable for love of him, and that therefore he felt obliged to have her sent back to her father." pecquius asked whether in his conscience the secretary of state believed it right or reasonable to make war for such a cause. villeroy replied by asking "whether even admitting the negative, the ambassador thought it were wisely done for such a trifle, for a formality, to plunge into extremities and to turn all christendom upside down." pecquius, not considering honour a trifle or a formality, said that "for nothing in the world would his highness the archduke descend to a cowardly action or to anything that would sully his honour." villeroy said that the prince had compelled his wife, pistol in hand, to follow him to the netherlands, and that she was no longer bound to obey a husband who forsook country and king. her father demanded her, and she said "she would rather be strangled than ever to return to the company of her husband." the archdukes were not justified in keeping her against her will in perpetual banishment. he implored the ambassador in most pathetic terms to devise some means of sending back the princess, saying that he who should find such expedient would do the greatest good that was ever done to christianity, and that otherwise there was no guarantee against a universal war. the first design of the king had been merely to send a moderate succour to the princes of brandenburg and neuburg, which could have given no umbrage to the archdukes, but now the bitterness growing out of the affairs of the prince and princess had caused him to set on foot a powerful army to do worse. he again implored pecquius to invent some means of sending back the princess, and the ambassador besought him ardently to divert the king from his designs. of this the secretary of state left little hope and they parted, both very low and. dismal in mind. subsequent conversations with the leading councillors of state convinced pecquius that these violent menaces were only used to shake the constancy of the archduke, but that they almost all highly disapproved the policy of the king. "if this war goes on, we are all ruined," said the duke d'epernon to the nuncius. thus there had almost ceased to be any grimacing between the two kings, although it was still a profound mystery where or when hostilities would begin, and whether they would break out at all. henry frequently remarked that the common opinion all over europe was working in his favour. few people in or out of france believed that he meant a rupture, or that his preparations were serious. thus should he take his enemies unawares and unprepared. even aerssens, who saw him almost daily, was sometimes mystified, in spite of henry's vehement assertions that he was resolved to make war at all hazards and on all sides, provided my lords the states would second him as they ought, their own existence being at stake. "for god's sake," cried the king, "let us take the bit into our mouths. tell your masters that i am quite resolved, and that i am shrieking loudly at their delays." he asked if he could depend on the states, if barneveld especially would consent to a league with him. the ambassador replied that for the affair of cleve and julich he had instructions to promise entire concurrence, that barneveld was most resolute in the matter, and had always urged the enterprise and wished information as to the levies making in france and other military preparations. "tell him," said henry, "that they are going on exactly as often before stated, but that we are holding everything in suspense until i have talked with your ambassadors, from whom i wish counsel, safety, and encouragement for doing much more than the julich business. that alone does not require so great a league and such excessive and unnecessary expense." the king observed however that the question of the duchies would serve as just cause and excellent pretext to remove those troublesome fellows for ever from his borders and those of the states. thus the princes would be established safely in their possession and the republic as well as himself freed from the perpetual suspicions which the spaniards excited by their vile intrigues, and it was on this general subject that he wished to confer with the special commissioners. it would not be possible for him to throw succour into julich without passing through luxemburg in arms. the archdukes would resist this, and thus a cause of war would arise. his campaign on the meuse would help the princes more than if he should only aid them by the contingent he had promised. nor could the jealousy of king james be excited since the war would spring out of the archdukes' opposition to his passage towards the duchies, as he obviously could not cut himself off from his supplies, leaving a hostile province between himself and his kingdom. nevertheless he could not stir, he said, without the consent and active support of the states, on whom he relied as his principal buttress and foundation. the levies for the milanese expedition were waiting until marshal de lesdiguieres could confer personally with the duke of savoy. the reports as to the fidelity of that potentate were not to be believed. he was trifling with the spanish ambassadors, so henry was convinced, who were offering him , crowns a year besides piombino, monaco, and two places in the milanese, if he would break his treaty with france. but he was thought to be only waiting until they should be gone before making his arrangements with lesdiguieres. "he knows that he can put no trust in spain, and that he can confide in me," said the king. "i have made a great stroke by thus entangling the king of spain by the use of a few troops in italy. but i assure you that there is none but me and my lords the states that can do anything solid. whether the duke breaks or holds fast will make no difference in our first and great designs. for the honour of god i beg them to lose no more time, but to trust in me. i will never deceive them, never abandon them." at last , infantry and cavalry were already in marching order, and indeed had begun to move towards the luxemburg frontier, ready to co- operate with the states' army and that of the possessory princes for the campaign of the meuse and rhine. twelve thousand more french troops under lesdiguieres were to act with the duke of savoy, and an army as large was to assemble in the pyrenees and to operate on the spanish frontier, in hope of exciting and fomenting an insurrection caused by the expulsion of the moors. that gigantic act of madness by which spain thought good at this juncture to tear herself to pieces, driving hundreds of thousands of the most industrious, most intelligent, and most opulent of her population into hopeless exile, had now been accomplished, and was to stand prominent for ever on the records of human fatuity. twenty-five thousand moorish families had arrived at bayonne, and the viceroy of canada had been consulted as to the possibility and expediency of establishing them in that province, although emigration thither seemed less tempting to them than to virginia. certainly it was not unreasonable for henry to suppose that a kingdom thus torn by internal convulsions might be more open to a well organized attack, than capable of carrying out at that moment fresh projects of universal dominion. as before observed, sully was by no means in favour of this combined series of movements, although at a later day, when dictating his famous memoirs to his secretaries, he seems to describe himself as enthusiastically applauding and almost originating them. but there is no doubt at all that throughout this eventful spring he did his best to concentrate the whole attack on luxemburg and the meuse districts, and wished that the movements in the milanese and in provence should be considered merely a slight accessory, as not much more than a diversion to the chief design, while villeroy and his friends chose to consider the duke of savoy as the chief element in the war. sully thoroughly distrusted the duke, whom he deemed to be always put up at auction between spain and france and incapable of a sincere or generous policy. he was entirely convinced that villeroy and epernon and jeannin and other earnest papists in france were secretly inclined to the cause of spain, that the whole faction of the queen, in short, were urging this scattering of the very considerable forces now at henry's command in the hope of bringing him into a false position, in which defeat or an ignominious peace would be the alternative. to concentrate an immense attack upon the archdukes in the spanish netherlands and the debateable duchies would have for its immediate effect the expulsion of the spaniards out of all those provinces and the establishment of the dutch commonwealth on an impregnable basis. that this would be to strengthen infinitely the huguenots in france and the cause of protestantism in bohemia, moravia and austria, was unquestionable. it was natural, therefore, that the stern and ardent huguenot should suspect the plans of the catholics with whom he was in daily council. one day he asked the king plumply in the presence of villeroy if his majesty meant anything serious by all these warlike preparations. henry was wroth, and complained bitterly that one who knew him to the bottom of his soul should doubt him. but sully could not persuade himself that a great and serious war would be carried on both in the netherlands and in italy. as much as his sovereign he longed for the personal presence of barneveld, and was constantly urging the states' ambassador to induce his coming to paris. "you know," said aerssens, writing to the french ambassador at the hague, de russy, "that it is the advocate alone that has the universal knowledge of the outside and the inside of our commonwealth." sully knew his master as well as any man knew him, but it was difficult to fix the chameleon hues of henry at this momentous epoch. to the ambassador expressing doubts as to the king's sincerity the duke asserted that henry was now seriously piqued with the spaniard on account of the conde business. otherwise anhalt and the possessory princes and the affair of cleve might have had as little effect in driving him into war as did the interests of the netherlands in times past. but the bold demonstration projected would make the "whole spanish party bleed at the nose; a good result for the public peace." therefore sully sent word to barneveld, although he wished his name concealed, that he ought to come himself, with full powers to do everything, without referring to any superiors or allowing any secrets to be divulged. the king was too far committed to withdraw, unless coldness on part of the states should give him cause. the advocate must come prepared to answer all questions; to say how much in men and money the states would contribute, and whether they would go into the war with the king as their only ally. he must come with the bridle on his neck. all that henry feared was being left in the lurch by the states; otherwise he was not afraid of rome. sully was urgent that the provinces should now go vigorously into the war without stumbling at any consideration. thus they would confirm their national power for all time, but if the opportunity were now lost, it would be their ruin, and posterity would most justly blame them. the king of spain was so stripped of troops and resources, so embarrassed by the moors, that in ten months he would not be able to send one man to the netherlands. meantime the nuncius in paris was moving heaven and earth; storming, intriguing, and denouncing the course of the king in protecting heresy, when it would have been so easy to extirpate it, encouraging rebellion and disorder throughout christendom, and embarking in an action against the church and against his conscience. a new legate was expected daily with the pope's signature to the new league, and a demand upon the king to sign it likewise, and to pause in a career of which something was suspected, but very little accurately known. the preachers in paris and throughout the kingdom delivered most vehement sermons against the king, the government, and the protestants, and seemed to the king to be such "trumpeters of sedition" that he ordered the seneschals and other officers to put a stop to these turbulent discourses, censure their authors, and compel them to stick to their texts. but the preparations were now so far advanced and going on so warmly that nothing more was wanting than, in the words of aerssens, "to uncouple the dogs and let them run." recruits were pouring steadily to their places of rendezvous; their pay having begun to run from the th march at the rate of eight sous a day for the private foot soldier and ten sous for a corporal. they were moved in small parties of ten, lodged in the wayside inns, and ordered, on pain of death, to pay for everything they consumed. it was growing difficult to wait much longer for the arrival of the special ambassadors, when at last they were known to be on their way. aerssens obtained for their use the hotel gondy, formerly the residence of don pedro de toledo, the most splendid private palace in paris, and recently purchased by the queen. it was considered expedient that the embassy should make as stately an appearance as that of royal or imperial envoys. he engaged an upholsterer by the king's command to furnish, at his majesty's expense, the apartments, as the baron de gondy, he said, had long since sold and eaten up all the furniture. he likewise laid in six pieces of wine and as many of beer, "tavern drinks" being in the opinion of the thrifty ambassador "both dear and bad." he bought a carriage lined with velvet for the commissioners, and another lined with broadcloth for the principal persons of their suite, and with his own coach as a third he proposed to go to amiens to meet them. they could not get on with fewer than these, he said, and the new carriages would serve their purpose in paris. he had paid crowns for the two, and they could be sold, when done with, at a slight loss. he bought likewise four dapple-grey horses, which would be enough, as nobody had more than two horses to a carriage in town, and for which he paid crowns--a very low price, he thought, at a season when every one was purchasing. he engaged good and experienced coachmen at two crowns a month, and; in short, made all necessary arrangements for their comfort and the honour of the state. the king had been growing more and more displeased at the tardiness of the commission, petulantly ascribing it to a design on the part of the states to "excuse themselves from sharing in his bold conceptions," but said that "he could resolve on nothing without my lords the states, who were the only power with which he could contract confidently, as mighty enough and experienced enough to execute the designs to be proposed to them; so that his army was lying useless on his hands until the commissioners arrived," and lamented more loudly than ever that barneveld was not coming with them. he was now rejoiced, however, to hear that they would soon arrive, and went in person to the hotel gondy to see that everything was prepared in a manner befitting their dignity and comfort. his anxiety had moreover been increased, as already stated, by the alarming reports from utrecht and by his other private accounts from the netherlands. de russy expressed in his despatches grave doubts whether the states would join the king in a war against the king of spain, because they feared the disapprobation of the king of great britain, "who had already manifested but too much jealousy of the power and grandeur of the republic." pecquius asserted that the archdukes had received assurances from the states that they would do nothing to violate the truce. the prince of anhalt, who, as chief of the army of the confederated princes, was warm in his demonstrations for a general war by taking advantage of the cleve expedition, was entirely at cross purposes with the states' ambassador in paris, aerssens maintaining that the forty-three years' experience in their war justified the states in placing no dependence on german princes except with express conventions. they had no such conventions now, and if they should be attacked by spain in consequence of their assistance in the cleve business, what guarantee of aid had they from those whom anhalt represented? anhalt was loud in expressions of sympathy with henry's designs against spain, but said that he and the states meant a war of thirty or forty years, while the princes would finish what they meant to do in one. a more erroneous expression of opinion, when viewed in the light of subsequent events, could hardly have been hazarded. villeroy made as good use as he could of these conversations to excite jealousy between the princes and the states for the furtherance of his own ends, while affecting warm interest in the success of the king's projects. meantime archduke albert had replied manfully and distinctly to the menaces of the king and to the pathetic suggestions made by villeroy to pecquius as to a device for sending back the princess. her stay at brussels being the chief cause of the impending war, it would be better, he said, to procure a divorce or to induce the constable to obtain the consent of the prince to the return of his wife to her father's house. to further either of these expedients, the archduke would do his best. "but if one expects by bravados and threats," he added, "to force us to do a thing against our promise, and therefore against reason, our reputation, and honour, resolutely we will do nothing of the kind. and if the said lord king decided on account of this misunderstanding for a rupture and to make war upon us, we will do our best to wage war on him. in such case, however, we shall be obliged to keep the princess closer in our own house, and probably to send her to such parts as may be most convenient in order to remove from us an instrument of the infinite evils which this war will produce." meantime the special commissioners whom we left at arras had now entered the french kingdom. on the th april, aerssens with his three coaches met them on their entrance into amiens, having been waiting there for them eight days. as they passed through the gate, they found a guard of soldiers drawn up to receive them with military honours, and an official functionary to apologize for the necessary absence of the governor, who had gone with most of the troops stationed in the town to the rendezvous in champagne. he expressed regret, therefore, that the king's orders for their solemn reception could not be literally carried out. the whole board of magistrates, however, in their costumes of ceremony, with sergeants bearing silver maces marching before them, came forth to bid the ambassadors welcome. an advocate made a speech in the name of the city authorities, saying that they were expressly charged by the king to receive them as coming from his very best friends, and to do them all honour. he extolled the sage government of their high mightinesses and the valour of the republic, which had become known to the whole world by the successful conduct of their long and mighty war. the commissioners replied in words of compliment, and the magistrates then offered them, according to ancient usage, several bottles of hippocras. next day, sending back the carriages of the prince of orange, in which they had thus far performed the journey, they set forth towards paris, reaching saint-denis at noon of the third day. here they were met by de bonoeil, introducer of ambassadors, sent thither by the king to give them welcome, and to say that they would be received on the road by the duke of vendome, eldest of the legitimatized children of the king. accordingly before reaching the saint-denis gate of paris, a splendid cavalcade of nearly five hundred noblemen met them, the duke at their head, accompanied by two marshals of france, de brissac and boisdaulphin. the three instantly dismounted, and the ambassadors alighted from their coach. the duke then gave them solemn and cordial welcome, saying that he had been sent by his father the king to receive them as befitted envoys of the best and most faithful friends he possessed in the world. the ambassadors expressed their thanks for the great and extraordinary honour thus conferred on them, and they were then requested to get into a royal carriage which had been sent out for that purpose. after much ceremonious refusal they at last consented and, together with the duke of vendome, drove through paris in that vehicle into the faubourg saint germain. arriving at the hotel gondy, they were, notwithstanding all their protestations, escorted up the staircase into the apartments by the duke. "this honour is notable," said the commissioners in their report to the states, "and never shown to anyone before, so that our ill-wishers are filled with spite." and peter pecquius was of the same opinion. "everyone is grumbling here," about the reception of the states' ambassadors, "because such honours were never paid to any ambassador whatever, whether from spain, england, or any other country." and there were many men living and employed in great affairs of state, both in france and in the republic--the king and villeroy, barneveld and maurice--who could remember how twenty-six years before a solemn embassy from the states had proceeded from the hague to france to offer the sovereignty of their country to henry's predecessor, had been kept ignominiously and almost like prisoners four weeks long in rouen, and had been thrust back into the netherlands without being admitted even to one audience by the monarch. truly time, in the course of less than one generation of mankind, had worked marvellous changes in the fortunes of the dutch republic. president jeannin came to visit them next day, with friendly proffers of service, and likewise the ambassador of venice and the charge d'affaires of great britain. on the nd the royal carriages came by appointment to the hotel gondy, and took them for their first audience to the louvre. they were received at the gate by a guard of honour, drums beating and arms presented, and conducted with the greatest ceremony to an apartment in the palace. soon afterwards they were ushered into a gallery where the king stood, surrounded by a number of princes and distinguished officers of the crown. these withdrew on the approach of the netherlanders, leaving the king standing alone. they made their reverence, and henry saluted them all with respectful cordiality. begging them to put on their hats again, he listened attentively to their address. the language of the discourse now pronounced was similar in tenour to that almost contemporaneously held by the states' special envoys in london. both documents, when offered afterwards in writing, bore the unmistakable imprint of the one hand that guided the whole political machine. in various passages the phraseology was identical, and, indeed, the advocate had prepared and signed the instructions for both embassies on the same day. the commissioners acknowledged in the strongest possible terms the great and constant affection, quite without example, that henry had manifested to the netherlands during the whole course of their war. they were at a loss to find language adequately to express their gratitude for that friendship, and the assistance subsequently afforded them in the negotiations for truce. they apologized for the tardiness of the states in sending this solemn embassy of thanksgiving, partly on the ground of the delay in receiving the ratifications from spain, partly by the protracted contraventions by the archdukes of certain articles in the treaty, but principally by the terrible disasters occasioned throughout their country by the great inundations, and by the commotions in the city of utrecht, which had now been "so prudently and happily pacified." they stated that the chief cause of their embassy was to express their respectful gratitude, and to say that never had prince or state treasured more deeply in memory benefits received than did their republic the favours of his majesty, or could be more disposed to do their utmost to defend his majesty's person, crown, or royal family against all attack. they expressed their joy that the king had with prudence, and heroic courage undertaken tha defence of the just rights of brandenburg and neuburg to the duchies of cleve, julich, and the other dependent provinces. thus had he put an end to the presumption of those who thought they could give the law to all the world. they promised the co- operation of the states in this most important enterprise of their ally, notwithstanding their great losses in the war just concluded, and the diminution of revenue occasioned by the inundations by which they had been afflicted; for they were willing neither to tolerate so unjust an usurpation as that attempted by the emperor nor to fail to second his majesty in his generous designs. they observed also that they had been instructed to enquire whether his majesty would not approve the contracting of a strict league of mutual assistance between france, england, the united provinces, and the princes of germany. the king, having listened with close attention, thanked the envoys in words of earnest and vigorous cordiality for their expressions of affection to himself. he begged them to remember that he had always been their good friend, and that he never would forsake them; that he had always hated the spaniards, and should ever hate them; and that the affairs of julich must be arranged not only for the present but for the future. he requested them to deliver their propositions in writing to him, and to be ready to put themselves into communication with the members of his council, in order that they might treat with each other roundly and without reserve. he should always deal with the netherlanders as with his own people, keeping no back-door open, but pouring out everything as into the lap of his best and most trusty friends. after this interview conferences followed daily between the ambassadors and villeroy, sully, jeannin, the chancellor, and puysieug. the king's counsellors, after having read the written paraphrase of barneveld's instructions, the communication of which followed their oral statements, and which, among other specifications, contained a respectful remonstrance against the projected french east india company, as likely to benefit the spaniards only, while seriously injuring the states, complained that "the representations were too general, and that the paper seemed to contain nothing but compliments." the ambassadors, dilating on the various points and articles, maintained warmly that there was much more than compliments in their instructions. the ministers wished to know what the states practically were prepared to do in the affair of cleve, which they so warmly and encouragingly recommended to the king. they asked whether the states' army would march at once to dusseldorf to protect the princes at the moment when the king moved from mezieres, and they made many enquiries as to what amount of supplies and munitions they could depend upon from the states' magazines. the envoys said that they had no specific instructions on these points, and could give therefore no conclusive replies. more than ever did henry regret the absence of the great advocate at this juncture. if he could have come, with the bridle on his neck, as henry had so repeatedly urged upon the resident ambassador, affairs might have marched more rapidly. the despotic king could never remember that barneveld was not the unlimited sovereign of the united states, but only the seal-keeper of one of the seven provinces and the deputy of holland to the general assembly. his indirect power, however vast, was only great because it was so carefully veiled. it was then proposed by villeroy and sully, and agreed to by the commissioners, that m. de bethune, a relative of the great financier, should be sent forthwith to the hague, to confer privately with prince maurice and barneveld especially, as to military details of the coming campaign. it was also arranged that the envoys should delay their departure until de bethune's return. meantime henry and the nuncius had been exchanging plain and passionate language. ubaldini reproached the king with disregarding all the admonitions of his holiness, and being about to plunge christendom into misery and war for the love of the princess of conde. he held up to him the enormity of thus converting the king of spain and the archdukes into his deadly enemies, and warned him that he would by such desperate measures make even the states-general and the king of britain his foes, who certainly would never favour such schemes. the king replied that "he trusted to his own forces, not to those of his neighbours, and even if the hollanders should not declare for him still he would execute his designs. on the th of may most certainly he would put himself at the head of his army, even if he was obliged to put off the queen's coronation till october, and he could not consider the king of spain nor the archdukes his friends unless they at once made him some demonstration of friendship. being asked by the nuncius what demonstration he wished, he answered flatly that he wished the princess to be sent back to the constable her father, in which case the affair of julich could be arranged amicably, and, at all events, if the war continued there, he need not send more than men." thus, in spite of his mighty preparations, vehement demands for barneveld, and profound combinations revealed to that statesman, to aerssens, and to the duke of sully only, this wonderful monarch was ready to drop his sword on the spot, to leave his friends in the lurch, to embrace his enemies, the archduke first of all, instead of bombarding brussels the very next week, as he had been threatening to do, provided the beautiful margaret could be restored to his arms through those of her venerable father. he suggested to the nuncius his hope that the archduke would yet be willing to wink at her escape, which he was now trying to arrange through de preaux at brussels, while ubaldini, knowing the archduke incapable of anything so dishonourable, felt that the war was inevitable. at the very same time too, father cotton, who was only too ready to betray the secrets of the confessional when there was an object to gain, had a long conversation with the archduke's ambassador, in which the holy man said that the king had confessed to him that he made the war expressly to cause the princess to be sent back to france, so that as there could be no more doubt on the subject the father-confessor begged pecquius, in order to prevent so great an evil, to devise "some prompt and sudden means to induce his highness the archduke to order the princess to retire secretly to her own country." the jesuit had different notions of honour, reputation, and duty from those which influenced the archduke. he added that "at easter the king had been so well disposed to seek his salvation that he could easily have forgotten his affection for the princess, had she not rekindled the fire by her letters, in which she caressed him with amorous epithets, calling him 'my heart,' 'my chevalier,' and similar terms of endearment." father cotton also drew up a paper, which he secretly conveyed to pecquius, "to prove that the archduke, in terms of conscience and honour, might decide to permit this escape, but he most urgently implored the ambassador that for the love of god and the public good he would influence his serene highness to prevent this from ever coming to the knowledge of the world, but to keep the secret inviolably." thus, while henry was holding high council with his own most trusted advisers, and with the most profound statesmen of europe, as to the opening campaign within a fortnight of a vast and general war, he was secretly plotting with his father-confessor to effect what he avowed to be the only purpose of that war, by jesuitical bird-lime to be applied to the chief of his antagonists. certainly barneveld and his colleagues were justified in their distrust. to move one step in advance of their potent but slippery ally might be a step off a precipice. on the st of may, sully made a long visit to the commissioners. he earnestly urged upon them the necessity of making the most of the present opportunity. there were people in plenty, he said, who would gladly see the king take another course, for many influential persons about him were altogether spanish in their inclinations. the king had been scandalized to hear from the prince of anhalt, without going into details, that on his recent passage through the netherlands he had noticed some change of feeling, some coolness in their high mightinesses. the duke advised that they should be very heedful, that they should remember how much more closely these matters regarded them than anyone else, that they should not deceive themselves, but be firmly convinced that unless they were willing to go head foremost into the business the french would likewise not commit themselves. sully spoke with much earnestness and feeling, for it was obvious that both he and his master had been disappointed at the cautious and limited nature of the instructions given to the ambassadors. an opinion had indeed prevailed, and, as we have seen, was to a certain extent shared in by aerssens, and even by sully himself, that the king's military preparations were after all but a feint, and that if the prince of conde, and with him the princess, could be restored to france, the whole war cloud would evaporate in smoke. it was even asserted that henry had made a secret treaty with the enemy, according to which, while apparently ready to burst upon the house of austria with overwhelming force, he was in reality about to shake hands cordially with that power, on condition of being allowed to incorporate into his own kingdom the very duchies in dispute, and of receiving the prince of conde and his wife from spain. he was thus suspected of being about to betray his friends and allies in the most ignoble manner and for the vilest of motives. the circulation of these infamous reports no doubt paralysed for a time the energy of the enemy who had made no requisite preparations against the threatened invasion, but it sickened his friends with vague apprehensions, while it cut the king himself to the heart and infuriated him to madness. he asked the nuncius one day what people thought in rome and italy of the war about to be undertaken. ubaldini replied that those best informed considered the princess of conde as the principal subject of hostilities; they thought that he meant to have her back. "i do mean to have her back," cried henry, with a mighty oath, and foaming with rage, "and i shall have her back. no one shall prevent it, not even the lieutenant of god on earth." but the imputation of this terrible treason weighed upon his mind and embittered every hour. the commissioners assured sully that they had no knowledge of any coolness or change such as anhalt had reported on the part of their principals, and the duke took his leave. it will be remembered that villeroy had, it was thought, been making mischief between anhalt and the states by reporting and misreporting private conversations between that prince and the dutch ambassador. as soon as sully had gone, van der myle waited upon villeroy to ask, in name of himself and colleagues, for audience of leave-taking, the object of their mission having been accomplished. the secretary of state, too, like sully, urged the importance of making the most of the occasion. the affair of cleve, he said, did not very much concern the king, but his majesty had taken it to heart chiefly on account of the states and for their security. they were bound, therefore, to exert themselves to the utmost, but more would not be required of them than it would be possible to fulfil. van der myle replied that nothing would be left undone by their high mightinesses to support the king faithfully and according to their promise. on the th, villeroy came to the ambassadors, bringing with him a letter from the king for the states-general, and likewise a written reply to the declarations made orally and in writing by the ambassadors to his majesty. the letter of henry to "his very dear and good friends, allies, and confederates," was chiefly a complimentary acknowledgment of the expressions of gratitude made to him on part of the states-general, and warm approbation of their sage resolve to support the cause of brandenburg and neuburg. he referred them for particulars to the confidential conferences held between the commissioners and himself. they would state how important he thought it that this matter should be settled now so thoroughly as to require no second effort at any future time when circumstances might not be so propitious; and that he intended to risk his person, at the head of his army, to accomplish this result. to the ambassadors he expressed his high satisfaction at their assurances of affection, devotion, and gratitude on the part of the states. he approved and commended their resolution to assist the elector and the palatine in the affair of the duchies. he considered this a proof of their prudence and good judgment, as showing their conviction that they were more interested and bound to render this assistance than any other potentates or states, as much from the convenience and security to be derived from the neighbourhood of princes who were their friends as from dangers to be apprehended from other princes who were seeking to appropriate those provinces. the king therefore begged the states to move forward as soon as possible the forces which they offered for this enterprise according to his majesty's suggestion sent through de bethune. the king on his part would do the same with extreme care and diligence, from the anxiety he felt to prevent my lords the states from receiving detriment in places so vital to their preservation. he begged the states likewise to consider that it was meet not only to make a first effort to put the princes into entire possession of the duchies, but to provide also for the durable success of the enterprise; to guard against any invasions that might be made in the future to eject those princes. otherwise all their present efforts would be useless; and his majesty therefore consented on this occasion to enter into the new league proposed by the states with all the princes and states mentioned in the memoir of the ambassadors for mutual assistance against all unjust occupations, attempts, and baneful intrigues. having no special information as to the infractions by the archdukes of the recent treaty of truce, the king declined to discuss that subject for the moment, although holding himself bound to all required of him as one of the guarantees of that treaty. in regard to the remonstrance made by the ambassadors concerning the trade of the east indies, his majesty disclaimed any intention of doing injury to the states in permitting his subjects to establish a company in his kingdom for that commerce. he had deferred hitherto taking action in the matter only out of respect to the states, but he could no longer refuse the just claims of his subjects if they should persist in them as urgently as they had thus far been doing. the right and liberty which they demanded was common to all, said the king, and he was certainly bound to have as great care for the interests of his subjects as for those of his friends and allies. here, certainly, was an immense difference in tone and in terms towards the republic adopted respectively by their great and good friends and allies the kings of france and great britain. it was natural enough that henry, having secretly expressed his most earnest hope that the states would move at his side in his broad and general assault upon the house of austria, should impress upon them his conviction, which was a just one, that no power in the world was more interested in keeping a spanish and catholic prince out of the duchies than they were themselves. but while thus taking a bond of them as it were for the entire fulfilment of the primary enterprise, he accepted with cordiality, and almost with gratitude, their proposition of a close alliance of the republic with himself and with the protestant powers which james had so superciliously rejected. it would have been difficult to inflict a more petty and, more studied insult upon the republic than did the king of great britain at that supreme moment by his preposterous claim of sovereign rights over the netherlands. he would make no treaty with them, he said, but should he find it worth while to treat with his royal brother of france, he should probably not shut the door in their faces. certainly henry's reply to the remonstrances of the ambassadors in regard to the india trade was as moderate as that of james had been haughty and peremptory in regard to the herring fishery. it is however sufficiently amusing to see those excellent hollanders nobly claiming that "the sea was as free as air" when the right to take scotch pilchards was in question, while at the very same moment they were earnest for excluding their best allies and all the world besides from their east india monopoly. but isaac le maire and jacques le roy had not lain so long disguised in zamet's house in paris for nothing, nor had aerssens so completely "broke the neck of the french east india company" as he supposed. a certain dutch freebooter, however, simon danzer by name, a native of dordrecht, who had been alternately in the service of spain, france, and the states, but a general marauder upon all powers, was exercising at that moment perhaps more influence on the east india trade than any potentate or commonwealth. he kept the seas just then with four swift-sailing and well-armed vessels, that potent skimmer of the ocean, and levied tribute upon protestant and catholic, turk or christian, with great impartiality. the king of spain had sent him letters of amnesty and safe-conduct, with large pecuniary offers, if he would enter his service. the king of france had outbid his royal brother and enemy, and implored him to sweep the seas under the white flag. the states' ambassador begged his masters to reflect whether this "puissant and experienced corsair" should be permitted to serve spaniard or frenchman, and whether they could devise no expedient for turning him into another track. "he is now with his fine ships at marseilles," said aerssens. "he is sought for in all quarters by the spaniard and by the directors of the new french east india company, private persons who equip vessels of war. if he is not satisfied with this king's offers, he is likely to close with the king of spain, who offers him crowns a month. avarice tickles him, but he is neither spaniard nor papist, and i fear will be induced to serve with his ships the east india company, and so will return to his piracy, the evil of which will always fall on our heads. if my lords the states will send me letters of abolition for him, in imitation of the french king, on condition of his returning to his home in zealand and quitting the sea altogether, something might be done. otherwise he will be off to marseilles again, and do more harm to us than ever. isaac le maire is doing as much evil as he can, and one holds daily council with him here." thus the slippery simon skimmed the seas from marseilles to the moluccas, from java to mexico, never to be held firmly by philip, or henry, or barneveld. a dissolute but very daring ship's captain, born in zealand, and formerly in the service of the states, out of which he had been expelled for many evil deeds, simon danzer had now become a professional pirate, having his head-quarters chiefly at algiers. his english colleague warde stationed himself mainly at tunis, and both acted together in connivance with the pachas of the turkish government. they with their considerable fleet, one vessel of which mounted sixty guns, were the terror of the mediterranean, extorted tribute from the commerce of all nations indifferently, and sold licenses to the greatest governments of europe. after growing rich with his accumulated booty, simon was inclined to become respectable, a recourse which was always open to him--france, england, spain, the united provinces, vieing with each other to secure him by high rank and pay as an honoured member of their national marine. he appears however to have failed in his plan of retiring upon his laurels, having been stabbed in paris by a man whom he had formerly robbed and ruined. villeroy, having delivered the letters with his own hands to the ambassadors, was asked by them when and where it would be convenient for the king to arrange the convention of close alliance. the secretary of state--in his secret heart anything but kindly disposed for this loving union with a republic he detested and with heretics whom he would have burned--answered briefly that his majesty was ready at any time, and that it might take place then if they were provided with the necessary powers. he said in parting that the states should "have an eye to everything, for occasions like the present were irrecoverable." he then departed, saying that the king would receive them in final audience on the following day. next morning accordingly marshal de boisdaulphin and de bonoeil came with royal coaches to the hotel gondy and escorted the ambassadors to the louvre. on the way they met de bethune, who had returned solo from the hague bringing despatches for the king and for themselves. while in the antechamber, they had opportunity to read their letters from the states- general, his majesty sending word that he was expecting them with impatience, but preferred that they should read the despatches before the audience. they found the king somewhat out of humour. he expressed himself as tolerably well satisfied with the general tenour of the despatches brought by de bethune, but complained loudly of the request now made by the states, that the maintenance and other expenses of french in the states' service should be paid in the coming campaign out of the royal exchequer. he declared that this proposition was "a small manifestation of ingratitude," that my lords the, states were "little misers," and that such proceedings were "little avaricious tricks" such as he had not expected of them. so far as england was concerned, he said there was a great difference. the english took away what he was giving. he did cheerfully a great deal for his friends, he said, and was always ready doubly to repay what they did for him. if, however, the states persisted in this course, he should call his troops home again. the king, as he went on, became more and more excited, and showed decided dissatisfaction in his language and manner. it was not to be wondered at, for we have seen how persistently he had been urging that the advocate should come in person with "the bridle on his neck," and now he had sent his son-in-law and two colleagues tightly tied up by stringent instructions. and over an above all this, while he was contemplating a general war with intention to draw upon the states for unlimited supplies, behold, they were haggling for the support of a couple of regiments which were virtually their own troops. there were reasons, however, for this cautiousness besides those unfounded, although not entirely chimerical, suspicions as to the king's good faith, to which we have alluded. it should not be forgotten that, although henry had conversed secretly with the states' ambassador at full length on his far-reaching plans, with instructions that he should confidentially inform the advocate and demand his co-operation, not a word of it had been officially propounded to the states-general, nor to the special embassy with whom he was now negotiating. no treaty of alliance offensive or defensive existed between the kingdom and the republic or between the republic and any power whatever. it would have been culpable carelessness therefore at this moment for the prime minister of the states to have committed his government in writing to a full participation in a general assault upon the house of austria; the first step in which would have been a breach of the treaty just concluded and instant hostilities with the archdukes albert and isabella. that these things were in the immediate future was as plain as that night would follow day, but the hour had not yet struck for the states to throw down the gauntlet. hardly two months before, the king, in his treaty with the princes at hall, had excluded both the king of great britain and the states-general from participation in those arrangements, and it was grave matter for consideration, therefore, for the states whether they should allow such succour as they might choose to grant the princes to be included in the french contingent. the opportunity for treating as a sovereign power with the princes and making friends with them was tempting, but it did not seem reasonable to the states that france should make use of them in this war without a treaty, and should derive great advantage from the alliance, but leave the expense to them. henry, on the other hand, forgetting, when it was convenient to him, all about the princess of conde, his hatred of spain, and his resolution to crush the house of austria, chose to consider the war as made simply for the love of the states-general and to secure them for ever from danger. the ambassadors replied to the king's invectives with great respect, and endeavoured to appease his anger. they had sent a special despatch to their government, they said, in regard to all those matters, setting forth all the difficulties that had been raised, but had not wished to trouble his majesty with premature discussions of them. they did not doubt, however, that their high mightinesses would so conduct this great affair as to leave the king no ground of complaint. henry then began to talk of the intelligence brought by de bethune from the hague, especially in regard to the sending of states' troops to dusseldorf and the supply of food for the french army. he did not believe, he said, that the archdukes would refuse him the passage with his forces through their territory, inasmuch as the states' army would be on the way to meet him. in case of any resistance, however, he declared his resolution to strike his blow and to cause people to talk of him. he had sent his quartermaster-general to examine the passes, who had reported that it would be impossible to prevent his majesty's advance. he was also distinctly informed that marquis spinola, keeping his places garrisoned, could not bring more than men into the field. the duke of bouillon, however, was sending advices that his communications were liable to be cut off, and that for this purpose spinola could set on foot about , infantry and horse. if the passage should be allowed by the archdukes, the king stated his intention of establishing magazines for his troops along the whole line of march through the spanish netherlands and neighbouring districts, and to establish and fortify himself everywhere in order to protect his supplies and cover his possible retreat. he was still in doubt, he said, whether to demand the passage at once or to wait until he had began to move his army. he was rather inclined to make the request instantly in order to gain time, being persuaded that he should receive no answer either of consent or refusal. leaving all these details, the king then frankly observed that the affair of cleve had a much wider outlook than people thought. therefore the states must consider well what was to be done to secure the whole work as soon as the cleve business had been successfully accomplished. upon this subject it was indispensable that he should consult especially with his excellency (prince maurice) and some members of the general assembly, whom he wished that my lords the states-general should depute to the army. "for how much good will it do," said the king, "if we drive off archduke leopold without establishing the princes in security for the future? nothing is easier than to put the princes in possession. every one will yield or run away before our forces, but two months after we have withdrawn the enemy will return and drive the princes out again. i cannot always be ready to spring out of my kingdom, nor to assemble such great armies. i am getting old, and my army moreover costs me , crowns a month, which is enough to exhaust all the treasures of france, spain, venice, and the states-general together." he added that, if the present occasion were neglected, the states would afterwards bitterly lament and never recover it. the pope was very much excited, and was sending out his ambassadors everywhere. only the previous saturday the new nuncius destined for france had left rome. if my lords the states would send deputies to the camp with full powers, he stood there firm and unchangeable, but if they remained cool in the business, he warned them that they would enrage him. the states must seize the occasion, he repeated. it was bald behind, and must be grasped by the forelock. it was not enough to have begun well. one must end well. "finis coronat opus." it was very easy to speak of a league, but a league was not to be made in order to sit with arms tied, but to do good work. the states ought not to suffer that the germans should prove themselves more energetic, more courageous, than themselves. and again the king vehemently urged the necessity of his excellency and some deputies of the states coming to him "with absolute power" to treat. he could not doubt in that event of something solid being accomplished. "there are three things," he continued, "which cause me to speak freely. i am talking with my friends whom i hold dear--yes, dearer, perhaps, than they hold themselves. i am a great king, and say what i choose to say. i am old, and know by experience the ways of this world's affairs. i tell you, then, that it is most important that you should come to me resolved and firm on all points." he then requested the ambassadors to make full report of all that he had said to their masters, to make the journey as rapidly as possible, in order to encourage the states to the great enterprise and to meet his wishes. he required from them, he said, not only activity of the body, but labour of the intellect. he was silent for a few moments, and then spoke again. "i shall not always be here," he said, "nor will you always have prince maurice, and a few others whose knowledge of your commonwealth is perfect. my lords the states must be up and doing while they still possess them. nest tuesday i shall cause the queen to be crowned at saint-denis; the following thursday she will make her entry into paris. next day, friday, i shall take my departure. at the end of this month i shall cross the meuse at mezieres or in that neighbourhood." he added that he should write immediately to holland, to urge upon his excellency and the states to be ready to make the junction of their army with his forces without delay. he charged the ambassadors to assure their high mightinesses that he was and should remain their truest friend, their dearest neighbour. he then said a few gracious and cordial words to each of them, warmly embraced each, and bade them all farewell. the next day was passed by the ambassadors in paying and receiving farewell visits, and on saturday, the th, they departed from paris, being escorted out of the gate by the marshal de boisdaulphin, with a cavalcade of noblemen. they slept that night at saint denis, and then returned to holland by the way of calais and rotterdam, reaching the hague on the th of may. i make no apology for the minute details thus given of the proceedings of this embassy, and especially of the conversations of henry. the very words of those conversations were taken down on the spot by the commissioners who heard them, and were carefully embodied in their report made to the states-general on their return, from which i have transcribed them. it was a memorable occasion. the great king--for great he was, despite his numerous vices and follies--stood there upon the threshold of a vast undertaking, at which the world, still half incredulous, stood gazing, half sick with anxiety. he relied on his own genius and valour chiefly, and after these on the brain of barneveld and the sword of maurice. nor was his confidence misplaced. but let the reader observe the date of the day when those striking utterances were made, and which have never before been made public. it was thursday, the th may. "i shall not always be here," said the king . . . . . "i cannot be ready at any moment to spring out of my kingdom." . . . "friday of next week i take my departure." how much of heroic pathos in henry's attitude at this supreme moment! how mournfully ring those closing words of his address to the ambassadors! the die was cast. a letter drawn up by the duc de sully was sent to archduke albert by the king. "my brother," he said; "not being able to refuse my best allies and confederates the help which they have asked of me against those who wish to trouble them in the succession to the duchies and counties of cleve, julich, mark, berg, ravensberg, and ravenstein, i am advancing towards them with my army. as my road leads me through your country, i desire to notify you thereof, and to know whether or not i am to enter as a friend or enemy." such was the draft as delivered to the secretary of state; "and as such it was sent," said sully, "unless villeroy changed it, as he had a great desire to do." henry was mistaken in supposing that the archduke would leave the letter without an answer. a reply was sent in due time, and the permission demanded was not refused. for although france was now full of military movement, and the regiments everywhere were hurrying hourly to the places of rendezvous, though the great storm at last was ready to burst, the archdukes made no preparations for resistance, and lapped themselves in fatal security that nothing was intended but an empty demonstration. six thousand swiss newly levied, with , french infantry and horse, were waiting for henry to place himself at their head at mezieres. twelve thousand foot and cavalry, including the french and english contingents--a splendid army, led by prince maurice--were ready to march from holland to dusseldorf. the army of the princes under prince christian of anhalt numbered , men. the last scruples of the usually unscrupulous charles emmanuel had been overcome, and the duke was quite ready to act, , strong, with marshal de lesdiguieres, in the milanese; while marshal de la force was already at the head of his forces in the pyrenees, amounting to , foot and horse. sully had already despatched his splendid trains of artillery to the frontier. "never was seen in france, and perhaps never will be seen there again, artillery more complete and better furnished," said the duke, thinking probably that artillery had reached the climax of perfect destructiveness in the first decade of the seventeenth century. his son, the marquis de rosny, had received the post of grand master of artillery, and placed himself at its head. his father was to follow as its chief, carrying with him as superintendent of finance a cash-box of eight millions. the king had appointed his wife, mary de' medici, regent, with an eminent council. the new nuncius had been requested to present himself with his letters of credence in the camp. henry was unwilling that he should enter paris, being convinced that he came to do his best, by declamation, persuasion, and intrigue, to paralyse the enterprise. sully's promises to ubaldini, the former nuncius, that his holiness should be made king, however flattering to paul v., had not prevented his representatives from vigorously denouncing henry's monstrous scheme to foment heresy and encourage rebellion. the king's chagrin at the cautious limitations imposed upon the states' special embassy was, so he hoped, to be removed by full conferences in the camp. certainly he had shown in the most striking manner the respect he felt for the states, and the confidence he reposed in them. "in the reception of your embassy," wrote aerssens to the advocate, "certainly the king has so loosened the strap of his affection that he has reserved nothing by which he could put the greatest king in the world above your level." he warned the states, however, that henry had not found as much in their propositions as the common interest had caused him to promise himself. "nevertheless he informs me in confidence," said aerssens, "that he will engage himself in nothing without you; nay, more, he has expressly told me that he could hardly accomplish his task without your assistance, and it was for our sakes alone that he has put himself into this position and incurred this great expense." some days later he informed barneveld that he would leave to van der myle and his colleagues the task of describing the great dissatisfaction of the king at the letters brought by de bethune. he told him in confidence that the states must equip the french regiments and put them in marching order if they wished to preserve henry's friendship. he added that since the departure of the special embassy the king had been vehemently and seriously urging that prince maurice, count lewis william, barneveld, and three or four of the most qualified deputies of the states-general, entirely authorized to treat for the common safety, should meet with him in the territory of julich on a fixed day. the crisis was reached. the king stood fully armed, thoroughly prepared, with trustworthy allies at his side, disposing of overwhelming forces ready to sweep down with irresistible strength upon the house of austria, which, as he said and the states said, aspired to give the law to the whole world. nothing was left to do save, as the ambassador said, to "uncouple the dogs of war and let them run." what preparations had spain and the empire, the pope and the league, set on foot to beat back even for a moment the overwhelming onset? none whatever. spinola in the netherlands, fuentes in milan, bucquoy and lobkowitz and lichtenstein in prague, had hardly the forces of a moderate peace establishment at their disposal, and all the powers save france and the states were on the verge of bankruptcy. even james of great britain--shuddering at the vast thundercloud which had stretched itself over christendom growing blacker and blacker, precisely at this moment, in which he had proved to his own satisfaction that the peace just made would perpetually endure--even james did not dare to traverse the designs of the king whom he feared, and the republic which he hated, in favour of his dearly loved spain. sweden, denmark, the hanse towns, were in harmony with france, holland, savoy, and the whole protestant force of germany--a majority both in population and resources of the whole empire. what army, what combination, what device, what talisman, could save the house of austria, the cause of papacy, from the impending ruin? a sudden, rapid, conclusive victory for the allies seemed as predestined a result as anything could be in the future of human affairs. on the th or th day of may, as he had just been informing the states' ambassadors, henry meant to place himself at the head of his army. that was the moment fixed by himself for "taking his departure." and now the ides of may had come--but not gone. in the midst of all the military preparations with which paris had been resounding, the arrangements for the queen's coronation had been simultaneously going forward. partly to give check in advance to the intrigues which would probably at a later date be made by conde, supported by the power of spain, to invalidate the legitimacy of the dauphin, but more especially perhaps to further and to conceal what the faithful sully called the "damnable artifices" of the queen's intimate councillors--sinister designs too dark to be even whispered at that epoch, and of which history, during the lapse of more than two centuries and a half, has scarcely dared to speak above its breath--it was deemed all important that the coronation should take place. a certain astrologer, thomassin by name, was said to have bidden the king to beware the middle of the next month of may. henry had tweaked the soothsayer by the beard and made him dance twice or thrice about the room. to the duc de vendome expressing great anxiety in regard to thomassin, henry replied, "the astrologer is an old fool, and you are a young fool." a certain prophetess called pasithea had informed the queen that the king could not survive his fifty-seventh year. she was much in the confidence of mary de' medici, who had insisted this year on her returning to paris. henry, who was ever chafing and struggling to escape the invisible and dangerous net which he felt closing about him, and who connected the sorceress with all whom he most loathed among the intimate associates of the queen, swore a mighty oath that she should not show her face again at court. "my heart presages that some signal disaster will befall me on this coronation. concini and his wife are urging the queen obstinately to send for this fanatic. if she should come, there is no doubt that my wife and i shall squabble well about her. if i discover more about these private plots of hers with spain, i shall be in a mighty passion." and the king then assured the faithful minister of his conviction that all the jealousy affected by the queen in regard to the princess of conde was but a veil to cover dark designs. it was necessary in the opinion of those who governed her, the vile concini and his wife, that there should be some apparent and flagrant cause of quarrel. the public were to receive payment in these pretexts for want of better coin. henry complained that even sully and all the world besides attributed to jealousy that which was really the effect of a most refined malice. and the minister sometimes pauses in the midst of these revelations made in his old age, and with self-imposed and shuddering silence intimates that there are things he could tell which are too odious and dreadful to be breathed. henry had an invincible repugnance to that coronation on which the queen had set her heart. nothing could be more pathetic than the isolated position in which he found himself, standing thus as he did on the threshold of a mighty undertaking in which he was the central figure, an object for the world to gaze upon with palpitating interest. at his hearth in the louvre were no household gods. danger lurked behind every tapestry in that magnificent old palace. a nameless dread dogged his footsteps through those resounding corridors. and by an exquisite refinement in torture the possible father of several of his children not only dictated to the queen perpetual outbreaks of frantic jealousy against her husband, but moved her to refuse with suspicion any food and drink offered her by his hands. the concini's would even with unparalleled and ingenious effrontery induce her to make use of the kitchen arrangements in their apartments for the preparation of her daily meals? driven from house and home, henry almost lived at the arsenal. there he would walk for hours in the long alleys of the garden, discussing with the great financier and soldier his vast, dreamy, impracticable plans. strange combination of the hero, the warrior, the voluptuary, the sage, and the schoolboy--it would be difficult to find in the whole range of history a more human, a more attractive, a more provoking, a less venerable character. haunted by omens, dire presentiments, dark suspicions with and without cause, he was especially averse from the coronation to which in a moment of weakness he had given his consent. sitting in sully's cabinet, in a low chair which the duke had expressly provided for his use, tapping and drumming on his spectacle case, or starting up and smiting himself on the thigh, he would pour out his soul hours long to his one confidential minister. "ah, my friend, how this sacrament displeases me," he said; "i know not why it is, but my heart tells me that some misfortune is to befall me. by god i shall die in this city, i shall never go out of it; i see very well that they are finding their last resource in my death. ah, accursed coronation! thou wilt be the, cause of my death." so many times did he give utterance to these sinister forebodings that sully implored him at last for leave to countermand the whole ceremony notwithstanding the great preparations which had been made for the splendid festival. "yes, yes," replied the king, "break up this coronation at once. let me hear no more of it. then i shall have my mind cured of all these impressions. i shall leave the town and fear nothing." he then informed his friend that he had received intimations that he should lose his life at the first magnificent festival he should give, and that he should die in a carriage. sully admitted that he had often, when in a carriage with him, been amazed at his starting and crying out at the slightest shock, having so often seen him intrepid among guns and cannon, pikes and naked swords. the duke went to the queen three days in succession, and with passionate solicitations and arguments and almost upon his knees implored her to yield to the king's earnest desire, and renounce for the time at least the coronation. in vain. mary de' medici was obdurate as marble to his prayers. the coronation was fixed for thursday, the th may, two days later than the time originally appointed when the king conversed with the states' ambassadors. on the following sunday was to be the splendid and solemn entrance of the crowned queen. on the monday, henry, postponing likewise for two days his original plan of departure, would leave for the army. meantime there were petty annoyances connected with the details of the coronation. henry had set his heart on having his legitimatized children, the offspring of the fair gabrielle, take their part in the ceremony on an equal footing with the princes of the blood. they were not entitled to wear the lilies of france upon their garments, and the king was solicitous that "the count"--as soissons, brother of prince conti and uncle of conde, was always called--should dispense with those ensigns for his wife upon this solemn occasion, and that the other princesses of the blood should do the same. thus there would be no appearance of inferiority on the part of the duchess of vendome. the count protested that he would have his eyes torn out of his head rather than submit to an arrangement which would do him so much shame. he went to the queen and urged upon her that to do this would likewise be an injury to her children, the dukes of orleans and of anjou. he refused flatly to appear or allow his wife to appear except in the costume befitting their station. the king on his part was determined not to abandon his purpose. he tried to gain over the count by the most splendid proposals, offering him the command of the advance-guard of the army, or the lieutenancy-general of france in the absence of the king, , crowns for his equipment and an increase of his pension if he would cause his wife to give up the fleurs-de-lys on this occasion. the alternative was to be that, if she insisted upon wearing them, his majesty would never look upon him again with favourable eyes. the count never hesitated, but left paris, refusing to appear at the ceremony. the king was in a towering passion, for to lose the presence of this great prince of the blood at a solemnity expressly intended as a demonstration against the designs hatching by the first of all the princes of the blood under patronage of spain was a severe blow to his pride and a check to his policy.' yet it was inconceivable that he could at such a moment commit so superfluous and unmeaning a blunder. he had forced conde into exile, intrigue with the enemy, and rebellion, by open and audacious efforts to destroy his domestic peace, and now he was willing to alienate one of his most powerful subjects in order to place his bastards on a level with royalty. while it is sufficiently amusing to contemplate this proposed barter of a chief command in a great army or the lieutenancy-general of a mighty kingdom at the outbreak of a general european war against a bit of embroidery on the court dress of a lady, yet it is impossible not to recognize something ideal and chivalrous from his own point of view in the refusal of soissons to renounce those emblems of pure and high descent, those haughty lilies of st. louis, against any bribes of place and pelf however dazzling. the coronation took place on thursday, th may, with the pomp and glitter becoming great court festivals; the more pompous and glittering the more the monarch's heart was wrapped in gloom. the representatives of the great powers were conspicuous in the procession; aerssens, the dutch ambassador, holding a foremost place. the ambassadors of spain and venice as usual squabbled about precedence and many other things, and actually came to fisticuffs, the fight lasting a long time and ending somewhat to the advantage of the venetian. but the sacrament was over, and mary de' medici was crowned queen of france and regent of the kingdom during the absence of the sovereign with his army. meantime there had been mysterious warnings darker and more distinct than the babble of the soothsayer thomassin or the ravings of the lunatic pasithea. count schomberg, dining at the arsenal with sully, had been called out to converse with mademoiselle de gournay, who implored that a certain madame d'escomans might be admitted to audience of the king. that person, once in direct relations with the marchioness of verneuil, the one of henry's mistresses who most hated him, affirmed that a man from the duke of epernon's country was in paris, agent of a conspiracy seeking the king's life. the woman not enjoying a very reputable character found it impossible to obtain a hearing, although almost frantic with her desire to save her sovereign's life. the queen observed that it was a wicked woman, who was accusing all the world, and perhaps would accuse her too. the fatal friday came. henry drove out, in his carriage to see the preparations making for the triumphal entrance of the queen into paris on the following sunday. what need to repeat the tragic, familiar tale? the coach was stopped by apparent accident in the narrow street de la feronniere, and francis ravaillac, standing on the wheel, drove his knife through the monarch's heart. the duke of epernon, sitting at his side, threw his cloak over the body and ordered the carriage back to the louvre. "they have killed him, 'e ammazato,'" cried concini (so says tradition), thrusting his head into the queen's bedchamber. [michelet, . it is not probable that the documents concerning the trial, having been so carefully suppressed from the beginning, especially the confession dictated to voisin--who wrote it kneeling on the ground, and was perhaps so appalled at its purport that he was afraid to write it legibly--will ever see the light. i add in the appendix some contemporary letters of persons, as likely as any one to know what could be known, which show how dreadful were the suspicions which men entertained, and which they hardly ventured to whisper to each other]. that blow had accomplished more than a great army could have done, and spain now reigned in paris. the house of austria, without making any military preparations, had conquered, and the great war of religion and politics was postponed for half a dozen years. this history has no immediate concern with solving the mysteries of that stupendous crime. the woman who had sought to save the king's life now denounced epernon as the chief murderer, and was arrested, examined, accused of lunacy, proved to be perfectly sane, and, persisting in her statements with perfect coherency, was imprisoned for life for her pains; the duke furiously demanding her instant execution. the documents connected with the process were carefully suppressed. the assassin, tortured and torn by four horses, was supposed to have revealed nothing and to have denied the existence of accomplices. the great accused were too omnipotent to be dealt with by humble accusers or by convinced but powerless tribunals. the trial was all mystery, hugger-mugger, horror. yet the murderer is known to have dictated to the greflier voisin, just before expiring on the greve, a declaration which that functionary took down in a handwriting perhaps purposely illegible. two centuries and a half have passed away, yet the illegible original record is said to exist, to have been plainly read, and to contain the names of the queen and the duke of epernon. twenty-six years before, the pistol of balthasar gerard had destroyed the foremost man in europe and the chief of a commonwealth just struggling into existence. yet spain and rome, the instigators and perpetrators of the crime, had not reaped the victory which they had the right to expect. the young republic, guided by barneveld and loyal to the son of the murdered stadholder, was equal to the burthen suddenly descending upon its shoulders. instead of despair there had been constancy. instead of distracted counsels there had been heroic union of heart and hand. rather than bend to rome and grovel to philip, it had taken its sovereignty in its hands, offered it successively, without a thought of self-aggrandizement on the part of its children, to the crowns of france and great britain, and, having been repulsed by both, had learned after fiery trials and incredible exertions to assert its own high and foremost place among the independent powers of the world. and now the knife of another priest-led fanatic, the wretched but unflinching instrument of a great conspiracy, had at a blow decapitated france. no political revolution could be much more thorough than that which had been accomplished in a moment of time by francis ravaillac. on the th of may, france, while in spiritual matters obedient to the pope, stood at the head of the forces of protestantism throughout europe, banded together to effect the downfall of the proud house of austria, whose fortunes and fate were synonymous with catholicism. the baltic powers, the majority of the teutonic races, the kingdom of britain, the great republic of the netherlands, the northernmost and most warlike governments of italy, all stood at the disposition of the warrior-king. venice, who had hitherto, in the words of a veteran diplomatist, "shunned to look a league or a confederation in the face, if there was any protestant element in it, as if it had been the head of medusa," had formally forbidden the passage of troops northwards to the relief of the assailed power. savoy, after direful hesitations, had committed herself body and soul to the great enterprise. even the pope, who feared the overshadowing personality of henry, and was beginning to believe his house's private interests more likely to flourish under the protection of the french than the spanish king, was wavering in his fidelity to spain and tempted by french promises: if he should prove himself incapable of effecting a pause in the great crusade, it was doubtful on which side he would ultimately range himself; for it was at least certain that the new catholic league, under the chieftainship of maximilian of bavaria, was resolved not to entangle its fortunes inextricably with those of the austrian house. the great enterprise, first unfolding itself with the episode of cleve and berg and whimsically surrounding itself with the fantastic idyl of the princess of conde, had attained vast and misty proportions in the brain of its originator. few political visions are better known in history than the "grand design" of henry for rearranging the map of the world at the moment when, in the middle of may, he was about to draw his sword. spain reduced to the mediterranean and the pyrenees, but presented with both the indies, with all america and the whole orient in fee; the empire taken from austria and given to bavaria; a constellation of states in italy, with the pope for president-king; throughout the rest of christendom a certain number of republics, of kingdoms, of religions-- a great confederation of the world, in short--with the most christian king for its dictator and protector, and a great amphictyonic council to regulate all disputes by solemn arbitration, and to make war in the future impossible, such in little was his great design. nothing could be more humane, more majestic, more elaborate, more utterly preposterous. and all this gigantic fabric had passed away in an instant--at one stroke of a broken table knife sharpened on a carriage wheel. most pitiful was the condition of france on the day after, and for years after, the murder of the king. not only was the kingdom for the, time being effaced from the roll of nations, so far as external relations were concerned, but it almost ceased to be a kingdom. the ancient monarchy of hugh capet, of saint-louis, of henry of france and navarre, was transformed into a turbulent, self-seeking, quarrelsome, pillaging, pilfering democracy of grandees. the queen-regent was tossed hither and thither at the sport of the winds and waves which shifted every hour in that tempestuous court. no man pretended to think of the state. every man thought only of himself. the royal exchequer was plundered with a celerity and cynical recklessness such as have been rarely seen in any age or country. the millions so carefully hoarded by sully, and exhibited so dramatically by that great minister to the enraptured eyes of his sovereign; that treasure in the bastille on which henry relied for payment of the armies with which he was to transform the world, all disappeared in a few weeks to feed the voracious maw of courtiers, paramours, and partisans! the queen showered gold like water upon her beloved concini that he might purchase his marquisate of ancre, and the charge of first gentleman of the court from bouillon; that he might fit himself for the government of picardy; that he might elevate his marquisate into a dukedom. conde, having no further reason to remain in exile, received as a gift from the trembling mary de' medici the magnificent hotel gondy, where the dutch ambassadors had so recently been lodged, for which she paid , crowns, together with , crowns to furnish it, , crowns to pay his debts, , more as yearly pension. he claimed double, and was soon at sword's point with the queen in spite of her lavish bounty. epernon, the true murderer of henry, trampled on courts of justice and councils of ministers, frightened the court by threatening to convert his possession of metz into an independent sovereignty, as balagny had formerly seized upon cambray, smothered for ever the process of ravaillac, caused those to be put to death or immured for life in dungeons who dared to testify to his complicity in the great crime, and strode triumphantly over friends and enemies throughout france, although so crippled by the gout that he could scarcely walk up stairs. there was an end to the triumvirate. sully's influence was gone for ever. the other two dropped the mask. the chancellor and villeroy revealed themselves to be what they secretly had always been--humble servants and stipendiaries of spain. the formal meetings of the council were of little importance, and were solemn, tearful, and stately; draped in woe for the great national loss. in the private cabinet meetings in the entresol of the louvre, where the nuncius and the spanish ambassador held counsel with epernon and villeroy and jeannin and sillery, the tone was merry and loud; the double spanish marriage and confusion to the dutch being the chief topics of consultation. but the anarchy grew day by day into almost hopeless chaos. there was no satisfying the princes of the blood nor the other grandees. conde, whose reconciliation with the princess followed not long after the death of henry and his own return to france, was insatiable in his demands for money, power, and citadels of security. soissons, who might formerly have received the lieutenancy-general of the kingdom by sacrificing the lilies on his wife's gown, now disputed for that office with his elder brother conti, the prince claiming it by right of seniority, the count denouncing conti as deaf, dumb, and imbecile, till they drew poniards on each other in the very presence of the queen; while conde on one occasion, having been refused the citadels which he claimed, blaye and chateau trompette, threw his cloak over his nose and put on his hat while the queen was speaking, and left the council in a fury, declaring that villeroy and the chancellor were traitors, and that he would have them both soundly cudgelled. guise, lorraine, epernon, bouillon, and other great lords always appeared in the streets of paris at the head of three, four, or five hundred mounted and armed retainers; while the queen in her distraction gave orders to arm the paris mob to the number of fifty thousand, and to throw chains across the streets to protect herself and her son against the turbulent nobles. sully, hardly knowing to what saint to burn his candle, being forced to resign his great posts, was found for a time in strange political combination with the most ancient foes of his party and himself. the kaleidoscope whirling with exasperating quickness showed ancient leaguers and lorrainers banded with and protecting huguenots against the crown, while princes of the blood, hereditary patrons and chiefs of the huguenots, became partisans and stipendiaries of spain. it is easy to see that circumstances like these rendered the position of the dutch commonwealth delicate and perilous. sully informed aerssens and van der myle, who had been sent back to paris on special mission very soon after the death of the king, that it took a hundred hours now to accomplish a single affair, whereas under henry a hundred affairs were transacted in a single hour. but sully's sun had set, and he had few business conferences now with the ambassadors. villeroy and the chancellor had fed fat their ancient grudge to the once omnipotent minister, and had sworn his political ruin. the old secretary of state had held now complete control of the foreign alliances and combinations of france, and the dutch ambassadors could be under no delusion as to the completeness of the revolution. "you will find a passion among the advisers of the queen," said villeroy to aerssens and van der myle, "to move in diametrical opposition to the plans of the late king." and well might the ancient leaguer and present pensionary of spain reveal this foremost fact in a policy of which he was in secret the soul. he wept profusely when he first received francis aerssens, but after these "useless tears," as the envoy called them, he soon made it manifest that there was no more to be expected of france, in the great project which its government had so elaborately set on foot. villeroy was now sixty-six years of age, and had been secretary of state during forty-two years and under four kings. a man of delicate health, frail body, methodical habits, capacity for routine, experience in political intrigue, he was not personally as greedy of money as many of his contemporaries, and was not without generosity; but he loved power, the pope, and the house of austria. he was singularly reserved in public, practised successfully the talent of silence, and had at last arrived at the position he most coveted, the virtual presidency of the council, and saw the men he most hated beneath his feet. at the first interview of aerssens with the queen-regent she was drowned in tears, and could scarcely articulate an intelligible sentence. so far as could be understood she expressed her intention of carrying out the king's plans, of maintaining the old alliances, of protecting both religions. nothing, however, could be more preposterous than such phrases. villeroy, who now entirely directed the foreign affairs of the kingdom, assured the ambassador that france was much more likely to apply to the states for assistance than render them aid in any enterprise whatever. "there is no doubt," said aerssens, "that the queen is entirely in the hands of spain and the priests." villeroy, whom henry was wont to call the pedagogue of the council, went about sighing dismally, wishing himself dead, and perpetually ejaculating, "ho! poor france, how much hast thou still to suffer!" in public he spoke of nothing but of union, and of the necessity of carrying out the designs of the king, instructing the docile queen to hold the same language. in private he was quite determined to crush those designs for ever, and calmly advised the dutch government to make an amicable agreement with the emperor in regard to the cleve affair as soon as possible; a treaty which would have been shameful for france and the possessory princes, and dangerous, if not disastrous, for the states-general. "nothing but feverish and sick counsels," he said, "could be expected from france, which had now lost its vigour and could do nothing but groan." not only did the french council distinctly repudiate the idea of doing anything more for the princes than had been stipulated by the treaty of hall--that is to say, a contingent of foot and horse--but many of them vehemently maintained that the treaty, being a personal one of the late king, was dead with him? the duty of france was now in their opinion to withdraw from these mad schemes as soon as possible, to make peace with the house of austria without delay, and to cement the friendship by the double marriages. bouillon, who at that moment hated sully as much as the most vehement catholic could do, assured the dutch envoy that the government was, under specious appearances, attempting to deceive the states; a proposition which it needed not the evidence of that most intriguing duke to make manifest to so astute a politician; particularly as there was none more bent on playing the most deceptive game than bouillon. there would be no troops to send, he said, and even if there were, there would be no possibility of agreeing on a chief. the question of religion would at once arise. as for himself, the duke protested that he would not accept the command if offered him. he would not agree to serve under the prince of anhalt, nor would he for any consideration in the world leave the court at that moment. at the same time aerssens was well aware that bouillon, in his quality of first marshal of france, a protestant and a prince having great possessions on the frontier, and the brother-in-law of prince maurice, considered himself entitled to the command of the troops should they really be sent, and was very indignant at the idea of its being offered to any one else. [aerssens worked assiduously, two hours long on one occasion, to effect a reconciliation between the two great protestant chiefs, but found bouillon's demands "so shameful and unreasonable" that he felt obliged to renounce all further attempts. in losing sully from the royal councils, the states' envoy acknowledged that the republic had lost everything that could be depended on at the french court. "all the others are time-serving friends," he said, "or saints without miracles."--aerssens to barneveld, june, . ] he advised earnestly therefore that the states should make a firm demand for money instead of men, specifying the amount that might be considered the equivalent of the number of troops originally stipulated. it is one of the most singular spectacles in history; france sinking into the background of total obscurity in an instant of time, at one blow of a knife, while the republic, which she had been patronizing, protecting, but keeping always in a subordinate position while relying implicitly upon its potent aid, now came to the front, and held up on its strong shoulders an almost desperate cause. henry had been wont to call the states-general "his courage and his right arm," but he had always strictly forbidden them to move an inch in advance of him, but ever to follow his lead, and to take their directions from himself. they were a part, and an essential one, in his vast designs; but france, or he who embodied france, was the great providence, the destiny, the all- directing, all-absorbing spirit, that was to remodel and control the whole world. he was dead, and france and her policy were already in a state of rapid decomposition. barneveld wrote to encourage and sustain the sinking state. "our courage is rising in spite and in consequence of the great misfortune," he said. he exhorted the queen to keep her kingdom united, and assured her that my lords the states would maintain themselves against all who dared to assail them. he offered in their name the whole force of the republic to take vengeance on those who had procured the assassination, and to defend the young king and the queen-mother against all who might make any attempt against their authority. he further declared, in language not to be mistaken, that the states would never abandon the princes and their cause. this was the earliest indication on the part of the advocate of the intention of the republic--so long as it should be directed by his counsels--to support the cause of the young king, helpless and incapable as he was, and directed for the time being by a weak and wicked mother, against the reckless and depraved grandees, who were doing their best to destroy the unity and the independence of france, cornelis van der myle was sent back to paris on special mission of condolence and comfort from the states-general to the sorely afflicted kingdom. on the th of june, accompanied by aerssens, he had a long interview with villeroy. that minister, as usual, wept profusely, and said that in regard to cleve it was impossible for france to carry out the designs of the late king. he then listened to what the ambassadors had to urge, and continued to express his melancholy by weeping. drying his tears for a time, he sought by a long discourse to prove that france during this tender minority of the king would be incapable of pursuing the policy of his father. it would be even too burthensome to fulfil the treaty of hall. the friends of the crown, he said, had no occasion to further it, and it would be much better to listen to propositions for a treaty. archduke albert was content not to interfere in the quarrel if the queen would likewise abstain; leopold's forces were altogether too weak to make head against the army of the princes, backed by the power of my lords the states, and julich was neither strong nor well garrisoned. he concluded by calmly proposing that the states should take the matter in hand by themselves alone, in order to lighten the burthen of france, whose vigour had been cut in two by that accursed knife. a more sneaking and shameful policy was never announced by the minister of a great kingdom. surely it might seem that ravaillac had cut in twain not the vigour only but the honour and the conscience of france. but the envoys, knowing in their hearts that they were talking not with a french but a spanish secretary of state, were not disposed to be the dupes of his tears or his blandishments. they reminded him that the queen-regent and her ministers since the murder of the king had assured the states-general and the princes of their firm intention to carry out the treaty of hall, and they observed that they had no authority to talk of any negotiation. the affair of the duchies was not especially the business of the states, and the secretary was well aware that they had promised their succour on the express condition that his majesty and his army should lead the way, and that they should follow. this was very far from the plan now suggested, that they should do it all, which would be quite out of the question. france had a strong army, they said, and it would be better to use it than to efface herself so pitiably. the proposition of abstention on the part of the archduke was a delusion intended only to keep france out of the field. villeroy replied by referring to english affairs. king james, he said, was treating them perfidiously. his first letters after the murder had been good, but by the following ones england seemed to wish to put her foot on france's throat, in order to compel her to sue for an alliance. the british ministers had declared their resolve not to carry out that convention of alliance, although it had been nearly concluded in the lifetime of the late king, unless the queen would bind herself to make good to the king of great britain that third part of the subsidies advanced by france to the states which had been furnished on english account! this was the first announcement of a grievance devised by the politicians now governing france to make trouble for the states with that kingdom and with great britain likewise. according to a treaty made at hampton court by sully during his mission to england at the accession of james, it had been agreed that one-third of the moneys advanced by france in aid of the united provinces should be credited to the account of great britain, in diminution of the debt for similar assistance rendered by elizabeth to henry. in regard to this treaty the states had not been at all consulted, nor did they acknowledge the slightest obligation in regard to it. the subsidies in men and in money provided for them both by france and by england in their struggle for national existence had always been most gratefully acknowledged by the republic, but it had always been perfectly understood that these expenses had been incurred by each kingdom out of an intelligent and thrifty regard for its own interest. nothing could be more ridiculous than to suppose france and england actuated by disinterested sympathy and benevolence when assisting the netherland people in its life-and-death struggle against the dire and deadly enemy of both crowns. henry protested that, while adhering to rome in spiritual matters, his true alliances and strength had been found in the united provinces, in germany, and in great britain. as for the states, he had spent sixteen millions of livres, he said, in acquiring a perfect benevolence on the part of the states to his person. it was the best bargain he had ever made, and he should take care to preserve it at any cost whatever, for he considered himself able, when closely united with them, to bid defiance to all the kings in europe together. yet it was now the settled policy of the queen-regent's council, so far as the knot of politicians guided by the nuncius and the spanish ambassador in the entresols of the louvre could be called a council, to force the states to refund that third, estimated at something between three and four million livres, which france had advanced them on account of great britain. villeroy told the two ambassadors at this interview that, if great britain continued to treat the queen-regent in such fashion, she would be obliged to look about for other allies. there could hardly be doubt as to the quarter in which mary de' medici was likely to look. meantime, the secretary of state urged the envoys "to intervene at once to-mediate the difference." there could be as little doubt that to mediate the difference was simply to settle an account which they did not owe. the whole object of the minister at this first interview was to induce the states to take the whole cleve enterprise upon their own shoulders, and to let france off altogether. the queen-regent as then advised meant to wash her hands of the possessory princes once and for ever. the envoys cut the matter short by assuring villeroy that they would do nothing of the kind. he begged them piteously not to leave the princes in the lurch, and at the same time not to add to the burthens of france at so disastrous a moment. so they parted. next day, however, they visited the secretary again, and found him more dismal and flaccid than ever. he spoke feebly and drearily about the succour for the great enterprise, recounted all the difficulties in the way, and, having thrown down everything that the day before had been left standing, he tried to excuse an entire change of policy by the one miserable crime. he painted a forlorn picture of the council and of france. "i can myself do nothing as i wish," added the undisputed controller of that government's policy, and then with a few more tears he concluded by requesting the envoys to address their demands to the queen in writing. this was done with the customary formalities and fine speeches on both sides; a dull comedy by which no one was amused. then bouillon came again, and assured them that there had been a chance that the engagements of henry, followed up by the promise of the queen- regent, would be carried out, but now the fact was not to be concealed that the continued battery of the nuncius, of the ambassadors of spain and of the archdukes, had been so effective that nothing sure or solid was thenceforth to be expected; the council being resolved to accept the overtures of the archduke for mutual engagement to abstain from the julich enterprise. nothing in truth could be more pitiable than the helpless drifting of the once mighty kingdom, whenever the men who governed it withdrew their attention for an instant from their private schemes of advancement and plunder to cast a glance at affairs of state. in their secret heart they could not doubt that france was rushing on its ruin, and that in the alliance of the dutch commonwealth, britain, and the german protestants, was its only safety. but they trembled before the pope, grown bold and formidable since the death of the dreaded henry. to offend his holiness, the king of spain, the emperor, and the great catholics of france, was to make a crusade against the church. garnier, the jesuit, preached from his pulpit that "to strike a blow in the cleve enterprise was no less a sin than to inflict a stab in the body of our lord." the parliament of paris having ordered the famous treatise of the jesuit mariana-- justifying the killing of excommunicated kings by their subjects--to be publicly burned before notre dame, the bishop opposed the execution of the decree. the parliament of paris, although crushed by epernon in its attempts to fix the murder of the king upon himself as the true culprit, was at least strong enough to carry out this sentence upon a printed, volume recommending the deed, and the queen's council could only do its best to mitigate the awakened wrath of the jesuits at this exercise of legal authority.--at the same time, it found on the whole so many more difficulties in a cynical and shameless withdrawal from the treaty of hall than in a nominal and tardy fulfilment of its conditions that it resolved at last to furnish the foot and horse promised to the possessory princes. the next best thing to abandoning entirely even this little shred, this pitiful remnant, of the splendid designs of henry was to so arrange matters that the contingent should be feebly commanded, and set on foot in so dilatory a manner that the petty enterprise should on the part of france be purely perfunctory. the grandees of the kingdom had something more important to do than to go crusading in germany, with the help of a heretic republic, to set up the possessory princes. they were fighting over the prostrate dying form of their common mother for their share of the spoils, stripping france before she was dead, and casting lots for her vesture. soissons was on the whole in favour of the cleve expedition. epernon was desperately opposed to it, and maltreated villeroy in full council when he affected to say a word, insincere as the duke knew it to be, in favour of executing agreements signed by the monarch, and sealed with the great seal of france. the duke of guise, finding himself abandoned by the queen, and bitterly opposed and hated by soissons, took sides with his deaf and dumb and imbecile brother, and for a brief interval the duke of sully joined this strange combination of the house of lorraine and chiefs of ancient leaguers, who welcomed him with transport, and promised him security. then bouillon, potent by his rank, his possessions, and his authority among the protestants, publicly swore that he would ruin sully and change the whole order of the government. what more lamentable spectacle, what more desolate future for the cause of religious equality, which for a moment had been achieved in france, than this furious alienation of the trusted leaders of the huguenots, while their adversaries were carrying everything before them? at the council board bouillon quarrelled ostentatiously with sully, shook his fist in his face, and but for the queen's presence would have struck him. next day he found that the queen was intriguing against himself as well as against sully, was making a cat's-paw of him, and was holding secret councils daily from which he as well as sully was excluded. at once he made overtures of friendship to sully, and went about proclaiming to the world that all huguenots were to be removed from participation in affairs of state. his vows of vengeance were for a moment hushed by the unanimous resolution of the council that, as first marshal of france, having his principality on the frontier, and being of the reformed religion, he was the fittest of all to command the expedition. surely it might be said that the winds and tides were not more changeful than the politics of the queen's government. the dutch ambassador was secretly requested by villeroy to negotiate with bouillon and offer him the command of the julich expedition. the duke affected to make difficulties, although burning to obtain the post, but at last consented. all was settled. aerssens communicated at once with villeroy, and notice of bouillon's acceptance was given to the queen, when, behold, the very next day marshal de la chatre was appointed to the command expressly because he was a catholic. of course the duke of bouillon, furious with soissons and epernon and the rest of the government, was more enraged than ever against the queen. his only hope was now in conde, but conde at the outset, on arriving at the louvre, offered his heart to the queen as a sheet of white paper. epernon and soissons received him with delight, and exchanged vows of an eternal friendship of several weeks' duration. and thus all the princes of the blood, all the cousins of henry of navarre, except the imbecile conti, were ranged on the side of spain, rome, mary de' medici, and concino concini, while the son of the balafre, the duke of mayenne, and all their adherents were making common cause with the huguenots. what better example had been seen before, even in that country of pantomimic changes, of the effrontery with which religion was made the strumpet of political ambition? all that day and the next paris was rife with rumours that there was to be a general massacre of the huguenots to seal the new-born friendship of a conde with a medici. france was to renounce all her old alliances and publicly to enter into treaties offensive and defensive with spain. a league like that of bayonne made by the former medicean queen-regent of france was now, at villeroy's instigation, to be signed by mary de' medici. meantime, marshal de la chatre, an honest soldier and fervent papist, seventy-three years of age, ignorant of the language, the geography, the politics of the country to which he was sent, and knowing the road thither about as well, according to aerssens, who was requested to give him a little preliminary instruction, as he did the road to india, was to co-operate with barneveld and maurice of nassau in the enterprise against the duchies. these were the cheerful circumstances amid which the first step in the dead henry's grand design against the house of austria and in support of protestantism in half europe and of religious equality throughout christendom, was now to be ventured. cornelis van der myle took leave of the queen on terminating his brief special embassy, and was fain to content himself with languid assurances from that corpulent tuscan dame of her cordial friendship for the united provinces. villeroy repeated that the contingent to be sent was furnished out of pure love to the netherlands, the present government being in no wise bound by the late king's promises. he evaded the proposition of the states for renewing the treaty of close alliance by saying that he was then negotiating with the british government on the subject, who insisted as a preliminary step on the repayment of the third part of the sums advanced to the states by the late king. he exchanged affectionate farewell greetings and good wishes with jeannin and with the dropsical duke of mayenne, who was brought in his chair to his old fellow leaguer's apartments at the moment of the ambassador's parting interview. there was abundant supply of smooth words, in the plentiful lack of any substantial nutriment, from the representatives of each busy faction into which the medicean court was divided. even epernon tried to say a gracious word to the retiring envoy, assuring him that he would do as much for the cause as a good frenchman and lover of his fatherland could do. he added, in rather a surly way, that he knew very well how foully he had been described to the states, but that the devil was not as black as he was painted. it was necessary, he said, to take care of one's own house first of all, and he knew very well that the states and all prudent persons would do the same thing. etext editor's bookmarks: and now the knife of another priest-led fanatic as with his own people, keeping no back-door open at a blow decapitated france conclusive victory for the allies seemed as predestined epernon, the true murderer of henry father cotton, who was only too ready to betray the secrets great war of religion and politics was postponed jesuit mariana--justifying the killing of excommunicated kings no man pretended to think of the state practised successfully the talent of silence queen is entirely in the hands of spain and the priests religion was made the strumpet of political ambition smooth words, in the plentiful lack of any substantial stroke of a broken table knife sharpened on a carriage wheel the assassin, tortured and torn by four horses they have killed him, 'e ammazato,' cried concini things he could tell which are too odious and dreadful uncouple the dogs and let them run vows of an eternal friendship of several weeks' duration what could save the house of austria, the cause of papacy wrath of the jesuits at this exercise of legal authority this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, chapter xlvii. a dutch fleet under heemskerk sent to the coast of spain and portugal--encounter with the spanish war fleet under d'avila--death of both commanders-in-chief--victory of the netherlanders--massacre of the spaniards. the states-general had not been inclined to be tranquil under the check which admiral haultain had received upon the coast of spain in the autumn of . the deed of terrible self-devotion by which klaaszoon and his comrades had in that crisis saved the reputation of the republic, had proved that her fleets needed only skilful handling and determined leaders to conquer their enemy in the western seas as certainly as they had done in the archipelagos of the east. and there was one pre-eminent naval commander, still in the very prime of life, but seasoned by an experience at the poles and in the tropics such as few mariners in that early but expanding maritime epoch could boast. jacob van heemskerk, unlike many of the navigators and ocean warriors who had made and were destined to make the orange flag of the united provinces illustrious over the world, was not of humble parentage. sprung of an ancient, knightly race, which had frequently distinguished itself in his native province of holland, he had followed the seas almost from his cradle. by turns a commercial voyager, an explorer, a privateer's-man, or an admiral of war- fleets, in days when sharp distinctions between the merchant service and the public service, corsairs' work and cruisers' work, did not exist, he had ever proved himself equal to any emergency--a man incapable of fatigue, of perplexity, or of fear. we have followed his career during that awful winter in nova zembla, where, with such unflinching cheerful heroism, he sustained the courage of his comrades--the first band of scientific martyrs that had ever braved the dangers and demanded the secrets of those arctic regions. his glorious name--as those of so many of his comrades and countrymen--has been rudely torn from cape, promontory, island, and continent, once illustrated by courage and suffering, but the noble record will ever remain. subsequently he had much navigated the indian ocean; his latest achievement having been, with two hundred men, in a couple of yachts, to capture an immense portuguese carrack, mounting thirty guns, and manned with eight hundred sailors, and to bring back a prodigious booty for the exchequer of the republic. a man with delicate features, large brown eyes, a thin high nose, fair hair and beard, and a soft, gentle expression, he concealed, under a quiet exterior, and on ordinary occasions a very plain and pacific costume, a most daring nature, and an indomitable ambition for military and naval distinction. he was the man of all others in the commonwealth to lead any new enterprise that audacity could conceive against the hereditary enemy. the public and the states-general were anxious to retrace the track of haultain, and to efface the memory of his inglorious return from the spanish coast. the sailors of holland and zeeland were indignant that the richly freighted fleets of the two indies had been allowed to slip so easily through their fingers. the great east india corporation was importunate with government that such blunders should not be repeated, and that the armaments known to be preparing in the portuguese ports, the homeward-bound fleets that might be looked for at any moment off the peninsular coast, and the spanish cruisers which were again preparing to molest the merchant fleets of the company, should be dealt with effectively and in season. twenty-six vessels of small size but of good sailing qualities, according to the idea of the epoch, were provided, together with four tenders. of this fleet the command was offered to jacob van heemskerk. he accepted with alacrity, expressing with his usual quiet self-confidence the hope that, living or dead, his fatherland would have cause to thank him. inspired only by the love of glory, he asked for no remuneration for his services save thirteen per cent. of the booty, after half a million florins should have been paid into the public treasury. it was hardly probable that this would prove a large share of prize money, while considerable victories alone could entitle him to receive a stiver. the expedition sailed in the early days of april for the coast of spain and portugal, the admiral having full discretion to do anything that might in his judgment redound to the advantage of the republic. next in command was the vice-admiral of zeeland, laurenz alteras. another famous seaman in the fleet was captain henry janszoon of amsterdam, commonly called long harry, while the weather-beaten and well-beloved admiral lambert, familiarly styled by his countrymen "pretty lambert," some of whose achievements have already been recorded in these pages, was the comrade of all others upon whom heemskerk most depended. after the th april the admiral, lying off and on near the mouth of the tagus, sent a lugger in trading disguise to reconnoitre that river. he ascertained by his spies, sent in this and subsequently in other directions, as well as by occasional merchantmen spoken with at sea, that the portuguese fleet for india would not be ready to sail for many weeks; that no valuable argosies were yet to be looked for from america, but that a great war- fleet, comprising many galleons of the largest size, was at that very moment cruising in the straits of gibraltar. such of the netherland traders as were returning from the levant, as well as those designing to enter the mediterranean, were likely to fall prizes to this formidable enemy. the heart of jacob heemskerk danced for joy. he had come forth for glory, not for booty, and here was what he had scarcely dared to hope for--a powerful antagonist instead of peaceful, scarcely resisting, but richly-laden merchantmen. the accounts received were so accurate as to assure him that the gibraltar fleet was far superior to his own in size of vessels, weight of metal, and number of combatants. the circumstances only increased his eagerness. the more he was over-matched, the greater would be the honour of victory, and he steered for the straits, tacking to and fro in the teeth of a strong head-wind. on the morning of the th april he was in the narrowest part of the mountain-channel, and learned that the whole spanish fleet was in the bay of gibraltar. the marble pillar of hercules rose before him. heemskerk was of a poetic temperament, and his imagination was inflamed by the spectacle which met his eyes. geographical position, splendour of natural scenery, immortal fable, and romantic history, had combined to throw a spell over that region. it seemed marked out for perpetual illustration by human valour. the deeds by which, many generations later, those localities were to become identified with the fame of a splendid empire--then only the most energetic rival of the young republic, but destined under infinitely better geographical conditions to follow on her track of empire, and with far more prodigious results--were still in the womb of futurity. but st. vincent, trafalgar, gibraltar--words which were one day to stir the english heart, and to conjure heroic english shapes from the depths so long as history endures--were capes and promontories already familiar to legend and romance. those netherlanders had come forth from their slender little fatherland to offer battle at last within his own harbours and under his own fortresses to the despot who aspired to universal monarchy, and who claimed the lordship of the seas. the hollanders and zeelanders had gained victories on the german ocean, in the channel, throughout the indies, but now they were to measure strength with the ancient enemy in this most conspicuous theatre, and before the eyes of christendom. it was on this famous spot that the ancient demigod had torn asunder by main strength the continents of europe and africa. there stood the opposite fragments of the riven mountain-chain, calpe and abyla, gazing at each other, in eternal separation, across the gulf, emblems of those two antagonistic races which the terrible hand of destiny has so ominously disjoined. nine centuries before, the african king, moses son of nuzir, and his lieutenant, tarik son of abdallah, had crossed that strait and burned the ships which brought them. black africa had conquered a portion of whiter europe, and laid the foundation of the deadly mutual repugnance which nine hundred years of bloodshed had heightened into insanity of hatred. tarik had taken the town and mountain, carteia and calpe, and given to both his own name. gib-al-tarik, the cliff of tarik, they are called to this day. within the two horns of that beautiful bay, and protected by the fortress on the precipitous rock, lay the spanish fleet at anchor. there were ten galleons of the largest size, besides lesser war-vessels and carracks, in all twenty-one sail. the admiral commanding was don juan alvarez d'avila, a veteran who had fought at lepanto under don john of austria. his son was captain of his flag-ship, the st. augustine. the vice- admiral's galleon was called 'our lady of la vega,' the rear-admiral's was the 'mother of god,' and all the other ships were baptized by the holy names deemed most appropriate, in the spanish service, to deeds of carnage. on the other hand, the nomenclature of the dutch ships suggested a menagerie. there was the tiger, the sea dog, the griffin, the red lion, the golden lion, the black bear, the white bear; these, with the aeolus and the morning star, were the leading vessels of the little fleet. on first attaining a distant view of the enemy, heemskerk summoned all the captains on board his flag-ship, the aeolus, and addressed them in a few stirring words. "it is difficult," he said, "for netherlanders not to conquer on salt water. our fathers have gained many a victory in distant seas, but it is for us to tear from the enemy's list of titles his arrogant appellation of monarch of the ocean. here, on the verge of two continents, europe is watching our deeds, while the moors of africa are to learn for the first time in what estimation they are to hold the batavian republic. remember that you have no choice between triumph and destruction. i have led you into a position whence escape is impossible--and i ask of none of you more than i am prepared to do myself--whither i am sure that you will follow. the enemy's ships are far superior to ours in bulk; but remember that their excessive size makes them difficult to handle and easier to hit, while our own vessels are entirely within control. their decks are swarming with men, and thus there will be more certainty that our shot will take effect. remember, too, that we are all sailors, accustomed from our cradles to the ocean; while yonder spaniards are mainly soldiers and landsmen, qualmish at the smell of bilgewater, and sickening at the roll of the waves. this day begins a long list of naval victories, which will make our fatherland for ever illustrious, or lay the foundation of an honourable peace, by placing, through our triumph, in the hands of the states-general, the power of dictating its terms." his comrades long remembered the enthusiasm which flashed from the man, usually so gentle and composed in demeanour, so simple in attire. clad in complete armour, with the orange-plumes waving from his casque and the orange-scarf across his breast, he stood there in front of the mainmast of the aeolus, the very embodiment of an ancient viking. he then briefly announced his plan of attack. it was of antique simplicity. he would lay his own ship alongside that of the spanish admiral. pretty lambert in the tiger was to grapple with her on the other side. vice-admiral alteras and captain bras were to attack the enemy's vice-admiral in the same way. thus, two by two, the little netherland ships were to come into closest quarters with each one of the great galleons. heemskerk would himself lead the way, and all were to follow, as closely as possible, in his wake. the oath to stand by each other was then solemnly renewed, and a parting health was drunk. the captains then returned to their ships. as the lepanto warrior, don juan d'avila, saw the little vessels slowly moving towards him, he summoned a hollander whom he had on board, one skipper gevaerts of a captured dutch trading bark, and asked him whether those ships in the distance were netherlanders. "not a doubt of it," replied the skipper. the admiral then asked him what their purpose could possibly be, in venturing so near gibraltar. "either i am entirely mistaken in my countrymen," answered gevaerta, "or they are coming for the express purpose of offering you battle." the spaniard laughed loud and long. the idea that those puny vessels could be bent on such a purpose seemed to him irresistibly comic, and he promised his prisoner, with much condescension, that the st. augustine alone should sink the whole fleet. gevaerts, having his own ideas on the subject, but not being called upon to express them, thanked the admiral for his urbanity, and respectfully withdrew. at least four thousand soldiers were in d'avila's ships, besides seamen. there were seven hundred in the st. augustine, four hundred and fifty in our lady of vega, and so on in proportion. there were also one or two hundred noble volunteers who came thronging on board, scenting the battle from afar, and desirous of having a hand in the destruction of the insolent dutchmen. it was about one in the afternoon. there was not much wind, but the hollanders, slowly drifting on the eternal river that pours from the atlantic into the mediterranean, were now very near. all hands had been piped on board every one of the ships, all had gone down on their knees in humble prayer, and the loving cup had then been passed around. heemskerk, leading the way towards the spanish admiral, ordered the gunners of the bolus not to fire until the vessels struck each other. "wait till you hear it crack," he said, adding a promise of a hundred florins to the man who should pull down the admiral's flag. avila, notwithstanding his previous merriment, thought it best, for the moment, to avoid the coming collision. leaving to other galleons, which he interposed between himself and the enemy, the task of summarily sinking the dutch fleet, he cut the cable of the st. augustine and drifted farther into the bay. heemskerk, not allowing himself to be foiled in his purpose, steered past two or three galleons, and came crashing against the admiral. almost simultaneously, pretty lambert laid himself along her quarter on the other side. the st. augustine fired into the aeolus as she approached, but without doing much damage. the dutch admiral, as he was coming in contact, discharged his forward guns, and poured an effective volley of musketry into his antagonist. the st. augustine fired again, straight across the centre of the bolus, at a few yards' distance. a cannon-ball took off the head of a sailor, standing near heemskerk, and carried away the admiral's leg, close to the body. he fell on deck, and, knowing himself to be mortally wounded, implored the next in command on board, captain verhoef, to fight his ship to the last, and to conceal his death from the rest of the fleet. then prophesying a glorious victory for republic, and piously commending his soul to his maker, he soon breathed his last. a cloak was thrown over him, and the battle raged. the few who were aware that the noble heemskerk was gone, burned to avenge his death, and to obey the dying commands of their beloved chief. the rest of the hollanders believed themselves under his directing influence, and fought as if his eyes were upon them. thus the spirit of the departed hero still watched over and guided the battle. the aeolus now fired a broadside into her antagonist, making fearful havoc, and killing admiral d'avila. the commanders-in-chief of both contending fleets had thus fallen at the very beginning of the battle. while the st. augustine was engaged in deadly encounter, yardarm and yardarm, with the aeolus and the tiger, vice-admiral alteras had, however, not carried out his part of the plan. before he could succeed in laying himself alongside of the spanish vice-admiral, he had been attacked by two galleons. three other dutch ships, however, attacked the vice-admiral, and, after an obstinate combat, silenced all her batteries and set her on fire. her conquerors were then obliged to draw off rather hastily, and to occupy themselves for a time in extinguishing their own burning sails, which had taken fire from the close contact with their enemy. our lady of vega, all ablaze from top-gallant-mast to quarterdeck, floated helplessly about, a spectre of flame, her guns going off wildly, and her crew dashing themselves into the sea, in order to escape by drowning from a fiery death. she was consumed to the water's edge. meantime, vice-admiral alteras had successively defeated both his antagonists; drifting in with them until almost under the guns of the fortress, but never leaving them until, by his superior gunnery and seamanship, he had sunk one of them, and driven the other a helpless wreck on shore. long harry, while alteras had been thus employed, had engaged another great galleon, and set her on fire. she, too, was thoroughly burned to her hulk; but admiral harry was killed. by this time, although it was early of an april afternoon, and heavy clouds of smoke, enveloping the combatants pent together in so small a space, seemed to make an atmosphere of midnight, as the flames of the burning galleons died away. there was a difficulty, too, in bringing all the netherland ships into action--several of the smaller ones having been purposely stationed by heemskerk on the edge of the bay to prevent the possible escape of any of the spaniards. while some of these distant ships were crowding sail, in order to come to closer quarters, now that the day seemed going against the spaniards, a tremendous explosion suddenly shook the air. one of the largest galleons, engaged in combat with a couple of dutch vessels, had received a hot shot full in her powder magazine, and blew up with all on board. the blazing fragments drifted about among the other ships, and two more were soon on fire, their guns going off and their magazines exploding. the rock of gibraltar seemed to reel. to the murky darkness succeeded the intolerable glare of a new and vast conflagration. the scene in that narrow roadstead was now almost infernal. it seemed, said an eye- witness, as if heaven and earth were passing away. a hopeless panic seized the spaniards. the battle was over. the st. augustine still lay in the deadly embrace of her antagonists, but all the other galleons were sunk or burned. several of the lesser war-ships had also been destroyed. it was nearly sunset. the st. augustine at last ran up a white flag, but it was not observed in the fierceness of the last moments of combat; the men from the bolus and the tiger making a simultaneous rush on board the vanquished foe. the fight was done, but the massacre was at its beginning. the trumpeter, of captain kleinsorg clambered like a monkey up the mast of the st. augustine, hauled down the admiral's flag, the last which was still waving, and gained the hundred florins. the ship was full of dead and dying; but a brutal, infamous butchery now took place. some netherland prisoners were found in the hold, who related that two messengers had been successively despatched to take their lives, as they lay there in chains, and that each had been shot, as he made his way towards the execution of the orders. this information did not chill the ardour of their victorious countrymen. no quarter was given. such of the victims as succeeded in throwing themselves overboard, out of the st. augustine, or any of the burning or sinking ships, were pursued by the netherlanders, who rowed about among them in boats, shooting, stabbing, and drowning their victims by hundreds. it was a sickening spectacle. the bay, said those who were there, seemed sown with corpses. probably two or three thousand were thus put to death, or had met their fate before. had the chivalrous heemskerk lived, it is possible that he might have stopped the massacre. but the thought of the grief which would fill the commonwealth when the news should arrive of his death--thus turning the joy of the great triumph into lamentations--increased the animosity of his comrades. moreover, in ransacking the spanish admiral's ship, all his papers had been found, among them many secret instructions from government signed "the king;" ordering most inhuman persecutions, not only of the netherlanders, but of all who should in any way assist them, at sea or ashore. recent examples of the thorough manner in which the royal admirals could carry out these bloody instructions had been furnished by the hangings, burnings, and drownings of fazardo. but the barbarous ferocity of the dutch on this occasion might have taught a lesson even to the comrades of alva. the fleet of avila was entirely destroyed. the hulk of the st. augustine drifted ashore, having been abandoned by the victors, and was set on fire by a few spaniards who had concealed themselves on board, lest she might fall again into the enemy's hands. the battle had lasted from half-past three until sunset. the dutch vessels remained all the next day on the scene of their triumph. the townspeople were discerned, packing up their goods, and speeding panic- struck into the interior. had heemskerk survived he would doubtless have taken gibraltar--fortress and town--and perhaps cadiz, such was the consternation along the whole coast. but his gallant spirit no longer directed the fleet. bent rather upon plunder than glory, the ships now dispersed in search of prizes towards the azores, the canaries, or along the portuguese coast; having first made a brief visit to tetuan, where they were rapturously received by the bey. the hollanders lost no ships, and but one hundred seamen were killed. two vessels were despatched homeward directly, one with sixty wounded sailors, the other with the embalmed body of the fallen heemskerk. the hero was honoured with a magnificent funeral in amsterdam at the public expense--the first instance in the history of the republic--and his name was enrolled on the most precious page of her records. [the chief authorities for this remarkable battle are meteren, , . grotius, xvi. - . wagenaar, ix. - .] chapter xlviii. internal condition of spain--character of the people--influence of the inquisition--population and revenue--incomes of church and government--degradation of labour--expulsion of the moors and its consequences--venality the special characteristic of spanish polity --maxims of the foreign polity of spain--the spanish army and navy-- insolvent state of the government--the duke of lerma--his position in the state--origin of his power--system of bribery and trafficking--philip iii. his character--domestic life of the king and queen. a glance at the interior condition of spain, now that there had been more than nine years of a new reign, should no longer be deferred. spain was still superstitiously regarded as the leading power of the world, although foiled in all its fantastic and gigantic schemes. it was still supposed, according to current dogma, to share with the ottoman empire the dominion of the earth. a series of fortunate marriages having united many of the richest and fairest portions of europe under a single sceptre, it was popularly believed in a period when men were not much given as yet to examine very deeply the principles of human governments or the causes of national greatness, that an aggregation of powers which had resulted from preposterous laws of succession really constituted a mighty empire, founded by genius and valour. the spanish people, endowed with an acute and exuberant genius, which had exhibited itself in many paths of literature, science, and art; with a singular aptitude for military adventure, organization, and achievement; with a great variety, in short, of splendid and ennobling qualities; had been, for a long succession of years, accursed with almost the very worst political institutions known to history. the depth of their misery and of their degradation was hardly yet known to themselves, and this was perhaps the most hideous proof of the tyranny of which they had been the victims. to the outward world, the hollow fabric, out of which the whole pith and strength had been slowly gnawed away, was imposing and majestic still. but the priest, the soldier, and the courtier had been busy too long, and had done their work too thoroughly, to leave much hope of arresting the universal decay. nor did there seem any probability that the attempt would be made. it is always difficult to reform wide-spread abuses, even when they are acknowledged to exist, but when gigantic vices are proudly pointed to as the noblest of institutions and as the very foundations of the state, there seems nothing for the patriot to long for but the deluge. it was acknowledged that the spanish population--having a very large admixture of those races which, because not catholic at heart, were stigmatized as miscreants, heretics, pagans, and, generally, as accursed- -was by nature singularly prone to religious innovation. had it not been for the holy inquisition, it was the opinion of acute and thoughtful observers in the beginning of the seventeenth century, that the infamous heresies of luther, calvin, and the rest, would have long before taken possession of the land. to that most blessed establishment it was owing that spain had not polluted itself in the filth and ordure of the reformation, and had been spared the horrible fate which had befallen large portions of germany, france, britain, and other barbarous northern nations. it was conscientiously and thankfully believed in spain, two centuries ago, that the state had been saved from political and moral ruin by that admirable machine which detected heretics with unerring accuracy, burned them when detected, and consigned their descendants to political incapacity and social infamy to the remotest generation. as the awful consequences of religious freedom, men pointed with a shudder to the condition of nations already speeding on the road to ruin, from which the two peninsulas at least had been saved. yet the british empire, with the american republic still an embryo in its bosom, france, north germany, and other great powers, had hardly then begun their headlong career. whether the road of religious liberty was leading exactly to political ruin, the coming centuries were to judge. enough has been said in former chapters for the characterization of philip ii. and his polity. but there had now been nearly ten years of another reign. the system, inaugurated by charles and perfected by his son, had reached its last expression under philip iii. the evil done by father and son lived and bore plentiful fruit in the epoch of the grandson. and this is inevitable in history. no generation is long-lived enough to reap the harvest, whether of good or evil, which it sows. philip ii. had been indefatigable in evil, a thorough believer in his supernatural mission as despot, not entirely without capacity for affairs, personally absorbed by the routine of his bureau. he was a king, as he understood the meaning of the kingly office. his policy was continued after his death; but there was no longer a king. that important regulator to the governmental machinery was wanting. how its place was supplied will soon appear. meantime the organic functions were performed very much in the old way. there was, at least, no lack of priests or courtiers. spain at this epoch had probably less than twelve millions of inhabitants, although the statistics of those days cannot be relied upon with accuracy. the whole revenue of the state was nominally sixteen or seventeen millions of dollars, but the greater portion of that income was pledged for many coming years to the merchants of genoa. all the little royal devices for increasing the budget by debasing the coin of the realm, by issuing millions of copper tokens, by lowering the promised rate of interest on government loans, by formally repudiating both interest and principal, had been tried, both in this and the preceding reign, with the usual success. an inconvertible paper currency, stimulating industry and improving morals by converting beneficent commerce into baleful gambling--that fatal invention did not then exist. meantime, the legitimate trader and innocent citizen were harassed, and the general public endangered, as much as the limited machinery of the epoch permitted. the available, unpledged revenue of the kingdom hardly amounted to five millions of dollars a-year. the regular annual income of the church was at least six millions. the whole personal property of the nation was estimated in a very clumsy and unsatisfactory way, no doubt--at sixty millions of dollars. thus the income of the priesthood was ten per cent. of the whole funded estate of the country, and at least a million a year more than the income of the government. could a more biting epigram be made upon the condition to which the nation had been reduced? labour was more degraded than ever. the industrious classes, if such could be said to exist, were esteemed every day more and more infamous. merchants, shopkeepers, mechanics, were reptiles, as vilely, esteemed as jews, moors, protestants, or pagans. acquiring wealth by any kind of production was dishonourable. a grandee who should permit himself to sell the wool from his boundless sheep-walks disgraced his caste, and was accounted as low as a merchant. to create was the business of slaves and miscreants: to destroy was the distinguishing attribute of christians and nobles. to cheat, to pick, and to steal, on the most minute and the most gigantic scale--these were also among the dearest privileges of the exalted classes. no merchandize was polluting save the produce of honest industry. to sell places in church and state, the army, the navy, and the sacred tribunals of law, to take bribes from rich and poor, high and low; in sums infinitesimal or enormous, to pillage the exchequer in, every imaginable form, to dispose of titles of honour, orders of chivalry, posts in municipal council, at auction; to barter influence, audiences, official interviews against money cynically paid down in rascal counters--all this was esteemed consistent with patrician dignity. the ministers, ecclesiastics, and those about court, obtaining a monopoly of such trade, left the business of production and circulation to their inferiors, while, as has already been sufficiently indicated, religious fanaticism and a pride of race, which nearly amounted to idiocy, had generated a scorn for labour even among the lowest orders. as a natural consequence, commerce and the mechanical arts fell almost exclusively into the hands of foreigners--italians, english, and french--who resorted in yearly increasing numbers to spain for the purpose of enriching. themselves by the industry which the natives despised. the capital thus acquired was at regular intervals removed from the country to other lands, where wealth resulting from traffic or manufactures was not accounted infamous. moreover, as the soil of the country was held by a few great proprietors --an immense portion in the dead-hand of an insatiate and ever-grasping church, and much of the remainder in vast entailed estates--it was nearly impossible for the masses of the people to become owners of any portion of the land. to be an agricultural day-labourer at less than a beggar's wage could hardly be a tempting pursuit for a proud and indolent race. it was no wonder therefore that the business of the brigand, the smuggler, the professional mendicant became from year to year more attractive and more overdone; while an ever-thickening swarm of priests, friars, and nuns of every order, engendered out of a corrupt and decaying society, increasing the general indolence, immorality, and unproductive consumption, and frightfully diminishing the productive force of the country, fed like locusts upon what was left in the unhappy land. "to shirk labour, infinite numbers become priests and friars," said, a good catholic, in the year --[gir. soranzo]. before the end of the reign of philip iii. the peninsula, which might have been the granary of the world, did not produce food enough for its own population. corn became a regular article of import into spain, and would have come in larger quantities than it did had the industry of the country furnished sufficient material to exchange for necessary food. and as if it had been an object of ambition with the priests and courtiers who then ruled a noble country, to make at exactly this epoch the most startling manifestation of human fatuity that the world had ever seen, it was now resolved by government to expel by armed force nearly the whole stock of intelligent and experienced labour, agricultural and mechanical, from the country. it is unnecessary to dwell long upon an event which, if it were not so familiarly known to mankind, would seem almost incredible. but the expulsion of the moors is, alas! no exaggerated and imaginary satire, but a monument of wickedness and insanity such as is not often seen in human history. already, in the very first years of the century, john ribera, archbishop of valencia, had recommended and urged the scheme. it was too gigantic a project to be carried into execution at once, but it was slowly matured by the aid of other ecclesiastics. at last there were indications, both human and divine, that the expulsion of these miscreants could no longer be deferred. it was rumoured and believed that a general conspiracy existed among the moors to rise upon the government, to institute a general massacre, and, with the assistance of their allies and relatives on the barbary coast, to re-establish the empire of the infidels. a convoy of eighty ass-loads of oil on the way to madrid had halted at a wayside inn. a few flasks were stolen, and those who consumed it were made sick. some of the thieves even died, or were said to have died, in consequence. instantly the rumour flew from mouth to mouth, from town to town, that the royal family, the court, the whole capital, all spain, were to be poisoned with that oil. if such were the scheme it was certainly a less ingenious one than the famous plot by which the spanish government was suspected but a few years before to have so nearly succeeded in blowing the king, peers, and commons of england into the air. the proof of moorish guilt was deemed all-sufficient, especially as it was supported by supernatural evidence of the most portentous and convincing kind. for several days together a dark cloud, tinged with blood-red, had been seen to hang over valencia. in the neighbourhood of daroca, a din of, drums and trumpets and the clang of arms had been heard in the sky, just as a procession went out of a monastery. at valencia the image of the virgin had shed tears. in another place her statue had been discovered in a state of profuse perspiration. what more conclusive indications could be required as to the guilt of the moors? what other means devised for saving crown, church, and kingdom from destruction but to expel the whole mass of unbelievers from the soil which they had too long profaned? archbishop ribera was fully sustained by the archbishop of toledo, and the whole ecclesiastical body received energetic support from government. ribera had solemnly announced that the moors were so greedy of money, so determined to keep it, and so occupied with pursuits most apt for acquiring it, that they had come to be the sponge of spanish wealth. the best proof of this, continued the reverend sage, was that, inhabiting in general poor little villages and sterile tracts of country, paying to the lords of the manor one third of the crops, and being overladen with special taxes imposed only upon them, they nevertheless became rich, while the christians, cultivating the most fertile land, were in abject poverty. it seems almost incredible that this should not be satire. certainly the most delicate irony could not portray the vicious institutions under which the magnificent territory and noble people of spain were thus doomed to ruin more subtly end forcibly than was done by the honest brutality of this churchman. the careful tillage, the beautiful system of irrigation by aqueduct and canal, the scientific processes by which these "accursed" had caused the wilderness to bloom with cotton, sugar, and every kind of fruit and grain; the untiring industry, exquisite ingenuity, and cultivated taste by which the merchants, manufacturers, and mechanics, guilty of a darker complexion than that of the peninsular goths, had enriched their native land with splendid fabrics in cloth, paper, leather, silk, tapestry, and by so doing had acquired fortunes for themselves, despite iniquitous taxation, religious persecution, and social contumely--all these were crimes against a race of idlers, steeped to the lips in sloth which imagined itself to be pride. the industrious, the intelligent, the wealthy, were denounced as criminals, and hunted to death or into exile as vermin, while the lermas, the ucedas, and the rest of the brood of cormorants, settled more thickly than ever around their prey. meantime, government declared that the piece of four maravedis should be worth eight maravedis; the piece of two maravedis being fixed at four. thus the specie of the kingdom was to be doubled, and by means of this enlightened legislation, spain, after destroying agriculture, commerce, and manufacture, was to maintain great armies and navies, and establish universal monarchy. this measure, which a wiser churchman than ribera, cardinal richelieu, afterwards declared the most audacious and barbarous ever recorded by history, was carried out with great regularity of organization. it was ordained that the moors should be collected at three indicated points, whence they were not to move on pain of death, until duly escorted by troops to the ports of embarkation. the children under the age of four years were retained, of course without their parents, from whom they were forever separated. with admirable forethought, too, the priests took measures, as they supposed, that the arts of refining sugar, irrigating the rice-fields, constructing canals and aqueducts, besides many other useful branches of agricultural and mechanical business, should not die out with the intellectual, accomplished, and industrious race, alone competent to practise them, which was now sent forth to die. a very small number, not more than six in each hundred, were accordingly reserved to instruct other inhabitants of spain in those useful arts which they were now more than ever encouraged to despise. five hundred thousand full-grown human beings, as energetic, ingenious, accomplished, as any then existing in the world, were thus thrust forth into the deserts beyond sea, as if spain had been overstocked with skilled labour; and as if its native production had already outgrown the world's power of consumption. had an equal number of mendicant monks, with the two archbishops who had contrived this deed at their head, been exported instead of the moors, the future of spain might have been a more fortunate one than it was likely to prove. the event was in itself perhaps of temporary advantage to the dutch republic, as the poverty and general misery, aggravated by this disastrous policy, rendered the acknowledgment of the states' independence by spain almost a matter of necessity. it is superfluous to enter into any farther disquisiton as to the various branches of the royal revenue. they remained essentially the same as during the preceding reign, and have been elaborately set forth in a previous chapter. the gradual drying up of resources in all the wide- spread and heterogeneous territories subject to the spanish sceptre is the striking phenomenon of the present epoch. the distribution of such wealth as was still created followed the same laws which had long prevailed, while the decay and national paralysis, of which the prognostics could hardly be mistaken, were a natural result of the system. the six archbishops had now grown to eleven, and still received gigantic revenues; the income of the archbishop of toledo, including the fund of one hundred thousand destined for repairing the cathedral, being estimated at three hundred thousand dollars a year, that of the archbishop of seville and the others varying from one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to fifty thousand. the sixty-three bishops perhaps averaged fifty thousand a year each, and there were eight more in italy. the commanderies of chivalry, two hundred at least in number, were likewise enormously profitable. some of them were worth thirty thousand a year; the aggregate annual value being from one-and-a-half to two millions, and all in lerma's gift, upon his own terms. chivalry, that noblest of ideals, without which, in some shape or another, the world would be a desert and a sty; which included within itself many of the noblest virtues which can adorn mankind--generosity, self-denial, chastity, frugality, patience, protection to the feeble, the downtrodden, and the oppressed; the love of daring adventure, devotion to a pure religion and a lofty purpose, most admirably pathetic, even when in the eyes of the vulgar most fantastic--had been the proudest and most poetical of spanish characteristics, never to be entirely uprooted from the national heart. alas! what was there in the commanderies of calatrava, alcantara, santiago, and all the rest of those knightly orders, as then existing, to respond to the noble sentiments on which all were supposed to be founded? institutions for making money, for pillaging the poor of their hard- earned pittance, trafficked in by greedy ministers and needy courtiers with a shamelessness which had long ceased to blush at vices however gross, at venality however mean. venality was in truth the prominent characteristic of the spanish polity at this epoch. everything political or ecclesiastical, from highest to lowest, was matter of merchandize. it was the autocrat, governing king and kingdom, who disposed of episcopal mitres, cardinals' hats, commanders' crosses, the offices of regidores or municipal magistrates in all the cities, farmings of revenues, collectorships of taxes, at prices fixed by himself. it was never known that the pope refused to confirm the ecclesiastical nominations which were made by the spanish court. the nuncius had the privilege of dispensing the small cures from thirty dollars a year downwards, of which the number was enormous. many of these were capable, in careful hands, of becoming ten times as valuable as their nominal estimate, and the business in them became in consequence very extensive and lucrative. they were often disposed of for the benefit of servants and the hangers-on of noble families, to laymen, to women, children, to babes unborn. when such was the most thriving industry in the land, was it wonderful that the poor of high and low degree were anxious in ever-increasing swarms to effect their entrance into convent, monastery, and church, and that trade, agriculture, and manufactures languished? the foreign polity of the court remained as it had been established by philip ii. its maxims were very simple. to do unto your neighbour all possible harm, and to foster the greatness of spain by sowing discord and maintaining civil war in all other nations, was the fundamental precept. to bribe and corrupt the servants of other potentates, to maintain a regular paid bode of adherents in foreign lands, ever ready to engage in schemes of assassination, conspiracy, sedition, and rebellion against the legitimate authority, to make mankind miserable, so far as it was in the power of human force or craft to produce wretchedness, were objects still faithfully pursued. they had not yet led to the entire destruction of other realms and their submission to the single sceptre of spain, nor had they developed the resources, material or moral, of a mighty empire so thoroughly as might have been done perhaps by a less insidious policy, but they had never been abandoned. it was a steady object of policy to keep such potentates of italy as were not already under the dominion of the spanish crown in a state of internecine feud with each other and of virtual dependence on the powerful kingdom. the same policy pursued in france, of fomenting civil war by subsidy, force, and chicane, during a long succession of years in order to reduce that magnificent realm under the sceptre of philip, has been described in detail. the chronic rebellion of ireland against the english crown had been assisted and inflamed in every possible mode, the system being considered as entirely justified by the aid and comfort afforded by the queen to the dutch rebels. it was a natural result of the system according to which kingdoms and provinces with the populations dwelling therein were transferable like real estate by means of marriage-settlements, entails, and testaments, that the proprietorship of most of the great realms in christendom was matter of fierce legal dispute. lawsuits, which in chancery could last for centuries before a settlement of the various claims was made, might have infinitely enriched the gentlemen of the long robe and reduced all the parties to beggary, had there been any tribunal but the battle-field to decide among the august litigants. thus the king of great britain claimed the legal proprietorship and sovereignty of brittany, normandy, anjou, gascony, calais, and boulogne in france, besides the whole kingdom by right of conquest. the french king claimed to be rightful heir of castile, biscay, guipuscoa, arragon, navarre, nearly all the spanish peninsula in short, including the whole of portugal and the balearic islands to boot. the king of spain claimed, as we have seen often enough, not only brittany but all france as his lawful inheritance. such was the virtue of the prevalent doctrine of proprietorship. every potentate was defrauded of his rights, and every potentate was a criminal usurper. as for the people, it would have excited a smile of superior wisdom on regal, legal, or sacerdotal lips, had it been suggested that by any possibility the governed could have a voice or a thought in regard to the rulers whom god in his grace had raised up to be their proprietors and masters. the army of spain was sunk far below the standard at which it had been kept when it seemed fit to conquer and govern the world. neither by spain nor italy could those audacious, disciplined, and obedient legions be furnished, at which the enemies of the mighty despot trembled from one extremity of earth to the other. peculation, bankruptcy, and mutiny had done their work at last. we have recently had occasion to observe the conduct of the veterans in flanders at critical epochs. at this moment, seventy thousand soldiers were on the muster and pay roll of the army serving in those provinces, while not thirty thousand men existed in the flesh. the navy was sunk to fifteen or twenty old galleys, battered, dismantled, unseaworthy, and a few armed ships for convoying the east and west indiamen to and from their destinations. the general poverty was so great that it was often absolutely impossible to purchase food for the royal household. "if you ask me," said a cool observer, "how this great show of empire is maintained, when the funds are so small, i answer that it is done by not paying at all." the government was shamelessly, hopelessly bankrupt. the noble band of courtiers were growing enormously rich. the state was a carcase which unclean vultures were picking to the bones. the foremost man in the land--the autocrat, the absolute master in state and church--was the duke of lerma. very rarely in human history has an individual attained to such unlimited power under a monarchy, without actually placing the crown upon his own head. mayors of the palace, in the days of the do-nothing kings, wielded nothing like the imperial control which was firmly held by this great favourite. yet he was a man of very moderate capacity and limited acquirements, neither soldier, lawyer, nor priest. the duke was past sixty years of age, a tall, stately, handsome man, of noble presence and urbane manner. born of the patrician house of sandoval, he possessed, on the accession of philip, an inherited income of ten or twelve thousand dollars. he had now, including what he had bestowed on his son, a funded revenue of seven hundred thousand a year. he had besides, in cash, jewels, and furniture, an estimated capital of six millions. all this he had accumulated in ten years of service, as prime minister, chief equerry, and first valet of the chamber to the king. the tenure of his authority was the ascendancy of a firm character over a very weak one. at this moment he was doubtless the most absolute ruler in christendom, and philip iii. the most submissive and uncomplaining of his subjects. the origin of his power was well known. during the reign of philip ii., the prince, treated with great severity by his father, was looked upon with contempt by every one about court. he was allowed to take no part in affairs, and, having heard of the awful tragedy of his eldest half- brother, enacted ten years before his own birth, he had no inclination to confront the wrath of that terrible parent and sovereign before whom all spain trembled. nothing could have been more humble, more effaced, more obscure, than his existence as prince. the marquis of denia, his chamberlain, alone was kind to him, furnished him with small sums of money, and accompanied him on the shooting excursions in which his father occasionally permitted him to indulge. but even these little attentions were looked upon with jealousy by the king; so that the marquis was sent into honourable exile from court as governor of valencia. it was hoped that absence would wean the prince of his affection for the kind chamberlain. the calculation was erroneous. no sooner were the eyes of philip ii. closed in death than the new king made haste to send for denia, who was at once created duke of lerma, declared of the privy council, and appointed master of the horse and first gentleman of the bed-chamber. from that moment the favourite became supreme. he was entirely without education, possessed little experience in affairs of state, and had led the life of a commonplace idler and voluptuary until past the age of fifty. nevertheless he had a shrewd mother-wit, tact in dealing with men, aptitude to take advantage of events. he had directness of purpose, firmness of will, and always knew his own mind. from the beginning of his political career unto its end, he conscientiously and without swerving pursued a single aim. this was to rob the exchequer by every possible mode and at every instant of his life. never was a more masterly financier in this respect. with a single eye to his own interests, he preserved a magnificent unity in all his actions. the result had been to make him in ten years the richest subject in the world, as well as the most absolute ruler. he enriched his family, as a matter of course. his son was already made duke of uceda, possessed enormous wealth, and was supposed by those who had vision in the affairs of court to be the only individual ever likely to endanger the power of the father. others thought that the young duke's natural dulness would make it impossible for him to supplant the omnipotent favourite. the end was not yet, and time was to show which class of speculators was in the right. meantime the whole family was united and happy. the sons and daughters had intermarried with the infantados, and other most powerful and wealthy families of grandees. the uncle, sandoval, had been created by lerma a cardinal and archbishop of toledo; the king's own schoolmaster being removed from that dignity, and disgraced and banished from court for having spoken disrespectfully of the favourite. the duke had reserved for himself twenty thousand a year from the revenues of the archbishopric, as a moderate price for thus conducting himself as became a dutiful nephew. he had ejected rodrigo de vasquez from his post as president of the council. as a more conclusive proof of his unlimited sway than any other of his acts had been, he had actually unseated and banished the inquisitor-general, don pietro porto carrero, and supplanted him in that dread office, before which even anointed sovereigns trembled, by one of his own creatures. in the discharge of his various functions, the duke and all his family were domesticated in the royal palace, so that he was at no charges for housekeeping. his apartments there were more sumptuous than those of the king and queen. he had removed from court the dutchess of candia, sister of the great constable of castile, who had been for a time in attendance on the queen, and whose possible influence he chose to destroy in the bud. her place as mistress of the robes was supplied by his sister, the countess of lemos; while his wife, the terrible duchess of lerma, was constantly with the queen, who trembled at her frown. thus the royal pair were completely beleaguered, surrounded, and isolated from all except the lermas. when the duke conferred with the king, the doors were always double locked. in his capacity as first valet it was the duke's duty to bring the king's shirt in the morning, to see to his wardrobe and his bed, and to supply him with ideas for the day. the king depended upon him entirely and abjectly, was miserable when separated from him four-and-twenty hours, thought with the duke's thoughts and saw with the duke's eyes. he was permitted to know nothing of state affairs, save such portions as were communicated to him by lerma. the people thought their monarch bewitched, so much did he tremble before the favourite, and so unscrupulously did the duke appropriate for his own benefit and that of his creatures everything that he could lay his hands upon. it would have needed little to bring about a revolution, such was the universal hatred felt for the minister, and the contempt openly expressed for the king. the duke never went to the council. all papers and documents relating to business were sent to his apartments. such matters as he chose to pass upon, such decrees as he thought proper to issue, were then taken by him to the king, who signed them with perfect docility. as time went on, this amount of business grew too onerous for the royal hand, or this amount of participation by the king in affairs of state came to be esteemed superfluous and inconvenient by the duke, and his own signature was accordingly declared to be equivalent to that of the sovereign's sign-manual. it is doubtful whether such a degradation of the royal prerogative had ever been heard of before in a christian monarch. it may be imagined that this system of government was not of a nature to expedite business, however swiftly it might fill the duke's coffers. high officers of state, foreign ambassadors, all men in short charged with important affairs, were obliged to dance attendance for weeks and months on the one man whose hands grasped all the business of the kingdom, while many departed in despair without being able to secure a single audience. it was entirely a matter of trade. it was necessary to bribe in succession all the creatures of the duke before getting near enough to headquarters to bribe the duke himself. never were such itching palms. to do business at court required the purse of fortunatus. there was no deception in the matter. everything was frank and above board in that age of chivalry. ambassadors wrote to their sovereigns that there was no hope of making treaties or of accomplishing any negotiation except by purchasing the favour of the autocrat; and lerma's price was always high. at one period the republic of venice wished to put a stop to the depredations by spanish pirates upon venetian commerce, but the subject could not even be approached by the envoy until he had expended far more than could be afforded out of his meagre salary in buying an interview. when it is remembered that with this foremost power in the world affairs of greater or less importance were perpetually to be transacted by the representatives of other nations as well as by native subjects of every degree; that all these affairs were to pass through the hands of lerma, and that those hands had ever to be filled with coin, the stupendous opulence of the one man can be easily understood. whether the foremost power of the world, thus governed, were likely to continue the foremost power, could hardly seem doubtful to those accustomed to use their reason in judging of the things of this world. meantime the duke continued to transact business; to sell his interviews and his interest; to traffic in cardinals' hats, bishops' mitres, judges' ermine, civic and magisterial votes in all offices, high or humble, of church, army, or state. he possessed the art of remembering, or appearing to remember, the matters of business which had been communicated to him. when a negotiator, of whatever degree, had the good fortune to reach the presence, he found the duke to all appearance mindful of the particular affair which led to the interview, and fully absorbed by its importance. there were men who, trusting to the affability shown by the great favourite, and to the handsome price paid down in cash for that urbanity, had been known to go away from their interview believing that their business was likely to be accomplished, until the lapse of time revealed to them the wildness of their dream. the duke perhaps never manifested his omnipotence on a more striking scale than when by his own fiat he removed the court and the seat of government to valladolid, and kept it there six years long. this was declared by disinterested observers to be not only contrary to common sense, but even beyond the bounds of possibility. at madrid the king had splendid palaces, and in its neighbourhood beautiful country residences, a pure atmosphere, and the facility of changing the air at will. at valladolid there were no conveniences of any kind, no sufficient palace, no summer villa, no park, nothing but an unwholesome climate. but most of the duke's estates were in that vicinity, and it was desirable for him to overlook them in person. moreover, he wished to get rid of the possible influence over the king of the empress dowager maria, widow of maximilian ii. and aunt and grandmother of philip iii. the minister could hardly drive this exalted personage from court, so easily as he had banished the ex-archbishop of toledo, the inquisitor general, the duchess of candia, besides a multitude of lesser note. so he did the next best thing, and banished the court from the empress, who was not likely to put up with the inconveniences of valladolid for the sake of outrivalling the duke. this babylonian captivity lasted until madrid was nearly ruined, until the desolation of the capital, the moans of the trades-people, the curses of the poor, and the grumblings of the courtiers, finally produced an effect even upon the arbitrary lerma. he then accordingly re- emigrated, with king and government, to madrid, and caused it to be published that he had at last overcome the sovereign's repugnance to the old capital, and had persuaded him to abandon valladolid. there was but one man who might perhaps from his position have competed with the influence of lerma. this was the king's father-confessor, whom philip wished--although of course his wish was not gratified--to make a member of the council of state. the monarch, while submitting in everything secular to the duke's decrees, had a feeble determination to consult and to be guided by his confessor in all matters of conscience. as it was easy to suggest that high affairs of state, the duties of government, the interests of a great people, were matters not entirely foreign to the conscience of anointed kings, an opening to power might have seemed easy to an astute and ambitious churchman. but the dominican who kept philip's conscience, gasparo de cordova by name, was, fortunately for the favourite, of a very tender paste, easily moulded to the duke's purpose. dull and ignorant enough, he was not so stupid as to doubt that, should he whisper any suggestions or criticisms in regard to the minister's proceedings, the king would betray him and he would lose his office. the cautious friar accordingly held his peace and his place, and there was none to dispute the sway of the autocrat. what need to dilate further upon such a minister and upon such a system of government? to bribe and to be bribed, to maintain stipendiaries in every foreign government, to place the greatness of the empire upon the weakness, distraction, and misery of other nations, to stimulate civil war, revolts of nobles and citizens against authority; separation of provinces, religious discontents in every land of christendom--such were the simple rules ever faithfully enforced. the other members of what was called the council were insignificant. philip iii., on arriving at the throne, had been heard to observe that the day of simple esquires and persons of low condition was past, and that the turn of great nobles had come. it had been his father's policy to hold the grandees in subjection, and to govern by means of ministers who were little more than clerks, generally of humble origin; keeping the reins in his own hands. such great personages as he did employ, like alva, don john of austria, and farnese, were sure at last to excite his jealousy and to incur his hatred. forty-three years of this kind of work had brought spain to the condition in which the third philip found it. the new king thought to have found a remedy in discarding the clerks, and calling in the aid of dukes. philip ii. was at least a king. the very first act of philip iii. at his father's death was to abdicate. it was, however, found necessary to retain some members of the former government. fuentes, the best soldier and accounted the most dangerous man in the empire, was indeed kept in retirement as governor of milan, while cristoval di mora, who had enjoyed much of the late king's confidence, was removed to portugal as viceroy. but don john of idiaquez, who had really been the most efficient of the old administration, still remained in the council. without the subordinate aid of his experience in the routine of business, it would have been difficult for the favourite to manage the great machine with his single hand. but there was no disposition on the part of the ancient minister to oppose the new order of things. a cautious, caustic, dry old functionary, talking more with his shoulders than with his tongue, determined never to commit himself, or to risk shipwreck by venturing again into deeper waters than those of the harbour in which he now hoped for repose, idiaquez knew that his day of action was past. content to be confidential clerk to the despot duke, as he had been faithful secretary to the despot king, he was the despair of courtiers and envoys who came to pump, after having endeavoured to fill an inexhaustible cistern. thus he proved, on the whole, a useful and comfortable man, not to the country, but to its autocrat. of the count of chinchon, who at one time was supposed to have court influence because a dabbler in architecture, much consulted during the building of the escorial by philip ii. until the auditing of his accounts brought him into temporary disgrace, and the marquises of velada, villalonga, and other ministers, it is not necessary to speak. there was one man in the council, however, who was of great importance, wielding a mighty authority in subordination to the duke. this was don pietro de franqueza. an emancipated slave, as his name indicated, and subsequently the body-servant of lerma, he had been created by that minister secretary of the privy council. he possessed some of the virtues of the slave, such as docility and attachment to the hand that had fed and scourged him, and many vices of both slave and freedman. he did much of the work which it would have been difficult for the duke to accomplish in person, received his fees, sold and dispensed his interviews, distributed his bribes. in so doing, as might be supposed, he did not neglect his own interest. it was a matter of notoriety, no man knowing it better than the king, that no business, foreign or domestic, could be conducted or even begun at court without large preliminary fees to the secretary of the council, his wife, and his children. he had, in consequence, already accumulated an enormous fortune. his annual income, when it was stated, excited amazement. he was insolent and overbearing to all comers until his dues had been paid, when he became at once obliging, supple, and comparatively efficient. through him alone lay the path to the duke's sanctuary. the nominal sovereign, philip iii., was thirty years of age. a very little man, with pink cheeks, flaxen hair, and yellow beard, with a melancholy expression of eye, and protruding under lip and jaw, he was now comparatively alert and vigorous in constitution, although for the first seven years of his life it had been doubtful whether he would live from week to week. he had been afflicted during that period with a chronic itch or leprosy, which had undermined his strength, but which had almost entirely disappeared as he advanced in life. he was below mediocrity in mind, and had received scarcely any education. he had been taught to utter a few phrases, more or less intelligible, in french, italian, and flemish, but was quite incapable of sustaining a conversation in either of those languages. when a child, he had learned and subsequently forgotten the rudiments of the latin grammar. these acquirements, together with the catechism and the offices of the church, made up his whole stock of erudition. that he was devout as a monk of the middle ages, conforming daily and hourly to religious ceremonies, need scarcely be stated. it was not probable that the son of philip ii. would be a delinquent to church observances. he was not deficient in courage, rode well, was fond of hunting, kept close to the staghounds, and confronted, spear in hand, the wild-boar with coolness and success. he was fond of tennis, but his especial passion and chief accomplishment was dancing. he liked to be praised for his proficiency in this art, and was never happier than when gravely leading out the queen or his daughter, then four or five years of age--for he never danced with any one else--to perform a stately bolero. he never drank wine, but, on the other hand, was an enormous eater; so that, like his father in youth, he was perpetually suffering from stomach-ache as the effect of his gluttony. he was devotedly attached to his queen, and had never known, nor hardly looked at, any other woman. he had no vice but gambling, in which he indulged to a great extent, very often sitting up all night at cards. this passion of the king's was much encouraged by lerma, for obvious reasons. philip had been known to lose thirty thousand dollars at a sitting, and always to some one of the family or dependents of the duke, who of course divided with them the spoils. at one time the count of pelbes, nephew of lerma, had won two hundred thousand dollars in a very few nights from his sovereign. for the rest, philip had few peculiarities or foibles. he was not revengeful, nor arrogant, nor malignant. he was kind and affectionate to his wife and children, and did his best to be obedient to the duke of lerma. occasionally he liked to grant audiences, but there were few to request them. it was ridiculous and pathetic at the same time to see the poor king, as was very frequently the case, standing at a solemn green table till his little legs were tired, waiting to transact business with applicants who never came; while ushers, chamberlains, and valets were rushing up and down the corridors, bawling for all persons so disposed to come and have an audience of their monarch. meantime, the doors of the great duke's apartments in the same palace would be beleaguered by an army of courtiers, envoys, and contractors, who had paid solid gold for admission, and who were often sent away grumbling and despairing without entering the sacred precincts. as time wore on, the king, too much rebuked for attempting to meddle in state affairs, became solitary and almost morose, moping about in the woods by himself, losing satisfaction in his little dancing and ball- playing diversions, but never forgetting his affection for the queen nor the hours for his four daily substantial repasts of meats and pastry. it would be unnecessary and almost cruel to dwell so long upon a picture of what was after all not much better than human imbecility, were it not that humanity is, a more sacred thing than royalty. a satire upon such an embodiment of kingship is impossible, the simple and truthful characteristics being more effective than fiction or exaggeration. it would be unjust to exhume a private character after the lapse of two centuries merely to excite derision, but if history be not powerless to instruct, it certainly cannot be unprofitable to ponder the merits of a system which, after bestowing upon the world forty-three years of philip the tyrant, had now followed them up with a decade of philip the simpleton. in one respect the reigning sovereign was in advance of his age. in his devotion to the madonna he claimed the same miraculous origin for her mother as for herself. when the prayer "o sancta maria sine labe originali concepta" was chanted, he would exclaim with emotion that the words embodied his devoutest aspirations. he had frequent interviews with doctors of divinity on the subject, and instructed many bishops to urge upon the pope the necessity of proclaiming the virginity of the virgin's mother. could he secure this darling object of his ambition, he professed himself ready to make a pilgrimage on foot to rome. the pilgrimage was never made, for it may well be imagined that lerma would forbid any such adventurous scheme. meantime, the duke continued to govern the empire and to fill his coffers, and the king to shoot rabbits. the queen was a few years younger than her husband, and far from beautiful. indeed, the lower portion of her face was almost deformed. she was graceful, however, in her movements, and pleasing and gentle in manner. she adored the king, looking up to him with reverence as the greatest and wisest of beings. to please him she had upon her marriage given up drinking wine, which, for a german, was considered a great sacrifice. she recompensed herself, as the king did, by eating to an extent which, according to contemporary accounts, excited amazement. thus there was perfect sympathy between the two in the important article of diet. she had also learned to play at cards, in order to take a hand with him at any moment, feebly hoping that an occasional game for love might rescue the king from that frantic passion by which his health was shattered and so many courtiers were enriched. not being deficient in perception, the queen was quite aware of the greediness of all who surrounded the palace. she had spirit enough too to feel the galling tyranny to which the king was subjected. that the people hated the omnipotent favourite, and believed the king to be under the influence of sorcery, she was well aware. she had even a dim notion that the administration of the empire was not the wisest nor the noblest that could be devised for the first power in christendom. but considerations of high politics scarcely troubled her mind. of a people she had perhaps never heard, but she felt that the king was oppressed. she knew that he was helpless, and that she was herself his only friend. but of what avail were her timid little flutterings of indignation and resistance? so pure and fragile a creature could accomplish little good for king or people. perpetually guarded and surrounded by the countess of lemos and the duchess of lerma, she lived in mortal awe of both. as to the duke himself, she trembled at his very name. on her first attempts to speak with philip on political matters--to hint at the unscrupulous character of his government, to arouse him to the necessity of striking for a little more liberty and for at least a trifling influence in the state--the poor little king instantly betrayed her to the favourite and she was severely punished. the duke took the monarch off at once on a long journey, leaving her alone for weeks long with the terrible duchess and countess. never before had she been separated for a day from her husband, it having been the king's uniform custom to take her with him in all his expeditions. her ambition to interfere was thus effectually cured. the duke forbade her thenceforth ever to speak of politics to her husband in public or in private--not even in bed--and the king was closely questioned whether these orders had been obeyed. she submitted without a struggle. she saw how completely her happiness was at lerma's mercy. she had no one to consult with, having none but spanish people about her, except her german father-confessor, whom, as a great favour, and after a severe struggle, she had beep allowed to retain, as otherwise her ignorance of the national language would have made it impossible for her to confess her little sins. moreover her brothers, the archdukes at gratz, were in receipt of considerable annual stipends from the spanish exchequer, and the duke threatened to stop those pensions at once should the queen prove refractory. it is painful to dwell any longer on the abject servitude in which the king and queen were kept. the two were at least happy in each other's society, and were blessed with mutual affection, with pretty and engaging children, and with a similarity of tastes. it is impossible to imagine anything more stately, more devout, more regular, more innocent, more utterly dismal and insipid, than the lives of this wedded pair. this interior view of the court and council of spain will suffice to explain why, despite the languor and hesitations with which the transactions were managed, the inevitable tendency was towards a peace. the inevitable slowness, secrecy, and tergiversations were due to the dignity of the spanish court, and in harmony with its most sacred traditions. but what profit could the duke of lerma expect by the continuance of the dutch war, and who in spain was to be consulted except the duke of lerma? etext editor's bookmarks: a man incapable of fatigue, of perplexity, or of fear converting beneficent commerce into baleful gambling gigantic vices are proudly pointed to as the noblest no generation is long-lived enough to reap the harvest proclaiming the virginity of the virgin's mother steeped to the lips in sloth which imagined itself to be pride to shirk labour, infinite numbers become priests and friars this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, - chapter xxxix. effects of the nieuport campaign--the general and the statesman-- the roman empire and the turk--disgraceful proceedings of the mutinous soldiers in hungary--the dunkirk pirates--siege of ostend by the archduke--attack on rheinberg by prince maurice--siege and capitulation of meura--attempt on bois-le-duc--concentration of the war at ostend--account of the belligerents--details of the siege-- feigned offer of sir francis vere to capitulate--arrival of reinforcements from the states--attack and overthrow of the besiegers. the nieuport campaign had exhausted for the time both belligerents. the victor had saved the republic from impending annihilation, but was incapable of further efforts during the summer. the conquered cardinal- archduke, remaining essentially in the same position as before, consoled himself with the agreeable fiction that the states, notwithstanding their triumph, had in reality suffered the most in the great battle. meantime both parties did their best to repair damages and to recruit their armies. the states--or in other words barneveld, who was the states--had learned a lesson. time was to show whether it would be a profitable one, or whether maurice, who was the preceptor of europe in the art of war, would continue to be a docile pupil of the great advocate even in military affairs. it is probable that the alienation between the statesman and the general, which was to widen as time advanced, may be dated from the day of nieuport. fables have even been told which indicated the popular belief in an intensity of resentment on the part of the prince, which certainly did not exist till long afterwards. "ah, scoundrel!" the stadholder was said to have exclaimed, giving the advocate a box on the ear as he came to wish him joy of his great victory, "you sold us, but god prevented your making the transfer." history would disdain even an allusion to such figments--quite as disgraceful, certainly to maurice as to barneveld--did they not point the moral and foreshadow some of the vast but distant results of events which had already taken place, and had they not been so generally repeated that it is a duty for the lover of truth to put his foot upon the calumny, even at the risk for a passing moment of reviving it. the condition of the war in flanders had established a temporary equilibrium among the western powers--france and england discussing, intriguing, and combining in secret with each other, against each other, and in spite of each other, in regard to the great conflict--while spain and the cardinal-archduke on the one side, and the republic on the other, prepared themselves for another encounter in the blood-stained arena. meantime, on the opposite verge of what was called european civilization, the perpetual war between the roman empire and the grand turk had for the moment been brought into a nearly similar equation. notwithstanding the vast amount of gunpowder exploded during so many wearisome years, the problem of the crescent and the cross was not much nearer a solution in the east than was that of mass and conventicle in the west. war was the normal and natural condition of mankind. this fact, at least, seemed to have been acquired and added to the mass of human knowledge. from the prolific womb of germany came forth, to swell impartially the protestant and catholic hosts, vast swarms of human creatures. sold by their masters at as high prices as could be agreed upon beforehand, and receiving for themselves five stivers a day, irregularly paid, until the carrion-crow rendered them the last service, they found at times more demand for their labor in the great european market than they could fully supply. there were not germans enough every year for the consumption of the turk, and the pope, and the emperor, and the republic, and the catholic king, and the christian king, with both ends of europe ablaze at once. so it happened that the duke of mercoeur and other heroes of the league, having effected their reconciliation with the bearnese, and for a handsome price paid down on the nail having acknowledged him to be their legitimate and catholic sovereign, now turned their temporary attention to the turk. the sweepings of the league--frenchmen, walloons, germans, italians, spaniards--were tossed into hungary, because for a season the war had become languid in flanders. and the warriors grown grey in the religious wars of france astonished the pagans on the danube by a variety of crimes and cruelties such as christians only could imagine. thus, while the forces of the sultan were besieging buda, a detachment of these ancient leaguers lay in pappa, a fortified town not far from raab, which archduke maximilian had taken by storm two years before. finding their existence monotonous and payments unpunctual, they rose upon the governor; michael maroti, and then entered into a treaty with the turkish commander outside the walls. bringing all the principal citizens of the town, their wives and children, and all their moveable property into the market-place, they offered to sell the lot, including the governor, for a hundred thousand rix dollars. the bargain was struck, and the turk, paying him all his cash on hand and giving hostages for the remainder, carried off six hundred of the men and women, promising soon to return and complete the transaction. meantime the imperial general, schwartzenberg, came before the place, urging the mutineers with promises of speedy payment, and with appeals to their sense of shame, to abstain from the disgraceful work. he might as well have preached to the wild swine swarming in the adjacent forests. siege thereupon was laid to the place. in a sortie the brave schwartzenberg was killed, but colonitz coming up in force the mutineers were locked up in the town which they had seized, and the turk never came to their relief. famine drove them at last to choose between surrender and a desperate attempt to cut their way out. they took the bolder course, and were all either killed or captured. and now--the mutineers having given the turk this lesson in christian honour towards captives--their comrades and the rest of the imperial forces showed them the latest and most approved christian method of treating mutineers. several hundred of the prisoners were distributed among the different nationalities composing the army to be dealt with at pleasure. the honest germans were the most straightforward of all towards their portion of the prisoners, for they shot them down at once, without an instant's hesitation. but the lorrainers, the remainder of the french troops, the walloons, and especially the hungarians--whose countrymen and women had been sold into captivity--all vied with each other in the invention of cruelties at which the soul sickens, and which the pen almost refuses to depict. these operations and diversions had no sensible effect upon the progress of the war, which crept on with the same monotonous and sluggish cruelty as ever; but the incidents narrated paint the course of civilization more vividly than the detailed accounts of siege and battle; mining and countermining, assaults and ambuscades can do, of which the history books are full. the leaguers of buda and of other cities and fortresses in hungary went their course; and it was destined to remain for a still longer season doubtful whether cross or crescent should ultimately wave over the whole territory of eastern europe, and whether the vigorous moslem, believing in himself, his mission, his discipline, and his resources, should ultimately absorb what was left of the ancient roman empire. meantime, such of the walloons, lorrainers, germans, and frenchmen as had grown wearied of the fighting on the danube and the theiss--might have recourse for variety to the perpetual carnage on the meuse, the rhine, and the scheld. if there was not bloodshed enough for all, it was surely not the fault of mahomet, nor clement, nor philip. during the remainder of the year not much was done in of the stadholder or the cardinal, but there was immense damage done to the dutch shipping by the famous privateersman, van der waecken, with his squadron of twelve or fourteen armed cruisers. in vain had the states exerted themselves to destroy the robbers cave, dunkirk. shiploads of granite had been brought from norway, and stone fleets had been sunk in the channel, but the insatiable quicksands had swallowed them as fast as they could be deposited, the tide rolled as freely as before, and the bold pirates sailed forth as gaily as ever to prey upon the defenceless trading vessels and herring-smacks of the states. for it was only upon non- combatants that admiral van der waecken made war, and the fishermen especially, who mainly belonged to the memnonite religion, with its doctrines of non-resistance--not a very comfortable practice in that sanguinary age--were his constant victims. and his cruelties might have almost served as a model to the christian warriors on the turkish frontier. after each vessel had been rifled of everything worth possessing, and then scuttled, the admiral would order the crews to be, thrown overboard at once, or, if he chanced to be in a merry mood, would cause them to be fastened to the cabin floor, or nailed crossways on the deck and then would sail away leaving ship and sailors to sink at leisure. the states gave chase as well as they could to the miscreant-- a dutchman born, and with a crew mainly composed of renegade netherlanders and other outcasts, preying for base lucre on their defenceless countryman--and their cruisers were occasionally fortunate enough to capture and bring in one of the pirate ships. in such cases, short shrift was granted, and the buccaneers were hanged without mercy, thirty-eight having been executed in one morning at rotterdam. the admiral with most of his vessels escaped, however, to the coast of spain, where his crews during the autumn mainly contrived to desert, and where he himself died in the winter, whether from malady, remorse, or disappointment at not being rewarded by a high position in the spanish navy. the war was in its old age. the leaf of a new century had been turned, and men in middle life had never known what the word peace meant. perhaps they could hardly imagine such a condition. this is easily said, but it is difficult really to picture to ourselves the moral constitution of a race of mankind which had been born and had grown up, marrying and giving in marriage, dying and burying their dead, and so passing on from the cradle towards the grave, accepting the eternal clang of arms, and the constant participation by themselves and those nearest to them in the dangers, privations, and horrors of siege and battle-field as the commonplaces of life. at least, those netherlanders knew what fighting for independence of a foreign tyrant meant. they must have hated spain very thoroughly, and believed in the right of man to worship god according to the dictates of his conscience, and to govern himself upon his own soil, however meagre, very earnestly, or they would hardly have spent their blood and treasure, year after year; with such mercantile regularity when it was always in their power to make peace by giving up the object for which they had been fighting. yet the war, although in its old age, was not fallen into decrepitude. the most considerable and most sanguinary pitched battle of what then were modern times had just been fought, and the combatants were preparing themselves for a fresh wrestle, as if the conflict had only begun. and now--although the great leaguers of harlem, leyden, and antwerp, as well as the more recent masterpieces of prince maurice in gelderland and friesland were still fresh in men's memory--there was to be a siege, which for endurance, pertinacity, valour, and bloodshed on both sides, had not yet been foreshadowed, far less equalled, upon the fatal netherland soil. that place of fashionable resort, where the fine folk of europe now bathe, and flirt, and prattle politics or scandal so cheerfully during the summer solstice--cool and comfortable ostend--was throughout the sixteenth century as obscure a fishing village as could be found in christendom. nothing, had ever happened there, nobody had ever lived there, and it was not until a much later period that the famous oyster, now identified with its name, had been brought to its bay to be educated. it was known for nothing except for claiming to have invented the pickling of herrings, which was not at all the fact. towards the latter part of the century, however, the poor little open village had been fortified to such purpose as to enable it to beat off the great alexander farnese, when he had made an impromptu effort to seize it in the year , after his successful enterprise against dunkirk and nieuport, and subsequent preparation had fortunately been made against any further attempt. for in the opening period of the new century thousands and tens of thousands were to come to those yellow sands, not for a midsummer holiday, but to join hands in one of the most enduring struggles that history had yet recorded, and on which the attention of europe was for a long time to be steadily fixed. ostend--east-end--was the only possession of the republic in flanders. having been at last thoroughly fortified according to the principles of the age, it was a place whence much damage was inflicted upon the enemy, and whence forays upon the obedient flemings could very successfully be conducted. being in the hands of so enterprising a naval power, it controlled the coast, while the cardinal-archduke on the other side fondly hoped that its possession would give him supremacy on the sea. the states of flanders declared it to be a thorn in the belgic lion's foot, and called urgently upon their sovereign to remove the annoyance. they offered albert , florins a month so long as the siege should last, besides an extraordinary sum of , , of which one third was to be paid when the place should be invested, one-third when the breach had been made, and one-third after the town had been taken. it was obvious that, although they thought the extraction of the thorn might prove troublesome, the process would be accomplished within a reasonable time. the cardinal-archduke, on his part, was as anxious as the "members" of flanders. asking how long the duke of parma had been in taking antwerp, and being told "eighteen months," he replied that, if necessary, he was willing to employ eighteen years in reducing ostend. the town thus about to assume so much importance in the world's eye had about three thousand inhabitants within its lowly; thatch-roofed houses. it fronted directly upon the seacoast and stretched backward in a southerly direction, having the sandy downs on the right and left, and a swampy, spongy soil on the inner verge, where it communicated with the land. its northern part, small and scarcely inhabited, was lashed by the ocean, and exposed to perpetual danger from its storms and flood-tides, but was partially protected from these encroachments by a dyke stretching along the coast on the west. here had hitherto been the harbour formed by the mouth of the river iperleda as it mingled with the sea, but this entrance had become so choked with sand as to be almost useless at low water. this circumstance would have rendered the labours of the archduke comparatively easy, and much discouraged the states, had there not fortunately been a new harbour which had formed itself on the eastern side exactly at the period of threatened danger. the dwarf mountain range of dunes which encircled the town on the eastern side had been purposely levelled, lest the higher summits should offer positions of vantage to a besieging foe. in consequence of this operation, the sea had burst over the land and swept completely around the place, almost converting it into an island, while at high water there opened a wide and profound gulf which with the ebb left an excellent channel quite deep enough for even the ships of war of those days. the next care of the states authorities was to pierce their fortifications on this side at a convenient point, thus creating a safe and snug haven within the walls for the fleets of transports which were soon to arrive by open sea, laden with soldiers and munitions. the whole place was about half an hour's walk in circumference. it was surrounded with a regular counterscarp, bastions, and casemates, while the proximity of the ocean and the humid nature of the soil ensured it a network of foss and canal on every side. on the left or western side, where the old harbour had once been, and which was the most vulnerable by nature, was a series of strong ravelins, the most conspicuous of which were called the sand hill, the porcupine, and hell's mouth. beyond these, towards the southwest, were some detached fortifications, resting for support, however, upon the place itself, called the polder, the square, and the south square. on the east side, which was almost inaccessible, as it would seem, by such siege machinery as then existed, was a work called the spanish half-moon, situate on the new harbour called the guele or gullet. towards the west and southwest, externally, upon the territory of flanders--not an inch of which belonged to the republic, save the sea- beaten corner in which nestled the little town-eighteen fortresses had been constructed by the archduke as a protection against hostile incursions from the place. of these, the most considerable were st. albert, often mentioned during the nieuport campaign, st. isabella st. clara, and great-thirst. on the th july, , the archduke came before the town, and formally began the siege. he established his headquarters in the fort which bore the name of his patron saint. frederic van den berg meanwhile occupied fort breden on the eastern side, with the intention, if possible, of getting possession of the gullet, or at least of rendering the entrance to that harbour impossible by means of his hostile demonstrations. under van den berg was count bucquoy-longueval, a walloon officer of much energy and experience, now general-in-chief of artillery in the archduke's army. the numbers with which albert took the field at first have not been accurately stated, but it is probable that his object was to keep as many as twenty thousand constantly engaged in the siege, and that in this regard he was generally successful. within the town were fifty-nine companies of infantry, to which were soon added twenty-three more under command of young chatillon, grandson of the great coligny. it was "an olla podrida of nationalities," according to the diarist of the siege--[meteren]. english, scotch, dutch, flemings, frenchmen, germans, mixed in about equal proportions. commander-in- chief at the outset was sir francis vere, who established himself by the middle of july in the place, sent thither by order of the states-general. it had been the desire of that assembly that the stadholder should make another foray in flanders for the purpose of driving off the archduke before he should have time to complete his preliminary operations. but for that year at least maurice was resolved not to renounce his own schemes in deference to those so much more ignorant than himself of the art of war, even if barneveld and his subordinates on their part had not learned a requisite lesson of modesty. so the prince, instead of risking another nieuport campaign, took the field with a small but well-appointed force, about ten thousand men in all, marched to the rhine, and early in june, laid siege to rheinberg. it was his purpose to leave the archduke for the time to break his teeth against the walls of ostend, while he would himself protect the eastern frontier, over which came regular reinforcements and supplies for the catholic armies. his works were laid out with his customary precision and neatness. but, standing as usual, like a professor at his blackboard, demonstrating his proposition to the town, he was disturbed in his calculations by the abstraction from his little army of two thousand english troops ordered by the states-general to march to the defence of ostend. the most mathematical but most obedient of princes, annoyed but not disconcerted, sent off the troops but continued his demonstration. "by this specimen," cried the french envoy, with enthusiasm, "judge of the energy of this little commonwealth. they are besieging berg with an army of twelve thousand men, a place beyond the frontier, and five days' march from the hague. they are defending another important place, besieged by the principal forces of the archdukes, and there is good chance of success at both points. they are doing all this too with such a train of equipages of artillery, of munitions, of barks, of ships of war, that i hardly know of a monarch in the world who would not be troubled to furnish such a force of warlike machinery." by the middle of july he sprang a mine under the fortifications, doing much damage and sending into the air a considerable portion of the garrison. two of the soldiers were blown into his own camp, and one of them, strangely enough, was but slightly injured. coming as he did through the air at cannon-ball speed, he was of course able to bring the freshest intelligence from the interior of the town. his news as to the condition of the siege confirmed the theory of the stadholder. he persisted in his operations for three weeks longer, and the place was then surrendered. the same terms--moderate and honourable were given to the garrison and the burghers as in all maurice's victories. those who liked to stay were at liberty to do so, accepting the prohibition of public worship according to the roman ritual, but guaranteed against inquisition into household or conscience. the garrison went out with the honours of war, and thus the place, whose military value caused it to change hands almost as frequently as a counter in a game, was once more in possession of the republic. in the course of the following week maurice laid siege to the city of meurs, a little farther up the rhine, which immediately capitulated. thus the keys to the debatable land of cleves and juliers, the scene of the admiral of arragon's recent barbarities, were now held by the stadholder. these achievements were followed by an unsuccessful attempt upon bois-le-duc in the course of november. the place would have fallen notwithstanding the slenderness of the besieging army had not a sudden and severe frost caused the prudent prince to raise the siege. feeling that his cousin frederic van den berg, who had been despatched from before ostend to command the relieving force near bois-le-duc, might take advantage of the prematurely frozen canals and rivers to make an incursion into holland, he left his city just as his works had been sufficiently advanced to ensure possession of the prize, and hastened to protect the heart of the republic from possible danger. nothing further was accomplished by maurice that year, but meantime something had been doing within and around ostend. for now the siege of ostend became the war, and was likely to continue to be the war for a long time to come; all other military operations being to a certain degree suspended, as if by general consent of both belligerants, or rendered subsidiary to the main design. so long as this little place should be beleaguered it was the purpose of the states, and of maurice, acting in harmony with those authorities, to concentrate their resources so as to strengthen the grip with which the only scrap of flanders was held by the republic, and as time wore on, the supposed necessities of the wealthy province, which, in political importance, made up a full half of the archduke's dominions, together with self-esteem and an exaggerated idea of military honour, made that prelate more and more determined to effect his purpose. so upon those barren sands was opened a great academy in which the science and the art of war were to be taught by the most skilful practitioners to all europe; for no general, corporal, artillerist, barber-surgeon, or engineer, would be deemed to know his trade if he had not fought at ostend; and thither resorted month after month warriors of every rank, from men of royal or of noblest blood to adventurers of lowlier degree, whose only fortune was buckled at their sides. from every land, of every religion, of every race, they poured into the town or into the besiegers' trenches. habsburg and holstein; northumberland, vere, and westmoreland; fairfax and stuart; bourbon, chatillon, and lorraine; bentivoglio, farnese, spinola, grimaldi, arragon, toledo, avila, berlaymont, bucquoy, nassau, orange, solms--such were the historic names of a few only of the pupils or professors in that sanguinary high school, mingled with the plainer but well known patronymics of the baxes, meetkerkes, van loons, marquettes, van der meers, and barendrechts, whose bearers were fighting, as they long had fought, for all that men most dearly prize on earth, and not to win honour or to take doctors' degrees in blood. papist, calvinist, lutheran, turk, jew and moor, european, asiatic, african, all came to dance in that long carnival of death; and every incident, every detail throughout the weary siege could if necessary be reproduced; for so profound and general was the attention excited throughout christendom by these extensive operations, and so new and astonishing were many of the inventions and machines employed--most of them now as familiar as gunpowder or as antiquated as a catapult--that contemporaries have been most bountiful in their records for the benefit of posterity, feeling sure of a gratitude which perhaps has not been rendered to their shades. especially the indefatigable philip fleming-auditor and secretary of ostend before and during the siege, bravest, most conscientious, and most ingenious of clerks--has chronicled faithfully in his diary almost every cannon-shot that was fired, house that was set on fire, officer that was killed, and has pourtrayed each new machine that was invented or imagined by native or foreign genius. for the adepts or, pretenders who swarmed to town or camp from every corner of the earth, bringing in their hands or brains to be disposed of by either belligerents infallible recipes for terminating the siege at a single blow, if only their theories could be understood and their pockets be filled, were as prolific and as sanguine as in every age. but it would be as wearisome, and in regard to the history of human culture as superfluous, to dilate upon the technics of targone and giustianini, and the other engineers, italian and flemish, who amazed mankind at this period by their successes, still more by their failures, or to describe every assault, sortie, and repulse, every excavation, explosion, and cannonade, as to disinter the details of the siege of nineveh or of troy. but there is one kind of enginry which never loses its value or its interest, and which remains the same in every age--the machinery by which stout hearts act directly upon willing hands--and vast were the results now depending on its employment around ostend. on the outside and at a distance the war was superintended of course by the stadholder and commander-in-chief, while his cousin william lewis, certainly inferior to no living man in the science of war, and whose studies in military literature, both ancient and modern, during the brief intervals of his active campaigning, were probably more profound than those of any contemporary, was always alert and anxious to assist with his counsels or to mount and ride to the fray. in the town sir francis vere commanded. few shapes are more familiar to the student of those times than this veteran campaigner, the offshoot of a time-honoured race. a man of handsome, weather-beaten, battle-bronzed visage, with massive forehead, broad intelligent eyes, a high straight nose, close-clipped hair, and a great brown beard like a spade; captious, irascible, but most resolute, he seemed, in his gold inlaid milan corslet and ruff of point-lace, the very image of a partizan chieftain; one of the noblest relics of a race of fighters slowly passing off the world's stage. an efficient colonel, he was not a general to be relied upon in great affairs either in council or the field. he hated the nassaus, and the nassaus certainly did not admire him, while his inordinate self-esteem, both personal and national, and his want of true sympathy for the cause in which, he fought, were the frequent source of trouble and danger to the republic. of the seven or eight thousand soldiers in the town when the siege began, at least two thousand were english. the queen, too intelligent, despite her shrewishness to the staten; not to be faithful to the cause in which her own interests were quite as much involved as theirs, had promised envoy caron that although she was obliged to maintain twenty thousand men in ireland to keep down the rebels, directly leagued as they were with spain and the archdukes, the republic might depend upon five thousand soldiers from england. detachment after detachment, the soldiers came as fast as the london prisons could be swept and the queen's press-gang perform its office. it may be imagined that the native land of those warriors was not inconsiderably benefited by the grant to the republic of the right to make and pay for these levies. but they had all red uniforms, and were as fit as other men to dig trenches, to defend them; and to fill them afterwards, and none could fight more manfully or plunder friend and foe with greater cheerfulness of impartiality than did those islanders. the problem which the archduke had set himself to solve was not an easy one. he was to reduce a town, which he could invest and had already succeeded very thoroughly in investing on the land aide, but which was open to the whole world by sea; while the besieged on their part could not only rely upon their own government and people, who were more at home on the ocean than was any nation in the world, but upon their alliance with england, a state hardly inferior in maritime resources to the republic itself. on the western side, which was the weakest, his progress was from the beginning the more encouraging, and his batteries were soon able to make some impression upon the outer works, and even to do considerable damage to the interior of the town. in the course of a few months he had fifty siege-guns in position, and had constructed a practicable road all around the place, connecting his own fortifications on the west and south with those of bucquoy on the east. albert's leading thought however was to cut off the supplies. the freaks of nature, as already observed, combined with his own exertions, had effectually disposed of the western harbour as a means of ingress. the tide ebbed and flowed through the narrow channel, but it was clogged with sand and nearly, dry at low water. moreover, by an invention then considered very remarkable, a foundation was laid for the besiegers' forts and batteries by sinking large and deep baskets of wicker-work, twenty feet in length, and filled with bricks and sand, within this abandoned harbour. these clumsy machines were called sausages, and were the delight of the camp and of all europe. the works thus established on the dry side crept slowly on towards the walls, and some demi-cannon were soon placed upon, them, but the besieged, not liking these encroachments, took the resolution to cut the pea-dyke along the coast which had originally protected the old harbour. thus the sea, when the tides were high and winds boisterous, was free to break in upon the archduke's works, and would often swallow sausages, men, and cannon far more rapidly than it was possible to place them there. yet still those human ants toiled on, patiently restoring what the elements so easily destroyed; and still, despite the sea; the cannonade, and the occasional sorties of the garrison, the danger came nearer and nearer. bucquoy on the other side was pursuing the same system, but his task was immeasurably more difficult. the gullet, or new eastern entrance, was a whirlpool at high tide, deep, broad, and swift as a millrace. yet along its outer verge he too laid his sausages, protecting his men at their work as well as he could with gabions, and essayed to build a dyke of wicker-work upon which he might place a platform for artillery to prevent the ingress of the republican ships. and his soldiers were kept steadily at work, exposed all the time to the guns of the spanish half-moon from which the besieged never ceased to cannonade those industrious pioneers. it was a bloody business. night and day the men were knee-deep in the trenches delving in mud and sand, falling every instant into the graves which they were thus digging for themselves, while ever and anon the sea would rise in its wrath and sweep them with their works away. yet the victims were soon replaced by others, for had not the cardinal-archduke sworn to extract the thorn from the belgic lion's paw even if he should be eighteen years about it, and would military honour permit him to break his vow? it was a piteous sight, even for the besieged, to see human life so profusely squandered. it is a terrible reflection, too, that those spaniards, walloons, italians, confronted death so eagerly, not from motives of honour, religion, discipline, not inspired by any kind of faith or fanaticism, but because the men who were employed in this horrible sausage-making and dyke-building were promised five stivers a day instead of two. and there was always an ample supply of volunteers for the service so long as the five stivers were paid. but despite all bucquoy's exertions the east harbour remained as free as ever. the cool, wary dutch skippers brought in their cargoes as regularly as if there had been no siege at all. ostend was rapidly acquiring greater commercial importance, and was more full of bustle and business than had ever been dreamed of in that quiet nook since the days of robert the frisian, who had built the old church of ostend, as one of the thirty which he erected in honour of st. peter, five hundred years before. for the states did not neglect their favourite little city. fleets of transports arrived day after day, week after week, laden with every necessary and even luxury for the use of the garrison. it was perhaps the cheapest place in all the netherlands, so great was the abundance. capons, bares, partridges, and butcher's meat were plentiful as blackberries, and good french claret was but two stivers the quart. certainly the prospect was not promising of starving the town into a surrender. but besides all this digging and draining there was an almost daily cannonade. her royal highness the infanta was perpetually in camp by the side of her well-beloved albert, making her appearance there in great state, with eighteen coaches full of ladies of honour, and always manifesting much impatience if she did not hear the guns. she would frequently touch off a forty-pounder with her own serene fingers in order to encourage the artillerymen, and great was the enthusiasm which such condescension excited. assaults, sorties, repulses, ambuscades were also of daily occurrence, and often with very sanguinary results; but it would be almost as idle now to give the details of every encounter that occurred, as to describe the besieging of a snow-fort by schoolboys. it is impossible not to reflect that a couple of parrots and a monitor or two would have terminated the siege in half an hour in favor of either party, and levelled the town or the besiegers' works as if they had been of pasteboard. bucquoy's dyke was within a thousand yards of the harbour's entrance, yet the guns on his platform never sank a ship nor killed a man on board, while the archduke's batteries were even nearer their mark. yet it was the most prodigious siege of modern days. fifty great guns were in position around the place, and their balls weighed from ten to forty pounds apiece. it was generally agreed that no such artillery practice had ever occurred before in the world. for the first six months, and generally throughout the siege, there was fired on an average a thousand of such shots a day. in the sieges of the american civil war there were sometimes three thousand shots an hour, and from guns compared to which in calibre and power those cannon and demi- cannon were but children's toys. certainly the human arm was of the same length then as now, a pike-thrust was as effective as the stab of the most improved bayonet, and when it came, as it was always the purpose to do, to the close embrace of foemen, the work was done as thoroughly as it could be in this second half of the nineteenth century. nevertheless it is impossible not to hope that such progress in science must at last render long wars impossible. the dutch war of independence had already lasted nearly forty years. had the civil war in america upon the territory of half a continent been waged with the ostend machinery it might have lasted two centuries. something then may have been gained for humanity by giving war such preter-human attributes as to make its demands of gold and blood too exhaustive to become chronic. yet the loss of human life during that summer and winter was sufficiently wholesale as compared with the meagre results. blood flowed in torrents, for no man could be more free of his soldiers' lives than was the cardinal-archduke, hurling them as he did on the enemy's works before the pretence of a practical breach had been effected, and before a reasonable chance existed of purchasing an advantage at such a price. five hundred were killed outright in half-an-hour's assault on an impregnable position one autumn evening, and lay piled in heaps beneath the sand hill fort- many youthful gallants from spain and italy among them, noble volunteers recognised by their perfumed gloves and golden chains, and whose pockets were worth rifling. the dutch surgeons, too, sallied forth in strength after such an encounter, and brought in great bags filled with human fat esteemed the sovereignst remedy in the world for wounds and disease. leaders were killed on both sides. catrici, chief of the italian artillery, and braccamonte, commander of a famous sicilian legion, with many less-known captains, lost their lives before the town. the noble young chatillon, grandson of coligny, who had distinguished himself at nieuport, fell in the porcupine fort, his head carried off by a cannon- ball, which destroyed another officer at his side, and just grazed the ear of the distinguished colonel uchtenbroek. sir francis vere, too, was wounded in the head by a fragment of iron, and was obliged to leave the town for six weeks till his wound should heal. the unfortunate inhabitants--men, women, and children--were of course exposed to perpetual danger, and very many were killed. their houses were often burned to the ground, in which cases the english auxiliaries were indefatigable, not in rendering assistance, but in taking possession of such household goods as the flames had spared. nor did they always wait for such opportunities, but were apt, at the death of an eminent burgher, to constitute themselves at once universal legatees. thus, while honest bartholomew tysen, a worthy citizen grocer, was standing one autumn morning at his own door, a stray cannon-ball took off his head, and scarcely had he been put in a coffin before his house was sacked from garret to cellar and all the costly spices, drugs, and other valuable merchandize of his warehouse--the chief magazine in the town-- together with all his household furniture, appropriated by those london warriors. bartholomew's friends and relatives appealed to sir francis vere for justice, but were calmly informed by that general that ostend was like a stranded ship, on its beamends on a beach, and that it was impossible not to consider it at the mercy of the wreckers. so with this highly figurative view of the situation from the lips of the governor of the place and the commander-in-chief of the english as well as the dutch garrison, they were fain to go home and bury their dead, finding when they returned that another cannonball had carried away poor bartholomew's coffin-lid. thus was never non-combatant and grocer, alive or dead, more out of suits with fortune than this citizen of ostend; and such were the laws of war, as understood by one of the most eminent of english practitioners in the beginning of the seventeenth century. it is true, however, that vere subsequently hanged a soldier for stealing fifty pounds of powder and another for uttering counterfeit money, but robberies upon the citizens were unavenged. nor did the deaths by shot or sword-stroke make up the chief sum of mortality. as usual the murrain-like pestilence which swept off its daily victims both within an without the town, was more effective than any direct agency of man. by the month of december the number of the garrison had been reduced to less than three thousand, while it is probable that the archduke had not eight thousand effective men left in his whole army. it was a black and desolate scene. the wild waves of the german ocean, lashed by the wintry gales, would often sweep over the painfully constructed works of besieger and besieged and destroy in an hour the labour of many weeks. the porcupine's small but vitally-important ravelin lying out in the counterscarp between the old town and the new, guarding the sluices by which the water for the town moats and canals was controlled, and preventing the pioneers of the enemy from undermining the western wall--was so damaged by the sea as to be growing almost untenable. indefatigably had the besieged attempted with wicker-work and timber and palisades to strengthen this precious little fort, but they had found, even as bucquoy and the archduke on their part had learned, that the north sea in winter was not to be dammed by bulrushes. moreover, in a bold and successful assault the besiegers had succeeded in setting fire to the inflammable materials heaped about the ravelin to such effect that the fire burned for days, notwithstanding the flooding of the works at each high tide. the men, working day and night, scorching in the flames, yet freezing kneedeep in the icy slush of the trenches and perpetually under fire of the hostile batteries, became daily more and more exhausted, notwithstanding their determination to hold the place. christmas drew nigh, and a most gloomy, festival it was like to be, for it seemed as if the beleaguered garrison had been forgotten by the states. weeks had passed away without a single company being sent to repair the hideous gaps made daily in the ranks of those defenders of a forlorn hope. it was no longer possible to hold the external works; the square, the polder, and the other forts on the southwest which vere had constructed with so much care and where he had thus far kept his headquarters. on sunday morning,-- rd december, he reluctantly gave orders that they should be abandoned on the following day and the whole garrison concentrated within the town. the clouds were gathering darkly over the head of the gallant vere; for no sooner had he arrived at this determination than he learned from a deserter that the archduke had fixed upon that very sunday evening for a general assault upon the place. it was hopeless for the garrison to attempt to hold these outer forts, for they required a far larger number of soldiers than could be spared from the attenuated little army. yet with those forts in the hands of the enemy there would be nothing left but to make the best and speediest terms that might be obtained. the situation was desperate. sir francis called his principal officers together, announced his resolve not to submit to the humiliation of a surrender after all their efforts, if there was a possibility of escape from their dilemma, reminded them that reinforcements might be expected to arrive at any moment, and that with even a few hundred additional soldiers the outer works might still be manned and the city saved. the officers english, dutch, and french, listened respectfully to his remarks, but, without any suggestions on their own part, called on him as their alexander to untie the gordian knot. alexander solved it, not with the sword, but with a trick which he hoped might prove sharper than a sword. he announced his intention of proposing at once to treat, and to protract the negotiations as long as possible, until the wished-for sails should be discerned in the offing, when he would at once break faith with them, resume hostilities, and so make fools of the besiegers. this was a device worthy of a modern alexander whose surname was farnese. even in that loose age such cynical trifling with the sacredness of trumpets of truce and offers of capitulation were deemed far from creditable among soldiers and statesmen, yet the council of war highly applauded the scheme, and importuned the general to carry it at once into effect. when it came, however, to selecting the hostages necessary for the proposed negotiations, they became less ardent and were all disposed to recede. at last, after much discussion, the matter was settled, and before nightfall a drummer was set upon the external parapet of the porcupine, who forthwith began to beat vigorously for a parley. the rattle was a welcome sound in the ears of the weary besiegers, just drawn up in column for a desperate assault, and the tidings were at once communicated to the archduke in fort st. albert. the prince manifested at first some unwillingness to forego the glory of the attack, from which he confidently expected a crowning victory, but yielding to the representations of his chief generals that it was better to have his town without further bloodshed, he consented to treat. hostages were expeditiously appointed on both sides, and captains ogle and fairfax were sent that same evening to the headquarters of the besieging army. it was at once agreed as a preliminary that the empty outer works of the place should remain unmolested. the english officers were received with much courtesy. the archduke lifted his hat as they were presented, asked them of what nation they were, and then inquired whether they were authorized to agree upon terms of capitulation. they answered in the negative; adding, that the whole business would be in the hands of commissioners to be immediately sent by his highness, as it was supposed, into the town. albert then expressed the hope that there was no fraudulent intention in the proposition just made to negotiate. the officers professed themselves entirely ignorant of any contemplated deception; although captain ogle had been one of the council, had heard every syllable of vere's stratagem, and had heartily approved of the whole plot. the englishmen were then committed to the care of a spanish nobleman of the duke's staff, and were treated with perfect politeness and hospitality. meantime no time was lost in despatching hostages, who should be at the same time commissioners, to ostend. the quartermaster-general of the army, don matteo antonio, and matteo serrano, governor of sluys, but serving among the besiegers, were selected for this important business as personages of ability, discretion, and distinction. they reached the town, coming in of course from the western side, as expeditiously as possible, but after nightfall. before they arrived at headquarters there suddenly arose, from some unknown cause, a great alarm and beating to arms on the opposite or eastern side of the city. they were entirely innocent of any participation in this uproar and ignorant of its cause, but when they reached the presence of sir francis vere they found that warrior in a towering passion. there was cheating going on, he exclaimed. the spaniards, he cried, were taking advantage of these negotiations, and were about, by dishonourable stratagem, to assault the town. astounded, indignant, but utterly embarrassed, the grave spaniards knew not how to reply. they were still more amazed when the general, rising to a still higher degree of exasperation, absolutely declined to exchange another word with them, but ordered captains carpentier and st. hilaire, by whom they had been escorted to his quarters, to conduct them out of the town again by the same road which had brought them there. there was nothing for it but to comply, and to smother their resentment at such extraordinary treatment as best they could. when they got to the old harbour on the western side the tide had risen so high that it was impossible to cross. nobody knew better than vere, when he gave the order, that this would be the case; so that when the escorting officers returned to state the fact, he simply ordered them to take the spaniards back by the gullet or eastern side. the strangers were not very young men, and being much fatigued with wandering to and fro in the darkness over the muddy roads, they begged permission to remain all night in ostend, if it were only in a guardhouse. but vere was inexorable, after the duplicity which he affected to have discovered on the part of the enemy. so the quartermaster-general and the governor of sluys, much to the detriment of their dignity, were forced once more to tramp through the muddy streets. and obeying their secret instructions, the escort led them round and round through the most miry and forlorn parts of the town, so that, sinking knee-deep at every step into sloughs and quicksands, and plunging about through the mist and sleet of a dreary december's night, they at last reached the precincts of the spanish half-moon on the gullet, be-draggled from head to foot and in a most dismal and exhausted condition. "ah, the villainous town of ostend!" exclaimed serrano, ruefully contemplating his muddy boots and imploring at least a pipe of tobacco. he was informed, however, that no such medical drugs were kept in the fort, but that a draught of good english ale was much at their service. the beer was brought in four foaming flagons, and, a little refreshed by this hospitality, the spaniards were put in a boat and rowed under the guns of the fort across the gullet and delivered to their own sentries on the outposts of bucquoy's entrenchments. by this time it was midnight, so that it was necessary for them to remain for the night in the eastern encampment before reporting themselves at fort st. albert. thus far vere's comedy had been eminently successful, and by taking advantage of the accidental alarm and so adroitly lashing himself into a fictitious frenzy, the general had gained nearly twenty-four additional hours of precious time on which he had not reckoned. next morning, after serrano and antonio had reported to the archduke, it was decided, notwithstanding the very inhospitable treatment which they had received, that those commissioners should return to their labours. ogle and fairfax still remained as hostages in camp, and of course professed entire ignorance of these extraordinary proceedings, attributing them to some inexplicable misunderstanding. so on monday, th, december, the quartermaster and the governor again repaired to ostend with orders to bring about the capitulation of the place as soon as possible. the same sergeant-major was again appointed by vere to escort the strangers, and on asking by what way he should bring them in, was informed by sir francis that it would never do to allow those gentlemen, whose feet were accustomed to the soft sand of the sea-beach and downs, to bruise themselves upon the hard paving-stones of ostend, but that the softest and muddiest road must be carefully selected for them. these reasons accordingly were stated with perfect gravity to the two spaniards, who, in spite of their solemn remonstrances, were made to repeat a portion of their experiences and to accept it as an act of special courtesy from the english general. thus so much time had been spent in preliminaries and so much more upon the road that the short winter's day was drawing to a close before they were again introduced to the presence of vere. they found that fiery personage on this occasion all smiles and blandishments. the spaniards were received with most dignified courtesy, to which they gravely responded; and the general then proceeded to make excuses for the misunderstanding of the preceding day with its uncomfortable consequences. thereupon arose much animated discussion as to the causes and the nature of the alarm on the east side which had created such excitement. much time was ingeniously consumed in this utterly superfluous discussion; but at last the commissioners of the archduke insisted on making allusion to the business which had brought them to the town. "what terms of negotiation do you propose?" they asked sir francis. "his highness has only to withdraw from before ostend," coolly replied the general, "and leave us, his poor neighbours, in peace and quietness. this would be the most satisfactory negotiation possible and the one most easily made." serrano and antonio found it difficult to see the matter in that cheerful light, and assured sir francis that they had not been commissioned by the archduke to treat for his own withdrawal but for the surrender of the town. hereupon high words and fierce discussion very naturally arose, and at last, when a good deal of time had been spent in the sharp encounter of wits, vere proposed an adjournment of the discussion until after supper; politely expressing the hope that the spanish gentlemen would be his guests. the conversation had been from the beginning in french, as vere, although a master of the spanish language, was desirous that the rest of the company present should understand everything said at the interview. the invitation to table was graciously accepted, and the christmas eve passed off more merrily than the preceding night had done, so far as vere's two guests were concerned. several distinguished officers were present at the festive board: captain montesquieu de roquette, sir horace vere, captains st. hilaire, meetkerke, de ryck, and others among them. as it was strict fast for the catholics that evening--while on the other hand the english, still reckoning according to the old style, would not keep christmas until ten days later--the banquet consisted mainly of eggs and fish, and the like meagre articles, in compliment to the guests. it was, however, as well furnished as could be expected in a beleaguered town, out of whose harbour a winter gale had been for many weeks blowing and preventing all ingress. there was at least no lack of excellent bordeaux wine; while the servants waiting upon the table did not fail to observe that governor serrano was not in all respects a model of the temperance usually characteristic of his race. they carefully counted and afterwards related with admiration, not unmingled with horror, that the veteran spaniard drank fifty-two goblets of claret, and was emptying his glass as fast as filled, although by no means neglecting the beer, the quality of which he had tested the night before at the half-moon. yet there seemed to be no perceptible effect produced upon him, save perhaps that he grew a shade more grave and dignified with each succeeding draught. for while the banquet proceeded in this very genial manner business was by no means neglected; the negotiations for the surrender of the city being conducted on both sides with a fuddled solemnity very edifying for the attendants to contemplate. vere complained that the archduke was unreasonable, for he claimed nothing less from his antagonists than their all. the commissioners replied that all was no more than his own property. it certainly could not be thought unjust of him to demand his own, and all flanders was his by legal donation from his majesty of spain. vere replied that he had never studied jurisprudence, and was not versed at all in that--science, but he had always heard in england that possession was nine points of the law. now it so happened that they, and not his highness, were in possession of ostend, and it would be unreasonable to expect them to make a present of it to any one. the besiegers, he urged, had gained much honour by their steady persistence amid so many dangers; difficulties, and losses;--but winter had come, the weather was very bad, not a step of progress had been made, and he was bold enough to express his opinion that it would be far more sensible on the part of his highness, after such deeds of valour, to withdraw his diminished forces out of the freezing and pestilential swamps before ostend and go into comfortable winter-quarters at ghent or bruges. enough had been done for glory, and it must certainly now be manifest that he had no chance of taking the city. serrano retorted that it was no secret to the besiegers that the garrison had dwindled to a handful; that it was quite impossible for them to defend their outer works any longer; that with the loss of the external boulevard the defence of the place would be impossible, and that, on the contrary, it was for the republicans to resign themselves to their fate. they, too, had done enough for glory, and had nothing for it but to retire into the centre of their ruined little nest, where they must burrow until the enemy should have leisure to entirely unearth them, which would be a piece of work very easily and rapidly accomplished. this was called negotiation; and thus the winter's evening wore away, until the spaniards; heavy with fatigue and wine, were without much difficulty persuaded to seek the couches prepared for them. next day the concourse of people around the city was christmas, wonderful to behold. the rumour had spread through the, provinces, and was on the, wing to all foreign countries, that ostend had capitulated, and that the commissioners were at that moment arranging the details. the cardinal- archduke, in complete milanese armour, with a splendid feather-bush waving from his casque and surrounded by his brilliant body-guard, galloped to and fro outside the entrenchments, expecting every moment a deputation to come forth, bearing the keys of the town. the infanta too, magnificent in ruff and farthingale and brocaded petticoat, and attended by a cavalcade of ladies of honour in gorgeous attire, pranced impatiently about, awaiting the dramatic termination of a leaguer which was becoming wearisome to besieger and besieged. not even on the famous second of july of the previous year, when that princess was pleasing herself with imaginations as to the deportment of maurice of nassau as a captive, had her soul been so full of anticipated triumph as on this christmas morning. such a festive scene as was now presented in the neighbourhood of ostend had not been exhibited for many a long year in flanders. from the whole country side came the peasants and burghers, men, women, and children, in holiday attire. it was like a kermiss or provincial fair. three thousand people at least were roaming about in all direction, gaping with wonder at the fortifications of the besieging army, so soon to be superfluous, sliding, skating, waltzing on the ice, admiring jugglers, dancing bears, puppet shows and merry-go-rounds, singing, and carousing upon herrings, sausages, waffles, with mighty draughts of flemish ale, manifesting their exuberant joy that the thorn was nearly extracted from the lion's paw, and awaiting with delight a blessed relief from that operation. never was a merrier christmas morning in flanders. there should be an end now to the forays through the country of those red- coated english pikemen, those hard-riding, hard-drinking troopers of germany and, holland, with the french and scotch arquebus men, and terrible zeeland sailors who had for years swept out of ostend, at any convenient opportunity, to harry the whole province. and great was the joy in flanders. meantime within the city a different scene was enacting. those dignified spaniards--governor serrano and don matteo antonio--having slept off their carouse, were prepared after breakfast next morning to resume the interrupted negotiations. but affairs were now to take an unexpected turn. in the night the wind had changed, and in the course of the forenoon three dutch vessels of war were descried in the offing, and soon calmly sailed into the mouth of the gullet. the news was at once brought to vere's headquarters. that general's plans had been crowned with success even sooner than he expected. there was no further object in continuing the comedy of negotiation, for the ships now arriving seemed crowded with troops. sir francis accordingly threw off the mask, and assuring his guests with extreme politeness that it had given him great pleasure to make the acquaintance of such distinguished personages, he thanked them cordially for their visit, but regretted that it would be no longer in his power to entertain any propositions of a pacific nature. the necessary reinforcements, which he had been so long expecting, had at last reached him, and it would not yet be necessary for him to retire into his ruined nest. military honour therefore would not allow him to detain them any longer. should he ever be so hard pressed again he felt sure that so magnanimous a prince as his highness would extend to him all due clemency and consideration. the spaniards; digesting as they best could the sauce of contumely with which the gross treachery of the transaction was now seasoned, solemnly withdrew, disdaining to express their spleen in words of idle menace. they were escorted back through the lines, and at once made their report at headquarters. the festival had been dismally interrupted before it was well begun. the vessels were soon observed by friend and foe making their way triumphantly up to the town where they soon dropped anchor at the wharf of the inner gullet, having only a couple of sailors wounded, despite all the furious discharges of bucquoy's batteries. the holiday makers dispersed, much discomfited, the english hostages returned to the town, and the archduke shut himself up, growling and furious. his generals and counsellors, who had recommended the abandonment of his carefully prepared assault, and acceptance of the perfidious propositions to negotiate, by which so much golden time had been squandered, were for several days excluded from his presence. meantime the army, disappointed, discontented, half-starved, unpaid, passed their days and nights as before, in the sloppy trenches, while deep and earnest were the complaints and the curses which succeeded to the momentary exultation of christmas eve. the soldiers were more than ever embittered against their august commander-in-chief, for they had just enjoyed a signal opportunity of comparing the luxury and comfortable magnificence of his highness and the infanta, and of contrasting it with their own misery. moreover, it had long been exciting much indignation in the ranks that veteran generals and colonels, in whom all men had confidence, had been in great numbers superseded in order to make place for court favourites, utterly without experience or talent. thus the veterans; murmuring in the wet trenches. the archduke meanwhile, in his sullen retirement, brooded over a tragedy to follow the very successful comedy of his antagonist. it was not long delayed. the assault which had been postponed in the latter days of december was to be renewed before the end of the first week of the new year. vere, through scouts and deserters, was aware of the impending storm, and had made his arrangements in accordance with, the very minute information which he had thus received. the reinforcements, so opportunely sent by the states, were not numerous --only six hundred in all--but they were an earnest of fresh comrades to follow. meantime they sufficed to fill the gaps in the ranks, and to enable vere to keep possession of the external line of fortifications, including the all-important porcupine. moreover, during the fictitious negotiations, while the general had thus been holding--as he expressed it--the wolf by both ears, the labor of repairing damages in dyke, moat, and wall had not been for an instant neglected. the morning of the th january, , opened with a vigorous cannonade from all the archduke's batteries, east, west, and south. auditor fleeting, counsellor and secretary of the city, aide-de-camp and right hand of the commander-in-chief, a grim, grizzled, leathern-faced man of fifty, steady under fire as a veteran arquebuseer, ready with his pen as a counting-house clerk, and as fertile in resource as the most experienced campaigner, was ever at the general's side. at his suggestion several houses had been demolished, to furnish materials in wood and iron to stop the gaps as soon as made. especially about the sand hill fort and the porcupine a plentiful supply was collected, no time having been lost in throwing up stockades, palisades, and every other possible obstruction to the expected assailants. knowing perfectly well where the brunt of the battle was to be, vere had placed his brother sir horace at the head of twelve picked companies of diverse nations in the sand hill. four of the very best companies of the garrison were stationed in the porcupine, and ten more of the choicest in fort hell's mouth, under colonel meetkerke. it must be recollected that the first of these three works was the key to the fortifications of the old or outer town. the other two were very near it, and were the principal redoubts which defended the most exposed and vulnerable portion of the new town on the western side. the sand hill, as its name imported, was the only existing relic within the city's verge of the chain of downs once encircling the whole place. it had however been cannonaded so steadily during the six months' siege as to have become almost ironclad--a mass of metal gradually accumulating from the enemy's guns. with the curtain extending from it towards east and west it protected the old town quite up to the little ancient brick church, one of the only two in ostend. all day long the cannon thundered--a bombardment such as had never before been dreamed of in those days, two thousand shots having been distinctly counted, by the burghers. there was but languid response from the besieged, who were reserving their strength. at last, to the brief winter's day succeeded a pitch-dark evening. it was dead low tide at seven. at that hour the drums suddenly beat alarm along the whole line of fortifications from the gullet on the east to the old harbour on the west, while through the mirky atmosphere sounded the trumpets of the assault, the shouts of the spanish and italian commanders, and the fierce responsive yells of their troops. sir francis, having visited every portion of the works, and satisfied himself that every man in the garrison was under arms, and that all his arrangements had been fulfilled, now sat on horseback, motionless as a statue, within the sand hill. among the many serious and fictitious attacks now making he waited calmly for the one great assault, even allowing some of the enemy to scale the distant counterscarp of the external works towards the south, which he had by design left insufficiently guarded. it was but a brief suspense, for in a few moments two thousand men had rushed through the bed of the old harbour, out of which the tide had ebbed, and were vigorously assailing the sand hill and the whole length of its curtain. the impenetrable darkness made it impossible to count, but the noise and the surging fury of the advance rendered it obvious that the critical moment had arrived. suddenly a vivid illumination burst forth. great pine torches, piles of tar-barrels, and heaps of other inflammable material, which had been carefully arranged in fort porcupine, were now all at once lighted by vere's command. as the lurid blaze flashed far and wide there started out of the gloom not only the long lines of yellow jerkined pikemen and arquebuseers, with their storm-hoods and scaling ladders, rushing swiftly towards the forts, but beyond the broken sea dyke the reserved masses supporting the attack, drawn up in solid clumps of spears, with their gay standards waving above them, and with a strong force of cavalry in iron corslet and morion stationed in the rear to urge on the infantry and prevent their faltering in the night's work, became visible--phantom-like but perfectly distinct. at least four thousand men were engaged in this chief attack, and the light now permitted the besieged to direct their fire from cannon, demi- cannon, culverin, and snaphance, with fatal effect. the assailants, thinned, straggling, but undismayed, closed up their ranks, and still came fiercely on. never had spaniards, walloons, and italians, manifested greater contempt of death than on this occasion. they knew that the archduke and the infanta were waiting breathlessly in fort st. albert for the news of that victory of which the feigned negotiations had defrauded them at christmas, and they felt perfectly confident of ending both the siege and the forty years' war this january night. but they had reckoned without their wily english host. as they came nearer--van, and at last reserve--they dropped in great heaps under the steady fire of the musketry--as philip flaming, looking on, exclaimed--like apples when the autumn wind blows through the orchard. and as the foremost still pressed nearer and nearer, striving to clamber up the shattered counterscarp and through every practicable breach, the english, hollanders, and zeelanders, met them in the gap, not only at push of pike, but with their long daggers and with flaming pitchhoops, and hurled them down to instant death. and thus around the sand hill, the porcupine, and hell's mouth, the battle raged nearly two hours long, without an inch of ground being gained by the assailants. the dead and dying were piled beneath the walls, while still the reserves, goaded up to the mark by the cavalry, mounted upon the bodies of their fallen comrades and strove to plant their, ladders. but now the tide was on the flood, the harbour was filling, and cool auditor fleming, whom nothing escaped quietly asked the general's permission to open the western' sluice. it was obvious, he observed, that the fury of the attack was over, and that the enemy would soon be effecting a retreat before the water should have risen too high. he even pointed out many stragglers attempting to escape through the already deepening shallows. vere's consent was at once given, the flood-gate was opened, and the assailants such as still survived--panic- struck in a moment, rushed wildly back through the old harbour towards their camp. it was too late. the waters were out, and the contending currents whirled the fugitives up and down through the submerged land, and beyond the broken dyke, until great numbers of them were miserably drowned in the haven, while others were washed out to sea. horses and riders were borne off towards the zealand coast, and several of their corpses were picked up days afterwards in the neighbourhood of flushing. meantime those who had effected a lodgment in the polder, the square, and the other southern forts, found, after the chief assault had failed, that they had gained nothing by their temporary triumph but the certainty of being butchered. retreat was impossible, and no quarter was given. count imbec, a noble of great wealth, offered his weight in gold for his ransom, but was killed by a private soldier, who preferred his blood, or doubted his solvency. durango, marshal of the camp, don alvarez de suarez, and don matteo antonio, sergeant-major and quarter-master- general, whose adventures as a hostage within the town on christmas eve have so recently been related, were also slain. on the eastern side bucquoy's attack was an entire failure. his arrangements were too slowly made, and before he could bring his men to the assault the water was so high in the gullet that they refused to lay their pontoons and march to certain death. only at lowest ebb, and with most exquisite skill in fording, would it have been possible to effect anything like an earnest demonstration or a surprise. moreover some of the garrison, giving themselves out as deserters, stole out of the spanish half-moon, which had been purposely almost denuded of its defenders, towards the enemy's entrenchments, and offered to lead a body of spaniards into that ravelin. bucquoy fell into the trap, so that the detachment, after a victory as easily effected as that in the southern forts, found themselves when the fight was over not the captors but the caught. a few attempted to escape and were driven into the sea; the rest were massacred. fifteen hundred of the enemy's dead were counted and registered by auditor fleming. the whole number of the slain and drowned was reckoned as high as two thousand, which was at least, a quarter of the whole besieging army. and so ended this winter night's assault, by which the archduke had fondly hoped to avenge himself for vere's perfidy, and to terminate the war at a blow. only sixty of the garrison were killed, and sir horace vere was wounded. the winter now set in with severe sleet, and snow, and rain, and furious tempests lashing the sea over the works of besieger and besieged, and for weeks together paralyzing all efforts of either army. eight weary months the siege had lasted; the men in town and hostile camp, exposed to the inclemency of the wintry trenches, sinking faster before the pestilence which now swept impartially through all ranks than the soldiers of the archduke had fallen at nieuport, or in the recent assault on the sand hill. of seven thousand hardly three thousand now remained in the garrison. yet still the weary sausage making and wooden castle building went on along the gullet and around the old town. the bredene dyke crept on inch by inch, but the steady ships of the republic came and went unharmed by the batteries with which bucquoy hoped to shut up the new harbour. the archduke's works were pushed up nearer on the west, but, as yet, not one practical advantage had been gained, and the siege had scarcely advanced a hair's breadth since the th of july of the preceding year, when the armies had first sat down before the place. the stormy month of march had come, and vere, being called to service in the field for the coming season, transferred the command at ostend to frederic van dorp, a rugged, hard-headed, ill-favoured, stout-hearted zealand colonel, with the face of a bull-dog, and with the tenacious grip of one. etext editor's bookmarks: constitute themselves at once universal legatees crimes and cruelties such as christians only could imagine human fat esteemed the sovereignst remedy (for wounds) war was the normal and natural condition of mankind this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, chapter li. designs of henry iv.--new marriage project between france and spain formal proposition of negotiating for a truce between the states and spain--exertions of prince maurice to counteract the designs of barneveld--strife between the two parties in the republic--animosity of the people against barneveld--return of the spanish commissioners--further trifling--dismissal of the commissioners-- close of the negotiations--accidental discovery of the secret instructions of the archdukes to the commissioners--opposing factions in the republic--oration of president jeannin before the states-general--comparison between the dutch and swiss republics-- calumnies against the advocate--ambassador lambert in france-- henry's letter to prince maurice--reconciliation of maurice and barneveld--agreement of the states to accept a truce. president jeannin had long been prepared for this result. it was also by no means distasteful to him. a peace would not have accorded with the ulterior and secretly cherished schemes of his sovereign, and during his visit to paris, he had succeeded in persuading henry that a truce would be far the most advantageous solution of the question, so far as his interests were concerned. for it had been precisely during that midsummer vacation of the president at paris that henry had completed his plot against the liberty of the republic, of which he professed himself the only friend. another phase of spanish marriage-making had excited his ever scheming and insidious brain. it had been proposed that the second son of the spanish king should espouse one of henry's daughters. the papal nuncius asked what benefit the king of spain would receive for his share, in case of the marriage. the french king replied by plainly declaring to the nuncius that the united states should abstain from and renounce all navigation to and commerce with the indies, and should permit public exercise of the catholic religion. if they refused, would incontinently abandon them to their fate. more than this, he said, could not honestly be expected of him. surely this was enough. honestly or dishonestly, what more could spain expect of the republic's best ally, than that he should use all his efforts to bring her back into spanish subjection, should deprive her of commerce with three-quarters of the world, and compel her to re-establish the religion which she believed, at that period, to be incompatible with her constitutional liberties? it is difficult to imagine a more profligate or heartless course than the one pursued at this juncture by henry. secretly, he was intriguing, upon the very soil of the netherlands, to filch from them that splendid commerce which was the wonder of the age, which had been invented and created by dutch navigators and men of science, which was the very foundation of their state, and without which they could not exist, in order that he might appropriate it to himself, and transfer the east india company to france; while at paris he was solemnly engaging himself in a partnership with their ancient and deadly enemy to rob them of their precious and nobly gained liberty. was better proof ever afforded that god alone can protect us against those whom we trust? who was most dangerous to the united provinces during those memorable peace negotiations, spain the avowed enemy, or france the friend? the little republic had but her own sword, her own brain, and her own purse to rely upon. elizabeth was dead, and james loved spain better than he did the netherlands, and quiet better than spain. "i have told you often," said caron, "and i say it once more, the spaniard is lucky that he has such a peaceable king as this to deal with in england." the details of the new marriage project were arranged at paris between the nuncius, the spanish ambassador, don pedro de toledo, the diplomatic agent of the archdukes, and henry's ministers, precisely as if there had been no negotiations going on between the states and spain. yet the french king was supposed to be the nearest friend of the states, and was consulted by them on every occasion, while his most intimate and trusted counsellor, the ingenuous jeannin, whose open brow was stamped with sincerity, was privy to all their most secret deliberations. but the statesman thus dealing with the hollanders under such a mask of friendly candour, knew perfectly well the reason why his government preferred a truce to a peace. during a prolonged truce, the two royal children would grow old enough for the consummation of marriage, and the states--so it was hoped--would be corrupted and cajoled into renouncing their liberty. all the netherlands would be then formed into a secundogeniture for spain, and the first sovereign would be the husband of a french princess. even as an object of ambition, the prize to be secured by so much procrastination and so much treachery was paltry. when the spanish commissioners came to the french and english ambassadors accordingly, complaining of the abrupt and peremptory tone of the states' reply, the suggestion of conferences for truce, in place of fruitless peace negotiations, was made at once, and of course favourably received. it was soon afterwards laid before the states-general. to this end, in truth, richardot and his colleagues had long been secretly tending. moreover, the subject had been thoroughly but secretly discussed long before between jeannin and barneveld. the french and english ambassadors, accordingly, on the th august, came before the states-general, and made a formal proposition for the opening of negotiations for a truce. they advised the adoption of this course in the strongest manner. "let the truce be made with you," they said, "as with free states, over which the king and the archdukes have no pretensions, with the understanding that, during the time of the truce you are to have free commerce as well to the indies as to spain and the obedient netherlands, and to every part of the spanish dominions; that you are to retain all that you possess at present, and that such other conditions are to be added as you may find it reasonable to impose. during this period of leisure you will have time to put your affairs in order, to pay your debts, and to reform your government, and if you remain united, the truce will change into an absolute peace." maurice was more indignant when the new scheme was brought to his notice than he had ever been before, and used more violent language in opposing a truce than he had been used to employ when striving against a peace. to be treated with, as with a free state, and to receive permission to trade with the outside world until the truce should expire, seemed to him a sorry result for the republic to accept. the state-council declared, by way of answer to the foreign ambassadors, that the principal points and conditions which had been solemnly fixed, before the states had consented to begin the negotiations, had been disputed with infinite effrontery and shamelessness by the enemy. the pure and perfect sovereignty notoriously included religion and navigation to any part of the world; and the republic would never consent to any discussion of truce unless these points were confirmed beforehand with the spanish king's signature and seal. this resolution of the council--a body which stood much under the influence of the nassaus--was adopted next day by the states-general, and duly communicated to the friendly ambassadors. the foreign commissioners, when apprised of this decision, begged for six weeks' time; in order to be able to hear from madrid. even the peace party was disgusted with this impertinence. maurice boiled over with wrath. the ambassadors recommended compliance with. the proposal. their advice was discussed in the states-general, eighty members being present, besides maurice and lewis william. the stadholder made a violent and indignant speech. he was justified in his vehemence. nothing could exceed the perfidy of their great ally. "i know that the king of france calculates thus"--wrote aerssens at that moment from paris--"'if the truce lasts seven years, my son will be old enough to accomplish the proposed marriage, and they will be obliged to fulfil their present offers. otherwise; i would break the truce in the netherlands, and my own peace with them, in order to take from the spaniard by force what he led me to hope from alliance.' thus it is," continued the states' envoy, "that his majesty condescends to propose, to us a truce, which may have a double interpretation, according to the disposition of the strongest, and thus our commonwealth will be kept in perpetual disquiet, without knowing whether it is sovereign or not. nor will it be sovereign unless it shall so please our neighbour, who by this means will always keep his foot upon our throat." "to treat with the states as if they were free," said henry to the nuncius soon afterwards, "is not to make them free. this clause does no prejudice to the rights of the king of spain, except for the time of the truce." aerssens taxed the king with having said this. his majesty flatly denied it. the republican envoy bluntly adduced the testimony of the ambassadors of venice and of wirtemberg. the king flew into a rage on seeing that his secrets had been divulged, and burst out with these words: "what you demand is not reasonable. you wish the king of spain to renounce his rights in order to arrive at a truce. you wish to dictate the law to him. if you had just gained four battles over him, you could not demand more. i have always held you for sovereigns, because i am your friend, but if you would judge by equity and justice, you are not sovereigns. it is not reasonable that the king of spain should quit the sovereignty for always, and you ought to be satisfied with having it so long as the treaty shall last." here was playing at sovereignty with a vengeance. sovereignty was a rattle for the states to amuse themselves with, until the royal infants, french and spanish, should be grown old enough to take the sovereignty for good. truly this was indeed keeping the republic under the king's heel to be crushed at his pleasure, as aerssens, with just bitterness, exclaimed. two days were passed at the hague in vehement debate. the deputies of zeeland withdrew. the deputies from holland were divided, but, on the whole, it was agreed to listen to propositions of truce, provided the freedom of the united provinces--not under conditions nor during a certain period, but simply and for all time--should be recognised beforehand. it was further decided on the th september to wait until the end of the month for the answer from spain. after the st of october it was distinctly intimated to the spanish commissioners that they must at once leave the country unless the king had then acknowledged the absolute independence of the provinces. a suggestion which had been made by these diplomatists to prolong the actually existing armistice into a truce of seven years, a step which they professed themselves willing to take upon their own responsibility, had been scornfully rejected by the states. it was already carrying them far enough away, they said, to take them away from a peace to a truce, which was something far less secure than a peace, but the continuance of this floating, uncertain armistice would be the most dangerous insecurity of all. this would be going from firm land to slippery ice, and from slippery ice into the water. by such a process, they would have neither war nor peace--neither liberty of government nor freedom of commerce--and they unanimously refused to listen to any such schemes. during the fortnight which followed this provisional consent of the states, the prince redoubled his efforts to counteract the barneveld party. he was determined, so far as in him lay, that the united netherlands should never fall back under the dominion of spain. he had long maintained the impossibility of effecting their thorough independence except by continuing the war, and had only with reluctance acquiesced in the arguments of the french ambassadors in favour of peace negotiations. as to the truce, he vehemently assured those envoys that it was but a trap. how could the netherlanders know who their friends might be when the truce should have expired, and under what unfavourable auspices they might not be compelled to resume hostilities? as if he had been actually present at the council boards in madrid and valladolid, or had been reading the secret letters of friar john to spinola, he affirmed that the only object of spain was to recruit her strength and improve her finances, now entirely exhausted. he believed, on the other hand, that the people of the provinces, after they should have once become accustomed to repose; would shrink from exchanging their lucrative pursuits for war, and would prefer to fall back under the yoke of spain. during the truce they would object to the furnishing of necessary contributions for garrison expenses, and the result would be that the most important cities and strongholds, especially those on the frontier, which were mainly inhabited by catholics, would become insecure. being hostile to a government which only controlled them by force, they would with difficulty be kept in check by diminished garrisons, unless they should obtain liberty of catholic worship. it is a dismal proof of the inability of a leading mind, after half a century's war, to comprehend the true lesson of the war--that toleration of the roman religion seemed to maurice an entirely inadmissible idea. the prince could not rise to the height on which his illustrious father had stood; and those about him, who encouraged him in his hostility to catholicism, denounced barneveld and arminius as no better than traitors and atheists. in the eyes of the extreme party, the mighty war had been waged, not to liberate human thought, but to enforce predestination; and heretics to calvinism were as offensive in their eyes as jews and saracens had ever been to torquemada. the reasons were unanswerable for the refusal of the states to bind themselves to a foreign sovereign in regard to the interior administration of their commonwealth; but that diversity of religious worship should be considered incompatible with the health of the young republic--that the men who had so bravely fought the spanish inquisition should now claim their own right of inquisition into the human conscience--this was almost enough to create despair as to the possibility of the world's progress. the seed of intellectual advancement is slow in ripening, and it is almost invariably the case that the generation which plants--often but half conscious of the mightiness of its work--is not the generation which reaps the harvest. but all mankind at last inherits what is sown in the blood and tears of a few. that government, whether regal or democratic, should dare to thrust itself between man and his maker--that the state, not with interfering in a thousand superfluous ways with the freedom of individual human action in the business of life, should combine with the church to reduce human thought to slavery in regard to the sacred interests of eternity, was one day to be esteemed a blasphemous presumption in lands which deserved to call themselves free. but that hour had not yet come. "if the garrisons should be weakened," said the prince, "nothing could be expected from the political fidelity of the town populations in question, unless they should be allowed the exercise of their own religion. but the states could hardly be disposed to grant this voluntarily, for fear of injuring the general insecurity and violating the laws of the commonwealth, built as it is upon a foundation which cannot suffer this diversity in the public exercise of religion. already," continued maurice, "there are the seeds of dissension in the provinces and in the cities, sure to ripen in the idleness and repose of peace to an open division. this would give the enemy a means of intriguing with and corrupting those who are already wickedly inclined." thus in the year , the head of the dutch republic, the son of william the silent, seemed to express himself in favour of continuing a horrible war, not to maintain the political independence of his country, but to prevent catholics from acquiring the right of publicly worshipping god according to the dictates of their conscience. yet it would be unjust to the prince, whose patriotism was as pure and unsullied as his sword, to confound his motives with his end. he was firmly convinced that liberty of religious worship, to be acquired during the truce, would inevitably cause the united provinces to fall once more under the spanish yoke. the french ambassador, with whom he conferred every day, never doubted his sincerity. gelderland, friesland, overyssel, groningen, and utrecht, five provinces out of the united seven, the prince declared to be chiefly inhabited by catholics. they had only entered the union, he said, because compelled by force. they could only be kept in the union by force, unless allowed freedom of religion. his inference from such a lamentable state of affairs was, not that the experiment of religious worship should be tried, but that the garrisons throughout the five provinces ought to be redoubled, and the war with spain indefinitely waged. the president was likewise of opinion that "a revolt of these five provinces against the union might be at any moment expected, ill disposed as they were to recognise a sovereignty which abolished their religion." being himself a catholic, however, it was not unnatural that he should make a different deduction from that of the prince, and warmly recommend, not more garrisons, but more liberty of worship. thus the very men who were ready to dare all, and to sacrifice all in behalf of their country, really believed themselves providing for the imperishable security of the commonwealth by placing it on the narrow basis of religious intolerance. maurice, not satisfied with making these vehement arguments against the truce in his conferences with the envoys of the french and british sovereigns, employed the brief interval yet to elapse before definitely breaking off or resuming the conferences with the spanish commissioners in making vigorous appeals to the country. "the weal or woe of the united provinces for all time," he said, "is depending on the present transactions." weigh well the reasons we urge, and make use of those which seem to you convincing. you know that the foe, according to his old deceitful manner, laid down very specious conditions at the beginning, in order to induce my lords the states- general to treat. "if the king and the archdudes sincerely mean to relinquish absolutely their pretensions to these provinces, they can certainly have no difficulty in finding honest and convenient words to express their intention. as they are seeking other phrases than the usual and straightforward ones, they give certain proof that they mean to keep back from us the substance. they are trying to cheat us with dark, dubious, loosely-screwed terms, which secure nothing and bind to nothing. if it be wise to trust the welfare of our state to ambiguous words, you can judge according to your own discretion. "recognition of our sovereignty is the foundation-stone of these negotiations. "let every man be assured that, with such mighty enemies, we can do nothing by halves. we cannot afford to retract, mutilate, or moderate our original determination. he who swerves from the straight road at the beginning is lost; he who stumbles at the first step is apt to fall down the whole staircase. if, on account of imaginable necessity, we postpone that most vital point, the assurance of our freedom, we shall very easily allow less important points to pass muster, and at last come tamely into the path of reconciliation. that was exactly the danger which our ancestors in similar negotiations always feared, and against which we too have always done our best to guard ourselves. "wherefore, if the preservation of our beloved fatherland is dear to you, i exhort you to maintain that great fundamental resolution, at all times and against all men, even if this should cause the departure of the enemy's commissioners. what can you expect from them but evil fruit?" he then advised all the estates and magistracies which he was addressing to instruct their deputies, at the approaching session of the states- general, to hold on to the first article of the often-cited preliminary resolution without allowing one syllable to be altered. otherwise nothing could save the commonwealth from dire and notorious confusion. above all, he entreated them to act in entire harmony and confidence with himself and his cousin, even as they had ever done with his illustrious father. certainly the prince fully deserved the confidence of the states, as well for his own signal services and chivalrous self-devotion, as for the unexampled sacrifices and achievements of william the silent. his words had the true patriotic ring of his father's frequent and eloquent appeals; and i have not hesitated to give these extracts from his discourse, because comparatively few of such utterances of maurice have been preserved, and because it gives a vivid impression of the condition of the republic and the state of parties at that momentous epoch. it was not merely the fate of the united netherlands and the question of peace or war between the little republic and its hereditary enemy that were upon the issue. the peace of all christendom, the most considerable material interests of civilization, and the highest political and moral principles that can influence human action, were involved in those negotiations. there were not wanting many to impeach the purity of the stadholder's motives. as admiral or captain-general, he received high salaries, besides a tenth part of all prize-money gained at sea by the fleets, or of ransom and blackmail on land by the armies of the republic. his profession, his ambition, his delights, were those of a soldier. as a soldier in a great war, he was more necessary to his countrymen than he could expect to be as a statesman in time of peace. but nothing ever appeared in public or in private, which threw a reasonable suspicion upon his lofty patriotism. peace he had always believed to be difficult of attainment. it had now been proved impossible. a truce he honestly considered a pitfall of destruction, and he denounced it, as we have seen, in the language of energetic conviction. he never alluded to his pecuniary losses in case peace should be made. his disinterested patriotism was the frequent subject of comment in the most secret letters of the french ambassadors to the king. he had repeatedly refused enormous offers if he would forsake the cause of the republic. the king of france was ever ready to tempt him with bribes, such as had proved most efficacious with men as highly born and as highly placed as a cadet of the house of orange-nassau. but there is no record that jeannin assailed him at this crisis with such temptations, although it has not been pretended that the prince was obdurate to the influence of mammon when that deity could be openly approached. that maurice loved power, pelf, and war, can hardly be denied. that he had a mounting ambition; that he thought a monarchy founded upon the historical institutions and charters of the provinces might be better than the burgher-aristocracy which, under the lead of barneveld, was establishing itself in the country; that he knew no candidate so eligible for such a throne as his father's son, all this is highly probable and scarcely surprising. but that such sentiments or aspirations caused him to swerve the ninth part of a hair from what he considered the direct path of duty; that he determined to fight out the great fight with spain and rome until the states were free in form, in name, and in fact; only that he might then usurp a sovereignty which would otherwise revert to philip of spain or be snatched by henry of navarre--of all this there is no proof whatever. the language of lewis william to the provinces under his government was quite as vigorous as the appeals of maurice. during the brief interval remaining before the commissioners should comply with the demands of the states or take their departure, the press throughout the netherlands was most active. pamphlets fell thick as hail. the peace party and the war party contended with each other, over all the territory of the provinces, as vigorously as the troops of fuentes or bucquoy had ever battled with the columns of bax and meetkerke. the types of blaauw and plantin were as effective during the brief armistice, as pike and arquebus in the field, but unfortunately they were used by netherlanders against each other. as a matter of course, each party impeached the motives as well as the actions of its antagonist. the adherents of the advocate accused the stadholder of desiring the continuance of the war for personal aims. they averred that six thousand men for guarding the rivers would be necessary, in addition to the forty-five thousand men, now kept constantly on foot. they placed the requisite monthly expenses, if hostilities were resumed, at , florins, while they pointed to the , , of debt over and above the , , due to the british crown, as a burthen under which the republic could scarcely stagger much longer. such figures seem modest enough, as the price of a war of independence. familiar with the gigantic budgets of our own day, we listen with something like wonder, now that two centuries and a half have passed, to the fierce denunciations by the war party of these figures as wilful fictions. science has made in that interval such gigantic strides. the awful intellect of man may at last make war impossible for his physical strength. he can forge but cannot wield the hammer of thor; nor has science yet discovered the philosopher's stone. without it, what exchequer can accept chronic warfare and escape bankruptcy? after what has been witnessed in these latest days, the sieges and battles of that distant epoch seem like the fights of pigmies and cranes. already an eighty years' war, such as once was waged, has become inconceivable. let two more centuries pass away, and perhaps a three weeks' campaign may exhaust an empire. meantime the war of words continued. a proclamation with penalties was issued by the states against the epidemic plague of pamphlets or "blue- books," as those publications were called in holland, but with little result. it was not deemed consistent with liberty by those republicans to put chains on the press because its utterances might occasionally be distasteful to magistrates. the writers, printers, and sellers of the "blue-books" remained unpunished and snapped their fingers at the placard. we have seen the strenuous exertions of the nassaus and their adherents by public appeals and private conversation to defeat all schemes of truce. the people were stirred by the eloquence of the two stadholders. they were stung to fury against spain and against barneveld by the waspish effusions of the daily press. the magistrates remained calm, and took part by considerable majorities with barneveld. that statesman, while exercising almost autocratic influence in the estates, became more and more odious to the humbler classes, to the nassaus, and especially to the calvinist clergy. he was denounced, as a papist, an atheist, a traitor, because striving for an honourable peace with the foe, and because admitting the possibility of more than one road to the kingdom of heaven. to doubt the infallibility of calvin was as heinous a crime, in the eyes of his accusers, as to kneel to the host. peter titelmann, half a century earlier, dripping with the blood of a thousand martyrs, seemed hardly a more loathsome object to all netherlanders than the advocate now appeared to his political enemies, thus daring to preach religious toleration, and boasting of, humble ignorance as the safest creed. alas! we must always have something to persecute, and individual man is never so convinced of his own wisdom as when dealing with subjects beyond human comprehension. unfortunately, however, while the great advocate was clear in his conscience he had scarcely clean hands. he had very recently accepted a present of twenty thousand florins from the king of france. that this was a bribe by which his services were to be purchased for a cause not in harmony with his own convictions it would be unjust to say. we of a later generation, who have had the advantage of looking through the portfolio of president jeannin, and of learning the secret intentions of that diplomatist and of his master, can fully understand however that there was more than sufficient cause at the time for suspecting the purity of the great advocate's conduct. we are perfectly aware that the secret instructions of henry gave his plenipotentiaries almost unlimited power to buy up as many influential personages in the netherlands as could be purchased. so they would assist in making the king master of the united provinces at the proper moment there was scarcely any price that he was not willing to pay. especially prince maurice, his cousin, and the advocate of holland, were to be secured by life pensions, property, offices, and dignities, all which jeannin might offer to an almost unlimited amount, if by such means those great personages could possibly be induced to perform the king's work. there is no record that the president ever held out such baits at this epoch to the prince. there could never be a doubt however in any one's mind that if the political chief of the orange-nassau house ever wished to make himself the instrument by which france should supplant spain in the tyranny of the netherlands, he might always name his own price. jeannin never insulted him with any such trading propositions. as for barneveld, he avowed long years afterwards that he had accepted the twenty thousand florins, and that the king had expressly exacted secrecy in regard to the transaction. he declared however that the money was a reward for public services rendered by him to the french government ten years before, in the course of his mission to france at the time of the peace of vervins. the reward had been promised in , and the pledge was fulfilled in . in accepting wages fairly earned, however, he protested that he had bound himself to no dishonourable service, and that he had never exchanged a word with jeannin or with any man in regard to securing for henry the sovereignty of the netherlands. his friends moreover maintained in his defence that there were no laws in the netherlands forbidding citizens to accept presents or pensions from foreign powers. such an excuse was as bad as the accusation. woe to the republic whose citizens require laws to prevent them from becoming stipendiaries of foreign potentates! if public virtue, the only foundation of republican institutions, be so far washed away that laws in this regard are necessary to save it from complete destruction, then already the republic is impossible. many who bore illustrious names, and occupied the highest social positions at, that day in france, england, and the obedient provinces, were as venal as cattle at a fair. philip and henry had bought them over and over again, whenever either was rich enough to purchase and strong enough to enforce the terms of sale. bribes were taken with both hands in overflowing measure; the difficulty was only in obtaining the work for the wage. but it would have been humiliating beyond expression had the new commonwealth, after passing through the fiery furnace of its great war, proved no purer than leading monarchies at a most corrupt epoch. it was no wonder therefore that men sought to wipe off the stain from the reputation of barneveld, and it is at least a solace that there was no proof of his ever rendering, or ever having agreed to render, services inconsistent with his convictions as to the best interests of the commonwealth. it is sufficiently grave that he knew the colour of the king's money, and that in a momentous crisis of history he accepted a reward for former professional services, and that the broker in the transaction, president jeannin, seriously charged him by henry's orders to keep the matter secret. it would be still more dismal if jeannin, in his private letters, had ever intimated to villeroy or his master that he considered it a mercantile transaction, or if any effort had ever been made by the advocate to help henry to the batavian throne. this however is not the case. in truth, neither maurice nor barneveld was likely to assist the french king in his intrigues against the independence of their fatherland. both had higher objects of ambition than to become the humble and well-paid servants of a foreign potentate. the stadholder doubtless dreamed of a crown which might have been his father's, and which his own illustrious services might be supposed to have earned for himself. if that tempting prize were more likely to be gained by a continuance of the war, it is none the less certain that he considered peace, and still more truce, as fatal to the independence of the provinces. the advocate, on the other hand, loved his country well. perhaps he loved power even better. to govern the city magistracies of holland, through them the provincial estates; and through them again the states- general of the whole commonwealth; as first citizen of a republic to wield; the powers of a king; as statesman, diplomatist, and financier, to create a mighty empire out of those slender and but recently emancipated provinces of spain, was a more flattering prospect for a man of large intellect, iron will, and infinite resources, than to sink into the contemptible position of stipendiary to a foreign master. he foresaw change, growth, transformation in the existing condition of things. those great corporations the east and west india companies were already producing a new organism out of the political and commercial chaos which had been so long brooding over civilization. visions of an imperial zone extending from the little batavian island around the earth, a chain of forts and factories dotting the newly-discovered and yet undiscovered points of vantage, on island or promontory, in every sea; a watery, nebulous, yet most substantial empire--not fantastic, but practical--not picturesque and mediaeval, but modern and lucrative--a world-wide commonwealth with a half-submerged metropolis, which should rule the ocean with its own fleets and, like venice and florence, job its land wars with mercenary armies--all these dreams were not the cloudy pageant of a poet but the practical schemes of a great creative mind. they were destined to become reality. had the geographical conditions been originally more favourable than they were, had nature been less a stepmother to the metropolis of the rising batavian realm, the creation might have been more durable. barneveld, and the men who acted with him, comprehended their age, and with slender materials were prepared to do great things. they did not look very far perhaps into futurity, but they saw the vast changes already taking place, and felt the throb of forces actually at work. the days were gone when the iron-clad man on horseback conquered a kingdom with his single hand. doubtless there is more of poetry and romance in his deeds than in the achievements of the counting-house aristocracy, the hierarchy of joint-stock corporations that was taking the lead in the world's affairs. enlarged views of the social compact and of human liberty, as compared with those which later generations ought to take, standing upon the graves, heaped up mountains high, of their predecessors, could hardly be expected of them. but they knew how to do the work before them. they had been able to smite a foreign and sacerdotal tyranny into the dust at the expense of more blood and more treasure, and with sacrifices continued through a longer cycle of years, than had ever been recorded by history. thus the advocate believed that the chief fruits of the war--political independence, religious liberty, commercial expansion--could be now secured by diplomacy, and that a truce could be so handled as to become equivalent to a peace. he required no bribes therefore to labour for that which he believed to be for his own interests and for those of the country. first citizen of holland, perpetual chairman of a board of ambitious shopkeepers who purposed to dictate laws to the world from their counting-house table, with an unerring eye for the interests of the commonwealth and his own, with much vision, extraordinary eloquence, and a magnificent will, he is as good a sample of a great burgher--an imposing not a heroic figure--as the times had seen. a vast stride had been taken in the world's progress. even monopoly was freedom compared to the sloth and ignorance of an earlier epoch and of other lands, and although the days were still far distant when the earth was to belong to mankind, yet the modern republic was leading, half unconsciously, to a period of wider liberty of government, commerce, and above all of thought. meantime, the period assigned for the departure of the spanish commissioners, unless they brought a satisfactory communication from the king, was rapidly approaching. on the th september verreyken returned from brussels, but it was soon known that he came empty handed. he informed the french and english ambassadors that the archdukes, on their own responsibility, now suggested the conclusion of a truce of seven years for europe only. this was to be negotiated with the states-general as with free people, over whom no pretensions of authority were made, and the hope was expressed that the king would give his consent to this arrangement. the ambassadors naturally refused to carry the message to the states. to make themselves the mouthpieces of such childish suggestions was to bring themselves and their masters into contempt. there had been trifling enough, and even jeannin saw that the storm of indignation about to burst forth would be irresistible. there was no need of any attempt on the part of the commissioners to prolong their stay if this was the result of the fifteen days' grace which had so reluctantly been conceded to them. to express a hope that the king might perhaps give his future approval to a proceeding for which his signed and sealed consent had been exacted as an indispensable preliminary, was carrying effrontery further than had yet been attempted in these amazing negotiations. prince maurice once more addressed the cities of holland, giving vent to his wrath in language with which there was now more sympathy than there had been before. "verreyken has come back," he said, "not with a signature, but with a hope. the longer the enemy remains in the country the more he goes back from what he had originally promised. he is seeking for nothing more than, in this cheating way and in this pretence of waiting for the king's consent--which we have been expecting now for more than eighteen months--to continue the ruinous armistice. thus he keeps the country in a perpetual uncertainty, the only possible consequence of which is our complete destruction. we adjure you therefore to send a resolution in conformity with our late address, in order that through these tricks and snares the fatherland may not fall into the clutch of the enemy, and thus into eternal and intolerable slavery. god save us all from such a fate!" neither barneveld nor jeannin attempted to struggle against the almost general indignation. the deputies of zeeland withdrew from the assembly of the states-general, protesting that they would never appear there again so long as the spanish commissioners remained in the country. the door was opened wide, and it was plain that those functionaries must take their departure. pride would not allow them to ask permission of the states to remain, although they intimated to the ambassadors their intense desire to linger for ten or twelve days longer. this was obviously inadmissible, and on the th september they appeared before the assembly to take leave. there were but three of them, the genoese, the spaniard, and the burgundian--spinola, mancicidor; and richardot. of the two netherlanders, brother john was still in spain, and verreyken found it convenient that day to have a lame leg. president richardot, standing majestically before the states-general, with his robes wrapped around his tall, spare form, made a solemn farewell speech of mingled sorrow, pity, and the resentment of injured innocence. they had come to the hague, he said, sent by the king of spain and the archdukes to treat for a good and substantial peace, according to the honest intention of his majesty and their highnesses. to this end they had sincerely and faithfully dealt with the gentlemen deputed for that purpose by their high mightinesses the states, doing everything they could think of to further the cause of peace. they lamented that the issue had not been such as they had hoped, notwithstanding that the king and archdukes had so far derogated from their reputation as to send their commissioners into the united netherlands, it having been easy enough to arrange for negotiations on other soil. it had been their wish thus to prove to the world how straightforward were their intentions by not requiring the states to send deputies to them. they had accorded the first point in the negotiations, touching the free state of the country. their high mightinesses had taken offence upon the second, regarding the restoration of religion in the united provinces. thereupon the father commissary had gone to spain, and had remained longer than was agreeable. nevertheless, they had meantime treated of other points. coming back at last to the point of religion, the states-general had taken a resolution, and had given them their dismissal, without being willing to hear a word more, or to make a single proposition of moderation or accommodation. he could not refrain from saying that the commissioners had been treated roughly. their high mightinesses had fixed the time for their dismissal more precisely than one would do with a servant who was discharged for misconduct; for the lackey, if he asked for it, would be allowed at least a day longer to pack his trunk for the journey. they protested before god and the assembly of the states that the king and princes had meant most sincerely, and had dealt with all roundness and sincerity. they at least remained innocent of all the disasters and calamities to come from the war. "as for myself," said richardot, "i am no prophet, nor the son of a prophet; yet i will venture the prediction to you, my lords the states- general, that you will bitterly rue it that you did not embrace the peace thus presented, and which you might have had. the blood which is destined to flow, now that you have scorned our plan of reconciliation, will be not on our heads but your own." barneveld replied by temperately but firmly repelling the charges brought against the states in this artful oration of the president. they had proceeded in the most straightforward manner, never permitting themselves to enter into negotiations except on the preliminary condition that their freedom should be once for all conceded and recognised. "you and you only," he continued, "are to bear the blame that peace has not been concluded; you who have not been willing or not been able to keep your promises. one might, with better reason, hold you guilty of all the bloodshed; you whose edicts, bloodier and more savage than war itself, long, ago forced these provinces into the inevitable necessity of waging war; you whose cruelty, but yesterday exercised on the crews of defenceless and innocent merchantmen and fishing-vessels, has been fully exhibited to the world." spinola's countenance betrayed much emotion as he listened to the exchange of bitter recriminations which took place on this farewell colloquy. it was obvious that the brave and accomplished soldier honestly lamented the failure of the attempt to end the war. but the rupture was absolute. the marquis and the president dined that day with prince maurice, by whom they were afterwards courteously accompanied a part of the way on their journey to brussels. thus ended the comedy which had lasted nearly two years. the dismal leave-taking, as the curtain fell, was not as, entertaining to the public outside as the dramatic meeting between maurice and spinola had been at the opening scene near ryswyk. there was no populace to throw up their hats for the departing guests. from the winter's night in which the subtle franciscan had first stolen into the prince's cabinet down to this autumn evening, not a step of real progress could be recorded as the result of the intolerable quantity of speech-making and quill-driving. there were boat-loads of documents, protocols, and notes, drowsy and stagnant as the canals on which they were floated off towards their tombs in the various archives. peace to the dust which we have not wantonly disturbed, believing it to be wholesome for the cause of human progress that the art of ruling the world by doing nothing, as practised some centuries since, should once and again be exhibited. not in vain do we listen to those long-bearded, venerable, very tedious old presidents, advocates, and friars of orders gray, in their high ruffs, taffety robes or gowns of frieze, as they squeak and gibber, for a fleeting moment, to a world which knew them not. it is something to learn that grave statesmen, kings, generals, and presidents could negotiate for two years long; and that the only result should be the distinction between a conjunction, a preposition, and an adverb. that the provinces should be held as free states, not for free states--that they should be free in similitude, not in substance--thus much and no more had been accomplished. and now to all appearance every chance of negotiation was gone. the half-century war, after this brief breathing space, was to be renewed for another century or so, and more furiously than ever. so thought the public. so meant prince maurice. richardot and jeannin knew better. the departure of the commissioners was recorded upon the register of the resolutions of holland, with the ominous note: "god grant that they may not have sown, evil seed here; the effects of which will one day be visible in the ruin of this commonwealth." hardly were the backs of the commissioners turned, before the indefatigable jeannin was ready with his scheme for repatching the rupture. he was at first anxious that the deputies of zeeland should be summoned again, now that the country was rid of the spaniards. prince maurice, however, was wrathful when the president began to talk once more of truce. the proposition, he said, was simply the expression of a wish to destroy the state. holland and zeeland would never agree to any such measure, and they would find means to compel the other provinces to follow their example. if there were but three or four cities in the whole country to reject the truce, he would, with their assistance alone, defend the freedom of the republic, or at least die an honourable death in its defence. this at least would be better than after a few months to become slaves of spain. such a result was the object of those who began this work, but he would resist it at the peril of his life. a singular incident now seemed to justify the wrath of the stadholder, and to be likely to strengthen his party. young count john of nassau happened to take possession of the apartments in goswyn meursken's hostelry at the hague, just vacated by richardot. in the drawer of a writing-table was found a document, evidently left there by the president. this paper was handed by count john to his cousin, frederic henry, who at once delivered it to his brother maurice. the prince produced it in the assembly of the states-general, members from each province were furnished with a copy of it within two or three hours, and it was soon afterwards printed, and published. the document, being nothing less than the original secret instructions of the archdukes to their commissioners, was naturally read with intense interest by the states-general, by the foreign envoys, and by the general public. it appeared, from an inspection of the paper, that the commissioners had been told that, if they should find the french, english, and danish ambassadors desirous of being present at the negotiations for the treaty, they were to exclude them from all direct participation in the proceedings. they were to do this however so sweetly and courteously that it would be impossible for those diplomats to take offence or to imagine themselves distrusted. on the contrary, the states-general were to be informed that their communication in private on the general subject with the ambassadors was approved by the archdukes, because they believed the sovereigns of france, england, and denmark, their sincere and affectionate friends. the commissioners were instructed to domesticate themselves as much as possible with president jeannin and to manifest the utmost confidence in his good intentions. they were to take the same course with the english envoys, but in more general terms, and were very discreetly to communicate to them whatever they already knew, and, on the other hand, carefully to conceal from them all that was still a secret. they were distinctly told to make the point of the catholic religion first and foremost in the negotiations; the arguments showing the indispensable necessity of securing its public exercise in the united provinces being drawn up with considerable detail. they were to insist that the republic should absolutely renounce the trade with the east and west indies, and should pledge itself to chastise such of its citizens as might dare to undertake those voyages, as disturbers of the peace and enemies of the public repose, whether they went to the indies in person or associated themselves with men of other nations for that purpose, under any pretext whatever. when these points, together with many matters of detail less difficult of adjustment, had been satisfactorily settled, the commissioners were to suggest measures of union for the common defence between the united and the obedient provinces. this matter was to be broached very gently. "in the sweetest terms possible," it was to be hinted that the whole body of the netherlanders could protect itself against every enemy, but if dismembered as it was about to be, neither the one portion nor the ocher would be safe. the commissioners were therefore to request the offer of some proposition from the states-general for the common defence. in case they remained silent, however, then the commissioners were to declare that the archdukes had no wish to speak of sovereignty over the united provinces, however limited. "having once given them that morsel to swallow," said their highnesses, "we have nothing of the kind in our thoughts. but if they reflect, it is possible that they may see fit to take us for protectors." the scheme was to be managed with great discreetness and delicacy, and accomplished by hook or by crook, if the means could be found. "you need not be scrupulous as to the form or law of protection, provided the name of protector can be obtained," continued the archdukes. at least the greatest pains were to be taken that the two sections of the netherlands might remain friends. "we are in great danger unless we rely upon each other," it was urged. "but touch this chord very gently, lest the french and english hearing of it suspect some design to injure them. at least we may each mutually agree to chastise such of our respective subjects as may venture to make any alliance with the enemies of the other." it was much disputed whether these instructions had been left purposely or by accident in the table-drawer. jeannin could not make up his mind whether it was a trick or not, and the vociferous lamentations of richardot upon his misfortunes made little impression upon his mind. he had small confidence in any austerity of principle on the part of his former fellow-leaguer that would prevent him from leaving the document by stealth, and then protesting that he had been foully wronged by its coming to light. on the whole, he was inclined to think, however, that the paper had been stolen from him. barneveld, after much inquiry, was convinced that it had been left in the drawer by accident. richardot himself manifested rage and dismay when he found that a paper, left by chance in his lodgings, had been published by the states. such a proceeding was a violation, he exclaimed, of the laws of hospitality. with equal justice, he declared it to be an offence against the religious respect due to ambassadors, whose persons and property were sacred in foreign countries. "decency required the states," he said, "to send the document back to him, instead of showing it as a trophy, and he was ready to die of shame and vexation at the unlucky incident." few honourable men will disagree with him in these complaints, although many contemporaries obstinately refused to believe that the crafty and experienced diplomatist could have so carelessly left about his most important archives. he was generally thought by those who had most dealt with him, to prefer, on principle, a crooked path to a straight one. "'tis a mischievous old monkey," said villeroy on another occasion, "that likes always to turn its tail instead of going directly to the purpose." the archduke, however, was very indulgent to his plenipotentiary. "my good master," said the, president, "so soon as he learned the loss of that accursed paper, benignantly consoled, instead of chastising me; and, after having looked over the draught, was glad that the accident had happened; for thus his sincerity had been proved, and those who sought profit by the trick had been confounded." on the other hand, what good could it do to the cause of peace, that these wonderful instructions should be published throughout the republic? they might almost seem a fiction, invented by the war party to inspire a general disgust for any further negotiation. every loyal netherlander would necessarily be qualmish at the word peace, now that the whole design of the spanish party was disclosed. the public exercise of the roman religion was now known to be the indispensable condition--first, last, and always--to any possible peace. every citizen of the republic was to be whipped out of the east and west indies, should he dare to show his face in those regions. the states- general, while swallowing the crumb of sovereignty vouchsafed by the archdukes, were to accept them as protectors, in order not to fall a prey to the enemies whom they imagined to be their friends. what could be more hopeless than such negotiations? what more dreary than the perpetual efforts of two lines to approach each other which were mathematically incapable of meeting? that the young republic, conscious of her daily growing strength, should now seek refuge from her nobly won independence in the protectorate of albert, who was himself the vassal of philip, was an idea almost inconceivable to the dutch mind. yet so impossible was it for the archdukes to put themselves into human relations with this new and popular government, that in the inmost recesses of their breasts they actually believed themselves, when making the offer, to be performing a noble act of christian charity. the efforts of jeannin and of the english ambassador were now unremitting, and thoroughly seconded by barneveld. maurice was almost at daggers drawn, not only with the advocate but with the foreign envoys. sir ralph winwood, who had, in virtue of the old treaty arrangements with england, a seat in the state-council at the hague, and who was a man of a somewhat rough and insolent deportment, took occasion at a session of that body, when the prince was present, to urge the necessity of at once resuming the ruptured negotiations. the king of great britain; he said, only recommended a course which he was himself always ready to pursue. hostilities which were necessary, and no others, were just. such, and such only, could be favoured by god or by pious kings. but wars were not necessary which could be honourably avoided. a truce was not to be despised, by which religious liberty and commerce were secured, and it was not the part of wisdom to plunge into all the horrors of immediate war in order to escape distant and problematical dangers; that might arise when the truce should come to an end. if a truce were now made, the kings of both france and england would be guarantees for its faithful observance. they would take care that no wrong or affront was offered to the states-general. maurice replied, with a sneer, to these sententious commonplaces derived at second-hand from king james that great kings were often very indifferent to injuries sustained by their friends. moreover, there was an eminent sovereign, he continued, who was even very patient under affronts directly offered to himself. it was not very long since a horrible plot had been discovered to murder the king of england, with his wife, his children, and all the great personages of the realm. that this great crime had been attempted under the immediate instigation of the king of spain was notorious to the whole world, and certainly no secret to king james. yet his britannic majesty had made haste to exonerate the great criminal from all complicity in the crime; and had ever since been fawning upon the catholic king, and hankering for a family alliance with him. conduct like this the prince denounced in plain terms as cringing and cowardly, and expressed the opinion that guarantees of dutch independence from such a monarch could hardly be thought very valuable. these were terrible words for the representative of james to have hurled in his face in full council by the foremost personage of the republic winwood fell into a furious passion, and of course there was a violent scene, with much subsequent protesting and protocolling. the british king insisted that the prince should make public amends for the insult, and maurice firmly refused to do anything of the kind. the matter was subsequently arranged by some amicable concessions made by the prince in a private letter to james, but there remained for the time a abate of alienation between england and the republic, at which the french sincerely rejoiced. the incident, however, sufficiently shows the point of exasperation which the prince had reached, for, although choleric, he was a reasonable man, and it was only because the whole course of the negotiations had offended his sense of honour and of right that he had at last been driven quite beyond self-control. on the th of october, the envoys of france, england, denmark, and of the elector palatine, the elector of brandeburg, and other german princes, came before the states-general. jeannin, in the name of all these foreign ministers, made a speech warmly recommending the truce. he repelled the insinuation that the measure proposed had been brought about by the artifices of the enemy, and was therefore odious. on the contrary, it was originated by himself and the other good friends of the republic. in his opinion, the terms of the suggested truce contained sufficient guarantees for the liberty of the provinces, not only during the truce, but for ever. no stronger recognition of their independence could be expected than the one given. it was entirely without example, argued the president, that in similar changes brought about by force of arms, sovereigns after having been despoiled of their states have been compelled to abandon their rights shamefully by a public confession, unless they had absolutely fallen into the hands of their enemies and were completely at their mercy. "yet the princes who made this great concession," continued jeannin, "are not lying vanquished at your feet, nor reduced by dire necessity to yield what they have yielded." he reminded the assembly that the swiss enjoyed at that moment their liberty in virtue of a simple truce, without ever having obtained from their former sovereign a declaration such as was now offered to the united provinces. the president argued, moreover, with much force and acuteness that it was beneath the dignity of the states, and inconsistent with their consciousness of strength, to lay so much stress on the phraseology by which their liberty was recognised. that freedom had been won by the sword, and would be maintained against all the world by the sword. "in truth," said the orator, "you do wrong to your liberty by calling it so often in doubt, and in claiming with so much contentious anxiety from your enemies a title-deed for your independence. you hold it by your own public decree. in virtue of that decree, confirmed by the success of your arms, you have enjoyed it long. nor could anything obtained from your enemies be of use to you if those same arms with which you gained your liberty could not still preserve it for you." therefore, in the opinion of the president, this persistence in demanding a more explicit and unlimited recognition of independence was only a pretext for continuing the war, ingeniously used by those who hated peace. addressing himself more particularly to the celebrated circular letter of prince maurice against the truce, the president maintained that the liberty of the republic was as much acknowledged in the proposed articles as if the words "for ever" had been added. "to acknowledge liberty is an act which, by its very nature, admits of no conditions," he observed, with considerable force. the president proceeded to say that in the original negotiations the qualifications obtained had seemed to him enough. as there was an ardent desire, however, on the part of many for a more explicit phraseology, as something necessary to the public safety, he had thought it worth attempting. "we all rejoiced when you obtained it," continued jeannin, "but not when they agreed to renounce the names, titles, and arms of the united provinces; for that seemed to us shameful for them beyond all example. that princes should make concessions so entirely unworthy of their grandeur, excited at once our suspicion, for we could not imagine the cause of an offer so specious. we have since found out the reason." the archdukes being unable, accordingly, to obtain for the truce those specious conditions which spain had originally pretended to yield, it was the opinion of the old diplomatist that the king should be permitted to wear the paste substitutes about which so many idle words had been wasted. it would be better, he thought, for the states to be contented with what was precious and substantial, and not to lose the occasion of making a good treaty of truce, which was sure to be converted with time into an absolute peace. "it is certain," he said, "that the princes with whom you are treating will never go to law with you to get an exposition of the article in question. after the truce has expired, they will go to war with you if you like, but they will not trouble themselves to declare whether they are fighting you as rebels or as enemies, nor will it very much signify. if their arms are successful, they will give you no explanations. if you are the conquerors, they will receive none. the fortune of war will be the supreme judge to decide the dispute; not the words of a treaty. those words are always interpreted to the disadvantage of the weak and the vanquished, although they may be so perfectly clear that no man could doubt them; never to the prejudice of those who have proved the validity of their rights by the strength of their arms." this honest, straightforward cynicism, coming from the lips of one of the most experienced diplomatists of europe, was difficult to gainsay. speaking as one having authority, the president told the states-general in full assembly, that there was no law in christendom, as between nations, but the good old fist-law, the code of brute force. two centuries and a half have rolled by since that oration was pronounced, and the world has made immense progress in science during that period. but there is still room for improvement in this regard in the law of nations. certainly there is now a little more reluctance to come so nakedly before the world. but has the cause of modesty or humanity gained very much by the decorous fig-leaves of modern diplomacy? the president alluded also to the ungrounded fears that bribery and corruption would be able to effect much, during the truce, towards the reduction of the provinces under their repudiated sovereign. after all, it was difficult to buy up a whole people. in a commonwealth, where the people was sovereign, and the persons of the magistrates ever changing, those little comfortable commercial operations could not be managed so easily as in civilized realms like france and england. the old leaguer thought with pensive regret, no doubt, of the hard, but still profitable bargains by which the guises and mayennes and mercoeurs, and a few hundred of their noble adherents, had been brought over to the cause of the king. he sighed at the more recent memories of the marquis de rosny's embassy in england, and his largess scattered broadcast among the great english lords. it would be of little use he foresaw--although the instructions of henry were in his portfolio, giving him almost unlimited powers to buy up everybody in the netherlands that could be bought--to attempt that kind of traffic on a large scale in the netherlands. those republicans were greedy enough about the navigation to the east and west indies, and were very litigious about the claim of spain to put up railings around the ocean as her private lake, but they were less keen than were their more polished contemporaries for the trade in human souls. "when we consider, "said jeannin, "the constitution of your state, and that to corrupt a few people among you does no good at all, because the, frequent change of magistracies takes away the means of gaining over many of them at the same time, capable by a long duration of their power to conduct an intrigue against the commonwealth, this fear must appear wholly vain." and then the old leaguer, who had always refused bribes himself, although he had negotiated much bribery of others, warmed into sincere eloquence as he spoke of the simple virtues on which the little republic, as should be the case with all republics, was founded. he did homage to the dutch love of liberty. "remember," he said, "the love of liberty which is engraved in the hearts of all your inhabitants, and that there are few persons now living who were born in the days of the ancient subjection, or who have not been nourished and brought up for so long a time in liberty that they have a horror for the very name of servitude. you will then feel that there is not one man in your commonwealth who would wish or dare to open his mouth to bring you back to subjection, without being in danger of instant punishment as a traitor to his country." he again reminded his hearers that the swiss had concluded a long and perilous war with their ancient masters by a simple truce, during which they had established so good a government that they were never more attacked. honest republican principles, and readiness at any moment to defend dearly won liberties, had combined with geographical advantages to secure the national independence of switzerland. jeannin paid full tribute to the maritime supremacy of the republic. "you may have as much good fortune," he said, "as the swiss, if you are wise. you have the ocean at your side, great navigable rivers enclosing you in every direction, a multitude of ships, with sailors, pilots, and seafaring men of every description, who are the very best soldiers in battles at sea to be found in christendom. with these you will preserve your military vigour and your habits of navigation, the long voyages to which you are accustomed continuing as usual. and such is the kind of soldiers you require. as for auxiliaries, should you need them you know where to find them." the president implored the states-general accordingly to pay no attention to the writings which were circulated among the people to prejudice them against the truce. this was aimed directly at the stadholder, who had been making so many direct personal appeals to the people, and who was now the more incensed, recognising the taunt of the president as an arrow taken from barneveld's quiver. there had long ceased to be any communication between the prince and the advocate, and maurice made no secret of his bitter animosity both to barneveld and to jeannin. he hesitated on no occasion to denounce the advocate as travelling straight on the road to spain, and although he was not aware of the twenty thousand florins recently presented by the french king, he had accustomed himself, with the enormous exaggeration of party spirit, to look upon the first statesman of his country and of europe as a traitor to the republic and a tool of the archdukes. as we look back upon those passionate days, we cannot but be appalled at the depths to which theological hatred could descend. on the very morning after the session of the assembly in which jeannin had been making his great speech, and denouncing the practice of secret and incendiary publication, three remarkable letters were found on the doorstep of a house in the hague. one was addressed to the states- general, another to the mates of holland, and a third to the burgomaster of amsterdam. in all these documents, the advocate was denounced as an infamous traitor, who was secretly intriguing to bring about a truce for the purpose of handing over the commonwealth to the enemy. a shameful death, it was added, would be his fitting reward. these letters were read in the assembly of the states-general, and created great wrath among the friends of barneveld. even maurice expressed indignation, and favoured a search for the anonymous author, in order that he might be severely punished. it seems strange enough that anonymous letters picked up in the street should have been deemed a worthy theme of discussion before their high mightinesses the states-general. moreover, it was raining pamphlets and libels against barneveld and his supporters every day, and the stories which grave burghers and pious elders went about telling to each other, and to everybody who would listen to them, about the advocate's depravity, were wonderful to hear. at the end of september, just before the spanish commissioners left the hague, a sledge of the kind used in the dutch cities as drays stopped before barneveld's front-door one fine morning, and deposited several large baskets, filled with money, sent by the envoys for defraying certain expenses of forage, hire of servants, and the like, incurred by them during their sojourn at the hague, and disbursed by the states. the sledge, with its contents, was at once sent by order of the advocate, under guidance of commissary john spronsen, to the receiver-general of the republic. yet men wagged their beards dismally as they whispered this fresh proof of barneveld's venality. as if spinola and his colleagues were such blunderers in bribing as to send bushel baskets full of spanish dollars on a sledge, in broad daylight, to the house of a great statesman whom they meant to purchase, expecting doubtless a receipt in full to be brought back by the drayman! well might the advocate say at a later moment, in the bitterness of his spirit, that his enemies, not satisfied with piercing his heart with their false, injurious and honour-filching libels and stories, were determined to break it. "he begged god almighty," he said, "to be merciful to him, and to judge righteously between him and them." party spirit has rarely run higher in any commonwealth than in holland during these memorable debates concerning a truce. yet the leaders both of the war party and the truce party were doubtless pure, determined patriots, seeking their country's good with all their souls and strength. maurice answered the discourse of jeannin by a second and very elaborate letter. in this circular, addressed to the magistracies of holland, he urged his countrymen once more with arguments already employed by him, and in more strenuous language than ever, to beware of a truce even more than of a peace, and warned them not to swerve by a hair's breadth from the formula in regard to the sovereignty agreed upon at the very beginning of the negotiations. to this document was appended a paper of considerations, drawn up by maurice and lewis william, in refutation, point by point, of all the arguments of president jeannin in his late discourse. it is not necessary to do more than allude to these documents, which were marked by the close reasoning and fiery spirit which characterized all the appeals of the prince and his cousin at this period, because the time had now come which comes to all controversies when argument is exhausted and either action or compromise begins. meantime, barneveld, stung almost to madness by the poisonous though ephemeral libels which buzzed so perpetually about him, had at last resolved to retire from the public service. he had been so steadily denounced as being burthensome to his superiors in birth by the power which he had acquired, and to have shot up so far above the heads of his equals; that he felt disposed to withdraw from a field where his presence was becoming odious. his enemies, of course, considered this determination a trick by which he merely wished to prove to the country how indispensable he was, and to gain a fresh lease of his almost unlimited power by the alarm which his proposed abdication would produce. certainly, however, if it were a trick, and he were not indispensable, it was easy enough to prove it and to punish him by taking him at his word. on the morning after the anonymous letters had been found in the street he came into the house of assembly and made a short speech. he spoke simply of his thirty-one years of service, during which he believed himself to have done his best for the good of the fatherland and for the welfare of the house of nassau. he had been ready thus to go on to the end, but he saw himself environed by enemies, and felt that his usefulness had been destroyed. he wished, therefore, in the interest of the country, not from any fear for himself, to withdraw from the storm, and for a time at least to remain in retirement. the displeasure and hatred of the great were nothing new to him, he said. he had never shrunk from peril when he could serve his fatherland; for against all calumnies and all accidents he had worn the armour of a quiet conscience. but he now saw that the truce, in itself an unpleasant affair, was made still more odious by the hatred felt towards him. he begged the provinces, therefore, to select another servant less hated than himself to provide for the public welfare. having said these few words with the dignity which was natural to him he calmly walked out of the assembly house. the personal friends of barneveld and the whole truce party were in consternation. even the enemies of the advocate shrank appalled at the prospect of losing the services of the foremost statesman of the commonwealth at this critical juncture. there was a brief and animated discussion as soon as his back was turned. its result was the appointment of a committee of five to wait upon barneveld and solemnly to request him to reconsider his decision. their efforts were successful. after a satisfactory interview with the committee he resumed his functions with greater authority than ever. of course there were not wanting many to whisper that the whole proceeding had been a comedy, and that barneveld would have been more embarrassed than he had ever been in his life had his resignation been seriously accepted. but this is easy to say, and is always said, whenever a statesman who feels himself aggrieved, yet knows himself useful, lays dawn his office. the advocate had been the mark of unceasing and infamous calumnies. he had incurred the deadly hatred of the highest placed, the most powerful, and the most popular man in the commonwealth. he had more than once been obliged to listen to opprobrious language from the prince, and it was even whispered that he had been threatened with personal violence. that maurice was perpetually denouncing him in public and private, as a traitor, a papist, a spanish partisan, was notorious. he had just been held up to the states of the union and of his own province by unknown voices as a criminal worthy of death. was it to be wondered at that a man of sixty, who had passed his youth, manhood, and old age in the service of the republic, and was recognised by all as the ablest, the most experienced, the most indefatigable of her statesmen, should be seriously desirous of abandoning an office which might well seem to him rather a pillory than a post of honour? "as for neighbour barneveld," said recorder aerssens, little dreaming of the foul witness he was to bear against that neighbour at a terrible moment to come, "i do what i can and wish to help him with my blood. he is more courageous than i. i should have sunk long ago, had i been obliged to stand against such tempests. the lord god will, i hope, help him and direct his understanding for the good of all christendom, and for his own honour. if he can steer this ship into a safe harbour we ought to raise a golden statue of him. i should like to contribute my mite to it. he deserves twice much honour, despite all his enemies, of whom he has many rather from envy than from reason. may the lord keep him in health, or it will go hardly with us all." thus spoke some of his grateful countrymen when the advocate was contending at a momentous crisis with storms threatening to overwhelm the republic. alas! where is the golden statue? he believed that the truce was the most advantageous measure that the country could adopt. he believed this with quite as much sincerity as maurice held to his conviction that war was the only policy. in the secret letter of the french ambassador there is not a trace of suspicion as to his fidelity to the commonwealth, not the shadow of proof of the ridiculous accusation that he wished to reduce the provinces to the dominion of spain. jeannin, who had no motive for concealment in his confidential correspondence with his sovereign, always rendered unequivocal homage to the purity and patriotism of the advocate and the prince. he returned to the states-general and to the discharge of his functions as advocate-general of holland. his policy for the time was destined to be triumphant, his influence more extensive than ever. but the end of these calumnies and anonymous charges was not yet. meantime the opposition to the truce was confined to the states of zeeland and two cities of holland. those cities were very important ones, amsterdam and delft, but they were already wavering in their opposition. zeeland stoutly maintained that the treaty of utrecht forbade a decision of the question of peace and war except by a unanimous vote of the whole confederacy. the other five provinces and the friends of the truce began with great vehemence to declare that the question at issue was now changed. it was no longer to be decided whether there should be truce or war with spain, but whether a single member of the confederacy could dictate its law to the other six states. zeeland, on her part, talked loudly of seceding from the union, and setting up for an independent, sovereign commonwealth. she would hardly have been a very powerful one, with her half-dozen cities, one prelate, one nobleman, her hundred thousand burghers at most, bustling and warlike as they were, and her few thousand mariners, although the most terrible fighting men that had ever sailed on blue water. she was destined ere long to abandon her doughty resolution of leaving her sister provinces to their fate. maurice had not slackened in his opposition to the truce, despite the renewed vigour with which barneveld pressed the measure since his return to the public councils. the prince was firmly convinced that the kings of france and england would assist the republic in the war with spain so soon as it should be renewed. his policy had been therefore to force the hand of those sovereigns, especially that of henry, and to induce him to send more stringent instructions to jeannin than those with which he believed him to be furnished. he had accordingly despatched a secret emissary to the french king, supplied with confidential and explicit instructions. this agent was a captain lambert. whether it was "pretty lambert," "dandy lambert"--the vice-admiral who had so much distinguished himself at the great victory of gibraltar--does not distinctly appear. if it were so, that hard-hitting mariner would seem to have gone into action with the french government as energetically as he had done eighteen months before, when, as master of the tiger, he laid himself aboard the spanish admiral and helped send the st. augustine to the bottom. he seemed indisposed to mince matters in diplomacy. he intimated to the king and his ministers that jeannin and his colleagues were pushing the truce at the hague much further and faster than his majesty could possibly approve, and that they were obviously exceeding their instructions. jeannin, who was formerly so much honoured and cherished throughout the republic, was now looked upon askance because of his intimacy with barneveld and his partisans. he assured the king that nearly all the cities of holland, and the whole of zeeland, were entirely agreed with maurice, who would rather die than consent to the proposed truce. the other provinces, added lambert, would be obliged, will ye nill ye, to receive the law from holland and zeeland. maurice, without assistance from france or any other power, would give spain and the archdukes as much exercise as they could take for the next fifty years before he would give up, and had declared that he would rather die sword in hand than basely betray his country by consenting to such a truce. as for barneveld, he was already discovering the blunders which he had made, and was trying to curry favour with maurice. barneveld and both the aprasens were traitors to the state, had become the objects of general hatred and contempt, and were in great danger of losing their lives, or at least of being expelled from office. here was altogether too much zeal on the part of pretty lambert; a quality which, not for the first time, was thus proved to be less useful in diplomatic conferences than in a sea-fight. maurice was obliged to disavow his envoy, and to declare that his secret instructions had never authorized him to hold such language. but the mischief was done. the combustion in the french cabinet was terrible. the dutch admiral had thrown hot shot into the powder-magazine of his friends, and had done no more good by such tactics than might be supposed. such diplomacy was denounced as a mere mixture of "indiscretion and impudence." henry was very wroth, and forthwith indited an imperious letter to his cousin maurice. "lambert's talk to me by your orders," said the king, "has not less astonished than scandalized me. i now learn the new resolution which you have taken, and i observe that you have begun to entertain suspicions as to my will and my counsels on account of the proposition of truce." henry's standing orders to jeannin, as we know, were to offer maurice a pension of almost unlimited amount, together with ample rewards to all such of his adherents as could be purchased, provided they would bring about the incorporation of the united provinces into france. he was therefore full of indignation that the purity of his intentions and the sincerity of his wish for the independence of the republic could be called in question. "people have dared to maliciously invent," he continued, "that i am the enemy of the repose and the liberty of the united provinces, and that i was afraid lest they should acquire the freedom which had been offered them by their enemies, because i derived a profit from their war, and intended in time to deprive them of their liberty. yet these falsehoods and jealousies have not been contradicted by you nor by anyone else, although you know that the proofs of my sincerity and good faith have been entirely without reproach or example. you knew what was said, written, and published everywhere, and i confess that when i knew this malice, and that you had not taken offence at it, i was much amazed and very malcontent." queen elizabeth, in her most waspish moods, had not often lectured the states-general more roundly than henry now lectured his cousin maurice. the king once more alluded to the secret emissary's violent talk, which had so much excited his indignation. "if by weakness and want of means," he said, "you are forced to abandon to your enemies one portion of your country in order to defend the other- as lambert tells me you are resolved to do, rather than agree to the truce without recognition of your sovereignty for ever--i pray you to consider how many accidents and reproaches may befal you. do you suppose that any ally of the states, or of your family, would risk his reputation and his realms in such a game, which would seem to be rather begun in passion and despair than required by reason or necessity?" here certainly was plain speaking enough, and maurice could no longer expect the king for his partner, should he decide to risk once more the bloody hazard of the die. but henry was determined to leave no shade of doubt on the subject. "lambert tells me," he said, "that you would rather perish with arms in your hands than fall shamefully into inevitable ruin by accepting truce. i have been and am of a contrary opinion. perhaps i am mistaken, not knowing as well as you do the constitution of your country and the wishes of your people. but i know the general affairs of christendom better than you do, and i can therefore judge more soundly on the whole matter than you can, and i know that the truce, established and guaranteed as proposed, will bring you more happiness than you can derive from war." thus the king, in the sweeping, slashing way with which he could handle an argument as well as a sword, strode forward in conscious strength, cutting down right and left all opposition to his will. he was determined, once for all, to show the stadholder and his adherents that the friendship of a great king was not to be had by a little republic on easy terms, nor every day. above all, the prince of nassau was not to send a loud-talking, free and easy dutch sea-captain to dictate terms to the king of france and navarre. "lambert tells me"--and maurice might well wish that pretty lambert had been sunk in the bay of gibraltar, tiger and all, before he had been sent on this diplomatic errand, "lambert tells me," continued his majesty, "that you and the states- general would rather that i should remain neutral, and let you make war in your own fashion, than that i should do anything more to push on this truce. my cousin, it would be very easy for me, and perhaps more advantageous for me and my kingdom than you think, if i could give you this satisfaction, whatever might be the result. if i chose to follow this counsel, i am, thanks be to god, in such condition, that i have no neighbour who is not as much in need of me as i can be of him, and who is not glad to seek for and to preserve my friendship. if they should all conspire against me moreover, i can by myself, and with no assistance but heaven's, which never failed me yet, wrestle with them altogether, and fling them all, as some of my royal predecessors have done. know then, that i do not favour war nor truce for the united provinces because of any need i may have of the one or the other for the defence of my own sceptre. the counsels and the succours, which you have so largely received from me, were given because of my consideration for the good of the states, and of yourself in particular, whom i have always favoured and cherished, as i have done others of your house on many occasions." the king concluded his lecture by saying, that after his ambassadors had fulfilled their promise, and had spoken the last word of their master at the hague, he should leave maurice and the states to do as they liked. "but i desire," he said, "that you and the states should not do that wrong to yourselves or to me as to doubt the integrity of my counsels nor the actions of my ambassadors: i am an honest man and a prince of my word, and not ignorant of the things of this world. neither the states nor you, with your adherents, can permit my honour to be compromised without tarnishing your own, and without being branded for ingratitude. i say not this in order to reproach you for the past nor to make you despair of the future, but to defend the truth. i expect, therefore, that you will not fall into this fault, knowing you as i do. i pay more heed to what you said in your letter than in all lambert's fine talk, and you will find out that nobody wishes your prosperity and that of the states more sincerely than i do, or can be more useful to you than i can." [i have abbreviated this remarkable letter, but of course the text of the passages cited is literally given. j.l.m.] there could be but little doubt in the mind of prince maurice, after this letter had been well pondered, that barneveld had won the game, and that the peace party had triumphed. to resume the war, with the french king not merely neutral but angry and covertly hostile, and with the sovereign of great britain an almost open enemy in the garb of an ally, might well seem a desperate course. and maurice, although strongly opposed to the truce, and confident in his opinions at this crisis, was not a desperado. he saw at once the necessity of dismounting from the high horse upon which, it must be confessed, he had been inclined for more rough-riding of late than the situation warranted. peace was unattainable, war was impossible, truce was inevitable; barneveld was master of the field. the prince acquiesced in the result which the letter from the french king so plainly indicated. he was, however, more incensed than ever against barneveld; for he felt himself not only checkmated but humiliated by the advocate, and believed him a traitor, who was selling the republic to spain. it was long since the two had exchanged a word. maurice now declared, on more than one occasion, that it was useless for him any longer to attempt opposition to the policy of truce. the states must travel on the road which they had chosen, but it should not be under his guidance, and he renounced all responsibility for the issue. dreading disunion, however, more than ought else that could befal the republic, he now did his best to bring about the return of zeeland to the federal councils. he was successful. the deputies from that province reappeared in the states-general on the th november. they were still earnest, however, in their opposition to the truce, and warmly maintained, in obedience to instructions, that the union of utrecht forbade the conclusion of a treaty except by unanimous consent of the seven provinces. they were very fierce in their remonstrances, and again talked loudly of secession. after consultation with barneveld, the french envoys now thought it their duty to take the recalcitrant zeelanders in hand; maurice having, as it were, withdrawn from the contest. on the th november, accordingly, jeannin once more came very solemnly before the states-general, accompanied by his diplomatic colleagues. he showed the impossibility of any arrangement, except by the submission of zeeland to a vote of the majority. "it is certain," he said, "that six provinces will never be willing to be conquered by a single one, nor permit her to assert that, according to a fundamental law of the commonwealth, her dissent can prevent the others from forming a definite conclusion. "it is not for us," continued the president, "who are strangers in your republic, to interpret your laws, but common sense teaches us that, if such a law exist, it could only have been made in order to forbid a surrender. "if any one wishes to expound it otherwise, to him we would reply, in the words of an ancient roman, who said of a law which seemed to him pernicious, that at least the tablet upon which it was inscribed, if it could not be destroyed, should be hidden out of sight. thus at least the citizens might escape observing it, when it was plain that it would cause detriment to the republic, and they might then put in its place the most ancient of all laws, 'salus populi suprema lex.'" the president, having suggested this ingenious expedient of the antique roman for getting rid of a constitutional provision by hiding the statute-book, proceeded to give very practical reasons for setting, up the supreme law of the people's safety on this occasion. and, certainly, that magnificent common-place, which has saved and ruined so many states, the most effective weapon in the political arsenal, whether wielded by tyrants or champions of freedom, was not unreasonably recommended at this crisis to the states in their contest with the refractory zeelanders. it was easy to talk big, but after all it would be difficult for that doughty little sandbank, notwithstanding the indomitable energy which it had so often shown by land and sea, to do battle by itself with the whole spanish empire. nor was it quite consistent with republican principles that the other six provinces should be plunged once more into war, when they had agreed to accept peace and independence instead, only that zeeland should have its way. the orator went on to show the absurdity, in his opinion, of permitting one province to continue the war, when all seven united had not the means to do it without the assistance of their allies. he pointed out, too, the immense blunders that would be made, should it be thought that the kings of france and england were so much interested in saving the provinces from perdition as to feel obliged in any event to render them assistance. "beware of committing an irreparable fault," he said, "on so insecure a foundation. you are deceiving yourselves: and, in order that there may be no doubt on the subject, we declare to you by express command that if your adversaries refuse the truce, according to the articles presented to you by us, it is the intention of our kings to assist you with armies and subsidies, not only as during the past, but more powerfully than before. if, on the contrary, the rupture comes from your side, and you despise the advice they are giving you, you have no succour to expect from them. the refusal of conditions so honourable and advantageous to your commonwealth will render the war a useless one, and they are determined to do nothing to bring the reproach upon themselves." the president then intimated; not without adroitness, that the republic was placing herself in a proud position by accepting the truce, and that spain was abasing herself by giving her consent to it. the world was surprised that the states should hesitate at all. there was much more of scholastic dissertation in the president's address, but enough has been given to show its very peremptory character. if the war was to go on it was to be waged mainly by zeeland alone. this was now plain beyond all peradventure. the other provinces had resolved to accept the proposed treaty. the cities of delft and amsterdam, which had stood out so long among the estates of holland, soon renounced their opposition. prince maurice, with praiseworthy patriotism, reconciled himself with the inevitable, and now that the great majority had spoken, began to use his influence with the factious minority. on the day after jeannin's speech he made a visit to the french ambassadors. after there had been some little discussion among them, barneveld made his appearance. his visit seemed an accidental one, but it had been previously arranged with the envoys. the general conversation went on a little longer, when the advocate, frankly turning to the prince, spoke of the pain which he felt at the schism between them. he defended himself with honest warmth against the rumours circulated, in which he was accused of being a spanish partisan. his whole life had been spent in fighting spain, and he was now more determined than ever in his hostility to that monarchy. he sincerely believed that by the truce now proposed all the solid advantages of the war would be secured, and that such a result was a triumphant one for the republic. he was also most desirous of being restored to the friendship and good opinion of the house of nassau; having proved during his whole life his sincere attachment to their interests--a sentiment never more lively in his breast than at that moment. this advance was graciously met by the stadholder, and the two distinguished personages were, for the time at least, reconciled. it was further debated as to the number of troops that it be advisable for the states to maintain during the truce and barneveld expressed his decided opinion that thirty thousand men, at least, would be required. this opinion gave the prince at least as much pleasure as did the personal devotion expressed by the advocate, and he now stated his intention of working with the peace party. the great result was now certain. delft and amsterdam withdrew from their opposition to the treaty, so that holland was unanimous before the year closed; zeeland, yielding to the influence of maurice, likewise gave in her adhesion to the truce. the details of the mode in which the final arrangement was made are not especially interesting. the discussion was fairly at an end. the subject had been picked to the bones. it was agreed that the french ambassadors should go over the frontier, and hold a preliminary interview with the spanish commissioners at antwerp. the armistice was to be continued by brief and repeated renewals, until it should be superseded by the truce of years: meantime, archduke albert sent his father confessor, inigo brizuela, to spain, in order to make the treaty posed by jeannin palatable to the king? the priest was to set forth to philip, as only a ghostly confessor could do with full effect, that he need not trouble himself about the recognition by the proposed treaty of the independence of the united provinces. ambiguous words had been purposely made use of in this regard, he was to explain, so that not only the foreign ambassadors were of opinion that the rights of spain were not curtailed, but the emptiness of the imaginary recognition of dutch freedom had been proved by the sharp criticism of the states. it is true that richardot, in the name of the archduke, had three months before promised the consent of the king, as having already been obtained. but richardot knew very well when he made the statement that it was false. the archduke, in subsequent correspondence with the ambassadors in december, repeated the pledge. yet, not only had the king not given that consent, but he had expressly refused it by a courier sent in november. philip, now convinced by brother inigo that while agreeing to treat with the states-general as with a free commonwealth, over which he pretended to no authority, he really meant that he was dealing with vassals over whom his authority was to be resumed when it suited his convenience, at last gave his consent to the, proposed treaty. the royal decision was, however, kept for a time concealed, in order that the states might become more malleable. etext editor's bookmarks: a truce he honestly considered a pitfall of destruction alas! we must always have something to persecute argument is exhausted and either action or compromise begins beware of a truce even more than of a peace could handle an argument as well as a sword god alone can protect us against those whom we trust humble ignorance as the safest creed man is never so convinced of his own wisdom peace was unattainable, war was impossible, truce was inevitable readiness at any moment to defend dearly won liberties such an excuse was as bad as the accusation the art of ruling the world by doing nothing to doubt the infallibility of calvin was as heinous a crime what exchequer can accept chronic warfare and escape bankruptcy words are always interpreted to the disadvantage of the weak this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] the life and death of john of barneveld, advocate of holland with a view of the primary causes and movements of the thirty years' war by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, volume the life and death of john of barneveld, v - chapter ii. passion of henry iv. for margaret de montmorency--her marriage with the prince of conde--their departure for the country--their flight to the netherlands-rage of the king--intrigues of spain--reception of the prince and princess of conde by the archdukes at brussels-- splendid entertainments by spinola--attempts of the king to bring the fugitives back--mission of de coeuvres to brussels--difficult position of the republic--vast but secret preparations for war. "if the prince of conde comes back." what had the prince of conde, his comings and his goings, to do with this vast enterprise? it is time to point to the golden thread of most fantastic passion which runs throughout this dark and eventful history. one evening in the beginning of the year which had just come to its close there was to be a splendid fancy ball at the louvre in the course of which several young ladies of highest rank were to perform a dance in mythological costume. the king, on ill terms with the queen, who harassed him with scenes of affected jealousy, while engaged in permanent plots with her paramour and master, the italian concini, against his policy and his life; on still worse terms with his latest mistress in chief, the marquise de verneuil, who hated him and revenged herself for enduring his caresses by making him the butt of her venomous wit, had taken the festivities of a court in dudgeon where he possessed hosts of enemies and flatterers but scarcely a single friend. he refused to attend any of the rehearsals of the ballet, but one day a group of diana and her nymphs passed him in the great gallery of the palace. one of the nymphs as she went by turned and aimed her gilded javelin at his heart. henry looked and saw the most beautiful young creature, so he thought, that mortal eye had ever gazed upon, and according to his wont fell instantly over head and ears in love. he said afterwards that he felt himself pierced to the heart and was ready to faint away. the lady was just fifteen years of age. the king was turned of fifty- five. the disparity of age seemed to make the royal passion ridiculous. to henry the situation seemed poetical and pathetic. after this first interview he never missed a single rehearsal. in the intervals he called perpetually for the services of the court poet malherbe, who certainly contrived to perpetrate in his behalf some of the most detestable verses that even he had ever composed. the nymph was marguerite de montmorency, daughter of the constable of france, and destined one day to become the mother of the great conde, hero of rocroy. there can be no doubt that she was exquisitely beautiful. fair-haired, with a complexion of dazzling purity, large expressive eyes, delicate but commanding features, she had a singular fascination of look and gesture, and a winning, almost childlike, simplicity of manner. without feminine artifice or commonplace coquetry, she seemed to bewitch and subdue at a glance men of all ranks, ages, and pursuits; kings and cardinals, great generals, ambassadors and statesmen, as well as humbler mortals whether spanish, italian, french, or flemish. the constable, an ignorant man who, as the king averred, could neither write nor read, understood as well as more learned sages the manners and humours of the court. he had destined his daughter for the young and brilliant bassompierre, the most dazzling of all the cavaliers of the day. the two were betrothed. but the love-stricken henry, then confined to his bed with the gout, sent for the chosen husband of the beautiful margaret. "bassompierre, my friend," said the aged king, as the youthful lover knelt before him at the bedside, "i have become not in love, but mad, out of my senses, furious for mademoiselle de montmorency. if she should love you, i should hate you. if she should love me, you would hate me. 'tis better that this should not be the cause of breaking up our good intelligence, for i love you with affection and inclination. i am resolved to marry her to my nephew the prince of conde, and to keep her near my family. she will be the consolation and support of my old age into which i am now about to enter. i shall give my nephew, who loves the chase a thousand times better than he does ladies, , livres a year, and i wish no other favour from her than her affection without making further pretensions." it was eight o'clock of a black winter's morning, and the tears as he spoke ran down the cheeks of the hero of ivry and bedewed the face of the kneeling bassompierre. the courtly lover sighed and--obeyed. he renounced the hand of the beautiful margaret, and came daily to play at dice with the king at his bedside with one or two other companions. and every day the duchess of angouleme, sister of the constable, brought her fair niece to visit and converse with the royal invalid. but for the dark and tragic clouds which were gradually closing around that eventful and heroic existence there would be something almost comic in the spectacle of the sufferer making the palace and all france ring with the howlings of his grotesque passion for a child of fifteen as he lay helpless and crippled with the gout. one day as the duchess of angouleme led her niece away from their morning visit to the king, margaret as she passed by bassompierre shrugged her shoulders with a scornful glance. stung by this expression of contempt, the lover who had renounced her sprang from the dice table, buried his face in his hat, pretending that his nose was bleeding, and rushed frantically from the palace. two days long he spent in solitude, unable to eat, drink, or sleep, abandoned to despair and bewailing his wretched fate, and it was long before he could recover sufficient equanimity to face his lost margaret and resume his place at the king's dicing table. when he made his appearance, he was according to his own account so pale, changed, and emaciated that his friends could not recognise him. the marriage with conde, first prince of the blood, took place early in the spring. the bride received magnificent presents, and the husband a, pension of , livres a year. the attentions of the king became soon outrageous and the reigning scandal of the hour. henry, discarding the grey jacket and simple costume on which he was wont to pride himself, paraded himself about in perfumed ruffs and glittering doublet, an ancient fop, very little heroic, and much ridiculed. the princess made merry with the antics of her royal adorer, while her vanity at least, if not her affection, was really touched, and there was one great round of court festivities in her honour, at which the king and herself were ever the central figures. but conde was not at all amused. not liking the part assigned to him in the comedy thus skilfully arranged by his cousin king, never much enamoured of his bride, while highly appreciating the , livres of pension, he remonstrated violently with his wife, bitterly reproached the king, and made himself generally offensive. "the prince is here," wrote henry to sully, "and is playing the very devil. you would be in a rage and be ashamed of the things he says of me. but at last i am losing patience, and am resolved to give him a bit of my mind." he wrote in the same terms to montmorency. the constable, whose conduct throughout the affair was odious and pitiable, promised to do his best to induce the prince, instead of playing the devil, to listen to reason, as he and the duchess of angouleme understood reason. henry had even the ineffable folly to appeal to the queen to use her influence with the refractory conde. mary de' medici replied that there were already thirty go-betweens at work, and she had no idea of being the thirty-first--[henrard, ]. conde, surrounded by a conspiracy against his honour and happiness, suddenly carried off his wife to the country, much to the amazement and rage of henry. in the autumn he entertained a hunting party at a seat of his, the abbey of verneuille, on the borders of picardy. de traigny, governor of amiens, invited the prince, princess, and the dowager-princess to a banquet at his chateau not far from the abbey. on their road thither they passed a group of huntsmen and grooms in the royal livery. among them was an aged lackey with a plaister over one eye, holding a couple of hounds in leash. the princess recognized at a glance under that ridiculous disguise the king. "what a madman!" she murmured as she passed him, "i will never forgive you;" but as she confessed many years afterwards, this act of gallantly did not displease her.' in truth, even in mythological fable, trove has scarcely ever reduced demi-god or hero to more fantastic plight than was this travesty of the great henry. after dinner madame de traigny led her fair guest about the castle to show her the various points of view. at one window she paused, saying that it commanded a particularly fine prospect. the princess looked from it across a courtyard, and saw at an opposite window an old gentleman holding his left hand tightly upon his heart to show that it was wounded, and blowing kisses to her with the other: "my god! it is the king himself," she cried to her hostess. the princess with this exclamation rushed from the window, feeling or affecting much indignation, ordered horses to her carriage instantly, and overwhelmed madame de traigny with reproaches. the king himself, hastening to the scene, was received with passionate invectives, and in vain attempted to assuage the princess's wrath and induce her to remain. they left the chateau at once, both prince and princess. one night, not many weeks afterwards, the due de sully, in the arsenal at paris, had just got into bed at past eleven o'clock when he received a visit from captain de praslin, who walked straight into his bed-chamber, informing him that the king instantly required his presence. sully remonstrated. he was obliged to rise at three the next morning, he said, enumerating pressing and most important work which henry required to be completed with all possible haste. "the king said you would be very angry," replied praslin; "but there is no help for it. come you must, for the man you know of has gone out of the country, as you said he would, and has carried away the lady on the crupper behind him." "ho, ho," said the duke, "i am wanted for that affair, am i?" and the two proceeded straightway to the louvre, and were ushered, of all apartments in the world, into the queen's bedchamber. mary de' medici had given birth only four days before to an infant, henrietta maria, future queen of charles i. of england. the room was crowded with ministers and courtiers; villeroy, the chancellor, bassompierre, and others, being stuck against the wall at small intervals like statues, dumb, motionless, scarcely daring to breathe. the king, with his hands behind him and his grey beard sunk on his breast, was pacing up and down the room in a paroxysm of rage and despair. "well," said he, turning to sully as he entered, "our man has gone off and carried everything with him. what do you say to that?" the duke beyond the boding "i told you so" phrase of consolation which he was entitled to use, having repeatedly warned his sovereign that precisely this catastrophe was impending, declined that night to offer advice. he insisted on sleeping on it. the manner in which the proceedings of the king at this juncture would be regarded by the archdukes albert and isabella--for there could be no doubt that conde had escaped to their territory--and by the king of spain, in complicity with whom the step had unquestionably been taken--was of gravest political importance. henry had heard the intelligence but an hour before. he was at cards in his cabinet with bassompierre and others when d'elbene entered and made a private communication to him. "bassompierre, my friend," whispered the king immediately in that courtier's ear, "i am lost. this man has carried his wife off into a wood. i don't know if it is to kill her or to take her out of france. take care of my money and keep up the game." bassompierre followed the king shortly afterwards and brought him his money. he said that he had never seen a man so desperate, so transported. the matter was indeed one of deepest and universal import. the reader has seen by the preceding narrative how absurd is the legend often believed in even to our own days that war was made by france upon the archdukes and upon spain to recover the princess of conde from captivity in brussels. from contemporary sources both printed and unpublished; from most confidential conversations and revelations, we have seen how broad, deliberate, and deeply considered were the warlike and political combinations in the king's ever restless brain. but although the abduction of the new helen by her own menelaus was not the cause of the impending, iliad, there is no doubt whatever that the incident had much to do with the crisis, was the turning point in a great tragedy, and that but for the vehement passion of the king for this youthful princess events might have developed themselves on a far different scale from that which they were destined to assume. for this reason a court intrigue, which history under other conditions might justly disdain, assumes vast proportions and is taken quite away from the scandalous chronicle which rarely busies itself with grave affairs of state. "the flight of conde," wrote aerssens, "is the catastrophe to the comedy which has been long enacting. 'tis to be hoped that the sequel may not prove tragical." "the prince," for simply by that title he was usually called to distinguish him from all other princes in france, was next of blood. had henry no sons, he would have succeeded him on the throne. it was a favourite scheme of the spanish party to invalidate henry's divorce from margaret of valois, and thus to cast doubts on the legitimacy of the dauphin and the other children of mary de' medici. the prince in the hands of the spanish government might prove a docile and most dangerous instrument to the internal repose of france not only after henry's death but in his life-time. conde's character was frivolous, unstable, excitable, weak, easy to be played upon by designing politicians, and he had now the deepest cause for anger and for indulging in ambitious dreams. he had been wont during this unhappy first year of his marriage to loudly accuse henry of tyranny, and was now likely by public declaration to assign that as the motive of his flight. henry had protested in reply that he had never been guilty of tyranny but once in his life, and that was when he allowed this youth to take the name and title of conde? for the princess-dowager his mother had lain for years in prison, under the terrible accusation of having murdered her husband, in complicity with her paramour, a gascon page, named belcastel. the present prince had been born several months after his reputed father's death. henry, out of good nature, or perhaps for less creditable reasons, had come to the rescue of the accused princess, and had caused the process to be stopped, further enquiry to be quashed, and the son to be recognized as legitimate prince of conde. the dowager had subsequently done her best to further the king's suit to her son's wife, for which the prince bitterly reproached her to her face, heaping on her epithets which she well deserved. henry at once began to threaten a revival of the criminal suit, with a view of bastardizing him again, although the dowager had acted on all occasions with great docility in henry's interests. the flight of the prince and princess was thus not only an incident of great importance to the internal politics of trance, but had a direct and important bearing on the impending hostilities. its intimate connection with the affairs of the netherland commonwealth was obvious. it was probable that the fugitives would make their way towards the archdukes' territory, and that afterwards their first point of destination would be breda, of which philip william of orange, eldest brother of prince maurice, was the titular proprietor. since the truce recently concluded the brothers, divided so entirely by politics and religion, could meet on fraternal and friendly terms, and breda, although a city of the commonwealth, received its feudal lord. the princess of orange was the sister of conde. the morning after the flight the king, before daybreak, sent for the dutch ambassador. he directed him to despatch a courier forthwith to barneveld, notifying him that the prince had left the kingdom without the permission or knowledge of his sovereign, and stating the king's belief that he had fled to the territory of the archdukes. if he should come to breda or to any other place within the jurisdiction of the states, they were requested to make sure of his person at once, and not to permit him to retire until further instructions should be received from the king. de praslin, captain of the body-guards and lieutenant of champagne, it was further mentioned, was to be sent immediately on secret mission concerning this affair to the states and to the archdukes. the king suspected conde of crime, so the advocate was to be informed. he believed him to be implicated in the conspiracy of poitou; the six who had been taken prisoners having confessed that they had thrice conferred with a prince at paris, and that the motive of the plot was to free themselves and france from the tyranny of henry iv. the king insisted peremptorily, despite of any objections from aerssens, that the thing must be done and his instructions carried out to the letter. so much he expected of the states, and they should care no more for ulterior consequences, he said, than he had done for the wrath of spain when he frankly undertook their cause. conde was important only because his relative, and he declared that if the prince should escape, having once entered the territory of the republic, he should lay the blame on its government. "if you proceed languidly in the affair," wrote aerssens to barneveld, "our affairs will suffer for ever." nobody at court believed in the poitou conspiracy, or that conde had any knowledge of it. the reason of his flight was a mystery to none, but as it was immediately followed by an intrigue with spain, it seemed ingenious to henry to make, use of a transparent pretext to conceal the ugliness of the whole affair. he hoped that the prince would be arrested at breda and sent back by the states. villeroy said that if it was not done, they would be guilty of black ingratitude. it would be an awkward undertaking, however, and the states devoutly prayed that they might not be put to the test. the crafty aerssens suggested to barneveld that if conde was not within their territory it would be well to assure the king that, had he been there, he would have been delivered up at once. "by this means," said the ambassador, "you will give no cause of offence to the prince, and will at the same time satisfy the king. it is important that he should think that you depend immediately upon him. if you see that after his arrest they take severe measures against him, you will have a thousand ways of parrying the blame which posterity might throw upon you. history teaches you plenty of them." he added that neither sully nor anyone else thought much of the poitou conspiracy. those implicated asserted that they had intended to raise troops there to assist the king in the cleve expedition. some people said that henry had invented this plot against his throne and life. the ambassador, in a spirit of prophecy, quoted the saying of domitian: "misera conditio imperantium quibus de conspiratione non creditor nisi occisis." meantime the fugitives continued their journey. the prince was accompanied by one of his dependants, a rude officer, de rochefort, who carried the princess on a pillion behind him. she had with her a lady- in-waiting named du certeau and a lady's maid named philippote. she had no clothes but those on her back, not even a change of linen. thus the young and delicate lady made the wintry journey through the forests. they crossed the frontier at landrecies, then in the spanish netherlands, intending to traverse the archduke's territory in order to reach breda, where conde meant to leave his wife in charge of his sister, the princess of orange, and then to proceed to brussels. he wrote from the little inn at landrecies to notify the archduke of his project. he was subsequently informed that albert would not prevent his passing through his territories, but should object to his making a fixed residence within them. the prince also wrote subsequently to the king of spain and to the king of france. to henry he expressed his great regret at being obliged to leave the kingdom in order to save his honour and his life, but that he had no intention of being anything else than his very humble and faithful cousin, subject, and servant. he would do nothing against his service, he said, unless forced thereto, and he begged the king not to take it amiss if he refused to receive letters from any one whomsoever at court, saving only such letters as his majesty himself might honour him by writing. the result of this communication to the king was of course to enrage that monarch to the utmost, and his first impulse on finding that the prince was out of his reach was to march to brussels at once and take possession of him and the princess by main force. more moderate counsels prevailed for the moment however, and negotiations were attempted. praslin did not contrive to intercept the fugitives, but the states- general, under the advice of barneveld, absolutely forbade their coming to breda or entering any part of their jurisdiction. the result of conde's application to the king of spain was an ultimate offer of assistance and asylum, through a special emissary, one anover; for the politicians of madrid were astute enough to see what a card the prince might prove in their hands. henry instructed his ambassador in spain to use strong and threatening language in regard to the harbouring a rebel and a conspirator against the throne of france; while on the other hand he expressed his satisfaction with the states for having prohibited the prince from entering their territory. he would have preferred, he said, if they had allowed him entrance and forbidden his departure, but on the whole he was content. it was thought in paris that the netherland government had acted with much adroitness in thus abstaining both from a violation of the law of nations and from giving offence to the king. a valet of conde was taken with some papers of the prince about him, which proved a determination on his part never to return to france during the lifetime of henry. they made no statement of the cause of his flight, except to intimate that it might be left to the judgment of every one, as it was unfortunately but too well known to all. refused entrance into the dutch territory, the prince was obliged to renounce his project in regard to breda, and brought his wife to brussels. he gave bentivoglio, the papal nuncio, two letters to forward to italy, one to the pope, the other to his nephew, cardinal borghese. encouraged by the advices which he had received from spain, he justified his flight from france both by the danger to his honour and to his life, recommending both to the protection of his holiness and his eminence. bentivoglio sent the letters, but while admitting the invincible reasons for his departure growing out of the king's pursuit of the princess, he refused all credence to the pretended violence against conde himself. conde informed de praslin that he would not consent to return to france. subsequently he imposed as conditions of return that the king should assign to him certain cities and strongholds in guienne, of which province he was governor, far from paris and very near the spanish frontier; a measure dictated by spain and which inflamed henry's wrath almost to madness. the king insisted on his instant return, placing himself and of course the princess entirely in his hands and receiving a full pardon for this effort to save his honour. the prince and princess of orange came from breda to brussels to visit their brother and his wife. here they established them in the palace of nassau, once the residence in his brilliant youth of william the silent; a magnificent mansion, surrounded by park and garden, built on the brow of the almost precipitous hill, beneath which is spread out so picturesquely the antique and beautiful capital of brabant. the archdukes received them with stately courtesy at their own palace. on their first ceremonious visit to the sovereigns of the land, the formal archduke, coldest and chastest of mankind, scarcely lifted his eyes to gaze on the wondrous beauty of the princess, yet assured her after he had led her through a portrait gallery of fair women that formerly these had been accounted beauties, but that henceforth it was impossible to speak of any beauty but her own. the great spinola fell in love with her at once, sent for the illustrious rubens from antwerp to paint her portrait, and offered mademoiselle de chateau vert , crowns in gold if she would do her best to further his suit with her mistress. the genoese banker-soldier made love, war, and finance on a grand scale. he gave a magnificent banquet and ball in her honour on twelfth night, and the festival was the wonder of the town. nothing like it had been seen in brussels for years. at six in the evening spinola in splendid costume, accompanied by don luis velasco, count ottavio visconti, count bucquoy, with other nobles of lesser note, drove to the nassau palace to bring the prince and princess and their suite to the marquis's mansion. here a guard of honour of thirty musketeers was standing before the door, and they were conducted from their coaches by spinola preceded by twenty-four torch-bearers up the grand staircase to a hall, where they were received by the princesses of mansfeld, velasco, and other distinguished dames. thence they were led through several apartments rich with tapestry and blazing with crystal and silver plate to a splendid saloon where was a silken canopy, under which the princess of conde and the princess of orange seated themselves, the nuncius bentivoglio to his delight being placed next the beautiful margaret. after reposing for a little while they were led to the ball- room, brilliantly lighted with innumerable torches of perfumed wax and hung with tapestry of gold and silk, representing in fourteen embroidered designs the chief military exploits of spinola. here the banquet, a cold collation, was already spread on a table decked and lighted with regal splendour. as soon as the guests were seated, an admirable concert of instrumental music began. spinola walked up and down providing for the comforts of his company, the duke of aumale stood behind the two princesses to entertain them with conversation, don luis velasco served the princess of conde with plates, handed her the dishes, the wine, the napkins, while bucquoy and visconti in like manner waited upon the princess of orange; other nobles attending to the other ladies. forty- eight pages in white, yellow, and red scarves brought and removed the dishes. the dinner, of courses innumerable, lasted two hours and a half, and the ladies, being thus fortified for the more serious business of the evening, were led to the tiring-rooms while the hall was made ready for dancing. the ball was opened by the princess of conde and spinola, and lasted until two in the morning. as the apartment grew warm, two of the pages went about with long staves and broke all the windows until not a single pane of glass remained. the festival was estimated by the thrifty chronicler of antwerp to have cost from to crowns. it was, he says, "an earthly paradise of which soon not a vapour remained." he added that he gave a detailed account of it "not because he took pleasure in such voluptuous pomp and extravagance, but that one might thus learn the vanity of the world." these courtesies and assiduities on the part of the great "shopkeeper," as the constable called him, had so much effect, if not on the princess, at least on conde himself, that he threatened to throw his wife out of window if she refused to caress spinola. these and similar accusations were made by the father and aunt when attempting to bring about a divorce of the princess from her husband. the nuncius bentivoglio, too, fell in love with her, devoting himself to her service, and his facile and eloquent pen to chronicling her story. even poor little philip of spain in the depths of the escurial heard of her charms, and tried to imagine himself in love with her by proxy. thenceforth there was a succession of brilliant festivals in honour of the princess. the spanish party was radiant with triumph, the french maddened with rage. henry in paris was chafing like a lion at bay. a petty sovereign whom he could crush at one vigorous bound was protecting the lady for whose love he was dying. he had secured conde's exclusion from holland, but here were the fugitives splendidly established in brussels; the princess surrounded by most formidable suitors, the prince encouraged in his rebellious and dangerous schemes by the power which the king most hated on earth, and whose eternal downfall he had long since sworn to accomplish. for the weak and frivolous conde began to prattle publicly of his deep projects of revenge. aided by spanish money and spanish troops he would show one day who was the real heir to the throne of france--the illegitimately born dauphin or himself. the king sent for the first president of parliament, harlay, and consulted with him as to the proper means of reviving the suppressed process against the dowager and of publicly degrading conde from his position of first prince of the blood which he had been permitted to usurp. he likewise procured a decree accusing him of high-treason and ordering him to be punished at his majesty's pleasure, to be prepared by the parliament of paris; going down to the court himself in his impatience and seating himself in everyday costume on the bench of judges to see that it was immediately proclaimed. instead of at once attacking the archdukes in force as he intended in the first ebullition of his wrath, he resolved to send de boutteville- montmorency, a relative of the constable, on special and urgent mission to brussels. he was to propose that conde and his wife should return with the prince and princess of orange to breda, the king pledging himself that for three or four months nothing should be undertaken against him. here was a sudden change of determination fit to surprise the states-general, but the king's resolution veered and whirled about hourly in the tempests of his wrath and love. that excellent old couple, the constable and the duchess of angouleme, did their best to assist their sovereign in his fierce attempts to get their daughter and niece into his power. the constable procured a piteous letter to be written to archduke albert, signed "montmorency his mark," imploring him not to "suffer that his daughter, since the prince refused to return to france, should leave brussels to be a wanderer about the world following a young prince who had no fixed purpose in his mind." archduke albert, through his ambassador in paris, peter pecquius, suggested the possibility of a reconciliation between henry and his kinsman, and offered himself as intermediary. he enquired whether the king would find it agreeable that he should ask for pardon in name of the prince. henry replied that he was willing that the archduke should accord to conde secure residence for the time within his dominions on three inexorable conditions:--firstly, that the prince should ask for pardon without any stipulations, the king refusing to listen to any treaty or to assign him towns or places of security as had been vaguely suggested, and holding it utterly unreasonable that a man sueing for pardon should, instead of deserved punishment, talk of terms and acquisitions; secondly, that, if conde should reject the proposition, albert should immediately turn him out of his country, showing himself justly irritated at finding his advice disregarded; thirdly, that, sending away the prince, the archduke should forthwith restore the princess to her father the constable and her aunt angouleme, who had already made their petitions to albert and isabella for that end, to which the king now added his own most particular prayers. if the archduke should refuse consent to these three conditions, henry begged that he would abstain from any farther attempt to effect a reconciliation and not suffer conde to remain any longer within his territories. pecquius replied that he thought his master might agree to the two first propositions while demurring to the third, as it would probably not seem honourable to him to separate man and wife, and as it was doubtful whether the princess would return of her own accord. the king, in reporting the substance of this conversation to aerssens, intimated his conviction that they were only wishing in brussels to gain time; that they were waiting for letters from spain, which they were expecting ever since the return of conde's secretary from milan, whither he had been sent to confer with the governor, count fuentes. he said farther that he doubted whether the princess would go to breda, which he should now like, but which conde would not now permit. this he imputed in part to the princess of orange, who had written a letter full of invectives against himself to the dowager--princess of conde which she had at once sent to him. henry expressed at the same time his great satisfaction with the states-general and with barneveld in this affair, repeating his assurances that they were the truest and best friends he had. the news of conde's ceremonious visit to leopold in julich could not fail to exasperate the king almost as much as the pompous manner in which he was subsequently received at brussels; spinola and the spanish ambassador going forth to meet him. at the same moment the secretary of vaucelles, henry's ambassador in madrid, arrived in paris, confirming the king's suspicions that conde's flight had been concerted with don inigo de cardenas, and was part of a general plot of spain against the peace of the kingdom. the duc d'epernon, one of the most dangerous plotters at the court, and deep in the intimacy of the queen and of all the secret adherents of the spanish policy, had been sojourning a long time at metz, under pretence of attending to his health, had sent his children to spain, as hostages according to henry's belief, had made himself master of the citadel, and was turning a deaf ear to all the commands of the king. the supporters of conde in france were openly changing their note and proclaiming by the prince's command that he had left the kingdom in order to preserve his quality of first prince of the blood, and that he meant to make good his right of primogeniture against the dauphin and all competitors. such bold language and such open reliance on the support of spain in disputing the primogeniture of the dauphin were fast driving the most pacifically inclined in france into enthusiasm for the war. the states, too, saw their opportunity more vividly every day. "what could we desire more," wrote aerssens to barneveld, "than open war between france and spain? posterity will for ever blame us if we reject this great occasion." peter pecquius, smoothest and sliest of diplomatists, did his best to make things comfortable, for there could be little doubt that his masters most sincerely deprecated war. on their heads would come the first blows, to their provinces would return the great desolation out of which they had hardly emerged. still the archduke, while racking his brains for the means of accommodation, refused, to his honour, to wink at any violation of the law of nations, gave a secret promise, in which the infanta joined, that the princess should not be allowed to leave brussels without her husband's permission, and resolutely declined separating the pair except with the full consent of both. in order to protect himself from the king's threats, he suggested sending conde to some neutral place for six or eight months, to prague, to breda, or anywhere else; but henry knew that conde would never allow this unless he had the means by spanish gold of bribing the garrison there, and so of holding the place in pretended neutrality, but in reality at the devotion of the king of spain. meantime henry had despatched the marquis de coeuvres, brother of the beautiful gabrielle, duchess de beaufort, and one of the most audacious and unscrupulous of courtiers, on a special mission to brussels. de coeuvres saw conde before presenting his credentials to the archduke, and found him quite impracticable. acting under the advice of the prince of orange, he expressed his willingness to retire to some neutral city of germany or italy, drawing meanwhile from henry a pension of , crowns a year. but de coeuvres firmly replied that the king would make no terms with his vassal nor allow conde to prescribe conditions to him. to leave him in germany or italy, he said, was to leave him in the dependence of spain. the king would not have this constant apprehension of her intrigues while, living, nor leave such matter in dying for turbulence in his kingdom. if it appeared that the spaniards wished to make use of the prince for such purposes, he would be beforehand with them, and show them how much more injury he could inflict on spain than they on france. obviously committed to spain, conde replied to the entreaties of the emissary that if the king would give him half his kingdom he would not accept the offer nor return to france; at least before the th of february, by which date he expected advices from spain. he had given his word, he said, to lend his ear to no overtures before that time. he made use of many threats, and swore that he would throw himself entirely into the arms of the spanish king if henry would not accord him the terms which he had proposed. to do this was an impossibility. to grant him places of security would, as the king said, be to plant a standard for all the malcontents of france to rally around. conde had evidently renounced all hopes of a reconciliation, however painfully his host the archduke might intercede for it. he meant to go to spain. spinola was urging this daily and hourly, said henry, for he had fallen in love with the princess, who complained of all these persecutions in her letters to her father, and said that she would rather die than go to spain. the king's advices from de coeuvres were however to the effect that the step would probably be taken, that the arrangements were making, and that spinola had been shut up with conde six hours long with nobody present but rochefort and a certain counsellor of the prince of orange named keeremans. henry was taking measures to intercept them on their flight by land, but there was some thought of their proceeding to spain by sea. he therefore requested the states to send two ships of war, swift sailors, well equipped, one to watch in the roads of st. jean and the other on the english coast. these ships were to receive their instructions from admiral de vicq, who would be well informed of all the movements of the prince and give warning to the captains of the dutch vessels by a preconcerted signal. the king begged that barneveld would do him this favour, if he loved him, and that none might have knowledge of it but the advocate and prince maurice. the ships would be required for two or three months only, but should be equipped and sent forth as soon as possible. the states had no objection to performing this service, although it subsequently proved to be unnecessary, and they were quite ready at that moment to go openly into the war to settle the affairs of clove, and once for all to drive the spaniards out of the netherlands and beyond seas and mountains. yet strange to say, those most conversant with the state of affairs could not yet quite persuade themselves that matters were serious, and that the king's mind was fixed. should conde return, renounce his spanish stratagems, and bring back the princess to court, it was felt by the king's best and most confidential friends that all might grow languid again, the spanish faction get the upper hand in the king's councils, and the states find themselves in a terrible embarrassment. on the other hand, the most prying and adroit of politicians were puzzled to read the signs of the times. despite henry's garrulity, or perhaps in consequence of it, the envoys of spain, the empire, and of archduke albert were ignorant whether peace were likely to be broken or not, in spite of rumours which filled the air. so well had the secrets been kept which the reader has seen discussed in confidential conversations--the record of which has always remained unpublished--between the king and those admitted to his intimacy that very late in the winter pecquius, while sadly admitting to his masters that the king was likely to take part against the emperor in the affair of the duchies, expressed the decided opinion that it would be limited to the secret sending of succour to brandenburg and neuburg as formerly to the united provinces, but that he would never send troops into cleve, or march thither himself. it is important, therefore, to follow closely the development of these political and amorous intrigues, for they furnish one of the most curious and instructive lessons of history; there being not the slightest doubt that upon their issue chiefly depended the question of a great and general war. pecquius, not yet despairing that his master would effect a reconciliation between the king and conde, proposed again that the prince should be permitted to reside for a time in some place not within the jurisdiction of spain or of the archdukes, being allowed meantime to draw his annual pension of , livres. henry ridiculed the idea of conde's drawing money from him while occupying his time abroad with intrigues against his throne and his children's succession. he scoffed at the envoy's pretences that conde was not in receipt of money from spain, as if a man so needy and in so embarrassing a position could live without money from some source; and as if he were not aware, from his correspondents in spain, that funds were both promised and furnished to the prince. he repeated his determination not to accord him pardon unless he returned to france, which he had no cause to leave, and, turning suddenly on pecquius, demanded why, the subject of reconciliation having failed, the archduke did not immediately fulfil his promise of turning conde out of his dominions. upon this albert's minister drew back with the air of one amazed, asking how and when the archduke had ever made such a promise. "to the marquis de coeuvres," replied henry. pecquius asked if his ears had not deceived him, and if the king had really said that de coeuvres had made such a statement. henry repeated and confirmed the story. upon the minister's reply that he had himself received no such intelligence from the archduke, the king suddenly changed his tone, and said, "no, i was mistaken--i was confused--the marquis never wrote me this; but did you not say yourself that i might be assured that there would be no difficulty about it if the prince remained obstinate." pecquius replied that he had made such a proposition to his masters by his majesty's request; but there had been no answer received, nor time for one, as the hope of reconciliation had not yet been renounced. he begged henry to consider whether, without instructions from his master, he could have thus engaged his word. "well," said the king, "since you disavow it, i see very well that the archduke has no wish to give me pleasure, and that these are nothing but tricks that you have been amusing me with all this time. very good; each of us will know what we have to do." pecquius considered that the king had tried to get him into a net, and to entrap him into the avowal of a promise which he had never made. henry remained obstinate in his assertions, notwithstanding all the envoy's protestations. "a fine trick, indeed, and unworthy of a king, 'si dicere fas est,'" he wrote to secretary of state praets. "but the force of truth is such that he who spreads the snare always tumbles into the ditch himself." henry concluded the subject of conde at this interview by saying that he could have his pardon on the conditions already named, and not otherwise. he also made some complaints about archduke leopold, who, he said, notwithstanding his demonstrations of wishing a treaty of compromise, was taking towns by surprise which he could not hold, and was getting his troops massacred on credit. pecquius expressed the opinion that it would be better to leave the germans to make their own arrangements among themselves, adding that neither his masters nor the king of spain meant to mix themselves up in the matter. "let them mix themselves in it or keep out of it, as they like," said henry, "i shall not fail to mix myself up in it." the king was marvellously out of humour. before finishing the interview, he asked pecquius whether marquis spinola was going to spain very soon, as he had permission from his majesty to do so, and as he had information that he would be on the road early in lent. the minister replied that this would depend on the will of the archduke, and upon various circumstances. the answer seemed to displease the king, and pecquius was puzzled to know why. he was not aware, of course, of henry's project to kidnap the marquis on the road, and keep him as a surety for conde. the envoy saw villeroy after the audience, who told him not to mind the king's ill-temper, but to bear it as patiently as he could. his majesty could not digest, he said, his infinite displeasure at the obstinacy of the prince; but they must nevertheless strive for a reconciliation. the king was quick in words, but slow in deeds, as the ambassador might have observed before, and they must all try to maintain peace, to which he would himself lend his best efforts. as the secretary of state was thoroughly aware that the king was making vast preparations for war, and had given in his own adhesion to the project, it is refreshing to observe the candour with which he assured the representative of the adverse party of his determination that friendliest relations should be preserved. it is still more refreshing to find villeroy, the same afternoon, warmly uniting with sully, lesdiguieres, and the chancellor, in the decision that war should begin forthwith. for the king held a council at the arsenal immediately after this interview with pecquius, in which he had become convinced that conde would never return. he took the queen with him, and there was not a dissentient voice as to the necessity of beginning hostilities at once. sully, however, was alone in urging that the main force of the attack should be in the north, upon the rhine and meuse. villeroy and those who were secretly in the spanish interest were for beginning it with the southern combination and against milan. sully believed the duke of savoy to be variable and attached in his heart to spain, and he thought it contrary to the interests of france to permit an italian prince to grow so great on her frontier. he therefore thoroughly disapproved the plan, and explained to the dutch ambassador that all this urgency to carry on the war in the south came from hatred to the united provinces, jealousy of their aggrandizement, detestation of the reformed religion, and hope to engage henry in a campaign which he could not carry on successfully. but he assured aerssens that he had the means of counteracting these designs and of bringing on an invasion for obtaining possession of the meuse. if the possessory princes found henry making war in the milanese only, they would feel themselves ruined, and might throw up the game. he begged that barneveld would come on to paris at once, as now or never was the moment to assure the republic for all time. the king had acted with malicious adroitness in turning the tables upon the prince and treating him as a rebel and a traitor because, to save his own and his wife's honour, he had fled from a kingdom where he had but too good reason to suppose that neither was safe. the prince, with infinite want of tact, had played into the king's hands. he had bragged of his connection with spain and of his deep designs, and had shown to all the world that he was thenceforth but an instrument in the hands of the spanish cabinet, while all the world knew the single reason for which he had fled. the king, hopeless now of compelling the return of conde, had become most anxious to separate him from his wife. already the subject of divorce between the two had been broached, and it being obvious that the prince would immediately betake himself into the spanish dominions, the king was determined that the princess should not follow him thither. he had the incredible effrontery and folly to request the queen to address a letter to her at brussels, urging her to return to france. but mary de' medici assured her husband that she had no intention of becoming his assistant, using, to express her thought, the plainest and most vigorous word that the italian language could supply. henry had then recourse once more to the father and aunt. that venerable couple being about to wait upon the archduke's envoy, in compliance with the royal request, pecquius, out of respect to their advanced age, went to the constable's residence. here both the duchess and constable, with tears in their eyes, besought that diplomatist to do his utmost to prevent the princess from the sad fate of any longer sharing her husband's fortunes. the father protested that he would never have consented to her marriage, preferring infinitely that she should have espoused any honest gentleman with crowns a year than this first prince of the blood, with a character such as it had proved to be; but that he had not dared to disobey the king. he spoke of the indignities and cruelties to which she was subjected, said that rochefort, whom conde had employed to assist him in their flight from france, and on the crupper of whose horse the princess had performed the journey, was constantly guilty of acts of rudeness and incivility towards her; that but a few days past he had fired off pistols in her apartment where she was sitting alone with the princess of orange, exclaiming that this was the way he would treat anyone who interfered with the commands of his master, conde; that the prince was incessantly railing at her for refusing to caress the marquis of spinola; and that, in short, he would rather she were safe in the palace of the archduchess isabella, even in the humblest position among her gentlewomen, than to know her vagabondizing miserably about the world with her husband. this, he said, was the greatest fear he had, and he would rather see her dead than condemned to such a fate. he trusted that the archdukes were incapable of believing the stories that he and the duchess of angouleme were influenced in the appeals they made for the separation of the prince and princess by a desire to serve the purposes of the king. those were fables put about by conde. all that the constable and his sister desired was that the archduchess would receive the princess kindly when she should throw herself at her feet, and not allow her to be torn away against her will. the constable spoke with great gravity and simplicity, and with all the signs of genuine emotion, and peter pecquius was much moved. he assured the aged pair that he would do his best to comply with their wishes, and should immediately apprise the archdukes of the interview which had just taken place. most certainly they were entirely disposed to gratify the constable and the duchess as well as the princess herself, whose virtues, qualities, and graces had inspired them with affection, but it must be remembered that the law both human and divine required wives to submit themselves to the commands of their husbands and to be the companions of their good and evil fortunes. nevertheless, he hoped that the lord would so conduct the affairs of the prince of conde that the most christian king and the archdukes would all be satisfied. these pious and consolatory commonplaces on the part of peter pecquius deeply affected the constable. he fell upon the envoy's neck, embraced him repeatedly, and again wept plentifully. chapter, iii. strange scene at the archduke's palace--henry's plot frustrated-- his triumph changed to despair--conversation of the dutch ambassador with the king--the war determined upon. it was in the latter part of the carnival, the saturday night preceding shrove tuesday, . the winter had been a rigorous one in brussels, and the snow lay in drifts three feet deep in the streets. within and about the splendid palace of nassau there was much commotion. lights and flambeaux were glancing, loud voices, martial music, discharge of pistols and even of artillery were heard together with the trampling of many feet, but there was nothing much resembling the wild revelry or cheerful mummery of that holiday season. a throng of the great nobles of belgium with drawn swords and menacing aspect were assembled in the chief apartments, a detachment of the archduke's mounted body-guard was stationed in the courtyard, and five hundred halberdiers of the burgher guilds kept watch and ward about the palace. the prince of conde, a square-built, athletic young man of middle stature, with regular features, but a sulky expression, deepened at this moment into ferocity, was seen chasing the secretary of the french resident minister out of the courtyard, thwacking him lustily about the shoulders with his drawn sword, and threatening to kill him or any other frenchman on the spot, should he show himself in that palace. he was heard shouting rather than speaking, in furious language against the king, against coeuvres, against berny, and bitterly bewailing his misfortunes, as if his wife were already in paris instead of brussels. upstairs in her own apartment which she had kept for some days on pretext of illness sat the princess margaret, in company' of madame de berny, wife of the french minister, and of the marquis de coeuvres, henry's special envoy, and a few other frenchmen. she was passionately fond of dancing. the adoring cardinal described her as marvellously graceful and perfect in that accomplishment. she had begged her other adorer, the marquis spinola, "with sweetest words," that she might remain a few days longer in the nassau palace before removing to the archduke's residence, and that the great general, according to the custom in france and flanders, would be the one to present her with the violins. but spinola, knowing the artifice concealed beneath these "sweetest words," had summoned up valour enough to resist her blandishments, and had refused a second entertainment. it was not, therefore, the disappointment at losing her ball that now made the princess sad. she and her companions saw that there had been a catastrophe; a plot discovered. there was bitter disappointment and deep dismay upon their faces. the plot had been an excellent one. de coeuvres had arranged it all, especially instigated thereto by the father of the princess acting in concurrence with the king. that night when all was expected to be in accustomed quiet, the princess, wrapped in her mantilla, was to have stolen down into the garden, accompanied only by her maid the adventurous and faithful philipotte, to have gone through a breach which led through a garden wall to the city ramparts, thence across the foss to the counterscarp, where a number of horsemen under trustworthy commanders were waiting. mounting on the crupper behind one of the officers of the escort, she was then to fly to the frontier, relays of horses having been provided at every stage until she should reach rocroy, the first pausing place within french territory; a perilous adventure for the young and delicate princess in a winter of almost unexampled severity. on the very morning of the day assigned for the adventure, despatches brought by special couriers from the nuncius and the spanish ambassador at paris gave notice of the plot to the archdukes and to conde, although up to that moment none knew of it in brussels. albert, having been apprised that many frenchmen had been arriving during the past few days, and swarming about the hostelries of the city and suburbs, was at once disposed to believe in the story. when conde came to him, therefore, with confirmation from his own letters, and demanding a detachment of the body-guard in addition to the burgher militiamen already granted by the magistrates, he made no difficulty granting the request. it was as if there had been a threatened assault of the city, rather than the attempted elopement of a young lady escorted by a handful of cavaliers. the courtyard of the nassau palace was filled with cavalry sent by the archduke, while five hundred burgher guards sent by the magistrates were drawn up around the gate. the noise and uproar, gaining at every moment more mysterious meaning by the darkness of night, soon spread through the city. the whole population was awake, and swarming through the streets. such a tumult had not for years been witnessed in brussels, and the rumour flew about and was generally believed that the king of france at the head of an army was at the gates of the city determined to carry off the princess by force. but although the superfluous and very scandalous explosion might have been prevented, there could be no doubt that the stratagem had been defeated. nevertheless, the effrontery and ingenuity of de coeuvres became now sublime. accompanied by his colleague, the resident minister, de berny, who was sure not to betray the secret because he had never known it--his wife alone having been in the confidence of the princess--he proceeded straightway to the archduke's palace, and, late in the night as it was, insisted on an audience. here putting on his boldest face when admitted to the presence, he complained loudly of the plot, of which he had just become aware, contrived by the prince of conde to carry off his wife to spain against her will, by main force, and by assistance of flemish nobles, archiducal body-guard, and burgher militia. it was all a plot of conde, he said, to palliate still more his flight from france. every one knew that the princess could not fly back to paris through the air. to take her out of a house filled with people, to pierce or scale the walls of the city, to arrange her journey by ordinary means, and to protect the whole route by stations of cavalry, reaching from brussels to the frontier, and to do all this in profound secrecy, was equally impossible. such a scheme had never been arranged nor even imagined, he said. the true plotter was conde, aided by ministers in flanders hostile to france, and as the honour of the king and the reputation of the princess had been injured by this scandal, the ambassador loudly demanded a thorough investigation of the affair in order that vengeance might fall where it was due. the prudent albert was equal to the occasion. not wishing to state the full knowledge which he possessed of de coeuvres' agency and the king's complicity in the scheme of abduction to france, he reasoned calmly with the excited marquis, while his colleague looked and listened in dumb amazement, having previously been more vociferous and infinitely more sincere than his colleague in expressions of indignation. the archduke said that he had not thought the plot imputed to the king and his ambassador very probable. nevertheless, the assertions of the prince had been so positive as to make it impossible to refuse the guards requested by him. he trusted, however, that the truth would soon be known, and that it would leave no stain on the princess, nor give any offence to the king. surprised and indignant at the turn given to the adventure by the french envoys, he nevertheless took care to conceal these sentiments, to abstain from accusation, and calmly to inform them that the princess next morning would be established under his own roof; and enjoy the protection of the archduchess. for it had been arranged several days before that margaret should leave the palace of nassau for that of albert and isabella on the th, and the abduction had been fixed for the night of the th precisely because the conspirators wished to profit by the confusion incident on a change of domicile. the irrepressible de coeuvres, even then hardly willing to give up the whole stratagem as lost, was at least determined to discover how and by whom the plot had been revealed. in a cemetery piled three feet deep with snow on the evening following that mid-winter's night which had been fixed for the princess's flight, the unfortunate ambassador waited until a certain vallobre, a gentleman of spinola's, who was the go-between of the enamoured genoese and the princess, but whom de coeuvres had gained over, came at last to meet him by appointment. when he arrived, it was only to inform him of the manner in which he had been baffled, to convince him that the game was up, and that nothing was left him but to retreat utterly foiled in his attempt, and to be stigmatized as a blockhead by his enraged sovereign. next day the princess removed her residence to the palace of the archdukes, where she was treated with distinguished honour by isabella, and installed ceremoniously in the most stately, the most virtuous, and the most dismal of courts. her father and aunt professed themselves as highly pleased with the result, and pecquius wrote that "they were glad to know her safe from the importunities of the old fop who seemed as mad as if he had been stung by a tarantula." and how had the plot been revealed? simply through the incorrigible garrulity of the king himself. apprised of the arrangement in all its details by the constable, who had first received the special couriers of de coeuvres, he could not keep the secret to himself for a moment, and the person of all others in the world to whom he thought good to confide it was the queen herself. she received the information with a smile, but straightway sent for the nuncius ubaldini, who at her desire instantly despatched a special courier to spinola with full particulars of the time and mode of the proposed abduction. nevertheless the ingenuous henry, confiding in the capacity of his deeply offended queen to keep the secret which he had himself divulged, could scarcely contain himself for joy. off he went to saint-germain with a train of coaches, impatient to get the first news from de coeuvres after the scheme should have been carried into effect, and intending to travel post towards flanders to meet and welcome the princess. "pleasant farce for shrove tuesday," wrote the secretary of pecquius, "is that which the frenchmen have been arranging down there! he in whose favour the abduction is to be made was seen going out the same day spangled and smart, contrary to his usual fashion, making a gambado towards saint-germain-en-laye with four carriages and four to meet the nymph." great was the king's wrath and mortification at this ridiculous exposure of his detestable scheme. vociferous were villeroy's expressions of henry's indignation at being supposed to have had any knowledge of or complicity in the affair. "his majesty cannot approve of the means one has taken to guard against a pretended plot for carrying off the princess," said the secretary of state; "a fear which was simulated by the prince in order to defame the king." he added that there was no reason to suspect the king, as he had never attempted anything of the sort in his life, and that the archduke might have removed the princess to his palace without sending an army to the hotel of the prince of orange, and causing such an alarm in the city, firing artillery on the rampart as if the town had been full of frenchmen in arms, whereas one was ashamed next morning to find that there had been but fifteen in all. "but it was all marquis spinola's fault," he said, "who wished to show himself off as a warrior." the king, having thus through the mouth of his secretary of state warmly protested against his supposed implication in the attempted abduction, began as furiously to rail at de coeuvres for its failure; telling the duc de vendome that his uncle was an idiot, and writing that unlucky envoy most abusive letters for blundering in the scheme which had been so well concerted between them. then he sent for malherbe, who straightway perpetrated more poems to express the king's despair, in which henry was made to liken himself to a skeleton with a dried skin, and likewise to a violet turned up by the ploughshare and left to wither. he kept up through madame de berny a correspondence with "his beautiful angel," as he called the princess, whom he chose to consider a prisoner and a victim; while she, wearied to death with the frigid monotony and sepulchral gaieties of the archiducal court, which she openly called her "dungeon" diverted herself with the freaks and fantasies of her royal adorer, called him in very ill-spelled letters "her chevalier, her heart, her all the world," and frequently wrote to beg him, at the suggestion of the intriguing chateau vert, to devise some means of rescuing her from prison. the constable and duchess meanwhile affected to be sufficiently satisfied with the state of things. conde, however, received a letter from the king, formally summoning him to return to france, and, in case of refusal, declaring him guilty of high-treason for leaving the kingdom without the leave and against the express commands of the king. to this letter, brought to him by de coeuvres, the prince replied by a paper, drawn up and served by a notary of brussels, to the effect that he had left france to save his life and honour; that he was ready to return when guarantees were given him for the security of both. he would live and die, he said, faithful to the king. but when the king, departing from the paths of justice, proceeded through those of violence against him, he maintained that every such act against his person was null and invalid. henry had even the incredible meanness and folly to request the queen to write to the archdukes, begging that the princess might be restored to assist at her coronation. mary de' medici vigorously replied once more that, although obliged to wink at the king's amours, she declined to be his procuress. conde then went off to milan very soon after the scene at the nassau palace and the removal of the princess to the care of the archdukes. he was very angry with his wife, from whom he expressed a determination to be divorced, and furious with the king, the validity of whose second marriage and the legitimacy of whose children he proposed with spanish help to dispute. the constable was in favour of the divorce, or pretended to be so, and caused importunate letters to be written, which he signed, to both albert and isabella, begging that his daughter might be restored to him to be the staff of his old age, and likewise to be present at the queen's coronation. the archdukes, however, resolutely refused to permit her to leave their protection without conde's consent, or until after a divorce had been effected, notwithstanding that the father and aunt demanded it. the constable and duchess however, acquiesced in the decision, and expressed immense gratitude to isabella. "the father and aunt have been talking to pecquius," said henry very dismally; "but they give me much pain. they are even colder than the season, but my fire thaws them as soon as i approach." "p. s.--i am so pining away in my anguish that i am nothing but skin and bones. nothing gives me pleasure. i fly from company, and if in order to comply with the law of nations i go into some assembly or other, instead of enlivening, it nearly kills me."--[lettres missives de henri vii. ]. and the king took to his bed. whether from gout, fever, or the pangs of disappointed love, he became seriously ill. furious with every one, with conde, the constable, de coeuvres, the queen, spinola, with the prince of orange, whose councillor keeremans had been encouraging conde in his rebellion and in going to spain with spinola, he was now resolved that tho war should go on. aerssens, cautious of saying too much on paper of this very delicate affair, always intimated to barneveld that, if the princess could be restored, peace was still possible, and that by moving an inch ahead of the king in the cleve matter the states at the last moment might be left in the lurch. he distinctly told the advocate, on his expressing a hope that henry might consent to the prince's residence in some neutral place until a reconciliation could be effected, that the pinch of the matter was not there, and that van der myle, who knew all about it, could easily explain it. alluding to the project of reviving the process against the dowager, and of divorcing the prince and princess, he said these steps would do much harm, as they would too much justify the true cause of the retreat of the prince, who was not believed when he merely talked of his right of primogeniture: "the matter weighs upon us very heavily," he said, "but the trouble is that we don't search for the true remedies. the matter is so delicate that i don't dare to discuss it to the very bottom." the ambassador had a long interview with the king as he lay in his bed feverish and excited. he was more impatient than ever for the arrival of the states' special embassy, reluctantly acquiesced in the reasons assigned for the delay, but trusted that it would arrive soon with barneveld at the head, and with count lewis william as a member for "the sword part of it." he railed at the prince of orange, not believing that keeremans would have dared to do what he had done but with the orders of his master. he said that the king of spain would supply conde with money and with everything he wanted, knowing that he could make use of him to trouble his kingdom. it was strange, he thought, that philip should venture to these extremities with his affairs in such condition, and when he had so much need of repose. he recalled all his ancient grievances against spain, his rights to the kingdom of navarre and the county of st. pol violated; the conspiracy of biron, the intrigues of bouillon, the plots of the count of auvergne and the marchioness of verneuil, the treason of meragne, the corruption of l'hoste, and an infinity of other plots of the king and his ministers; of deep injuries to him and to the public repose, not to be tolerated by a mighty king like himself, with a grey beard. he would be revenged, he said, for this last blow, and so for all the rest. he would not leave a troublesome war on the hands of his young son. the occasion was favourable. it was just to defend the oppressed princes with the promptly accorded assistance of the states-general. the king of great britain was favourable. the duke of savoy was pledged. it was better to begin the war in his green old age than to wait the pleasure and opportunity of the king of spain. all this he said while racked with fever, and dismissed the envoy at last, after a long interview, with these words: "mr. ambassador--i have always spoken roundly and frankly to you, and you will one day be my witness that i have done all that i could to draw the prince out of the plight into which he has put himself. but he is struggling for the succession to this crown under instructions from the spaniards, to whom he has entirely pledged himself. he has already received crowns for his equipment. i know that you and my other friends will work for the conservation of this monarchy, and will never abandon me in my designs to weaken the power of spain. pray god for my health." the king kept his bed a few days afterwards, but soon recovered. villeroy sent word to barneveld in answer to his suggestions of reconciliation that it was too late, that conde was entirely desperate and spanish. the crown of france was at stake, he said, and the prince was promising himself miracles and mountains with the aid of spain, loudly declaring the marriage of mary de' medici illegal, and himself heir to the throne. the secretary of state professed himself as impatient as his master for the arrival of the embassy; the states being the best friends france ever had and the only allies to make the war succeed. jeannin, who was now never called to the council, said that the war was not for germany but for conde, and that henry could carry it on for eight years. he too was most anxious for barneveld's arrival, and was of his opinion that it would have been better for conde to be persuaded to remain at breda and be supported by his brother-in-law, the prince of orange. the impetuosity of the king had however swept everything before it, and conde had been driven to declare himself spanish and a pretender to the crown. there was no issue now but war. boderie, the king's envoy in great britain, wrote that james would be willing to make a defensive league for the affairs of cleve and julich only, which was the slenderest amount of assistance; but henry always suspected master jacques of intentions to baulk him if possible and traverse his designs. but the die was cast. spinola had carried off conde in triumph; the princess was pining in her gilt cage in brussels, and demanding a divorce for desertion and cruel treatment; the king considered himself as having done as much as honour allowed him to effect a reconciliation, and it was obvious that, as the states' ambassador said, he could no longer retire from the war without shame, which would be the greatest danger of all. "the tragedy is ready to begin," said aerssens. "they are only waiting now for the arrival of our ambassadors." on the th march the king before going to fontainebleau for a few days summoned that envoy to the louvre. impatient at a slight delay in his arrival, henry came down into the courtyard as he was arriving and asked eagerly if barneveld was coming to paris. aerssens replied, that the advocate had been hastening as much as possible the departure of the special embassy, but that the condition of affairs at home was such as not to permit him to leave the country at that moment. van der myle, who would be one of the ambassadors, would more fully explain this by word of mouth. the king manifested infinite annoyance and disappointment that barneveld was not to make part of the embassy. "he says that he reposes such singular confidence in your authority in the state, experience in affairs, and affection for himself," wrote aerssens, "that he might treat with you in detail and with open heart of all his designs. he fears now that the ambassadors will be limited in their powers and instructions, and unable to reply at once on the articles which at different times have been proposed to me for our enterprise. thus much valuable time will be wasted in sending backwards and forwards." the king also expressed great anxiety to consult with count lewis william in regard to military details, but his chief sorrow was in regard to the advocate. "he acquiesced only with deep displeasure and regret in your reasons," said the ambassador, "and says that he can hope for nothing firm now that you refuse to come." villeroy intimated that barneveld did not come for fear of exciting the jealousy of the english. etext editor's bookmarks: he who spreads the snare always tumbles into the ditch himself most detestable verses that even he had ever composed she declined to be his procuress this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, (a) chapter l. movements of the emperor rudolph--marquis spinola's reception at the hague--meeting of spinola and prince maurice--treaty of the republic with the french government--the spanish commissioners before the states-general--beginning of negotiations--stormy discussions--real object of spain in the negotiations--question of the india trade-- abandonment of the peace project--negotiations for a truce-- prolongation of the armistice--further delays--treaty of the states with england--proposals of the spanish ambassadors to henry of france and to james of england--friar neyen at the court of spain-- spanish procrastination--decision of philip on the conditions of peace--further conference at the hague--answer of the states-general to the proposals of the spanish government--general rupture. towards the close of the year a very feeble demonstration was made in the direction of the dutch republic by the very feeble emperor of germany. rudolph, awaking as it might be from a trance, or descending for a moment from his star-gazing tower and his astrological pursuits to observe the movements of political spheres, suddenly discovered that the netherlands were no longer revolving in their preordained orbit. those provinces had been supposed to form part of one great system, deriving light and heat from the central imperial sun. it was time therefore to put an end to these perturbations. the emperor accordingly, as if he had not enough on his hands at that precise moment with the hungarians, transylvanians, bohemian protestants, his brother matthias and the grand turk, addressed a letter to the states of holland, zeeland, and the provinces confederated with them. reminding them of the care ever taken by himself and his father to hear all their petitions, and to obtain for them a good peace, he observed that he had just heard of their contemplated negotiations with king philip and archduke albert, and of their desire to be declared free states and peoples. he was amazed, he said, that they should not have given him notice of so important an affair, inasmuch as all the united provinces belonged to and were fiefs of the holy roman empire. they were warned, therefore, to undertake nothing that might be opposed to the feudal law except with his full knowledge. this letter was dated the th of october. the states took time to deliberate, and returned no answer until after the new year. on the nd of january, , they informed the emperor that they could never have guessed of his requiring notification as to the approaching conferences. they had not imagined that the archduke would keep them a secret from his brother, or the king from his uncle-cousin. otherwise, the states would have sent due notice to his majesty. they well remembered, they said, the appeals made by the provinces to the emperor from time to time, at the imperial diets, for help against the tyranny of the spaniards. they well remembered, too, that no help was ever given them in response to those appeals. they had not forgotten either the famous cologne negotiations for peace in presence of the imperial envoys, in consequence of which the enemy had carried on war against them with greater ferocity than before. at that epoch they had made use of an extreme remedy for an intolerable evil, and had solemnly renounced allegiance to the king. since that epoch a whole generation of mankind had passed away, and many kings and potentates had recognised their freedom, obtained for just cause and maintained by the armed hand. after a long and bloody war, albert and philip had at last been brought to acknowledge the provinces as free countries over which they pretended to no right, as might be seen by the letters of both, copies of which were forwarded to the emperor. full confidence was now expressed, therefore, that the emperor and all germany would look with favour on such a god-fearing transaction, by which an end would be put to so terrible a war. thus the states-general; replying with gentle scorn to the antiquated claim of sovereignty on the part of imperial majesty. duly authenticated by citations of investitures, indulgences, and concordates, engrossed on yellowest parchment, sealed with reddest sealing-wax, and reposing in a thousand pigeon-holes in mustiest archives, no claim could be more solemn or stately. unfortunately, however, rebel pikes and matchlocks, during the past forty years, had made too many rents in those sacred parchments to leave much hope of their ever being pieced handsomely together again. as to the historical theory of imperial enfeoffment, the states thought it more delicate to glide smoothly and silently over the whole matter. it would have been base to acknowledge and impolite to refute the claim. it is as well to imitate this reserve. it is enough simply to remind the reader that although so late as the time of charles v., the provinces had been declared constituent parts of the empire, liable to its burthens, and entitled to its protection; the netherlanders being practical people, and deeming burthens and protection correlative, had declined the burthen because always deprived of the protection. and now, after a year spent in clearing away the mountains of dust which impeded the pathway to peace, and which one honest vigorous human breath might at once have blown into space, the envoys of the archduke set forth towards the hague. marquis spinola, don juan de mancicidor, private secretary to the king of spain, president richardot, auditor verreyken, and brother john neyen-- a genoese, a spaniard, a burgundian, a fleming, and a franciscan friar --travelling in great state, with a long train of carriages, horses, lackeys, cooks, and secretaries, by way of breda, bergen-op-zoom, dort, rotterdam, and delft, and being received in each town and village through which they passed with great demonstrations of respect and cordial welcome, arrived at last within a mile of the hague. it was the dead of winter, and of the severest winter that had occurred for many years. every river, estuary, canal was frozen hard. all holland was one broad level sheet of ice, over which the journey had been made in sledges. on the last day of january prince maurice, accompanied by lewes william, and by eight state coaches filled with distinguished personages, left the hague and halted at the hoorn bridge, about midway between ryswyk and the capital. the prince had replied to the first request of the states that he should go forward to meet spinola, by saying that he would do so willingly if it were to give him battle; otherwise not. olden-barneveld urged upon him however that, as servant of the republic, he was bound to do what the states commanded, as a matter involving the dignity of the nation. in consequence of this remonstrance maurice consented to go, but he went unwillingly. the advancing procession of the spanish ambassadors was already in sight. far and wide in whatever direction the eye could sweep, the white surface of the landscape was blackened with human beings. it seemed as if the whole population of the netherlands had assembled, in mass meeting, to witness the pacific interview between those two great chieftains who had never before stood face to face except upon the battle-field. in carriages, in donkey carts, upon horseback, in sledges, on skates, upon foot-men, women, and children, gentle and simple, protestants, catholics, gomarites, armenians, anabaptists, country squires in buff and bandaleer, city magistrates and merchants in furs and velvet, artisans, boatmen, and peasants, with their wives and daughters in well-starched ruff and tremendous head-gear--they came thronging in countless multitudes, those honest hollanders, cheering and throwing up their caps in honour of the chieftain whose military genius had caused so much disaster to their country. this uproarious demonstration of welcome on the part of the multitude moved the spleen of many who were old enough to remember the horrors of spanish warfare within their borders. "thus unreflecting, gaping, boorish, are nearly all the common people of these provinces," said a contemporary, describing the scene, and forgetting that both high and low, according to his own account, made up the mass of spectators on that winter's day. moreover it seems difficult to understand why the hollanders should not have indulged a legitimate curiosity, and made a holiday on this memorable occasion. spinola was not entering their capital in triumph, a spanish army was not marching --as it might have done had the course of events been different--over the protective rivers and marshes of the fatherland, now changed by the exceptional cold into solid highways for invasion. on the contrary, the arrival of the great enemy within their gates, with the olive-branch instead of the sword in his hand, was a victory not for spain but for the republic. it was known throughout the land that he was commissioned by the king and the archdukes to treat for peace with the states-general of the united provinces as with the representatives of a free and independent nation, utterly beyond any foreign control. was not this opening of a cheerful and pacific prospect, after a half century's fight for liberty, a fair cause for rejoicing? the spanish commissioners arrived at the hoorn bridge, spinola alighted from his coach, prince maurice stepped forward into the road to greet him. then the two eminent soldiers, whose names had of late been so familiar in the mouths of men, shook hands and embraced with heroic cordiality, while a mighty shout went up from the multitude around. it was a stately and dramatic spectacle, that peaceful meeting of the rival leaders in a war which had begun before either of them was born. the bystanders observed, or thought that they observed, signs of great emotion on the faces of both. it has also been recorded that each addressed the other in epigrammatic sentences of compliment. "god is my witness," maurice was supposed to have said, "that the arrival of these honourable negotiators is most grateful to me. time, whose daughter is truth, will show the faith to be given to my words." "this fortunate day," replied spinola, "has filled full the measure of my hopes and wishes, and taken from me the faculty of ever wishing for anything again. i trust in divine clemency that an opportunity may be given to show my gratitude, and to make a fit return for the humanity thus shown me by the most excellent prince that the sun shines upon." with this both got into the stadholder's carriage, spinola being placed on maurice's right hand. their conversation during their brief drive to the capital, followed by their long retinue, and by the enthusiastic and vociferating crowd, has not been chronicled. it is also highly probable that the second-rate theatrical dialogue which the jesuit historian, writing from spinola's private papers, has preserved for posterity, was rather what seemed to his imagination appropriate for the occasion than a faithful shorthand report of anything really uttered. a few commonplace phrases of welcome, with a remark or two perhaps on the unexampled severity of the frost, seem more likely to have formed the substance of that brief conversation. a couple of trumpeters of spinola went braying through the streets of the village capital, heralding their master's approach with superfluous noise, and exciting the disgust of the quieter portion of the burghers. at last however the envoys and their train were all comfortably housed. the marquis, president richardot, and secretary mancicidor, were established at a new mansion on the vyverberg, belonging to goswyn menskens. the rest of the legation were lodged at the house of wassenaer. it soon became plain that the ways of life and the style housekeeping habitual to great officers of the spanish crown were very different from the thrifty manners and customs of dutch republicans. it was so long since anything like royal pomp and circumstance had been seen in their borders that the exhibition, now made, excited astonishment. it was a land where every child went to school, where almost every individual inhabitant could read and write, where even the middle classes were proficients in mathematics and the classics, and could speak two or more modern languages; where the whole nation, with but few exceptions, were producers of material or intellectual wealth, and where comparatively little of unproductive consumption prevailed. those self-governing and self-sustaining municipalities had almost forgotten the existence of the magnificent nothings so dear to the hearts of kings. spinola's house was open day and night. the gorgeous plate, gigantic candelabra, mighty ewers, shields and layers of silver and gold, which decorated his tables and sideboards, amazed the gaping crowd. he dined and supped in state every day, and the public were admitted to gaze upon his banquets as if he had been a monarch. it seemed, said those homely republicans, as if "a silver christening were going on every day in his house." there were even grave remonstrances made to the magistracy and to, the states-general against the effect of such ostentatious and immoral proceedings upon the popular mind, and suggestions that at least the doors should be shut, so that the scandal might be confined to spinola's own household. but the republican authorities deciding, not without wisdom, that the spectacle ought to serve rather as a wholesome warning than as a contaminating example, declined any inquisitorial interference with the housekeeping of the spanish ambassadors. before the negotiations began, a treaty had been made between the republic and the french government, by which it was stipulated that every effort should be made by both contracting parties to bring about an honourable and assured peace between the united provinces, spain, and the archdukes. in case of the continuance of the war, however, it was agreed that france should assist the states with ten thousand men, while in case at any time, during the continuance of the league, france should be attacked by a foreign enemy, she should receive from her ally five thousand auxiliary troops, or their equivalent in maritime assistance. this convention was thought by other powers to be so profitable to the netherlands as to excite general uneasiness and suspicion. the states would have gladly signed a similar agreement with england, but nothing was to be done with that government until an old-standing dispute in regard to the cloth trade had been arranged. middelburg had the exclusive right of deposit for the cloths imported from england. this monopoly for zealand being naturally not very palatable to amsterdam and other cities of holland, the states-general had at last authorized the merchant-adventurers engaged in this traffic to deposit their goods in any city of the united provinces. the course of trade had been to import the raw cloth from england, to dress and dye it in the netherlands, and then to re-export it to england. latterly, however, some dyers and clothiers emigrating from the provinces to that country, had obtained a monopoly from james for practising their art in his dominions. in consequence of this arrangement the exportation of undyed cloths had been forbidden. this prohibition had caused irritation both in the kingdom and the republic, had necessarily deranged the natural course of trade and manufacture, and had now prevented for the time any conclusion of an alliance offensive and defensive between the countries, even if political sentiment had made such a league possible. the states- general had recourse to the usual expedient by which bad legislation on one side was countervailed by equally bad legislation on the other. the exportation of undyed english cloths being forbidden by england, the importation of dyed english cloths was now prohibited by the netherlands. the international cloth trade stopped. this embargo became at last so detestable to all parties that concession was made by the crown for a limited export of raw cloths. the concession was soon widened by custom into a general exportation, the royal government looking through its fingers at the open infraction of its own laws, while the natural laws of trade before long re-established the old equilibrium. meantime the ill- feeling produced by this dissension delayed any cordial political arrangement between the countries. on the th of february the spanish commissioners came for the first time before the states-general, assembled to the number of a hundred and thirty, in their palace at the hague. the first meeting was merely one of mutual compliment, president richardot, on behalf of his colleagues, expressing gratitude for the cordial welcome which had been manifested to the envoys on their journey through so many towns of the united provinces. they had been received, he said, not as enemies with whom an almost perpetual war had been waged, but as friends, confederates, and allies. a warmer reception they could never have hoped for nor desired. two special commissioners were now appointed by the states-general to negotiate with the envoys. these were count lewis william and brederode. with these delegates at large were associated seven others, one from each province. barneveld of course represented holland; maldere, zeeland; berk, utrecht; hillama, friesland; bloat, overyssel; koender van helpen, groningen; cornelius vail gend, gelderland. the negotiations began at once. the archdukes had empowered the five envoys to deal in their name and in that of the king of spain. philip had authorized the archdukes to take this course by an instrument dated th january. in this paper he called the archdukes hereditary sovereigns of the netherlands. it was agreed that the various points of negotiation should be taken up in regular order; but the first question of all that presented itself was whether the conferences should be for a truce or, a peace. the secret object of spain was for a truce of years. thus she thought to save her dignity, to reserve her rights of re-conquest, to replenish her treasury, and to repair her military strength. barneveld and his party, comprising a large majority of the states-general, were for peace. prince maurice, having done his utmost to oppose negotiations for peace, was, for still stronger reasons, determined to avoid falling into what he considered the ambush of a truce. the french ambassadors were also for peace. the spanish envoys accordingly concealed their real designs, and all parties began discussions for the purpose of establishing a permanent peace. this preliminary being settled, barneveld asked the spaniards if they had full powers to treat with the states as with a free nation, and if they recognised them as such. "the most ample power," was the reply; "and we are content to treat with you even if you should choose to call yourself a kingdom." "by what right then are the archdukes called by the king hereditary sovereigns of the netherlands, and why do they append the seals of the seven united provinces to this document?" asked the advocate, taking up from the table the full power of albert and isabella and putting his finger on the seals." "by the same right," replied president richardot, "that the king of france calls himself king of navarre, that the king of great britain calls himself king of france, that the king of spain calls himself king of jerusalem." nothing could be more logical, nothing more historically accurate. but those plain-spoken republicans saw no advantage in beginning a negotiation for peace on the basis of their independence by permitting the archduke to call himself their sovereign, and to seal solemn state papers with their signet. it might seem picturesque to genealogical minds, it might be soothing to royal vanity, that paste counterfeits should be substituted for vanished jewels. it would be cruelty to destroy the mock glitter without cause. but there was cause. on this occasion the sham was dangerous. james stuart might call himself king of france. he was not more likely to take practical possession of that kingdom than of the mountains in the moon. henry of bourbon was not at present contemplating an invasion of the hereditary possessions of the house of albret. it was a matter of indifference to the netherlands whether philip iii. were crowned in jerusalem that very day, or the week afterwards, or never. it was very important however that the united provinces should have it thoroughly recognised that they were a free and independent republic, nor could that recognition be complete so long as any human being in the whole world called himself their master, and signed with their seals of state. "'tis absurd," said the hollanders, "to use the names and arms of our provinces. we have as yet no precedent to prove that you consider the united provinces as lost, and name and arms to be but wind." barneveld reminded them that they had all expressed the most straightforward intention, and that the father commissary especially had pledged his very soul for the sincerity of the king and the archdukes. "we ourselves never wished and never could deceive any one," continued the advocate, "and it is also very difficult for others to deceive us." this being the universal sentiment of the netherlanders, it was thought proper to express it in respectful but vigorous language. this was done and the session was terminated. tile spanish envoys, knowing very well that neither the king nor the archduke regarded the retention of the titles and seals of all the seventeen netherlands as an empty show, but that a secret and solid claim lurked beneath that usurpation, were very indignant. they however dissembled their wrath from the states' commissioners. they were unwilling that the negotiations should be broken up at the very first session, and they felt that neither prince maurice nor barneveld was to be trifled with upon this point. but they were loud and magnificent in their demonstrations when they came to talk the matter over with the ambassadors of france and england. it was most portentous, they thought, to the cause of monarchy and good government all over the world, that these republicans, not content to deal with kings and princes on a footing of equality, should presume to dictate to them as to inferiors. having passed through rebellion to liberty, they were now proceeding to trample upon the most hallowed customs and rites. what would become of royalty, if in the same breath it should not only renounce the substance, but even put away the symbols of authority. this insolence of the people was not more dangerous to the king and the archdukes than it was to every potentate in the universe. it was a sacred duty to resist such insults. sage jeannin did his best to pacify the vehemence of the commissioners. he represented to them that foreign titles borne by anointed kings were only ensigns of historical possessions which they had for ever renounced; but that it might become one day the pleasure of spain, or lie in the power of spain, to vindicate her ancient rights to the provinces. hence the anxiety of the states was but natural. the old leaguer and political campaigner knew very well, moreover, that at least one half of richardot's noble wrath was feigned. the commissioners would probably renounce the title and the seven seals, but in so doing would drive a hard bargain. for an empty phrase and a pennyworth of wax they would extort a heavy price. and this was what occurred. the commissioners agreed to write for fresh instructions to brussels. a reply came in due time from the archdukes, in which they signified their willingness to abandon the title of sovereigns over all the netherlands, and to abstain from using their signet. in exchange for this concession they merely demanded from the states-general a formal abandonment of the navigation to both the indies. this was all. the archdukes granted liberty to the republic. the republic would renounce its commerce with more than half the world. the scorn of the states' commissioners at this proposition can be imagined, and it became difficult indeed for them to speak on the subject in decorous language. because the archdukes were willing to give up something which was not their property, the republic was voluntarily to open its veins and drain its very life-blood at the bidding of a foreign potentate. she was to fling away all the trophies of heemskerk and sebalt de weerd, of balthasar de cordes, van der hagen, matelieff, and verhoeff; she was to abdicate the position which she had already acquired of mistress of the seas, and she was to deprive herself for ever of that daily increasing ocean commerce which was rapidly converting a cluster of puny, half-submerged provinces into a mighty empire. of a certainty the spanish court at this new epoch was an astounding anachronism. in its view pope alexander vi. still lived and reigned. liberty was not a boon conferred upon the netherlanders by their defeated enemy. it had been gained by their own right hands; by the blood, and the gold, and the sweat of two generations. if it were the king's to give, let him try once more if he could take it away. such were the opinions and emotions of the dutchmen, expressed in as courteous language as they could find. "it would be a political heresy," said barneveld to the spanish commissioners at this session, "if my lords the states should by contract banish their citizens out of two-thirds of the world, both land and sea." "'tis strange," replied the spaniards, "that you wish to have more than other powers--kings or republics--who never make any such pretensions. the indies, east and west, are our house, privately possessed by us for more than a hundred years, and no one has a right to come into it without our permission. this is not banishment, but a custom to which all other nations submit. we give you your sovereignty before all the world, quitting all claims upon it. we know very well that you deny receiving it from us; but to give you a quit claim, and to permit free trade besides, would be a little more than you have a right to expect." was it not well for the cause of liberty, commercial intercourse, and advancement of the human intellect, that there was this obstinate little republic in the world, refusing to tolerate that to which all other great powers of the earth submitted; that there was one nation determined not to acknowledge three-quarters of the world, including america and india, as the private mansion of the king of spain, to be locked against the rest of the human race? the next session of the negotiators after the arrival of this communication from the archdukes was a stormy one. the india trade was the sole subject of discussion. as the states were firmly resolved never to relinquish that navigation which in truth was one of their most practical and valuable possessions, and as the royal commissioners were as solemnly determined that it should never be conceded, it may be imagined how much breath, how much foolscap paper, was wasted. in truth, the negotiation for peace had been a vile mockery from the beginning. spain had no real intention of abdicating her claim to the united provinces. at the very moment when the commissioners were categorically making that concession in brussels, and claiming such a price for it, hoboken, the archduke's diplomatic representative in london, was earnestly assuring king james that neither his master nor philip had the remotest notion of renouncing their sovereignty over all the netherlands. what had been said and written to that effect was merely a device, he asserted, to bring about a temporary truce. during the interval of imaginary freedom it was certain that the provinces would fall into such dire confusion that it would be easier for spain to effect their re-conquest, after a brief delay for repairing her own strength, than it would be by continuing the present war without any cessation. the spanish ambassador at vienna too on his part assured the emperor rudolph that his master was resolved never to abdicate the sovereignty of the provinces. the negotiations then going on, he said, were simply intended to extort from the states a renunciation of the india trade and their consent to the re-introduction of the catholic religion throughout their territories. something of all this was known and much more suspected at the hague; the conviction therefore that no faith would be kept with rebels and heretics, whatever might be said or written, gained strength every day. that these delusive negotiations with the hollanders were not likely to be so successful as the comedy enacted twenty years before at bourbourg, for the amusement of queen elizabeth and her diplomatists while the tragedy of the armada was preparing, might be safely prophesied. richardot was as effective as ever in the part which he had so often played, but spinola laboured under the disadvantage of being a far honester man than alexander farnese. far from equal to that famous chieftain in the management of a great military campaign, it is certain that he was infinitely inferior to him in genteel comedy. whether maurice and lewis william, barneveld and brederode, were to do better in the parts formerly assigned to john rogers, valentine dale, comptroller croft, and their colleagues, remained to be seen. on the th of february, at the fifth conference of the commissioners, the first pitched battle on the india trade was fought. thereafter the combat was almost every day renewed. exactly, as a year before, the news of heemskerk's victory at gibraltar had made the king and the archdukes eager to obtain an armistice with the rebels both by land and sea, so now the report of matelieff's recent achievements in the indian ocean was increasing their anxiety to exclude the netherlanders from the regions which they were rapidly making their own. as we look back upon the negotiations, after the lapse of two centuries and a half, it becomes difficult to suppress our amazement at those scenes of solemn trickery and superhuman pride. it is not necessary to follow, step by step, the proceedings at each daily conference, but it is impossible for me not to detain the reader for yet a season longer with those transactions, and especially to invite him to ponder the valuable lesson which in their entirety they convey. no higher themes could possibly be laid before statesmen to discuss. questions of political self-government, religious liberty, national independence, divine right, rebellious power, freedom of commerce, supremacy of the seas, omnipotence claimed by the old world over the destiny of what was called the new, were importunately demanding solution. all that most influenced human passion, or stirred human reason to its depths--at that memorable point of time when two great epochs seemed to be sweeping against each other in elemental conflict-- was to be dealt with. the emancipated currents of human thought, the steady tide of ancient dogma, were mingling in wrath. there are times of paroxysm in which nature seems to effect more in a moment, whether intellectually or materially, than at other periods during a lapse of years. the shock of forces, long preparing and long delayed, is apt at last to make itself sensible to those neglectful of gradual but vital changes. yet there are always ears that are deaf to the most portentous din. thus, after that half century of war, the policy of spain was still serenely planting itself on the position occupied before the outbreak of the revolt. the commonwealth, solidly established by a free people, already one of the most energetic and thriving among governments, a recognised member of the great international family, was now gravely expected to purchase from its ancient tyrant the independence which it had long possessed, while the price demanded for the free papers was not only extravagant, but would be disgraceful to an emancipated slave. holland was not likely at that turning point in her history, and in the world's history, to be false to herself and to the great principles of public law. it was good for the cause of humanity that the republic should reappear at that epoch. it was wholesome for europe that there should be just then a plain self-governing people, able to speak homely and important truths. it was healthy for the moral and political atmosphere--in those days and in the time to come--that a fresh breeze from that little sea-born commonwealth should sweep away some of the ancient fog through which a few very feeble and very crooked mortals had so long loomed forth like giants and gods. to vindicate the laws of nations and of nature; to make a noble effort for reducing to a system--conforming, at least approximately, to divine reason--the chaotic elements of war and peace; to recal the great facts that earth, sea, and sky ought to belong to mankind, and not to an accidental and very limited selection of the species was not an unworthy task for a people which had made such unexampled sacrifice for liberty and right. accordingly, at the conference on the th february, the spanish commissioners categorically summoned the states to desist entirely from the trade to either india, exactly as before the war. to enforce this prohibition, they said, was the principal reason why philip desired peace. to obtain their freedom was surely well worth renunciation of this traffic; the more so, because their trade with spain, which was so much shorter and safer, was now to be re-opened. if they had been able to keep that commerce, it was suggested, they would have never talked about the indies. the commissioners added, that this boon had not been conceded to france nor england, by the treaties of vervins and london, and that the states therefore could not find it strange that it should be refused to them. the states' commissioners stoutly replied that commerce was open to all the world, that trade was free by the great law of nature, and that neither france, england, nor the united provinces, were to receive edicts on this great subject from spain and portugal. it was absurd to circumscribe commercial intercourse at the very moment of exchanging war for peace. to recognise the liberty of the states upon paper, and to attempt the imposition of servitude in reality, was a manifest contradiction. the ocean was free to all nations. it had not been enclosed by spain with a rail-fence. the debate grew more stormy every hour. spinola expressed great indignation that the netherlanders should be so obstinate upon this point. the tall, spare president arose in wrath from his seat at the council-board, loudly protesting that the king of spain would never renounce his sovereignty over the provinces until they had forsworn the india trade; and with this menace stalked out of the room. the states' commissioners were not frightened. barneveld was at least a match for richardot, and it was better, after all, that the cards should be played upon the table. subsequent meetings were quite as violent as the first, the country was agitated far and wide, the prospects of pacification dwindled to a speck in the remote horizon. arguments at the board of conference, debates in the states-general, pamphlets by merchants and advocates--especially several emanating from the east india company--handled the great topic from every point of view, and it became more and more evident that spain could not be more resolute to prohibit than the republic to claim the trade. it was an absolute necessity, so it was urged, for the hollanders to resist the tyrannical dominion of the spaniards. but this would be impossible for them, should they rely on the slender natural resources of their own land. not a sixth part of the population could be nourished from the soil. the ocean was their inheritance, their birthright, their empire. it was necessary that spain should understand this first, last, and always. she ought to comprehend, too, that her recognition of dutch independence was not a gift, but the acknowledgment of a fact. without that acknowledgment peace was impossible. if peace were to be established, it was not to be bought by either party. each gave and each received, and certainly spain was in no condition to dictate the terms of a sale. peace, without freedom of commerce, would be merely war without killing, and therefore without result. the netherlanders, who in the middle of the previous century had risen against unjust taxation and arbitrary laws, had not grown so vile as to accept from a vanquished foe what they had spurned from their prince. to be exiled from the ocean was an unimaginable position for the republic. moreover, to retire from the indies would be to abandon her oriental allies, and would be a dishonour as well us a disaster. her good faith, never yet contaminated, would be stained, were she now to desert the distant peoples and potentates with whom she had formed treaties of friendship and commerce, and hand them over to the vengeance of the spaniards and portuguese. and what a trade it was which the united provinces were thus called upon to renounce! the foreign commerce of no other nation could be compared in magnitude to that of their commonwealth. twenty ships traded regularly to guinea, eighty to the cape de verd islands, twenty to america, and forty to the east indies. ten thousand sailors, who gained their living in this traffic, would be thrown out of employment, if the states should now listen to the spanish propositions. it was well known too that the profits of the east india company had vastly increased of late, and were augmenting with every year. the trade with cambay, malabar, ceylon, koromandel, and queda, had scarcely begun, yet was already most promising. should the hollanders only obtain a footing in china, they felt confident of making their way through the south seas and across the pole to india. thus the search for a great commercial highway between cathay, europe, and the new world, which had been baffled in the arctic regions, should be crowned with success at the antarctic, while it was deemed certain that there were many lands, lighted by the southern cross, awaiting the footsteps of the fortunate european discoverer. what was a coasting-trade with spain compared with this boundless career of adventure? now that the world's commerce, since the discovery of america and the passage around the cape of good hope, had become oceanic and universal, was the nation which took the lead on blue water to go back to the creeping land-locked navigation of the ancient greeks and phoenicians? if the east india company, in whose womb was empire, were now destroyed, it would perish with its offspring for ever. there would be no regeneration at a future day. the company's ships too were a navy in themselves, as apt for war as for trade. this the spaniards and portuguese had already learned to their cost. the merchant-traders to spain would be always in the power of spain, and at any favourable moment might be seized by spain. the spanish monopoly in the east and west was the great source of spanish power, the chief cause of the contempt with, which the spanish monarchy looked down upon other nations. let those widely expanded wings be clipped, and spain would fall from her dizzy height. to know what the states ought to refuse the enemy, it was only necessary to observe what he strenuously demanded, to ponder the avowed reason why he desired peace. the enemy was doing his best to damage the commonwealth; the states were merely anxious to prevent injury to themselves and to all the world; to vindicate for themselves, and for all men, the common use of ocean, land, and sky. a nation which strove to shut up the seas, and to acquire a monopoly of the world's trade, was a pirate, an enemy of mankind. she was as deserving of censure as those who created universal misery in time of famine, by buying up all the corn in order to enrich themselves. according to the principles of the ancients, it was legitimate to make war upon such states as closed their own ports to foreign intercourse. still more just was it, therefore, to carry arms against a nation which closed the ports of other people. the dispute about the india navigation could be settled in a moment, if spain would but keep her word. she had acknowledged the great fact of independence, which could not be gainsaid. let each party to the negotiation, therefore keep that which it already possessed. let neither attempt to prescribe to the other--both being free and independent states--any regulations about interior or foreign trade. thus reasoned the states-general, the east india directors, the great majority of the population of the provinces, upon one great topic of discussion. a small minority only attempted to defend the policy of renouncing the india trade as a branch of industry, in which a certain class, and that only in the maritime provinces, was interested. it is certainly no slight indication of the liberty of thought, of speech, and of the press, enjoyed at that epoch in the netherlands and nowhere else to anything like the same extent--that such opinions, on a subject deemed vital to the very existence of the republic, were freely published and listened to with toleration, if not with respect. even the enlightened mind of grotius was troubled with terrors as to the effect on the public mind at this crisis of anonymous pamphlets concerning political affairs. but in this regard it must be admitted that grotius was not in advance of his age, although fully conceding that press-laws were inconsistent with human liberty. maurice and barneveld were equally strenuous in maintaining the india trade; the prince, because he hoped that resistance to spain upon this point would cause the negotiations to be broken off, the advocate in the belief that firmness on the part of the states would induce the royal commissioners to yield. the states-general were not likely to be deficient in firmness. they felt that the republic was exactly on the point of wresting the control of the east from the hands of the portuguese, and they were not inclined to throw away the harvest of their previous labours just as it was ripening. ten thousand persons at least, besides the sailors employed, were directly interested in the traffic, most of whom possessed great influence in the commonwealth, and would cause great domestic dissension should they now be sacrificed to spain. to keep the india trade was the best guarantee for the future possession of the traffic to spain; for the spanish government would never venture an embargo upon the direct intercourse between the provinces and its own dominions, for fear of vengeance in the east. on the other hand, by denouncing oceanic commerce, they would soon find themselves without a navy at all, and their peaceful coasting ships would be at the mercy of spain or of any power possessing that maritime energy which would have been killed in the republic. by abandoning the ocean, the young commonwealth would sink into sloth, and become the just object of contempt to the world. it would cease to be an independent power, and deserve to fall a prey to any enterprising neighbour. even villeroy admitted the common belief to be, that if the india trade were abandoned "the states would melt away like snow in the sun." he would not, on that account, however, counsel to the states obstinacy upon the subject, if spain refused peace or truce except on condition of their exclusion from the traffic. jeannin, villeroy, and their master; isaac le maire and peter plancius, could have told the reason why if they had chosen. early in march a triple proposition was made by the states' commissioners. spain might take her choice to make peace on the basis of free trade; to make peace, leaving everything beyond the tropic of cancer to the chance of war; or to make peace in regard to all other than the tropical regions, concluding for those only a truce during a definite number of years. the spaniards rejected decidedly two of these suggestions. of course they would not concede freedom of the sea. they considered the mixture of peace and war a monstrous conception. they were, however, willing to favour peace for europe and truce in the tropics, provided the states bound themselves; on the expiration of the limited period, to abandon the indian and american trade for ever. and to this proposition the states of course were deaf. and thus they went on spinning around, day after day, in the same vicious circle, without more hope of progress than squirrels in a cage. barneveld, always overbearing with friend or foe, and often violent, was not disposed to make preposterous concessions, notwithstanding his eager desire for peace. "the might of the states-general," said he, "is so great, thank god, that they need not yield so much to the king of spain as seems to be expected, nor cover themselves with dishonour." "and do you think yourselves more mighty than the kings of england and france?" cried richardot in a great rage, "for they never dared to make any attempt upon the indies, east or west." "we are willing to leave the king in his own quarters," was the reply, "and we expect him to leave us in ours." "you had better take a sheet of paper at once," said richardot, "write down exactly what you wish, and order us to agree to it all without discussion." "we demand nothing that is unreasonable in these negotiations," was the firm rejoinder, "and expect that nothing unjust will be required of us." it was now suggested by the states' commissioners that a peace; with free navigation, might be concluded for europe, and a truce for other parts of the world, without any stipulations as to what should take place on its termination. this was hardly anything new, but it served as a theme for more intellectual buffeting. hard words were freely exchanged during several hours; and all parties lost their temper. at last the spaniards left the conference-chamber in a rage. just as they were going, barneveld asked them whether he should make a protocol of the session for the states-general, and whether it was desirable in future to resume the discussion. "let every one do exactly as he likes," replied spinola, wrathfully, as he moved to the door. friar john, always plausible, whispered a few soothing words in the ear of the marquis, adding aloud, so that the commissioners might hear, "night brings counsel." these words he spoke in latin. "he who wishes to get everything is apt to lose everything," cried, out maldere, the zeeland deputy, in spanish, to the departing commissioners. "take that to yourselves," rejoined richardot, very fiercely; "you may be sure that it will be your case."' so ended that interview. directly afterwards there was a conference between the states' commissioners and the french envoys. jeannin employed all his powers of argument: and persuasion to influence the netherlanders against a rupture of the negotiations because of the india trade. it would be better to abandon that commerce, so he urged, than to give up the hope of peace. the commissioners failed to see the logic or to melt at the eloquence of his discourse. they would have been still less inclined, if that were possible, to move from their position, had they known of the secret conferences which jeannin had just been holding with isaac le maire of amsterdam, and other merchants practically familiar with the india trade. carrying out the french king's plan to rob the republic of that lucrative traffic, and to transplant it, by means of experienced hollanders, into france, the president, while openly siding with the states, as their most disinterested friend, was secretly doing all in his power to destroy the very foundation of their commonwealth. isaac le maire came over from amsterdam in a mysterious manner, almost in disguise. had his nocturnal dealings with the french minister been known, he would have been rudely dealt with by the east india company. he was a native of tournay, not a sincere republican therefore, was very strongly affected to france, and declared that all his former fellow- townsmen, and many more, had the fleur-de-lys stamped on their hearts. if peace should be made without stipulation in favour of the east india company, he, with his three brothers, would do what they could to transfer that corporation to france. all the details of such a prospective arrangement were thoroughly discussed, and it was intimated that the king would be expected to take shares in the enterprise. jeannin had also repeated conferences on the same subject with the great cosmographer plancius. it may be well understood, therefore, that the minister of henry iv. was not very ardent to encourage the states in their resolve to oppose peace or truce, except with concession of the india trade. the states preferred that the negotiations should come to nought on the religious ground rather than on account of the india trade. the provinces were nearly unanimous as to the prohibition of the catholic worship, not from bigotry for their own or hatred of other creeds, but from larger views of what was then called tolerance, and from practical regard for the necessities of the state. to permit the old worship, not from a sense of justice but as an article of bargain with a foreign power, was not only to abase the government of the states but to convert every sincere catholic throughout the republic into a grateful adherent of philip and the archdukes. it was deliberately to place a lever, to be used in all future time, for the overthrow of their political structure. in this the whole population was interested, while the india navigation, although vital to the well-being of the nation, was not yet universally recognised as so supremely important, and was declared by a narrow-minded minority to concern the provinces of holland and zeeland alone. all were silently agreed, therefore, to defer the religious question to the last. especially, commercial greed induced the states to keep a firm clutch on the great river on which the once splendid city of antwerp stood. ever since that commercial metropolis had succumbed to farnese, the republic had maintained the lower forts, by means of which, and of flushing at the river's mouth, antwerp was kept in a state of suspended animation. to open the navigation of the scheld, to permit free approach to antwerp, would, according to the narrow notions of the amsterdam merchants, be destructive to their own flourishing trade. in vain did richardot, in one well-fought conference, do his best to obtain concessions on this important point. the states' commissioners were as deaf as the spaniards had been on the india question. richardot, no longer loud and furious, began to cry. with tears running down his cheeks, he besought the netherlanders not to insist so strenuously upon all their points, and to remember that concessions were mutually necessary, if an amicable arrangement were to be framed. the chances for peace were promising. "let not a blight be thrown over all our hopes," he exclaimed, "by too great pertinacity on either side. above all, let not the states dictate terms as to a captive or conquered king, but propose such conditions as a benevolent but powerful sovereign could accept." these adjurations might be considered admirable, if it had been possible for the royal commissioners to point to a single mustard-seed of concession ever vouchsafed by them to the republic. meantime the month of march had passed. nothing had been accomplished, but it was agreed to prolong the armistice through april and may. the negotiations having feebly dribbled off into almost absolute extinction, friar john was once more set in motion, and despatched to madrid. he was sent to get fresh instructions from philip, and he promised, on departing, to return in forty days. he hoped as his reward, he said, to be made bishop of utrecht. "that will be a little above your calibre," replied barneveld. forty days was easily said, and the states consented to the additional delay. during his absence there was much tedious discussion of minor matters, such as staple rights of wine and cloths, regulations of boundaries, removal of restrictions on trade and navigation, passports, sequestered estates, and the like; all of which were subordinate to the all-important subjects of india and religion, those two most tender topics growing so much more tender the more they were handled as to cause at last a shiver whenever they were approached. nevertheless both were to be dealt with, or the negotiations would fall to the ground. the states felt convinced that they would fall to the ground, that they had fallen to the ground, and they at least would not stoop to pick them up again. the forty days passed away, but the friar never returned. april and may came and went, and again the armistice expired by its own limitation. the war party was disgusted with the solemn trifling, maurice was exasperated beyond endurance, barneveld and the peace men began to find immense difficulty in confronting the gathering storm. the prince, with difficulty, consented to a prolongation of the armistice for two months longer; resolute to resume hostilities should no accord be made before the end of july. the advocate, with much earnestness, and with more violence than was habitual with him, insisted on protracting the temporary truce until the end of the year. the debates in the states-general and the state-council were vehement; passion rose to fever-heat, but the stadholder, although often half beside himself with rage, ended by submitting once more to the will of barneveld. this was the easier, as the advocate at last proposed an agreement which seemed to maurice and lewis william even better than their own original suggestion. it was arranged that the armistice should be prolonged until the end of the year, but it was at the same time stipulated that unless the negotiations had reached a definite result before the st of august, they should be forthwith broken off. thus a period of enforced calm--a kind of vacation, as if these great soldiers and grey-beards had been a troop of idle school-boys--was now established, without the slightest reason. president jeannin took occasion to make a journey to paris, leaving the hague on the th june. during his absence a treaty of the states with england, similar in its terms to the one recently concluded between the republic and france, but only providing for half the number of auxiliary troops arranged for in the french convention, was signed at the hague. the english plenipotentiaries, vinwood and spencer, wished to delay the exchange of signatures under the pending negotiations with spain and the archdukes were brought to a close, as king james was most desirous at that epoch to keep on good terms with his catholic majesty. the states were so urgent, however, to bring at least this matter to a termination, and the english so anxious lest france should gain still greater influence than she now enjoyed in the provinces, that they at last gave way. it was further stipulated in the convention that the debt of the states to england, then amounting to l , sterling, should be settled by annual payments of l , ; to begin with the expected peace. besides this debt to the english government, the states-general owed nine millions of florins (l , ), and the separate provinces altogether eighteen millions (l , , ). in short, there would be a deficiency of at least three hundred thousand florins a month if the war went on, although every imaginable device had already been employed for increasing the revenue from taxation. it must be admitted therefore, that the barneveld party were not to be severely censured for their desire to bring about an honourable peace. that jeannin was well aware of the disposition prevailing throughout a great part of the commonwealth is certain. it is equally certain that he represented to his sovereign, while at paris, that the demand upon his exchequer by the states, in case of the resumption of hostilities, would be more considerable than ever. immense was the pressure put upon henry by the spanish court, during the summer, to induce him to abandon his allies. very complicated were the nets thrown out to entangle the wary old politician in "the grey jacket and with the heart of gold," as he was fond of designating himself, into an alliance with philip and the archdukes. don pedro de toledo, at the head of a magnificent embassy, arrived in paris with projects of arranging single, double, or triple marriages between the respective nurseries of france and spain. the infanta might marry with a french prince, and have all the netherlands for her dower, so soon as the childless archdukes should have departed this life. or an infante might espouse a daughter of france with the same heritage assigned to the young couple. such proposals, duly set forth in sonorous spanish by the constable of castile, failed to produce a very soothing effect on henry's delicate ear. he had seen and heard enough of gaining thrones by spanish marriages. had not the very crown on his own head, which he had won with foot in stirrup and lance in rest, been hawked about for years, appended to the wedding ring of the spanish infanta? it might become convenient to him at some later day, to form a family alliance with the house of austria, although he would not excite suspicion in the united provinces by openly accepting it then. but to wait for the shoes of albert and isabella, and until the dutch republic had been absorbed into the obedient netherlands by his assistance, was not a very flattering prospect for a son or daughter of france. the ex-huguenot and indomitable campaigner in the field or in politics was for more drastic measures. should the right moment come, he knew well enough how to strike, and could appropriate the provinces, obedient or disobedient, without assistance from the spanish babies. don pedro took little by his propositions. the king stoutly declared that the netherlands were very near to his heart, and that he would never abandon them on any consideration. so near, indeed, that he meant to bring them still nearer, but this was not then suspected by the spanish court; henry, the while, repelling as a personal insult to himself the request that he should secretly labour to reduce the united provinces under subjection to the archdukes. it had even been proposed that he should sign a secret convention to that effect, and there were those about the court who were not ill-disposed for such a combination. the king was, however, far too adroit to be caught in any such trap. the marriage proposals in themselves he did not dislike, but jeannin and he were both of a mind that they should be kept entirely secret. don pedro, on the contrary, for obvious reasons, was for making the transactions ostentatiously public, and, as a guarantee of his master's good faith in regard to the heritage of the netherlands, he proposed that every portion of the republic, thenceforth to be conquered by the allies, should be confided to hands in which henry and the archdukes would have equal confidence. but these artifices were too trivial to produce much effect. henry remained true, in his way, to the states-general, and don pedro was much laughed at in paris, although the public scarcely knew wherefore. these intrigues had not been conducted so mysteriously but that barneveld was aware of what was going on. both before jeannin's departure from the hague in june, and on his return in the middle of august, he catechised him very closely on the subject. the old leaguer was too deep, however, to be thoroughly pumped, even by so practised a hand as the advocate's, so that more was suspected than at the time was accurately known. as, at the memorable epoch of the accession of the king of scots to the throne of elizabeth, maximilian de bethune had flattered the new monarch with the prospect of a double marriage, so now don fernando girono had been sent on solemn mission to england, in order to offer the same infants to james which don pedro was placing at the disposition of henry. the british sovereign, as secretly fascinated by the idea of a spanish family alliance as he had ever been by the proposals of the marquis de rosny for the french marriages, listened with eagerness. money was scattered as profusely among the english courtiers by don fernando as had been done by de bethune four years before. the bribes were accepted, and often by the very personages who knew the colour of bourbon money, but the ducats were scarcely earned. girono, thus urging on the english government the necessity of deserting the republic and cementing a cordial, personal, and political understanding between james and philip, effected but little. it soon became thoroughly understood in england that the same bargaining was going on simultaneously in france. as it was evident that the spanish children could not be disposed of in both markets at the same time, it was plain to the dullest comprehension that either the brokerage of toledo or of girono was a sham, and that a policy erected upon such flimsy foundations would soon be washed away. it is certain, however, that james, while affecting friendship for the states, and signing with them the league of mutual assistance, was secretly longing to nibble the bait dangled before him by girono, and was especially determined to prevent, if possible, the plans of toledo. meantime, brother john neyen was dealing with philip and the duke of lerma, in spain. the friar strenuously urged upon the favourite and the rest of the royal advisers the necessity of prompt action with the states. this needed not interfere with an unlimited amount of deception. it was necessary to bring the negotiations to a definite agreement. it would be by no means requisite, however, to hold to that agreement whenever a convenient opportunity for breaking it should present itself. the first object of spanish policy, argued honest john, should be to get the weapons out of the rebels' hands. the netherlanders ought to be encouraged to return to their usual pursuits of commerce and manufactures, whence they derived their support, and to disband their military and naval forces. their sailors and traders should be treated kindly in spain, instead of being indulged as heretofore with no hospitality save that of the holy inquisition and its dungeons. let their minds be disarmed of all suspicion. now the whole population of the provinces had been convinced that spain, in affecting to treat, was secretly devising means to re- impose her ancient yoke upon their necks. time went by in aranjuez and madrid. the forty days, promised as the period of neyen's absence, were soon gone; but what were forty days, or forty times forty, at the spanish court? the friar, who, whatever his faults, was anything but an idler, chafed at a procrastination which seemed the more stupendous to him, coming fresh as he did from a busy people who knew the value of time. in the anguish of his soul he went to rodrigo calderon, of the privy council, and implored his influence with government to procure leave for him to depart. calderon, in urbane but decisive terms, assured him that this would be impossible before the king should return to madrid. the monk then went to idiaquez, who was in favour of his proceeding at once to the netherlands, but who on being informed that calderon was of a different opinion, gave up the point. more distressed than ever, neyen implored prada's assistance, but prada plunged him into still deeper despair. his majesty, said that counsellor, with matchless effrontery, was studying the propositions of the states-general, and all the papers in the negotiation, line by line, comma by comma. there were many animadversions to make, many counter suggestions to offer. the king was pondering the whole subject most diligently. when those lucubrations were finished, the royal decision, aided by the wisdom of the privy council, would be duly communicated to the archdukes. to wait for an answer to the propositions of the suspicious states- general until philip iii. had mastered the subject in detail, was a prospect too dreary even for the equable soul of brother john. dismayed at the position in which he found himself, he did his best to ferret out the reasons for the preposterous delay; not being willing to be paid off in allusions to the royal investigations. he was still further appalled at last by discovering that the delay was absolutely for the delay's sake. it was considered inconsistent with the dignity of the government not to delay. the court and cabinet had quite made up their minds as to the answer to be made to the last propositions of the rebels, but to make it known at once was entirely out of the question. in the previous year his majesty's administration, so it was now confessed with shame, had acted with almost indecent haste. that everything had been conceded to the confederated provinces was the--common talk of europe. let the time- honoured, inveterate custom of spain in grave affairs to proceed slowly, and therefore surely, be in future observed. a proper self-respect required the king to keep the universe in suspense for a still longer period upon the royal will and the decision of the royal council. were the affairs of the mighty spanish empire so subordinate to the convenience of that portion of it called the netherlands that no time was to be lost before settling their affairs? such dismal frivolity, such palsied pride, seems scarcely credible; but more than all this has been carefully recorded in the letters of the friar. if it were precipitation to spend the whole year in forming a single phrase; to wit, that the archdukes and the king would treat with the united provinces as with countries to which they made no pretensions; and to spend the best part of another year in futile efforts to recal that phrase; if all this had been recklessness and haste, then, surely, the most sluggish canal in holland was a raging cataract, and the march of a glacier electric speed. midsummer had arrived. the period in which peace was to be made or abandoned altogether had passed. jeannin had returned from his visit to paris; the danish envoys, sent to watch the negotiations, had left the hague, utterly disgusted with a puppet-show, all the strings of which, they protested, were pulled from the louvre. brother john, exasperated by the superhuman delays, fell sick of a fever at burgos, and was sent, on his recovery, to the court at valladolid to be made ill again by the same cause, and still there came no sound from the government of spain. at last the silence was broken. something that was called the voice of the king reached the ears of the archduke. long had he wrestled in prayer on this great subject, said philip iii., fervently had he besought the omnipotent for light. he had now persuaded himself that he should not fulfil his duty to god, nor satisfy his own strong desire for maintaining the catholic faith, nor preserve his self-respect, if he now conceded his supreme right to the confederated provinces at any other price than the uncontrolled exercise, within their borders, of the catholic religion. he wished, therefore, as obedient son of the church and defender of the faith, to fulfil this primary duty, untrammelled by any human consideration, by any profit that might induce him towards a contrary course. that which he had on other occasions more than once signified he now confirmed. his mind was fixed; this was his last and immutable determination, that if the confederates should permit the free and public exercise of the catholic, roman, apostolic religion to all such as wished to live and die in it, for this cause so grateful to god, and for no other reason, he also would permit to them that supreme right over the provinces, and that authority which now belonged to himself. natives and residents of those countries should enjoy liberty, just so long as the exercise of the catholic religion flourished there, and not one day nor hour longer. philip then proceeded flatly to refuse the india navigation, giving reasons very satisfactory to himself why the provinces ought cheerfully to abstain from that traffic. if the confederates, in consequence of the conditions thus definitely announced, moved by their innate pride and obstinacy, and relying on the assistance of their allies, should break off the negotiations, then it would be desirable to adopt the plan proposed by jeannin to richardot, and conclude a truce for five or six years. the king expressed his own decided preference for a truce rather than a peace, and his conviction that jeannin had made the suggestion by command of his sovereign. the negotiators stood exactly where they did when friar john, disguised as a merchant, first made his bow to the prince and barneveld in the palace at the hague. the archduke, on receiving at last this peremptory letter from the king, had nothing for it but to issue instructions accordingly to the plenipotentiaries at the hague. a decisive conference between those diplomatists and the states' commissioners took place immediately afterwards. it was on the th august. although it had been agreed on the st may to break off negotiations on the ensuing st of august, should no result be reached, yet three weeks beyond that period had been suffered to elapse, under a tacit agreement to wait a little longer for the return of the friar. president jeannin, too, had gone to paris on the th june, to receive new and important instructions; verbal and written, from his sovereign, and during his absence it had not been thought expedient to transact much business. jeannin returned to the hague on the th of august, and, as definite instructions from king and archduke had now arrived, there seemed no possibility of avoiding an explanation. the spanish envoys accordingly, with much gravity, and as if they had been propounding some cheerful novelty, announced to the assembled commissioners that all reports hitherto flying about as to the spanish king's intentions were false. his majesty had no intention of refusing to give up the sovereignty of the provinces. on the contrary, they were instructed to concede that sovereignty freely and frankly to my lords the states-general--a pearl and a precious jewel, the like of which no prince had ever given away before. yet the king desired neither gold nor silver, neither cities nor anything else of value in exchange. he asked only for that which was indispensable to the tranquillity of his conscience before god, to wit, the re-establishment in those countries of the catholic apostolic roman religion. this there could surely be no reasons for refusing. they owed it as a return for the generosity of the king, they owed it to their own relatives, they owed it to the memory of their ancestors, not to show greater animosity to the ancient religion than to the new and pernicious sect of anabaptists, born into the world for the express purpose of destroying empires; they owed it to their many fellow-citizens, who would otherwise be driven into exile, because deprived of that which is dearest to humanity. in regard to the east india navigation, inasmuch as the provinces had no right whatever to it, and as no other prince but the sovereign of spain had any pretensions to it, his majesty expected that the states would at once desist from it. this was the magnificent result of twenty months of diplomacy. as the king's father had long ago flung away the pearl and precious jewel which the son now made a merit of selling to its proprietors at the price of their life's blood--the world's commerce--it is difficult to imagine that richardot, while communicating thin preposterous ultimatum, could have kept his countenance. but there were case-hardened politicians on both sides. the proposition was made and received with becoming seriousness, and it was decided by the states' commissioners to make no answer at all on that occasion. they simply promised to render their report to the states-general, who doubtless would make short work with the matter. they made their report and it occasioned a tumult. every member present joined in a general chorus of wrathful denunciation. the spanish commissioners were infamous swindlers, it was loudly asserted. there should be no more dealings with them at all. spain was a power only to be treated with on the battle-field. in the tempest of general rage no one would listen to argument, no one asked which would be the weaker, which the stronger party, what resources for the renewed warfare could be founds or who would be the allies of the republic. hatred, warlike fury and scorn at the duplicity with which they had been treated, washed every more politic sentiment away, and metamorphosed that body of burghers as in an instant. the negotiations should be broken off, not on one point, but on all points, and nothing was left but to prepare instantly for war. three days later, after the french and english ambassadors, as well as prince maurice and count lewis william, had been duly consulted, comparative calm was restored, and a decisive answer was unanimously voted by the states-general. the proposition of the commissioners was simply declared to be in direct violation of the sovereignty and freedom of the country, and it was announced that, if it should be persisted in, the whole negotiation might be considered as broken off. a formal answer to the royal propositions would be communicated likewise to the envoys of foreign powers, in order that the royal commissioners might be placed completely in the wrong. on the th august an elaborate response was accordingly delivered in writing by the states' commissioners to those of the archdukes and king, it being at the same time declared by barneveld and his colleagues that their functions were ended, and that this document, emanating from the states-general, was a sovereign resolution, not a diplomatic note. the contents of this paper may be inferred from all that has been previously narrated. the republic knew its own mind, and had always expressed itself with distinctness. the spanish government having at last been brought to disclose its intentions, there was an end to the negotiations for peace. the rupture was formally announced. etext editor's bookmarks: night brings counsel this obstinate little republic triple marriages between the respective nurseries usual expedient by which bad legislation on one side countered this ebook was produced by david widger <widger@cecomet.net> widger's quotations from the project gutenberg edition of the history of the netherlands by john lothrop motley editor's note readers acquainted with the works of john l. motley may wish to see if their favorite passages are listed in this selection. the ebook editor will be glad to add your suggestions. one of the advantages of internet over paper publication is the ease of quick revision. all the titles may be found using the project gutenberg search engine at: http://promo.net/pg/ after downloading a specific file, the location and complete context of the quotations may be found by inserting a small part of the quotation into the 'find' or 'search' functions of the user's word processing program. the editor may be contacted at <widger@cecomet.net> for comments, questions or suggested additions to these extracts. d.w. contents: dutch republic, introduction i. by motley [# ][jm v .txt] dutch republic, introduction ii. by motley [# ][jm v .txt] rise of the dutch republic, by motley [# ][jm v .txt] rise of the dutch republic, - by motley [# ][jm v .txt] rise of the dutch republic, - by motley [# ][jm v .txt] rise of the dutch 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netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] history united netherlands, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] entire - united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] history united netherlands, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] entire - united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] 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netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] entire - united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] entire - united netherland, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] life of john of barneveld, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] life of john of barneveld, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] life of john of barneveld, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] life of john of barneveld, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] life of john of barneveld, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] life of john of barneveld, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] entire - john of barneveld, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] life of john of barneveld, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] life of john of barneveld, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] life of john of barneveld, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] life of john of barneveld, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] life of john of barneveld, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] entire - john of barneveld, by motley [# ][jm v .txt] entire - john of barneveld, by motley [# ][jm v .txt] memoir of john l. motley, v , o.w. holmes [owh# ][oh v .txt] memoir of john l. motley, v , o.w. holmes [owh# ][oh v .txt] memoir of john l. motley, v , o.w. holmes [owh# ][oh v .txt] memoir of john l. motley, all, o.w. holmes[owh# ][oh v .txt] entire pg edition the netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] quotations from the history of the netherlands by john lothrop motley dutch republic, introduction i. by motley [# ][jm v .txt] a country disinherited by nature of its rights a pleasantry called voluntary contributions or benevolences annual harvest of iniquity by which his revenue was increased batavian legion was the imperial body guard beating the netherlanders into christianity bishop is a consecrated pirate brethren, parents, and children, having wives in common for women to lament, for men to remember gaul derided the roman soldiers as a band of pigmies great science of political equilibrium holland, england, and america, are all links of one chain long succession of so many illustrious obscure others go to battle, says the historian, these go to war revocable benefices or feuds taxation upon sin the gaul was singularly unchaste dutch republic, introduction ii. by motley [# ][jm v .txt] absolution for incest was afforded at thirty-six livres achieved the greatness to which they had not been born advancing age diminished his tendency to other carnal pleasures all his disciples and converts are to be punished with death all reading of the scriptures (forbidden) altercation between luther and erasmus, upon predestination an hereditary papacy, a perpetual pope-emperor announced his approaching marriage with the virgin mary as ready as papists, with age, fagot, and excommunication attacking the authority of the pope bold reformer had only a new dogma in place of the old ones charles the fifth autocrat of half the world condemning all heretics to death craft meaning, simply, strength criminal whose guilt had been established by the hot iron criminals buying paradise for money crusades made great improvement in the condition of the serfs democratic instincts of the ancient german savages denies the utility of prayers for the dead difference between liberties and liberty dispute between luther and zwingli concerning the real presence divine right drank of the water in which, he had washed enormous wealth (of the church) which engendered the hatred erasmus encourages the bold friar erasmus of rotterdam even for the rape of god's mother, if that were possible executions of huss and jerome of prague fable of divine right is invented to sanction the system felix mants, the anabaptist, is drowned at zurich few, even prelates were very dutiful to the pope fiction of apostolic authority to bind and loose fishermen and river raftsmen become ocean adventurers for myself i am unworthy of the honor (of martyrdom) forbids all private assemblies for devotion force clerical--the power of clerks great privilege, the magna charta of holland guarantees of forgiveness for every imaginable sin halcyon days of ban, book and candle heresy was a plant of early growth in the netherlands in holland, the clergy had neither influence nor seats invented such christian formulas as these (a curse) july st, two augustine monks were burned at brussels king of zion to be pinched to death with red-hot tongs labored under the disadvantage of never having existed learn to tremble as little at priestcraft as at swordcraft many greedy priests, of lower rank, had turned shop-keepers no one can testify but a householder not of the stuff of which martyrs are made (erasmus) nowhere was the persecution of heretics more relentless obstinate, of both sexes, to be burned one golden grain of wit into a sheet of infinite platitude pardon for crimes already committed, or about to be committed pardon for murder, if not by poison, was cheaper paying their passage through, purgatory poisoning, for example, was absolved for eleven ducats pope and emperor maintain both positions with equal logic power to read and write helped the clergy to much wealth readiness to strike and bleed at any moment in her cause repentant females to be buried alive repentant males to be executed with the sword sale of absolutions was the source of large fortunes to the priests same conjury over ignorant baron and cowardly hind scoffing at the ceremonies and sacraments of the church sharpened the punishment for reading the scriptures in private slavery was both voluntary and compulsory soldier of the cross was free upon his return st. peter's dome rising a little nearer to the clouds tanchelyn the bad duke of burgundy, philip surnamed "the good," the egg had been laid by erasmus, hatched by luther the vivifying becomes afterwards the dissolving principle thousands of burned heretics had not made a single convert thus hand-werpen, hand-throwing, became antwerp to prefer poverty to the wealth attendant upon trade tranquillity of despotism to the turbulence of freedom villagers, or villeins rise of the dutch republic, by motley [# ][jm v .txt] burned, strangled, beheaded, or buried alive ( , ) despot by birth and inclination (charles v.) endure every hardship but hunger gallant and ill-fated lamoral egmont he knew men, especially he knew their weaknesses his imagination may have assisted his memory in the task little grievances would sometimes inflame more than vast often much tyranny in democracy planted the inquisition in the netherlands rise of the dutch republic, - by motley [# ][jm v .txt] consign to the flames all prisoners whatever (papal letter) courage of despair inflamed the french decrees for burning, strangling, and burying alive i would carry the wood to burn my own son withal inventing long speeches for historical characters let us fool these poor creatures to their heart's content petty passion for contemptible details promises which he knew to be binding only upon the weak rashness alternating with hesitation these human victims, chained and burning at the stake rise of the dutch republic, - by motley [# ][jm v .txt] burned alive if they objected to transubstantiation german finds himself sober--he believes himself ill govern under the appearance of obeying informer, in case of conviction, should be entitled to one half man had only natural wrongs (no natural rights) no calumny was too senseless to be invented ruinous honors sovereignty was heaven-born, anointed of god that vile and mischievous animal called the people understood the art of managing men, particularly his superiors upon one day twenty-eight master cooks were dismissed william of nassau, prince of orange rise of the dutch republic, - by motley [# ][jm v .txt] history shows how feeble are barriers of paper licences accorded by the crown to carry slaves to america we believe our mothers to have been honest women when the abbot has dice in his pocket, the convent will play wiser simply to satisfy himself rise of the dutch republic, - by motley [# ][jm v .txt] affecting to discredit them an inspiring and delightful recreation (auto-da-fe) arrested on suspicion, tortured till confession inquisition of the netherlands is much more pitiless inquisition was not a fit subject for a compromise made to swing to and fro over a slow fire orator was, however, delighted with his own performance philip, who did not often say a great deal in a few words scaffold was the sole refuge from the rack ten thousand two hundred and twenty individuals were burned torquemada's administration (of the inquisition) two witnesses sent him to the stake, one witness to the rack rise of the dutch republic, - by motley [# ][jm v .txt] attempting to swim in two waters dissimulation and delay excited with the appearance of a gem of true philosophy insinuating suspicions when unable to furnish evidence maintaining the attitude of an injured but forgiving christian more accustomed to do well than to speak well perpetually dropping small innuendos like pebbles procrastination was always his first refuge they had at last burned one more preacher alive rise of the dutch republic, - by motley [# ][jm v .txt] all offices were sold to the highest bidder english puritans habeas corpus he did his best to be friends with all the world look through the cloud of dissimulation no law but the law of the longest purse panegyrists of royal houses in the sixteenth century secret drowning was substituted for public burning sonnets of petrarch st. bartholomew was to sleep for seven years longer to think it capable of error, is the most devilish heresy of all rise of the dutch republic, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] all denounced the image-breaking anxiety to do nothing wrong, the senators did nothing at all before morning they had sacked thirty churches bigotry which was the prevailing characteristic of the age enriched generation after generation by wealthy penitence fifty thousand persons in the provinces (put to death) furious fanaticism lutheran princes of germany, detested the doctrines of geneva monasteries, burned their invaluable libraries no qualities whatever but birth and audacity to recommend him notre dame at antwerp persons who discussed religious matters were to be put to death premature zeal was prejudicial to the cause purchased absolution for crime and smoothed a pathway to heaven rearing gorgeous temples where paupers are to kneel schism which existed in the general reformed church storm by which all these treasures were destroyed (in days) the noblest and richest temple of the netherlands was a wreck tyrannical spirit of calvinism would not help to burn fifty or sixty thousand netherlanders entire - the dutch republic, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] a pleasantry called voluntary contributions or benevolences a country disinherited by nature of its rights absolution for incest was afforded at thirty-six livres achieved the greatness to which they had not been born advancing age diminished his tendency to other carnal pleasures affecting to discredit them all offices were sold to the highest bidder all denounced the image-breaking all his disciples and converts are to be punished with death all reading of the scriptures (forbidden) altercation between luther and erasmus, upon predestination an hereditary papacy, a perpetual pope-emperor an inspiring and delightful recreation (auto-da-fe) announced his approaching marriage with the virgin mary annual harvest of iniquity by which his revenue was increased anxiety to do nothing wrong, the senators did nothing at all arrested on suspicion, tortured till confession as ready as papists, with age, fagot, and excommunication attacking the authority of the pope attempting to swim in two waters batavian legion was the imperial body guard beating the netherlanders into christianity before morning they had sacked thirty churches bigotry which was the prevailing characteristic of the age bishop is a consecrated pirate bold reformer had only a new dogma in place of the old ones brethren, parents, and children, having wives in common burned alive if they objected to transubstantiation burned, strangled, beheaded, or buried alive ( , ) charles the fifth autocrat of half the world condemning all heretics to death consign to the flames all prisoners whatever (papal letter) courage of despair inflamed the french craft meaning, simply, strength criminal whose guilt had been established by the hot iron criminals buying paradise for money crusades made great improvement in the condition of the serfs decrees for burning, strangling, and burying alive democratic instincts of the ancient german savages denies the utility of prayers for the dead despot by birth and inclination (charles v.) difference between liberties and liberty dispute between luther and zwingli concerning the real presence dissimulation and delay divine right drank of the water in which, he had washed endure every hardship but hunger english puritans enormous wealth (of the church) which engendered the hatred enriched generation after generation by wealthy penitence erasmus encourages the bold friar erasmus of rotterdam even for the rape of god's mother, if that were possible excited with the appearance of a gem of true philosophy executions of huss and jerome of prague fable of divine right is invented to sanction the system felix mants, the anabaptist, is drowned at zurich few, even prelates were very dutiful to the pope fiction of apostolic authority to bind and loose fifty thousand persons in the provinces (put to death) fishermen and river raftsmen become ocean adventurers for myself i am unworthy of the honor (of martyrdom) for women to lament, for men to remember forbids all private assemblies for devotion force clerical--the power of clerks furious fanaticism gallant and ill-fated lamoral egmont gaul derided the roman soldiers as a band of pigmies german finds himself sober--he believes himself ill govern under the appearance of obeying great science of political equilibrium great privilege, the magna charta of holland guarantees of forgiveness for every imaginable sin habeas corpus halcyon days of ban, book and candle he knew men, especially he knew their weaknesses he did his best to be friends with all the world heresy was a plant of early growth in the netherlands his imagination may have assisted his memory in the task history shows how feeble are barriers of paper holland, england, and america, are all links of one chain i would carry the wood to burn my own son withal in holland, the clergy had neither influence nor seats informer, in case of conviction, should be entitled to one half inquisition of the netherlands is much more pitiless inquisition was not a fit subject for a compromise insinuating suspicions when unable to furnish evidence invented such christian formulas as these (a curse) inventing long speeches for historical characters july st, two augustine monks were burned at brussels king of zion to be pinched to death with red-hot tongs labored under the disadvantage of never having existed learn to tremble as little at priestcraft as at swordcraft let us fool these poor creatures to their heart's content licences accorded by the crown to carry slaves to america little grievances would sometimes inflame more than vast long succession of so many illustrious obscure look through the cloud of dissimulation lutheran princes of germany, detested the doctrines of geneva made to swing to and fro over a slow fire maintaining the attitude of an injured but forgiving christian man had only natural wrongs (no natural rights) many greedy priests, of lower rank, had turned shop-keepers monasteries, burned their invaluable libraries more accustomed to do well than to speak well no one can testify but a householder no calumny was too senseless to be invented no law but the law of the longest purse no qualities whatever but birth and audacity to recommend him not of the stuff of which martyrs are made (erasmus) notre dame at antwerp nowhere was the persecution of heretics more relentless obstinate, of both sexes, to be burned often much tyranny in democracy one golden grain of wit into a sheet of infinite platitude orator was, however, delighted with his own performance others go to battle, says the historian, these go to war panegyrists of royal houses in the sixteenth century pardon for murder, if not by poison, was cheaper pardon for crimes already committed, or about to be committed paying their passage through, purgatory perpetually dropping small innuendos like pebbles persons who discussed religious matters were to be put to death petty passion for contemptible details philip, who did not often say a great deal in a few words planted the inquisition in the netherlands poisoning, for example, was absolved for eleven ducats pope and emperor maintain both positions with equal logic power to read and write helped the clergy to much wealth premature zeal was prejudicial to the cause procrastination was always his first refuge promises which he knew to be binding only upon the weak purchased absolution for crime and smoothed a pathway to heaven rashness alternating with hesitation readiness to strike and bleed at any moment in her cause rearing gorgeous temples where paupers are to kneel repentant females to be buried alive repentant males to be executed with the sword revocable benefices or feuds ruinous honors sale of absolutions was the source of large fortunes to the priests same conjury over ignorant baron and cowardly hind scaffold was the sole refuge from the rack schism which existed in the general reformed church scoffing at the ceremonies and sacraments of the church secret drowning was substituted for public burning sharpened the punishment for reading the scriptures in private slavery was both voluntary and compulsory soldier of the cross was free upon his return sonnets of petrarch sovereignty was heaven-born, anointed of god st. peter's dome rising a little nearer to the clouds st. bartholomew was to sleep for seven years longer storm by which all these treasures were destroyed (in days) tanchelyn taxation upon sin ten thousand two hundred and twenty individuals were burned that vile and mischievous animal called the people the noblest and richest temple of the netherlands was a wreck the gaul was singularly unchaste the vivifying becomes afterwards the dissolving principle the bad duke of burgundy, philip surnamed "the good," the egg had been laid by erasmus, hatched by luther these human victims, chained and burning at the stake they had at last burned one more preacher alive thousands of burned heretics had not made a single convert thus hand-werpen, hand-throwing, became antwerp to think it capable of error, is the most devilish heresy of all to prefer poverty to the wealth attendant upon trade torquemada's administration (of the inquisition) tranquillity of despotism to the turbulence of freedom two witnesses sent him to the stake, one witness to the rack tyrannical spirit of calvinism understood the art of managing men, particularly his superiors upon one day twenty-eight master cooks were dismissed villagers, or villeins we believe our mothers to have been honest women when the abbot has dice in his pocket, the convent will play william of nassau, prince of orange wiser simply to satisfy himself would not help to burn fifty or sixty thousand netherlanders rise of the dutch republic, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] , the last year of peace dissenters were as bigoted as the orthodox if he had little, he could live upon little incur the risk of being charged with forwardness than neglect not to let the grass grow under their feet rise of the dutch republic, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] god save the king! it was the last time having conjugated his paradigm conscientiously indignant that heretics had been suffered to hang insane cruelty, both in the cause of the wrong and the right sick and wounded wretches were burned over slow fires slender stock of platitudes the time for reasoning had passed who loved their possessions better than their creed rise of the dutch republic, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] conde and coligny furnished, in addition, with a force of two thousand prostitutes he came as a conqueror not as a mediator hope deferred, suddenly changing to despair meantime the second civil war in france had broken out spendthrift of time, he was an economist of blood the greatest crime, however, was to be rich time and myself are two rise of the dutch republic, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] deeply criminal in the eyes of all religious parties he had omitted to execute heretics holy office condemned all the inhabitants of the netherlands not for a new doctrine, but for liberty of conscience questioning nothing, doubting nothing, fearing nothing the perpetual reproductions of history wealth was an unpardonable sin rise of the dutch republic, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] age when toleration was a vice an age when to think was a crime business of an officer to fight, of a general to conquer cruelties exercised upon monks and papists for faithful service, evil recompense pathetic dying words of anne boleyn seven spaniards were killed, and seven thousand rebels the calf is fat and must be killed the illness was a convenient one the tragedy of don carlos rise of the dutch republic, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] constitutional governments, move in the daylight consumer would pay the tax, supposing it were ever paid at all financial opposition to tyranny is apt to be unanimous great battles often leave the world where they found it great transactions of a reign are sometimes paltry things the faithful servant is always a perpetual ass rise of the dutch republic, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] beggars of the sea, as these privateersmen designated themselves hair and beard unshorn, according to ancient batavian custom only healthy existence of the french was in a state of war rise of the dutch republic, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] hanged for having eaten meat-soup upon friday provided not one huguenot be left alive in france put all those to the torture out of whom anything can be got saint bartholomew's day science of reigning was the science of lying rise of the dutch republic, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] enthusiasm could not supply the place of experience envying those whose sufferings had already been terminated leave not a single man alive in the city, and to burn every house not strong enough to sustain many more such victories oldenbarneveld; afterwards so illustrious sent them word by carrier pigeons three hundred fighting women tyranny, ever young and ever old, constantly reproducing herself wonder equally at human capacity to inflict and to endure misery rise of the dutch republic, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] advised his majesty to bestow an annual bribe upon lord burleigh angle with their dissimulation as with a hook luther's axiom, that thoughts are toll-free only kept alive by milk, which he drank from a woman's breast scepticism, which delights in reversing the judgment of centuries so much responsibility and so little power sometimes successful, even although founded upon sincerity we are beginning to be vexed rise of the dutch republic, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] crescents in their caps: rather turkish than popish ever-swarming nurseries of mercenary warriors weep oftener for her children than is the usual lot of mothers entire - the dutch republic, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] , the last year of peace advised his majesty to bestow an annual bribe upon lord burleigh age when toleration was a vice an age when to think was a crime angle with their dissimulation as with a hook beggars of the sea, as these privateersmen designated themselves business of an officer to fight, of a general to conquer conde and coligny constitutional governments, move in the daylight consumer would pay the tax, supposing it were ever paid at all crescents in their caps: rather turkish than popish cruelties exercised upon monks and papists deeply criminal in the eyes of all religious parties dissenters were as bigoted as the orthodox enthusiasm could not supply the place of experience envying those whose sufferings had already been terminated ever-swarming nurseries of mercenary warriors financial opposition to tyranny is apt to be unanimous for faithful service, evil recompense furnished, in addition, with a force of two thousand prostitutes god save the king! it was the last time great transactions of a reign are sometimes paltry things great battles often leave the world where they found it hair and beard unshorn, according to ancient batavian custom hanged for having eaten meat-soup upon friday having conjugated his paradigm conscientiously he had omitted to execute heretics he came as a conqueror not as a mediator holy office condemned all the inhabitants of the netherlands hope deferred, suddenly changing to despair if he had little, he could live upon little incur the risk of being charged with forwardness than neglect indignant that heretics had been suffered to hang insane cruelty, both in the cause of the wrong and the right leave not a single man alive in the city, and to burn every house luther's axiom, that thoughts are toll-free meantime the second civil war in france had broken out not for a new doctrine, but for liberty of conscience not to let the grass grow under their feet not strong enough to sustain many more such victories oldenbarneveld; afterwards so illustrious only kept alive by milk, which he drank from a woman's breast only healthy existence of the french was in a state of war pathetic dying words of anne boleyn provided not one huguenot be left alive in france put all those to the torture out of whom anything can be got questioning nothing, doubting nothing, fearing nothing saint bartholomew's day scepticism, which delights in reversing the judgment of centuries science of reigning was the science of lying sent them word by carrier pigeons seven spaniards were killed, and seven thousand rebels sick and wounded wretches were burned over slow fires slender stock of platitudes so much responsibility and so little power sometimes successful, even although founded upon sincerity spendthrift of time, he was an economist of blood the time for reasoning had passed the calf is fat and must be killed the perpetual reproductions of history the greatest crime, however, was to be rich the faithful servant is always a perpetual ass the tragedy of don carlos the illness was a convenient one three hundred fighting women time and myself are two tyranny, ever young and ever old, constantly reproducing herself we are beginning to be vexed wealth was an unpardonable sin weep oftener for her children than is the usual lot of mothers who loved their possessions better than their creed wonder equally at human capacity to inflict and to endure misery rise of the dutch republic, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] as the old woman had told the emperor adrian beautiful damsel, who certainly did not lack suitors breath, time, and paper were profusely wasted and nothing gained care neither for words nor menaces in any matter distinguished for his courage, his cruelty, and his corpulence he had never enjoyed social converse, except at long intervals human ingenuity to inflict human misery peace was desirable, it might be more dangerous than war proposition made by the wolves to the sheep, in the fable rebuked the bigotry which had already grown reformers were capable of giving a lesson even to inquisitors result was both to abandon the provinces and to offend philip suppress the exercise of the roman religion the more conclusive arbitration of gunpowder rise of the dutch republic, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] a common hatred united them, for a time at least a most fatal success all claimed the privilege of persecuting blessing of god upon the devil's work daily widening schism between lutherans and calvinists dying at so very inconvenient a moment eight thousand human beings were murdered everything was conceded, but nothing was secured fanatics of the new religion denounced him as a godless man glory could be put neither into pocket nor stomach he would have no calvinist inquisition set up in its place he would have no persecution of the opposite creed in character and general talents he was beneath mediocrity indecision did the work of indolence insinuate that his orders had been hitherto misunderstood king set a price upon his head as a rebel no man could reveal secrets which he did not know of high rank but of lamentably low capacity pope excommunicated him as a heretic preventing wrong, or violence, even towards an enemy they could not invent or imagine toleration uunmeaning phrases of barren benignity rise of the dutch republic, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] a terrible animal, indeed, is an unbridled woman agreements were valid only until he should repent all protestants were beheaded, burned, or buried alive arrive at their end by fraud, when violence will not avail them attachment to a half-drowned land and to a despised religion barbara blomberg, washerwoman of ratisbon believed in the blessed advent of peace compassing a country's emancipation through a series of defeats don john of austria don john was at liberty to be king of england and scotland ferocity which even christians could not have surpassed happy to glass themselves in so brilliant a mirror his personal graces, for the moment, took the rank of virtues necessary to make a virtue of necessity one-half to philip and one-half to the pope and venice (slaves) quite mistaken: in supposing himself the emperor's child sentimentality that seems highly apocryphal she knew too well how women were treated in that country those who fish in troubled waters only to fill their own nets worn crescents in their caps at leyden rise of the dutch republic, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] a good lawyer is a bad christian claimed the praise of moderation that their demands were so few confused conferences, where neither party was entirely sincere customary oaths, to be kept with the customary conscientiousness deadliest of sins, the liberty of conscience i regard my country's profit, not my own made no breach in royal and roman infallibility neither wished the convocation, while both affected an eagerness our pot had not gone to the fire as often peace, in reality, was war in its worst shape those who "sought to swim between two waters" volatile word was thought preferable to the permanent letter rise of the dutch republic, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] country would bear his loss with fortitude its humility, seemed sufficiently ironical not upon words but upon actions perfection of insolence was it astonishing that murder was more common than fidelity? rise of the dutch republic, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] absurd affectation of candor always less apt to complain of irrevocable events imagined, and did the work of truth judas maccabaeus neither ambitious nor greedy superfluous sarcasm rise of the dutch republic, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] difficult for one friend to advise another in three matters establish not freedom for calvinism, but freedom for conscience taxes upon income and upon consumption toleration thought the deadliest heresy of all rise of the dutch republic, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] are apt to discharge such obligations--(by) ingratitude like a man holding a wolf by the ears local self-government which is the life-blood of liberty no man ever understood the art of bribery more thoroughly not so successful as he was picturesque plundering the country which they came to protect presumption in entitling themselves christian protect the common tranquillity by blood, purse, and life republic, which lasted two centuries throw the cat against their legs worship god according to the dictates of his conscience rise of the dutch republic, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] all the majesty which decoration could impart amuse them with this peace negotiation conflicting claims of prerogative and conscience it is not desirable to disturb much of that learned dust logical and historical argument of unmerciful length mankind were naturally inclined to calumny men were loud in reproof, who had been silent more easily, as he had no intention of keeping the promise not to fall asleep in the shade of a peace negotiation nothing was so powerful as religious difference on the first day four thousand men and women were slaughtered power grudged rather than given to the deputies the disunited provinces there is no man who does not desire to enjoy his own to hear the last solemn commonplaces word-mongers who, could clothe one shivering thought rise of the dutch republic, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] character of brave men to act, not to expect colonel ysselstein, "dismissed for a homicide or two" god has given absolute power to no mortal man hope delayed was but a cold and meagre consolation natural to judge only by the result no authority over an army which they did not pay unduly dejected in adversity rise of the dutch republic, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] bribed the deity forgiving spirit on the part of the malefactor great error of despising their enemy mistake to stumble a second time over the same stone modern statesmanship, even while it practises, condemns preferred an open enemy to a treacherous protector reformer who becomes in his turn a bigot is doubly odious unremitted intellectual labor in an honorable cause usual phraseology of enthusiasts writing letters full of injured innocence entire - the dutch republic, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] a terrible animal, indeed, is an unbridled woman a good lawyer is a bad christian a most fatal success a common hatred united them, for a time at least absurd affectation of candor agreements were valid only until he should repent all the majesty which decoration could impart all protestants were beheaded, burned, or buried alive all claimed the privilege of persecuting always less apt to complain of irrevocable events amuse them with this peace negotiation are apt to discharge such obligations--(by) ingratitude arrive at their end by fraud, when violence will not avail them as the old woman had told the emperor adrian attachment to a half-drowned land and to a despised religion barbara blomberg, washerwoman of ratisbon beautiful damsel, who certainly did not lack suitors believed in the blessed advent of peace blessing of god upon the devil's work breath, time, and paper were profusely wasted and nothing gained bribed the deity care neither for words nor menaces in any matter character of brave men to act, not to expect claimed the praise of moderation that their demands were so few colonel ysselstein, "dismissed for a homicide or two" compassing a country's emancipation through a series of defeats conflicting claims of prerogative and conscience confused conferences, where neither party was entirely sincere country would bear his loss with fortitude customary oaths, to be kept with the customary conscientiousness daily widening schism between lutherans and calvinists deadliest of sins, the liberty of conscience difficult for one friend to advise another in three matters distinguished for his courage, his cruelty, and his corpulence don john of austria don john was at liberty to be king of england and scotland dying at so very inconvenient a moment eight thousand human beings were murdered establish not freedom for calvinism, but freedom for conscience everything was conceded, but nothing was secured fanatics of the new religion denounced him as a godless man ferocity which even christians could not have surpassed forgiving spirit on the part of the malefactor glory could be put neither into pocket nor stomach god has given absolute power to no mortal man great error of despising their enemy happy to glass themselves in so brilliant a mirror he had never enjoyed social converse, except at long intervals he would have no calvinist inquisition set up in its place he would have no persecution of the opposite creed his personal graces, for the moment, took the rank of virtues hope delayed was but a cold and meagre consolation human ingenuity to inflict human misery i regard my country's profit, not my own imagined, and did the work of truth in character and general talents he was beneath mediocrity indecision did the work of indolence insinuate that his orders had been hitherto misunderstood it is not desirable to disturb much of that learned dust its humility, seemed sufficiently ironical judas maccabaeus king set a price upon his head as a rebel like a man holding a wolf by the ears local self-government which is the life-blood of liberty logical and historical argument of unmerciful length made no breach in royal and roman infallibility mankind were naturally inclined to calumny men were loud in reproof, who had been silent mistake to stumble a second time over the same stone modern statesmanship, even while it practises, condemns more easily, as he had no intention of keeping the promise natural to judge only by the result necessary to make a virtue of necessity neither wished the convocation, while both affected an eagerness neither ambitious nor greedy no man ever understood the art of bribery more thoroughly no authority over an army which they did not pay no man could reveal secrets which he did not know not so successful as he was picturesque not upon words but upon actions not to fall asleep in the shade of a peace negotiation nothing was so powerful as religious difference of high rank but of lamentably low capacity on the first day four thousand men and women were slaughtered one-half to philip and one-half to the pope and venice (slaves) our pot had not gone to the fire as often peace was desirable, it might be more dangerous than war peace, in reality, was war in its worst shape perfection of insolence plundering the country which they came to protect pope excommunicated him as a heretic power grudged rather than given to the deputies preferred an open enemy to a treacherous protector presumption in entitling themselves christian preventing wrong, or violence, even towards an enemy proposition made by the wolves to the sheep, in the fable protect the common tranquillity by blood, purse, and life quite mistaken: in supposing himself the emperor's child rebuked the bigotry which had already grown reformer who becomes in his turn a bigot is doubly odious reformers were capable of giving a lesson even to inquisitors republic, which lasted two centuries result was both to abandon the provinces and to offend philip sentimentality that seems highly apocryphal she knew too well how women were treated in that country superfluous sarcasm suppress the exercise of the roman religion taxes upon income and upon consumption the disunited provinces the more conclusive arbitration of gunpowder there is no man who does not desire to enjoy his own they could not invent or imagine toleration those who "sought to swim between two waters" those who fish in troubled waters only to fill their own nets throw the cat against their legs to hear the last solemn commonplaces toleration thought the deadliest heresy of all unduly dejected in adversity unremitted intellectual labor in an honorable cause usual phraseology of enthusiasts uunmeaning phrases of barren benignity volatile word was thought preferable to the permanent letter was it astonishing that murder was more common than fidelity? word-mongers who, could clothe one shivering thought worn crescents in their caps at leyden worship god according to the dictates of his conscience writing letters full of injured innocence entire - the dutch republic, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] , the last year of peace a country disinherited by nature of its rights a pleasantry called voluntary contributions or benevolences a good lawyer is a bad christian a terrible animal, indeed, is an unbridled woman a common hatred united them, for a time at least a most fatal success absolution for incest was afforded at thirty-six livres absurd affectation of candor achieved the greatness to which they had not been born advancing age diminished his tendency to other carnal pleasures advised his majesty to bestow an annual bribe upon lord burleigh affecting to discredit them age when toleration was a vice agreements were valid only until he should repent all offices were sold to the highest bidder all denounced the image-breaking all his disciples and converts are to be punished with death all the majesty which decoration could impart all reading of the scriptures (forbidden) all protestants were beheaded, burned, or buried alive all claimed the privilege of persecuting altercation between luther and erasmus, upon predestination always less apt to complain of irrevocable events amuse them with this peace negotiation an hereditary papacy, a perpetual pope-emperor an inspiring and delightful recreation (auto-da-fe) an age when to think was a crime angle with their dissimulation as with a hook announced his approaching marriage with the virgin mary annual harvest of iniquity by which his revenue was increased anxiety to do nothing wrong, the senators did nothing at all are apt to discharge such obligations--(by) ingratitude arrested on suspicion, tortured till confession arrive at their end by fraud, when violence will not avail them as ready as papists, with age, fagot, and excommunication as the old woman had told the emperor adrian attachment to a half-drowned land and to a despised religion attacking the authority of the pope attempting to swim in two waters barbara blomberg, washerwoman of ratisbon batavian legion was the imperial body guard beating the netherlanders into christianity beautiful damsel, who certainly did not lack suitors before morning they had sacked thirty churches beggars of the sea, as these privateersmen designated themselves believed in the blessed advent of peace bigotry which was the prevailing characteristic of the age bishop is a consecrated pirate blessing of god upon the devil's work bold reformer had only a new dogma in place of the old ones breath, time, and paper were profusely wasted and nothing gained brethren, parents, and children, having wives in common bribed the deity burned alive if they objected to transubstantiation burned, strangled, beheaded, or buried alive ( , ) business of an officer to fight, of a general to conquer care neither for words nor menaces in any matter character of brave men to act, not to expect charles the fifth autocrat of half the world claimed the praise of moderation that their demands were so few colonel ysselstein, "dismissed for a homicide or two" compassing a country's emancipation through a series of defeats conde and coligny condemning all heretics to death conflicting claims of prerogative and conscience confused conferences, where neither party was entirely sincere consign to the flames all prisoners whatever (papal letter) constitutional governments, move in the daylight consumer would pay the tax, supposing it were ever paid at all country would bear his loss with fortitude courage of despair inflamed the french craft meaning, simply, strength crescents in their caps: rather turkish than popish criminal whose guilt had been established by the hot iron criminals buying paradise for money cruelties exercised upon monks and papists crusades made great improvement in the condition of the serfs customary oaths, to be kept with the customary conscientiousness daily widening schism between lutherans and calvinists deadliest of sins, the liberty of conscience decrees for burning, strangling, and burying alive deeply criminal in the eyes of all religious parties democratic instincts of the ancient german savages denies the utility of prayers for the dead despot by birth and inclination (charles v.) difference between liberties and liberty difficult for one friend to advise another in three matters dispute between luther and zwingli concerning the real presence dissenters were as bigoted as the orthodox dissimulation and delay distinguished for his courage, his cruelty, and his corpulence divine right don john of austria don john was at liberty to be king of england and scotland drank of the water in which, he had washed dying at so very inconvenient a moment eight thousand human beings were murdered endure every hardship but hunger english puritans enormous wealth (of the church) which engendered the hatred enriched generation after generation by wealthy penitence enthusiasm could not supply the place of experience envying those whose sufferings had already been terminated erasmus encourages the bold friar erasmus of rotterdam establish not freedom for calvinism, but freedom for conscience even for the rape of god's mother, if that were possible ever-swarming nurseries of mercenary warriors everything was conceded, but nothing was secured excited with the appearance of a gem of true philosophy executions of huss and jerome of prague fable of divine right is invented to sanction the system fanatics of the new religion denounced him as a godless man felix mants, the anabaptist, is drowned at zurich ferocity which even christians could not have surpassed few, even prelates were very dutiful to the pope fiction of apostolic authority to bind and loose fifty thousand persons in the provinces (put to death) financial opposition to tyranny is apt to be unanimous fishermen and river raftsmen become ocean adventurers for myself i am unworthy of the honor (of martyrdom) for faithful service, evil recompense for women to lament, for men to remember forbids all private assemblies for devotion force clerical--the power of clerks forgiving spirit on the part of the malefactor furious fanaticism furnished, in addition, with a force of two thousand prostitutes gallant and ill-fated lamoral egmont gaul derided the roman soldiers as a band of pigmies german finds himself sober--he believes himself ill glory could be put neither into pocket nor stomach god has given absolute power to no mortal man god save the king! it was the last time govern under the appearance of obeying great privilege, the magna charta of holland great transactions of a reign are sometimes paltry things great science of political equilibrium great error of despising their enemy great battles often leave the world where they found it guarantees of forgiveness for every imaginable sin habeas corpus hair and beard unshorn, according to ancient batavian custom halcyon days of ban, book and candle hanged for having eaten meat-soup upon friday happy to glass themselves in so brilliant a mirror having conjugated his paradigm conscientiously he did his best to be friends with all the world he came as a conqueror not as a mediator he would have no persecution of the opposite creed he would have no calvinist inquisition set up in its place he had never enjoyed social converse, except at long intervals he knew men, especially he knew their weaknesses he had omitted to execute heretics heresy was a plant of early growth in the netherlands his imagination may have assisted his memory in the task his personal graces, for the moment, took the rank of virtues history shows how feeble are barriers of paper holland, england, and america, are all links of one chain holy office condemned all the inhabitants of the netherlands hope delayed was but a cold and meagre consolation hope deferred, suddenly changing to despair human ingenuity to inflict human misery i would carry the wood to burn my own son withal i regard my country's profit, not my own if he had little, he could live upon little imagined, and did the work of truth in holland, the clergy had neither influence nor seats in character and general talents he was beneath mediocrity incur the risk of being charged with forwardness than neglect indecision did the work of indolence indignant that heretics had been suffered to hang informer, in case of conviction, should be entitled to one half inquisition was not a fit subject for a compromise inquisition of the netherlands is much more pitiless insane cruelty, both in the cause of the wrong and the right insinuate that his orders had been hitherto misunderstood insinuating suspicions when unable to furnish evidence invented such christian formulas as these (a curse) inventing long speeches for historical characters it is not desirable to disturb much of that learned dust its humility, seemed sufficiently ironical judas maccabaeus july st, two augustine monks were burned at brussels king set a price upon his head as a rebel king of zion to be pinched to death with red-hot tongs labored under the disadvantage of never having existed learn to tremble as little at priestcraft as at swordcraft leave not a single man alive in the city, and to burn every house let us fool these poor creatures to their heart's content licences accorded by the crown to carry slaves to america like a man holding a wolf by the ears little grievances would sometimes inflame more than vast local self-government which is the life-blood of liberty logical and historical argument of unmerciful length long succession of so many illustrious obscure look through the cloud of dissimulation luther's axiom, that thoughts are toll-free lutheran princes of germany, detested the doctrines of geneva made no breach in royal and roman infallibility made to swing to and fro over a slow fire maintaining the attitude of an injured but forgiving christian man had only natural wrongs (no natural rights) mankind were naturally inclined to calumny many greedy priests, of lower rank, had turned shop-keepers meantime the second civil war in france had broken out men were loud in reproof, who had been silent mistake to stumble a second time over the same stone modern statesmanship, even while it practises, condemns monasteries, burned their invaluable libraries more accustomed to do well than to speak well more easily, as he had no intention of keeping the promise natural to judge only by the result necessary to make a virtue of necessity neither wished the convocation, while both affected an eagerness neither ambitious nor greedy no qualities whatever but birth and audacity to recommend him no man could reveal secrets which he did not know no law but the law of the longest purse no calumny was too senseless to be invented no one can testify but a householder no man ever understood the art of bribery more thoroughly no authority over an army which they did not pay not strong enough to sustain many more such victories not to fall asleep in the shade of a peace negotiation not for a new doctrine, but for liberty of conscience not to let the grass grow under their feet not so successful as he was picturesque not upon words but upon actions not of the stuff of which martyrs are made (erasmus) nothing was so powerful as religious difference notre dame at antwerp nowhere was the persecution of heretics more relentless obstinate, of both sexes, to be burned of high rank but of lamentably low capacity often much tyranny in democracy oldenbarneveld; afterwards so illustrious on the first day four thousand men and women were slaughtered one-half to philip and one-half to the pope and venice (slaves) one golden grain of wit into a sheet of infinite platitude only kept alive by milk, which he drank from a woman's breast only healthy existence of the french was in a state of war orator was, however, delighted with his own performance others go to battle, says the historian, these go to war our pot had not gone to the fire as often panegyrists of royal houses in the sixteenth century pardon for crimes already committed, or about to be committed pardon for murder, if not by poison, was cheaper pathetic dying words of anne boleyn paying their passage through, purgatory peace, in reality, was war in its worst shape peace was desirable, it might be more dangerous than war perfection of insolence perpetually dropping small innuendos like pebbles persons who discussed religious matters were to be put to death petty passion for contemptible details philip, who did not often say a great deal in a few words planted the inquisition in the netherlands plundering the country which they came to protect poisoning, for example, was absolved for eleven ducats pope and emperor maintain both positions with equal logic pope excommunicated him as a heretic power to read and write helped the clergy to much wealth power grudged rather than given to the deputies preferred an open enemy to a treacherous protector premature zeal was prejudicial to the cause presumption in entitling themselves christian preventing wrong, or violence, even towards an enemy procrastination was always his first refuge promises which he knew to be binding only upon the weak proposition made by the wolves to the sheep, in the fable protect the common tranquillity by blood, purse, and life provided not one huguenot be left alive in france purchased absolution for crime and smoothed a pathway to heaven put all those to the torture out of whom anything can be got questioning nothing, doubting nothing, fearing nothing quite mistaken: in supposing himself the emperor's child rashness alternating with hesitation readiness to strike and bleed at any moment in her cause rearing gorgeous temples where paupers are to kneel rebuked the bigotry which had already grown reformer who becomes in his turn a bigot is doubly odious reformers were capable of giving a lesson even to inquisitors repentant females to be buried alive repentant males to be executed with the sword republic, which lasted two centuries result was both to abandon the provinces and to offend philip revocable benefices or feuds ruinous honors saint bartholomew's day sale of absolutions was the source of large fortunes to the priests same conjury over ignorant baron and cowardly hind scaffold was the sole refuge from the rack scepticism, which delights in reversing the judgment of centuries schism which existed in the general reformed church science of reigning was the science of lying scoffing at the ceremonies and sacraments of the church secret drowning was substituted for public burning sent them word by carrier pigeons sentimentality that seems highly apocryphal seven spaniards were killed, and seven thousand rebels sharpened the punishment for reading the scriptures in private she knew too well how women were treated in that country sick and wounded wretches were burned over slow fires slavery was both voluntary and compulsory slender stock of platitudes so much responsibility and so little power soldier of the cross was free upon his return sometimes successful, even although founded upon sincerity sonnets of petrarch sovereignty was heaven-born, anointed of god spendthrift of time, he was an economist of blood st. bartholomew was to sleep for seven years longer st. peter's dome rising a little nearer to the clouds storm by which all these treasures were destroyed (in days) superfluous sarcasm suppress the exercise of the roman religion tanchelyn taxation upon sin taxes upon income and upon consumption ten thousand two hundred and twenty individuals were burned that vile and mischievous animal called the people the noblest and richest temple of the netherlands was a wreck the gaul was singularly unchaste the vivifying becomes afterwards the dissolving principle the bad duke of burgundy, philip surnamed "the good," the greatest crime, however, was to be rich the more conclusive arbitration of gunpowder the disunited provinces the faithful servant is always a perpetual ass the time for reasoning had passed the perpetual reproductions of history the egg had been laid by erasmus, hatched by luther the illness was a convenient one the calf is fat and must be killed the tragedy of don carlos there is no man who does not desire to enjoy his own these human victims, chained and burning at the stake they could not invent or imagine toleration they had at last burned one more preacher alive those who "sought to swim between two waters" those who fish in troubled waters only to fill their own nets thousands of burned heretics had not made a single convert three hundred fighting women throw the cat against their legs thus hand-werpen, hand-throwing, became antwerp time and myself are two to think it capable of error, is the most devilish heresy of all to hear the last solemn commonplaces to prefer poverty to the wealth attendant upon trade toleration thought the deadliest heresy of all torquemada's administration (of the inquisition) tranquillity of despotism to the turbulence of freedom two witnesses sent him to the stake, one witness to the rack tyrannical spirit of calvinism tyranny, ever young and ever old, constantly reproducing herself understood the art of managing men, particularly his superiors unduly dejected in adversity unremitted intellectual labor in an honorable cause upon one day twenty-eight master cooks were dismissed usual phraseology of enthusiasts uunmeaning phrases of barren benignity villagers, or villeins volatile word was thought preferable to the permanent letter was it astonishing that murder was more common than fidelity? we believe our mothers to have been honest women we are beginning to be vexed wealth was an unpardonable sin weep oftener for her children than is the usual lot of mothers when the abbot has dice in his pocket, the convent will play who loved their possessions better than their creed william of nassau, prince of orange wiser simply to satisfy himself wonder equally at human capacity to inflict and to endure misery word-mongers who, could clothe one shivering thought worn crescents in their caps at leyden worship god according to the dictates of his conscience would not help to burn fifty or sixty thousand netherlanders writing letters full of injured innocence history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] diplomatic adroitness consists mainly in the power to deceive enmity between lutherans and calvinists find our destruction in our immoderate desire for peace german-lutheran sixteenth-century idea of religious freedom intentions of a government which did not know its own intentions lord was better pleased with adverbs than nouns make sheep of yourselves, and the wolf will eat you necessity of kingship neighbour's blazing roof was likely soon to fire their own nor is the spirit of the age to be pleaded in defence pauper client who dreamed of justice at the hands of law seem as if born to make the idea of royalty ridiculous shutting the stable-door when the steed is stolen string of homely proverbs worthy of sancho panza the very word toleration was to sound like an insult there was apathy where there should have been enthusiasm tranquillity rather of paralysis than of health write so illegibly or express himself so awkwardly history united netherlands, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] hibernian mode of expressing himself his inordinate arrogance his insolence intolerable humility which was but the cloak to his pride longer they delay it, the less easy will they find it oration, fertile in rhetoric and barren in facts round game of deception, in which nobody was deceived 'twas pity, he said, that both should be heretics wasting time fruitlessly is sharpening the knife for himself with something of feline and feminine duplicity history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] college of "peace-makers," who wrangled more than all military virtue in the support of an infamous cause not distinguished for their docility repentance, as usual, had come many hours too late history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] courage and semblance of cheerfulness, with despair in his heart demanding peace and bread at any price not a friend of giving details larger than my ascertained facts history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] honor good patriots, and to support them in venial errors possible to do, only because we see that it has been done repose in the other world, "repos ailleurs" soldiers enough to animate the good and terrify the bad to work, ever to work, was the primary law of his nature when persons of merit suffer without cause history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] anarchy which was deemed inseparable from a non-regal form dismay of our friends and the gratification of our enemies her teeth black, her bosom white and liberally exposed (eliz.) holland was afraid to give a part, although offering the whole resolved thenceforth to adopt a system of ignorance say "'tis pity he is not an englishman seeking protection for and against the people three hundred and upwards are hanged annually in london we must all die once wrath of bigots on both sides history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] able men should be by design and of purpose suppressed he did his work, but he had not his reward matter that men may rather pray for than hope for not of the genus reptilia, and could neither creep nor crouch others that do nothing, do all, and have all the thanks peace-at-any-price party the busy devil of petty economy thought that all was too little for him weary of place without power history united netherlands, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] intolerable tendency to puns new years day in england, th january by the new style peace and quietness is brought into a most dangerous estate history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] a hard bargain when both parties are losers condemned first and inquired upon after disordered, and unknit state needs no shaking, but propping upper and lower millstones of royal wrath and loyal subserviency uttering of my choler doth little ease my grief or help my case history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] could do a little more than what was possible elizabeth, though convicted, could always confute he sat a great while at a time. he had a genius for sitting mistakes might occur from occasional deviations into sincerity nine syllables that which could be more forcibly expressed in on they were always to deceive every one, upon every occasion we mustn't tickle ourselves to make ourselves laugh entire - united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] a hard bargain when both parties are losers able men should be by design and of purpose suppressed anarchy which was deemed inseparable from a non-regal form college of "peace-makers," who wrangled more than all condemned first and inquired upon after could do a little more than what was possible courage and semblance of cheerfulness, with despair in his heart demanding peace and bread at any price diplomatic adroitness consists mainly in the power to deceive dismay of our friends and the gratification of our enemies disordered, and unknit state needs no shaking, but propping elizabeth, though convicted, could always confute enmity between lutherans and calvinists find our destruction in our immoderate desire for peace german-lutheran sixteenth-century idea of religious freedom he sat a great while at a time. he had a genius for sitting he did his work, but he had not his reward her teeth black, her bosom white and liberally exposed (eliz.) hibernian mode of expressing himself his inordinate arrogance his insolence intolerable holland was afraid to give a part, although offering the whole honor good patriots, and to support them in venial errors humility which was but the cloak to his pride intentions of a government which did not know its own intentions intolerable tendency to puns longer they delay it, the less easy will they find it lord was better pleased with adverbs than nouns make sheep of yourselves, and the wolf will eat you matter that men may rather pray for than hope for military virtue in the support of an infamous cause mistakes might occur from occasional deviations into sincerity necessity of kingship neighbour's blazing roof was likely soon to fire their own new years day in england, th january by the new style nine syllables that which could be more forcibly expressed in on nor is the spirit of the age to be pleaded in defence not a friend of giving details larger than my ascertained facts not of the genus reptilia, and could neither creep nor crouch not distinguished for their docility oration, fertile in rhetoric and barren in facts others that do nothing, do all, and have all the thanks pauper client who dreamed of justice at the hands of law peace and quietness is brought into a most dangerous estate peace-at-any-price party possible to do, only because we see that it has been done repentance, as usual, had come many hours too late repose in the other world, "repos ailleurs" resolved thenceforth to adopt a system of ignorance round game of deception, in which nobody was deceived seeking protection for and against the people seem as if born to make the idea of royalty ridiculous shutting the stable-door when the steed is stolen soldiers enough to animate the good and terrify the bad string of homely proverbs worthy of sancho panza the very word toleration was to sound like an insult the busy devil of petty economy there was apathy where there should have been enthusiasm they were always to deceive every one, upon every occasion thought that all was too little for him three hundred and upwards are hanged annually in london tis pity he is not an englishman to work, ever to work, was the primary law of his nature tranquillity rather of paralysis than of health twas pity, he said, that both should be heretics upper and lower millstones of royal wrath and loyal subserviency uttering of my choler doth little ease my grief or help my case wasting time fruitlessly is sharpening the knife for himself we must all die once we mustn't tickle ourselves to make ourselves laugh weary of place without power when persons of merit suffer without cause with something of feline and feminine duplicity wrath of bigots on both sides write so illegibly or express himself so awkwardly history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] and thus this gentle and heroic spirit took its flight five great rivers hold the netherland territory in their coils high officers were doing the work of private, soldiers i did never see any man behave himself as he did there is no man fitter for that purpose than myself history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] are wont to hang their piety on the bell-rope arminianism as logical as men in their cups are prone to be tolerating religious liberty had never entered his mind history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] acknowledged head of the puritan party of england (leicester) geneva theocracy in the place of the vanished papacy hankering for peace, when peace had really become impossible hating nothing so much as idleness mirror ever held up before their eyes by the obedient provinces rigid and intolerant spirit of the reformed religion scorn the very word toleration as an insult the word liberty was never musical in tudor ears history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] defect of enjoying the flattery, of his inferiors in station the sapling was to become the tree history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] all business has been transacted with open doors beacons in the upward path of mankind been already crimination and recrimination more than enough casting up the matter "as pinchingly as possibly might be" disposed to throat-cutting by the ministers of the gospel during this, whole war, we have never seen the like even to grant it slowly is to deny it utterly evil is coming, the sooner it arrives the better fool who useth not wit because he hath it not guilty of no other crime than adhesion to the catholic faith individuals walking in advance of their age never peace well made, he observed, without a mighty war rebuked him for his obedience respect for differences in religious opinions sacrificed by the queen for faithfully obeying her orders succeeded so well, and had been requited so ill sword in hand is the best pen to write the conditions of peace their existence depended on war they chose to compel no man's conscience torturing, hanging, embowelling of men, women, and children universal suffrage was not dreamed of at that day waiting the pleasure of a capricious and despotic woman who the "people" exactly were history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] the blaze of a hundred and fifty burning vessels we were sold by their negligence who are now angry with us history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] act of uniformity required papists to assist as lieve see the spanish as the calvinistic inquisition elizabeth (had not) the faintest idea of religious freedom god, whose cause it was, would be pleased to give good weather heretics to the english church were persecuted look for a sharp war, or a miserable peace loving only the persons who flattered him not many more than two hundred catholics were executed only citadel against a tyrant and a conqueror was distrust stake or gallows (for) heretics to transubstantiation states were justified in their almost unlimited distrust undue anxiety for impartiality wealthy papists could obtain immunity by an enormous fine history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] bungling diplomatists and credulous dotards fitter to obey than to command full of precedents and declamatory commonplaces i am a king that will be ever known not to fear any but god infamy of diplomacy, when diplomacy is unaccompanied by honesty mendacity may always obtain over innocence and credulity never did statesmen know better how not to do pray here for satiety, (said cecil) than ever think of variety simple truth was highest skill strength does a falsehood acquire in determined and skilful hand that crowned criminal, philip the second history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] a burnt cat fears the fire a free commonwealth--was thought an absurdity baiting his hook a little to his appetite canker of a long peace englishmen and hollanders preparing to cut each other's throats faction has rarely worn a more mischievous aspect hard at work, pouring sand through their sieves she relieth on a hope that will deceive her sparing and war have no affinity together the worst were encouraged with their good success trust her sword, not her enemy's word history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] inquisitors enough; but there were no light vessels in the armada history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] forbidding the wearing of mourning at all hardly a distinguished family in spain not placed in mourning invincible armada had not only been vanquished but annihilated nothing could equal alexander's fidelity, but his perfidy one could neither cry nor laugh within the spanish dominions security is dangerous sixteen of their best ships had been sacrificed sure bind, sure find history united netherlands, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] i will never live, to see the end of my poverty religion was not to be changed like a shirt tension now gave place to exhaustion entire - united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] a burnt cat fears the fire a free commonwealth--was thought an absurdity act of uniformity required papists to assist all business has been transacted with open doors and thus this gentle and heroic spirit took its flight are wont to hang their piety on the bell-rope arminianism as lieve see the spanish as the calvinistic inquisition as logical as men in their cups are prone to be baiting his hook a little to his appetite beacons in the upward path of mankind been already crimination and recrimination more than enough bungling diplomatists and credulous dotards canker of a long peace casting up the matter "as pinchingly as possibly might be" defect of enjoying the flattery, of his inferiors in station disposed to throat-cutting by the ministers of the gospel during this, whole war, we have never seen the like elizabeth (had not) the faintest idea of religious freedom englishmen and hollanders preparing to cut each other's throats even to grant it slowly is to deny it utterly evil is coming, the sooner it arrives the better faction has rarely worn a more mischievous aspect fitter to obey than to command five great rivers hold the netherland territory in their coils fool who useth not wit because he hath it not forbidding the wearing of mourning at all full of precedents and declamatory commonplaces god, whose cause it was, would be pleased to give good weather guilty of no other crime than adhesion to the catholic faith hard at work, pouring sand through their sieves hardly a distinguished family in spain not placed in mourning heretics to the english church were persecuted high officers were doing the work of private, soldiers i did never see any man behave himself as he did i am a king that will be ever known not to fear any but god i will never live, to see the end of my poverty individuals walking in advance of their age infamy of diplomacy, when diplomacy is unaccompanied by honesty inquisitors enough; but there were no light vessels in the armada invincible armada had not only been vanquished but annihilated look for a sharp war, or a miserable peace loving only the persons who flattered him mendacity may always obtain over innocence and credulity never peace well made, he observed, without a mighty war never did statesmen know better how not to do not many more than two hundred catholics were executed nothing could equal alexander's fidelity, but his perfidy one could neither cry nor laugh within the spanish dominions only citadel against a tyrant and a conqueror was distrust pray here for satiety, (said cecil) than ever think of variety rebuked him for his obedience religion was not to be changed like a shirt respect for differences in religious opinions sacrificed by the queen for faithfully obeying her orders security is dangerous she relieth on a hope that will deceive her simple truth was highest skill sixteen of their best ships had been sacrificed sparing and war have no affinity together stake or gallows (for) heretics to transubstantiation states were justified in their almost unlimited distrust strength does a falsehood acquire in determined and skilful hand succeeded so well, and had been requited so ill sure bind, sure find sword in hand is the best pen to write the conditions of peace tension now gave place to exhaustion that crowned criminal, philip the second the worst were encouraged with their good success the blaze of a hundred and fifty burning vessels the sapling was to become the tree their existence depended on war there is no man fitter for that purpose than myself they chose to compel no man's conscience tolerating religious liberty had never entered his mind torturing, hanging, embowelling of men, women, and children trust her sword, not her enemy's word undue anxiety for impartiality universal suffrage was not dreamed of at that day waiting the pleasure of a capricious and despotic woman we were sold by their negligence who are now angry with us wealthy papists could obtain immunity by an enormous fine who the "people" exactly were history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] a pusillanimous peace, always possible at any period at length the twig was becoming the tree being the true religion, proved by so many testimonies certainly it was worth an eighty years' war chief seafaring nations of the world were already protestant conceding it subsequently, after much contestation fled from the land of oppression to the land of liberty german highland and the german netherland little army of maurice was becoming the model for europe luxury had blunted the fine instincts of patriotism maritime heretics portion of these revenues savoured much of black-mail the divine speciality of a few transitory mortals the history of the netherlands is history of liberty the nation which deliberately carves itself in pieces they had come to disbelieve in the mystery of kingcraft worn nor caused to be worn the collar of the serf history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] alexander's exuberant discretion divine right of kings ever met disaster with so cheerful a smile future world as laid down by rival priesthoods invaluable gift which no human being can acquire, authority king was often to be something much less or much worse magnificent hopefulness myself seeing of it methinketh that i dream nothing cheap, said a citizen bitterly, but sermons obscure were thought capable of dying natural deaths philip ii. gave the world work enough righteous to kill their own children road to paris lay through the gates of rome shift the mantle of religion from one shoulder to the other thirty-three per cent. interest was paid (per month) under the name of religion (so many crimes) history united netherlands, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] anatomical study of what has ceased to exist artillery bomb-shells were not often used although known for a century court fatigue, to scorn pleasure for us, looking back upon the past, which was then the future hardly an inch of french soil that had not two possessors holy institution called the inquisition inevitable fate of talking castles and listening ladies life of nations and which we call the past often necessary to be blind and deaf picturesqueness of crime royal plans should be enforced adequately or abandoned entirely toil and sacrifices of those who have preceded us use of the spade utter disproportions between the king's means and aims valour on the one side and discretion on the other walk up and down the earth and destroy his fellow-creatures we have the reputation of being a good housewife weapons history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] accustomed to the faded gallantries conformity of governments to the principles of justice considerable reason, even if there were but little justice disciple of simon stevinus self-assertion--the healthful but not engaging attribute history united netherlands, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] all fellow-worms together continuing to believe himself invincible and infallible he spent more time at table than the bearnese in sleep henry the huguenot as the champion of the council of trent highest were not necessarily the least slimy his invectives were, however, much stronger than his arguments history is a continuous whole of which we see only fragments infinite capacity for pecuniary absorption leading motive with all was supposed to be religion past was once the present, and once the future sages of every generation, read the future like a printed scroll sewers which have ever run beneath decorous christendom wrath of that injured personage as he read such libellous truths history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] beneficent and charitable purposes (war) chronicle of events must not be anticipated eat their own children than to forego one high mass humanizing effect of science upon the barbarism of war slain four hundred and ten men with his own hand history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] deal with his enemy as if sure to become his friend mondragon was now ninety-two years old more catholic than the pope octogenarian was past work and past mischief sacked and drowned ten infant princes strangled his nineteen brothers on his accession history united netherlands, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] allow her to seek a profit from his misfortune burning of servetus at geneva constant vigilance is the price of liberty evil has the advantage of rapidly assuming many shapes french seem madmen, and are wise hanging of mary dyer at boston imposed upon the multitudes, with whom words were things impossible it was to invent terms of adulation too gross in times of civil war, to be neutral is to be nothing meet around a green table except as fencers in the field one-third of philip's effective navy was thus destroyed patriotism seemed an unimaginable idea placid unconsciousness on his part of defeat plea of infallibility and of authority soon becomes ridiculous religion was rapidly ceasing to be the line of demarcation so often degenerated into tyranny (calvinism) spaniards seem wise, and are madmen the alcoran was less cruel than the inquisition there are few inventions in morals to attack england it was necessary to take the road of ireland tranquil insolence unproductive consumption was alarmingly increasing upon their knees, served the queen with wine wish to sell us the bear-skin before they have killed the bear history united netherlands, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] auction sales of judicial ermine decline a bribe or interfere with the private sale of places famous fowl in every pot fellow worms had been writhing for half a century in the dust for his humanity towards the conquered garrisons (censured) historical scepticism may shut its eyes to evidence imagining that they held the world's destiny in their hands king had issued a general repudiation of his debts loud, nasal, dictatorial tone, not at all agreeable peace would be destruction repudiation of national debts was never heard of before some rude lessons from that vigorous little commonwealth such a crime as this had never been conceived (bankruptcy) they liked not such divine right nor such gentle-mindedness whether murders or stratagems, as if they were acts of virtue history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] a despot really keeps no accounts, nor need to do so all italy was in his hands every one sees what you seem, few perceive what you are god of wrath who had decreed the extermination of all unbeliever had industry been honoured instead of being despised history is but made up of a few scattered fragments hugo grotius idle, listless, dice-playing, begging, filching vagabonds ignorance is the real enslaver of mankind innocent generation, to atone for the sins of their forefathers intelligence, science, and industry were accounted degrading labour was esteemed dishonourable man had no rights at all he was property matters little by what name a government is called moral nature, undergoes less change than might be hoped names history has often found it convenient to mark its epochs national character, not the work of a few individuals proceeds of his permission to eat meat on fridays rarely able to command, having never learned to obey rich enough to be worth robbing seems but a change of masks, of costume, of phraseology selling the privilege of eating eggs upon fast-days sentiment of christian self-complacency spain was governed by an established terrorism that unholy trinity--force; dogma, and ignorance the great ocean was but a spanish lake the most thriving branch of national industry (smuggler) the record of our race is essentially unwritten thirty thousand masses should be said for his soul those who argue against a foregone conclusion three or four hundred petty sovereigns (of germany) utter want of adaptation of his means to his ends while one's friends urge moderation whole revenue was pledged to pay the interest, on his debts history united netherlands, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] children who had never set foot on the shore done nothing so long as aught remained to do fed on bear's liver, were nearly poisoned to death inhabited by the savage tribes called samoyedes entire - united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] a pusillanimous peace, always possible at any period a despot really keeps no accounts, nor need to do so accustomed to the faded gallantries alexander's exuberant discretion all italy was in his hands all fellow-worms together allow her to seek a profit from his misfortune anatomical study of what has ceased to exist artillery at length the twig was becoming the tree auction sales of judicial ermine being the true religion, proved by so many testimonies beneficent and charitable purposes (war) bomb-shells were not often used although known for a century burning of servetus at geneva certainly it was worth an eighty years' war chief seafaring nations of the world were already protestant children who had never set foot on the shore chronicle of events must not be anticipated conceding it subsequently, after much contestation conformity of governments to the principles of justice considerable reason, even if there were but little justice constant vigilance is the price of liberty continuing to believe himself invincible and infallible court fatigue, to scorn pleasure deal with his enemy as if sure to become his friend decline a bribe or interfere with the private sale of places disciple of simon stevinus divine right of kings done nothing so long as aught remained to do eat their own children than to forego one high mass ever met disaster with so cheerful a smile every one sees what you seem, few perceive what you are evil has the advantage of rapidly assuming many shapes famous fowl in every pot fed on bear's liver, were nearly poisoned to death fellow worms had been writhing for half a century in the dust fled from the land of oppression to the land of liberty for his humanity towards the conquered garrisons (censured) for us, looking back upon the past, which was then the future french seem madmen, and are wise future world as laid down by rival priesthoods german highland and the german netherland god of wrath who had decreed the extermination of all unbeliever had industry been honoured instead of being despised hanging of mary dyer at boston hardly an inch of french soil that had not two possessors he spent more time at table than the bearnese in sleep henry the huguenot as the champion of the council of trent highest were not necessarily the least slimy his invectives were, however, much stronger than his arguments historical scepticism may shut its eyes to evidence history is but made up of a few scattered fragments history is a continuous whole of which we see only fragments holy institution called the inquisition hugo grotius humanizing effect of science upon the barbarism of war idle, listless, dice-playing, begging, filching vagabonds ignorance is the real enslaver of mankind imagining that they held the world's destiny in their hands imposed upon the multitudes, with whom words were things impossible it was to invent terms of adulation too gross in times of civil war, to be neutral is to be nothing inevitable fate of talking castles and listening ladies infinite capacity for pecuniary absorption inhabited by the savage tribes called samoyedes innocent generation, to atone for the sins of their forefathers intelligence, science, and industry were accounted degrading invaluable gift which no human being can acquire, authority king was often to be something much less or much worse king had issued a general repudiation of his debts labour was esteemed dishonourable leading motive with all was supposed to be religion life of nations and which we call the past little army of maurice was becoming the model for europe loud, nasal, dictatorial tone, not at all agreeable luxury had blunted the fine instincts of patriotism magnificent hopefulness man had no rights at all he was property maritime heretics matters little by what name a government is called meet around a green table except as fencers in the field mondragon was now ninety-two years old moral nature, undergoes less change than might be hoped more catholic than the pope myself seeing of it methinketh that i dream names history has often found it convenient to mark its epochs national character, not the work of a few individuals nothing cheap, said a citizen bitterly, but sermons obscure were thought capable of dying natural deaths octogenarian was past work and past mischief often necessary to be blind and deaf one-third of philip's effective navy was thus destroyed past was once the present, and once the future patriotism seemed an unimaginable idea peace would be destruction philip ii. gave the world work enough picturesqueness of crime placid unconsciousness on his part of defeat plea of infallibility and of authority soon becomes ridiculous portion of these revenues savoured much of black-mail proceeds of his permission to eat meat on fridays rarely able to command, having never learned to obey religion was rapidly ceasing to be the line of demarcation repudiation of national debts was never heard of before rich enough to be worth robbing righteous to kill their own children road to paris lay through the gates of rome royal plans should be enforced adequately or abandoned entirely sacked and drowned ten infant princes sages of every generation, read the future like a printed scroll seems but a change of masks, of costume, of phraseology self-assertion--the healthful but not engaging attribute selling the privilege of eating eggs upon fast-days sentiment of christian self-complacency sewers which have ever run beneath decorous christendom shift the mantle of religion from one shoulder to the other slain four hundred and ten men with his own hand so often degenerated into tyranny (calvinism) some rude lessons from that vigorous little commonwealth spain was governed by an established terrorism spaniards seem wise, and are madmen strangled his nineteen brothers on his accession such a crime as this had never been conceived (bankruptcy) that unholy trinity--force; dogma, and ignorance the history of the netherlands is history of liberty the great ocean was but a spanish lake the divine speciality of a few transitory mortals the alcoran was less cruel than the inquisition the nation which deliberately carves itself in pieces the most thriving branch of national industry (smuggler) the record of our race is essentially unwritten there are few inventions in morals they liked not such divine right nor such gentle-mindedness they had come to disbelieve in the mystery of kingcraft thirty thousand masses should be said for his soul thirty-three per cent. interest was paid (per month) those who argue against a foregone conclusion three or four hundred petty sovereigns (of germany) to attack england it was necessary to take the road of ireland toil and sacrifices of those who have preceded us tranquil insolence under the name of religion (so many crimes) unproductive consumption was alarmingly increasing upon their knees, served the queen with wine use of the spade utter want of adaptation of his means to his ends utter disproportions between the king's means and aims valour on the one side and discretion on the other walk up and down the earth and destroy his fellow-creatures we have the reputation of being a good housewife weapons whether murders or stratagems, as if they were acts of virtue while one's friends urge moderation whole revenue was pledged to pay the interest, on his debts wish to sell us the bear-skin before they have killed the bear worn nor caused to be worn the collar of the serf wrath of that injured personage as he read such libellous truths history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] alas! the benighted victims of superstition hugged their chains culpable audacity and exaggerated prudence the wisest statesmen are prone to blunder in affairs of war history united netherlands, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] constitute themselves at once universal legatees crimes and cruelties such as christians only could imagine human fat esteemed the sovereignst remedy (for wounds) war was the normal and natural condition of mankind history united netherlands, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] bestowing upon others what was not his property four weeks' holiday--the first in eleven years idea of freedom in commerce has dawned upon nations impossible it is to practise arithmetic with disturbed brains passion is a bad schoolmistress for the memory prisoners were immediately hanged unlearned their faith in bell, book, and candle world has rolled on to fresher fields of carnage and ruin history united netherlands, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] began to scatter golden arguments with a lavish hand certain number of powers, almost exactly equal to each other conceit, and procrastination which marked the royal character do you want peace or war? i am ready for either eloquence of the biggest guns even the virtues of james were his worst enemies gold was the only passkey to justice if to do be as grand as to imagine what it were good to do it is certain that the english hate us (sully) logic of the largest battalions made peace--and had been at war ever since nations tied to the pinafores of children in the nursery natural tendency to suspicion of a timid man not safe for politicians to call each other hard names one of the most contemptible and mischievous of kings (james i) peace founded on the only secure basis, equality of strength peace seemed only a process for arriving at war repose under one despot guaranteed to them by two others requires less mention than philip iii himself rules adopted in regard to pretenders to crowns served at their banquets by hosts of lackeys on their knees take all their imaginations and extravagances for truths the expenses of james's household the pigmy, as the late queen had been fond of nicknaming him to negotiate with government in england was to bribe unproductive consumption being accounted most sagacious war was the normal condition of christians we have been talking a little bit of truth to each other what was to be done in this world and believed as to the next you must show your teeth to the spaniard history united netherlands, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] abstinence from unproductive consumption defeated garrison ever deserved more respect from friend or foe his own past triumphs seemed now his greatest enemies hundred thousand men had laid down their lives by her decree john castel, who had stabbed henry iv. looking down upon her struggle with benevolent indifference no retrenchments in his pleasures of women, dogs, and buildings sick soldiers captured on the water should be hanged the small children diminished rapidly in numbers when all was gone, they began to eat each other history united netherlands, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] a penal offence in the republic to talk of peace or of truce accepting a new tyrant in place of the one so long ago deposed as if they were free will not make them free as neat a deception by telling the truth cargo of imaginary gold dust was exported from the james river delay often fights better than an army against a foreign invader diplomacy of spain and rome--meant simply dissimulation draw a profit out of the necessities of this state england hated the netherlands friendly advice still more intolerable haereticis non servanda fides he who confessed well was absolved well insensible to contumely, and incapable of accepting a rebuff languor of fatigue, rather than any sincere desire for peace much as the blind or the deaf towards colour or music subtle and dangerous enemy who wore the mask of a friend word peace in spanish mouths simply meant the holy inquisition history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] a man incapable of fatigue, of perplexity, or of fear converting beneficent commerce into baleful gambling gigantic vices are proudly pointed to as the noblest no generation is long-lived enough to reap the harvest proclaiming the virginity of the virgin's mother steeped to the lips in sloth which imagined itself to be pride to shirk labour, infinite numbers become priests and friars history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] a sovereign remedy for the disease of liberty all the ministers and great functionaries received presents because he had been successful (hated) but the habit of dissimulation was inveterate by turns, we all govern and are governed contempt for treaties however solemnly ratified despised those who were grateful idiotic principle of sumptuary legislation indulging them frequently with oracular advice justified themselves in a solemn consumption of time man who cannot dissemble is unfit to reign men fought as if war was the normal condition of humanity men who meant what they said and said what they meant negotiated as if they were all immortal philip of macedon, who considered no city impregnable to negotiate was to bribe right and left, and at every step unwise impatience for peace history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] night brings counsel this obstinate little republic triple marriages between the respective nurseries usual expedient by which bad legislation on one side countered history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] a truce he honestly considered a pitfall of destruction alas! we must always have something to persecute argument is exhausted and either action or compromise begins beware of a truce even more than of a peace could handle an argument as well as a sword god alone can protect us against those whom we trust humble ignorance as the safest creed man is never so convinced of his own wisdom peace was unattainable, war was impossible, truce was inevitable readiness at any moment to defend dearly won liberties such an excuse was as bad as the accusation the art of ruling the world by doing nothing to doubt the infallibility of calvin was as heinous a crime what exchequer can accept chronic warfare and escape bankruptcy words are always interpreted to the disadvantage of the weak history united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] about equal to that of england at the same period an unjust god, himself the origin of sin butchery in the name of christ was suspended calling a peace perpetual can never make it so chieftains are dwarfed in the estimation of followers each in its turn becoming orthodox, and therefore persecuting exorcising the devil by murdering his supposed victims foremost to shake off the fetters of superstition god of vengeance, of jealousy, and of injustice gomarites accused the arminians of being more lax than papists hangman is not the most appropriate teacher of religion he often spoke of popular rights with contempt john wier, a physician of grave necessity of extirpating heresy, root and branch nowhere were so few unproductive consumers paving the way towards atheism (by toleration) privileged to beg, because ashamed to work religious persecution of protestants by protestants so unconscious of her strength state can best defend religion by letting it alone taxed themselves as highly as fifty per cent the people had not been invented the slightest theft was punished with the gallows tolerate another religion that his own may be tolerated toleration--that intolerable term of insult war to compel the weakest to follow the religion of the strongest entire - united netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] a penal offence in the republic to talk of peace or of truce a sovereign remedy for the disease of liberty a man incapable of fatigue, of perplexity, or of fear a truce he honestly considered a pitfall of destruction about equal to that of england at the same period abstinence from unproductive consumption accepting a new tyrant in place of the one so long ago deposed alas! we must always have something to persecute alas! the benighted victims of superstition hugged their chains all the ministers and great functionaries received presents an unjust god, himself the origin of sin argument is exhausted and either action or compromise begins as if they were free will not make them free as neat a deception by telling the truth because he had been successful (hated) began to scatter golden arguments with a lavish hand bestowing upon others what was not his property beware of a truce even more than of a peace but the habit of dissimulation was inveterate butchery in the name of christ was suspended by turns, we all govern and are governed calling a peace perpetual can never make it so cargo of imaginary gold dust was exported from the james river certain number of powers, almost exactly equal to each other chieftains are dwarfed in the estimation of followers conceit, and procrastination which marked the royal character constitute themselves at once universal legatees contempt for treaties however solemnly ratified converting beneficent commerce into baleful gambling could handle an argument as well as a sword crimes and cruelties such as christians only could imagine culpable audacity and exaggerated prudence defeated garrison ever deserved more respect from friend or foe delay often fights better than an army against a foreign invader despised those who were grateful diplomacy of spain and rome--meant simply dissimulation do you want peace or war? i am ready for either draw a profit out of the necessities of this state each in its turn becoming orthodox, and therefore persecuting eloquence of the biggest guns england hated the netherlands even the virtues of james were his worst enemies exorcising the devil by murdering his supposed victims foremost to shake off the fetters of superstition four weeks' holiday--the first in eleven years friendly advice still more intolerable gigantic vices are proudly pointed to as the noblest god alone can protect us against those whom we trust god of vengeance, of jealousy, and of injustice gold was the only passkey to justice gomarites accused the arminians of being more lax than papists haereticis non servanda fides hangman is not the most appropriate teacher of religion he often spoke of popular rights with contempt he who confessed well was absolved well his own past triumphs seemed now his greatest enemies human fat esteemed the sovereignst remedy (for wounds) humble ignorance as the safest creed hundred thousand men had laid down their lives by her decree idea of freedom in commerce has dawned upon nations idiotic principle of sumptuary legislation if to do be as grand as to imagine what it were good to do impossible it is to practise arithmetic with disturbed brains indulging them frequently with oracular advice insensible to contumely, and incapable of accepting a rebuff it is certain that the english hate us (sully) john castel, who had stabbed henry iv. john wier, a physician of grave justified themselves in a solemn consumption of time languor of fatigue, rather than any sincere desire for peace logic of the largest battalions looking down upon her struggle with benevolent indifference made peace--and had been at war ever since man is never so convinced of his own wisdom man who cannot dissemble is unfit to reign men who meant what they said and said what they meant men fought as if war was the normal condition of humanity much as the blind or the deaf towards colour or music nations tied to the pinafores of children in the nursery natural tendency to suspicion of a timid man necessity of extirpating heresy, root and branch negotiated as if they were all immortal night brings counsel no retrenchments in his pleasures of women, dogs, and buildings no generation is long-lived enough to reap the harvest not safe for politicians to call each other hard names nowhere were so few unproductive consumers one of the most contemptible and mischievous of kings (james i) passion is a bad schoolmistress for the memory paving the way towards atheism (by toleration) peace seemed only a process for arriving at war peace founded on the only secure basis, equality of strength peace was unattainable, war was impossible, truce was inevitable philip of macedon, who considered no city impregnable prisoners were immediately hanged privileged to beg, because ashamed to work proclaiming the virginity of the virgin's mother readiness at any moment to defend dearly won liberties religious persecution of protestants by protestants repose under one despot guaranteed to them by two others requires less mention than philip iii himself rules adopted in regard to pretenders to crowns served at their banquets by hosts of lackeys on their knees sick soldiers captured on the water should be hanged so unconscious of her strength state can best defend religion by letting it alone steeped to the lips in sloth which imagined itself to be pride subtle and dangerous enemy who wore the mask of a friend such an excuse was as bad as the accusation take all their imaginations and extravagances for truths taxed themselves as highly as fifty per cent the art of ruling the world by doing nothing the slightest theft was punished with the gallows the wisest statesmen are prone to blunder in affairs of war the pigmy, as the late queen had been fond of nicknaming him the expenses of james's household the people had not been invented the small children diminished rapidly in numbers this obstinate little republic to shirk labour, infinite numbers become priests and friars to negotiate was to bribe right and left, and at every step to doubt the infallibility of calvin was as heinous a crime to negotiate with government in england was to bribe tolerate another religion that his own may be tolerated toleration--that intolerable term of insult triple marriages between the respective nurseries unlearned their faith in bell, book, and candle unproductive consumption being accounted most sagacious unwise impatience for peace usual expedient by which bad legislation on one side countered war was the normal and natural condition of mankind war was the normal condition of christians war to compel the weakest to follow the religion of the strongest we have been talking a little bit of truth to each other what was to be done in this world and believed as to the next what exchequer can accept chronic warfare and escape bankruptcy when all was gone, they began to eat each other word peace in spanish mouths simply meant the holy inquisition words are always interpreted to the disadvantage of the weak world has rolled on to fresher fields of carnage and ruin you must show your teeth to the spaniard entire - united netherland, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] a hard bargain when both parties are losers a penal offence in the republic to talk of peace or of truce a despot really keeps no accounts, nor need to do so a free commonwealth--was thought an absurdity a burnt cat fears the fire a pusillanimous peace, always possible at any period a man incapable of fatigue, of perplexity, or of fear a sovereign remedy for the disease of liberty a truce he honestly considered a pitfall of destruction able men should be by design and of purpose suppressed about equal to that of england at the same period abstinence from unproductive consumption accepting a new tyrant in place of the one so long ago deposed accustomed to the faded gallantries act of uniformity required papists to assist alas! we must always have something to persecute alas! the benighted victims of superstition hugged their chains alexander's exuberant discretion all fellow-worms together all business has been transacted with open doors all italy was in his hands all the ministers and great functionaries received presents allow her to seek a profit from his misfortune an unjust god, himself the origin of sin anarchy which was deemed inseparable from a non-regal form anatomical study of what has ceased to exist and thus this gentle and heroic spirit took its flight are wont to hang their piety on the bell-rope argument is exhausted and either action or compromise begins arminianism artillery as logical as men in their cups are prone to be as if they were free will not make them free as neat a deception by telling the truth as lieve see the spanish as the calvinistic inquisition at length the twig was becoming the tree auction sales of judicial ermine baiting his hook a little to his appetite beacons in the upward path of mankind because he had been successful (hated) been already crimination and recrimination more than enough began to scatter golden arguments with a lavish hand being the true religion, proved by so many testimonies beneficent and charitable purposes (war) bestowing upon others what was not his property beware of a truce even more than of a peace bomb-shells were not often used although known for a century bungling diplomatists and credulous dotards burning of servetus at geneva but the habit of dissimulation was inveterate butchery in the name of christ was suspended by turns, we all govern and are governed calling a peace perpetual can never make it so canker of a long peace cargo of imaginary gold dust was exported from the james river casting up the matter "as pinchingly as possibly might be" certain number of powers, almost exactly equal to each other certainly it was worth an eighty years' war chief seafaring nations of the world were already protestant chieftains are dwarfed in the estimation of followers children who had never set foot on the shore chronicle of events must not be anticipated college of "peace-makers," who wrangled more than all conceding it subsequently, after much contestation conceit, and procrastination which marked the royal character condemned first and inquired upon after conformity of governments to the principles of justice considerable reason, even if there were but little justice constant vigilance is the price of liberty constitute themselves at once universal legatees contempt for treaties however solemnly ratified continuing to believe himself invincible and infallible converting beneficent commerce into baleful gambling could do a little more than what was possible could handle an argument as well as a sword courage and semblance of cheerfulness, with despair in his heart court fatigue, to scorn pleasure crimes and cruelties such as christians only could imagine culpable audacity and exaggerated prudence deal with his enemy as if sure to become his friend decline a bribe or interfere with the private sale of places defeated garrison ever deserved more respect from friend or foe defect of enjoying the flattery, of his inferiors in station delay often fights better than an army against a foreign invader demanding peace and bread at any price despised those who were grateful diplomacy of spain and rome--meant simply dissimulation diplomatic adroitness consists mainly in the power to deceive disciple of simon stevinus dismay of our friends and the gratification of our enemies disordered, and unknit state needs no shaking, but propping disposed to throat-cutting by the ministers of the gospel divine right of kings do you want peace or war? i am ready for either done nothing so long as aught remained to do draw a profit out of the necessities of this state during this, whole war, we have never seen the like each in its turn becoming orthodox, and therefore persecuting eat their own children than to forego one high mass elizabeth, though convicted, could always confute elizabeth (had not) the faintest idea of religious freedom eloquence of the biggest guns england hated the netherlands englishmen and hollanders preparing to cut each other's throats enmity between lutherans and calvinists even the virtues of james were his worst enemies even to grant it slowly is to deny it utterly ever met disaster with so cheerful a smile every one sees what you seem, few perceive what you are evil is coming, the sooner it arrives the better evil has the advantage of rapidly assuming many shapes exorcising the devil by murdering his supposed victims faction has rarely worn a more mischievous aspect famous fowl in every pot fed on bear's liver, were nearly poisoned to death fellow worms had been writhing for half a century in the dust find our destruction in our immoderate desire for peace fitter to obey than to command five great rivers hold the netherland territory in their coils fled from the land of oppression to the land of liberty fool who useth not wit because he hath it not for his humanity towards the conquered garrisons (censured) for us, looking back upon the past, which was then the future forbidding the wearing of mourning at all foremost to shake off the fetters of superstition four weeks' holiday--the first in eleven years french seem madmen, and are wise friendly advice still more intolerable full of precedents and declamatory commonplaces future world as laid down by rival priesthoods german highland and the german netherland german-lutheran sixteenth-century idea of religious freedom gigantic vices are proudly pointed to as the noblest god of vengeance, of jealousy, and of injustice god alone can protect us against those whom we trust god of wrath who had decreed the extermination of all unbeliever god, whose cause it was, would be pleased to give good weather gold was the only passkey to justice gomarites accused the arminians of being more lax than papists guilty of no other crime than adhesion to the catholic faith had industry been honoured instead of being despised haereticis non servanda fides hanging of mary dyer at boston hangman is not the most appropriate teacher of religion hard at work, pouring sand through their sieves hardly an inch of french soil that had not two possessors hardly a distinguished family in spain not placed in mourning he often spoke of popular rights with contempt he did his work, but he had not his reward he who confessed well was absolved well he spent more time at table than the bearnese in sleep he sat a great while at a time. he had a genius for sitting henry the huguenot as the champion of the council of trent her teeth black, her bosom white and liberally exposed (eliz.) heretics to the english church were persecuted hibernian mode of expressing himself high officers were doing the work of private, soldiers highest were not necessarily the least slimy his invectives were, however, much stronger than his arguments his own past triumphs seemed now his greatest enemies his insolence intolerable his inordinate arrogance historical scepticism may shut its eyes to evidence history is but made up of a few scattered fragments history is a continuous whole of which we see only fragments holland was afraid to give a part, although offering the whole holy institution called the inquisition honor good patriots, and to support them in venial errors hugo grotius human fat esteemed the sovereignst remedy (for wounds) humanizing effect of science upon the barbarism of war humble ignorance as the safest creed humility which was but the cloak to his pride hundred thousand men had laid down their lives by her decree i will never live, to see the end of my poverty i am a king that will be ever known not to fear any but god i did never see any man behave himself as he did idea of freedom in commerce has dawned upon nations idiotic principle of sumptuary legislation idle, listless, dice-playing, begging, filching vagabonds if to do be as grand as to imagine what it were good to do ignorance is the real enslaver of mankind imagining that they held the world's destiny in their hands imposed upon the multitudes, with whom words were things impossible it was to invent terms of adulation too gross impossible it is to practise arithmetic with disturbed brains in times of civil war, to be neutral is to be nothing individuals walking in advance of their age indulging them frequently with oracular advice inevitable fate of talking castles and listening ladies infamy of diplomacy, when diplomacy is unaccompanied by honesty infinite capacity for pecuniary absorption inhabited by the savage tribes called samoyedes innocent generation, to atone for the sins of their forefathers inquisitors enough; but there were no light vessels in the armada insensible to contumely, and incapable of accepting a rebuff intelligence, science, and industry were accounted degrading intentions of a government which did not know its own intentions intolerable tendency to puns invaluable gift which no human being can acquire, authority invincible armada had not only been vanquished but annihilated it is certain that the english hate us (sully) john castel, who had stabbed henry iv. john wier, a physician of grave justified themselves in a solemn consumption of time king had issued a general repudiation of his debts king was often to be something much less or much worse labour was esteemed dishonourable languor of fatigue, rather than any sincere desire for peace leading motive with all was supposed to be religion life of nations and which we call the past little army of maurice was becoming the model for europe logic of the largest battalions longer they delay it, the less easy will they find it look for a sharp war, or a miserable peace looking down upon her struggle with benevolent indifference lord was better pleased with adverbs than nouns loud, nasal, dictatorial tone, not at all agreeable loving only the persons who flattered him luxury had blunted the fine instincts of patriotism made peace--and had been at war ever since magnificent hopefulness make sheep of yourselves, and the wolf will eat you man is never so convinced of his own wisdom man had no rights at all he was property man who cannot dissemble is unfit to reign maritime heretics matter that men may rather pray for than hope for matters little by what name a government is called meet around a green table except as fencers in the field men who meant what they said and said what they meant men fought as if war was the normal condition of humanity mendacity may always obtain over innocence and credulity military virtue in the support of an infamous cause mistakes might occur from occasional deviations into sincerity mondragon was now ninety-two years old moral nature, undergoes less change than might be hoped more catholic than the pope much as the blind or the deaf towards colour or music myself seeing of it methinketh that i dream names history has often found it convenient to mark its epochs national character, not the work of a few individuals nations tied to the pinafores of children in the nursery natural tendency to suspicion of a timid man necessity of kingship necessity of extirpating heresy, root and branch negotiated as if they were all immortal neighbour's blazing roof was likely soon to fire their own never did statesmen know better how not to do never peace well made, he observed, without a mighty war new years day in england, th january by the new style night brings counsel nine syllables that which could be more forcibly expressed in on no retrenchments in his pleasures of women, dogs, and buildings no generation is long-lived enough to reap the harvest nor is the spirit of the age to be pleaded in defence not many more than two hundred catholics were executed not a friend of giving details larger than my ascertained facts not distinguished for their docility not of the genus reptilia, and could neither creep nor crouch not safe for politicians to call each other hard names nothing cheap, said a citizen bitterly, but sermons nothing could equal alexander's fidelity, but his perfidy nowhere were so few unproductive consumers obscure were thought capable of dying natural deaths octogenarian was past work and past mischief often necessary to be blind and deaf one-third of philip's effective navy was thus destroyed one could neither cry nor laugh within the spanish dominions one of the most contemptible and mischievous of kings (james i) only citadel against a tyrant and a conqueror was distrust oration, fertile in rhetoric and barren in facts others that do nothing, do all, and have all the thanks passion is a bad schoolmistress for the memory past was once the present, and once the future patriotism seemed an unimaginable idea pauper client who dreamed of justice at the hands of law paving the way towards atheism (by toleration) peace and quietness is brought into a most dangerous estate peace seemed only a process for arriving at war peace founded on the only secure basis, equality of strength peace would be destruction peace-at-any-price party peace was unattainable, war was impossible, truce was inevitable philip ii. gave the world work enough philip of macedon, who considered no city impregnable picturesqueness of crime placid unconsciousness on his part of defeat plea of infallibility and of authority soon becomes ridiculous portion of these revenues savoured much of black-mail possible to do, only because we see that it has been done pray here for satiety, (said cecil) than ever think of variety prisoners were immediately hanged privileged to beg, because ashamed to work proceeds of his permission to eat meat on fridays proclaiming the virginity of the virgin's mother rarely able to command, having never learned to obey readiness at any moment to defend dearly won liberties rebuked him for his obedience religion was rapidly ceasing to be the line of demarcation religion was not to be changed like a shirt religious persecution of protestants by protestants repentance, as usual, had come many hours too late repose under one despot guaranteed to them by two others repose in the other world, "repos ailleurs" repudiation of national debts was never heard of before requires less mention than philip iii himself resolved thenceforth to adopt a system of ignorance respect for differences in religious opinions rich enough to be worth robbing righteous to kill their own children road to paris lay through the gates of rome round game of deception, in which nobody was deceived royal plans should be enforced adequately or abandoned entirely rules adopted in regard to pretenders to crowns sacked and drowned ten infant princes sacrificed by the queen for faithfully obeying her orders sages of every generation, read the future like a printed scroll security is dangerous seeking protection for and against the people seem as if born to make the idea of royalty ridiculous seems but a change of masks, of costume, of phraseology self-assertion--the healthful but not engaging attribute selling the privilege of eating eggs upon fast-days sentiment of christian self-complacency served at their banquets by hosts of lackeys on their knees sewers which have ever run beneath decorous christendom she relieth on a hope that will deceive her shift the mantle of religion from one shoulder to the other shutting the stable-door when the steed is stolen sick soldiers captured on the water should be hanged simple truth was highest skill sixteen of their best ships had been sacrificed slain four hundred and ten men with his own hand so often degenerated into tyranny (calvinism) so unconscious of her strength soldiers enough to animate the good and terrify the bad some rude lessons from that vigorous little commonwealth spain was governed by an established terrorism spaniards seem wise, and are madmen sparing and war have no affinity together stake or gallows (for) heretics to transubstantiation state can best defend religion by letting it alone states were justified in their almost unlimited distrust steeped to the lips in sloth which imagined itself to be pride strangled his nineteen brothers on his accession strength does a falsehood acquire in determined and skilful hand string of homely proverbs worthy of sancho panza subtle and dangerous enemy who wore the mask of a friend succeeded so well, and had been requited so ill such an excuse was as bad as the accusation such a crime as this had never been conceived (bankruptcy) sure bind, sure find sword in hand is the best pen to write the conditions of peace take all their imaginations and extravagances for truths taxed themselves as highly as fifty per cent tension now gave place to exhaustion that crowned criminal, philip the second that unholy trinity--force; dogma, and ignorance the very word toleration was to sound like an insult the blaze of a hundred and fifty burning vessels the expenses of james's household the worst were encouraged with their good success the history of the netherlands is history of liberty the great ocean was but a spanish lake the divine speciality of a few transitory mortals the sapling was to become the tree the nation which deliberately carves itself in pieces the most thriving branch of national industry (smuggler) the record of our race is essentially unwritten the busy devil of petty economy the small children diminished rapidly in numbers the people had not been invented the alcoran was less cruel than the inquisition the wisest statesmen are prone to blunder in affairs of war the art of ruling the world by doing nothing the slightest theft was punished with the gallows the pigmy, as the late queen had been fond of nicknaming him their existence depended on war there are few inventions in morals there was apathy where there should have been enthusiasm there is no man fitter for that purpose than myself they were always to deceive every one, upon every occasion they had come to disbelieve in the mystery of kingcraft they liked not such divine right nor such gentle-mindedness they chose to compel no man's conscience thirty-three per cent. interest was paid (per month) thirty thousand masses should be said for his soul this obstinate little republic those who argue against a foregone conclusion thought that all was too little for him three hundred and upwards are hanged annually in london three or four hundred petty sovereigns (of germany) tis pity he is not an englishman to negotiate with government in england was to bribe to negotiate was to bribe right and left, and at every step to work, ever to work, was the primary law of his nature to attack england it was necessary to take the road of ireland to shirk labour, infinite numbers become priests and friars to doubt the infallibility of calvin was as heinous a crime toil and sacrifices of those who have preceded us tolerate another religion that his own may be tolerated tolerating religious liberty had never entered his mind toleration--that intolerable term of insult torturing, hanging, embowelling of men, women, and children tranquil insolence tranquillity rather of paralysis than of health triple marriages between the respective nurseries trust her sword, not her enemy's word twas pity, he said, that both should be heretics under the name of religion (so many crimes) undue anxiety for impartiality universal suffrage was not dreamed of at that day unlearned their faith in bell, book, and candle unproductive consumption being accounted most sagacious unproductive consumption was alarmingly increasing unwise impatience for peace upon their knees, served the queen with wine upper and lower millstones of royal wrath and loyal subserviency use of the spade usual expedient by which bad legislation on one side countered utter want of adaptation of his means to his ends utter disproportions between the king's means and aims uttering of my choler doth little ease my grief or help my case valour on the one side and discretion on the other waiting the pleasure of a capricious and despotic woman walk up and down the earth and destroy his fellow-creatures war was the normal and natural condition of mankind war to compel the weakest to follow the religion of the strongest war was the normal condition of christians wasting time fruitlessly is sharpening the knife for himself we have the reputation of being a good housewife we must all die once we mustn't tickle ourselves to make ourselves laugh we have been talking a little bit of truth to each other we were sold by their negligence who are now angry with us wealthy papists could obtain immunity by an enormous fine weapons weary of place without power what exchequer can accept chronic warfare and escape bankruptcy what was to be done in this world and believed as to the next when persons of merit suffer without cause when all was gone, they began to eat each other whether murders or stratagems, as if they were acts of virtue while one's friends urge moderation who the "people" exactly were whole revenue was pledged to pay the interest, on his debts wish to sell us the bear-skin before they have killed the bear with something of feline and feminine duplicity word peace in spanish mouths simply meant the holy inquisition words are always interpreted to the disadvantage of the weak world has rolled on to fresher fields of carnage and ruin worn nor caused to be worn the collar of the serf wrath of bigots on both sides wrath of that injured personage as he read such libellous truths write so illegibly or express himself so awkwardly you must show your teeth to the spaniard life of john of barneveld, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] abstinence from inquisition into consciences and private parlour allowed the demon of religious hatred to enter into its body behead, torture, burn alive, and bury alive all heretics christian sympathy and a small assistance not being sufficient contained within itself the germs of a larger liberty could not be both judge and party in the suit covered now with the satirical dust of centuries deadly hatred of puritans in england and holland doctrine of predestination in its sternest and strictest sense emperor of japan addressed him as his brother monarch estimating his character and judging his judges everybody should mind his own business he was a sincere bigot impatience is often on the part of the non-combatants intense bigotry of conviction international friendship, the self-interest of each it was the true religion, and there was none other james of england, who admired, envied, and hated henry jealousy, that potent principle language which is ever living because it is dead more fiercely opposed to each other than to papists none but god to compel me to say more than i choose to say power the poison of which it is so difficult to resist presents of considerable sums of money to the negotiators made princes show what they have in them at twenty-five or never putting the cart before the oxen religious toleration, which is a phrase of insult secure the prizes of war without the troubles and dangers senectus edam maorbus est so much in advance of his time as to favor religious equality the catholic league and the protestant union the truth in shortest about matters of importance the vehicle is often prized more than the freight there was but one king in europe, henry the bearnese there was no use in holding language of authority to him thirty years' war tread on the heels of the forty years unimaginable outrage as the most legitimate industry wish to appear learned in matters of which they are ignorant life of john of barneveld, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] he who spreads the snare always tumbles into the ditch himself most detestable verses that even he had ever composed she declined to be his procuress life of john of barneveld, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] and now the knife of another priest-led fanatic as with his own people, keeping no back-door open at a blow decapitated france conclusive victory for the allies seemed as predestined epernon, the true murderer of henry father cotton, who was only too ready to betray the secrets great war of religion and politics was postponed jesuit mariana--justifying the killing of excommunicated kings no man pretended to think of the state practised successfully the talent of silence queen is entirely in the hands of spain and the priests religion was made the strumpet of political ambition smooth words, in the plentiful lack of any substantial stroke of a broken table knife sharpened on a carriage wheel the assassin, tortured and torn by four horses they have killed him, 'e ammazato,' cried concini things he could tell which are too odious and dreadful uncouple the dogs and let them run vows of an eternal friendship of several weeks' duration what could save the house of austria, the cause of papacy wrath of the jesuits at this exercise of legal authority life of john of barneveld, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] advanced orthodox party--(puritans) atheist, a tyrant, because he resisted dictation from the clergy give him advice if he asked it, and money when he required he was not imperial of aspect on canvas or coin he who would have all may easily lose all king's definite and final intentions, varied from day to day neither kings nor governments are apt to value logic outdoing himself in dogmatism and inconsistency small matter which human folly had dilated into a great one the defence of the civil authority against the priesthood life of john of barneveld, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] aristocracy of god's elect determined to bring the very name of liberty into contempt disputing the eternal damnation of young children fate, free will, or absolute foreknowledge louis xiii. no man can be neutral in civil contentions no synod had a right to claim netherlanders as slaves philip iv. priests shall control the state or the state govern the priests schism in the church had become a public fact that cynical commerce in human lives the voice of slanderers theological hatred was in full blaze throughout the country theology and politics were one to look down upon their inferior and lost fellow creatures whether dead infants were hopelessly damned whether repentance could effect salvation whose mutual hatred was now artfully inflamed by partisans work of the aforesaid puritans and a few jesuits life of john of barneveld, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] almost infinite power of the meanest of passions ludicrous gravity safest citadel against an invader and a tyrant is distrust their own roofs were not quite yet in a blaze therefore now denounced the man whom he had injured entire - john of barneveld, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] abstinence from inquisition into consciences and private parlour advanced orthodox party-puritans allowed the demon of religious hatred to enter into its body almost infinite power of the meanest of passions and now the knife of another priest-led fanatic aristocracy of god's elect as with his own people, keeping no back-door open at a blow decapitated france atheist, a tyrant, because he resisted dictation from the clergy behead, torture, burn alive, and bury alive all heretics christian sympathy and a small assistance not being sufficient conclusive victory for the allies seemed as predestined contained within itself the germs of a larger liberty could not be both judge and party in the suit covered now with the satirical dust of centuries deadly hatred of puritans in england and holland determined to bring the very name of liberty into contempt disputing the eternal damnation of young children doctrine of predestination in its sternest and strictest sense emperor of japan addressed him as his brother monarch epernon, the true murderer of henry estimating his character and judging his judges everybody should mind his own business fate, free will, or absolute foreknowledge father cotton, who was only too ready to betray the secrets give him advice if he asked it, and money when he required great war of religion and politics was postponed he was not imperial of aspect on canvas or coin he was a sincere bigot he who would have all may easily lose all he who spreads the snare always tumbles into the ditch himself impatience is often on the part of the non-combatants intense bigotry of conviction international friendship, the self-interest of each it was the true religion, and there was none other james of england, who admired, envied, and hated henry jealousy, that potent principle jesuit mariana--justifying the killing of excommunicated kings king's definite and final intentions, varied from day to day language which is ever living because it is dead louis xiii. ludicrous gravity more fiercely opposed to each other than to papists most detestable verses that even he had ever composed neither kings nor governments are apt to value logic no man can be neutral in civil contentions no synod had a right to claim netherlanders as slaves no man pretended to think of the state none but god to compel me to say more than i choose to say outdoing himself in dogmatism and inconsistency philip iv. power the poison of which it is so difficult to resist practised successfully the talent of silence presents of considerable sums of money to the negotiators made priests shall control the state or the state govern the priests princes show what they have in them at twenty-five or never putting the cart before the oxen queen is entirely in the hands of spain and the priests religion was made the strumpet of political ambition religious toleration, which is a phrase of insult safest citadel against an invader and a tyrant is distrust schism in the church had become a public fact secure the prizes of war without the troubles and dangers senectus edam maorbus est she declined to be his procuress small matter which human folly had dilated into a great one smooth words, in the plentiful lack of any substantial so much in advance of his time as to favor religious equality stroke of a broken table knife sharpened on a carriage wheel that cynical commerce in human lives the defence of the civil authority against the priesthood the assassin, tortured and torn by four horses the truth in shortest about matters of importance the voice of slanderers the catholic league and the protestant union the vehicle is often prized more than the freight their own roofs were not quite yet in a blaze theological hatred was in full blaze throughout the country theology and politics were one there was no use in holding language of authority to him there was but one king in europe, henry the bearnese therefore now denounced the man whom he had injured they have killed him, 'e ammazato,' cried concini things he could tell which are too odious and dreadful thirty years' war tread on the heels of the forty years to look down upon their inferior and lost fellow creatures uncouple the dogs and let them run unimaginable outrage as the most legitimate industry vows of an eternal friendship of several weeks' duration what could save the house of austria, the cause of papacy whether repentance could effect salvation whether dead infants were hopelessly damned whose mutual hatred was now artfully inflamed by partisans wish to appear learned in matters of which they are ignorant work of the aforesaid puritans and a few jesuits wrath of the jesuits at this exercise of legal authority life of john of barneveld, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] and give advice. of that, although always a spendthrift casual outbursts of eternal friendship changed his positions and contradicted himself day by day conciliation when war of extermination was intended considered it his special mission in the world to mediate denoungced as an obstacle to peace france was mourning henry and waiting for richelieu hardly a sound protestant policy anywhere but in holland history has not too many really important and emblematic men i hope and i fear king who thought it furious madness to resist the enemy mockery of negotiation in which nothing could be negotiated more apprehension of fraud than of force opening an abyss between government and people successful in this step, he is ready for greater ones that he tries to lay the fault on us is pure malice the magnitude of this wonderful sovereign's littleness this wonderful sovereign's littleness oppresses the imagination wise and honest a man, although he be somewhat longsome yesterday is the preceptor of to-morrow life of john of barneveld, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] acts of violence which under pretext of religion adulation for inferiors whom they despise calumny is often a stronger and more lasting power than disdain created one child for damnation and another for salvation depths of credulity men in all ages can sink devote himself to his gout and to his fair young wife furious mob set upon the house of rem bischop highborn demagogues in that as in every age affect adulation in this he was much behind his age or before it logic is rarely the quality on which kings pride themselves necessity of deferring to powerful sovereigns not his custom nor that of his councillors to go to bed partisans wanted not accommodation but victory puritanism in holland was a very different thing from england seemed bent on self-destruction stand between hope and fear the evils resulting from a confederate system of government to stifle for ever the right of free enquiry life of john of barneveld, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] affection of his friends and the wrath of his enemies depths theological party spirit could descend extraordinary capacity for yielding to gentle violence human nature in its meanness and shame it had not yet occurred to him that he was married make the very name of man a term of reproach never lack of fishers in troubled waters opposed the subjection of the magistracy by the priesthood pot-valiant hero resolve to maintain the civil authority over the military tempest of passion and prejudice the effect of energetic, uncompromising calumny yes, there are wicked men about life of john of barneveld, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] better to be governed by magistrates than mobs burning with bitter revenge for all the favours he had received death rather than life with a false acknowledgment of guilt enemy of all compulsion of the human conscience heidelberg catechism were declared to be infallible i know how to console myself implication there was much, of assertion very little john robinson magistracy at that moment seemed to mean the sword only true religion rather a wilderness to reign over than a single heretic william brewster life of john of barneveld, - by motley[# ][jm v .txt] argument in a circle he that stands let him see that he does not fall if he has deserved it, let them strike off his head misery had come not from their being enemies o god! what does man come to! party hatred was not yet glutted with the blood it had drunk rose superior to his doom and took captivity captive this, then, is the reward of forty years' service to the state to milk, the cow as long as she would give milk entire - john of barneveld, by motley [# ][jm v .txt] acts of violence which under pretext of religion adulation for inferiors whom they despise affection of his friends and the wrath of his enemies and give advice. of that, although always a spendthrift argument in a circle better to be governed by magistrates than mobs burning with bitter revenge for all the favours he had received calumny is often a stronger and more lasting power than disdain casual outbursts of eternal friendship changed his positions and contradicted himself day by day conciliation when war of extermination was intended considered it his special mission in the world to mediate created one child for damnation and another for salvation death rather than life with a false acknowledgment of guilt denoungced as an obstacle to peace depths theological party spirit could descend depths of credulity men in all ages can sink devote himself to his gout and to his fair young wife enemy of all compulsion of the human conscience extraordinary capacity for yielding to gentle violence france was mourning henry and waiting for richelieu furious mob set upon the house of rem bischop hardly a sound protestant policy anywhere but in holland he that stands let him see that he does not fall heidelberg catechism were declared to be infallible highborn demagogues in that as in every age affect adulation history has not too many really important and emblematic men human nature in its meanness and shame i hope and i fear i know how to console myself if he has deserved it, let them strike off his head implication there was much, of assertion very little in this he was much behind his age or before it it had not yet occurred to him that he was married john robinson king who thought it furious madness to resist the enemy logic is rarely the quality on which kings pride themselves magistracy at that moment seemed to mean the sword make the very name of man a term of reproach misery had come not from their being enemies mockery of negotiation in which nothing could be negotiated more apprehension of fraud than of force necessity of deferring to powerful sovereigns never lack of fishers in troubled waters not his custom nor that of his councillors to go to bed o god! what does man come to! only true religion opening an abyss between government and people opposed the subjection of the magistracy by the priesthood partisans wanted not accommodation but victory party hatred was not yet glutted with the blood it had drunk pot-valiant hero puritanism in holland was a very different thing from england rather a wilderness to reign over than a single heretic resolve to maintain the civil authority over the military rose superior to his doom and took captivity captive seemed bent on self-destruction stand between hope and fear successful in this step, he is ready for greater ones tempest of passion and prejudice that he tries to lay the fault on us is pure malice the magnitude of this wonderful sovereign's littleness the effect of energetic, uncompromising calumny the evils resulting from a confederate system of government this, then, is the reward of forty years' service to the state this wonderful sovereign's littleness oppresses the imagination to milk, the cow as long as she would give milk to stifle for ever the right of free enquiry william brewster wise and honest a man, although he be somewhat longsome yes, there are wicked men about yesterday is the preceptor of to-morrow entire - john of barneveld, by motley [# ][jm v .txt] abstinence from inquisition into consciences and private parlour acts of violence which under pretext of religion adulation for inferiors whom they despise advanced orthodox party-puritans affection of his friends and the wrath of his enemies allowed the demon of religious hatred to enter into its body almost infinite power of the meanest of passions and give advice. of that, although always a spendthrift and now the knife of another priest-led fanatic argument in a circle aristocracy of god's elect as with his own people, keeping no back-door open at a blow decapitated france atheist, a tyrant, because he resisted dictation from the clergy behead, torture, burn alive, and bury alive all heretics better to be governed by magistrates than mobs burning with bitter revenge for all the favours he had received calumny is often a stronger and more lasting power than disdain casual outbursts of eternal friendship changed his positions and contradicted himself day by day christian sympathy and a small assistance not being sufficient conciliation when war of extermination was intended conclusive victory for the allies seemed as predestined considered it his special mission in the world to mediate contained within itself the germs of a larger liberty could not be both judge and party in the suit covered now with the satirical dust of centuries created one child for damnation and another for salvation deadly hatred of puritans in england and holland death rather than life with a false acknowledgment of guilt denoungced as an obstacle to peace depths of credulity men in all ages can sink depths theological party spirit could descend determined to bring the very name of liberty into contempt devote himself to his gout and to his fair young wife disputing the eternal damnation of young children doctrine of predestination in its sternest and strictest sense emperor of japan addressed him as his brother monarch enemy of all compulsion of the human conscience epernon, the true murderer of henry estimating his character and judging his judges everybody should mind his own business extraordinary capacity for yielding to gentle violence fate, free will, or absolute foreknowledge father cotton, who was only too ready to betray the secrets france was mourning henry and waiting for richelieu furious mob set upon the house of rem bischop give him advice if he asked it, and money when he required great war of religion and politics was postponed hardly a sound protestant policy anywhere but in holland he was not imperial of aspect on canvas or coin he who would have all may easily lose all he who spreads the snare always tumbles into the ditch himself he was a sincere bigot he that stands let him see that he does not fall heidelberg catechism were declared to be infallible highborn demagogues in that as in every age affect adulation history has not too many really important and emblematic men human nature in its meanness and shame i know how to console myself i hope and i fear if he has deserved it, let them strike off his head impatience is often on the part of the non-combatants implication there was much, of assertion very little in this he was much behind his age or before it intense bigotry of conviction international friendship, the self-interest of each it had not yet occurred to him that he was married it was the true religion, and there was none other james of england, who admired, envied, and hated henry jealousy, that potent principle jesuit mariana--justifying the killing of excommunicated kings john robinson king who thought it furious madness to resist the enemy king's definite and final intentions, varied from day to day language which is ever living because it is dead logic is rarely the quality on which kings pride themselves louis xiii. ludicrous gravity magistracy at that moment seemed to mean the sword make the very name of man a term of reproach misery had come not from their being enemies mockery of negotiation in which nothing could be negotiated more apprehension of fraud than of force more fiercely opposed to each other than to papists most detestable verses that even he had ever composed necessity of deferring to powerful sovereigns neither kings nor governments are apt to value logic never lack of fishers in troubled waters no man pretended to think of the state no man can be neutral in civil contentions no synod had a right to claim netherlanders as slaves none but god to compel me to say more than i choose to say not his custom nor that of his councillors to go to bed o god! what does man come to! only true religion opening an abyss between government and people opposed the subjection of the magistracy by the priesthood outdoing himself in dogmatism and inconsistency partisans wanted not accommodation but victory party hatred was not yet glutted with the blood it had drunk philip iv. pot-valiant hero power the poison of which it is so difficult to resist practised successfully the talent of silence presents of considerable sums of money to the negotiators made priests shall control the state or the state govern the priests princes show what they have in them at twenty-five or never puritanism in holland was a very different thing from england putting the cart before the oxen queen is entirely in the hands of spain and the priests rather a wilderness to reign over than a single heretic religion was made the strumpet of political ambition religious toleration, which is a phrase of insult resolve to maintain the civil authority over the military rose superior to his doom and took captivity captive safest citadel against an invader and a tyrant is distrust schism in the church had become a public fact secure the prizes of war without the troubles and dangers seemed bent on self-destruction senectus edam maorbus est she declined to be his procuress small matter which human folly had dilated into a great one smooth words, in the plentiful lack of any substantial so much in advance of his time as to favor religious equality stand between hope and fear stroke of a broken table knife sharpened on a carriage wheel successful in this step, he is ready for greater ones tempest of passion and prejudice that he tries to lay the fault on us is pure malice that cynical commerce in human lives the effect of energetic, uncompromising calumny the evils resulting from a confederate system of government the vehicle is often prized more than the freight the voice of slanderers the truth in shortest about matters of importance the assassin, tortured and torn by four horses the defence of the civil authority against the priesthood the magnitude of this wonderful sovereign's littleness the catholic league and the protestant union their own roofs were not quite yet in a blaze theological hatred was in full blaze throughout the country theology and politics were one there was no use in holding language of authority to him there was but one king in europe, henry the bearnese therefore now denounced the man whom he had injured they have killed him, 'e ammazato,' cried concini things he could tell which are too odious and dreadful thirty years' war tread on the heels of the forty years this wonderful sovereign's littleness oppresses the imagination this, then, is the reward of forty years' service to the state to milk, the cow as long as she would give milk to stifle for ever the right of free enquiry to look down upon their inferior and lost fellow creatures uncouple the dogs and let them run unimaginable outrage as the most legitimate industry vows of an eternal friendship of several weeks' duration what could save the house of austria, the cause of papacy whether repentance could effect salvation whether dead infants were hopelessly damned whose mutual hatred was now artfully inflamed by partisans william brewster wise and honest a man, although he be somewhat longsome wish to appear learned in matters of which they are ignorant work of the aforesaid puritans and a few jesuits wrath of the jesuits at this exercise of legal authority yes, there are wicked men about yesterday is the preceptor of to-morrow memoir of john l. motley, v , o.w. holmes [owh# ][oh v .txt] all classes are conservative by necessity already looking forward to the revolt of the slave states attacked by the poetic mania becoming more learned, and therefore more ignorant but not thoughtlessly indulgent to the boy cold water of conventional and commonplace encouragement could paint a character with the ruddy life-blood coloring emulation is not capability excused by their admirers for their shortcomings excuses to disarm the criticism he had some reason to fear fear of the laugh of the world at its sincerity fitted "to warn, to comfort, and command" how many more injured by becoming bad copies of a bad ideal ignoble facts which strew the highways of political life indoor home life imprisons them in the domestic circle intellectual dandyisms of bulwer kindly shadow of oblivion misanthropical, sceptical philosopher most entirely truthful child whe had ever seen nearsighted liberalism no two books, as he said, ever injured each other not a single acquaintance in the place, and we glory in the fact only foundation fit for history,--original contemporary document radical, one who would uproot, is a man whose trade is dangerous sees the past in the pitiless light of the present self-educated man, as he had been a self-taught boy solitary and morose, the necessary consequence of reckless study spirit of a man who wishes to be proud of his country studied according to his inclinations rather than by rule style above all other qualities seems to embalm for posterity talked impatiently of the value of my time the dead men of the place are my intimate friends the fellow mixes blood with his colors! the loss of hair, which brings on premature decay the personal gifts which are nature's passport everywhere twenty assaults upon fame and had forty books killed under him vain belief that they were men at eighteen or twenty weight of a thousand years of error memoir of john l. motley, v , o.w. holmes [owh# ][oh v .txt] a great historian is almost a statesman admired or despised, as if he or she were our contemporary alas! one never knows when one becomes a bore american unholy inquisition best defence in this case is little better than an impeachment but after all this isn't a war it is a revolution can never be repaired and never sufficiently regretted considerations of state as a reason considerations of state have never yet failed the axe everything else may happen this alone must happen fortune's buffets and rewards can take with equal thanks he was not always careful in the construction of his sentences in revolutions the men who win are those who are in earnest irresistible force in collision with an insuperable resistance it is n't strategists that are wanted so much as believers john quincy adams manner in which an insult shall be dealt with motley was twice sacrificed to personal feelings no man is safe (from news reporters) our mortal life is but a string of guesses at the future played so long with other men's characters and good name progress should be by a spiral movement public which must have a slain reputation to devour reasonable to pay our debts rather than to repudiate them recall of a foreign minister for alleged misconduct in office shall slavery die, or the great republic? suicide is confession the nation is as much bound to be honest as is the individual this somebody may have been one whom we should call nobody unequivocal policy of slave emancipation wringing a dry cloth for drops of evidence memoir of john l. motley, v , o.w. holmes [owh# ][oh v .txt] an order of things in which mediocrity is at a premium better is the restlessness of a noble ambition blessed freedom from speech-making flattery is a sweet and intoxicating potion forget those who have done them good service his dogged, continuous capacity for work his learning was a reproach to the ignorant history never forgets and never forgives mediocrity is at a premium no great man can reach the highest position in our government over excited, when his prejudices were roughly handled plain enough that he is telling his own story republics are said to be ungrateful they knew very little of us, and that little wrong visible atmosphere of power the poison of which wonders whether it has found its harbor or only lost its anchor memoir of john l. motley, all, o.w. holmes [owh# ][oh v .txt] a great historian is almost a statesman admired or despised, as if he or she were our contemporary alas! one never knows when one becomes a bore all classes are conservative by necessity already looking forward to the revolt of the slave states american unholy inquisition an order of things in which mediocrity is at a premium attacked by the poetic mania becoming more learned, and therefore more ignorant best defence in this case is little better than an impeachment better is the restlessness of a noble ambition blessed freedom from speech-making but not thoughtlessly indulgent to the boy but after all this isn't a war it is a revolution can never be repaired and never sufficiently regretted cold water of conventional and commonplace encouragement considerations of state have never yet failed the axe considerations of state as a reason could paint a character with the ruddy life-blood coloring emulation is not capability everything else may happen this alone must happen excused by their admirers for their shortcomings excuses to disarm the criticism he had some reason to fear fear of the laugh of the world at its sincerity fitted "to warn, to comfort, and command" flattery is a sweet and intoxicating potion forget those who have done them good service fortune's buffets and rewards can take with equal thanks he was not always careful in the construction of his sentences his learning was a reproach to the ignorant his dogged, continuous capacity for work history never forgets and never forgives how many more injured by becoming bad copies of a bad ideal ignoble facts which strew the highways of political life in revolutions the men who win are those who are in earnest indoor home life imprisons them in the domestic circle intellectual dandyisms of bulwer irresistible force in collision with an insuperable resistance it is n't strategists that are wanted so much as believers john quincy adams kindly shadow of oblivion manner in which an insult shall be dealt with mediocrity is at a premium misanthropical, sceptical philosopher most entirely truthful child whe had ever seen motley was twice sacrificed to personal feelings nearsighted liberalism no great man can reach the highest position in our government no two books, as he said, ever injured each other no man is safe (from news reporters) not a single acquaintance in the place, and we glory in the fact only foundation fit for history,--original contemporary document our mortal life is but a string of guesses at the future over excited, when his prejudices were roughly handled plain enough that he is telling his own story played so long with other men's characters and good name progress should be by a spiral movement public which must have a slain reputation to devour radical, one who would uproot, is a man whose trade is dangerous reasonable to pay our debts rather than to repudiate them recall of a foreign minister for alleged misconduct in office republics are said to be ungrateful sees the past in the pitiless light of the present self-educated man, as he had been a self-taught boy shall slavery die, or the great republic? solitary and morose, the necessary consequence of reckless study spirit of a man who wishes to be proud of his country studied according to his inclinations rather than by rule style above all other qualities seems to embalm for posterity suicide is confession talked impatiently of the value of my time the fellow mixes blood with his colors! the loss of hair, which brings on premature decay the personal gifts which are nature's passport everywhere the nation is as much bound to be honest as is the individual the dead men of the place are my intimate friends they knew very little of us, and that little wrong this somebody may have been one whom we should call nobody twenty assaults upon fame and had forty books killed under him unequivocal policy of slave emancipation vain belief that they were men at eighteen or twenty visible atmosphere of power the poison of which weight of a thousand years of error wonders whether it has found its harbor or only lost its anchor wringing a dry cloth for drops of evidence entire pg edition the netherlands, by motley[# ][jm v .txt] (which includes the memoir of motley by oliver wendell holmes) , the last year of peace a pleasantry called voluntary contributions or benevolences a good lawyer is a bad christian a terrible animal, indeed, is an unbridled woman a common hatred united them, for a time at least a penal offence in the republic to talk of peace or of truce a most fatal success a country disinherited by nature of its rights a free commonwealth--was thought an absurdity a hard bargain when both parties are losers a burnt cat fears the fire a despot really keeps no accounts, nor need to do so a sovereign remedy for the disease of liberty a pusillanimous peace, always possible at any period a man incapable of fatigue, of perplexity, or of fear a truce he honestly considered a pitfall of destruction a great historian is almost a statesman able men should be by design and of purpose suppressed about equal to that of england at the same period absolution for incest was afforded at thirty-six livres abstinence from unproductive consumption abstinence from inquisition into consciences and private parlour absurd affectation of candor accepting a new tyrant in place of the one so long ago deposed accustomed to the faded gallantries achieved the greatness to which they had not been born act of uniformity required papists to assist acts of violence which under pretext of religion admired or despised, as if he or she were our contemporary adulation for inferiors whom they despise advanced orthodox party-puritans advancing age diminished his tendency to other carnal pleasures advised his majesty to bestow an annual bribe upon lord burleigh affecting to discredit them affection of his friends and the wrath of his enemies age when toleration was a vice agreements were valid only until he should repent alas! the benighted victims of superstition hugged their chains alas! we must always have something to persecute alas! one never knows when one becomes a bore alexander's exuberant discretion all italy was in his hands all fellow-worms together all business has been transacted with open doors all reading of the scriptures (forbidden) all the majesty which decoration could impart all denounced the image-breaking all claimed the privilege of persecuting all his disciples and converts are to be punished with death all protestants were beheaded, burned, or buried alive all classes are conservative by necessity all the ministers and great functionaries received presents all offices were sold to the highest bidder allow her to seek a profit from his misfortune allowed the demon of religious hatred to enter into its body almost infinite power of the meanest of passions already looking forward to the revolt of the slave states altercation between luther and erasmus, upon predestination always less apt to complain of irrevocable events american unholy inquisition amuse them with this peace negotiation an inspiring and delightful recreation (auto-da-fe) an hereditary papacy, a perpetual pope-emperor an age when to think was a crime an unjust god, himself the origin of sin an order of things in which mediocrity is at a premium anarchy which was deemed inseparable from a non-regal form anatomical study of what has ceased to exist and give advice. of that, although always a spendthrift and now the knife of another priest-led fanatic and thus this gentle and heroic spirit took its flight angle with their dissimulation as with a hook announced his approaching marriage with the virgin mary annual harvest of iniquity by which his revenue was increased anxiety to do nothing wrong, the senators did nothing at all are apt to discharge such obligations--(by) ingratitude are wont to hang their piety on the bell-rope argument in a circle argument is exhausted and either action or compromise begins aristocracy of god's elect arminianism arrested on suspicion, tortured till confession arrive at their end by fraud, when violence will not avail them artillery as logical as men in their cups are prone to be as the old woman had told the emperor adrian as if they were free will not make them free as lieve see the spanish as the calvinistic inquisition as ready as papists, with age, fagot, and excommunication as with his own people, keeping no back-door open as neat a deception by telling the truth at a blow decapitated france at length the twig was becoming the tree atheist, a tyrant, because he resisted dictation from the clergy attachment to a half-drowned land and to a despised religion attacked by the poetic mania attacking the authority of the pope attempting to swim in two waters auction sales of judicial ermine baiting his hook a little to his appetite barbara blomberg, washerwoman of ratisbon batavian legion was the imperial body guard beacons in the upward path of mankind beating the netherlanders into christianity beautiful damsel, who certainly did not lack suitors because he had been successful (hated) becoming more learned, and therefore more ignorant been already crimination and recrimination more than enough before morning they had sacked thirty churches began to scatter golden arguments with a lavish hand beggars of the sea, as these privateersmen designated themselves behead, torture, burn alive, and bury alive all heretics being the true religion, proved by so many testimonies believed in the blessed advent of peace beneficent and charitable purposes (war) best defence in this case is little better than an impeachment bestowing upon others what was not his property better to be governed by magistrates than mobs better is the restlessness of a noble ambition beware of a truce even more than of a peace bigotry which was the prevailing characteristic of the age bishop is a consecrated pirate blessed freedom from speech-making blessing of god upon the devil's work bold reformer had only a new dogma in place of the old ones bomb-shells were not often used although known for a century breath, time, and paper were profusely wasted and nothing gained brethren, parents, and children, having wives in common bribed the deity bungling diplomatists and credulous dotards burned, strangled, beheaded, or buried alive ( , ) burned alive if they objected to transubstantiation burning with bitter revenge for all the favours he had received burning of servetus at geneva business of an officer to fight, of a general to conquer but the habit of dissimulation was inveterate but after all this isn't a war it is a revolution but not thoughtlessly indulgent to the boy butchery in the name of christ was suspended by turns, we all govern and are governed calling a peace perpetual can never make it so calumny is often a stronger and more lasting power than disdain can never be repaired and never sufficiently regretted canker of a long peace care neither for words nor menaces in any matter cargo of imaginary gold dust was exported from the james river casting up the matter "as pinchingly as possibly might be" casual outbursts of eternal friendship certain number of powers, almost exactly equal to each other certainly it was worth an eighty years' war changed his positions and contradicted himself day by day character of brave men to act, not to expect charles the fifth autocrat of half the world chief seafaring nations of the world were already protestant chieftains are dwarfed in the estimation of followers children who had never set foot on the shore christian sympathy and a small assistance not being sufficient chronicle of events must not be anticipated claimed the praise of moderation that their demands were so few cold water of conventional and commonplace encouragement college of "peace-makers," who wrangled more than all colonel ysselstein, "dismissed for a homicide or two" compassing a country's emancipation through a series of defeats conceding it subsequently, after much contestation conceit, and procrastination which marked the royal character conciliation when war of extermination was intended conclusive victory for the allies seemed as predestined conde and coligny condemned first and inquired upon after condemning all heretics to death conflicting claims of prerogative and conscience conformity of governments to the principles of justice confused conferences, where neither party was entirely sincere considerable reason, even if there were but little justice considerations of state have never yet failed the axe considerations of state as a reason considered it his special mission in the world to mediate consign to the flames all prisoners whatever (papal letter) constant vigilance is the price of liberty constitute themselves at once universal legatees constitutional governments, move in the daylight consumer would pay the tax, supposing it were ever paid at all contained within itself the germs of a larger liberty contempt for treaties however solemnly ratified continuing to believe himself invincible and infallible converting beneficent commerce into baleful gambling could handle an argument as well as a sword could paint a character with the ruddy life-blood coloring could not be both judge and party in the suit could do a little more than what was possible country would bear his loss with fortitude courage of despair inflamed the french courage and semblance of cheerfulness, with despair in his heart court fatigue, to scorn pleasure covered now with the satirical dust of centuries craft meaning, simply, strength created one child for damnation and another for salvation crescents in their caps: rather turkish than popish crimes and cruelties such as christians only could imagine criminal whose guilt had been established by the hot iron criminals buying paradise for money cruelties exercised upon monks and papists crusades made great improvement in the condition of the serfs culpable audacity and exaggerated prudence customary oaths, to be kept with the customary conscientiousness daily widening schism between lutherans and calvinists deadliest of sins, the liberty of conscience deadly hatred of puritans in england and holland deal with his enemy as if sure to become his friend death rather than life with a false acknowledgment of guilt decline a bribe or interfere with the private sale of places decrees for burning, strangling, and burying alive deeply criminal in the eyes of all religious parties defeated garrison ever deserved more respect from friend or foe defect of enjoying the flattery, of his inferiors in station delay often fights better than an army against a foreign invader demanding peace and bread at any price democratic instincts of the ancient german savages denies the utility of prayers for the dead denoungced as an obstacle to peace depths theological party spirit could descend depths of credulity men in all ages can sink despised those who were grateful despot by birth and inclination (charles v.) determined to bring the very name of liberty into contempt devote himself to his gout and to his fair young wife difference between liberties and liberty difficult for one friend to advise another in three matters diplomacy of spain and rome--meant simply dissimulation diplomatic adroitness consists mainly in the power to deceive disciple of simon stevinus dismay of our friends and the gratification of our enemies disordered, and unknit state needs no shaking, but propping disposed to throat-cutting by the ministers of the gospel dispute between luther and zwingli concerning the real presence disputing the eternal damnation of young children dissenters were as bigoted as the orthodox dissimulation and delay distinguished for his courage, his cruelty, and his corpulence divine right of kings divine right do you want peace or war? i am ready for either doctrine of predestination in its sternest and strictest sense don john of austria don john was at liberty to be king of england and scotland done nothing so long as aught remained to do drank of the water in which, he had washed draw a profit out of the necessities of this state during this, whole war, we have never seen the like dying at so very inconvenient a moment each in its turn becoming orthodox, and therefore persecuting eat their own children than to forego one high mass eight thousand human beings were murdered elizabeth, though convicted, could always confute elizabeth (had not) the faintest idea of religious freedom eloquence of the biggest guns emperor of japan addressed him as his brother monarch emulation is not capability endure every hardship but hunger enemy of all compulsion of the human conscience england hated the netherlands english puritans englishmen and hollanders preparing to cut each other's throats enmity between lutherans and calvinists enormous wealth (of the church) which engendered the hatred enriched generation after generation by wealthy penitence enthusiasm could not supply the place of experience envying those whose sufferings had already been terminated epernon, the true murderer of henry erasmus of rotterdam erasmus encourages the bold friar establish not freedom for calvinism, but freedom for conscience estimating his character and judging his judges even the virtues of james were his worst enemies even to grant it slowly is to deny it utterly even for the rape of god's mother, if that were possible ever met disaster with so cheerful a smile ever-swarming nurseries of mercenary warriors every one sees what you seem, few perceive what you are everybody should mind his own business everything else may happen this alone must happen everything was conceded, but nothing was secured evil is coming, the sooner it arrives the better evil has the advantage of rapidly assuming many shapes excited with the appearance of a gem of true philosophy excused by their admirers for their shortcomings excuses to disarm the criticism he had some reason to fear executions of huss and jerome of prague exorcising the devil by murdering his supposed victims extraordinary capacity for yielding to gentle violence fable of divine right is invented to sanction the system faction has rarely worn a more mischievous aspect famous fowl in every pot fanatics of the new religion denounced him as a godless man fate, free will, or absolute foreknowledge father cotton, who was only too ready to betray the secrets fear of the laugh of the world at its sincerity fed on bear's liver, were nearly poisoned to death felix mants, the anabaptist, is drowned at zurich fellow worms had been writhing for half a century in the dust ferocity which even christians could not have surpassed few, even prelates were very dutiful to the pope fiction of apostolic authority to bind and loose fifty thousand persons in the provinces (put to death) financial opposition to tyranny is apt to be unanimous find our destruction in our immoderate desire for peace fishermen and river raftsmen become ocean adventurers fitted "to warn, to comfort, and command" fitter to obey than to command five great rivers hold the netherland territory in their coils flattery is a sweet and intoxicating potion fled from the land of oppression to the land of liberty fool who useth not wit because he hath it not for myself i am unworthy of the honor (of martyrdom) for faithful service, evil recompense for women to lament, for men to remember for us, looking back upon the past, which was then the future for his humanity towards the conquered garrisons (censured) forbidding the wearing of mourning at all forbids all private assemblies for devotion force clerical--the power of clerks foremost to shake off the fetters of superstition forget those who have done them good service forgiving spirit on the part of the malefactor fortune's buffets and rewards can take with equal thanks four weeks' holiday--the first in eleven years france was mourning henry and waiting for richelieu french seem madmen, and are wise friendly advice still more intolerable full of precedents and declamatory commonplaces furious fanaticism furious mob set upon the house of rem bischop furnished, in addition, with a force of two thousand prostitutes future world as laid down by rival priesthoods gallant and ill-fated lamoral egmont gaul derided the roman soldiers as a band of pigmies german-lutheran sixteenth-century idea of religious freedom german finds himself sober--he believes himself ill german highland and the german netherland gigantic vices are proudly pointed to as the noblest give him advice if he asked it, and money when he required glory could be put neither into pocket nor stomach god has given absolute power to no mortal man god, whose cause it was, would be pleased to give good weather god alone can protect us against those whom we trust god of wrath who had decreed the extermination of all unbeliever god of vengeance, of jealousy, and of injustice god save the king! it was the last time gold was the only passkey to justice gomarites accused the arminians of being more lax than papists govern under the appearance of obeying great transactions of a reign are sometimes paltry things great science of political equilibrium great privilege, the magna charta of holland great error of despising their enemy great war of religion and politics was postponed great battles often leave the world where they found it guarantees of forgiveness for every imaginable sin guilty of no other crime than adhesion to the catholic faith habeas corpus had industry been honoured instead of being despised haereticis non servanda fides hair and beard unshorn, according to ancient batavian custom halcyon days of ban, book and candle hanged for having eaten meat-soup upon friday hanging of mary dyer at boston hangman is not the most appropriate teacher of religion happy to glass themselves in so brilliant a mirror hard at work, pouring sand through their sieves hardly a distinguished family in spain not placed in mourning hardly a sound protestant policy anywhere but in holland hardly an inch of french soil that had not two possessors having conjugated his paradigm conscientiously he had omitted to execute heretics he did his best to be friends with all the world he was a sincere bigot he that stands let him see that he does not fall he was not always careful in the construction of his sentences he would have no persecution of the opposite creed he came as a conqueror not as a mediator he who spreads the snare always tumbles into the ditch himself he who would have all may easily lose all he knew men, especially he knew their weaknesses he had never enjoyed social converse, except at long intervals he would have no calvinist inquisition set up in its place he who confessed well was absolved well he did his work, but he had not his reward he sat a great while at a time. he had a genius for sitting he was not imperial of aspect on canvas or coin he often spoke of popular rights with contempt he spent more time at table than the bearnese in sleep heidelberg catechism were declared to be infallible henry the huguenot as the champion of the council of trent her teeth black, her bosom white and liberally exposed (eliz.) heresy was a plant of early growth in the netherlands heretics to the english church were persecuted hibernian mode of expressing himself high officers were doing the work of private, soldiers highborn demagogues in that as in every age affect adulation highest were not necessarily the least slimy his inordinate arrogance his own past triumphs seemed now his greatest enemies his imagination may have assisted his memory in the task his insolence intolerable his learning was a reproach to the ignorant his invectives were, however, much stronger than his arguments his personal graces, for the moment, took the rank of virtues his dogged, continuous capacity for work historical scepticism may shut its eyes to evidence history is a continuous whole of which we see only fragments history is but made up of a few scattered fragments history never forgets and never forgives history has not too many really important and emblematic men history shows how feeble are barriers of paper holland was afraid to give a part, although offering the whole holland, england, and america, are all links of one chain holy office condemned all the inhabitants of the netherlands holy institution called the inquisition honor good patriots, and to support them in venial errors hope delayed was but a cold and meagre consolation hope deferred, suddenly changing to despair how many more injured by becoming bad copies of a bad ideal hugo grotius human nature in its meanness and shame human ingenuity to inflict human misery human fat esteemed the sovereignst remedy (for wounds) humanizing effect of science upon the barbarism of war humble ignorance as the safest creed humility which was but the cloak to his pride hundred thousand men had laid down their lives by her decree i did never see any man behave himself as he did i know how to console myself i am a king that will be ever known not to fear any but god i hope and i fear i would carry the wood to burn my own son withal i regard my country's profit, not my own i will never live, to see the end of my poverty idea of freedom in commerce has dawned upon nations idiotic principle of sumptuary legislation idle, listless, dice-playing, begging, filching vagabonds if he had little, he could live upon little if to do be as grand as to imagine what it were good to do if he has deserved it, let them strike off his head ignoble facts which strew the highways of political life ignorance is the real enslaver of mankind imagined, and did the work of truth imagining that they held the world's destiny in their hands impatience is often on the part of the non-combatants implication there was much, of assertion very little imposed upon the multitudes, with whom words were things impossible it is to practise arithmetic with disturbed brains impossible it was to invent terms of adulation too gross in revolutions the men who win are those who are in earnest in character and general talents he was beneath mediocrity in times of civil war, to be neutral is to be nothing in holland, the clergy had neither influence nor seats in this he was much behind his age or before it incur the risk of being charged with forwardness than neglect indecision did the work of indolence indignant that heretics had been suffered to hang individuals walking in advance of their age indoor home life imprisons them in the domestic circle indulging them frequently with oracular advice inevitable fate of talking castles and listening ladies infamy of diplomacy, when diplomacy is unaccompanied by honesty infinite capacity for pecuniary absorption informer, in case of conviction, should be entitled to one half inhabited by the savage tribes called samoyedes innocent generation, to atone for the sins of their forefathers inquisition of the netherlands is much more pitiless inquisition was not a fit subject for a compromise inquisitors enough; but there were no light vessels in the armada insane cruelty, both in the cause of the wrong and the right insensible to contumely, and incapable of accepting a rebuff insinuate that his orders had been hitherto misunderstood insinuating suspicions when unable to furnish evidence intellectual dandyisms of bulwer intelligence, science, and industry were accounted degrading intense bigotry of conviction intentions of a government which did not know its own intentions international friendship, the self-interest of each intolerable tendency to puns invaluable gift which no human being can acquire, authority invented such christian formulas as these (a curse) inventing long speeches for historical characters invincible armada had not only been vanquished but annihilated irresistible force in collision with an insuperable resistance it was the true religion, and there was none other it is not desirable to disturb much of that learned dust it had not yet occurred to him that he was married it is n't strategists that are wanted so much as believers it is certain that the english hate us (sully) its humility, seemed sufficiently ironical james of england, who admired, envied, and hated henry jealousy, that potent principle jesuit mariana--justifying the killing of excommunicated kings john castel, who had stabbed henry iv. john wier, a physician of grave john robinson john quincy adams judas maccabaeus july st, two augustine monks were burned at brussels justified themselves in a solemn consumption of time kindly shadow of oblivion king who thought it furious madness to resist the enemy king had issued a general repudiation of his debts king set a price upon his head as a rebel king of zion to be pinched to death with red-hot tongs king was often to be something much less or much worse king's definite and final intentions, varied from day to day labored under the disadvantage of never having existed labour was esteemed dishonourable language which is ever living because it is dead languor of fatigue, rather than any sincere desire for peace leading motive with all was supposed to be religion learn to tremble as little at priestcraft as at swordcraft leave not a single man alive in the city, and to burn every house let us fool these poor creatures to their heart's content licences accorded by the crown to carry slaves to america life of nations and which we call the past like a man holding a wolf by the ears little army of maurice was becoming the model for europe little grievances would sometimes inflame more than vast local self-government which is the life-blood of liberty logic of the largest battalions logic is rarely the quality on which kings pride themselves logical and historical argument of unmerciful length long succession of so many illustrious obscure longer they delay it, the less easy will they find it look through the cloud of dissimulation look for a sharp war, or a miserable peace looking down upon her struggle with benevolent indifference lord was better pleased with adverbs than nouns loud, nasal, dictatorial tone, not at all agreeable louis xiii. loving only the persons who flattered him ludicrous gravity luther's axiom, that thoughts are toll-free lutheran princes of germany, detested the doctrines of geneva luxury had blunted the fine instincts of patriotism made peace--and had been at war ever since made no breach in royal and roman infallibility made to swing to and fro over a slow fire magistracy at that moment seemed to mean the sword magnificent hopefulness maintaining the attitude of an injured but forgiving christian make sheep of yourselves, and the wolf will eat you make the very name of man a term of reproach man is never so convinced of his own wisdom man who cannot dissemble is unfit to reign man had only natural wrongs (no natural rights) man had no rights at all he was property mankind were naturally inclined to calumny manner in which an insult shall be dealt with many greedy priests, of lower rank, had turned shop-keepers maritime heretics matter that men may rather pray for than hope for matters little by what name a government is called meantime the second civil war in france had broken out mediocrity is at a premium meet around a green table except as fencers in the field men were loud in reproof, who had been silent men fought as if war was the normal condition of humanity men who meant what they said and said what they meant mendacity may always obtain over innocence and credulity military virtue in the support of an infamous cause misanthropical, sceptical philosopher misery had come not from their being enemies mistake to stumble a second time over the same stone mistakes might occur from occasional deviations into sincerity mockery of negotiation in which nothing could be negotiated modern statesmanship, even while it practises, condemns monasteries, burned their invaluable libraries mondragon was now ninety-two years old moral nature, undergoes less change than might be hoped more accustomed to do well than to speak well more easily, as he had no intention of keeping the promise more catholic than the pope more fiercely opposed to each other than to papists more apprehension of fraud than of force most detestable verses that even he had ever composed most entirely truthful child whe had ever seen motley was twice sacrificed to personal feelings much as the blind or the deaf towards colour or music myself seeing of it methinketh that i dream names history has often found it convenient to mark its epochs national character, not the work of a few individuals nations tied to the pinafores of children in the nursery natural to judge only by the result natural tendency to suspicion of a timid man nearsighted liberalism necessary to make a virtue of necessity necessity of extirpating heresy, root and branch necessity of deferring to powerful sovereigns necessity of kingship negotiated as if they were all immortal neighbour's blazing roof was likely soon to fire their own neither kings nor governments are apt to value logic neither wished the convocation, while both affected an eagerness neither ambitious nor greedy never peace well made, he observed, without a mighty war never did statesmen know better how not to do never lack of fishers in troubled waters new years day in england, th january by the new style night brings counsel nine syllables that which could be more forcibly expressed in on no one can testify but a householder no man can be neutral in civil contentions no law but the law of the longest purse no two books, as he said, ever injured each other no retrenchments in his pleasures of women, dogs, and buildings no great man can reach the highest position in our government no man is safe (from news reporters) no man could reveal secrets which he did not know no authority over an army which they did not pay no man pretended to think of the state no synod had a right to claim netherlanders as slaves no qualities whatever but birth and audacity to recommend him no generation is long-lived enough to reap the harvest no man ever understood the art of bribery more thoroughly no calumny was too senseless to be invented none but god to compel me to say more than i choose to say nor is the spirit of the age to be pleaded in defence not a friend of giving details larger than my ascertained facts not distinguished for their docility not to let the grass grow under their feet not a single acquaintance in the place, and we glory in the fact not safe for politicians to call each other hard names not his custom nor that of his councillors to go to bed not of the genus reptilia, and could neither creep nor crouch not strong enough to sustain many more such victories not to fall asleep in the shade of a peace negotiation not many more than two hundred catholics were executed not upon words but upon actions not for a new doctrine, but for liberty of conscience not of the stuff of which martyrs are made (erasmus) not so successful as he was picturesque nothing could equal alexander's fidelity, but his perfidy nothing cheap, said a citizen bitterly, but sermons nothing was so powerful as religious difference notre dame at antwerp nowhere was the persecution of heretics more relentless nowhere were so few unproductive consumers o god! what does man come to! obscure were thought capable of dying natural deaths obstinate, of both sexes, to be burned octogenarian was past work and past mischief of high rank but of lamentably low capacity often much tyranny in democracy often necessary to be blind and deaf oldenbarneveld; afterwards so illustrious on the first day four thousand men and women were slaughtered one-half to philip and one-half to the pope and venice (slaves) one-third of philip's effective navy was thus destroyed one golden grain of wit into a sheet of infinite platitude one could neither cry nor laugh within the spanish dominions one of the most contemptible and mischievous of kings (james i) only healthy existence of the french was in a state of war only true religion only citadel against a tyrant and a conqueror was distrust only kept alive by milk, which he drank from a woman's breast only foundation fit for history,--original contemporary document opening an abyss between government and people opposed the subjection of the magistracy by the priesthood oration, fertile in rhetoric and barren in facts orator was, however, delighted with his own performance others that do nothing, do all, and have all the thanks others go to battle, says the historian, these go to war our pot had not gone to the fire as often our mortal life is but a string of guesses at the future outdoing himself in dogmatism and inconsistency over excited, when his prejudices were roughly handled panegyrists of royal houses in the sixteenth century pardon for crimes already committed, or about to be committed pardon for murder, if not by poison, was cheaper partisans wanted not accommodation but victory party hatred was not yet glutted with the blood it had drunk passion is a bad schoolmistress for the memory past was once the present, and once the future pathetic dying words of anne boleyn patriotism seemed an unimaginable idea pauper client who dreamed of justice at the hands of law paving the way towards atheism (by toleration) paying their passage through, purgatory peace founded on the only secure basis, equality of strength peace was desirable, it might be more dangerous than war peace seemed only a process for arriving at war peace and quietness is brought into a most dangerous estate peace-at-any-price party peace, in reality, was war in its worst shape peace was unattainable, war was impossible, truce was inevitable peace would be destruction perfection of insolence perpetually dropping small innuendos like pebbles persons who discussed religious matters were to be put to death petty passion for contemptible details philip ii. gave the world work enough philip of macedon, who considered no city impregnable philip iv. philip, who did not often say a great deal in a few words picturesqueness of crime placid unconsciousness on his part of defeat plain enough that he is telling his own story planted the inquisition in the netherlands played so long with other men's characters and good name plea of infallibility and of authority soon becomes ridiculous plundering the country which they came to protect poisoning, for example, was absolved for eleven ducats pope excommunicated him as a heretic pope and emperor maintain both positions with equal logic portion of these revenues savoured much of black-mail possible to do, only because we see that it has been done pot-valiant hero power the poison of which it is so difficult to resist power to read and write helped the clergy to much wealth power grudged rather than given to the deputies practised successfully the talent of silence pray here for satiety, (said cecil) than ever think of variety preferred an open enemy to a treacherous protector premature zeal was prejudicial to the cause presents of considerable sums of money to the negotiators made presumption in entitling themselves christian preventing wrong, or violence, even towards an enemy priests shall control the state or the state govern the priests princes show what they have in them at twenty-five or never prisoners were immediately hanged privileged to beg, because ashamed to work proceeds of his permission to eat meat on fridays proclaiming the virginity of the virgin's mother procrastination was always his first refuge progress should be by a spiral movement promises which he knew to be binding only upon the weak proposition made by the wolves to the sheep, in the fable protect the common tranquillity by blood, purse, and life provided not one huguenot be left alive in france public which must have a slain reputation to devour purchased absolution for crime and smoothed a pathway to heaven puritanism in holland was a very different thing from england put all those to the torture out of whom anything can be got putting the cart before the oxen queen is entirely in the hands of spain and the priests questioning nothing, doubting nothing, fearing nothing quite mistaken: in supposing himself the emperor's child radical, one who would uproot, is a man whose trade is dangerous rarely able to command, having never learned to obey rashness alternating with hesitation rather a wilderness to reign over than a single heretic readiness to strike and bleed at any moment in her cause readiness at any moment to defend dearly won liberties rearing gorgeous temples where paupers are to kneel reasonable to pay our debts rather than to repudiate them rebuked him for his obedience rebuked the bigotry which had already grown recall of a foreign minister for alleged misconduct in office reformer who becomes in his turn a bigot is doubly odious reformers were capable of giving a lesson even to inquisitors religion was made the strumpet of political ambition religion was rapidly ceasing to be the line of demarcation religion was not to be changed like a shirt religious toleration, which is a phrase of insult religious persecution of protestants by protestants repentance, as usual, had come many hours too late repentant males to be executed with the sword repentant females to be buried alive repose under one despot guaranteed to them by two others repose in the other world, "repos ailleurs" republic, which lasted two centuries republics are said to be ungrateful repudiation of national debts was never heard of before requires less mention than philip iii himself resolve to maintain the civil authority over the military resolved thenceforth to adopt a system of ignorance respect for differences in religious opinions result was both to abandon the provinces and to offend philip revocable benefices or feuds rich enough to be worth robbing righteous to kill their own children road to paris lay through the gates of rome rose superior to his doom and took captivity captive round game of deception, in which nobody was deceived royal plans should be enforced adequately or abandoned entirely ruinous honors rules adopted in regard to pretenders to crowns sacked and drowned ten infant princes sacrificed by the queen for faithfully obeying her orders safest citadel against an invader and a tyrant is distrust sages of every generation, read the future like a printed scroll saint bartholomew's day sale of absolutions was the source of large fortunes to the priests same conjury over ignorant baron and cowardly hind scaffold was the sole refuge from the rack scepticism, which delights in reversing the judgment of centuries schism in the church had become a public fact schism which existed in the general reformed church science of reigning was the science of lying scoffing at the ceremonies and sacraments of the church secret drowning was substituted for public burning secure the prizes of war without the troubles and dangers security is dangerous seeking protection for and against the people seem as if born to make the idea of royalty ridiculous seemed bent on self-destruction seems but a change of masks, of costume, of phraseology sees the past in the pitiless light of the present self-assertion--the healthful but not engaging attribute self-educated man, as he had been a self-taught boy selling the privilege of eating eggs upon fast-days senectus edam maorbus est sent them word by carrier pigeons sentiment of christian self-complacency sentimentality that seems highly apocryphal served at their banquets by hosts of lackeys on their knees seven spaniards were killed, and seven thousand rebels sewers which have ever run beneath decorous christendom shall slavery die, or the great republic? sharpened the punishment for reading the scriptures in private she relieth on a hope that will deceive her she declined to be his procuress she knew too well how women were treated in that country shift the mantle of religion from one shoulder to the other shutting the stable-door when the steed is stolen sick soldiers captured on the water should be hanged sick and wounded wretches were burned over slow fires simple truth was highest skill sixteen of their best ships had been sacrificed slain four hundred and ten men with his own hand slavery was both voluntary and compulsory slender stock of platitudes small matter which human folly had dilated into a great one smooth words, in the plentiful lack of any substantial so much responsibility and so little power so often degenerated into tyranny (calvinism) so much in advance of his time as to favor religious equality so unconscious of her strength soldier of the cross was free upon his return soldiers enough to animate the good and terrify the bad solitary and morose, the necessary consequence of reckless study some rude lessons from that vigorous little commonwealth sometimes successful, even although founded upon sincerity sonnets of petrarch sovereignty was heaven-born, anointed of god spain was governed by an established terrorism spaniards seem wise, and are madmen sparing and war have no affinity together spendthrift of time, he was an economist of blood spirit of a man who wishes to be proud of his country st. peter's dome rising a little nearer to the clouds st. bartholomew was to sleep for seven years longer stake or gallows (for) heretics to transubstantiation stand between hope and fear state can best defend religion by letting it alone states were justified in their almost unlimited distrust steeped to the lips in sloth which imagined itself to be pride storm by which all these treasures were destroyed (in days) strangled his nineteen brothers on his accession strength does a falsehood acquire in determined and skilful hand string of homely proverbs worthy of sancho panza stroke of a broken table knife sharpened on a carriage wheel studied according to his inclinations rather than by rule style above all other qualities seems to embalm for posterity subtle and dangerous enemy who wore the mask of a friend succeeded so well, and had been requited so ill successful in this step, he is ready for greater ones such a crime as this had never been conceived (bankruptcy) such an excuse was as bad as the accusation suicide is confession superfluous sarcasm suppress the exercise of the roman religion sure bind, sure find sword in hand is the best pen to write the conditions of peace take all their imaginations and extravagances for truths talked impatiently of the value of my time tanchelyn taxation upon sin taxed themselves as highly as fifty per cent taxes upon income and upon consumption tempest of passion and prejudice ten thousand two hundred and twenty individuals were burned tension now gave place to exhaustion that vile and mischievous animal called the people that crowned criminal, philip the second that unholy trinity--force; dogma, and ignorance that cynical commerce in human lives that he tries to lay the fault on us is pure malice the tragedy of don carlos the worst were encouraged with their good success the history of the netherlands is history of liberty the great ocean was but a spanish lake the divine speciality of a few transitory mortals the sapling was to become the tree the nation which deliberately carves itself in pieces the expenses of james's household the catholic league and the protestant union the blaze of a hundred and fifty burning vessels the magnitude of this wonderful sovereign's littleness the defence of the civil authority against the priesthood the assassin, tortured and torn by four horses the gaul was singularly unchaste the vivifying becomes afterwards the dissolving principle the bad duke of burgundy, philip surnamed "the good," the greatest crime, however, was to be rich the more conclusive arbitration of gunpowder the disunited provinces the noblest and richest temple of the netherlands was a wreck the voice of slanderers the calf is fat and must be killed the illness was a convenient one the egg had been laid by erasmus, hatched by luther the perpetual reproductions of history the very word toleration was to sound like an insult the most thriving branch of national industry (smuggler) the pigmy, as the late queen had been fond of nicknaming him the slightest theft was punished with the gallows the art of ruling the world by doing nothing the wisest statesmen are prone to blunder in affairs of war the alcoran was less cruel than the inquisition the people had not been invented the small children diminished rapidly in numbers the busy devil of petty economy the record of our race is essentially unwritten the truth in shortest about matters of importance the time for reasoning had passed the effect of energetic, uncompromising calumny the evils resulting from a confederate system of government the vehicle is often prized more than the freight the faithful servant is always a perpetual ass the dead men of the place are my intimate friends the loss of hair, which brings on premature decay the personal gifts which are nature's passport everywhere the nation is as much bound to be honest as is the individual the fellow mixes blood with his colors! their existence depended on war their own roofs were not quite yet in a blaze theological hatred was in full blaze throughout the country theology and politics were one there is no man who does not desire to enjoy his own there was but one king in europe, henry the bearnese there are few inventions in morals there was no use in holding language of authority to him there was apathy where there should have been enthusiasm there is no man fitter for that purpose than myself therefore now denounced the man whom he had injured these human victims, chained and burning at the stake they had come to disbelieve in the mystery of kingcraft they chose to compel no man's conscience they could not invent or imagine toleration they knew very little of us, and that little wrong they have killed him, 'e ammazato,' cried concini they were always to deceive every one, upon every occasion they liked not such divine right nor such gentle-mindedness they had at last burned one more preacher alive things he could tell which are too odious and dreadful thirty thousand masses should be said for his soul thirty-three per cent. interest was paid (per month) thirty years' war tread on the heels of the forty years this somebody may have been one whom we should call nobody this, then, is the reward of forty years' service to the state this obstinate little republic this wonderful sovereign's littleness oppresses the imagination those who fish in troubled waters only to fill their own nets those who "sought to swim between two waters" those who argue against a foregone conclusion thought that all was too little for him thousands of burned heretics had not made a single convert three hundred fighting women three hundred and upwards are hanged annually in london three or four hundred petty sovereigns (of germany) throw the cat against their legs thus hand-werpen, hand-throwing, became antwerp time and myself are two tis pity he is not an englishman to think it capable of error, is the most devilish heresy of all to stifle for ever the right of free enquiry to attack england it was necessary to take the road of ireland to hear the last solemn commonplaces to prefer poverty to the wealth attendant upon trade to shirk labour, infinite numbers become priests and friars to doubt the infallibility of calvin was as heinous a crime to negotiate with government in england was to bribe to milk, the cow as long as she would give milk to work, ever to work, was the primary law of his nature to negotiate was to bribe right and left, and at every step to look down upon their inferior and lost fellow creatures toil and sacrifices of those who have preceded us tolerate another religion that his own may be tolerated tolerating religious liberty had never entered his mind toleration--that intolerable term of insult toleration thought the deadliest heresy of all torquemada's administration (of the inquisition) torturing, hanging, embowelling of men, women, and children tranquil insolence tranquillity rather of paralysis than of health tranquillity of despotism to the turbulence of freedom triple marriages between the respective nurseries trust her sword, not her enemy's word twas pity, he said, that both should be heretics twenty assaults upon fame and had forty books killed under him two witnesses sent him to the stake, one witness to the rack tyrannical spirit of calvinism tyranny, ever young and ever old, constantly reproducing herself uncouple the dogs and let them run under the name of religion (so many crimes) understood the art of managing men, particularly his superiors undue anxiety for impartiality unduly dejected in adversity unequivocal policy of slave emancipation unimaginable outrage as the most legitimate industry universal suffrage was not dreamed of at that day unlearned their faith in bell, book, and candle unproductive consumption being accounted most sagacious unproductive consumption was alarmingly increasing unremitted intellectual labor in an honorable cause unwise impatience for peace upon their knees, served the queen with wine upon one day twenty-eight master cooks were dismissed upper and lower millstones of royal wrath and loyal subserviency use of the spade usual phraseology of enthusiasts usual expedient by which bad legislation on one side countered utter disproportions between the king's means and aims utter want of adaptation of his means to his ends uttering of my choler doth little ease my grief or help my case uunmeaning phrases of barren benignity vain belief that they were men at eighteen or twenty valour on the one side and discretion on the other villagers, or villeins visible atmosphere of power the poison of which volatile word was thought preferable to the permanent letter vows of an eternal friendship of several weeks' duration waiting the pleasure of a capricious and despotic woman walk up and down the earth and destroy his fellow-creatures war was the normal and natural condition of mankind war was the normal condition of christians war to compel the weakest to follow the religion of the strongest was it astonishing that murder was more common than fidelity? wasting time fruitlessly is sharpening the knife for himself we were sold by their negligence who are now angry with us we believe our mothers to have been honest women we are beginning to be vexed we must all die once we have been talking a little bit of truth to each other we have the reputation of being a good housewife we mustn't tickle ourselves to make ourselves laugh wealth was an unpardonable sin wealthy papists could obtain immunity by an enormous fine weapons weary of place without power weep oftener for her children than is the usual lot of mothers weight of a thousand years of error what exchequer can accept chronic warfare and escape bankruptcy what could save the house of austria, the cause of papacy what was to be done in this world and believed as to the next when persons of merit suffer without cause when all was gone, they began to eat each other when the abbot has dice in his pocket, the convent will play whether dead infants were hopelessly damned whether murders or stratagems, as if they were acts of virtue whether repentance could effect salvation while one's friends urge moderation who the "people" exactly were who loved their possessions better than their creed whole revenue was pledged to pay the interest, on his debts whose mutual hatred was now artfully inflamed by partisans william of nassau, prince of orange william brewster wise and honest a man, although he be somewhat longsome wiser simply to satisfy himself wish to sell us the bear-skin before they have killed the bear wish to appear learned in matters of which they are ignorant with something of feline and feminine duplicity wonder equally at human capacity to inflict and to endure misery wonders whether it has found its harbor or only lost its anchor word peace in spanish mouths simply meant the holy inquisition word-mongers who, could clothe one shivering thought words are always interpreted to the disadvantage of the weak work of the aforesaid puritans and a few jesuits world has rolled on to fresher fields of carnage and ruin worn crescents in their caps at leyden worn nor caused to be worn the collar of the serf worship god according to the dictates of his conscience would not help to burn fifty or sixty thousand netherlanders wrath of the jesuits at this exercise of legal authority wrath of bigots on both sides wrath of that injured personage as he read such libellous truths wringing a dry cloth for drops of evidence write so illegibly or express himself so awkwardly writing letters full of injured innocence yes, there are wicked men about yesterday is the preceptor of to-morrow you must show your teeth to the spaniard this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, - chapter xl. protraction of the siege of ostend--spanish invasion of ireland-- prince maurice again on the march--siege of grave--state of the archduke's army--formidable mutiny--state of europe--portuguese expedition to java--foundation there of the first batavian trading settlement--exploits of jacob heemskerk--capture of a lisbon carrack--progress of dutch commerce--oriental and germanic republics --commercial embassy from the king of atsgen in sumatra to the netherlands--surrender of grave--privateer work of frederic spinola --destruction of spinola's fleet by english and dutch cruisers-- continuation of the siege of ostend--fearful hurricane and its effects--the attack--capture of external forts--encounter between spinola and a dutch squadron--execution of prisoners by the archduke--philip fleming and his diary--continuation of operations before ostend--spanish veterans still mutinous--their capital besieged by van den berg--maurice marches to their relief-- convention between the prince and the mutineers--great commercial progress of the dutch--opposition to international commerce-- organization of the universal east india company. it would be desirable to concentrate the chief events of the siege of ostend so that they might be presented to the reader's view in a single mass. but this is impossible. the siege was essentially the war--as already observed--and it was bidding fair to protract itself to such an extent that a respect for chronology requires the attention to be directed for a moment to other topics. the invasion of ireland under aquila, so pompously heralded as almost to suggest another grand armada, had sailed in the beginning of the winter, and an army of six thousand men had been landed at kinsale. rarely had there been a better opportunity for the celt to strike for his independence. shane mac neil had an army on foot with which he felt confident of exterminating the saxon oppressor, even without the assistance of his peninsular allies; while the queen's army, severely drawn upon as it had been for the exigencies of vere and the states, might be supposed unable to cope with so formidable a combination. yet montjoy made short work of aquila and tyrone. the invaders, shut up in their meagre conquest, became the besieged instead of the assailants. tyrone made a feeble attempt to relieve his spanish allies, but was soon driven into his swamps, the peasants would not rise; in spite of proclamations and golden mountains of promise, and aquila was soon glad enough to sign a capitulation by which he saved a portion of his army. he then returned, in transports provided by the english general, a much discomfited man, to spain instead of converting ireland into a province of the universal empire. he had not rescued hibernia, as he stoutly proclaimed at the outset his intention of doing, from the jaws of the evil demon. the states, not much wiser after the experience of nieuport, were again desirous that maurice should march into flanders, relieve ostend, and sweep the archduke into the sea. as for vere, he proposed that a great army of cavalry and infantry should be sent into ostend, while another force equally powerful should take the field as soon as the season permitted. where the men were to be levied, and whence the funds for putting such formidable hosts in motion were to be derived, it was not easy to say: "'tis astonishing," said lewis william, "that the evils already suffered cannot open his eyes; but after all, 'tis no marvel. an old and good colonel, as i hold him to be, must go to school before he can become a general, and we must beware of committing any second folly, govern ourselves according to our means and the art of war, and leave the rest to god." prince maurice, however; yielding as usual to the persuasions or importunities of those less sagacious than himself; and being also much influenced by the advice of the english queen and the french king, after reviewing the most splendid army that even he had ever equipped and set in the field, crossed the waal at nymegen, and the meuse at mook, and then moving leisurely along meuse--side by way of sambeck, blitterswyck, and maasyk, came past st. truyden to the neighbourhood of thienen, in brabant. here he stood, in the heart of the enemy's country, and within a day's march of brussels. the sanguine portion of his countrymen and the more easily alarmed of the enemy already thought it would be an easy military promenade for the stadholder to march through brabant and flanders to the coast, defeat the catholic forces before ostend, raise the weary siege of that place, dictate peace to the archduke, and return in triumph to the hague, before the end of the summer. but the experienced maurice too well knew the emptiness of such dreams. he had a splendid army--eighteen thousand foot and five thousand horse-- of which lewis william commanded the battalia, vere the right, and count ernest the left, with a train of two thousand baggage wagons, and a considerable force of sutlers and camp-followers. he moved so deliberately, and with such excellent discipline, that his two wings could with ease be expanded for black-mail or forage over a considerable extent of country, and again folded together in case of sudden military necessity. but he had no intention of marching through brussels, ghent, and bruges, to the flemish coast. his old antagonist, the admiral of arragon, lay near thienen in an entrenched camp, with a force of at least fifteen thousand men, while the archduke, leaving rivas in command before ostend, hovered in the neighbourhood of brussels, with as many troops as could be spared from the various flemish garrisons, ready to support the admiral. but maurice tempted the admiral in vain with the chances of a general action. that warrior, remembering perhaps too distinctly his disasters at nieuport, or feeling conscious that his military genius was more fitly displayed in burning towns and villages in neutral territory, robbing the peasantry, plundering gentlemen's castles and murdering the proprietors, than it was like to be in a pitched battle with the first general of the age, remained sullenly within his entrenchments. his position was too strong and his force far too numerous to warrant an attack by the stadholder upon his works. after satisfying himself, therefore, that there was no chance of an encounter in brabant except at immense disadvantage, maurice rapidly counter-marched towards the lower meuse, and on the th july laid siege to grave. the position and importance of this city have been thoroughly set before the reader in a former volumes it is only necessary, therefore, to recal the fact that, besides being a vital possession for the republic, the place was in law the private property of the orange family, having been a portion of the estate of count de buren, afterwards redeemed on payment of a considerable sum of money by his son-in-law, william the silent, confirmed to him at the pacification of ghent, and only lost to his children by the disgraceful conduct of captain hamart, which had cost that officer his head. maurice was determined at least that the place should not now slip through his fingers, and that the present siege should be a masterpiece. his forts, of which he had nearly fifty, were each regularly furnished with moat, drawbridge, and bulwark. his counterscarp and parapet, his galleries, covered ways and mines, were as elaborate, massive, and artistically finished as if he were building a city instead of besieging one. buzanval, the french envoy, amazed at the spectacle, protested that his works "were rather worthy of the grand emperor of the turks than of, a little commonwealth, which only existed through the disorder of its enemies and the assistance of its friends;" but he admitted the utility of the stadholder's proceedings to be very obvious. while the prince calmly sat before grave, awaiting the inexorable hour for burghers and garrison to surrender, the great francis mendoza, admiral of arragon, had been completing the arrangements for his exchange. a prisoner after the nieuport battle, he had been assigned by maurice, as will be recollected, to his cousin, young lewis gunther, whose brilliant services as commander of the cavalry had so much contributed to the victory. the amount of ransom for so eminent a captive could not fail to be large, and accordingly the thrifty lewis william had congratulated his brother on being able, although so young, thus to repair the fortunes of the family by his military industry to a greater extent than had yet been accomplished by any of the race. subsequently, the admiral had been released on parole, the sum of his ransom having been fixed at nearly one hundred thousand flemish crowns. by an agreement now made by the states, with consent of the nassau family, the prisoner was definitely released, on condition of effecting the exchange of all prisoners of the republic, now held in durance by spain in any part of the world. this was in lieu of the hundred thousand crowns which were to be put into the impoverished coffers of lewis gunther. it may be imagined, as the hapless prisoners afterwards poured in--not only from the peninsula, but from more distant regions, whither they had been sent by their cruel taskmasters, some to relate their sufferings in the horrible dungeons of spain, where they had long been expiating the crime of defending their fatherland, others to relate their experiences as chained galley-slaves in the naval service of their bitterest enemies, many with shorn heads and long beards like turks, many with crippled limbs, worn out with chains and blows, and the squalor of disease and filth--that the hatred for spain and rome did not glow any less fiercely within the republic, nor the hereditary love for the nassaus, to whose generosity these poor victims were indebted for their deliverance, become fainter, in consequence of these revelations. it was at first vehemently disputed by many that the admiral could be exchanged as a prisoner of war, in respect to the manifold murders and other crimes which would seem to authorize his trial and chastisement by the tribunals of the republic. but it was decided by the states that the sacred aegis of military law must be held to protect even so bloodstained a criminal as he, and his release was accordingly effected. not long afterwards he took his departure for spain, where his reception was not enthusiastic. from this epoch is to be dated a considerable reform in the laws regulating the exchange of prisoners of war.--[grotius] while maurice was occupied with the siege of grave, and thus not only menacing an important position, but spreading, danger and dismay over all brabant and flanders, it was necessary for the archduke to detach so large a portion of his armies to observe his indefatigable and scientific enemy, as to much weaken the vigour of the operations before ostend. moreover, the execrable administration of his finances, and the dismal delays and sufferings of that siege; had brought about another mutiny--on the whole, the most extensive, formidable, and methodical of all that had hitherto occurred in the spanish armies. by midsummer, at least three thousand five hundred veterans, including a thousand of excellent cavalry, the very best soldiers in the service, had seized the city of hoogstraaten. here they established themselves securely, and strengthened the fortifications; levying contributions in corn, cattle, and every other necessary, besides wine, beer, and pocket- money, from the whole country round with exemplary regularity. as usual, disorder assumed the forms of absolute order. anarchy became the best organized of governments; and it would have been difficult to find in the world--outside the dutch commonwealth--a single community where justice appeared to be so promptly administered as in this temporary republic, founded upon rebellion and theft. for; although a brotherhood of thieves, it rigorously punished such of its citizens as robbed for their own, not for the public good. the immense booty swept daily from the granges, castles; and villages of flanders was divided with the simplicity of early christians, while the success and steadiness of the operations paralyzed their sovereign, and was of considerable advantage to the states. albert endeavoured in vain to negotiate with the rebels. nuncius frangipani went to them in person, but was received with calm derision. pious exhortations might turn the keys of paradise, but gold alone, he was informed, would unlock the gates of hoogstraaten. in an evil hour the cardinal-archduke was tempted to try the effect of sacerdotal thunder. the ex-archbishop of toledo could not doubt that the terrors of the church would make those brown veterans tremble who could confront so tranquilly the spring-tides of the north sea, and the batteries of vere and nassau. so he launched a manifesto, as highly spiced as a pamphlet of marnig, and as severe as a sentence of torquemada. entirely against the advice of the states-general of the obedient provinces, he denounced the mutineers as outlaws and accursed. he called on persons of every degree to kill any of them in any way, at any time, or in any place, promising that the slayer of a private soldier should receive a reward of "ten crowns for each head" brought in, while for a subaltern officer's head one hundred crowns were offered; for that of a superior officer two hundred, and for that of the eletto or chief magistrate, five hundred crowns. should the slayer be himself a member of the mutiny, his crime of rebellion was to be forgiven, and the price of murder duly paid. all judges, magistrates, and provost-marshals were ordered to make inventories of the goods, moveable and immoveable, of the mutineers, and of the clothing and other articles belonging to their wives and children, all which property was to be brought in and deposited in the hands of the proper functionaries of the archduke's camp, in order that it might be duly incorporated into the domains of his highness. the mutineers were not frightened. the ban was an anachronism. if those spaniards and italians had learned nothing by their much campaigning in the land of calvinism, they had at least unlearned their faith in bell, book, and candle. it happened, too, that among their numbers were to be found pamphleteers as ready and as unscrupulous as the scribes of the archduke. so there soon came forth and was published to the world, in the name of the eletto and council of hoogstraaten, a formal answer to the ban. "if scolding and cursing be payment," said the magistrates of the mutiny, "then we might give a receipt in full for our wages. the ban is sufficient in this respect; but as these curses give no food for our bellies nor clothes for our backs, not preventing us, therefore, who have been fighting so long for the honour and welfare of the archdukes from starving with cold and hunger, we think a reply necessary in order to make manifest how much reason these archdukes have for thundering forth all this choler and fury, by which women and children may be frightened, but at which no soldier will feel alarm. "when it is stated," continued the mutineers, "that we have deserted our banners just as an attempt was making by the archduke to relieve grave, we can only reply that the assertion proves how impossible it is to practise arithmetic with disturbed brains. passion is a bad schoolmistress for the memory, but, as good friends, we will recal to the recollection of your highness that it was not your highness, but the admiral of arragon, that commanded the relieving force before that city. "'tis very true that we summon your highnesses, and levy upon your provinces, in order to obtain means of living; for in what other quarter should we make application. your highnesses give us nothing except promises; but soldiers are not chameleons, to live on such air. according to every principle of law, creditors have a lien on the property of their debtors. "as to condemning to death as traitors and scoundrels those who don't desire to be killed, and who have the means of killing such as attempt to execute the sentence; this is hardly in accordance with the extraordinary wisdom which has always characterized your highnesses. "as, to the confiscation of our goods, both moveable and immoveable, we would simply make this observation: "our moveable goods are our swords alone, and they can only be moved by ourselves. they are our immoveable goods as well; for should any one but ourselves undertake to move them, we assure your highnesses that they will prove too heavy to be handled. "as to the official register and deposit ordained of the money, clothing, and other property belonging to ourselves, our wives and children, the work may be done without clerks of inventory. certainly, if the domains of your highnesses have no other sources of revenue than the proceeds of this confiscation, wherewith to feed the ostrich-like digestions of those about you, 'tis to be feared that ere long they will be in the same condition as were ours, when we were obliged to come together in hoogstraaten to devise means to keep ourselves, our wives, and children alive. and at that time we were an unbreeched people, like the indians-- saving your highnesses' reverence--and the climate here is too cold for such costume. your highnesses, and your relatives the emperor and king of spain, will hardly make your royal heads greasy with the fat of such property as we possess, 'twill also be a remarkable spectacle after you have stripped our wives and children stark naked for the benefit of your treasury, to see them sent in that condition, within three days afterwards, out of the country, as the ban ordains. "you order the ban to be executed against our children and our children's children, but your highness never learned this in the bible, when you were an archbishop, and when you expounded, or ought to have expounded, the holy scriptures to your flock. what theology teaches your highness to vent your wrath upon the innocent? "whenever the cause of discontent is taken away, the soldiers will become obedient and cheerful. all kings and princes may mirror themselves in the bad government of your highness, and may see how they fare who try to carry on a war, while with their own hands they cut the sinews of war. the great leaders of old--cyrus, alexander, scipio, caesar--were accustomed, not to starve, but to enrich their soldiers. what did alexander, when in an arid desert they brought, him a helmet full of water? he threw it on the sand, saying that there was only enough for him, but not enough for his army. "your highnesses have set ten crowns, and one hundred, and five hundred crowns upon our heads, but never could find five hundred mites nor ten mites to keep our souls and bodies together. "yet you have found means to live yourselves with pomp and luxury, far exceeding that of the great emperor charles and much surpassing the magnificence of your highnesses' brothers, the emperor and the king." thus, and much more, the magistrates of the "italian republic"--answering their master's denunciations of vengeance, both in this world and the next, with a humorous scorn very refreshing in that age of the world to contemplate. the expanding influence of the dutch commonwealth was already making itself felt even in the ranks of its most determined foes. the mutineers had also made an agreement with the states-general, by which they had secured permission, in case of need, to retire within the territory of the republic. maurice had written to them from his camp before grave, and at first they were disposed to treat him with as little courtesy as they had shown the nuncius; for they put the prince's letter on a staff, and fired at it as a mark, assuring the trumpeter who brought it that they would serve him in the same manner should he venture thither again. very soon afterwards, however, the eletto and council, reproving the folly of their subordinates, opened negotiations with the stadholder, who, with the consent of the states, gave them preliminary permission to take refuge under the guns of bergenop-zoom, should they by chance be hard pressed. thus throughout europe a singular equilibrium of contending forces seemed established. before ostend, where the chief struggle between imperialism and republicanism had been proceeding for more than a year with equal vigour, there seemed no possibility of a result. the sands drank up the blood of the combatants on both sides, month after month, in summer; the pestilence in town and camp mowed down catholic and protestant with perfect impartiality during the winter, while the remorseless ocean swept over all in its wrath, obliterating in an hour the patient toil of months. in spain, in england, and ireland; in hungary, germany, sweden, and poland, men wrought industriously day by day and year by year, to destroy each other, and to efface the products of human industry, and yet no progress could fairly be registered. the turk was in buda, on the right bank of the danube, and the christian in pest, on the left, while the crescent; but lately supplanted by the cross, again waved in triumph over stuhlweissenberg, capital city of the magyars. the great marshal biron, foiled in his stupendous treachery, had laid down his head upon the block; the catastrophe following hard upon the madcap riot of lord essex in the strand and his tragic end. the troublesome and restless favourites of henry and of elizabeth had closed their stormy career, but the designs of the great king and the great queen were growing wider and wilder, more false and more fantastic than ever, as the evening shadows of both were lengthening. but it was not in europe nor in christendom: alone during that twilight epoch of declining absolutism, regal and sacerdotal, and the coming glimmer of freedom, religious and commercial, that the contrast between the old and new civilizations was exhibiting itself. the same fishermen and fighting men, whom we have but lately seen sailing forth from zeeland and friesland to confront the dangers of either pole, were now contending in the indian seas with the portuguese monopolists of the tropics. a century long, the generosity of the roman pontiff in bestowing upon others what was not his property had guaranteed to the nation of vasco de gama one half at least of the valuable possessions which maritime genius, unflinching valour, and boundless cruelty had won and kept. but the spirit of change was abroad in the world. potentates and merchants under the equator had been sedulously taught that there were no other white men on the planet but the portuguese and their conquerors the spaniards, and that the dutch--of whom they had recently heard, and the portrait of whose great military chieftain they had seen after the news of the nieuport battle had made the circuit of the earth--were a mere mob of pirates and savages inhabiting the obscurest of dens. they were soon, however, to be enabled to judge for themselves as to the power and the merits of the various competitors for their trade. early in this year andreas hurtado de mendoza with a stately fleet of galleons and smaller vessels, more than five-and-twenty in all, was on his way towards the island of java to inflict summary vengeance upon those oriental rulers who had dared to trade with men forbidden by his catholic majesty and the pope. the city of bantam was the first spot marked out for destruction, and it so happened that a dutch skipper, wolfert hermann by name, commanding five trading vessels, in which were three hundred men, had just arrived in those seas to continue the illicit commerce which had aroused the ire of the portuguese. his whole force both of men and of guns was far inferior to that of the flag-ship alone of mendoza. but he resolved to make manifest to the indians that the batavians were not disposed to relinquish their promising commercial relations with them, nor to turn their backs upon their newly found friends in the hour of danger. to the profound astonishment of the portuguese admiral the dutchman with his five little trading ships made an attack on the pompous armada, intending to avert chastisement from the king of bantam. it was not possible for wolfert to cope at close quarters with his immensely superior adversary, but his skill and nautical experience enabled him to play at what was then considered long bowls with extraordinary effect. the greater lightness and mobility of his vessels made them more than a match, in this kind of encounter, for the clumsy, top-heavy, and sluggish marine castles in which spain and portugal then went forth to battle on the ocean. it seems almost like the irony of history, and yet it is the literal fact, that the dutch galleot of that day--hardly changed in two and a half centuries since--"the bull-browed galleot butting through the stream,"--[oliver wendell holmes]--was then the model clipper, conspicuous among all ships for its rapid sailing qualities and ease of handling. so much has the world moved, on sea and shore, since those simple but heroic days. and thus wolfert's swift-going galleots circled round and round the awkward, ponderous, and much-puzzled portuguese fleet, until by well-directed shots and skilful manoeuvring they had sunk several ships, taken two, run others into the shallows, and, at last, put the whole to confusion. after several days of such fighting, admiral mendoza fairly turned his back upon his insignificant opponent, and abandoned his projects upon java. bearing away for the island of amboyna with the remainder of his fleet, he laid waste several of its villages and odoriferous spice-fields, while wolfert and his companions entered bantam in triumph, and were hailed as deliverers. and thus on the extreme western verge of this magnificent island was founded the first trading settlement of the batavian republic in the archipelago of the equator--the foundation-stone of a great commercial empire which was to encircle the earth. not many years later, at the distance, of a dozen leagues from bantam, a congenial swamp was fortunately discovered in a land whose volcanic peaks rose two miles into the air, and here a town duly laid out with canals and bridges, and trim gardens and stagnant pools, was baptized by the ancient and well-beloved name of good-meadow or batavia, which it bears to this day. meantime wolfert hermann was not the only hollander cruising in those seas able to convince the oriental mind that all europeans save the portuguese were not pirates and savages, and that friendly intercourse with other foreigners might be as profitable as slavery to the spanish crown. captain nek made treaties of amity and commerce with the potentates of ternate, tydor, and other molucca islands. the king of candy on the island of ceylon, lord of the odoriferous fields of cassia which perfume those tropical seas, was glad to learn how to exchange the spices of the equator for the thousand fabrics and products of western civilization which found their great emporium in holland. jacob heemskerk, too, who had so lately astonished the world by his exploits and discoveries during his famous winter in nova zembla, was now seeking adventures and carrying the flag and fame of the republic along the indian and chinese coasts. the king of johor on the malayan peninsula entered into friendly relations with him, being well pleased, like so many of those petty rulers, to obtain protection against the portuguese whom he had so long hated and feared. he informed heemskerk of the arrival in the straits of malacca of an immense lisbon carrack, laden with pearls and spices, brocades and precious-stones, on its way to europe, and suggested an attack. it is true that the roving hollander merely commanded a couple of the smallest galleots, with about a hundred and thirty men in the two. but when was jacob heemskerk ever known to shrink from an encounter-- whether from single-handed combat with a polar bear, or from leading a forlorn hope against a spanish fort, or from assailing a portuguese armada. the carrack, more than one thousand tons burthen, carried seventeen guns, and at least eight times as many men as he commanded. nevertheless, after a combat of but brief duration heemskerk was master of the carrack: he spared the lives of his seven hundred prisoners, and set them on shore before they should have time to discover to what a handful of dutchmen they had surrendered. then dividing about a million florins' worth of booty among his men, who doubtless found such cruising among the spice-islands more attractive than wintering at the north pole, he sailed in the carrack for macao, where he found no difficulty in convincing the authorities of the celestial empire that the friendship of the dutch republic was worth cultivating. there was soon to be work in other regions for the hardy hollander--such as was to make the name of heemskerk a word to conjure with down to the latest posterity. meantime he returned to his own country to take part in the great industrial movements which were to make this year an epoch in commercial history. the conquerors of mendoza and deliverers of bantam had however not paused in their work. from java they sailed to banda; and on those volcanic islands of nutmegs and cloves made, in the name of their commonwealth, a treaty with its republican antipodes. for there was no king to be found in that particular archipelago, and the two republics, the oriental and the germanic, dealt with each other with direct and becoming simplicity. their convention was in accordance with the commercial ideas of the day, which assumed monopoly as the true basis of national prosperity. it was agreed that none but dutchmen should ever purchase the nutmegs of banda, and that neither nation should harbour refugees from the other. other articles, however; showed how much farther, the practice of political and religious liberty had advanced than had any theory of commercial freedom. it was settled that each nation should judge its own citizens according to its own laws, that neither should interfere by force with the other in regard to religious matters, but that god should be judge over them all. here at least was progress beyond the system according to which the holy inquisition furnished the only enginry of civilization. the guardianship assumed by holland over these children of the sun was at least an improvement on the tyranny which roasted them alive if they rejected religious dogmas which they could not comprehend, and which proclaimed with fire, sword, and gibbet that the omnipotent especially forbade the nutmeg trade to all but the subjects, of the most catholic king. in atsgen or achim, chief city of sumatra, a treaty was likewise made with the government of the place, and it was arranged that the king of atsgen should send over an embassy to the distant but friendly republic. thus he might judge whether the hollanders were enemies of all the world, as had been represented to him, or only of spain; whether their knowledge of the arts and sciences, and their position among the western nations entitled them to respect, and made their friendship desirable; or whether they were only worthy of the contempt which their royal and aristocratic enemies delighted to heap upon their heads. the envoys sailed from sumatra on board the same little fleet which, under the command of wolfert hermann, had already done such signal service, and on their way to europe they had an opportunity of seeing how these republican sailors could deal with their enemies on the ocean. off st. helena an immense portuguese carrack richly laden and powerfully armed, was met, attacked, and overpowered by the little merchantmen with their usual audacity and skill. a magnificent booty was equitably divided among the captors, the vanquished crew were set safely on shore; and the hollanders then pursued their home voyage without further adventures. the ambassadors; with an arab interpreter, were duly presented to prince maurice in the lines before the city of grave. certainly no more favourable opportunity could have been offered them for contrasting the reality of military power, science, national vigour; and wealth, which made the republic eminent among the nations, with the fiction of a horde of insignificant and bloodthirsty savages which her enemies had made so familiar at the antipodes. not only were the intrenchments bastions, galleries, batteries, the discipline and equipment of the troops, a miracle in the eyes of these newly arrived oriental ambassadors, but they had awakened the astonishment of europe, already accustomed to such spectacles. evidently the amity of the stadholder and his commonwealth was a jewel of price, and the king of achim would have been far more barbarous than he had ever deemed the dutchmen to be, had he not well heeded the lesson which he had sent so far to learn. the chief of the legation, abdulzamar, died in zeeland, and was buried with honourable obsequies at middleburg, a monument being raised to his memory. the other envoys returned to sumatra, fully determined to maintain close relations with the republic. there had been other visitors in maurice's lines before grave at about the same period. among others, gaston spinola, recently created by the archduke count of bruay, had obtained permission to make a visit to a wounded relative, then a captive in the republican camp, and was hospitably entertained at the stadholder's table. maurice, with soldierly bluntness, ridiculed the floating batteries, the castles on wheels, the sausages, and other newly-invented machines, employed before ostend, and characterized them as rather fit to catch birds with than to capture a city, defended by mighty armies and fleets. "if the archduke has set his heart upon it, he had far better try to buy ostend," he observed. "what is your price?" asked the italian; "will you take , ducats?" "certainly not less than a million and a half," was the reply; so highly did maurice rate the position and advantages of the city. he would venture to prophesy, he added, that the siege of ostend would last as long as the siege of troy. "ostend is no troy," said spinola with a courtly flourish, "although there are certainly not wanting an austrian agamemnon, a dutch hector, and an italian achilles." the last allusion was to the speaker's namesake and kinsman, the marquis anibrose spinola, of whom much was to be heard in the world from that time forth. meantime, although so little progress had been made at ostend, maurice had thoroughly done his work before grave. on the th september the place surrendered, after sixty days' siege, upon the terms usually granted by the stadholder. the garrison was to go out with the honours of war. those of the inhabitants who wished to leave were to leave; those who preferred staying were to stay; rendering due allegiance to the republic, and abstaining in public from the rites of the roman church, without being exposed, however, to any inquiries as to their religious opinions, or any interference within their households. the work went slowly on before ostend. much effect had been produced, however, by the operations of the archduke's little naval force. the galley of that day, although a child's toy as compared with the wonders of naval architecture of our own time, was an effective machine enough to harass fishing and coasting vessels in creeks and estuaries, and along the shores of holland and zeeland during tranquil weather. the locomotive force of these vessels consisted of galley-slaves, in which respect the spaniards had an advantage over other nations; for they had no scruples in putting prisoners of war into chains and upon the benches of the rowers. humanity--"the law of christian piety," in the words of the noble grotius--forbade the hollanders from reducing their captives to such horrible slavery, and they were obliged to content themselves with condemned criminals, and with the few other wretches whom abject poverty and the impossibility of earning other wages could induce to accept the service. and as in the maritime warfare of our own day, the machinery--engines, wheels, and boilers--is the especial aim of the enemy's artillery, so the chain-gang who rowed in the waist of the galley, the living enginry, without which the vessel became a useless tub, was as surely marked out for destruction whenever a sea-fight took place. the hollanders did not very much favour this species of war-craft, both by reason of the difficulty of procuring the gang, and because to a true lover of the ocean and of naval warfare the galley was about as clumsy and amphibious a production as could be hoped of human perverseness. high where it should be low. exposed, flat, and fragile, where elevation and strength were indispensable--encumbered and top-heavy where it should be level and compact, weak in the waist, broad at stem and stern, awkward in manoeuvre, helpless in rough weather, sluggish under sail, although possessing the single advantage of being able to crawl over a smooth sea when better and faster ships were made stationary by absolute calm, the galley was no match for the dutch galleot, either at close quarters or in a breeze. nevertheless for a long time there had been a certain awe produced by the possibility of some prodigious but unknown qualities in these outlandish vessels, and already the hollanders had tried their hand at constructing them. on a late occasion a galley of considerable size, built at dort, had rowed past the spanish forts on the scheld, gone up to antwerp, and coolly cut out from the very wharves of the city a spanish galley of the first class, besides seven war vessels of lesser dimensions, at first gaining advantage by surprise, and then breaking down all opposition in a brilliant little fight. the noise of the encounter summoned the citizens and garrison to the walls, only to witness the triumph achieved by dutch audacity, and to see the victors dropping rapidly down the river, laden with booty and followed by their prizes. nor was the mortification of these unwilling spectators diminished when the clear notes of a bugle on board the dutch galley brought to their ears the well-known melody of "wilhelmus of nassau," once so dear to every, patriotic heart in antwerp, and perhaps causing many a renegade cheek on this occasion to tingle with shame. frederic spinola, a volunteer belonging to the great and wealthy genoese family of that name, had been performing a good deal of privateer work with a small force of galleys which he kept under his command at sluys. he had succeeded in inflicting so much damage upon the smaller merchantmen of the republic, and in maintaining so perpetual a panic in calm weather among the seafaring multitudes of those regions, that he was disposed to extend the scale of his operations. on a visit to spain he had obtained permission from government to employ in this service eight great galleys, recently built on the guadalquivir for the royal navy. he was to man and equip them at his own expense, and was to be allowed the whole of the booty that might result from his enterprise. early in the autumn he set forth with his eight galleys on the voyage to flanders, but, off cezimbra, on the portuguese coast, unfortunately fell in with sir robert mansell, who; with a compact little squadron of english frigates, was lying in wait for the homeward-bound india fleet on their entrance to lisbon. an engagement took place, in which spinola lost two of his galleys. his disaster might have been still greater, had not an immense indian carrack, laden with the richest merchandize, just then hove in sight, to attract his conquerors with a hope of better prize- money than could be expected from the most complete victory over him and his fleet. with the remainder of his vessels spinola crept out of sight while the english were ransacking the carrack. on the rd of october he had entered the channel with a force which, according to the ideas of that day, was still formidable. each of his galleys was of two hundred and fifty slave power, and carried, beside the chain-gang, four hundred fighting men. his flag-ship was called the st. lewis; the names of the other vessels being the st. philip, the morning star, the st. john, the hyacinth, and the padilla. the trinity and the opportunity had been destroyed off cezimbra. now there happened to be cruising just then in the channel, captain peter mol, master of the dutch war-ship tiger, and captain lubbertson, commanding the pelican. these two espied the spanish squadron, paddling at about dusk towards the english coast, and quickly gave notice to vice-admiral john kant, who in the states' ship half-moon, with three other war-galleots, was keeping watch in that neighbourhood. it was dead calm as the night fell, and the galleys of spinola, which had crept close up to the dover cliffs, were endeavouring to row their way across in the darkness towards the flemish coast, in the hope of putting unobserved into the gut of sluys. all went well with spinola till the moon rose; but, with the moon, sprang up a steady breeze, so that the galleys lost all their advantage. nearly off gravelines another states' ship, the mackerel, came in sight, which forthwith attacked the st: philip, pouring a broadside into her by which fifty men were killed. drawing off from this assailant, the galley found herself close to the dutch admiral in the half-moon, who, with all sail set, bore straight down upon her, struck her amidships with a mighty crash, carrying off her mainmast and her poop, and then, extricating himself with difficulty from the wreck, sent a tremendous volley of cannon-shot and lesser missiles straight into the waist where sat the chain-gang. a howl of pain and terror rang through the air, while oars and benches, arms, legs, and mutilated bodies, chained inexorably together, floated on the moonlit waves. an instant later, and another galleot bore down to complete the work, striking with her iron prow the doomed st. philip so straightly and surely that she went down like a stone, carrying with her galley slaves, sailors, and soldiers, besides all the treasure brought by spinola for the use of his fleet. the morning star was the next galley attacked, captain sael, in a stout galleot, driving at her under full sail, with the same accuracy and solidity of shock as had been displayed in the encounter with the st. philip and with the same result. the miserable, top-heavy monster galley was struck between mainmast and stern, with a blow which carried away the assailant's own bowsprit and fore-bulwarks, but which--completely demolished the stem of the galley, and crushed out of existence the greater portion of the live machinery sitting chained and rowing on the benches. and again, as the first enemy hauled off from its victim, admiral pant came up once more in the half-moon, steered straight at the floundering galley, and sent her with one crash to the bottom. it was not very scientific practice perhaps. it was but simple butting, plain sailing, good steering, and the firing of cannon at short pistol-shot. but after all, the work of those unsophisticated dutch skippers was done very thoroughly, without flinching, and, as usual, at great odds of men and guns. two more of the spanish galleys were chased into the shallows near gravelines, where they went to pieces. another was wrecked near calais. the galley which bore frederic spinola himself and his fortunes succeeded in reaching dunkirk, whence he made his way discomfited, to tell the tale of his disaster to the archduke at brussels. during the fight the dutch admiral's boats had been active in picking up such of the drowning crews, whether galley-slaves or soldiers, as it was possible to save. but not more than two hundred were thus rescued, while by far the greater proportion of those on board, probably three thousand in number, perished, and the whole fleet, by which so much injury was to have been inflicted on dutch commerce, was, save one damaged galley, destroyed. yet scarcely any lives were lost by the hollanders, and it is certain that the whole force in their fleet did not equal the crew of a single one of the enemy's ships. neither spinola nor the archduke seemed likely to make much out of the contract. meantime, the genoese volunteer kept quiet in sluy's, brooding over schemes to repair his losses and to renew his forays on the indomitable zeelanders. another winter had now closed in upon ostend, while still the siege had scarcely advanced an inch. during the ten months of governor dorp's administration, four thousand men had died of wounds or malady within the town, and certainly twice as many in the trenches of the besieging force. still the patient bucquoy went on, day after day, night after night, month after month, planting his faggots and fascines, creeping forward almost imperceptibly with his dyke, paying five florins each to the soldiers who volunteered to bring the materials, and a double ducat to each man employed in laying them. so close were they under the fire of the town; that a life was almost laid down for every ducat, but the gullet, which it was hoped to close, yawned as wide as ever, and the problem how to reduce a city, open by sea to the whole world, remained without solution. on the last day of the year a splendid fleet of transports arrived in the town, laden with whole droves of beeves and flocks of sheep, besides wine and bread and beer enough to supply a considerable city; so that market provisions in the beleaguered town were cheaper than in any part of europe. thus skilfully did the states-general and prince maurice watch from the outside over ostend, while the audacious but phlegmatic sea-captains brought their cargoes unscathed through the gullet, although bucquoy's batteries had now advanced to within seventy yards of the shore. on the west side, the besiegers were slowly eating their way through the old harbour towards the heart of the place. subterranean galleries, patiently drained of their water, were met by counter-galleries leading out from the town, and many were the desperate hand-to-hand encounters, by dim lanterns, or in total darkness, beneath the ocean and beneath the earth; hollander, spaniard, german, englishman, walloon, digging and dying in the fatal trenches, as if there had been no graves at home. those insatiable sand-banks seemed ready to absorb all the gold and all the life of christendom. but the monotony of that misery it is useless to chronicle. hardly an event of these dreary days has been left unrecorded by faithful diarists and industrious soldiers, but time has swept us far away from them, and the world has rolled on to fresher fields of carnage and ruin. all winter long those unwearied, intelligent, fierce, and cruel creatures toiled and fought in the stagnant waters, and patiently burrowed in the earth. it seemed that if ostend were ever lost it would be because at last entirely bitten away and consumed. when there was no ostend left, it might be that the archduke would triumph. as there was always danger that the movements on the east side might be at last successful, it was the command of maurice that the labours to construct still another harbour should go on in case the gullet should become useless, as the old haven had been since the beginning of the siege. and the working upon that newest harbour was as dangerous to the hollanders as bucquoy's dike-building to the spaniards, for the pioneers and sappers were perpetually under fire from the batteries which the count had at, last successfully established on the extremity of his work. it was a piteous sight to see those patient delvers lay down their spades and die, hour after hour, to be succeeded by their brethren only to share their fate. yet still the harbour building progressed; for the republic was determined that the city should be open to the sea so long as the states had a stiver, or a ship, or a spade. while this deadly industry went on, the more strictly military operations were not pretermitted day nor night. the catholics were unwearied in watching for a chance of attack, and the hollanders stood on the ramparts and in the trenches, straining eyes and ears through the perpetual icy mists of that black winter to catch the sight and sound of a coming foe. especially the by-watches, as they were called, were enough to break down constitutions of iron; for, all day and night, men were stationed in the inundated regions, bound on pain of death to stand in the water and watch for a possible movement of the enemy, until the waves should rise so high as to make it necessary to swim. then, until the tide fell again, there was brief repose. and so the dreary winter faded away at last into chill and blustering spring. on the th of april a hurricane, such as had not occurred since the siege began; raged across the ocean, deluging and shattering the devoted town. the waters rose over dyke and parapet, and the wind swept from the streets and ramparts every living thing. not a soldier or sailor could keep his feet, the chief tower of the church was blown into the square, chimneys and windows crashed on all sides, and the elements had their holiday, as if to prove how helpless a thing was man, however fierce and determined, when the powers of nature arose in their strength. it was as if no siege existed, as if no hostile armies had been lying nearly two years long close to each other, and losing no opportunity to fly at each other's throats. the strife of wind and ocean gave a respite to human rage. it was but a brief respite. at nightfall there was a lull in the tempest, and the garrison crept again to the ramparts. instantly the departing roar of the winds and waters were succeeded by fainter but still more threatening sounds, and the sentinels and the drums and trumpets to rally the garrison, when the attack came. the sleepless spaniards were already upon them. in the porcupine fort, a blaze of wickerwork and building materials suddenly illuminated the gathering gloom of night; and the loud cries of the assailants, who had succeeded in kindling this fire by their missiles, proclaimed the fierceness of the attack. governor dorp was himself in the fort, straining every nerve to extinguish the flames, and to hold this most important position. he was successful. after a brief but bloody encounter the spaniards were repulsed with heavy loss. all was quiet again, and the garrison in the porcupine were congratulating themselves on their victory when suddenly the ubiquitous philip fleeting plunged, with a face of horror, into the governor's quarters, informing him that the attack on the redoubt had been a feint, and that the spaniards were at that very moment swarming all over the three external forts, called the south square, the west square, and the polder. these points, which have been already described, were most essential to the protection of the place, as without them the whole counterscarp was in danger. it was to save those exposed but vital positions that sir francis vere had resorted to the slippery device of the last christmas eve but one. dorp refused to believe the intelligence. the squares were well guarded, the garrison ever alert. spaniards were not birds of prey to fly up those perpendicular heights, and for beings without wings the thing was impossible. he followed fleming through the darkness, and was soon convinced that the impossible was true. the precious squares were in the hands of the enemy. nimble as monkeys, those yellow jerkined italians, walloons, and spaniards--stormhats on their heads and swords in their teeth--had planted rope-ladders, swung themselves up the walls by hundreds upon hundreds, while the fight had been going on at the porcupine, and were now rushing through the forts grinning defiance, yelling and chattering with fierce triumph, and beating down all opposition. it was splendidly done. the discomfited dorp met small bodies of his men, panic-struck, reeling out from their stronghold, wounded, bleeding, shrieking for help and for orders. it seemed as if the spaniards had dropped from the clouds. the dutch commandant did his best to rally the fugitives, and to encourage those who had remained. all night long the furious battle raged, every inch of ground being contested; for both catholics and hollanders knew full well that this triumph was worth more than all that had been gained for the archduke in eighteen months of siege. pike to pike, breast to breast, they fought through the dark april night; the last sobs of the hurricane dying unheard, the red lanterns flitting to and fro, the fireworks hissing in every direction of earth and air, the great wicker piles, heaped up with pitch and rosin, flaming over a scene more like a dance of goblins than a commonplace christian massacre. at least fifteen hundred were killed-- besiegers and besieged--during the storming of the forts and the determined but unsuccessful attempt of the hollanders to retake them. and when at last the day had dawned, and the spaniards could see the full extent of their victory, they set themselves with--unusual alacrity to killing such of the wounded and prisoners as were in their hands, while, at the same time, they turned the guns of their newly acquired works upon the main counterscarp of the town. yet the besieged--discomfited but undismayed lost not a moment in strengthening their inner works, and in doing their best, day after day, by sortie, cannonade, and every possible device, to prevent the foe from obtaining full advantage of his success. the triumph was merely a local one, and the patient hollanders soon proved to the enemy that the town was not gained by carrying the three squares, but that every inch of the place was to be contested as hotly as those little redoubts had been. ostend, after standing nearly two years of siege, was not to be carried by storm. a goodly slice of it had been pared off that april night, and was now in possession of the archduke, but this was all. meantime the underground work was resumed on both sides. frederic spinola, notwithstanding the stunning defeat sustained by him in the preceding october, had not lost heart while losing all his ships. on the contrary, he had been busy during the winter in building other galleys. accordingly, one fine morning in may, counsellor flooswyk, being on board a war vessel convoying some empty transports from ostend, observed signs of mischief brewing as he sailed past the gut of sluys; and forthwith gave notice of what he had seen to admiral joost de moor, commanding the blockading squadron. the counsellor was right. frederic spinola meant mischief. it was just before sunrise of a beautiful summer's day. the waves were smooth--not a breath of wind stirring--and de moor, who had four little war-ships of holland, and was supported besides by a famous vessel called the black galley of zeeland, under captain jacob michelzoon, soon observed a movement from sluys. over the flat and glassy surface of the sea, eight galleys of the largest size were seen crawling slowly, like vast reptiles, towards his .. position. four lesser vessels followed in the wake of the great galleys. the sails of the admiral's little fleet flapped idly against the mast. he could only placidly await the onset. the black galley, however, moved forward according to her kind; and was soon vigorously attacked by two galleys of the enemy. with all the force that five hundred rowers could impart, these two huge vessels ran straight into the zeeland ship, and buried their iron prows in her sides. yet the black galley was made of harder stuff than were those which had gone down in the channel the previous autumn under the blows of john kant. those on board her, at least, were made of tougher material than were galley-slaves and land- soldiers. the ramming was certainly not like that of a thousand horse- power of steam, and there was no very great display of science in the encounter; yet captain jacob michelzoon, with two enemy's ships thus stuck to his sides, might well have given himself up for lost. the disproportion of ships and men was monstrous. beside the chain-gang, each of spinola's ships was manned by two hundred soldiers, while thirty- six musketeers from the flushing garrison were the only men-at-arms in de moor's whole squadron. but those amphibious zeelanders and hollanders, perfectly at home in the water, expert in handling vessels, and excellent cannoneers, were more than a match for twenty times their number of landsmen. it was a very simple-minded, unsophisticated contest. the attempt to board the black galley was met with determined resistance, but the zeeland sailors clambered like cats upon the bowsprits of the spanish galleys, fighting with cutlass and handspike, while a broadside or two was delivered with terrible effect into the benches of the chained and wretched slaves. captain michelzoon was killed, but his successor, lieutenant hart, although severely wounded, swore that he would blow up his ship with his own hands rather than surrender. the decks of all the vessels ran with blood, but at last the black galley succeeded in beating off her assailants; the zeelanders, by main force, breaking off the enemy's bowsprits, so that the two ships of spinola were glad to sheer off, leaving their stings buried in the enemy's body. next, four galleys attacked the stout little galleot of captain logier, and with a very similar result. their prows stuck fast in the bulwarks of the ship, but the boarders soon found themselves the boarded, and, after a brief contest, again the iron bowsprits snapped like pipe-stems, and again the floundering and inexperienced spaniards shrank away from the terrible encounter which they had provoked. soon afterwards, joost de moor was assailed by three galleys. he received them, however, with cannonade and musketry so warmly that they willingly obeyed a summons from spinola, and united with the flag-ship in one more tremendous onset upon the black galley of zeeland. and it might have gone hard with that devoted ship, already crippled in the previous encounter, had not captain logier fortunately drifted with the current near enough to give her assistance, while the other sailing ships lay becalmed and idle spectators. at last spinola, conspicuous by his armour, and by magnificent recklessness of danger, fell upon the deck of his galley, torn to pieces with twenty-four wounds from a stone gun of the black galley, while at nearly the same, moment a gentle breeze began in the distance to ruffle the surface of the waters. more than a thousand men had fallen in spinola's fleet, inclusive of the miserable slaves, who were tossed overboard as often as wounds made them a cumbrous part of the machinery, and the galleys, damaged, discomfited, laden with corpses and dripping with blood, rowed off into sluys as speedily as they could move, without waiting until the coming wind should bring all the sailing ships into the fight, together with such other vessels under haultain as might be cruising in the distance. they succeeded in getting into the gut of sluys, and so up to their harbour of refuge. meantime, baldheaded, weather-beaten joost de moor--farther pursuit being impossible--piped all hands on deck, where officers and men fell on their knees, shouting in pious triumph the th psalm: "i will bless the lord at all times, his praise shall continually be in my mouth . . . . . o magnify the lord with me, and let us exalt his name together." so rang forth the notes of humble thanksgiving across the placid sea. and assuredly those hardy mariners, having gained a victory with their little vessels over twelve ships and three thousand men--a numerical force of at least ten times their number,--such as few but dutchmen could have achieved; had a right to give thanks to him from whom all blessings flow. thus ended the career of frederic spinola, a wealthy, gallant, high-born, brilliant youth, who might have earned distinction, and rendered infinitely better service to the cause of spain and the archdukes, had he not persuaded himself that he had a talent for seamanship. certainly, never was a more misplaced ambition, a more unlucky career. not even in that age of rash adventure, when grandees became admirals and field- marshals because they were grandees, had such incapacity been shown by any restless patrician. frederic spinola, at the age of thirty-two, a landsman and a volunteer, thinking to measure himself on blue water with such veterans as john rant, joost de moor, and the other dutchmen and zeelanders whom it was his fortune to meet, could hardly escape the doom which so rapidly befel him. on board the black galley captain michelznon, eleven of his officers, and fifteen of his men were killed; admiral de moor was slightly wounded, and had five of his men killed and twenty wounded; captain logier was wounded in the foot, and lost fifteen killed and twelve wounded. the number of those killed in spinola's fleet has been placed as high as fourteen hundred, including two hundred officers and gentlemen of quality, besides the crowds of galley-slaves thrown overboard. this was perhaps an exaggeration. the losses were, however, sufficient to put a complete atop to the enterprise out of which the unfortunate spinola had conceived such extravagant hopes of fame and fortune. the herring-smacks and other coasters, besides the transports passing to and from ostend, sailed thenceforth unmolested by any galleys from sluys. one unfortunate sloop, however, in moving out from the beleaguered city, ran upon some shoals before getting out of the gullet and thus fell a prize to the besiegers. she was laden with nothing more precious than twelve wounded soldiers on their way to the hospitals at flushing. these prisoners were immediately hanged, at the express command of the archduke, because they had been taken on the sea where, according to his highness, there were no laws of war. the stadholder, against his will--for maurice was never cruel--felt himself obliged to teach the cardinal better jurisprudence and better humanity for the future. in order to show him that there was but one belligerent law on sea and on land, he ordered two hundred spanish prisoners within his lines to draw lots from an urn in which twelve of the tickets were inscribed with the fatal word gibbet. eleven of the twelve thus marked by ill luck were at once executed. the twelfth, a comely youth, was pardoned at the intercession of a young girl. it is not stated whether or not she became his wife. it is also a fact worth mentioning, as illustrating the recklessness engendered by a soldier's life, that the man who drew the first blank sold it to one of his comrades and plunged his hand again into the fatal urn. whether he succeeded in drawing the gibbet at his second trial has not been recorded. when these executions had taken place in full view of the enemy's camp, maurice formally announced that for every prisoner thenceforth put to death by the archduke two captives from his own army should be hanged. these stern reprisals, as usual, put an end to the foul system of martial murder. throughout the year the war continued to be exclusively the siege of ostend. yet the fierce operations, recently recorded, having been succeeded by a period of comparative languor, governor dorp at last obtained permission to depart to repair his broken health. he was succeeded in command of the forces within the town by charles van der noot, colonel of the zeeland regiment which had suffered so much in the first act of the battle of nieuport. previously to this exchange, however, a day of solemn thanksgiving and prayer was set apart on the anniversary of the beginning of the siege. since the th of july, , two years had been spent by the whole power of the enemy in the attempt to reduce this miserable village, and the whole result thus far had been the capture of three little external forts. there seemed cause for thanksgiving. philip fleming, too, obtained a four weeks' holiday--the first in eleven years--and went with his family outside the pestiferous and beleaguered town. he was soon to return to his multifarious duties as auditor, secretary, and chronicler of the city, and unattached aide-de-camp to the commander-in-chief, whoever that might be; and to perform his duty with the same patient courage and sagacity that had marked him from the beginning. "an unlucky cannon-ball of the enemy," as he observes, did some damage at this period to his diary, but it happened at a moment when comparatively little was doing, so that the chasm was of less consequence. "and so i, philip fleming, auditor to the council of war," he says with homely pathos, "have been so continually employed as not to have obtained leave in all these years to refresh, for a few days outside this town, my troubled spirit after such perpetual work, intolerable cares, and slavery, having had no other pleasure allotted me than with daily sadness, weeping eyes, and heavy yearnings to tread the ramparts, and, like a poor slave laden with fetters, to look at so many others sailing out of the harbour in order to feast their souls in other provinces with green fields and the goodly works of god. and thus it has been until it has nearly gone out of my memory how the fruits of the earth, growing trees, and dumb beasts appear to mortal eye." he then, with whimsical indignation, alludes to a certain author who pleaded in excuse for the shortcomings of the history of the siege the damage done to his manuscripts by a cannon-ball. "where the liar dreamt of or invented his cannon-ball," he says, "i cannot tell, inasmuch as he never saw the city of ostend in his life; but the said cannon-ball, to my great sorrrow, did come one afternoon through my office, shot from the enemy's great battery, which very much damaged not his memoirs but mine; taking off the legs and arms at the same time of three poor invalid soldiers seated in the sun before my door and killing them on the spot, and just missing my wife, then great with child, who stood by me with faithfulness through all the sufferings of the bloody siege and presented me twice during its continuance, by the help of almighty god, with young amazons or daughters of war." and so honest philip fleming went out for a little time to look at the green trees and the dumb creatures feeding in the dutch pastures. meantime the two armies--outside and within ostend--went moiling on in their monotonous work; steadily returning at intervals, as if by instinct, to repair the ruin which a superior power would often inflict in a half-hour on the results of laborious weeks. in the open field the military operations were very trifling, the wager of battle being by common consent fought out on the sands of ostend, and the necessities for attack and defence absorbing, the resources of each combatant. france, england, and spain were holding a perpetual diplomatic tournament to which our eyes must presently turn, and the sublime realm of the ottoman and the holy roman empire were in the customary equilibrium of their eternal strife. the mutiny of the veterans continued; the "italian republic" giving the archduke almost as much trouble, despite his ban and edicts and outlawry, as the dutch commonwealth itself. for more than a twelvemonth the best troops of the spanish army had been thus established as a separate empire, levying black-mail on the obedient provinces, hanging such of their old officers as dared to remonstrate, and obeying their elected chief magistrates with exemplary docility. they had become a force of five thousand strong, cavalry and infantry together, all steady, experienced veterans--the best and bravest soldiers of europe. the least of them demanded two thousand florins as owed to him by the king of spain and the archduke. the burghers of bois-le-duc and other neighbouring towns in the obedient provinces kept watch and ward, not knowing how soon the spaniards might be upon them to reward them for their obedience. not a peasant with provisions was permitted by the mutineers to enter bois-le-duc, while the priests were summoned to pay one year's income of all their property on pain of being burned alive. "very much amazed are the poor priests at these proceedings," said ernest nassau, "and there is a terrible quantity of the vile race within and around the city. i hope one day to have the plucking of some of their feathers myself." the mutiny governed itself as a strict military democracy, and had caused an official seal to be engraved, representing seven snakes entwined in one, each thrusting forth a dangerous tongue, with the motto-- "tutto in ore e sua eccelenza in nostro favore." "his excellency" meant maurice of nassau, with whom formal articles of compact had been arranged. it had become necessary for the archduke, notwithstanding the steady drain of the siege of ostend, to detach a considerable army against this republic and to besiege them in their capital of hoogstraaten. with seven thousand foot and three thousand cavalry frederic van den berg took the field against them in the latter part of july. maurice, with nine thousand five hundred infantry and three thousand horse, lay near gertruydenberg. when united with the rebel "squadron," two thousand five hundred strong, he would dispose of a force of fifteen thousand veterans, and he moved at once to relieve the besieged mutineers. his cousin frederic, however, had no desire to measure himself with the stadholder at such odds, and stole away from him in the dark without beat of drum. maurice entered hoogstraaten, was received with rapture by the spanish and italian veterans, and excited the astonishment of all by the coolness with which he entered into the cage of these dangerous serpents--as they called themselves--handling them, caressing them, and being fondled by them in return. but the veterans knew a soldier when they saw one, and their hearts warmed to the prince--heretic though he were--more than they had ever done to the unfrocked bishop who, after starving them for years, had doomed them to destruction in this world and the next. the stadholder was feasted and honoured by the mutineers during his brief visit to hoogatraaten, and concluded with them a convention, according to which that town was to be restored to him, while they were to take temporary possession of the city of grave. they were likewise to assist, with all their strength, in his military operations until they should make peace on their own terms with the archduke. for two weeks after such treaty they were not to fight against the states, and meantime, though fighting on the republican side, they were to act as an independent corps and in no wise to be merged in the stadholder's forces. so much and no more had resulted from the archduke's excommunication of the best part of his army. he had made a present of those troops to the enemy. he had also been employing a considerable portion of his remaining forces in campaigning against their own comrades. while at grave, the mutineers, or the "squadron" as they were now called, were to be permitted to practise their own religious rites, without offering however, any interference with the regular protestant worship of the place. when they should give up grave, hoogstraaten was to be restored to them if still in possession of the states and they were to enter into no negotiations with the archduke except with full knowledge of the stadholder. there were no further military, operations of moment during the rest of the year. much, more important, however, than siege, battle, or mutiny, to human civilization, were the steady movements of the dutch skippers and merchants at this period. the ears of europe were stunned with the clatter of destruction going on all over christendom, and seeming the only reasonable occupation of christians; but the little republic; while fighting so heroically against the concentrated powers of despotism in the west, was most industriously building up a great empire in the east. in the new era just dawning, production was to become almost as honourable and potent, a principle as destruction. the voyages among the spicy regions of the equator--so recently wrested from their catholic and faithful majesties by dutch citizens who did not believe in borgia--and the little treaties made with petty princes and commonwealths, who for the first time ware learning that there were other white men in the world beside the portuguese, had already led to considerable results. before the close of, the previous year that great commercial corporation had been founded--an empire within an empire; a republic beneath a republic--a counting-house company which was to organize armies, conquer kingdoms, build forts and cities, make war and peace, disseminate and exchange among the nations of the earth the various products of civilization, more perfectly than any agency hitherto known, and bring the farthest disjoined branches of the human family into closer, connection than had ever existed before. that it was a monopoly, offensive to true commercial principles, illiberal, unjust, tyrannical; ignorant of the very rudiments of mercantile philosophy; is plain enough. for the sages of the world were but as clowns, at that period, in economic science. was not the great financier of the age; maximilian de bethune, at that very moment exhausting his intellect in devices for the prevention of all international commerce even in europe? "the kingdom of france," he groaned, "is stuffed full of the manufactures of our neighbours, and it is incredible what a curse to us are these wares. the import of all foreign goods has now been forbidden under very great penalties." as a necessary corollary to this madhouse legislation an edict was issued, prohibiting the export of gold and silver from france, on pain, not only of confiscation of those precious metals, but of the whole fortune of such as engaged in or winked at the traffic. the king took a public oath never to exempt the culprits from the punishment thus imposed, and, as the thrifty sully had obtained from the great king a private grant of all those confiscations, and as he judiciously promised twenty-five per cent. thereof to the informer, no doubt he filled his own purse while impoverishing the exchequer. the united states, not enjoying the blessings, of a paternal government, against which they had been fighting almost half a century, could not be expected to rival the stupendous folly of such political economy, although certainly not emancipated from all the delusions of the age. nor are we to forget how very recently, and even dimly, the idea of freedom in commerce has dawned upon nations, the freest of all in polity and religion. certainly the vices and shortcomings of the commercial system now inaugurated by the republic may be justly charged in great part to the epoch, while her vast share in the expanding and upward movement which civilization, under the auspices of self-government; self-help, political freedom, free thought, and unshackled science, was then to undertake--never more perhaps to be permanently checked --must be justly ascribed to herself. it was considered accordingly that the existence of so many private companies and copartnerships trading to the east was injurious to the interests of commerce. merchants arriving at the different indian ports would often find that their own countrymen had been too quick for them, and that other fleets had got the wind out of their sails, that the eastern markets had been stripped, and that prices had gone up to a ruinous height, while on the other hand, in the dutch cities, nutmegs and cinnamon, brocades and indigo, were as plentiful as red herrings. it was hardly to be expected at that day to find this very triumph of successful traffic considered otherwise than as a grave misfortune, demanding interference on the part of the only free government then existing in the world. that already free competition and individual enterprise, had made such progress in enriching the hollanders and the javanese respectively with a superfluity of useful or agreeable things, brought from the farthest ends of the earth, seemed to the eyes of that day a condition of things likely to end in a general catastrophe. with a simplicity, amazing only to those who are inclined to be vain of a superior wisdom-- not their own but that of their wisest contemporaries--one of the chief reasons for establishing the east india company was stated to be the necessity of providing against low prices of oriental productions in europe. but national instinct is often wiser than what is supposed to be high national statesmanship, and there can be no doubt that the true foundation of the east india company was the simple recognition of an iron necessity. every merchant in holland knew full well that the portuguese and spaniards could never be driven out of their commercial strongholds under the equator, except by a concentration of the private strength and wealth, of the mercantile community. the government had enough on its hands in disputing, inch by inch, at so prodigious an expenditure of blood and treasure, the meagre territory with which nature had endowed the little commonwealth. private organisation, self-help; union of individual purses and individual brains, were to conquer an empire at the antipodes if it were to be won at all. by so doing, the wealth of the nation and its power to maintain the great conflict with the spirit of the past might be indefinitely increased, and the resources of spanish despotism proportionally diminished. it was not to be expected of jacob heemskerk, wolfert hermann, or joris van spilberg, indomitable skippers though they were, that each, acting on his own responsibility or on that of his supercargo, would succeed every day in conquering a whole spanish fleet and dividing a million or two of prize- money among a few dozen sailors. better things even than this might be done by wholesome and practical concentration on a more extended scale. so the states-general granted a patent or charter to one great company with what, for the time, was an enormous paid-up capital, in order that the india trade might be made secure and the spaniards steadily confronted in what they had considered their most impregnable possessions. all former trading companies were invited to merge themselves in the universal east india company, which, for twenty-one years, should alone have the right to trade to the east of the cape of good hope and to sail through the straits of magellan. the charter had been signed on th march, , and was mainly to the following effect. the company was to pay twenty-five thousand florins to the states-general for its privilege. the whole capital was to be six million six hundred thousand florins. the chamber of amsterdam was to have one half of the whole interest, the chamber of zeeland one fourth; the chambers of the meuse, namely, delft, rotterdam, and the north quarter; that is to say, hoorn and enkhuizen, each a sixteenth. all the chambers were to be governed by the directors then serving, who however were to be allowed to die out, down to the number of twenty for amsterdam, twelve for zeeland, and seven for each of the other chambers. to fill a vacancy occurring among the directors, the remaining members of the board were to nominate three candidates, from whom the estates of the province should choose one. each director was obliged, to have an interest in the company amounting to at least six thousand florins, except the directors for hoorn and enkhuizen, of whom only three thousand should be required. the general assembly of these chambers should consist of seventeen directors, eight for amsterdam, four for zeeland, two for the meuse, and two for the north quarter; the seventeenth being added by turns from the chambers of zeeland, the meuse, and the north quarter. this assembly was to be held six years at amsterdam, and then two years in zeeland. the ships were always to return to the port from which they had sailed. all the inhabitants of the provinces had the right, within a certain time, to take shares in the company. any province or city subscribing for forty thousand florins or upwards might appoint an agent to look after its affairs. the company might make treaties with the indian powers, in the name of the states-general of the united netherlands or of the supreme authorities of the same, might build fortresses; appoint generals, and levy troops, provided such troops took oaths of fidelity to the states, or to the supreme authority, and to the company. no ships, artillery, or other munitions of war belonging to the company were to be used in service of the country without permission of the company. the admiralty was to have a certain proportion of the prizes conquered from the enemy. the directors should not be liable in property or person for the debts of the company. the generals of fleets returning home were to make reports on the state of india to the states. notification; of the union of all india companies with this great corporation was duly sent to the fleets cruising in those regions, where it arrived in the course of the year . meantime the first fleet of the company, consisting of fourteen vessels under command of admiral wybrand van warwyk, sailed before the end of , and was followed towards the close of by thirteen other ships, under stephen van der hagen? the equipment of these two fleets cost two million two hundred thousand florins. etext editor's bookmarks: bestowing upon others what was not his property four weeks' holiday--the first in eleven years idea of freedom in commerce has dawned upon nations impossible it is to practise arithmetic with disturbed brains passion is a bad schoolmistress for the memory prisoners were immediately hanged unlearned their faith in bell, book, and candle world has rolled on to fresher fields of carnage and ruin [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. philip the second in the netherlands - [chapter ii.] sketch of philip the second--characteristics of mary tudor--portrait of philip--his council--rivalry of rup gomez and alva--character of rup gomez--queen mary of hungary--sketch of philibert of savoy-- truce of vaucelles--secret treaty between the pope and henry ii.-- rejoicings in the netherlands on account of the peace--purposes of philip--re-enactment of the edict of b --the king's dissimulation --"request" to the provinces--infraction of the truce in italy-- character of pope paul iv.--intrigues of cardinal caraffa--war against spain resolved upon by france--campaign in italy--amicable siege of rome--pence with the pontiff--hostilities on the flemish border--coligny foiled at douay--sacks lens--philip in england-- queen mary engages in the war--philip's army assembled at givet-- portrait of count egmont--the french army under coligny and montmorency--siege of st. quentin--attempts of the constable to relieve the city--battle of st. quentin--hesitation and timidity of philip--city of st. quentin taken and sacked--continued indecision of philip--his army disbanded--campaign of the duke of guise-- capture of calais--interview between cardinal de lorraine and the bishop of arran--secret combinations for a league between france and spain against heresy--languid movements of guise--foray of de thermes on the flemish frontier--battle of gravelines--popularity of egmont--enmity of alva. philip the second had received the investiture of milan and the crown of naples, previously to his marriage with mary tudor. the imperial crown he had been obliged, much against his will, to forego. the archduchy of austria, with the hereditary german dependencies of his father's family, had been transferred by the emperor to his brother ferdinand, on the occasion of the marriage of that prince with anna, only sister of king louis of hungary. ten years afterwards, ferdinand (king of hungary and bohemia since the death of louis, slain in at the battle of mohacz) was elected king of the romans, and steadily refused all the entreaties afterwards made to him in behalf of philip, to resign his crown and his succession to the empire, in favor of his nephew. with these diminutions, philip had now received all the dominions of his father. he was king of all the spanish kingdoms and of both the sicilies. he was titular king of england, france, and jerusalem. he was "absolute dominator" in asia, africa, and america; he was duke of milan and of both burgundies, and hereditary sovereign of the seventeen netherlands. thus the provinces had received a new master. a man of foreign birth and breeding, not speaking a word of their language, nor of any language which the mass of the inhabitants understood, was now placed in supreme authority over them, because he represented, through the females, the "good" philip of burgundy, who a century before had possessed himself by inheritance, purchase, force, or fraud, of the sovereignty in most of those provinces. it is necessary to say an introductory word or two concerning the previous history of the man to whose hands the destiny of so many millions was now entrusted. he was born in may, , and was now therefore twenty-eight years of age. at the age of sixteen he had been united to his cousin, maria of portugal, daughter of john iii. and of the emperor's sister, donna catalina. in the following year ( ) he became father of the celebrated and ill-starred don carlos, and a widower. the princess owed her death, it was said, to her own imprudence and to the negligence or bigotry of her attendants. the duchess of alva, and other ladies who had charge of her during her confinement, deserted her chamber in order to obtain absolution by witnessing an auto-da-fe of heretics. during their absence, the princess partook voraciously of a melon, and forfeited her life in consequence. in , don philip had made his first appearance in the netherlands. he came thither to receive homage in the various provinces as their future sovereign, and to exchange oaths of mutual fidelity with them all. andrew doria, with a fleet of fifty ships, had brought him to genoa, whence he had passed to milan, where he was received with great rejoicing. at trent he was met by duke maurice of saxony, who warmly begged his intercession with the emperor in behalf of the imprisoned landgrave of hesse. this boon philip was graciously pleased to promise, --and to keep the pledge as sacredly as most of the vows plighted by him during this memorable year. the duke of aerschot met him in germany with a regiment of cavalry and escorted him to brussels. a summer was spent in great festivities, the cities of the nether lands vieing with each other in magnificent celebrations of the ceremonies, by which philip successively swore allegiance to the various constitutions and charters of the provinces, and received their oaths of future fealty in return. his oath to support all the constitutions and privileges was without reservation, while his father and grandfather had only sworn to maintain the charters granted or confirmed by philip and charles of burgundy. suspicion was disarmed by these indiscriminate concessions, which had been resolved upon by the unscrupulous charles to conciliate the good will of the people. in view of the pretensions which might be preferred by the brederode family in holland, and by other descendants of ancient sovereign races in other provinces, the emperor, wishing to ensure the succession to his sisters in case of the deaths of himself, philip, and don carlos without issue, was unsparing in those promises which he knew to be binding only upon the weak. although the house of burgundy had usurped many of the provinces on the express pretext that females could not inherit, the rule had been already violated, and he determined to spare no pains to conciliate the estates, in order that they might be content with a new violation, should the contingency occur. philip's oaths were therefore without reserve, and the light-hearted flemings, brabantines, and walloons received him with open arms. in valenciennes the festivities which attended his entrance were on a most gorgeous scale, but the "joyous entrance" arranged for him at antwerp was of unparalleled magnificence. a cavalcade of the magistrates and notable burghers, "all attired in cramoisy velvet," attended by lackies in splendid liveries and followed by four thousand citizen soldiers in full uniform, went forth from the gates to receive him. twenty-eight triumphal arches, which alone, according to the thrifty chronicler, had cost , carolus guldens, were erected in the different streets and squares, and every possible demonstration of affectionate welcome was lavished upon the prince and the emperor. the rich and prosperous city, unconscious of the doom which awaited it in the future, seemed to have covered itself with garlands to honor the approach of its master. yet icy was the deportment with which philip received these demonstrations of affection, and haughty the glance with which he looked down upon these exhibitions of civic hilarity, as from the height of a grim and inaccessible tower. the impression made upon the netherlanders was any thing but favorable, and when he had fully experienced the futility of the projects on the empire which it was so difficult both for his father and himself to resign, he returned to the more congenial soil of spain. in he had again issued from the peninsula to marry the queen of england, a privilege which his father had graciously resigned to him. he was united to mary tudor at winchester, on the th july of that year, and if congeniality of tastes could have made a marriage happy, that union should have been thrice blessed. to maintain the supremacy of the church seemed to both the main object of existence, to execute unbelievers the most sacred duty imposed by the deity upon anointed princes, to convert their kingdoms into a hell the surest means of winning heaven for themselves. it was not strange that the conjunction of two such wonders of superstition in one sphere should have seemed portentous in the eyes of the english nation. philip's mock efforts in favor of certain condemned reformers, and his pretended intercessions in favor of the princess elizabeth, failed entirely of their object. the parliament refused to confer upon him more than a nominal authority in england. his children, should they be born, might be sovereigns; he was but husband of the queen; of a woman who could not atone by her abject but peevish fondness for himself, and by her congenial blood-thirstiness towards her subjects, for her eleven years seniority, her deficiency in attractions, and her incapacity to make him the father of a line of english monarchs. it almost excites compassion even for mary tudor, when her passionate efforts to inspire him with affection are contrasted with his impassiveness. tyrant, bigot, murderess though she was, she was still woman, and she lavished upon her husband all that was not ferocious in her nature. forbidding prayers to be said for the soul of her father, hating her sister and her people, burning bishops, bathing herself in the blood of heretics, to philip she was all submissiveness and feminine devotion. it was a most singular contrast, mary, the queen of england and mary the wife of philip. small, lean and sickly, painfully near- sighted, yet with an eye of fierceness and fire; her face wrinkled by the hands of care and evil passions still more than by time, with a big man's voice, whose harshness made those in the next room tremble; yet feminine in her tastes, skilful with her needle, fond of embroidery work, striking the lute with a touch remarkable for its science and feeling, speaking many languages, including latin, with fluency and grace; most feminine, too, in her constitutional sufferings, hysterical of habit, shedding floods of tears daily at philip's coldness, undisguised infidelity, and frequent absences from england--she almost awakens compassion and causes a momentary oblivion of her identity. her subjects, already half maddened by religious persecution, were exasperated still further by the pecuniary burthens which she imposed upon them to supply the king's exigencies, and she unhesitatingly confronted their frenzy, in the hope of winning a smile from him. when at last her chronic maladies had assumed the memorable form which caused philip and mary to unite in a letter to cardinal pole, announcing not the expected but the actual birth of a prince, but judiciously leaving the date in blank, the momentary satisfaction and delusion of the queen was unbounded. the false intelligence was transmitted every where. great were the joy and the festivities in the netherlands, where people were so easily made to rejoice and keep holiday for any thing. "the regent, being in antwerp," wrote sir thomas gresham to the lords of council, "did cause the great bell to rings to give all men to understand that the news was trewe. the queene's highness here merchants caused all our inglishe ships to shoote off with such joy and triumph, as by men's arts and pollicey coulde be devised--and the regent sent our inglishe maroners one hundred crownes to drynke." if bell-ringing and cannon-firing could have given england a spanish sovereign, the devoutly-wished consummation would have been reached. when the futility of the royal hopes could no longer be concealed, philip left the country, never to return till his war with france made him require troops, subsidies, and a declaration of hostilities from england. the personal appearance of the new sovereign has already been described. his manner was far from conciliatory, and in this respect he was the absolute reverse of his father. upon his first journey out of spain, in , into his various dominions, he had made a most painful impression every where. "he was disagreeable," says envoy suriano, "to the italians, detestable to the flemings, odious to the germans." the remonstrances of the emperor, and of queen mary of hungary, at the impropriety of his manners, had produced, however, some effect, so that on his wedding journey to england, he manifested much "gentleness and humanity, mingled with royal gravity." upon this occasion, says another venetian, accredited to him, "he had divested himself of that spanish haughtiness, which, when he first came from spain, had rendered him so odious. the famous ambassador, badovaro confirms the impression. "upon his first journey," he says, "he was esteemed proud, and too greedy for the imperial succession; but now 'tis the common opinion that his humanity and modesty are all which could be desired. these humane qualities, however, it must be observed, were exhibited only in the presence of ambassadors and grandees, the only representatives of "humanity" with whom he came publicly and avowedly in contact. he was thought deficient in manly energy. he was an infirm valetudinarian, and was considered as sluggish in character, as deficient in martial enterprise, as timid of temperament as he was fragile and sickly of frame. it is true, that on account of the disappointment which he occasioned by his contrast to his warlike father, he mingled in some tournaments in brussels, where he was matched against count mansfeld, one of the most distinguished chieftains of the age, and where, says his professed panegyrist, "he broke his lances very mach to the satisfaction of his father and aunts." that learned and eloquent author, estelle calvete, even filled the greater part of a volume, in which he described the journey of the prince, with a minute description of these feasts and jousts, but we may reasonably conclude that to the loyal imagination of his eulogist philip is indebted for most of these knightly trophies. it was the universal opinion of unprejudiced cotemporaries, that he was without a spark of enterprise. he was even censured for a culpable want of ambition, and for being inferior to his father in this respect, as if the love of encroaching on his neighbor's dominions, and a disposition to foreign. commotions and war would have constituted additional virtues, had he happened to possess them. those who were most disposed to think favorably of him, remembered that there was a time when even charles the fifth was thought weak and indolent, and were willing to ascribe philip's pacific disposition to his habitual cholic and side-ache, and to his father's inordinate care for him in youth. they even looked forward to the time when he should blaze forth to the world as a conqueror and a hero. these, however, were views entertained by but few; the general and the correct opinion, as it proved, being, that philip hated war, would never certainly acquire any personal distinction in the field, and when engaged in hostilities would be apt to gather his laurels at the hands of his generals, rather than with his own sword. he was believed to be the reverse of the emperor. charles sought great enterprises, philip would avoid them. the emperor never recoiled before threats; the son was reserved, cautious, suspicious of all men, and capable of sacrificing a realm from hesitation and timidity. the father had a genius for action, the son a predilection for repose. charles took "all men's opinions, but reserved his judgment," and acted on it, when matured, with irresistible energy; philip was led by others, was vacillating in forming decisions, and irresolute in executing them when formed. philip, then, was not considered, in that warlike age, as likely to shine as a warrior. his mental capacity, in general, was likewise not very highly esteemed. his talents were, in truth, very much below mediocrity. his mind was incredibly small. a petty passion for contemptible details characterized him from his youth, and, as long as he lived, he could neither learn to generalize, nor understand that one man, however diligent, could not be minutely acquainted with all the public and private affairs of fifty millions of other men. he was a glutton of work. he was born to write despatches, and to scrawl comments upon those which he received. [the character of these apostilles, always confused, wordy and awkward, was sometimes very ludicrous; nor did it improve after his thirty or forty years' daily practice in making them. thus, when he received a letter from france in , narrating the assassination of henry iii., and stating that "the manner in which he had been killed was that a jacobin monk had given him a pistol-shot in the head" (la facon qua l'on dit qu'il a ette tue, sa ette par un jacobin qui luy a donna d'un cou de pistolle dans la tayte), he scrawled the following luminous comment upon the margin. underlining the word "pistolle," he observed, "this is perhaps some kind of knife; and as for 'tayte,' it can be nothing else but head, which is not tayte, but tete, or teyte, as you very well know" (quiza de alguna manera de cuchillo, etc., etc.)--gachard. rapport a m. le minist. de l'interieur, prefixed to corresp. philippe ii. vol. i. xlix. note . it is obvious that a person who made such wonderful commentaries as this, and was hard at work eight or nine hours a day for forty years, would leave a prodigious quantity of unpublished matter at his death.] he often remained at the council-board four or five hours at a time, and he lived in his cabinet. he gave audiences to ambassadors and deputies very willingly, listening attentively to all that was said to him, and answering in monosyllables. he spoke no tongue but spanish; and was sufficiently sparing of that, but he was indefatigable with his pen. he hated to converse, but he could write a letter eighteen pages long, when his correspondent was in the next room, and when the subject was, perhaps, one which a man of talent could have settled with six words of his tongue. the world, in his opinion, was to move upon protocols and apostilles. events had no right to be born throughout his dominions, without a preparatory course of his obstetrical pedantry. he could never learn that the earth would not rest on its axis, while he wrote a programme of the way it was to turn. he was slow in deciding, slower in communicating his decisions. he was prolix with his pen, not from affluence, but from paucity of ideas. he took refuge in a cloud of words, sometimes to conceal his meaning, oftener to conceal the absence of any meaning, thus mystifying not only others but himself. to one great purpose, formed early, he adhered inflexibly. this, however, was rather an instinct than an opinion; born with him, not created by him. the idea seemed to express itself through him, and to master him, rather than to form one of a stock of sentiments which a free agent might be expected to possess. although at certain times, even this master-feeling could yield to the pressure of a predominant self-interest-thus showing that even in philip bigotry was not absolute--yet he appeared on the whole the embodiment of spanish chivalry and spanish religious enthusiasm, in its late and corrupted form. he was entirely a spaniard. the burgundian and austrian elements of his blood seemed to have evaporated, and his veins were filled alone with the ancient ardor, which in heroic centuries had animated the gothic champions of spain. the fierce enthusiasm for the cross, which in the long internal warfare against the crescent, had been the romantic and distinguishing feature of the national character, had degenerated into bigotry. that which had been a nation's glory now made the monarch's shame. the christian heretic was to be regarded with a more intense hatred than even moor or jew had excited in the most christian ages, and philip was to be the latest and most perfect incarnation of all this traditional enthusiasm, this perpetual hate. thus he was likely to be single-hearted in his life. it was believed that his ambition would be less to extend his dominions than to vindicate his title of the most catholic king. there could be little doubt entertained that he would be, at least, dutiful to his father in this respect, and that the edicts would be enforced to the letter. he was by birth, education, and character, a spaniard, and that so exclusively, that the circumstance would alone have made him unfit to govern a country so totally different in habits and national sentiments from his native land. he was more a foreigner in brussels, even, than in england. the gay, babbling, energetic, noisy life of flanders and brabant was detestable to him. the loquacity of the netherlanders was a continual reproach upon his taciturnity. his education had imbued him, too, with the antiquated international hatred of spaniard and fleming, which had been strengthening in the metropolis, while the more rapid current of life had rather tended to obliterate the sentiment in the provinces. the flippancy and profligacy of philip the handsome, the extortion and insolence of his flemish courtiers, had not been forgotten in spain, nor had philip the second forgiven his grandfather for having been a foreigner. and now his mad old grandmother, joanna, who had for years been chasing cats in the lonely tower where she had been so long imprisoned, had just died; and her funeral, celebrated with great pomp by both her sons, by charles at brussels and ferdinand at augsburg, seemed to revive a history which had begun to fade, and to recall the image of castilian sovereignty which had been so long obscured in the blaze of imperial grandeur. his education had been but meagre. in an age when all kings and noblemen possessed many languages, he spoke not a word of any tongue but spanish, --although he had a slender knowledge of french and italian, which he afterwards learned to read with comparative facility. he had studied a little history and geography, and he had a taste for sculpture, painting, and architecture. certainly if he had not possessed a feeling for art, he would have been a monster. to have been born in the earlier part of the sixteenth century, to have been a king, to have had spain, italy, and the netherlands as a birthright, and not to have been inspired with a spark of that fire which glowed so intensely in those favored lands and in that golden age, had indeed been difficult. the king's personal habits were regular. his delicate health made it necessary for him to attend to his diet, although he was apt to exceed in sweetmeats and pastry. he slept much, and took little exercise habitually, but he had recently been urged by the physicians to try the effect of the chase as a corrective to his sedentary habits. he was most strict in religious observances, as regular at mass, sermons, and vespers as a monk; much more, it was thought by many good catholics, than was becoming to his rank and age. besides several friars who preached regularly for his instruction, he had daily discussions with others on abstruse theological points. he consulted his confessor most minutely as to all the actions of life, inquiring anxiously whether this proceeding or that were likely to burthen his conscience. he was grossly licentious. it was his chief amusement to issue forth at night disguised, that he might indulge in vulgar and miscellaneous incontinence in the common haunts of vice. this was his solace at brussels in the midst of the gravest affairs of state. he was not illiberal, but, on the contrary, it was thought that he would have been even generous, had he not been straitened for money at the outset of his career. during a cold winter, he distributed alms to the poor of brussels with an open hand. he was fond of jests in private, and would laugh immoderately, when with a few intimate associates, at buffooneries, which he checked in public by the icy gravity of his deportment. he dressed usually in the spanish fashion, with close doublet, trunk hose, and short cloak, although at times he indulged in the more airy fashions of france and burgundy, wearing buttons on his coats and feathers in his hat. he was not thought at that time to be cruel by nature, but was usually spoken of, in the conventional language appropriated to monarchs, as a prince "clement, benign, and debonnaire." time was to show the justice of his claims to such honorable epithets. the court was organized during his residence at brussels on the burgundian, not the spanish model, but of the one hundred and fifty persons who composed it, nine tenths of the whole were spaniards; the other fifteen or sixteen being of various nations, flemings, burgundians, italians, english, and germans. thus it is obvious how soon he disregarded his father's precept and practice in this respect, and began to lay the foundation of that renewed hatred to spaniards which was soon to become so intense, exuberant, and fatal throughout every class of netherlanders. he esteemed no nation but the spanish, with spaniards he consorted, with spaniards he counselled, through spaniards he governed. his council consisted of five or six spanish grandees, the famous ruy gomez, then count of melito, afterwards prince of eboli; the duke of alva, the count de feria, the duke of franca villa, don antonio toledo, and don juan manrique de lara. the "two columns," said suriano, "which sustain this great machine, are ruy gomez and alva, and from their councils depends the government of half the world." the two were ever bitterly opposed to each other. incessant were their bickerings, intense their mutual hate, desperate and difficult the situation of any man, whether foreigner or native, who had to transact business with the government. if he had secured the favor of gomez, he had already earned the enmity of alva. was he protected by the duke, he was sure to be cast into outer darkness by the favorite.--alva represented the war party, ruy gomez the pacific polity more congenial to the heart of philip. the bishop of arras, who in the opinion of the envoys was worth them all for his capacity and his experience, was then entirely in the background, rarely entering the council except when summoned to give advice in affairs of extraordinary delicacy or gravity. he was, however, to reappear most signally in course of the events already preparing. the duke of alva, also to play so tremendous a part in the yet unborn history of the netherlands, was not beloved by philip. he was eclipsed at this period by the superior influence of the favorite, and his sword, moreover, became necessary in the italian campaign which was impending. it is remarkable that it was a common opinion even at that day that the duke was naturally hesitating and timid. one would have thought that his previous victories might have earned for him the reputation for courage and skill which he most unquestionably deserved. the future was to develop those other characteristics which were to make his name the terror and wonder of the world. the favorite, ruy gomez da silva, count de melito, was the man upon whose shoulders the great burthen of the state reposed. he was of a family which was originally portuguese. he had been brought up with the king, although some eight years his senior, and their friendship dated from earliest youth. it was said that ruy gomez, when a boy, had been condemned to death for having struck philip, who had come between him and another page with whom he was quarrelling. the prince threw himself passionately at his father's feet, and implored forgiveness in behalf of the culprit with such energy that the emperor was graciously pleased to spare the life of the future prime minister. the incident was said to have laid the foundation of the remarkable affection which was supposed to exist between the two, to an extent never witnessed before between king and subject. ruy gomez was famous for his tact and complacency, and omitted no opportunity of cementing the friendship thus auspiciously commenced. he was said to have particularly charmed his master, upon one occasion, by hypocritically throwing up his cards at a game of hazard played for a large stake, and permitting him to win the game with a far inferior hand. the king learning afterwards the true state of the case, was charmed by the grace and self-denial manifested by the young nobleman. the complacency which the favorite subsequently exhibited in regard to the connexion which existed so long and so publicly between his wife, the celebrated princess eboli, and philip, placed his power upon an impregnable basis, and secured it till his death. at the present moment he occupied the three posts of valet, state councillor, and finance minister. he dressed and undressed his master, read or talked him to sleep, called him in the morning, admitted those who were to have private audiences, and superintended all the arrangements of the household. the rest of the day was devoted to the enormous correspondence and affairs of administration which devolved upon him as first minister of state and treasury. he was very ignorant. he had no experience or acquirement in the arts either of war or peace, and his early education had been limited. like his master, he spoke no tongue but spanish, and he had no literature. he had prepossessing manners, a fluent tongue, a winning and benevolent disposition. his natural capacity for affairs was considerable, and his tact was so perfect that he could converse face to face with statesmen; doctors, and generals upon campaigns, theology, or jurisprudence, without betraying any remarkable deficiency. he was very industrious, endeavoring to make up by hard study for his lack of general knowledge, and to sustain with credit the burthen of his daily functions. at the same time, by the king's desire, he appeared constantly at the frequent banquets, masquerades, tourneys and festivities, for which brussels at that epoch was remarkable. it was no wonder that his cheek was pale, and that he seemed dying of overwork. he discharged his duties cheerfully, however, for in the service of philip he knew no rest. "after god," said badovaro, "he knows no object save the felicity of his master." he was already, as a matter of course, very rich, having been endowed by philip with property to the amount of twenty-six thousand dollars yearly, [at values of ] and the tide of his fortunes was still at the flood. such were the two men, the master and the favorite, to whose hands the destinies of the netherlands were now entrusted. the queen of hungary had resigned the office of regent of the netherlands, as has been seen, on the occasion of the emperor's abdication. she was a woman of masculine character, a great huntress before the lord, a celebrated horsewoman, a worthy descendant of the lady mary of burgundy. notwithstanding all the fine phrases exchanged between herself and the eloquent maas, at the great ceremony of the th of october, she was, in reality, much detested in the provinces, and she repaid their aversion with abhorrence. "i could not live among these people," she wrote to the emperor, but a few weeks before the abdication, "even as a private person, for it would be impossible for me to do my duty towards god and my prince. as to governing them, i take god to witness that the task is so abhorrent to me, that i would rather earn my daily bread by labor than attempt it." she added, that a woman of fifty years of age, who had served during twenty-five of them, had a right to repose, and that she was moreover "too old to recommence and learn her a, b, c." the emperor, who had always respected her for the fidelity with which she had carried out his designs, knew that it was hopeless to oppose her retreat. as for philip, he hated his aunt, and she hated him- -although, both at the epoch of the abdication and subsequently, he was desirous that she should administer the government. the new regent was to be the duke of savoy. this wandering and adventurous potentate had attached himself to philip's fortunes, and had been received by the king with as much favor as he had ever enjoyed at the hands of the emperor. emanuel philibert of savoy, then about twenty- six or seven years of age, was the son of the late unfortunate duke, by donna beatrice of portugal, sister of the empress. he was the nephew of charles, and first cousin to philip. the partiality of the emperor for his mother was well known, but the fidelity with which the family had followed the imperial cause had been productive of nothing but disaster to the duke. he had been ruined in fortune, stripped of all his dignities and possessions. his son's only inheritance was his sword. the young prince of piedmont, as he was commonly called in his youth; sought the camp of the emperor, and was received with distinguished favor. he rose rapidly in the military service. acting always upon his favorite motto, "spoliatis arma supersunt," he had determined, if possible, to carve his way to glory, to wealth, and even to his hereditary estates, by his sword alone. war was not only his passion, but his trade. every one of his campaigns was a speculation, and he had long derived a satisfactory income by purchasing distinguished prisoners of war at a low price from the soldiers who had captured them, and were ignorant of their rank, and by ransoming them afterwards at an immense advance. this sort of traffic in men was frequent in that age, and was considered perfectly honorable. marshal strozzi, count mansfeld, and other professional soldiers, derived their main income from the system. they were naturally inclined, therefore, to look impatiently upon a state of peace as an unnatural condition of affairs which cut off all the profits of their particular branch of industry, and condemned them both to idleness and poverty. the duke of savoy had become one of the most experienced and successful commanders of the age, and an especial favorite with the emperor. he had served with alva in the campaigns against the protestants of germany, and in other important fields. war being his element, he considered peace as undesirable, although he could recognize its existence. a truce he held, however, to be a senseless parodox, unworthy of the slightest regard. an armistice, such as was concluded on the february following the abdication, was, in his opinion, only to be turned to account by dealing insidious and unsuspected blows at the enemy, some portion of whose population might repose confidence in the plighted faith of monarchs and plenipotentiaries. he had a show of reason for his political and military morality, for he only chose to execute the evil which had been practised upon himself. his father had been beggared, his mother had died of spite and despair, he had himself been reduced from the rank of a sovereign to that of a mercenary soldier, by spoliations made in time of truce. he was reputed a man of very decided abilities, and was distinguished for headlong bravery. his rashness and personal daring were thought the only drawbacks to his high character as a commander. he had many accomplishments. he spoke latin, french, spanish, and italian with equal fluency, was celebrated for his attachment to the fine arts, and wrote much and with great elegance. such had been philibert of savoy, the pauper nephew of the powerful emperor, the adventurous and vagrant cousin of the lofty philip, a prince without a people, a duke without a dukedom; with no hope but in warfare, with no revenue but rapine; the image, in person, of a bold and manly soldier, small, but graceful and athletic, martial in bearing, "wearing his sword under his arm like a corporal," because an internal malady made a belt inconvenient, and ready to turn to swift account every chance which a new series of campaigns might open to him. with his new salary as governor, his pensions, and the remains of his possessions in nice and piedmont, he had now the splendid annual income of one hundred thousand crowns, and was sure to spend it all. it had been the desire of charles to smooth the commencement of philip's path. he had for this purpose made a vigorous effort to undo, as it were, the whole work of his reign, to suspend the operation of his whole political system. the emperor and conqueror, who had been warring all his lifetime, had attempted, as the last act of his reign, to improvise a peace. but it was not so easy to arrange a pacification of europe as dramatically as he desired, in order that he might gather his robes about him, and allow the curtain to fall upon his eventful history in a grand hush of decorum and quiet. during the autumn and winter of , hostilities had been virtually suspended, and languid negotiations ensued. for several months armies confronted each other without engaging, and diplomatists fenced among themselves without any palpable result. at last the peace commissioners, who had been assembled at vaucelles since the beginning of the year , signed a treaty of truce rather than of peace, upon the th of february. it was to be an armistice of five years, both by land and sea, for france, spain, flanders, and italy, throughout all the dominions of the french and spanish monarchs. the pope was expressly included in the truce, which was signed on the part of france by admiral coligny and sebastian l'aubespine; on that of spain, by count de lalain, philibert de bruxelles, simon renard, and jean baptiste sciceio, a jurisconsult of cremona. during the precious month of december, however, the pope had concluded with the french monarch a treaty, by which this solemn armistice was rendered an egregious farce. while henry's plenipotentiaries had been plighting their faith to those of philip, it had been arranged that france should sustain, by subsidies and armies, the scheme upon which paul was bent, to drive the spaniards entirely out of the italian peninsula. the king was to aid the pontiff, and, in return, was to carve thrones for his own younger children out of the confiscated realms of philip. when was france ever slow to sweep upon italy with such a hope? how could the ever-glowing rivalry of valois and habsburg fail to burst into a general conflagration, while the venerable vicegerent of christ stood thus beside them with his fan in his hand? for a brief breathing space, however, the news of the pacification occasioned much joy in the provinces. they rejoiced even in a temporary cessation of that long series of campaigns from which they could certainly derive no advantage, and in which their part was to furnish money, soldiers, and battlefields, without prospect of benefit from any victory, however brilliant, or any treaty, however elaborate. manufacturing, agricultural and commercial provinces, filled to the full with industrial life, could not but be injured by being converted into perpetual camps. all was joy in the netherlands, while at antwerp, the great commercial metropolis of the provinces and of europe, the rapture was unbounded. oxen were roasted whole in the public squares; the streets, soon to be empurpled with the best blood of her citizens, ran red with wine; a hundred triumphal arches adorned the pathway of philip as he came thither; and a profusion of flowers, although it was february, were strewn before his feet. such was his greeting in the light-hearted city, but the countenance was more than usually sullen with which the sovereign received these demonstrations of pleasure. it was thought by many that philip had been really disappointed in the conclusion of the armistice, that he was inspired with a spark of that martial ambition for which his panegyrists gave him credit, and that knowing full well the improbability of a long suspension of hostilities, he was even eager for the chance of conquest which their resumption would afford him. the secret treaty of the pope was of course not so secret but that the hollow intention of the contracting parties to the truce of vaucelles were thoroughly suspected; intentions which certainly went far to justify the maxims and the practice of the new governor-general of the netherlands upon the subject of armistices. philip, understanding his position, was revolving renewed military projects while his subjects were ringing merry bells and lighting bonfires in the netherlands. these schemes, which were to be carried out in the immediate future, caused, however, a temporary delay in the great purpose to which he was to devote his life. the emperor had always desired to regard the netherlands as a whole, and he hated the antiquated charters and obstinate privileges which interfered with his ideas of symmetry. two great machines, the court of mechlin and the inquisition, would effectually simplify and assimilate all these irregular and heterogeneous rights. the civil tribunal was to annihilate all diversities in their laws by a general cassation of their constitutions, and the ecclesiastical court was to burn out all differences in their religious faith. between two such millstones it was thought that the netherlands might be crushed into uniformity. philip succeeded to these traditions. the father had never sufficient leisure to carry out all his schemes, but it seemed probable that the son would be a worthy successor, at least in all which concerned the religious part of his system. one of the earliest measures of his reign was to re-enact the dread edict of . this he did by the express advice of the bishop of arras who represented to him the expediency of making use of the popularity of his father's name, to sustain the horrible system resolved upon. as charles was the author of the edict, it could be always argued that nothing new was introduced; that burning, hanging, and drowning for religious differences constituted a part of the national institutions; that they had received the sanction of the wise emperor, and had been sustained by the sagacity of past generations. nothing could have been more subtle, as the event proved, than this advice. innumerable were the appeals made in subsequent years, upon this subject, to the patriotism and the conservative sentiments of the netherlanders. repeatedly they were summoned to maintain the inquisition, on the ground that it had been submitted to by their ancestors, and that no change had been made by philip, who desired only to maintain church and crown in the authority which they had enjoyed in the days of his father of very laudable memory. nevertheless, the king's military plans seemed to interfere for the moment with this cherished object. he seemed to swerve, at starting, from pursuing the goal which he was only to abandon with life. the edict of was re-enacted and confirmed, and all office-holders were commanded faithfully to enforce it upon pain of immediate dismissal. nevertheless, it was not vigorously carried into effect any where. it was openly resisted in holland, its proclamation was flatly refused in antwerp, and repudiated throughout brabant. it was strange that such disobedience should be tolerated, but the king wanted money. he was willing to refrain for a season from exasperating the provinces by fresh religious persecution at the moment when he was endeavoring to extort every penny which it was possible to wring from their purses. the joy, therefore, with which the pacification had been hailed by the people was far from an agreeable spectacle to the king. the provinces would expect that the forces which had been maintained at their expense during the war would be disbanded, whereas he had no intention of disbanding them. as the truce was sure to be temporary, he had no disposition to diminish his available resources for a war which might be renewed at any moment. to maintain the existing military establishment in the netherlands, a large sum of money was required, for the pay was very much in arrear. the king had made a statement to the provincial estates upon this subject, but the matter was kept secret during the negotiations with france. the way had thus been paved for the "request" or "bede," which he now made to the estates assembled at brussels, in the spring of . it was to consist of a tax of one per cent. (the hundredth penny) upon all real estate, and of two per cent. upon all merchandise; to be collected in three payments. the request, in so far as the imposition of the proposed tax was concerned, was refused by flanders, brabant, holland, and all the other important provinces, but as usual, a moderate, even a generous, commutation in money was offered by the estates. this was finally accepted by philip, after he had become convinced that at this moment, when he was contemplating a war with france, it would be extremely impolitic to insist upon the tax. the publication of the truce in italy had been long delayed, and the first infractions which it suffered were committed in that country. the arts of politicians; the schemes of individual ambition, united with the short-lived military ardor of philip to place the monarch in an eminently false position, that of hostility to the pope. as was unavoidable, the secret treaty of december acted as an immediate dissolvent to the truce of february. great was the indignation of paul caraffa, when that truce was first communicated to him by the cardinal de tournon, on the part of the french government. notwithstanding the protestations of france that the secret league was still binding, the pontiff complained that he was likely to be abandoned to his own resources, and to be left single-handed to contend with the vast power of spain. pope paul iv., of the house of caraffa, was, in position, the well-known counterpart of the emperor charles. at the very moment when the conqueror and autocrat was exchanging crown for cowl, and the proudest throne of the universe for a cell, this aged monk, as weary of scientific and religious seclusion as charles of pomp and power, had abdicated his scholastic pre-eminence, and exchanged his rosary for the keys and sword. a pontifical faustus, he had become disgusted with the results of a life of study and abnegation, and immediately upon his election appeared to be glowing with mundane passions, and inspired by the fiercest ambition of a warrior. he had rushed from the cloister as eagerly as charles had sought it. he panted for the tempests of the great external world as earnestly as the conqueror who had so long ridden upon the whirlwind of human affairs sighed for a haven of repose. none of his predecessors had been more despotic, more belligerent, more disposed to elevate and strengthen the temporal power of rome. in the inquisition he saw the grand machine by which this purpose could be accomplished, and yet found himself for a period the antagonist of philip. the single circumstance would have been sufficient, had other proofs been wanting, to make manifest that the part which he had chosen to play was above his genius. had his capacity been at all commensurate with his ambition, he might have deeply influenced the fate of the world; but fortunately no wizard's charm came to the aid of paul caraffa, and the triple-crowned monk sat upon the pontifical throne, a fierce, peevish, querulous, and quarrelsome dotard; the prey and the tool of his vigorous enemies and his intriguing relations. his hatred of spain and spaniards was unbounded. he raved at them as "heretics, schismatics, accursed of god, the spawn of jews and moors, the very dregs of the earth." to play upon such insane passions was not difficult, and a skilful artist stood ever ready to strike the chords thus vibrating with age and fury. the master spirit and principal mischief-maker of the papal court was the well-known cardinal caraffa, once a wild and dissolute soldier, nephew to the pope. he inflamed the anger of the pontiff by his representations, that the rival house of colonna, sustained by the duke of alva, now viceroy of naples, and by the whole spanish power, thus relieved from the fear of french hostilities, would be free to wreak its vengeance upon their family. it was determined that the court of france should be held by the secret league. moreover, the pope had been expressly included in the treaty of vaucelles, although the troops of spain had already assumed a hostile attitude in the south of italy. the cardinal was for immediately proceeding to paris, there to excite the sympathy of the french monarch for the situation of himself and his uncle. an immediate rupture between france and spain, a re-kindling of the war flames from one end of europe to the other, were necessary to save the credit and the interests of the caraffas. cardinal de tournon, not desirous of so sudden a termination to the pacific relations between his, country and spain, succeeded in detaining him a little longer in rome.--he remained, but not in idleness. the restless intriguer had already formed close relations with the most important personage in france, diana of poitiers.--this venerable courtesan, to the enjoyment of whose charms henry had succeeded, with the other regal possessions, on the death of his father, was won by the flatteries of the wily caraffa, and by the assiduities of the guise family. the best and most sagacious statesmen, the constable, and the admiral, were in favor of peace, for they knew the condition of the kingdom. the duke of guise and the cardinal lorraine were for a rupture, for they hoped to increase their family influence by war. coligny had signed the treaty of vaucelles, and wished to maintain it, but the influence of the catholic party was in the ascendant. the result was to embroil the catholic king against the pope and against themselves. the queen was as favorably inclined as the mistress to listen to caraffa, for catherine de medici was desirous that her cousin, marshal strozzi, should have honorable and profitable employment in some fresh italian campaigns. in the mean time an accident favored the designs of the papal court. an open quarrel with spain resulted from an insignificant circumstance. the spanish ambassador at rome was in the habit of leaving the city very often, at an early hour in the morning, upon shooting excursions, and had long enjoyed the privilege of ordering the gates to be opened for him at his pleasure. by accident or design, he was refused permission upon one occasion to pass through the gate as usual. unwilling to lose his day's sport, and enraged at what he considered an indignity, his excellency, by the aid of his attendants, attacked and beat the guard, mastered them, made his way out of the city, and pursued his morning's amusement. the pope was furious, caraffa artfully inflamed his anger. the envoy was refused an audience, which he desired, for the sake of offering explanations, and the train being thus laid, it was thought that the right moment had arrived for applying the firebrand. the cardinal went to paris post haste. in his audience of the king, he represented that his holiness had placed implicit reliance upon his secret treaty with his majesty, that the recently concluded truce with spain left the pontiff at the mercy of the spaniard, that the duke of alva had already drawn the sword, that the pope had long since done himself the pleasure and the honor of appointing the french monarch protector of the papal chair in general, and of the caraffa family in particular, and that the moment had arrived for claiming the benefit of that protection. he assured him, moreover, as by full papal authority, that in respecting the recent truce with spain, his majesty would violate both human and divine law. reason and justice required him to defend the pontiff, now that the spaniards were about to profit by the interval of truce to take measures for his detriment. moreover, as the pope was included in the truce of vaucelles, he could not be abandoned without a violation of that treaty itself.-- the arts and arguments of the cardinal proved successful; the war was resolved upon in favor of the pope. the cardinal, by virtue of powers received and brought with him from his holiness, absolved the king from all obligation to keep his faith with spain. he also gave him a dispensation from the duty of prefacing hostilities by a declaration of war. strozzi was sent at once into italy, with some hastily collected troops, while the duke of guise waited to organize a regular army. the mischief being thus fairly afoot, and war let loose again upon europe, the cardinal made a public entry into paris, as legate of the pope. the populace crowded about his mule, as he rode at the head of a stately procession through the streets. all were anxious to receive a benediction from the holy man who had come so far to represent the successor of st. peter, and to enlist the efforts of all true believers in his cause. he appeared to answer the entreaties of the superstitious rabble with fervent blessings, while the friends who were nearest him were aware that nothing but gibes and sarcasms were falling from his lips. "let us fool these poor creatures to their heart's content, since they will be fools," he muttered; smiling the while upon them benignantly, as became his holy office. such were the materials of this new combination; such was the fuel with which this new blaze was lighted and maintained. thus were the great powers of the earth--spain, france, england, and the papacy embroiled, and the nations embattled against each other for several years. the preceding pages show how much national interests, or principles; were concerned in the struggle thus commenced, in which thousands were to shed their life-blood, and millions to be reduced from peace and comfort to suffer all the misery which famine and rapine can inflict. it would no doubt have increased the hilarity of caraffa, as he made his triumphant entry into paris, could the idea have been suggested to his mind that the sentiments, or the welfare of the people throughout the great states now involved in his meshes, could have any possible bearing upon the question of peace or wax. the world was governed by other influences. the wiles of a cardinal--the arts of a concubine--the snipe-shooting of an ambassador--the speculations of a soldier of fortune--the ill temper of a monk--the mutual venom of italian houses--above all, the perpetual rivalry of the two great historical families who owned the greater part of europe between them as their private property--such were the wheels on which rolled the destiny of christendom. compared to these, what were great moral and political ideas, the plans of statesmen, the hopes of nations? time was soon to show. meanwhile, government continued to be administered exclusively for the benefit of the governors. meanwhile, a petty war for paltry motives was to precede the great spectacle which was to prove to europe that principles and peoples still existed, and that a phlegmatic nation of merchants and manufacturers could defy the powers of the universe, and risk all their blood and treasure, generation after generation, in a sacred cause. it does not belong to our purpose to narrate the details of the campaign in italy; neither is this war of politics and chicane of any great interest at the present day. to the military minds of their age, the scientific duel which now took place upon a large scale, between two such celebrated captains as the dukes of guise and alva, was no doubt esteemed the most important of spectacles; but the progress of mankind in the art of slaughter has stripped so antiquated an exhibition of most of its interest, even in a technical point of view. not much satisfaction could be derived from watching an old-fashioned game of war, in which the parties sat down before each other so tranquilly, and picked up piece after piece, castle after castle, city after city, with such scientific deliberation as to make it evident that, in the opinion of the commanders, war was the only serious business to be done in the world; that it was not to be done in a hurry, nor contrary to rule, and that when a general had a good job upon his hands he ought to know his profession much too thoroughly, to hasten through it before he saw his way clear to another. from the point of time, at the close of the year , when that well-trained but not very successful soldier, strozzi, crossed the alps, down to the autumn of the following year, when the duke of alva made his peace with the pope, there was hardly a pitched battle, and scarcely an event of striking interest. alva, as usual, brought his dilatory policy to bear upon his adversary with great effect. he had no intention, he observed to a friend, to stake the whole kingdom of naples against a brocaded coat of the duke of guise. moreover, he had been sent to the war, as ruy gomez informed the venetian ambassador, "with a bridle in his mouth." philip, sorely troubled in his mind at finding himself in so strange a position as this hostile attitude to the church, had earnestly interrogated all the doctors and theologians with whom he habitually took counsel, whether this war with the pope would not work a forfeiture of his title of the most catholic king. the bishop of arras and the favorite both disapproved of the war, and encouraged, with all their influence, the pacific inclinations of the monarch. the doctors were, to be sure, of opinion that philip, having acted in italy only in self-defence, and for the protection of his states, ought not to be anxious as to his continued right to the title on which he valued himself so highly. nevertheless, such ponderings and misgivings could not but have the effect of hampering the actions of alva. that general chafed inwardly at what he considered his own contemptible position. at the same time, he enraged the duke of guise still more deeply by the forced calmness of his proceedings. fortresses were reduced, towns taken, one after another, with the most provoking deliberation, while his distracted adversary in vain strove to defy, or to delude him, into trying the chances of a stricken field. the battle of saint quentin, the narrative of which belongs to our subject, and will soon occupy our attention, at last decided the italian operations. egmont's brilliant triumph in picardy rendered a victory in italy superfluous, and placed in alva's hand the power of commanding the issue of his own campaign. the duke of guise was recalled to defend the french frontier, which the bravery of the flemish hero had imperilled, and the pope was left to make the best peace which he could. all was now prosperous and smiling, and the campaign closed with a highly original and entertaining exhibition. the pontiff's puerile ambition, sustained by the intrigues of his nephew, had involved the french monarch in a war which was contrary to his interests and inclination. paul now found his ally too sorely beset to afford him that protection upon which he had relied, when he commenced, in his dotage, his career as a warrior. he was, therefore, only desirous of deserting his friend, and of relieving himself from his uncomfortable predicament, by making a treaty with his catholic majesty upon the best terms which he could obtain. the king of france, who had gone to war only for the sake of his holiness, was to be left to fight his own battles, while the pope was to make his peace with all the world. the result was a desirable one for philip. alva was accordingly instructed to afford the holy father a decorous and appropriate opportunity for carrying out his wishes. the victorious general was apprized that his master desired no fruit from his commanding attitude in italy and the victory of saint quentin, save a full pardon from the pope for maintaining even a defensive war against him. an amicable siege of rome was accordingly commenced, in the course of which an assault or "camiciata" on the holy city, was arranged for the night of the th august, . the pontiff agreed to be taken by surprise--while alva, through what was to appear only a superabundance of his habitual discretion, was to draw off his troops at the very moment when the victorious assault was to be made. the imminent danger to the holy city and to his own sacred person thus furnishing the pontiff with an excuse for abandoning his own cause, as well as that of his ally the duke of alva was allowed, in the name of his master and himself; to make submission to the church and his peace with rome. the spanish general, with secret indignation and disgust, was compelled to humor the vanity of a peevish but imperious old man. negotiations were commenced, and so skilfully had the duke played his game during the spring and summer, that when he was admitted to kiss the pope's toe, he was able to bring a hundred italian towns in his hand, as a peace-offering to his holiness. these he now restored, with apparent humility and inward curses, upon the condition that the fortifications should be razed, and the french alliance absolutely renounced. thus did the fanaticism of philip reverse the relative position of himself and his antagonist. thus was the vanquished pontiff allowed almost to dictate terms to the victorious general. the king who could thus humble himself to a dotard, while he made himself the scourge of his subjects, deserved that the bull of excommunication which had been prepared should have been fulminated. he, at least, was capable of feeling the scathing effects of such anathemas. the duke of guise, having been dismissed with the pontiff's assurance that he had done little for the interests of his sovereign, less for the protection of the church, and least of all for his own reputation, set forth with all speed for civita vecchia, to do what he could upon the flemish frontier to atone for his inglorious campaign in italy. the treaty between the pope and the duke of alva was signed on the th september ( ), and the spanish general retired for the winter to milan. cardinal caraffa was removed from the french court to that of madrid, there to spin new schemes for the embroilment of nations and the advancement of his own family. very little glory was gained by any of the combatants in this campaign. spain, france, nor paul iv., not one of them came out of the italian contest in better condition than that in which they entered upon it. in fact all were losers. france had made an inglorious retreat, the pope a ludicrous capitulation, and the only victorious party, the king of spain, had, during the summer, conceded to cosmo de medici the sovereignty of sienna. had venice shown more cordiality towards philip, and more disposition to sustain his policy, it is probable that the republic would have secured the prize which thus fell to the share of cosmo. that astute and unprincipled potentate, who could throw his net so well in troubled water, had successfully duped all parties, spain, france, and rome. the man who had not only not participated in the contest, but who had kept all parties and all warfare away from his borders, was the only individual in italy who gained territorial advantage from the war. to avoid interrupting the continuity of the narrative, the spanish campaign has been briefly sketched until the autumn of , at which period the treaty between the pope and philip was concluded. it is now necessary to go back to the close of the preceding year. simultaneously with the descent of the french troops upon italy, hostilities had broken out upon the flemish border. the pains of the emperor in covering the smouldering embers of national animosities so precipitately, and with a view rather to scenic effect than to a deliberate and well-considered result, were thus set at nought, and within a year from the day of his abdication, hostilities were reopened from the tiber to the german ocean. the blame of first violating the truce of vaucelles was laid by each party upon the other with equal justice, for there can be but little doubt that the reproach justly belonged to both. both had been equally faithless in their professions of amity. both were equally responsible for the scenes of war, plunder, and misery, which again were desolating the fairest regions of christendom. at the time when the french court had resolved to concede to the wishes of the caraffa family, admiral coligny, who had been appointed governor of picardy, had received orders to make a foray upon the frontier of flanders. before the formal annunciation of hostilities, it was thought desirable to reap all the advantage possible from the perfidy which had been resolved upon. it happened that a certain banker of lucca, an ancient gambler and debauchee, whom evil courses had reduced from affluence to penury, had taken up his abode upon a hill overlooking the city of douay. here he had built himself a hermit's cell. clad in sackcloth, with a rosary at his waist, he was accustomed to beg his bread from door to door. his garb was all, however, which he possessed of sanctity, and he had passed his time in contemplating the weak points in the defences of the city with much more minuteness than those in his own heart. upon the breaking out of hostilities in italy, the instincts of his old profession had suggested to him that a good speculation might be made in flanders, by turning to account as a spy the observations which he had made in his character of a hermit. he sought an interview with coligny, and laid his propositions before him. the noble admiral hesitated, for his sentiments were more elevated than those of many of his contemporaries. he had, moreover, himself negotiated and signed the truce with spain, and he shrank from violating it with his own hand, before a declaration of war. still he was aware that a french army was on its way to attack the spaniards in italy; he was under instructions to take the earliest advantage which his position upon the frontier might offer him; he knew that both theory and practice authorized a general, in that age, to break his fast, even in time of truce, if a tempting morsel should present itself; and, above all, he thoroughly understood the character of his nearest antagonist, the new governor of the netherlands, philibert of savoy, whom he knew to be the most unscrupulous chieftain in europe. these considerations decided him to take advantage of the hermit-banker's communication. a day was accordingly fixed, at which, under the guidance of this newly- acquired ally, a surprise should be attempted by the french forces, and the unsuspecting city of douay given over to the pillage of a brutal soldiery. the time appointed was the night of epiphany, upon occasion of which festival, it was thought that the inhabitants, overcome with sleep and wassail, might be easily overpowered. ( th january, .) the plot was a good plot, but the admiral of france was destined to be foiled by an old woman. this person, apparently the only creature awake in the town, perceived the danger, ran shrieking through the streets, alarmed the citizens while it was yet time, and thus prevented the attack. coligny, disappointed in his plan, recompensed his soldiers by a sudden onslaught upon lens in arthois, which he sacked and then levelled with the ground. such was the wretched condition of frontier cities, standing, even in time of peace, with the ground undermined beneath them, and existing every moment, as it were, upon the brink of explosion. hostilities having been thus fairly commenced, the french government was in some embarrassment. the duke of guise, with the most available forces of the kingdom, having crossed the alps, it became necessary forthwith to collect another army. the place of rendezvous appointed was pierrepoint, where an army of eighteen thousand infantry and five thousand horse were assembled early in the spring. in the mean time, philip finding the war fairly afoot, had crossed to england for the purpose (exactly in contravention of all his marriage stipulations) of cajoling his wife and browbeating her ministers into a participation in his war with france. this was easily accomplished. the english nation found themselves accordingly engaged in a contest with which they had no concern, which, as the event proved, was very much against their interests, and in which the moving cause for their entanglement was the devotion of a weak, bad, ferocious woman, for a husband who hated her. a herald sent from england arrived in france, disguised, and was presented to king henry at rheims. here, dropping on one knee, he recited a list of complaints against his majesty, on behalf of the english queen, all of them fabricated or exaggerated for the occasion, and none of them furnishing even a decorous pretext for the war which was now formally declared in consequence. the french monarch expressed his regret and surprise that the firm and amicable relations secured by treaty between the two countries should thus, without sufficient cause, be violated. in accepting the wager of warfare thus forced upon him, he bade the herald, norris, inform his mistress that her messenger was treated with courtesy only because he represented a lady, and that, had he come from a king, the language with which he would have been greeted would have befitted the perfidy manifested on the occasion. god would punish this shameless violation of faith, and this wanton interruption to the friendship of two great nations. with this the herald was dismissed from the royal presence, but treated with great distinction, conducted to the hotel of the english ambassador, and presented, on the part of the french sovereign with a chain of gold. philip had despatched ruy gomez to spain for the purpose of providing ways and means, while he was himself occupied with the same task in england. he stayed there three months. during this time, he "did more," says a spanish contemporary, "than any one could have believed possible with that proud and indomitable nation. he caused them to declare war against france with fire and sword, by sea and land." hostilities having been thus chivalrously and formally established, the queen sent an army of eight thousand men, cavalry, infantry, and pioneers, who, "all clad in blue uniform," commanded by lords pembroke and clinton, with the three sons of the earl of northumberland, and officered by many other scions of england's aristocracy, disembarked at calais, and shortly afterwards joined the camp before saint quentin. philip meantime had left england, and with more bustle and activity than was usual with him, had given directions for organizing at once a considerable army. it was composed mainly of troops belonging to the netherlands, with the addition of some german auxiliaries. thirty-five thousand foot and twelve thousand horse had, by the middle of july, advanced through the province of namur, and were assembled at givet under the duke of savoy, who, as governor-general of the netherlands, held the chief command. all the most eminent grandees of the provinces, orange, aerschot, berlaymont, meghen, brederode, were present with the troops, but the life and soul of the army, upon this memorable occasion, was the count of egmont. lamoral, count of egmont, prince of gavere, was now in the thirty-sixth year of his age, in the very noon of that brilliant life which was destined to be so soon and so fatally overshadowed. not one of the dark clouds, which were in the future to accumulate around him, had yet rolled above his horizon. young, noble, wealthy, handsome, valiant, he saw no threatening phantom in the future, and caught eagerly at the golden opportunity, which the present placed within his grasp, of winning fresh laurels on a wider and more fruitful. field than any in which he had hitherto been a reaper. the campaign about to take place was likely to be an imposing, if not an important one, and could not fail to be attractive to a noble of so ardent and showy a character as egmont. if there were no lofty principles or extensive interests to be contended for, as there certainly were not, there was yet much that was stately and exciting to the imagination in the warfare which had been so deliberately and pompously arranged. the contending armies, although of moderate size, were composed of picked troops, and were commanded by the flower of europe's chivalry. kings, princes, and the most illustrious paladins of christendom, were arming for the great tournament, to which they had been summoned by herald and trumpet; and the batavian hero, without a crown or even a country, but with as lofty a lineage as many anointed sovereigns could boast, was ambitious to distinguish himself in the proud array. upon the north-western edge of the narrow peninsula of north holland, washed by the stormy waters of the german ocean, were the ancient castle, town, and lordship, whence egmont derived his family name, and the title by which he was most familiarly known. he was supposed to trace his descent, through a line of chivalrous champions and crusaders, up to the pagan kings of the most ancient of existing teutonic races. the eighth century names of the frisian radbold and adgild among his ancestors were thought to denote the antiquity of a house whose lustre had been increased in later times by the splendor of its alliances. his father, united to francoise de luxemburg, princess of gavere, had acquired by this marriage, and transmitted to his posterity, many of the proudest titles and richest estates of flanders. of the three children who survived him, the only daughter was afterwards united to the count of vaudemont, and became mother of louise de vaudemont, queen of the french monarch, henry the third. of his two sons, charles, the elder, had died young and unmarried, leaving all the estates and titles of the family to his brother. lamoral, born in , was in early youth a page of the emperor. when old enough to bear arms he demanded and obtained permission to follow the career of his adventurous sovereign. he served his apprenticeship as a soldier in the stormy expedition to barbary, where, in his nineteenth year, he commanded a troop of light horse, and distinguished himself under the emperor's eye for his courage and devotion, doing the duty not only of a gallant commander but of a hardy soldier. returning, unscathed by the war, flood, or tempest of that memorable enterprise, he reached his country by the way of corsica, genoa, and lorraine, and was three years afterwards united (in the year ) to sabina of bavaria, sister of frederick, elector palatine. the nuptials had taken place at spiers, and few royal weddings could have been more brilliant. the emperor, his brother ferdinand king of the romans, with the archduke maximilian, all the imperial electors, and a concourse of the principal nobles of the empire, were present on the occasion been at the emperor's side during the unlucky siege of metz; in he had been sent at the head of a splendid embassy to england, to solicit for philip the hand of mary tudor, and had witnessed the marriage in winchester cathedral, the same year. although one branch of his house had, in past times, arrived at the sovereignty of gueldres, and another had acquired the great estates and titles of buren, which had recently passed, by intermarriage with the heiress, into the possession of the prince of orange, yet the prince of gavere, count of egmont, was the chief of a race which yielded to none of the great batavian or flemish families in antiquity, wealth, or power. personally, he was distinguished for his bravery, and although he was not yet the idol of the camp, which he was destined to become, nor had yet commanded in chief on any important occasion, he was accounted one of the five principal generals in the spanish service. eager for general admiration, he was at the same time haughty and presumptuous, attempting to combine the characters of an arrogant magnate and a popular chieftain. terrible and sudden in his wrath, he was yet of inordinate vanity, and was easily led by those who understood his weakness. with a limited education, and a slender capacity for all affairs except those relating to the camp, he was destined to be as vacillating and incompetent as a statesman, as he was prompt and fortunately audacious in the field. a splendid soldier, his evil stars had destined him to tread, as a politician, a dark and dangerous path, in which not even genius, caution, and integrity could ensure success, but in which rashness alternating with hesitation, and credulity with violence, could not fail to bring ruin. such was count egmont, as he took his place at the-head of the king's cavalry in the summer of . the early operations of the duke of savoy were at first intended to deceive the enemy. the army, after advancing as far into picardy as the town of vervins, which they burned and pillaged, made a demonstration with their whole force upon the city of guise. this, however, was but a feint, by which attention was directed and forces drawn off from saint quentin, which was to be the real point of attack in the mean time, the constable of france, montmorency, arrived upon the th july ( ), to take command of the french troops. he was accompanied by the marechal de saint andre and by admiral coligny. the most illustrious names of france, whether for station or valor, were in the officers' list of this select army. nevers and montpensier, enghien and conde, vendome and rochefoucauld, were already there, and now the constable and the admiral came to add the strength of their experience and lofty reputation to sustain the courage of the troops. the french were at pierrepoint, a post between champagne and picardy, and in its neighborhood. the spanish army was at vervins, and threatening guise. it had been the opinion in france that the enemy's intention was to invade champagne, and the duc de nevers, governor of that province, had made a disposition of his forces suitable for such a contingency. it was the conviction of montmorency, however, that picardy was to be the quarter really attacked, and that saint quentin, which was the most important point at which the enemy's progress, by that route, towards paris could be arrested, was in imminent danger. the constable's opinion was soon confirmed by advices received by coligny. the enemy's army, he was informed, after remaining three days before guise, had withdrawn from that point, and had invested saint quentin with their whole force. this wealthy and prosperous city stood upon an elevation rising from the river somme. it was surrounded by very extensive suburbs, ornamented with orchards and gardens, and including within their limits large tracts of a highly cultivated soil. three sides of the place were covered by a lake, thirty yards in width, very deep at some points, in others, rather resembling a morass, and extending on the flemish side a half mile beyond the city. the inhabitants were thriving and industrious; many of the manufacturers and merchants were very rich, for it was a place of much traffic and commercial importance. teligny, son-in-law of the admiral, was in the city with a detachment of the dauphin's regiment; captain brueuil was commandant of the town. both informed coligny of the imminent peril in which they stood. they represented the urgent necessity of immediate reinforcements both of men and supplies. the city, as the admiral well knew, was in no condition to stand a siege by such an army, and dire were the consequences which would follow the downfall of so important a place. it was still practicable, they wrote, to introduce succor, but every day diminished the possibility of affording effectual relief. coligny was not the man to let the grass grow under his feet, after such an appeal in behalf of the principal place in his government. the safety of france was dependent upon that of st. quentin. the bulwark overthrown, paris was within the next stride of an adventurous enemy. the admiral instantly set out, upon the d of august, with strong reinforcements. it was too late. the english auxiliaries, under lords pembroke, clinton, and grey, had, in the mean time, effected their junction with the duke of savoy, and appeared in the camp before st. quentin. the route, by which it had been hoped that the much needed succor could be introduced, was thus occupied and rendered impracticable. the admiral, however, in consequence of the urgent nature of the letters received from brueuil and teligny, had outstripped, in his anxiety, the movements of his troops. he reached the city, almost alone and unattended. notwithstanding the remonstrances of his officers, he had listened to no voice save the desperate entreaties of the besieged garrison, and had flown before his army. he now shut himself up in the city, determined to effect its deliverance by means of his skill and experience, or, at least, to share its fate. as the gates closed upon coligny, the road was blocked up for his advancing troops. a few days were passed in making ineffectual sorties, ordered by coligny for the sake of reconnoitring the country, and of discovering the most practicable means of introducing supplies. the constable, meantime, who had advanced with his army to la fore, was not idle. he kept up daily communications with the beleagured admiral, and was determined, if possible, to relieve the city. there was, however, a constant succession of disappointments. moreover, the brave but indiscreet teligny, who commanded during a temporary illness of the admiral, saw fit, against express orders, to make an imprudent sortie. he paid the penalty of his rashness with his life. he was rescued by the admiral in person, who, at imminent hazard, brought back the unfortunate officer covered with wounds, into the city, there to die at his father's feet, imploring forgiveness for his disobedience. meantime the garrison was daily growing weaker. coligny sent out of the city all useless consumers, quartered all the women in the cathedral and other churches, where they were locked in, lest their terror and their tears should weaken the courage of the garrison; and did all in his power to strengthen the defences of the city, and sustain the resolution of the inhabitants. affairs were growing desperate. it seemed plain that the important city must soon fall, and with it most probably paris. one of the suburbs was already in the hands of the enemy. at last coligny discovered a route by which he believed it to be still possible to introduce reinforcements. he communicated the results of his observations to the constable. upon one side of the city the lake, or morass, was traversed by a few difficult and narrow pathways, mostly under water, and by a running stream which could only be passed in boats. the constable, in consequence of this information received from coligny, set out from la fere upon the th of august, with four thousand infantry and two thousand horse. halting his troops at the village of essigny, he advanced in person to the edge of the morass, in order to reconnoitre the ground and prepare his plans. the result was a determination to attempt the introduction of men and supplies into the town by the mode suggested. leaving his troops drawn up in battle array, he returned to la fere for the remainder of his army, and to complete his preparations. coligny in the mean time was to provide boats for crossing the stream. upon the th august, which was the festival of st. laurence, the constable advanced with four pieces of heavy artillery, four culverines, and four lighter pieces, and arrived at nine o'clock in the morning near the faubourg d'isle, which was already in possession of the spanish troops. the whole army of the constable consisted of twelve thousand german, with fifteen companies of french infantry; making in all some sixteen thousand foot, with five thousand cavalry in addition. the duke of savoy's army lay upon the same side of the town, widely extended, and stretching beyond the river and the morass. montmorency's project was to be executed in full view of the enemy. fourteen companies of spaniards were stationed in the faubourg. two companies had been pushed forward as far as a water-mill, which lay in the pathway of the advancing constable. these soldiers stood their ground for a moment, but soon retreated, while a cannonade was suddenly opened by the french upon the quarters of the duke of savoy. the duke's tent was torn to pieces, and he had barely time to hurry on his cuirass, and to take refuge with count egmont. the constable, hastening to turn this temporary advantage to account at once, commenced the transportation of his troops across the morass. the enterprise was, however, not destined to be fortunate. the number of boats which had been provided was very inadequate; moreover they were very small, and each as it left the shore was consequently so crowded with soldiers that it was in danger of being swamped. several were overturned, and the men perished. it was found also that the opposite bank was steep and dangerous. many who had crossed the river were unable to effect a landing, while those who escaped drowning in the water lost their way in the devious and impracticable paths, or perished miserably in the treacherous quagmires. very few effected their entrance into the town, but among them was andelot, brother of coligny, with five hundred followers. meantime, a council of officers was held in egmont's tent. opinions were undecided as to the course to be pursued under the circumstances. should an engagement be risked, or should the constable, who had but indifferently accomplished his project and had introduced but an insignificant number of troops into the city, be allowed to withdraw with the rest of his army? the fiery vehemence of egmont carried all before it. here was an opportunity to measure arms at advantage with the great captain of the age. to relinquish the prize, which the fortune of war had now placed within reach of their valor, was a thought not to be entertained. here was the great constable montmorency, attended by princes of the royal blood, the proudest of the nobility, the very crown and flower of the chivalry of france, and followed by an army of her bravest troops. on a desperate venture he had placed himself within their grasp. should he go thence alive and unmolested? the moral effect of destroying such an army would be greater than if it were twice its actual strength. it would be dealing a blow at the very heart of france, from which she could not recover. was the opportunity to be resigned without a struggle of laying at the feet of philip, in this his first campaign since his accession to his father's realms, a prize worthy of the proudest hour of the emperor's reign? the eloquence of the impetuous batavian was irresistible, and it was determined to cut off the constable's retreat. three miles from the faubourg d'isle, to which that general had now advanced, was a narrow pass or defile, between steep and closely hanging hills. while advancing through this ravine in the morning, the constable had observed that the enemy might have it in their power to intercept his return at that point. he had therefore left the rhinegrave, with his company of mounted carabineers, to guard the passage. being ready to commence his retreat, he now sent forward the due de nevers, with four companies of cavalry to strengthen that important position, which he feared might be inadequately guarded. the act of caution came too late. this was the fatal point which the quick glance of egmont had at once detected. as nevers reached the spot, two thousand of the enemy's cavalry rode through and occupied the narrow passage. inflamed by mortification and despair, nevers would have at once charged those troops, although outnumbering his own by nearly, four to one. his officers restrained him with difficulty, recalling to his memory the peremptory orders which he had received from the constable to guard the passage, but on no account to hazard an engagement, until sustained by the body of the army. it was a case in which rashness would have been the best discretion. the headlong charge which the duke had been about to make, might possibly have cleared the path and have extricated the army, provided the constable had followed up the movement by a rapid advance upon his part. as it was, the passage was soon blocked up by freshly advancing bodies of spanish and flemish cavalry, while nevers slowly and reluctantly fell back upon the prince of conde, who was stationed with the light horse at the mill where the first skirmish had taken place. they were soon joined by the constable, with the main body of the army. the whole french force now commenced its retrograde movement. it was, however, but too evident that they were enveloped. as they approached the fatal pass through which lay their only road to la fire, and which was now in complete possession of the enemy, the signal of assault was given by count egmont. that general himself, at the head of two thousand light horse, led the charge upon the left flank. the other side was assaulted by the dukes eric and henry of brunswick, each with a thousand heavy dragoons, sustained by count horn, at the head of a regiment of mounted gendarmerie. mansfeld, lalain, hoogstraaten; and vilain, at the same time made a furious attack upon the front. the french cavalry wavered with the shock so vigorously given. the camp followers, sutlers, and pedlers, panic-struck, at once fled helter- skelter, and in their precipitate retreat, carried confusion and dismay throughout all the ranks of the army. the rout was sudden and total. the onset and the victory were simultaneous, nevers riding through a hollow with some companies of cavalry, in the hope of making a detour and presenting a new front to the enemy, was overwhelmed at once by the retreating french and their furious pursuers. the day was lost, retreat hardly possible, yet, by a daring and desperate effort, the duke, accompanied by a handful of followers, cut his way through the enemy and effected his escape. the cavalry had been broken at the first onset and nearly destroyed. a portion of the infantry still held firm, and attempted to continue their retreat. some pieces of artillery, however, now opened upon them, and before they reached essigny, the whole army was completely annihilated. the defeat was absolute. half the french troops actually engaged in the enterprise, lost their lives upon the field. the remainder of the army was captured or utterly disorganized. when nevers reviewed, at laon, the wreck of the constable's whole force, he found some thirteen hundred french and three hundred german cavalry, with four companies of french infantry remaining out of fifteen, and four thousand german foot remaining of twelve thousand. of twenty-one or two thousand remarkably fine and well-appointed troops, all but six thousand had been killed or made prisoners within an hour. the constable himself, with a wound in the groin, was a captive. the duke of enghien, after behaving with brilliant valor, and many times rallying the troops, was shot through the body, and brought into the enemy's camp only to expire. the due de montpensier, the marshal de saint andre, the due de loggieville, prince ludovic of mantua, the baron corton, la roche du mayne, the rhinegrave, the counts de rochefoucauld, d'aubigni, de rochefort, all were taken. the due de nevers, the prince of conde, with a few others, escaped; although so absolute was the conviction that such an escape was impossible, that it was not believed by the victorious army. when nevers sent a trumpet, after the battle, to the duke of savoy, for the purpose of negotiating concerning the prisoners, the trumpeter was pronounced an impostor, and the duke's letter a forgery; nor was it till after the whole field had been diligently searched for his dead body without success, that nevers could persuade the conquerors that he was still in existence. of philip's army but fifty lost their lives. lewis of brederode was smothered in his armor; and the two counts spiegelberg and count waldeck were also killed; besides these, no officer of distinction fell. all the french standards and all their artillery but two pieces were taken, and placed before the king, who the next day came into the camp before saint quentin. the prisoners of distinction were likewise presented to him in long procession. rarely had a monarch of spain enjoyed a more signal triumph than this which philip now owed to the gallantry and promptness of count egmont. while the king stood reviewing the spoils of victory, a light horseman of don henrico manrique's regiment approached, and presented him with a sword. "i am the man, may it please your majesty," said the trooper, "who took the constable; here is his sword; may your majesty be pleased to give me something to eat in my house." "i promise it," replied philip; upon which the soldier kissed his majesty's hand and retired. it was the custom universally recognized in that day, that the king was the king's captive, and the general the general's, but that the man, whether soldier or officer, who took the commander-in-chief, was entitled to ten thousand ducats. upon this occasion the constable was the prisoner of philip, supposed to command his own army in person. a certain spanish captain valenzuela, however, disputed the soldier's claim to the constable's sword. the trooper advanced at once to the constable, who stood there with the rest of the illustrious prisoners. "your excellency is a christian," said he; "please to declare upon your conscience and the faith of a cavalier, whether 't was i that took you prisoner. it need not surprise your excellency that i am but a soldier, since with soldiers his majesty must wage his wars." "certainly," replied the constable, "you took me and took my horse, and i gave you my sword. my word, however, i pledged to captain valenzuela." it appearing, however, that the custom of spain did not recognize a pledge given to any one but the actual captor, it was arranged that the soldier should give two thousand of his ten thousand ducats to the captain. thus the dispute ended. such was the brilliant victory of saint quentin, worthy to be placed in the same list with the world-renowned combats of creqy and agincourt. like those battles, also, it derives its main interest from the personal character of the leader, while it seems to have been hallowed by the tender emotions which sprang from his subsequent fate. the victory was but a happy move in a winning game. the players were kings, and the people were stakes--not parties. it was a chivalrous display in a war which was waged without honorable purpose, and in which no single lofty sentiment was involved. the flemish frontier was, however, saved for the time from the misery which was now to be inflicted upon the french border. this was sufficient to cause the victory to be hailed as rapturously by the people as by the troops. from that day forth the name of the brave hollander was like the sound of a trumpet to the army. "egmont and saint quentin" rang through every mouth to the furthest extremity of philip's realms. a deadly blow was struck to the very heart of france. the fruits of all the victories of francis and henry withered. the battle, with others which were to follow it, won by the same hand, were soon to compel the signature of the most disastrous treaty which had ever disgraced the history of france. the fame and power of the constable faded--his misfortunes and captivity fell like a blight upon the ancient glory of the house of montmorency-- his enemies destroyed his influence and his popularity--while the degradation of the kingdom was simultaneous with the downfall of his illustrious name. on the other hand, the exultation of philip was as keen as his cold and stony nature would permit. the magnificent palace- convent of the escurial, dedicated to the saint on whose festival the battle had been fought, and built in the shape of the gridiron, on which that martyr had suffered, was soon afterwards erected in pious commemoration of the event. such was the celebration of the victory. the reward reserved for the victor was to be recorded on a later page of history. the coldness and caution, not to say the pusillanimity of philip, prevented him from seizing the golden fruits of his triumph. ferdinand gonzaga wished the blow to be followed up by an immediate march upon paris.--such was also the feeling of all the distinguished soldiers of the age. it was unquestionably the opinion, and would have been the deed, of charles, had he been on the field of saint quentin, crippled as he was, in the place of his son. he could not conceal his rage and mortification when he found that paris had not fallen, and is said to have refused to read the despatches which recorded that the event had not been consummated. there was certainly little of the conqueror in philip's nature; nothing which would have led him to violate the safest principles of strategy. he was not the man to follow up enthusiastically the blow which had been struck; saint quentin, still untaken, although defended by but eight hundred soldiers, could not be left behind him; nevers was still in his front, and although it was notorious that he commanded only the wreck of an army, yet a new one might be collected, perhaps, in time to embarrass the triumphant march to paris. out of his superabundant discretion, accordingly, philip refused to advance till saint quentin should be reduced. although nearly driven to despair by the total overthrow of the french in the recent action, coligny still held bravely out, being well aware that every day by which the siege could be protracted was of advantage to his country. again he made fresh attempts to introduce men into the city. a fisherman showed him a submerged path, covered several feet deep with water, through which he succeeded in bringing one hundred and fifty unarmed and half-drowned soldiers into the place. his garrison consisted barely of eight hundred men, but the siege was still sustained, mainly by his courage and sagacity, and by the spirit of his brother andelot. the company of cavalry, belonging to the dauphin's regiment, had behaved badly, and even with cowardice, since the death of their commander teligny. the citizens were naturally weary and impatient of the siege. mining and countermining continued till the st august. a steady cannonade was then maintained until the th. upon that day, eleven breaches having been made in the walls, a simultaneous assault was ordered at four of them. the citizens were stationed upon the walls, the soldiers in the breaches. there was a short but sanguinary contest. the garrison resisting with uncommon bravery. suddenly an entrance was effected through a tower which had been thought sufficiently strong, and which had been left unguarded. coligny, rushing to the spot, engaged the enemy almost single-handed. he was soon overpowered, being attended only by four men and a page, was made a prisoner by a soldier named francisco diaz, and conducted through one of the subterranean mines into the presence of the duke of savoy, from whom the captor received ten thousand ducats in exchange for the admiral's sword. the fighting still continued with great determination in the streets, the brave andelot resisting to the last. he was, however, at last overpowered, and taken prisoner. philip, who had, as usual, arrived in the trenches by noon, armed in complete harness, with a page carrying his helmet, was met by the intelligence that the city of saint quentin was his own. to a horrible carnage succeeded a sack and a conflagration still more horrible. in every house entered during the first day, every human being was butchered. the sack lasted all that day and the whole of the following, till the night of the th. there was not a soldier who did not obtain an ample share of plunder, and some individuals succeeded in getting possession of two, three, and even twelve thousand ducats each. the women were not generally outraged, but they were stripped almost entirely naked, lest they should conceal treasure which belonged to their conquerors, and they were slashed in the face with knives, partly in sport, partly as a punishment for not giving up property which was not in their possession. the soldiers even cut off the arms of many among these wretched women, and then turned them loose, maimed and naked, into the blazing streets; for the town, on the th, was fired in a hundred places, and was now one general conflagration. the streets were already strewn with the corpses of the butchered garrison and citizens; while the survivors were now burned in their houses. human heads, limbs, and trunks, were mingled among the bricks and rafters of the houses, which were falling on every side. the fire lasted day and night, without an attempt being made to extinguish it; while the soldiers dashed like devils through flame and smoke in search of booty. bearing lighted torches, they descended into every subterrranean vault and receptacle, of which there were many in the town, and in every one of which they hoped to discover hidden treasure. the work of killing, plundering, and burning lasted nearly three days and nights. the streets, meanwhile, were encumbered with heaps of corpses, not a single one of which had been buried since the capture of the town. the remains of nearly all the able bodied male population, dismembered, gnawed by dogs or blackened by fire, polluted the midsummer air meantime, the women had been again driven into the cathedral, where they had housed during the siege, and where they now crouched together in trembling expectation of their fate.' on the th august, at two o'clock in the afternoon, philip issued an order that every woman, without an exception, should be driven out of the city into the french territory. saint quentin, which seventy years before had been a flemish town, was to be re-annexed, and not a single man, woman, or child who could speak the french language was to remain another hour in the place. the tongues of the men had been effectually silenced. the women, to the number of three thousand five hundred, were now compelled to leave the cathedral and the city. some were in a starving condition; others had been desperately wounded; all, as they passed through the ruinous streets of what had been their home, were compelled to tread upon the unburied remains of their fathers, husbands, or brethren. to none of these miserable creatures remained a living protector--hardly even a dead body which could be recognized; and thus the ghastly procession of more than three thousand women, many with gaping wounds in the face, many with their arms cut off and festering, of all ranks and ages, some numbering more than ninety years, bareheaded, with grey hair streaming upon their shoulders; others with nursing infants in their arms, all escorted by a company of heavy-armed troopers, left forever their native city. all made the dismal journey upon foot, save that carts were allowed to transport the children between the ages of two and six years. the desolation and depopulation were now complete. "i wandered through the place, gazing at all this," says a spanish soldier who was present, and kept a diary of all which occurred," and it seemed to me that it was another destruction of jerusalem. what most struck me was to find not a single denizen of the town left, who was or who dared to call himself french. how vain and transitory, thought i, are the things of this world! six days ago what riches were in the city, and now remains not one stone upon another." the expulsion of the women had been accomplished by the express command of philip, who moreover had made no effort to stay the work of carnage, pillage, and conflagration. the pious king had not forgotten, however, his duty to the saints. as soon as the fire had broken out, he had sent to the cathedral, whence he had caused the body of saint quentin to be removed and placed in the royal tent. here an altar, was arranged, upon one side of which was placed the coffin of that holy personage, and upon the other the head of the "glorious saint gregory" (whoever that glorious individual may have been in life), together with many other relics brought from the church. within the sacred enclosure many masses were said daily, while all this devil's work was going on without. the saint who had been buried for centuries was comfortably housed and guarded by the monarch, while dogs were gnawing the carcases of the freshly-slain men of saint quentin, and troopers were driving into perpetual exile its desolate and mutilated women. the most distinguished captives upon this occasion were, of course, coligny and his brother. andelot was, however, fortunate enough to make his escape that night under the edge of the tent in which he was confined. the admiral was taken to antwerp. here he lay for many weeks sick with a fever. upon his recovery, having no better pastime, he fell to reading the scriptures. the result was his conversion to calvinism; and the world shudders yet at the fate in which that conversion involved him. saint quentin being thus reduced, philip was not more disposed to push his fortune. the time was now wasted in the siege of several comparatively unimportant places, so that the fruits of egmont's valor were not yet allowed to ripen. early in september le catelet was taken. on the th of the same month the citadel of ham yielded, after receiving two thousand shots from philip's artillery, while nojon, chanly, and some other places of less importance, were burned to the ground. after all this smoke and fire upon the frontier, productive of but slender consequences, philip disbanded his army, and retired to brussels. he reached that city on the th october. the english returned to their own country. the campaign of was closed without a material result, and the victory of saint quentin remained for a season barren. in the mean time the french were not idle. the army of the constable had been destroyed but the duke de guise, who had come post-haste from italy after hearing the news of saint quentin, was very willing to organize another. he was burning with impatience both to retrieve his own reputation, which had suffered some little damage by his recent italian campaign, and to profit by the captivity of his fallen rival the constable. during the time occupied by the languid and dilatory proceedings of philip in the autumn, the duke had accordingly recruited in france and germany a considerable army. in january ( ) he was ready to take the field. it had been determined in the french cabinet, however, not to attempt to win back the places which they had lost in picardy, but to carry the war into the territory of the ally. it was fated that england should bear all the losses, and philip appropriate all the gain and glory, which resulted from their united exertions. it was the war of the queen's husband, with which the queen's people had no concern, but in which the last trophies of the black prince were to be forfeited. on the first january, , the duc de guise appeared before calais. the marshal strozzi had previously made an expedition, in disguise, to examine the place. the result of his examination was that the garrison was weak, and that it relied too much upon the citadel. after a tremendous cannonade, which lasted a week, and was heard in antwerp, the city was taken by assault. thus the key to the great norman portal of france, the time-honored key which england had worn at her girdle since the eventful day of crecy, was at last taken from her. calais had been originally won after a siege which had lasted a twelvemonth, had been held two hundred and ten years, and was now lost in seven days. seven days more, and ten thousand discharges from thirty- five great guns sufficed for the reduction of guines. thus the last vestige of english dominion, the last substantial pretext of the english sovereign to wear the title and the lilies of france, was lost forever. king henry visited calais, which after two centuries of estrangement had now become a french town again, appointed paul de thermes governor of the place, and then returned to paris to celebrate soon afterwards the marriage of the dauphin with the niece of the guises, mary, queen of scots. these events, together with the brief winter campaign of the duke, which had raised for an instant the drooping head of france, were destined before long to give a new face to affairs, while it secured the ascendancy of the catholic party in the kingdom. disastrous eclipse had come over the house of montmorency and coligny, while the star of guise, brilliant with the conquest of calais, now culminated to the zenith. it was at this period that the memorable interview between the two ecclesiastics, the bishop of arras and the cardinal de lorraine, took place at peronne. from this central point commenced the weaving of that wide-spread scheme, in which the fate of millions was to be involved. the duchess christina de lorraine, cousin of philip, had accompanied him to saint quentin. permission had been obtained by the duc de guise and his brother, the cardinal, to visit her at peronne. the duchess was accompanied by the bishop of arras, and the consequence was a full and secret negotiation between the two priests. it may be supposed that philip's short-lived military ardor had already exhausted itself. he had mistaken his vocation, and already recognized the false position in which he was placed. he was contending against the monarch in whom he might find the surest ally against the arch enemy of both kingdoms, and of the world. the french monarch held heresy in horror, while, for himself, philip had already decided upon his life's mission. the crafty bishop was more than a match for the vain and ambitious cardinal. that prelate was assured that philip considered the captivity of coligny and montmorency a special dispensation of providence, while the tutelar genius of france, notwithstanding the reverses sustained by that kingdom, was still preserved. the cardinal and his brother, it was suggested, now held in their hands the destiny of the kingdom, and of europe. the interests of both nations, of religion, and of humanity, made it imperative upon them to put an end to this unnatural war, in order that the two monarchs might unite hand and heart for the extirpation of heresy. that hydra-headed monster had already extended its coils through france, while its pestilential breath was now wafted into flanders from the german as well as the french border. philip placed full reliance upon the wisdom and discretion of the cardinal. it was necessary that these negotiations should for the present remain a profound secret; but in the mean time a peace ought to be concluded with as little delay as possible; a result which, it was affirmed, was as heartily desired by philip as it could be by henry. the bishop was soon aware of the impression which his artful suggestions had produced. the cardinal, inspired by the flattery thus freely administered, as well as by the promptings of his own ambition, lent a willing ear to the bishop's plans. thus was laid the foundation of a vast scheme, which time was to complete. a crusade with the whole strength of the french and spanish crowns, was resolved upon against their own subjects. the bishop's task was accomplished. the cardinal returned to france, determined to effect a peace with spain. he was convinced that the glory of his house was to be infinitely enhanced, and its power impregnably established, by a cordial co-operation with philip in his dark schemes against religion and humanity. the negotiations were kept, however, profoundly secret. a new campaign and fresh humiliations were to precede the acceptance by france of the peace which was thus proffered. hostile operations were renewed soon after the interview at peronne. the duke of guise, who had procured five thousand cavalry and fourteen thousand infantry in germany, now, at the desire of the king, undertook an enterprise against thionville, a city of importance and great strength in luxemburg, upon the river moselle. it was defended by peter de quarebbe, a gentleman of louvain, with a garrison of eighteen hundred men. on the th june, thirty-five pieces of artillery commenced the work; the mining and countermining-continuing seventeen days; on the nd the assault was made, and the garrison capitulated immediately afterwards. it was a siege conducted in a regular and business-like way, but the details possess no interest. it was, however, signalized by the death of one of the eminent adventurers of the age, marshal strozzi. this brave, but always unlucky soldier was slain by a musket ball while assisting the duke of guise--whose arm was, at that instant, resting upon his shoulder--to point a gun at the fortress. after the fall of thionville, the due de guise, for a short time, contemplated the siege of the city of luxemburg, but contented himself with the reduction of the unimportant places of vireton and arlon. here he loitered seventeen days, making no exertions to follow up the success which had attended him at the opening of the campaign. the good fortune of the french was now neutralized by the same languor which had marked the movements of philip after the victory of saint quentin. the time, which might have been usefully employed in following up his success, was now wasted by the duke in trivial business, or in absolute torpor. this may have been the result of a treacherous understanding with spain, and the first fruits of the interview at peronne. whatever the cause, however, the immediate consequences were disaster to the french nation, and humiliation to the crown. it had been the plan of the french cabinet that marshal de thermes, who, upon the capture of calais, had been appointed governor of the city, should take advantage of his position as soon as possible. having assembled an army of some eight thousand foot and fifteen hundred horse, partly gascons and partly germans, he was accordingly directed to ravage the neighboring country, particularly the county of saint pol. in the mean time, the due de guise, having reduced the cities on the southern frontier, was to move in a northerly direction, make a junction with the marshal, and thus extend a barrier along the whole frontier of the netherlands. de therlries set forth from calais, in the beginning of june, with his newly-organized army. passing by gravelines and bourbourg, he arrived before dunkerk on the d of july. the city, which was without a garrison, opened negotiations, during the pendency of which it was taken by assault and pillaged. the town of saint winochsberg shared the same fate. de thermes, who was a martyr to the gout, was obliged at this point temporarily to resign the command to d'estonteville, a ferocious soldier, who led the predatory army as far as niewport, burning, killing, ravishing, plundering, as they went. meantime philip, who was at brussels, had directed the duke of savoy to oppose the due de guise with an army which had been hastily collected and organized at maubeuge, in the province of namur. he now desired, if possible, to attack and cut off the forces of de thermes before he should extend the hand to guise, or make good his retreat to calais. flushed with victory over defenceless peasants, laden with the spoils of sacked and burning towns, the army of de thermes was already on its homeward march. it was the moment for a sudden and daring blow. whose arm should deal it? what general in philip's army possessed the requisite promptness, and felicitous audacity; who, but the most brilliant of cavalry officers, the bold and rapid hero of st. quentin? egmont, in obedience to the king's command, threw himself at once into the field. he hastily collected all the available forces in the neighborhood. these, with drafts from the duke of savoy's army, and with detachments under marshal bigonicourt from the garrisons of saint omer, bethune, aire, and bourbourg, soon amounted to ten thousand foot and two thousand horse. his numbers were still further swollen by large bands of peasantry, both men and women, maddened by their recent injuries, and thirsting for vengeance. with these troops the energetic chieftain took up his position directly in the path of the french army. determined to destroy de thermes with all his force, or to sacrifice himself, he posted his army at gravelines, a small town lying near the sea-shore, and about midway between calais and dunkerk. the french general was putting the finishing touch to his expedition by completing the conflagration at dunkerk, and was moving homeward, when he became aware of the lion in his path. although suffering from severe sickness, he mounted his horse and personally conducted his army to gravelines. here he found his progress completely arrested. on that night, which was the th july, he held a council of officers. it was determined to refuse the combat offered, and, if possible, to escape at low tide along the sands toward calais. the next morning he crossed the river aa, below gravelines. egmont, who was not the man, on that occasion at least, to build a golden bridge for a flying enemy, crossed the same stream just above the town, and drew up his whole force in battle array. de thermes could no longer avoid the conflict thus resolutely forced upon him. courage was now his only. counsellor. being not materially outnumbered by his adversaries, he had, at least, an even chance of cutting his way through all obstacles, and of saving his army and his treasure. the sea was on his right hand, the aa behind him, the enemy in front. he piled his baggage and wagons so as to form a barricade upon his left, and placed his artillery, consisting of four culverines and three falconeta, in front. behind these he drew up his cavalry, supported at each side by the gascons, and placed his french and german infantry in the rear. egmont, on the other hand, divided his cavalry into five squadrons. three of light horse were placed in advance for the first assault--the centre commanded by himself, the two wings by count pontenals and henrico henriquez. the black hussars of lazarus schwendi and the flemish gendarmes came next. behind these was the infantry, divided into three nations, spanish, german, and flemish, and respectively commanded by carvajal, monchausen, and bignicourt. egmont, having characteristically selected the post of danger in the very front of battle for himself, could no longer restrain his impatience. "the foe is ours already," he shouted; "follow me, all who love their fatherland:" with that he set spurs to his horse, and having his own regiment well in hand, dashed upon the enemy. the gascons received the charge with coolness, and under cover of a murderous fire from the artillery in front, which mowed down the foremost ranks of their assailants-sustained the whole weight of the first onset without flinching. egmont's horse was shot under him at the commencement of the action. mounting another, he again cheered his cavalry to the attack. the gascons still maintained an unwavering front, and fought with characteristic ferocity. the courage of despair inflamed the french, the hope of a brilliant and conclusive victory excited the spaniards and flemings. it was a wild, hand to hand conflict--general and soldier, cavalier and pikeman, lancer and musketeer, mingled together in one dark, confused, and struggling mass, foot to foot, breast to breast, horse to horse-a fierce, tumultuous battle on the sands, worthy the fitful pencil of the national painter, wouvermans. for a long time it was doubtful on which side victory was to incline, but at last ten english vessels unexpectedly appeared in the offing, and ranging up soon afterwards as close to the share as was possible, opened their fire upon the still unbroken lines of the french. the ships were too distant, the danger of injuring friend as well as foe too imminent, to allow of their exerting any important influence upon the result. the spirit of the enemy was broken, however, by this attack upon their seaward side, which they had thought impregnable. at the same time, too, a detachment of german cavalry which had been directed by egmont to make their way under the downs to the southward, now succeeded in turning their left flank. egmont, profiting by their confusion, charged them again with redoubled vigor. the fate of the day was decided. the french cavalry wavered, broke their ranks, and in their flight carried dismay throughout the whole army. the rout was total; horse and foot; french, gascon, and german fled from the field together. fifteen hundred fell in the action, as many more were driven into the sea, while great numbers were torn to pieces by the exasperated peasants, who now eagerly washed out their recent injuries in the blood of the dispersed, wandering, and wounded soldiers. the army of de thermes was totally destroyed, and with it, the last hope of france for an honorable and equal negotiation. she was now at philip's feet, so that this brilliant cavalry action, although it has been surpassed in importance by many others, in respect to the numbers of the combatants and the principles involved in the contest, was still, in regard to the extent both of its immediate and its permanent results, one of the most decisive and striking which have ever been fought. the french army engaged was annihilated. marshal de thermes, with a wound in the head, senarpont, annibault, villefon, morvilliers, chanlis, and many others of high rank were prisoners. the french monarch had not much heart to set about the organization of another army; a task which he was now compelled to undertake. he was soon obliged to make the best terms which he could, and to consent to a treaty which was one of the most ruinous in the archives of france. the marshal de thermes was severely censured for having remained so long at dunkerk and in its neighborhood. he was condemned still more loudly for not having at least effected his escape beyond gravelines, during the night which preceded the contest. with regard to the last charge, however, it may well be doubted whether any nocturnal attempt would have been likely to escape the vigilance of egmont. with regard to his delay at dunkerk, it was asserted that he had been instructed to await in that place the junction with the due de guise, which had been previously arranged. but for the criminal and, then, inexplicable languor which characterized that commander's movements, after the capture of thionville, the honor of france might still have been saved. whatever might have been the faults of de thermes or of guise, there could be little doubt as to the merit of egmont. thus within eleven months of the battle of saint quentin, had the dutch hero gained another victory so decisive as to settle the fate of the war, and to elevate his sovereign to a position from which he might dictate the terms of a triumphant peace. the opening scenes of philip's reign were rendered as brilliant as the proudest days of the emperor's career, while the provinces were enraptured with the prospect of early peace. to whom, then, was the sacred debt of national and royal gratitude due but to lamoral of egmont? his countrymen gladly recognized the claim. he became the idol of the army; the familiar hero of ballad and story; the mirror of chivalry, and the god of popular worship. throughout the netherlands he was hailed as the right hand of the fatherland, the saviour of flanders from devastation and outrage, the protector of the nation, the pillar of the throne. the victor gained many friends by his victory, and one enemy. the bitterness of that foe was likely, in the future, to outweigh all the plaudits of his friends. the duke of alva had strongly advised against giving battle to de thermes. he depreciated the triumph after it had been gained, by reflections upon the consequences which would have flowed, had a defeat been suffered instead. he even held this language to egmont himself after his return to brussels. the conqueror, flushed with his glory, was not inclined to digest the criticism, nor what he considered the venomous detraction of the duke. more vain and arrogant than ever, he treated his powerful spanish rival with insolence, and answered his observations with angry sarcasms, even in the presence of the king. alva was not likely to forget the altercation, nor to forgive the triumph. there passed, naturally, much bitter censure and retort on both sides at court, between the friends and adherents of egmont and those who sustained the party of his adversary. the battle of gravelines was fought over daily, amid increasing violence and recrimination, between spaniard and fleming, and the old international hatred flamed more fiercely than ever. alva continued to censure the foolhardiness which had risked so valuable an army on a single blow. egmont's friends replied that it was easy for foreigners, who had nothing at risk in the country, to look on while the fields of the netherlands were laid waste, and the homes and hearths of an industrious population made desolate, by a brutal and rapacious soldiery. they who dwelt in the provinces would be ever grateful to their preserver for the result. they had no eyes for the picture which the spanish party painted of an imaginary triumph of de thermos and its effects. however the envious might cavil, now that the blow had been struck, the popular heart remained warm as ever, and refused to throw down the idol which had so recently been set up. - [chapter iii.] secret negotiations for peace--two fresh armies assembled, but inactive--negotiations at cercamp--death of mary tudor--treaty of cateau cambresis--death of henry ii.--policy of catharine de medici --revelations by henry ii. to the prince of orange--funeral of charles v. in brussels--universal joy in the netherlands at the restoration of peace--organization of the government by philip, and preparations for his departure--appointment of margaret of parma as regent of the netherlands--three councils--the consulta--the stadholders of the different provinces--dissatisfaction caused by the foreign troops--assembly of the estates at ghent to receive the parting instructions and farewell of the king--speech of the bishop of arras--request for three millions--fierce denunciation of heresy on the part of philip--strenuous enforcement of the edicts commanded--reply by the states of arthois--unexpected conditions-- rage of the king--similar conduct on the part of the other provinces--remonstrance in the name of states--general against the foreign soldiery--formal reply on the part of the crown--departure of the king from the netherlands--autos--da--fe in spain. the battle of gravelines had decided the question. the intrigues of the two cardinals at peronne having been sustained by egmont's victory, all parties were ready for a peace. king henry was weary of the losing game which he had so long been playing, philip was anxious to relieve himself from his false position, and to concentrate his whole mind and the strength of his kingdom upon his great enemy the netherland heresy, while the duke of savoy felt that the time had at last arrived when an adroit diplomacy might stand him in stead, and place him in the enjoyment of those rights which the sword had taken from him, and which his own sword had done so much towards winning back. the sovereigns were inclined to peace, and as there had never been a national principle or instinct or interest involved in the dispute, it was very certain that peace would be popular every where, upon whatever terms it might be concluded. montmorency and the prince of orange were respectively empowered to open secret negotiations. the constable entered upon the task with alacrity, because he felt that every day of his captivity was alike prejudicial to his own welfare and the interests of his country.--the guises, who had quarrelled with the duchess de valentinois (diane de poitiers), were not yet powerful enough to resist the influence of the mistress; while, rather to baffle them than from any loftier reasons, that interest was exerted in behalf of immediate peace. the cardinal de lorraine had by no means forgotten the eloquent arguments used by the bishop of arras; but his brother, the due de guise, may be supposed to have desired some little opportunity of redeeming the credit of the kingdom, and to have delayed the negotiations until his valor could secure a less inglorious termination to the war. a fresh army had, in fact, been collected under his command, and was already organized at pierrepoint. at the same time, philip had assembled a large force, consisting of thirty thousand foot and fifteen thousand cavalry, with which he had himself taken the field, encamping towards the middle of august upon the banks of the river anthies, near the border of picardy. king henry, on the other hand, had already arrived in the camp at pierrepoint, and had reviewed as imposing an army as had ever been at the disposal of a french monarch. when drawn up in battle array it covered a league and a half of ground, while three hours were required to make its circuit on horseback. all this martial display was only for effect. the two kings, at the head of their great armies, stood looking at each other while the negotiations for, peace were proceeding. an unimportant skirmish or two at the out-posts, unattended with loss of life, were the only military results of these great preparations. early in the autumn, all the troops were disbanded, while the commissioners of both crowns met in open congress at the abbey of cercamp, near cambray, by the middle of october. the envoys on the part of philip were the prince of orange, the duke of alva, the bishop of arras, ruy gomez de silva, the president viglius; on that of the french monarch, the constable, the marshal de saint andre, the cardinal de lorraine, the bishop of orleans, and claude l'aubespine. there were also envoys sent by the queen of england, but as the dispute concerning calais was found to hamper the negotiations at cercamp, the english question was left to be settled by another congress, and was kept entirely separate from the arrangements concluded between france and spain. the death of queen mary, on the th november, caused a temporary suspension of the proceedings. after the widower, however, had made a fruitless effort to obtain the hand of her successor, and had been unequivocally repulsed, the commissioners again met in february, , at cateau cambresis. the english difficulty was now arranged by separate commissioners, and on the third of april a treaty between france and spain was concluded. by this important convention, both kings bound themselves to maintain the catholic worship inviolate by all means in their power, and agreed that an oecumenical council should at once assemble, to compose the religious differences, and to extinguish the increasing heresy in both kingdoms. furthermore, it was arranged that the conquests made by each country during the preceding eight years should be restored. thus all the gains of francis and henry were annulled by a single word, and the duke of savoy converted, by a dash of the pen, from a landless soldier of fortune into a sovereign again. he was to receive back all his estates, and was moreover to marry henry's sister margaret, with a dowry of three hundred thousand crowns. philip, on the other hand, now a second time a widower, was to espouse henry's daughter isabella, already betrothed to the infant don carlos, and to receive with her a dowry of four hundred thousand crowns. the restitutions were to be commenced by henry, and to be completed within three months. philip was to restore his conquests in the course of a month afterwards. most of the powers of europe were included by both parties in this treaty: the pope, the emperor, all the electors, the republics of venice, genoa and switzerland, the kingdoms of england, scotland, poland, denmark, sweden; the duchies of ferrara, savoy and parma, besides other inferior principalities. nearly all christendom, in short, was embraced in this most amicable compact, as if philip were determined that, henceforth and forever, calvinists and mahometans, turks and flemings, should be his only enemies. the king of france was to select four hostages from among philip's subjects, to accompany him to paris as pledges for the execution of all the terms of the treaty. the royal choice fell upon the prince of orange, the duke of alva, the duke of aerschot, and the count of egmont. such was the treaty of cateau cambresis. thus was a termination put to a war between france and spain, which had been so wantonly undertaken. marshal monluc wrote that a treaty so disgraceful and disastrous had never before been ratified by a french monarch. it would have been difficult to point to any one more unfortunate upon her previous annals; if any treaty can be called unfortunate, by which justice is done and wrongs repaired, even under coercion. the accumulated plunder of years, which was now disgorged by france, was equal in value to one third of that kingdom. one hundred and ninety-eight fortified towns were surrendered, making, with other places of greater or less importance, a total estimated by some writers as high as four hundred. the principal gainer was the duke of savoy, who, after so many years of knight- errantry, had regained his duchy, and found himself the brother-in-law of his ancient enemy. the well-known tragedy by which the solemnities of this pacification were abruptly concluded in paris, bore with it an impressive moral. the monarch who, in violation of his plighted word and against the interests of his nation and the world, had entered precipitately into a causeless war, now lost his life in fictitious combat at the celebration of peace. on the tenth of july, henry the second died of the wound inflicted by montgomery in the tournament held eleven days before. of this weak and worthless prince, all that even his flatterers could favorably urge was his great fondness for war, as if a sanguinary propensity, even when unaccompanied by a spark of military talent, were of itself a virtue. yet, with his death the kingdom fell even into more pernicious hands, and the fate of christendom grew darker than ever. the dynasty of diane de poitiers was succeeded by that of catharine de medici; the courtesan gave place to the dowager; and france during the long and miserable period in which she lay bleeding in the grasp of the italian she-wolf and her litter of cowardly and sanguinary princes--might even lament the days of henry and his diana. charles the ninth, henry the third, francis of alencon, last of the valois race--how large a portion of the fearful debt which has not yet been discharged by half a century of revolution and massacre was of their accumulation. the duchess of valentinois had quarrelled latterly with the house of guise, and was disposed to favor montmorency. the king, who was but a tool in her hands, might possibly have been induced, had he lived, to regard coligny and his friends with less aversion. this is, however, extremely problematical, for it was henry the second who had concluded that memorable arrangement with his royal brother of spain, to arrange for the huguenot chiefs throughout both realms, a "sicilian vespers," upon the first favorable occasion. his death and the subsequent policy of the queen-regent deferred the execution of the great scheme till fourteen years later. henry had lived long enough, however, after the conclusion of the secret agreement to reveal it to one whose life was to be employed in thwarting this foul conspiracy of monarchs against their subjects. william of orange, then a hostage for the execution of the treaty of cateau cambresis, was the man with whom the king had the unfortunate conception to confer on the subject of the plot. the prince, who had already gained the esteem of charles the fifth by his habitual discretion, knew how to profit by the intelligence and to bide his time; but his hostility to the policy of the french and spanish courts was perhaps dated from that hour. pending the peace negotiations, philip had been called upon to mourn for his wife and father. he did not affect grief for the death of mary tudor, but he honored the emperor's departure with stately obsequies at brussels. the ceremonies lasted two days (the th and th december, ). in the grand and elaborate procession which swept through the streets upon the first day, the most conspicuous object was a ship floating apparently upon the waves, and drawn by a band of tritons who disported at the bows. the masts, shrouds, and sails of the vessel were black, it was covered with heraldic achievements, banners and emblematic mementos of the emperor's various expeditions, while the flags of turks and moors trailed from her sides in the waves below. three allegorical personages composed the crew. hope, "all clothyd in brown, with anker in hand," stood at the prow; faith, with sacramental chalice and red cross, clad in white garment, with her face nailed "with white tiffany," sat on a "stool of estate" before the mizen-mast; while charity "in red, holding in her hand a burning heart," was at the helm to navigate the vessel. hope, faith, and love were thought the most appropriate symbols for the man who had invented the edicts, introduced the inquisition, and whose last words, inscribed by a hand already trembling with death, had adjured his son, by his love, allegiance, and hope of salvation, to deal to all heretics the extreme rigor of the law, "without respect of persons and without regard to any plea in their favor." the rest of the procession, in which marched the duke of alva, the prince of orange, and other great personages, carrying the sword, the globe, the sceptre, and the "crown imperial," contained no emblems or imagery worthy of being recorded. the next day the king, dressed in mourning and attended by a solemn train of high officers and nobles, went again to the church. a contemporary letter mentions a somewhat singular incident as forming the concluding part of the ceremony. "and the service being done," wrote sir richard clough to sir thomas gresham, "there went a nobleman into the herse (so far as i codde understande, it was the prince of orange), who, standing before the herse, struck with his hand upon the chest and sayd, 'he is ded.' then standing styli awhile, he sayd, 'he shall remayn ded.' and 'then resting awhile, he struck again and sayd, 'he is ded, and there is another rysen up in his place greater than ever he was.' whereupon the kynge's hoode was taken off and the kynge went home without his hoode." if the mourning for the dead emperor was but a mummery and a masquerade, there was, however, heartiness and sincerity in the rejoicing which now burst forth like a sudden illumination throughout the netherlands, upon the advent of peace. all was joy in the provinces, but at antwerp, the metropolis of the land, the enthusiasm was unbounded. nine days were devoted to festivities. bells rang their merriest peals, artillery thundered, beacons blazed, the splendid cathedral spire flamed nightly with three hundred burning cresaets, the city was strewn with flowers and decorated with triumphal arches, the guilds of rhetoric amazed the world with their gorgeous processions, glittering dresses and bombastic versification, the burghers all, from highest to humblest, were feasted and made merry, wine flowed in the streets and oxen were roasted whole, prizes on poles were climbed for, pigs were hunted blindfold, men and women raced in sacks, and in short, for nine days long there was one universal and spontaneous demonstration of hilarity in antwerp and throughout the provinces. but with this merry humor of his subjects, the sovereign had but little sympathy. there was nothing in his character or purposes which owed affinity with any mood of this jocund and energetic people. philip had not made peace with all the world that the netherlanders might climb on poles or ring bells, or strew flowers in his path for a little holiday time, and then return to their industrious avocations again. he had made peace with all the world that he might be free to combat heresy; and this arch enemy had taken up its strong hold in the provinces. the treaty of cateau cambresis left him at liberty to devote himself to that great enterprise. he had never loved the netherlands, a residence in these constitutional provinces was extremely irksome to him, and he was therefore anxious to return to spain. from the depths of his cabinet he felt that he should be able to direct the enterprise he was resolved upon, and that his presence in the netherlands would be superfluous and disagreeable. the early part of the year was spent by philip in organizing the government of the provinces and in making the necessary preparations for his departure. the duke of savoy, being restored to his duchy, had, of course, no more leisure to act as regent of the netherlands, and it was necessary, therefore, to fix upon his successor in this important post, at once. there were several candidates. the duchess christina of lorraine had received many half promises of the appointment, which she was most anxious to secure; the emperor was even said to desire the nomination of the archduke maximilian, a step which would have certainly argued more magnanimity upon philip's part than the world could give him credit for; and besides these regal personages, the high nobles of the land, especially orange and egmont, had hopes of obtaining the dignity. the prince of orange, however, was too sagacious to deceive himself long, and became satisfied very soon that no netherlander was likely to be selected for regent. he therefore threw his influence in favor of the duchess christina, whose daughter, at the suggestion of the bishop of arras, he was desirous of obtaining in marriage. the king favored for a time, or pretended to favor, both the appointment of madame de lorraine and the marriage project of the prince. afterwards, however, and in a manner which was accounted both sudden and mysterious, it appeared that the duchess and orange had both been deceived, and that the king and bishop had decided in favor of another candidate, whose claims had not been considered, before, very prominent. this was the duchess margaret of parma, natural daughter of charles the fifth. a brief sketch of this important personage, so far as regards her previous career, is reserved for the following chapter. for the present it is sufficient to state the fact of the nomination. in order to afford a full view of philip's political arrangements before his final departure from the netherlands, we defer until the same chapter, an account of the persons who composed the boards of council organized to assist the new regent in the government. these bodies themselves were three in number: a state and privy council and one of finance. they were not new institutions, having been originally established by the emperor, and were now arranged by his successor upon the same nominal basis upon which they had before existed. the finance council, which had superintendence of all matters relating to the royal domains and to the annual budgets of the government, was presided over by baron berlaymont. the privy council, of which viglius was president, was composed of ten or twelve learned doctors, and was especially entrusted with the control of matters relating to law, pardons, and the general administration of justice. the state council, which was far the most important of the three boards, was to superintend all high affairs of government, war, treaties, foreign intercourse, internal and interprovincial affairs. the members of this council were the bishop of arras, viglius, berlaymont, the prince of orange, count egmont, to which number were afterwards added the seigneur de glayon, the duke of aerschot, and count horn. the last-named nobleman, who was admiral of the provinces, had, for the, present, been appointed to accompany the king to spain, there to be specially entrusted with the administration of affairs relating to the netherlands. he was destined, however, to return at the expiration of two years. with the object, as it was thought, of curbing the power of the great nobles, it had been arranged that the three councils should be entirely distinct from each other, that the members of the state council should have no participation in the affairs of the two other bodies; but, on the other hand, that the finance and privy councillors, as well as the knights of the fleece, should have access to the deliberations of the state council. in the course of events, however, it soon became evident that the real power of the government was exclusively in the hands of the consulta, a committee of three members of the state council, by whose deliberations the regent was secretly instructed to be guided on all important occasions. the three, viglius, berlaymont, and arras, who composed the secret conclave or cabinet, were in reality but one. the bishop of arras was in all three, and the three together constituted only the bishop of arras. there was no especial governor or stadholder appointed for the province of brabant, where the regent was to reside and to exercise executive functions in person. the stadholders for the other provinces were, for flanders and artois, the count of egmont; for holland, zeeland, and utrecht, the prince of orange; for gueldres and zutfen, the count of meghen; for friesland, groningen and overyssel, count aremberg; for hainault, valenciennes and cambray, the marquis of berghen; for tournay and tournaisis, baron montigny; for namur, baron berlaymont; for luxemburg, count mansfeld; for ryssel, douay and orchies, the baron coureires. all these stadholders were commanders-in-chief of the military forces in their respective provinces. with the single exception of count egmont, in whose province of flanders the stadholders were excluded from the administration of justice,--all were likewise supreme judges in the civil and criminal tribunal. the military force of the netherlands in time of peace was small, for the provinces were jealous of the presence of soldiery. the only standing army which then legally existed in the netherlands were the bandes d'ordonnance, a body of mounted gendarmerie--amounting in all to three thousand men--which ranked among the most accomplished and best disciplined cavalry of europe. they were divided into fourteen squadrons, each under the command of a stadholder, or of a distinguished noble. besides these troops, however, there still remained in the provinces a foreign force amounting in the aggregate to four thousand men. these soldiers were the remainder of those large bodies which year after year had been quartered upon the netherlands during the constant warfare to which they had been exposed. living upon the substance of the country, paid out of its treasury, and as offensive by their licentious and ribald habits of life as were the enemies against whom they were enrolled, these troops had become an intolerable burthen to the people. they were now disposed in different garrisons, nominally to protect the frontier. as a firm peace, however, had now been concluded between spain and france, and as there was no pretext for compelling the provinces to accept this protection, the presence of a foreign soldiery strengthened a suspicion that they were to be used in the onslaught which was preparing against the religious freedom and the political privileges of the country. they were to be the nucleus of a larger army, it was believed, by which the land was to be reduced to a state of servile subjection to spain. a low, constant, but generally unheeded murmur of dissatisfaction and distrust upon this subject was already perceptible throughout the netherlands; a warning presage of the coming storm. all the provinces were now convoked for the th of august ( ), at ghent, there to receive the parting communication and farewell of the king. previously to this day, however, philip appeared in person upon several solemn occasions, to impress upon the country the necessity of attending to the great subject with which his mind was exclusively occupied. he came before the great council of mechlin, in order to address that body with his own lips upon the necessity of supporting the edicts to the letter, and of trampling out every vestige of heresy, wherever it should appear, by the immediate immolation of all heretics, whoever they might be. he likewise caused the estates of flanders to be privately assembled, that he might harangue them upon the same great topic. in the latter part of july he proceeded to ghent, where a great concourse of nobles, citizens, and strangers had already assembled. here, in the last week of the month, the twenty-third chapter of the golden fleece was held with much pomp, and with festivities which lasted three days. the fourteen vacancies which existed were filled with the names of various distinguished personages. with this last celebration the public history of philip the good's ostentatious and ambitious order of knighthood was closed. the subsequent nominations were made 'ex indultu apostolico', and without the assembling of a chapter. the estates having duly assembled upon the day prescribed, philip, attended by margaret of parma, the duke of savoy, and a stately retinue of ambassadors and grandees, made his appearance before them. after the customary ceremonies had been performed, the bishop of arras arose and delivered, in the name of his sovereign, an elaborate address of instructions and farewells. in this important harangue, the states were informed that the king had convened them in order that they might be informed of his intention of leaving the netherlands immediately. he would gladly have remained longer in his beloved provinces, had not circumstances compelled his departure. his father had come hither for the good of the country in the year , and had never returned to spain, except to die. upon the king's accession to the sovereignty he had arranged a truce of five years, which had been broken through by the faithlessness of france. he had, therefore, been obliged, notwithstanding his anxiety to return to a country where his presence was so much needed, to remain in the provinces till he had conducted the new war to a triumphant close. in doing this he had been solely governed by his intense love for the netherlands, and by his regard for their interests. all the money which he had raised from their coffers had been spent for their protection. upon this account his majesty expressed his confidence that the estates would pay an earnest attention to the "request" which had been laid before them, the more so, as its amount, three millions of gold florins, would all be expended for the good of the provinces. after his return to spain he hoped to be able to make a remittance. the duke of savoy, he continued, being obliged, in consequence of the fortunate change in his affairs, to resign the government of the netherlands, and his own son, don carlos, not yet being sufficiently advanced in years to succeed to that important post, his majesty had selected his sister, the duchess margaret of parma, daughter of the emperor, as the most proper person for regent. as she had been born in the netherlands, and had always entertained a profound affection for the provinces, he felt a firm confidence that she would prove faithful both to their interests and his own. as at this moment many countries, and particularly the lands in the immediate neighborhood, were greatly infested by various "new, reprobate, and damnable sects;" as these sects, proceeding from the foul fiend, father of discord, had not failed to keep those kingdoms in perpetual dissension and misery, to the manifest displeasure of god almighty; as his majesty was desirous to avert such terrible evils from his own realms, according to his duty to the lord god, who would demand reckoning from him hereafter for the well-being of the provinces; as all experience proved that change of religion ever brought desolation and confusion to the commonweal; as low persons, beggars and vagabonds, under color of religion, were accustomed to traverse the land for the purpose of plunder and disturbance; as his majesty was most desirous of following in the footsteps of his lord and father; as it would be well remembered what the emperor had said to him upon the memorable occasion of his abdication; therefore his majesty had commanded the regent margaret of parma, for the sake of religion and the glory of god, accurately and exactly to cause to be enforced the edicts and decrees made by his imperial majesty, and renewed by his present majesty, for the extirpation of all sects and heresies. all governors, councillors, and others having authority, were also instructed to do their utmost to accomplish this great end. the great object of the discourse was thus announced in the most impressive manner, and with all that conventional rhetoric of which the bishop of arras was considered a consummate master. not a word was said on the subject which was nearest the hearts of the netherlanders--the withdrawal of the spanish troops. [bentivoglio. guerra di fiandra, i. (opere, parigi, ), gives a different report, which ends with a distinct promise on the part of the king to dismiss the troops as soon as possible: "--in segno di the spetialmente havrebbe quanto prima, a fatti uscire i presidij stranieri dalle fortezze a levata ogn' insolita contributione al paese." it is almost superfluous to state that the cardinal is no authority for speeches, except, indeed, for those which were never made. long orations by generals upon the battle-field, by royal personages in their cabinets, by conspirators in secret conclave, are reported by him with muck minuteness, and none can gainsay the accuracy with which these harangues, which never had any existence, except in the author's imagination, are placed before the reader. bentivoglio's stately and graceful style, elegant descriptions, and general acquaintance with his subject will always make his works attractive, but the classic and conventional system of inventing long speeches for historical characters has fortunately gone out of fashion. it is very interesting to know what an important personage really did say or write upon remarkable occasions; but it is less instructive to be told what the historian thinks might have been a good speech or epistle for him to utter or indito.] not a hint was held out that a reduction of the taxation, under which the provinces had so long been groaning, was likely to take place; but, on the contrary, the king had demanded a new levy of considerable amount. a few well-turned paragraphs were added on the subject of the administration of justice--"without which the republic was a dead body without a soul"--in the bishop's most approved style, and the discourse concluded with a fervent exhortation to the provinces to trample heresy and heretics out of existence, and with the hope that the lord god, in such case, would bestow upon the netherlands health and happiness. after the address had been concluded, the deputies, according to ancient form, requested permission to adjourn, that the representatives of each province might deliberate among themselves on the point of granting or withholding the request for the three millions. on the following day they again assembled in the presence of the king, for the purpose of returning their separate answers to the propositions. the address first read was that of the estates of artois. the chairman of the deputies from that province read a series of resolutions, drawn up, says a contemporary, "with that elegance which characterized all the public acts of the artesians; bearing witness to the vivacity of their wits." the deputies spoke of the extreme affection which their province had always borne to his majesty and to the emperor. they had proved it by the constancy with which they had endured the calamities of war so long, and they now cheerfully consented to the request, so far as their contingent went. they were willing to place at his majesty's disposal, not only the remains of their property, but even the last drop of their blood. as the eloquent chairman reached this point in his discourse, philip, who was standing with his arm resting upon egmont's shoulder, listening eagerly to the artesian address, looked upon the deputies of the province with a smiling face, expressing by the unwonted benignity of his countenance the satisfaction which he received from these loyal expressions of affection, and this dutiful compliance with his request. the deputy, however, proceeded to an unexpected conclusion, by earnestly entreating his majesty, as a compensation for the readiness thus evinced in the royal service, forthwith to order the departure of all foreign troops then in the netherlands. their presence, it was added, was now rendered completely superfluous by the ratification of the treaty of peace so fortunately arranged with all the world. at this sudden change in the deputy's language, the king, no longer smiling, threw himself violently upon his chair of state, where he remained, brooding with a gloomy countenance upon the language which had been addressed to him. it was evident, said an eye-witness, that he was deeply offended. he changed color frequently, so that all present "could remark, from the working of his face, how much his mind was agitated." the rest of the provinces were even more explicit than the deputies of artois. all had voted their contingents to the request, but all had made the withdrawal of the troops an express antecedent condition to the payment of their respective quotas. the king did not affect to conceal his rage at these conditions, exclaiming bitterly to count egmont and other seignors near the throne that it was very easy to estimate, by these proceedings, the value of the protestations made by the provinces of their loyalty and affection. besides, however, the answers thus addressed by the separate states to the royal address, a formal remonstrance had also been drawn up in the name of the states general, and signed by the prince of orange, count egmont, and many of the leading patricians of the netherlands. this document, which was formally presented to the king before the adjournment of the assembly, represented the infamous "pillaging, insults, and disorders" daily exercised by the foreign soldiery; stating that the burthen had become intolerable, and that the inhabitants of marienburg, and of many other large towns and villages had absolutely abandoned their homes rather than remain any longer exposed to such insolence and oppression. the king, already enraged, was furious at the presentation of this petition. he arose from his seat, and rushed impetuously from the assembly, demanding of the members as he went, whether he too, as a spaniard, was expected immediately to leave the land, and to resign all authority over it. the duke of savoy made use of this last occasion in which he appeared in public as regent, violently to rebuke the estates for the indignity thus offered to their sovereign. it could not be forgotten, however, by nobles and burghers, who had not yet been crushed by the long course of oppression which was in store for them, that there had been a day when philip's ancestors had been more humble in their deportment in the face of the provincial authorities. his great-grandfather, maximilian, kept in durance by the citizens of bruges; his great-grandmother, mary of burgundy, with streaming eyes and dishevelled hair, supplicating in the market-place for the lives of her treacherous ambassadors, were wont to hold a less imperious language to the delegates of the states. this burst of ill temper on the part of the monarch was, however, succeeded by a different humor. it was still thought advisable to dissemble, and to return rather an expostulatory than a peremptory answer to the remonstrance of the states general. accordingly a paper of a singular tone was, after the delay of a few days, sent into the assembly. in this message it was stated that the king was not desirous of placing strangers in the government--a fact which was proved by the appointment of the duchess margaret; that the spanish infantry was necessary to protect the land from invasion; that the remnant of foreign troops only amounted to three or four thousand men, who claimed considerable arrears of pay, but that the amount due would be forwarded to them immediately after his majesty's return to spain. it was suggested that the troops would serve as an escort for don carlos when he should arrive in the netherlands, although the king would have been glad to carry them to spain in his fleet, had he known the wishes of the estates in time. he would, however, pay for their support himself, although they were to act solely for the good of the provinces. he observed, moreover, that he had selected two seignors of the provinces, the prince of orange and count egmont, to take command of these foreign troops, and he promised faithfully that, in the course of three or four months at furthest, they should all be withdrawn. on the same day in which the estates had assembled at ghent, philip had addressed an elaborate letter to the grand council of mechlin, the supreme court of the provinces, and to the various provincial councils and tribunals of the whole country. the object of the communication was to give his final orders on the subject of the edicts, and for the execution of all heretics in the most universal and summary manner. he gave stringent and unequivocal instructions that these decrees for burning, strangling, and burying alive, should be fulfilled to the letter. he ordered all judicial officers and magistrates "to be curious to enquire on all sides as to the execution of the placards," stating his intention that "the utmost rigor should be employed without any respect of persons," and that not only the transgressors should be proceeded against, but also the judges who should prove remiss in their prosecution of heretics. he alluded to a false opinion which had gained currency that the edicts were only intended against anabaptists. correcting this error, he stated that they were to be "enforced against all sectaries, without any distinction or mercy, who might be spotted merely with the errors introduced by luther." the king, notwithstanding the violent scenes in the assembly, took leave of the estates at another meeting with apparent cordiality. his dissatisfaction was sufficiently manifest, but it expressed itself principally against individuals. his displeasure at the course pursued by the leading nobles, particularly by the prince of orange, was already no secret. philip, soon after the adjournment of the assembly, had completed the preparations for his departure. at middelburg he was met by the agreeable intelligence that the pope had consented to issue a bull for the creation of the new bishoprics which he desired for the netherlands. --this important subject will be resumed in another chapter; for the present we accompany the king to flushing, whence the fleet was to set sail for spain. he was escorted thither by the duchess regent, the duke of savoy, and by many of the most eminent personages of the provinces. among others william of orange was in attendance to witness the final departure of the king, and to pay him his farewell respects. as philip was proceeding on board the ship which was to bear him forever from the netherlands, his eyes lighted upon the prince. his displeasure could no longer be restrained. with angry face he turned upon him, and bitterly reproached him for having thwarted all his plans by means of his secret intrigues. william replied with humility that every thing which had taken place had been done through the regular and natural movements of the states. upon this the king, boiling with rage, seized the prince by the wrist, and shaking it violently, exclaimed in spanish, "no los estados, ma vos, vos, vos!--not the estates, but you, you, you!" repeating thrice the word vos, which is as disrespectful and uncourteous in spanish as "toi" in french. after this severe and public insult, the prince of orange did not go on board his majesty's vessel, but contented himself with wishing philip, from the shore, a fortunate journey. it may be doubted, moreover, whether he would not have made a sudden and compulsory voyage to spain had he ventured his person in the ship, and whether, under the circumstances, he would have been likely to effect as speedy a return. his caution served him then as it was destined to do on many future occasions, and philip left the netherlands with this parting explosion of hatred against the man who, as he perhaps instinctively felt, was destined to circumvent his measures and resist his tyranny to the last. the fleet, which consisted of ninety vessels, so well provisioned that, among other matters, fifteen thousand capons were put on board, according to the antwerp chronicler, set sail upon the th august ( ), from flushing. the voyage proved tempestuous, so that much of the rich tapestry and other merchandise which had been accumulated by charles and philip was lost. some of the vessels foundered; to save others it was necessary to lighten the cargo, and "to enrobe the roaring waters with the silks," for which the netherlands were so famous; so that it was said that philip and his father had impoverished the earth only to enrich the ocean. the fleet had been laden with much valuable property, because the king had determined to fix for the future the wandering capital of his dominions in spain. philip landed in safety, however, at laredo, on the th september. his escape from imminent peril confirmed him in the great purpose to which he had consecrated his existence. he believed himself to have been reserved from shipwreck only because a mighty mission had been confided to him, and lest his enthusiasm against heresy should languish, his eyes were soon feasted, upon his arrival in his native country, with the spectacle of an auto-da fe. early in january of this year the king being persuaded that it was necessary every where to use additional means to check the alarming spread of lutheran opinions, had written to the pope for authority to increase, if that were possible, the stringency of the spanish inquisition. the pontiff, nothing loath, had accordingly issued a bull directed to the inquisitor general, valdez, by which he was instructed to consign to the flames all prisoners whatever, even those who were not accused of having "relapsed." great preparations had been made to strike terror into the hearts of heretics by a series of horrible exhibitions, in the course of which the numerous victims, many of them persons of high rank, distinguished learning, and exemplary lives, who had long been languishing in the dungeons of the holy office, were to be consigned to the flames. the first auto-da fe had been consummated at valladolid on the st may ( ), in the absence of the king, of course, but in the presence of the royal family and the principal notabilities, civil, ecclesiastical, and military. the princess regent, seated on her throne, close to the scaffold, had held on high the holy sword. the archbishop of seville, followed by the ministers of the inquisition and by the victims, had arrived in solemn procession at the "cadahalso," where, after the usual sermon in praise of the holy office and in denunciation of heresy, he had administered the oath to the intante, who had duly sworn upon the crucifix to maintain forever the sacred inquisition and the apostolic decrees. the archbishop had then cried aloud, "so may god prosper your highnesses and your estates;" after which the men and women who formed the object of the show had been cast into the flames.-- [cabrera]. it being afterwards ascertained that the king himself would soon be enabled to return to spain, the next festival was reserved as a fitting celebration for his arrival. upon the th october, accordingly, another auto-da fe took place at valladolid. the king, with his sister and his son, the high officers of state, the foreign ministers, and all the nobility of the kingdom, were present, together with an immense concourse of soldiery, clergy, and populace. the sermon was preached by the bishop of cuenga. when it was finished, inquisitor general valdez cried with a loud voice, "oh god, make speed to help us!" the king then drew his sword. valdez, advancing to the platform upon which philip was seated, proceeded to read the protestation: "your majesty swears by the cross of the sword, whereon your royal hand reposes, that you will give all necessary favor to the holy office of the inquisition against heretics, apostates, and those who favor them, and will denounce and inform against all those who, to your royal knowledge, shall act or speak against the faith." the king answered aloud, "i swear it," and signed the paper. the oath was read to the whole assembly by an officer of the inquisition. thirteen distinguished victims were then burned before the monarch's eyes, besides one body which a friendly death had snatched from the hands of the holy office, and the effigy of another person who had been condemned, although not yet tried or even apprehended. among the sufferers was carlos de sessa, a young noble of distinguished character and abilities, who said to the king as he passed by the throne to the stake, "how can you thus look on and permit me to be burned?" philip then made the memorable reply, carefully recorded by his historiographer and panegyrist; "i would carry the wood to burn my own son withal, were he as wicked as you." in seville, immediately afterwards, another auto-da fe was held, in which fifty living heretics were burned, besides the bones of doctor constantine ponce de la fuente, once the friend, chaplain, and almoner of philip's father. this learned and distinguished ecclesiastic had been released from a dreadful dungeon by a fortunate fever. the holy office, however, not content with punishing his corpse, wreaked also an impotent and ludicrous malice upon his effigy. a stuffed figure, attired in his robes and with its arms extended in the attitude which was habitual with him in prayer, was placed upon the scaffold among the living victims, and then cast into the flames, that bigotry might enjoy a fantastic triumph over the grave. such were the religious ceremonies with which philip celebrated his escape from shipwreck, and his marriage with isabella of france, immediately afterwards solemnized. these human victims, chained and burning at the stake, were the blazing torches which lighted the monarch to his nuptial couch. etext editor's bookmarks: consign to the flames all prisoners whatever (papal letter) courage of despair inflamed the french decrees for burning, strangling, and burying alive i would carry the wood to burn my own son withal inventing long speeches for historical characters let us fool these poor creatures to their heart's content petty passion for contemptible details promises which he knew to be binding only upon the weak rashness alternating with hesitation these human victims, chained and burning at the stake [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. historical introduction., part . vii. five centuries of isolation succeed. in the netherlands, as throughout europe, a thousand obscure and slender rills are slowly preparing the great stream of universal culture. five dismal centuries of feudalism: during which period there is little talk of human right, little obedience to divine reason. rights there are none, only forces; and, in brief, three great forces, gradually arising, developing themselves, acting upon each other, and upon the general movement of society. the sword--the first, for a time the only force: the force of iron. the "land's master," having acquired the property in the territory and in the people who feed thereon, distributes to his subalterns, often but a shade beneath him in power, portions of his estate, getting the use of their faithful swords in return. vavasours subdivide again to vassals, exchanging land and cattle, human or otherwise, against fealty, and so the iron chain of a military hierarchy, forged of mutually interdependent links, is stretched over each little province. impregnable castles, here more numerous than in any other part of christendom, dot the level surface of the country. mail-clad knights, with their followers, encamp permanently upon the soil. the fortunate fable of divine right is invented to sanction the system; superstition and ignorance give currency to the delusion. thus the grace of god, having conferred the property in a vast portion of europe upon a certain idiot in france, makes him competent to sell large fragments of his estate, and to give a divine, and, therefore, most satisfactory title along with them. a great convenience to a man, who had neither power, wit, nor will to keep the property in his own hands. so the dirks of holland get a deed from charles the simple, and, although the grace of god does not prevent the royal grantor himself from dying a miserable, discrowned captive, the conveyance to dirk is none the less hallowed by almighty fiat. so the roberts and guys, the johns and baldwins, become sovereigns in hainault, brabant, flanders and other little districts, affecting supernatural sanction for the authority which their good swords have won and are ever ready to maintain. thus organized, the force of iron asserts and exerts itself. duke, count, seignor and vassal, knight and squire, master and man swarm and struggle amain. a wild, chaotic, sanguinary scene. here, bishop and baron contend, centuries long, murdering human creatures by ten thousands for an acre or two of swampy pasture; there, doughty families, hugging old musty quarrels to their heart, buffet each other from generation to generation; thus they go on, raging and wrestling among themselves, with all the world, shrieking insane war-cries which no human soul ever understood--red caps and black, white hoods and grey, hooks and kabbeljaws, dealing destruction, building castles and burning them, tilting at tourneys, stealing bullocks, roasting jews, robbing the highways, crusading--now upon syrian sands against paynim dogs, now in frisian quagmires against albigenses, stedingers, and other heretics-- plunging about in blood and fire, repenting, at idle times, and paying their passage through, purgatory with large slices of ill-gotten gains placed in the ever-extended dead-hand of the church; acting, on the whole, according to their kind, and so getting themselves civilized or exterminated, it matters little which. thus they play their part, those energetic men-at-arms; and thus one great force, the force of iron, spins and expands itself, century after century, helping on, as it whirls, the great progress of society towards its goal, wherever that may be. another force--the force clerical--the power of clerks, arises; the might of educated mind measuring itself against brute violence; a force embodied, as often before, as priestcraft--the strength of priests: craft meaning, simply, strength, in our old mother-tongue. this great force, too, develops itself variously, being sometimes beneficent, sometimes malignant. priesthood works out its task, age after age: now smoothing penitent death-beds, consecrating graves! feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, incarnating the christian precepts, in an, age of rapine and homicide, doing a thousand deeds of love and charity among the obscure and forsaken--deeds of which there shall never be human chronicle, but a leaf or two, perhaps, in the recording angel's book; hiving precious honey from the few flowers of gentle, art which bloom upon a howling wilderness; holding up the light of science over a stormy sea; treasuring in convents and crypts the few fossils of antique learning which become visible, as the extinct megatherium of an elder world reappears after the gothic deluge; and now, careering in helm and hauberk with the other ruffians, bandying blows in the thickest of the fight, blasting with bell, book, and candle its trembling enemies, while sovereigns, at the head of armies, grovel in the dust and offer abject submission for the kiss of peace; exercising the same conjury over ignorant baron and cowardly hind, making the fiction of apostolic authority to bind and loose, as prolific in acres as the other divine right to have and hold; thus the force of cultivated intellect, wielded by a chosen few and sanctioned by supernatural authority, becomes as potent as the sword. a third force, developing itself more slowly, becomes even more potent than the rest: the power of gold. even iron yields to the more ductile metal. the importance of municipalities, enriched by trade, begins to be felt. commerce, the mother of netherland freedom, and, eventually, its destroyer--even as in all human history the vivifying becomes afterwards the dissolving principle--commerce changes insensibly and miraculously the aspect of society. clusters of hovels become towered cities; the green and gilded hanse of commercial republicanism coils itself around the decaying trunk of feudal despotism. cities leagued with cities throughout and beyond christendom-empire within empire-bind themselves closer and closer in the electric chain of human sympathy and grow stronger and stronger by mutual support. fishermen and river raftsmen become ocean adventurers and merchant princes. commerce plucks up half- drowned holland by the locks and pours gold into her lap. gold wrests power from iron. needy flemish weavers become mighty manufacturers. armies of workmen, fifty thousand strong, tramp through the swarming streets. silk-makers, clothiers, brewers become the gossips of kings, lend their royal gossips vast sums and burn the royal notes of hand in fires of cinnamon wood. wealth brings strength, strength confidence. learning to handle cross-bow and dagger, the burghers fear less the baronial sword, finding that their own will cut as well, seeing that great armies--flowers of chivalry--can ride away before them fast enough at battles of spurs and other encounters. sudden riches beget insolence, tumults, civic broils. internecine quarrels, horrible tumults stain the streets with blood, but education lifts the citizens more and more out of the original slough. they learn to tremble as little at priestcraft as at swordcraft, having acquired something of each. gold in the end, unsanctioned by right divine, weighs up the other forces, supernatural as they are. and so, struggling along their appointed path, making cloth, making money, making treaties with great kingdoms, making war by land and sea, ringing great bells, waving great banners, they, too--these insolent, boisterous burghers--accomplish their work. thus, the mighty power of the purse develops itself and municipal liberty becomes a substantial fact. a fact, not a principle; for the old theorem of sovereignty remains undisputed as ever. neither the nation, in mass, nor the citizens, in class, lay claim to human rights. all upper attributes--legislative, judicial, administrative--remain in the land- master's breast alone. it is an absurdity, therefore, to argue with grotius concerning the unknown antiquity of the batavian republic. the republic never existed at all till the sixteenth century, and was only born after long years of agony. the democratic instincts of the ancient german savages were to survive in the breasts of their cultivated descendants, but an organized, civilized, republican polity had never existed. the cities, as they grew in strength, never claimed the right to make the laws or to share in the government. as a matter of fact, they did make the laws, and shared, beside, in most important functions of sovereignty, in the treaty-making power, especially. sometimes by bargains; sometimes by blood, by gold, threats, promises, or good hard blows they extorted their charters. their codes, statutes, joyful entrances, and other constitutions were dictated by the burghers and sworn to by the monarch. they were concessions from above; privileges private laws; fragments indeed of a larger liberty, but vastly, better than the slavery for which they had been substituted; solid facts instead of empty abstractions, which, in those practical and violent days, would have yielded little nutriment; but they still rather sought to reconcile themselves, by a rough, clumsy fiction, with the hierarchy which they had invaded, than to overturn the system. thus the cities, not regarding themselves as representatives or aggregations of the people, became fabulous personages, bodies without souls, corporations which had acquired vitality and strength enough to assert their existence. as persons, therefore--gigantic individualities--they wheeled into the feudal ranks and assumed feudal powers and responsibilities. the city of dort; of middelburg, of ghent, of louvain, was a living being, doing fealty, claiming service, bowing to its lord, struggling with its equals, trampling upon its slaves. thus, in these obscure provinces, as throughout europe, in a thousand remote and isolated corners, civilization builds itself up, synthetically and slowly; yet at last, a whole is likely to get itself constructed. thus, impelled by great and conflicting forces, now obliquely, now backward, now upward, yet, upon the whole, onward, the new society moves along its predestined orbit, gathering consistency and strength as it goes. society, civilization, perhaps, but hardly humanity. the people has hardly begun to extricate itself from the clods in which it lies buried. there are only nobles, priests, and, latterly, cities. in the northern netherlands, the degraded condition of the mass continued longest. even in friesland, liberty, the dearest blessing of the ancient frisians, had been forfeited in a variety of ways. slavery was both voluntary and compulsory. paupers sold themselves that they might escape starvation. the timid sold themselves that they might escape violence. these voluntary sales, which were frequent, wore usually made to cloisters and ecclesiastical establishments, for the condition of church-slaves was preferable to that of other serfs. persons worsted in judicial duels, shipwrecked sailors, vagrants, strangers, criminals unable to pay the money-bote imposed upon them, were all deprived of freedom; but the prolific source of slavery was war. prisoners were almost universally reduced to servitude. a free woman who intermarried with a slave condemned herself and offspring to perpetual bondage. among the ripuarian franks, a free woman thus disgracing herself, was girt with a sword and a distaff. choosing the one, she was to strike her husband dead; choosing the other, she adopted the symbol of slavery, and became a chattel for life. the ferocious inroads of the normans scared many weak and timid persons into servitude. they fled, by throngs, to church and monastery, and were happy, by enslaving themselves, to escape the more terrible bondage of the sea-kings. during the brief dominion of the norman godfrey, every free frisian was forced to wear a halter around his neck. the lot of a church-slave was freedom in comparison. to kill him was punishable by a heavy fine. he could give testimony in court, could inherit, could make a will, could even plead before the law, if law could be found. the number of slaves throughout the netherlands was very large; the number belonging to the bishopric of utrecht, enormous. the condition of those belonging to laymen was much more painful. the lyf-eigene, or absolute slaves, were the most wretched. they were mere brutes. they had none of the natural attributes of humanity, their life and death were in the master's hands, they had no claim to a fraction of their own labor or its fruits, they had no marriage, except under condition of the infamous 'jus primoe noctis'. the villagers, or villeins, were the second class and less forlorn. they could commute the labor due to their owner by a fixed sum of money, after annual payment of which, the villein worked for himself. his master, therefore, was not his absolute proprietor. the chattel had a beneficial interest in a portion of his own flesh and blood. the crusades made great improvement in the condition of the serfs. he who became a soldier of the cross was free upon his return, and many were adventurous enough to purchase liberty at so honorable a price. many others were sold or mortgaged by the crusading knights, desirous of converting their property into gold, before embarking upon their enterprise. the purchasers or mortgagees were in general churches and convents, so that the slaves, thus alienated, obtained at least a preferable servitude. the place of the absent serfs was supplied by free labor, so that agricultural and mechanical occupations, now devolving upon a more elevated class, became less degrading, and, in process of time, opened an ever-widening sphere for the industry and progress of freemen. thus a people began to exist. it was, however; a miserable people, with personal, but no civil rights whatever. their condition, although better than servitude, was almost desperate. they were taxed beyond their ability, while priest and noble were exempt. they had no voice in the apportionment of the money thus contributed. there was no redress against the lawless violence to which they were perpetually exposed. in the manorial courts, the criminal sat in judgment upon his victim. the functions of highwayman and magistrate were combined in one individual. by degrees, the class of freemen, artisans, traders, and the like, becoming the more numerous, built stronger and better houses outside the castle gates of the "land's master" or the burghs of the more powerful nobles. the superiors, anxious to increase their own importance, favored the progress of the little boroughs. the population, thus collected, began to divide themselves into guilds. these were soon afterwards erected by the community into bodies corporate; the establishment of the community, of course, preceding, the incorporation of the guilds. those communities were created by charters or keuren, granted by the sovereign. unless the earliest concessions of this nature have perished, the town charters of holland or zeland are nearly a century later than those of flanders, france, and england. the oldest keur, or act of municipal incorporation, in the provinces afterwards constituting the republic, was that granted by count william the first of holland and countess joanna of flanders, as joint proprietors of walcheren, to the town of middelburg. it will be seen that its main purport is to promise, as a special privilege to this community, law, in place of the arbitrary violence by which mankind, in general, were governed by their betters. "the inhabitants," ran the charter, "are taken into protection by both counts. upon fighting, maiming, wounding, striking, scolding; upon peace-breaking, upon resistance to peace-makers and to the judgment of schepens; upon contemning the ban, upon selling spoiled wine, and upon other misdeeds fines are imposed for behoof of the count, the city, and sometimes of the schepens.......to all middelburgers one kind of law is guaranteed. every man must go to law before the schepens. if any one being summoned and present in walcheren does not appear, or refuses submission to sentence, he shall be banished with confiscation of property. schout or schepen denying justice to a complainant, shall, until reparation, hold no tribunal again.......a burgher having a dispute with an outsider (buiten mann) must summon him before the schepens. an appeal lies from the schepens to the count. no one can testify but a householder. all alienation of real estate must take place before the schepens. if an outsider has a complaint against a burgher, the schepens and schout must arrange it. if either party refuses submission to them, they must ring the town bell and summon an assembly of all the burghers to compel him. any one ringing the town bell, except by general consent, and any one not appearing when it tolls, are liable to a fine. no middelburger can be arrested or held in durance within flanders or holland, except for crime." this document was signed, sealed, and sworn to by the two sovereigns in the year . it was the model upon which many other communities, cradles of great cities, in holland and zeland, were afterwards created. these charters are certainly not very extensive, even for the privileged municipalities which obtained them, when viewed from an abstract stand- point. they constituted, however, a very great advance from the stand- point at which humanity actually found itself. they created, not for all inhabitants, but for great numbers of them, the right, not to govern them selves but to be governed by law: they furnished a local administration of justice. they provided against arbitrary imprisonment. they set up tribunals, where men of burgher class were to sit in judgment. they held up a shield against arbitrary violence from above and sedition from within. they encouraged peace-makers, punished peace-breakers. they guarded the fundamental principle, 'ut sua tanerent', to the verge of absurdity; forbidding a freeman, without a freehold, from testifying-- a capacity not denied even to a country slave. certainly all this was better than fist-law and courts manorial. for the commencement of the thirteenth century, it was progress. the schout and schepens, or chief magistrate and aldermen, were originally appointed by the sovereign. in process of time, the election of these municipal authorities was conceded to the communities. this inestimable privilege, however, after having been exercised during a certain period by the whole body of citizens, was eventually monopolized by the municipal government itself, acting in common with the deans of the various guilds. thus organized and inspired with the breath of civic life, the communities of flanders and holland began to move rapidly forward. more and more they assumed the appearance of prosperous little republics. for this prosperity they were indebted to commerce, particularly with england and the baltic nations, and to manufactures, especially of wool. the trade between england and the netherlands had existed for ages, and was still extending itself, to the great advantage of both countries. a dispute, however, between the merchants of holland and england, towards the year l , caused a privateering warfare, and a ten years' suspension of intercourse. a reconciliation afterwards led to the establishment of the english wool staple, at dort. a subsequent quarrel deprived holland of this great advantage. king edward refused to assist count florence in a war with the flemings, and transferred the staple from dort to bruges and mechlin. the trade of the netherlands with the mediterranean and the east was mainly through this favored city of bruges, which, already in the thirteenth century, had risen to the first rank in the commercial world. it was the resting-place for the lombards and other italians, the great entrepot for their merchandise. it now became, in addition, the great marketplace for english wool, and the woollen fabrics of all the netherlands, as well as for the drugs and spices of the east. it had, however, by no means reached its apogee, but was to culminate with venice, and to sink with her decline. when the overland indian trade fell off with the discovery of the cape passage, both cities withered. grass grew in the fair and pleasant streets of bruges, and sea-weed clustered about the marble halls of venice. at this epoch, however, both were in a state of rapid and insolent prosperity. the cities, thus advancing in wealth and importance, were no longer satisfied with being governed according to law, and began to participate, not only in their own, but in the general government. under guy of flanders, the towns appeared regularly, as well as the nobles, in the assembly of the provincial estates. ( - , a.d.) in the course of the following century, the six chief cities, or capitals, of holland (dort, harlem, delft, leyden, goads, and amsterdam) acquired the right of sending their deputies regularly to the estates of the provinces. these towns, therefore, with the nobles, constituted the parliamentary power of the nation. they also acquired letters patent from the count, allowing them to choose their burgomasters and a limited number of councillors or senators (vroedschappen). thus the liberties of holland and flanders waxed, daily, stronger. a great physical convulsion in the course of the thirteenth century came to add its influence to the slower process of political revolution. hitherto there had been but one friesland, including holland, and nearly all the territory of the future republic. a slender stream alone separated the two great districts. the low lands along the vlie, often threatened, at last sank in the waves. the german ocean rolled in upon the inland lake of flevo. the stormy zuyder zee began its existence by engulfing thousands of frisian villages, with all their population, and by spreading a chasm between kindred peoples. the political, as well as the geographical, continuity of the land was obliterated by this tremendous deluge. the hollanders were cut off from their relatives in the east by as dangerous a sea as that which divided them from their anglo-saxon brethren in britain. the deputies to the general assemblies at aurich could no longer undertake a journey grown so perilous. west friesland became absorbed in holland. east friesland remained a federation of rude but self-governed maritime provinces, until the brief and bloody dominion of the saxon dukes led to the establishment of charles the fifth's authority. whatever the nominal sovereignty over them, this most republican tribe of netherlanders, or of europeans, had never accepted feudalism. there was an annual congress of the whole confederacy. each of the seven little states, on the other hand, regulated its own internal affairs. each state was subdivided into districts, each district governed by a griet-mann (greatman, selectman) and assistants. above all these district officers was a podesta, a magistrate identical, in name and functions, with the chief officer of the italian republics. there was sometimes but one podesta; sometimes one for each province. he was chosen by the people, took oath of fidelity to the separate estates, or, if podesta-general, to the federal diet, and was generally elected for a limited term, although sometimes for life. he was assisted by a board of eighteen or twenty councillors. the deputies to the general congress were chosen by popular suffrage in easter-week. the clergy were not recognized as a political estate. thus, in those lands which a niggard nature had apparently condemned to perpetual poverty and obscurity, the principle of reasonable human freedom, without which there is no national prosperity or glory worth contending for, was taking deepest and strongest root. already in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries friesland was a republic, except in name; holland, flanders, brabant, had acquired a large share of self- government. the powerful commonwealth, at a later period to be evolved out of the great combat between centralized tyranny and the spirit of civil and religious liberty, was already foreshadowed. the elements, of which that important republic was to be compounded, were germinating for centuries. love of freedom, readiness to strike and bleed at any moment in her cause, manly resistance to despotism, however overshadowing, were the leading characteristics of the race in all regions or periods, whether among frisian swamps, dutch dykes, the gentle hills and dales of england, or the pathless forests of america. doubtless, the history of human liberty in holland and flanders, as every where else upon earth where there has been such a history, unrolls many scenes of turbulence and bloodshed; although these features have been exaggerated by prejudiced historians. still, if there were luxury and insolence, sedition and uproar, at any rate there was life. those violent little commonwealths had blood in their veins. they were compact of proud, self-helping, muscular vigor. the most sanguinary tumults which they ever enacted in the face of day, were better than the order and silence born of the midnight darkness of despotism. that very unruliness was educating the people for their future work. those merchants, manufacturers, country squires, and hard-fighting barons, all pent up in a narrow corner of the earth, quarrelling with each other and with all the world for centuries, were keeping alive a national pugnacity of character, for which there was to be a heavy demand in the sixteenth century, and without which the fatherland had perhaps succumbed in the most unequal conflict ever waged by man against oppression. to sketch the special history of even the leading netherland provinces, during the five centuries which we have thus rapidly sought to characterize, is foreign to our purpose. by holding the clue of holland's history, the general maze of dynastic transformations throughout the country may, however, be swiftly threaded. from the time of the first dirk to the close of the thirteenth century there were nearly four hundred years of unbroken male descent, a long line of dirks and florences. this iron-handed, hot-headed, adventurous race, placed as sovereign upon its little sandy hook, making ferocious exertions to swell into larger consequence, conquering a mile or two of morass or barren furze, after harder blows and bloodier encounters than might have established an empire under more favorable circumstances, at last dies out. the courtship falls to the house of avennes, counts of hainault. holland, together with zeland, which it had annexed, is thus joined to the province of hainault. at the end of another half century the hainault line expires. william the fourth died childless in . his death is the signal for the outbreak of an almost interminable series of civil commotions. those two great, parties, known by the uncouth names of hook and kabbeljaw, come into existence, dividing noble against noble, city against city, father against son, for some hundred and fifty years, without foundation upon any abstract or intelligible principle. it may be observed, however, that, in the sequel, and as a general rule, the kabbeljaw, or cod-fish party, represented the city or municipal faction, while the hooks (fish-hooks), that were to catch and control them, were the nobles; iron and audacity against brute number and weight. duke william of bavaria, sister's son--of william the fourth, gets himself established in . he is succeeded by his brother albert; albert by his son william. william, who had married margaret of burgundy, daughter of philip the bold, dies in . the goodly heritage of these three netherland provinces descends to his daughter jacqueline, a damsel of seventeen. little need to trace the career of the fair and ill-starred jacqueline. few chapters of historical romance have drawn more frequent tears. the favorite heroine of ballad and drama, to netherlanders she is endued with the palpable form and perpetual existence of the iphigenias, mary stuarts, joans of arc, or other consecrated individualities. exhausted and broken-hearted, after thirteen years of conflict with her own kinsmen, consoled for the cowardice and brutality of three husbands by the gentle and knightly spirit of the fourth, dispossessed of her father's broad domains, degraded from the rank of sovereign to be lady forester of her own provinces by her cousin, the bad duke of burgundy, philip surnamed "the good," she dies at last, and the good cousin takes undisputed dominion of the land. ( .) the five centuries of isolation are at end. the many obscure streams of netherland history are merged in one broad current. burgundy has absorbed all the provinces which, once more, are forced to recognize a single master. a century and a few years more succeed, during which this house and its heirs are undisputed sovereigns of the soil. philip the good had already acquired the principal netherlands, before dispossessing jacqueline. he had inherited, beside the two burgundies, the counties of flanders and artois. he had purchased the county of namur, and had usurped the duchy of brabant, to which the duchy of limburg, the marquisate of antwerp, and the barony of mechlin, had already been annexed. by his assumption of jacqueline's dominions, he was now lord of holland, zeland, and hainault, and titular master of friesland. he acquired luxemburg a few years later. lord of so many opulent cities and fruitful provinces, he felt himself equal to the kings of europe. upon his marriage with isabella of portugal, he founded, at bruges, the celebrated order of the golden fleece. what could be more practical or more devout than the conception? did not the lamb of god, suspended at each knightly breast, symbolize at once the woollen fabrics to which so much of flemish wealth and burgundian power was owing, and the gentle humility of christ, which was ever to characterize the order? twenty-five was the limited number, including philip himself, as grand master. the chevaliers were emperors, kings, princes, and the most illustrious nobles of christendom; while a leading provision, at the outset, forbade the brethren, crowned heads excepted, to accept or retain the companionship of any other order. the accession of so potent and ambitious a prince as the good philip boded evil to the cause of freedom in the netherlands. the spirit of liberty seemed to have been typified in the fair form of the benignant and unhappy jacqueline, and to be buried in her grave. the usurper, who had crushed her out of existence, now strode forward to trample upon all the laws and privileges of the provinces which had formed her heritage. at his advent, the municipal power had already reached an advanced stage of development. the burgher class controlled the government, not only of the cities, but often of the provinces, through its influence in the estates. industry and wealth had produced their natural results. the supreme authority of the sovereign and the power of the nobles were balanced by the municipal principle which had even begun to preponderate over both. all three exercised a constant and salutary check upon each other. commerce had converted slaves into freemen, freemen into burghers, and the burghers were acquiring daily, a larger practical hold upon the government. the town councils were becoming almost omnipotent. although with an oligarchical tendency, which at a later period was to be more fully developed, they were now composed of large numbers of individuals, who had raised themselves, by industry and intelligence, out of the popular masses. there was an unquestionably republican tone to the institutions. power, actually, if not nominally, was in the hands of many who had achieved the greatness to which they had not been born. the assemblies of the estates were rather diplomatic than representative. they consisted, generally, of the nobles and of the deputations from the cities. in holland, the clergy had neither influence nor seats in the parliamentary body. measures were proposed by the stadholder, who represented the sovereign. a request, for example, of pecuniary, accommodation, was made by that functionary or by the count himself in person. the nobles then voted upon the demand, generally as one body, but sometimes by heads. the measure was then laid before the burghers. if they had been specially commissioned to act upon the matter; they voted, each city as a city, not each deputy, individually. if they had received no instructions, they took back the proposition to lay before the councils of their respective cities, in order to return a decision at an adjourned session, or at a subsequent diet. it will be seen, therefore, that the principle of national, popular representation was but imperfectly developed. the municipal deputies acted only under instructions. each city was a little independent state, suspicious not only of the sovereign and nobles, but of its sister cities. this mutual jealousy hastened the general humiliation now impending. the centre of the system waging daily more powerful, it more easily unsphered these feebler and mutually repulsive bodies. philip's first step, upon assuming the government, was to issue a declaration, through the council of holland, that the privileges and constitutions, which he had sworn to as ruward, or guardian, during the period in which jacqueline had still retained a nominal sovereignty, were to be considered null and void, unless afterwards confirmed by him as count. at a single blow he thus severed the whole knot of pledges, oaths and other political complications, by which he had entangled himself during his cautious advance to power. he was now untrammelled again. as the conscience of the smooth usurper was, thenceforth, the measure of provincial liberty, his subjects soon found it meted to them more sparingly than they wished. from this point, then, through the burgundian period, and until the rise of the republic, the liberty of the netherlands, notwithstanding several brilliant but brief laminations, occurring at irregular intervals, seemed to remain in almost perpetual eclipse. the material prosperity of the country had, however, vastly increased. the fisheries of holland had become of enormous importance. the invention of the humble beukelzoon of biervliet, had expanded into a mine of wealth. the fisheries, too, were most useful as a nursery of seamen, and were already indicating holland's future naval supremacy. the fishermen were the militia of the ocean, their prowess attested in the war with the hanseatic cities, which the provinces of holland and zeland, in philip's name, but by their own unassisted exertions, carried on triumphantly at this epoch. then came into existence that race of cool and daring mariners, who, in after times, were to make the dutch name illustrious throughout the world, the men, whose fierce descendants, the "beggars of the sea," were to make the spanish empire tremble, the men, whose later successors swept the seas with brooms at the mast-head, and whose ocean-battles with their equally fearless english brethren often lasted four uninterrupted days and nights. the main strength of holland was derived from the ocean, from whose destructive grasp she had wrested herself, but in whose friendly embrace she remained. she was already placing securely the foundations of commercial wealth and civil liberty upon those shifting quicksands which the roman doubted whether to call land or water. her submerged deformity, as she floated, mermaid-like, upon the waves was to be forgotten in her material splendor. enriched with the spoils of every clime, crowned with the divine jewels of science and art, she was, one day, to sing a siren song of freedom, luxury, and power. as with holland, so with flanders, brabant, and the other leading provinces. industry and wealth, agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, were constantly augmenting. the natural sources of power were full to overflowing, while the hand of despotism was deliberately sealing the fountain. for the house of burgundy was rapidly culminating and as rapidly curtailing the political privileges of the netherlands. the contest was, at first, favorable to the cause of arbitrary power; but little seeds were silently germinating, which, in the progress of their gigantic development, were, one day, to undermine the foundations of tyranny and to overshadow the world. the early progress of the religious reformation in the netherlands will be outlined in a separate chapter. another great principle was likewise at work at this period. at the very epoch when the greatness of burgundy was most swiftly ripening, another weapon was secretly forging, more potent in the great struggle for freedom than any which the wit or hand of man has ever devised or wielded. when philip the good, in the full blaze of his power, and flushed with the triumphs of territorial aggrandizement, was instituting at bruges the order of the golden fleece, "to the glory of god, of the blessed virgin, and of the holy andrew, patron saint of the burgundian family," and enrolling the names of the kings and princes who were to be honored with its symbols, at that very moment, an obscure citizen of harlem, one lorenz coster, or lawrence the sexton, succeeded in printing a little grammar, by means of movable types. the invention of printing was accomplished, but it was not ushered in with such a blaze of glory as heralded the contemporaneous erection of the golden fleece. the humble setter of types did not deem emperors and princes alone worthy his companionship. his invention sent no thrill of admiration throughout christendom; and yet, what was the good philip of burgundy, with his knights of the golden fleece, and all their effulgent trumpery, in the eye of humanity and civilization, compared with the poor sexton and his wooden types? [the question of the time and place to which the invention of printing should be referred, has been often discussed. it is not probable that it will ever be settled to the entire satisfaction of holland and germany. the dutch claim that movable types were first used at harlem, fixing the time variously between the years and . the first and very faulty editions of lorenz are religiously preserved at harlem.] philip died in february, . the details of his life and career do not belong to our purpose. the practical tendency of his government was to repress the spirit of liberty, while especial privileges, extensive in nature, but limited in time, were frequently granted to corporations. philip, in one day, conferred thirty charters upon as many different bodies of citizens. these were, however, grants of monopoly not concessions of rights. he also fixed the number of city councils or vroedschappen in many netherland cities, giving them permission to present a double list of candidates for burgomasters and judges, from which he himself made the appointments. he was certainly neither a good nor great prince, but he possessed much administrative ability. his military talents were considerable, and he was successful in his wars. he was an adroit dissembler, a practical politician. he had the sense to comprehend that the power of a prince, however absolute, must depend upon the prosperity of his subjects. he taxed severely the wealth, but he protected the commerce and the manufactures of holland and flanders. he encouraged art, science, and literature. the brothers, john and hubert van eyck, were attracted by his generosity to bruges, where they painted many pictures. john was even a member of the duke's council. the art of oil-painting was carried to great perfection by hubert's scholar, john of bruges. an incredible number of painters, of greater or less merit, flourished at this epoch in the netherlands, heralds of that great school, which, at a subsequent period, was to astonish the world with brilliant colors; profound science, startling effects, and vigorous reproductions of nature. authors, too, like olivier de la marche and philippe de comines, who, in the words of the latter, "wrote, not for the amusement of brutes, and people of low degree, but for princes and other persons of quality," these and other writers, with aims as lofty, flourished at the court of burgundy, and were rewarded by the duke with princely generosity. philip remodelled and befriended the university of louvain. he founded at brussels the burgundian library, which became celebrated throughout europe. he levied largely, spent profusely, but was yet so thrifty a housekeeper, as to leave four hundred thousand crowns of gold, a vast amount in those days, besides three million marks' worth of plate and furniture, to be wasted like water in the insane career of his son. the exploits of that son require but few words of illustration. hardly a chapter of european history or romance is more familiar to the world than the one which records the meteoric course of charles the bold. the propriety of his title was never doubtful. no prince was ever bolder, but it is certain that no quality could be less desirable, at that particular moment in the history of his house. it was not the quality to confirm a usurping family in its ill-gotten possessions. renewed aggressions upon the rights of others justified retaliation and invited attack. justice, prudence, firmness, wisdom of internal administration were desirable in the son of philip and the rival of louis. these attributes the gladiator lacked entirely. his career might have been a brilliant one in the old days of chivalry. his image might have appeared as imposing as the romantic forms of baldwin bras de fer or godfrey of bouillon, had he not been misplaced in history. nevertheless, he imagined himself governed by a profound policy. he had one dominant idea, to make burgundy a kingdom. from the moment when, with almost the first standing army known to history, and with coffers well filled by his cautious father's economy, he threw himself into the lists against the crafty louis, down to the day when he was found dead, naked, deserted, and with his face frozen into a pool of blood and water, he faithfully pursued this thought. his ducal cap was to be exchanged for a kingly crown, while all the provinces which lay beneath the mediterranean and the north sea, and between france and germany, were to be united under his sceptre. the netherlands, with their wealth, had been already appropriated, and their freedom crushed. another land of liberty remained; physically, the reverse of holland, but stamped with the same courageous nationality, the same ardent love of human rights. switzerland was to be conquered. her eternal battlements of ice and granite were to constitute the great bulwark of his realm. the world knows well the result of the struggle between the lord of so many duchies and earldoms, and the alpine mountaineers. with all his boldness, charles was but an indifferent soldier. his only merit was physical courage. he imagined himself a consummate commander, and, in conversation with his jester, was fond of comparing himself to hannibal. "we are getting well hannibalized to-day, my lord," said the bitter fool, as they rode off together from the disastrous defeat of gransen. well "hannibalized" he was, too, at gransen, at murten, and at nancy. he followed in the track of his prototype only to the base of the mountains. as a conqueror, he was signally unsuccessful; as a politician, he could out-wit none but himself; it was only as a tyrant within his own ground, that he could sustain the character which he chose to enact. he lost the crown, which he might have secured, because he thought the emperor's son unworthy the heiress of burgundy; and yet, after his father's death, her marriage with that very maximilian alone secured the possession of her paternal inheritance. unsuccessful in schemes of conquest, and in political intrigue, as an oppressor of the netherlands, he nearly carried out his plans. those provinces he regarded merely as a bank to draw upon. his immediate intercourse with the country was confined to the extortion of vast requests. these were granted with ever-increasing reluctance, by the estates. the new taxes and excises, which the sanguinary extravagance of the duke rendered necessary, could seldom be collected in the various cities without tumults, sedition, and bloodshed. few princes were ever a greater curse to the people whom they were allowed to hold as property. he nearly succeeded in establishing a centralized despotism upon the ruins of the provincial institutions. his sudden death alone deferred the catastrophe. his removal of the supreme court of holland from the hague to mechlin, and his maintenance of a standing army, were the two great measures by which he prostrated the netherlands. the tribunal had been remodelled by his father; the expanded authority which philip had given to a bench of judges dependent upon himself, was an infraction of the rights of holland. the court, however, still held its sessions in the country; and the sacred privilege--de non evocando--the right of every hollander to be tried in his own land, was, at least, retained. charles threw off the mask; he proclaimed that this council--composed of his creatures, holding office at his pleasure--should have supreme jurisdiction over all the charters of the provinces; that it was to follow his person, and derive all authority from his will. the usual seat of the court he transferred to mechlin. it will be seen, in the sequel, that the attempt, under philip the second, to enforce its supreme authority was a collateral cause of the great revolution of the netherlands. charles, like his father, administered the country by stadholders. from the condition of flourishing self-ruled little republics, which they had, for a moment, almost attained, they became departments of an ill- assorted, ill-conditioned, ill-governed realm, which was neither commonwealth nor empire, neither kingdom nor duchy; and which had no homogeneousness of population, no affection between ruler and people, small sympathies of lineage or of language. his triumphs were but few, his fall ignominious. his father's treasure was squandered, the curse of a standing army fixed upon his people, the trade and manufactures of the country paralyzed by his extortions, and he accomplished nothing. he lost his life in the forty-fourth year of his age ( ), leaving all the provinces, duchies, and lordships, which formed the miscellaneous realm of burgundy, to his only child, the lady mary. thus already the countries which philip had wrested from the feeble hand of jacqueline, had fallen to another female. philip's own granddaughter, as young, fair, and unprotected as jacqueline, was now sole mistress of those broad domains. viii. a crisis, both for burgundy and the netherlands, succeeds. within the provinces there is an elastic rebound, as soon as the pressure is removed from them by the tyrant's death. a sudden spasm of liberty gives the whole people gigantic strength. in an instant they recover all, and more than all, the rights which they had lost. the cities of holland, flanders, and other provinces call a convention at ghent. laying aside their musty feuds, men of all parties-hooks and kabbeljaws, patricians and people, move forward in phalanx to recover their national constitutions. on the other hand, louis the eleventh seizes burgundy, claiming the territory for his crown, the heiress for his son. the situation is critical for the lady mary. as usual in such cases, appeals are made to the faithful commons. a prodigality of oaths and pledges is showered upon the people, that their loyalty may be refreshed and grow green. the congress meets at ghent. the lady mary professes much, but she will keep her vow. the deputies are called upon to rally the country around the duchess, and to resist the fraud and force of louis. the congress is willing to maintain the cause of its young mistress. the members declare, at the same time, very roundly, "that the provinces have been much impoverished and oppressed by the enormous taxation imposed upon them by the ruinous wars waged by duke charles from the beginning to the end of his life." they rather require "to be relieved than additionally encumbered." they add that, "for many years past, there has been a constant violation of the provincial and municipal charters, and that they should be happy to see them restored." the result of the deliberations is the formal grant by duchess mary of the "groot privilegie," or great privilege, the magna charta of holland. although this instrument was afterwards violated, and indeed abolished, it became the foundation of the republic. it was a recapitulation and recognition of ancient rights, not an acquisition of new privileges. it was a restoration, not a revolution. its principal points deserve attention from those interested in the political progress of mankind. "the duchess shall not marry without consent of the estates of her provinces. all offices in her gift shall be conferred on natives only. no man shall fill two offices. no office shall be farmed. the 'great council and supreme court of holland' is re-established. causes shall be brought before it on appeal from the ordinary courts. it shall have no original jurisdiction of matters within the cognizance of the provincial and municipal tribunals. the estates and cities are guaranteed in their right not to be summoned to justice beyond the limits of their territory. the cities, in common with all the provinces of the netherlands, may hold diets as often ten and at such places as they choose. no new taxes shall be imposed but by consent of the provincial estates. neither the duchess nor her descendants shall begin either an offensive or defensive war without consent of the estates. in case a war be illegally undertaken, the estates are not bound to contribute to its maintenance. in all public and legal documents, the netherland language shall be employed. the commands of the duchess shall be invalid, if conflicting with the privileges of a city. "the seat of the supreme council is transferred from mechlin to the hague. no money shall be coined, nor its value raised or lowered, but by consent of the estates. cities are not to be compelled to contribute to requests which they have not voted. the sovereign shall come in person before the estates, to make his request for supplies." here was good work. the land was rescued at a blow from the helpless condition to which it had been reduced. this summary annihilation of all the despotic arrangements of charles was enough to raise him from his tomb. the law, the sword, the purse, were all taken from the hand of the sovereign and placed within the control of parliament. such sweeping reforms, if maintained, would restore health to the body politic. they gave, moreover, an earnest of what was one day to arrive. certainly, for the fifteenth century, the "great privilege" was a reasonably liberal constitution. where else upon earth, at that day, was there half so much liberty as was thus guaranteed? the congress of the netherlands, according to their magna charta, had power to levy all taxes, to regulate commerce and manufactures, to declare war, to coin money, to raise armies and navies. the executive was required to ask for money in person, could appoint only natives to office, recognized the right of disobedience in his subjects, if his commands should conflict with law, and acknowledged himself bound by decisions of courts of justice. the cities appointed their own magistrates, held diets at their own pleasure, made their local by-laws and saw to their execution. original cognizance of legal matters belonged to the municipal courts, appellate jurisdiction to the supreme tribunal, in which the judges were appointed by the sovereign. the liberty of the citizen against arbitrary imprisonment was amply provided for. the 'jus de non evocando', the habeas corpus of holland, was re-established. truly, here was a fundamental law which largely, roundly, and reasonably recognized the existence of a people with hearts, heads, and hands of their own. it was a vast step in advance of natural servitude, the dogma of the dark ages. it was a noble and temperate vindication of natural liberty, the doctrine of more enlightened days. to no people in the world more than to the stout burghers of flanders and holland belongs the honor of having battled audaciously and perennially in behalf of human rights. similar privileges to the great charter of holland are granted to many other provinces; especially to flanders, ever ready to stand forward in fierce vindication of freedom. for a season all is peace and joy; but the duchess is young, weak, and a woman. there is no lack of intriguing politicians, reactionary councillors. there is a cunning old king in the distance, lying in wait; seeking what he can devour. a mission goes from the estates to france. the well-known tragedy of imbrecourt and hugonet occurs. envoys from the states, they dare to accept secret instructions from the duchess to enter into private negotiations with the french monarch, against their colleagues--against the great charter--against their country. sly louis betrays them, thinking that policy the more expedient. they are seized in ghent, rapidly tried, and as rapidly beheaded by the enraged burghers. all the entreaties of the lady mary, who, dressed in mourning garments, with dishevelled hair, unloosed girdle, and streaming eyes; appears at the town-house and afterwards in the market place, humbly to intercede for her servants, are fruitless there is no help for the juggling diplomatists. the punishment was sharp. was it more severe and sudden than that which betrayed monarchs usually inflict? would the flemings, at that critical moment, have deserved their freedom had they not taken swift and signal vengeance for this first infraction of their newly recognized rights? had it not been weakness to spare the traitors who had thus stained the childhood of the national joy at liberty regained? ix. another step, and a wide one, into the great stream of european history. the lady mary espouses the archduke maximilian. the netherlands are about to become habsburg property. the ghenters reject the pretensions of the dauphin, and select for husband of their duchess the very man whom her father had so stupidly rejected. it had been a wiser choice for charles the bold than for the netherlanders. the marriage takes place on the th of august, . mary of burgundy passes from the guardianship of ghent burghers into that of the emperor's son. the crafty husband allies himself with the city party, feeling where the strength lies. he knows that the voracious kabbeljaws have at last swallowed the hooks, and run away with them. promising himself future rights of reconsideration, he is liberal in promises to the municipal party. in the mean time he is governor and guardian of his wife and her provinces. his children are to inherit the netherlands and all that therein is. what can be more consistent than laws of descent, regulated by right divine? at the beginning of the century, good philip dispossesses jacqueline, because females can not inherit. at its close, his granddaughter succeeds to the property, and transmits it to her children. pope and emperor maintain both positions with equal logic. the policy and promptness of maximilian are as effective as the force and fraud of philip. the lady mary falls from her horse and dies. her son, philip, four years of age, is recognized as successor. thus the house of burgundy is followed by that of austria, the fifth and last family which governed holland, previously to the erection of the republic. maximilian is recognized by the provinces as governor and guardian, during the minority of his children. flanders alone refuses. the burghers, ever prompt in action, take personal possession of the child philip, and carry on the government in his name. a commission of citizens and nobles thus maintain their authority against maximilian for several years. in , the archduke, now king of the romans, with a small force of cavalry, attempts to take the city of bruges, but the result is a mortifying one to the roman king. the citizens of bruges take him. maximilian, with several councillors, is kept a prisoner in a house on the market-place. the magistrates are all changed, the affairs of government conducted in the name of the young philip alone. meantime, the estates of the other netherlands assemble at ghent; anxious, unfortunately, not for the national liberty, but for that of the roman king. already holland, torn again by civil feuds, and blinded by the artifices of maximilian, has deserted, for a season, the great cause to which flanders has remained so true. at last, a treaty is made between the archduke and the flemings. maximilian is to be regent of the other provinces; philip, under guardianship of a council, is to govern flanders. moreover, a congress of all the provinces is to be summoned annually, to provide for the general welfare. maximilian signs and swears to the treaty on the th may, . he swears, also, to dismiss all foreign troops within four days. giving hostages for his fidelity, he is set at liberty. what are oaths and hostages when prerogative, and the people are contending? emperor frederic sends to his son an army under the duke of saxony. the oaths are broken, the hostages left to their fate. the struggle lasts a year, but, at the end of it, the flemings are subdued. what could a single province effect, when its sister states, even liberty- loving holland, had basely abandoned the common cause? a new treaty is made, (oct. ). maximilian obtains uncontrolled guardianship of his son, absolute dominion over flanders and the other provinces. the insolent burghers are severely punished for remembering that they had been freemen. the magistrates of ghent, bruges, and ypres, in black garments, ungirdled, bare-headed, and kneeling, are compelled to implore the despot's forgiveness, and to pay three hundred thousand crowns of gold as its price. after this, for a brief season, order reigns in flanders. the course of maximilian had been stealthy, but decided. allying himself with the city party, he had crushed the nobles. the power thus obtained, he then turned against the burghers. step by step he had trampled out the liberties which his wife and himself had sworn to protect. he had spurned the authority of the "great privilege," and all other charters. burgomasters and other citizens had been beheaded in great numbers for appealing to their statutes against the edicts of the regent, for voting in favor of a general congress according to the unquestionable law. he had proclaimed that all landed estates should, in lack of heirs male, escheat to his own exchequer. he had debased the coin of the country, and thereby authorized unlimited swindling on the part of all his agents, from stadholders down to the meanest official. if such oppression and knavery did not justify the resistance of the flemings to the guardianship of maximilian, it would be difficult to find any reasonable course in political affairs save abject submission to authority. in , maximilian succeeds to the imperial throne, at the death of his father. in the following year his son, philip the fair, now seventeen years of age, receives the homage of the different states of the netherlands. he swears to maintain only the privileges granted by philip and charles of burgundy, or their ancestors, proclaiming null and void all those which might have been acquired since the death of charles. holland, zeland, and the other provinces accept him upon these conditions, thus ignominiously, and without a struggle, relinquishing the great privilege, and all similar charters. friesland is, for a brief season, politically separated from the rest of the country. harassed and exhausted by centuries of warfare, foreign, and domestic, the free frisians, at the suggestion or command of emperor maximilian, elect the duke of saxony as their podesta. the sovereign prince, naturally proving a chief magistrate far from democratic, gets himself acknowledged, or submitted to, soon afterwards, as legitimate sovereign of friesland. seventeen years afterward saxony sells the sovereignty to the austrian house for , crowns. this little country, whose statutes proclaimed her to be "free as the wind, as long as it blew," whose institutions charlemagne had honored and left unmolested, who had freed herself with ready poniard from norman tyranny, who never bowed her neck to feudal chieftain, nor to the papal yoke, now driven to madness and suicide by the dissensions of her wild children, forfeits at last her independent existence. all the provinces are thus united in a common servitude, and regret, too late, their supineness at a moment when their liberties might yet have been vindicated. their ancient and cherished charters, which their bold ancestors had earned with the sweat of their brows and the blood of their hearts, are at the mercy of an autocrat, and liable to be superseded by his edicts. in , the momentous marriage of philip the fair with joanna, daughter of ferdinand and isabella of castile and aragon, is solemnized. of this union, in the first year of the century, is born the second charlemagne, who is to unite spain and the netherlands, together with so many vast and distant realms, under a single sceptre. six years afterwards (sept. , ), philip dies at burgos. a handsome profligate, devoted to his pleasures, and leaving the cares of state to his ministers, philip, "croit-conseil," is the bridge over which the house of habsburg passes to almost universal monarchy, but, in himself, is nothing. x. two prudent marriages, made by austrian archdukes within twenty years, have altered the face of the earth. the stream, which we have been tracing from its source, empties itself at last into the ocean of a world-empire. count dirk the first, lord of a half-submerged corner of europe, is succeeded by count charles the second of holland, better known as charles the fifth, king of spain, sicily, and jerusalem, duke of milan, emperor of germany, dominator in asia and africa, autocrat of half the world. the leading events of his brilliant reign are familiar to every child. the netherlands now share the fate of so large a group of nations, a fate, to these provinces, most miserable. the weddings of austria felix were not so prolific of happiness to her subjects as to herself. it can never seem just or reasonable that the destiny of many millions of human beings should depend upon the marriage-settlements of one man with one woman, and a permanent, prosperous empire can never be reared upon so frail a foundation. the leading thought of the first charlemagne was a noble and a useful one, nor did his imperial scheme seem chimerical, even although time, wiser than monarchs or lawgivers, was to prove it impracticable. to weld into one great whole the various tribes of franks, frisians, saxons, lombards, burgundians, and others, still in their turbulent youth, and still composing one great teutonic family; to enforce the mutual adhesion of naturally coherent masses, all of one lineage, one language, one history, and which were only beginning to exhibit their tendencies to insulation, to acquiesce in a variety of local laws and customs, while an iron will was to concentrate a vast, but homogeneous, people into a single nation; to raise up from the grave of corrupt and buried rome a fresh, vigorous, german, christian empire; this was a reasonable and manly thought. far different the conception of the second charlemagne. to force into discordant union, tribes which, for seven centuries, had developed themselves into hostile nations, separated by geography and history, customs and laws, to combine many millions under one sceptre, not because of natural identity, but for the sake of composing one splendid family property, to establish unity by annihilating local institutions, to supersede popular and liberal charters by the edicts of a central despotism, to do battle with the whole spirit of an age, to regard the souls as well as the bodies of vast multitudes as the personal property of one individual, to strive for the perpetuation in a single house of many crowns, which accident had blended, and to imagine the consecration of the whole system by placing the pope's triple diadem forever upon the imperial head of the habsburgs;--all this was not the effort of a great, constructive genius, but the selfish scheme of an autocrat. the union of no two countries could be less likely to prove advantageous or agreeable than that of the netherlands and spain. they were widely separated geographically, while in history, manners, and politics, they were utterly opposed to each other. spain, which had but just assumed the form of a single state by the combination of all its kingdoms, with its haughty nobles descended from petty kings, and arrogating almost sovereign power within their domains, with its fierce enthusiasm for the catholic religion, which, in the course of long warfare with the saracens, had become the absorbing characteristic of a whole nation, with its sparse population scattered over a wide and stern country, with a military spirit which led nearly all classes to prefer poverty to the wealth attendant upon degrading pursuits of trade;--spain, with her gloomy, martial, and exaggerated character, was the absolute contrast of the netherlands. these provinces had been rarely combined into a whole, but there was natural affinity in their character, history, and position. there was life, movement, bustling activity every where. an energetic population swarmed in all the flourishing cities which dotted the surface of a contracted and highly cultivated country. their ships were the carriers for the world;--their merchants, if invaded in their rights, engaged in vigorous warfare with their own funds and their own frigates; their fabrics were prized over the whole earth; their burghers possessed the wealth of princes, lived with royal luxury, and exercised vast political influence; their love of liberty was their predominant passion. their religious ardor had not been fully awakened; but the events of the next generation were to prove that in no respect more than in the religious sentiment, were the two races opposed to each other. it was as certain that the netherlanders would be fierce reformers as that the spaniards would be uncompromising persecutors. unhallowed was the union between nations thus utterly contrasted. philip the fair and ferdinand had detested and quarrelled with each other from the beginning. the spaniards and flemings participated in the mutual antipathy, and hated each other cordially at first sight. the unscrupulous avarice of the netherland nobles in spain, their grasping and venal ambition, enraged and disgusted the haughty spaniards. this international malignity furnishes one of the keys to a proper understanding of the great revolt in the next reign. the provinces, now all united again under an emperor, were treated, opulent and powerful as they were, as obscure dependencies. the regency over them was entrusted by charles to his near relatives, who governed in the interest of his house, not of the country. his course towards them upon the religious question will be hereafter indicated. the political character of his administration was typified, and, as it were, dramatized, on the occasion of the memorable insurrection at ghent. for this reason, a few interior details concerning that remarkable event, seem requisite. xi. ghent was, in all respects, one of the most important cities in europe. erasmus, who, as a hollander and a courtier, was not likely to be partial to the turbulent flemings, asserted that there was no town in all christendom to be compared to it for size, power, political constitution, or the culture of its inhabitants. it was, said one of its inhabitants at the epoch of the insurrection, rather a country than a city. the activity and wealth of its burghers were proverbial. the bells were rung daily, and the drawbridges over the many arms of the river intersecting the streets were raised, in order that all business might be suspended, while the armies of workmen were going to or returning from their labors. as early as the fourteenth century, the age of the arteveldes, froissart estimated the number of fighting men whom ghent could bring into the field at eighty thousand. the city, by its jurisdiction over many large but subordinate towns, disposed of more than its own immediate population, which has been reckoned as high as two hundred thousand. placed in the midst of well cultivated plains, ghent was surrounded by strong walls, the external circuit of which measured nine miles. its streets and squares were spacious and elegant, its churches and other public buildings numerous and splendid. the sumptuous church of saint john or saint bavon, where charles the fifth had been baptized, the ancient castle whither baldwin bras de fer had brought the daughter of charles the bald, the city hall with its graceful moorish front, the well-known belfry, where for three centuries had perched the dragon sent by the emperor baldwin of flanders from constantinople, and where swung the famous roland, whose iron tongue had called the citizens, generation after generation, to arms, whether to win battles over foreign kings at the head of their chivalry, or to plunge their swords in each others' breasts, were all conspicuous in the city and celebrated in the land. especially the great bell was the object of the burghers' affection, and, generally, of the sovereign's hatred; while to all it seemed, as it were, a living historical personage, endowed with the human powers and passions which it had so long directed and inflamed. the constitution of the city was very free. it was a little republic in all but name. its population was divided into fifty-two guilds of manufacturers and into thirty-two tribes of weavers; each fraternity electing annually or biennally its own deans and subordinate officers. the senate, which exercised functions legislative, judicial, and administrative, subject of course to the grand council of mechlin and to the sovereign authority, consisted of twenty-six members. these were appointed partly from the upper class, or the men who lived upon their means, partly from the manufacturers in general, and partly from the weavers. they were chosen by a college of eight electors, who were appointed by the sovereign on nomination by the citizens. the whole city, in its collective capacity, constituted one of the four estates (membra) of the province of flanders. it is obvious that so much liberty of form and of fact, added to the stormy character by which its citizens were distinguished, would be most offensive in the eyes of charles, and that the delinquencies of the little commonwealth would be represented in the most glaring colors by all those quiet souls, who preferred the tranquillity of despotism to the turbulence of freedom. the city claimed, moreover, the general provisions of the "great privilege" of the lady mary, the magna charta, which, according to the monarchical party, had been legally abrogated by maximilian. the liberties of the town had also been nominally curtailed by the "calf-skin" (kalf vel). by this celebrated document, charles the fifth, then fifteen years of age, had been made to threaten with condign punishment all persons who should maintain that he had sworn at his inauguration to observe any privileges or charters claimed by the ghenters before the peace of cadsand. the immediate cause of the discontent, the attempt to force from flanders a subsidy of four hundred thousand caroli, as the third part of the twelve hundred thousand granted by the states of the netherlands, and the resistance of ghent in opposition to the other three members of the province, will, of course, be judged differently, according as the sympathies are stronger with popular rights or with prerogative. the citizens claimed that the subsidy could only be granted by the unanimous consent of the four estates of the province. among other proofs of this their unquestionable right, they appealed to a muniment, which had never existed, save in the imagination of the credulous populace. at a certain remote epoch, one of the counts of flanders, it was contended, had gambled away his countship to the earl of holland, but had been extricated from his dilemma by the generosity of ghent. the burghers of the town had paid the debts and redeemed the sovereignty of their lord, and had thereby gained, in return, a charter, called the bargain of flanders (koop van flandern). among the privileges granted by this document, was an express stipulation that no subsidy should ever be granted by the province without the consent of ghent. this charter would have been conclusive in the present emergency, had it not labored under the disadvantage of never having existed. it was supposed by many that the magistrates, some of whom were favorable to government, had hidden the document. lieven pyl, an ex-senator, was supposed to be privy to its concealment. he was also, with more justice, charged with an act of great baseness and effrontery. reputed by the citizens to carry to the queen regent their positive refusal to grant the subsidy, he had, on the contrary, given an answer, in their name, in the affirmative. for these delinquencies, the imaginary and the real, he was inhumanly tortured and afterwards beheaded. "i know, my children," said he upon the scaffold, "that you will be grieved when you have seen my blood flow, and that you will regret me when it is too late." it does not appear, however, that there was any especial reason to regret him, however sanguinary the punishment which had requited his broken faith. the mischief being thus afoot, the tongue of roland, and the easily- excited spirits of the citizens, soon did the rest. ghent broke forth into open insurrection. they had been willing to enlist and pay troops under their own banners, but they had felt outraged at the enormous contribution demanded of them for a foreign war, undertaken in the family interests of their distant master. they could not find the "bargain of flanders," but they got possession of the odious "calf skin," which was solemnly cut in two by the dean of the weavers. it was then torn in shreds by the angry citizens, many of whom paraded the streets with pieces of the hated document stuck in their caps, like plumes. from these demonstrations they proceeded to intrigues with francis the first. he rejected them, and gave notice of their overtures to charles, who now resolved to quell the insurrection, at once. francis wrote, begging that the emperor would honor him by coming through france; "wishing to assure you," said he, "my lord and good brother, by this letter, written and signed by my hand, upon my honor, and on the faith of a prince, and of the best brother you have, that in passing through my kingdom every possible honor and hospitality will be offered you, even as they could be to myself." certainly, the french king, after such profuse and voluntary pledges, to confirm which he, moreover, offered his two sons and other great individuals as hostages, could not, without utterly disgracing himself, have taken any unhandsome advantage of the emperor's presence in his dominions. the reflections often made concerning the high-minded chivalry of francis, and the subtle knowledge of human nature displayed by charles upon the occasion, seem, therefore, entirely superfluous. the emperor came to paris. "here," says a citizen of ghent, at the time, who has left a minute account of the transaction upon record, but whose sympathies were ludicrously with the despot and against his own townspeople, "here the emperor was received as if the god of paradise had descended." on the th of february, , he left brussels; on the th he came to ghent. his entrance into the city lasted more than six hours. four thousand lancers, one thousand archers, five thousand halberdmen and musqueteers composed his bodyguard, all armed to the teeth and ready for combat. the emperor rode in their midst, surrounded by "cardinals, archbishops, bishops, and other great ecclesiastical lords," so that the terrors of the church were combined with the panoply of war to affright the souls of the turbulent burghers. a brilliant train of "dukes, princes, earls, barons, grand masters, and seignors, together with most of the knights of the fleece," were, according to the testimony of the same eyewitness, in attendance upon his majesty. this unworthy son of ghent was in ecstasies with the magnificence displayed upon the occasion. there was such a number of "grand lords, members of sovereign houses, bishops, and other ecclesiastical dignitaries going about the streets, that," as the poor soul protested with delight, "there was nobody else to be met with." especially the fine clothes of these distinguished guests excited his warmest admiration. it was wonderful to behold, he said, "the nobility and great richness of the princes and seignors, displayed as well in their beautiful furs, martins and sables, as in the great chains of fine gold which they wore twisted round their necks, and the pearls and precious stones in their bonnets and otherwise, which they displayed in great abundance. it was a very triumphant thing to see them so richly dressed and accoutred." an idea may be formed of the size and wealth of the city at this period, from the fact that it received and accommodated sixty thousand strangers, with their fifteen thousand horses, upon the occasion of the emperor's visit. charles allowed a month of awful suspense to intervene between his arrival and his vengeance. despair and hope alternated during the interval. on the th of march, the spell was broken by the execution of nineteen persons, who were beheaded as ringleaders. on the th of april, he pronounced sentence upon the city. the hall where it was rendered was open to all comers, and graced by the presence of the emperor, the queen regent, and the great functionaries of court, church, and state. the decree, now matured, was read at length. it annulled all the charters, privileges, and laws of ghent. it confiscated all its public property, rents, revenues, houses, artillery, munitions of war, and in general every thing which the corporation, or the traders, each and all, possessed in common. in particular, the great bell--roland was condemned and sentenced to immediate removal. it was decreed that the four hundred thousand florins, which had caused the revolt, should forthwith be paid, together with an additional fine by ghent of one hundred and fifty thousand, besides six thousand a year, forever after. in place of their ancient and beloved constitution, thus annihilated at a blow, was promulgated a new form of municipal government of the simplest kind, according to which all officers were in future to be appointed by himself and the guilds, to be reduced to half their number; shorn of all political power, and deprived entirely of self-government. it was, moreover, decreed, that the senators, their pensionaries, clerks and secretaries, thirty notable burghers, to be named by the emperor, with the great dean and second dean of the weavers, all dressed in black robes, without their chains, and bareheaded, should appear upon an appointed day, in company with fifty persons from the guilds, and fifty others, to be arbitrarily named, in their shirts, with halters upon their necks. this large number of deputies, as representatives of the city, were then to fall upon their knees before the emperor, say in a loud and intelligible voice, by the mouth of one of their clerks, that they were extremely sorry for the disloyalty, disobedience, infraction of laws, commotions, rebellion, and high treason, of which they had been guilty, promise that they would never do the like again, and humbly implore him, for the sake of the passion of jesus christ, to grant them mercy and forgiveness. the third day of may was appointed for the execution of the sentence. charles, who was fond of imposing exhibitions and prided himself upon arranging them with skill, was determined that this occasion should be long remembered by all burghers throughout his dominions who might be disposed to insist strongly upon their municipal rights. the streets were alive with troops: cavalry and infantry in great numbers keeping strict guard at every point throughout the whole extent of the city; for it was known that the hatred produced by the sentence was most deadly, and that nothing but an array of invincible force could keep those hostile sentiments in check. the senators in their black mourning robes, the other deputies in linen shirts, bareheaded, with halters on their necks, proceeded, at the appointed hour, from the senate house to the imperial residence. high on his throne, with the queen regent at his side, surrounded by princes, prelates and nobles, guarded by his archers and halberdiers, his crown on his head and his sceptre in his hand, the emperor, exalted, sat. the senators and burghers, in their robes cf humiliation, knelt in the dust at his feet. the prescribed words of contrition and of supplication for mercy were then read by the pensionary, all the deputies remaining upon their knees, and many of them crying bitterly with rage and shame. "what principally distressed them," said the honest citizen, whose admiration for the brilliant accoutrement of the princes and prelates has been recorded, "was to have the halter on their necks, which they found hard to bear, and, if they had not been compelled, they would rather have died than submit to it." as soon as the words had been all spoken by the pensionary, the emperor, whose cue was now to appear struggling with mingled emotions of reasonable wrath and of natural benignity, performed his part with much dramatic effect. "he held himself coyly for a little time," says the eye-witness, "without saying a word; deporting himself as though he were considering whether or not he would grant the pardon for which the culprits had prayed." then the queen regent enacted her share in the show. turning to his majesty "with all reverence, honor and humility, she begged that he would concede forgiveness, in honor of his nativity, which had occurred in that city." upon this the emperor "made a fine show of benignity," and replied "very sweetly" that in consequence of his "fraternal love for her, by reason of his being a gentle and virtuous prince, who preferred mercy to the rigor of justice, and in view of their repentance, he would accord his pardon to the citizens." the netherlands, after this issue to the struggle of ghent, were reduced, practically, to a very degraded condition. the form of local self- government remained, but its spirit, when invoked, only arose to be derided. the supreme court of mechlin, as in the days of charles the bold, was again placed in despotic authority above the ancient charters. was it probable that the lethargy of provinces, which had reached so high a point of freedom only to be deprived of it at last, could endure forever? was it to be hoped that the stern spirit of religious enthusiasm, allying itself with the--keen instinct of civil liberty, would endue the provinces with strength to throw off the spanish yoke? xii. it is impossible to comprehend the character of the great netherland revolt in the sixteenth century without taking a rapid retrospective survey of the religious phenomena exhibited in the provinces. the introduction of christianity has been already indicated. from the earliest times, neither prince, people, nor even prelates were very dutiful to the pope. as the papal authority made progress, strong resistance was often made to its decrees. the bishops of utrecht were dependent for their wealth and territory upon the good will of the emperor. they were the determined opponents of hildebrand, warm adherents of the hohenstaufers-ghibelline rather than guelph. heresy was a plant of early growth in the netherlands. as early as the beginning of the th century, the notorious tanchelyn preached at antwerp, attacking the authority of the pope and of all other ecclesiastics; scoffing at the ceremonies and sacraments of the church. unless his character and career have been grossly misrepresented, he was the most infamous of the many impostors who have so often disgraced the cause of religious reformation. by more than four centuries, he anticipated the licentiousness and greediness manifested by a series of false prophets, and was the first to turn both the stupidity of a populace and the viciousness of a priesthood to his own advancement; an ambition which afterwards reached its most signal expression in the celebrated john of leyden. the impudence of tanchelyn and the superstition of his followers seem alike incredible. all antwerp was his harem. he levied, likewise, vast sums upon his converts, and whenever he appeared in public, his apparel and pomp were befitting an emperor. three thousand armed satellites escorted his steps and put to death all who resisted his commands. so groveling became the superstition of his followers that they drank of the water in which, he had washed, and treasured it as a divine elixir. advancing still further in his experiments upon human credulity, he announced his approaching marriage with the virgin mary, bade all his disciples to the wedding, and exhibited himself before an immense crowd in company with an image of his holy bride. he then ordered the people to provide for the expenses of the nuptials and the dowry of his wife, placing a coffer upon each side of the image, to receive the contributions of either sex. which is the most wonderful manifestation in the history of this personage--the audacity of the impostor, or the bestiality of his victims? his career was so successful in the netherlands that he had the effrontery to proceed to rome, promulgating what he called his doctrines as he went. he seems to have been assassinated by a priest in an obscure brawl, about the year . by the middle of the th century, other and purer heresiarchs had arisen. many netherlanders became converts to the doctrines of waldo. from that period until the appearance of luther, a succession of sects-- waldenses, albigenses, perfectists, lollards, poplicans, arnaldists, bohemian brothers--waged perpetual but unequal warfare with the power and depravity of the church, fertilizing with their blood the future field of the reformation. nowhere was the persecution of heretics more relentless than in the netherlands. suspected persons were subjected to various torturing but ridiculous ordeals. after such trial, death by fire was the usual but, perhaps, not the most severe form of execution. in flanders, monastic ingenuity had invented another most painful punishment for waldenses and similar malefactors. a criminal whose guilt had been established by the hot iron, hot ploughshare, boiling kettle, or other logical proof, was stripped and bound to the stake:--he was then flayed, from the neck to the navel, while swarms of bees were let loose to fasten upon his bleeding flesh and torture him to a death of exquisite agony. nevertheless heresy increased in the face of oppression the scriptures, translated by waldo into french, were rendered into netherland rhyme, and the converts to the vaudois doctrine increased in numbers and boldness. at the same time the power and luxury of the clergy was waxing daily. the bishops of utrecht, no longer the defenders of the people against arbitrary power, conducted themselves like little popes. yielding in dignity neither to king nor kaiser, they exacted homage from the most powerful princes of the netherlands. the clerical order became the most privileged of all. the accused priest refused to acknowledge the temporal tribunals. the protection of ecclesiastical edifices was extended over all criminals and fugitives from justice--a beneficent result in those sanguinary ages, even if its roots were sacerdotal pride. to establish an accusation against a bishop, seventy-two witnesses were necessary; against a deacon, twenty-seven; against an inferior dignitary, seven; while two were sufficient to convict a layman. the power to read and write helped the clergy to much wealth. privileges and charters from petty princes, gifts and devises from private persons, were documents which few, save ecclesiastics, could draw or dispute. not content, moreover, with their territories and their tithings, the churchmen perpetually devised new burthens upon the peasantry. ploughs, sickles, horses, oxen, all implements of husbandry, were taxed for the benefit of those who toiled not, but who gathered into barns. in the course of the twelfth century, many religious houses, richly endowed with lands and other property, were founded in the netherlands. was hand or voice raised against clerical encroachment--the priests held ever in readiness a deadly weapon of defence: a blasting anathema was thundered against their antagonist, and smote him into submission. the disciples of him who ordered his followers to bless their persecutors, and to love their enemies, invented such christian formulas as these:--"in the name of the father, the son, the holy ghost, the blessed virgin mary, john the baptist, peter and paul, and all other saints in heaven, do we curse and cut off from our communion him who has thus rebelled against us. may the curse strike him in his house, barn, bed, field, path, city, castle. may he be cursed in battle, accursed in praying, in speaking, in silence, in eating, in drinking, in sleeping. may he be accursed in his taste, hearing, smell, and all his senses. may the curse blast his eyes, head, and his body, from his crown to the soles of his feet. i conjure you, devil, and all your imps, that you take no rest till you have brought him to eternal shame; till he is destroyed by drowning or hanging, till he is torn to pieces by wild beasts, or consumed by fire. let his children become orphans, his wife a widow. i command you, devil, and all your imps, that even as i now blow out these torches, you do immediately extinguish the light from his eyes. so be it--so be it. amen. amen." so speaking, the curser was wont to blow out two waxen torches which he held in his hands, and, with this practical illustration, the anathema was complete. such insane ravings, even in the mouth of some impotent beldame, were enough to excite a shudder, but in that dreary epoch, these curses from the lips of clergymen were deemed sufficient to draw down celestial lightning upon the head, not of the blasphemer, but of his victim. men, who trembled neither at sword nor fire, cowered like slaves before such horrid imprecations, uttered by tongues gifted, as it seemed, with superhuman power. their fellow-men shrank from the wretches thus blasted, and refused communication with them as unclean and abhorred. by the end of the thirteenth century, however, the clerical power was already beginning to decline. it was not the corruption of the church, but its enormous wealth which engendered the hatred, with which it was by many regarded. temporal princes and haughty barons began to dispute the right of ecclesiastics to enjoy vast estates, while refusing the burthen of taxation, and unable to draw a sword for the common defence. at this period, the counts of flanders, of holland, and other netherland sovereigns, issued decrees, forbidding clerical institutions from acquiring property, by devise, gift, purchase, or any other mode. the downfall of the rapacious and licentious knights-templar in the provinces and throughout europe, was another severe blow administered at the same time. the attacks upon church abuses redoubled in boldness, as its authority declined. towards the end of the fourteenth century, the doctrines of wicklif had made great progress in the land. early in the fifteenth, the executions of huss and jerome of prague, produce the bohemian rebellion. the pope proclaims a crusade against the hussites. knights and prelates, esquires and citizens, enlist in the sacred cause, throughout holland and its sister provinces; but many netherlanders, who had felt the might of ziska's arm, come back, feeling more sympathy with the heresy which they had attacked, than with the church for which they had battled. meantime, the restrictions imposed by netherland sovereigns upon clerical rights to hold or acquire property, become more stern and more general. on the other hand, with the invention of printing, the cause of reformation takes a colossal stride in advance. a bible, which, before, had cost five hundred crowns, now costs but five. the people acquire the power of reading god's word, or of hearing it read, for themselves. the light of truth dispels the clouds of superstition, as by a new revelation. the pope and his monks are found to bear, very often, but faint resemblance to jesus and his apostles. moreover, the instinct of self-interest sharpens the eye of the public. many greedy priests, of lower rank, had turned shop-keepers in the netherlands, and were growing rich by selling their wares, exempt from taxation, at a lower rate than lay hucksters could afford. the benefit of clergy, thus taking the bread from the mouths of many, excites jealousy; the more so, as, besides their miscellaneous business, the reverend traders have a most lucrative branch of commerce from which other merchants are excluded. the sale of absolutions was the source of large fortunes to the priests. the enormous impudence of this traffic almost exceeds belief. throughout the netherlands, the price current of the wares thus offered for sale, was published in every town and village. god's pardon for crimes already committed, or about to be committed, was advertised according to a graduated tariff. thus, poisoning, for example, was absolved for eleven ducats, six livres tournois. absolution for incest was afforded at thirty-six livres, three ducats. perjury came to seven livres and three carlines. pardon for murder, if not by poison, was cheaper. even a parricide could buy forgiveness at god's tribunal at one ducat; four livres, eight carlines. henry de montfort, in the year , purchased absolution for that crime at that price. was it strange that a century or so of this kind of work should produce a luther? was it unnatural that plain people, who loved the ancient church, should rather desire to see her purged of such blasphemous abuses, than to hear of st. peter's dome rising a little nearer to the clouds on these proceeds of commuted crime? at the same time, while ecclesiastical abuses are thus augmenting, ecclesiastical power is diminishing in the netherlands. the church is no longer able to protect itself against the secular aim. the halcyon days of ban, book and candle, are gone. in , duke philip of burgundy prohibits the churches from affording protection to fugitives. charles the bold, in whose eyes nothing is sacred save war and the means of making it, lays a heavy impost upon all clerical property. upon being resisted, he enforces collection with the armed hand. the sword and the pen, strength and intellect, no longer the exclusive servants or instruments of priestcraft, are both in open revolt. charles the bold storms one fortress, doctor grandfort, of groningen, batters another. this learned frisian, called "the light of the world," friend and compatriot of the great rudolph agricola, preaches throughout the provinces, uttering bold denunciations of ecclesiastical error. he even disputes the infallibility of the pope, denies the utility of prayers for the dead, and inveighs against the whole doctrine of purgatory and absolution. with the beginning of the th century, the great reformation was actually alive. the name of erasmus of rotterdam was already celebrated; the man, who, according to grotius, "so well showed the road to a reasonable reformation." but if erasmus showed the road, he certainly did not travel far upon it himself. perpetual type of the quietist, the moderate man, he censured the errors of the church with discrimination and gentleness, as if borgianism had not been too long rampant at rome, as if men's minds throughout christendom were not too deeply stirred to be satisfied with mild rebukes against sin, especially when the mild rebuker was in receipt of livings and salaries from the sinner. instead of rebukes, the age wanted reforms. the sage of rotterdam was a keen observer, a shrewd satirist, but a moderate moralist. he loved ease, good company, the soft repose of princely palaces, better than a life of martyrdom and a death at the stake. he was not of the stuff of which martyrs are made, as he handsomely confessed on more than one occasion. "let others affect martyrdom," he said, "for myself i am unworthy of the honor;" and, at another time, "i am not of a mind," he observed "to venture my life for the truth's sake; all men have not strength to endure the martyr's death. for myself, if it came to the point, i should do no better than simon peter." moderate in all things, he would have liked, he said, to live without eating and drinking, although he never found it convenient to do so, and he rejoiced when advancing age diminished his tendency to other carnal pleasures in which he had moderately indulged. although awake to the abuses of the church, he thought luther going too fast and too far. he began by applauding ended by censuring the monk of wittemberg. the reformation might have been delayed for centuries had erasmus and other moderate men been the only reformers. he will long be honored for his elegant, latinity. in the republic of letters, his efforts to infuse a pure taste, a sound criticism, a love for the beautiful and the classic, in place of the owlish pedantry which had so long flapped and hooted through mediveval cloisters, will always be held in grateful reverence. in the history of the religious reformation, his name seems hardly to deserve the commendations of grotius. as the schism yawns, more and more ominously, throughout christendom, the emperor naturally trembles. anxious to save the state, but being no antique roman, he wishes to close the gulf, but with more convenience to himself: he conceives the highly original plan of combining church and empire under one crown. this is maximilian's scheme for church reformation. an hereditary papacy, a perpetual pope-emperor, the charlemagne and hildebrand systems united and simplified--thus the world may yet be saved. "nothing more honorable, nobler, better, could happen to us," writes maximilian to paul lichtenstein ( th sept. ), "than to re-annex the said popedom--which properly belongs to us--to our empire. cardinal adrian approves our reasons and encourages us to proceed, being of opinion that we should not have much trouble with the cardinals. it is much to be feared that the pope may die of his present sickness. he has lost his appetite, and fills himself with so much drink that his health is destroyed. as such matters can not be arranged without money, we have promised the cardinals, whom we expect to bring over, , ducats, [recall that the fine for redemption and pardon for the sin of murder was at that time one ducat. d.w.] which we shall raise from the fuggers, and make payable in rome upon the appointed day." these business-like arrangements he communicates, two days afterwards, in a secret letter to his daughter margaret, and already exults at his future eminence, both in this world and the next. "we are sending monsieur de gurce," he says; "to make an agreement with the pope, that we may be taken as coadjutor, in order that, upon his death, we may be sure of the papacy, and, afterwards, of becoming a saint. after my decease, therefore, you will be constrained to adore me, of which i shall be very proud. i am beginning to work upon the cardinals, in which affair two or three hundred thousand ducats will be of great service." the letter was signed, "from the hand of your good father, maximilian, future pope." these intrigues are not destined, however, to be successful. pope julius lives two years longer; leo the tenth succeeds; and, as medici are not much prone to church reformation some other scheme, and perhaps some other reformer, may be wanted. meantime, the traffic in bulls of absolution becomes more horrible than ever. money must be raised to supply the magnificent extravagance of rome. accordingly, christians, throughout europe, are offered by papal authority, guarantees of forgiveness for every imaginable sin, "even for the rape of god's mother, if that were possible," together with a promise of life eternal in paradise, all upon payment of the price affixed to each crime. the netherlands, like other countries, are districted and farmed for the collection of this papal revenue. much of the money thus raised, remains in the hands of the vile collectors. sincere catholics, who love and honor the ancient religion, shrink with horror at the spectacle offered on every side. criminals buying paradise for money, monks spending the money thus paid in gaming houses, taverns, and brothels; this seems, to those who have studied their testaments, a different scheme of salvation from the one promulgated by christ. there has evidently been a departure from the system of earlier apostles. innocent conservative souls are much perplexed; but, at last, all these infamies arouse a giant to do battle with the giant wrong. martin luther enters the lists, all alone, armed only with a quiver filled with ninety-five propositions, and a bow which can send them all over christendom with incredible swiftness. within a few weeks the ninety-five propositions have flown through germany, the netherlands, spain, and are found in jerusalem. at the beginning, erasmus encourages the bold friar. so long as the axe is not laid at the foot of the tree, which bears the poisonous but golden fruit, the moderate man applauds the blows. "luther's cause is considered odious," writes erasmus to the elector of saxony, "because he has, at the same time, attacked the bellies of the monks and the bulls of the pope." he complains that the zealous man had been attacked with roiling, but not with arguments. he foresees that the work will have a bloody and turbulent result, but imputes the principal blame to the clergy. "the priests talk," said he, "of absolution in such terms, that laymen can not stomach it. luther has been for nothing more censured than for making little of thomas aquinas; for wishing to diminish the absolution traffic; for having a low opinion of mendicant orders, and for respecting scholastic opinions less than the gospels. all this is considered intolerable heresy." erasmus, however, was offending both parties. a swarm of monks were already buzzing about him for the bold language of his commentaries and dialogues. he was called erasmus for his errors--arasmus because he would plough up sacred things--erasinus because he had written himself an ass--behemoth, antichrist, and many other names of similar import. luther was said to have bought the deadly seed in his barn. the egg had been laid by erasmus, hatched by luther. on the other hand, he was reviled for not taking side manfully with the reformer. the moderate man received much denunciation from zealots on either side. he soon clears himself, however, from all suspicions of lutheranism. he is appalled at the fierce conflict which rages far and wide. he becomes querulous as the mighty besom sweeps away sacred dust and consecrated cobwebs. "men should not attempt every thing at once," he writes, "but rather step by step. that which men can not improve they must look at through the fingers. if the godlessness of mankind requires such fierce physicians as luther, if man can not be healed with soothing ointments and cooling drinks, let us hope that god will comfort, as repentant, those whom he has punished as rebellious. if the dove of christ--not the owl of minerva--would only fly to us, some measure might be put to the madness of mankind." meantime the man, whose talk is not of doves and owls, the fierce physician, who deals not with ointments and cooling draughts, strides past the crowd of gentle quacks to smite the foul disease. devils, thicker than tiles on house-tops, scare him not from his work. bans and bulls, excommunications and decrees, are rained upon his head. the paternal emperor sends down dire edicts, thicker than hail upon the earth. the holy father blasts and raves from rome. louvain doctors denounce, louvain hangmen burn, the bitter, blasphemous books. the immoderate man stands firm in the storm, demanding argument instead of illogical thunder; shows the hangmen and the people too, outside the elster gate at wittenberg, that papal bulls will blaze as merrily as heretic scrolls. what need of allusion to events which changed the world--which every child has learned--to the war of titans, uprooting of hoary trees and rock-ribbed hills, to the worms diet, peasant wars, the patmos of eisenach, and huge wrestlings with the devil? imperial edicts are soon employed to suppress the reformation in the netherlands by force. the provinces, unfortunately; are the private property of charles, his paternal inheritance; and most paternally, according to his view of the matter, does he deal with them. germany can not be treated thus summarily, not being his heritage. "as it appears," says the edict of , "that the aforesaid martin is not a man, but a devil under the form of a man, and clothed in the dress of a priest, the better to bring the human race to hell and damnation, therefore all his disciples and converts are to be punished with death and forfeiture of all their goods." this was succinct and intelligible. the bloody edict, issued at worms, without even a pretence of sanction by the estates, was carried into immediate effect. the papal inquisition was introduced into the provinces to assist its operations. the bloody work, for which the reign of charles is mainly distinguished in the netherlands, now began. in , july st, two augustine monks were burned at brussels, the first victims to lutheranism in the provinces. erasmus observed, with a sigh, that "two had been burned at brussels, and that the city now began strenuously to favor lutheranism." pope adrian the sixth, the netherland boat-maker's son and the emperor's ancient tutor, was sufficiently alive to the sins of churchmen. the humble scholar of utrecht was, at least, no borgia. at the diet of nuremberg, summoned to put down luther, the honest pope declared roundly, through the bishop of fabriane, that "these disorders had sprung from the sins of men, more especially from the sins of priests and prelates. even in the holy chair," said he, "many horrible crimes have been committed. many abuses have grown up in the ecclesiastical state. the contagious disease, spreading from the head to the members--from the pope to lesser prelates--has spread far and wide, so that scarcely any one is to be found who does right, and who is free from infection. nevertheless, the evils have become so ancient and manifold, that it will be necessary to go step by step." in those passionate days, the ardent reformers were as much outraged by this pregnant confession as the ecclesiastics. it would indeed be a slow process, they thought, to move step by step in the reformation, if between each step, a whole century was to intervene. in vain did the gentle pontiff call upon erasmus to assuage the stormy sea with his smooth rhetoric. the sage of rotterdam was old and sickly; his day was over. adrian's head; too; languishes beneath the triple crown but twenty months. he dies th sept., , having arrived at the conviction, according to his epitaph, that the greatest misfortune of his life was to have reigned. another edict, published in the netherlands, forbids all private assemblies for devotion; all reading of the scriptures; all discussions within one's own doors concerning faith, the sacraments, the papal authority, or other religious matter, under penalty of death. the edicts were no dead letter. the fires were kept constantly supplied with human fuel by monks, who knew the art of burning reformers better than that of arguing with them. the scaffold was the most conclusive of syllogisms, and used upon all occasions. still the people remained unconvinced. thousands of burned heretics had not made a single convert. a fresh edict renewed and sharpened the punishment for reading the scriptures in private or public. at the same time, the violent personal altercation between luther and erasmus, upon predestination, together with the bitter dispute between luther and zwingli concerning the real presence, did more to impede the progress of the reformation than ban or edict, sword or fire. the spirit of humanity hung her head, finding that the bold reformer had only a new dogma in place of the old ones, seeing that dissenters, in their turn, were sometimes as ready as papists, with age, fagot, and excommunication. in , felix mants, the anabaptist, is drowned at zurich, in obedience to zwingli's pithy formula--'qui iterum mergit mergatur'. thus the anabaptists, upon their first appearance, were exposed to the fires of the church and the water of the zwinglians. there is no doubt that the anabaptist delusion was so ridiculous and so loathsome, as to palliate or at least render intelligible the wrath with which they were regarded by all parties. the turbulence of the sect was alarming to constituted authorities, its bestiality disgraceful to the cause of religious reformation. the leaders were among the most depraved of human creatures, as much distinguished for licentiousness, blasphemy and cruelty as their followers for grovelling superstition. the evil spirit, driven out of luther, seemed, in orthodox eyes, to have taken possession of a herd of swine. the germans, muncer and hoffmann, had been succeeded, as chief prophets, by a dutch baker, named matthiszoon, of harlem; who announced himself as enoch. chief of this man's disciples was the notorious john boccold, of leyden. under the government of this prophet, the anabaptists mastered the city of munster. here they confiscated property, plundered churches, violated females, murdered men who refused to join the gang, and, in briefs practised all the enormities which humanity alone can conceive or perpetrate. the prophet proclaimed himself king of sion, and sent out apostles to preach his doctrines in germany and the netherlands. polygamy being a leading article of the system, he exemplified the principle by marrying fourteen wives. of these, the beautiful widow of matthiszoon was chief, was called the queen of sion, and wore a golden crown. the prophet made many fruitless efforts to seize amsterdam and leyden. the armed invasion of the anabaptists was repelled, but their contagious madness spread. the plague broke forth in amsterdam. on a cold winter's night, (february, ), seven men and five women, inspired by the holy ghost, threw off their clothes and rushed naked and raving through the streets, shrieking "wo, wo, wo! the wrath of god, the wrath of god!" when arrested, they obstinately refused to put on clothing. "we are," they observed, "the naked truth." in a day or two, these furious lunatics, who certainly deserved a madhouse rather than the scaffold, were all executed. the numbers of the sect increased with the martyrdom to which they were exposed, and the disorder spread to every part of the netherlands. many were put to death in lingering torments, but no perceptible effect was produced by the chastisement. meantime the great chief of the sect, the prophet john, was defeated by the forces of the bishop of munster, who recovered his city and caused the "king of zion" to be pinched to death with red-hot tongs. unfortunately the severity of government was not wreaked alone upon the prophet and his mischievous crew. thousands and ten-thousands of virtuous, well-disposed men and women, who had as little sympathy with anabaptistical as with roman depravity; were butchered in cold blood, under the sanguinary rule of charles, in the netherlands. in , queen dowager mary of hungary, sister of the emperor, regent of the provinces, the "christian widow" admired by erasmus, wrote to her brother that "in her opinion all heretics, whether repentant or not, should be prosecuted with such severity as that error might be, at once, extinguished, care being only taken that the provinces were not entirely depopulated." with this humane limitation, the "christian widow" cheerfully set herself to superintend as foul and wholesale a system of murder as was ever organized. in , an imperial edict was issued at brussels, condemning all heretics to death; repentant males to be executed with the sword, repentant females to be buried alive, the obstinate, of both sexes, to be burned. this and similar edicts were the law of the land for twenty years, and rigidly enforced. imperial and papal persecution continued its daily deadly work with such diligence as to make it doubtful whether the limits set by the regent mary might not be overstepped. in the midst of the carnage, the emperor sent for his son philip, that he might receive the fealty of the netherlands as their future lord and master. contemporaneously, a new edict was published at brussels ( th april, ), confirming and reenacting all previous decrees in their most severe provisions. thus stood religious matters in the netherlands at the epoch of the imperial abdication. xiii. the civil institutions of the country had assumed their last provincial form, in the burgundo-austrian epoch. as already stated, their tendency, at a later period a vicious one, was to substitute fictitious personages for men. a chain of corporations was wound about the liberty of the netherlands; yet that liberty had been originally sustained by the system in which it, one day, might be strangled. the spirit of local self- government, always the life-blood of liberty, was often excessive in its manifestations. the centrifugal force had been too much developed, and, combining with the mutual jealousy of corporations, had often made the nation weak against a common foe. instead of popular rights there were state rights, for the large cities, with extensive districts and villages under their government, were rather petty states than municipalities. although the supreme legislative and executive functions belonged to the sovereign, yet each city made its by-laws, and possessed, beside, a body of statutes and regulations, made from time to time by its own authority and confirmed by the prince. thus a large portion, at least, of the nation shared practically in the legislative functions, which, technically, it did not claim; nor had the requirements of society made constant legislation so necessary, as that to exclude the people from the work was to enslave the country. there was popular power enough to effect much good, but it was widely scattered, and, at the same time, confined in artificial forms. the guilds were vassals of the towns, the towns, vassals of the feudal lord. the guild voted in the "broad council" of the city as one person; the city voted in the estates as one person. the people of the united netherlands was the personage yet to be invented, it was a privilege, not a right, to exercise a handiwork, or to participate in the action of government. yet the mass of privileges was so large, the shareholders so numerous, that practically the towns were republics. the government was in the hands of a large number of the people. industry and intelligence led to wealth and power. this was great progress from the general servitude of the th and th centuries, an immense barrier against arbitrary rule. loftier ideas of human rights, larger conceptions of commerce, have taught mankind, in later days, the difference between liberties and liberty, between guilds and free competition. at the same time it was the principle of mercantile association, in the middle ages, which protected the infant steps of human freedom and human industry against violence and wrong. moreover, at this period, the tree of municipal life was still green and vigorous. the healthful flow of sap from the humblest roots to the most verdurous branches indicated the internal soundness of the core, and provided for the constant development of exterior strength. the road to political influence was open to all, not by right of birth, but through honorable exertion of heads and hands. the chief city of the netherlands, the commercial capital of the world, was antwerp. in the north and east of europe, the hanseatic league had withered with the revolution in commerce. at the south, the splendid marble channels, through which the overland india trade had been conducted from the mediterranean by a few stately cities, were now dry, the great aqueducts ruinous and deserted. verona, venice, nuremberg, augsburg, bruges, were sinking, but antwerp, with its deep and convenient river, stretched its arm to the ocean and caught the golden prize, as it fell from its sister cities' grasp. the city was so ancient that its genealogists, with ridiculous gravity, ascended to a period two centuries before the trojan war, and discovered a giant, rejoicing in the classic name of antigonus, established on the scheld. this patriarch exacted one half the merchandise of all navigators who passed his castle, and was accustomed to amputate and cast into the river the right hands of those who infringed this simple tariff. thus hand-werpen, hand-throwing, became antwerp, and hence, two hands, in the escutcheon of the city, were ever held up in heraldic attestation of the truth. the giant was, in his turn, thrown into the scheld by a hero, named brabo, from whose exploits brabant derived its name; "de quo brabonica tellus." but for these antiquarian researches, a simpler derivation of the name would seem an t' werf, "on the wharf." it had now become the principal entrepot and exchange of europe. the huggers, velsens, ostetts, of germany, the gualterotti and bonvisi of italy, and many other great mercantile houses were there established. no city, except paris, surpassed it in population, none approached it in commercial splendor. its government was very free. the sovereign, as marquis of antwerp, was solemnly sworn to govern according to the ancient charters and laws. the stadholder, as his representative, shared his authority with the four estates of the city. the senate of eighteen members was appointed by the stadholder out of a quadruple number nominated by the senate itself and by the fourth body, called the borgery. half the board was thus renewed annually. it exercised executive and appellate judicial functions, appointed two burgomasters, and two pensionaries or legal councillors, and also selected the lesser magistrates and officials of the city. the board of ancients or ex-senators, held their seats ex officio. the twenty-six ward-masters, appointed, two from each ward, by the senate on nomination by tie wards, formed the third estate. their especial business was to enrol the militia and to attend to its mustering and training. the deans of the guilds, fifty-four in number, two from each guild, selected by the senate, from a triple list of candidates presented by the guilds, composed the fourth estate. this influential body was always assembled in the broad-council of the city. their duty was likewise to conduct the examination of candidates claiming admittance to any guild and offering specimens of art or handiwork, to superintend the general affairs of the guilds and to regulate disputes. there were also two important functionaries, representing the king in criminal and civil matters. the vicarius capitalis, scultetus, schout, sheriff, or margrave, took precedence of all magistrates. his business was to superintend criminal arrests, trials, and executions. the vicarius civilis was called the amman, and his office corresponded with that of the podesta in the frisian and italian republics. his duties were nearly similar, in civil, to those of his colleague, in criminal matters. these four branches, with their functionaries and dependents, composed the commonwealth of antwerp. assembled together in council, they constituted the great and general court. no tax could be imposed by the sovereign, except with consent of the four branches, all voting separately. the personal and domiciliary rights of the citizen were scrupulously guarded. the schout could only make arrests with the burgomaster's warrant, and was obliged to bring the accused, within three days, before the judges, whose courts were open to the public. the condition of the population was prosperous. there were but few poor, and those did not seek but were sought by the almoners: the schools were excellent and cheap. it was difficult to find a child of sufficient age who could not read, write, and speak, at least, two languages. the sons of the wealthier citizens completed their education at louvain, douay, paris, or padua. the city itself was one of the most beautiful in europe. placed upon a plain along the banks of the scheld, shaped like a bent bow with the river for its string, it enclosed within it walls some of the most splendid edifices in christendom. the world-renowned church of notre dame, the stately exchange where five thousand merchants daily congregated, prototype of all similar establishments throughout the world, the capacious mole and port where twenty-five hundred vessels were often seen at once, and where five hundred made their daily entrance or departure, were all establishments which it would have been difficult to rival in any other part of the world. from what has already been said of the municipal institutions of the country, it may be inferred that the powers of the estates-general were limited. the members of that congress were not representatives chosen by the people, but merely a few ambassadors from individual provinces. this individuality was not always composed of the same ingredients. thus, holland consisted of two members, or branches--the nobles and the six chief cities; flanders of four branches--the cities, namely, of ghent, bruges, ypres, and the "freedom of bruges;" brabant of louvain, brussels, bois le due, and antwerp, four great cities, without representation of nobility or clergy; zeland, of one clerical person, the abbot of middelburg, one noble, the marquis of veer and vliessingen, and six chief cities; utrecht, of three branches--the nobility, the clergy, and five cities. these, and other provinces, constituted in similar manner, were supposed to be actually present at the diet when assembled. the chief business of the states-general was financial; the sovereign, or his stadholder, only obtaining supplies by making a request in person, while any single city, as branch of a province, had a right to refuse the grant. xiii. education had felt the onward movement of the country and the times. the whole system was, however, pervaded by the monastic spirit, which had originally preserved all learning from annihilation, but which now kept it wrapped in the ancient cerecloths, and stiffening in the stony sarcophagus of a bygone age. the university of louvain was the chief literary institution in the provinces. it had been established in by duke john iv. of brabant. its government consisted of a president and senate, forming a close corporation, which had received from the founder all his own authority, and the right to supply their own vacancies. the five faculties of law, canon law, medicine, theology, and the arts, were cultivated at the institution. there was, besides, a high school for under graduates, divided into four classes. the place reeked with pedantry, and the character of the university naturally diffused itself through other scholastic establishments. nevertheless, it had done and was doing much to preserve the love for profound learning, while the rapidly advancing spirit of commerce was attended by an ever increasing train of humanizing arts. the standard of culture in those flourishing cities was elevated, compared with that observed in many parts of europe. the children of the wealthier classes enjoyed great facilities for education in all the great capitals. the classics, music, and the modern languages, particularly the french, were universally cultivated. nor was intellectual cultivation confined to the higher orders. on the contrary, it was diffused to a remarkable degree among the hard-working artisans and handicraftsmen of the great cities. for the principle of association had not confined itself exclusively to politics and trade. besides the numerous guilds by which citizenship was acquired in the various cities, were many other societies for mutual improvement, support, or recreation. the great secret, architectural or masonic brotherhood of germany, that league to which the artistic and patient completion of the magnificent works of gothic architecture in the middle ages is mainly to be attributed, had its branches in nether germany, and explains the presence of so many splendid and elaborately finished churches in the provinces. there were also military sodalities of musketeers, cross-bowmen, archers, swordsmen in every town. once a year these clubs kept holiday, choosing a king, who was selected for his prowess and skill in the use of various weapons. these festivals, always held with great solemnity and rejoicing, were accompanied bye many exhibitions of archery and swordsmanship. the people were not likely, therefore, voluntarily to abandon that privilege and duty of freemen, the right to bear arms, and the power to handle them. another and most important collection of brotherhoods were the so-called guilds of rhetoric, which existed, in greater or less number, in all the principal cities. these were associations of mechanics, for the purpose of amusing their leisure with poetical effusions, dramatic and musical exhibitions, theatrical processions, and other harmless and not inelegant recreations. such chambers of rhetoric came originally in the fifteenth century from france. the fact that in their very title they confounded rhetoric with poetry and the drama indicates the meagre attainments of these early "rederykers." in the outset of their career they gave theatrical exhibitions. "king herod and his deeds" was enacted in the cathedral at utrecht in . the associations spread with great celerity throughout the netherlands, and, as they were all connected with each other, and in habits of periodical intercourse, these humble links of literature were of great value in drawing the people of the provinces into closer union. they became, likewise, important political engines. as early as the time of philip the good, their songs and lampoons became so offensive to the arbitrary notions of the burgundian government, as to cause the societies to be prohibited. it was, however, out of the sovereign's power permanently to suppress institutions, which already partook of the character of the modern periodical press combined with functions resembling the show and licence of the athenian drama. viewed from the stand-point of literary criticism their productions were not very commendable in taste, conception, or execution. to torture the muses to madness, to wire-draw poetry through inextricable coils of difficult rhymes and impossible measures; to hammer one golden grain of wit into a sheet of infinite platitude, with frightful ingenuity to construct ponderous anagrams and preternatural acrostics, to dazzle the vulgar eye with tawdry costumes, and to tickle the vulgar ear with virulent personalities, were tendencies which perhaps smacked of the hammer, the yard-stick and the pincers, and gave sufficient proof, had proof been necessary, that literature is not one of the mechanical arts, and that poetry can not be manufactured to a profit by joint stock companies. yet, if the style of these lucubrations was often depraved, the artisans rarely received a better example from the literary institutions above them. it was not for guilds of mechanics to give the tone to literature, nor were their efforts in more execrable taste than the emanations from the pedants of louvain. the "rhetoricians" are not responsible for all the bad taste of their generation. the gravest historians of the netherlands often relieved their elephantine labors by the most asinine gambols, and it was not to be expected that these bustling weavers and cutlers should excel their literary superiors in taste or elegance. philip the fair enrolled himself as a member in one of these societies. it may easily be inferred, therefore, that they had already become bodies of recognized importance. the rhetorical chambers existed in the most obscure villages. the number of yards of flemish poetry annually manufactured and consumed throughout the provinces almost exceed belief. the societies had regular constitutions. their presiding officers were called kings, princes, captains, archdeacons, or rejoiced in similar high-sounding names. each chamber had its treasurer, its buffoon, and its standard-bearer for public processions. each had its peculiar title or blazon, as the lily, the marigold, or the violet, with an appropriate motto. by the year , the associations had become so important, that philip the fair summoned them all to a general assembly at mechlin. here they were organized, and formally incorporated under the general supervision of an upper or mother-society of rhetoric, consisting of fifteen members, and called by the title of "jesus with the balsam flower." the sovereigns were always anxious to conciliate these influential guilds by becoming members of them in person. like the players, the rhetoricians were the brief abstract and chronicle of the time, and neither prince nor private person desired their ill report. it had, indeed, been philip's intention to convert them into engines for the arbitrary purposes of his house, but fortunately the publicly organized societies were not the only chambers. on the contrary, the unchartered guilds were the moat numerous and influential. they exercised a vast influence upon the progress of the religious reformation, and the subsequent revolt of the netherlands. they ridiculed, with their farces and their satires, the vices of the clergy. they dramatized tyranny for public execration. it was also not surprising, that among the leaders of the wild anabaptists who disgraced the great revolution in church and state by their hideous antics, should be found many who, like david of delft, john of leyden, and others, had been members of rhetorical chambers. the genius for mummery and theatrical exhibitions, transplanted from its sphere, and exerting itself for purposes of fraud and licentiousness, was as baleful in its effects as it was healthy in its original manifestations. such exhibitions were but the excrescences of a system which had borne good fruit. these literary guilds befitted and denoted a people which was alive, a people which had neither sunk to sleep in the lap of material prosperity, nor abased itself in the sty of ignorance and political servitude. the spirit of liberty pervaded these rude but not illiterate assemblies, and her fair proportions were distinctly visible, even through the somewhat grotesque garb which she thus assumed. the great leading recreations which these chambers afforded to themselves and the public, were the periodic jubilees which they celebrated in various capital cities. all the guilds of rhetoric throughout the netherlands were then invited to partake and to compete in magnificent processions, brilliant costumes, living pictures, charades, and other animated, glittering groups, and in trials of dramatic and poetic skill, all arranged under the superintendence of the particular association which, in the preceding year, had borne away the prize. such jubilees were called "land jewels." from the amusements of a people may be gathered much that is necessary for a proper estimation of its character. no unfavorable opinion can be formed as to the culture of a nation, whose weavers, smiths, gardeners, and traders, found the favorite amusement of their holidays in composing and enacting tragedies or farces, reciting their own verses, or in personifying moral and esthetic sentiments by ingeniously-arranged groups, or gorgeous habiliments. the cramoisy velvets and yellow satin doublets of the court, the gold-brocaded mantles of priests and princes are often but vulgar drapery of little historic worth. such costumes thrown around the swart figures of hard-working artisans, for literary and artistic purposes, have a real significance, and are worthy of a closer examination. were not these amusements of the netherlanders as elevated and humanizing as the contemporary bull-fights and autos-da-fe of spain? what place in history does the gloomy bigot merit who, for the love of christ, converted all these gay cities into shambles, and changed the glittering processions of their land jewels into fettered marches to the scaffold? thus fifteen ages have passed away, and in the place of a horde of savages, living among swamps and thickets, swarm three millions of people, the most industrious, the most prosperous, perhaps the most intelligent under the sun. their cattle, grazing on the bottom of the sea, are the finest in europe, their agricultural products of more exchangeable value than if nature had made their land to overflow with wine and oil. their navigators are the boldest, their mercantile marine the most powerful, their merchants the most enterprising in the world. holland and flanders, peopled by one race, vie with each other in the pursuits of civilization. the flemish skill in the mechanical and in the fine arts is unrivalled. belgian musicians delight and instruct other nations, belgian pencils have, for a century, caused the canvas to glow with colors and combinations never seen before. flemish fabrics are exported to all parts of europe, to the east and west indies, to africa. the splendid tapestries, silks, linens, as well as the more homely and useful manufactures of the netherlands, are prized throughout the world. most ingenious, as they had already been described by the keen-eyed caesar, in imitating the arts of other nations, the skillful artificers of the country at louvain, ghent, and other places, reproduce the shawls and silks of india with admirable accuracy. their national industry was untiring; their prosperity unexampled; their love of liberty indomitable; their pugnacity proverbial. peaceful in their pursuits, phlegmatic by temperament, the netherlands were yet the most belligerent and excitable population of europe. two centuries of civil war had but thinned the ranks of each generation without quenching the hot spirit of the nation. the women were distinguished by beauty of form and vigor of constitution. accustomed from childhood to converse freely with all classes and sexes in the daily walks of life, and to travel on foot or horseback from one town to another, without escort and without fear, they had acquired manners more frank and independent than those of women in other lands, while their morals were pure and their decorum undoubted. the prominent part to be sustained by the women of holland in many dramas of the revolution would thus fitly devolve upon a class, enabled by nature and education to conduct themselves with courage. within the little circle which encloses the seventeen provinces are walled cities, many of them among the most stately in christendom, chartered towns, , villages, with their watch-towers and steeples, besides numerous other more insignificant hamlets; the whole guarded by a belt of sixty fortresses of surpassing strength. xiv. thus in this rapid sketch of the course and development of the netherland nation during sixteen centuries, we have seen it ever marked by one prevailing characteristic, one master passion--the love of liberty, the instinct of self-government. largely compounded of the bravest teutonic elements, batavian and frisian, the race ever battles to the death with tyranny, organizes extensive revolts in the age of vespasian, maintains a partial independence even against the sagacious dominion of charlemagne, refuses in friesland to accept the papal yoke or feudal chain, and, throughout the dark ages, struggles resolutely towards the light, wresting from a series of petty sovereigns a gradual and practical recognition of the claims of humanity. with the advent of the burgundian family, the power of the commons has reached so high a point, that it is able to measure itself, undaunted, with the spirit of arbitrary rule, of which that engrossing and tyrannical house is the embodiment. for more than a century the struggle for freedom, for civic life, goes on; philip the good, charles the bold, mary's husband maximilian, charles v., in turn, assailing or undermining the bulwarks raised, age after age, against the despotic principle. the combat is ever renewed. liberty, often crushed, rises again and again from her native earth with redoubled energy. at last, in the th century, a new and more powerful spirit, the genius of religious freedom, comes to participate in the great conflict. arbitrary power, incarnated in the second charlemagne, assails the new combination with unscrupulous, unforgiving fierceness. venerable civic magistrates; haltered, grovel in sackcloth and ashes; innocent, religious reformers burn in holocausts. by the middle of the century, the battle rages more fiercely than ever. in the little netherland territory, humanity, bleeding but not killed, still stands at bay and defies the hunters. the two great powers have been gathering strength for centuries. they are soon to be matched in a longer and more determined combat than the world had ever seen. the emperor is about to leave the stage. the provinces, so passionate for nationality, for municipal freedom, for religious reformation, are to become the property of an utter stranger; a prince foreign to their blood, their tongue, their religion, their whole habits of life and thought. such was the political, religious, and social condition of a nation who were now to witness a new and momentous spectacle. etext editor's bookmarks: absolution for incest was afforded at thirty-six livres achieved the greatness to which they had not been born advancing age diminished his tendency to other carnal pleasures all his disciples and converts are to be punished with death all reading of the scriptures (forbidden) altercation between luther and erasmus, upon predestination an hereditary papacy, a perpetual pope-emperor announced his approaching marriage with the virgin mary as ready as papists, with age, fagot, and excommunication attacking the authority of the pope bold reformer had only a new dogma in place of the old ones charles the fifth autocrat of half the world condemning all heretics to death craft meaning, simply, strength criminal whose guilt had been established by the hot iron criminals buying paradise for money crusades made great improvement in the condition of the serfs democratic instincts of the ancient german savages denies the utility of prayers for the dead difference between liberties and liberty dispute between luther and zwingli concerning the real presence divine right drank of the water in which, he had washed enormous wealth (of the church) which engendered the hatred erasmus encourages the bold friar erasmus of rotterdam even for the rape of god's mother, if that were possible executions of huss and jerome of prague fable of divine right is invented to sanction the system felix mants, the anabaptist, is drowned at zurich few, even prelates were very dutiful to the pope fiction of apostolic authority to bind and loose fishermen and river raftsmen become ocean adventurers for myself i am unworthy of the honor (of martyrdom) forbids all private assemblies for devotion force clerical--the power of clerks great privilege, the magna charta of holland guarantees of forgiveness for every imaginable sin halcyon days of ban, book and candle heresy was a plant of early growth in the netherlands in holland, the clergy had neither influence nor seats invented such christian formulas as these (a curse) july st, two augustine monks were burned at brussels king of zion to be pinched to death with red-hot tongs labored under the disadvantage of never having existed learn to tremble as little at priestcraft as at swordcraft many greedy priests, of lower rank, had turned shop-keepers no one can testify but a householder not of the stuff of which martyrs are made (erasmus) nowhere was the persecution of heretics more relentless obstinate, of both sexes, to be burned one golden grain of wit into a sheet of infinite platitude pardon for crimes already committed, or about to be committed pardon for murder, if not by poison, was cheaper paying their passage through, purgatory poisoning, for example, was absolved for eleven ducats pope and emperor maintain both positions with equal logic power to read and write helped the clergy to much wealth readiness to strike and bleed at any moment in her cause repentant females to be buried alive repentant males to be executed with the sword sale of absolutions was the source of large fortunes to the priests same conjury over ignorant baron and cowardly hind scoffing at the ceremonies and sacraments of the church sharpened the punishment for reading the scriptures in private slavery was both voluntary and compulsory soldier of the cross was free upon his return st. peter's dome rising a little nearer to the clouds tanchelyn the bad duke of burgundy, philip surnamed "the good," the egg had been laid by erasmus, hatched by luther the vivifying becomes afterwards the dissolving principle thousands of burned heretics had not made a single convert thus hand-werpen, hand-throwing, became antwerp to prefer poverty to the wealth attendant upon trade tranquillity of despotism to the turbulence of freedom villagers, or villeins [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. - [chapter iv.] joint letter to philip, from orange, egmont, and horn--egmont's quarrel with aerschot and with aremberg--philip's answer to the three nobles--his instructions to the duchess--egmont declines the king's invitation to visit spain--second letter of the three seigniors--mission of armenteros--letter of alva--secret letters of granvelle to philip--the cardinal's insinuations and instructions-- his complaints as to the lukewarmness of berghen and montigny in the cause of the inquisition--anecdotes to their discredit privately chronicled by granvelle--supposed necessity for the king's presence in the provinces--correspondence of lazarus schwendi--approaching crisis--anxiety of granvelle to retire--banquet of caspar schetz-- invention of the foolscap livery--correspondence of the duchess and of the cardinal with philip upon the subject--entire withdrawal of the three seigniors from the state council--the king advises with alva concerning the recall of granvelle--elaborate duplicity of philip's arrangements--his secret note to the cardinal--his dissembling letters to others--departure of granvelle from the netherlands--various opinions as to its cause--ludicrous conduct of brederode and hoogstraaten--fabulous statements in granvelle's correspondence concerning his recall--universal mystification--the cardinal deceived by the king--granvelle in retirement--his epicureanism--fears in the provinces as to his return--universal joy at his departure--representations to his discredit made by the duchess to philip--her hypocritical letters to the cardinal-- masquerade at count mansfeld's--chantonnay's advice to his brother-- review of granvelle's administration and estimate of his character. on the th march, , orange, horn, and egmont united in a remarkable letter to the king. they said that as their longer "taciturnity" might cause the ruin of his majesty's affairs, they were at last compelled to break silence. they hoped that the king would receive with benignity a communication which was pure, frank, and free from all passion. the leading personages of the province, they continued, having thoroughly examined the nature and extent of cardinal granvelle's authority, had arrived at the conclusion that every thing was in his hands. this persuasion, they said, was rooted in the hearts of all his majesty's subjects, and particularly in their own, so deeply, that it could not be eradicated as long as the cardinal remained. the king was therefore implored to consider the necessity of remedying the evil. the royal affairs, it was affirmed, would never be successfully conducted so long as they were entrusted to granvelle, because he was so odious to so many people. if the danger were not imminent, they should not feel obliged to write to his majesty with so much vehemence. it was, however, an affair which allowed neither delay nor dissimulation. they therefore prayed the king, if they had ever deserved credence in things of weight, to believe them now. by so doing, his majesty would avoid great mischief. many grand seigniors, governors, and others, had thought it necessary to give this notice, in order that the king might prevent the ruin of the country. if, however, his majesty were willing, as they hoped, to avoid discontenting all for the sake of satisfying one, it was possible that affairs might yet prosper. that they might not be thought influenced by ambition or by hope of private profit, the writers asked leave to retire from the state council. neither their reputation, they said, nor the interests of the royal service would permit them to act with the cardinal. they professed themselves dutiful subjects and catholic vassals. had it not been for the zeal of the leading seigniors, the nobility, and other well-disposed persons, affairs would not at that moment be so tranquil; the common people having been so much injured, and the manner of life pursued by the cardinal not being calculated to give more satisfaction than was afforded by his unlimited authority. in conclusion, the writers begged his majesty not to throw the blame upon them, if mischance should follow the neglect of this warning. this memorable letter was signed by guillaume, de nassau, lamoral d'egmont, and philippes de montmorency (count horn). it was despatched undercover to charles de tisnacq, a belgian, and procurator for the affairs of the netherlands at madrid, a man whose relations with count egmont were of a friendly character. it was impossible, however, to keep the matter a secret from the person most interested. the cardinal wrote to the king the day before the letter was written, and many weeks before it was sent, to apprize him that it was coming, and to instruct him as to the answer he was to make. nearly all the leading nobles and governors had adhered to the substance of the letter, save the duke of aerschot, count aremberg, and baron berlaymont. the duke and count had refused to join the league; violent scenes having occurred upon the subject between them and the leaders of the opposition party. egmont, being with a large shooting party at aerschot's country place, beaumont, had taken occasion to urge the duke to join in the general demonstration against the cardinal, arguing the matter in the rough, off-hand, reckless manner which was habitual with him. his arguments offended the nobleman thus addressed, who was vain and irascible. he replied by affirming that he was a friend to egmont, but would not have him for his master. he would have nothing to do, he said, with their league against the cardinal, who had never given him cause of enmity. he had no disposition to dictate to the king as to his choice of ministers, and his majesty was quite right to select his servants at his own pleasure. the duke added that if the seigniors did not wish him for a friend, it was a matter of indifference to him. not one of them was his superior; he had as large a band of noble followers and friends as the best of them, and he had no disposition to accept the supremacy of any nobleman in the land. the conversation carried on in this key soon became a quarrel, and from words the two gentlemen would soon have come to blows, but for the interposition of aremberg and robles, who were present at the scene. the duchess of parma, narrating the occurrence to the king, added that a duel had been the expected result of the affair, but that the two nobles had eventually been reconciled. it was characteristic of aerschot that he continued afterward to associate with the nobles upon friendly terms, while maintaining an increased intimacy with the cardinal. the gentlemen who sent the letter were annoyed at the premature publicity which it seemed to have attained. orange had in vain solicited count aremberg to join the league, and had quarrelled with him in consequence. egmont, in the presence of madame de parma, openly charged aremberg with having divulged the secret which had been confided to him. the count fiercely denied that he had uttered a syllable on the subject to a human being; but added that any communication on his part would have been quite superfluous, while egmont and his friends were daily boasting of what they were to accomplish. egmont reiterated the charge of a breach of faith by aremberg. that nobleman replied by laying his hand upon his sword, denouncing as liars all persons who should dare to charge him again with such an offence, and offering to fight out the quarrel upon the instant. here, again, personal combat was, with much difficulty, averted. egmont, rude, reckless, and indiscreet, was already making manifest that he was more at home on a battle-field than in a political controversy where prudence and knowledge of human nature were as requisite as courage. he was at this period more liberal in his sentiments than at any moment of his life. inflamed by his hatred of granvelle, and determined to compass the overthrow of that minister, he conversed freely with all kinds of people, sought popularity among the burghers, and descanted to every one with much imprudence upon the necessity of union for the sake of liberty and the national good. the regent, while faithfully recording in her despatches every thing of this nature which reached her ears, expressed her astonishment at egmont's course, because, as she had often taken occasion to inform the king, she had always considered the count most sincerely attached to his majesty's service. berlaymont, the only other noble of prominence who did not approve the th of march letter, was at this period attempting to "swim in two waters," and, as usual in such cases, found it very difficult to keep himself afloat. he had refused to join the league, but he stood aloof from granvelle. on a hope held out by the seigniors that his son should be made bishop of liege, he had ceased during a whole year from visiting the cardinal, and had never spoken to him at the council-board. granvelle, in narrating these circumstances to the king, expressed the opinion that berlaymont, by thus attempting to please both parties, had thoroughly discredited himself with both. the famous epistle, although a most reasonable and manly statement of an incontrovertible fact, was nevertheless a document which it required much boldness to sign. the minister at that moment seemed omnipotent, and it was obvious that the king was determined upon a course of political and religious absolutism. it is, therefore, not surprising that, although many sustained its principles, few were willing to affix their names to a paper which might prove a death-warrant to the signers. even montigny and berghen, although they had been active in conducting the whole cabal, if cabal it could be called, refused to subscribe the letter. egmont and horn were men of reckless daring, but they were not keen-sighted enough to perceive fully the consequences of their acts. orange was often accused by his enemies of timidity, but no man ever doubted his profound capacity to look quite through the deeds of men. his political foresight enabled him to measure the dangerous precipice which they were deliberately approaching, while the abyss might perhaps be shrouded to the vision of his companions. he was too tranquil of nature to be hurried, by passions into a grave political step, which in cooler moments he might regret. he resolutely, therefore, and with his eyes open, placed himself in open and recorded enmity with the most powerful and dangerous man in the whole spanish realm, and incurred the resentment of a king who never forgave. it may be safely averred that as much courage was requisite thus to confront a cold and malignant despotism, and to maintain afterwards, without flinching, during a whole lifetime, the cause of national rights and liberty of conscience, as to head the most brilliant charge of cavalry that ever made hero famous. philip answered the letter of the three nobles on the th june following. in this reply, which was brief, he acknowledged the zeal and affection by which the writers had been actuated. he suggested, nevertheless, that, as they had mentioned no particular cause for adopting the advice contained in their letter, it would be better that one of them should come to madrid to confer with him. such matters, he said, could be better treated by word of mouth. he might thus receive sufficient information to enable him to form a decision, for, said he in conclusion, it was not his custom to aggrieve any of his ministers without cause. this was a fine phrase, but under the circumstances of its application, quite ridiculous. there was no question of aggrieving the minister. the letter of the three nobles was very simple. it consisted of a fact and a deduction. the fact stated was, that the cardinal was odious to all classes of the nation. the deduction drawn was, that the government could no longer be carried on by him without imminent danger of ruinous convulsions. the fact was indisputable. the person most interested confirmed it in his private letters. "'tis said," wrote granvelle to philip, "that grandees, nobles, and people, all abhor me, nor am i surprised to find that grandees, nobles, and people are all openly against me, since each and all have been invited to join in the league." the cardinal's reasons for the existence of the unpopularity, which he admitted to the full, have no bearing upon the point in the letter. the fact was relied upon to sustain a simple, although a momentous inference. it was for philip to decide upon the propriety of the deduction, and to abide by the consequences of his resolution when taken. as usual, however, the monarch was not capable of making up his mind. he knew very well that the cardinal was odious and infamous, because he was the willing impersonation of the royal policy. philip was, therefore, logically called upon to abandon the policy or to sustain the minister. he could make up his mind to do neither the one nor the other. in the mean time a well-turned period of mock magnanimity had been furnished him. this he accordingly transmitted as his first answer to a most important communication upon a subject which, in the words of the writers, "admitted neither of dissimulation nor delay." to deprive philip of dissimulation and delay, however, was to take away his all. they were the two weapons with which he fought his long life's battle. they summed up the whole of his intellectual resources. it was inevitable, therefore, that he should at once have recourse to both on such an emergency as the present one. at the same time that he sent his answer to the nobles, he wrote an explanatory letter to the regent. he informed her that he had received the communication of the three seigniors, but instructed her that she was to appear to know nothing of the matter until egmont should speak to her upon the subject. he added that, although he had signified his wish to the three nobles, that one of them, without specifying which, should come to madrid, he in reality desired that egmont, who seemed the most tractable of the three, should be the one deputed. the king added, that his object was to divide the nobles, and to gain time. it was certainly superfluous upon philip's part to inform his sister that his object was to gain time. procrastination was always his first refuge, as if the march of the world's events would pause indefinitely while he sat in his cabinet and pondered. it was, however, sufficiently puerile to recommend to his sister an affectation of ignorance on a subject concerning which nobles had wrangled, and almost drawn their swords in her presence. this, however, was the king's statesmanship when left to his unaided exertions. granvelle, who was both philip and margaret when either had to address or to respond to the world at large, did not always find it necessary to regulate the correspondence of his puppets between themselves. in order more fully to divide the nobles, the king also transmitted to egmont a private note, in his own handwriting, expressing his desire that he should visit spain in person, that they might confer together upon the whole subject. these letters, as might be supposed, produced any thing but a satisfactory effect. the discontent and rage of the gentlemen who had written or sustained the th of march communication, was much increased. the answer was, in truth, no answer at all. "'tis a cold and bad reply," wrote louis of nassau, "to send after so long a delay. 'tis easy to see that the letter came from the cardinal's smithy. in summa it is a vile business, if the gentlemen are all to be governed by one person. i hope to god his power will come soon to an end. nevertheless," added louis, "the gentlemen are all wide awake, for they trust the red fellow not a bit more than he deserves." the reader has already seen that the letter was indeed "from the cardinal's smithy," granvelle having instructed his master how to reply to the seigniors before the communication had been despatched. the duchess wrote immediately to inform her brother that egmont had expressed himself willing enough to go to spain, but had added that he must first consult orange and horn. as soon as that step had been taken, she had been informed that it was necessary for them to advise with all the gentlemen who had sanctioned their letter. the duchess had then tried in vain to prevent such an assembly, but finding that, even if forbidden, it would still take place, she had permitted the meeting in brussels, as she could better penetrate into their proceedings there, than if it should be held at a distance. she added, that she should soon send her secretary armenteros to spain, that the king might be thoroughly acquainted with what was occurring. egmont soon afterwards wrote to philip, declining to visit spain expressly on account of the cardinal. he added, that he was ready to undertake the journey, should the king command his presence for any other object. the same decision was formally communicated to the regent by those chevaliers of the fleece who had approved the th of march letter --montigny; berghen, meghem, mansfeld, ligne, hoogstraaten, orange, egmont, and horn. the prince of orange, speaking in the name of all, informed her that they did not consider it consistent with their reputation, nor with the interest of his majesty, that any one of them should make so long and troublesome a journey, in order to accuse the cardinal. for any other purpose, they all held themselves ready to go to spain at once. the duchess expressed her regret at this resolution. the prince replied by affirming that, in all their proceedings, they had been governed, not by hatred of granvelle but by a sense of duty to his majesty. it was now, he added, for the king to pursue what course it pleased him. four days after this interview with the regent, orange, egmont, and horn addressed a second letter to the king. in this communication they stated that they had consulted with all the gentlemen with whose approbation their first letter had been written. as to the journey of one of them to spain,--as suggested, they pronounced it very dangerous for any seignior to absent himself, in the condition of affairs which then existed. it was not a sufficient cause to go thither on account of granvelle. they disclaimed any intention of making themselves parties to a process against the cardinal. they had thought that their simple, brief announcement would have sufficed to induce his majesty to employ that personage in other places, where his talents would be more fruitful. as to "aggrieving the cardinal without cause," there was no question of aggrieving him at all, but of relieving him of an office which could not remain in his hands without disaster. as to "no particular cause having been mentioned," they said the omission was from no lack of many such. they had charged none, however, because, from their past services and their fidelity to his majesty, they expected to be believed on their honor, without further witnesses or evidence. they had no intention of making themselves accusers. they had purposely abstained from specifications. if his majesty should proceed to ampler information, causes enough would be found. it was better, however, that they should be furnished by others than by themselves. his majesty would then find that the public and general complaint was not without adequate motives. they renewed their prayer to be excused from serving in the council of state, in order that they might not be afterwards inculpated for the faults of others. feeling that the controversy between themselves and the cardinal de granvelle in the state council produced no fruit for his majesty's affairs, they preferred to yield to him. in conclusion, they begged the king to excuse the simplicity of their letters, the rather that they were not by nature great orators, but more accustomed to do well than to speak well, which was also more becoming to persons of their quality. on the th of august, count horn also addressed a private letter to the king, written in the same spirit as that which characterized the joint letter just cited. he assured his majesty that the cardinal could render no valuable service to the crown on account of the hatred which the whole nation bore him, but that, as far as regarded the maintenance of the ancient religion, all the nobles were willing to do their duty. the regent now despatched, according to promise, her private secretary, thomas de armenteros, to spain. his instructions, which were very elaborate, showed that granvelle was not mistaken when he charged her with being entirely changed in regard to him, and when he addressed her a reproachful letter, protesting his astonishment that his conduct had become auspicious, and his inability to divine the cause of the weariness and dissatisfaction which she manifested in regard to him. armenteros, a man of low, mercenary, and deceitful character, but a favorite of the regent, and already beginning to acquire that influence over her mind which was soon to become so predominant, was no friend of the cardinal. it was not probable that he would diminish the effect of that vague censure mingled with faint commendation, which characterized margaret's instructions by any laudatory suggestions of his own. he was directed to speak in general terms of the advance of heresy, and the increasing penury of the exchequer. he was to request two hundred thousand crowns toward the lottery, which the regent proposed to set up as a financial scheme. he was to represent that the duchess had tried, unsuccessfully, every conceivable means of accommodating the quarrel between the cardinal and the seigniors. she recognized granvelle's great capacity, experience, zeal, and devotion--for all which qualities she made much of him--while on the other hand she felt that it would be a great inconvenience, and might cause a revolt of the country, were she to retain him in the netherlands against the will of the seigniors. these motives had compelled her, the messenger was to add, to place both views of the subject before the eyes of the king. armenteros was, furthermore, to narrate the circumstances of the interviews which had recently taken place between herself and the leaders of the opposition party. from the tenor of these instructions, it was sufficiently obvious that margaret of parma was not anxious to retain the cardinal, but that, on the contrary, she was beginning already to feel alarm at the dangerous position in which she found herself. a few days after the three nobles had despatched their last letter to the king, they had handed her a formal remonstrance. in this document they stated their conviction that the country was on the high road to ruin, both as regarded his majesty's service and the common weal. the bare, the popular discontent daily increasing, the fortresses on the frontier in a dilapidated condition. it was to be apprehended daily that merchants and other inhabitants of the provinces would be arrested in foreign countries, to satisfy the debts owed by his majesty. to provide against all these evils, but one course, it was suggested, remained to the government--to summon the states-general, and to rely upon their counsel and support. the nobles, however, forbore to press this point, by reason of the prohibition which the regent had received from the king. they suggested, however, that such an interdiction could have been dictated only by a distrust created between his majesty and the estates by persons having no love for either, and who were determined to leave no resource by which the distress of the country could be prevented. the nobles, therefore, begged her highness not to take it amiss if, so long as the king was indisposed to make other arrangements for the administration of the provinces, they should abstain from appearing at the state council. they preferred to cause the shadow at last to disappear, which they had so long personated. in conclusion, however, they expressed their determination to do their duty in their several governments, and to serve the regent to the best of their abilities. after this remonstrance had been delivered, the prince of orange, count horn, and count egmont abstained entirely from the sessions of the state council. she was left alone with the cardinal, whom she already hated, and with his two shadows, viglius and berlaymont. armenteros, after a month spent on his journey, arrived in spain, and was soon admitted to an audience by philip. in his first interview, which lasted four hours, he read to the king all the statements and documents with which he had come provided, and humbly requested a prompt decision. such a result was of course out of the question. moreover, the cortes of tarragon, which happened then to be in session, and which required the royal attention, supplied the monarch with a fresh excuse for indulging in his habitual vacillation. meantime, by way of obtaining additional counsel in so grave an emergency, he transmitted the letters of the nobles, together with the other papers, to the duke of alva, and requested his opinion on the subject. alva replied with the roar of a wild beast, "every time," he wrote, "that i see the despatches of those three flemish seigniors my rage is so much excited that if i did not use all possible efforts to restrain it, my sentiments would seem those of a madman." after this splenitive exordium he proceeded to express the opinion that all the hatred and complaints against the cardinal had arisen from his opposition to the convocation of the states-general. with regard to persons who had so richly deserved such chastisement, he recommended "that their heads should be taken off; but, until this could be done, that the king should dissemble with them." he advised philip not to reply to their letters, but merely to intimate, through the regent, that their reasons for the course proposed by them did not seem satisfactory. he did not prescribe this treatment of the case as "a true remedy, but only as a palliative; because for the moment only weak medicines could be employed, from which, however, but small effect could be anticipated." as to recalling the cardinal, "as they had the impudence to propose to his majesty," the duke most decidedly advised against the step. in the mean time, and before it should be practicable to proceed "to that vigorous chastisement already indicated," he advised separating the nobles as much as possible by administering flattery and deceitful caresses to egmont, who might be entrapped more easily than the others. here, at least, was a man who knew his own mind. here was a servant who could be relied upon to do his master's bidding whenever this master should require his help. the vigorous explosion of wrath with which the duke thus responded to the first symptoms of what he regarded as rebellion, gave a feeble intimation of the tone which he would assume when that movement should have reached a more advanced stage. it might be guessed what kind of remedies he would one day prescribe in place of the "mild medicines" in which he so reluctantly acquiesced for the present. while this had been the course pursued by the seigniors, the regent and the king, in regard to that all-absorbing subject of netherland politics --the straggle against granvelle--the cardinal, in his letters to philip, had been painting the situation by minute daily touches, in a manner of which his pencil alone possessed the secret. still maintaining the attitude of an injured but forgiving christian, he spoke of the nobles in a tone of gentle sorrow. he deprecated any rising of the royal wrath in his behalf; he would continue to serve the gentlemen, whether they would or no; he was most anxious lest any considerations on his account should interfere with the king's decision in regard to the course to be pursued in the netherlands. at the same time, notwithstanding these general professions of benevolence towards the nobles, he represented them as broken spendthrifts, wishing to create general confusion in order to escape from personal liabilities; as conspirators who had placed themselves within the reach of the attorney- general; as ambitious malcontents who were disposed to overthrow the royal authority, and to substitute an aristocratic republic upon its ruins. he would say nothing to prejudice the king's mind against these gentlemen, but he took care to omit nothing which could possibly accomplish that result. he described them as systematically opposed to the policy which he knew lay nearest the king's heart, and as determined to assassinate the faithful minister who was so resolutely carrying it out, if his removal could be effected in no other way. he spoke of the state of religion as becoming more and more unsatisfactory, and bewailed the difficulty with which he could procure the burning of heretics; difficulties originating in the reluctance of men from whose elevated rank better things might have been expected. as granvelle is an important personage, as his character has been alternately the subject of much censure and of more applause, and as the epoch now described was the one in which the causes of the great convulsion were rapidly germinating, it is absolutely necessary that the reader should be placed in a position to study the main character, as painted by his own hand; the hand in which were placed, at that moment, the destinies of a mighty empire. it is the historian's duty, therefore, to hang the picture of his administration fully in the light. at the moment when the th of march letter was despatched, the cardinal represented orange and egmont as endeavoring by every method of menace or blandishment to induce all the grand seigniors and petty nobles to join in the league against himself. they had quarrelled with aerschot and aremberg, they had more than half seduced berlaymont, and they stigmatized all who refused to enter into their league as cardinalists and familiars of the inquisition. he protested that he should regard their ill-will with indifference, were he not convinced that he was himself only a pretext, and that their designs were really much deeper. since the return of montigny, the seigniors had established a league which that gentleman and his brother, count horn, had both joined. he would say nothing concerning the defamatory letters and pamphlets of which he was the constant object, for he wished no heed taken of matters which concerned exclusively himself, notwithstanding this disclaimer, however, he rarely omitted to note the appearance of all such productions for his majesty's especial information. "it was better to calm men's spirits," he said, "than to excite them." as to fostering quarrels among the seigniors, as the king had recommended, that was hardly necessary, for discord was fast sowing its own seeds. "it gave him much pain," he said, with a christian sigh, "to observe that such dissensions had already arisen, and unfortunately on his account." he then proceeded circumstantially to describe the quarrel between aerschot and egmont, already narrated by the regent, omitting in his statement no particular which could make egmont reprehensible in the royal eyes. he likewise painted the quarrel between the same noble and aremberg, to which he had already alluded in previous letters to the king, adding that many gentlemen, and even the more prudent part of the people, were dissatisfied with the course of the grandees, and that he was taking underhand but dexterous means to confirm them in such sentiments. he instructed philip how to reply to the letter addressed to him, but begged his majesty not to hesitate to sacrifice him if the interests of his crown should seem to require it. with regard to religious matters, he repeatedly deplored that, notwithstanding his own exertions and those of madame de parma, things were not going on as he desired, but, on the contrary, very badly" for the-love of god and the service of the holy religion," he cried out fervently, "put your royal hand valiantly to the work, otherwise we have only to exclaim, help, lord, for we perish!" having uttered this pious exhortation in the ear of a man who needed no stimulant in the path of persecution, he proceeded to express his regrets that the judges and other officers were not taking in hand the chastisement of heresy with becoming vigor. yet, at that very moment peter titelmann was raging through flanders, tearing whole families out of bed and burning them to ashes, with such utter disregard to all laws or forms as to provoke in the very next year a solemn protest from the four estates of flanders; and titelmann was but one of a dozen inquisitors. granvelle, however, could find little satisfaction in the exertions of subordinates so long as men in high station were remiss in their duties. the marquis berghen, he informed philip, showed but little disposition to put down heresy, in valenciennes, while montigny was equally remiss at tournay. they were often heard to say, to any who chose to listen, that it was not right to inflict the punishment of death for matters of religion. this sentiment, uttered in that age of blood and fire, and crowning the memory of those unfortunate nobles with eternal honor, was denounced by the churchman as criminal, and deserving of castigation. he intimated, moreover, that these pretences of clemency were mere hypocrisy, and that self-interest was at the bottom of their compassion. "'tis very black," said he, "when interest governs; but these men are a in debt, so deeply that they owe their very souls. they are seeking every means of escaping from their obligations, and are most desirous of creating general confusion." as to the prince of orange, the cardinal asserted that he owed nine hundred thousand florins, and had hardly twenty-five thousand a-year clear income, while he spent ninety thousand, having counts; barons, and gentlemen in great numbers, in his household. at this point, he suggested that it might be well to find employment for some of these grandees in spain and other dominions of his majesty, adding that perhaps orange might accept the vice-royalty of sicily. resuming the religious matter, a few weeks later, he expressed himself a little more cheerfully, "we have made so much outcry," said he, "that at last marquis berghen has been forced to burn a couple of heretics at valenciennes. thus, it is obvious," moralized the cardinal, "that if he were really willing to apply the remedy in that place, much progress might be made; but that we can do but little so long as he remains in the government of the provinces and refuses to assist us." in a subsequent letter, he again uttered com plaints against the marquis and montigny, who were evermore his scapegoats and bugbears. berghen will give us no aid, he wrote, despite of all the letters we send him. he absents himself for private and political reasons. montigny has eaten meat in lent, as the bishop of tournay informs me. both he and the marquis say openly that it is not right to shed blood for matters of faith, so that the king can judge how much can be effected with such coadjutors. berghen avoids the persecution of heretics, wrote the cardinal again, a month later, to secretary perez. he has gone to spa for his health, although those who saw him last say he is fat and hearty. granvelle added, however, that they had at last "burned one more preacher alive." the heretic, he stated, had feigned repentance to save his life, but finding that, at any rate, his head would be cut off as a dogmatizer, he retracted his recantation. "so," concluded the cardinal, complacently, "they burned him." he chronicled the sayings and doings of the principal personages in the netherlands, for the instruction of the king, with great regularity, insinuating suspicions when unable to furnish evidence, and adding charitable apologies, which he knew would have but small effect upon the mind of his correspondent. thus he sent an account of a "very secret meeting" held by orange, egmont, horn, montigny and berghen, at the abbey of la forest, near brussels, adding, that he did not know what they had been doing there, and was at loss what to suspect. he would be most happy, he said, to put the best interpretation upon their actions, but he could not help remembering with great sorrow the observation so recently made by orange to montigny, that one day they should be stronger. later in the year, the cardinal informed the king that the same nobles were holding a conference at weerdt, that he had not learned what had been transacted there, but thought the affair very suspicious. philip immediately communicated the intelligence to alva, together with an expression of granvelle's fears and of his own, that a popular outbreak would be the consequence of the continued presence of the minister in the netherlands. the cardinal omitted nothing in the way of anecdote or inuendo, which could injure the character of the leading nobles, with the exception, perhaps, of count egmont. with this important personage, whose character he well understood, he seemed determined, if possible, to maintain friendly relations. there was a deep policy in this desire, to which we shall advert hereafter. the other seigniors were described in general terms as disposed to overthrow the royal authority. they were bent upon granvelle's downfall as the first step, because, that being accomplished, the rest would follow as a matter of course. "they intend," said he, "to reduce the state into the form of a republic, in which the king shall have no power except to do their bidding." he added, that he saw with regret so many german troops gathering on the borders; for he believed them to be in the control of the disaffected nobles of the netherlands. having made this grave insinuation, he proceeded in the same breath to express his anger at a statement said to have been made by orange and egmont, to the effect that he had charged them with intending to excite a civil commotion, an idea, he added, which had never entered his head. in the same paragraph, he poured into the most suspicious ear that ever listened to a tale of treason, his conviction that the nobles were planning a republic by the aid of foreign troops, and uttered a complaint that these nobles had accused him of suspecting them. as for the prince of orange, he was described as eternally boasting of his influence in germany, and the great things which he could effect by means of his connexions there, "so that," added the cardinal, "we hear no other song." he had much to say concerning the projects of these grandees to abolish all the councils, but that of state, of which body they intended to obtain the entire control. marquis berghen was represented as being at the bottom of all these intrigues. the general and evident intention was to make a thorough change in the form of government. the marquis meant to command in every thing, and the duchess would soon have nothing to do in the provinces as regent for the king. in fact, philip himself would be equally powerless, "for," said the cardinal, "they will have succeeded in putting your majesty completely under guardianship." he added, moreover, that the seigniors, in order to gain favor with the people and with the estates, had allowed them to acquire so much power, that they would respond to any request for subsidies by a general popular revolt. "this is the simple truth," said granvelle, "and moreover, by the same process, in a very few days there will likewise be no religion left in the land." when the deputies of some of the states, a few weeks later, had been irregularly convened in brussels, for financial purposes, the cardinal informed the monarch that the nobles were endeavoring to conciliate their good-will, by offering them a splendid series of festivities and banquets. he related various anecdotes which came to his ears from time to time, all tending to excite suspicions as to the loyalty and orthodoxy of the principal nobles. a gentleman coming from burgundy had lately, as he informed the king, been dining with the prince of orange, with whom horn and montigny were then lodging. at table, montigny called out in a very loud voice to the strange cavalier, who was seated at a great distance from him, to ask if there were many huguenots in burgundy. no, replied the gentleman nor would they be permitted to exist there. "then there can be very few people of intelligence in that province," returned montigny, "for those who have any wit are mostly all huguenots." the prince of orange here endeavored to put a stop to the conversation, saying that the burgundians were very right to remain as they were; upon which montigny affirmed that he had heard masses enough lately to last him for three months. these things may be jests, commented granvelle, but they are very bad ones; and 'tis evident that such a man is an improper instrument to remedy the state of religious affairs in tournay. at another large party, the king was faithfully informed by the same chronicler, that marquis berghen had been teasing the duke of aerschot very maliciously, because he would not join the league. the duke had responded as he had formerly done to egmont, that his majesty was not to receive laws from his vassals; adding that, for himself, he meant to follow in the loyal track of his ancestors, fearing god and honoring the king. in short, said granvelle, he answered them with so much wisdom, that although they had never a high opinion of his capacity, they were silenced. this conversation had been going on before all the servants, the marquis being especially vociferous, although the room was quite full of them. as soon as the cloth was removed, and while some of the lackies still remained, berghen had resumed the conversation. he said he was of the same mind as his ancestor, john of berghen, had been, who had once told the king's grandfather, philip the fair, that if his majesty was bent on his own perdition, he had no disposition to ruin himself. if the present monarch means to lose these provinces by governing them as he did govern them, the marquis affirmed that he had no wish to lose the little property that he himself possessed in the country. "but if," argued the duke of aerschot, "the king absolutely refuse to do what you demand of him; what then?"--"par la cordieu!" responded berghen, in a rage, "we will let him see!" whereupon all became silent. granvelle implored the king to keep these things entirely to himself; adding that it was quite necessary for his majesty to learn in this manner what were the real dispositions of the gentlemen of the provinces. it was also stated in the same letter, that a ruffian genoese, who had been ordered out of the netherlands by the regent, because of a homicide he had committed, was kept at weert, by count horn, for the purpose of murdering the cardinal. he affirmed that he was not allowed to request the expulsion of the assassin from the count's house; but that he would take care, nevertheless, that neither this ruffian nor any other, should accomplish his purpose. a few weeks afterwards, expressing his joy at the contradiction of a report that philip had himself been assassinated, granvelle added; "i too, who am but a worm in comparison, am threatened on so many sides, that many must consider me already dead. nevertheless, i will endeavor, with god's help, to live as long as i can, and if they kill me, i hope they will not gain every thing." yet, with characteristic jesuitism, the cardinal could not refrain, even in the very letter in which he detailed the rebellious demonstrations of berghen, and the murderous schemes of horn, to protest that he did not say these things "to prejudice his majesty against any one, but only that it might be known to what a height the impudence was rising." certainly the king and the ecclesiastic, like the roman soothsayers, would have laughed in each other's face, could they have met, over the hollowness of such demonstrations. granvelle's letters were filled, for the greater part, with pictures of treason, stratagem, and bloody intentions, fabricated mostly out of reports, table-talk, disjointed chat in the careless freedom of domestic intercourse, while at the same time a margin was always left to express his own wounded sense of the injurious suspicions uttered against him by the various subjects of his letters. "god knows," said he to perez, "that i always speak of them with respect, which is more than they do of me. but god forgive them all. in times like these, one must hold one's tongue. one must keep still, in order not to stir up a hornet's nest." in short, the cardinal, little by little, during the last year of his residence in the netherlands, was enabled to spread a canvas before his sovereign's eye, in which certain prominent figures, highly colored by patiently accumulated touches, were represented as driving a whole nation, against its own will, into manifest revolt. the estates and the people, he said, were already tired of the proceedings of the nobles, and those personages would find themselves very much mistaken in thinking that men who had any thing to lose would follow them, when they began a rebellion against his majesty. on the whole, he was not desirous of prolonging his own residence, although, to do him justice, he was not influenced by fear. he thought or affected to think that the situation was one of a factitious popular discontent, procured by the intrigues of a few ambitious and impoverished catilines and cethegi, not a rising rebellion such as the world had never seen, born of the slowly-awakened wrath of, a whole people, after the martyrdom of many years. the remedy that he recommended was that his majesty should come in person to the provinces. the monarch would cure the whole disorder as soon as he appeared, said the cardinal, by merely making the sign of the cross. whether, indeed, the rapidly-increasing cancer of national discontent would prove a mere king's evil, to be healed by the royal touch, as many persons besides granvelle believed, was a point not doomed to be tested. from that day forward philip began to hold out hopes that he would come to administer the desired remedy, but even then it was the opinion of good judges that he would give millions rather than make his appearance in the netherlands. it was even the hope of william of orange that the king would visit the provinces. he expressed his desire, in a letter to lazarus schwendi, that his sovereign should come in person, that he might see whether it had been right to sow so much distrust between himself and his loyal subjects. the prince asserted that it was impossible for any person not on the spot to imagine the falsehoods and calumnies circulated by granvelle and his friends, accusing orange and his associates of rebellion and heresy, in the most infamous manner in the world. he added, in conclusion, that he could write no more, for the mere thought of the manner in which the government of the netherlands was carried on filled him with disgust and rage. this letter, together with one in a similar strain from egmont, was transmitted by the valiant and highly intellectual soldier to whom they were addressed, to the king of spain, with an entreaty that he would take warning from the bitter truths which they contained. the colonel, who was a most trusty friend of orange, wrote afterwards to margaret of parma in the same spirit, warmly urging her to moderation in religious matters. this application highly enraged morillon, the cardinal's most confidential dependent, who accordingly conveyed the intelligence to his already departed chief, exclaiming in his letter, "what does the ungrateful baboon mean by meddling with our affairs? a pretty state of things, truly, if kings are to choose or retain their ministers at the will of the people; little does he know of the disasters which would be caused by a relaxation of the edicts." in the same sense, the cardinal, just before his departure, which was now imminent, wrote to warn his sovereign of the seditious character of the men who were then placing their breasts between the people and their butchers. he assured philip that upon the movement of those nobles depended the whole existence of the country. it was time that they should be made to open their eyes. they should be solicited in every way to abandon their evil courses, since the liberty which they thought themselves defending was but abject slavery; but subjection to a thousand base and contemptible personages, and to that "vile animal called the people." it is sufficiently obvious, from the picture which we have now presented of the respective attitudes of granvelle, of the seigniors and of the nation, during the whole of the year , and the beginning of the following year, that a crisis was fast approaching. granvelle was, for the moment, triumphant, orange, egmont, and horn had abandoned the state council, philip could not yet make up his mind to yield to the storm, and alva howled defiance at the nobles and the whole people of the netherlands. nevertheless, margaret of parma was utterly weary of the minister, the cardinal himself was most anxious to be gone, and the nation--for there was a nation, however vile the animal might be--was becoming daily more enraged at the presence of a man in whom, whether justly or falsely, it beheld the incarnation of the religious oppression under which they groaned. meantime, at the close of the year, a new incident came to add to the gravity of the situation. caspar schetz, baron of grobbendonck, gave a great dinner-party, in the month of december, . this personage, whose name was prominent for many years in the public affairs of the nation, was one of the four brothers who formed a very opulent and influential mercantile establishment. he was the king's principal factor and financial agent. he was one of the great pillars of the bourse at antwerp. he was likewise a tolerable scholar, a detestable poet, an intriguing politician, and a corrupt financier. he was regularly in the pay of sir thomas gresham, to whom he furnished secret information, for whom he procured differential favors, and by whose government he was rewarded by gold chains and presents of hard cash, bestowed as secretly as the equivalent was conveyed adroitly. nevertheless, although his venality was already more than suspected, and although his peculation, during his long career became so extensive that he was eventually prosecuted by government, and died before the process was terminated, the lord of grobbendonck was often employed in most delicate negotiations, and, at the present epoch, was a man of much importance in the netherlands. the treasurer-general accordingly gave his memorable banquet to a distinguished party of noblemen. the conversation, during dinner, turned, as was inevitable, upon the cardinal. his ostentation, greediness, insolence, were fully canvassed. the wine flowed freely as it always did in those flemish festivities--the brains of the proud and reckless cavaliers became hot with excitement, while still the odious ecclesiastic was the topic of their conversation, the object alternately of fierce invective or of scornful mirth. the pompous display which he affected in his equipages, liveries, and all the appurtenances of his household, had frequently excited their derision, and now afforded fresh matter for their ridicule. the customs of germany, the simple habiliments in which the retainers of the greatest houses were arrayed in that country, were contrasted with the tinsel and glitter in which the prelate pranked himself. it was proposed, by way of showing contempt for granvelle, that a livery should be forthwith invented, as different as possible from his in general effect, and that all the gentlemen present should indiscriminately adopt it for their own menials. thus would the people whom the cardinal wished to dazzle with his finery learn to estimate such gauds at their true value. it was determined that something extremely plain, and in the german fashion, should be selected. at the same time, the company, now thoroughly inflamed with wine, and possessed by the spirit of mockery, determined that a symbol should be added to the livery, by which the universal contempt for granvelle should be expressed. the proposition was hailed with acclamation, but who should invent the hieroglyphical costume? all were reckless and ready enough, but ingenuity of device was required. at last it was determined to decide the question by hazard. amid shouts of hilarity, the dice were thrown. those men were staking their lives, perhaps, upon the issue, but the reflection gave only a keener zest to the game. egmont won. it was the most fatal victory which he had ever achieved, a more deadly prize even than the trophies of st. quentin and gravelingen. in a few days afterwards, the retainers of the house of egmont surprised brussels by making their appearance in a new livery. doublet and hose of the coarsest grey, and long hanging sleeves, without gold or silver lace, and having but a single ornament, comprised the whole costume. an emblem which seemed to resemble a monk's cowl, or a fool's cap and bells, was embroidered upon each sleeve. the device pointed at the cardinal, as did, by contrast, the affected coarseness of the dress. there was no doubt as to the meaning of the hood, but they who saw in the symbol more resemblance to the jester's cap, recalled certain biting expressions which granvelle had been accustomed to use. he had been wont, in the days of his greatest insolence, to speak of the most eminent nobles as zanies, lunatics, and buffoons. the embroidered fool's cap was supposed to typify the gibe, and to remind the arrogant priest that a brutus, as in the olden time, might be found lurking in the costume of the fool. however witty or appropriate the invention, the livery had an immense success. according to agreement, the nobles who had dined with the treasurer ordered it for all their servants. never did a new dress become so soon the fashion. the unpopularity of the minister assisted the quaintness of the device. the fool's-cap livery became the rage. never was such a run upon the haberdashers, mercers, and tailors, since brussels had been a city. all the frieze-cloth in brabant was exhausted. all the serge in flanders was clipped into monastic cowls. the duchess at first laughed with the rest, but the cardinal took care that the king should be at once informed upon the subject. the regent was, perhaps, not extremely sorry to see the man ridiculed whom she so cordially disliked, and, she accepted the careless excuses made on the subject by egmont and by orange without severe criticism. she wrote to her brother that, although the gentlemen had been influenced by no evil intention, she had thought it best to exhort them not to push the jest too far. already, however, she found that two thousand pairs, of sleeves had been made, and the most she could obtain was that the fools' caps, or monks' hoods, should in future be omitted from the livery. a change was accordingly made in the costume, at about the time of the cardinal's departure. a bundle of arrows, or in some instances a wheat-sheaf, was substituted for the cowls. various interpretations were placed upon this new emblem. according to the nobles themselves, it denoted the union of all their hearts in the king's service, while their enemies insinuated that it was obviously a symbol of conspiracy. the costume thus amended was worn by the gentlemen themselves, as well as by their servants. egmont dined at the regent's table, after the cardinal's departure, in a camlet doublet, with hanging sleeves, and buttons stamped with the bundle of arrows. for the present, the cardinal affected to disapprove of the fashion only from its rebellious tendency. the fools' caps and cowls, he meekly observed to philip, were the least part of the offence, for an injury to himself could be easily forgiven. the wheat-sheaf and the arrow-bundles, however, were very vile things, for they betokened and confirmed the existence of a conspiracy, such as never could be tolerated by a prince who had any regard for his own authority. this incident of the livery occupied the public attention, and inflamed the universal hatred during the later months of the minister's residence in the country. meantime the three seigniors had become very impatient at receiving no answer to their letter. margaret of parma was urging her brother to give them satisfaction, repeating to him their bitter complaints that their characters and conduct were the subject of constant misrepresentation to their sovereign, and picturing her own isolated condition. she represented herself as entirely deprived of the support of those great personages, who, despite her positive assurances to the contrary, persisted in believing that they were held up to the king as conspirators, and were in danger of being punished as traitors. philip, on his part, was conning granvelle's despatches, filled with hints of conspiracy, and holding counsel with alva, who had already recommended the taking off several heads for treason. the prince of orange, who already had secret agents in the king's household, and was supplied with copies of the most private papers in the palace, knew better than to be deceived by the smooth representations of the regent. philip had, however, at last begun secretly to yield. he asked alva's advice whether on the whole it would not be better to let the cardinal leave the netherlands, at least for a time, on pretence of visiting his mother in burgundy, and to invite count egmont to madrid, by way of striking one link from the chain, as granvelle had suggested. the duke had replied that he had no doubt of the increasing insolence of the three seigniors, as depicted in the letters of the duchess margaret, nor of their intention to make the cardinal their first victim; it being the regular principle in all revolts against the sovereign, to attack the chief minister in the first place. he could not, however, persuade himself that the king should yield and granvelle be recalled. nevertheless, if it were to be done at all, he preferred that the cardinal should go to burgundy without leave asked either of the duchess or of philip; and that he should then write; declining to return, on the ground that his life was not safe in the netherlands. after much hesitation, the monarch at last settled upon a plan, which recommended itself through the extreme duplicity by which it was marked, and the complicated system of small deceptions, which it consequently required. the king, who was never so thoroughly happy or at home as when elaborating the ingredients of a composite falsehood, now busily employed himself in his cabinet. he measured off in various letters to the regent, to the three nobles, to egmont alone, and to granvelle, certain proportionate parts of his whole plan, which; taken separately, were intended to deceive, and did deceive nearly every person in the world, not only in his own generation, but for three centuries afterwards, but which arranged synthetically, as can now be done, in consequence of modern revelations, formed one complete and considerable lie, the observation of which furnishes the student with a lesson in the political chemistry of those days, which was called macchiavellian statesmanship. the termination of the granvelle regency is, moreover, most important, not only for the grave and almost interminable results to which it led, but for the illustration which it affords of the inmost characters of the cardinal and "his master." the courier who was to take philip's letters to the three nobles was detained three weeks, in order to allow armenteros, who was charged with the more important and secret despatches for the duchess and granvelle to reach brussels first. all the letters, however, were ready at the same time. the letter of instructions for armenteros enjoined upon that envoy to tell the regent that the heretics were to be chastised with renewed vigor, that she was to refuse to convoke the states-general under any pretext, and that if hard pressed, she was to refer directly to the king. with regard to granvelle, the secretary was to state that his majesty was still deliberating, and that the duchess would be informed as to the decision when it should be made. he was to express the royal astonishment that the seigniors should absent themselves from the state council, with a peremptory intimation that they should immediately return to their posts. as they had specified no particularities against the cardinal, the king would still reflect upon the subject. he also wrote a private note to the duchess, stating that he had not yet sent the letters for the three nobles, because he wished that armenteros should arrive before their courier. he, however, enclosed two notes for egmont, of which margaret was to deliver that one, which, in her opinion, was, under the circumstances, the best. in one of these missives the king cordially accepted, and in the other he politely declined egmont's recent offer to visit spain. he also forwarded a private letter in his own hand-writing to the cardinal. armenteros, who travelled but slowly on account of the state of his health, arrived in brussels towards the end of february. five or six days afterwards, on the st march, namely, the courier arrived bringing the despatches for the seigniors. in his letter to orange, egmont, and horn, the king expressed his astonishment at their resolution to abstain from the state council. nevertheless, said he, imperatively, fail not to return thither and to show how much more highly you regard my service and the good of the country than any other particularity whatever. as to granvelle, continued philip, since you will not make any specifications, my intention is to think over the matter longer, in order to arrange it as may seem most fitting. this letter was dated february ( ), nearly a month later therefore than the secret letter to granvelle, brought by armenteros, although all the despatches had been drawn up at the same time and formed parts of the same plan. in this brief note to granvelle, however, lay the heart of the whole mystery. "i have reflected much," wrote the king, "on all that you have written me during these last few months, concerning the ill-will borne you by certain personages. i notice also your suspicions that if a revolt breaks out, they will commence with your person, thus taking occasion to proceed from that point to the accomplishment of their ulterior designs. i have particularly taken into consideration the notice received by you from the curate of saint gudule, as well as that which you have learned concerning the genoese who is kept at weert; all which has given me much anxiety as well from my desire for the preservation of your life in which my service is so deeply interested, as for the possible results if any thing should happen to you, which god forbid. i have thought, therefore, that it would be well, in order to give time and breathing space to the hatred and rancor which those persons entertain towards you, and in order to see what coarse they will take in preparing the necessary remedy, for the provinces, for you to leave the country for some days, in order to visit your mother, and this with the knowledge of the duchess, my sister, and with her permission, which you will request, and which i have written to her that she must give, without allowing it to appear that you have received orders to that effect from me. you will also beg her to write to me requesting my approbation of what she is to do. by taking this course neither my authority nor yours will suffer prejudice; and according to the turn which things may take, measures may be taken for your return when expedient, and for whatever else there may be to arrange." thus, in two words, philip removed the unpopular minister forever. the limitation of his absence had no meaning, and was intended to have none. if there were not strength enough to keep the cardinal in his place, it was not probable that the more difficult task of reinstating him after his fall would be very soon attempted. it, seemed, however, to be dealing more tenderly with granvelle's self-respect thus to leave a vague opening for a possible return, than to send him an unconditional dismissal. thus, while the king refused to give any weight to the representations of the nobles, and affected to be still deliberating whether or not he should recall the cardinal, he had in reality already recalled him. all the minute directions according to which permission was to be asked of the duchess to take a step which had already been prescribed by the monarch, and philip's indulgence craved for obeying his own explicit injunctions, were fulfilled to the letter. as soon as the cardinal received the royal order, he privately made preparations for his departure. the regent, on the other hand, delivered to count egmont the one of philip's two letters in which that gentleman's visit was declined, the duchess believing that, in the present position of affairs, she should derive more assistance from him than from the rest of the seigniors. as granvelle, however, still delayed his departure, even after the arrival of the second courier, she was again placed in a situation of much perplexity. the three nobles considered philip's letter to them extremely "dry and laconic," and orange absolutely refused to comply with the order to re-enter the state council. at a session of that body, on the d of march, where only granvelle, viglius, and berlaymont were present, margaret narrated her fruitless attempts to persuade the seigniors into obedience to the royal orders lately transmitted, and asked their opinions. the extraordinary advice was then given, that "she should let them champ the bit a little while longer, and afterwards see what was to be done." even at the last moment, the cardinal, reluctant to acknowledge himself beaten, although secretly desirous to retire, was inclined for a parting struggle. the duchess, however, being now armed with the king's express commands, and having had enough of holding the reins while such powerful and restive personages were "champing the bit," insisted privately that the cardinal should make his immediate departure known. pasquinades and pamphlets were already appearing daily, each more bitter than the other; the livery was spreading rapidly through all classes of people, and the seigniors most distinctly refused to recede from their determination of absenting themselves from the council so long as granvelle remained. there was no help for it; and on the th of march the cardinal took his departure. notwithstanding the mystery of the whole proceeding, however, william of orange was not deceived. he felt certain that the minister had been recalled, and thought it highly improbable that he would ever be permitted to return. "although the cardinal talks of coming back again soon," wrote the prince to schwartzburg, "we nevertheless hope that, as he lied about his departure, so he will also spare the truth in his present assertions." this was the general conviction, so far as the question of the minister's compulsory retreat was concerned, of all those who were in the habit of receiving their information and their opinions from the prince of orange. many even thought that granvelle had been recalled with indignity and much against his will. "when the cardinal," wrote secretary lorich to count louis, "received the king's order to go, he growled like a bear, and kept himself alone in his chamber for a time, making his preparations for departure. he says he shall come back in two months, but some of us think they will be two long months which will eat themselves up like money borrowed of the jews." a wag, moreover, posted a large placard upon the door of granvelle's palace in brussels as soon as the minister's departure was known, with the inscription, in large letters, "for sale, immediately." in spite of the royal ingenuity, therefore, many shrewdly suspected the real state of the case, although but very few actually knew the truth. the cardinal left brussels with a numerous suite, stately equipages, and much parade. the duchess provided him with her own mules and with a sufficient escort, for the king had expressly enjoined that every care should be taken against any murderous attack. there was no fear of such assault, however, for all were sufficiently satisfied to see the minister depart. brederode and count hoogstraaten were standing together, looking from the window of a house near the gate of caudenberg, to feast their eyes with the spectacle of their enemy's retreat. as soon as the cardinal had passed through that gate, on his way to namur, the first stage of his journey, they rushed into the street, got both upon one horse, hoogstraaten, who alone had boots on his legs, taking the saddle and brederode the croup, and galloped after the cardinal, with the exultation of school-boys. thus mounted, they continued to escort the cardinal on his journey. at one time, they were so near his carriage, while it was passing through a ravine, that they might have spoken to him from the heights above, where they had paused to observe him; but they pulled the capes of their cloaks over their faces and suffered him to pass unchallenged. "but they are young folk," said the cardinal, benignantly, after relating all these particulars to the duchess, "and one should pay little regard to their actions." he added, that one of egmont's gentlemen dogged their party on the journey, lodging in the same inns with them, apparently in the hope of learning something from their conversation or proceedings. if that were the man's object, however, granvelle expressed the conviction that he was disappointed, as nothing could have been more merry than the whole company, or more discreet than their conversation. the cardinal began at once to put into operation the system of deception, as to his departure, which had been planned by philip. the man who had been ordered to leave the netherlands by the king, and pushed into immediate compliance with the royal command by the duchess, proceeded to address letters both to philip and margaret. he wrote from namur to beg the regent that she would not fail to implore his majesty graciously to excuse his having absented himself for private reasons at that particular moment. he wrote to philip from besancon, stating that his desire to visit his mother, whom he had not seen for nineteen years, and his natal soil, to which he had been a stranger during the same period, had induced him to take advantage of his brother's journey to accompany him for a few days into burgundy. he had, therefore, he said, obtained the necessary permission from the duchess, who had kindly promised to write very particularly by the first courier, to beg his majesty's approval of the liberty which they had both taken. he wrote from the same place to the regent again, saying that some of the nobles pretended to have learned from armenteros that the king had ordered the cardinal to leave the country and not to return; all which, he added, was a very false renardesque invention, at which he did nothing but laugh. as a matter of course, his brother, in whose company he was about to visit the mother whom he had not seen for the past nineteen years, was as much mystified as the rest of the world. chantonnay was not aware that any thing but the alleged motives had occasioned the journey, nor did he know that his brother would perhaps have omitted to visit their common parent for nineteen years longer had he not received the royal order to leave the netherlands. philip, on the other side, had sustained his part, in the farce with much ability. viglius, berlaymont, morillon, and all the lesser cardinalists were entirely taken in by the letters which were formally despatched to the duchess in reply to her own and the cardinal's notification. "i can not take it amiss," wrote the king, "that you have given leave of absence to cardinal de granvelle, for two or three months, according to the advices just received from you, that he may attend to some private affairs of his own." as soon as these letters had been read in the council, viglius faithfully transmitted them to granvelle for that personage's enlightenment; adding his own innocent reflection, that "this was very different language from that held by some people, that your most illustrious lordship had retired by order of his majesty." morillon also sent the cardinal a copy of the same passage in the royal despatch, saying, very wisely, "i wonder what they will all say now, since these letters have been read in council." the duchess, as in duty bound, denied flatly, on all occasions, that armenteros had brought any letters recommending or ordering the minister's retreat. she conscientiously displayed the letters of his majesty, proving the contrary, and yet, said viglius, it was very hard to prevent people talking as they liked. granvelle omitted no occasion to mystify every one of his correspondents on the subject, referring, of course, to the same royal letters which had been written for public reading, expressly to corroborate these statements. "you see by his majesty's letters to madame de parma," said he to morillon, "how false is the report that the king had ordered me to leave flanders, and in what confusion those persons find themselves who fabricated the story." it followed of necessity that he should carry out his part in the royal program, but he accomplished his task so adroitly, and with such redundancy of zeal, as to show his thorough sympathy with the king's policy. he dissembled with better grace, even if the king did it more naturally. nobody was too insignificant to be deceived, nobody too august. emperor ferdinand fared no better than "esquire" bordey. "some of those who hate me," he wrote to the potentate, "have circulated the report that i had been turned out of the country, and was never to return. this story has ended in smoke, since the letters written by his majesty to the duchess of parma on the subject of the leave of absence which she had given me." philip himself addressed a private letter to granvelle, of course that others might see it, in which he affected to have just learned that the cardinal had obtained permission from the regent "to make a visit to his mother, in order to arrange certain family matters," and gravely gave his approbation to the step. at the same time it was not possible for the king to resist the temptation of adding one other stroke of dissimulation to his own share in the comedy. granvelle and philip had deceived all the world, but philip also deceived granvelle. the cardinal made a mystery of his departure to pollwiller, viglius, morillon, to the emperor, to his own brother, and also to the king's secretary, gonzalo perez; but he was not aware that perez, whom he thought himself deceiving as ingeniously as he had done all the others, had himself drawn up the letter of recall, which the king had afterwards copied out in his own hand and marked "secret and confidential." yet granvelle might have guessed that in such an emergency philip would hardly depend upon his own literary abilities. granvelle remained month after month in seclusion, doing his best to philosophize. already, during the latter period of his residence in the netherlands, he had lived in a comparative and forced solitude. his house had been avoided by those power-worshippers whose faces are rarely turned to the setting sun. he had, in consequence, already, before his departure, begun to discourse on the beauties of retirement, the fatigues of greatness, and the necessity of repose for men broken with the storms of state. a great man was like a lake, he said, to which a thirsty multitude habitually resorted till the waters were troubled, sullied, and finally exhausted. power looked more attractive in front than in the retrospect. that which men possessed was ever of less value than that which they hoped. in this fine strain of eloquent commonplace the falling minister had already begun to moralize upon the vanity of human wishes. when he was established at his charming retreat in burgundy, he had full leisure to pursue the theme. he remained in retirement till his beard grew to his waist, having vowed, according to report, that he would not shave till recalled to the netherlands. if the report were true, said some of the gentlemen in the provinces, it would be likely to grow to his feet. he professed to wish himself blind and deaf that he might have no knowledge of the world's events, described himself as buried in literature, and fit for no business save to remain in his chamber, fastened to his books, or occupied with private affairs and religious exercises. he possessed a most charming residence at orchamps, where he spent a great portion of his time. in one of his letters to vice-chancellor seld, he described the beauties of this retreat with much delicacy and vigor--"i am really not as badly off here," said he, "as i should be in the indies. i am in sweet places where i have wished for you a thousand times, for i am certain that you would think them appropriate for philosophy and worthy the habitation of the muses. here are beautiful mountains, high as heaven, fertile on all their sides, wreathed with vineyards, and rich with every fruit; here are rivers flowing through charming valleys, the waters clear as crystal, filled with trout, breaking into numberless cascades. here are umbrageous groves, fertile fields, lovely meadows; on the one aide great warmth, on the other aide delectable coolness, despite the summer's heat. nor is there any lack of good company, friends, and relations, with, as you well know, the very best wines in the world." thus it is obvious that the cardinal was no ascetic. his hermitage contained other appliances save those for study and devotion. his retired life was, in fact, that of a voluptuary. his brother, chantonnay, reproached him with the sumptuousness and disorder of his establishment. he lived in "good and joyous cheer." he professed to be thoroughly satisfied with the course things had taken, knowing that god was above all, and would take care of all. he avowed his determination to extract pleasure and profit even from the ill will of his adversaries. "behold my philosophy," he cried, "to live joyously as possible, laughing at the world, at passionate people, and at all their calumnies." it is evident that his philosophy, if it had any real existence, was sufficiently epicurean. it was, however, mainly compounded of pretence, like his whole nature and his whole life. notwithstanding the mountains high as heaven, the cool grottos, the trout, and the best burgundy wines in the world, concerning which he descanted so eloquently, he soon became in reality most impatient of his compulsory seclusion. his pretence of "composing himself as much as possible to tranquillity and repose" could deceive none of the intimate associates to whom he addressed himself in that edifying vein. while he affected to be blind and deaf to politics, he had eyes and ears for nothing else. worldly affairs were his element, and he was shipwrecked upon the charming solitude which he affected to admire. he was most anxious to return to the world again, but he had difficult cards to play. his master was even more dubious than usual about everything. granvelle was ready to remain in burgundy as long as philip chose that he should remain there. he was also ready to go to "india, peru, or into the fire," whenever his king should require any such excursion, or to return to the netherlands, confronting any danger which might lie in his path. it is probable that he nourished for a long time a hope that the storm would blow over in the provinces, and his resumption of power become possible. william of orange, although more than half convinced that no attempt would be made to replace the minister, felt it necessary to keep strict watch on his movements. "we must be on our guard," said he, "and not be deceived. perhaps they mean to put us asleep, in order the better to execute their designs. for the present things are peaceable, and all the world is rejoiced at the departure of that good cardinal." the prince never committed the error of undervaluing the talents of his great adversary, and he felt the necessity of being on the alert in the present emergency. "'tis a sly and cunning bird that we are dealing with," said he, "one that sleeps neither day nor night if a blow is to be dealt to us." honest brederode, after solacing himself with the spectacle of his enemy's departure, soon began to suspect his return, and to express himself on the subject, as usual, with ludicrous vehemence. "they say the red fellow is back again," he wrote to count louis, "and that berlaymont has gone to meet him at namur. the devil after the two would be a good chase." nevertheless, the chances of that return became daily fainter. margaret of parma hated the cardinal with great cordiality. she fell out of her servitude to him into far more contemptible hands, but for a brief interval she seemed to take a delight in the recovery of her freedom. according to viglius, the court, after granvelle's departure, was like a school of boys and girls when the pedagogue's back is turned. he was very bitter against the duchess for her manifest joy at emancipation. the poor president was treated with the most marked disdain by margaret, who also took pains to show her dislike to all the cardinalists. secretary armenteros forbade bordey, who was granvelle's cousin and dependent, from even speaking to him in public. the regent soon became more intimate with orange and egmont than she had ever been with the cardinal. she was made to see--and, seeing, she became indignant--the cipher which she had really been during his administration. "one can tell what's o'clock," wrote morillon to the fallen minister, "since she never writes to you nor mentions your name." as to armenteros, with whom granvelle was still on friendly relations, he was restless in his endeavors to keep the once-powerful priest from rising again. having already wormed himself into the confidence of the regent, he made a point of showing to the principal seigniors various letters, in which she had been warned by the cardinal to put no trust in them. "that devil," said armenteros, "thought he had got into paradise here; but he is gone, and we shall take care that he never returns." it was soon thought highly probable that the king was but temporizing, and that the voluntary departure of the minister had been a deception. of course nothing was accurately known upon the subject. philip had taken good care of that, but meantime the bets were very high that there would be no restoration, with but few takers. men thought if there had been any royal favor remaining for the great man, that the duchess would not be so decided in her demeanor on the subject. they saw that she was scarlet with indignation whenever the cardinal's name was mentioned. they heard her thank heaven that she had but one son, because if she had had a second he must have been an ecclesiastic, and as vile as priests always were. they witnessed the daily contumely which she heaped upon poor viglius, both because he was a friend of granvelle and was preparing in his old age to take orders. the days were gone, indeed, when margaret was so filled with respectful affection for the prelate, that she could secretly correspond with the holy father at rome, and solicit the red hat for the object of her veneration. she now wrote to philip, stating that she was better informed as to affairs in the netherlands than she had ever formerly been. she told her brother that all the views of granvelle and of his followers, viglius with the rest, had tended to produce a revolution which they hoped that philip would find in full operation when he should come to the netherlands. it was their object, she said, to fish in troubled waters, and, to attain that aim, they had ever pursued the plan of gaining the exclusive control of all affairs. that was the reason why they had ever opposed the convocation of the states-general. they feared that their books would be read, and their frauds, injustice, simony, and rapine discovered. this would be the result, if tranquillity were restored to the country, and therefore they had done their best to foment and maintain discord. the duchess soon afterwards entertained her royal brother with very detailed accounts of various acts of simony, peculation, and embezzlement committed by viglius, which the cardinal had aided and abetted, and by which he had profited.--[correspondence de phil. ii, i. - .]--these revelations are inestimable in a historical point of view. they do not raise our estimate of margaret's character, but they certainly give us a clear insight into the nature of the granvelle administration. at the same time it was characteristic of the duchess, that while she was thus painting the portrait of the cardinal for the private eye of his sovereign, she should address the banished minister himself in a secret strain of condolence, and even of penitence. she wrote to assure granvelle that she repented extremely having adopted the views of orange. she promised that she would state. publicly every where that the cardinal was an upright man, intact in his morals and his administration, a most zealous and faithful servant of the king. she added that she recognized the obligations she was under to him, and that she loved him like a brother. she affirmed that if the flemish seigniors had induced her to cause the cardinal to be deprived of the government, she was already penitent, and that her fault deserved that the king, her brother, should cut off her head, for having occasioned so great a calamity.--["memoires de granvelle," tom. , p. .] there was certainly discrepancy between the language thus used simultaneously by the duchess to granvelle and to philip, but margaret had been trained in the school of macchiavelli, and had sat at the feet of loyola. the cardinal replied with equal suavity, protesting that such a letter from the duchess left him nothing more to desire, as it furnished him with an "entire and perfect justification" of his conduct. he was aware of her real sentiments, no doubt, but he was too politic to quarrel with so important a personage as philip's sister. an incident which occurred a few months after the minister's departure served, to show the general estimation in which he was held by a ranks of netherlanders. count mansfeld celebrated the baptism of his son, philip octavian, by a splendid series of festivities at luxemburg, the capital of his government. besides the tournaments and similar sports, with which the upper classes of european society were accustomed at that day to divert themselves, there was a grand masquerade, to which the public were admitted as spectators. in this "mummery" the most successful spectacle was that presented by a group arranged in obvious ridicule of granvelle. a figure dressed in cardinal's costume, with the red hat upon his head, came pacing through the arena upon horseback. before him marched a man attired like a hermit, with long white beard, telling his beads upon a rosary, which he held ostentatiously in his hands. behind the mounted cardinal came the devil, attired in the usual guise considered appropriate to the prince of darkness, who scourged both horse and rider with a whip of fog-tails, causing them to scamper about the lists in great trepidation, to the immense delight of the spectators. the practical pun upon simon renard's name embodied in the fox-tail, with the allusion to the effect of the manifold squibs perpetrated by that most bitter and lively enemy upon granvelle, were understood and relished by the multitude. nothing could be more hearty than the blows bestowed upon the minister's representative, except the applause with which this satire, composed of actual fustigation, was received. the humorous spectacle absorbed all the interest of the masquerade, and was frequently repeated. it seemed difficult to satisfy the general desire to witness a thorough chastisement of the culprit. the incident made a great noise in the country. the cardinalists felt naturally very much enraged, but they were in a minority. no censure came from the government at brussels, and mansfeld was then and for a long time afterwards the main pillar of royal authority in the netherlands. it was sufficiently obvious that granvelle, for the time at least, was supported by no party of any influence. meantime he remained in his seclusion. his unpopularity did not, however, decrease in his absence. more than a year after his departure, berlaymont said the nobles detested the cardinal more than ever, and would eat him alive if they caught him. the chance of his returning was dying gradually out. at about the same period chantonnay advised his brother to show his teeth. he assured granvelle that he was too quiet in his disgrace, reminded him that princes had warm affections when they wished to make use of people, but that when they could have them too cheaply, they esteemed them but little; making no account of men whom they were accustomed to see under their feet. he urged the cardinal, in repeated letters, to take heart again, to make himself formidable, and to rise from his crouching attitude. all the world say, he remarked, that the game is up between the king and yourself, and before long every one will be laughing at you, and holding you for a dupe. stung or emboldened by these remonstrances, and weary of his retirement, granvelle at last abandoned all intention of returning to the netherlands, and towards the end of , departed to rome, where he participated in the election of pope pius v. five years afterwards he was employed by philip to negotiate the treaty between spain, rome, and venice against the turk. he was afterwards viceroy of naples, and in , he removed to madrid, to take an active part in the management of the public business, "the disorder of which," says the abbe boisot, "could be no longer arrested by men of mediocre capacity." he died in that city on the st september, , at the age of seventy, and was buried at besancon. we have dwelt at length on the administration of this remarkable personage, because the period was one of vital importance in the history of the netherland commonwealth. the minister who deals with the country at an epoch when civil war is imminent, has at least as heavy a responsibility upon his head as the man who goes forth to confront the armed and full-grown rebellion. all the causes out of which the great revolt was born, were in violent operation during the epoch of granvelle's power. by the manner in which he comported himself in presence of those dangerous and active elements of the coming convulsions, must his character as a historical personage be measured. his individuality had so much to do with the course of the government, the powers placed in his hands were so vast, and his energy so untiring, that it is difficult to exaggerate the importance of his influence upon the destiny of the country which he 'vas permitted to rule. it is for this reason that we have been at great pains to present his picture, sketched as it were by his own hand. a few general remarks are, however, necessary. it is the historian's duty to fix upon one plain and definite canvas the chameleon colors in which the subtle cardinal produced his own image. almost any theory concerning his character might be laid down and sustained by copious citations from his works; nay, the most opposite conclusions as to his interior nature, may be often drawn from a single one of his private and interminable letters. embarked under his guidance, it is often difficult to comprehend the point to which we are tending. the oarsman's face beams upon us with serenity, but he looks in one direction, and rows in the opposite course. even thus it was three centuries ago. was it to be wondered at that many did not see the precipice towards which the bark which held their all was gliding under the same impulse? no man has ever disputed granvelle's talents. from friend and foe his intellect has received the full measure of applause which it could ever claim. no doubt his genius was of a rare and subtle kind. his great power was essentially dramatic in its nature. he mastered the characters of the men with whom he had to deal, and then assumed them. he practised this art mainly upon personages of exalted station, for his scheme was to govern the world by acquiring dominion over its anointed rulers. a smooth and supple slave in appearance, but, in reality, while his power lasted, the despot of his masters, he exercised boundless control by enacting their parts with such fidelity that they were themselves deceived. it is impossible not to admire the facility with which this accomplished proteus successively assumed the characters of philip and of margaret, through all the complicated affairs and voluminous correspondence of his government. when envoys of high rank were to be despatched on confidential missions to spain, the cardinal drew their instructions as the duchess--threw light upon their supposed motives in secret letters as the king's sister --and answered their representations with ponderous wisdom as philip; transmitting despatches, letters and briefs for royal conversations, in time to be thoroughly studied before the advent of the ambassador. whoever travelled from brussels to madrid in order to escape the influence of the ubiquitous cardinal, was sure to be confronted with him in the inmost recesses of the king's cabinet as soon as he was admitted to an audience. to converse with philip or margaret was but to commune with antony. the skill with which he played his game, seated quietly in his luxurious villa, now stretching forth one long arm to move the king at madrid, now placing margaret upon what square he liked, and dealing with bishops, knight of the fleece, and lesser dignitaries, the richardota, the morillons, the viglii and the berlaymonts, with sole reference to his own scheme of action, was truly of a nature to excite our special wonder. his aptitude for affairs and his power to read character were extraordinary; but it was necessary that the affairs should be those of a despotism, and the characters of an inferior nature. he could read philip and margaret, egmont or berlaymont, alva or viglius, but he had no plummet to sound the depths of a mind like that of william the silent. his genius was adroit and subtle, but not profound. he aimed at power by making the powerful subservient, but he had not the intellect which deals in the daylight face to face with great events and great minds. in the violent political struggle of which his administration consisted, he was foiled and thrown by the superior strength of a man whose warfare was open and manly, and who had no defence against the poisoned weapons of his foe. his literary accomplishments were very great. his fecundity was prodigious, and he wrote at will in seven languages. 'this polyglot facility was not in itself a very remarkable circumstance, for it grew out of his necessary education and geographical position. few men in that age and region were limited to their mother tongue. the prince of orange, who made no special pretence to learning, possessed at least five languages. egmont, who was accounted an ignorant man, was certainly familiar with three. the cardinal, however, wrote not only with ease, but with remarkable elegance, vigor and vivacity, in whatever language he chose to adopt. the style of his letters and other documents, regarded simply as compositions, was inferior to that of no writer of the age. his occasional orations, too, were esteemed models of smooth and flowing rhetoric, at an epoch when the art of eloquence was not much cultivated. yet it must be allowed that beneath all the shallow but harmonious flow of his periods, it would be idle to search for a grain of golden sand. not a single sterling, manly thought is to be found in all his productions. if at times our admiration is excited with the appearance of a gem of true philosophy, we are soon obliged to acknowledge, on closer inspection, that we have been deceived by a false glitter. in retirement, his solitude was not relieved by serious application to any branch of knowledge. devotion to science and to the advancement of learning, a virtue which has changed the infamy of even baser natures than his into glory, never dignified his seclusion. he had elegant tastes, he built fine palaces, he collected paintings, and he discoursed of the fine arts with the skill and eloquence of a practised connoisseur; but the nectared fruits of divine philosophy were but harsh and crabbed to him. his moral characteristics are even more difficult to seize than his intellectual traits. it is a perplexing task to arrive at the intimate interior structure of a nature which hardly had an interior. he did not change, but he presented himself daily in different aspects. certain peculiarities he possessed, however, which were unquestionable. he was always courageous, generally calm. placed in the midst of a nation which hated him, exposed to the furious opposition of the most powerful adversaries, having hardly a friend, except the cowardly viglius and the pluralist morillon, secretly betrayed by margaret of parma, insulted by rude grandees, and threatened by midnight assassins, he never lost his self-possession, his smooth arrogance, his fortitude. he was constitutionally brave. he was not passionate in his resentments. to say that he was forgiving by nature would be an immense error; but that he could put aside vengeance at the dictate of policy is very certain. he could temporize, even after the reception of what he esteemed grave injuries, if the offenders were powerful. he never manifested rancor against the duchess. even after his fall from power in the netherlands, he interceded with the pope in favor of the principality of orange, which the pontiff was disposed to confiscate. the prince was at that time as good a catholic as the cardinal. he was apparently on good terms with his sovereign, and seemed to have a prosperous career before him. he was not a personage to be quarrelled with. at a later day, when the position of that great man was most clearly defined to the world, the cardinal's ancient affection for his former friend and pupil did not prevent him from suggesting the famous ban by which a price was set upon his head, and his life placed in the hands of every assassin in europe. it did not prevent him from indulging in the jocularity of a fiend, when the news of the first-fruits of that bounty upon murder reached his ears. it did not prevent him from laughing merrily at the pain which his old friend must have suffered, shot through the head and face with a musket-ball, and at the mutilated aspect which his "handsome face must have presented to the eyes of his apostate wife." it did not prevent him from stoutly disbelieving and then refusing to be comforted, when the recovery of the illustrious victim was announced. he could always dissemble without entirely forgetting his grievances. certainly, if he were the forgiving christian he pictured himself, it is passing strange to reflect upon the ultimate fate of egmont, horn, montigny, berghen, orange, and a host of others, whose relations with him were inimical. his extravagance was enormous, and his life luxurious. at the same time he could leave his brother champagny--a man, with all his faults, of a noble nature, and with scarcely inferior talents to his own--to languish for a long time in abject poverty; supported by the charity of an ancient domestic. his greediness for wealth was proverbial. no benefice was too large or too paltry to escape absorption, if placed within his possible reach. loaded with places and preferments, rolling in wealth, he approached his sovereign with the whine of a mendicant. he talked of his property as a "misery," when he asked for boons, and expressed his thanks in the language of a slave when he received them. having obtained the abbey of st. armand, he could hardly wait for the burial of the bishop of tournay before claiming the vast revenues of afflighem, assuring the king as he did so that his annual income was but eighteen thousand crowns. at the same time, while thus receiving or pursuing the vast rents of st. armand and afflighem, he could seize the abbey of trulle from the expectant hands of poor dependents, and accept tapestries and hogsheads of wine from jacques lequien and others, as a tax on the benefices which he procured for them. yet the man who, like his father before him, had so long fattened on the public money, who at an early day had incurred the emperor's sharp reproof for his covetousness, whose family, beside all these salaries and personal property, possessed already fragments of the royal domain, in the shape of nineteen baronies and seigniories in burgundy, besides the county of cantecroix and other estates in the netherlands, had the effrontery to affirm, "we have always rather regarded the service of the master than our own particular profit." in estimating the conduct of the minister, in relation to the provinces, we are met upon the threshold by a swarm of vague assertions which are of a nature to blind or distract the judgment. his character must be judged as a whole, and by its general results, with a careful allowance for contradictions and equivocations. truth is clear and single, but the lights are parti-colored and refracted in the prism of hypocrisy. the great feature of his administration was a prolonged conflict between himself and the leading seigniors of the netherlands. the ground of the combat was the religious question. let the quarrel be turned or tortured in any manner that human ingenuity can devise, it still remains unquestionable that granvelle's main object was to strengthen and to extend the inquisition, that of his adversaries to overthrow the institution. it followed, necessarily, that the ancient charters were to be trampled in the dust before that tribunal could be triumphant. the nobles, although all catholics, defended the cause of the poor religious martyrs, the privileges of the nation and the rights of their order. they were conservatives, battling for the existence of certain great facts, entirely consonant to any theory of justice and divine reason--for ancient constitutions which had been purchased with blood and treasure. "i will maintain," was the motto of william of orange. philip, bigoted and absolute almost beyond comprehension, might perhaps have proved impervious to any representations, even of granvelle. nevertheless, the minister might have attempted the task, and the responsibility is heavy upon the man who shared the power and directed the career, but who never ceased to represent the generous resistance of individuals to frantic cruelty, as offences against god and the king. yet extracts are drawn from his letters to prove that he considered the spaniards as "proud and usurping," that he indignantly denied ever having been in favor of subjecting the netherlands to the soldiers of that nation; that he recommended the withdrawal of the foreign regiments, and that he advised the king, when he came to the country, to bring with him but few spanish troops. it should, however, be remembered that he employed, according to his own statements, every expedient which human ingenuity could suggest to keep the foreign soldiers in the provinces, that he "lamented to his inmost soul' their forced departure, and that he did not consent to that measure until the people were in a tumult, and the zealanders threatening to lay the country under the ocean. "you may judge of the means employed to excite the people," he wrote to perez in , "by the fact that a report is circulated that the duke of alva is coming hither to tyrannize the provinces." yet it appears by the admissions of del ryo, one of alva's blood council, that, "cardinal granvelle expressly advised that an army of spaniards should be sent to the netherlands, to maintain the obedience to his majesty and the catholic religion, and that the duke of alva was appointed chief by the advice of cardinal spinosa, and by that of cardinal granvelle, as, appeared by many letters written at the time to his friends. by the same confessions; it appeared that the course of policy thus distinctly recommended by granvelle, "was to place the country under a system of government like that of spain and italy, and to reduce it entirely under the council of spain." when the terrible duke started on his errand of blood and fire, the cardinal addressed him, a letter of fulsome flattery; protesting "that all the world know that no person could be found so appropriate as he, to be employed in an affair of such importance;" urging him to advance with his army as rapidly as possible upon the netherlands, hoping that "the duchess of parma would not be allowed to consent that any pardon or concession should be made to the cities, by which the construction of fortresses would be interfered with, or the revocation of the charters which had been forfeited, be prevented," and giving him much advice as to the general measures to be adopted, and the persons to be employed upon his arrival, in which number the infamous noircarmes was especially recommended. in a document found among his papers, these same points, with others, were handled at considerable length. the incorporation of the provinces into one kingdom, of which the king was to be crowned absolute sovereign; the establishment of, a universal law for the catholic religion, care being taken not to call that law inquisition, "because there was nothing so odious to the northern nations as the word spanish inquisition, although the thing in itself be most holy and just;" the abolition and annihilation of the broad or general council in the cities, the only popular representation in the country; the construction of many citadels and fortresses to be garrisoned with spaniards, italians, and germans. such were the leading features in that remarkable paper. the manly and open opposition of the nobles was stigmatized as a cabal by the offended priest. he repeatedly whispered in the royal ear that their league was a treasonable conspiracy, which the attorney-general ought to prosecute; that the seigniors meant to subvert entirely the authority of the sovereign; that they meant to put their king under tutelage, to compel him to obey all their commands, to choose another prince of the blood for their chief, to establish a republic by the aid of foreign troops. if such insinuations, distilled thus secretly into the ear of philip, who, like his predecessor, dionysius, took pleasure in listening daily to charges against his subjects and to the groans of his prisoners, were not likely to engender a dangerous gangrene in the royal mind, it would be difficult to indicate any course which would produce such a result. yet the cardinal maintained that he had never done the gentlemen ill service, but that "they were angry with him for wishing to sustain the authority of the master." in almost every letter he expressed vague generalities of excuse, or even approbation, while he chronicled each daily fact which occurred to their discredit. the facts he particularly implored the king to keep to himself, the vague laudation he as urgently requested him to repeat to those interested. perpetually dropping small innuendos like pebbles into the depths of his master's suspicious soul, he knew that at last the waters of bitterness would overflow, but he turned an ever-smiling face upon those who were to be his victims. there was ever something in his irony like the bland request of the inquisitor to the executioner that he would deal with his prisoners gently. there was about the same result in regard to such a prayer to be expected from philip as from the hangman. even if his criticisms had been uniformly indulgent, the position of the nobles and leading citizens thus subjected to a constant but secret superintendence, would have been too galling to be tolerated. they did not know, so precisely as we have learned after three centuries, that all their idle words and careless gestures as well as their graver proceedings, were kept in a noting book to be pored over and conned by rote in the recesses of the royal cabinet and the royal mind; but they suspected the espionage of the cardinal, and they openly charged him with his secret malignity. the men who refused to burn their fellow-creatures for a difference in religious opinion were stigmatized as demagogues; as ruined spendthrifts who wished to escape from their liabilities in the midst of revolutionary confusion; as disguised heretics who were waiting for a good opportunity to reveal their true characters. montigny, who, as a montmorency, was nearly allied to the constable and admiral of france, and was in epistolary correspondence with those relatives, was held up as a huguenot; of course, therefore, in philip's eye, the most monstrous of malefactors. although no man could strew pious reflections and holy texts more liberally, yet there was always an afterthought even in his most edifying letters. a corner of the mask is occasionally lifted and the deadly face of slow but abiding vengeance is revealed. "i know very well," he wrote, soon after his fall, to viglius, "that vengeance is the lord's-god is my witness that i pardon all the past." in the same letter, nevertheless, he added, "my theology, however, does not teach me, that by enduring, one is to enable one's enemies to commit even greater wrongs. if the royal justice is not soon put into play, i shall be obliged to right myself. this thing is going on too long-patience exhausted changes to fury. 'tis necessary that every man should assist himself as he can, and when i choose to throw the game into confusion i shall do it perhaps more notably than the others." a few weeks afterwards, writing to the same correspondent, he observed, "we shall have to turn again, and rejoice together. whatever the king commands i shall do, even were i to march into the fire, whatever happens, and without fear or respect for any person i mean to remain the same man to the end--durate;--and i have a head that is hard enough when i do undertake any thing--'nec animism despondeo'." here, certainly, was significant foreshadowing of the general wrath to come, and it was therefore of less consequence that the portraits painted by him of berghen, horn, montigny, and others, were so rarely relieved by the more flattering tints which he occasionally mingled with the sombre coloring of his other pictures. especially with regard to count egmont, his conduct was somewhat perplexing and, at first sight, almost inscrutable. that nobleman had been most violent in opposition to his course, had drawn a dagger upon him, had frequently covered him with personal abuse, and had crowned his offensive conduct by the invention of the memorable fool's-cap: livery. yet the cardinal usually spoke of him with pity and gentle consideration, described him as really well disposed in the main, as misled by others, as a "friend of smoke," who might easily be gained by flattery and bribery. when there was question of the count's going to madrid, the cardinal renewed his compliments with additional expression of eagerness that they should be communicated to their object. whence all this christian meekness in the author of the ban against orange and the eulogist of alva? the true explanation of this endurance on the part of the cardinal lies in the estimate which he had formed of egmont's character. granvelle had taken the man's measure, and even he could not foresee the unparalleled cruelty and dulness which were eventually to characterize philip's conduct towards him. on the contrary, there was every reason why the cardinal should see in the count a personage whom brilliant services, illustrious rank, and powerful connexions, had marked for a prosperous future. it was even currently asserted that philip was about to create him governor- general of the netherlands, in order to detach him entirely from orange, and to bind him more closely to the crown. he was, therefore, a man to be forgiven. nothing apparently but a suspicion of heresy could damage the prospects of the great noble, and egmont was orthodox beyond all peradventure. he was even a bigot in the catholic faith. he had privately told the duchess of parma that he had always been desirous of seeing the edicts thoroughly enforced; and he denounced as enemies all those persons who charged him with ever having been in favor of mitigating the system. he was reported, to be sure, at about the time of granvelle's departure from the netherlands, to have said "post pocula, that the quarrel was not with the cardinal, but with the king, who was administering the public affairs very badly, even in the matter of religion." such a bravado, however, uttered by a gentleman in his cups, when flushed with a recent political triumph, could hardly outweigh in the cautious calculations of granvelle; distinct admissions in favor of persecution. egmont in truth stood in fear of the inquisition. the hero of gravelingen and st. quentin actually trembled before peter titelmann. moreover, notwithstanding all that had past, he had experienced a change in his sentiments in regard to the cardinal. he frequently expressed the opinion that, although his presence in the netherlands was inadmissible, he should be glad to see him pope. he had expressed strong disapprobation of the buffooning masquerade by which he had been ridiculed at the mansfeld christening party. when at madrid he not only spoke well of granvelle himself; but would allow nothing disparaging concerning him to be uttered in his presence. when, however, egmont had fallen from favor, and was already a prisoner, the cardinal diligently exerted himself to place under the king's eye what he considered the most damning evidence of the count's imaginary treason; a document with which the public prosecutor had not been made acquainted. thus, it will be seen by this retrospect how difficult it is to seize all the shifting subtleties of this remarkable character. his sophisms even, when self-contradictory, are so adroit that they are often hard to parry. he made a great merit to himself for not having originated the new episcopates; but it should be remembered that he did his utmost to enforce the measure, which was "so holy a scheme that he would sacrifice for its success his fortune and his life." he refused the archbishopric of mechlin, but his motives for so doing were entirely sordid. his revenues were for the moment diminished, while his personal distinction was not, in his opinion, increased by the promotion. he refused to accept it because "it was no addition to his dignity, as he was already cardinal and bishop of arras," but in this statement he committed an important anachronism. he was not cardinal when he refused the see of mechlin; having received the red hat upon february , , and having already accepted the archbishopric in may of the preceding year. he affirmed that "no man would more resolutely defend the liberty and privileges of the provinces than he would do," but he preferred being tyrannized by his prince, to maintaining the joyful entrance. he complained of the insolence of the states in meddling with the supplies; he denounced the convocation of the representative bodies, by whose action alone, what there was of "liberty and privilege" in the land could be guarded; he recommended the entire abolition of the common councils in the cities. he described himself as having always combated the opinion that "any thing could be accomplished by terror, death and violence," yet he recommended the mission of alva, in whom "terror, death, and violence" were incarnate. he was indignant that he should be accused of having advised the introduction of the spanish inquisition; but his reason was that the term sounded disagreeably in northern ears, while the thing was most commendable. he manifested much anxiety that the public should be disabused of their fear of the spanish inquisition, but he was the indefatigable supporter of the netherland inquisition, which philip declared with reason to be "the more pitiless institution" of the two. he was the author, not of the edicts, but of their re-enactment, verbally and literally, in all the horrid extent to which they had been carried by charles the fifth; and had recommended the use of the emperor's name to sanctify the infernal scheme. he busied himself personally in the execution of these horrible laws, even when judge and hangman slackened. to the last he denounced all those "who should counsel his majesty to permit a moderation of the edicts," and warned the king that if he should consent to the least mitigation of their provisions, things would go worse in the provinces than in france. he was diligent in establishing the reinforced episcopal inquisition side by side with these edicts, and with the papal inquisition already in full operation. he omitted no occasion of encouraging the industry of all these various branches in the business of persecution. when at last the loud cry from the oppressed inhabitants of flanders was uttered in unanimous denunciation by the four estates of that province of the infamous titelmann, the cardinal's voice, from the depths of his luxurious solitude, was heard, not in sympathy with the poor innocent wretches, who were daily dragged from their humble homes to perish by sword and fire, but in pity for the inquisitor who was doing the work of hell. "i deeply regret," he wrote to viglius, "that the states of flanders should be pouting at inquisitor titelmann. truly he has good zeal, although sometimes indiscreet and noisy; still he must be supported, lest they put a bridle upon him, by which his authority will be quite enervated." the reader who is acquainted with the personality of peter titelmann can decide as to the real benignity of the joyous epicurean who could thus commend and encourage such a monster of cruelty. if popularity be a test of merit in a public man, it certainly could not be claimed by the cardinal. from the moment when gresham declared him to be "hated of all men," down to the period of his departure, the odium resting upon him had been rapidly extending: he came to the country with two grave accusations resting upon his name. the emperor maximilian asserted that the cardinal had attempted to take his life by poison, and he persisted in the truth of the charge thus made by him, till the day of his death. another accusation was more generally credited. he was the author of the memorable forgery by which the landgrave philip of hesse had been entrapped into his long imprisonment. his course in and towards the netherlands has been sufficiently examined. not a single charge has been made lightly, but only after careful sifting of evidence. moreover they are all sustained mainly from the criminal's own lips. yet when the secrecy of the spanish cabinet and the macchiavellian scheme of policy by which the age was characterized are considered, it is not strange that there should have been misunderstandings and contradictions with regard to the man's character till a full light had been thrown upon it by the disinterment of ancient documents. the word "durate," which was the cardinals device, may well be inscribed upon his mask, which has at last been torn aside, but which was formed of such durable materials, that it has deceived the world for three centuries. etext editor's bookmarks: attempting to swim in two waters dissimulation and delay excited with the appearance of a gem of true philosophy insinuating suspicions when unable to furnish evidence maintaining the attitude of an injured but forgiving christian more accustomed to do well than to speak well perpetually dropping small innuendos like pebbles procrastination was always his first refuge they had at last burned one more preacher alive [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. - [chapter ii.] agitation in the netherlands--the ancient charters resorted to as barriers against the measures of government--"joyous entrance" of brabant--constitution of holland--growing unpopularity of antony perrenot, archbishop of mechlin--opposition to the new bishoprics, by orange, egmont, and other influential nobles--fury of the people at the continued presence of the foreign soldiery--orange resigns the command of the legion--the troops recalled--philip's personal attention to the details of persecution--perrenot becomes cardinal de granvelle--all the power of government in his hands--his increasing unpopularity--animosity and violence of egmont towards the cardinal--relations between orange and granvelle--ancient friendship gradually changing to enmity--renewal of the magistracy at antwerp--quarrel between the prince and cardinal--joint letter of orange and egmont to the king--answer of the king--indignation of philip against count horn--secret correspondence between the king and cardinal--remonstrances against the new bishoprics--philip's private financial statements--penury of the exchequer in spain and in the provinces--plan for debasing the coin--marriage of william the silent with the princess of lorraine circumvented--negotiations for his matrimonial alliance with princess anna of saxony-- correspondence between granvelle and philip upon the subject-- opposition of landgrave philip and of philip the second--character and conduct of elector augustus--mission of count schwartzburg-- communications of orange to the king and to duchess margaret-- characteristic letter of philip--artful conduct of granvelle and of the regent--visit of orange to dresden--proposed "note" of elector augustus--refusal of the prince--protest of the landgrave against the marriage--preparations for the wedding at leipzig--notarial instrument drawn up on the marriage day--wedding ceremonies and festivities--entrance of granvelle into mechlin as archbishop-- compromise in brabant between the abbeys and bishops. the years and were mainly occupied with the agitation and dismay produced by the causes set forth in the preceding chapter. against the arbitrary policy embodied in the edicts, the new bishoprics and the foreign soldiery, the netherlanders appealed to their ancient constitutions. these charters were called "handvests" in the vernacular dutch and flemish, because the sovereign made them fast with his hand. as already stated, philip had made them faster than any of the princes of his house had ever done, so far as oath and signature could accomplish that purpose, both as hereditary prince in , and as monarch in . the reasons for the extensive and unconditional manner in which he swore to support the provincial charters, have been already indicated. of these constitutions, that of brabant, known by the title of the 'joyeuse entree, blyde inkomst', or blithe entrance, furnished the most decisive barrier against the present wholesale tyranny. first and foremost, the "joyous entry" provided "that the prince of the land should not elevate the clerical state higher than of old has been customary and by former princes settled; unless by consent of the other two estates, the nobility and the cities." again; "the prince can prosecute no one of his subjects nor any foreign resident, civilly or criminally, except in the ordinary and open courts of justice in the province, where the accused may answer and defend himself with the help of advocates." further; "the prince shall appoint no foreigners to office in brabant." lastly; "should the prince, by force or otherwise, violate any of these privileges, the inhabitants of brabant, after regular protest entered, are discharged of their oaths of allegiance, and as free, independent and unbound people, may conduct themselves exactly as seems to them best." such were the leading features, so far as they regarded the points now at issue, of that famous constitution which was so highly esteemed in the netherlands, that mothers came to the province in order to give birth to their children, who might thus enjoy, as a birthright, the privileges of brabant. yet the charters of the other provinces ought to have been as effective against the arbitrary course of the government. "no foreigner," said the constitution of holland, "is eligible as, councillor, financier, magistrate, or member of a court. justice can be administered only by the ordinary tribunals and magistrates. the ancient laws and customs shall remain inviolable. should the prince infringe any of these provisions, no one is bound to obey him." these provisions, from the brabant and holland charters, are only cited as illustrative of the general spirit of the provincial constitutions. nearly all the provinces possessed privileges equally ample, duly signed and sealed. so far as ink and sealing wax could defend a land against sword and fire, the netherlands were impregnable against the edicts and the renewed episcopal inquisition. unfortunately, all history shows how feeble are barriers of paper or lambskin, even when hallowed with a monarch's oath, against the torrent of regal and ecclesiastical absolutism. it was on the reception in the provinces of the new and confirmatory bull concerning the bishoprics, issued in january, , that the measure became known, and the dissatisfaction manifest. the discontent was inevitable and universal. the ecclesiastical establishment which was not to be enlarged or elevated but by consent of the estates, was suddenly expanded into three archiepiscopates and fifteen bishoprics. the administration of justice, which was only allowed in free and local courts, distinct for each province, was to be placed, so far as regarded the most important of human interests, in the, hands of bishops and their creatures, many of them foreigners and most of them monks. the lives and property of the whole population were to be at the mercy of these utterly irresponsible conclaves. all classes were outraged. the nobles were offended because ecclesiastics, perhaps foreign ecclesiastics, were to be empowered to sit in the provincial estates and to control their proceedings in place of easy, indolent, ignorant abbots and friars, who had generally accepted the influence of the great seignors. the priests were enraged because the religious houses were thus taken out of their control and confiscated to a bench of bishops, usurping the places of those superiors who had formally been elected by and among themselves. the people were alarmed because the monasteries, although not respected nor popular, were at least charitable and without ambition to exercise ecclesiastical cruelty; while, on the other hand, by the new episcopal arrangements, a force of thirty new inquisitors was added to the apparatus for enforcing orthodoxy already established. the odium of the measure was placed upon the head of that churchman, already appointed archbishop of mechlin, and soon to be known as cardinal granvelle. from this time forth, this prelate began to be regarded with a daily increasing aversion. he was looked upon as the incarnation of all the odious measures which had been devised; as the source of that policy of absolutism which revealed itself more and more rapidly after the king's departure from the country. it was for this reason that so much stress was laid by popular clamor upon the clause prohibiting foreigners from office. granvelle was a burgundian; his father had passed most of his active life in spain, while both he and his more distinguished son were identified in the general mind with spanish politics. to this prelate, then, were ascribed the edicts, the new bishoprics, and the continued presence of the foreign troops. the people were right as regarded the first accusation. they were mistaken as to the other charges. the king had not consulted anthony perrenot with regard to the creation of the new bishoprics. the measure, which had been successively contemplated by philip "the good," by charles the bold, and by the emperor charles, had now been carried out by philip the second, without the knowledge of the new archbishop of mechlin. the king had for once been able to deceive the astuteness of the prelate, and had concealed from him the intended arrangement, until the arrival of sonnius with the bulls. granvelle gave the reasons for this mystery with much simplicity. "his majesty knew," he said, "that i should oppose it, as it was more honorable and lucrative to be one of four than one of eighteen." in fact, according to his own statement, he lost money by becoming archbishop of mechlin, and ceasing to be bishop of arras. for these reasons he declined, more than once, the proffered dignity, and at last only accepted it from fear of giving offence to the king, and after having secured compensation for his alleged losses. in the same letter (of th may, ) in which he thanked philip for conferring upon him the rich abbey of saint armand, which he had solicited, in addition to the "merced" in ready money, concerning the safe investment of which he had already sent directions, he observed that he was now willing to accept the archbishopric of mechlin; notwithstanding the odium attached to the measure, notwithstanding his feeble powers, and notwithstanding that, during the life of the bishop of tournay, who was then in rude health, he could only receive three thousand ducats of the revenue, giving up arras and gaining nothing in mechlin; notwithstanding all this, and a thousand other things besides, he assured his majesty that, "since the royal desire was so strong that he should accept, he would consider nothing so difficult that he would not at least attempt it." having made up his mind to take the see and support the new arrangements, he was resolved that his profits should be as large as possible. we have seen how he had already been enabled to indemnify himself. we shall find him soon afterwards importuning the king for the abbey of afflighem, the enormous revenue of which the prelate thought would make another handsome addition to the rewards of his sacrifices. at the same time, he was most anxious that the people, and particularly the great nobles, should not ascribe the new establishment to him, as they persisted in doing. "they say that the episcopates were devised to gratify my ambition," he wrote to philip two years later; "whereas your majesty knows how steadily i refused the see of mechlin, and that i only accepted it in order not to live in idleness, doing nothing for god and your majesty." he therefore instructed philip, on several occasions, to make it known to the government of the regent, to the seignors, and to the country generally, that the measure had been arranged without his knowledge; that the marquis berghen had known of it first, and that the prelate had, in truth, been kept in the dark on the subject until the arrival of sonnius with the bulls. the king, always docile to his minister, accordingly wrote to the duchess the statements required, in almost the exact phraseology suggested; taking pains to repeat the declarations on several occasions, both by letter and by word of mouth, to many influential persons. the people, however, persisted in identifying the bishop with the scheme. they saw that he was the head of the new institutions; that he was to receive the lion's share of the confiscated abbeys, and that he was foremost in defending and carrying through the measure, in spite of all opposition. that opposition waxed daily more bitter, till the cardinal, notwithstanding that he characterised the arrangement to the king as "a holy work," and warmly assured secretary perez that he would contribute his fortune, his blood, and his life, to its success, was yet obliged to exclaim in the bitterness of his spirit, "would to god that the erection of these new sees had never been thought of. amen! amen!" foremost in resistance was the prince of orange. although a catholic, he had no relish for the horrible persecution which had been determined upon. the new bishoprics he characterized afterwards as parts "of one grand scheme for establishing the cruel inquisition of spain; the said bishops to serve as inquisitors, burners of bodies; and tyrants of conscience: two prebendaries in each see being actually constituted inquisitors." for this reason he omitted no remonstrance on the subject to the duchess, to granvelle, and by direct letters to the king. his efforts were seconded by egmont, berghen, and other influential nobles. even berlaymont was at first disposed to side with the opposition, but upon the argument used by the duchess, that the bishoprics and prebends would furnish excellent places for his sons and other members of the aristocracy, he began warmly to support the measure. most of the labor, however, and all the odium, of the business fell upon the bishop's shoulders. there was still a large fund of loyalty left in the popular mind, which not even forty years of the emperor's dominion had consumed, and which philip was destined to draw upon as prodigally as if the treasure had been inexhaustible. for these reasons it still seemed most decorous to load all the hatred upon the minister's back, and to retain the consolatory formula, that philip was a prince, "clement, benign, and debonair." the bishop, true to his habitual conviction, that words, with the people, are much more important than things, was disposed to have the word "inquisitor" taken out of the text of the new decree. he was anxious at this juncture to make things pleasant, and he saw no reason why men should be unnecessarily startled. if the inquisition could be practised, and the heretics burned, he was in favor of its being done comfortably. the word "inquisitor" was unpopular, almost indecent. it was better to suppress the term and retain the thing. "people are afraid to speak of the new bishoprics," he wrote to perez, "on account of the clause providing that of nine canons one shall be inquisitor. hence people fear the spanish inquisition."--he, therefore, had written to the king to suggest instead, that the canons or graduates should be obliged to assist the bishop, according as he might command. those terms would suffice, because, although not expressly stated, it was clear that the bishop was an ordinary inquisitor; but it was necessary to expunge words that gave offence. it was difficult, however, with all the bishop's eloquence and dexterity, to construct an agreeable inquisition. the people did not like it, in any shape, and there were indications, not to be mistaken, that one day there would be a storm which it would be beyond human power to assuage. at present the people directed their indignation only upon a part of the machinery devised for their oppression. the spanish troops were considered as a portion of the apparatus by which the new bishoprics and the edicts were to be forced into execution. moreover, men were, weary of the insolence and the pillage which these mercenaries had so long exercised in the land. when the king had been first requested to withdraw them, we have seen that he had burst into a violent passion. he had afterward dissembled. promising, at last, that they should all be sent from the country within three or four months after his departure, he had determined to use every artifice to detain them in the provinces. he had succeeded, by various subterfuges, in keeping them there fourteen months; but it was at last evident that their presence would no longer be tolerated. towards the close of they were quartered in walcheren and brill. the zelanders, however, had become so exasperated by their presence that they resolutely refused to lay a single hand upon the dykes, which, as usual at that season, required great repairs. rather than see their native soil profaned any longer by these hated foreign mercenaries, they would see it sunk forever in the ocean. they swore to perish-men, women, and children together-in the waves, rather than endure longer the outrages which the soldiery daily inflicted. such was the temper of the zelanders that it was not thought wise to trifle with their irritation. the bishop felt that it was no longer practicable to detain the troops, and that all the pretext devised by philip and his government had become ineffectual. in a session of the state council, held on the th october, , he represented in the strongest terms to the regent the necessity for the final departure of the troops. viglius, who knew the character of his countrymen, strenuously seconded the proposal. orange briefly but firmly expressed the same opinion, declining any longer to serve as commander of the legion, an office which, in conjunction with egmont, he had accepted provisionally, with the best of motives, and on the pledge of philip that the soldiers should be withdrawn. the duchess urged that the order should at least be deferred until the arrival of count egmont, then in spain, but the proposition was unanimously negatived. letters were accordingly written, in the name of the regent, to the king. it was stated that the measure could no longer be delayed, that the provinces all agreed in this point, that so long as the foreigners remained not a stiver should be paid into the treasury; that if they had once set sail, the necessary amount for their arrears would be furnished to the government; but that if they should return it was probable that they would be resisted by the inhabitants with main force, and that they would only be allowed to enter the cities through a breach in their wall. it was urged, moreover, that three or four thousand spaniards would not be sufficient to coerce all the provinces, and that there was not money enough in the royal exchequer to pay the wages of a single company of the troops. "it cuts me to the heart," wrote the bishop to philip, "to see the spanish infantry leave us; but go they must. would to god that we could devise any pretext, as your majesty desires, under which to keep them here! we have tried all means humanly possible for retaining them, but i see no way to do it without putting the provinces in manifest danger of sudden revolt." fortunately for the dignity of the government, or for the repose of the country, a respectable motive was found for employing the legion elsewhere. the important loss which spain had recently met with in the capture of zerby made a reinforcement necessary in the army engaged in the southern service. thus, the disaster in barbary at last relieved the netherlands of the pest which had afflicted them so long. for a brief breathing space the country was cleared of foreign mercenaries. the growing unpopularity of the royal government, still typified, however, in the increasing hatred entertained for the bishop, was not materially diminished by the departure of the spaniards. the edicts and the bishoprics were still there, even if the soldiers were gone. the churchman worked faithfully to accomplish his master's business. philip, on his side, was industrious to bring about the consummation of his measures. ever occupied with details, the monarch, from his palace in spain, sent frequent informations against the humblest individuals in the netherlands. it is curious to observe the minute reticulations of tyranny which he had begun already to spin about a whole, people, while cold, venomous, and patient he watched his victims from the centre of his web. he forwarded particular details to the duchess and cardinal concerning a variety of men and women, sending their names, ages, personal appearance, occupations, and residence, together with directions for their immediate immolation. even the inquisitors of seville were set to work to increase, by means of their branches or agencies in the provinces, the royal information on this all-important subject. "there are but few of us left in the world," he moralized in a letter to the bishop, "who care for religion. 'tis necessary, therefore, for us to take the greater heed for christianity. we must lose our all, if need be, in order to do our duty; in fine," added he, with his usual tautology, "it is right that a man should do his duty." granvelle--as he must now be called, for his elevation to the cardinalship will be immediately alluded to--wrote to assure the king that every pains would be taken to ferret out and execute the individuals complained of. he bewailed, however, the want of heartiness on the part of the netherland inquisitors and judges. "i find," said he, "that all judicial officers go into the matter of executing the edicts with reluctance, which i believe is caused by their fear of displeasing the populace. when they do act they do it but languidly, and when these matters are not taken in hand with the necessary liveliness, the fruit desired is not gathered. we do not fail to exhort and to command them to do their work." he added that viglius and berlaymont displayed laudable zeal, but that he could not say as much for the council of brabant. those councillors "were forever prating," said he, "of the constitutional rights of their province, and deserved much less commendation." the popularity of the churchman, not increased by these desperate exertions to force an inhuman policy upon an unfortunate nation, received likewise no addition from his new elevation in rank. during the latter part of the year , margaret of parma, who still entertained a profound admiration of the prelate, and had not yet begun to chafe under his smooth but imperious dominion, had been busy in preparing for him a delightful surprise. without either his knowledge or that of the king, she had corresponded with the pope, and succeeded in obtaining, as a personal favor to herself, the cardinal's hat for anthony perrenot. in february, , cardinal borromeo wrote to announce that the coveted dignity had been bestowed. the duchess hastened, with joyous alacrity, to communicate the intelligence to the bishop, but was extremely hurt to find that he steadily refused to assume his new dignity, until he had written to the king to announce the appointment, and to ask his permission to accept the honor. the duchess, justly wounded at his refusal to accept from her hands the favor which she, and she only, had obtained for him, endeavored in vain to overcome his pertinacity. she represented that although philip was not aware of the application or the appointment, he was certain to regard it as an agreeable surprise. she urged, moreover, that his temporary refusal would be misconstrued at rome, where it would certainly excite ridicule, and very possibly give offence in the highest quarter. the bishop was inexorable. he feared, says his panegyrist, that he might one day be on worse terms than at present with the duchess, and that then she might reproach him with her former benefits. he feared also that the king might, in consequence of the step, not look with satisfaction upon him at some future period, when he might stand in need of his favors. he wrote, accordingly, a most characteristic letter to philip, in which he informed him that he had been honored with the cardinal's hat. he observed that many persons were already congratulating him, but that before he made any demonstration of accepting or refusing, he waited for his majesty's orders: upon his will he wished ever to depend. he also had the coolness, under the circumstances, to express his conviction that "it was his majesty who had secretly procured this favor from his holiness." the king received the information very graciously, observing in reply, that although he had never made any suggestion of the kind, he had "often thought upon the subject." the royal command was of course at once transmitted, that the dignity should be accepted. by special favor, moreover, the pope dispensed the new cardinal from the duty of going to rome in person, and despatched his chamberlain, theophilus friso, to brussels, with the red hat and tabbard. the prelate, having thus reached the dignity to which he had long aspired, did not grow more humble in his deportment, or less zealous in the work through which he had already gained so much wealth and preferment. his conduct with regard to the edicts and bishoprics had already brought him into relations which were far from amicable with his colleagues in the council. more and more he began to take the control of affairs into his own hand. the consulta, or secret committee of the state council, constituted the real government of the country. here the most important affairs were decided upon without the concurrence of the other seignors, orange, egmont, and glayon, who, at the same time, were held responsible for the action of government. the cardinal was smooth in manner, plausible of speech, generally even-tempered, but he was overbearing and blandly insolent. accustomed to control royal personages, under the garb of extreme obsequiousness, he began, in his intercourse with those of less exalted rank, to omit a portion of the subserviency while claiming a still more undisguised authority. to nobles like egmont and orange, who looked down upon the son of nicolas perrenot and nicola bonvalot as a person immeasurably beneath themselves in the social hierarchy, this conduct was sufficiently irritating. the cardinal, placed as far above philip, and even margaret, in mental power as he was beneath them in worldly station, found it comparatively easy to deal with them amicably. with such a man as egmont, it was impossible for the churchman to maintain friendly relations. the count, who notwithstanding his romantic appearance, his brilliant exploits, and his interesting destiny, was but a commonplace character, soon conceived a mortal aversion to granvelle. a rude soldier, entertaining no respect for science or letters, ignorant and overbearing, he was not the man to submit to the airs of superiority which pierced daily more and more decidedly through the conventional exterior of the cardinal. granvelle, on the other hand, entertained a gentle contempt for egmont, which manifested itself in all his private letters to the king, and was sufficiently obvious in his deportment. there had also been distinct causes of animosity between them. the governorship of hesdin having become vacant, egmont, backed by orange and other nobles, had demanded it for the count de roeulx, a gentleman of the croy family, who, as well as his father, had rendered many important services to the crown. the appointment was, however, bestowed, through granvelle's influence, upon the seigneur d'helfault, a gentleman of mediocre station and character, who was thought to possess no claims whatever to the office. egmont, moreover, desired the abbey of trulle for a poor relation of his own; but the cardinal, to whom nothing in this way ever came amiss, had already obtained the king's permission to, appropriate the abbey to himself egmont was now furious against the prelate, and omitted no opportunity of expressing his aversion, both in his presence and behind his back. on one occasion, at least, his wrath exploded in something more than words. exasperated by granvelle's polished insolence in reply to his own violent language, he drew his dagger upon him in the presence of the regent herself, "and," says a contemporary, "would certainly have sent the cardinal into the next world had he not been forcibly restrained by the prince of orange and other persons present, who warmly represented to him that such griefs were to be settled by deliberate advice, not by choler." at the same time, while scenes like these were occurring in the very bosom of the state council, granvelle, in his confidential letters to secretary perez, asserted warmly that all reports of a want of harmony between himself and the other seignors and councillors were false, and that the best relations existed among them all. it was not his intention, before it should be necessary, to let the king doubt his ability to govern the counsel according to the secret commission with which he had been invested. his relations with orange were longer in changing from friendship to open hostility. in the prince the cardinal met his match. he found himself confronted by an intellect as subtle, an experience as fertile in expedients, a temper as even, and a disposition sometimes as haughty as his own. he never affected to undervalue the mind of orange. "'tis a man of profound genius, vast ambition--dangerous, acute, politic," he wrote to the king at a very early period. the original relations between himself and the prince bad been very amicable. it hardly needed the prelate's great penetration to be aware that the friendship of so exalted a personage as the youthful heir to the principality of orange, and to the vast possessions of the chalons-nassau house in burgundy and the netherlands, would be advantageous to the ambitious son of the burgundian councillor granvelle. the young man was the favorite of the emperor from boyhood; his high rank, and his remarkable talents marked him indisputably for one of the foremost men of the coming reign. therefore it was politic in perrenot to seize every opportunity of making himself useful to the prince. he busied himself with securing, so far as it might be necessary to secure, the succession of william to his cousin's principality. it seems somewhat ludicrous for a merit to be made not only for granvelle but for the emperor, that the prince should have been allowed to take an inheritance which the will of rene de nassau most unequivocally conferred, and which no living creature disputed. yet, because some of the crown lawyers had propounded the dogma that "the son of a heretic ought not to succeed," it was gravely stated as an immense act of clemency upon the part of charles the fifth that he had not confiscated the whole of the young prince's heritage. in return granvelle's brother jerome had obtained the governorship of the youth, upon whose majority he had received an honorable military appointment from his attached pupil. the prelate had afterwards recommended the marriage with the count de buren's heiress, and had used his influence with the emperor to overcome certain objections entertained by charles, that the prince, by this great accession of wealth, might be growing too powerful. on the other hand, there were always many poor relations and dependents of granvelle, eager to be benefitted by orange's patronage, who lived in the prince's household, or received handsome appointments from his generosity. thus, there had been great intimacy, founded upon various benefits mutually conferred; for it could hardly be asserted that the debt of friendship was wholly upon one side. when orange arrived in brussels from a journey, he would go to the bishop's before alighting at his own house. when the churchman visited the prince, he entered his bed-chamber without ceremony before he had risen; for it was william's custom, through life, to receive intimate acquaintances, and even to attend to important negotiations of state, while still in bed. the show of this intimacy had lasted longer than its substance. granvelle was the most politic of men, and the prince had not served his apprenticeship at the court of charles the fifth to lay himself bare prematurely to the criticism or the animosity of the cardinal with the recklessness of horn and egmont. an explosion came at last, however, and very soon after an exceedingly amicable correspondence between the two upon the subject of an edict of religious amnesty which orange was preparing for his principality, and which granvelle had recommended him not to make too lenient. a few weeks after this, the antwerp magistracy was to be renewed. the prince, as hereditary burgrave of that city, was entitled to a large share of the appointing power in these political arrangements, which at the moment were of great importance. the citizens of antwerp were in a state of excitement on the subject of the new bishops. they openly, and in the event, successfully resisted the installation of the new prelate for whom their city had been constituted a diocese. the prince was known to be opposed to the measure, and to the whole system of ecclesiastical persecution. when the nominations for the new magistracy came before the regent, she disposed of the whole matter in the secret consulta, without the knowledge, and in a manner opposed to the views of orange. he was then furnished with a list of the new magistrates, and was informed that he had been selected as commissioner along with count aremberg, to see that the appointments were carried into effect. the indignation of the prince was extreme. he had already taken offence at some insolent expressions upon this topic, which the cardinal had permitted himself. he now sent back the commission to the duchess, adding, it was said, that he was not her lackey, and that she might send some one else with her errands. the words were repeated in the state council. there was a violent altercation--orange vehemently resenting his appointment merely to carry out decisions in which he claimed an original voice. his ancestors, he said, had often changed the whole of the antwerp magistracy by their own authority. it was a little too much that this matter, as well as every other state affair, should be controlled by the secret committee of which the cardinal was the chief. granvelle, on his side, was also in a rage. he flung from the council- chamber, summoned the chancellor of brabant, and demanded, amid bitter execrations against orange, what common and obscure gentleman there might be, whom he could appoint to execute the commission thus refused by the prince and by aremberg. he vowed that in all important matters he would, on future occasions, make use of nobles less inflated by pride, and more tractable than such grand seignors. the chancellor tried in vain to appease the churchman's wrath, representing that the city of antwerp would be highly offended at the turn things were taking, and offering his services to induce the withdrawal, on the part of the prince, of the language which had given so much offence. the cardinal was inexorable and peremptory. "i will have nothing to do with the prince, master chancellor," said he, "and these are matters which concern you not." thus the conversation ended, and thus began the open state of hostilities between the great nobles and the cardinal, which had been brooding so long. on the rd july, , a few weeks after the scenes lately described, the count of egmont and the prince of orange addressed a joint letter to the king. they reminded him in this despatch that, they had originally been reluctant to take office in the state council, on account of their previous experience of the manner in which business had been conducted during the administration of the duke of savoy. they had feared that important matters of state might be transacted without their concurrence. the king had, however, assured them, when in zeland, that all affairs would be uniformly treated in full council. if the contrary should ever prove the case, he had desired them to give him information to that effect, that he might instantly apply the remedy. they accordingly now gave him that information. they were consulted upon small matters: momentous affairs were decided upon in their absence. still they would not even now have complained had not cardinal granvelle declared that all the members of the state council were to be held responsible for its measures, whether they were present at its decisions or not. not liking such responsibility, they requested the king either to accept their resignation or to give orders that all affairs should be communicated to the whole board and deliberated upon by all the councillors. in a private letter, written some weeks later (august ), egmont begged secretary erasso to assure the king that their joint letter had not been dictated by passion, but by zeal for his service. it was impossible, he said, to imagine the insolence of the cardinal, nor to form an idea of the absolute authority which he arrogated. in truth, granvelle, with all his keenness, could not see that orange, egmont, berghen, montigny and the rest, were no longer pages and young captains of cavalry, while he was the politician and the statesman. by six or seven years the senior of egmont, and by sixteen years of orange, he did not divest himself of the superciliousness of superior wisdom, not unjust nor so irritating when they had all been boys. in his deportment towards them, and in the whole tone of his private correspondence with philip, there was revealed, almost in spite of himself, an affectation of authority, against which egmont rebelled and which the prince was not the man to acknowledge. philip answered the letter of the two nobles in his usual procrastinating manner. the count of horn, who was about leaving spain (whither he had accompanied the king) for the netherlands, would be entrusted with the resolution which he should think proper to take upon the subject suggested. in the mean time, he assured them that he did not doubt their zeal in his service. as to count horn, granvelle had already prejudiced the king against him. horn and the cardinal had never been friends. a brother of the prelate had been an aspirant for the hand of the admiral's sister, and had been somewhat contemptuously rejected. horn, a bold, vehement, and not very good-tempered personage, had long kept no terms with granvelle, and did not pretend a friendship which he had never felt. granvelle had just written to instruct the king that horn was opposed bitterly to that measure which was nearest the king's heart--the new bishoprics. he had been using strong language, according to the cardinal, in opposition to the scheme, while still in spain. he therefore advised that his majesty, concealing, of course, the source of the information, and speaking as it were out of the royal mind itself, should expostulate with the admiral upon the subject. thus prompted, philip was in no gracious humor when he received count horn, then about to leave madrid for the netherlands, and to take with him the king's promised answer to the communication of orange and egmont. his majesty had rarely been known to exhibit so much anger towards any person as he manifested upon that occasion. after a few words from the admiral, in which he expressed his sympathy with the other netherland nobles, and his aversion to granvelle, in general terms, and in reply to philip's interrogatories, the king fiercely interrupted him: "what! miserable man!" he vociferated, "you all complain of this cardinal, and always in vague language. not one of you, in spite of all my questions, can give me a single reason for your dissatisfaction." with this the royal wrath boiled over in such unequivocal terms that the admiral changed color, and was so confused with indignation and astonishment, that he was scarcely able to find his way out of the room. this was the commencement of granvelle's long mortal combat with egmont, horn, and orange. this was the first answer which the seignors were to receive to their remonstrances against the churchman's arrogance. philip was enraged that any opposition should be made to his coercive measures, particularly to the new bishoprics, the "holy work" which the cardinal was ready, to "consecrate his fortune and his blood" to advance. granvelle fed his master's anger by constant communications as to the efforts made by distinguished individuals to delay the execution of the scheme. assonville had informed him, he wrote, that much complaint had been made on the subject by several gentlemen, at a supper of count egmont's. it was said that the king ought to have consulted them all, and the state councillors especially. the present nominees to the new episcopates were good enough, but it would be found, they said, that very improper personages would be afterwards appointed. the estates ought not to permit the execution of the scheme. in short, continued granvelle, "there is the same kind of talk which brought about the recall of the spanish troops." a few months later, he wrote to inform philip that a petition against the new bishoprics was about to be drawn up by "the two lords.". they had two motives; according to the cardinal, for this step --first, to let the king know that he could do nothing without their permission; secondly, because in the states' assembly they were then the cocks of the walk. they did not choose, therefore, that in the clerical branch of the estates any body should be above the abbots, whom they could frighten into doing whatever they chose. at the end, of the year, granvelle again wrote to instruct his sovereign how to reply to the letter which was about to be addressed to him by the prince of orange and the marquis berghen on the subject of the bishoprics. they would tell him, he said, that the incorporation of the brabant abbeys into the new bishoprics was contrary to the constitution of the "joyful entrance." philip was, however, to make answer that he had consulted the universities, and those learned in the laws, and had satisfied himself that it was entirely constitutional. he was therefore advised to send his command that the prince and marquis should use all their influence to promote the success of the measure. thus fortified, the king was enabled not only to deal with the petition of the nobles, but also with the deputies from the estates of brabant, who arrived about this time at madrid. to these envoys, who asked for the appointment of royal commissioners, with whom they might treat on the subject of the bishoprics, the abbeys, and the "joyful entrance," the king answered proudly, "that in matters which concerned the service of god, he was his own commissioner." he afterwards, accordingly, recited to them, with great accuracy, the lesson which he had privately received from the ubiquitous cardinal. philip was determined that no remonstrance from great nobles or from private citizens should interfere with the thorough execution of the grand scheme on which he was resolved, and of which the new bishoprics formed an important part. opposition irritated him more and more, till his hatred of the opponents became deadly; but it, at the same time, confirmed him in his purpose. "'tis no time to temporize," he wrote to granvelle; "we must inflict chastisement with full rigor and severity. these rascals can only be made to do right through fear, and not always even by that means." at the same time, the royal finances did not admit of any very active measures, at the moment, to enforce obedience to a policy which was already so bitterly opposed. a rough estimate, made in the king's own handwriting, of the resources and obligations of his exchequer, a kind of balance sheet for the, years and , drawn up much in the same manner as that in which a simple individual would make a note of his income and expenditure, gave but a dismal picture of his pecuniary, condition. it served to show how intelligent a financier is despotism, and how little available are the resources of a mighty empire when regarded merely as private property, particularly when the owner chances to have the vanity of attending to all details himself: "twenty millions of ducats," began the memorandum, "will be required to disengage my revenues. but of this," added the king, with whimsical pathos for an account-book, "we will not speak at present, as the matter is so entirely impossible." he then proceeded to enter the various items of expense which were to be met during the two years; such as so many millions due to the fuggers (the rothschilds of the sixteenth century), so many to merchants in flanders, seville, and other places, so much for prince doria's galleys, so much for three years' pay due to his guards, so much for his household expenditure, so much for the, tuition of don carlos, and don juan d'austria, so much for salaries of ambassadors and councillors--mixing personal and state expenses, petty items and great loans, in one singular jumble, but arriving at a total demand upon his purse of ten million nine hundred and ninety thousand ducats. to meet this expenditure he painfully enumerated the funds upon which he could reckon for the two years. his ordinary rents and taxes being all deeply pledged, he could only calculate from that source upon two hundred thousand ducats. the indian revenue, so called, was nearly spent; still it might yield him four hundred and twenty thousand ducats. the quicksilver mines would produce something, but so little as hardly to require mentioning. as to the other mines, they were equally unworthy of notice, being so very uncertain, and not doing as well as they were wont. the licences accorded by the crown to carry slaves to america were put down at fifty thousand ducats for the two years. the product of the "crozada" and "cuarta," or money paid to him in small sums by individuals, with the permission of his holiness, for the liberty of abstaining from the church fasts, was estimated at five hundred thousand ducats. these and a few more meagre items only sufficed to stretch his income to a total of one million three hundred and thirty thousand far the two years, against an expenditure calculated at near eleven millions. "thus, there are nine millions, less three thousand ducats, deficient," he concluded ruefully (and making a mistake in his figures in his own favor of six hundred and sixty-three thousand besides), "which i may look for in the sky, or try to raise by inventions already exhausted." thus, the man who owned all america and half of europe could only raise a million ducats a year from his estates. the possessor of all peru and mexico could reckon on "nothing worth mentioning" from his mines, and derived a precarious income mainly from permissions granted his subjects to carry on the slave-trade and to eat meat on fridays. this was certainly a gloomy condition of affairs for a monarch on the threshold of a war which was to outlast his own life and that of his children; a war in which the mere army expenses were to be half a million florins monthly, in which about seventy per cent. of the annual disbursements was to be regularly embezzled or appropriated by the hands through which it passed, and in which for every four men on paper, enrolled and paid for, only one, according to the average, was brought into the field. granvelle, on the other hand, gave his master but little consolation from the aspect of financial affairs in the provinces. he assured him that "the government was often in such embarrassment as not to know where to look for ten ducats." he complained bitterly that the states would meddle with the administration of money matters, and were slow in the granting of subsidies. the cardinal felt especially outraged by the interference of these bodies with the disbursement of the sums which they voted. it has been seen that the states had already compelled the government to withdraw the troops, much to the regret of granvelle. they continued, however, to be intractable on the subject of supplies. "these are very vile things," he wrote to philip, "this authority which they assume, this audacity with which they say whatever they think proper; and these impudent conditions which they affix to every proposition for subsidies." the cardinal protested that he had in vain attempted to convince them of their error, but that they remained perverse. it was probably at this time that the plan for debasing the coin, suggested to philip some time before by a skilful chemist named malen, and always much approved of both by himself and ruy gomez, recurred to his mind. "another and an extraordinary source of revenue, although perhaps not a very honorable one," wrote suriano, "has hitherto been kept secret; and on account of differences of opinion between the king and his confessor, has been discontinued." this source of revenue, it seemed, was found in "a certain powder, of which one ounce mixed with six ounces of quicksilver would make six ounces of silver." the composition was said to stand the test of the hammer, but not of the fire. partly in consequence of theological scruples and partly on account of opposition from the states, a project formed by the king to pay his army with this kind of silver was reluctantly abandoned. the invention, however, was so very agreeable to the king, and the inventor had received such liberal rewards, that it was supposed, according to the envoy, that in time of scarcity his majesty would make use of such coin without reluctance. it is necessary, before concluding this chapter, which relates the events of the years and , to allude to an important affair which occupied much attention during the whole of this period. this is the celebrated marriage of the prince of orange with the princess anna of saxony. by many superficial writers; a moving cause of the great netherland revolt was found in the connexion of the great chieftain with this distinguished lutheran house. one must have studied the characters and the times to very little purpose, however, to believe it possible that much influence could be exerted on the mind of william of orange by such natures as those of anna of saxony, or of her uncle the elector augustus, surnamed "the pious." the prince had become a widower in , at the age of twenty-five. granvelle, who was said to have been influential in arranging his first marriage, now proposed to him, after the year of mourning had expired, an alliance with mademoiselle renee, daughter of the duchess de lorraine, and granddaughter of christiern the third of denmark, and his wife isabella, sister of the emperor charles the fifth. such a connexion, not only with the royal house of spain but with that of france--for, the young duke of lorraine, brother of the lady, had espoused the daughter of henry the considered highly desirable by the prince. philip and the duchess margaret of parma both approved, or pretended to approve, the match. at the same time the dowager duchess of lorraine, mother of the intended bride, was a candidate, and a very urgent one, for the regency of the netherlands. being a woman of restless ambition, and intriguing character, she naturally saw in a man of william's station and talents a most desirable ally in her present and future schemes. on the other hand, philip--who had made open protestation of his desire to connect the prince thus closely with his own blood, and had warmly recommended the match to the young lady's mother--soon afterwards, while walking one day with the prince in the park at brussels, announced to him that the duchess of lorraine had declined his proposals. such a result astonished the prince, who was on the best of terms with the mother, and had been urging her appointment to the regency with all his-influence, having entirely withdrawn his own claims to that office. no satisfactory explanation was ever given of this singular conclusion to a courtship, begun with the apparent consent of all parties. it was hinted that the young lady did not fancy the prince; but, as it was not known that a word had ever been exchanged between them, as the prince, in appearance and reputation, was one of the most brilliant cavaliers of the age, and as the approval of the bride was not usually a matter of primary consequence in such marriages of state, the mystery seemed to require a further solution. the prince suspected granvelle and the king, who were believed to have held mature and secret deliberation together, of insincerity. the bishop was said to have expressed the opinion, that although the friendship he bore the prince would induce him to urge the marriage, yet his duty to his master made him think it questionable whether it were right to advance a personage already placed so high by birth, wealth, and popularity, still higher by so near an alliance with his majesty's family. the king, in consequence, secretly instructed the duchess of lorraine to decline the proposal, while at the same time he continued openly to advocate the connexion. the prince is said to have discovered this double dealing, and to have found in it the only reasonable explanation of the whole transaction. moreover, the duchess of lorraine, finding herself equally duped, and her own ambitious scheme equally foiled by her unscrupulous cousin--who now, to the surprise of every one, appointed margaret of parma to be regent, with the bishop for her prime minister--had as little reason to be satisfied with the combinations of royal and ecclesiastical intrigue as the prince of orange himself. soon after this unsatisfactory mystification, william turned his attentions to germany. anna of saxony, daughter of the celebrated elector maurice, lived at the court of her uncle, the elector augustus. a musket-ball, perhaps a traitorous one, in an obscure action with albert of brandenbourg, had closed the adventurous career of her father seven years before. the young lady, who was thought to have inherited much of his restless, stormy character, was sixteen years of age. she was far from handsome, was somewhat deformed, and limped. her marriage-portion was deemed, for the times, an ample one; she had seventy thousand rix dollars in hand, and the reversion of thirty thousand on the death of john frederic the second, who had married her mother after the death of maurice. her rank was accounted far higher in germany than that of william of nassau, and in this respect, rather than for pecuniary considerations, the marriage seemed a desirable one for him. the man who held the great nassau-chalons property, together with the heritage of count maximilian de buren, could hardly have been tempted by , thalers. his own provision for the children who might spring from the proposed marriage was to be a settlement of seventy thousand florins annually. the fortune which permitted of such liberality was not one to be very materially increased by a dowry which might seem enormous to many of the pauper princes of germany. "the bride's portion," says a contemporary, "after all, scarcely paid for the banquets and magnificent festivals which celebrated the marriage. when the wedding was paid for, there was not a thaler remaining of the whole sum." nothing, then, could be more puerile than to accuse the prince of mercenary motives in seeking this alliance; an accusation, however, which did not fail to be brought. there were difficulties on both sides to be arranged before this marriage could take place. the bride was a lutheran, the prince was a catholic. with regard to the religion of orange not the slightest doubt existed, nor was any deception attempted. granvelle himself gave the most entire attestation of the prince's orthodoxy. "this proposed marriage gives me great pain," he wrote to philip, "but i have never had reason to suspect his principles." in another letter he observed that he wished the marriage could be broken off; but that he hoped so much from the virtue of the prince that nothing could suffice to separate him from the true religion. on the other side there was as little doubt as to his creed. old landgrave philip of hesse, grandfather of the young lady, was bitterly opposed to the match. "'tis a papist," said he, "who goes to mass, and eats no meat on fast days." he had no great objection to his character, but insurmountable ones to his religion. "old count william," said he, "was an evangelical lord to his dying day. this man is a papist!" the marriage, then, was to be a mixed marriage. it is necessary, however, to beware of anachronisms upon the subject. lutherans were not yet formally denounced as heretics. on the contrary, it was exactly at this epoch that the pope was inviting the protestant princes of germany to the trent council, where the schism was to be closed, and all the erring lambs to be received again into the bosom of the fold. so far from manifesting an outward hostility, the papal demeanor was conciliating. the letters of invitation from the pope to the princes were sent by a legate, each commencing with the exordium," to my beloved son," and were all sent back to his holiness, contemptuously, with the coarse jest for answer, "we believe our mothers to have been honest women, and hope that we had better fathers." the great council had not yet given its decisions. marriages were of continual occurrence, especially among princes and potentates, between the adherents of rome and of the new religion. even philip had been most anxious to marry the protestant elizabeth, whom, had she been a peasant, he would unquestionably have burned, if in his power. throughout germany, also, especially in high places, there was a disposition to cover up the religious controversy; to abstain from disturbing the ashes where devastation still glowed, and was one day to rekindle itself. it was exceedingly difficult for any man, from the archduke maximilian down, to define his creed. a marriage, therefore; between a man and woman of discordant views upon this topic was not startling, although in general not considered desirable. there were, however, especial reasons why this alliance should be distasteful, both to philip of spain upon one side, and to the landgrave philip of hesse on the other. the bride was the daughter of the elector maurice. in that one name were concentrated nearly all the disasters, disgrace, and disappointment of the emperor's reign. it was maurice who had hunted the emperor through the tyrolean mountains; it was maurice who had compelled the peace of passau; it was maurice who had overthrown the catholic church in germany, it was maurice who had frustrated philip's election as king of the romans. if william of orange must seek a wife among the pagans, could no other bride be found for him than the daughter of such a man? anna's grandfather, on the other hand, landgrave philip, was the celebrated victim to the force and fraud of charles the fifth. he saw in the proposed bridegroom, a youth who had been from childhood, the petted page and confidant of the hated emperor, to whom he owed his long imprisonment. he saw in him too, the intimate friend and ally--for the brooding quarrels of the state council were not yet patent to the world --of the still more deeply detested granvelle; the crafty priest whose substitution of "einig" for "ewig" had inveigled him into that terrible captivity. these considerations alone would have made him unfriendly to the prince, even had he not been a catholic. the elector augustus, however, uncle and guardian to the bride, was not only well-disposed but eager for the marriage, and determined to overcome all obstacles, including the opposition of the landgrave, without whose consent he was long pledged not to bestow the hand of anna. for this there were more than one reason. augustus, who, in the words of one of the most acute historical critics of our day, was "a byzantine emperor of the lowest class, re-appearing in electoral hat and mantle," was not firm in his rights to the dignity he held. he had inherited from his brother, but his brother had dispossessed john frederic. maurice, when turning against the emperor, who had placed him in his cousin's seat, had not thought it expedient to restore to the rightful owner the rank which he himself owed to the violence of charles. those claims might be revindicated, and augustus be degraded in his turn, by a possible marriage of the princess anna, with some turbulent or intriguing german potentate. out of the land she was less likely to give trouble. the alliance, if not particularly desirable on the score of rank, was, in other worldly respects, a most brilliant one for his niece. as for the religious point, if he could overcome or circumvent the scruples of the landgrave, he foresaw little difficulty in conquering his own conscience. the prince of orange, it is evident, was placed in such a position, that it would be difficult for him to satisfy all parties. he intended that the marriage, like all marriages among persons in high places at that day, should be upon the "uti possidetis" principle, which was the foundation of the religious peace of germany. his wife, after marriage and removal to the netherlands, would "live catholically;" she would be considered as belonging to the same church with her husband, was to give no offence to the government, and bring no suspicion upon himself, by violating any of the religious decencies. further than this, william, who at that day was an easy, indifferent catholic, averse to papal persecutions, but almost equally averse to long, puritanical prayers and faces, taking far more pleasure in worldly matters than in ecclesiastical controversies, was not disposed to advance in this thorny path. having a stern bigot to deal with, in madrid, and another in cassel, he soon convinced himself that he was not likely entirely to satisfy either, and thought it wiser simply to satisfy himself. early in , count gunther de schwartzburg, betrothed to the prince's sister catharine, together with colonel george von holl, were despatched to germany to open the marriage negotiations. they found the elector augustus already ripe and anxious for the connexion. it was easy for the envoys to satisfy all his requirements on the religious question. if, as the elector afterwards stated to the landgrave, they really promised that the young lady should be allowed to have an evangelical preacher in her own apartments, together with the befitting sacraments, it is very certain that they travelled a good way out of their instructions, for such concessions were steadily refused by william in person. it is, however, more probable that augustus, whose slippery feet were disposed to slide smoothly and swiftly over this dangerous ground, had represented the prince's communications under a favorable gloss of his own. at any rate, nothing in the subsequent proceedings justified the conclusions thus hastily formed. the landgrave philip, from the beginning, manifested his repugnance to the match. as soon as the proposition had been received by augustus, that potentate despatched hans yon carlowitz to the grandfather at cassel. the prince of orange, it was represented, was young, handsome, wealthy, a favorite of the spanish monarch; the princess anna, on the other hand, said her uncle was not likely to grow straighter or better proportioned in body, nor was her crooked and perverse character likely to improve with years. it was therefore desirable to find a settlement for her as soon as possible. the elector, however, would decide upon nothing without the landgrave's consent. to this frank, and not very flattering statement, so far as the young lady was concerned, the landgrave answered stoutly and characteristically. the prince was a spanish subject, he said, and would not be able to protect anna in her belief, who would sooner or later become a fugitive: he was but a count in germany, and no fitting match for an elector's daughter; moreover, the lady herself ought to be consulted, who had not even seen the prince. if she were crooked in body, as the elector stated, it was a shame to expose her; to conceal it, however, was questionable, as the prince might complain afterwards that a straight princess had been promised, and a crooked one fraudulently substituted,--and so on, though a good deal more of such quaint casuistry, in which the landgrave was accomplished. the amount of his answer, however, to the marriage proposal was an unequivocal negative, from which he never wavered. in consequence of this opposition, the negotiations were for a time suspended. augustus implored the prince not to abandon the project, promising that every effort should be made to gain over the landgrave, hinting that the old man might "go to his long rest soon," and even suggesting that if the worst came to the worst, he had bound himself to do nothing without the knowledge of the landgrave, but was not obliged to wait for his consent. on the other hand, the prince had communicated to the king of spain the fact of the proposed marriage. he had also held many long conversations with the regent and with granvelle. in all these interviews he had uniformly used one language: his future wife was to "live as a catholic," and if that point were not conceded, he would break off the negotiations. he did not pretend that she was to abjure her protestant faith. the duchess, in describing to philip the conditions, as sketched to her by the prince, stated expressly that augustus of saxony was to consent that his niece "should live catholically after the marriage," but that it was quite improbable that "before the nuptials she would be permitted to abjure her errors, and receive necessary absolution, according to the rules of the church." the duchess, while stating her full confidence in the orthodoxy of the prince, expressed at the same time her fears that attempts might be made in the future by his new connexions "to pervert him to their depraved opinions." a silence of many months ensued on the part of the sovereign, during which he was going through the laborious process of making up his mind, or rather of having it made up for him by people a thousand miles off. in the autumn granvelle wrote to say that the prince was very much surprised to have been kept so long waiting for a definite reply to his communications, made at the beginning of the year concerning his intended marriage, and to learn at last that his majesty had sent no answer, upon the ground that the match had been broken off; the fact being, that the negotiations were proceeding more earnestly than ever. nothing could be more helpless and more characteristic than the letter which philip sent, thus pushed for a decision. "you wrote me," said he, "that you had hopes that this matter of the prince's marriage would go no further, and seeing that you did not write oftener on the subject, i thought certainly that it had been terminated. this pleased me not a little, because it was the best thing that could be done. likewise," continued the most tautological of monarchs, "i was much pleased that it should be done. nevertheless;" he added, "if the marriage is to be proceeded with, i really don't know what to say about it, except to refer it to my sister, inasmuch as a person being upon the spot can see better what can be done with regard to it; whether it be possible to prevent it, or whether it be best, if there be no remedy, to give permission. but if there be a remedy, it would be better to take it, because," concluded the king, pathetically, "i don't see how the prince could think of marrying with the daughter of the man who did to his majesty, now in glory, that which duke maurice did." armed with this luminous epistle, which, if it meant any thing, meant a reluctant affirmation to the demand of the prince for the royal consent, the regent and granvelle proceeded to summon william of orange, and to catechise him in a manner most galling to the pride, and with a latitude not at all justified by any reasonable interpretation of the royal instructions. they even informed him that his majesty had assembled "certain persons learned in cases of conscience, and versed in theology," according to whose advice a final decision, not yet possible, would be given at some future period. this assembly of learned conscience-keepers and theologians had no existence save in the imaginations of granvelle and margaret. the king's letter, blind and blundering as it was, gave the duchess the right to decide in the affirmative on her own responsibility; yet fictions like these formed a part of the "dissimulation," which was accounted profound statesmanship by the disciples of machiavelli. the prince, however irritated, maintained his steadiness; assured the regent that the negotiation had advanced too far to be abandoned, and repeated his assurance that the future princess of orange was to "live as a catholic." in december, , william made a visit to dresden, where he was received by the elector with great cordiality. this visit was conclusive as to the marriage. the appearance and accomplishments of the distinguished suitor made a profound impression upon the lady. her heart was carried by storm. finding, or fancying herself very desperately enamored of the proposed bridegroom, she soon manifested as much eagerness for the marriage as did her uncle, and expressed herself frequently with the violence which belonged to her character. "what god had decreed," she said, "the devil should not hinder." the prince was said to have exhibited much diligence in his attention to the services of the protestant church during his visit at dreaden. as that visit lasted, however, but ten or eleven days, there was no great opportunity for shewing much zeal. at the same period one william knuttel was despatched by orange on the forlorn hope of gaining the old landgrave's consent, without making any vital concessions. "will the prince," asked the landgrave, "permit my granddaughter to have an evangelical preacher in the house?"--"no," answered knuttel. "may she at least receive the sacrament of the lord's supper in her own chamber, according to the lutheran form?"--" no," answered knuttel, "neither in breda, nor any where else in the netherlands. if she imperatively requires such sacraments, she must go over the border for them, to the nearest protestant sovereign." upon the th april, , the elector, returning to the charge, caused a little note to be drawn up on the religious point, which he forwarded, in the hope that the prince would copy and sign it. he added a promise that the memorandum should never be made public to the signer's disadvantage. at the same time he observed to count louis, verbally, "that he had been satisfied with the declarations made by the prince when in dresden, upon all points, except that concerning religion. he therefore felt obliged to beg for a little agreement in writing. "by no means! by no means!" interrupted louis promptly, at the very first word, "the prince can give your electoral highness no such assurance. 't would be risking life, honor, and fortune to do so, as your grace is well aware. the elector protested that the declaration, if signed, should never come into the spanish monarch's hands, and insisted upon sending it to the prince. louis, in a letter to his brother, characterized the document as "singular, prolix and artful," and strongly advised the prince to have nothing to do with it. this note, which the prince was thus requested to sign, and which his brother louis thus strenuously advised him not to sign, the prince never did sign. its tenor was to the following effect:--the princess, after marriage, was, neither by menace nor persuasion; to be turned from the true and pure word of god, or the use of the sacrament according to the doctrines of the augsburg confession. the prince was to allow her to read books written in accordance with the augsburg confession. the prince was to permit her, as often, annually, as she required it, to go out of the netherlands to some place where she could receive the sacrament according to the augsburg confession. in case she were in sickness or perils of childbirth, the prince, if necessary, would call to her an evangelical preacher, who might administer to her the holy sacrament in her chamber. the children who might spring from the marriage were to be instructed as to the doctrines of the augsburg confession. even if executed, this celebrated memorandum would hardly have been at variance with the declarations made by the prince to the spanish government. he had never pretended that his bride was to become a catholic, but only to live as a catholic. all that he had promised, or was expected to promise, was that his wife should conform to the law in the netherlands. the paper, in a general way, recognized that law. in case of absolute necessity, however, it was stipulated that the princess should have the advantage of private sacraments. this certainly would have been a mortal offence in a calvinist or anabaptist, but for lutherans the practise had never been so strict. moreover, the prince already repudiated the doctrines of the edicts, and rebelled against the command to administer them within his government. a general promise, therefore, made by him privately, in the sense of the memorandum drawn up by the elector, would have been neither hypocritical nor deceitful, but worthy the man who looked over such grovelling heads as granvelle and philip on the one side, or augustus of saxony on the other, and estimated their religious pretences at exactly what they were worth. a formal document, however, technically according all these demands made by the elector, would certainly be regarded by the spanish government as a very culpable instrument. the prince never signed the note, but, as we shall have occasion to state in its proper place, he gave a verbal declaration, favorable to its tenor, but in very vague and brief terms, before a notary, on the day of the marriage. if the reader be of opinion that too much time has been expended upon the elucidation of this point, he should remember that the character of a great and good man is too precious a possession of history to be lightly abandoned. it is of no great consequence to ascertain the precise creed of augustus of saxony, or of his niece; it is of comparatively little moment to fix the point at which william of orange ceased to be an honest, but liberal catholic, and opened his heart to the light of the reformation; but it is of very grave interest that his name should be cleared of the charge of deliberate fraud and hypocrisy. it has therefore been thought necessary to prove conclusively that the prince never gave, in dresden or cassel, any assurance inconsistent with his assertions to king and cardinal. the whole tone of his language and demeanor on the religious subject was exhibited in his reply to the electress, who, immediately after the marriage, entreated that he would not pervert her niece from the paths of the true religion. "she shall not be troubled," said the prince, "with such melancholy things. instead of holy writ she shall read 'amadis de gaule,' and such books of pastime which discourse de amore; and instead of knitting and sewing she shall learn to dance a galdiarde, and such courtoisies as are the mode of our country and suitable to her rank." the reply was careless, flippant, almost contemptuous. it is very certain that william of orange was not yet the "father william" he was destined to become--grave, self-sacrificing, deeply religious, heroic; but it was equally evident from this language that he had small sympathy, either in public or private, with lutheranism or theological controversy. landgrave william was not far from right when he added, in his quaint style, after recalling this well-known reply, "your grace will observe, therefore, that when the abbot has dice in his pocket, the convent will play." so great was the excitement at the little court of cassel, that many protestant princes and nobles declared that "they would sooner give their daughters to a boor or a swineherd than to a papist: the landgrave was equally vigorous in his protest, drawn up in due form on the th april, . he was not used, he said, "to flatter or to tickle with a foxtail." he was sorry if his language gave offense, nevertheless "the marriage was odious, and that was enough." he had no especial objection to the prince, "who before the world was a brave and honorable man:' he conceded that his estates were large, although he hinted that his debts also were ample; allowed that he lived in magnificent style, had even heard "of one of his banquets, where all the table-cloths, plates, and every thing else, were made of sugar," but thought he might be even a little too extravagant; concluding, after a good deal of skimble-skamble of this nature, with "protesting before god, the world, and all pious christians, that he was not responsible for the marriage, but only the elector augustus and others, who therefore would one day have to render account thereof to the lord." meantime the wedding had been fixed to take place on sunday, the th august, . this was st. bartholomew's, a nuptial day which was not destined to be a happy one in the sixteenth century. the landgrave and his family declined to be present at the wedding, but a large and brilliant company were invited. the king of spain sent a bill of exchange to the regent, that she might purchase a ring worth three thousand crowns, as a present on his part to the bride. beside this liberal evidence that his opposition to the marriage was withdrawn, he authorized his sister to appoint envoys from among the most distinguished nobles to represent him on the occasion. the baron de montigny, accordingly, with a brilliant company of gentlemen, was deputed by the duchess, although she declined sending all the governors of the provinces, according to the request of the prince. the marriage was to take place at leipsic. a slight picture of the wedding festivities, derived entirely from unpublished sources, may give some insight into the manners and customs of high life in germany and the netherlands at this epoch. the kings of spain and denmark were invited, and were represented by special ambassadors. the dukes of brunswick, lauenburg, mecklenburg, the elector and margraves of brandenburg, the archbishop of cologne, the duke of cleves, the bishops of naumburg, meneburg, meissen, with many other potentates, accepted the invitations, and came generally in person, a few only being represented by envoys. the town councils of erfurt, leipsic, magdeburg, and other cities, were also bidden. the bridegroom was personally accompanied by his brothers john, adolphus, and louis; by the burens, the leuchtenbergs, and various other distinguished personages. as the electoral residence at leipsic was not completely finished, separate dwellings were arranged for each of the sovereign families invited, in private houses, mostly on the market-place. here they were to be furnished with provisions by the elector's officials, but they were to cook for themselves. for this purpose all the princes had been requested to bring their own cooks and butlers, together with their plate and kitchen utensils. the sovereigns themselves were to dine daily with the elector at the town-house, but the attendants and suite were to take their meals in their own lodgings. a brilliant collection of gentlemen and pages, appointed by the elector to wait at his table, were ordered to assemble at leipsic on the d, the guests having been all invited for the d. many regulations were given to these noble youths, that they might discharge their duties with befitting decorum. among other orders, they received particular injunctions that they were to abstain from all drinking among themselves, and from all riotous conduct whatever, while the sovereigns and potentates should be at dinner. "it would be a shameful indecency," it was urged, "if the great people sitting at table should be unable to hear themselves talk on account of the screaming of the attendants." this provision did not seem unreasonable. they were also instructed that if invited to drink by any personage at the great tables they were respectfully to decline the challenge, and to explain the cause after the repast. particular arrangements were also made for the safety of the city. besides the regular guard of leipsic, two hundred and twenty arquebuseers, spearsmen, and halberdmen, were ordered from the neighboring towns. these were to be all dressed in uniform; one arm, side and leg in black, and the other in yellow, according to a painting distributed beforehand to the various authorities. as a mounted patrole, leipsic had a regular force of two men. these were now increased to ten, and received orders to ride with their lanterns up and down all the streets and lanes, to accost all persons whom they might find abroad without lights in their hands, to ask them their business in courteous language, and at the same time to see generally to the peace and safety of the town. fifty arquebuseers were appointed to protect the town-house, and a burgher watch of six hundred was distributed in different quarters, especially to guard against fire. on saturday, the day before the wedding, the guests had all arrived at leipsic, and the prince of orange, with his friends, at meneburg. on sunday, the th august, the elector at the head of his guests and attendants, in splendid array, rode forth to receive the bridegroom. his cavalcade numbered four thousand. william of orange had arrived, accompanied by one thousand mounted men. the whole troop now entered the city together, escorting the prince to the town-house. here he dismounted, and was received on the staircase by the princess anna, attended by her ladies. she immediately afterwards withdrew to her apartments. it was at this point, between and p.m., that the elector and electress, with the bride and bridegroom, accompanied also by the dame sophia von miltitz and the councillors hans von ponika and ubrich woltersdorff upon one side, and by count john of nassau and heinrich von wiltberg upon the other, as witnesses, appeared before wolf seidel, notary, in a corner room of the upper story of the town-house. one of the councillors, on the part of the elector, then addressed the bridegroom. he observed that his highness would remember, no doubt, the contents of a memorandum or billet, sent by the elector on the th april of that year, by the terms of which the prince was to agree that he would, neither by threat nor persuasion, prevent his future wife from continuing in the augsburg confession; that he would allow her to go to places where she might receive the augsburg sacraments; that in case of extreme need she should receive them in her chamber; and that the children who might spring from the marriage should be instructed as to the augsburg doctrines. as, however, continued the councillor, his highness the prince of orange has, for various reasons, declined giving any such agreement in writing, as therefore it had been arranged that before the marriage ceremony the prince should, in the presence of the bride and of the other witnesses, make a verbal promise on the subject, and as the parties were now to be immediately united in marriage, therefore the elector had no doubt that the prince would make no objection in presence of those witnesses to give his consent to maintain the agreements comprised in the memorandum or note. the note was then read. thereupon, the prince answered verbally. "gracious elector; i remember the writing which you sent me on the th april. all the point: just narrated by the doctor were contained in it. i now state to your highness that i will keep it all as becomes a prince, and conform to it." thereupon he gave the elector his hand.-- what now was the amount and meaning of this promise on the part of the prince? almost nothing. he would conform to the demands of the elector, exactly as he had hitherto said he would conform to them. taken in connexion with his steady objections to sign and seal any instrument on the subject--with his distinct refusal to the landgrave (through knuttel) to allow the princess an evangelical preacher or to receive the sacraments in the netherlands--with the vehement, formal, and public protest, on the part of the landgrave, against the marriage--with the prince's declarations to the elector at dresden, which were satisfactory on all points save the religious point,--what meaning could this verbal promise have, save that the prince would do exactly as much with regard to the religious question as he had always promised, and no more? this was precisely what did happen. there was no pretence on the part of the elector, afterwards, that any other arrangement had been contemplated. the princess lived catholically from the moment of her marriage, exactly as orange had stated to the duchess margaret, and as the elector knew would be the case. the first and the following children born of the marriage were baptized by catholic priests, with very elaborate catholic ceremonies, and this with the full consent of the elector, who sent deputies and officiated as sponsor on one remarkable occasion. who, of all those guileless lambs then, philip of spain, the elector of saxony, or cardinal granvelle, had been deceived by the language or actions of the prince? not one. it may be boldly asserted that the prince, placed in a transition epoch, both of the age and of his own character, surrounded by the most artful and intriguing personages known to history, and involved in a network of most intricate and difficult circumstances, acquitted himself in a manner as honorable as it was prudent. it is difficult to regard the notarial instrument otherwise than as a memorandum, filed rather by augustus than by wise william, in order to put upon record for his own justification, his repeated though unsuccessful efforts to procure from the prince a regularly signed, sealed, and holographic act, upon the points stated in the famous note. after the delay occasioned by these private formalities, the bridal procession, headed by the court musicians, followed by the court marshals, councillors, great officers of state, and the electoral family, entered the grand hall of the town-house. the nuptial ceremony was then performed by "the superintendent doctor pfeffinger." immediately afterwards, and in the same hall, the bride and bridegroom were placed publicly upon a splendid, gilded bed, with gold-embroidered curtains, the princess being conducted thither by the elector and electress. confects and spiced drinks were then served to them and to the assembled company. after this ceremony they were conducted to their separate chambers, to dress for dinner. before they left the hall, however, margrave hans of brandenburg, on part of the elector of saxony, solemnly recommended the bride to her husband, exhorting him to cherish her with faith and affection, and "to leave her undisturbed in the recognized truth of the holy gospel and the right use of the sacraments." five round tables were laid in the same hall immediately afterwards-- each accommodating ten guests. as soon as the first course of twenty- five dishes had been put upon the chief table, the bride and bridegroom, the elector and electress, the spanish and danish envoys and others, were escorted to it, and the banquet began. during the repast, the elector's choir and all the other bands discoursed the "merriest and most ingenious music." the noble vassals handed the water, the napkins, and the wine, and every thing was conducted decorously and appropriately. as soon as the dinner was brought to a close, the tables were cleared away, and the ball began in the same apartment. dances, previously arranged, were performed, after which "confects and drinks" were again distributed, and the bridal pair were then conducted to the nuptial chamber. the wedding, according to the lutheran custom of the epoch, had thus taken place not in a church, but in a private dwelling; the hall of the town-house, representing, on this occasion, the elector's own saloons. on the following morning, however, a procession was formed at seven o'clock to conduct the newly-married couple to the church of st. nicholas, there to receive an additional exhortation and benediction. two separate companies of gentlemen, attended by a great number of "fifers, drummers, and trumpeters," escorted the bride and the bridegroom," twelve counts wearing each a scarf of the princess anna's colors, with golden garlands on their heads and lighted torches in their hands," preceding her to the choir, where seats had been provided for the more illustrious portion of the company. the church had been magnificently decked in tapestry, and, as the company entered, a full orchestra performed several fine motettos. after listening to a long address from dr. pfeffinger, and receiving a blessing before the altar, the prince and princess of orange returned, with their attendant processions, to the town-house. after dinner, upon the same and the three following days, a tournament was held. the lists were on the market-place, on the side nearest the town-house; the electress and the other ladies looking down from balcony and window to "rain influence and adjudge the prize." the chief hero of these jousts, according to the accounts in the archives, was the elector of saxony. he "comported himself with such especial chivalry" that his far-famed namesake and remote successor, augustus the strong, could hardly have evinced more knightly prowess. on the first day he encountered george von wiedebach, and unhorsed him so handsomely that the discomfited cavalier's shoulder was dislocated. on the following day he tilted with michael von denstedt, and was again victorious, hitting his adversary full in the target, and "bearing him off over his horse's tail so neatly, that the knight came down, heels over head, upon the earth." on wednesday, there was what was called the palliatourney. the prince of orange, at the head of six bands, amounting in all to twenty-nine men; the margrave george of brandenburg, with seven bands, comprising thirty- four men, and the elector augustus, with one band of four men, besides himself, all entered the lists. lots were drawn for the "gate of honor," and gained by the margrave, who accordingly defended it with his band. twenty courses were then run between these champions and the prince of orange, with his men. the brandenburgs broke seven lances, the prince's party only six, so that orange was obliged to leave the lists discomfited. the ever-victorious augustus then took the field, and ran twenty courses against the defenders, breaking fourteen spears to the brandenburg's ten. the margrave, thus defeated, surrendered the "gate of honor" to the elector, who maintained, it the rest of the day against all comers. it is fair to suppose, although the fact is not recorded, that the elector's original band had received some reinforcement. otherwise, it would be difficult to account for these constant victories, except by ascribing more than mortal strength, as well as valor, to augustus and his four champions. his party broke one hundred and fifty-six lances, of which number the elector himself broke thirty-eight and a half. he received the first prize, but declined other guerdons adjudged to him. the reward for the hardest hitting was conferred on wolf von schonberg, "who thrust kurt von arnim clean out of the saddle, so that he fell against the barriers." on thursday was the riding at the ring. the knights who partook of this sport wore various strange garbs over their armor. some were disguised as hussars, some as miners, come as lansquenettes; others as tartans, pilgrims, fools, bird-catchers, hunters, monks; peasants, or netherland cuirassiers. each party was attended by a party of musicians, attired in similar costume. moreover, count gunter yon schwartzburg made, his appearance in the lists, accompanied "by five remarkable giants of wonderful proportions and appearance, very ludicrous to behold, who performed all kind of odd antics on horseback." the next day there was a foot tourney, followed in the evening by "mummeries," or masquerades. these masques were repeated on the following evening, and afforded great entertainment. the costumes were magnificent, "with golden and pearl embroidery," the dances were very merry and artistic, and the musicians, who formed a part of the company, exhibited remarkable talent. these "mummeries" had been brought by william of orange from the netherlands, at the express request of the elector, on the ground that such matters were much better understood in the provinces than in germany. such is a slight sketch of the revels by which this ill-fated bartholomew marriage was celebrated. while william of orange was thus employed in germany, granvelle seized the opportunity to make his entry into the city of mechlin, as archbishop; believing that such a step would be better accomplished in the absence of the prince from the country. the cardinal found no one in the city to welcome him. none of the great nobles were there. "the people looked upon the procession with silent hatred. no man cried, god bless him." he wrote to the king that he should push forward the whole matter of the bishoprics as fast as possible, adding the ridiculous assertion that the opposition came entirely from the nobility, and that "if the seigniors did not talk so much, not a man of the people would open his mouth on the subject." the remonstrance offered by the three estates of brabant against the scheme had not influenced philip. he had replied in a peremptory tone. he had assured them that he had no intention of receding, and that the province of brabant ought to feel itself indebted to him for having given them prelates instead of abbots to take care of their eternal interests, and for having erected their religious houses into episcopates. the abbeys made what resistance they could, but were soon fain to come to a compromise with the bishops, who, according to the arrangement thus made, were to receive a certain portion of the abbey revenues, while the remainder was to belong to the institutions, together with a continuance of their right to elect their own chiefs, subordinate, however, to the approbation of the respective prelates of the diocese. thus was the episcopal matter settled in brabant. in many of the other bishoprics the new dignitaries were treated with disrespect, as they made their entrance into their cities, while they experienced endless opposition and annoyance on attempting to take possession of the revenue assigned to them. etext editor's bookmarks: history shows how feeble are barriers of paper licences accorded by the crown to carry slaves to america we believe our mothers to have been honest women when the abbot has dice in his pocket, the convent will play wiser simply to satisfy himself [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. - [chapter iii.] the inquisition the great cause of the revolt--the three varieties of the institution--the spanish inquisition described--the episcopal inquisition in the netherlands--the papal inquisition established in the provinces by charles v.--his instructions to the inquisitors-- they are renewed by philip--inquisitor titelmann--instances of his manner of proceeding--spanish and netherland inquisitions compared-- conduct of granvelle--faveau and mallart condemned at valenciennes-- "journee des maubrulea"--severe measures at valenciennes--attack of the rhetoric clubs upon granvelle--granvelle's insinuations against egmont and simon renard--timidity of viglius--universal hatred toward the cardinal--buffoonery of brederode and lumey--courage of granvelle--philip taxes the netherlands for the suppression of the huguenots in france--meeting of the knights of the fleece--assembly at the house of orange--demand upon the estates for supplies-- montigny appointed envoy to spain--open and determined opposition to granvelle--secret representations by the cardinal to philip, concerning egmont and other seigniors--line of conduct traced out for the king--montigny's representations in spain--unsatisfactory result of his mission. the great cause of the revolt which, within a few years, was to break forth throughout the netherlands; was the inquisition. it is almost puerile to look further or deeper, when such a source of convulsion lies at the very outset of any investigation. during the war there had been, for reasons already indicated, an occasional pause in the religious persecution. philip had now returned to spain, having arranged, with great precision, a comprehensive scheme for exterminating that religious belief which was already accepted by a very large portion of his netherland subjects. from afar there rose upon the provinces the prophetic vision of a coming evil still more terrible than any which had yet oppressed them. as across the bright plains of sicily, when the sun is rising, the vast pyramidal shadow of mount etna is definitely and visibly projected--the phantom of that ever-present enemy, which holds fire and devastation in its bosom--so, in the morning hour of philip's reign, the shadow of the inquisition was cast from afar across those warm and smiling provinces--a spectre menacing fiercer flames and wider desolation than those which mere physical agencies could ever compass. there has been a good deal of somewhat superfluous discussion concerning the different kinds of inquisition. the distinction drawn between the papal, the episcopal, and the spanish inquisitions, did not, in the sixteenth century, convince many unsophisticated minds of the merits of the establishment in any of its shapes. however classified or entitled, it was a machine for inquiring into a man's thoughts, and for burning him if the result was not satisfactory. the spanish inquisition, strictly so called, that is to say, the modern or later institution established by pope alexander the sixth and ferdinand the catholic, was doubtless invested with a more complete apparatus for inflicting human misery, and for appalling human imagination, than any of the other less artfully arranged inquisitions, whether papal or episcopal. it had been originally devised for jews or moors, whom the christianity of the age did not regard as human beings, but who could not be banished without depopulating certain districts. it was soon, however, extended from pagans to heretics. the dominican torquemada was the first moloch to be placed upon this pedestal of blood and fire, and from that day forward the "holy office" was almost exclusively in the hands of that band of brothers. in the eighteen years of torquemada's administration; ten thousand two hundred and twenty individuals were burned alive, and ninety-seven thousand three hundred and twenty-one punished with infamy, confiscation of property, or perpetual imprisonment, so that the total number of families destroyed by this one friar alone amounted to one hundred and fourteen thousand four hundred and one. in course of time the jurisdiction of the office was extended. it taught the savages of india and america to shudder at the name of christianity. the fear of its introduction froze the earlier heretics of italy, france, and ger many into orthodoxy. it was a court owning allegiance to no temporal authority, superior to all other tribunals. it was a bench of monks without appeal, having its familiars in every house, diving into the secrets of every fireside, judging, and executing its horrible decrees without responsibility. it condemned not deeds, but thoughts. it affected to descend into individual conscience, and to punish the crimes which it pretended to discover. its process was reduced to a horrible simplicity. it arrested on suspicion, tortured till confession, and then punished by fire. two witnesses, and those to separate facts, were sufficient to consign the victim to a loathsome dungeon. here he was sparingly supplied with food, forbidden to speak, or even to sing to which pastime it could hardly be thought he would feel much inclination--and then left to himself, till famine and misery should break his spirit. when that time was supposed to have arrived he was examined. did he confess, and forswear his heresy, whether actually innocent or not, he might then assume the sacred shirt, and escape with confiscation of all his property. did he persist in the avowal of his innocence, two witnesses sent him to the stake, one witness to the rack. he was informed of the testimony against him, but never confronted with the witness. that accuser might be his son, father, or the wife of his bosom, for all were enjoined, under the death penalty, to inform the inquisitors of every suspicious word which might fall from their nearest relatives. the indictment being thus supported, the prisoner was tried by torture. the rack was the court of justice; the criminal's only advocate was his fortitude--for the nominal counsellor, who was permitted no communication with the prisoner, and was furnished neither with documents nor with power to procure evidence, was a puppet, aggravating the lawlessness of the proceedings by the mockery of legal forms: the torture took place at midnight, in a gloomy dungeon, dimly, lighted by torches. the victim--whether man, matron, or tender virgin--was stripped naked, and stretched upon the wooden bench. water, weights, fires, pulleys, screws--all the apparatus by which the sinews could be strained without cracking, the bones crushed without breaking, and the body racked exquisitely without giving up its ghost, was now put into operation. the executioner, enveloped in a black robe from head to foot, with his eyes glaring at his victim through holes cut in the hood which muffled his face, practised successively all the forms of torture which the devilish ingenuity of the monks had invented. the imagination sickens when striving to keep pace with these dreadful realities. those who wish to indulge their curiosity concerning the details of the system, may easily satisfy themselves at the present day. the flood of light which has been poured upon the subject more than justifies the horror and the rebellion of the netherlanders. the period during which torture might be inflicted from day to day was unlimited in duration. it could only be terminated by confession; so that the scaffold was the sole refuge from the rack. individuals have borne the torture and the dungeon fifteen years, and have been burned at the stake at last. execution followed confession, but the number of condemned prisoners was allowed to accumulate, that a multitude of victims might grace each great gala-day. the auto-da fe was a solemn festival. the monarch, the high functionaries of the land, the reverend clergy, the populace regarded it as an inspiring and delightful recreation. when the appointed morning arrived, the victim was taken from his dungeon. he was then attired in a yellow robe without sleeves, like a herald's coat, embroidered all over with black figures of devils. a large conical paper mitre was placed upon his head, upon which was represented a human being in the midst of flames, surrounded by imps. his tongue was then painfully gagged, so that he could neither open nor shut his mouth. after he was thus accoutred, and just as he was leaving his cell, a breakfast, consisting of every delicacy, was placed before him, and he was urged, with ironical politeness, to satisfy his hunger. he was then led forth into the public square. the procession was formed with great pomp. it was headed by the little school children, who were immediately followed by the band of prisoners, each attired in the horrible yet ludicrous manner described. then came the magistrates and nobility, the prelates and other dignitaries of the church: the holy inquisitors, with their officials and familiars, followed, all on horseback, with the blood-red flag of the "sacred office" waving above them, blazoned upon either side with the portraits of alexander and of ferdinand, the pair of brothers who had established the institution. after the procession came the rabble. when all had reached the neighborhood of the scaffold, and had been arranged in order, a sermon was preached to the assembled multitude. it was filled with laudations of the inquisition, and with blasphemous revilings against the condemned prisoners. then the sentences were read to the individual victims. then the clergy chanted the fifty-first psalm, the whole vast throng uniting in one tremendous miserere. if a priest happened to be among the culprits, he was now stripped of the canonicals which he had hitherto worn; while his hands, lips, and shaven crown were scraped with a bit of glass, by which process the oil of his consecration was supposed to be removed. he was then thrown into the common herd. those of the prisoners who were reconciled, and those whose execution was not yet appointed, were now separated from the others. the rest were compelled to mount a scaffold, where the executioner stood ready to conduct them to the fire. the inquisitors then delivered them into his hands, with an ironical request that he would deal with them tenderly, and without blood-letting or injury. those who remained steadfast to the last were then burned at the stake; they who in the last extremity renounced their faith were strangled before being thrown into the flames. such was the spanish inquisition--technically--so called: it was, according' to the biographer of philip the second, a "heavenly remedy, a guardian angel of paradise, a lions' den in which daniel and other just men could sustain no injury, but in which perverse sinners were torn to pieces." it was a tribunal superior to all human law, without appeal, and certainly owing no allegiance to the powers of earth or heaven. no rank, high or humble, was safe from its jurisdiction. the royal family were not sacred, nor, the pauper's hovel. even death afforded no protection. the holy office invaded the prince in his palace and the beggar in his shroud. the corpses of dead heretics were mutilated and burned. the inquisitors preyed upon carcases and rifled graves. a gorgeous festival of the holy office had, as we have seen, welcomed philip to his native land. the news of these tremendous autos-da fe, in which so many illustrious victims had been sacrificed before their sovereign's eyes, had reached the netherlands almost simultaneously with the bulls creating the new bishoprics in the provinces. it was not likely that the measure would be rendered more palatable by this intelligence of the royal amusements. the spanish inquisition had never flourished in any soil but that of the peninsula. it is possible that the king and granvelle were sincere in their protestations of entertaining no intention of introducing it into the netherlands, although the protestations of such men are entitled to but little weight. the truth was, that the inquisition existed already in the provinces. it was the main object of the government to confirm and extend the institution. the episcopal inquisition, as we have already seen, had been enlarged by the enormous increase in the number of bishops, each of whom was to be head inquisitor in his diocese, with two special inquisitors under him. with this apparatus and with the edicts, as already described, it might seem that enough had already been done for the suppression of heresy. but more had been done. a regular papal inquisition also existed in the netherlands. this establishment, like the edicts, was the gift of charles the fifth. a word of introduction is here again necessary--nor let the reader deem that too much time is devoted to this painful subject. on the contrary, no definite idea can be formed as to the character of the netherland revolt without a thorough understanding of this great cause--the religious persecution in which the country had lived, breathed, and had its being, for half a century, and in which, had the rebellion not broken out at last, the population must have been either exterminated or entirely embruted. the few years which are immediately to occupy us in the present and succeeding chapter, present the country in a daily increasing ferment from the action of causes which had existed long before, but which received an additional stimulus as the policy of the new reign developed itself. previously to the accession of charles v., it can not be said that an inquisition had ever been established in the provinces. isolated instances to the contrary, adduced by the canonists who gave their advice to margaret of parma, rather proved the absence than the existence of the system. in the reign of philip the good, the vicar of the inquisitor- general gave sentence against some heretics, who were burned in lille ( ). in , pierre troussart, a jacobin monk, condemned many waldenses, together with some leading citizens of artois, accused of sorcery and heresy. he did this, however, as inquisitor for the bishop of arras, so that it was an act of episcopal, and not papal inquisition. in general, when inquisitors were wanted in the provinces, it was necessary to borrow them from france or germany. the exigencies of persecution making a domestic staff desirable, charles the fifth, in the year , applied to his ancient tutor, whom he had placed on the papal throne. charles had, however, already, in the previous year appointed francis van der hulst to be inquisitor-general for the netherlands. this man, whom erasmus called a "wonderful enemy to learning," was also provided with a coadjutor, nicholas of egmond by name, a carmelite monk, who was characterized by the same authority as "a madman armed with a sword." the inquisitor-general received full powers to cite, arrest, imprison, torture heretics without observing the ordinary forms of law, and to cause his sentences to be executed without appeal. he was, however, in pronouncing definite judgments, to take the advice of laurens, president of the grand council of mechlin, a coarse, cruel and ignorant man, who "hated learning with a more than deadly hatred," and who might certainly be relied upon to sustain the severest judgments which the inquisitor might fulminate. adrian; accordingly, commissioned van der hulst to be universal and general inquisitor for all the netherlands. at the same time it was expressly stated that his functions were not to supersede those exercised by the bishops as inquisitors in their own sees. thus the papal inquisition was established in the provinces. van der hulst, a person of infamous character, was not the man to render the institution less odious than it was by its nature. before he had fulfilled his duties two years, however, he was degraded from his office by the emperor for having forged a document. in , buedens, houseau and coppin were confirmed by clement the seventh as inquisitors in the room of van der hulst. in , ruard tapper and michael drutius were appointed by paul the third, on the decease of coppin, the other two remaining in office. the powers of the papal inquisitors had been gradually extended, and they were, by , not only entirely independent of the episcopal inquisition, but had acquired right of jurisdiction over bishops and archbishops, whom they were empowered to arrest and imprison. they had also received and exercised the privilege of appointing delegates, or sub-inquisitors, on their own authority. much of the work was, indeed, performed by these officials, the most notorious of whom were barbier, de monte, titelmann, fabry, campo de zon, and stryen. in , and again in , a stringent set of instructions were drawn up by the emperor for the guidance of these papal inquisitors. a glance at their context shows that the establishment was not intended to be an empty form. they were empowered to inquire, proceed against, and chastise all heretics, all persons suspected of heresy, and their protectors. accompanied by a notary, they were to collect written information concerning every person in the provinces, "infected or vehemently suspected." they were authorized to summon all subjects of his majesty, whatever their rank, quality, or station, and to compel them to give evidence, or to communicate suspicions. they were to punish all who pertinaciously refused such depositions with death. the emperor commanded his presidents, judges, sheriffs, and all other judicial and executive officers to render all "assistance to the inquisitors and their familiars in their holy and pious inquisition, whenever required so to do," on pain of being punished as encouragers of heresy, that is to say, with death. whenever the inquisitors should be satisfied as to the heresy of any individual, they were to order his arrest and detention by the judge of the place, or by others arbitrarily to be selected by them. the judges or persons thus chosen, were enjoined to fulfil the order, on pain of being punished as protectors of heresy, that is to say, with death, by sword or fire. if the prisoner were an ecclesiastic, the inquisitor was to deal summarily with the case "without noise or form in the process--selecting an imperial councillor to render the sentence of absolution or condemnation." if the prisoner were a lay person, the inquisitor was to order his punishment, according to the edicts, by the council of the province. in case of lay persons suspected but not convicted of heresy, the inquisitor was to proceed to their chastisement, "with the advice of a counsellor or some other expert." in conclusion, the emperor ordered the "inquisitors to make it known that they were not doing their own work, but that of christ, and to persuade all persons of this fact." this clause of their instructions seemed difficult of accomplishment, for no reasonable person could doubt that christ, had he re-appeared in human form, would have been instantly crucified again, or burned alive in any place within the dominions of charles or philip. the blasphemy with which the name of jesus was used by such men to sanctify all these nameless horrors, is certainly not the least of their crimes. in addition to these instructions, a special edict had been issued on the th april, , according to which all judicial officers, at the requisition of the inquisitors, were to render them all assistance in the execution of their office, by arresting and detaining all persons suspected of heresy, according to the instructions issued to said inquisitors; and this, notwithstanding any privileges or charters to the contrary. in short, the inquisitors were not subject to the civil authority, but the civil authority to them. the imperial edict empowered them "to chastise, degrade, denounce, and deliver over heretics to the secular judges for punishment; to make use of gaols, and to make arrests, without ordinary warrant, but merely with notice given to a single counselor, who was obliged to give sentence according to their desire, without application to the ordinary judge." these instructions to the inquisitors had been renewed and confirmed by philip, in the very first month of his reign ( th nov. ). as in the case of the edicts, it had been thought desirable by granvelle to make use of the supposed magic of the emperor's name to hallow the whole machinery of persecution. the action of the system during the greater part of the imperial period had been terrible. suffered for a time to languish during the french war, it had lately been renewed with additional vigor. among all the inquisitors, the name of peter titelmann was now pre-eminent. he executed his infamous functions throughout flanders, douay, and tournay, the most thriving and populous portions of the netherlands, with a swiftness, precision, and even with a jocularity which hardly seemed human. there was a kind of grim humor about the man. the woman who, according to lear's fool, was wont to thrust her live eels into the hot paste, "rapping them o' the coxcombs with a stick and crying reproachfully, wantons, lie down!" had the spirit of a true inquisitor. even so dealt titelmann with his heretics writhing on the rack or in the flames. cotemporary chronicles give a picture of him as of some grotesque yet terrible goblin, careering through the country by night or day, alone, on horseback, smiting the trembling peasants on the head with a great club, spreading dismay far and wide, dragging suspected persons from their firesides or their beds, and thrusting them into dungeons, arresting, torturing, strangling, burning, with hardly the shadow of warrant, information, or process. the secular sheriff, familiarly called red-rod, from the color of his wand of office, meeting this inquisitor titelmann one day upon the high road, thus wonderingly addressed him--"how can you venture to go about alone, or at most with an attendant or two, arresting people on every side, while i dare not attempt to execute my office, except at the head of a strong force, armed in proof; and then only at the peril of my life?" "ah! red-rod," answered peter, jocosely, "you deal with bad people. i have nothing to fear, for i seize only the innocent and virtuous, who make no resistance, and let themselves be taken like lambs." "mighty well," said the other; "but if you arrest all the good people and i all the bad, 'tis difficult to say who in the world is to escape chastisement." the reply of the inquisitor has not been recorded, but there is no doubt that he proceeded like a strong man to run his day's course. he was the most active of all the agents in the religious persecution at the epoch of which we are now treating, but he had been inquisitor for many years. the martyrology of the provinces reeks with his murders. he burned men for idle words or suspected thoughts; he rarely waited, according to his frank confession, for deeds. hearing once that a certain schoolmaster, named geleyn de muler, of audenarde, "was addicted to reading the bible," he summoned the culprit before him and accused him of heresy. the schoolmaster claimed, if he were guilty of any crime, to be tried before the judges of his town. "you are my prisoner," said titelmann, "and are to answer me and none other." the inquisitor proceeded accordingly to catechize him, and soon satisfied himself of the schoolmaster's heresy. he commanded him to make immediate recantation. the schoolmaster refused. "do you not love your wife and children?" asked the demoniac titelmann. "god knows," answered the heretic, "that if the whole world were of gold, and my own, i would give it all only to have them with me, even had i to live on bread and water and in bondage." "you have then," answered the inquisitor, "only to renounce the error of your opinions."--" neither for wife, children, nor all the world, can i renounce my god and religious truth," answered the prisoner. thereupon titelmann sentenced him to the stake. he was strangled and then thrown into the flames. at about the same-time, thomas calberg, tapestry weaver, of tournay, within the jurisdiction of this same inquisitor, was convicted of having copied some hymns from a book printed in geneva. he was burned alive. another man, whose name has perished, was hacked to death with seven blows of a rusty sword, in presence of his wife, who was so horror- stricken that she died on the spot before her husband. his crime, to be sure, was anabaptism, the most deadly offence in the calendar. in the same year, one walter kapell was burned at the stake for heretical opinions. he was a man of some property, and beloved by the poor people of dixmuyde, in flanders, where he resided, for his many charities. a poor idiot, who had been often fed by his bounty, called out to the inquisitor's subalterns, as they bound his patron to the stake, "ye are bloody murderers; that man has done no wrong; but has given me bread to eat." with these words, he cast himself headlong into the flames to perish with his protector, but was with difficulty rescued by the officers. a day or two afterwards, he made his way to the stake, where the half-burnt skeleton of walter kapell still remained, took the body upon his shoulders, and carried it through the streets to the house of the chief burgomaster, where several other magistrates happened then to be in session. forcing his way into their presence, he laid his burthen at their feet, crying, "there, murderers! ye have eaten his flesh, now eat his bones!" it has not been recorded whether titelmann sent him to keep company with his friend in the next world. the fate of so obscure a victim could hardly find room on the crowded pages of the netherland martyrdom. this kind of work, which went on daily, did not increase the love of the people for the inquisition or the edicts. it terrified many, but it inspired more with that noble resistance to oppression, particularly to religious oppression, which is the sublimest instinct of human nature. men confronted the terrible inquisitors with a courage equal to their cruelty: at tournay, one of the chief cities of titelmann's district, and almost before his eyes, one bertrand le blas, a velvet manufacturer, committed what was held an almost incredible crime. having begged his wife and children to pray for a blessing upon what he was about to undertake, he went on christmas-day to the cathedral of tournay and stationed himself near the altar. having awaited the moment in which the priest held on high the consecrated host, le blas then forced his way through the crowd, snatched the wafer from the hands of the astonished ecclesiastic, and broke it into bits, crying aloud, as he did so, "misguided men, do ye take this thing to be jesus christ, your lord and saviour?" with these words, he threw the fragments on the ground and trampled them with his feet. [histoire des martyrs, f. , exev.; apud brandt, i. , . it may be well supposed that this would be regarded as a crime of almost inconceivable magnitude. it was death even to refuse to kneel in the streets when the wafer was carried by. thus, for example, a poor huckster, named simon, at bergen-op-zoom, who neglected to prostrate himself before his booth at the passage of the host, was immediately burned. instances of the same punishment for that offence might be multiplied. in this particular case, it is recorded that the sheriff who was present at the execution was so much affected by the courage and fervor of the simple-minded victim, that he went home, took to his bed, became delirious, crying constantly, ah, simon! simon! and died miserably, "notwithstanding all that the monks could do to console him."] the amazement and horror were so universal at such an appalling offence, that not a finger was raised to arrest the criminal. priests and congregation were alike paralyzed, so that he would have found no difficulty in making his escape. ho did not stir, however; he had come to the church determined to execute what he considered a sacred duty, and to abide the consequences. after a time, he was apprehended. the inquisitor demanded if he repented of what he had done. he protested, on the contrary, that he gloried in the deed, and that he would die a hundred deaths to rescue from such daily profanation the name of his redeemer, christ. he was then put thrice to the torture, that he might be forced to reveal his accomplices. it did not seem in human power for one man to accomplish such a deed of darkness without confederates. bertrand had none, however, and could denounce none. a frantic sentence was then devised as a feeble punishment for so much wickedness. he was dragged on a hurdle, with his mouth closed with an iron gag, to the market-place. here his right hand and foot were burned and twisted off between two red-hot irons. his tongue was then torn out by the roots, and because he still endeavored to call upon the name of god, the iron gag was again applied. with his arms and legs fastened together behind his back, he was then hooked by the middle of his body to an iron chain, and made to swing to and fro over a slow fire till he was entirely roasted. his life lasted almost to the end of these ingenious tortures, but his fortitude lasted as long as his life. in the next year, titelmann caused one robert ogier, of ryssel, in flanders, to be arrested, together with his wife and two sons. their crime consisted in not going to mass, and in practising private worship at home. they confessed the offence, for they protested that they could not endure to see the profanation of their saviour's name in the idolatrous sacraments. they were asked what rites they practised in their own house. one of the sons, a mere boy, answered, "we fall on our knees, and pray to god that he may enlighten our hearts, and forgive our sins. we pray for our sovereign, that his reign may be prosperous, and his life peaceful. we also pray for the magistrates and others in authority, that god may protect and preserve them all." the boy's simple eloquence drew tears even from the eyes of some of his judges; for the inquisitor had placed the case before the civil tribunal. the father and eldest son were, however, condemned to the flames. "oh god!" prayed the youth at the stake, "eternal father, accept the sacrifice of our lives, in the name of thy beloved son."--"thou liest, scoundrel!" fiercely interrupted a monk, who was lighting the fire; "god is not your father; ye are the devil's children." as the flames rose about them, the boy cried out once more, "look, my father, all heaven is opening, and i see ten hundred thousand angels rejoicing over us. let us be glad, for we are dying for the truth."--" thou liest! thou liest !" again screamed the monk; "all hell is opening, and you see ten thousand devils thrusting you into eternal fire." eight days afterwards, the wife of ogier and his other son were burned; so that there was an end of that family. such are a few isolated specimens of the manner of proceeding in a single district of the netherlands. the inquisitor titelmann certainly deserved his terrible reputation. men called him saul the persecutor, and it was well known that he had been originally tainted with the heresy which he had, for so many years, been furiously chastising. at the epoch which now engages our attention, he felt stimulated by the avowed policy of the government to fresh exertions, by which all his previous achievements should be cast into the shade. in one day he broke into a house in ryssel, seized john de swarte, his wife and four children, together with two newly-married couples, and two other persons, convicted them of reading the bible, and of praying in their own doors, and had them all immediately burned. are these things related merely to excite superfluous horror? are the sufferings of these obscure christians beneath the dignity of history? is it not better to deal with murder and oppression in the abstract, without entering into trivial details? the answer is, that these things are the history of the netherlands at this epoch; that these hideous details furnish the causes of that immense movement, out of which a great republic was born and an ancient tyranny destroyed; and that cardinal granvelle was ridiculous when he asserted that the people would not open their mouths if the seigniors did not make such a noise. because the great lords "owed their very souls"--because convulsions might help to pay their debts, and furnish forth their masquerades and banquets-- because the prince of orange was ambitious, and egmont jealous of the cardinal--therefore superficial writers found it quite natural that the country should be disturbed, although that "vile and mischievous animal, the people," might have no objection to a continuance of the system which had been at work so long. on the contrary, it was exactly because the movement was a popular and a religious movement that it will always retain its place among the most important events of history. dignified documents, state papers, solemn treaties, are often of no more value than the lambskin on which they are engrossed. ten thousand nameless victims, in the cause of religious and civil freedom, may build up great states and alter the aspect of whole continents. the nobles, no doubt, were conspicuous, and it was well for the cause of the right that, as in the early hours of english liberty, the crown and mitre were opposed by the baron's sword and shield. had all the seigniors made common cause with philip and granvelle, instead of setting their breasts against the inquisition, the cause of truth and liberty would have been still more desperate. nevertheless they were directed and controlled, under providence, by humbler, but more powerful agencies than their own. the nobles were but the gilded hands on the outside of the dial--the hour to strike was determined by the obscure but weighty movements within. nor is it, perhaps, always better to rely upon abstract phraseology, to produce a necessary impression. upon some minds, declamation concerning liberty of conscience and religious tyranny makes but a vague impression, while an effect may be produced upon them, for example by a dry, concrete, cynical entry in an account book, such as the following, taken at hazard from the register of municipal expenses at tournay, during the years with which we are now occupied: "to mr. jacques barra, executioner, for having tortured, twice, jean de lannoy, ten sous. "to the same, for having executed, by fire, said lannoy, sixty sous. for having thrown his cinders into the river, eight sous." this was the treatment to which thousands, and tens of thousands, had been subjected in the provinces. men, women, and children were burned, and their "cinders" thrown away, for idle words against rome, spoken years before, for praying alone in their closets, for not kneeling to a wafer when they met it in the streets, for thoughts to which they had never given utterance, but which, on inquiry, they were too honest to deny. certainly with this work going on year after year in every city in the netherlands, and now set into renewed and vigorous action by a man who wore a crown only that he might the better torture his fellow- creatures, it was time that the very stones in the streets should be moved to mutiny. thus it may be seen of how much value were the protestations of philip and of granvelle, on which much stress has latterly been laid, that it was not their intention to introduce the spanish inquisition. with the edicts and the netherland inquisition, such as we have described them, the step was hardly necessary. in fact, the main difference between the two institutions consisted in the greater efficiency of the spanish in discovering such of its victims as were disposed to deny their faith. devised originally for more timorous and less conscientious infidels who were often disposed to skulk in obscure places and to renounce without really abandoning their errors, it was provided with a set of venomous familiars who glided through every chamber and coiled themselves at every fireside. the secret details of each household in the realm being therefore known to the holy office and to the monarch, no infidel or heretic could escape discovery. this invisible machinery was less requisite for the netherlands. there was comparatively little difficulty in ferreting out the "vermin"--to use the expression of a walloon historian of that age--so that it was only necessary to maintain in good working order the apparatus for destroying the noxious creatures when unearthed. the heretics of the provinces assembled at each other's houses to practise those rites described in such simple language by baldwin ogier, and denounced under such horrible penalties by the edicts. the inquisitorial system of spain was hardly necessary for men who had but little prudence in concealing, and no inclination to disavow their creed. "it is quite a laughable matter," wrote granvelle, who occasionally took a comic view of the inquisition, "that the king should send us depositions made in spain by which we are to hunt for heretics here, as if we did not know of thousands already. would that i had as many doubloons of annual income," he added, "as there are public and professed heretics in the provinces." no doubt the inquisition was in such eyes a most desirable establishment. "to speak without passion," says the walloon, "the inquisition well administered is a laudable institution, and not less necessary than all the other offices of spirituality and temporality belonging both to the bishops and to the commissioners of the roman see." the papal and episcopal establishments, in co-operation with the edicts, were enough, if thoroughly exercised and completely extended. the edicts alone were sufficient. "the edicts and the inquisition are one and the same thing," said the prince of orange. the circumstance, that the civil authorities were not as entirely superseded by the netherland, as by the spanish system, was rather a difference of form than of fact. we have seen that the secular officers of justice were at the command of the inquisitors. sheriff, gaoler, judge, and hangman, were all required, under the most terrible penalties, to do their bidding. the reader knows what the edicts were. he knows also the instructions to the corps of papal inquisitors, delivered by charles and philip: he knows that philip, both in person and by letter, had done his utmost to sharpen those instructions, during the latter portion of his sojourn in the netherlands. fourteen new bishops, each with two special inquisitors under him, had also been appointed to carry out the great work to which the sovereign had consecrated his existence. the manner in which the hunters of heretics performed their office has been exemplified by slightly sketching the career of a single one of the sub-inquisitors, peter titelmann. the monarch and his minister scarcely needed, therefore, to transplant the peninsular exotic. why should they do so? philip, who did not often say a great deal in a few words, once expressed the whole truth of the matter in a single sentence: "wherefore introduce the spanish inquisition?" said he; "the inquisition of the netherlands is much more pitiless than that of spain." such was the system of religious persecution commenced by charles, and perfected by philip. the king could not claim the merit of the invention, which justly belonged to the emperor. at the same time, his responsibility for the unutterable woe caused by the continuance of the scheme is not a jot diminished. there was a time when the whole system had fallen into comparative desuetude. it was utterly abhorrent to the institutions and the manners of the netherlanders. even a great number of the catholics in the provinces were averse to it. many of the leading grandees, every one of whom was catholic were foremost in denouncing its continuance. in short, the inquisition had been partially endured, but never accepted. moreover, it had never been introduced into luxemburg or groningen. in gelderland it had been prohibited by the treaty through which that province had been annexed to the emperor's dominions, and it had been uniformly and successfully resisted in brabant. therefore, although philip, taking the artful advice of granvelle, had sheltered himself under the emperor's name by re-enacting, word for word, his decrees, and re-issuing his instructions, he can not be allowed any such protection at the bar of history. such a defence for crimes so enormous is worse than futile. in truth, both father and son recognized instinctively the intimate connexion between ideas of religious and of civil freedom. "the authority of god and the supremacy of his majesty" was the formula used with perpetual iteration to sanction the constant recourse to scaffold and funeral pile. philip, bigoted in religion, and fanatical in his creed of the absolute power of kings, identified himself willingly with the deity, that he might more easily punish crimes against his own sacred person. granvelle carefully sustained him in these convictions, and fed his suspicions as to the motives of those who opposed his measures. the minister constantly represented the great seigniors as influenced by ambition and pride. they had only disapproved of the new bishoprics, he insinuated, because they were angry that his majesty should dare to do anything without their concurrence, and because their own influence in the states would be diminished. it was their object, he said, to keep the king "in tutelage"--to make him a "shadow and a cipher," while they should themselves exercise all authority in the provinces. it is impossible to exaggerate the effect of such suggestions upon the dull and gloomy mind to which they were addressed. it is easy, however, to see that a minister with such views was likely to be as congenial to his master as he was odious to the people. for already, in the beginning of , granvelle was extremely unpopular. "the cardinal is hated of all men," wrote sir thomas gresham. the great struggle between him and the leading nobles had already commenced. the people justly identified him with the whole infamous machinery of persecution, which had either originated or warmly made his own. viglius and berlaymont were his creatures. with the other members of the state council, according to their solemn statement, already recorded, he did not deign to consult, while he affected to hold them responsible for the measures of the administration. even the regent herself complained that the cardinal took affairs quite out of her hands, and that he decided upon many important matters without her cognizance. she already began to feel herself the puppet which it had been intended she should become; she already felt a diminution of the respectful attachment for the ecclesiastic which had inspired her when she procured his red hat. granvelle was, however, most resolute in carrying out the intentions of his master. we have seen how vigorously he had already set himself to the inauguration of the new bishoprics, despite of opposition and obloquy. he was now encouraging or rebuking the inquisitors in their "pious office" throughout all the provinces. notwithstanding his exertions, however, heresy continued to spread. in the walloon provinces the infection was most prevalent, while judges and executioners were appalled by the mutinous demonstrations which each successive sacrifice provoked. the victims were cheered on their way to the scaffold. the hymns of marot were sung in the very faces of the inquisitors. two ministers, faveau and mallart, were particularly conspicuous at this moment at valenciennes. the governor of the province, marquis berghen, was constantly absent, for he hated with his whole soul the system of persecution. for this negligence granvelle denounced him secretly and perpetually to philip, "the marquis says openly," said the cardinal, "that 'tis not right to shed blood for matters of faith. with such men to aid us, your majesty can judge how much progress we can make." it was, however, important, in granvelle's opinion, that these two ministers at valenciennes should be at once put to death. they were avowed heretics, and they preached to their disciples, although they certainly were not doctors of divinity. moreover, they were accused, most absurdly, no doubt, of pretending to work miracles. it was said that, in presence of several witnesses, they had undertaken to cast out devils; and they had been apprehended on an accusation of this nature. ["histoire des choses les plus memorables qui se sent passees en la ville et compte de valenciennes depuis le commencement des troubles des pays-bas sons le regne de phil. ii., jusqu' a l'annee ."-- ms. (collect. gerard).--this is a contemporary manuscript belonging to the gerard collection in the royal library at the hague. its author was a citizen of valenciennes, and a personal witness of most of the events which he describes. he appears to have attained to a great age, as he minutely narrates, from personal observation, many scenes which occurred before , and his work is continued till the year . it is a mere sketch, without much literary merit, but containing many local anecdotes of interest. its anonymous author was a very sincere catholic.] their offence really consisted in reading the bible to a few of their friends. granvelle sent philibert de bruxelles to valenciennes to procure their immediate condemnation and execution. he rebuked the judges and inquisitors, he sent express orders to marquis berghen to repair at once to the scene of his duties. the prisoners were condemned in the autumn of . the magistrates were, however, afraid to carry the sentence into effect. granvelle did not cease to censure them for their pusillanimity, and wrote almost daily letters, accusing the magistrates of being themselves the cause of the tumults by which they were appalled. the popular commotion was, however, not lightly to be braved. six or seven months long the culprits remained in confinement, while daily and nightly the people crowded the streets, hurling threats and defiance at the authorities, or pressed about the prison windows, encouraging their beloved ministers, and promising to rescue them in case the attempt should be made to fulfil the sentence. at last granvelle sent down a peremptory order to execute the culprits by fire. on the th of april, , faveau and mallart were accordingly taken from their jail and carried to the market-place, where arrangements had been made for burning them. simon faveau, as the executioner was binding him to the stake, uttered the invocation, "o! eternal father!" a woman in the crowd, at the same instant, took off her shoe and threw it at the funeral pile. this was a preconcerted signal. a movement was at once visible in the crowd. men in great numbers dashed upon the barriers which had been erected in the square around the place of execution. some seized the fagots, which had been already lighted, and scattered them in every direction; some tore up the pavements; others broke in pieces the barriers. the executioners were prevented from carrying out the sentence, but the guard were enabled, with great celerity and determination, to bring off the culprits and to place them in their dungeon again. the authorities were in doubt and dismay. the inquisitors were for putting the ministers to death in prison, and hurling their heads upon the street. evening approached while the officials were still pondering. the people who had been chanting the psalms of david through the town, without having decided what should be their course of action, at last determined to rescue the victims. a vast throng, after much hesitation, accordingly directed their steps to the prison. "you should have seen this vile populace," says an eye-witness, "moving, pausing, recoiling, sweeping forward, swaying to and fro like the waves of the sea when it is agitated by contending winds." the attack was vigorous, the defence was weak--for the authorities had expected no such fierce demonstration, notwithstanding the menacing language which had been so often uttered. the prisoners were rescued, and succeeded in making their escape from the city. the day in which the execution had been thus prevented was called, thenceforward, the "day of the ill-burned," (journee des mau-brulez). one of the ministers, however, simon faveau, not discouraged by this near approach to martyrdom, persisted in his heretical labors, and was a few years afterwards again apprehended. "he was then," says the chronicler, cheerfully, "burned well and finally" in the same place whence he had formerly been rescued. [valenciennes ms.] this desperate resistance to tyranny was for a moment successful, because, notwithstanding the murmurs and menaces by which the storm had been preceded, the authorities had not believed the people capable of proceeding to such lengths. had not the heretics--in the words of inquisitor titelmann--allowed themselves, year after year, to be taken and slaughtered like lambs? the consternation of the magistrates was soon succeeded by anger. the government at brussels was in a frenzy of rage when informed of the occurrence. a bloody vengeance was instantly prepared, to vindicate the insult to the inquisition. on the th of april, detachments of bossu's and of berghen's "band of ordonnance" were sent into valenciennes, together with a company of the duke of aerschot's regiment. the prisons were instantly filled to overflowing with men and women arrested for actual or suspected participation in the tumult. orders had been sent down from the capital to make a short process and a sharp execution for all the criminals. on the th of may, the slaughter commenced. some were burned at the stake, some were beheaded: the number of victims was frightful. "nothing was left undone by the magistrates," says an eyewitness, with great approbation, "which could serve for the correction and amendment of the poor people." it was long before the judges and hangmen rested from their labors. when at last the havoc was complete, it might be supposed that a sufficient vengeance had been taken for the "day of the ill-burned," and an adequate amount of "amendment" provided for the "poor people." such scenes as these did not tend to increase the loyalty of the nation, nor the popularity of the government. on granvelle's head was poured a daily increasing torrent of hatred. he was looked upon in the provinces as the impersonation of that religious oppression which became every moment more intolerable. the king and the regent escaped much of the odium which belonged to them, because the people chose to bestow all their maledictions upon the cardinal. there was, however, no great injustice in this embodiment. granvelle was the government. as the people of that day were extremely reverent to royalty, they vented all their rage upon the minister, while maintaining still a conventional respect for the sovereign. the prelate had already become the constant butt of the "rhetoric chambers." these popular clubs for the manufacture of homespun poetry and street farces out of the raw material of public sentiment, occupied the place which has been more effectively filled in succeeding ages, and in free countries by the daily press. before the invention of that most tremendous weapon, which liberty has ever wielded against tyranny, these humble but influential associations shared with the pulpit the only power which existed of moving the passions or directing the opinions of the people. they were eminently liberal in their tendencies. the authors and the actors of their comedies, poems, and pasquils were mostly artisans or tradesmen, belonging to the class out of which proceeded the early victims, and the later soldiers of the reformation. their bold farces and truculent satire had already effected much in spreading among the people a detestation of church abuses. they were particularly severe upon monastic licentiousness. "these corrupt comedians, called rhetoricians," says the walloon contemporary already cited, "afforded much amusement to the people." always some poor little nuns or honest monks were made a part of the farce. it seemed as if the people could take no pleasure except in ridiculing god and the church. the people, however, persisted in the opinion that the ideas of a monk and of god were not inseparable. certainly the piety of the early reformers was sufficiently fervent, and had been proved by the steadiness with which they confronted torture and death, but they knew no measure in the ridicule which they heaped upon the men by whom they were daily murdered in droves. the rhetoric comedies were not admirable in an aesthetic point of view, but they were wrathful and sincere. therefore they cost many thousand lives, but they sowed the seed of resistance to religious tyranny, to spring up one day in a hundredfold harvest. it was natural that the authorities should have long sought to suppress these perambulating dramas. "there was at that tyme," wrote honest richard clough to sir thomas gresham, "syche playes (of reteryke) played thet hath cost many a man's lyves, for in these plays was the word of god first opened in thys country. weche playes were and are forbidden moche more strictly than any of the bookes of martin luther." these rhetoricians were now particularly inflamed against granvelle. they were personally excited against him, because he had procured the suppression of their religious dramas. "these rhetoricians who make farces and street plays," wrote the cardinal to philip, "are particularly angry with me, because two years ago i prevented them from ridiculing the holy scriptures." nevertheless, these institutions continued to pursue their opposition to the course of the government. their uncouth gambols, their awkward but stunning blows rendered daily service to the cause of religious freedom. upon the newly-appointed bishops they poured out an endless succession of rhymes and rebuses, epigrams, caricatures and extravaganzas. poems were pasted upon the walls of every house, and passed from hand to hand. farces were enacted in every street; the odious ecclesiastics figuring as the principal buffoons. these representations gave so much offence, that renewed edicts were issued to suppress them. the prohibition was resisted, and even ridiculed in many provinces, particularly in holland. the tyranny which was able to drown a nation in blood and tears, was powerless to prevent them from laughing most bitterly at their oppressors. the tanner, cleon, was never belabored more soundly by the wits of athens, than the prelate by these flemish "rhetoricians." with infinitely less attic salt, but with as much heartiness as aristophanes could have done, the popular rhymers gave the minister ample opportunity to understand the position which he occupied in the netherlands. one day a petitioner placed a paper in his hand and vanished. it contained some scurrilous verses upon himself, together with a caricature of his person. in this he was represented as a hen seated upon a pile of eggs, out of which he was hatching a brood of bishops. some of these were clipping the shell, some thrusting forth an arm, some a leg, while others were running about with mitres on their heads, all bearing whimsical resemblance to various prelates who had been newly-appointed. above the cardinal's head the devil was represented hovering, with these words issuing from his mouth: "this is my beloved son, listen to him, my people." there was another lampoon of a similar nature, which was so well executed, that it especially excited granvelle's anger. it was a rhymed satire of a general nature, like the rest, but so delicate and so stinging, that the cardinal ascribed it to his old friend and present enemy, simon renard. this man, a burgundian by birth, and college associate of granvelle, had been befriended both by himself and his father. aided by their patronage and his own abilities, he had arrived at distinguished posts; having been spanish envoy both in france and england, and one of the negotiators of the truce of vaucelles. he had latterly been disappointed in his ambition to become a councillor of state, and had vowed vengeance upon the cardinal, to whom he attributed his ill success. he was certainly guilty of much ingratitude, for he had been under early obligations to the man in whose side he now became a perpetual thorn. it must be confessed, on the other hand, that granvelle repaid the enmity of his old associate with a malevolence equal to his own, and if renard did not lose his head as well as his political station, it was not for want of sufficient insinuation on the part of the minister. especially did granvelle denounce him to "the master" as the perverter of egmont, while he usually described that nobleman himself, as weak, vain, "a friend of smoke," easily misguided, but in the main well- intentioned and loyal. at the same time, with all these vague commendations, he never omitted to supply the suspicious king with an account of every fact or every rumor to the count's discredit. in the case of this particular satire, he informed philip that he could swear it came from the pen of renard, although, for the sake of deception, the rhetoric comedians had been employed. he described the production as filled with "false, abominable, and infernal things," and as treating not only himself, but the pope and the whole ecclesiastical order with as much contumely as could be showed in germany. he then proceeded to insinuate, in the subtle manner which was peculiarly his own, that egmont was a party to the publication of the pasquil. renard visited at that house, he said, and was received there on a much more intimate footing than was becoming. eight days before the satire was circulated, there had been a conversation in egmont's house, of a nature exactly similar to the substance of the pamphlet. the man, in whose hands it was first seen, continued granvelle, was a sword cutler, a godson of the count. this person said that he had torn it from the gate of the city hall, but god grant, prayed the cardinal, that it was not he who had first posted it up there. 'tis said that egmont and mansfeld, he added, have sent many times to the cutler to procure copies of the satire, all which augments the suspicion against them. with the nobles he was on no better terms than with the people. the great seigniors, orange, egmont, horn, and others, openly avowed their hostility to him, and had already given their reasons to the king. mansfeld and his son at that time were both with the opposition. aerschot and aremberg kept aloof from the league which was forming against the prelate, but had small sympathy for his person. even berlaymont began to listen to overtures from the leading nobles, who, among other inducements, promised to supply his children with bishoprics. there were none truly faithful and submissive to the cardinal but such men as the prevot morillon, who had received much advancement from him. this distinguished pluralist was popularly called "double a, b, c," to indicate that he had twice as many benefices as there were letters in the alphabet. he had, however, no objection to more, and was faithful to the dispensing power. the same course was pursued by secretary bave, esquire bordey, and other expectants and dependents. viglius, always remarkable for his pusillanimity, was at this period already anxious to retire. the erudite and opulent frisian preferred a less tempestuous career. he was in favor of the edicts, but he trembled at the uproar which their literal execution was daily exciting, for he knew the temper of his countrymen. on the other hand, he was too sagacious not to know the inevitable consequence of opposition to the will of philip. he was therefore most eager to escape the dilemma. he was a scholar, and could find more agreeable employment among his books. he had accumulated vast wealth, and was desirous to retain it as long as possible. he had a learned head and was anxious to keep it upon his shoulders. these simple objects could be better attained in a life of privacy. the post of president of the privy council and member of the "consulta" was a dangerous one. he knew that the king was sincere in his purposes. he foresaw that the people would one day be terribly in earnest. of ancient frisian blood himself, he knew that the, spirit of the ancient batavians and frisians had not wholly deserted their descendants. he knew that they were not easily roused, that they were patient, but that they would strike at last and would endure. he urgently solicited the king to release him, and pleaded his infirmities of body in excuse. philip, however, would not listen to his retirement, and made use of the most convincing arguments to induce him to remain. four hundred and fifty annual florins, secured by good reclaimed swamps in friesland, two thousand more in hand, with a promise of still larger emoluments when the king should come to the netherlands, were reasons which the learned doctor honestly confessed himself unable to resist. fortified by these arguments, he remained at his post, continued the avowed friend and adherent of granvelle, and sustained with magnanimity the invectives of nobles and people. to do him justice, he did what he could to conciliate antagonists and to compromise principles. if it had ever been possible to find the exact path between right and wrong, the president would have found it, and walked in it with respectability and complacency. in the council, however, the cardinal continued to carry it with a high hand; turning his back on orange and egmont, and retiring with the duchess and president to consult, after every session. proud and important personages, like the prince and count, could ill brook such insolence; moreover, they suspected the cardinal of prejudicing the mind of their sovereign against them. a report was very current, and obtained almost universal belief, that granvelle had expressly advised his majesty to take off the heads of at least half a dozen of the principal nobles in the land. this was an error; "these two seigniors," wrote the cardinal to philip, "have been informed that i have written to your majesty, that you will never be master of these provinces without taking off at least half a dozen heads, and that because it would be difficult, on account of the probable tumults which such a course would occasion, to do it here, your majesty means to call them to spain and do it there. your majesty can judge whether such a thing has ever entered my thoughts. i have laughed at it as a ridiculous invention. this gross forgery is one of renard's." the cardinal further stated to his majesty that he had been informed by these same nobles that the duke of alva, when a hostage for the treaty of cateau cambresis, had negotiated an alliance between the crowns of france and spain for the extirpation of heresy by the sword. he added, that he intended to deal with the nobles with all gentleness, and that he should do his best to please them. the only thing which he could not yield was the authority of his majesty; to sustain that, he would sacrifice his life, if necessary. at the same time granvelle carefully impressed upon the king the necessity of contradicting the report alluded to, a request which he took care should also be made through the regent in person. he had already, both in his own person and in that of the duchess, begged for a formal denial, on the king's part, that there was any intention of introducing the spanish inquisition into the netherlands, and that the cardinal had counselled, originally, the bishoprics. thus instructed, the king accordingly wrote to margaret of parma to furnish the required contradictions. in so doing, he made a pithy remark. "the cardinal had not counselled the cutting off the half a dozen heads," said the monarch, "but perhaps it would not be so bad to do it!" time was to show whether philip was likely to profit by the hint conveyed in the cardinal's disclaimer, and whether the factor "half dozen" were to be used or not as a simple multiplier in the terrible account preparing. the contradictions, however sincere, were not believed by the persons most interested. nearly all the nobles continued to regard the cardinal with suspicion and aversion. many of the ruder and more reckless class vied with the rhetoricians and popular caricaturists in the practical jests which they played off almost daily against the common foe. especially count brederode, "a madman, if there ever were one," as a contemporary expressed himself, was most untiring in his efforts to make granvelle ridiculous. he went almost nightly to masquerades, dressed as a cardinal or a monk; and as he was rarely known to be sober on these or any other occasions, the wildness of his demonstrations may easily be imagined. he was seconded on all these occasions by his cousin robert de la marck, seigneur de lumey, a worthy descendant of the famous "wild boar of ardennes;" a man brave to temerity, but utterly depraved, licentious, and sanguinary. these two men, both to be widely notorious, from their prominence in many of the most striking scenes by which the great revolt was ushered in, had vowed the most determined animosity to the cardinal, which was manifested in the reckless, buffooning way which belonged to their characters. besides the ecclesiastical costumes in which they always attired themselves at their frequent festivities, they also wore fog-tails in their hats instead of plumes. they decked their servants also with the same ornaments; openly stating, that by these symbols they meant to signify that the old fox granvelle, and his cubs, viglius, berlaymont, and the rest, should soon be hunted down by them, and the brush placed in their hats as a trophy. moreover, there is no doubt that frequent threats of personal violence were made against the cardinal. granvelle informed the king that his life was continually menaced by, the nobles, but that he feared them little, "for he believed them too prudent to attempt any thing of the kind." there is no doubt, when his position with regard to the upper and lower classes in the country is considered, that there was enough to alarm a timid man; but granvelle was constitutionally brave. he was accused of wearing a secret shirt of mail, of living in perpetual trepidation, of having gone on his knees to egmont and orange, of having sent richardot, bishop of arras, to intercede for him in the same humiliating manner with egmont. all these stories were fables. bold as he was arrogant, he affected at this time to look down with a forgiving contempt on the animosity of the nobles. he passed much of his time alone, writing his eternal dispatches to the king. he had a country- house, called la fontaine, surrounded by beautiful gardens, a little way outside the gates of brussels, where he generally resided, and whence, notwithstanding the remonstrances of his friends, he often returned to town, after sunset, alone, or with but a few attendants. he avowed that he feared no attempts at assassination, for, if the seigniors took his life, they would destroy the best friend they ever had. this villa, where most of his plans were matured and his state papers drawn up, was called by the people, in derision of his supposed ancestry, "the smithy." here, as they believed, was the anvil upon which the chains of their slavery were forging; here, mostly deserted by those who had been his earlier, associates, he assumed a philosophical demeanor which exasperated, without deceiving his adversaries. over the great gate of his house he had placed the marble statue of a female. it held an empty wine-cup in one hand, and an urn of flowing water in the other. the single word "durate" was engraved upon the pedestal. by the motto, which was his habitual device, he was supposed, in this application, to signify that his power would outlast that of the nobles, and that perennial and pure as living water, it would flow tranquilly on, long after the wine of their life had been drunk to the lees. the fiery extravagance of his adversaries, and the calm and limpid moderation of his own character, thus symbolized, were supposed to convey a moral lesson to the world. the hieroglyphics, thus interpreted, were not relished by the nobles--all avoided his society, and declined his invitations. he consoled himself with the company of the lesser gentry, --a class which he now began to patronize, and which he urgently recommended to the favor of the king,--hinting that military and civil offices bestowed upon their inferiors would be a means of lowering the pride of the grandees. he also affected to surround himself with even humbler individuals. "it makes me laugh," he wrote to philip, "to see the great seigniors absenting themselves from my dinners; nevertheless, i can always get plenty of guests at my table, gentlemen and councillors. i sometimes invite even citizens, in order to gain their good will." the regent was well aware of the anger excited in the breasts of the leading nobles by the cool manner in which they had been thrust out of their share in the administration of affairs. she defended herself with acrimony in her letters to the king, although a defence was hardly needed in that quarter for implicit obedience to the royal commands. she confessed her unwillingness to consult with her enemies. she avowed her determination to conceal the secrets of the government from those who were capable of abusing her confidence. she represented that there were members of the council who would willingly take advantage of the trepidation which she really felt, and which she should exhibit if she expressed herself without reserve before them. for this reason she confined herself, as philip had always intended, exclusively to the consulta. it was not difficult to recognize the hand which wrote the letter thus signed by margaret of parma. both nobles and people were at this moment irritated by another circumstance. the civil war having again broken out in france, philip, according to the promise made by him to catharine de medici, when he took her daughter in marriage, was called upon to assist the catholic party with auxiliaries. he sent three thousand infantry, accordingly, which he had levied in italy, as many more collected in spain, and gave immediate orders that the duchess of parma should despatch at least two thousand cavalry, from the netherlands. great was the indignation in the council when the commands were produced. sore was the dismay of margaret. it was impossible to obey the king. the idea of sending the famous mounted gendarmerie of the provinces to fight against the french huguenots could not be tolerated for an instant. the "bands of ordonnance" were very few in number, and were to guard the frontier. they were purely for domestic purposes. it formed no part of their duty to go upon crusades in foreign lands; still less to take a share in a religious quarrel, and least of all to assist a monarch against a nation. these views were so cogently presented to the duchess in council, that she saw the impossibility of complying with her brother's commands. she wrote to philip to that effect. meantime, another letter arrived out of spain, chiding her delay, and impatiently calling upon her to furnish the required cavalry at once. the duchess was in a dilemma. she feared to provoke another storm in the council, for there was already sufficient wrangling there upon domestic subjects. she knew it was impossible to obtain the consent, even of berlaymont and viglius, to such an odious measure as the one proposed. she was, however, in great trepidation at the peremptory tone of the king's despatch. under the advice of granvelle, she had recourse to a trick. a private and confidential letter of philip was read to the council, but with alterations suggested and interpolated by the cardinal. the king was represented as being furious at the delay, but as willing that a sum of money should be furnished instead of the cavalry, as originally required. this compromise, after considerable opposition, was accepted. the duchess wrote to philip, explaining and apologizing for the transaction. the king received the substitution with as good a grace as could have been expected, and sent fifteen hundred troopers from spain to his medicean mother-in-law, drawing upon the duchess of parma for the money to pay their expenses. thus was the industry of the netherlands taxed that the french might be persecuted by their own monarch. the regent had been forbidden, by her brother, to convoke the states- general; a body which the prince of orange, sustained by berghen, montigny, and other nobles, was desirous of having assembled. it may be easily understood that granvelle would take the best care that the royal prohibition should be enforced. the duchess, however, who, as already hinted, was beginning to feel somewhat uncomfortable under the cardinal's dominion, was desirous of consulting some larger council than that with which she held her daily deliberations. a meeting of the knights of the fleece was accordingly summoned. they assembled in brussels, in the month of may, . the learned viglius addressed them in a long and eloquent speech, in which he discussed the troubled and dangerous condition of the provinces, alluded to some of its causes, and suggested various remedies. it may be easily conceived, however, that the inquisition was not stated among the causes, nor its suppression included among the remedies. a discourse, in which the fundamental topic was thus conscientiously omitted, was not likely, with all its concinnities, to make much impression upon the disaffected knights, or to exert a soothing influence upon the people. the orator was, however, delighted with his own performance. he informs us, moreover, that the duchess was equally charmed, and that she protested she had never in her whole life heard any thing more "delicate, more suitable, or more eloquent." the prince of orange, however, did not sympathize with her admiration. the president's elegant periods produced but little effect upon his mind. the meeting adjourned, after a few additional words from the duchess, in which she begged the knights to ponder well the causes of the increasing discontent, and to meet her again, prepared to announce what, in their opinion, would be the course best adapted to maintain the honor of the king, the safety of the provinces, and the glory of god. soon after the separation of the assembly, the prince of orange issued invitations to most of the knights, to meet at his house for the purpose of private deliberation. the president and cardinal were not included in these invitations. the meeting was, in fact, what we should call a caucus, rather than a general gathering. nevertheless, there were many of the government party present--men who differed from the prince, and were inclined to support granvelle. the meeting was a stormy one. two subjects were discussed. the first was the proposition of the duchess, to investigate the general causes of the popular dissatisfaction; the second was an inquiry how it could be rendered practicable to discuss political matters in future--a proceeding now impossible, in consequence of the perverseness and arrogance of certain functionaries, and one which, whenever attempted, always led to the same inevitable result. this direct assault upon the cardinal produced a furious debate. his enemies were delighted with the opportunity of venting their long- suppressed spleen. they indulged in savage invectives against the man whom they so sincerely hated. his adherents, on the other hand--bossu, berlaymont, courieres--were as warm in his defence. they replied by indignant denials of the charge against him, and by bitter insinuations against the prince of orange. they charged him with nourishing the desire of being appointed governor of brabant, an office considered inseparable from the general stadholderate of all the provinces. they protested for themselves that they were actuated by no ambitious designs --that they were satisfied with their own position, and not inspired by jealousy of personages more powerful than themselves. it is obvious that such charges and recriminations could excite no healing result, and that the lines between cardinalists and their opponents would be defined in consequence more sharply than ever. the adjourned meeting of the chevaliers of the fleece took place a few days afterwards. the duchess exerted herself as much as possible to reconcile the contending factions, without being able, however, to apply the only remedy which could be effective. the man who was already fast becoming the great statesman of the country knew that the evil was beyond healing, unless by a change of purpose on the part of the government. the regent, on the other hand, who it must be confessed never exhibited any remarkable proof of intellectual ability during the period of her residence in the netherlands, was often inspired by a feeble and indefinite hope that the matter might be arranged by a compromise between the views of conflicting parties. unfortunately the inquisition was not a fit subject for a compromise. nothing of radical importance was accomplished by the assembly of the fleece. it was decided that an application should be made to the different states for a giant of money, and that, furthermore, a special envoy should be despatched to spain. it was supposed by the duchess and her advisers that more satisfactory information concerning the provinces could be conveyed to philip by word of mouth than by the most elaborate epistles. the meeting was dissolved after these two measures had been agreed upon. doctor viglius, upon whom devolved the duty of making the report and petition to the states, proceeded to draw up the necessary application. this he did with his customary elegance, and, as usual, very much to his own satisfaction. on returning to his house, however, after having discharged this duty, he was very much troubled at finding that a large mulberry-tree; which stood in his garden, had been torn up by the roots in a violent hurricane. the disaster was considered ominous by the president, and he was accordingly less surprised than mortified when he found, subsequently, that his demand upon the orders had remained as fruitless as his ruined tree. the tempest which had swept his garden he considered typical of the storm which was soon to rage through the land, and he felt increased anxiety to reach a haven while it was yet comparatively calm. the estates rejected the request for supplies, on various grounds; among others, that the civil war was drawing to a conclusion in france, and that less danger was to be apprehended from that source than had lately been the case. thus, the "cup of bitterness," of which granvelle had already complained; was again commended to his lips, and there was more reason than ever for the government to regret that the national representatives had contracted the habit of meddling with financial matters. florence de montmorency, seigneur de montigny, was selected by the regent for the mission which had been decided upon for spain. this gentleman was brother to count horn, but possessed of higher talents and a more amiable character than those of the admiral. he was a warm friend of orange, and a bitter enemy to granvelle. he was a sincere catholic, but a determined foe to the inquisition. his brother had declined to act as envoy. this refusal can excite but little surprise, when philip's wrath at their parting interview is recalled, and when it is also remembered that the new mission would necessarily lay bare fresh complaints against the cardinal, still more extensive than those which had produced the former explosion of royal indignation. montigny, likewise, would have preferred to remain at home, but he was overruled. it had been written in his destiny that he should go twice into the angry lion's den, and that he should come forth once, alive. thus it has been shown that there was an open, avowed hostility on the part of the grand seignors and most of the lesser nobility to the cardinal and his measures. the people fully and enthusiastically sustained the prince of orange in his course. there was nothing underhand in the opposition made to the government. the netherlands did not constitute an absolute monarchy. they did not even constitute a monarchy. there was no king in the provinces. philip was king of spain, naples, jerusalem, but he was only duke of brabant, count of flanders, lord of friesland, hereditary chief, in short, under various titles, of seventeen states, each one of which, although not republican, possessed constitutions as sacred as, and much more ancient than, the crown. the resistance to the absolutism of granvelle and philip was, therefore, logical, legal, constitutional. it was no cabal, no secret league, as the cardinal had the effrontery to term it, but a legitimate exercise of powers which belonged of old to those who wielded them, and which only an unrighteous innovation could destroy. granvelle's course was secret and subtle. during the whole course of the proceedings which have just been described, he was; in daily confidential correspondence with the king, besides being the actual author of the multitudinous despatches which were sent with the signature of the duchess. he openly asserted his right to monopolize all the powers of the government; he did his utmost to force upon the reluctant and almost rebellious people the odious measures which the king had resolved upon, while in his secret letters he uniformly represented the nobles who opposed him, as being influenced, not by an honest hatred of oppression and attachment to ancient rights, but by resentment, and jealousy of their own importance. he assumed, in his letters to his master, that the absolutism already existed of right and in fact, which it was the intention of philip to establish. while he was depriving the nobles, the states and the nation of their privileges, and even of their natural rights (a slender heritage in those days), he assured the king that there was an evident determination to reduce his authority to a cipher. the estates, he wrote, had usurped the whole administration of the finances, and had farmed it out to antony van stralen and others, who were making enormous profits in the business. "the seignors," he said, "declare at their dinner parties that i wish to make them subject to the absolute despotism of your majesty. in point of fact, however, they really exercise a great deal more power than the governors of particular provinces ever did before; and it lacks but little that madame and your majesty should become mere ciphers, while the grandees monopolize the whole power. this," he continued, "is the principal motive of their opposition to the new bishoprics. they were angry that your majesty should have dared to solicit such an arrangement at rome, without, first obtaining their consent. they wish to reduce your majesty's authority to so low a point that you can do nothing unless they desire it. their object is the destruction of the royal authority and of the administration of justice, in order to avoid the payment of their debts; telling their creditors constantly that they, have spent their all in your majesty's service, and that they have never received recompence or salary. this they do to make your majesty odious." as a matter of course, he attributed the resistance on the part of the great nobles, every man of whom was catholic, to base motives. they were mere demagogues, who refused to burn their fellow-creatures, not from any natural repugnance to the task, but in order to gain favor with the populace. "this talk about the inquisition," said he, "is all a pretext. 'tis only to throw dust in the eyes of the vulgar, and to persuade them into tumultuous demonstrations, while the real reason is, that they choose that your majesty should do nothing without their permission, and through their hands." he assumed sometimes, however, a tone of indulgence toward the seignors --who formed the main topics of his letters--an affectation which might, perhaps, have offended them almost as much as more open and sincere denunciation. he could forgive offences against himself. it was for philip to decide as to their merits or crimes so far as the crown was concerned. his language often was befitting a wise man who was speaking of very little children. "assonleville has told me, as coming from egmont," he wrote, "that many of the nobles are dissatisfied with me; hearing from spain that i am endeavoring to prejudice your majesty against them." certainly the tone of the cardinal's daily letters would have justified such suspicion, could the nobles have seen them. granvelle begged the king, however, to disabuse them upon this point. "would to god," said he, piously, "that they all would decide to sustain the authority of your majesty, and to procure such measures as tend to the service of god and the security of the states. may i cease to exist if i do not desire to render good service to the very least of these gentlemen. your majesty knows that, when they do any thing for the benefit of your service, i am never silent. nevertheless, thus they are constituted. i hope, however, that this flurry will blow over, and that when your majesty comes they will all be found to deserve rewards of merit." of egmont, especially, he often spoke in terms of vague, but somewhat condescending commendation. he never manifested resentment in his letters, although, as already stated, the count had occasionally indulged, not only in words, but in deeds of extreme violence against him. but the cardinal was too forgiving a christian, or too keen a politician not to pass by such offences, so long as there was a chance of so great a noble's remaining or becoming his friend. he, accordingly, described him, in general, as a man whose principles, in the main, were good, but who was easily led by his own vanity and the perverse counsels of others. he represented him as having been originally a warm supporter of the new bishoprics, and as having expressed satisfaction that two of them, those of bruges and ypres, should have been within his own stadholderate. he regretted, however; to inform the king that the count was latterly growing lukewarm, perhaps from fear of finding himself separated from the other nobles. on the whole, he was tractable enough, said the cardinal, if he were not easily persuaded by the vile; but one day, perhaps, he might open his eyes again. notwithstanding these vague expressions of approbation, which granvelle permitted himself in his letters to philip, he never failed to transmit to the monarch every fact, every rumor, every inuendo which might prejudice the royal mind against that nobleman or against any of the noblemen, whose characters he at the same time protested he was most unwilling to injure. it is true that he dealt mainly by insinuation, while he was apt to conclude his statements with disclaimers upon his own part, and with hopes of improvement in the conduct of the seignors. at this particular point of time he furnished philip with a long and most circumstantial account of a treasonable correspondence which was thought to be going on between the leading nobles and the future emperor, maximilian. the narrative was a good specimen of the masterly style of inuendo in which the cardinal excelled, and by which he was often enabled to convince his master of the truth of certain statements while affecting to discredit them. he had heard a story, he said, which he felt bound to communicate to his majesty, although he did not himself implicitly believe it. he felt himself the more bound to speak upon the subject because it tallied exactly with intelligence which he had received from another source. the story was that one of these seigniors (the cardinal did not know which, for he had not yet thought proper to investigate the matter) had said that rather than consent that the king should act in this matter of the bishoprics against the privileges of brabant, the nobles would elect for their sovereign some other prince of the blood. this, said the cardinal, was perhaps a fantasy rather than an actual determination. count egmont, to be sure, he said, was constantly exchanging letters with the king of bohemia (maximilian), and it was supposed, therefore, that he was the prince of the blood who was to be elected to govern the provinces. it was determined that he should be chosen king of the romans, by fair means or by force, that he should assemble an army to attack the netherlands, that a corresponding movement should be made within the states, and that the people should be made to rise, by giving them the reins in the matter of religion. the cardinal, after recounting all the particulars of this fiction with great minuteness, added, with apparent frankness, that the correspondence between egmont and maximilian did not astonish him, because there had been much intimacy between them in the time of the late emperor. he did not feel convinced, therefore, from the frequency of the letters exchanged, that there was a scheme to raise an army to attack the provinces and to have him elected by force. on the contrary, maximilian could never accomplish such a scheme without the assistance of his imperial father the emperor, whom granvelle was convinced would rather die than be mixed up with such villany against philip. moreover, unless the people should become still more corrupted by the bad counsels constantly given them, the cardinal did not believe that any of the great nobles had the power to dispose in this way of the provinces at their pleasure. therefore, he concluded that the story was to be rejected as improbable, although it had come to him directly from the house of the said count egmont. it is remarkable that, at the commencement of his narrative, the cardinal had expressed his ignorance of the name of the seignior who was hatching all this treason, while at the end of it he gave a local habitation to the plot in the palace of egmont. it is also quite characteristic that he should add that, after all, he considered that nobleman one of the most honest of all, if appearances did not deceive. it may be supposed, however, that all these details of a plot which was quite imaginary, were likely to produce more effect upon a mind so narrow and so suspicious as that of philip, than could the vague assertions of the cardinal, that in spite of all, he would dare be sworn that he thought the count honest, and that men should be what they seemed. notwithstanding the conspiracy, which, according to granvelle's letters, had been formed against him, notwithstanding that his life was daily threatened, he did not advise the king at this period to avenge him by any public explosion of wrath. he remembered, he piously observed, that vengeance belonged to god, and that he would repay. therefore he passed over insults meekly, because that comported best with his majesty's service. therefore, too, he instructed philip to make no demonstration at that time, in order not to damage his own affairs. he advised him to dissemble, and to pretend not to know what was going on in the provinces. knowing that his master looked to him daily for instructions, always obeyed them with entire docility, and, in fact, could not move a step in netherland matters without them, he proceeded to dictate to him the terms in which he was to write to the nobles, and especially laid down rules for his guidance in his coming interviews with the seigneur de montigny. philip, whose only talent consisted in the capacity to learn such lessons with laborious effort, was at this juncture particularly in need of tuition. the cardinal instructed him, accordingly, that he was to disabuse all men of the impression that the spanish inquisition was to be introduced into the provinces. he was to write to the seigniors, promising to pay them their arrears of salary; he was to exhort them to do all in their power for the advancement of religion and maintenance of the royal authority; and he was to suggest to them that, by his answer to the antwerp deputation, it was proved that there was no intention of establishing the inquisition of spain, under pretext of the new bishoprics. the king was, furthermore, to signify his desire that all the nobles should exert themselves to efface this false impression from the popular mind. he was also to express himself to the same effect concerning the spanish inquisition, the bishoprics, and the religious question, in the public letters to madame de parma, which were to be read in full council. the cardinal also renewed his instructions to the king as to the manner in which the antwerp deputies were to be answered, by giving them, namely, assurances that to transplant the spanish inquisition into the provinces would be as hopeless as to attempt its establishment in naples. he renewed his desire that philip should contradict the story about the half dozen heads, and he especially directed him to inform montigny that berghen had known of the new bishoprics before the cardinal. this, urged granvelle, was particularly necessary, because the seigniors were irritated that so important a matter should have been decided upon without their advice, and because the marquis berghen was now the "cock of the opposition." at about the same time, it was decided by granvelle and the regent, in conjunction with the king, to sow distrust and jealousy among the nobles, by giving greater "mercedes" to some than to others, although large sums were really due to all. in particular, the attempt was made in this paltry manner, to humiliate william of orange. a considerable sum was paid to egmont, and a trifling one to the prince, in consideration of their large claims upon the treasury. moreover the duke of aerschot was selected as envoy to the frankfort diet, where the king of the romans was to be elected, with the express intention, as margaret wrote to philip, of creating divisions among the nobles, as he had suggested. the duchess at the same time informed her brother that, according to, berlaymont, the prince of orange was revolving some great design, prejudicial to his majesty's service. philip, who already began to suspect that a man who thought so much must be dangerous, was eager to find out the scheme over which william the silent was supposed to be brooding, and wrote for fresh intelligence to the duchess. neither margaret nor the cardinal, however, could discover any thing against the prince--who, meantime, although disappointed of the mission to frankfort, had gone to that city in his private capacity--saving that he had been heard to say, "one day we shall be the stronger." granvelle and madame de parma both communicated this report upon the same day, but this was all that they were able to discover of the latent plot. in the autumn of this year ( ) montigny made his visit to spain, as confidential envoy from the regent. the king being fully prepared as to the manner in which he was to deal with him, received the ambassador with great cordiality. he informed him in the course of their interviews, that granvelle had never attempted to create prejudice against the nobles, that he was incapable of the malice attributed to him, and that even were it otherwise, his evil representations against other public servants would produce no effect. the king furthermore protested that he had no intention of introducing the spanish inquisition into the netherlands, and that the new bishops were not intended as agents for such a design, but had been appointed solely with a view of smoothing religious difficulties in the provinces, and of leading his people back into the fold of the faithful. he added, that as long ago as his visit to england for the purpose of espousing queen mary, he had entertained the project of the new episcopates, as the marquis berghen, with whom he had conversed freely upon the subject, could bear witness. with regard to the connexion of granvelle with the scheme, he assured montigny that the cardinal had not been previously consulted, but had first learned the plan after the mission of sonnius. such was the purport of the king's communications to the envoy, as appears from memoranda in the royal handwriting and from the correspondence of margaret of parma. philip's exactness in conforming to his instructions is sufficiently apparent, on comparing his statements with the letters previously received from the omnipresent cardinal. beyond the limits of those directions the king hardly hazarded a syllable. he was merely the plenipotentiary of the cardinal, as montigny was of the regent. so long as granvelle's power lasted, he was absolute and infallible. such, then, was the amount of satisfaction derived from the mission of montigny. there was to be no diminution of the religious persecution, but the people were assured upon royal authority, that the inquisition, by which they were daily burned and beheaded, could not be logically denominated the spanish inquisition. in addition to the comfort, whatever it might be, which the nation could derive from this statement, they were also consoled with the information that granvelle was not the inventor of the bishoprics. although he had violently supported the measure as soon as published, secretly denouncing as traitors and demagogues, all those who lifted their voices against it, although he was the originator of the renewed edicts, although he took, daily, personal pains that this netherland inquisition, "more pitiless than the spanish," should be enforced in its rigor, and although he, at the last, opposed the slightest mitigation of its horrors, he was to be represented to the nobles and the people as a man of mild and unprejudiced character, incapable of injuring even his enemies. "i will deal with the seigniors most blandly," the cardinal had written to philip, "and will do them pleasure, even if they do not wish it, for the sake of god and your majesty." it was in this light, accordingly, that philip drew the picture of his favorite minister to the envoy. montigny, although somewhat influenced by the king's hypocritical assurances of the, benignity with which he regarded the netherlands, was, nevertheless, not to be deceived by this flattering portraiture of a man whom he knew so well and detested so cordially as he did granvelle. solicited by the king, at their parting interview, to express his candid opinion as to the causes of the dissatisfaction in the provinces, montigny very frankly and most imprudently gave vent to his private animosity towards the cardinal. he spoke of his licentiousness, greediness, ostentation, despotism, and assured the monarch that nearly all the inhabitants of the netherlands entertained the same opinion concerning him. he then dilated upon the general horror inspired by the inquisition and the great repugnance felt to the establishment of the new episcopates. these three evils, granvelle, the inquisition, and the bishoprics, he maintained were the real and sufficient causes of the increasing popular discontent. time was to reveal whether the open-hearted envoy was to escape punishment for his frankness, and whether vengeance for these crimes against granvelle and philip were to be left wholly, as the cardinal had lately suggested, in the hands of the lord. montigny returned late in december. his report concerning the results of his mission was made in the state council, and was received with great indignation. the professions of benevolent intentions on the part of the sovereign made no impression on the mind of orange, who was already in the habit of receiving secret information from spain with regard to the intentions of the government. he knew very well that the plot revealed to him by henry the second in the wood of vincennes was still the royal program, so far as the spanish monarch was concerned. moreover, his anger was heightened by information received from montigny that the names of orange, egmont and their adherents, were cited to him as he passed through france as the avowed defenders of the huguenots, in politics and religion. the prince, who was still a sincere catholic, while he hated the persecutions of the inquisition, was furious at the statement. a violent scene occurred in the council. orange openly denounced the report as a new slander of granvelle, while margaret defended the cardinal and denied the accusation, but at the same time endeavored with the utmost earnestness to reconcile the conflicting parties. it had now become certain, however, that the government could no longer be continued on its present footing. either granvelle or the seigniors must succumb. the prince of orange was resolved that the cardinal should fall or that he would himself withdraw from all participation in the affairs of government. in this decision he was sustained by egmont, horn, montigny, berghen, and the other leading nobles. etext editor's bookmarks: affecting to discredit them an inspiring and delightful recreation (auto-da-fe) arrested on suspicion, tortured till confession inquisition of the netherlands is much more pitiless inquisition was not a fit subject for a compromise made to swing to and fro over a slow fire orator was, however, delighted with his own performance philip, who did not often say a great deal in a few words scaffold was the sole refuge from the rack ten thousand two hundred and twenty individuals were burned torquemada's administration (of the inquisition) two witnesses sent him to the stake, one witness to the rack [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. administration of the duchess margaret. - [chapter i.] biographical sketch and portrait of margaret of parma--the state council--berlaymont--viglius--sketch of william the silent--portrait of antony perrenot, afterwards cardinal granvelle--general view of the political, social and religious condition of the netherlands-- habits of the aristocracy--emulation in extravagance--pecuniary embarrassments--sympathy for the reformation, steadily increasing among the people, the true cause of the impending revolt--measures of the government.--edict of described--papal bulls granted to philip for increasing the number of bishops in the netherlands-- necessity for retaining the spanish troops to enforce the policy of persecution. margaret of parma, newly appointed regent of the netherlands, was the natural daughter of charles the fifth, and his eldest born child. her mother, of a respectable family called van der genst, in oudenarde, had been adopted and brought up by the distinguished house of hoogstraaten. peculiar circumstances, not necessary to relate at length, had palliated the fault to which margaret owed her imperial origin, and gave the child almost a legitimate claim upon its father's protection. the claim was honorably acknowledged. margaret was in her infancy placed by the emperor in the charge of his paternal aunt, margaret of savoy, then regent of the provinces. upon the death of that princess, the child was entrusted to the care of the emperor's sister, mary, queen dowager of hungary, who had succeeded to the government, and who occupied it until the abdication. the huntress-queen communicated her tastes to her youthful niece, and margaret soon outrivalled her instructress. the ardor with which she pursued the stag, and the courageous horsemanship which she always displayed, proved her, too, no degenerate descendant of mary of burgundy. her education for the distinguished position in which she had somewhat surreptitiously been placed was at least not neglected in this particular. when, soon after the memorable sack of rome, the pope and the emperor had been reconciled, and it had been decided that the medici family should be elevated upon the ruins of florentine liberty, margaret's hand was conferred in marriage upon the pontiff's nephew alexander. the wretched profligate who was thus selected to mate with the emperor's eldest born child and to appropriate the fair demesnes of the tuscan republic was nominally the offspring of lorenzo de medici by a moorish slave, although generally reputed a bastard of the pope himself. the nuptials were celebrated with great pomp at naples, where the emperor rode at the tournament in the guise of a moorish warrior. at florence splendid festivities had also been held, which were troubled with omens believed to be highly unfavorable. it hardly needed, however, preternatural appearances in heaven or on earth to proclaim the marriage ill-starred which united a child of twelve years with a worn-out debauchee of twenty-seven. fortunately for margaret, the funereal portents proved true. her husband, within the first year of their wedded life, fell a victim to his own profligacy, and was assassinated by his kinsman, lorenzino de medici. cosmo, his successor in the tyranny of florence, was desirous of succeeding to the hand of margaret, but the politic emperor, thinking that he had already done enough to conciliate that house, was inclined to bind to his interests the family which now occupied the papal throne. margaret was accordingly a few years afterwards united to ottavio farnese, nephew of paul the third. it was still her fate to be unequally matched. having while still a child been wedded to a man of more than twice her years, she was now, at the age of twenty, united to an immature youth of thirteen. she conceived so strong an aversion to her new husband, that it became impossible for them to live together in peace. ottavio accordingly went to the wars, and in accompanied the emperor in his memorable expedition to barbary. rumors of disaster by battle and tempest reaching europe before the results of the expedition were accurately known, reports that the emperor had been lost in a storm, and that the young ottavio had perished with him, awakened remorse in the bosom of margaret. it seemed to her that he had been driven forth by domestic inclemency to fall a victim to the elements. when, however, the truth became known, and it was ascertained that her husband, although still living, was lying dangerously ill in the charge of the emperor, the repugnance which had been founded upon his extreme youth changed to passionate fondness. his absence, and his faithful military attendance upon her father, caused a revulsion in her feelings, and awakened her admiration. when ottavio, now created duke of parma and piacenza, returned to rome, he was received by his wife with open arms. their union was soon blessed with twins, and but for a certain imperiousness of disposition which margaret had inherited from her father, and which she was too apt to exercise even upon her husband, the marriage would have been sufficiently fortunate. various considerations pointed her out to philip as a suitable person for the office of regent, although there seemed some mystery about the appointment which demanded explanation. it was thought that her birth would make her acceptable to the people; but perhaps, the secret reason with philip was, that she alone of all other candidates would be amenable to the control of the churchman in whose hand he intended placing the real administration of the provinces. moreover, her husband was very desirous that the citadel of piacenza, still garrisoned by spanish troops, should be surrendered to him. philip was disposed to conciliate the duke, but unwilling to give up the fortress. he felt that ottavio would be flattered by the nomination of his wife to so important an office, and be not too much dissatisfied at finding himself relieved for a time from her imperious fondness. her residence in the netherlands would guarantee domestic tranquillity to her husband, and peace in italy to the king. margaret would be a hostage for the fidelity of the duke, who had, moreover, given his eldest son to philip to be educated in his service. she was about thirty-seven years of age when she arrived in the netherlands, with the reputation of possessing high talents, and a proud and energetic character. she was an enthusiastic catholic, and had sat at the feet of loyola, who had been her confessor and spiritual guide. she felt a greater horror for heretics than for any other species of malefactors, and looked up to her father's bloody edicts as if they had been special revelations from on high. she was most strenuous in her observance of roman rites, and was accustomed to wash the feet of twelve virgins every holy week, and to endow them in marriage afterwards.--her acquirements, save that of the art of horsemanship, were not remarkable. carefully educated in the machiavellian and medicean school of politics, she was versed in that "dissimulation," to which liberal anglo-saxons give a shorter name, but which formed the main substance of statesmanship at the court of charles and philip. in other respects her accomplishments were but meagre, and she had little acquaintance with any language but italian. her personal appearance, which was masculine, but not without a certain grand and imperial fascination, harmonized with the opinion generally entertained of her character. the famous moustache upon her upper lips was supposed to indicate authority and virility of purpose, an impression which was confirmed by the circumstance that she was liable to severe attacks of gout, a disorder usually considered more appropriate to the sterner sex. such were the previous career and public reputation of the duchess margaret. it remains to be unfolded whether her character and endowments, as exemplified in her new position, were to justify the choice of philip. the members of the state council, as already observed, were berlaymont, viglius, arras, orange, and egmont. the first was, likewise, chief of the finance department. most of the catholic writers described him as a noble of loyal and highly honorable character. those of the protestant party, on the contrary, uniformly denounced him as greedy, avaricious, and extremely sanguinary. that he was a brave and devoted soldier, a bitter papist, and an inflexible adherent to the royal cause, has never been disputed. the baron himself, with his four courageous and accomplished sons, were ever in the front ranks to defend the crown against the nation. it must be confessed, however, that fanatical loyalty loses most of the romance with which genius and poetry have so often hallowed the sentiment, when the "legitimate" prince for whom the sword is drawn is not only an alien in tongue and blood, but filled with undisguised hatred for the land he claims to rule. viglius van aytta van zuichem was a learned frisian, born, according to some writers, of "boors' degree, but having no inclination for boorish work". according to other authorities, which the president himself favored, he was of noble origin; but, whatever his race, it is certain that whether gentle or simple, it derived its first and only historical illustration from his remarkable talents and acquirements. these in early youth were so great as to acquire the commendation of erasmus. he had studied in louvain, paris, and padua, had refused the tutorship philip when that prince was still a child, and had afterwards filled a professorship at ingolstadt. after rejecting several offers of promotion from the emperor, he had at last accepted in a seat in the council of mechlin, of which body he had become president in . he had been one of the peace commissioners to france in , and was now president of the privy council, a member of the state council, and of the inner and secret committee of that board, called the consults. much odium was attached to his name for his share in the composition of the famous edict of . the rough draught was usually attributed to his pen, but he complained bitterly, in letters written at this time, of injustice done him in this respect, and maintained that he had endeavored, without success, to induce the emperor to mitigate the severity of the edict. one does not feel very strongly inclined to accept his excuses, however, when his general opinions on the subject of religion are remembered. he was most bigoted in precept and practice. religious liberty he regarded as the most detestable and baleful of doctrines; heresy he denounced as the most unpardonable of crimes. from no man's mouth flowed more bitter or more elegant commonplaces than from that of the learned president against those blackest of malefactors, the men who claimed within their own walls the right to worship god according to their own consciences. for a common person, not learned in law or divinity, to enter into his closet, to shut the door, and to pray to him who seeth in secret, was, in his opinion, to open wide the gate of destruction for all the land, and to bring in the father of evil at once to fly away with the whole population, body and soul. "if every man," said he to hopper, "is to believe what he likes in his own house, we shall have hearth gods and tutelar divinities, again, the country will swarm with a thousand errors and sects, and very few there will be, i fear, who will allow themselves to be enclosed in the sheepfold of christ. i have ever considered this opinion," continued the president, "the most pernicious of all. they who hold it have a contempt for all religion, and are neither more nor less than atheists. this vague, fireside liberty should be by every possible means extirpated; therefore did christ institute shepherds to drive his wandering sheep back into the fold of the true church; thus only can we guard the lambs against the ravening wolves, and prevent their being carried away from the flock of christ to the flock of belial. liberty of religion, or of conscience, as they call it, ought never to be tolerated." this was the cant with which viglius was ever ready to feed not only his faithful hopper, but all the world beside. the president was naturally anxious that the fold of christ should be entrusted to none but regular shepherds, for he looked forward to taking one of the most lucrative crooks into his own hand, when he should retire from his secular career. it is now necessary to say a few introductory words concerning the man who, from this time forth, begins to rise upon the history of his country with daily increasing grandeur and influence. william of nassau, prince of orange, although still young in years, is already the central personage about whom the events and the characters of the epoch most naturally group themselves; destined as he is to become more and more with each succeeding year the vivifying source of light, strength, and national life to a whole people. the nassau family first emerges into distinct existence in the middle of the eleventh century. it divides itself almost as soon as known into two great branches. the elder remained in germany, ascended the imperial throne in the thirteenth century in the person of adolph of nassau and gave to the country many electors, bishops, and generals. the younger and more illustrious branch retained the modest property and petty sovereignty of nassau dillenbourg, but at the same time transplanted itself to the netherlands, where it attained at an early period to great power and large possessions. the ancestors of william, as dukes of gueldres, had begun to exercise sovereignty in the provinces four centuries before the advent of the house of burgundy. that overshadowing family afterwards numbered the netherland nassaus among its most stanch and powerful adherents. engelbert the second was distinguished in the turbulent councils and in the battle-fields of charles the bold, and was afterwards the unwavering supporter of maximilian, in court and camp. dying childless, he was succeeded by his brother john, whose two sons, henry and william, of nassau, divided the great inheritance after their father's death, william succeeded to the german estates, became a convert to protestantism, and introduced the reformation into his dominions. henry, the eldest son, received the family possessions and titles in luxembourg, brabant, flanders and holland, and distinguished himself as much as his uncle engelbert, in the service of the burgundo-austrian house. the confidential friend of charles the fifth, whose governor he had been in that emperor's boyhood, he was ever his most efficient and reliable adherent. it was he whose influence placed the imperial crown upon the head of charles. in he espoused claudia de chalons, sister of prince philibert of orange, "in order," as he wrote to his father, "to be obedient to his imperial majesty, to please the king of france, and more particularly for the sake of his own honor and profit." his son rene de nassau-chalons succeeded philibert. the little principality of orange, so pleasantly situated between provence and dauphiny, but in such dangerous proximity to the seat of the "babylonian captivity" of the popes at avignon, thus passed to the family of nassau. the title was of high antiquity. already in the reign of charlemagne, guillaume au court-nez, or "william with the short nose," had defended the little--town of orange against the assaults of the saracens. the interest and authority acquired in the demesnes thus preserved by his valor became extensive, and in process of time hereditary in his race. the principality became an absolute and free sovereignty, and had already descended, in defiance of the salic law, through the three distinct families of orange, baux, and chalons. in , prince rene died at the emperor's feet in the trenches of saint dizier. having no legitimate children, he left all his titles and estates to his cousin-german, william of nassau, son of his father's brother william, who thus at the age of eleven years became william the ninth of orange. for this child, whom the future was to summon to such high destinies and such heroic sacrifices, the past and present seemed to have gathered riches and power together from many sources. he was the descendant of the othos, the engelberts, and the henries, of the netherlands, the representative of the philiberts and the renes of france; the chief of a house, humbler in resources and position in germany, but still of high rank, and which had already done good service to humanity by being among the first to embrace the great principles of the reformation. his father, younger brother of the emperor's friend henry, was called william the rich. he was, however, only rich in children. of these he had five sons and seven daughters by his wife juliana of stolberg. she was a person of most exemplary character and unaffected piety. she instilled into the minds of all her children the elements of that devotional sentiment which was her own striking characteristic, and it was destined that the seed sown early should increase to an abundant harvest. nothing can be more tender or more touching than the letters which still exist from her hand, written to her illustrious sons in hours of anxiety or anguish, and to the last, recommending to them with as much earnest simplicity as if they were still little children at her knee, to rely always in the midst of the trials and dangers which were to beset their paths through life, upon the great hand of god. among the mothers of great men, juliana of stolberg deserves a foremost place, and it is no slight eulogy that she was worthy to have been the mother of william of orange and of lewis, adolphus, henry, and john of nassau. at the age of eleven years, william having thus unexpectedly succeeded to such great possessions, was sent from his father's roof to be educated in brussels. no destiny seemed to lie before the young prince but an education at the emperor's court, to be followed by military adventures, embassies, viceroyalties, and a life of luxury and magnificence. at a very early age he came, accordingly, as a page into the emperor's family. charles recognized, with his customary quickness, the remarkable character of the boy. at fifteen, william was the intimate, almost confidential friend of the emperor, who prided himself, above all other gifts, on his power of reading and of using men. the youth was so constant an attendant upon his imperial chief that even when interviews with the highest personages, and upon the gravest affairs, were taking place, charles would never suffer him to be considered superfluous or intrusive. there seemed to be no secrets which the emperor held too high for the comprehension or discretion of his page. his perceptive and reflective faculties, naturally of remarkable keenness and depth, thus acquired a precocious and extraordinary development. he was brought up behind the curtain of that great stage where the world's dramas were daily enacted. the machinery and the masks which produced the grand delusions of history had no deceptions for him. carefully to observe men's actions, and silently to ponder upon their motives, was the favorite occupation of the prince during his apprenticeship at court. as he advanced to man's estate, he was selected by the emperor for the highest duties. charles, whose only merit, so far as the provinces were concerned, was in having been born in ghent, and that by an ignoble accident, was glad to employ this representative of so many great netherland houses, in the defence of the land. before the prince was twenty-one he was appointed general-in-chief of the army on the french frontier, in the absence of the duke of savoy. the post was coveted by many most distinguished soldiers: the counts of buren, bossu, lalaing, aremberg, meghem, and particularly by count egmont; yet charles showed his extraordinary confidence in the prince of orange, by selecting him for the station, although he had hardly reached maturity, and was moreover absent in france. the young prince acquitted himself of his high command in a manner which justified his appointment. it was the prince's shoulder upon which the emperor leaned at the abdication; the prince's hand which bore the imperial insignia of the discrowned monarch to ferdinand, at augsburg. with these duties his relations with charles were ended, and those with philip begun. he was with the army during the hostilities which were soon after resumed in picardy; he was the secret negotiator of the preliminary arrangement with france, soon afterwards confirmed by the triumphant treaty of april, . he had conducted these initiatory conferences with the constable montmorency and marshal de saint andre with great sagacity, although hardly a man in years, and by so doing he had laid philip under deep obligations. the king was so inexpressibly anxious for peace that he would have been capable of conducting a treaty upon almost any terms. he assured the prince that "the greatest service he could render him in this world was to make peace, and that he desired to have it at any price what ever, so eager was he to return to spain." to the envoy suriano, philip had held the same language. "oh, ambassador," said he, "i wish peace on any terms, and if the king of france had not sued for it, i would have begged for it myself." with such impatience on the part of the sovereign, it certainly manifested diplomatic abilities of a high character in the prince, that the treaty negotiated by him amounted to a capitulation by france. he was one of the hostages selected by henry for the due execution of the treaty, and while in france made that remarkable discovery which was to color his life. while hunting with the king in the forest of vincennes, the prince and henry found themselves alone together, and separated from the rest of the company. the french monarch's mind was full of the great scheme which had just secretly been formed by philip and himself, to extirpate protestantism by a general extirpation of protestants. philip had been most anxious to conclude the public treaty with france, that he might be the sooner able to negotiate that secret convention by which he and his most christian majesty were solemnly to bind themselves to massacre all the converts to the new religion in france and the netherlands. this conspiracy of the two kings against their subjects was the matter nearest the hearts of both. the duke of alva, a fellow hostage with william of orange, was the plenipotentiary to conduct this more important arrangement. the french monarch, somewhat imprudently imagining that the prince was also a party to the plot, opened the whole subject to him without reserve. he complained of the constantly increasing numbers of sectaries in his kingdom, and protested that his conscience would never be easy, nor his state secure until his realm should be delivered of "that accursed vermin." a civil revolution, under pretext of a religious reformation, was his constant apprehension, particularly since so many notable personages in the realm, and even princes of the blood, were already tainted with heresy. nevertheless, with the favor of heaven, and the assistance of his son and brother philip, he hoped soon to be master of the rebels. the king then proceeded, with cynical minuteness, to lay before his discreet companion the particulars of the royal plot, and the manner in which all heretics, whether high or humble, were to be discovered and massacred at the most convenient season. for the furtherance of the scheme in the netherlands, it was understood that the spanish regiments would be exceedingly efficient. the prince, although horror-struck and indignant at the royal revelations, held his peace, and kept his countenance. the king was not aware that, in opening this delicate negotiation to alva's colleague and philip's plenipotentiary, he had given a warning of inestimable value to the man who had been born to resist the machinations of philip and of alva. william of orange earned the surname of "the silent," from the manner in which he received these communications of henry without revealing to the monarch, by word or look, the enormous blunder which he had committed. his purpose was fixed from that hour. a few days afterwards he obtained permission to visit the netherlands, where he took measures to excite, with all his influence, the strongest and most general opposition to the continued presence of the spanish troops, of which forces, touch against his will, he had been, in conjunction with egmont, appointed chief. he already felt, in his own language, that "an inquisition for the netherlands had been, resolved upon more cruel than that of spain; since it would need but to look askance at an image to be cast into the flames." although having as yet no spark of religious sympathy for the reformers, he could not, he said, "but feel compassion for so many virtuous men and women thus devoted to massacre," and he determined to save them if he could!' at the departure of philip he had received instructions, both patent and secret, for his guidance as stadholder of holland, friesland, and utrecht. he was ordered "most expressly to correct and extirpate the sects reprobated by our holy mother church; to execute the edicts of his imperial majesty, renewed by the king, with absolute rigor. he was to see that the judges carried out the edicts, without infraction, alteration, or moderation, since they were there to enforce, not to make or to discuss the law." in his secret instructions he was informed that the execution of the edicts was to be with all rigor, and without any respect of persons. he was also reminded that, whereas some persons had imagined the severity of the law "to be only intended against anabaptists, on the contrary, the edicts were to be enforced on lutherans and all other sectaries without distinction." moreover, in one of his last interviews with philip, the king had given him the names of several "excellent persons suspected of the new religion," and had commanded him to have them put to death. this, however, he not only omitted to do, but on the contrary gave them warning, so that they might effect their escape, "thinking it more necessary to obey god than man." william of orange, at the departure of the king for spain, was in his twenty-seventh year. he was a widower; his first wife, anne of egmont, having died in , after seven years of wedlock. this lady, to whom he had been united when they were both eighteen years of age, was the daughter of the celebrated general, count de buren, and the greatest heiress in the netherlands. william had thus been faithful to the family traditions, and had increased his possessions by a wealthy alliance. he had two children, philip and mary. the marriage had been more amicable than princely marriages arranged for convenience often prove. the letters of the prince to his wife indicate tenderness and contentment. at the same time he was accused, at a later period, of "having murdered her with a dagger." the ridiculous tale was not even credited by those who reported it, but it is worth mentioning, as a proof that no calumny was too senseless to be invented concerning the man whose character was from that hour forth to be the mark of slander, and whose whole life was to be its signal, although often unavailing, refutation. yet we are not to regard william of orange, thus on the threshold of his great career, by the light diffused from a somewhat later period. in no historical character more remarkably than in his is the law of constant development and progress illustrated. at twenty-six he is not the "pater patriae," the great man struggling upward and onward against a host of enemies and obstacles almost beyond human strength, and along the dark and dangerous path leading through conflict, privation, and ceaseless labor to no repose but death. on the contrary, his foot was hardly on the first step of that difficult ascent which was to rise before him all his lifetime. he was still among the primrose paths. he was rich, powerful, of sovereign rank. he had only the germs within him of what was thereafter to expand into moral and intellectual greatness. he had small sympathy for the religious reformation, of which he was to be one of the most distinguished champions. he was a catholic, nominally, and in outward observance. with doctrines he troubled himself but little. he had given orders to enforce conformity to the ancient church, not with bloodshed, yet with comparative strictness, in his principality of orange. beyond the compliance with rites and forms, thought indispensable in those days to a personage of such high degree, he did not occupy himself with theology. he was a catholic, as egmont and horn, berlaymont and mansfeld, montigny and even brederode, were catholic. it was only tanners, dyers and apostate priests who were protestants at that day in the netherlands. his determination to protect a multitude of his harmless inferiors from horrible deaths did not proceed from sympathy with their religious sentiments, but merely from a generous and manly detestation of murder. he carefully averted his mind from sacred matters. if indeed the seed implanted by his pious parents were really the germ of his future conversion to protestantism, it must be confessed that it lay dormant a long time. but his mind was in other pursuits. he was disposed for an easy, joyous, luxurious, princely life. banquets, masquerades, tournaments, the chase, interspersed with the routine of official duties, civil and military, seemed likely to fill out his life. his hospitality, like his fortune, was almost regal. while the king and the foreign envoys were still in the netherlands, his house, the splendid nassau palace of brussels, was ever open. he entertained for the monarch, who was, or who imagined himself to be, too poor to discharge his own duties in this respect, but he entertained at his own expense. this splendid household was still continued. twenty-four noblemen and eighteen pages of gentle birth officiated regularly in his family. his establishment was on so extensive a scale that upon one day twenty-eight master cooks were dismissed, for the purpose of diminishing the family expenses, and there was hardly a princely house in germany which did not send cooks to learn their business in so magnificent a kitchen. the reputation of his table remained undiminished for years. we find at a later period, that philip, in the course of one of the nominal reconciliations which took place several times between the monarch and william of orange, wrote that, his head cook being dead, he begged the prince to "make him a present of his chief cook, master herman, who was understood to be very skilful." in this hospitable mansion, the feasting continued night and day. from early morning till noon, the breakfast-tables were spread with wines and luxurious viands in constant succession, to all comers and at every moment.--the dinner and supper were daily banquets for a multitude of guests. the highest nobles were not those alone who were entertained. men of lower degree were welcomed with a charming hospitality which made them feel themselves at their ease. contemporaries of all parties unite in eulogizing the winning address and gentle manners of the prince. "never," says a most bitter catholic historian, "did an arrogant or indiscreet word fall from his lips. he, upon no occasion, manifested anger to his servants, however much they might be in fault, but contented himself with admonishing them graciously, without menace or insult. he had a gentle and agreeable tongue, with which he could turn all the gentlemen at court any way he liked. he was beloved and honored by the whole community." his manner was graceful, familiar, caressing, and yet dignified. he had the good breeding which comes from the heart, refined into an inexpressible charm from his constant intercourse, almost from his cradle, with mankind of all ranks. it may be supposed that this train of living was attended with expense. moreover, he had various other establishments in town and country; besides his almost royal residence in brussels. he was ardently fond of the chase, particularly of the knightly sport of falconry. in the country he "consoled himself by taking every day a heron in the clouds." his falconers alone cost him annually fifteen hundred florins, after he had reduced their expenses to the lowest possible point. he was much in debt, even at this early period and with his princely fortune. "we come of a race," he wrote carelessly to his brother louis, "who are somewhat bad managers in our young days, but when we grow older, we do better, like our late father: 'sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper et in secula seculorum'. my greatest difficulty," he adds, "as usual, is on account of the falconers." his debts already amounted, according to granvelle's statement, to , or , florins. he had embarrassed himself, not only through his splendid extravagance, by which all the world about him were made to partake of his wealth, but by accepting the high offices to which he had been appointed. when general-in-chief on the frontier, his salary was three hundred florins monthly; "not enough," as he said, "to pay the servants in his tent," his necessary expenses being twenty-five hundred florins, as appears by a letter to his wife. his embassy to carry the crown to ferdinand, and his subsequent residence as a hostage for the treaty in paris, were also very onerous, and he received no salary; according to the economical system in this respect pursued by charles and philip. in these two embassies or missions alone, together with the entertainments offered by him to the court and to foreigners, after the peace at brussels, the prince spent, according to his own estimate, , , florins. he was, however, although deeply, not desperately involved, and had already taken active measures to regulate and reduce his establishment. his revenues were vast, both in his own right and in that of his deceased wife. he had large claims upon the royal treasury for service and expenditure. he had besides ample sums to receive from the ransoms of the prisoners of st. quentin and gravelines, having served in both campaigns. the amount to be received by individuals from this source may be estimated from the fact that count horn, by no means one of the most favored in the victorious armies, had received from leonor d'orleans, due de loggieville, a ransom of eighty thousand crowns. the sum due, if payment were enforced, from the prisoners assigned to egmont, orange, and others, must have been very large. granvelle estimated the whole amount at two millions; adding, characteristically, "that this kind of speculation was a practice" which our good old fathers, lovers of virtue, would not have found laudable. in this the churchman was right, but he might have added that the "lovers of virtue" would have found it as little "laudable" for ecclesiastics to dispose of the sacred offices in their gift, for carpets, tapestry, and annual payments of certain percentages upon the cure of souls. if the profits respectively gained by military and clerical speculators in that day should be compared, the disadvantage would hardly be found to lie with those of the long robe. such, then, at the beginning of , was william of orange; a generous, stately, magnificent, powerful grandee. as a military commander, he had acquitted himself very creditably of highly important functions at an early age. nevertheless it was the opinion of many persons, that he was of a timid temperament. he was even accused of having manifested an unseemly panic at philippeville, and of having only been restrained by the expostulations of his officers, from abandoning both that fortress and charlemont to admiral coligny, who had made his appearance in the neighborhood, merely at the head of a reconnoitring party. if the story were true, it would be chiefly important as indicating that the prince of orange was one of the many historical characters, originally of an excitable and even timorous physical organization, whom moral courage and a strong will have afterwards converted into dauntless heroes. certain it is that he was destined to confront open danger in every form, that his path was to lead through perpetual ambush, yet that his cheerful confidence and tranquil courage were to become not only unquestionable but proverbial. it may be safely asserted, however, that the story was an invention to be classed with those fictions which made him the murderer of his first wife, a common conspirator against philip's crown and person, and a crafty malefactor in general, without a single virtue. it must be remembered that even the terrible alva, who lived in harness almost from the cradle to the grave, was, so late as at this period, censured for timidity, and had been accused in youth of flat cowardice. he despised the insinuation, which for him had no meaning. there is no doubt too that caution was a predominant characteristic of the prince. it was one of the chief sources of his greatness. at that period, perhaps at any period, he would have been incapable of such brilliant and dashing exploits as had made the name of egmont so famous. it had even become a proverb, "the counsel of orange, the execution of egmont," yet we shall have occasion to see how far this physical promptness which had been so felicitous upon the battle-field was likely to avail the hero of st. quentin in the great political combat which was approaching. as to the talents of the prince, there was no difference of opinion. his enemies never contested the subtlety and breadth of his intellect, his adroitness and capacity in conducting state affairs, his knowledge of human nature, and the profoundness of his views. in many respects it must be confessed that his surname of the silent, like many similar appellations, was a misnomer. william of orange was neither "silent" nor "taciturn," yet these are the epithets which will be forever associated with the name of a man who, in private, was the most affable, cheerful, and delightful of companions, and who on a thousand great public occasions was to prove himself, both by pen and by speech, the most eloquent man of his age. his mental accomplishments were considerable: he had studied history with attention, and he spoke and wrote with facility latin, french, german, flemish, and spanish. the man, however, in whose hands the administration of the netherlands was in reality placed, was anthony perrenot, then bishop of arras, soon to be known by the more celebrated title of cardinal granvelle. he was the chief of the consults, or secret council of three, by whose deliberations the duchess regent was to be governed. his father, nicholas perrenot, of an obscure family in burgundy, had been long the favorite minister and man of business to the emperor charles. anthony, the eldest of thirteen children, was born in . he was early distinguished for his talents. he studied at dole, padua, paris, and louvain. at, the age of twenty he spoke seven languages with perfect facility, while his acquaintance with civil and ecclesiastical laws was considered prodigious. at the age of twenty-three he became a canon of liege cathedral. the necessary eight quarters of gentility produced upon that occasion have accordingly been displayed by his panegyrists in triumphant refutation of that theory which gave him a blacksmith for his grandfather. at the same period, although he had not reached the requisite age, the rich bishopric of arras had already been prepared for him by his father's care. three years afterwards, in , he distinguished himself by a most learned and brilliant harangue before the council of trent, by which display he so much charmed the emperor, that he created him councillor of state. a few years afterwards he rendered the unscrupulous charles still more valuable proofs of devotion and dexterity by the part he played in the memorable imprisonment of the landgrave of hesse and the saxon dukes. he was thereafter constantly employed in embassies and other offices of trust and profit. there was no doubt as to his profound and varied learning, nor as to his natural quickness and dexterity. he was ready witted, smooth and fluent of tongue, fertile in expedients, courageous, resolute. he thoroughly understood the art of managing men, particularly his superiors. he knew how to govern under the appearance of obeying. he possessed exquisite tact in appreciating the characters of those far above him in rank and beneath him in intellect. he could accommodate himself with great readiness to the idiosyncrasies of sovereigns. he was a chameleon to the hand which fed him. in his intercourse with the king, he colored himself, as it were, with the king's character. he was not himself, but philip; not the sullen, hesitating, confused philip, however, but philip endowed with eloquence, readiness, facility. the king ever found himself anticipated with the most delicate obsequiousness, beheld his struggling ideas change into winged words without ceasing to be his own. no flattery could be more adroit. the bishop accommodated himself to the king's epistolary habits. the silver-tongued and ready debater substituted protocols for conversation, in deference to a monarch who could not speak. he corresponded with philip, with margaret of parma, with every one. he wrote folios to the duchess when they were in the same palace. he would write letters forty pages long to the king, and send off another courier on the same day with two or three additional despatches of identical date. such prolixity enchanted the king, whose greediness for business epistles was insatiable. the painstaking monarch toiled, pen in hand, after his wonderful minister in vain. philip was only fit to be the bishop's clerk; yet he imagined himself to be the directing and governing power. he scrawled apostilles in the margins to prove that he had read with attention, and persuaded himself that he suggested when he scarcely even comprehended. the bishop gave advice and issued instructions when he seemed to be only receiving them. he was the substance while he affected to be the shadow. these tactics were comparatively easy and likely to be triumphant, so long as he had only to deal with inferior intellects like those of philip and margaret. when he should be matched against political genius and lofty character combined, it was possible that his resources might not prove so all-sufficient. his political principles were sharply defined in reality, but smoothed over by a conventional and decorous benevolence of language, which deceived vulgar minds. he was a strict absolutist. his deference to arbitrary power was profound and slavish. god and "the master," as he always called philip, he professed to serve with equal humility. "it seems to me," said he, in a letter of this epoch, "that i shall never be able to fulfil the obligation of slave which i owe to your majesty, to whom i am bound by so firm a chain;--at any rate, i shall never fail to struggle for that end with sincerity." as a matter of course, he was a firm opponent of the national rights of the netherlands, however artfully he disguised the sharp sword of violent absolutism under a garland of flourishing phraseology. he had strenuously warned philip against assembling the states-general before his departure for the sake of asking them for supplies. he earnestly deprecated allowing the constitutional authorities any control over the expenditures of the government, and averred that this practice under the regent mary had been the cause of endless trouble. it may easily be supposed that other rights were as little to his taste as the claim to vote the subsidies, a privilege which was in reality indisputable. men who stood forth in defence of the provincial constitutions were, in his opinion, mere demagogues and hypocrites; their only motive being to curry favor with the populace. yet these charters were, after all, sufficiently limited. the natural rights of man were topics which had never been broached. man had only natural wrongs. none ventured to doubt that sovereignty was heaven-born, anointed of god. the rights of the netherlands were special, not general; plural, not singular; liberties, not liberty; "privileges," not maxims. they were practical, not theoretical; historical, not philosophical. still, such as they were, they were facts, acquisitions. they had been purchased by the blood and toil of brave ancestors; they amounted--however open to criticism upon broad humanitarian grounds, of which few at that day had ever dreamed--to a solid, substantial dyke against the arbitrary power which was ever chafing and fretting to destroy its barriers. no men were more subtle or more diligent in corroding the foundation of these bulwarks than the disciples of granvelle. yet one would have thought it possible to tolerate an amount of practical freedom so different from the wild, social speculations which in later days, have made both tyrants and reasonable lovers of our race tremble with apprehension. the netherlanders claimed, mainly, the right to vote the money which was demanded in such enormous profusion from their painfully-acquired wealth; they were also unwilling to be burned alive if they objected to transubstantiation. granvelle was most distinctly of an opposite opinion upon both topics. he strenuously deprecated the interference of the states with the subsidies, and it was by his advice that the remorseless edict of , the emperor's ordinance of blood and fire, was re-enacted, as the very first measure of philip's reign. such were his sentiments as to national and popular rights by representation. for the people itself --"that vile and mischievous animal called the people"--as he expressed it, he entertained a cheerful contempt. his aptitude for managing men was very great; his capacity for affairs incontestable; but it must be always understood as the capacity for the affairs of absolutism. he was a clever, scheming politician, an adroit manager; it remained to be seen whether he had a claim to the character of a statesman. his industry was enormous. he could write fifty letters a day with his own hand. he could dictate to half a dozen amanuenses at once, on as many different subjects, in as many different languages, and send them all away exhausted. he was already rich. his income from his see and other livings was estimated, in , at ten thousand dollars--[ approximation. the decimal point more places to the right would in not be out of line. d.w.]--; his property in ready money, "furniture, tapestry, and the like," at two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. when it is considered that, as compared with our times, these sums represent a revenue of a hundred thousand, and a capital of two millions and a half in addition, it may be safely asserted that the prelate had at least made a good beginning. besides his regular income, moreover, he had handsome receipts from that simony which was reduced to a system, and which gave him a liberal profit, generally in the shape of an annuity, upon every benefice which he conferred. he was, however, by no means satisfied. his appetite was as boundless as the sea; he was still a shameless mendicant of pecuniary favors and lucrative offices. already, in , the emperor had roundly rebuked his greediness. "as to what you say of getting no 'merced' nor 'ayuda de costa,'" said he, "'tis merced and ayuda de costa quite sufficient, when one has fat benefices, pensions, and salaries, with which a man might manage to support himself." the bishop, however, was not easily abashed, and he was at the epoch which now occupies us, earnestly and successfully soliciting from philip the lucrative abbey of saint armand. not that he would have accepted this preferment, "could the abbey have been annexed to any of the new bishoprics;" on the contrary, he assured the king that "to carry out so holy a work as the erection of those new sees, he would willingly have contributed even out of his own miserable pittance." it not being considered expedient to confiscate the abbey to any particular bishop, philip accordingly presented it to the prelate of arras, together with a handsome sum of money in the shape of an "ayuda de costa" beside. the thrifty bishop, who foresaw the advent of troublous times in the netherlands, however, took care in the letters by which he sent his thanks, to instruct the king to secure the money upon crown property in arragon, naples, and sicily, as matters in the provinces were beginning to look very precarious. such, at the commencement of the duchess margaret's administration, were the characters and the previous histories of the persons into whose hands the netherlands were entrusted. none of them have been prejudged. we have contented ourselves with stating the facts with regard to all, up to the period at which we have arrived. their characters have been sketched, not according to subsequent developments, but as they appeared at the opening of this important epoch. the aspect of the country and its inhabitants offered many sharp contrasts, and revealed many sources of future trouble. the aristocracy of the netherlands was excessively extravagant, dissipated, and already considerably embarrassed in circumstances. it had been the policy of the emperor and of philip to confer high offices, civil, military, and diplomatic, upon the leading nobles, by which enormous expenses were entailed upon them, without any corresponding salaries. the case of orange has been already alluded to, and there were many other nobles less able to afford the expense, who had been indulged with these ruinous honors. during the war, there had been, however, many chances of bettering broken fortunes. victory brought immense prizes to the leading officers. the ransoms of so many illustrious prisoners as had graced the triumphs of saint quentin and gravelines had been extremely profitable. these sources of wealth had now been cut off; yet, on the departure of the king from the netherlands, the luxury increased instead of diminishing, "instead of one court," said a contemporary, "you would have said that there were fifty." nothing could be more sumptuous than the modes of life in brussels. the household of orange has been already painted. that of egmont was almost as magnificent. a rivalry in hospitality and in display began among the highest nobles, and extended to those less able to maintain themselves in the contest. during the war there had been the valiant emulation of the battlefield; gentlemen had vied with each other how best to illustrate an ancient name with deeds of desperate valor, to repair the fortunes of a ruined house with the spoils of war. they now sought to surpass each other in splendid extravagance. it was an eager competition who should build the stateliest palaces, have the greatest number of noble pages and gentlemen in waiting, the most gorgeous liveries, the most hospitable tables, the most scientific cooks. there was, also, much depravity as well as extravagance. the morals of high society were loose. gaming was practised to a frightful extent. drunkenness was a prevailing characteristic of the higher classes. even the prince of orange himself, at this period, although never addicted to habitual excess, was extremely convivial in his tastes, tolerating scenes and companions, not likely at a later day to find much favor in his sight. "we kept saint martin's joyously," he wrote, at about this period, to his brother, "and in the most jovial company. brederode was one day in such a state that i thought he would certainly die, but he has now got over it." count brederode, soon afterwards to become so conspicuous in the early scenes of the revolt, was, in truth, most notorious for his performances in these banqueting scenes. he appeared to have vowed as uncompromising hostility to cold water as to the inquisition, and always denounced both with the same fierce and ludicrous vehemence. their constant connection with germany at that period did not improve the sobriety of the netherlands' nobles. the aristocracy of that country, as is well known, were most "potent at potting." "when the german finds himself sober," said the bitter badovaro, "he believes himself to be ill." gladly, since the peace, they had welcomed the opportunities afforded for many a deep carouse with their netherlands cousins. the approaching marriage of the prince of orange with the saxon princess--an episode which will soon engage our attention--gave rise to tremendous orgies. count schwartzburg, the prince's brother-in-law, and one of the negotiators of the marriage, found many occasions to strengthen the bonds of harmony between the countries by indulgence of these common tastes. "i have had many princes and counts at my table," he wrote to orange, "where a good deal more was drunk than eaten. the rhinegrave's brother fell down dead after drinking too much malvoisie; but we have had him balsamed and sent home to his family." these disorders among the higher ranks were in reality so extensive as to justify the biting remark of the venetian: "the gentlemen intoxicate themselves every day," said he, "and the ladies also; but much less than the men." his remarks as to the morality, in other respects, of both sexes were equally sweeping, and not more complimentary. if these were the characteristics of the most distinguished society, it may be supposed that they were reproduced with more or less intensity throughout all the more remote but concentric circles of life, as far as the seductive splendor of the court could radiate. the lesser nobles emulated the grandees, and vied with each other in splendid establishments, banquets, masquerades, and equipages. the natural consequences of such extravagance followed. their estates were mortgaged, deeply and more deeply; then, after a few years, sold to the merchants, or rich advocates and other gentlemen of the robe, to whom they had been pledged. the more closely ruin stared the victims in the face, the more heedlessly did they plunge into excesses. "such were the circumstances," moralizes a catholic writer, "to which, at an earlier period, the affairs of catiline, cethegus, lentulus, and others of that faction had been reduced, when they undertook to overthrow the roman republic." many of the nobles being thus embarrassed, and some even desperate, in their condition, it was thought that they were desirous of creating disturbances in the commonwealth, that the payment of just debts might be avoided, that their mortgaged lands might be wrested by main force from the low-born individuals who had become possessed of them, that, in particular, the rich abbey lands held by idle priests might be appropriated to the use of impoverished gentlemen who could turn them to so much better account. it is quite probable that interested motives such as these were not entirely inactive among a comparatively small class of gentlemen. the religious reformation in every land of europe derived a portion of its strength from the opportunity it afforded to potentates and great nobles for helping themselves to church property. no doubt many netherlanders thought that their fortunes might be improved at the expense of the monks, and for the benefit of religion. even without apostasy from the mother church, they looked with longing eyes on the wealth of her favored and indolent children. they thought that the king would do well to carve a round number of handsome military commanderies out of the abbey lands, whose possessors should be bound to military service after the ancient manner of fiefs, so that a splendid cavalry, headed by the gentlemen of the country, should be ever ready to mount and ride at the royal pleasure, in place of a horde of lazy epicureans, telling beads and indulging themselves in luxurious vice. such views were entertained; such language often held. these circumstances and sentiments had their influence among the causes which produced the great revolt now impending. care should be taken, however, not to exaggerate that influence. it is a prodigious mistake to refer this great historical event to sources so insufficient as the ambition of a few great nobles, and the embarrassments of a larger number of needy gentlemen. the netherlands revolt was not an aristocratic, but a popular, although certainly not a democratic movement. it was a great episode--the longest, the darkest, the bloodiest, the most important episode in the history of the religious reformation in europe. the nobles so conspicuous upon the surface at the outbreak, only drifted before a storm which they neither caused nor controlled. even the most powerful and the most sagacious were tossed to and fro by the surge of great events, which, as they rolled more and more tumultuously around them, seemed to become both irresistible and unfathomable. for the state of the people was very different from the condition of the aristocracy. the period of martyrdom had lasted long and was to last loner; but there were symptoms that it might one day be succeeded by a more active stage of popular disease. the tumults of the netherlands were long in ripening; when the final outbreak came it would have been more philosophical to enquire, not why it had occurred, but how it could have been so long postponed. during the reign of charles, the sixteenth century had been advancing steadily in strength as the once omnipotent emperor lapsed into decrepitude. that extraordinary century had not dawned upon the earth only to increase the strength of absolutism and superstition. the new world had not been discovered, the ancient world reconquered, the printing-press perfected, only that the inquisition might reign undisturbed over the fairest portions of the earth, and chartered hypocrisy fatten upon its richest lands. it was impossible that the most energetic and quick-witted people of europe should not feel sympathy with the great effort made by christendom to shake off the incubus which had so long paralyzed her hands and brain. in the netherlands, where the attachment to rome had never been intense, where in the old times, the bishops of utrecht had been rather ghibelline than guelph, where all the earlier sects of dissenters--waldenses, lollards, hussites--had found numerous converts and thousands of martyrs, it was inevitable that there should be a response from the popular heart to the deeper agitation which now reached to the very core of christendom. in those provinces, so industrious and energetic, the disgust was likely to be most easily awakened for a system under which so many friars battened in luxury upon the toils of others, contributing nothing to the taxation, nor to the military defence of the country, exercising no productive avocation, except their trade in indulgences, and squandering in taverns and brothels the annual sums derived from their traffic in licences to commit murder, incest, and every other crime known to humanity. the people were numerous, industrious, accustomed for centuries to a state of comparative civil freedom, and to a lively foreign trade, by which their minds were saved from the stagnation of bigotry. it was natural that they should begin to generalize, and to pass from the concrete images presented them in the flemish monasteries to the abstract character of rome itself. the flemish, above all their other qualities, were a commercial nation. commerce was the mother of their freedom, so far as they had acquired it, in civil matters. it was struggling to give birth to a larger liberty, to freedom of conscience. the provinces were situated in the very heart of europe. the blood of a world-wide traffic was daily coursing through the thousand arteries of that water-in-woven territory. there was a mutual exchange between the netherlands and all the world; and ideas were as liberally interchanged as goods. truth was imported as freely as less precious merchandise. the psalms of marot were as current as the drugs of molucca or the diamonds of borneo. the prohibitory measures of a despotic government could not annihilate this intellectual trade, nor could bigotry devise an effective quarantine to exclude the religious pest which lurked in every bale of merchandise, and was wafted on every breeze from east and west. the edicts of the emperor had been endured, but not accepted. the horrible persecution under which so many thousands had sunk had produced its inevitable result. fertilized by all this innocent blood, the soil of the netherlands became as a watered garden, in which liberty, civil and religious, was to flourish perennially. the scaffold had its daily victims, but did not make a single convert. the statistics of these crimes will perhaps never be accurately adjusted, nor will it be ascertained whether the famous estimate of grotius was an exaggerated or an inadequate calculation. those who love horrible details may find ample material. the chronicles contain the lists of these obscure martyrs; but their names, hardly pronounced in their life-time, sound barbarously in our ears, and will never ring through the trumpet of fame. yet they were men who dared and suffered as much as men can dare and suffer in this world, and for the noblest cause which can inspire humanity. fanatics they certainly were not, if fanaticism consists in show, without corresponding substance. for them all was terrible reality. the emperor and his edicts were realities, the axe, the stake were realities, and the heroism with which men took each other by the hand and walked into the flames, or with which women sang a song of triumph while the grave-digger was shovelling the earth upon their living faces, was a reality also. thus, the people of the netherlands were already pervaded, throughout the whole extent of the country, with the expanding spirit of religious reformation. it was inevitable that sooner or later an explosion was to arrive. they were placed between two great countries, where the new principles had already taken root. the lutheranism of germany and the calvinism of france had each its share in producing the netherland revolt, but a mistake is perhaps often made in estimating the relative proportion of these several influences. the reformation first entered the provinces, not through the augsburg, but the huguenot gate. the fiery field-preachers from the south of france first inflamed the excitable hearts of the kindred population of the south-western netherlands. the walloons were the first to rebel against and the first to reconcile themselves with papal rome, exactly as their celtic ancestors, fifteen centuries earlier, had been foremost in the revolt against imperial rome, and precipitate in their submission to her overshadowing power. the batavians, slower to be moved but more steadfast, retained the impulse which they received from the same source which was already agitating their "welsh" compatriots. there were already french preachers at valenciennes and tournay, to be followed, as we shall have occasion to see, by many others. without undervaluing the influence of the german churches, and particularly of the garrison- preaching of the german military chaplains in the netherlands, it may be safely asserted that the early reformers of the provinces were mainly huguenots in their belief: the dutch church became, accordingly, not lutheran, but calvinistic, and the founder of the commonwealth hardly ceased to be a nominal catholic before he became an adherent to the same creed. in the mean time, it is more natural to regard the great movement, psychologically speaking, as a whole, whether it revealed itself in france, germany, the netherlands, england, or scotland. the policy of governments, national character, individual interests, and other collateral circumstances, modified the result; but the great cause was the same; the source of all the movements was elemental, natural, and single. the reformation in germany had been adjourned for half a century by the augsburg religious peace, just concluded. it was held in suspense in france through the macchiavellian policy which catharine de medici had just adopted, and was for several years to prosecute, of balancing one party against the other, so as to neutralize all power but her own. the great contest was accordingly transferred to the netherlands, to be fought out for the rest of the century, while the whole of christendom were to look anxiously for the result. from the east and from the west the clouds rolled away, leaving a comparatively bright and peaceful atmosphere, only that they might concentrate themselves with portentous blackness over the devoted soil of the netherlands. in germany, the princes, not the people, had conquered rome, and to the princes, not the people, were secured the benefits of the victory--the spoils of churches, and the right to worship according to conscience. the people had the right to conform to their ruler's creed, or to depart from his land. still, as a matter of fact, many of the princes being reformers, a large mass of the population had acquired the privilege for their own generation and that of their children to practise that religion which they actually approved. this was a fact, and a more comfortable one than the necessity of choosing between what they considered wicked idolatry and the stake--the only election left to their netherland brethren. in france, the accidental splinter from montgomery's lance had deferred the huguenot massacre for a dozen years. during the period in which the queen regent was resolved to play her fast and loose policy, all the persuasions of philip and the arts of alva were powerless to induce her to carry out the scheme which henry had revealed to orange in the forest of vincennes. when the crime came at last, it was as blundering as it was bloody; at once premeditated and accidental; the isolated execution of an interregal conspiracy, existing for half a generation, yet exploding without concert; a wholesale massacre, but a piecemeal plot. the aristocracy and the masses being thus, from a variety of causes, in this agitated and dangerous condition, what were the measures of the government? the edict of had been re-enacted immediately after philip's accession to sovereignty. it is necessary that the reader should be made acquainted with some of the leading provisions of this famous document, thus laid down above all the constitutions as the organic law of the land. a few plain facts, entirely without rhetorical varnish, will prove more impressive in this case than superfluous declamation. the american will judge whether the wrongs inflicted by laud and charles upon his puritan ancestors were the severest which a people has had to undergo, and whether the dutch republic does not track its source to the same high, religious origin as that of our own commonwealth. "no one," said the edict, "shall print, write, copy, keep, conceal, sell, buy or give in churches, streets, or other places, any book or writing made by martin luther, john ecolampadius, ulrich zwinglius, martin bucer, john calvin, or other heretics reprobated by the holy church; nor break, or otherwise injure the images of the holy virgin or canonized saints.... nor in his house hold conventicles, or illegal gatherings, or be present at any such in which the adherents of the above-mentioned heretics teach, baptize, and form conspiracies against the holy church and the general welfare..... moreover, we forbid," continues the edict, in name of the sovereign, "all lay persons to converse or dispute concerning the holy scriptures, openly or secretly, especially on any doubtful or difficult matters, or to read, teach, or expound the scriptures, unless they have duly studied theology and been approved by some renowned university..... or to preach secretly, or openly, or to entertain any of the opinions of the above-mentioned heretics..... on pain, should anyone be found to have contravened any of the points above-mentioned, as perturbators of our state and of the general quiet, to be punished in the following manner." and how were they to be punished? what was the penalty inflicted upon the man or woman who owned a hymn-book, or who hazarded the opinion in private, that luther was not quite wrong in doubting the power of a monk to sell for money the license to commit murder or incest; or upon the parent, not being a roman catholic doctor of divinity, who should read christ's sermon on the mount to his children in his own parlor or shop? how were crimes like these to be visited upon the transgressor? was it by reprimand, fine, imprisonment, banishment, or by branding on the forehead, by the cropping of the ears or the slitting of nostrils, as was practised upon the puritan fathers of new england for their nonconformity? it was by a sharper chastisement than any of these methods. the puritan fathers of the dutch republic had to struggle against a darker doom. the edict went on to provide-- "that such perturbators of the general quiet are to be executed, to wit: the men with the sword and the women to be buried alive, if they do not persist in their errors; if they do persist in them, then they are to be executed with fire; all their property in both cases being confiscated to the crown." thus, the clemency of the sovereign permitted the repentant heretic to be beheaded or buried, alive, instead of being burned. the edict further provided against all misprision of heresy by making those who failed to betray the suspected liable to the same punishment as if suspected or convicted themselves: "we forbid," said the decree, "all persons to lodge, entertain, furnish with food, fire, or clothing, or otherwise to favor any one holden or notoriously suspected of being a heretic;..... and any one failing to denounce any such we ordain shall be liable to the above-mentioned punishments." the edict went on to provide, "that if any person, being not convicted of heresy or error, but greatly suspected thereof, and therefore condemned by the spiritual judge to abjure such heresy, or by the secular magistrate to make public fine and reparation, shall again become suspected or tainted with heresy--although it should not appear that he has contravened or violated any one of our abovementioned commands-- nevertheless, we do will and ordain that such person shall be considered as relapsed, and, as such, be punished with loss of life and property, without any hope of moderation or mitigation of the above-mentioned penalties." furthermore, it was decreed, that "the spiritual judges, desiring to proceed against any one for the crime of heresy, shall request any of our sovereign courts or provincial councils to appoint any one of their college, or such other adjunct as the council shall select, to preside over the proceedings to be instituted against the suspected. all who know of any person tainted with heresy are required to denounce and give them up to all judges, officers of the bishops, or others having authority on the premises, on pain of being punished according to the pleasure of the judge. likewise, all shall be obliged, who know of any place where such heretics keep themselves, to declare them to the authorities, on pain of being held as accomplices, and punished as such heretics themselves would be if apprehended." in order to secure the greatest number of arrests by a direct appeal to the most ignoble, but not the least powerful principle of human nature, it was ordained "that the informer, in case of conviction, should be entitled to one half the property of the accused, if not more than one hundred pounds flemish; if more, then ten per cent. of all such excess." treachery to one's friends was encouraged by the provision, "that if any man being present at any secret conventicle, shall afterwards come forward and betray his fellow-members of the congregation, he shall receive full pardon." in order that neither the good people of the netherlands, nor the judges and inquisitors should delude themselves with the notion that these fanatic decrees were only intended to inspire terror, not for practical execution, the sovereign continued to ordain--"to the end that the judges and officers may have no reason, under pretext that the penalties are too great and heavy and only devised to terrify delinquents, to punish them less severely than they deserve--that the culprits be really punished by the penalties above declared; forbidding all judges to alter or moderate the penalties in any manner forbidding any one, of whatsoever condition, to ask of us, or of any one having authority, to grant pardon, or to present any petition in favor of such heretics, exiles, or fugitives, on penalty of being declared forever incapable of civil and military office, and of being, arbitrarily punished besides." such were the leading provisions of this famous edict, originally promulgated in as a recapitulation and condensation of all the previous ordinances of the emperor upon religious subjects. by its style and title it was a perpetual edict, and, according to one of its clauses, was to be published forever, once in every six months, in every city and village of the netherlands. it had been promulgated at augsburg, where the emperor was holding a diet, upon the th of september. its severity had so appalled the dowager queen of hungary, that she had made a journey to augsburg expressly to procure a mitigation of some of its provisions. the principal alteration which she was able to obtain of the emperor was, however, in the phraseology only. as a concession to popular, prejudice, the words "spiritual judges" were substituted for "inquisitors" wherever that expression had occurred in the original draft. the edict had been re-enacted by the express advice of the bishop of arras, immediately on the accession of philip: the prelate knew the value of the emperor's name; he may have thought, also, that it would be difficult to increase the sharpness of the ordinances. "i advised the king," says granvelle, in a letter written a few years later, "to make no change in the placards, but to proclaim the text drawn up by the emperor, republishing the whole as the king's edict, with express insertion of the phrase, 'carolus,' etc. i recommended this lest men should calumniate his majesty as wishing to introduce novelties in the matter of religion." this edict, containing the provisions which have been laid before the reader, was now to be enforced with the utmost rigor; every official personage, from the stadholders down, having received the most stringent instructions to that effect, under philip's own hand. this was the first gift of philip and of granvelle to the netherlands; of the monarch who said of himself that he had always, "from the beginning of his government, followed the path of clemency, according to his natural disposition, so well known to all the world;" of the prelate who said of himself, "that he had ever combated the opinion that any thing could be accomplished by terror, death, and violence." during the period of the french and papal war, it has been seen that the execution of these edicts had been permitted to slacken. it was now resumed with redoubled fury. moreover, a new measure had increased the disaffection and dismay of the people, already sufficiently filled with apprehension. as an additional security for the supremacy of the ancient religion, it had been thought desirable that the number of bishops should be increased. there were but four sees in the netherlands, those of arras, cambray, tournay, and utrecht. that of utrecht was within the archiepiscopate of cologne; the other three were within that of rheims. it seemed proper that the prelates of the netherlands should owe no extraprovincial allegiance. it was likewise thought that three millions of souls required more than four spiritual superintendents. at any rate, whatever might be the interest of the flocks, it was certain that those broad and fertile pastures would sustain more than the present number of shepherds. the wealth of the religious houses in the provinces was very great. the abbey of afflighem alone had a revenue of fifty thousand florins, and there were many others scarcely inferior in wealth. but these institutions were comparatively independent both of king and pope. electing their own superiors from time to time, in nowise desirous of any change by which their ease might be disturbed and their riches endangered, the honest friars were not likely to engage in any very vigorous crusade against heresy, nor for the sake of introducing or strengthening spanish institutions, which they knew to be abominated by the people, to take the risk, of driving all their disciples into revolt and apostacy. comforting themselves with an erasmian philosophy, which they thought best suited to the times, they were as little likely as the sage of rotterdam himself would have been, to make martyrs of themselves for the sake of extirpating calvinism. the abbots and monks were, in political matters, very much under the influence of the great nobles, in whose company they occupied the benches of the upper house of the states- general. doctor francis sonnius had been sent on a mission to the pope, for the purpose of representing the necessity of an increase in the episcopal force of the netherlands. just as the king was taking his departure, the commissioner arrived, bringing with him the bull of paul the fourth, dated may , . this was afterwards confirmed by that of pius the fourth, in january of the following year. the document stated that "paul the fourth, slave of slaves, wishing to provide for the welfare of the provinces and the eternal salvation of their inhabitants, had determined to plant in that fruitful field several new bishoprics. the enemy of mankind being abroad," said the bull, "in so many forms at that particular time, and the netherlands, then under the sway of that beloved son of his holiness, philip the catholic, being compassed about with heretic and schismatic nations, it was believed that the eternal welfare of the land was in great danger. at the period of the original establishment of cathedral churches, the provinces had been sparsely peopled; they had now become filled to overflowing, so that the original ecclesiastical arrangement did not suffice. the harvest was plentiful, but the laborers were few." in consideration of these and other reasons, three archbishoprics were accordingly appointed. that of mechlin was to be principal, under which were constituted six bishoprics, those, namely, of antwerp, bois le due, rurmond, ghent, bruges and ypres. that of cambray was second, with the four subordinate dioceses of tournay, arras, saint omer and namur. the third archbishopric was that of utrecht, with the five sees of haarlem, middelburg, leeuwarden, groningen and deventer. the nomination to these important offices was granted to the king, subject to confirmation by the pope. moreover, it was ordained by the bull that "each bishop should appoint nine additional prebendaries, who were to assist him in the matter of the inquisition throughout his bishopric, two of whom were themselves to be inquisitors." to sustain these two great measures, through which philip hoped once and forever to extinguish he netherland heresy, it was considered desirable that the spanish troops still remaining in the provinces, should be kept there indefinitely. the force was not large, amounting hardly to four thousand men, but they were unscrupulous, and admirably disciplined. as the entering wedge, by which a military and ecclesiastical despotism was eventually to be forced into the very heart of the land, they were invaluable. the moral effect to be hoped from the regular presence of a spanish standing army during a time of peace in the netherlands could hardly be exaggerated. philip was therefore determined to employ every argument and subterfuge to detain the troops. etext editor's bookmarks: burned alive if they objected to transubstantiation german finds himself sober--he believes himself ill govern under the appearance of obeying informer, in case of conviction, should be entitled to one half man had only natural wrongs (no natural rights) no calumny was too senseless to be invented ruinous honors sovereignty was heaven-born, anointed of god that vile and mischievous animal called the people understood the art of managing men, particularly his superiors upon one day twenty-eight master cooks were dismissed william of nassau, prince of orange [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. philip the second in the netherlands [chapter i.] abdication of charles resolved upon--brussels in the sixteenth century--hall of the palace described--portraits of prominent individuals present at the ceremony--formalities of the abdication-- universal emotion--remarks upon the character and career of charles --his retirement at juste. on the twenty-fifth day of october, , the estates of the netherlands were assembled in the great hall of the palace at brussels. they had been summoned to be the witnesses and the guarantees of the abdication which charles v. had long before resolved upon, and which he was that day to execute. the emperor, like many potentates before and since, was fond of great political spectacles. he knew their influence upon the masses of mankind. although plain, even to shabbiness, in his own costume, and usually attired in black, no one ever understood better than he how to arrange such exhibitions in a striking and artistic style. we have seen the theatrical and imposing manner in which he quelled the insurrection at ghent, and nearly crushed the life forever out of that vigorous and turbulent little commonwealth. the closing scene of his long and energetic reign he had now arranged with profound study, and with an accurate knowledge of the manner in which the requisite effects were to be produced. the termination of his own career, the opening of his beloved philip's, were to be dramatized in a manner worthy the august character of the actors, and the importance of the great stage where they played their parts. the eyes of the whole world were directed upon that day towards brussels; for an imperial abdication was an event which had not, in the sixteenth century, been staled by custom. the gay capital of brabant--of that province which rejoiced in the liberal constitution known by the cheerful title of the "joyful entrance," was worthy to be the scene of the imposing show. brussels had been a city for more than five centuries, and, at that day, numbered about one hundred thousand inhabitants. its walls, six miles in circumference, were already two hundred years old. unlike most netherland cities, lying usually upon extensive plains, it was built along the sides of an abrupt promontory. a wide expanse of living verdure, cultivated gardens, shady groves, fertile cornfields, flowed round it like a sea. the foot of the town was washed by the little river senne, while the irregular but picturesque streets rose up the steep sides of the hill like the semicircles and stairways of an amphitheatre. nearly in the heart of the place rose the audacious and exquisitely embroidered tower of the townhouse, three hundred and sixty-six feet in height, a miracle of needlework in stone, rivalling in its intricate carving the cobweb tracery of that lace which has for centuries been synonymous with the city, and rearing itself above a facade of profusely decorated and brocaded architecture. the crest of the elevation was crowned by the towers of the old ducal palace of brabant, with its extensive and thickly-wooded park on the left, and by the stately mansions of orange, egmont, aremberg, culemburg, and other flemish grandees, on the right.. the great forest of soignies, dotted with monasteries and convents, swarming with every variety of game, whither the citizens made their summer pilgrimages, and where the nobles chased the wild boar and the stag, extended to within a quarter of a mile of the city walls. the population, as thrifty, as intelligent, as prosperous as that of any city in europe, was divided into fifty-two guilds of artisans, among which the most important were the armorers, whose suits of mail would turn a musket-ball; the gardeners, upon whose gentler creations incredible sums were annually lavished; and the tapestry- workers, whose gorgeous fabrics were the wonder of the world. seven principal churches, of which the most striking was that of st. gudule, with its twin towers, its charming facade, and its magnificently painted windows, adorned the upper part of the city. the number seven was a magic number in brussels, and was supposed at that epoch, during which astronomy was in its infancy and astrology in its prime, to denote the seven planets which governed all things terrestrial by their aspects and influences. seven noble families, springing from seven ancient castles, supplied the stock from which the seven senators were selected who composed the upper council of the city. there were seven great squares, seven city gates, and upon the occasion of the present ceremony, it was observed by the lovers of wonderful coincidences, that seven crowned heads would be congregated under a single roof in the liberty-loving city. the palace where the states-general were upon this occasion convened, had been the residence of the dukes of brabant since the days of john the second, who had built it about the year . it was a spacious and convenient building, but not distinguished for the beauty of its architecture. in front was a large open square, enclosed by an iron railing; in the rear an extensive and beautiful park, filled with forest trees, and containing gardens and labyrinths, fish-ponds and game preserves, fountains and promenades, race-courses and archery grounds. the main entrance to this edifice opened upon a spacious hall, connected with a beautiful and symmetrical chapel. the hall was celebrated for its size, harmonious proportions, and the richness of its decorations. it was the place where the chapters of the famous order of the golden fleece were held. its walls were hung with a magnificent tapestry of arran, representing the life and achievements of gideon, the midianite, and giving particular prominence to the miracle of the "fleece of wool," vouchsafed to that renowned champion, the great patron of the knights of the fleece. on the present occasion there were various additional embellishments of flowers and votive garlands. at the western end a spacious platform or stage, with six or seven steps, had been constructed, below which was a range of benches for the deputies of the seventeen provinces. upon the stage itself there were rows of seats, covered with tapestry, upon the right hand and upon the left. these were respectively to accommodate the knights of the order and the guests of high distinction. in the rear of these were other benches, for the members of the three great councils. in the centre of the stage was a splendid canopy, decorated with the arms of burgundy, beneath which were placed three gilded arm-chairs. all the seats upon the platform were vacant, but the benches below, assigned to the deputies of the provinces, were already filled. numerous representatives from all the states but two--gelderland and overyssel-- had already taken their places. grave magistrates, in chain and gown, and executive officers in the splendid civic uniforms for which the netherlands were celebrated, already filled every seat within the apace allotted. the remainder of the hall was crowded with the more favored portion of the multitude which had been fortunate enough to procure admission to the exhibition. the archers and hallebardiers of the body- guard kept watch at all the doors. the theatre was filled--the audience was eager with expectation--the actors were yet to arrive. as the clock struck three, the hero of the scene appeared. caesar, as he was always designated in the classic language of the day, entered, leaning on the shoulder of william of orange. they came from the chapel, and were immediately followed by philip the second and queen mary of hungary. the archduke maximilian the duke of savoy, and other great personages came afterwards, accompanied by a glittering throng of warriors, councillors, governors, and knights of the fleece. many individuals of existing or future historic celebrity in the netherlands, whose names are so familiar to the student of the epoch, seemed to have been grouped, as if by premeditated design, upon this imposing platform, where the curtain was to fall forever upon the mightiest emperor since charlemagne, and where the opening scene of the long and tremendous tragedy of philip's reign was to be simultaneously enacted. there was the bishop of arras, soon to be known throughout christendom by the more celebrated title of cardinal granvelle, the serene and smiling priest whose subtle influence over the destinies of so many individuals then present, and over the fortunes of the whole land, was to be so extensive and so deadly. there was that flower of flemish chivalry, the, lineal descendant of ancient frisian kings, already distinguished for his bravery in many fields, but not having yet won those two remarkable victories which were soon to make the name of egmont like the sound of a trumpet throughout the whole country. tall, magnificent in costume, with dark flowing hair, soft brown eye, smooth cheek, a slight moustache, and features of almost feminine delicacy; such was the gallant and ill-fated lamoral egmont. the count of horn; too, with bold, sullen face, and fan-shaped beard-a brave, honest, discontented, quarrelsome, unpopular man; those other twins in doom--the marquis berghen and the lord of montigny; the baron berlaymont, brave, intensely loyal, insatiably greedy for office and wages, but who, at least, never served but one party; the duke of arschot, who was to serve all, essay to rule all, and to betray all--a splendid seignor, magnificent in cramoisy velvet, but a poor creature, who traced his pedigree from adam, according to the family monumental inscriptions at louvain, but who was better known as grand-nephew of the emperor's famous tutor, chiebres; the bold, debauched brederode, with handsome, reckless face and turbulent demeanor; the infamous noircarmes, whose name was to be covered with eternal execration, for aping towards his own compatriots and kindred as much of alva's atrocities and avarice, as he was permitted to exercise; the distinguished soldiers meghen and aremberg--these, with many others whose deeds of arms were to become celebrated throughout europe, were all conspicuous in the brilliant crowd. there, too, was that learned frisian, president viglius, crafty, plausible, adroit, eloquent--a small, brisk man, with long yellow hair, glittering green eyes, round, tumid, rosy cheeks, and flowing beard. foremost among the spanish grandees, and close to philip, stood the famous favorite, ruy gomez, or as he was familiarly called "re y gomez" (king and gomez), a man of meridional aspect, with coal-black hair and beard, gleaming eyes, a face pallid with intense application, and slender but handsome figure; while in immediate attendance upon the emperor, was the immortal prince of orange. such were a few only of the most prominent in that gay throng, whose fortunes, in part, it will be our humble duty to narrate; how many of them passing through all this glitter to a dark and mysterious doom!-- some to perish on public scaffolds, some by midnight assassination; others, more fortunate, to fall on the battle-field--nearly all, sooner or later, to be laid in bloody graves! all the company present had risen to their feet as the emperor entered. by his command, all immediately afterwards resumed their places. the benches at either end of the platform were accordingly filled with the royal and princely personages invited, with the fleece knights, wearing the insignia of their order, with the members of the three great councils, and with the governors. the emperor, the king, and the queen of hungary, were left conspicuous in the centre of the scene. as the whole object of the ceremony was to present an impressive exhibition, it is worth our while to examine minutely the appearance of the two principal characters. charles the fifth was then fifty-five years and eight months old; but he was already decrepit with premature old age. he was of about the middle height, and had been athletic and well-proportioned. broad in the shoulders, deep in the chest, thin in the flank, very muscular in the arms and legs, he had been able to match himself with all competitors in the tourney and the ring, and to vanquish the bull with his own hand in the favorite national amusement of spain. he had been able in the field to do the duty of captain and soldier, to endure fatigue and exposure, and every privation except fasting. these personal advantages were now departed. crippled in hands, knees and legs, he supported himself with difficulty upon a crutch, with the aid of, an attendant's shoulder. in face he had always been extremely ugly, and time had certainly not improved his physiognomy. his hair, once of a light color, was now white with age, close-clipped and bristling; his beard was grey, coarse, and shaggy. his forehead was spacious and commanding; the eye was dark blue, with an expression both majestic and benignant. his nose was aquiline but crooked. the lower part of his face was famous for its deformity. the under lip, a burgundian inheritance, as faithfully transmitted as the duchy and county, was heavy and hanging; the lower jaw protruding so far beyond the upper, that it was impossible for him to bring together the few fragments of teeth which still remained, or to speak a whole sentence in an intelligible voice. eating and talking, occupations to which he was always much addicted, were becoming daily more arduous, in consequence of this original defect, which now seemed hardly human, but rather an original deformity. so much for the father. the son, philip the second, was a small, meagre man, much below the middle height, with thin legs, a narrow chest, and the shrinking, timid air of an habitual invalid. he seemed so little, upon his first visit to his aunts, the queens eleanor and mary, accustomed to look upon proper men in flanders and germany, that he was fain to win their favor by making certain attempts in the tournament, in which his success was sufficiently problematical. "his body," says his professed panegyrist, "was but a human cage, in which, however brief and narrow, dwelt a soul to whose flight the immeasurable expanse of heaven was too contracted." [cabrera] the same wholesale admirer adds, that "his aspect was so reverend, that rustics who met him alone in a wood, without knowing him, bowed down with instinctive veneration." in face, he was the living image of his father, having the same broad forehead, and blue eye, with the same aquiline, but better proportioned, nose. in the lower part of the countenance, the remarkable burgundian deformity was likewise reproduced. he had the same heavy, hanging lip, with a vast mouth, and monstrously protruding lower jaw. his complexion was fair, his hair light and thin, his beard yellow, short, and pointed. he had the aspect of a fleming, but the loftiness of a spaniard. his demeanor in public was still, silent, almost sepulchral. he looked habitually on the ground when he conversed, was chary of speech, embarrassed, and even suffering in manner. this was ascribed partly to a natural haughtiness which he had occasionally endeavored to overcome, and partly to habitual pains in the stomach, occasioned by his inordinate fondness for pastry. [bodavaro] such was the personal appearance of the man who was about to receive into his single hand the destinies of half the world; whose single will was, for the future, to shape the fortunes of every individual then present, of many millions more in europe, america, and at the ends of the earth, and of countless millions yet unborn. the three royal personages being seated upon chairs placed triangularly under the canopy, such of the audience as had seats provided for them, now took their places, and the proceedings commenced. philibert de bruxelles, a member of the privy council of the netherlands, arose at the emperor's command, and made a long oration. he spoke of the emperor's warm affection for the provinces, as the land of his birth; of his deep regret that his broken health and failing powers, both of body and mind, compelled him to resign his sovereignty, and to seek relief for his shattered frame in a more genial climate. caesar's gout was then depicted in energetic language, which must have cost him a twinge as he sat there and listened to the councillor's eloquence. "'tis a most truculent executioner," said philibert: "it invades the whole body, from the crown of the head to the soles of the feet, leaving nothing untouched. it contracts the nerves with intolerable anguish, it enters the bones, it freezes the marrow, it converts the lubricating fluids of the joints into chalk, it pauses not until, having exhausted and debilitated the whole body, it has rendered all its necessary instruments useless, and conquered the mind by immense torture." [godelaevus] [the historian was present at the ceremony, and gives a very full report of the speeches, all of which he heard. his imagination may have assisted his memory in the task. the other reporters of the councillor's harangue have reduced this pathological flight of rhetoric to a very small compass.] engaged in mortal struggle with such an enemy, caesar felt himself obliged, as the councillor proceeded to inform his audience, to change the scene of the contest from the humid air of flanders to the warmer atmosphere of spain. he rejoiced, however, that his son was both vigorous and experienced, and that his recent marriage with the queen of england had furnished the provinces with a most valuable alliance. he then again referred to the emperor's boundless love for his subjects, and concluded with a tremendous, but superfluous, exhortation to philip on the necessity of maintaining the catholic religion in its purity. after this long harangue, which has been fully reported by several historians who were present at the ceremony, the councillor proceeded to read the deed of cession, by which philip, already sovereign of sicily, naples, milan, and titular king of england, france, and jerusalem, now received all the duchies, marquisates, earldoms, baronies, cities, towns, and castles of the burgundian property, including, of course, the seventeen netherlands. as de bruxelles finished, there was a buzz of admiration throughout the assembly, mingled with murmurs of regret, that in the present great danger upon the frontiers from the belligerent king of france and his warlike and restless nation, the provinces should be left without their ancient and puissant defender. the emperor then rose to his feet. leaning on his crutch, he beckoned from his seat the personage upon whose arm he had leaned as he entered the hall. a tall, handsome youth of twenty-two came forward--a man whose name from that time forward, and as long as history shall endure, has been, and will be, more familiar than any other in the mouths of netherlanders. at that day he had rather a southern than a german or flemish appearance. he had a spanish cast of features, dark, well chiselled, and symmetrical. his head was small and well placed upon his shoulders. his hair was dark brown, as were also his moustache and peaked beard. his forehead was lofty, spacious, and already prematurely engraved with the anxious lines of thought. his eyes were full, brown, well opened, and expressive of profound reflection. he was dressed in the magnificent apparel for which the netherlanders were celebrated above all other nations, and which the ceremony rendered necessary. his presence being considered indispensable at this great ceremony, he had been summoned but recently from the camp on the frontier, where, notwithstanding his youth, the emperor had appointed him to command his army in chief against such antagonists as admiral coligny and the due de nevers. thus supported upon his crutch and upon the shoulder of william of orange, the emperor proceeded to address the states, by the aid of a closely-written brief which he held in his hand. he reviewed rapidly the progress of events from his seventeenth year up to that day. he spoke of his nine expeditions into germany, six to spain, seven to italy, four to france, ten to the netherlands, two to england, as many to africa, and of his eleven voyages by sea. he sketched his various wars, victories, and treaties of peace, assuring his hearers that the welfare of his subjects and the security of the roman catholic religion had ever been the leading objects of his life. as long as god had granted him health, he continued, only enemies could have regretted that charles was living and reigning, but now that his strength was but vanity, and life fast ebbing away, his love for dominion, his affection for his subjects, and his regard for their interests, required his departure. instead of a decrepit man with one foot in the grave, he presented them with a sovereign in the prime of life and the vigor of health. turning toward philip, he observed, that for a dying father to bequeath so magnificent an empire to his son was a deed worthy of gratitude, but that when the father thus descended to the grave before his time, and by an anticipated and living burial sought to provide for the welfare of his realms and the grandeur of his son, the benefit thus conferred was surely far greater. he added, that the debt would be paid to him and with usury, should philip conduct himself in his administration of the province with a wise and affectionate regard to their true interests. posterity would applaud his abdication, should his son prove worthy of his bounty; and that could only be by living in the fear of god, and by maintaining law, justice, and the catholic religion in all their purity, as the true foundation of the realm. in conclusion, he entreated the estates, and through them the nation, to render obedience to their new prince, to maintain concord and to preserve inviolate the catholic faith; begging them, at the same time, to pardon him all errors or offences which he might have committed towards them during his reign, and assuring them that he should unceasingly remember their obedience and affection in his every prayer to that being to whom the remainder of his life was to be dedicated. such brave words as these, so many vigorous asseverations of attempted performance of duty, such fervent hopes expressed of a benign administration in behalf of the son, could not but affect the sensibilities of the audience, already excited and softened by the impressive character of the whole display. sobs were heard throughout every portion of the hall, and tears poured profusely from every eye. the fleece knights on the platform and the burghers in the background were all melted with the same emotion. as for the emperor himself, he sank almost fainting upon his chair as he concluded his address. an ashy paleness overspread his countenance, and he wept like a child. even the icy philip was almost softened, as he rose to perform his part in the ceremony. dropping upon his knees before his father's feet, he reverently kissed his hand. charles placed his hands solemnly upon his son's head, made the sign of the cross, and blessed him in the name of the holy trinity. then raising him in his arms he tenderly embraced him. saying, as he did so, to the great potentates around him, that he felt a sincere compassion for the son on whose shoulders so heavy a weight had just devolved, and which only a life-long labor would enable him to support. philip now uttered a few words expressive of his duty to his father and his affection for his people. turning to the orders, he signified his regret that he was unable to address them either in the french or flemish language, and was therefore obliged to ask their attention to the bishop of arras, who would act as his interpreter. antony perrenot accordingly arose, and in smooth, fluent, and well-turned commonplaces, expressed at great length the gratitude of philip towards his father, with his firm determination to walk in the path of duty, and to obey his father's counsels and example in the future administration of the provinces. this long address of the prelate was responded to at equal length by jacob maas, member of the council of brabant, a man of great learning, eloquence and prolixity, who had been selected to reply on behalf of the states-general, and who now, in the name of these; bodies, accepted the abdication in an elegant and complimentary harangue. queen mary of hungary, the "christian widow" of erasmus, and regent of the netherlands during the past twenty-five years, then rose to resign her office, making a brief address expressive of her affection for the people, her regrets at leaving them, and her hopes that all errors which she might have committed during her long administration would be forgiven her. again the redundant maas responded, asserting in terms of fresh compliment and elegance the uniform satisfaction of the provinces with her conduct during her whole career. the orations and replies having now been brought to a close, the ceremony was terminated. the emperor, leaning on the shoulders of the prince of orange and of the count de buren, slowly left the hall, followed by philip, the queen of hungary, and the whole court; all in the same order in which they had entered, and by the same passage into the chapel. it is obvious that the drama had been completely successful. it had been a scene where heroic self-sacrifice, touching confidence, ingenuous love of duty, patriotism, and paternal affection upon one side; filial reverence, with a solemn regard for public duty and the highest interests of the people on the other, were supposed to be the predominant sentiments. the happiness of the netherlands was apparently the only object contemplated in the great transaction. all had played well their parts in the past, all hoped the best in the times which were to follow. the abdicating emperor was looked upon as a hero and a prophet. the stage was drowned in tears. there is not the least doubt as to the genuine and universal emotion which was excited throughout the assembly. "caesar's oration," says secretary godelaevus, who was present at the ceremony, "deeply moved the nobility and gentry, many of whom burst into tears; even the illustrious knights of the fleece were melted." the historian, pontus heuterus, who, then twenty years of age, was likewise among the audience, attests that "most of the assembly were dissolved in tears; uttering the while such sonorous sobs that they compelled his caesarean majesty and the queen to cry with them. my own face," he adds, "was certainly quite wet." the english envoy, sir john mason, describing in a despatch to his government the scene which he had just witnessed, paints the same picture. "the emperor," he said, "begged the forgiveness of his subjects if he had ever unwittingly omitted the performance of any of his duties towards them. and here," continues the envoy, "he broke into a weeping, whereunto, besides the dolefulness of the matter, i think, he was moche provoked by seeing the whole company to do the lyke before; there beyng in myne opinion not one man in the whole assemblie, stranger or another, that dewring the time of a good piece of his oration poured not out as abundantly teares, some more, some lesse. and yet he prayed them to beare with his imperfections, proceeding of his sickly age, and of the mentioning of so tender a matter as the departing from such a sort of dere and loving subjects." and yet what was the emperor charles to the inhabitants of the netherlands that they should weep for him? his conduct towards them during his whole career had been one of unmitigated oppression. what to them were all these forty voyages by sea and land, these journeyings back and forth from friesland to tunis, from madrid to vienna. what was it to them that the imperial shuttle was thus industriously flying to and fro? the fabric wrought was but the daily growing grandeur and splendor of his imperial house; the looms were kept moving at the expense of their hardly-earned treasure, and the woof was often dyed red in the blood of his bravest subjects. the interests of the netherlands had never been even a secondary consideration with their master. he had fulfilled no duty towards them, he had committed the gravest crimes against them. he had regarded them merely as a treasury upon which to draw; while the sums which he extorted were spent upon ceaseless and senseless wars, which were of no more interest to them than if they had been waged in another planet. of five millions of gold annually, which he derived from all his realms, two millions came from these industrious and opulent provinces, while but a half million came from spain and another half from the indies. the mines of wealth which had been opened by the hand of industry in that slender territory of ancient morass and thicket, contributed four times as much income to the imperial exchequer as all the boasted wealth of mexico and peru. yet the artisans, the farmers and the merchants, by whom these riches were produced, were consulted about as much in the expenditure of the imposts upon their industry as were the savages of america as to the distribution of the mineral treasures of their soil. the rivalry of the houses of habsburg and valois, this was the absorbing theme, during the greater part of the reign which had just been so dramatically terminated. to gain the empire over francis, to leave to don philip a richer heritage than the dauphin could expect, were the great motives of the unparalleled energy displayed by charles during the longer and the more successful portion of his career. to crush the reformation throughout his dominions, was his occupation afterward, till he abandoned the field in despair. it was certainly not desirable for the netherlanders that they should be thus controlled by a man who forced them to contribute so largely to the success of schemes, some of which were at best indifferent, and others entirely odious to them. they paid , , crowns a year regularly; they paid in five years an extraordinary subsidy of eight millions of ducats, and the states were roundly rebuked by the courtly representatives of their despot, if they presumed to inquire into the objects of the appropriations, or to express an interest in their judicious administration. yet it maybe supposed to have been a matter of indifference to them whether francis or charles had won the day at pavia, and it certainly was not a cause of triumph to the daily increasing thousands of religious reformers in holland and flanders that their brethren had been crushed by the emperor at muhlberg. but it was not alone that he drained their treasure, and hampered their industry. he was in constant conflict with their ancient and dearly- bought political liberties. like his ancestor charles the bold, he was desirous of constructing a kingdom out of the provinces. he was disposed to place all their separate and individual charters on a procrustean bed, and shape them all into uniformity simply by reducing the whole to a nullity. the difficulties in the way, the stout opposition offered by burghers, whose fathers had gained these charters with their blood, and his want of leisure during the vast labors which devolved upon him as the autocrat of so large a portion of the world, caused him to defer indefinitely the execution of his plan. he found time only to crush some of the foremost of the liberal institutions of the provinces, in detail. he found the city of tournay a happy, thriving, self-governed little republic in all its local affairs; he destroyed its liberties, without a tolerable pretext, and reduced it to the condition of a spanish or italian provincial town. his memorable chastisement of ghent for having dared to assert its ancient rights of self-taxation, is sufficiently known to the world, and has been already narrated at length. many other instances might be adduced, if it were not a superfluous task, to prove that charles was not only a political despot, but most arbitrary and cruel in the exercise of his despotism. but if his sins against the netherlands had been only those of financial and political oppression, it would be at least conceivable, although certainly not commendable, that the inhabitants should have regretted his departure. but there are far darker crimes for which he stands arraigned at the bar of history, and it is indeed strange that the man who had committed them should have been permitted to speak his farewell amid blended plaudits and tears. his hand planted the inquisition in the netherlands. before his day it is idle to say that the diabolical institution ever had a place there. the isolated cases in which inquisitors had exercised functions proved the absence and not the presence of the system, and will be discussed in a later chapter. charles introduced and organized a papal inquisition, side by side with those terrible "placards" of his invention, which constituted a masked inquisition even more cruel than that of spain. the execution of the system was never permitted to languish. the number of netherlanders who were burned, strangled, beheaded, or buried alive, in obedience to his edicts, and for the offences of reading the scriptures, of looking askance at a graven image, or of ridiculing the actual presence of the body and blood of christ in a wafer, have been placed as high as one hundred thousand by distinguished authorities, and have never been put at a lower mark than fifty thousand. the venetian envoy navigero placed the number of victims in the provinces of holland and friesland alone at thirty thousand, and this in , ten years before the abdication, and five before the promulgation of the hideous edict of ! the edicts and the inquisition were the gift of charles to the netherlands, in return for their wasted treasure and their constant obedience. for this, his name deserves to be handed down to eternal infamy, not only throughout the netherlands, but in every land where a single heart beats for political or religious freedom. to eradicate these institutions after they had been watered and watched by the care of his successor, was the work of an eighty years' war, in the course of which millions of lives were sacrificed. yet the abdicating emperor had summoned his faithful estates around him, and stood up before them in his imperial robes for the last time, to tell them of the affectionate regard which he had always borne them, and to mingle his tears with theirs. could a single phantom have risen from one of the many thousand graves where human beings had been thrust alive by his decree, perhaps there might have been an answer to the question propounded by the emperor amid all that piteous weeping. perhaps it might have told the man who asked his hearers to be forgiven if he had ever unwittingly offended them, that there was a world where it was deemed an offence to torture, strangle, burn, and drown one's innocent fellow-creatures. the usual but trifling excuse for such enormities can not be pleaded for the emperor. charles was no fanatic. the man whose armies sacked rome, who laid his sacrilegious hands on christ's vicegerent, and kept the infallible head of the church a prisoner to serve his own political ends, was then no bigot. he believed in nothing; save that when the course of his imperial will was impeded, and the interests of his imperial house in jeopardy, pontiffs were to succumb as well as anabaptists. it was the political heresy which lurked in the restiveness of the religious reformers under dogma, tradition, and supernatural sanction to temporal power, which he was disposed to combat to the death. he was too shrewd a politician not to recognize the connection between aspirations for religious and for political freedom. his hand was ever ready to crush both heresies in one. had he been a true son of the church, a faithful champion of her infallibility, he would not have submitted to the peace of passau, so long as he could bring a soldier to the field. yet he acquiesced in the reformation for germany, while the fires for burning the reformers were ever blazing in the netherlands, where it was death even to allude to the existence of the peace of passau. nor did he acquiesce only from compulsion, for long before his memorable defeat by maurice, he had permitted the german troops, with whose services he could not dispense, regularly to attend protestant worship performed by their own protestant chaplains. lutheran preachers marched from city to city of the netherlands under the imperial banner, while the subjects of those patrimonial provinces were daily suffering on the scaffold for their nonconformity. the influence of this garrison-preaching upon the progress of the reformation in the netherlands is well known. charles hated lutherans, but he required soldiers, and he thus helped by his own policy to disseminate what had he been the fanatic which he perhaps became in retirement, he would have sacrificed his life to crush. it is quite true that the growing calvinism of the provinces was more dangerous both religiously and politically, than the protestantism of the german princes, which had not yet been formally pronounced heresy, but it is thus the more evident that it was political rather than religious heterodoxy which the despot wished to suppress. no man, however, could have been more observant of religious rites. he heard mass daily. he listened to a sermon every sunday and holiday. he confessed and received the sacrament four times a year. he was sometimes to be seen in his tent at midnight, on his knees before a crucifix with eyes and hands uplifted. he ate no meat in lent, and used extraordinary diligence to discover and to punish any man, whether courtier or plebeian, who failed to fast during the whole forty days. he was too good a politician not to know the value of broad phylacteries and long prayers. he was too nice an observer of human nature not to know how easily mint and cummin could still outweigh the "weightier matters of law, judgment, mercy and faith;" as if the founder of the religion which he professed, and to maintain which he had established the inquisition and the edicts, had never cried woe upon the pharisees. yet there is no doubt that the emperor was at times almost popular in the netherlands, and that he was never as odious as his successor. there were some deep reasons for this, and some superficial ones; among others, a singularly fortunate manner. he spoke german, spanish, italian, french, and flemish, and could assume the characteristics of each country as easily as he could use its language. he could be stately with spaniards, familiar with flemings witty with italians. he could strike down a bull in the ring like a matador at madrid, or win the prize in the tourney like a knight of old; he could ride at the ring with the flemish nobles, hit the popinjay with his crossbow among antwerp artisans, or drink beer and exchange rude jests with the boors of brabant. for virtues such as these, his grave crimes against god and man, against religion and chartered and solemnly-sworn rights have been palliated, as if oppression became more tolerable because the oppressor was an accomplished linguist and a good marksman. but the great reason for his popularity no doubt lay in his military genius. charles was inferior to no general of his age. "when he was born into the world," said alva, "he was born a soldier," and the emperor confirmed the statement and reciprocated the compliment, when he declared that "the three first captains of the age were himself first, and then the duke of alva and constable montmorency." it is quite true that all his officers were not of the same opinion, and many were too apt to complain that his constant presence in the field did more harm than good, and "that his majesty would do much better to stay at home." there is, however, no doubt that he was both a good soldier and a good general. he was constitutionally fearless, and he possessed great energy and endurance. he was ever the first to arm when a battle was to be fought, and the last to take off his harness. he commanded in person and in chief, even when surrounded by veterans and crippled by the gout. he was calm in great reverses. it was said that he was never known to change color except upon two occasions: after the fatal destruction of his fleet at algiers, and in the memorable flight from innspruck. he was of a phlegmatic, stoical temperament, until shattered by age and disease; a man without a sentiment and without a tear. it was said by spaniards that he was never seen to weep, even at the death of his nearest relatives and friends, except on the solitary occasion of the departure of don ferrante gonzaga from court. such a temperament was invaluable in the stormy career to which he had devoted his life. he was essentially a man of action, a military chieftain. "pray only for my health and my life," he was accustomed to say to the young officers who came to him from every part of his dominions to serve under his banners, "for so, long as i have these i will never leave you idle; at least in france. i love peace no better than the rest of you. i was born and bred to arms, and must of necessity keep on my harness till i can bear it no longer." the restless energy and the magnificent tranquillity of his character made him a hero among princes, an idol with his officers, a popular favorite every where. the promptness with which, at much personal hazard, he descended like a thunderbolt in the midst of the ghent insurrection; the juvenile ardor with which the almost bedridden man arose from his sick-bed to smite the protestants at muhlberg; the grim stoicism with which he saw sixty thousand of his own soldiers perish in the wintry siege of metz; all ensured him a large measure of that applause which ever follows military distinction, especially when the man who achieves it happens to wear a crown. he combined the personal prowess of a knight of old with the more modern accomplishments of a scientific tactician. he could charge the enemy in person like the most brilliant cavalry officer, and he thoroughly understood the arrangements of a campaign, the marshalling and victualling of troops, and the whole art of setting and maintaining an army in the field. yet, though brave and warlike as the most chivalrous of his ancestors, gothic, burgundian, or suabian, he was entirely without chivalry. fanaticism for the faith, protection for the oppressed, fidelity to friend and foe, knightly loyalty to a cause deemed sacred, the sacrifice of personal interests to great ideas, generosity of hand and heart; all those qualities which unite with courage and constancy to make up the ideal chevalier, charles not only lacked but despised. he trampled on the weak antagonist, whether burgher or petty potentate. he was false as water. he inveigled his foes who trusted to imperial promises, by arts unworthy an emperor or a gentleman. he led about the unfortunate john frederic of saxony, in his own language, "like a bear in a chain," ready to be slipped upon maurice should "the boy" prove ungrateful. he connived at the famous forgery of the prelate of arras, to which the landgrave philip owed his long imprisonment; a villany worse than many for which humbler rogues have suffered by thousands upon the gallows. the contemporary world knew well the history of his frauds, on scale both colossal and minute, and called him familiarly "charles qui triche." the absolute master of realms on which the sun perpetually shone, he was not only greedy for additional dominion, but he was avaricious in small matters, and hated to part with a hundred dollars. to the soldier who brought him the sword and gauntlets of francis the first, he gave a hundred crowns, when ten thousand would have been less than the customary present; so that the man left his presence full of desperation. the three soldiers who swam the elbe, with their swords in their mouths; to bring him the boats with which he passed to the victory of muhlberg, received from his imperial bounty a doublet, a pair of stockings, and four crowns apiece. his courtiers and ministers complained bitterly of his habitual niggardliness, and were fain to eke out their slender salaries by accepting bribes from every hand rich enough to bestow them. in truth charles was more than any thing else a politician, notwithstanding his signal abilities as a soldier. if to have founded institutions which could last, be the test of statesmanship, he was even a statesman; for many of his institutions have resisted the pressure of three centuries. but those of charlemagne fell as soon as his hand was cold, while the works of many ordinary legislators have attained to a perpetuity denied to the statutes of solon or lycurgus. durability is not the test of merit in human institutions. tried by the only touchstone applicable to governments, their capacity to insure the highest welfare of the governed, we shall not find his polity deserving of much admiration. it is not merely that he was a despot by birth and inclination, nor that he naturally substituted as far as was practicable, the despotic for the republican element, wherever his hand can be traced. there may be possible good in despotisms as there is often much tyranny in democracy. tried however according to the standard by which all governments may be measured, those laws of truth and divine justice which all christian nations recognize, and which are perpetual, whether recognized or not, we shall find little to venerate in the life work of the emperor. the interests of his family, the security of his dynasty, these were his end and aim. the happiness or the progress of his people never furnished even the indirect motives of his conduct, and the result was a baffled policy and a crippled and bankrupt empire at last. he knew men, especially he knew their weaknesses, and he knew how to turn them to account. he knew how much they would bear, and that little grievances would sometimes inflame more than vast and deliberate injustice. therefore he employed natives mainly in the subordinate offices of his various states, and he repeatedly warned his successor that the haughtiness of spaniards and the incompatibility of their character with the flemish, would be productive of great difficulties and dangers. it was his opinion that men might be tyrannized more intelligently by their own kindred, and in this perhaps he was right. he was indefatigable in the discharge of business, and if it were possible that half a world could be administered as if it were the private property of an individual, the task would have been perhaps as well accomplished by charles as by any man. he had not the absurdity of supposing it possible for him to attend to the details of every individual affair in every one of his realms; and he therefore intrusted the stewardship of all specialities to his various ministers and agents. it was his business to know men and to deal with affairs on a large scale, and in this he certainly was superior to his successor. his correspondence was mainly in the hands of granvelle the elder, who analyzed letters received, and frequently wrote all but the signatures of the answers. the same minister usually possessed the imperial ear, and farmed it out for his own benefit. in all this there was of course room for vast deception, but the emperor was quite aware of what was going on, and took a philosophic view of the matter as an inevitable part of his system. granvelle grew enormously rich under his eye by trading on the imperial favor and sparing his majesty much trouble. charles saw it all, ridiculed his peculations, but called him his "bed of down." his knowledge of human nature was however derived from a contemplation mainly of its weaknesses, and was therefore one-sided. he was often deceived, and made many a fatal blunder, shrewd politician though he was. he involved himself often in enterprises which could not be honorable or profitable, and which inflicted damage on his greatest interests. he often offended men who might have been useful friends, and converted allies into enemies. "his majesty," said a keen observer who knew him well, "has not in his career shown the prudence which was necessary to him. he has often offended those whose love he might have conciliated, converted friends into enemies, and let those perish who were his most faithful partisans." thus it must be acknowledged that even his boasted knowledge of human nature and his power of dealing with men was rather superficial and empirical than the real gift of genius. his personal habits during the greater part of his life were those of an indefatigable soldier. he could remain in the saddle day and night, and endure every hardship but hunger. he was addicted to vulgar and miscellaneous incontinence. he was an enormous eater. he breakfasted at five, on a fowl seethed in milk and dressed with sugar and spices. after this he went to sleep again. he dined at twelve, partaking always of twenty dishes. he supped twice; at first, soon after vespers, and the second time at midnight or one o'clock, which meal was, perhaps, the most solid of the four. after meat he ate a great quantity of pastry and sweetmeats, and he irrigated every repast by vast draughts of beer and wine. his stomach, originally a wonderful one, succumbed after forty years of such labors. his taste, but not his appetite began to fail, and he complained to his majordomo, that all his food was insipid. the reply is, perhaps, among the most celebrated of facetia. the cook could do nothing more unless he served his majesty a pasty of watches. the allusion to the emperor's passion for horology was received with great applause. charles "laughed longer than he was ever known to laugh before, and all the courtiers (of course) laughed as long as his majesty." [badovaro] the success of so sorry a jest would lead one to suppose that the fooling was less admirable at the imperial court than some of the recorded quips of tribaulet would lead us to suppose. the transfer of the other crowns and dignitaries to philip, was accomplished a month afterwards, in a quiet manner. spain, sicily, the balearic islands, america, and other portions of the globe, were made over without more display than an ordinary 'donatio inter vivos'. the empire occasioned some difficulty. it had been already signified to ferdinand, that his brother was to resign the imperial crown in his favor, and the symbols of sovereignty were accordingly transmitted to him by the hands of william of orange. a deputation, moreover, of which that nobleman, vice-chancellor seld, and dr. wolfgang haller were the chiefs, was despatched to signify to the electors of the empire the step which had been thus resolved upon. a delay of more than two years, however, intervened, occasioned partly by the deaths of three electors, partly by the war which so soon broke out in europe, before the matter was formally acted upon. in february, , however, the electors, having been assembled in frankfort, received the abdication of charles, and proceeded to the election of ferdinand. that emperor was crowned in march, and immediately despatched a legation to the pope to apprize him of the fact. nothing was less expected than any opposition on the part of the pontiff. the querulous dotard, however, who then sat in st. peter's chair, hated charles and all his race. he accordingly denied the validity of the whole transaction, without sanction previously obtained from the pope, to whom all crowns belonged. ferdinand, after listening, through his envoys, to much ridiculous dogmatism on the part of the pope, at last withdrew from the discussion, with a formal protest, and was first recognized by caraffa's successor, pius iv. charles had not deferred his retirement till the end of these disputes. he occupied a private house in brussels, near the gate of louvain, until august of the year . on the th of that month, he addressed a letter from ghent to john of osnabruck, president of the chamber of spiers, stating his abdication in favor of ferdinand, and requesting that in the interim the same obedience might be rendered to ferdinand, as could have been yielded to himself. ten days later; he addressed a letter to the estates of the empire, stating the same fact; and on the th september, , he set sail from zeland for spain. these delays and difficulties occasioned some misconceptions. many persons who did not admire an abdication, which others, on the contrary, esteemed as an act of unexampled magnanimity, stoutly denied that it was the intention of charles to renounce the empire. the venetian envoy informed his government that ferdinand was only to be lieutenant for charles, under strict limitations, and that the emperor was to resume the government so soon as his health would allow. the bishop of arras and don juan de manrique had both assured him, he said, that charles would not, on any account, definitely abdicate. manrique even asserted that it was a mere farce to believe in any such intention. the emperor ought to remain to protect his son, by the resources of the empire, against france, the turks, and the heretics. his very shadow was terrible to the lutherans, and his form might be expected to rise again in stern reality from its temporary grave. time has shown the falsity of all these imaginings, but views thus maintained by those in the best condition to know the truth, prove how difficult it was for men to believe in a transaction which was then so extraordinary, and how little consonant it was in their eyes with true propriety. it was necessary to ascend to the times of diocletian, to find an example of a similar abdication of empire, on so deliberate and extensive a scale, and the great english historian of the roman empire has compared the two acts with each other. but there seems a vast difference between the cases. both emperors were distinguished soldiers; both were merciless persecutors of defenceless christians; both exchanged unbounded empire for absolute seclusion. but diocletian was born in the lowest abyss of human degradation--the slave and the son of a slave. for such a man, after having reached the highest pinnacle of human greatness, voluntarily to descend from power, seems an act of far greater magnanimity than the retreat of charles. born in the purple, having exercised unlimited authority from his boyhood, and having worn from his cradle so many crowns and coronets, the german emperor might well be supposed to have learned to estimate them at their proper value. contemporary minds were busy, however, to discover the hidden motives which could have influenced him, and the world, even yet, has hardly ceased to wonder. yet it would have been more wonderful, considering the emperor's character, had he remained. the end had not crowned the work; it not unreasonably discrowned the workman. the earlier, and indeed the greater part of his career had been one unbroken procession of triumphs. the cherished dream of his grandfather, and of his own youth, to add the pope's triple crown to the rest of the hereditary possessions of his family, he had indeed been obliged to resign. he had too much practical flemish sense to indulge long in chimeras, but he had achieved the empire over formidable rivals, and he had successively not only conquered, but captured almost every potentate who had arrayed himself in arms against him. clement and francis, the dukes and landgraves of, clever, hesse, saxony, and brunswick, he had bound to his chariot wheels; forcing many to eat the bread of humiliation and captivity, during long and weary years. but the concluding portion of his reign had reversed all its previous glories. his whole career had been a failure. he had been defeated, after all, in most of his projects. he had humbled francis, but henry had most signally avenged his father. he had trampled upon philip of hesse and frederic of saxony, but it had been reserved for one of that german race, which he characterized as "dreamy, drunken, and incapable of intrigue," to outwit the man who had outwitted all the world, and to drive before him, in ignominious flight, the conqueror of the nations. the german lad who had learned both war and dissimulation in the court and camp of him who was so profound a master of both arts, was destined to eclipse his teacher on the most august theatre of christendom. absorbed at innspruck with the deliberations of the trent council, charles had not heeded the distant mutterings of the tempest which was gathering around him. while he was preparing to crush, forever, the protestant church, with the arms which a bench of bishops were forging, lo! the rapid and desperate maurice, with long red beard streaming like a meteor in the wind, dashing through the mountain passes, at the head of his lancers--arguments more convincing than all the dogmas of granvelle! disguised as an old woman, the emperor had attempted on the th april, to escape in a peasant's wagon, from innspruck into flanders. saved for the time by the mediation of ferdinand, he had, a few weeks later, after his troops had been defeated by maurice, at fussen, again fled at midnight of the nd may, almost unattended, sick in body and soul, in the midst of thunder, lightning, and rain, along the difficult alpine passes from innspruck into carinthia. his pupil had permitted his escape, only because in his own language, "for such a bird he had no convenient cage." the imprisoned princes now owed their liberation, not to the emperor's clemency, but to his panic. the peace of passau, in the following august, crushed the whole fabric of the emperor's toil, and laid-the foundation of the protestant church. he had smitten the protestants at muhlberg for the last time. on the other hand, the man who had dealt with rome, as if the pope, not he, had been the vassal, was compelled to witness, before he departed, the insolence of a pontiff who took a special pride in insulting and humbling his house, and trampling upon the pride of charles, philip and ferdinand. in france too, the disastrous siege of metz had taught him that in the imperial zodiac the fatal sign of cancer had been reached. the figure of a crab, with the words "plus citra," instead of his proud motto of "plus ultra," scrawled on the walls where he had resided during that dismal epoch, avenged more deeply, perhaps, than the jester thought, the previous misfortunes of france. the grand turk, too, solyman the magnificent, possessed most of hungary, and held at that moment a fleet ready to sail against naples, in co-operation with the pope and france. thus the infidel, the protestant, and the holy church were all combined together to crush him. towards all the great powers of the earth, he stood not in the attitude of a conqueror, but of a disappointed, baffled, defeated potentate. moreover, he had been foiled long before in his earnest attempts to secure the imperial throne for philip. ferdinand and maximilian had both stoutly resisted his arguments and his blandishments. the father had represented the slender patrimony of their branch of the family, compared with the enormous heritage of philip; who, being after all, but a man, and endowed with finite powers, might sink under so great a pressure of empire as his father wished to provide for him. maximilian, also, assured his uncle that he had as good an appetite for the crown as philip, and could digest the dignity quite as easily. the son, too, for whom the emperor was thus solicitous, had already, before the abdication, repaid his affection with ingratitude. he had turned out all his father's old officials in milan, and had refused to visit him at brussels, till assured as to the amount of ceremonial respect which the new-made king was to receive at the hands of his father. had the emperor continued to live and reign, he would have found himself likewise engaged in mortal combat with that great religious movement in the netherlands, which he would not have been able many years longer to suppress, and which he left as a legacy of blood and fire to his successor. born in the same year with his century, charles was a decrepit, exhausted man at fifty-five, while that glorious age, in which humanity was to burst forever the cerements in which it had so long been buried, was but awakening to a consciousness of its strength. disappointed in his schemes, broken in his fortunes, with income anticipated, estates mortgaged, all his affairs in confusion; failing in mental powers, and with a constitution hopelessly shattered; it was time for him to retire. he showed his keenness in recognizing the fact that neither his power nor his glory would be increased, should he lag superfluous on the stage where mortification instead of applause was likely to be his portion. his frame was indeed but a wreck. forty years of unexampled gluttony had done their work. he was a victim to gout, asthma, dyspepsia, gravel. he was crippled in the neck, arms, knees, and hands. he was troubled with chronic cutaneous eruptions. his appetite remained, while his stomach, unable longer to perform the task still imposed upon it, occasioned him constant suffering. physiologists, who know how important a part this organ plays in the affairs of life, will perhaps see in this physical condition of the emperor a sufficient explanation, if explanation were required, of his descent from the throne. moreover, it is well known that the resolution to abdicate before his death had been long a settled scheme with him. it had been formally agreed between himself and the empress that they should separate at the approach of old age, and pass the remainder of their lives in a convent and a monastery. he had, when comparatively a young man, been struck by the reply made to him by an aged officer, whose reasons he had asked for, earnestly soliciting permission to retire from the imperial service. it was, said the veteran, that he might put a little space of religious contemplation between the active portion of his life and the grave. a similar determination, deferred from time to time, charles had now carried into execution. while he still lingered in brussels, after his abdication, a comet appeared, to warn him to the fulfilment of his purpose. from first to last, comets and other heavenly bodies were much connected with his evolutions and arrangements. there was no mistaking the motives with which this luminary had presented itself. the emperor knew very well, says a contemporary german chronicler, that it portended pestilence and war, together with the approaching death of mighty princes. "my fates call out," he cried, and forthwith applied himself to hasten the preparations for his departure. the romantic picture of his philosophical retirement at juste, painted originally by sandoval and siguenza, reproduced by the fascinating pencil of strada, and imitated in frequent succession by authors of every age and country, is unfortunately but a sketch of fancy. the investigations of modern writers have entirely thrown down the scaffolding on which the airy fabric, so delightful to poets and moralists, reposed. the departing emperor stands no longer in a transparency robed in shining garments. his transfiguration is at an end. every action, almost every moment of his retirement, accurately chronicled by those who shared his solitude, have been placed before our eyes, in the most felicitous manner, by able and brilliant writers. the emperor, shorn of the philosophical robe in which he had been conventionally arrayed for three centuries, shivers now in the cold air of reality. so far from his having immersed himself in profound and pious contemplation, below the current of the world's events, his thoughts, on the contrary, never were for a moment diverted from the political surface of the times. he read nothing but despatches; he wrote or dictated interminable ones in reply, as dull and prolix as any which ever came from his pen. he manifested a succession of emotions at the course of contemporary affairs, as intense and as varied, as if the world still rested in his palm. he was, in truth, essentially a man of action. he had neither the taste nor talents which make a man great in retirement. not a lofty thought, not a generous sentiment, not a profound or acute suggestion in his retreat has been recorded from his lips. the epigrams which had been invented for him by fabulists have been all taken away, and nothing has been substituted, save a few dull jests exchanged with stupid friars. so far from having entertained and even expressed that sentiment of religious toleration for which he was said to have been condemned as a heretic by the inquisition, and for which philip was ridiculously reported to have ordered his father's body to be burned, and his ashes scattered to the winds, he became in retreat the bigot effectually, which during his reign he had only been conventionally. bitter regrets that he should have kept his word to luther, as if he had not broken faith enough to reflect upon in his retirement; stern self- reproach for omitting to put to death, while he had him in his power, the man who had caused all the mischief of the age; fierce instructions thundered from his retreat to the inquisitors to hasten the execution of all heretics, including particularly his ancient friends, preachers and almoners, cazalla and constantine de fuente; furious exhortations to philip--as if philip needed a prompter in such a work--that he should set himself to "cutting out the root of heresy with rigor and rude chastisement;"--such explosions of savage bigotry as these, alternating with exhibitions of revolting gluttony, with surfeits of sardine omelettes, estramadura sausages, eel pies, pickled partridges, fat capons, quince syrups, iced beer, and flagons of rhenish, relieved by copious draughts of senna and rhubarb, to which his horror-stricken doctor doomed him as he ate--compose a spectacle less attractive to the imagination than the ancient portrait of the cloistered charles. unfortunately it is the one which was painted from life. etext editor's bookmarks: burned, strangled, beheaded, or buried alive ( , ) despot by birth and inclination (charles v.) endure every hardship but hunger gallant and ill-fated lamoral egmont he knew men, especially he knew their weaknesses his imagination may have assisted his memory in the task little grievances would sometimes inflame more than vast often much tyranny in democracy planted the inquisition in the netherlands [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic a history john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. corresponding member of the institute of france, etc. [etext editor's note: john lothrop motley, born in dorchester, mass. , died . other works: morton's hopes and merry mount, novels. motley was the united states minister to austria, - , and the united states minister to england, - . mark twain mentions his respect for john motley. oliver wendell holmes said in 'an oration delivered before the city authorities of boston' on the th of july, : "'it cannot be denied,'--says another observer, placed on one of our national watch-towers in a foreign capital,--'it cannot be denied that the tendency of european public opinion, as delivered from high places, is more and more unfriendly to our cause; but the people,' he adds, 'everywhere sympathize with us, for they know that our cause is that of free institutions,--that our struggle is that of the people against an oligarchy.' these are the words of the minister to austria, whose generous sympathies with popular liberty no homage paid to his genius by the class whose admiring welcome is most seductive to scholars has ever spoiled; our fellow-citizen, the historian of a great republic which infused a portion of its life into our own,--john lothrop motley." d.w.] preface the rise of the dutch republic must ever be regarded as one of the leading events of modern times. without the birth of this great commonwealth, the various historical phenomena of: the sixteenth and following centuries must have either not existed; or have presented themselves under essential modifications.--itself an organized protest against ecclesiastical tyranny and universal empire, the republic guarded with sagacity, at many critical periods in the world's history; that balance of power which, among civilized states; ought always to be identical with the scales of divine justice. the splendid empire of charles the fifth was erected upon the grave of liberty. it is a consolation to those who have hope in humanity to watch, under the reign of his successor, the gradual but triumphant resurrection of the spirit over which the sepulchre had so long been sealed. from the handbreadth of territory called the province of holland rises a power which wages eighty years' warfare with the most potent empire upon earth, and which, during the progress of the struggle, becoming itself a mighty state, and binding about its own slender form a zone of the richest possessions of earth, from pole to tropic, finally dictates its decrees to the empire of charles. so much is each individual state but a member of one great international commonwealth, and so close is the relationship between the whole human family, that it is impossible for a nation, even while struggling for itself, not to acquire something for all mankind. the maintenance of the right by the little provinces of holland and zealand in the sixteenth, by holland and england united in the seventeenth, and by the united states of america in the eighteenth centuries, forms but a single chapter in the great volume of human fate; for the so-called revolutions of holland, england, and america, are all links of one chain. to the dutch republic, even more than to florence at an earlier day, is the world indebted for practical instruction in that great science of political equilibrium which must always become more and more important as the various states of the civilized world are pressed more closely together, and as the struggle for pre-eminence becomes more feverish and fatal. courage and skill in political and military combinations enabled william the silent to overcome the most powerful and unscrupulous monarch of his age. the same hereditary audacity and fertility of genius placed the destiny of europe in the hands of william's great-grandson, and enabled him to mould into an impregnable barrier the various elements of opposition to the overshadowing monarchy of louis xiv. as the schemes of the inquisition and the unparalleled tyranny of philip, in one century, led to the establishment of the republic of the united provinces, so, in the next, the revocation of the nantes edict and the invasion of holland are avenged by the elevation of the dutch stadholder upon the throne of the stipendiary stuarts. to all who speak the english language; the history of the great agony through which the republic of holland was ushered into life must have peculiar interest, for it is a portion of the records of the anglo-saxon race--essentially the same, whether in friesland, england, or massachusetts. a great naval and commercial commonwealth, occupying a small portion of europe but conquering a wide empire by the private enterprise of trading companies, girdling the world with its innumerable dependencies in asia, america, africa, australia--exercising sovereignty in brazil, guiana, the west indies, new york, at the cape of good hope, in hindostan, ceylon, java, sumatra, new holland--having first laid together, as it were, many of the cyclopean blocks, out of which the british realm, at a late: period, has been constructed--must always be looked upon with interest by englishmen, as in a great measure the precursor in their own scheme of empire. for america the spectacle is one of still deeper import. the dutch republic originated in the opposition of the rational elements of human nature to sacerdotal dogmatism and persecution--in the courageous resistance of historical and chartered liberty to foreign despotism. neither that liberty nor ours was born of the cloud-embraces of a false divinity with, a humanity of impossible beauty, nor was the infant career of either arrested in blood and tears by the madness of its worshippers. "to maintain," not to overthrow, was the device of the washington of the sixteenth century, as it was the aim of our own hero and his great contemporaries. the great western republic, therefore--in whose anglo-saxon veins flows much of that ancient and kindred blood received from the nation once ruling a noble portion of its territory, and tracking its own political existence to the same parent spring of temperate human liberty--must look with affectionate interest upon the trials of the elder commonwealth. these volumes recite the achievement of dutch independence, for its recognition was delayed till the acknowledgment was superfluous and ridiculous. the existence of the republic is properly to be dated from the union of utrecht in , while the final separation of territory into independent and obedient provinces, into the commonwealth of the united states and the belgian provinces of spain, was in reality effected by william the silent, with whose death three years subsequently, the heroic period of the history may be said to terminate. at this point these volumes close. another series, with less attention to minute details, and carrying the story through a longer range of years, will paint the progress of the republic in its palmy days, and narrate the establishment of, its external system of dependencies and its interior combinations for self-government and european counterpoise. the lessons of history and the fate of free states can never be sufficiently pondered by those upon whom so large and heavy a responsibility for the maintenance of rational human freedom rests. i have only to add that this work is the result of conscientious research, and of an earnest desire to arrive at the truth. i have faithfully studied al the important contemporary chroniclers and later historians--dutch, flemish, french, italian, spanish, or german. catholic and protestant, monarchist and republican, have been consulted with the same sincerity. the works of bor (whose enormous but indispensable folios form a complete magazine of contemporary state- papers, letters, and pamphlets, blended together in mass, and connected by a chain of artless but earnest narrative), of meteren, de thou, burgundius, heuterus; tassis, viglius, hoofd, haraeus, van der haer, grotius-of van der vynckt, wagenaer, van wyn, de jonghe, kluit, van kampen, dewez, kappelle, bakhuyzen, groen van prinsterer--of ranke and raumer, have been as familiar to me as those of mendoza, carnero, cabrera, herrera, ulloa, bentivoglio, peres, strada. the manuscript relations of those argus-eyed venetian envoys who surprised so many courts and cabinets in their most unguarded moments, and daguerreotyped their character and policy for the instruction of the crafty republic, and whose reports remain such an inestimable source for the secret history of the sixteenth century, have been carefully examined-- especially the narratives of the caustic and accomplished badovaro, of suriano, and michele. it is unnecessary to add that all the publications of m. gachard--particularly the invaluable correspondence of philip ii. and of william the silent, as well as the "archives et correspondence" of the orange nassau family, edited by the learned and distinguished groen van prinsterer, have been my constant guides through the tortuous labyrinth of spanish and netherland politics. the large and most interesting series of pamphlets known as "the duncan collection," in the royal library at the hague, has also afforded a great variety of details by which i have endeavoured to give color and interest to the narrative. besides these, and many other printed works, i have also had the advantage of perusing many manuscript histories, among which may be particularly mentioned the works of pontua payen, of renom de france, and of pasquier de la barre; while the vast collection of unpublished documents in the royal archives of the hague, of brussels, and of dresden, has furnished me with much new matter of great importance. i venture to hope that many years of labour, a portion of them in the archives of those countries whose history forms the object of my study, will not have been entirely in vain; and that the lovers of human progress, the believers in the capacity of nations for self-government and self-improvement, and the admirers of disinterested human genius and virtue, may find encouragement for their views in the detailed history of an heroic people in its most eventful period, and in the life and death of the great man whose name and fame are identical with those of his country. no apology is offered for this somewhat personal statement. when an unknown writer asks the attention of the public upon an important theme, he is not only authorized, but required, to show, that by industry and earnestness he has entitled himself to a hearing. the author too keenly feels that he has no further claims than these, and he therefore most diffidently asks for his work the indulgence of his readers. i would take this opportunity of expressing my gratitude to dr. klemm, hofrath and chief librarian at dresden, and to mr. von weber, ministerial-rath and head of the royal archives of saxony, for the courtesy and kindness extended to me so uniformly during the course of my researches in that city. i would also speak a word of sincere thanks to mr. campbell, assistant librarian at the hague, for his numerous acts of friendship during the absence of, his chief, m. holtrop. to that most distinguished critic and historian, m. bakhuyzen van den brinck, chief archivist of the netherlands, i am under deep obligations for advice, instruction, and constant kindness, during my residence at the hague; and i would also signify my sense of the courtesy of mr. charter-master de schwane, and of the accuracy with which copies of mss. in the archives were prepared for me by his care. finally, i would allude in the strongest language of gratitude and respect to m. gachard, archivist- general of belgium, for his unwearied courtesy and manifold acts of kindness to me during my studies in the royal archives of brussels. the rise of the dutch republic historical introduction. part . i. the north-western corner of the vast plain which extends from the german ocean to the ural mountains, is occupied by the countries called the netherlands. this small triangle, enclosed between france, germany, and the sea, is divided by the modern kingdoms of belgium and holland into two nearly equal portions. our earliest information concerning this territory is derived from the romans. the wars waged by that nation with the northern barbarians have rescued the damp island of batavia, with its neighboring morasses, from the obscurity in which they might have remained for ages, before any thing concerning land or people would have been made known by the native inhabitants. julius caesar has saved from, oblivion the heroic savages who fought against his legions in defence of their dismal homes with ferocious but unfortunate patriotism; and the great poet of england, learning from the conqueror's commentaries the name of the boldest tribe, has kept the nervii, after almost twenty centuries, still fresh and familiar in our ears. tacitus, too, has described with singular minuteness the struggle between the people of these regions and the power of rome, overwhelming, although tottering to its fall; and has moreover, devoted several chapters of his work upon germany to a description of the most remarkable teutonic tribes of the netherlands. geographically and ethnographically, the low countries belong both to gaul and to germany. it is even doubtful to which of the two the batavian island, which is the core of the whole country, was reckoned by the romans. it is, however, most probable that all the land, with the exception of friesland, was considered a part of gaul. three great rivers--the rhine, the meuse, and the scheld--had deposited their slime for ages among the dunes and sand banks heaved up by the ocean around their mouths. a delta was thus formed, habitable at last for man. it was by nature a wide morass, in which oozy islands and savage forests were interspersed among lagoons and shallows; a district lying partly below the level of the ocean at its higher tides, subject to constant overflow from the rivers, and to frequent and terrible inundations by the sea. the rhine, leaving at last the regions where its storied lapse, through so many ages, has been consecrated alike by nature and art-by poetry and eventful truth----flows reluctantly through the basalt portal of the seven mountains into the open fields which extend to the german sea. after entering this vast meadow, the stream divides itself into two branches, becoming thus the two-horned rhine of virgil, and holds in these two arms the island of batavia. the meuse, taking its rise in the vosges, pours itself through the ardennes wood, pierces the rocky ridges upon the southeastern frontier of the low countries, receives the sambre in the midst of that picturesque anthracite basin where now stands the city of namur, and then moves toward the north, through nearly the whole length of the country, till it mingles its waters with the rhine. the scheld, almost exclusively a belgian river, after leaving its fountains in picardy, flows through the present provinces of flanders and hainault. in caesar's time it was suffocated before reaching the sea in quicksands and thickets, which long afforded protection to the savage inhabitants against the roman arms; and which the slow process of nature and the untiring industry of man have since converted into the archipelago of zealand and south holland. these islands were unknown to the romans. such were the rivers, which, with their numerous tributaries, coursed through the spongy land. their frequent overflow, when forced back upon their currents by the stormy sea, rendered the country almost uninhabitable. here, within a half-submerged territory, a race of wretched ichthyophagi dwelt upon terpen, or mounds, which they had raised, like beavers, above the almost fluid soil. here, at a later day, the same race chained the tyrant ocean and his mighty streams into subserviency, forcing them to fertilize, to render commodious, to cover with a beneficent network of veins and arteries, and to bind by watery highways with the furthest ends of the world, a country disinherited by nature of its rights. a region, outcast of ocean and earth, wrested at last from both domains their richest treasures. a race, engaged for generations in stubborn conflict with the angry elements, was unconsciously educating itself for its great struggle with the still more savage despotism of man. the whole territory of the netherlands was girt with forests. an extensive belt of woodland skirted the sea-coast; reaching beyond the mouths of the rhine. along the outer edge of this carrier, the dunes cast up by the sea were prevented by the close tangle of thickets from drifting further inward; and thus formed a breastwork which time and art were to strengthen. the, groves of haarlem and the hague are relics of this ancient forest. the badahuenna wood, horrid with druidic sacrifices, extended along the eastern line of the vanished lake of flevo. the vast hercynian forest, nine days' journey in breadth, closed in the country on the german side, stretching from the banks of the rhine to the remote regions of the dacians, in such vague immensity (says the conqueror of the whole country) that no german, after traveling sixty days, had ever reached, or even heard of; its commencement. on the south, the famous groves of ardennes, haunted by faun and satyr, embowered the country, and separated it from celtic gaul. thus inundated by mighty rivers, quaking beneath the level of the ocean, belted about by hirsute forests, this low land, nether land, hollow land, or holland, seemed hardly deserving the arms of the all-accomplished roman. yet foreign tyranny, from the earliest ages, has coveted this meagre territory as lustfully as it has sought to wrest from their native possessors those lands with the fatal gift of beauty for their dower; while the genius of liberty has inspired as noble a resistance to oppression here as it ever aroused in grecian or italian breasts. ii. it can never be satisfactorily ascertained who were the aboriginal inhabitants. the record does not reach beyond caesar's epoch, and he found the territory on the left of the rhine mainly tenanted by tribes of the celtic family. that large division of the indo-european group which had already overspread many portions of asia minor, greece, germany, the british islands, france, and spain, had been long settled in belgic gaul, and constituted the bulk of its population. checked in its westward movement by the atlantic, its current began to flow backwards towards its fountains, so that the gallic portion of the netherland population was derived from the original race in its earlier wanderings and from the later and refluent tide coming out of celtic gaul. the modern appellation of the walloons points to the affinity of their ancestors with the gallic, welsh, and gaelic family. the belgae were in many respects a superior race to most of their blood-allies. they were, according to caesar's testimony, the bravest of all the celts. this may be in part attributed to the presence of several german tribes, who, at this period had already forced their way across the rhine, mingled their qualities with the belgic material, and lent an additional mettle to the celtic blood. the heart of the country was thus inhabited by a gallic race, but the frontiers had been taken possession of by teutonic tribes. when the cimbri and their associates, about a century before our era, made their memorable onslaught upon rome, the early inhabitants of the rhine island of batavia, who were probably celts, joined in the expedition. a recent and tremendous inundation had swept away their miserable homes, and even the trees of the forests, and had thus rendered them still more dissatisfied with their gloomy abodes. the island was deserted of its population. at about the same period a civil dissension among the chatti--a powerful german race within the hercynian forest-- resulted in the expatriation of a portion of the people. the exiles sought a new home in the empty rhine island, called it "bet-auw," or "good-meadow," and were themselves called, thenceforward, batavi, or batavians. these batavians, according to tacitus, were the bravest of all the germans. the chatti, of whom they formed a portion, were a pre-eminently warlike race. "others go to battle," says the historian, "these go to war." their bodies were more hardy, their minds more vigorous, than those of other tribes. their young men cut neither hair nor beard till they had slain an enemy. on the field of battle, in the midst of carnage and plunder, they, for the first time, bared their faces. the cowardly and sluggish, only, remained unshorn. they wore an iron ring, too, or shackle upon their necks until they had performed the same achievement, a symbol which they then threw away, as the emblem of sloth. the batavians were ever spoken of by the romans with entire respect. they conquered the belgians, they forced the free frisians to pay tribute, but they called the batavians their friends. the tax-gatherer never invaded their island. honorable alliance united them with the romans. it was, however, the alliance of the giant and the dwarf. the roman gained glory and empire, the batavian gained nothing but the hardest blows. the batavian cavalry became famous throughout the republic and the empire. they were the favorite troops of caesar, and with reason, for it was their valor which turned the tide of battle at pharsalia. from the death of julius down to the times of vespasian, the batavian legion was the imperial body guard, the batavian island the basis of operations in the roman wars with gaul, germany, and britain. beyond the batavians, upon the north, dwelt the great frisian family, occupying the regions between the rhine and ems, the zuyder zee and the dollart, both caused by the terrific inundations of the thirteenth century and not existing at this period, did not then interpose boundaries between kindred tribes. all formed a homogeneous nation of pure german origin. thus, the population of the country was partly celtic, partly german. of these two elements, dissimilar in their tendencies and always difficult to blend, the netherland people has ever been compounded. a certain fatality of history has perpetually helped to separate still more widely these constituents, instead of detecting and stimulating the elective affinities which existed. religion, too, upon all great historical occasions, has acted as the most powerful of dissolvents. otherwise, had so many valuable and contrasted characteristics been early fused into a whole, it would be difficult to show a race more richly endowed by nature for dominion and progress than the belgo-germanic people. physically the two races resembled each other. both were of vast stature. the gigantic gaul derided the roman soldiers as a band of pigmies. the german excited astonishment by his huge body and muscular limbs. both were fair, with fierce blue eyes, but the celt had yellow hair floating over his shoulders, and the german long locks of fiery red, which he even dyed with woad to heighten the favorite color, and wore twisted into a war-knot upon the top of his head. here the german's love of finery ceased. a simple tunic fastened at his throat with a thorn, while his other garments defined and gave full play to his limbs, completed his costume. the gaul, on the contrary, was so fond of dress that the romans divided his race respectively into long-haired, breeched, and gowned gaul; (gallia comata, braccata, togata). he was fond of brilliant and parti-colored clothes, a taste which survives in the highlander's costume. he covered his neck and arms with golden chains. the simple and ferocious german wore no decoration save his iron ring, from which his first homicide relieved him. the gaul was irascible, furious in his wrath, but less formidable in a sustained conflict with a powerful foe. "all the gauls are of very high stature," says a soldier who fought under julian. (amm. marcel. xv. . ). "they are white, golden-haired, terrible in the fierceness of their eyes, greedy of quarrels, bragging and insolent. a band of strangers could not resist one of them in a brawl, assisted by his strong blue-eyed wife, especially when she begins, gnashing her teeth, her neck swollen, brandishing her vast and snowy arms, and kicking with her heels at the same time, to deliver her fisticuffs, like bolts from the twisted strings of a catapult. the voices of many are threatening and formidable. they are quick to anger, but quickly appeased. all are clean in their persons; nor among them is ever seen any man or woman, as elsewhere, squalid in ragged garments. at all ages they are apt for military service. the old man goes forth to the fight with equal strength of breast, with limbs as hardened by cold and assiduous labor, and as contemptuous of all dangers, as the young. not one of them, as in italy is often the case, was ever known to cut off his thumbs to avoid the service of mars." the polity of each race differed widely from that of the other. the government of both may be said to have been republican, but the gallic tribes were aristocracies, in which the influence of clanship was a predominant feature; while the german system, although nominally regal, was in reality democratic. in gaul were two orders, the nobility and the priesthood, while the people, says caesar, were all slaves. the knights or nobles were all trained to arms. each went forth to battle, followed by his dependents, while a chief of all the clans was appointed to take command during the war. the prince or chief governor was elected annually, but only by the nobles. the people had no rights at all, and were glad to assign themselves as slaves to any noble who was strong enough to protect them. in peace the druids exercised the main functions of government. they decided all controversies, civil and criminal. to rebel against their decrees was punished by exclusion from the sacrifices--a most terrible excommunication, through which the criminal was cut off from all intercourse with his fellow-creatures. with the germans, the sovereignty resided in the great assembly of the people. there were slaves, indeed, but in small number, consisting either of prisoners of war or of those unfortunates who had gambled away their liberty in games of chance. their chieftains, although called by the romans princes and kings, were, in reality, generals, chosen by universal suffrage. elected in the great assembly to preside in war, they were raised on the shoulders of martial freemen, amid wild battle cries and the clash of spear and shield. the army consisted entirely of volunteers, and the soldier was for life infamous who deserted the field while his chief remained alive. the same great assembly elected the village magistrates and decided upon all important matters both of peace and war. at the full of the moon it was usually convoked. the nobles and the popular delegates arrived at irregular intervals, for it was an inconvenience arising from their liberty, that two or three days were often lost in waiting for the delinquents. all state affairs were in the hands of this fierce democracy. the elected chieftains had rather authority to persuade than power to command. the gauls were an agricultural people. they were not without many arts of life. they had extensive flocks and herds; and they even exported salted provisions as far as rome. the truculent german, ger-mane, heer-mann, war-man, considered carnage the only useful occupation, and despised agriculture as enervating and ignoble. it was base, in his opinion, to gain by sweat what was more easily acquired by blood. the land was divided annually by the magistrates, certain farms being assigned to certain families, who were forced to leave them at the expiration of the year. they cultivated as a common property the lands allotted by the magistrates, but it was easier to summon them to the battle-field than to the plough. thus they were more fitted for the roaming and conquering life which providence was to assign to them for ages, than if they had become more prone to root themselves in the soil. the gauls built towns and villages. the german built his solitary hut where inclination prompted. close neighborhood was not to his taste. in their system of religion the two races were most widely contrasted. the gauls were a priest-ridden race. their druids were a dominant caste, presiding even over civil affairs, while in religious matters their authority was despotic. what were the principles of their wild theology will never be thoroughly ascertained, but we know too much of its sanguinary rites. the imagination shudders to penetrate those shaggy forests, ringing with the death-shrieks of ten thousand human victims, and with the hideous hymns chanted by smoke-and-blood-stained priests to the savage gods whom they served. the german, in his simplicity, had raised himself to a purer belief than that of the sensuous roman or the superstitious gaul. he believed in a single, supreme, almighty god, all-vater or all-father. this divinity was too sublime to be incarnated or imaged, too infinite to be enclosed in temples built with hands. such is the roman's testimony to the lofty conception of the german. certain forests were consecrated to the unseen god whom the eye of reverent faith could alone behold. thither, at stated times, the people repaired to worship. they entered the sacred grove with feet bound together, in token of submission. those who fell were forbidden to rise, but dragged themselves backwards on the ground. their rules were few and simple. they had no caste of priests, nor were they, when first known to the romans, accustomed to offer sacrifice. it must be confessed that in a later age, a single victim, a criminal or a prisoner, was occasionally immolated. the purity of their religion was soon stained by their celtic neighborhood. in the course of the roman dominion it became contaminated, and at last profoundly depraved. the fantastic intermixture of roman mythology with the gloomy but modified superstition of romanized celts was not favorable to the simple character of german theology. the entire extirpation, thus brought about, of any conceivable system of religion, prepared the way for a true revelation. within that little river territory, amid those obscure morasses of the rhine and scheld, three great forms of religion--the sanguinary superstition of the druid, the sensuous polytheism of the roman, the elevated but dimly groping creed of the german, stood for centuries, face to face, until, having mutually debased and destroyed each other, they all faded away in the pure light of christianity. thus contrasted were gaul and german in religious and political systems. the difference was no less remarkable in their social characteristics. the gaul was singularly unchaste. the marriage state was almost unknown. many tribes lived in most revolting and incestuous concubinage; brethren, parents, and children, having wives in common. the german was loyal as the celt was dissolute. alone among barbarians, he contented himself with a single wife, save that a few dignitaries, from motives of policy, were permitted a larger number. on the marriage day the german offered presents to his bride--not the bracelets and golden necklaces with which the gaul adorned his fair-haired concubine, but oxen and a bridled horse, a sword, a shield, and a spear-symbols that thenceforward she was to share his labors and to become a portion of himself. they differed, too, in the honors paid to the dead. the funerals of the gauls were pompous. both burned the corpse, but the celt cast into the flames the favorite animals, and even the most cherished slaves and dependents of the master. vast monuments of stone or piles of earth were raised above the ashes of the dead. scattered relics of the celtic age are yet visible throughout europe, in these huge but unsightly memorials, the german was not ambitious at the grave. he threw neither garments nor odors upon the funeral pyre, but the arms and the war-horse of the departed were burned and buried with him. the turf was his only sepulchre, the memory of his valor his only monument. even tears were forbidden to the men. "it was esteemed honorable," says the historian, "for women to lament, for men to remember." the parallel need be pursued no further. thus much it was necessary to recall to the historical student concerning the prominent characteristics by which the two great races of the land were distinguished: characteristics which time has rather hardened than effaced. in the contrast and the separation lies the key to much of their history. had providence permitted a fusion of the two races, it is, possible, from their position, and from the geographical and historical link which they would have afforded to the dominant tribes of europe, that a world-empire might have been the result, different in many respects from any which has ever arisen. speculations upon what might have been are idle. it is well, however; to ponder the many misfortunes resulting from a mutual repulsion, which, under other circumstances and in other spheres, has been exchanged for mutual attraction and support. it is now necessary to sketch rapidly the political transformations undergone by the country, from the early period down to the middle of the sixteenth century; the epoch when the long agony commenced, out of which the batavian republic was born. iii. the earliest chapter in the history of the netherlands was written by their conqueror. celtic gaul is already in the power of rome; the belgic tribes, alarmed at the approaching danger, arm against the universal, tyrant. inflammable, quick to strike, but too fickle to prevail against so powerful a foe, they hastily form a league of almost every clan. at the first blow of caesar's sword, the frail confederacy falls asunder like a rope of sand. the tribes scatter in all directions. nearly all are soon defeated, and sue for mercy. the nervii, true to the german blood in their, veins, swear to die rather than surrender. they, at least, are worthy of their cause. caesar advances against them at the head of eight legions. drawn up on the banks of the sambre, they await the roman's approach. in three days' march caesar comes up with them, pitches his camp upon a steep hill sloping down to the river, and sends some cavalry across. hardly have the roman horsemen crossed the stream, than the nervii rush from the wooded hill-top, overthrow horse and rider, plunge in one great mass into the current, and, directly afterwards, are seen charging up the hill into the midst of the enemy's force. "at the same moment," says the conqueror, "they seemed in the wood, in the river, and within our lines." there is a panic among the romans, but it is brief. eight veteran roman legions, with the world's victor at their head, are too much for the brave but undisciplined nervii. snatching a shield from a soldier, and otherwise unarmed, caesar throws himself into the hottest of the fight. the battle rages foot to foot and hand to hand but the hero's skill, with the cool valor of his troops, proves invincible as ever. the nervii, true to their vow, die, but not a man surrenders. they fought upon that day till the ground was heaped with their dead, while, as the foremost fell thick and fast, their comrades, says the roman, sprang upon their piled-up bodies, and hurled their javelins at the enemy as from a hill. they fought like men to whom life without liberty was a curse. they were not defeated, but exterminated. of many thousand fighting men went home but five hundred. upon reaching the place of refuge where they had bestowed their women and children, caesar found, after the battle, that there were but three of their senators left alive. so perished the nervii. caesar commanded his legions to treat with respect the little remnant of the tribe which had just fallen to swell the empty echo of his glory, and then, with hardly a breathing pause, he proceeded to annihilate the aduatici, the menapii, and the morini. gaul being thus pacified, as, with sublime irony, he expresses himself concerning a country some of whose tribes had been annihilated, some sold as slaves, and others hunted to their lairs like beasts of prey, the conqueror departed for italy. legations for peace from many german races to rome were the consequence of these great achievements. among others the batavians formed an alliance with the masters of the world. their position was always an honorable one. they were justly proud of paying no tribute, but it was, perhaps, because they had nothing to pay. they had few cattle, they could give no hides and horns like the frisians, and they were therefore allowed to furnish only their blood. from this time forth their cavalry, which was the best of germany, became renowned in the roman army upon every battle-field of europe. it is melancholy, at a later moment, to find the brave batavians distinguished in the memorable expedition of germanicus to crush the liberties of their german kindred. they are forever associated with the sublime but misty image of the great hermann, the hero, educated in rome, and aware of the colossal power of the empire, who yet, by his genius, valor, and political adroitness, preserved for germany her nationality, her purer religion, and perhaps even that noble language which her late- flowering literature has rendered so illustrious--but they are associated as enemies, not as friends. galba, succeeding to the purple upon the suicide of nero, dismissed the batavian life-guards to whom he owed his elevation. he is murdered, otho and vitellius contend for the succession, while all eyes are turned upon the eight batavian regiments. in their hands the scales of empire seem to rest. they declare for vitellius, and the civil war begins. otho is defeated; vitellius acknowledged by senate and people. fearing, like his predecessors, the imperious turbulence of the batavian legions, he, too, sends them into germany. it was the signal for a long and extensive revolt, which had well nigh overturned the roman power in gaul and lower germany. iv. claudius civilis was a batavian of noble race, who had served twenty-five years in the roman armies. his teutonic name has perished, for, like most savages who become denizens of a civilized state, he had assumed an appellation in the tongue of his superiors. he was a soldier of fortune, and had fought wherever the roman eagles flew. after a quarter of a century's service he was sent in chains to rome, and his brother executed, both falsely charged with conspiracy. such were the triumphs adjudged to batavian auxiliaries. he escaped with life, and was disposed to consecrate what remained of it to a nobler cause. civilis was no barbarian. like the german hero arminius, he had received a roman education, and had learned the degraded condition of rome. he knew the infamous vices of her rulers; he retained an unconquerable love for liberty and for his own race. desire to avenge his own wrongs was mingled with loftier motives in his breast. he knew that the sceptre was in the gift of the batavian soldiery. galba had been murdered, otho had destroyed himself, and vitellius, whose weekly gluttony cost the empire more gold than would have fed the whole batavian population and converted their whole island-morass into fertile pastures, was contending for the purple with vespasian, once an obscure adventurer like civilis himself, and even his friend and companion in arms. it seemed a time to strike a blow for freedom. by his courage, eloquence, and talent for political combinations, civilis effected a general confederation of all the netherland tribes, both celtic and german. for a brief moment there was a united people, a batavian commonwealth. he found another source of strength in german superstition. on the banks of the lippe, near its confluence with the rhine, dwelt the virgin velleda, a bructerian weird woman, who exercised vast influence over the warriors of her nation. dwelling alone in a lofty tower, shrouded in a wild forest, she was revered as an oracle. her answers to the demands of her worshippers concerning future events were delivered only to a chosen few. to civilis, who had formed a close friendship with her, she promised success, and the downfall of the roman world. inspired by her prophecies, many tribes of germany sent large subsidies to the batavian chief. the details of the revolt have been carefully preserved by tacitus, and form one of his grandest and most elaborate pictures. the spectacle of a brave nation, inspired by the soul of one great man and rising against an overwhelming despotism, will always speak to the heart, from generation to generation. the battles, the sieges, the defeats, the indomitable spirit of civilis, still flaming most brightly when the clouds were darkest around him, have been described by the great historian in his most powerful manner. the high-born roman has thought the noble barbarian's portrait a subject worthy his genius. the struggle was an unsuccessful one. after many victories and many overthrows, civilis was left alone. the gallic tribes fell off, and sued for peace. vespasian, victorious over vitellius, proved too powerful for his old comrade. even the batavians became weary of the hopeless contest, while fortune, after much capricious hovering, settled at last upon the roman side. the imperial commander cerialis seized the moment when the cause of the batavian hero was most desperate to send emissaries among his tribe, and even to tamper with the mysterious woman whose prophecies had so inflamed his imagination. these intrigues had their effect. the fidelity of the people was sapped; the prophetess fell away from her worshipper, and foretold ruin to his cause. the batavians murmured that their destruction was inevitable, that one nation could not arrest the slavery which was destined for the whole world. how large a part of the human race were the batavians? what were they in a contest with the whole roman empire? moreover, they were not oppressed with tribute. they were only expected to furnish men and valor to their proud allies. it was the next thing to liberty. if they were to have rulers, it was better to serve a roman emperor than a german witch. thus murmured the people. had civilis been successful, he would have been deified; but his misfortunes, at last, made him odious in spite of his heroism. but the batavian was not a man to be crushed, nor had he lived so long in the roman service to be outmatched in politics by the barbarous germans. he was not to be sacrificed as a peace-offering to revengeful rome. watching from beyond the rhine the progress of defection and the decay of national enthusiasm, he determined to be beforehand with those who were now his enemies. he accepted the offer of negotiation from cerialis. the roman general was eager to grant a full pardon, and to re-enlist so brave a soldier in the service of the empire. a colloquy was agreed upon. the bridge across the nabalia was broken asunder in the middle, and cerialis and civilis met upon the severed sides. the placid stream by which roman enterprise had connected the waters of the rhine with the lake of flevo, flowed between the imperial commander and the rebel chieftain. *********************************************** here the story abruptly terminates. the remainder of the roman's narrative is lost, and upon that broken bridge the form of the batavian hero disappears forever. his name fades from history: not a syllable is known of his subsequent career; every thing is buried in the profound oblivion which now steals over the scene where he was the most imposing actor. the soul of civilis had proved insufficient to animate a whole people; yet it was rather owing to position than to any personal inferiority, that his name did not become as illustrious as that of hermann. the german patriot was neither braver nor wiser than the batavian, but he had the infinite forests of his fatherland to protect him. every legion which plunged into those unfathomable depths was forced to retreat disastrously, or to perish miserably. civilis was hemmed in by the ocean; his country, long the basis of roman military operations, was accessible by river and canal, the patriotic spirit which he had for a moment raised, had abandoned him; his allies had deserted him; he stood alone and at bay, encompassed by the hunters, with death or surrender as his only alternative. under such circumstances, hermann could not have shown more courage or conduct, nor have terminated the impossible struggle with greater dignity or adroitness. the contest of civilis with rome contains a remarkable foreshadowing of the future conflict with spain, through which the batavian republic, fifteen centuries later, was to be founded. the characters, the events, the amphibious battles, desperate sieges, slippery alliances, the traits of generosity, audacity and cruelty, the generous confidence, the broken faith seem so closely to repeat themselves, that history appears to present the self-same drama played over and over again, with but a change of actors and of costume. there is more than a fanciful resemblance between civilis and william the silent, two heroes of ancient german stock, who had learned the arts of war and peace in the service of a foreign and haughty world-empire. determination, concentration of purpose, constancy in calamity, elasticity almost preternatural, self- denial, consummate craft in political combinations, personal fortitude, and passionate patriotism, were the heroic elements in both. the ambition of each was subordinate to the cause which he served. both refused the crown, although each, perhaps, contemplated, in the sequel, a batavian realm of which he would have been the inevitable chief. both offered the throne to a gallic prince, for classicus was but the prototype of anjou, as brinno of brederode, and neither was destined, in this world, to see his sacrifices crowned with success. the characteristics of the two great races of the land portrayed themselves in the roman and the spanish struggle with much the same colors. the southrons, inflammable, petulant, audacious, were the first to assault and to defy the imperial power in both revolts, while the inhabitants of the northern provinces, slower to be aroused, but of more enduring wrath, were less ardent at the commencement, but; alone, steadfast at the close of the contest. in both wars the southern celts fell away from the league, their courageous but corrupt chieftains having been purchased with imperial gold to bring about the abject submission of their followers; while the german netherlands, although eventually subjugated by rome, after a desperate struggle, were successful in the great conflict with spain, and trampled out of existence every vestige of her authority. the batavian republic took its rank among the leading powers of the earth; the belgic provinces remained roman, spanish, austrian property. v. obscure but important movements in the regions of eternal twilight, revolutions, of which history has been silent, in the mysterious depths of asia, outpourings of human rivets along the sides of the altai mountains, convulsions up-heaving r mote realms and unknown dynasties, shock after shock throb bing throughout the barbarian world and dying upon the edge of civilization, vast throes which shake the earth as precursory pangs to the birth of a new empire--as dying symptoms of the proud but effete realm which called itself the world; scattered hordes of sanguinary, grotesque savages pushed from their own homes, and hovering with vague purposes upon the roman frontier, constantly repelled and perpetually reappearing in ever-increasing swarms, guided thither by a fierce instinct, or by mysterious laws--such are the well known phenomena which preceded the fall of western rome. stately, externally powerful, although undermined and putrescent at the core, the death-stricken empire still dashed back the assaults of its barbarous enemies. during the long struggle intervening between the age of vespasian and that of odoacer, during all the preliminary ethnographical revolutions which preceded the great people's wandering, the netherlands remained subject provinces. their country was upon the high road which led the goths to rome. those low and barren tracts were the outlying marches of the empire. upon that desolate beach broke the first surf from the rising ocean of german freedom which was soon to overwhelm rome. yet, although the ancient landmarks were soon well nigh obliterated, the netherlands still remained faithful to the empire, batavian blood was still poured out for its defence. by the middle of the fourth century, the franks and allemanians, alle- mannez, all-men, a mass of united germans are defeated by the emperor julian at strasburg, the batavian cavalry, as upon many other great occasions, saving the day for despotism. this achievement, one of the last in which the name appears upon historic record, was therefore as triumphant for the valor as it was humiliating to the true fame of the nation. their individuality soon afterwards disappears, the race having been partly exhausted in the roman service, partly merged in the frank and frisian tribes who occupy the domains of their forefathers. for a century longer, rome still retains its outward form, but the swarming nations are now in full career. the netherlands are successively or simultaneously trampled by franks, vandals, alani, suevi, saxons, frisians, and even sclavonians, as the great march of germany to universal empire, which her prophets and bards had foretold, went majestically forward. the fountains of the frozen north were opened, the waters prevailed, but the ark of christianity floated upon the flood. as the deluge assuaged, the earth had returned to chaos, the last pagan empire had been washed out of existence, but the dimly, groping, faltering, ignorant infancy of christian europe had begun. after the wanderings had subsided, the netherlands are found with much the same ethnological character as before. the frank dominion has succeeded the roman, the german stock preponderates over the celtic, but the national ingredients, although in somewhat altered proportions, remain essentially the same. the old belgae, having become romanized in tongue and customs, accept the new empire of the franks. that people, however, pushed from their hold of the rhine by thickly thronging hordes of gepidi, quadi, sarmati, heruli, saxons, burgundians, move towards the south and west. as the empire falls before odoacer, they occupy celtic gaul with the belgian portion of the netherlands; while the frisians, into which ancient german tribe the old batavian element has melted, not to be extinguished, but to live a renovated existence, the "free frisians;" whose name is synonymous with liberty, nearest blood relations of the anglo-saxon race, now occupy the northern portion, including the whole future european territory of the dutch republic. the history of the franks becomes, therefore, the history of the netherlands. the frisians struggle, for several centuries, against their dominion, until eventually subjugated by charlemagne. they even encroach upon the franks in belgic gaul, who are determined not to yield their possessions. moreover, the pious merovingian faineans desire to plant christianity among the still pagan frisians. dagobert, son of the second clotaire, advances against them as far as the weser, takes possession of utrecht, founds there the first christian church in friesland, and establishes a nominal dominion over the whole country. yet the feeble merovingians would have been powerless against rugged friesland, had not their dynasty already merged in that puissant family of brabant, which long wielded their power before it assumed their crown. it was pepin of heristal, grandson of the netherlander, pepin of landen, who conquered the frisian radbod (a.d. ), and forced him to exchange his royal for the ducal title. it was pepin's bastard, charles the hammer, whose tremendous blows completed his father's work. the new mayor of the palace soon drove the frisian chief into submission, and even into christianity. a bishop's indiscretion, however, neutralized the apostolic blows of the mayor. the pagan radbod had already immersed one of his royal legs in the baptismal font, when a thought struck him. "where are my dead forefathers at present?" he said, turning suddenly upon bishop wolfran. "in hell, with all other unbelievers," was the imprudent answer. "mighty well," replied radbod, removing his leg, "then will i rather feast with my ancestors in the halls of woden, than dwell with your little starveling hand of christians in heaven." entreaties and threats were unavailing. the frisian declined positively a rite which was to cause an eternal separation from his buried kindred, and he died as he had lived, a heathen. his son, poppa, succeeding to the nominal sovereignty, did not actively oppose the introduction of christianity among his people, but himself refused to be converted. rebelling against the frank dominion, he was totally routed by charles martell in a great battle (a.d. ) and perished with a vast number of frisians. the christian dispensation, thus enforced, was now accepted by these northern pagans. the commencement of their conversion had been mainly the work of their brethren from britain. the monk wilfred was followed in a few years by the anglo-saxon willibrod. it was he who destroyed the images of woden in walcheren, abolished his worship, and founded churches in north holland. charles martell rewarded him. with extensive domains about utrecht, together with many slaves and other chattels. soon afterwards he was consecrated bishop of all the frisians. thus rose the famous episcopate of utrecht. another anglo-saxon, winfred, or bonifacius, had been equally active among his frisian cousins. his crozier had gone hand in hand with the battle-axe. bonifacius followed close upon the track of his orthodox coadjutor charles. by the middle of the eighth century, some hundred thousand frisians had been slaughtered, and as many more converted. the hammer which smote the saracens at tours was at last successful in beating the netherlanders into christianity. the labors of bonifacius through upper and lower germany were immense; but he, too, received great material rewards. he was created archbishop of mayence, and, upon the death of willibrod, bishop of utrecht. faithful to his mission, however, he met, heroically, a martyr's death at the hands of the refractory pagans at dokkum. thus was christianity established in the netherlands. under charlemagne, the frisians often rebelled, making common cause with the saxons. in , a.d., they were, however, completely subjugated, and never rose again until the epoch of their entire separation from the frank empire. charlemagne left them their name of free frisians, and the property in their own land. the feudal system never took root in their soil. "the frisians," says their statute book; "shall be free, as long as the wind blows out of the clouds and the world stands." they agreed, however, to obey the chiefs whom the frank monarch should appoint to govern them, according to their own laws. those laws were collected, and are still extant. the vernacular version of their asega book contains their ancient customs, together with the frank additions. the general statutes of charlemagne were, of course, in vigor also; but that great legislator knew too well the importance attached by all mankind to local customs, to allow his imperial capitulara to interfere, unnecessarily, with the frisian laws. thus again the netherlands, for the first time since the fall of rome, were united under one crown imperial. they had already been once united, in their slavery to rome. eight centuries pass away, and they are again united, in subjection to charlemagne. their union was but in forming a single link in the chain of a new realm. the reign of charlemagne had at last accomplished the promise of the sorceress velleda and other soothsayers. a german race had re-established the empire of the world. the netherlands, like-the other provinces of the great monarch's dominion, were governed by crown-appointed functionaries, military and judicial. in the northeastern, or frisian portion, however; the grants of land were never in the form of revocable benefices or feuds. with this important exception, the whole country shared the fate, and enjoyed the general organization of the empire. but charlemagne came an age too soon. the chaos which had brooded over europe since the dissolution of the roman world, was still too absolute. it was not to be fashioned into permanent forms, even by his bold and constructive genius. a soil, exhausted by the long culture of pagan empires, was to lie fallow for a still longer period. the discordant elements out of which the emperor had compounded his realm, did not coalesce during his life-time. they were only held together by the vigorous grasp of the hand which had combined them. when the great statesman died, his empire necessarily fell to pieces. society had need of farther disintegration before it could begin to reconstruct itself locally. a new civilization was not to be improvised by a single mind. when did one man ever civilize a people? in the eighth and ninth centuries there was not even a people to be civilized. the construction of charles was, of necessity, temporary. his empire was supported by artificial columns, resting upon the earth, which fell prostrate almost as soon as the hand of their architect was cold. his institutions had not struck down into the soil. there were no extensive and vigorous roots to nourish, from below, a flourishing empire through time and tempest. moreover, the carlovingian race had been exhausted by producing a race of heroes like the pepins and the charleses. the family became, soon, as contemptible as the ox-drawn, long-haired "do-nothings" whom it had expelled; but it is not our task to describe the fortunes of the emperor's ignoble descendants. the realm was divided, sub-divided, at times partially reunited, like a family farm, among monarchs incompetent alike to hold, to delegate, or--to resign the inheritance of the great warrior and lawgiver. the meek, bald, fat, stammering, simple charles, or louis, who successively sat upon his throne--princes, whose only historic individuality consists in these insipid appellations--had not the sense to comprehend, far less to develop, the plans of their ancestor. charles the simple was the last carlovingian who governed lotharingia, in which were comprised most of the netherlands and friesland. the german monarch, henry the fowler, at that period called king of the east franks, as charles of the west franks, acquired lotharingia by the treaty of bonn, charles reserving the sovereignty over the kingdom during his lifetime. in , a.d., however, the simpleton having been imprisoned and deposed by his own subjects, the fowler was recognized king, of lotharingia. thus the netherlands passed out of france into germany, remaining, still, provinces of a loose, disjointed empire. this is the epoch in which the various dukedoms, earldoms, and other petty sovereignties of the netherlands became hereditary. it was in the year that charles the simple presented to count dirk the territory of holland, by letters patent. this narrow hook of land, destined, in future ages, to be the cradle of a considerable empire, stretching through both hemispheres, was, thenceforth, the inheritance of dirk's descendants. historically, therefore, he is dirk i., count of holland. of this small sovereign and his successors, the most powerful foe for centuries was ever the bishop of utrecht, the origin of whose greatness has been already indicated. of the other netherland provinces, now or before become hereditary, the first in rank was lotharingia, once the kingdom of lothaire, now the dukedom of lorraine. in it was divided into upper and lower lorraine, of which the lower duchy alone belonged to the netherlands. two centuries later, the counts of louvain, then occupying most of brabant, obtained a permanent hold of lower lorraine, and began to call themselves dukes of brabant. the same principle of local independence and isolation which created these dukes, established the hereditary power of the counts and barons who formerly exercised jurisdiction under them and others. thus arose sovereign counts of namur, hainault, limburg, zutphen, dukes of luxemburg and gueldres, barons of mechlin, marquesses of antwerp, and others; all petty autocrats. the most important of all, after the house of lorraine, were the earls of flanders; for the bold foresters of charles the great had soon wrested the sovereignty of their little territory from his feeble descendants as easily as baldwin, with the iron arm, had deprived the bald charles of his daughter. holland, zeeland, utrecht, overyssel, groningen, drenthe and friesland (all seven being portions of friesland in a general sense), were crowded together upon a little desolate corner of europe; an obscure fragment of charlemagne's broken empire. they were afterwards to constitute the united states of the netherlands, one of the most powerful republics of history. meantime, for century after century, the counts of holland and the bishops of utrecht were to exercise divided sway over the territory. thus the whole country was broken into many shreds and patches of sovereignty. the separate history of such half-organized morsels is tedious and petty. trifling dynasties, where a family or two were every thing, the people nothing, leave little worth recording. even the most devout of genealogists might shudder to chronicle the long succession of so many illustrious obscure. a glance, however, at the general features of the governmental system now established in the netherlands, at this important epoch in the world's history, will show the transformations which the country, in common with other portions of the western world, had undergone. in the tenth century the old batavian and later roman forms have faded away. an entirely new polity has succeeded. no great popular assembly asserts its sovereignty, as in the ancient german epoch; no generals and temporary kings are chosen by the nation. the elective power had been lost under the romans, who, after conquest, had conferred the administrative authority over their subject provinces upon officials appointed by the metropolis. the franks pursued the same course. in charlemagne's time, the revolution is complete. popular assemblies and popular election entirely vanish. military, civil, and judicial officers-dukes, earls, margraves, and others--are all king's creatures, 'knegton des konings, pueri regis', and so remain, till they abjure the creative power, and set up their own. the principle of charlemagne, that his officers should govern according to local custom, helps them to achieve their own independence, while it preserves all that is left of national liberty and law. the counts, assisted by inferior judges, hold diets from time to time-- thrice, perhaps, annually. they also summon assemblies in case of war. thither are called the great vassals, who, in turn, call their lesser vassals; each armed with "a shield, a spear, a bow, twelve arrows, and a cuirass." such assemblies, convoked in the name of a distant sovereign, whose face his subjects had never seen, whose language they could hardly understand, were very different from those tumultuous mass-meetings, where boisterous freemen, armed with the weapons they loved the best, and arriving sooner or later, according to their pleasure, had been accustomed to elect their generals and magistrates and to raise them upon their shields. the people are now governed, their rulers appointed by an invisible hand. edicts, issued by a power, as it were, supernatural, demand implicit obedience. the people, acquiescing in their own annihilation, abdicate not only their political but their personal rights. on the other hand, the great source of power diffuses less and less of light and warmth. losing its attractive and controlling influence, it becomes gradually eclipsed, while its satellites fly from their prescribed bounds and chaos and darkness return. the sceptre, stretched over realms so wide, requires stronger hands than those of degenerate carlovingians. it breaks asunder. functionaries become sovereigns, with hereditary, not delegated, right to own the people, to tax their roads and rivers, to take tithings of their blood and sweat, to harass them in all the relations of life. there is no longer a metropolis to protect them from official oppression. power, the more sub-divided, becomes the more tyrannical. the sword is the only symbol of law, the cross is a weapon of offence, the bishop is a consecrated pirate, every petty baron a burglar, while the people, alternately the prey of duke, prelate, and seignor, shorn and butchered like sheep, esteem it happiness to sell themselves into slavery, or to huddle beneath the castle walls of some little potentate, for the sake of his wolfish protection. here they build hovels, which they surround from time to time with palisades and muddy entrenchments; and here, in these squalid abodes of ignorance and misery, the genius of liberty, conducted by the spirit of commerce, descends at last to awaken mankind from its sloth and cowardly stupor. a longer night was to intervene; however, before the dawn of day. the crown-appointed functionaries had been, of course, financial officers. they collected the revenue of the sovereign, one third of which slipped through their fingers into their own coffers. becoming sovereigns themselves, they retain these funds for their private emolument. four principal sources yielded this revenue: royal domains, tolls and imposts, direct levies and a pleasantry called voluntary contributions or benevolences. in addition to these supplies were also the proceeds of fines. taxation upon sin was, in those rude ages, a considerable branch of the revenue. the old frisian laws consisted almost entirely of a discriminating tariff upon crimes. nearly all the misdeeds which man is prone to commit, were punished by a money-bote only. murder, larceny, arson, rape--all offences against the person were commuted for a definite price. there were a few exceptions, such as parricide, which was followed by loss of inheritance; sacrilege and the murder of a master by a slave, which were punished with death. it is a natural inference that, as the royal treasury was enriched by these imposts, the sovereign would hardly attempt to check the annual harvest of iniquity by which his revenue was increased. still, although the moral sense is shocked by a system which makes the ruler's interest identical with the wickedness of his people, and holds out a comparative immunity in evil-doing for the rich, it was better that crime should be punished by money rather than not be punished at all. a severe tax, which the noble reluctantly paid and which the penniless culprit commuted by personal slavery, was sufficiently unjust as well as absurd, yet it served to mitigate the horrors with which tumult, rapine, and murder enveloped those early days. gradually, as the light of reason broke upon the dark ages, the most noxious features of the system were removed, while the general sentiment of reverence for law remained. etext editor's bookmarks: a country disinherited by nature of its rights a pleasantry called voluntary contributions or benevolences annual harvest of iniquity by which his revenue was increased batavian legion was the imperial body guard beating the netherlanders into christianity bishop is a consecrated pirate brethren, parents, and children, having wives in common for women to lament, for men to remember gaul derided the roman soldiers as a band of pigmies great science of political equilibrium holland, england, and america, are all links of one chain long succession of so many illustrious obscure others go to battle, says the historian, these go to war revocable benefices or feuds taxation upon sin the gaul was singularly unchaste motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, - , complete the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley volume , book ., [chapter viii.] secret policy of the government--berghen and montigny in spain-- debates at segovia--correspondence of the duchess with philip-- procrastination and dissimulation of the king--secret communication to the pope--effect in the provinces of the king's letters to the government--secret instructions to the duchess--desponding statements of margaret--her misrepresentations concerning orange, egmont, and others--wrath and duplicity of philip--egmont's exertions in flanders--orange returns to antwerp--his tolerant spirit--agreement of d september--horn at tournay--excavations in the cathedral--almost universal attendance at the preaching-- building of temples commenced--difficult position of horn--preaching in the clothiers' hall--horn recalled--noircarmes at tournay-- friendly correspondence of margaret with orange, egmont, horn, and hoogstraaten--her secret defamation of these persons. egmont in flanders, orange at antwerp, horn at tournay; hoogstraaten at mechlin, were exerting themselves to suppress insurrection and to avert ruin. what, meanwhile, was the policy of the government? the secret course pursued both at brussels and at madrid may be condensed into the usual formula--dissimulation, procrastination, and again dissimulation. it is at this point necessary to take a rapid survey of the open and the secret proceedings of the king and his representatives from the moment at which berghen and montigny arrived in madrid. those ill-fated gentlemen had been received with apparent cordiality, and admitted to frequent, but unmeaning, interviews with his majesty. the current upon which they were embarked was deep and treacherous, but it was smooth and very slow. they assured the king that his letters, ordering the rigorous execution of the inquisition and edicts, had engendered all the evils under which the provinces were laboring. they told him that spaniards and tools of spaniards had attempted to govern the country, to the exclusion of native citizens and nobles, but that it would soon be found that netherlanders were not to be trodden upon like the abject inhabitants of milan, naples, and sicily. such words as these struck with an unaccustomed sound upon the royal ear, but the envoys, who were both catholic and loyal, had no idea, in thus expressing their opinions, according to their sense of duty, and in obedience to the king's desire, upon the causes of the discontent, that they were committing an act of high treason. when the news of the public preaching reached spain, there were almost daily consultations at the grove of segovia. the eminent personages who composed the royal council were the duke of alva, the count de feria, don antonio de toledo, don juan manrique de lara, ruy gomez, quixada, councillor tisnacq, recently appointed president of the state council, and councillor hopper. six spaniards and two netherlanders, one of whom, too, a man of dull intellect and thoroughly subservient character, to deal with the local affairs of the netherlands in a time of intense excitement! the instructions of the envoys had been to represent the necessity of according three great points--abolition of the inquisition, moderation of the edicts, according to the draft prepared in brussels, and an ample pardon for past transactions. there was much debate upon all these propositions. philip said little, but he listened attentively to the long discourses in council, and he took an incredible quantity of notes. it was the general opinion that this last demand on the part of the netherlanders was the fourth link in the chain of treason. the first had been the cabal by which granvelle had been expelled; the second, the mission of egmont, the main object of which had been to procure a modification of the state council, in order to bring that body under the control of a few haughty and rebellious nobles; the third had been the presentation of the insolent and seditious request; and now, to crown the whole, came a proposition embodying the three points--abolition of the inquisition, revocation of the edicts, and a pardon to criminals, for whom death was the only sufficient punishment. with regard to these three points, it was, after much wrangling, decided to grant them under certain restrictions. to abolish the inquisition would be to remove the only instrument by which the church had been accustomed to regulate the consciences and the doctrines of its subjects. it would be equivalent to a concession of religious freedom, at least to individuals within their own domiciles, than which no concession could be more pernicious. nevertheless, it might be advisable to permit the temporary cessation of the papal inquisition, now that the episcopal inquisition had been so much enlarged and strengthened in the netherlands, on the condition that this branch of the institution should be maintained in energetic condition. with regard to the moderation, it was thought better to defer that matter till, the proposed visit of his majesty to the provinces. if, however, the regent should think it absolutely necessary to make a change, she must cause a new draft to be made, as that which had been sent was not found admissible. touching the pardon general, it would be necessary to make many conditions and restrictions before it could be granted. provided these were sufficiently minute to exclude all persons whom it might be found desirable to chastise, the amnesty was possible. otherwise it was quite out of the question. meantime, margaret of parma had been urging her brother to come to a decision, painting the distracted condition of the country in the liveliest colors, and insisting, although perfectly aware of philip's private sentiments, upon a favorable decision as to the three points demanded by the envoys. especially she urged her incapacity to resist any rebellion, and demanded succor of men and money in case the "moderation" were not accepted by his majesty. it was the last day of july before the king wrote at all, to communicate his decisions upon the crisis which had occurred in the first week of april. the disorder for which he had finally prepared a prescription had, before his letter arrived, already passed through its subsequent stages of the field-preaching and the image-breaking. of course these fresh symptoms would require much consultation, pondering, and note-taking before they could be dealt with. in the mean time they would be considered as not yet having happened. this was the masterly procrastination of the sovereign, when his provinces were in a blaze. his masterly dissimulation was employed in the direction suggested by his councillors. philip never originated a thought, nor laid down a plan, but he was ever true to the falsehood of his nature, and was indefatigable in following out the suggestions of others. no greater mistake can be made than to ascribe talent to this plodding and pedantic monarch. the man's intellect was contemptible, but malignity and duplicity, almost superhuman; have effectually lifted his character out of the regions of the common-place. he wrote accordingly to say that the pardon, under certain conditions, might be granted, and that the papal inquisition might cease--the bishops now being present in such numbers, "to take care of their flocks," and the episcopal inquisition being, therefore established upon so secure a basis. he added, that if a moderation of the edicts were still desired, a new project might be sent to madrid, as the one brought by berghen and montigny was not satisfactory. in arranging this wonderful scheme for composing the tumults of the country, which had grown out of a determined rebellion to the inquisition in any form, he followed not only the advice, but adopted the exact language of his councillors. certainly, here was not much encouragement for patriotic hearts in the netherlands. a pardon, so restricted that none were likely to be forgiven save those who had done no wrong; an episcopal inquisition stimulated to renewed exertions, on the ground that the papal functionaries were to be discharged; and a promise that, although the proposed moderation of the edicts seemed too mild for the monarch's acceptance, yet at some future period another project would be matured for settling the matter to universal satisfaction--such were the propositions of the crown. nevertheless, philip thought he had gone too far, even in administering this meagre amount of mercy, and that he had been too frank in employing so slender a deception, as in the scheme thus sketched. he therefore summoned a notary, before whom, in presence of the duke of alva, the licentiate menchaca and dr. velasco, he declared that, although he had just authorized margaret of parma, by force of circumstances, to grant pardon to all those who had been compromised in the late disturbances of the netherlands, yet as he had not done this spontaneously nor freely, he did not consider himself bound by the authorization, but that, on the contrary, he reserved his right to punish all the guilty, and particularly those who had been the authors and encouragers of the sedition. so much for the pardon promised in his official correspondence. with regard to the concessions, which he supposed himself to have made in the matter of the inquisition and the edicts, he saved his conscience by another process. revoking with his right hand all which his left had been doing, he had no sooner despatched his letters to the duchess regent than he sent off another to his envoy at rome. in this despatch he instructed requesens to inform the pope as to the recent royal decisions upon the three points, and to state that there had not been time to consult his holiness beforehand. nevertheless, continued philip "the prudent," it was perhaps better thus, since the abolition could have no force, unless the pope, by whom the institution had been established, consented to its suspension. this matter, however, was to be kept a profound secret. so much for the inquisition matter. the papal institution, notwithstanding the official letters, was to exist, unless the pope chose to destroy it; and his holiness, as we have seen, had sent the archbishop of sorrento, a few weeks before, to brussels, for the purpose of concerting secret measures for strengthening the "holy office" in the provinces. with regard to the proposed moderation of the edicts, philip informed pius the fifth, through requesens, that the project sent by the duchess not having been approved, orders had been transmitted for a new draft, in which all the articles providing for the severe punishment of heretics were to be retained, while alterations, to be agreed upon by the state and privy councils, and the knights of the fleece, were to be adopted--certainly in no sense of clemency. on the contrary, the king assured his holiness, that if the severity of chastisement should be mitigated the least in the world by the new articles, they would in no case receive the royal approbation. philip further implored the pope "not to be scandalized" with regard to the proposed pardon, as it would be by no means extended to offenders against religion. all this was to be kept entirely secret. the king added, that rather than permit the least prejudice to the ancient religion, he would sacrifice all his states, and lose a hundred lives if he had so many; for he would never consent to be the sovereign of heretics. he said he would arrange the troubles of the netherlands, without violence, if possible, because forcible measures would cause the entire destruction of the country. nevertheless they should be employed, if his purpose could be accomplished in no other way. in that case the king would himself be the executor of his own design, without allowing the peril which he should incur, nor the ruin of the provinces, nor that of his other realms, to prevent him from doing all which a christian prince was bound to do, to maintain the catholic religion and the authority of the holy see, as well as to testify his personal regard for the reigning pontiff, whom he so much loved and esteemed. here was plain speaking. here were all the coming horrors distinctly foreshadowed. here was the truth told to the only being with whom philip ever was sincere. yet even on this occasion, he permitted himself a falsehood by which his holiness was not deceived. philip had no intention of going to the netherlands in person, and the pope knew that he had none. "i feel it in my bones," said granvelle, mournfully, "that nobody in rome believes in his majesty's journey to the provinces." from that time forward, however, the king began to promise this visit, which was held out as a panacea for every ill, and made to serve as an excuse for constant delay. it may well be supposed that if philip's secret policy had been thoroughly understood in the netherlands, the outbreak would have come sooner. on the receipt, however, of the public despatches from madrid, the administration in brussels made great efforts to represent their tenor as highly satisfactory. the papal inquisition was to be abolished, a pardon was to be granted, a new moderation was to be arranged at some indefinite period; what more would men have? yet without seeing the face of the cards, the people suspected the real truth, and orange was convinced of it. viglius wrote that if the king did not make his intended visit soon, he would come too late, and that every week more harm was done by procrastination than could be repaired by months of labor and perhaps by torrents of blood. what the precise process was, through which philip was to cure all disorders by his simple presence, the president did not explain. as for the measures propounded by the king after so long a delay, they were of course worse than useless; for events had been marching while he had been musing. the course suggested was, according to viglius, but "a plaster for a wound, but a drag-chain for the wheel." he urged that the convocation of the states-general was the only remedy for the perils in which the country was involved; unless the king should come in person. he however expressed the hope that by general consultation some means would be devised by which, if not a good, at least a less desperate aspect would be given to public affairs, "so that the commonwealth, if fall it must, might at least fall upon its feet like a cat, and break its legs rather than its neck." notwithstanding this highly figurative view of the subject; and notwithstanding the urgent representations of duchess margaret to her brother, that nobles and people were all clamoring about the necessity of convening the states general, philip was true to his instincts on this as on the other questions. he knew very well that the states-general of the netherlands and spanish despotism were incompatible ideas, and he recoiled from the idea of the assembly with infinite aversion. at the same time a little wholesome deception could do no harm. he wrote to the duchess, therefore, that he was determined never to allow the states-general to be convened. he forbade her to consent to the step under any circumstances, but ordered her to keep his prohibition a profound secret. he wished, he said, the people to think that it was only for the moment that the convocation was forbidden, and that the duchess was expecting to receive the necessary permission at another time. it was his desire, he distinctly stated, that the people should not despair of obtaining the assembly, but he was resolved never to consent to the step, for he knew very well what was meant by a meeting of the states-general. certainly after so ingenuous but secret a declaration from the disciple of macchiavelli, margaret might well consider the arguments to be used afterward by herself and others, in favor of the ardently desired measure, as quite superfluous. such then was the policy secretly resolved upon by philip; even before he heard of the startling events which were afterwards to break upon him. he would maintain the inquisition and the edicts; he would exterminate the heretics, even if he lost all his realms and his own life in the cause; he would never hear of the national representatives coming together. what then were likely to be his emotions when he should be told of twenty thousand armed heretics assembling at one spot, and fifteen thousand at another, in almost every town in every province, to practice their blasphemous rites; when he should be told of the whirlwind which had swept all the ecclesiastical accumulations of ages out of existence; when he should read margaret's despairing letters, in which she acknowledged that she had at last committed an act unworthy of god, of her king, and of herself, in permitting liberty of worship to the renegades from the ancient church! the account given by the duchess was in truth very dismal. she said that grief consumed her soul and crimson suffused her cheeks while she related the recent transactions. she took god to witness that she had resisted long, that she had past many sleepless nights, that she had been wasted with fever and grief. after this penitential preface she confessed that, being a prisoner and almost besieged in her palace, sick in body and soul, she had promised pardon and security to the confederates, with liberty of holding assemblies to heretics in places where the practice had already obtained. these concessions had been made valid until the king by and with the consent of the states-general, should definitely arrange the matter. she stated, however, that she had given her consent to these two demands, not in the royal name, but in her own. the king was not bound by her promise, and she expressed the hope that he would have no regard to any such obligation. she further implored her brother to come forth as soon as possible to avenge the injuries inflicted upon the ancient church, adding, that if deprived of that consolation, she should incontinently depart this life. that hope alone would prevent her death. this was certainly strong language. she was also very explicit in her representations of the influence which had been used by certain personages to prevent the exercise of any authority upon her own part. "wherefore," said margaret, "i eat my heart; and shall never have peace till the arrival of your majesty." there was no doubt who those personages were who, as it was pretended, had thus held the duchess in bondage, and compelled her to grant these infamous concessions. in her secret italian letters, she furnished the king with a tissue of most extravagant and improbable falsehoods, supplied to her mainly by noircarmes and mansfeld, as to the course pursued at this momentous crisis by orange, egmont, horn, and hoogstraaten. they had all, she said, declared against god and against religion.--horn, at least, was for killing all the priests and monks in the country, if full satisfaction were not given to the demands of the heretics. egmont had declared openly for the beggars, and was levying troops in germany. orange had the firm intention of making himself master of the whole country, and of dividing it among the other seigniors and himself. the prince had said that if she took refuge in mons, as she had proposed, they would instantly convoke the states-general, and take all necessary measures. egmont had held the same language, saying that he would march at the head of forty thousand men to besiege her in that city. all these seigniors, however, had avowed their determination to prevent her flight, to assemble the estates, and to drag her by force before the assembly, in order to compel her consent to every measure which might be deemed expedient. under all these circumstances, she had been obliged to defer her retreat, and to make the concessions which had overwhelmed her with disgrace. with such infamous calumnies, utterly disproved by every fact in the case, and unsupported by a tittle of evidence, save the hearsay reports of a man like noircarmes, did this "woman, nourished at rome, in whom no one could put confidence," dig the graves of men who were doing their best to serve her. philip's rage at first hearing of the image-breaking has been indicated. he was ill of an intermittent fever at the wood of segovia when the news arrived, and it may well be supposed that his wrath at these proceedings was not likely to assuage his malady. nevertheless, after the first burst of indignation, he found relief in his usual deception. while slowly maturing the most tremendous vengeance which anointed monarch ever deliberately wreaked upon his people, he wrote to say, that it was "his intention to treat his vassals and subjects in the provinces like a good and clement prince, not to ruin them nor to put them into servitude, but to exercise all humanity, sweetness, and grace, avoiding all harshness." such were the avowed intentions of the sovereign towards his people at the moment when the terrible alva, who was to be the exponent of all this "humanity, sweetness, and grace," was already beginning the preparations for his famous invasion of the netherlands. the essence of the compact agreed to upon the d august between the confederates and the regent, was that the preaching of the reformed religion should be tolerated in places where it had previously to that date been established. upon this basis egmont, horn, orange, hoogstraaten, and others, were directed once more to attempt the pacification of the different provinces. egmont departed for his government of flanders, and from that moment vanished all his pretensions, which at best had been, slender enough, to the character of a national chieftain. during the whole of the year his course had been changeful. he had felt the influence of orange; he had generous instincts; he had much vanity; he had the pride of high rank; which did not easily brook the domination of strangers, in a land which he considered himself and his compeers entitled by their birth to rule. at this juncture, however, particularly when in the company of noircarmes, berlaymont, and viglius, he expressed, notwithstanding their calumnious misstatements, the deepest detestation of the heretics. he was a fervent catholic, and he regarded the image-breaking as an unpardonable crime. "we must take up arms," said he, "sooner or later, to bring these reformers to reason, or they will end by laying down the law for us." on the other hand, his anger would be often appeased by the grave but gracious remonstrances of orange. during a part of the summer, the reformers had been so strong in flanders that upon a single day sixty thousand armed men had been assembled at the different field-preachings within that province. "all they needed was a jacquemart, or a philip van artevelde," says a catholic, contemporary, "but they would have scorned to march under the banner of a brewer; having dared to raise their eyes for a chief, to the most illustrious warrior of his ages." no doubt, had egmont ever listened to these aspirations, he might have taken the field against the government with an invincible force, seized the capital, imprisoned the regent, and mastered the whole country, which was entirely defenceless, before philip would have had time to write more than ten despatches upon the subject. these hopes of the reformers, if hopes they could be called, were now destined to be most bitterly disappointed. egmont entered flanders, not as a chief of rebels--not as a wise pacificator, but as an unscrupulous partisan of government, disposed to take summary vengeance on all suspected persons who should fall in his way. he ordered numerous executions of image-breakers and of other heretics. the whole province was in a state of alarm; for, although he had not been furnished by the regent with a strong body of troops, yet the name of the conqueror at saint quentin and gravelines was worth many regiments. his severity was excessive. his sanguinary exertions were ably seconded also by his secretary bakkerzeel, a man who exercised the greatest influence over his chief, and who was now fiercely atoning for having signed the compromise by persecuting those whom that league had been formed to protect. "amid all the perplexities of the duchess regent," says a walloon historian, "this virtuous princess was consoled by the exploits of bakkerzeel, gentleman in count egmont's service. on one occasion he hanged twenty heretics, including a minister, at a single heat." such achievements as these by the hands or the orders of the distinguished general who had been most absurdly held up as a possible protector of the civil and religious liberties of the country, created profound sensation. flanders and artois were filled with the wives and children of suspected i thousands who had fled the country to escape the wrath of egmont. the cries and piteous lamentations of these unfortunate creatures were heard on every side. count louis was earnestly implored to intercede for the persecuted reformers. "you who have been so nobly gifted by heaven, you who have good will and singular bounty written upon your face," said utenhove to louis, "have the power to save these poor victims from the throats of the ravenous wolves." the count responded to the appeal, and strove to soften the severity of egmont, without, however, producing any very signal effect. flanders was soon pacified, nor was that important province permitted to enjoy the benefits of the agreement which had been extorted, from the duchess. the preachings were forbidden, and the ministers and congregations arrested and chastised, even in places where the custom had been established previously to the d august. certainly such vigorous exertions upon the part both of master and man did not savor of treason to philip, and hardly seemed to indicate the final doom of egmont and bakkerzeel. the course of orange at antwerp was consistent with his whole career. he honestly came to arrange a pacification, but he knew that this end could be gained only by loyally maintaining the accord which had been signed between the confederates and the regent. he came back to the city on the th august, and found order partially re-established. the burghers having at last become thoroughly alarmed, and the fury of the image-breakers entirely appeased, it had been comparatively easy to restore tranquillity. the tranquillity, however, rather restored itself, and when the calm had succeeded to the tempest, the placid heads of the burgomasters once, more emerged from the waves. three image-breakers, who had been taken in the act, were hanged by order of the magistrates upon the th of august. the presence of orange gave them courage to achieve these executions which he could not prevent, as the fifth article of the accord enjoined the chastisement of the rioters. the magistrates chose that the "chastisement" on this occasion should be exemplary, and it was not in the power of orange to interfere with the regular government of the city when acting according to its laws. the deed was not his, however, and he hastened, in order to obviate the necessity of further violence, to prepare articles of agreement, upon the basis of margaret's concessions. public preaching, according to the reformed religion, had already taken place within the city. upon the d, possession had been taken of at least three churches. the senate had deputed pensionary wesenbeck to expostulate with the ministers, for the magistrates were at that moment not able to command. taffin, the walloon preacher, had been tractable, and had agreed to postpone his exercises. he furthermore had accompanied the pensionary to the cathedral, in order to persuade herman modet that it would be better for him likewise to defer his intended ministrations. they had found that eloquent enthusiast already in the great church, burning with impatience to ascend upon the ruins, and quite unable to resist the temptation of setting a flemish psalm and preaching a flemish sermon within the walls which had for so many centuries been vocal only to the roman tongue and the roman ritual. all that he would concede to the entreaties of his colleague and of the magistrate, was that his sermon should be short. in this, however, he had overrated his powers of retention, for the sermon not only became a long one, but he had preached another upon the afternoon of the same day. the city of antwerp, therefore, was clearly within the seventh clause of the treaty of the th august, for preaching had taken place in the cathedral, previously to the signing of that accord. upon the d september, therefore, after many protracted interview with the heads of the reformed religion, the prince drew up sixteen articles of agreement between them, the magistrates and the government, which were duly signed and exchanged. they were conceived in the true spirit of statesmanship, and could the rulers of the land have elevated themselves to the mental height of william de nassau, had philip been able of comprehending such a mind, the prince, who alone possessed the power in those distracted times of governing the wills of all men, would have enabled the monarch to transmit that beautiful cluster of provinces, without the lose of a single jewel, to the inheritors of his crown. if the prince were playing a game, he played it honorably. to have conceived the thought of religious toleration in an age of universal dogmatism; to have labored to produce mutual respect among conflicting opinions, at a period when many dissenters were as bigoted as the orthodox, and when most reformers fiercely proclaimed not liberty for every christian doctrine, but only a new creed in place of all the rest,--to have admitted the possibility of several roads, to heaven, when zealots of all creeds would shut up all pathways but their own; if such sentiments and purposes were sins, they would have been ill-exchanged for the best virtues of the age. yet, no doubt, this was his crying offence in the opinion of many contemporaries. he was now becoming apostate from the ancient church, but he had long thought that emperors, kings, and popes had taken altogether too much care of men's souls in times past, and had sent too many of them prematurely to their great account. he was equally indisposed to grant full-powers for the same purpose to calvinists, lutherans, or anabaptists. "he censured the severity of our theologians," said a catholic contemporary, accumulating all the religious offences of the prince in a single paragraph, "because they keep strictly the constitutions of the church without conceding a single point to their adversaries; he blamed the calvinists as seditious and unruly people, yet nevertheless had a horror for the imperial edicts which condemned them to death; he said it was a cruel thing to take a man's life for sustaining an erroneous opinion; in short, he fantasied in his imagination a kind of religion, half catholic, half reformed, in order to content all persons; a system which would have been adopted could he have had his way." this picture, drawn by one of his most brilliant and bitter enemies, excites our admiration while intended to inspire aversion. the articles of agreement at antwerp thus promulgated assigned three churches to the different sects of reformers, stipulated that no attempt should be made by catholics or protestants to disturb the religious worship of each other, and provided that neither by mutual taunts in their sermons, nor by singing street ballads, together with improper allusions and overt acts of hostility, should the good-fellowship which ought to reign between brethren and fellow-citizens, even although entertaining different opinions as to religious rites and doctrines, be for the future interrupted. this was the basis upon which the very brief religious peace, broken almost as soon as established, was concluded by william of orange, not only at antwerp, but at utrecht, amsterdam, and other principal cities within his government. the prince, however, notwithstanding his unwearied exertions, had slender hopes of a peaceful result. he felt that the last step taken by the reformation had been off a precipice. he liked not such rapid progress. he knew that the king would never forgive the image-breaking. he felt that he would never recognize the accord of the th august. sir thomas gresham, who, as the representative of the protestant queen of england in the great commercial metropolis of europe, was fully conversant with the turn things were taking, was already advising some other place for the sale of english commodities. he gave notice to his government that commerce would have no security at antwerp "in those brabbling times." he was on confidential terms with the prince, who invited him to dine upon the th september, and caused pensionary wesenbeck, who was also present, to read aloud the agreement which was that day to be proclaimed at the town-house. orange expressed himself, however, very doubtfully as to the future prospects of the provinces, and as to the probable temper of the king. "in all his talke," says gresham, "the prince aside unto me, 'i know this will nothing contente the king!'" while egmont had been, thus busied in flanders, and orange at antwerp, count horn had been doing his best in the important city of tournay. the admiral was not especially gifted with intellect, nor with the power of managing men, but he went there with an honest purpose of seeing the accord executed, intending, if it should prove practicable, rather to favor the government than the reformers. at the same time, for the purpose of giving satisfaction to the members of "the religion," and of manifesting his sincere desire for a pacification, he accepted lodgings which had been prepared for him at the house of a calvinist merchant in the city, rather, than, take up his quarters with fierce old governor moulbais, in the citadel. this gave much offence to the catholics; and inspired the reformers, with the hope of having their preaching inside the town. to this privilege they were entitled, for the practice had already been established there, previously to the th october. nevertheless, at first he was disposed to limit them, in accordance with the wishes of the duchess, to extra-mural exercises. upon his arrival, by a somewhat ominous conjuncture, he had supped with some of the leading citizens in the hall of the "gehenna" or torture room, certainly not a locality calculated to inspire a healthy appetite. on the following sunday he had been entertained with a great banquet, at which all the principal burghers were present, held in a house on the market-place. the festivities had been interrupted by a quarrel, which had been taking place in the cathedral. beneath the vaults of that edifice, tradition said that a vast treasure was hidden, and the canons had been known to boast that this buried wealth would be sufficient to rebuild their temple more magnificently than ever, in case of its total destruction. the admiral had accordingly placed a strong guard in the church as soon as he arrived, and commenced very extensive excavations in search of this imaginary mine. the regent informed her brother that the count was prosecuting this work with the view of appropriating whatever might be found to his own benefit. as she knew that he was a ruined man, there seemed no more satisfactory mode of accounting for these proceedings. horn had, however, expressly stated to her that every penny which should come into his possession from that or any other source would carefully be restored to the rightful owners. nothing of consequence was ever found to justify the golden legends of the monks, but in the mean time the money-diggers gave great offence. the canons, naturally alarmed for the safety of their fabulous treasure, had forced the guard, by surreptitiously obtaining the countersign from a certain official of the town. a quarrel ensued which ended in the appearance of this personage, together with the commander of the military force on guard in the cathedral, before the banqueting company. the count, in the rough way habitual with him, gave the culprit a sound rebuke for his intermeddling, and threatened, in case the offence were repeated, to have him instantly bound, gagged, and forwarded to brussels for further punishment. the matter thus satisfactorily adjusted, the banquet proceeded, the merchants present being all delighted at seeing the said official, who was exceedingly, unpopular, "so well huffed by the count." the excavations were continued for along time, until there seemed danger of destroying the foundation of the church, but only a few bits of money were discovered, with some other articles of small value. horn had taken his apartments in the city in order to be at hand to suppress any tumults, and to inspire confidence in the people. he had come to a city where five sixths of the inhabitants--were of the reformed religion, and he did not, therefore, think it judicious to attempt violently the suppression of their worship. upon his arrival he had issued a proclamation, ordering that all property which might have been pillaged from the religious houses should be instantly restored to the magistracy, under penalty that all who disobeyed the command should "be forthwith strangled at the gibbet." nothing was brought back, however, for the simple reason that nothing had been stolen. there was, therefore, no one to be strangled. the next step was to publish the accord of th august, and to signify the intention of the admiral to enforce its observance. the preachings were as enthusiastically attended as ever, while the storm which had been raging among the images had in the mean time been entirely allayed. congregations of fifteen thousand were still going to hear ambrose wille in the suburbs, but they were very tranquil in their demeanor. it was arranged between the admiral and the leaders of the reformed consistories, that three places, to be selected by horn, should be assigned for their places of worship. at these spots, which were outside the walls, permission was given the reformers to build meeting-houses. to this arrangement the duchess formally gave her consent. nicholas taffin; councillor, in the name of the reformers, made "a brave and elegant harangue" before the magistrates, representing that, as on the most moderate computation, three quarters of the population were dissenters, as the regent had ordered the construction of the new temples, and as the catholics retained possession of all the churches in the city, it was no more than fair that the community should bear the expense of the new buildings. it was indignantly replied, however, that catholics could not be expected to pay for the maintenance of heresy, particularly when they had just been so much exasperated by the image-breaking councillor taffin took nothing, therefore by his "brave and elegant harangue," saving a small vote of forty livres. the building was, however, immediately commenced. many nobles and rich citizens contributed to the work; some making donations in money; others giving quantities of oaks, poplars, elms, and other timber trees, to be used in the construction. the foundation of the first temple outside the ports de cocquerel was immediately laid. vast heaps of broken images and other ornaments of the desecrated churches were most unwisely used for this purpose, and the catholics were exceedingly enraged at beholding those male and female saints, who had for centuries been placed in such "reverend and elevated positions," fallen so low as to be the foundation-stones of temples whose builders denounced all those holy things as idols. as the autumn began to wane, the people were clamorous for permission to have their preaching inside the city. the new buildings could not be finished before the winter; but in the mean time the camp-meetings were becoming, in the stormy seasons fast approaching, a very inconvenient mode of worship. on the other hand, the duchess was furious at the proposition, and commanded horn on no account to consent that the interior of tournay should be profaned by these heretical rites. it was in vain that the admiral represented the justice of the claim, as these exercises had taken place in several of the city churches previously to the accord of the th of august. that agreement had been made by the duchess only to be broken. she had already received money and the permission to make levies, and was fast assuming a tone very different from the abject demeanor which had characterized her in august. count horn had been used even as egmont, orange and hoogstraaten had been employed, in order that their personal influence with the reformers might be turned to account. the tools and the work accomplished by them were to be thrown away at the most convenient opportunity. the admiral was placed in a most intolerable position. an honest, common-place, sullen kind of man, he had come to a city full of heretics, to enforce concessions just made by the government to heresy. he soon found himself watched, paltered with, suspected by the administration at brussels. governor moulbais in the citadel, who was nominally under his authority, refused obedience to his orders, was evidently receiving secret instructions from the regent, and was determined to cannonade the city into submission at a very early day. horn required him to pledge himself that no fresh troops should enter the castle. moulbais swore he would make no such promise to a living soul. the admiral stormed with his usual violence, expressed his regret that his brother montigny had so bad a lieutenant in the citadel, but could make no impression upon the determined veteran, who knew, better than horn, the game which was preparing. small reinforcements were daily arriving at the castle; the soldiers of the garrison had been heard to boast "that they would soon carve and eat the townsmen's flesh on their dressers," and all the good effect from the admiral's proclamation on arriving, had completely vanished. horn complained bitterly of the situation in which he was placed. he knew himself the mark of incessant and calumnious misrepresentation both at brussels and madrid. he had been doing his best, at a momentous crisis, to serve the government without violating its engagements, but he declared himself to be neither theologian nor jurist, and incapable, while suspected and unassisted, of performing a task which the most learned doctors of the council would find impracticable. he would rather, he bitterly exclaimed, endure a siege in any fortress by the turks, than be placed in such a position. he was doing all that he was capable of doing, yet whatever he did was wrong. there was a great difference, he said, between being in a place and talking about it at a distance. in the middle of october he was recalled by the duchess, whose letters had been uniformly so ambiguous that he confessed he was quite unable to divine their meaning. before he left the city, he committed his most unpardonable crime. urged by the leaders of the reformed congregations to permit their exercises in the clothiers' hall until their temples should be finished, the count accorded his consent provisionally, and subject to revocation by the regent, to whom the arrangement was immediately to be communicated. horn departed, and the reformers took instant possession of the hall. it was found in a very dirty and disorderly condition, encumbered with benches, scaffoldings, stakes, gibbets, and all the machinery used for public executions upon the market-place. a vast body of men went to work with a will; scrubbing, cleaning, whitewashing, and removing all the foul lumber of the hall; singing in chorus, as they did so, the hymns of clement marot. by dinner-time the place was ready. the pulpit and benches for the congregation had taken the place of the gibbet timber. it is difficult to comprehend that such work as this was a deadly crime. nevertheless, horn, who was himself a sincere catholic, had committed the most mortal of all his offences against philip and against god, by having countenanced so flagitious a transaction. the admiral went to brussels. secretary de la torre, a very second-rate personage, was despatched to tournay to convey the orders of the regent. governor moulbais, now in charge of affairs both civil and military, was to prepare all things for the garrison, which was soon to be despatched under noircarmes. the duchess had now arms in her hands, and her language was bold. la torre advised the reformers to be wise "while the rod was yet green and growing, lest it should be gathered for their backs; for it was unbecoming is subjects to make bargains with their king." there was hardly any decent pretext used in violating the accord of the th august, so soon as the government was strong enough to break it. it was always said that the preachings suppressed, had not been established previously to that arrangement; but the preachings had in reality obtained almost every where, and were now universally abolished. the ridiculous quibble was also used that, in the preachings other religious exercises were not included, whereas it was notorious that they had never been separated. it is, however, a gratuitous task, to unravel the deceptions of tyranny when it hardly deigns to disguise itself. the dissimulations which have resisted the influence of centuries are more worthy of serious investigation, and of these the epoch offers us a sufficient supply. at the close of the year, the city of tournay was completely subjugated and the reformed religion suppressed. upon the nd day of january, , the seignior de noircarmes arrived before the gates at the head of eleven companies, with orders from duchess margaret to strengthen the garrison and disarm the citizens. he gave the magistrates exactly one hour and a half to decide whether they would submit without a murmur. he expressed an intention of maintaining the accord of th august; a ridiculous affectation under the circumstances, as the event proved. the notables were summoned, submission agreed upon, and within the prescribed time the magistrates came before noircarmes, with an unconditional acceptance of his terms. that truculent personage told them, in reply, that they had done wisely, for if they had delayed receiving the garrison a minute longer, he would have instantly burned the city to ashes and put every one of the inhabitants to the sword. he had been fully authorized to do so, and subsequent events were to show, upon more than one dreadful occasion, how capable noircarmes would have been of fulfilling this menace. the soldiers, who had made a forced march all night, and who had been firmly persuaded that the city would refuse the terms demanded, were excessively disappointed at being obliged to forego the sack and pillage upon which they had reckoned. eight or nine hundred rascally peasants, too, who had followed in the skirts of the regiments, each provided with a great empty bag, which they expected to fill with booty which they might purchase of the soldiers, or steal in the midst of the expected carnage and rapine, shared the discontent of the soldiery, by whom they were now driven ignominiously out of the town. the citizens were immediately disarmed. all the fine weapons which they had been obliged to purchase at their own expense, when they had been arranged by the magistrates under eight banners, for defence of the city against tumult and invasion, were taken from them; the most beautiful cutlasses, carbines, poniards, and pistols, being divided by noircarmes among his officers. thus tournay was tranquillized. during the whole of these proceedings in flanders, and at antwerp, tournay, and mechlin, the conduct of the duchess had been marked with more than her usual treachery. she had been disavowing acts which the men upon whom she relied in her utmost need had been doing by her authority; she had been affecting to praise their conduct, while she was secretly misrepresenting their actions and maligning their motives, and she had been straining every nerve to make foreign levies, while attempting to amuse the confederates and sectaries with an affectation of clemency. when orange complained that she had been censuring his proceedings at antwerp, and holding language unfavorable to his character, she protested that she thoroughly approved his arrangements--excepting only the two points of the intramural preachings and the permission to heretics of other exercises than sermons--and that if she were displeased with him he might be sure that she would rather tell him so than speak ill of him behind his back. the prince, who had been compelled by necessity, and fully authorized by the terms of the "accord", to grant those two points which were the vital matter in his arrangements, answered very calmly, that he was not so frivolous as to believe in her having used language to his discredit had he not been quite certain of the fact, as he would soon prove by evidence. orange was not the man to be deceived as to the position in which he stood, nor as to the character of those with whom he dealt. margaret wrote, however, in the same vein concerning him to hoogstmaten, affirming that nothing could be further from her intention than to characterize the proceedings of "her cousin, the prince of orange, as contrary to the service of his majesty; knowing, as she did, how constant had been his affection, and how diligent his actions, in the cause of god and the king." she also sent councillor d'assonleville on a special mission to the prince, instructing that smooth personage to inform her said cousin of orange that he was and always had been "loved and cherished by his majesty, and that for herself she had ever loved him like a brother or a child." she wrote to horn, approving of his conduct in the main, although in obscure terms, and expressing great confidence in his zeal, loyalty, and good intentions. she accorded the same praise to hoogstraaten, while as to egmont she was perpetually reproaching him for the suspicions which he seemed obstinately to entertain as to her disposition and that of philip, in regard to his conduct and character. it has already been partly seen what were her private sentiments and secret representations as to the career of the distinguished personages thus encouraged and commended. her pictures were painted in daily darkening colors. she told her brother that orange, egmont, and horn were about to place themselves at the head of the confederates, who were to take up arms and had been levying troops; that the lutheran religion was to be forcibly established, that the whole power of the government was to be placed in the triumvirate thus created by those seigniors, and that philip was in reality to be excluded entirely from those provinces which were his ancient patrimony. all this information she had obtained from mansfeld, at whom the nobles were constantly sneering as at a faithful valet who would never receive his wages. she also informed the king that the scheme for dividing the country was already arranged: that augustus of saxony was to have friesland and overyssel; count brederode, holland; the dukes of cleves and lorraine, gueldres; the king of france, flanders, artois, and hainault, of which territories egmont was to be perpetual stadholder; the prince of orange, brabant; and so on indefinitely. a general massacre of all the catholics had been arranged by orange, horn, and egmont, to commence as soon as the king should put his foot on shipboard to come to the country. this last remarkable fact margaret reported to philip, upon the respectable authority of noircarmes. she apologized for having employed the service of these nobles, on the ground of necessity. their proceedings in flanders, at antwerp, tournay, mechlin, had been highly reprehensible, and she had been obliged to disavow them in the most important particulars. as for egmont, she had most unwillingly entrusted forces to his hands for the purpose of putting down the flemish sectaries. she had been afraid to show a want of confidence in his character, but at the same time she believed that all soldiers under egmont's orders would be so many enemies to the king. notwithstanding his protestations of fidelity to the ancient religion and to his majesty, she feared that he was busied with some great plot against god and the king. when we remember the ruthless manner in which the unfortunate count had actually been raging against the sectaries, and the sanguinary proofs which he had been giving of his fidelity to "god and the king," it seems almost incredible that margaret could have written down all these monstrous assertions. the duchess gave, moreover, repeated warnings to her brother, that the nobles were in the habit of obtaining possession of all the correspondence between madrid and brussels; and that they spent a vast deal of money in order to read her own and philip's most private letters. she warned him therefore, to be upon his guard, for she believed that almost all their despatches were read. such being the cases and the tenor of those documents being what we have seen it to be, her complaints as to the incredulity of those seigniors to her affectionate protestations, seem quite wonderful. chapter ix., part ., position of orange--the interview at dendermonde--the supposititious letters of alava--views of egmont--isolation of orange--conduct of egmont and of horn--confederacy, of the nobles dissolved--weak behavior of prominent personages----watchfulness of orange-- convocation of states general demanded--pamphlet of orange--city of valenciennes refuses a garrison--influence of la grange and de bray --city, declared in a state of siege--invested by noircarmes-- movements to relieve the place--calvinists defeated at lannoy and at waterlots--elation of the government--the siege pressed more closely--cruelties practised upon the country people--courage of the inhabitants--remonstrance to the knights of the fleece--conduct of brederode--orange at amsterdam--new oath demanded by government-- orange refuses--he offers his resignation of all offices--meeting at breda--new "request" of brederode--he creates disturbances and levies troops in antwerp--conduct of hoogstraaten--plans of brederode--supposed connivance of orange--alarm at brussels-- tholouse at ostrawell--brederode in holland--de beauvoir defeats tholouse--excitement at antwerp--determined conduct of orange--three days' tumult at antwerp suppressed by the wisdom and courage of orange. it is necessary to allude to certain important events contemporaneous with those recorded in the last chapter, that the reader may thoroughly understand the position of the leading personages in this great drama at the close of the year . the prince of orange had, as we have seen, bean exerting all his energies faithfully to accomplish the pacification of the commercial metropolis, upon the basis assented to beforehand by the duchess. he had established a temporary religious peace, by which alone at that crisis the gathering tempest could be averted; but he had permitted the law to take its course upon certain rioters, who had been regularly condemned by courts of justice. he had worked day and night--notwithstanding immense obstacles, calumnious misstatements, and conflicting opinions--to restore order out of chaos; he had freely imperilled his own life--dashing into a tumultuous mob on one occasion, wounding several with the halberd which he snatched from one of his guard, and dispersing almost with his single arm a dangerous and threatening insurrection--and he had remained in antwerp, at the pressing solicitations of the magistracy, who represented that the lives of not a single ecclesiastic would be safe as soon as his back was turned, and that all the merchants would forthwith depart from the city. it was nevertheless necessary that he should make a personal visit to his government of holland, where similar disorders had been prevailing, and where men of all ranks and parties were clamoring for their stadholder. notwithstanding all his exertions however, he was thoroughly aware of the position in which he stood towards the government. the sugared phrases of margaret, the deliberate commendation of the "benign and debonair" philip, produced no effect upon this statesman, who was accustomed to look through and through men's actions to the core of their hearts. in the hearts of philip and margaret he already saw treachery and revenge indelibly imprinted. he had been especially indignant at the insult which the duchess regent had put upon him, by sending duke eric of brunswick with an armed force into holland in order to protect gouda, woerden, and other places within the prince's own government. he was thoroughly conversant with the general tone in which the other seigniors and himself were described to their sovereign. he, was already convinced that the country was to be conquered by foreign mercenaries, and that his own life, with these of many other nobles, was to be sacrificed. the moment had arrived in which he was justified in looking about him for means of defence, both for himself and his country, if the king should be so insane as to carry out the purposes which the prince suspected. the time was fast approaching in which a statesman placed upon such an elevation before the world as that which he occupied, would be obliged to choose his part for life. to be the unscrupulous tool of tyranny, a rebel, or an exile, was his necessary fate. to a man so prone to read the future, the moment for his choice seemed already arrived. moreover, he thought it doubtful, and events were most signally to justify his doubts, whether he could be accepted as the instrument of despotism, even were he inclined to prostitute himself to such service. at this point, therefore, undoubtedly began the treasonable thoughts of william the silent, if it be treason to attempt the protection of ancient and chartered liberties against a foreign oppressor. he despatched a private envoy to egmont, representing the grave suspicions manifested by the duchess in sending duke eric into holland, and proposing that means should be taken into consideration for obviating the dangers with which the country was menaced. catholics as well as protestants, he intimated, were to be crushed in one universal conquest as soon as philip had completed the formidable preparations which he was making for invading the provinces. for himself, he said, he would not remain in the land to witness the utter desolation of the people, nor to fall an unresisting victim to the vengeance which he foresaw. if, however, he might rely upon the co-operation of egmont and horn, he was willing, with the advice of the states-general, to risk preparations against the armed invasion of spaniards by which the country was to be reduced to slavery. it was incumbent, however, upon men placed as they were, "not to let the grass grow under their feet;" and the moment for action was fast approaching. this was the scheme which orange was willing to attempt. to make use of his own influence and that of his friends, to interpose between a sovereign insane with bigotry, and a people in a state of religious frenzy, to resist brutal violence if need should be by force, and to compel the sovereign to respect the charters which he had sworn to maintain, and which were far more ancient than his sovereignty; so much of treason did william of orange already contemplate, for in no other way could he be loyal to his country and his own honor. nothing came of this secret embassy, for egmont's heart and fate were already fixed. before orange departed, however; for the north, where his presence in the dutch provinces was now imperatively required, a memorable interview took place at dendermonde between orange, horn, egmont, hoogstraaten, and count louis. the nature of this conference was probably similar to that of the secret mission from orange to egmont just recorded. it was not a long consultation. the gentlemen met at eleven o'clock, and conversed until dinner was ready, which was between twelve and one in the afternoon. they discussed the contents of a letter recently received by horn from his brother montigny at segovia, giving a lively picture of philip's fury at the recent events in the netherlands, and expressing the baron's own astonishment and indignation that it had been impossible for the seigniors to prevent such outrages as the public preaching, the image-breaking and the accord. they had also some conversation concerning the dissatisfaction manifested by the duchess at the proceedings of count horn at tournay, and they read a very remarkable letter which had been furnished them, as having been written by the spanish envoy in paris, don francis of alava, to margaret of parma. this letter was forged. at least the regent, in her italian correspondence, asserted it to be fictitious, and in those secret letters to philip she usually told the truth. the astuteness of william of orange had in this instance been deceived. the striking fidelity, however, with which the present and future policy of the government was sketched, the accuracy with which many unborn events were foreshadowed, together with the minute touches which gave an air of genuineness to the fictitious despatch, might well deceive even so sagacious an observer as the prince. the letters alluded to the deep and long-settled hostility of philip to orange, horn, and egmont, as to a fact entirely within the writer's knowledge, and that of his correspondent, but urged upon the duchess the assumption of an extraordinary degree of apparent cordiality in her intercourse with them. it was the king's intention to use them and to destroy them, said the writer, and it was the regent's duty to second the design. "the tumults and troubles have not been without their secret concurrence," said the supposititious alava, "and your highness may rest assured that they will be the first upon whom his majesty will seize, not to confer benefits, but to chastise them as they deserve. your highness, however, should show no symptom of displeasure, but should constantly maintain in their minds the idea that his majesty considers them as the most faithful of his servants. while they are persuaded of this, they can be more easily used, but when the time comes, they will be treated in another manner. your highness may rest assured that his majesty is not less inclined than your highness that they should receive the punishment which they merit." the duchess was furthermore recommended "to deal with the three seigniors according to the example of the spanish governments in its intercourse with the envoys, bergen and montigny, who are met with a smiling face, but who are closely watched, and who will never be permitted to leave spain alive." the remainder of the letter alludes to supposed engagements between france and spain for the extirpation of heresy, from which allusion to the generally accepted but mistaken notion as to the bayonne conference, a decided proof seems to be furnished that the letter was not genuine. great complaints, however, are made, as to the conduct of the queen regent, who is described as "a certain lady well known to her highness, and as a person without faith, friendship, or truth; the most consummate hypocrite in the world." after giving instances of the duplicity manifested by catherine de medici, the writer continues: "she sends her little black dwarf to me upon frequent errands, in order that by means of this spy she may worm out my secrets. i am, however, upon my guard, and flatter myself that i learn more from him than she from me. she shall never be able to boast of having deceived a spaniard." an extract or two from this very celebrated document seemed indispensable, because of the great importance attached to it, both at the dendermonde conference, and at the trials of egmont and horn. the contemporary writers of holland had no doubt of its genuineness, and what is more remarkable, strada, the historiographer of the farnese family, after quoting margaret's denial of the authenticity of the letter, coolly observes: "whether this were only an invention of the conspirators, or actually a despatch from alava, i shall not decide. it is certain, however, that the duchess declared it to be false." certainly, as we read the epistles, and observe how profoundly the writer seems to have sounded the deep guile of the spanish cabinet, and how distinctly events, then far in the future, are indicated, we are tempted to exclaim: "aut alava, aut diabolus;" either the envoy wrote the despatch, or orange. who else could look into the future, and into philip's heart so unerringly? as the charge has never been made, so far as we are aware, against the prince, it is superfluous to discuss the amount of immorality which should belong to such a deception. a tendency to employ stratagem in his warfare against spain was, no doubt, a blemish upon his--high character. before he is condemned, however, in the court of conscience, the ineffable wiles of the policy with which he had to combat must be thoroughly scanned, as well as the pure and lofty purpose for which his life's long battle was fought. there was, doubtless, some conversation at dendermonde on the propriety or possibility of forcible resistance to a spanish army, with which it seemed probable that philip was about to invade the provinces, and take the lives of the leading nobles. count louis was in favor of making provision in germany for the accomplishment of this purpose. it is also highly probable that the prince may have encouraged the proposition. in the sense of his former communication to egmont, he may have reasoned on the necessity of making levies to sustain the decisions of the states-general against violence. there is, however, no proof of any such fact. egmont, at any rate, opposed the scheme, on the ground that "it was wrong to entertain any such ill opinion of so good a king as philip, that he had never done any thing unjust towards his subjects, and that if any one was in fear, he had better leave the country." egmont, moreover; doubted the authenticity of the letters from alava, but agreed to carry them to brussels, and to lay them before the regent. that lady, when she saw them, warmly assured the count that they were inventions. the conference broke up after it had lasted an hour and a half. the nobles then went to dinner, at which other persons appear to have been present, and the celebrated dendermonde meeting was brought to a close. after the repast was finished, each of the five nobles mounted his horse, and departed on his separate way. from this time forth the position of, these leading seigniors became more sharply defined. orange was left in almost complete isolation. without the assistance of egmont, any effective resistance to the impending invasion from spain seemed out of the question. the count, however, had taken his irrevocable and fatal resolution. after various oscillations during the stormy period which had elapsed, his mind, notwithstanding all the disturbing causes by which it had hitherto been partially influenced, now pointed steadily to the point of loyalty. the guidance of that pole star was to lead him to utter shipwreck. the unfortunate noble, entrenched against all fear of philip by the brazen wall of an easy conscience; saw no fault in his past at which he should grow pale with apprehension. moreover, he was sanguine by nature, a catholic in religion, a royalist from habit and conviction. henceforth he was determined that his services to the crown should more than counterbalance any idle speeches or insolent demonstrations of which he might have been previously guilty. horn pursued a different course, but one which separated him also from the prince, while it led to the same fate which egmont was blindly pursuing.--the admiral had committed no act of treason. on the contrary, he had been doing his best, under most difficult circumstances, to avert rebellion and save the interests of a most ungrateful sovereign. he was now disposed to wrap himself in his virtue, to retreat from a court life, for which he had never felt a vocation, and to resign all connection with a government by which he felt himself very badly, treated. moody, wrathful, disappointed, ruined, and calumniated, he would no longer keep terms with king or duchess. he had griefs of long standing against the whole of the royal family. he had never forgiven the emperor for refusing him, when young, the appointment of chamberlain. he had served philip long and faithfully, but he had never received a stiver of salary or "merced," notwithstanding all his work as state councillor, as admiral, as superintendent in spain; while his younger brother had long been in receipt of nine or ten thousand florins yearly. he had spent four hundred thousand florins in the king's service; his estates were mortgaged to their full value; he had been obliged to sell, his family plate. he had done his best in tourney to serve the duchess, and he had averted the "sicilian vespers," which had been imminent at his arrival. he had saved the catholics from a general massacre, yet he heard nevertheless from montigny, that all his actions were distorted in spain, and his motives blackened. his heart no longer inclined him to continue in philip's service, even were he furnished with the means of doing so. he had instructed his secretary, alonzo de la loo, whom he had despatched many months previously to madrid, that he was no longer to press his master's claims for a "merced," but to signify that he abandoned all demands and resigned all posts. he could turn hermit for the rest of his days, as well as the emperor charles. if he had little, he could live upon little. it was in this sense that he spoke to margaret of parma, to assonleville, to all around him. it was precisely in this strain and temper that he wrote to philip, indignantly defending his course at tourney, protesting against the tortuous conduct of the duchess, and bluntly declaring that he would treat no longer with ladies upon matters which concerned a man's honor. thus, smarting under a sense of gross injustice, the admiral expressed himself in terms which philip was not likely to forgive. he had undertaken the pacification of tournay, because it was montigny's government, and he had promised his services whenever they should be requisite. horn was a loyal and affectionate brother, and it is pathetic to find him congratulating montigny on being, after all, better off in spain than in the netherlands. neither loyalty nor the sincere catholicism for which montigny at this period commended horn in his private letters, could save the two brothers from the doom which was now fast approaching. thus horn, blind as egmont--not being aware that a single step beyond implicit obedience had created an impassable gulf between philip and himself--resolved to meet his destiny in sullen retirement. not an entirely disinterested man, perhaps, but an honest one, as the world went, mediocre in mind, but brave, generous, and direct of purpose, goaded by the shafts of calumny, hunted down by the whole pack which fawned upon power as it grew more powerful, he now retreated to his "desert," as he called his ruined home at weert, where he stood at bay, growling defiance at the regent, at philip, at all the world. thus were the two prominent personages upon whose co-operation orange had hitherto endeavored to rely, entirely separated from him. the confederacy of nobles, too, was dissolved, having accomplished little, notwithstanding all its noisy demonstrations, and having lost all credit with the people by the formal cessation of the compromise in consequence of the accord of august. as a body, they had justified the sarcasm of hubert languet, that "the confederated nobles had ruined their country by their folly and incapacity." they had profaned a holy cause by indecent orgies, compromised it by seditious demonstrations, abandoned it when most in need of assistance. bakkerzeel had distinguished himself by hanging sectaries in flanders. "golden fleece" de hammes, after creating great scandal in and about antwerp, since the accord, had ended by accepting an artillery commission in the emperor's army, together with three hundred crowns for convoy from duchess margaret. culemburg was serving the cause of religious freedom by defacing the churches within his ancestral domains, pulling down statues, dining in chapels and giving the holy wafer to his parrot. nothing could be more stupid than these acts of irreverence, by which catholics were offended and honest patriots disgusted. nothing could be more opposed to the sentiments of orange, whose first principle was abstinence by all denominations of christians from mutual insults. at the same time, it is somewhat revolting to observe the indignation with which such offences were regarded by men of the most abandoned character. thus, armenteros, whose name was synonymous with government swindling, who had been rolling up money year after year, by peculations, auctioneering of high posts in church and state, bribes, and all kinds of picking and stealing, could not contain his horror as he referred to wafers eaten by parrots, or "toasted on forks" by renegade priests; and poured out his emotions on the subject into the faithful bosom of antonio perez, the man with whose debaucheries, political villanies, and deliberate murders all europe was to ring. no doubt there were many individuals in the confederacy for whom it was reserved to render honorable service in the national cause. the names of louis nassau, mamix of st. aldegonde, bernard de merode, were to be written in golden letters in their country's rolls; but at this moment they were impatient, inconsiderate, out of the control of orange. louis was anxious for the king to come from spain with his army, and for "the bear dance to begin." brederode, noisy, bawling, and absurd as ever, was bringing ridicule upon the national cause by his buffoonery, and endangering the whole people by his inadequate yet rebellious exertions. what course was the prince of orange to adopt? he could find no one to comprehend his views. he felt certain at the close of the year that the purpose of the government was fixed. he made no secret of his determination never to lend himself as an instrument for the contemplated subjugation of the people. he had repeatedly resigned all his offices. he was now determined that the resignation once for all should be accepted. if he used dissimulation, it was because philip's deception permitted no man to be frank. if the sovereign constantly disavowed all hostile purposes against his people, and manifested extreme affection for the men whom he had already doomed to the scaffold, how could the prince openly denounce him? it was his duty to save his country and his friends from impending ruin. he preserved, therefore, an attitude of watchfulness. philip, in the depth of his cabinet, was under a constant inspection by the sleepless prince. the sovereign assured his sister that her apprehensions about their correspondence was groundless. he always locked up his papers, and took the key with him. nevertheless, the key was taken out of his pocket and the papers read. orange was accustomed to observe, that men of leisure might occupy themselves with philosophical pursuits and with the secrets of nature, but that it was his business to study the hearts of kings. he knew the man and the woman with whom he had to deal. we have seen enough of the policy secretly pursued by philip and margaret to appreciate the accuracy with which the prince, groping as it were in the dark, had judged the whole situation. had his friends taken his warnings, they might have lived to render services against tyranny. had he imitated their example of false loyalty, there would have been one additional victim, more illustrious than all the rest, and a whole country hopelessly enslaved. it is by keeping these considerations in view, that we can explain his connection with such a man as brederode. the enterprises of that noble, of tholouse, and others, and the resistance of valenciennes, could hardly have been prevented even by the opposition of the prince. but why should he take the field against men who, however rashly or ineffectually, were endeavoring to oppose tyranny, when he knew himself already proscribed and doomed by the tyrant? such loyalty he left to egmont. till late in the autumn, he had still believed in the possibility of convoking the states-general, and of making preparations in germany to enforce their decrees. the confederates and sectaries had boasted that they could easily raise an army of sixty thousand men within the provinces,--that twelve hundred thousand florins monthly would be furnished by the rich merchants of antwerp, and that it was ridiculous to suppose that the german mercenaries enrolled by the duchess in saxony, hesse, and other protestant countries, would ever render serious assistance against the adherents of the reformed religion. without placing much confidence in such exaggerated statements, the prince might well be justified in believing himself strong enough, if backed by the confederacy, by egmont, and by his own boundless influence, both at antwerp and in his own government, to sustain the constituted authorities of the nation even against a spanish army, and to interpose with legitimate and irresistible strength between the insane tyrant and the country which he was preparing to crush. it was the opinion of the best informed catholics that, if egmont should declare for the confederacy, he could take the field with sixty thousand men, and make himself master of the whole country at a blow. in conjunction with orange, the moral and physical force would have been invincible. it was therefore not orange alone, but the catholics and protestants alike, the whole population of the country, and the duchess regent herself, who desired the convocation of the estates. notwithstanding philip's deliberate but secret determination never to assemble that body, although the hope was ever to be held out that they should be convened, margaret had been most importunate that her brother should permit the measure. "there was less danger," she felt herself compelled to say, "in assembling than in not assembling the states; it was better to preserve the catholic religion for a part of the country, than to lose it altogether." "the more it was delayed," she said, "the more ruinous and desperate became the public affairs. if the measure were postponed much longer, all flanders, half brabant, the whole of holland, zeland, gueldrea, tournay, lille, mechlin, would be lost forever, without a chance of ever restoring the ancient religion." the country, in short, was "without faith, king, or law," and nothing worse could be apprehended from any deliberation of the states-general. these being the opinions of the duchess, and according to her statement those of nearly all the good catholics in the country, it could hardly seem astonishing or treasonable that the prince should also be in favor of the measure. as the duchess grew stronger, however, and as the people, aghast at the fate of tournay and valenciennes, began to lose courage, she saw less reason for assembling the states. orange, on the other hand, completely deserted by egmont and horn, and having little confidence in the characters of the ex-confederates, remained comparatively quiescent but watchful. at the close of the year, an important pamphlet from his hand was circulated, in which his views as to the necessity of allowing some degree of religious freedom were urged upon the royal government with his usual sagacity of thought, moderation of language, and modesty in tone. the man who had held the most important civil and military offices in the country almost from boyhood, and who was looked up to by friend and foe as the most important personage in the three millions of its inhabitants, apologized for his "presumption" in coming forward publicly with his advice. "i would not," he said, "in matters of such importance, affect to be wiser or to make greater pretensions than my age or experience warrants, yet seeing affairs in such perplexity, i will rather incur the risk of being charged with forwardness than neglect that which i consider my duty." this, then, was the attitude of the principal personages in the netherlands, and the situation of affairs at the end of the eventful year , the last year of peace which the men then living or their children were to know. the government, weak at the commencement, was strong at the close. the confederacy was broken and scattered. the request, the beggar banquets, the public preaching, the image-breaking, the accord of august, had been followed by reaction. tournay had accepted its garrison. egmont, completely obedient to the crown, was compelling all the cities of flanders and artois to receive soldiers sufficient to maintain implicit obedience, and to extinguish all heretical demonstrations, so that the regent was at comparative leisure to effect the reduction of valenciennes. this ancient city, in the province of hainault, and on the frontier of france, had been founded by the emperor valentinian, from whom it had derived its name. originally established by him as a city of refuge, it had received the privilege of affording an asylum to debtors, to outlaws, and even to murderers. this ancient right had been continued, under certain modifications, even till the period with which we are now occupied. never, however, according to the government, had the right of asylum, even in the wildest times, been so abused by the city before. what were debtors, robbers, murderers, compared to heretics? yet these worst enemies of their race swarmed in the rebellious city, practising even now the foulest rites of calvin, and obeying those most pestilential of all preachers, guido de bray, and peregrine de la grange. the place was the hot-bed of heresy and sedition, and it seemed to be agreed, as by common accord, that the last struggle for what was called the new religion, should take place beneath its walls. pleasantly situated in a fertile valley, provided with very strong fortifications and very deep moats, valenciennes, with the scheld flowing through its centre, and furnishing the means of laying the circumjacent meadows under water, was considered in those days almost impregnable. the city was summoned, almost at the same time as tournay, to accept a garrison. this demand of government was met by a peremptory refusal. noircarmes, towards the middle of december, ordered the magistrates to send a deputation to confer with him at conde. pensionary outreman accordingly repaired to that neighboring city, accompanied by some of his colleagues. this committee was not unfavorable to the demands of government. the magistracies of the cities, generally, were far from rebellious; but in the case of valenciennes the real power at that moment was with the calvinist consistory, and the ministers. the deputies, after their return from conde, summoned the leading members of the reformed religion, together with the preachers. it was urged that it was their duty forthwith to use their influence in favor of the demand made by the government upon the city. "may i grow mute as a fish!" answered de la grange, stoutly, "may the tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, before i persuade my people to accept a garrison of cruel mercenaries, by whom their rights of conscience are to be trampled upon!" councillor outreman reasoned with the fiery minister, that if he and his colleague were afraid of their own lives, ample provision should be made with government for their departure under safe conduct. la grange replied that he had no fears for himself, that the lord would protect those who preached and those who believed in his holy word, but that he would not forgive them should they now bend their necks to his enemies. it was soon very obvious that no arrangement could be made. the magistrates could exert no authority, the preachers were all-powerful; and the citizens, said a catholic inhabitant of valenciennes, "allowed themselves to be led by their ministers like oxen." upon the th december, , a proclamation was accordingly issued by the duchess regent, declaring the city in a state of siege, and all its inhabitants rebels. the crimes for which this penalty was denounced, were elaborately set forth in the edict. preaching according to the reformed religion had been permitted in two or three churches, the sacrament according to the calvinistic manner had been publicly administered, together with a renunciation by the communicants of their adhesion to the catholic church, and now a rebellious refusal to receive the garrison sent to them by the duchess had been added to the list of their iniquities. for offences like these the regent deemed it her duty to forbid all inhabitants of any city, village, or province of the netherlands holding communication with valenciennes, buying or selling with its inhabitants, or furnishing them with provisions; on pain of being considered accomplices in their rebellion, and as such of being executed with the halter. the city was now invested by noircarmes with all the troops which could be spared. the confederates gave promises of assistance to the beleaguered citizens, orange privately encouraged them to holdout in their legitimate refusal. brederode and others busied themselves with hostile demonstrations which were destined to remain barren; but in the mean time the inhabitants had nothing to rely upon save their own stout hearts and arms. at first, the siege was sustained with a light heart. frequent sallies were made, smart skirmishes were ventured, in which the huguenots, on the testimony of a most bitter catholic contemporary, conducted themselves with the bravery of veteran troops, and as if they had done nothing all their lives but fight; forays were made upon the monasteries of the neighborhood for the purpose of procuring supplies, and the broken statues of the dismantled churches were used to build a bridge across an arm of the river, which was called in derision the bridge of idols. noircarmes and the six officers under him, who were thought to be conducting their operations with languor, were christened the seven sleepers. gigantic spectacles, three feet in circumference, were planted derisively upon the ramparts, in order that the artillery, which it was said that the papists of arras were sending, might be seen, as soon as it should arrive. councillor outreman, who had left the city before the siege, came into it again, on commission from noircarmes. he was received with contempt, his proposals on behalf of the government were answered with outcries of fury; he was pelted with stones, and was very glad to make his escape alive. the pulpits thundered with the valiant deeds of joshua, judas maccabeus, and other bible heroes. the miracles wrought in their behalf served to encourage the enthusiasm of the people, while the movements making at various points in the neighborhood encouraged a hope of a general rising throughout the country. those hopes were destined to disappointment. there were large assemblages made, to be sure, at two points. nearly three thousand sectaries had been collected at lannoy under pierre comaille, who, having been a locksmith and afterwards a calvinist preacher, was now disposed to try his fortune as a general. his band was, however, disorderly. rustics armed with pitchforks, young students and old soldiers out of employment, furnished with rusty matchlocks, pikes and halberds, composed his force. a company similar in character, and already amounting to some twelve hundred in number, was collecting at waterlots. it was hoped that an imposing array would soon be assembled, and that the two bands, making a junction, would then march to the relief of valenciennes. it was boasted that in a very short time, thirty thousand men would be in the field. there was even a fear of some such result felt by the catholics. etext editor's bookmarks: , the last year of peace dissenters were as bigoted as the orthodox if he had little, he could live upon little incur the risk of being charged with forwardness than neglect not to let the grass grow under their feet motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley [chapter ix., part .] calvinists defeated at lannoy and at waterlots--elation of the government--the siege pressed more closely--cruelties practised upon the country people--courage of the inhabitants--remonstrance to the knights of the fleece--conduct of brederode--orange at amsterdam-- new oath demanded by government--orange refuses--he offers his resignation of all offices--meeting at breda--new "request" of brederode--he creates disturbances and levies troops in antwerp-- conduct of hoogstraaten--plans of brederode--supposed connivance of orange--alarm at brussels--tholouse at ostrawell--brederode in holland--de beauvoir defeats tholouse--excitement at antwerp-- determined conduct of orange--three days' tumult at antwerp suppressed by the wisdom and courage of orange. it was then that noircarmes and his "seven sleepers" showed that they were awake. early in january, , that fierce soldier, among whose vices slothfulness was certainly never reckoned before or afterwards, fell upon the locksmith's army at zannoy, while the seigneur de rassinghem attacked the force at waterlots on the same day. noircarmes destroyed half his enemies at the very first charge. the ill-assorted rabble fell asunder at once. the preacher fought well, but his undisciplined force fled at the first sight of the enemy. those who carried arquebusses threw them down without a single discharge, that they might run the faster. at least a thousand were soon stretched dead upon the field; others were hunted into the river. twenty-six hundred, according to the catholic accounts, were exterminated in an hour. rassinghem, on his part, with five or six hundred regulars, attacked teriel's force, numbering at least twice as many. half of these were soon cut to pieces and put to flight. six hundred, however, who had seen some service, took refuge in the cemetery of waterlots. here, from behind the stone wall of the inclosure, they sustained the attack of the catholics with some spirit. the repose of the dead in the quiet country church-yard was disturbed by the uproar of a most sanguinary conflict. the temporary fort was soon carried, and the huguenots retreated into the church. a rattling arquebusade was poured in upon them as they struggled in the narrow doorway. at least four hundred corpses were soon strewn among the ancient graves. the rest were hunted, into the church, and from the church into the belfry. a fire was then made in the steeple and kept up till all were roasted or suffocated. not a man escaped. this was the issue in the first stricken field in the netherlands, for the cause of religious liberty. it must be confessed that it was not very encouraging to the lovers of freedom. the partisans of government were elated, in proportion to the apprehension which had been felt for the result of this rising in the walloon country. "these good hypocrites," wrote a correspondent of orange, "are lifting up their heads like so many dromedaries. they are becoming unmanageable with pride." the duke of aerschot and count meghem gave great banquets in brussels, where all the good chevaliers drank deep in honor of the victory, and to the health of his majesty and madame. "i saw berlaymont just go by the window," wrote schwartz to the prince. "he was coming from aerschot's dinner with a face as red as the cardinal's new hat." on the other hand, the citizens of valenciennes were depressed in equal measure with the exultation of their antagonists. there was no more talk of seven sleepers now, no more lunettes stuck upon lances, to spy the coming forces of the enemy. it was felt that the government was wide awake, and that the city would soon see the impending horrors without telescopes. the siege was pressed more closely. noircarmes took up a commanding position at saint armand, by which he was enabled to cut off all communication between the city and the surrounding country. all the villages in the neighborhood were pillaged; all the fields laid waste. all the infamies which an insolent soldiery can inflict upon helpless peasantry were daily enacted. men and women who attempted any communication--with the city, were murdered in cold blood by hundreds. the villagers were plundered of their miserable possessions, children were stripped naked in the midst of winter for the sake of the rags which covered them; matrons and virgins were sold at public auction by the tap of drum; sick and wounded wretches were burned over slow fires, to afford amusement to the soldiers. in brief, the whole unmitigated curse which military power inflamed by religious bigotry can embody, had descended upon the heads of these unfortunate provincials who had dared to worship god in christian churches without a roman ritual. meantime the city maintained, a stout heart still. the whole population were arranged under different banners. the rich and poor alike took arms to defend the walls which sheltered them. the town paupers were enrolled in three companies, which bore the significant title of the "tons-nulls" or the "stark-nakeds," and many was the fierce conflict delivered outside the gates by men, who, in the words of a catholic then in the city, might rather be taken for "experienced veterans than for burghers and artisans." at the same time, to the honor of valenciennes, it must be stated, upon the same incontestable authority, that not a catholic in the city was injured or insulted. the priests who had remained there were not allowed to say mass, but they never met with an opprobrious word or look from the people. the inhabitants of the city called upon the confederates for assistance. they also issued an address to the knights of the fleece; a paper which narrated the story of their wrongs in pathetic and startling language. they appealed to those puissant and illustrious chevaliers to prevent the perpetration of the great wrong which was now impending over so many innocent heads. "wait not," they said, "till the thunderbolt has fallen, till the deluge has overwhelmed us, till the fires already blazing have laid the land in coals and ashes, till no other course be possible, but to abandon the country in its desolation to foreign barbarity. let the cause of the oppressed come to your ears. so shall your conscience become a shield of iron; so shall the happiness of a whole country witness before the angels, of your truth to his majesty, in the cause of his true grandeur and glory." these stirring appeals to an order of which philip was chief, viglius chancellor, egmont, mansfeld, aerschot, berlaymont, and others, chevaliers, were not likely to produce much effect. the city could rely upon no assistance in those high quarters. meantime, however, the bold brederode was attempting a very extensive diversion, which, if successful, would have saved valenciennes and the whole country beside. that eccentric personage, during the autumn and winter had been creating disturbances in various parts of the country. wherever he happened to be established, there came from the windows of his apartments a sound of revelry and uproar. suspicious characters in various costumes thronged his door and dogged his footsteps. at the same time the authorities felt themselves obliged to treat him with respect. at horn he had entertained many of the leading citizens at a great banquet.--the-health-of-the-beggars had been drunk in mighty potations, and their shibboleth had resounded through the house. in the midst of the festivities, brederode had suspended a beggar's-medal around the neck of the burgomaster, who had consented to be his guest upon that occasion, but who had no intention of enrolling himself in the fraternities of actual or political mendicants. the excellent magistrate, however, was near becoming a member of both. the emblem by which he had been conspicuously adorned proved very embarrassing to him upon his recovery from the effects of his orgies with the "great beggar," and he was subsequently punished for his imprudence by the confiscation of half his property. early in january, brederode had stationed himself in his city of viane. there, in virtue of his seignorial rights, he had removed all statues and other popish emblems from the churches, performing the operation, however, with much quietness and decorum. he had also collected many disorderly men at arms in this city, and had strengthened its fortifications, to resist, as he said, the threatened attacks of duke eric of brunswick and his german mercenaries. a printing-press was established in the place, whence satirical pamphlets, hymn-books, and other pestiferous productions, were constantly issuing to the annoyance of government. many lawless and uproarious individuals enjoyed the count's hospitality. all the dregs and filth of the provinces, according to doctor viglius, were accumulated at viane as in a cesspool. along the placid banks of the lech, on which river the city stands, the "hydra of rebellion" lay ever coiled and threatening. brederode was supposed to be revolving vast schemes, both political and military, and margaret of parma was kept in continual apprehension by the bravado of this very noisy conspirator. she called upon william of orange, as usual, for assistance. the prince, however, was very ill-disposed to come to her relief. an extreme disgust for the policy of the government already began to, characterize his public language. in the autumn and winter he had done all that man could do for the safety of the monarch's crown, and for the people's happiness. his services in antwerp have been recorded. as soon as he could tear himself from that city, where the magistrates and all classes of citizens clung to him as to their only saviour, he had hastened to tranquillize the provinces of holland, zeland, and utrecht. he had made arrangements in the principal cities there upon the same basis which he had adopted in antwerp, and to which margaret had consented in august. it was quite out of the question to establish order without permitting the reformers, who constituted much the larger portion of the population, to have liberty of religious exercises at some places, not consecrated, within the cities. at amsterdam, for instance, as he informed the duchess, there were swarms of unlearned, barbarous people, mariners and the like, who could by no means perceive the propriety of doing their preaching in the open country, seeing that the open country, at that season, was quite under water.--margaret's gracious suggestion that, perhaps, something might be done with boats, was also considered inadmissible. "i know not," said orange, "who could have advised your highness to make such a proposition." he informed her, likewise; that the barbarous mariners had a clear right to their preaching; for the custom had already been established previously to the august treaty, at a place called the "lastadge," among the wharves. "in the name of god, then," wrote margaret; "let them continue to preach in the lastadge." this being all the barbarians wanted, an accord, with the full consent of the regent, was drawn up at amsterdam and the other northern cities. the catholics kept churches and cathedrals, but in the winter season, the greater part of the population obtained permission to worship god upon dry land, in warehouses and dock-yards. within a very few weeks, however, the whole arrangement was coolly cancelled by the duchess, her permission revoked, and peremptory prohibition of all preaching within or without the walls proclaimed. the government was growing stronger. had not noircarmes and rassinghem cut to pieces three or four thousand of these sectaries marching to battle under parsons, locksmiths, and similar chieftains? were not all lovers of good government "erecting their heads like dromedaries?" it may easily be comprehended that the prince could not with complacency permit himself to be thus perpetually stultified by a weak, false, and imperious woman. she had repeatedly called upon him when she was appalled at the tempest and sinking in the ocean; and she had as constantly disavowed his deeds and reviled his character when she felt herself in safety again. he had tranquillized the old batavian provinces, where the old batavian spirit still lingered, by his personal influence and his unwearied exertions. men of all ranks and religions were grateful for his labors. the reformers had not gained much, but they were satisfied. the catholics retained their churches, their property, their consideration. the states of holland had voted him fifty thousand florins, as an acknowledgment of his efforts in restoring peace. he had refused the present. he was in debt, pressed for money, but he did not choose, as he informed philip, "that men should think his actions governed by motives of avarice or particular interest, instead of the true affection which he bore to his majesty's service and the good of the country." nevertheless, his back was hardly turned before all his work was undone by the regent. a new and important step on the part of the government had now placed him in an attitude of almost avowed rebellion. all functionaries, from governors of provinces down to subalterns in the army, were required to take a new oath of allegiance, "novum et hactenua inusitatum religionia juramentum," as the prince characterized it, which was, he said, quite equal to the inquisition. every man who bore his majesty's commission was ordered solemnly to pledge himself to obey the orders of government, every where, and against every person, without limitation or restriction.--count mansfeld, now "factotum at brussels," had taken the oath with great fervor. so had aerachot, berlaymont, meghem, and, after a little wavering, egmont. orange spurned the proposition. he had taken oaths enough which he had never broken, nor intended now to break: he was ready still to do every thing conducive to the real interest of the monarch. who dared do more was no true servant to the government, no true lover of the country. he would never disgrace himself by a blind pledge, through which he might be constrained to do acts detrimental, in his opinion, to the safety of the crown, the happiness of the commonwealth, and his own honor. the alternative presented he willingly embraced. he renounced all his offices, and desired no longer to serve a government whose policy he did not approve, a king by whom he was suspected. his resignation was not accepted by the duchess, who still made efforts to retain the services of a man who was necessary to her administration. she begged him, notwithstanding the purely defensive and watchful attitude which he had now assumed, to take measures that brederode should abandon his mischievous courses. she also reproached the prince with having furnished that personage with artillery for his fortifications. orange answered, somewhat contemptuously, that he was not brederode's keeper, and had no occasion to meddle with his affairs. he had given him three small field-pieces, promised long ago; not that he mentioned that circumstance as an excuse for the donation. "thank god," said he, "we have always had the liberty in this country of making to friends or relatives what presents we liked, and methinks that things have come to a pretty pass when such trifles are scrutinized." certainly, as suzerain of viane, and threatened with invasion in his seignorial rights, the count might think himself justified in strengthening the bulwarks of his little stronghold, and the prince could hardly be deemed very seriously to endanger the safety of the crown by the insignificant present which had annoyed the regent. it is not so agreeable to contemplate the apparent intimacy which the prince accorded to so disreputable a character, but orange was now in hostility to the government, was convinced by evidence, whose accuracy time was most signally to establish, that his own head, as well as many others, were already doomed to the block, while the whole country was devoted to abject servitude, and he was therefore disposed to look with more indulgence upon the follies of those who were endeavoring, however weakly and insanely, to avert the horrors which he foresaw. the time for reasoning had passed. all that true wisdom and practical statesmanship could suggest, he had already placed at the disposal of a woman who stabbed him in the back even while she leaned upon his arm--of a king who had already drawn his death warrant, while reproaching his "cousin of orange" for want of confidence in the royal friendship. was he now to attempt the subjugation of his country by interfering with the proceedings of men whom he had no power to command, and who, at least, were attempting to oppose tyranny? even if he should do so, he was perfectly aware of the reward, reserved for his loyalty. he liked not such honors as he foresaw for all those who had ever interposed between the monarch and his vengeance. for himself he had the liberation of a country, the foundation of a free commonwealth to achieve. there was much work for those hands before he should fall a victim to the crowned assassin. early in february, brederode, hoogstraaten, horn, and some other gentlemen, visited the prince at breda. here it is supposed the advice of orange was asked concerning the new movement contemplated by brederode. he was bent upon presenting a new petition to the duchess with great solemnity. there is no evidence to show that the prince approved the step, which must have seemed to him superfluous, if not puerile. he probably regarded the matter with indifference. brederode, however, who was fond of making demonstrations, and thought himself endowed with a genius for such work, wrote to the regent for letters of safe conduct that he might come to brussels with his petition. the passports were contemptuously refused. he then came to antwerp, from which city he forwarded the document to brussels in a letter. by this new request, the exercise of the reformed religion was claimed as a right, while the duchess was summoned to disband the forces which she had been collecting, and to maintain in good faith the "august" treaty. these claims were somewhat bolder than those of the previous april, although the liberal party was much weaker and the confederacy entirely disbanded. brederode, no doubt, thought it good generalship to throw the last loaf of bread into the enemy's camp before the city should surrender. his haughty tone was at once taken down by margaret of parma. "she wondered," she said, "what manner of nobles these were, who, after requesting, a year before, to be saved only from the inquisition, now presumed to talk about preaching in the cities." the concessions of august had always been odious, and were now canceled. "as for you and your accomplices," she continued to the count, "you will do well to go to your homes at once without meddling with public affairs, for, in case of disobedience, i shall deal with you as i shall deem expedient." brederode not easily abashed, disregarded the advice, and continued in antwerp. here, accepting the answer of the regent as a formal declaration of hostilities, he busied himself in levying troops in and about the city. orange had returned to antwerp early in february. during his absence, hoogstraaten had acted as governor at the instance of the prince and of the regent. during the winter that nobleman, who was very young and very fiery, had carried matters with a high hand, whenever there had been the least attempt at sedition. liberal in principles, and the devoted friend of orange, he was disposed however to prove that the champions of religious liberty were not the patrons of sedition. a riot occurring in the cathedral, where a violent mob were engaged in defacing whatever was left to deface in that church, and in heaping insults on the papists at their worship, the little count, who, says a catholic contemporary, "had the courage of a lion," dashed in among them, sword in hand, killed three upon the spot, and, aided by his followers, succeeded in slaying, wounding, or capturing all the rest. he had also tracked the ringleader of the tumult to his lodging, where he had caused him to be arrested at midnight, and hanged at once in his shirt without any form of trial. such rapid proceedings little resembled the calm and judicious moderation of orange upon all occasions, but they certainly might have sufficed to convince philip that all antagonists of the inquisition were not heretics and outlaws. upon the arrival of the prince in antwerp, it was considered advisable that hoogstraaten should remain associated with him in the temporary government of the city. during the month of february, brederode remained in antwerp, secretly enrolling troops. it was probably his intention--if so desultory and irresponsible an individual could be said to have an intention--to make an attempt upon the island of walcheren. if such important cities as flushing and middelburg could be gained, he thought it possible to prevent the armed invasion now soon expected from spain. orange had sent an officer to those cities, who was to reconnoitre their condition, and to advise them against receiving a garrison from government without his authority. so far he connived at brederode's proceedings, as he had a perfect right to do, for walcheren was within what had been the prince's government, and he had no disposition that these cities should share the fate of tourney, valenciennes, bois le duc, and other towns which had already passed or were passing under the spears of foreign mercenaries. it is also probable that he did not take any special pains to check the enrolments of brederode. the peace of antwerp was not endangered, and to the preservation of that city the prince seemed now to limit himself. he was hereditary burgrave of antwerp, but officer of philip's never more. despite the shrill demands of duchess margaret, therefore; the prince did not take very active measures by which the crown of philip might be secured. he, perhaps, looked upon the struggle almost with indifference. nevertheless, he issued a formal proclamation by which the count's enlistments were forbidden. van der aa, a gentleman who had been active in making these levies, was compelled to leave the city. brederode was already gone to the north to busy himself with further enrolments. in the mean time there had been much alarm in brussels. egmont, who omitted no opportunity of manifesting his loyalty, offered to throw himself at once into the isle of walcheren, for the purpose of dislodging any rebels who might have effected an entrance. he collected accordingly seven or eight hundred walloon veterans, at his disposal in flanders, in the little port of sas de ghent, prepared at once to execute his intention, "worthy," says a catholic writer, "of his well-known courage and magnanimity." the duchess expressed gratitude for the count's devotion and loyalty, but his services in the sequel proved unnecessary. the rebels, several boat-loads of whom had been cruising about in the neighborhood of flushing during the early part of march, had been refused admittance into any of the ports on the island. they therefore sailed up the scheld, and landed at a little village called ostrawell, at the distance of somewhat more than a mile from antwerp. the commander of the expedition was marnix of tholouse, brother to marnix of saint aldegonde. this young nobleman, who had left college to fight for the cause of religious liberty, was possessed of fine talents and accomplishments. like his illustrious brother, he was already a sincere convert to the doctrines of the reformed church. he had nothing, however, but courage to recommend him as a leader in a military expedition. he was a mere boy, utterly without experience in the field. his troops were raw levies, vagabonds and outlaws. such as it was, however, his army was soon posted at ostrawell in a convenient position, and with considerable judgment. he had the scheld and its dykes in his rear, on his right and left the dykes and the village. in front he threw up a breastwork and sunk a trench. here then was set up the standard of rebellion, and hither flocked daily many malcontents from the country round. within a few days three thousand men were in his camp. on the other handy brederode was busy in holland, and boasted of taking the field ere long with six thousand soldiers at the very least. together they would march to the relief of valenciennes, and dictate peace in brussels. it was obvious that this matter could not be allowed to go on. the duchess, with some trepidation, accepted the offer made by philip de lannoy, seigneur de beauvoir, commander of her body-guard in brussels, to destroy this nest of rebels without delay. half the whole number of these soldiers was placed at his disposition, and egmont supplied de beauvoir with four hundred of his veteran walloons. with a force numbering only eight hundred, but all picked men, the intrepid officer undertook his enterprise, with great despatch and secrecy. upon the th march, the whole troop was sent off in small parties, to avoid suspicion, and armed only with sword and dagger. their helmets, bucklers, arquebusses, corselets, spears, standards and drums, were delivered to their officers, by whom they were conveyed noiselessly to the place of rendezvous. before daybreak, upon the following morning, de beauvoir met his soldiers at the abbey of saint bernard, within a league of antwerp. here he gave them their arms, supplied them with refreshments, and made them a brief speech. he instructed them that they were to advance, with furled banners and without beat of drum, till within sight of the enemy, that the foremost section was to deliver its fire, retreat to the rear and load, to be followed by the next, which was to do the same, and above all, that not an arquebus should be discharged till the faces of the enemy could be distinguished. the troop started. after a few minutes' march they were in full sight of ostrawell. they then displayed their flags and advanced upon the fort with loud huzzas. tholouse was as much taken by surprise as if they had suddenly emerged from the bowels of the earth. he had been informed that the government at brussels was in extreme trepidation. when he first heard the advancing trumpets and sudden shouts, he thought it a detachment of brederode's promised force. the cross on the banners soon undeceived him. nevertheless "like a brave and generous young gentleman as he was," he lost no time in drawing up his men for action, implored them to defend their breastworks, which were impregnable against so small a force, and instructed them to wait patiently with their fire, till the enemy were near enough to be marked. these orders were disobeyed. the "young scholar," as de beauvoir had designated him, had no power to infuse his own spirit into his rabble rout of followers. they were already panic-struck by the unexpected appearance of the enemy. the catholics came on with the coolness of veterans, taking as deliberate aim as if it had been they, not their enemies, who were behind breastworks. the troops of tholouse fired wildly, precipitately, quite over the heads of the assailants. many of the defenders were slain as fast as they showed themselves above their bulwarks. the ditch was crossed, the breastwork carried at, a single determined charge. the rebels made little resistance, but fled as soon as the enemy entered their fort. it was a hunt, not a battle. hundreds were stretched dead in the camp; hundreds were driven into the scheld; six or eight hundred took refuge in a farm-house; but de beauvoir's men set fire to the building, and every rebel who had entered it was burned alive or shot. no quarter was given. hardly a man of the three thousand who had held the fort escaped. the body of tholouse was cut into a hundred pieces. the seigneur de beauvoir had reason, in the brief letter which gave an account of this exploit, to assure her highness that there were "some very valiant fellows in his little troop." certainly they had accomplished the enterprise entrusted to them with promptness, neatness, and entire success. of the great rebellious gathering, which every day had seemed to grow more formidable, not a vestige was left. this bloody drama had been enacted in full sight of antwerp. the fight had lasted from daybreak till ten o'clock in the forenoon, during the whole of which period, the city ramparts looking towards ostrawell, the roofs of houses, the towers of churches had been swarming with eager spectators. the sound of drum and trumpet, the rattle of musketry, the shouts of victory, the despairing cries of the vanquished were heard by thousands who deeply sympathized with the rebels thus enduring so sanguinary a chastisement. in antwerp there were forty thousand people opposed to the church of rome. of this number the greater proportion were calvinists, and of these calvinists there were thousands looking down from the battlements upon the disastrous fight. the excitement soon became uncontrollable. before ten o'clock vast numbers of sectaries came pouring towards the red gate, which afforded the readiest egress to the scene of action; the drawbridge of the ostrawell gate having been destroyed the night before by command of orange. they came from every street and alley of the city. some were armed with lance, pike, or arquebus; some bore sledge-hammers; others had the partisans, battle-axes, and huge two-handed swords of the previous century; all were determined upon issuing forth to the rescue of their friends in the fields outside the town. the wife of tholouse, not yet aware of her husband's death, although his defeat was obvious, flew from street to street, calling upon the calvinists to save or to avenge their perishing brethren. a terrible tumult prevailed. ten thousand men were already up and in arms.--it was then that the prince of orange, who was sometimes described by his enemies as timid and pusillanimous by nature, showed the mettle he was made of. his sense of duty no longer bade him defend the crown of philip--which thenceforth was to be entrusted to the hirelings of the inquisition--but the vast population of antwerp, the women, the children, and the enormous wealth of the richest deity in the world had been confided to his care, and he had accepted the responsibility. mounting his horse, he made his appearance instantly at the red gate, before as formidable a mob as man has ever faced. he came there almost alone, without guards. hoogstraaten arrived soon afterwards with the same intention. the prince was received with howls of execration. a thousand hoarse voices called him the pope's servant, minister of antichrist, and lavished upon him many more epithets of the same nature. his life was in imminent danger. a furious clothier levelled an arquebus full at his breast. "die, treacherous villain?" he cried; "thou who art the cause that our brethren have perished thus miserably in yonder field." the loaded weapon was struck away by another hand in the crowd, while the prince, neither daunted by the ferocious demonstrations against his life, nor enraged by the virulent abuse to which he was subjected, continued tranquilly, earnestly, imperatively to address the crowd. william of orange had that in his face and tongue "which men willingly call master-authority." with what other talisman could he, without violence and without soldiers, have quelled even for a moment ten thousand furious calvinists, armed, enraged against his person, and thirsting for vengeance on catholics. the postern of the red gate had already been broken through before orange and his colleague, hoogstraaten, had arrived. the most excited of the calvinists were preparing to rush forth upon the enemy at ostrawell. the prince, after he had gained the ear of the multitude, urged that the battle was now over, that the reformers were entirely cut to pieces, the enemy, retiring, and that a disorderly and ill-armed mob would be unable to retrieve the fortunes of the day. many were persuaded to abandon the design. five hundred of the most violent, however, insisted upon leaving the gates, and the governors, distinctly warning these zealots that their blood must be upon their own heads, reluctantly permitted that number to issue from the city. the rest of the mob, not appeased, but uncertain, and disposed to take vengeance upon the catholics within the walls, for the disaster which had been occurring without, thronged tumultuously to the long, wide street, called the mere, situate in the very heart of the city. meantime the ardor of those who had sallied from the gate grew sensibly cooler, when they found themselves in the open fields. de beauvoir, whose men, after the victory, had scattered in pursuit of the fugitives, now heard the tumult in the city. suspecting an attack, he rallied his compact little army again for a fresh encounter. the last of the vanquished tholousians who had been captured; more fortunate than their predecessors, had been spared for ransom. there were three hundred of them; rather a dangerous number of prisoners for a force of eight hundred, who were just going into another battle. de beauvoir commanded his soldiers, therefore, to shoot them all. this order having been accomplished, the catholics marched towards antwerp, drums beating, colors flying. the five hundred calvinists, not liking their appearance, and being in reality outnumbered, retreated within; the gates as hastily as they had just issued from them. de beauvoir advanced close to the city moat, on the margin of which he planted the banners of the unfortunate tholouse, and sounded a trumpet of defiance. finding that the citizens had apparently no stomach for the fight, he removed his trophies, and took his departure. on the other hand, the tumult within the walls had again increased. the calvinists had been collecting in great numbers upon the mere. this was a large and splendid thoroughfare, rather an oblong market-place than a street, filled with stately buildings, and communicating by various cross streets with the exchange and with many other public edifices. by an early hour in the afternoon twelve or fifteen thousand calvinists, all armed and fighting men, had assembled upon the place. they had barricaded the whole precinct with pavements and upturned wagons. they had already broken into the arsenal and obtained many field-pieces, which were planted at the entrance of every street and by-way. they had stormed the city jail and liberated the prisoners, all of whom, grateful and ferocious, came to swell the numbers who defended the stronghold on the mere. a tremendous mischief was afoot. threats of pillaging the churches and the houses of the catholics, of sacking the whole opulent city, were distinctly heard among this powerful mob, excited by religious enthusiasm, but containing within one great heterogeneous mass the elements of every crime which humanity can commit. the alarm throughout the city was indescribable. the cries of women and children, as they remained in trembling expectation of what the next hour might bring forth, were, said one who heard them, "enough to soften the hardest hearts." nevertheless the diligence and courage of the prince kept pace with the insurrection. he had caused the eight companies of guards enrolled in september, to be mustered upon the square in front of the city hall, for the protection of that building and of the magistracy. he had summoned the senate of the city, the board of ancients, the deans of guilds, the ward masters, to consult with him at the council-room. at the peril of his life he had again gone before the angry mob in the mere, advancing against their cannon and their outcries, and compelling them to appoint eight deputies to treat with him and the magistrates at the town-hall. this done, quickly but deliberately he had drawn up six articles, to which those deputies gave their assent, and in which the city government cordially united. these articles provided that the keys of the city should remain in the possession of the prince and of hoogstraaten, that the watch should be held by burghers and soldiers together, that the magistrates should permit the entrance of no garrison, and that the citizens should be entrusted with the care of, the charters, especially with that of the joyful entrance. these arrangements, when laid before the assembly at the mere by their deputies, were not received with favor. the calvinists demanded the keys of the city. they did not choose to be locked up at the mercy of any man. they had already threatened to blow the city hall into the air if the keys were not delivered to them. they claimed that burghers, without distinction of religion, instead of mercenary troops, should be allowed to guard the market-place in front of the town-hall. it was now nightfall, and no definite arrangement had been concluded. nevertheless, a temporary truce was made, by means of a concession as to the guard. it was agreed that the burghers, calvinists and lutherans, as well as catholics, should be employed to protect the city. by subtlety, however, the calvinists detailed for that service, were posted not in the town-house square, but on the ramparts and at the gates. a night of dreadful expectation was passed. the army of fifteen thousand mutineers remained encamped and barricaded on the mere, with guns loaded and artillery pointed. fierce cries of "long live the beggars,"--"down with the papists," and other significant watchwords, were heard all night long, but no more serious outbreak occurred. during the whole of the following day, the calvinists remained in their encampment, the catholics and the city guardsmen at their posts near the city hall. the prince was occupied in the council-chamber from morning till night with the municipal authorities, the deputies of "the religion," and the guild officers, in framing a new treaty of peace. towards evening fifteen articles were agreed upon, which were to be proposed forthwith to the insurgents, and in case of nonacceptance to be enforced. the arrangement provided that there should be no garrison; that the september contracts permitting the reformed worship at certain places within the city should be maintained; that men of different parties should refrain from mutual insults; that the two governors, the prince and hoogstraaten, should keep the keys; that the city should be guarded by both soldiers and citizens, without distinction of religious creed; that a band of four hundred cavalry and a small flotilla of vessels of war should be maintained for the defence of the place, and that the expenses to be incurred should be levied upon all classes, clerical and lay, catholic and reformed, without any exception. it had been intended that the governors, accompanied by the magistrates, should forthwith proceed to the mere, for the purpose of laying these terms before the insurgents. night had, however, already arrived, and it was understood that the ill-temper of the calvinists had rather increased than diminished, so that it was doubtful whether the arrangement would be accepted. it was, therefore, necessary to await the issue of another day, rather than to provoke a night battle in the streets. during the night the prince labored incessantly to provide against the dangers of the morrow. the calvinists had fiercely expressed their disinclination to any reasonable arrangement. they had threatened, without farther pause, to plunder the religious houses and the mansions of all the wealthy catholics, and to drive every papist out of town. they had summoned the lutherans to join with them in their revolt, and menaced them, in case of refusal, with the same fate which awaited the catholics. the prince, who was himself a lutheran, not entirely free from the universal prejudice against the calvinists, whose sect he afterwards embraced, was fully aware of the deplorable fact, that the enmity at that day between calvinists and lutherans was as fierce as that between reformers and catholics. he now made use of this feeling, and of his influence with those of the augsburg confession, to save the city. during the night he had interviews with the ministers and notable members of the lutheran churches, and induced them to form an alliance upon this occasion with the catholics and with all friends of order, against an army of outlaws who were threatening to burn and sack the city. the lutherans, in the silence of night, took arms and encamped, to the number of three or four thousand, upon the river side, in the neighborhood of saint michael's cloister. the prince also sent for the deans of all the foreign mercantile associations--italian, spanish, portuguese, english, hanseatic, engaged their assistance also for the protection of the city, and commanded them to remain in their armor at their respective factories, ready to act at a moment's warning. it was agreed that they should be informed at frequent intervals as to the progress of events. on the morning of the th, the city of antwerp presented a fearful sight. three distinct armies were arrayed at different points within its walls. the calvinists, fifteen thousand strong, lay in their encampment on the mere; the lutherans, armed, and eager for action, were at st. michael's; the catholics and the regulars of the city guard were posted on the square. between thirty-five and forty thousand men were up, according to the most moderate computation. all parties were excited, and eager for the fray. the fires of religious hatred burned fiercely in every breast. many malefactors and outlaws, who had found refuge in the course of recent events at antwerp, were in the ranks of the calvinists, profaning a sacred cause, and inspiring a fanatical party with bloody resolutions. papists, once and forever, were to be hunted down, even as they had been for years pursuing reformers. let the men who had fed fat on the spoils of plundered christians be dealt with in like fashion. let their homes be sacked, their bodies given to the dogs--such were the cries uttered by thousands of armed men. on the other hand, the lutherans, as angry and as rich as the catholics, saw in every calvinist a murderer and a robber. they thirsted after their blood; for the spirit of religious frenzy; the characteristic of the century, can with difficulty be comprehended in our colder and more sceptical age. there was every probability that a bloody battle was to be fought that day in the streets of antwerp--a general engagement, in the course of which, whoever might be the victors, the city was sure to be delivered over to fire, sack, and outrage. such would have been the result, according to the concurrent testimony of eye-witnesses, and contemporary historians of every country and creed, but for the courage and wisdom of one man. william of orange knew what would be the consequence of a battle, pent up within the walls of antwerp. he foresaw the horrible havoc which was to be expected, the desolation which would be brought to every hearth in the city. "never were men so desperate and so willing to fight," said sir thomas gresham, who had been expecting every hour his summons to share in the conflict. if the prince were unable that morning to avert the impending calamity, no other power, under heaven, could save antwerp from destruction. the articles prepared on the th had been already approved by those who represented the catholic and lutheran interests. they were read early in the morning to the troops assembled on the square and at st. michael's, and received with hearty cheers. it was now necessary that the calvinists should accept them, or that the quarrel should be fought out at once. at ten o'clock, william of orange, attended by his colleague, hoogstraaten, together with a committee of the municipal authorities, and followed by a hundred troopers, rode to the mere. they wore red scarfs over their armor, as symbols by which all those who had united to put down the insurrection were distinguished. the fifteen thousand calvinists, fierce and disorderly as ever, maintained a threatening aspect. nevertheless, the prince was allowed to ride into the midst of the square. the articles were then read aloud by his command, after which, with great composure, he made a few observations. he pointed out that the arrangement offered them was founded upon the september concessions, that the right of worship was conceded, that the foreign garrison was forbidden, and that nothing further could be justly demanded or honorably admitted. he told them that a struggle upon their part would be hopeless, for the catholics and lutherans, who were all agreed as to the justice of the treaty, outnumbered them by nearly two to one. he, therefore, most earnestly and affectionately adjured them to testify their acceptance to the peace offered by repeating the words with which he should conclude. then, with a firm voice; the prince exclaimed, "god save the king!" it was the last time that those words were ever heard from the lips of the man already proscribed by philip. the crowd of calvinists hesitated an instant, and then, unable to resist the tranquil influence, convinced by his reasonable language, they raised one tremendous shout of "vive le roi!" the deed was done, the peace accepted, the dreadful battle averted, antwerp saved. the deputies of the calvinists now formally accepted and signed the articles. kind words were exchanged among the various classes of fellow-citizens, who but an hour before had been thirsting for each other's blood, the artillery and other weapons of war were restored to the arsenals, calvinists, lutherans, and catholics, all laid down their arms, and the city, by three o'clock, was entirely quiet. fifty thousand armed men had been up, according to some estimates, yet, after three days of dreadful expectation, not a single person had been injured, and the tumult was now appeased. the prince had, in truth, used the mutual animosity of protestant sects to a good purpose; averting bloodshed by the very weapons with which the battle was to have been waged. had it been possible for a man like william the silent to occupy the throne where philip the prudent sat, how different might have been the history of spain and the fate of the netherlands. gresham was right, however, in his conjecture that the regent and court would not "take the business well." margaret of parma was incapable of comprehending such a mind as that of orange, or of appreciating its efforts. she was surrounded by unscrupulous and mercenary soldiers, who hailed the coming civil war as the most profitable of speculations. "factotum" mansfeld; the counts aremberg and meghem, the duke of aerschot, the sanguinary noircarmes, were already counting their share in the coming confiscations. in the internecine conflict approaching, there would be gold for the gathering, even if no honorable laurels would wreath their swords. "meghen with his regiment is desolating the country," wrote william of orange to the landgrave of hesse, "and reducing many people to poverty. aremberg is doing the same in friesland. they are only thinking how, under the pretext of religion, they may grind the poor christians, and grow rich and powerful upon their estates and their blood." the seignior de beauvoir wrote to the duchess, claiming all the estates of tholouse, and of his brother st. aldegonde, as his reward for the ostrawell victory, while noircarmes was at this very moment to commence at valenciennes that career of murder and spoliation which, continued at mons a few years afterwards, was to load his name with infamy. from such a regent, surrounded by such councillors, was the work of william de nassau's hands to gain applause? what was it to them that carnage and plunder had been spared in one of the richest and most populous cities in christendom? were not carnage and plunder the very elements in which they disported themselves? and what more dreadful offence against god and philip could be committed than to permit, as the prince had just permitted, the right of worship in a christian land to calvinists and lutherans? as a matter of course, therefore, margaret of parma denounced the terms by which antwerp had been saved as a "novel and exorbitant capitulation," and had no intention of signifying her approbation either to prince or magistrate. [chapter x.] egmont and aerschot before valenciennes--severity of egmont-- capitulation of the city--escape and capture of the ministers-- execution of la grange and de bray--horrible cruelty at valenciennes--effects of the reduction of valenciennes--the duchess at antwerp--armed invasion of the provinces decided upon in spain-- appointment of alva--indignation of margaret--mission of de billy-- pretended visit of philip--attempts of the duchess to gain over orange--mission of berty--interview between orange and egmont at willebroek--orange's letters to philip, to egmont, and to horn-- orange departs from the netherlands--philip's letter to egmont-- secret intelligence received by orange--la torre's mission to brederode--brederode's departure and death--death of bergen--despair in the provinces--great emigration--cruelties practised upon those of the new religion--edict of th may--wrath of the king. valenciennes, whose fate depended so closely upon the issue of these various events, was now trembling to her fall. noircarmes had been drawing the lines more and more closely about the city, and by a refinement of cruelty had compelled many calvinists from tournay to act as pioneers in the trenches against their own brethren in valenciennes. after the defeat of tholouse, and the consequent frustration of all brederode's arrangements to relieve the siege, the duchess had sent a fresh summons to valenciennes, together with letters acquainting the citizens with the results of the ostrawell battle. the intelligence was not believed. egmont and aerschot, however, to whom margaret had entrusted this last mission to the beleaguered town, roundly rebuked the deputies who came to treat with them, for their insolence in daring to doubt the word of the regent. the two seigniors had established themselves in the chateau of beusnage, at a league's distance from valenciennes. here they received commissioners from the city, half of whom were catholics appointed by the magistrates, half calvinists deputed by the consistories. these envoys were informed that the duchess would pardon the city for its past offences, provided the gates should now be opened, the garrison received, and a complete suppression of all religion except that of rome acquiesced in without a murmur. as nearly the whole population was of the calvinist faith, these terms could hardly be thought favorable. it was, however, added, that fourteen days should be allowed to the reformers for the purpose of converting their property, and retiring from the country. the deputies, after conferring with their constituents in the city, returned on the following day with counter-propositions, which were not more likely to find favor with the government. they offered to accept the garrison, provided the soldiers should live at their own expense, without any tax to the citizens for their board, lodging, or pay. they claimed that all property which had been seized should be restored, all persons accused of treason liberated. they demanded the unconditional revocation of the edict by which the city had been declared rebellious, together with a guarantee from the knights of the fleece and the state council that the terms of the propose& treaty should be strictly observed. as soon as these terms had been read to the two seigniors, the duke of aerschot burst into an immoderate fit of laughter. he protested that nothing could be more ludicrous than such propositions, worthy of a conqueror dictating a peace, thus offered by a city closely beleaguered, and entirely at the mercy of the enemy. the duke's hilarity was not shared by egmont, who, on the contrary, fell into a furious passion. he swore that the city should be burned about their ears, and that every one of the inhabitants should be put to the sword for the insolent language which they had thus dared to address to a most clement sovereign. he ordered the trembling deputies instantly to return with this peremptory rejection of their terms, and with his command that the proposals of government should be accepted within three days' delay. the commissioners fell upon their knees at egmont's feet, and begged for mercy. they implored him at least to send this imperious message by some other hand than theirs, and to permit them to absent themselves from the city. they should be torn limb from limb, they said, by the enraged inhabitants, if they dared to present themselves with such instructions before them. egmont, however, assured them that they should be sent into the city, bound hand and foot, if they did not instantly obey his orders. the deputies, therefore, with heavy hearts, were fain to return home with this bitter result to their negotiations. the terms were rejected, as a matter of course, but the gloomy forebodings of the commissioners, as to their own fate at the hands of their fellow-citizens, were not fulfilled. instant measures were now taken to cannonade the city. egmont, at the hazard of his life, descended into the foss, to reconnoitre the works, and to form an opinion as to the most eligible quarter at which to direct the batteries. having communicated the result of his investigations to noircarmes, he returned to report all these proceedings to the regent at brussels. certainly the count had now separated himself far enough from william of orange, and was manifesting an energy in the cause of tyranny which was sufficiently unscrupulous. many people who had been deceived by his more generous demonstrations in former times, tried to persuade themselves that he was acting a part. noircarmes, however--and no man was more competent to decide the question distinctly--expressed his entire confidence in egmont's loyalty. margaret had responded warmly to his eulogies, had read with approbation secret letters from egmont to noircarmes, and had expressed the utmost respect and affection for "the count." egmont had also lost no time in writing to philip, informing him that he had selected the most eligible spot for battering down the obstinate city of valenciennes, regretting that he could not have had the eight or ten military companies, now at his disposal, at an earlier day, in which case he should have been able to suppress many tumults, but congratulating his sovereign that the preachers were all fugitive, the reformed religion suppressed, and the people disarmed. he assured the king that he would neglect no effort to prevent any renewal of the tumults, and expressed the hope that his majesty would be satisfied with his conduct, notwithstanding the calumnies of which the times were full. noircarmes meanwhile, had unmasked his batteries, and opened his fire exactly according to egmont's suggestions. the artillery played first upon what was called the "white tower," which happened to bear this ancient, rhyming inscription: "when every man receives his own, and justice reigns for strong and weak, perfect shall be this tower of stone, and all the dumb will learn to speak." "quand chacun sera satisfaict, et la justice regnera, ce boulevard sera parfaict, et--la muette parlera."--valenciennes ms. for some unknown reason, the rather insipid quatrain was tortured into a baleful prophecy. it was considered very ominous that the battery should be first opened against this sibylline tower. the chimes, too, which had been playing, all through the siege, the music of marot's sacred songs, happened that morning to be sounding forth from every belfry the twenty-second psalm: "my god, my god, why hast thou forsaken me?" it was palm sunday, d of march. the women and children were going mournfully about the streets, bearing green branches in their hands, and praying upon their knees, in every part of the city. despair and superstition had taken possession of citizens, who up to that period had justified la noue's assertion, that none could endure a siege like huguenots. as soon as the cannonading began, the spirit of the inhabitants seemed to depart. the ministers exhorted their flocks in vain as the tiles and chimneys began to topple into the streets, and the concussions of the artillery were responded to by the universal wailing of affrighted women. upon the very first day after the unmasking of the batteries, the city sent to noircarmes, offering almost an unconditional surrender. not the slightest breach had been effected--not the least danger of an assault existed--yet the citizens, who had earned the respect of their antagonists by the courageous manner in which they had sallied and skirmished during the siege, now in despair at any hope of eventual succor, and completely demoralized by the course of recent events outside their walls, surrendered ignominiously, and at discretion. the only stipulation agreed to by noircarmes was, that the city should not be sacked, and that the lives of the inhabitants should be spared. this pledge was, however, only made to be broken. noircarmes entered the city and closed the gates. all the richest citizens, who of course were deemed the most criminal, were instantly arrested. the soldiers, although not permitted formally to sack the city, were quartered upon the inhabitants, whom they robbed and murdered, according to the testimony of a catholic citizen, almost at their pleasure. michael herlin, a very wealthy and distinguished burgher, was arrested upon the first day. the two ministers, guido de bray and peregrine de la grange, together with the son of herlin, effected their escape by the water-gate. having taken refuge in a tavern at saint arnaud, they were observed, as they sat at supper, by a peasant, who forthwith ran off to the mayor of the borough with the intelligence that some individuals, who looked like fugitives, had arrived at saint arnaud. one of them, said the informer, was richly dressed; and wore a gold-hilted sword with velvet scabbard. by the description, the mayor recognized herlin the younger,--and suspected his companions. they were all arrested, and sent to noircarmes. the two herlins, father and son, were immediately beheaded. guido de bray and peregrine de la grange were loaded with chains, and thrown into a filthy dungeon, previously to their being hanged. here they were visited by the countess de roeulx, who was curious to see how the calvinists sustained themselves in their martyrdom. she asked them how they could sleep, eat, or drink, when covered with such heavy fetters. "the cause, and my good conscience," answered de bray, "make me eat, drink, and sleep better than those who are doing me wrong. these shackles are more honorable to me than golden rings and chains. they are more useful to me, and as i hear their clank, methinks i hear the music of sweet voices and the tinkling of lutes." this exultation never deserted these courageous enthusiasts. they received their condemnation to death "as if it had been an invitation to a marriage feast." they encouraged the friends who crowded their path to the scaffold with exhortations to remain true in the reformed faith. la grange, standing upon the ladder, proclaimed with a loud voice, that he was slain for having preached the pure word of god to a christian people in a christian land. de bray, under the same gibbet; testified stoutly that he, too, had committed that offence alone. he warned his friends to obey the magistrates, and all others in authority, except in matters of conscience; to abstain from sedition; but to obey the will of god. the executioner threw him from the ladder while he was yet speaking. so ended the lives of two eloquent, learned, and highly-gifted divines. many hundreds of victims were sacrificed in the unfortunate city. "there were a great many other citizens strangled or beheaded," says an aristocratic catholic historian of the time, "but they were mostly personages of little quality, whose names are quite unknown to me."--[pontus payen]--the franchises of the city were all revoked. there was a prodigious amount of property confiscated to the benefit of noircarmes and the rest of the "seven sleepers." many calvinists were burned, others were hanged. "for--two whole years," says another catholic, who was a citizen of valenciennes at the time, "there was, scarcely a week in which several citizens were not executed and often a great number were despatched at a time. all this gave so much alarm to the good and innocent, that many quitted the city as fast as they could." if the good and innocent happened to be rich, they might be sure that noircarmes would deem that a crime for which no goodness and innocence could atone. upon the fate of valenciennes had depended, as if by common agreement, the whole destiny of the anti-catholic party. "people had learned at last," says another walloon, "that the king had long arms, and that he had not been enlisting soldiers to string beads. so they drew in their horns and their evil tempers, meaning to put them forth again, should the government not succeed at the siege of valenciennes." the government had succeeded, however, and the consternation was extreme, the general submission immediate and even abject. "the capture of valenciennes," wrote noircarmes to granvelle, "has worked a miracle. the other cities all come forth to meet me, putting the rope around their own necks." no opposition was offered any where. tournay had been crushed; valenciennes, bois le duc, and all other important places, accepted their garrisons without a murmur. even antwerp had made its last struggle, and as soon as the back of orange was turned, knelt down in the dust to receive its bridle. the prince had been able, by his courage and wisdom, to avert a sanguinary conflict within its walls, but his personal presence alone could guarantee any thing like religious liberty for the inhabitants, now that the rest of the country was subdued. on the th april, sixteen companies of infantry, under count mansfeld, entered the gates. on the th the duchess made a visit to the city, where she was received with respect, but where her eyes were shocked by that which she termed the "abominable, sad, and hideous spectacle of the desolated churches." to the eyes of all who loved their fatherland and their race, the sight of a desolate country, with its ancient charters superseded by brute force, its industrious population swarming from the land in droves, as if the pestilence were raging, with gibbets and scaffolds erected in every village, and with a sickening and universal apprehension of still darker disasters to follow, was a spectacle still more sad, hideous, and abominable. for it was now decided that the duke of alva, at the head of a spanish army, should forthwith take his departure for the netherlands. a land already subjugated was to be crushed, and every vestige of its ancient liberties destroyed. the conquered provinces, once the abode of municipal liberty, of science, art, and literature, and blessed with an unexampled mercantile and manufacturing prosperity, were to be placed in absolute subjection to the cabinet council at madrid. a dull and malignant bigot, assisted by a few spanish grandees, and residing at the other extremity of europe, was thenceforth to exercise despotic authority over countries which for centuries had enjoyed a local administration, and a system nearly approaching to complete self-government. such was the policy devised by granvelle and spinosa, which the duke of alva, upon the th april, had left madrid to enforce. it was very natural that margaret of parma should be indignant at being thus superseded. she considered herself as having acquired much credit by the manner in which the latter insurrectionary movements had been suppressed, so soon as philip, after his endless tergiversations, had supplied her with arms and money. therefore she wrote in a tone of great asperity to her brother, expressing her discontent. she had always been trammelled in her action, she said, by his restrictions upon her authority. she complained that he had no regard for her reputation or her peace of mind. notwithstanding, all impediments and dangers, she had at last settled the country, and now another person was to reap the honor. she also despatched the seigneur de billy to spain, for the purpose of making verbal representations to his majesty upon the inexpediency of sending the duke of alva to the netherlands at that juncture with a spanish army. margaret gained nothing, however, by her letters and her envoy, save a round rebuke from philip, who was not accustomed to brook the language of remonstrance; even from his sister. his purpose was fixed. absolute submission was now to be rendered by all. "he was highly astonished and dissatisfied," he said, "that she should dare to write to him with so much passion, and in so resolute a manner. if she received no other recompense, save the glory of having restored the service of god, she ought to express her gratitude to the king for having given her the opportunity of so doing." the affectation of clement intentions was still maintained, together with the empty pretence of the royal visit. alva and his army were coming merely to prepare the way for the king, who still represented himself as "debonair and gentle, slow to anger, and averse from bloodshed." superficial people believed that the king was really coming, and hoped wonders from his advent. the duchess knew better. the pope never believed in it, granvelle never believed in it, the prince of orange never believed in it, councillor d'assonleville never believed in it. "his majesty," says the walloon historian, who wrote from assonleville's papers, "had many imperative reasons for not coming. he was fond of quiet, he was a great negotiator, distinguished for phlegm and modesty, disinclined to long journeys, particularly to sea voyages, which were very painful to him. moreover, he was then building his escorial with so much taste and affection that it was impossible for him to leave home." these excellent reasons sufficed to detain the monarch, in whose place a general was appointed, who, it must be confessed, was neither phlegmatic nor modest, and whose energies were quite equal to the work required. there had in truth never been any thing in the king's project of visiting the netherlands but pretence. on the other hand, the work of orange for the time was finished. he had saved antwerp, he had done his best to maintain the liberties of the country, the rights of conscience, and the royal authority, so far as they were compatible with each other. the alternative had now been distinctly forced upon every man, either to promise blind obedience or to accept the position of a rebel. william of orange had thus become a rebel. he had been requested to sign the new oath, greedily taken by the mansfelds, the berlaymont, the aerachot, and the egmonts, to obey every order which he might receive, against every person and in every place, without restriction or limitation,--and he had distinctly and repeatedly declined the demand. he had again and again insisted upon resigning all his offices. the duchess, more and more anxious to gain over such an influential personage to the cause of tyranny, had been most importunate in her requisitions. "a man with so noble a heart," she wrote to the prince, "and with a descent from, such illustrious and loyal ancestors, can surely not forget his duties to his majesty and the country." william of orange knew his duty to both better than the duchess could understand. he answered this fresh summons by reminding her that he had uniformly refused the new and extraordinary pledge required of him. he had been true to his old oaths, and therefore no fresh pledge was necessary. moreover, a pledge without limitation he would never take. the case might happen, he said, that he should be ordered to do things contrary to his conscience, prejudicial to his majesty's service, and in violation of his oaths to maintain the laws of the country. he therefore once more resigned all his offices, and signified his intention of leaving the provinces. margaret had previously invited him to an interview at brussels, which he had declined, because he had discovered a conspiracy in that place to "play him a trick." assonleville had already been sent to him without effect. he had refused to meet a deputation of fleece knights at mechlin, from the same suspicion of foul play. after the termination of the antwerp tumult, orange again wrote to the duchess, upon the th march, repeating his refusal to take the oath, and stating that he considered himself as at least suspended from all his functions, since she had refused, upon the ground of incapacity, to accept his formal resignation. margaret now determined, by the advice of the state council, to send secretary berty, provided with an ample letter of instructions, upon a special mission to the prince at antwerp. that respectable functionary performed his task with credit, going through the usual formalities, and adducing the threadbare arguments in favor of the unlimited oath, with much adroitness and decorum. he mildly pointed out the impropriety of laying down such responsible posts as those which the prince now occupied at such a juncture. he alluded to the distress which the step must occasion to the debonair sovereign. william of orange became somewhat impatient under the official lecture of this secretary to the privy council, a mere man of sealing-wax and protocols. the slender stock of platitudes with which he had come provided was soon exhausted. his arguments shrivelled at once in the scorn with which the prince received them. the great statesman, who, it was hoped, would be entrapped to ruin, dishonor, and death by such very feeble artifices, asked indignantly whether it were really expected that he should acknowledge himself perjured to his old obligations by now signing new ones; that he should disgrace himself by an unlimited pledge which might require him to break his oaths to the provincial statutes and to the emperor; that he should consent to administer the religious edicts which he abhorred; that he should act as executioner of christians on account of their religious opinions, an office against which his soul revolted; that he should bind himself by an unlimited promise which might require, him to put his own wife to death, because she was a lutheran? moreover, was it to be supposed that he would obey without restriction any orders issued to him in his majesty's name, when the king's representative might be a person whose supremacy it ill became one of his' race to acknowledge? was william of orange to receive absolute commands from the duke of alva? having mentioned that name with indignation, the prince became silent. it was very obvious that no impression was to be made upon the man by formalists. poor berty having conjugated his paradigm conscientiously through all its moods and tenses, returned to his green board in the council-room with his proces verbal of the conference. before he took his leave, however, he prevailed upon orange to hold an interview with the duke of aerschot, count mansfeld, and count egmont. this memorable meeting took place at willebroek, a village midway between antwerp and brussels, in the first week of april. the duke of aerschot was prevented from attending, but mansfeld and egmont--accompanied by the faithful berty, to make another proces verbal--duly made their appearance. the prince had never felt much sympathy with mansfeld, but a tender and honest friendship had always existed between himself and egmont, notwithstanding the difference of their characters, the incessant artifices employed by the spanish court to separate them, and the impassable chasm which now, existed between their respective positions towards the government. the same common-places of argument and rhetoric were now discussed between orange and the other three personages, the prince distinctly stating, in conclusion, that he considered himself as discharged from all his offices, and that he was about to leave the netherlands for germany. the interview, had it been confined to such formal conversation, would have but little historic interest. egmont's choice had been made. several months before he had signified his determination to hold those for enemies who should cease to conduct themselves as faithful vassals, declared himself to be without fear that the country was to be placed in the hands of spaniards, and disavowed all intention, in any case whatever, of taking arms against the king. his subsequent course, as we have seen, had been entirely in conformity with these solemn declarations. nevertheless, the prince, to whom they had been made, thought it still possible to withdraw his friend from the precipice upon which he stood, and to save him from his impending fate. his love for egmont had, in his own noble; and pathetic language, "struck its roots too deeply into his heart" to permit him, in this their parting interview, to neglect a last effort, even if this solemn warning were destined to be disregarded. by any reasonable construction of history, philip was an unscrupulous usurper, who was attempting to convert himself from a duke of brabant and a count of holland into an absolute king. it was william who was maintaining, philip who was destroying; and the monarch who was thus blasting the happiness of the provinces, and about to decimate their population, was by the same process to undermine his own power forever, and to divest himself of his richest inheritance. the man on whom he might have leaned for support, had he been capable of comprehending his character, and of understanding the age in which he had himself been called upon to reign, was, through philip's own insanity, converted into the instrument by which his most valuable provinces were, to be taken from him, and eventually re-organized into: an independent commonwealth. could a vision, like that imagined by the immortal dramatist for another tyrant and murderer, have revealed the future to philip, he, too, might have beheld his victim, not crowned himself, but pointing to a line of kings, even to some who 'two-fold balls and treble sceptres carried', and smiling on them for his. but such considerations as these had no effect upon the prince of orange. he knew himself already proscribed, and he knew that the secret condemnation had extended to egmont also. he was anxious that his friend should prefer the privations of exile, with the chance of becoming the champion of a struggling country, to the wretched fate towards which his blind confidence was leading him. even then it seemed possible that the brave soldier, who had been recently defiling his sword in the cause of tyranny, might be come mindful of his brighter and earlier fame. had egmont been as true to his native land as, until "the long divorce of steel fell on him," he was faithful to philip, he might yet have earned brighter laurels than those gained at st. quentin and gravelines. was he doomed to fall, he might find a glorious death upon freedom's battle-field, in place of that darker departure then so near him, which the prophetic language of orange depicted, but which he was too sanguine to fear. he spoke with confidence of the royal clemency. "alas, egmont," answered the prince, "the king's clemency, of which you boast, will destroy you. would that i might be deceived, but i foresee too clearly that you are to be the bridge which the spaniards will destroy so soon as they have passed over it to invade our country." with these last, solemn words he concluded his appeal to awaken the count from his fatal security. then, as if persuaded that he was looking upon his friend for the last time, william of orange threw his arms around egmont, and held him for a moment in a close embrace. tears fell from the eyes of both at this parting moment--and then the brief scene of simple and lofty pathos terminated--egmont and orange separated from each other, never to meet again on earth. a few days afterwards, orange addressed a letter to philip once more resigning all his offices, and announcing his intention of departing from the netherlands for germany. he added, that he should be always ready to place himself and his property at the king's orders in every thing which he believed conducive to the true service of his majesty. the prince had already received a remarkable warning from old landgrave philip of hesse, who had not forgotten the insidious manner in which his own memorable captivity had been brought about by the arts of granvelle and of alva. "let them not smear your mouths with honey," said the landgrave. "if the three seigniors, of whom the duchess margaret has had so much to say, are invited to court by alva, under pretext of friendly consultation, let them be wary, and think twice ere they accept. i know the duke of alva and the spaniards, and how they dealt with me." the prince, before he departed, took a final leave of horn and egmont, by letters, which, as if aware of the monumental character they were to assume for posterity, he drew up in latin. he desired, now that he was turning his back upon the country, that those two nobles who had refused to imitate, and had advised against his course, should remember that, he was acting deliberately, conscientiously, and in pursuance of a long-settled plan. to count horn he declared himself unable to connive longer at the sins daily committed against the country and his own conscience. he assured him that the government had been accustoming the country to panniers, in order that it might now accept patiently the saddle and bridle. for himself, he said, his back was not strong enough for the weight already imposed upon it, and he preferred to endure any calamity which might happen to him in exile, rather than be compelled by those whom they had all condemned to acquiesce in the object so long and steadily pursued. he reminded egmont, who had been urging him by letter to remain, that his resolution had been deliberately taken, and long since communicated to his friends. he could not, in conscience, take the oath required; nor would he, now that all eyes were turned upon him, remain in the land, the only recusant. he preferred to encounter all that could happen, rather than attempt to please others by the sacrifice of liberty, of his fatherland, of his own conscience. "i hope, therefore," said he to egmont in conclusion, "that you, after weighing my reasons, will not disapprove my departure. the rest i leave to god, who will dispose of all as may most conduce to the glory of his name. for yourself, i pray you to believe that you have no more sincere friend than i am. my love for you has struck such deep root into my heart, that it can be lessened by no distance of time or place, and i pray you in return to maintain the same feelings towards me which you have always cherished." the prince had left antwerp upon the th april, and had written these letters from breda, upon the th of the same month. upon the d, he took his departure for dillenburg, the ancestral seat of his family in germany, by the way of grave and cleves. it was not to be supposed that this parting message would influence egmont's decision with regard to his own movements, when his determination had not been shaken at his memorable interview with the prince. the count's fate was sealed. had he not been praised by noircarmes; had he not earned the hypocritical commendations of duchess margaret; nay more, had he not just received a most affectionate letter of, thanks and approbation from the king of spain himself? this letter, one of the most striking monuments of philip's cold-blooded perfidy, was dated the th of march. "i am pleased, my cousin," wrote the monarch to egmont, "that you have taken the new oath, not that i considered it at all necessary so far as regards yourself, but for the example which you have thus given to others, and which i hope they will all follow. i have received not less pleasure in hearing of the excellent manner in which you are doing your duty, the assistance you are rendering, and the offers which you are making to my sister, for which i thank you, and request you to continue in the same course." the words were written by the royal hand which had already signed the death-warrant of the man to whom they were addressed. alva, who came provided with full powers to carry out the great scheme resolved upon, unrestrained by provincial laws or by the statutes of the golden fleece, had left madrid to embark for carthagena, at the very moment when egmont was reading the royal letter. "the spanish honey," to use once more old landgrave philip's homely metaphor, had done its work, and the unfortunate victim was already entrapped. count horn remained in gloomy silence in his lair at weert, awaiting the hunters of men, already on their way. it seemed inconceivable that he, too, who knew himself suspected and disliked, should have thus blinded himself to his position. it will be seen, however, that the same perfidy was to be employed to ensnare him which proved so successful with egmont. as for the prince himself, he did not move too soon. not long after his arrival in germany, vandenesse, the king's private secretary, but orange's secret agent, wrote him word that he had read letters from the king to alva in which the duke was instructed to "arrest the prince as soon as he could lay hands upon him, and not to let his trial last more than twenty-four hours." brederode had remained at viane, and afterwards at amsterdam, since the ill-starred expedition of tholouse, which he had organized, but at which he had not assisted. he had given much annoyance to the magistracy of amsterdam, and to all respectable persons, calvinist or catholic. he made much mischief, but excited no hopes in the minds of reformers. he was ever surrounded by a host of pot companions, swaggering nobles disguised as sailors, bankrupt tradesmen, fugitives and outlaws of every description, excellent people to drink the beggars' health and to bawl the beggars' songs, but quite unfit for any serious enterprise. people of substance were wary of him, for they had no confidence in his capacity, and were afraid of his frequent demands for contributions to the patriotic cause. he spent his time in the pleasure gardens, shooting at the mark with arquebuss or crossbow, drinking with his comrades, and shrieking "vivent les gueux." the regent, determined to dislodge him, had sent secretary la torre to him in march, with instructions that if brederode refused to leave amsterdam, the magistracy were to call for assistance upon count meghem, who had a regiment at utrecht. this clause made it impossible for la torre to exhibit his instructions to brederode. upon his refusal, that personage, although he knew the secretary as well as he knew his own father, coolly informed him that he knew nothing about him; that he did not consider him as respectable a person as he pretended to be; that he did not believe a word of his having any commission from the duchess, and that he should therefore take no notice whatever of his demands. la torre answered meekly, that he was not so presumptuous, nor so destitute of sense as to put himself into comparison with a gentleman of count brederode's quality, but that as he had served as secretary to the privy council for twenty-three years, he had thought that he might be believed upon his word. hereupon la tome drew up a formal protest, and brederode drew up another. la torre made a proces verbal of their interview, while brederode stormed like a madman, and abused the duchess for a capricious and unreasonable tyrant. he ended by imprisoning la torre for a day or two, and seizing his papers. by a singular coincidence, these events took place on the th, th, and th of march, the very days of the great antwerp tumult. the manner in which the prince of orange had been dealing with forty or fifty thousand armed men, anxious to cut each other's throats, while brederode was thus occupied in browbeating a pragmatical but decent old secretary, illustrated the difference in calibre of the two men. this was the count's last exploit. he remained at amsterdam some weeks longer, but the events which succeeded changed the hector into a faithful vassal. before the th of april, he wrote to egmont, begging his intercession with margaret of parma, and offering "carte blanche" as to terms, if he might only be allowed to make his peace with government. it was, however, somewhat late in the day for the "great beggar" to make his submission. no terms were accorded him, but he was allowed by the duchess to enjoy his revenues provisionally, subject to the king's pleasure. upon the th april, he entertained a select circle of friends at his hotel in amsterdam, and then embarked at midnight for embden. a numerous procession of his adherents escorted him to the ship, bearing lighted torches, and singing bacchanalian songs. he died within a year afterwards, of disappointment and hard drinking, at castle hardenberg, in germany, after all his fretting and fury, and notwithstanding his vehement protestations to die a poor soldier at the feet of louis nassau. that "good chevalier and good christian," as his brother affectionately called him, was in germany, girding himself for the manly work which providence had destined him to perform. the life of brederode, who had engaged in the early struggle, perhaps from the frivolous expectation of hearing himself called count of holland, as his ancestors had been, had contributed nothing to the cause of freedom, nor did his death occasion regret. his disorderly band of followers dispersed in every direction upon the departure of their chief. a vessel in which batenburg, galaina, and other nobles, with their men-at-arms, were escaping towards a german port, was carried into harlingen, while those gentlemen, overpowered by sleep and wassail, were unaware of their danger, and delivered over to count meghem, by the treachery of their pilot. the soldiers, were immediately hanged. the noblemen were reserved to grace the first great scaffold which alva was to erect upon the horse-market in brussels. the confederacy was entirely broken to pieces. of the chieftains to whom the people had been accustomed to look for support and encouragement, some had rallied to the government, some were in exile, some were in prison. montigny, closely watched in spain, was virtually a captive, pining for the young bride to whom he had been wedded amid such brilliant festivities but a few months before his departure, and for the child which was never to look upon its father's face. his colleague, marquis berghen, more fortunate, was already dead. the excellent viglius seized the opportunity to put in a good word for noircarmes, who had been grinding tournay in the dust, and butchering the inhabitants of valenciennes. "we have heard of berghen's death," wrote the president to his faithful joachim. "the lord of noircarmes, who has been his substitute in the governorship of hainault, has given a specimen of what he can do. although i have no private intimacy with that nobleman, i can not help embracing him with all my benevolence. therefore, oh my hopper, pray do your best to have him appointed governor." with the departure of orange, a total eclipse seemed to come over the netherlands. the country was absolutely helpless, the popular heart cold with apprehension. all persons at all implicated in the late troubles, or suspected of heresy, fled from their homes. fugitive soldiers were hunted into rivers, cut to pieces in the fields, hanged, burned, or drowned, like dogs, without quarter, and without remorse. the most industrious and valuable part of the population left the land in droves. the tide swept outwards with such rapidity that the netherlands seemed fast becoming the desolate waste which they had been before the christian era. throughout the country, those reformers who were unable to effect their escape betook themselves to their old lurking-places. the new religion was banished from all the cities, every conventicle was broken up by armed men, the preachers and leading members were hanged, their disciples beaten with rods, reduced to beggary, or imprisoned, even if they sometimes escaped the scaffold. an incredible number, however, were executed for religious causes. hardly a village so small, says the antwerp chronicler,--[meteren]--but that it could furnish one, two, or three hundred victims to the executioner. the new churches were levelled to the ground, and out of their timbers gallows were constructed. it was thought an ingenious pleasantry to hang the reformers upon the beams under which they had hoped to worship god. the property of the fugitives was confiscated. the beggars in name became beggars in reality. many who felt obliged to remain, and who loved their possessions better than their creed, were suddenly converted into the most zealous of catholics. persons who had for years not gone to mass, never omitted now their daily and nightly visits to the churches. persons who had never spoken to an ecclesiastic but with contumely, now could not eat their dinners without one at their table. many who were suspected of having participated in calvinistic rites, were foremost and loudest in putting down and denouncing all forms and shows of the reformation. the country was as completely "pacified," to use the conqueror's expression, as gaul had been by caesar. the regent issued a fresh edict upon the th may, to refresh the memories of those who might have forgotten previous statutes, which were, however, not calculated to make men oblivious. by this new proclamation, all ministers and teachers were sentenced to the gallows. all persons who had suffered their houses to be used for religious purposes were sentenced to the gallows. all parents or masters whose children or servants had attended such meetings were sentenced to the gallows, while the children and servants were only to be beaten with rods. all people who sang hymns at the burial of their relations were sentenced to the gallows. parents who allowed their newly-born children to be baptized by other hands than those of the catholic priest were sentenced to the gallows. the same punishment was denounced against the persons who should christen the child or act as its sponsors. schoolmasters who should teach any error or false doctrine were likewise to be punished with death. those who infringed the statutes against the buying and selling of religious books and songs were to receive the same doom; after the first offence. all sneers or insults against priests and ecclesiastics were also made capital crimes. vagabonds, fugitives; apostates, runaway monks, were ordered forthwith to depart from every city on pain of death. in all cases confiscation of the whole property of the criminal was added to the hanging. this edict, says a contemporary historian, increased the fear of those professing the new religion to such an extent that they left the country "in great heaps." it became necessary, therefore, to issue a subsequent proclamation forbidding all persons, whether foreigners or natives, to leave the land or to send away their property, and prohibiting all shipmasters, wagoners, and other agents of travel, from assisting in the flight of such fugitives, all upon pain of death. yet will it be credited that the edict of th may, the provisions of which have just been sketched, actually excited the wrath of philip on account of their clemency? he wrote to the duchess, expressing the pain and dissatisfaction which he felt, that an edict so indecent, so illegal, so contrary to the christian religion, should have been published. nothing, he said, could offend or distress him more deeply, than any outrage whatever, even the slightest one, offered to god and to his roman catholic church. he therefore commanded his sister instantly to revoke the edict. one might almost imagine from reading the king's letter that philip was at last appalled at the horrors committed in his name. alas, he was only indignant that heretics had been suffered to hang who ought to have been burned, and that a few narrow and almost impossible loopholes had been left through which those who had offended alight effect their escape. and thus, while the country is paralyzed with present and expected woe, the swiftly advancing trumpets of the spanish army resound from beyond the alps. the curtain is falling upon the prelude to the great tragedy which the prophetic lips of orange had foretold. when it is again lifted, scenes of disaster and of bloodshed, battles, sieges, executions, deeds of unfaltering but valiant tyranny, of superhuman and successful resistance, of heroic self-sacrifice, fanatical courage and insane cruelty, both in the cause of the wrong and the right, will be revealed in awful succession--a spectacle of human energy, human suffering, and human strength to suffer, such as has not often been displayed upon the stage of the world's events. etext editor's bookmarks: god save the king! it was the last time having conjugated his paradigm conscientiously indignant that heretics had been suffered to hang insane cruelty, both in the cause of the wrong and the right sick and wounded wretches were burned over slow fires slender stock of platitudes the time for reasoning had passed who loved their possessions better than their creed motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley [part iii., alva, chapter .] continued dissensions in the spanish cabinet--ruy gomez and alva-- conquest of the netherlands entrusted to the duke--birth, previous career and character of alva--organization of the invading army-- its march to the provinces--complaints of duchess margaret--alva receives deputations on the frontier--interview between the duke and egmont--reception of alva by the duchess of parma--circular letters to the cities requiring their acceptance of garrisons--margaret's secret correspondence--universal apprehension--keys of the great cities demanded by alva--secret plans of the government, arranged before the duke's departure--arrest of orange, egmont, horn, and others, determined upon--stealthy course of the government towards them--infatuation of egmont--warnings addressed to him by de billy and others--measures to entrap count horn--banquet of the grand prior--the grand prior's warning to egmont--evil counsels of noircarmes--arrests of egmont, horn, bakkerzeel and straalen-- popular consternation--petulant conduct of duchess margaret-- characteristic comments of granvelle--his secret machinations and disclaimers--berghen and montigny--last moments of marquis berghen-- perfidy of ruy gomez--establishment of the "blood-council"--its leading features--insidious behavior of viglius--secret correspondence, concerning the president, between philip and alva-- members of the "blood-council"--portraits of vargas and hessels-- mode of proceeding adopted by the council--wholesale executions-- despair in the provinces--the resignation of duchess margaret accepted--her departure from the netherlands--renewed civil war in france--death of montmorency--auxiliary troops sent by alva to france--erection of antwerp citadel--description of the citadel. the armed invasion of the netherlands was the necessary consequence of all which had gone before. that the inevitable result had been so long deferred lay rather in the incomprehensible tardiness of philip's character than in the circumstances of the case. never did a monarch hold so steadfastly to a deadly purpose, or proceed so languidly and with so much circumvolution to his goal. the mask of benignity, of possible clemency, was now thrown off, but the delusion of his intended visit to the provinces was still maintained. he assured the regent that he should be governed by her advice, and as she had made all needful preparations to receive him in zeland, that it would be in zeland he should arrive. the same two men among philip's advisers were prominent as at an earlier day--the prince of eboli and the duke of alva. they still represented entirely opposite ideas, and in character, temper, and history, each was the reverse of the other. the policy of the prince was pacific and temporizing; that of the duke uncompromising and ferocious. ruy gomez was disposed to prevent, if possible, the armed mission of alva, and he now openly counselled the king to fulfil his long-deferred promise, and to make his appearance in person before his rebellious subjects. the jealousy and hatred which existed between the prince and the duke--between the man of peace and the man of wrath--were constantly exploding, even in the presence of the king. the wrangling in the council was incessant. determined, if possible; to prevent the elevation of his rival, the favorite was even for a moment disposed to ask for the command of the army himself. there was something ludicrous in the notion, that a man whose life had been pacific, and who trembled at the noise of arms, should seek to supersede the terrible alva, of whom his eulogists asserted, with, castilian exaggeration, that the very name of fear inspired him with horror. but there was a limit beyond which the influence of anna de mendoza and her husband did not extend. philip was not to be driven to the netherlands against his will, nor to be prevented from assigning the command of the army to the most appropriate man in europe for his purpose. it was determined at last that the netherland heresy should be conquered by force of arms. the invasion resembled both a crusade against the infidel, and a treasure-hunting foray into the auriferous indies, achievements by which spanish chivalry had so often illustrated itself. the banner of the cross was to be replanted upon the conquered battlements of three hundred infidel cities, and a torrent of wealth, richer than ever flowed from mexican or peruvian mines, was to flow into the royal treasury from the perennial fountains of confiscation. who so fit to be the tancred and the pizarro of this bicolored expedition as the duke of alva, the man who had been devoted from his earliest childhood, and from his father's grave, to hostility against unbelievers, and who had prophesied that treasure would flow in a stream, a yard deep, from the netherlands as soon as the heretics began to meet with their deserts. an army of chosen troops was forthwith collected, by taking the four legions, or terzios, of naples, sicily, sardinia, and lombardy, and filling their places in italy by fresh levies. about ten thousand picked and veteran soldiers were thus obtained, of which the duke of alva was appointed general-in-chief. ferdinando alvarez de toledo, duke of alva, was now in his sixtieth year. he was the most successful and experienced general of spain, or of europe. no man had studied more deeply, or practised more constantly, the military science. in the most important of all arts at that epoch he was the most consummate artist. in the only honorable profession of the age, he was the most thorough and the most pedantic professor. since the days of demetrius poliorcetes, no man had besieged so many cities. since the days of fabius cunctator; no general had avoided so many battles, and no soldier, courageous as he was, ever attained to a more sublime indifference to calumny or depreciation. having proved in his boyhood, at fontarabia, and in his maturity: at muhlberg, that he could exhibit heroism and headlong courage; when necessary, he could afford to look with contempt upon the witless gibes which his enemies had occasionally perpetrated at his expense. conscious of holding his armies in his hand, by the power of an unrivalled discipline, and the magic of a name illustrated by a hundred triumphs, he, could bear with patience and benevolence the murmurs of his soldiers when their battles were denied them. he was born in , of a family which boasted, imperial descent. a palaeologus, brother of a byzantine emperor, had conquered the city of toledo, and transmitted its appellation as a family name. the father of ferdinando, don garcia, had been slain on the isle of gerbes, in battle with the moors, when his son was but four years of age. the child was brought up by his grandfather, don frederic, and trained from his tenderest infancy to arms. hatred to the infidel, and a determination to avenge his father's blood; crying to him from a foreign grave, were the earliest of his instincts. as a youth he was distinguished for his prowess. his maiden sword was fleshed at fontarabia, where, although but sixteen years of age, he was considered, by his constancy in hardship, by his brilliant and desperate courage, and by the example of military discipline which he afforded to the troops, to have contributed in no small degree to the success of the spanish arms. in , he accompanied the emperor in his campaign against the turk. charles, instinctively recognizing the merit of the youth who was destined to be the life-long companion of his toils and glories, distinguished him with his favor at the opening of his career. young, brave, and enthusiastic, ferdinand de toledo at this period was as interesting a hero as ever illustrated the pages of castilian romance. his mad ride from hungary to spain and back again, accomplished in seventeen days, for the sake of a brief visit to his newly-married wife, is not the least attractive episode in the history of an existence which was destined to be so dark and sanguinary. in , he accompanied the emperor on his memorable expedition to tunis. in and he was generalissimo in the war against the smalcaldian league. his most brilliant feat of arms-perhaps the most brilliant exploit of the emperor's reign--was the passage of the elbe and the battle of muhlberg, accomplished in spite of maximilian's bitter and violent reproaches, and the tremendous possibilities of a defeat. that battle had finished the war. the gigantic and magnanimous john frederic, surprised at his devotions in the church, fled in dismay, leaving his boots behind him, which for their superhuman size, were ridiculously said afterwards to be treasured among the trophies of the toledo house. [hist. du due d'albe, i. . brantome, hom. illust., etc. (ch. v.), says that one of the boots was "large enough to hold a camp bedstead," p. . i insert the anecdote only as a specimen of the manner in which similar absurdities, both of great and, of little consequence, are perpetuated by writers in every land and age. the armor of the noble-hearted and unfortunate john frederic may still be seen in dresden. its size indicates a man very much above the average height, while the external length of the iron shoe, on-the contrary, is less than eleven inches.] the rout was total. "i came, i saw, and god conquered," said the emperor, in pious parody of his immortal predecessor's epigram. maximilian, with a thousand apologies for his previous insults, embraced the heroic don ferdinand over and over again, as, arrayed in a plain suit of blue armor, unadorned save with streaks of his enemies' blood, he returned from pursuit of the fugitives. so complete and so sudden was the victory, that it was found impossible to account for it, save on the ground of miraculous interposition. like joshua, in the vale of ajalon, don ferdinand was supposed to have commanded the sun to stand still for a season, and to have been obeyed. otherwise, how could the passage of the river, which was only concluded at six in the evening, and the complete overthrow of the protestant forces, have all been accomplished within the narrow space of an april twilight? the reply of the duke to henry the second of france, who questioned him subsequently upon the subject, is well known. "your majesty, i was too much occupied that evening with what was taking place on the earth beneath, to pay much heed to the evolutions of the heavenly bodies." spared as he had been by his good fortune from taking any part in the algerine expedition, or in witnessing the ignominious retreat from innspruck, he was obliged to submit to the intercalation of the disastrous siege of metz in the long history of his successes. doing the duty of a field-marshal and a sentinel, supporting his army by his firmness and his discipline when nothing else could have supported them, he was at last enabled, after half the hundred thousand men with whom charles had begun the siege had been sacrificed, to induce his imperial master to raise the siege before the remaining fifty thousand had been frozen or starved to death. the culminating career of alva seemed to have closed in the mist which gathered around the setting star of the empire. having accompanied philip to england in , on his matrimonial-expedition, he was destined in the following years, as viceroy and generalissimo of italy, to be placed in a series of false positions. a great captain engaged in a little war, the champion of the cross in arms against the successor of st. peter, he had extricated himself, at last, with his usual adroitness, but with very little glory. to him had been allotted the mortification, to another the triumph. the lustre of his own name seemed to sink in the ocean while that of a hated rival, with new spangled ore, suddenly "flamed in the forehead of the morning sky." while he had been paltering with a dotard, whom he was forbidden to crush, egmont had struck down the chosen troops of france, and conquered her most illustrious commanders. here was the unpardonable crime which could only be expiated by the blood of the victor. unfortunately for his rival, the time was now approaching when the long-deferred revenge was to be satisfied. on the whole, the duke of alva was inferior to no general of his age. as a disciplinarian he was foremost in spain, perhaps in europe. a spendthrift of time, he was an economist of blood, and this was, perhaps, in the eye of humanity, his principal virtue. time and myself are two, was a frequent observation of philip, and his favorite general considered the maxim as applicable to war as to politics. such were his qualities as a military commander. as a statesman, he had neither experience nor talent. as a man his character was simple. he did not combine a great variety of vices, but those which he had were colossal, and he possessed no virtues. he was neither lustful nor intemperate, but his professed eulogists admitted his enormous avarice, while the world has agreed that such an amount of stealth and ferocity, of patient vindictiveness and universal bloodthirstiness, were never found in a savage beast of the forest, and but rarely in a human bosom. his history was now to show that his previous thrift of human life was not derived from any love of his kind. personally he was stern and overbearing. as difficult of access as philip himself, he was even more haughty to those who were admitted to his presence. he addressed every one with the depreciating second person plural. possessing the right of being covered in the presence of the spanish monarch, he had been with difficulty brought to renounce it before the german emperor. he was of an illustrious family; but his territorial possessions were not extensive. his duchy was a small one, furnishing him with not more than fourteen thousand crowns of annual income, and with four hundred soldiers. he had, however, been a thrifty financier all his life, never having been without a handsome sum of ready money at interest. ten years before his arrival in the netherlands, he was supposed to have already increased his income to forty thousand a year by the proceeds of his investments at antwerp. as already intimated, his military character was sometimes profoundly misunderstood. he was often considered rather a pedantic than a practical commander, more capable to discourse of battles than to gain them. notwithstanding that his long life had been an almost unbroken campaign, the ridiculous accusation of timidity was frequently made against him. a gentleman at the court of the emperor charles once addressed a letter to the duke with the title of "general of his majesty's armies in the duchy of milan in time of peace, and major-domo of the household in the time of war." it was said that the lesson did the duke good, but that he rewarded very badly the nobleman who gave it, having subsequently caused his head to be taken off. in general, however, alva manifested a philosophical contempt for the opinions expressed concerning his military fame, and was especially disdainful of criticism expressed by his own soldiers. "recollect," said he, at a little later period, to don john of austria, "that the first foes with whom one has to contend are one's own troops; with their clamors for an engagement at this moment, and--their murmurs, about results at another; with their 'i thought that the battle should be fought;' or, 'it was my opinion that the occasion ought not to be lost.' your highness will have opportunity enough to display valor, and will never be weak enough to be conquered by the babble of soldiers." in person he was tall, thin, erect, with a small head, a long visage, lean yellow cheek, dark twinkling eyes, a dust complexion, black bristling hair, and a long sable-silvered beard, descending in two waving streams upon his breast. such being the design, the machinery was well selected. the best man in europe to lead the invading force was placed at the head of ten thousand picked veterans. the privates in this exquisite little army, said the enthusiastic connoisseur brantome, who travelled post into lorraine expressly to see them on their march, all wore engraved or gilded armor, and were in every respect equipped like captains. they were the first who carried muskets, a weapon which very much astonished the flemings when it first rattled in their ears. the musketeers, he observed, might have been mistaken, for princes, with such agreeable and graceful arrogance did they present themselves. each was attended by his servant or esquire, who carried his piece for him, except in battle, and all were treated with extreme deference by the rest of the army, as if they had been officers. the four regiments of lombardy, sardinia, sicily, and naples, composed a total of not quite nine thousand of the best foot soldiers in europe. they were commanded respectively by don sancho de lodiono, don gonzalo de bracamonte, julien romero, and alfonso de ulloa, all distinguished and experienced generals. the cavalry, amounting to about twelve hundred; was under the command of the natural son of the duke, don ferdinando de toledo, prior of the knights of st. john. chiapin vitelli, marquis of cetona, who had served the king in many a campaign, was appointed marechal de camp, and gabriel cerbelloni was placed in command of the artillery. on the way the duke received, as a present from the duke of savoy, the services of the distinguished engineer, pacheco, or paciotti, whose name was to be associated with the most celebrated citadel of the netherlands; and whose dreadful fate was to be contemporaneous with the earliest successes of the liberal party. with an army thus perfect, on a small scale, in all its departments, and furnished, in addition, with a force of two thousand prostitutes, as regularly enrolled, disciplined, and distributed as the cavalry or the artillery, the duke embarked upon his momentous enterprise, on the th of may, at carthagena. thirty-seven galleys, under command of prince andrea doria, brought the principal part of the force to genoa, the duke being delayed a few days at nice by an attack of fever. on the d of june, the army was mustered at alexandria de palla, and ordered to rendezvous again at san ambrosio at the foot of the alps. it was then directed to make its way over mount cenis and through savoy; burgundy, and lorraine, by a regularly arranged triple movement. the second division was each night to encamp on the spot which had been occupied upon the previous night by the vanguard, and the rear was to place itself on the following night in the camp of the corps de bataille. thus coiling itself along almost in a single line by slow and serpentine windings, with a deliberate, deadly, venomous purpose, this army, which was to be the instrument of philip's long deferred vengeance, stole through narrow mountain pass and tangled forest. so close and intricate were many of the defiles through which the journey led them that, had one tithe of the treason which they came to punish, ever existed, save in the diseased imagination of their monarch, not one man would have been left to tell the tale. egmont, had he really been the traitor and the conspirator he was assumed to be, might have easily organized the means of cutting off the troops before they could have effected their entrance into the country which they had doomed to destruction. his military experience, his qualifications for a daring stroke, his great popularity, and the intense hatred entertained for alva, would have furnished him with a sufficient machinery for the purpose. twelve days' march carried the army through burgundy, twelve more through lorraine. during the whole of the journey they were closely accompanied by a force of cavalry and infantry, ordered upon this service by the king of france, who, for fear of exciting a fresh huguenot demonstration, had refused the spaniards a passage through his dominions. this reconnoitring army kept pace with them like their shadow, and watched all their movements. a force of six thousand swiss, equally alarmed and uneasy at the progress of the troops, hovered likewise about their flanks, without, however, offering any impediment to their advance. before the middle of august they had reached thionville, on the luxemburg frontier, having on the last day marched a distance of two leagues through a forest, which seemed expressly arranged to allow a small defensive force to embarrass and destroy an invading army. no opposition, however, was attempted, and the spanish soldiers encamped at last within the territory of the netherlands, having accomplished their adventurous journey in entire safety, and under perfect discipline. the duchess had in her secret letters to philip continued to express her disapprobation of the enterprise thus committed to alva, she had bitterly complained that now when the country had been pacified by her efforts, another should be sent to reap all the glory, or perhaps to undo all that she had so painfully and so successfully done. she stated to her brother, in most unequivocal language, that the name of alva was odious enough to make the whole spanish nation detested in the netherlands. she could find no language sufficiently strong to express her surprise that the king should have decided upon a measure likely to be attended with such fatal consequences without consulting her on the subject, and in opposition to what had been her uniform advice. she also wrote personally to alva, imploring, commanding, and threatening, but with equally ill success. the duke knew too well who was sovereign of the netherlands now; his master's sister or himself. as to the effects of his armed invasion upon the temper of the provinces, he was supremely indifferent. he came as a conqueror not as a mediator. "i have tamed people of iron in my day," said he, contemptuously, "shall i not easily crush these men of butter?" at thionville he was, however, officially waited upon by berlaymont and noircarmes, on the part of the regent. he at this point, moreover, began to receive deputations from various cities, bidding him a hollow and trembling welcome, and deprecating his displeasure for any thing in the past which might seem offensive. to all such embassies he replied in vague and conventional language; saying, however, to his confidential attendants: i am here, so much is certain, whether i am welcome or not is to me a matter of little consequence. at tirlemont, on the d august, he was met by count egmont, who had ridden forth from brussels to show him a becoming respect, as the representative of his sovereign, the count was accompanied by several other noblemen, and brought to the duke a present of several beautiful horses. alva received him, however, but coldly, for he was unable at first to adjust the mask to his countenance as adroitly as was necessary. behold the greatest of all the heretics, he observed to his attendants, as soon as the nobleman's presence was announced, and in a voice loud enough for him to hear. even after they had exchanged salutations, he addressed several remarks to him in a half jesting, half biting tone, saying among other things, that his countship might have spared him the trouble of making this long journey in his old age. there were other observations in a similar strain which might have well aroused the suspicion of any man not determined, like egmont, to continue blind and deaf. after a brief interval, however, alva seems to have commanded himself. he passed his arm lovingly over that stately neck, which he had already devoted to the block, and the count having resolved beforehand to place himself, if possible, upon amicable terms with the new viceroy--the two rode along side by side in friendly conversation, followed by the regiment of infantry and three companies of light horse, which belonged to the duke's immediate command. alva, still attended by egmont, rode soon afterwards through the louvain gate into brussels, where they separated for a season. lodgings had been taken for the duke at the house of a certain madame de jasse, in the neighborhood of egmont's palace. leaving here the principal portion of his attendants, the captain-general, without alighting, forthwith proceeded to the palace to pay his respects to the duchess of parma. for three days the regent had been deliberating with her council as to the propriety of declining any visit from the man whose presence she justly considered a disgrace and an insult to herself. this being the reward of her eight years' devotion to her brother's commands; to be superseded by a subject, and one too who came to carry out a policy which she had urgently deprecated, it could hardly be expected of the emperor's daughter that she should graciously submit to the indignity, and receive her successor with a smiling countenance. in consequence, however, of the submissive language with which the duke had addressed her in his recent communications, offering with true castilian but empty courtesy, to place his guards, his army, and himself at her feet, she had consented to receive his visit with or without his attendants. on his appearance in the court-yard, a scene of violent altercation and almost of bloodshed took place between his body-guard and the archers of the regent's household, who were at last, with difficulty, persuaded to allow the mercenaries of the hated captain-general to pass. presenting himself at three o'clock in the afternoon, after these not very satisfactory preliminaries, in the bedchamber of the duchess, where it was her habit to grant confidential audiences, he met, as might easily be supposed, with a chilling reception: the duchess, standing motionless in the centre of the apartment, attended by berlaymont, the duke of aerachot, and count egmont, acknowledged his salutations with calm severity. neither she nor any one of her attendants advanced a step to meet him. the duke took off his hat, but she, calmly recognizing his right as a spanish grandee, insisted upon his remaining covered. a stiff and formal conversation of half an hour's duration then ensued, all parties remaining upon their feet. the duke, although respectful; found it difficult to conceal his indignation and his haughty sense of approaching triumph. margaret was cold, stately, and forbidding, disguising her rage and her mortification under a veil of imperial pride. alva, in a letter to philip, describing the interview, assured his majesty that he had treated the duchess with as much deference as he could have shown to the queen, but it is probable, from other contemporaneous accounts, that an ill-disguised and even angry arrogance was at times very visible in his demeanor. the state council had advised the duchess against receiving him until he had duly exhibited his powers. this ceremony had been waived, but upon being questioned by the duchess at this interview as to their nature and extent, he is reported to have coolly answered that he really did not exactly remember, but that he would look them over, and send her information at his earliest convenience. the next day, however, his commission was duly exhibited. in this document, which bore date st january, , philip appointed him to be captain-general "in correspondence with his majesty's dear sister of parma, who was occupied with other matters belonging to the government," begged the duchess to co-operate with him and to command obedience for him, and ordered all the cities of the netherlands to receive such garrisons as he should direct. at the official interview between alva and madame de parma, at which these powers were produced, the necessary preliminary arrangements were made regarding the spanish troops, which were now to be immediately quartered in the principal cities. the duke, however, informed the regent that as these matters were not within her province, he should take the liberty of arranging them with the authorities, without troubling her in the matter, and would inform her of the result of his measures at their next interview, which was to take place on the th august. circular letters signed by philip, which alva had brought with him, were now despatched to the different municipal bodies of the country. in these the cities were severally commanded to accept the garrisons, and to provide for the armies whose active services the king hoped would not be required, but which he had sent beforehand to prepare a peaceful entrance for himself. he enjoined the most absolute obedience to the duke of alva until his own arrival, which was to be almost immediate. these letters were dated at madrid on the th february, and were now accompanied by a brief official circular, signed by margaret of parma, in which she announced the arrival of her dear cousin of alva, and demanded unconditional submission to his authority. having thus complied with these demands of external and conventional propriety, the indignant duchess unbosomed herself, in her private italian letters to her brother, of the rage which had been hitherto partially suppressed. she reiterated her profound regret that philip had not yet accepted the resignation which she had so recently and so earnestly offered. she disclaimed all jealousy of the supreme powers now conferred upon alva, but thought that his majesty might have allowed her to leave the country before the duke arrived with an authority which was so extraordinary, as well as so humiliating to herself. her honor might thus have been saved. she was pained to perceive that she was like to furnish a perpetual example to all others, who considering the manner in which she had been treated by the king, would henceforth have but little inducement to do their duty. at no time, on no occasion, could any person ever render him such services as hers had been. for nine years she had enjoyed not a moment of repose. if the king had shown her but little gratitude, she was consoled by the thought that she had satisfied her god, herself, and the world. she had compromised her health, perhaps her life, and now that she had pacified the country, now that the king was more absolute, more powerful than ever before, another was sent to enjoy the fruit of her labors and her sufferings. the duchess made no secret of her indignation at being thus superseded and as she considered the matter, outraged. she openly avowed her displeasure. she was at times almost beside herself with rage. there was universal sympathy with her emotions, for all hated the duke, and shuddered at the arrival of the spaniards. the day of doom for all the crimes which had ever been committed in the course of ages, seemed now to have dawned upon the netherlands. the sword which had so long been hanging over them, seemed now about to descend. throughout the provinces, there was but one feeling of cold and hopeless dismay. those who still saw a possibility of effecting their escape from the fated land, swarmed across the frontier. all foreign merchants deserted the great marts. the cities became as still as if the plague-banner had been unfurled on every house-top. meantime the captain-general proceeded methodically with his work. he distributed his troops through brussels, ghent, antwerp, and other principal cities. as a measure of necessity and mark of the last humiliation, he required the municipalities to transfer their keys to his keeping. the magistrates of ghent humbly remonstrated against the indignity, and egmont was imprudent enough to make himself the mouth-piece of their remonstrance, which, it is needless to add, was unsuccessful. meantime his own day of reckoning had arrived. as already observed, the advent of alva at the head of a foreign army was the natural consequence of all which had gone before. the delusion of the royal visit was still maintained, and the affectation of a possible clemency still displayed, while the monarch sat quietly in his cabinet without a remote intention of leaving spain, and while the messengers of his accumulated and long-concealed wrath were already descending upon their prey. it was the deliberate intention of philip, when the duke was despatched to the netherlands, that all the leaders of the anti-inquisition party, and all who had, at any time or in any way, implicated themselves in opposition to the government, or in censure of its proceedings, should be put to death. it was determined that the provinces should be subjugated to the absolute domination of the council of spain, a small body of foreigners sitting at the other end of europe, a junta in which netherlanders were to have no voice and exercise no influence. the despotic government of the spanish and italian possessions was to be extended to these flemish territories, which were thus to be converted into the helpless dependencies of a foreign and an absolute crown. there was to be a re-organization of the inquisition, upon the same footing claimed for it before the outbreak of the troubles, together with a re-enactment and vigorous enforcement of the famous edicts against heresy. such was the scheme recommended by granvelle and espinosa, and to be executed by alva. as part and parcel of this plan, it was also arranged at secret meetings at the house of espinosa, before the departure of the duke, that all the seigniors against whom the duchess margaret had made so many complaints, especially the prince of orange, with the counts egmont, horn, and hoogstraaten, should be immediately arrested and brought to chastisement. the marquis berghen and the baron montigny, being already in spain, could be dealt with at pleasure. it was also decided that the gentlemen implicated in the confederacy or compromise, should at once be proceeded against for high treason, without any regard to the promise of pardon granted by the duchess. the general features of the great project having been thus mapped out, a few indispensable preliminaries were at once executed. in order that egmont, horn, and other distinguished victims might not take alarm, and thus escape the doom deliberately arranged for them, royal assurances were despatched to the netherlands, cheering their despondency and dispelling their doubts. with his own hand philip wrote the letter, full of affection and confidence, to egmont, to which allusion has already been made. he wrote it after alva had left madrid upon his mission of vengeance. the same stealthy measures were pursued with regard to others. the prince of orange was not capable of falling into the royal trap, however cautiously baited. unfortunately he could not communicate his wisdom to his friends. it is difficult to comprehend so very sanguine a temperament as that to which egmont owed his destruction. it was not the prince of orange alone who had prophesied his doom. warnings had come to the count from every quarter, and they were now frequently repeated. certainly he was not without anxiety, but he had made his decision; determined to believe in the royal word, and in the royal gratitude for his services rendered, not only against montmorency and de thermes, but against the heretics of flanders. he was, however, much changed. he had grown prematurely old. at forty-six years his hair was white, and he never slept without pistols under his pillow. nevertheless he affected, and sometimes felt, a light-heartedness which surprised all around him. the portuguese gentleman robles, seigneur de billy, who had returned early in the summer from spain; whither he had been sent upon a confidential mission by madame de parma, is said to have made repeated communications to egmont as to the dangerous position in which he stood. immediately after his arrival in brussels he had visited the count, then confined to his house by an injury caused by the fall of his horse. "take care to get well very fast," said de billy, "for there are very bad stories told about you in spain." egmont laughed heartily at the observation, as if, nothing could well be more absurd than such a warning. his friend--for de billy is said to have felt a real attachment to the count--persisted in his prophecies, telling him that "birds in the field sang much more sweetly than those in cages," and that he would do well to abandon the country before the arrival of alva. these warnings were repeated almost daily by the same gentleman, and by others, who were more and more astonished at egmont's infatuation. nevertheless, he had disregarded their admonitions, and had gone forth to meet the duke at tirlemont. even then he might have seen, in the coldness of his first reception, and in the disrespectful manner of the spanish soldiers, who not only did not at first salute him, but who murmured audibly that he was a lutheran and traitor, that he was not so great a favorite with the government at madrid as he desired to be. after the first few moments, however, alva's manner had changed, while chiappin vitelli, gabriel de serbelloni, and other principal officers, received the count with great courtesy, even upon his first appearance. the grand prior, ferdinando de toledo, natural son of the duke, and already a distinguished soldier, seems to have felt a warm and unaffected friendship for egmont, whose brilliant exploits in the field had excited his youthful admiration, and of whose destruction he was, nevertheless, compelled to be the unwilling instrument. for a few days, accordingly, after the arrival of the new governor-general all seemed to be going smoothly. the grand prior and egmont became exceedingly intimate, passing their time together in banquets, masquerades, and play, as joyously as if the merry days which had succeeded the treaty of cateau cambreais were returned. the duke, too, manifested the most friendly dispositions, taking care to send him large presents of spanish and italian fruits, received frequently by the government couriers. lapped in this fatal security, egmont not only forgot his fears, but unfortunately succeeded in inspiring count horn with a portion of his confidence. that gentleman had still remained in his solitary mansion at weert, notwithstanding the artful means which had been used to lure him from that "desert." it is singular that the very same person who, according to a well-informed catholic contemporary, had been most eager to warn egmont of his danger, had also been the foremost instrument for effecting the capture of the admiral. the seigneur de billy, on the day after his arrival from madrid, had written to horn, telling him that the king was highly pleased with his services and character. de billy also stated that he had been commissioned by philip to express distinctly the royal gratitude for the count's conduct, adding that his majesty was about to visit the netherlands in august, and would probably be preceded or accompanied by baron montigny. alva and his son don ferdinando had soon afterwards addressed letters from gerverbiller (dated th and th july) to count horn, filled with expressions of friendship and confidence. the admiral, who had sent one of his gentlemen to greet the duke, now responded from weert that he was very sensible of the kindness manifested towards him, but that for reasons which his secretary alonzo de la loo would more fully communicate, he must for the present beg to be excused from a personal visit to brussels. the secretary was received by alva with extreme courtesy. the duke expressed infinite pain that the king had not yet rewarded count horn's services according to their merit, said that a year before he had told his brother montigny how very much he was the admiral's friend, and begged la loo to tell his master that he should not doubt the royal generosity and gratitude. the governor added, that if he could see the count in person he could tell him things which would please him, and which would prove that he had not been forgotten by his friends. la loo had afterward a long conversation with the duke's secretary albornoz, who assured him that his master had the greatest affection for count horn, and that since his affairs were so much embarrassed, he might easily be provided with the post of governor at milan, or viceroy of naples, about to become vacant. the secretary added, that the duke was much hurt at receiving no visits from many distinguished nobles whose faithful friend and servant he was, and that count horn ought to visit brussels, if not to treat of great affairs, at least to visit the captain-general as a friend. "after all this," said honest alonzo, "i am going immediately to weert, to urge his lordship to yield to the duke's desires." this scientific manoeuvring, joined to the urgent representations of egmont, at last produced its effect. the admiral left his retirement at weert to fall into the pit which his enemies had been so skilfully preparing at brussels. on the night of the th september, egmont received another most significative and mysterious warning. a spaniard, apparently an officer of rank, came secretly into his house, and urged him solemnly to effect his escape before the morrow. the countess, who related the story afterwards, always believed, without being certain, that the mysterious visitor was julian romero, marechal de camp. egmont, however, continued as blindly confident as before. on the following day, september th, the grand prior, don ferdinando, gave a magnificent dinner, to which egmont and horn, together with noircarmes, the viscount of ghent, and many other noblemen were invited. the banquet was enlivened by the music of alva's own military band, which the duke sent to entertain the company. at three o'clock he sent a message begging the gentlemen, after their dinner should be concluded, to favor him with their company at his house (the maison de jassey), as he wished to consult them concerning the plan of the citadel, which he proposed erecting at antwerp. at this moment, the grand prior who was seated next to egmont, whispered in his ear; "leave this place, signor count, instantly; take the fleetest horse in your stable and make your escape without a moment's delay." egmont, much troubled, and remembering the manifold prophecies and admonitions which he had passed by unheeded, rose from the table and went into the next room. he was followed by noircarmes and two other gentlemen, who had observed his agitation, and were curious as to its cause. the count repeated to them the mysterious words just whispered to him by the grand prior, adding that he was determined to take the advice without a moment's delay. "ha! count," exclaimed noircarmes, "do not put lightly such implicit confidence in this stranger who is counselling you to your destruction. what will the duke of alva and all the spaniards say of such a precipitate flight? will they not say that your excellency has fled from the consciousness of guilt? will not your escape be construed into a confession of high treason." if these words were really spoken by noircarmes; and that they were so, we have the testimony of a walloon gentleman in constant communication with egmont's friends and with the whole catholic party, they furnish another proof of the malignant and cruel character of the man. the advice fixed forever the fate of the vacillating egmont. he had risen from table determined to take the advice of a noble-minded spaniard, who had adventured his life to save his friend. he now returned in obedience to the counsel of a fellow-countryman, a flemish noble, to treat the well-meant warning with indifference, and to seat himself again at the last banquet which he was ever to grace with his presence. at four o'clock, the dinner being finished, horn and egmont, accompanied by the other gentlemen, proceeded to the "jassy" house, then occupied by alva, to take part in the deliberations proposed. they were received by the duke with great courtesy. the engineer, pietro urbino, soon appeared and laid upon the table a large parchment containing the plan and elevation of the citadel to be erected at antwerp. a warm discussion upon the subject soon arose, egmont, horn, noircarmes and others, together with the engineers urbino and pacheco, all taking part in the debate. after a short time, the duke of alva left the apartment, on pretext of a sudden indisposition, leaving the company still warmly engaged in their argument. the council lasted till near seven in the evening. as it broke up, don sancho d'avila, captain of the duke's guard, requested egmont to remain for a moment after the rest, as he had a communication to make to him. after an insignificant remark or two, the spanish officer, as soon as the two were alone, requested egmont to surrender his sword. the count, agitated, and notwithstanding every thing which had gone before, still taken by surprise, scarcely knew what reply to make. don sancho repeated that he had been commissioned to arrest him, and again demanded his sword. at the same moment the doors of the adjacent apartment were opened, and egmont saw himself surrounded by a company of spanish musqueteers and halberdmen. finding himself thus entrapped, he gave up his sword, saying bitterly, as he did so, that it had at least rendered some service to the king in times which were past. he was then conducted to a chamber, in the upper story of the house, where his temporary prison had been arranged. the windows were barricaded, the daylight excluded, the whole apartment hung with black. here he remained fourteen days (from the th to d september). during this period, he was allowed no communication with his friends. his room was lighted day and night with candles, and he was served in strict silence by spanish attendants, and guarded by spanish soldiers. the captain of the watch drew his curtain every midnight, and aroused him from sleep that he might be identified by the relieving officer. count horn was arrested upon the same occasion by captain salinas, as he was proceeding through the court-yard of the house, after the breaking up of the council. he was confined in another chamber of the mansion, and met with a precisely similar treatment to that experienced by egmont. upon the d september, both were removed under a strong guard to the castle of ghent. on this same day, two other important arrests, included and arranged in the same program, had been successfully accomplished. bakkerzeel, private and confidential secretary of egmont, and antony van straalen, the rich and influential burgomaster of antwerp, were taken almost simultaneously. at the request of alva, the burgomaster had been invited by the duchess of parma to repair on business to brussels. he seemed to have feared an ambuscade, for as he got into his coach to set forth upon the journey, he was so muffed in a multiplicity of clothing, that he was scarcely to be recognized. he was no sooner, however, in the open country and upon a spot remote from human habitations, than he was suddenly beset by a band of forty soldiers under command of don alberic lodron and don sancho de lodrono. these officers had been watching his movements for many days. the capture of bakkerzeel was accomplished with equal adroitness at about the same hour. alva, while he sat at the council board with egmont and horn, was secretly informed that those important personages, bakkerzeel and straalen, with the private secretary of the admiral, alonzo de la loo, in addition, had been thus successfully arrested. he could with difficulty conceal his satisfaction, and left the apartment immediately that the trap might be sprung upon the two principal victims of his treachery. he had himself arranged all the details of these two important arrests, while his natural son, the prior don ferdinando, had been compelled to superintend the proceedings. the plot had been an excellent plot, and was accomplished as successfully as it bad been sagaciously conceived. none but spaniards had been employed in any part of the affair. officers of high rank in his majesty's army had performed the part of spies and policemen with much adroitness, nor was it to be expected that the duty would seem a disgrace, when the prior of the knights of saint john was superintendent of the operations, when the captain-general of the netherlands had arranged the whole plan, and when all, from subaltern to viceroy, had received minute instructions as to the contemplated treachery from the great chief of the spanish police, who sat on the throne of castile and aragon. no sooner were these gentlemen in custody than the secretary albornoz was dispatched to the house of count horn, and to that of bakkerzeel, where all papers were immediately seized, inventoried, and placed in the hands of the duke. thus, if amid the most secret communications of egmont and horn or their correspondents, a single treasonable thought should be lurking, it was to go hard but it might be twisted into a cord strong enough to strangle them all. the duke wrote a triumphant letter to his majesty that very night. he apologized that these important captures had been deferred so long but, stated that he had thought it desirable to secure all these leading personages at a single stroke. he then narrated the masterly manner in which the operations had been conducted. certainly, when it is remembered that the duke had only reached brussels upon the d august, and that the two counts were securely lodged in prison on the th of september, it seemed a superfluous modesty upon his part thus to excuse himself for an apparent delay. at any rate, in the eyes of the world and of posterity, his zeal to carry out the bloody commands of his master was sufficiently swift. the consternation was universal throughout the provinces when the arrests became known. egmont's great popularity and distinguished services placed him so high above the mass of citizens, and his attachment to the catholic religion was moreover so well known, as to make it obvious that no man could now be safe, when men like him were in the power of alva and his myrmidons. the animosity to the spaniards increased hourly. the duchess affected indignation at the arrest of the two nobles, although it nowhere appears that she attempted a word in their defence, or lifted, at any subsequent moment, a finger to save them. she was not anxious to wash her hands of the blood of two innocent men; she was only offended that they had been arrested without her permission. the duke had, it is true, sent berlaymont and mansfeld to give her information of the fact, as soon as the capture had been made, with the plausible excuse that he preferred to save her from all the responsibility and all the unpopularity of the measure, nothing, however, could appease her wrath at this and every other indication of the contempt in which he appeared to hold the sister of his sovereign. she complained of his conduct daily to every one who was admitted to her presence. herself oppressed by a sense of personal indignity, she seemed for a moment to identify herself with the cause of the oppressed provinces. she seemed to imagine herself the champion of their liberties, and the netherlanders, for a moments seemed to participate in the delusion. because she was indignant at the insolence of the duke of alva to her self, the honest citizens began to give her credit for a sympathy with their own wrongs. she expressed herself determined to move about from one city to another, until the answer to her demand for dismissal should arrive. she allowed her immediate attendants to abuse the spaniards in good set terms upon every occasion. even her private chaplain permitted himself, in preaching before her in the palace chapel, to denounce the whole nation as a race of traitors and ravishers, and for this offence was only reprimanded, much against her will, by the duchess, and ordered to retire for a season to his convent. she did not attempt to disguise her dissatisfaction at every step which had been taken by the duke. in all this there was much petulance, but very little dignity, while there was neither a spark of real sympathy for the oppressed millions, nor a throb of genuine womanly emotion for the impending fate of the two nobles. her principal grief was that she had pacified the provinces, and that another had now arrived to reap the glory; but it was difficult, while the unburied bones of many heretics were still hanging, by her decree, on the rafters of their own dismantled churches, for her successfully to enact the part of a benignant and merciful regent. but it is very true that the horrors of the duke's administration have been propitious to the fame of margaret, and perhaps more so to that of cardinal granvelle. the faint and struggling rays of humanity which occasionally illumined the course of their government, were destined to be extinguished in a chaos so profound and dark, that these last beams of light seemed clearer and more bountiful by the contrast. the count of hoogstraaten, who was on his way to brussels, had, by good fortune, injured his hand through the accidental discharge of a pistol. detained by this casualty at cologne, he was informed, before his arrival at the capital, of the arrest of his two distinguished friends, and accepted the hint to betake himself at once to a place of safety. the loyalty of the elder mansfeld was beyond dispute even by alva. his son charles had, however, been imprudent, and, as we have seen, had even affixed his name to the earliest copies of the compromise. he had retired, it is true, from all connexion with the confederates, but his father knew well that the young count's signature upon that famous document would prove his death-warrant, were he found in the country. he therefore had sent him into germany before the arrival of the duke. the king's satisfaction was unbounded when he learned this important achievement of alva, and he wrote immediately to express his approbation in the most extravagant terms. cardinal granvelle, on the contrary, affected astonishment at a course which he had secretly counselled. he assured his majesty that he had never believed egmont to entertain sentiments opposed to the catholic religion, nor to the interests of the crown, up to the period of his own departure from the netherlands. he was persuaded, he said, that the count had been abused by others, although, to be sure, the cardinal had learned with regret what egmont had written on the occasion of the baptism of count hoogstraaten's child. as to the other persons arrested, he said that no one regretted their fate. the cardinal added, that he was supposed to be himself the instigator of these captures, but that he was not disturbed by that, or by other imputations of a similar nature. in conversation with those about him, he frequently expressed regret that the prince of orange had been too crafty to be caught in the same net in which his more simple companions were so inextricably entangled. indeed, on the first arrival of the news, that men of high rank had been arrested in brussels, the cardinal eagerly inquired if the taciturn had been taken, for by that term he always characterized the prince. receiving a negative reply, he expressed extreme disappointment, adding, that if orange had escaped, they had taken nobody; and that his capture would have been more valuable than that of every man in the netherlands. peter titelmann, too, the famous inquisitor, who, retired from active life, was then living upon philip's bounty, and encouraged by friendly letters from that monarch, expressed the same opinion. having been informed that egmont and horn had been captured, he eagerly inquired if "wise william" had also been taken. he was, of course, answered in the negative. "then will our joy be but brief," he observed. "woe unto us for the wrath to come from germany." on the th of july, of this year, philip wrote to granvelle to inquire the particulars of a letter which the prince of orange, according to a previous communication of the cardinal, had written to egmont on the occasion of the baptism of count hoogstraaten's child. on the th of august, the cardinal replied, by setting the king right as to the error which he had committed. the letter, as he had already stated, was not written by orange, but by egmont, and he expressed his astonishment that madame de parma had not yet sent it to his majesty. the duchess must have seen it, because her confessor had shown it to the person who was granvelle's informant. in this letter, the cardinal continued, the statement had been made by egmont to the prince of orange that their plots were discovered, that the king was making armaments, that they were unable to resist him, and that therefore it had become necessary to dissemble and to accommodate themselves as well as possible to the present situation, while waiting for other circumstances under which to accomplish their designs. granvelle advised, moreover, that straalen, who had been privy to the letter, and perhaps the amanuensis, should be forthwith arrested. the cardinal was determined not to let the matter sleep, notwithstanding his protestation of a kindly feeling towards the imprisoned count. against the statement that he knew of a letter which amounted to a full confession of treason, out of egmont's own mouth--a fact which, if proved, and perhaps, if even insinuated, would be sufficient with philip to deprive egmont of twenty thousand lives--against these constant recommendations to his suspicious and sanguinary master, to ferret out this document, if it were possible, it must be confessed that the churchman's vague and hypocritical expressions on the side of mercy were very little worth. certainly these seeds of suspicion did not fall upon a barren soil. philip immediately communicated the information thus received to the duke of alva, charging him on repeated occasions to find out what was written, either by egmont or by straalen, at egmont's instigation, stating that such a letter was written at the time of the hoogstraaten baptism, that it would probably illustrate the opinions of egmont at that period, and that the letter itself, which the confessor of madame de parma had once had in his hands, ought, if possible, to be procured. thus the very language used by granvelle to philip was immediately repeated by the monarch to his representative in the netherlands, at the moment when all egmont's papers were in his possession, and when egmont's private secretary was undergoing the torture, in order that; secrets might be wrenched from him which had never entered his brain. the fact that no such letter was found, that the duchess had never alluded to any such document, and that neither a careful scrutiny of papers, nor the application of the rack, could elicit any satisfactory information on the subject, leads to the conclusion that no such treasonable paper had ever existed, save in the imagination of the cardinal. at any rate, it is no more than just to hesitate before affixing a damning character to a document, in the absence of any direct proof that there ever was such a document at all. the confessor of madame de parma told another person, who told the cardinal, that either count egmont, or burgomaster straalen, by command of count egmont, wrote to the prince of orange thus and so. what evidence was this upon which to found a charge of high treason against a man whom granvelle affected to characterize as otherwise neither opposed to the catholic religion, nor to the true service of the king? what vulpine kind of mercy was it on the part of the cardinal, while making such deadly insinuations, to recommend the imprisoned victim to clemency? the unfortunate envoys, marquis bergen and baron montigny, had remained in spain under close observation. of those doomed victims who, in spite of friendly remonstrances and of ominous warnings, had thus ventured into the lion's den, no retreating footmarks were ever to be seen. their fate, now that alva had at last been despatched to the netherlands, seemed to be sealed, and the marquis bergen, accepting the augury in its most evil sense, immediately afterwards had sickened unto death. whether it were the sickness of hope deferred, suddenly changing to despair, or whether it were a still more potent and unequivocal poison which came to the relief of the unfortunate nobleman, will perhaps never be ascertained with certainty. the secrets of those terrible prison-houses of spain, where even the eldest begotten son, and the wedded wife of the monarch, were soon afterwards believed to have been the victims of his dark revenge, can never perhaps be accurately known, until the grave gives up its dead, and the buried crimes of centuries are revealed. it was very soon after the departure of alva's fleet from carthagena, that the marquis bergen felt his end approaching. he sent for the prince of eboli, with whom he had always maintained intimate relations, and whom he believed to be his disinterested friend. relying upon his faithful breast, and trusting to receive from his eyes alone the pious drops of sympathy which he required, the dying noble poured out his long and last complaint. he charged him to tell the man whom he would no longer call his king, that he had ever been true and loyal, that the bitterness of having been constantly suspected, when he was conscious of entire fidelity, was a sharper sorrow than could be lightly believed, and that he hoped the time would come when his own truth and the artifices of his enemies would be brought to light. he closed his parting message by predicting that after he had been long laid in the grave, the impeachments against his character would be, at last, although too late, retracted. so spake the unhappy envoy, and his friend replied with words of consolation. it is probable that he even ventured, in the king's name, to grant him the liberty of returning to his home; the only remedy, as his physicians had repeatedly stated, which could possibly be applied to his disease. but the devilish hypocrisy of philip, and the abject perfidy of eboli, at this juncture, almost surpass belief. the prince came to press the hand and to close the eyes of the dying man whom he called his friend, having first carefully studied a billet of most minute and secret instructions from his master as to the deportment he was to observe upon this solemn occasion and afterwards. this paper, written in philip's own hand, had been delivered to eboli on the very day of his visit to bergen, and bore the superscription that it was not to be read nor opened till the messenger who brought it had left his presence. it directed the prince, if it should be evident marquis was past recovery, to promise him, in the king's name, the permission of returning to the netherlands. should, however, a possibility of his surviving appear, eboli was only to hold out a hope that such permission might eventually be obtained. in case of the death of bergen, the prince was immediately to confer with the grand inquisitor and with the count of feria, upon the measures to be taken for his obsequies. it might seem advisable, in that event to exhibit the regret which the king and his ministers felt for his death, and the great esteem in which they held the nobles of the netherlands. at the same time, eboli was further instructed to confer with the same personages as to the most efficient means for preventing the escape of baron montigny; to keep a vigilant eye upon his movements, and to give general directions to governors and to postmasters to intercept his flight, should it be attempted. finally, in case of bergen's death, the prince was directed to despatch a special messenger, apparently on his own responsibility, and as if in the absence and without the knowledge of the king, to inform the duchess of parma of the event, and to urge her immediately to take possession of the city of bergen-op-zoom, and of all other property belonging to the marquis, until it should be ascertained whether it were not possible to convict him, after death, of treason, and to confiscate his estates accordingly. such were the instructions of philip to eboli, and precisely in accordance with the program, was the horrible comedy enacted at the death-bed of the envoy. three days after his parting interview with his disinterested friend, the marquis was a corpse.--before his limbs were cold, a messenger was on his way to brussels, instructing the regent to sequestrate his property, and to arrest, upon suspicion of heresy, the youthful kinsman and niece, who, by the will of the marquis, were to be united in marriage and to share his estate. the whole drama, beginning with the death scene, was enacted according to order: before the arrival of alva in the netherlands, the property of the marquis was in the hands of the government, awaiting the confiscation,--which was but for a brief season delayed, while on the other hand, baron montigny, bergen's companion in doom, who was not, however, so easily to be carried off by homesickness, was closely confined in the alcazar of segovia, never to leave a spanish prison alive. there is something pathetic in the delusion in which montigny and his brother, the count horn, both indulged, each believing that the other was out of harm's way, the one by his absence from the netherlands, the other by his absence from spain, while both, involved in the same meshes, were rapidly and surely approaching their fate. in the same despatch of the th september, in which the duke communicated to philip the capture of egmont and horn, he announced to him his determination to establish a new court for the trial of crimes committed during the recent period of troubles. this wonderful tribunal was accordingly created with the least possible delay. it was called the council of troubles, but it soon acquired the terrible name, by which it will be forever known in history, of the 'blood-council'. it superseded all other institutions. every court, from those of the municipal magistracies up to the supreme councils of the provinces, were forbidden to take cognizance in future of any cause growing out of the late troubles. the council of state, although it was not formally disbanded, fell into complete desuetude, its members being occasionally summoned into alva's private chambers in an irregular manner, while its principal functions were usurped by the blood-council. not only citizens of every province, but the municipal bodies and even the sovereign provincial estates themselves, were compelled to plead, like humble individuals, before this new and extraordinary tribunal. it is unnecessary to allude to the absolute violation which was thus committed of all charters, laws and privileges, because the very creation of the council was a bold and brutal proclamation that those laws and privileges were at an end. the constitution or maternal principle of this suddenly erected court was of a twofold nature. it defined and it punished the crime of treason. the definitions, couched in eighteen articles, declared it to be treason to have delivered or signed any petition against the new bishops, the inquisition, or the edicts; to have tolerated public preaching under any circumstances; to have omitted resistance to the image-breaking, to the field-preaching, or to the presentation of the request by the nobles, and "either through sympathy or surprise" to have asserted that the king did not possess the right to deprive all the provinces of their liberties, or to have maintained that this present tribunal was bound to respect in any manner any laws or any charters. in these brief and simple, but comprehensive terms, was the crime of high treason defined. the punishment was still more briefly, simply, and comprehensively stated, for it was instant death in all cases. so well too did this new and terrible engine perform its work, that in less than three months from the time of its erection, eighteen hundred human beings had suffered death by its summary proceedings; some of the highest, the noblest, and the most virtuous in the land among the number; nor had it then manifested the slightest indication of faltering in its dread career. yet, strange to say, this tremendous court, thus established upon the ruins of all the ancient institutions of the country, had not been provided with even a nominal authority from any source whatever. the king had granted it no letters patent or charter, nor had even the duke of alva thought it worth while to grant any commissions either in his own name or as captain-general, to any of the members composing the board. the blood-council was merely an informal club, of which the duke was perpetual president, while the other members were all appointed by himself. of these subordinate councillors, two had the right of voting, subject, however, in all cases to his final decision, while the rest of the number did not vote at all. it had not, therefore, in any sense, the character of a judicial, legislative, or executive tribunal, but was purely a board of advice by which the bloody labors of the duke were occasionally lightened as to detail, while not a feather's weight of power or of responsibility was removed from his shoulders. he reserved for himself the final decision upon all causes which should come before the council, and stated his motives for so doing with grim simplicity. "two reasons," he wrote to the king, "have determined me thus to limit the power of the tribunal; the first that, not knowing its members, i might be easily deceived by them; the second, that the men of law only condemn for crimes which are proved; whereas your majesty knows that affairs of state are governed by very different rules from the laws which they have here." it being, therefore, the object of the duke to compose a body of men who would be of assistance to him in condemning for crimes which could not be proved, and in slipping over statutes which were not to be recognized, it must be confessed that he was not unfortunate in the appointments which he made to the office of councillors. in this task of appointment he had the assistance of the experienced viglius. that learned jurisconsult, with characteristic lubricity, had evaded the dangerous honor for himself, but he nominated a number of persons from whom the duke selected his list. the sacerdotal robes which he had so recently and so "craftily" assumed, furnished his own excuse, and in his letters to his faithful hopper he repeatedly congratulated himself upon his success in keeping himself at a distance from so bloody and perilous a post. it is impossible to look at the conduct of the distinguished frisian at this important juncture without contempt. bent only upon saving himself, his property, and his reputation, he did not hesitate to bend before the "most illustrious duke," as he always denominated him, with fulsome and fawning homage. while he declined to dip his own fingers in the innocent blood which was about to flow in torrents, he did not object to officiate at the initiatory preliminaries of the great netherland holocaust. his decent and dainty demeanor seems even more offensive than the jocularity of the real murderers. conscious that no man knew the laws and customs of the netherlands better than himself, he had the humble effrontery to observe that it was necessary for him at that moment silently to submit his own unskilfulness to the superior judgment and knowledge of others. having at last been relieved from the stone of sisyphus, which, as he plaintively expressed himself, he had been rolling for twenty years; having, by the arrival of tisnacq, obtained his discharge as president of the state council, he was yet not unwilling to retain the emoluments and the rank of president of the privy council, although both offices had become sinecures since the erection of the council of blood. although his life had been spent in administrative and judicial employments, he did not blush upon a matter of constitutional law to defer to the authority of such jurisconsults as the duke of alva and his two spanish bloodhounds, vargas and del rio. he did not like, he observed, in his confidential correspondence, to gainsay the duke, when maintaining, that in cases of treason, the privileges of brabant were powerless, although he mildly doubted whether the brabantines would agree with the doctrine. he often thought, he said, of remedies for restoring the prosperity of the provinces, but in action he only assisted the duke, to the best of his abilities, in arranging the blood-council. he wished well to his country, but he was more anxious for the favor of alva. "i rejoice," said he, in one of his letters, "that the most illustrious duke has written to the king in praise of my obsequiousness; when i am censured here for so reverently cherishing him, it is a consolation that my services to the king and to the governor are not unappreciated there." indeed the duke of alva, who had originally suspected the president's character, seemed at last overcome by his indefatigable and cringing homage. he wrote to the king, in whose good graces the learned doctor was most anxious at that portentous period to maintain himself, that the president was very serviceable and diligent, and that he deserved to receive a crumb of comfort from the royal hand. philip, in consequence, wrote in one of his letters a few lines of vague compliment, which could be shown to viglius, according to alva's suggestion. it is, however, not a little characteristic of the spanish court and of the spanish monarch, that, on the very day before, he had sent to the captain-general a few documents of very different import. in order, as he said, that the duke might be ignorant of nothing which related to the netherlands, he forwarded to him copies of the letters written by margaret of parma from brussels, three years before. these letters, as it will be recollected, contained an account of the secret investigations which the duchess had made as to the private character and opinions of viglius--at the very moment when he apparently stood highest in her confidence--and charged him with heresy, swindling, and theft. thus the painstaking and time-serving president, with all his learning and experience, was successively the dupe of margaret and of alva, whom he so obsequiously courted, and always of philip, whom he so feared and worshipped. with his assistance, the list of blood-councillors was quickly completed. no one who was offered the office refused it. noircarmes and berlaymont accepted with very great eagerness. several presidents and councillors of the different provincial tribunals were appointed, but all the netherlanders were men of straw. two spaniards, del rio and vargas, were the only members who could vote; while their decisions, as already stated, were subject to reversal by alva. del rio was a man without character or talent, a mere tool in the hands of his superiors, but juan de vargas was a terrible reality. no better man could have been found in europe for the post to which he was thus elevated. to shed human blood was, in his opinion, the only important business and the only exhilarating pastime of life. his youth had been stained with other crimes. he had been obliged to retire from spain, because of his violation of an orphan child to whom he was guardian, but, in his manhood, he found no pleasure but in murder. he executed alva's bloody work with an industry which was almost superhuman, and with a merriment which would have shamed a demon. his execrable jests ring through the blood and smoke and death-cries of those days of perpetual sacrifice. he was proud to be the double of the iron-hearted duke, and acted so uniformly in accordance with his views, that the right of revision remained but nominal. there could be no possibility of collision where the subaltern was only anxious to surpass an incomparable superior. the figure of vargas rises upon us through the mist of three centuries with terrible distinctness. even his barbarous grammar has not been forgotten, and his crimes against syntax and against humanity have acquired the same immortality. "heretici fraxerunt templa, boni nihili faxerunt contra, ergo debent omnes patibulare," was the comprehensive but barbarous formula of a man who murdered the latin language as ruthlessly as he slaughtered his contemporaries. among the ciphers who composed the rest of the board, the flemish councillor hessels was the one whom the duke most respected. he was not without talent or learning, but the duke only valued him for his cruelty. being allowed to take but little share in the deliberations, hessels was accustomed to doze away his afternoon hours at the council table, and when awakened from his nap in order that he might express an opinion on the case then before the court, was wont to rub his eyes and to call out "ad patibulum, ad patibulum," ("to the gallows with him, to the gallows with him,") with great fervor, but in entire ignorance of the culprit's name or the merits of the case. his wife, naturally disturbed that her husband's waking and sleeping hours were alike absorbed with this hangman's work, more than once ominously expressed her hope to him, that he, whose head and heart were thus engrossed with the gibbet, might not one day come to hang upon it himself; a gloomy prophecy which the future most terribly fulfilled. the council of blood, thus constituted, held its first session on the th september, at the lodgings of alva. springing completely grown and armed to the teeth from the head of its inventor, the new tribunal--at the very outset in possession of all its vigor--forthwith began to manifest a terrible activity in accomplishing the objects of its existence. the councillors having been sworn to "eternal secrecy as to any thing which should be transacted at the board, and having likewise made oath to denounce any one of their number who should violate the pledge," the court was considered as organized. alva worked therein seven hours daily. it may be believed that the subordinates were not spared, and that their office proved no sinecure. their labors, however, were not encumbered by antiquated forms. as this supreme and only tribunal for all the netherlands had no commission or authority save the will of the captain-general, so it was also thought a matter of supererogation to establish a set of rules and orders such as might be useful in less independent courts. the forms of proceeding were brief and artless. there was a rude organization by which a crowd of commissioners, acting as inferior officers of the council, were spread over the provinces, whose business was to collect information concerning all persons who might be incriminated for participation in the recent troubles. the greatest crime, however, was to be rich, and one which could be expiated by no virtues, however signal. alva was bent upon proving himself as accomplished a financier as he was indisputably a consummate commander, and he had promised his master an annual income of , ducats from the confiscations which were to accompany the executions. it was necessary that the blood torrent should flow at once through the netherlands, in order that the promised golden river, a yard deep, according to his vaunt, should begin to irrigate the thirsty soil of spain. it is obvious, from the fundamental laws which were made to define treason at the same moment in which they established the council, that any man might be at any instant summoned to the court. every man, whether innocent or guilty, whether papist or protestant, felt his head shaking on his shoulders. if he were wealthy, there seemed no remedy but flight, which was now almost impossible, from the heavy penalties affixed by the new edict upon all carriers, shipmasters, and wagoners, who should aid in the escape of heretics. a certain number of these commissioners were particularly instructed to collect information as to the treason of orange, louis nassau, brederode, egmont, horn, culemberg, vanden berg, bergen, and montigny. upon such information the proceedings against those distinguished seigniors were to be summarily instituted. particular councillors of the court of blood were charged with the arrangement of these important suits, but the commissioners were to report in the first instance to the duke himself, who afterwards returned the paper into the hands of his subordinates. with regard to the inferior and miscellaneous cases which were daily brought in incredible profusion before the tribunal, the same preliminaries were observed, by way of aping the proceedings in courts of justice. alva sent the cart-loads of information which were daily brought to him, but which neither he nor any other man had time to read, to be disposed of by the board of councillors. it was the duty of the different subalterns, who, as already stated, had no right of voting, to prepare reports upon the cases. nothing could be more summary. information was lodged against a man, or against a hundred men, in one document. the duke sent the papers to the council, and the inferior councillors reported at once to vargas. if the report concluded with a recommendation of death to the man, or the hundred men in question, vargas instantly approved it, and execution was done upon the man, or the hundred men, within forty-eight hours. if the report had any other conclusion, it was immediately sent back for revision, and the reporters were overwhelmed with reproaches by the president. such being the method of operation, it may be supposed that the councillors were not allowed to slacken in their terrible industry. the register of every city, village, and hamlet throughout the netherlands showed the daily lists of men, women, and children thus sacrificed at the shrine of the demon who had obtained the mastery over this unhappy land. it was not often that an individual was of sufficient importance to be tried--if trial it could be called--by himself. it was found more expeditious to send them in batches to the furnace. thus, for example, on the th of january, eighty-four inhabitants of valenciennes were condemned; on another day, ninety-five miscellaneous individuals, from different places in flanders; on another, forty-six inhabitants of malines; on another, thirty-five persons from different localities, and so on. the evening of shrovetide, a favorite holiday in the netherlands, afforded an occasion for arresting and carrying off a vast number of doomed individuals at a single swoop. it was correctly supposed that the burghers, filled with wine and wassail, to which perhaps the persecution under which they lived lent an additional and horrible stimulus, might be easily taken from their beds in great numbers, and be delivered over at once to the council. the plot was ingenious, the net was spread accordingly. many of the doomed were, however, luckily warned of the terrible termination which was impending over their festival, and bestowed themselves in safety for a season. a prize of about five hundred prisoners was all which rewarded the sagacity of the enterprise. it is needless to add that they were all immediately executed. it is a wearisome and odious task to ransack the mouldy records of three centuries ago, in order to reproduce the obscure names of the thousands who were thus sacrificed.. the dead have buried their dead, and are forgotten. it is likewise hardly necessary to state that the proceedings before the council were all 'ex parte', and that an information was almost inevitably followed by a death-warrant. it sometimes happened even that the zeal of the councillors outstripped the industry of the commissioners. the sentences were occasionally in advance of the docket. thus upon one occasion a man's case was called for trial, but before the investigation was commenced it was discovered that he had been already executed. a cursory examination of the papers proved, moreover, as usual, that the culprit had committed no crime. "no matter for that," said vargas, jocosely, "if he has died innocent, it will be all the better for him when he takes his trial in the other world." but, however the councillors might indulge in these gentle jests among themselves, it was obvious that innocence was in reality impossible, according to the rules which had been laid down regarding treason. the practice was in accordance with the precept, and persons were daily executed with senseless pretexts, which was worse than executions with no pretexts at all. thus peter de witt of amsterdam was beheaded, because at one of the tumults in that city he had persuaded a rioter not to fire upon a magistrate. this was taken as sufficient proof that he was a man in authority among the rebels, and he was accordingly put to death. madame juriaen, who, in , had struck with her slipper a little wooden image of the virgin, together with her maid-servant, who had witnessed without denouncing the crime, were both drowned by the hangman in a hogshead placed on the scaffold. death, even, did not in all cases place a criminal beyond the reach of the executioner. egbert meynartzoon, a man of high official rank, had been condemned, together with two colleagues, on an accusation of collecting money in a lutheran church. he died in prison of dropsy. the sheriff was indignant with the physician, because, in spite of cordials and strengthening prescriptions, the culprit had slipped through his fingers before he had felt those of the hangman. he consoled himself by placing the body on a chair, and having the dead man beheaded in company with his colleagues. thus the whole country became a charnel-house; the deathbell tolled hourly in every village; not a family but was called to mourn for its dearest relatives, while the survivors stalked listlessly about, the ghosts of their former selves, among the wrecks of their former homes. the spirit of the nation, within a few months after the arrival of alva, seemed hopelessly broken. the blood of its best and bravest had already stained the scaffold; the men to whom it bad been accustomed to look for guidance and protection, were dead, in prison, or in exile. submission had ceased to be of any avail, flight was impossible, and the spirit of vengeance had alighted at every fireside. the mourners went daily about the streets, for there was hardly a house which had not been made desolate. the scaffolds, the gallows, the funeral piles, which had been sufficient in ordinary times, furnished now an entirely inadequate machinery for the incessant executions. columns and stakes in every street, the door-posts of private houses, the fences in the fields were laden with human carcasses, strangled, burned, beheaded. the orchards in the country bore on many a tree the hideous fruit of human bodies. thus the netherlands were crushed, and but for the stringency of the tyranny which had now closed their gates, would have been depopulated. the grass began to grow in the streets of those cities which had recently nourished so many artisans. in all those great manufacturing and industrial marts, where the tide of human life had throbbed so vigorously, there now reigned the silence and the darkness of midnight. it was at this time that the learned viglius wrote to his friend hopper, that all venerated the prudence and gentleness of the duke of alva. such were among the first-fruits of that prudence and that gentleness. the duchess of parma had been kept in a continued state of irritation. she had not ceased for many months to demand her release from the odious position of a cipher in a land where she had so lately been sovereign, and she had at last obtained it. philip transmitted his acceptance of her resignation by the same courier who brought alva's commission to be governor-general in her place. the letters to the duchess were full of conventional compliments for her past services, accompanied, however, with a less barren and more acceptable acknowledgment, in the shape of a life income of , ducats instead of the hitherto enjoyed by her highness. in addition to this liberal allowance, of which she was never to be deprived, except upon receiving full payment of , ducats, she was presented with , florins by the estates of brabant, and with , by those of flanders. with these substantial tokens of the success of her nine years' fatigue and intolerable anxiety, she at last took her departure from the netherlands, having communicated the dissolution of her connexion with the provinces by a farewell letter to the estates dated th december, . within a few weeks afterwards, escorted by the duke of alva across the frontier of brabant; attended by a considerable deputation of flemish nobility into germany, and accompanied to her journey's end at parma by the count and countess of mansfeld, she finally closed her eventful career in the netherlands. the horrors of the succeeding administration proved beneficial to her reputation. upon the dark ground of succeeding years the lines which recorded her history seemed written with letters of light. yet her conduct in the netherlands offers but few points for approbation, and many for indignant censure. that she was not entirely destitute of feminine softness and sentiments of bounty, her parting despatch to her brother proved. in that letter she recommended to him a course of clemency and forgiveness, and reminded him that the nearer kings approach to god in station, the more they should endeavor to imitate him in his attributes of benignity. but the language of this farewell was more tender than had been the spirit of her government. one looks in vain, too, through the general atmosphere of kindness which pervades the epistle; for a special recommendation of those distinguished and doomed seigniors, whose attachment to her person and whose chivalrous and conscientious endeavors to fulfil her own orders, had placed them upon the edge of that precipice from which they were shortly to be hurled. the men who had restrained her from covering herself with disgrace by a precipitate retreat from the post of danger, and who had imperilled their lives by obedience to her express instructions, had been long languishing in solitary confinement, never to be terminated except by a traitor's death--yet we search in vain for a kind word in their behalf. meantime the second civil war in france had broken out. the hollow truce by which the guise party and the huguenots had partly pretended to deceive each other was hastened to its end; among other causes, by the march of alva, to the netherlands. the huguenots had taken alarm, for they recognized the fellowship which united their foes in all countries against the reformation, and conde and coligny knew too well that the same influence which had brought alva to brussels would soon create an exterminating army against their followers. hostilities were resumed with more bitterness than ever. the battle of st. denis--fierce, fatal, but indecisive--was fought. the octogenarian hero, montmorency, fighting like a foot soldier, refusing to yield his sword, and replying to the respectful solicitations of his nearest enemy by dashing his teeth down his throat with the butt-end of his pistol, the hero of so many battles, whose defeat at st. quintin had been the fatal point in his career, had died at last in his armor, bravely but not gloriously, in conflict with his own countrymen, led by his own heroic nephew. the military control of the catholic party was completely in the hand of the guises; the chancellor de l'hopital had abandoned the court after a last and futile effort to reconcile contending factions, which no human power could unite; the huguenots had possessed themselves of rochelle and of other strong places, and, under the guidance of adroit statesmen and accomplished generals, were pressing the most christian monarch hard in the very heart of his kingdom. as early as the middle of october, while still in antwerp, alva had received several secret agents of the french monarch, then closely beleaguered in his capital. cardinal lorraine offered to place several strong places of france in the hands of the spaniard, and alva had written to philip that he was disposed to accept the offer, and to render the service. the places thus held would be a guarantee for his expenses, he said, while in case king charles and his brother should die, "their possession would enable philip to assert his own claim to the french crown in right of his wife, the salic law being merely a pleasantry." the queen dowager, adopting now a very different tone from that which characterized her conversation at the bayonne interview, wrote to alva, that, if for want of spanish musketeers, which she requested him to furnish, she should be obliged to succumb, she chose to disculpate herself in advance before god and christian princes for the peace which she should be obliged to make. the duke wrote to her in reply, that it was much better to have a kingdom ruined in preserving it for god and the king by war, than to have it kept entire without war, to the profit of the devil and of his followers. he was also reported on another occasion to have reminded her of the spanish proverb--that the head of one salmon is worth those of a hundred frogs. the hint, if it were really given, was certainly destined to be acted upon. the duke not only furnished catherine with advice, but with the musketeers which she had solicited. two thousand foot and fifteen hundred horse, under the count of aremberg, attended by a choice band of the catholic nobility of the netherlands, had joined the royal camp at paris before the end of the year, to take their part in the brief hostilities by which the second treacherous peace was to be preceded. meantime, alva was not unmindful of the business which had served as a pretext in the arrest of the two counts. the fortifications of the principal cities were pushed on with great rapidity. the memorable citadel of antwerp in particular had already been commenced in october under the superintendence of the celebrated engineers, pacheco and gabriel de cerbelloni. in a few months it was completed, at a cost of one million four hundred thousand florins, of which sum the citizens, in spite of their remonstrances, were compelled to contribute more than one quarter. the sum of four hundred thousand florins was forced from the burghers by a tax upon all hereditary property within the municipality. two thousand workmen were employed daily in the construction of this important fortress, which was erected, as its position most plainly manifested, not to protect, but to control the commercial capital of the provinces. it stood at the edge of the city, only separated from its walls by an open esplanade. it was the most perfect pentagon in europe, having one of its sides resting on the scheld, two turned towards the city, and two towards the open country. five bastions, with walls of hammered stone, connected by curtains of turf and masonry, surrounded by walls measuring a league in circumference, and by an outer moat fed by the scheld, enclosed a spacious enceinte, where a little church with many small lodging-houses, shaded by trees and shrubbery, nestled among the bristling artillery, as if to mimic the appearance of a peaceful and pastoral village. to four of the five bastions, the captain-general, with characteristic ostentation, gave his own names and titles. one was called the duke, the second ferdinando, a third toledo, a fourth alva, while the fifth was baptized with the name of the ill-fated engineer, pacheco. the watergate was decorated with the escutcheon of alva, surrounded by his golden fleece collar, with its pendant lamb of god; a symbol of blasphemous irony, which still remains upon the fortress, to recal the image of the tyrant and murderer. each bastion was honeycombed with casemates and subterranean storehouses, and capable of containing within its bowels a vast supply of provisions, munitions, and soldiers. such was the celebrated citadel built to tame the turbulent spirit of antwerp, at the cost of those whom it was to terrify and to insult. etext editor's bookmarks: conde and coligny furnished, in addition, with a force of two thousand prostitutes he came as a conqueror not as a mediator hope deferred, suddenly changing to despair meantime the second civil war in france had broken out spendthrift of time, he was an economist of blood the greatest crime, however, was to be rich time and myself are two motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley [chapter ii.] orange, count louis, hoogstraaten, and others, cited before the blood-council--charges against them--letter of orange in reply-- position and sentiments of the prince--seizure of count de buren-- details of that transaction--petitions to the council from louvain and other places--sentence of death against the whole population of the netherlands pronounced by the spanish inquisition and proclaimed by philip--cruel inventions against heretics--the wild beggars-- preliminary proceedings of the council against egmont and horn-- interrogatories addressed to them in prison--articles of accusation against them--foreclosure of the cases--pleas to the jurisdiction-- efforts by the countesses egmont and horn, by many knights of the fleece, and by the emperor, in favor of the prisoners--answers of alva and of philip--obsequious behavior of viglius--difficulties arising from the golden fleece statutes set aside--particulars of the charges against count horn and of his defence--articles of accusation against egmont--sketch of his reply--reflections upon the two trials--attitude of orange--his published 'justification'--his secret combinations--his commission to count louis--large sums of money subscribed by the nassau family, by netherland refugees, and others--great personal sacrifices made by the prince--quadruple scheme for invading the netherlands--defeat of the patriots under cocqueville--defeat of millers--invasion of friesland by count louis--measures of alva to oppose him--command of the royalists entreated to aremberg and meghem--the duke's plan for the campaign-- skirmish at dam--detention of meghem--count louis at heiliger--lee-- nature of the ground--advance of aremberg--disposition of the patriot forces--impatience of the spanish troops to engage--battle of heiliger-lee--defeat and death of aremberg--death of adolphus nassau--effects of the battle--anger and severe measures of alva-- eighteen nobles executed at brussels--sentence of death pronounced upon egmont and horn--the bishop of ypres sent to egmont--fruitless intercession by the prelate and the countess--egmont's last night in prison--the "grande place" at brussels--details concerning the execution of egmont and horn--observation upon the characters of the two nobles--destitute condition of egmont's family. late in october, the duke of alva made his triumphant entry into the new fortress. during his absence, which was to continue during the remainder of the year, he had ordered the secretary courteville and the councillor del rio to superintend the commission, which was then actually engaged in collecting materials for the prosecutions to be instituted against the prince of orange and the other nobles who had abandoned the country. accordingly, soon after his return, on the th of january, , the prince, his brother louis of nassau, his brother-in-law, count van den berg, the count hoogstraaten, the count culemburg, and the baron montigny, were summoned in the name of alva to appear before the blood-council, within thrice fourteen days from the date of the proclamation, under pain of perpetual banishment with confiscation of their estates. it is needless to say that these seigniors did not obey the summons. they knew full well that their obedience would be rewarded only by death. the charges against the prince of orange, which were drawn up in ten articles, stated, chiefly and briefly, that he had been, and was, the head and front of the rebellion; that as soon as his majesty had left the netherlands, he had begun his machinations to make himself master of the country and to expel his sovereign by force, if he should attempt to return to the provinces; that he had seduced his majesty's subjects by false pretences that the spanish inquisition was about to be introduced; that he had been the secret encourager and director of brederode and the confederated nobles; and that when sent to antwerp, in the name of the regent, to put down the rebellion, he had encouraged heresy and accorded freedom of religion to the reformers. the articles against hoogstraaten and the other gentlemen mere of similar tenor. it certainly was not a slender proof of the calm effrontery of the government thus to see alva's proclamation charging it as a crime upon orange that he had inveigled the lieges into revolt by a false assertion that the inquisition was about to be established, when letters from the duke to philip, and from granvelle to philip, dated upon nearly the same day, advised the immediate restoration of the inquisition as soon as an adequate number of executions had paved the way for the measure. it was also a sufficient indication of a reckless despotism, that while the duchess, who had made the memorable accord with the religionists, received a flattering letter of thanks and a farewell pension of fourteen thousand ducats yearly, those who, by her orders, had acted upon that treaty as the basis of their negotiations, were summoned to lay down their heads upon the block. the prince replied to this summons by a brief and somewhat contemptuous plea to the jurisdiction. as a knight of the fleece, as a member of the germanic empire, as a sovereign prince in france, as a citizen of the netherlands, he rejected the authority of alva and of his self-constituted tribunal. his innocence he was willing to establish before competent courts and righteous judges. as a knight of the fleece, he said he could be tried only by his peers, the brethren of the order, and, for that purpose, he could be summoned only by the king as head of the chapter, with the sanction of at least six of his fellow-knights. in conclusion, he offered to appear before his imperial majesty, the electors, and other members of the empire, or before the knights of the golden fleece. in the latter case, he claimed the right, under the statutes of that order, to be placed while the trial was pending, not in a solitary prison, as had been the fate of egmont and of horn, but under the friendly charge and protection of the brethren themselves. the letter was addressed to the procurator-general, and a duplicate was forwarded to the duke. from the general tenor of the document, it is obvious both that the prince was not yet ready to throw down the gauntlet to his sovereign, nor to proclaim his adhesion to the new religion: of departing from the netherlands in the spring, he had said openly that he was still in possession of sixty thousand florins yearly, and that he should commence no hostilities against philip, so long as he did not disturb him in his honor or his estates. far-seeing politician, if man ever were, he knew the course whither matters were inevitably tending, but he knew how much strength was derived from putting an adversary irretrievably in the wrong. he still maintained an attitude of dignified respect towards the monarch, while he hurled back with defiance the insolent summons of the viceroy. moreover, the period had not yet arrived for him to break publicly with the ancient faith. statesman, rather than religionist, at this epoch, he was not disposed to affect a more complete conversion than the one which he had experienced. he was, in truth, not for a new doctrine, but for liberty of conscience. his mind was already expanding beyond any dogmas of the age. the man whom his enemies stigmatized as atheist and renegade, was really in favor of toleration, and therefore, the more deeply criminal in the eyes of all religious parties. events, personal to himself, were rapidly to place him in a position from which he might enter the combat with honor. his character had already been attacked, his property threatened with confiscation. his closest ties of family were now to be severed by the hand of the tyrant. his eldest child, the count de buren, torn from his protection, was to be carried into indefinite captivity in a foreign land. it was a remarkable oversight, for a person of his sagacity, that, upon his own departure from the provinces, he should leave his son, then a boy of thirteen years, to pursue his studies at the college of louvain. thus exposed to the power of the government, he was soon seized as a hostage for the good behavior of the father. granvelle appears to have been the first to recommend the step in a secret letter to philip, but alva scarcely needed prompting. accordingly, upon the th of february, , the duke sent the seignior de chassy to louvain, attended by four officers and by twelve archers. he was furnished with a letter to the count de buren, in which that young nobleman was requested to place implicit confidence in the bearer of the despatch, and was informed that the desire which his majesty had to see him educated for his service, was the cause of the communication which the seignior de chassy was about to make. that gentleman was, moreover, minutely instructed as to his method of proceeding in this memorable case of kidnapping. he was to present the letter to the young count in presence of his tutor. he was to invite him to spain in the name of his majesty. he was to assure him that his majesty's commands were solely with a view, to his own good, and that he was not commissioned to arrest, but only to escort him. he was to allow the count to be accompanied only by two valets, two pages, a cook, and a keeper of accounts. he was, however, to induce his tutor to accompany him, at least to the spanish frontier. he was to arrange that the second day after his arrival at louvain, the count should set out for antwerp, where he was to lodge with count lodron, after which they were to proceed to flushing, whence they were to embark for spain. at that city he was to deliver the young prince to the person whom he would find there, commissioned for that purpose by the duke. as soon as he had made the first proposition at louvain to the count, he was, with the assistance of his retinue, to keep the most strict watch over him day and night, but without allowing the supervision to be perceived. the plan was carried out admirably, and in strict accordance with the program. it was fortunate, however, for the kidnappers, that the young prince proved favorably disposed to the plan. he accepted the invitation of his captors with alacrity. he even wrote to thank the governor for his friendly offices in his behalf. he received with boyish gratification the festivities with which lodron enlivened his brief sojourn at antwerp, and he set forth without reluctance for that gloomy and terrible land of spain, whence so rarely a flemish traveller had returned. a changeling, as it were, from his cradle, he seemed completely transformed by his spanish tuition, for he was educated and not sacrificed by philip. when he returned to the netherlands, after a twenty years' residence in spain, it was difficult to detect in his gloomy brow, saturnine character, and jesuistical habits, a trace of the generous spirit which characterized that race of heroes, the house of orange-nassau. philip had expressed some anxiety as to the consequences of this capture upon the governments of germany. alva, however, re-assured his sovereign upon that point, by reason of the extreme docility of the captive, and the quiet manner in which the arrest had been conducted. at that particular juncture, moreover, it would, have been difficult for the government of the netherlands to excite surprise any where, except by an act of clemency. the president and the deputation of professors from the university of louvain waited upon vargas, by whom, as acting president of the blood-council, the arrest had nominally been made, with a remonstrance that the measure was in gross violation of their statutes and privileges. that personage, however, with his usual contempt both for law and latin, answered brutally, "non curamus vestros privilegios," and with this memorable answer, abruptly closed his interview with the trembling pedants. petitions now poured into the council from all quarters, abject recantations from terror-stricken municipalities, humble intercessions in behalf of doomed and imprisoned victims. to a deputation of the magistracy of antwerp, who came with a prayer for mercy in behalf of some of their most distinguished fellow-citizens, then in prison, the duke gave a most passionate and ferocious reply. he expressed his wonder that the citizens of antwerp, that hotbed of treason, should dare to approach him in behalf of traitors and heretics. let them look to it in future, he continued, or he would hang every man in the whole city, to set an example to the rest of the country; for his majesty would rather the whole land should become an uninhabited wilderness, than that a single dissenter should exist within its territory. events now marched with rapidity. the monarch seemed disposed literally to execute the threat of his viceroy. early in the year, the most sublime sentence of death was promulgated which has ever been pronounced since the creation of the world. the roman tyrant wished that his enemies' heads were all upon a single neck, that he might strike them off at a blow; the inquisition assisted philip to place the heads of all his netherland subjects upon a single neck for the same fell purpose. upon the th february, , a sentence of the holy office condemned all the inhabitants of the netherlands to death as heretics. from this universal doom only a few persons, especially named; were excepted. a proclamation of the king, dated ten days later, confirmed this decree of the inquisition, and ordered it to be carried into instant execution, without regard to age, sex, or condition. this is probably the most concise death-warrant that was ever framed. three millions of people, men, women, and children, were sentenced to the scaffold in: three lines; and, as it was well known that these were not harmless thunders, like some bulls of the vatican, but serious and practical measures, which it was intended should be enforced, the horror which they produced may be easily imagined. it was hardly the purpose of government to compel the absolute completion of the wholesale plan in all its length and breadth, yet in the horrible times upon which they had fallen, the netherlanders might be excused for believing that no measure was too monstrous to be fulfilled. at any rate, it was certain that when all were condemned, any might at a moment's warning be carried to the scaffold, and this was precisely the course adopted by the authorities. under this universal decree the industry of the blood-council might, now seem superfluous. why should not these mock prosecutions be dispensed with against individuals, now that a common sentence had swallowed the whole population in one vast grave? yet it may be supposed that if the exertions of the commissioners and councillors served no other purpose, they at least furnished the government with valuable evidence as to the relative wealth and other circumstances of the individual victims. the leading thought of the government being that persecution, judiciously managed, might fructify into a golden harvest,--it was still desirable to persevere in the cause in which already such bloody progress had been made. and under this new decree, the executions certainly did not slacken. men in the highest and the humblest positions were daily and hourly dragged to the stake. alva, in a single letter to philip, coolly estimated the number of executions which were to take place immediately after the expiration of holy week, "at eight hundred heads." many a citizen, convicted of a hundred thousand florins and of no other crime, saw himself suddenly tied to a horse's tail, with his hands fastened behind him, and so dragged to the gallows. but although wealth was an unpardonable sin, poverty proved rarely a protection. reasons sufficient could always be found for dooming the starveling laborer as well as the opulent burgher. to avoid the disturbances created in the streets by the frequent harangues or exhortations addressed to the bystanders by the victims on their way to the scaffold, a new gag was invented. the tongue of each prisoner was screwed into an iron ring, and then seared with a hot iron. the swelling and inflammation which were the immediate result, prevented the tongue from slipping through the ring, and of course effectually precluded all possibility of speech. although the minds of men were not yet prepared for concentrated revolt against the tyranny under which they were languishing, it was not possible to suppress all sentiments of humanity, and to tread out every spark of natural indignation. unfortunately, in the bewilderment and misery of this people, the first development of a forcible and organized resistance was of a depraved and malignant character. extensive bands of marauders and highway robbers sprang into existence, who called themselves the wild beggars, and who, wearing the mask and the symbols of a revolutionary faction, committed great excesses in many parts of the country, robbing, plundering, and murdering. their principal wrath was exercised against religious houses and persons. many monasteries were robbed, many clerical persons maimed and maltreated. it became a habit to deprive priests of their noses or ears, and to tie them to the tails of horses. this was the work of ruffian gangs, whose very existence was engendered out of the social and moral putrescence to which the country was reduced, and who were willing to profit by the deep and universal hatred which was felt against catholics and monks. an edict thundered forth by alva, authorizing and commanding all persons to slay the wild beggars at sight, without trial or hangman, was of comparatively slight avail. an armed force of veterans actively scouring the country was more successful, and the freebooters were, for a time, suppressed. meantime the counts egmont and horn had been kept in rigorous confinement at ghent. not a warrant had been read or drawn up for their arrest. not a single preliminary investigation, not the shadow of an information had preceded the long imprisonment of two men so elevated in rank, so distinguished in the public service. after the expiration of two months, however, the duke condescended to commence a mock process against them. the councillors appointed to this work were vargas and del rio, assisted by secretary praets. these persons visited the admiral on the th, th, th and th of november, and count egmont on the th, th, th, and th, of the same month; requiring them to respond to a long, confused, and rambling collection of interrogatories. they were obliged to render these replies in prison, unassisted by any advocates, on penalty of being condemned 'in contumaciam'. the questions, awkwardly drawn up as they seemed, were yet tortuously and cunningly arranged with a view of entrapping the prisoners into self-contradiction. after this work had been completed, all the papers by which they intended to justify their answers were taken away from them. previously, too, their houses and those of their secretaries, bakkerzeel and alonzo de la loo, had been thoroughly ransacked, and every letter and document which could be found placed in the hands of government. bakkerzeel, moreover, as already stated, had been repeatedly placed upon the rack, for the purpose of extorting confessions which might implicate his master. these preliminaries and precautionary steps having been taken, the counts had again been left to their solitude for two months longer. on the th january, each was furnished with a copy of the declarations or accusations filed against him by the procurator-general. to these documents, drawn up respectively in sixty-three, and in ninety articles, they were required, within five days' time, without the assistance of an advocate, and without consultation with any human being, to deliver a written answer, on pain, as before, of being proceeded against and condemned by default. this order was obeyed within nearly the prescribed period and here, it may be said, their own participation in their trial ceased; while the rest of the proceedings were buried in the deep bosom of the blood-council. after their answers had been delivered, and not till then, the prisoners were, by an additional mockery, permitted to employ advocates. these advocates, however, were allowed only occasional interviews with their clients, and always in the presence of certain persons, especially deputed for that purpose by the duke. they were also allowed commissioners to collect evidence and take depositions, but before the witnesses were ready, a purposely premature day, th of may, was fixed upon for declaring the case closed, and not a single tittle of their evidence, personal or documentary, was admitted.--their advocates petitioned for an exhibition of the evidence prepared by government, and were refused. thus, they were forbidden to use the testimony in their favor, while that which was to be employed against them was kept secret. finally, the proceedings were formally concluded on the st of june, and the papers laid before the duke. the mass of matter relating to these two monster processes was declared, three days afterwards to have been examined--a physical impossibility in itself--and judgment was pronounced upon the th of june. this issue was precipitated by the campaign of louis nassau in friesland, forming a aeries of important events which it will be soon our duty to describe. it is previously necessary, however, to add a few words in elucidation of the two mock trials which have been thus briefly sketched. the proceeding had been carried on, from first to last, under protest by the prisoners, under a threat of contumacy on the part of the government. apart from the totally irresponsible and illegal character of the tribunal before which they were summoned--the blood-council being a private institution of alva's without pretext or commission--these nobles acknowledged the jurisdiction of but three courts. as knights of the golden fleece, both claimed the privilege of that order to be tried by its statutes. as a citizen and noble of brabant, egmont claimed the protection of the "joyeuse entree," a constitution which had been sworn to by philip and his ancestors, and by philip more amply, than by all his ancestors. as a member and count of the holy roman empire, the admiral claimed to be tried by his peers, the electors and princes of the realm. the countess egmont, since her husband's arrest, and the confiscation of his estates before judgment, had been reduced to a life of poverty as well as agony. with her eleven children, all of tender age, she had taken refuge in a convent. frantic with despair, more utterly desolate, and more deeply wronged than high-born lady had often been before, she left no stone unturned to save her husband from his fate, or at least to obtain for him an impartial and competent tribunal. she addressed the duke of alva, the king, the emperor, her brother the elector palatine, and many leading knights of the fleece. the countess dowager of horn, both whose sons now lay in the jaws of death, occupied herself also with the most moving appeals to the same high personages. no pains were spared to make the triple plea to the jurisdiction valid. the leading knights of the fleece, mansfeld, whose loyalty was unquestioned, and hoogstraaten, although himself an outlaw; called upon the king of spain to protect the statutes of the illustrious order of which he was the chief. the estates of brabant, upon the petition of sabina, countess egmont, that they would take to heart the privileges of the province, so that her husband might enjoy that protection of which the meanest citizen in the land could not be justly deprived, addressed a feeble and trembling protest to alva, and enclosed to him the lady's petition. the emperor, on behalf of count horn, wrote personally to philip, to claim for him a trial before the members of the realm. it was all in vain. the conduct of philip and his viceroy coincided in spirit with the honest brutality of vargas. "non curamus vestros privilegios," summed up the whole of the proceedings. non curamus vestros privilegios had been the unanswerable reply to every constitutional argument which had been made against tyranny since philip mounted his father's throne. it was now the only response deemed necessary to the crowd of petitions in favor of the counts, whether they proceeded from sources humble or august. personally, the king remained silent as the grave. in writing to the duke of alva, he observed that "the emperor, the dukes of bavaria and lorraine, the duchess and the duchess-dowager, had written to him many times, and in the most pressing manner, in favor of the counts horn and egmont." he added, that he had made no reply to them, nor to other knights of the fleece who had implored him to respect the statutes of the order, and he begged alva "to hasten the process as fast as possible." to an earnest autograph letter, in which the emperor, on the nd of march, , made a last effort to save the illustrious prisoners, he replied, that "the whole world would at last approve his conduct, but that, at any rate, he would not act differently, even if he should risk the loss of the provinces, and if the sky should fall on his head." but little heed was paid to the remonstrances in behalf of the imperial courts, or the privileges of brabant. these were but cobweb impediments which, indeed, had long been brushed away. president viglius was even pathetic on the subject of madame egmont's petition to the council of brabant. it was so bitter, he said, that the duke was slightly annoyed, and took it ill that the royal servants in that council should have his majesty's interests so little at heart. it seemed indecent in the eyes of the excellent frisian, that a wife pleading for her husband, a mother for her, eleven children, so soon to be fatherless, should indulge in strong language! the statutes of the fleece were obstacles somewhat more serious. as, however, alva had come to the netherlands pledged to accomplish the destruction of these two nobles, as soon as he should lay his hands upon them, it was only a question of form, and even that question was, after a little reflection, unceremoniously put aside. to the petitions in behalf of the two counts, therefore, that they should be placed in the friendly keeping of the order, and be tried by its statutes, the duke replied, peremptorily, that he had undertaken the cognizance of this affair by commission of his majesty, as sovereign of the land, not as head of the golden fleece, that he should carry it through as it had been commenced, and that the counts should discontinue presentations of petitions upon this point. in the embarrassment created by the stringent language of these statutes, doctor viglius found an opportunity to make himself very useful. alva had been turning over the laws and regulations of the order, but could find no loophole. the president, however, came to his rescue, and announced it as his legal opinion that the governor need concern himself no further on the subject, and that the code of the fleece offered no legal impediment to the process. alva immediately wrote to communicate this opinion to philip, adding, with great satisfaction, that he should immediately make it known to the brethren of the order, a step which was the more necessary because egmont's advocate had been making great trouble with these privileges, and had been protesting at every step of the proceedings. in what manner the learned president argued these troublesome statutes out of the way, has nowhere appeared; but he completely reinstated himself in favor, and the king wrote to thank him for his legal exertions. it was now boldly declared that the statutes of the fleece did not extend to such crimes as those with which the prisoner were charged. alva, moreover, received an especial patent, ante-dated eight or nine months, by which philip empowered him to proceed against all persons implicated in the troubles, and particularly against knights of the golden fleece. it is superfluous to observe that these were merely the arbitrary acts of a despot. it is hardly necessary to criticise such proceedings. the execution of the nobles had been settled before alva left spain. as they were inhabitants of a constitutional country, it was necessary to stride over the constitution. as they were knights of the fleece, it was necessary to set aside the statutes of the order. the netherland constitutions seemed so entirely annihilated already, that they could hardly be considered obstacles; but the order of the fleece was an august little republic of which philip was the hereditary chief, of which emperors, kings, and great seigniors were the citizens. tyranny might be embarrassed by such subtle and golden filaments as these, even while it crashed through municipal charters as if they had been reeds and bulrushes. nevertheless, the king's course was taken. although the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth chapters of the order expressly provided for the trial and punishment of brethren who had been guilty of rebellion, heresy, or treason; and although the eleventh chapter; perpetual and immutable, of additions to that constitution by the emperor charles, conferred on the order exclusive jurisdiction over all crimes whatever committed by the knights, yet it was coolly proclaimed by alva, that the crimes for which the admiral and egmont had been arrested, were beyond the powers of the tribunal. so much for the plea to the jurisdiction. it is hardly worth while to look any further into proceedings which were initiated and brought to a conclusion in the manner already narrated. nevertheless, as they were called a process, a single glance at the interior of that mass of documents can hardly be superfluous. the declaration against count horn; upon which, supported by invisible witnesses, he was condemned, was in the nature of a narrative. it consisted in a rehearsal of circumstances, some true and some fictitious, with five inferences. these five inferences amounted to five crimes--high treason, rebellion, conspiracy, misprision of treason, and breach of trust. the proof of these crimes was evolved, in a dim and misty manner, out of a purposely confused recital. no events, however, were recapitulated which have not been described in the course of this history. setting out with a general statement, that the admiral, the prince of orange, count egmont, and other lords had organized a plot to expel his majesty from the netherlands, and to divide the provinces among themselves; the declaration afterwards proceeded to particulars. ten of its sixty-three articles were occupied with the cardinal granvelle, who, by an absurd affectation, was never directly named, but called "a certain personage--a principal personage--a grand personage, of his majesty's state council." none of the offences committed against him were forgotten: the th of march letter, the fool's-cap, the livery, were reproduced in the most violent colors, and the cabal against the minister was quietly assumed to constitute treason against the monarch. the admiral, it was further charged, had advised and consented to the fusion of the finance and privy councils with that of state, a measure which was clearly treasonable. he had, moreover, held interviews with the prince of orange, with egmont, and other nobles, at breda and at hoogstraaten, at which meetings the confederacy and the petition had been engendered. that petition had been the cause of all the evils which had swept the land. "it had scandalously injured the king, by affirming that the inquisition was a tyranny to humanity, which was an infamous and unworthy proposition." the confederacy, with his knowledge and countenance, had enrolled , men. he had done nothing, any more than orange or egmont, to prevent the presentation of the petition. in the consultation at the state-council which ensued, both he and the prince were for leaving brussels at once, while count egmont expressed an intention of going to aix to drink the waters. yet count egmont's appearance (proceeded this indictment against another individual) exhibited not a single sign of sickness. the admiral had, moreover, drank the toast of "vivent leg gueux" on various occasions, at the culemberg house banquet, at the private table of the prince of orange, at a supper at the monastery of saint bernard's, at a dinner given by burgomaster straalen. he had sanctioned the treaties with the rebels at duffel, by which he had clearly rendered himself guilty of high treason. he had held an interview with orange, egmont, and hoogstraaten, at denremonde, for the treasonable purpose of arranging a levy of troops to prevent his majesty's entrance into the netherlands. he had refused to come to brussels at the request of the duchess of parma, when the rebels were about to present the petition. he had written to his secretary that he was thenceforth resolved to serve neither king nor kaiser. he had received from one taffin, with marks of approbation, a paper, stating that the assembling of the states-general was the only remedy for the troubles in the land. he had, repeatedly affirmed that the inquisition and edicts ought to be repealed. on his arrival at tournay in august, , the people had cried "vivent les gueux;" a proof that he liked the cry. all his transactions at tournay, from first to last, had been criminal. he had tolerated reformed preaching, he had forbidden catholics and protestants to molest each other, he had omitted to execute heretics, he had allowed the religionists to erect an edifice for public worship outside the walls. he had said, at the house of prince espinoy, that if the king should come into the provinces with force, he would oppose him with , troops. he had said, if his brother montigny should be detained in spain, he would march to his rescue at the head of , men whom he had at his command. he had on various occasions declared that "men should live according to their consciences"--as if divine and human laws were dead, and men, like wild beasts, were to follow all their lusts and desires. lastly, he had encouraged the rebellion in valenciennes. of all these crimes and misdeeds the procurator declared himself sufficiently informed, and the aforesaid defendant entirely, commonly, and publicly defamed. wherefore, that officer terminated his declaration by claiming "that the cause should be concluded summarily, and without figure or form of process; and that therefore, by his excellency or his sub-delegated judges, the aforesaid defendant should be declared to have in diverse ways committed high treason, should be degraded from his dignities, and should be condemned to death, with confiscation of all his estates." the admiral, thus peremptorily summoned, within five days, without assistance, without documents, and from the walls of a prison, to answer to these charges, 'solos ex vinculis causam dicere', undertook his task with the boldness of innocence. he protested, of course, to the jurisdiction, and complained of the want of an advocate, not in order to excuse any weakness in his defence, but only any inelegance in his statement. he then proceeded flatly to deny some of the facts, to admit others, and to repel the whole treasonable inference. his answer in all essential respects was triumphant. supported by the evidence which, alas was not collected and published till after his death, it was impregnable. he denied that he had ever plotted against his king, to whom he had ever been attached, but admitted that he had desired the removal of granvelle, to whom he had always been hostile. he had, however, been an open and avowed enemy to the cardinal, and had been engaged in no secret conspiracy against his character or against his life. he denied that the livery (for which, however, he was not responsible) had been intended to ridicule the cardinal, but asserted that it was intended to afford an example of economy to an extravagant nobility. he had met orange and egmont at breda and hoogstraaten, and had been glad to do so, for he had been long separated from them. these interviews, however, had been social, not political, for good cheer and merry-making, not for conspiracy and treason. he had never had any connection with the confederacy; he had neither advised nor protected the petition, but, on the contrary, after hearing of the contemplated movement, had written to give notice thereof to the duchess. he was in no manner allied, with brederode, but, on the contrary, for various reasons, was not upon friendly terms with him. he had not entered his house since his return from spain. he had not been a party to the dinner at culemburg house. upon that day he had dined with the prince of orange, with whom he was lodging and, after dinner, they had both gone together to visit mansfeld, who was confined with an inflamed eye. there they had met egmont, and the three had proceeded together to culemburg house in order to bring away hoogstraaten, whom the confederates had compelled to dine with them; and also to warn the nobles not to commit themselves by extravagant and suspicious excesses. they had remained in the house but a few minutes, during which time the company had insisted upon their drinking a single cup to the toast of "vivent le roy et les gueux." they had then retired, taking with them hoogstraaten, and all thinking that they had rendered a service to the government by their visit, instead of having made themselves liable to a charge of treason. as to the cries of "vivent les gueux" at the tables of orange, of the abbot of saint bernard, and at other places, those words had been uttered by simple, harmless fellows; and as he considered, the table a place of freedom, he had not felt himself justified in rebuking the manners of his associates, particularly, in houses where he was himself but a guest. as for committing treason at the duffel meeting, he had not been there at all. he thanked god that, at that epoch, he had been absent from brussels, for had he, as well as orange and egmont, been commissioned by the duchess to arrange those difficult matters, he should have considered it his duty to do as they did. he had never thought of levying troops against his majesty. the denremonde meeting had been held, to consult upon four subjects: the affairs of tournay; the intercepted letters of the french ambassador, alava; the letter of montigny, in which he warned his brother of the evil impression which the netherland matters were making in spain; and the affairs of antwerp, from which city the prince of orange found it necessary at that moment to withdraw.--with regard to his absence from brussels, he stated that he had kept away from the court because he was ruined. he was deeply in debt, and so complete was his embarrassment, that he had been unable in antwerp to raise crowns upon his property, even at an interest of one hundred per cent. so far from being able to levy troops, he was hardly able to pay for his daily bread. with regard to his transactions at tournay, he had, throughout them all, conformed himself to the instructions of madame de parma. as to the cry of "vivent les gueux," he should not have cared at that moment if the populace had cried 'vive comte horn', for his thoughts were then occupied with more substantial matters. he had gone thither under a special commission from the duchess, and had acted under instructions daily received by her own hand. he had, by her orders, effected a temporary compromise between the two religious parties, on the basis of the duffel treaty. he had permitted the public preaching to continue, but had not introduced it for the first time. he had allowed temples to be built outside the gates, but it was by express command of madame, as he could prove by her letters. she had even reproved him before the council, because the work had not been accomplished with sufficient despatch. with regard to his alleged threat, that he would oppose the king's entrance with , men, he answered, with astonishing simplicity, that he did not remember making any such observation, but it was impossible for a man to retain in his mind all the nonsense which he might occasionally utter. the honest admiral thought that his poverty, already pleaded, was so notorious that the charge was not worthy of a serious answer. he also treated the observation which he was charged with having made, relative to his marching to spain with , men to rescue montigny as "frivolous and ridiculous." he had no power to raise a hundred men. moreover he had rejoiced at montigny's detention, for he had thought that to be out of the netherlands was to be out of harm's way. on the whole, he claimed that in all those transactions of his which might be considered anti-catholic, he had been governed entirely by the instructions of the regent, and by her accord with the nobles. that accord, as she had repeatedly stated to him, was to be kept sacred until his majesty, by advice of the states-general, should otherwise ordain. finally, he observed, that law was not his vocation. he was no pettifogger, but he had endeavored loyally to conform himself to the broad and general principles of honor, justice, and truth. in a very few and simple words, he begged his judges to have regard to his deeds, and to a life of loyal service. if he had erred occasionally in those times of tumult, his intentions had ever been faithful and honorable. the charges against count egmont were very similar to those against count horn. the answers of both defendants were nearly identical. interrogations thus addressed to two different persons, as to circumstances which had occurred long before, could not have been thus separately, secretly, but simultaneously answered in language substantially the same, had not that language been the words of truth. egmont was accused generally of plotting with others to expel the king from the provinces, and to divide the territory among themselves. through a long series of ninety articles, he was accused of conspiring against the character and life of cardinal granvelle. he was the inventor, it was charged, of the fool's-cap livery. he had joined in the letters to the king, demanding the prelate's removal. he had favored the fusion of the three councils. he had maintained that the estates-general ought to be forthwith assembled, that otherwise the debts of his majesty and of the country could never be paid, and that the provinces would go to the french, to the germans, or to the devil. he had asserted that he would not be instrumental in burning forty or fifty thousand men, in order that the inquisition and the edicts might be sustained. he had declared that the edicts were rigorous. he had advised the duchess, to moderate them, and remove the inquisition, saying that these measures, with a pardon general in addition, were the only means of quieting the country. he had advised the formation of the confederacy, and promised to it his protection and favor. he had counselled the presentation of the petition. he had arranged all these matters, in consultation with the other nobles, at the interviews at breda and hoogstraaten. he had refused the demand of madame de parma, to take arms in her defence. he had expressed his intention, at a most critical moment, of going to the baths of aix for his health, although his personal appearance gave no indication of any malady whatever. he had countenanced and counselled the proceedings of the rebel nobles at saint trond. he had made an accord with those of "the religion" at ghent, bruges, and other places. he had advised the duchess to grant a pardon to those who had taken up arms. he had maintained, in common with the prince of orange, at a session of the state council, that if madame should leave brussels, they would assemble the states-general of their own authority, and raise a force of forty thousand men. he had plotted treason, and made arrangements for the levy of troops at the interview at denremonde, with horn, hoogstraaten, and the prince of orange. he had taken under his protection on the th april, , the confederacy of the rebels; had promised that they should never be molested, for the future, on account of the inquisition or the edicts, and that so long as they kept within the terms of the petition and the compromise, he would defend them with his own person. he had granted liberty of preaching outside the walls in many cities within his government. he had said repeatedly, that if the king desired to introduce the inquisition into the netherlands, he would sell all his property and remove to another land; thus declaring with how much contempt and detestation he regarded the said inquisition. he had winked at all the proceedings of the sectaries. he had permitted the cry of "vivent les gueux" at his table. he had assisted at the banquet at culemburg house. these were the principal points in the interminable act of accusation. like the admiral, egmont admitted many of the facts, and flatly denied the rest. he indignantly repelled the possibility of a treasonable inference from any of, or all, his deeds. he had certainly desired the removal of granvelle, for he believed that the king's service would profit by his recal. he replied, almost in the same terms as the admiral had done, to the charge concerning the livery, and asserted that its principal object had been to set an example of economy. the fool's-cap and bells had been changed to a bundle of arrows, in consequence of a certain rumor which became rife in brussels, and in obedience to an ordinance of madame de parma. as to the assembling of the states-general, the fusion of the councils, the moderation of the edicts, he had certainly been in favor of these measures, which he considered to be wholesome and lawful, not mischievous or treasonable. he had certainly maintained that the edicts were rigorous, and had advised the duchess, under the perilous circumstances of the country, to grant a temporary modification until the pleasure of his majesty could be known. with regard to the compromise, he had advised all his friends to keep out of it, and many in consequence had kept out of it. as to the presentation of the petition, he had given madame de parma notice thereof, so soon as he had heard that such a step was contemplated. he used the same language as had been employed by horn, with regard to the interview at breda and hoogstraaten--that they had been meetings of "good cheer" and good fellowship. he had always been at every moment at the command of the duchess, save when he had gone to flanders and artois to suppress the tumults, according to her express orders. he had no connexion with the meeting of the nobles at saint trond. he had gone to duffel as special envoy from the duchess, to treat with certain plenipotentiaries appointed at the saint trond meeting. he had strictly conformed to the letter of instructions, drawn up by the duchess, which would be found among his papers, but he had never promised the nobles his personal aid or protection. with regard to the denremonde meeting, he gave almost exactly the same account as horn had given. the prince, the admiral, and himself, had conversed between a quarter past eleven and dinner time, which was twelve o'clock, on various matters, particularly upon the king's dissatisfaction with recent events in the netherlands, and upon a certain letter from the ambassador alava in paris to the duchess of parma. he had, however, expressed his opinion to madame that the letter was a forgery. he had permitted public preaching in certain cities, outside the walls, where it had already been established, because this was in accordance with the treaty which madame had made at duffel, which she had ordered him honorably to maintain. he had certainly winked at the religious exercises of the reformers, because he had been expressly commanded to do so, and because the government at that time was not provided with troops to suppress the new religion by force. he related the visit of horn, orange, and himself to culemburg house, at the memorable banquet, in almost the same words which the admiral had used. he had done all in his power to prevent madame from leaving brussels, in which effort he had been successful, and from which much good had resulted to the country. he had never recommended that a pardon should be granted to those who had taken up arms, but on the contrary, had advised their chastisement, as had appeared in his demeanor towards the rebels at osterwel, tournay, and valenciennes. he had never permitted the cry of "vivent les gueux" at his own table, nor encouraged it in his presence any where else. such were the leading features in these memorable cases of what was called high treason. trial there was none. the tribunal was incompetent; the prisoners were without advocates; the government evidence was concealed; the testimony for the defence was excluded; and the cause was finally decided before a thousandth part of its merits could have been placed under the eyes of the judge who gave the sentence. but it is almost puerile to speak of the matter in the terms usually applicable to state trials. the case had been settled in madrid long before the arrest of the prisoners in brussels. the sentence, signed by philip in blank, had been brought in alva's portfolio from spain. the proceedings were a mockery, and, so far as any effect upon public opinion was concerned, might as well have been omitted. if the gentlemen had been shot in the court-yard of jasse-house, by decree of a drum-head court-martial, an hour after their arrest, the rights of the provinces and the sentiments of humanity would not have been outraged more utterly. every constitutional and natural right was violated from first to last. this certainly was not a novelty. thousands of obscure individuals, whose relations and friends were not upon thrones and in high places, but in booths and cellars, and whose fate therefore did not send a shudder of sympathy throughout europe, had already been sacrificed by the blood tribunal. still this great case presented a colossal emblem of the condition in which the netherlands were now gasping. it was a monumental exhibition of the truth which thousands had already learned to their cost, that law and justice were abrogated throughout the land. the country was simply under martial law--the entire population under sentence of death. the whole civil power was in alva's hand; the whole responsibility in alva's breast. neither the most ignoble nor the most powerful could lift their heads in the sublime desolation which was sweeping the country. this was now proved beyond peradventure. a miserable cobbler or weaver might be hurried from his shop to the scaffold, invoking the 'jus de non evocando' till he was gagged, but the emperor would not stoop from his throne, nor electors palatine and powerful nobles rush to his rescue; but in behalf of these prisoners the most august hands and voices of christendom had been lifted up at the foot of philip's throne; and their supplications had proved as idle as the millions of tears and death-cries which had beep shed or uttered in the lowly places of the land. it was obvious; then, that all intercession must thereafter be useless. philip was fanatically impressed with his mission. his viceroy was possessed by his loyalty as by a demon. in this way alone, that conduct which can never be palliated may at least be comprehended. it was philip's enthusiasm to embody the wrath of god against heretics. it was alva's enthusiasm to embody the wrath of philip. narrow-minded, isolated, seeing only that section of the world which was visible through the loop-hole of the fortress in which nature had imprisoned him for life, placing his glory in unconditional obedience to his superior, questioning nothing, doubting nothing, fearing nothing, the viceroy accomplished his work of hell with all the tranquillity of an angel. an iron will, which clove through every obstacle; adamantine fortitude, which sustained without flinching a mountain of responsibility sufficient to crush a common nature, were qualities which, united to, his fanatical obedience, made him a man for philip's work such as could not have been found again in the world. the case, then, was tried before a tribunal which was not only incompetent, under the laws of the land, but not even a court of justice in any philosophical or legal sense. constitutional and municipal law were not more outraged in its creation, than all national and natural maxims. the reader who has followed step by step the career of the two distinguished victims through the perilous days of margaret's administration, is sufficiently aware of the amount of treason with which they are chargeable. it would be an insult to common sense for us to set forth, in full, the injustice of their sentence. both were guiltless towards the crown; while the hands of one, on the contrary, were deeply dyed in the blood of the people. this truth was so self-evident, that even a member of the blood-council, pierre arsens, president of artois, addressed an elaborate memoir to the duke of alva, criticising the case according to the rules of law, and maintaining that egmont, instead of deserving punishment, was entitled to a signal reward. so much for the famous treason of counts egmont and horn, so far as regards the history of the proceedings and the merits of the case. the last act of the tragedy was precipitated by occurrences which must be now narrated. the prince of orange had at last thrown down the gauntlet. proscribed, outlawed, with his netherland property confiscated, and his eldest child kidnapped, he saw sufficient personal justification for at last stepping into the lists, the avowed champion of a nation's wrongs. whether the revolution was to be successful, or to be disastrously crushed; whether its result would be to place him upon a throne or a scaffold, not even he, the deep-revolving and taciturn politician, could possibly foresee. the reformation, in which he took both a political and a religious interest, might prove a sufficient lever in his hands for the overthrow of spanish power in the netherlands. the inquisition might roll back upon his country and himself, crushing them forever. the chances seemed with the inquisition. the spaniards, under the first chieftain in europe, were encamped and entrenched in the provinces. the huguenots had just made their fatal peace in france, to the prophetic dissatisfaction of coligny. the leading men of liberal sentiments in the netherlands were captive or in exile. all were embarrassed by the confiscations which, in anticipation of sentence, had severed the nerves of war. the country was terror-stricken; paralyzed, motionless, abject, forswearing its convictions, and imploring only life. at this moment william of orange reappeared upon the scene. he replied to the act of condemnation, which had been pronounced against him in default, by a published paper, of moderate length and great eloquence. he had repeatedly offered to place himself, he said, upon trial before a competent court. as a knight of the fleece, as a member of the holy roman empire, as a sovereign prince, he could acknowledge no tribunal save the chapters of the knights or of the realm. the emperor's personal intercession with philip had been employed in vain, to obtain the adjudication of his case by either. it would be both death and degradation on his part to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the infamous council of blood. he scorned, he said, to plead his cause "before he knew not what base knaves, not fit to be the valets of his companions and himself." he appealed therefore to the judgment of the world. he published not an elaborate argument, but a condensed and scathing statement of the outrages which had been practised upon him. he denied that he had been a party to the compromise. he denied that he had been concerned in the request, although he denounced with scorn the tyranny which could treat a petition to government as an act of open war against the sovereign. he spoke of granvelle with unmeasured wrath. he maintained that his own continuance in office had been desired by the cardinal, in order that his personal popularity might protect the odious designs of the government. the edicts, the inquisition, the persecution, the new bishoprics, had been the causes of the tumults. he concluded with a burst of indignation against philip's conduct toward himself. the monarch had forgotten his services and those of his valiant ancestors. he had robbed him of honor, he had robbed him of his son--both dearer to him than life. by thus doing he had degraded himself more than he had injured him, for he had broken all his royal oaths and obligations. the paper was published early in the summer of . at about the same time, the count of hoogstraaten published a similar reply to the act of condemnation with which he had been visited. he defended himself mainly upon the ground, that all the crimes of which he stood arraigned had been committed in obedience to the literal instructions of the duchess of parma, after her accord with the confederates. the prince now made the greatest possible exertions to raise funds and troops. he had many meetings with influential individuals in germany. the protestant princes, particularly the landgrave of hesse and the elector of saxony, promised him assistance. he brought all his powers of eloquence and of diplomacy to make friends for the cause which he had now boldly espoused. the high-born demosthenes electrified large assemblies by his indignant invectives against the spanish philip. he excelled even his royal antagonist in the industrious subtlety with which he began to form a thousand combinations. swift, secret, incapable of fatigue, this powerful and patient intellect sped to and fro, disentangling the perplexed skein where all had seemed so hopelessly confused, and gradually unfolding broad schemes of a symmetrical and regenerated polity. he had high correspondents and higher hopes in england. he was already secretly or openly in league with half the sovereigns of germany. the huguenots of france looked upon him as their friend, and on louis of nassau as their inevitable chieftain, were coligny destined to fall. he was in league with all the exiled and outlawed nobles of the netherlands. by his orders recruits were daily enlisted, without sound of drum. he granted a commission to his brother louis, one of the most skilful and audacious soldiers of the age, than whom the revolt could not have found a more determined partisan, nor the prince a more faithful lieutenant. this commission, which was dated dillenburg, th april, , was a somewhat startling document. it authorized the count to levy troops and wage war against philip, strictly for philip's good. the fiction of loyalty certainly never went further. the prince of orange made known to all "to whom those presents should come," that through the affection which he bore the gracious king, he purposed to expel his majesty's forces from the netherlands. "to show our love for the monarch and his hereditary provinces," so ran the commission, "to prevent the desolation hanging over the country by the ferocity of the spaniards, to maintain the privileges sworn to by his majesty and his predecessors, to prevent the extirpation of all religion by the edicts, and to save the sons and daughters of the land from abject slavery, we have requested our dearly beloved brother louis nassau to enrol as many troops as he shall think necessary." van der bergh, hoogstraaten, and others, provided with similar powers, were also actively engaged in levying troops; but the right hand of the revolt was count louis, as his illustrious brother was its head and heart. two hundred thousand crowns was the sum which the prince considered absolutely necessary for organizing the army with which he contemplated making an entrance into the netherlands. half this amount had been produced by the cities of antwerp, amsterdam, leyden, harlem, middelburg, flushing, and other towns, as well as by refugee merchants in england. the other half was subscribed by individuals. the prince himself contributed , florins, hoogstraaten , , louis of nassau , , culemberg , , van der bergh , , the dowager-countess horn , , and other persons in less proportion. count john of nassau also pledged his estates to raise a large sum for the cause. the prince himself sold all his jewels, plate, tapestry, and other furniture, which were of almost regal magnificence. not an enthusiast, but a deliberate, cautious man, he now staked his all upon the hazard, seemingly so desperate. the splendor of his station has been sufficiently depicted. his luxury, his fortune, his family, his life, his children, his honor, all were now ventured, not with the recklessness of a gambler, but with the calm conviction of a statesman. a private and most audacious attempt to secure the person: of alva and the possession of brussels had failed. he was soon, however, called upon to employ all his energies against the open warfare which was now commenced. according to the plan of the prince, the provinces were to be attacked simultaneously, in three places, by his lieutenants, while he himself was waiting in the neighborhood of cleves, ready for a fourth assault. an army of huguenots and refugees was to enter artois upon the frontier of france; a second, under hoogstraaten, was to operate between the rhine and the meuse; while louis of nassau was to raise the standard of revolt in friesland. the two first adventures were destined to be signally unsuccessful. a force under seigneur de cocqueville, latest of all, took the field towards the end of june. it entered the bailiwick of hesdin in artois, was immediately driven across the frontier by the count de roeulx, and cut to pieces at st. valery by marechal de cossis, governor of picardy. this action was upon the th july. of the men who composed the expedition, scarce escaped. the few netherlanders who were taken prisoners were given to the spanish government, and, of course, hanged. the force under the seigneur de villars was earlier under arms, and the sooner defeated. this luckless gentleman, who had replaced the count of hoogstraaten, crossed the frontier of juliers; in the neighborhood of maestricht, by the th april. his force, infantry and cavalry, amounted to nearly three thousand men. the object of the enterprise was to, raise the country; and, if possible, to obtain a foothold by securing an important city. roermonde was the first point of attack, but the attempts, both by stratagem and by force, to secure the town, were fruitless. the citizens were not ripe for revolt, and refused the army admittance. while the invaders were, therefore, endeavoring to fire the gates, they were driven off by the approach of a spanish force. the duke, so soon as the invasion was known to him, had acted with great promptness. don sancho de lodrono and don sancho de avila, with five vanderas of spanish infantry, three companies of cavalry, and about three hundred pikemen under count eberstein, a force amounting in all to about picked troops, had been at once despatched against villars. the rebel chieftain, abandoning his attempt upon roermonde, advanced towards erkelens. upon the th april, between erkelens and dalem, the spaniards came up with him, and gave him battle. villars lost all his cavalry and two vanderas of his infantry in the encounter. with the remainder of his force, amounting to men, he effected his retreat in good order to dalem. here he rapidly entrenched himself. at four in the afternoon, sancho de lodrono, at the head of infantry, reached the spot. he was unable to restrain the impetuosity of his men, although the cavalry under avila, prevented by the difficult nature of the narrow path through which the rebels had retreated, had not yet arrived. the enemy were two to one, and were fortified; nevertheless, in half an hour the entrenchments were carried, and almost every man in the patriot army put to the sword. villars himself, with a handful of soldiers, escaped into the town, but was soon afterwards taken prisoner, with all his followers. he sullied the cause in which he was engaged by a base confession of the designs formed by the prince of orange--a treachery, however, which did not save him from the scaffold. in the course of this day's work, the spanish lost twenty men, and the rebels nearly . this portion of the liberating forces had been thus disastrously defeated on the eve of the entrance of count louis into friesland. as early as the d april, alva had been informed, by the lieutenant-governor of that province, that the beggars were mustering in great force in the neighborhood of embden. it was evident that an important enterprise was about to be attempted. two days afterwards, louis of nassau entered the provinces, attended by a small body of troops. his banners blazed with patriotic inscriptions. 'nunc aut nunquam, recuperare aut mori', were the watchwords of his desperate adventure: "freedom for fatherland and conscience" was the device which was to draw thousands to his standard. on the western wolds of frisia, he surprised the castle of wedde, a residence of the absent aremberg, stadholder of the province. thence he advanced to appingadam, or dam, on the tide waters of the dollart. here he was met by, his younger brother, the gallant adolphus, whose days were so nearly numbered, who brought with him a small troop of horse. at wedde, at dam, and at slochteren, the standard was set up. at these three points there daily gathered armed bodies of troops, voluntary adventurers, peasants with any rustic weapon which they could find to their hand. lieutenant-governor groesbeck wrote urgently to the duke, that the beggars were hourly increasing in force; that the leaders perfectly understood their game; that they kept their plans a secret, but were fast seducing the heart of the country. on the th may, louis issued a summons to the magistracy of groningen, ordering them to send a deputation to confer with him at dam. he was prepared, he said, to show the commission with which he was provided. he had not entered the country on a mere personal adventure, but had received orders to raise a sufficient army. by the help of the eternal god, he was determined, he said, to extirpate the detestable tyranny of those savage persecutors who had shed so much christian blood. he was resolved to lift up the down-trod privileges, and, to protect the fugitive, terror-stricken christians and patriarchs of the country. if the magistrates were disposed to receive him with friendship, it was well. otherwise, he should, with regret, feel himself obliged to proceed against them, as enemies of his majesty and of the common weal. as the result of this summons, louis received a moderate sum of money, on condition of renouncing for the moment an attack upon the city. with this temporary supply he was able to retain a larger number of the adventurers; who were daily swarming around him. in the mean time alva was not idle. on the th april, he wrote to groesbeck, that he must take care not to be taken napping; that he must keep his eyes well open until the arrival of succor, which was already on the way. he then immediately ordered count aremberg, who had just returned from france on conclusion of hostilities, to hasten to the seat of war. five vanderas of his own regiment; a small body of cavalry, and braccamonte's sardinian legion, making in all a force of nearly men, were ordered to follow him with the utmost expedition. count meghem, stadholder of gueldres, with five vanderas of infantry, three of light horse, and some artillery, composing a total of about men, was directed to co-operate with aremberg. upon this point the orders of the governor-general were explicit. it seemed impossible that the rabble rout under louis nassau could stand a moment before nearly picked and veteran troops, but the duke was earnest in warning his generals not to undervalue the enemy. on the th may, counts meghem and aremberg met and conferred at arnheim, on their way to friesland. it was fully agreed between them, after having heard full reports of the rising in that province, and of the temper throughout the eastern netherlands, that it would be rash to attempt any separate enterprise. on the th, aremberg reached vollenhoven, where he was laid up in his bed with the gout. bodies of men, while he lay sick, paraded hourly with fife and drum before his windows, and discharged pistols and arquebuses across the ditch of the blockhouse where he was quartered. on the th, braccamonte, with his legion, arrived by water at harlingen. not a moment more was lost. aremberg, notwithstanding his gout, which still confined him to a litter, started at once in pursuit of the enemy. passing through groningen, he collected all the troops which could be spared.. he also received six pieces of artillery. six cannon, which the lovers of harmony had baptized with the notes of the gamut, 'ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la', were placed at his disposal by the authorities, and have acquired historical celebrity. it was, however, ordained that when those musical pieces piped, the spaniards were not to dance. on the d, followed by his whole force, consisting of braccamonte's legion, his own four vanderas, and a troop of germans, he came in sight of the enemy at dam. louis of nassau sent out a body of arquebusiers, about one thousand strong, from the city. a sharp skirmish ensued, but the beggars were driven into their entrenchments, with a loss of twenty or thirty men, and nightfall terminated the contest. it was beautiful to see, wrote aremberg to alva, how brisk and eager were the spaniards, notwithstanding the long march which they had that day accomplished. time was soon to show how easily immoderate, valor might swell into a fault. meantime, aremberg quartered his troops in and about wittewerum abbey, close to the little unwalled city of dam. on the other hand, meghem, whose co-operation had been commanded by alva, and arranged personally with aremberg a fortnight before, at arnheim, had been delayed in his movements. his troops, who had received no wages for a long time had mutinied. a small sum of money, however, sent from brussels, quelled this untimely insubordination. meghem then set forth to effect his junction with his colleague, having assured the governor-general that the war would be ended in six days. the beggars had not a stiver, he said, and must disband or be beaten to pieces as soon as aremberg and he had joined forces. nevertheless he admitted that these same "master-beggars," as he called them, might prove too many for either general alone. alva, in reply, expressed his confidence that four or five thousand choice troops of spain would be enough to make a short war of it, but nevertheless warned his officers of the dangers of overweening confidence. he had been informed that the rebels had assumed the red scarf of the spanish uniform. he hoped the stratagem would not save them from broken heads, but was unwilling that his majesty's badge should be altered. he reiterated his commands that no enterprise should be undertaken, except by the whole army in concert; and enjoined the generals incontinently to hang and strangle all prisoners the moment they should be taken. marching directly northward, meghem reached coeverden, some fifty miles from dam, on the night of the d. he had informed aremberg that he might expect him with his infantry and his light horse in the course of the next day. on the following morning, the d, aremberg wrote his last letter to the duke, promising to send a good account of the beggars within a very few hours. louis of nassau had broken up his camp at dam about midnight. falling back, in a southerly direction, along the wold-weg, or forest road, a narrow causeway through a swampy district, he had taken up a position some three leagues from his previous encampment. near the monastery of heiliger lee, or the "holy lion," he had chosen his ground. a little money in hand, ample promises, and the hopes of booty, had effectually terminated the mutiny, which had also broken out in his camp. assured that meghem had not yet effected his junction with aremberg, prepared to strike, at last, a telling blow for freedom and fatherland, louis awaited the arrival of his eager foe. his position was one of commanding strength and fortunate augury. heiliger lee was a wooded eminence, artificially reared by premonstrant monks. it was the only rising ground in that vast extent of watery pastures, enclosed by the ems and lippe--the "fallacious fields" described by tacitus. here hermann, first of teutonic heroes, had dashed out of existence three veteran legions of tyrant rome. here the spectre of varus, begrimed and gory, had risen from the morass to warn germanicus, who came to avenge him, that gothic freedom was a dangerous antagonist. and now, in the perpetual reproductions of history, another german warrior occupied a spot of vantage in that same perilous region. the tyranny with which he contended strove to be as universal as that of rome, and had stretched its wings of conquest into worlds of which the caesars had never dreamed. it was in arms, too, to crush not only the rights of man, but the rights of god. the battle of freedom was to be fought not only for fatherland, but for conscience. the cause was even holier than that which had inspired the arm of hermann. although the swamps of that distant age had been transformed into fruitful pastures, yet the whole district was moist, deceitful, and dangerous. the country was divided into squares, not by hedges but by impassable ditches. agricultural entrenchments had long made the country almost impregnable, while its defences against the ocean rendered almost as good service against a more implacable human foe. aremberg, leading his soldiers along the narrow causeway, in hot pursuit of what they considered a rabble rout of fugitive beggars, soon reached winschoten. here he became aware of the presence of his despicable foe. louis and adolphus of nassau, while sitting at dinner in the convent of the "holy lion," had been warned by a friendly peasant of the approach of the spaniards. the opportune intelligence had given the patriot general time to make his preparations. his earnest entreaties had made his troops ashamed of their mutinous conduct on the preceding day, and they were now both ready and willing to engage. the village was not far distant from the abbey, and in the neighborhood of the abbey louis of nassau was now posted. behind him was a wood, on his left a hill of moderate elevation, before him an extensive and swampy field. in the front of the field was a causeway leading to the abbey. this was the road which aremberg was to traverse. on the plain which lay between the wood and the hill, the main body of the beggars were drawn up. they were disposed in two squares or squadrons, rather deep than wide, giving the idea of a less number than they actually contained. the lesser square, in which were two thousand eight hundred men, was partially sheltered by the hill. both were flanked by musketeers. on the brow of the hill was a large body of light armed troops, the 'enfans perdus' of the army. the cavalry, amounting to not more than three hundred men, was placed in front, facing the road along which aremberg was to arrive. that road was bordered by a wood extending nearly to the front of the hill. as aremberg reached its verge, he brought out his artillery, and opened a fire upon the body of light troops. the hill protected a large part of the enemy's body from this attack. finding the rebels so strong in numbers and position, aremberg was disposed only to skirmish. he knew better than did his soldiers the treacherous nature of the ground in front of the enemy. he saw that it was one of those districts where peat had been taken out in large squares for fuel, and where a fallacious and verdant scum upon the surface of deep pools simulated the turf that had been removed. he saw that the battle-ground presented to him by his sagacious enemy was one great sweep of traps and pitfalls. before he could carry the position, many men must necessarily be engulfed. he paused for an instant. he was deficient in cavalry, having only martinengo's troop, hardly amounting to four hundred men. he was sure of meghem's arrival within twenty-four hours. if, then, he could keep the rebels in check, without allowing them any opportunity to disperse, he should be able, on the morrow, to cut them to pieces, according to the plan agreed upon a fortnight before. but the count had to contend with a double obstacle. his soldiers were very hot, his enemy very cool. the spaniards, who had so easily driven a thousand musketeers from behind their windmill, the evening before, who had seen the whole rebel force decamp in hot haste on the very night of their arrival before dam, supposed themselves in full career of victory. believing that the name alone of the old legions had stricken terror to the hearts of the beggars, and that no resistance was possible to spanish arms, they reviled their general for his caution. his reason for delay was theirs for hurry. why should meghem's loitering and mutinous troops, arriving at the eleventh hour, share in the triumph and the spoil? no man knew the country better than aremberg, a native of the netherlands, the stadholder of the province. cowardly or heretical motives alone could sway him, if he now held them back in the very hour of victory. inflamed beyond endurance by these taunts, feeling his pride of country touched to the quick, and willing to show that a netherlander would lead wherever spaniards dared to follow, aremberg allowed himself to commit the grave error for which he was so deeply to atone. disregarding the dictates of his own experience and the arrangements of his superior, he yielded to the braggart humor of his soldiers, which he had not, like alva, learned to moderate or to despise. in the mean, time, the body of light troops which had received the fire from the musical pieces of groningen was seen to waver. the artillery was then brought beyond the cover of the wood, and pointed more fully upon the two main squares of the enemy. a few shots told. soon afterward the 'enfans perdus' retreated helter-skelter, entirely deserting their position. this apparent advantage, which was only a preconcerted stratagem, was too much for the fiery spaniards. they rushed merrily forward to attack the stationary squares, their general being no longer able, to restrain their impetuosity. in a moment the whole van-guard had plunged into the morass. in a few minutes more they were all helplessly and hopelessly struggling in the pools, while the musketeers of the enemy poured in a deadly fire upon them, without wetting the soles of their own feet. the pikemen, too, who composed the main body of the larger square, now charged upon all who were extricating themselves from their entanglement, and drove them back again to a muddy death. simultaneously, the lesser patriot squadron, which had so long been sheltered, emerged from the cover of the hill, made a detour around its base, enveloped the rear-guard of the spaniards before they could advance to the succor of their perishing comrades, and broke them to pieces almost instantly. gonzalo de braccamonte, the very spanish colonel who had been foremost in denunciation of aremberg, for his disposition to delay the contest, was now the first to fly. to his bad conduct was ascribed the loss of the day. the anger of alva was so high, when he was informed of the incident, that he would have condemned the officer to death but for the intercession of his friends and countrymen. the rout was sudden and absolute. the foolhardiness of the spaniards had precipitated them into the pit which their enemies had dug. the day, was lost. nothing was left for aremberg but to perish with honor. placing himself at the head of his handful of cavalry, he dashed into the melee. the shock was sustained by young adolphus of nassau, at the head of an equal number of riders. each leader singled out the other. they met as "captains of might" should do, in the very midst of the affray. aremberg, receiving and disregarding a pistol shot from his adversary, laid adolphus dead at his feet, with a bullet through his body and a sabre cut on his head. two troopers in immediate attendance upon the young count shared the same fate from the same hand. shortly afterward, the horse of aremberg, wounded by a musket ball, fell to the ground. a few devoted followers lifted the charger to his legs and the bleeding rider to his saddle. they endeavored to bear their wounded general from the scene of action. the horse staggered a few paces and fell dead. aremberg disengaged himself from his body, and walked a few paces to the edge of a meadow near the road. here, wounded in the action, crippled by the disease which had so long tormented him, and scarcely able to sustain longer the burthen of his armor, he calmly awaited his fate. a troop of the enemy advanced soon afterwards, and aremberg fell, covered with wounds, fighting like a hero of homer, single-handed, against a battalion, with a courage worthy a better cause and a better fate. the sword by which he received his final death-blow was that of the seigneur do haultain. that officer having just seen his brother slain before his eyes, forgot the respect due to unsuccessful chivalry. the battle was scarcely finished when an advancing trumpet was heard. the sound caused the victors to pause in their pursuit, and enabled a remnant of the conquered spaniards to escape. meghem's force was thought to be advancing. that general had indeed arrived, but he was alone. he had reached zuidlaren, a village some four leagues from the scene of action, on the noon of that day. here he had found a letter from aremberg, requesting him to hasten. he had done so. his troops, however, having come from coevorden that morning, were unable to accomplish so long a march in addition. the count, accompanied by a few attendants, reached the neighborhood of heiliger lee only in time to meet with some of the camp sutlers and other fugitives, from whom he learned the disastrous news of the defeat. finding that all was lost, he very properly returned to zuidlaren, from which place he made the best of his way to groningen. that important city, the key of friesland, he was thus enabled to secure. the troops which he brought, in addition to the four german vanderas of schaumburg, already quartered there, were sufficient to protect it against the ill-equipped army of louis nassau. the patriot leader had accomplished, after all, but a barren victory. he had, to be sure, destroyed a number of spaniards, amounting, according to the different estimates, from five hundred to sixteen hundred men. he had also broken up a small but veteran army. more than all, he had taught the netherlanders, by this triumphant termination to a stricken field, that the choice troops of spain were not invincible. but the moral effect of the victory was the only permanent one. the count's badly paid troops could with difficulty be kept together. he had no sufficient artillery to reduce the city whose possession would have proved so important to the cause. moreover, in common with the prince of orange and all his brethren, he had been called to mourn for the young and chivalrous adolphus, whose life-blood had stained the laurels of this first patriot victory. having remained, and thus wasted the normal three days upon the battle-field, louis now sat down before groningen, fortifying and entrenching himself in a camp within cannonshot of the city. on the rd we have seen that aremberg had written, full of confidence, to the governor-general, promising soon to send him good news of the beggars. on the th, count meghem wrote that, having spoken with a man who had helped to place aremberg in his coffin, he could hardly entertain any farther doubt as to his fate. the wrath of the duke was even greater than his surprise. like augustus, he called in vain on the dead commander for his legions, but prepared himself to inflict a more rapid and more terrible vengeance than the roman's. recognizing the gravity of his situation, he determined to take the field in person, and to annihilate this insolent chieftain who had dared not only to cope with, but to conquer his veteran regiments. but before he could turn his back upon brussels, many deeds were to be done. his measures now followed each other in breathless succession, fulminating and blasting at every stroke. on the th may, he issued an edict, banishing, on pain of death, the prince of orange, louis nassau, hoogstraaten, van den berg, and others, with confiscation of all their property. at the same time he razed the culemburg palace to the ground, and erected a pillar upon its ruins, commemorating the accursed conspiracy which had been engendered within its walls. on the st june, eighteen prisoners of distinction, including the two barons batenburg, maximilian kock, blois de treslong and others, were executed upon the horse market, in brussels. in the vigorous language of hoogstraaten, this horrible tragedy was enacted directly before the windows of that "cruel animal, noircarmes," who, in company of his friend, berlaymont, and the rest of the blood-council, looked out upon the shocking spectacle. the heads of the victims were exposed upon stakes, to which also their bodies were fastened. eleven of these victims were afterward deposited, uncoffined, in unconsecrated ground; the other seven were left unburied to moulder on the gibbet. on the d june, villars, the leader in the daalem rising, suffered on the scaffold, with three others. on the d, counts egmont and horn were brought in a carriage from ghent to brussels, guarded by ten companies of infantry and one of cavalry. they were then lodged in the "brood-huis" opposite the town hall, on the great square of brussels. on the th, alva having, as he solemnly declared before god and the world, examined thoroughly the mass of documents appertaining to those two great prosecutions which had only been closed three days before, pronounced sentence against the illustrious prisoners. these documents of iniquity signed and sealed by the duke, were sent to the blood-council, where they were read by secretary praets. the signature of philip was not wanting, for the sentences had been drawn upon blanks signed by the monarch, of which the viceroy had brought a whole trunk full from spain. the sentence against egmont declared very briefly that the duke of alva, having read all the papers and evidence in the case, had found the count guilty of high treason. it was proved that egmont had united with the confederates; that he had been a party to the accursed conspiracy of the prince of orange; that he had taken the rebel nobles under his protection, and that he had betrayed the government and the holy catholic church by his conduct in flanders. therefore the duke condemned him to be executed by the sword on the following day, and decreed that his head should be placed on high in a public place, there to remain until the duke should otherwise direct. the sentence against count horn was similar in language and purport. that afternoon the duke sent for the bishop of ypres, the prelate arrived at dusk. as soon as he presented himself, alva informed him of the sentence which had just been pronounced, and ordered him to convey the intelligence to the prisoners. he further charged him with the duty of shriving the victims, and preparing their souls for death. the bishop fell on his knees, aghast at the terrible decree. he implored the governor-general to have mercy upon the two unfortunate nobles. if their lives could not be spared, he prayed him at any rate to grant delay. with tears and earnest supplications the prelate endeavored to avert or to postpone the doom which had been pronounced. it was in vain. the sentence, inflexible as destiny, had been long before ordained. its execution had been but hastened by the temporary triumph of rebellion in friesland. alva told the bishop roughly that he had not been summoned to give advice. delay or pardon was alike impossible. he was to act as confessor to the criminals, not as councillor to the viceroy. the bishop, thus rebuked, withdrew to accomplish his melancholy mission. meanwhile, on the same evening, the miserable countess of egmont had been appalled by rumors, too vague for belief, too terrible to be slighted. she was in the chamber of countess aremberg, with whom she had come to condole for the death of the count, when the order for the immediate execution of her own husband was announced to her. she hastened to the presence of the governor-general. the princess palatine, whose ancestors had been emperors, remembered only that she was a wife and a mother. she fell at the feet of the man who controlled the fate of her husband, and implored his mercy in humble and submissive terms. the duke, with calm and almost incredible irony, reassured the countess by the information that, on the morrow, her husband was certainly to be released. with this ambiguous phrase, worthy the paltering oracles of antiquity, the wretched woman was obliged to withdraw. too soon afterward the horrible truth of the words was revealed to her--words of doom, which she had mistaken for consolation. an hour before midnight the bishop of ypres reached egmont's prison. the count was confined in a chamber on the second story of the brood-huis, the mansion of the crossbowmen's guild, in that corner of the building which rests on a narrow street running back from the great square. he was aroused from his sleep by the approach of his visitor. unable to speak, but indicating by the expression of his features the occurrence of a great misfortune, the bishop, soon after his entrance, placed the paper given to him by alva in egmont's hands. the unfortunate noble thus suddenly received the information that his death-sentence had been pronounced, and that its execution was fixed for the next morning. he read the paper through without flinching, and expressed astonishment rather than dismay at its tidings. exceedingly sanguine by nature, he had never believed, even after his nine months' imprisonment, in a fatal termination to the difficulties in which he was involved. he was now startled both at the sudden condemnation which had followed his lingering trial, and at the speed with which his death was to fulfil the sentence. he asked the bishop, with many expressions of amazement, whether pardon was impossible; whether delay at least might not be obtained? the prelate answered by a faithful narrative of the conversation which had just occurred between alva and himself. egmont, thus convinced of his inevitable doom, then observed to his companion, with exquisite courtesy, that, since he was to die, he rendered thanks both to god and to the duke that his last moments were to be consoled by so excellent a father confessor. afterwards, with a natural burst of indignation, he exclaimed that it was indeed a cruel and unjust sentence. he protested that he had never in his whole life wronged his majesty; certainly never so deeply as to deserve such a punishment. all that he had done had been with loyal intentions. the king's true interest had been his constant aim. nevertheless, if he had fallen into error, he prayed to god that his death might wipe away his misdeeds, and that his name might not be dishonored, nor his children brought to shame. his beloved wife and innocent children were to endure misery enough by his death and the confiscation of his estates. it was at least due to his long services that they should be spared further suffering. he then asked his father confessor what advice he had to give touching his present conduct. the bishop replied by an exhortation, that he should turn himself to god; that he should withdraw his thoughts entirely from all earthly interests, and prepare himself for the world beyond the grave. he accepted the advice, and kneeling before the bishop, confessed himself. he then asked to receive the sacrament, which the bishop administered, after the customary mass. egmont asked what prayer would be most appropriate at the hour of execution. his confessor replied that there was none more befitting than the one which jesus had taught his disciples--our father, which art in heaven. some conversation ensued, in which the count again expressed his gratitude that his parting soul had been soothed by these pious and friendly offices. by a revulsion of feeling, he then bewailed again the sad fate of his wife and of his young children. the bishop entreated him anew to withdraw his mind from such harrowing reflections, and to give himself entirely to god. overwhelmed with grief, egmont exclaimed with natural and simple pathos--"alas! how miserable and frail is our nature, that, when we should think of god only, we are unable to shut out the images of wife and children." recovering from his emotion, and having yet much time, he sat down and wrote with perfect self-possession two letters, one to philip and one to alva. the celebrated letter to the king was as follows: "sire,--i have learned, this evening, the sentence which your majesty has been pleased to pronounce upon me. although i have never had a thought, and believe myself never to have done a deed, which could tend to the prejudice of your majesty's person or service, or to the detriment of our true ancient and catholic religion, nevertheless i take patience to bear that which it has pleased the good god to send. if, during these troubles in the netherlands, i have done or permitted aught which had a different appearance, it has been with the true and good intent to serve god and your majesty, and the necessity of the times. therefore, i pray your majesty to forgive me, and to have compassion on my poor wife, my children, and my servants; having regard to my past services. in which hope i now commend myself to the mercy of god. "from brussels, "ready to die, this th june, , "your majesty's very humble and loyal vassal and servant, "lamoral d'egmont." having thus kissed the murderous hand which smote him, he handed the letter, stamped rather with superfluous loyalty than with christian forgiveness, to the bishop, with a request that he would forward it to its destination, accompanied by a letter from his own hand. this duty the bishop solemnly promised to fulfil. facing all the details of his execution with the fortitude which belonged to his character, he now took counsel with his confessor as to the language proper for him to hold from the scaffold to the assembled people. the bishop, however, strongly dissuaded him from addressing the multitude at all. the persons farthest removed, urged the priest, would not hear the words, while the spanish troops in the immediate vicinity would not understand them. it seemed, therefore, the part of wisdom and of dignity for him to be silent, communing only with his god. the count assented to this reasoning, and abandoned his intention of saying a few farewell words to the people, by many of whom he believed himself tenderly beloved. he now made many preparations for the morrow, in order that his thoughts, in the last moments, might not be distracted by mechanical details, cutting the collar from his doublet and from his shirt with his own hands, in order that those of the hangman might have no excuse for contaminating his person. the rest of the night was passed in prayer and meditation. fewer circumstances concerning the last night of count horn's life have been preserved. it is, however, well ascertained that the admiral received the sudden news of his condemnation with absolute composure. he was assisted at his devotional exercises in prison by the curate of la chapelle. during the night, the necessary preparations for the morning tragedy had been made in the great square of brussels. it was the intention of government to strike terror to the heart of the people by the exhibition of an impressive and appalling spectacle. the absolute and irresponsible destiny which ruled them was to be made manifest by the immolation of these two men, so elevated by rank, powerful connexion, and distinguished service. the effect would be heightened by the character of the locality where the gloomy show was to be presented. the great square of brussels had always a striking and theatrical aspect. its architectural effects, suggesting in some degree the meretricious union between oriental and a corrupt grecian art, accomplished in the medieval midnight, have amazed the eyes of many generations. the splendid hotel de ville, with its daring spire and elaborate front, ornamented one side of the place; directly opposite was the graceful but incoherent facade of the brood-huis, now the last earthly resting-place of the two distinguished victims, while grouped around these principal buildings rose the fantastic palaces of the archers, mariners, and of other guilds, with their festooned walls and toppling gables bedizened profusely with emblems, statues, and quaint decorations. the place had been alike the scene of many a brilliant tournament and of many a bloody execution. gallant knights had contended within its precincts, while bright eyes rained influence from all those picturesque balconies and decorated windows. martyrs to religious and to political liberty had, upon the same spot, endured agonies which might have roused every stone of its pavement to mutiny or softened them to pity. here egmont himself, in happier days, had often borne away the prize of skill or of valor, the cynosure of every eye; and hence, almost in the noon of a life illustrated by many brilliant actions, he was to be sent, by the hand of tyranny, to his great account. on the morning of the th of june, three thousand spanish troops were drawn up in battle array around a scaffold which had been erected in the centre of the square. upon this scaffold, which was covered with black cloth, were placed two velvet cushions, two iron spikes, and a small table. upon the table was a silver crucifix. the provost-marshal, spelle, sat on horseback below, with his red wand in his hand, little dreaming that for him a darker doom was reserved than that of which he was now the minister. the executioner was concealed beneath the draperies of the scaffold. at eleven o'clock, a company of spanish soldiers, led by julian romero and captain salinas, arrived at egmont's chamber. the count was ready for them. they were about to bind his hands, but he warmly protested against the indignity, and, opening the folds of his robe, showed them that he had himself shorn off his collars, and made preparations for his death. his request was granted. egmont, with the bishop at his side, then walked with a steady step the short distance which separated him from the place of execution. julian romero and the guard followed him. on his way, he read aloud the fifty-first psalm: "hear my cry, o god, and give ear unto my prayer!" he seemed to have selected these scriptural passages as a proof that, notwithstanding the machinations of his enemies, and the cruel punishment to which they had led him, loyalty to his sovereign was as deeply rooted and as religious a sentiment in his bosom as devotion to his god. "thou wilt prolong the king's life; and his years as many generations. he shall abide before god for ever! o prepare mercy and truth which may preserve him." such was the remarkable prayer of the condemned traitor on his way to the block. having ascended the scaffold, he walked across it twice or thrice. he was dressed in a tabard or robe of red damask, over which was thrown a short black mantle, embroidered in gold. he had a black silk hat, with black and white plumes, on his head, and held a handkerchief in his hand. as he strode to and fro, he expressed a bitter regret that he had not been permitted to die, sword in hand, fighting for his country and his king. sanguine to the last, he passionately asked romero, whether the sentence was really irrevocable, whether a pardon was not even then to be granted. the marshal shrugged his shoulders, murmuring a negative reply. upon this, egmont gnashed his teeth together, rather in rage than despair. shortly afterward commanding himself again, he threw aside his robe and mantle, and took the badge of the golden fleece from his neck. kneeling, then, upon one of the cushions, he said the lord's prayer aloud, and requested the bishop, who knelt at his side, to repeat it thrice. after this, the prelate gave him the silver crucifix to kiss, and then pronounced his blessing upon him. this done, the count rose again to his feet, laid aside his hat and handkerchief, knelt again upon the cushion, drew a little cap over his eyes, and, folding his hands together, cried with a loud voice, "lord, into thy hands i commit my spirit." the executioner then suddenly appeared, and severed his head from his shoulders at a single blow. a moment of shuddering silence succeeded the stroke. the whole vast assembly seemed to have felt it in their own hearts. tears fell from the eyes even of the spanish soldiery, for they knew and honored egmont as a valiant general. the french embassador, mondoucet, looking upon the scene from a secret place, whispered that he had now seen the head fall before which france had twice trembled. tears were even seen upon the iron cheek of alva, as, from a window in a house directly opposite the scaffold, he looked out upon the scene. a dark cloth was now quickly thrown over the body and the blood, and, within a few minutes, the admiral was seen advancing through the crowd. his bald head was uncovered, his hands were unbound. he calmly saluted such of his acquaintances as he chanced to recognize upon his path. under a black cloak, which he threw off when he had ascended the scaffold, he wore a plain, dark doublet, and he did not, like egmont, wear the insignia of the fleece. casting his eyes upon the corpse, which lay covered with the dark cloth, he asked if it were the body of egmont. being answered in the affirmative, he muttered a few words in spanish, which were not distinctly audible. his attention was next caught by the sight of his own coat of arms reversed, and he expressed anger at this indignity to his escutcheon, protesting that he had not deserved the insult. he then spoke a few words to the crowd below, wishing them happiness, and begging them to pray for his soul. he did not kiss the crucifix, but he knelt upon the scaffold to pray, and was assisted in his devotions by the bishop of ypres. when they were concluded, he rose again to his feet. then drawing a milan cap completely over his face, and uttering, in latin, the same invocation which egmont had used, he submitted his neck to the stroke. egmont had obtained, as a last favor, that his execution should precede that of his friend. deeming himself in part to blame for horn's reappearance in brussels after the arrival of alva, and for his, death, which was the result, he wished to be spared the pang of seeing him dead. gemma frisius, the astrologer who had cast the horoscope of count horn at his birth, had come to him in the most solemn manner to warn him against visiting brussels. the count had answered stoutly that he placed his trust in god, and that, moreover, his friend egmont was going thither also, who had engaged that no worse fate should befal the one of them than the other. the heads of both sufferers were now exposed for two hours upon the iron stakes. their bodies, placed in coffins, remained during the same interval upon the scaffold. meantime, notwithstanding the presence of the troops, the populace could not be restrained from tears and from execrations. many crowded about the scaffold, and dipped their handkerchiefs in the blood, to be preserved afterwards as memorials of the crime and as ensigns of revenge. the bodies were afterwards delivered to their friends. a stately procession of the guilds, accompanied by many of the clergy, conveyed their coffins to the church of saint gudule. thence the body of egmont was carried to the convent of saint clara, near the old brussels gate, where it was embalmed. his escutcheon and banners were hung upon the outward wall of his residence, by order of the countess. by command of alva they were immediately torn down. his remains were afterwards conveyed to his city of sottegem, in flanders, where they were interred. count horn was entombed at kempen. the bodies had been removed from the scaffold at two o'clock. the heads remained exposed between burning torches for two hours longer. they were then taken down, enclosed in boxes, and, as it was generally supposed, despatched to madrid. the king was thus enabled to look upon the dead faces of his victims without the trouble of a journey to the provinces. thus died philip montmorency, count of horn, and lamoral of egmont, prince of gaveren. the more intense sympathy which seemed to attach itself to the fate of egmont, rendered the misfortune of his companion in arms and in death comparatively less interesting. egmont is a great historical figure, but he was certainly not a great man. his execution remains an enduring monument not only of philip's cruelty and perfidy but of his dullness. the king had everything to hope from egmont and nothing to fear. granvelle knew the man well, and, almost to the last, could not believe in the possibility of so unparalleled a blunder as that which was to make a victim, a martyr, and a popular idol of a personage brave indeed, but incredibly vacillating and inordinately vain, who, by a little management, might have been converted into a most useful instrument for the royal purposes. it is not necessary to recapitulate the events of egmont's career. step by step we have studied his course, and at no single period have we discovered even a germ of those elements which make the national champion. his pride of order rendered him furious at the insolence of granvelle, and caused him to chafe under his dominion. his vanity of high rank and of distinguished military service made him covet the highest place under the crown, while his hatred of those by whom he considered himself defrauded of his claims, converted him into a malcontent. he had no sympathy with the people, but he loved, as a grand seignior, to be looked up to and admired by a gaping crowd. he was an unwavering catholic, held sectaries in utter loathing, and, after the image-breaking, took a positive pleasure in hanging ministers, together with their congregations, and in pressing the besieged christians of valenciennes to extremities. upon more than one occasion he pronounced his unequivocal approval of the infamous edicts, and he exerted himself at times to enforce them within his province. the transitory impression made upon his mind by the lofty nature of orange was easily effaced in spain by court flattery and by royal bribes. notwithstanding the coldness, the rebuffs, and the repeated warnings which might have saved him from destruction, nothing could turn him at last from the fanatic loyalty towards which, after much wavering, his mind irrevocably pointed. his voluntary humiliation as a general, a grandee, a fleming, and a christian before the insolent alva upon his first arrival, would move our contempt were it not for the gentler emotions suggested by the infatuated nobleman's doom. upon the departure of orange, egmont was only too eager to be employed by philip in any work which the monarch could find for him to do. yet this was the man whom philip chose, through the executioner's sword, to convert into a popular idol, and whom poetry has loved to contemplate as a romantic champion of freedom. as for horn, details enough have likewise been given of his career to enable the reader thoroughly to understand the man. he was a person of mediocre abilities and thoroughly commonplace character. his high rank and his tragic fate are all which make him interesting. he had little love for court or people. broken in fortunes, he passed his time mainly in brooding over the ingratitude of charles and philip, and in complaining bitterly of the disappointments to which their policy had doomed him. he cared nothing for cardinalists or confederates. he disliked brederode, he detested granvelle. gloomy and morose, he went to bed, while the men who were called his fellow-conspirators were dining and making merry in the same house with himself: he had as little sympathy with the cry of "vivent les gueux" as for that of "vive le roy." the most interesting features in his character are his generosity toward his absent brother and the manliness with which, as montigny's representative at tournay, he chose rather to confront the anger of the government, and to incur the deadly revenge of philip, than make himself the executioner of the harmless christians in tournay. in this regard, his conduct is vastly more entitled to our respect than that of egmont, and he was certainly more deserving of reverence from the people, even though deserted by all men while living, and left headless and solitary in his coffin at saint gudule. the hatred for alva, which sprang from the graves of these illustrious victims, waxed daily more intense. "like things of another world," wrote hoogstraaten, "seem the cries, lamentations, and just compassion which all the inhabitants of brussels, noble or ignoble, feel for such barbarous tyranny, while this nero of an alva is boasting that he will do the same to all whom he lays his hands upon." no man believed that the two nobles had committed a crime, and many were even disposed to acquit philip of his share in the judicial murder. the people ascribed the execution solely to the personal jealousy of the duke. they discoursed to each other not only of the envy with which the governor-general had always regarded the military triumphs of his rival, but related that egmont had at different times won large sums of alva at games of hazard, and that he had moreover, on several occasions, carried off the prize from the duke in shooting at the popinjay. nevertheless, in spite of all these absurd rumors, there is no doubt that philip and alva must share equally in the guilt of the transaction, and that the "chastisement" had been arranged before alva had departed from spain. the countess egmont remained at the convent of cambre with her eleven children, plunged in misery and in poverty. the duke wrote to philip, that he doubted if there were so wretched a family in the world. he, at the same time, congratulated his sovereign on the certainty that the more intense the effects, the more fruitful would be the example of this great execution. he stated that the countess was considered a most saintly woman, and that there had been scarcely a night in which, attended by her daughters, she had not gone forth bare-footed to offer up prayers for her husband in every church within the city. he added, that it was doubtful whether they had money enough to buy themselves a supper that very night, and he begged the king to allow them the means of supporting life. he advised that the countess should be placed, without delay in a spanish convent, where her daughters might at once take the veil, assuring his majesty that her dower was entirely inadequate to her support. thus humanely recommending his sovereign to bestow an alms on the family which his own hand had reduced from a princely station to beggary, the viceroy proceeded to detail the recent events in friesland, together with the measures which he was about taking to avenge the defeat and death of count aremberg. etext editor's bookmarks: deeply criminal in the eyes of all religious parties he had omitted to execute heretics holy office condemned all the inhabitants of the netherlands not for a new doctrine, but for liberty of conscience questioning nothing, doubting nothing, fearing nothing the perpetual reproductions of history wealth was an unpardonable sin motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley [chapter iii.] preparations of the duke against count louis--precarious situation of louis in friesland--timidity of the inhabitants--alva in friesland--skirmishing near groningen--retreat of the patriots-- error committed by louis--his position at jemmingen--mutinous demonstrations of his troops--louis partially restores order-- attempt to destroy the dykes interrupted by the arrival of alva's forces--artful strategy of the duke--defeat of count louis and utter destruction of his army--outrages committed by the spaniards--alva at utrecht--execution of vrow van diemen--episode of don carlos-- fables concerning him and queen isabella--mystery, concerning his death--secret letters of philip to the pope--the one containing the truth of the transaction still concealed in the vatican--case against philip as related by mathieu, de thou, and others--testimony in the king's favor by the nuncio, the venetian envoy, and others-- doubtful state of the question--anecdotes concerning don carlos--his character. those measures were taken with the precision and promptness which marked the duke's character, when precision and promptness were desirable. there had been a terrible energy in his every step, since the successful foray of louis nassau. having determined to take the field in person with nearly all the spanish veterans, he had at once acted upon the necessity of making the capital secure, after his back should be turned. it was impossible to leave three thousand choice troops to guard count egmont. a less number seemed insufficient to prevent a rescue. he had, therefore, no longer delayed the chastisement which had already been determined, but which the events in the north had precipitated. thus the only positive result of louis nassau's victory was the execution of his imprisoned friends. the expedition under aremberg had failed from two causes. the spanish force had been inadequate, and they had attacked the enemy at a disadvantage. the imprudent attack was the result of the contempt with which they had regarded their antagonist. these errors were not to be repeated. alva ordered count meghem, now commanding in the province of groningen, on no account to hazard hostilities until the game was sure. he also immediately ordered large reinforcements to move forward to the seat of war. the commanders intrusted with this duty were duke eric of brunswick, chiappin vitelli, noircarmes, and count de roeulx. the rendezvous for the whole force was deventer, and here they all arrived on the th july. on the same day the duke of alva himself entered deventer, to take command in person. on the evening of the th july he reached rolden, a village three leagues distant from groningen, at the head of three terzios of spanish infantry, three companies of light horse, and a troop of dragoons. his whole force in and about groningen amounted to fifteen thousand choice troops besides a large but uncertain number of less disciplined soldiery. meantime, louis of nassau, since his victory, had accomplished nothing. for this inactivity there was one sufficient excuse, the total want of funds. his only revenue was the amount of black mail which he was able to levy upon the inhabitants of the province. he repeated his determination to treat them all as enemies, unless they furnished him with the means of expelling their tyrants from the country. he obtained small sums in this manner from time to time. the inhabitants were favorably disposed, but they were timid and despairing. they saw no clear way towards the accomplishment of the result concerning which louis was so confident. they knew that the terrible alva was already on his way. they felt sure of being pillaged by both parties, and of being hanged as rebels, besides, as soon as the governor-general should make his appearance. louis had, however, issued two formal proclamations for two especial contributions. in these documents he had succinctly explained that the houses of all recusants should be forthwith burned about their ears, and in consequence of these peremptory measures, he had obtained some ten thousand florins. alva ordered counter-proclamations to be affixed to church doors and other places, forbidding all persons to contribute to these forced loans of the rebels, on penalty of paying twice as much to the spaniards, with arbitrary punishment in addition, after his arrival. the miserable inhabitants, thus placed between two fires, had nothing for it but to pay one-half of their property to support the rebellion in the first place, with the prospect of giving the other half as a subsidy to tyranny afterwards; while the gibbet stood at the end of the vista to reward their liberality. such was the horrible position of the peasantry in this civil conflict. the weight of guilt thus accumulated upon the crowned head which conceived, and upon the red right hand which wrought all this misery, what human scales can measure? with these precarious means of support, the army of louis of nassau, as may easily be supposed, was anything but docile. after the victory of heiliger lee there had seemed to his german mercenaries a probability of extensive booty, which grew fainter as the slender fruit of that battle became daily more apparent. the two abbots of wittewerum and of heiliger lee, who had followed aremberg's train in order to be witnesses of his victory, had been obliged to pay to the actual conqueror a heavy price for the entertainment to which they had invited themselves, and these sums, together with the amounts pressed from the reluctant estates, and the forced contributions paid by luckless peasants, enabled him to keep his straggling troops together a few weeks longer. mutiny, however, was constantly breaking out, and by the eloquent expostulations and vague promises of the count, was with difficulty suppressed. he had, for a few weeks immediately succeeding the battle, distributed his troops in three different stations. on the approach of the duke, however, he hastily concentrated his whole force at his own strongly fortified camp, within half cannon shot of groningen. his army, such as it was, numbered from , to , men. alva reached groningen early in the morning, and without pausing a moment, marched his troops directly through the city. he then immediately occupied an entrenched and fortified house, from which it was easy to inflict damage upon the camp. this done, the duke, with a few attendants, rode forward to reconnoitre the enemy in person. he found him in a well fortified position, having the river on his front, which served as a moat to his camp, and with a deep trench three hundred yards beyond, in addition. two wooden bridges led across the river; each was commanded by a fortified house, in which was a provision of pine torches, ready at a moment's warning, to set fire to the bridges. having thus satisfied himself, the duke rode back to his army, which had received strict orders not to lift a finger till his return. he then despatched a small force of five hundred musketeers, under robles, to skirmish with the enemy, and, if possible, to draw them from their trenches. the troops of louis, however, showed no greediness to engage. on the contrary, it soon became evident that their dispositions were of an opposite tendency. the count himself, not at that moment trusting his soldiery, who were in an extremely mutinous condition, was desirous of falling back before his formidable antagonist. the duke, faithful, however, to his life-long principles, had no intentions of precipitating the action in those difficult and swampy regions. the skirmishing, therefore, continued for many hours, an additional force of men being detailed from the spanish army. the day was very sultry, however, the enemy reluctant, and the whole action languid. at last, towards evening, a large body, tempted beyond their trenches, engaged warmly with the spaniards. the combat lasted but a few minutes, the patriots were soon routed, and fled precipitately back to their camp. the panic spread with them, and the whole army was soon in retreat. on retiring, they had, however, set fire to the bridges, and thus secured an advantage at the outset of the chase. the spaniards were no longer to be held. vitelli obtained permission to follow with additional troops. the fifteen hundred who had already been engaged, charged furiously upon their retreating foes. some dashed across the blazing bridges, with their garments and their very beards on fire. others sprang into the river. neither fire nor water could check the fierce pursuit. the cavalry dismounting, drove their horses into the stream, and clinging to their tails, pricked the horses forward with their lances. having thus been dragged across, they joined their comrades in the mad chase along the narrow dykes, and through the swampy and almost impassable country where the rebels were seeking shelter. the approach of night, too soon advancing, at last put an end to the hunt. the duke with difficulty recalled his men, and compelled them to restrain their eagerness until the morrow. three hundred of the patriots were left dead upon the field, besides at least an equal number who perished in the river and canals. the army of louis was entirely routed, and the duke considered it virtually destroyed. he wrote to the state council that he should pursue them the next day, but doubted whether he should find anybody to talk with him. in this the governor-general soon found himself delightfully disappointed. five days later, the duke arrived at reyden, on the ems. owing to the unfavorable disposition of the country people, who were willing to protect the fugitives by false information to their pursuers, he was still in doubt as to the position then occupied by the enemy. he had been fearful that they would be found at this very village of reyden. it was a fatal error on the part of count louis that they were not. had he made a stand at this point, he might have held out a long time. the bridge which here crossed the river would have afforded him a retreat into germany at any moment, and the place was easily to be defended in front. thus he might have maintained himself against his fierce but wary foe, while his brother orange, who was at strasburg watching the progress of events, was executing his own long-planned expedition into the heart of the netherlands. with alva thus occupied in friesland, the results of such an invasion might have been prodigious. it was, however, not on the cards for that campaign. the mutinous disposition of the mercenaries under his command had filled louis with doubt and disgust. bold and sanguine, but always too fiery and impatient, he saw not much possibility of paying his troops any longer with promises. perhaps he was not unwilling to place them in a position where they would be obliged to fight or to perish. at any rate, such was their present situation. instead of halting at reyden, he had made his stand at jemmingen, about four leagues distant from that place, and a little further down the river. alva discovered this important fact soon after his arrival at reyden, and could not conceal his delight. already exulting at the error made by his adversary, in neglecting the important position which he now occupied himself, he was doubly delighted at learning the nature of the place which he had in preference selected. he saw that louis had completely entrapped himself. jemmingen was a small town on the left bank of the ems. the stream here very broad and deep, is rather a tide inlet than a river, being but a very few miles from the dollart. this circular bay, or ocean chasm, the result of the violent inundation of the th century, surrounds, with the river, a narrow peninsula. in the corner of this peninsula, as in the bottom of a sack, louis had posted his army. his infantry, as usual, was drawn up in two large squares, and still contained ten thousand men. the rear rested upon the village, the river was upon his left; his meagre force of cavalry upon the right. in front were two very deep trenches. the narrow road, which formed the only entrance to his camp, was guarded by a ravelin on each side, and by five pieces of artillery. the duke having reconnoitred the enemy in person, rode back, satisfied that no escape was possible. the river was too deep and too wide for swimming or wading, and there were but very few boats. louis was shut up between twelve thousand spanish veterans and the river ems. the rebel army, although not insufficient in point of numbers, was in a state of disorganization. they were furious for money and reluctant to fight. they broke out into open mutiny upon the very verge of battle, and swore that they would instantly disband, if the gold, which, as they believed, had been recently brought into the camp, were not immediately distributed among them. such was the state of things on the eventful morning of the st july. all the expostulations of count louis seemed powerless. his eloquence and his patience, both inferior to his valor, were soon exhausted. he peremptorily, refused the money for which they clamored, giving the most cogent of all reasons, an empty coffer. he demonstrated plainly that they were in that moment to make their election, whether to win a victory or to submit to a massacre. neither flight nor surrender was possible. they knew how much quarter they could expect from the lances of the spaniards or the waters of the dollart. their only chance of salvation lay in their own swords. the instinct of self-preservation, thus invoked, exerted a little of its natural effect. meantime, a work which had been too long neglected, was then, if possible, to be performed. in that watery territory, the sea was only held in check by artificial means. in a very short time, by the demolition of a few dykes and the opening of a few sluices, the whole country through which the spaniards had to pass could be laid under water. believing it yet possible to enlist the ocean in his defence, louis, having partially reduced his soldiers to obedience, ordered a strong detachment upon this important service. seizing a spade, he commenced the work himself, and then returned to set his army in battle array. two or three tide gates had been opened, two or three bridges had been demolished, when alva, riding in advance of his army, appeared within a mile or two of jemmingen. it was then eight o'clock in the morning. the patriots redoubled their efforts. by ten o'clock the waters were already knee high, and in some places as deep as to the waist. at that hour, the advanced guard of the spaniards arrived. fifteen hundred musketeers were immediately ordered forward by the duke. they were preceded by a company of mounted carabineers, attended by a small band of volunteers of distinction. this little band threw themselves at once upon the troops engaged in destroying the dykes. the rebels fled at the first onset, and the spaniards closed the gates. feeling the full importance of the moment, count louis ordered a large force of musketeers to recover the position, and to complete the work of inundation. it was too late. the little band of spaniards held the post with consummate tenacity. charge after charge, volley after volley, from the overwhelming force brought against them, failed to loosen the fierce grip with which they held this key to the whole situation. before they could be driven from the dykes, their comrades arrived, when all their antagonists at once made a hurried retreat to their camp. very much the same tactics were now employed by the duke, as in the engagement near selwaert abbey. he was resolved that this affair, also, should be a hunt, not a battle; but foresaw that it was to be a more successful one. there was no loophole of escape, so that after a little successful baiting, the imprisoned victims would be forced to spring from their lurking-place, to perish upon his spears. on his march from reyden that morning, he had taken care to occupy every farm-house, every building of whatever description along the road, with his troops. he had left a strong guard on the bridge at reyden, and had thus closed carefully every avenue. the same fifteen hundred musketeers were now advanced further towards the camp. this small force, powerfully but secretly sustained, was to feel the enemy; to skirmish with him, and to draw him as soon as possible out of his trenches. the plan succeeded. gradually the engagements between them and the troops sent out by count louis grew more earnest. finding so insignificant a force opposed to them, the mutinous rebels took courage. the work waged hot. lodrono and romero, commanders of the musketeers, becoming alarmed, sent to the duke for reinforcements. he sent back word in reply, that if they were not enough to damage the enemy, they could, at least, hold their own for the present. so much he had a right to expect of spanish soldiers. at any rate, he should send no reinforcements. again they were more warmly pressed; again their messenger returned with the same reply. a third time they send the most urgent entreaties for succour. the duke was still inexorable. meantime the result of this scientific angling approached. by noon the rebels, not being able to see how large a portion of the spanish army had arrived, began to think the affair not so serious. count louis sent out a reconnoitring party upon the river in a few boats. they returned without having been able to discover any large force. it seemed probable, therefore, that the inundation had been more successful in stopping their advance than had been supposed. louis, always too rash, inflamed his men with temporary enthusiasm. determined to cut their way out by one vigorous movement, the whole army at last marched forth from their entrenchments, with drums beating, colors flying; but already the concealed reinforcements of their enemies were on the spot. the patriots met with a warmer reception than they had expected. their courage evaporated. hardly had they advanced three hundred yards, when the whole body wavered and then retreated precipitately towards the encampment, having scarcely exchanged a shot with the enemy. count louis, in a frenzy of rage and despair, flew from rank to rank, in vain endeavouring to rally his terror-stricken troops. it was hopeless. the battery which guarded the road was entirely deserted. he rushed to the cannon himself, and fired them all with his own hand. it was their first and last discharge. his single arm, however bold, could not turn the tide of battle, and he was swept backwards with his coward troops. in a moment afterwards, don lope de figueroa, who led the van of the spaniards, dashed upon the battery, and secured it, together with the ravelins. their own artillery was turned against the rebels, and the road was soon swept. the spaniards in large numbers now rushed through the trenches in pursuit of the retreating foe. no resistance was offered, nor quarter given. an impossible escape was all which was attempted. it was not a battle, but a massacre. many of the beggars in their flight threw down their arms; all had forgotten their use. their antagonists butchered them in droves, while those who escaped the sword were hurled into the river. seven spaniards were killed, and seven thousand rebels. [letter of alva to the council of state. correspondanee du duc d'albe, . the same letter is published in igor, iv. , . all writers allow seven thousand to have been killed on the patriot side, and--the number of spaniards slain is not estimated at more than eighty, even by the patriotic meteren, . compare bor, iv. - ; herrera, av. ; hoofd, v, , and mendoza, .] the swift ebb-tide swept the hats of the perishing wretches in such numbers down the stream, that the people at embden knew the result of the battle in an incredibly short period of time. the skirmishing had lasted from ten o'clock till one, but the butchery continued much longer. it took time to slaughter even unresisting victims. large numbers obtained refuge for the night upon an island in the river. at low water next day the spaniards waded to them, and slew every man. many found concealment in hovels, swamps, and thickets, so that the whole of the following day was occupied in ferreting out and despatching them. there was so much to be done, that there was work enough for all. "not a soldier," says, with great simplicity, a spanish historian who fought in the battle, "not a soldier, nor even a lad, who wished to share in the victory, but could find somebody to wound, to kill, to burn, or to drown." the wounding, killing, burning, drowning lasted two days, and very few escaped. the landward pursuit extended for three or four leagues around, so that the roads and pastures were covered with bodies, with corslets, and other weapons. count louis himself stripped off his clothes, and made his escape, when all was over, by swimming across the ems. with the paltry remnant of his troops he again took refuge in germany. the spanish army, two days afterwards, marched back to groningen. the page which records their victorious campaign is foul with outrage and red with blood. none of the horrors which accompany the passage of hostile troops through a defenceless country were omitted. maids and matrons were ravished in multitudes; old men butchered in cold blood. as alva returned, with the rear-guard of his army, the whole sky was red with a constant conflagration; the very earth seemed changed to ashes. every peasant's hovel, every farm-house, every village upon the road had been burned to the ground. so gross and so extensive had been the outrage, that the commander-in-chief felt it due to his dignity to hang some of his own soldiers who had most distinguished themselves in this work. thus ended the campaign of count louis in friesland. thus signally and terribly had the duke of alva vindicated the supremacy of spanish discipline and of his own military skill. on his return to groningen, the estates were summoned, and received a severe lecture for their suspicious demeanour in regard to the rebellion. in order more effectually to control both province and city, the governor-general ordered the construction of a strong fortress, which was soon begun but never completed. having thus furnished himself with a key to this important and doubtful region, he returned by way of amsterdam to utrecht. there he was met by his son frederic with strong reinforcements. the duke reviewed his whole army, and found himself at the head of , infantry and , cavalry. having fully subdued the province, he had no occupation for such a force, but he improved the opportunity by cutting off the head of an old woman in utrecht. the vrow van diemen, eighteen months previously, had given the preacher arendsoon a night's lodging in her house. the crime had, in fact, been committed by her son-in-law, who dwelt under her roof, and who had himself, without her participation, extended this dangerous hospitality to a heretic; but the old lady, although a devout catholic, was rich. her execution would strike a wholesome terror into the hearts of her neighbours. the confiscation of her estates would bring a handsome sum into the government coffers. it would be made manifest that the same hand which could destroy an army of twelve thousand rebels at a blow could inflict as signal punishment on the small delinquencies of obscure individuals. the old lady, who was past eighty-four years of age, was placed in a chair upon the scaffold. she met her death with heroism, and treated her murderers with contempt. "i understand very well," she observed, "why my death is considered necessary. the calf is fat and must be killed." to the executioner she expressed a hope that his sword was sufficiently sharp, "as he was likely to find her old neck very tough." with this grisly parody upon the pathetic dying words of anne boleyn, the courageous old gentlewoman submitted to her fate. the tragedy of don carlos does not strictly belong to our subject, which is the rise of the netherland commonwealth--not the decline of the spanish monarchy, nor the life of philip the second. the thread is but slender which connects the unhappy young prince with the fortunes of the northern republic. he was said, no doubt with truth, to desire the government of flanders. he was also supposed to be in secret correspondence with the leaders of the revolt in the provinces. he appeared, however, to possess very little of their confidence. his name is only once mentioned by william of orange, who said in a letter that "the prince of spain had lately eaten sixteen pounds of fruit, including four pounds of grapes at a single sitting, and had become ill in consequence." the result was sufficiently natural, but it nowhere appears that the royal youth, born to consume the fruits of the earth so largely, had ever given the netherlanders any other proof of his capacity to govern them. there is no doubt that he was a most uncomfortable personage at home, both to himself and to others, and that he hated his father' very cordially. he was extremely incensed at the nomination of alva to the netherlands, because he had hoped that either the king would go thither or entrust the mission to him, in either of which events he should be rid for a time of the paternal authority, or at least of the paternal presence. it seems to be well ascertained that carlos nourished towards his father a hatred which might lead to criminal attempts, but there is no proof that such attempts were ever made. as to the fabulous amours of the prince and the queen, they had never any existence save in the imagination of poets, who have chosen to find a source of sentimental sorrow for the infante in the arbitrary substitution of his father for himself in the marriage contract with the daughter of henry the second. as carlos was but twelve or thirteen years of age when thus deprived of a bride whom he had never seen, the foundation for a passionate regret was but slight. it would hardly be a more absurd fantasy, had the poets chosen to represent philip's father, the emperor charles, repining in his dotage for the loss of "bloody mary," whom he had so handsomely ceded to his son. philip took a bad old woman to relieve his father; he took a fair young princess at his son's expense; but similar changes in state marriages were such matters of course, that no emotions were likely to be created in consequence. there is no proof whatever, nor any reason to surmise; that any love passages ever existed between don carlos and his step-mother. as to the process and the death of the prince, the mystery has not yet been removed, and the field is still open to conjecture. it seems a thankless task to grope in the dark after the truth at a variety of sources; when the truth really exists in tangible shape if profane hands could be laid upon it. the secret is buried in the bosom of the vatican. philip wrote two letters on the subject to pius v. the contents of the first ( st january, ) are known. he informed the pontiff that he had been obliged to imprison his son, and promised that he would, in the conduct of the affair, omit nothing which could be expected of a father and of a just and prudent king. the second letter, in which he narrated, or is supposed to have narrated, the whole course of the tragic proceedings, down to the death and burial of the prince, has never yet been made public. there are hopes that this secret missive, after three centuries of darkness, may soon see the light.--[i am assured by mr. gachard that a copy of this important letter is confidently expected by the commission royale d'histoire.] as philip generally told the truth to the pope, it is probable that the secret, when once revealed, will contain the veritable solution of the mystery. till that moment arrives, it seems idle to attempt fathoming the matter. nevertheless, it may be well briefly to state the case as it stands. as against the king, it rests upon no impregnable, but certainly upon respectable authority. the prince of orange, in his famous apology, calls philip the murderer of his wife and of his son, and says that there was proof of the facts in france. he alludes to the violent death of carlos almost as if it were an indisputable truth. "as for don charles," he says, "was he not our future sovereign? and if the father could allege against his son fit cause for death, was it not rather for us to judge him than for three or four monks or inquisitors of spain?" the historian, p. matthieu, relates that philip assembled his council of conscience; that they recommended mercy; that hereupon philip gave the matter to the inquisition, by which tribunal carlos was declared a heretic on account of his connexion with protestants, and for his attempt against his father's life was condemned to death, and that the sentence was executed by four slaves, two holding the arms, one the feet, while the fourth strangled him. de thou gives the following account of the transaction, having derived many of his details from the oral communications of louis de foix: philip imagined that his son was about to escape from spain, and to make his way to the netherlands. the king also believed himself in danger of assassination from carlos, his chief evidence being that the prince always carried pistols in the pockets of his loose breeches. as carlos wished always to be alone at night without any domestic in his chamber, de foix had arranged for him a set of pulleys, by means of which he could open or shut his door without rising from his bed. he always slept with two pistols and two drawn swords under his pillow, and had two loaded arquebusses in a wardrobe close at hand. these remarkable precautions would seem rather to indicate a profound fear of being himself assassinated; but they were nevertheless supposed to justify philip's suspicions, that the infante was meditating parricide. on christmas eve, however ( ), don carlos told his confessor that he had determined to kill a man. the priest, in consequence, refused to admit him to the communion. the prince demanded, at least, a wafer which was not consecrated, in order that he might seem to the people to be participating in the sacrament. the confessor declined the proposal, and immediately repairing to the king, narrated the whole story. philip exclaimed that he was himself the man whom the prince intended to kill, but that measures should be forthwith taken to prevent such a design. the monarch then consulted the holy office of the inquisition, and the resolution was taken to arrest his son. de foix was compelled to alter the pulleys of the door to the prince's chamber in such a manner that it could be opened without the usual noise, which was almost sure to awaken him. at midnight, accordingly, count lerma entered the room so stealthily that the arms were all, removed from the prince's pillow and the wardrobe, without awakening the sleeper. philip, ruy gomez, the duke de feria, and two other nobles, then noiselessly, crept into the apartment. carlos still slept so profoundly that it was necessary for derma to shake him violently by the arm before he could be aroused. starting from his sleep in the dead of night, and seeing his father thus accompanied, before his bed, the prince cried out that he was a dead man, and earnestly besought the bystanders to make an end of him at once. philip assured him, however, that he was not come to kill him, but to chastise him paternally, and to recal him to his duty. he then read him a serious lecture, caused him to rise from his bed, took away his servants, and placed him under guard. he was made to array himself in mourning habiliments, and to sleep on a truckle bed. the prince was in despair. he soon made various attempts upon his own life. he threw himself into the fire, but was rescued by his guards, with his clothes all in flames. he passed several days without taking any food, and then ate so many patties of minced meat that he nearly died of indigestion. he was also said to have attempted to choke himself with a diamond, and to have been prevented by his guard; to have filled his bed with ice; to have sat in cold draughts; to have gone eleven days without food, the last method being, as one would think, sufficiently thorough. philip, therefore, seeing his son thus desperate, consulted once more with the holy office, and came to the decision that it was better to condemn him legitimately to death than to permit him to die by his own hand. in order, however, to save appearances, the order was secretly carried into execution. don carlos was made to swallow poison in a bowl of broth, of which he died in a few hours. this was at the commencement of his twenty-third year. the death was concealed for several months, and was not made public till after alva's victory at jemmingen. such was the account drawn up by de thou from the oral communications of de foix, and from other sources not indicated. certainly, such a narrative is far from being entitled to implicit credence. the historian was a contemporary, but he was not in spain, and the engineer's testimony is, of course, not entitled to much consideration on the subject of the process and the execution (if there were an execution); although conclusive as to matters which had been within his personal knowledge. for the rest, all that it can be said to establish is the existence of the general rumor, that carlos came to his death by foul means and in consequence of advice given by the inquisition. on the other hand, in all the letters written at the period by persons in madrid most likely, from their position, to know the truth, not a syllable has been found in confirmation of the violent death said to have been suffered by carlos. secretary erasso, the papal nuncio castagna, the venetian envoy cavalli, all express a conviction that the death of the prince had been brought about by his own extravagant conduct and mental excitement; by alternations of starving and voracious eating, by throwing himself into the fire; by icing his bed, and by similar acts of desperation. nearly every writer alludes to the incident of the refusal of the priest to admit carlos to communion, upon the ground of his confessed deadly hatred to an individual whom all supposed to be the king. it was also universally believed that carlos meant to kill his father. the nuncio asked spinosa (then president of castile) if this report were true. "if nothing more were to be feared," answered the priest, "the king would protect himself by other measures," but the matter was worse, if worse could be. the king, however, summoned all the foreign diplomatic body and assured them that the story was false. after his arrest, the prince, according to castagna, attempted various means of suicide, abstaining, at last, many days from food, and dying in consequence, "discoursing, upon his deathbed, gravely and like a man of sense." the historian cabrera, official panegyrist of philip the second, speaks of the death of carlos as a natural one, but leaves a dark kind of mystery about the symptoms of his disease. he states, that the prince was tried and condemned by a commission or junta, consisting of spinosa, ruy gomez, and the licentiate virviesca, but that he was carried off by an illness, the nature of which he does not describe. llorente found nothing in the records of the inquisition to prove that the holy office had ever condemned the prince or instituted any process against him. he states that he was condemned by a commission, but that he died of a sickness which supervened. it must be confessed that the illness was a convenient one, and that such diseases are very apt to attack individuals whom tyrants are disposed to remove from their path, while desirous, at the same time, to save appearances. it would certainly be presumptuous to accept implicitly the narrative of de thou, which is literally followed by hoofd and by many modern writers. on the other hand, it would be an exaggeration of historical scepticism to absolve philip from the murder of his son, solely upon negative testimony. the people about court did not believe in the crime. they saw no proofs of it. of course they saw none. philip would take good care that there should be none if he had made up his mind that the death of the prince should be considered a natural one. and priori argument, which omits the character of the suspected culprit, and the extraordinary circumstances of time and place, is not satisfactory. philip thoroughly understood the business of secret midnight murder. we shall soon have occasion to relate the elaborate and ingenious method by which the assassination of montigny was accomplished and kept a profound secret from the whole world, until the letters of the royal assassin, after three centuries' repose, were exhumed, and the foul mystery revealed. philip was capable of any crime. moreover, in his letter to his aunt, queen catharine of portugal, he distinctly declares himself, like abraham, prepared to go all lengths in obedience to the lord. "i have chosen in this matter," he said, "to make the sacrifice to god of my own flesh and blood, and to prefer his service and the universal welfare to all other human considerations." whenever the letter to pius v. sees the light, it will appear whether the sacrifice which the monarch thus made to his god proceeded beyond the imprisonment and condemnation of his son, or was completed by the actual immolation of the victim. with regard to the prince himself, it is very certain that, if he had lived, the realms of the spanish crown would have numbered one tyrant more. carlos from his earliest youth, was remarkable for the ferocity of his character. the emperor charles was highly pleased with him, then about fourteen years of age, upon their first interview after the abdication. he flattered himself that the lad had inherited his own martial genius together with his name. carlos took much interest in his grandfather's account of his various battles, but when the flight from innspruck was narrated, he repeated many times, with much vehemence, that he never would have fled; to which position he adhered, notwithstanding all the arguments of the emperor, and very much to his amusement. the young prince was always fond of soldiers, and listened eagerly to discourses of war. he was in the habit also of recording the names of any military persons who, according to custom, frequently made offers of their services to the heir apparent, and of causing them to take a solemn oath to keep their engagements. no other indications of warlike talent, however, have been preserved concerning him. "he was crafty, ambitious, cruel, violent," says the envoy suriano, "a hater of buffoons, a lover of soldiers." his natural cruelty seems to have been remarkable from his boyhood. after his return from the chase, he was in the habit of cutting the throats of hares and other animals, and of amusing himself with their dying convulsions. he also frequently took pleasure in roasting them alive. he once received a present of a very large snake from some person who seemed to understand how to please this remarkable young prince. after a time, however, the favorite reptile allowed itself to bite its master's finger, whereupon don carlos immediately retaliated by biting off its head. he was excessively angry at the suggestion that the prince who was expected to spring from his father's marriage with the english queen, would one day reign over the netherlands, and swore he would challenge him to mortal combat in order to prevent such an infringement of his rights. his father and grandfather were both highly diverted with this manifestation of spirit, but it was not decreed that the world should witness the execution of these fraternal intentions against the babe which was never to be born. ferocity, in short, seems to have been the leading characteristic of the unhappy carlos. his preceptor, a man of learning and merit, who was called "the honorable john", tried to mitigate this excessive ardor of temperament by a course of cicero de officiis, which he read to him daily. neither the eloquence of tully, however, nor the precepts of the honorable john made the least impression upon this very savage nature. as he grew older he did not grow wiser nor more gentle. he was prematurely and grossly licentious. all the money which as a boy, he was allowed, he spent upon women of low character, and when he was penniless, he gave them his chains, his medals, even the clothes from his back. he took pleasure in affronting respectable females when he met them in the streets, insulting them by the coarsest language and gestures. being cruel, cunning, fierce and licentious, he seemed to combine many of the worst qualities of a lunatic. that he probably was one is the best defence which can be offered for his conduct. in attempting to offer violence to a female, while he was at the university of alcala, he fell down a stone staircase, from which cause he was laid up for a long time with a severely wounded head, and was supposed to have injured his brain. the traits of ferocity recorded of him during his short life are so numerous that humanity can hardly desire that it should have been prolonged. a few drops of water having once fallen upon his head from a window, as he passed through the street, he gave peremptory orders to his guard to burn the house to the ground, and to put every one of its inhabitants to the sword. the soldiers went forthwith to execute the order, but more humane than their master, returned with the excuse that the holy sacrament of the viaticum had that moment been carried into the house. this appeal to the superstition of the prince successfully suspended the execution of the crimes which his inconceivable malignity had contemplated. on another occasion, a nobleman, who slept near his chamber, failed to answer his bell on the instant. springing upon his dilatory attendant, as soon as he made his appearance, the prince seized him in his arms and was about to throw him from the window, when the cries of the unfortunate chamberlain attracted attention, and procured a rescue. the cardinal espinoza had once accidentally detained at his palace an actor who was to perform a favorite part by express command of don carlos. furious at this detention, the prince took the priest by the throat as soon as he presented himself at the palace, and plucking his dagger from its sheath, swore, by the soul of his father, that he would take his life on the spot. the grand inquisitor fell on his knees and begged for mercy, but it is probable that the entrance of the king alone saved his life. there was often something ludicrous mingled with the atrocious in these ungovernable explosions of wrath. don pedro manuel, his chamberlain, had once, by his command, ordered a pair of boots to be made for the prince. when brought home, they were, unfortunately, too tight. the prince after vainly endeavouring to pull them on, fell into a blazing passion. he swore that it was the fault of don pedro, who always wore tight boots himself, but he at the same time protested that his father was really at the bottom of the affair. he gave the young nobleman a box on the ear for thus conspiring with the king against his comfort, and then ordered the boots to be chopped into little pieces, stewed and seasoned. then sending for the culprit shoemaker, he ordered him to eat his own boots, thus converted into a pottage; and with this punishment the unfortunate mechanic, who had thought his life forfeited, was sufficiently glad to comply. even the puissant alva could not escape his violence. like all the men in whom his father reposed confidence, the duke was odious to the heir apparent. don carlos detested him with the whole force of his little soul. he hated him as only a virtuous person deserved to be hated by such a ruffian. the heir apparent had taken the netherlands under his patronage. he had even formed the design of repairing secretly to the provinces, and could not, therefore, disguise his wrath at the appointment of the duke. it is doubtful whether the country would have benefited by the gratification of his wishes. it is possible that the pranks of so malignant an ape might have been even more mischievous than the concentrated and vigorous tyranny of an alva. when the new captain-general called, before his departure, to pay his respects to the infante, the duke seemed, to his surprise, to have suddenly entered the den of a wild beast. don carlos sprang upon him with a howl of fury, brandishing a dagger in his hand. he uttered reproaches at having been defrauded of the netherland government. he swore that alva should never accomplish his mission, nor leave his presence alive. he was proceeding to make good the threat with his poniard, when the duke closed with him. a violent struggle succeeded. both rolled together on the ground, the prince biting and striking like a demoniac, the duke defending himself as well as he was able, without attempting his adversary's life. before the combat was decided, the approach of many persons put an end to the disgraceful scene. as decent a veil as possible was thrown over the transaction, and the duke departed on his mission. before the end of the year, the prince was in the prison whence he never came forth alive. the figure of don carlos was as misshapen as his mind. his head was disproportionately large, his limbs were rickety, one shoulder was higher, one leg longer than the other. with features resembling those of his father, but with a swarthy instead of a fair complexion, with an expression of countenance both fierce and foolish, and with a character such as we have sketched it, upon the evidence of those who knew him well, it is indeed strange that he should ever have been transformed by the magic of poetry into a romantic hero. as cruel and cunning as his father, as mad as his great-grandmother, he has left a name, which not even his dark and mysterious fate can render interesting. [chapter iv.] continued and excessive barbarity of the government--execution of antony van straalen, of "red--rod" spelle--the prince of orange advised by his german friends to remain quiet--heroic sentiments of orange--his religious opinions--his efforts in favor of toleration-- his fervent piety--his public correspondence with the emperor--his "justification," his "warning," and other papers characterized--the prince, with a considerable army, crosses the rhine--passage of the meuse at stochem--he offers battle to alva--determination of the duke to avoid an engagement--comparison of his present situation with his previous position in friesland--masterly tactics of the duke--skirmish on the geta--defeat of the orangists--death of hoogstraaten--junction with genlis--adherence of alva to his original plan--the prince crosses the frontier of france-- correspondence between charles ix. and orange--the patriot army disbanded at strasburg--comments by granvelle upon the position of the prince--triumphant attitude of alva--festivities at brussels-- colossal statue of alva erected by himself in antwerp citadel-- intercession of the emperor with philip--memorial of six electors to the emperor--mission of the archduke charles to spain--his negotiations with philip--public and private correspondence between the king and emperor--duplicity of maximilian--abrupt conclusion to the intervention--granvelle's suggestions to philip concerning the treaty of passau. the duke having thus crushed the project of count bouts, and quelled the insurrection in friesland, returned in triumph to brussels. far from softened by the success of his arms, he renewed with fresh energy the butchery which, for a brief season, had been suspended during his brilliant campaign in the north. the altars again smoked with victims; the hanging, burning, drowning, beheading, seemed destined to be the perpetual course of his administration, so long as human bodies remained on which his fanatical vengeance could be wreaked. four men of eminence were executed soon after his return to the capital. they had previously suffered such intense punishment on the rack, that it was necessary to carry them to the scaffold and bind them upon chairs, that they might be beheaded. these four sufferers were a frisian nobleman, named galena, the secretaries of egmont and horn, bakkerzeel and la loo, and the distinguished burgomaster of antwerp, antony van straalen. the arrest of the three last-mentioned individuals, simultaneously with that of the two counts, has been related in a previous chapter. in the case of van straalen, the services rendered by him to the provinces during his long and honorable career, had been so remarkable, that even the blood-council, in sending his case to alva for his sentence, were inspired by a humane feeling. they felt so much compunction at the impending fate of a man who, among other meritorious acts, had furnished nearly all the funds for the brilliant campaign in picardy, by which the opening years of philip's reign had been illustrated, as to hint at the propriety of a pardon. but the recommendation to mercy, though it came from the lips of tigers, dripping with human blood, fell unheeded on the tyrant's ear. it seemed meet that the man who had supplied the nerves of war in that unforgiven series of triumphs, should share the fate of the hero who had won the laurels. [bor, cappella, hoofd, ubi sup. the last words of the burgomaster as he bowed his neck to the executioner's stroke were, "voor wel gedaan, kwaclyk beloud,"--"for faithful service, evil recompense." --cappella, .] hundreds of obscure martyrs now followed in the same path to another world, where surely they deserved to find their recompense, if steadfast adherence to their faith, and a tranquil trust in god amid tortures and death too horrible to be related, had ever found favor above. the "red-rod," as the provost of brabant was popularly designated, was never idle. he flew from village to village throughout the province, executing the bloody behests of his masters with congenial alacrity. nevertheless his career was soon destined to close upon the same scaffold where he had so long officiated. partly from caprice, partly from an uncompromising and fantastic sense of justice, his master now hanged the executioner whose industry had been so untiring. the sentence which was affixed to his breast, as he suffered, stated that he had been guilty of much malpractice; that he had executed many persons without a warrant, and had suffered many guilty persons for a bribe, to escape their doom. the reader can judge which of the two clauses constituted the most sufficient reason. during all these triumphs of alva, the prince of orange had not lost his self-possession. one after another, each of his bold, skilfully-conceived and carefully-prepared plans had failed. villers had been entirely discomfited at dalhena, cocqueville had been cut to pieces in picardy, and now the valiant and experienced louis had met with an entire overthrow in friesland. the brief success of the patriots at heiliger zee had been washed out in the blood-torrents of jemmingen. tyranny was more triumphant, the provinces more timidly crouching, than ever. the friends on whom william of orange relied in germany, never enthusiastic in his cause, although many of them true-hearted and liberal, now grew cold and anxious. for months long, his most faithful and affectionate allies, such men as the elector of hesse and the duke of wirtemberg, as well as the less trustworthy augustus of saxony, had earnestly expressed their opinion that, under the circumstances, his best course was to sit still and watch the course of events. it was known that the emperor had written an urgent letter to philip on the subject of his policy in the netherlands in general, and concerning the position of orange in particular. all persons, from the emperor down to the pettiest potentate, seemed now of opinion that the prince had better pause; that he was, indeed, bound to wait the issue of that remonstrance. "your highness must sit still," said landgrave william. "your highness must sit still," said augustus of saxony. "you must move neither hand nor foot in the cause of the perishing provinces," said the emperor. "not a soldier-horse, foot, or dragoon-shall be levied within the empire. if you violate the peace of the realm, and embroil us with our excellent brother and cousin philip, it is at your own peril. you have nothing to do but to keep quiet and await his answer to our letter." but the prince knew how much effect his sitting still would produce upon the cause of liberty and religion. he knew how much effect the emperor's letter was like to have upon the heart of philip. he knew that the more impenetrable the darkness now gathering over that land of doom which he had devoted his life to defend, the more urgently was he forbidden to turn his face away from it in its affliction. he knew that thousands of human souls, nigh to perishing, were daily turning towards him as their only hope on earth, and he was resolved, so long as he could dispense a single ray of light, that his countenance should never be averted. it is difficult to contemplate his character, at this period, without being infected with a perhaps dangerous enthusiasm. it is not an easy task coldly to analyse a nature which contained so much of the self-sacrificing and the heroic, as well as of the adroit and the subtle; and it is almost impossible to give utterance to the emotions which naturally swell the heart at the contemplation of so much active virtue, without rendering oneself liable to the charge of excessive admiration. through the mists of adversity, a human form may dilate into proportions which are colossal and deceptive. our judgment may thus, perhaps, be led captive, but at any rate the sentiment excited is more healthful than that inspired by the mere shedder of blood, by the merely selfish conqueror. when the cause of the champion is that of human right against tyranny, of political ind religious freedom against an all-engrossing and absolute bigotry, it is still more difficult to restrain veneration within legitimate bounds. to liberate the souls and bodies of millions, to maintain for a generous people, who had well-nigh lost their all, those free institutions which their ancestors had bequeathed, was a noble task for any man. but here stood a prince of ancient race, vast possessions, imperial blood, one of the great ones of the earth, whose pathway along the beaten track would have been smooth and successful, but who was ready to pour out his wealth like water, and to coin his heart's blood, drop by drop, in this virtuous but almost desperate cause. he felt that of a man to whom so much had been entrusted, much was to be asked. god had endowed him with an incisive and comprehensive genius, unfaltering fortitude, and with the rank and fortune which enable a man to employ his faculties, to the injury or the happiness of his fellows, on the widest scale. the prince felt the responsibility, and the world was to learn the result. it was about this time that a deep change came over his mind. hitherto, although nominally attached to the communion of the ancient church, his course of life and habits of mind had not led him to deal very earnestly with things beyond the world. the severe duties, the grave character of the cause to which his days were henceforth to be devoted, had already led him to a closer inspection of the essential attributes of christianity. he was now enrolled for life as a soldier of the reformation. the reformation was henceforth his fatherland, the sphere, of his duty and his affection. the religious reformers became his brethren, whether in france, germany, the netherlands, or england. yet his mind had taken a higher flight than that of the most eminent reformers. his goal was not a new doctrine, but religious liberty. in an age when to think was a crime, and when bigotry and a persecuting spirit characterized romanists and lutherans, calvinists and zwinglians, he had dared to announce freedom of conscience as the great object for which noble natures should strive. in an age when toleration was a vice, he had the manhood to cultivate it as a virtue. his parting advice to the reformers of the netherlands, when he left them for a season in the spring of , was to sink all lesser differences in religious union. those of the augsburg confession and those of the calvinistic church, in their own opinion as incapable of commingling as oil and water, were, in his judgment, capable of friendly amalgamation. he appealed eloquently to the good and influential of all parties to unite in one common cause against oppression. even while favoring daily more and more the cause of the purified church, and becoming daily more alive to the corruption of rome, he was yet willing to tolerate all forms of worship, and to leave reason to combat error. without a particle of cant or fanaticism, he had become a deeply religious man. hitherto he had been only a man of the world and a statesman, but from this time forth he began calmly to rely upon god's providence in all the emergencies of his eventful life. his letters written to his most confidential friends, to be read only by themselves, and which have been gazed upon by no other eyes until after the lapse of nearly three centuries, abundantly prove his sincere and simple trust. this sentiment was not assumed for effect to delude others, but cherished as a secret support for himself. his religion was not a cloak to his designs, but a consolation in his disasters. in his letter of instruction to his most confidential agent, john bazius, while he declared himself frankly in favor of the protestant principles, he expressed his extreme repugnance to the persecution of catholics. "should we obtain power over any city or cities," he wrote, "let the communities of papists be as much respected and protected as possible. let them be overcome, not by violence, but with gentle-mindedness and virtuous treatment." after the terrible disaster at jemmingen, he had written to louis, consoling him, in the most affectionate language, for the unfortunate result of his campaign. not a word of reproach escaped from him, although his brother had conducted the operations in friesland, after the battle of heiliger lee, in a manner quite contrary to his own advice. he had counselled against a battle, and had foretold a defeat; but after the battle had been fought and a crushing defeat sustained, his language breathed only unwavering submission to the will of god, and continued confidence in his own courage. "you may be well assured, my brother," he wrote, "that i have never felt anything more keenly than the pitiable misfortune which has happened to you, for many reasons which you can easily imagine. moreover, it hinders us much in the levy which we are making, and has greatly chilled the hearts of those who otherwise would have been ready to give us assistance. nevertheless, since it has thus pleased god, it is necessary to have patience and to lose not courage; conforming ourselves to his divine will, as for my part i have determined to do in everything which may happen, still proceeding onward in our work with his almighty aid. 'soevis tranquillus in undis', he was never more placid than when the storm was wildest and the night darkest. he drew his consolations and refreshed his courage at the never-failing fountains of divine mercy. "i go to-morrow," he wrote to the unworthy anne of saxony; "but when i shall return, or when i shall see you, i cannot, on my honor, tell you with certainty. i have resolved to place myself in the hands of the almighty, that he may guide me whither it is his good pleasure that i should go. i see well enough that i am destined to pass this life in misery and labor, with which i am well content, since it thus pleases the omnipotent, for i know that i have merited still greater chastisement. i only implore him graciously to send me strength to endure with patience." such language, in letters the most private, never meant to be seen by other eyes than those to which they were addressed, gives touching testimony to the sincere piety of his character. no man was ever more devoted to a high purpose, no man had ever more right to imagine himself, or less inclination to pronounce himself, entrusted with a divine mission. there was nothing of the charlatan in his character. his nature was true and steadfast. no narrow-minded usurper was ever more loyal to his own aggrandisement than this large-hearted man to the cause of oppressed humanity. yet it was inevitable that baser minds should fail to recognise his purity. while he exhausted his life for the emancipation of a people, it was easy to ascribe all his struggles to the hope of founding a dynasty. it was natural for grovelling natures to search in the gross soil of self-interest for the sustaining roots of the tree beneath whose branches a nation found its shelter. what could they comprehend of living fountains and of heavenly dews? in may, , the emperor maximilian had formally issued a requisition to the prince of orange to lay down his arms, and to desist from all levies and machinations against the king of spain and the peace of the realm. this summons he was commanded to obey on pain of forfeiting all rights, fiefs, privileges and endowments bestowed by imperial hands on himself or his predecessors, and of incurring the heaviest disgrace, punishment, and penalties of the empire. to this document the prince replied in august, having paid in the meantime but little heed to its precepts. now that the emperor, who at first was benignant, had begun to frown on his undertaking, he did not slacken in his own endeavours to set his army on foot. one by one, those among the princes of the empire who had been most stanch in his cause, and were still most friendly to his person, grew colder as tyranny became stronger; but the ardor of the prince was not more chilled by their despair than by the overthrow at jemmingen, which had been its cause. in august, he answered the letter of the emperor, respectfully but warmly. he still denounced the tyranny of alva and the arts of granvelle with that vigorous eloquence which was always at his command, while, as usual, he maintained a show of almost exaggerated respect for their monarch. it was not to be presumed, he said, that his majesty, "a king debonair and bountiful," had ever intended such cruelties as those which had been rapidly retraced in the letter, but it was certain that the duke of alva had committed them all of his own authority. he trusted, moreover, that the emperor, after he had read the "justification" which the prince had recently published, would appreciate the reason for his taking up arms. he hoped that his majesty would now consider the resistance just, christian, and conformable to the public peace. he expressed the belief that rather than interpose any hindrance, his majesty would thenceforth rather render assistance "to the poor and desolate christians," even as it was his majesty's office and authority to be the last refuge of the injured. the "justification against the false blame of his calumniators by the prince of orange," to which the prince thus referred, has been mentioned in a previous chapter. this remarkable paper had been drawn up at the advice of his friends, landgrave william and elector augustus, but it was not the only document which the prince caused to be published at this important epoch. he issued a formal declaration of war against the duke of alva; he addressed a solemn and eloquent warning or proclamation to all the inhabitants of the netherlands. these documents are all extremely important and interesting. their phraseology shows the intentions and the spirit by which the prince was actuated on first engaging in the struggle. without the prince and his efforts--at this juncture, there would probably have never been a free netherland commonwealth. it is certain, likewise, that without an enthusiastic passion for civil and religious liberty throughout the masses of the netherland people, there would have been no successful effort on the part of the prince. he knew his countrymen; while they, from highest to humblest, recognised in him their saviour. there was, however, no pretence of a revolutionary movement. the prince came to maintain, not to overthrow. the freedom which had been enjoyed in the provinces until the accession of the burgundian dynasty, it was his purpose to restore. the attitude which he now assumed was a peculiar one in history. this defender of a people's cause set up no revolutionary standard. in all his documents he paid apparent reverence to the authority of the king. by a fiction, which was not unphilosophical, he assumed that the monarch was incapable of the crimes which he charged upon the viceroy. thus he did not assume the character of a rebel in arms against his prince, but in his own capacity of sovereign he levied troops and waged war against a satrap whom he chose to consider false to his master's orders. in the interest of philip, assumed to be identical with the welfare of his people, he took up arms against the tyrant who was sacrificing both. this mask of loyalty would never save his head from the block, as he well knew, but some spirits lofty as his own, might perhaps be influenced by a noble sophistry, which sought to strengthen the cause of the people by attributing virtue to the king. and thus did the sovereign of an insignificant little principality stand boldly forth to do battle with the most powerful monarch in the world. at his own expense, and by almost superhuman exertions, he had assembled nearly thirty thousand men. he now boldly proclaimed to the world, and especially to the inhabitants of the provinces, his motives, his purposes, and his hopes. "we, by god's grace prince of orange," said his declaration of st august, , "salute all faithful subjects of his majesty. to few people is it unknown that the spaniards have for a long time sought to govern the land according to their pleasure. abusing his majesty's goodness, they have persuaded him to decree the introduction of the inquisition into the netherlands. they well understood, that in case the netherlanders could be made to tolerate its exercise, they would lose all protection to their liberty; that if they opposed its introduction, they would open those rich provinces as a vast field of plunder. we had hoped that his majesty, taking the matter to heart, would have spared his hereditary provinces from such utter ruin. we have found our hopes futile. we are unable, by reason of our loyal service due to his majesty, and of our true compassion for the faithful lieges, to look with tranquillity any longer at such murders, robberies, outrages, and agony. we are, moreover, certain that his majesty has been badly informed upon netherland matters. we take up arms, therefore, to oppose the violent tyranny of the spaniards, by the help of the merciful god, who is the enemy of all bloodthirstiness. cheerfully inclined to wager our life and all our worldly wealth on the cause, we have now, god be thanked, an excellent army of cavalry, infantry, and artillery, raised all at our own expense. we summon all loyal subjects of the netherlands to come and help us. let them take to heart the uttermost need of the country, the danger of perpetual slavery for themselves and their children, and of the entire overthrow of the evangelical religion. only when alva's blood- thirstiness shall have been at last overpowered, can the provinces hope to recover their pure administration of justice, and a prosperous condition for their commonwealth." in the "warning" or proclamation to all the inhabitants of the netherlands, the prince expressed similar sentiments. he announced his intention of expelling the spaniards forever from the country. to accomplish the mighty undertaking, money was necessary. he accordingly called on his countrymen to contribute, the rich out of their abundance, the poor even out of their poverty, to the furtherance of the cause. to do this, while it was yet time, he solemnly warned them "before god, the fatherland, and the world." after the title of this paper were cited the th, th, and th verses of the tenth chapter of proverbs. the favorite motto of the prince, "pro lege, rege, grege," was also affixed to the document. these appeals had, however, but little effect. of three hundred thousand crowns, promised on behalf of leading nobles and merchants of the netherlands by marcus perez, but ten or twelve thousand came to hand. the appeals to the gentlemen who had signed the compromise, and to many others who had, in times past, been favorable to the liberal party were powerless. a poor anabaptist preacher collected a small sum from a refugee congregation on the outskirts of holland, and brought it, at the peril of his life, into the prince's camp. it came from people, he said, whose will was better than the gift. they never wished to be repaid, he said, except by kindness, when the cause of reform should be triumphant in the netherlands. the prince signed a receipt for the money, expressing himself touched by this sympathy from these poor outcasts. in the course of time, other contributions from similar sources, principally collected by dissenting preachers, starving and persecuted church communities, were received. the poverty-stricken exiles contributed far more, in proportion, for the establishment of civil and religious liberty, than the wealthy merchants or the haughty nobles. late in september, the prince mustered his army in the province of treves, near the monastery of romersdorf. his force amounted to nearly thirty thousand men, of whom nine thousand were cavalry. lumey, count de la marek, now joined him at the head of a picked band of troopers; a bold, ferocious partisan, descended from the celebrated wild boar of ardennes. like civilis, the ancient batavian hero, he had sworn to leave hair and beard unshorn till the liberation of the country was achieved, or at least till the death of egmont, whose blood relation he was, had been avenged. it is probable that the fierce conduct of this chieftain, and particularly the cruelties exercised upon monks and papists by his troops, dishonored the cause more than their valor could advance it. but in those stormy times such rude but incisive instruments were scarcely to be neglected, and the name of lumey was to be forever associated with important triumphs of the liberal cause. it was fated, however, that but few laurels should be won by the patriots in this campaign. the prince crossed the rhine at saint feit, a village belonging to himself. he descended along the banks as far as the neighbourhood of cologne. then, after hovering in apparent uncertainty about the territories of juliers and limburg, he suddenly, on a bright moonlight night, crossed the meuse with his whole army, in the neighbourhood of stochem. the operation was brilliantly effected. a compact body of cavalry, according to the plan which had been more than once adopted by julius caesar, was placed in the midst of the current, under which shelter the whole army successfully forded the river. the meuse was more shallow than usual, but the water was as high as the soldiers' necks. this feat was accomplished on the night and morning of the th and th of october. it was considered so bold an achievement that its fame spread far and wide. the spaniards began to tremble at the prowess of a prince whom they had affected to despise. the very fact of the passage was flatly contradicted. an unfortunate burgher at amsterdam was scourged at the whipping-post, because he mentioned it as matter of common report. the duke of alva refused to credit the tale when it was announced to him. "is the army of the prince of orange a flock of wild geese," he asked, "that it can fly over rivers like the meuse?" nevertheless it was true. the outlawed, exiled prince stood once more on the borders of brabant, with an army of disciplined troops at his back. his banners bore patriotic inscriptions. "pro lege, rege, grege," was emblazoned upon some. a pelican tearing her breast to nourish her young with her life-blood was the pathetic emblem of others. it was his determination to force or entice the duke of alva into a general engagement. he was desirous to wipe out the disgrace of jemmingen. could he plant his victorious standard thus in the very heart of the country, he felt that thousands would rally around it. the country would rise almost to a man, could he achieve a victory over the tyrant, flushed as he was with victory, and sated with blood. with banners flying, drums beating, trumpets sounding, with all the pomp and defiance which an already victorious general could assume, orange marched into brabant, and took up a position within six thousand paces of alva's encampment. his plan was at every hazard to dare or to decoy his adversary into the chances of a stricken field. the governor was entrenched at a place called keiserslager, which julius caesar had once occupied. the city of maestricht was in his immediate neighbourhood, which was thus completely under his protection, while it furnished him with supplies. the prince sent to the duke a herald, who was to propose that all prisoners who might be taken in the coming campaign should be exchanged instead of being executed. the herald, booted and spurred, even as he had dismounted from his horse, was instantly hanged. this was the significant answer to the mission of mercy. alva held no parley with rebels before a battle, nor gave quarter afterwards. in the meantime, the duke had carefully studied the whole position of affairs, and had arrived at his conclusion. he was determined not to fight. it was obvious that the prince would offer battle eagerly, ostentatiously, frequently, but the governor was resolved never to accept the combat. once taken, his resolution was unalterable. he recognized the important difference between his own attitude at present, and that in which he had found himself during the past summer in friesland. there a battle had been necessary, now it was more expedient to overcome his enemy by delay. in friesland, the rebels had just achieved a victory over the choice troops of spain. here they were suffering from the stigma of a crushing defeat. then, the army of louis nassau was swelling daily by recruits, who poured in from all the country round. now, neither peasant nor noble dared lift a finger for the prince. the army of louis had been sustained by the one which his brother was known to be preparing. if their movements had not been checked, a junction would have been effected. the armed revolt would then have assumed so formidable an aspect, that rebellion would seem, even for the timid, a safer choice than loyalty. the army of the prince, on the contrary, was now the last hope of the patriots: the three by which it had been preceded had been successively and signally vanquished. friesland, again, was on the outskirts of the country. a defeat sustained by the government there did not necessarily imperil the possession of the provinces. brabant, on the contrary, was the heart of the netherlands. should the prince achieve a decisive triumph then and there, he would be master of the nation's fate. the viceroy knew himself to be odious, and he reigned by terror. the prince was the object of the people's idolatry, and they would rally round him if they dared. a victory gained by the liberator over the tyrant, would destroy the terrible talisman of invincibility by which alva governed. the duke had sufficiently demonstrated his audacity in the tremendous chastisement which he had inflicted upon the rebels under louis. he could now afford to play that scientific game of which he was so profound a master, without risking any loss of respect or authority. he was no enthusiast. although he doubtless felt sufficiently confident of overcoming the prince in a pitched battle, he had not sufficient relish for the joys of contest to be willing to risk even a remote possibility of defeat. his force, although composed of veterans and of the best musketeers and pikemen in europe, was still somewhat inferior in numbers to that of his adversary. against the twenty thousand foot and eight thousand, horse of orange, he could oppose only fifteen or sixteen thousand foot and fifty-five hundred riders. moreover, the advantage which he had possessed in friesland, a country only favorable to infantry, in which he had been stronger than his opponent, was now transferred to his new enemy. on the plains of brabant, the prince's superiority in cavalry was sure to tell. the season of the year, too, was an important element in the calculation. the winter alone would soon disperse the bands of german mercenaries, whose expenses orange was not able to support, even while in active service. with unpaid wages and disappointed hopes of plunder, the rebel army would disappear in a few weeks as totally as if defeated in the open field. in brief, orange by a victory would gain new life and strength, while his defeat could no more than anticipate, by a few weeks, the destruction of his army, already inevitable. alva, on the contrary, might lose the mastery of the netherlands if unfortunate, and would gain no solid advantage if triumphant. the prince had everything to hope, the duke everything to fear, from the result of a general action. the plan, thus deliberately resolved upon, was accomplished with faultless accuracy. as a work of art, the present campaign of alva against orange was a more consummate masterpiece than the more brilliant and dashing expedition into friesland. the duke had resolved to hang upon his adversary's skirts, to follow him move by move, to check him at every turn, to harass him in a hundred ways, to foil all his enterprises, to parry all his strokes, and finally to drive him out of the country, after a totally barren campaign, when, as he felt certain, his ill-paid hirelings would vanish in all directions, and leave their patriot prince a helpless and penniless adventurer. the scheme thus sagaciously conceived, his adversary, with all his efforts, was unable to circumvent. the campaign lasted little more than a month. twenty-nine times the prince changed his encampment, and at every remove the duke was still behind him, as close and seemingly as impalpable as his shadow. thrice they were within cannon-shot of each other; twice without a single trench or rampart between them. the country people refused the prince supplies, for they trembled at the vengeance of the governor. alva had caused the irons to be removed from all the mills, so that not a bushel of corn could be ground in the whole province. the country thus afforded but little forage for the thirty thousand soldiers of the prince. the troops, already discontented, were clamorous for pay and plunder. during one mutinous demonstration, the prince's sword was shot from his side, and it was with difficulty that a general outbreak was suppressed. the soldiery were maddened and tantalized by the tactics of alva. they found themselves constantly in the presence of an enemy, who seemed to court a battle at one moment and to vanish like a phantom at the next they felt the winter approaching, and became daily more dissatisfied with the irritating hardships to which they were exposed. upon the night of the th and th of october the prince had crossed the meuse at stochem. thence he had proceeded to tongres, followed closely by the enemy's force, who encamped in the immediate neighbourhood. from tongres he had moved to saint trond, still pursued and still baffled in the same cautious manner. the skirmishing at the outposts was incessant, but the main body was withdrawn as soon as there seemed a chance of its becoming involved. from saint trond, in the neighbourhood of which he had remained several days, he advanced in a southerly direction towards jodoigne. count de genlis, with a reinforcement of french huguenots, for which the prince had been waiting, had penetrated through the ardennes, crossed the meuse at charlemont, and was now intending a junction with him at waveron. the river geta flowed between them. the prince stationed a considerable force upon a hill near the stream to protect the passage, and then proceeded leisurely to send his army across the river. count hoogstraaten, with the rear-guard, consisting of about three thousand men, were alone left upon the hither bank, in order to provoke or to tempt the enemy, who, as usual, was encamped very near. alva refused to attack the main army, but frederic with a force of four thousand men, were alone left on the hither bank, in order to provoke or to tempt the enemy, who as usual, was encamped very near. alva refused to attack the main army but rapidly detached his son, don fredrick, with a force of four thousand foot and three thousand horse, to cut off the rear-guard. the movement was effected in a masterly manner, the hill was taken, the three thousand troops which had not passed the river were cut to pieces, and vitelli hastily despatched a gentleman named barberini to implore the duke to advance with the main body, cross the river, and, once for all, exterminate the rebels in a general combat. alva, inflamed, not with ardor for an impending triumph, but with rage, that his sagely-conceived plans could not be comprehended even by his son and by his favorite officers, answered the eager messenger with peremptory violence. "go back to vitelli," he cried. "is he, or am i, to command in this campaign? tell him not to suffer a single man to cross the river. warn him against sending any more envoys to advise a battle; for should you or any other man dare to bring me another such message, i swear to you, by the head of the king, that you go not hence alive." with this decisive answer the messenger had nothing for it but to gallop back with all haste, in order to participate in what might be left of the butchery of count hoogstraaten's force, and to prevent vitelli and don frederic in their ill-timed ardor, from crossing the river. this was properly effected, while in the meantime the whole rear-guard of the patriots had been slaughtered. a hundred or two, the last who remained, had made their escape from the field, and had taken refuge in a house in the neighbourhood. the spaniards set the buildings on fire, and standing around with lifted lances, offered the fugitives the choice of being consumed in the flames or of springing out upon their spears. thus entrapped some chose the one course, some the other. a few, to escape the fury of the fire and the brutality of the spaniards, stabbed themselves with their own swords. others embraced, and then killed each other, the enemies from below looking on, as at a theatrical exhibition; now hissing and now applauding, as the death struggles were more or less to their taste. in a few minutes all the fugitives were dead. nearly three thousand of the patriots were slain in this combat, including those burned or butchered after the battle was over. the sieur de louverwal was taken prisoner, and soon afterwards beheaded in brussels; but the greatest misfortune sustained by the liberal party upon this occasion was the death of antony de lalaing, count of hoogstraaten. this brave and generous nobleman, the tried friend of the prince of orange, and his colleague during the memorable scenes at antwerp, was wounded in the foot during the action, by an accidental discharge of his own pistol. the injury, although apparently slight, caused his death in a few days. there seemed a strange coincidence in his good and evil fortunes. a casual wound in the hand from his own pistol while he was on his way to brussels, to greet alva upon his first arrival, had saved him from the scaffold. and now in his first pitched battle with the duke, this seemingly trifling injury in the foot was destined to terminate his existence. another peculiar circumstance had marked the event. at a gay supper in the course of this campaign, hoogstraaten had teased count louis, in a rough, soldierly way, with his disaster at jemmingen. he had affected to believe that the retreat upon that occasion had been unnecessary. "we have been now many days in the netherlands;" said he, "and we have seen nothing of the spaniards but their backs."--"and when the duke does break loose," replied louis, somewhat nettled, "i warrant you will see their faces soon enough, and remember them for the rest of your life." the half-jesting remark was thus destined to become a gloomy prophecy. this was the only important action daring the campaign. its perfect success did not warp alva's purpose, and, notwithstanding the murmurs of many of his officers, he remained firm in his resolution. after the termination of the battle on the geta, and the duke's obstinate refusal to pursue his advantage, the baron de chevreau dashed his pistol to the ground, in his presence, exclaiming that the duke would never fight. the governor smiled at the young man's chagrin, seemed even to approve his enthusiasm, but reminded him that it was the business of an officer to fight, of a general to conquer. if the victory were bloodless, so much the better for all. this action was fought on the th of october. a few days afterwards, the prince made his junction with genlis at waveren, a place about three leagues from louvain and from brussels. this auxiliary force was, however, insignificant. there were only five hundred cavalry and three thousand foot, but so many women and children, that it seemed rather an emigrating colony than an invading army. they arrived late. if they had come earlier, it would have been of little consequence, for it had been written that no laurels were to be gathered in that campaign. the fraternal spirit which existed between the reformers in all countries was all which could be manifested upon the occasion. the prince was frustrated in his hopes of a general battle, still more bitterly disappointed by the supineness of the country. not a voice was raised to welcome the deliverer. not a single city opened its gates. all was crouching, silent, abject. the rising, which perhaps would have been universal had a brilliant victory been obtained, was, by the masterly tactics of alva, rendered an almost inconceivable idea. the mutinous demonstrations in the prince's camp became incessant; the soldiers were discontented and weary. what the duke had foretold was coming to pass, for the prince's army was already dissolving. genlis and the other french officers were desirous that the prince should abandon the netherlands for the present, and come to the rescue of the huguenots, who had again renewed the religious war under conde and coligny. the german soldiers, however would listen to no such proposal. they had enlisted to fight the duke of alva in the netherlands, and would not hear of making war against charles ix. in france. the prince was obliged to countermarch toward the rhine. he recrossed the geta, somewhat to alva's astonishment, and proceeded in the direction of the meuse. the autumn rains, however, had much swollen that river since his passage at the beginning of the month, so that it could no longer be forded. he approached the city of liege, and summoned their bishop, as he had done on his entrance into the country, to grant a free passage to his troops. the bishop who stood in awe of alva, and who had accepted his protection again refused. the prince had no time to parley. he was again obliged to countermarch, and took his way along the high-road to france, still watched and closely pursued by alva, between whose troops and his own daily skirmishes took place. at le quesnoy, the prince gained a trifling advantage over the spaniards; at cateau cambresis he also obtained a slight and easy-victory; but by the th of november the duke of alva had entered cateau cambresis, and the prince had crossed the frontier of france. the marechal de cosse, who was stationed on the boundary of france and flanders, now harassed the prince by very similar tactics to those of alva. he was, however, too weak to inflict any serious damage, although strong enough to create perpetual annoyance. he also sent a secretary to the prince, with a formal prohibition, in the name of charles ix., against his entering the french territory with his troops. besides these negotiations, conducted by secretary favelles on the part of marechal de cosse, the king, who was excessively alarmed, also despatched the marechal gaspar de schomberg on the same service. that envoy accordingly addressed to the prince a formal remonstrance in the name of his sovereign. charles ix., it was represented, found it very strange that the prince should thus enter the french territory. the king was not aware that he had ever given him the least cause for hostile proceedings, could not therefore take it in good part that the prince should thus enter france with a "large and puissant army;" because no potentate, however humble, could tolerate such a proceeding, much less a great and powerful monarch. orange was therefore summoned to declare his intentions, but was at the same, time informed, that if he merely desired "to pass amiably through the country," and would give assurance, and request permission to that, effect, under his hand and seal, his majesty would take all necessary measures to secure that amiable passage. the prince replied by a reference to the statements which he had already made to marechal de cosse. he averred that he had not entered france with evil intent, but rather with a desire to render very humble service to his majesty, so far as he could do so with a clear conscience. touching the king's inability to remember having given any occasion to hostile proceedings on the part of the prince, he replied that he would pass that matter by. although he could adduce many, various, and strong reasons for violent measures, he was not so devoid of understanding as not to recognize the futility of attempting anything, by his own personal means, against so great and powerful a king, in comparison with whom he was "but a petty companion." "since the true religion," continued orange, "is a public and general affair, which ought to be preferred to all private matters; since the prince, as a true christian, is held by his honor and conscience to procure, with all his strength, its advancement and establishment in every place whatever; since, on the other hand, according to the edict published in september last by his majesty, attempts have been made to force in their consciences all those who are of the christian religion; and since it has been determined to exterminate the pure word of god, and the entire exercise thereof, and to permit no other religion than the roman catholic, a thing very, prejudicial to the neighbouring nations where there is a free exercise of the christian religion, therefore the prince would put no faith in the assertions of his majesty, that it was not his majesty's intentions to force the consciences of any one." having given this very deliberate and succinct contradiction to the statements of the french king, the prince proceeded to express his sympathy for the oppressed christians everywhere. he protested that he would give them all the aid, comfort, counsel, and assistance that he was able to give them. he asserted his conviction that the men who professed the religion demanded nothing else than the glory of god and the advancement of his word, while in all matters of civil polity they were ready to render obedience to his majesty. he added that all his doings were governed by a christian and affectionate regard for the king and his subjects, whom his majesty must be desirous of preserving from extreme ruin. he averred, moreover, that if he should perceive any indication that those of the religion were pursuing any other object than liberty of conscience and security for life and property, he would not only withdraw his assistance from them, but would use the whole strength of his army to exterminate them. in conclusion, he begged the king to believe that the work which the prince had undertaken was a christian work, and that his intentions were good and friendly towards his majesty. [this very eloquently written letter was dated ciasonne, december rd, . it has never been published. it is in the collection of mss, pivoen concernant, etc., hague archives.] it was, however, in vain that the prince endeavoured to induce his army to try the fortunes of the civil war in france. they had enlisted for the netherlands, the campaign was over, and they insisted upon being led back to germany. schomberg, secretly instructed by the king of france, was active in fomenting the discontent, and the prince was forced to yield. he led his army through champagne and lorraine to strasburg, where they were disbanded. all the money which the prince had been able to collect was paid them. he pawned all his camp equipage, his plate, his furniture. what he could not pay in money he made up in promises, sacredly to be fulfilled, when he should be restored to his possessions. he even solemnly engaged, should he return from france alive, and be still unable to pay their arrears of wages, to surrender his person to them as a hostage for his debt. thus triumphantly for alva, thus miserably for orange, ended the campaign. thus hopelessly vanished the army to which so many proud hopes had attached themselves. eight thousand teen had been slain in paltry encounters, thirty thousand were dispersed, not easily to be again collected. all the funds which the prince could command had been wasted without producing a result. for the present, nothing seemed to afford a ground of hope for the netherlands, but the war of freedom had been renewed in france. a band of twelve hundred mounted men-at-arms were willing to follow the fortunes of the prince. the three brothers accordingly; william, louis, and henry--a lad of eighteen, who had abandoned his studies at the university to obey the chivalrous instincts of his race--set forth early in the following spring to join the banner of conde. cardinal granvelle, who had never taken his eyes or thoughts from the provinces during his residence at rome, now expressed himself with exultation. he had predicted, with cold malice, the immediate results of the campaign, and was sanguine enough to believe the contest over, and the prince for ever crushed. in his letters to philip he had taken due notice of the compliments paid to him by orange in his justification, in his declaration, and in his letter to the emperor. he had declined to make any answer to the charges, in order to enrage the prince the more. he had expressed the opinion, however, that this publication of writings was not the business of brave soldiers, but of cowards. he made the same reflection upon the alleged intrigues by orange to procure an embassy on his own behalf from the emperor to philip--a mission which was sure to end in smoke, while it would cost the prince all credit, not only in germany but the netherlands. he felt sure, he said, of the results of the impending campaign. the duke of alva was a man upon whose administrative prudence and military skill his sovereign could implicitly rely, nor was there a person in the ranks of the rebels capable of, conducting an enterprise of such moment. least of all had the prince of orange sufficient brains for carrying on such weighty affairs, according to the opinion which he had formed of him during their long intercourse in former days. when the campaign had been decided, and the prince had again become an exile, granvelle observed that it was now proved how incompetent he and all his companions were to contend in military skill with the duke of alva. with a cold sneer at motives which he assumed, as a matter of course, to be purely selfish, he said that the prince had not taken the proper road to recover his property, and that he would now be much embarrassed to satisfy his creditors. thus must those ever fall, he moralized, who would fly higher than they ought; adding, that henceforth the prince would have enough to do in taking care of madam his wife, if she did not change soon in humor and character. meantime the duke of alva, having despatched from cateau cambresis a brief account of the victorious termination of the campaign, returned in triumph to brussels. he had certainly amply vindicated his claim to be considered the first warrior of the age. by his lieutenants he had summarily and rapidly destroyed two of the armies sent against him; he had annihilated in person the third, by a brilliantly successful battle, in which he had lost seven men, and his enemies seven thousand; and he had now, by consummate strategy, foiled the fourth and last under the idolized champion of the netherlands, and this so decisively that, without losing a man, he had destroyed eight thousand rebels, and scattered to the four winds the remaining twenty thousand. such signal results might well make even a meeker nature proud. such vast and fortunate efforts to fix for ever an impregnable military tyranny upon a constitutional country, might cause a more modest despot to exult. it was not wonderful that the haughty, and now apparently omnipotent alva, should almost assume the god. on his return to brussels he instituted a succession of triumphant festivals. the people were called upon to rejoice and to be exceeding glad, to strew flowers in his path, to sing hosannas in his praise who came to them covered with the blood of those who had striven in their defence. the holiday was duly called forth; houses, where funeral hatchments for murdered inmates had been perpetually suspended, were decked with garlands; the bells, which had hardly once omitted their daily knell for the victims of an incredible cruelty, now rang their merriest peals; and in the very square where so lately egmont and horn, besides many other less distinguished martyrs, had suffered an ignominious death, a gay tournament was held, day after day, with all the insolent pomp which could make the exhibition most galling. but even these demonstrations of hilarity were not sufficient. the conqueror and tamer of the netherlands felt that a more personal and palpable deification was necessary for his pride. when germanicus had achieved his last triumph over the ancient freedom of those generous races whose descendants, but lately in possession of a better organized liberty, alva had been sent by the second and the worse tiberius to insult and to crush, the valiant but modest roman erected his trophy upon the plains of idistavisus. "the army of tiberius caesar having subdued the nations between the rhine and the elbe, dedicate this monument to mars, to jupiter, and to augustus." so ran the inscription of germanicus, without a word of allusion to his own name. the duke of alva, on his return from the battle-fields of brabant and friesland, reared a colossal statue of himself, and upon its pedestal caused these lines to be engraved: "to ferdinand alvarez de toledo, duke of alva, governor of the netherlands under philip the second, for having extinguished sedition, chastised rebellion, restored religion, secured justice, established peace; to the king's most faithful minister this monument is erected." [bor, iv. , . meteren, . de thou, v. - , who saw it after it was overthrown, and who was "as much struck by the beauty of the work as by the insane pride of him who ordered it to be made."] so pompous a eulogy, even if truthful and merited, would be sufficiently inflated upon a tombstone raised to a dead chieftain by his bereaved admirers. what shall we say of such false and fulsome tribute, not to a god, not to the memory of departed greatness, but to a living, mortal man, and offered not by his adorers but by himself? certainly, self-worship never went farther than in this remarkable monument, erected in alva's honor, by alva's hands. the statue was colossal, and was placed in the citadel of antwerp. its bronze was furnished by the cannon captured at jemmingen. it represented the duke trampling upon a prostrate figure with two heads, four arms, and one body. the two heads were interpreted by some to represent egmont and horn, by others, the two nassaus, william and louis. others saw in them an allegorical presentment of the nobles and commons of the netherlands, or perhaps an impersonation of the compromise and the request. besides the chief inscription on the pedestal, were sculptured various bas-reliefs; and the spectator, whose admiration for the governor-general was not satiated with the colossal statue itself, was at liberty to find a fresh, personification of the hero, either in a torch-bearing angel or a gentle shepherd. the work, which had considerable esthetic merit, was executed by an artist named jacob jongeling. it remained to astonish and disgust the netherlanders until it was thrown down and demolished by alva's successor, requesens. it has already been observed that many princes of the empire had, at first warmly and afterwards, as the storm darkened around him, with less earnestness, encouraged the efforts of orange. they had, both privately and officially, urged the subject upon the attention of the emperor, and had solicited his intercession with philip. it was not an interposition to save the prince from chastisement, however the artful pen of granvelle might distort the facts. it was an address in behalf of religious liberty for the netherlands, made by those who had achieved it in their own persons, and who were at last enjoying immunity from persecution. it was an appeal which they who made it were bound to make, for the netherland commissioners had assisted at the consultations by which the peace of passau had been wrung from the reluctant hand of charles. these applications, however, to the emperor, and through him to the king of spain, had been, as we have seen, accompanied by perpetual advice to the prince of orange, that he should "sit still." the emperor had espoused his cause with apparent frankness, so far as friendly mediation went, but in the meantime had peremptorily commanded him to refrain from levying war upon alva, an injunction which the prince had as peremptorily declined to obey. the emperor had even sent especial envoys to the duke and to the prince, to induce them to lay down their arms, but without effect. orange knew which course was the more generous to his oppressed country; to take up arms, now that hope had been converted into despair by the furious tyranny of alva, or to "sit still" and await the result of the protocols about to be exchanged between king and kaiser. his arms had been unsuccessful indeed, but had he attended the issue of this sluggish diplomacy, it would have been even worse for the cause of freedom. the sympathy of his best friends, at first fervent then lukewarm, had, as disasters thickened around him, grown at last stone-cold. from the grave, too, of queen isabella arose the most importunate phantom in his path. the king of spain was a widower again, and the emperor among his sixteen children had more than one marriageable daughter. to the titles of "beloved cousin and brother-in-law," with which philip had always been greeted in the imperial proclamations, the nearer and dearer one of son-in-law was prospectively added. the ties of wedlock were sacred in the traditions of the habsburg house, but still the intervention was nominally made. as early as august, , the emperor's minister at madrid had addressed a memorial to the king. he had spoken in warm and strong language of the fate of egmont and horn, and had reminded philip that the executions which were constantly taking place in the provinces were steadily advancing the prince of orange's cause. on the nd september, , the six electors had addressed a formal memorial to the emperor. they thanked him for his previous interposition in favor of the netherlands, painted in lively colors the cruelty of alva, and denounced the unheard-of rigor with which he had massacred, not only many illustrious seigniors, but people of every degree. notwithstanding the repeated assurances given by the king to the contrary, they reminded the emperor, that the inquisition, as well as the council of trent, had now been established in the netherlands in full vigor. they maintained that the provinces had been excluded from the augsburg religious peace, to which their claim was perfect. nether germany was entitled to the same privileges as upper germany. they begged the emperor to make manifest his sentiments and their own. it was fitting that his catholic majesty should be aware that the princes of the empire were united for the conservation of fatherland and of tranquillity. to this end they placed in the emperor's hands their estates, their fortunes, and their lives. such was the language of that important appeal to the emperor in behalf of oppressed millions in the netherlands, an appeal which granvelle had coldly characterized as an intrigue contrived by orange to bring about his own restoration to favor! the emperor, in answer, assured the electoral envoys that he had taken the affair to heart, and had resolved to despatch his own brother, the archduke charles, on a special mission to spain. accordingly, on the st october, , the emperor presented his brother with an ample letter of instructions. he was to recal to philip's memory the frequent exhortations made by the emperor concerning the policy pursued in the netherlands. he was to mention the urgent interpellations made to him by the electors and princes of the empire in their recent embassy. he was to state that the emperor had recently deputed commissioners to the prince of orange and the duke of alva, in order to bring about, if possible, a suspension of arms. he was to represent that the great number of men raised by the prince of orange in germany, showed the powerful support which he had found in the country. under such circumstances he was to show that it had been impossible for the emperor to decree the ban against him, as the duke of alva had demanded. the archduke was to request the king's consent to the reconciliation of orange, on honorable conditions. he was to demand the substitution of clemency in for severity, and to insist on the recall of the foreign soldiery from the netherlands. furnished with this very warm and stringent letter, the archduke arrived in madrid on the th december, . a few days later he presented the king with a copy of the instructions; those brave words upon which the prince of orange was expected to rely instead of his own brave heart and the stout arms of his followers. philip having examined the letter, expressed his astonishment that such propositions should be made to him, and by the agency, too, of such a personage as the archduke. he had already addressed a letter to the emperor, expressing his dissatisfaction at the step now taken. he had been disturbed at the honor thus done to the prince of orange, and at this interference with his own rights. it was, in his opinion, an unheard-of proceeding thus to address a monarch of his quality upon matters in which he could accept the law from no man. he promised, however, that a written answer should be given to the letter of instructions. on the th of january, , that answer was placed in the hands of the archduke. it was intimated that the paper was a public one, fit to be laid by the emperor, before the electors; but that the king had also caused a confidential one to be prepared, in which his motives and private griefs were indicated to maximilian. in the more public document, philip observed that he had never considered himself obliged to justify his conduct, in his own affairs, to others. he thought, however, that his example of severity would have been received with approbation by princes whose subjects he had thus taught obedience. he could not admit that, on account of the treaties which constituted the netherlands a circle of the empire, he was obliged to observe within their limits the ordinances of the imperial diet. as to the matter of religion, his principal solicitude, since his accession to the crown, had been to maintain the catholic faith throughout all his states. in things sacred he could admit no compromise. the church alone had the right to prescribe rules to the faithful. as to the chastisement inflicted by him upon the netherland rebels, it would be found that he had not used rigor, as had been charged against him, but, on the contrary, great clemency and gentleness. he had made no change in the government of the provinces, certainly none in the edicts, the only statutes binding upon princes. he had appointed the duke of alva to the regency, because it was his royal will and pleasure so to appoint him. the spanish soldiery were necessary for the thorough chastisement of the rebels, and could not be at present removed. as to the prince of orange, whose case seemed the principal motive for this embassy, and in whose interest so much had been urged, his crimes were so notorious that it was impossible even to attempt to justify them. he had been, in effect, the author of all the conspiracies, tumults, and seditious which had taken place in the netherlands. all the thefts, sacrileges, violations of temples, and other misdeeds of which these provinces had been the theatre, were, with justice, to be imputed to him. he had moreover, levied an army and invaded his majesty's territories. crimes so enormous had closed the gate to all clemency. notwithstanding his respect for the intercession made by the emperor and the princes of the empire, the king could not condescend to grant what was now asked of him in regard to the prince of orange. as to a truce between him and the duke of alva, his imperial majesty ought to reflect upon the difference between a sovereign and his rebellious vassal, and consider how indecent and how prejudicial to the king's honor such a treaty must be esteemed. so far the public letter, of which the archduke was furnished with a copy, both in spanish and in latin. the private memorandum was intended for the emperor's eyes alone and those of his envoy. in this paper the king expressed himself with more warmth and in more decided language. he was astonished, he said, that the prince of orange, in levying an army for the purpose of invading the states of his natural sovereign, should have received so much aid and comfort in germany. it seemed incredible that this could not have been prevented by imperial authority. he had been pained that commissioners had been sent to the prince. he regretted such a demonstration in his favor as had now been made by the mission of the archduke to madrid. that which, however, had caused the king the deepest sorrow was, that his imperial majesty should wish to persuade him in religious matters to proceed with mildness. the emperor ought to be aware that no human consideration, no regard for his realms, nothing in the world which could be represented or risked, would cause him to swerve by a single hair's breadth from his path in the matter of religion. this path was the same throughout all his kingdoms. he had ever trod in it faithfully, and he meant to keep in it perpetually. he would admit neither counsel nor persuasion to the contrary, and should take it ill if counsel or persuasion should be offered. he could not but consider the terms of the instructions given to the archduke as exceeding the limits of amicable suggestion. they in effect amounted to a menace, and he was astonished that a menace should be employed, because, with princes constituted like himself, such means could have but little success. on the rd of january, , the archduke presented the king with a spirited reply to the public letter. it was couched in the spirit of the instructions, and therefore need not be analysed at length. he did not believe that his imperial majesty would admit any justification of the course pursued in the netherlands. the estates of the empire would never allow philip's reasoning concerning the connexion of those countries with the empire, nor that they were independent, except in the particular articles expressed in the treaty of augsburg. in , when charles the fifth and king ferdinand had settled the religious peace, they had been assisted by envoys from the netherlands. the princes of the empire held the ground, therefore, that the religious peace, which alone had saved a vestige of romanism in germany, should of right extend to the provinces. as to the prince of orange, the archduke would have preferred to say nothing more, but the orders of the emperor did not allow him to be silent. it was now necessary to put an end to this state of things in lower germany. the princes of the empire were becoming exasperated. he recalled the dangers of the smalcaldian war--the imminent peril in which the emperor had been placed by the act of a single elector. they who believed that flanders could be governed in the same manner as italy and spain were greatly mistaken, and charles the fifth had always recognised that error. this was the sum and substance of the archduke's mission to madrid, so far as its immediate objects were concerned. in the course, however, of the interview between this personage and philip, the king took occasion to administer a rebuke to his imperial majesty for his general negligence in religious matters. it was a matter which lay at his heart, he said, that the emperor, although, as he doubted not, a christian and catholic prince, was from policy unaccustomed to make those exterior demonstrations which matters of faith required. he therefore begged the archduke to urge this matter upon the attention of his imperial majesty. the emperor, despite this solemn mission, had become more than indifferent before his envoy had reached madrid. for this indifference there were more reasons than one. when the instructions had been drawn up, the death of the queen of spain had not been known in vienna. the archduke had even been charged to inform philip of the approaching marriages of the two archduchesses, that of anne with the king of france, and that of isabella with the king of portugal. a few days later, however, the envoy received letters from the emperor, authorizing him to offer to the bereaved philip the hand of the archduchess anne. [herrera (lib. xv. ) erroneously states that the archduke was, at the outset, charged with these two commissions by the emperor; namely, to negotiate the marriage of the archduchess anne with philip, and to arrange the affairs of the netherlands. on the contrary, he was empowered to offer anne to the king of france, and had already imparted his instructions to that effect to philip, before he received letters from vienna, written after the death of isabella had become known. at another interview, he presented this new matrimonial proposition to philip. these facts are important, for they indicate how completely the objects of the embassy, the commencement of which was so pretentious, were cast aside, that a more advantageous marriage for one of the seven austrian archduchesses might be secured.--compare correspondance de philippe] the king replied to the archduke, when this proposition was made, that if he had regard only to his personal satisfaction, he should remain as he was. as however he had now no son, he was glad that the proposition had been made, and would see how the affair could be arranged with france. thus the ill success of orange in brabant, so disheartening to the german princes most inclined to his cause, and still more the widowhood of philip, had brought a change over the views of maximilian. on the th of january, , three days before his ambassador had entered upon his negotiations, he had accordingly addressed an autograph letter to his catholic majesty. in this epistle, by a few, cold lines, he entirely annihilated any possible effect which might have been produced by the apparent earnestness of his interposition in favor of the netherlands. he informed the king that the archduke had been sent, not to vex him, but to convince him of his friendship. he assured philip that he should be satisfied with his response, whatever it might be. he entreated only that it might be drawn up in such terms that the princes and electors to whom it must be shown, might not be inspired with suspicion. the archduke left madrid on the th of march, . he retired, well pleased with the results of his mission, not because its ostensible objects had been accomplished, for those had signally failed, but because the king had made him a present of one hundred thousand ducats, and had promised to espouse the archduchess anne. on the th of may, , the emperor addressed a final reply to philip, in which he expressly approved the king's justification of his conduct. it was founded, he thought, in reason and equity. nevertheless, it could hardly be shown, as it was, to the princes and electors, and he had therefore modified many points which he thought might prove offensive. thus ended "in smoke," as granvelle had foretold, the famous mission of archduke charles. the holy roman emperor withdrew from his pompous intervention, abashed by a rebuke, but consoled by a promise. if it were good to be guardian of religious freedom in upper and nether germany, it was better to be father-in-law to the king of spain and both the indies. hence the lame and abrupt conclusion. cardinal granvelle had been very serviceable in this juncture. he had written to philip to assure him that, in his, opinion, the netherlands had no claim, under the transaction of augsburg, to require the observance within their territory of the decrees of the empire. he added, that charles the fifth had only agreed to the treaty of passau to save his brother ferdinand from ruin; that he had only consented to it as emperor, and had neither directly nor indirectly included the netherlands within its provisions. he stated, moreover, that the emperor had revoked the treaty by an act which was never published, in consequence of the earnest solicitations of ferdinand. it has been seen that the king had used this opinion of granvelle in the response presented to the archduke. although he did not condescend to an argument, he had laid down the fact as if it were indisputable. he was still more delighted to find that charles had revoked the treaty of passau, and eagerly wrote to granvelle to inquire where the secret instrument was to be found. the cardinal replied that it was probably among his papers at brussels, but that he doubted whether it would be possible to find it in his absence. whether such a document ever existed, it is difficult to say. to perpetrate such a fraud would have been worthy of charles; to fable its perpetration not unworthy of the cardinal. in either case, the transaction was sufficiently high-handed and exceedingly disgraceful. etext editor's bookmarks: age when toleration was a vice an age when to think was a crime business of an officer to fight, of a general to conquer cruelties exercised upon monks and papists for faithful service, evil recompense pathetic dying words of anne boleyn seven spaniards were killed, and seven thousand rebels the calf is fat and must be killed the illness was a convenient one the tragedy of don carlos motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley - [chapter v.] quarrel between alva and queen elizabeth of england--spanish funds seized by the english government--non-intercourse between england and the netherlands--stringent measures against heresy--continued persecution--individual cases--present of hat and sword to alva from the pope--determination of the governor--general to establish a system of arbitrary taxation in the provinces--assembly of estates at brussels--alva's decrees laid before them--the hundredth, tenth, and fifth pence--opposition of viglius to the project--estates of various provinces give a reluctant consent--determined resistance of utrecht--the city and province cited before the blood council-- sentence of confiscation and disfranchisement against both--appeal to the king--difficulty of collecting the new tax--commutation for two years--projects for a pardon-general--growing disfavour of the duke--his desire to resign his post--secret hostility between the governor and viglius--altered sentiments of the president--opinions expressed by granvelle--the pardon pompously proclaimed by the duke at antwerp--character of the amnesty--dissatisfaction of the people with the act--complaints of alva to the king--fortunes and fate of baron montigny in spain--his confinement at segovia--his attempt to escape--its failure--his mock trial--his wife's appeal to philip-- his condemnation--his secret assassination determined upon--its details, as carefully prescribed and superintended by the king-- terrible inundation throughout the netherlands--immense destruction of life and property in friesland--lowestein castle taken by de ruyter, by stratagem--recapture of the place by the spaniards-- desperate resistance and death of de ruyter. it was very soon after the duke's return to brussels that a quarrel between himself and the queen of england took place. it happened thus. certain vessels, bearing roving commissions from the prince of conde, had chased into the ports of england some merchantmen coming from spain with supplies in specie for the spanish army in the netherlands. the trading ships remained in harbor, not daring to leave for their destination, while the privateers remained in a neighbouring port ready to pounce upon them should they put to sea. the commanders of the merchant fleet complained to the spanish ambassador in london. the envoy laid the case before the queen. the queen promised redress, and, almost as soon as the promise had been made, seized upon all the specie in the vessels, amounting to about eight hundred thousand dollars--[ exchange rate]--and appropriated the whole to her own benefit. the pretext for this proceeding was twofold. in the first place, she assured the ambassador that she had taken the money into her possession in order that it might be kept safe for her royal brother of spain. in the second place, she affirmed that the money did not belong to the spanish government at all, but that it was the property of certain genoese merchants, from whom, as she had a right to do, she had borrowed it for a short period. both these positions could hardly be correct, but either furnished an excellent reason for appropriating the funds to her own use. the duke of alva being very much in want of money, was furious when informed of the circumstance. he immediately despatched councillor d'assonleville with other commissioners on a special embassy to the queen of england. his envoys were refused an audience, and the duke was taxed with presumption in venturing, as if he had been a sovereign, to send a legation to a crowned head. no satisfaction was given to alva, but a secret commissioner was despatched to spain to discuss the subject there. the wrath of alva was not appeased by this contemptuous treatment. chagrined at the loss of his funds, and stung to the quick by a rebuke which his arrogance had merited, he resorted to a high-handed measure. he issued a proclamation commanding the personal arrest of every englishman within the territory of the netherlands, and the seizure of every article of property which could be found belonging to individuals of that nation. the queen retaliated by measures of the same severity against netherlanders in england. the duke followed up his blow by a proclamation (of march st, ), in which the grievance was detailed, and strict non-intercourse with england enjoined. while the queen and the viceroy were thus exchanging blows, the real sufferers were, of course, the unfortunate netherlanders. between the upper and nether millstones of elizabeth's rapacity and alva's arrogance, the poor remains of flemish prosperity were well nigh crushed out of existence. proclamations and commissions followed hard upon each other, but it was not till april , that the matter was definitely arranged. before that day arrived, the commerce of the netherlands had suffered, at the lowest computation, a dead loss of two million florins, not a stiver of which was ever reimbursed to the sufferers by the spanish government. meantime, neither in the complacency of his triumph over william of orange, nor in the torrent of his wrath against the english queen, did the duke for a moment lose sight of the chief end of his existence in the netherlands. the gibbet and the stake were loaded with their daily victims. the records of the period are foul with the perpetually renewed barbarities exercised against the new religion. to the magistrates of the different cities were issued fresh instructions, by which all municipal officers were to be guided in the discharge of their great duty. they were especially enjoined by the duke to take heed that catholic midwives, and none other, should be provided for every parish, duly sworn to give notice within twenty-four hours of every birth which occurred, in order that the curate might instantly proceed to baptism. they were also ordered to appoint certain spies who should keep watch at every administration of the sacraments, whether public or private, whether at the altar or at death-beds, and who should report for exemplary punishment (that is to say, death by fire) all persons who made derisive or irreverential gestures, or who did not pay suitable honor to the said sacraments. furthermore, in order that not even death itself should cheat the tyrant of his prey, the same spies were to keep watch at the couch of the dying, and to give immediate notice to government of all persons who should dare to depart this life without previously receiving extreme unction and the holy wafer. the estates of such culprits, it was ordained, should be confiscated, and their bodies dragged to the public place of execution. an affecting case occurred in the north of holland, early in this year, which, for its peculiarity, deserves brief mention. a poor anabaptist, guilty of no crime but his fellowship with a persecuted sect, had been condemned to death. he had made his escape, closely pursued by an officer of justice, across a frozen lake. it was late in the winter, and the ice had become unsound. it trembled and cracked beneath his footsteps, but he reached the shore in safety. the officer was not so fortunate. the ice gave way beneath him, and he sank into the lake, uttering a cry for succor. there were none to hear him, except the fugitive whom he had been hunting. dirk willemzoon, for so was the anabaptist called, instinctively obeying the dictates of a generous nature, returned, crossed the quaking and dangerous ice, at the peril of his life, extended his hand to his enemy, and saved him from certain death. unfortunately for human nature, it cannot be added that the generosity, of, the action was met by a corresponding heroism. the officer was desirous, it is true, of avoiding the responsibility of sacrificing the preserver of his life, but the burgomaster of asperen sternly reminded him to remember his oath. he accordingly arrested the fugitive, who, on the th of may following, was burned to death under the most lingering tortures. almost at the same time four clergymen, the eldest seventy years of age, were executed at the hague, after an imprisonment of three years. all were of blameless lives, having committed no crime save that of having favored the reformation. as they were men of some local eminence, it was determined that they should be executed with solemnity. they were condemned to the flames, and as they were of the ecclesiastical profession, it was necessary before execution that their personal sanctity should be removed. accordingly, on the th may, attired in the gorgeous robes of high mass, they were brought before the bishop of bois le duc. the prelate; with a pair of scissors, cut a lock of hair from each of their heads. he then scraped their crowns and the tips of their fingers with a little silver knife very gently, and without inflicting the least injury. the mystic oil of consecration was thus supposed to be sufficiently removed. the prelate then proceeded to disrobe the victims, saying to each one as he did so, "eximo tibi vestem justitiae, quem volens abjecisti;" to which the oldest pastor, arent dirkzoon, stoutly replied, "imo vestem injustitiae." the bishop having thus completed the solemn farce of desecration, delivered the prisoners to the blood council, begging that they might be handled very gently. three days afterwards they were all executed at the stake, having, however, received the indulgence of being strangled before being thrown into the flames. it was precisely at this moment, while the agents of the duke's government were thus zealously enforcing his decrees, that a special messenger arrived from the pope, bringing as a present to alva a jewelled hat and sword. it was a gift rarely conferred by the church, and never save upon the highest dignitaries, or upon those who had merited her most signal rewards by the most shining exploits in her defence. the duke was requested, in the autograph letter from his holiness which accompanied the presents, "to remember, when he put the hat upon his head, that he was guarded with it as with a helmet of righteousness, and with the shield of god's help, indicating the heavenly crown which was ready for all princes who support the holy church and the roman catholic faith." the motto on the sword ran as follows, "accipe sanctum gladium, menus a deo in quo dejicies adversarios populi mei israel." the viceroy of philip, thus stimulated to persevere in his master's precepts by the vicegerent of christ, was not likely to swerve from his path, nor to flinch from his work. it was beyond the power of man's ingenuity to add any fresh features of horror to the religious persecution under which the provinces were groaning, but a new attack could be made upon the poor remains of their wealth. the duke had been dissatisfied with the results of his financial arrangements. the confiscation of banished and murdered heretics had not proved the inexhaustible mine he had boasted. the stream of gold which was to flow perennially into the spanish coffers, soon ceased to flow at all. this was inevitable. confiscations must, of necessity, offer but a precarious supply to any treasury. it was only the frenzy of an alva which could imagine it possible to derive a permanent revenue from such a source. it was, however, not to be expected that this man, whose tyranny amounted to insanity, could comprehend the intimate connection between the interests of a people and those of its rulers, and he was determined to exhibit; by still more fierce and ludicrous experiments, how easily a great soldier may become a very paltry financier. he had already informed his royal master that, after a very short time, remittances would no longer be necessary from spain to support the expenses of the array and government in the netherlands. he promised, on the contrary, that at least two millions yearly should be furnished by the provinces, over and above the cost of their administration, to enrich the treasury at home. another peru had already been discovered by his ingenuity, and one which was not dependent for its golden fertility on the continuance of that heresy which it was his mission to extirpate. his boast had been much ridiculed in madrid, where he had more enemies than friends, and he was consequently the more eager to convert it into reality. nettled by the laughter with which all his schemes of political economy had been received at home, he was determined to show that his creative statesmanship was no less worthy of homage than his indisputable genius for destruction. his scheme was nothing more than the substitution of an arbitrary system of taxation by the crown, for the legal and constitutional right of the provinces to tax themselves. it was not a very original thought, but it was certainly a bold one. for although a country so prostrate might suffer the imposition of any fresh amount of tyranny, yet it was doubtful whether she had sufficient strength remaining to bear the weight after it had been imposed. it was certain, moreover, that the new system would create a more general outcry than any which had been elicited even by the religious persecution. there were many inhabitants who were earnest and sincere catholics, and who therefore considered themselves safe from the hangman's hands, while there were none who could hope to escape the gripe of the new tax-gatherers. yet the governor was not the man to be daunted by the probable unpopularity of the measure. courage he possessed in more than mortal proportion. he seemed to have set himself to the task of ascertaining the exact capacity of the country for wretchedness. he was resolved accurately to gauge its width and its depth; to know how much of physical and moral misery might be accumulated within its limits, before it should be full to overflowing. every man, woman, and child in the country had been solemnly condemned to death; and arbitrary executions, in pursuance of that sentence, had been daily taking place. millions of property had been confiscated; while the most fortunate and industrious, as well as the bravest of the netherlanders, were wandering penniless in distant lands. still the blows, however recklessly distributed, had not struck every head. the inhabitants had been decimated, not annihilated, and the productive energy of the country, which for centuries had possessed so much vitality, was even yet not totally extinct. in the wreck of their social happiness, in the utter overthrow of their political freedom, they had still preserved the shadow, at least, of one great bulwark against despotism. the king could impose no tax. the "joyeuse entree" of brabant, as well as the constitutions of flanders, holland, utrecht, and all the other provinces, expressly prescribed the manner in which the requisite funds for government should be raised. the sovereign or his stadholder was to appear before the estates in person, and make his request for money. it was for the estates, after consultation with their constituents, to decide whether or not this petition (bede) should be granted, and should a single branch decline compliance, the monarch was to wait with patience for a more favorable moment. such had been the regular practice in the netherlands, nor had the reigning houses often had occasion to accuse the estates of parsimony. it was, however, not wonderful that the duke of alva should be impatient at the continued existence of this provincial privilege. a country of condemned criminals, a nation whose universal neck might at any moment be laid upon the block without ceremony, seemed hardly fit to hold the purse-strings, and to dispense alms to its monarch. the viceroy was impatient at this arrogant vestige of constitutional liberty. moreover, although he had taken from the netherlanders nearly all the attributes of freemen, he was unwilling that they should enjoy the principal privilege of slaves, that of being fed and guarded at their master's expense. he had therefore summoned a general assembly of the provincial estates in brussels, and on the th of march, , had caused the following decrees to be laid before them. a tax of the hundredth penny, or one per cent., was laid upon all property, real and personal, to be collected instantly. this impost, however, was not perpetual, but only to be paid once, unless, of course, it should suit the same arbitrary power by which it was assessed to require it a second time. a tax of the twentieth penny; or five per cent., was laid upon every transfer of real estate. this imposition was perpetual. thirdly, a tag of the tenth penny, or ten per cent., was assessed upon every article of merchandise or personal-property, to be paid as often as it should be sold. this tax was likewise to be perpetual. the consternation in the assembly when these enormous propositions were heard, can be easily imagined. people may differ about religious dogmas. in the most bigoted persecutions there will always be many who, from conscientious although misguided motives, heartily espouse the cause of the bigot. moreover, although resistance to tyranny in matters of faith, is always the most ardent of struggles, and is supported by the most sublime principle in our nature, yet all men are not of the sterner stuff of which martyrs are fashioned. in questions relating to the world above; many may be seduced from their convictions by interest, or forced into apostasy by violence. human nature is often malleable or fusible, where religious interests are concerned, but in affairs material and financial opposition to tyranny is apt to be unanimous. the interests of commerce and manufacture, when brought into conflict with those of religion, had often proved victorious in the netherlands. this new measure, however--this arbitrary and most prodigious system of taxation, struck home to every fireside. no individual, however adroit or time-serving, could parry the blow by which all were crushed. it was most unanswerably maintained in the assembly, that this tenth and twentieth penny would utterly destroy the trade and the manufactures of the country. the hundredth penny, or the one per cent. assessment on all property throughout the land, although a severe subsidy, might be borne with for once. to pay, however, a twentieth part of the full value of a house to the government as often as the house was sold, was a most intolerable imposition. a house might be sold twenty times in a year, and in the course, therefore, of the year be confiscated in its whole value. it amounted either to a prohibition of all transfers of real estate, or to an eventual surrender of its price. as to the tenth penny upon articles of merchandise, to be paid by the vendor at every sale, the scheme was monstrous. all trade and manufactures must, of necessity, expire, at the very first attempt to put it in execution. the same article might be sold ten times in a week, and might therefore pay one hundred per cent. weekly. an article, moreover, was frequently compounded of ten, different articles, each of which might pay one hundred per cent., and therefore the manufactured article, if ten times transferred, one thousand per cent. weekly. quick transfers and unfettered movements being the nerves and muscles of commerce, it was impossible for it long to survive the paralysis of such a tax. the impost could never be collected, and would only produce an entire prostration of industry. it could by no possibility enrich the government. the king could not derive wealth from the ruin of his subjects; yet to establish such a system was the stern and absurd determination of the governor-general. the infantine simplicity of the effort seemed incredible. the ignorance was as sublime as the tyranny. the most lucid arguments and the most earnest remonstrances were all in vain. too opaque to be illumined by a flood of light, too hard to be melted by a nation's tears, the viceroy held calmly to his purpose. to the keen and vivid representations of viglius, who repeatedly exhibited all that was oppressive and all that was impossible in the tax, he answered simply that it was nothing more nor less than the spanish "alcabala," and that he derived , ducats yearly from its imposition in his own city of alva. viglius was upon this occasion in opposition to the duke. it is but justice to state that the learned jurisconsult manfully and repeatedly confronted the wrath of his superior in many a furious discussion in council upon the subject. he had never essayed to snatch one brand from the burning out of the vast holocaust of religious persecution, but he was roused at last by the threatened destruction of all the material interests of the land. he confronted the tyrant with courage, sustained perhaps by the knowledge that the proposed plan was not the king's, but the governor's. he knew that it was openly ridiculed in madrid, and that philip, although he would probably never denounce it in terms, was certainly not eager for its execution. the president enlarged upon the difference which existed between the condition of a sparsely-peopled country of herdsmen and laborers in spain, and the densely-thronged and bustling cities of the netherlands. if the duke collected , ducats yearly from the alcabala in alva, he could only offer him his congratulations, but could not help assuring him that the tax would prove an impossibility in the provinces. to his argument, that the impost would fall with severity not upon the highest nor the lowest classes of society, neither upon the great nobility and clergy nor on the rustic population, but on the merchants and manufacturers, it was answered by the president that it was not desirable to rob saint peter's altar in order to build one to saint paul. it might have been simpler to suggest that the consumer would pay the tax, supposing it were ever paid at all, but the axiom was not so familiar three centuries ago as now. meantime, the report of the deputies to the assembly on their return to their constituents had created the most intense excitement and alarm. petition after petition, report after report, poured in upon the government. there was a cry of despair, and almost of defiance, which had not been elicited by former agonies. to induce, however, a more favorable disposition on the part of the duke, the hundredth penny, once for all, was conceded by the estates. the tenth and twentieth occasioned--severe and protracted struggles, until the various assemblies of the patrimonial provinces, one after another, exhausted, frightened, and hoping that no serious effort would be made to collect the tax, consented, under certain restrictions, to its imposition.--the principal conditions were a protest against the legality of the proceeding, and the provision that the consent of no province should be valid until that of all had been obtained. holland, too, was induced to give in its adhesion, although the city of amsterdam long withheld its consent; but the city and province of utrecht were inexorable. they offered a handsome sum in commutation, increasing the sum first proposed from , to , florins, but they resolutely refused to be saddled with this permanent tax. their stout resistance was destined to cost them dear. in the course of a few months alva, finding them still resolute in their refusal, quartered the regiment of lombardy upon them, and employed other coercive measures to bring them to reason. the rude, insolent, unpaid and therefore insubordinate soldiery were billeted in every house in the city, so that the insults which the population were made to suffer by the intrusion of these ruffians at their firesides would soon, it was thought, compel the assent of the province to the tax. it was not so, however. the city and the province remained stanch in their opposition. accordingly, at the close of the year ( th. december, ) the estates were summoned to appear within fourteen days before the blood council. at the appointed time the procureur-general was ready with an act of accusation, accompanied, as was usually the case, with a simultaneous sentence of condemnation. the indictment revived and recapitulated all previous offences committed in the city and the province, particularly during the troubles of , and at the epoch of the treaty with duchess margaret. the inhabitants and the magistrates, both in their individual and public capacities, were condemned for heresy, rebellion, and misprision. the city and province were accordingly pronounced guilty of high treason, were deprived of all their charters, laws, privileges, freedoms, and customs, and were declared to have forfeited all their property, real and personal, together with all tolls, rents, excises, and imposts, the whole being confiscated to the benefit of his majesty. the immediate execution of the sentence was, however, suspended, to allow the estates opportunity to reply. an enormous mass of pleadings, replies, replications, rejoinders, and apostilles was the result, which few eyes were destined to read, and least of all those to whom they were nominally addressed. they were of benefit to none save in the shape of fees which they engendered to the gentlemen of the robe. it was six months, however, before the case was closed. as there was no blood to be shed, a summary process was not considered necessary. at last, on the th july, the voluminous pile of documents was placed before vargas. it was the first time he had laid eyes upon them, and they were, moreover, written in a language of which he did not understand a word. such, however, was his capacity for affairs, that a glance only at the outside of the case enabled him to form his decision. within half an hour afterwards, booted and spurred, he was saying mass in the church of saint gudule, on his way to pronounce sentence at antwerp. that judgment was rendered the same day, and confirmed the preceding act of condemnation. vargas went to his task as cheerfully as if it had been murder. the act of outlawry and beggary was fulminated against the city and province, and a handsome amount of misery for others, and of plunder for himself, was the result of his promptness. many thousand citizens were ruined, many millions of property confiscated. thus was utrecht deprived of all its ancient liberties, as a punishment for having dared to maintain them. the clergy, too, of the province, having invoked the bull "in coena domini," by which clerical property was declared exempt from taxation, had excited the wrath of the duke. to wield so slight a bulrush against the man who had just been girded with the consecrated and jewelled sword of the pope, was indeed but a feeble attempt at defence. alva treated the coena domini with contempt, but he imprisoned the printer who had dared to-republish it at this juncture. finding, moreover, that it had been put in press by the orders of no less a person than secretary la torre, he threw that officer also into prison, besides suspending him from his functions for a year. the estates of the province and the magistracy of the city appealed to his majesty from the decision of the duke. the case did not directly concern the interests of religion, for although the heretical troubles of furnished the nominal motives of the condemnation, the resistance to the tenth and twentieth penny was the real crime for which they were suffering. the king, therefore, although far from clement, was not extremely rigorous. he refused the object of the appeal, but he did not put the envoys to death by whom it was brought to madrid. this would have certainly been the case in matters strictly religious, or even had the commissioners arrived two years before, but even philip believed, perhaps, that for the moment almost enough innocent blood had been shed. at any rate he suffered the legates from utrecht to return, not with their petition, granted, but at least with their heads upon their shoulders. early in the following year, the provinces still remaining under martial law, all the utrecht charters were taken into the possession of government, and deposited in the castle of vredenberg. it was not till after the departure of alva, that they were restored; according to royal command, by the new governor, requesens. by the middle of the year , alva wrote to the king, with great cheerfulness of tone, announcing that the estates of the provinces had all consented to the tax. he congratulated his majesty upon the fact that this income might thenceforth be enjoyed in perpetuity, and that it would bring at least two millions yearly into his coffers, over and above the expenses of government. the hundredth penny, as he calculated, would amount to at least five millions. he was, however, very premature in his triumph, for the estates were not long in withdrawing a concession which had either been wrung from them by violence or filched from them by misrepresentation. taking the ground that the assent of all had been stipulated before that of any one should be esteemed valid, every province now refused to enforce or to permit the collection of the tenth or the twentieth penny within their limits. dire were the threatenings and the wrath of the viceroy, painfully protracted the renewed negotiations with the estates. at last, a compromise was effected, and the final struggle postponed. late in the summer it was agreed that the provinces should pay two millions yearly for the two following years, the term to expire in the month of august, . till that period, therefore, there was comparative repose upon the subject. the question of a general pardon had been agitated for more than a year, both in brussels and madrid. viglius, who knew his countrymen better than the viceroy knew them, had written frequently to his friend hopper, on the propriety of at once proclaiming an amnesty. there had also been many conferences between himself and the duke of alva, and he had furnished more than one draught for the proposed measure. the president knew full well that the point had been reached beyond which the force of tyranny could go no further. all additional pressure, he felt sure, could only produce reaction, the effect of which might be to drive the spaniards from the netherlands. there might then be another game to play. the heads of those who had so assiduously served the government throughout its terrible career might, in their turn, be brought to the block, and their estates be made to enrich the treasury. moreover, there were symptoms that alva's favor was on the wane. the king had not been remarkably struck with the merits of the new financial measures, and had expressed much, anxiety lest the trade of the country should suffer. the duke was known to be desirous of his recal. his health was broken, he felt that he was bitterly detested throughout the country, and he was certain that his enemies at madrid were fast undermining his credit. he seemed also to have a dim suspicion that his mission was accomplished in the netherlands; that as much blood had been shed at present as the land could easily absorb. he wrote urgently and even piteously to philip, on the subject of his return. "were your majesty only pleased to take me from this country," he said, "i should esteem it as great a favor as if your majesty had given me life." he swore "by the soul of the duchess," that he "would rather be cut into little pieces" than retire from his post were his presence necessary, but he expressed the opinion that through his exertions affairs had been placed in such train that they were sure to roll on smoothly to the end of time. "at present, and for the future," he wrote, "your majesty is and will be more strictly obeyed than any of your predecessors;" adding, with insane self-complacency, "and all this has been accomplished without violence." he also assured his majesty as to the prosperous condition of financial affairs. his tax was to work wonders. he had conversed with capitalists who had offered him four millions yearly for the tenth penny, but he had refused, because he estimated the product at a much higher figure. the hundredth penny could not be rated lower than five millions. it was obvious, therefore, that instead of remitting funds to the provinces, his majesty would, for the future, derive from them a steady and enormous income. moreover, he assured the king that there was at present no one to inspire anxiety from within or without. the only great noble of note in the country was the duke of aerschot, who was devoted to his majesty, and who, moreover, "amounted to very little," as the king well knew. as for the prince of orange, he would have business enough in keeping out of the clutches of his creditors. they had nothing to fear from germany. england would do nothing as long as germany was quiet; and france was sunk too low to be feared at all. such being the sentiments of the duke, the king was already considering the propriety of appointing his successor. all this was known to the president. he felt instinctively that more clemency was to be expected from that successor, whoever he might be; and he was satisfied, therefore, that he would at least not be injuring his own position by inclining at this late hour to the side of mercy. his opposition to the tenth and twentieth penny had already established a breach between himself and the viceroy, but he felt secretly comforted by the reflection that the king was probably on the same side with himself. alva still spoke of him, to be sure, both in public and private, with approbation; taking occasion to commend him frequently, in his private letters, as a servant upright and zealous, as a living register, without whose universal knowledge of things and persons he should hardly know which way to turn. the president, however, was growing weary of his own sycophancy. he begged his friend joachim to take his part, if his excellency should write unfavorably about his conduct to the king. he seemed to have changed his views of the man concerning whose "prudence and gentleness" he could once turn so many fine periods. he even expressed some anxiety lest doubts should begin to be entertained as to the perfect clemency of the king's character. "here is so much confiscation and bloodshed going on," said he, "that some taint of cruelty or avarice may chance to bespatter the robe of his majesty." he also confessed that he had occasionally read in history of greater benignity than was now exercised against the poor netherlanders. had the learned frisian arrived at these humane conclusions at a somewhat earlier day, it might perhaps have been better for himself and for his fatherland. had he served his country as faithfully as he had served time, and philip, and alva, his lands would not have been so broad, nor his dignities so numerous, but he would not have been obliged, in his old age; to exclaim, with whimsical petulance, that "the faithful servant is always a perpetual ass." it was now certain that an act of amnesty was in contemplation by the king. viglius had furnished several plans, which, however, had been so much disfigured by the numerous exceptions suggested by alva, that the president could scarce recognize his work. granvelle, too, had frequently urged the pardon on the attention of philip. the cardinal was too astute not to perceive that the time had arrived when a continued severity could only defeat its own work. he felt that the country could not be rendered more abject, the spirit of patriotism more apparently extinct. a show of clemency, which would now cost nothing, and would mean nothing, might be more effective than this profuse and wanton bloodshed. he saw plainly that the brutality of alva had already overshot the mark. too politic, however, openly to reprove so powerful a functionary, he continued to speak of him and of his administration to philip in terms of exalted eulogy. he was a "sage seignior," a prudent governor, one on whom his majesty could entirely repose. he was a man of long experience, trained all his life to affairs, and perfectly capable of giving a good account of everything to which he turned his hands. he admitted, however, to other correspondents, that the administration of the sage seignior, on whom his majesty could so implicitly rely, had at last "brought that provinces into a deplorable condition." four different forms of pardon had been sent from madrid, toward the close of . from these four the duke was to select one, and carefully to destroy the other three. it was not, however, till july of the following year that the choice was made, and the viceroy in readiness to announce the pardon. on the th of that month a great festival was held at antwerp, for the purpose of solemnly proclaiming the long expected amnesty. in the morning, the duke, accompanied by a brilliant staff, and by a long procession of clergy in their gorgeous robes, paraded through the streets of the commercial capital, to offer up prayers and hear mass in the cathedral. the bishop of arras then began a sermon upon the blessings of mercy, with a running commentary upon the royal clemency about to be exhibited. in the very outset, however, of his discourse, he was seized with convulsions, which required his removal from the pulpit; an incident which was not considered of felicitous augury. in the afternoon, the duke with his suite appeared upon the square in front of the town house. here a large scaffolding or theatre had been erected. the platform and the steps which led to it were covered with scarlet cloth. a throne, covered with cloth of gold, was arranged in the most elevated position for the duke. on the steps immediately below him were placed two of the most beautiful women in antwerp, clad in allegorical garments to represent righteousness and peace. the staircase and platform were lined with officers, the square was beset with troops, and filled to its utmost verge with an expectant crowd of citizens. toward the close of a summer's afternoon, the duke wearing the famous hat and sword of the pope, took his seat on the throne with all the airs of royalty. after a few preliminary ceremonies, a civil functionary, standing between two heralds; then recited the long-expected act of grace. his reading, however, was so indistinct, that few save the soldiers in the immediate vicinity of the platform could hear a word of the document. this effect was, perhaps, intentional. certainly but little enthusiasm could be expected from the crowd, had the text of the amnesty been heard. it consisted of three parts--a recitation of the wrongs committed, a statement of the terms of pardon, and a long list of exceptions. all the sins of omission and commission, the heresy, the public preaching, the image-breaking, the compromise, the confederacy, the rebellion, were painted in lively colors. pardon, however, was offered to all those who had not rendered themselves liable to positive impeachment, in case they should make their peace with the church before the expiration of two months, and by confession and repentance obtain their absolution. the exceptions, however, occupied the greater part of the document. when the general act of condemnation had been fulminated by which all netherlanders were sentenced to death, the exceptions had been very few, and all the individuals mentioned by name. in the act of pardon, the exceptions comprehended so many classes of inhabitants, that it was impossible for any individual to escape a place in, some one of the categories, whenever it should please the government to take his life. expressly excluded from the benefit of the act were all ministers, teachers, dogmatizers, and all who had favored and harbored such dogmatizers and preachers; all those in the least degree implicated in the image-breaking; all who had ever been individually suspected of heresy or schism; all who had ever signed or favored the compromise or the petition to the regent; all those who had taken up arms, contributed money, distributed tracts; all those in any manner chargeable with misprision, or who had failed to denounce those guilty of heresy. all persons, however, who were included in any of these classes of exceptions might report themselves within six months, when, upon confession of their crime, they might hope for a favorable consideration of their case. such, in brief, and stripped of its verbiage, was this amnesty for which the netherlands had so long been hoping. by its provisions, not a man or woman was pardoned who had ever committed a fault. the innocent alone were forgiven. even they were not sure of mercy, unless they should obtain full absolution from the pope. more certainly than ever would the accustomed rigor be dealt to all who had committed any of those positive acts for which so many had already lost their heads. the clause by which a possibility of pardon was hinted to such criminals, provided they would confess and surrender, was justly regarded as a trap. no one was deceived by it. no man, after the experience of the last three years; would voluntarily thrust his head into the lion's mouth, in order to fix it more firmly upon his shoulders. no man who had effected his escape was likely to play informer against himself, in hope of obtaining a pardon from which all but the most sincere and zealous catholics were in reality excepted. the murmur and discontent were universal, therefore, as soon as the terms of the act became known. alva wrote to the king, to be sure, "that the people were entirely satisfied, save only the demagogues, who could tolerate no single exception from the amnesty; but he could neither deceive his sovereign nor himself by such statements." certainly, philip was totally disappointed in the effect which he had anticipated from the measure. he had thought "it would stop the mouths of many people." on the contrary, every mouth in the netherlands became vociferous to denounce the hypocrisy by which a new act of condemnation had been promulgated under the name of a pardon. viglius, who had drawn up an instrument of much ampler clemency, was far from satisfied with the measure which had been adopted. "certainly," he wrote to his confidant, "a more benignant measure was to be expected from so merciful a prince. after four years have past, to reserve for punishment and for execution all those who during the tumult did not, through weakness of mind, render as much service to government as brave men might have offered, is altogether unexampled." alva could not long affect to believe in the people's satisfaction. he soon wrote to the king, acknowledging that the impression produced by the pardon was far from favorable. he attributed much evil effect to the severe censure which was openly pronounced upon the act by members of the government, both in spain and the netherlands. he complained that hopper had written to viglius, that "the most severe of the four forms of pardon transmitted had been selected;" the fact being, that the most lenient one had been adopted. if this were so, whose imagination is powerful enough to portray the three which had been burned, and which, although more severe than the fierce document promulgated, were still entitled acts of pardon? the duke spoke bitterly of the manner in which influential persons in madrid had openly abominated the cruel form of amnesty which had been decreed. his authority in the netherlands was already sufficiently weakened, he said, and such censure upon his actions from head-quarters did not tend to improve it. "in truth," he added, almost pathetically, "it is not wonderful that the whole nation should be ill-disposed towards me, for i certainly have done nothing to make them love me. at the same time, such language transmitted from madrid does not increase their tenderness." in short, viewed as a measure by which government, without disarming itself of its terrible powers, was to pacify the popular mind, the amnesty was a failure. viewed as a net, by which fresh victims should be enticed to entangle themselves, who had already made their way into the distant atmosphere of liberty, it was equally unsuccessful. a few very obscure individuals made their appearance to claim the benefit of the act, before the six months had expired. with these it was thought expedient to deal gently; but no one was deceived by such clemency. as the common people expressed themselves, the net was not spread on that occasion for finches. the wits of the netherlands, seeking relief from their wretched condition in a still more wretched quibble, transposed two letters of the word pardona, and re-baptized the new measure pandora. the conceit was not without meaning. the amnesty, descending from supernal regions, had been ushered into the presence of mortals as a messenger laden with heavenly gifts. the casket, when opened, had diffused curses instead of blessings. there, however, the classical analogy ended, for it would have puzzled all the pedants of louvain to discover hope lurking, under any disguise, within the clauses of the pardon. very soon after the promulgation of this celebrated act, the new bride of philip, anne of austria, passed through the netherlands, on her way to madrid. during her brief stay in brussels, she granted an interview to the dowager countess of horn. that unhappy lady, having seen her eldest son, the head of her illustrious house, so recently perish on the scaffold, wished to make a last effort in behalf of the remaining one, then closely confined in the prison of segovia. the archduchess solemnly promised that his release should be the first boon which she would request of her royal bridegroom, and the bereaved countess retired almost with a hope. a short digression must here be allowed, to narrate the remaining fortunes of that son, the ill-starred seigneur de montigny. his mission to madrid in company of the marquis berghen has been related in a previous volume. the last and most melancholy scene in the life of his fellow envoy has been described in a recent chapter. after that ominous event, montigny became most anxious to effect his retreat from spain. he had been separated more than a year from his few months' bride. he was not imprisoned, but he felt himself under the most rigid although secret inspection. it was utterly impossible for him to obtain leave to return, or to take his departure without permission. on one occasion, having left the city accidentally for a ride on horseback to an adjoining village, he found himself surrounded by an unexpected escort of forty troopers. still, however, the king retained a smiling mien. to montigny's repeated and urgent requests for dismissal, philip graciously urged his desire for a continuance of his visit. he was requested to remain in order to accompany his sovereign upon that journey to the netherlands which would not be much longer delayed. in his impatience anything seemed preferable to the state of suspense in which he was made to linger. he eagerly offered, if he were accused or suspected of crime, to surrender himself to imprisonment if he only could be brought to trial. soon after alva's arrival in the netherlands, the first part of this offer was accepted. no sooner were the arrests of egmont and horn known in madrid, than montigny was deprived of his liberty, and closely confined in the alcazar of segovia. here he remained imprisoned for eight or nine months in a high tower, with no attendant save a young page, arthur de munter, who had accompanied him from the netherlands. eight men-at-arms were expressly employed to watch over him and to prevent his escape. one day towards the middle of july, , a band of pilgrims, some of them in flemish attire, went through the streets of segovia. they were chanting, as was customary on such occasions, a low, monotonous song, in which montigny, who happened to be listening, suddenly recognized the language of his fatherland. his surprise was still greater when, upon paying closer attention, he distinguished the terrible meaning of the song. the pretended pilgrims, having no other means of communication with the prisoner, were singing for his information the tragic fates of his brother, count horn, and of his friend, count egmont. mingled with the strain were warnings of his own approaching doom; if he were not able to effect his escape before it should be too late. thus by this friendly masquerade did montigny learn the fate of his brother, which otherwise, in that land of terrible secrecy, might have been concealed from him for ever. the hint as to his own preservation was not lost upon him; and he at once set about a plan of escape. he succeeded in gaining over to his interests one of the eight soldiers by whom he was guarded, and he was thus enabled to communicate with many of his own adherents without the prison walls. his major-domo had previously been permitted to furnish his master's table with provisions dressed by his own cook. a correspondence was now carried on by means of letters concealed within the loaves of bread sent daily to the prisoner. in the same way files were provided for sawing through his window-bars. a very delicate ladder of ropes, by which he was to effect his escape into the court below, was also transmitted. the plan had been completely arranged. a certain pole employed in the enterprise was to be at hernani, with horses in readiness to convey them to san sebastian. there a sloop had been engaged, and was waiting their arrival. montigny, accordingly, in a letter enclosed within a loaf of bread--the last, as he hoped, which he should break in prison--was instructed, after cutting off his beard and otherwise disguising his person, to execute his plan and join his confederates at hernani. unfortunately, the major-domo of montigny was in love. upon the eve of departure from spain, his farewell interview with his mistress was so much protracted that the care of sending the bread was left to another. the substitute managed so unskilfully that the loaf was brought to the commandant of the castle, and not to the prisoner. the commandant broke the bread, discovered the letter, and became master of the whole plot. all persons engaged in the enterprise were immediately condemned to death, and the spanish soldier executed without delay. the others being considered, on account of their loyalty to their master as deserving a commutation of punishment, were sent to the galleys. the major-domo, whose ill-timed gallantry had thus cost montigny his liberty, received two hundred lashes in addition. all, however, were eventually released from imprisonment. the unfortunate gentleman was now kept in still closer confinement in his lonely tower. as all his adherents had been disposed of, he could no longer entertain a hope of escape. in the autumn of this year ( ) it was thought expedient by alva to bring his case formally before the blood council. montigny had committed no crime, but he was one of that band of popular, nobles whose deaths had been long decreed. letters were accordingly sent to spain, empowering certain functionaries there to institute that preliminary examination, which, as usual, was to be the only trial vouchsafed. a long list of interrogatories was addressed to him on february th, , in his prison at segovia. a week afterwards, he was again visited by the alcalde, who read over to him the answers which he had made on the first occasion, and required him to confirm them. he was then directed to send his procuration to certain persons in the netherlands, whom he might wish to appear in his behalf. montigny complied by sending several names, with a clause of substitution. all the persons thus appointed, however, declined to act, unless they could be furnished with a copy of the procuration, and with a statement of the articles of accusation. this was positively refused by the blood council. seeing no possibility of rendering service to their friend by performing any part in this mockery of justice, they refused to accept the procuration. they could not defend a case when not only the testimony, but even the charges against the accused were kept secret. an individual was accordingly appointed by government to appear in the prisoner's behalf. thus the forms of justice were observed, and montigny, a close prisoner in the tower of segovia, was put upon trial for his life in brussels. certainly nothing could exceed the irony of such a process. the advocate had never seen his client, thousands of miles away, and was allowed to hold no communication with him by letter. the proceedings were instituted by a summons, addressed by the duke of alva to madame de montigny in brussels. that unhappy lady could only appeal to the king. "convinced," she said, "that her husband was innocent of the charges brought against him, she threw herself, overwhelmed and consumed by tears and misery, at his majesty's feet. she begged the king to remember the past services of montigny, her own youth, and that she had enjoyed his company but four months. by all these considerations, and by the passion of jesus christ, she adjured the monarch to pardon any faults which her husband might have committed." the reader can easily judge how much effect such a tender appeal was like to have upon the heart of philip. from that rock; thus feebly smitten, there flowed no fountain of mercy. it was not more certain that montigny's answers to the interrogatories addressed to him had created a triumphant vindication of his course, than that such vindication would be utterly powerless to save his life. the charges preferred against him were similar to those which had brought egmont and horn to the block, and it certainly created no ground of hope for him, that he could prove himself even more innocent of suspicious conduct than they had done. on the th march, , accordingly, the duke of alva pronounced sentence against him. the sentence declared that his head should be cut off, and afterwards exposed to public view upon the head of a pike. upon the th march, , the duke addressed a requisitory letter to the alcaldes, corregidors, and other judges of castile, empowering them to carry the sentence into execution. on the arrival of this requisition there was a serious debate before the king in council. it seemed to be the general opinion that there had been almost severity enough in the netherlands for the present. the spectacle of the public execution of another distinguished personage, it was thought, might now prove more irritating than salutary. the king was of this opinion himself. it certainly did not occur to him or to his advisers that this consideration should lead them to spare the life of an innocent man. the doubts entertained as to the expediency of a fresh murder were not allowed to benefit the prisoner, who, besides being a loyal subject and a communicant of the ancient church, was also clothed in the white robes of an envoy, claiming not only justice but hospitality, as the deputy of philip's sister, margaret of parma. these considerations probably never occurred to the mind of his majesty. in view, however, of the peculiar circumstances of the case, it was unanimously agreed that there should be no more blood publicly shed. most of the councillors were in favor of slow poison. montigny's meat and drink, they said, should be daily drugged, so that he might die by little and little. philip, however, terminated these disquisitions by deciding that the ends of justice would not thus be sufficiently answered. the prisoner, he had resolved, should be regularly executed, but the deed should be secret, and it should be publicly announced that he had died of a fever. this point having been settled; the king now set about the arrangement of his plan with all that close attention to detail which marked his character. the patient industry which, had god given him a human heart and a love of right, might have made him a useful monarch, he now devoted to a scheme of midnight murder with a tranquil sense of enjoyment which seems almost incredible. there is no exaggeration in calling the deed a murder, for it certainly was not sanctioned by any law, divine or human, nor justified or excused by any of the circumstances which are supposed to palliate homicide. nor, when the elaborate and superfluous luxury of arrangements made by philip for the accomplishment of his design is considered, can it be doubted that he found a positive pleasure in his task. it would almost seem that he had become jealous of alva's achievements in the work of slaughter. he appeared willing to prove to those immediately about him, that however capable might be the viceroy of conducting public executions on a grand and terrifying scale, there was yet a certain delicacy of finish never attained by alva in such business, and which was all his majesty's own. the king was resolved to make the assassination of montigny a masterpiece. on the th august, , he accordingly directed don eugenio de peralta, concierge of the fortress of simancas, to repair to segovia, and thence to remove the seigneur montigny to simancas. here he was to be strictly immured; yet was to be allowed at times to walk in the corridor adjoining his chamber. on the th october following, the licentiate don alonzo de avellano, alcalde of valladolid, was furnished with an order addressed by the king to don eugenio de peralta, requiring him to place the prisoner in the hands of the said licentiate, who was charged with the execution of alva's sentence. this functionary had, moreover, been provided with a minute letter of instructions, which had been drawn up according to the king's directions, on the st october. in these royal instructions, it was stated that, although the sentence was for a public execution, yet the king had decided in favor of a private one within the walls of the fortress. it was to be managed so that no one should suspect that montigny had been executed, but so that, on the contrary, it should be universally said and believed that he had died a natural death. very few persons, all sworn and threatened into secrecy, were therefore to be employed. don alonzo was to start immediately for valladolid; which was within two short leagues of simancas. at that place he would communicate with don eugenio, and arrange the mode, day, and hour of execution. he would leave valladolid on the evening before a holiday, late in the afternoon, so as to arrive a little after dark at simancas. he would take with him a confidential notary, an executioner, and as few servants as possible. immediately upon his entrance to the fortress, he was to communicate the sentence of death to montigny, in presence of don eugenio and of one or two other persons. he would then console him, in which task he would be assisted by don eugenio. he would afterwards leave him with the religious person who would be appointed for that purpose. that night and the whole of the following day, which would be a festival, till after midnight, would be allotted to montigny, that he might have time to confess, to receive the sacraments, to convert himself to god, and to repent. between one and two o'clock in the morning the execution was to take place, in presence of the ecclesiastic, of don eugenio de peralta, of the notary, and of one or two other persons, who would be needed by the executioner. the ecclesiastic was to be a wise and prudent person, and to be informed how little confidence montigny inspired in the article of faith. if the prisoner should wish to make a will, it could not be permitted. as all his property had been confiscated, he could dispose of nothing. should he, however, desire to make a memorial of the debts which he would wish paid; he was to be allowed that liberty. it was, however, to be stipulated that he was to make no allusion, in any memorial or letter which he might write, to the execution which was about to take place. he was to use the language of a man seriously ill, and who feels himself at the point of death. by this infernal ingenuity it was proposed to make the victim an accomplice in the plot, and to place a false exculpation of his assassins in his dying lips. the execution having been fulfilled, and the death having been announced with the dissimulation prescribed, the burial was to take place in the church of saint saviour, in simancas. a moderate degree of pomp, such as befitted a person of montigny's quality, was to be allowed, and a decent tomb erected. a grand mass was also to be celebrated, with a respectable number, "say seven hundred," of lesser masses. as the servants of the defunct were few in number, continued the frugal king, they might be provided each with a suit of mourning. having thus personally arranged all the details of this secret work, from the reading of the sentence to the burial of the prisoner; having settled not only the mode of his departure from life, but of his passage through purgatory, the king despatched the agent on his mission. the royal program was faithfully enacted. don alonzo arrived at valladolid; and made his arrangements with don eugenio. it was agreed that a paper, prepared by royal authority, and brought by don alonzo from madrid, should be thrown into the corridor of montigny's prison. this paper, written in latin, ran as follows: "in the night, as i understand, there will be no chance for your escape. in the daytime there will be many; for you are then in charge of a single gouty guardian, no match in strength or speed for so vigorous a man as you. make your escape from the th to the th of october, at any hour you can, and take the road contiguous to the castle gate through which you entered. you will find robert and john, who will be ready with horses, and with everything necessary. may god favor your undertaking.--r. d. m." the letter, thus designedly thrown into the corridor by one confederate, was soon afterwards picked up by the other, who immediately taxed montigny with an attempt to escape. notwithstanding the vehement protestations of innocence naturally made by the prisoner, his pretended project was made the pretext for a still closer imprisonment in the "bishop's tower." a letter, written at madrid, by philip's orders, had been brought by don alonzo to simancas, narrating by anticipation these circumstances, precisely as they had now occurred. it moreover stated that montigny, in consequence of his close confinement, had fallen grievously ill, and that he would receive all the attention compatible with his safe keeping. this letter, according to previous orders, was now signed by don eugenio de peralta, dated th october, ; and publicly despatched to philip. it was thus formally established that montigny was seriously ill. a physician, thoroughly instructed and sworn to secrecy, was now ostentatiously admitted to the tower, bringing with him a vast quantity of drugs. he duly circulated among the townspeople, on his return, his opinion that the illustrious prisoner was afflicted with a disorder from which it was almost impossible that he should recover. thus, thanks to philip's masterly precautions, not a person in madrid or simancas was ignorant that montigny was dying of a fever, with the single exception of the patient himself. on saturday, the th of october, at nightfall, don alonzo de avellano, accompanied by the prescribed individuals, including fray hernando del, castillo, an ecclesiastic of high reputation, made their appearance at the prison of simancas. at ten in the evening the announcement of the sentence was made to montigny. he was visibly agitated at the sudden intelligence, for it was entirely unexpected by him. he had, on the contrary, hoped much from the intercession of, the queen, whose arrival he had already learned. he soon recovered himself, however, and requested to be left alone with the ecclesiastic. all the night and the following day were passed in holy offices. he conducted himself with great moderation, courage, and tranquillity. he protested his entire innocence of any complicity with the prince of orange, or of any disloyal designs or sentiments at any period of his life. he drew up a memorial, expressing his strong attachment to every point of the catholic faith, from which he had never for an instant swerved. his whole demeanor was noble, submissive, and christian. "in every essential," said fray hernando, "he conducted himself so well that we who remain may bear him envy." he wrote a paper of instructions concerning his faithful and bereaved dependents. he placed his signet ring, attached to a small gold chain, in the hands of the ecclesiastic, to be by him transmitted to his wife. another ring, set with turquois, he sent to his mother-in-law, the princess espinoy, from whom he had received it. about an hour after midnight, on the morning, therefore, of the th of october, fray hernando gave notice that the prisoner was ready to die. the alcalde don alonzo then entered, accompanied by the executioner and the notary. the sentence of alva was now again recited, the alcalde adding that the king, "out of his clemency and benignity," had substituted a secret for a public execution. montigny admitted that the judgment would be just and the punishment lenient, if it were conceded that the charges against him were true. his enemies, however, while he had been thus immured, had possessed the power to accuse him as they listed. he ceased to speak, and the executioner then came forward and strangled him. the alcalde, the notary, and the executioner then immediately started for valladolid, so that no person next morning knew that they had been that night at simancas, nor could guess the dark deed which they had then and there accomplished. the terrible, secret they were forbidden, on pain of death, to reveal. montigny, immediately after his death, was clothed in the habit of saint francis, in order to conceal the marks of strangulation. in the course of the day the body was deposited, according to the king's previous orders, in the church of saint saviour. don eugenio de peralta, who superintended the interment, uncovered the face of the defunct to prove his identity, which was instantly recognised by many sorrowing servants. the next morning the second letter, prepared by philip long before, and brought by don alonzo de avellano to simancas, received the date of th october, , together with the signature of don eugenio de peralta, keeper of simancas fortress, and was then publicly despatched to the king. it stated that, notwithstanding the care given to the seigneur de montigny in his severe illness by the physicians who had attended him, he had continued to grow worse and worse until the previous morning between three and four o'clock, when he had expired. the fray hernando del castillo, who had accidentally happened to be at simancas, had performed the holy offices, at the request of the deceased, who had died in so catholic a frame of mind, that great hopes might be entertained of his salvation. although he possessed no property, yet his burial had been conducted very respectably. on the rd of november, , these two letters, ostensibly written by don eugenio de peralta, were transmitted by philip to the duke of alva. they were to serve as evidence of the statement which the governor-general was now instructed to make, that the seigneur de montigny had died a natural death in the fortress of simancas. by the same courier, the king likewise forwarded a secret memoir, containing the exact history of the dark transaction, from which memoir the foregoing account has been prepared. at the same time the duke was instructed publicly to exhibit the lying letters of don eugenio de peralta, as containing an authentic statement of the affair. the king observed, moreover, in his letter, that there was not a person in spain who doubted that montigny had died of a fever. he added that if the sentiments of the deceased nobleman had been at all in conformity with his external manifestations, according to the accounts received of his last moments, it was to be hoped that god would have mercy upon his soul. the secretary who copied the letter, took the liberty of adding, however, to this paragraph the suggestion, that "if montigny were really a heretic, the devil, who always assists his children in such moments, would hardly have failed him in his dying hour." philip, displeased with this flippancy, caused the passage to be erased. he even gave vent to his royal indignation in a marginal note, to the effect that we should always express favorable judgments concerning the dead--a pious sentiment always dearer to writing masters than to historians. it seemed never to have occurred however to this remarkable moralist, that it was quite as reprehensible to strangle an innocent man as to speak ill of him after his decease. thus perished baron montigny, four years after his arrival in madrid as duchess margaret's ambassador, and three years after the death of his fellow-envoy marquis berghen. no apology is necessary for so detailed an account of this dark and secret tragedy. the great transactions of a reign are sometimes paltry things; great battles and great treaties, after vast consumption of life and of breath, often leave the world where they found it. the events which occupy many of the statelier pages of history, and which have most lived in the mouths of men, frequently contain but commonplace lessons of philosophy. it is perhaps otherwise when, by the resuscitation of secret documents, over which the dust of three centuries has gathered, we are enabled to study the internal working of a system of perfect tyranny. liberal institutions, republican or constitutional governments, move in the daylight; we see their mode of operation, feel the jar of their wheels, and are often needlessly alarmed at their apparent tendencies. the reverse of the picture is not always so easily attainable. when, therefore, we find a careful portrait of a consummate tyrant, painted by his own hand, it is worth our while to pause for a moment, that we may carefully peruse the lineaments. certainly, we shall afterwards not love liberty the less. towards the end of the year , still another and a terrible misfortune descended upon the netherlands. it was now the hand of god which smote the unhappy country, already so tortured by the cruelty of war. an inundation, more tremendous than any which had yet been recorded in those annals so prolific in such catastrophes, now swept the whole coast from flanders to friesland. not the memorable deluge of the thirteenth century, out of which the zuyder zee was born; not that in which the waters of the dollart had closed for ever over the villages and churches of groningen; not one of those perpetually recurring floods by which the inhabitants of the netherlands, year after year, were recalled to an anxious remembrance of the watery chaos out of which their fatherland had been created, and into which it was in daily danger of resolving itself again, had excited so much terror and caused so much destruction. a continued and violent gale from the north-west had long been sweeping the atlantic waters into the north sea, and had now piled them upon the fragile coasts of the provinces. the dykes, tasked beyond their strength, burst in every direction. the cities of flanders, to a considerable distance inland, were suddenly invaded by the waters of the ocean. the whole narrow peninsula of north holland was in imminent danger of being swept away for ever. between amsterdam and meyden, the great diemer dyke was broken through in twelve places. the hand-bos, a bulwark formed of oaken piles, fastened with metal clamps, moored with iron anchors, and secured by gravel and granite, was snapped to pieces like packthread. the "sleeper," a dyke thus called, because it was usually left in repose by the elements, except in great emergencies, alone held firm, and prevented the consummation of the catastrophe. still the ocean poured in upon the land with terrible fury. dort, rotterdam, and many other cities were, for a time, almost submerged. along the coast, fishing vessels, and even ships of larger size, were floated up into the country, where they entangled themselves in groves and orchards, or beat to pieces the roofs and walls of houses. the destruction of life and of property was enormous throughout the maritime provinces, but in friesland the desolation was complete. there nearly all the dykes and sluices were dashed to fragments; the country, far and-wide, converted into an angry sea. the steeples and towers of inland cities became islands of the ocean. thousands of human beings were swept out of existence in a few hours. whole districts of territory, with all their villages, farms, and churches, were rent from their places, borne along by the force of the waves, sometimes to be lodged in another part of the country, sometimes to be entirely engulfed. multitudes of men, women, children, of horses, oxen, sheep, and every domestic animal, were struggling in the waves in every direction. every boat, and every article which could serve as a boat, were eagerly seized upon. every house was inundated; even the grave-yards gave up their dead. the living infant in his cradle, and the long-buried corpse in his coffin, floated side by side. the ancient flood seemed about to be renewed. everywhere, upon the top of trees, upon the steeples of churches, human beings were clustered, praying to god for mercy, and to their fellow-men for assistance. as the storm at last was subsiding, boats began to ply in every direction, saving those who were still struggling in the water, picking fugitives from roofs and tree-tops, and collecting the bodies of those already drowned. colonel robles, seigneur de billy, formerly much hated for his spanish or portuguese blood, made himself very active in this humane work. by his exertions, and those of the troops belonging to groningen, many lives were rescued, and gratitude replaced the ancient animosity. it was estimated that at least twenty thousand persons were destroyed in the province of friesland alone. throughout the netherlands, one hundred thousand persons perished. the damage alone to property, the number of animals engulfed in the sea, were almost incalculable. these events took place on the st and nd november, . the former happened to be the day of all saints, and the spaniards maintained loudly that the vengeance of heaven had descended upon the abode of heretics. the netherlanders looked upon the catastrophe as ominous of still more terrible misfortunes in store for them. they seemed doomed to destruction by god and man. an overwhelming tyranny had long been chafing against their constitutional bulwarks, only to sweep over them at last; and now the resistless ocean, impatient of man's feeble barriers, had at last risen to reclaim his prey. nature, as if disposed to put to the blush the feeble cruelty of man, had thus wrought more havoc in a few hours, than bigotry, however active, could effect in many years. nearly at the close of this year ( ) an incident occurred, illustrating the ferocious courage so often engendered in civil contests. on the western verge of the isle of bommel, stood the castle of lowestein. the island is not in the sea. it is the narrow but important territory which is enclosed between the meuse and the waal. the castle, placed in a slender hook, at the junction of the two rivers, commanded the two cities of gorcum and dorcum, and the whole navigation of the waters. one evening, towards the end of december, four monks, wearing the cowls and robes of mendicant grey friars, demanded hospitality at the castle gate. they were at once ushered into the presence of the commandant, a brother of president tisnacq. he was standing by the fire, conversing with his wife. the foremost monk approaching him, asked whether the castle held for the duke of alva or the prince of orange. the castellian replied that he recognized no prince save philip, king of spain. thereupon the monk, who was no other than herman de ruyter, a drover by trade, and a warm partisan of orange, plucked a pistol from beneath his robe, and shot the commandant through the head. the others, taking advantage of the sudden panic, overcame all the resistance offered by the feeble garrison, and made themselves masters of the place. in the course of the next day they introduced into the castle four or five and twenty men, with which force they diligently set themselves to fortify the place, and secure themselves in its possession. a larger reinforcement which they had reckoned upon, was detained by the floods and frosts, which, for the moment, had made the roads and fivers alike impracticable. don roderigo de toledo, governor of bois le duc, immediately despatched a certain captain perea, at the head of two hundred soldiers, who were joined on the way by a miscellaneous force of volunteers, to recover the fortress as soon as possible. the castle, bathed on its outward walls by the waal and meuse, and having two redoubts, defended by a double interior foss, would have been difficult to take by assaults had the number of the besieged been at all adequate to its defence. as matters stood, however, the spaniards, by battering a breach in the wall with their cannon on the first day, and then escalading the inner works with remarkable gallantry upon the second, found themselves masters of the place within eight and forty hours of their first appearance before its gates. most of the defenders were either slain or captured alive. de ruyter alone had betaken himself to an inner hall of the castle, where he stood at bay upon the threshold. many spaniards, one after another, as they attempted to kill or to secure him, fell before his sword, which he wielded with the strength of a giant. at last, overpowered by numbers, and weakened by the loss of blood, he retreated slowly into the hall, followed by many of his antagonists. here, by an unexpected movement, he applied a match to a train of powder, which he had previously laid along the floor of the apartment. the explosion was instantaneous. the tower, where the contest was taking place, sprang into the air, and de ruyter with his enemies shared a common doom. a part of the mangled remains of this heroic but ferocious patriot were afterwards dug from the ruins of the tower, and with impotent malice nailed upon the gallows at bois le duc. of his surviving companions, some were beheaded, some were broken on the wheel, some were hung and quartered--all were executed. etext editor's bookmarks: constitutional governments, move in the daylight consumer would pay the tax, supposing it were ever paid at all financial opposition to tyranny is apt to be unanimous great battles often leave the world where they found it great transactions of a reign are sometimes paltry things the faithful servant is always a perpetual ass motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley [chapter vi.] orange and count louis in france--peace with the huguenots-- coligny's memoir, presented by request to charles ix., on the subject of invading the netherlands--secret correspondence of orange organized by paul buys--privateering commissions issued by the prince--regulations prescribed by him for the fleets thus created-- impoverished condition of the prince--his fortitude--his personal sacrifices and privations--his generosity--renewed contest between the duke and the estates on the subject of the tenth and twentieth pence--violent disputes in the council--firm opposition of viglius-- edict commanding the immediate collection of the tax--popular tumults--viglius denounced by alva--the duke's fierce complaints to the king--secret schemes of philip against queen elizabeth of england--the ridolphi plot to murder elizabeth countenanced by philip and pius v.--the king's orders to alva to further the plan-- the duke's remonstrances--explosion of the plot--obstinacy of philip--renewed complaints of alva as to the imprudent service required of him--other attempts of philip to murder elizabeth--don john of austria in the levant----battle of lepanto--slothfulness of selim--appointment of medina celi--incessant wrangling in brussels upon the tax--persevering efforts of orange--contempt of alva for the prince--proposed sentence of ignominy against his name--sonoy's mission to germany--remarkable papers issued by the prince--the "harangue"--intense hatred for alva entertained by the highest as well as lower orders--visit of francis de alva to brussels--his unfavourable report to the king--querulous language of the duke-- deputation to spain--universal revolt against the tax--ferocity of alva--execution of eighteen tradesmen secretly ordered--interrupted by the capture of brill--beggars of the sea--the younger wild boar of ardennes--reconciliation between the english government and that of alva--the netherland privateersmen ordered out of english ports-- de la marck's fleet before brill--the town summoned to surrender-- commissioners sent out to the fleet--flight of the magistrates and townspeople--capture of the place--indignation of alva--popular exultation in brussels--puns and caricatures--bossu ordered to recover the town of brill--his defeat--his perfidious entrance into rotterdam--massacre in that city--flushing revolutionized-- unsuccessful attempt of governor de bourgogne to recal the citizens to their obedience--expedition under treslong from brill to assist the town of flushing--murder of paccheco by the patriots--zeraerts appointed governor of walcheren by orange. while such had been the domestic events of the netherlands during the years and , the prince of orange, although again a wanderer, had never allowed himself to despair. during this whole period, the darkest hour for himself and for his country, he was ever watchful. after disbanding his troops at strasburg, and after making the best arrangements possible under the circumstances for the eventual payment of their wages, he had joined the army which the duke of deux ponts had been raising in germany to assist the cause of the huguenots in france. the prince having been forced to acknowledge that, for the moment, all open efforts in the netherlands were likely to be fruitless, instinctively turned his eyes towards the more favorable aspect of the reformation in france. it was inevitable that, while he was thus thrown for the time out of his legitimate employment, he should be led to the battles of freedom in a neighbouring land. the duke of deux ponts, who felt his own military skill hardly adequate to the task which he had assumed, was glad, as it were, to put himself and his army under the orders of orange. meantime the battle of jamac had been fought; the prince of condo, covered with wounds, and exclaiming that it was sweet to die for christ and country, had fallen from his saddle; the whole huguenot army had been routed by the royal forces under the nominal command of anjou, and the body of conde, tied to the back of a she ass, had been paraded through the streets of jarnap in derision. affairs had already grown almost as black for the cause of freedom in france as in the provinces. shortly afterwards william of orange, with a band of twelve hundred horsemen, joined the banners of coligny. his two brothers accompanied him. henry, the stripling, had left the university to follow the fortunes of the prince. the indomitable louis, after seven thousand of his army had been slain, had swum naked across the ems, exclaiming "that his courage, thank god, was as fresh and lively as ever," and had lost not a moment in renewing his hostile schemes against the spanish government. in the meantime he had joined the huguenots in france. the battle of moncontour had succeeded, count peter mansfeld, with five thousand troops sent by alva, fighting on the side of the royalists, and louis nassau on that of the huguenots, atoning by the steadiness and skill with which he covered the retreat, for his intemperate courage, which had precipitated the action, and perhaps been the main cause of coligny's overthrow. the prince of orange, who had been peremptorily called to the netherlands in the beginning of the autumn, was not present at the battle. disguised as a peasant, with but five attendants, and at great peril, he had crossed the enemy's lines, traversed france, and arrived in germany before the winter. count louis remained with the huguenots. so necessary did he seem to their cause, and so dear had he become to their armies, that during the severe illness of coligny in the course of the following summer all eyes were turned upon him as the inevitable successor of that great man, the only remaining pillar of freedom in france. coligny recovered. the deadly peace between the huguenots and the court succeeded. the admiral, despite his sagacity and his suspicions, embarked with his whole party upon that smooth and treacherous current which led to the horrible catastrophe of saint bartholomew. to occupy his attention, a formal engagement was made by the government to send succor to the netherlands. the admiral was to lead the auxiliaries which were to be despatched across the frontier to overthrow the tyrannical government of alva. long and anxious were the colloquies held between coligny and the royalists. the monarch requested a detailed opinion, in writing, from the admiral, on the most advisable plan for invading the netherlands. the result was the preparation of the celebrated memoir, under coligny's directions, by young de mornay, seigneur de plessis. the document was certainly not a paper of the highest order. it did not appeal to the loftier instincts which kings or common mortals might be supposed to possess. it summoned the monarch to the contest in the netherlands that the ancient injuries committed by spain might be avenged. it invoked the ghost of isabella of france, foully murdered, as it was thought, by philip. it held out the prospect of re-annexing the fair provinces, wrested from the king's ancestors by former spanish sovereigns. it painted the hazardous position of philip; with the moorish revolt gnawing at the entrails of his kingdom, with the turkish war consuming its extremities, with the canker of rebellion corroding the very heart of the netherlands. it recalled, with exultation, the melancholy fact that the only natural and healthy existence of the french was in a state of war--that france, if not occupied with foreign campaigns, could not be prevented from plunging its sword into its own vitals. it indulged in refreshing reminiscences of those halcyon days, not long gone by, when france, enjoying perfect tranquillity within its own borders, was calmly and regularly carrying on its long wars beyond the frontier. in spite of this savage spirit, which modern documents, if they did not scorn, would, at least have shrouded, the paper was nevertheless a sagacious one; but the request for the memoir, and the many interviews on the subject of the invasion, were only intended to deceive. they were but the curtain which concealed the preparations for the dark tragedy which was about to be enacted. equally deceived, and more sanguine than ever, louis nassau during this period was indefatigable in his attempts to gain friends for his cause. he had repeated audiences of the king, to whose court he had come in disguise. he made a strong and warm impression upon elizabeth's envoy at the french court, walsingham. it is probable that in the count's impetuosity to carry his point, he allowed more plausibility to be given to certain projects for subdividing the netherlands than his brother would ever have sanctioned. the prince was a total stranger to these inchoate schemes. his work was to set his country free, and to destroy the tyranny which had grown colossal. that employment was sufficient for a lifetime, and there is no proof to be found that a paltry and personal self-interest had even the lowest place among his motives. meantime, in the autumn of , orange had again reached germany. paul buys, pensionary of leyden, had kept him constantly informed of the state of affairs in the provinces. through his means an extensive correspondence was organized and maintained with leading persons in every part of the netherlands. the conventional terms by which different matters and persons of importance were designated in these letters were familiarly known to all friends of the cause, not only in the provinces, but in france, england, germany, and particularly in the great commercial cities. the prince, for example, was always designated as martin willemzoon, the duke of alva as master powels van alblas, the queen of england as henry philipzoon, the king of denmark as peter peterson. the twelve signs of the zodiac were used instead of the twelve months, and a great variety of similar substitutions were adopted. before his visit to france, orange had, moreover, issued commissions, in his capacity of sovereign, to various seafaring persons, who were empowered to cruise against spanish commerce. the "beggars of the sea," as these privateersmen designated themselves, soon acquired as terrible a name as the wild beggars, or the forest beggars; but the prince, having had many conversations with admiral coligny on the important benefits to be derived from the system, had faithfully set himself to effect a reformation of its abuses after his return from france. the seigneur de dolhain, who, like many other refugee nobles, had acquired much distinction in this roving corsair life, had for a season acted as admiral for the prince. he had, however, resolutely declined to render any accounts of his various expeditions, and was now deprived of his command in consequence. gillain de fiennes, seigneur de lumbres, was appointed to succeed him. at the same time strict orders were issued by orange, forbidding all hostile measures against the emperor or any of the princes of the empire, against sweden, denmark, england, or against any potentates who were protectors of the true christian religion. the duke of alva and his adherents were designated as the only lawful antagonists. the prince, moreover, gave minute instructions as to the discipline to be observed in his fleet. the articles of war were to be strictly enforced. each commander was to maintain a minister on board his ship, who was to preach god's word, and to preserve christian piety among the crew. no one was to exercise any command in the fleet save native netherlanders, unless thereto expressly commissioned by the prince of orange. all prizes were to be divided and distributed by a prescribed rule. no persons were to be received on board, either as sailors or soldiers, save "folk of goad name and fame." no man who had ever been punished of justice was to be admitted. such were the principal features in the organization of that infant navy which, in course of this and the following centuries, was to achieve so many triumphs, and to which a powerful and adventurous mercantile marine had already led the way. "of their ships," said cardinal bentivoglio, "the hollanders make houses, of their houses schools. here they are born, here educated, here they learn their profession. their sailors, flying from one pale to the other, practising their art wherever the sun displays itself to mortals, become so skilful that they can scarcely be equalled, certainly not surpassed; by any nation in the civilized world." the prince, however, on his return from france, had never been in so forlorn a condition. "orange is plainly perishing," said one of the friends of the cause. not only had he no funds to organize new levies, but he was daily exposed to the most clamorously-urged claims, growing out of the army which he had been recently obliged to disband. it had been originally reported in the netherlands that he had fallen in the battle of moncontour. "if he have really been taken off," wrote viglius, hardly daring to credit the great news, "we shall all of us have less cause to tremble." after his actual return, however, lean and beggared, with neither money nor credit, a mere threatening shadow without substance or power, he seemed to justify the sarcasm of granvelle. "vana sine viribus ira," quoted the cardinal, and of a verity it seemed that not a man was likely to stir in germany in his behalf, now that so deep a gloom had descended upon his cause. the obscure and the oppressed throughout the provinces and germany still freely contributed out of their weakness and their poverty, and taxed themselves beyond their means to assist enterprizes for the relief of the netherlands. the great ones of the earth, however, those on whom the prince had relied; those to whom he had given his heart; dukes, princes, and electors, in this fatal change of his fortunes fell away like water. still his spirit was unbroken. his letters showed a perfect appreciation of his situation, and of that to which his country was reduced; but they never exhibited a trace of weakness or despair. a modest, but lofty courage; a pious, but unaffected resignation, breathed through--every document, public or private, which fell from his pen during this epoch. he wrote to his brother john that he was quite willing to go, to frankfort, in order to give himself up as a hostage to his troops for the payment of their arrears. at the same time he begged his brother to move heaven and earth to raise at least one hundred thousand thalers. if he could only furnish them with a month's pay, the soldiers would perhaps be for a time contented. he gave directions also concerning the disposition of what remained of his plate and furniture, the greater part of it having been already sold and expended in the cause. he thought it would, on the whole, be better to have the remainder sold, piece by piece, at the fair. more money would be raised by that course than by a more wholesale arrangement. he was now obliged to attend personally to the most minute matters of domestic economy. the man who been the mate of emperors, who was himself a sovereign, had lived his life long in pomp and luxury, surrounded by countless nobles, pages, men-at-arms, and menials, now calmly accepted the position of an outlaw and an exile. he cheerfully fulfilled tasks which had formerly devolved upon his grooms and valets. there was an almost pathetic simplicity in the homely details of an existence which, for the moment, had become so obscure and so desperate. "send by the bearer," he wrote, "the little hackney given me by the admiral; send also my two pair of trunk hose; one pair is at the tailor's to be mended, the other, pair you will please order to be taken from the things which i wore lately at dillenburg. they lie on the table with my accoutrements. if the little hackney be not in condition, please send the grey horse with the cropped ears and tail." he was always mindful, however, not only of the great cause to which he had devoted himself, but of the wants experienced by individuals who had done him service. he never forgot his friends. in the depth of his own misery he remembered favors received from humble persons. "send a little cup, worth at least a hundred florins, to hartmann wolf," he wrote to his brother; "you can take as much silver out of the coffer, in which there is still some of my chapel service remaining."--"you will observe that affenstein is wanting a horse," he wrote on another occasion; "please look him out one, and send it to me with the price. i will send you the money. since he has shown himself so willing in the cause, one ought to do something for him." the contest between the duke and the estates, on the subject of the tenth and twentieth penny had been for a season adjusted. the two years' term, however, during which it had been arranged that the tax should be commuted, was to expire in the autumn of . early therefore in this year the disputes were renewed with greater acrimony than ever. the estates felt satisfied that the king was less eager than the viceroy. viglius was satisfied that the power of alva was upon the wane. while the king was not likely openly to rebuke his recent measures, it seemed not improbable that the governor's reiterated requests to be recalled might be granted. fortified by these considerations, the president, who had so long been the supple tool of the tyrant, suddenly assumed the character of a popular tribune. the wranglings, the contradictions, the vituperations, the threatenings, now became incessant in the council. the duke found that he had exulted prematurely, when he announced to the king the triumphant establishment, in perpetuity, of the lucrative tax. so far from all the estates having given their consent, as he had maintained, and as he had written to philip, it now appeared that not one of those bodies considered itself bound beyond its quota for the two years. this was formally stated in the council by berlaymont and other members. the wrath of the duke blazed forth at this announcement. he berated berlaymont for maintaining, or for allowing it to be maintained, that the consent of the orders had ever been doubtful. he protested that they had as unequivocally agreed to the perpetual imposition of the tag as he to its commutation during two years. he declared, however, that he was sick of quotas. the tax should now be collected forthwith, and treasurer schetz was ordered to take his measures accordingly. at a conference on the th may, the duke asked viglius for his opinion. the president made a long reply, taking the ground that the consent of the orders had been only conditional, and appealing to such members of the finance council as were present to confirm his assertion. it was confirmed by all. the duke, in a passion, swore that those who dared maintain such a statement should be chastised. viglius replied that it had always been the custom for councillors to declare their opinion, and that they had never before been threatened with such consequences. if such, however, were his excellency's sentiments, councillors had better stay at home, hold their tongues, and so avoid chastisement. the duke, controlling himself a little, apologized for this allusion to chastisement, a menace which he disclaimed having intended with reference to councillors whom he had always commended to the king, and of whom his majesty had so high an opinion. at a subsequent meeting the duke took viglius aside, and assured him that he was quite of his own way of thinking. for certain reasons, however, he expressed himself as unwilling that the rest of the council should be aware of the change in his views. he wished, he said, to dissemble. the astute president, for a moment, could not imagine the governor's drift. he afterwards perceived that the object of this little piece of deception had been to close his mouth. the duke obviously conjectured that the president, lulled into security, by this secret assurance, would be silent; that the other councillors, believing the president to have adopted the governor's views, would alter their opinions; and that the opposition of the estates, thus losing its support in the council, would likewise very soon be abandoned. the president, however, was not to be entrapped by this falsehood. he resolutely maintained his hostility to the tax, depending for his security on the royal opinion, the popular feeling, and the judgment of his colleagues. the daily meetings of the board were almost entirely occupied by this single subject. although since the arrival of alva the council of blood had usurped nearly all the functions of the state and finance-councils, yet there now seemed a disposition on the part of alva to seek the countenance, even while he spurned the authority, of other functionaries. he found, however, neither sympathy nor obedience. the president stoutly told him that he was endeavouring to swim against the stream, that the tax was offensive to the people, and that the voice of the people was the voice of god. on the last day of july, however, the duke issued an edict, by which summary collection of the tenth and twentieth pence was ordered. the whole country was immediately in uproar. the estates of every province, the assemblies of every city, met and remonstrated. the merchants suspended all business, the petty dealers shut up their shops. the people congregated together in masses, vowing resistance to the illegal and cruel impost. not a farthing was collected. the "seven stiver people", spies of government, who for that paltry daily stipend were employed to listen for treason in every tavern, in every huckster's booth, in every alley of every city, were now quite unable to report all the curses which were hourly heard uttered against the tyranny of the viceroy. evidently, his power was declining. the councillors resisted him, the common people almost defied him. a mercer to whom he was indebted for thirty thousand florins' worth of goods, refused to open his shop, lest the tax should be collected on his merchandize. the duke confiscated his debt, as the mercer had foreseen, but this being a pecuniary sacrifice, seemed preferable to acquiescence in a measure so vague and so boundless that it might easily absorb the whole property of the country. no man saluted the governor as he passed through the streets. hardly an attempt was made by the people to disguise their abhorrence of his person: alva, on his side, gave daily exhibitions of ungovernable fury. at a council held on th september, , he stated that the king had ordered the immediate enforcement of the edict. viglius observed that there were many objections to its form. he also stoutly denied that the estates had ever given their consent. alva fiercely asked the president if he had not himself once maintained that the consent had been granted! viglius replied that he had never made such an assertion. he had mentioned the conditions and the implied promises on the part of government, by which a partial consent had been extorted. he never could have said that the consent had been accorded, for he had never believed that it could be obtained. he had not proceeded far in his argument when he was interrupted by the duke--"but you said so, you said so, you said so," cried the exasperated governor, in a towering passion, repeating many times this flat contradiction to the president's statements. viglius firmly stood his ground. alva loudly denounced him for the little respect he had manifested for his authority. he had hitherto done the president good offices, he said, with his majesty, but certainly should not feel justified in concealing his recent and very unhandsome conduct. viglius replied that he had always reverently cherished the governor, and had endeavoured to merit his favor by diligent obsequiousness. he was bound by his oath, however; to utter in council that which comported with his own sentiments and his majesty's interests. he had done this heretofore in presence of emperors, kings, queens, and regents, and they had not taken offence. he did not, at this hour, tremble for his grey head, and hoped his majesty would grant him a hearing before condemnation. the firm attitude of the president increased the irritation of the viceroy. observing that he knew the proper means of enforcing his authority he dismissed the meeting. immediately afterwards, he received the visits of his son, don frederic of vargas, and other familiars. to these he recounted the scene which had taken place, raving the while so ferociously against viglius as to induce the supposition that something serious was intended against him. the report flew from mouth to mouth. the affair became the town talk, so that, in the words of the president, it was soon discussed by every barber and old woman in brussels. his friends became alarmed for his safety, while, at the same time, the citizens rejoiced that their cause had found so powerful an advocate. nothing, however, came of these threats and these explosions. on the contrary, shortly afterwards the duke gave orders that the tenth penny should be remitted upon four great articles-corn, meat, wine, and beer. it was also not to be levied upon raw materials used in manufactures. certainly, these were very important concessions. still the constitutional objections remained. alva could not be made to understand why the alcabala, which was raised without difficulty in the little town of alva, should encounter such fierce opposition in the netherlands. the estates, he informed the king, made a great deal of trouble. they withheld their consent at command of their satrap. the motive which influenced the leading men was not the interest of factories or fisheries, but the fear that for the future they might not be able to dictate the law to their sovereign. the people of that country, he observed, had still the same character which had been described by julius caesar. the duke, however, did not find much sympathy at madrid. courtiers and councillors had long derided his schemes. as for the king, his mind was occupied with more interesting matters. philip lived but to enforce what he chose to consider the will of god. while the duke was fighting this battle with the netherland constitutionalists, his master had engaged at home in a secret but most comprehensive scheme. this was a plot to assassinate queen elizabeth of england, and to liberate mary queen of scots, who was to be placed on the throne in her stead. this project, in which was of course involved the reduction of england under the dominion of the ancient church, could not but prove attractive to philip. it included a conspiracy against a friendly sovereign, immense service to the church, and a murder. his passion for intrigue, his love of god, and his hatred of man, would all be gratified at once. thus, although the moorish revolt within the heart of his kingdom had hardly been terminated--although his legions and his navies were at that instant engaged in a contest of no ordinary importance with the turkish empire--although the netherlands, still maintaining their hostility and their hatred, required the flower of the spanish army to compel their submission, he did not hesitate to accept the dark adventure which was offered to him by ignoble hands. one ridolfi, a florentine, long resident in england, had been sent to the netherlands as secret agent of the duke of norfolk. alva read his character immediately, and denounced him to philip as a loose, prating creature, utterly unfit to be entrusted with affairs of importance. philip, however, thinking more of the plot than of his fellow-actors, welcomed the agent of the conspiracy to madrid, listened to his disclosures attentively, and, without absolutely committing himself by direct promises, dismissed him with many expressions of encouragement. on the th of july, , philip wrote to the duke of alva, giving an account of his interview with roberto ridolfi. the envoy, after relating the sufferings of the queen of scotland, had laid before him a plan for her liberation. if the spanish monarch were willing to assist the duke of norfolk and his friends, it would be easy to put upon mary's head the crown of england. she was then to intermarry with norfolk. the kingdom of england was again to acknowledge the authority of rome, and the catholic religion to be everywhere restored. the most favorable moment for the execution of the plan would be in august or september. as queen elizabeth would at that season quit london for the country, an opportunity would be easily found for seizing and murdering her. pius v., to whom ridolfi had opened the whole matter, highly approved the scheme, and warmly urged philip's cooperation. poor and ruined as he was himself; the pope protested that he was ready to sell his chalices, and even his own vestments, to provide funds for the cause. philip had replied that few words were necessary to persuade him. his desire to see the enterprize succeed was extreme, notwithstanding the difficulties by which it was surrounded. he would reflect earnestly upon the subject, in the hope that god, whose cause it was, would enlighten and assist him. thus much he had stated to ridolfi, but he had informed his council afterwards that he was determined to carry out the scheme by certain means of which the duke would soon be informed. the end proposed was to kill or to capture elizabeth, to set at liberty the queen of scotland, and to put upon her head the crown of england. in this enterprize he instructed the duke of alva secretly to assist, without however resorting to open hostilities in his own name or in that of his sovereign. he desired to be informed how many spaniards the duke could put at the disposition of the conspirators. they had asked for six thousand arquebusiers for england, two thousand for scotland, two thousand for ireland. besides these troops, the viceroy was directed to provide immediately four thousand arquebuses and two thousand corslets. for the expenses of the enterprize philip would immediately remit two hundred thousand crowns. alva was instructed to keep the affair a profound secret from his councillors. even hopper at madrid knew nothing of the matter, while the king had only expressed himself in general terms to the nuncio and to ridolfi, then already on his way to the netherlands. the king concluded his letter by saying, that from what he had now written with his own hand, the duke could infer how much he had this affair at heart. it was unnecessary for him to say more, persuaded as he was that the duke would take as profound an interest in it as himself. alva perceived all the rashness of the scheme, and felt how impossible it would be for him to comply with philip's orders. to send an army from the netherlands into england for the purpose of dethroning and killing a most popular sovereign, and at the same time to preserve the most amicable relations with the country, was rather a desperate undertaking. a force of ten thousand spaniards, under chiappin vitelli, and other favorite officers of the duke, would hardly prove a trifle to be overlooked, nor would their operations be susceptible of very friendly explanations. the governor therefore, assured philip that he "highly applauded his master for his plot. he could not help rendering infinite thanks to god for having made him vassal to such a prince." he praised exceedingly the resolution which his majesty had taken. after this preamble, however, he proceeded to pour cold water upon his sovereign's ardor. he decidedly expressed the opinion that philip should not proceed in such an undertaking until at any rate the party of the duke of norfolk had obtained possession of elizabeth's person. should the king declare himself prematurely, he might be sure that the venetians, breaking off their alliance with him, would make their peace with the turk; and that elizabeth would, perhaps, conclude that marriage with the duke of alencon which now seemed but a pleasantry. moreover, he expressed his want of confidence in the duke of norfolk, whom he considered as a poor creature with but little courage. he also expressed his doubts concerning the prudence and capacity of don gueran de espes, his majesty's ambassador at london. it was not long before these machinations became known in england. the queen of scots was guarded more closely than ever, the duke of norfolk was arrested; yet philip, whose share in the conspiracy had remained a secret, was not discouraged by the absolute explosion of the whole affair. he still held to an impossible purpose with a tenacity which resembled fatuity. he avowed that his obligations in the sight of god were so strict that he was still determined to proceed in the sacred cause. he remitted, therefore, the promised funds to the duke of alva, and urged him to act with proper secrecy and promptness. the viceroy was not a little perplexed by these remarkable instructions. none but lunatics could continue to conspire, after the conspiracy had been exposed and the conspirators arrested. yet this was what his catholic majesty expected of his governor-general. alva complained, not unreasonably, of the contradictory demands to which he was subjected. he was to cause no rupture with england, yet he was to send succor to an imprisoned traitor; he was to keep all his operations secret from his council, yet he was to send all his army out of the country, and to organize an expensive campaign. he sneered: at the flippancy of ridolfi, who imagined that it was the work of a moment to seize the queen of england, to liberate the queen of scotland, to take possession of the tower of london, and to burn the fleet in the thames. "were your majesty and the queen of england acting together," he observed, "it would be impossible to execute the plan proposed by ridolfi." the chief danger to be apprehended was from france and germany. were those countries not to interfere, he would undertake to make philip sovereign of england before the winter. their opposition, however, was sufficient to make the enterprise not only difficult, but impossible. he begged his, master not to be precipitate in the most important affair which had been negotiated by man since christ came upon earth. nothing less, he said, than the existence of the christian faith was at stake, for, should his majesty fail in this undertaking, not one stone of the ancient religion would be left upon another. he again warned the king of the contemptible character, of ridolfi, who had spoken of the affair so freely that it was a common subject of discussion on the bourse, at antwerp, and he reiterated, in all his letters his distrust of the parties prominently engaged in the transaction. such was the general, tenor of the long despatches exchanged between the king and the duke of alva upon this iniquitous scheme. the duke showed himself reluctant throughout the whole affair, although he certainly never opposed his master's project by any arguments founded upon good faith, christian charity, or the sense of honor. to kill the queen of england, subvert the laws of her realm, burn her fleets, and butcher her subjects, while the mask of amity and entire consideration was sedulously preserved--all these projects were admitted to be strictly meritorious in themselves, although objections were taken as to the time and mode of execution. alva never positively refused to accept his share in the enterprise, but he took care not to lift his finger till the catastrophe in england had made all attempts futile. philip, on the other hand, never positively withdrew from the conspiracy, but, after an infinite deal of writing and intriguing, concluded by leaving the whole affair in the hands of alva. the only sufferer for philip's participation in the plot was the spanish envoy at london, don gueran de espes. this gentleman was formally dismissed by queen elizabeth, for having given treacherous and hostile advice to the duke of alva and to philip; but her majesty at the same time expressed the most profound consideration for her brother of spain. towards the close of the same year, however (december, ); alva sent two other italian assassins to england, bribed by the promise of vast rewards, to attempt the life of elizabeth, quietly, by poison or otherwise. the envoy, mondoucet, in apprizing the french monarch of this scheme, added that the duke was so ulcerated and annoyed by the discovery of the previous enterprise, that nothing could exceed his rage. these ruffians were not destined to success, but the attempts of the duke upon the queen's life were renewed from time to time. eighteen months later (august, ), two scotchmen, pensioners of philip, came from spain, with secret orders to consult with alva. they had accordingly much negotiation with the duke and his secretary, albornoz. they boasted that they could easily capture elizabeth, but said that the king's purpose was to kill her. the plan, wrote mondoucet, was the same as it had been before, namely, to murder the queen of england, and to give her crown to mary of scotland, who would thus be in their power, and whose son was to be seized, and bestowed in marriage in such a way as to make them perpetual masters of both kingdoms. it does not belong to this history to discuss the merits, nor to narrate the fortunes, of that bickering and fruitless alliance which had been entered into at this period by philip with venice and the holy see against the turk. the revolt of granada had at last, after a two years' struggle, been subdued, and the remnants of the romantic race which had once swayed the peninsula been swept into slavery. the moors had sustained the unequal conflict with a constancy not to have been expected of so gentle a people. "if a nation meek as lambs could resist so bravely," said the prince of orange, "what ought not to be expected of a hardy people like the netherlanders?" don john of austria having concluded a series of somewhat inglorious forays against women, children, and bed-ridden old men in andalusia and granada; had arrived, in august of this year, at naples, to take command of the combined fleet in the levant. the battle of lepanto had been fought, but the quarrelsome and contradictory conduct of the allies had rendered the splendid victory as barren as the waves: upon which it had been won. it was no less true, however, that the blunders of the infidels had previously enabled philip to extricate himself with better success from the dangers of the moorish revolt than might have been his fortune. had the rebels succeeded in holding granada and the mountains of andalusia, and had they been supported, as they had a right to expect, by the forces of the sultan, a different aspect might have been given to the conflict, and one far less triumphant for spain. had a prince of vigorous ambition and comprehensive policy governed at that moment the turkish empire; it would have cost philip a serious struggle to maintain himself in his hereditary dominions. while he was plotting against the life and throne of elizabeth, he might have had cause to tremble for his own. fortunately, however, for his catholic majesty, selim was satisfied to secure himself in the possession of the isle of venus, with its fruitful vineyards. "to shed the blood" of cyprian vines, in which he was so enthusiastic a connoisseur, was to him a more exhilarating occupation than to pursue, amid carnage and hardships, the splendid dream of a re-established eastern caliphate. on the th sept. , a commission of governor-general of the netherlands was at last issued to john de la cerda, duke of medina coeli. philip, in compliance with the duke's repeated requests, and perhaps not entirely satisfied with the recent course of events in the provinces, had at last, after great hesitation, consented to alva's resignation. his successor; however, was not immediately to take his departure, and in the meantime the duke was instructed to persevere in his faithful services. these services had, for the present, reduced themselves to a perpetual and not very triumphant altercation with his council, with the estates, and with the people, on the subject of his abominable tax. he was entirely alone. they who had stood unflinchingly at his side when the only business of the administration was to burn heretics, turned their backs upon him now that he had engaged in this desperate conflict with. the whole money power of the country. the king was far from cordial in his support, the councillors much too crafty to retain their hold upon the wheel, to which they had only attached themselves in its ascent. viglius and berlaymont; noircarmes and aerschot, opposed and almost defied the man they now thought sinking, and kept the king constantly informed of the vast distress which the financial measures of the duke were causing. quite, at the close of the year, an elaborate petition from the estates of brabant was read before the state council. it contained a strong remonstrance against the tenth penny. its repeal was strongly urged, upon the ground that its collection would involve the country in universal ruin. upon this, alva burst forth in one of the violent explosions of rage to which he was subject. the prosperity of the netherlands, he protested, was not dearer to the inhabitants than to himself. he swore by the cross, and by the most holy of holies, preserved in the church of saint gudule, that had he been but a private individual, living in spain, he would, out of the love he bore the provinces, have rushed to their defence had their safety been endangered. he felt therefore deeply wounded that malevolent persons should thus insinuate that he had even wished to injure the country, or to exercise tyranny over its citizens. the tenth penny, he continued, was necessary to the defence of the land, and was much preferable to quotas. it was highly improper that every man in the rabble should know how much was contributed, because each individual, learning the gross amount, would imagine that he, had paid it all himself. in conclusion, he observed that, broken in health and stricken in years as he felt himself, he was now most anxious to return, and was daily looking with eagerness for the arrival of the duke of medina coeli. during the course of this same year, the prince of orange had been continuing his preparations. he had sent his agents to every place where a hope was held out to him of obtaining support. money was what he was naturally most anxious to obtain from individuals; open and warlike assistance what he demanded from governments. his funds, little by little, were increasing, owing to the generosity of many obscure persons, and to the daring exploits of the beggars of the sea. his mission, however, to the northern courts had failed. his envoys had been received in sweden and denmark with barren courtesy. the duke of alva, on the other hand, never alluded to the prince but with contempt; knowing not that the ruined outlaw was slowly undermining the very ground beneath the monarch's feet; dreaming not that the feeble strokes which he despised were the opening blows of a century's conflict; foreseeing not that long before its close the chastised province was to expand into a great republic, and that the name of the outlaw was to become almost divine. granvelle had already recommended that the young count de buren should be endowed with certain lands in spain, in exchange for his hereditary estates, in order that the name and fame of the rebel william should be forever extinguished in the netherlands. with the same view, a new sentence against the prince of orange was now proposed by the viceroy. this was, to execute him solemnly in effigy, to drag his escutcheon through the streets at the tails of horses, and after having broken it in pieces, and thus cancelled his armorial bearings, to declare him and his descendants, ignoble, infamous, and incapable of holding property or estates. could a leaf or two of future history have been unrolled to king, cardinal, and governor, they might have found the destined fortune of the illustrious rebel's house not exactly in accordance with the plan of summary extinction thus laid down. not discouraged, the prince continued to send his emissaries in every direction. diedrich sonoy, his most trustworthy agent, who had been chief of the legation to the northern courts, was now actively canvassing the governments and peoples of, germany with the same object. several remarkable papers from the hand of orange were used upon this service. a letter, drawn up and signed by his own hand, recited; in brief and striking language, the history of his campaign in , and of his subsequent efforts in the sacred cause. it was now necessary, he said, that others besides himself should partake of his sacrifices. this he stated plainly and eloquently. the document was in truth a letter asking arms for liberty. "for although all things," said the prince, "are in the hand of god, and although he has created all things out of nought, yet hath he granted to different men different means, whereby, as with various instruments, he accomplishes his, almighty purposes. thereto hath he endowed some with strength of body, others with worldly wealth, others with still different gifts, all of which are to be used by their possessors to his honor and glory, if they wish not to incur the curse of the unworthy steward, who buried his talent in the earth..... now ye may easily see," he continued, "that the prince cannot carry out this great work alone, having lost land, people, and goods, and having already employed in the cause all which had remained to him, besides incurring heavy obligations in addition." similar instructions were given to other agents, and a paper called the harangue, drawn up according to his suggestions, was also extensively circulated. this document is important to all who are interested in his history and character. he had not before issued a missive so stamped with the warm, religious impress of the reforming party. sadly, but without despondency, the harangue recalled the misfortunes of the past; and depicted the gloom of the present. earnestly, but not fanatically, it stimulated hope and solicited aid for the future. "although the appeals made to the prince," so ran a part of the document, "be of diverse natures, and various in their recommendations, yet do they all tend to the advancement of god's glory, and to the liberation of the fatherland. this it is which enables him and those who think with him to endure hunger; thirst, cold, heat, and all the misfortunes which heaven may send...... our enemies spare neither their money nor their labor; will ye be colder and duller than your foes? let, then, each church congregation set an example to the others. we read that king saul, when he would liberate the men of jabez from the hands of nahad, the ammonite, hewed a yoke of oxen in pieces, and sent them as tokens over all israel, saying, 'ye who will not follow saul and samuel, with them shall be dealt even as with these oxen. and the fear of the lord came upon the people, they came forth, and the men of jabez were delivered.' ye have here the same warning, look to it, watch well ye that despise it, lest the wrath of god, which the men of israel by their speedy obedience escaped, descend upon your heads. ye may say that ye are banished men. 'tis true: but thereby are ye not stripped of all faculty of rendering service; moreover, your assistance is asked for one who will restore ye to your homes. ye may say that ye have been robbed of all your goods; yet many of you have still something remaining, and of that little ye should contribute, each his mite. ye say that you have given much already. 'tis true, but the enemy is again in the field; fierce for your subjugation, sustained by the largess of his supporters. will ye be less courageous, less generous, than your foes." these urgent appeals did not remain fruitless. the strength of the prince was slowly but steadily increasing. meantime the abhorrence with which alva was universally regarded had nearly reached to frenzy. in the beginning of the year , don francis de alava, philip's ambassador in france, visited brussels. he had already been enlightened as to the consequences of the duke's course by the immense immigration of netherland refugees to france, which he had witnessed with his own eyes. on his journey towards brussels he had been met near cambray by noircarmes. even that "cruel animal," as hoogstraaten had called him, the butcher of tournay and valenciennes, had at last been roused to alarm, if not to pity, by the sufferings of the country. "the duke will never disabuse his mind of this filthy tenth penny," said he to alava. he sprang from his chair with great emotion as the ambassador alluded to the flight of merchants and artisans from the provinces. "senor don francis," cried he, "there are ten thousand more who are on the point of leaving the country, if the governor does not pause in his career. god grant that no disaster arise beyond human power to remedy." the ambassador arrived in brussels, and took up his lodgings in the palace. here he found the duke just recovering from a fit of the gout, in a state of mind sufficiently savage. he became much excited as don francis began to speak of the emigration, and he assured him that there was gross deception on the subject. the envoy replied that he could not be mistaken, for it was a matter which, so to speak, he had touched with his own fingers, and seen with his own eyes. the duke, persisting that don francis had been abused and misinformed, turned the conversation to other topics. next day the ambassador received visits from berlaymont and his son, the seigneur de hierges. he was taken aside by each of them, separately. "thank god, you have come hither," said they, in nearly the same words, "that you may fully comprehend the condition of the provinces, and without delay admonish his majesty of the impending danger." all his visitors expressed the same sentiments. don frederic of toledo furnished the only exception, assuring the envoy that his father's financial measures were opposed by noircarmes and others, only because it deprived them of their occupation and their influence. this dutiful language, however, was to be expected in one of whom secretary albornoz had written, that he was the greatest comfort to his father, and the most divine genius ever known. it was unfortunately corroborated by no other inhabitant of the country. on the third day, don francis went to take his leave. the duke begged him to inform his majesty of the impatience with which he was expecting the arrival of his successor. he then informed his guest that they had already begun to collect the tenth penny in brabant, the most obstinate of all the provinces. "what do you say to that, don francis?" he cried, with exultation. alava replied that he thought, none the less, that the tax would encounter many obstacles, and begged him earnestly to reflect. he assured him, moreover, that he should, without reserve, express his opinions fully to the king. the duke used the same language which don frederic had held, concerning the motives of those who opposed the tax. "it may be so," said don francis, "but at any rate, all have agreed to sing to the same tune." a little startled, the duke rejoined, "do you doubt that the cities will keep their promises? depend upon it, i shall find the means to compel them." "god grant it may be so," said alava, "but in my poor judgment you will have need of all your prudence and of all your authority." the ambassador did not wait till he could communicate with his sovereign by word of mouth. he forwarded to spain an ample account of his observations and deductions. he painted to philip in lively colors the hatred entertained by all men for the duke. the whole nation, he assured his majesty, united in one cry, "let him begone, let him begone, let him begone!" as for the imposition of the tenth penny, that, in the opinion of don francis, was utterly impossible. he moreover warned his majesty that alva was busy in forming secret alliances with the catholic princes of europe, which would necessarily lead to defensive leagues among the protestants. while thus, during the earlier part of the year , the prince of orange, discouraged by no defeats, was indefatigable in his exertions to maintain the cause of liberty, and while at the same time the most stanch supporters of arbitrary power were unanimous in denouncing to philip the insane conduct of his viceroy, the letters of alva himself were naturally full of complaints and expostulations. it was in vain, he said, for him to look for a confidential councillor, now that matters which he had wished to be kept so profoundly secret that the very earth should not hear of them, had been proclaimed aloud above the tiles of every housetop. nevertheless, he would be cut into little pieces but his majesty should be obeyed, while he remained alive to enforce the royal commands. there were none who had been ever faithful but berlaymont, he said, and even he had been neutral in the affair of the tax. he had rendered therein neither good nor bad offices, but, as his majesty was aware, berlaymont was entirely ignorant of business, and "knew nothing more than to be a good fellow." that being the case, he recommended hierges, son of the "good fellow," as a proper person to be governor of friesland. the deputations appointed by the different provinces to confer personally with the king received a reprimand upon their arrival, for having dared to come to spain without permission. farther punishment, however, than this rebuke was not inflicted. they were assured that the king was highly displeased with their venturing to bring remonstrances against the tax, but they were comforted with the assurance that his majesty would take the subject of their petition into consideration. thus, the expectations of alva were disappointed, for the tenth penny was not formally confirmed; and the hopes of the provinces frustrated, because it was not distinctly disavowed. matters had reached another crisis in the provinces. "had we money now," wrote the prince of orange, "we should, with the help of god, hope to effect something. this is a time when, with even small sums, more can be effected than at other seasons with ampler funds." the citizens were in open revolt against the tax. in order that the tenth penny should not be levied upon every sale of goods, the natural but desperate remedy was adopted--no goods were sold at all. not only the wholesale commerce oh the provinces was suspended, but the minute and indispensable traffic of daily life was entirely at a stand. the shops were all shut. "the brewers," says a contemporary, "refused to brew, the bakers to bake, the tapsters to tap." multitudes, thrown entirely out of employment, and wholly dependent upon charity, swarmed in every city. the soldiery, furious for their pay, which alva had for many months neglected to furnish, grew daily more insolent; the citizens, maddened by outrage and hardened by despair, became more and more obstinate in their resistance; while the duke, rendered inflexible by opposition and insane by wrath, regarded the ruin which he had caused with a malignant spirit which had long ceased to be human. "the disease is gnawing at our vitals," wrote viglius; "everybody is suffering for the want of the necessaries of life. multitudes are in extreme and hopeless poverty. my interest in the welfare of the commonwealth," he continued, "induces me to send these accounts to spain. for myself, i fear nothing. broken by sickness and acute physical suffering, i should leave life without regret." the aspect of the capital was that of a city stricken with the plague. articles of the most absolute necessity could not be obtained. it was impossible to buy bread, or meat, or beer. the tyrant, beside himself with rage at being thus braved in his very lair, privately sent for master carl, the executioner. in order to exhibit an unexpected and salutary example, he had determined to hang eighteen of the leading tradesmen of the city in the doors of their own shops, with the least possible delay and without the slightest form of trial. master carl was ordered, on the very night of his interview with the duke, to prepare eighteen strong cords, and eighteen ladders twelve feet in length. by this simple arrangement, alva was disposed to make manifest on the morrow, to the burghers of brussels, that justice was thenceforth to be carried to every man's door. he supposed that the spectacle of a dozen and a half of butchers and bakers suspended in front of the shops which they had refused to open, would give a more effective stimulus to trade than any to be expected from argument or proclamation. the hangman was making ready his cords and ladders; don frederic of toledo was closeted with president viglius, who, somewhat against his will, was aroused at midnight to draw the warrants for these impromptu executions; alva was waiting with grim impatience for the dawn upon which the show was to be exhibited, when an unforeseen event suddenly arrested the homely tragedy. in the night arrived the intelligence that the town of brill had been captured. the duke, feeling the full gravity of the situation, postponed the chastisement which he had thus secretly planned to a more convenient season, in order without an instant's hesitation to avert the consequences of this new movement on the part of the rebels. the seizure of brill was the deus ex machina which unexpectedly solved both the inextricable knot of the situation and the hangman's noose. allusion has more than once been made to those formidable partisans of the patriot cause, the marine outlaws. cheated of half their birthright by nature, and now driven forth from their narrow isthmus by tyranny, the exiled hollanders took to the ocean. its boundless fields, long arable to their industry, became fatally fruitful now that oppression was transforming a peaceful seafaring people into a nation of corsairs. driven to outlawry and poverty, no doubt many netherlanders plunged into crime. the patriot party had long sine laid aside the respectful deportment which had provoked the sarcasms of the loyalists. the beggars of the sea asked their alms through the mouths of their cannon. unfortunately, they but too often made their demands upon both friend and foe. every ruined merchant, every banished lord, every reckless mariner, who was willing to lay the commercial world under contribution to repair his damaged fortunes, could, without much difficulty, be supplied with a vessel and crew at some northern port, under color of cruising against the viceroy's government. nor was the ostensible motive simply a pretext. to make war upon alva was the leading object of all these freebooters, and they were usually furnished by the prince of orange, in his capacity of sovereign, with letters of marque for that purpose. the prince, indeed, did his utmost to control and direct an evil which had inevitably grown out of the horrors of the time. his admiral, william de la marck, was however, incapable of comprehending the lofty purposes of his superior. a wild, sanguinary, licentious noble, wearing his hair and beard unshorn, according to ancient batavian custom, until the death of his relative, egmont, should have been expiated, a worthy descendant of the wild boar of ardennes, this hirsute and savage corsair seemed an embodiment of vengeance. he had sworn to wreak upon alva and upon popery the deep revenge owed to them by the netherland nobility, and in the cruelties afterwards practised by him upon monks and priests, the blood council learned that their example had made at least one ripe scholar among the rebels. he was lying, at this epoch, with his fleet on the southern coast of england, from which advantageous position he was now to be ejected in a summary manner. the negotiations between the duke of alva and queen elizabeth had already assumed an amicable tone, and were fast ripening to an adjustment. it lay by no means in that sovereign's disposition to involve herself at this juncture in a war with philip, and it was urged upon her government by alva's commissioners, that the continued countenance afforded by the english people to the netherland cruisers must inevitably lead to that result. in the latter days of march, therefore, a sentence of virtual excommunication was pronounced against de la marck and his rovers. a peremptory order of elizabeth forbade any of her subjects to supply them with meat, bread, or beer. the command being strictly complied with, their farther stay was rendered impossible. twenty-four vessels accordingly, of various sizes, commanded by de la marck, treslong, adam van harem, brand, and other distinguished seamen, set sail from dover in the very last days of march. being almost in a state of starvation, these adventurers were naturally anxious to supply themselves with food. they determined to make a sudden foray upon the coasts of north holland, and accordingly steered for enkbuizen, both because it was a rich sea-port and because it contained many secret partisans of the prince. on palm sunday they captured two spanish merchantmen. soon afterwards, however, the wind becoming contrary, they were unable to double the helder or the texel, and on tuesday, the st of april, having abandoned their original intention, they dropped down towards zealand, and entered the broad mouth of the river meuse. between the town of brill, upon the southern lip of this estuary, and naaslandsluis, about half a league distant, upon the opposite aide, the squadron suddenly appeared at about two o'clock of an april afternoon, to the great astonishment of the inhabitants of both places. it seemed too large a fleet to be a mere collection of trading vessels, nor did they appear to be spanish ships. peter koppelstok, a sagacious ferryman, informed the passengers whom he happened to be conveying across the river, that the strangers were evidently the water beggars. the dreaded name filled his hearers with consternation, and they became eager to escape from so perilous a vicinity. having duly landed his customers, however, who hastened to spread the news of the impending invasion, and to prepare for defence or flight, the stout ferryman, who was secretly favorable to the cause of liberty, rowed boldly out to inquire the destination and purposes of the fleet. the vessel which he first hailed was that commanded by william de blois, seigneur of treslong. this adventurous noble, whose brother had been executed by the duke of alva in , had himself fought by the side of count louis at jemmingen, and although covered with wounds, had been one of the few who escaped alive from that horrible carnage. during the intervening period he had become one of the most famous rebels on the ocean, and he had always been well known in brill, where his father had been governor for the king. he at once recognized koppelstok, and hastened with him on board the admiral's ship, assuring de la marck that the ferryman was exactly the man for their purpose. it was absolutely necessary that a landing should be effected, for the people were without the necessaries of life. captain martin brand had visited the ship of adam van haren, as soon as they had dropped anchor in the meuse, begging for food. "i gave him a cheese," said adam, afterwards relating the occurrence, "and assured him that it was the last article of food to be found in the ship." the other vessels were equally destitute. under the circumstances, it was necessary to attempt a landing. treslong, therefore, who was really the hero of this memorable adventure, persuaded de la marck to send a message to the city of brill, demanding its surrender. this was a bold summons to be made by a handful of men, three or four hundred at most, who were both metaphorically and literally beggars. the city of brill was not populous, but it was well walled and fortified. it was moreover a most commodious port. treslong gave his signet ring to the fisherman, koppelstok, and ordered him, thus accredited as an envoy, to carry their summons to the magistracy. koppelstok, nothing loath, instantly rowed ashore, pushed through the crowd of inhabitants, who overwhelmed him with questions, and made his appearance in the town-house before the assembled magistrates. he informed them that he had been sent by the admiral of the fleet and by treslong, who was well known to them, to demand that two commissioners should be sent out on the part of the city to confer with the patriots. he was bidden, he said, to give assurance that the deputies would be courteously treated. the only object of those who had sent him was to free the land from the tenth penny, and to overthrow the tyranny of alva and his spaniards. hereupon he was asked by the magistrates, how large a force de la marck had under his command, to this question the ferryman carelessly replied, that there might be some five thousand in all. this enormous falsehood produced its effect upon the magistrates. there was now no longer any inclination to resist the invader; the only question discussed being whether to treat with them or to fly. on the whole, it was decided to do both. with some difficulty, two deputies were found sufficiently valiant to go forth to negotiate with the beggars, while in their absence most of the leading burghers and functionaries made their preparations for flight. the envoys were assured by de la marck and treslong that no injury was intended to the citizens or to private property, but that the overthrow of alva's government was to be instantly accomplished. two hours were given to the magistrates in which to decide whether or not they would surrender the town and accept the authority of de la marck as admiral of the prince of orange. they employed the two hours thus granted in making an ignominious escape. their example was followed by most of the townspeople. when the invaders, at the expiration of the specified term, appeared under the walls of the city, they found a few inhabitants of the lower class gazing at them from above, but received no official communication from any source. the whole rebel force was now divided into two parties, one of which under treslong made an attack upon the southern gate, while the other commanded by the admiral advanced upon the northern. treslong after a short struggle succeeded in forcing his entrance, and arrested, in doing so, the governor of the city, just taking his departure. de la marck and his men made a bonfire at the northern gate, and then battered down the half-burned portal with the end of an old mast. thus rudely and rapidly did the netherland patriots conduct their first successful siege. the two parties, not more perhaps than two hundred and fifty men in all, met before sunset in the centre of the city, and the foundation of the dutch republic was laid. the weary spirit of freedom, so long a fugitive over earth and sea, had at last found a resting-place, which rude and even ribald hands had prepared. the panic created by the first appearance of the fleet had been so extensive that hardly fifty citizens had remained in the town. the rest had all escaped, with as much property as they could carry away. the admiral, in the name, of the prince of orange, as lawful stadholder of philip, took formal possession of an almost deserted city. no indignity was offered to the inhabitants of either sex, but as soon, as the conquerors were fairly established in the best houses of the place, the inclination to plunder the churches could no longer be restrained. the altars and images were all destroyed, the rich furniture and gorgeous vestments appropriated to private use. adam van hare appeared on his vessel's deck attired in a magnificent high mass chasuble. treslong thenceforth used no drinking cups in his cabin save the golden chalices of the sacrament. unfortunately, their hatred to popery was not confined to such demonstrations. thirteen unfortunate monks and priests, who had been unable to effect their escape, were arrested and thrown into prison, from whence they were taken a few days later, by order of the ferocious admiral, and executed under circumstances of great barbarity. the news of this important exploit spread with great rapidity. alva, surprised at the very moment of venting his rage on the butchers and grocers of brussels, deferred this savage design in order to deal with the new difficulty. he had certainly not expected such a result from the ready compliance of queen elizabeth with his request. his rage was excessive; the triumph of the people, by whom he was cordially detested, proportionably great. the punsters of brussels were sure not to let such an opportunity escape them, for the name of the captured town was susceptible of a quibble, and the event had taken place upon all fools' day. "on april's fool's day, duke alva's spectacles were stolen away," became a popular couplet. the word spectacles, in flemish, as well as the name of the suddenly surprised city, being brill, this allusion to the duke's loss and implied purblindness was not destitute of ingenuity. a caricature, too, was extensively circulated, representing de la marck stealing the duke's spectacles from his nose, while the governor was supposed to be uttering his habitual expression whenever any intelligence of importance was brought to him: 'no es nada, no es nada--'tis nothing, 'tis nothing. the duke, however, lost not an instant in attempting to repair the disaster. count bossu, who had acted as stadholder of holland and zealand, under alva's authority, since the prince of orange had resigned that office, was ordered at once to recover the conquered sea-port, if possible. hastily gathering a force of some ten companies from the garrison of utrecht, some of which very troops had recently and unluckily for government, been removed from brill to that city, the count crossed the sluis to the island of voorn upon easter day, and sent a summons to the rebel force to surrender brill. the patriots being very few in number, were at first afraid to venture outside the gates to attack the much superior force of their invaders. a carpenter, however, who belonged to the city, but had long been a partisan of orange, dashed into the water with his axe in his hand, and swimming to the niewland sluice, hacked it open with a few vigorous strokes. the sea poured in at once, making the approach to the city upon the north side impossible: bossu then led his spaniards along the niewland dyke to the southern gate, where they were received with a warm discharge of artillery, which completely staggered them. meantime treslong and robol had, in the most daring manner, rowed out to the ships which had brought the enemy to the island, cut some adrift, and set others on fire. the spaniards at the southern gate caught sight of their blazing vessels, saw the sea rapidly rising over the dyke, became panic-struck at being thus enclosed between fire and water, and dashed off in precipitate retreat along the slippery causeway and through the slimy and turbid waters, which were fast threatening to overwhelm them. many were drowned or smothered in their flight, but the greater portion of the force effected their escape in the vessels which still remained within reach. this danger averted, admiral de la marck summoned all the inhabitants, a large number of whom had returned to the town after the capture had been fairly established, and required them, as well as all the population of the island, to take an oath of allegiance to the prince of orange as stadholder for his majesty. the prince had not been extremely satisfied with the enterprise of de la marck. he thought-it premature, and doubted whether it would be practicable to hold the place, as he had not yet completed his arrangements in germany, nor assembled the force with which he intended again to take the field. more than all, perhaps, he had little confidence in the character of his admiral. orange was right in his estimate of de la marck. it had not been that rover's design either to take or to hold the place; and after the descent had been made, the ships victualled, the churches plundered, the booty secured, and a few monks murdered, he had given orders for the burning of the town, and for the departure of the fleet. the urgent solicitations of treslong, however, prevailed, with some difficulty, over de la marck' original intentions. it is to that bold and intelligent noble, therefore, more than to any other individual, that the merit of laying this corner-stone of the batavian commonwealth belongs. the enterprise itself was an accident, but the quick eye of treslong saw the possibility of a permanent conquest, where his superior dreamed of nothing beyond a piratical foray. meantime bossu, baffled in his attempt upon brill, took his way towards rotterdam. it was important that he should at least secure such other cities as the recent success of the rebels might cause to waver in their allegiance. he found the gates of rotterdam closed. the authorities refused to comply with his demand to admit a garrison for the king. professing perfect loyalty, the inhabitants very naturally refused to admit a band of sanguinary spaniards to enforce their obedience. compelled to parley, bossu resorted to a perfidious stratagem. he requested permission for his troops to pass through the city without halting. this was granted by the magistrates, on condition that only a corporal's command should be admitted at a time. to these terms the count affixed his hand and seal. with the admission, however, of the first detachment, a violent onset was made upon the gate by the whole spanish force. the townspeople, not suspecting treachery, were not prepared to make effective resistance. a stout smith, confronting the invaders at the gate, almost singly, with his sledge-hammer, was stabbed to the heart by bossu with his own hand. the soldiers having thus gained admittance, rushed through the streets, putting every man to death who offered the slightest resistance. within a few minutes four hundred citizens were murdered. the fate of the women, abandoned now to the outrage of a brutal soldiery, was worse than death. the capture of rotterdam is infamous for the same crimes which blacken the record of every spanish triumph in the netherlands. the important town of flushing, on the isle of walcheren, was first to vibrate with the patriotic impulse given by the success at brill. the seigneur de herpt, a warm partisan of orange, excited the burghers assembled in the market-place to drive the small remnant of the spanish garrison from the city. a little later upon the same day a considerable reinforcement arrived before the walls. the duke had determined, although too late, to complete the fortress which had been commenced long before to control the possession of this important position at the mouth of the western scheld. the troops who were to resume this too long intermitted work arrived just in time to witness the expulsion of their comrades. de herpt easily persuaded the burghers that the die was cast, and that their only hope lay in a resolute resistance. the people warmly acquiesced, while a half-drunken, half-wined fellow in the crowd valiantly proposed, in consideration of a pot of beer, to ascend the ramparts and to discharge a couple of pieces of artillery at the spanish ships. the offer was accepted, and the vagabond merrily mounting the height, discharged the guns. strange to relate, the shot thus fired by a lunatic's hand put the invading ships to flight. a sudden panic seized the spaniards, the whole fleet stood away at once in the direction of middelburg, and were soon out of sight. the next day, however, antony of bourgoyne, governor under alva for the island of walcheren, made his appearance in flushing. having a high opinion of his own oratorical powers, he came with the intention of winning back with his rhetoric a city which the spaniards had thus far been unable to recover with their cannon. the great bell was rung, the whole population assembled in the marketplace, and antony, from the steps of the town-house, delivered a long oration, assuring the burghers, among other asseverations, that the king, who was the best natured prince in all christendom, would forget and forgive their offences if they returned honestly to their duties. the effect of the governor's eloquence was much diminished, however, by the interlocutory remarks, of de herpt and a group of his adherents. they reminded the people of the king's good nature, of his readiness to forget and to forgive, as exemplified by the fate of horn and egmont, of berghen and montigny, and by the daily and almost hourly decrees of the blood council. each well-rounded period of the governor was greeted with ironical cheers. the oration was unsuccessful. "oh, citizens, citizens!" cried at last the discomfited antony, "ye know not what ye do. your blood be upon your own heads; the responsibility be upon your own hearts for the fires which are to consume your cities and the desolation which is to sweep your land!" the orator at this impressive point was interrupted, and most unceremoniously hustled out of the city. the government remained in the hands of the patriots. the party, however, was not so strong in soldiers as in spirit. no sooner, therefore, had they established their rebellion to alva as an incontrovertible fact, than they sent off emissaries to the prince of orange, and to admiral de la marek at brill. finding that the inhabitants of flushing were willing to provide arms and ammunition, de la marck readily consented to send a small number of men, bold and experienced in partisan warfare, of whom he had now collected a larger number than he could well arm or maintain in his present position. the detachment, two hundred in number, in three small vessels, set sail accordingly from brill for flushing; and a wild crew they were, of reckless adventurers under command of the bold treslong. the expedition seemed a fierce but whimsical masquerade. every man in the little fleet was attired in the gorgeous vestments of the plundered churches, in gold-embroidered cassocks, glittering mass-garments, or the more sombre cowls, and robes of capuchin friars. so sped the early standard bearers of that ferocious liberty which had sprung from the fires in which all else for which men cherish their fatherland had been consumed. so swept that resolute but fantastic band along the placid estuaries of zealand, waking the stagnant waters with their wild beggar songs and cries of vengeance. that vengeance found soon a distinguished object. pacheco, the chief engineer of alva, who had accompanied the duke in his march from italy, who had since earned a world-wide reputation as the architect of the antwerp citadel, had been just despatched in haste to flushing to complete the fortress whose construction had been so long delayed. too late for his work, too soon for his safety, the ill-fated engineer had arrived almost at the same moment with treslong and his crew. he had stepped on shore, entirely ignorant of all which had transpired, expecting to be treated with the respect due to the chief commandant of the place, and to an officer high in the confidence of the governor-general. he found himself surrounded by an indignant and threatening mob. the unfortunate italian understood not a word of the opprobrious language addressed to him, but he easily comprehended that the authority of the duke was overthrown. observing de ryk, a distinguished partisan officer and privateersman of amsterdam, whose reputation for bravery and generosity was known, to him, he approached him, and drawing a seal ring from his finger, kissed it, and handed it to the rebel chieftain. by this dumbshow he gave him to understand that he relied upon his honor for the treatment due to a gentleman. de ryk understood the appeal, and would willingly have assured him, at least, a soldier's death, but he was powerless to do so. he arrested him, that he might be protected from the fury of the rabble, but treslong, who now commanded in flushing, was especially incensed against the founder of the antwerp citadel, and felt a ferocious desire to avenge his brother's murder upon the body of his destroyer's favourite. pacheco was condemned to be hanged upon the very day of his arrival. having been brought forth from his prison, he begged hard but not abjectly for his life. he offered a heavy ransom, but his enemies were greedy for blood, not for money. it was, however, difficult to find an executioner. the city hangman was absent, and the prejudice of the country and the age against the vile profession had assuredly not been diminished during the five horrible years of alva's administration. even a condemned murderer, who lay in the town-gaol, refused to accept his life in recompence for performing the office. it should never be said, he observed, that his mother had given birth to a hangman. when told, however, that the intended victim was a spanish officer, the malefactor consented to the task with alacrity, on condition that he might afterwards kill any man who taunted him with the deed. arrived at the foot of the gallows, pacheco complained bitterly of the disgraceful death designed for him. he protested loudly that he came of a house as noble as that of egmont or horn, and was entitled to as honorable an execution as theirs had been. "the sword! the sword!" he frantically exclaimed, as he struggled with those who guarded him. his language was not understood, but the names of egmont and horn inflamed still more highly the rage of the rabble, while his cry for the sword was falsely interpreted by a rude fellow who had happened to possess himself of pacheco's rapier, at his capture, and who now paraded himself with it at the gallows' foot. "never fear for your sword, seilor," cried this ruffian; "your sword is safe enough, and in good hands. up the ladder with you, senor; you have no further use for your sword." pacheco, thus outraged, submitted to his fate. he mounted the ladder with a steady step, and was hanged between two other spanish officers. so perished miserably a brave soldier, and one of the most distinguished engineers of his time; a man whose character and accomplishments had certainly merited for him a better fate. but while we stigmatize as it deserves the atrocious conduct of a few netherland partisans, we should remember who first unchained the demon of international hatred in this unhappy land, nor should it ever be forgotten that the great leader of the revolt, by word, proclamation, example, by entreaties, threats, and condign punishment, constantly rebuked, and to a certain extent, restrained the sanguinary spirit by which some of his followers disgraced the noble cause which they had espoused. treslong did not long remain in command at flushing. an officer, high in the confidence of the prince, jerome van 't zeraerts, now arrived at flushing, with a commission to be lieutenant-governor over the whole isle of walcheren. he was attended by a small band of french infantry, while at nearly the same time the garrison was further strengthened by the arrival of a large number of volunteers from england. etext editor's bookmarks: beggars of the sea, as these privateersmen designated themselves hair and beard unshorn, according to ancient batavian custom only healthy existence of the french was in a state of war motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley [chapter vii.] municipal revolution throughout holland and zealand--characteristics of the movement in various places--sonoy commissioned by orange as governor of north holland--theory of the provisional government-- instructions of the prince to his officers--oath prescribed--clause of toleration--surprise of mons by count louis--exertions of antony oliver--details of the capture--assembly of the citizens--speeches of genlis and of count louis--effect of the various movements upon alva--don frederic ordered to invest mons--the duke's impatience to retire--arrival of medina coeli--his narrow escape--capture of the lisbon fleet--affectation of cordiality between alva and medina-- concessions by king and viceroy on the subject of the tenth penny-- estates of holland assembled, by summons of orange, at dort--appeals from the prince to this congress for funds to pay his newly levied army--theory of the provisional states' assembly--source and nature of its authority--speech of st. aldegonde--liberality of the estates and the provinces--pledges exchanged between the prince's representative and the congress--commission to de la marck ratified --virtual dictatorship of orange--limitation of his power by his own act--count louis at mons--reinforcements led from france by genlis-- rashness of that officer--his total defeat--orange again in the field--rocrmond taken--excesses of the patriot army--proclamation of orange, commanding respect to all personal and religious rights--his reply to the emperor's summons--his progress in the netherlands-- hopes entertained from france--reinforcements under coligny promised to orange by charles ix.--the massacre of st. bartholomew--the event characterized--effect in england, in rome, and in other parts of europe--excessive hilarity of philip--extravagant encomium bestowed by him upon charles ix.--order sent by philip to put all french prisoners in the netherlands to death--secret correspondence of charles ix. with his envoy in the netherlands--exultation of the spaniards before mons--alva urged by the french envoy, according to his master's commands, to put all the frenchmen in mons, and those already captured, to death--effect of the massacre upon the prince of orange--alva and medina in the camp before mons--hopelessness of the prince's scheme to obtain battle from alva--romero's encamisada --narrow escape of the prince--mutiny and dissolution of his army-- his return to holland--his steadfastness--desperate position of count louis in mons--sentiments of alva--capitulation of mons-- courteous reception of count louis by the spanish generals-- hypocrisy of these demonstrations--nature of the mons capitulation-- horrible violation of its terms--noircarmes at mons--establishment of a blood council in the city--wholesale executions--cruelty and cupidity of noircarmes--late discovery of the archives of these crimes--return of the revolted cities of brabant and flanders to obedience--sack of mechlin by the spaniards--details of that event. the example thus set by brill and flushing was rapidly followed. the first half of the year was distinguished by a series of triumphs rendered still more remarkable by the reverses which followed at its close. of a sudden, almost as it were by accident, a small but important sea-port, the object for which the prince had so long been hoping, was secured. instantly afterward, half the island of walcheren renounced the yoke of alva, next, enkbuizen, the key to the zuyder zee, the principal arsenal, and one of the first commercial cities in the netherlands, rose against the spanish admiral, and hung out the banner of orange on its ramparts. the revolution effected here was purely the work of the people--of the mariners and burghers of the city. moreover, the magistracy was set aside and the government of alva repudiated without shedding one drop of blood, without a single wrong to person or property. by the same spontaneous movement, nearly all the important cities of holland and zealand raised the standard of him in whom they recognized their deliverer. the revolution was accomplished under nearly similar circumstances everywhere. with one fierce bound of enthusiasm the nation shook off its chain. oudewater, dort, harlem, leyden, gorcum, loewenstein, gouda, medenblik, horn, alkmaar, edam, monnikendam, purmerende, as well as flushing, veer, and enkbuizen, all ranged themselves under the government of orange, as lawful stadholder for the king. nor was it in holland and zealand alone that the beacon fires of freedom were lighted. city after city in gelderland, overyssel, and the see of utrecht; all the important towns of friesland, some sooner, some later, some without a struggle, some after a short siege, some with resistance by the functionaries of government, some by amicable compromise, accepted the garrisons of the prince, and formally recognized his authority. out of the chaos which a long and preternatural tyranny had produced, the first struggling elements of a new and a better world began to appear. it were superfluous to narrate the details which marked the sudden restoration of liberty in these various groups of cities. traits of generosity marked the change of government in some, circumstances of ferocity, disfigured the revolution in others. the island of walcheren, equally divided as it was between the two parties, was the scene of much truculent and diabolical warfare. it is difficult to say whether the mutual hatred of race or the animosity of religious difference proved the deadlier venom. the combats were perpetual and sanguinary, the prisoners on both sides instantly executed. on more than one occasion; men were seen assisting to hang with their own hands and in cold blood their own brothers, who had been taken prisoners in the enemy's ranks. when the captives were too many to be hanged, they were tied back to back, two and two, and thus hurled into the sea. the islanders found a fierce pleasure in these acts of cruelty. a spaniard had ceased to be human in their eyes. on one occasion, a surgeon at veer cut the heart from a spanish prisoner, nailed it on a vessel's prow; and invited the townsmen to come and fasten their teeth in it, which many did with savage satisfaction. in other parts of the country the revolution was, on the whole, accomplished with comparative calmness. even traits of generosity were not uncommon. the burgomaster of gonda, long the supple slave of alva and the blood council, fled for his life as the revolt broke forth in that city. he took refuge in the house of a certain widow, and begged for a place of concealment. the widow led him to a secret closet which served as a pantry. "shall i be secure there?" asked the fugitive functionary. "o yes, sir burgomaster," replied the widow, "'t was in that very place that my husband lay concealed when you, accompanied by the officers of justice, were searching the house, that you might bring him to the scaffold for his religion. enter the pantry, your worship; i will be responsible for your safety." thus faithfully did the humble widow of a hunted and murdered calvinist protect the life of the magistrate who had brought desolation to her hearth. not all the conquests thus rapidly achieved in the cause of liberty were destined to endure, nor were any to be, retained without a struggle. the little northern cluster of republics which had now restored its honor to the ancient batavian name was destined, however, for a long and vigorous life. from that bleak isthmus the light of freedom was to stream through many years upon struggling humanity in europe; a guiding pharos across a stormy sea; and harlem, leyden, alkmaar--names hallowed by deeds of heroism such as have not often illustrated human annals, still breathe as trumpet-tongued and perpetual a defiance to despotism as marathon, thermopylae, or salamis. a new board of magistrates had been chosen in all the redeemed cities, by popular election. they were required to take an oath of fidelity to the king of spain, and to the prince of orange as his stadholder; to promise resistance to the duke of alva, the tenth penny, and the inquisition; to support every man's freedom and the welfare of the country; to protect widows, orphans, and miserable persons, and to maintain justice and truth. diedrich sonoy arrived on the nd june at enkbuizen. he was provided by the prince with a commission, appointing him lieutenant-governor of north holland or waterland. thus, to combat the authority of alva was set up the authority of the king. the stadholderate over holland and zealand, to which the prince had been appointed in , he now reassumed. upon this fiction reposed the whole provisional polity of the revolted netherlands. the government, as it gradually unfolded itself, from this epoch forward until the declaration of independence and the absolute renunciation of the spanish sovereign power, will be sketched in a future chapter. the people at first claimed not an iota more of freedom than was secured by philip's coronation oath. there was no pretence that philip was not sovereign, but there was a pretence and a determination to worship god according to conscience, and to reclaim the ancient political "liberties" of the land. so long as alva reigned, the blood council, the inquisition, and martial law, were the only codes or courts, and every charter slept. to recover this practical liberty and these historical rights, and to shake from their shoulders a most sanguinary government, was the purpose of william and of the people. no revolutionary standard was displayed. the written instructions given by the prince to his lieutenant sonoy were to "see that the word of god was preached, without, however, suffering any hindrance to the roman church in the exercise of its religion; to restore fugitives and the banished for conscience sake, and to require of all magistrates and officers of guilds and brotherhoods an oath of fidelity." the prince likewise prescribed the form of that oath, repeating therein, to his eternal honor, the same strict prohibition of intolerance. "likewise," said the formula, "shall those of 'the religion' offer no let or hindrance to the roman churches." the prince was still in germany, engaged in raising troops and providing funds. he directed; however, the affairs of the insurgent provinces in their minutest details, by virtue of the dictatorship inevitably forced upon him both by circumstances and by the people. in the meantime; louis of nassau, the bayard of the netherlands, performed a most unexpected and brilliant exploit. he had been long in france, negotiating with the leaders of the huguenots, and, more secretly, with the court. he was supposed by all the world to be still in that kingdom, when the startling intelligence arrived that he had surprised and captured the important city of mons. this town, the capital of hainault, situate in a fertile, undulating, and beautiful country, protected by lofty walls, a triple moat, and a strong citadel, was one of the most flourishing and elegant places in the netherlands. it was, moreover, from its vicinity to the frontiers of france; a most important acquisition to the insurgent party. the capture was thus accomplished. a native of mons, one antony oliver, a geographical painter, had insinuated himself into the confidence of alva, for whom he had prepared at different times some remarkably well-executed maps of the country. having occasion to visit france, he was employed by the duke to keep a watch upon the movements of louis of nassau, and to make a report as to the progress of his intrigues with the court of france. the painter, however, was only a spy in disguise, being in reality devoted to the cause of freedom, and a correspondent of orange and his family. his communications with louis, in paris, had therefore a far different result from the one anticipated by alva. a large number of adherents within the city of mons had already been secured, and a plan was now arranged between count louis, genlis, de la noue, and other distinguished huguenot chiefs, to be carried out with the assistance of the brave and energetic artist. on the rd of may, oliver appeared at the gates of mons, accompanied by three wagons, ostensibly containing merchandise, but in reality laden with arquebusses. these were secretly distributed among his confederates in the city. in the course of the day count louis arrived in the neighbourhood, accompanied by five hundred horsemen and a thousand foot soldiers. this force he stationed in close concealment within the thick forests between maubeuge and mons. towards evening he sent twelve of the most trusty and daring of his followers, disguised as wine merchants, into the city. these individuals proceeded boldly to a public house, ordered their supper, and while conversing with the landlord, carelessly inquired at what hour next morning the city gates would be opened. they were informed that the usual hour was four in the morning, but that a trifling present to the porter would ensure admission, if they desired it, at an earlier hour. they explained their inquiries by a statement that they had some casks of wine which they wished to introduce into the city before sunrise. having obtained all the information which they needed, they soon afterwards left the tavern. the next day they presented themselves very early at the gate, which the porter, on promise of a handsome "drink-penny," agreed to unlock. no sooner were the bolts withdrawn, however, than he was struck dead, while about fifty dragoons rode through the gate. the count and his followers now galloped over the city in the morning twilight, shouting "france! liberty! the town is ours!" "the prince is coming!" "down with the tenth penny; down with the murderous alva!" so soon as a burgher showed his wondering face at the window, they shot at him with their carbines. they made as much noise, and conducted themselves as boldly as if they had been at least a thousand strong. meantime, however, the streets remained empty; not one of their secret confederates showing himself. fifty men could surprise, but were too few to keep possession of the city. the count began to suspect a trap. as daylight approached the alarm spread; the position of the little band was critical. in his impetuosity, louis had far outstripped his army, but they had been directed to follow hard upon his footsteps, and he was astonished that their arrival was so long delayed. the suspense becoming intolerable, he rode out of the city in quest of his adherents, and found them wandering in the woods, where they had completely lost their way. ordering each horseman to take a foot soldier on the crupper behind him, he led them rapidly back to mons. on the way they were encountered by la noue, "with the iron arm," and genlis, who, meantime, had made an unsuccessful attack to recover valenciennes, which within a few hours had been won and lost again. as they reached the gates of mons, they found themselves within a hair's breadth of being too late; their adherents had not come forth; the citizens had been aroused; the gates were all fast but one--and there the porter was quarrelling with a french soldier about an arquebuss. the drawbridge across the moat was at the moment rising; the last entrance was closing, when guitoy de chaumont, a french officer, mounted on a light spanish barb, sprang upon the bridge as it rose. his weight caused it to sink again, the gate was forced, and louis with all his men rode triumphantly into the town. the citizens were forthwith assembled by sound of bell in the market-place. the clergy, the magistracy, and the general council were all present. genlis made the first speech, in which he disclaimed all intention of making conquests in the interest of france. this pledge having been given, louis of nassau next addressed the assembly: "the magistrates," said he, "have not understoood my intentions. i protest that i am no rebel to the king; i prove it by asking no new oaths from any man. remain bound by your old oaths of allegiance; let the magistrates continue to exercise their functions--to administer justice. i imagine that no person will suspect a brother of the prince of orange capable of any design against the liberties of the country. as to the catholic religion, i take it under my very particular protection. you will ask why i am in mons at the head of an armed force: are any of you ignorant of alva's cruelties? the overthrow of this tyrant is as much the interest of the king as of the people, therefore there is nothing in my present conduct inconsistent with fidelity to his majesty. against alva alone i have taken up arms; 'tis to protect you against his fury that i am here. it is to prevent the continuance of a general rebellion that i make war upon him. the only proposition which i have to make to you is this--i demand that you declare alva de toledo a traitor to the king, the executioner of the people, an enemy to the country, unworthy of the government, and hereby deprived of his authority." the magistracy did not dare to accept so bold a proposition; the general council, composing the more popular branch of the municipal government, were comparatively inclined to favor nassau, and many of its members voted for the downfall of the tyrant. nevertheless the demands of count louis were rejected. his position thus became critical. the civic authorities refused to, pay for his troops, who were, moreover, too few, in number to resist the inevitable siege. the patriotism of the citizens was not to be repressed, however, by the authority, of the magistrates; many rich proprietors of the great cloth and silk manufactories, for which mons was famous, raised, and armed companies at their own expense; many volunteer troops were also speedily organized and drilled, and the fortifications were put in order. no attempt was made to force the reformed religion upon the inhabitants, and even catholics who were discovered in secret correspondence with the enemy were treated with such extreme gentleness by nassau as to bring upon him severe reproaches from many of his own party. a large collection of ecclesiastical plate, jewellery, money, and other valuables, which had been sent to the city for safe keeping from the churches and convents of the provinces, was seized, and thus, with little bloodshed and no violence; was the important city secured for the insurgents. three days afterwards, two thousand infantry, chiefly french, arrived in the place. in the early part of the following month louis was still further strengthened by the arrival of thirteen hundred foot and twelve hundred horsemen, under command of count montgomery, the celebrated officer, whose spear at the tournament had proved fatal to henry the second. thus the duke of alva suddenly found himself exposed to a tempest of revolution. one thunderbolt after another seemed descending around him in breathless succession. brill and flushing had been already lost; middelburg was so closely invested that its fall seemed imminent, and with it would go the whole island of walcheren, the key to all the netherlands. in one morning he had heard of the revolt of enkbuizen and of the whole waterland; two hours later came the news of the valenciennes rebellion, and next day the astonishing capture of mons. one disaster followed hard upon another. he could have sworn that the detested louis of nassau, who had dealt this last and most fatal stroke, was at that moment in paris, safely watched by government emissaries; and now he had, as it were, suddenly started out of the earth, to deprive him of this important city, and to lay bare the whole frontier to the treacherous attacks of faithless france. he refused to believe the intelligence when it was first announced to him, and swore that he had certain information that count louis had been seen playing in the tennis-court at paris, within so short a period as to make his presence in hainault at that moment impossible. forced, at last, to admit the truth of the disastrous news, he dashed his hat upon the ground in a fury, uttering imprecations upon the queen dowager of france, to whose perfidious intrigues he ascribed the success of the enterprise, and pledging himself to send her spanish thistles, enough in return for the florentine lilies which she had thus bestowed upon him. in the midst of the perplexities thus thickening around him, the duke preserved his courage, if not his temper. blinded, for a brief season, by the rapid attacks made upon him, he had been uncertain whither to direct his vengeance. this last blow in so vital a quarter determined him at once. he forthwith despatched don frederic to undertake the siege of mons, and earnestly set about raising large reinforcements to his army. don frederic took possession, without much opposition, of the bethlehem cloister in the immediate vicinity of the city, and with four thousand troops began the investment in due form. alva had, for a long time, been most impatient to retire from the provinces. even he was capable of human emotions. through the sevenfold panoply of his pride he had been pierced by the sharpness of a nation's curse. he was wearied with the unceasing execrations which assailed his ears. "the hatred which the people bear me," said he, in a letter to philip, "because of the chastisement which it has been necessary for me to inflict, although with all the moderation in the world, make all my efforts vain. a successor will meet more sympathy and prove more useful." on the th june, the duke of medina coeli; with a fleet of more than forty sail, arrived off blankenburg, intending to enter the scheld. julian romero, with two thousand spaniards, was also on board the fleet. nothing, of course, was known to the new comers of the altered condition of affairs in the netherlands, nor of the unwelcome reception which they were like to meet in flushing. a few of the lighter craft having been taken by the patriot cruisers, the alarm was spread through all the fleet. medina coeli, with a few transports, was enabled to effect his escape to sluys, whence he hastened to brussels in a much less ceremonious manner than he had originally contemplated. twelve biscayan ships stood out to sea, descried a large lisbon fleet, by a singular coincidence, suddenly heaving in sight, changed their course again, and with a favoring breeze bore boldly up the hond; passed flushing in spite of a severe cannonade from the forts, and eventually made good their entrance into rammekens, whence the soldiery, about one-half of whom had thus been saved, were transferred at a very critical moment to middelburg. the great lisbon fleet followed in the wake of the biscayans, with much inferior success. totally ignorant of the revolution which had occurred in the ise of walclieren, it obeyed the summons of the rebel fort to come to anchor, and, with the exception of three or four, the vessels were all taken. it was the richest booty which the insurgents had yet acquired by sea or land. the fleet was laden with spices, money, jewellery, and the richest merchandize. five hundred thousand crowns of gold were taken, and it was calculated that the plunder altogether would suffice to maintain the war for two years at least. one thousand spanish soldiers, and a good amount of ammunition, were also captured. the unexpected condition of affairs made a pause natural and almost necessary, before the government could be decorously transferred. medina coeli with spanish grandiloquence, avowed his willingness to serve as a soldier, under a general whom he so much venerated, while alva ordered that, in all respects, the same outward marks of respect should be paid to his appointed successor as to himself. beneath all this external ceremony, however, much mutual malice was concealed. meantime, the duke, who was literally "without a single real," was forced at last to smother his pride in the matter of the tenth penny. on the th june, he summoned the estates of holland to assemble on the th of the ensuing month. in the missive issued for this purpose, he formally agreed to abolish the whole tax, on condition that the estates-general of the netherlands would furnish him with a yearly supply of two millions of florins. almost at the same moment the king had dismissed the deputies of the estates from madrid, with the public assurance that the tax was to be suspended, and a private intimation that it was not abolished in terms, only in order to save the dignity of the duke. these healing measures came entirely too late. the estates of holland met, indeed, on the appointed day of july; but they assembled not in obedience to alva, but in consequence of a summons from william of orange. they met, too, not at the hague, but at dort, to take formal measures for renouncing the authority of the duke. the first congress of the netherland commonwealth still professed loyalty to the crown, but was determined to accept the policy of orange without a question. the prince had again assembled an army in germany, consisting of fifteen thousand foot and seven thousand horse, besides a number of netherlanders, mostly walloons, amounting to nearly three thousand more. before taking the field, however, it was necessary that he should guarantee at least three months' pay to his troops. this he could no longer do, except by giving bonds endorsed by certain cities of holland as his securities. he had accordingly addressed letters in his own name to all the principal cities, fervently adjuring them to remember, at last, what was due to him, to the fatherland, and to their own character. "let not a sum of gold," said he in one of these letters, "be so dear to you, that for its sake you will sacrifice your lives, your wives, your children, and all your descendants, to the latest generations; that you will bring sin and shame upon yourselves, and destruction upon us who have so heartily striven to assist you. think what scorn you will incur from foreign nations, what a crime you will commit against the lord god, what a bloody yoke ye will impose forever upon yourselves and your children, if you now seek for subterfuges; if you now prevent us from taking the field with the troops which we have enlisted. on the other hand, what inexpressible benefits you will confer on your country, if you now help us to rescue that fatherland from the power of spanish vultures and wolves." this and similar missives, circulated throughout the province of holland, produced a deep impression. in accordance with his suggestions, the deputies from the nobility and from twelve cities of that province assembled on the th july, at dort. strictly speaking, the estates or government of holland, the body which represented the whole people, consisted of the nobler and six great cities. on this occasion, however, amsterdam being still in the power of the king, could send no deputies, while, on the other hand, all the small towns were invited to send up their representatives to the congress. eight accepted the proposal; the rest declined to appoint delegates, partly from motives of economy, partly from timidity.' these estates were the legitimate representatives of the people, but they had no legislative powers. the people had never pretended to sovereignty, nor did they claim it now. the source from which the government of the netherlands was supposed to proceed was still the divine mandate. even now the estates silently conceded, as they had ever done, the supreme legislative and executive functions to the land's master. upon philip of spain, as representative of count dirk the first of holland, had descended, through many tortuous channels, the divine effluence originally supplied by charles the simple of france. that supernatural power was not contested, but it was now ingeniously turned against the sovereign. the king's authority was invoked against himself in the person of the prince of orange, to whom, thirteen years before, a portion of that divine right had been delegated. the estates of holland met at dort on the th july, as representatives of the people; but they were summoned by orange, royally commissioned in as stadholder, and therefore the supreme legislative and executive officer of certain provinces. this was the theory of the provisional government. the prince represented the royal authority, the nobles represented both themselves and the people of the open country, while the twelve cities represented the whole body of burghers. together, they were supposed to embody all authority, both divine and human, which a congress could exercise. thus the whole movement was directed against alva and against count bossu, appointed stadholder by alva in the place of orange. philip's name was destined to figure for a long time, at the head of documents by which monies were raised, troops levied, and taxes collected, all to be used in deadly war against himself. the estates were convened on the th july, when paul buys, pensionary of leyden, the tried and confidential friend of orange, was elected advocate of holland. the convention was then adjourned till the th, when saint aldegonde made his appearance, with full powers to act provisionally in behalf of his highness. the distinguished plenipotentiary delivered before the congress a long and very effective harangue. he recalled the sacrifices and efforts of the prince during previous years. he adverted to the disastrous campaign of , in which the prince had appeared full of high hope, at the head of a gallant army, but had been obliged, after a short period, to retire, because not a city had opened its gates nor a netherlander lifted his finger in the cause. nevertheless, he had not lost courage nor closed his heart; and now that, through the blessing of god, the eyes of men had been opened, and so many cities had declared against the tyrant, the prince had found himself exposed to a bitter struggle. although his own fortunes had been ruined in the cause, he had been unable to resist the daily flood of petitions which called upon him to come forward once more. he had again importuned his relations and powerful friends; he had at last set on foot a new and well-appointed army. the day of payment had arrived. over his own head impended perpetual shame, over the fatherland perpetual woe, if the congress should now refuse the necessary supplies. "arouse ye, then," cried the orator, with fervor, "awaken your own zeal and that of your sister cities. seize opportunity by the locks, who never appeared fairer than she does to-day." the impassioned eloquence of st. aldegonde produced a profound impression. the men who had obstinately refused the demands of alva, now unanimously resolved to pour forth their gold and their blood at the call of orange. "truly," wrote the duke, a little later, "it almost drives me mad to see the difficulty with which your majesty's supplies are furnished, and the liberality with which the people place their lives and fortunes at the disposal of this rebel." it seemed strange to the loyal governor that men should support their liberator with greater alacrity than that with which they served their destroyer! it was resolved that the requisite amount should be at once raised, partly from the regular imposts and current "requests," partly by loans from the rich, from the clergy, from the guilds and brotherhoods, partly from superfluous church ornaments and other costly luxuries. it was directed that subscriptions should be immediately opened throughout the land, that gold and silver plate, furniture, jewellery, and other expensive articles should be received by voluntary contributions, for which inventories and receipts should be given by the magistrates of each city, and that upon these money should be raised, either by loan or sale. an enthusiastic and liberal spirit prevailed. all seemed determined rather than pay the tenth to alva to pay the whole to the prince. the estates, furthermore, by unanimous resolution, declared that they recognized the prince as the king's lawful stadholder over holland, zealand, friesland, and utrecht, and that they would use their influence with the other provinces to procure his appointment as protector of all the netherlands during the king's absence. his highness was requested to appoint an admiral, on whom, with certain deputies from the water-cities, the conduct of the maritime war should devolve. the conduct of the military operations by land was to be directed by dort, leyden, and enkbuizen, in conjunction with the count de la marck. a pledge was likewise exchanged between the estates and the pleni-potentiary, that neither party should enter into any treaty with the king, except by full consent and co-operation of the other. with regard to religion, it was firmly established, that the public exercises of divine worship should be permitted not only to the reformed church, but to the roman catholic--the clergy of both being protected from all molestation. after these proceedings, count de la marck made his appearance before the assembly. his commission from orange was read to the deputies, and by them ratified. the prince, in that document, authorized "his dear cousin" to enlist troops, to accept the fealty of cities, to furnish them with garrisons, to re-establish all the local laws, municipal rights, and ancient privileges which had been suppressed. he was to maintain freedom of religion, under penalty of death to those who infringed it; he was to restore all confiscated property; he was, with advice of his council, to continue in office such city magistrates as were favorable, and to remove those adverse to the cause. the prince was, in reality, clothed with dictatorial and even regal powers. this authority had been forced upon him by the prayers of the people, but he manifested no eagerness as he partly accepted the onerous station. he was provisionally the depositary of the whole sovereignty of the northern provinces, but he cared much less for theories of government than for ways and means. it was his object to release the country from the tyrant who, five years long, had been burning and butchering the people. it was his determination to drive out the foreign soldiery. to do this, he must meet his enemy in the field. so little was he disposed to strengthen his own individual power, that he voluntarily imposed limits on himself, by an act, supplemental to the proceedings of the congress of dort. in this important ordinance made by the prince of orange, as a provisional form of government, he publicly announced "that he would do and ordain nothing except by the advice of the estates, by reason that they were best acquainted with the circumstances and the humours of the inhabitants." he directed the estates to appoint receivers for all public taxes, and ordained that all military officers should make oath of fidelity to him, as stadholder, and to the estates of holland, to be true and obedient, in order to liberate the land from the albanian and spanish tyranny, for the service of his royal majesty as count of holland. the provisional constitution, thus made by a sovereign prince and actual dictator, was certainly as disinterested as it was sagacious. meanwhile the war had opened vigorously in hainault. louis of nassau had no sooner found himself in possession of mons than he had despatched genlis to france, for those reinforcements which had been promised by royal lips. on the other hand, don frederic held the city closely beleaguered; sharp combats before the walls were of almost daily occurrence, but it was obvious that louis would be unable to maintain the position into which he had so chivalrously thrown himself unless he should soon receive important succor. the necessary reinforcements were soon upon the way. genlis had made good speed with his levy, and it was soon announced that he was advancing into hainault, with a force of huguenots, whose numbers report magnified to ten thousand veterans. louis despatched an earnest message to his confederate, to use extreme caution in his approach. above all things, he urged him, before attempting to throw reinforcements into the city, to effect a junction with the prince of orange, who had already crossed the rhine with his new army. genlis, full of overweening confidence, and desirous of acquiring singly the whole glory of relieving the city, disregarded this advice. his rashness proved his ruin, and the temporary prostration of the cause of freedom. pushing rapidly forward across the french frontier, he arrived, towards the middle of july, within two leagues of mons. the spaniards were aware of his approach, and well prepared to frustrate his project. on the th, he found himself upon a circular plain of about a league's extent, surrounded with coppices and forests, and dotted with farm-houses and kitchen gardens. here he paused to send out a reconnoitring party. the little detachment was, however, soon driven in, with the information that don frederic of toledo, with ten thousand men, was coming instantly upon them. the spanish force, in reality, numbered four thousand infantry, and fifteen hundred cavalry; but three thousand half-armed boors had been engaged by don frederic, to swell his apparent force. the demonstration produced its effect, and no sooner had the first panic of the intelligence been spread, than noircarmes came charging upon them at the head of his cavalry. the infantry arrived directly afterwards, and the huguenots were routed almost as soon as seen. it was a meeting rather than a battle. the slaughter of the french was very great, while but an insignificant number of the spaniards fell. chiappin vitelli was the hero of the day. it was to his masterly arrangements before the combat, and to his animated exertions upon the field, that the victory was owing. having been severely wounded in the thigh but a few days previously, he caused himself to be carried upon a litter in a recumbent position in front of his troops, and was everywhere seen, encouraging their exertions, and exposing himself, crippled as he was, to the whole brunt of the battle. to him the victory nearly proved fatal; to don frederic it brought increased renown. vitelli's exertions, in his precarious condition, brought on severe inflammation, under which he nearly succumbed, while the son of alva reaped extensive fame from the total overthrow of the veteran huguenots, due rather to his lieutenant and to julian romero. the number of dead left by the french upon the plain amounted to at least twelve hundred, but a much larger number was butchered in detail by the peasantry, among whom they attempted to take refuge, and who had not yet forgotten the barbarities inflicted by their countrymen in the previous war. many officers were taken prisoners, among whom was the commander-in-chief, genlis. that unfortunate gentleman was destined to atone for his rashness and obstinacy with his life. he was carried to the castle of antwerp, where, sixteen months afterwards, he was secretly strangled by command of alva, who caused the report to be circulated that he had died a natural death. about one hundred foot soldiers succeeded in making their entrance into mona, and this was all the succor which count louis was destined to receive from france, upon which country he had built such lofty and such reasonable hopes. while this unfortunate event was occurring, the prince had already put his army in motion. on the th of july he had crossed the rhine at duisburg, with fourteen thousand foot, seven thousand horse, enlisted in germany, besides a force of three thousand walloons. on the rd of july, he took the city of roermond, after a sharp cannonade, at which place his troops already began to disgrace the honorable cause in which they were engaged, by imitating the cruelties and barbarities of their antagonists. the persons and property of the burghers were, with a very few exceptions, respected; but many priests and monks were put to death by the soldiery under circumstances of great barbarity. the prince, incensed at such conduct, but being unable to exercise very stringent authority over troops whose wages he was not yet able to pay in full, issued a proclamation, denouncing such excesses, and commanding his followers, upon pain of death, to respect the rights of all individuals, whether papist or protestant, and to protect religious exercises both in catholic and reformed churches. it was hardly to be expected that the troops enlisted by the prince in the same great magazine of hireling soldiers, germany, from whence the duke also derived his annual supplies, would be likely to differ very much in their propensities from those enrolled under spanish banners; yet there was a vast contrast between the characters of the two commanders. one leader inculcated the practice of robbery, rape, and murder, as a duty, and issued distinct orders to butcher every mother's son in the cities which he captured; the other restrained every excess to, the utmost of his ability, protecting not only life and property, but even the ancient religion. the emperor maximilian had again issued his injunctions against the military operations of orange. bound to the monarch of spain by so many family ties, being at once cousin, brother-in-law, and father-in-law of philip, it was difficult for him to maintain the attitude which became him, as chief of that empire to which the peace of passau had assured religious freedom. it had, however, been sufficiently proved that remonstrances and intercessions addressed to philip were but idle breath. it had therefore become an insult to require pacific conduct from the prince on the ground of any past or future mediation. it was a still grosser mockery to call upon him to discontinue hostilities because the netherlands were included in the empire, and therefore protected by the treaties of passau and augsburg. well did the prince reply to his imperial majesty's summons in a temperate but cogent letter, in which he addressed to him from his camp, that all intercessions had proved fruitless, and that the only help for the netherlands was the sword. the prince had been delayed for a month at roermonde, because, as he expressed it; "he had not a single sou," and because, in consequence, the troops refused to advance into the netherlands. having at last been furnished with the requisite guarantees from the holland cities for three months' pay, on the th of august, the day of the publication of his letter to the emperor, he crossed the meuse and took his circuitous way through diest, tirlemont, sichem, louvain, mechlin, termonde, oudenarde, nivelles. many cities and villages accepted his authority and admitted his garrisons. of these mechlin was the most considerable, in which he stationed a detachment of his troops. its doom was sealed in that moment. alva could not forgive this act of patriotism on the part of a town which had so recently excluded his own troops. "this is a direct permission of god," he wrote, in the spirit of dire and revengeful prophecy, "for us to punish her as she deserves, for the image-breaking and other misdeeds done there in the time of madame de parma, which our lord was not willing to pass over without chastisement." meantime the prince continued his advance. louvain purchased its neutrality for the time with sixteen thousand ducats; brussels obstinately refused to listen to him, and was too powerful to be forcibly attacked at that juncture; other important cities, convinced by the arguments and won by the eloquence of the various proclamations which he scattered as he advanced, ranged themselves spontaneously and even enthusiastically upon his side. how different world have been the result of his campaign but for the unexpected earthquake which at that instant was to appal christendom, and to scatter all his well-matured plans and legitimate hopes. his chief reliance, under providence and his own strong heart, had been upon french assistance. although genlis, by his misconduct, had sacrificed his army and himself, yet the prince as still justly sanguine as to the policy of the french court. the papers which had been found in the possession of genlis by his conquerors all spoke one language. "you would be struck with stupor," wrote alva's secretary, "could you see a letter which is now in my power, addressed by the king of france to louis of nassau." in that letter the king had declared his determination to employ all the forces which god had placed in his hands to rescue the netherlands from the oppression under which they were groaning. in accordance with the whole spirit and language of the french government, was the tone of coligny in his correspondence with orange. the admiral assured the prince that there was no doubt as to the earnestness of the royal intentions in behalf of the netherlands, and recommending extreme caution, announced his hope within a few days to effect a junction with him at the head of twelve thousand french arquebusiers, and at least three thousand cavalry. well might the prince of orange, strong, and soon to be strengthened, boast that the netherlands were free, and that alva was in his power. he had a right to be sanguine, for nothing less than a miracle could now destroy his generous hopes--and, alas! the miracle took place; a miracle of perfidy and bloodshed such as the world, familiar as it had ever been and was still to be with massacre, had not yet witnessed. on the th of august, coligny had written thus hopefully of his movements towards the netherlands, sanctioned and aided by his king. a fortnight from that day occurred the "paris-wedding;" and the admiral, with thousands of his religious confederates, invited to confidence by superhuman treachery, and lulled into security by the music of august marriage bells, was suddenly butchered in the streets of paris by royal and noble hands. the prince proceeded on his march, during which the heavy news had been brought to him, but he felt convinced that, with the very arrival of the awful tidings, the fate of that campaign was sealed, and the fall of mons inevitable. in his own language, he had been struck to the earth "with the blow of a sledge-hammer,"--nor did the enemy draw a different augury from the great event. the crime was not committed with the connivance of the spanish government. on the contrary, the two courts were at the moment bitterly hostile to each other. in the beginning of the summer, charles ix. and his advisers were as false to philip, as at the end of it they were treacherous to coligny and orange. the massacre of the huguenots had not even the merit of being a well-contrived and intelligently executed scheme. we have seen how steadily, seven years before, catharine de medici had rejected the advances of alva towards the arrangement of a general plan for the extermination of all heretics within france and the netherlands at the same moment. we have seen the disgust with which alva turned from the wretched young king at bayonne, when he expressed the opinion that to take arms against his own subjects was wholly out of the question, and could only be followed by general ruin. "'tis easy to see that he has been tutored," wrote alva to his master. unfortunately, the same mother; who had then instilled those lessons of hypocritical benevolence, had now wrought upon her son's cowardly but ferocious nature with a far different intent. the incomplete assassination of coligny, the dread of signal vengeance at the hands of the huguenots, the necessity of taking the lead in the internecine snuggle; were employed with medicean art, and with entire success. the king was lashed into a frenzy. starting to his feet, with a howl of rage and terror, "i agree to the scheme," he cried, "provided not one huguenot be left alive in france to reproach me with the deed." that night the slaughter commenced. the long premeditated crime was executed in a panic, but the work was thoroughly done. the king, who a few days before had written with his own hand to louis of nassau, expressing his firm determination to sustain the protestant cause both in france and the netherlands, who had employed the counsels of coligny in the arrangement, of his plans, and who had sent french troops, under genlis and la none, to assist their calvinist brethren in flanders, now gave the signal for the general massacre of the protestants, and with his own hands, from his own palace windows, shot his subjects with his arquebuss as if they had been wild beasts. between sunday and tuesday, according to one of the most moderate calculations, five thousand parisians of all ranks were murdered. within the whole kingdom, the number of victims was variously estimated at from twenty-five thousand to one hundred thousand. the heart of protestant europe, for an instant, stood still with horror. the queen of england put on mourning weeds, and spurned the apologies of the french envoy with contempt. at rome, on the contrary, the news of the massacre created a joy beyond description. the pope, accompanied by his cardinals, went solemnly to the church of saint mark to render thanks to god for the grace thus singularly vouchsafed to the holy see and to all christendom; and a te deum was performed in presence of the same august assemblage. but nothing could exceed the satisfaction which the event occasioned in the mind of philip the second. there was an end now of all assistance from the french government to the netherland protestants. "the news of the events upon saint bartholomew's day," wrote the french envoy at madrid, saint goard, to charles ix., "arrived on the th september. the king, on receiving the intelligence, showed, contrary to his natural custom, so much gaiety, that he seemed more delighted than with all the good fortune or happy incidents which had ever before occurred to him. he called all his familiars about him in order to assure them that your majesty was his good brother, and that no one else deserved the title of most christian. he sent his secretary cayas to me with his felicitations upon the event, and with the information that he was just going to saint jerome to render thanks to god, and to offer his prayers that your majesty might receive divine support in this great affair. i went to see him next morning, and as soon as i came into his presence he began to laugh, and with demonstrations of extreme contentment, to praise your majesty as deserving your title of most christian, telling me there was no king worthy to be your majesty's companion, either for valor or prudence. he praised the steadfast resolution and the long dissimulation of so great an enterprise, which all the world would not be able to comprehend." "i thanked him," continued the embassador, "and i said that i thanked god for enabling your majesty to prove to his master that his apprentice had learned his trade, and deserved his title of most christian king. i added, that he ought to confess that he owed the preservation of the netherlands to your majesty." nothing certainly could, in philip's apprehension, be more delightful than this most unexpected and most opportune intelligence. charles ix., whose intrigues in the netherlands he had long known, had now been suddenly converted by this stupendous crime into his most powerful ally, while at the same time the protestants of europe would learn that there was still another crowned head in christendom more deserving of abhorrence than himself. he wrote immediately to alva, expressing his satisfaction that the king of france had disembarrassed himself of such pernicious men, because he would now be obliged to cultivate the friendship of spain, neither the english queen nor the german protestants being thenceforth capable of trusting him. he informed the duke, moreover, that the french envoy, saint goard, had been urging him to command the immediate execution of genlis and his companions, who had been made prisoners, as well as all the frenchmen who would be captured in mons; and that he fully concurred in the propriety of the measure. "the sooner," said philip, "these noxious plants are extirpated from the earth, the less fear there is that a fresh crop will spring up." the monarch therefore added, with his own hand, to the letter, "i desire that if you have not already disembarrassed the world of them, you will do it immediately, and inform me thereof, for i see no reason why it should be deferred." this is the demoniacal picture painted by the french ambassador, and by philip's own hand, of the spanish monarch's joy that his "most christian" brother had just murdered twenty-five thousand of his own subjects. in this cold-blooded way, too, did his catholic majesty order the execution of some thousand huguenots additionally, in order more fully to carry out his royal brother's plans; yet philip could write of himself, "that all the world recognized the gentleness of his nature and the mildness of his intentions." in truth, the advice thus given by saint goard on the subject of the french prisoners in alva's possessions, was a natural result of the saint bartholomew. here were officers and soldiers whom charles ix. had himself sent into the netherlands to fight for the protestant cause against philip and alva. already, the papers found upon them had placed him in some embarrassment, and exposed his duplicity to the spanish government, before the great massacre had made such signal reparation for his delinquency. he had ordered mondoucet, his envoy in the netherlands, to use dissimulation to an unstinted amount, to continue his intrigues with the protestants, and to deny stoutly all proofs of such connivance. "i see that the papers found upon genlis;" he wrote twelve days before the massacre, "have been put into the hands of assonleville, and that they know everything done by genlis to have been committed with my consent." [these remarkable letters exchanged between charles ix. and mondoucet have recently been published by m. emile gachet (chef du bureau paleographique aux archives de belgique) from a manuscript discovered by him in the library at rheims.--compte rendu de la com. roy. d'hist., iv. , sqq.] "nevertheless, you will tell the duke of alva that these are lies invented to excite suspicion against me. you will also give him occasional information of the enemy's affairs, in order to make him believe in your integrity. even if he does not believe you, my purpose will be answered, provided you do it dexterously. at the same time you must keep up a constant communication with the prince of orange, taking great care to prevent discovery of your intelligence with king." were not these masterstrokes of diplomacy worthy of a king whom his mother, from boyhood upwards, had caused to study macchiavelli's "prince," and who had thoroughly taken to heart the maxim, often repeated in those days, that the "science of reigning was the science of lying"? the joy in the spanish camp before mons was unbounded. it was as if the only bulwark between the netherland rebels and total destruction had been suddenly withdrawn. with anthems in saint gudule, with bonfires, festive illuminations, roaring artillery, with trumpets also, and with shawms, was the glorious holiday celebrated in court and camp, in honor of the vast murder committed by the most christian king upon his christian subjects; nor was a moment lost in apprising the huguenot soldiers shut up with louis of nassau in the beleaguered city of the great catastrophe which was to render all their valor fruitless. "'t was a punishment," said a spanish soldier, who fought most courageously before mons, and who elaborately described the siege afterwards, "well worthy of a king whose title is 'the most christian,' and it was still more honorable to inflict it with his own hands as he did." nor was the observation a pithy sarcasm, but a frank expression of opinion, from a man celebrated alike for the skill with which he handled both his sword and his pen. the french envoy in the netherlands was, of course, immediately informed by his sovereign of the great event: charles ix. gave a very pithy account of the transaction. "to prevent the success of the enterprise planned by the admiral," wrote the king on the th of august, with hands yet reeking, and while the havoc throughout france was at its height, "i have been obliged to permit the said guises to rush upon the said admiral,--which they have done, the said admiral having been killed and all his adherents. a very great number of those belonging to the new religion have also been massacred and cut to pieces. it is probable that the fire thus kindled will spread through all the cities of my kingdom, and that all those of the said religion will be made sure of." not often, certainly, in history, has a christian king spoken thus calmly of butchering his subjects while the work was proceeding all around him. it is to be observed, moreover, that the usual excuse for such enormities, religious fanaticism, can not be even suggested on this occasion. catharine, in times past had favored huguenots as much as catholics, while charles had been, up to the very moment of the crime, in strict alliance with the heretics of both france and flanders, and furthering the schemes of orange and nassau. nay, even at this very moment, and in this very letter in which he gave the news of the massacre, he charged his envoy still to maintain the closest but most secret intelligence with the prince of orange; taking great care that the duke of alva should not discover these relations. his motives were, of course, to prevent the prince from abandoning his designs, and from coming to make a disturbance in france. the king, now that the deed was done, was most anxious to reap all the fruits of his crime. "now, m. de mondoucet, it is necessary in such affairs," he continued, "to have an eye to every possible contingency. i know that this news will be most agreeable to the duke of alva, for it is most favorable to his designs. at the same time, i don't desire that he alone should gather the fruit. i don't choose that he should, according to his excellent custom, conduct his affairs in such wise as to throw the prince of orange upon my hands, besides sending back to france genlis and the other prisoners, as well as the french now shut up in mons." this was a sufficiently plain hint, which mondoucet could not well misunderstand. "observe the duke's countenance carefully when you give him this message," added the king, "and let me know his reply." in order, however, that there might be no mistake about the matter, charles wrote again to his ambassador, five days afterwards, distinctly stating the regret which he should feel if alva should not take the city of mons, or if he should take it by composition. "tell the duke," said he, "that it is most important for the service of his master and of god that those frenchmen and others in mons should be cut in pieces." he wrote another letter upon the name day, such was his anxiety upon the subject, instructing the envoy to urge upon alva the necessity of chastising those rebels to the french crown. "if he tells you," continued charles, "that this is tacitly requiring him to put to death all the french prisoners now in hand as well to cut in pieces every man in mons, you will say to him that this is exactly what he ought to do, and that he will be guilty of a great wrong to christianity if he does otherwise." certainly, the duke, having been thus distinctly ordered, both by his own master and by his christian majesty, to put every one of these frenchmen to death, had a sufficiency of royal warrant. nevertheless, he was not able to execute entirely these ferocious instructions. the prisoners already in his power were not destined to escape, but the city of mons, in his own language, "proved to have sharper teeth than he supposed." mondoucet lost no time in placing before alva the urgent necessity of accomplishing the extensive and cold-blooded massacre thus proposed. "the duke has replied," wrote the envoy to his sovereign, "that he is executing his prisoners every day, and that he has but a few left. nevertheless, for some reason which he does not mention, he is reserving the principal noblemen and chiefs." he afterwards informed his master that genlis, jumelles, and the other leaders, had engaged, if alva would grant them a reasonable ransom, to induce the french in mons to leave the city, but that the duke, although his language was growing less confident, still hoped to take the town by assault. "i have urged him," he added, "to put them all to death, assuring him that he would be responsible for the consequences of a contrary course."--"why does not your most christian master," asked alva, "order these frenchmen in mons to come to him under oath to make no disturbance? then my prisoners will be at my discretion and i shall get my city."--"because," answered the envoy, "they will not trust his most christian majesty, and will prefer to die in mons."--[mondoucet to charles ix., th september, .] this certainly was a most sensible reply, but it is instructive to witness the cynicism with which the envoy accepts this position for his master, while coldly recording the results of all these sanguinary conversations. such was the condition of affairs when the prince of orange arrived at peronne, between binche and the duke of alva's entrenchments. the besieging army was rich in notabilities of elevated rank. don frederic of toledo had hitherto commanded, but on the th of august, the dukes of medina coeli and of alva had arrived in the camp. directly afterwards came the warlike archbishop of cologne, at the head of two thousand cavalry. there was but one chance for the prince of orange, and experience had taught him, four years before, its slenderness. he might still provoke his adversary into a pitched battle, and he relied upon god for the result. in his own words, "he trusted ever that the great god of armies was with him, and would fight in the midst of his forces." if so long as alva remained in his impregnable camp, it was impossible to attack him, or to throw reinforcements into mons. the prince soon found, too, that alva was far too wise to hazard his position by a superfluous combat. the duke knew that the cavalry of the prince was superior to his own. he expressed himself entirely unwilling to play into the prince's hands, instead of winning the game which was no longer doubtful. the huguenot soldiers within mons were in despair and mutiny; louis of nassau lay in his bed consuming with a dangerous fever; genlis was a prisoner, and his army cut to pieces; coligny was murdered, and protestant france paralyzed; the troops of orange, enlisted but for three months, were already rebellious, and sure to break into open insubordination when the consequences of the paris massacre should become entirely clear to them; and there were, therefore, even more cogent reasons than in , why alva should remain perfectly still, and see his enemy's cause founder before his eyes. the valiant archbishop of cologne was most eager for the fray. he rode daily at the duke's side, with harness on his back and pistols in his holsters, armed and attired like one of his own troopers, and urging the duke, with vehemence, to a pitched battle with the prince. the duke commended, but did not yield to, the prelate's enthusiasm. "'tis a fine figure of a man, with his corslet and pistols," he wrote to philip, "and he shows great affection for your majesty's service." the issue of the campaign was inevitable. on the th september, don frederic, with a force of four thousand picked men, established himself at saint florian, a village near the havre gate of the city, while the prince had encamped at hermigny, within half a league of the same place, whence he attempted to introduce reinforcements into the town. on the night of the th and th, don frederic hazarded an encamisada upon the enemy's camp, which proved eminently successful, and had nearly resulted in the capture of the prince himself. a chosen band of six hundred arquebussers, attired, as was customary in these nocturnal expeditions, with their shirts outside their armor, that they might recognize each other in the darkness, were led by julian romero, within the lines of the enemy. the sentinels were cut down, the whole army surprised, and for a moment powerless, while, for two hours long, from one o'clock in the morning until three, the spaniards butchered their foes, hardly aroused from their sleep, ignorant by how small a force they had been thus suddenly surprised, and unable in the confusion to distinguish between friend and foe. the boldest, led by julian in person, made at once for the prince's tent. his guards and himself were in profound sleep, but a small spaniel, who always passed the night upon his bed, was a more faithful sentinel. the creature sprang forward, barking furiously at the sound of hostile footsteps, and scratching his master's face with his paws.--there was but just time for the prince to mount a horse which was ready saddled, and to effect his escape through the darkness, before his enemies sprang into the tent. his servants were cut down, his master of the horse and two of his secretaries, who gained their saddles a moment later, all lost their lives, and but for the little dog's watchfulness, william of orange, upon whose shoulders the whole weight of his country's fortunes depended, would have been led within a week to an ignominious death. to his dying day, the prince ever afterwards kept a spaniel of the same race in his bed-chamber. the midnight slaughter still continued, but the spaniards in their fury, set fire to the tents. the glare of the conflagration showed the orangists by how paltry a force they had been surprised. before they could rally, however, romero led off his arquebusiers, every one of whom had at least killed his man. six hundred of the prince's troops had been put to the sword, while many others were burned in their beds, or drowned in the little rivulet which flowed outside their camp. only sixty spaniards lost their lives. this disaster did not alter the plans of the prince, for those plans had already been frustrated. the whole marrow of his enterprise had been destroyed in an instant by the massacre of saint bartholomew. he retreated to wronne and nivelles, an assassin, named heist, a german, by birth, but a french chevalier, following him secretly in his camp, pledged to take his life for a large reward promised by alva--an enterprise not destined, however, to be successful. the soldiers flatly refused to remain an hour longer in the field, or even to furnish an escort for count louis, if, by chance, he could be brought out of the town. the prince was obliged to inform his brother of the desperate state of his affairs, and to advise him to capitulate on the best terms which he could make. with a heavy heart, he left the chivalrous louis besieged in the city which he had so gallantly captured, and took his way across the meuse towards the rhine. a furious mutiny broke out among his troops. his life was, with difficulty, saved from the brutal soldiery--infuriated at his inability to pay them, except in the over-due securities of the holland cities--by the exertions of the officers who still regarded him with veneration and affection. crossing the rhine at orsoy, he disbanded his army and betook himself, almost alone, to holland. yet even in this hour of distress and defeat, the prince seemed more heroic than many a conqueror in his day of triumph. with all his hopes blasted, with the whole fabric of his country's fortunes shattered by the colossal crime of his royal ally, he never lost his confidence in himself nor his unfaltering trust in god. all the cities which, but a few weeks before, had so eagerly raised his standard, now fell off at once. he went to holland, the only province which remained true, and which still looked up to him as its saviour, but he went thither expecting and prepared to perish. "there i will make my sepulchre," was his simple and sublime expression in a private letter to his brother. he had advanced to the rescue of louis, with city after city opening its arms to receive him. he had expected to be joined on the march by coligny, at the head of a chosen army, and he was now obliged to leave his brother to his fate, having the massacre of the admiral and his confederates substituted for their expected army of assistance, and with every city and every province forsaking his cause as eagerly as they had so lately embraced it. "it has pleased god," he said, "to take away every hope which we could have founded upon man; the king has published that the massacre was by his orders, and has forbidden all his subjects, upon pain of death, to assist me; he has, moreover, sent succor to alva. had it not been for this, we had been masters of the duke, and should have made him capitulate at our pleasure." yet even then he was not cast down. nor was his political sagacity liable to impeachment by the extent to which he had been thus deceived by the french court. "so far from being reprehensible that i did not suspect such a crime," he said, "i should rather be chargeable with malignity had i been capable of so sinister a suspicion. 'tis not an ordinary thing to conceal such enormous deliberations under the plausible cover of a marriage festival." meanwhile, count louis lay confined to his couch with a burning fever. his soldiers refused any longer to hold the city, now that the altered intentions of charles ix. were known and the forces of orange withdrawn. alva offered the most honorable conditions, and it was therefore impossible for the count to make longer resistance. the city was so important, and time was at that moment so valuable that the duke was willing to forego his vengeance upon the rebel whom he so cordially detested, and to be satisfied with depriving, him of the prize which he had seized with such audacity. "it would have afforded me sincere pleasure," wrote the duke, "over and above the benefit to god and your majesty, to have had the count of nassau in my power. i would overleap every obstacle to seize him, such is the particular hatred which i bear the man." under, the circumstances, however, he acknowledged that the result of the council of war could only be to grant liberal terms. on the th september, accordingly, articles of capitulation were signed between the distinguished de la none with three others on the one part, and the seigneur de noircarmes and three others on the side of spain. the town was given over to alva, but all the soldiers were to go out with their weapons and property. those of the townspeople who had borne arms against his majesty, and all who still held to the reformed religion, were to retire with the soldiery. the troops were to pledge themselves not to serve in future against the kings of france or spain, but from this provision louis, with his english and german soldiers, was expressly excepted, the count indignantly repudiating the idea of such a pledge, or of discontinuing his hostilities for an instant. it was also agreed that convoys should be furnished, and hostages exchanged, for the due observance of the terms of the treaty. the preliminaries having been thus settled, the patriot forces abandoned the town. count louis, rising from his sick bed, paid his respects in person to the victorious generals, at their request. he was received in alva's camp with an extraordinary show of admiration and esteem. the duke of medina coeli overwhelmed him with courtesies and "basolomanos," while don frederic assured him, in the high-flown language of spanish compliment, that there was nothing which he would not do to serve him, and that he would take a greater pleasure in executing his slightest wish than if he had been his next of kin. as the count next day, still suffering with fever, and attired in his long dressing-gown, was taking his departure from the city, he ordered his carriage to stop at the entrance to don frederic's quarters. that general, who had been standing incognito near the door, gazing with honest admiration at the hero of so many a hard-fought field, withdrew as he approached, that he might not give the invalid the trouble of alighting. louis, however, recognising him, addressed him with the spanish salutation, "perdone vuestra senoria la pesedumbre," and paused at the gate. don frederic, from politeness to his condition, did not present himself, but sent an aid-de-camp to express his compliments and good wishes. having exchanged these courtesies, louis left the city, conveyed, as had been agreed upon, by a guard of spanish troops. there was a deep meaning in the respect with which the spanish generals had treated the rebel chieftain. although the massacre of saint bartholomew met with alva's entire approbation, yet it was his cue to affect a holy horror at the event, and he avowed that he would "rather cut off both his hands than be guilty of such a deed"--as if those hangman's hands had the right to protest against any murder, however wholesale. count louis suspected at once, and soon afterwards thoroughly understood; the real motives of the chivalrous treatment which he had received. he well knew that these very men would have sent him to the scaffold; had he fallen into their power, and he therefore estimated their courtesy at its proper value. it was distinctly stated, in the capitulation of the city, that all the soldiers, as well as such of the inhabitants as had borne arms, should be allowed to leave the city, with all their property. the rest of the people, it was agreed, might remain without molestation to their persons or estates. it has been the general opinion of historians that the articles of this convention were maintained by the conquerors in good faith. never was a more signal error. the capitulation was made late at night, on the th september, without the provision which charles ix. had hoped for: the massacre, namely, of de la none and his companions. as for genlis and those who had been taken prisoners at his defeat, their doom had already been sealed. the city was evacuated on the st september: alva entered it upon the th. most of the volunteers departed with the garrison, but many who had, most unfortunately, prolonged their farewells to their families, trusting to the word of the spanish captain molinos, were thrown into prison. noircarmes the butcher of valenciennes, now made his appearance in mons. as grand bailiff of hainault, he came to the place as one in authority, and his deeds were now to complete the infamy which must for ever surround his name. in brutal violation of the terms upon which the town had surrendered, he now set about the work of massacre and pillage. a commission of troubles, in close imitation of the famous blood council at brussels, was established, the members of the tribunal being appointed by noircarmes, and all being inhabitants of the town. the council commenced proceedings by condemning all the volunteers, although expressly included in the capitulation. their wives and children were all banished; their property all confiscated. on the th december, the executions commenced. the intrepid de leste, silk manufacturer, who had commanded a band of volunteers, and sustained during the siege the assaults of alva's troops with remarkable courage at a very critical moment, was one of the earliest victims. in consideration "that he was a gentleman, and not among the most malicious," he was executed by sword. "in respect that he heard the mass, and made a sweet and catholic end," it was allowed that he should be "buried in consecrated earth." many others followed in quick succession. some were beheaded, some were hanged, some were burned alive. all who had borne arms or worked at the fortifications were, of course, put to death. such as refused to confess and receive the catholic sacraments perished by fire. a poor wretch, accused of having ridiculed these mysteries, had his tongue torn out before being beheaded. a cobbler, named blaise bouzet, was hanged for having eaten meat-soup upon friday. he was also accused of going to the protestant preachings for the sake of participating in the alms distributed an these occasions, a crime for which many other paupers were executed. an old man of sixty-two was sent to the scaffold for having permitted his son to bear arms among the volunteers. at last, when all pretexts were wanting to justify executions; the council assigned as motives for its decrees an adhesion of heart on the part of the victims to the cause of the insurgents, or to the doctrines of the reformed church. ten, twelve, twenty persons, were often hanged, burned, or beheaded in a single day. gibbets laden with mutilated bodies lined the public highways,--while noircarmes, by frightful expressions of approbation, excited without ceasing the fury of his satellites. this monster would perhaps, be less worthy of execration had he been governed in these foul proceedings by fanatical bigotry or by political hatred; but his motives were of the most sordid description. it was mainly to acquire gold for himself that he ordained all this carnage. with the same pen which signed the death-sentences of the richest victims, he drew orders to his own benefit on their confiscated property. the lion's share of the plunder was appropriated by himself. he desired the estate; of francois de glarges, seigneur d'eslesmes. the gentleman had committed no offence of any kind, and, moreover, lived beyond the french frontier. nevertheless, in contempt of international law, the neighbouring territory was invaded, and d'eslesmes dragged before the blood tribunal of mons. noircarmes had drawn up beforehand, in his own handwriting, both the terms of the accusation and of the sentence. the victim was innocent and a catholic, but he was rich. he confessed to have been twice at the preaching, from curiosity, and to have omitted taking the sacrament at the previous easter. for these offences he was beheaded, and his confiscated estate adjudged at an almost nominal price to the secretary of noircarmes, bidding for his master. "you can do me no greater pleasure," wrote noircarmes to the council, "than to make quick work with all these rebels, and to proceed with the confiscation of their estates, real and personal. don't fail to put all those to the torture out of whom anything can be got." notwithstanding the unexampled docility of the commissioners, they found it difficult to extract from their redoubted chief a reasonable share in the wages of blood. they did not scruple, therefore, to display their own infamy, and to enumerate their own crimes, in order to justify their demand for higher salaries. "consider," they said, in a petition to this end, "consider closely, all that is odious in our office, and the great number of banishments and of executions which we have pronounced among all our own relations and friends." it may be added, moreover, as a slight palliation for the enormous crimes committed by these men, that, becoming at last weary of their business, they urged noircarmes to desist from the work of proscription. longehaye, one of the commissioners, even waited upon him personally, with a plea for mercy in favor of "the poor people, even beggars, who, although having borne arms during the siege, might then be pardoned." noircarmes, in a rage at the proposition, said that "if he did not know the commissioners to be honest men, he should believe that their palms had been oiled," and forbade any farther words on the subject. when longehaye still ventured to speak in favor of certain persons "who were very poor and simple, not charged with duplicity, and good catholics besides," he fared no better. "away with you!" cried noircarmes in a great fury, adding that he had already written to have execution done upon the whole of them. "whereupon," said poor blood-councillor longehaye, in his letter to his colleagues, "i retired, i leave you to guess how." thus the work went on day after day, month after month. till the th august of the following year ( ) the executioner never rested, and when requesens, successor to alva, caused the prisons of mons to be opened, there were found still seventy-five individuals condemned to the block, and awaiting their fate. it is the most dreadful commentary upon the times in which these transactions occurred, that they could sink so soon into oblivion. the culprits took care to hide the records of their guilt, while succeeding horrors, on a more extensive scale, at other places, effaced the memory of all these comparatively obscure murders and spoliations. the prosperity of mons, one of the most flourishing and wealthy manufacturing towns in the netherlands, was annihilated, but there were so many cities in the same condition that its misery was hardly remarkable. nevertheless, in our own days, the fall of a mouldering tower in the ruined chateau de naast at last revealed the archives of all these crimes. how the documents came to be placed there remains a mystery, but they have at last been brought to light. the spaniards had thus recovered mons, by which event the temporary revolution throughout the whole southern netherlands was at an end. the keys of that city unlocked the gates of every other in brabant and flanders. the towns which had so lately embraced the authority of orange now hastened to disavow the prince, and to return to their ancient, hypocritical, and cowardly allegiance. the new oaths of fidelity were in general accepted by alva, but the beautiful archiepiscopal city of mechlin was selected for an example and a sacrifice. there were heavy arrears due to the spanish troops. to indemnify them, and to make good his blasphemous prophecy of divine chastisement for its past misdeeds, alva now abandoned this town to the licence of his soldiery. by his command don frederic advanced to the gates and demanded its surrender. he was answered by a few shots from the garrison. those cowardly troops, however, having thus plunged the city still more deeply into the disgrace which, in alva's eyes, they had incurred by receiving rebels within their walls after having but just before refused admittance to the spanish forces, decamped during the night, and left the place defenceless. early next morning there issued from the gates a solemn procession of priests, with banner and crozier, followed by a long and suppliant throng of citizens, who attempted by this demonstration to avert the wrath of the victor. while the penitent psalms were resounding, the soldiers were busily engaged in heaping dried branches and rubbish into the moat. before the religious exercises were concluded, thousands had forced the gates or climbed the walls; and entered the city with a celerity which only the hope of rapine could inspire. the sack instantly commenced. the property of friend and foe, of papist and calvinist, was indiscriminately rifled. everything was dismantled and destroyed. "hardly a nail," said a spaniard, writing soon afterwards from brussels, "was left standing in the walls." the troops seemed to imagine themselves in a turkish town, and wreaked the divine vengeance which alva had denounced upon the city with an energy which met with his fervent applause. three days long the horrible scene continued, one day for the benefit of the spaniards, two more for that of the walloons and germans. all the churches, monasteries, religious houses of every kind, were completely sacked. every valuable article which they contained, the ornaments of altars, the reliquaries, chalices, embroidered curtains, and carpets of velvet or damask, the golden robes of the priests, the repositories of the host, the precious vessels of chrism and extreme unction, the rich clothing and jewellery adorning the effigies of the holy virgin, all were indiscriminately rifled by the spanish soldiers. the holy wafers were trampled underfoot, the sacramental wine was poured upon the ground, and, in brief, all the horrors which had been committed by the iconoclasts in their wildest moments, and for a thousandth part of which enormities heretics had been burned in droves, were now repeated in mechlin by the especial soldiers of christ, by roman catholics who had been sent to the netherlands to avenge the insults offered to the roman catholic faith. the motive, too, which inspired the sacrilegious crew was not fanaticism, but the desire of plunder. the property of romanists was taken as freely as that of calvinists, of which sect there were; indeed, but few in the archiepiscopal city. cardinal granvelle's house was rifled. the pauper funds deposited in the convents were not respected. the beds were taken from beneath sick and dying women, whether lady abbess or hospital patient, that the sacking might be torn to pieces in search of hidden treasure. the iconoclasts of had destroyed millions of property for the sake of an idea, but they had appropriated nothing. moreover, they had scarcely injured a human being; confining their wrath to graven images. the spaniards at mechlin spared neither man nor woman. the murders and outrages would be incredible, were they not attested by most respectable catholic witnesses. men were butchered in their houses, in the streets, at the altars. women were violated by hundreds in churches and in grave-yards. moreover, the deed had been as deliberately arranged as it was thoroughly performed. it was sanctioned by the highest authority. don frederic, son of alva, and general noircarmes were both present at the scene, and applications were in vain made to them that the havoc might be stayed. "they were seen whispering to each other in the ear on their arrival," says an eye-witness and a catholic, "and it is well known that the affair had been resolved upon the preceding day. the two continued together as long as they remained in the city." the work was, in truth, fully accomplished. the ultra-catholic, jean richardot, member of the grand council, and nephew of the bishop of arras, informed the state council that the sack of mechlin had been so horrible that the poor and unfortunate mothers had not a single morsel of bread to put in the mouths of their children, who were dying before their eyes--so insane and cruel had been the avarice of the plunderers. "he could say more," he added, "if his hair did not stand on end, not only at recounting, but even at remembering the scene." three days long the city was abandoned to that trinity of furies which ever wait upon war's footsteps--murder, lust, and rapine--under whose promptings human beings become so much more terrible than the most ferocious beasts. in his letter to his master, the duke congratulated him upon these foul proceedings as upon a pious deed well accomplished. he thought it necessary, however; to excuse himself before the public in a document, which justified the sack of mechlin by its refusal to accept his garrison a few months before, and by the shots which had been discharged at his troops as they approached the city. for these offences, and by his express order, the deed was done. upon his head must the guilt for ever rest. etext editor's bookmarks: hanged for having eaten meat-soup upon friday provided not one huguenot be left alive in france put all those to the torture out of whom anything can be got saint bartholomew's day science of reigning was the science of lying motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley - [chapter viii.] affairs in holland and zealand--siege of tergoes by the patriots-- importance of the place--difficulty of relieving it--its position-- audacious plan for sending succor across the "drowned land"-- brilliant and successful expedition of mondragon--the siege raised-- horrible sack of zutphen--base conduct of count van den berg-- refusal of naarden to surrender--subsequent unsuccessful deputation to make terms with don frederic--don frederic before naarden-- treachery of romero--the spaniards admitted--general massacre of the garrison and burghers--the city burned to the ground--warm reception of orange in holland--secret negotiations with the estates-- desperate character of the struggle between spain and the provinces --don frederic in amsterdam--plans for reducing holland--skirmish on the ice at amsterdam--preparation in harlem for the expected siege-- description of the city--early operations--complete investment-- numbers of besiegers and besieged--mutual barbarities--determined repulse of the first assault--failure of batenburg's expedition-- cruelties in city and camp--mining and countermining--second assault victoriously repelled--suffering and disease in harlem--disposition of don frederic to retire--memorable rebuke by alva--efforts of orange to relieve the place--sonoy's expedition--exploit of john haring--cruel execution of prisoners on both sides--quiryn dirkzoon and his family put to death in the city--fleets upon the lake-- defeat of the patriot armada--dreadful suffering and starvation in the city--parley with the besiegers--despair of the city--appeal to orange--expedition under batenburg to relieve the city--his defeat and death--desperate condition of harlem--its surrender at discretion--sanguinary executions--general massacre--expense of the victory in blood and money--joy of philip at the news. while thus brabant and flanders were scourged back to the chains which they had so recently broken, the affairs of the prince of orange were not improving in zealand. never was a twelvemonth so marked by contradictory fortune, never were the promises of a spring followed by such blight and disappointment in autumn than in the memorable year . on the island of walcheren, middelburg and arnemuyde still held for the king--campveer and flushing for the prince of orange. on the island of south bevelaad, the city of goes or tergoes was still stoutly defended by a small garrison of spanish troops. as long as the place held out, the city of middelburg could be maintained. should that important city fall, the spaniards would lose all hold upon walcheren and the province of zealand. jerome de 't zeraerts, a brave, faithful, but singularly unlucky officer, commanded for the prince in walcheren. he had attempted by various hastily planned expeditions to give employment to his turbulent soldiery, but fortune had refused to smile upon his efforts. he had laid siege to middelburg and failed. he had attempted tergoes and had been compelled ingloriously to retreat. the citizens of flushing, on his return, had shut the gates of the town in his face, and far several days refused to admit him or his troops. to retrieve this disgrace, which had sprung rather from the insubordination of his followers and the dislike which they bore his person than from any want of courage or conduct on his part, he now assembled a force of seven thousand men, marched again to tergoes, and upon the th of august laid siege to the place in forma. the garrison was very insufficient, and although they conducted themselves with great bravery, it was soon evident that unless reinforced they must yield. with their overthrow it was obvious that the spaniards would lose the important maritime province of zealand, and the duke accordingly ordered d'avila, who commanded in antwerp, to throw succor into tergoes without delay. attempts were made, by sea and by land, to this effect, but were all unsuccessful. the zealanders commanded the waters with their fleet,--and were too much at home among those gulfs and shallows not to be more than a match for their enemies. baffled in their attempt to relieve the town by water or by land, the spaniards conceived an amphibious scheme. their plan led to one of the most brilliant feats of arms which distinguishes the history of this war. the scheld, flowing past the city of antwerp and separating the provinces of flanders and brabant, opens wide its two arms in nearly opposite directions, before it joins the sea. between these two arms lie the isles of zealand, half floating upon, half submerged by the waves. the town of tergoes was the chief city of south beveland, the most important part of this archipelago, but south beveland had not always been an island. fifty years before, a tempest, one of the most violent recorded in the stormy annals of that exposed country, had overthrown all barriers, the waters of the german ocean, lashed by a succession of north winds, having been driven upon the low coast of zealand more rapidly than they could be carried off through the narrow straits of dover. the dykes of the island had burst, the ocean had swept over the land, hundreds of villages had been overwhelmed, and a tract of country torn from the province and buried for ever beneath the sea. this "drowned land," as it is called, now separated the island from the main. at low tide it was, however, possible for experienced pilots to ford the estuary, which had usurped the place of the land. the average depth was between four and five feet at low water, while the tide rose and fell at least ten feet; the bottom was muddy and treacherous, and it was moreover traversed by three living streams or channels; always much too deep to be fordable. captain plomaert, a fleming of great experience and bravery, warmly attached to the king's cause, conceived the plan of sending reinforcements across this drowned district to the city of tergoes. accompanied by two peasants of the country, well acquainted with the track, he twice accomplished the dangerous and difficult passage; which, from dry land to dry land, was nearly ten english miles in length. having thus satisfied himself as to the possibility of the enterprise, he laid his plan before the spanish colonel, mondragon. that courageous veteran eagerly embraced the proposal, examined the ground, and after consultation with sancho avila, resolved in person to lead an expedition along the path suggested by plomaert. three thousand picked men, a thousand from each nation,--spaniards, walloons, and germans, were speedily and secretly assembled at bergen op zoom, from the neighbourhood of which city, at a place called aggier, it was necessary that the expedition should set forth. a quantity of sacks were provided, in which a supply of, biscuit and of powder was placed, one to be carried by each soldier upon his head. although it was already late in the autumn, the weather was propitious; the troops, not yet informed: as to the secret enterprise for which they had been selected, were all ready assembled at the edge of the water, and mondragon, who, notwithstanding his age, had resolved upon heading the hazardous expedition, now briefly, on the evening of the th october, explained to them the nature of the service. his statement of the dangers which they were about to encounter, rather inflamed than diminished their ardor. their enthusiasm became unbounded, as he described the importance of the city which they were about to save, and alluded to the glory which would be won by those who thus courageously came forward to its rescue. the time of about half ebb-tide having arrived, the veteran,--preceded only by the guides and plomaert, plunged gaily into the waves, followed by his army, almost in single file. the water was never lowed khan the breast, often higher than the shoulder. the distance to the island, three and a half leagues at least, was to be accomplished within at most, six hours, or the rising tide would overwhelm them for ever. and thus, across the quaking and uncertain slime, which often refused them a footing, that adventurous band, five hours long, pursued their midnight march, sometimes swimming for their lives, and always struggling with the waves which every instant threatened to engulph them. before the tide had risen to more than half-flood, before the day had dawned, the army set foot on dry land again, at the village of irseken. of the whole three thousand, only nine unlucky individuals had been drowned; so much had courage and discipline availed in that dark and perilous passage through the very bottom of the sea. the duke of alva might well pronounce it one of the most brilliant and original achievements in the annals of war. the beacon fires were immediately lighted upon the shore; as agreed upon, to inform sancho d'avila, who was anxiously awaiting the result at bergen op zoom, of the safe arrival of the troops. a brief repose was then allowed. at the approach of daylight, they set forth from irseken, which lay about four leagues from tergoes. the news that a spanish army had thus arisen from the depths of the sea, flew before them as they marched. the besieging force commanded the water with their fleet, the land with their army; yet had these indomitable spaniards found a path which was neither land nor water, and had thus stolen upon them in the silence of night. a panic preceded them as they fell upon a foe much superior in number to their own force. it was impossible for 't zeraerts to induce his soldiers to offer resistance. the patriot army fled precipitately and ignominiously to their ships, hotly pursued by the spaniards, who overtook and destroyed the whole of their rearguard before they could embark. this done, the gallant little garrison which had so successfully held the city, was reinforced with the courageous veterans who had come to their relief his audacious project thus brilliantly accomplished, the "good old mondragon," as his soldiers called him, returned to the province of brabant. after the capture of mons and the sack of mechlin, the duke of alva had taken his way to nimwegen, having despatched his son, don frederic, to reduce the northern and eastern country, which was only too ready to submit to the conqueror. very little resistance was made by any of the cities which had so recently, and--with such enthusiasm, embraced the cause of orange. zutphen attempted a feeble opposition to the entrance of the king's troops, and received a dreadful chastisement in consequence. alva sent orders to his son to leave not a single man alive in the city, and to burn every house to the ground. the duke's command was almost literally obeyed. don frederic entered zutphen, and without a moment's warning put the whole garrison to the sword. the citizens next fell a defenceless, prey; some being, stabbed in the streets, some hanged on the trees which decorated the city, some stripped stark naked; and turned out into the fields to freeze to death in the wintry night. as the work of death became too fatiguing for the butchers, five hundred innocent burghers were tied two and two, back to back, and drowned like dogs in the river yssel. a few stragglers who had contrived to elude pursuit at first, were afterwards taken from their hiding places and hung upon the gallows by the feet, some of which victims suffered four days and nights of agony before death came to their relief. it is superfluous to add that the outrages upon women were no less universal in zutphen than they had been in every city captured or occupied by the spanish troops. these horrors continued till scarcely chastity or life remained, throughout the miserable city. this attack and massacre had been so suddenly executed, that assistance would hardly have been possible, even had there been disposition to render it. there was; however, no such disposition. the whole country was already cowering again, except the provinces of holland and zealand. no one dared approach, even to learn what had occurred within the walls of the town, for days after its doom had been accomplished. "a wail of agony was heard above zutphen last sunday," wrote count nieuwenar, "a sound as of a mighty massacre, but we know not what has taken place." count van, den bergh, another brother-in-law of orange, proved himself signally unworthy of the illustrious race to which he was allied. he had, in the earlier part of the year, received the homage of the cities of gelderland and overyssel, on behalf of the patriot prince. he now basely abandoned the field where he had endeavoured to gather laurels while the sun of success had been shining. having written from kampen, whither he had retired, that he meant to hold the city to the last gasp, he immediately afterwards fled secretly and precipitately from the country. in his flight he was plundered by his own people, while his wife, mary of nassau, then far advanced in pregnancy, was left behind, disguised as a peasant girl, in an obscure village. with the flight of van den bergh, all the cities which, under his guidance, had raised the standard of orange, deserted the cause at once. friesland too, where robles obtained a victory over six thousand patriots, again submitted to the yoke. but if the ancient heart of the free frisians was beating thus feebly, there was still spirit left among their brethren on the other side of the zuyder zee. it was not while william of orange was within her borders, nor while her sister provinces had proved recreant to him, that holland would follow their base example. no rebellion being left, except in the north-western extremities of the netherlands, don frederic was ordered to proceed from zutphen to amsterdam, thence to undertake the conquest of holland. the little city of naarden, on the coast of the zuyder zee, lay in his path, and had not yet formally submitted. on the nd of november a company of one hundred troopers was sent to the city gates to demand its surrender. the small garrison which had been left by the prince was not disposed to resist, but the spirit of the burghers was stouter than, their walls. they answered the summons by a declaration that they had thus far held the city for the king and the prince of orange, and, with god's help, would continue so to do. as the horsemen departed with this reply, a lunatic, called adrian krankhoeft, mounted the ramparts and, discharged a culverine among them. no man was injured, but the words of defiance, and the shot fired by a madman's hand, were destined to be fearfully answered. meanwhile, the inhabitants of the place, which was at best far from strong, and ill provided with arms, ammunition, or soldiers, despatched importunate messages to sonoy, and to ether patriot generals nearest to them, soliciting reinforcements. their messengers came back almost empty handed. they brought a little powder and a great many promises, but not a single man-at-arms, not a ducat, not a piece of artillery. the most influential commanders, moreover, advised an honorable capitulation, if it were still possible. thus baffled, the burghers of the little city found their proud position quite untenable. they accordingly, on the st of december, despatched the burgomaster and a senator to amersfoort, to make terms, if possible, with don frederic. when these envoys reached the place, they were refused admission to the general's presence. the army had already been ordered to move forward to naarden, and they were directed to accompany the advance guard, and to expect their reply at the gates of their own city. this command was sufficiently ominous. the impression which it made upon them was confirmed by the warning voices of their friends in amersfoort, who entreated them not to return to naarden. the advice was not lost upon one of the two envoys. after they had advanced a little distance on their journey, the burgomaster laurentszoon slid privately out of the sledge in which they were travelling, leaving his cloak behind him. "adieu; i think i will not venture back to naarden at present," said he, calmly, as he abandoned his companion to his fate. the other, who could not so easily desert his children, his wife, and his fellow-citizens, in the hour of danger, went forward as calmly to share in their impending doom. the army reached bussem, half a league distant from naarden, in the evening. here don frederic established his head quarters, and proceeded to invest the city. senator gerrit was then directed to return to naarden and to bring out a more numerous deputation on the following morning, duly empowered to surrender the place. the envoy accordingly returned next day, accompanied by lambert hortensius, rector of a latin academy, together with four other citizens. before this deputation had reached bussem, they were met by julian romero, who informed them that he was commissioned to treat with them on the part of don frederic. he demanded the keys of the city, and gave the deputation a solemn pledge that the lives and property of all the inhabitants should be sacredly respected. to attest this assurance don julian gave his hand three several times to lambert hortensius. a soldier's word thus plighted, the commissioners, without exchanging any written documents, surrendered the keys, and immediately afterwards accompanied romero into the city, who was soon followed by five or six hundred musketeers. to give these guests a hospitable reception, all the housewives of the city at once set about preparations for a sumptuous feast, to which the spaniards did ample justice, while the colonel and his officers were entertained by senator gerrit at his own house. as soon as this conviviality had come to an end, romero, accompanied by his host, walked into the square. the great bell had been meantime ringing, and the citizens had been summoned to assemble in the gast huis church, then used as a town hall. in the course of a few minutes five hundred had entered the building, and stood quietly awaiting whatever measures might be offered for their deliberation. suddenly a priest, who had been pacing to and fro before the church door, entered the building, and bade them all prepare for death; but the announcement, the preparation, and the death, were simultaneous. the door was flung open, and a band of armed spaniards rushed across the sacred threshold. they fired a single volley upon the defenceless herd, and then sprang in upon them with sword and dagger. a yell of despair arose as the miserable victims saw how hopelessly they were engaged, and beheld the ferocious faces of their butchers. the carnage within that narrow apace was compact and rapid. within a few minutes all were despatched, and among them senator gerrit, from whose table the spanish commander had but just risen. the church was then set on fire, and the dead and dying were consumed to ashes together. inflamed but not satiated, the spaniards then rushed into the streets, thirsty for fresh horrors. the houses were all rifled of their contents, and men were forced to carry the booty to the camp, who were then struck dead as their reward. the town was then fired in every direction, that the skulking citizens might be forced from their hiding-places. as fast as they came forth they were put to death by their impatient foes. some were pierced with rapiers, some were chopped to pieces with axes, some were surrounded in the blazing streets by troops of laughing soldiers, intoxicated, not with wine but with blood, who tossed them to and fro with their lances, and derived a wild amusement from their dying agonies. those who attempted resistance were crimped alive like fishes, and left to gasp themselves to death in lingering torture. the soldiers becoming more and more insane, as the foul work went on, opened the veins of some of their victims, and drank their blood as if it were wine. some of the burghers were for a time spared, that they might witness the violation of their wives and daughters, and were then butchered in company with these still more unfortunate victims. miracles of brutality were accomplished. neither church nor hearth was sacred: men were slain, women outraged at the altars, in the streets, in their blazing homes. the life of lambert hortensius was spared, out of regard to his learning and genius, but he hardly could thank his foes for the boon, for they struck his only son dead, and tore his heart out before his father's eyes. hardly any man or woman survived, except by accident. a body of some hundred burghers made their escape across the snow into the open country. they were, however, overtaken, stripped stark naked, and hung upon the trees by the feet, to freeze, or to perish by a more lingering death. most of them soon died, but twenty, who happened to be wealthy, succeeded, after enduring much torture, in purchasing their lives of their inhuman persecutors. the principal burgomaster, heinrich lambertszoon, was less fortunate. known to be affluent, he was tortured by exposing the soles of his feet to a fire until they were almost consumed. on promise that his life should be spared, he then agreed to pay a heavy ransom; but hardly had he furnished the stipulated sum when, by express order of don frederic himself, he was hanged in his own doorway, and his dissevered limbs afterwards nailed to the gates of the city. nearly all the inhabitants of naarden, soldiers and citizens, were thus destroyed; and now don frederic issued peremptory orders that no one, on pain of death, should give lodging or food to any fugitive. he likewise forbade to the dead all that could now be forbidden them--a grave. three weeks long did these unburied bodies pollute the streets, nor could the few wretched women who still cowered within such houses as had escaped the flames ever wave from their lurking-places without treading upon the festering remains of what had been their husbands, their fathers, or their brethren. such was the express command of him whom the flatterers called the "most divine genius ever known." shortly afterwards came an order to dismantle the fortifications, which had certainly proved sufficiently feeble in the hour of need, and to raze what was left of the city from the surface of the earth. the work was faithfully accomplished, and for a longtime naarden ceased to exist. alva wrote, with his usual complacency in such cases, to his sovereign, that "they had cut the throats of the burghers and all the garrison, and that they had not left a mother's son alive." the statement was almost literally correct, nor was the cant with which these bloodhounds commented upon their crimes less odious than their guilt. "it was a permission of god," said the duke, "that these people should have undertaken to defend a city, which was so weak that no other persons would have attempted such a thing." nor was the reflection of mendoza less pious. "the sack of naarden," said that really brave and accomplished cavalier, "was a chastisement which must be believed to have taken place by express permission of a divine providence; a punishment for having been the first of the holland towns in which heresy built its nest, whence it has taken flight to all the neighboring cities." it is not without reluctance, but still with a stern determination, that the historian--should faithfully record these transactions. to extenuate would be base; to exaggerate impossible. it is good that the world should not forget how much wrong has been endured by a single harmless nation at the hands of despotism, and in the sacred name of god. there have been tongues and pens enough to narrate the excesses of the people, bursting from time to time out of slavery into madness. it is good, too, that those crimes should be remembered, and freshly pondered; but it is equally wholesome to study the opposite picture. tyranny, ever young and ever old, constantly reproducing herself with the same stony features, with the same imposing mask which she has worn through all the ages, can never be too minutely examined, especially when she paints her own portrait, and when the secret history of her guilt is furnished by the confessions of her lovers. the perusal of her traits will not make us love popular liberty the less. the history of alva's administration in the netherlands is one of those pictures which strike us almost dumb with wonder. why has the almighty suffered such crimes to be perpetrated in his sacred name? was it necessary that many generations should wade through this blood in order to acquire for their descendants the blessings of civil and religious freedom? was it necessary that an alva should ravage a peaceful nation with sword and flame--that desolation should be spread over a happy land, in order that the pure and heroic character of a william of orange should stand forth more conspicuously, like an antique statue of spotless marble against a stormy sky? after the army which the prince had so unsuccessfully led to the relief of mons had been disbanded, he had himself repaired to holland. he had come to kampen shortly before its defection from his cause. thence he had been escorted across the zuyder zee to eukhuyzen. he came to that province, the only one which through good and ill report remained entirely faithful to him, not as a conqueror but as an unsuccessful, proscribed man. but there were warm hearts beating within those cold lagunes, and no conqueror returning from a brilliant series of victories could have been received with more affectionate respect than william in that darkest hour of the country's history. he had but seventy horsemen at his back, all which remained of the twenty thousand troops which he had a second time levied in germany, and he felt that it would be at that period hopeless for him to attempt the formation of a third army. he had now come thither to share the fate of holland, at least, if he could not accomplish her liberation. he went from city to city, advising with the magistracies and with the inhabitants, and arranging many matters pertaining both to peace and war. at harlem the states of the provinces, according to his request, had been assembled. the assembly begged him to lay before them, if it were possible, any schemes and means which he might have devised for further resistance to the duke of alva. thus solicited, the prince, in a very secret session, unfolded his plans, and satisfied them as to the future prospects of the cause. his speech has nowhere been preserved. his strict injunctions as to secrecy, doubtless, prevented or effaced any record of the session. it is probable, however, that he entered more fully into the state of his negotiations with england, and into the possibility of a resumption by count louis of his private intercourse with the french court, than it was safe, publicly, to divulge. while the prince had been thus occupied in preparing the stout-hearted province for the last death-struggle with its foe, that mortal combat was already fast approaching; for the aspect of the contest in the netherlands was not that of ordinary warfare. it was an encounter between two principles, in their nature so hostile to each other that the absolute destruction of one was the only, possible issue. as the fight went on, each individual combatant seemed inspired by direct personal malignity, and men found a pleasure in deeds of cruelty, from which generations not educated to slaughter recoil with horror. to murder defenceless prisoners; to drink, not metaphorically but literally, the heart's blood of an enemy; to exercise a devilish ingenuity in inventions of mutual torture, became not only a duty but a rapture. the liberty of the netherlands had now been hunted to its lair. it had taken its last refuge among the sands and thickets where its savage infancy had been nurtured, and had now prepared itself to crush its tormentor in a last embrace, or to die in the struggle. after the conclusion of the sack and massacre of naarden, don frederic had hastened to amsterdam, where the duke was then quartered, that he might receive the paternal benediction for his well-accomplished work. the royal approbation was soon afterwards added to the applause of his parent, and the duke was warmly congratulated in a letter written by philip as soon as the murderous deed was known, that don frederic had so plainly shown himself to be his father's son. there was now more work for father and son. amsterdam was the only point in holland which held for alva, and from that point it was determined to recover the whole province. the prince of orange was established in the southern district; diedrich sonoy, his lieutenant, was stationed in north holland. the important city of harlem lay between the two, at a spot where the whole breadth of the territory, from sea to sea, was less than an hour's walk. with the fall of that city the province would be cut in twain, the rebellious forces utterly dissevered, and all further resistance, it was thought, rendered impossible. the inhabitants of harlem felt their danger. bossu, alva's stadholder for holland, had formally announced the system hitherto pursued at mechlin, zutphen, and naarden, as the deliberate policy of the government. the king's representative had formally proclaimed the extermination of man, woman; and child in every city which opposed his authority, but the promulgation and practice of such a system had an opposite effect to the one intended. "the hearts of the hollanders were rather steeled to resistance than awed into submission by the fate of naarden." a fortunate event, too, was accepted as a lucky omen for the coming contest. a little fleet of armed vessels, belonging to holland, had been frozen up in the neighbourhood of amsterdam. don frederic on his arrival from naarden, despatched a body of picked men over the ice to attack the imprisoned vessels. the crews had, however, fortified themselves by digging a wide trench around the whole fleet, which thus became from the moment an almost impregnable fortress. out of this frozen citadel a strong band of well-armed and skilful musketeers sallied forth upon skates as the besieging force advanced. a rapid, brilliant, and slippery skirmish succeeded, in which the hollanders, so accustomed to such sports, easily vanquished their antagonists, and drove them off the field, with the loss of several hundred left dead upon the ice. "'t was a thing never heard of before to-day," said alva, "to see a body of arquebusiers thus skirmishing upon a frozen sea." in the course of the next four-and-twenty hours a flood and a rapid thaw released the vessels, which all escaped to enkhuyzen, while a frost, immediately and strangely succeeding, made pursuit impossible. the spaniards were astonished at these novel manoeuvres upon the ice. it is amusing to read their elaborate descriptions of the wonderful appendages which had enabled the hollanders to glide so glibly into battle with a superior force, and so rapidly to glance away, after achieving a signal triumph. nevertheless, the spaniards could never be dismayed, and were always apt scholars, even if an enemy were the teacher. alva immediately ordered seven thousand pairs of skates, and his soldiers soon learned to perform military evolutions with these new accoutrements as audaciously, if not as adroitly, as the hollanders. a portion of the harlem magistracy, notwithstanding the spirit which pervaded the province, began to tremble as danger approached. they were base enough to enter into secret negotiations with alva, and to send three of their own number to treat with the duke at amsterdam. one was wise enough to remain with the enemy. the other two were arrested on their return, and condemned, after an impartial trial, to death. for, while these emissaries of a cowardly magistracy were absent, the stout commandant of the little garrison, ripperda, had assembled the citizens and soldiers in the market-place. he warned them of the absolute necessity to make a last effort for freedom. in startling colors he held up to them the fate of mechlin, of zutphen, of naarden, as a prophetic mirror, in which they might read their own fate should they be base enough to surrender the city. there was no composition possible, he urged, with foes who were as false as they were sanguinary, and whose foul passions were stimulated, not slaked, by the horrors with which they had already feasted themselves. ripperda addressed men who could sympathize with his bold and lofty sentiments. soldiers and citizens cried out for defence instead of surrender, as with one voice, for there were no abject spirits at harlem, save among the magistracy; and saint aldegonde, the faithful minister of orange, was soon sent to harlem by the prince to make a thorough change in that body. harlem, over whose ruins the spanish tyranny intended to make its entrance into holland, lay in the narrowest part of that narrow isthmus which separates the zuyder zee from the german ocean. the distance from sea to sea is hardly five english miles across. westerly from the city extended a slender strip of land, once a morass, then a fruitful meadow; maintained by unflagging fortitude in the very jaws of a stormy ocean. between the north sea and the outer edge of this pasture surged those wild and fantastic downs, heaped up by wind and wave in mimicry of mountains; the long coils of that rope of sand, by which, plaited into additional strength by the slenderest of bulrushes, the waves of the north sea were made to obey the command of man. on the opposite, or eastern aide, harlem looked towards amsterdam. that already flourishing city was distant but ten miles. the two cities were separated by an expanse of inland water, and united by a slender causeway. the harlem lake, formed less than a century before by the bursting of four lesser, meres during a storm which had threatened to swallow the whole peninsula, extended itself on the south and east; a sea of limited dimensions, being only fifteen feet in depth with seventy square miles of surface, but, exposed as it lay to all the winds of heaven, often lashed into storms as dangerous as those of the atlantic. beyond the lake, towards the north, the waters of the y nearly swept across the peninsula. this inlet of the zuyder zee was only separated from the harlem mere by a slender thread of land. over this ran the causeway between the two sister cities, now so unfortunately in arms against each other. midway between the two, the dyke was pierced and closed again with a system of sluice-works, which when opened admitted the waters of the lake into those of the estuary, and caused an inundation of the surrounding country. the city was one of the largest and most beautiful in the netherlands. it was also one of the weakest.--the walls were of antique construction, turreted, but not strong. the extent and feebleness of the defences made a large garrison necessary, but unfortunately, the garrison was even weaker than the walls. the city's main reliance was on the stout hearts of the inhabitants. the streets were, for that day, spacious and regular; the canals planted with limes and poplars. the ancient church of saint bavon, a large imposing structure of brick, stood almost in the centre of the place, the most prominent object, not only of the town but of the province, visible over leagues of sea and of land more level than the sea, and seeming to gather the whole quiet little city under its sacred and protective wings. its tall open-work leaden spire was surmounted by a colossal crown, which an exalted imagination might have regarded as the emblematic guerdon of martyrdom held aloft over the city, to reward its heroism and its agony. it was at once obvious that the watery expanse between harlem and amsterdam would be the principal theatre of the operations about to commence. the siege was soon begun. the fugitive burgomaster, de fries, had the effrontery, with the advice of alva, to address a letter to the citizens, urging them to surrender at discretion. the messenger was hanged--a cruel but practical answer, which put an end to all further traitorous communications. this was in the first week of december. on the th, don frederic, sent a strong detachment to capture the fort and village of sparendam, as an indispensable preliminary to the commencement of the siege. a peasant having shown zapata, the commander of the expedition, a secret passage across the flooded and frozen meadows, the spaniards stormed the place gallantly, routed the whole garrison, killed three hundred, and took possession of the works and village. next day, don frederic appeared before the walls of harlem, and proceeded regularly to invest the place. the misty weather favored his operations, nor did he cease reinforcing himself; until at least thirty thousand men, including fifteen hundred cavalry, had been encamped around the city. the germans, under count overstein, were stationed in a beautiful and extensive grove of limes and beeches, which spread between the southern walls and the shore of harlem lake. don frederic, with his spaniards, took up a position on the opposite side, at a place called the house of kleef, the ruins of which still remain. the walloons, and other regiments were distributed in different places, so as completely to encircle the town. [pierre sterlinckx: eene come waerachtige beschryvinghe van alle geschiedinissen, anschlagen, stormen, schermutsingen oude schieten voor de vroome stadt haerlem in holland gheschicht, etc., etc.-- delft, .--this is by far the best contemporary account of the famous siege. the author was a citizen of antwerp, who kept a daily journal of the events as they occurred at harlem. it is a dry, curt register of horrors, jotted down without passion or comment.-- compare bor, vi. , ; meteren, iv. ; mendoza, viii. , ; wagenaer, vad. hist., vi. , .] on the edge of the mere the prince of orange had already ordered a cluster of forts to be erected, by which the command of its frozen surface was at first secured for harlem. in the course of the siege, however, other forts were erected by don frederic, so that the aspect of things suffered a change. against this immense force, nearly equal in number to that of the whole population of the city, the garrison within the walls never amounted to more than four thousand men. in the beginning it was much less numerous. the same circumstances, however, which assisted the initiatory operations of don frederic, were of advantage to the harlemers. a dense frozen fog hung continually over the surface of the lake. covered by this curtain, large supplies of men, provisions, and ammunition were daily introduced into the city, notwithstanding all the efforts of the besieging force. sledges skimming over the ice, men, women, and even children, moving on their skates as swiftly as the wind, all brought their contributions in the course of the short dark days and long nights of december, in which the wintry siege was opened. the garrison at last numbered about one thousand pioneers or delvers, three thousand fighting men, and about three hundred fighting women. the last was a most efficient corps, all females of respectable character, armed with sword, musket, and dagger. their chief, kenau hasselaer, was a widow of distinguished family and unblemished reputation, about forty-seven years of age, who, at the head of her amazons, participated in many of the most fiercely contested actions of the siege, both within and without the walls. when such a spirit animated the maids and matrons of the city, it might be expected that the men would hardly surrender the place without a struggle. the prince had assembled a force of three or four thousand men at leyden, which he sent before the middle of december towards the city under the command of de la marck. these troops were, however, attacked on the way by a strong detachment under bossu, noircarmes, and romero. after a sharp, action in a heavy snow-storm, de la marek was completely routed. one thousand of his soldiers were cut to pieces, and a large number carried off as prisoners to the gibbets, which were already conspicuously erected in the spanish camp, and which from the commencement to the close of the siege were never bare of victims. among the captives was a gallant officer, baptist van trier, for whom de la marck in vain offered two thousand crowns and nineteen spanish prisoners. the proposition was refused with contempt. van trier was hanged upon the gallows by one leg until he was dead, in return for which barbarity the nineteen spaniards were immediately gibbeted by de la marck. with this interchange of cruelties the siege may be said to have opened. don frederic had stationed himself in a position opposite to the gate of the cross, which was not very strong, but fortified by a ravelin. intending to make a very short siege of it, he established his batteries immediately, and on the th, th, and th december directed a furious cannonade against the cross-gate, the st. john's-gate, and the curtain between the two. six hundred and eighty shots were discharged on the first, and nearly as many on each of the two succeeding days. the walls were much shattered, but men, women, and children worked night and day within the city, repairing the breaches as fast as made. they brought bags of sand; blocks of stone, cart-loads of earth from every quarter, and they stripped the churches of all their statues, which they threw by heaps into the gaps. if they sought thus a more practical advantage from those sculptured saints than they could have gained by only imploring their interposition. the fact, however, excited horror among the besiegers. men who were daily butchering their fellow-beings, and hanging their prisoners in cold blood, affected to shudder at the enormity of the offence thus exercised against graven images. after three days' cannonade, the assault was ordered, don frederic only intending a rapid massacre, to crown his achievements at--zutphen and naarden. the place, he thought, would fall in a week, and after another week of sacking, killing, and ravishing, he might sweep on to "pastures new" until holland was overwhelmed. romero advanced to the breach, followed by a numerous storming party, but met with a resistance which astonished the spaniards. the church bells rang the alarm throughout the city, and the whole population swarmed to the walls. the besiegers were encountered not only with sword and musket, but with every implement which the burghers' hands could find. heavy stones, boiling oil, live coals, were hurled upon the heads of the soldiers; hoops, smeared with pitch and set on fire, were dexterously thrown upon their necks. even spanish courage and spanish ferocity were obliged to shrink before the steady determination of a whole population animated by a single spirit. romero lost an eye in the conflict, many officers were killed and wounded, and three or four hundred soldiers left dead in the breach, while only three or four of the townsmen lost their lives. the signal of recal was reluctantly given, and the spaniards abandoned the assault. don frederic was now aware that harlem would not fall at his feet at the first sound of his trumpet. it was obvious that a siege must precede the massacre. he gave orders therefore that the ravelin should be undermined, and doubted not that, with a few days' delay, the place would be in his hands. meantime, the prince of orange, from his head-quarters at sassenheim, on the southern extremity of the mere, made a fresh effort to throw succor into the place. two thousand men, with seven field-pieces, and many wagon-loads of munitions, were sent forward under batenburg. this officer had replaced de la marck, whom the prince had at last deprived of his commission. the reckless and unprincipled freebooter was no longer to serve a cause which was more sullied by his barbarity than it could be advanced by his desperate valor. batenburg's expedition was, however, not more successful than the one made by his predecessor. the troops, after reaching the vicinity of the city, lost their way in the thick mists, which almost perpetually enveloped the scene. cannons were fired, fog-bells were rung, and beacon fires were lighted on the ramparts, but the party was irretrievably lost. the spaniards fell upon them before they could find their way to the city. many were put to the sword, others made their escape in different directions; a very few succeeded in entering harlem. batenburg brought off a remnant of the forces, but all the provisions so much needed were lost, and the little army entirely destroyed. de koning, the second in command, was among the prisoners. the spaniards cut off his head and threw it over the walls into the city, with this inscription: "this is the head of captain de koning, who is on his way with reinforcements for the good city of harlem." the citizens retorted with a practical jest, which was still more barbarous. they cut off the heads of eleven prisoners and put them into a barrel, which they threw into the spanish camp. a label upon the barrel contained these words: "deliver these ten heads to duke alva in payment of his tenpenny tax, with one additional head for interest." with such ghastly merriment did besieged and besiegers vary the monotonous horror of that winter's siege. as the sallies and skirmishes were of daily occurrence, there was a constant supply of prisoners, upon whom both parties might exercise their ingenuity, so that the gallows in camp or city was perpetually garnished. since the assault of the st december, don frederic had been making his subterranean attack by regular approaches. as fast, however, as the spaniards mined, the citizens countermined. spaniard and netherlander met daily in deadly combat within the bowels of the earth. desperate and frequent were the struggles within gangways so narrow that nothing but daggers could be used, so obscure that the dim lanterns hardly lighted the death-stroke. they seemed the conflicts, not of men but of evil spirits. nor were these hand-to-hand battles all. a shower of heads, limbs, mutilated trunks, the mangled remains of hundreds of human beings, often spouted from the earth as if from an invisible volcano. the mines were sprung with unexampled frequency and determination. still the spaniards toiled on with undiminished zeal, and still the besieged, undismayed, delved below their works, and checked their advance by sword, and spear, and horrible explosions. the prince of orange, meanwhile, encouraged the citizens to persevere, by frequent promises of assistance. his letters, written on extremely small bits of paper; were sent into the town by carrier pigeons. on the th of january he despatched a considerable supply of the two necessaries, powder and bread, on one hundred and seventy sledges across the harlem lake, together with four hundred veteran soldiers. the citizens continued to contest the approaches to the ravelin before the cross-gate, but it had become obvious that they could not hold it long. secretly, steadfastly, and swiftly they had, therefore, during the long wintry nights, been constructing a half moon of solid masonry on the inside of the same portal. old men, feeble women, tender children, united with the able-bodied to accomplish this work, by which they hoped still to maintain themselves after the ravelin had fallen: on the st of january, after two or three days' cannonade against the gates of the cross and of saint john, and the intervening curtains, don frederic ordered a midnight assault. the walls had been much shattered, part of the john's-gate was in ruins; the spaniards mounted the breach in great numbers; the city was almost taken by surprise; while the commander-in-chief, sure of victory, ordered the whole of his forces under arms to cut off the population who were to stream panic-struck from every issue. the attack was unexpected, but the forty or fifty sentinels defended the walls while they sounded the alarm. the tocsin bells tolled, and the citizens, whose sleep was not-apt to be heavy during that perilous winter, soon manned the ramparts again. the daylight came upon them while the fierce struggle was still at its height. the besieged, as before, defended themselves with musket and rapier, with melted pitch, with firebrands, with clubs and stones. meantime, after morning prayers in the spanish camp, the trumpet for a general assault was sounded. a tremendous onset was made upon the gate of the cross, and the ravelin was carried at last. the spaniards poured into this fort, so long the object of their attack, expecting instantly to sweep into the city with sword and fire. as they mounted its wall they became for the first time aware of the new and stronger fortification which had been secretly constructed on the inner side. the reason why the ravelin had been at last conceded was revealed. the half moon, whose existence they had not suspected, rose before them bristling with cannon. a sharp fire was instantly opened upon the besiegers, while at the same instant the ravelin, which the citizens had undermined, blew up with a severe explosion, carrying into the air all the soldiers who had just entered it so triumphantly. this was the turning point. the retreat was sounded, and the spaniards fled to their camp, leaving at least three hundred dead beneath the walls. thus was a second assault, made by an overwhelming force and led by the most accomplished generals of spain, signally and gloriously repelled by the plain burghers of harlem. it became now almost evident that the city could be taken neither by regular approaches nor by sudden attack. it was therefore resolved that it should be reduced by famine. still, as the winter wore on, the immense army without the walls were as great sufferers by that scourge as the population within. the soldiers fell in heaps before the diseases engendered by intense cold and insufficient food, for, as usual in such sieges, these deaths far outnumbered those inflicted by the enemy's hand. the sufferings inside the city necessarily increased day by day, the whole population being put on a strict allowance of food. their supplies were daily diminishing, and with the approach of the spring and the thawing of the ice on the lake, there was danger that they would be entirely cut off. if the possession of the water were lost, they must yield or starve; and they doubted whether the prince would be able to organize a fleet. the gaunt spectre of famine already rose before them with a menace which could not be misunderstood. in their misery they longed for the assaults of the spaniards, that they might look in the face of a less formidable foe. they paraded the ramparts daily, with drums beating, colors flying, taunting the besiegers to renewed attempts. to inflame the religious animosity of their antagonists, they attired themselves in the splendid, gold-embroidered vestments of the priests, which they took from the churches, and moved about in mock procession, bearing aloft images bedizened in ecclesiastical finery, relics, and other symbols, sacred in catholic eyes, which they afterwards hurled from the ramparts, or broke, with derisive shouts, into a thousand fragments. it was, however, at that season earnestly debated by the enemy whether or not to raise the siege. don frederic was clearly of opinion that enough had been done for the honor of the spanish arms. he was wearied with seeing his men perish helplessly around him, and considered the prize too paltry for the lives it must cost. his father thought differently. perhaps he recalled the siege of metz, and the unceasing regret with which, as he believed, his imperial master had remembered the advice received from him. at any rate the duke now sent back don bernardino de mendoza, whom don frederic had despatched to nimwegen, soliciting his father's permission to raise the siege, with this reply: "tell don frederic," said alva, "that if he be not decided to continue the siege till the town be taken, i shall no longer consider him my son, whatever my opinion may formerly have been. should he fall in the siege, i will myself take the field to maintain it, and when we have both perished, the duchess, my wife, shall come from spain to do the same." such language was unequivocal, and hostilities were resumed as fiercely as before. the besieged welcomed them with rapture, and, as usual, made daily the most desperate sallies. in one outbreak the harlemers, under cover of a thick fog, marched up to the enemy's chief battery, and attempted to spike the guns before his face. they were all slain at the cannon's mouth, whither patriotism, not vainglory, had led them, and lay dead around the battery, with their hammers and spikes in their hands. the same spirit was daily manifested. as the spring advanced; the kine went daily out of the gates to their peaceful pasture, notwithstanding, all the turmoil within and around; nor was it possible for the spaniards to capture a single one of these creatures, without paying at least a dozen soldiers as its price. "these citizens," wrote don frederic, "do as much as the best soldiers in the world could do." the frost broke up by the end of february. count bossu, who had been building a fleet of small vessels in amsterdam, soon afterwards succeeded in entering the lake with a few gun-boats, through a breach which he had made in the overtoom, about half a league from that city. the possession of the lake was already imperilled. the prince, however, had not been idle, and he, too, was soon ready to send his flotilla to the mere. at the same time, the city of amsterdam was in almost as hazardous a position as harlem. as the one on the lake, so did the other depend upon its dyke for its supplies. should that great artificial road which led to muyden and utrecht be cut asunder, amsterdam might be starved as soon as harlem. "since i came into the world," wrote alva, "i have never, been in such anxiety. if they should succeed in cutting off the communication along the dykes, we should have to raise the siege of harlem, to surrender, hands crossed, or to starve." orange was fully aware of the position of both places, but he was, as usual, sadly deficient in men and means. he wrote imploringly to his friends in england, in france, in germany. he urged his brother louis to bring a few soldiers, if it were humanly possible. "the whole country longs for you," he wrote to louis, "as if you were the archangel gabriel." the prince, however, did all that it was possible for man, so hampered, to do. he was himself, while anxiously writing, hoping, and waiting for supplies of troops from germany or france, doing his best with such volunteers as he could raise. he was still established at sassenheim, on the south of the city, while sonoy with his slender forces was encamped on the north. he now sent that general with as large a party as he could muster to attack the diemerdyk. his men entrenched themselves as strongly as they could between the diemer and the y, at the same time opening the sluices and breaking through the dyke. during the absence of their commander, who had gone to edam for reinforcements, they were attacked by a large force from amsterdam. a fierce amphibious contest took place, partly in boats, partly on the slippery causeway, partly in the water, resembling in character the frequent combats between the ancient batavians and romans during the wars of civilis. the patriots were eventually overpowered. sonoy, who was on his way to their rescue, was frustrated in his design by the unexpected faint-heartedness of the volunteers whom he had enlisted at edam. braving a thousand perils, he advanced, almost unattended, in his little vessel, but only to witness the overthrow and expulsion of his band. it was too late for him singly to attempt to rally the retreating troops. they had fought well, but had been forced to yield before superior numbers, one individual of the little army having performed prodigies of valor. john haring, of horn, had planted himself entirely alone upon the dyke, where it was so narrow between the y on the one side and the diemer lake on the other, that two men could hardly stand abreast. here, armed with sword and shield, he had actually opposed and held in check one thousand of the enemy, during a period long enough to enable his own men, if they, had been willing, to rally, and effectively to repel the attack. it was too late, the battle was too far lost to be restored; but still the brave soldier held the post, till, by his devotion, he had enabled all those of his compatriots who still remained in the entrenchments to make good their retreat. he then plunged into the sea, and, untouched by spear or bullet, effected his escape. had he been a greek or a roman, an horatius or a chabrias, his name would have been famous in history--his statue erected in the market-place; for the bold dutchman on his dyke had manifested as much valor in a sacred cause as the most classic heroes of antiquity. this unsuccessful attempt to cut off the communication between amsterdam and the country strengthened the hopes of alva. several hundreds of the patriots were killed or captured, and among the slain was antony oliver, the painter, through whose agency louis of nassau had been introduced into mons. his head was cut off by two ensigns in alva's service, who received the price which had been set upon it of two thousand caroli. it was then labelled with its owner's name, and thrown into the city of harlem. at the same time a new gibbet was erected in the spanish camp before the city, in a conspicuous situation, upon which all the prisoners were hanged, some by the neck, some by the heels, in full view of their countrymen. as usual, this especial act of cruelty excited the emulation of the citizens. two of the old board of magistrates, belonging to the spanish party, were still imprisoned at harlem; together with seven other persons, among whom was a priest and a boy of twelve years. they were now condemned to the gallows. the wife of one of the ex-burgomasters and his daughter, who was a beguin, went by his side as he was led to execution, piously exhorting him to sustain with courage the execrations of the populace and his ignominious doom. the rabble, irritated by such boldness, were not satisfied with wreaking their vengeance on the principal victims, but after the execution had taken place they hunted the wife and daughter into the water, where they both perished. it is right to record these instances of cruelty, sometimes perpetrated by the patriots as well as by their oppressors--a cruelty rendered almost inevitable by the incredible barbarity of the foreign invader. it was a war of wolfish malignity. in the words of mendoza, every man within and without harlem "seemed inspired by a spirit of special and personal vengeance." the innocent blood poured out in mechlin, zutphen, naarden, and upon a thousand scaffolds, had been crying too long from the ground. the hollanders must have been more or less than men not to be sometimes betrayed into acts which justice and reason must denounce. [no! it was as evil for one side as the other. d.w.] the singular mood which has been recorded of a high-spirited officer of the garrison, captain corey, illustrated the horror with which such scenes of carnage were regarded by noble natures. of a gentle disposition originally, but inflamed almost to insanity by a contemplation of spanish cruelty, he had taken up the profession of arms, to which he had a natural repugnance. brave to recklessness, he led his men on every daring outbreak, on every perilous midnight adventure. armed only with his rapier, without defensive armor, he was ever found where the battle raged most fiercely, and numerous were the victims who fell before his sword. on returning, however, from such excursions, he invariably shut himself in his quarters, took to his bed, and lay for days, sick with remorse, and bitterly lamenting all that bloodshed in which he had so deeply participated, and which a cruel fate seemed to render necessary. as the gentle mood subsided, his frenzy would return, and again he would rush to the field, to seek new havoc and fresh victims for his rage. the combats before the walls were of almost daily occurrence. on the th march, one thousand of the besieged made a brilliant sally, drove in all the outposts of the enemy, burned three hundred tents, and captured seven cannon, nine standards, and many wagon-loads of provisions, all which they succeeded in bringing with them into the city.--having thus reinforced themselves, in a manner not often practised by the citizens of a beleaguered town, in the very face of thirty thousand veterans--having killed eight hundred of the enemy, which was nearly one for every man engaged, while they lost but four of their own party--the harlemers, on their return, erected a trophy of funereal but exulting aspect. a mound of earth was constructed upon the ramparts, in the form of a colossal grave, in full view of the enemy's camp, and upon it were planted the cannon and standards so gallantly won in the skirmish, with the taunting inscription floating from the centre of the mound "harlem is the graveyard of the spaniards." such were the characteristics of this famous siege during the winter and early spring. alva might well write to his sovereign, that "it was a war such as never before was seen or heard of in any land on earth." yet the duke had known near sixty years of warfare. he informed philip that "never was a place defended with such skill and bravery as harlem, either by rebels or by men fighting for their lawful prince." certainly his son had discovered his mistake in asserting that the city would yield in a week; while the father, after nearly six years' experience, had found this "people of butter" less malleable than even those "iron people" whom he boasted of having tamed. it was seen that neither the skies of greece or italy, nor the sublime scenery of switzerland, were necessary to arouse the spirit of defiance to foreign oppression--a spirit which beat as proudly among the wintry mists and the level meadows of holland as it had ever done under sunnier atmospheres and in more romantic lands. mendoza had accomplished his mission to spain, and had returned with supplies of money within six weeks from the date of his departure. owing to his representations and alva's entreaties, philip had, moreover, ordered requesens, governor of milan, to send forward to the netherlands three veteran spanish regiments, which were now more required at harlem than in italy. while the land force had thus been strengthened, the fleet upon the lake had also been largely increased. the prince of orange had, on the other hand, provided more than a hundred sail of various descriptions, so that the whole surface of the mere was now alive with ships. seafights and skirmishes took place almost daily, and it was obvious that the life and death struggle was now to be fought upon the water. so long as the hollanders could hold or dispute the possession of the lake, it was still possible to succor harlem from time to time. should the spaniards overcome the prince's fleet, the city must inevitably starve. at last, on the th of may, a decisive engagement of the fleets took place. the vessels grappled with each other, and there was a long, fierce, hand-to-hand combat. under bossu were one hundred vessels; under martin brand, admiral of the patriot fleet, nearly one hundred and fifty, but of lesser dimensions. batenburg commanded the troops on board the dutch vessels. after a protracted conflict, in which several thousands were killed, the victory was decided in favor of the spaniards. twenty-two of the prince's vessels being captured, and the rest totally routed, bossu swept across the lake in triumph. the forts belonging to the patriots were immediately taken, and the harlemers, with their friends, entirely excluded from the lake. this was the beginning of the end. despair took possession of the city. the whole population had been long subsisting upon an allowance of a pound of bread to each man, and half-a-pound for each woman; but the bread was now exhausted, the famine had already begun, and with the loss of the lake starvation was close at their doors. they sent urgent entreaties to, the prince to attempt something in their behalf. three weeks more they assigned as the longest term during which they could possibly hold out. he sent them word by carrier pigeons to endure yet a little time, for he was assembling a force, and would still succeed in furnishing them with supplies. meantime, through the month of june the sufferings of the inhabitants increased hourly. ordinary food had long since vanished. the population now subsisted on linseed and rape-seed; as these supplies were exhausted they devoured cats, dogs, rats, and mice, and when at last these unclean animals had been all consumed, they boiled the hides of horses and oxen; they ate shoe-leather; they plucked the nettles and grass from the graveyards, and the weeds which grew between the stones of the pavement, that with such food they might still support life a little longer, till the promised succor should arrive. men, women, and children fell dead by scores in the streets, perishing of pure starvation, and the survivors had hardly the heart or the strength to bury them out of their sight. they who yet lived seemed to flit like shadows to and fro, envying those whose sufferings had already been terminated by death. thus wore away the month of june. on the st of july the burghers consented to a parley. deputies were sent to confer with the besiegers, but the negotiations were abruptly terminated, for no terms of compromise were admitted by don frederic. on the rd a tremendous cannonade was re-opened upon the city. one thousand and eight balls were discharged--the most which had ever been thrown in one day, since the commencement of the siege. the walls were severely shattered, but the assault was not ordered, because the besiegers were assured that it was physically impossible for the inhabitants to hold out many days longer. a last letter, written in blood, was now despatched to the prince of orange, stating the forlorn condition to which they were reduced. at the same time, with the derision of despair, they flung into the hostile camp the few loaves of bread which yet remained within the city walls. a day or two later, a second and third parley were held, with no more satisfactory result than had attended the first. a black flag was now hoisted on the cathedral tower, the signal of despair to friend and foe, but a pigeon soon afterwards flew into the town with a letter from the prince, begging them to maintain themselves two days longer, because succor was approaching. the prince had indeed been doing all which, under the circumstances, was possible. he assembled the citizens of delft in the market-place, and announced his intention of marching in person to the relief of the city, in the face of the besieging army, if any troops could be obtained. soldiers there were none; but there was the deepest sympathy for harlem throughout its sister cities, delft, rotterdam, gouda. a numerous mass of burghers, many of them persons of station, all people of respectability, volunteered to march to the rescue. the prince highly disapproved of this miscellaneous army, whose steadfastness he could not trust. as a soldier, he knew that for such a momentous enterprise, enthusiasm could not supply the place of experience. nevertheless, as no regular troops could be had, and as the emergency allowed no delay, he drew up a commission, appointing paulus buys to be governor during his absence, and provisional stadholder, should he fall in the expedition. four thousand armed volunteers, with six hundred mounted troopers, under carlo de noot, had been assembled, and the prince now placed himself at their head. there was, however, a universal cry of remonstrance from the magistracies and burghers of all the towns, and from the troops themselves, at this project. they would not consent that a life so precious, so indispensable to the existence of holland, should be needlessly hazarded. it was important to succor harlem, but the prince was of more value than many cities. he at last reluctantly consented, therefore, to abandon the command of the expedition to baron batenburg, the less willingly from the want of confidence which he could not help feeling in the character of the forces. on the th of july, at dusk, the expedition set forth from sassenheim. it numbered nearly five thousand men, who had with them four hundred wagon-loads of provisions and seven field-pieces. among the volunteers, oldenbarneveld; afterwards so illustrious in the history of the republic; marched in the ranks, with his musket on his shoulder. such was a sample of the spirit which pervaded the population of the province. batenburg came to a halt in the woods of nordwyk, on the south aide of the city, where he remained till midnight. all seemed still in the enemy's camp. after prayers, he gave orders to push forward, hoping to steal through the lines of his sleeping adversaries and accomplish the relief by surprise. he was destined to be bitterly disappointed. his plans and his numbers were thoroughly known to the spaniards, two doves, bearing letters which contained the details of the intended expedition, having been shot and brought into don frederic's camp. the citizens, it appeared, had broken through the curtain work on the side where batenburg was expected, in order that a sally might be made in co-operation with the relieving force, as soon as it should appear. signal fires had been agreed upon, by which the besieged were to be made aware of the approach of their friends. the spanish commander accordingly ordered a mass of green branches, pitch, and straw, to be lighted opposite to the gap in the city wall. behind it he stationed five thousand picked troops. five thousand more, with a force of cavalry, were placed in the neighbourhood of the downs, with orders to attack the patriot army on the left. six regiments, under romero, were ordered to move eastward, and assail their right. the dense mass of smoke concealed the beacon lights displayed by batenburg from the observation of the townspeople, and hid the five thousand spaniards from the advancing hollanders. as batenburg emerged from the wood, he found himself attacked by a force superior to his own, while a few minutes later he was entirely enveloped by overwhelming numbers. the whole spanish army was, indeed; under arms, and had been expecting him for two days. the unfortunate citizens alone were ignorant of his arrival. the noise of the conflict they supposed to be a false alarm created by the spaniards, to draw them into their camp; and they declined a challenge which they were in no condition to accept. batenburg was soon slain, and his troops utterly routed. the number killed was variously estimated at from six hundred to two and even three thousand. it is, at any rate, certain that the whole force was entirely destroyed or dispersed, and the attempt to relieve the city completely frustrated. the death of batenburg was the less regretted, because he was accused, probably with great injustice, of having been intoxicated at the time of action, and therefore incapable of properly, conducting the enterprise entrusted to him. the spaniards now cut off the nose and ears of a prisoner and sent him into the city, to announce the news, while a few heads were also thrown over the walls to confirm the intelligence. when this decisive overthrow became known in delft, there was even an outbreak of indignation against orange. according to a statement of alva, which, however, is to be received with great distrust, some of the populace wished to sack the prince's house, and offered him personal indignities. certainly, if these demonstrations were made, popular anger was never more senseless; but the tale rests entirely, upon a vague assertion of the duke, and is entirely, at variance with every other contemporaneous account of these transactions. it had now become absolutely, necessary, however, for the heroic but wretched town to abandon itself to its fate. it was impossible to attempt anything more in its behalf. the lake and its forts were in the hands of the enemy, the best force which could be mustered to make head against the besieging army had been cut to pieces, and the prince of orange, with a heavy heart, now sent word that the burghers were to make the best terms they could with the enemy. the tidings of despair created a terrible commotion in the starving city. there was no hope either in submission or resistance. massacre or starvation was the only alternative. but if there was no hope within the walls, without there was still a soldier's death. for a moment the garrison and the able-bodied citizens resolved to advance from the gates in a solid column, to cut their way through the enemy's camp, or to perish on the field. it was thought that the helpless and the infirm, who would alone be left in the city, might be treated with indulgence after the fighting men had all been slain. at any rate, by remaining the strong could neither protect nor comfort them. as soon, however, as this resolve was known, there was such wailing and outcry of women and children as pierced the hearts of the soldiers and burghers, and caused them to forego the project. they felt that it was cowardly not to die in their presence. it was then determined to form all the females, the sick, the aged, and the children, into a square, to surround them with all the able-bodied men who still remained, and thus arrayed to fight their way forth from the gates, and to conquer by the strength of despair, or at least to perish all together. these desperate projects, which the besieged were thought quite capable of executing, were soon known in the spanish camp. don frederic felt, after what he had witnessed in the past seven months, that there was nothing which the harlemers could not do or dare. he feared lest they should set fire to their city, and consume their houses, themselves, and their children, to ashes together; and he was unwilling that the fruits of his victory, purchased at such a vast expense, should be snatched from his hand as he was about to gather them. a letter was accordingly, by his order, sent to the magistracy and leading citizens, in the name of count overstein, commander of the german forces in the besieging army. this despatch invited a surrender at discretion, but contained the solemn assurance that no punishment should be inflicted except upon those who, in the judgment of the citizens themselves, had deserved it, and promised ample forgiveness if the town should submit without further delay. at the moment of sending this letter, don frederic was in possession of strict orders from his father not to leave a man alive of the garrison, excepting only the germans, and to execute besides a large number of the burghers. these commands he dared not disobey,--even if he had felt any inclination to do so. in consequence of the semi-official letter of overstein, however, the city formally surrendered at discretion on the th july. the great bell was tolled, and orders were issued that all arms in the possession of the garrison or the inhabitants should be brought to the town-house. the men were then ordered to assemble in the cloister of zyl, the women in the cathedral. on the same day, don frederic, accompanied by count bossu and a numerous staff, rode into the city. the scene which met his view might have moved a heart of stone. everywhere was evidence of the misery which had been so bravely endured during that seven months' siege. the smouldering ruins of houses, which had been set on fire by balls, the shattered fortifications, the felled trunks of trees, upturned pavements, broken images and other materials for repairing gaps made by the daily cannonade, strewn around in all directions, the skeletons of unclean animals from which the flesh had been gnawed, the unburied bodies of men and women who had fallen dead in the public thoroughfares--more than all, the gaunt and emaciated forms of those who still survived, the ghosts of their former, selves, all might have induced at least a doubt whether the suffering inflicted already were not a sufficient punishment, even for crimes so deep as heresy and schism. but this was far from being the sentiment of don frederic. he seemed to read defiance as well as despair in the sunken eyes which glared upon him as he entered the place, and he took no thought of the pledge which he had informally but sacredly given. all the officers of the garrison were at once arrested. some of them had anticipated the sentence of their conqueror by a voluntary death. captain bordet, a french officer of distinction, like brutus, compelled his servant to hold the sword upon which he fell, rather than yield himself alive to the vengeance of the spaniards. traits of generosity were not wanting. instead of peter hasselaer, a young officer who had displayed remarkable bravery throughout the siege, the spaniards by. mistake arrested his cousin nicholas. the prisoner was suffering himself to be led away to the inevitable scaffold without remonstrance, when peter hasselaer pushed his way violently through the ranks of the captors. "if you want ensign hasselaer, i am the man. let this innocent person depart," he cried. before the sun set his head had fallen. all the officers were taken to the house of kleef, where they were immediately executed.--captain ripperda, who had so heroically rebuked the craven conduct of the magistracy, whose eloquence had inflamed the soldiers and citizens to resistance, and whose skill and courage had sustained the siege so long, was among the first to suffer. a natural son of cardinal granvelle, who could have easily saved his life by proclaiming a parentage which he loathed, and lancelot brederode, an illegitimate scion of that ancient house, were also among these earliest victims. the next day alva came over to the camp. he rode about the place, examining the condition of the fortifications from the outside, but returned to amsterdam without having entered the city. on the following morning the massacre commenced. the plunder had been commuted for two hundred and forty thousand guilders, which the citizens bound themselves to pay in four instalments; but murder was an indispensable accompaniment of victory, and admitted of no compromise. moreover, alva had already expressed the determination to effect a general massacre upon this occasion. the garrison, during the siege, had been reduced from four thousand to eighteen hundred. of these the germans, six hundred in number, were, by alva's order, dismissed, on a pledge to serve no more against the king. all the rest of the garrison were immediately butchered, with at least as many citizens. drummers went about the city daily, proclaiming that all who harbored persons having, at any former period, been fugitives, were immediately to give them up, on pain of being instantly hanged themselves in their own doors. upon these refugees and upon the soldiery fell the brunt of the slaughter; although, from day to day, reasons were perpetually discovered for putting to death every individual at all distinguished by service, station, wealth, or liberal principles; for the carnage could not be accomplished at once, but, with all the industry and heartiness employed, was necessarily protracted through several days. five executioners, with their attendants, were kept constantly at work; and when at last they were exhausted with fatigue, or perhaps sickened with horror, three hundred wretches were tied two and two, back to back, and drowned in the harlem lake. at last, after twenty-three hundred human creatures had been murdered in cold blood, within a city where so many thousands had previously perished by violent or by lingering deaths; the blasphemous farce of a pardon was enacted. fifty-seven of the most prominent burghers of the place were, however, excepted from the act of amnesty, and taken into custody as security for the future good conduct of the other citizens. of these hostages some were soon executed, some died in prison, and all would have been eventually sacrificed, had not the naval defeat of bossu soon afterwards enabled the prince of orange to rescue the remaining prisoners. ten thousand two hundred and fifty-six shots had been discharged against the walls during the siege. twelve thousand of the besieging army had died of wounds or disease, during the seven months and two days, between the investment and the surrender. in the earlier part of august, after the executions had been satisfactorily accomplished, don frederic made his triumphal entry, and the first chapter in the invasion of holland was closed. such was the memorable siege of harlem, an event in which we are called upon to wonder equally at human capacity to inflict and to endure misery. the spaniards celebrated a victory, while in utrecht they made an effigy of the prince of orange, which they carried about in procession, broke upon the wheel, and burned. it was, however, obvious, that if the reduction of harlem were a triumph, it was one which the conquerors might well exchange for a defeat. at any rate, it was certain that the spanish empire was not strong enough to sustain many more such victories. if it had required thirty thousand choice troops, among which were three regiments called by alva respectively, the "invincibles," the "immortals," and the "none-such," to conquer the weakest city of holland in seven months, and with the loss of twelve thousand men; how many men, how long a time, and how many deaths would it require to reduce the rest of that little province? for, as the sack of naarden had produced the contrary effect from the one intended, inflaming rather than subduing the spirit of dutch resistance, so the long and glorious defence of harlem, notwithstanding its tragical termination, had only served to strain to the highest pitch the hatred and patriotism of the other cities in the province. even the treasures of the new world were inadequate to pay for the conquest of that little sand-bank. within five years, twenty-five millions of florins had been sent from spain for war expenses in the netherlands.--yet, this amount, with the addition of large sums annually derived from confiscations, of five millions, at which the proceeds of the hundredth penny was estimated, and the two millions yearly, for which the tenth and twentieth pence had been compounded, was insufficient to save the treasury from beggary and the unpaid troops from mutiny. nevertheless, for the moment the joy created was intense. philip was lying dangerously ill at the wood of segovia, when the happy tidings of the reduction of harlem, with its accompanying butchery, arrived. the account of all this misery, minutely detailed to him by alva, acted like magic. the blood of twenty-three hundred of his fellow-creatures--coldly murdered, by his orders, in a single city--proved for the sanguinary monarch the elixir of life: he drank and was refreshed. "the principal medicine which has cured his majesty," wrote secretary cayas from madrid to alva, "is the joy caused to him by the good news which you have communicated of the surrender of harlem." in the height of his exultation, the king forgot how much dissatisfaction he had recently felt with the progress of events in the netherlands; how much treasure had been annually expended with an insufficient result. "knowing your necessity," continued cayas, "his majesty instantly sent for doctor velasco, and ordered him to provide you with funds, if he had to descend into the earth to dig for it." while such was the exultation of the spaniards, the prince of orange was neither dismayed nor despondent. as usual, he trusted to a higher power than man. "i had hoped to send you better news," he wrote, to count louis, "nevertheless, since it has otherwise pleased the good god, we must conform ourselves to his divine will. i take the same god to witness that i have done everything according to my means, which was possible, to succor the city." a few days later, writing in the same spirit, he informed his brother that the zealanders had succeeded in capturing the castle of rammekens, on the isle of walcheren. "i hope," he said, "that this will reduce the pride of our enemies, who, after the surrender of harlem, have thought that they were about to swallow us alive. i assure myself, however, that they will find a very different piece of work from the one which they expect." etext editor's bookmarks: enthusiasm could not supply the place of experience envying those whose sufferings had already been terminated leave not a single man alive in the city, and to burn every house not strong enough to sustain many more such victories oldenbarneveld; afterwards so illustrious sent them word by carrier pigeons three hundred fighting women tyranny, ever young and ever old, constantly reproducing herself wonder equally at human capacity to inflict and to endure misery motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley [chapter ix.] position of alva--hatred entertained for him by elevated personages --quarrels between him and medina coeli--departure of the latter-- complaints to the king by each of the other--attempts at conciliation addressed by government to the people of the netherlands--grotesque character of the address--mutinous demonstration of the spanish troops--secret overtures to orange-- obedience, with difficulty, restored by alva--commencement of the siege of alkmaar--sanguinary menaces of the duke--encouraging and enthusiastic language of the prince--preparations in alkmaar for defence--the first assault steadily repulsed--refusal of the soldiers to storm a second time--expedition of the carpenter-envoy-- orders of the prince to flood the country--the carpenter's despatches in the enemy's hands--effect produced upon the spaniards --the siege raised--negotiations of count louis with france-- uneasiness and secret correspondence of the duke--convention with the english government--objects pursued by orange--cruelty of de la marck--his dismissal from office and subsequent death--negotiations with france--altered tone of the french court with regard to the st. bartholomew--ill effects of the crime upon the royal projects-- hypocrisy of the spanish government--letter of louis to charles ix. --complaints of charles ix.--secret aspirations of that monarch and of philip--intrigues concerning the polish election--renewed negotiations between schomberg and count louis, with consent of orange--conditions prescribed by the prince--articles of secret alliance--remarkable letter of count louis to charles ix.-- responsible and isolated situation of orange--the "address" and the "epistle"--religious sentiments of the prince--naval action on the zuyder zee--captivity of bossu and of saint aldegonde--odious position of alva--his unceasing cruelty--execution of uitenhoove-- fraud practised by alva upon his creditors--arrival of requesens, the new governor-general--departure of alva--concluding remarks upon his administration. for the sake of continuity in the narrative, the siege of harlem has been related until its conclusion. this great event constituted, moreover, the principal stuff in netherland, history, up to the middle of the year . a few loose threads must be now taken up before we can proceed farther. alva had for some time felt himself in a false and uncomfortable position. while he continued to be the object of a popular hatred as intense as ever glowed, he had gradually lost his hold upon those who, at the outset of his career, had been loudest and lowest in their demonstrations of respect. "believe me," wrote secretary albornoz to secretary cayas, "this people abhor our nation worse than they abhor the devil. as for the duke of alva, they foam at the mouth when they hear his name." viglius, although still maintaining smooth relations with the governor, had been, in reality, long since estranged from him. even aerschot, far whom the duke had long maintained an intimacy half affectionate, half contemptuous, now began to treat him with a contumely which it was difficult for so proud a stomach to digest. but the main source of discomfort was doubtless the presence of medina coeli. this was the perpetual thorn in his side, which no cunning could extract. a successor who would not and could not succeed him, yet who attended him as his shadow and his evil genius--a confidential colleague who betrayed his confidence, mocked his projects, derided his authority, and yet complained of ill treatment--a rival who was neither compeer nor subaltern, and who affected to be his censor--a functionary of a purely anomalous character, sheltering himself under his abnegation of an authority which he had not dared to assume, and criticising measures which he was not competent to grasp;--such was the duke of medina coeli in alva's estimation. the bickering between the two dukes became unceasing and disgraceful. of course, each complained to the king, and each, according to his own account, was a martyr to the other's tyranny, but the meekness manifested by alva; in all his relations with the new comer, was wonderful, if we are to believe the accounts furnished by himself and by his confidential secretary. on the other hand, medina coeli wrote to the king, complaining of alva in most unmitigated strains, and asserting that he was himself never allowed to see any despatches, nor to have the slightest information as to the policy of the government. he reproached, the duke with shrinking from personal participation in military operations, and begged the royal forgiveness if he withdrew from a scene where he felt himself to be superfluous. accordingly, towards the end of november, he took his departure, without paying his respects. the governor complained to the king of this unceremonious proceeding, and assured his majesty that never were courtesy and gentleness so ill requited as his had been by this ingrate and cankered duke. "he told me," said alva, "that if i did not stay in the field, he would not remain with me in peaceful cities, and he asked me if i intended to march into holland with the troops which were to winter there. i answered, that i should go wherever it was necessary, even should i be obliged to swim through all the canals of holland." after giving these details, the duke added, with great appearance of candor and meekness, that he was certain medina coeli had only been influenced by extreme zeal for his majesty's service, and that, finding, so little for him to do in the netherlands, he had become dissatisfied with his position. immediately after the fall of harlem, another attempt was made by alva to win back the allegiance of the other cities by proclamations. it had become obvious to the governor that so determined a resistance on the part of the first place besieged augured many long campaigns before the whole province could be subdued. a circular was accordingly issued upon the th july from utrecht, and published immediately afterwards in all the cities of the netherlands. it was a paper of singular character, commingling an affectation of almost ludicrous clemency, with honest and hearty brutality. there was consequently something very grotesque about the document. philip, in the outset, was made to sustain towards his undutiful subjects the characters of the brooding hen and the prodigal's father; a range of impersonation hardly to be allowed him, even by the most abject flattery. "ye are well aware," thus ran the address, "that the king has, over and over again, manifested his willingness to receive his children, in however forlorn a condition the prodigals might return. his majesty assures you once more that your sins, however black they may have been, shall be forgiven and forgotten in the plenitude of royal kindness, if you repent and return in season to his majesty's embrace. notwithstanding your manifold crimes, his majesty still seeks, like a hen calling her chickens, to gather you all under the parental wing. the king hereby warns you once more, therefore, to place yourselves in his royal hands, and not to wait for his rage, cruelty, and fury, and the approach of his army." the affectionate character of the address, already fading towards the end of the preamble, soon changes to bitterness. the domestic maternal fowl dilates into the sanguinary dragon as the address proceeds. "but if," continues the monarch, "ye disregard these offers of mercy, receiving them with closed ears, as heretofore, then we warn you that there is no rigor, nor cruelty, however great, which you are not to expect by laying waste, starvation, and the sword, in such manner that nowhere shall remain a relic of that which at present exists, but his majesty will strip bare and utterly depopulate the land, and cause it to be inhabited again by strangers; since otherwise his majesty could not believe that the will of god and of his majesty had been accomplished." it is almost superfluous to add that this circular remained fruitless. the royal wrath, thus blasphemously identifying itself with divine vengeance, inspired no terror, the royal blandishments no affection. the next point of attack was the city of alkmaar, situate quite at the termination of the peninsula, among the lagunes and redeemed prairies of north holland. the prince of orange had already provided it with a small garrison. the city had been summoned to surrender by the middle of july, and had returned a bold refusal.--meantime, the spaniards had retired from before the walls, while the surrender and chastisement of harlem occupied them during the next succeeding weeks. the month of august, moreover, was mainly consumed by alva in quelling a dangerous and protracted mutiny, which broke out among the spanish soldiers at harlem--between three and four thousand of them having been quartered upon the ill-fated population of that city. unceasing misery was endured by the inhabitants at the hands of the ferocious spaniards, flushed with victory, mutinous for long arrears of pay, and greedy for the booty which had been denied. at times, however, the fury of the soldiery was more violently directed against their own commanders than against the enemy. a project was even formed by the malcontent troops to deliver harlem into the hands of orange. a party of them, disguised as baltic merchants, waited upon the prince at delft, and were secretly admitted to his bedside before he had risen. they declared to him that they were spanish soldiers, who had compassion on his cause, were dissatisfied with their own government, and were ready, upon receipt of forty thousand guilders, to deliver the city into his hands. the prince took the matter into consideration, and promised to accept the offer if he could raise the required sum. this, however, he found himself unable to do within the stipulated time, and thus, for want of so paltry a sum, the offer was of necessity declined. various were the excesses committed by the insubordinate troops in every province in the netherlands upon the long-suffering inhabitants. "nothing," wrote alva, "had given him so much pain during his forty years of service." he avowed his determination to go to amsterdam in order to offer himself as a hostage to the soldiery, if by so doing he could quell the mutiny. he went to amsterdam accordingly, where by his exertions, ably seconded by those of the marquis vitelli, and by the payment of thirty crowns to each soldier--fourteen on account of arrearages and sixteen as his share in the harlem compensation money--the rebellion was appeased, and obedience restored. there was now leisure for the general to devote his whole energies against the little city of alkmaar. on that bank and shoal, the extreme verge of habitable earth, the spirit of holland's freedom stood at bay. the grey towers of egmont castle and of egmont abbey rose between the city and the sea, and there the troops sent by the prince of orange were quartered during the very brief period in which the citizens wavered as to receiving them. the die was soon cast, however, and the prince's garrison admitted. the spaniards advanced, burned the village of egmont to the ground as soon as the patriots had left it, and on the st of august don frederic, appearing before the walls, proceeded formally to invest allanaar. in a few days this had been so thoroughly accomplished that, in alva's language, "it was impossible for a sparrow to enter or go out of the city." the odds were somewhat unequal. sixteen thousand veteran troops constituted the besieging force. within the city were a garrison of eight hundred soldiers, together with thirteen hundred burghers, capable of bearing arms. the rest of the population consisted of a very few refugees, besides the women and children. two thousand one hundred able-bodied men, of whom only about one-third were soldiers, to resist sixteen thousand regulars. nor was there any doubt as to the fate which was reserved for them, should they succumb. the duke was vociferous at the ingratitude with which his clemency had hitherto been requited. he complained bitterly of the ill success which had attended his monitory circulars; reproached himself with incredible vehemence, for his previous mildness, and protested that, after having executed only twenty-three hundred persons at the surrender of harlem, besides a few additional burghers since, he had met with no correspondent demonstrations of affection. he promised himself, however, an ample compensation for all this ingratitude, in the wholesale vengeance which he purposed to wreak upon alkmaar. already he gloated in anticipation over the havoc which would soon be let loose within those walls. such ravings, if invented by the pen of fiction, would seem a puerile caricature; proceeding, authentically, from his own,--they still appear almost too exaggerated for belief. "if i take alkmaar," he wrote to philip, "i am resolved not to leave a single creature alive; the knife shall be put to every throat. since the example of harlem has proved of no use, perhaps an example of cruelty will bring the other cities to their senses." he took occasion also to read a lecture to the party of conciliation in madrid, whose counsels, as he believed, his sovereign was beginning to heed. nothing, he maintained, could be more senseless than the idea of pardon and clemency. this had been sufficiently proved by recent events. it was easy for people at a distance to talk about gentleness, but those upon the spot knew better. gentleness had produced nothing, so far; violence alone could succeed in future. "let your majesty," he said, "be disabused of the impression, that with kindness anything can be done with these people. already have matters reached such a point that many of those born in the country, who have hitherto advocated clemency, are now undeceived, and acknowledge--their mistake. they are of opinion that not a living soul should be left in alkmaar, but that every individual should be put to the sword." at the same time he took occasion, even in these ferocious letters, which seem dripping with blood, to commend his own natural benignity of disposition. "your majesty may be certain," he said, "that no man on earth desires the path of clemency more than i do, notwithstanding my particular hatred for heretics and traitors." it was therefore with regret that he saw himself obliged to take the opposite course, and to stifle all his gentler sentiments. upon diedrich sonoy, lieutenant-governor for orange in the province of north holland, devolved the immediate responsibility of defending this part of the country. as the storm rolled slowly up from the south, even that experienced officer became uneasy at the unequal conflict impending. he despatched a letter to his chief, giving a gloomy picture of his position. all looked instinctively towards the prince, as to a god in their time of danger; all felt as if upon his genius and fortitude depended the whole welfare of the fatherland. it was hoped, too, that some resource had been provided in a secret foreign alliance. "if your princely grace," wrote sonoy, "have made a contract for assistance with any powerful potentate, it is of the highest importance that it should be known to all the cities, in order to put an end to the emigration, and to console the people in their affliction." the answer, of the prince was full of lofty enthusiasm. he reprimanded with gentle but earnest eloquence the despondency and little faith of his lieutenant and other adherents. he had not expected, he said, that they would have so soon forgotten their manly courage. they seemed to consider the whole fate of the country attached to the city of harlem. he took god to witness that--he had spared no pains, and would willingly have spared no drop of his blood to save that devoted city. "but as, notwithstanding our efforts," he continued, "it has pleased god almighty to dispose of harlem according to his divine will, shall we, therefore, deny and deride his holy word? has the strong arm of the lord thereby grown weaker? has his church therefore come to caught? you ask if i have entered into a firm treaty with any great king or potentate, to which i answer, that before i ever took up the cause of the oppressed christians in these provinces, i had entered into a close alliance with the king of kings; and i am firmly convinced that all who put their trust in him shall be saved by his almighty hand. the god of armies will raise up armies for us to do battle with our enemies sad his own." in conclusion, he stated his preparations for attacking the enemy by sea as well as by land, and encouraged his lieutenant and the citizens of the northern quarter to maintain a bold front before the advancing foe. and now, with the dismantled and desolate harlem before their eyes, a prophetic phantom, perhaps, of their own imminent fate, did the handful of people shut up within alkmaar prepare for the worst. their main hope lay in the friendly sea. the vast sluices called the zyp, through which an inundation of the whole northern province could be very soon effected, were but a few miles distant. by opening these gates, and by piercing a few dykes, the ocean might be made to fight for them. to obtain this result, however, the consent of the inhabitants was requisite, as the destruction of all the standing crops would be inevitable. the city was so closely invested, that it was a matter of life and death to venture forth, and it was difficult, therefore, to find an envoy for this hazardous mission. at last, a carpenter in the city, peter van der mey by name, undertook the adventure, and was entrusted with letters to sonoy, to the prince of orange, and to the leading personages, in several cities of the province: these papers were enclosed in a hollow walking-staff, carefully made fast at the top. affairs soon approached a crisis within the beleaguered city. daily skirmishes, without decisive result; had taken place outside the walls. at last, on the th of september, after a steady cannonade of nearly twelve hours, don frederic, at three in the afternoon, ordered an assault. notwithstanding his seven months' experience at harlem, he still believed it certain that he should carry alkmaar by storm. the attack took place at once upon the frisian gate and upon the red tower on the opposite side. two choice regiments, recently arrived from lombardy; led the onset, rending the air with their shouts, and confident of an easy victory. they were sustained by what seemed an overwhelming force of disciplined troops. yet never, even in the recent history of harlem, had an attack been received by more dauntless breasts. every living man was on the walls. the storming parties were assailed with cannon, with musketry, with pistols. boiling water, pitch and oil, molten lead, and unslaked lime, were poured upon them every moment. hundreds of tarred and burning hoops were skilfully quoited around the necks of the soldiers, who struggled in vain to extricate themselves from these fiery ruffs, while as fast as any of the invaders planted foot upon the breach, they were confronted face to face with sword and dagger by the burghers, who hurled them headlong into the moat below. thrice was the attack renewed with ever-increasing rage--thrice repulsed with unflinching fortitude. the storm continued four hours long. during all that period, not one of the defenders left his post, till he dropped from it dead or wounded. the women and children, unscared by the balls flying in every direction, or by the hand-to-hand conflicts on the ramparts; passed steadily to and fro from the arsenals to the fortifications, constantly supplying their fathers, husbands, and brothers with powder and ball. thus, every human being in the city that could walk had become a soldier. at last darkness fell upon the scene. the trumpet of recal was sounded, and the spaniards, utterly discomfited, retired from the walls, leaving at least one thousand dead in the trenches, while only thirteen burghers and twenty-four of the garrison lost their lives. thus was alkmaar preserved for a little longer--thus a large and well-appointed army signally defeated by a handful of men fighting for their firesides and altars. ensign solis, who had mounted the breach for an instant, and miraculously escaped with life, after having been hurled from the battlements, reported that he had seen "neither helmet nor harness," as he looked down into the city: only some plain-looking people, generally dressed like fishermen. yet these plain-looking fishermen had defeated the veterans of alva. the citizens felt encouraged by the results of that day's work. moreover, they already possessed such information concerning the condition of affairs in the camp of the enemy as gave them additional confidence. a spaniard, named jeronimo, had been taken prisoner and brought into the city. on receiving a promise of pardon, he had revealed many secrets concerning the position and intentions of the besieging army. it is painful to add that the prisoner, notwithstanding his disclosures and the promise under which they had been made, was treacherously executed. he begged hard for his life as he was led to the gallows, offering fresh revelations, which, however, after the ample communications already made, were esteemed superfluous. finding this of no avail, he promised his captors, with perfect simplicity, to go down on his knees and worship the devil precisely as they did, if by so doing he might obtain mercy. it may be supposed that such a proposition was not likely to gain additional favor for him in the eyes of these rigid calvinists, and the poor wretch was accordingly hanged. the day following the assault, a fresh cannonade was opened upon the city. seven hundred shots having been discharged, the attack was ordered. it was in vain: neither threats nor entreaties could induce the spaniards, hitherto so indomitable, to mount the breach. the place seemed to their imagination protected by more than mortal powers; otherwise how was it possible that a few half-starved fishermen could already have so triumphantly overthrown the time-honored legions of spain. it was thought, no doubt, that the devil, whom they worshipped, would continue to protect his children. neither the entreaties nor the menaces of don frederic were of any avail. several soldiers allowed themselves to be run through the body by their own officers, rather than advance to the walls; and the assault was accordingly postponed to an indefinite period. meantime, as governor sonoy had opened many of the dykes, the land in the neighbourhood of the camp was becoming plashy, although as yet the threatened inundation had not taken place. the soldiers were already very uncomfortable and very refractory. the carpenter-envoy had not been idle, having, upon the th september, arrived at sonoy's quarters, bearing letters from the prince of orange. these despatches gave distinct directions to sonoy to flood the country at all risks; rather than allow alkmaar to, fall into the enemy's hands. the dykes and sluices were to be protected by a strong guard, lest the peasants, in order to save their crops, should repair or close them in the night-time. the letters of orange were copied, and, together with fresh communications from sonoy, delivered to the carpenter. a note on the margin of the prince's letter, directed the citizens to kindle four beacon fires in specified places, as soon as it should prove necessary to resort to extreme measures. when that moment should arrive, it was solemnly promised that an inundation should be created which should sweep the whole spanish army into the sea. the work had, in fact, been commenced. the zyp and other sluices had already been opened, and a vast body of water, driven by a strong north-west wind, had rushed in from the ocean. it needed only that two great dykes should be pierced to render the deluge and the desolation complete. the harvests were doomed to destruction, and a frightful loss of property rendered inevitable, but, at any rate, the spaniards, if this last measure were taken, must fly or perish to a man. this decisive blow having been thus ordered and promised; the carpenter set forth towards the city. he was, however, not so successful in accomplishing his entrance unmolested, as he had been in effecting his departure. he narrowly escaped with his life in passing through the enemy's lines, and while occupied in saving himself was so unlucky, or, as it proved, so fortunate, as to lose the stick in which his despatches were enclosed. he made good his entrance into the city, where, byword of mouth, he encouraged his fellow-burghers as to the intentions of the prince and sonoy. in the meantime his letters were laid before the general of the besieging army. the resolution taken by orange, of which don frederic was thus unintentionally made aware, to flood the country far and near, rather than fail to protect alkmaar, made a profound impression upon his mind. it was obvious that he was dealing with a determined leader and with desperate men. his attempt to carry the place by storm had signally failed, and he could not deceive himself as to the temper and disposition of his troops ever since that repulse. when it should become known that they were threatened with submersion in the ocean, in addition to all the other horrors of war, he had reason to believe that they would retire ignominiously from that remote and desolate sand hook, where, by remaining, they could only find a watery grave. these views having been discussed in a council of officers, the result was reached that sufficient had been already accomplished for the glory of spanish arms. neither honor nor loyalty, it was thought, required that sixteen thousand soldiers should be sacrificed in a contest, not with man but with the ocean. on the th of october, accordingly, the siege, which had lasted seven weeks, was raised, and don frederic rejoined his father in amsterdam. ready to die in the last ditch, and to overwhelm both themselves and their foes in a common catastrophe the hollanders had at last compelled their haughty enemy to fly from a position which he had so insolently assumed. these public transactions and military operations were not the only important events which affected the fate of holland and its sister provinces at this juncture. the secret relations which had already been renewed between louis of nassau, as plenipotentiary of his brother and the french court, had for some time excited great uneasiness in the mind of alva. count louis was known to be as skilful a negotiator as he was valiant and accomplished as a soldier. his frankness and boldness created confidence. the "brave spirit in the loyal breast" inspired all his dealing; his experience and quick perception of character prevented his becoming a dupe of even the most adroit politicians, while his truth of purpose made him incapable either of overreaching an ally or of betraying a trust. his career indicated that diplomacy might be sometimes successful, even although founded upon sincerity. alva secretly expressed to his sovereign much suspicion of france. he reminded him that charles ix.; during the early part of the preceding year, had given the assurance that he was secretly dealing with louis of nassau, only that he might induce the count to pass over to philip's service. at the same time charles had been doing all he could to succor moos, and had written the memorable letter which had fallen into alva's hands on the capture of genlis, and which expressed such a fixed determination to inflict a deadly blow upon the king, whom the writer was thus endeavouring to cajole. all this the governor recalled to the recollection of his sovereign. in view of this increasing repugnance of the english court, alva recommended that fair words should be employed; hinting, however, that it would be by no means necessary for his master to consider himself very strictly bound by any such pledges to elizabeth, if they should happen to become inconveniently pressing. "a monarch's promises," he delicately suggested, "were not to be considered so sacred as those of humbler mortals. not that the king should directly violate his word, but at the same time," continued the duke, "i have thought all my life, and i have learned it from the emperor, your majesty's father, that the negotiations of kings depend upon different principles from those of us private gentlemen who walk the world; and in this manner i always observed that your majesty's father, who was, so great a gentleman and so powerful a prince, conducted his affairs." the governor took occasion, likewise, to express his regrets at the awkward manner in which the ridolfi scheme had been managed. had he been consulted at an earlier day, the affair could have been treated much more delicately; as it was, there could be little doubt but that the discovery of the plot had prejudiced the mind of elizabeth against spain. "from that dust," concluded the duke, "has resulted all this dirt." it could hardly be matter of surprise, either to philip or his viceroy, that the discovery by elizabeth of a plot upon their parts to take her life and place the crown upon the head of her hated rival, should have engendered unamiable feelings in her bosom towards them. for the moment, however, alva's negotiations were apparently successful. on the first of may, , the articles of convention between england and spain, with regard to the netherland difficulty, had been formally published in brussels. the duke, in communicating the termination of these arrangements, quietly recommended his master thenceforth to take the english ministry into his pay. in particular he advised his majesty to bestow an annual bribe upon lord burleigh, "who held the kingdom in his hand; for it has always been my opinion," he continued, "that it was an excellent practice for princes to give pensions to the ministers of other potentates, and to keep those at home who took bribes from nobody." on the other hand, the negotiations of orange with the english court were not yet successful, and he still found it almost impossible to raise the requisite funds for carrying on the war. certainly, his private letters showed that neither he nor his brothers were self-seekers in their negotiations. "you know;" said he in a letter to his brothers, "that my intention has never been to seek my private advantage. i have only aspired for the liberty of the country, in conscience and in polity, which foreigners have sought to oppress. i have no other articles to propose, save that religion, reformed according to the word of god, should be permitted, that then the commonwealth should be restored to its ancient liberty, and, to that end, that the spaniards and other soldiery should be compelled to retire." the restoration of civil and religious liberty, the establishment of the great principle of toleration in matters of conscience, constituted the purpose to which his days and nights were devoted, his princely fortune sacrificed, his life-blood risked. at the same time, his enforcement of toleration to both religions excited calumny against him among the bigoted adherents of both. by the catholics he was accused of having instigated the excesses which he had done everything in his power to repress. the enormities of de la marck, which had inspired the prince's indignation, were even laid at the door of him who had risked his life to prevent and to chastise them. de la marck had, indeed, more than counterbalanced his great service in the taking of brill, by his subsequent cruelties. at last, father cornelius musius, pastor of saint agatha, at the age of seventy-two, a man highly esteemed by the prince of orange, had been put to torture and death by this barbarian, under circumstances of great atrocity. the horrid deed cost the prince many tears, aroused the indignation of the estates of holland, and produced the dismission of the perpetrator from their service. it was considered expedient, however, in view of his past services, his powerful connexions, and his troublesome character, that he should be induced peaceably to leave the country. it was long before the prince and the estates could succeed in ridding themselves of this encumbrance. he created several riots in different parts of the province, and boasted, that he had many fine ships of war and three thousand men devoted to him, by whose assistance he could make the estates "dance after his pipe." at the beginning of the following year ( ), he was at last compelled to leave the provinces, which he never again troubled with his presence. some years afterwards, he died of the bite of a mad dog; an end not inappropriate to a man of so rabid a disposition. while the prince was thus steadily striving for a lofty and generous purpose, he was, of course, represented by his implacable enemies as a man playing a game which, unfortunately for himself, was a losing one. "that poor prince," said granvelle, "has been ill advised. i doubt now whether he will ever be able to make his peace, and i think we shall rather try to get rid of him and his brother as if they were turks. the marriage with the daughter of maurice, 'unde mala et quia ipse talis', and his brothers have done him much harm. so have schwendi and german intimacies. i saw it all very plainly, but he did not choose to believe me." ill-starred, worse counselled william of orange! had he but taken the friendly cardinal's advice, kept his hand from german marriages and his feet from conventicles--had he assisted his sovereign in burning heretics and hunting rebels, it would not then have become necessary "to treat him like a turk." this is unquestionable. it is equally so that there would have been one great lamp the less in that strait and difficult pathway which leads to the temple of true glory. the main reliance of orange was upon the secret negotiations which his brother louis was then renewing with the french government. the prince had felt an almost insurmountable repugnance towards entertaining any relation with that blood-stained court, since the massacre of saint bartholomew. but a new face had recently been put upon that transaction. instead of glorying, in their crime, the king and his mother now assumed a tone of compunction, and averred that the deed had been unpremeditated; that it had been the result of a panic or an ecstasy of fear inspired by the suddenly discovered designs of the huguenots; and that, in the instinct of self-preservation, the king, with his family and immediate friends, had plunged into a crime which they now bitterly lamented. the french envoys at the different courts of europe were directed to impress this view upon the minds of the monarchs to whom they were accredited. it was certainly a very different instruction from that which they had at first received. their cue had originally been to claim a full meed of praise and thanksgiving in behalf of their sovereign for his meritorious exploit. the salvos of artillery, the illuminations and rejoicings, the solemn processions and masses by which the auspicious event had been celebrated, mere yet fresh in the memory of men. the ambassadors were sufficiently embarrassed by the distinct and determined approbation which they had recently expressed. although the king, by formal proclamation, had assumed the whole responsibility, as he had notoriously been one of the chief perpetrators of the deed, his agents were now to stultify themselves and their monarch by representing, as a deplorable act of frenzy, the massacre which they had already extolled to the echo as a skilfully executed and entirely commendable achievement. to humble the power of spain, to obtain the hand of queen elizabeth for the duke d'alencon, to establish an insidious kind of protectorate over the protestant princes of germany, to obtain the throne of poland for the duke of anjou, and even to obtain the imperial crown for the house of valois--all these cherished projects seemed dashed to the ground by the paris massacre and the abhorrence which it had created. charles and catharine were not slow to discover the false position in which they had placed themselves, while the spanish jocularity at the immense error committed by france was visible enough through the assumed mask of holy horror. philip and alva listened with mischievous joy to the howl of execration which swept through christendom upon every wind. they rejoiced as heartily in the humiliation of the malefactors as they did in the perpetration of the crime. "your majesty," wrote louis of nassau, very bluntly, to king charles, "sees how the spaniard, your mortal enemy, feasts himself full with the desolation of your affairs; how he laughs, to-split his sides, at your misfortunes. this massacre has enabled him to weaken your majesty more than he could have done by a war of thirty years." before the year had revolved, charles had become thoroughly convinced of the fatal impression produced by the event. bitter and almost abject were his whinings at the catholic king's desertion of his cause. "he knows well," wrote charles to saint goard, "that if he can terminate these troubles and leave me alone in the dance, he will have leisure and means to establish his authority, not only in the netherlands but elsewhere; and that he will render himself more grand and formidable than he has ever been. this is the return they render for the good received from me, which is such as every one knows." gaspar de schomberg, the adroit and honorable agent of charles in germany, had at a very early day warned his royal master of the ill effect of the massacre upon all the schemes which he had been pursuing, and especially upon those which referred to the crowns of the empire and of poland. the first project was destined to be soon abandoned. it was reserved neither for charles nor philip to divert the succession in germany from the numerous offspring of maximilian; yet it is instructive to observe the unprincipled avidity with which the prize was sought by both. each was willing to effect its purchase by abjuring what were supposed his most cherished principles. philip of spain, whose mission was to extirpate heresy throughout his realms, and who, in pursuance of that mission, had already perpetrated more crimes, and waded more deeply in the blood of his subjects, than monarch had often done before; philip, for whom his apologists have never found any defence, save that he believed it his duty to god rather to depopulate his territories than to permit a single heretic within their limits--now entered into secret negotiations with the princes of the empire. he pledged himself, if they would confer the crown upon him, that he would withdraw the spaniards from the netherlands; that he would tolerate in those provinces the exercise of the reformed religion; that he would recognize their union with the rest of the german empire, and their consequent claim to the benefits of the passau treaty; that he would restore the prince of orange "and all his accomplices" to their former possessions, dignities, and condition; and that he would cause to be observed, throughout every realm incorporated with the empire, all the edicts and ordinances which had been constructed to secure religious freedom in germany. in brief, philip was willing, in case the crown of charlemagne should be promised him, to undo the work of his life, to reinstate the arch-rebel whom he had hunted and proscribed, and to bow before that reformation whose disciples he had so long burned, and butchered. so much extent and no more had that religious, conviction by which he had for years had the effrontery to excuse the enormities practised in the netherlands. god would never forgive him so long as one heretic remained unburned in the provinces; yet give him the imperial sceptre, and every heretic, without forswearing his heresy, should be purged with hyssop and become whiter than snow. charles ix., too, although it was not possible for him to recal to life the countless victims of the parisian wedding, was yet ready to explain those murders to the satisfaction of every unprejudiced mind. this had become strictly necessary. although the accession of either his most christian or most catholic majesty to the throne of the caesars was a most improbable event, yet the humbler elective, throne actually vacant was indirectly in the gift of the same powers. it was possible that the crown of poland might be secured for the duke of anjou. that key unlocks the complicated policy of this and the succeeding year. the polish election is the clue to the labyrinthian intrigues and royal tergiversations during the period of the interregnum. sigismund augustus, last of the jagellons, had died on the th july; . the prominent candidates to succeed him were the archduke ernest, son of the emperor, and henry of anjou. the prince of orange was not forgotten. a strong party were in favor of compassing his election, as the most signal triumph which protestantism could gain, but his ambition had not been excited by the prospect of such a prize. his own work required all the energies of all his life. his influence, however, was powerful, and eagerly sought by the partisans of anjou. the lutherans and moravians in poland were numerous, the protestant party there and in germany holding the whole balance of the election in their hands. it was difficult for the prince to overcome his repugnance to the very name of the man whose crime had at once made france desolate, and blighted the fair prospects under which he and his brother had, the year before, entered the netherlands. nevertheless; he was willing to listen to the statements by which the king and his ministers endeavoured, not entirely without success, to remove from their reputations, if not from their souls; the guilt of deep design. it was something, that the murderers now affected to expiate their offence in sackcloth and ashes--it was something that, by favoring the pretensions of anjou, and by listening with indulgence to the repentance of charles, the siege of rochelle could be terminated, the huguenots restored to freedom of conscience, and an alliance with a powerful nation established, by aid of which the netherlands might once more lift their heads. the french government, deeply hostile to spain, both from passion and policy, was capable of rendering much assistance to the revolted provinces. "i entreat you most humbly, my good master," wrote schomberg to charles ix., "to beware of allowing the electors to take into their heads that you are favoring the affairs of the king of spain in any manner whatsoever. commit against him no act of open hostility, if you think that imprudent; but look sharp! if you do not wish to be thrown clean out of your saddle. i should split with rage if i should see you, in consequence of the wicked calumnies of your enemies, fail to secure the prize." orange was induced, therefore, to accept, however distrustfully, the expression of a repentance which was to be accompanied with healing measures. he allowed his brother louis to resume negotiations with schomberg, in germany. he drew up and transmitted to him the outlines of a treaty which he was willing to make with charles. the main conditions of this arrangement illustrated the disinterested character of the man. he stipulated that the king of france should immediately make peace with his subjects, declaring expressly that he had been abused by those, who, under pretext of his service, had sought their own profit at the price of ruin to the crown and people. the king should make religion free. the edict to that effect should be confirmed by all the parliaments and estates of the kingdom, and such confirmations should be distributed without reserve or deceit among all the princes of germany. if his majesty were not inclined to make war for the liberation of the netherlands, he was to furnish the prince of orange with one hundred thousand crowns at once, and every three months with another hundred thousand. the prince was to have liberty to raise one thousand cavalry and seven thousand infantry in france. every city or town in the provinces which should be conquered by his arms, except in holland or zealand, should be placed under the sceptre, and in the hands of the king of france. the provinces of holland and zealand should also be placed under his protection, but should be governed by their own gentlemen and citizens. perfect religious liberty and maintenance of the ancient constitutions, privileges, and charters were to be guaranteed "without any cavilling whatsoever." the prince of orange, or the estates of holland or zealand, were to reimburse his christian majesty for the sums which he was to advance. in this last clause was the only mention which the prince made of himself, excepting in the stipulation that he was to be allowed a levy of troops in france. his only personal claims were to enlist soldiers to fight the battles of freedom, and to pay their expense, if it should not be provided for by the estates. at nearly the same period, he furnished his secret envoys, luinbres and doctor taijaert, who were to proceed to paris, with similar instructions. the indefatigable exertions of schomberg, and the almost passionate explanations on the part of the court of france, at length produced their effect. "you will constantly assure the princes," wrote the duke of anjou to schomberg, "that the things written, to you concerning that which had happened in this kingdom are true; that the events occurred suddenly, without having been in any manner premeditated; that neither the king nor myself have ever had any intelligence with, the king of spain, against those of the religion, and that all is utter imposture which is daily said on this subject to the princes." count louis required peremptorily, however, that the royal repentance should bring forth the fruit of salvation for the remaining victims. out of the nettles of these dangerous intrigues his fearless hand plucked the "flower of safety" for his down-trodden cause. he demanded not words, but deeds, or at least pledges. he maintained with the agents of charles and with the monarch himself the same hardy scepticism which was manifested by the huguenot deputies in their conferences with catharine de medicis. "is the word of a king," said the dowager to the commissioners, who were insisting upon guarantees, "is the word of a king not sufficient?"--"no, madam," replied one of them, "by saint bartholomew, no!" count louis told schomberg roundly, and repeated it many times, that he must have in a very few days a categorical response, "not to consist in words alone, but in deeds, and that he could not, and would not, risk for ever the honor of his brother, nor the property; blood, and life of those poor people who favored the cause." on the rd march, , schomberg had an interview with count louis, which lasted seven or eight hours. in that interview the enterprises of the count, "which," said schomberg, "are assuredly grand and beautiful," were thoroughly discussed, and a series of conditions, drawn up partly in the hand of one, partly in that of the other negotiator; definitely agreed upon. these conditions were on the basis of a protectorate over holland and zealand for the king of france, with sovereignty over the other places to be acquired in the netherlands. they were in strict accordance with the articles furnished by the prince of orange. liberty of worship for those of both religions, sacred preservation of municipal charters, and stipulation of certain annual subsidies on the part of france, in case his majesty should not take the field, were the principal features. ten days later, schomberg wrote to his master that the count was willing to use all the influence of his family to procure for anjou the crown of poland, while louis, having thus completed his negotiations with the agent, addressed a long and earnest letter to the royal principal. this remarkable despatch was stamped throughout with the impress of the writer's frank and fearless character. "thus diddest thou" has rarely been addressed to anointed monarch in such unequivocal tones: the letter painted the favorable position in which the king had been placed previously to the fatal summer of . the queen of england was then most amicably disposed towards him, and inclined to a yet closer connexion with his family. the german princes were desirous to elect him king of the romans, a dignity for which his grandfather had so fruitlessly contended. the netherlanders, driven to despair by the tyranny of their own sovereign, were eager to throw themselves into his arms. all this had been owing to his edict of religious pacification. how changed the picture now! who now did reverence to a king so criminal and so fallen? "your majesty to-day," said louis, earnestly and plainly, "is near to ruin. the state, crumbling on every side and almost abandoned, is a prey to any one who wishes to seize upon it; the more so, because your majesty, having, by the late excess and by the wars previously made, endeavoured to force men's consciences, is now so destitute, not only of nobility and soldiery but of that which constitutes the strongest column of the throne, the love and good wishes of the lieges, that your majesty resembles an ancient building propped up, day after, day, with piles, but which it will be impossible long to prevent from falling to the earth." certainly, here were wholesome truths told in straightforward style. the count proceeded to remind the king of the joy which the "spaniard, his mortal enemy," had conceived from the desolation of his affairs, being assured that he should, by the troubles in france, be enabled to accomplish his own purposes without striking a blow. this, he observed, had been the secret of the courtesy with which the writer himself had been treated by the duke of alva at the surrender of mons. louis assured the king, in continuation, that if he persevered in these oppressive courses towards his subjects of the new religion, there was no hope for him, and that his two brothers would, to no purpose, take their departure for england, and, for poland, leaving him with a difficult and dangerous war upon his hands. so long as he maintained a hostile attitude towards the protestants in his own kingdom, his fair words would produce no effect elsewhere. "we are beginning to be vexed," said the count, "with the manner of negotiation practised by france. men do not proceed roundly to business there, but angle with their dissimulation as with a hook." he bluntly reminded the king of the deceit which he had practised towards the admiral--a sufficient reason why no reliance could in future be placed upon his word. signal vengeance on those concerned in the attempted assassination of that great man had been promised, in the royal letters to the prince of orange, just before st. bartholomew. "two days afterwards," said louis, "your majesty took that vengeance, but in rather ill fashion." it was certain that the king was surrounded by men who desired to work his ruin, and who, for their own purposes, would cause him to bathe still deeper than he had done before in the blood of his subjects. this ruin his majesty could still avert; by making peace in his kingdom, and by ceasing to torment his poor subjects of the religion. in conclusion, the count, with a few simple but eloquent phrases, alluded to the impossibility of chaining men's thoughts. the soul, being immortal, was beyond the reach of kings. conscience was not to be conquered, nor the religious spirit imprisoned. this had been discovered by the emperor charles, who had taken all the cities and great personages of germany captive, but who had nevertheless been unable to take religion captive. "that is a sentiment," said louis, "deeply rooted in the hearts of men, which is not to be plucked out by force of arms. let your majesty, therefore not be deceived by the flattery of those who, like bad physicians, keep their patients in ignorance of their disease, whence comes their ruin." it would be impossible, without insight into these private and most important transactions, to penetrate the heart of the mystery which enwrapped at this period the relations of the great powers with each other. enough has been seen to silence for ever the plea, often entered in behalf of religious tyranny, that the tyrant acts in obedience to a sincere conviction of duty; that, in performing his deeds of darkness, he believes himself to be accomplishing the will of heaven. here we have seen philip, offering to restore the prince of orange, and to establish freedom of religion in the netherlands, if by such promises he can lay hold of the imperial diadem. here also we have charles ix. and his mother--their hands reeking with the heretic-blood of st. bartholomew--making formal engagements with heretics to protect heresy everywhere, if by such pledges the crown of the jagellons and the hand of elizabeth can be secured. while louis was thus busily engaged in germany, orange was usually established at delft. he felt the want of his brother daily, for the solitude of the prince, in the midst of such fiery trials, amounted almost to desolation. not often have circumstances invested an individual with so much responsibility and so little power. he was regarded as the protector and father of the country, but from his own brains and his own resources he was to furnish himself with the means of fulfilling those high functions. he was anxious thoroughly to discharge the duties of a dictatorship without grasping any more of its power than was indispensable to his purpose. but he was alone on that little isthmus, in single combat with the great spanish monarchy. it was to him that all eyes turned, during the infinite horrors of the harlem sieges and in the more prosperous leaguer of alkmaar. what he could do he did. he devised every possible means to succor harlem, and was only restrained from going personally to its rescue by the tears of the whole population of holland. by his decision and the spirit which he diffused through the country, the people were lifted to a pitch of heroism by which alkmaar was saved. yet, during all this harassing period, he had no one to lean upon but himself. "our affairs are in pretty good; condition in holland and zealand," he wrote, "if i only had some aid. 'tis impossible for me to support alone so many labors, and the weight of such great affairs as come upon me hourly--financial, military, political. i have no one to help me, not a single man, wherefore i leave you to suppose in what trouble i find myself." for it was not alone the battles and sieges which furnished him with occupation and filled him with anxiety. alone, he directed in secret the politics of the country, and, powerless and outlawed though he seemed, was in daily correspondence not only with the estates of holland and zealand, whose deliberations he guided, but with the principal governments of europe. the estates of the netherlands, moreover, had been formally assembled by alva in september, at brussels, to devise ways and means for continuing the struggle. it seemed to the prince a good opportunity to make an appeal to the patriotism of the whole country. he furnished the province of holland, accordingly, with the outlines of an address which was forthwith despatched in their own and his name, to the general assembly of the netherlands. the document was a nervous and rapid review of the course of late events in the provinces, with a cogent statement of the reasons which should influence them all to unite in the common cause against the common enemy. it referred to the old affection and true-heartedness with which they had formerly regarded each other, and to the certainty that the inquisition would be for ever established in the land, upon the ruins of all their ancient institutions, unless they now united to overthrow it for ever. it demanded of the people, thus assembled through their representatives, how they could endure the tyranny, murders, and extortions of the duke of alva. the princes of flanders, burgundy, brabant, or holland, had never made war or peace, coined money, or exacted a stiver from the people without the consent of the estates. how could the nation now consent to the daily impositions which were practised? had amsterdam and middelburg remained true; had those important cities not allowed themselves to be seduced from the cause of freedom, the northern provinces would have been impregnable. "'tis only by the netherlands that the netherlands are crushed," said the appeal. "whence has the duke of alva the power of which he boasts, but from yourselves--from netherland cities? whence his ships, supplies, money, weapons, soldiers? from the netherland people. why has poor netherland thus become degenerate and bastard? whither has fled the noble spirit of our brave forefathers, that never brooked the tyranny of foreign nations, nor suffered a stranger even to hold office within our borders? if the little province of holland can thus hold at bay the power of spain, what could not all the netherlands--brabant, flanders, friesland, and the rest united accomplish?" in conclusion, the estates-general were earnestly adjured to come forward like brothers in blood, and join hands with holland, that together they might rescue the fatherland and restore its ancient prosperity and bloom. at almost the same time the prince drew up and put in circulation one of the most vigorous and impassioned productions which ever came from his pen. it was entitled, an "epistle, in form of supplication, to his royal majesty of spain, from the prince of orange and the estates of holland and zealand." the document produced a profound impression throughout christendom. it was a loyal appeal to the monarch's loyalty--a demand that the land-privileges should be restored, and the duke of alva removed. it contained a startling picture of his atrocities and the nation's misery, and, with a few energetic strokes, demolished the pretence that these sorrows had been caused by the people's guilt. in this connexion the prince alluded to those acts of condemnation which the governor-general had promulgated under the name of pardons, and treated with scorn the hypothesis that any crimes had been committed for alva to forgive. "we take god and your majesty to witness," said the epistle, "that if we have done such misdeeds as are charged in the pardon, we neither desire nor deserve the pardon. like the most abject creatures which crawl the earth, we will be content to atone for our misdeeds with our lives. we will not murmur, o merciful king, if we be seized one after another, and torn limb from limb, if it can be proved that we have committed the crimes of which we have been accused." after having thus set forth the tyranny of the government and the innocence of the people, the prince, in his own name and that of the estates, announced the determination at which they had arrived. "the tyrant," he continued, "would rather stain every river and brook with our blood, and hang our bodies upon every tree in the country, than not feed to the full his vengeance, and steep himself to the lips in our misery. therefore we have taken up arms against the duke of alva and his adherents, to free ourselves, our wives and children, from his blood-thirsty hands. if he prove too strong nor us, we will rather die an honorable death and leave a praiseworthy fame, than bend our necks, and reduce our dear fatherland to such slavery. herein are all our cities pledged to each other to stand every siege, to dare the utmost, to endure every possible misery, yea, rather to set fire to all our homes, and be consumed with them into ashes together, than ever submit to the decrees of this cruel tyrant." these were brave words, and destined to be bravely fulfilled, as the life and death of the writer and the records of his country proved, from generation unto generation. if we seek for the mainspring of the energy which thus sustained the prince in the unequal conflict to which he had devoted his life, we shall find it in the one pervading principle of his nature--confidence in god. he was the champion of the political rights of his country, but before all he was the defender of its religion. liberty of conscience for his people was his first object. to establish luther's axiom, that thoughts are toll-free, was his determination. the peace of passau, and far more than the peace of passau, was the goal for which he was striving. freedom of worship for all denominations, toleration for all forms of faith, this was the great good in his philosophy. for himself, he had now become a member of the calvinist, or reformed church, having delayed for a time his public adhesion to this communion, in order not to give offence to the lutherans and to the emperor. he was never a dogmatist, however, and he sought in christianity for that which unites rather than for that which separates christians. in the course of october he publicly joined the church at dort. the happy termination of the siege of alkmaar was followed, three days afterwards, by another signal success on the part of the patriots. count bossu, who had constructed or collected a considerable fleet at amsterdam, had, early in october, sailed into the zuyder zee, notwithstanding the sunken wrecks and other obstructions by which the patriots had endeavored to render the passage of the y impracticable. the patriots of north holland had, however, not been idle, and a fleet of five-and-twenty vessels, under admiral dirkzoon, was soon cruising in the same waters. a few skirmishes took place, but bossu's ships, which were larger, and provided with heavier cannon, were apparently not inclined for the close quarters which the patriots sought. the spanish admiral, hollander as he was, knew the mettle of his countrymen in a close encounter at sea, and preferred to trust to the calibre of his cannon. on the th october, however, the whole patriot fleet, favored by a strong easterly, breeze, bore down upon the spanish armada, which, numbering now thirty sail of all denominations, was lying off and on in the neighbourhood of horn and enkhuyzen. after a short and general engagement, nearly all the spanish fleet retired with precipitation, closely pursued by most of the patriot dutch vessels. five of the king's ships were eventually taken, the rest effected their escape. only the admiral remained, who scorned to yield, although his forces had thus basely deserted him. his ship, the "inquisition,"--for such was her insolent appellation, was far the largest and best manned of both the fleets. most of the enemy had gone in pursuit of the fugitives, but four vessels of inferior size had attacked the "inquisition" at the commencement of the action. of these, one had soon been silenced, while the other three had grappled themselves inextricably to her sides and prow. the four drifted together, before wind and tide, a severe and savage action going on incessantly, during which the navigation of the ships was entirely abandoned. no scientific gunnery, no military or naval tactics were displayed or required in such a conflict. it was a life-and-death combat, such as always occurred when spaniard and netherlander met, whether on land or water. bossu and his men, armed in bullet-proof coats of mail, stood with shield and sword on the deck of the "inquisition," ready to repel all attempts to board. the hollander, as usual, attacked with pitch hoops, boiling oil, and molten lead. repeatedly they effected their entrance to the admiral's ship, and as often they were repulsed and slain in heaps, or hurled into the sea. the battle began at three in the afternoon, and continued without intermission through the whole night. the vessels, drifting together, struck on the shoal called the nek, near wydeness. in the heat of the action the occurrence was hardly heeded. in the morning twilight, john haring, of horn, the hero who had kept one thousand soldiers at bay upon the diemer dyke, clambered on board the "inquisition" and hauled her colors down. the gallant but premature achievement cost him his life. he was shot through the body and died on the deck of the ship, which was not quite ready to strike her flag. in the course of the forenoon, however, it became obvious to bossu that further resistance was idle. the ships were aground near a hostile coast, his own fleet was hopelessly dispersed, three quarters of his crew were dead or disabled, while the vessels with which he was engaged were constantly recruited by boats from the shore, which brought fresh men and ammunition, and removed their killed and wounded. at eleven o'clock, admiral bossu surrendered, and with three hundred prisoners was carried into holland. bossu was himself imprisoned at horn, in which city he was received, on his arrival, with great demonstrations of popular hatred. the massacre of rotterdam, due to his cruelty and treachery, had not yet been forgotten or forgiven. this victory, following so hard upon the triumph at alkmaar, was as gratifying to the patriots as it was galling to alva. as his administration drew to a close, it was marked by disaster and disgrace on land and sea. the brilliant exploits by which he had struck terror into the heart of the netherlanders, at jemmingen and in brabant, had been effaced by the valor of a handful of hollanders, without discipline or experience. to the patriots, the opportune capture of so considerable a personage as the admiral and governor of the northern province was of great advantage. such of the hostages from harlem as had not yet been executed, now escaped with their lives. moreover, saint aldegonde, the eloquent patriot and confidential friend of orange, who was taken prisoner a few weeks later, in an action at maeslands-luis, was preserved from inevitable destruction by the same cause. the prince hastened to assure the duke of alva that the same measure would be dealt to bossu as should be meted to saint aldegonde. it was, therefore, impossible for the governor-general to execute his prisoner, and he was obliged to submit to the vexation of seeing a leading rebel and heretic in his power, whom he dared not strike. both the distinguished prisoners eventually regained their liberty. the duke was, doubtless, lower sunk in the estimation of all classes than he had ever been before, during his long and generally successful life. the reverses sustained by his army, the belief that his master had grown cold towards him, the certainty that his career in the netherlands was closing without a satisfactory result, the natural weariness produced upon men's minds by the contemplation of so monotonous and unmitigated a tyranny during so many years, all contributed to diminish his reputation. he felt himself odious alike to princes and to plebeians. with his cabinet councillors he had long been upon unsatisfactory terms. president tisnacq had died early, in the summer, and viglius, much against his will, had been induced, provisionally, to supply his place. but there was now hardly a pretence of friendship between the learned frisian and the governor. each cordially detested the other. alva was weary of flemish and frisian advisers, however subservient, and was anxious to fill the whole council with spaniards of the vargas stamp. he had forced viglius once more into office, only that, by a little delay, he might expel him and every netherlander at the same moment. "till this ancient set of dogmatizers be removed," he wrote to philip, "with viglius, their chief, who teaches them all their lessons, nothing will go right. 'tis of no use adding one or two spaniards to fill vacancies; that is only pouring a flask of good wine into a hogshead of vinegar; it changes to vinegar likewise. your majesty will soon be able to reorganize the council at a blow; so that italians or spaniards, as you choose, may entirely govern the country." such being his private sentiments with regard to his confidential advisers, it may be supposed that his intercourse with his council during the year was not like to be amicable. moreover, he had kept himself, for the most part, at a distance from the seat of government. during the military operations in holland, his head-quarters had been at amsterdam. here, as the year drew to its close, he had become as unpopular as in brussels. the time-serving and unpatriotic burghers, who, at the beginning of the spring, set up his bust in their houses, and would give large sums for his picture in little, now broke his images and tore his portraits from their walls, for it was evident that the power of his name was gone, both with prince and people. yet, certainly, those fierce demonstrations which had formerly surrounded his person with such an atmosphere of terror had not slackened or become less frequent than heretofore. he continued to prove that he could be barbarous, both on a grand and a minute scale. even as in preceding years, he could ordain wholesale massacres with a breath, and superintend in person the executions of individuals. this was illustrated, among other instances, by the cruel fate of uitenhoove. that unfortunate nobleman, who had been taken prisoner in the course of the summer, was accused of having been engaged in the capture of brill, and was, therefore, condemned by the duke to be roasted to death before a slow fire. he was accordingly fastened by a chain, a few feet in length, to a stake, around which the fagots were lighted. here he was kept in slow torture for a long time, insulted by the gibes of the laughing spaniards who surrounded him--until the executioner and his assistants, more humane than their superior, despatched the victim with their spears--a mitigation of punishment which was ill received by alva. the governor had, however, no reason to remain longer in amsterdam. harlem had fallen; alkmaar was relieved; and leyden--destined in its second siege to furnish so signal a chapter to the history of the war--was beleaguered, it was true, but, because known to be imperfectly supplied, was to be reduced by blockade rather than by active operations. don francis valdez was accordingly left in command of the siege, which, however, after no memorable occurrences, was raised, as will soon be related. the duke had contracted in amsterdam an enormous amount of debt, both public and private. he accordingly, early in november, caused a proclamation to be made throughout the city by sound of trumpet, that all persons having demands upon him were to present their claims, in person, upon a specified day. during the night preceding the day so appointed, the duke and his train very noiselessly took their departure, without notice or beat of drum. by this masterly generalship his unhappy creditors were foiled upon the very eve of their anticipated triumph; the heavy accounts which had been contracted on the faith of the king and the governor, remained for the most part unpaid, and many opulent and respectable families were reduced to beggary. such was the consequence of the unlimited confidence which they had reposed in the honor of their tyrant. on the th of november, don luis de requesens y cuniga, grand commander of saint jago, the appointed successor of alva, arrived in brussels, where he was received with great rejoicings. the duke, on the same day, wrote to the king, "kissing his feet" for thus relieving him of his functions. there was, of course, a profuse interchange of courtesy between the departing and the newly-arrived governors. alva was willing to remain a little while, to assist his successor with his advice, but preferred that the grand commander should immediately assume the reins of office. to this requesens, after much respectful reluctance, at length consented. on the th of november he accordingly took the oaths, at brussels, as lieutenant-governor and captain-general, in presence of the duke of aerschot, baron berlaymont, the president of the council, and other functionaries. on the th of december the duke of alva departed from the provinces for ever. with his further career this history has no concern, and it is not desirable to enlarge upon the personal biography of one whose name certainly never excites pleasing emotions. he had kept his bed for the greater part of the time during the last few weeks of his government--partly on account of his gout, partly to avoid being seen in his humiliation, but mainly, it was said, to escape the pressing demands of his creditors. he expressed a fear of travelling homeward through france, on the ground that he might very probably receive a shot out of a window as he went by. he complained pathetically that, after all his labors, he had not "gained the approbation of the king," while he had incurred "the malevolence and universal hatred of every individual in the country." mondoucet, to whom he made the observation, was of the same opinion; and informed his master that the duke "had engendered such an extraordinary hatred in the hearts of all persons in the land, that they would have fireworks in honor of his departure if they dared." on his journey from the netherlands, he is said to have boasted that he had caused eighteen thousand six hundred inhabitants of the provinces to be executed during the period of his government. the number of those who had perished by battle, siege, starvation, and massacre, defied computation. the duke was well received by his royal master, and remained in favor until a new adventure of don frederic brought father and son into disgrace. having deceived and abandoned a maid of honor, he suddenly espoused his cousins in order to avoid that reparation by marriage which was demanded for his offence. in consequence, both the duke and don frederic were imprisoned and banished, nor was alva released till a general of experience was required for the conquest of portugal. thither, as it were with fetters on his legs, he went. after having accomplished the military enterprise entrusted to him, he fell into a lingering fever, at the termination of which he was so much reduced that he was only kept alive by milk, which he drank from a woman's breast. such was the gentle second childhood of the man who had almost literally been drinking blood for seventy years. he died on the th december, . the preceding pages have been written in vain, if an elaborate estimate be now required of his character. his picture has been painted, as far as possible, by his own hand. his deeds, which are not disputed, and his written words, illustrate his nature more fully than could be done by the most eloquent pen. no attempt has been made to exaggerate his crimes, or to extenuate his superior qualities. virtues he had none, unless military excellence be deemed, as by the romans, a virtue. in war, both as a science and a practical art, he excelled all the generals who were opposed to him in the netherlands, and he was inferior to no commander in the world during the long and belligerent period to which his life belonged. louis of nassau possessed high reputation throughout europe as a skilful and daring general. with raw volunteers he had overthrown an army of spanish regulars, led by a netherland chieftain of fame and experience; but when alva took the field in person the scene was totally changed. the duke dealt him such a blow at jemmingen as would have disheartened for ever a less indomitable champion. never had a defeat been more absolute. the patriot army was dashed out of existence, almost to a man, and its leader, naked and beggared, though not disheartened, sent back into germany to construct his force and his schemes anew. having thus flashed before the eyes of the country the full terrors of his name, and vindicated the ancient military renown of his nation, the duke was at liberty to employ the consummate tactics, in which he could have given instruction to all the world, against his most formidable antagonist. the country, paralyzed with fear, looked anxiously but supinely upon the scientific combat between the two great champions of despotism and protestantism which succeeded. it was soon evident that the conflict could terminate in but one way. the prince had considerable military abilities, and enthusiastic courage; he lost none of his well-deserved reputation by the unfortunate issue of his campaign; he measured himself in arms with the great commander of the age, and defied him, day after day, in vain, to mortal combat; but it was equally certain that the duke's quiet game was, played in the most masterly manner. his positions and his encampments were taken with faultless judgment, his skirmishes wisely and coldly kept within the prescribed control, while the inevitable dissolution of the opposing force took place exactly as he had foreseen, and within the limits which he had predicted. nor in the disastrous commencement of the year did the duke less signally manifest his military genius. assailed as he was at every point, with the soil suddenly upheaving all around him, as by an earthquake, he did not lose his firmness nor his perspicacity. certainly, if he had not been so soon assisted by that other earthquake, which on saint bartholomew's day caused all christendom to tremble, and shattered the recent structure of protestant freedom in the netherlands, it might have been worse for his reputation. with mons safe, the flemish frontier guarded; france faithful, and thirty thousand men under the prince of orange in brabant, the heroic brothers might well believe that the duke was "at their mercy." the treason of charles ix. "smote them as with a club," as the prince exclaimed in the bitterness of his spirit. under the circumstances, his second campaign was a predestined failure, and alva easily vanquished him by a renewed application of those dilatory arts which he so well understood. the duke's military fame was unquestionable when he came to the provinces, and both in stricken fields and in long campaigns, he showed how thoroughly it had been deserved; yet he left the netherlands a baffled man. the prince might be many times defeated, but he was not to be conquered. as alva penetrated into the heart of the ancient batavian land he found himself overmatched as he had never been before, even by the most potent generals of his day. more audacious, more inventive, more desperate than all the commanders of that or any other age, the spirit of national freedom, now taught the oppressor that it was invincible; except by annihilation. the same lesson had been read in the same thickets by the nervii to julius caesar, by the batavians to the legions of vespasian; and now a loftier and a purer flame than that which inspired the national struggles against rome glowed within the breasts of the descendants of the same people, and inspired them with the strength which comes, from religious enthusiasm. more experienced, more subtle, more politic than hermann; more devoted, more patient, more magnanimous than civilis, and equal to either in valor and determination, william of orange was a worthy embodiment of the christian, national resistance of the german race to a foreign tyranny. alva had entered the netherlands to deal with them as with conquered provinces. he found that the conquest was still to be made, and he left the land without having accomplished it. through the sea of blood, the hollanders felt that they were passing to the promised land. more royal soldiers fell during the seven months' siege of harlem than the rebels had lost in the defeat of jemmingen, and in the famous campaign of brabant. at alkmaar the rolling waves of insolent conquest were stayed, and the tide then ebbed for ever. the accomplished soldier struggled hopelessly, with the wild and passionate hatred which his tyranny had provoked. neither his legions nor his consummate strategy availed him against an entirely desperate people. as a military commander, therefore, he gained, upon the whole, no additional laurels during his long administration of the netherlands. of all the other attributes to be expected in a man appointed to deal with a free country, in a state of incipient rebellion, he manifested a signal deficiency. as a financier, he exhibited a wonderful ignorance of the first principles of political economy. no man before, ever gravely proposed to establish confiscation as a permanent source of revenue to the state; yet the annual product from the escheated property of slaughtered heretics was regularly relied upon, during his administration, to replenish the king's treasury, and to support the war of extermination against the king's subjects. nor did statesman ever before expect a vast income from the commerce of a nation devoted to almost universal massacre. during the daily decimation of the people's lives, he thought a daily decimation of their industry possible. his persecutions swept the land of those industrious classes which had made it the rich and prosperous commonwealth it had been so lately; while, at the same time, he found a "peruvian mine," as he pretended, in the imposition of a tenth penny upon every one of its commercial transactions. he thought that a people, crippled as this had been by the operations of the blood council; could pay ten per cent., not annually but daily; not upon its income, but upon its capital; not once only, but every time the value constituting the capital changed hands. he had boasted that he should require no funds from spain, but that, on the contrary, he should make annual remittances to the royal treasury at home, from the proceeds of his imposts and confiscations; yet, notwithstanding these resources, and notwithstanding twenty-five millions of gold in five years, sent by philip from madrid, the exchequer of the provinces was barren and bankrupt when his successor arrived. requesens found neither a penny in the public treasury nor the means of raising one. as an administrator of the civil and judicial affairs of the country, alva at once reduced its institutions to a frightful simplicity. in the place of the ancient laws of which the netherlanders were so proud, he substituted the blood council. this tribunal was even more arbitrary than the inquisition. never was a simpler apparatus for tyranny devised, than this great labor-saving machine. never was so great a quantity of murder and robbery achieved with such despatch and regularity. sentences, executions, and confiscations, to an incredible extent, were turned out daily with appalling precision. for this invention, alva is alone responsible. the tribunal and its councillors were the work and the creatures of his hand, and faithfully did they accomplish the dark purpose of their existence. nor can it be urged, in extenuation of the governor's crimes, that he was but the blind and fanatically loyal slave of his sovereign. a noble nature could not have contaminated itself with such slaughter-house work, but might have sought to mitigate the royal policy, without forswearing allegiance. a nature less rigid than iron, would at least have manifested compunction, as it found itself converted into a fleshless instrument of massacre. more decided than his master, however, he seemed, by his promptness, to rebuke the dilatory genius of philip. the king seemed, at times, to loiter over his work, teasing and tantalising his appetite for vengeance, before it should be gratified: alva, rapid and brutal, scorned such epicureanism. he strode with gigantic steps over haughty statutes and popular constitutions; crushing alike the magnates who claimed a bench of monarchs for their jury, and the ignoble artisans who could appeal only to the laws of their land. from the pompous and theatrical scaffolds of egmont and horn, to the nineteen halters prepared by master karl, to hang up the chief bakers and brewers of brussels on their own thresholds--from the beheading of the twenty nobles on the horse-market, in the opening of the governor's career, to the roasting alive of uitenhoove at its close-from the block on which fell the honored head of antony straalen, to the obscure chair in which the ancient gentlewoman of amsterdam suffered death for an act of vicarious mercy--from one year's end to another's--from the most signal to the most squalid scenes of sacrifice, the eye and hand of the great master directed, without weariness, the task imposed by the sovereign. no doubt the work of almost indiscriminate massacre had been duly mapped out. not often in history has a governor arrived to administer the affairs of a province, where the whole population, three millions strong, had been formally sentenced to death. as time wore on, however, he even surpassed the bloody instructions which he had received. he waved aside the recommendations of the blood council to mercy; he dissuaded the monarch from attempting the path of clemency, which, for secret reasons, philip was inclined at one period to attempt. the governor had, as he assured the king, been using gentleness in vain, and he was now determined to try what a little wholesome severity could effect. these words were written immediately after the massacres at harlem. with all the bloodshed at mons, and naarden, and mechlin, and by the council of tumults, daily, for six years long, still crying from the ground, he taxed himself with a misplaced and foolish tenderness to the people. he assured the king that when alkmaar should be taken, he would, not spare a "living soul among its whole population;" and, as his parting advice, he recommended that every city in the netherlands should be burned to the ground, except a few which could be occupied permanently by the royal troops. on the whole, so finished a picture of a perfect and absolute tyranny has rarely been presented to mankind by history, as in alva's administration of the netherlands. the tens of thousands in those miserable provinces who fell victims to the gallows, the sword, the stake, the living grave, or to living banishment, have never been counted; for those statistics of barbarity are often effaced from human record. enough, however, is known, and enough has been recited in the preceding pages. no mode in which human beings have ever caused their fellow-creatures to suffer, was omitted from daily practice. men, women, and children, old and young, nobles and paupers, opulent burghers, hospital patients, lunatics, dead bodies, all were indiscriminately made to furnish food for-the scaffold and the stake. men were tortured, beheaded, hanged by the neck and by the legs, burned before slow fires, pinched to death with red hot tongs, broken upon the wheel, starved, and flayed alive. their skins stripped from the living body, were stretched upon drums, to be beaten in the march of their brethren to the gallows. the bodies of many who had died a natural death were exhumed, and their festering remains hanged upon the gibbet, on pretext that they had died without receiving the sacrament, but in reality that their property might become the legitimate prey of the treasury. marriages of long standing were dissolved by order of government, that rich heiresses might be married against their will to foreigners whom they abhorred. women and children were executed for the crime of assisting their fugitive husbands and parents with a penny in their utmost need, and even for consoling them with a letter, in their exile. such was the regular course of affairs as administered by the blood council. the additional barbarities committed amid the sack and ruin of those blazing and starving cities, are almost beyond belief; unborn infants were torn from the living bodies of their mothers; women and children were violated by thousands; and whole populations burned and hacked to pieces by soldiers in every mode which cruelty, in its wanton ingenuity, could devise. such was the administration, of which vargas affirmed, at its close, that too much mercy, "nimia misericordia," had been its ruin. even philip, inspired by secret views, became wearied of the governor, who, at an early period, had already given offence by his arrogance. to commemorate his victories, the viceroy had erected a colossal statue, not to his monarch, but to himself. to proclaim the royal pardon, he had seated himself upon a golden throne. such insolent airs could be ill forgiven by the absolute king. too cautious to provoke an open rupture, he allowed the governor, after he had done all his work, and more than all his work, to retire without disgrace, but without a triumph. for the sins of that administration, master and servant are in equal measure responsible. the character of the duke of alva, so far as the netherlands are concerned, seems almost like a caricature. as a creation of fiction, it would seem grotesque: yet even that hardy, historical scepticism, which delights in reversing the judgment of centuries, and in re-establishing reputations long since degraded to the dust, must find it difficult to alter this man's position. no historical decision is final; an appeal to a more remote posterity, founded upon more accurate evidence, is always valid; but when the verdict has been pronounced upon facts which are undisputed, and upon testimony from the criminal's lips, there is little chance of a reversal of the sentence. it is an affectation of philosophical candor to extenuate vices which are not only avowed, but claimed as virtues. [the time is past when it could be said that the cruelty of alva, or the enormities of his administration, have been exaggerated by party violence. human invention is incapable of outstripping the truth upon this subject. to attempt the defence of either the man or his measures at the present day is to convict oneself of an amount of ignorance or of bigotry against which history and argument are alike powerless. the publication of the duke's letters in the correspondence of simancas and in the besancon papers, together with that compact mass of horror, long before the world under the title of "sententien van alva," in which a portion only of the sentences of death and banishment pronounced by him during his reign, have been copied from the official records--these in themselves would be a sufficient justification of all the charges ever brought by the most bitter contemporary of holland or flanders. if the investigator should remain sceptical, however, let him examine the "registre des condamnes et bannia a cause des troubles des pays bas," in three, together with the records of the "conseil des troubles," in forty-three folio volumes, in the royal archives at brussels. after going through all these chronicles of iniquity, the most determined historic, doubter will probably throw up the case.] etext editor's bookmarks: advised his majesty to bestow an annual bribe upon lord burleigh angle with their dissimulation as with a hook luther's axiom, that thoughts are toll-free only kept alive by milk, which he drank from a woman's breast scepticism, which delights in reversing the judgment of centuries so much responsibility and so little power sometimes successful, even although founded upon sincerity we are beginning to be vexed motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley administration of the grand commander part iv. - [chapter i.] previous career of requesens--philip's passion for detail--apparent and real purposes of government--universal desire for peace-- correspondence of leading royalists with orange--bankruptcy of the exchequer at alva's departures--expensive nature of the war-- pretence of mildness on the part of the commander--his private views--distress of mondragon at middelburg--crippled condition of holland--orange's secret negotiations with france--st. aldegonde's views in captivity--expedition to relieve middelburg--counter preparations of orange--defeat of the expedition--capitulation of mondragon--plans of orange and his brothers--an army under count louis crosses the rhine--measures taken by requesens--manoeuvres of avila and of louis--the two armies in face at mook--battle of mook- heath--overthrow and death of count louis--the phantom battle-- character of louis of nassau--painful uncertainty as to his fate-- periodical mutinies of the spanish troops characterized--mutiny after the battle of mook--antwerp attacked and occupied,--insolent and oppressive conduct of the mutineers--offers of requesens refused--mutiny in the citadel--exploits of salvatierra--terms of composition--soldiers' feast on the mere--successful expedition of admiral boisot the horrors of alva's administration had caused men to look back with fondness upon the milder and more vacillating tyranny of the duchess margaret. from the same cause the advent of the grand commander was hailed with pleasure and with a momentary gleam of hope. at any rate, it was a relief that the man in whom an almost impossible perfection of cruelty seemed embodied was at last to be withdrawn it was certain that his successor, however ambitious of following in alva's footsteps, would never be able to rival the intensity and the unswerving directness of purpose which it had been permitted to the duke's nature to attain. the new governor-general was, doubtless, human, and it had been long since the netherlanders imagined anything in common between themselves and the late viceroy. apart from this hope, however, there was little encouragement to be derived from anything positively known of the new functionary, or the policy which he was to represent. don luis de requesens and cuniga, grand commander of castile and late governor of milan, was a man of mediocre abilities, who possessed a reputation for moderation and sagacity which he hardly deserved. his military prowess had been chiefly displayed in the bloody and barren battle of lepanto, where his conduct and counsel were supposed to have contributed, in some measure, to the victorious result. his administration at milan had been characterized as firm and moderate. nevertheless, his character was regarded with anything but favorable eyes in the netherlands. men told each other of his broken faith to the moors in granada, and of his unpopularity in milan, where, notwithstanding his boasted moderation, he had, in reality, so oppressed the people as to gain their deadly hatred. they complained, too, that it was an insult to send, as governor-general of the provinces, not a prince of the blood, as used to be the case, but a simple "gentleman of cloak and sword." any person, however, who represented the royal authority in the provinces was under historical disadvantage. he was literally no more than an actor, hardly even that. it was philip's policy and pride to direct all the machinery of his extensive empire, and to pull every string himself. his puppets, however magnificently attired, moved only in obedience to his impulse, and spoke no syllable but with his voice. upon the table in his cabinet was arranged all the business of his various realms, even to the most minute particulars. plans, petty or vast, affecting the interests of empires and ages, or bounded within the narrow limits of trivial and evanescent detail, encumbered his memory and consumed his time. his ambition to do all the work of his kingdoms was aided by an inconceivable greediness for labor. he loved the routine of business, as some monarchs have loved war, as others have loved pleasure. the object, alike paltry and impossible, of this ambition, bespoke the narrow mind. his estates were regarded by him as private property; measures affecting the temporal and eternal interests of millions were regarded as domestic affairs, and the eye of the master was considered the only one which could duly superintend these estates and those interests. much incapacity to govern was revealed in this inordinate passion to administer. his mind, constantly fatigued by petty labors, was never enabled to survey his wide domains from the height of majesty. in alva, certainly, he had employed an unquestionable reality; but alva, by a fortunate coincidence of character, had seemed his second self. he was now gone, however, and although the royal purpose had not altered, the royal circumstances were changed. the moment had arrived when it was thought that the mask and cothurn might again be assumed with effect; when a grave and conventional personage might decorously make his appearance to perform an interlude of clemency and moderation with satisfactory results. accordingly, the great commander, heralded by rumors of amnesty, was commissioned to assume the government which alva had been permitted to resign. it had been industriously circulated that a change of policy was intended. it was even supposed by the more sanguine that the duke had retired in disgrace. a show of coldness was manifested towards him on his return by the king, while vargas, who had accompanied the governor, was peremptorily forbidden to appear within five leagues of the court. the more discerning, however, perceived much affectation in this apparent displeasure. saint goard, the keen observer of philip's moods and measures, wrote to his sovereign that he had narrowly observed the countenances of both philip and alva; that he had informed himself as thoroughly as possible with regard to the course of policy intended; that he had arrived at the conclusion that the royal chagrin was but dissimulation, intended to dispose the netherlanders to thoughts of an impossible peace, and that he considered the present merely a breathing time, in which still more active preparations might be made for crushing the rebellion. it was now evident to the world that the revolt had reached a stage in which it could be terminated only by absolute conquest or concession. to conquer the people of the provinces, except by extermination, seemed difficult--to judge by the seven years of execution, sieges and campaigns, which had now passed without a definite result. it was, therefore, thought expedient to employ concession. the new governor accordingly, in case the netherlanders would abandon every object for which they had been so heroically contending, was empowered to concede a pardon. it was expressly enjoined upon him, however, that no conciliatory measures should be adopted in which the king's absolute supremacy, and the total prohibition of every form of worship but the roman catholic, were not assumed as a basis. now, as the people had been contending at least ten years long for constitutional rights against prerogative, and at least seven for liberty of conscience against papistry, it was easy to foretell how much effect any negotiations thus commenced were likely to produce. yet, no doubt, in the netherlands there was a most earnest longing for peace. the catholic portion of the population were desirous of a reconciliation with their brethren of the new religion. the universal vengeance which had descended upon heresy had not struck the heretics only. it was difficult to find a fireside, protestant or catholic, which had not been made desolate by execution, banishment, or confiscation. the common people and the grand seigniors were alike weary of the war. not only aerschot and viglius, but noircarmes and berlaymont, were desirous that peace should be at last compassed upon liberal terms, and the prince of orange fully and unconditionally pardoned. even the spanish commanders had become disgusted with the monotonous butchery which had stained their swords. julian romero; the fierce and unscrupulous soldier upon whose head rested the guilt of the naarden massacre, addressed several letters to william of orange, full of courtesy, and good wishes for a speedy termination of the war, and for an entire reconciliation of the prince with his sovereign. noircarmes also opened a correspondence with the great leader of the revolt; and offered to do all in his power to restore peace and prosperity to the country. the prince answered the courtesy of the spaniard with equal, but barren, courtesy; for it was obvious that no definite result could be derived from such informal negotiations. to noircarmes he responded in terms of gentle but grave rebuke, expressing deep regret that a netherland noble of such eminence, with so many others of rank and authority, should so long have supported the king in his tyranny. he, however, expressed his satisfaction that their eyes, however late, had opened to the enormous iniquity which had been practised in the country, and he accepted the offers of friendship as frankly as they had been made. not long afterwards, the prince furnished his correspondent with a proof of his sincerity, by forwarding to him two letters which had been intercepted; from certain agents of government to alva, in which noircarmes and others who had so long supported the king against their own country, were spoken of in terms of menace and distrust. the prince accordingly warned his new correspondent that, in spite of all the proofs of uncompromising loyalty which he had exhibited, he was yet moving upon a dark and slippery-pathway, and might, even like egmont and horn, find a scaffold-as the end and the reward of his career. so profound was that abyss of dissimulation which constituted the royal policy, towards the netherlands, that the most unscrupulous partisans of government could only see doubt and danger with regard to their future destiny, and were sometimes only saved by an opportune death from disgrace and the hangman's hands. such, then, were the sentiments of many eminent personages, even among the most devoted loyalists. all longed for peace; many even definitely expected it, upon the arrival of the great commander. moreover, that functionary discovered, at his first glance into the disorderly state of the exchequer, that at least a short respite was desirable before proceeding with the interminable measures of hostility against the rebellion. if any man had been ever disposed to give alva credit for administrative ability, such delusion must have vanished at the spectacle of confusion and bankruptcy which presented, itself at the termination of his government. he resolutely declined to give his successor any information whatever as to his financial position. so far from furnishing a detailed statement, such as might naturally be expected upon so momentous an occasion, he informed the grand commander that even a sketch was entirely out of the question, and would require more time and labor than he could then afford. he took his departure, accordingly, leaving requesens in profound ignorance as to his past accounts; an ignorance in which it is probable that the duke himself shared to the fullest extent. his enemies stoutly maintained that, however loosely his accounts had been kept, he had been very careful to make no mistakes against himself, and that he had retired full of wealth, if not of honor, from his long and terrible administration. his own letters, on the contrary, accused the king of ingratitude, in permitting an old soldier to ruin himself, not only in health but in fortune, for want of proper recompense during an arduous administration. at any rate it is very certain that the rebellion had already been an expensive matter to the crown. the army in the netherlands numbered more than sixty-two thousand men, eight thousand being spaniards, the rest walloons and germans. forty millions of dollars had already been sunk, and it seemed probable that it would require nearly the whole annual produce of the american mines to sustain the war. the transatlantic gold and silver, disinterred from the depths where they had been buried for ages, were employed, not to expand the current of a healthy, life-giving commerce, but to be melted into blood. the sweat and the tortures of the king's pagan subjects in the primeval forests of the new world, were made subsidiary to the extermination of his netherland people, and the destruction of an ancient civilization. to this end had columbus discovered a hemisphere for castile and aragon, and the new indies revealed their hidden treasures? forty millions of ducats had been spent. six and a half millions of arrearages were due to the army, while its current expenses were six hundred thousand a month. the military expenses alone of the netherlands were accordingly more than seven millions of dollars yearly, and the mines of the new world produced, during the half century of philip's reign, an average of only eleven. against this constantly increasing deficit, there was not a stiver in the exchequer, nor the means of raising one. the tenth penny had been long virtually extinct, and was soon to be formally abolished. confiscation had ceased to afford a permanent revenue, and the estates obstinately refused to grant a dollar. such was the condition to which the unrelenting tyranny and the financial experiments of alva had reduced the country. it was, therefore, obvious to requesens that it would be useful at the moment to hold out hopes of pardon and reconciliation. he saw, what he had not at first comprehended, and what few bigoted supporters of absolutism in any age have ever comprehended, that national enthusiasm, when profound and general, makes a rebellion more expensive to the despot than to the insurgents. "before my arrival," wrote the grand commander to his sovereign, "i did not understand how the rebels could maintain such considerable fleets, while your majesty could not support a single one. it appears, however, that men who are fighting for their lives, their firesides, their property, and their false religion, for their own cause, in short, are contented to receive rations only, without receiving pay." the moral which the new governor drew from his correct diagnosis of the prevailing disorder was, not that this national enthusiasm should be respected, but that it should be deceived. he deceived no one but himself, however. he censured noircarmes and romero for their intermeddling, but held out hopes of a general pacification. he repudiated the idea of any reconciliation between the king and the prince of orange, but proposed at the same time a settlement of the revolt. he had not yet learned that the revolt and william of orange were one. although the prince himself had repeatedly offered to withdraw for ever from the country, if his absence would expedite a settlement satisfactory to the provinces, there was not a patriot in the netherlands who could contemplate his departure without despair. moreover, they all knew better than did requesens, the inevitable result of the pacific measures which had been daily foreshadowed. the appointment of the grand commander was in truth a desperate attempt to deceive the netherlanders. he approved distinctly and heartily of alva's policy, but wrote to the king that it was desirable to amuse the people with the idea of another and a milder scheme. he affected to believe, and perhaps really did believe, that the nation would accept the destruction of all their institutions, provided that penitent heretics were allowed to be reconciled to the mother church, and obstinate ones permitted to go into perpetual exile, taking with them a small portion of their worldly goods. for being willing to make this last and almost incredible concession, he begged pardon sincerely of the king. if censurable, he ought not, he thought, to be too severely blamed, for his loyalty was known. the world was aware how often he had risked his life for his majesty, and how gladly and how many more times he was ready to risk it in future. in his opinion, religion had, after all, but very little to do with the troubles, and so he confidentially informed his sovereign. egmont and horn had died catholics, the people did not rise to assist the prince's invasion in , and the new religion was only a lever by which a few artful demagogues had attempted to overthrow the king's authority. such views as these revealed the measures of the new governor's capacity. the people had really refused to rise in , not because they were without sympathy for orange, but because they were paralyzed by their fear of alva. since those days, however, the new religion had increased and multiplied everywhere, in the blood which had rained upon it. it was now difficult to find a catholic in holland and zealand, who was not a government agent. the prince had been a moderate catholic, in the opening scenes of the rebellion, while he came forward as the champion of liberty for all forms of christianity. he had now become a convert to the new religion without receding an inch from his position in favor of universal toleration. the new religion was, therefore, not an instrument devised by a faction, but had expanded into the atmosphere of the people's daily life. individuals might be executed for claiming to breathe it, but it was itself impalpable to the attacks of despotism. yet the grand commander persuaded himself that religion had little or nothing to do with the state of the netherlands. nothing more was necessary, he thought; or affected to think, in order to restore tranquillity, than once more to spread the net of a general amnesty. the duke of alva knew better. that functionary, with whom, before his departure from the provinces, requesens had been commanded to confer, distinctly stated his opinion that there was no use of talking about pardon. brutally, but candidly, he maintained that there was nothing to be done but to continue the process of extermination. it was necessary, he said, to reduce the country to a dead level of unresisting misery; before an act of oblivion could be securely laid down as the foundation of a new and permanent order of society. he had already given his advice to his majesty, that every town in the country should be burned to the ground, except those which could be permanently occupied by the royal troops. the king, however, in his access of clemency at the appointment of a new administration, instructed the grand commander not to resort to this measure unless it should become strictly necessary.--such were the opposite opinions of the old and new governors with regard to the pardon. the learned viglius sided with alva, although manifestly against his will. "it is both the duke's opinion and my own," wrote the commander, "that viglius does not dare to express his real opinion, and that he is secretly desirous of an arrangement with the rebels." with a good deal of inconsistency, the governor was offended, not only with those who opposed his plans, but with those who favored them. he was angry with viglius, who, at least nominally, disapproved of the pardon, and with noircarmes, aerschot, and others, who manifested a wish for a pacification. of the chief characteristic ascribed to the people by julius caesar, namely, that they forgot neither favors nor injuries, the second half only, in the grand commander's opinion, had been retained. not only did they never forget injuries, but their memory, said he, was so good, that they recollected many which they had never received. on the whole, however, in the embarrassed condition of affairs, and while waiting for further supplies, the commander was secretly disposed to try the effect of a pardon. the object was to deceive the people and to gain time; for there was no intention of conceding liberty of conscience, of withdrawing foreign troops, or of assembling the states-general. it was, however, not possible to apply these hypocritical measures of conciliation immediately. the war was in full career and could not be arrested even in that wintry season. the patriots held mondragon closely besieged in middelburg, the last point in the isle of walcheren which held for the king. there was a considerable treasure in money and merchandise shut up in that city; and, moreover, so deserving and distinguished an officer as mondragon could not be abandoned to his fate. at the same time, famine was pressing him sorely, and, by the end of the year, garrison and townspeople had nothing but rats, mice, dogs, cats, and such repulsive substitutes for food, to support life withal. it was necessary to take immediate measures to relieve the place. on the other hand, the situation of the patriots was not very encouraging. their superiority on the sea was unquestionable, for the hollanders and zealanders were the best sailors in the world, and they asked of their country no payment for their blood, but thanks. the land forces, however, were usually mercenaries, who were apt to mutiny at the commencement of an action if, as was too often the case, their wages could not be paid. holland was entirely cut in twain by the loss of harlem and the leaguer of leyden, no communication between the dissevered portions being possible, except with difficulty and danger. the estates, although they had done much for the cause, and were prepared to do much more, were too apt to wrangle about economical details. they irritated the prince of orange by huckstering about subsidies to a degree which his proud and generous nature could hardly brook. he had strong hopes from france. louis of nassau had held secret interviews with the duke of alencon and the duke of anjou, now king of poland, at blamont. alencon had assured him secretly, affectionately, and warmly, that he would be as sincere a friend to the cause as were his two royal brothers. the count had even received one hundred thousand livres in hand, as an earnest of the favorable intentions of france, and was now busily engaged, at the instance of the prince, in levying an army in germany for the relief of leyden and the rest of holland, while william, on his part, was omitting nothing, whether by representations to the estates or by secret foreign missions and correspondence, to further the cause of the suffering country. at the same time, the prince dreaded the effect--of the promised pardon. he had reason to be distrustful of the general temper of the nation when a man like saint aldegonde, the enlightened patriot and his own tried friend, was influenced, by the discouraging and dangerous position in which he found himself, to abandon the high ground upon which they had both so long and so firmly stood: saint aldegonde had been held a strict prisoner since his capture at maeslandsluis, at the close of alva's administration.--it was, no doubt, a predicament attended with much keen suffering and positive danger. it had hitherto been the uniform policy of the government to kill all prisoners, of whatever rank. accordingly, some had been drowned, some had been hanged--some beheaded some poisoned in their dungeons--all had been murdered. this had been alva's course. the grand commander also highly approved of the system, but the capture of count bossu by the patriots had necessitated a suspension of such rigor. it was certain that bossu's head would fall as soon as saint aldegonde's, the prince having expressly warned the government of this inevitable result. notwithstanding that security, however, for his eventual restoration to liberty, a netherland rebel in a spanish prison could hardly feel himself at ease. there were so many foot-marks into the cave and not a single one coming forth. yet it was not singular, however, that the prince should read with regret the somewhat insincere casuistry with which saint aldegonde sought to persuade himself and his fellow-countrymen that a reconciliation with the monarch was desirable, even upon unworthy terms. he was somewhat shocked that so valiant and eloquent a supporter of the reformation should coolly express his opinion that the king would probably refuse liberty of conscience to the netherlanders, but would, no doubt, permit heretics to go into banishment. "perhaps, after we have gone into exile," added saint aldegonde, almost with baseness, "god may give us an opportunity of doing such good service to the king, that he will lend us a more favorable ear, and, peradventure, permit our return to the country." certainly, such language was not becoming the pen which wrote the famous compromise. the prince himself was, however, not to be induced, even by the captivity and the remonstrances of so valued a friend, to swerve from the path of duty. he still maintained, in public and private, that the withdrawal of foreign troops from the provinces, the restoration of the old constitutional privileges, and the entire freedom of conscience in religious matters, were the indispensable conditions of any pacification. it was plain to him that the spaniards were not ready to grant these conditions; but he felt confident that he should accomplish the release of saint aldegonde without condescending to an ignominious peace. the most pressing matter, upon the great commander's arrival, was obviously to relieve the city of middelburg. mondragon, after so stanch a defence, would soon be obliged to capitulate, unless he should promptly receive supplies. requesens, accordingly, collected seventy-five ships at bergen op zoom; which were placed nominally under the command of admiral de glimes, but in reality under that of julian romero. another fleet of thirty vessels had been assembled at antwerp under sancho d'avila. both, amply freighted with provisions, were destined to make their way to middelburg by the two different passages of the hondo and the eastern scheld. on the other hand, the prince of orange had repaired to flushing to superintend the operations of admiral boisot, who already; in obedience to his orders, had got a powerful squadron in readiness at that place. late in january, , d'avila arrived in the neighbourhood of flushing, where he awaited the arrival of romero's fleet. united, the two commanders were to make a determined attempt to reinforce the starving city of middelburg. at the same time, governor requesens made his appearance in person at bergen op zoom to expedite the departure of the stronger fleet, but it was not the intention of the prince of orange to allow this expedition to save the city. the spanish generals, however valiant, were to learn that their genius was not amphibious, and that the beggars of the sea were still invincible on their own element, even if their brethren of the land had occasionally quailed. admiral boisot's fleet had already moved up the scheld and taken a position nearly opposite to bergen op zoom. on the th of january the prince of orange, embarking from zierick zee, came to make them a visit before the impending action. his galley, conspicuous for its elegant decorations, was exposed for some time to the artillery of the fort, but providentially escaped unharmed. he assembled all the officers of his armada, and, in brief but eloquent language, reminded them how necessary it was to the salvation of the whole country that they should prevent the city of middelburg--the key to the whole of zealand, already upon the point of falling into the hands of the patriots--from being now wrested from their grasp. on the sea, at least, the hollanders and zealanders were at home. the officers and men, with one accord, rent the air with their cheers. they swore that they would shed every drop of blood in their veins but they would sustain the prince and the country; and they solemnly vowed not only to serve, if necessary, without wages, but to sacrifice all that they possessed in the world rather than abandon the cause of their fatherland. having by his presence and his language aroused their valor to so high a pitch of enthusiasm, the prince departed for delft, to make arrangements to drive the spaniards from the siege of leyden. on the th of january, the fleet of romero sailed from bergen, disposed in three divisions, each numbering twenty-five vessels of different sizes. as the grand commander stood on the dyke of schakerloo to witness the departure, a general salute was fired by the fleet in his honor, but with most unfortunate augury. the discharge, by some accident, set fire to the magazines of one of the ships, which blew up with a terrible explosion, every soul on board perishing. the expedition, nevertheless, continued its way. opposite romerswael, the fleet of boisot awaited them, drawn up in battle array. as an indication of the spirit which animated this hardy race, it may be mentioned that schot, captain of the flag-ship, had been left on shore, dying of a pestilential fever. admiral boisot had appointed a flushinger, klaaf klaafzoon, in his place. just before the action, however, schot, "scarcely able to blow a feather from his mouth," staggered on board his ship, and claimed the command. there was no disputing a precedency which he had risen from his death-bed to vindicate. there was, however, a short discussion, as the enemy's fleet approached, between these rival captains regarding the manner in which the spaniards should be received. klaafzoon was of opinion that most of the men should go below till after the enemy's first discharge. schot insisted that all should remain on deck, ready to grapple with the spanish fleet, and to board them without the least delay. the sentiment of schot prevailed, and all hands stood on deck, ready with boarding-pikes and grappling-irons. the first division of romero came nearer, and delivered its first broadside, when schot and klaafzoon both fell mortally wounded. admiral boisot lost an eye, and many officers and sailors in the other vessels were killed or wounded. this was, however, the first and last of the cannonading. as many of romero's vessels as could be grappled within the narrow estuary found themselves locked in close embrace with their enemies. a murderous hand-to-hand conflict succeeded. battle-axe, boarding-pike, pistol, and dagger were the weapons. every man who yielded himself a prisoner was instantly stabbed and tossed into the sea by the remorseless zealanders. fighting only to kill, and not to plunder, they did not even stop to take the gold chains which many spaniards wore on their necks. it had, however, been obvious from the beginning that the spanish fleet were not likely to achieve that triumph over the patriots which was necessary before they could relieve middelburg. the battle continued a little longer; but after fifteen ships had been taken and twelve hundred royalists slain, the remainder of the enemy's fleet retreated into bergen. romero himself, whose ship had grounded, sprang out of a port-hole and swam ashore, followed by such of his men as were able to imitate him. he landed at the very feet of the grand commander, who, wet and cold, had been standing all day upon the dyke of schakerloo, in the midst of a pouring rain, only to witness the total defeat of his armada at last. "i told your excellency," said romero, coolly, as he climbed, all dripping, on the bank, "that i was a land-fighter and not a sailor. if you were to give me the command of a hundred fleets, i believe that none of them would fare better than this has done." the governor and his discomfited, but philosophical lieutenant, then returned to bergen, and thence to brussels, acknowledging that the city of middelburg must fall, while sancho d'avila, hearing of the disaster which had befallen his countrymen, brought his fleet, with the greatest expedition, back to antwerp. thus the gallant mondragon was abandoned to his fate. that fate could no longer be protracted. the city of middelburg had reached and passed the starvation point. still mondragon was determined not to yield at discretion, although very willing to capitulate. the prince of orange, after the victory of bergen, was desirous of an unconditional surrender, believing it to be his right, and knowing that he could not be supposed capable of practising upon middelburg the vengeance which had been wreaked on naarden, zutfen, and harlem. mondragon, however, swore that he would set fire to the city in twenty places, and perish with every soldier and burgher in the flames together, rather than abandon himself to the enemy's mercy. the prince knew that the brave spaniard was entirely capable of executing his threat. he granted honorable conditions, which, on the th february, were drawn up in five articles, and signed. it was agreed that mondragon and his troops should leave the place, with their arms, ammunition, and all their personal property. the citizens who remained were to take oath of fidelity to the prince, as stadholder for his majesty, and were to pay besides a subsidy of three hundred thousand florins. mondragon was, furthermore, to procure the discharge of saint aldegonde, and of four other prisoners of rank, or, failing in the attempt, was to return within two months, and constitute himself prisoner of war. the catholic priests were to take away from the city none of their property but their clothes. in accordance with this capitulation, mondragon, and those who wished to accompany him, left the city on the st of february, and were conveyed to the flemish shore at neuz. it will be seen in the sequel that the governor neither granted him the release of the five prisoners, nor permitted him to return, according to his parole. a few days afterwards, the prince entered the city, re-organized the magistracy, received the allegiance of the inhabitants, restored the ancient constitution, and liberally remitted two-thirds of the sum in which they had been, mulcted. the spaniards had thus been successfully driven from the isle of walcheren, leaving the hollanders and zealanders masters of the sea-coast. since the siege of alkmaar had been raised, however, the enemy had remained within the territory of holland. leyden was closely invested, the country in a desperate condition, and all communication between its different cities nearly suspended. it was comparatively easy for the prince of orange to equip and man his fleets. the genius and habits of the people made them at home upon the water, and inspired them with a feeling of superiority to their adversaries. it was not so upon land. strong to resist, patient to suffer, the hollanders, although terrible in defence; had not the necessary discipline or experience to meet the veteran legions of spain, with confidence in the open field. to raise the siege of leyden, the main reliance of the prince was upon count louis, who was again in germany. in the latter days of alva's administration, william had written to his brothers, urging them speedily to arrange the details of a campaign, of which he forwarded them a sketch. as soon as a sufficient force had been levied in germany, an attempt was to be made upon maestricht. if that failed, louis was to cross the meuse, in the neighbourhood of stochem, make his way towards the prince's own city of gertruidenberg, and thence make a junction with his brother in the neighbourhood of delft. they were then to take up a position together between harlem and leyden. in that case it seemed probable that the spaniards would find themselves obliged to fight at a great disadvantage, or to abandon the country. "in short," said the prince, "if this enterprise be arranged with due diligence and discretion, i hold it as the only certain means for putting a speedy end to the war, and for driving these devils of spaniards out of the country, before the duke of alva has time to raise another army to support them." in pursuance of this plan, louis had been actively engaged all the earlier part of the winter in levying troops and raising supplies. he had been assisted by the french princes with considerable sums of money, as an earnest of what he was in future to expect from that source. he had made an unsuccessful attempt to effect the capture of requesens, on his way to take the government of the netherlands. he had then passed to the frontier of france, where he had held his important interview with catharine de medici and the duke of anjou, then on the point of departure to ascend the throne of poland. he had received liberal presents, and still more liberal promises. anjou had assured him that he would go as far as any of the german princes in rendering active and sincere assistance to the protestant cause in the netherlands. the duc d'alencon--soon, in his brother's absence, to succeed to the chieftainship of the new alliance between the "politiques" and the huguenots--had also pressed his hand, whispering in his ear, as he did so, that the government of france now belonged to him, as it had recently done to anjou, and that the prince might reckon upon his friendship with entire security. these fine words, which cost nothing when whispered in secret, were not destined to fructify into a very rich harvest, for the mutual jealousy of france and england, lest either should acquire ascendency in the netherlands, made both governments prodigal of promises, while the common fear entertained by them of the power of spain rendered both languid; insincere, and mischievous allies. count john, however; was indefatigable in arranging the finances of the proposed expedition, and in levying contributions among his numerous relatives and allies in germany, while louis had profited by the occasion of anjou's passage into poland, to acquire for himself two thousand german and french cavalry, who had served to escort that prince, and who, being now thrown out of employment, were glad to have a job offered them by a general who was thought to be in funds. another thousand of cavalry and six thousand foot were soon assembled from those ever-swarming nurseries of mercenary warriors, the smaller german states. with these, towards the end of february; louis crossed the rhine in a heavy snow-storm, and bent his course towards maestricht. all the three brothers of the prince accompanied this little army, besides duke christopher, son of the elector palatine. before the end of the month the army reached the meuse, and encamped within four miles of maestricht; on the opposite side of the river. the garrison, commanded by montesdoca, was weak, but the news of the warlike preparations in germany had preceded the arrival of count louis. requesens, feeling the gravity of the occasion, had issued orders for an immediate levy of eight thousand cavalry in germany, with a proportionate number of infantry. at the same time he had directed don bernardino de mendoza, with some companies of cavalry, then stationed in breda, to throw himself without delay into maestricht. don sancho d'avila was entrusted with the general care of resisting the hostile expedition. that general had forthwith collected all the troops which could be spared from every town where they were stationed, had strengthened the cities of antwerp, ghent, nimweben, and valenciennes, where there were known to be many secret adherents of orange; and with the remainder of his forces had put himself in motion, to oppose the entrance of louis into brabant, and his junction with his brother in holland. braccamonte had been despatched to leyden, in order instantly to draw off the forces which were besieging the city. thus louis had already effected something of importance by the very hews of his approach. meantime the prince of orange had raised six thousand infantry, whose rendezvous was the isle of bommel. he was disappointed at the paucity of the troops which louis had been able to collect, but he sent messengers immediately to him; with a statement of his own condition, and with directions to join him in the isle of bommel, as soon as maestricht should be reduced. it was, however, not in the destiny of louis to reduce maestricht. his expedition had been marked with disaster from the beginning. a dark and threatening prophecy had, even before its commencement, enwrapped louis, his brethren, and his little army, in a funeral pall. more than a thousand of his men had deserted before he reached the meuse. when he encamped, apposite maestricht, he found the river neither frozen nor open, the ice obstructing the navigation, but being too weak for the weight of an army. while he was thus delayed and embarrassed, mendoza arrived in the city with reinforcements. it seemed already necessary for louis to abandon his hopes of maestricht, but he was at least desirous of crossing the river in that neighbourhood, in order to effect his junction with the prince at the earliest possible moment. while the stream was still encumbered with ice, however, the enemy removed all the boats. on, the rd of march, avila arrived with a large body of troops at maestricht, and on the th mendoza crossed the river in the night, giving the patriots so severe an 'encamisada', that seven hundred were killed, at the expense of only seven of his own party. harassed, but not dispirited by these disasters, louis broke up his camp on the st, and took a position farther down the river, at fauquemont and gulpen, castles in the duchy of limburg. on the rd of april, braccamonite arrived at maestricht, with twenty-five companies of spaniards and three of cavalry, while, on the same day mondragon reached the scene of action with his sixteen companies of veterans. it was now obvious to louis, not only that he should not take maestricht, but that his eventual junction with his brother was at least doubtful, every soldier who could possibly be spared seeming in motion to oppose his progress. he was, to be sure, not yet outnumbered, but the enemy was increasing, and his own force diminishing daily. moreover, the spaniards were highly disciplined and experienced troops; while his own soldiers were mercenaries, already clamorous and insubordinate. on the th of april he again shifted his encampment, and took his course along the right bank of the meuse, between that river and the rhine, in the direction of nimwegen. avila promptly decided to follow him upon the opposite bank of the meuse, intending to throw himself between louis and the prince of orange, and by a rapid march to give the count battle, before he could join his brother. on the th of april, at early dawn, louis had left the neighbourhood of maestricht, and on the th he encamped at the village of mook near the confines of cleves. sending out his scouts, he learned to his vexation, that the enemy had outmarched him, and were now within cannonshot. on the th, avila had constructed a bridge of boats, over which he had effected the passage of the meuse with his whole army, so that on the count's arrival at mook, he found the enemy facing him, on the same side of the river, and directly in his path. it was, therefore, obvious that, in this narrow space between the waal and the meuse, where they were now all assembled, louis must achieve a victory, unaided, or abandon his expedition, and leave the hollanders to despair. he was distressed at the position in which he found himself, for he had hoped to reduce maestricht, and to join, his brother in holland. together, they could, at least, have expelled the spaniards from that territory, in which case it was probable that a large part of the population in the different provinces would have risen. according to present aspects, the destiny of the country, for some time to come, was likely to hang upon the issue of a battle which he had not planned, and for which he was not fully prepared. still he was not the man to be disheartened; nor had he ever possessed the courage to refuse a battle when: offered. upon this occasion it would be difficult to retreat without disaster and disgrace, but it was equally difficult to achieve a victory. thrust, as he was, like a wedge into the very heart of a hostile country, he was obliged to force his way through, or to remain in his enemy's power. moreover, and worst of all, his troops were in a state of mutiny for their wages. while he talked to them of honor, they howled to him for money. it was the custom of these mercenaries to mutiny on the eve of battle--of the spaniards, after it had been fought. by the one course, a victory was often lost which might have been achieved; by the other, when won it was rendered fruitless. avila had chosen his place of battle with great skill. on the right bank of the meuse, upon a narrow plain which spread from the river to a chain of hills within cannon-shot on the north, lay the little village of mook. the spanish general knew that his adversary had the superiority in cavalry, and that within this compressed apace it would not be possible to derive much advantage from the circumstance. on the th, both armies were drawn up in battle array at earliest dawn, louis having strengthened his position by a deep trench, which extended from mook, where he had stationed ten companies of infantry, which thus rested on the village and the river. next came the bulk of his infantry, disposed in a single square. on their right was his cavalry, arranged in four squadrons, as well as the narrow limits of the field would allow. a small portion of them, for want of apace, were stationed on the hill side. opposite, the forces of don sancho were drawn up in somewhat similar fashion. twenty-five companies of spaniards were disposed in four bodies of pikemen and musketeers; their right resting on the river. on their left was the cavalry, disposed by mendoza in the form of a half moon-the horns garnished by two small bodies of sharpshooters. in the front ranks of the cavalry were the mounted carabineers of schenk; behind were the spanish dancers. the village of mook lay between the two armies. the skirmishing began at early dawn, with an attack upon the trench, and continued some hours, without bringing on a general engagement. towards ten o'clock, count louis became impatient. all the trumpets of the patriots now rang out a challenge to their adversaries, and the spaniards were just returning the defiance, and preparing a general onset, when the seigneur de hierges and baron chevreaux arrived on the field. they brought with them a reinforcement of more than a thousand men, and the intelligence that valdez was on his way with nearly five thousand more. as he might be expected on the following morning, a short deliberation was held as to the expediency of deferring the action. count louis was at the head of six thousand foot and two thousand cavalry. avila mustered only four thousand infantry and not quite a thousand horse. this inferiority would be changed on the morrow into an overwhelming superiority. meantime, it was well to remember the punishment endured by aremberg at heiliger lee, for not waiting till meghen's arrival. this prudent counsel was, however, very generally scouted, and by none more loudly than by hierges and chevreaux, who had brought the intelligence. it was thought that at this juncture nothing could be more indiscreet than discretion. they had a wary and audacious general to deal with. while they were waiting for their reinforcements, he was quite capable of giving them the slip. he might thus effect the passage of the stream and that union with his brother which--had been thus far so successfully prevented. this reasoning prevailed, and the skirmishing at the trench was renewed with redoubled vigour, an additional: force being sent against it. after a short and fierce struggle it was carried, and the spaniards rushed into the village, but were soon dislodged by a larger detachment of infantry, which count louis sent to the rescue. the battle now became general at this point. nearly all the patriot infantry were employed to defend the post; nearly all the spanish infantry were ordered to assail it. the spaniards, dropping on their knees, according to custom, said a paternoster and an ave mary, and then rushed, in mass, to the attack. after a short but sharp conflict, the trench was again carried, and the patriots completely routed. upon this, count louis charged with all his cavalry upon the enemy's horse, which had hitherto remained motionless. with the first shock the mounted arquebusiers of schenk, constituting the vanguard, were broken, and fled in all directions. so great was their panic, as louis drove them before him, that they never stopped till they had swum or been drowned in the river; the survivors carrying the news to grave and to other cities that the royalists had been completely routed. this was, however, very far from the truth. the patriot cavalry, mostly carabineers, wheeled after the first discharge, and retired to reload their pieces, but before they were ready for another attack, the spanish lancers and the german black troopers, who had all remained firm, set upon them with great spirit: a fierce, bloody, and confused action succeeded, in which the patriots were completely overthrown. count louis, finding that the day was lost, and his army cut to pieces, rallied around him a little band of troopers, among whom were his brother, count henry, and duke christopher, and together they made a final and desperate charge. it was the last that was ever seen of them on earth. they all went down together, in the midst of the fight, and were never heard of more. the battle terminated, as usual in those conflicts of mutual hatred, in a horrible butchery, hardly any of the patriot army being left to tell the tale of their disaster. at least four thousand were killed, including those who were slain on the field, those who were suffocated in the marshes or the river, and those who were burned in the farm-houses where they had taken refuge. it was uncertain which of those various modes of death had been the lot of count louis, his brother, and his friend. the mystery was never solved. they had, probably, all died on the field; but, stripped of their clothing, with their faces trampled upon by the hoofs of horses, it was not possible to distinguish them from the less illustrious dead. it was the opinion of, many that they had been drowned in the river; of others, that they had been burned. [meteren, v. . bor, vii. , . hoofd, bentivoglio, ubi sup. the walloon historian, occasionally cited in these pages, has a more summary manner of accounting for the fate of these distinguished personages. according to his statement, the leaders of the protestant forces dined and made merry at a convent in the neighbourhood upon good friday, five days before the battle, using the sacramental chalices at the banquet, and mixing consecrated wafers with their wine. as a punishment for this sacrilege, the army was utterly overthrown, and the devil himself flew away with the chieftains, body and soul.] there was a vague tale that louis, bleeding but not killed, had struggled forth from the heap of corpses where he had been thrown, had crept to the river-side, and, while washing his wounds, had been surprised and butchered by a party of rustics. the story was not generally credited, but no man knew, or was destined to learn, the truth. a dark and fatal termination to this last enterprise of count louis had been anticipated by many. in that superstitious age, when emperors and princes daily investigated the future, by alchemy, by astrology, and by books of fate, filled with formula; as gravely and precisely set forth as algebraical equations; when men of every class, from monarch to peasant, implicitly believed in supernatural portents and prophecies, it was not singular that a somewhat striking appearance, observed in the sky some weeks previously to the battle of mookerheyde, should have inspired many persons with a shuddering sense of impending evil. early in february five soldiers of the burgher guard at utrecht, being on their midnight watch, beheld in the sky above them the representation of a furious battle. the sky was extremely dark, except directly over: their heads; where, for a space equal in extent to the length of the city, and in breadth to that of an ordinary chamber, two armies, in battle array, were seen advancing upon each other. the one moved rapidly up from the north-west, with banners waving; spears flashing, trumpets sounding; accompanied by heavy artillery and by squadrons of cavalry. the other came slowly forward from the southeast; as if from an entrenched camp, to encounter their assailants. there was a fierce action for a few moments, the shouts of the combatants, the heavy discharge of cannon, the rattle of musketry; the tramp of heavy-aimed foot soldiers, the rush of cavalry, being distinctly heard. the firmament trembled with the shock of the contending hosts, and was lurid with the rapid discharges of their artillery. after a short, fierce engagement, the north-western army was beaten back in disorder, but rallied again, after a breathing-time, formed again into solid column, and again advanced. their foes, arrayed, as the witnesses affirmed, in a square and closely serried grove of spears' and muskets, again awaited the attack. once more the aerial cohorts closed upon each other, all the signs and sounds of a desperate encounter being distinctly recognised by the eager witnesses. the struggle seemed but short. the lances of the south-eastern army seemed to snap "like hemp-stalks," while their firm columns all went down together in mass, beneath the onset of their enemies. the overthrow was complete, victors and vanquished had faded, the clear blue space, surrounded by black clouds, was empty, when suddenly its whole extent, where the conflict had so lately raged, was streaked with blood, flowing athwart the sky in broad crimson streams; nor was it till the five witnesses had fully watched and pondered over these portents that the vision entirely vanished. so impressed were the grave magistrates of utrecht with the account given next day by the sentinels, that a formal examination of the circumstances was made, the deposition of each witness, under oath, duly recorded, and a vast deal of consultation of soothsayers' books and other auguries employed to elucidate the mystery. it was universally considered typical of the anticipated battle between count louis and the spaniards. when, therefore, it was known that the patriots, moving from the south-east, had arrived at mookerheyde, and that their adversaries, crossing the meuse at grave, had advanced upon them from the north-west, the result of the battle was considered inevitable; the phantom battle of utrecht its infallible precursor. thus perished louis of nassau in the flower of his manhood, in the midst of a career already crowded with events such as might suffice for a century of ordinary existence. it is difficult to find in history a more frank and loyal character. his life was noble; the elements of the heroic and the genial so mixed in him that the imagination contemplates him, after three centuries, with an almost affectionate interest. he was not a great man. he was far from possessing the subtle genius or the expansive views of his brother; but, called as he was to play a prominent part in one of the most complicated and imposing dramas ever enacted by man, he, nevertheless, always acquitted himself with honor. his direct, fearless and energetic nature commanded alike the respect of friend and foe. as a politician, a soldier, and a diplomatist, he was busy, bold, and true. he, accomplished by sincerity what many thought could only be compassed by trickery. dealing often with the most adroit and most treacherous of princes and statesmen, he frequently carried his point, and he never stooped to flattery. from the time when, attended by his "twelve disciples," he assumed the most prominent part in the negotiations with margaret of parma, through all the various scenes of the revolution, through, all the conferences with spaniards, italians, huguenots. malcontents, flemish councillors, or german princes, he was the consistent and unflinching supporter of religious liberty and constitutional law. the battle of heiliger lee and the capture of mons were his most signal triumphs, but the fruits of both were annihilated by subsequent disaster. his headlong courage was his chief foible. the french accused him of losing the battle of moncontour by his impatience to engage; yet they acknowledged that to his masterly conduct it was owing that their retreat was effected in so successful, and even so brilliant a manner. he was censured for rashness and precipitancy in this last and fatal enterprise, but the reproach seems entirely without foundation. the expedition as already stated, had been deliberately arranged, with the full co-operation of his brother, and had been preparing several months. that he was able to set no larger force on foot than that which he led into gueldres was not his fault. but for the floating ice which barred his passage of the meuse, he would have surprised maestricht; but for the mutiny, which rendered his mercenary soldiers cowards, he might have defeated avila at mookerheyde. had he done so he would have joined his brother in the isle of bommel in triumph; the spaniards would, probably, have been expelled from holland, and leyden saved the horrors of that memorable siege which she was soon called, upon to endure. these results were not in his destiny. providence had decreed that he should perish in the midst of his usefulness; that the prince, in his death,'should lose the right hand which had been so swift to execute his various plans, and the faithful fraternal heart which had always responded so readily to every throb of his own. in figure, he was below the middle height, but martial and noble in his bearing. the expression of his countenance was lively; his manner frank and engaging. all who knew him personally loved him, and he was the idol of his gallant brethren: his mother always addressed him as her dearly beloved, her heart's-cherished louis. "you must come soon to me," she wrote in the last year of his life, "for i have many matters to ask your advice upon; and i thank you beforehand, for you have loved me as your mother all the days of your life; for which may god almighty have you in his holy keeping." it was the doom of this high-born, true-hearted dame to be called upon to weep oftener for her children than is the usual lot of mothers. count adolphus had already perished in his youth on the field of heiliger lee, and now louis and his young brother henry, who had scarcely attained his twenty-sixth year, and whose short life had been passed in that faithful service to the cause of freedom which was the instinct of his race, had both found a bloody and an unknown grave. count john, who had already done so much for the cause, was fortunately spared to do much more. although of the expedition, and expecting to participate in the battle, he had, at the urgent solicitation of all the leaders, left the army for a brief, season, in order to obtain at cologne a supply of money, for the mutinous troops: he had started upon this mission two days before the action in which he, too, would otherwise have been sacrificed. the young duke christopher, "optimm indolis et magnee spei adolescens," who had perished on the same field, was sincerely mourned by the lovers of freedom. his father, the elector, found his consolation in the scriptures, and in the reflection that his son had died in the bed of honor, fighting for the cause of god. "'t was better thus," said that stern calvinist, whose dearest wish was to "calvinize the world," than to have passed his time in idleness, "which is the devil's pillow." vague rumors of the catastrophe had spread far and wide. it was soon certain that louis had been defeated, but, for a long time, conflicting reports were in circulation as to the fate of the leaders. the prince of orange, meanwhile, passed days of intense anxiety, expecting hourly to hear from his brothers, listening to dark rumors, which he refused to credit and could not contradict, and writing letters, day after day, long after the eyes which should have read the friendly missives were closed. the victory of the king's army at mookerheyde had been rendered comparatively barren by the mutiny which broke forth the day after the battle. three years' pay were due to the spanish troops, and it was not surprising that upon this occasion one of those periodic rebellions should break forth, by which the royal cause was frequently so much weakened, and the royal governors so intolerably perplexed. these mutinies were of almost regular occurrence, and attended by as regular a series of phenomena. the spanish troops, living so far from their own country, but surrounded by their women, and constantly increasing swarms of children, constituted a locomotive city of considerable population, permanently established on a foreign soil. it was a city walled in by bayonets, and still further isolated from the people around by the impassable moat of mutual hatred. it was a city obeying the articles of war, governed by despotic authority, and yet occasionally revealing, in full force, the irrepressible democratic element. at periods which could almost be calculated, the military populace were wont to rise upon the privileged classes, to deprive them of office and liberty, and to set up in their place commanders of their own election. a governor-in-chief, a sergeant-major, a board of councillors and various other functionaries, were chosen by acclamation and universal suffrage. the eletto, or chief officer thus appointed, was clothed with supreme power, but forbidden to exercise it. he was surrounded by councillors, who watched his every motion, read all his correspondence, and assisted at all his conferences, while the councillors were themselves narrowly watched by the commonalty. these movements were, however, in general, marked by the most exemplary order. anarchy became a system of government; rebellion enacted and enforced the strictest rules of discipline; theft, drunkenness, violence to women, were severely punished. as soon as the mutiny broke forth, the first object was to take possession of the nearest city, where the eletto was usually established in the town-house, and the soldiery quartered upon the citizens. nothing in the shape of food or lodging was too good for these marauders. men who had lived for years on camp rations--coarse knaves who had held the plough till compelled to handle the musket, now slept in fine linen, and demanded from the trembling burghers the daintiest viands. they ate the land bare, like a swarm of locusts. "chickens and partridges," says the thrifty chronicler of antwerp, "capons and pheasants, hares and rabbits, two kinds of wines;--for sauces, capers and olives, citrons and oranges, spices and sweetmeats; wheaten bread for their dogs, and even wine, to wash the feet of their horses;"--such was the entertainment demanded and obtained by the mutinous troops. they were very willing both to enjoy the luxury of this forage, and to induce the citizens, from weariness of affording compelled hospitality, to submit to a taxation by which the military claims might be liquidated. a city thus occupied was at the mercy of a foreign soldiery, which had renounced all authority but that of self-imposed laws. the king's officers were degraded, perhaps murdered; while those chosen to supply their places had only a nominal control. the eletto, day by day, proclaimed from the balcony of the town-house the latest rules and regulations. if satisfactory, there was a clamor of applause; if objectionable, they were rejected with a tempest of hisses, with discharges of musketry; the eletto did not govern: he was a dictator who could not dictate, but could only register decrees. if too honest, too firm, or too dull for his place, he was deprived of his office and sometimes of his life. another was chosen in his room, often to be succeeded by a series of others, destined to the same fate. such were the main characteristics of those formidable mutinies, the result of the unthriftiness and dishonesty by which the soldiery engaged in these interminable hostilities were deprived of their dearly earned wages. the expense of the war was bad enough at best, but when it is remembered that of three or four dollars sent from spain, or contributed by the provinces for the support of the army, hardly one reached the pockets of the soldier, the frightful expenditure which took place may be imagined. it was not surprising that so much peculation should engender revolt. the mutiny which broke out after the defeat of count louis was marked with the most pronounced and inflammatory of these symptoms. three years' pay was due, to the spaniards, who, having just achieved a signal victory, were-disposed to reap its fruits, by fair means or by force. on receiving nothing but promises, in answer to their clamorous demands, they mutinied to a man, and crossed the meuse to grave, whence, after accomplishing the usual elections, they took their course to antwerp. being in such strong force, they determined to strike at the capital. rumour flew before them. champagny, brother of granvelle, and royal governor of the city, wrote in haste to apprise requesens of the approaching danger. the grand commander, attended only by vitelli, repaired instantly to antwerp. champagny advised throwing up a breastwork with bales of merchandize, upon the esplanade, between the citadel and the town, for it was at this point, where the connection between the fortifications of the castle and those of the city had never been thoroughly completed, that the invasion might be expected. requesens hesitated. he trembled at a conflict with his own soldiery. if successful, he could only be so by trampling upon the flower of his army. if defeated, what would become of the king's authority, with rebellious troops triumphant in rebellious provinces? sorely perplexed, the commander, could think of no expedient. not knowing what to do, he did nothing. in the meantime, champagny, who felt himself odious to the soldiery, retreated to the newtown, and barricaded himself, with a few followers, in the house of the baltic merchants. on the th of april, the mutinous troops in perfect order, marched into the city, effecting their entrance precisely at the weak point where they had been expected. numbering at least three thousand, they encamped on the esplanade, where requesens appeared before them alone on horseback, and made them an oration. they listened with composure, but answered briefly and with one accord, "dineros y non palabras," dollars not speeches. requesens promised profusely, but the time was past for promises. hard silver dollars would alone content an army which, after three years of bloodshed and starvation, had at last taken the law into their own hands. requesens withdrew to consult the broad council of the city. he was without money himself, but he demanded four hundred thousand crowns of the city. this was at first refused, but the troops knew the strength of their position, for these mutinies were never repressed, and rarely punished. on this occasion the commander was afraid to employ force, and the burghers, after the army had been quartered upon them for a time, would gladly pay a heavy ransom to be rid of their odious and expensive guests. the mutineers foreseeing that the work might last a few weeks, and determined to proceed leisurely; took possession of the great square. the eletto, with his staff of councillors, was quartered in the town-house, while the soldiers distributed themselves among the houses of the most opulent citizens, no one escaping a billet who was rich enough to receive such company: bishop or burgomaster, margrave or merchant. the most famous kitchens were naturally the most eagerly sought, and sumptuous apartments, luxurious dishes, delicate wines, were daily demanded. the burghers dared not refuse. the six hundred walloons, who had been previously quartered in the city, were expelled, and for many days, the mutiny reigned paramount. day after day the magistracy, the heads of guilds, all the representatives of the citizens were assembled in the broad council. the governor-general insisted on his demand of four hundred thousand crowns, representing, with great justice, that the mutineers would remain in the city until they had eaten and drunk to that amount, and that there would still be the arrearages; for which the city would be obliged to raise the funds. on the th of may, the authorities made an offer, which was duly communicated to the eletto. that functionary stood forth on a window-sill of the town-house, and addressed the soldiery. he informed them that the grand commander proposed to pay ten months' arrears in cash, five months in silks and woollen cloths, and the balance in promises, to be fulfilled within a few days. the terms were not considered satisfactory, and were received with groans of derision. the eletto, on the contrary, declared them very liberal, and reminded the soldiers of the perilous condition in which they stood, guilty to a man of high treason, with a rope around every neck. it was well worth their while to accept the offer made them, together with the absolute pardon for the past, by which it was accompanied. for himself, he washed his hands of the consequences if the offer were rejected. the soldiers answered by deposing the eletto and choosing another in his room. three days after, a mutiny broke out in the citadel--an unexampled occurrence. the rebels ordered sancho d'avila, the commandant, to deliver the keys of the fortress. he refused to surrender them but with his life. they then contented themselves with compelling his lieutenant to leave the citadel, and with sending their eletto to confer with the grand commander, as well as with the eletto of the army. after accomplishing his mission, he returned, accompanied by chiappin vitelli, as envoy of the governor-general. no sooner, however, had the eletto set foot on the drawbridge than he was attacked by ensign salvatierra of the spanish garrison, who stabbed him to the heart and threw him into the moat. the ensign, who was renowned in the army for his ferocious courage, and who wore embroidered upon his trunk hose the inscription, "el castigador de los flamencos," then rushed upon the sergeant-major of the mutineers, despatched him in the same way, and tossed him likewise into the moat. these preliminaries being settled, a satisfactory arrangement was negotiated between vitelli and the rebellious garrison. pardon for the past, and payment upon the same terms as those offered in the city, were accepted, and the mutiny of the citadel was quelled. it was, however, necessary that salvatierra should conceal himself for a long time, to escape being torn to pieces by the incensed soldiery. meantime, affairs in the city were more difficult to adjust. the mutineers raised an altar of chests and bales upon the public square, and celebrated mass under the open sky, solemnly swearing to be true to each other to the last. the scenes of carousing and merry-making were renewed at the expense of the citizens, who were again exposed to nightly alarms from the boisterous mirth and ceaseless mischief-making of the soldiers. before the end of the month; the broad council, exhausted by the incubus which had afflicted them so many weeks, acceded to the demand of requesens. the four hundred thousand crowns were furnished, the grand commander accepting them as a loan, and giving in return bonds duly signed and countersigned, together with a mortgage upon all the royal domains. the citizens received the documents, as a matter of form, but they had handled such securities before, and valued them but slightly. the mutineers now agreed to settle with the governor-general, on condition of receiving all their wages, either in cash or cloth, together with a solemn promise of pardon for all their acts of insubordination. this pledge was formally rendered with appropriate religious ceremonies, by requesens, in the cathedral. the payments were made directly afterwards, and a great banquet was held on the same day, by the whole mass of the soldiery, to celebrate the event. the feast took place on the place of the meer, and was a scene of furious revelry. the soldiers, more thoughtless than children, had arrayed themselves in extemporaneous costumes, cut from the cloth which they had at last received in payment of their sufferings and their blood. broadcloths, silks, satins, and gold-embroidered brocades, worthy of a queen's wardrobe, were hung in fantastic drapery around the sinewy forms and bronzed faces of the soldiery, who, the day before, had been clothed in rags. the mirth was fast and furious; and scarce was the banquet finished before every drum-head became a gaming-table, around which gathered groups eager to sacrifice in a moment their dearly-bought gold. the fortunate or the prudent had not yet succeeded in entirely plundering their companions, when the distant booming of cannon was heard from the river. instantly, accoutred as they were in their holiday and fantastic costumes, the soldiers, no longer mutinous, were summoned from banquet and gaming-table, and were ordered forth upon the dykes. the patriot admiral boisot, who had so recently defeated the fleet of bergen, under the eyes of the grand commander, had unexpectedly sailed up the scheld, determined to destroy the fleet of antwerp, which upon that occasion had escaped. between, the forts of lillo and callao, he met with twenty-two vessels under the command of vice-admiral haemstede. after a short and sharp action, he was completely victorious. fourteen of the enemy's ships were burned or sunk, with all their crews, and admiral haemstede was taken prisoner. the soldiers opened a warm fire of musketry upon boisot from the dyke, to which he responded with his cannon. the distance of the combatants, however, made the action unimportant; and the patriots retired down the river, after achieving a complete victory. the grand commander was farther than ever from obtaining that foothold on the sea, which as he had informed his sovereign, was the only means by which the netherlands could be reduced. [chapter ii.] first siege of leyden--commencement of the second--description of the city--preparations for defence--letters of orange--act of amnesty issued by requesens--its conditions--its reception by the hollanders--correspondence of the glippers--sorties and fierce combats beneath the walls of leyden--position of the prince--his project of relief magnanimity of the people--breaking of the dykes-- emotions in the city and the besieging camp--letter of the estates of holland--dangerous illness of the prince--the "wild zealanders"-- admiral boisot commences his voyage--sanguinary combat on the land-- scheiding--occupation of that dyke and of the green way--pauses and progress of the flotilla--the prince visits the fleet--horrible sufferings in the city--speech of van der werf--heroism of the inhabitants--the admiral's letters--the storm--advance of boisot-- lammen fortress----an anxious night--midnight retreat of the spaniards--the admiral enters the city--thanksgiving in the great church the prince in leyden--parting words of valdez--mutiny--leyden university founded--the charter--inauguration ceremonies. the invasion of louis of nassau had, as already stated, effected the raising of the first siege of leyden. that leaguer had lasted from the st of october, , to the st of march, , when the soldiers were summoned away to defend the frontier. by an extraordinary and culpable carelessness, the citizens, neglecting the advice of the prince, had not taken advantage of the breathing time thus afforded them to victual the city and strengthen the garrison. they seemed to reckon more confidently upon the success of count louis than he had even done himself; for it was very probable that, in case of his defeat, the siege would be instantly resumed. this natural result was not long in following the battle of mookerheyde. on the th of may, valdez reappeared before the place, at the head of eight thousand walloons and germans, and leyden was now destined to pass through a fiery ordeal. this city was one of the most beautiful in the netherlands. placed in the midst of broad and fruitful pastures, which had been reclaimed by the hand of industry from the bottom of the sea; it was fringed with smiling villages, blooming gardens, fruitful orchards. the ancient and, at last, decrepit rhine, flowing languidly towards its sandy death-bed, had been multiplied into innumerable artificial currents, by which the city was completely interlaced. these watery streets were shaded by lime trees, poplars, and willows, and crossed by one hundred and forty-five bridges, mostly of hammered stone. the houses were elegant, the squares and streets spacious, airy and clean, the churches and public edifices imposing, while the whole aspect, of the place suggested thrift, industry, and comfort. upon an artificial elevation, in the centre of the city, rose a ruined tower of unknown antiquity. by some it was considered to be of roman origin, while others preferred to regard it as a work of the anglo-saxon hengist, raised to commemorate his conquest of england. [guicciardini, descript. holl, et zelandire. bor, vii. . bentivoglio, viii. "putatur engistus britanno orbe redus posuisse victor," etc., etc. according to the celebrated poem of john von der does, the accomplished and valiant commandant of the city. the tower, which is doubtless a roman one, presents, at the present day, almost precisely the same appearance as that described by the contemporaneous historians of the siege. the verses of the commandant show the opinion, that the anglo-saxon conquerors of britain went from holland, to have been a common one in the sixteenth century.] surrounded by fruit trees, and overgrown in the centre with oaks, it afforded, from its mouldering battlements, a charming prospect over a wide expanse of level country, with the spires of neighbouring cities rising in every direction. it was from this commanding height, during the long and terrible summer days which were approaching, that many an eye was to be strained anxiously seaward, watching if yet the ocean had begun to roll over the land. valdez lost no time in securing himself in the possession of maeslandsluis, vlaardingen, and the hague. five hundred english, under command of colonel edward chester, abandoned the fortress of valkenburg, and fled towards leyden. refused admittance by the citizens, who now, with reason, distrusted them, they surrendered to valdez, and were afterwards sent back to england. in the course of a few days, leyden was thoroughly invested, no less than sixty-two redoubts, some of them having remained undestroyed from the previous siege, now girdling the city, while the besiegers already numbered nearly eight thousand, a force to be daily increased. on the other hand, there were no troops in the town, save a small corps of "freebooters," and five companies of the burgher guard. john van der does, seigneur of nordwyck, a gentleman of distinguished family, but still more distinguished for his learning, his poetical genius, and his valor, had accepted the office of military commandant. the main reliance of the city, under god, was on the stout hearts of its inhabitants within the walls, and on, the sleepless energy of william the silent without. the prince, hastening to comfort and encourage the citizens, although he had been justly irritated by their negligence in having omitted to provide more sufficiently against the emergency while there had yet been time, now reminded them that they were not about to contend for themselves alone, but that the fate of their country and of unborn generations would, in all human probability, depend on the issue about to be tried. eternal glory would be their portion if they manifested a courage worthy of their race and of the sacred cause of religion and liberty. he implored them to hold out at least three months, assuring them that he would, within that time, devise the means of their deliverance. the citizens responded, courageously and confidently, to these missives, and assured the prince of their firm confidence in their own fortitude and his exertions. and truly they had a right to rely on that calm and unflinching soul, as on a rock of adamant. all alone, without a being near him to consult, his right arm struck from him by the death of louis, with no brother left to him but the untiring and faithful john, he prepared without delay for the new task imposed upon him. france, since the defeat and death of louis, and the busy intrigues which had followed the accession of henry iii., had but small sympathy for the netherlands. the english government, relieved from the fear of france; was more cold and haughty than ever. an englishman employed by requesens to assassinate the prince of orange, had been arrested in zealand, who impudently pretended that he had undertaken to perform the same office for count john, with the full consent and privity of queen elizabeth. the provinces of holland and zealand were stanch and true, but the inequality of the contest between a few brave men, upon that handsbreadth of territory, and the powerful spanish empire, seemed to render the issue hopeless. moreover, it was now thought expedient to publish the amnesty which had been so long in preparation, and this time the trap was more liberally baited. the pardon, which had: passed the seals upon the th of march, was formally issue: by the grand commander on the th of june. by the terms of this document the king invited all his erring and repentant subjects, to return to his arms; and to accept a full forgiveness for their past offences, upon the sole condition that they should once more throw themselves upon the bosom of the mother church. there were but few exceptions to the amnesty, a small number of individuals, all mentioned by name, being alone excluded; but although these terms were ample, the act was liable to a few stern objections. it was easier now for the hollanders to go to their graves than to mass, for the contest, in its progress, had now entirely assumed the aspect of a religious war. instead of a limited number of heretics in a state which, although constitutional was catholic, there was now hardly a papist to be found among the natives. to accept the pardon then was to concede the victory, and the hollanders had not yet discovered that they were conquered. they were resolved, too, not only to be conquered, but annihilated, before the roman church should be re-established on their soil, to the entire exclusion of the reformed worship. they responded with steadfast enthusiasm to the sentiment expressed by the prince of orange, after the second siege of leyden had been commenced; "as long as there is a living man left in the country, we will contend for our liberty and our religion." the single condition of the amnesty assumed, in a phrase; what spain had fruitlessly striven to establish by a hundred battles, and the hollanders had not faced their enemy on land and sea for seven years to succumb to a phrase at last. moreover, the pardon came from the wrong direction. the malefactor gravely extended forgiveness to his victims. although the hollanders had not yet disembarrassed their minds of the supernatural theory of government, and felt still the reverence of habit for regal divinity, they naturally considered themselves outraged by the trick now played before them. the man who had violated all his oaths, trampled upon all their constitutional liberties, burned and sacked their cities, confiscated their wealth, hanged, beheaded, burned, and buried alive their innocent brethren, now came forward, not to implore, but to offer forgiveness. not in sackcloth, but in royal robes; not with ashes, but with a diadem upon his head, did the murderer present himself vicariously upon the scene of his crimes. it may be supposed that, even in the sixteenth century, there were many minds which would revolt at such blasphemy. furthermore, even had the people of holland been weak enough to accept the pardon, it was impossible to believe that the promise would be fulfilled. it was sufficiently known how much faith was likely to be kept with heretics, notwithstanding that the act was fortified by a papal bull, dated on the th of april, by which gregory xiii. promised forgiveness to those netherland sinners who duly repented and sought absolution for their crimes, even although they had sinned more than seven times seven. for a moment the prince had feared lest the pardon might produce some effect upon men wearied by interminable suffering, but the event proved him wrong. it was received with universal and absolute contempt. no man came forward to take advantage of its conditions, save one brewer in utrecht, and the son of a refugee peddler from leyden. with these exceptions, the only ones recorded, holland remained deaf to the royal voice. the city of leyden was equally cold to the messages of mercy, which were especially addressed to its population by valdez and his agents. certain netherlanders, belonging to the king's party, and familiarly called "glippers," despatched from the camp many letters to their rebellious acquaintances in the city. in these epistles the citizens of leyden were urgently and even pathetically exhorted to submission by their loyal brethren, and were implored "to take pity upon their poor old fathers, their daughters, and their wives." but the burghers of leyden thought that the best pity which they could show to those poor old fathers, daughters, and wives, was to keep them from the clutches of the spanish soldiery; so they made no answer to the glippers, save by this single line, which they wrote on a sheet of paper, and forwarded, like a letter, to valdez: "fistula dulce canit, volucrem cum decipit auceps." according to the advice early given by the prince of orange, the citizens had taken an account of their provisions of all kinds, including the live stock. by the end of june, the city was placed on a strict allowance of food, all the provisions being purchased by the authorities at an equitable price. half a pound of meat and half a pound of bread was allotted to a full grown man, and to the rest, a due proportion. the city being strictly invested, no communication, save by carrier pigeons, and by a few swift and skilful messengers called jumpers, was possible. sorties and fierce combats were, however, of daily occurrence, and a handsome bounty was offered to any man who brought into the city gates the head of a spaniard. the reward was paid many times, but the population was becoming so excited and so apt, that the authorities felt it dangerous to permit the continuance of these conflicts. lest the city, little by little, should lose its few disciplined defenders, it was now proclaimed, by sound of church bell, that in future no man should leave the gates. the prince had his head-quarters at delft and at rotterdam. between those two cities, an important fortress, called polderwaert, secured him in the control of the alluvial quadrangle, watered on two sides by the yssel and the meuse. on the th june, the spaniards, feeling its value, had made an unsuccessful effort to carry this fort by storm. they had been beaten off, with the loss of several hundred men, the prince remaining in possession of the position, from which alone he could hope to relieve leyden. he still held in his hand the keys with which he could unlock the ocean gates and let the waters in upon the land, and he had long been convinced that nothing could save the city but to break the dykes. leyden was not upon the sea, but he could send the sea to. leyden, although an army fit to encounter the besieging force under valdez could not be levied. the battle of mookerheyde had, for the present, quite settled the question, of land relief, but it was possible to besiege the besiegers, with the waves of the ocean. the spaniards occupied the coast from the hague to vlaardingen, but the dykes along the meuse and yssel were in possession of the prince. he determined, that these should be pierced, while, at the same time, the great sluices at rotterdam, schiedam, and delftshaven should be opened. the damage to the fields, villages, and growing crops would be enormous, but he felt that no other course could rescue leyden, and with it the whole of holland from destruction. his clear expositions and impassioned eloquence at last overcame all resistance. by the middle of july the estates consented to his plan, and its execution was immediately undertaken. "better a drowned land than a lost land," cried the patriots, with enthusiasm, as they devoted their fertile fields to desolation. the enterprise for restoring their territory, for a season, to the waves, from which it had been so patiently rescued, was conducted with as much regularity as if it had been a profitable undertaking. a capital was formally subscribed, for which a certain number of bonds were issued, payable at a long date. in addition to this preliminary fund, a monthly allowance of forty-five guldens was voted by the estates, until the work should be completed, and a large sum was contributed by the ladies of the land, who freely furnished their plate, jewellery, and costly furniture to the furtherance of the scheme. meantime, valdez, on the th july; issued most urgent and ample offers of pardon to the citizens, if they would consent to open their gates and accept the king's authority, but his overtures were received with silent contempt, notwithstanding that the population was already approaching the starvation point. although not yet fully informed of the active measures taken by the prince, yet they still chose to rely upon his energy and their own fortitude, rather than upon the honied words which had formerly been heard at the gates of harlem and of naarden. on the rd of august, the prince; accompanied by paul buys, chief of the commission appointed to execute the enterprise, went in person along the yssel; as far as kappelle, and superintended the rupture of the dykes in sixteen places. the gates at schiedam and rotterdam were, opened, and the ocean began to pour over the land. while waiting for the waters to rise, provisions were rapidly, collected, according to an edict of the prince, in all the principal towns of the neighbourhood, and some two hundred vessels, of various sizes, had also been got ready at rotterdam, delftshaven, and other ports. the citizens of leyden were, however, already becoming impatient, for their bread was gone, and of its substitute malt cake, they had but slender provision. on the th of august they received a letter from the prince, encouraging them to resistance, and assuring them of a speedy relief, and on the st they addressed a despatch to him in reply, stating that they had now fulfilled their original promise, for they had held out two months with food, and another month without food. if not soon assisted, human strength could do no more; their malt cake would last but four days, and after that was gone, there was nothing left but starvation. upon the same day, however, they received a letter, dictated by the prince, who now lay in bed at rotterdam with a violent fever, assuring them that the dykes were all pierced, and that the water was rising upon the "land-scheiding," the great outer barrier which separated the city from the sea. he said nothing however of his own illness, which would have cast a deep shadow over the joy which now broke forth among the burghers. the letter was read publicly in the market-place, and to increase the cheerfulness, burgomaster van der werf, knowing the sensibility of his countrymen to music, ordered the city musicians to perambulate the streets, playing lively melodies and martial airs. salvos of cannon were likewise fired, and the starving city for a brief space put on the aspect of a holiday, much to the astonishment of the besieging forces, who were not yet aware of the prince's efforts. they perceived very soon, however, as the water everywhere about leyden had risen to the depth of ten inches, that they stood in a perilous position. it was no trifling danger to be thus attacked by the waves of the ocean, which seemed about to obey with docility the command of william the silent. valdez became anxious and uncomfortable at the strange aspect of affairs, for the besieging army was now in its turn beleaguered, and by a stronger power than man's. he consulted with the most experienced of his officers, with the country people, with the most distinguished among the glippers, and derived encouragement from their views concerning the prince's plan. they pronounced it utterly futile and hopeless: the glippers knew the country well, and ridiculed the desperate project in unmeasured terms. even in the city itself, a dull distrust had succeeded to the first vivid gleam of hope, while the few royalists among the population boldly taunted their fellow-citizens to their faces with the absurd vision of relief which they had so fondly welcomed. "go up to the tower, ye beggars," was the frequent and taunting cry, "go up to the tower, and tell us if ye can see the ocean coming over the dry land to your relief"--and day after day they did go, up to the ancient tower of hengist, with heavy heart and anxious eye, watching, hoping, praying, fearing, and at last almost despairing of relief by god or man. on the th they addressed a desponding letter to the estates, complaining that the city had been forgotten in, its utmost need, and on the same day a prompt and warm-hearted reply was received, in which the citizens were assured that every human effort was to be made for their relief. "rather," said the estates, "will we see our whole land and all our possessions perish in the waves, than forsake thee, leyden. we know full well, moreover, that with leyden, all holland must perish also." they excused themselves for not having more frequently written, upon the ground that the whole management of the measures for their relief had been entrusted to the prince, by whom alone all the details had been administered, and all the correspondence conducted. the fever of the prince had, meanwhile, reached its height. he lay at rotterdam, utterly prostrate in body, and with mind agitated nearly to delirium, by the perpetual and almost unassisted schemes which he was constructing. relief, not only for leyden, but for the whole country, now apparently sinking into the abyss, was the vision which he pursued as he tossed upon his restless couch. never was illness more unseasonable. his attendants were in despair, for it was necessary that his mind should for a time be spared the agitation of business. the physicians who attended him agreed, as to his disorder, only in this, that it was the result of mental fatigue and melancholy, and could be cured only by removing all distressing and perplexing subjects from his thoughts, but all the physicians in the world could not have succeeded in turning his attention for an instant from the great cause of his country. leyden lay, as it were, anxious and despairing at his feet, and it was impossible for him to close his ears to her cry. therefore, from his sick bed he continued to dictate; words of counsel and encouragement to the city; to admiral boisot, commanding, the fleet, minute directions and precautions. towards the end of august a vague report had found its way into his sick chamber that leyden had fallen, and although he refused to credit the tale, yet it served to harass his mind, and to heighten fever. cornelius van mierop, receiver general of holland, had occasion to visit him at rotterdam, and strange to relate, found the house almost deserted. penetrating, unattended, to the prince's bed-chamber, he found him lying quite alone. inquiring what had become, of all his attendants, he was answered by the prince, in a very feeble voice, that he had sent them all away. the receiver-general seems, from this, to have rather hastily arrived at the conclusion that the prince's disorder was the pest, and that his servants and friends had all deserted him from cowardice. this was very far from being the case. his private secretary and his maitre d'hotel watched, day and night, by his couch, and the best physicians of the city were in constant attendance. by a singular accident; all had been despatched on different errands, at the express desire of their master, but there had never been a suspicion that his disorder was the pest, or pestilential. nerves of steel, and a frame of adamant could alone have resisted the constant anxiety and the consuming fatigue to which he had so long been exposed. his illness had been aggravated by the rumor of leyden's fall, a fiction which cornelius mierop was now enabled flatly to contradict. the prince began to mend from that hour. by the end of the first week of september, he wrote along letter to his brother, assuring him of his convalescence, and expressing, as usual; a calm confidence in the divine decrees--"god will ordain for me," said he, "all which is necessary for my good and my salvation. he will load me with no more afflictions than the fragility of this nature can sustain." the preparations for the relief of leyden, which, notwithstanding his exertions, had grown slack during his sickness, were now vigorously resumed. on the st of september, admiral boisot arrived out of zealand with a small number of vessels, and with eight hundred veteran sailors. a wild and ferocious crew were those eight hundred zealanders. scarred, hacked, and even maimed, in the unceasing conflicts in which their lives had passed; wearing crescents in their caps, with the inscription, "rather turkish than popish;" renowned far and wide, as much for their ferocity as for their nautical skill; the appearance of these wildest of the "sea-beggars" was both eccentric and terrific. they were known never to give nor to take quarter, for they went to mortal combat only, and had sworn to spare neither noble nor simple, neither king, kaiser, nor pope, should they fall into their power. more than two hundred-vessels had been assembled, carrying generally ten pieces of cannon, with from ten to eighteen oars, and manned with twenty-five hundred veterans, experienced both on land and water. the work was now undertaken in earnest. the distance from leyden to the outer dyke, over whose ruins the ocean had already been admitted, was nearly fifteen miles. this reclaimed territory, however, was not maintained against the sea by these external barriers alone. the flotilla made its way with ease to the land-scheiding, a strong dyke within five miles of leyden, but here its progress was arrested. the approach to the city was surrounded by many strong ramparts, one within the other, by which it was defended against its ancient enemy, the ocean, precisely like the circumvallations by means of which it was now assailed by its more recent enemy, the spaniard. to enable the fleet, however, to sail over the land; it was necessary to break through this two fold series of defences. between the land-scheiding and leyden were several dykes, which kept out the water; upon the level, were many villages, together with a chain of sixty-two forts, which completely occupied the land. all these villages and fortresses were held by the veteran, troops of the king; the besieging force, being about four times as strong as that which was coming to the rescue. the prince had given orders that the land-scheiding, which was still one-and-a-half foot above water, should be taken possession of; at every hazard. on the night of the th and th of september this was accomplished; by surprise; and in a masterly manner. the few spaniards who had been stationed upon the dyke were all, despatched or driven off, and the patriots fortified themselves upon it, without the loss of a man. as the day dawned the spaniards saw the fatal error which they had committed in leaving thus bulwark so feebly defended, and from two villages which stood close to the dyke, the troops now rushed inconsiderable force to recover what they had lost. a hot action succeeded, but the patriots had too securely established themselves. they completely defeated the enemy, who retired, leaving hundreds of dead on the field, and the patriots in complete possession of the land-scheiding. this first action was sanguinary and desperate. it gave a earnest of what these people, who came to relieve; their brethren, by sacrificing their property and their lives; were determined to effect. it gave a revolting proof, too, of the intense hatred which nerved their arms. a zealander; having struck down a spaniard on the dyke, knelt on his bleeding enemy, tore his heart from his bosom; fastened his teeth in it for an instant, and then threw it to a dog, with the exclamation, "'tis too bitter." the spanish heart was, however, rescued, and kept for years, with the marks of the soldier's teeth upon it, a sad testimonial of the ferocity engendered by this war for national existence. the great dyke having been thus occupied, no time was lost in breaking it through in several places, a work which was accomplished under the very eyes of the enemy. the fleet sailed through the gaps, but, after their passage had been effected in good order, the admiral found, to his surprise, that it was not the only rampart to be carried. the prince had been informed, by those who claimed to know, the country, that, when once the land-scheiding had been passed, the water would flood the country as far as leyden, but the "green-way," another long dyke three-quarters of a mile farther inward, now rose at least a foot above the water, to oppose their further progress. fortunately, by, a second and still more culpable carelessness, this dyke had been left by the spaniards in as unprotected a state as the first had been, promptly and audaciously admiral boisot took possession of this barrier also, levelled it in many places, and brought his flotilla, in triumph, over its ruins. again, however, he was doomed to disappointment. a large mere, called the freshwater lake, was known to extend itself directly in his path about midway between the land-scheiding and the city. to this piece of water, into which he expected to have instantly floated, his only passage lay through one deep canal. the sea which had thus far borne him on, now diffusing itself over a very wide surface, and under the influence of an adverse wind, had become too shallow for his ships. the canal alone was deep enough, but it led directly towards a bridge, strongly occupied by the enemy. hostile troops, moreover, to the amount of three thousand occupied both sides of the canal. the bold boisot, nevertheless, determined to force his passage, if possible. selecting a few of his strongest vessels, his heaviest artillery, and his bravest sailors, he led the van himself, in a desperate attempt to make his way to the mere. he opened a hot fire upon the bridge, then converted into a fortress, while his men engaged in hand-to-hand combat with a succession of skirmishers from the troops along the canal. after losing a few men, and ascertaining the impregnable position of the enemy, he was obliged to withdraw, defeated, and almost despairing. a week had elapsed since the great dyke had been pierced, and the flotilla now lay motionless--in shallow water, having accomplished less than two miles. the wind, too, was easterly, causing the sea rather to sink than to rise. everything wore a gloomy aspect, when, fortunately, on the th, the wind shifted to the north-west, and for three days blew a gale. the waters rose rapidly, and before the second day was closed the armada was afloat again. some fugitives from zoetermeer village now arrived, and informed the admiral that, by making a detour to the right, he could completely circumvent the bridge and the mere. they guided him, accordingly, to a comparatively low dyke, which led between the villages of zoetermeer and benthuyzen: a strong force of spaniards was stationed in each place, but, seized with a panic, instead of sallying to defend the barrier, they fled inwardly towards leyden, and halted at the village of north aa. it was natural that they should be amazed. nothing is more appalling to the imagination than the rising ocean tide, when man feels himself within its power; and here were the waters, hourly deepening and closing around them, devouring the earth beneath their feet, while on the waves rode a flotilla, manned by a determined race; whose courage and ferocity were known throughout the world. the spanish soldiers, brave as they were on land, were not sailors, and in the naval contests which had taken place between them and the hollanders had been almost invariably defeated. it was not surprising, in these amphibious skirmishes, where discipline was of little avail, and habitual audacity faltered at the vague dangers which encompassed them, that the foreign troops should lose their presence of mind. three barriers, one within the other, had now been passed, and the flotilla, advancing with the advancing waves, and driving the enemy steadily before it, was drawing nearer to the beleaguered city. as one circle after another was passed, the besieging army found itself compressed within a constantly contracting field. the "ark of delft," an enormous vessel, with shot-proof bulwarks, and moved by paddle-wheels turned by a crank, now arrived at zoetermeer, and was soon followed by the whole fleet. after a brief delay, sufficient to allow the few remaining villagers to escape, both zoetermeer and benthuyzen, with the fortifications, were set on fire, and abandoned to their fate. the blaze lighted up the desolate and watery waste around, and was seen at leyden, where it was hailed as the beacon of hope. without further impediment, the armada proceeded to north aa; the enemy retreating from this position also, and flying to zoeterwoude, a strongly fortified village but a mile and three quarters from the city walls. it was now swarming with troops, for the bulk of the besieging army had gradually been driven into a narrow circle of forts, within the immediate neighbourhood of leyden. besides zoeterwoude, the two posts where they were principally established were lammen and leyderdorp, each within three hundred rods of the town. at leyderdorp were the head-quarters of valdez; colonel borgia commanded in the very strong fortress of lammen. the fleet was, however, delayed at north aa by another barrier, called the "kirk-way." the waters, too, spreading once more over a wider space, and diminishing under an east wind, which had again arisen, no longer permitted their progress, so that very soon the whole armada was stranded anew. the waters fell to the depth of nine inches; while the vessels required eighteen and twenty. day after day the fleet lay motionless upon the shallow sea. orange, rising from his sick bed as soon as he could stand, now came on board the fleet. his presence diffused universal joy; his words inspired his desponding army with fresh hope. he rebuked the impatient spirits who, weary of their compulsory idleness, had shown symptoms of ill-timed ferocity, and those eight hundred mad zealanders, so frantic in their hatred to the foreigners, who had so long profaned their land, were as docile as children to the prince. he reconnoitred the whole ground, and issued orders for the immediate destruction of the kirkway, the last important barrier which separated the fleet from leyden. then, after a long conference with admiral boisot, he returned to delft. meantime, the besieged city was at its last gasp. the burghers had been in a state of uncertainty for many days; being aware that the fleet had set forth for their relief, but knowing full well the thousand obstacles which it, had to surmount. they had guessed its progress by the illumination from, the blazing villages; they had heard its salvos of artillery, on its arrival at north aa; but since then, all had been dark and mournful again, hope and fear, in sickening alternation, distracting every breast. they knew that the wind was unfavorable, and at the dawn of each day every eye was turned wistfully to the vanes of the steeples. so long as the easterly breeze prevailed, they felt, as they anxiously stood on towers and housetops; that they must look in vain for the welcome ocean. yet, while thus patiently waiting, they were literally starving; for even the misery endured at harlem had not reached that depth and intensity of agony to which leyden was now reduced. bread, malt-cake, horseflesh, had entirely disappeared; dogs, cats, rats, and other vermin, were esteemed luxuries: a small number of cows, kept as long as possible, for their milk, still remained; but a few were killed from day to day; and distributed in minute proportions, hardly sufficient to support life among the famishing population. starving wretches swarmed daily around the shambles where these cattle were slaughtered, contending for any morsel which might fall, and lapping eagerly the blood as it ran along the pavement; while the hides; chopped and boiled, were greedily devoured. women and children, all day long, were seen searching gutters and dunghills for morsels of food, which they disputed fiercely with the famishing dogs. the green leaves were stripped from the trees, every living herb was converted into human food, but these expedients could not avert starvation. the daily mortality was frightful infants starved to death on the maternal breasts, which famine had parched and withered; mothers dropped dead in the streets, with their dead children in their arms. in many a house the watchmen, in their rounds, found a whole family of corpses, father, mother, and children, side by side, for a disorder called the plague, naturally engendered of hardship and famine, now came, as if in kindness, to abridge the agony of the people. the pestilence stalked at noonday through the city, and the doomed inhabitants fell like grass beneath its scythe. from six thousand to eight thousand human beings sank before this scourge alone, yet the people resolutely held out--women and men mutually encouraging each other to resist the entrance of their foreign foe--an evil more horrible than pest or famine. the missives from valdez, who saw more vividly than the besieged could do, the uncertainty of his own position, now poured daily into the city, the enemy becoming more prodigal of his vows, as he felt that the ocean might yet save the victims from his grasp. the inhabitants, in their ignorance, had gradually abandoned their hopes of relief, but they spurned the summons to surrender. leyden was sublime in its despair. a few murmurs were, however, occasionally heard at the steadfastness of the magistrates, and a dead body was placed at the door of the burgomaster, as a silent witness against his inflexibility. a party of the more faint-hearted even assailed the heroic adrian van der werf with threats and reproaches as he passed through the streets. a crowd had gathered around him, as he reached a triangular place in the centre of the town, into which many of the principal streets emptied themselves, and upon one side of which stood the church of saint pancras, with its high brick tower surmounted by two pointed turrets, and with two ancient lime trees at its entrance. there stood the burgomaster, a tall, haggard, imposing figure, with dark visage, and a tranquil but commanding eye. he waved his broadleaved felt hat for silence, and then exclaimed, in language which has been almost literally preserved, what would ye, my friends? why do ye murmur that we do not break our vows and surrender the city to the spaniards? a fate more horrible than the agony which she now endures. i tell you i have made an oath to hold the city, and may god give me strength to keep my oath! i can die but once; whether by your hands, the enemy's, or by the hand of god. my own fate is indifferent to me, not so that of the city intrusted to my care. i know that we shall starve if not soon relieved; but starvation is preferable to the dishonored death which is the only alternative. your menaces move me not; my life is at your disposal; here is my sword, plunge it into my breast, and divide my flesh among you. take my body to appease your hunger, but expect no surrender, so long as i remain alive. the words of the stout burgomaster inspired a new courage in the hearts of those who heard him, and a shout of applause and defiance arose from the famishing but enthusiastic crowd. they left the place, after exchanging new vows of fidelity with their magistrate, and again ascended tower and battlement to watch for the coming fleet. from the ramparts they hurled renewed defiance at the enemy. "ye call us rat-eaters and dog-eaters," they cried, "and it is true. so long, then, as ye hear dog bark or cat mew within the walls, ye may know that the city holds out. and when all has perished but ourselves, be sure that we will each devour our left arms, retaining our right to defend our women, our liberty, and our religion, against the foreign tyrant. should god, in his wrath, doom us to destruction, and deny us all relief, even then will we maintain ourselves for ever against your entrance. when the last hour has come, with our own hands we will set fire to the city and perish, men, women, and children together in the flames, rather than suffer our homes to be polluted and our liberties to be crushed." such words of defiance, thundered daily from the battlements, sufficiently informed valdez as to his chance of conquering the city, either by force or fraud, but at the same time, he felt comparatively relieved by the inactivity of boisot's fleet, which still lay stranded at north aa. "as well," shouted the spaniards, derisively, to the citizens, "as well can the prince of orange pluck the stars from the sky as bring the ocean to the walls of leyden for your relief." on the th of september, a dove flew into the city, bringing a letter from admiral boisot. in this despatch, the position of the fleet at north aa was described in encouraging terms, and the inhabitants were assured that, in a very few days at furthest, the long-expected relief would enter their gates. the letter was read publicly upon the market-place, and the bells were rung for joy. nevertheless, on the morrow, the vanes pointed to the east, the waters, so far from rising, continued to sink, and admiral boisot was almost in despair. he wrote to the prince, that if the spring-tide, now to be expected, should not, together with a strong and favorable wind, come immediately to their relief, it would be in pain to attempt anything further, and that the expedition would, of necessity, be abandoned. the tempest came to their relief. a violent equinoctial gale, on the night of the st and nd of october, came storming from the north-west, shifting after a few hours full eight points, and then blowing still more violently from the south-west. the waters of the north sea were piled in vast masses upon the southern coast of holland, and then dashed furiously landward, the ocean rising over the earth, and sweeping with unrestrained power across the ruined dykes. in the course of twenty-four hours, the fleet at north aa, instead of nine inches, had more than two feet of water. no time was lost. the kirk-way, which had been broken through according to the prince's instructions, was now completely overflowed, and the fleet sailed at midnight, in the midst of the storm and darkness. a few sentinel vessels of the enemy challenged them as they steadily rowed towards zoeterwoude. the answer was a flash from boisot's cannon; lighting up the black waste of waters. there was a fierce naval midnight battle; a strange spectacle among the branches of those quiet orchards, and with the chimney stacks of half-submerged farmhouses rising around the contending vessels. the neighboring village of zoeterwoude shook with the discharges of the zealanders' cannon, and the spaniards assembled in that fortress knew that the rebel admiral was at last, afloat and on his course. the enemy's vessels were soon sunk, their crews hurled into the waves. on went the fleet, sweeping over the broad waters which lay between zoeterwoude and zwieten. as they approached some shallows, which led into the great mere, the zealanders dashed into the sea, and with sheer strength shouldered every vessel through. two obstacles lay still in their path--the forts of zoeterwoude and lammen, distant from the city five hundred and two hundred and fifty yards respectively. strong redoubts, both well supplied with troops and artillery, they were likely to give a rough reception to the light flotilla, but the panic; which had hitherto driven their foes before the advancing patriots; had reached zoeterwoude. hardly was the fleet in sight when the spaniards in the early morning, poured out from the fortress, and fled precipitately to the left, along a road which led in a westerly direction towards the hague. their narrow path was rapidly vanishing in the waves, and hundreds sank beneath the constantly deepening and treacherous flood. the wild zealanders, too, sprang from their vessels upon the crumbling dyke and drove their retreating foes into the sea. they hurled their harpoons at them, with an accuracy acquired in many a polar chase; they plunged into the waves in the keen pursuit, attacking them with boat-hook and dagger. the numbers who thus fell beneath these corsairs, who neither gave nor took quarter, were never counted, but probably not less than a thousand perished. the rest effected their escape to the hague. the first fortress was thus seized, dismantled, set on fire, and passed, and a few strokes of the oars brought the whole fleet close to lammen. this last obstacle rose formidable and frowning directly across their path. swarming as it was with soldiers, and bristling with artillery, it seemed to defy the armada either to carry it by storm or to pass under its guns into the city. it appeared that the enterprise was, after all, to founder within sight of the long expecting and expected haven. boisot anchored his fleet within a respectful distance, and spent what remained of the day in carefully reconnoitring the fort, which seemed only too strong. in conjunction with leyderdorp, the head-quarters of valdez, a mile and a half distant on the right, and within a mile of the city, it seemed so insuperable an impediment that boisot wrote in despondent tone to the prince of orange. he announced his intention of carrying the fort, if it were possible, on the following morning, but if obliged to retreat, he observed, with something like despair, that there would be nothing for it but to wait for another gale of wind. if the waters should rise sufficiently to enable them to make a wide detour, it might be possible, if, in the meantime, leyden did not starve or surrender, to enter its gates from the opposite side. meantime, the citizens had grown wild with expectation. a dove had been despatched by boisot, informing them of his precise position, and a number of citizens accompanied the burgomaster, at nightfall, toward the tower of hengist. yonder, cried the magistrate, stretching out his hand towards lammen, "yonder, behind that fort, are bread and meat, and brethren in thousands. shall all this be destroyed by the spanish guns, or shall we rush to the rescue of our friends?"--"we will tear the fortress to fragments with our teeth and nails," was the reply, "before the relief, so long expected, shall be wrested from us." it was resolved that a sortie, in conjunction with the operations of boisot, should be made against lammen with the earliest dawn. night descended upon the scene, a pitch dark night, full of anxiety to the spaniards, to the armada, to leyden. strange sights and sounds occurred at different moments to bewilder the anxious sentinels. a long procession of lights issuing from the fort was seen to flit across the black face of the waters, in the dead of night, and the whole of the city wall, between the cow-gate and the tower of burgundy, fell with a loud crash. the horror-struck citizens thought that the spaniards were upon them at last; the spaniards imagined the noise to indicate, a desperate sortie of the citizens. everything was vague and mysterious. day dawned, at length, after the feverish, night, and, the admiral prepared for the assault. within the fortress reigned a death-like stillness, which inspired a sickening suspicion. had the city, indeed, been carried in the night; had the massacre already commenced; had all this labor and audacity been expended in vain? suddenly a man was descried, wading breast-high through the water from lammen towards the fleet, while at the same time, one solitary boy was seen to wave his cap from the summit of the fort. after a moment of doubt, the happy mystery was solved. the spaniards had fled, panic struck, during the darkness. their position would still have enabled them, with firmness, to frustrate the enterprise of the patriots, but the hand of god, which had sent the ocean and the tempest to the deliverance of leyden, had struck her enemies with terror likewise. the lights which had been seen moving during the night were the lanterns of the retreating spaniards, and the boy who was now waving his triumphant signal from the battlements had alone witnessed the spectacle. so confident was he in the conclusion to which it led him, that he had volunteered at daybreak to go thither all alone. the magistrates, fearing a trap, hesitated for a moment to believe the truth, which soon, however, became quite evident. valdez, flying himself from leyderdorp, had ordered colonel borgia to retire with all his troops from lammen. thus, the spaniards had retreated at the very moment that an extraordinary accident had laid bare a whole side of the city for their entrance. the noise of the wall, as it fell, only inspired them with fresh alarm for they believed that the citizens had sallied forth in the darkness, to aid the advancing flood in the work of destruction. all obstacles being now removed, the fleet of boisot swept by lammen, and entered the city on the morning of the rd of october. leyden was relieved. the quays were lined with the famishing population, as the fleet rowed through the canals, every human being who could stand, coming forth to greet the preservers of the city. bread was thrown from every vessel among the crowd. the poor creatures who, for two months had tasted no wholesome human food, and who had literally been living within the jaws of death, snatched eagerly the blessed gift, at last too liberally bestowed. many choked themselves to death, in the greediness with which they devoured their bread; others became ill with the effects of plenty thus suddenly succeeding starvation; but these were isolated cases, a repetition of which was prevented. the admiral, stepping ashore, was welcomed by the magistracy, and a solemn procession was immediately formed. magistrates and citizens, wild zealanders, emaciated burgher guards, sailors, soldiers, women, children, nearly every living person within the walls, all repaired without delay to the great church, stout admiral boisot leading the way. the starving and heroic city, which had been so firm in its resistance to an earthly king, now bent itself in humble gratitude before the king of kings. after prayers, the whole vast congregation joined in the thanksgiving hymn. thousands of voices raised the-song, but few were able to carry it to its conclusion, for the universal emotion, deepened by the music, became too full for utterance. the hymn was abruptly suspended, while the multitude wept like children. this scene of honest pathos terminated; the necessary measures for distributing the food and for relieving the sick were taken by the magistracy. a note dispatched to the prince of orange, was received by him at two o'clock, as he sat in church at delft. it was of a somewhat different purport from that of the letter which he had received early in the same day from boisot; the letter in which the admiral had, informed him that the success of the enterprise depended; after-all, upon the desperate assault upon a nearly impregnable fort. the joy of the prince may be easily imagined, and so soon as the sermon was concluded; he handed the letter just received to the minister, to be read to the congregation. thus, all participated in his joy, and united with him in thanksgiving. the next day, notwithstanding the urgent entreaties of his friends, who were anxious lest his life should be endangered by breathing, in his scarcely convalescent state; the air of the city where so many thousands had been dying of the pestilence, the prince repaired to leyden. he, at least, had never doubted his own or his country's fortitude. they could, therefore, most sincerely congratulate each other, now that the victory had been achieved. "if we are doomed to perish," he had said a little before the commencement of the siege, "in the name of god, be it so! at any rate, we shall have the honor to have done what no nation ever, did before us, that of having defended and maintained ourselves, unaided, in so small a country, against the tremendous efforts of such powerful enemies. so long as the poor inhabitants here, though deserted by all the world, hold firm, it will still cost the spaniards the half of spain, in money and in men, before they can make an end of us." the termination of the terrible siege of leyden was a convincing proof to the spaniards that they had not yet made an end of the hollanders. it furnished, also, a sufficient presumption that until they had made an end of them, even unto the last hollander, there would never be an end of the struggle in which they were engaged. it was a slender consolation to the governor-general, that his troops had been vanquished, not by the enemy, but by the ocean. an enemy whom the ocean obeyed with such docility might well be deemed invincible by man. in the head-quarters of valdez, at leyderdorp, many plans of leyden and the neighbourhood were found lying in confusion about the room. upon the table was a hurried farewell of that general to the scenes of his, discomfiture, written in a latin worthy of juan vargas: "vale civitas, valete castelli parvi, qui relicti estis propter aquam et non per vim inimicorum!" in his precipitate retreat before the advancing rebels, the commander had but just found time for this elegant effusion, and, for his parting instructions to colonel borgia that the fortress of lammen was to be forthwith abandoned. these having been reduced to writing, valdez had fled so speedily as to give rise to much censure and more scandal. he was even accused of having been bribed by the hollanders to desert his post, a tale which many repeated, and a few believed. on the th of october, the day following that on which the relief of the city was effected, the wind shifted to the north-east, and again blew a tempest. it was as if the waters, having now done their work, had been rolled back to the ocean by an omnipotent hand, for in the course of a few days, the land was bare again, and the work of reconstructing the dykes commenced. after a brief interval of repose, leyden had regained its former position. the prince, with advice of the estates, had granted the city, as a reward for its sufferings, a ten days' annual fair, without tolls or taxes, and as a further manifestation of the gratitude entertained by the people of holland and zealand for the heroism of the citizens, it was resolved that an academy or university should be forthwith established within their walls. the university of leyden, afterwards so illustrious, was thus founded in the very darkest period of the country's struggle. the university was endowed with a handsome revenue, principally derived from the ancient abbey of egmont, and was provided with a number of professors, selected for their genius, learning, and piety among all the most distinguished scholars of the netherlands. the document by which the institution was founded was certainly a masterpiece of ponderous irony, for as the fiction of the king's sovereignty was still maintained, philip was gravely made to establish the university, as a reward to leyden for rebellion to himself. "considering," said this wonderful charter, "that during these present wearisome wars within our provinces of holland and zealand, all good instruction of youth in the sciences and liberal arts is likely to come into entire oblivion..... considering the differences of religion--considering that we are inclined to gratify our city of leyden, with its burghers, on account of the heavy burthens sustained by them during this war with such faithfulness--we have resolved, after ripely deliberating with our dear cousin, william, prince of orange, stadholder, to erect a free public school and university," etc., etc., etc. so ran the document establishing this famous academy, all needful regulations for the government and police of the institution being entrusted by philip to his "above-mentioned dear cousin of orange." the university having been founded, endowed, and supplied with its teachers, it was solemnly consecrated in the following winter, and it is agreeable to contemplate this scene of harmless pedantry, interposed, as it was, between the acts of the longest and dreariest tragedy of modern time. on the th of february, , the city of leyden, so lately the victim of famine and pestilence, had crowned itself with flowers. at seven in the morning, after a solemn religious celebration in the church of st. peter, a grand procession was formed. it was preceded by a military escort, consisting of the burgher militia and the five companies of infantry stationed in the city. then came, drawn by four horses, a splendid triumphal chariot, on which sat a female figure, arrayed in snow-white garments. this was the holy gospel. she was attended by the four evangelists, who walked on foot at each side of her chariot. next followed justice, with sword and scales, mounted; blindfold, upon a unicorn, while those learned doctors, julian, papinian, ulpian, and tribonian, rode on either side, attended by two lackeys and four men at arms. after these came medicine, on horseback, holding in one hand a treatise of the healing art, in the other a garland of drugs. the curative goddess rode between the four eminent physicians, hippocrates, galen, dioscorides, and theophrastus, and was attended by two footmen and four pike-bearers. last of the allegorical personages came minerva, prancing in complete steel, with lance in rest, and bearing her medusa shield. aristotle and plato, cicero and virgil, all on horseback, with attendants in antique armor at their back, surrounded the daughter of jupiter, while the city band, discoursing eloquent music from hautboy and viol, came upon the heels of the allegory. then followed the mace-bearers and other officials, escorting the orator of the day, the newly-appointed professors and doctors, the magistrates and dignitaries, and the body of the citizens generally completing the procession. marshalled in this order, through triumphal arches, and over a pavement strewed with flowers, the procession moved slowly up and down the different streets, and along the quiet canals of the city. as it reached the nuns' bridge, a barge of triumph, gorgeously decorated, came floating slowly down the sluggish rhine. upon its deck, under a canopy enwreathed with laurels and oranges, and adorned with tapestry, sat apollo, attended by the nine muses, all in classical costume; at the helm stood neptune with his trident. the muses executed some beautiful concerted pieces; apollo twanged his lute. having reached the landing-place, this deputation from parnassus stepped on shore, and stood awaiting the arrival of the procession. each professor, as he advanced, was gravely embraced and kissed by apollo and all the nine muses in turn, who greeted their arrival besides with the recitation of an elegant latin poem. this classical ceremony terminated, the whole procession marched together to the cloister of saint barbara, the place prepared for the new university, where they listened to an eloquent oration by the rev. caspar kolhas, after which they partook of a magnificent banquet. with this memorable feast, in the place where famine had so lately reigned, the ceremonies were concluded. etext editor's bookmarks: crescents in their caps: rather turkish than popish ever-swarming nurseries of mercenary warriors weep oftener for her children than is the usual lot of mothers etext editor's bookmarks, the dutch republic - , complete , the last year of peace advised his majesty to bestow an annual bribe upon lord burleigh age when toleration was a vice an age when to think was a crime angle with their dissimulation as with a hook beggars of the sea, as these privateersmen designated themselves business of an officer to fight, of a general to conquer conde and coligny constitutional governments, move in the daylight consumer would pay the tax, supposing it were ever paid at all crescents in their caps: rather turkish than popish cruelties exercised upon monks and papists deeply criminal in the eyes of all religious parties dissenters were as bigoted as the orthodox enthusiasm could not supply the place of experience envying those whose sufferings had already been terminated ever-swarming nurseries of mercenary warriors financial opposition to tyranny is apt to be unanimous for faithful service, evil recompense furnished, in addition, with a force of two thousand prostitutes god save the king! it was the last time great transactions of a reign are sometimes paltry things great battles often leave the world where they found it hair and beard unshorn, according to ancient batavian custom hanged for having eaten meat-soup upon friday having conjugated his paradigm conscientiously he had omitted to execute heretics he came as a conqueror not as a mediator holy office condemned all the inhabitants of the netherlands hope deferred, suddenly changing to despair if he had little, he could live upon little incur the risk of being charged with forwardness than neglect indignant that heretics had been suffered to hang insane cruelty, both in the cause of the wrong and the right leave not a single man alive in the city, and to burn every house luther's axiom, that thoughts are toll-free meantime the second civil war in france had broken out not for a new doctrine, but for liberty of conscience not to let the grass grow under their feet not strong enough to sustain many more such victories oldenbarneveld; afterwards so illustrious only kept alive by milk, which he drank from a woman's breast only healthy existence of the french was in a state of war pathetic dying words of anne boleyn provided not one huguenot be left alive in france put all those to the torture out of whom anything can be got questioning nothing, doubting nothing, fearing nothing saint bartholomew's day scepticism, which delights in reversing the judgment of centuries science of reigning was the science of lying sent them word by carrier pigeons seven spaniards were killed, and seven thousand rebels sick and wounded wretches were burned over slow fires slender stock of platitudes so much responsibility and so little power sometimes successful, even although founded upon sincerity spendthrift of time, he was an economist of blood the time for reasoning had passed the calf is fat and must be killed the perpetual reproductions of history the greatest crime, however, was to be rich the faithful servant is always a perpetual ass the tragedy of don carlos the illness was a convenient one three hundred fighting women time and myself are two tyranny, ever young and ever old, constantly reproducing herself we are beginning to be vexed wealth was an unpardonable sin weep oftener for her children than is the usual lot of mothers who loved their possessions better than their creed wonder equally at human capacity to inflict and to endure misery this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley administration of the grand commander part iv. - [chapter i.] previous career of requesens--philip's passion for detail--apparent and real purposes of government--universal desire for peace-- correspondence of leading royalists with orange--bankruptcy of the exchequer at alva's departures--expensive nature of the war-- pretence of mildness on the part of the commander--his private views--distress of mondragon at middelburg--crippled condition of holland--orange's secret negotiations with france--st. aldegonde's views in captivity--expedition to relieve middelburg--counter preparations of orange--defeat of the expedition--capitulation of mondragon--plans of orange and his brothers--an army under count louis crosses the rhine--measures taken by requesens--manoeuvres of avila and of louis--the two armies in face at mook--battle of mook- heath--overthrow and death of count louis--the phantom battle-- character of louis of nassau--painful uncertainty as to his fate-- periodical mutinies of the spanish troops characterized--mutiny after the battle of mook--antwerp attacked and occupied,--insolent and oppressive conduct of the mutineers--offers of requesens refused--mutiny in the citadel--exploits of salvatierra--terms of composition--soldiers' feast on the mere--successful expedition of admiral boisot the horrors of alva's administration had caused men to look back with fondness upon the milder and more vacillating tyranny of the duchess margaret. from the same cause the advent of the grand commander was hailed with pleasure and with a momentary gleam of hope. at any rate, it was a relief that the man in whom an almost impossible perfection of cruelty seemed embodied was at last to be withdrawn. it was certain that his successor, however ambitious of following in alva's footsteps, would never be able to rival the intensity and the unswerving directness of purpose which it had been permitted to the duke's nature to attain. the new governor-general was, doubtless, human, and it had been long since the netherlanders imagined anything in common between themselves and the late viceroy. apart from this hope, however, there was little encouragement to be derived from anything positively known of the new functionary, or the policy which he was to represent. don luis de requesens and cuniga, grand commander of castile and late governor of milan, was a man of mediocre abilities, who possessed a reputation for moderation and sagacity which he hardly deserved. his military prowess had been chiefly displayed in the bloody and barren battle of lepanto, where his conduct and counsel were supposed to have contributed, in some measure, to the victorious result. his administration at milan had been characterized as firm and moderate. nevertheless, his character was regarded with anything but favorable eyes in the netherlands. men told each other of his broken faith to the moors in granada, and of his unpopularity in milan, where, notwithstanding his boasted moderation, he had, in reality, so oppressed the people as to gain their deadly hatred. they complained, too, that it was an insult to send, as governor-general of the provinces, not a prince of the blood, as used to be the case, but a simple "gentleman of cloak and sword." any person, however, who represented the royal authority in the provinces was under historical disadvantage. he was literally no more than an actor, hardly even that. it was philip's policy and pride to direct all the machinery of his extensive empire, and to pull every string himself. his puppets, however magnificently attired, moved only in obedience to his impulse, and spoke no syllable but with his voice. upon the table in his cabinet was arranged all the business of his various realms, even to the most minute particulars. plans, petty or vast, affecting the interests of empires and ages, or bounded within the narrow limits of trivial and evanescent detail, encumbered his memory and consumed his time. his ambition to do all the work of his kingdoms was aided by an inconceivable greediness for labor. he loved the routine of business, as some monarchs have loved war, as others have loved pleasure. the object, alike paltry and impossible, of this ambition, bespoke the narrow mind. his estates were regarded by him as private property; measures affecting the temporal and eternal interests of millions were regarded as domestic affairs, and the eye of the master was considered the only one which could duly superintend these estates and those interests. much incapacity to govern was revealed in this inordinate passion to administer. his mind, constantly fatigued by petty labors, was never enabled to survey his wide domains from the height of majesty. in alva, certainly, he had employed an unquestionable reality; but alva, by a fortunate coincidence of character, had seemed his second self. he was now gone, however, and although the royal purpose had not altered, the royal circumstances were changed. the moment had arrived when it was thought that the mask and cothurn might again be assumed with effect; when a grave and conventional personage might decorously make his appearance to perform an interlude of clemency and moderation with satisfactory results. accordingly, the great commander, heralded by rumors of amnesty, was commissioned to assume the government which alva had been permitted to resign. it had been industriously circulated that a change of policy was intended. it was even supposed by the more sanguine that the duke had retired in disgrace. a show of coldness was manifested towards him on his return by the king, while vargas, who had accompanied the governor, was peremptorily forbidden to appear within five leagues of the court. the more discerning, however, perceived much affectation in this apparent displeasure. saint goard, the keen observer of philip's moods and measures, wrote to his sovereign that he had narrowly observed the countenances of both philip and alva; that he had informed himself as thoroughly as possible with regard to the course of policy intended; that he had arrived at the conclusion that the royal chagrin was but dissimulation, intended to dispose the netherlanders to thoughts of an impossible peace, and that he considered the present merely a breathing time, in which still more active preparations might be made for crushing the rebellion. it was now evident to the world that the revolt had reached a stage in which it could be terminated only by absolute conquest or concession. to conquer the people of the provinces, except by extermination, seemed difficult--to judge by the seven years of execution, sieges and campaigns, which had now passed without a definite result. it was, therefore, thought expedient to employ concession. the new governor accordingly, in case the netherlanders would abandon every object for which they had been so heroically contending, was empowered to concede a pardon. it was expressly enjoined upon him, however, that no conciliatory measures should be adopted in which the king's absolute supremacy, and the total prohibition of every form of worship but the roman catholic, were not assumed as a basis. now, as the people had been contending at least ten years long for constitutional rights against prerogative, and at least seven for liberty of conscience against papistry, it was easy to foretell how much effect any negotiations thus commenced were likely to produce. yet, no doubt, in the netherlands there was a most earnest longing for peace. the catholic portion of the population were desirous of a reconciliation with their brethren of the new religion. the universal vengeance which had descended upon heresy had not struck the heretics only. it was difficult to find a fireside, protestant or catholic, which had not been made desolate by execution, banishment, or confiscation. the common people and the grand seigniors were alike weary of the war. not only aerschot and viglius, but noircarmes and berlaymont, were desirous that peace should be at last compassed upon liberal terms, and the prince of orange fully and unconditionally pardoned. even the spanish commanders had become disgusted with the monotonous butchery which had stained their swords. julian romero; the fierce and unscrupulous soldier upon whose head rested the guilt of the naarden massacre, addressed several letters to william of orange, full of courtesy, and good wishes for a speedy termination of the war, and for an entire reconciliation of the prince with his sovereign. noircarmes also opened a correspondence with the great leader of the revolt; and offered to do all in his power to restore peace and prosperity to the country. the prince answered the courtesy of the spaniard with equal, but barren, courtesy; for it was obvious that no definite result could be derived from such informal negotiations. to noircarmes he responded in terms of gentle but grave rebuke, expressing deep regret that a netherland noble of such eminence, with so many others of rank and authority, should so long have supported the king in his tyranny. he, however, expressed his satisfaction that their eyes, however late, had opened to the enormous iniquity which had been practised in the country, and he accepted the offers of friendship as frankly as they had been made. not long afterwards, the prince furnished his correspondent with a proof of his sincerity, by forwarding to him two letters which had been intercepted; from certain agents of government to alva, in which noircarmes and others who had so long supported the king against their own country, were spoken of in terms of menace and distrust. the prince accordingly warned his new correspondent that, in spite of all the proofs of uncompromising loyalty which he had exhibited, he was yet moving upon a dark and slippery-pathway, and might, even like egmont and horn, find a scaffold- as the end and the reward of his career. so profound was that abyss of dissimulation which constituted the royal policy, towards the netherlands, that the most unscrupulous partisans of government could only see doubt and danger with regard to their future destiny, and were sometimes only saved by an opportune death from disgrace and the hangman's hands. such, then, were the sentiments of many eminent personages, even among the most devoted loyalists. all longed for peace; many even definitely expected it, upon the arrival of the great commander. moreover, that functionary discovered, at his first glance into the disorderly state of the exchequer, that at least a short respite was desirable before proceeding with the interminable measures of hostility against the rebellion. if any man had been ever disposed to give alva credit for administrative ability, such delusion must have vanished at the spectacle of confusion and bankruptcy which presented, itself at the termination of his government. he resolutely declined to give his successor any information whatever as to his financial position. so far from furnishing a detailed statement, such as might naturally be expected upon so momentous an occasion, he informed the grand commander that even a sketch was entirely out of the question, and would require more time and labor than he could then afford. he took his departure, accordingly, leaving requesens in profound ignorance as to his past accounts; an ignorance in which it is probable that the duke himself shared to the fullest extent. his enemies stoutly maintained that, however loosely his accounts had been kept, he had been very careful to make no mistakes against himself, and that he had retired full of wealth, if not of honor, from his long and terrible administration. his own letters, on the contrary, accused the king of ingratitude, in permitting an old soldier to ruin himself, not only in health but in fortune, for want of proper recompense during an arduous administration. at any rate it is very certain that the rebellion had already been an expensive matter to the crown. the army in the netherlands numbered more than sixty-two thousand men, eight thousand being spaniards, the rest walloons and germans. forty millions of dollars had already been sunk, and it seemed probable that it would require nearly the whole annual produce of the american mines to sustain the war. the transatlantic gold and silver, disinterred from the depths where they had been buried for ages, were employed, not to expand the current of a healthy, life-giving commerce, but to be melted into blood. the sweat and the tortures of the king's pagan subjects in the primeval forests of the new world, were made subsidiary to the extermination of his netherland people, and the destruction of an ancient civilization. to this end had columbus discovered a hemisphere for castile and aragon, and the new indies revealed their hidden treasures? forty millions of ducats had been spent. six and a half millions of arrearages were due to the army, while its current expenses were six hundred thousand a month. the military expenses alone of the netherlands were accordingly more than seven millions of dollars yearly, and the mines of the new world produced, during the half century of philip's reign, an average of only eleven. against this constantly increasing deficit, there was not a stiver in the exchequer, nor the means of raising one. the tenth penny had been long virtually extinct, and was soon to be formally abolished. confiscation had ceased to afford a permanent revenue, and the estates obstinately refused to grant a dollar. such was the condition to which the unrelenting tyranny and the financial experiments of alva had reduced the country. it was, therefore, obvious to requesens that it would be useful at the moment to hold out hopes of pardon and reconciliation. he saw, what he had not at first comprehended, and what few bigoted supporters of absolutism in any age have ever comprehended, that national enthusiasm, when profound and general, makes a rebellion more expensive to the despot than to the insurgents. "before my arrival," wrote the grand commander to his sovereign, "i did not understand how the rebels could maintain such considerable fleets, while your majesty could not support a single one. it appears, however, that men who are fighting for their lives, their firesides, their property, and their false religion, for their own cause, in short, are contented to receive rations only, without receiving pay." the moral which the new governor drew from his correct diagnosis of the prevailing disorder was, not that this national enthusiasm should be respected, but that it should be deceived. he deceived no one but himself, however. he censured noircarmes and romero for their intermeddling, but held out hopes of a general pacification. he repudiated the idea of any reconciliation between the king and the prince of orange, but proposed at the same time a settlement of the revolt. he had not yet learned that the revolt and william of orange were one. although the prince himself had repeatedly offered to withdraw for ever from the country, if his absence would expedite a settlement satisfactory to the provinces, there was not a patriot in the netherlands who could contemplate his departure without despair. moreover, they all knew better than did requesens, the inevitable result of the pacific measures which had been daily foreshadowed. the appointment of the grand commander was in truth a desperate attempt to deceive the netherlanders. he approved distinctly and heartily of alva's policy, but wrote to the king that it was desirable to amuse the people with the idea of another and a milder scheme. he affected to believe, and perhaps really did believe, that the nation would accept the destruction of all their institutions, provided that penitent heretics were allowed to be reconciled to the mother church, and obstinate ones permitted to go into perpetual exile, taking with them a small portion of their worldly goods. for being willing to make this last and almost incredible concession, he begged pardon sincerely of the king. if censurable, he ought not, he thought, to be too severely blamed, for his loyalty was known. the world was aware how often he had risked his life for his majesty, and how gladly and how many more times he was ready to risk it in future. in his opinion, religion had, after all, but very little to do with the troubles, and so he confidentially informed his sovereign. egmont and horn had died catholics, the people did not rise to assist the prince's invasion in , and the new religion was only a lever by which a few artful demagogues had attempted to overthrow the king's authority. such views as these revealed the measures of the new governor's capacity. the people had really refused to rise in , not because they were without sympathy for orange, but because they were paralyzed by their fear of alva. since those days, however, the new religion had increased and multiplied everywhere, in the blood which had rained upon it. it was now difficult to find a catholic in holland and zealand, who was not a government agent. the prince had been a moderate catholic, in the opening scenes of the rebellion, while he came forward as the champion of liberty for all forms of christianity. he had now become a convert to the new religion without receding an inch from his position in favor of universal toleration. the new religion was, therefore, not an instrument devised by a faction, but had expanded into the atmosphere of the people's daily life. individuals might be executed for claiming to breathe it, but it was itself impalpable to the attacks of despotism. yet the grand commander persuaded himself that religion had little or nothing to do with the state of the netherlands. nothing more was necessary, he thought; or affected to think, in order to restore tranquillity, than once more to spread the net of a general amnesty. the duke of alva knew better. that functionary, with whom, before his departure from the provinces, requesens had been commanded to confer, distinctly stated his opinion that there was no use of talking about pardon. brutally, but candidly, he maintained that there was nothing to be done but to continue the process of extermination. it was necessary, he said, to reduce the country to a dead level of unresisting misery; before an act of oblivion could be securely laid down as the foundation of a new and permanent order of society. he had already given his advice to his majesty, that every town in the country should be burned to the ground, except those which could be permanently occupied by the royal troops. the king, however, in his access of clemency at the appointment of a new administration, instructed the grand commander not to resort to this measure unless it should become strictly necessary.--such were the opposite opinions of the old and new governors with regard to the pardon. the learned viglius sided with alva, although manifestly against his will. "it is both the duke's opinion and my own," wrote the commander, "that viglius does not dare to express his real opinion, and that he is secretly desirous of an arrangement with the rebels." with a good deal of inconsistency, the governor was offended, not only with those who opposed his plans, but with those who favored them. he was angry with viglius, who, at least nominally, disapproved of the pardon, and with noircarmes, aerschot, and others, who manifested a wish for a pacification. of the chief characteristic ascribed to the people by julius caesar, namely, that they forgot neither favors nor injuries, the second half only, in the grand commander's opinion, had been retained. not only did they never forget injuries, but their memory, said he, was so good, that they recollected many which they had never received. on the whole, however, in the embarrassed condition of affairs, and while waiting for further supplies, the commander was secretly disposed to try the effect of a pardon. the object was to deceive the people and to gain time; for there was no intention of conceding liberty of conscience, of withdrawing foreign troops, or of assembling the states-general. it was, however, not possible to apply these hypocritical measures of conciliation immediately. the war was in full career and could not be arrested even in that wintry season. the patriots held mondragon closely besieged in middelburg, the last point in the isle of walcheren which held for the king. there was a considerable treasure in money and merchandise shut up in that city; and, moreover, so deserving and distinguished an officer as mondragon could not be abandoned to his fate. at the same time, famine was pressing him sorely, and, by the end of the year, garrison and townspeople had nothing but rats, mice, dogs, cats, and such repulsive substitutes for food, to support life withal. it was necessary to take immediate measures to relieve the place. on the other hand, the situation of the patriots was not very encouraging. their superiority on the sea was unquestionable, for the hollanders and zealanders were the best sailors in the world, and they asked of their country no payment for their blood, but thanks. the land forces, however, were usually mercenaries, who were apt to mutiny at the commencement of an action if, as was too often the case, their wages could not be paid. holland was entirely cut in twain by the loss of harlem and the leaguer of leyden, no communication between the dissevered portions being possible, except with difficulty and danger. the estates, although they had done much for the cause, and were prepared to do much more, were too apt to wrangle about economical details. they irritated the prince of orange by huckstering about subsidies to a degree which his proud and generous nature could hardly brook. he had strong hopes from france. louis of nassau had held secret interviews with the duke of alencon and the duke of anjou, now king of poland, at blamont. alencon had assured him secretly, affectionately, and warmly, that he would be as sincere a friend to the cause as were his two royal brothers. the count had even received one hundred thousand livres in hand, as an earnest of the favorable intentions of france, and was now busily engaged, at the instance of the prince, in levying an army in germany for the relief of leyden and the rest of holland, while william, on his part, was omitting nothing, whether by representations to the estates or by secret foreign missions and correspondence, to further the cause of the suffering country. at the same time, the prince dreaded the effect--of the promised pardon. he had reason to be distrustful of the general temper of the nation when a man like saint aldegonde, the enlightened patriot and his own tried friend, was influenced, by the discouraging and dangerous position in which he found himself, to abandon the high ground upon which they had both so long and so firmly stood: saint aldegonde had been held a strict prisoner since his capture at maeslandsluis, at the close of alva's administration.--it was, no doubt, a predicament attended with much keen suffering and positive danger. it had hitherto been the uniform policy of the government to kill all prisoners, of whatever rank. accordingly, some had been drowned, some had been hanged--some beheaded some poisoned in their dungeons--all had been murdered. this had been alva's course. the grand commander also highly approved of the system, but the capture of count bossu by the patriots had necessitated a suspension of such rigor. it was certain that bossu's head would fall as soon as saint aldegonde's, the prince having expressly warned the government of this inevitable result. notwithstanding that security, however, for his eventual restoration to liberty, a netherland rebel in a spanish prison could hardly feel himself at ease. there were so many foot-marks into the cave and not a single one coming forth. yet it was not singular, however, that the prince should read with regret the somewhat insincere casuistry with which saint aldegonde sought to persuade himself and his fellow-countrymen that a reconciliation with the monarch was desirable, even upon unworthy terms. he was somewhat shocked that so valiant and eloquent a supporter of the reformation should coolly express his opinion that the king would probably refuse liberty of conscience to the netherlanders, but would, no doubt, permit heretics to go into banishment. "perhaps, after we have gone into exile," added saint aldegonde, almost with baseness, "god may give us an opportunity of doing such good service to the king, that he will lend us a more favorable ear, and, peradventure, permit our return to the country." certainly, such language was not becoming the pen which wrote the famous compromise. the prince himself was, however, not to be induced, even by the captivity and the remonstrances of so valued a friend, to swerve from the path of duty. he still maintained, in public and private, that the withdrawal of foreign troops from the provinces, the restoration of the old constitutional privileges, and the entire freedom of conscience in religious matters, were the indispensable conditions of any pacification. it was plain to him that the spaniards were not ready to grant these conditions; but he felt confident that he should accomplish the release of saint aldegonde without condescending to an ignominious peace. the most pressing matter, upon the great commander's arrival, was obviously to relieve the city of middelburg. mondragon, after so stanch a defence, would soon be obliged to capitulate, unless he should promptly receive supplies. requesens, accordingly, collected seventy-five ships at bergen op zoom; which were placed nominally under the command of admiral de glimes, but in reality under that of julian romero. another fleet of thirty vessels had been assembled at antwerp under sancho d'avila. both, amply freighted with provisions, were destined to make their way to middelburg by the two different passages of the hondo and the eastern scheld. on the other hand, the prince of orange had repaired to flushing to superintend the operations of admiral boisot, who already; in obedience to his orders, had got a powerful squadron in readiness at that place. late in january, , d'avila arrived in the neighbourhood of flushing, where he awaited the arrival of romero's fleet. united, the two commanders were to make a determined attempt to reinforce the starving city of middelburg. at the same time, governor requesens made his appearance in person at bergen op zoom to expedite the departure of the stronger fleet, but it was not the intention of the prince of orange to allow this expedition to save the city. the spanish generals, however valiant, were to learn that their genius was not amphibious, and that the beggars of the sea were still invincible on their own element, even if their brethren of the land had occasionally quailed. admiral boisot's fleet had already moved up the scheld and taken a position nearly opposite to bergen op zoom. on the th of january the prince of orange, embarking from zierick zee, came to make them a visit before the impending action. his galley, conspicuous for its elegant decorations, was exposed for some time to the artillery of the fort, but providentially escaped unharmed. he assembled all the officers of his armada, and, in brief but eloquent language, reminded them how necessary it was to the salvation of the whole country that they should prevent the city of middelburg--the key to the whole of zealand, already upon the point of falling into the hands of the patriots--from being now wrested from their grasp. on the sea, at least, the hollanders and zealanders were at home. the officers and men, with one accord, rent the air with their cheers. they swore that they would shed every drop of blood in their veins but they would sustain the prince and the country; and they solemnly vowed not only to serve, if necessary, without wages, but to sacrifice all that they possessed in the world rather than abandon the cause of their fatherland. having by his presence and his language aroused their valor to so high a pitch of enthusiasm, the prince departed for delft, to make arrangements to drive the spaniards from the siege of leyden. on the th of january, the fleet of romero sailed from bergen, disposed in three divisions, each numbering twenty-five vessels of different sizes. as the grand commander stood on the dyke of schakerloo to witness the departure, a general salute was fired by the fleet in his honor, but with most unfortunate augury. the discharge, by some accident, set fire to the magazines of one of the ships, which blew up with a terrible explosion, every soul on board perishing. the expedition, nevertheless, continued its way. opposite romerswael, the fleet of boisot awaited them, drawn up in battle array. as an indication of the spirit which animated this hardy race, it may be mentioned that schot, captain of the flag-ship, had been left on shore, dying of a pestilential fever. admiral boisot had appointed a flushinger, klaaf klaafzoon, in his place. just before the action, however, schot, "scarcely able to blow a feather from his mouth," staggered on board his ship, and claimed the command. there was no disputing a precedency which he had risen from his death-bed to vindicate. there was, however, a short discussion, as the enemy's fleet approached, between these rival captains regarding the manner in which the spaniards should be received. klaafzoon was of opinion that most of the men should go below till after the enemy's first discharge. schot insisted that all should remain on deck, ready to grapple with the spanish fleet, and to board them without the least delay. the sentiment of schot prevailed, and all hands stood on deck, ready with boarding-pikes and grappling-irons. the first division of romero came nearer, and delivered its first broadside, when schot and klaafzoon both fell mortally wounded. admiral boisot lost an eye, and many officers and sailors in the other vessels were killed or wounded. this was, however, the first and last of the cannonading. as many of romero's vessels as could be grappled within the narrow estuary found themselves locked in close embrace with their enemies. a murderous hand-to-hand conflict succeeded. battle-axe, boarding-pike, pistol, and dagger were the weapons. every man who yielded himself a prisoner was instantly stabbed and tossed into the sea by the remorseless zealanders. fighting only to kill, and not to plunder, they did not even stop to take the gold chains which many spaniards wore on their necks. it had, however, been obvious from the beginning that the spanish fleet were not likely to achieve that triumph over the patriots which was necessary before they could relieve middelburg. the battle continued a little longer; but after fifteen ships had been taken and twelve hundred royalists slain, the remainder of the enemy's fleet retreated into bergen. romero himself, whose ship had grounded, sprang out of a port-hole and swam ashore, followed by such of his men as were able to imitate him. he landed at the very feet of the grand commander, who, wet and cold, had been standing all day upon the dyke of schakerloo, in the midst of a pouring rain, only to witness the total defeat of his armada at last. "i told your excellency," said romero, coolly, as he climbed, all dripping, on the bank, "that i was a land-fighter and not a sailor. if you were to give me the command of a hundred fleets, i believe that none of them would fare better than this has done." the governor and his discomfited, but philosophical lieutenant, then returned to bergen, and thence to brussels, acknowledging that the city of middelburg must fall, while sancho d'avila, hearing of the disaster which had befallen his countrymen, brought his fleet, with the greatest expedition, back to antwerp. thus the gallant mondragon was abandoned to his fate. that fate could no longer be protracted. the city of middelburg had reached and passed the starvation point. still mondragon was determined not to yield at discretion, although very willing to capitulate. the prince of orange, after the victory of bergen, was desirous of an unconditional surrender, believing it to be his right, and knowing that he could not be supposed capable of practising upon middelburg the vengeance which had been wreaked on naarden, zutfen, and harlem. mondragon, however, swore that he would set fire to the city in twenty places, and perish with every soldier and burgher in the flames together, rather than abandon himself to the enemy's mercy. the prince knew that the brave spaniard was entirely capable of executing his threat. he granted honorable conditions, which, on the th february, were drawn up in five articles, and signed. it was agreed that mondragon and his troops should leave the place, with their arms, ammunition, and all their personal property. the citizens who remained were to take oath of fidelity to the prince, as stadholder for his majesty, and were to pay besides a subsidy of three hundred thousand florins. mondragon was, furthermore, to procure the discharge of saint aldegonde, and of four other prisoners of rank, or, failing in the attempt, was to return within two months, and constitute himself prisoner of war. the catholic priests were to take away from the city none of their property but their clothes. in accordance with this capitulation, mondragon, and those who wished to accompany him, left the city on the st of february, and were conveyed to the flemish shore at neuz. it will be seen in the sequel that the governor neither granted him the release of the five prisoners, nor permitted him to return, according to his parole. a few days afterwards, the prince entered the city, re-organized the magistracy, received the allegiance of the inhabitants, restored the ancient constitution, and liberally remitted two-thirds of the sum in which they had been, mulcted. the spaniards had thus been successfully driven from the isle of walcheren, leaving the hollanders and zealanders masters of the sea- coast. since the siege of alkmaar had been raised, however, the enemy had remained within the territory of holland. leyden was closely invested, the country in a desperate condition, and all communication between its different cities nearly suspended. it was comparatively easy for the prince of orange to equip and man his fleets. the genius and habits of the people made them at home upon the water, and inspired them with a feeling of superiority to their adversaries. it was not so upon land. strong to resist, patient to suffer, the hollanders, although terrible in defence; had not the necessary discipline or experience to meet the veteran legions of spain, with confidence in the open field. to raise the siege of leyden, the main reliance of the prince was upon count louis, who was again in germany. in the latter days of alva's administration, william had written to his brothers, urging them speedily to arrange the details of a campaign, of which he forwarded them a sketch. as soon as a sufficient force had been levied in germany, an attempt was to be made upon maestricht. if that failed, louis was to cross the meuse, in the neighbourhood of stochem, make his way towards the prince's own city of gertruidenberg, and thence make a junction with his brother in the neighbourhood of delft. they were then to take up a position together between harlem and leyden. in that case it seemed probable that the spaniards would find themselves obliged to fight at a great disadvantage, or to abandon the country. "in short," said the prince, "if this enterprise be arranged with due diligence and discretion, i hold it as the only certain means for putting a speedy end to the war, and for driving these devils of spaniards out of the country, before the duke of alva has time to raise another army to support them." in pursuance of this plan, louis had been actively engaged all the earlier part of the winter in levying troops and raising supplies. he had been assisted by the french princes with considerable sums of money, as an earnest of what he was in future to expect from that source. he had made an unsuccessful attempt to effect the capture of requesens, on his way to take the government of the netherlands. he had then passed to the frontier of france, where he had held his important interview with catharine de medici and the duke of anjou, then on the point of departure to ascend the throne of poland. he had received liberal presents, and still more liberal promises. anjou had assured him that he would go as far as any of the german princes in rendering active and sincere assistance to the protestant cause in the netherlands. the duc d'alencon--soon, in his brother's absence, to succeed to the chieftainship of the new alliance between the "politiques" and the huguenots--had also pressed his hand, whispering in his ear, as he did so, that the government of france now belonged to him, as it had recently done to anjou, and that the prince might reckon upon his friendship with entire security. these fine words, which cost nothing when whispered in secret, were not destined to fructify into a very rich harvest, for the mutual jealousy of france and england, lest either should acquire ascendency in the netherlands, made both governments prodigal of promises, while the common fear entertained by them of the power of spain rendered both languid; insincere, and mischievous allies. count john, however; was indefatigable in arranging the finances of the proposed expedition, and in levying contributions among his numerous relatives and allies in germany, while louis had profited by the occasion of anjou's passage into poland, to acquire for himself two thousand german and french cavalry, who had served to escort that prince, and who, being now thrown out of employment, were glad to have a job offered them by a general who was thought to be in funds. another thousand of cavalry and six thousand foot were soon assembled from those ever-swarming nurseries of mercenary warriors, the smaller german states. with these, towards the end of february; louis crossed the rhine in a heavy snow-storm, and bent his course towards maestricht. all the three brothers of the prince accompanied this little army, besides duke christopher, son of the elector palatine. before the end of the month the army reached the meuse, and encamped within four miles of maestricht; on the opposite side of the river. the garrison, commanded by montesdoca, was weak, but the news of the warlike preparations in germany had preceded the arrival of count louis. requesens, feeling the gravity of the occasion, had issued orders for an immediate levy of eight thousand cavalry in germany, with a proportionate number of infantry. at the same time he had directed don bernardino de mendoza, with some companies of cavalry, then stationed in breda, to throw himself without delay into maestricht. don sancho d'avila was entrusted with the general care of resisting the hostile expedition. that general had forthwith collected all the troops which could be spared from every town where they were stationed, had strengthened the cities of antwerp, ghent, nimweben, and valenciennes, where there were known to be many secret adherents of orange; and with the remainder of his forces had put himself in motion, to oppose the entrance of louis into brabant, and his junction with his brother in holland. braccamonte had been despatched to leyden, in order instantly to draw off the forces which were besieging the city. thus louis had already effected something of importance by the very hews of his approach. meantime the prince of orange had raised six thousand infantry, whose rendezvous was the isle of bommel. he was disappointed at the paucity of the troops which louis had been able to collect, but he sent messengers immediately to him; with a statement of his own condition, and with directions to join him in the isle of bommel, as soon as maestricht should be reduced. it was, however, not in the destiny of louis to reduce maestricht. his expedition had been marked with disaster from the beginning. a dark and threatening prophecy had, even before its commencement, enwrapped louis, his brethren, and his little army, in a funeral pall. more than a thousand of his men had deserted before he reached the meuse. when he encamped, apposite maestricht, he found the river neither frozen nor open, the ice obstructing the navigation, but being too weak for the weight of an army. while he was thus delayed and embarrassed, mendoza arrived in the city with reinforcements. it seemed already necessary for louis to abandon his hopes of maestricht, but he was at least desirous of crossing the river in that neighbourhood, in order to effect his junction with the prince at the earliest possible moment. while the stream was still encumbered with ice, however, the enemy removed all the boats. on, the rd of march, avila arrived with a large body of troops at maestricht, and on the th mendoza crossed the river in the night, giving the patriots so severe an 'encamisada', that seven hundred were killed, at the expense of only seven of his own party. harassed, but not dispirited by these disasters, louis broke up his camp on the st, and took a position farther down the river, at fauquemont and gulpen, castles in the duchy of limburg. on the rd of april, braccamonite arrived at maestricht, with twenty-five companies of spaniards and three of cavalry, while, on the same day mondragon reached the scene of action with his sixteen companies of veterans. it was now obvious to louis, not only that he should not take maestricht, but that his eventual junction with his brother was at least doubtful, every soldier who could possibly be spared seeming in motion to oppose his progress. he was, to be sure, not yet outnumbered, but the enemy was increasing, and his own force diminishing daily. moreover, the spaniards were highly disciplined and experienced troops; while his own soldiers were mercenaries, already clamorous and insubordinate. on the th of april he again shifted his encaampment, and took his course along the right bank of the meuse, between that river and the rhine, in the direction of nimwegen. avila promptly decided to follow him upon the opposite bank of the meuse, intending to throw himself between louis and the prince of orange, and by a rapid march to give the count battle, before he could join his brother. on the th of april, at early dawn, louis had left the neighbourhood of maestricht, and on the th he encamped at the village of mook near the confines of cleves. sending out his scouts, he learned to his vexation, that the enemy had outmarched him, and were now within cannonshot. on the th, avila had constructed a bridge of boats, over which he had effected the passage of the meuse with his whole army, so that on the count's arrival at mook, he found the enemy facing him, on the same side of the river, and directly in his path. it was, therefore, obvious that, in this narrow space between the waal and the meuse, where they were now all assembled, louis must achieve a victory, unaided, or abandon his expedition, and leave the hollanders to despair. he was distressed at the position in which he found himself, for he had hoped to reduce maestricht, and to join, his brother in holland. together, they could, at least, have expelled the spaniards from that territory, in which case it was probable that a large part of the population in the different provinces would have risen. according to present aspects, the destiny of the country, for some time to come, was likely to hang upon the issue of a battle which he had not planned, and for which he was not fully prepared. still he was not the man to be disheartened; nor had he ever possessed the courage to refuse a battle when: offered. upon this occasion it would be difficult to retreat without disaster and disgrace, but it was equally difficult to achieve a victory. thrust, as he was, like a wedge into the very heart of a hostile country, he was obliged to force his way through, or to remain in his enemy's power. moreover, and worst of all, his troops were in a state of mutiny for their wages. while he talked to them of honor, they howled to him for money. it was the custom of these mercenaries to mutiny on the eve of battle--of the spaniards, after it had been fought. by the one course, a victory was often lost which might have been achieved; by the other, when won it was rendered fruitless. avila had chosen his place of battle with great skill. on the right bank of the meuse, upon a narrow plain which spread from the river to a chain of hills within cannon-shot on the north, lay the little village of mook. the spanish general knew that his adversary had the superiority in cavalry, and that within this compressed apace it would not be possible to derive much advantage from the circumstance. on the th, both armies were drawn up in battle array at earliest dawn, louis having strengthened his position by a deep trench, which extended from mook, where he had stationed ten companies of infantry, which thus rested on the village and the river. next came the bulk of his infantry, disposed in a single square. on their right was his cavalry, arranged in four squadrons, as well as the narrow limits of the field would allow. a small portion of them, for want of apace, were stationed on the hill side. opposite, the forces of don sancho were drawn up in somewhat similar fashion. twenty-five companies of spaniards were disposed in four bodies of pikemen and musketeers; their right resting on the river. on their left was the cavalry, disposed by mendoza in the form of a half moon-the horns garnished by two small bodies of sharpshooters. in the front ranks of the cavalry were the mounted carabineers of schenk; behind were the spanish dancers. the village of mook lay between the two armies. the skirmishing began at early dawn, with an attack upon the trench, and continued some hours, without bringing on a general engagement. towards ten o'clock, count louis became impatient. all the trumpets of the patriots now rang out a challenge to their adversaries, and the spaniards were just returning the defiance, and preparing a general onset, when the seigneur de hierges and baron chevreaux arrived on the field. they brought with them a reinforcement of more than a thousand men, and the intelligence that valdez was on his way with nearly five thousand more. as he might be expected on the following morning, a short deliberation was held as to the expediency of deferring the action. count louis was at the head of six thousand foot and two thousand cavalry. avila mustered only four thousand infantry and not quite a thousand horse. this inferiority would be changed on the morrow into an overwhelming superiority. meantime, it was well to remember the punishment endured by aremberg at heiliger lee, for not waiting till meghen's arrival. this prudent counsel was, however, very generally scouted, and by none more loudly than by hierges and chevreaux, who had brought the intelligence. it was thought that at this juncture nothing could be more indiscreet than discretion. they had a wary and audacious general to deal with. while they were waiting for their reinforcements, he was quite capable of giving them the slip. he might thus effect the passage of the stream and that union with his brother which--had been thus far so successfully prevented. this reasoning prevailed, and the skirmishing at the trench was renewed with redoubled vigour, an additional: force being sent against it. after a short and fierce struggle it was carried, and the spaniards rushed into the village, but were soon dislodged by a larger detachment of infantry, which count louis sent to the rescue. the battle now became general at this point. nearly all the patriot infantry were employed to defend the post; nearly all the spanish infantry were ordered to assail it. the spaniards, dropping on their knees, according to custom, said a paternoster and an ave mary, and then rushed, in mass, to the attack. after a short but sharp conflict, the trench was again carried, and the patriots completely routed. upon this, count louis charged with all his cavalry upon the enemy's horse, which had hitherto remained motionless. with the first shock the mounted arquebusiers of schenk, constituting the vanguard, were broken, and fled in all directions. so great was their panic, as louis drove them before him, that they never stopped till they had swum or been drowned in the river; the survivors carrying the news to grave and to other cities that the royalists had been completely routed. this was, however, very far from the truth. the patriot cavalry, mostly carabineers, wheeled after the first discharge, and retired to reload their pieces, but before they were ready for another attack, the spanish lancers and the german black troopers, who had all remained firm, set upon them with great spirit: a fierce, bloody, and confused action succeeded, in which the patriots were completely overthrown. count louis, finding that the day was lost, and his army cut to pieces, rallied around him a little band of troopers, among whom were his brother, count henry, and duke christopher, and together they made a final and desperate charge. it was the last that was ever seen of them on earth. they all went down together, in the midst of the fight, and were never heard of more. the battle terminated, as usual in those conflicts of mutual hatred, in a horrible butchery, hardly any of the patriot army being left to tell the tale of their disaster. at least four thousand were killed, including those who were slain on the field, those who were suffocated in the marshes or the river, and those who were burned in the farm-houses where they had taken refuge. it was uncertain which of those various modes of death had been the lot of count louis, his brother, and his friend. the mystery was never solved. they had, probably, all died on the field; but, stripped of their clothing, with their, faces trampled upon by the hoofs of horses, it was not possible to distinguish them from the less illustrious dead. it was the opinion of, many that they had been drowned in the river; of others, that they had been burned. [meteren, v. . bor, vii. , . hoofd, bentivoglio, ubi sup. the walloon historian, occasionally cited in these pages, has a more summary manner of accounting for the fate of these distinguished personages. according to his statement, the leaders of the protestant forces dined and made merry at a convent in the neighbourhood upon good friday, five days before the battle, using the sacramental chalices at the banquet, and mixing consecrated wafers with their wine. as a punishment for this sacrilege, the army was utterly overthrown, and the devil himself flew away with the chieftains, body and soul.] there was a vague tale that louis, bleeding but not killed, had struggled forth from the heap of corpses where he had been thrown, had crept to the, river-side, and, while washing his wounds, had been surprised and butchered by a party of rustics. the story was not generally credited, but no man knew, or was destined to learn, the truth. a dark and fatal termination to this last enterprise of count louis had been anticipated by many. in that superstitious age, when emperors and princes daily investigated the future, by alchemy, by astrology, and by books of fate, filled with formula; as gravely and precisely set forth as algebraical equations; when men of every class, from monarch to peasant, implicitly believed in supernatural portents and prophecies, it was not singular that a somewhat striking appearance, observed in the sky some weeks previously to the battle of mookerheyde, should have inspired many persons with a shuddering sense of impending evil. early in february five soldiers of the burgher guard at utrecht, being on their midnight watch, beheld in the sky above them the representation of a furious battle. the sky was extremely dark, except directly over: their heads; where, for a space equal in extent to the length of the city, and in breadth to that of an ordinary chamber, two armies, in battle array, were seen advancing upon each other. the one moved rapidly up from the north-west, with banners waving; spears flashing, trumpets sounding; accompanied by heavy artillery and by squadrons of cavalry. the other came slowly forward from the southeast; as if from an entrenched camp, to encounter their assailants. there was a fierce action for a few moments, the shouts of the combatants, the heavy discharge of cannon, the rattle of musketry; the tramp of heavy-aimed foot soldiers, the rush of cavalry, being distinctly heard. the firmament trembled with the shock of the contending hosts, and was lurid with the rapid discharges of their artillery. after a short, fierce engagement, the north-western army was beaten back in disorder, but rallied again, after a breathing-time, formed again into solid column, and again advanced. their foes, arrayed, as the witnesses affirmed, in a square and closely serried grove of spears' and muskets, again awaited the attack. once more the aerial cohorts closed upon each other, all the signs and sounds of a desperate encounter being distinctly recognised by the eager witnesses. the struggle seemed but short. the lances of the south-eastern army seemed to snap "like hemp-stalks," while their firm columns all went down together in mass, beneath the onset of their enemies. the overthrow was complete, victors and vanquished had faded, the clear blue space, surrounded by black clouds, was empty, when suddenly its whole extent, where the conflict had so lately raged, was streaked with blood, flowing athwart the sky in broad crimson streams; nor was it till the five witnesses had fully watched and pondered over these portents that the vision entirely vanished. so impressed were the grave magistrates of utrecht with the account given next day by the sentinels, that a formal examination of the circumstances was made, the deposition of each witness, under oath, duly recorded, and a vast deal of consultation of soothsayers' books and other auguries employed to elucidate the mystery. it was universally considered typical of the anticipated battle between count louis and the spaniards. when, therefore, it was known that the patriots, moving from the south-east, had arrived at mookerheyde, and that their adversaries, crossing the meuse at grave, had advanced upon them from the north-west, the result of the battle was considered inevitable; the phantom battle of utrecht its infallible precursor. thus perished louis of nassau in the flower of his manhood, in the midst of a career already crowded with events such as might suffice for a century of ordinary existence. it is difficult to find in history a more frank and loyal character. his life was noble; the elements of the heroic and the genial so mixed in him that the imagination contemplates him, after three centuries, with an almost affectionate interest. he was not a great man. he was far from possessing the subtle genius or the expansive views of his brother; but, called as he was to play a prominent part in one of the most complicated and imposing dramas ever enacted by man, he, nevertheless, always acquitted himself with honor. his direct, fearless and energetic nature commanded alike the respect of friend and foe. as a politician, a soldier, and a diplomatist, he was busy, bold, and true. he, accomplished by sincerity what many thought could only be compassed by trickery. dealing often with the most adroit and most treacherous of princes and statesmen, he frequently carried his point, and he never stooped to flattery. from the time when, attended by his "twelve disciples," he assumed the most prominent part in the negotiations with margaret of parma, through all the various scenes of the revolution, through, all the conferences with spaniards, italians, huguenots. malcontents, flemish councillors, or german princes, he was the consistent and unflinching supporter of religious liberty and constitutional law. the battle of heiliger lee and the capture of mons were his most signal triumphs, but the fruits of both were annihilated by subsequent disaster. his headlong courage was his chief foible. the french accused him of losing the battle of moncontour by his impatience to engage; yet they acknowledged that to his masterly conduct it was owing that their retreat was effected in so successful, and even so brilliant a manner. he was censured for rashness and precipitancy in this last and fatal enterprise, but the reproach seems entirely without foundation. the expedition as already stated, had been deliberately arranged, with the full co-operation of his brother, and had been preparing several months. that he was able to set no larger force on foot than that which he led into gueldres was not his fault. but for the floating ice which barred his passage of the meuse, he would have surprised maestricht; but for the mutiny, which rendered his mercenary soldiers cowards, he might have defeated avila at mookerheyde. had he done so he would have joined his brother in the isle of bommel in triumph; the spaniards would, probably, have been expelled from holland, and leyden saved the horrors of that memorable siege which she was soon called, upon to endure. these results were not in his destiny. providence had decreed that he should perish in the midst of his usefulness; that the prince, in his death,'should lose the right hand which had been so swift to execute his various plans, and the faithful fraternal heart which had always responded so readily to every throb of his own. in figure, he was below the middle height, but martial and noble in his bearing. the expression of his countenance was lively; his manner frank and engaging. all who knew him personally loved him, and he was the idol of his gallant brethren: his mother always addressed him as her dearly beloved, her heart's-cherished louis. "you must come soon to me," she wrote in the last year of his life, "for i have many matters to ask your advice upon; and i thank you beforehand, for you have loved me as your mother all the days of your life; for which may god almighty have you in his holy keeping." it was the doom of this high-born, true-hearted dame to be called upon to weep oftener for her children than is the usual lot of mothers. count adolphus had already perished in his youth on the field of heiliger lee, and now louis and his young brother henry, who had scarcely attained his twenty-sixth year, and whose short life had been passed in that faithful service to the cause of freedom which was the instinct of his race, had both found a bloody and an unknown grave. count john, who had already done so much for the cause, was fortunately spared to do much more. although of the expedition, and expecting to participate in the battle, he had, at the urgent solicitation of all the leaders, left the army for a brief, season, in order to obtain at cologne a supply of money, for the mutinous troops: he had started upon this mission two days before the action in which he, too, would otherwise have been sacrificed. the young duke christopher, "optimm indolis et magnee spei adolescens," who had perished on the same field, was sincerely mourned by the lovers of freedom. his father, the elector, found his consolation in the scriptures, and in the reflection that his son had died in the bed of honor, fighting for the cause of god. "'t was better thus," said that stern calvinist, whose dearest wish was to "calvinize the world," than to have passed his time in idleness, "which is the devil's pillow." vague rumors of the catastrophe had spread far and wide. it was soon certain that louis had been defeated, but, for a long time, conflicting reports were in circulation as to the fate of the leaders. the prince of orange, meanwhile, passed days of intense anxiety, expecting hourly to hear from his brothers, listening to dark rumors, which he refused to credit and could not contradict, and writing letters, day after day, long after the eyes which should have read the friendly missives were closed. the victory of the king's army at mookerheyde had been rendered comparatively barren by the mutiny which broke forth the day after the battle. three years' pay were due to the spanish troops, and it was not surprising that upon this occasion one of those periodic rebellions should break forth, by which the royal cause was frequently so much weakened, and the royal governors so intolerably perplexed. these mutinies were of almost regular occurrence, and attended by as regular a series of phenomena. the spanish troops, living so far from their own country, but surrounded by their women, and constantly increasing swarms of children, constituted a locomotive city of considerable population, permanently established on a foreign soil. it was a city walled in by bayonets, and still further isolated from the people around by the impassable moat of mutual hatred. it was a city obeying the articles of war, governed by despotic authority, and yet occasionally revealing, in full force, the irrepressible democratic element. at periods which could almost be calculated, the military populace were wont to rise upon the privileged classes, to deprive them of office and liberty, and to set up in their place commanders of their own election. a governor-in-chief, a sergeant-major, a board of councillors and various other functionaries, were chosen by acclamation and universal suffrage. the eletto, or chief officer thus appointed, was clothed with supreme power, but forbidden to exercise it. he was surrounded by councillors, who watched his every motion, read all his correspondence, and assisted at all his conferences, while the councillors were themselves narrowly watched by the commonalty. these movements were, however, in general, marked by the most exemplary order. anarchy became a system of government; rebellion enacted and enforced the strictest rules of discipline; theft, drunkenness, violence to women, were severely punished. as soon as the mutiny broke forth, the first object was to take possession of the nearest city, where the eletto was usually established in the town-house, and the soldiery quartered upon the citizens. nothing in the shape of food or lodging was too good for these marauders. men who had lived for years on camp rations--coarse knaves who had held the plough till compelled to handle the musket, now slept in fine linen, and demanded from the trembling burghers the daintiest viands. they ate the land bare, like a swarm of locusts. "chickens and partridges," says the thrifty chronicler of antwerp, "capons and pheasants, hares and rabbits, two kinds of wines;--for sauces, capers and olives, citrons and oranges, spices and sweetmeats; wheaten bread for their dogs, and even wine, to wash the feet of their horses;"--such was the entertainment demanded and obtained by the mutinous troops. they were very willing both to enjoy the luxury of this forage, and to induce the citizens, from weariness of affording compelled hospitality, to submit to a taxation by which the military claims might be liquidated. a city thus occupied was at the mercy of a foreign soldiery, which had renounced all authority but that of self-imposed laws. the king's officers were degraded, perhaps murdered; while those chosen to supply their places had only a nominal control. the eletto, day by day, proclaimed from the balcony of the town-house the latest rules and regulations. if satisfactory, there was a clamor of applause; if objectionable, they were rejected with a tempest of hisses, with discharges of musketry; the eletto did not govern: he was a dictator who could not dictate, but could only register decrees. if too honest, too firm, or too dull for his place, he was deprived of his office and sometimes of his life. another was chosen in his room, often to be succeeded by a series of others, destined to the same fate. such were the main characteristics of those formidable mutinies, the result of the unthriftiness and dishonesty by which the soldiery engaged in these interminable hostilities were deprived of their dearly earned wages. the expense of the war was bad enough at best, but when it is remembered that of three or four dollars sent from spain, or contributed by the provinces for the support of the army, hardly one reached the pockets of the soldier, the frightful expenditure which took place may be imagined. it was not surprising that so much peculation should engender revolt. the mutiny which broke out after the defeat of count louis was marked with the most pronounced and inflammatory of these symptoms. three years' pay was due, to the spaniards, who, having just achieved a signal victory, were-disposed to reap its fruits, by fair means or by force. on receiving nothing but promises, in answer to their clamorous demands, they mutinied to a man, and crossed the meuse to grave, whence, after accomplishing the usual elections, they took their course to antwerp. being in such strong force, they determined to strike at the capital. rumour flew before them. champagny, brother of granvelle, and royal governor of the city, wrote in haste to apprise requesens of the approaching danger. the grand commander, attended only by vitelli, repaired. instantly to antwerp. champagny advised throwing up a breastwork with bales of merchandize, upon the esplanade, between the citadel and the town, for it was at this point, where the connection between the fortifications of the castle and those of the city had never been thoroughly completed, that the invasion might be expected. requesens hesitated. he trembled at a conflict with his own soldiery. if successful, he could only be so by trampling upon the flower of his army. if defeated, what would become of the king's authority, with rebellious troops triumphant in rebellious provinces? sorely perplexed, the commander, could think of no expedient. not knowing what to do, he did nothing. in the meantime, champagny, who felt himself odious to the soldiery, retreated to the newtown, and barricaded himself, with a few followers, in the house of the baltic merchants. on the th of april, the mutinous troops in perfect order, marched into the city, effecting their entrance precisely at the weak point where they had been expected. numbering at least three thousand, they encamped on the esplanade, where requesens appeared before them alone on horseback, and made them an oration. they listened with composure, but answered briefly and with one accord, "dineros y non palabras," dollars not speeches. requesens promised profusely, but the time was past for promises. hard silver dollars would alone content an army which, after three years of bloodshed and starvation, had at last taken the law into their own hands. requesens withdrew to consult the broad council of the city. he was without money himself, but he demanded four hundred thousand crowns of the city. this was at first refused, but the troops knew the strength of their position, for these mutinies were never repressed, and rarely punished. on this occasion the commander was afraid to employ force, and the burghers, after the army had been quartered upon them for a time, would gladly pay a heavy ransom to be rid of their odious and expensive guests. the mutineers foreseeing that the work might last a few weeks, and determined to proceed leisurely; took possession of the great square. the eletto, with his staff of councillors, was quartered in the town-house, while the soldiers distributed themselves among the houses of the most opulent citizens, no one escaping a billet who was rich enough to receive such company: bishop or burgomaster, margrave or merchant. the most famous kitchens were naturally the most eagerly sought, and sumptuous apartments, luxurious dishes, delicate wines, were daily demanded. the burghers dared not refuse. the six hundred walloons, who had been previously quartered in the city, were expelled, and for many days, the mutiny reigned paramount. day after day the magistracy, the heads of guilds, all the representatives of the citizens were assembled in the broad council. the governor-general insisted on his demand of four hundred thousand crowns, representing, with great justice, that the mutineers would remain in the city until they had eaten and drunk to that amount, and that there would still be the arrearages; for which the city would be obliged to raise the funds. on the th of may, the authorities made an offer, which was duly communicated to the eletto. that functionary stood forth on a window- sill of the town-house, and addressed the soldiery. he informed them that the grand commander proposed to pay ten months' arrears in cash, five months in silks and woollen cloths, and the balance in promises, to be fulfilled within a few days. the terms were not considered satisfactory, and were received with groans of derision. the eletto, on the contrary, declared them very liberal, and reminded the soldiers of the perilous condition in which they stood, guilty to a man of high treason, with a rope around every neck. it was well worth their while to accept the offer made them, together with the absolute pardon for the past, by which it was accompanied. for himself, he washed his hands of the consequences if the offer were rejected. the soldiers answered by deposing the eletto and choosing another in his room. three days after, a mutiny broke out in the citadel--an unexampled occurrence. the rebels ordered sancho d'avila, the commandant, to deliver the keys of the fortress. he refused to surrender them but with his life. they then contented themselves with compelling his lieutenant to leave the citadel, and with sending their eletto to confer with the grand commander, as well as with the eletto of the army. after accomplishing his mission, he returned, accompanied by chiappin vitelli, as envoy of the governor-general. no sooner, however, had the eletto set foot on the drawbridge than he was attacked by ensign salvatierra of the spanish garrison, who stabbed him to the heart and threw him into the moat. the ensign, who was renowned in the army for his ferocious courage, and who wore embroidered upon his trunk hose the inscription, "el castigador de los flamencos," then rushed upon the sergeant-major of the mutineers, despatched him in the same way, and tossed him likewise into the moat. these preliminaries being settled, a satisfactory arrangement was negotiated between vitelli and the rebellious garrison. pardon for the past, and payment upon the same terms as those offered in the city, were accepted, and the mutiny of the citadel was quelled. it was, however, necessary that salvatierra should conceal himself for a long time, to escape being torn to pieces by the incensed soldiery. meantime, affairs in the city were more difficult to adjust. the mutineers raised an altar of chests and bales upon the public square, and celebrated mass under the open sky, solemnly swearing to be true to each other to the last. the scenes of carousing and merry-making were renewed at the expense of the citizens, who were again exposed to nightly alarms from the boisterous mirth and ceaseless mischief-making of the soldiers. before the end of the month; the broad council, exhausted by the incubus which had afflicted them so many weeks, acceded to the demand of requesens. the four hundred thousand crowns were furnished, the grand commander accepting them as a loan, and giving in return bonds duly signed and countersigned, together with a mortgage upon all the royal domains. the citizens received the documents, as a matter of form, but they had handled such securities before, and valued them but slightly. the mutineers now agreed to settle with the governor-general, on condition of receiving all their wages, either in cash or cloth, together with a solemn promise of pardon for all their acts of insubordination. this pledge was formally rendered with appropriate religious ceremonies, by requesens, in the cathedral. the payments were made directly afterwards, and a great banquet was held on the same day, by the whole mass of the soldiery, to celebrate the event. the feast took place on the place of the meer, and was a scene of furious revelry. the soldiers, more thoughtless than children, had arrayed themselves in extemporaneous costumes, cut from the cloth which they had at last received in payment of their sufferings and their blood. broadcloths, silks, satins, and gold-embroidered brocades, worthy of a queen's wardrobe, were hung in fantastic drapery around the sinewy forms and bronzed faces of the soldiery, who, the day before, had been clothed in rags. the mirth was fast and furious; and scarce was the banquet finished before every drum- head became a gaming-table, around which gathered groups eager to sacrifice in a moment their dearly-bought gold. the fortunate or the prudent had not yet succeeded in entirely plundering their companions, when the distant booming of cannon was heard from the river. instantly, accoutred as they were in their holiday and fantastic costumes, the soldiers, no longer mutinous, were summoned from banquet and gaming-table, and were ordered forth upon the dykes. the patriot admiral boisot, who had so recently defeated the fleet of bergen, under the eyes of the grand commander, had unexpectedly sailed up the scheld, determined to destroy the, fleet of antwerp, which upon that occasion had escaped. between, the forts of lillo and callao, he met with twenty-two vessels under the command of vice-admiral haemstede. after a short and sharp action, he was completely victorious. fourteen of the enemy's ships were burned or sunk, with all their crews, and admiral haemstede was taken prisoner. the soldiers opened a warm fire of musketry upon boisot from the dyke, to which he responded with his cannon. the distance of the combatants, however, made the action unimportant; and the patriots retired down the river, after achieving a complete victory. the grand commander was farther than ever from obtaining that foothold on the sea, which as he had informed his sovereign, was the only means by which the netherlands could be reduced. [chapter ii.] first siege of leyden--commencement of the second--description of the city--preparations for defence--letters of orange--act of amnesty issued by requesens--its conditions--its reception by the hollanders--correspondence of the glippers--sorties and fierce combats beneath the walls of leyden--position of the prince--his project of relief magnanimity of the people--breaking of the dykes-- emotions in the city and the besieging camp--letter of the estates of holland--dangerous illness of the prince--the "wild zealanders"-- admiral boisot commences his voyage--sanguinary combat on the land-- scheiding--occupation of that dyke and of the green way--pauses and progress of the flotilla--the prince visits the fleet--horrible sufferings in the city--speech of van der werf--heroism of the inhabitants--the admiral's letters--the storm--advance of boisot-- lammen fortress----an anxious night--midnight retreat of the spaniards--the admiral enters the city--thanksgiving in the great church the prince in leyden--parting words of valdez--mutiny--leyden university founded--the charter--inauguration ceremonies. the invasion of louis of nassau had, as already stated, effected the raising of the first siege of leyden. that leaguer had lasted from the st of october, , to the st of march, , when the soldiers were summoned away to defend the frontier. by an extraordinary and culpable carelessness, the citizens, neglecting the advice of the prince, had not taken advantage of the breathing time thus afforded them to victual the city and strengthen the garrison. they seemed to reckon more confidently upon the success of count louis than he had even done himself; for it was very probable that, in case of his defeat, the siege would be instantly resumed. this natural result was not long in following the battle of mookerheyde. on the th of may, valdez reappeared before the place, at the head of eight thousand walloons and germans, and leyden was now destined to pass through a fiery ordeal. this city was one of the most beautiful in the netherlands. placed in the midst of broad and fruitful pastures, which had been reclaimed by the hand of industry from the bottom of the sea; it was fringed with smiling villages, blooming gardens, fruitful orchards. the ancient and, at last, decrepit rhine, flowing languidly towards its sandy death-bed, had been multiplied into innumerable artificial currents, by which the city was completely interlaced. these watery streets were shaded by lime trees, poplars, and willows, and crossed by one hundred and forty-five bridges, mostly of hammered stone. the houses were elegant, the squares and streets spacious, airy and clean, the churches and public edifices imposing, while the whole aspect, of the place suggested thrift, industry, and comfort. upon an artificial elevation, in the centre of the city, rose a ruined tower of unknown antiquity. by some it was considered to be of roman origin, while others preferred to regard it as a work of the anglo-saxon hengist, raised to commemorate his conquest of england. [guicciardini, descript. holl, et zelandire. bor, vii. . bentivoglio, viii. "putatur engistus britanno orbe redus posuisse victor," etc., etc. according to the celebrated poem of john yon der does, the accomplished and valiant commandant of the city. the tower, which is doubtless a roman one, presents, at the present day, almost precisely the same appearance as that described by the contemporaneous historians of the siege. the verses of the commandant show the opinion, that the anglo-saxon conquerors of britain went from holland, to have been a common one in the sixteenth century.] surrounded by fruit trees, and overgrown in the centre with oaks, it afforded, from its mouldering battlements, a charming prospect over a wide expanse of level country, with the spires of neighbouring cities rising in every direction. it was from this commanding height, during the long and terrible summer days which were approaching, that many an eye was to be strained anxiously seaward, watching if yet the ocean had begun to roll over the land. valdez lost no time in securing himself in the possession of maeslandsluis, vlaardingen, and the hague. five hundred english, under command of colonel edward chester, abandoned the fortress of valkenburg, and fled towards leyden. refused admittance by the citizens, who now, with reason, distrusted them, they surrendered to valdez, and were afterwards sent back to england. in the course of a few days, leyden was thoroughly invested, no less than sixty-two redoubts, some of them having remained undestroyed from the previous siege, now girdling the city, while the besiegers already numbered nearly eight thousand, a force to be daily increased. on the other hand, there were no troops in the town, save a small corps of "freebooters," and five companies of the burgher guard. john van der does, seigneur of nordwyck, a gentleman of distinguished family, but still more distinguished for his learning, his poetical genius, and his valor, had accepted the office of military commandant. the main reliance of the city, under god, was on the stout hearts of its inhabitants within the walls, and on, the sleepless energy of william the silent without. the prince, hastening to comfort and encourage the citizens, although he had been justly irritated by their negligence in having omitted to provide more sufficiently against the emergency while there had yet been time, now reminded them that they were not about to contend for themselves alone, but that the fate of their country and of unborn generations would, in all human probability, depend on the issue about to be tried. eternal glory would be their portion if they manifested a courage worthy of their race and of the sacred cause of religion and liberty. he implored them to hold out at least three months, assuring them that he would, within that time, devise the means of their deliverance. the citizens responded, courageously and confidently, to these missives, and assured the prince of their firm confidence in their own fortitude and his exertions. and truly they had a right to rely on that calm and unflinching soul, as on a rock of adamant. all alone, without a being near him to consult, his right arm struck from him by the death of louis, with no brother left to him but the untiring and faithful john, he prepared without delay for the new task imposed upon him. france, since the defeat and death of louis, and the busy intrigues which had followed the accession of henry iii., had but small sympathy for the netherlands. the english government, relieved from the fear of france; was more cold and haughty than ever. an englishman employed by requesens to assassinate the prince of orange, had been arrested in zealand, who impudently pretended that he had undertaken to perform the same office for count john, with the full consent and privity of queen elizabeth. the provinces of holland and zealand were stanch and true, but the inequality of the contest between a few brave men, upon that handsbreadth of territory, and the powerful spanish empire, seemed to render the issue hopeless. moreover, it was now thought expedient to publish the amnesty which had been so long in preparation, and this time the trap was more liberally baited. the pardon, which had: passed the seals upon the th of march, was formally issue: by the grand commander on the th of june. by the terms of this document the king invited all his erring and repentant subjects, to return to his arms; and to accept a full forgiveness for their past offences, upon the sole condition that they should once more throw themselves upon the bosom of the mother church. there were but few exceptions to the amnesty, a small number of individuals, all mentioned by name, being alone excluded; but although these terms were ample, the act was liable to a few stern objections. it was easier now for the hollanders to go to their graves than to mass, for the contest, in its progress, had now entirely assumed the aspect of a religious war. instead of a limited number of heretics in a state which, although constitutional was catholic, there was now hardly a papist to be found among the natives. to accept the pardon then was to concede the victory, and the hollanders had not yet discovered that they were conquered. they were resolved, too, not only to be conquered, but annihilated, before the roman church should be re-established on their soil, to the entire exclusion of the reformed worship. they responded with steadfast enthusiasm to the sentiment expressed by the prince of orange, after the second siege of leyden had been commenced; "as long as there is a living man left in the country, we will contend for our liberty and our religion." the single condition of the amnesty assumed, in a phrase; what spain had fruitlessly striven to establish by a hundred battles, and the hollanders had not faced their enemy on land and sea for seven years to succumb to a phrase at last. moreover, the pardon came from the wrong direction. the malefactor gravely extended forgiveness to his victims. although the hollanders had not yet disembarrassed their minds of the supernatural theory of government, and felt still the reverence of habit for regal divinity, they naturally considered themselves outraged by the trick now played before them. the man who had violated all his oaths, trampled upon all their constitutional liberties, burned and sacked their cities, confiscated their wealth, hanged, beheaded, burned, and buried alive their innocent brethren, now came forward, not to implore, but to offer forgiveness. not in sackcloth, but in royal robes; not with ashes, but with a diadem upon his head, did the murderer present himself vicariously upon the scene of his crimes. it may be supposed that, even in the sixteenth century, there were many minds which would revolt at such blasphemy. furthermore, even had the people of holland been weak enough to accept the pardon, it was impossible to believe that the promise would be fulfilled. it was sufficiently known how much faith was likely to be kept with heretics, notwithstanding that the act was fortified by a papal bull, dated on the th of april, by which gregory xiii. promised forgiveness to those netherland sinners who duly repented and sought absolution for their crimes, even although they had sinned more than seven times seven. for a moment the prince had feared lest the pardon might produce some effect upon men wearied by interminable suffering, but the event proved him wrong. it was received with universal and absolute contempt. no man came forward to take advantage of its conditions, save one brewer in utrecht, and the son of a refugee peddler from leyden. with these exceptions, the only ones recorded, holland remained deaf to the royal voice. the city of leyden was equally cold to the messages of mercy, which were especially addressed to its population by valdez and his agents. certain netherlanders, belonging to the king's party, and familiarly called "glippers," despatched from the camp many letters to their rebellious acquaintances in the city. in these epistles the citizens of leyden were urgently and even pathetically exhorted to submission by their loyal brethren, and were implored "to take pity upon their poor old fathers, their daughters, and their wives." but the burghers of leyden thought that the best pity which they could show to those poor old fathers, daughters, and wives, was to keep them from the clutches of the spanish soldiery; so they made no answer to the glippers, save by this single line, which they wrote on a sheet of paper, and forwarded, like a letter, to valdez: "fistula dulce canit, volucrem cum decipit auceps." according to the advice early given by the prince of orange, the citizens had taken an account of their provisions of all kinds, including the live stock. by the end of june, the city was placed on a strict allowance of food, all the provisions being purchased by the authorities at an equitable price. half a pound of meat and half a pound of bread was allotted to a full grown man, and to the rest, a due proportion. the city being strictly invested, no communication, save by carrier pigeons, and by a few swift and skilful messengers called jumpers, was possible. sorties and fierce combats were, however, of daily occurrence, and a handsome bounty was offered to any man who brought into the city gates the head of a spaniard. the reward was paid many times, but the population was becoming so excited and so apt, that the authorities felt it dangerous to permit the continuance of these conflicts. lest the city, little by little, should lose its few disciplined defenders, it was now proclaimed, by sound of church bell, that in future no man should leave the gates. the prince had his head-quarters at delft and at rotterdam. between those two cities, an important fortress, called polderwaert, secured him in the control of the alluvial quadrangle, watered on two sides by the yssel and the meuse. on the th june, the spaniards, feeling its value, had made an unsuccessful effort to carry this fort by storm. they had been beaten off, with the loss of several hundred men, the prince remaining in possession of the position, from which alone he could hope to relieve leyden. he still held in his hand the keys with which he could unlock the ocean gates and let the waters in upon the land, and he had long been convinced that nothing could save the city but to break the dykes. leyden was not upon the sea, but he could send the sea to. leyden, although an army fit to encounter the besieging force under valdez could not be levied. the battle of mookerheyde had, for the, present, quite settled the question, of land relief, but it was possible to besiege the besiegers, with the waves of the ocean. the spaniards occupied the coast from the hague to vlaardingen, but the dykes along the meuse and yssel were in possession of the prince. he determined, that these should be pierced, while, at the same time, the great sluices at rotterdam, schiedam, and delftshaven should be opened. the damage to the fields, villages, and growing crops would be enormous, but he felt that no other course could rescue leyden, and with it the whole of holland from destruction. his clear expositions and impassioned eloquence at last overcame all resistance. by the middle of july the estates consented to his plan, and its execution was immediately undertaken. "better a drowned land than a lost land," cried the patriots, with enthusiasm, as they devoted their fertile fields to desolation. the enterprise for restoring their territory, for a season, to the waves, from which it had been so patiently rescued, was conducted with as much regularity as if it had been a profitable undertaking. a capital was formally subscribed, for which a certain number of bonds were issued, payable at a long date. in addition to this preliminary fund, a monthly allowance of forty-five guldens was voted by the estates, until the work should be completed, and a large sum was contributed by the ladies of the land, who freely furnished their plate, jewellery, and costly furniture to the furtherance of the scheme. meantime, valdez, on the th july; issued most urgent and ample offers of pardon to the citizens, if they would consent to open their gates and accept the king's authority, but his overtures were received with silent contempt, notwithstanding that the population was already approaching the starvation point. although not yet fully informed of the active measures taken by the prince, yet they still chose to rely upon his energy and their own fortitude, rather than upon the honied words which had formerly been heard at the gates of harlem and of naarden. on the rd of august, the prince; accompanied by paul buys, chief of the commission appointed to execute the enterprise, went in person along the yssel; as far as kappelle, and superintended the rupture of the dykes in sixteen places. the gates at schiedam and rotterdam were, opened, and the ocean began to pour over the land. while waiting for the waters to rise, provisions were rapidly, collected, according to an edict of the prince, in all the principal towns of the neighbourhood, and some two hundred vessels, of various sizes, had also been got ready at rotterdam, delftshaven, and other ports. the citizens of leyden were, however, already becoming impatient, for their bread was gone, and of its substitute malt cake, they had but slender provision. on the th of august they received a letter from the prince, encouraging them to resistance, and assuring them of a speedy relief, and on the st they addressed a despatch to him in reply, stating that they had now fulfilled their original promise, for they had held out two months with food, and another month without food. if not soon assisted, human strength could do no more; their malt cake would last but four days, and after that was gone, there was nothing left but starvation. upon the same day, however, they received a letter, dictated by the prince, who now lay in bed at rotterdam with a violent fever, assuring them that the dykes were all pierced, and that the water was rising upon the "land-scheiding," the great outer barrier which separated the city from the sea. he said nothing however of his own illness, which would have cast a deep shadow over the joy which now broke forth among the burghers. the letter was read publicly in the market-place, and to increase the cheerfulness, burgomaster van der werf, knowing the sensibility of his countrymen to music, ordered the city musicians to perambulate the streets, playing lively melodies and martial airs. salvos of cannon were likewise fired, and the starving city for a brief space put on the aspect of a holiday, much to the astonishment of the besieging forces, who were not yet aware of the prince's efforts. they perceived very soon, however, as the water everywhere about leyden had risen to the depth of ten inches, that they stood in a perilous position. it was no trifling danger to be thus attacked by the waves of the ocean, which seemed about to obey with docility the command of william the silent. valdez became anxious and uncomfortable at the strange aspect of affairs, for the besieging army was now in its turn beleaguered, and by a stronger power than man's. he consulted with the most experienced of his officers, with the country people, with the most distinguished among the glippers, and derived encouragement from their views concerning the prince's plan. they pronounced it utterly futile and hopeless: the glippers knew the country well, and ridiculed the desperate project in unmeasured terms. even in the city itself, a dull distrust had succeeded to the first vivid gleam of hope, while the few royalists among the population boldly taunted their fellow-citizens to their faces with the absurd vision of relief which they had so fondly welcomed. "go up to the tower, ye beggars," was the frequent and taunting cry, "go up to the tower, and tell us if ye can see the ocean coming over the dry land to your relief" --and day after day they did go, up to the ancient tower of hengist, with heavy heart and anxious eye, watching, hoping, praying, fearing, and at last almost despairing of relief by god or man. on the th they addressed a desponding letter to the estates, complaining that the city had been forgotten in, its utmost need, and on the same day a prompt and warm-hearted reply was received, in which the citizens were assured that every human effort was to be made for their relief. "rather," said the estates, "will we see our whole land and all our possessions perish in the waves, than forsake thee, leyden. we know full well, moreover, that with leyden, all holland must perish also." they excused themselves for not having more frequently written, upon the, ground that the whole management of the measures for their relief had been entrusted to the prince, by whom alone all the details had been administered, and all the correspondence conducted. the fever of the prince had, meanwhile, reached its height. he lay at rotterdam, utterly prostrate in body, and with mind agitated nearly to delirium, by the perpetual and almost unassisted schemes which he was constructing. relief, not only for leyden, but for the whole country, now apparently sinking into the abyss, was the vision which he pursued as he tossed upon his restless couch. never was illness more unseasonable. his attendants were in despair, for it was necessary that his mind should for a time be spared the agitation of business. the physicians who attended him agreed, as to his disorder, only in this, that it was the result of mental fatigue and melancholy, and could be cured only by removing all distressing and perplexing subjects from his thoughts, but all the physicians in the world could not have succeeded in turning his attention for an instant from the great cause of his country. leyden lay, as it were, anxious and despairing at his feet, and it was impossible for him to close his ears to her cry. therefore, from his sick bed he continued to dictate; words of counsel and encouragement to the city; to admiral boisot, commanding, the fleet, minute directions and precautions. towards the end of august a vague report had found its way into his sick chamber that leyden had fallen, and although he refused to credit the tale, yet it served to harass his mind, and to heighten fever. cornelius van mierop, receiver general of holland, had occasion to visit him at rotterdam, and strange to relate, found the house almost deserted. penetrating, unattended, to the prince's bed-chamber, he found him lying quite alone. inquiring what had become, of all his attendants, he was answered by the prince, in a very feeble voice, that he had sent them all away. the receiver-general seems, from this, to have rather hastily arrived at the conclusion that the prince's disorder was the pest, and that his servants and friends had all deserted him from cowardice. this was very far from being the case. his private secretary and his maitre d'hotel watched, day and night, by his couch, and the best physicians of the city were in constant attendance. by a singular accident; all had been despatched on different errands, at the express desire of their master, but there had never been a suspicion that his disorder was the pest, or pestilential. nerves of steel, and a frame of adamant could alone have resisted the constant anxiety and the consuming fatigue to which he had so long been exposed. his illness had been aggravated by the, rumor of leyden's fall, a fiction which cornelius mierop was now enabled flatly to contradict. the prince began to mend from that hour. by the end of the first week of september, he wrote along letter to his brother, assuring him of his convalescence, and expressing, as usual; a calm confidence in the divine decrees--"god will ordain for me," said he, "all which is necessary for my good and my salvation. he will load me with no more afflictions than the fragility of this nature can sustain." the preparations for the relief of leyden, which, notwithstanding his exertions, had grown slack during his sickness, were now vigorously resumed. on the st of september, admiral boisot arrived out of zealand with a small number of vessels, and with eight hundred veteran sailors. a wild and ferocious crew were those eight hundred zealanders. scarred, hacked, and even maimed, in the unceasing conflicts in which their lives had passed; wearing crescents in their caps, with the inscription, "rather turkish than popish;" renowned far and wide, as much for their ferocity as for their nautical skill; the appearance of these wildest of the "sea-beggars" was both eccentric and terrific. they were known never to give nor to take quarter, for they went to mortal combat only, and had sworn to spare neither noble nor simple, neither king, kaiser, nor pope, should they fall into their power. more than two hundred-vessels had been assembled, carrying generally ten pieces of cannon, with from ten to eighteen oars, and manned with twenty- five hundred veterans, experienced both on land and water. the work was now undertaken in earnest. the distance from leyden to the outer dyke, over whose ruins the ocean had already been admitted, was nearly fifteen miles. this reclaimed territory, however, was not maintained against the sea by these external barriers alone. the flotilla made its way with ease to the land-scheiding, a strong dyke within five miles of leyden, but here its progress was arrested. the approach to the city was surrounded by many strong ramparts, one within the other, by which it was defended against its ancient enemy, the ocean, precisely like the circumvallations by means of which it was now assailed by its more recent enemy, the spaniard. to enable the fleet, however, to sail over the land; it was necessary to break through this two fold series of defences. between the land-scheiding and leyden were several dykes, which kept out the water; upon the level, were many villages, together with a chain of sixty-two forts, which completely occupied the land. all these villages and fortresses were held by the veteran, troops of the king; the besieging force, being about four times as strong as that which was coming to the rescue. the prince had given orders that the land-scheiding, which was still one- and-a-half foot above water, should be taken possession of; at every hazard. on the night of the th and th of september this was accomplished; by surprise; and in a masterly manner. the few spaniards who had been stationed upon the dyke were all, despatched or driven off, and the patriots fortified themselves upon it, without the loss of a man. as the day dawned the spaniards saw the fatal error which they had committed in leaving thus bulwark so feebly defended, and from two villages which stood close to the dyke, the troops now rushed inconsiderable force to recover what they had lost. a hot action succeeded, but the patriots had too securely established themselves. they completely defeated the enemy, who retired, leaving hundreds of dead on the field, and the patriots in complete possession of the land- scheiding. this first action was sanguinary and desperate. it gave a earnest of what these people, who came to relieve; their brethren, by sacrificing their, property and their lives; were determined to effect. it gave a revolting proof, too, of the intense hatred which nerved their arms. a zealander; having struck down a spaniard on the dyke, knelt on his bleeding enemy, tore his heart from his bosom; fastened his teeth in it for an instant, and then threw it to a dog, with the exclamation, "'tis too bitter." the spanish heart was, however, rescued, and kept for years, with the marks of the soldier's teeth upon it, a sad testimonial of the ferocity engendered by this war for national existence. the great dyke having been thus occupied, no time was lost in breaking it through in several places, a work which was accomplished under the very eyes of the enemy. the fleet sailed through the gaps, but, after their passage had been effected in good order, the admiral found, to his surprise, that it was not the only rampart to be carried. the prince had been informed, by those who claimed to know, the country, that, when once the land-scheiding had been passed, the water would flood the country. as far as leyden, but the "green-way," another long dyke three-quarters of a mile farther inward, now rose at least a foot above the water, to oppose their further progress. fortunately, by, a second and still more culpable carelessness, this dyke had been left by the spaniards in as unprotected a state as the first had been, promptly and audaciously admiral boisot took possession of this barrier also, levelled it in many places, and brought his flotilla, in triumph, over its ruins. again, however, he was doomed to disappointment. a large mere, called the freshwater lake, was known to extend itself directly in his path about midway between the land-scheiding and the city. to this piece of water, into which he expected to have instantly floated, his only passage lay through one deep canal. the sea which had thus far borne him on, now diffusing itself over a very wide surface, and under the influence of an adverse wind, had become too shallow for his ships. the canal alone was deep enough, but it led directly towards a bridge, strongly occupied by the enemy. hostile troops, moreover, to the amount of three thousand occupied both sides of the canal. the bold boisot, nevertheless, determined to force his passage, if possible. selecting a few of his strongest vessels, his heaviest artillery, and his bravest sailors, he led the van himself, in a desperate attempt to make his way to the mere. he opened a hot fire upon the bridge, then converted into a fortress, while his men engaged in hand-to-hand combat with a succession of skirmishers from the troops along the canal. after losing a few men, and ascertaining the impregnable position of the enemy, he was obliged to withdraw, defeated, and almost despairing. a week had elapsed since the great dyke had been pierced, and the flotilla now lay motionless--in shallow water, having accomplished less than two miles. the wind, too, was easterly, causing the sea rather to sink than to rise. everything wore a gloomy aspect, when, fortunately, on the th, the wind shifted to the north-west, and for three days blew a gale. the waters rose rapidly, and before the second day was closed the armada was afloat again. some fugitives from zoetermeer village now arrived, and informed the admiral that, by making a detour to the right, he could completely circumvent the bridge and the mere. they guided him, accordingly, to a comparatively low dyke, which led between the villages of zoetermeer and benthuyzen: a strong force of spaniards was stationed in each place, but, seized with a panic, instead of sallying to defend the barrier, they fled inwardly towards leyden, and halted at the village of north aa. it was natural that they should be amazed. nothing is more appalling to the imagination than the rising ocean tide, when man feels himself within its power; and here were the waters, hourly deepening and closing around them, devouring the earth beneath their feet, while on the waves rode a flotilla, manned by a determined race; whose courage and ferocity were known throughout the world. the spanish soldiers, brave as they were on land, were not sailors, and in the naval contests which had taken place between them and the hollanders had been almost invariably defeated. it was not surprising, in these amphibious skirmishes, where discipline was of little avail, and habitual audacity faltered at the vague dangers which encompassed them, that the foreign troops should lose their presence of mind. three barriers, one within the other, had now been passed, and the flotilla, advancing with the advancing waves, and driving the enemy steadily before it, was drawing nearer to the beleaguered city. as one circle after another was passed, the besieging army found itself compressed within a constantly contracting field. the "ark of delft," an enormous vessel, with shot-proof bulwarks, and moved by paddle-wheels turned by a crank, now arrived at zoetermeer, and was soon followed by the whole fleet. after a brief delay, sufficient to allow the few remaining villagers to escape, both zoetermeer and benthuyzen, with the fortifications, were set on fire, and abandoned to their fate. the blaze lighted up the desolate and watery waste around, and was seen at leyden, where it was hailed as the beacon of hope. without further impediment, the armada proceeded to north aa; the enemy retreating from this position also, and flying to zoeterwoude, a strongly fortified village but a mile and three quarters from the city walls. it was now swarming with troops, for the bulk of the besieging army had gradually been driven into a narrow circle of forts, within the immediate neighbourhood of leyden. besides zoeterwoude, the two posts where they were principally established were lammen and leyderdorp, each within three hundred rods of the town. at leyderdorp were the head-quarters of valdez; colonel borgia commanded in the very strong fortress of lammen. the fleet was, however, delayed at north aa by another barrier, called the "kirk-way." the waters, too, spreading once more over a wider space, and diminishing under an east wind, which had again arisen, no longer permitted their progress, so that very soon the whole armada was stranded anew. the, waters fell to the depth of nine inches; while the vessels required eighteen and twenty. day after day the fleet lay motionless upon. the shallow sea. orange, rising from his sick bed as soon as he could stand, now came on board the fleet. his presence diffused universal joy; his words inspired his desponding army with fresh hope. he rebuked the impatient spirits who, weary of their compulsory idleness, had shown symptoms of ill-timed ferocity, and those eight hundred mad zealanders, so frantic in their hatred to the foreigners, who had so long profaned their land, were as docile as children to the prince. he reconnoitred the whole ground, and issued orders for the immediate destruction of the kirkway, the last important barrier which separated the fleet from leyden. then, after a long conference with admiral boisot, he returned to delft. meantime, the besieged city was at its last gasp. the burghers had been in a state of uncertainty for many days; being aware that the fleet had set forth for their relief, but knowing full well the thousand obstacles which it, had to surmount. they had guessed its progress by the illumination from, the blazing villages; they had heard its salvos of artillery, on its arrival at north aa; but since then, all had been dark and mournful again, hope and fear, in sickening alternation, distracting every breast. they knew that the wind was unfavorable, and at the dawn of each day every eye was turned wistfully to the vanes of the, steeples. so long as the easterly breeze prevailed, they felt, as they anxiously stood on towers and housetops; that they must look in vain for the welcome ocean. yet, while thus patiently waiting, they were literally starving; for even the misery endured at harlem had not reached that depth and intensity of agony to which leyden was now reduced. bread, malt-cake, horseflesh, had entirely disappeared; dogs, cats, rats, and other vermin, were esteemed luxuries: a small number of cows, kept as long as possible, for their milk, still remained; but a few were killed from day to day; and distributed in minute proportions, hardly sufficient to support life among the famishing population. starving wretches swarmed daily around the shambles where these cattle were slaughtered, contending for any morsel which might fall, and lapping eagerly the blood as it ran along the pavement; while the hides; chopped and boiled, were greedily devoured. women and children, all day long, were seen searching gutters and dunghills for morsels of food, which they disputed fiercely with the famishing dogs. the green leaves were stripped from the trees, every living herb was converted into human food, but these expedients could not avert starvation. the daily mortality was frightful infants starved to death on the maternal breasts, which famine had parched and withered; mothers dropped dead in the streets, with their dead children in their arms. in many a house the watchmen, in their rounds, found a whole family of corpses, father, mother, and children, side by side, for a disorder called the plague, naturally engendered of hardship and famine, now came, as if in kindness, to abridge the agony of the people. the pestilence stalked at noonday through the city, and the doomed inhabitants fell like grass beneath its scythe. from six thousand to eight thousand human beings sank before this scourge alone, yet the people resolutely held out--women and men mutually encouraging each other to resist the entrance of their foreign foe--an evil more horrible than pest or famine. the missives from valdez, who saw more vividly than the besieged could do, the uncertainty of his own position, now poured daily into the city, the enemy becoming more prodigal of his vows, as he felt that the ocean might yet save the victims from his grasp. the inhabitants, in their ignorance, had gradually abandoned their hopes of relief, but they spurned the summons to surrender. leyden was sublime in its despair. a few murmurs were, however, occasionally heard at the steadfastness of the magistrates, and a dead body was placed at the door of the burgomaster, as a silent witness against his inflexibility. a party of the more faint-hearted even assailed the heroic adrian van der werf with threats and reproaches as he passed through the streets. a crowd had gathered around him, as he reached a triangular place in the centre of the town, into which many of the principal streets emptied themselves, and upon one side of which stood the church of saint pancras, with its high brick tower surmounted by two pointed turrets, and with two ancient lime trees at its entrance. there stood the burgomaster, a tall, haggard, imposing figure, with dark visage, and a tranquil but commanding eye. he waved his broadleaved felt hat for silence, and then exclaimed, in language which has been almost literally preserved, what would ye, my friends? why do ye murmur that we do not break our vows and surrender the city to the spaniards? a fate more horrible than the agony which she now endures. i tell you i have made an oath to hold the city, and may god give me strength to keep my oath! i can die but once; whether by your hands, the enemy's, or by the hand of god. my own fate is indifferent to me, not so that of the city intrusted to my care. i know that we shall starve if not soon relieved; but starvation is preferable to the dishonored death which is the only alternative. your menaces move me not; my life is at your disposal; here is my sword, plunge it into my breast, and divide my flesh among you. take my body to appease your hunger, but expect no surrender, so long as i remain alive. the words of the stout burgomaster inspired a new courage in the hearts of those who heard him, and a shout of applause and defiance arose from the famishing but enthusiastic crowd. they left the place, after exchanging new vows of fidelity with their magistrate, and again ascended tower and battlement to watch for the coming fleet. from the ramparts they hurled renewed defiance at the enemy. "ye call us rat-eaters and dog-eaters," they cried, "and it is true. so long, then, as ye hear dog bark or cat mew within the walls, ye may know that the city holds out. and when all has perished but ourselves, be sure that we will each devour our left arms, retaining our right to defend our women, our liberty, and our religion, against the foreign tyrant. should god, in his wrath, doom us to destruction, and deny us all relief, even then will we maintain ourselves for ever against your entrance. when the last hour has come, with our own hands we will set fire to the city and perish, men, women, and children together in the flames, rather than suffer our homes to be polluted and our liberties to be crushed." such words of defiance, thundered daily from the battlements, sufficiently informed valdez as to his chance of conquering the city, either by force or fraud, but at the same time, he felt comparatively relieved by the inactivity of boisot's fleet, which still lay stranded at north aa. "as well," shouted the spaniards, derisively, to the citizens, "as well can the prince of orange pluck the stars from the sky as bring the ocean to the walls of leyden for your relief." on the th of september, a dove flew into the city, bringing a letter from admiral boisot. in this despatch, the position of the fleet at north aa was described in encouraging terms, and the inhabitants were assured that, in a very few days at furthest, the long-expected relief would enter their gates. the letter was read publicly upon the market- place, and the bells were rung for joy. nevertheless, on the morrow, the vanes pointed to the east, the waters, so far from rising, continued to sink, and admiral boisot was almost in despair. he wrote to the prince, that if the spring-tide, now to be expected, should not, together with a strong and favorable wind, come immediately to their relief, it would be in pain to attempt anything further, and that the expedition would, of necessity, be abandoned. the tempest came to their relief. a violent equinoctial gale, on the night of the st and nd of october, came storming from the north-west, shifting after a few hours full eight points, and then blowing still more violently from the south-west. the waters of the north sea were piled in vast masses upon the southern coast of holland, and then dashed furiously landward, the ocean rising over the earth, and sweeping with unrestrained power across the ruined dykes. in the course of twenty-four hours, the fleet at north aa, instead of nine inches, had more than two feet of water. no time was lost. the kirk-way, which had been broken through according to the prince's instructions, was now completely overflowed, and the fleet sailed at midnight, in the midst of the storm and darkness. a few sentinel vessels of the enemy challenged them as they steadily rowed towards zoeterwoude. the answer was a flash from boisot's cannon; lighting up the black waste of waters. there was a fierce naval midnight battle; a strange spectacle among the branches of those quiet orchards, and with the chimney stacks of half-submerged farmhouses rising around the contending vessels. the neighboring village of zoeterwoude shook with the discharges of the zealanders' cannon, and the spaniards assembled in that fortress knew that the rebel admiral was at last, afloat and on his course. the enemy's vessels were soon sunk, their crews hurled into the waves. on went the fleet, sweeping over the broad waters which lay between zoeterwoude and zwieten. as they approached some shallows, which led into the great mere, the zealanders dashed into the sea, and with sheer strength shouldered every vessel through. two obstacles lay still in their path--the forts of zoeterwoude and lammen, distant from the city five hundred and two hundred and fifty yards respectively. strong redoubts, both well supplied with troops and artillery, they were likely to give a rough reception to the light flotilla, but the panic; which had hitherto driven their foes before the advancing patriots; had reached zoeterwoude. hardly was the fleet in sight when the spaniards in the early morning, poured out from the fortress, and fled precipitately to the left, along a road which led in a westerly direction towards the hague. their narrow path was rapidly vanishing in the waves, and hundreds sank beneath the constantly deepening and treacherous flood. the wild zealanders, too, sprang from their vessels upon the crumbling dyke and drove their retreating foes into the sea. they hurled their harpoons at them, with an accuracy acquired in many a polar chase; they plunged into the waves in the keen pursuit, attacking them with boat-hook and dagger. the numbers who thus fell beneath these corsairs, who neither gave nor took quarter, were never counted, but probably not less than a thousand perished. the rest effected their escape to the hague. the first fortress was thus seized, dismantled, set on fire, and passed, and a few strokes of the oars brought the whole fleet close to lammen. this last obstacle rose formidable and frowning directly across their path. swarming as it was with soldiers, and bristling with artillery, it seemed to defy the armada either to carry it by storm or to pass under its guns into the city. it appeared that the enterprise was, after all, to founder within sight of the long expecting and expected haven. boisot anchored his fleet within a respectful distance, and spent what remained of the day in carefully reconnoitring the fort, which seemed only too strong. in conjunction with leyderdorp, the head-quarters of valdez, a mile and a half distant on the right, and within a mile of the city, it seemed so insuperable an impediment that boisot wrote in despondent tone to the prince of orange. he announced his intention of carrying the fort, if it were possible, on the following morning, but if obliged to retreat, he observed, with something like despair, that there would be nothing for it but to wait for another gale of wind. if the waters should rise sufficiently to enable them to make a wide detour, it might be possible, if, in the meantime, leyden did not starve or surrender, to enter its gates from the opposite side. meantime, the citizens had grown wild with expectation. a dove had been despatched by boisot, informing them of his precise position, and a number of citizens accompanied the burgomaster, at nightfall, toward the tower of hengist. yonder, cried the magistrate, stretching out his hand towards lammen, "yonder, behind that fort, are bread and meat, and brethren in thousands. shall all this be destroyed by the spanish guns, or shall we rush to the rescue of our friends?"--"we will tear the fortress to fragments with our teeth and nails," was the reply, "before the relief, so long expected, shall be wrested from us." it was resolved that a sortie, in conjunction with the operations of boisot, should be made against lammen with the earliest dawn. night descended upon the scene, a pitch dark night, full of anxiety to the spaniards, to the armada, to leyden. strange sights and sounds occurred at different moments to bewilder the anxious sentinels. a long procession of lights issuing from the fort was seen to flit across the black face of the waters, in the dead of night, and the whole of the city wall, between the cow-gate and the tower of burgundy, fell with a loud crash. the horror- struck citizens thought that the spaniards were upon them at last; the spaniards imagined the noise to indicate, a desperate sortie of the citizens. everything was vague and mysterious. day dawned, at length, after the feverish, night, and, the admiral prepared for the assault. within the fortress reigned a death-like stillness, which inspired a sickening suspicion. had the city, indeed, been carried in the night; had the massacre already commenced; had all this labor and audacity been expended in vain? suddenly a man was descried, wading breast-high through the water from lammen towards the fleet, while at the same time, one solitary boy was seen to wave his cap from the summit of the fort. after a moment of doubt, the happy mystery was solved. the spaniards had fled, panic struck, during the darkness. their position would still have enabled them, with firmness, to frustrate the enterprise of the patriots, but the hand of god, which had sent the ocean and the tempest to the deliverance of leyden, had struck her enemies with terror likewise. the lights which had been seen moving during the night were the lanterns of the retreating spaniards, and the boy who was now waving his triumphant signal from the battlements had alone witnessed the spectacle. so confident was he in the conclusion to which it led him, that he had volunteered at daybreak to go thither all alone. the magistrates, fearing a trap, hesitated for a moment to believe the truth, which soon, however, became quite evident. valdez, flying himself from leyderdorp, had ordered colonel borgia to retire with all his troops from lammen. thus, the spaniards had retreated at the very moment that an extraordinary accident had laid bare a whole side of the city for their entrance. the noise of the wall, as it fell, only inspired them with fresh alarm for they believed that the citizens had sallied forth in the darkness, to aid the advancing flood in the work of destruction. all obstacles being now removed, the fleet of boisot swept by lammen, and entered the city on the morning of the rd of october. leyden was relieved. the quays were lined with the famishing population, as the fleet rowed through the canals, every human being who could stand, coming forth to greet the preservers of the city. bread was thrown from every vessel among the crowd. the poor creatures who, for two months had tasted no wholesome human food, and who had literally been living within the jaws of death, snatched eagerly the blessed gift, at last too liberally bestowed. many choked themselves to death, in the greediness with which they devoured their bread; others became ill with the effects of plenty thus suddenly succeeding starvation; but these were isolated cases, a repetition of which was prevented. the admiral, stepping ashore, was welcomed by the magistracy, and a solemn procession was immediately formed. magistrates and citizens, wild zealanders, emaciated burgher guards, sailors, soldiers, women, children, nearly every living person within the walls, all repaired without delay to the great church, stout admiral boisot leading the way. the starving and heroic city, which had been so firm in its resistance to an earthly king, now bent itself in humble gratitude before the king of kings. after prayers, the whole vast congregation joined in the thanksgiving hymn. thousands of voices raised the-song, but few were able to carry it to its conclusion, for the universal emotion, deepened by the music, became too full for utterance. the hymn was abruptly suspended, while the multitude wept like children. this scene of honest pathos terminated; the necessary measures for distributing the food and for relieving the sick were taken by the magistracy. a note dispatched to the prince of orange, was received by him at two o'clock, as he sat in church at delft. it was of a somewhat different purport from that of the letter which he had received early in the same day from boisot; the letter in which the admiral had, informed him that the success of the enterprise depended; after-all, upon the desperate assault upon a nearly impregnable fort. the joy of the prince may be easily imagined, and so soon as the sermon was concluded; he handed the letter just received to the minister, to be read to the congregation. thus, all participated in his joy, and united with him in thanksgiving. the next day, notwithstanding the urgent entreaties of his friends, who were anxious lest his life should be endangered by breathing, in his scarcely convalescent state; the air of the city where so many thousands had been dying of the pestilence, the prince repaired to leyden. he, at least, had never doubted his own or his country's fortitude. they could, therefore, most sincerely congratulate each other, now that the victory had been achieved. "if we are doomed to perish," he had said a little before the commencement of the siege, "in the name of god, be it so! at any rate, we shall have the honor to have done what no nation ever, did before us, that of having defended and maintained ourselves, unaided, in so small a country, against the tremendous efforts of such powerful enemies. so long as the poor inhabitants here, though deserted by all the world, hold firm, it will still cost the spaniards the half of spain, in money and in men, before they can make an end of us." the termination of the terrible siege of leyden was a convincing proof to the spaniards that they had not yet made an end of the hollanders. it furnished, also, a sufficient presumption that until they had made an end of them, even unto the last hollander, there would never be an end of the struggle in which they were engaged. it was a slender consolation to the governor-general, that his troops had been vanquished, not by the enemy, but by the ocean. an enemy whom the ocean obeyed with such docility might well be deemed invincible by man. in the head-quarters of valdez, at leyderdorp, many plans of leyden and the neighbourhood were found lying in confusion about the room. upon the table was a hurried farewell of that general to the scenes of his, discomfiture, written in a latin worthy of juan vargas: "vale civitas, valete castelli parvi, qui relicti estis propter aquam et non per vim inimicorum!" in his precipitate retreat before the advancing rebels, the commander had but just found time for this elegant effusion, and, for his parting instructions to colonel borgia that the fortress of lammen was to be forthwith abandoned. these having been reduced to writing, valdez had fled so speedily as to give rise to much censure and more scandal. he was even accused of having been bribed by the hollanders to desert his post, a tale which many repeated, and a few believed. on the th of october, the day following that on which the relief of the city was effected, the wind shifted to the north-east, and again blew a tempest. it was as if the waters, having now done their work, had been rolled back to the ocean by an omnipotent hand, for in the course of a few days, the land was bare again, and the work of reconstructing the dykes commenced. after a brief interval of repose, leyden had regained its former position. the prince, with advice of the estates, had granted the city, as a reward for its sufferings, a ten days' annual fair, without tolls or taxes, and as a further manifestation of the gratitude entertained by the people of holland and zealand for the heroism of the citizens, it was resolved that an academy or university should be forthwith established within their walls. the university of leyden, afterwards so illustrious, was thus founded in the very darkest period of the country's struggle. the university was endowed with a handsome revenue, principally derived from the ancient abbey of egmont, and was provided with a number of professors, selected for their genius, learning, and piety among all the most distinguished scholars of the netherlands. the document by which the institution was founded was certainly a masterpiece of ponderous irony, for as the fiction of the king's sovereignty was still maintained, philip was gravely made to establish the university, as a reward to leyden for rebellion to himself. "considering," said this wonderful charter, "that during these present wearisome wars within our provinces of holland and zealand, all good instruction of youth in the sciences and liberal arts is likely to come into entire oblivion. . . . . considering the differences of religion--considering that we are inclined to gratify our city of leyden, with its burghers, on account of the heavy burthens sustained by them during this war with such faithfulness--we have resolved, after ripely deliberating with our dear cousin, william, prince of orange, stadholder, to erect a free public school and university," etc., etc., etc. so ran the document establishing this famous academy, all needful regulations for the government and police of the institution being entrusted by philip to his "above-mentioned dear cousin of orange." the university having been founded, endowed, and supplied with its, teachers, it was solemnly consecrated in the following winter, and it is agreeable to contemplate this scene of harmless pedantry, interposed, as it was, between the acts of the longest and dreariest tragedy of modern time. on the th of february, , the city of leyden, so lately the victim of famine and pestilence, had crowned itself with flowers. at seven in the morning, after a solemn religious celebration in the church of st. peter, a grand procession was formed. it was preceded by a military escort, consisting of the burgher militia and the five companies of infantry stationed in the city. then came, drawn by four horses, a splendid triumphal chariot, on which sat a female figure, arrayed in snow-white garments. this was the holy gospel. she was attended by the four evangelists, who walked on foot at each side of her chariot. next followed justice, with sword and scales, mounted; blindfold, upon a unicorn, while those learned doctors, julian, papinian, ulpian, and tribonian, rode on either side, attended by two lackeys and four men at arms. after these came medicine, on horseback, holding in one hand a treatise of the healing art, in the other a garland of drugs. the curative goddess rode between the four eminent physicians, hippocrates, galen, dioscorides, and theophrastus, and was attended by two footmen and four pike-bearers. last of the allegorical personages came minerva, prancing in complete steel, with lance in rest, and bearing her medusa shield. aristotle and plato, cicero and virgil, all on horseback, with attendants in antique armor at their back, surrounded the daughter of jupiter, while the city band, discoursing eloquent music from hautboy and viol, came upon the heels of the allegory. then followed the mace- bearers and other officials, escorting the orator of the day, the newly- appointed professors and doctors, the magistrates and dignitaries, and the body of the citizens generally completing the procession. marshalled in this order, through triumphal arches, and over a pavement strewed with flowers, the procession moved slowly up and down the different streets, and along the quiet canals of the city. as it reached the nuns' bridge, a barge of triumph, gorgeously decorated, came floating slowly down the sluggish rhine. upon its deck, under a canopy enwreathed with laurels and oranges, and adorned with tapestry, sat apollo, attended by the nine muses, all in classical costume; at the helm stood neptune with his trident. the muses executed some beautiful concerted pieces; apollo twanged his lute. having reached the landing-place, this deputation from parnassus stepped on shore, and stood awaiting the arrival of the procession. each professor, as he advanced, was gravely embraced and kissed by apollo and all the nine muses in turn, who greeted their arrival besides with the recitation of an elegant latin poem. this classical ceremony terminated, the whole procession marched together to the cloister of saint barbara, the place prepared for the new university, where they listened to an eloquent oration by the rev. caspar kolhas, after which they partook of a magnificent banquet. with this memorable feast, in the place where famine had so lately reigned, the ceremonies were concluded. etext editor's bookmarks: crescents in their caps: rather turkish than popish ever-swarming nurseries of mercenary warriors weep oftener for her children than is the usual lot of mothers this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic, by john lothop motley chapter iv. assumption of affairs by the state council at brussels--hesitation at madrid--joachim hopper--mal-administration--vigilance of orange-- the provinces drawn more closely together--inequality of the conflict--physical condition of holland--new act of union between holland and zealand--authority of the prince defined and enlarged-- provincial polity characterized--generous sentiments of the prince-- his tolerant spirit--letters from the king--attitude of the great powers towards the netherlands--correspondence and policy of elizabeth--secret negotiations with france and alencon--confused and menacing aspect of germany--responsible, and laborious position of orange--attempt to relieve zierickzee--death of admiral boisot-- capitulation of the city upon honourable terms--mutiny of the spanish troops in schouwen--general causes of discontent--alarming increase of the mutiny--the rebel regiments enter brabant--fruitless attempts to pacify them--they take possession of alost--edicts, denouncing them, from the state council--intense excitement in brussels and antwerp--letters from philip brought by marquis havre-- the king's continued procrastination--ruinous royal confirmation of the authority assumed by the state council--united and general resistance to foreign military oppression--the german troops and the antwerp garrison, under avila, join the revolt--letter of verdugo-- a crisis approaching--jerome de roda in the citadel--the mutiny universal. the death of requesens, notwithstanding his four days' illness, occurred so suddenly, that he had not had time to appoint his successor. had he exercised this privilege, which his patent conferred upon him, it was supposed that he would have nominated count mansfeld to exercise the functions of governor-general, until the king should otherwise ordain. in the absence of any definite arrangement, the council of state, according to a right which that body claimed from custom, assumed the reins of government. of the old board, there were none left but the duke of aerschot, count berlaymont, and viglins. to these were soon added, however, by royal diploma, the spaniard, jerome de roda, and the netherlanders, assonleville, baron rassenghiem and arnold sasbout. thus, all the members, save one, of what had now become the executive body, were natives of the country. roda was accordingly looked askance upon by his colleagues. he was regarded by viglius as a man who desired to repeat the part which had been played by juan vargas in the blood council, while the other members, although stanch catholics, were all of them well-disposed to vindicate the claim of netherland nobles to a share in the government of the netherlands. for a time, therefore, the transfer of authority seemed to have been smoothly accomplished. the council of state conducted the administration of the country. peter ernest mansfeld was entrusted with the supreme military command, including the government of brussels; and the spanish commanders; although dissatisfied that any but a spaniard should be thus honored, were for a time quiescent. when the news reached madrid, philip was extremely disconcerted. the death of requesens excited his indignation. he was angry with him, not for dying, but for dying at so very inconvenient a moment. he had not yet fully decided either upon his successor, or upon the policy to be enforced by his successor. there were several candidates for the vacant post; there was a variety of opinions in the cabinet as to the course of conduct to be adopted. in the impossibility of instantly making up his mind upon this unexpected emergency, philip fell, as it were, into a long reverie, than which nothing could be more inopportune. with a country in a state of revolution and exasperation, the trance, which now seemed to come over the government, was like to be followed by deadly effects. the stationary policy, which the death of requesens had occasioned, was allowed to prolong itself indefinitely, and almost for the first time in his life, joachim hopper was really consulted about the affairs of that department over which he imagined himself, and was generally supposed by others, to preside at madrid. the creature of viglius, having all the subserviency, with none of the acuteness of his patron, he had been long employed as chief of the netherland bureau, while kept in profound ignorance of the affairs which were transacted in his office. he was a privy councillor, whose counsels were never heeded, a confidential servant in whom the king reposed confidence, only on the ground that no man could reveal secrets which he did not know. this deportment of the king's showed that he had accurately measured the man, for hopper was hardly competent for the place of a chief clerk. he was unable to write clearly in any language, because incapable of a fully developed thought upon any subject. it may be supposed that nothing but an abortive policy, therefore, would be produced upon the occasion thus suddenly offered. "'tis a devout man, that poor master hopper," said granvelle, "but rather fitted for platonic researches than for affairs of state." it was a proof of this incompetency, that now, when really called upon for advice in an emergency, he should recommend a continuance of the interim. certainly nothing worse could be devised. granvelle recommended a reappointment of the duchess margaret. others suggested duke eric of brunswick, or an archduke of the austrian house; although the opinion held by most of the influential councillors was in favor of don john of austria. in the interests of philip and his despotism, nothing, at any rate, could be more fatal than delay. in the condition of affairs which then existed, the worst or feeblest governor would have been better than none at all. to leave a vacancy was to play directly into the hands of orange, for it was impossible that so skilful an adversary should not at once perceive the fault, and profit by it to the utmost. it was strange that philip did not see the danger of inactivity at such a crisis. assuredly, indolence was never his vice, but on this occasion indecision did the work of indolence. unwittingly, the despot was assisting the efforts of the liberator. viglius saw the position of matters with his customary keenness, and wondered at the blindness of hopper and philip. at the last gasp of a life, which neither learning nor the accumulation of worldly prizes and worldly pelf could redeem from intrinsic baseness, the sagacious but not venerable old man saw that a chasm was daily widening; in which the religion and the despotism which he loved might soon be hopelessly swallowed. "the prince of orange and his beggars do not sleep," he cried, almost in anguish; "nor will they be quiet till they have made use of this interregnum to do us some immense grievance." certainly the prince of orange did not sleep upon this nor any other great occasion of his life. in his own vigorous language, used to stimulate his friends in various parts of the country, he seized the swift occasion by the forelock. he opened a fresh correspondence with many leading gentlemen in brussels and other places in the netherlands; persons of influence, who now, for the first time, showed a disposition to side with their country against its tyrants. hitherto the land had been divided into two very unequal portions. holland and zealand were devoted to the prince; their whole population, with hardly an individual exception, converted to the reformed religion. the other fifteen provinces were, on the whole, loyal to the king; while the old religion had, of late years, taken root so rapidly again, that perhaps a moiety of their population might be considered as catholic. at the same time, the reign of terror under alva, the paler, but not less distinct tyranny of requesens, and the intolerable excesses of the foreign soldiery, by which the government of foreigners was supported, had at last maddened all the inhabitants of the seventeen provinces. notwithstanding, therefore, the fatal difference of religious opinion, they were all drawn into closer relations with each other; to regain their ancient privileges, and to expel the detested foreigners from the soil, being objects common to all. the provinces were united in one great hatred and one great hope. the hollanders and zealanders, under their heroic leader, had well nigh accomplished both tasks, so far as those little provinces were concerned. never had a contest, however, seemed more hopeless at its commencement. cast a glance at the map. look at holland--not the republic, with its sister provinces beyond the zuyder zee--but holland only, with the zealand archipelago. look at that narrow tongue of half-submerged earth. who could suppose that upon that slender sand-bank, one hundred and twenty miles in length, and varying in breadth from four miles to forty, one man, backed by the population of a handful of cities, could do battle nine years long with the master of two worlds, the "dominator of asia, africa, and america"--the despot of the fairest realms of europe--and conquer him at last. nor was william even entirely master of that narrow shoal where clung the survivors of a great national shipwreck. north and south holland were cut in two by the loss of harlem, while the enemy was in possession of the natural capital of the little country, amsterdam. the prince affirmed that the cause had suffered more from the disloyalty of amsterdam than from all the efforts of the enemy. moreover, the country was in a most desolate condition. it was almost literally a sinking ship. the destruction of the bulwarks against the ocean had been so extensive, in consequence of the voluntary inundations which have been described in previous pages, and by reason of the general neglect which more vital occupations had necessitated, that an enormous outlay, both of labor and money, was now indispensable to save the physical existence of the country. the labor and the money, notwithstanding the crippled and impoverished condition of the nation, were, however, freely contributed; a wonderful example of energy and patient heroism was again exhibited. the dykes which had been swept away in every direction were renewed at a vast expense. moreover, the country, in the course of recent events, had become almost swept bare of its cattle, and it was necessary to pass a law forbidding, for a considerable period, the slaughter of any animals, "oxen, cows, calves, sheep, or poultry." it was, unfortunately, not possible to provide by law against that extermination of the human population which had been decreed by philip and the pope. such was the physical and moral condition of the provinces of holland and zealand. the political constitution of both assumed, at this epoch, a somewhat altered aspect. the union between the two states; effected in june, , required improvement. the administration of justice, the conflicts of laws, and more particularly the levying of monies and troops in equitable proportions, had not been adjusted with perfect smoothness. the estates of the two provinces, assembled in congress at delft, concluded, therefore, a new act of union, which was duly signed upon the th of april, . those estates, consisting of the knights and nobles of holland, with the deputies from the cities and countships of holland and zealand, had been duly summoned by the prince of orange. they as fairly included all the political capacities, and furnished as copious a representation of the national will, as could be expected, for it is apparent upon every page of his history, that the prince, upon all occasions, chose to refer his policy to the approval and confirmation of as large a portion of the people as any man in those days considered capable or desirous of exercising political functions. the new, union consisted of eighteen articles. it was established that deputies from all the estates should meet, when summoned by the prince of orange or otherwise, on penalty of fine, and at the risk of measures binding upon them being passed by the rest of the congress. freshly arising causes of litigation were to be referred to the prince. free intercourse and traffic through the united provinces was guaranteed. the confederates were mutually to assist each other in preventing all injustice, wrong, or violence, even towards an enemy. the authority of law and the pure administration of justice were mutually promised by the contracting states. the common expenses were to be apportioned among the different provinces, "as if they were all included in the republic of a single city." nine commissioners, appointed by the prince on nomination by the estates, were to sit permanently, as his advisers, and as assessors and collectors of the taxes. the tenure of the union was from six months to six months, with six weeks notice. the framers of this compact having thus defined the general outlines of the confederacy, declared that the government, thus constituted, should be placed under a single head. they accordingly conferred supreme authority on the prince, defining his powers in eighteen articles. he was declared chief commander by land and sea. he was to appoint all officers, from generals to subalterns, and to pay them at his discretion. the whole protection of the land was devolved upon him. he was to send garrisons or troops into every city and village at his pleasure, without advice or consent of the estates, magistrates of the cities, or any other persons whatsoever. he was, in behalf of the king as count of holland and zealand, to cause justice to be administered by the supreme court. in the same capacity he was to provide for vacancies in all political and judicial offices of importance, choosing, with the advice of the estates, one officer for each vacant post out of three candidates nominated to him by that body. he was to appoint and renew, at the usual times, the magistracies in the cities, according to the ancient constitutions. he was to make changes in those boards, if necessary, at unusual times, with consent of the majority of those representing the great council and corpus of the said cities. he was to uphold the authority and pre-eminence of all civil functionaries, and to prevent governors and military officers from taking any cognizance of political or judicial affairs. with regard to religion, he was to maintain the practice of the reformed evangelical religion, and to cause to surcease the exercise of all other religions contrary to the gospel. he was, however, not to permit that inquisition should be made into any man's belief or conscience, or that any man by cause thereof should suffer trouble, injury, or hindrance. the league thus concluded was a confederation between a group of virtually independent little republics. each municipality, was, as it were, a little sovereign, sending envoys to a congress to vote and to sign as plenipotentiaries. the vote of each city was, therefore, indivisible, and it mattered little, practically, whether there were one deputy or several. the nobles represented not only their own order, but were supposed to act also in behalf of the rural population. on the whole, there was a tolerably fair representation of the whole nation. the people were well and worthily represented in the government of each city, and therefore equally so in the assembly of the estates. it was not till later that the corporations, by the extinction of the popular element, and by the usurpation of the right of self-election, were thoroughly stiffened into fictitious personages which never died, and which were never thoroughly alive. at this epoch the provincial liberties, so far as they could maintain themselves against spanish despotism, were practical and substantial. the government was a representative one, in which all those who had the inclination possessed, in one mode or another, a voice. although the various members of the confederacy were locally and practically republics or self-governed little commonwealths, the general government which they, established was, in form, monarchical. the powers conferred upon orange constituted him a sovereign ad interim, for while the authority of the spanish monarch remained suspended, the prince was invested, not only with the whole executive and appointing power, but even with a very large share in the legislative functions of the state. the whole system was rather practical than theoretical, without any accurate distribution of political powers. in living, energetic communities, where the blood of the body politic circulates swiftly, there is an inevitable tendency of the different organs to sympathize and commingle more closely than a priori philosophy would allow. it is usually more desirable than practicable to keep the executive, legislative, and judicial departments entirely independent of each other. certainly, the prince of orange did not at that moment indulge in speculations concerning the nature and origin of government. the congress of delft had just clothed him with almost regal authority. in his hands were the powers of war and peace, joint control of the magistracies and courts of justice, absolute supremacy over the army and the fleets. it is true that these attributes had been conferred upon him ad interim, but it depended only upon himself to make the sovereignty personal and permanent. he was so thoroughly absorbed in his work, however, that he did not even see the diadem which he put aside. it was small matter to him whether they called him stadholder or guardian, prince or king. he was the father of his country and its defender. the people, from highest to lowest, called him "father william," and the title was enough for him. the question with him was not what men should call him, but how he should best accomplish his task. so little was he inspired by the sentiment of self-elevation, that he was anxiously seeking for a fitting person--strong, wise, and willing enough --to exercise the sovereignty which was thrust upon himself, but which he desired to exchange against an increased power to be actively useful to his country. to expel the foreign oppressor; to strangle the inquisition; to maintain the ancient liberties of the nation; here was labor enough for his own hands. the vulgar thought of carving a throne out of the misfortunes of his country seems not to have entered his mind. upon one point, however, the prince had been peremptory. he would have no persecution of the opposite creed. he was requested to suppress the catholic religion, in terms. as we have seen, he caused the expression to be exchanged for the words, "religion at variance with the gospel." he resolutely stood out against all meddling with men's consciences, or inquiring into their thoughts. while smiting the spanish inquisition into the dust, he would have no calvinist inquisition set up in its place. earnestly a convert to the reformed religion, but hating and denouncing only what was corrupt in the ancient church, he would not force men, with fire and sword, to travel to heaven upon his own road. thought should be toll-free. neither monk nor minister should burn, drown, or hang his fellow-creatures, when argument or expostulation failed to redeem them from error. it was no small virtue, in that age, to rise to such a height. we know what calvinists, zwinglians, lutherans, have done in the netherlands, in germany, in switzerland, and almost a century later in new england. it is, therefore, with increased veneration that we regard this large and truly catholic mind. his tolerance proceeded from no indifference. no man can read his private writings, or form a thorough acquaintance with his interior life, without recognizing him as a deeply religious man. he had faith unfaltering in god. he had also faith in man and love for his brethren. it was no wonder that in that age of religious bigotry he should have been assaulted on both sides. while the pope excommunicated him as a heretic, and the king set a price upon his head as a rebel, the fanatics of the new religion denounced him as a godless man. peter dathenus, the unfrocked monk of poperingen, shrieked out in his pulpit that the "prince of orange cared nothing either for god or for religion." the death of requesens had offered the first opening through which the watchful prince could hope to inflict a wound in the vital part of spanish authority in the netherlands. the languor of philip and the procrastinating counsel of the dull hopper unexpectedly widened the opening. on the th of march letters were written by his majesty to the states-general, to the provincial estates, and to the courts of justice, instructing them that, until further orders, they were all to obey the council of state. the king was confident that all would do their utmost to assist that body in securing the holy catholic faith and the implicit obedience of the country to its sovereign. he would, in the meantime, occupy himself with the selection of a new governor-general, who should be of his family and blood. this uncertain and perilous condition of things was watched with painful interest in neighbouring countries. the fate of all nations was more or less involved in the development of the great religious contest now waging in the netherlands. england and france watched each other's movements in the direction of the provinces with intense jealousy. the protestant queen was the natural ally of the struggling reformers, but her despotic sentiments were averse to the fostering of rebellion against the lord's anointed. the thrifty queen looked with alarm at the prospect of large subsidies which would undoubtedly be demanded of her. the jealous queen could as ill brook the presence of the french in the netherlands as that of the spaniards whom they were to expel. she therefore embarrassed, as usual, the operations of the prince by a course of stale political coquetry. she wrote to him, on the th of march, soon after the news of the grand commander's death, saying that she could not yet accept the offer which had been made to her, to take the provinces of holland and zealand under her safe keeping, to assume, as countess, the sovereignty over them, and to protect the inhabitants against the alleged tyranny of the king of spain. she was unwilling to do so until she had made every effort to reconcile them with that sovereign. before the death of requesens she had been intending to send him an envoy, proposing a truce, for the purpose of negotiation. this purpose she still retained. she should send commissioners to the council of state and to the new governor, when he should arrive. she should also send a special envoy to the king of spain. she doubted not that the king would take her advice, when he heard her speak in such straightforward language. in the meantime, she hoped that they would negotiate with no other powers. this was not very satisfactory. the queen rejected the offers to herself, but begged that they might, by no means, be made to her rivals. the expressed intention of softening the heart of philip by the use of straightforward language seemed but a sorry sarcasm. it was hardly worth while to wait long for so improbable a result. thus much for england at that juncture. not inimical, certainly; but over-cautious, ungenerous, teasing, and perplexing, was the policy of the maiden queen. with regard to france, events there seemed to favor the hopes of orange. on the th of may, the "peace of monsieur," the treaty by which so ample but so short-lived a triumph was achieved by the huguenots, was signed at paris. everything was conceded, but nothing was secured. rights of worship, rights of office, political and civil, religious enfranchisement, were recovered, but not guaranteed. it seemed scarcely possible that the king could be in earnest then, even if a medicean valois could ever be otherwise than treacherous. it was almost, certain, therefore, that a reaction would take place; but it is easier for us, three centuries after the event, to mark the precise moment of reaction, than it was for the most far-seeing contemporary to foretell how soon it would occur. in the meantime, it was the prince's cue to make use of this sunshine while it lasted. already, so soon as the union of th of april had been concluded between holland and zealand, he had forced the estates to open negotiations with france. the provinces, although desirous to confer sovereignty upon him, were indisposed to renounce their old allegiance to their king in order to place it at the disposal of a foreigner. nevertheless, a resolution, at the reiterated demands of orange, was passed by the estates, to proceed to the change of master, and, for that, purpose, to treat with the king of france, his brother, or any other foreign potentate, who would receive these provinces of holland and zealand under his government and protection. negotiations were accordingly opened with the duke-of-anjou, the dilettante leader of the huguenots at that remarkable juncture. it was a pity that no better champion could be looked for among the anointed of the earth than the false, fickle, foolish alencon, whose career, everywhere contemptible, was nowhere so flagitious as in the netherlands. by the fourteenth article of the peace of paris, the prince was reinstated and secured in his principality of orange; and his other possessions in france. the best feeling; for the time being, was manifested between the french court and the reformation. thus much for england and france. as for germany, the prospects of the netherlands were not flattering. the reforming spirit had grown languid, from various causes. the self-seeking motives of many protestant princes had disgusted the nobles. was that the object of the bloody wars of religion, that a few potentates should be enabled to enrich themselves by confiscating the broad lands and accumulated treasures of the church? had the creed of luther been embraced only for such unworthy ends? these suspicions chilled the ardor of thousands, particularly among the greater ones of the land. moreover, the discord among the reformers themselves waxed daily, and became more and more mischievous. neither the people nor their leaders could learn that, not a new doctrine, but a wise toleration for all christian doctrines was wanted. of new doctrines there was no lack. lutherans, calvinists, flaccianists, majorists, adiaphorists, brantianists, ubiquitists, swarmed and contended pell-mell. in this there would have been small harm, if the reformers had known what reformation meant. but they could not invent or imagine toleration. all claimed the privilege of persecuting. there were sagacious and honest men among the great ones of the country, but they were but few. wise william of hesse strove hard to effect a concordia among the jarring sects; count john of nassau, though a passionate calvinist, did no less; while the elector of saxony, on the other hand, raging and roaring like a bull of bashan, was for sacrificing the interest of millions on the altar of his personal spite. cursed was his tribe if he forgave the prince. he had done what he could at the diet of ratisbon to exclude all calvinists from a participation in the religious peace of germany, and he redoubled his efforts to prevent the extension of any benefits to the calvinists of the netherlands. these determinations had remained constant and intense. on the whole, the political appearance of germany was as menacing as that of france seemed for a time favorable to the schemes of orange. the quarrels of the princes, and the daily widening schism between lutherans and calvinists, seemed to bode little good to the cause of religious freedom. the potentates were perplexed and at variance, the nobles lukewarm and discontented. among the people, although subdivided into hostile factions, there was more life. here, at least, were heartiness of love and hate, enthusiastic conviction, earnestness and agitation. "the true religion," wrote count john, "is spreading daily among the common men. among the powerful, who think themselves highly learned, and who sit in roses, it grows, alas, little. here and there a nicodemus or two may be found, but things will hardly go better here than in france or the netherlands." thus, then, stood affairs in the neighbouring countries. the prospect was black in germany, more encouraging in france, dubious, or worse, in england. more work, more anxiety, more desperate struggles than ever, devolved upon the prince. secretary brunynck wrote that his illustrious chief was tolerably well in health, but so loaded with affairs, sorrows, and travails, that, from morning till night, he had scarcely leisure to breathe. besides his multitudinous correspondence with the public bodies, whose labors he habitually directed; with the various estates of the provinces, which he was gradually moulding into an organised and general resistance to the spanish power; with public envoys and with secret agents to foreign cabinets, all of whom received their instructions from him alone; with individuals of eminence and influence, whom he was eloquently urging to abandon their hostile position to their fatherland; and to assist him in the great work which he was doing; besides these numerous avocations, he was actively and anxiously engaged during the spring of , with the attempt to relieve the city of zierickzee. that important place, the capital of schouwen, and the key to half zealand, had remained closely invested since the memorable expedition to duiveland. the prince had passed much of his time in the neighbourhood, during the month of may, in order to attend personally to the contemplated relief, and to correspond daily with the beleaguered garrison. at last, on the th of may, a vigorous effort was made to throw in succor by sea. the brave admiral boisot, hero of the memorable relief of leyden, had charge of the expedition. mondragon had surrounded the shallow harbor with hulks and chains, and with a loose submerged dyke of piles and rubbish. against this obstacle boisot drove his ship, the 'red lion,' with his customary audacity, but did not succeed in cutting it through. his vessel, the largest of the feet, became entangled: he was, at the same time, attacked from a distance by the besiegers. the tide ebbed and left his ship aground, while the other vessels had been beaten back by the enemy. night approached; and there was no possibility of accomplishing the enterprise. his ship was hopelessly stranded. with the morning's sun his captivity was certain. rather than fall into the hands of his enemy, he sprang into the sea; followed by three hundred of his companions, some of whom were fortunate enough to effect their escape. the gallant admiral swam a long time, sustained by a broken spar. night and darkness came on before assistance could be rendered, and he perished. thus died louis boisot, one of the most enterprising of the early champions of netherland freedom--one of the bravest precursors of that race of heroes, the commanders of the holland navy. the prince deplored his loss deeply, as that of a "valiant gentleman, and one well affectioned to the common cause." his brother, charles boisot, as will be remembered, had perished by treachery at the first landing of the spanish troops; after their perilous passage from duiveland.--thus both the brethren had laid down their lives for their country, in this its outer barrier, and in the hour of its utmost need. the fall of the beleaguered town could no longer be deferred. the spaniards were, at last, to receive the prize of that romantic valor which had led them across the bottom of the sea to attack the city. nearly nine months had, however, elapsed since that achievement; and the grand commander, by whose orders it had been undertaken, had been four months in his grave. he was permitted to see neither the long-delayed success which crowded the enterprise, nor the procession of disasters and crimes which were to mark it as a most fatal success. on the st of june, , zierickzee, instructed by the prince of orange to accept honorable terms, if offered, agreed to surrender. mondragon, whose soldiers were in a state of suffering, and ready to break out in mutiny, was but too happy to grant an honorable capitulation. the garrison were allowed to go out with their arms and personal baggage. the citizens were permitted to retain or resume their privileges and charters, on payment of two hundred thousand guldens. of, sacking and burning there was, on this occasion, fortunately, no question; but the first half of the commutation money was to be paid in cash. there was but little money in the impoverished little town, but mint-masters were appointed by the: magistrates to take their seats at once an in the hotel de ville. the citizens brought their spoons and silver dishes; one after another, which were melted and coined into dollars and half-dollars, until the payment was satisfactorily adjusted. thus fell zierickzee, to the deep regret of the prince. "had we received the least succor in the world from any side," he wrote; "the poor city should never have fallen. i could get nothing from france or england, with all my efforts. nevertheless, we do not lose courage, but hope that, although abandoned by all the world, the lord god will extend his right hand over us." the enemies were not destined to go farther. from their own hand now came the blow which was to expel them from the soil which they had so long polluted. no sooner was zierickzee captured than a mutiny broke forth among several companies of spaniards and walloons, belonging, to the army in schouwen. a large number of the most influential officers had gone to brussels, to make arrangements, if possible; for the payment of the troops. in their absence there was more scope for the arguments of the leading mutineers; arguments assuredly, not entirely destitute of justice or logical precision. if ever laborers were worthy of their hire, certainly it was the spanish soldiery. had they not done the work of demons for nine years long? could philip or alva have found in the wide world men to execute their decrees with more unhesitating docility, with more sympathizing eagerness? what obstacle had ever given them pause in their career of duty? what element had they not braved? had not they fought within the bowels of the earth, beneath the depths of the sea, within blazing cities, and upon fields of ice? where was the work which had been too dark and bloody for their performance? had they not slaughtered unarmed human beings by townfuls, at the word of command? had they not eaten the flesh, and drank the hearts' blood of their enemies? had they not stained the house of god with wholesale massacre? what altar and what hearthstone had they not profaned? what fatigue, what danger, what crime, had ever checked them for a moment? and for all this obedience, labor, and bloodshed, were they not even to be paid such wages as the commonest clown, who only tore the earth at home, received? did philip believe that a few thousand spaniards were to execute his sentence of death against three millions of netherlanders, and be cheated of their pay at last? it was in vain that arguments and expostulations were addressed to soldiers who were suffering from want, and maddened by injustice. they determined to take their cause into their own hand, as they had often done before. by the th of july, the mutiny was general on the isle of schouwen. promises were freely offered, both of pay and pardon; appeals were made to their old sense of honor and loyalty; but they had had enough of promises, of honor, and of work. what they wanted now were shoes and jerkins, bread and meat, and money. money they would have, and that at once. the king of spain was their debtor. the netherlands belonged to the king of spain. they would therefore levy on the netherlands for payment of their debt. certainly this was a logical deduction. they knew by experience that this process had heretofore excited more indignation in the minds of the netherland people than in that of their master. moreover, at this juncture, they cared little for their sovereign's displeasure, and not at all for that of the netherlanders. by the middle of july, then, the mutineers, now entirely beyond control, held their officers imprisoned within their quarters at zierickzee. they even surrounded the house of mondtagon, who had so often led them to victory, calling upon him with threats and taunts to furnish them with money. the veteran, roused to fury by their insubordination and their taunts, sprang from his house into the midst of the throng. baring his breast before them, he fiercely invited and dared their utmost violence. of his life-blood, he told them bitterly, he was no niggard, and it was at their disposal. his wealth, had he possessed any, would have been equally theirs. shamed into temporary respect, but not turned from their purpose by the choler of their chief, they left him to himself. soon afterwards, having swept schouwen island bare of every thing which could be consumed, the mutineers swarmed out of zealand into brabant, devouring as they went. it was their purpose to hover for a time in the neighbourhood of the capital, and either to force the council of state to pay them their long arrears, or else to seize and sack the richest city upon which they could lay their hands. the compact, disciplined mass, rolled hither and thither, with uncertainty of purpose, but with the same military precision of movement which had always characterized these remarkable mutinies. it gathered strength daily. the citizens of brussels contemplated with dismay the eccentric and threatening apparition. they knew that rapine, murder, and all the worst evils which man can inflict on his brethren were pent within it, and would soon descend. yet, even with all their past experience, did they not foresee the depth of woe which was really impending. the mutineers had discarded such of their officers as they could not compel to obedience, and had, as usual, chosen their eletto. many straggling companies joined them as they swept to and fro. they came to herenthals, where they were met by count mansfeld, who was deputed by the council of state to treat with them, to appeal to them; to pardon them, to offer, them everything but money. it may be supposed that the success of the commander-in-chief was no better than that of mondragon and his subalterns. they laughed him to scorn when he reminded them how their conduct was tarnishing the glory which they had acquired by nine years of heroism. they answered with their former cynicism, that glory could be put neither into pocket nor stomach. they had no use for it; they had more than enough of it. give them money, or give them a city, these were their last terms. sorrowfully and bodingly mansfeld withdrew to consult again with the state council. the mutineers then made a demonstration upon mechlin, but that city having fortunately strengthened its garrison, was allowed to escape. they then hovered for a time outside the walls of brussels. at grimsberg, where they paused for a short period, they held a parley with captain montesdocca, whom they received with fair words and specious pretences. he returned to brussels with the favourable tidings, and the mutineers swarmed off to assche. thither montesdoeca was again despatched, with the expectation that he would be able to bring them to terms, but they drove him off with jeers and threats, finding that he brought neither money nor the mortgage of a populous city. the next day, after a feint or two in a different direction, they made a sudden swoop upon alost, in flanders. here they had at last made their choice, and the town was carried by storm. all the inhabitants who opposed them were butchered, and the mutiny, at last established in a capital, was able to treat with the state council upon equal terms. they were now between two and three thousand strong, disciplined, veteran troops, posted in a strong and wealthy city. one hundred parishes belonged to the jurisdiction of alost, all of which were immediately laid under contribution. the excitement was now intense in brussels. anxiety and alarm had given place to rage, and the whole population rose in arms to defend the capital, which was felt to be in imminent danger. this spontaneous courage of the burghers prevented the catastrophe, which was reserved for a sister city. meantime, the indignation and horror excited by the mutiny were so universal that the council of state could not withstand the pressure. even the women and children demanded daily in the streets that the rebel soldiers should be declared outlaws. on the th of july, accordingly, the king of spain was made to pronounce, his spaniards traitors and murderers. all men were enjoined to slay one or all of them, wherever they should be found; to refuse them bread, water, and fire, and to assemble at sound of bell; in every city; whenever the magistrates should order an assault upon them. a still more stringent edict was issued on the nd of august; and so eagerly had these degrees been expected, that they were published throughout flanders and brabant almost as soon as issued. hitherto the leading officers of the spanish army had kept aloof from the insurgents, and frowned upon their proceedings. the spanish member of the state council, jerome de roda, had joined without opposition in the edict. as, however, the mutiny gathered strength on the outside, the indignation waxed daily within the capital. the citizens of brussels, one and all, stood to their arms. not a man could enter or leave without their permission. the spaniards who were in the town, whether soldiers or merchants, were regarded with suspicion and abhorrence. the leading spanish officers, romero, montesdocca, verdugo, and others, who had attempted to quell the mutiny, had been driven off with threats and curses, their soldiers defying them and brandishing their swords in their very faces. on the other hand, they were looked upon with ill-will by the netherlanders. the most prominent spanish personages in brussels were kept in a state of half- imprisonment. romero, roda, verdugo, were believed to favor at heart the cause of their rebellious troops, and the burghers of brabant had come to consider all the king's army in a state of rebellion. believing the state council powerless to protect them from the impending storm, they regarded that body with little respect, keeping it, as it were, in durance, while the spaniards were afraid to walk the streets of brussels for fear of being murdered. a retainer of rods, who had ventured to defend the character and conduct of his master before a number of excited citizens, was slain on the spot. in antwerp, champagny, brother of granvelle, and governor of the city, was disposed to cultivate friendly relations with the prince of orange. champagny hated the spaniards, and the hatred seemed to establish enough of sympathy between himself and the liberal party to authorize confidence in him. the prince dealt with him, but regarded him warily. fifteen companies of german troops, under colonel altaemst, were suspected of a strong inclination to join the mutiny. they were withdrawn from antwerp, and in their room came count uberstein, with his regiment, who swore to admit no suspicious person inside the gates, and in all things to obey the orders of champagny. in the citadel, however, matters were very threatening. sancho d'avila, the governor, although he had not openly joined the revolt, treated the edict of outlawry against the rebellious soldiery with derision. he refused to publish a decree which he proclaimed infamous, and which had been extorted, in his opinion, from an impotent and trembling council. even champagny had not desired or dared to publish the edict within the city. the reasons alleged were his fears of irritating and alarming the foreign merchants, whose position was so critical and friendship so important at that moment. on the other hand, it was loudly and joyfully published in most other towns of flanders and brabant. in brussels there were two parties, one holding the decree too audacious for his majesty to pardon; the other clamoring for its instantaneous fulfilment. by far the larger and more influential portion of the population favored the measure, and wished the sentence of outlawry and extermination to be extended at once against all spaniards and other foreigners in the service of the king. it seemed imprudent to wait until all the regiments had formally accepted the mutiny, and concentrated themselves into a single body. at this juncture, on the last day of july, the marquis off havre, brother to the duke of aerschot, arrived out of spain. he was charged by the king with conciliatory but unmeaning phrases to the estates. the occasion was not a happy one. there never was a time when direct and vigorous action had been more necessary. it was probably the king's desire then, as much as it ever had been his desire at all, to make up the quarrel with his provinces. he had been wearied with the policy which alva had enforced, and for which he endeavoured at that period to make the duke appear responsible. the barren clemency which the grand commander had been instructed to affect, had deceived but few persons, and had produced but small results. the king was, perhaps, really inclined at this juncture to exercise clemency--that is to say he was willing to pardon his people for having contended for their rights, provided they were now willing to resign them for ever. so the catholic religion and his own authority, were exclusively and inviolably secured, he was willing to receive his disobedient provinces into favor. to accomplish this end, however, he had still no more fortunate conception than to take the advice of hopper. a soothing procrastination was the anodyne selected for the bitter pangs of the body politic--a vague expression of royal benignity the styptic to be applied to its mortal wounds. an interval of hesitation was to bridge over the chasm between the provinces and their distant metropolis. "the marquis of havre has been sent," said the king, "that he may expressly witness to you of our good intentions, and of our desire, with the grace of god, to bring about a pacification." alas, it was well known whence those pavements of good intentions had been taken, and whither they would lead. they were not the material for a substantial road to reconciliation. "his majesty," said the marquis; on delivering his report to the state council, "has long been pondering over all things necessary to the peace of the land. his majesty, like a very gracious and bountiful prince, has ever been disposed, in times past, to treat these, his subjects, by the best and sweetest means." there being, however, room for an opinion that so bountiful a prince might have discovered sweeter means, by all this pondering, than to burn and gibbet his subjects by thousands, it was thought proper to insinuate that his orders had been hitherto misunderstood. alva and requesens had been unfaithful agents, who did not know their business, but it was to be set right in future. "as the good-will and meaning of his majesty has, by no means been followed," continued the envoy, "his majesty has determined to send councillor hopper, keeper of the privy seal, and myself, hitherwards, to execute the resolutions of his majesty." two such personages as poor, plodding, confused; time-serving hopper, and flighty, talkative havre, whom even requesens despised, and whom don john, while shortly afterwards recommending him for a state councillor, characterized, to philip as "a very great scoundrel;" would hardly be able, even if royally empowered, to undo the work of two preceding administrations. moreover, councillor hopper, on further thoughts, was not despatched at all to the netherlands. the provinces were, however, assured by the king's letters to the brabant estates, to the state council, and other, public bodies, as well as by the report of the marquis, that efficacious remedies were preparing in madrid. the people were only too wait patiently till they should arrive. the public had heard before of these nostrums, made up by the royal prescriptions in spain; and were not likely to accept them as a panacea for their present complicated disorders. never, in truth, had conventional commonplace been applied more unseasonably. here was a general military mutiny flaming in the very centre of the land. here had the intense hatred of race, which for years had been gnawing at the heart of the country, at last broken out into most malignant manifestation. here was nearly the whole native population of every province, from grand seigneur to plebeian, from catholic prelate to anabaptist artisan, exasperated alike by the excesses of six thousand foreign brigands, and united by a common hatred, into a band of brethren. here was a state council too feeble to exercise the authority which it had arrogated, trembling between the wrath of its sovereign, the menacing cries of the brussels burghers, and the wild threats of the rebellious army; and held virtually, captive in the capital which it was supposed to govern. certainly, the confirmation of the council in its authority, for an indefinite, even if for a brief period, was a most unlucky step at this juncture. there were two parties in the provinces, but one was far the most powerful upon the great point of the spanish soldiery. a vast majority were in favor of a declaration of outlawry against the whole army, and it was thought desirable to improve the opportunity by getting rid of them altogether. if the people could rise en masse, now that the royal government was in abeyance, and, as it were, in the nation's hands, the incubus might be cast off for ever. if any of the spanish officers had been sincere in their efforts to arrest the mutiny, the sincerity was not believed. if any of the foreign regiments of the king appeared to hesitate at joining the alost crew, the hesitation was felt to be temporary. meantime, the important german regiments of fugger, fronsberger, and polwiller, with their colonels and other officers, had openly joined the rebellion, while there was no doubt of the sentiments of sancho d'avila and the troops under his command. thus there were two great rallying-places for the sedition, and the most important fortress of the country, the key which unlocked the richest city in the world, was in the hands of the mutineers. the commercial capital of europe, filled to the brim with accumulated treasures, and with the merchandize of every clime; lay at the feet of this desperate band of brigands. the horrible result was but too soon to be made manifest. meantime, in brussels, the few spaniards trembled for their lives. the few officers shut up there were in imminent danger. "as the devil does not cease to do his work," wrote colonel verdugo, "he has put it into the heads of the brabanters to rebel, taking for a pretext the mutiny of the spaniards. the brussels men have handled their weapons so well against those who were placed there to protect them, that they have begun to kill the spaniards, threatening likewise the council of state. such is their insolence, that they care no more for these great lords than for so many varlets." the writer, who had taken refuge, together with jerome de roda and other spaniards, or "hispaniolized" persons, in antwerp citadel, proceeded to sketch the preparations which were going on in brussels, and the counter measures which were making progress in antwerp. "the states," he wrote, "are enrolling troops, saying 'tis to put down the mutiny; but i assure you 'tis to attack the army indiscriminately. to prevent such a villainous undertaking, troops of all nations are assembling here, in order to march straight upon brussels, there to enforce everything which my lords of the state council shall ordain." events were obviously hastening to a crisis--an explosion, before long, was inevitable. "i wish i had my horses here," continued the colonel, "and must beg you to send them. i see a black cloud hanging over our heads. i fear that the brabantines will play the beasts so much, that they will have all the soldiery at their throats." jerome de roda had been fortunate enough to make his escape out of brussels, and now claimed to be sole governor of the netherlands, as the only remaining representative of the state council. his colleagues were in durance at the capital. their authority was derided. although not yet actually imprisoned, they were in reality bound hand and foot, and compelled to take their orders either from the brabant estates or from the burghers of brussels. it was not an illogical proceeding, therefore, that roda, under the shadow of the antwerp citadel, should set up his own person as all that remained of the outraged majesty of spain. till the new governor, don juan, should arrive, whose appointment the king had already communicated to the government, and who might be expected in the netherlands before the close of the autumn, the solitary councillor claimed to embody the whole council. he caused a new seal to be struck-- a proceeding very unreasonably charged as forgery by the provincials--and forthwith began to thunder forth proclamations and counter-proclamations in the king's name and under the royal seal. it is difficult to see any technical crime or mistake in such a course. as a spaniard, and a representative of his majesty, he could hardly be expected to take any other view of his duty. at any rate, being called upon to choose between rebellious netherlanders and mutinous spaniards, he was not long in making up his mind. by the beginning of september the, mutiny was general. all the spanish army, from general to pioneer, were united. the most important german troops had taken side with them. sancho d'avila held the citadel of antwerp, vowing vengeance, and holding open communication with the soldiers at alost. the council of state remonstrated with him for his disloyalty. he replied by referring to his long years of service, and by reproving them for affecting an authority which their imprisonment rendered ridiculous. the spaniards were securely established. the various citadels which had been built by charles and philip to curb the country now effectually did their work. with the castles of antwerp, valenciennes, ghent, utrecht, culemburg, viane, alost, in the hands of six thousand veteran spaniards, the country seemed chained in every limb. the foreigner's foot was on its neck. brussels was almost the only considerable town out of holland and zealand which was even temporarily safe. the important city of maestricht was held by a spanish garrison, while other capital towns and stations were in the power of the walloon and german mutineers. the depredations committed in the villages, the open country, and the cities were incessant--the spaniards treating every netherlander as their foe. gentleman and peasant, protestant and catholic, priest and layman, all were plundered, maltreated, outraged. the indignation became daily more general and more intense. there were frequent skirmishes between the soldiery and promiscuous bands of peasants, citizens, and students; conflicts in which the spaniards were invariably victorious. what could such half-armed and wholly untrained partisans effect against the bravest and most experienced troops in the whole world? such results only increased the general exasperation, while they impressed upon the whole people the necessity of some great and general effort to throw off the incubus. - [chapter v.] religious and political sympathies and antipathies in the seventeen provinces--unanimous hatred for the foreign soldiery--use made by the prince of the mutiny--his correspondence--necessity of union enforced--a congress from nearly all the provinces meets at ghent-- skirmishes between the foreign troops and partisan bands--slaughter at tisnacq--suspicions entertained of the state-council--arrest of the state-council--siege of ghent citadel--assistance sent by orange--maestricht lost and regained--wealthy and perilous condition of antwerp--preparations of the mutineers under the secret superintendence of avila--stupidity of oberstein--duplicity of don sancho--reinforcements of walloons under havre, egmont, and others, sent to for the expected assault of antwerp--governor champagny's preparations the mutineers--insubordination, incapacity, and negligence of all but him--concentration of all the mutineers from different points, in the citadel--the attack--the panic--the flight --the massacre--the fire--the sack--and other details of the "spanish fury"--statistics of murder and robbery--letter of orange to the states-general--surrender of ghent citadel--conclusion of the "ghent pacification"--the treaty characterized--forms of ratification--fall of zierickzee and recovery of zealand. meantime, the prince of orange sat at middelburg, watching the storm. the position of holland and zealand with regard to the other fifteen provinces was distinctly characterized. upon certain points there was an absolute sympathy, while upon others there was a grave and almost fatal difference. it was the task of the prince to deepen the sympathy, to extinguish the difference. in holland and zealand, there was a warm and nearly universal adhesion to the reformed religion, a passionate attachment to the ancient political liberties. the prince, although an earnest calvinist himself, did all in his power to check the growing spirit of intolerance toward the old religion, omitted no opportunity of strengthening the attachment which the people justly felt for their liberal institutions. on the other hand, in most of the other provinces, the catholic religion had been regaining its ascendency. even in , the estates assembled at brussels declared to requesens "that they would rather die the death than see any change in their religion." that feeling had rather increased than diminished. although there was a strong party attached to the new faith, there was perhaps a larger, certainly a more influential body, which regarded the ancient church with absolute fidelity. owing partly to the persecution which had, in the course of years, banished so many thousands of families from the soil, partly to the coercion, which was more stringent in the immediate presence of the crown's representative, partly to the stronger infusion of the celtic element, which from the earliest ages had always been so keenly alive to the more sensuous and splendid manifestations of the devotional principle--owing to those and many other causes, the old religion, despite of all the outrages which had been committed in its name, still numbered a host of zealous adherents in the fifteen provinces. attempts against its sanctity were regarded with jealous eyes. it was believed, and with reason, that there was a disposition on the part of the reformers to destroy it root and branch. it was suspected that the same enginery of persecution would be employed in its extirpation, should the opposite party gain the supremacy, which the papists had so long employed against the converts to the new religion. as to political convictions, the fifteen provinces differed much less from their two sisters. there was a strong attachment to their old constitutions; a general inclination to make use of the present crisis to effect their restoration. at the same time, it had not come to be the general conviction, as in holland and zealand, that the maintenance of those liberties was incompatible with the continuance of philip's authority. there was, moreover, a strong aristocratic faction which was by no means disposed to take a liberal view of government in general, and regarded with apprehension the simultaneous advance of heretical notions both in church and, state. still there were, on the whole, the elements of a controlling constitutional party throughout the fifteen provinces the great bond of sympathy, however, between all the seventeen was their common hatred to the foreign soldiery. upon this deeply imbedded, immovable fulcrum of an ancient national hatred, the sudden mutiny of the whole spanish army served as a lever of incalculable power. the prince seized it as from the hand of god. thus armed, he proposed to himself the task of upturning the mass of oppression under which the old liberties of the country had so long been crushed. to effect this object, adroitness was as requisite as courage. expulsion of the foreign soldiery, union of the seventeen provinces, a representative constitution, according to the old charters, by the states-general, under an hereditary chief, a large religious toleration, suppression of all inquisition into men's consciences--these were the great objects to which the prince now devoted himself with renewed energy. to bring about a general organization and a general union, much delicacy of handling was necessary. the sentiment of extreme catholicism and monarchism was not to be suddenly scared into opposition. the prince, therefore, in all his addresses and documents was careful to disclaim any intention of disturbing the established religion, or of making any rash political changes. "let no man think," said he, to the authorities of brabant, "that, against the will of the estates, we desire to bring about any change in religion. let no one suspect us capable of prejudicing the rights of any man. we have long since taken up arms to maintain a legal and constitutional freedom, founded upon law. god forbid that we should now attempt to introduce novelties, by which the face of liberty should be defiled." in a brief and very spirited letter to count lalain, a catholic and a loyalist, but a friend of his country and fervent hater of foreign oppression, he thus appealed to his sense of chivalry and justice: "although the honorable house from which you spring," he said, "and the virtue and courage of your ancestors have always impressed me with the conviction that you would follow in their footsteps, yet am i glad to have received proofs that my anticipations were correct. i cannot help, therefore, entreating you to maintain the same high heart, and to accomplish that which you have so worthily begun. be not deluded by false masks, mumming faces, and borrowed titles, which people assume for their own profit, persuading others that the king's service consists in the destruction of his subjects." while thus careful to offend no man's religious convictions, to startle no man's loyalty, he made skillful use of the general indignation felt at, the atrocities of the mutinous army. this chord he struck boldly, powerfully, passionately, for he felt sure of the depth and strength of its vibrations. in his address to the estates of gelderland, he used vigorous language, inflaming and directing to a practical purpose the just wrath which was felt in that, as in every other province. "i write to warn you," he said, "to seize this present opportunity. shake from your necks the yoke of the godless spanish tyranny, join yourselves at once to the lovers of the fatherland, to the defenders of freedom. according to the example of your own ancestors and ours, redeem for the country its ancient laws, traditions, and privileges. permit no longer, to your shame and ours, a band of spanish landloupers and other foreigners, together with three or four self-seeking enemies of their own land, to keep their feet upon our necks. let them no longer, in the very wantonness of tyranny, drive us about like a herd of cattle--like a gang of well-tamed slaves." thus, day after day, in almost countless addresses to public bodies and private individuals, he made use of the crisis to pile fresh fuel upon the flames. at the same time, while thus fanning the general indignation, he had the adroitness to point out that the people had already committed themselves. he represented to them that the edict, by which they had denounced his majesty's veterans as outlaws, and had devoted them to the indiscriminate destruction which such brigands deserved, was likely to prove an unpardonable crime in the eyes of majesty. in short, they had entered the torrent. if they would avoid being dashed over the precipice, they must struggle manfully with the mad waves of civil war into which they had plunged. "i beg you, with all affection," he said to the states of brabant, "to consider the danger in which you have placed yourselves. you have to deal with the proudest and most overbearing race in the world. for these qualities they are hated by all other nations. they are even hateful to themselves. 'tis a race which seeks to domineer wheresoever it comes. it particularly declares its intention to crush and to tyrannize you, my masters, and all the land. they have conquered you already, as they boast, for the crime of lese-majesty has placed you at their mercy. i tell you that your last act, by which you have declared this army to be rebels, is decisive. you have armed and excited the whole people against them, even to the peasants and the peasants' children, and the insults and injuries thus received, however richly deserved and dearly avenged, are all set down. to your account. therefore, 'tis necessary for you to decide now, whether to be utterly ruined, yourselves and your children, or to continue firmly the work which you have begun boldly, and rather to die a hundred thousand deaths than to make a treaty with them, which can only end in your ruin. be assured that the measure dealt to you will be ignominy as well as destruction. let not your leaders expect the honorable scaffolds of counts egmont and horn. the whipping-post and then the gibbet will be their certain fate." having by this and similar language, upon various occasions, sought to impress upon his countrymen the gravity of the position, he led them to seek the remedy in audacity and in union. he familiarized them with his theory, that the legal, historical government of the provinces belonged to the states-general, to a congress of nobles, clergy, and commons, appointed from each of the seventeen provinces. he maintained, with reason, that the government of the netherlands was a representative constitutional government, under the hereditary authority of the king. to recover this constitution, to lift up these down-trodden rights, he set before them most vividly the necessity of union, "'tis impossible," he said, "that a chariot should move evenly having its wheels unequally proportioned; and so must a confederation be broken to pieces, if there be not an equal obligation on all to tend to a common purpose." union, close, fraternal, such as became provinces of a common origin and with similar laws, could alone nave them from their fate. union against a common tyrant to nave a common fatherland.. union; by which differences of opinion should be tolerated, in order that a million of hearts should beat for a common purpose, a million hands work out, invincibly, a common salvation. "'tis hardly necessary," he said "to use many words in recommendation of union. disunion has been the cause of all our woes. there is no remedy, no hope, save in the bonds of friendship. let all particular disagreements be left to the decision of the states-general, in order that with one heart and one will we may seek the disenthralment of the fatherland from the tyranny of strangers." the first step to a thorough union among all the provinces was the arrangement of a closer connection between the now isolated states of holland and zealand on the one side, and their fifteen sisters on the other. the prince professed the readiness of those states which he might be said to represent in his single person, to draw as closely as possible the bonds of fellowship. it was almost superfluous for him to promise his own ready co-operation. "nothing remains to us," said he, "but to discard all jealousy and distrust. let us, with a firm resolution and a common accord, liberate these lands from the stranger. hand to hand let us accomplish a just and general peace. as for myself, i present to you, with very, good affection, my person and all which i possess, assuring you that i shall regard all my labors and pains in times which are past, well bestowed, if god now grant me grace to see the desired end. that this end will be reached, if you hold fast your resolution and take to heart the means which god presents to you, i feel to be absolutely certain." such were the tenor and the motives of the documents which he scattered-- broadcast at this crisis. they were addressed to the estates of nearly every province. those bodies were urgently implored to appoint deputies to a general congress, at which a close and formal union between holland and zealand with the other provinces might be effected. that important measure secured, a general effort might, at the same time, be made to expel the spaniard from the soil. this done, the remaining matters could be disposed of by the assembly of the estates-general. his eloquence and energy were not without effect. in the course of the autumn, deputies were appointed from the greater number of the provinces, to confer with the representatives of holland and zealand, in a general congress. the place appointed for the deliberations vas the city of ghent. here, by the middle of october, a large number of delegates were already assembled. events were rapidly rolling together from every quarter, and accumulating to a crisis. a congress--a rebellious congress, as the king might deem it--was assembling at ghent; the spanish army, proscribed, lawless, and terrible, was strengthening itself daily for some dark and mysterious achievement; don john of austria, the king's natural brother, was expected from spain to assume the government, which the state council was too timid to wield and too loyal to resign, while, meantime, the whole population of the netherlands, with hardly an exception, was disposed to see the great question of the foreign soldiery settled, before the chaos then existing should be superseded by a more definite authority. everywhere, men of all ranks and occupations--the artisan in the city, the peasant in the fields--were deserting their daily occupations to furbish helmets, handle muskets, and learn the trade of war. skirmishes, sometimes severe and bloody, were of almost daily occurrence. in these the spaniards were invariably successful, for whatever may be said of their cruelty and licentiousness, it cannot be disputed that their prowess was worthy of their renown. romantic valor, unflinching fortitude, consummate skill, characterized them always. what could half- armed artisans achieve in the open plain against such accomplished foes? at tisnacq, between louvain and tirlemont, a battle was attempted by a large miscellaneous mass of students, peasantry, and burghers, led by country squires. it soon changed to a carnage, in which the victims were all on one side. a small number of veterans, headed by vargas, mendoza, tassis, and other chivalrous commanders, routed the undisciplined thousands at a single charge. the rude militia threw away their arms, and fled panic-struck in all directions, at the first sight of their terrible foe. two spaniards lost their lives and two thousand netherlanders. it was natural that these consummate warriors should despise such easily slaughtered victims. a single stroke of the iron flail, and the chaff was scattered to the four winds; a single sweep of the disciplined scythe, and countless acres were in an instant mown. nevertheless, although beaten constantly, the netherlanders were not conquered. holland and zealand had read the foe a lesson which he had not forgotten, and although on the open fields, and against the less vigorous population of the more central provinces, his triumphs had been easier, yet it was obvious that the spirit of resistance to foreign oppression was growing daily stronger, notwithstanding daily defeats. meantime, while these desultory but deadly combats were in daily progress, the council of state was looked upon with suspicion by the mass of the population. that body, in which resided provisionally the powers of government, was believed to be desirous of establishing relations with the mutinous army. it was suspected of insidiously provoking the excesses which it seemed to denounce. it was supposed to be secretly intriguing with those whom its own edicts had outlawed. its sympathies were considered, spanish. it was openly boasted by the spanish army that, before long, they would descend from their fastnesses upon brussels, and give the city to the sword. a shuddering sense of coming evil pervaded the population, but no man could say where the blow would first be struck. it was natural that the capital should be thought exposed to imminent danger. at the same time, while every man who had hands was disposed to bear arms to defend the city, the council seemed paralyzed. the capital was insufficiently garrisoned, yet troops were not enrolling for its protection. the state councillors obviously omitted to provide for defence, and it was supposed that they were secretly assisting the attack. it was thought important, therefore, to disarm, or, at least, to control this body which was impotent for protection, and seemed powerful only for mischief. it was possible to make it as contemptible as it was believed to be malicious. an unexpected stroke was therefore suddenly levelled against the council in full session. on the th of september, the seigneur de heze, a young gentleman of a bold, but unstable character, then entertaining close but secret relations with the prince of orange, appeared before the doors of the palace. he was attended by about five hundred troops, under the immediate command of the seigneur de glimes, bailiff of walloon brabant. he demanded admittance, in the name of the brabant estates, to the presence of the state council, and was refused. the doors were closed and bolted. without further ceremony the soldiers produced iron bars brought with them for the purpose, forced all the gates from the hinges, entered the hall of session, and at a word from their commander, laid hands upon the councillors, and made every one prisoner. the duke of aerschot, president of the council, who was then in close alliance with the prince, was not present at the meeting, but lay forewarned, at home, confined to his couch by a sickness assumed for the occasion. viglius, who rarely participated in the deliberations of the board, being already afflicted with the chronic malady under which he was ere long to succumb, also escaped the fate of his fellow-senators. the others were carried into confinement. berlaymont and mansfeld were imprisoned in the brood- huys, where the last mortal hours of egmont and horn had been passed. others were kept strictly guarded in their own houses. after a few weeks, most of them were liberated. councillor del rio was, however, retained in confinement, and sent to holland, where he was subjected to a severe examination by the prince of orange, touching his past career, particularly concerning the doings of the famous blood council. the others were set free, and even permitted to resume their functions, but their dignity was gone, their authority annihilated. thenceforth the states of brabant and the community of brussels were to govern for an interval, for it was in their name that the daring blow against the council had been struck. all individuals and bodies, however, although not displeased with the result, clamorously disclaimed responsibility for the deed. men were appalled at the audacity of the transaction, and dreaded the vengeance of the king: the abbot van perch, one of the secret instigators of the act, actually died of anxiety for its possible consequences. there was a mystery concerning the affair. they in whose name it had been accomplished, denied having given any authority to the perpetrators. men asked each other what unseen agency had been at work, what secret spring had been adroitly touched. there is but little doubt, however, that the veiled but skilful hand which directed the blow, was the same which had so long been guiding the destiny of the netherlands. it had been settled that the congress was to hold its sessions in ghent, although the citadel commanding that city was held by the spaniards. the garrison was not very strong, and mondragon, its commander, was absent in zealand, but the wife of the veteran ably supplied his place, and stimulated the slender body of troops to hold out with heroism, under the orders of his lieutenant, avilos maldonado. the mutineers, after having accomplished their victory at tisnacq, had been earnestly solicited to come to the relief of this citadel. they had refused and returned to alost. meantime, the siege was warmly pressed by the states. there being, however, a deficiency of troops, application for assistance was formally made to the prince of orange. count reulx, governor of flanders; commissioned the seigneur d'haussy, brother of count bossu, who, to obtain the liberation of that long-imprisoned and distinguished nobleman, was about visiting the prince in zealand, to make a request for an auxiliary force. it was, however, stipulated that care should be taken lest any prejudice should be done to the roman catholic religion or the authority of the king. the prince readily acceded to the request, and agreed to comply with the conditions under which only it could be accepted. he promised to send twenty-eight companies. in his letter announcing this arrangement, he gave notice that his troops would receive strict orders to do no injury to person or property, catholic or protestant, ecclesiastic or lay, and to offer no obstruction to the roman religion or the royal dignity. he added, however, that it was not to be taken amiss, if his soldiers were permitted to exercise their own religious rites, and to sing their protestant hymns within their own quarters. he moreover, as security for the expense and trouble, demanded the city of sluys. the first detachment of troops, under command of colonel vander tympel, was, however, hardly on its way, before an alarm was felt among the catholic party at this practical alliance with the rebel prince. an envoy, named ottingen, was despatched to zealand, bearing a letter from the estates of hainault, brabant, and flanders, countermanding the request for troops, and remonstrating categorically upon the subject of religion and loyalty. orange deemed such tergiversation paltry, but controlled his anger. he answered the letter in liberal terms, for he was determined that by no fault of his should the great cause be endangered. he reassured the estates as to the probable behaviour of his troops. moreover, they had been already admitted into the city, while the correspondence was proceeding. the matter of the psalm-singing was finally arranged to the satisfaction of both parties, and it was agreed that niewport, instead of sluys, should be given to the prince as security. the siege of the citadel was now pressed vigorously, and the deliberations of the congress were opened under the incessant roar of cannon. while the attack was thus earnestly maintained upon the important castle of ghent, a courageous effort was made by the citizens of maestricht to wrest their city from the hands of the spaniards. the german garrison having been gained by the burghers, the combined force rose upon the spanish troops, and drove them from the city, montesdocca, the commander, was arrested and imprisoned, but the triumph was only temporary. don francis d'ayala, montesdocca's lieutenant, made a stand, with a few companies, in wieck, a village on the opposite side of the meuse, and connected with the city by a massive bridge of stone. from this point he sent information to other commanders in the neighbourhood. don ferdinand de toledo soon arrived with several hundred troops from dalem. the spaniards, eager to wipe out the disgrace to their arms, loudly demanded to be led back to the city. the head of the bridge, however, over which they must pass, was defended by a strong battery, and the citizens were seen clustering in great numbers to defend their firesides against a foe whom they had once expelled. to advance across the bridge seemed certain destruction to the little force. even spanish bravery recoiled at so desperate an undertaking, but unscrupulous ferocity supplied an expedient where courage was at fault. there were few fighting men present among the population of wieck, but there were many females. each soldier was commanded to seize a woman, and, placing her before his own body, to advance across the bridge. the column, thus bucklered, to the shame of spanish chivalry, by female bosoms, moved in good order toward the battery. the soldiers leveled their muskets with steady aim over the shoulders or under the arms of the women whom they thus held before them. on the other hand, the citizens dared not discharge their cannon at their own townswomen, among whose numbers many recognized mothers, sisters, or wives. the battery was soon taken, while at the same time alonzj vargas, who had effected his entrance from the land side by burning down the brussels gate, now entered the city at the head of a band of cavalry. maestricht was recovered, and an indiscriminate slaughter instantly avenged its temporary loss. the plundering, stabbing, drowning, burning, ravishing; were so dreadful that, in the words of a cotemporary historian, "the burghers who had escaped the fight had reason to think themselves less fortunate than those who had died with arms in their hands." this was the lot of maestricht on the th of october. it was instinctively felt to be the precursor of fresh disasters. vague, incoherent, but widely disseminated rumors had long pointed to antwerp and its dangerous situation. the spaniards, foiled in their views upon brussels, had recently avowed an intention of avenging themselves in the commercial capital. they had waited long enough, and accumulated strength enough. such a trifling city as alost could no longer content their cupidity, but in antwerp there was gold enough for the gathering. there was reason for the fears of the inhabitants, for the greedy longing of their enemy. probably no city in christendom could at that day vie with antwerp in wealth and splendor. its merchants lived in regal pomp and luxury. in its numerous, massive warehouses were the treasures of every clime. still serving as the main entrepot of the world's traffic, the brabantine capital was the centre of that commercial system which was soon to be superseded by a larger international life. in the midst of the miseries which had so long been raining upon the netherlands, the stately and egotistical city seemed to have taken stronger root and to flourish more freshly than ever. it was not wonderful that its palaces and its magazines, glittering with splendor and bursting with treasure, should arouse the avidity of a reckless and famishing soldiery. had not a handful of warriors of their own race rifled the golden indies? had not their fathers, few in number, strong in courage and discipline, revelled in the plunder of a new world? here were the indies in a single city. here were gold and silver, pearls and diamonds, ready and portable; the precious fruit dropping, ripened, from the bough. was it to be tolerated that base, pacific burghers should monopolize the treasure by which a band of heroes might be enriched? a sense of coming evil diffused itself through the atmosphere. the air seemed lurid with the impending storm, for the situation was one of peculiar horror. the wealthiest city in christendom lay at the mercy of the strongest fastness in the world; a castle which had been built to curb, not to protect, the town. it was now inhabited by a band of brigands, outlawed by government, strong in discipline, furious from penury, reckless by habit, desperate in circumstance--a crew which feared not god, nor man, nor devil. the palpitating quarry lay expecting hourly the swoop of its trained and pitiless enemy, for the rebellious soldiers were now in a thorough state of discipline. sancho d'avila, castellan of the citadel, was recognized as the chief of the whole mutiny, the army and the mutiny being now one. the band, entrenched at alost, were upon the best possible understanding with their brethren in the citadel, and accepted without hesitation the arrangements of their superior. on the aide of the scheld, opposite antwerp, a fortification had been thrown up by don sancho's orders, and held by julian romero. lier, breda, as well as alost, were likewise ready to throw their reinforcements into the citadel at a moment's warning. at the signal of their chief, the united bands might sweep from their impregnable castle with a single impulse. the city cried aloud for help, for it had become obvious that an attack might be hourly expected. meantime an attempt, made by don sancho d'avila to tamper with the german troops stationed within the walls, was more than partially, successful. the forces were commanded by colonel van ende and count oberatein. van ende, a crafty traitor to his country, desired no better than to join the mutiny on so promising an occasion, and his soldiers, shared his sentiments. oberatein, a brave, but blundering german, was drawn into the net of treachery by the adroitness of the spaniard and the effrontery of his comrade. on the night of the th of october, half-bewildered and half-drunk, he signed a treaty with sancho d'avilat and the three colonels--fugger, frondsberger, and polwiller. by this unlucky document, which was of course subscribed also by van ende, it was agreed that the antwerp burghers should be forthwith disarmed; that their weapons should be sent into the citadel; that oberstein should hold the city at the disposition of sancho d'avila; that he should refuse admittance to all troops which might be sent into the city, excepting by command of don sancho, and that he should decline compliance with any orders which he might receive from individuals calling themselves the council of state, the states-general, or the estates of brabant. this treaty was signed, moreover; by don jeronimo de rods, then established in the citadel, and claiming to represent exclusively his majesty's government. hardly had this arrangement been concluded than the count saw the trap into which he had fallen. without intending to do so, he had laid the city at the mercy of its foe, but the only remedy which suggested itself to his mind was an internal resolution not to keep his promises. the burghers were suffered to retain their arms, while, on the other hand, don sancho lost no time in despatching messages to alost, to lier, to breda, and even to maestricht, that as large a force as possible might be assembled for the purpose of breaking immediately the treaty of peace which he had just concluded. never was a solemn document, regarded with such perfectly bad faith by all its signers as the accord, of the th of october. three days afterwards, a large force of walloons and germans was despatched from brussels to the assistance of antwerp. the command of these troops was entrusted to the marquis of havre, whose brother, the duke of aerschot; had been recently appointed chief superintendent of military affairs by the deputies assembled at ghent. the miscellaneous duties comprehended under this rather vague denomination did not permit the duke to take charge of the expedition in person, and his younger brother, a still more incompetent and unsubstantial character, was accordingly appointed to the post. a number of young men, of high rank but of lamentably low capacity, were associated with him. foremost among them was philip, count of egmont, a youth who had inherited few of his celebrated father's qualities, save personal courage and a love of personal display. in character and general talents he was beneath mediocrity. beside these were the reckless but unstable de heze, who had executed the coup; d'etat against the state council, de berselen, de capres, d'oyngies, and others, all vaguely desirous of achieving distinction in those turbulent times, but few of them having any political or religious convictions, and none of them possessing experience or influence enough, to render them useful--at the impending crisis. on friday morning, the nd of november, the troops appeared under the walls of antwerp. they consisted of twenty-three companies of infantry and fourteen of cavalry, amounting to five thousand foot and twelve hundred horse. they were nearly all walloons, soldiers who had already seen much active service, but unfortunately of a race warlike and fiery indeed, but upon whose steadiness not much more dependence could be placed at that day than in the age of civilis. champagny, brother of granvelle, was governor of the city. he was a sincere catholic, but a still more sincere hater of the spaniards. he saw in the mutiny a means of accomplishing their expulsion, and had already offered to the prince of orange his eager co-operation towards this result. in other matters there could be but small sympathy between william the silent and the cardinal's brother; but a common hatred united them, for a time at least, in a common purpose. when the troops first made their appearance before the walls, champagny was unwilling to grant them admittance. the addle-brained oberstein had confessed to him the enormous blunder which he had committed in his midnight treaty, and at the same time ingenuously confessed his intention of sending it to the winds. the enemy had extorted from his dulness or his drunkenness a promise, which his mature and sober reason could not consider binding. it is needless to say that champagny rebuked him for signing, and applauded him for breaking the treaty. at the same time its ill effects were already seen in the dissensions which existed among the german troops. where all had been tampered with, and where the commanders had set the example of infidelity, it would have been strange if all had held firm. on the whole, however, oberstein thought he could answer for his own troops: upon van ende's division, although the crafty colonel dissembled his real intentions; very little reliance was placed. thus there was distraction within the walls. among those whom the burghers had been told to consider their defenders, there were probably. many who were ready to join with their mortal foes at a moment's warning. under these circumstances, champagny hesitated about admitting these fresh troops from brussels. he feared lest the germans, who knew themselves doubted, might consider themselves doomed. he trembled, lest an irrepressible outbreak should occur within the walls, rendering the immediate destruction of the city by the spaniards from without inevitable. moreover, he thought it more desirable that this auxiliary force should be disposed at different points outside, in order to intercept the passage of the numerous bodies of spaniards and other mutineers, who from various quarters would soon be on their way to the citadel. havre, however, was so peremptory, and the burghers were so importunate, that champagny was obliged to recede from his opposition before twenty-four hours had elapsed. unwilling to take the responsibility of a farther refusal, he admitted the troops through the burgherhout gate, on saturday, the rd of november, at ten o'clock in the morning. the marquis of havre, as commander-in-chief, called a council of war. it assembled at count oberstein's quarters, and consulted at first concerning a bundle of intercepted letters which havre had brought with him. these constituted a correspondence between sancho d'avila with the heads of the mutiny at alost, and many other places. the letters were all dated subsequently to don sancho's treaty with oberstein, and contained arrangements for an immediate concentration of the whole available spanish force at the citadel. the treachery was so manifest, that oberstein felt all self-reproach for his own breach of faith to be superfluous. it was however evident that the attack was to be immediately expected. what was to be done? all the officers counselled the immediate erection of a bulwark on the side of the city exposed to the castle, but there were no miners nor engineers. champagny, however, recommended a skilful and experienced engineer to superintend; the work in the city; and pledged himself that burghers enough would volunteer as miners. in less than an hour, ten or twelve thousand persons, including multitudes of women of all ranks, were at work upon the lines marked out by the engineer. a ditch and breast-work extending from the gate of the beguins to the street of the abbey saint michael, were soon in rapid progress. meantime, the newly arrived troops, with military insolence, claimed the privilege of quartering themselves in the best houses which they could find. they already began to, insult and annoy the citizens whom they had been sent to defend; nor were they destined to atone, by their subsequent conduct in the face of the enemy, for the brutality with which they treated their friends. champagny, however; was ill-disposed to brook their licentiousness. they had been sent to protect the city and the homes of antwerp from invasion. they were not to establish themselves, at every fireside on their first arrival. there was work enough for them out of doors, and they were to do that work at once. he ordered them to prepare for a bivouac in, the streets, and flew from house to house, sword in hand; driving forth the intruders at imminent peril of his life. meantime, a number of italian and spanish merchants fled from the city, and took refuge in the castle. the walloon soldiers were for immediately plundering their houses, as if plunder had been the object for which they had been sent to antwerp. it was several hours before champagny, with all his energy, was able to quell these disturbances. in the course of the day, oberstein received a letter from don sandra d'avila, calling solemnly upon him to fulfil his treaty of the th of october. the german colonels from the citadel had, on the previous afternoon, held a personal interview with oberstein beneath the walls, which had nearly ended in blows, and they had been obliged to save themselves by flight from the anger of the count's soldiers, enraged at the deceit by which their leader had been so nearly entrapped. this summons of ridiculous solemnity to keep a treaty which had already been torn to shreds by both parties, oberstein answered with defiance and contempt. the reply was an immediate cannonade from the batteries of the citadel; which made the position of those erecting the ramparts excessively dangerous. the wall was strengthened with bales of merchandise, casks of earth, upturned wagons, and similar bulky objects, hastily piled together. in, some places it was sixteen feet high; in others less than six. night fell before the fortification was nearly completed. unfortunately it was bright moonlight. the cannon from the fortress continued to play upon the half-finished works. the walloons, and at last the citizens, feared to lift their heads above their frail rampart. the senators, whom champagny had deputed to superintend the progress of the enterprise, finding the men so indisposed, deserted their posts. they promised themselves that, in the darkest hour of the following night, the work should be thoroughly completed. alas! all hours of the coming night were destined to be dark enough, but in them was to be done no manner of work for defence. on champagny alone seemed devolved an the labor and all the responsibility. he did his duty well, but he was but one man. alone, with a heart full of anxiety, he wandered up and down all the night. with his own hands, assisted only by a few citizens and his own servants, he planted all the cannon with which they were provided, in the "fencing court," at a point where the battery might tell upon the castle. unfortunately, the troops from brussels had brought no artillery with them, and the means of defence against the strongest fortress in europe were meagre indeed. the rampart had been left very weak at many vital points. a single upturned wagon was placed across the entrance to the important street of the beguins. this negligence was to cost the city dear. at daybreak, there was a council held in oberstein's quarters. nearly all champagny's directions had been neglected. he had desired that strong detachments should be posted during the night at various places of security on the outskirts of the town, for the troops which were expected to arrive in small bodies at the citadel from various parts, might have thus been cut off before reaching their destination. not even scouts had been stationed in sufficient numbers to obtain information of what was occurring outside. a thick mist hung over the city that eventful morning. through its almost impenetrable veil, bodies of men had been seen moving into the castle, and the tramp of cavalry had been distinctly heard, and the troops of romero, vargas, oliveira, and valdez had already arrived from lier, breda, maestricht, and from the forts on the scheld. the whole available force in the city was mustered without delay. havre had claimed for his post the defence of the lines opposite the citadel, the place of responsibility and honor. here the whole body of walloons were stationed, together with a few companies of germans. the ramparts, as stated, were far from impregnable, but it was hoped that this living rampart of six thousand men, standing on their own soil, and in front of the firesides and altars of their own countrymen; would prove a sufficient bulwark even against spanish fury. unhappily, the living barrier proved more frail than the feeble breastwork which the hands of burghers and women had constructed. six thousand men were disposed along the side of the city opposite the fortress. the bulk of the german troops was stationed at different points on the more central streets and squares. the cavalry was posted on the opposite side of the city, along the horse-market, and fronting the "new-town." the stars were still in the sky when champagny got on horseback and rode through the streets, calling on the burghers to arm and assemble at different points. the principal places of rendezvous were the cattlemarket and the exchange. he rode along the lines of the walloon regiments, conversing with the officers, egmont, de heze, and others, and encouraging the men, and went again to the fencing court, where he pointed the cannon with his own hand, and ordered their first discharge at the fortress. thence he rode to the end of the beguin street, where he dismounted and walked out upon the edge of the esplanade which stretched between the city and the castle. on this battle-ground a combat was even then occurring between a band of burghers and a reconnoitring party from the citadel. champagny saw with satisfaction that the antwerpers were victorious. they were skirmishing well with their disciplined foe, whom they at last beat back to the citadel. his experienced eye saw, however, that the retreat was only the signal for a general onslaught, which was soon to follow; and he returned into the city to give the last directions. at ten o'clock, a moving wood was descried, approaching the citadel from the south-west. the whole body of the mutineers from alost, wearing green branches in their helmets--had arrived under command of their eletto, navarrete. nearly three thousand in number, they rushed into the castle, having accomplished their march of twenty-four miles since three o'clock in the morning. they were received with open arms. sancho d'avila ordered food and refreshments to be laid before them, but they refused everything but a draught of wine. they would dine in paradise, they said, or sup in antwerp. finding his allies in such spirit, don sancho would not balk their humor. since early morning, his own veterans had been eagerly awaiting his signal, "straining upon the start." the troops of romero, vargas, valdez, were no less impatient. at about an hour before noon, nearly every living man in the citadel was mustered for the attack, hardly men enough being left behind to guard the gates. five thousand veteran foot soldiers, besides six hundred cavalry, armed to the teeth, sallied from the portals of alva's citadel. in the counterscarp they fell upon their knees, to invoke, according to custom, the blessing of god upon the devil's work, which they were about to commit. the bletto bore a standard, one side of which was emblazoned with the crucified saviour, and the other with the virgin mary. the image of him who said, "love-your enemies," and the gentle face of the madonna, were to smile from heaven upon deeds which might cause a shudder in the depths of hell. their brief orisons concluded, they swept forward to the city. three thousand spaniards, under their eletto, were to enter by the street of saint michael; the germans, and the remainder of the spanish foot, commanded by romero, through that of saint george. champagny saw them coming, and spoke a last word of encouragement to the walloons. the next moment the compact mass struck the barrier, as the thunderbolt descends from the cloud. there was scarcely a struggle. the walloons, not waiting to look their enemy in the face, abandoned the posts which whey had themselves claimed. the spaniards crashed through the bulwark, as though it had been a wall of glass. the eletto was first to mount the rampart; the next instant he was shot dead, while his followers, undismayed, sprang over his body, and poured into the streets. the fatal gap, due to timidity and carelessness, let in the destructive tide. champagny, seeing that the enemies had all crossed the barrier; leaped over a garden wall, passed through a house into a narrow lane, and thence to the nearest station of the german troops. hastily collecting a small force, he led them in person to the rescue. the germans fought well, died well, but they could not reanimate the courage of the walloons, and all were now in full retreat, pursued by the ferocious spaniards. in vain champagny stormed among them; in vain he strove to rally their broken ranks. with his own hand he seized a banner from a retreating ensign, and called upon the nearest soldiers to make's stand against the foe. it was to bid the flying clouds pause before the tempest. torn, broken, aimless, the scattered troops whirled through the streets before the pursuing wrath. champagny, not yet despairing, galloped hither and thither, calling upon the burghers everywhere to rise in defence of their homes, nor did he call in vain. they came forth from every place of rendezvous, from every alley, from every house. they fought as men fight to defend their hearths and altars, but what could individual devotion avail, against the compact, disciplined, resistless mass of their foes? the order of defence was broken, there was no system, no concert, no rallying point, no authority. so soon as it was known that the spaniards had crossed the rampart, that its six thousand defenders were in full retreat, it was inevitable that a panic should seize the city. their entrance once effected, the spanish force had separated; according to previous arrangement, into two divisions, one half charging up the long street of saint michael, the other forcing its way through the street of saint joris. "santiago, santiago! espana, espana! a sangre, a carne, a fuego, a sacco!" saint james, spain, blood, flesh, fire, sack!!--such were the hideous cries which rang through every quarter of the city, as the savage horde advanced. van ende, with his german troops, had been stationed by the marquis of havre to defend the saint joris gate, but no sooner, did the spaniards under vargas present themselves, than he deserted to them instantly with his whole force. united with the spanish cavalry, these traitorous defenders of antwerp dashed in pursuit of those who had only been fainthearted. thus the burghers saw themselves attacked by many of their friends, deserted by more. whom were they to trust? nevertheless, oberstein's germans were brave and faithful, resisting to the last, and dying every man in his harness. the tide of battle flowed hither and thither, through every street and narrow lane. it poured along the magnificent place de meer, where there was an obstinate contest. in front of the famous exchange, where in peaceful hours, five thousand merchants met daily, to arrange the commercial affairs of christendom, there was a determined rally, a savage slaughter. the citizens and faithful germans, in this broader space, made a stand against their pursuers. the tesselated marble pavement, the graceful, cloister-like arcades ran red with blood. the ill-armed burghers faced their enemies clad in complete panoply, but they could only die for their homes. the massacre at this point was enormous, the resistance at last overcome. meantime, the spanish cavalry had cleft its way through the city. on the side farthest removed from the: castle; along the horse-market, opposite the new-town, the states dragoons and the light horse of beveren had been posted, and the flying masses of pursuers and pursued swept at last through this outer circle. champagny was already there. he essayed, as his last hope, to rally the cavalry for a final stand, but the effort was fruitless. already seized by the panic, they had attempted to rush from the city through the gate of eeker. it was locked; they then turned and fled towards the red-gate, where they were met face to face by don pedro tassis, who charged upon them with his dragoons. retreat seemed hopeless. a horseman in complete armor, with lance in rest, was seen to leap from the parapet of the outer wall into the moat below, whence, still on horseback, he escaped with life. few were so fortunate. the confused mob of fugitives and conquerors, spaniards, walloons, germans, burghers, struggling, shouting, striking, cursing, dying, swayed hither and thither like a stormy sea. along the spacious horse-market, the fugitives fled toward towards the quays. many fell beneath the swords of the spaniards, numbers were trodden to death by the hoofs of horses, still greater multitudes were hunted into the scheld. champagny, who had thought it possible, even at the last moment, to make a stand in the newtown, and to fortify the palace of the hansa, saw himself deserted. with great daring and presence of mind, he effected his escape to the fleet of the prince of orange in the river. the marquis of havre, of whom no deeds of valor on that eventful day have been recorded, was equally successful. the unlucky oberstein, attempting to leap into a boat, missed his footing, and oppressed by the weight of his armor, was drowned. meantime, while the short november day was fast declining, the combat still raged in the interior of the city. various currents of conflict, forcing their separate way through many streets, had at last mingled in the grande place. around this irregular, not very spacious square, stood the gorgeous hotel de ville, and the tall, many storied, fantastically gabled, richly decorated palaces of the guilds, here a long struggle took place. it was terminated for a time by the cavalry of vargas, who, arriving through the streets of saint joris, accompanied by the traitor van ende, charged decisively into the melee. the masses were broken, but multitudes of armed men found refuge in the buildings, and every house became a fortress. from, every window and balcony a hot fire was poured into the square, as, pent in a corner, the burghers stood at last at bay. it was difficult to carry the houses by storm, but they were soon set on fire. a large number of sutlers and other varlets had accompanied the spaniards from the citadel, bringing torches and kindling materials for the express purpose of firing the town. with great dexterity, these means were now applied, and in a brief interval, the city-hall, and other edifices on the square were in flames. the conflagration spread with rapidity, house after house, street after street, taking fire. nearly a thousand buildings, in the most splendid and wealthy quarter of the city, were soon in a blaze, and multitudes of human beings were burned with them. in the city-hall many were consumed, while others, leaped from the windows to renew the combat below. the many tortuous, streets which led down a slight descent from the rear of the town house to the quays were all one vast conflagration. on the other side, the magnificent cathedral, separated from the grande place by a single row of buildings, was lighted up, but not attacked by the flames. the tall spire cast its gigantic shadow across the last desperate conflict. in the street called the canal au sucre, immediately behind the town-house, there was a fierce struggle, a horrible massacre. a crowd of burghers; grave magistrates, and such of the german soldiers as remained alive, still confronted the ferocious spaniards. there amid the flaming desolation, goswyn verreyck, the heroic margrave of the city, fought with the energy of hatred and despair. the burgomaster, van der meere, lay dead at his feet; senators, soldiers, citizens, fell fast around him, and he sank at last upon a heap of slain. with him effectual resistance ended. the remaining combatants were butchered, or were slowly forced downward to perish in the scheld. women, children, old men, were killed in countless numbers, and still, through all this havoc, directly over the heads of the struggling throng, suspended in mid-air above the din and smoke of the conflict, there sounded, every half-quarter of every hour, as if in gentle mockery, from the belfry of the cathedral, the tender and melodious chimes. never was there a more monstrous massacre, even in the blood-stained history of the netherlands. it was estimated that, in the course of this and the two following days, not less than eight thousand human beings were murdered. the spaniards seemed to cast off even the vizard of humanity. hell seemed emptied of its fiends. night fell upon the scene before the soldiers were masters of the city; but worse horrors began after the contest was ended. this army of brigands had come thither with a definite, practical purpose, for it was not blood-thirst, nor lust, nor revenge, which had impelled them, but it was avarice, greediness for gold. for gold they had waded through all this blood and fire. never had men more simplicity of purpose, more directness in its execution. they had conquered their india at last; its golden mines lay all before them, and every sword should open a shaft. riot and rape might be deferred; even murder, though congenial to their taste, was only subsidiary to their business. they had come to take possession of the city's wealth, and they set themselves faithfully to accomplish their task. for gold, infants were dashed out of existence in their mothers' arms; for gold, parents were tortured in their children's presence; for gold, brides were scourged to death before their husbands' eyes. wherever, treasure was suspected, every expedient which ingenuity; sharpened by greediness, could suggest, was employed to-extort it from its possessors. the fire, spreading more extensively and more rapidly than had been desired through the wealthiest quarter of the city, had unfortunately devoured a vast amount of property. six millions, at least, had thus been swallowed; a destruction by which no one had profited. there was, however, much left. the strong boxes of the merchants, the gold, silver, and precious jewelry, the velvets, satins, brocades, laces, and similar well concentrated and portable plunder, were rapidly appropriated. so far the course was plain and easy, but in private houses it was more difficult. the cash, plate, and other valuables of individuals were not so easily discovered. torture was, therefore; at once employed to discover the hidden treasures. after all had been, given, if the sum seemed too little, the proprietors were brutally punished for their poverty or their supposed dissimulation. a gentlewoman, named fabry, with her aged mother and other females of the family, had taken refuge in the cellar of her mansion. as the day was drawing to a close, a band of plunderers entered, who, after ransacking the house, descended to the cellarage. finding the door barred, they forced it open with gunpowder. the mother, who was nearest the entrance, fell dead on the threshold. stepping across her mangled body, the brigands sprang upon her daughter, loudly demanding the property which they believed to be concealed. they likewise insisted on being informed where the master of the house had taken refuge. protestations of ignorance as to hidden treasure, or the whereabouts of her husband, who, for aught she knew, was lying dead in the streets, were of no avail. to make her more communicative, they hanged her on a beam in the cellar, and after a few moments cut her down before life was extinct. still receiving no satisfactory reply, where a satisfactory reply was impossible, they hanged her again. again, after another brief interval they gave her a second release, and a fresh interrogatory. this barbarity they repeated several times, till they were satisfied that there was nothing to be gained by it, while, on, the other hand, they were losing much valuable time. hoping to be more successful elsewhere, they left her hanging for the last time, and trooped off to fresher fields. strange to relate, the person thus horribly tortured, survived. a servant in her family, married to a spanish soldier, providentially entered the house in time to rescue her perishing mistress. she was restored to existence, but never to reason. her brain was hopelessly crazed, and she passed the remainder of her life wandering about her house, or feebly digging in her garden for the buried treasure which she had been thus fiercely solicited to reveal. a wedding-feast was rudely interrupted. two young persons, neighbours of opulent families, had been long betrothed, and the marriage day had been fixed for sunday, the fatal th of november. the guests were assembled, the ceremony concluded, the nuptial banquet in progress, when the horrible outcries in the streets proclaimed that the spaniards had broken loose. hour after hour of trembling expectation succeeded. at last, a thundering at the gate proclaimed the arrival of a band of brigands. preceded by their captain, a large number of soldiers forced their way into the house, ransacking every chamber, no opposition being offered by the family and friends, too few and powerless to cope with this band of well-armed ruffians. plate chests, wardrobes, desks, caskets of jewelry, were freely offered, eagerly accepted, but not found sufficient, and to make the luckless wretches furnish more than they possessed, the usual brutalities were employed. the soldiers began by striking the bridegroom dead. the bride fell shrieking into her mother's arms, whence she was torn by the murderers, who immediately put the mother to death, and an indiscriminate massacre then followed the fruitless attempt to obtain by threats and torture treasure which did not exist. the bride, who was of remarkable beauty, was carried off to the citadel. maddened by this last outrage, the father, who was the only man of the party left alive, rushed upon the spaniards. wresting a sword from one of the crew, the old man dealt with it so fiercely, that he stretched more than one enemy dead at his feet, but it is needless to add that he was soon despatched. meantime, while the party were concluding the plunder of the mansion, the bride was left in a lonely apartment of the fortress. without wasting time in fruitless lamentation, she resolved to quit the life which a few hours had made so desolate. she had almost succeeded in hanging herself with a massive gold chain which she wore, when her captor entered the apartment. inflamed, not with lust, but with avarice, excited not by her charms, but by her jewelry; he rescued her from her perilous position. he then took possession of her chain and the other trinkets with which her wedding-dress was adorned, and caused her; to be entirely stripped of her clothing. she was then scourged with rods till her beautiful body was bathed in blood, and at last alone, naked, nearly mad, was sent back into the city. here the forlorn creature wandered up and down through the blazing streets, among the heaps of dead and dying, till she was at last put out of her misery by a gang of soldiers. such are a few isolated instances, accidentally preserved in their details, of the general horrors inflicted on this occasion. others innumerable have sunk into oblivion. on the morning of the th of november, antwerp presented a ghastly sight. the magnificent marble town-house, celebrated as a "world's wonder," even in that age and country, in which so much splendour was lavished on municipal palaces, stood a blackened ruin--all but the walls destroyed, while its archives, accounts, and other valuable contents, had perished. the more splendid portion of the city had been consumed; at least five hundred palaces, mostly of marble or hammered stone, being a smouldering mass of destruction. the dead bodies of those fallen in the massacre were on every side, in greatest profusion around the place de meer, among the gothic pillars of the exchange, and in the streets near the town-house. the german soldiers lay in their armor, some with their heads burned from their bodies, some with legs and arms consumed by the flames through which they had fought. the margrave goswyn verreyck, the burgomaster van der meere, the magistrates lancelot van urselen, nicholas van boekholt, and other leading citizens, lay among piles of less distinguished slain. they remained unburied until the overseers of the poor, on whom the living had then more importunate claims than the dead, were compelled by roda to bury them out of the pauper fund. the murderers were too thrifty to be at funeral charges for their victims. the ceremony was not hastily performed, for the number of corpses had not been completed. two days longer the havoc lasted in the city. of all the crimes which men can commit, whether from deliberate calculation or in the frenzy of passion, hardly one was omitted, for riot, gaming, rape, which had been postponed to the more stringent claims of robbery and murder, were now rapidly added to the sum of atrocities. history has recorded the account indelibly on her brazen tablets; it can be adjusted only at the judgment- seat above. of all the deeds of darkness yet compassed in the netherlands, this was the worst. it was called the spanish fury, by which dread name it has been known for ages. the city, which had been a world of wealth and splendor, was changed to a charnel-house, and from that hour its commercial prosperity was blasted. other causes had silently girdled the yet green and flourishing tree, but the spanish fury was the fire which consumed it to ashes. three thousand dead bodies were discovered in the streets, as many more were estimated to have perished in the scheld, and nearly an equal number were burned or destroyed in other ways. eight thousand persons undoubtedly were put to death. six millions of property were destroyed by the fire, and at least as much more was obtained by the spaniards. in this enormous robbery no class of people was respected. foreign merchants, living under the express sanction and protection of the spanish monarch, were plundered with as little reserve as flemings. ecclesiastics of the roman church were compelled to disgorge their wealth as freely as calvinists. the rich were made to contribute all their abundance, and the poor what could be wrung from their poverty. neither paupers nor criminals were safe. captain caspar ortis made a brilliant speculation by taking possession of the stein, or city prison, whence he ransomed all the inmates who could find means to pay for their liberty. robbers, murderers, even anabaptists, were thus again let loose. rarely has so small a band obtained in three days' robbery so large an amount of wealth. four or five millions divided among five thousand soldiers made up for long arrearages, and the spaniards had reason to congratulate themselves upon having thus taken the duty of payment into their own hands. it is true that the wages of iniquity were somewhat unequally distributed, somewhat foolishly squandered. a private trooper was known to lose ten thousand crowns in one day in a gambling transaction at the bourse, for the soldiers, being thus handsomely in funds, became desirous of aping the despised and plundered merchants, and resorted daily to the exchange, like men accustomed to affairs. the dearly purchased gold was thus lightly squandered by many, while others, more prudent, melted their portion into sword-hilts, into scabbards, even into whole suits of armor, darkened, by precaution, to appear made entirely of iron. the brocades, laces, and jewelry of antwerp merchants were converted into coats of mail for their destroyers. the goldsmiths, however, thus obtained an opportunity to outwit their plunderers, and mingled in the golden armor which they were forced to furnish much more alloy than their employers knew. a portion of the captured booty was thus surreptitiously redeemed. in this spanish fury many more were massacred in antwerp than in the saint bartholomew at paris. almost as many living human beings were dashed out of existence now as there had been statues destroyed in the memorable image-breaking of antwerp, ten years before, an event which had sent such a thrill of horror through the heart of catholic christendom. yet the netherlanders and the protestants of europe may be forgiven, if they regarded this massacre of their brethren with as much execration as had been bestowed upon that fury against stocks and stones. at least, the image-breakers, had been actuated by an idea, and their hands were polluted neither with blood nor rapine. perhaps the spaniards had been. governed equally by religious fanaticism.--might not they believe they were meriting well of their mother church while they were thus disencumbering infidels of their wealth and earth of its infidels? had not the pope and his cardinals gone to church in solemn procession, to render thanks unto god for the massacre of paris? had not cannon thundered and beacons blazed to commemorate that auspicious event? why should not the antwerp executioners claim equal commendation? even if in their delirium they had confounded friend with foe, catholic with calvinist, and church property with lay, could they not point to an equal number of dead bodies, and to an incredibly superior amount of plunder? marvellously few spaniards were slain in these eventful days. two hundred killed is the largest number stated. the discrepancy seems monstrous, but it is hardly more than often existed between the losses inflicted and sustained by the spaniards in such combats. their prowess was equal to their ferocity, and this was enough to make them seem endowed with preterhuman powers. when it is remembered, also, that the burghers were insufficiently armed, that many of their defenders turned against them, that many thousands fled in the first moments of the encounter--and when the effect of a sudden and awful panic is duly considered, the discrepancy between the number of killed on the two sides will not seem so astonishing. a few officers of distinction were taken, alive and carried to the castle. among these were the seigneur de capres and young count egmont. the councillor jerome de roda was lounging on a chair in an open gallery when these two gentlemen were brought before him, and capres was base enough to make a low obeisance to the man who claimed to represent the whole government of his majesty. the worthy successor of vargas replied to his captive's greeting by a "kick in his stomach," adding, with a brutality which his prototype might have envied, "ah puto tradidor,-- whoreson traitor, let me have no salutations from such as you." young egmont, who had been captured, fighting bravely at the head of coward troops, by julian romero, who nine years before had stood on his father's scaffold, regarded this brutal scene with haughty indignation. this behaviour had more effect upon roda than the suppleness of capres. "i am sorry for your misfortune, count," said the councillor, without however rising from his chair; "such is the lot of those who take arms against their king." this was the unfortunate commencement of philip egmont's career, which was destined to be inglorious, vacillating, base, and on more than one occasion unlucky. a shiver ran through the country as the news of the horrible crime was spread, but it was a shiver of indignation, not of fear. already the negotiations at ghent between the representatives of the prince and of holland and zealand with the deputies of the other provinces were in a favorable train, and the effect of this event upon their counsels was rather quickening than appalling. a letter from jerome de roda to the king was intercepted, giving an account of the transaction. in that document the senator gave the warmest praise to sancho d'avila, julian romero, alonzo de vargas, francis verdugo, as well as to the german colonels fugger, frondsberger, polwiller, and others who had most exerted themselves in the massacre. "i wish your majesty much good of this victory," concluded the councillor, "'tis a very great one, and the damage to the city is enormous." this cynical view was not calculated to produce a soothing effect on the exasperated minds of the people. on the other hand, the estates of brabant addressed an eloquent appeal to the states-general, reciting their wrongs, and urging immediate action. "'tis notorious," said the remonstrants, "that antwerp was but yesterday the first and principal ornament of all europe; the refuge of all the nations of the world; the source and supply of countless treasure; the nurse of all arts and industry; the protectress of the roman catholic religion; the guardian of science and virtue; and, above all these preeminences; more than faithful and obedient to her sovereign prince and lord. the city is now changed to a gloomy cavern, filled with robbers and murderers, enemies of god, the king, and all good subjects." they then proceeded to recite the story of the massacre, whereof the memory shall be abominable so long as the world stands, and concluded with an urgent appeal for redress. they particularly suggested that an edict should forthwith be passed, forbidding the alienation of property and the exportation of goods in any form from antwerp, together with concession of the right to the proprietors of reclaiming their stolen property summarily, whenever and wheresoever it might be found. in accordance with these instructions, an edict was passed, but somewhat tardily, in the hope of relieving some few of the evil consequences by which the antwerp fury had been attended. at about the same time the prince of orange addressed a remarkable letter to the states-general then assembled at ghent, urging them to hasten the conclusion of the treaty. the news of the massacre, which furnished an additional and most vivid illustration of the truth of his letter, had not then reached him at middelburg, but the earnestness of his views, taken in connexion with this last dark deed, exerted a powerful and indelible effect. the letter was a masterpiece, because it was necessary, in his position, to inflame without alarming; to stimulate the feelings which were in unison, without shocking those which, if aroused, might prove discordant. without; therefore, alluding in terms to the religious question, he dwelt upon the necessity of union, firmness, and wariness. if so much had been done by holland and zealand, how much more might be hoped when all the provinces were united? "the principal flower of the spanish army has fallen," he said, "without having been able to conquer one of those provinces from those whom they call, in mockery, poor beggars; yet what is that handful of cities compared to all the provinces which might join us in the quarrel?" he warned the states of the necessity of showing a strong and united front; the king having been ever led to consider the movement in the netherlands a mere conspiracy of individuals. the king told me himself; in ," said orange, "that if the estates had no pillars to lean upon, they would not talk so loud." it was, therefore, necessary to show that prelates, abbots, monks, seigniors, gentlemen, burghers, and peasants, the whole people in short, now cried with one voice, and desired with one will. to such a demonstration the king would not dare oppose himself. by thus preserving a firm and united front, sinking all minor differences, they would, moreover, inspire their friends and foreign princes with confidence. the princes of germany, the lords and gentlemen of france, the queen of england, although sympathizing with the misfortunes of the netherlanders, had been unable effectually to help them, so long as their disunion prevented them from helping themselves; so long as even their appeal to arms seemed merely a levy of bucklers, an emotion of the populace, which, like a wave of the sea, rises and sinks again as soon as risen." while thus exciting to union and firmness, he also took great pains to instil the necessity of wariness. they were dealing with an artful foe. intercepted letters had already proved that the old dissimulation was still to be employed; that while don john of austria was on his way, the netherlanders were to be lulled into confidence by glozing speeches. roda was provided by the king with a secret programme of instructions for the new governor's guidance and don sancho d'avila, for his countenance to the mutineers of alost, had been applauded to the echo in spain. was not this applause a frequent indication of the policy to be adopted by don john, and a thousand times more significative one than the unmeaning phrases of barren benignity with which public documents might be crammed? "the old tricks are again brought into service," said the prince; "therefore 'tis necessary to ascertain your veritable friends, to tear off the painted masks from those who, under pretence-of not daring to displease the king, are seeking to swim between two waters. 'tis necessary to have a touchstone; to sign a declaration in such wise that you may know whom to trust, and whom to suspect." the massacre at antwerp and the eloquence of the prince produced a most quickening effect upon the congress at ghent. their deliberations had proceeded with decorum and earnestness, in the midst of the cannonading against the citadel, and the fortress fell on the same day which saw the conclusion of the treaty. this important instrument, by which the sacrifices and exertions of the prince were, for a brief season, at least, rewarded, contained twenty- five articles. the prince of orange, with the estates of holland and zealand, on the one side, and the provinces signing, or thereafter to sign the treaty, on the other, agreed that there should be a mutual forgiving and forgetting, as regarded the past. they vowed a close and faithful friendship for the future. they plighted a mutual promise to expel the spaniards from the netherlands without delay. as soon as this great deed should be done, there was to be a convocation of the states- general, on the basis of that assembly before which the abdication of the emperor had taken place. by this congress, the affairs of religion in holland and zealand should be regulated, as well as the surrender of fortresses and other places belonging to his majesty. there was to be full liberty of communication and traffic between the citizens of the one side and the other. it should not be legal, however, for those of holland and zealand to attempt anything outside their own territory against the roman catholic religion, nor for cause hereof to injure or irritate any one, by deed or word. all the placards and edicts on the subject of heresy, together with the criminal ordinances made by the duke of alva, were suspended, until the states-general should otherwise ordain. the prince was to remain lieutenant, admiral, and general for his majesty in holland, zealand, and the associated places, till otherwise provided by the states-general; after the departure of the spaniards. the cities and places included in the prince's commission, but not yet acknowledging his authority, should receive satisfaction from him, as to the point of religion and other matters, before subscribing to the union. all prisoners, and particularly the comte de bossu, should be released without ransom. all estates and other property not already alienated should be restored, all confiscations since being declared null and void. the countess palatine, widow of brederode, and count de buren, son of the prince of orange, were expressly named in this provision. prelates and ecclesiastical persons; having property in holland and zealand, should be reinstated, if possible; but in case of alienation, which was likely to be generally the case; there should be reasonable compensation. it was to be decided by the states-general whether the provinces should discharge the debts incurred by the prince of orange in his two campaigns. provinces and cities should not have the benefit of this union until they had signed the treaty, but they should be permitted to sign it when they chose. this memorable document was subscribed at ghent, on the th of november, by saint aldegonde, with eight other commissioners appointed by the prince of orange and the estates of holland on the one side, and by elbertus leoninus and other deputies appointed by brabant, flanders, artois, hainault, valenciennes, lille, douay, orchies, namur, tournay, utrecht, and mechlin on the other side. the arrangement was a masterpiece of diplomacy on the part of the prince, for it was as effectual a provision for the safety of the reformed religion as could be expected under the circumstances. it was much, considering the change which had been wrought of late years in the fifteen provinces, that they should consent to any treaty with their two heretic sisters. it was much more that the pacification should recognize the new religion as the established creed of holland and zealand, while at the same time the infamous edicts of charles were formally abolished. in the fifteen catholic provinces, there was to be no prohibition of private reformed worship, and it might be naturally expected that with time and the arrival of the banished religionists, a firmer stand would be taken in favor of the reformation. meantime, the new religion was formally established in two provinces, and tolerated, in secret, in the other fifteen; the inquisition was for ever abolished, and the whole strength of the nation enlisted to expel the foreign soldiery from the soil. this was the work of william the silent, and the great prince thus saw the labor of years crowned with, at least, a momentary success. his satisfaction was very great when it was announced to him, many days before the exchange of the signatures, that the treaty had been concluded. he was desirous that the pacification should be referred for approval, not to the municipal magistrates only, but to the people itself. in all great emergencies, the man who, in his whole character, least resembled a demagogue, either of antiquity or of modern times, was eager for a fresh expression of the popular will. on this occasion, however, the demand for approbation was superfluous. the whole country thought with his thoughts, and spoke with his words, and the pacification, as soon as published, was received with a shout of joy. proclaimed in the marketplace of every city and village, it was ratified, not by votes, but by hymns of thanksgiving, by triumphal music, by thundering of cannon, and by the blaze of beacons, throughout the netherlands. another event added to the satisfaction of the hour. the country so recently, and by deeds of such remarkable audacity, conquered by the spaniards in the north, was recovered almost simultaneously with the conclusion of the ghent treaty. it was a natural consequence of the great mutiny. the troops having entirely deserted mondragon, it became necessary for that officer to abandon zierickzee, the city which had been won with so much valor. in the beginning of november, the capital, and with it the whole island of schouwen, together with the rest of zealand, excepting tholen, was recovered by count hohenlo, lieutenant-general of the prince of orange, and acting according to his instructions. thus, on this particular point of time, many great events had been crowded. at the very same moment zealand had been redeemed, antwerp ruined, and the league of all the netherlands against the spaniards concluded. it now became known that another and most important event had occurred at the same instant. on the day before the antwerp massacre, four days before the publication of the ghent treaty, a foreign cavalier, attended by a moorish slave and by six men-at-arms, rode into the streets of luxemburg. the cavalier was don ottavio gonzaga, brother of the prince of melfi. the moorish slave was don john of austria, the son of the emperor, the conqueror of granada, the hero of lepanto. the new governor-general had traversed spain and france in disguise with great celerity, and in the romantic manner which belonged to his character. he stood at last on the threshold of the netherlands, but with all his speed he had arrived a few days too late. etext editor's bookmarks: a common hatred united them, for a time at least a most fatal success all claimed the privilege of persecuting blessing of god upon the devil's work daily widening schism between lutherans and calvinists dying at so very inconvenient a moment eight thousand human beings were murdered everything was conceded, but nothing was secured ffanatics of the new religion denounced him as a godless man glory could be put neither into pocket nor stomach he would have no calvinist inquisition set up in its place he would have no persecution of the opposite creed in character and general talents he was beneath mediocrity indecision did the work of indolence insinuate that his orders had been hitherto misunderstood king set a price upon his head as a rebel no man could reveal secrets which he did not know of high rank but of lamentably low capacity pope excommunicated him as a heretic preventing wrong, or violence, even towards an enemy they could not invent or imagine toleration unmeaning phrases of barren benignity this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley [chapter ix.] position of alva--hatred entertained for him by elevated personages --quarrels between him and medina coeli--departure of the latter-- complaints to the king by each of the other--attempts at conciliation addressed by government to the people of the netherlands--grotesque character of the address--mutinous demonstration of the spanish troops--secret overtures to orange-- obedience, with difficulty, restored by alva--commencement of the siege of alkmaar--sanguinary menaces of the duke--encouraging and enthusiastic language of the prince--preparations in alkmaar for defence--the first assault steadily repulsed--refusal of the soldiers to storm a second time--expedition of the carpenter-envoy-- orders of the prince to flood the country--the carpenter's despatches in the enemy's hands--effect produced upon the spaniards --the siege raised--negotiations of count louis with france-- uneasiness and secret correspondence of the duke--convention with the english government--objects pursued by orange--cruelty of de la marck--his dismissal from office and subsequent death--negotiations with france--altered tone of the french court with regard to the st. bartholomew--ill effects of the crime upon the royal projects-- hypocrisy of the spanish government--letter of louis to charles ix. --complaints of charles ix.--secret aspirations of that monarch and of philip--intrigues concerning the polish election--renewed negotiations between schomberg and count louis, with consent of orange--conditions prescribed by the prince--articles of secret alliance--remarkable letter of count louis to charles ix.-- responsible and isolated situation of orange--the "address" and the "epistle"--religious sentiments of the prince--naval action on the zuyder zee--captivity of bossu and of saint aldegonde--odious position of alva--his unceasing cruelty--execution of uitenhoove-- fraud practised by alva upon his creditors--arrival of requesens, the new governor-general--departure of alva--concluding remarks upon his administration. for the sake of continuity in the narrative, the siege of harlem has been related until its conclusion. this great event constituted, moreover, the principal stuff in netherland, history, up to the middle of the year . a few loose threads must be now taken up before we can proceed farther. alva had for some time felt himself in a false and uncomfortable position. while he continued to be the object of a popular hatred as intense as ever glowed, he had gradually lost his hold upon those who, at the outset of his career, had been loudest and lowest in their demonstrations of respect. "believe me," wrote secretary albornoz to secretary cayas, "this people abhor our nation worse than they abhor the devil. as for the duke of alva, they foam at the mouth when they hear his name." viglius, although still maintaining smooth relations with the governor, had been, in reality, long since estranged from him. even aerschot, far whom the duke had long maintained an intimacy half affectionate, half contemptuous, now began to treat him with a contumely which it was difficult for so proud a stomach to digest. but the main source of discomfort was doubtless the presence of medina coeli. this was the perpetual thorn in his side, which no cunning could extract. a successor who would not and could not succeed him, yet who attended him as his shadow and his evil genius--a confidential colleague who betrayed his confidence, mocked his projects, derided his authority, and yet complained of ill treatment--a rival who was neither compeer nor subaltern, and who affected to be his censor--a functionary of a purely anomalous character, sheltering himself under his abnegation of an authority which he had not dared to assume, and criticising measures which he was not competent to grasp;--such was the duke of medina coeli in alva's estimation. the bickering between the two dukes became unceasing and disgraceful. of course, each complained to the king, and each, according to his own account, was a martyr to the other's tyranny, but the meekness manifested by alva; in all his relations with the new comer, was wonderful, if we are to believe the accounts furnished by himself and by his confidential secretary. on the other hand, medina coeli wrote to the king, complaining of alva in most unmitigated strains, and asserting that he was himself never allowed to see any despatches, nor to have the slightest information as to the policy of the government. he reproached, the duke with shrinking from personal participation in military operations, and begged the royal forgiveness if he withdrew from a scene where he felt himself to be superfluous. accordingly, towards the end of november, he took his departure, without paying his respects. the governor complained to the king of this unceremonious proceeding, and assured his majesty that never were courtesy and gentleness so ill requited as his had been by this ingrate and cankered duke. "he told me," said alva, "that if i did not stay in the field, he would not remain with me in peaceful cities, and he asked me if i intended to march into holland with the troops which were to winter there. i answered, that i should go wherever it was necessary, even should i be obliged to swim through all the canals of holland." after giving these details, the duke added, with great appearance of candor and meekness, that he was certain medina coeli had only been influenced by extreme zeal for his majesty's service, and that, finding, so little for him to do in the netherlands, he had become dissatisfied with his position. immediately after the fall of harlem, another attempt was made by alva to win back the allegiance of the other cities by proclamations. it had become obvious to the governor that so determined a resistance on the part of the first place besieged augured many long campaigns before the whole province could be subdued. a circular was accordingly issued upon the th july from utrecht, and published immediately afterwards in all the cities of the netherlands. it was a paper of singular character, commingling an affectation of almost ludicrous clemency, with honest and hearty brutality. there was consequently something very grotesque about the document. philip, in the outset, was made to sustain towards his undutiful subjects the characters of the brooding hen and the prodigal's father; a range of impersonation hardly to be allowed him, even by the most abject flattery. "ye are well aware," thus ran the address, "that the king has, over and over again, manifested his willingness to receive his children, in however forlorn a condition the prodigals might return. his majesty assures you once more that your sins, however black they may have been, shall be forgiven and forgotten in the plenitude of royal kindness, if you repent and return in season to his majesty's embrace. notwithstanding your manifold crimes, his majesty still seeks, like a hen calling her chickens, to gather you all under the parental wing. the king hereby warns you once more, therefore, to place yourselves in his royal hands, and not to wait for his rage, cruelty, and fury, and the approach of his army." the affectionate character of the address, already fading towards the end of the preamble, soon changes to bitterness. the domestic maternal fowl dilates into the sanguinary dragon as the address proceeds. "but if," continues the monarch, "ye disregard these offers of mercy, receiving them with closed ears, as heretofore, then we warn you that there is no rigor, nor cruelty, however great, which you are not to expect by laying waste, starvation, and the sword, in such manner that nowhere shall remain a relic of that which at present exists, but his majesty will strip bare and utterly depopulate the land, and cause it to be inhabited again by strangers; since otherwise his majesty could not believe that the will of god and of his majesty had been accomplished." it is almost superfluous to add that this circular remained fruitless. the royal wrath, thus blasphemously identifying itself with divine vengeance, inspired no terror, the royal blandishments no affection. the next point of attack was the city of alkmaar, situate quite at the termination of the peninsula, among the lagunes and redeemed prairies of north holland. the prince of orange had already provided it with a small garrison. the city had been summoned to surrender by the middle of july, and had returned a bold refusal.--meantime, the spaniards had retired from before the walls, while the surrender and chastisement of harlem occupied them during the next succeeding weeks. the month of august, moreover, was mainly consumed by alva in quelling a dangerous and protracted mutiny, which broke out among the spanish soldiers at harlem-- between three and four thousand of them having been quartered upon the ill-fated population of that city. unceasing misery was endured by the inhabitants at the hands of the ferocious spaniards, flushed with victory, mutinous for long arrears of pay, and greedy for the booty which had been denied. at times, however, the fury of the soldiery was more violently directed against their own commanders than against the enemy. a project was even formed by the malcontent troops to deliver harlem into the hands of orange. a party of them, disguised as baltic merchants, waited upon the prince at delft, and were secretly admitted to his bedside before he had risen. they declared to him that they were spanish soldiers, who had compassion on his cause, were dissatisfied with their own government, and were ready, upon receipt of forty thousand guilders, to deliver the city into his hands. the prince took the matter into consideration, and promised to accept the offer if he could raise the required sum. this, however, he found himself unable to do within the stipulated time, and thus, for want of so paltry a sum, the offer was of necessity declined. various were the excesses committed by the insubordinate troops in every province in the netherlands upon the long-suffering inhabitants. "nothing," wrote alva, "had given him so much pain during his forty years of service." he avowed his determination to go to amsterdam in order to offer himself as a hostage to the soldiery, if by so doing he could quell the mutiny. he went to amsterdam accordingly, where by his exertions, ably seconded by those of the marquis vitelli, and by the payment of thirty crowns to each soldier--fourteen on account of arrearages and sixteen as his share in the harlem compensation money--the rebellion was appeased, and obedience restored. there was now leisure for the general to devote his whole energies against the little city of alkmaar. on that bank and shoal, the extreme verge of habitable earth, the spirit of holland's freedom stood at bay. the grey towers of egmont castle and of egmont abbey rose between the city and the sea, and there the troops sent by the prince of orange were quartered during the very brief period in which the citizens wavered as to receiving them. the die was soon cast, however, and the prince's garrison admitted. the spaniards advanced, burned the village of egmont to the ground as soon as the patriots had left it, and on the st of august don frederic, appearing before the walls, proceeded formally to invest allanaar. in a few days this had been so thoroughly accomplished that, in alva's language, "it was impossible for a sparrow to enter or go out of the city." the odds were somewhat unequal. sixteen thousand veteran troops constituted the besieging force. within the city were a garrison of eight hundred soldiers, together with thirteen hundred burghers, capable of bearing arms. the rest of the population consisted of a very few refugees, besides the women and children. two thousand one hundred able-bodied men, of whom only about one-third were soldiers, to resist sixteen thousand regulars. nor was there any doubt as to the fate which was reserved for them, should they succumb. the duke was vociferous at the ingratitude with which his clemency had hitherto been requited. he complained bitterly of the ill success which had attended his monitory circulars; reproached himself with incredible vehemence, for his previous mildness, and protested that, after having executed only twenty-three hundred persons at the surrender of harlem, besides a few additional burghers since, he had met with no correspondent demonstrations of affection. he promised himself, however, an ample compensation for all this ingratitude, in the wholesale vengeance which he purposed to wreak upon alkmaar. already he gloated in anticipation over the havoc which would soon be let loose within those walls. such ravings, if invented by the pen of fiction, would seem a puerile caricature; proceeding, authentically, from his own, --they still appear almost too exaggerated for belief. "if i take alkmaar," he wrote to philip, "i am resolved not to leave a single creature alive; the knife shall be put to every throat. since the example of harlem has proved of no use, perhaps an example of cruelty will bring the other cities to their senses." he took occasion also to read a lecture to the party of conciliation in madrid, whose counsels, as he believed, his sovereign was beginning to heed. nothing, he maintained, could be more senseless than the idea of pardon and clemency. this had been sufficiently proved by recent events. it was easy for people at a distance to talk about gentleness, but those upon the spot knew better. gentleness had produced nothing, so far; violence alone could succeed in future. "let your majesty," he said, "be disabused of the impression, that with kindness anything can he done with these people. already have matters reached such a point that many of those born in the country, who have hitherto advocated clemency, are now undeceived, and acknowledge--their mistake. they are of opinion that not a living soul should be left in alkmaar, but that every individual should be put to the sword." at the same time he took occasion, even in these ferocious letters, which seem dripping with blood, to commend his own natural benignity of disposition. "your majesty may be certain," he said, "that no man on earth desires the path of clemency more than i do, notwithstanding my particular hatred for heretics and traitors." it was therefore with regret that he saw himself obliged to take the opposite course, and to stifle all his gentler sentiments. upon diedrich sonoy, lieutenant-governor for orange in the province of north holland, devolved the immediate responsibility of defending this part of the country. as the storm rolled slowly up from the south, even that experienced officer became uneasy at the unequal conflict impending. he despatched a letter to his chief, giving a gloomy picture of his position. all looked instinctively towards the prince, as to a god in their time of danger; all felt as if upon his genius and fortitude depended the whole welfare of the fatherland. it was hoped, too, that some resource had been provided in a secret foreign alliance. "if your princely grace," wrote sonoy, "have made a contract for assistance with any powerful potentate, it is of the highest importance that it should be known to all the cities, in order to put an end to the emigration, and to console the people in their affliction." the answer, of the prince was full of lofty enthusiasm. he reprimanded with gentle but earnest eloquence the despondency and little faith of his lieutenant and other adherents. he had not expected, he said, that they would have so soon forgotten their manly courage. they seemed to consider the whole fate of the country attached to the city of harlem. he took god to witness that--he had spared no pains, and would willingly have spared no drop of his blood to save that devoted city. "but as, notwithstanding our efforts," he continued, "it has pleased god almighty to dispose of harlem according to his divine will, shall we, therefore, deny and deride his holy word? has the strong arm of the lord thereby grown weaker? has his church therefore come to caught? you ask if i have entered into a firm treaty with any great king or potentate, to which i answer, that before i ever took up the cause of the oppressed christians in these provinces, i had entered into a close alliance with the king of kings; and i am firmly convinced that all who put their trust in him shall be saved by his almighty hand. the god of armies will raise up armies for us to do battle with our enemies sad his own." in conclusion, he stated his preparations for attacking the enemy by sea as well as by land, and encouraged his lieutenant and the citizens of the northern quarter to maintain a bold front before the advancing foe. and now, with the dismantled and desolate harlem before their eyes, a prophetic phantom, perhaps, of their own imminent fate, did the handful of people shut up within alkmaar prepare for the worst. their main hope lay in the friendly sea. the vast sluices called the zyp, through which an inundation of the whole northern province could be very soon effected, were but a few miles distant. by opening these gates, and by piercing a few dykes, the ocean might be made to fight for them. to obtain this result, however, the consent of the inhabitants was requisite, as the destruction of all the standing crops would be inevitable. the city was so closely invested, that it was a matter of life and death to venture forth, and it was difficult, therefore, to find an envoy for this hazardous mission. at last, a carpenter in the city, peter van der mey by name, undertook the adventure, and was entrusted with letters to sonoy, to the prince of orange, and to the leading personages, in several cities of the province: these papers were enclosed in a hollow walking- staff, carefully made fast at the top. affairs soon approached a crisis within the beleaguered city. daily skirmishes, without decisive result; had taken place outside the walls. at last, on the th of september, after a steady cannonade of nearly twelve hours, don frederic, at three in the afternoon, ordered an assault. notwithstanding his seven months' experience at harlem, he still believed it certain that he should carry alkmaar by storm. the attack took place at once upon the frisian gate and upon the red tower on the opposite side. two choice regiments, recently arrived from lombardy; led the onset, rending the air with their shouts, and confident of an easy victory. they were sustained by what seemed an overwhelming force of disciplined troops. yet never, even in the recent history of harlem, had an attack been received by more dauntless breasts. every living man was on the walls. the storming parties were assailed with cannon, with musketry, with pistols. boiling water, pitch and oil, molten lead, and unslaked lime, were poured upon them every moment. hundreds of tarred and burning hoops were skilfully quoited around the necks of the soldiers, who struggled in vain to extricate themselves from these fiery ruffs, while as fast as any of the invaders planted foot upon the breach, they were confronted face to face with sword and dagger by the burghers, who hurled them headlong into the moat below. thrice was the attack renewed with ever-increasing rage--thrice repulsed with unflinching fortitude. the storm continued four hours long. during all that period, not one of the defenders left his post, till he dropped from it dead or wounded. the women and children, unscared by the balls flying in every direction, or by the hand-to-hand conflicts on the ramparts; passed steadily to and fro from the arsenals to the fortifications, constantly supplying their fathers, husbands, and brothers with powder and ball. thus, every human being in the city that could walk had become a soldier. at last darkness fell upon the scene. the trumpet of recal was sounded, and the spaniards, utterly discomfited, retired from the walls, leaving at least one thousand dead in the trenches, while only thirteen burghers and twenty-four of the garrison lost their lives. thus was alkmaar preserved for a little longer--thus a large and well-appointed army signally defeated by a handful of men fighting for their firesides and altars. ensign solis, who had mounted the breach for an instant, and miraculously escaped with life, after having been hurled from the battlements, reported that he had seen "neither helmet nor harness," as he looked down into the city: only some plain-looking people, generally dressed like fishermen. yet these plain- looking fishermen had defeated the veterans of alva. the citizens felt encouraged by the results of that day's work. moreover, they already possessed such information concerning the condition of affairs in the camp of the enemy as gave them additional confidence. a spaniard, named jeronimo, had been taken prisoner and brought into the city. on receiving a promise of pardon, he had revealed many secrets concerning the position and intentions of the besieging army. it is painful to add that the prisoner, notwithstanding his disclosures and the promise under which they had been made, was treacherously executed. he begged hard for his life as he was led to the gallows, offering fresh revelations, which, however, after the ample communications already made, were esteemed superfluous. finding this of no avail, he promised his captors, with perfect simplicity, to go down on his knees and worship the devil precisely as they did, if by so doing he might obtain mercy. it may be supposed that such a proposition was not likely to gain additional favor for him in the eyes of these rigid calvinists, and the poor wretch was accordingly hanged. the day following the assault, a fresh cannonade was opened upon the city. seven hundred shots having been discharged, the attack was ordered. it was in vain: neither threats nor entreaties could induce the spaniards, hitherto so indomitable, to mount the breach. the place seemed to their imagination protected by more than mortal powers; otherwise how was it possible that a few half-starved fishermen could already have so triumphantly overthrown the time-honored legions of spain. it was thought, no doubt, that the devil, whom they worshipped, would continue to protect his children. neither the entreaties nor the menaces of don frederic were of any avail. several soldiers allowed themselves to be run through the body by their own officers, rather than advance to the walls; and the assault was accordingly postponed to an indefinite period. meantime, as governor sonoy had opened many of the dykes, the land in the neighbourhood of the camp was becoming plashy, although as yet the threatened inundation had not taken place. the soldiers were already very uncomfortable and very refractory. the carpenter-envoy had not been idle, having, upon the th september, arrived at sonoy's quarters, bearing letters from the prince of orange. these despatches gave distinct directions to sonoy to flood the countlv at all risks; rather than allow alkmaar to, fall into the enemy's hands. the dykes and sluices were to be protected by a strong guard, lest the peasants, in order to save their crops, should repair or close them in the night-time. the letters of orange were copied, and, together with fresh communications from sonoy, delivered to the carpenter. a note on the margin of the prince's letter, directed the citizens to kindle four beacon fires in specified places, as soon as it should prove necessary to resort to extreme measures. when that moment should arrive, it was solemnly promised that an inundation should be created which should sweep the whole spanish army into the sea. the work had, in fact, been commenced. the zyp and other sluices had already been opened, and a vast body of water, driven by a strong north-west wind, had rushed in from the ocean. it needed only that two great dykes should be pierced to render the deluge and the desolation complete. the harvests were doomed to destruction, and a frightful loss of property rendered inevitable, but, at any rate, the spaniards, if this last measure were taken, must fly or perish to a man. this decisive blow having been thus ordered and promised; the carpenter set forth towards the city. he was, however, not so successful in accomplishing his entrance unmolested, as he had been in effecting his departure. he narrowly escaped with his life in passing through the enemy's lines, and while occupied in saving himself was so unlucky, or, as it proved, so fortunate, as to lose the stick in which his despatches were enclosed. he made good his entrance into the city, where, byword of mouth, he encouraged his fellow-burghers as to the intentions of the prince and sonoy. in the meantime his letters were laid before the general of the besieging army. the resolution taken by orange, of which don frederic was thus unintentionally made aware, to flood the country far and near, rather than fail to protect alkmaar, made a profound impression upon his mind. it was obvious that he was dealing with a determined leader and with desperate men. his attempt to carry the place by storm had signally failed, and he could not deceive himself as to the temper and disposition of his troops ever since that repulse. when it should become known that they were threatened with submersion in the ocean, in addition to all the other horrors of war, he had reason to believe that they would retire ignominiously from that remote and desolate sand hook, where, by remaining, they could only find a watery grave. these views having been discussed in a council of officers, the result was reached that sufficient had been already accomplished for the glory of spanish arms. neither honor nor loyalty, it was thought, required that sixteen thousand soldiers should be sacrificed in a contest, not with man but with the ocean. on the th of october, accordingly, the siege, which had lasted seven weeks, was raised, and don frederic rejoined his father in amsterdam. ready to die in the last ditch, and to overwhelm both themselves and their foes in a common catastrophe the hollanders had at last compelled their haughty enemy to fly from a position which he had so insolently assumed. these public transactions and military operations were not the only important events which affected the fate of holland and its sister provinces at this juncture. the secret relations which had already been renewed between louis of nassau, as plenipotentiary of his brother and the french court, had for some time excited great uneasiness in the mind of alva. count louis was known to be as skilful a negotiator as he was valiant and accomplished as a soldier. his frankness and boldness created confidence. the "brave spirit in the loyal breast" inspired all his dealing; his experience and quick perception of character prevented his becoming a dupe of even the most adroit politicians, while his truth of purpose made him incapable either of overreaching an ally or of betraying a trust. his career indicated that diplomacy might be sometimes successful, even although founded upon sincerity. alva secretly expressed to his sovereign much suspicion of france. he reminded him that charles ix.; during the early part of the preceding year, had given the assurance that he was secretly dealing with louis of nassau, only that he might induce the count to pass over to philip's service. at the same time charles had been doing all he could to succor moos, and had written the memorable letter which had fallen into alva's hands on the capture of genlis, and which expressed such a fixed determination to inflict a deadly blow upon the king, whom the writer was thus endeavouring to cajole. all this the governor recalled to the recollection of his sovereign. in view of this increasing repugnance of the english court, alva recommended that fair words should be employed; hinting, however, that it would be by no means necessary for his master to consider himself very strictly bound by any such pledges to elizabeth, if they should happen to become inconveniently pressing. "a monarch's promises," he delicately suggested, "were not to be considered so sacred as those of humbler mortals. not that the king should directly violate his word, but at the same time," continued the duke, "i have thought all my life, and i have learned it from the emperor, your majesty's father, that the negotiations of kings depend upon different principles from those of us private gentlemen who walk the world; and in this manner i always observed that your majesty's father, who was, so great a gentleman and so powerful a prince, conducted his affairs." the governor took occasion, likewise, to express his regrets at the awkward manner in which the ridolfi scheme had been managed. had he been consulted at an earlier day, the affair could have been treated much more delicately; as it was, there could be little doubt but that the discovery of the plot had prejudiced the mind of elizabeth against spain. "from that dust," concluded the duke, "has resulted all this dirt." it could hardly be matter of surprise, either to philip or his viceroy, that the discovery by elizabeth of a plot upon their parts to take her life and place the crown upon the head of her hated rival, should have engendered unamiable feelings in her bosom towards them. for the moment, however, alva's negotiations were apparently successful. on the first of may, , the articles of convention between england and spain, with regard to the netherland difficulty, had been formally published in brussels. the duke, in communicating the termination of these arrangements, quietly recommended his master thenceforth to take the english ministry into his pay. in particular he advised his majesty to bestow an annual bribe upon lord burleigh, "who held the kingdom in his hand; for it has always been my opinion," he continued, "that it was an excellent practice for princes to give pensions to the ministers of other potentates, and to keep those at home who took bribes from nobody." on the other hand, the negotiations of orange with the english court were not yet successful, and he still found it almost impossible to raise the requisite funds for carrying on the war. certainly, his private letters showed that neither he nor his brothers were self-seekers in their negotiations. "you know;" said he in a letter to his brothers, "that my intention has never been to seek my private advantage. i have only aspired for the liberty of the country, in conscience and in polity, which foreigners have sought to oppress. i have no other articles to propose, save that religion, reformed according to the word of god, should be permitted, that then the commonwealth should be restored to its ancient liberty, and, to that end, that the spaniards and other soldiery should be compelled to retire." the restoration of civil and religious liberty, the, establishment of the great principle of toleration in matters of conscience, constituted the purpose to which his days and nights were devoted, his princely fortune sacrificed, his life-blood risked. at the same time, his enforcement of toleration to both religions excited calumny against him among the bigoted adherents of both. by the catholics he was accused of having instigated the excesses which he had done everything in his power to repress. the enormities of de la marck, which had inspired the prince's indignation, were even laid at the door of him who had risked his life to prevent and to chastise them. de la marck had, indeed, more than counterbalanced his great service in the taking of brill, by his subsequent cruelties. at last, father cornelius musius, pastor of saint agatha, at the age of seventy-two, a man highly esteemed by the prince of orange, had been put to torture and death by this barbarian, under circumstances of great atrocity. the horrid deed cost the prince many tears, aroused the indignation of the estates of holland, and produced the dismission of the perpetrator from their service. it was considered expedient, however, in view of his past services, his powerful connexions, and his troublesome character, that he should be induced peaceably to leave the country. it was long before the prince and the estates could succeed in ridding themselves of this encumbrance. he created several riots in different parts of the province, and boasted, that he had many fine ships of war and three thousand men devoted to him, by whose assistance he could make the estates "dance after his pipe." at the beginning of the following year ( ), he was at last compelled to leave the provinces, which he never again troubled with his presence. some years afterwards, he died of the bite of a mad dog; an end not inappropriate to a man of so rabid a disposition. while the prince was thus steadily striving for a lofty and generous purpose, he was, of course, represented by his implacable enemies as a man playing a game which, unfortunately for himself, was a losing one. "that poor prince," said granvelle, "has been ill advised. i doubt now whether he will ever be able to make his peace, and i think we shall rather try to get rid of him and his brother as if they were turks. the marriage with the daughter of maurice, 'unde mala et quia ipse talis', and his brothers have done him much harm. so have schwendi and german intimacies. i saw it all very plainly, but he did not choose to believe me." ill-starred, worse counselled william of orange! had he but taken the friendly cardinal's advice, kept his hand from german marriages and his feet from conventicles--had he assisted his sovereign in burning heretics and hunting rebels, it would not then have become necessary "to treat him like a turk." this is unquestionable. it is equally so that there would have been one great lamp the less in that strait and difficult pathway which leads to the temple of true glory. the main reliance of orange was upon the secret negotiations which his brother louis was then renewing with the french government. the prince had felt an almost insurmountable repugnance towards entertaining any relation with that blood-stained court, since the massacre of saint bartholomew. but a new face had recently been put upon that transaction. instead of glorying, in their crime, the king and his mother now assumed a tone of compunction, and averred that the deed had been unpremeditated; that it had been the result of a panic or an ecstasy of fear inspired by the suddenly discovered designs of the huguenots; and that, in the instinct of self-preservation, the king, with his family and immediate friends, had plunged into a crime which they now bitterly lamented. the french envoys at the different courts of europe were directed to impress this view upon the minds of the monarchs to whom they were accredited. it was certainly a very different instruction from that which they had at first received. their cue had originally been to claim a full meed of praise and thanksgiving in behalf of their sovereign for his meritorious exploit. the salvos of artillery, the illuminations and rejoicings, the solemn processions and masses by which the auspicious event had been celebrated, mere yet fresh in the memory of men. the ambassadors were sufficiently embarrassed by the distinct and determined approbation which they had recently expressed. although the king, by formal proclamation, had assumed the whole responsibility, as he had notoriously been one of the chief perpetrators of the deed, his agents were now to stultify themselves and their monarch by representing, as a deplorable act of frenzy, the massacre which they had already extolled to the echo as a skilfully executed and entirely commendable achievement. to humble the power of spain, to obtain the hand of queen elizabeth for the duke d'alencon, to establish an insidious kind of protectorate over the protestant princes of germany, to obtain the throne of poland for the duke of anjou, and even to obtain the imperial crown for the house of valois--all these cherished projects seemed dashed to the ground by the paris massacre and the abhorrence which it had created. charles and catharine were not slow to discover the false position in which they had placed themselves, while the spanish jocularity at the immense error committed by france was visible enough through the assumed mask of holy horror. philip and alva listened with mischievous joy to the howl of execration which swept through christendom upon every wind. they rejoiced as heartily in the humiliation of the malefactors as they did in the perpetration of the crime. "your majesty," wrote louis of nassau, very bluntly, to king charles, "sees how the spaniard, your mortal enemy, feasts himself full with the desolation of your affairs; how he laughs, to-split his sides, at your misfortunes. this massacre has enabled him to weaken your majesty more than he could have done by a war of thirty years." before the year had revolved, charles had become thoroughly convinced of the fatal impression produced by the event. bitter and almost abject were his whinings at the catholic king's desertion of his cause. "he knows well," wrote charles to saint goard, "that if he can terminate these troubles and leave me alone in the dance, he will have leisure and means to establish his authority, not only in the netherlands but elsewhere; and that he will render himself more grand and formidable than he has ever been. this is the return they render for the good received from me, which is such as every one knows." gaspar de schomberg, the adroit and honorable agent of charles in germany, had at a very early day warned his royal master of the ill effect of the massacre upon all the schemes which he had been pursuing, and especially upon those which referred to the crowns of the empire and of poland. the first project was destined to be soon abandoned. it was reserved neither for charles nor philip to divert the succession in germany from the numerous offspring of maximilian; yet it is instructive to observe the unprincipled avidity with which the prize was sought by both. each was willing to effect its purchase by abjuring what were supposed his most cherished principles. philip of spain, whose mission was to extirpate heresy throughout his realms, and who, in pursuance of that mission, had already perpetrated more crimes, and waded more deeply in the blood of his subjects, than monarch had often done before; philip, for whom his apologists have never found any defence, save that he believed it his duty to god rather to depopulate his territories than to permit a single heretic within their limits--now entered into secret negotiations with the princes of the empire. he pledged himself, if they would confer the crown upon him, that he would withdraw the spaniards from the netherlands; that he would tolerate in those provinces the exercise of the reformed religion; that he would recognize their union with the rest of the german empire, and their consequent claim to the benefits of the passau treaty; that he would restore the prince of orange "and all his accomplices" to their former possessions, dignities, and condition; and that he would cause to be observed, throughout every realm incorporated with the empire, all the edicts and ordinances which had been constructed to secure religious freedom in germany. in brief, philip was willing, in case the crown of charlemagne should be promised him, to undo the work of his life, to reinstate the arch-rebel whom he had hunted and proscribed, and to bow before that reformation whose disciples he had so long burned, and butchered. so much extent and no more had that religious, conviction by which he had for years had the effrontery to excuse the enormities practised in the netherlands. god would never forgive him so long as one heretic remained unburned in the provinces; yet give him the imperial sceptre, and every heretic, without forswearing his heresy, should be purged with hyssop and become whiter than snow. charles ix., too, although it was not possible for him to recal to life the countless victims of the parisian wedding, was yet ready to explain those murders to the satisfaction of every unprejudiced mind. this had become strictly necessary. although the accession of either his most christian or most catholic majesty to the throne of the caesars was a most improbable event, yet the humbler elective, throne actually vacant was indirectly in the gift of the same powers. it was possible that the crown of poland might be secured for the duke of anjou. that key unlocks the complicated policy of this and the succeeding year. the polish election is the clue to the labyrinthian intrigues and royal tergiversations during the period of the interregnum. sigismund augustus, last of the jagellons, had died on the th july; . the prominent candidates to succeed him were the archduke ernest, son of the emperor, and henry of anjou. the prince of orange was not forgotten. a strong party were in favor of compassing his election, as the most signal triumph which protestantism could gain, but his ambition had not been excited by the prospect of such a prize. his own work required all the energies of all his life. his influence, however, was powerful, and eagerly sought by the partisans of anjou. the lutherans and moravians in poland were numerous, the protestant party there and in germany holding the whole balance of the election in their hands. it was difficult for the prince to overcome his repugnance to the very name of the man whose crime had at once made france desolate, and blighted the fair prospects under which he and his brother had, the year before, entered the netherlands. nevertheless; he was willing to listen to the statements by which the king and his ministers endeavoured, not entirely without success, to remove from their reputations, if not from their souls; the guilt of deep design. it was something, that the murderers now affected to expiate their offence in sackcloth and ashes-- it was something that, by favoring the pretensions of anjou, and by listening with indulgence to the repentance of charles, the siege of rochelle could be terminated, the huguenots restored to freedom of conscience, and an alliance with a powerful nation established, by aid of which the netherlands might once more lift their heads. the french government, deeply hostile to spain, both from passion and policy, was capable of rendering much assistance to the revolted provinces. "i entreat you most humbly, my good master," wrote schomberg to charles ix., "to beware of allowing the electors to take into their heads that you are favoring the affairs of the king of spain in any manner whatsoever. commit against him no act of open hostility, if you think that imprudent; but look sharp! if you do not wish to be thrown clean out of your saddle. i should split with rage if i should see you, in consequence of the wicked calumnies of your enemies, fail to secure the prize." orange was induced, therefore, to accept, however distrustfully, the expression of a repentance which was to be accompanied with healing measures. he allowed his brother louis to resume negotiations with schomberg, in germany. he drew up and transmitted to him the outlines of a treaty which he was willing to make with charles. the main conditions of this arrangement illustrated the disinterested character of the man. he stipulated that the king of france should immediately make peace with his subjects, declaring expressly that he had been abused by those, who, under pretext of his service, had sought their own profit at the price of ruin to the crown and people. the king should make religion free. the edict to that effect should be confirmed by all the parliaments and estates of the kingdom, and such confirmations should be distributed without reserve or deceit among all the princes of germany. if his majesty were not inclined to make war for the liberation of the netherlands, he was to furnish the prince of orange with one hundred thousand crowns at once, and every three months with another hundred thousand. the prince was to have liberty to raise one thousand cavalry and seven thousand infantry in france. every city or town in the provinces which should be conquered by his arms, except in holland or zealand, should be placed under the sceptre, and in the hands of the king of france. the provinces of holland and zealand should also be placed under his protection, but should be governed by their own gentlemen and citizens. perfect religious liberty and maintenance of the ancient constitutions, privileges, and charters were to be guaranteed "without any cavilling whatsoever." the prince of orange, or the estates of holland or zealand, were to reimburse his christian majesty for the sums which he was to advance. in this last clause was the only mention which the prince made of himself, excepting in the stipulation that he was to be allowed a levy of troops in france. his only personal claims were to enlist soldiers to fight the battles of freedom, and to pay their expense, if it should not be provided for by the estates. at nearly the same period, he furnished his secret envoys, luinbres and doctor taijaert, who were to proceed to paris, with similar instructions. the indefatigable exertions of schomberg, and the almost passionate explanations on the part of the court of france, at length produced their effect. "you will constantly assure the princes," wrote the duke of anjou to schomberg, "that the things written, to you concerning that which had happened in this kingdom are true; that the events occurred suddenly, without having been in any manner premeditated; that neither the king nor myself have ever had any intelligence with, the king of spain, against those of the religion, and that all is utter imposture which is daily said on this subject to the princes." count louis required peremptorily, however, that the royal repentance should bring forth the fruit of salvation for the remaining victims. out of the nettles of these dangerous intrigues his fearless hand plucked the "flower of safety" for his down-trodden cause. he demanded not words, but deeds, or at least pledges. he maintained with the agents of charles and with the monarch himself the same hardy scepticism which was manifested by the huguenot deputies in their conferences with catharine de medicis. "is the word of a king," said the dowager to the commissioners, who were insisting upon guarantees, "is the word of a king not sufficient?"--"no, madam," replied one of them, "by saint bartholomew, no!" count louis told schomberg roundly, and repeated it many times, that he must have in a very few days a categorical response, "not to consist in words alone, but in deeds, and that he could not, and would not, risk for ever the honor of his brother, nor the property; blood, and life of those poor people who favored the cause." on the rd march, , schomberg had an interview with count louis, which lasted seven or eight hours. in that interview the enterprises of the count, "which," said schomberg, "are assuredly grand and beautiful," were thoroughly discussed, and a series of conditions, drawn up partly in the hand of one, partly in that of the other negotiator; definitely agreed upon. these conditions were on the basis of a protectorate over holland and zealand for the king of france, with sovereignty over the other places to be acquired in the netherlands. they were in strict accordance with the articles furnished by the prince of orange. liberty of worship for those of both religions, sacred preservation of municipal charters, and stipulation of certain annual subsidies on the part of france, in case his majesty should not take the field, were the principal features. ten days later, schomberg wrote to his master that the count was willing to use all the influence of his family to procure for anjou the crown of poland, while louis, having thus completed his negotiations with the agent, addressed a long and earnest letter to the royal principal. this remarkable despatch was stamped throughout with the impress of the writer's frank and fearless character. "thus diddest thou" has rarely been addressed to anointed monarch in such unequivocal tones: the letter painted the favorable position in which the king had been placed previously to the fatal summer of . the queen of england was then most amicably disposed towards him, and inclined to a yet closer connexion with his family. the german princes were desirous to elect him king of the romans, a dignity for which his grandfather had so fruitlessly contended. the netherlanders, driven to despair by the tyranny of their own sovereign, were eager to throw themselves into his arms. all this had been owing to his edict of religious pacification. how changed the picture now! who now did reverence to a king so criminal and so fallen? "your majesty to-day," said louis, earnestly and plainly, "is near to ruin. the state, crumbling on every side and almost abandoned, is a prey to any one who wishes to seize upon it; the more so, because your majesty, having, by the late excess and by the wars previously made, endeavoured to force men's consciences, is now so destitute, not only of nobility and soldiery but of that which constitutes the strongest column of the throne, the love and good wishes of the lieges, that your majesty resembles an ancient building propped up, day after, day, with piles, but which it will be impossible long to prevent from falling to the earth." certainly, here were wholesome truths told in straightforward style. the count proceeded to remind the king of the joy which the "spaniard, his mortal enemy," had conceived from the desolation of his affairs, being assured that he should, by the troubles in france, be enabled to accomplish his own purposes without striking a blow. this, he observed, had been the secret of the courtesy with which the writer himself had been treated by the duke of alva at the surrender of mons. louis assured the king, in continuation, that if he persevered in these oppressive courses towards his subjects of the new religion, there was no hope for him, and that his two brothers would, to no purpose, take their departure for england, and, for poland, leaving him with a difficult and dangerous war upon his hands. so long as he maintained a hostile attitude towards the protestants in his own kingdom, his fair words would produce no effect elsewhere. "we are beginning to be vexed," said the count, "with the manner of negotiation practised by france. men do not proceed roundly to business there, but angle with their dissimulation as with a hook." he bluntly reminded the king of the deceit which he had practised towards the admiral--a sufficient reason why no reliance could in future be placed upon his word. signal vengeance on those concerned in the attempted assassination of that great man had been promised, in the royal letters to the prince of orange, just before st. bartholomew. "two days afterwards," said louis, "your majesty took that vengeance, but in rather ill fashion." it was certain that the king was surrounded by men who desired to work his ruin, and who, for their own purposes, would cause him to bathe still deeper than he had done before in the blood of his subjects. this ruin his majesty could still avert; by making peace in his kingdom, and by ceasing to torment his poor subjects of the religion. in conclusion, the count, with a few simple but eloquent phrases, alluded to the impossibility of chaining men's thoughts. the soul, being immortal, was beyond the reach of kings. conscience was not to be conquered, nor the religious spirit imprisoned. this had been discovered by the emperor charles, who had taken all the cities and great personages of germany captive, but who had nevertheless been unable to take religion captive. "that is a sentiment," said louis, "deeply rooted in the hearts of men, which is not to be plucked out by force of arms. let your majesty, therefore not be deceived by the flattery of those who, like bad physicians, keep their patients in ignorance of their disease, whence comes their ruin." it would be impossible, without insight into these private and most important transactions, to penetrate the heart of the mystery which enwrapped at this period the relations of the great powers with each other. enough has been seen to silence for ever the plea, often entered in behalf of religious tyranny, that the tyrant acts in obedience to a sincere conviction of duty; that, in performing his deeds of darkness, he believes himself to be accomplishing the will of heaven. here we have seen philip, offering to restore the prince of orange, and to establish freedom of religion in the netherlands, if by such promises he can lay hold of the imperial diadem. here also we have charles ix. and his mother--their hands reeking with the heretic-blood of st. bartholomew-- making formal engagements with heretics to protect heresy everywhere, if by such pledges the crown of the jagellons and the hand of elizabeth can be secured. while louis was thus busily engaged in germany, orange was usually established at delft. he felt the want of his brother daily, for the solitude of the prince, in the midst of such fiery trials, amounted almost to desolation. not often have circumstances invested an individual with so much responsibility and so little power. he was regarded as the protector and father of the country, but from his own brains and his own resources he was to furnish himself with the means of fulfilling those high functions. he was anxious thoroughly to discharge the duties of a dictatorship without grasping any more of its power than was indispensable to his purpose. but he was alone on that little isthmus, in single combat with the great spanish monarchy. it was to him that all eyes turned, during the infinite horrors of the harlem sieges and in the more prosperous leaguer of alkmaar. what he could do he did. he devised every possible means to succor harlem, and was only restrained from going personally to its rescue by the tears of the whole population of holland. by his decision and the spirit which he diffused through the country, the people were lifted to a pitch of heroism by which alkmaar was saved. yet, during all this harassing period, he had no one to lean upon but himself. "our affairs are in pretty good; condition in holland and zealand," he wrote, "if i only had some aid. 'tis impossible for me to support alone so many labors, and the weight of such great affairs as come upon me hourly--financial, military, political. i have no one to help me, not a single man, wherefore i leave you to suppose in what trouble i find myself." for it was not alone the battles and sieges which furnished him with occupation and filled him with anxiety. alone, he directed in secret the politics of the country, and, powerless and outlawed though he seemed, was in daily correspondence not only with the estates of holland and zealand, whose deliberations he guided, but with the principal governments of europe. the estates of the netherlands, moreover, had been formally assembled by alva in september, at brussels, to devise ways and means for continuing the struggle. it seemed to the prince a good opportunity to make an appeal to the patriotism of the whole country. he furnished the province of holland, accordingly, with the outlines of an address which was forthwith despatched in their own and his name, to the general assembly of the netherlands. the document was a nervous and rapid review of the course of late events in the provinces, with a cogent statement of the reasons which should influence them all to unite in the common cause against the common enemy. it referred to the old affection and true-heartedness with which they had formerly regarded each other, and to the certainty that the inquisition would be for ever established in the land, upon the ruins of all their ancient institutions, unless they now united to overthrow it for ever. it demanded of the people, thus assembled through their representatives, how they could endure the tyranny, murders, and extortions of the duke of alva. the princes of flanders, burgundy, brabant, or holland, had never made war or peace, coined money, or exacted a stiver from the people without the consent of the estates. how could the nation now consent to the daily impositions which were practised? had amsterdam and middelburg remained true; had those important cities not allowed themselves to be seduced from the cause of freedom, the northern provinces would have been impregnable. "'tis only by the netherlands that the netherlands are crushed," said the appeal. "whence has the duke of alva the power of which he boasts, but from yourselves--from netherland cities? whence his ships, supplies, money, weapons, soldiers? from the netherland people. why has poor netherland thus become degenerate and bastard? whither has fled the noble spirit of our brave forefathers, that never brooked the tyranny of foreign nations, nor suffered a stranger even to hold office within our borders? if the little province of holland can thus hold at bay the power of spain, what could not all the netherlands--brabant, flanders, friesland, and the rest united accomplish?" in conclusion, the estates- general were earnestly adjured to come forward like brothers in blood, and join hands with holland, that together they might rescue the fatherland and restore its ancient prosperity and bloom. at almost the same time the prince drew up and put in circulation one of the most vigorous and impassioned productions which ever came from his pen. it was entitled, an "epistle, in form of supplication, to his royal majesty of spain, from the prince of orange and the estates of holland and zealand." the document produced a profound impression throughout christendom. it was a loyal appeal to the monarch's loyalty--a demand that the land-privileges should be restored, and the duke of alva removed. it contained a startling picture of his atrocities and the nation's misery, and, with a few energetic strokes, demolished the pretence that these sorrows had been caused by the people's guilt. in this connexion the prince alluded to those acts of condemnation which the governor-general had promulgated under the name of pardons, and treated with scorn the hypothesis that any crimes had been committed for alva to forgive. "we take god and your majesty to witness," said the epistle, "that if we have done such misdeeds as are charged in the pardon, we neither desire nor deserve the pardon. like the most abject creatures which crawl the earth, we will be content to atone for our misdeeds with our lives. we will not murmur, o merciful king, if we be seized one after another, and torn limb from limb, if it can be proved that we have committed the crimes of which we have been accused." after having thus set forth the tyranny of the government and the innocence of the people, the prince, in his own name and that of the estates, announced the determination at which they had arrived. "the tyrant," he continued, "would rather stain every river and brook with our blood, and hang our bodies upon every tree in the country, than not feed to the full his vengeance, and steep himself to the lips in our misery. therefore we have taken up arms against the duke of alva and his adherents, to free ourselves, our wives and children, from his blood- thirsty hands. if he prove too strong nor us, we will rather die an honorable death and leave a praiseworthy fame, than bend our necks, and reduce our dear fatherland to such slavery. herein are all our cities pledged to each other to stand every siege, to dare the utmost, to endure every possible misery, yea, rather to set fire to all our homes, and be consumed with them into ashes together, than ever submit to the decrees of this cruel tyrant." these were brave words, and destined to be bravely fulfilled, as the life and death of the writer and the records of his country proved, from generation unto generation. if we seek for the mainspring of the energy which thus sustained the prince in the unequal conflict to which he had devoted his life, we shall find it in the one pervading principle of his nature--confidence in god. he was the champion of the political rights of his country, but before all he was the defender of its religion. liberty of conscience for his people was his first object. to establish luther's axiom, that thoughts are toll-free, was his determination. the peace of passau, and far more than the peace of passau, was the goal for which he was striving. freedom of worship for all denominations, toleration for all forms of faith, this was the great good in his philosophy. for himself, he had now become a member of the calvinist, or reformed church, having delayed for a time his public adhesion to this communion, in order not to give offence to the lutherans and to the emperor. he was never a dogmatist, however, and he sought in christianity for that which unites rather than for that which separates christians. in the course of october he publicly joined the church at dort. the happy termination of the siege of alkmaar was followed, three days afterwards, by another signal success on the part of the patriots. count bossu, who had constructed or collected a considerable fleet at amsterdam, had, early in october, sailed into the zuyder zee, notwithstanding the sunken wrecks and other obstructions by which the patriots had endeavored to render the passage of the y impracticable. the patriots of north holland had, however, not been idle, and a fleet of five-and-twenty vessels, under admiral dirkzoon, was soon cruising in the same waters. a few skirmishes took place, but bossu's ships, which were larger, and provided with heavier cannon, were apparently not inclined for the close quarters which the patriots sought. the spanish admiral, hollander as he was, knew the mettle of his countrymen in a close encounter at sea, and preferred to trust to the calibre of his cannon. on the th october, however, the whole patriot fleet, favored by a strong easterly, breeze, bore down upon the spanish armada, which, numbering now thirty sail of all denominations, was lying off and on in the neighbourhood of horn and enkhuyzen. after a short and general engagement, nearly all the spanish fleet retired with precipitation, closely pursued by most of the patriot dutch vessels. five of the king's ships were eventually taken, the rest effected their escape. only the admiral remained, who scorned to yield, although his forces had thus basely deserted him. his ship, the "inquisition,"--for such was her insolent appellation, was far the largest and best manned of both the fleets. most of the enemy had gone in pursuit of the fugitives, but four vessels of inferior size had attacked the "inquisition" at the commencement of the action. of these, one had soon been silenced, while the other three had grappled themselves inextricably to her sides and prow. the four drifted together, before wind and tide, a severe and savage action going on incessantly, during which the navigation of the ships was entirely abandoned. no scientific gunnery, no military or naval tactics were displayed or required in such a conflict. it was a life-and-death combat, such as always occurred when spaniard and netherlander met, whether on land or water. bossu and his men, armed in bullet-proof coats of mail, stood with shield and sword on the deck of the "inquisition," ready to repel all attempts to board. the hollander, as usual, attacked with pitch hoops, boiling oil, and molten lead. repeatedly they effected their entrance to the admiral's ship, and as often they were repulsed and slain in heaps, or hurled into the sea. the battle began at three in the afternoon, and continued without intermission through the whole night. the vessels, drifting together, struck on the shoal called the nek, near wydeness. in the heat of the action the occurrence was hardly heeded. in the morning twilight, john haring, of horn, the hero who had kept one thousand soldiers at bay upon the diemer dyke, clambered on board the "inquisition" and hauled her colors down. the gallant but premature achievement cost him his life. he was shot through the body and died on the deck of the ship, which was not quite ready to strike her flag. in the course of the forenoon, however, it became obvious to bossu that further resistance was idle. the ships were aground near a hostile coast, his own fleet was hopelessly dispersed, three quarters of his crew were dead or disabled, while the vessels with which he was engaged were constantly recruited by boats from the shore, which brought fresh men and ammunition, and removed their killed and wounded. at eleven o'clock, admiral bossu surrendered, and with three hundred prisoners was carried into holland. bossu was himself imprisoned at horn, in which city he was received, on his arrival, with great demonstrations of popular hatred. the massacre of rotterdam, due to his cruelty and treachery, had not yet been forgotten or forgiven. this victory, following so hard upon the triumph at alkmaar, was as gratifying to the patriots as it was galling to alva. as his administration drew to a close, it was marked by disaster and disgrace on land and sea. the brilliant exploits by which he had struck terror into the heart of the netherlanders, at jemmingen and in brabant, had been effaced by the valor of a handful of hollanders, without discipline or experience. to the patriots, the opportune capture of so considerable a personage as the admiral and governor of the northern province was of great advantage. such of the hostages from harlem as had not yet been executed, now escaped with their lives. moreover, saint aldegonde, the eloquent patriot and confidential friend of orange, who was taken prisoner a few weeks later, in an action at maeslands-luis, was preserved from inevitable destruction by the same cause. the prince hastened to assure the duke of alva that the same measure would be dealt to bossu as should be meted to saint aldegonde. it was, therefore, impossible for the governor-general to execute his prisoner, and he was obliged to submit to the vexation of seeing a leading rebel and heretic in his power, whom he dared not strike. both the distinguished prisoners eventually regained their liberty. the duke was, doubtless, lower sunk in the estimation of all classes than he had ever been before, during his long and generally successful life. the reverses sustained by his army, the belief that his master had grown cold towards him, the certainty that his career in the netherlands was closing without a satisfactory result, the natural weariness produced upon men's minds by the contemplation of so monotonous and unmitigated a tyranny during so many years, all contributed to diminish his reputation. he felt himself odious alike to princes and to plebeians. with his cabinet councillors he had long been upon unsatisfactory terms. president tisnacq had died early, in the summer, and viglius, much against his will, had been induced, provisionally, to supply his place. but there was now hardly a pretence of friendship between the learned frisian and the governor. each cordially detested the other. alva was weary of flemish and frisian advisers, however subservient, and was anxious to fill the whole council with spaniards of the vargas stamp. he had forced viglius once more into office, only that, by a little delay, he might expel him and every netherlander at the same moment. "till this ancient set of dogmatizers be removed," he wrote to philip, "with viglius, their chief, who teaches them all their lessons, nothing will go right. 'tis of no use adding one or two spaniards to fill vacancies; that is only pouring a flask of good wine into a hogshead of vinegar; it changes to vinegar likewise. your majesty will soon be able to reorganize the council at a blow; so that italians or spaniards, as you choose, may entirely govern the country." such being his private sentiments with regard to his confidential advisers, it may be supposed that his intercourse with his council during the year was not like to be amicable. moreover, he had kept himself, for the most part, at a distance from the seat of government. during the military operations in holland, his head-quarters had been at amsterdam. here, as the year drew to its close, he had become as unpopular as in brussels. the time-serving and unpatriotic burghers, who, at the beginning of the spring, set up his bust in their houses, and would give large sums for his picture in little, now broke his images and tore his portraits from their walls, for it was evident that the power of his name was gone, both with prince and people. yet, certainly, those fierce demonstrations which had formerly surrounded his person with such an atmosphere of terror had not slackened or become less frequent than heretofore. he continued to prove that he could be barbarous, both on a grand and a minute scale. even as in preceding years, he could ordain wholesale massacres with a breath, and superintend in person the executions of individuals. this was illustrated, among other instances, by the cruel fate of uitenhoove. that unfortunate nobleman, who had been taken prisoner in the course of the summer, was accused of having been engaged in the capture of brill, and was, therefore, condemned by the duke to be roasted to death before a slow fire. he was accordingly fastened by a chain, a few feet in length, to a stake, around which the fagots were lighted. here he was kept in slow torture for a long time, insulted by the gibes of the laughing spaniards who surrounded him--until the executioner and his assistants, more humane than their superior, despatched the victim with their spears--a mitigation of punishment which was ill received by alva. the governor had, however, no reason to remain longer in amsterdam. harlem had fallen; alkmaar was relieved; and leyden--destined in its second siege to furnish so signal a chapter to the history of the war--was beleaguered, it was true, but, because known to be imperfectly supplied, was to be reduced by blockade rather than by active operations. don francis valdez was accordingly left in command of the siege, which, however, after no memorable occurrences, was raised, as will soon be related. the duke had contracted in amsterdam an enormous amount of debt, both public and private. he accordingly, early in november, caused a proclamation to be made throughout the city by sound of trumpet, that all persons having demands upon him were to present their claims, in person, upon a specified day. during the night preceding the day so appointed, the duke and his train very noiselessly took their departure, without notice or beat of drum. by this masterly generalship his unhappy creditors were foiled upon the very eve of their anticipated triumph; the heavy accounts which had been contracted on the faith of the king and the governor, remained for the most part unpaid, and many opulent and respectable families were reduced to beggary. such was the consequence of the unlimited confidence which they had reposed in the honor of their tyrant. on the th of november, don luis de requesens y cuniga, grand commander of saint jago, the appointed successor of alva, arrived in brussels, where he was received with great rejoicings. the duke, on the same day, wrote to the king, "kissing his feet" for thus relieving him of his functions. there was, of course, a profuse interchange of courtesy between the departing and the newly-arrived governors. alva was willing to remain a little while, to assist his successor with his advice, but preferred that the grand commander should immediately assume the reins of office. to this requesens, after much respectful reluctance, at length consented. on the th of november he accordingly took the oaths, at brussels, as lieutenant-governor and captain-general, in presence of the duke of aerschot, baron berlaymont, the president of the council, and other functionaries. on the th of december the duke of alva departed from the provinces for ever. with his further career this history has no concern, and it is not desirable to enlarge upon the personal biography of one whose name certainly never excites pleasing emotions. he had kept his bed for the greater part of the time during the last few weeks of his government-- partly on account of his gout, partly to avoid being seen in his humiliation, but mainly, it was said, to escape the pressing demands of his creditors. he expressed a fear of travelling homeward through france, on the ground that he might very probably receive a shot out of a window as he went by. he complained pathetically that, after all his labors, he had not "gained the approbation of the king," while he had incurred "the malevolence and universal hatred of every individual in the country." mondoucet, to whom he made the observation, was of the same opinion; and informed his master that the duke "had engendered such an extraordinary hatred in the hearts of all persons in the land, that they would have fireworks in honor of his departure if they dared." on his journey from the netherlands, he is said to have boasted that he had caused eighteen thousand six hundred inhabitants of the provinces to be executed during the period of his government. the number of those who had perished by battle, siege, starvation, and massacre, defied computation. the duke was well received by his royal master, and remained in favor until a new adventure of don frederic brought father and son into disgrace. having deceived and abandoned a maid of honor, he suddenly espoused his cousins in order to avoid that reparation by marriage which was demanded for his offence. in consequence, both the duke and don frederic were imprisoned and banished, nor was alva released till a general of experience was required for the conquest of portugal. thither, as it were with fetters on his legs, he went. after having accomplished the military enterprise entrusted to him, he fell into a lingering fever, at the termination of which he was so much reduced that he was only kept alive by milk, which he drank from a woman's breast. such was the gentle second childhood of the man who had almost literally been drinking blood for seventy years. he died on the th december, . the preceding pages have been written in vain, if an elaborate estimate be now required of his character. his picture has been painted, as far as possible, by his own hand. his deeds, which are not disputed, and his written words, illustrate his nature more fully than could be done by the most eloquent pen. no attempt has been made to exaggerate his crimes, or to extenuate his superior qualities. virtues he had none, unless military excellence be deemed, as by the romans, a virtue. in war, both as a science and a practical art, he excelled all the generals who were opposed to him in the netherlands, and he was inferior to no commander in the world during the long and belligerent period to which his life belonged. louis of nassau possessed high reputation throughout europe as a skilful and daring general. with raw volunteers he had overthrown an army of spanish regulars, led by a netherland chieftain of fame and experience; but when alva took the field in person the scene was totally changed. the duke dealt him such a blow at jemmingen as would have disheartened for ever a less indomitable champion. never had a defeat been more absolute. the patriot army was dashed out of existence, almost to a man, and its leader, naked and beggared, though not disheartened, sent back into germany to construct his force and his schemes anew. having thus flashed before the eyes of the country the full terrors of his name, and vindicated the ancient military renown of his nation, the duke was at liberty to employ the consummate tactics, in which he could have given instruction to all the world, against his most formidable antagonist. the country, paralyzed with fear, looked anxiously but supinely upon the scientific combat between the two great champions of despotism and protestantism which succeeded. it was soon evident that the conflict could terminate in but one way. the prince had considerable military abilities, and enthusiastic courage; he lost none of his well- deserved reputation by the unfortunate issue of his campaign; he measured himself in arms with the great commander of the age, and defied him, day after day, in vain, to mortal combat; but it was equally certain that the duke's quiet game was, played in the most masterly manner. his positions and his encampments were taken with faultless judgment, his skirmishes wisely and coldly kept within the prescribed control, while the inevitable dissolution of the opposing force took place exactly as he had foreseen, and within the limits which he had predicted. nor in the disastrous commencement of the year did the duke less signally manifest his military genius. assailed as he was at every point, with the soil suddenly upheaving all around him, as by an earthquake, he did not lose his firmness nor his perspicacity. certainly, if he had not been so soon assisted by that other earthquake, which on saint bartholomew's day caused all christendom to tremble, and shattered the recent structure of protestant freedom in the netherlands, it might have been worse for his reputation. with mons safe, the flemish frontier guarded; france faithful, and thirty thousand men under the prince of orange in brabant, the heroic brothers might well believe that the duke was "at their mercy." the treason of charles ix. "smote them as with a club," as the prince exclaimed in the bitterness of his spirit. under the circumstances, his second campaign was a predestined failure, and alva easily vanquished him by a renewed application of those dilatory arts which he so well understood. the duke's military fame was unquestionable when he came to the provinces, and both in stricken fields and in long campaigns, he showed how thoroughly it had been deserved; yet he left the netherlands a baffled man. the prince might be many times defeated, but he was not to be conquered. as alva penetrated into the heart of the ancient batavian land he found himself overmatched as he had never been before, even by the most potent generals of his day. more audacious, more inventive, more desperate than all the commanders of that or any other age, the spirit of national freedom, now taught the oppressor that it was invincible; except by annihilation. the same lesson had been read in the same thickets by the nervii to julius caesar, by the batavians to the legions of vespasian; and now a loftier and a purer flame than that which inspired the national struggles against rome glowed within the breasts of the descendants of the same people, and inspired them with the strength which comes, from religious enthusiasm. more experienced, more subtle, more politic than hermann; more devoted, more patient, more magnanimous than civilis, and equal to either in valor and determination, william of orange was a worthy embodiment of the christian, national resistance of the german race to a foreign tyranny. alva had entered the netherlands to deal with them as with conquered provinces. he found that the conquest was still to be made, and he left the land without having accomplished it. through the sea of blood, the hollanders felt that they were passing to the promised land. more royal soldiers fell during the seven months' siege of harlem than the rebels had lost in the defeat of jemmingen, and in the famous campaign of brabant. at alkmaar the rolling waves of insolent conquest were stayed, and the tide then ebbed for ever. the accomplished soldier struggled hopelessly, with the wild and passionate hatred which his tyranny had provoked. neither his legions nor his consummate strategy availed him against an entirely desperate people. as a military commander, therefore, he gained, upon the whole, no additional laurels during his long administration of the netherlands. of all the other attributes to be expected in a man appointed to deal with a free country, in a state of incipient rebellion, he manifested a signal deficiency. as a financier, he exhibited a wonderful ignorance of the first principles of political economy. no man before, ever gravely proposed to establish confiscation as a permanent source of revenue to the state; yet the annual product from the escheated property of slaughtered heretics was regularly relied upon, during his administration, to replenish the king's treasury, and to support the war of extermination against the king's subjects. nor did statesman ever before expect a vast income from the commerce of a nation devoted to almost universal massacre. during the daily decimation of the people's lives, he thought a daily decimation of their industry possible. his persecutions swept the land of those industrious classes which had made it the rich and prosperous commonwealth it had been so lately; while, at the same time, he found a "peruvian mine," as he pretended, in the imposition of a tenth penny upon every one of its commercial transactions. he thought that a people, crippled as this had been by the operations of the blood council; could pay ten per cent., not annually but daily; not upon its income, but upon its capital; not once only, but every time the value constituting the capital changed hands. he had boasted that he should require no funds from spain, but that, on the contrary, he should make annual remittances to the royal treasury at home, from the proceeds of his imposts and confiscations; yet, notwithstanding these resources, and notwithstanding twenty-five millions of gold in five years, sent by philip from madrid, the exchequer of the provinces was barren and bankrupt when his successor arrived. requesens found neither a penny in the public treasury nor the means of raising one. as an administrator of the civil and judicial affairs of the country, alva at once reduced its institutions to a frightful simplicity. in the place of the ancient laws of which the netherlanders were so proud, he substituted the blood council. this tribunal was even more arbitrary than the inquisition. never was a simpler apparatus for tyranny devised, than this great labor-saving machine. never was so great a, quantity of murder and robbery achieved with such despatch and regularity. sentences, executions, and confiscations, to an incredible extent, were turned out daily with appalling precision. for this invention, alva is alone responsible. the tribunal and its councillors were the work and the creatures of his hand, and faithfully did they accomplish the dark purpose of their existence. nor can it be urged, in extenuation of the governor's crimes, that he was but the blind and fanatically loyal slave of his sovereign. a noble nature could not have contaminated itself with such slaughter-house work, but might have sought to mitigate the royal policy, without forswearing allegiance. a nature less rigid than iron, would at least have manifested compunction, as it found itself converted into a fleshless instrument of massacre. more decided than his master, however, he seemed, by his promptness, to rebuke the dilatory genius of philip. the king seemed, at times, to loiter over his work, teasing and tantalising his appetite for vengeance, before it should be gratified: alva, rapid and brutal, scorned such epicureanism. he strode with gigantic steps over haughty statutes and popular constitutions; crushing alike the magnates who claimed a bench of monarchs for their jury, and the ignoble artisans who could appeal only to the laws of their land. from the pompous and theatrical scaffolds of egmont and horn, to the nineteen halters prepared by master karl, to hang up the chief bakers and brewers of brussels on their own thresholds--from the beheading of the twenty nobles on the horse-market, in the opening of the governor's career, to the roasting alive of uitenhoove at its close-from the block on which fell the honored head of antony straalen, to the obscure chair in which the ancient gentlewoman of amsterdam suffered death for an act of vicarious mercy--from one year's end to another's--from the most signal to the most squalid scenes of sacrifice, the eye and hand of the great master directed, without weariness, the task imposed by the sovereign. no doubt the work of almost indiscriminate massacre had been duly mapped out. not often in history has a governor arrived to administer the affairs of a province, where the whole population, three millions strong, had been formally sentenced to death. as time wore on, however, he even surpassed the bloody instructions which he had received. he waved aside the recommendations of the blood council to mercy; he dissuaded the monarch from attempting the path of clemency, which, for secret reasons, philip was inclined at one period to attempt. the governor had, as he assured the king, been using gentleness in vain, and he was now determined to try what a little wholesome severity could effect. these words were written immediately after the massacres at harlem. with all the bloodshed at mons, and naarden, and mechlin, and by the council of tumults, daily, for six years long, still crying from the ground, he taxed himself with a misplaced and foolish tenderness to the people. he assured the king that when alkmaar should be taken, he would, not spare a "living soul among its whole population;" and, as his parting advice, he recommended that every city in the netherlands should be burned to the ground, except a few which could he occupied permanently by the royal troops. on the whole, so finished a picture of a perfect and absolute tyranny has rarely been presented to mankind by history, as in alva's administration of the netherlands. the tens of thousands in those miserable provinces who fell victims to the gallows, the sword, the stake, the living grave, or to living banishment, have never been counted; for those statistics of barbarity are often effaced from human record. enough, however, is known, and enough has been recited in the preceding pages. no mode in which human beings have ever caused their fellow-creatures to suffer, was omitted from daily practice. men, women, and children, old and young, nobles and paupers, opulent burghers, hospital patients, lunatics, dead bodies, all were indiscriminately made to furnish food for-the scaffold and the stake. men were tortured, beheaded, hanged by the neck and by the legs, burned before slow fires, pinched to death with red hot tongs, broken upon the wheel, starved, and flayed alive. their skins stripped from the living body, were stretched upon drums, to be beaten in the march of their brethren to the gallows. the bodies of many who had died a natural death were exhumed, and their festering remains hanged upon the gibbet, on pretext that they had died without receiving the sacrament, but in reality that their property might become the legitimate prey of the treasury. marriages of long standing were dissolved by order of government, that rich heiresses might be married against their will to foreigners whom they abhorred. women and children were executed for the crime of assisting their fugitive husbands and parents with a penny in their utmost need, and even for consoling them with a letter, in their exile. such was the regular course of affairs as administered by the blood council. the additional barbarities committed amid the sack and ruin of those blazing and starving cities, are almost beyond belief; unborn infants were torn from the living bodies of their mothers; women and children were violated by thousands; and whole populations burned and hacked to pieces by soldiers in every mode which cruelty, in its wanton ingenuity, could devise. such was the administration, of which vargas affirmed, at its close, that too much mercy, "nimia misericordia," had been its ruin. even philip, inspired by secret views, became wearied of the governor, who, at an early period, had already given offence by his arrogance. to commemorate his victories, the viceroy had erected a colossal statue, not to his monarch, but to himself. to proclaim the royal pardon, he had seated himself upon a golden throne. such insolent airs could be ill forgiven by the absolute king. too cautious to provoke an open rupture, he allowed the governor, after he had done all his work, and more than all his work, to retire without disgrace, but without a triumph. for the sins of that administration, master and servant are in equal measure responsible. the character of the duke of alva, so far as the netherlands are concerned, seems almost like a caricature. as a creation of fiction, it would seem grotesque: yet even that hardy, historical scepticism, which delights in reversing the judgment of centuries, and in re-establishing reputations long since degraded to the dust, must find it difficult to alter this man's position. no historical decision is final; an appeal to a more remote posterity, founded upon more accurate evidence, is always valid; but when the verdict has been pronounced upon facts which are undisputed, and upon testimony from the criminal's lips, there is little chance of a reversal of the sentence. it is an affectation of philosophical candor to extenuate vices which are not only avowed, but claimed as virtues. [the time is past when it could be said that the cruelty of alva, or the enormities of his administration, have been exaggerated by party violence. human invention is incapable of outstripping the truth upon this subject. to attempt the defence of either the man or his measures at the present day is to convict oneself of an amount of ignorance or of bigotry against which history and argument are alike powerless. the publication of the duke's letters in the correspondence of simancas and in the besancon papers, together with that compact mass of horror, long before the world under the title of "sententien van alva," in which a portion only of the sentences of death and banishment pronounced by him during his reign, have been copied from the official records--these in themselves would be a sufficient justification of all the charges ever brought by the most bitter contemporary of holland or flanders. if the investigator should remain sceptical, however, let him examine the "registre des condamnes et bannia a cause des troubles des pays bas," in three, together with the records of the "conseil des troubles," in forty-three folio volumes, in the royal archives at brussels. after going through all these chronicles of iniquity, the most determined historic, doubter will probably throw up the case.] etext editor's bookmarks: advised his majesty to bestow an annual bribe upon lord burleigh angle with their dissimulation as with a hook luther's axiom, that thoughts are toll-free only kept alive by milk, which he drank from a woman's breast scepticism, which delights in reversing the judgment of centuries so much responsibility and so little power sometimes successful, even although founded upon sincerity we are beginning to be vexed this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic, - by john lothrop motley part v. don john of austria. - [chapter i.] birth and parentage of don john--barbara blomberg--early education and recognition by philip--brilliant military career--campaign against the moors--battle of lepanto--extravagant ambition--secret and rapid journey of the new governor to the netherlands--contrast between don john and william of orange--secret instructions of philip and private purposes of the governor--cautious policy and correspondence of the prince--preliminary, negotiations with don john at luxemburg characterized--union of brussels--resumption of negotiations with the governor at huy--the discussions analyzed and characterized--influence of the new emperor rudolph ii. and of his envoys--treaty of marche en famine, or the perpetual edict, signed-- remarks upon that transaction--views and efforts of orange in opposition to the treaty--his letter, in name of holland and zealand, to the states-general--anxiety of the royal government to gain over the prince--secret mission of leoninus--his instructions from don john--fruitless attempts to corrupt the prince--secret correspondence between don john and orange--don john at louvain--his efforts to ingratiate himself with the netherlanders--his incipient popularity--departure of the spanish troops--duke of aerschot appointed governor of antwerp citadel--his insincere character. don john of austria was now in his thirty-second year, having been born in ratisbon on the th of february, . his father was charles the fifth, emperor of germany, king of spain, dominator of asia, africa, and america; his mother was barbara blomberg, washerwoman of ratisbon. introduced to the emperor, originally, that she might alleviate his melancholy by her singing, she soon exhausted all that was harmonious in her nature, for never was a more uncomfortable, unmanageable personage than barbara in her after life. married to one pyramus kegell, who was made a military commissary in the netherlands, she was left a widow in the beginning of alva's administration. placed under the especial superintendence of the duke, she became the torment of that warrior's life. the terrible governor, who could almost crush the heart out of a nation of three millions, was unable to curb this single termagant. philip had expressly forbidden her to marry again, but alva informed him that she was surrounded by suitors. philip had insisted that she should go into a convent, but alva, who, with great difficulty, had established her quietly in ghent, assured his master that she would break loose again at the bare suggestion of a convent. philip wished her to go to spain, sending her word that don john was mortified by the life his mother was leading, but she informed the governor that she would be cut to pieces before she would go to spain. she had no objection to see her son, but she knew too well how women were treated in that country. the duke complained most pathetically to his majesty of the life they all led with the ex-mistress of the emperor. never, he frequently observed, had woman so terrible a head. she was obstinate, reckless, abominably extravagant. she had been provided in ghent with a handsome establishment: "with a duenna, six other women, a major domo, two pages, one chaplain, an almoner, and four men-servants," and this seemed a sufficiently liberal scheme of life for the widow of a commissary. moreover, a very ample allowance had been made for the education of her only legitimate son, conrad, the other having perished by an accident on the day of his father's death. while don john of austria was, gathering laurels in granada, his half-brother, pyramus junior, had been ingloriously drowned in a cistern at ghent. barbara's expenses were exorbitant; her way of life scandalous. to send her money, said alva, was to throw it into the sea. in two days she would have spent in dissipation and feasting any sums which the king might choose to supply. the duke, who feared nothing else in the world, stood in mortal awe of the widow kegell. "a terrible animal, indeed, is an unbridled woman," wrote secretary gayas, from madrid, at the close of alva's administration for, notwithstanding every effort to entice, to intimidate, and to kidnap her from the netherlands, there she remained, through all vicissitudes, even till the arrival of don john. by his persuasions or commands she was, at last, induced to accept an exile for the remainder of her days, in spain, but revenged herself by asserting. that he was quite mistaken: in supposing himself the emperor's child; a point, certainly, upon which her, authority might be thought conclusive. thus there was a double mystery about don john. he might be the issue of august parentage on one side; he was; possibly, sprung of most ignoble blood. base-born at best, he was not sure whether to look for the author of his being in the halls of the caesara or the booths of ratisbon mechanics. [cabrera, xii. . an absurd rumor had existed that barbara blomberg had only been employed to personate don john's mother. she died at an estate called arronjo de molinos, four leagues from madrid, some years after the death of don john.] whatever might be the heart of the mystery, it is certain that it was allowed to enwrap all the early life of don john. the emperor, who certainly never doubted his responsibility for the infant's existence, had him conveyed instantly to spain, where he was delivered to louis quixada, of the imperial household, by whom he was brought up in great retirement at villa-garcia. magdalen ulloa, wife of quixada, watched over his infancy with maternal and magnanimous care, for her husband's extreme solicitude for the infant's welfare had convinced her that he was its father. on one occasion, when their house was in flames, quixada rescued the infant before he saved his wife, "although magdalen knew herself to be dearer to him than the apple of his eye." from that time forth she altered her opinion, and believed the mysterious child to be of lofty origin. the boy grew up full of beauty, grace, and agility, the leader of all his companions in every hardy sport. through the country round there were none who could throw the javelin, break a lance, or ride at the ring like little juan quixada. in taming unmanageable horses he was celebrated for his audacity and skill. these accomplishments, however, were likely to prove of but slender advantage in the ecclesiastical profession, to which he had been destined by his imperial father. the death of charles occurred before clerical studies had been commenced, and philip, to whom the secret had been confided at the close of the emperor's life, prolonged the delay thus interposed. juan had already reached his fourteenth year, when one day his supposed father quixada invited him to ride towards valladolid to see the royal hunt. two horses stood at the door--a splendidly caparisoned charger and a common hackney. the boy naturally mounted the humbler steed, and they set forth for the mountains of toro, but on hearing the bugles of the approaching huntsmen, quixada suddenly halted, and bade his youthful companion exchange horses with himself. when this had been done, he seized the hand of the wondering boy and kissing it respectfully, exclaimed, "your highness will be informed as to the meaning of my conduct by his majesty, who is even now approaching." they had proceeded but a short distance before they encountered the royal hunting party, when both quixada and young juan dismounted, and bent the knee to their monarch. philip, commanding the boy to rise, asked him if he knew his father's name. juan replied, with a sigh, that he had at that moment lost the only father whom he had known, for quixada had just disowned him. "you have the same father as myself," cried the king; "the emperor charles was the august parent of us both." then tenderly embracing him, he commanded him to remount his horse, and all returned together to valladolid, philip observing with a sentimentality that seems highly apocryphal, that he had never brought home such precious game from any hunt before. this theatrical recognition of imperial descent was one among the many romantic incidents of don john's picturesque career, for his life was never destined to know the commonplace. he now commenced his education, in company with his two nephews, the duchess margaret's son, and don carlos, prince-royal of spain. they were all of the same age, but the superiority of don john was soon recognized. it was not difficult to surpass the limping, malicious, carlos, either in physical graces or intellectual accomplishments; but the graceful; urbane, and chivalrous alexander, destined afterwards to such wide celebrity, was a more formidable rival, yet even the professed panegyrist of the farnese family, exalts the son of barbara blomberg over the grandson of margaret van geest. still destined for the clerical profession, don john, at the age of eighteen, to avoid compliance with philip's commands, made his escape to barcelona. it was his intention to join the maltese expedition. recalled peremptorily by philip, he was for a short time in disgrace; but afterwards made his peace with the monarch by denouncing some of the mischievous schemes of don carlos. between the prince-royal and the imperial bastard, there had always been a deep animosity, the infante having on one occasion saluted him with the most vigorous and offensive appellation which his illegitimate birth could suggest. "base-born or not," returned don john, "at any rate i had a better father than yours." the words were probably reported to philip and doubtless rankled in his breast, but nothing appeared on the surface, and the youth rose rapidly in favor. in his twenty-third year, he was appointed to the command of the famous campaign against the insurgent moors of granada. here he reaped his first laurels, and acquired great military celebrity. it is difficult to be dazzled by such glory. he commenced his operations by the expulsion of nearly all the moorish inhabitants of granada, bed- ridden men, women, and children, together, and the cruelty inflicted, the sufferings patiently endured in that memorable deportation, were enormous. but few of the many thousand exiles survived the horrid march, those who were so unfortunate as to do so being sold into slavery by their captors. still a few moors held out in their mountain fastnesses, and two years long the rebellion of this handful made head against the, power of spain. had their envoys to the porte succeeded in their negotiation, the throne of philip might have trembled; but selim hated the republic of venice as much as he loved the wine of cyprus. while the moors were gasping out their last breath in granada and ronda, the turks had wrested the island of venus from the grasp of the haughty republic fainagosta had fallen; thousands of venetians had been butchered with a ferocity which even christians could not have surpassed; the famous general bragadino had been flayed; stuffed, and sent hanging on the yard- arm of a frigate; to constantinople, as a present to the commander of the faithful; and the mortgage of catherine cornaro, to the exclusion of her husband's bastards, had been thus definitely cancelled. with such practical enjoyments, selim was indifferent to the splendid but shadowy vision of the occidental caliphate--yet the revolt of the moors was only terminated, after the departure of don john, by the duke of arcos. the war which the sultan had avoided in the west, came to seek him in the east. to lift the crucifix against the crescent, at the head of the powerful but quarrelsome alliance between venice, spain, and rome, don john arrived at naples. he brought with him more than a hundred ships and twenty-three thousand men, as the spanish contingent:--three months long the hostile fleets had been cruising in the same waters without an encounter; three more were wasted in barren manoeuvres. neither mussulman nor christian had much inclination for the conflict, the turk fearing the consequences of a defeat, by which gains already secured might be forfeited; the allies being appalled at the possibility of their own triumph. nevertheless, the ottomans manoeuvred themselves at last into the gulf of lepanto, the christians manoeuvred themselves towards its mouth as the foe was coming forth again. the conflict thus rendered inevitable, both turk and christian became equally eager for the fray, equally confident of, victory. six hundred vessels of war met face to face. rarely in history had so gorgeous a scene of martial array been witnessed. an october sun gilded the thousand beauties of an ionian landscape. athens and corinth were behind the combatants, the mountains of alexander's macedon rose in the distance; the rock of sappho and the heights of actium, were before their eyes. since the day when the world had been lost and won beneath that famous promontory, no such combat as the one now approaching had been fought upon the waves. the chivalrous young commander despatched energetic messages to his fellow chieftains, and now that it was no longer possible to elude the encounter, the martial ardor of the allies was kindled. the venetian high-admiral replied with words of enthusiasm. colonna, lieutenant of the league, answered his chief in the language of st. peter; "though i die, yet will i not deny thee." the fleet was arranged in three divisions. the ottomans, not drawn up in crescent form, as usual, had the same triple disposition. barbarigo and the other venetians commanded on the left, john andrew doria on the right, while don john himself and colonna were in the centre, crucifix in hand, the high-admiral rowed from ship to ship exhorting generals and soldiers to show themselves worthy of a cause which he had persuaded himself was holy. fired by his eloquence and by the sight of the enemy, his hearers answered with eager shouts, while don john returned to his ship; knelt upon the quarter-deck, and offered a prayer. he then ordered the trumpets to sound the assault, commanded his sailing-master to lay him alongside the turkish admiral, and the battle began. the venetians, who were first attacked, destroyed ship after ship of their assailants after a close and obstinate contest, but barliarigo fell dead ere the sunset, with an arrow through his brain. meantime the action, immediately after the first onset, had become general. from noon till evening the battle raged, with a carnage rarely recorded in history. don john's own ship lay yard-arm and yard-arm with the turkish admiral, and exposed to the fire of seven large vessels besides. it was a day when personal, audacity, not skilful tactics, was demanded, and the imperial bastard showed the metal he was made of. the turkish admiral's ship was destroyed, his head exposed from don john's deck upon a pike, and the trophy became the signal for a general panic and a complete victory. by sunset the battle had been won. of nearly three hundred turkish galleys, but fifty made their escape. from twenty-five to thirty thousand turks were slain, and perhaps ten thousand christians. the galley-slaves on both sides fought well, and the only beneficial result of the victory was the liberation of several thousand christian captives. it is true that their liberty was purchased with the lives of a nearly equal number of christian soldiers, and by the reduction to slavery of almost as many thousand mussulmen, duly distributed among the christian victors. many causes--contributed to this splendid triumph. the turkish ships, inferior in number, were also worse manned than those of their adversaries; and their men were worse armed. every bullet of the christians told on muslin turbans and embroidered tunics, while the arrows of the moslems fell harmless on the casques and corslets of their foes. the turks, too, had committed the fatal error of fighting upon a lee shore. having no sea room, and being repelled in their first onset, many galleys were driven upon the rocks, to be destroyed with all their crews. [cabrera says that thirty thousand turks were slain, ten thousand made prisoners, ten thousand christians killed, and fifteen thousand christian prisoners liberated, ix. . de thou's estimate is twenty-five thousand turks killed, three thousand prisoners, and ten thousand christians killed, vi. . brantome states the number of turks killed at thirty thousand, without counting those who were drowned or who died afterwards of their wounds; six thousand prisoners, twelve thousand christian prisoners liberated, and ten thousand christians killed. hoofd, vi. , gives the figures at twenty-five thousand turks and ten thousand christians slain. bor, v. , makes a minute estimate, on the authority of pietro contareno, stating the number of christians killed at seven thousand six hundred and fifty, that of turks at twenty-five thousand one hundred and fifty, turkish prisoners at three thousand eight hundred and forty-six, and christians liberated at twelve thousand; giving the number of turkish ships destroyed at eighty, captured fifty. according to the "relation cierta y verdadera," (which was drawn up a few days after the action,) the number of turks slain was thirty thousand and upwards, besides many prisoners, that of christians killed was seven thousand, of christian slaves liberated twelve thousand, of ottoman ships taken or destroyed two hundred and thirty. documentos ineditos, iii. . philip sent an express order, forbidding the ransoming of even the captive officers. the turkish slaves were divided among the victors in the proportion of one-half to philip and one-half to the pope and venice. the other booty was distributed on the same principle. out of the pope's share don john received, as a present, one hundred and seventy-four slaves (documentos ineditos, iii. ). alexander of parma received thirty slaves; requesens thirty. to each general of infantry was assigned six slaves; to each colonel four; to each ship's captain one. the number of "slaves in chains" (esclavos de cadena) allotted to philip was thirty-six hundred (documentoa ineditos, ). seven thousand two hundred turkish slaves, therefore, at least, were divided among christians. this number of wretches, who were not fortunate enough to die with their twenty- five thousand comrades, must be set off against the twelve thousand christian slaves liberated, in the general settlement of the account with humanity.] but whatever the cause of the victory, its consequence was to spread the name and fame of don john of austria throughout the world. alva wrote, with enthusiasm, to congratulate him; pronouncing the victory the most brilliant one ever achieved by christians, and don john the greatest general since the death of julius caesar. at the same time, with a sarcastic fling at the erection of the escorial, he advised philip to improve this new success in some more practical way than by building a house for the lord and a sepulchre for the dead. "if," said the duke, "the conquests of spain be extended in consequence of this triumph, then, indeed, will the cherubim and seraphim sing glory to god." a courier, despatched post haste to spain, bore the glorious news, together with the, sacred, standard of the prophet, the holy of holies, inscribed with the name of allah twenty-eight thousand nine hundred times, always kept in mecca during peace, and never since the conquest of constantinople lost in battle before. the king was at vespers in the escorial. entering the sacred precincts, breathless, travel-stained, excited, the messenger found philip impassible as marble to the wondrous news. not a muscle of the royal visage was moved, not a syllable escaped the royal lips, save a brief order to the clergy to continue the interrupted vespers. when the service had been methodically concluded, the king made known the intelligence and requested a te deum. the youthful commander-in-chief obtained more than his full mead of glory. no doubt he had fought with brilliant courage, yet in so close and murderous a conflict, the valor of no single individual could decide the day, and the result was due to the combined determination of all. had don john remained at naples, the issue might have easily been the same. barbarigo, who sealed the victory with his blood; colonna, who celebrated a solemn triumph on his return to rome; parma, doria, giustiniani, venieri, might each as well have claimed a monopoly of the glory, had not the pope, at philip's entreaty, conferred the baton of command upon don john. the meagre result of the contest is as notorious as the victory. while constantinople was quivering with apprehension, the rival generals were already wrangling with animosity. had the christian fleet advanced, every soul would have fled from the capital, but providence had ordained otherwise, and don john sailed westwardly with his ships. he made a descent on the barbary coast, captured tunis, destroyed biserta, and brought king amidas and his two sons prisoners to italy. ordered by philip to dismantle the fortifications of tunis, he replied by repairing them thoroughly, and by placing a strong garrison within the citadel. intoxicated with his glory, the young adventurer already demanded a crown, and the pope was disposed to proclaim him king of tunis, for the queen of the lybian seas was to be the capital of his empire, the new carthage which he already dreamed. philip thought it time to interfere, for he felt that his own crown might be insecure, with such a restless and ambitious spirit indulging in possible and impossible chimeras. he removed john de soto, who had been don john's chief councillor and emissary to the pope, and substituted in his place the celebrated and ill-starred escovedo. the new secretary, however, entered as heartily but secretly into all these romantic schemes. disappointed of the empire which he had contemplated on the edge of the african desert, the champion of the cross turned to the cold islands of the northern seas. there sighed, in captivity, the beauteous mary of scotland, victim of the heretic elizabeth. his susceptibility to the charms of beauty--a characteristic as celebrated as his courage--was excited, his chivalry aroused. what holier triumph for the conqueror of the saracens than the subjugation of these northern infidels? he would dethrone the proud elizabeth; he would liberate and espouse the queen of scots, and together they would reign over, the two united realms. all that the pope could do with bulls and blessings, letters of excommunication, and patents of investiture, he did with his whole heart. don john was at liberty to be king of england and scotland as soon as he liked; all that was left to do was to conquer the kingdoms. meantime, while these schemes were flitting through his brain, and were yet kept comparatively secret by the pope, escovedo, and himself, the news reached him in italy that be had been appointed governor-general of the netherlands. nothing could be more opportune. in the provinces were ten thousand veteran spaniards, ripe for adventure, hardened by years of warfare, greedy for gold, audacious almost beyond humanity, the very instruments for his scheme. the times were critical in the netherlands, it was true; yet he would soon pacify those paltry troubles, and then sweep forward to his prize. yet events were rushing forward with such feverish rapidity, that he might be too late for his adventure. many days were lost in the necessary journey from italy into spain to receive the final instructions of the king. the news from the provinces, grew more and more threatening. with the impetuosity and romance of his temperament, he selected his confidential friend ottavio gonzaga, six men-at-arms, and an adroit and well-experienced swiss courier who knew every road of france. it was no light adventure for the catholic governor-general of the netherlands to traverse the kingdom at that particular juncture. staining his bright locks and fair face to the complexion of a moor, he started on his journey, attired as the servant of gonzaga. arriving at paris, after a rapid journey, he descended at a hostelry opposite the residence of the spanish ambassador, don diego de cuniga. after nightfall he had a secret interview with that functionary, and learning, among other matters, that there was to be a great ball that night at the louvre, he determined to go thither in disguise. there, notwithstanding his hurry, he had time to see and to become desperately enamored of "that wonder of beauty," the fair and frail margaret of valois, queen of navarre. her subsequent visit to her young adorer at namur, to be recorded in a future page of this history, was destined to mark the last turning point in his picturesque career. on his way to the netherlands he held a rapid interview with the duke of guise, to arrange his schemes for the liberation and espousal of that noble's kinswoman, the scottish queen; and on the rd of november he arrived at luxemburg. there stood the young conqueror of lepanto, his brain full of schemes, his heart full of hopes, on the threshhold of the netherlands, at the entrance to what he believed the most brilliant chapter of his life-- schemes, hopes, and visions--doomed speedily to fade before the cold reality with which he was to be confronted. throwing off his disguise after reaching luxemburg, the youthful paladin stood confessed. his appearance was as romantic as his origin and his exploits. every contemporary chronicler, french, spanish, italian, flemish, roman, have dwelt upon his personal beauty and the singular fascination of his manner. symmetrical features, blue eyes of great vivacity, and a profusion of bright curling hair, were combined with a person not much above middle height; but perfectly well proportioned. owing to a natural peculiarity of his head, the hair fell backward from the temples, and he had acquired the habit of pushing it from his brows. the custom became a fashion among the host of courtiers, who were but too happy to glass themselves in so brilliant a mirror. as charles the fifth, on his journey to italy to assume the iron crown, had caused his hair to be clipped close, as a remedy for the headaches with which, at that momentous epoch, he was tormented, bringing thereby close shaven polls into extreme fashion; so a mass of hair pushed backward from the temples, in the style to which the name of john of austria was appropriated, became the prevailing mode wherever the favorite son of the emperor appeared. such was the last crusader whom the annals of chivalry were to know; the man who had humbled the crescent as it had not been humbled since the days of the tancreds, the baldwins, the plantagenets--yet, after all, what was this brilliant adventurer when weighed against the tranquil christian champion whom he was to meet face to face? the contrast was striking between the real and the romantic hero. don john had pursued and achieved glory through victories with which the world was ringing; william was slowly compassing a country's emancipation through a series of defeats. he moulded a commonwealth and united hearts with as much contempt for danger as don john had exhibited in scenes of slave driving and carnage. amid fields of blood, and through web's of tortuous intrigue, the brave and subtle son of the emperor pursued only his own objects. tawdry schemes of personal ambition, conquests for his own benefit, impossible crowns for his own wearing, were the motives which impelled, him, and the prizes which he sought. his existence was feverish, fitful, and passionate. "tranquil amid the raging billows," according to his favorite device, the father of his country waved aside the diadem which for him had neither charms nor meaning. their characters were as contrasted as their persons. the curled-darling of chivalry seemed a youth at thirty-one. spare of figure, plain in apparel, benignant, but haggard of countenance, with temples bared by anxiety as much as by his helmet, earnest, almost devout in manner, in his own words, "calvus et calvinists," william of orange was an old man at forty-three. perhaps there was as much good faith on the part of don john, when he arrived in luxemburg, as could be expected of a man coming directly from the cabinet of philip. the king had secretly instructed him to conciliate the provinces, but to concede nothing, for the governor was only a new incarnation of the insane paradox that benignity and the system of charles the fifth were one. he was directed to restore the government, to its state during the imperial epoch. seventeen provinces, in two of which the population were all dissenters, in all of which the principle of mutual toleration had just been accepted by catholics and protestants, were now to be brought back to the condition according to which all protestants were beheaded, burned, or buried alive. so that the inquisition, the absolute authority of the monarch, and the exclusive worship of the roman church were preserved intact, the king professed himself desirous of "extinguishing the fires of rebellion, and of saving the people from the last desperation." with these slight exceptions, philip was willing to be very benignant. "more than this," said he, "cannot and ought not be conceded." to these brief but pregnant instructions was added a morsel of advice, personal in its nature, but very characteristic of the writer. don john was recommended to take great care of his soul, and also to be very cautious in the management of his amours. thus counselled and secretly directed, the new captain-general had been dismissed to the unhappy netherlands. the position, however, was necessarily false. the man who was renowned for martial exploits, and notoriously devoured by ambition, could hardly inspire deep confidence in the pacific dispositions of the government. the crusader of granada and lepanto, the champion of the ancient church, was not likely to please the rugged zealanders who had let themselves be hacked to pieces rather than say one paternoster, and who had worn crescents in their caps at leyden, to prove their deeper hostility to the pope than to the turk. the imperial bastard would derive but alight consideration from his paternal blood, in a country where illegitimate birth was more unfavorably regarded than in most other countries, and where a brabantine edict, recently issued in name of the king; deprived ail political or civil functionaries not born in wedlock; of their offices. yet he had received instructions, at his departure, to bring about a pacification, if possible, always maintaining, however, the absolute authority of the crown and the exclusive exercise of the catholic religion. how the two great points of his instructions were to be made entirely palatable, was left to time and chance. there was a vague notion that with the new governor's fame, fascinating manners, and imperial parentage, he might accomplish a result which neither fraud nor force--not the arts of granvelle, nor the atrocity of alva, nor the licentiousness of a buccaneering soldiery had been able to effect. as for don john himself, he came with no definite plans for the netherlanders, but with very daring projects of his own, and to pursue these misty visions was his main business on arriving in the provinces. in the meantime he was disposed to settle the netherland difficulty in some showy, off-hand fashion, which should cost him but little trouble, and occasion no detriment to the cause of papacy or absolutism. unfortunately for these rapid arrangements, william of orange was in zealand, and the pacification had just been signed at ghent. it was, naturally, with very little satisfaction that the prince beheld the arrival of don john. his sagacious combinations would henceforth be impeded, if not wholly frustrated. this he foresaw. he knew that there could be no intention of making any arrangement in which holland and zealand could be included. he was confident that any recognition of the reformed religion was as much out of the question now as ever. he doubted not that there were many catholic magnates, wavering politicians, aspirants for royal favor, who would soon be ready to desert the cause which had so recently been made a general cause, and who would soon be undermining the work of their own hands. the pacification of ghent would never be maintained in letter and spirit by the vicegerent of philip; for however its sense might be commented upon or perverted, the treaty, while it recognized catholicism as the state religion, conceded, to a certain extent, liberty of conscience. an immense stride had been taken, by abolishing the edicts, and prohibiting persecution. if that step were now retraced, the new religion was doomed, and the liberties of holland and zealand destroyed. "if they make an arrangement with don john, it will be for us of the religion to run," wrote the prince to his brother, "for their intention is to suffer no person of that faith to have a fixed domicile in the netherlands." it was, therefore, with a calm determination to counteract and crush the policy of the youthful governor that william the silent awaited his antagonist. were don john admitted to confidence, the peace of holland and zealand was gone. therefore it was necessary to combat him both openly and secretly--by loud remonstrance and by invisible stratagem. what chance had the impetuous and impatient young hero in such an encounter with the foremost statesman of the age? he had arrived, with all the self-confidence of a conqueror; he did not know that he was to be played upon like a pipe--to be caught in meshes spread by his own hands--to struggle blindly--to rage impotently--to die ingloriously. the prince had lost no time in admonishing the states-general as to the course which should now be pursued. he was of opinion that, upon their conduct at this crisis depended the future destinies of the netherlands. "if we understand how to make proper use of the new governor's arrival," said he, "it may prove very advantageous to us; if not, it will be the commencement of our total ruin." the spirit of all his communications was to infuse the distrust which he honestly felt, and which he certainly took no pains to disguise; to impress upon his countrymen the importance of improving the present emergency by the enlargement, instead of the threatened contraction of their liberties, and to enforce with all his energy the necessity of a firm union. he assured the estates that don john had been sent, in this simple manner, to the country, because the king and cabinet had begun to despair of carrying their point by force. at the same time he warned them that force would doubtless be replaced by fraud. he expressed his conviction that so soon as don john should attain the ascendency which he had been sent to secure, the gentleness which now smiled upon the surface would give place to the deadlier purposes which lurked below. he went so far as distinctly to recommend the seizure of don john's person. by so doing, much bloodshed might be saved; for such was the king's respect for the emperor's son that their demands would be granted rather than that his liberty should be permanently endangered. in a very striking and elaborate letter which he addressed from middelburg to the estates-general, he insisted on the expediency of seizing the present opportunity in order to secure and to expand their liberties, and urged them to assert broadly the principle that the true historical polity of the netherlands was a representative, constitutional government, don john, on arriving at luxemburg, had demanded hostages for his own security, a measure which could not but strike the calmest spectator as an infraction of all provincial rights. "he asks you to disarm," continued william of orange; "he invites you to furnish hostages, but the time has been when the lord of the land came unarmed and uncovered, before the estates-general, and swore to support the constitutions before his own sovereignty could be recognized." he reiterated his suspicions as to the honest intentions of the government, and sought, as forcibly as possible, to infuse an equal distrust into the minds of those he addressed. "antwerp," said he, "once the powerful and blooming, now the most forlorn and desolate city of christendom, suffered because she dared to exclude the king's troops. you may be sure that you are all to have a place at the same banquet. we may forget the past, but princes never forget, when the means of vengeance are placed within their hands. nature teaches them to arrive at their end by fraud, when violence will not avail them. like little children, they whistle to the birds they would catch. promises and pretences they will furnish in plenty." he urged them on no account to begin any negotiation with the governor, except on the basis of the immediate departure of the soldiery. "make no agreement with him; unless the spanish and other foreign troops have been sent away beforehand; beware, meantime, of disbanding your own, for that were to put the knife into his hands to cut your own throats withal." he then proceeded to sketch the out lines of a negotiation, such as he could recommend. the plan was certainly sufficiently bold, and it could hardly cause astonishment, if it were not immediately accepted by don john; as the basis of an arrangement. "remember this is not play", said the prince, "and that you have to choose between the two, either total ruin or manly self-defence. don john must command the immediate departure of the spaniards. all our privileges must be revised, and an oath to maintain them required. new councils of state and finance must be appointed by the estates. the general assembly ought to have power to come together twice or thrice yearly, and, indeed, as often as they choose. the states-general must administer and regulate all affairs. the citadels must be demolished everywhere. no troops ought to be enlisted, nor garrisons established, without the consent of the estates." in all the documents, whether public memorials or private letters, which came at this period from the hand of the prince, he assumed, as a matter of course, that in any arrangement with the new governor the pacification of ghent was to be maintained. this, too, was the determination of almost every man in the country. don john, soon after his arrival at luxemburg, had despatched messengers to the states-general, informing them of his arrival. it was not before the close of the month of november that the negotiations seriously began. provost fonck, on the part of the governor, then informed them of don john's intention to enter namur, attended by fifty mounted troopers. permission, however, was resolutely refused, and the burghers of namur were forbidden to render oaths of fidelity until the governor should have complied with the preliminary demands of the estates. to enunciate these demands categorically, a deputation of the estates-general came to luxemburg. these gentlemen were received with courtesy by don john, but their own demeanour was not conciliatory. a dislike to the spanish government; a disloyalty to the monarch with whose brother and representative they were dealing, pierced through all their language. on the other hand, the ardent temper of don john was never slow to take offence. one of the deputies proposed to the governor, with great coolness, that he should assume the government in his own name, and renounce the authority of philip. were he willing to do so, the patriotic gentleman pledged himself that the provinces would at once acknowledge him as sovereign, and sustain his government. don john, enraged at the insult to his own loyalty which the proposition implied, drew his dagger and rushed towards the offender. the deputy would, probably, have paid for his audacity with his life had there not been by-standers enough to prevent the catastrophe. this scene was an unsatisfactory prelude to the opening negotiations. on the th of december the deputies presented to the governor at luxemburg a paper, containing their demands, drawn up in eight articles, and their concessions in ten. the states insisted on the immediate removal of the troops, with the understanding that they were never to return, but without prohibition of their departure by sea; they demanded the immediate release of all prisoners; they insisted on the maintenance of the ghent treaty, there being nothing therein which did not tend to the furtherance of the catholic religion; they claimed an act of amnesty; they required the convocation of the states-general, on the basis of that assembly before which took place the abdication of charles the fifth; they demanded an oath, on the part of don john, to maintain all the charters and customs of the country. should these conditions be complied: with, the deputies consented on the part of the estates, that he should be acknowledged as governor, and that the catholic religion and the authority of his majesty should be maintained. they agreed that all foreign leagues should be renounced, their own foreign soldiery disbanded, and a guard of honor, native netherlanders, such as his majesty was contented with at his "blythe entrance," provided. a truce of fifteen days, for negotiations, was furthermore proposed. don john made answers to these propositions by adding a brief comment, as apostille, upon each of the eighteen articles, in succession. he would send away the troops, but, at the same time, the states must disband their own. he declined engaging himself not to recal his foreign soldiery, should necessity require their service. with regard to the ghent pacification, he professed himself ready for a general peace negotiation, on condition that the supremacy of the catholic church and the authority of his majesty were properly secured. he would settle upon some act of amnesty after due consultation with the state council. he was willing that the states should be convoked in general assembly, provided sufficient security were given him that nothing should be there transacted prejudicial to the catholic religion and the king's sovereignty. as for their privileges, he would govern as had been done in the time of his imperial father. he expressed his satisfaction with most of the promises offered by the estates, particularly with their expression in favor of the church and of his majesty's authority; the two all-important points to secure which he had come thither unattended, at the peril of his life, but he received their offer of a body-guard, by which his hirelings were to be superseded, with very little gratitude. he was on the point, he said, of advancing as far as marche en famine, and should take with him as strong a guard as he considered necessary, and composed of such troops as he had at hand. nothing decisive came of this first interview. the parties had taken the measures of their mutual claims, and after a few days, fencing with apostilles, replies, and rejoinders, they separated, their acrimony rather inflamed than appeased. the departure of the troops and the ghent treaty were the vital points in the negotiation. the estates had originally been content that the troops should go by sea. their suspicions were, however, excited by the pertinacity with which don john held to this mode of removal. although they did not suspect the mysterious invasion of england, a project which was the real reason why the governor objected to their departure by land, yet they soon became aware--that he had been secretly tampering with the troops at every point. the effect of these secret negotiations with the leading officers of the army was a general expression of their unwillingness, on account of the lateness of the season, the difficult and dangerous condition of the roads and mountain-passes, the plague in italy, and other pretexts, to undertake so long a journey by land. on the other hand, the states, seeing the anxiety and the duplicity of don john upon this particular point, came to the resolution to thwart him at all hazards, and insisted on the land journey. too long a time, too much money, too many ships would be necessary, they said, to forward so large a force by sea, and in the meantime it would be necessary to permit them to live for another indefinite period at the charge of the estates. with regard to the ghent pacification, the estates, in the course of december, procured: an express opinion from the eleven professors of theology, and doctors utriusque juris of louvain, that the treaty contained nothing which conflicted with the supremacy of the catholic religion. the various bishops, deacons, abbots, and pastors of the netherlands made a similar decision. an elaborate paper, drawn, up by the state-council, at the request of the states-general, declared that there was nothing in the pacification derogatory to the supreme authority of his majesty. thus fortified; with opinions which, it must be confessed, were rather dogmatically than argumentatively drawn up, and which it would have been difficult very logically to, defend, the states looked forward confidently to the eventual acceptance by don john of the terms proposed. in the meantime, while there was still an indefinite pause in the negotiations, a remarkable measure came to aid the efficacy of the ghent pacification. early in january, , the celebrated "union of brussels" was formed. this important agreement was originally signed by eight leading personages, the abbot of saint gertrude, the counts lalain and bossu, and the seigneur de champagny being among the number. its tenor was to engage its signers to compass the immediate expulsion of the spaniards and the execution of the ghent pacification, to maintain the catholic religion and the king's authority, and to defend the fatherland and all its constitutions. its motive was to generalize the position assumed by the ghent treaty. the new act was to be signed, not by a few special deputies alone, like a diplomatic convention, but by all the leading individuals of all the provinces, in order to exhibit to don john such an array of united strength that he would find himself forced to submit to the demands of the estates. the tenor, motive, and effect were all as had been proposed and foreseen. the agreement to expel the spaniards, under the catholic and loyal manifestations indicated, passed from hand to hand through all the provinces. it soon received the signature and support of all the respectability, wealth, and intelligence of the whole country. nobles, ecclesiastics, citizens, hastened to give to it their adhesion. the states-general had sent it, by solemn resolution, to every province, in order that every man might be forced to range himself either upon the side of the fatherland or of despotism. two copies of the signatures procured in each province were ordered, of which one was to be deposited in its archives, and the other forwarded to brussels. in a short time, every province, with the single exception of luxemburg, had loaded the document with signatures. this was a great step in advance. the ghent pacification, which was in the nature of a treaty between the prince and the estates of holland and zealand on the one side, and a certain number of provinces on the other, had only been signed by the envoys of the contracting parties. though received with deserved and universal acclamation, it had not the authority of a popular document. this, however, was the character studiously impressed upon the "brussels union." the people, subdivided according to the various grades of their social hierarchy, had been solemnly summoned to council, and had deliberately recorded their conviction. no restraint had been put upon their freedom of action, and there was hardly a difference of opinion as to the necessity of the measure. a rapid revolution in friesland, groningen, and the dependencies, had recently restored that important country to the national party. the portuguese de billy had been deprived of his authority as king's stadholder, and count hoogstraaten's brother, baron de ville, afterwards as count renneberg infamous for his, treason to the cause of liberty, had been appointed by the estates in his room. in all this district the "union of brussels" was eagerly signed by men of every degree. holland and zealand, no less than the catholic provinces of the south willingly accepted the compromise which was thus laid down, and which was thought to be not only an additional security for the past, not only a pillar more for the maintenance of the ghent pacification, but also a sure precursor of a closer union in the future. the union of brussels became, in fact, the stepping-stone to the "union of utrecht," itself the foundation-stone of a republic destined to endure more than two centuries. on the other hand, this early union held the seed, of its own destruction within itself. it was not surprising, however, that a strong declaration in favor of the catholic religion should be contained in a document intended for circulation through all the provinces. the object was to unite as large a force, and to make as striking a demonstration before the eyes of the governor general as was practicable under the circumstances. the immediate purpose was answered, temporary union was formed, but it was impossible that a permanent crystallization should take place where so strong a dissolvent as the catholic clause had been admitted. in the sequel, therefore, the union fell asunder precisely at this fatal flaw. the next union was that which definitely separated the provinces into protestant, and catholic, into self-governing republics, and the dependencies of a distant despotism. the immediate effect, however, of the "brussels union" was to rally all lovers of the fatherland and haters of a foreign tyranny upon one vital point--the expulsion of the stranger from the land. the foot of the spanish soldier should no longer profane their soil. all men were forced to pronounce themselves boldly and unequivocally, in order that the patriots might stand shoulder to shoulder, and the traitors be held up to infamy. this measure was in strict accordance with the advice given more than once by the prince of orange, and was almost in literal fulfilment of the compromise, which he had sketched before the arrival of don john. the deliberations were soon resumed with the new governor, the scene being shifted from luxemburg to huy. hither came a fresh deputation from the states-general--many signers of the brussels union among them--and were received by don john with stately courtesy: they had, however, come, determined to carry matters with a high and firm hand, being no longer disposed to brook his imperious demeanour, nor to tolerate his dilatory policy. it is not surprising, therefore, that the courtesy soon changed to bitterness, and that attack and recrimination usurped the place of the dignified but empty formalities which had characterized the interviews at luxemburg. the envoys, particularly sweveghem and champagny, made no concealment of their sentiments towards the spanish soldiery and the spanish nation, and used a freedom of tone and language which the petulant soldier had not been accustomed to hear. he complained, at the outset, that the netherlanders seemed new-born--that instead of bending the knee, they seemed disposed to grasp the sceptre. insolence had taken the place of pliancy, and the former slave now applied the chain and whip to his master. with such exacerbation of temper at the commencement of negotiations, their progress was of necessity stormy and slow. the envoys now addressed three concise questions to the governor. was he satisfied that the ghent pacification contained nothing conflicting with the roman religion and the king's authority? if so, was he willing to approve that treaty in all its articles? was he ready to dismiss his troops at once, and by land, the sea voyage being liable to too many objections? don john answered these three questions--which, in reality, were but three forms of a single question--upon the same day, the th of january. his reply was as complex as the demand had been simple. it consisted of a proposal in six articles, and a requisition in twenty-one, making in all twenty-seven articles. substantially he proposed to dismiss the foreign troops--to effect a general pacification of the netherlands-- to govern on the basis of the administration in his imperial father's reign--to arrange affairs in and with regard to the assembly-general as the king should judge to be fitting--to forgive and forget past offences --and to release all prisoners. on the other hand he required the estates to pay the troops before their departure, and to provide ships enough to transport them, as the spaniards did not choose to go by land, and as the deputies, at luxemburg had consented to their removal by sea. furthermore, he demanded that the states should dismiss their own troops. he required ecclesiastical authority to prove the ghent pacification not prejudicial to the catholic religion; legal authority that it was not detrimental to his majesty's supremacy; and an oath from the states- general to uphold both points inviolably, and to provide for their maintenance in holland and zealand. he claimed the right to employ about his person soldiers and civil functionaries of any nation he might choose, and he exacted from the states a promise to prevent the prince of orange from removing his son, count van buren, forcibly or fraudulently, from his domicile in spain. the deputies were naturally indignant at this elaborate trifling. they had, in reality, asked him but one question, and that a simple one--would he maintain the treaty of ghent? here were twenty-seven articles in reply, and yet no answer to that question. they sat up all night, preparing a violent protocol, by which the governor's claims were to be utterly demolished. early in the morning, they waited upon his highness, presented the document, and at the same time asked him plainly, by word of mouth, did he or did he not intend to uphold the treaty. thus pressed into a corner in presence of the deputies, the members of the state council who were in attendance from brussels, and the envoys whom the emperor had recently sent to assist at these deliberations, the governor answered, no. he would not and could not maintain the treaty, because the spanish troops were in that instrument denounced as rebels, because he would not consent to the release of count van buren--and on account of various other reasons not then specified. hereupon ensued a fierce debate, and all day long the altercation lasted, without a result being reached. at ten o'clock in the evening, the deputies having previously retired for a brief interval, returned with a protest that they were not to be held responsible for the, termination of the proceedings, and that they washed their hands of the bloodshed which might follow the rupture. upon reading this document; don john fell into a blazing passion. he vehemently denounced the deputies as traitors. he swore that men who came to him thus prepared with ready-made protests in their pockets, were rebels from the commencement, and had never intended any agreement with him. his language and gestures expressed unbounded fury. he was weary of their ways, he said. they had better look to themselves, for the king would never leave their rebellion unpunished. he was ready to draw the sword at once--not his own, but his majesty's, and they might be sure that the war which they were thus provoking, should be the fiercest ever, waged. more abusive language in this strain was uttered, but it was not heard with lamb-like submission. the day had gone by when the deputies of the states-general were wont to quail before the wrath of vicarious royalty. the fiery words of don john were not oil to troubled water, but a match to a mine. the passions of the deputies exploded in their turn, and from hot words they had nearly come to hard blows. one of the deputies replied with so much boldness and vehemence that the governor, seizing a heavy silver bell which stood on the table, was about to hurl it at the offender's head, when an energetic and providential interference on the part of the imperial envoys, prevented the unseemly catastrophe. the day thus unprofitably spent, had now come to its close, and the deputies left the presence of don john with tempers as inflamed as his own. they were, therefore, somewhat surprised at being awakened in their beds, after midnight, by a certain father trigoso, who came to them with a conciliatory message from the governor. while they were still rubbing their eyes with sleep and astonishment, the duke of aerschot, the bishop of liege, and several councillors of state, entered the room. these personages brought the news that don john had at last consented to maintain the pacification of ghent, as would appear by a note written in his own hand, which was then delivered. the billet was eagerly read, but unfortunately did not fulfil the anticipations which had been excited. "i agree," said don john, "to approve the peace made between the states and the prince of orange, on condition that nothing therein may seem detrimental to the authority of his majesty and the supremacy of the catholic religion, and also with reservation of the points mentioned in my last communication." men who had gone to bed in a high state of indignation were not likely to wake in much better humour, when suddenly aroused in their first nap, to listen to such a message as this. it seemed only one piece of trifling the more. the deputies had offered satisfactory opinions of divines and jurisconsults, as to the two points specified which concerned the ghent treaty. it was natural, therefore, that this vague condition concerning them, the determination of which was for the governor's breast alone, should be instantly rejected, and that the envoys should return to their disturbed slumbers with an increase of ill-humour. on the morrow, as the envoys, booted and spurred, were upon the point of departure for brussels, another communication was brought to them from don john. this time, the language of the governor seemed more to the purpose. "i agree," said he, "to maintain the peace concluded between the states and the prince of orange, on condition of receiving from the ecclesiastical authorities, and from the university of louvain, satisfactory assurance that the said treaty contains nothing derogatory to the catholic religion--and similar assurance from the state council, the bishop of liege, and the imperial envoys, that the treaty is in no wise prejudicial to the authority of his majesty." here seemed, at last, something definite. these conditions could be complied with. they had, in fact, been already complied with. the assurances required as to the two points had already been procured, as the deputies and as don john well knew. the pacification of ghent was, therefore, virtually admitted. the deputies waited upon the governor accordingly, and the conversation was amicable. they vainly endeavoured, however, to obtain his consent to the departure of the troops by land--the only point then left in dispute. don john, still clinging to his secret scheme, with which the sea voyage of the troops was so closely connected, refused to concede. he reproached the envoys, on the contrary, with their importunity in making a fresh demand, just as he had conceded the ghent treaty, upon his entire responsibility and without instructions. mentally resolving that this point should still be wrung from the governor, but not suspecting his secret motives for resisting it so strenuously, the deputies took an amicable farewell of the governor, promising a favorable report upon the proceedings, so soon as they should arrive in brussels. don john, having conceded so much, was soon obliged to concede the whole. the emperor rudolph had lately succeeded his father, maximilian. the deceased potentate, whose sentiments on the great subject of religious toleration were so much in harmony with those entertained by the prince of orange, had, on the whole, notwithstanding the ties of relationship and considerations of policy, uniformly befriended the netherlands, so far as words and protestations could go, at the court of philip. active co-operation; practical assistance, he had certainly not rendered. he had unquestionably been too much inclined to accomplish the impossibility of assisting the states without offending the king--an effort which, in the homely language of hans jenitz; was "like wishing his skin washed without being wet." he had even interposed many obstacles to the free action of the prince, as has been seen in the course of this history, but nevertheless, the cause of the netherlands, of religion, and of humanity had much to lose by his death. his eldest son and successor, rudolph the second, was an ardent catholic, whose relations with a proscribed prince and a reformed population could hardly remain long in a satisfactory state. the new emperor had, however, received the secret envoys of orange with bounty, and was really desirous of accomplishing the pacification of the provinces. his envoys had assisted at all the recent deliberations between the estates and don john, and their vivid remonstrances removed, at this juncture, the last objection on the part of the governor-general. with a secret sigh, he deferred the darling and mysterious hope which had lighted him to the netherlands, and consented to the departure of the troops by land. all obstacles having been thus removed, the memorable treaty called the perpetual edict was signed at marche en famine on the th, and at brussels on the th of february, . this document, issued in the name of the king, contained nineteen articles. it approved and ratified the peace of ghent, in consideration that the prelates and clergy, with the doctors 'utriusque juris' of louvain, had decided that nothing in that treaty conflicted either with the supremacy of the catholic church or the authority of the king, but, on the contrary, that it advanced the interests of both. it promised that the soldiery should depart "freely, frankly, and without delay; by land, never to return except in case of foreign war"--the spaniards to set forth within forty days, the germans and others so soon as arrangements had been made by the states-general for their payment. it settled that all prisoners, on both sides, should be released, excepting the count van buren, who was to be set free so soon as the states-general having been convoked, the prince of orange should have fulfilled the resolutions to be passed by that assembly. it promised the maintenance of all the privileges, charters, and constitutions of the netherlands. it required of the states all oath to maintain the catholic religion. it recorded their agreement to disband their troops. it settled that don john should be received as governor- general, immediately upon the departure of the spaniards, italians, and burgundians from the provinces. these were the main provisions of this famous treaty, which was confirmed a few weeks afterwards by philip, in a letter addressed to the states of brabant, and by an edict issued at madrid. it will be seen that everything required by the envoys of the states, at the commencement of their negotiations, had been conceded by don john. they had claimed the departure of the troops, either by land or sea. he had resisted the demand a long time, but had at last consented to despatch them by sea. their departure by land had then been insisted upon. this again he had most reluctantly conceded. the ratification of the ghent treaty, he had peremptorily refused. he had come to the provinces, at the instant of its conclusion, and had, of course, no instructions on the subject. nevertheless, slowly receding, he had agreed, under certain reservations, to accept the treaty. those reservations relating to the great points of catholic and royal supremacy, he insisted upon subjecting to his own judgment alone. again he was overruled. most unwillingly he agreed to accept, instead of his own conscientious conviction, the dogmas of the state council and of the louvain doctors. not seeing very clearly how a treaty which abolished the edicts of charles the fifth and the ordinances of alva--which removed the religious question in holland and zealand from the king's jurisdiction to that of the states-general--which had caused persecution to surcease--had established toleration--and which moreover, had confirmed the arch rebel and heretic of all the netherlands in the government of the two rebellious and heretic provinces, as stadholder for the king--not seeing very clearly how such a treaty was "advantageous rather than prejudicial to royal absolutism and an exclusive catholicism," he naturally hesitated at first. the governor had thus disconcerted the prince of orange, not by the firmness of his resistance, but by the amplitude of his concessions. the combinations of william the silent were, for an instant, deranged. had the prince expected such liberality, he would have placed his demands upon a higher basis, for it is not probable that he contemplated or desired a pacification. the duke of aerschot and the bishop of liege in vain essayed to prevail upon his deputies at marche en famine, to sign the agreement of the th january, upon which was founded the perpetual edict. they refused to do so without consulting the prince and the estates. meantime, the other commissioners forced the affair rapidly forward. the states sent a deputation to the prince to ask his opinion, and signed the agreement before it was possible to receive his reply. this was to treat him with little courtesy, if not absolutely with bad faith. the prince was disappointed and indignant. in truth, as appeared from all his language and letters, he had no confidence in don john. he believed him a consummate hypocrite, and as deadly a foe to the netherlands as the duke of alva, or philip himself. he had carefully studied twenty-five intercepted letters from the king, the governor, jerome de roda, and others, placed recently in his hands by the duke of aerschot, and had found much to confirm previous and induce fresh suspicion. only a few days previously to the signature of the treaty, he had also intercepted other letters from influential personages, alonzo de vargas and others, disclosing extensive designs to obtain possession of the strong places in the country, and then to reduce the land to absolute subjection. he had assured the estates, therefore, that the deliberate intention of the government, throughout the whole negotiation, was to deceive, whatever might be the public language of don john and his agents. he implored them, therefore, to, have "pity upon the poor country," and to save the people from falling into the trap which was laid for them. from first to last, he had expressed a deep and wise distrust, and justified it by ample proofs. he was, with reason, irritated, therefore, at the haste with which the states had concluded the agreement with don john--at the celerity with which, as he afterwards expressed it, "they had rushed upon the boar-spear of that sanguinary heart." he believed that everything had been signed and sworn by the governor, with the mental reservation that such agreements were valid only until he should repent having made them. he doubted the good faith and the stability of the grand seigniors. he had never felt confidence in the professions of the time-serving aerschot, nor did he trust even the brave champagny, notwithstanding his services at the sack of antwerp. he was especially indignant that provision had been made, not for demolishing but for restoring to his majesty those hateful citadels, nests of tyranny, by which the flourishing cities of the land were kept in perpetual anxiety. whether in the hands of king, nobles, or magistrates, they were equally odious to him, and he had long since determined that they should be razed to the ground. in short, he believed that the estates had thrust their heads into the lion's mouth, and he foresaw the most gloomy consequences from the treaty which had just been concluded. he believed, to use his own language, "that the only difference between don john and alva or requesens was, that he was younger and more foolish than his predecessors, less capable of concealing his venom, more impatient, to dip his hands in blood." in the pacification of ghent, the prince had achieved the prize of his life-long labors. he had banded a mass of provinces by the ties of a common history, language, and customs, into a league against a foreign tyranny. he had grappled holland and zealand to their sister provinces by a common love for their ancient liberties, by a common hatred to a spanish soldiery. he had exorcised the evil demon of religious bigotry by which the body politic had been possessed so many years; for the ghent treaty, largely interpreted, opened the door to universal toleration. in the perpetual edict the prince saw his work undone. holland and zealand were again cut adrift from the other fifteen provinces, and war would soon be let loose upon that devoted little territory. the article stipulating the maintenance of the ghent treaty he regarded as idle wind; the solemn saws of the state council and the quiddities from louvain being likely to prove but slender bulwarks against the returning tide of tyranny. either it was tacitly intended to tolerate the reformed religion, or to hunt it down. to argue that the ghent treaty, loyally interpreted, strengthened ecclesiastical or royal despotism, was to contend that a maniac was more dangerous in fetters than when armed with a sword; it was to be blind to the difference between a private conventicle and a public scaffold. the perpetual edict, while affecting to sustain the treaty, would necessarily destroy it at a blow, while during the brief interval of repose, tyranny would have renewed its youth like the eagles. was it possible, then, for william of orange to sustain the perpetual edict, the compromise with don john? ten thousand ghosts from the lake of harlem, from the famine and plague-stricken streets of leyden, from the smoking ruins of antwerp, rose to warn him against such a composition with a despotism as subtle as it was remorseless. it was, therefore, not the policy of william of orange, suspecting, as he did, don john, abhorring philip, doubting the netherland nobles, confiding only in the mass of the citizens, to give his support to the perpetual edict. he was not the more satisfied because the states had concluded the arrangement without his sanction, and against his express, advice. he refused to publish or recognize the treaty in holland and zealand. a few weeks before, he had privately laid before the states of holland and zealand a series of questions, in order to test their temper, asking them, in particular, whether they were prepared to undertake a new and sanguinary war for the sake of their religion, even although their other privileges should be recognised by the new government, and a long and earnest debate had ensued, of a satisfactory nature, although no positive resolution was passed upon the subject. as soon as the perpetual edict had been signed, the states-general had sent to the prince, requesting his opinion and demanding his sanction. orange, in the name of holland and zealand, instantly returned an elaborate answer, taking grave exceptions to the whole tenor of the edict. he complained that the constitution of the land was violated, because the ancient privilege of the states-general to assemble at their pleasure, had been invaded, and because the laws of every province were set at nought by the continued imprisonment of count van buren, who had committed no crime, and whose detention proved that no man, whatever might be promised, could expect security for life or liberty. the ratification of the ghent treaty, it was insisted, was in no wise distinct and categorical, but was made dependent on a crowd of deceitful subterfuges. he inveighed bitterly against the stipulation in the edict, that the states should pay the wages of the soldiers, whom they had just proclaimed to be knaves and rebels, and at whose hands they had suffered such monstrous injuries. he denounced the cowardice which could permit this band of hirelings to retire with so much jewelry, merchandize, and plate, the result of their robberies. he expressed, however, in the name of the two provinces, a willingness to sign the edict, provided the states-general would agree solemnly beforehand, in case the departure of the spaniards did not take place within the stipulated tune, to abstain from all recognition of, or communication with, don john, and themselves to accomplish the removal of the troops by force of arms. such was the first and solemn manifesto made by the prince in reply to the perpetual edict; the states of holland and zealand uniting heart and hand in all that he thought, wrote, and said. his private sentiments were in strict accordance with the opinions thus publicly recorded. "whatever appearance don john may assume to the contrary," wrote the prince to his brother, "'tis by no means his intention to maintain the pacification, and less still to cause the spaniards to depart, with whom he keeps up the most strict correspondence possible." on the other hand, the governor was most anxious to conciliate the prince. he was most earnest to win the friendship of the man without whom every attempt to recover holland and zealand, and to re-establish royal and ecclesiastical tyranny, he knew to be hopeless. "this is the pilot," wrote don john to philip, "who guides the bark. he alone can destroy or save it. the greatest obstacles would be removed if he could be gained." he had proposed, and philip had approved the proposition, that the count van buren should be clothed with his father's dignities, on condition that the prince should himself retire into germany. it was soon evident, however, that such a proposition would meet with little favor, the office of father of his country and protector of her liberties not being transferable. while at louvain, whither he had gone after the publication of the perpetual edict, don john had conferred with the duke of aerschot, and they had decided that it would be well to send doctor leoninus on a private mission to the prince. previously to his departure on this errand, the learned envoy had therefore a full conversation with the governor. he was charged to represent to the prince the dangers to which don john had exposed himself in coming from spain to effect the pacification of the netherlands. leoninus was instructed to give assurance that the treaty just concluded should be maintained, that the spaniards should depart, that all other promises should be inviolably kept, and that the governor would take up arms against all who should oppose the fulfilment of his engagements. he was to represent that don john, in proof of his own fidelity, had placed himself in the power of the states. he was to intimate to the prince that an opportunity was now offered him to do the crown a service, in recompence for which he would obtain, not only pardon for his faults, but the favor of the monarch, and all the honors which could be desired; that by so doing he would assure the future prosperity of his family; that don john would be his good friend, and, as such; would do more for him than he could imagine. the envoy was also to impress upon the prince, that if he persisted in his opposition every man's hand would be against him, and the ruin of his house inevitable. he was to protest that don john came but to forgive and to forget, to restore the ancient government and the ancient prosperity, so that, if it was for those objects the prince had taken up arms, it was now his duty to lay them down, and to do his utmost to maintain peace and the catholic religion. finally, the envoy was to intimate that if he chose to write to don john, he might be sure to receive a satisfactory answer. in these pacific instructions and friendly expressions, don john was sincere. "the name of your majesty," said he, plainly, in giving an account of this mission to the king, "is as much abhorred and despised in the netherlands as that of the prince of orange is loved and feared. i am negotiating with him, and giving him every security, for i see that the establishment of peace, as well as the maintenance of the catholic religion, and the obedience to your majesty, depend now upon him. things have reached that pass that 'tis necessary to make a virtue of necessity. if he lend an ear to my proposals, it will be only upon very advantageous conditions, but to these it will be necessary to submit, rather than to lose everything." don john was in earnest; unfortunately he was not aware that the prince was in earnest also. the crusader, who had sunk thirty thousand paynims at a blow, and who was dreaming of the queen of scotland and the throne of england, had not room in his mind to entertain the image of a patriot. royal favors, family prosperity, dignities, offices, orders, advantageous conditions, these were the baits with which the governor angled for william of orange. he did not comprehend that attachment to a half- drowned land and to a despised religion, could possibly stand in the way of those advantageous conditions and that brilliant future. he did not imagine that the rebel, once assured not only of pardon but of advancement, could hesitate to refuse the royal hand thus amicably offered. don john had not accurately measured his great antagonist. the results of the successive missions which he despatched to the prince were destined to enlighten him. in the course of the first conversation between leoninus and the prince at middelburg, the envoy urged that don john had entered the netherlands without troops, that he had placed himself in the power of the duke of aerschot, that he had since come to louvain without any security but the promise of the citizens and of the students; and that all these things proved the sincerity of his intentions. he entreated the prince not to let slip so favorable an opportunity for placing his house above the reach of every unfavorable chance, spoke to him of marius, sylla, julius caesar, and other promoters of civil wars, and on retiring for the day, begged him to think gravely on what he had thus suggested, and to pray that god might inspire him with good resolutions. next day, william informed the envoy that, having prayed to god for assistance, he was more than ever convinced of his obligation to lay the whole matter before the states, whose servant he was. he added, that he could not forget the deaths of egmont and horn, nor the manner in which the promise made to the confederate nobles by the duchess of parma, had been visited, nor the conduct of the french monarch towards admiral coligny. he spoke of information which he had received from all quarters, from spain, france, and italy, that there was a determination to make war upon him and upon the states of holland and zealand. he added that they were taking their measures in consequence, and that they were well aware that a papal nuncio had arrived in the netherlands, to intrigue against them. in the evening, the prince complained that the estates had been so precipitate in concluding their arrangement with don john. he mentioned several articles in the treaty which were calculated to excite distrust; dwelling particularly on the engagement entered into by the estates to maintain the catholic religion. this article he declared to be in direct contravention to the ghent treaty, by which this point was left to the decision of a future assembly of the estates- general. leoninus essayed, as well as he could, to dispute these positions. in their last interview, the prince persisted in his intention of laying the whole matter before the states of holland and zealand. not to do so, he said, would be to expose himself to ruin on one side, and on the other, to the indignation of those who might suspect him of betraying them. the envoy begged to be informed if any hope could be entertained of a future arrangement. orange replied that he had no expectation of any, but advised doctor leoninus to be present at dort when the estates should assemble. notwithstanding the unfavorable result, of this mission, don john did not even yet despair of bending the stubborn character of the prince. he hoped that, if a personal interview between them could be arranged, he should be able to remove many causes of suspicion from the mind of his adversary. "in such times as these," wrote the governor to philip, "we can make no election, nor do i see any remedy to preserve the state from destruction, save to gain over this man, who has so much influence with the nation." the prince had, in truth, the whole game in his hands. there was scarcely a living creature in holland and zealand who was not willing to be bound by his decision in every emergency. throughout the rest of the provinces, the mass of the people looked up to him with absolute confidence, the clergy and the prominent nobles respecting and fearing him, even while they secretly attempted to thwart his designs. possessing dictatorial power in two provinces, vast influences in the other fifteen, nothing could be easier for him than to betray his country. the time was singularly propitious. the revengeful king was almost on his knees to the denounced rebel. everything was proffered: pardon, advancement, power. an indefinite vista was opened. "you cannot imagine," said don john, "how much it will be within my ability to do for you." the governor was extremely anxious to purchase the only enemy whom philip feared. the prince had nothing personally to gain by a continuance of the contest. the ban, outlawry, degradation, pecuniary. ruin, assassination, martyrdom--these were the only guerdons he could anticipate. he had much to lose: but yesterday loaded with dignities, surrounded by pomp and luxury, with many children to inherit his worldly gear, could he not recover all; and more than all, to-day? what service had he to render in exchange? a mere nothing. he had but to abandon the convictions of a lifetime, and to betray a million or two of hearts which trusted him. as to the promises made by the governor to rule the country with gentleness, the prince could not do otherwise than commend the intention, even while distrusting the fulfilment. in his reply to the two letters of don john, he thanked his highness, with what seemed a grave irony, for the benign courtesy and signal honor which he had manifested to him, by inviting him so humanely and so carefully to a tranquil life, wherein, according to his highness, consisted the perfection of felicity in this mortal existence, and by promising him so liberally favor and grace. he stated, however, with earnestness, that the promises in regard to the pacification of the poor netherland people were much more important. he had ever expected, he said, beyond all comparison, the welfare and security of the public before his own; "having always placed his particular interests under his foot, even as he was still resolved to do, as long as life should endure." thus did william of orange receive the private advances made by the government towards himself. meantime, don john of austria came to louvain. until the preliminary conditions of the perpetual edict had been fulfilled, and the spanish troops sent out of the country, he was not to be received as governor-general, but it seemed unbecoming for him to remain longer upon the threshold of the provinces. he therefore advanced into the heart of the country, trusting himself without troops to the loyalty of the people, and manifesting a show of chivalrous confidence which he was far from feeling. he was soon surrounded by courtiers, time-servers, noble office-seekers. they who had kept themselves invisible, so long as the issue of a perplexed negotiation seemed doubtful, now became obsequious and inevitable as his shadow. one grand seignior wanted a regiment, another a government, a third a chamberlain's key; all wanted titles, ribbons, offices, livery, wages. don john distributed favors and promises with vast liberality. the object with which philip had sent him to the netherlands, that he might conciliate the hearts of its inhabitants by the personal graces which he had inherited from his imperial father, seemed in a fair way of accomplishment, for it was not only the venal applause of titled sycophants that he strove to merit, but he mingled gaily and familiarly with all classes of citizens. everywhere his handsome face and charming manner produced their natural effect. he dined and supped with the magistrates in the town-house, honored general banquets of the burghers with his presence, and was affable and dignified, witty, fascinating, and commanding, by turns. at louvain, the five military guilds held a solemn festival. the usual invitations were sent to the other societies, and to all the martial brotherhoods, the country round. gay and gaudy processions, sumptuous banquets, military sports, rapidly succeeded each other. upon the day of the great trial of skill; all the high functionaries of the land were, according to custom, invited, and the governor was graciously pleased to honor the solemnity with his presence. great was the joy of the multitude when don john, complying with the habit of imperial and princely personages in former days, enrolled himself, cross-bow in hand, among the competitors. greater still was the enthusiasm, when the conqueror of lepanto brought down the bird, and was proclaimed king of the year, amid the tumultuous hilarity of the crowd. according to custom, the captains of the guild suspended a golden popinjay around the neck of his highness, and placing themselves in procession, followed him to the great church. thence, after the customary religious exercises, the multitude proceeded to the banquet, where the health of the new king of the cross-bowmen was pledged in deep potations. long and loud was the merriment of this initiatory festival, to which many feasts succeeded during those brief but halcyon days, for the good-natured netherlanders already believed in the blessed advent of peace. they did not dream that the war, which had been consuming the marrow of their commonwealth for ten flaming years, was but in its infancy, and that neither they nor their children were destined to see its close. for the moment, however, all was hilarity at louvain. the governor, by his engaging deportment, awoke many reminiscences of the once popular emperor. he expressed unbounded affection for the commonwealth, and perfect confidence in the loyalty of the inhabitants. he promised to maintain their liberties, and to restore their prosperity. moreover, he had just hit the popinjay with a skill which his imperial father might have envied, and presided at burgher banquets with a grace which charles could have hardly matched. his personal graces, for the moment, took the rank of virtues. "such were the beauty and vivacity of his eyes," says his privy councillor, tassis, "that with a single glance he made all hearts his own," yet, nevertheless, the predestined victim secretly felt himself the object of a marksman who had no time for painted popinjays, but who rarely missed his aim. "the whole country is at the devotion of the prince, and nearly every one of its inhabitants;" such was his secret language to his royal brother, at the very moment of the exuberant manifestations which preceded his own entrance to brussels. while the governor still tarried at louvain, his secretary, escovedo, was busily engaged in arranging the departure of the spaniards, for, notwithstanding his original reluctance and the suspicions of orange, don john loyally intended to keep his promise. he even advanced twenty-seven thousand florins towards the expense of their removal, but to raise the whole amount required for transportation and arrears, was a difficult matter. the estates were slow in providing the one hundred and fifty thousand florins which they had stipulated to furnish. the king's credit, moreover, was at a very low, ebb. his previous bonds had not been duly honored, and there had even been instances of royal repudiation, which by no means lightened the task of the financier, in effecting the new loans required. escovedo was very blunt in his language upon this topic, and both don john and himself urged punctuality in all future payments. they entreated that the bills drawn in philip's name upon lombardy bankers, and discounted at a heavy rate of interest, by the fuggers of antwerp, might be duly provided for at maturity. "i earnestly beg," said escovedo, "that your majesty will see to the payment of these bills, at all events;" adding, with amusing simplicity, "this will be a means of recovering your majesty's credit, and as for my own; i don't care to lose it, small though it be." don john was even more solicitous. "for the love of god, sire," he wrote, "do not be delinquent now. you must reflect upon the necessity of recovering your credit. if this receives now the final blow, all will desert your majesty, and the soldiers too will be driven to desperation." by dint of great diligence on the part of escovedo, and through the confidence reposed in his character, the necessary funds were raised in the course of a few weeks. there was, however, a difficulty among the officers, as to the right of commanding the army on the homeward march. don alonzo de vargas, as chief of the cavalry, was appointed to the post by the governor, but valdez, romero, and other veterans, indignantly refused to serve under one whom they declared their inferior officer. there was much altercation and heartburning, and an attempt was made to compromise the matter by the appointment of count mansfeld to the chief command. this was, however, only adding fuel to the flames. all were dissatisfied with the superiority accorded to a foreigner, and alonzo de vargas, especially offended, addressed most insolent language to the governor. nevertheless, the arrangement was maintained, and the troops finally took their departure from the country, in the latter days of april. a vast concourse of citizens witnessed their departure, and could hardly believe their eyes, as they saw this incubus at last rolling off, by which the land had so many years been crushed. their joy, although extravagant, was, however, limited by the reflection that ten thousand germans still remained in the provinces, attached to the royal service, and that there was even yet a possibility that the departure of the spaniards was a feint. in truth, escovedo, although seconding the orders of don john, to procure the removal of these troops, did not scruple to express his regret to the king, and his doubts as to the result. he had been ever in hopes that an excuse might be found in the condition of affairs in france, to justify the retention of the forces near that frontier. he assured the king that he felt very doubtful as to what turn matters might take, after the soldiers were gone, seeing the great unruliness which even their presence had been insufficient completely to check. he had hoped that they might be retained in the neighbourhood, ready to seize the islands at the first opportunity. "for my part," he wrote, "i care nothing for the occupation of places within the interior, but the islands must be secured. to do this," he continued, with a deceitful allusion to the secret projects of don john, "is, in my opinion, more difficult than to effect the scheme upon england. if the one were accomplished, the other would be easily enough managed, and would require but moderate means. let not your majesty suppose that i say this as favoring the plan of don john, for this i put entirely behind me." notwithstanding these suspicions on the part of the people, this reluctance on the part of then government, the troops readily took up their line of march, and never paused till they reached lombardy. don john wrote repeatedly to the king, warmly urging the claims of these veterans, and of their distinguished officers, romero, avila, valdez, montesdocca, verdugo, mondragon, and others, to his bountiful consideration. they had departed in very ill humour, not having received any recompense for their long and arduous services. certainly, if unflinching endurance, desperate valor, and congenial cruelty, could atone in the monarch's eyes for the mutiny, which had at last compelled their withdrawal, then were these laborers worthy of their hire. don john had pacified them by assurances that they should receive adequate rewards on their arrival in lombardy, and had urged the full satisfaction of their claims and his promises in the strongest language. although don alonzo de vargas had abused him "with-flying colors," as he expressed himself, yet he hastened to intercede for him with the king in the most affectionate terms. "his impatience has not surprised me," said the governor, "although i regret that he has been offended, far i love and esteem him much. he has served many years with great distinction, and i can certify that his character for purity and religion is something extraordinary." the first scene in the withdrawal of the troops had been the evacuation of the citadel of antwerp, and it had been decided that the command of this most important fortress should be conferred upon the duke of aerschot. his claims as commander-in-chief, under the authority of the state council, and as chief of the catholic nobility, could hardly be passed over, yet he was a man whom neither party trusted. he was too visibly governed by interested motives. arrogant where he felt secure of his own, or doubtful as to another's position, he could be supple and cringing when the relations changed. he refused an interview with william of orange before consulting with don john, and solicited one afterwards when he found that every effort was to be made to conciliate the prince. he was insolent to the governor-general himself in february, and respectful in march. he usurped the first place in the church, before don john had been acknowledged governor, and was the first to go forth to welcome him after the matter had been arranged. he made a scene of virtuous indignation in the state council, because he was accused of place-hunting, but was diligent to secure an office of the highest dignity which the governor could bestow. whatever may have been his merits, it is certain that he inspired confidence neither in the adherents of the king nor of the prince; while he by turns professed the warmest regard both to the one party and the other. spaniards and patriots, protestants and catholics, suspected the man at the same moment, and ever attributed to his conduct a meaning which was the reverse of the apparent. such is often the judgment passed upon those who fish in troubled waters only to fill their own nets. the duke, however, was appointed governor of the citadel. sancho d'avila, the former constable, refused, with castillian haughtiness, to surrender the place to his successor, but appointed his lieutenant, martin d'oyo, to perform that ceremony. escovedo, standing upon the drawbridge with aerschot, administered the oath: "i, philip, duke of aerschot," said the new constable, "solemnly swear to hold this castle for the king, and for no others." to which escovedo added, "god help you, with all his angels, if you keep your oath; if not, may the devil carry you away, body and soul." the few bystanders cried amen; and with this hasty ceremony, the keys were delivered, the prisoners, egmont, capres, goignies, and others, liberated, and the spaniards ordered to march forth. etext editor's bookmarks: a terrible animal, indeed, is an unbridled woman agreements were valid only until he should repent all protestants were beheaded, burned, or buried alive arrive at their end by fraud, when violence will not avail them attachment to a half-drowned land and to a despised religion barbara blomberg, washerwoman of ratisbon believed in the blessed advent of peace compassing a country's emancipation through a series of defeats don john of austria don john was at liberty to be king of england and scotland ferocity which even christians could not have surpassed happy to glass themselves in so brilliant a mirror his personal graces, for the moment, took the rank of virtues necessary to make a virtue of necessity one-half to philip and one-half to the pope and venice (slaves) quite mistaken: in supposing himself the emperor's child sentimentality that seems highly apocryphal she knew too well how women were treated in that country those who fish in troubled waters only to fill their own nets worn crescents in their caps at leyden this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, volume the rise of the dutch republic, - by john lothrop motley - [chapter iii.] latter days of the blood council--informal and insincere negotiations for peace--characteristics of the negotiators and of their diplomatic correspondence--dr. junius--secret conferences between dr. leoninus and orange--steadfastness of the prince-- changes in the internal government of the northern provinces-- generosity and increasing power of the municipalities--incipient jealousy in regard to orange rebuked--his offer of resignation refused by the estates--his elevation to almost unlimited power-- renewed mediation of maximilian--views and positions of the parties --advice of orange--opening of negotiations at breda--propositions and counter-propositions--adroitness of the plenipotentiaries on both sides--insincere diplomacy and unsatisfactory results--union of holland and zealand under the prince of orange--act defining his powers--charlotte de bourbon--character, fortunes, and fate of anna of saxony--marriage of orange with mademoiselle de bourbon-- indignation thereby excited--horrible tortures inflicted upon papists by sonoy in north holland--oudewater and schoonoven taken by hierges--the isles of zealand--a submarine expedition projected-- details of the adventure--its entire success--death of chiappin vitelli--deliberations in holland and zealand concerning the renunciation of philip's authority--declaration at delft--doubts as to which of the great powers the sovereignty should be offered-- secret international relations--mission to england--unsatisfactory negotiations with elizabeth--position of the grand commander--siege of zieriekzee--generosity of count john--desperate project of the prince--death and character of requesens. the council of troubles, or, as it will be for ever denominated in history, the council of blood, still existed, although the grand commander, upon his arrival in the netherlands, had advised his sovereign to consent to the immediate abolition of so odious an institution. philip accepting the advice of his governor and his cabinet, had accordingly authorized him by a letter of the th of march, , to take that step if he continued to believe it advisable. requesens had made use of this permission to extort money from the obedient portion of the provinces. an assembly of deputies was held at brussels on the th of june, , and there was a tedious interchange of protocols, reports, and remonstrances. the estates, not satisfied with the extinction of a tribunal which had at last worn itself out by its own violence, and had become inactive through lack of victims, insisted on greater concessions. they demanded the departure of the spanish troops, the establishment of a council of netherlanders in spain for netherland affairs, the restoration to offices in the provinces of natives and natives only; for these drawers of documents thought it possible, at that epoch, to recover by pedantry what their brethren of holland and zealand were maintaining with the sword. it was not the moment for historical disquisition, citations from solomon, nor chopping of logic; yet with such lucubrations were reams of paper filled, and days and weeks occupied. the result was what might have been expected. the grand commander obtained but little money; the estates obtained none of their demands; and the blood council remained, as it were, suspended in mid- air. it continued to transact business at intervals during the administration of requesens, and at last, after nine years of existence, was destroyed by the violent imprisonment of the council of state at brussels. this event, however, belongs to a subsequent page of this history. noircarmes had argued, from the tenor of saint aldegonde's letters, that the prince would be ready to accept his pardon upon almost any terms. noircarmes was now dead, but saint aldegonde still remained in prison, very anxious for his release, and as well disposed as ever to render services in any secret negotiation. it will be recollected that, at the capitulation of middelburg, it had been distinctly stipulated by the prince that colonel mondragon should at once effect the liberation of saint aldegonde, with certain other prisoners, or himself return into confinement. he had done neither the one nor the other. the patriots still languished in prison, some of them being subjected to exceedingly harsh treatment, but mondragon, although repeatedly summoned as an officer and a gentleman, by the prince, to return to captivity, had been forbidden by the grand commander to redeem his pledge. saint aldegonde was now released from prison upon parole, and despatched on a secret mission to the prince and estates. as before, he was instructed that two points were to be left untouched--the authority of the king and the question of religion. nothing could be more preposterous than to commence a negotiation from which the two important points were thus carefully eliminated. the king's authority and the question of religion covered the whole ground upon which the spaniards and the hollanders had been battling for six years, and were destined to battle for three-quarters of a century longer. yet, although other affairs might be discussed, those two points were to be reserved for the more conclusive arbitration of gunpowder. the result of negotiations upon such a basis was easily to be foreseen. breath, time, and paper were profusely wasted and nothing gained. the prince assured his friend, as he had done secret agents previously sent to him, that he was himself ready to leave the land, if by so doing he could confer upon it the blessing of peace; but that all hopes of reaching a reasonable conclusion from the premises established was futile. the envoy treated also with the estates, and received from them in return an elaborate report, which was addressed immediately to the king. the style of this paper was bold and blunt, its substance bitter and indigestible. it informed philip what he had heard often enough before, that the spaniards must go and the exiles come back, the inquisition be abolished and the ancient privileges restored, the roman catholic religion renounce its supremacy, and the reformed religion receive permission to exist unmolested, before he could call himself master of that little hook of sand in the north sea. with this paper, which was entrusted to saint aldegonde, by him to be delivered to the grand commander, who was, after reading it, to forward it to its destination, the negotiator returned to his prison. thence he did not emerge again till the course of events released him, upon the th of october, . this report was far from agreeable to the governor, and it became the object of a fresh correspondence between his confidential agent, champagny, and the learned and astute junius de jonge, representative of the prince of orange and governor of yeere. the communication of de jonge consisted of a brief note and a long discourse. the note was sharp and stinging, the discourse elaborate and somewhat pedantic. unnecessarily historical and unmercifully extended, it was yet bold, bitter, and eloquent: the presence of foreigners was proved to have been, from the beginning of philip's reign, the curse of the country. doctor sonnius, with his batch of bishops, had sowed the seed of the first disorder. a prince, ruling in the netherlands, had no right to turn a deaf ear to the petitions of his subjects. if he did so, the hollanders would tell him, as the old woman had told the emperor adrian, that the potentate who had no time to attend to the interests of his subjects, had not leisure enough to be a sovereign. while holland refused to bow its neck to the inquisition, the king of spain dreaded the thunder and lightning of the pope. the hollanders would, with pleasure, emancipate philip from his own thraldom, but it was absurd that he, who was himself a slave to another potentate, should affect unlimited control over a free people. it was philip's councillors, not the hollanders, who were his real enemies; for it was they who held him in the subjection by which his power was neutralized and his crown degraded. it may be supposed that many long pages, conceived in this spirit and expressed with great vigor, would hardly smooth the way for the more official negotiations which were soon to take place, yet doctor junius fairly and faithfully represented the sentiment of his nation. towards the close of the year, doctor elbertus leoninus, professor of louvain, together with hugo bonte, ex-pensionary of middelburg, was commissioned by the grand commander to treat secretly with the prince. he was, however, not found very tractable when the commissioners opened the subject of his own pardon and reconciliation with the king, and he absolutely refused to treat at all except with the cooperation of the estates. he, moreover, objected to the use of the word "pardon" on the ground that he had never done anything requiring his majesty's forgiveness. if adversity should visit him, he cared but little for it; he had lived long enough, he said, and should die with some glory, regretting the disorders and oppressions which had taken place, but conscious that it had not been in his power to remedy them. when reminded by the commissioners of the king's power, he replied that he knew his majesty to be very mighty, but that there was a king more powerful still--even god the creator, who, as he humbly hoped, was upon his side. at a subsequent interview with hugo bonte, the prince declared it almost impossible for himself or the estates to hold any formal communication with the spanish government, as such communications were not safe. no trust could be reposed either in safe conducts or hostages. faith had been too often broken by the administration. the promise made by the duchess of parma to the nobles, and afterwards violated, the recent treachery of mondragon, the return of three exchanged prisoners from the hague, who died next day of poison administered before their release, the frequent attempts upon his own life--all such constantly recurring crimes made it doubtful, in the opinion of the prince, whether it would be possible to find commissioners to treat with his majesty's government. all would fear assassination, afterwards to be disavowed by the king and pardoned by the pope. after much conversation in this vein, the prince gave the spanish agents warning that he might eventually be obliged to seek the protection of some foreign power for the provinces. in this connection he made use of the memorable metaphor, so often repeated afterwards, that "the country was a beautiful damsel, who certainly did not lack suitors able and willing to accept her and defend her against the world." as to the matter of religion, he said he was willing to leave it to be settled by the estates-general; but doubted whether anything short of entire liberty of worship would ever satisfy the people. subsequently there were held other conferences, between the prince and doctor leoninus, with a similar result, all attempts proving fruitless to induce him to abandon his position upon the subject of religion, or to accept a pardon on any terms save the departure of the foreign troops, the assembling of the estates-general, and entire freedom of religion. even if he were willing to concede the religious question himself, he observed that it was idle to hope either from the estates or people a hand's-breadth of concession upon that point. leoninus was subsequently admitted to a secret conferenc with the estates of holland, where his representations were firmly met by the same arguments as those already used by the prince. these proceedings on the part of saint aldegonde, champagny, junius, and elbertus leoninus extended through the whole summer and autumn of , and were not terminated until january of the following year. changes fast becoming necessary in the internal government of the provinces, were also undertaken during this year. hitherto the prince had exercised his power under the convenient fiction of the king's authority, systematically conducting the rebellion in the name of his majesty, and as his majesty's stadholder. by this process an immense power was lodged in his hands; nothing less, indeed, than the supreme executive and legislative functions of the land; while since the revolt had become, as it were, perpetual, ample but anomalous functions had been additionally thrust upon him by the estates and by the general voice of the people. the two provinces, even while deprived of harlem and amsterdam, now raised two hundred and ten thousand florins monthly, whereas alva had never been able to extract from holland more than two hundred and seventy-one thousand florins yearly. they paid all rather than pay a tenth. in consequence of this liberality, the cities insensibly acquired a greater influence in the government. the coming contest between the centrifugal aristocratic principle, represented by these corporations, and the central popular authority of the stadholder, was already foreshadowed, but at first the estates were in perfect harmony with the prince. they even urged upon him more power than he desired, and declined functions which he wished them to exercise. on the th of september, , it had been formally proposed by the general council to confer a regular and unlimited dictatorship upon him, but in the course of a year from that time, the cities had begun to feel their increasing importance. moreover, while growing more ambitious, they became less liberal. the prince, dissatisfied with the conduct of the cities, brought the whole subject before an assembly of the estates of holland on the th october, . he stated the inconveniences produced by the anomalous condition of the government. he complained that the common people had often fallen into the error that the money raised for public purposes had been levied for his benefit only, and that they had, therefore, been less willing to contribute to the taxes. as the only remedy for these evils, he tendered his resignation of all the powers with which he was clothed, so that the estates might then take the government, which they could exercise without conflict or control. for himself, he had never desired power, except as a means of being useful to his country, and he did not offer his resignation from unwillingness to stand by the cause, but from a hearty desire to save it from disputes among its friends. he was ready, now as ever, to shed the last drop of his blood to maintain the freedom of the land. this straightforward language produced an instantaneous effect. the estates knew that they were dealing with a man whose life was governed by lofty principles, and they felt that they were in danger of losing him through their own selfishness and low ambition. they were embarrassed, for they did not like to, relinquish the authority which they had begun to relish, nor to accept the resignation of a man who was indispensable. they felt that to give up william of orange at that time was to accept the spanish yoke for ever. at an assembly held at delft on the th of november, , they accordingly requested him "to continue in his blessed government, with the council established near him," and for this end, they formally offered to him, "under the name of governor or regent, "absolute power, authority, and sovereign command. in particular, they conferred on him the entire control of all the ships of war, hitherto reserved to the different cities, together with the right to dispose of all prizes and all monies raised for the support of fleets. they gave him also unlimited power over the domains; they agreed that all magistracies, militia bands, guilds, and communities, should make solemn oath to contribute taxes and to receive garrisons, exactly as the prince, with his council, should ordain; but they made it a condition that the estates should be convened and consulted upon requests, impositions, and upon all changes in the governing body. it was also stipulated that the judges of the supreme court and of the exchequer, with other high officers, should be appointed by and with the consent of the estates. the prince expressed himself willing to accept the government upon these terms. he, however, demanded an allowance of forty-five thousand florins monthly for the army expenses and other current outlays. here, however, the estates refused their consent. in a mercantile spirit, unworthy the occasion and the man with whom they were dealing, they endeavoured to chaffer where they should have been only too willing to comply, and they attempted to reduce the reasonable demand of the prince to thirty thousand florins. the prince, who had poured out his own wealth so lavishly in the cause--who, together with his brothers, particularly the generous john of nassau, had contributed all which they could raise by mortgage, sales of jewellery and furniture, and by extensive loans, subjecting themselves to constant embarrassment, and almost to penury, felt himself outraged by the paltriness of this conduct. he expressed his indignation, and denounced the niggardliness of the estates in the strongest language, and declared that he would rather leave the country for ever, with the maintenance of his own honor, than accept the government upon such disgraceful terms. the estates, disturbed by his vehemence, and struck with its justice, instantly, and without further deliberation, consented to his demand. they granted the forty-five thousand florins monthly, and the prince assumed the government, thus remodelled. during the autumn and early winter of the year , the emperor maximilian had been actively exerting himself to bring about a pacification of the netherlands. he was certainly sincere, for an excellent reason. "the emperor maintains," said saint goard, french ambassador at madrid, "that if peace is not made with the beggars, the empire will depart from the house of austria, and that such is the determination of the electors." on the other hand, if philip were not weary of the war, at any rate his means for carrying it on were diminishing daily. requesens could raise no money in the netherlands; his secretary wrote to spain, that the exchequer was at its last gasp, and the cabinet of madrid was at its wits' end, and almost incapable of raising ways and means. the peace party was obtaining the upper hand; the fierce policy of alva regarded with increasing disfavor. "the people here," wrote saint goard from madrid, "are completely desperate, whatever pains they take to put a good face on the matter. they desire most earnestly to treat, without losing their character." it seemed, nevertheless, impossible for philip to bend his neck. the hope of wearing the imperial crown had alone made his bigotry feasible. to less potent influences it was adamant; and even now, with an impoverished exchequer, and, after seven years of unsuccessful warfare, his purpose was not less rigid than at first. "the hollanders demand liberty of conscience," said saint goard, "to which the king will never consent, or i am much mistaken." as for orange, he was sincerely in favor of peace--but not a dishonorable peace, in which should be renounced all the objects of the war. he was far from sanguine on the subject, for he read the signs of the times and the character of philip too accurately to believe much more in the success of the present than in that of the past efforts of maximilian. he was pleased that his brother-in-law, count schwartzburg, had been selected as the emperor's agent in the affair, but expressed his doubts whether much good would come of the proposed negotiations. remembering the many traps which in times past had been set by philip and his father, he feared that the present transaction might likewise prove a snare. "we have not forgotten the words i 'ewig' and 'einig' in the treaty with landgrave philip," he wrote; "at the same time we beg to assure his imperial majesty that we desire nothing more than a good peace, tending to the glory of god, the service of the king of spain, and the prosperity of his subjects." this was his language to his brother, in a letter which was meant to be shown to the emperor. in another, written on the same day, he explained himself with more clearness, and stated his distrust with more energy. there were no papists left, except a few ecclesiastics, he said; so much had the number of the reformers been augmented, through the singular grace of god. it was out of the question to suppose, therefore, that a measure, dooming all who were not catholics to exile, could be entertained. none would change their religion, and none would consent, voluntarily, to abandon for ever their homes, friends, and property. "such a peace," he said, "would be poor and pitiable indeed." these, then, were the sentiments of the party now about to negotiate. the mediator was anxious for a settlement, because the interests of the imperial house required it. the king of spain was desirous of peace, but was unwilling to concede a hair. the prince of orange was equally anxious to terminate the war, but was determined not to abandon the objects for which it had been undertaken. a favorable result, therefore, seemed hardly possible. a whole people claimed the liberty to stay at home and practice the protestant religion, while their king asserted the right to banish them for ever, or to burn them if they remained. the parties seemed too far apart to be brought together by the most elastic compromise. the prince addressed an earnest appeal to the assembly of holland, then in session at dort, reminding them that, although peace was desirable, it might be more dangerous than war, and entreating them, therefore, to conclude no treaty which should be inconsistent with the privileges of the country and their duty to god. it was now resolved that all the votes of the assembly should consist of five: one for the nobles and large cities of holland, one for the estates of zealand, one for the small cities of holland, one for the cities bommel and buren, and the fifth for william of orange. the prince thus effectually held in his hands three votes: his own, that of the small cities, which through his means only had been admitted to the assembly, and thirdly, that of buren, the capital of his son's earldom. he thus exercised a controlling influence over the coming deliberations. the ten commissioners, who were appointed by the estates for the peace negotiations, were all his friends. among them were saint aldegonde, paul buis, charles boisot, and doctor junius. the plenipotentiaries of the spanish government were leoninus, the seigneur de rassinghem, cornelius suis, and arnold sasbout. the proceedings were opened at breda upon the rd of march, . the royal commissioners took the initiative, requesting to be informed what complaints the estates had to make, and offering to remove, if possible, all grievances which they might be suffering. the states' commissioners replied that they desired nothing, in the first place, but an answer to the petition which they had already presented to the king. this was the paper placed in the hands of saint aldegonde during the informal negotiations of the preceding year. an answer was accordingly given, but couched in such vague and general language as to be quite without meaning. the estates then demanded a categorical reply to the two principal demands in the petition, namely, the departure of the foreign troops and the assembling of the states-general. they, were asked what they understood by foreigners and by the assembly of states-general. they replied that by foreigners they meant those who were not natives, and particularly the spaniards. by the estates-general they meant the same body before which, in , charles had resigned his sovereignty to philip. the royal commissioners made an extremely unsatisfactory answer, concluding with a request that all cities, fortresses, and castles, then in the power of the estates, together with all their artillery and vessels of war, should be delivered to the king. the roman catholic worship, it was also distinctly stated, was to be re-established at once exclusively throughout the netherlands; those of the reformed religion receiving permission, for that time only, to convert their property into cash within a certain time, and to depart the country. orange and the estates made answer on the st march. it could not be called hard, they said, to require the withdrawal of the spanish troops, for this had been granted in , for less imperious reasons. the estates had, indeed, themselves made use of foreigners, but those foreigners had never been allowed to participate in the government. with regard to the assembly of the states-general, that body had always enjoyed the right of advising with the sovereign on the condition of the country, and on general measures of government. now it was only thought necessary to summon them, in order that they might give their consent to the king's "requests." touching the delivery of cities and citadels, artillery and ships, the proposition was, pronounced to resemble that made by the wolves to the sheep, in the fable--that the dogs should be delivered up, as a preliminary to a lasting peace. it was unreasonable to request the hollanders to abandon their religion or their country. the reproach of heresy was unjust, for they still held to the catholic apostolic church, wishing only to purify, it of its abuses. moreover, it was certainly more cruel to expel a whole population than to dismiss three or four thousand spaniards who for seven long years had been eating their fill at the expense of the provinces. it would be impossible for the exiles to dispose of their property, for all would, by the proposed measure, be sellers, while there would be no purchasers. the royal plenipotentiaries, making answer to this communication upon the st of april, signified a willingness that the spanish soldiers should depart, if the states would consent to disband their own foreign troops. they were likewise in favor of assembling the states-general, but could not permit any change in the religion of the country. his majesty had sworn to maintain the true worship at the moment of assuming the sovereignty. the dissenters might, however, be allowed a period of six months in which to leave the land, and eight or ten years for the sale of their property. after the heretics had all departed, his majesty did not doubt that trade and manufactures would flourish again, along with the old religion. as for the spanish inquisition, there was not, and there never had been, any intention of establishing it in the netherlands. no doubt there was something specious in this paper. it appeared to contain considerable concessions. the prince and estates had claimed the departure of the spaniards. it was now promised that they should depart. they had demanded the assembling of the states-general. it was now promised that they should assemble. they had denounced the inquisition. it was now averred that the spanish inquisition was not to be established. nevertheless, the commissioners of the prince were not deceived by such artifices. there was no parity between the cases of the spanish soldiery and of the troops in service of the estates. to assemble the estates- general was idle, if they were to be forbidden the settlement of the great question at issue. with regard to the spanish inquisition, it mattered little whether the slaughter-house were called spanish or flemish, or simply the blood-council. it was, however, necessary for the states' commissioners to consider their reply very carefully; for the royal plenipotentiaries had placed themselves upon specious grounds. it was not enough to feel that the king's government was paltering with them; it was likewise necessary for the states' agents to impress this fact upon the people. there was a pause in the deliberations. meantime, count schwartzburg, reluctantly accepting the conviction that the religious question was an insurmountable obstacle to a peace, left the provinces for germany. the last propositions of the government plenipotentiaries had been discussed in the councils of the various cities, so that the reply of the prince, and estates was delayed until the st of june. they admitted, in this communication, that the offer to restore ancient privileges had an agreeable sound; but regretted that if the whole population were to be banished, there would be but few to derive advantage from the restoration. if the king would put an end to religious persecution, he would find as much loyalty in the provinces as his forefathers had found. it was out of the question, they said, for the states to disarm and to deliver up their strong places, before the spanish soldiery had retired, and before peace had been established. it was their wish to leave the question of religion, together with all other disputed matters, to the decision of the assembly. were it possible, in the meantime, to devise any effectual method for restraining hostilities, it would gladly be embraced. on the th of july, the royal commissioners inquired what guarantee the states would be willing to give, that the decision of the general assembly, whatever it might be, should be obeyed. the demand was answered by another, in which the king's agents were questioned as to their own guarantees. hereupon it was stated that his majesty would give his word and sign manual, together with the word and signature of the emperor into the bargain. in exchange for these promises, the prince and estates were expected to give their own oaths and seals, together with a number of hostages. over and above this, they were requested to deliver up the cities of brill and enkhuizen, flushing and arnemuyde. the disparity of such guarantees was ridiculous. the royal word, even when strengthened by the imperial promise, and confirmed by the autographs of philip and maximilian, was not so solid a security, in the opinion of netherlanders, as to outweigh four cities in holland and zealand, with all their population and wealth. to give collateral pledges and hostages upon one side, while the king offered none, was to assign a superiority to the royal word, over that of the prince and the estates which there was no disposition to recognize. moreover, it was very cogently urged that to give up the cities was to give as security for the contract, some of the principal contracting parties. this closed the negotiations. the provincial plenipotentiaries took their leave by a paper dated th july, , which recapitulated the main incidents of the conference. they expressed their deep regret that his majesty should insist so firmly on the banishment of the reformers, for it was unjust to reserve the provinces to the sole use of a small number of catholics. they lamented that the proposition which had been made, to refer the religious question to the estates, had neither been loyally accepted, nor candidly refused. they inferred, therefore, that the object of the royal government had, been to amuse the states, while tine was thus gained for reducing the country into a slavery more abject than any which had yet existed. on the other hand, the royal commissioners as solemnly averred that the whole responsibility for the failure of the negotiations belonged to the, estates. it was the general opinion in the insurgent provinces that the government had been insincere from the beginning, and had neither expected nor desired to conclude a peace. it is probable, however, that philip was sincere; so far as it could be called sincerity to be willing to conclude a peace, if the provinces would abandon the main objects of the war. with his impoverished exchequer, and ruin threatening his whole empire, if this mortal combat should be continued many years longer, he could have no motive for further bloodshed, provided all heretics should consent to abandon the country. as usual, however, he left his agents in the dark as to his real intentions. even requesens was as much in doubt as to the king's secret purposes as margaret of parma had ever been in former times. [compare the remarks of groen v. prinst., archives, etc., v - ; bor, viii. , ; meteren, v. ; hoofd, g. .--count john of nassau was distrustful and disdainful from the beginning. against his brother's loyalty and the straightforward intentions of the estates, he felt that the whole force of the macchiavelli system of policy would be brought to bear with great effect. he felt that the object of the king's party was to temporize, to confuse, and to deceive. he did not believe them capable of conceding the real object in dispute, but he feared lest they might obscure the judgment of the plain and well meaning people with whom they had to deal. alluding to the constant attempts made to poison himself and his brother, he likens the pretended negotiations to venetian drugs, by which eyesight, hearing, feeling, and intellect were destroyed. under this pernicious influence, the luckless people would not perceive the fire burning around them, but would shrink at a rustling leaf. not comprehending then the tendency of their own acts, they would "lay bare their own backs to the rod, and bring faggots for their own funeral pile."-archives, etc., v. - .] moreover, the grand commander and the government had, after all, made a great mistake in their diplomacy. the estates of brabant, although strongly desirous that the spanish troops should be withdrawn, were equally stanch for the maintenance of the catholic religion, and many of the southern provinces entertained the same sentiments. had the governor, therefore, taken the states' commissioners at their word, and left the decision of the religious question to the general assembly, he might perhaps have found the vote in his favor. in this case, it is certain that the prince of orange and his party would have been placed in a very awkward position. the internal government of the insurgent provinces had remained upon the footing which we have seen established in the autumn of , but in the course of this summer ( ), however, the foundation was laid for the union of holland and zealand, under the authority of orange. the selfish principle of municipal aristocracy, which had tended to keep asunder these various groups of cities, was now repressed by the energy of the prince and the strong determination of the people. in april, , certain articles of union between holland and zealand were proposed, and six commissioners appointed to draw up an ordinance for the government of the two provinces. this ordinance was accepted in general assembly of both. it was in twenty articles. it declared that, during the war the prince as sovereign, should have absolute power in all matters concerning the defence of the country. he was to appoint military officers, high and low, establish and remove garrisons, punish offenders against the laws of war. he was to regulate the expenditure of all money voted by the estates. he was to maintain the law, in the king's name, as count of holland, and to appoint all judicial officers upon nominations by the estates. he was, at the usual times, to appoint and renew the magistracies of the cities, according to their constitutions. he was to protect the exercise of the evangelical reformed religion, and to suppress the exercise of the roman religion, without permitting, however, that search should be made into the creed of any person. a deliberative and executive council, by which the jealousy of the corporations had intended to hamper his government, did not come into more than nominal existence. the articles of union having been agreed upon, the prince, desiring an unfettered expression of the national will, wished the ordinance to be laid before the people in their primary assemblies. the estates, however, were opposed to this democratic proceeding. they represented that it had been customary to consult; after the city magistracies, only the captains of companies and the deans of guilds on matters of government. the prince, yielding the point, the captains of companies and deans of guilds accordingly alone united with the aristocratic boards in ratifying the instrument by which his authority over the two united provinces was established. on the th of june this first union was solemnized. upon the th of july, the prince formally accepted the government. he, however, made an essential change in a very important clause of the ordinance. in place of the words, the "roman religion," he insisted that the words, "religion at variance with the gospel," should be substituted in the article by which he was enjoined to prohibit the exercise of such religion. this alteration rebuked the bigotry which had already grown out of the successful resistance to bigotry, and left the door open for a general religious toleration. early in this year the prince had despatched saint aldegonde on a private mission to the elector palatine. during some of his visits to that potentate he had seen at heidelberg the princess charlotte of bourbon. that lady was daughter of the due de montpensier, the most ardent of the catholic princes of france, and the one who at the conferences of bayonne had been most indignant at the queen dowager's hesitation to unite heartily with the, schemes of alva and philip for the extermination of the huguenots. his daughter, a woman of beauty, intelligence, and virtue, forced before the canonical age to take the religious vows, had been placed in the convent of joliarrs, of which she had become abbess. always secretly inclined to the reformed religion, she had fled secretly from her cloister, in the year of horrors , and had found refuge at the court of the elector palatine, after which step her father refused to receive her letters, to contribute a farthing to her support, or even to acknowledge her claims upon him by a single line or message of affection. under these circumstances the outcast princess, who had arrived at the years of maturity, might be considered her own mistress, and she was neither morally nor legally bound, when her hand was sought in marriage by the great champion of the reformation, to ask the consent of a parent who loathed her religion and denied her existence. the legality of the divorce from anne of saxony had been settled by a full expression of the ecclesiastical authority which she most respected; [acte de, cinq ministres du st. evangile par lequel ils declarent le mariage du prince d'orange etre legitime.--archives, etc., v. - .] the facts upon which the divorce had been founded having been proved beyond peradventure. nothing, in truth, could well be more unfortunate in its results than the famous saxon marriage, the arrangements for which had occasioned so much pondering to philip, and so much diplomatic correspondence on the part of high personages in germany, the netherlands, and spain. certainly, it was of but little consequence to what church the unhappy princess belonged, and they must be lightly versed in history or in human nature who can imagine these nuptials to have exercised any effect upon the religious or political sentiments of orange. the princess was of a stormy, ill-regulated nature; almost a lunatic from the beginning. the dislike which succeeded to her fantastic fondness for the prince, as well as her general eccentricity, had soon become the talk of all the court at brussels. she would pass week after week without emerging from her chamber, keeping the shutters closed and candles burning, day and night. she quarrelled violently, with countess egmont for precedence, so that the ludicrous contentions of the two ladies in antechambers and doorways were the theme and the amusement of society. her insolence, not only in private but in public, towards her husband became intolerable: "i could not do otherwise than bear it with sadness and patience," said the prince, with great magnanimity, "hoping that with age would come improvement." nevertheless, upon one occasion, at a supper party, she had used such language in the presence of count horn and many other nobles, "that all wondered that he could endure the abusive terms which she applied to him." when the clouds gathered about him, when he had become an exile and a wanderer, her reproaches and her violence increased. the sacrifice of their wealth, the mortgages and sales which he effected of his estates, plate, jewels, and furniture, to raise money for the struggling country, excited her bitter resentment. she separated herself from him by degrees, and at last abandoned him altogether. her temper became violent to ferocity. she beat her servants with her hands and with clubs; she threatened the lives of herself, of her attendants, of count john of nassau, with knives and daggers, and indulged in habitual profanity and blasphemy, uttering frightful curses upon all around. her original tendency to intemperance had so much increased, that she was often unable to stand on her feet. a bottle of wine, holding more than a quart, in the morning, and another in the evening, together with a pound of sugar, was her usual allowance. she addressed letters to alva complaining that her husband had impoverished himself "in his good-for-nothing beggar war," and begging the duke to furnish her with a little ready money and with the means of arriving at the possession of her dower. an illicit connexion with a certain john rubens, an exiled magistrate of antwerp, and father of the celebrated painter, completed the list of her delinquencies, and justified the marriage of the prince with charlotte de bourbon. it was therefore determined by the elector of saxony and the landgrave william to remove her from the custody of the nassaus. this took place with infinite difficulty, at the close of the year . already, in ; augustus had proposed to the landgrave that she should be kept in solitary confinement, and that a minister should preach to her daily through the grated aperture by which her, food was to be admitted. the landgrave remonstrated at so inhuman a proposition, which was, however, carried into effect. the wretched princess, now completely a lunatic, was imprisoned in the electoral palace, in a chamber where the windows were walled up and a small grating let into the upper part of the door. through this wicket came her food, as well as the words of the holy man appointed to preach daily for her edification. two years long, she endured this terrible punishment, and died mad, on the th of december, . on the following day, she was buried in the electoral tomb at meissen; a pompous procession of "school children, clergy, magistrates, nobility, and citizens" conducting her to that rest of which she could no longer be deprived by the cruelty of man nor her own violent temperament. [it can certainly be considered no violation of the sanctity of archives to make these slender allusions to a tale, the main features of which have already been published, not only by mm. groan v. prinsterer and bakhuyzen, in holland, but by the saxon professor bottiger, in germany. it is impossible to understand the character and career of orange, and his relations with germany, without a complete view of the saxon marriage. the extracts from the "geomantic letters" of elector augustus, however, given in bottiger (hist. taschenb. , p. - ), with their furious attacks upon the prince and upon charlotte of bourbon, seem to us too obscene to be admitted, even in a note to these pages, and in a foreign language.] so far, therefore, as the character of mademoiselle de bourbon and the legitimacy of her future offspring were concerned, she received ample guarantees. for the rest, the prince, in a simple letter, informed her that he was already past his prime, having reached his forty-second year, and that his fortune was encumbered not only with settlements for his, children by previous marriages, but by debts contracted in the cause of his oppressed country. a convention of doctors and bishops of france; summoned by the duc de montpensier, afterwards confirmed the opinion that the conventual vows of the princess charlotte had been conformable neither to the laws of france nor to the canons of the trent council. she was conducted to brill by saint aldegonde, where she was received by her bridegroom, to whom she was united on the th of june. the wedding festival was held at dort with much revelry and holiday making, "but without dancing." in this connexion, no doubt the prince consulted his inclination only. eminently domestic in his habits, he required the relief of companionship at home to the exhausting affairs which made up his life abroad. for years he had never enjoyed social converse, except at long intervals, with man or woman; it was natural, therefore, that he should contract this marriage. it was equally natural that he should make many enemies by so impolitic a match. the elector palatine, who was in place of guardian to the bride, decidedly disapproved, although he was suspected of favoring the alliance. the landgrave of hesse for a time was furious; the elector of saxony absolutely delirious with rage. the diet of the empire was to be held within a few weeks at frankfort, where it was very certain that the outraged and influential elector would make his appearance, overflowing with anger, and determined to revenge upon the cause of the netherland reformation the injury which he had personally received. even the wise, considerate, affectionate brother, john of nassau, considered the marriage an act of madness. he did what he could, by argument and entreaty, to dissuade the prince from its completion; although he afterwards voluntarily confessed that the princess charlotte had been deeply calumniated, and was an inestimable treasure to his brother. the french government made use of the circumstance to justify itself in a still further alienation from the cause of the prince than it had hitherto manifested, but this was rather pretence than reality. it was not in the nature of things, however, that the saxon and hessian indignation could be easily allayed. the landgrave was extremely violent. "truly, i cannot imagine," he wrote to the elector of saxony, "quo consilio that wiseacre of an aldegonde, and whosoever else has been aiding and abetting, have undertaken this affair. nam si pietatem respicias, it is to be feared that, considering she is a frenchwoman, a nun, and moreover a fugitive nun, about whose chastity there has been considerable question, the prince has got out of the frying-pan into the fire. si formam it is not to be supposed that it was her beauty which charmed him, since, without doubt, he must be rather frightened than delighted, when he looks upon her. si spem prolis, the prince has certainly only too many heirs already, and ought to wish that he had neither wife nor children. si amicitiam, it is not to be supposed, while her father expresses himself in such threatening language with regard to her, that there will be much cordiality of friendship on his part. let them look to it, then, lest it fare with them no better than with the admiral, at his paris wedding; for those gentlemen can hardly forgive such injuries, sine mercurio et arsenico sublimato." the elector of saxony was frantic with choler, and almost ludicrous in the vehemence of its expression. count john was unceasing in his exhortations to his brother to respect the sensitiveness of these important personages, and to remember how much good and how much evil it was in their power to compass, with regard to himself and to the great cause of the protestant religion. he reminded him, too, that the divorce had not been, and would not be considered impregnable as to form, and that much discomfort and detriment was likely to grow out of the whole proceeding, for himself and his family. the prince, however, was immovable in his resolution, and from the whole tone of his correspondence and deportment it was obvious that his marriage was one rather of inclination than of policy. "i can assure you, my brother," he wrote to count john, "that my character has always tended to this-- to care neither for words nor menaces in any matter where i can act with a clear conscience, and without doing injury to my neighbour. truly, if i had paid regard to the threats of princes, i should never have embarked in so many dangerous affairs, contrary to the will of the king, my master, in times past, and even to the advice of many of my relatives and friends." the evil consequences which had been foreseen were not slow to manifest themselves. there was much discussion of the prince's marriage at the diet of frankfort, and there was even a proposition, formally to declare the calvinists excluded in germany from the benefits of the peace of passau. the archduke rudolph was soon afterwards elected king of the romans and of bohemia, although hitherto, according to the policy of the prince of orange, and in the expectation of benefit to the cause of the reformation in germany and the netherlands, there has been a strong disposition to hold out hopes to henry the third, and to excite the fears of maximilian. while these important affairs, public and private, had been occurring in the south of holland and in germany, a very nefarious transaction had disgraced the cause of the patriot party in the northern quarter. diedrich sonoy, governor of that portion of holland, a man of great bravery but of extreme ferocity of character, had discovered an extensive conspiracy among certain of the inhabitants, in aid of an approaching spanish invasion. bands of land-loupers had been employed, according to the intimation which he had received or affected to have received, to set fire to villages and towns in every direction, to set up beacons, and to conduct a series of signals by which the expeditions about to be organized were to be furthered in their objects. the governor, determined to show that the duke of alva could not be more prompt nor more terrible than himself, improvised, of his own authority, a tribunal in imitation of the infamous blood-council. fortunately for the character of the country, sonoy was not a hollander, nor was the jurisdiction of this newly established court allowed to extend beyond very narrow limits. eight vagabonds were, however, arrested and doomed to tortures the most horrible, in order to extort from them confessions implicating persons of higher position in the land than themselves. seven, after a few turns of the pulley and the screw, confessed all which they were expected to confess, and accused all whom they were requested to accuse. the eighth was firmer, and refused to testify to the guilt of certain respectable householders, whose names he had, perhaps, never heard, and against whom there was no shadow of evidence. he was, however, reduced by three hours and a half of sharp torture to confess, entirely according to their orders, so that accusations and evidence were thus obtained against certain influential gentlemen of the province, whose only crime was a secret adherence to the catholic faith. the eight wretches who had been induced by promises of unconditional pardon upon one hand, and by savage torture on the other, to bear this false witness, were condemned to be burned alive, and on their way to the stake, they all retracted the statements which had only been extorted from them by the rack. nevertheless, the individuals who had been thus designated, were arrested. charged with plotting a general conflagration of the villages and farmhouses, in conjunction with an invasion by hierges and other papist generals, they indignantly protested their innocence; but two of them, a certain kopp corneliszoon, and his son, nanning koppezoon, were selected to undergo the most cruel torture which had yet been practised in the netherlands. sonoy, to his eternal shame, was disposed to prove that human ingenuity to inflict human misery had not been exhausted in the chambers of the blood council, for it was to be shown that reformers were capable of giving a lesson even to inquisitors in this diabolical science. kopp, a man advanced in years, was tortured during a whole day. on the following morning he was again brought to the rack, but the old man was too weak to endure all the agony which his tormentors had provided for him. hardly had he been placed upon the bed of torture than he calmly expired, to the great indignation of the tribunal. "the devil has broken his neck and carried him off to hell," cried they ferociously. "nevertheless, that shall not prevent him from being hung and quartered." this decree of impotent vengeance was accordingly executed. the son of kopp, however, nanning koppezoon, was a man in the full vigor of his years. he bore with perfect fortitude a series of incredible tortures, after which, with his body singed from head to heel, and his feet almost entirely flayed, he was left for six weeks to crawl about his dungeon on his knees. he was then brought back to the torture-room, and again stretched upon the rack, while a large earthen vessel, made for the purpose, was placed, inverted, upon his naked body. a number of rats were introduced under this cover, and hot coals were heaped upon the vessel, till the rats, rendered furious by the heat, gnawed into the very bowels of the victim, in their agony to escape. [bor (viii. ) conscientiously furnishes diagrams of the machinery by aid of which this devilish cruelty was inflicted. the rats were sent by the governor himself.--vide letter of the commissioners to sonoy, apud bor, viii. , . the whole letter is a wonderful monument of barbarity. the incredible tortures to which the poor creatures had been subjected are detailed in a business-like manner, as though the transactions were quite regular and laudable, the commissioners conclude with pious wishes for the governor's welfare: "noble, wise, virtuous, and very discreet sir," they say, "we have wished to apprise you of the foregoing, and we now pray that god almighty may spare you in a happy, healthy and long-continued government"--it will be seen, however, that the wise, virtuous, and very discreet governor, who thus caused his fellow- citizens bowels to be gnawed by rats, was not allowed to remain much longer in his "happy and healthy government"] the holes thus torn in his bleeding flesh were filled with red-hot coals. he was afterwards subjected to other tortures too foul to relate; nor was it till he had endured all this agony, with a fortitude which seemed supernatural, that he was at last discovered to be human. scorched; bitten, dislocated in every joint, sleepless, starving, perishing with thirst, he was at last crushed into a false confession, by a promise of absolute forgiveness. he admitted everything which was brought to his charge, confessing a catalogue of contemplated burnings and beacon firings of which he had never dreamed, and avowing himself in league with other desperate papists, still more dangerous than himself. notwithstanding the promises of pardon, nanning was then condemned to death. the sentence ordained that his heart should be torn from his living bosom, and thrown in his face, after which his head was to be taken off and exposed on the church steeple of his native village. his body was then to be cut in four, and a quarter fastened upon different towers of the city of alkmaar, for it was that city, recently so famous for its heroic resistance to the spanish army, which was now sullied by all this cold-blooded atrocity. when led to execution, the victim recanted indignantly the confessions forced from him by weakness of body, and exonerated the persons whom he had falsely accused. a certain clergyman, named jurian epeszoon, endeavored by loud praying to drown his voice, that the people might not rise with indignation, and the dying prisoner with his last breath solemnly summoned this unworthy pastor of christ jo meet him within three days before the judgment-seat of god. it is a remarkable and authentic fact, that the clergyman thus summoned, went home pensively from the place of execution, sickened immediately and died upon the appointed day. notwithstanding this solemn recantation, the, persons accused were arrested, and in their turn subjected to torture, but the affair now reached the ears of orange. his peremptory orders, with the universal excitement produced in the neighbourhood, at last checked the course of the outrage, and the accused persons were remanded to prison, where they remained till liberated by the pacification of ghent. after their release they commenced legal proceedings against sonoy, with a view of establishing their own innocence, and of bringing the inhuman functionary to justice. the process languished, however, and was finally abandoned, for the powerful governor had rendered such eminent service in the cause of liberty, that it was thought unwise to push him to extremity. it is no impeachment upon the character of the prince that these horrible crimes were not prevented. it was impossible for him to be omnipresent. neither is it just to consider the tortures and death thus inflicted upon innocent men an indelible stain upon the cause of liberty. they were the crimes of an individual who had been useful, but who, like the count de la marck, had now contaminated his hand with the blood of the guiltless. the new tribunal never took root, and was abolished as soon as its initiatory horrors were known. on the th of july, oudewater, entirely unprepared for such an event, was besieged by hierges, but the garrison and the population, although weak, were brave. the town resisted eighteen days, and on the th of august was carried by assault, after which the usual horrors were fully practised, after which the garrison was put to the sword, and the townspeople fared little better. men, women, and children were murdered in cold blood, or obliged to purchase their lives by heavy ransoms, while matrons and maids were sold by auction to the soldiers at two or three dollars each. almost every house in the city was burned to the ground, and these horrible but very customary scenes having been enacted, the army of hierges took its way to schoonhoven. that city, not defending itself, secured tolerable terms of capitulation, and surrendered on the th of august. the grand commander had not yet given up the hope of naval assistance from spain, notwithstanding the abrupt termination to the last expedition which had been organized. it was, however, necessary that a foothold should be recovered upon the seaboard, before a descent from without could be met with proper co-operation from the land forces withal; and he was most anxious, therefore, to effect the reconquest of some portion of zealand. the island of tholen was still spanish, and had been so since the memorable expedition of mondragon to south beveland. from this interior portion of the archipelago the governor now determined to attempt an expedition against the outer and more important territory. the three principal islands were tholen; duiveland, and sehouwen. tholen was the first which detached itself from the continent. neat, and separated from it by a bay two leagues in width, was duiveland, or the isle of doves. beyond, and parted by a narrower frith, was schouwen, fronting directly upon the ocean, fortified by its strong capital city; zieriekzee, and containing other villages of inferior consequence. requesens had been long revolving in his mind the means of possessing himself of this important, island. he had caused to lie constructed, a numerous armada of boats and light vessels of various dimensions, and he now came to tholew to organize the expedition. his prospects were at first not flattering, for the gulfs and estuaries swarmed with zealand vessels, manned by crews celebrated for their skill and audacity. traitors, however, from zealand itself now came forward to teach the spanish commander how to strike at the heart of their own country. these refugees explained to requesens that a narrow flat extended under the sea from philipsland, a small and uninhabited islet situate close to tholen, as far as the shore of duiveland. upon this submerged tongue of land the water, during ebb-tide, was sufficiently shallow to be waded, and it would therefore be possible for a determined band, under cover of the night, to make the perilous passage. once arrived at duiveland, they could more easily cross the intervening creek to schouwen, which was not so deep and only half as wide, so that a force thus, sent through these dangerous shallows, might take possession of duiveland and lay siege to zierickzee, in the very teeth of the zealand fleet, which would be unable to sail near enough to intercept their passage. the commander determined that the enterprise should be attempted. it was not a novelty, because mondragon, as we have seen, had already most brilliantly conducted a very similar expedition. the present was, however, a much more daring scheme. the other exploit, although sufficiently hazardous, and entirely, successful, had been a victory gained over the sea alone. it had been a surprise, and had been effected without any opposition from human enemies. here, however, they were to deal, not only with the ocean and darkness, but with a watchful and determined foe. the zealanders were aware that the enterprise was in contemplation, and their vessels lay about the contiguous waters in considerable force. nevertheless, the determination of the grand commander was hailed with enthusiasm by his troops. having satisfied himself by personal experiment that the enterprise was possible, and that therefore his brave soldiers could accomplish it, he decided that the glory of the achievement should be fairly shared, as before, among the different nations which served the king. after completing his preparations, requesens came to tholen, at which rendezvous were assembled three thousand infantry, partly spaniards, partly germans, partly walloons. besides these, a picked corps of two hundred sappers and miners was to accompany the expedition, in order that no time might be lost in fortifying themselves as soon as they had seized possession of schouwen. four hundred mounted troopers were, moreover, stationed in the town of tholen, while the little fleet, which had been prepared at antwerp; lay near that city ready to co-operate with the land force as soon as they, should complete their enterprise. the grand commander now divided the whole force into two parts: one half was to remain in the boats, under the command of mondragon; the other half, accompanied by the two hundred pioneers, were to wade through the sea from philipsland to duiveland and schouwen. each soldier of this detachment was provided with a pair of shoes, two pounds of powder, and rations for three days in a canvas bag suspended at his neck. the leader of this expedition was don osorio d'ulloa, an officer distinguished for his experience and bravery. on the night selected for the enterprise, that of the th september, the moon was a day old in its fourth quarter, and rose a little before twelve. it was low water at between four and five in the morning. the grand commander, at the appointed hour of midnight, crossed to philipsland, and stood on the shore to watch the setting forth of the little army. he addressed a short harangue to them, in which he skillfully struck the chords of spanish chivalry, and the national love of glory, and was answered with loud and enthusiastic cheers. don osorio d'ulloa then stripped and plunged into the sea immediately after the guides. he was followed by the spaniards, after whom came the germans and then the walloons. the two hundred sappers and miners came next, and don gabriel peralta, with his spanish company; brought up the rear. it was a wild night. incessant lightning, alternately revealed and obscured the progress of the midnight march through the black waters, as the anxious commander watched the expedition from the shore, but the soldiers were quickly swallowed up in the gloom. as they advanced cautiously, two by two, the daring adventurers found themselves soon nearly up to their necks in the waves, while so narrow was the submerged bank along which they were marching, that a misstep to the right or left was fatal. luckless individuals repeatedly sank to rise no more. meantime, as the sickly light, of the waning moon came forth at intervals through the stormy clouds the soldiers could plainly perceive the files of zealand vessels through which they were to march, and which were anchored as close to the flat as the water would allow. some had recklessly stranded themselves, in their eagerness to interrupt the passage, of the troops, and the artillery played unceasingly from the larger vessels. discharges of musketry came continually from all, but the fitful lightning rendered the aim difficult and the fire comparatively harmless while the spaniards were, moreover, protected, as to a large part of their bodies, by the water in which they were immersed. at times; they halted for breath, or to engage in fierce skirmishes with their nearest assailants. standing breast-high in the waves, and surrounded at intervals by total darkness, they were yet able to pour an occasional well-directed volley into the hostile ranks. the zealanders, however, did, not assail them with fire-arms alone. they transfixed some with their fatal harpoons; they dragged others from the path with boathooks; they beat out the brains of others with heavy flails. many were the mortal duels thus fought in the darkness, and, as it were, in the bottom of the sea; many were the deeds of audacity which no eye was to mark save those by whom they were achieved. still, in spite of all impediments and losses, the spaniards steadily advanced. if other arms proved less available, they were attached by the fierce taunts and invectives of their often invisible foes who reviled them as water-dogs, fetching and carrying for a master who despised them; as mercenaries who coined their blood for gold, and were employed by tyrants for the basest uses. if stung by these mocking voices, they turned in the darkness to chastise their unseen tormentors, they were certain to be trampled upon by their comrades, and to be pushed from their narrow pathway into the depths of the sea. thus many perished. the night wore on, and the adventurers still fought it out manfully, but very slowly, the main body of spaniards, germans, and walloons, soon after daylight, reaching the opposite shore, having sustained considerable losses, but in perfect order. the pioneers were not so fortunate. the tide rose over them before they could effect their passage, and swept nearly every one away. the rearguard, under peralta, not surprised, like the pioneers, in the middle of their passage, by the rising tide, but prevented, before it was too late; from advancing far beyond the shore from which they had departed were fortunately enabled to retrace their steps. don osorio, at the head of the successful adventurers, now effected his landing upon duiveland. reposing themselves but for an instant after this unparalleled march through the water, of more than six hours, they took a slight refreshment, prayed to the virgin mary and to saint james, and then prepared to meet their new enemies on land. ten companies of french, scotch, and english auxiliaries lay in duiveland, under the command of charles van boisot. strange to relate, by an inexplicable accident, or by treason, that general was slain by his own soldiers, at the moment when the royal troops landed. the panic created by this event became intense, as the enemy rose suddenly, as it were, out of the depths of the ocean to attack them. they magnified the numbers of their assailants, and fled terror-stricken in every direction. same swam to the zealand vessels which lay in the neighbourhood; others took refuge in the forts which had been constructed on the island; but these were soon carried by the spaniards, and the conquest of duiveland was effected. the enterprise was not yet completed, but the remainder was less difficult and not nearly so hazardous, for the creek which separated duiveland from schouwen was much narrower than the estuary which they had just traversed. it was less than a league in width, but so encumbered by rushes and briers that, although difficult to wade, it was not navigable for vessels of any kind. this part of the expedition was accomplished with equal resolution, so that, after a few hours' delay, the soldiers stood upon the much-coveted island of schouwen. five companies of states' troops, placed to oppose their landing, fled in the most cowardly manner at the first discharge of the spanish muskets, and took refuge in the city of zierickzee, which was soon afterwards beleaguered. the troops has been disembarked upon duiveland from the armada, which had made its way to the scene of action, after having received, by signal, information that the expedition through the water had been successful. brouwershaven, on the northern side of schouwen, was immediately reduced, but bommenede resisted till the th of october, when it was at last carried by assault, and delivered over to fire and sword. of the whole population and garrison not twenty were left alive. siege was then laid to zierickzee, and colonel mondragon was left in charge of the operations. requesens himself came to schouwen to give directions concerning this important enterprise. chiapin vitelli also came thither in the middle of the winter, and was so much injured by a fall from his litter, while making the tour of the island, that he died on shipboard during his return to antwerp. this officer had gained his laurels upon more than one occasion, his conduct in the important action near mons, in which the huguenot force under genlis was defeated, having been particularly creditable. he was of a distinguished umbrian family, and had passed his life in camps, few of the generals who had accompanied alva to the netherlands being better known or more odious to the inhabitants. he was equally distinguished for his courage, his cruelty, and his corpulence. the last characteristic was so remarkable that he was almost monstrous in his personal appearance. his protuberant stomach was always supported in a bandage suspended from his neck, yet in spite of this enormous impediment, he was personally active on the battle-field, and performed more service, not only as a commander but as a subaltern, than many a younger and lighter man. the siege of zierickzee was protracted till the following june, the city holding out with firmness. want of funds caused the operations to be, conducted with languor, but the same cause prevented the prince from accomplishing its relief. thus the expedition from philipsland, the most brilliant military exploit of the whole war, was attended with important results. the communication between walcheren and the rest of zealand was interrupted; the province cut in two; a foothold on the ocean; for a brief interval at least, acquired by spain. the prince was inexpressibly chagrined by these circumstances, and felt that the moment had arrived when all honorable means were to be employed to obtain foreign assistance. the hollanders and zealanders had fought the battles of freedom alone hitherto, and had fought them well, but poverty was fast rendering them incapable of sustaining much longer the unequal conflict. offers of men, whose wages the states were to furnish, were refused; as worse than fruitless. henry of navarre, who perhaps deemed it possible to acquire the sovereignty of the provinces by so barren a benefit, was willing to send two or three thousand men, but not at his own expense. the proposition was respectfully declined. the prince and his little country, were all alone. "even if we should not only see ourselves deserted by all the world, but also all the world against us," he said, "we should not cease to defend ourselves even to the last man. knowing the justice of our cause, we repose, entirely in the mercy of god." he determined, however, once more to have recourse to the powerful of the earth, being disposed to test the truth of his celebrated observation, that "there would be no lack of suitors for the bride that he had to bestow." it was necessary, in short, to look the great question of formally renouncing philip directly in the face. hitherto the fiction of allegiance had been preserved, and, even by the enemies of the prince, it, was admitted: that it had been retained with no disloyal intent. the time however, had come when it was necessary. to throw off allegiance, provided another could be found strong enough and frank enough to accept the authority which philip had forfeited. the question was, naturally, between france and england; unless the provinces could effect their re-admission into the body of the germanic empire. already in june the prince had laid the proposition formally before the states, "whether they should not negotiate with the empire on the subject of their admission, with maintenance of their own constitutions," but it was understood that this plan was not to be carried out, if the protection of the empire could be obtained under easier conditions. nothing came of the proposition at that time. the nobles and the deputies of south holland now voted, in the beginning of the ensuing month, "that it was their duty to abandon the king, as a tyrant who sought to oppress and destroy his subjects; and that it behooved them to seek another protector." this was while the breda negotiations were still pending, but when their inevitable result was very visible. there was still a reluctance at taking the last and decisive step in the rebellion, so that the semblance of loyalty was still retained; that ancient scabbard, in which the sword might yet one day be sheathed. the proposition was not adopted at the diet. a committee of nine was merely appointed to deliberate with the prince upon the "means of obtaining foreign assistance, without accepting foreign authority, or severing their connexion with his majesty." the estates were, however, summoned a few months later, by the prince, to deliberate on this important matter at rotterdam. on the st of october he then formally proposed, either to make terms with their enemy, and that the sooner the better, or else, once for all, to separate entirely from the king of spain, and to change their sovereign, in order, with the assistance and under protection of another christian potentate, to maintain the provinces against their enemies. orange, moreover, expressed the opinion that upon so important a subject it was decidedly incumbent upon them all to take the sense of the city governments. the members for the various municipalities acquiesced in the propriety of this suggestion, and resolved to consult their constituents, while the deputies of the nobility also desired to consult with their whole body. after an adjournment of a few days, the diet again assembled at delft, and it was then unanimously resolved by the nobles and the cities, "that they would forsake the king and seek foreign assistance; referring the choice to the prince, who, in regard to the government, was to take the opinion of the estates." thus, the great step was taken, by which two little provinces declared themselves independent of their ancient master. that declaration, although taken in the midst of doubt and darkness, was not destined to be cancelled, and the germ of a new and powerful commonwealth was planted. so little, however, did these republican fathers foresee their coming republic, that the resolution to renounce one king was combined with a proposition to ask for the authority of another. it was not imagined that those two slender columns, which were all that had yet been raised. of the future stately peristyle, would be strong enough to stand alone. the question now arose, to what foreign power application should be made. but little hope was to be entertained from germany, a state which existed only in name, and france was still in a condition of religious and intestine discord. the attitude of revolt maintained by the duc d'alencon seemed to make it difficult and dangerous to enter into negotiations with a country where the civil wars had assumed so complicated a character, that loyal and useful alliance could hardly be made with any party. the queen of england, on the other hand; dreaded the wrath of philip, by which her perpetual dangers from the side of scotland would be aggravated, while she feared equally the extension of french authority in the netherlands, by which increase her neighbour would acquire an overshadowing power. she was also ashamed openly to abandon the provinces to their fate, for her realm was supposed to be a bulwark of the protestant religion. afraid to affront philip, afraid to refuse the suit of the netherlands, afraid to concede as aggrandizement to france, what course was open to the english queen. that which, politically and personally, she loved the best--a course of barren coquetry. this the prince of orange foresaw; and although not disposed to leave a stone unturned in his efforts to find assistance for his country, he on the whole rather inclined for france. he, however, better than any man, knew how little cause there was for sanguine expectation from either source. it was determined, in the name of his highness and the estates, first to send a mission to england, but there had already been negotiations this year of an unpleasant character with that power. at the request of the spanish envoy, the foremost netherland rebels, in number about fifty, including by name the prince of orange, the counts of berg and culemburg, with saint aldegonde, boisot, junius, and others, had been formally forbidden by queen elizabeth to enter her realm. the prince had, in consequence, sent aldegonde and junius on a secret mission to france, and the queen; jealous and anxious, had thereupon sent daniel rogers secretly to the prince. at the same tine she had sent an envoy to the grand commander, counselling, conciliatory measures; and promising to send a special mission to spain with the offer of her mediation, but it was suspected by those most in the confidence of the spanish government at brussels, that there was a great deal of deception in these proceedings. a truce for six months having now been established between the duc d'alencon and his brother, it was supposed, that an alliance between france and england, and perhaps between alencon and elizabeth, was on the carpet, and that a kingdom of the netherlands was to be the wedding present of the bride to her husband. these fantasies derived additional color from the fact that, while the queen was expressing the most amicable intentions towards spain, and the greatest jealousy of france, the english residents at antwerp and other cities of the netherlands, had received private instructions to sell out their property as fast as possible, and to retire from the country. on the whole, there was little prospect either of a final answer, or of substantial assistance from the queen. the envoys to england were advocate buis and doctor francis maalzon, nominated by the estates, and saint aldegonde, chief of the mission, appointed by the prince. they arrived in england at christmas-tide. having represented to the queen the result of the breda negotiations, they stated that the prince and the estates, in despair of a secure peace, had addressed themselves to her as an upright protector of the faith, and as a princess descended from the blood of holland. this allusion to the intermarriage of edward iii. of england with philippa, daughter of count william iii. of hainault and holland, would not, it was hoped, be in vain. they furthermore offered to her majesty, in case she were willing powerfully to assist the states, the sovereignty over holland and zealand, under certain conditions. the queen listened graciously to the envoys, and appointed commissioners to treat with them on the subject. meantime, requesens sent champagny to england, to counteract the effect of this embassy of the estates, and to beg the queen to give no heed to the prayers of the rebels, to enter into no negotiations with them, and to expel them at once from her kingdom. the queen gravely assured champagny "that the envoys were no rebels, but faithful subjects of his majesty." there was certainly some effrontery in such a statement, considering the solemn offer which had just been made by the envoys. if to renounce allegiance to philip and to propose the sovereignty to elizabeth did not constitute rebellion, it would be difficult to define or to discover rebellion anywhere. the statement was as honest, however, as the diplomatic grimace with which champagny had reminded elizabeth of the ancient and unbroken friendship which had always, existed between herself and his catholic majesty. the attempt of philip to procure her dethronement and assassination but a few years before was, no doubt, thought too trifling a circumstance to have for a moment interrupted those harmonious relations. nothing came of the negotiations on either side. the queen coquetted, as was her custom. she could not accept the offer of the estates; she could not say them nay. she would not offend philip; she would not abandon the provinces; she would therefore negotiate--thus there was an infinite deal of diplomatic nothing spun and unravelled, but the result was both to abandon the provinces and to offend philip. in the first answer given by her commissioners to the states' envoys, it was declared, "that her majesty considered it too expensive to assume the protection of both provinces." she was willing to protect them in name, but she should confer the advantage exclusively on walcheren in reality. the defence of holland must be maintained at the expense of the prince and the estates. this was certainly not munificent, and the envoys insisted upon more ample and liberal terms. the queen declined, however, committing herself beyond this niggardly and inadmissible offer. the states were not willing to exchange the sovereignty over their country for so paltry a concession. the queen declared herself indisposed to go further, at least before consulting parliament. the commissioners waited for the assembling of parliament. she then refused to lay the matter before that body, and forbade the hollanders taking any steps for that purpose. it was evident that she was disposed to trifle with the provinces, and had no idea of encountering the open hostility of philip. the envoys accordingly begged for their passports. these were granted in april, , with the assurance on the part of her majesty that "she would think more of the offer made to her after she had done all in her power to bring about an arrangement between the provinces and philip." after the result of the negotiations of breda, it is difficult to imagine what method she was likely to devise for accomplishing such a purpose. the king was not more disposed than during the preceding summer to grant liberty of religion, nor were the hollanders more ready than they had been before to renounce either their faith or their fatherland. the envoys, on parting, made a strenuous effort to negotiate a loan, but the frugal queen considered the proposition quite inadmissible. she granted them liberty to purchase arms and ammunition, and to levy a few soldiers with their own money, and this was accordingly done to a limited extent. as it was not difficult to hire soldiers or to buy gunpowder anywhere, in that warlike age, provided the money were ready, the states had hardly reason to consider themselves under deep obligation for this concession. yet this was the whole result of the embassy. plenty of fine words had, been bestowed, which might or might not have meaning, according to the turns taken by coming events. besides these cheap and empty civilities, they received permission to defend holland at their own expense; with the privilege, of surrendering its sovereignty, if they liked, to queen elizabeth-and this was all. on the th of april, the envoys returned to their country, and laid before the estates the meagre result of their negotiations. very soon afterwards, upon an informal suggestion from henry iii. and the queen mother, that a more favorable result might be expected, if the same applications were made to the duc d'alencon which had been received in so unsatisfactory a manner by elizabeth, commissioners were appointed to france. it proved impossible, however, at that juncture, to proceed with the negotiations, in consequence of the troubles occasioned by the attitude of the duke. the provinces were still, even as they had been from the beginning, entirely alone. requesens was more than ever straitened for funds, wringing, with increasing difficulty, a slender subsidy, from time to time, out of the reluctant estates of brabant, flanders, and the other obedient provinces. while he was still at duiveland, the estates-general sent him a long remonstrance against the misconduct of the soldiery, in answer to his demand for supplies. "oh, these estates! these estates!" cried the grand commander, on receiving such vehement reproaches instead of his money; "may the lord deliver me from these estates!" meantime, the important siege of zierickzee continued, and it was evident that the city must fall. there was no money at the disposal of the prince. count john, who was seriously embarrassed by reason of the great obligations in money which he, with the rest of his family, had incurred on behalf of the estates, had recently made application to the prince for his influence towards procuring him relief. he had forwarded an account of the great advances made by himself and his brethren in money, plate, furniture, and endorsements of various kinds, for which a partial reimbursement was almost indispensable to save him from serious difficulties. the prince, however, unable to procure him any assistance, had been obliged him once more to entreat him to display the generosity and the self-denial which the country had never found wanting at his hands or at those of his kindred. the appeal had not been, in vain, but the count was obviously not in a condition to effect anything more at that moment to relieve the financial distress of the states. the exchequer was crippled. [the contributions of holland and zealand for war expenses amounted to one hundred and fifty thousand florins monthly. the pay of a captain was eighty florins monthly; that of a lieutenant, forty; that of a corporal, fifteen; that of a drummer, fifer, or minister, twelve; that of a common soldier, seven and a half. a captain had also one hundred and fifty florins each month to distribute among the most meritorious of his company. each soldier was likewise furnished with food; bedding, fire, light, and washing.--renom de france ms, vol. ii. c. ,] holland and zealand were cut in twain by the occupation of schouwen and the approaching fall of its capital. germany, england, france; all refused to stretch out their hands to save the heroic but exhaustless little provinces. it was at this moment that a desperate but sublime resolution took possession of the prince's mind. there seemed but one way left to exclude the spaniards for ever from holland and zealand, and to rescue the inhabitants from impending ruin. the prince had long brooded over the scheme, and the hour seemed to have struck for its fulfilment. his project was to collect all the vessels, of every description, which could be obtained throughout the netherlands. the whole population of the two provinces, men, women, and children, together with all the moveable property of the country, were then to be embarked on board this numerous fleet, and to seek a new home beyond the seas. the windmills were then to be burned, the dykes pierced, the sluices opened in every direction, and the country restored for ever to the ocean, from which it had sprung. it is difficult to say whether the resolution, if providence had permitted its fulfilment, would have been, on the whole, better or worse for humanity and civilization. the ships which would have borne the heroic prince and his fortunes might have taken the direction of the newly-discovered western hemisphere. a religious colony, planted by a commercial and liberty-loving race, in a virgin soil, and directed by patrician but self-denying hands, might have preceded, by half a century, the colony which a kindred race, impelled by similar motives, and under somewhat similar circumstances and conditions, was destined to plant upon the stern shores of new england. had they directed their course to the warm and fragrant islands of the east, an independent christian commonwealth might have arisen among those prolific regions, superior in importance to any subsequent colony of holland, cramped from its birth by absolute subjection to a far distant metropolis. the unexpected death of requesens suddenly dispelled these schemes. the siege of zierickzee had occupied much of the governor's attention, but he had recently written to his sovereign, that its reduction was now certain. he had added an urgent request for money, with a sufficient supply of which he assured philip that he should be able to bring the war to an immediate conclusion. while waiting for these supplies, he had, contrary to all law or reason, made an unsuccessful attempt to conquer the post of embden, in germany. a mutiny had at about the same time, broken out among his troops in harlem, and he had furnished the citizens with arms to defend themselves, giving free permission to use them against the insurgent troops. by this means the mutiny had been quelled, but a dangerous precedent established. anxiety concerning this rebellion is supposed to have hastened the grand commander's death. a violent fever seized him on the st, and terminated his existence on the th of march, in the fifty-first year of his life. it is not necessary to review elaborately his career, the chief incidents of which have been sufficiently described. requesens was a man of high position by birth and office, but a thoroughly commonplace personage. his talents either for war or for civil employments were not above mediocrity. his friends disputed whether he were greater in the field or in the council, but it is certain that he was great in neither. his bigotry was equal to that of alva, but it was impossible to rival the duke in cruelty. moreover, the condition of the country, after seven years of torture under his predecessor, made it difficult for him, at the time of his arrival, to imitate the severity which had made the name of alva infamous. the blood council had been retained throughout his administration, but its occupation was gone, for want of food for its ferocity. the obedient provinces had been purged of protestants; while crippled, too, by confiscation, they offered no field for further extortion. from holland and zealand, whence catholicism had been nearly excluded, the king of spain was nearly excluded also. the blood council which, if set up in that country, would have executed every living creature of its population, could only gaze from a distance at those who would have been its victims. requesens had been previously distinguished in two fields of action: the granada massacres and the carnage of lepanto. upon both occasions he had been the military tutor of don john of austria, by whom he was soon to be succeeded in the government of the netherlands. to the imperial bastard had been assigned the pre-eminence, but it was thought that the grand commander had been entitled to a more than equal share of the glory. we have seen how much additional reputation was acquired by requesens in the provinces. the expedition against duiveland and schouwen, was, on the whole, the most brilliant feat of arms during the war, and its success reflects an undying lustre on the hardihood and discipline of the spanish, german, and walloon soldiery. as an act of individual audacity in a bad cause, it has rarely been equalled. it can hardly be said, however, that the grand commander was entitled to any large measure of praise for the success of the expedition. the plan was laid by zealand traitors. it was carried into execution by the devotion of the spanish, walloon, and german troops; while requesens was only a spectator of the transaction. his sudden death arrested, for a moment, the ebb-tide in the affairs of the netherlands, which was fast leaving the country bare and desolate, and was followed by a train of unforeseen transactions, which it is now our duty to describe. etext editor's bookmarks: as the old woman had told the emperor adrian beautiful damsel, who certainly did not lack suitors breath, time, and paper were profusely wasted and nothing gained care neither for words nor menaces in any matter distinguished for his courage, his cruelty, and his corpulence he had never enjoyed social converse, except at long intervals human ingenuity to inflict human misery peace was desirable, it might be more dangerous than war proposition made by the wolves to the sheep, in the fable rebuked the bigotry which had already grown reformers were capable of giving a lesson even to inquisitors result was both to abandon the provinces and to offend philip suppress the exercise of the roman religion the more conclusive arbitration of gunpowder this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley [chapter vii.] municipal revolution throughout holland and zealand--characteristics of the movement in various places--sonoy commissioned by orange as governor of north holland--theory of the provisional government-- instructions of the prince to his officers--oath prescribed--clause of toleration--surprise of mons by count louis--exertions of antony oliver--details of the capture--assembly of the citizens--speeches of genlis and of count louis--effect of the various movements upon alva--don frederic ordered to invest mons--the duke's impatience to retire--arrival of medina coeli--his narrow escape--capture of the lisbon fleet--affectation of cordiality between alva and medina-- concessions by king and viceroy on the subject of the tenth penny-- estates of holland assembled, by summons of orange, at dort--appeals from the prince to this congress for funds to pay his newly levied army--theory of the provisional states' assembly--source and nature of its authority--speech of st. aldegonde--liberality of the estates and the provinces--pledges exchanged between the prince's representative and the congress--commission to de la marck ratified --virtual dictatorship of orange--limitation of his power by his own act--count louis at mons--reinforcements led from france by genlis-- rashness of that officer--his total defeat--orange again in the field--rocrmond taken--excesses of the patriot army--proclamation of orange, commanding respect to all personal and religious rights--his reply to the emperor's summons--his progress in the netherlands-- hopes entertained from france--reinforcements under coligny promised to orange by charles ix.--the massacre of st. bartholomew--the event characterized--effect in england, in rome, and in other parts of europe--excessive hilarity of philip--extravagant encomium bestowed by him upon charles ix.--order sent by philip to put all french prisoners in the netherlands to death--secret correspondence of charles ix. with his envoy in the netherlands--exultation of the spaniards before mons--alva urged by the french envoy, according to his master's commands, to put all the frenchmen in mons, and those already captured, to death--effect of the massacre upon the prince of orange--alva and medina in the camp before mons--hopelessness of the prince's scheme to obtain battle from alva--romero's encamisada --narrow escape of the prince--mutiny and dissolution of his army-- his return to holland--his steadfastness--desperate position of count louis in mons--sentiments of alva--capitulation of mons-- courteous reception of count louis by the spanish generals-- hypocrisy of these demonstrations--nature of the mons capitulation-- horrible violation of its terms--noircarmes at mons--establishment of a blood council in the city--wholesale executions--cruelty and cupidity of noircarmes--late discovery of the archives of these crimes--return of the revolted cities of brabant and flanders to obedience--sack of mechlin by the spaniards--details of that event. the example thus set by brill and flushing was rapidly followed. the first half of the year was distinguished by a series of triumphs rendered still more remarkable by the reverses which followed at its close. of a sudden, almost as it were by accident, a small but important sea-port, the object for which the prince had so long been hoping, was secured. instantly afterward, half the island of walcheren renounced the yoke of alva, next, enkbuizen, the key to the zuyder zee, the principal arsenal, and one of the first commercial cities in the netherlands, rose against the spanish admiral, and hung out the banner of orange on its ramparts. the revolution effected here was purely the work of the people--of the mariners and burghers of the city. moreover, the magistracy was set aside and the government of alva repudiated without shedding one drop of blood, without a single wrong to person or property. by the same spontaneous movement, nearly all the important cities of holland and zealand raised the standard of him in whom they recognized their deliverer. the revolution was accomplished under nearly similar circumstances everywhere. with one fierce bound of enthusiasm the nation shook off its chain. oudewater, dort, harlem, leyden, gorcum, loewenstein, gouda, medenblik, horn, alkmaar, edam, monnikendam, purmerende, as well as flushing, veer, and enkbuizen, all ranged themselves under the government of orange, as lawful stadholder for the king. nor was it in holland and zealand alone that the beacon fires of freedom were lighted. city after city in gelderland, overyssel, and the see of utrecht; all the important towns of friesland, some sooner, some later, some without a struggle, some after a short siege, some with resistance by the functionaries of government, some by amicable compromise, accepted the garrisons of the prince, and formally recognized his authority. out of the chaos which a long and preternatural tyranny had produced, the first struggling elements of a new and a better world began to appear. it were superfluous to narrate the details which marked the sudden restoration of liberty in these various groups of cities. traits of generosity marked the change of government in some, circumstances of ferocity, disfigured the revolution in others. the island of walcheren, equally divided as it was between the two parties, was the scene of much truculent and diabolical warfare. it is difficult to say whether the mutual hatred of race or the animosity of religious difference proved the deadlier venom. the combats were perpetual and sanguinary, the prisoners on both sides instantly executed. on more than one occasion; men were seen assisting to hang with their own hands and in cold blood their own brothers, who had been taken prisoners in the enemy's ranks. when the captives were too many to be hanged, they were tied back to back, two and two, and thus hurled into the sea. the islanders found a fierce pleasure in these acts of cruelty. a spaniard had ceased to be human in their eyes. on one occasion, a surgeon at veer cut the heart from a spanish prisoner, nailed it on a vessel's prow; and invited the townsmen to come and fasten their teeth in it, which many did with savage satisfaction. in other parts of the country the revolution was, on the whole, accomplished with comparative calmness. even traits of generosity were not uncommon. the burgomaster of gonda, long the supple slave of alva and the blood council, fled for his life as the revolt broke forth in that city. he took refuge in the house of a certain widow, and begged for a place of concealment. the widow led him to a secret closet which served as a pantry. "shall i be secure there?" asked the fugitive functionary. "o yes, sir burgomaster," replied the widow, "'t was in that very place that my husband lay concealed when you, accompanied by the officers of justice, were searching the house, that you might bring him to the scaffold for his religion. enter the pantry, your worship; i will be responsible for your safety." thus faithfully did the humble widow of a hunted and murdered calvinist protect the life of the magistrate who had brought desolation to her hearth. not all the conquests thus rapidly achieved in the cause of liberty were destined to endure, nor were any to be, retained without a struggle. the little northern cluster of republics which had now restored its honor to the ancient batavian name was destined, however, for a long and vigorous life. from that bleak isthmus the light of freedom was to stream through many years upon struggling humanity in europe; a guiding pharos across a stormy sea; and harlem, leyden, alkmaar--names hallowed by deeds of heroism such as have not often illustrated human annals, still breathe as trumpet-tongued and perpetual a defiance to despotism as marathon, thermopylae, or salamis. a new board of magistrates had been chosen in all the redeemed cities, by popular election. they were required to take an oath of fidelity to the king of spain, and to the prince of orange as his stadholder; to promise resistance to the duke of alva, the tenth penny, and the inquisition; to support every man's freedom and the welfare of the country; to protect widows, orphans, and miserable persons, and to maintain justice and truth. diedrich sonoy arrived on the nd june at enkbuizen. he was provided by the prince with a commission, appointing him lieutenant-governor of north holland or waterland. thus, to combat the authority of alva was set up the authority of the king. the stadholderate over holland and zealand, to which the prince had been appointed in , he now reassumed. upon this fiction reposed the whole provisional polity of the revolted netherlands. the government, as it gradually unfolded itself, from this epoch forward until the declaration of independence and the absolute renunciation of the spanish sovereign power, will be sketched in a future chapter. the people at first claimed not an iota more of freedom than was secured by philip's coronation oath. there was no pretence that philip was not sovereign, but there was a pretence and a determination to worship god according to conscience, and to reclaim the ancient political "liberties" of the land. so long as alva reigned, the blood council, the inquisition, and martial law, were the only codes or courts, and every charter slept. to recover this practical liberty and these historical rights, and to shake from their shoulders a most sanguinary government, was the purpose of william and of the people. no revolutionary standard was displayed. the written instructions given by the prince to his lieutenant sonoy were to "see that the word of god was preached, without, however, suffering any hindrance to the roman church in the exercise of its religion; to restore fugitives and the banished for conscience sake, and to require of all magistrates and officers of guilds and brotherhoods an oath of fidelity." the prince likewise prescribed the form of that oath, repeating therein, to his eternal honor, the same strict prohibition of intolerance. "likewise," said the formula, "shall those of 'the religion' offer no let or hindrance to the roman churches." the prince was still in germany, engaged in raising troops and providing funds. he directed; however, the affairs of the insurgent provinces in their minutest details, by virtue of the dictatorship inevitably forced upon him both by circumstances and by the people. in the meantime; louis of nassau, the bayard of the netherlands, performed a most unexpected and brilliant exploit. he had been long in france, negotiating with the leaders of the huguenots, and, more secretly, with the court. he was supposed by all the world to be still in that kingdom, when the startling intelligence arrived that he had surprised and captured the important city of mons. this town, the capital of hainault, situate in a fertile, undulating, and beautiful country, protected by lofty walls, a triple moat, and a strong citadel, was one of the most flourishing and elegant places in the netherlands. it was, moreover, from its vicinity to the frontiers of france; a most important acquisition to the insurgent party. the capture was thus accomplished. a native of mons, one antony oliver, a geographical painter, had insinuated himself into the confidence of alva, for whom he had prepared at different times some remarkably well- executed maps of the country. having occasion to visit france, he was employed by the duke to keep a watch upon the movements of louis of nassau, and to make a report as to the progress of his intrigues with the court of france. the painter, however, was only a spy in disguise, being in reality devoted to the cause of freedom, and a correspondent of orange and his family. his communications with louis, in paris, had therefore a far different result from the one anticipated by alva. a large number of adherents within the city of mons had already been secured, and a plan was now arranged between count louis, genlis, de la noue, and other distinguished huguenot chiefs, to be carried out with the assistance of the brave and energetic artist. on the rd of may, oliver appeared at the gates of mons, accompanied by three wagons, ostensibly containing merchandise, but in reality laden with arquebusses. these were secretly distributed among his confederates in the city. in the course of the day count louis arrived in the neighbourhood, accompanied by five hundred horsemen and a thousand foot soldiers. this force he stationed in close concealment within the thick forests between maubeuge and mons. towards evening he sent twelve of the most trusty and daring of his followers, disguised as wine merchants, into the city. these individuals proceeded boldly to a public house, ordered their supper, and while conversing with the landlord, carelessly inquired at what hour next morning the city gates would be opened. they were informed that the usual hour was four in the morning, but that a trifling present to the porter would ensure admission, if they desired it, at an earlier hour. they explained their inquiries by a statement that they had some casks of wine which they wished to introduce into the city before sunrise. having obtained all the information which they needed, they soon afterwards left the tavern. the next day they presented themselves very early at the gate, which the porter, on promise of a handsome "drink-penny," agreed to unlock. no sooner were the bolts withdrawn, however, than he was struck dead, while about fifty dragoons rode through the gate. the count and his followers now galloped over the city in the morning twilight, shouting "france! liberty! the town is ours!" "the prince is coming!" "down with the tenth penny; down with the murderous alva!" so soon as a burgher showed his wondering face at the window, they shot at him with their carbines. they made as much noise, and conducted themselves as boldly as if they had been at least a thousand strong. meantime, however, the streets remained empty; not one of their secret confederates showing himself. fifty men could surprise, but were too few to keep possession of the city. the count began to suspect a trap. as daylight approached the alarm spread; the position of the little band was critical. in his impetuosity, louis had far outstripped his army, but they had been directed to follow hard upon his footsteps, and he was astonished that their arrival was so long delayed. the suspense becoming intolerable, he rode out of the city in quest of his adherents, and found them wandering in the woods, where they had completely lost their way. ordering each horseman to take a foot soldier on the crupper behind him, he led them rapidly back to mons. on the way they were encountered by la noue, "with the iron arm," and genlis, who, meantime, had made an unsuccessful attack to recover valenciennes, which within a few hours had been won and lost again. as they reached the gates of mons, they found themselves within a hair's breadth of being too late; their adherents had not come forth; the citizens had been aroused; the gates were all fast but one--and there the porter was quarrelling with a french soldier about an arquebuss. the drawbridge across the moat was at the moment rising; the last entrance was closing, when guitoy de chaumont, a french officer, mounted on a light spanish barb, sprang upon the bridge as it rose. his weight caused it to sink again, the gate was forced, and louis with all his men rode triumphantly into the town. the citizens were forthwith assembled by sound of bell in the market- place. the clergy, the magistracy, and the general council were all present. genlis made the first speech, in which he disclaimed all intention of making conquests in the interest of france. this pledge having been given, louis of nassau next addressed the assembly: "the magistrates," said he, "have not understoood my intentions. i protest that i am no rebel to the king; i prove it by asking no new oaths from any man. remain bound by your old oaths of allegiance; let the magistrates continue to exercise their functions--to administer justice. i imagine that no person will suspect a brother of the prince of orange capable of any design against the liberties of the country. as to the catholic religion, i take it under my very particular protection. you will ask why i am in mons at the head of an armed force: are any of you ignorant of alva's cruelties? the overthrow of this tyrant is as much the interest of the king as of the people, therefore there is nothing in my present conduct inconsistent with fidelity to his majesty. against alva alone i have taken up arms; 'tis to protect you against his fury that i am here. it is to prevent the continuance of a general rebellion that i make war upon him. the only proposition which i have to make to you is this--i demand that you declare alva de toledo a traitor to the king, the executioner of the people, an enemy to the country, unworthy of the government, and hereby deprived of his authority." the magistracy did not dare to accept so bold a proposition; the general council, composing the more popular branch of the municipal government, were comparatively inclined to favor nassau, and many of its members voted for the downfall of the tyrant. nevertheless the demands of count louis were rejected. his position thus became critical. the civic authorities refused to, pay for his troops, who were, moreover, too few, in number to resist the inevitable siege. the patriotism of the citizens was not to be repressed, however, by the authority, of the magistrates; many rich proprietors of the great cloth and silk manufactories, for which mons was famous, raised, and armed companies at their own expense; many volunteer troops were also speedily organized and drilled, and the fortifications were put in order. no attempt was made to force the reformed religion upon the inhabitants, and even catholics who were discovered in secret correspondence with the enemy were treated with such extreme gentleness by nassau as to bring upon him severe reproaches from many of his own party. a large collection of ecclesiastical plate, jewellery, money, and other valuables, which had been sent to the city for safe keeping from the churches and convents of the provinces, was seized, and thus, with little bloodshed and no violence; was the important city secured for the insurgents. three days afterwards, two thousand infantry, chiefly french, arrived in the place. in the early part of the following month louis was still further strengthened by the arrival of thirteen hundred foot and twelve hundred horsemen, under command of count montgomery, the celebrated officer, whose spear at the tournament had proved fatal to henry the second. thus the duke of alva suddenly found himself exposed to a tempest of revolution. one thunderbolt after another seemed descending around him in breathless succession. brill and flushing had been already lost; middelburg was so closely invested that its fall seemed imminent, and with it would go the whole island of walcheren, the key to all the netherlands. in one morning he had heard of the revolt of enkbuizen and of the whole waterland; two hours later came the news of the valenciennes rebellion, and next day the astonishing capture of mons. one disaster followed hard upon another. he could have sworn that the detested louis of nassau, who had dealt this last and most fatal stroke, was at that moment in paris, safely watched by government emissaries; and now he had, as it were, suddenly started out of the earth, to deprive him of this important city, and to lay bare the whole frontier to the treacherous attacks of faithless france. he refused to believe the intelligence when it was first announced to him, and swore that he had certain information that count louis had been seen playing in the tennis- court at paris, within so short a period as to make his presence in hainault at that moment impossible. forced, at last, to admit the truth of the disastrous news, he dashed his hat upon the ground in a fury, uttering imprecations upon the queen dowager of france, to whose perfidious intrigues he ascribed the success of the enterprise, and pledging himself to send her spanish thistles, enough in return for the florentine lilies which she had thus bestowed upon him. in the midst of the perplexities thus thickening around him, the duke preserved his courage, if not his temper. blinded, for a brief season, by the rapid attacks made upon him, he had been uncertain whither to direct his vengeance. this last blow in so vital a quarter determined him at once. he forthwith despatched don frederic to undertake the siege of mons, and earnestly set about raising large reinforcements to his army. don frederic took possession, without much opposition, of the bethlehem cloister in the immediate vicinity of the city, and with four thousand troops began the investment in due form. alva had, for a long time, been most impatient to retire from the provinces. even he was capable of human emotions. through the sevenfold panoply of his pride he had been pierced by the sharpness of a nation's curse. he was wearied with the unceasing execrations which assailed his ears. "the hatred which the people bear me," said he, in a letter to philip, "because of the chastisement which it has been necessary for me to inflict, although with all the moderation in the world, make all my efforts vain. a successor will meet more sympathy and prove more useful." on the th june, the duke of medina coeli; with a fleet of more than forty sail, arrived off blankenburg, intending to enter the scheld. julian romero, with two thousand spaniards, was also on board the fleet. nothing, of course, was known to the new comers of the altered condition of affairs in the netherlands, nor of the unwelcome reception which they were like to meet in flushing. a few of the lighter craft having been taken by the patriot cruisers, the alarm was spread through all the fleet. medina coeli, with a few transports, was enabled to effect his escape to sluys, whence he hastened to brussels in a much less ceremonious manner than he had originally contemplated. twelve biscayan ships stood out to sea, descried a large lisbon fleet, by a singular coincidence, suddenly heaving in sight, changed their course again, and with a favoring breeze bore boldly up the hond; passed flushing in spite of a severe cannonade from the forts, and eventually made good their entrance into rammekens, whence the soldiery, about one- half of whom had thus been saved, were transferred at a very critical moment to middelburg. the great lisbon fleet followed in the wake of the biscayans, with much inferior success. totally ignorant of the revolution which had occurred in the ise of walclieren, it obeyed the summons of the rebel fort to come to anchor, and, with the exception of three or four, the vessels were all taken. it was the richest booty which the insurgents had yet acquired by sea or land. the fleet was laden with spices, money, jewellery, and the richest merchandize. five hundred thousand crowns of gold were taken, and it was calculated that the plunder altogether would suffice to maintain the war for two years at least. one thousand spanish soldiers, and a good amount of ammunition, were also captured. the unexpected condition of affairs made a pause natural and almost necessary, before the government could be decorously transferred. medina coeli with spanish grandiloquence, avowed his willingness to serve as a soldier, under a general whom he so much venerated, while alva ordered that, in all respects, the same outward marks of respect should be paid to his appointed successor as to himself. beneath all this external ceremony, however, much mutual malice was concealed. meantime, the duke, who was literally "without a single real," was forced at last to smother his pride in the matter of the tenth penny. on the th june, he summoned the estates of holland to assemble on the th of the ensuing month. in the missive issued for this purpose, he formally agreed to abolish the whole tax, on condition that the estates-general of the netherlands would furnish him with a yearly supply of two millions of florins. almost at the same moment the king had dismissed the deputies of the estates from madrid, with the public assurance that the tax was to be suspended, and a private intimation that it was not abolished in terms, only in order to save the dignity of the duke. these healing measures came entirely too late. the estates of holland met, indeed, on the appointed day of july; but they assembled not in obedience to alva, but in consequence of a summons from william of orange. they met, too, not at the hague, but at dort, to take formal measures for renouncing the authority of the duke. the first congress of the netherland commonwealth still professed loyalty to the crown, but was determined to accept the policy of orange without a question. the prince had again assembled an army in germany, consisting of fifteen thousand foot and seven thousand horse, besides a number of netherlanders, mostly walloons, amounting to nearly three thousand more. before taking the field, however, it was necessary that he should guarantee at least three months' pay to his troops. this he could no longer do, except by giving bonds endorsed by certain cities of holland as his securities. he had accordingly addressed letters in his own name to all the principal cities, fervently adjuring them to remember, at last, what was due to him, to the fatherland, and to their own character. "let not a sum of gold," said he in one of these letters, "be so dear to you, that for its sake you will sacrifice your lives, your wives, your children, and all your descendants, to the latest generations; that you will bring sin and shame upon yourselves, and destruction upon us who have so heartily striven to assist you. think what scorn you will incur from foreign nations, what a crime you will commit against the. lord god, what a bloody yoke ye will impose forever upon yourselves and your children, if you now seek for subterfuges; if you now prevent us from taking the field with the troops which we have enlisted. on the other hand, what inexpressible benefits you will confer on your country, if you now help us to rescue that fatherland from the power of spanish vultures and wolves." this and similar missives, circulated throughout the province of holland, produced a deep impression. in accordance with his suggestions, the deputies from the nobility and from twelve cities of that province assembled on the th july, at dort. strictly speaking, the estates or government of holland, the body which represented the whole people, consisted of the nobler and six great cities. on this occasion, however, amsterdam being still in the power of the king, could send no deputies, while, on the other hand, all the small towns were invited to send up their representatives to the congress. eight accepted the proposal; the rest declined to appoint delegates, partly from motives of economy, partly from timidity.' these estates were the legitimate representatives of the people, but they had no legislative powers. the people had never pretended to sovereignty, nor did they claim it now. the source from which the government of the netherlands was supposed to proceed was still the divine mandate. even now the estates silently conceded, as they had ever done, the supreme legislative and executive functions to the land's master. upon philip of spain, as representative of count dirk the first of holland, had descended, through many tortuous channels, the divine effluence originally supplied by charles the simple of france. that supernatural power was not contested, but it was now ingeniously turned against the sovereign. the king's authority was invoked against himself in the person of the prince of orange, to whom, thirteen years before, a portion of that divine right had been delegated. the estates of holland met at dort on the th july, as representatives of the people; but they were summoned by orange, royally commissioned in as stadholder, and therefore the supreme legislative and executive officer of certain provinces. this was the theory of the provisional government. the prince represented the royal authority, the nobles represented both themselves and the people of the open country, while the twelve cities represented the whole body of burghers. together, they were supposed to embody all authority, both divine and human, which a congress could exercise. thus the whole movement was directed against alva and against count bossu, appointed stadholder by alva in the place of orange. philip's name was destined to figure for a long time, at the head of documents by which monies were raised, troops levied, and taxes collected, all to be used in deadly war against himself. the estates were convened on the th july, when paul buys, pensionary of leyden, the tried and confidential friend of orange, was elected advocate of holland. the convention was then adjourned till the th, when saint aldegonde made his appearance, with full powers to act provisionally in behalf of his highness. the distinguished plenipotentiary delivered before the congress a long and very effective harangue. he recalled the sacrifices and efforts of the prince during previous years. he adverted to the disastrous campaign of , in which the prince had appeared full of high hope, at the head of a gallant army, but had been obliged, after a short period, to retire, because not a city had opened its gates nor a netherlander lifted his finger in the cause. nevertheless, he had not lost courage nor closed his heart; and now that, through the blessing of god, the eyes of men had been opened, and so many cities had declared against the tyrant, the prince had found himself exposed to a bitter struggle. although his own fortunes had been ruined in the cause, he had been unable to resist the daily flood of petitions which called upon him to come forward once more. he had again importuned his relations and powerful friends; he had at last set on foot a new and well-appointed army. the day of payment had arrived. over his own head impended perpetual shame, over the fatherland perpetual woe, if the congress should now refuse the necessary supplies. "arouse ye, then," cried the orator, with fervor, "awaken your own zeal and that of your sister cities. seize opportunity by the locks, who never appeared fairer than she does to-day." the impassioned eloquence of st. aldegonde produced a profound impression. the men who had obstinately refused the demands of alva, now unanimously resolved to pour forth their gold and their blood at the call of orange. "truly," wrote the duke, a little later, "it almost drives me mad to see the difficulty with which your majesty's supplies are furnished, and the liberality with which the people place their lives and fortunes at the disposal of this rebel." it seemed strange to the loyal governor that men should support their liberator with greater alacrity than that with which they served their destroyer! it was resolved that the requisite amount should be at once raised, partly from the regular imposts and current "requests," partly by loans from the rich, from the clergy, from the guilds and brotherhoods, partly from superfluous church ornaments and other costly luxuries. it was directed that subscriptions should be immediately opened throughout the land, that gold and silver plate, furniture, jewellery, and other expensive articles should be received by voluntary contributions, for which inventories and receipts should be given by the magistrates of each city, and that upon these money should be raised, either by loan or sale. an enthusiastic and liberal spirit prevailed. all seemed determined rather than pay the tenth to alva to pay the whole to the prince. the estates, furthermore, by unanimous resolution, declared that they recognized the prince as the king's lawful stadholder over holland, zealand, friesland, and utrecht, and that they would use their influence with the other provinces to procure his appointment as protector of all the netherlands during the king's absence. his highness was requested to appoint an admiral, on whom, with certain deputies from the water-cities, the conduct of the maritime war should devolve. the conduct of the military operations by land was to be directed by dort, leyden, and enkbuizen, in conjunction with the count de la marck. a pledge was likewise exchanged between the estates and the pleni- potentiary, that neither party should enter into any treaty with the king, except by full consent and co-operation of the other. with regard to religion, it was firmly established, that the public exercises of divine worship should be permitted not only to the reformed church, but to the roman catholic--the clergy of both being protected from all molestation. after these proceedings, count de la marck made his appearance before the assembly. his commission from orange was read to the deputies, and by them ratified. the prince, in that document, authorized "his dear cousin" to enlist troops, to accept the fealty of cities, to furnish them with garrisons, to re-establish all the local laws, municipal rights, and ancient privileges which had been suppressed. he was to maintain freedom of religion, under penalty of death to those who infringed it; he was to restore all confiscated property; he was, with advice of his council, to continue in office such city magistrates as were favorable, and to remove those adverse to the cause. the prince was, in reality, clothed with dictatorial and even regal powers. this authority had been forced upon him by the prayers of the people, but he manifested no eagerness as he partly accepted the onerous station. he was provisionally the depositary of the whole sovereignty of the northern provinces, but ho cared much less for theories of government than for ways and means. it was his object to release the country from the tyrant who, five years long, had been burning and butchering the people. it was his determination to drive out the foreign soldiery. to do this, he must meet his enemy in the field. so little was he disposed to strengthen his own individual power, that he voluntarily imposed limits on himself, by an act, supplemental to the proceedings of the congress of dort. in this important ordinance made by the prince of orange, as a provisional form of government, he publicly announced "that he would do and ordain nothing except by the advice of the estates, by reason that they were best acquainted with the circumstances and the humours of the inhabitants." he directed the estates to appoint receivers for all public taxes, and ordained that all military officers should make oath of fidelity to him, as stadholder, and to the estates of holland, to be true and obedient, in order to liberate the land from the albanian and spanish tyranny, for the service of his royal majesty as count of holland. the provisional constitution, thus made by a sovereign prince and actual dictator, was certainly as disinterested as it was sagacious. meanwhile the war had opened vigorously in hainault. louis of nassau had no sooner found himself in possession of mons than he had despatched genlis to france, for those reinforcements which had been promised by royal lips. on the other hand, don frederic held the city closely beleaguered; sharp combats before the walls were of almost daily occurrence, but it was obvious that louis would be unable to maintain the position into which he had so chivalrously thrown himself unless he should soon receive important succor. the necessary reinforcements were soon upon the way. genlis had made good speed with his levy, and it was soon announced that he was advancing into hainault, with a force of huguenots, whose numbers report magnified to ten thousand veterans. louis despatched an earnest message to his confederate, to use extreme caution in his approach. above all things, he urged him, before attempting to throw reinforcements into the city, to effect a junction with the prince of orange, who had already crossed the rhine with his new army. genlis, full of overweening confidence, and desirous of acquiring singly the whole glory of relieving the city, disregarded this advice. his rashness proved his ruin, and the temporary prostration of the cause of freedom. pushing rapidly forward across the french frontier, he arrived, towards the middle of july, within two leagues of mons. the spaniards were aware of his approach, and well prepared to frustrate his project. on the th, he found himself upon a circular plain of about a league's extent, surrounded with coppices and forests, and dotted with farm-houses and kitchen gardens. here he paused to send out a reconnoitring party. the little detachment was, however, soon driven in, with the information that don frederic of toledo, with ten thousand men, was coming instantly upon them. the spanish force, in reality, numbered four thousand infantry, and fifteen hundred cavalry; but three thousand half-armed boors had been engaged by don frederic, to swell his apparent force. the demonstration produced its effect, and no sooner had the first panic of the intelligence been spread, than noircarmes came charging upon them at the head of his cavalry. the infantry arrived directly afterwards, and the huguenots were routed almost as soon as seen. it was a meeting rather than a battle. the slaughter of the french was very great, while but an insignificant number of the spaniards fell. chiappin vitelli was the hero of the day. it was to his masterly arrangements before the combat, and to his animated exertions upon the field, that the victory was owing. having been severely wounded in the thigh but a few days previously, he caused himself to be carried upon a litter in a recumbent position in front of his troops, and was everywhere seen, encouraging their exertions, and exposing himself, crippled as he was, to the whole brunt of the battle. to him the victory nearly proved fatal; to don frederic it brought increased renown. vitelli's exertions, in his precarious condition, brought on severe inflammation, under which he nearly succumbed, while the son of alva reaped extensive fame from the total overthrow of the veteran huguenots, due rather to his lieutenant and to julian romero. the number of dead left by the french upon the plain amounted to at least twelve hundred, but a much larger number was butchered in detail by the peasantry, among whom they attempted to take refuge, and who had not yet forgotten the barbarities inflicted by their countrymen in the previous war. many officers were taken prisoners, among whom was the commander- in-chief, genlis. that unfortunate gentleman was destined to atone for his rashness and obstinacy with his life. he was carried to the castle of antwerp, where, sixteen months afterwards, he was secretly strangled by command of alva, who caused the report to be circulated that he had died a natural death. about one hundred foot soldiers succeeded in making their entrance into mona, and this was all the succor which count louis was destined to receive from france, upon which country he had built such lofty and such reasonable hopes. while this unfortunate event was occurring, the prince had already put his army in motion. on the th of july he had crossed the rhine at duisburg, with fourteen thousand foot, seven thousand horse, enlisted in germany, besides a force of three thousand walloons. on the rd of july, he took the city of roermond, after a sharp cannonade, at which place his troops already began to disgrace the honorable cause in which they were engaged, by imitating the cruelties and barbarities of their antagonists. the persons and property of the burghers were, with a very few exceptions, respected; but many priests and monks were put to death by the soldiery under circumstances of great barbarity. the prince, incensed at such conduct, but being unable to exercise very stringent authority over troops whose wages he was not yet able to pay in full, issued a proclamation, denouncing such excesses, and commanding his followers, upon pain of death, to respect the rights of all individuals, whether papist or protestant, and to protect religious exercises both in catholic and reformed churches. it was hardly to be expected that the troops enlisted by the prince in the same great magazine of hireling soldiers, germany, from whence the duke also derived his annual supplies, would be likely to differ very much in their propensities from those enrolled under spanish banners; yet there was a vast contrast between the characters of the two commanders. one leader inculcated the practice of robbery, rape, and murder, as a duty, and issued distinct orders to butcher every mother's son in the cities which he captured; the other restrained every excess to, the utmost of his ability, protecting not only life and property, but even the ancient religion. the emperor maximilian had again issued his injunctions against the military operations of orange. bound to the monarch of spain by so many family ties, being at once cousin, brother-in-law, and father-in-law of philip, it was difficult for him to maintain the attitude which became him, as chief of that empire to which the peace of passau had assured religious freedom. it had, however, been sufficiently proved that remonstrances and intercessions addressed to philip were but idle breath. it had therefore become an insult to require pacific conduct from the prince on the ground of any past or future mediation. it was a still grosser mockery to call upon him to discontinue hostilities because the netherlands were included in the empire, and therefore protected by the treaties of passau and augsburg. well did the prince reply to his imperial majesty's summons in a temperate but cogent letter, in which he addressed to him from his camp, that all intercessions had proved fruitless, and that the only help for the netherlands was the sword. the prince had been delayed for a month at roermonde, because, as he expressed it; "he had not a single sou," and because, in consequence, the troops refused to advance into the netherlands. having at last been furnished with the requisite guarantees from the holland cities for three months' pay, on the th of august, the day of the publication of his letter to the emperor, he crossed the meuse and took his circuitous way through diest, tirlemont, sichem, louvain, mechlin, termonde, oudenarde, nivelles. many cities and villages accepted his authority and admitted his garrisons. of these mechlin was the most considerable, in which he stationed a detachment of his troops. its doom was sealed in that moment. alva could not forgive this act of patriotism on the part of a town which had so recently excluded his own troops. "this is a direct permission of god," he wrote, in the spirit of dire and revengeful prophecy, "for us to punish her as she deserves, for the image-breaking and other misdeeds done there in the time of madame de parma, which our lord was not willing to pass over without chastisement." meantime the prince continued his advance. louvain purchased its neutrality for the time with sixteen thousand ducats; brussels obstinately refused to listen to him, and was too powerful to be forcibly attacked at that juncture; other important cities, convinced by the arguments and won by the eloquence of the various proclamations which he scattered as he advanced, ranged themselves spontaneously and even enthusiastically upon his side. how different world have been the result of his campaign but for the unexpected earthquake which at that instant was to appal christendom, and to scatter all his well-matured plans and legitimate hopes. his chief reliance, under providence and his own strong heart, had been upon french assistance. although genlis, by his misconduct, had sacrificed his army and himself, yet the prince as still justly sanguine as to the policy of the french court. the papers which had been found in the possession of genlis by his conquerors all spoke one language. "you would be struck with stupor," wrote alva's secretary, "could you see a letter which is now in my power, addressed by the king of france to louis of nassau." in that letter the king had declared his determination to employ all the forces which god had placed in his hands to rescue the netherlands from the oppression under which they were groaning. in accordance with the whole spirit and language of the french government, was the tone of coligny in his correspondence with orange. the admiral assured the prince that there was no doubt as to the earnestness of the royal intentions in behalf of the netherlands, and recommending extreme caution, announced his hope within a few days to effect a junction with him at the head of twelve thousand french arquebusiers, and at least three thousand cavalry. well might the prince of orange, strong, and soon to be strengthened, boast that the netherlands were free, and that alva was in his power. he had a right to be sanguine, for nothing less than a miracle could now destroy his generous hopes--and, alas! the miracle took place; a miracle of perfidy and bloodshed such as the world, familiar as it had ever been and was still to be with massacre, had not yet witnessed. on the th of august, coligny had written thus hopefully of his movements towards the netherlands, sanctioned and aided by his king. a fortnight from that day occurred the "paris-wedding;" and the admiral, with thousands of his religious confederates, invited to confidence by superhuman treachery, and lulled into security by the music of august marriage bells, was suddenly butchered in the streets of paris by royal and noble hands. the prince proceeded on his march, during which the heavy news had been brought to him, but he felt convinced that, with the very arrival of the awful tidings, the fate of that campaign was sealed, and the fall of mons inevitable. in his own language, he had been struck to the earth "with the blow of a sledge-hammer,"--nor did the enemy draw a different augury from the great event. the crime was not committed with the connivance of the spanish government. on the contrary, the two courts were at the moment bitterly hostile to each other. in the beginning of the summer, charles ix. and his advisers were as false to philip, as at the end of it they were treacherous to coligny and orange. the massacre of the huguenots had not even the merit of being a well-contrived and intelligently executed scheme. we have seen how steadily, seven years before, catharine de medici had rejected the advances of alva towards the arrangement of a general plan for the extermination of all heretics within france and the netherlands at the same moment. we have seen the disgust with which alva turned from the wretched young king at bayonne, when he expressed the opinion that to take arms against his own subjects was wholly out of the question, and could only be followed by general ruin. "'tis easy to see that he has been tutored," wrote alva to his master. unfortunately, the same mother; who had then instilled those lessons of hypocritical benevolence, had now wrought upon her son's cowardly but ferocious nature with a far different intent. the incomplete assassination of coligny, the dread of signal vengeance at the hands of the huguenots, the necessity of taking the lead in the internecine snuggle; were employed with medicean art, and with entire success. the king was lashed into a frenzy. starting to his feet, with a howl of rage and terror, "i agree to the scheme," he cried, "provided not one huguenot be left alive in france to reproach me with the deed." that night the slaughter commenced. the long premeditated crime was executed in a panic, but the work was thoroughly done. the king, who a few days before had written with his own hand to louis of nassau, expressing his firm determination to sustain the protestant cause both in france and the netherlands, who had employed the counsels of coligny in the arrangement, of his plans, and who had sent french troops, under genlis and la none, to assist their calvinist brethren in flanders, now gave the signal for the general massacre of the protestants, and with his own hands, from his own palace windows, shot his subjects with his arquebuss as if they had been wild beasts. between sunday and tuesday, according to one of the most moderate calculations, five thousand parisians of all ranks were murdered. within the whole kingdom, the number of victims was variously estimated at from twenty-five thousand to one hundred thousand. the heart of protestant europe, for an instant, stood still with horror. the queen of england put on mourning weeds, and spurned the apologies of the french envoy with contempt. at rome, on the contrary, the news of the massacre created a joy beyond description. the pope, accompanied by his cardinals, went solemnly to the church of saint mark to render thanks to god for the grace thus singularly vouchsafed to the holy see and to all christendom; and a te deum was performed in presence of the same august assemblage. but nothing could exceed the satisfaction which the event occasioned in the mind of philip the second. there was an end now of all assistance from the french government to the netherland protestants. "the news of the events upon saint bartholomew's day," wrote the french envoy at madrid, saint goard, to charles ix., "arrived on the th september. the king, on receiving the intelligence, showed, contrary to his natural custom, so much gaiety, that he seemed more delighted than with all the good fortune or happy incidents which had ever before occurred to him. he called all his familiars about him in order to assure them that your majesty was his good brother, and that no one else deserved the title of most christian. he sent his secretary cayas to me with his felicitations upon the event, and with the information that he was just going to saint jerome to render thanks to god, and to offer his prayers that your majesty might receive divine support in this great affair. i went to see him next morning, and as soon as i came into his presence he began to laugh, and with demonstrations of extreme contentment, to praise your majesty as deserving your title of most christian, telling me there was no king worthy to be your majesty's companion, either for valor or prudence. he praised the steadfast resolution and the long dissimulation of so great an enterprise, which all the world would not be able to comprehend." "i thanked him," continued the embassador, "and i said that i thanked god for enabling your majesty to prove to his master that his apprentice had learned his trade, and deserved his title of most christian king. i added, that he ought to confess that he owed the preservation of the netherlands to your majesty." nothing certainly could, in philip's apprehension, be more delightful than this most unexpected and most opportune intelligence. charles ix., whose intrigues in the netherlands he had long known, had now been suddenly converted by this stupendous crime into his most powerful ally, while at the same time the protestants of europe would learn that there was still another crowned head in christendom more deserving of abhorrence than himself. he wrote immediately to alva, expressing his satisfaction that the king of france had disembarrassed himself of such pernicious men, because he would now be obliged to cultivate the friendship of spain, neither the english queen nor the german protestants being thenceforth capable of trusting him. he informed the duke, moreover, that the french envoy, saint goard, had been urging him to command the immediate execution of genlis and his companions, who had been made prisoners, as well as all the frenchmen who would be captured in mons; and that he fully concurred in the propriety of the measure. "the sooner," said philip, "these noxious plants are extirpated from the earth, the less fear there is that a fresh crop will spring up." the monarch therefore added, with his own hand, to the letter, "i desire that if you have not already disembarrassed the world of them, you will do it immediately, and inform me thereof, for i see no reason why it should be deferred." this is the demoniacal picture painted by the french ambassador, and by philip's own hand, of the spanish monarch's joy that his "most christian" brother had just murdered twenty-five thousand of his own subjects. in this cold-blooded way, too, did his catholic majesty order the execution of some thousand huguenots additionally, in order more fully to carry out his royal brother's plans; yet philip could write of himself, "that all the world recognized the gentleness of his nature and the mildness of his intentions." in truth, the advice thus given by saint goard on the subject of the french prisoners in alva's possessions, was a natural result of the saint bartholomew. here were officers and soldiers whom charles ix. had himself sent into the netherlands to fight for the protestant cause against philip and alva. already, the papers found upon them had placed him in some embarrassment, and exposed his duplicity to the spanish government, before the great massacre had made such signal reparation for his delinquency. he had ordered mondoucet, his envoy in the netherlands, to use dissimulation to an unstinted amount, to continue his intrigues with the protestants, and to deny stoutly all proofs of such connivance. "i see that the papers found upon genlis;" he wrote twelve days before the massacre, "have been put into the hands of assonleville, and that they know everything done by genlis to have been committed with my consent." [these remarkable letters exchanged between charles ix. and mondoucet have recently been published by m. emile gachet (chef du bureau paleographique aux archives de belgique) from a manuscript discovered by him in the library at rheims.--compte rendu de la com. roy. d'hist., iv. , sqq.] "nevertheless, you will tell the duke of alva that these are lies invented to excite suspicion against me. you will also give him occasional information of the enemy's affairs, in order to make him believe in your integrity. even if he does not believe you, my purpose will be answered, provided you do it dexterously. at the same time you must keep up a constant communication with the prince of orange, taking great care to prevent discovery of your intelligence with king." were not these masterstrokes of diplomacy worthy of a king whom his mother, from boyhood upwards, had caused to study macchiavelli's "prince," and who had thoroughly taken to heart the maxim, often repeated in those days, that the "science of reigning was the science of lying"? the joy in the spanish camp before mons was unbounded. it was as if the only bulwark between the netherland rebels and total destruction had been suddenly withdrawn. with anthems in saint gudule, with bonfires, festive illuminations, roaring artillery, with trumpets also, and with shawms, was the glorious holiday celebrated in court and camp, in honor of the vast murder committed by the most christian king upon his christian subjects; nor was a moment lost in apprising the huguenot soldiers shut up with louis of nassau in the beleaguered city of the great catastrophe which was to render all their valor fruitless. "'t was a punishment," said a spanish soldier, who fought most courageously before mons, and who elaborately described the siege afterwards, "well worthy of a king whose title is 'the most christian,' and it was still more honorable to inflict it with his own hands as he did." nor was the observation a pithy sarcasm, but a frank expression of opinion, from a man celebrated alike for the skill with which he handled both his sword and his pen. the, french envoy in the netherlands was, of course, immediately informed by his sovereign of the great event: charles ix. gave a very pithy account of the transaction. "to prevent the success of the enterprise planned by the admiral," wrote the king on the th of august, with hands yet reeking, and while the havoc throughout france was at its height, "i have been obliged to permit the said guises to rush upon the said admiral,--which they have done, the said admiral having been killed and all his adherents. a very great number of those belonging to the new religion have also been massacred and cut to pieces. it is probable that the fire thus kindled will spread through all the cities of my kingdom, and that all those of the said religion will be made sure of." not often, certainly, in history, has a christian king spoken thus calmly of butchering his subjects while the work was proceeding all around him. it is to be observed, moreover, that the usual excuse for such enormities, religious fanaticism, can not be even suggested on this occasion. catharine, in times past had favored huguenots as much as catholics, while charles had been, up to the very moment of the crime, in strict alliance with the heretics of both france and flanders, and furthering the schemes of orange and nassau. nay, even at this very moment, and in this very letter in which he gave the news of the massacre, he charged his envoy still to maintain the closest but most secret intelligence with the prince of orange; taking great care that the duke of alva should not discover these relations. his motives were, of course, to prevent the prince from abandoning his designs, and from coming to make a disturbance in france. the king, now that the deed was done, was most anxious to reap all the fruits of his crime. "now, m. de mondoucet, it is necessary in such affairs," he continued, "to have an eye to every possible contingency. i know that this news will be most agreeable to the duke of alva, for it is most favorable to his designs. at the same time, i don't desire that he alone should gather the fruit. i don't choose that he should, according to his excellent custom, conduct his affairs in such wise as to throw the prince of orange upon my hands, besides sending back to france genlis and the other prisoners, as well as the french now shut up in mons." this was a sufficiently plain hint, which mondoucet could not well misunderstand. "observe the duke's countenance carefully when you give him this message," added the king, "and let me know his reply." in order, however, that there might be no mistake about the matter, charles wrote again to his ambassador, five days afterwards, distinctly stating the regret which he should feel if alva should not take the city of mons, or if he should take it by composition. "tell the duke," said he, "that it is most important for the service of his master and of god that those frenchmen and others in mons should be cut in pieces." he wrote another letter upon the name day, such was his anxiety upon the subject, instructing the envoy to urge upon alva the necessity of chastising those rebels to the french crown. "if he tells you," continued charles, "that this is tacitly requiring him to put to death all the french prisoners now in hand as well to cut in pieces every man in mons, you will say to him that this is exactly what he ought to do, and that he will be guilty of a great wrong to christianity if he does otherwise." certainly, the duke, having been thus distinctly ordered, both by his own master and by his christian majesty, to put every one of these frenchmen to death, had a sufficiency of royal warrant. nevertheless, he was not able to execute entirely these ferocious instructions. the prisoners already in his power were not destined to escape, but the city of mons, in his own language, "proved to have sharper teeth than he supposed." mondoucet lost no time in placing before alva the urgent necessity of accomplishing the extensive and cold-blooded massacre thus proposed. "the duke has replied," wrote the envoy to his sovereign, "that he is executing his prisoners every day, and that he has but a few left. nevertheless, for some reason which he does not mention, he is reserving the principal noblemen and chiefs." he afterwards informed his master that genlis, jumelles, and the other leaders, had engaged, if alva would grant them a reasonable ransom, to induce the french in mons to leave the city, but that the duke, although his language was growing less confident, still hoped to take the town by assault. "i have urged him," he added, "to put them all to death, assuring him that he would be responsible for the consequences of a contrary course."--"why does not your most christian master," asked alva, "order these frenchmen in mons to come to him under oath to make no disturbance? then my prisoners will be at my discretion and i shall get my city."--"because," answered the envoy, "they will not trust his most christian majesty, and will prefer to die in mons."--[mondoucet to charles ix., th september, .] this certainly was a most sensible reply, but it is instructive to witness the cynicism with which the envoy accepts this position for his master, while coldly recording the results of all these sanguinary conversations. such was the condition of affairs when the prince of orange arrived at peronne, between binche and the duke of alva's entrenchments. the besieging army was rich in notabilities of elevated rank. don frederic of toledo had hitherto commanded, but on the th of august, the dukes of medina coeli and of alva had arrived in the camp. directly afterwards came the warlike archbishop of cologne, at the head of two thousand cavalry. there was but one chance for the prince of orange, and experience had taught him, four years before, its slenderness. he might still provoke his adversary into a pitched battle, and he relied upon god for the result. in his own words, "he trusted ever that the great god of armies was with him, and would fight in the midst of his forces." if so long as alva remained in his impregnable camp, it was impossible to attack him, or to throw reinforcements into mons. the prince soon found, too, that alva was far too wise to hazard his position by a superfluous combat. the duke knew that the cavalry of the prince was superior to his own. he expressed himself entirely unwilling to play into the prince's hands, instead of winning the game which was no longer doubtful. the huguenot soldiers within mons were in despair and mutiny; louis of nassau lay in his bed consuming with a dangerous fever; genlis was a prisoner, and his army cut to pieces; coligny was murdered, and protestant france paralyzed; the troops of orange, enlisted but for three months, were already rebellious, and sure to break into open insubordination when the consequences of the paris massacre should become entirely clear to them; and there were, therefore, even more cogent reasons than in , why alva should remain perfectly still, and see his enemy's cause founder before his eyes. the valiant archbishop of cologne was most eager for the fray. he rode daily at the duke's side, with harness on his back and pistols in his holsters, armed and attired like one of his own troopers, and urging the duke, with vehemence, to a pitched battle with the prince. the duke commended, but did not yield to, the prelate's enthusiasm. "'tis a fine figure of a man, with his corslet and pistols," he wrote to philip, "and he shows great affection for your majesty's service." the issue of the campaign was inevitable. on the th september, don frederic, with a force of four thousand picked men, established himself at saint florian, a village near the havre gate of the city, while the prince had encamped at hermigny, within half a league of the same place, whence he attempted to introduce reinforcements into the town. on the night of the th and th, don frederic hazarded an encamisada upon the enemy's camp, which proved eminently successful, and had nearly resulted in the capture of the prince himself. a chosen band of six hundred arquebussers, attired, as was customary in these nocturnal expeditions, with their shirts outside their armor, that they might recognize each other in the darkness, were led by julian romero, within the lines of the enemy. the sentinels were cut down, the whole army surprised, and for a moment powerless, while, for two hours long, from one o'clock in the morning until three, the spaniards butchered their foes, hardly aroused from their sleep, ignorant by how small a force they had been thus suddenly surprised, and unable in the confusion to distinguish between friend and foe. the boldest, led by julian in person, made at once for the prince's tent. his guards and himself were in profound sleep, but a small spaniel, who always passed the night upon his bed, was a more faithful sentinel. the creature sprang forward, barking furiously at the sound of hostile footsteps, and scratching his master's face with his paws.--there was but just time for the prince to mount a horse which was ready saddled, and to effect his escape through the darkness, before his enemies sprang into the tent. his servants were cut down, his master of the horse and two of his secretaries, who gained their saddles a moment later, all lost their lives, and but for the little dog's watchfulness, william of orange, upon whose shoulders the whole weight of his country's fortunes depended, would have been led within a week to an ignominious death. to his dying day, the prince ever afterwards kept a spaniel of the same race in his bed-chamber. the midnight slaughter still continued, but the spaniards in their fury, set fire to the tents. the glare of the conflagration showed the orangists by how paltry a force they had been surprised. before they could rally, however, romero led off his arquebusiers, every one of whom had at least killed his man. six hundred of the prince's troops had been put to the sword, while many others were burned in their beds, or drowned in the little rivulet which flowed outside their camp. only sixty spaniards lost their lives. this disaster did not alter the plans of the prince, for those plans had already been frustrated. the whole marrow of his enterprise had been destroyed in an instant by the massacre of saint bartholomew. he retreated to wronne and nivelles, an assassin, named heist, a german, by birth, but a french chevalier, following him secretly in his camp, pledged to take his life for a large reward promised by alva--an enterprise not destined, however, to be successful. the soldiers flatly refused to remain an hour longer in the field, or even to furnish an escort for count louis, if, by chance, he could be brought out of the town. the prince was obliged to inform his brother of the desperate state of his affairs, and to advise him to capitulate on the best terms which he could make. with a heavy heart, he left the chivalrous louis besieged in the city which he had so gallantly captured, and took his way across the meuse towards the rhine. a furious mutiny broke out among his troops. his life was, with difficulty, saved from the brutal soldiery-- infuriated at his inability to pay them, except in the over-due securities of the holland cities--by the exertions of the officers who still regarded him with veneration and affection. crossing the rhine at orsoy, he disbanded his army and betook himself, almost alone, to holland. yet even in this hour of distress and defeat, the prince seemed more heroic than many a conqueror in his day of triumph. with all his hopes blasted, with the whole fabric of his country's fortunes shattered by the colossal crime of his royal ally, he never lost his confidence in himself nor his unfaltering trust in god. all the cities which, but a few weeks before, had so eagerly raised his standard, now fell off at once. he went to holland, the only province which remained true, and which still looked up to him as its saviour, but he went thither expecting and prepared to perish. "there i will make my sepulchre," was his simple and sublime expression in a private letter to his brother. he had advanced to the rescue of louis, with city after city opening its arms to receive him. he had expected to be joined on the march by coligny, at the head of a chosen army, and he was now obliged to leave his brother to his fate, having the massacre of the admiral and his confederates substituted for their expected army of assistance, and with every city and every province forsaking his cause as eagerly as they had so lately embraced it. "it has pleased god," he said, "to take away every hope which we could have founded upon man; the king has published that the massacre was by his orders, and has forbidden all his subjects, upon pain of death, to assist me; he has, moreover, sent succor to alva. had it not been for this, we had been masters of the duke, and should have made him capitulate at our pleasure." yet even then he was not cast down. nor was his political sagacity liable to impeachment by the extent to which he had been thus deceived by the french court. "so far from being reprehensible that i did not suspect such a crime," he said, "i should rather be chargeable with malignity had i been capable of so sinister a suspicion. 'tis not an ordinary thing to conceal such enormous deliberations under the plausible cover of a marriage festival." meanwhile, count louis lay confined to his couch with a burning fever. his soldiers refused any longer to hold the city, now that the altered intentions of charles ix. were known and the forces of orange withdrawn. alva offered the most honorable conditions, and it was therefore impossible for the count to make longer resistance. the city was so important, and time was at that moment so valuable that the duke was willing to forego his vengeance upon the rebel whom he so cordially detested, and to be satisfied with depriving, him of the prize which he had seized with such audacity. "it would have afforded me sincere pleasure," wrote the duke, "over and above the benefit to god and your majesty, to have had the count of nassau in my power. i would overleap every obstacle to seize him, such is the particular hatred which i bear the man." under, the circumstances, however, he acknowledged that the result of the council of war could only be to grant liberal terms. on the th september, accordingly, articles of capitulation were signed between the distinguished de la none with three others on the one part, and the seigneur de noircarmes and three others on the side of spain. the town was given over to alva, but all the soldiers were to go out with their weapons and property. those of the townspeople who had borne arms against his majesty, and all who still held to the reformed religion, were to retire with the soldiery. the troops were to pledge themselves not to serve in future against the kings of france or spain, but from this provision louis, with his english and german soldiers, was expressly excepted, the count indignantly repudiating the idea of such a pledge, or of discontinuing his hostilities for an instant. it was also agreed that convoys should be furnished, and hostages exchanged, for the due observance of the terms of the treaty. the preliminaries having been thus settled, the patriot forces abandoned the town. count louis, rising from his sick bed, paid his respects in person to the victorious generals, at their request. he was received in alva's camp with an extraordinary show of admiration and esteem. the duke of medina coeli overwhelmed him with courtesies and "basolomanos," while don frederic assured him, in the high-flown language of spanish compliment, that there was nothing which he would not do to serve him, and that he would take a greater pleasure in executing his slightest wish than if he had been his next of kin. as the count next day, still suffering with fever, and attired in his long dressing-gown, was taking his departure from the city, he ordered his carriage to stop at the entrance to don frederic's quarters. that general, who had been standing incognito near the door, gazing with honest admiration at the hero of so many a hard-fought field, withdrew as he approached, that he might not give the invalid the trouble of alighting. louis, however, recognising him, addressed him with the spanish salutation, "perdone vuestra senoria la pesedumbre," and paused at the gate. don frederic, from politeness to his condition, did not present himself, but sent an aid-de-camp to express his compliments and good wishes. having exchanged these courtesies, louis left the city, conveyed, as had been agreed upon, by a guard of spanish troops. there was a deep meaning in the respect with which the spanish generals had treated the rebel chieftain. although the massacre of saint bartholomew met with alva's entire approbation, yet it was his cue to affect a holy horror at the event, and he avowed that he would "rather cut off both his hands than be guilty of such a deed"--as if those hangman's hands had the right to protest against any murder, however wholesale. count louis suspected at once, and soon afterwards thoroughly understood; the real motives of the chivalrous treatment which he had received. he well knew that these very men would have sent him to the scaffold; had he fallen into their power, and he therefore estimated their courtesy at its proper value. it was distinctly stated, in the capitulation of the city, that all the soldiers, as well as such of the inhabitants as had borne arms, should be allowed to leave the city, with all their property. the rest of the people, it was agreed, might remain without molestation to their persons or estates. it has been the general opinion of historians that the articles of this convention were maintained by the conquerors in good faith. never was a more signal error. the capitulation was made late at night, on the th september, without the provision which charles ix. had hoped for: the massacre, namely, of de la none and his companions. as for genlis and those who had been taken prisoners at his defeat, their doom had already been sealed. the city was evacuated on the st september: alva entered it upon the th. most of the volunteers departed with the garrison, but many who had, most unfortunately, prolonged their farewells to their families, trusting to the word of the spanish captain molinos, were thrown into prison. noircarmes the butcher of valenciennes, now made his appearance in mons. as grand bailiff of hainault, he came to the place as one in authority, and his deeds were now to complete the infamy which must for ever surround his name. in brutal violation of the terms upon which the town had surrendered, he now set about the work of massacre and pillage. a commission of troubles, in close imitation of the famous blood council at brussels, was established, the members of the tribunal being appointed by noircarmes, and all being inhabitants of the town. the council commenced proceedings by condemning all the volunteers, although expressly included .in the capitulation. their wives and children were all banished; their property all confiscated. on the th december, the executions commenced. the intrepid de leste, silk manufacturer, who had commanded a band of volunteers, and sustained during the siege the assaults of alva's troops with remarkable courage at a very critical moment, was one of the earliest victims. in consideration "that he was a gentleman, and not among the most malicious," he was executed by sword. "in respect that he heard the mass, and made a sweet and catholic end," it was allowed that he should be "buried in consecrated earth." many others followed in quick succession. some were beheaded, some were hanged, some were burned alive. all who had borne arms or worked at the fortifications were, of course, put to death. such as refused to confess and receive the catholic sacraments perished by fire. a poor wretch, accused of having ridiculed these mysteries, had his tongue torn out before being beheaded. a cobbler, named blaise bouzet, was hanged for having eaten meat-soup upon friday. he was also accused of going to the protestant preachings for the sake of participating in the alms distributed an these occasions, a crime for which many other paupers were executed. an old man of sixty- two was sent to the scaffold for having permitted his son to bear arms among the volunteers. at last, when all pretexts were wanting to justify executions; the council assigned as motives for its decrees an adhesion of heart on the part of the victims to the cause of the insurgents, or to the doctrines of the reformed church. ten, twelve, twenty persons, were often hanged, burned, or beheaded in a single day. gibbets laden with mutilated bodies lined the public highways,--while noircarmes, by frightful expressions of approbation, excited without ceasing the fury of his satellites. this monster would perhaps, be less worthy of execration had he been governed in these foul proceedings by fanatical bigotry or by political hatred; but his motives were of the most sordid description. it was mainly to acquire gold for himself that he ordained all this carnage. with the same pen which signed the death-sentences of the richest victims, he drew orders to his own benefit on their confiscated property. the lion's share of the plunder was appropriated by himself. he desired the estate; of francois de glarges, seigneur d'eslesmes. the gentleman had committed no offence of any kind, and, moreover, lived. beyond the french frontier. nevertheless, in contempt of international law, the neighbouring territory was invaded, and d'eslesmes dragged before the blood tribunal of mons. noircarmes had drawn up beforehand, in his own handwriting, both the terms of the accusation and of the sentence. the victim was innocent and a catholic, but he was rich. he confessed to have been twice at the preaching, from curiosity, and to have omitted taking the sacrament at the previous easter. for these offences he was beheaded, and his confiscated estate adjudged at an almost nominal price to the secretary of noircarmes, bidding for his master. "you can do me no greater pleasure," wrote noircarmes to the council, "than to make quick work with all these rebels, and to proceed with the confiscation of their estates, real and personal. don't fail to put all those to the torture out of whom anything can be got." notwithstanding the unexampled docility of the commissioners, they found it difficult to extract from their redoubted chief a reasonable share in the wages of blood. they did not scruple, therefore, to display their, own infamy, and to enumerate their own crimes, in order to justify their demand for higher salaries. "consider," they said, in a petition to this end, "consider closely, all that is odious in our office, and the great number of banishments and of executions which we have pronounced among all our own relations and friends." it may be added, moreover, as a slight palliation for the enormous crimes committed by these men, that, becoming at last weary of their business, they urged noircarmes to desist from the work of proscription. longehaye, one of the commissioners, even waited upon him personally, with a plea for mercy in favor of "the poor people, even beggars, who, although having borne arms during the siege, might then be pardoned." noircarmes, in a rage at the proposition, said that "if he did not know the commissioners to be honest men, he should believe that their palms had been oiled," and forbade any farther words on the subject. when longehaye still ventured to speak in favor of certain persons "who were very poor and simple, not charged with duplicity, and good catholics besides," he fared no better. "away with you!" cried noircarmes in a great fury, adding that he had already written to have execution done upon the whole of them. "whereupon," said poor blood-councillor longehaye, in his letter to his colleagues, "i retired, i leave you to guess how." thus the work went on day after day, month after month. till the th august of the following year ( ) the executioner never rested, and when requesens, successor to alva, caused the prisons of mons to be opened, there were found still seventy-five individuals condemned to the block, and awaiting their fate. it is the most dreadful commentary upon the times in which these transactions occurred, that they could sink so soon into oblivion. the culprits took care to hide the records of their guilt, while succeeding horrors, on a more extensive scale, at other places, effaced the memory of all these comparatively obscure murders and spoliations. the prosperity of mons, one of the most flourishing and wealthy manufacturing towns in the netherlands, was annihilated, but there were so many cities in the same condition that its misery was hardly remarkable. nevertheless, in our own days, the fall of a mouldering tower in the ruined chateau de naast at last revealed the archives of all these crimes. how the documents came to be placed there remains a mystery, but they have at last been brought to light. the spaniards had thus recovered mons, by which event the temporary revolution throughout the whole southern netherlands was at an end. the keys of that city unlocked the gates of every other in brabant and flanders. the towns which had so lately embraced the authority of orange now hastened to disavow the prince, and to return to their ancient, hypocritical, and cowardly allegiance. the new oaths of fidelity were in general accepted by alva, but the beautiful archiepiscopal city of mechlin was selected for an example and a sacrifice. there were heavy arrears due to the spanish troops. to indemnify them, and to make good his blasphemous prophecy of divine chastisement for its past misdeeds, alva now abandoned this town to the licence of his soldiery. by his command don frederic advanced to the gates and demanded its surrender. he was answered by a few shots from the garrison. those cowardly troops, however, having thus plunged the city still more deeply into the disgrace which, in alva's eyes, they had incurred by receiving rebels within their walls after having but just before refused admittance to the spanish forces, decamped during the night, and left the place defenceless. early next morning there issued from the gates a solemn procession of priests, with banner and crozier, followed by a long and suppliant throng of citizens, who attempted by this demonstration to avert the wrath of the victor. while the penitent psalms were resounding, the soldiers were busily engaged in heaping dried branches and rubbish into the moat. before the religious exercises were concluded, thousands had forced the gates or climbed the walls; and entered the city with a celerity which only the hope of rapine could inspire. the sack instantly commenced. the property of friend and foe, of papist and calvinist, was indiscriminately rifled. everything was dismantled and destroyed. "hardly a nail," said a spaniard, writing soon afterwards from brussels, "was left standing in the walls." the troops seemed to imagine themselves in a turkish town, and wreaked the divine vengeance which alva had denounced upon the city with an energy which met with his fervent applause. three days long the horrible scene continued, one day for the benefit of the spaniards, two more for that of the walloons and germans. all the churches, monasteries, religious houses of every kind, were completely sacked. every valuable article which they contained, the ornaments of altars, the reliquaries, chalices, embroidered curtains, and carpets of velvet or damask, the golden robes of the priests, the repositories of the host, the precious vessels of chrism and extreme unction, the rich clothing and jewellery adorning the effigies of the holy virgin, all were indiscriminately rifled by the spanish soldiers. the holy wafers were trampled underfoot, the sacramental wine was poured upon the ground, and, in brief, all the horrors which had been committed by the iconoclasts in their wildest moments, and for a thousandth part of which enormities heretics had been burned in droves, were now repeated in mechlin by the especial soldiers of christ, by roman catholics who had been sent to the netherlands to avenge the insults offered to the roman catholic faith. the motive, too, which inspired the sacrilegious crew was not fanaticism, but the, desire of plunder. the property of romanists was taken as freely as that of calvinists, of which sect there were; indeed, but few in the archiepiscopal city. cardinal granvelle's house was rifled. the pauper funds deposited in the convents were not respected. the beds were taken from beneath sick and dying women, whether lady abbess or hospital patient, that the sacking might be torn to pieces in search of hidden treasure. the iconoclasts of had destroyed millions of property for the sake of an idea, but they had appropriated nothing. moreover, they had scarcely injured a human being; confining their wrath to graven images. the spaniards at mechlin spared neither man nor woman. the murders and outrages would be incredible, were they not attested by most respectable catholic witnesses. men were butchered in their houses, in the streets, at the altars. women were violated by hundreds in churches and in grave- yards. moreover, the deed had been as deliberately arranged as it was thoroughly performed. it was sanctioned by the highest authority. don frederic, son of alva, and general noircarmes were both present at the scene, and applications were in vain made to them that the havoc might be stayed. "they were seen whispering to each other in the ear on their arrival," says an eye-witness and a catholic, "and it is well known that the affair had been resolved upon the preceding day. the two continued together as long as they remained in the city." the work was, in truth, fully accomplished. the ultra-catholic, jean richardot, member of the grand council, and nephew of the bishop of arras, informed the state council that the sack of mechlin had been so horrible that the poor and unfortunate mothers had not a single morsel of bread to put in the mouths of their children, who were dying before their eyes--so insane and cruel had been the avarice of the plunderers. "he could say more," he added, "if his hair did not stand on end, not only at recounting, but even at remembering the scene." three days long the city was abandoned to that trinity of furies which ever wait upon war's footsteps--murder, lust, and rapine--under whose promptings human beings become so much more terrible than the most ferocious beasts. in his letter to his master, the duke congratulated him upon these foul proceedings as upon a pious deed well accomplished. he thought it necessary, however; to excuse himself before the public in a document, which justified the sack of mechlin by its refusal to accept his garrison a few months before, and by the shots which had been discharged at his troops as they approached the city. for these offences, and by his express order, the deed was done. upon his head must the guilt for ever rest. etext editor's bookmarks: hanged for having eaten meat-soup upon friday provided not one huguenot be left alive in france put all those to the torture out of whom anything can be got saint bartholomew's day science of reigning was the science of lying this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley [chapter vi.] orange and count louis in france--peace with the huguenots-- coligny's memoir, presented by request to charles ix., on the subject of invading the netherlands--secret correspondence of orange organized by paul buys--privateering commissions issued by the prince--regulations prescribed by him for the fleets thus created-- impoverished condition of the prince--his fortitude--his personal sacrifices and privations--his generosity--renewed contest between the duke and the estates on the subject of the tenth and twentieth pence--violent disputes in the council--firm opposition of viglius-- edict commanding the immediate collection of the tax--popular tumults--viglius denounced by alva--the duke's fierce complaints to the king--secret schemes of philip against queen elizabeth of england--the ridolphi plot to murder elizabeth countenanced by philip and pius v.--the king's orders to alva to further the plan-- the duke's remonstrances--explosion of the plot--obstinacy of philip--renewed complaints of alva as to the imprudent service required of him--other attempts of philip to murder elizabeth--don john of austria in the levant----battle of lepanto--slothfulness of selim--appointment of medina celi--incessant wrangling in brussels upon the tax--persevering efforts of orange--contempt of alva for the prince--proposed sentence of ignominy against his name--sonoy's mission to germany--remarkable papers issued by the prince--the "harangue"--intense hatred for alva entertained by the highest as well as lower orders--visit of francis de alva to brussels--his unfavourable report to the king--querulous language of the duke-- deputation to spain--universal revolt against the tax--ferocity of alva--execution of eighteen tradesmen secretly ordered--interrupted by the capture of brill--beggars of the sea--the younger wild boar of ardennes--reconciliation between the english government and that of alva--the netherland privateersmen ordered out of english ports-- de la marck's fleet before brill--the town summoned to surrender-- commissioners sent out to the fleet--flight of the magistrates and townspeople--capture of the place--indignation of alva--popular exultation in brussels--puns and caricatures--bossu ordered to recover the town of brill--his defeat--his perfidious entrance into rotterdam--massacre in that city--flushing revolutionized-- unsuccessful attempt of governor de bourgogne to recal the citizens to their obedience--expedition under treslong from brill to assist the town of flushing--murder of paccheco by the patriots--zeraerts appointed governor of walcheren by orange. while such had been the domestic events of the netherlands during the years and , the prince of orange, although again a wanderer, had never allowed himself to despair. during this whole period, the darkest hour for himself and for his country, he was ever watchful. after disbanding his troops at strasburg, and after making the best arrangements possible under the circumstances for the eventual payment of their wages, he had joined the army which the duke of deux ponts had been raising in germany to assist the cause of the huguenots in france. the prince having been forced to acknowledge that, for the moment, all open efforts in the netherlands were likely to be fruitless, instinctively turned his eyes towards the more favorable aspect of the reformation in france. it was inevitable that, while he was thus thrown for the time out of his legitimate employment, he should be led to the battles of freedom in a neighbouring land. the duke of deux ponts, who felt his own military skill hardly adequate to the task which he had assumed, was glad, as it were, to put himself and his army under the orders of orange. meantime the battle of jamac had been fought; the prince of condo, covered with wounds, and exclaiming that it was sweet to die for christ and country, had fallen from his saddle; the whole huguenot army had been routed by the royal forces under the nominal command of anjou, and the body of conde, tied to the back of a she ass, had been paraded through the streets of jarnap in derision. affairs had already grown almost as black for the cause of freedom in france as in the provinces. shortly afterwards william of orange, with a band of twelve hundred horsemen, joined the banners of coligny. his two brothers accompanied him. henry, the stripling, had left the university to follow the fortunes of the prince. the indomitable louis, after seven thousand of his army had been slain, had swum naked across the ems, exclaiming "that his courage, thank god, was as fresh and lively as ever," and had lost not a moment in renewing his hostile schemes against the spanish government. in the meantime he had joined the huguenots in france. the battle of moncontour had succeeded, count peter mansfeld, with five thousand troops sent by alva, fighting on the side of the royalists, and louis nassau on that of the huguenots, atoning by the steadiness and skill with which he covered the retreat, for his intemperate courage, which had precipitated the action, and perhaps been the main cause of coligny's overthrow. the prince of orange, who had been peremptorily called to the netherlands in the beginning of the autumn, was not present at the battle. disguised as a peasant, with but five attendants, and at great peril, he had crossed the enemy's lines, traversed france, and arrived in germany before the winter. count louis remained with the huguenots. so necessary did he seem to their cause, and so dear had he become to their armies, that during the severe illness of coligny in the course of the following summer all eyes were turned upon him as the inevitable successor of that great man, the only remaining pillar of freedom in france. coligny recovered. the deadly peace between the huguenots and the court succeeded. the admiral, despite his sagacity and his suspicions, embarked with his whole party upon that smooth and treacherous current which led to the horrible catastrophe of saint bartholomew. to occupy his attention, a formal engagement was made by the government to send succor to the netherlands. the admiral was to lead the auxiliaries which were to be despatched across the frontier to overthrow the tyrannical government of alva. long and anxious were the colloquies held between coligny and the royalists. the monarch requested a detailed opinion, in writing, from the admiral, on the most advisable plan for invading the netherlands. the result was the preparation of the celebrated memoir, under coligny's directions, by young de mornay, seigneur de plessis. the document was certainly not a paper of the highest order. it did not appeal to the loftier instincts which kings or common mortals might be supposed to possess. it summoned the monarch to the contest in the netherlands that the ancient injuries committed by spain might be avenged. it invoked the ghost of isabella of france, foully murdered, as it was thought, by philip. it held out the prospect of re-annexing the fair provinces, wrested from the king's ancestors by former spanish sovereigns. it painted the hazardous position of philip; with the moorish revolt gnawing at the entrails of his kingdom, with the turkish war consuming its extremities, with the canker of rebellion corroding the very heart of the netherlands. it recalled, with exultation, the melancholy fact that the only natural and healthy existence of the french was in a state of war--that france, if not occupied with foreign campaigns, could not be prevented from plunging its sword into its own vitals. it indulged in refreshing reminiscences of those halcyon days, not long gone by, when france, enjoying perfect tranquillity within its own borders, was calmly and regularly carrying on its long wars beyond the frontier. in spite of this savage spirit, which modern documents, if they did not scorn, would, at least have shrouded, the paper was nevertheless a sagacious one; but the request for the memoir, and the many interviews on the subject of the invasion, were only intended to deceive. they were but the curtain which concealed the preparations for the dark tragedy which was about to be enacted. equally deceived, and more sanguine than ever, louis nassau during this period was indefatigable in his attempts to gain friends for his cause. he had repeated audiences of the king, to whose court he had come in disguise. he made a strong and warm impression upon elizabeth's envoy at the french court, walsingham. it is probable that in the count's impetuosity to carry his point, he allowed more plausibility to be given to certain projects for subdividing the netherlands than his brother would ever have sanctioned. the prince was a total stranger to these inchoate schemes. his work was to set his country free, and to destroy the tyranny which had grown colossal. that employment was sufficient for a lifetime, and there is no proof to be found that a paltry and personal self-interest had even the lowest place among his motives. meantime, in the autumn of , orange had again reached germany. paul buys, pensionary of leyden, had kept him constantly informed of the state of affairs in the provinces. through his means an extensive correspondence was organized and maintained with leading persons in every part of the netherlands. the conventional terms by which different matters and persons of importance were designated in these letters were familiarly known to all friends of the cause, not only in the provinces, but in france, england, germany, and particularly in the great commercial cities. the prince, for example, was always designated as martin willemzoon, the duke of alva as master powels van alblas, the queen of england as henry philipzoon, the king of denmark as peter peterson. the twelve signs of the zodiac were used instead of the twelve months, and a great variety of similar substitutions were adopted. before his visit to france, orange had, moreover, issued commissions, in his capacity of sovereign, to various seafaring persons, who were empowered to cruise against spanish commerce. the "beggars of the sea," as these privateersmen designated themselves, soon acquired as terrible a name as the wild beggars, or the forest beggars; but the prince, having had many conversations with admiral coligny on the important benefits to be derived from the system, had faithfully set himself to effect a reformation of its abuses after his return from france. the seigneur de dolhain, who, like many other refugee nobles, had acquired much distinction in this roving corsair life, had for a season acted as admiral for the prince. he had, however, resolutely declined to render any accounts of his various expeditions, and was now deprived of his command in consequence. gillain de fiennes, seigneur de lumbres, was appointed to succeed him. at the same time strict orders were issued by orange, forbidding all hostile measures against the emperor or any of the princes of the empire, against sweden, denmark, england, or against any potentates who were protectors of the true christian religion. the duke of alva and his adherents were designated as the only lawful antagonists. the prince, moreover, gave minute instructions as to the discipline to be observed in his fleet. the articles of war were to be strictly enforced. each commander was to maintain a minister on board his ship, who was to preach god's word, and to preserve christian piety among the crew. no one was to exercise any command in the fleet save native netherlanders, unless thereto expressly commissioned by the prince of orange. all prizes were to be divided and distributed by a prescribed rule. no persons were to be received on board, either as sailors or soldiers, save "folk of goad name and fame." no man who had ever been punished of justice was to be admitted. such were the principal features in the organization of that infant navy which, in course of this and the following centuries, was to achieve so many triumphs, and to which a powerful and adventurous mercantile marine had already led the way. "of their ships," said cardinal bentivoglio, "the hollanders make houses, of their houses schools. here they are born, here educated, here they learn their profession. their sailors, flying from one pale to the other, practising their art wherever the sun displays itself to mortals, become so skilful that they can scarcely be equalled, certainly not surpassed; by any nation in the civilized world." the prince, however, on his return from france, had never been in so forlorn a condition. "orange is plainly perishing," said one of the friends of the cause. not only had he no funds to organize new levies, but he was daily exposed to the most clamorously-urged claims, growing out of the army which be had been recently obliged to disband. it had been originally reported in the netherlands that he had fallen in the battle of moncontour. "if he have really been taken off," wrote viglius, hardly daring to credit the great news, "we shall all of us have less cause to tremble." after his actual return, however, lean and beggared, with neither money nor credit, a mere threatening shadow without substance or power, he seemed to justify the sarcasm of granvelle. "vana sine viribus ira," quoted the cardinal, and of a verity it seemed that not a man was likely to stir in germany in his behalf, now that so deep a gloom had descended upon his cause. the obscure and the oppressed throughout the provinces and germany still freely contributed out of their weakness and their poverty, and taxed themselves beyond their means to assist enterprizes for the relief of the netherlands. the great ones of the earth, however, those on whom the prince had relied; those to whom he had given his heart; dukes, princes, and electors, in this fatal change of his fortunes fell away like water. still his spirit was unbroken. his letters showed a perfect appreciation of his situation, and of that to which his country was reduced; but they never exhibited a trace of weakness or despair. a modest, but lofty courage; a pious, but unaffected resignation, breathed through--every document, public or private, which fell from his pen during this epoch. he wrote to his brother john that he was quite willing to go, to frankfort, in order to give himself up as a hostage to his troops for the payment of their arrears. at the same time he begged his brother to move heaven and earth to raise at least one hundred thousand thalers. if he could only furnish them with a month's pay, the soldiers would perhaps be for a time contented. he gave directions also concerning the disposition of what remained of his plate and furniture, the greater part of it having been already sold and expended in the cause. he thought it would, on the whole, be better to have the remainder sold, piece by piece, at the fair. more money would be raised by that course than by a more wholesale arrangement. he was now obliged to attend personally to the most minute matters of domestic economy. the man who been the mate of emperors, who was himself a sovereign, had lived his life long in pomp and luxury, surrounded by countless nobles, pages, men-at-arms, and menials, now calmly accepted the position of an outlaw and an exile. he cheerfully fulfilled tasks which had formerly devolved upon his grooms and valets. there was an almost pathetic simplicity in the homely details of an existence which, for the moment, had become so obscure and so desperate. "send by the bearer," he wrote, "the little hackney given me by the admiral; send also my two pair of trunk hose; one pair is at the tailor's to be mended, the other, pair you will please order to be taken from the things which i wore lately at dillenburg. they lie on the table with my accoutrements. if the little hackney be not in condition, please send the grey horse with the cropped ears and tail." he was always mindful, however, not only of the great cause to which he had devoted himself, but of the wants experienced by individuals who had done him service. he never forgot his friends. in the depth of his own misery he remembered favors received from humble persons. "send a little cup, worth at least a hundred florins, to hartmann wolf," he wrote to his brother; "you can take as much silver out of the coffer, in which there is still some of my chapel service remaining."--"you will observe that affenstein is wanting a horse," he wrote on another occasion; "please look him out one, and send it to me with the price. i will send you the money. since he has shown himself so willing in the cause, one ought to do something for him." the contest between the duke and the estates, on the subject of the tenth and twentieth penny had been for a season adjusted. the two years' term, however, during which it had been arranged that the tax should be commuted, was to expire in the autumn of . early therefore in this year the disputes were renewed with greater acrimony than ever. the estates felt satisfied that the king was less eager than the viceroy. viglius was satisfied that the power of alva was upon the wane. while the king was not likely openly to rebuke his recent measures, it seemed not improbable that the governor's reiterated requests to be recalled might be granted. fortified by these considerations, the president, who had so long been the supple tool of the tyrant, suddenly assumed the character of a popular tribune. the wranglings, the contradictions, the vituperations, the threatenings, now became incessant in the council. the duke found that he had exulted prematurely, when he announced to the king the triumphant establishment, in perpetuity, of the lucrative tax. so far from all the estates having given their consent, as he had maintained, and as he had written to philip, it now appeared that not one of those bodies considered itself bound beyond its quota for the two years. this was formally stated in the council by berlaymont and other members. the wrath of the duke blazed forth at this announcement. he berated berlaymont for maintaining, or for allowing it to be maintained, that the consent of the orders had ever been doubtful. he protested that they had as unequivocally agreed to the perpetual imposition of the tag as he to its commutation during two years. he declared, however, that he was sick of quotas. the tax should now be collected forthwith, and treasurer schetz was ordered to take his measures accordingly. at a conference on the th may, the duke asked viglius for his opinion. the president made a long reply, taking the ground that the consent of the orders had been only conditional, and appealing to such members of the finance council as were present to confirm his assertion. it was confirmed by all. the duke, in a passion, swore that those who dared maintain such a statement should be chastised. viglius replied that it had always been the custom for councillors to declare their opinion, and that they had never before been threatened with such consequences. if such, however, were his excellency's sentiments, councillors had better stay at home, hold their tongues, and so avoid chastisement. the duke, controlling himself a little, apologized for this allusion to chastisement, a menace which he disclaimed having intended with reference to councillors whom he had always commended to the king, and of whom his majesty had so high an opinion. at a subsequent meeting the duke took viglius aside, and assured him that he was quite of his own way of thinking. for certain reasons, however, he expressed himself as unwilling that the rest of the council should be aware of the change in his views. he wished, he said, to dissemble. the astute president, for a moment, could not imagine the governor's drift. he afterwards perceived that the object of this little piece of deception had been to close his mouth. the duke obviously conjectured that the president, lulled into security, by this secret assurance, would be silent; that the other councillors, believing the president to have adopted the governor's views, would alter their opinions; and that the opposition of the estates, thus losing its support in the council, would likewise very soon be abandoned. the president, however, was not to be entrapped by this falsehood. he resolutely maintained his hostility to the tax, depending for his security on the royal opinion, the popular feeling, and the judgment of his colleagues. the daily meetings of the board were almost entirely occupied by this single subject. although since the arrival of alva the council of blood had usurped nearly all the functions of the state and finance-councils, yet there now seemed a disposition on the part of alva to seek the countenance, even while he spurned the authority, of other functionaries. he found, however, neither sympathy nor obedience. the president stoutly told him that he was endeavouring to swim against the stream, that the tax was offensive to the people, and that the voice of the people was the voice of god. on the last day of july, however, the duke issued an edict, by which summary collection of the tenth and twentieth pence was ordered. the whole country was immediately in uproar. the estates of every province, the assemblies of every city, met and remonstrated. the merchants suspended all business, the petty dealers shut up their shops. the people congregated together in masses, vowing resistance to the illegal and cruel impost. not a farthing was collected. the "seven stiver people", spies of government, who for that paltry daily stipend were employed to listen for treason in every tavern, in every huckster's booth, in every alley of every city, were now quite unable to report all the curses which were hourly heard uttered against the tyranny of the viceroy. evidently, his power was declining. the councillors resisted him, the common people almost defied him. a mercer to whom he was indebted for thirty thousand florins' worth of goods, refused to open his shop, lest the tax should be collected on his merchandize. the duke confiscated his debt, as the mercer had foreseen, but this being a pecuniary sacrifice, seemed preferable to acquiescence in a measure so vague and so boundless that it might easily absorb the whole property of the country. no man saluted the governor as he passed through the streets. hardly an attempt was made by the people to disguise their abhorrence of his person: alva, on his side, gave daily exhibitions of ungovernable fury. at a council held on th september, , he stated that the king had ordered the immediate enforcement of the edict. viglius observed that there were many objections to its form. he also stoutly denied that the estates had ever given their consent. alva fiercely asked the president if he had not himself once maintained that the consent had been granted! viglius replied that he had never made such an assertion. he had mentioned the conditions and the implied promises on the part of government, by which a partial consent had been extorted. he never could have said that the consent had been accorded, for he had never believed that it could be obtained. he had not proceeded far in his argument when he was interrupted by the duke--"but you said so, you said so, you said so," cried the exasperated governor, in a towering passion, repeating many times this flat contradiction to the president's statements. viglius firmly stood his ground. alva loudly denounced him for the little respect he had manifested for his authority. he had hitherto done the president good offices, he said, with his majesty, but certainly should not feel justified in concealing his recent and very unhandsome conduct. viglius replied that he had always reverently cherished the governor, and had endeavoured to merit his favor by diligent obsequiousness. he was bound by his oath, however; to utter in council that which comported with his own sentiments and his majesty's interests. he had done this heretofore in presence of emperors, kings, queens, and regents, and they had not taken offence. he did not, at this hour, tremble for his grey head, and hoped his majesty would grant him a hearing before condemnation. the firm attitude of the president increased the irritation of the viceroy. observing that he knew the proper means of enforcing his authority he dismissed the meeting. immediately afterwards, he received the visits of his son, don frederic of vargas, and other familiars. to these he recounted the scene which had taken place, raving the while so ferociously against viglius as to induce the supposition that something serious was intended against him. the report flew from mouth to mouth. the affair became the town talk, so that, in the words of the president, it was soon discussed by every barber and old woman in brussels. his friends became alarmed for his safety, while, at the same time, the citizens rejoiced that their cause had found so powerful an advocate. nothing, however, came of these threats and these explosions. on the contrary, shortly afterwards the duke gave orders that the tenth penny should be remitted upon four great articles-corn, meat, wine, and beer. it was also not to be levied upon raw materials used in manufactures. certainly, these were very important concessions. still the constitutional objections remained. alva could not be made to understand why the alcabala, which was raised without difficulty in the little town of alva, should encounter such fierce opposition in the netherlands. the estates, he informed the king, made a great deal of trouble. they withheld their consent at command of their satrap. the motive which influenced the leading men was not the interest of factories or fisheries, but the fear that for the future they might not be able to dictate the law to their sovereign. the people of that country, he observed, had still the same character which had been described by julius caesar. the duke, however, did not find much sympathy at madrid. courtiers and councillors had long derided his schemes. as for the king, his mind was occupied with more interesting matters. philip lived but to enforce what he chose to consider the will of god. while the duke was fighting this battle with the netherland constitutionalists, his master had engaged at home in a secret but most comprehensive scheme. this was a plot to assassinate queen elizabeth of england, and to liberate mary queen of scots, who was to be placed on the throne in her stead. this project, in which was of course involved the reduction of england under the dominion of the ancient church, could not but prove attractive to philip. it included a conspiracy against a friendly sovereign, immense service to the church, and a murder. his passion for intrigue, his love of god, and his hatred of man, would all be gratified at once. thus, although the moorish revolt within the heart of his kingdom had hardly been terminated--although his legions and his navies were at that instant engaged in a contest of no ordinary importance with the turkish empire-- although the netherlands, still maintaining their hostility and their hatred, required the flower of the spanish army to compel their submission, he did not hesitate to accept the dark adventure which was offered to him by ignoble hands. one ridolfi, a florentine, long resident in england, had been sent to the netherlands as secret agent of the duke of norfolk. alva read his character immediately, and denounced him to philip as a loose, prating creature, utterly unfit to be entrusted with affairs of importance. philip, however, thinking more of the plot than of his fellow-actors, welcomed the agent of the conspiracy to madrid, listened to his disclosures attentively, and, without absolutely committing himself by direct promises, dismissed him with many expressions of encouragement. on the th of july, , philip wrote to the duke of alva, giving an account of his interview with roberto ridolfi. the envoy, after relating the sufferings of the queen of scotland, had laid before him a plan for her liberation. if the spanish monarch were willing to assist the duke of norfolk and his friends, it would be easy to put upon mary's head the crown of england. she was then to intermarry with norfolk. the kingdom of england was again to acknowledge the authority of rome, and the catholic religion to be everywhere restored. the most favorable moment for the execution of the plan would be in august or september. as queen elizabeth would at that season quit london for the country, an opportunity would be easily found for seizing and murdering her. pius v., to whom ridolfi had opened the whole matter, highly approved the scheme, and warmly urged philip's cooperation. poor and ruined as he was himself; the pope protested that he was ready to sell his chalices, and even his own vestments, to provide funds for the cause. philip had replied that few words were necessary to persuade him. his desire to see the enterprize succeed was extreme, notwithstanding the difficulties by which it was surrounded. he would reflect earnestly upon the subject, in the hope that god, whose cause it was, would enlighten and assist him. thus much he had stated to ridolfi, but he had informed his council afterwards that he was determined to carry out the scheme by certain means of which the duke would soon be informed. the end proposed was to kill or to capture elizabeth, to set at liberty the queen of scotland, and to put upon her head the crown of england. in this enterprize he instructed the duke of alva secretly to assist, without however resorting to open hostilities in his own name or in that of his sovereign. he desired to be informed how many spaniards the duke could put at the disposition of the conspirators. they had asked for six thousand arquebusiers for england, two thousand for scotland, two thousand for ireland. besides these troops, the viceroy was directed to provide immediately four thousand arquebuses and two thousand corslets. for the expenses of the enterprize philip would immediately remit two hundred thousand crowns. alva was instructed to keep the affair a profound secret from his councillors. even hopper at madrid knew nothing of the matter, while the king had only expressed himself in general terms to the nuncio and to ridolfi, then already on his way to the netherlands. the king concluded his letter by saying, that from what he had now written with his own hand, the duke could infer how much he had this affair at heart. it was unnecessary for him to say more, persuaded as he was that the duke would take as profound an interest in it as himself. alva perceived all the rashness of the scheme, and felt how impossible it would be for him to comply with philip's orders. to send an army from the netherlands into england for the purpose of dethroning and killing a most popular sovereign, and at the same time to preserve the most amicable relations with the country, was rather a desperate undertaking. a force of ten thousand spaniards, under chiappin vitelli, and other favorite officers of the duke, would hardly prove a trifle to be overlooked, nor would their operations be susceptible of very friendly explanations. the governor therefore, assured philip that he "highly applauded his master for his plot. he could not help rendering infinite thanks to god for having made him vassal to such a prince." he praised exceedingly the resolution which his majesty had taken. after this preamble, however, he proceeded to pour cold water upon his sovereign's ardor. he decidedly expressed the opinion that philip should not proceed in such an undertaking until at any rate the party of the duke of norfolk had obtained possession of elizabeth's person. should the king declare himself prematurely, he might be sure that the venetians, breaking off their alliance with him, would make their peace with the turk; and that elizabeth would, perhaps, conclude that marriage with the duke of alencon which now seemed but a pleasantry. moreover, he expressed his want of confidence in the duke of norfolk, whom he considered as a poor creature with but little courage. he also expressed his doubts concerning the prudence and capacity of don gueran de espes, his majesty's ambassador at london. it was not long before these machinations became known in england. the queen of scots was guarded more closely than ever, the duke of norfolk was arrested; yet philip, whose share in the conspiracy had remained a secret, was not discouraged by the absolute explosion of the whole affair. he still held to an impossible purpose with a tenacity which resembled fatuity. he avowed that his obligations in the sight of god were so strict that he was still determined to proceed in the sacred cause. he remitted, therefore, the promised funds to the duke of alva, and urged him to act with proper secrecy and promptness. the viceroy was not a little perplexed by these remarkable instructions. none but lunatics could continue to conspire, after the conspiracy had been exposed and the conspirators arrested. yet this was what his catholic majesty expected of his governor-general. alva complained, not unreasonably, of the contradictory demands to which he was subjected. he was to cause no rupture with england, yet he was to send succor to an imprisoned traitor; he was to keep all his operations secret from his council, yet he was to send all his army out of the country, and to organize an expensive campaign. he sneered: at the flippancy of ridolfi, who imagined that it was the work of a moment to seize the queen of england, to liberate the queen of scotland, to take possession of the tower of london, and to burn the fleet in the thames. "were your majesty and the queen of england acting together," he observed, "it would be impossible to execute the plan proposed by ridolfi." the chief danger to be apprehended was from france and germany. were those countries not to interfere, he would undertake to make philip sovereign of england before the winter. their opposition, however, was sufficient to make the enterprise not only difficult, but impossible. he begged his, master not to be precipitate in the; most important affair which had been negotiated by man since christ came upon earth. nothing less, he said, than the existence of the christian faith was at stake, for, should his majesty fail in this undertaking, not one stone of the ancient religion would be left upon another. he again warned the king of the contemptible character, of ridolfi, who had spoken of the affair so freely that it was a common subject of discussion on the bourse, at antwerp, and he reiterated, in all his letters his distrust of the parties prominently engaged in the transaction. such was the general, tenor of the long despatches exchanged between the king and the duke of alva upon this iniquitous scheme. the duke showed himself reluctant throughout the whole affair, although he certainly never opposed his master's project by any arguments founded upon good faith, christian charity, or the sense of honor. to kill the queen of england, subvert the laws of her realm, burn her fleets, and butcher her subjects, while the mask of amity and entire consideration was sedulously preserved--all these projects were admitted to be strictly meritorious in themselves, although objections were taken as to the time and mode of execution. alva never positively refused to accept his share in the enterprise, but he took care not to lift his finger till the catastrophe in england had made all attempts futile. philip, on the other hand, never positively withdrew from the conspiracy, but, after an infinite deal of writing and intriguing, concluded by leaving the whole affair in the hands of alva. the only sufferer for philip's participation in the plot was the spanish envoy at london, don gueran de espes. this gentleman was formally dismissed by queen elizabeth, for having given treacherous and hostile advice to the duke of alva and to philip; but her majesty at the same time expressed the most profound consideration for her brother of spain. towards the close of the same year, however (december, ); alva sent two other italian assassins to england, bribed by the promise of vast rewards, to attempt the life of elizabeth, quietly, by poison or otherwise. the envoy, mondoucet, in apprizing the french monarch of this scheme, added that the duke was so ulcerated and annoyed by the discovery of the previous enterprise, that nothing could exceed his rage. these ruffians were not destined to success, but the attempts of the duke upon the queen's life were renewed from time to time. eighteen months later (august, ), two scotchmen, pensioners of philip, came from spain, with secret orders to consult with alva. they had accordingly much negotiation with the duke and his secretary, albornoz. they boasted that they could easily capture elizabeth, but said that the king's purpose was to kill her. the plan, wrote mondoucet, was the same as it had been before, namely, to murder the queen of england, and to give her crown to mary of scotland, who would thus be in their power, and whose son was to be seized, and bestowed in marriage in such a way as to make them perpetual masters of both kingdoms. it does not belong to this history to discuss the merits, nor to narrate the fortunes, of that bickering and fruitless alliance which had been entered into at this period by philip with venice and the holy see against the turk. the revolt of granada had at last, after a two years' struggle, been subdued, and the remnants of the romantic race which had once swayed the peninsula been swept into slavery. the moors had sustained the unequal conflict with a constancy not to have been expected of so gentle a people. "if a nation meek as lambs could resist so bravely," said the prince of orange, "what ought not to be expected of a hardy people like the netherlanders?" don john of austria having concluded a series of somewhat inglorious forays against women, children, and bed-ridden old men in andalusia and granada; had arrived, in august of this year, at naples, to take command of the combined fleet in the levant. the battle of lepanto had been fought, but the quarrelsome and contradictory conduct of the allies had rendered the splendid victory as barren as the waves: upon which it had been won. it was no less true, however, that the blunders of the infidels had previously enabled philip to extricate himself with better success from the dangers of the moorish revolt than might have been his fortune. had the rebels succeeded in holding granada and the mountains of andalusia, and had they been supported, as they had a right to expect, by the forces of the sultan, a different aspect might have been given to the conflict, and one far less triumphant for spain. had a prince of vigorous ambition and comprehensive policy governed at that moment the turkish empire; it would have cost philip a serious struggle to maintain himself in his hereditary dominions. while he was plotting against the life and throne of elizabeth, he might have had cause to tremble for his own. fortunately, however, for his catholic majesty, selim was satisfied to secure himself in the possession of the isle of venus, with its fruitful vineyards. "to shed the blood" of cyprian vines, in which he was so enthusiastic a connoisseur, was to him a more exhilarating occupation than to pursue, amid carnage and hardships, the splendid dream of a re-established eastern caliphate. on the th sept. , a commission of governor-general of the netherlands was at last issued to john de la cerda, duke of medina coeli. philip, in compliance with the duke's repeated requests, and perhaps not entirely satisfied with the recent course of events in the provinces, had at last, after great hesitation, consented to alva's resignation. his successor; however, was not immediately to take his departure, and in the meantime the duke was instructed to persevere in his faithful services. these services had, for the present, reduced themselves to a perpetual and not very triumphant altercation with his council, with the estates, and with the people, on the subject of his abominable tax. he was entirely alone. they who had stood unflinchingly at his side when the only business of the administration was to burn heretics, turned their backs upon him now that he had engaged in this desperate conflict with. the whole money power of the country. the king was far from cordial in his support, the councillors much too crafty to retain their hold upon the wheel, to which they had only attached themselves in its ascent. viglius and berlaymont; noircarmes and aerschot, opposed and almost defied the man they now thought sinking, and kept the king constantly informed of the vast distress which the financial measures of the duke were causing. quite, at the close of the year, an elaborate petition from the estates of brabant was read before the state council. it contained a strong remonstrance against the tenth penny. its repeal was strongly urged, upon the ground that its collection would involve the country in universal ruin. upon this, alva burst forth in one of the violent explosions of rage to which he was subject. the prosperity of the, netherlands, he protested, was not dearer to the inhabitants than to himself. he swore by the cross, and by the most holy of holies, preserved in the church of saint gudule, that had he been but a private individual, living in spain, he would, out of the love he bore the provinces, have rushed to their defence had their safety been endangered. he felt therefore deeply wounded that malevolent persons should thus insinuate that he had even wished to injure the country, or to exercise tyranny over its citizens. the tenth penny, he continued, was necessary to the defence of the land, and was much preferable to quotas. it was highly improper that every man in the rabble should know how much was contributed, because each individual, learning the gross amount, would imagine that he, had paid it all himself. in conclusion, he observed that, broken in health and stricken in years as he felt himself, he was now most anxious to return, and was daily looking with eagerness for the arrival of the duke of medina coeli. during the course of this same year, the prince of orange had been continuing his preparations. he had sent his agents to every place where a hope was held out to him of obtaining support. money was what he was naturally most anxious to obtain from individuals; open and warlike assistance what he demanded from governments. his funds, little by little, were increasing, owing to the generosity of many obscure persons, and to the daring exploits of the beggars of the sea. his mission, however, to the northern courts had failed. his envoys had been received in sweden and denmark with barren courtesy. the duke of alva, on the other hand, never alluded to the prince but with contempt; knowing not that the ruined outlaw was slowly undermining the very ground beneath the monarch's feet; dreaming not that the feeble strokes which he despised were the opening blows of a century's conflict; foreseeing not that long before its close the chastised province was to expand into a great republic, and that the name of the outlaw was to become almost divine. granvelle had already recommended that the young count de buren should be endowed with certain lands in spain, in exchange for his hereditary estates, in order that the name and fame of the rebel william should be forever extinguished in the netherlands. with the same view, a new sentence against the prince of orange was now proposed by the viceroy. this was, to execute him solemnly in effigy, to drag his escutcheon through the streets at the tails of horses, and after having broken it in pieces, and thus cancelled his armorial bearings, to declare him and his descendants, ignoble, infamous, and incapable of holding property or estates. could a leaf or two of future history have been unrolled to king, cardinal, and governor, they might have found the destined fortune of the illustrious rebel's house not exactly in accordance with the plan of summary extinction thus laid down. not discouraged, the prince continued to send his emissaries in every direction. diedrich sonoy, his most trustworthy agent, who had been chief of the legation to the northern courts, was now actively canvassing the governments and peoples of, germany with the same object. several remarkable papers from the hand of orange were used upon this service. a letter, drawn up and signed by his own hand, recited; in brief and striking language, the history of his campaign in , and of his subsequent efforts in the sacred cause. it was now necessary, he said, that others besides himself should partake of his sacrifices. this he stated plainly and eloquently. the document was in truth a letter asking arms for liberty. "for although all things," said the prince, "are in the hand of god, and although he has created all things out of nought, yet hath he granted to different men different means, whereby, as with various instruments, he accomplishes his, almighty purposes. thereto hath he endowed some with strength of body, others with worldly wealth, others with still different gifts, all of which are to be used by their possessors to his honor and glory, if they wish not to incur the curse of the unworthy steward, who buried his talent in the earth. . . . . now ye may easily see," he continued, "that the prince cannot carry out this great work alone, having lost land, people, and goods, and having already employed in the cause all which had remained to him, besides incurring heavy obligations in addition." similar instructions were given to other agents, and a paper called the harangue, drawn up according to his suggestions, was also extensively circulated. this document is important to all who are interested in his history and character. he had not before issued a missive so stamped with the warm, religious impress of the reforming party. sadly, but without despondency, the harangue recalled the misfortunes of the past; and depicted the gloom of the present. earnestly, but not fanatically, it stimulated hope and solicited aid for the future. "although the appeals made to the prince," so ran a part of the document, "be of diverse natures, and various in their recommendations, yet do they all tend to the advancement of god's glory, and to the liberation of the fatherland. this it is which enables him and those who think with him to endure hunger; thirst, cold, heat, and all the misfortunes which heaven may send. . . . . . our enemies spare neither their money nor their labor; will ye be colder and duller than your foes? let, then, each church congregation set an example to the others. we read that king saul, when he would liberate the men of jabez from the hands of nahad, the ammonite, hewed a yoke of oxen in pieces, and sent them as tokens over all israel, saying, 'ye who will not follow saul and samuel, with them shall be dealt even as with these oxen. and the fear of the lord came upon the people, they came forth, and the men of jabez were delivered.' ye have here the same warning, look to it, watch well ye that despise it, lest the wrath of god, which the men of israel by their speedy obedience escaped, descend upon your heads. ye may say that ye are banished men. 'tis true: but thereby are ye not stripped of all faculty of rendering service; moreover, your assistance is asked for one who will restore ye to your homes. ye may say that ye have been robbed of all your goods; yet many of you have still something remaining, and of that little ye should contribute, each his mite. ye say that you have given much already. 'tis true, but the enemy is again in the field; fierce for your subjugation, sustained by the largess of his supporters. will ye be less courageous, less generous, than your foes." these urgent appeals did not remain fruitless. the strength of the prince was slowly but steadily increasing. meantime the abhorrence with which alva was universally regarded had nearly reached to frenzy. in the beginning of the year , don francis de alava, philip's ambassador in france, visited brussels. he had already been enlightened as to the consequences of the duke's course by the immense immigration of netherland refugees to france, which he had witnessed with his own eyes. on his journey towards brussels he had been met near cambray by noircarmes. even that "cruel animal," as hoogstraaten had called him, the butcher of tournay and valenciennes, had at last been roused to alarm, if not to pity, by the sufferings of the country. "the duke will never disabuse his mind of this filthy tenth penny," said he to alava. he sprang from his chair with great emotion as the ambassador alluded to the flight of merchants and artisans from the provinces. "senor don francis," cried he, "there are ten thousand more who are on the point of leaving the country, if the governor does not pause in his career. god grant that no disaster arise beyond human power to remedy." the ambassador arrived in brussels, and took up his lodgings in the palace. here he found the duke just recovering from a fit of the gout, in a state of mind sufficiently savage. he became much excited as don francis began to speak of the emigration, and he assured him that there was gross deception on the subject. the envoy replied that he could not be mistaken, for it was a matter which, so to speak, he had touched with his own fingers, and seen with his own eyes. the duke, persisting that don francis had been abused and misinformed, turned the conversation to other topics. next day the ambassador received visits from berlaymont and his son, the seigneur de hierges. he was taken aside by each of them, separately. "thank god, you have come hither," said they, in nearly the same words, "that you may fully comprehend the condition of the provinces, and without delay admonish his majesty of the impending danger." all his visitors expressed the same sentiments. don frederic of toledo furnished the only exception, assuring the envoy that his father's financial measures were opposed by noircarmes and others, only because it deprived them of their occupation and their influence. this dutiful language, however, was to be expected in one of whom secretary albornoz had written, that he was the greatest comfort to his father, and the most divine genius ever known. it was unfortunately corroborated by no other inhabitant of the country. on the third day, don francis went to take his leave. the duke begged him to inform his majesty of the impatience with which he was expecting the arrival of his successor. he then informed his guest that they had already begun to collect the tenth penny in brabant, the most obstinate of all the provinces. "what do you say to that, don francis?" he cried, with exultation. alava replied that he thought, none the less, that the tax would encounter many obstacles, and begged him earnestly to reflect. he assured him, moreover, that he should, without reserve, express his opinions fully to the king. the duke used the same language which don frederic had held, concerning the motives of those who opposed the tax. "it may be so," said don francis, "but at any rate, all have agreed to sing to the same tune." a little startled, the duke rejoined, "do you doubt that the cities will keep their promises? depend upon it, i shall find the means to compel them." "god grant it may be so," said alava, "but in my poor judgment you will have need of all your prudence and of all your authority." the ambassador did not wait till he could communicate with his sovereign by word of mouth. he forwarded to spain an ample account of his observations and deductions. he painted to philip in lively colors the hatred entertained by all men for the duke. the whole nation, he assured his majesty, united in one cry, "let him begone, let him begone, let him begone!" as for the imposition of the tenth penny, that, in the opinion of don francis, was utterly impossible. he moreover warned his majesty that alva was busy in forming secret alliances with the catholic princes of europe, which would necessarily lead to defensive leagues among the protestants. while thus, during the earlier part of the year , the prince of orange, discouraged by no defeats, was indefatigable in his exertions to maintain the cause of liberty, and while at the same time the most stanch supporters of arbitrary power were unanimous in denouncing to philip the insane conduct of his viceroy, the letters of alva himself were naturally full of complaints and expostulations. it was in vain, he said, for him to look for a confidential councillor, now that matters which he had wished to be kept so profoundly secret that the very earth should not hear of them, had been proclaimed aloud above the tiles of every housetop. nevertheless, he would be cut into little pieces but his majesty should be obeyed, while he remained alive to enforce the royal commands. there were none who had been ever faithful but berlaymont, he said, and even he had been neutral in the affair of the tax. he had rendered therein neither good nor bad offices, but, as his majesty was aware, berlaymont was entirely ignorant of business, and "knew nothing more than to be a good fellow." that being the case, he recommended hierges, son of the "good fellow," as a proper person to be governor of friesland. the deputations appointed by the different provinces to confer personally with the king received a reprimand upon their arrival, for having dared to come to spain without permission. farther punishment, however, than this rebuke was not inflicted. they were assured that the king was highly displeased with their venturing to bring remonstrances against the tax, but they were comforted with the assurance that his majesty would take the subject of their petition into consideration. thus, the expectations of alva were disappointed, for the tenth penny was not formally confirmed; and the hopes of the provinces frustrated, because it was not distinctly disavowed. matters had reached another crisis in the provinces. "had we money now," wrote the prince of orange, "we should, with the help of god, hope to effect something. this is a time when, with even small sums, more can be effected than at other seasons with ampler funds." the citizens were in open revolt against the tax. in order that the tenth penny should not be levied upon every sale of goods, the natural but desperate remedy was adopted--no goods were sold at all. not only the wholesale commerce oh the provinces was suspended, but the minute and indispensable traffic of daily life was entirely at a stand. the shops were all shut. "the brewers," says a contemporary, "refused to brew, the bakers to bake, the tapsters to tap." multitudes, thrown entirely out of employment, and wholly dependent upon charity, swarmed in every city. the soldiery, furious for their pay, which alva had for many months neglected to furnish, grew daily more insolent; the citizens, maddened by outrage and hardened by despair, became more and more obstinate in their resistance; while the duke, rendered inflexible by opposition and insane by wrath, regarded the ruin which he had caused with a malignant spirit which had long ceased to be human. "the disease is gnawing at our vitals," wrote viglius; "everybody is suffering for the want of the necessaries of life. multitudes are in extreme and hopeless poverty. my interest in the welfare of the commonwealth," he continued, "induces me to send these accounts to spain. for myself, i fear nothing. broken by sickness and acute physical suffering, i should leave life without regret." the aspect of the capital was that of a city stricken with the plague. articles of the most absolute necessity could not be obtained. it was impossible to buy bread, or meat, or beer. the tyrant, beside himself with rage at being thus braved in his very lair, privately sent for master carl, the executioner. in order to exhibit an unexpected and salutary example, he had determined to hang eighteen of the leading tradesmen of the city in the doors of their own shops, with the least possible delay and without the slightest form of trial. master carl was ordered, on the very night of his interview with the duke, to prepare eighteen strong cords, and eighteen ladders twelve feet in length. by this simple arrangement, alva was disposed to make manifest on the morrow, to the burghers of brussels, that justice was thenceforth to be carried to every man's door. he supposed that the spectacle of a dozen and a half of butchers and bakers suspended in front of the shops which they had refused to open, would give a more effective stimulus to trade than any to be expected from argument or proclamation. the hangman was making ready his cords and ladders; don frederic of toledo was closeted with president viglius, who, somewhat against his will, was aroused at midnight to draw the warrants for these impromptu executions; alva was waiting with grim impatience for the dawn upon which the show was to be exhibited, when an unforeseen event suddenly arrested the homely tragedy. in the night arrived the intelligence that the town of brill had been captured. the duke, feeling the full gravity of the situation, postponed the chastisement which he had thus secretly planned to a more convenient season, in order without an instant's hesitation to avert the consequences of this new movement on the part of the rebels. the seizure of brill was the deus ex machina which unexpectedly solved both the inextricable knot of the situation and the hangman's noose. allusion has more than once been made to those formidable partisans of the patriot cause, the marine outlaws. cheated of half their birthright by nature, and now driven forth from their narrow isthmus by tyranny, the exiled hollanders took to the ocean. its boundless fields, long arable to their industry, became fatally fruitful now that oppression was transforming a peaceful seafaring people into a nation of corsairs. driven to outlawry and poverty, no doubt many netherlanders plunged into crime. the patriot party had long sine laid aside the respectful deportment which had provoked the sarcasms of the loyalists. the beggars of the sea asked their alms through the mouths of their cannon. unfortunately, they but too often made their demands upon both friend and foe. every ruined merchant, every banished lord, every reckless mariner, who was willing to lay the commercial world under contribution to repair his damaged fortunes, could, without much difficulty, be supplied with a vessel and crew at some northern port, under color of cruising against the viceroy's government. nor was the ostensible motive simply a pretext. to make war upon alva was the leading object of all these freebooters, and they were usually furnished by the prince of orange, in his capacity of sovereign, with letters of marque for that purpose. the prince, indeed, did his utmost to control and direct an evil which had inevitably grown out of the horrors of the time. his admiral, william de la marck, was however, incapable of comprehending the lofty purposes of his superior. a wild, sanguinary, licentious noble, wearing his hair and beard unshorn, according to ancient batavian custom, until the death of his relative, egmont, should have been expiated, a worthy descendant of the wild boar of ardennes, this hirsute and savage corsair seemed an embodiment of vengeance. he had sworn to wreak upon alva and upon popery the deep revenge owed to them by the netherland nobility, and in the cruelties afterwards practised by him upon monks and priests, the blood council learned that their example had made at least one ripe scholar among the rebels. he was lying, at this epoch, with his fleet on the southern coast of england, from which advantageous position he was now to be ejected in a summary manner. the negotiations between the duke of alva and queen elizabeth had already assumed an amicable tone, and were fast ripening to an adjustment. it lay by no means in that sovereign's disposition to involve herself at this juncture in a war with philip, and it was urged upon her government by alva's commissioners, that the continued countenance afforded by the english people to the netherland cruisers must inevitably lead to that result. in the latter days of march, therefore, a sentence of virtual excommunication was pronounced against de la marck and his rovers. a peremptory order of elizabeth forbade any of her subjects to supply them with meat, bread, or beer. the command being strictly complied with, their farther stay was rendered impossible. twenty-four vessels accordingly, of various sizes, commanded by de la marck, treslong, adam van harem, brand, and other distinguished seamen, set sail from dover in the very last days of march. being almost in a state of starvation, these adventurers were naturally anxious to supply themselves with food. they determined to make a sudden foray upon the coasts of north holland, and accordingly steered for enkbuizen, both because it was a rich sea- port and because it contained many secret partisans of the prince. on palm sunday they captured two spanish merchantmen. soon afterwards, however, the wind becoming contrary, they were unable to double the helder or the texel, and on tuesday, the st of april, having abandoned their original intention, they dropped down towards zealand, and entered the broad mouth of the river meuse. between the town of brill, upon the southern lip of this estuary, and naaslandsluis, about half a league distant, upon the opposite aide, the squadron suddenly appeared at about two o'clock of an april afternoon, to the great astonishment of the inhabitants of both places. it seemed too large a fleet to be a mere collection of trading vessels, nor did they appear to be spanish ships. peter koppelstok, a sagacious ferryman, informed the passengers whom he happened to be conveying across the river, that the strangers were evidently the water beggars. the dreaded name filled his hearers with consternation, and they became eager to escape from so perilous a vicinity. having duly landed his customers, however, who hastened to spread the news of the impending invasion, and to prepare for defence or flight, the stout ferryman, who was secretly favorable to the cause of liberty, rowed boldly out to inquire the destination and purposes of the fleet. the vessel which he first hailed was that commanded by william de blois, seigneur of treslong. this adventurous noble, whose brother had been executed by the duke of alva in , had himself fought by the side of count louis at jemmingen, and although covered with wounds, had been one of the few who escaped alive from that horrible carnage. during the intervening period he had become one of the most famous rebels on the ocean, and he had always been well known in brill, where his father had been governor for the king. he at once recognized koppelstok, and hastened with him on board the admiral's ship, assuring de la marck that the ferryman was exactly the man for their purpose. it was absolutely necessary that a landing should be effected, for the people were without the necessaries of life. captain martin brand had visited the ship of adam van haren, as soon as they had dropped anchor in the meuse, begging for food. "i gave him a cheese," said adam, afterwards relating the occurrence," and assured him that it was the last article of food to be found in the ship." the other vessels were equally destitute. under the circumstances, it was necessary to attempt a landing. treslong, therefore, who was really the hero of this memorable adventure, persuaded de la marck to send a message to the city of brill, demanding its surrender. this was a bold summons to be made by a handful of men, three or four hundred at most, who were both metaphorically and literally beggars. the city of brill was not populous, but it was well walled and fortified. it was moreover a most commodious port. treslong gave his signet ring to the fisherman, koppelstok, and ordered him, thus accredited as an envoy, to carry their summons to the magistracy. koppelstok, nothing loath, instantly rowed ashore, pushed through the crowd of inhabitants, who overwhelmed him with questions, and made his appearance in the town-house before the assembled magistrates. he informed them that he had been sent by the admiral of the fleet and by treslong, who was well known to them, to demand that two commissioners should be sent out on the part of the city to confer with the patriots. he was bidden, he said, to give assurance that the deputies would be courteously treated. the only object of those who had sent him was to free the land from the tenth penny, and to overthrow the tyranny of alva and his spaniards. hereupon he was asked by the magistrates, how large a force de la marck had under his command, to this question the ferryman carelessly replied, that there might be some five thousand in all. this enormous falsehood produced its effect upon the magistrates. there was now no longer any inclination to resist the invader; the only question discussed being whether to treat with them or to fly. on the whole, it was decided to do both. with some difficulty, two deputies were found sufficiently valiant to go forth to negotiate with the beggars, while in their absence most of the leading burghers and functionaries made their preparations for flight. the envoys were assured by de la marck and treslong that no injury was intended to the citizens or to private property, but that the overthrow of alva's government was to be instantly accomplished. two hours were given to the magistrates in which to decide whether or not they would surrender the town and accept the authority of de la marck as admiral of the prince of orange. they employed the two hours thus granted in making an ignominious escape. their example was followed by most of the townspeople. when the invaders, at the expiration of the specified term, appeared under the walls of the city, they found a few inhabitants of the lower class gazing at them from above, but received no official communication from any source. the whole rebel force was now divided into two parties, one of which under treslong made an attack upon the southern gate, while the other commanded by the admiral advanced upon the northern. treslong after a short struggle succeeded in forcing his entrance, and arrested, in doing so, the governor of the city, just taking his departure. de la marck and his men made a bonfire at the northern gate, and then battered down the half-burned portal with the end of an old mast. thus rudely and rapidly did the netherland patriots conduct their first successful siege. the two parties, not more perhaps than two hundred and fifty men in all, met before sunset in the centre of the city, and the foundation of the dutch republic was laid. the weary spirit of freedom, so long a fugitive over earth and sea, had at last found a resting-place, which rude and even ribald hands had prepared. the panic created by the first appearance of the fleet had been so extensive that hardly fifty citizens had remained in the town. the rest had all escaped, with as much property as they could carry away. the admiral, in the name, of the prince of orange, as lawful stadholder of philip, took formal possession of an almost deserted city. no indignity was offered to the inhabitants of either sex, but as soon, as the conquerors were fairly established in the best houses of the place, the inclination to plunder the churches could no longer be restrained. the altars and images were all destroyed, the rich furniture and gorgeous vestments appropriated to private use. adam van hare appeared on his vessel's deck attired in a magnificent high mass chasuble. treslong thenceforth used no drinking cups in his cabin save the golden chalices of the sacrament. unfortunately, their hatred to popery was not confined to such demonstrations. thirteen unfortunate monks and priests, who had been unable to effect their escape, were arrested and thrown into prison, from whence they were taken a few days later, by order of the ferocious admiral, and executed under circumstances of great barbarity. the news of this important exploit spread with great rapidity. alva, surprised at the very moment of venting his rage on the butchers and grocers of brussels, deferred this savage design in order to deal with the new difficulty. he had certainly not expected such a result from the ready compliance of queen elizabeth with his request. his rage was excessive; the triumph of the people, by whom he was cordially detested, proportionably great. the punsters of brussels were sure not to let such an opportunity escape them, for the name of the captured town was susceptible of a quibble, and the event had taken place upon all fools' day. "on april's fool's day, duke alva's spectacles were stolen away," became a popular couplet. the word spectacles, in flemish, as well as the name of the suddenly surprised city, being brill, this allusion to the duke's loss and implied purblindness was not destitute of ingenuity. a caricature, too, was extensively circulated, representing de la marck stealing the duke's spectacles from his nose, while the governor was supposed to be uttering his habitual expression whenever any intelligence of importance was brought to him: 'no es nada, no es nada--'tis nothing, 'tis nothing. the duke, however, lost not an instant in attempting to repair the disaster. count bossu, who had acted as stadholder of holland and zealand, under alva's authority, since the prince of orange had resigned that office, was ordered at once to recover the conquered sea-port, if possible. hastily gathering a force of some ten companies from the garrison of utrecht, some of which very troops had recently and unluckily for government, been removed from brill to that city, the count crossed the sluis to the island of voorn upon easter day, and sent a summons to the rebel force to surrender brill. the patriots being very few in number, were at first afraid to venture outside the gates to attack the much superior force of their invaders. a carpenter, however, who belonged to the city, but had long been a partisan of orange, dashed into the water with his axe in his hand, and swimming to the niewland sluice, hacked it open with a few vigorous strokes. the sea poured in at once, making the approach to the city upon the north side impossible: bossu then led his spaniards along the niewland dyke to the southern gate, where they were received with a warm discharge of artillery, which completely staggered them. meantime treslong and robol had, in the most daring manner, rowed out to the ships which had brought the enemy to the island, cut some adrift, and set others on fire. the spaniards at the southern gate caught sight of their blazing vessels, saw the sea rapidly rising over the dyke, became panic-struck at being thus enclosed between fire and water, and dashed off in precipitate retreat along the slippery causeway and through the slimy and turbid waters, which were fast threatening to overwhelm them. many were drowned or smothered in their flight, but the greater portion of the force effected their escape in the vessels which still remained within reach. this danger averted, admiral de la marck summoned all the inhabitants, a large number of whom had returned to the town after the capture had been fairly established, and required them, as well as all the population of the island, to take an oath of allegiance to the prince of orange as stadholder for his majesty. the prince had not been extremely satisfied with the enterprise of de la marck. he thought-it premature, and doubted whether it would be practicable to hold the place, as he had not yet completed his arrangements in germany, nor assembled the force with which he intended again to take the field. more than all, perhaps, he had little confidence in the character of his admiral. orange was right in his estimate of de la marck. it had not been that rover's design either to take or to hold the place; and after the descent had been made, the ships victualled, the churches plundered, the booty secured, and a few monks murdered, he had given orders for the burning of the town, and for the departure of the fleet. the urgent solicitations of treslong, however, prevailed, with some difficulty, over de la marck' original intentions. it is to that bold and intelligent noble, therefore, more than to any other individual, that the merit of laying this corner-stone of the batavian commonwealth belongs. the enterprise itself was an accident, but the quick eye of treslong saw the possibility of a permanent conquest, where his superior dreamed of nothing beyond a piratical foray. meantime bossu, baffled in his attempt upon brill, took his way towards rotterdam. it was important that he should at least secure such other cities as the recent success of the rebels might cause to waver in their allegiance. he found the gates of rotterdam closed. the authorities refused to comply with his demand to admit a garrison for the king. professing perfect loyalty, the inhabitants very naturally refused to admit a band of sanguinary spaniards to enforce their obedience. compelled to parley, bossu resorted to a perfidious stratagem. he requested permission for his troops to pass through the city without halting. this was granted by the magistrates, on condition that only a corporal's command should be admitted at a time. to these terms the count affixed his hand and seal. with the admission, however, of the first detachment, a violent onset was made upon the gate by the whole spanish force. the townspeople, not suspecting treachery, were not prepared to make effective resistance. a stout smith, confronting the invaders at the gate, almost singly, with his sledge-hammer, was stabbed to the heart by bossu with his own hand. the soldiers having thus gained admittance, rushed through the streets, putting every man to death who offered the slightest resistance. within a few minutes four hundred citizens were murdered. the fate of the women, abandoned now to the outrage of a brutal soldiery, was worse than death. the capture of rotterdam is infamous for the same crimes which blacken the record of every spanish triumph in the netherlands. the important town of flushing, on the isle of walcheren, was first to vibrate with the patriotic impulse given by the success at brill. the seigneur de herpt, a warm partisan of orange, excited the burghers assembled in the market-place to drive the small remnant of the spanish garrison from the city. a little later upon the same day a considerable reinforcement arrived before the walls. the duke had determined, although too late, to complete the fortress which had been commenced long before to control the possession of this important position at the mouth of the western scheld. the troops who were to resume this too long intermitted work arrived just in time to witness the expulsion of their comrades. de herpt easily persuaded the burghers that the die was cast, and that their only hope lay in a resolute resistance. the people warmly acquiesced, while a half-drunken, half-wined fellow in the crowd valiantly proposed, in consideration of a pot of beer, to ascend the ramparts and to discharge a couple of pieces of artillery at the spanish ships. the offer was accepted, and the vagabond merrily mounting the height, discharged the guns. strange to relate, the shot thus fired by a lunatic's hand put the invading ships to flight. a sudden panic seized the spaniards, the whole fleet stood away at once in the direction of middelburg, and were soon out of sight. the next day, however, antony of bourgoyne, governor under alva for the island of walcheren, made his appearance in flushing. having a high opinion of his own oratorical powers, he came with the intention of winning back with his rhetoric a city which the spaniards had thus far been unable to recover with their cannon. the great bell was rung, the whole population assembled in the marketplace, and antony, from the steps of the town-house, delivered a long oration, assuring the burghers, among other asseverations, that the king, who was the best natured prince in all christendom, would forget and forgive their offences if they returned honestly to their duties. the effect of the governor's eloquence was much diminished, however, by the interlocutory remarks, of de herpt and a group of his adherents. they reminded the people of the king's good nature, of his readiness to forget and to forgive, as exemplified by the fate of horn and egmont, of berghen and montigny, and by the daily and almost hourly decrees of the blood council. each well-rounded period of the governor was greeted with ironical cheers. the oration was unsuccessful. "oh, citizens, citizens!" cried at last the discomfited antony, "ye know not what ye do. your blood be upon your own heads; the responsibility be upon your own hearts for the fires which are to consume your cities and the desolation which is to sweep your land!" the orator at this impressive point was interrupted, and most unceremoniously hustled out of the city. the government remained in the hands of the patriots. the party, however, was not so strong in soldiers as in spirit. no sooner, therefore, had they established their rebellion to alva as an incontrovertible fact, than they sent off emissaries to the prince of orange, and to admiral de la marek at brill. finding that the inhabitants of flushing were willing to provide arms and ammunition, de la marck readily consented to send a small number of men, bold and experienced in partisan warfare, of whom he had now collected a larger number than he could well arm or maintain in his present position. the detachment, two hundred in number, in three small vessels, set sail accordingly from brill for flushing; and a wild crew they were, of reckless adventurers under command of the bold treslong. the expedition seemed a fierce but whimsical masquerade. every man in the little fleet was attired in the gorgeous vestments of the plundered churches, in gold-embroidered cassocks, glittering mass-garments, or the more sombre cowls, and robes of capuchin friars. so sped the early standard bearers of that ferocious liberty which had sprung from the fires in which all else for which men cherish their fatherland had been consumed. so swept that resolute but fantastic band along the placid estuaries of zealand, waking the stagnant waters with their wild beggar songs and cries of vengeance. that vengeance found soon a distinguished object. pacheco, the chief engineer of alva, who had accompanied the duke in his march from italy, who had since earned a world-wide reputation as the architect of the antwerp citadel, had been just despatched in haste to flushing to complete the fortress whose construction had been so long delayed. too late for his work, too soon for his safety, the ill-fated engineer had arrived almost at the same moment with treslong and his crew. he had stepped on shore, entirely ignorant of all which had transpired, expecting to be treated with the respect due to the chief commandant of the place, and to an officer high in the confidence of the governor- general. he found himself surrounded by an indignant and threatening mob. the unfortunate italian understood not a word of the opprobrious language addressed to him, but he easily comprehended that the authority of the duke was overthrown. observing de ryk, a distinguished partisan officer and privateersman of amsterdam, whose reputation for bravery and generosity was known, to him, he approached him, and drawing a seal ring from his finger, kissed it, and handed it to the rebel chieftain. by this dumbshow he gave him to understand that he relied upon his honor for the treatment due to a gentleman. de ryk understood the appeal, and would willingly have assured him, at least, a soldier's death, but he was powerless to do so. he arrested him, that he might be protected from the fury of the rabble, but treslong, who now commanded in flushing, was especially incensed against the founder of the antwerp citadel, and felt a ferocious desire to avenge his brother's murder upon the body of his destroyer's favourite. pacheco was condemned to be hanged upon the very day of his arrival. having been brought forth from his prison, he begged hard but not abjectly for his life. he offered a heavy ransom, but his enemies were greedy for blood, not for money. it was, however, difficult to find an executioner. the city hangman was absent, and the prejudice of the country and the age against the vile profession had assuredly not been diminished during the five horrible years of alva's administration. even a condemned murderer, who lay in the town-gaol, refused to accept his life in recompence for performing the office. it should never be said, he observed, that his mother had given birth to a hangman. when told, however, that the intended victim was a spanish officer, the malefactor consented to the task with alacrity, on condition that he might afterwards kill any man who taunted him with the deed. arrived at the foot of the gallows, pacheco complained bitterly of the disgraceful death designed for him. he protested loudly that he came of a house as noble as that of egmont or horn, and was entitled to as honorable an execution as theirs had been. "the sword! the sword!" he frantically exclaimed, as he struggled with those who guarded him. his language was not understood, but the names of egmont and horn inflamed still more highly the rage of the rabble, while his cry for the sword was falsely interpreted by a rude fellow who had happened to possess himself of pacheco's rapier, at his capture, and who now paraded himself with it at the gallows' foot. "never fear for your sword, seilor," cried this ruffian; "your sword is safe enough, and in good hands. up the ladder with you, senor; you have no further use for your sword." pacheco, thus outraged, submitted to his fate. he mounted the ladder with a steady step, and was hanged between two other spanish officers. so perished miserably a brave soldier, and one of the most distinguished engineers of his time; a man whose character and accomplishments had certainly merited for him a better fate. but while we stigmatize as it deserves the atrocious conduct of a few netherland partisans, we should remember who first unchained the demon of international hatred in this unhappy land, nor should it ever be forgotten that the great leader of the revolt, by word, proclamation, example, by entreaties, threats, and condign punishment, constantly rebuked, and to a certain extent, restrained the sanguinary spirit by which some of his followers disgraced the noble cause which they had espoused. treslong did not long remain in command at flushing. an officer, high in the confidence of the prince, jerome van 't zeraerts, now arrived at flushing, with a commission to be lieutenant-governor over the whole isle of walcheren. he was attended by a small band of french infantry, while at nearly the same time the garrison was further strengthened by the arrival of a large number of volunteers from england. etext editor's bookmarks: beggars of the sea, as these privateersmen designated themselves hair and beard unshorn, according to ancient batavian custom only healthy existence of the french was in a state of war this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley - [chapter viii.] affairs in holland and zealand--siege of tergoes by the patriots-- importance of the place--difficulty of relieving it--its position-- audacious plan for sending succor across the "drowned land"-- brilliant and successful expedition of mondragon--the siege raised-- horrible sack of zutphen--base conduct of count van den berg-- refusal of naarden to surrender--subsequent unsuccessful deputation to make terms with don frederic--don frederic before naarden-- treachery of romero--the spaniards admitted--general massacre of the garrison and burghers--the city burned to the ground--warm reception of orange in holland--secret negotiations with the estates-- desperate character of the struggle between spain and the provinces --don frederic in amsterdam--plans for reducing holland--skirmish on the ice at amsterdam--preparation in harlem for the expected siege-- description of the city--early operations--complete investment-- numbers of besiegers and besieged--mutual barbarities--determined repulse of the first assault--failure of batenburg's expedition-- cruelties in city and camp--mining and countermining--second assault victoriously repelled--suffering and disease in harlem--disposition of don frederic to retire--memorable rebuke by alva--efforts of orange to relieve the place--sonoy's expedition--exploit of john haring--cruel execution of prisoners on both sides--quiryn dirkzoon and his family put to death in the city--fleets upon the lake-- defeat of the patriot armada--dreadful suffering and starvation in the city--parley with the besiegers--despair of the city--appeal to orange--expedition under batenburg to relieve the city--his defeat and death--desperate condition of harlem--its surrender at discretion--sanguinary executions--general massacre--expense of the victory in blood and money--joy of philip at the news. while thus brabant and flanders were scourged back to the chains which they had so recently broken, the affairs of the prince of orange were not improving in zealand. never was a twelvemonth so marked by contradictory fortune, never were the promises of a spring followed by such blight and disappointment in autumn than in the memorable year . on the island of walcheren, middelburg and arnemuyde still held for the king--campveer and flushing for the prince of orange. on the island of south bevelaad, the city of goes or tergoes was still stoutly defended by a small garrison of spanish troops. as long as the place held out, the city of middelburg could be maintained. should that important city fall, the spaniards would lose all hold upon walcheren and the province of zealand. jerome de 't zeraerts, a brave, faithful, but singularly unlucky officer, commanded for the prince in walcheren. he had attempted by various hastily planned expeditions to give employment to his turbulent soldiery, but fortune had refused to smile upon his efforts. he had laid siege to middelburg and failed. he had attempted tergoes and had been compelled ingloriously to retreat. the citizens of flushing, on his return, had shut the gates of the town in his face, and far several days refused to admit him or his troops. to retrieve this disgrace, which had sprung rather from the insubordination of his followers and the dislike which they bore his person than from any want of courage or conduct on his part, he now assembled a force of seven thousand men, marched again to tergoes, and upon the th of august laid siege to the place in forma. the garrison was very insufficient, and although they conducted themselves with great bravery, it was soon evident that unless reinforced they must yield. with their overthrow it was obvious that the spaniards would lose the important maritime province of zealand, and the duke accordingly ordered d'avila, who commanded in antwerp, to throw succor into tergoes without delay. attempts were made, by sea and by land, to this effect, but were all unsuccessful. the zealanders commanded the waters with their fleet,--and were too much at home among those gulfs and shallows not to be more than a match for their enemies. baffled in their attempt to relieve the town by water or by land, the spaniards conceived an amphibious scheme. their plan led to one of the most brilliant feats of arms which distinguishes the history of this war. the scheld, flowing past the city of antwerp and separating the provinces of flanders and brabant, opens wide its two arms in nearly opposite directions, before it joins the sea. between these two arms lie the isles of zealand, half floating upon, half submerged by the waves. the town of tergoes was the chief city of south beveland, the most important part of this archipelago, but south beveland had not always been an island. fifty years before, a tempest, one of the most violent recorded in the stormy annals of that exposed country, had overthrown all barriers, the waters of the german ocean, lashed by a succession of north winds, having been driven upon the low coast of zealand more rapidly than they could be carried off through the narrow straits of dover. the dykes of the island had burst, the ocean had swept over the land, hundreds of villages had been overwhelmed, and a tract of country torn from the province and buried for ever beneath the sea. this "drowned land," as it is called, now separated the island from the main. at low tide it was, however, possible for experienced pilots to ford the estuary, which had usurped the place of the land. the average depth was between four and five feet at low water, while the tide rose and fell at least ten feet; the bottom was muddy and treacherous, and it was moreover traversed by three living streams or channels; always much too deep to be fordable. captain plomaert, a fleming of great experience and bravery, warmly attached to the king's cause, conceived the plan of sending reinforcements across this drowned district to the city of tergoes. accompanied by two peasants of the country, well acquainted with the track, he twice accomplished the dangerous and difficult passage; which, from dry land to dry land, was nearly ten english miles in length. having thus satisfied himself as to the possibility of the enterprise, he laid his plan before the spanish colonel, mondragon. that courageous veteran eagerly embraced the proposal, examined the ground, and after consultation with sancho avila, resolved in person to lead an expedition along the path suggested by plomaert. three thousand picked men, a thousand from each nation,--spaniards, walloons, and germans, were speedily and secretly assembled at bergen op zoom, from the neighbourhood of which city, at a place called aggier, it was necessary that the expedition should set forth. a quantity of sacks were provided, in which a supply of, biscuit and of powder was placed, one to be carried by each soldier upon his head. although it was already late in the autumn, the weather was propitious; the troops, not yet informed: as to the secret enterprise for which they had been selected, were all ready assembled at the edge of the water, and mondragon, who, notwithstanding his age, had resolved upon heading the hazardous expedition, now briefly, on the evening of the th october, explained to them the nature of the service. his statement of the dangers which they were about to encounter, rather inflamed than diminished their ardor. their enthusiasm became unbounded, as he described the importance of the city which they were about to save, and alluded to the glory which would be won by those who thus courageously came forward to its rescue. the time of about half ebb-tide having arrived, the veteran,--preceded only by the guides and plomaert, plunged gaily into the waves, followed by his army, almost in single file. the water was never lowed khan the breast, often higher than the shoulder. the distance to the island, three and a half leagues at least, was to be accomplished within at most, six hours, or the rising tide would overwhelm them for ever. and thus, across the quaking and uncertain slime, which often refused them a footing, that adventurous band, five hours long, pursued their midnight march, sometimes swimming for their lives, and always struggling with the waves which every instant threatened to engulph them. before the tide had risen to more than half-flood, before the day had dawned, the army set foot on dry land again, at the village of irseken. of the whole three thousand, only nine unlucky individuals had been drowned; so much had courage and discipline availed in that dark and perilous passage through the very bottom of the sea. the duke of alva might well pronounce it one of the most brilliant and original achievements in the annals of war. the beacon fires were immediately lighted upon the shore; as agreed upon, to inform sancho d'avila, who was anxiously awaiting the result at bergen op zoom, of the safe arrival of the troops. a brief repose was then allowed. at the approach of daylight, they set forth from irseken, which lay about four leagues from tergoes. the news that a spanish army had thus arisen from the depths of the sea, flew before them as they marched. the besieging force commanded the water with their fleet, the land with their army; yet had these indomitable spaniards found a path which was neither land nor water, and had thus stolen upon them in the silence of night. a panic preceded them as they fell upon a foe much superior in number to their own force. it was impossible for 't zeraerts to induce his soldiers to offer resistance. the patriot army fled precipitately and ignominiously to their ships, hotly pursued by the spaniards, who overtook and destroyed the whole of their rearguard before they could embark. this done, the gallant little garrison which had so successfully held the city, was reinforced with the courageous veterans who had come to their relief. his audacious project thus brilliantly accomplished, the "good old mondragon," as his soldiers called him, returned to the province of brabant. after the capture of mons and the sack of mechlin, the duke of alva had taken his way to nimwegen, having despatched his son, don frederic, to reduce the northern and eastern country, which was only too ready to submit to the conqueror. very little resistance was made by any of the cities which had so recently, and--with such enthusiasm, embraced the cause of orange. zutphen attempted a feeble opposition to the entrance of the king's troops, and received a dreadful chastisement in consequence. alva sent orders to his son to leave not a single man alive in the city, and to burn every house to the ground. the duke's command was almost literally obeyed. don frederic entered zutphen, and without a moment's warning put the whole garrison to the sword. the citizens next fell a defenceless, prey; some being, stabbed in the streets, some hanged on the trees which decorated the city, some stripped stark naked; and turned out into the fields to freeze to death in the wintry night. as the work of death became too fatiguing for the butchers, five hundred innocent burghers were tied two and two, back to back, and drowned like dogs in the river yssel. a few stragglers who had contrived to elude pursuit at first, were afterwards taken from their hiding places and hung upon the gallows by the feet, some of which victims suffered four days and nights of agony before death came to their relief. it is superfluous to add that the outrages upon women were no less universal in zutphen than they had been in every city captured or occupied by the spanish troops. these horrors continued till scarcely chastity or life remained, throughout the miserable city. this attack and massacre had been so suddenly executed, that assistance would hardly have been possible, even had there been disposition to render it. there was; however, no such disposition. the whole country was already cowering again, except the provinces of holland and zealand. no one dared approach, even to learn what had occurred within the walls of the town, for days after its doom had been accomplished. "a wail of agony was heard above zutphen last sunday," wrote count nieuwenar, "a sound as of a mighty massacre, but we know not what has taken place." count van, den bergh, another brother-in-law of orange, proved himself signally unworthy of the illustrious race to which he was allied. he had, in the earlier part of the year, received the homage of the cities of gelderland and overyssel, on behalf of the patriot prince. he now basely abandoned the field where he had endeavoured to gather laurels while the sun of success had been shining. having written from kampen, whither he had retired, that he meant to hold the city to the last gasp, he immediately afterwards fled secretly and precipitately from the country. in his flight he was plundered by his own people, while his wife, mary of nassau, then far advanced in pregnancy, was left behind, disguised as a peasant girl, in an obscure village. with the flight of van den bergh, all the cities which, under his guidance, had raised the standard of orange, deserted the cause at once. friesland too, where robles obtained a victory over six thousand patriots, again submitted to the yoke. but if the ancient heart of the free frisians was beating thus feebly, there was still spirit left among their brethren on the other side of the zuyder zee. it was not while william of orange was within her borders, nor while her sister provinces had proved recreant to him, that holland would follow their base example. no rebellion being left, except in the north-western extremities of the netherlands, don frederic was ordered to proceed from zutphen to amsterdam, thence to undertake the conquest of holland. the little city of naarden, on the coast of the zuyder zee, lay in his path, and had not yet formally submitted. on the nd of november a company of one hundred troopers was sent to the city gates to demand its surrender. the small garrison which had been left by the prince was not disposed to resist, but the spirit of the burghers was stouter than, their walls. they answered the summons by a declaration that they had thus far held the city for the king and the prince of orange, and, with god's help, would continue so to do. as the horsemen departed with this reply, a lunatic, called adrian krankhoeft, mounted the ramparts and, discharged a culverine among them. no man was injured, but the words of defiance, and the shot fired by a madman's hand, were destined to be fearfully answered. meanwhile, the inhabitants of the place, which was at best far from strong, and ill provided with arms, ammunition, or soldiers, despatched importunate messages to sonoy, and to ether patriot generals nearest to them, soliciting reinforcements. their messengers came back almost empty handed. they brought a little powder and a great many promises, but not a single man-at-arms, not a ducat, not a piece of artillery. the most influential commanders, moreover, advised an honorable capitulation, if it were still possible. thus baffled, the burghers of the little city found their proud position quite untenable. they accordingly, on the st of december, despatched the burgomaster and a senator to amersfoort, to make terms, if possible, with don frederic. when these envoys reached the place, they were refused admission to the general's presence. the army had already been ordered to move forward to naarden, and they were directed to accompany the advance guard, and to expect their reply at the gates of their own city. this command was sufficiently ominous. the impression which it made upon them was confirmed by the warning voices of their friends in amersfoort, who entreated them not to return to naarden. the advice was not lost upon one of the two envoys. after they had advanced a little distance on their journey, the burgomaster laurentszoon slid privately out of the sledge in which they were travelling, leaving his cloak behind him. "adieu; i think i will not venture back to naarden at present," said he, calmly, as he abandoned his companion to his fate. the other, who could not so easily desert his children, his wife, and his fellow- citizens, in the hour of danger, went forward as calmly to share in their impending doom. the army reached bussem, half a league distant from naarden, in the evening. here don frederic established his head quarters, and proceeded to invest the city. senator gerrit was then directed to return to naarden and to bring out a more numerous deputation on the following morning, duly empowered to surrender the place. the envoy accordingly returned next day, accompanied by lambert hortensius, rector of a latin academy, together with four other citizens. before this deputation had reached bussem, they were met by julian romero, who informed them that he was commissioned to treat with them on the part of don frederic. he demanded the keys of the city, and gave the deputation a solemn pledge that the lives and property of all the inhabitants should be sacredly respected. to attest this assurance don julian gave his hand three several times to lambert hortensius. a soldier's word thus plighted, the commissioners, without exchanging any written documents, surrendered the keys, and immediately afterwards accompanied romero into the city, who was soon followed by five or six hundred musketeers. to give these guests a hospitable reception, all the housewives of the city at once set about preparations for a sumptuous feast, to which the spaniards did ample justice, while the colonel and his officers were entertained by senator gerrit at his own house. as soon as this conviviality had come to an end, romero, accompanied by his host, walked into the square. the great bell had been meantime ringing, and the citizens had been summoned to assemble in the gast huis church, then used as a town hall. in the course of a few minutes five hundred had entered the building, and stood quietly awaiting whatever measures might be offered for their deliberation. suddenly a priest, who had been pacing to and fro before the church door, entered the building, and bade them all prepare for death; but the announcement, the preparation, and the death, were simultaneous. the door was flung open, and a band of armed spaniards rushed across the sacred threshold. they fired a single volley upon the defenceless herd, and then sprang in upon them with sword and dagger. a yell of despair arose as the miserable victims saw how hopelessly they were engaged, and beheld the ferocious faces of their butchers. the carnage within that narrow apace was compact and rapid. within a few minutes all were despatched, and among them senator gerrit, from whose table the spanish commander had but just risen. the church was then set on fire, and the dead and dying were consumed to ashes together. inflamed but not satiated, the spaniards then rushed into the streets, thirsty for fresh horrors. the houses were all rifled of their contents, and men were forced to carry the booty to the camp, who were then struck dead as their reward. the town was then fired in every direction, that the skulking citizens might be forced from their hiding-places. as fast as they came forth they were put to death by their impatient foes. some were pierced with rapiers, some were chopped to pieces with axes, some were surrounded in the blazing streets by troops of laughing soldiers, intoxicated, not with wine but with blood, who tossed them to and fro with their lances, and derived a wild amusement from their dying agonies. those who attempted resistance were crimped alive like fishes, and left to gasp themselves to death in lingering torture. the soldiers becoming more and more insane, as the foul work went on, opened the veins of some of their victims, and drank their blood as if it were wine. some of the burghers were for a time spared, that they might witness the violation of their wives and daughters, and were then butchered in company with these still more unfortunate victims. miracles of brutality were accomplished. neither church nor hearth was sacred: men were slain, women outraged at the altars, in the streets, in their blazing homes. the life of lambert hortensius was spared, out of regard to his learning and genius, but he hardly could thank his foes for the boon, for they struck his only son dead, and tore his heart out before his father's eyes. hardly any man or woman survived, except by accident. a body of some hundred burghers made their escape across the snow into the open country. they were, however, overtaken, stripped stark naked, and hung upon the trees by the feet, to freeze, or to perish by a more lingering death. most of them soon died, but twenty, who happened to be wealthy, succeeded, after enduring much torture, in purchasing their lives of their inhuman persecutors. the principal burgomaster, heinrich lambertszoon, was less fortunate. known to be affluent, he was tortured by exposing the soles of his feet to a fire until they were almost consumed. on promise that his life should be spared, he then agreed to pay a heavy ransom; but hardly had he furnished the stipulated sum when, by express order of don frederic himself, he was hanged in his own doorway, and his dissevered limbs afterwards nailed to the gates of the city. nearly all the inhabitants of naarden, soldiers and citizens, were thus destroyed; and now don frederic issued peremptory orders that no one, on pain of death, should give lodging or food to any fugitive. he likewise forbade to the dead all that could now be forbidden them--a grave. three weeks long did these unburied bodies pollute the streets, nor could the few wretched women who still cowered within such houses as had escaped the flames ever wave from their lurking-places without treading upon the festering remains of what had been their husbands, their fathers, or their brethren. such was the express command of him whom the flatterers called the "most divine genius ever known." shortly afterwards came an order to dismantle the fortifications, which had certainly proved sufficiently feeble in the hour of need, and to raze what was left of the city from the surface of the earth. the work was faithfully accomplished, and for a longtime naarden ceased to exist. alva wrote, with his usual complacency in such cases, to his sovereign, that "they had cut the throats of the burghers and all the garrison, and that they had not left a mother's son alive." the statement was almost literally correct, nor was the cant with which these bloodhounds commented upon their crimes less odious than their guilt. "it was a permission of god," said the duke, "that these people should have undertaken to defend a city, which was so weak that no other persons would have attempted such a thing." nor was the reflection of mendoza less pious. "the sack of naarden," said that really brave and accomplished cavalier, "was a chastisement which must be believed to have taken place by express permission of a divine providence; a punishment for having been the first of the holland towns in which heresy built its nest, whence it has taken flight to all the neighboring cities." it is not without reluctance, but still with a stern determination, that the historian--should faithfully record these transactions. to extenuate would be base; to exaggerate impossible. it is good that the world should not forget how much wrong has been endured by a single harmless nation at the hands of despotism, and in the sacred name of god. there have been tongues and pens enough to narrate the excesses of the people, bursting from time to time out of slavery into madness. it is good, too, that those crimes should be remembered, and freshly pondered; but it is equally wholesome to study the opposite picture. tyranny, ever young and ever old, constantly reproducing herself with the same stony features, with the same imposing mask which she has worn through all the ages, can never be too minutely examined, especially when she paints her own portrait, and when the secret history of her guilt is furnished by the confessions of her lovers. the perusal of her traits will not make us love popular liberty the less. the history of alva's administration in the netherlands is one of those pictures which strike us almost dumb with wonder. why has the almighty suffered such crimes to be perpetrated in his sacred name? was it necessary that many generations should wade through this blood in order to acquire for their descendants the blessings of civil and religious freedom? was it necessary that an alva should ravage a peaceful nation with sword and flame--that desolation should be spread over a happy land, in order that the pure and heroic character of a william of orange should stand forth more conspicuously, like an antique statue of spotless marble against a stormy sky? after the army which the prince had so unsuccessfully led to the relief of mons had been disbanded, he had himself repaired to holland. he had come to kampen shortly before its defection from his cause. thence he had been escorted across the zuyder zee to eukhuyzen. he came to that province, the only one which through good and ill report remained entirely faithful to him, not as a conqueror but as an unsuccessful, proscribed man. but there were warm hearts beating within those cold lagunes, and no conqueror returning from a brilliant series of victories could have been received with more affectionate respect than william in that darkest hour of the country's history. he had but seventy horsemen at his back, all which remained of the twenty thousand troops which he had a second time levied in germany, and he felt that it would be at that period hopeless for him to attempt the formation of a third army. he had now come thither to share the fate of holland, at least, if he could not accomplish her liberation. he went from city to city, advising with the magistracies and with the inhabitants, and arranging many matters pertaining both to peace and war. at harlem the states of the provinces, according to his request, had been assembled. the assembly begged him to lay before them, if it were possible, any schemes and means which he might have devised for further resistance to the duke of alva. thus solicited, the prince, in a very secret session, unfolded his plans, and satisfied them as to the future prospects of the cause. his speech has nowhere been preserved. his strict injunctions as to secrecy, doubtless, prevented or effaced any record of the session. it is probable, however, that he entered more fully into the state of his negotiations with england, and into the possibility of a resumption by count louis of his private intercourse with the french court, than it was safe, publicly, to divulge. while the prince had been thus occupied in preparing the stout-hearted province for the last death-struggle with its foe, that mortal combat was already fast approaching; for the aspect of the contest in the netherlands was not that of ordinary warfare. it was an encounter between two principles, in their nature so hostile to each other that the absolute destruction of one was the only, possible issue. as the fight went on, each individual combatant seemed inspired by direct personal malignity, and men found a pleasure in deeds of cruelty, from which generations not educated to slaughter recoil with horror. to murder defenceless prisoners; to drink, not metaphorically but literally, the heart's blood of an enemy; to exercise a devilish ingenuity in inventions of mutual torture, became not only a duty but a rapture. the liberty of the netherlands had now been hunted to its lair. it had taken its last refuge among the sands and thickets where its savage infancy had been nurtured, and had now prepared itself to crush its tormentor in a last embrace, or to die in the struggle. after the conclusion of the sack and massacre of naarden, don frederic had hastened to amsterdam, where the duke was then quartered, that he might receive the paternal benediction for his well-accomplished work. the royal approbation was soon afterwards added to the applause of his parent, and the duke was warmly congratulated in a letter written by philip as soon as the murderous deed was known, that don frederic had so plainly shown himself to be his father's son. there was now more work for father and son. amsterdam was the only point in holland which held for alva, and from that point it was determined to recover the whole province. the prince of orange was established in the southern district; diedrich sonoy, his lieutenant, was stationed in north holland. the important city of harlem lay between the two, at a spot where the whole breadth of the territory, from sea to sea, was less than an hour's walk. with the fall of that city the province would be cut in twain, the rebellious forces utterly dissevered, and all further resistance, it was thought, rendered impossible. the inhabitants of harlem felt their danger. bossu, alva's stadholder for holland, had formally announced the system hitherto pursued at mechlin, zutphen, and naarden, as the deliberate policy of the government. the king's representative had formally proclaimed the extermination of man, woman; and child in every city which opposed his authority, but the promulgation and practice of such a system had an opposite effect to the one intended. the hearts of the hollanders were rather steeled to resistance than awed into submission by the fate of naarden." a fortunate event, too, was accepted as a lucky omen for the coming contest. a little fleet of armed vessels, belonging to holland, had been frozen up in the neighbourhood of amsterdam. don frederic on his arrival from naarden, despatched a body of picked men over the ice to attack the imprisoned vessels. the crews had, however, fortified themselves by digging a wide trench around the whole fleet, which thus became from the moment an almost impregnable fortress. out of this frozen citadel a strong band of well-armed and skilful musketeers sallied forth upon skates as the besieging force advanced. a rapid, brilliant, and slippery skirmish succeeded, in which the hollanders, so accustomed to such sports, easily vanquished their antagonists, and drove them off the field, with the loss of several hundred left dead upon the ice. "'t was a thing never heard of before to-day," said alva, "to see a body of arquebusiers thus skirmishing upon a frozen sea." in the course of the next four-and-twenty hours a flood and a rapid thaw released the vessels, which all escaped to enkhuyzen, while a frost, immediately and strangely succeeding, made pursuit impossible. the spaniards were astonished at these novel manoeuvres upon the ice. it is amusing to read their elaborate descriptions of the wonderful appendages which had enabled the hollanders to glide so glibly into battle with a superior force, and so rapidly to glance away, after achieving a signal triumph. nevertheless, the spaniards could never be dismayed, and were always apt scholars, even if an enemy were the teacher. alva immediately ordered seven thousand pairs of skates, and his soldiers soon learned to perform military evolutions with these new accoutrements as audaciously, if not as adroitly, as the hollanders. a portion of the harlem magistracy, notwithstanding the spirit which pervaded the province, began to tremble as danger approached. they were base enough to enter into secret negotiations with alva, and to send three of their own number to treat with the duke at amsterdam. one was wise enough to remain with the enemy. the other two were arrested on their return, and condemned, after an impartial trial, to death. for, while these emissaries of a cowardly magistracy were absent, the stout commandant of the little garrison, ripperda, had assembled the citizens and soldiers in the market-place. he warned them of the absolute necessity to make a last effort for freedom. in startling colors he held up to them the fate of mechlin, of zutphen, of naarden, as a prophetic mirror, in which they might read their own fate should they be base enough to surrender the city. there was no composition possible, he urged, with foes who were as false as they were sanguinary, and whose foul passions were stimulated, not slaked, by the horrors with which they had already feasted themselves. ripperda addressed men who could sympathize with his bold and lofty sentiments. soldiers and citizens cried out for defence instead of surrender, as with one voice, for there were no abject spirits at harlem, save among the magistracy; and saint aldegonde, the faithful minister of orange, was soon sent to harlem by the prince to make a thorough change in that body. harlem, over whose ruins the spanish tyranny intended to make its entrance into holland, lay in the narrowest part of that narrow isthmus which separates the zuyder zee from the german ocean. the distance from sea to sea is hardly five english miles across. westerly from the city extended a slender strip of land, once a morass, then a fruitful meadow; maintained by unflagging fortitude in the very jaws of a stormy ocean. between the north sea and the outer edge of this pasture surged those wild and fantastic downs, heaped up by wind and wave in mimicry of mountains; the long coils of that rope of sand, by which, plaited into additional strength by the slenderest of bulrushes, the waves of the north sea were made to obey the command of man. on the opposite, or eastern aide, harlem looked towards amsterdam. that already flourishing city was distant but ten miles. the two cities were separated by an expanse of inland water, and united by a slender causeway. the harlem lake, formed less than a century before by the bursting of four lesser, meres during a storm which had threatened to swallow the whole peninsula, extended itself on the south and east; a sea of limited dimensions, being only fifteen feet in depth with seventy square miles of surface, but, exposed as it lay to all the winds of heaven, often lashed into storms as dangerous as those of the atlantic. beyond the lake, towards the north, the waters of the y nearly swept across the peninsula. this inlet of the zuyder zee was only separated from the harlem mere by a slender thread of land. over this ran the causeway between the two sister cities, now so unfortunately in arms against each other. midway between the two, the dyke was pierced and closed again with a system of sluice-works, which when opened admitted the waters of the lake into those of the estuary, and caused an inundation of the surrounding country. the city was one of the largest and most beautiful in the netherlands. it was also one of the weakest.--the walls were of antique construction, turreted, but not strong. the extent and feebleness of the defences made a large garrison necessary, but unfortunately, the garrison was even weaker than the walls. the city's main reliance was on the stout hearts of the inhabitants. the streets were, for that day, spacious and regular; the canals planted with limes and poplars. the ancient church of saint bavon, a large imposing structure of brick, stood almost in the centre of the place, the most prominent object, not only of the town but of the province, visible over leagues of sea and of land more level than the sea, and seeming to gather the whole quiet little city under its sacred and protective wings. its tall open-work leaden spire was surmounted by a colossal crown, which an exalted imagination might have regarded as the emblematic guerdon of martyrdom held aloft over the city, to reward its heroism and its agony. it was at once obvious that the watery expanse between harlem and amsterdam would be the principal theatre of the operations about to commence. the siege was soon begun. the fugitive burgomaster, de fries, had tho effrontery, with the advice of alva, to address a letter to the citizens, urging them to surrender at discretion. the messenger was hanged--a cruel but practical answer, which put an end to all further traitorous communications. this was in the first week of december. on the th, don frederic, sent a strong detachment to capture the fort and village of sparendam, as an indispensable preliminary to the commencement of the siege. a peasant having shown zapata, the commander of the expedition, a secret passage across the flooded and frozen meadows, the spaniards stormed the place gallantly, routed the whole garrison, killed three hundred, and took possession of the works and village. next day, don frederic appeared before the walls of harlem, and proceeded regularly to invest the place. the misty weather favored his operations, nor did he cease reinforcing himself; until at least thirty thousand men, including fifteen hundred cavalry, had been encamped around the city. the germans, under count overstein, were stationed in a beautiful and extensive grove of limes and beeches, which spread between the southern walls and the shore of harlem lake. don frederic, with his spaniards, took up a position on the opposite side, at a place called the house of kleef, the ruins of which still remain. the walloons, and other regiments were distributed in different places, so as completely to encircle the town. [pierre sterlinckx: eene come waerachtige beschryvinghe van alle geschiedinissen, anschlagen, stormen, schermutsingen oude schieten voor de vroome stadt haerlem in holland gheschicht, etc., etc.-- delft, .--this is by far the best contemporary account of the famous siege. the author was a citizen of antwerp, who kept a daily journal of the events as they occurred at harlem. it is a dry, curt register of horrors, jotted down without passion or comment.-- compare bor, vi. , ; meteren, iv. ; mendoza, viii. , ; wagenaer, vad. hist., vi. , .] on the edge of the mere the prince of orange had already ordered a cluster of forts to be erected, by which the command of its frozen surface was at first secured for harlem. in the course of the siege, however, other forts were erected by don frederic, so that the aspect of things suffered a change. against this immense force, nearly equal in number to that of the whole population of the city, the garrison within the walls never amounted to more than four thousand men. in the beginning it was much less numerous. the same circumstances, however, which assisted the initiatory operations of don frederic, were of advantage to the harlemers. a dense frozen fog hung continually over the surface of the lake. covered by this curtain, large supplies of men, provisions, and ammunition were daily introduced into the city, notwithstanding all the efforts of the besieging force. sledges skimming over the ice, men, women, and even children, moving on their skates as swiftly as the wind, all brought their contributions in the course of the short dark days and long nights of december, in which the wintry siege was opened. the garrison at last numbered about one thousand pioneers or delvers, three thousand fighting men, and about three hundred fighting women. the last was a most efficient corps, all females of respectable character, armed with sword, musket, and dagger. their chief, kenau hasselaer, was a widow of distinguished family and unblemished reputation, about forty-seven years of age, who, at the head of her amazons, participated in many of the most fiercely contested actions of the siege, both within and without the walls. when such a spirit animated the maids and matrons of the city, it might be expected that the men would hardly surrender the place without a struggle. the prince had assembled a force of three or four thousand men at leyden, which he sent before the middle of december towards the city under the command of de la marck. these troops were, however, attacked on the way by a strong detachment under bossu, noircarmes, and romero. after a sharp, action in a heavy snow-storm, de la marek was completely routed. one thousand of his soldiers were cut to pieces, and a large number carried off as prisoners to the gibbets, which were already conspicuously erected in the spanish camp, and which from the commencement to the close of the siege were never bare of victims. among the captives was a gallant officer, baptist van trier, for whom de la marck in vain offered two thousand crowns and nineteen spanish prisoners. the proposition was refused with contempt. van trier was hanged upon the gallows by one leg until he was dead, in return for which barbarity the nineteen spaniards were immediately gibbeted by de la marck. with this interchange of cruelties the siege may be said to have opened. don frederic had stationed himself in a position opposite to the gate of the cross, which was not very strong, but fortified by a ravelin. intending to make a very short siege of it, he established his batteries immediately, and on the th, th, and th december directed a furious cannonade against the cross-gate, the st. john's-gate, and the curtain between the two. six hundred and eighty shots were discharged on the first, and nearly as many on each of the two succeeding days. the walls were much shattered, but men, women, and children worked night and day within the city, repairing the breaches as fast as made. they brought bags of sand; blocks of stone, cart-loads of earth from every quarter, and they stripped the churches of all their statues, which they threw by heaps into the gaps. if they sought thus a more practical advantage from those sculptured saints than they could have gained by only imploring their interposition. the fact, however, excited horror among the besiegers. men who were daily butchering their fellow-beings, and hanging their prisoners in cold blood, affected to shudder at the enormity of the offence thus exercised against graven images. after three days' cannonade, the assault was ordered, don frederic only intending a rapid massacre, to crown his achievements at--zutphen and naarden. the place, he thought, would fall in a week, and after another week of sacking, killing, and ravishing, he might sweep on to "pastures new" until holland was overwhelmed. romero advanced to the breach, followed by a numerous storming party, but met with a resistance which astonished the spaniards. the church bells rang the alarm throughout the city, and the whole population swarmed to the walls. the besiegers were encountered not only with sword and musket, but with every implement which the burghers' hands could find. heavy stones, boiling oil, live coals, were hurled upon the heads of the soldiers; hoops, smeared with pitch and set on fire, were dexterously thrown upon their necks. even spanish courage and spanish ferocity were obliged to shrink before the steady determination of a whole population animated by a single spirit. romero lost an eye in the conflict, many officers were killed and wounded, and three or four hundred soldiers left dead in the breach, while only three or four of the townsmen lost their lives. the signal of recal was reluctantly given, and the spaniards abandoned the assault. don frederic was now aware that harlem would not fall at his feet at the first sound of his trumpet. it was obvious that a siege must precede the massacre. he gave orders therefore that the ravelin should be undermined, and doubted not that, with a few days' delay, the place would be in his hands. meantime, the prince of orange, from his head-quarters at sassenheim, on the southern extremity of the mere, made a fresh effort to throw succor into the place. two thousand men, with seven field-pieces, and many wagon-loads of munitions, were sent forward under batenburg. this officer had replaced de la marck, whom the prince had at last deprived of his commission. the reckless and unprincipled freebooter was no longer to serve a cause which was more sullied by his barbarity than it could be advanced by his desperate valor. batenburg's expedition was, however, not more successful than the one made by his predecessor. the troops, after reaching the vicinity of the city, lost their way in the thick mists, which almost perpetually enveloped the scene. cannons were fired, fog-bells were rung, and beacon fires were lighted on the ramparts, but the party was irretrievably lost. the spaniards fell upon them before they could find their way to the city. many were put to the sword, others made their escape in different directions; a very few succeeded in entering harlem. batenburg brought off a remnant of the forces, but all the provisions so much needed were lost, and the little army entirely destroyed. de koning, the second in command, was among the prisoners. the spaniards cut off his head and threw it over the walls into the city, with this inscription: "this is the head of captain de koning, who is on his way with reinforcements for the good city of harlem." the citizens retorted with a practical jest, which was still more barbarous. they cut off the heads of eleven prisoners and put them into a barrel, which they threw into the spanish camp. a label upon the barrel contained these words: "deliver these ten heads to duke alva in payment of his tenpenny tax, with one additional head for interest." with such ghastly merriment did besieged and besiegers vary the monotonous horror of that winter's siege. as the sallies and skirmishes were of daily occurrence, there was a constant supply of prisoners, upon whom both parties might exercise their ingenuity, so that the gallows in camp or city was perpetually garnished. since the assault of the st december, don frederic had been making his subterranean attack by regular approaches. as fast, however, as the spaniards mined, the citizens countermined. spaniard and netherlander met daily in deadly combat within the bowels of the earth. desperate and frequent were the struggles within gangways so narrow that nothing but daggers could be used, so obscure that the dim lanterns hardly lighted the death-stroke. they seemed the conflicts, not of men but of evil spirits. nor were these hand-to-hand battles all. a shower of heads, limbs, mutilated trunks, the mangled remains of hundreds of human beings, often spouted from the earth as if from an invisible volcano. the mines were sprung with unexampled frequency and determination. still the spaniards toiled on with undiminished zeal, and still the besieged, undismayed, delved below their works, and checked their advance by sword, and spear, and horrible explosions. the prince of orange, meanwhile, encouraged the citizens to persevere, by frequent promises of assistance. his letters, written on extremely small bits of paper; were sent into the town by carrier pigeons. on the th of january he despatched a considerable supply of the two necessaries, powder and bread, on one hundred and seventy sledges across the harlem lake, together with four hundred veteran soldiers. the citizens continued to contest the approaches to the ravelin before the cross-gate, but it had become obvious that they could not hold it long. secretly, steadfastly, and swiftly they had, therefore, during the long wintry nights, been constructing a half moon of solid masonry on the inside of the same portal. old men, feeble women, tender children, united with the able-bodied to accomplish this work, by which they hoped still to maintain themselves after the ravelin had fallen: on the st of january, after two or three days' cannonade against the gates of the cross and of saint john, and the intervening curtains, don frederic ordered a midnight assault. the walls had been much shattered, part of the john's-gate was in ruins; the spaniards mounted the breach in great numbers; the city was almost taken by surprise; while the commander-in-chief, sure of victory, ordered the whole of his forces under arms to cut off the population who were to stream panic-struck from every issue. the attack was unexpected, but the forty or fifty sentinels defended the walls while they sounded the alarm. the tocsin bells tolled, and the citizens, whose sleep was not-apt to be heavy during that perilous winter, soon manned the ramparts again. the daylight came upon them while the fierce struggle was still at its height. the besieged, as before, defended themselves with musket and rapier, with melted pitch, with firebrands, with clubs and stones. meantime, after morning prayers in the spanish camp, the trumpet for a general assault was sounded. a tremendous onset was made upon the gate of the cross, and the ravelin was carried at last. the spaniards poured into this fort, so long the object of their attack, expecting instantly to sweep into the city with sword and fire. as they mounted its wall they became for the first time aware of the new and stronger fortification which had been secretly constructed on the inner side. the reason why the ravelin had been at last conceded was revealed. the half moon, whose existence they had not suspected, rose before them bristling with cannon. a sharp fire was instantly opened upon the besiegers, while at the same instant the ravelin, which the citizens had undermined, blew up with a severe explosion, carrying into the air all the soldiers who had just entered it so triumphantly. this was the turning point. the retreat was sounded, and the spaniards fled to their camp, leaving at least three hundred dead beneath the walls. thus was a second assault, made by an overwhelming force and led by the most accomplished generals of spain, signally and gloriously repelled by the plain burghers of harlem. it became now almost evident that the city could be taken neither by regular approaches nor by sudden attack. it was therefore resolved that it should be reduced by famine. still, as the winter wore on, the immense army without the walls were as great sufferers by that scourge as the population within. the soldiers fell in heaps before the diseases engendered by intense cold and insufficient food, for, as usual in such sieges, these deaths far outnumbered those inflicted by the enemy's hand. the sufferings inside the city necessarily increased day by day, the whole population being put on a strict allowance of food. their supplies were daily diminishing, and with the approach of the spring and the thawing of the ice on the lake, there was danger that they would be entirely cut off. if the possession of the water were lost, they must yield or starve; and they doubted whether the prince would be able to organize a fleet. the gaunt spectre of famine already rose before them with a menace which could not be misunderstood. in their misery they longed for the assaults of the spaniards, that they might look in the face of a less formidable foe. they paraded the ramparts daily, with drums beating, colors flying, taunting the besiegers to renewed attempts. to inflame the religious animosity of their antagonists, they attired themselves in the splendid, gold-embroidered vestments of the priests, which they took from the churches, and moved about in mock procession, bearing aloft images bedizened in ecclesiastical finery, relics, and other symbols, sacred in catholic eyes, which they afterwards hurled from the ramparts, or broke, with derisive shouts, into a thousand fragments. it was, however, at that season earnestly debated by the enemy whether or not to raise the siege. don frederic was clearly of opinion that enough had been done for the honor of the spanish arms. he was wearied with seeing his men perish helplessly around him, and considered the prize too paltry for the lives it must cost. his father thought differently. perhaps he recalled the siege of metz, and the unceasing regret with which, as he believed, his imperial master had remembered the advice received from him. at any rate the duke now sent back don bernardino de mendoza, whom don frederic had despatched to nimwegen, soliciting his father's permission to raise the siege, with this reply: "tell don frederic," said alva, "that if he be not decided to continue the siege till the town be taken, i shall no longer consider him my son, whatever my opinion may formerly have been. should he fall in the siege, i will myself take the field to maintain it, and when we have both perished, the duchess, my wife, shall come from spain to do the same." such language was unequivocal, and hostilities were resumed as fiercely as before. the besieged welcomed them with rapture, and, as usual, made daily the most desperate sallies. in one outbreak the harlemers, under cover of a thick fog, marched up to the enemy's chief battery, and attempted to spike the guns before his face. they were all slain at the cannon's mouth, whither patriotism, not vainglory, had led them, and lay dead around the battery, with their hammers and spikes in their hands. the same spirit was daily manifested. as the spring advanced; the kine went daily out of the gates to their peaceful pasture, notwithstanding, all the turmoil within and around; nor was it possible for the spaniards to capture a single one of these creatures, without paying at least a dozen soldiers as its price. "these citizens," wrote don frederic, "do as much as the best soldiers in the world could do." the frost broke up by the end of february. count bossu, who had been building a fleet of small vessels in amsterdam, soon afterwards succeeded in entering the lake with a few gun-boats, through a breach which he had made in the overtoom, about half a league from that city. the possession of the lake was already imperilled. the prince, however, had not been idle, and he, too, was soon ready to send his flotilla to the mere. at the same time, the city of amsterdam was in almost as hazardous a position as harlem. as the one on the lake, so did the other depend upon its dyke for its supplies. should that great artificial road which led to muyden and utrecht be cut asunder, amsterdam might be starved as soon as harlem. "since i came into the world," wrote alva, "i have never, been in such anxiety. if they should succeed in cutting off the communication along the dykes, we should have to raise the siege of harlem, to surrender, hands crossed, or to starve." orange was fully aware of the position of both places, but he was, as usual, sadly deficient in men and means. he wrote imploringly to his friends in england, in france, in germany. he urged his brother louis to bring a few soldiers, if it were humanly possible. "the whole country longs for you," he wrote to louis, "as if you were the archangel gabriel." the prince, however, did all that it was possible for man, so hampered, to do. he was himself, while anxiously writing, hoping, and waiting for supplies of troops from germany or france, doing his best with such volunteers as he could raise. he was still established at sassenheim, on the south of the city, while sonoy with his slender forces was encamped on the north. he now sent that general with as large a party as he could muster to attack the diemerdyk. his men entrenched themselves as strongly as they could between the diemer and the y, at the same time opening the sluices and breaking through the dyke. during the absence of their commander, who had gone to edam for reinforcements, they were attacked by a large force from amsterdam. a fierce amphibious contest took place, partly in boats, partly on the slippery causeway, partly in the water, resembling in character the frequent combats between the ancient batavians and romans during the wars of civilis. the patriots were eventually overpowered. sonoy, who was on his way to their rescue, was frustrated in his design by the unexpected faint-heartedness of the volunteers whom he had enlisted at edam. braving a thousand perils, he advanced, almost unattended, in his little vessel, but only to witness the overthrow and expulsion of his band. it was too late for him singly to attempt to rally the retreating troops. they had fought well, but had been forced to yield before superior numbers, one individual of the little army having performed prodigies of valor. john haring, of horn, had planted himself entirely alone upon the dyke, where it was so narrow between the y on the one side and the diemer lake on the other, that two men could hardly stand abreast. here, armed with sword and shield, he had actually opposed and held in check one thousand of the enemy, during a period long enough to enable his own men, if they, had been willing, to rally, and effectively to repel the attack. it was too late, the battle was too far lost to be restored; but still the brave soldier held the post, till, by his devotion, he had enabled all those of his compatriots who still remained in the entrenchments to make good their retreat. he then plunged into the sea, and, untouched by spear or bullet, effected his escape. had he been a greek or a roman, an horatius or a chabrias, his name would have been famous in history--his statue erected in the market- place; for the bold dutchman on his dyke had manifested as much valor in a sacred cause as the most classic heroes of antiquity. this unsuccessful attempt to cut off the communication between amsterdam and the country strengthened the hopes of alva. several hundreds of the patriots were killed or captured, and among the slain was antony oliver, the painter, through whose agency louis of nassau had been introduced into mons. his head was cut off by two ensigns in alva's service, who received the price which had been set upon it of two thousand caroli. it was then labelled with its owner's name, and thrown into the city of harlem. at the same time a new gibbet was erected in the spanish camp before the city, in a conspicuous situation, upon which all the prisoners were hanged, some by the neck, some by the heels, in full view of their countrymen. as usual, this especial act of cruelty excited the emulation of the citizens. two of the old board of magistrates, belonging to the spanish party, were still imprisoned at harlem; together with seven other persons, among whom was a priest and a boy of twelve years. they were now condemned to the gallows. the wife of one of the ex-burgomasters and his daughter, who was a beguin, went by his side as he was led to execution, piously exhorting him to sustain with courage the execrations of the populace and his ignominious doom. the rabble, irritated by such boldness, were not satisfied with wreaking their vengeance on the principal victims, but after the execution had taken place they hunted the wife and daughter into the water, where they both perished. it is right to record these instances of cruelty, sometimes perpetrated by the patriots as well as by their oppressors--a cruelty rendered almost inevitable by the incredible barbarity of the foreign invader. it was a war of wolfish malignity. in the words of mendoza, every man within and without harlem "seemed inspired by a spirit of special and personal vengeance." the innocent blood poured out in mechlin, zutphen, naarden, and upon a thousand scaffolds, had been crying too long from the ground. the hollanders must have been more or less than men not to be sometimes betrayed into acts which justice and reason must denounce. [no! it was as evil for one side as the other. d.w.] the singular mood which has been recorded of a high-spirited officer of the garrison, captain corey, illustrated the horror with which such scenes of carnage were regarded by noble natures. of a gentle disposition originally, but inflamed almost to insanity by a contemplation of spanish cruelty, he had taken up the profession of arms, to which he had a natural repugnance. brave to recklessness, he led his men on every daring outbreak, on every perilous midnight adventure. armed only with his rapier, without defensive armor, he was ever found where the battle raged most fiercely, and numerous were the victims who fell before his sword. on returning, however, from such excursions, he invariably shut himself in his quarters, took to his bed, and lay for days, sick with remorse, and bitterly lamenting all that bloodshed in which he had so deeply participated, and which a cruel fate seemed to render necessary. as the gentle mood subsided, his frenzy would return, and again he would rush to the field, to seek new havoc and fresh victims for his rage. the combats before the walls were of almost daily occurrence. on the th march, one thousand of the besieged made a brilliant sally, drove in all the outposts of the enemy, burned three hundred tents, and captured seven cannon, nine standards, and many wagon-loads of provisions, all which they succeeded in bringing with them into the city.--having thus reinforced themselves, in a manner not often practised by the citizens of a beleaguered town, in the very face of thirty thousand veterans--having killed eight hundred of the enemy, which was nearly one for every man engaged, while they lost but four of their own party--the harlemers, on their return, erected a trophy of funereal but exulting aspect. a mound of earth was constructed upon the ramparts, in the form of a colossal grave, in full view of the enemy's camp, and upon it were planted the cannon and standards so gallantly won in the skirmish, with the taunting inscription floating from the centre of the mound "harlem is the graveyard of the spaniards." such were the characteristics of this famous siege during the winter and early spring. alva might well write to his sovereign, that "it was a war such as never before was seen or heard of in any land on earth." yet the duke had known near sixty years of warfare. he informed philip that "never was a place defended with such skill and bravery as harlem, either by rebels or by men fighting for their lawful prince." certainly his son had discovered his mistake in asserting that the city would yield in a week; while the father, after nearly six years' experience, had found this "people of butter" less malleable than even those "iron people" whom he boasted of having tamed. it was seen that neither the skies of greece or italy, nor the sublime scenery of switzerland, were necessary to arouse the spirit of defiance to foreign oppression--a spirit which beat as proudly among the wintry mists and the level meadows of holland as it had ever done under sunnier atmospheres and in more romantic lands. mendoza had accomplished his mission to spain, and had returned with supplies of money within six weeks from the date of his departure. owing to his representations and alva's entreaties, philip had, moreover, ordered requesens, governor of milan, to send forward to the netherlands three veteran spanish regiments, which were now more required at harlem than in italy. while the land force had thus been strengthened, the fleet upon the lake had also been largely increased. the prince of orange had, on the other hand, provided more than a hundred sail of various descriptions, so that the whole surface of the mere was now alive with ships. seafights and skirmishes took place almost daily, and it was obvious that the life and death struggle was now to be fought upon the water. so long as the hollanders could hold or dispute the possession of the lake, it was still possible to succor harlem from time to time. should the spaniards overcome the prince's fleet, the city must inevitably starve. at last, on the th of may, a decisive engagement of the fleets took place. the vessels grappled with each other, and there was a long, fierce, hand-to-hand combat. under bossu were one hundred vessels; under martin brand, admiral of the patriot fleet, nearly one hundred and fifty, but of lesser dimensions. batenhurg commanded the troops on board the dutch vessels. after a protracted conflict, in which several thousands were killed, the victory was decided in favor of the spaniards. twenty- two of the prince's vessels being captured, and the rest totally routed, bossu swept across the lake in triumph. the forts belonging to the patriots were immediately taken, and the harlemers, with their friends, entirely excluded from the lake. this was the beginning of the end. despair took possession of the city. the whole population had been long subsisting upon an allowance of a pound of bread to each man, and half-a-pound for each woman; but the bread was now exhausted, the famine had already begun, and with the loss of the lake starvation was close at their doors. they sent urgent entreaties to, the prince to attempt something in their behalf. three weeks more they assigned as the longest term during which they could possibly hold out. he sent them word by carrier pigeons to endure yet a little time, for he was assembling a force, and would still succeed in furnishing them with supplies. meantime, through the month of june the sufferings of the inhabitants increased hourly. ordinary food had long since vanished. the population now subsisted on linseed and rape-seed; as these supplies were exhausted they devoured cats, dogs, rats, and mice, and when at last these unclean animals had been all consumed, they boiled the hides of horses and oxen; they ate shoe-leather; they plucked the nettles and grass from the graveyards, and the weeds which grew between the stones of the pavement, that with such food they might still support life a little longer, till the promised succor should arrive. men, women, and children fell dead by scores in the streets, perishing of pure starvation, and the survivors had hardly the heart or the strength to bury them out of their sight. they who yet lived seemed to flit like shadows to and fro, envying those whose sufferings had already been terminated by death. thus wore away the month of june. on the st of july the burghers consented to a parley. deputies were sent to confer with the besiegers, but the negotiations were abruptly terminated, for no terms of compromise were admitted by don frederic. on the rd a tremendous cannonade was re- opened upon the city. one thousand and eight balls were discharged--the most which had ever been thrown in one day, since the commencement of the siege. the walls were severely shattered, but the assault was not ordered, because the besiegers were assured that it was physically impossible for the inhabitants to hold out many days longer. a last letter, written in blood, was now despatched to the prince of orange, stating the forlorn condition to which they were reduced. at the same time, with the derision of despair, they flung into the hostile camp the few loaves of bread which yet remained within the city walls. a day or two later, a second and third parley were held, with no more satisfactory result than had attended the first. a black flag was now hoisted on the cathedral tower, the signal of despair to friend and foe, but a pigeon soon afterwards flew into the town with a letter from the prince, begging them to maintain themselves two days longer, because succor was approaching. the prince had indeed been doing all which, under the circumstances, was possible. he assembled the citizens of delft in the market-place, and announced his intention of marching in person to the relief of the city, in the face of the besieging army, if any troops could be obtained. soldiers there were none; but there was the deepest sympathy for harlem throughout its sister cities, delft, rotterdam, gouda. a numerous mass of burghers, many of them persons of station, all people of respectability, volunteered to march to the rescue. the prince highly disapproved of this miscellaneous army, whose steadfastness he could not trust. as a soldier, he knew that for such a momentous enterprise, enthusiasm could not supply the place of experience. nevertheless, as no regular troops could be had, and as the emergency allowed no delay, he drew up a commission, appointing paulus buys to be governor during his absence, and provisional stadholder, should he fall in the expedition. four thousand armed volunteers, with six hundred mounted troopers, under carlo de noot, had been assembled, and the prince now placed himself at their head. there was, however, a universal cry of remonstrance from the magistracies and burghers of all the towns, and from the troops themselves, at this project. they would not consent that a life so precious, so indispensable to the existence of holland, should be needlessly hazarded. it was important to succor harlem, but the prince was of more value than many cities. he at last reluctantly consented, therefore, to abandon the command of the expedition to baron batenburg, the less willingly from the want of confidence which he could not help feeling in the character of the forces. on the th of july, at dusk, the expedition set forth from sassenheim. it numbered nearly five thousand men, who had with them four hundred wagon-loads of provisions and seven field-pieces. among the volunteers, oldenbarneveld; afterwards so illustrious in the history of the republic; marched in the ranks, with his musket on his shoulder. such was a sample of the spirit which pervaded the population of the province. batenburg came to a halt in the woods of nordwyk, on the south aide of the city, where he remained till midnight. all seemed still in the enemy's camp. after prayers, he gave orders to push forward, hoping to steal through the lines of his sleeping adversaries and accomplish the relief by surprise. he was destined to be bitterly disappointed. his plans and his numbers were thoroughly known to the spaniards, two doves, bearing letters which contained the details of the intended expedition, having been shot and brought into don frederic's camp. the citizens, it appeared, had broken through the curtain work on the side where batenburg was expected, in order that a sally might be made in co-operation with the relieving force, as soon as it should appear. signal fires had been agreed upon, by which the besieged were to be made aware of the approach of their friends. the spanish commander accordingly ordered a mass of green branches, pitch, and straw, to be lighted opposite to the gap in the city wall. behind it he stationed five thousand picked troops. five thousand more, with a force of cavalry, were placed in the neighbourhood of the downs, with orders to attack the patriot army on the left. six regiments, under romero, were ordered to move eastward, and assail their right. the dense mass of smoke concealed the beacon lights displayed by batenburg from the observation of the townspeople, and hid the five thousand spaniards from the advancing hollanders. as batenburg emerged from the wood, he found himself attacked by a force superior to his own, while a few minutes later he was entirely enveloped by overwhelming numbers. the whole spanish army was, indeed; under arms, and had been expecting him for two days. the unfortunate citizens alone were ignorant of his arrival. the noise of the conflict they supposed to be a false alarm created by the spaniards, to draw them into their camp; and they declined a challenge which they were in no condition to accept. batenburg was soon slain, and his troops utterly routed. the number killed was variously estimated at from six hundred to two and even three thousand. it is, at any rate, certain that the whole force was entirely destroyed or dispersed, and the attempt to relieve the city completely frustrated. the death of batenburg was the less regretted, because he was accused, probably with great injustice, of having been intoxicated at the time of action, and therefore incapable of properly, conducting the enterprise entrusted to him. the spaniards now cut off the nose and ears of a prisoner and sent him into the city, to announce the news, while a few heads were also thrown over the walls to confirm the intelligence. when this decisive overthrow became known in delft, there was even an outbreak of indignation against orange. according to a statement of alva, which, however, is to be received with great distrust, some of the populace wished to sack the prince's house, and offered him personal indignities. certainly, if these demonstrations were made, popular anger was never more senseless; but the tale rests entirely, upon a vague assertion of the duke, and is entirely, at variance with every other contemporaneous account of these transactions. it had now become absolutely, necessary, however, for the heroic but wretched town to abandon itself to its fate. it was impossible to attempt anything more in its behalf. the lake and its forts were in the hands of the enemy, the best force which could be mustered to make head against the besieging army had been cut to pieces, and the prince of orange, with a heavy heart, now sent word that the burghers were to make the best terms they could with the enemy. the tidings of despair created a terrible commotion in the starving city. there was no hope either in submission or resistance. massacre or starvation was the only alternative. but if there was no hope within the walls, without there was still a soldier's death. for a moment the garrison and the able-bodied citizens resolved to advance from the gates in a solid column, to cut their way through the enemy's camp, or to perish on the field. it was thought that the helpless and the infirm, who would alone be left in the city, might be treated with indulgence after the fighting men had all been slain. at any rate, by remaining the strong could neither protect nor comfort them. as soon, however, as this resolve was known, there was such wailing and outcry of women and children as pierced the hearts of the soldiers and burghers, and caused them to forego the project. they felt that it was cowardly not to die in their presence. it was then determined to form all the females, the sick, the aged, and the children, into a square, to surround them with all the able-bodied men who still remained, and thus arrayed to fight their way forth from the gates, and to conquer by the strength of despair, or at least to perish all together. these desperate projects, which the besieged were thought quite capable of executing, were soon known in the spanish camp. don frederic felt, after what he had witnessed in the past seven months, that there was nothing which the harlemers could not do or dare. he feared lest they should set fire to their city, and consume their houses, themselves, and their children, to ashes together; and he was unwilling that the fruits of his victory, purchased at such a vast expense, should be snatched from his hand as he was about to gather them. a letter was accordingly, by his order, sent to the magistracy and leading citizens, in the name of count overstein, commander of the german forces in the besieging army. this despatch invited a surrender at discretion, but contained the solemn assurance that no punishment should be inflicted except upon those who, in the judgment of the citizens themselves, had deserved it, and promised ample forgiveness if the town should submit without further delay. at the moment of sending this letter, don frederic was in possession of strict orders from his father not to leave a man alive of the garrison, excepting only the germans, and to execute besides a large number of the burghers. these commands he dared not disobey,--even if he had felt any inclination to do so. in consequence of the semi-official letter of overstein, however, the city formally surrendered at discretion on the th july. the great bell was tolled, and orders were issued that all arms in the possession of the garrison or the inhabitants should be brought to the town-house. the men were then ordered to assemble in the cloister of zyl, the women in the cathedral. on the same day, don frederic, accompanied by count bossu and a numerous staff, rode into the city. the scene which met his view might have moved a heart of stone. everywhere was evidence of the misery which had been so bravely endured during that seven months' siege. the smouldering ruins of houses, which had been set on fire by balls, the shattered fortifications, the felled trunks of trees, upturned pavements, broken images and other materials for repairing gaps made by the daily cannonade, strewn around in all directions, the skeletons of unclean animals from which the flesh had been gnawed, the unburied bodies of men and women who had fallen dead in the public thoroughfares--more than all, the gaunt and emaciated forms of those who still survived, the ghosts of their former, selves, all might have induced at least a doubt whether the suffering inflicted already were not a sufficient punishment, even for crimes so deep as heresy and schism. but this was far from being the sentiment of don frederic. he seemed to read defiance as well as despair in the sunken eyes which glared upon him as he entered the place, and he took no thought of the pledge which he had informally but sacredly given. all the officers of the garrison were at once arrested. some of them had anticipated the sentence of their conqueror by a voluntary death. captain bordet, a french officer of distinction, like brutus, compelled his servant to hold the sword upon which he fell, rather than yield himself alive to the vengeance of the spaniards. traits of generosity were not wanting. instead of peter hasselaer, a young officer who had displayed remarkable bravery throughout the siege, the spaniards by. mistake arrested his cousin nicholas. the prisoner was suffering himself to be led away to the inevitable scaffold without remonstrance, when peter hasselaer pushed his way violently through the ranks of the captors. "if you want ensign hasselaer, i am the man. let this innocent person depart," he cried. before the sun set his head had fallen. all the officers were taken to the house of kleef, where they were immediately executed.--captain ripperda, who had so heroically rebuked the craven conduct of the magistracy, whose eloquence had inflamed the soldiers and citizens to resistance, and whose skill and courage had sustained the siege so long, was among the first to suffer. a natural son of cardinal granvelle, who could have easily saved his life by proclaiming a parentage which he loathed, and lancelot brederode, an illegitimate scion of that ancient house, were also among these earliest victims. the next day alva came over to the camp. he rode about the place, examining the condition of the fortifications from the outside, but returned to amsterdam without having entered the city. on the following morning the massacre commenced. the plunder had been commuted for two hundred and forty thousand guilders, which the citizens bound themselves to pay in four instalments; but murder was an indispensable accompaniment of victory, and admitted of no compromise. moreover, alva had already expressed the determination to effect a general massacre upon this occasion. the garrison, during the siege, had been reduced from four thousand to eighteen hundred. of these the germans, six hundred in number, were, by alva's order, dismissed, on a pledge to serve no more against the king. all the rest of the garrison were immediately butchered, with at least as many citizens. drummers went about the city daily, proclaiming that all who harbored persons having, at any former period, been fugitives, were immediately to give them up, on pain of being instantly hanged themselves in their own doors. upon these refugees and upon the soldiery fell the brunt of the slaughter; although, from day to day, reasons were perpetually discovered for putting to death every individual at all distinguished by service, station, wealth, or liberal principles; for the carnage could not be accomplished at once, but, with all the industry and heartiness employed, was necessarily protracted through several days. five executioners, with their attendants, were kept constantly at work; and when at last they were exhausted with fatigue, or perhaps sickened with horror, three hundred wretches were tied two and two, back to back, and drowned in the harlem lake. at last, after twenty-three hundred human creatures had been murdered in cold blood, within a city where so many thousands had previously perished by violent or by lingering deaths; the blasphemous farce of a pardon was enacted. fifty-seven of the most prominent burghers of the place were, however, excepted from the act of amnesty, and taken into custody as security for the future good conduct of the other citizens. of these hostages some were soon executed, some died in prison, and all would have been eventually sacrificed, had not the naval defeat of bossu soon afterwards enabled the prince of orange to rescue the remaining prisoners. ten thousand two hundred and fifty-six shots had been discharged against the walls during the siege. twelve thousand of the besieging army had died of wounds or disease, during the seven months and two days, between the, investment and the surrender. in the earlier part of august, after the executions had been satisfactorily accomplished, don frederic made his triumphal entry, and the first chapter in the invasion of holland was closed. such was the memorable siege of harlem, an event in which we are called upon to wonder equally at human capacity to inflict and to endure misery. the spaniards celebrated a victory, while in utrecht they made an effigy of the prince of orange, which they carried about in procession, broke upon the wheel, and burned. it was, however, obvious, that if the reduction of harlem were a triumph, it was one which the conquerors might well exchange for a defeat. at any rate, it was certain that the spanish empire was not strong enough to sustain many more such victories. if it had required thirty thousand choice troops, among which were three regiments called by alva respectively, the "invincibles," the "immortals," and the "none-such," to conquer the weakest city of holland in seven months, and with the loss of twelve thousand men; how many men, how long a time, and how many deaths would it require to reduce the rest of that little province? for, as the sack of naarden had produced the contrary effect from the one intended, inflaming rather than subduing the spirit of dutch resistance, so the long and glorious defence of harlem, notwithstanding its tragical termination, had only served to strain to the highest pitch the hatred and patriotism of the other cities in the province. even the treasures of the new world were inadequate to pay for the conquest of that little sand-bank. within five years, twenty-five millions of florins had been sent from spain for war expenses in the netherlands.--yet, this amount, with the addition of large sums annually derived from confiscations, of five millions, at which the proceeds of the hundredth penny was estimated, and the two millions yearly, for which the tenth and twentieth pence had been compounded, was insufficient to save the treasury from beggary and the unpaid troops from mutiny. nevertheless, for the moment the joy created was intense. philip was lying dangerously ill at the wood of segovia, when the happy tidings of the reduction of harlem, with its accompanying butchery, arrived. the account of all this misery, minutely detailed to him by alva, acted like magic. the blood of twenty-three hundred of his fellow-creatures--coldly murdered, by his orders, in a single city--proved for the sanguinary monarch the elixir of life: he drank and was refreshed. "the principal medicine which has cured his majesty," wrote secretary cayas from madrid to alva, "is the joy caused to him by the good news which you have communicated of the surrender of harlem." in the height of his exultation, the king forgot how much dissatisfaction he had recently felt with the progress of events in the netherlands; how much treasure had been annually expended with an insufficient result. "knowing your necessity," continued cayas, "his majesty instantly sent for doctor velasco, and ordered him to provide you with funds, if he had to descend into the earth to dig for it." while such was the exultation of the spaniards, the prince of orange was neither dismayed nor despondent. as usual, he trusted to a higher power than man. "i had hoped to send you better news," he wrote, to count louis, "nevertheless, since it has otherwise pleased the good god, we must conform ourselves to his divine will. i take the same god to witness that i have done everything according to my means, which was possible, to succor the city." a few days later, writing in the same spirit, he informed his brother that the zealanders had succeeded in capturing the castle of rammekens, on the isle of walcheren. "i hope," he said, "that this will reduce the pride of our enemies, who, after the surrender of harlem, have thought that they were about to swallow us alive. i assure myself, however, that they will find a very different piece of work from the one which they expect." etext editor's bookmarks: enthusiasm could not supply the place of experience envying those whose sufferings had already been terminated leave not a single man alive in the city, and to burn every house not strong enough to sustain many more such victories oldenbarneveld; afterwards so illustrious sent them word by carrier pigeons three hundred fighting women tyranny, ever young and ever old, constantly reproducing herself wonder equally at human capacity to inflict and to endure misery motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition the rise of the dutch republic, - , complete a history john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. corresponding member of the institute of france, etc. [etext editor's note: john lothrop motley, born in dorchester, mass. , died . other works: morton's hopes and merry mount, novels. motley was the united states minister to austria, - , and the united states minister to england, - . mark twain mentions his respect for john motley. oliver wendell holmes said in 'an oration delivered before the city authorities of boston' on the th of july, : "'it cannot be denied,'--says another observer, placed on one of our national watch-towers in a foreign capital,--'it cannot be denied that the tendency of european public opinion, as delivered from high places, is more and more unfriendly to our cause; but the people,' he adds, 'everywhere sympathize with us, for they know that our cause is that of free institutions,--that our struggle is that of the people against an oligarchy.' these are the words of the minister to austria, whose generous sympathies with popular liberty no homage paid to his genius by the class whose admiring welcome is most seductive to scholars has ever spoiled; our fellow-citizen, the historian of a great republic which infused a portion of its life into our own,--john lothrop motley." (see the biography of motley, by holmes) ed.] preface the rise of the dutch republic must ever be regarded as one of the leading events of modern times. without the birth of this great commonwealth, the various historical phenomena of: the sixteenth and following centuries must have either not existed; or have presented themselves under essential modifications.--itself an organized protest against ecclesiastical tyranny and universal empire, the republic guarded with sagacity, at many critical periods in the world's history; that balance of power which, among civilized states; ought always to be identical with the scales of divine justice. the splendid empire of charles the fifth was erected upon the grave of liberty. it is a consolation to those who have hope in humanity to watch, under the reign of his successor, the gradual but triumphant resurrection of the spirit over which the sepulchre had so long been sealed. from the handbreadth of territory called the province of holland rises a power which wages eighty years' warfare with the most potent empire upon earth, and which, during the progress of the struggle, becoming itself a mighty state, and binding about its own slender form a zone of the richest possessions of earth, from pole to tropic, finally dictates its decrees to the empire of charles. so much is each individual state but a member of one great international commonwealth, and so close is the relationship between the whole human family, that it is impossible for a nation, even while struggling for itself, not to acquire something for all mankind. the maintenance of the right by the little provinces of holland and zealand in the sixteenth, by holland and england united in the seventeenth, and by the united states of america in the eighteenth centuries, forms but a single chapter in the great volume of human fate; for the so-called revolutions of holland, england, and america, are all links of one chain. to the dutch republic, even more than to florence at an earlier day, is the world indebted for practical instruction in that great science of political equilibrium which must always become more and more important as the various states of the civilized world are pressed more closely together, and as the struggle for pre-eminence becomes more feverish and fatal. courage and skill in political and military combinations enabled william the silent to overcome the most powerful and unscrupulous monarch of his age. the same hereditary audacity and fertility of genius placed the destiny of europe in the hands of william's great-grandson, and enabled him to mould into an impregnable barrier the various elements of opposition to the overshadowing monarchy of louis xiv. as the schemes of the inquisition and the unparalleled tyranny of philip, in one century, led to the establishment of the republic of the united provinces, so, in the next, the revocation of the nantes edict and the invasion of holland are avenged by the elevation of the dutch stadholder upon the throne of the stipendiary stuarts. to all who speak the english language; the history of the great agony through which the republic of holland was ushered into life must have peculiar interest, for it is a portion of the records of the anglo-saxon race--essentially the same, whether in friesland, england, or massachusetts. a great naval and commercial commonwealth, occupying a small portion of europe but conquering a wide empire by the private enterprise of trading companies, girdling the world with its innumerable dependencies in asia, america, africa, australia--exercising sovereignty in brazil, guiana, the west indies, new york, at the cape of good hope, in hindostan, ceylon, java, sumatra, new holland--having first laid together, as it were, many of the cyclopean blocks, out of which the british realm, at a late: period, has been constructed--must always be looked upon with interest by englishmen, as in a great measure the precursor in their own scheme of empire. for america the spectacle is one of still deeper import. the dutch republic originated in the opposition of the rational elements of human nature to sacerdotal dogmatism and persecution--in the courageous resistance of historical and chartered liberty to foreign despotism. neither that liberty nor ours was born of the cloud-embraces of a false divinity with, a humanity of impossible beauty, nor was the infant career of either arrested in blood and tears by the madness of its worshippers. "to maintain," not to overthrow, was the device of the washington of the sixteenth century, as it was the aim of our own hero and his great contemporaries. the great western republic, therefore--in whose anglo-saxon veins flows much of that ancient and kindred blood received from the nation once ruling a noble portion of its territory, and tracking its own political existence to the same parent spring of temperate human liberty--must look with affectionate interest upon the trials of the elder commonwealth. these volumes recite the achievement of dutch independence, for its recognition was delayed till the acknowledgment was superfluous and ridiculous. the existence of the republic is properly to be dated from the union of utrecht in , while the final separation of territory into independent and obedient provinces, into the commonwealth of the united states and the belgian provinces of spain, was in reality effected by william the silent, with whose death three years subsequently, the heroic period of the history may be said to terminate. at this point these volumes close. another series, with less attention to minute details, and carrying the story through a longer range of years, will paint the progress of the republic in its palmy days, and narrate the establishment of, its external system of dependencies and its interior combinations for self-government and european counterpoise. the lessons of history and the fate of free states can never be sufficiently pondered by those upon whom so large and heavy a responsibility for the maintenance of rational human freedom rests. i have only to add that this work is the result of conscientious research, and of an earnest desire to arrive at the truth. i have faithfully studied all the important contemporary chroniclers and later historians--dutch, flemish, french, italian, spanish, or german. catholic and protestant, monarchist and republican, have been consulted with the same sincerity. the works of bor (whose enormous but indispensable folios form a complete magazine of contemporary state-papers, letters, and pamphlets, blended together in mass, and connected by a chain of artless but earnest narrative), of meteren, de thou, burgundius, heuterus; tassis, viglius, hoofd, haraeus, van der haer, grotius-of van der vynckt, wagenaer, van wyn, de jonghe, kluit, van kampen, dewez, kappelle, bakhuyzen, groen van prinsterer--of ranke and raumer, have been as familiar to me as those of mendoza, carnero, cabrera, herrera, ulloa, bentivoglio, peres, strada. the manuscript relations of those argus-eyed venetian envoys who surprised so many courts and cabinets in their most unguarded moments, and daguerreotyped their character and policy for the instruction of the crafty republic, and whose reports remain such an inestimable source for the secret history of the sixteenth century, have been carefully examined--especially the narratives of the caustic and accomplished badovaro, of suriano, and michele. it is unnecessary to add that all the publications of m. gachard--particularly the invaluable correspondence of philip ii. and of william the silent, as well as the "archives et correspondence" of the orange nassau family, edited by the learned and distinguished groen van prinsterer, have been my constant guides through the tortuous labyrinth of spanish and netherland politics. the large and most interesting series of pamphlets known as "the duncan collection," in the royal library at the hague, has also afforded a great variety of details by which i have endeavoured to give color and interest to the narrative. besides these, and many other printed works, i have also had the advantage of perusing many manuscript histories, among which may be particularly mentioned the works of pontua payen, of renom de france, and of pasquier de la barre; while the vast collection of unpublished documents in the royal archives of the hague, of brussels, and of dresden, has furnished me with much new matter of great importance. i venture to hope that many years of labour, a portion of them in the archives of those countries whose history forms the object of my study, will not have been entirely in vain; and that the lovers of human progress, the believers in the capacity of nations for self-government and self-improvement, and the admirers of disinterested human genius and virtue, may find encouragement for their views in the detailed history of an heroic people in its most eventful period, and in the life and death of the great man whose name and fame are identical with those of his country. no apology is offered for this somewhat personal statement. when an unknown writer asks the attention of the public upon an important theme, he is not only authorized, but required, to show, that by industry and earnestness he has entitled himself to a hearing. the author too keenly feels that he has no further claims than these, and he therefore most diffidently asks for his work the indulgence of his readers. i would take this opportunity of expressing my gratitude to dr. klemm, hofrath and chief librarian at dresden, and to mr. von weber, ministerial-rath and head of the royal archives of saxony, for the courtesy and kindness extended to me so uniformly during the course of my researches in that city. i would also speak a word of sincere thanks to mr. campbell, assistant librarian at the hague, for his numerous acts of friendship during the absence of, his chief, m. holtrop. to that most distinguished critic and historian, m. bakhuyzen van den brinck, chief archivist of the netherlands, i am under deep obligations for advice, instruction, and constant kindness, during my residence at the hague; and i would also signify my sense of the courtesy of mr. charter-master de schwane, and of the accuracy with which copies of mss. in the archives were prepared for me by his care. finally, i would allude in the strongest language of gratitude and respect to m. gachard, archivist-general of belgium, for his unwearied courtesy and manifold acts of kindness to me during my studies in the royal archives of brussels. the rise of the dutch republic historical introduction. part . i. the north-western corner of the vast plain which extends from the german ocean to the ural mountains, is occupied by the countries called the netherlands. this small triangle, enclosed between france, germany, and the sea, is divided by the modern kingdoms of belgium and holland into two nearly equal portions. our earliest information concerning this territory is derived from the romans. the wars waged by that nation with the northern barbarians have rescued the damp island of batavia, with its neighboring morasses, from the obscurity in which they might have remained for ages, before any thing concerning land or people would have been made known by the native inhabitants. julius caesar has saved from, oblivion the heroic savages who fought against his legions in defence of their dismal homes with ferocious but unfortunate patriotism; and the great poet of england, learning from the conqueror's commentaries the name of the boldest tribe, has kept the nervii, after almost twenty centuries, still fresh and familiar in our ears. tacitus, too, has described with singular minuteness the struggle between the people of these regions and the power of rome, overwhelming, although tottering to its fall; and has moreover, devoted several chapters of his work upon germany to a description of the most remarkable teutonic tribes of the netherlands. geographically and ethnographically, the low countries belong both to gaul and to germany. it is even doubtful to which of the two the batavian island, which is the core of the whole country, was reckoned by the romans. it is, however, most probable that all the land, with the exception of friesland, was considered a part of gaul. three great rivers--the rhine, the meuse, and the scheld--had deposited their slime for ages among the dunes and sand banks heaved up by the ocean around their mouths. a delta was thus formed, habitable at last for man. it was by nature a wide morass, in which oozy islands and savage forests were interspersed among lagoons and shallows; a district lying partly below the level of the ocean at its higher tides, subject to constant overflow from the rivers, and to frequent and terrible inundations by the sea. the rhine, leaving at last the regions where its storied lapse, through so many ages, has been consecrated alike by nature and art-by poetry and eventful truth--flows reluctantly through the basalt portal of the seven mountains into the open fields which extend to the german sea. after entering this vast meadow, the stream divides itself into two branches, becoming thus the two-horned rhine of virgil, and holds in these two arms the island of batavia. the meuse, taking its rise in the vosges, pours itself through the ardennes wood, pierces the rocky ridges upon the southeastern frontier of the low countries, receives the sambre in the midst of that picturesque anthracite basin where now stands the city of namur, and then moves toward the north, through nearly the whole length of the country, till it mingles its waters with the rhine. the scheld, almost exclusively a belgian river, after leaving its fountains in picardy, flows through the present provinces of flanders and hainault. in caesar's time it was suffocated before reaching the sea in quicksands and thickets, which long afforded protection to the savage inhabitants against the roman arms; and which the slow process of nature and the untiring industry of man have since converted into the archipelago of zealand and south holland. these islands were unknown to the romans. such were the rivers, which, with their numerous tributaries, coursed through the spongy land. their frequent overflow, when forced back upon their currents by the stormy sea, rendered the country almost uninhabitable. here, within a half-submerged territory, a race of wretched ichthyophagi dwelt upon terpen, or mounds, which they had raised, like beavers, above the almost fluid soil. here, at a later day, the same race chained the tyrant ocean and his mighty streams into subserviency, forcing them to fertilize, to render commodious, to cover with a beneficent network of veins and arteries, and to bind by watery highways with the furthest ends of the world, a country disinherited by nature of its rights. a region, outcast of ocean and earth, wrested at last from both domains their richest treasures. a race, engaged for generations in stubborn conflict with the angry elements, was unconsciously educating itself for its great struggle with the still more savage despotism of man. the whole territory of the netherlands was girt with forests. an extensive belt of woodland skirted the sea-coast; reaching beyond the mouths of the rhine. along the outer edge of this carrier, the dunes cast up by the sea were prevented by the close tangle of thickets from drifting further inward; and thus formed a breastwork which time and art were to strengthen. the groves of haarlem and the hague are relics of this ancient forest. the badahuenna wood, horrid with druidic sacrifices, extended along the eastern line of the vanished lake of flevo. the vast hercynian forest, nine days' journey in breadth, closed in the country on the german side, stretching from the banks of the rhine to the remote regions of the dacians, in such vague immensity (says the conqueror of the whole country) that no german, after traveling sixty days, had ever reached, or even heard of; its commencement. on the south, the famous groves of ardennes, haunted by faun and satyr, embowered the country, and separated it from celtic gaul. thus inundated by mighty rivers, quaking beneath the level of the ocean, belted about by hirsute forests, this low land, nether land, hollow land, or holland, seemed hardly deserving the arms of the all-accomplished roman. yet foreign tyranny, from the earliest ages, has coveted this meagre territory as lustfully as it has sought to wrest from their native possessors those lands with the fatal gift of beauty for their dower; while the genius of liberty has inspired as noble a resistance to oppression here as it ever aroused in grecian or italian breasts. ii. it can never be satisfactorily ascertained who were the aboriginal inhabitants. the record does not reach beyond caesar's epoch, and he found the territory on the left of the rhine mainly tenanted by tribes of the celtic family. that large division of the indo-european group which had already overspread many portions of asia minor, greece, germany, the british islands, france, and spain, had been long settled in belgic gaul, and constituted the bulk of its population. checked in its westward movement by the atlantic, its current began to flow backwards towards its fountains, so that the gallic portion of the netherland population was derived from the original race in its earlier wanderings and from the later and refluent tide coming out of celtic gaul. the modern appellation of the walloons points to the affinity of their ancestors with the gallic, welsh, and gaelic family. the belgae were in many respects a superior race to most of their blood-allies. they were, according to caesar's testimony, the bravest of all the celts. this may be in part attributed to the presence of several german tribes, who, at this period had already forced their way across the rhine, mingled their qualities with the belgic material, and lent an additional mettle to the celtic blood. the heart of the country was thus inhabited by a gallic race, but the frontiers had been taken possession of by teutonic tribes. when the cimbri and their associates, about a century before our era, made their memorable onslaught upon rome, the early inhabitants of the rhine island of batavia, who were probably celts, joined in the expedition. a recent and tremendous inundation had swept away their miserable homes, and even the trees of the forests, and had thus rendered them still more dissatisfied with their gloomy abodes. the island was deserted of its population. at about the same period a civil dissension among the chatti--a powerful german race within the hercynian forest--resulted in the expatriation of a portion of the people. the exiles sought a new home in the empty rhine island, called it "bet-auw," or "good-meadow," and were themselves called, thenceforward, batavi, or batavians. these batavians, according to tacitus, were the bravest of all the germans. the chatti, of whom they formed a portion, were a pre-eminently warlike race. "others go to battle," says the historian, "these go to war." their bodies were more hardy, their minds more vigorous, than those of other tribes. their young men cut neither hair nor beard till they had slain an enemy. on the field of battle, in the midst of carnage and plunder, they, for the first time, bared their faces. the cowardly and sluggish, only, remained unshorn. they wore an iron ring, too, or shackle upon their necks until they had performed the same achievement, a symbol which they then threw away, as the emblem of sloth. the batavians were ever spoken of by the romans with entire respect. they conquered the belgians, they forced the free frisians to pay tribute, but they called the batavians their friends. the tax-gatherer never invaded their island. honorable alliance united them with the romans. it was, however, the alliance of the giant and the dwarf. the roman gained glory and empire, the batavian gained nothing but the hardest blows. the batavian cavalry became famous throughout the republic and the empire. they were the favorite troops of caesar, and with reason, for it was their valor which turned the tide of battle at pharsalia. from the death of julius down to the times of vespasian, the batavian legion was the imperial body guard, the batavian island the basis of operations in the roman wars with gaul, germany, and britain. beyond the batavians, upon the north, dwelt the great frisian family, occupying the regions between the rhine and ems, the zuyder zee and the dollart, both caused by the terrific inundations of the thirteenth century and not existing at this period, did not then interpose boundaries between kindred tribes. all formed a homogeneous nation of pure german origin. thus, the population of the country was partly celtic, partly german. of these two elements, dissimilar in their tendencies and always difficult to blend, the netherland people has ever been compounded. a certain fatality of history has perpetually helped to separate still more widely these constituents, instead of detecting and stimulating the elective affinities which existed. religion, too, upon all great historical occasions, has acted as the most powerful of dissolvents. otherwise, had so many valuable and contrasted characteristics been early fused into a whole, it would be difficult to show a race more richly endowed by nature for dominion and progress than the belgo-germanic people. physically the two races resembled each other. both were of vast stature. the gigantic gaul derided the roman soldiers as a band of pigmies. the german excited astonishment by his huge body and muscular limbs. both were fair, with fierce blue eyes, but the celt had yellow hair floating over his shoulders, and the german long locks of fiery red, which he even dyed with woad to heighten the favorite color, and wore twisted into a war-knot upon the top of his head. here the german's love of finery ceased. a simple tunic fastened at his throat with a thorn, while his other garments defined and gave full play to his limbs, completed his costume. the gaul, on the contrary, was so fond of dress that the romans divided his race respectively into long-haired, breeched, and gowned gaul; (gallia comata, braccata, togata). he was fond of brilliant and parti-colored clothes, a taste which survives in the highlander's costume. he covered his neck and arms with golden chains. the simple and ferocious german wore no decoration save his iron ring, from which his first homicide relieved him. the gaul was irascible, furious in his wrath, but less formidable in a sustained conflict with a powerful foe. "all the gauls are of very high stature," says a soldier who fought under julian. (amm. marcel. xv. . ). "they are white, golden-haired, terrible in the fierceness of their eyes, greedy of quarrels, bragging and insolent. a band of strangers could not resist one of them in a brawl, assisted by his strong blue-eyed wife, especially when she begins, gnashing her teeth, her neck swollen, brandishing her vast and snowy arms, and kicking with her heels at the same time, to deliver her fisticuffs, like bolts from the twisted strings of a catapult. the voices of many are threatening and formidable. they are quick to anger, but quickly appeased. all are clean in their persons; nor among them is ever seen any man or woman, as elsewhere, squalid in ragged garments. at all ages they are apt for military service. the old man goes forth to the fight with equal strength of breast, with limbs as hardened by cold and assiduous labor, and as contemptuous of all dangers, as the young. not one of them, as in italy is often the case, was ever known to cut off his thumbs to avoid the service of mars." the polity of each race differed widely from that of the other. the government of both may be said to have been republican, but the gallic tribes were aristocracies, in which the influence of clanship was a predominant feature; while the german system, although nominally regal, was in reality democratic. in gaul were two orders, the nobility and the priesthood, while the people, says caesar, were all slaves. the knights or nobles were all trained to arms. each went forth to battle, followed by his dependents, while a chief of all the clans was appointed to take command during the war. the prince or chief governor was elected annually, but only by the nobles. the people had no rights at all, and were glad to assign themselves as slaves to any noble who was strong enough to protect them. in peace the druids exercised the main functions of government. they decided all controversies, civil and criminal. to rebel against their decrees was punished by exclusion from the sacrifices--a most terrible excommunication, through which the criminal was cut off from all intercourse with his fellow-creatures. with the germans, the sovereignty resided in the great assembly of the people. there were slaves, indeed, but in small number, consisting either of prisoners of war or of those unfortunates who had gambled away their liberty in games of chance. their chieftains, although called by the romans princes and kings, were, in reality, generals, chosen by universal suffrage. elected in the great assembly to preside in war, they were raised on the shoulders of martial freemen, amid wild battle cries and the clash of spear and shield. the army consisted entirely of volunteers, and the soldier was for life infamous who deserted the field while his chief remained alive. the same great assembly elected the village magistrates and decided upon all important matters both of peace and war. at the full of the moon it was usually convoked. the nobles and the popular delegates arrived at irregular intervals, for it was an inconvenience arising from their liberty, that two or three days were often lost in waiting for the delinquents. all state affairs were in the hands of this fierce democracy. the elected chieftains had rather authority to persuade than power to command. the gauls were an agricultural people. they were not without many arts of life. they had extensive flocks and herds; and they even exported salted provisions as far as rome. the truculent german, ger-mane, heer-mann, war-man, considered carnage the only useful occupation, and despised agriculture as enervating and ignoble. it was base, in his opinion, to gain by sweat what was more easily acquired by blood. the land was divided annually by the magistrates, certain farms being assigned to certain families, who were forced to leave them at the expiration of the year. they cultivated as a common property the lands allotted by the magistrates, but it was easier to summon them to the battle-field than to the plough. thus they were more fitted for the roaming and conquering life which providence was to assign to them for ages, than if they had become more prone to root themselves in the soil. the gauls built towns and villages. the german built his solitary hut where inclination prompted. close neighborhood was not to his taste. in their system of religion the two races were most widely contrasted. the gauls were a priest-ridden race. their druids were a dominant caste, presiding even over civil affairs, while in religious matters their authority was despotic. what were the principles of their wild theology will never be thoroughly ascertained, but we know too much of its sanguinary rites. the imagination shudders to penetrate those shaggy forests, ringing with the death-shrieks of ten thousand human victims, and with the hideous hymns chanted by smoke-and-blood-stained priests to the savage gods whom they served. the german, in his simplicity, had raised himself to a purer belief than that of the sensuous roman or the superstitious gaul. he believed in a single, supreme, almighty god, all-vater or all-father. this divinity was too sublime to be incarnated or imaged, too infinite to be enclosed in temples built with hands. such is the roman's testimony to the lofty conception of the german. certain forests were consecrated to the unseen god whom the eye of reverent faith could alone behold. thither, at stated times, the people repaired to worship. they entered the sacred grove with feet bound together, in token of submission. those who fell were forbidden to rise, but dragged themselves backwards on the ground. their rules were few and simple. they had no caste of priests, nor were they, when first known to the romans, accustomed to offer sacrifice. it must be confessed that in a later age, a single victim, a criminal or a prisoner, was occasionally immolated. the purity of their religion was soon stained by their celtic neighborhood. in the course of the roman dominion it became contaminated, and at last profoundly depraved. the fantastic intermixture of roman mythology with the gloomy but modified superstition of romanized celts was not favorable to the simple character of german theology. the entire extirpation, thus brought about, of any conceivable system of religion, prepared the way for a true revelation. within that little river territory, amid those obscure morasses of the rhine and scheld, three great forms of religion--the sanguinary superstition of the druid, the sensuous polytheism of the roman, the elevated but dimly groping creed of the german, stood for centuries, face to face, until, having mutually debased and destroyed each other, they all faded away in the pure light of christianity. thus contrasted were gaul and german in religious and political systems. the difference was no less remarkable in their social characteristics. the gaul was singularly unchaste. the marriage state was almost unknown. many tribes lived in most revolting and incestuous concubinage; brethren, parents, and children, having wives in common. the german was loyal as the celt was dissolute. alone among barbarians, he contented himself with a single wife, save that a few dignitaries, from motives of policy, were permitted a larger number. on the marriage day the german offered presents to his bride--not the bracelets and golden necklaces with which the gaul adorned his fair-haired concubine, but oxen and a bridled horse, a sword, a shield, and a spear-symbols that thenceforward she was to share his labors and to become a portion of himself. they differed, too, in the honors paid to the dead. the funerals of the gauls were pompous. both burned the corpse, but the celt cast into the flames the favorite animals, and even the most cherished slaves and dependents of the master. vast monuments of stone or piles of earth were raised above the ashes of the dead. scattered relics of the celtic age are yet visible throughout europe, in these huge but unsightly memorials. the german was not ambitious at the grave. he threw neither garments nor odors upon the funeral pyre, but the arms and the war-horse of the departed were burned and buried with him. the turf was his only sepulchre, the memory of his valor his only monument. even tears were forbidden to the men. "it was esteemed honorable," says the historian, "for women to lament, for men to remember." the parallel need be pursued no further. thus much it was necessary to recall to the historical student concerning the prominent characteristics by which the two great races of the land were distinguished: characteristics which time has rather hardened than effaced. in the contrast and the separation lies the key to much of their history. had providence permitted a fusion of the two races, it is, possible, from their position, and from the geographical and historical link which they would have afforded to the dominant tribes of europe, that a world-empire might have been the result, different in many respects from any which has ever arisen. speculations upon what might have been are idle. it is well, however; to ponder the many misfortunes resulting from a mutual repulsion, which, under other circumstances and in other spheres, has been exchanged for mutual attraction and support. it is now necessary to sketch rapidly the political transformations undergone by the country, from the early period down to the middle of the sixteenth century; the epoch when the long agony commenced, out of which the batavian republic was born. iii. the earliest chapter in the history of the netherlands was written by their conqueror. celtic gaul is already in the power of rome; the belgic tribes, alarmed at the approaching danger, arm against the universal, tyrant. inflammable, quick to strike, but too fickle to prevail against so powerful a foe, they hastily form a league of almost every clan. at the first blow of caesar's sword, the frail confederacy falls asunder like a rope of sand. the tribes scatter in all directions. nearly all are soon defeated, and sue for mercy. the nervii, true to the german blood in their veins, swear to die rather than surrender. they, at least, are worthy of their cause. caesar advances against them at the head of eight legions. drawn up on the banks of the sambre, they await the roman's approach. in three days' march caesar comes up with them, pitches his camp upon a steep hill sloping down to the river, and sends some cavalry across. hardly have the roman horsemen crossed the stream, than the nervii rush from the wooded hill-top, overthrow horse and rider, plunge in one great mass into the current, and, directly afterwards, are seen charging up the hill into the midst of the enemy's force. "at the same moment," says the conqueror, "they seemed in the wood, in the river, and within our lines." there is a panic among the romans, but it is brief. eight veteran roman legions, with the world's victor at their head, are too much for the brave but undisciplined nervii. snatching a shield from a soldier, and otherwise unarmed, caesar throws himself into the hottest of the fight. the battle rages foot to foot and hand to hand but the hero's skill, with the cool valor of his troops, proves invincible as ever. the nervii, true to their vow, die, but not a man surrenders. they fought upon that day till the ground was heaped with their dead, while, as the foremost fell thick and fast, their comrades, says the roman, sprang upon their piled-up bodies, and hurled their javelins at the enemy as from a hill. they fought like men to whom life without liberty was a curse. they were not defeated, but exterminated. of many thousand fighting men went home but five hundred. upon reaching the place of refuge where they had bestowed their women and children, caesar found, after the battle, that there were but three of their senators left alive. so perished the nervii. caesar commanded his legions to treat with respect the little remnant of the tribe which had just fallen to swell the empty echo of his glory, and then, with hardly a breathing pause, he proceeded to annihilate the aduatici, the menapii, and the morini. gaul being thus pacified, as, with sublime irony, he expresses himself concerning a country some of whose tribes had been annihilated, some sold as slaves, and others hunted to their lairs like beasts of prey, the conqueror departed for italy. legations for peace from many german races to rome were the consequence of these great achievements. among others the batavians formed an alliance with the masters of the world. their position was always an honorable one. they were justly proud of paying no tribute, but it was, perhaps, because they had nothing to pay. they had few cattle, they could give no hides and horns like the frisians, and they were therefore allowed to furnish only their blood. from this time forth their cavalry, which was the best of germany, became renowned in the roman army upon every battle-field of europe. it is melancholy, at a later moment, to find the brave batavians distinguished in the memorable expedition of germanicus to crush the liberties of their german kindred. they are forever associated with the sublime but misty image of the great hermann, the hero, educated in rome, and aware of the colossal power of the empire, who yet, by his genius, valor, and political adroitness, preserved for germany her nationality, her purer religion, and perhaps even that noble language which her late-flowering literature has rendered so illustrious--but they are associated as enemies, not as friends. galba, succeeding to the purple upon the suicide of nero, dismissed the batavian life-guards to whom he owed his elevation. he is murdered, otho and vitellius contend for the succession, while all eyes are turned upon the eight batavian regiments. in their hands the scales of empire seem to rest. they declare for vitellius, and the civil war begins. otho is defeated; vitellius acknowledged by senate and people. fearing, like his predecessors, the imperious turbulence of the batavian legions, he, too, sends them into germany. it was the signal for a long and extensive revolt, which had well nigh overturned the roman power in gaul and lower germany. iv. claudius civilis was a batavian of noble race, who had served twenty-five years in the roman armies. his teutonic name has perished, for, like most savages who become denizens of a civilized state, he had assumed an appellation in the tongue of his superiors. he was a soldier of fortune, and had fought wherever the roman eagles flew. after a quarter of a century's service he was sent in chains to rome, and his brother executed, both falsely charged with conspiracy. such were the triumphs adjudged to batavian auxiliaries. he escaped with life, and was disposed to consecrate what remained of it to a nobler cause. civilis was no barbarian. like the german hero arminius, he had received a roman education, and had learned the degraded condition of rome. he knew the infamous vices of her rulers; he retained an unconquerable love for liberty and for his own race. desire to avenge his own wrongs was mingled with loftier motives in his breast. he knew that the sceptre was in the gift of the batavian soldiery. galba had been murdered, otho had destroyed himself, and vitellius, whose weekly gluttony cost the empire more gold than would have fed the whole batavian population and converted their whole island-morass into fertile pastures, was contending for the purple with vespasian, once an obscure adventurer like civilis himself, and even his friend and companion in arms. it seemed a time to strike a blow for freedom. by his courage, eloquence, and talent for political combinations, civilis effected a general confederation of all the netherland tribes, both celtic and german. for a brief moment there was a united people, a batavian commonwealth. he found another source of strength in german superstition. on the banks of the lippe, near its confluence with the rhine, dwelt the virgin velleda, a bructerian weird woman, who exercised vast influence over the warriors of her nation. dwelling alone in a lofty tower, shrouded in a wild forest, she was revered as an oracle. her answers to the demands of her worshippers concerning future events were delivered only to a chosen few. to civilis, who had formed a close friendship with her, she promised success, and the downfall of the roman world. inspired by her prophecies, many tribes of germany sent large subsidies to the batavian chief. the details of the revolt have been carefully preserved by tacitus, and form one of his grandest and most elaborate pictures. the spectacle of a brave nation, inspired by the soul of one great man and rising against an overwhelming despotism, will always speak to the heart, from generation to generation. the battles, the sieges, the defeats, the indomitable spirit of civilis, still flaming most brightly when the clouds were darkest around him, have been described by the great historian in his most powerful manner. the high-born roman has thought the noble barbarian's portrait a subject worthy his genius. the struggle was an unsuccessful one. after many victories and many overthrows, civilis was left alone. the gallic tribes fell off, and sued for peace. vespasian, victorious over vitellius, proved too powerful for his old comrade. even the batavians became weary of the hopeless contest, while fortune, after much capricious hovering, settled at last upon the roman side. the imperial commander cerialis seized the moment when the cause of the batavian hero was most desperate to send emissaries among his tribe, and even to tamper with the mysterious woman whose prophecies had so inflamed his imagination. these intrigues had their effect. the fidelity of the people was sapped; the prophetess fell away from her worshipper, and foretold ruin to his cause. the batavians murmured that their destruction was inevitable, that one nation could not arrest the slavery which was destined for the whole world. how large a part of the human race were the batavians? what were they in a contest with the whole roman empire? moreover, they were not oppressed with tribute. they were only expected to furnish men and valor to their proud allies. it was the next thing to liberty. if they were to have rulers, it was better to serve a roman emperor than a german witch. thus murmured the people. had civilis been successful, he would have been deified; but his misfortunes, at last, made him odious in spite of his heroism. but the batavian was not a man to be crushed, nor had he lived so long in the roman service to be outmatched in politics by the barbarous germans. he was not to be sacrificed as a peace-offering to revengeful rome. watching from beyond the rhine the progress of defection and the decay of national enthusiasm, he determined to be beforehand with those who were now his enemies. he accepted the offer of negotiation from cerialis. the roman general was eager to grant a full pardon, and to re-enlist so brave a soldier in the service of the empire. a colloquy was agreed upon. the bridge across the nabalia was broken asunder in the middle, and cerialis and civilis met upon the severed sides. the placid stream by which roman enterprise had connected the waters of the rhine with the lake of flevo, flowed between the imperial commander and the rebel chieftain. *********************************************** here the story abruptly terminates. the remainder of the roman's narrative is lost, and upon that broken bridge the form of the batavian hero disappears forever. his name fades from history: not a syllable is known of his subsequent career; every thing is buried in the profound oblivion which now steals over the scene where he was the most imposing actor. the soul of civilis had proved insufficient to animate a whole people; yet it was rather owing to position than to any personal inferiority, that his name did not become as illustrious as that of hermann. the german patriot was neither braver nor wiser than the batavian, but he had the infinite forests of his fatherland to protect him. every legion which plunged into those unfathomable depths was forced to retreat disastrously, or to perish miserably. civilis was hemmed in by the ocean; his country, long the basis of roman military operations, was accessible by river and canal, the patriotic spirit which he had for a moment raised, had abandoned him; his allies had deserted him; he stood alone and at bay, encompassed by the hunters, with death or surrender as his only alternative. under such circumstances, hermann could not have shown more courage or conduct, nor have terminated the impossible struggle with greater dignity or adroitness. the contest of civilis with rome contains a remarkable foreshadowing of the future conflict with spain, through which the batavian republic, fifteen centuries later, was to be founded. the characters, the events, the amphibious battles, desperate sieges, slippery alliances, the traits of generosity, audacity and cruelty, the generous confidence, the broken faith seem so closely to repeat themselves, that history appears to present the self-same drama played over and over again, with but a change of actors and of costume. there is more than a fanciful resemblance between civilis and william the silent, two heroes of ancient german stock, who had learned the arts of war and peace in the service of a foreign and haughty world-empire. determination, concentration of purpose, constancy in calamity, elasticity almost preternatural, self-denial, consummate craft in political combinations, personal fortitude, and passionate patriotism, were the heroic elements in both. the ambition of each was subordinate to the cause which he served. both refused the crown, although each, perhaps, contemplated, in the sequel, a batavian realm of which he would have been the inevitable chief. both offered the throne to a gallic prince, for classicus was but the prototype of anjou, as brinno of brederode, and neither was destined, in this world, to see his sacrifices crowned with success. the characteristics of the two great races of the land portrayed themselves in the roman and the spanish struggle with much the same colors. the southrons, inflammable, petulant, audacious, were the first to assault and to defy the imperial power in both revolts, while the inhabitants of the northern provinces, slower to be aroused, but of more enduring wrath, were less ardent at the commencement, but; alone, steadfast at the close of the contest. in both wars the southern celts fell away from the league, their courageous but corrupt chieftains having been purchased with imperial gold to bring about the abject submission of their followers; while the german netherlands, although eventually subjugated by rome, after a desperate struggle, were successful in the great conflict with spain, and trampled out of existence every vestige of her authority. the batavian republic took its rank among the leading powers of the earth; the belgic provinces remained roman, spanish, austrian property. v. obscure but important movements in the regions of eternal twilight, revolutions, of which history has been silent, in the mysterious depths of asia, outpourings of human rivets along the sides of the altai mountains, convulsions up-heaving r mote realms and unknown dynasties, shock after shock throb bing throughout the barbarian world and dying upon the edge of civilization, vast throes which shake the earth as precursory pangs to the birth of a new empire--as dying symptoms of the proud but effete realm which called itself the world; scattered hordes of sanguinary, grotesque savages pushed from their own homes, and hovering with vague purposes upon the roman frontier, constantly repelled and perpetually reappearing in ever-increasing swarms, guided thither by a fierce instinct, or by mysterious laws--such are the well known phenomena which preceded the fall of western rome. stately, externally powerful, although undermined and putrescent at the core, the death-stricken empire still dashed back the assaults of its barbarous enemies. during the long struggle intervening between the age of vespasian and that of odoacer, during all the preliminary ethnographical revolutions which preceded the great people's wandering, the netherlands remained subject provinces. their country was upon the high road which led the goths to rome. those low and barren tracts were the outlying marches of the empire. upon that desolate beach broke the first surf from the rising ocean of german freedom which was soon to overwhelm rome. yet, although the ancient landmarks were soon well nigh obliterated, the netherlands still remained faithful to the empire, batavian blood was still poured out for its defence. by the middle of the fourth century, the franks and allemanians, alle-mannez, all-men, a mass of united germans are defeated by the emperor julian at strasburg, the batavian cavalry, as upon many other great occasions, saving the day for despotism. this achievement, one of the last in which the name appears upon historic record, was therefore as triumphant for the valor as it was humiliating to the true fame of the nation. their individuality soon afterwards disappears, the race having been partly exhausted in the roman service, partly merged in the frank and frisian tribes who occupy the domains of their forefathers. for a century longer, rome still retains its outward form, but the swarming nations are now in full career. the netherlands are successively or simultaneously trampled by franks, vandals, alani, suevi, saxons, frisians, and even sclavonians, as the great march of germany to universal empire, which her prophets and bards had foretold, went majestically forward. the fountains of the frozen north were opened, the waters prevailed, but the ark of christianity floated upon the flood. as the deluge assuaged, the earth had returned to chaos, the last pagan empire had been washed out of existence, but the dimly, groping, faltering, ignorant infancy of christian europe had begun. after the wanderings had subsided, the netherlands are found with much the same ethnological character as before. the frank dominion has succeeded the roman, the german stock preponderates over the celtic, but the national ingredients, although in somewhat altered proportions, remain essentially the same. the old belgae, having become romanized in tongue and customs, accept the new empire of the franks. that people, however, pushed from their hold of the rhine by thickly thronging hordes of gepidi, quadi, sarmati, heruli, saxons, burgundians, move towards the south and west. as the empire falls before odoacer, they occupy celtic gaul with the belgian portion of the netherlands; while the frisians, into which ancient german tribe the old batavian element has melted, not to be extinguished, but to live a renovated existence, the "free frisians;" whose name is synonymous with liberty, nearest blood relations of the anglo-saxon race, now occupy the northern portion, including the whole future european territory of the dutch republic. the history of the franks becomes, therefore, the history of the netherlands. the frisians struggle, for several centuries, against their dominion, until eventually subjugated by charlemagne. they even encroach upon the franks in belgic gaul, who are determined not to yield their possessions. moreover, the pious merovingian faineans desire to plant christianity among the still pagan frisians. dagobert, son of the second clotaire, advances against them as far as the weser, takes possession of utrecht, founds there the first christian church in friesland, and establishes a nominal dominion over the whole country. yet the feeble merovingians would have been powerless against rugged friesland, had not their dynasty already merged in that puissant family of brabant, which long wielded their power before it assumed their crown. it was pepin of heristal, grandson of the netherlander, pepin of landen, who conquered the frisian radbod (a.d. ), and forced him to exchange his royal for the ducal title. it was pepin's bastard, charles the hammer, whose tremendous blows completed his father's work. the new mayor of the palace soon drove the frisian chief into submission, and even into christianity. a bishop's indiscretion, however, neutralized the apostolic blows of the mayor. the pagan radbod had already immersed one of his royal legs in the baptismal font, when a thought struck him. "where are my dead forefathers at present?" he said, turning suddenly upon bishop wolfran. "in hell, with all other unbelievers," was the imprudent answer. "mighty well," replied radbod, removing his leg, "then will i rather feast with my ancestors in the halls of woden, than dwell with your little starveling hand of christians in heaven." entreaties and threats were unavailing. the frisian declined positively a rite which was to cause an eternal separation from his buried kindred, and he died as he had lived, a heathen. his son, poppa, succeeding to the nominal sovereignty, did not actively oppose the introduction of christianity among his people, but himself refused to be converted. rebelling against the frank dominion, he was totally routed by charles martell in a great battle (a.d. ) and perished with a vast number of frisians. the christian dispensation, thus enforced, was now accepted by these northern pagans. the commencement of their conversion had been mainly the work of their brethren from britain. the monk wilfred was followed in a few years by the anglo-saxon willibrod. it was he who destroyed the images of woden in walcheren, abolished his worship, and founded churches in north holland. charles martell rewarded him with extensive domains about utrecht, together with many slaves and other chattels. soon afterwards he was consecrated bishop of all the frisians. thus rose the famous episcopate of utrecht. another anglo-saxon, winfred, or bonifacius, had been equally active among his frisian cousins. his crozier had gone hand in hand with the battle-axe. bonifacius followed close upon the track of his orthodox coadjutor charles. by the middle of the eighth century, some hundred thousand frisians had been slaughtered, and as many more converted. the hammer which smote the saracens at tours was at last successful in beating the netherlanders into christianity. the labors of bonifacius through upper and lower germany were immense; but he, too, received great material rewards. he was created archbishop of mayence, and, upon the death of willibrod, bishop of utrecht. faithful to his mission, however, he met, heroically, a martyr's death at the hands of the refractory pagans at dokkum. thus was christianity established in the netherlands. under charlemagne, the frisians often rebelled, making common cause with the saxons. in , a.d., they were, however, completely subjugated, and never rose again until the epoch of their entire separation from the frank empire. charlemagne left them their name of free frisians, and the property in their own land. the feudal system never took root in their soil. "the frisians," says their statute book; "shall be free, as long as the wind blows out of the clouds and the world stands." they agreed, however, to obey the chiefs whom the frank monarch should appoint to govern them, according to their own laws. those laws were collected, and are still extant. the vernacular version of their asega book contains their ancient customs, together with the frank additions. the general statutes of charlemagne were, of course, in vigor also; but that great legislator knew too well the importance attached by all mankind to local customs, to allow his imperial capitulara to interfere, unnecessarily, with the frisian laws. vi. thus again the netherlands, for the first time since the fall of rome, were united under one crown imperial. they had already been once united, in their slavery to rome. eight centuries pass away, and they are again united, in subjection to charlemagne. their union was but in forming a single link in the chain of a new realm. the reign of charlemagne had at last accomplished the promise of the sorceress velleda and other soothsayers. a german race had re-established the empire of the world. the netherlands, like-the other provinces of the great monarch's dominion, were governed by crown-appointed functionaries, military and judicial. in the northeastern, or frisian portion, however; the grants of land were never in the form of revocable benefices or feuds. with this important exception, the whole country shared the fate, and enjoyed the general organization of the empire. but charlemagne came an age too soon. the chaos which had brooded over europe since the dissolution of the roman world, was still too absolute. it was not to be fashioned into permanent forms, even by his bold and constructive genius. a soil, exhausted by the long culture of pagan empires, was to lie fallow for a still longer period. the discordant elements out of which the emperor had compounded his realm, did not coalesce during his life-time. they were only held together by the vigorous grasp of the hand which had combined them. when the great statesman died, his empire necessarily fell to pieces. society had need of farther disintegration before it could begin to reconstruct itself locally. a new civilization was not to be improvised by a single mind. when did one man ever civilize a people? in the eighth and ninth centuries there was not even a people to be civilized. the construction of charles was, of necessity, temporary. his empire was supported by artificial columns, resting upon the earth, which fell prostrate almost as soon as the hand of their architect was cold. his institutions had not struck down into the soil. there were no extensive and vigorous roots to nourish, from below, a flourishing empire through time and tempest. moreover, the carlovingian race had been exhausted by producing a race of heroes like the pepins and the charleses. the family became, soon, as contemptible as the ox-drawn, long-haired "do-nothings" whom it had expelled; but it is not our task to describe the fortunes of the emperor's ignoble descendants. the realm was divided, sub-divided, at times partially reunited, like a family farm, among monarchs incompetent alike to hold, to delegate, or--to resign the inheritance of the great warrior and lawgiver. the meek, bald, fat, stammering, simple charles, or louis, who successively sat upon his throne--princes, whose only historic individuality consists in these insipid appellations--had not the sense to comprehend, far less to develop, the plans of their ancestor. charles the simple was the last carlovingian who governed lotharingia, in which were comprised most of the netherlands and friesland. the german monarch, henry the fowler, at that period called king of the east franks, as charles of the west franks, acquired lotharingia by the treaty of bonn, charles reserving the sovereignty over the kingdom during his lifetime. in , a.d., however, the simpleton having been imprisoned and deposed by his own subjects, the fowler was recognized king, of lotharingia. thus the netherlands passed out of france into germany, remaining, still, provinces of a loose, disjointed empire. this is the epoch in which the various dukedoms, earldoms, and other petty sovereignties of the netherlands became hereditary. it was in the year that charles the simple presented to count dirk the territory of holland, by letters patent. this narrow hook of land, destined, in future ages, to be the cradle of a considerable empire, stretching through both hemispheres, was, thenceforth, the inheritance of dirk's descendants. historically, therefore, he is dirk i., count of holland. of this small sovereign and his successors, the most powerful foe for centuries was ever the bishop of utrecht, the origin of whose greatness has been already indicated. of the other netherland provinces, now or before become hereditary, the first in rank was lotharingia, once the kingdom of lothaire, now the dukedom of lorraine. in it was divided into upper and lower lorraine, of which the lower duchy alone belonged to the netherlands. two centuries later, the counts of louvain, then occupying most of brabant, obtained a permanent hold of lower lorraine, and began to call themselves dukes of brabant. the same principle of local independence and isolation which created these dukes, established the hereditary power of the counts and barons who formerly exercised jurisdiction under them and others. thus arose sovereign counts of namur, hainault, limburg, zutphen, dukes of luxemburg and gueldres, barons of mechlin, marquesses of antwerp, and others; all petty autocrats. the most important of all, after the house of lorraine, were the earls of flanders; for the bold foresters of charles the great had soon wrested the sovereignty of their little territory from his feeble descendants as easily as baldwin, with the iron arm, had deprived the bald charles of his daughter. holland, zeeland, utrecht, overyssel, groningen, drenthe and friesland (all seven being portions of friesland in a general sense), were crowded together upon a little desolate corner of europe; an obscure fragment of charlemagne's broken empire. they were afterwards to constitute the united states of the netherlands, one of the most powerful republics of history. meantime, for century after century, the counts of holland and the bishops of utrecht were to exercise divided sway over the territory. thus the whole country was broken into many shreds and patches of sovereignty. the separate history of such half-organized morsels is tedious and petty. trifling dynasties, where a family or two were every thing, the people nothing, leave little worth recording. even the most devout of genealogists might shudder to chronicle the long succession of so many illustrious obscure. a glance, however, at the general features of the governmental system now established in the netherlands, at this important epoch in the world's history, will show the transformations which the country, in common with other portions of the western world, had undergone. in the tenth century the old batavian and later roman forms have faded away. an entirely new polity has succeeded. no great popular assembly asserts its sovereignty, as in the ancient german epoch; no generals and temporary kings are chosen by the nation. the elective power had been lost under the romans, who, after conquest, had conferred the administrative authority over their subject provinces upon officials appointed by the metropolis. the franks pursued the same course. in charlemagne's time, the revolution is complete. popular assemblies and popular election entirely vanish. military, civil, and judicial officers-dukes, earls, margraves, and others--are all king's creatures, 'knegton des konings, pueri regis', and so remain, till they abjure the creative power, and set up their own. the principle of charlemagne, that his officers should govern according to local custom, helps them to achieve their own independence, while it preserves all that is left of national liberty and law. the counts, assisted by inferior judges, hold diets from time to time--thrice, perhaps, annually. they also summon assemblies in case of war. thither are called the great vassals, who, in turn, call their lesser vassals; each armed with "a shield, a spear, a bow, twelve arrows, and a cuirass." such assemblies, convoked in the name of a distant sovereign, whose face his subjects had never seen, whose language they could hardly understand, were very different from those tumultuous mass-meetings, where boisterous freemen, armed with the weapons they loved the best, and arriving sooner or later, according to their pleasure, had been accustomed to elect their generals and magistrates and to raise them upon their shields. the people are now governed, their rulers appointed by an invisible hand. edicts, issued by a power, as it were, supernatural, demand implicit obedience. the people, acquiescing in their own annihilation, abdicate not only their political but their personal rights. on the other hand, the great source of power diffuses less and less of light and warmth. losing its attractive and controlling influence, it becomes gradually eclipsed, while its satellites fly from their prescribed bounds and chaos and darkness return. the sceptre, stretched over realms so wide, requires stronger hands than those of degenerate carlovingians. it breaks asunder. functionaries become sovereigns, with hereditary, not delegated, right to own the people, to tax their roads and rivers, to take tithings of their blood and sweat, to harass them in all the relations of life. there is no longer a metropolis to protect them from official oppression. power, the more sub-divided, becomes the more tyrannical. the sword is the only symbol of law, the cross is a weapon of offence, the bishop is a consecrated pirate, every petty baron a burglar, while the people, alternately the prey of duke, prelate, and seignor, shorn and butchered like sheep, esteem it happiness to sell themselves into slavery, or to huddle beneath the castle walls of some little potentate, for the sake of his wolfish protection. here they build hovels, which they surround from time to time with palisades and muddy entrenchments; and here, in these squalid abodes of ignorance and misery, the genius of liberty, conducted by the spirit of commerce, descends at last to awaken mankind from its sloth and cowardly stupor. a longer night was to intervene; however, before the dawn of day. the crown-appointed functionaries had been, of course, financial officers. they collected the revenue of the sovereign, one third of which slipped through their fingers into their own coffers. becoming sovereigns themselves, they retain these funds for their private emolument. four principal sources yielded this revenue: royal domains, tolls and imposts, direct levies and a pleasantry called voluntary contributions or benevolences. in addition to these supplies were also the proceeds of fines. taxation upon sin was, in those rude ages, a considerable branch of the revenue. the old frisian laws consisted almost entirely of a discriminating tariff upon crimes. nearly all the misdeeds which man is prone to commit, were punished by a money-bote only. murder, larceny, arson, rape--all offences against the person were commuted for a definite price. there were a few exceptions, such as parricide, which was followed by loss of inheritance; sacrilege and the murder of a master by a slave, which were punished with death. it is a natural inference that, as the royal treasury was enriched by these imposts, the sovereign would hardly attempt to check the annual harvest of iniquity by which his revenue was increased. still, although the moral sense is shocked by a system which makes the ruler's interest identical with the wickedness of his people, and holds out a comparative immunity in evil-doing for the rich, it was better that crime should be punished by money rather than not be punished at all. a severe tax, which the noble reluctantly paid and which the penniless culprit commuted by personal slavery, was sufficiently unjust as well as absurd, yet it served to mitigate the horrors with which tumult, rapine, and murder enveloped those early days. gradually, as the light of reason broke upon the dark ages, the most noxious features of the system were removed, while the general sentiment of reverence for law remained. etext editor's bookmarks: a country disinherited by nature of its rights a pleasantry called voluntary contributions or benevolences annual harvest of iniquity by which his revenue was increased batavian legion was the imperial body guard beating the netherlanders into christianity bishop is a consecrated pirate brethren, parents, and children, having wives in common for women to lament, for men to remember gaul derided the roman soldiers as a band of pigmies great science of political equilibrium holland, england, and america, are all links of one chain long succession of so many illustrious obscure others go to battle, says the historian, these go to war revocable benefices or feuds taxation upon sin the gaul was singularly unchaste motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. historical introduction., part . vii. five centuries of isolation succeed. in the netherlands, as throughout europe, a thousand obscure and slender rills are slowly preparing the great stream of universal culture. five dismal centuries of feudalism: during which period there is little talk of human right, little obedience to divine reason. rights there are none, only forces; and, in brief, three great forces, gradually arising, developing themselves, acting upon each other, and upon the general movement of society. the sword--the first, for a time the only force: the force of iron. the "land's master," having acquired the property in the territory and in the people who feed thereon, distributes to his subalterns, often but a shade beneath him in power, portions of his estate, getting the use of their faithful swords in return. vavasours subdivide again to vassals, exchanging land and cattle, human or otherwise, against fealty, and so the iron chain of a military hierarchy, forged of mutually interdependent links, is stretched over each little province. impregnable castles, here more numerous than in any other part of christendom, dot the level surface of the country. mail-clad knights, with their followers, encamp permanently upon the soil. the fortunate fable of divine right is invented to sanction the system; superstition and ignorance give currency to the delusion. thus the grace of god, having conferred the property in a vast portion of europe upon a certain idiot in france, makes him competent to sell large fragments of his estate, and to give a divine, and, therefore, most satisfactory title along with them. a great convenience to a man, who had neither power, wit, nor will to keep the property in his own hands. so the dirks of holland get a deed from charles the simple, and, although the grace of god does not prevent the royal grantor himself from dying a miserable, discrowned captive, the conveyance to dirk is none the less hallowed by almighty fiat. so the roberts and guys, the johns and baldwins, become sovereigns in hainault, brabant, flanders and other little districts, affecting supernatural sanction for the authority which their good swords have won and are ever ready to maintain. thus organized, the force of iron asserts and exerts itself. duke, count, seignor and vassal, knight and squire, master and man swarm and struggle amain. a wild, chaotic, sanguinary scene. here, bishop and baron contend, centuries long, murdering human creatures by ten thousands for an acre or two of swampy pasture; there, doughty families, hugging old musty quarrels to their heart, buffet each other from generation to generation; thus they go on, raging and wrestling among themselves, with all the world, shrieking insane war-cries which no human soul ever understood--red caps and black, white hoods and grey, hooks and kabbeljaws, dealing destruction, building castles and burning them, tilting at tourneys, stealing bullocks, roasting jews, robbing the highways, crusading--now upon syrian sands against paynim dogs, now in frisian quagmires against albigenses, stedingers, and other heretics--plunging about in blood and fire, repenting, at idle times, and paying their passage through, purgatory with large slices of ill-gotten gains placed in the ever-extended dead-hand of the church; acting, on the whole, according to their kind, and so getting themselves civilized or exterminated, it matters little which. thus they play their part, those energetic men-at-arms; and thus one great force, the force of iron, spins and expands itself, century after century, helping on, as it whirls, the great progress of society towards its goal, wherever that may be. another force--the force clerical--the power of clerks, arises; the might of educated mind measuring itself against brute violence; a force embodied, as often before, as priestcraft--the strength of priests: craft meaning, simply, strength, in our old mother-tongue. this great force, too, develops itself variously, being sometimes beneficent, sometimes malignant. priesthood works out its task, age after age: now smoothing penitent death-beds, consecrating graves! feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, incarnating the christian precepts, in an age of rapine and homicide, doing a thousand deeds of love and charity among the obscure and forsaken--deeds of which there shall never be human chronicle, but a leaf or two, perhaps, in the recording angel's book; hiving precious honey from the few flowers of gentle, art which bloom upon a howling wilderness; holding up the light of science over a stormy sea; treasuring in convents and crypts the few fossils of antique learning which become visible, as the extinct megatherium of an elder world reappears after the gothic deluge; and now, careering in helm and hauberk with the other ruffians, bandying blows in the thickest of the fight, blasting with bell, book, and candle its trembling enemies, while sovereigns, at the head of armies, grovel in the dust and offer abject submission for the kiss of peace; exercising the same conjury over ignorant baron and cowardly hind, making the fiction of apostolic authority to bind and loose, as prolific in acres as the other divine right to have and hold; thus the force of cultivated intellect, wielded by a chosen few and sanctioned by supernatural authority, becomes as potent as the sword. a third force, developing itself more slowly, becomes even more potent than the rest: the power of gold. even iron yields to the more ductile metal. the importance of municipalities, enriched by trade, begins to be felt. commerce, the mother of netherland freedom, and, eventually, its destroyer--even as in all human history the vivifying becomes afterwards the dissolving principle--commerce changes insensibly and miraculously the aspect of society. clusters of hovels become towered cities; the green and gilded hanse of commercial republicanism coils itself around the decaying trunk of feudal despotism. cities leagued with cities throughout and beyond christendom-empire within empire-bind themselves closer and closer in the electric chain of human sympathy and grow stronger and stronger by mutual support. fishermen and river raftsmen become ocean adventurers and merchant princes. commerce plucks up half-drowned holland by the locks and pours gold into her lap. gold wrests power from iron. needy flemish weavers become mighty manufacturers. armies of workmen, fifty thousand strong, tramp through the swarming streets. silk-makers, clothiers, brewers become the gossips of kings, lend their royal gossips vast sums and burn the royal notes of hand in fires of cinnamon wood. wealth brings strength, strength confidence. learning to handle cross-bow and dagger, the burghers fear less the baronial sword, finding that their own will cut as well, seeing that great armies--flowers of chivalry--can ride away before them fast enough at battles of spurs and other encounters. sudden riches beget insolence, tumults, civic broils. internecine quarrels, horrible tumults stain the streets with blood, but education lifts the citizens more and more out of the original slough. they learn to tremble as little at priestcraft as at swordcraft, having acquired something of each. gold in the end, unsanctioned by right divine, weighs up the other forces, supernatural as they are. and so, struggling along their appointed path, making cloth, making money, making treaties with great kingdoms, making war by land and sea, ringing great bells, waving great banners, they, too--these insolent, boisterous burghers--accomplish their work. thus, the mighty power of the purse develops itself and municipal liberty becomes a substantial fact. a fact, not a principle; for the old theorem of sovereignty remains undisputed as ever. neither the nation, in mass, nor the citizens, in class, lay claim to human rights. all upper attributes--legislative, judicial, administrative--remain in the land-master's breast alone. it is an absurdity, therefore, to argue with grotius concerning the unknown antiquity of the batavian republic. the republic never existed at all till the sixteenth century, and was only born after long years of agony. the democratic instincts of the ancient german savages were to survive in the breasts of their cultivated descendants, but an organized, civilized, republican polity had never existed. the cities, as they grew in strength, never claimed the right to make the laws or to share in the government. as a matter of fact, they did make the laws, and shared, beside, in most important functions of sovereignty, in the treaty-making power, especially. sometimes by bargains; sometimes by blood, by gold, threats, promises, or good hard blows they extorted their charters. their codes, statutes, joyful entrances, and other constitutions were dictated by the burghers and sworn to by the monarch. they were concessions from above; privileges private laws; fragments indeed of a larger liberty, but vastly, better than the slavery for which they had been substituted; solid facts instead of empty abstractions, which, in those practical and violent days, would have yielded little nutriment; but they still rather sought to reconcile themselves, by a rough, clumsy fiction, with the hierarchy which they had invaded, than to overturn the system. thus the cities, not regarding themselves as representatives or aggregations of the people, became fabulous personages, bodies without souls, corporations which had acquired vitality and strength enough to assert their existence. as persons, therefore--gigantic individualities--they wheeled into the feudal ranks and assumed feudal powers and responsibilities. the city of dort; of middelburg, of ghent, of louvain, was a living being, doing fealty, claiming service, bowing to its lord, struggling with its equals, trampling upon its slaves. thus, in these obscure provinces, as throughout europe, in a thousand remote and isolated corners, civilization builds itself up, synthetically and slowly; yet at last, a whole is likely to get itself constructed. thus, impelled by great and conflicting forces, now obliquely, now backward, now upward, yet, upon the whole, onward, the new society moves along its predestined orbit, gathering consistency and strength as it goes. society, civilization, perhaps, but hardly humanity. the people has hardly begun to extricate itself from the clods in which it lies buried. there are only nobles, priests, and, latterly, cities. in the northern netherlands, the degraded condition of the mass continued longest. even in friesland, liberty, the dearest blessing of the ancient frisians, had been forfeited in a variety of ways. slavery was both voluntary and compulsory. paupers sold themselves that they might escape starvation. the timid sold themselves that they might escape violence. these voluntary sales, which were frequent, wore usually made to cloisters and ecclesiastical establishments, for the condition of church-slaves was preferable to that of other serfs. persons worsted in judicial duels, shipwrecked sailors, vagrants, strangers, criminals unable to pay the money-bote imposed upon them, were all deprived of freedom; but the prolific source of slavery was war. prisoners were almost universally reduced to servitude. a free woman who intermarried with a slave condemned herself and offspring to perpetual bondage. among the ripuarian franks, a free woman thus disgracing herself, was girt with a sword and a distaff. choosing the one, she was to strike her husband dead; choosing the other, she adopted the symbol of slavery, and became a chattel for life. the ferocious inroads of the normans scared many weak and timid persons into servitude. they fled, by throngs, to church and monastery, and were happy, by enslaving themselves, to escape the more terrible bondage of the sea-kings. during the brief dominion of the norman godfrey, every free frisian was forced to wear a halter around his neck. the lot of a church-slave was freedom in comparison. to kill him was punishable by a heavy fine. he could give testimony in court, could inherit, could make a will, could even plead before the law, if law could be found. the number of slaves throughout the netherlands was very large; the number belonging to the bishopric of utrecht, enormous. the condition of those belonging to laymen was much more painful. the lyf-eigene, or absolute slaves, were the most wretched. they were mere brutes. they had none of the natural attributes of humanity, their life and death were in the master's hands, they had no claim to a fraction of their own labor or its fruits, they had no marriage, except under condition of the infamous 'jus primoe noctis'. the villagers, or villeins, were the second class and less forlorn. they could commute the labor due to their owner by a fixed sum of money, after annual payment of which, the villein worked for himself. his master, therefore, was not his absolute proprietor. the chattel had a beneficial interest in a portion of his own flesh and blood. the crusades made great improvement in the condition of the serfs. he who became a soldier of the cross was free upon his return, and many were adventurous enough to purchase liberty at so honorable a price. many others were sold or mortgaged by the crusading knights, desirous of converting their property into gold, before embarking upon their enterprise. the purchasers or mortgagees were in general churches and convents, so that the slaves, thus alienated, obtained at least a preferable servitude. the place of the absent serfs was supplied by free labor, so that agricultural and mechanical occupations, now devolving upon a more elevated class, became less degrading, and, in process of time, opened an ever-widening sphere for the industry and progress of freemen. thus a people began to exist. it was, however; a miserable people, with personal, but no civil rights whatever. their condition, although better than servitude, was almost desperate. they were taxed beyond their ability, while priest and noble were exempt. they had no voice in the apportionment of the money thus contributed. there was no redress against the lawless violence to which they were perpetually exposed. in the manorial courts, the criminal sat in judgment upon his victim. the functions of highwayman and magistrate were combined in one individual. by degrees, the class of freemen, artisans, traders, and the like, becoming the more numerous, built stronger and better houses outside the castle gates of the "land's master" or the burghs of the more powerful nobles. the superiors, anxious to increase their own importance, favored the progress of the little boroughs. the population, thus collected, began to divide themselves into guilds. these were soon afterwards erected by the community into bodies corporate; the establishment of the community, of course, preceding, the incorporation of the guilds. those communities were created by charters or keuren, granted by the sovereign. unless the earliest concessions of this nature have perished, the town charters of holland or zeland are nearly a century later than those of flanders, france, and england. the oldest keur, or act of municipal incorporation, in the provinces afterwards constituting the republic, was that granted by count william the first of holland and countess joanna of flanders, as joint proprietors of walcheren, to the town of middelburg. it will be seen that its main purport is to promise, as a special privilege to this community, law, in place of the arbitrary violence by which mankind, in general, were governed by their betters. "the inhabitants," ran the charter, "are taken into protection by both counts. upon fighting, maiming, wounding, striking, scolding; upon peace-breaking, upon resistance to peace-makers and to the judgment of schepens; upon contemning the ban, upon selling spoiled wine, and upon other misdeeds fines are imposed for behoof of the count, the city, and sometimes of the schepens.......to all middelburgers one kind of law is guaranteed. every man must go to law before the schepens. if any one being summoned and present in walcheren does not appear, or refuses submission to sentence, he shall be banished with confiscation of property. schout or schepen denying justice to a complainant, shall, until reparation, hold no tribunal again.......a burgher having a dispute with an outsider (buiten mann) must summon him before the schepens. an appeal lies from the schepens to the count. no one can testify but a householder. all alienation of real estate must take place before the schepens. if an outsider has a complaint against a burgher, the schepens and schout must arrange it. if either party refuses submission to them, they must ring the town bell and summon an assembly of all the burghers to compel him. any one ringing the town bell, except by general consent, and any one not appearing when it tolls, are liable to a fine. no middelburger can be arrested or held in durance within flanders or holland, except for crime." this document was signed, sealed, and sworn to by the two sovereigns in the year . it was the model upon which many other communities, cradles of great cities, in holland and zeland, were afterwards created. these charters are certainly not very extensive, even for the privileged municipalities which obtained them, when viewed from an abstract stand-point. they constituted, however, a very great advance from the stand-point at which humanity actually found itself. they created, not for all inhabitants, but for great numbers of them, the right, not to govern them selves but to be governed by law: they furnished a local administration of justice. they provided against arbitrary imprisonment. they set up tribunals, where men of burgher class were to sit in judgment. they held up a shield against arbitrary violence from above and sedition from within. they encouraged peace-makers, punished peace-breakers. they guarded the fundamental principle, 'ut sua tanerent', to the verge of absurdity; forbidding a freeman, without a freehold, from testifying--a capacity not denied even to a country slave. certainly all this was better than fist-law and courts manorial. for the commencement of the thirteenth century, it was progress. the schout and schepens, or chief magistrate and aldermen, were originally appointed by the sovereign. in process of time, the election of these municipal authorities was conceded to the communities. this inestimable privilege, however, after having been exercised during a certain period by the whole body of citizens, was eventually monopolized by the municipal government itself, acting in common with the deans of the various guilds. thus organized and inspired with the breath of civic life, the communities of flanders and holland began to move rapidly forward. more and more they assumed the appearance of prosperous little republics. for this prosperity they were indebted to commerce, particularly with england and the baltic nations, and to manufactures, especially of wool. the trade between england and the netherlands had existed for ages, and was still extending itself, to the great advantage of both countries. a dispute, however, between the merchants of holland and england, towards the year , caused a privateering warfare, and a ten years' suspension of intercourse. a reconciliation afterwards led to the establishment of the english wool staple, at dort. a subsequent quarrel deprived holland of this great advantage. king edward refused to assist count florence in a war with the flemings, and transferred the staple from dort to bruges and mechlin. the trade of the netherlands with the mediterranean and the east was mainly through this favored city of bruges, which, already in the thirteenth century, had risen to the first rank in the commercial world. it was the resting-place for the lombards and other italians, the great entrepot for their merchandise. it now became, in addition, the great marketplace for english wool, and the woollen fabrics of all the netherlands, as well as for the drugs and spices of the east. it had, however, by no means reached its apogee, but was to culminate with venice, and to sink with her decline. when the overland indian trade fell off with the discovery of the cape passage, both cities withered. grass grew in the fair and pleasant streets of bruges, and sea-weed clustered about the marble halls of venice. at this epoch, however, both were in a state of rapid and insolent prosperity. the cities, thus advancing in wealth and importance, were no longer satisfied with being governed according to law, and began to participate, not only in their own, but in the general government. under guy of flanders, the towns appeared regularly, as well as the nobles, in the assembly of the provincial estates. ( - , a.d.) in the course of the following century, the six chief cities, or capitals, of holland (dort, harlem, delft, leyden, goads, and amsterdam) acquired the right of sending their deputies regularly to the estates of the provinces. these towns, therefore, with the nobles, constituted the parliamentary power of the nation. they also acquired letters patent from the count, allowing them to choose their burgomasters and a limited number of councillors or senators (vroedschappen). thus the liberties of holland and flanders waxed, daily, stronger. a great physical convulsion in the course of the thirteenth century came to add its influence to the slower process of political revolution. hitherto there had been but one friesland, including holland, and nearly all the territory of the future republic. a slender stream alone separated the two great districts. the low lands along the vlie, often threatened, at last sank in the waves. the german ocean rolled in upon the inland lake of flevo. the stormy zuyder zee began its existence by engulfing thousands of frisian villages, with all their population, and by spreading a chasm between kindred peoples. the political, as well as the geographical, continuity of the land was obliterated by this tremendous deluge. the hollanders were cut off from their relatives in the east by as dangerous a sea as that which divided them from their anglo-saxon brethren in britain. the deputies to the general assemblies at aurich could no longer undertake a journey grown so perilous. west friesland became absorbed in holland. east friesland remained a federation of rude but self-governed maritime provinces, until the brief and bloody dominion of the saxon dukes led to the establishment of charles the fifth's authority. whatever the nominal sovereignty over them, this most republican tribe of netherlanders, or of europeans, had never accepted feudalism. there was an annual congress of the whole confederacy. each of the seven little states, on the other hand, regulated its own internal affairs. each state was subdivided into districts, each district governed by a griet-mann (greatman, selectman) and assistants. above all these district officers was a podesta, a magistrate identical, in name and functions, with the chief officer of the italian republics. there was sometimes but one podesta; sometimes one for each province. he was chosen by the people, took oath of fidelity to the separate estates, or, if podesta-general, to the federal diet, and was generally elected for a limited term, although sometimes for life. he was assisted by a board of eighteen or twenty councillors. the deputies to the general congress were chosen by popular suffrage in easter-week. the clergy were not recognized as a political estate. thus, in those lands which a niggard nature had apparently condemned to perpetual poverty and obscurity, the principle of reasonable human freedom, without which there is no national prosperity or glory worth contending for, was taking deepest and strongest root. already in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries friesland was a republic, except in name; holland, flanders, brabant, had acquired a large share of self-government. the powerful commonwealth, at a later period to be evolved out of the great combat between centralized tyranny and the spirit of civil and religious liberty, was already foreshadowed. the elements, of which that important republic was to be compounded, were germinating for centuries. love of freedom, readiness to strike and bleed at any moment in her cause, manly resistance to despotism, however overshadowing, were the leading characteristics of the race in all regions or periods, whether among frisian swamps, dutch dykes, the gentle hills and dales of england, or the pathless forests of america. doubtless, the history of human liberty in holland and flanders, as every where else upon earth where there has been such a history, unrolls many scenes of turbulence and bloodshed; although these features have been exaggerated by prejudiced historians. still, if there were luxury and insolence, sedition and uproar, at any rate there was life. those violent little commonwealths had blood in their veins. they were compact of proud, self-helping, muscular vigor. the most sanguinary tumults which they ever enacted in the face of day, were better than the order and silence born of the midnight darkness of despotism. that very unruliness was educating the people for their future work. those merchants, manufacturers, country squires, and hard-fighting barons, all pent up in a narrow corner of the earth, quarrelling with each other and with all the world for centuries, were keeping alive a national pugnacity of character, for which there was to be a heavy demand in the sixteenth century, and without which the fatherland had perhaps succumbed in the most unequal conflict ever waged by man against oppression. to sketch the special history of even the leading netherland provinces, during the five centuries which we have thus rapidly sought to characterize, is foreign to our purpose. by holding the clue of holland's history, the general maze of dynastic transformations throughout the country may, however, be swiftly threaded. from the time of the first dirk to the close of the thirteenth century there were nearly four hundred years of unbroken male descent, a long line of dirks and florences. this iron-handed, hot-headed, adventurous race, placed as sovereign upon its little sandy hook, making ferocious exertions to swell into larger consequence, conquering a mile or two of morass or barren furze, after harder blows and bloodier encounters than might have established an empire under more favorable circumstances, at last dies out. the courtship falls to the house of avennes, counts of hainault. holland, together with zeland, which it had annexed, is thus joined to the province of hainault. at the end of another half century the hainault line expires. william the fourth died childless in . his death is the signal for the outbreak of an almost interminable series of civil commotions. those two great, parties, known by the uncouth names of hook and kabbeljaw, come into existence, dividing noble against noble, city against city, father against son, for some hundred and fifty years, without foundation upon any abstract or intelligible principle. it may be observed, however, that, in the sequel, and as a general rule, the kabbeljaw, or cod-fish party, represented the city or municipal faction, while the hooks (fish-hooks), that were to catch and control them, were the nobles; iron and audacity against brute number and weight. duke william of bavaria, sister's son--of william the fourth, gets himself established in . he is succeeded by his brother albert; albert by his son william. william, who had married margaret of burgundy, daughter of philip the bold, dies in . the goodly heritage of these three netherland provinces descends to his daughter jacqueline, a damsel of seventeen. little need to trace the career of the fair and ill-starred jacqueline. few chapters of historical romance have drawn more frequent tears. the favorite heroine of ballad and drama, to netherlanders she is endued with the palpable form and perpetual existence of the iphigenias, mary stuarts, joans of arc, or other consecrated individualities. exhausted and broken-hearted, after thirteen years of conflict with her own kinsmen, consoled for the cowardice and brutality of three husbands by the gentle and knightly spirit of the fourth, dispossessed of her father's broad domains, degraded from the rank of sovereign to be lady forester of her own provinces by her cousin, the bad duke of burgundy, philip surnamed "the good," she dies at last, and the good cousin takes undisputed dominion of the land. ( .) the five centuries of isolation are at end. the many obscure streams of netherland history are merged in one broad current. burgundy has absorbed all the provinces which, once more, are forced to recognize a single master. a century and a few years more succeed, during which this house and its heirs are undisputed sovereigns of the soil. philip the good had already acquired the principal netherlands, before dispossessing jacqueline. he had inherited, beside the two burgundies, the counties of flanders and artois. he had purchased the county of namur, and had usurped the duchy of brabant, to which the duchy of limburg, the marquisate of antwerp, and the barony of mechlin, had already been annexed. by his assumption of jacqueline's dominions, he was now lord of holland, zeland, and hainault, and titular master of friesland. he acquired luxemburg a few years later. lord of so many opulent cities and fruitful provinces, he felt himself equal to the kings of europe. upon his marriage with isabella of portugal, he founded, at bruges, the celebrated order of the golden fleece. what could be more practical or more devout than the conception? did not the lamb of god, suspended at each knightly breast, symbolize at once the woollen fabrics to which so much of flemish wealth and burgundian power was owing, and the gentle humility of christ, which was ever to characterize the order? twenty-five was the limited number, including philip himself, as grand master. the chevaliers were emperors, kings, princes, and the most illustrious nobles of christendom; while a leading provision, at the outset, forbade the brethren, crowned heads excepted, to accept or retain the companionship of any other order. the accession of so potent and ambitious a prince as the good philip boded evil to the cause of freedom in the netherlands. the spirit of liberty seemed to have been typified in the fair form of the benignant and unhappy jacqueline, and to be buried in her grave. the usurper, who had crushed her out of existence, now strode forward to trample upon all the laws and privileges of the provinces which had formed her heritage. at his advent, the municipal power had already reached an advanced stage of development. the burgher class controlled the government, not only of the cities, but often of the provinces, through its influence in the estates. industry and wealth had produced their natural results. the supreme authority of the sovereign and the power of the nobles were balanced by the municipal principle which had even begun to preponderate over both. all three exercised a constant and salutary check upon each other. commerce had converted slaves into freemen, freemen into burghers, and the burghers were acquiring daily, a larger practical hold upon the government. the town councils were becoming almost omnipotent. although with an oligarchical tendency, which at a later period was to be more fully developed, they were now composed of large numbers of individuals, who had raised themselves, by industry and intelligence, out of the popular masses. there was an unquestionably republican tone to the institutions. power, actually, if not nominally, was in the hands of many who had achieved the greatness to which they had not been born. the assemblies of the estates were rather diplomatic than representative. they consisted, generally, of the nobles and of the deputations from the cities. in holland, the clergy had neither influence nor seats in the parliamentary body. measures were proposed by the stadholder, who represented the sovereign. a request, for example, of pecuniary, accommodation, was made by that functionary or by the count himself in person. the nobles then voted upon the demand, generally as one body, but sometimes by heads. the measure was then laid before the burghers. if they had been specially commissioned to act upon the matter; they voted, each city as a city, not each deputy, individually. if they had received no instructions, they took back the proposition to lay before the councils of their respective cities, in order to return a decision at an adjourned session, or at a subsequent diet. it will be seen, therefore, that the principle of national, popular representation was but imperfectly developed. the municipal deputies acted only under instructions. each city was a little independent state, suspicious not only of the sovereign and nobles, but of its sister cities. this mutual jealousy hastened the general humiliation now impending. the centre of the system waging daily more powerful, it more easily unsphered these feebler and mutually repulsive bodies. philip's first step, upon assuming the government, was to issue a declaration, through the council of holland, that the privileges and constitutions, which he had sworn to as ruward, or guardian, during the period in which jacqueline had still retained a nominal sovereignty, were to be considered null and void, unless afterwards confirmed by him as count. at a single blow he thus severed the whole knot of pledges, oaths and other political complications, by which he had entangled himself during his cautious advance to power. he was now untrammelled again. as the conscience of the smooth usurper was, thenceforth, the measure of provincial liberty, his subjects soon found it meted to them more sparingly than they wished. from this point, then, through the burgundian period, and until the rise of the republic, the liberty of the netherlands, notwithstanding several brilliant but brief laminations, occurring at irregular intervals, seemed to remain in almost perpetual eclipse. the material prosperity of the country had, however, vastly increased. the fisheries of holland had become of enormous importance. the invention of the humble beukelzoon of biervliet, had expanded into a mine of wealth. the fisheries, too, were most useful as a nursery of seamen, and were already indicating holland's future naval supremacy. the fishermen were the militia of the ocean, their prowess attested in the war with the hanseatic cities, which the provinces of holland and zeland, in philip's name, but by their own unassisted exertions, carried on triumphantly at this epoch. then came into existence that race of cool and daring mariners, who, in after times, were to make the dutch name illustrious throughout the world, the men, whose fierce descendants, the "beggars of the sea," were to make the spanish empire tremble, the men, whose later successors swept the seas with brooms at the mast-head, and whose ocean-battles with their equally fearless english brethren often lasted four uninterrupted days and nights. the main strength of holland was derived from the ocean, from whose destructive grasp she had wrested herself, but in whose friendly embrace she remained. she was already placing securely the foundations of commercial wealth and civil liberty upon those shifting quicksands which the roman doubted whether to call land or water. her submerged deformity, as she floated, mermaid-like, upon the waves was to be forgotten in her material splendor. enriched with the spoils of every clime, crowned with the divine jewels of science and art, she was, one day, to sing a siren song of freedom, luxury, and power. as with holland, so with flanders, brabant, and the other leading provinces. industry and wealth, agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, were constantly augmenting. the natural sources of power were full to overflowing, while the hand of despotism was deliberately sealing the fountain. for the house of burgundy was rapidly culminating and as rapidly curtailing the political privileges of the netherlands. the contest was, at first, favorable to the cause of arbitrary power; but little seeds were silently germinating, which, in the progress of their gigantic development, were, one day, to undermine the foundations of tyranny and to overshadow the world. the early progress of the religious reformation in the netherlands will be outlined in a separate chapter. another great principle was likewise at work at this period. at the very epoch when the greatness of burgundy was most swiftly ripening, another weapon was secretly forging, more potent in the great struggle for freedom than any which the wit or hand of man has ever devised or wielded. when philip the good, in the full blaze of his power, and flushed with the triumphs of territorial aggrandizement, was instituting at bruges the order of the golden fleece, "to the glory of god, of the blessed virgin, and of the holy andrew, patron saint of the burgundian family," and enrolling the names of the kings and princes who were to be honored with its symbols, at that very moment, an obscure citizen of harlem, one lorenz coster, or lawrence the sexton, succeeded in printing a little grammar, by means of movable types. the invention of printing was accomplished, but it was not ushered in with such a blaze of glory as heralded the contemporaneous erection of the golden fleece. the humble setter of types did not deem emperors and princes alone worthy his companionship. his invention sent no thrill of admiration throughout christendom; and yet, what was the good philip of burgundy, with his knights of the golden fleece, and all their effulgent trumpery, in the eye of humanity and civilization, compared with the poor sexton and his wooden types? [the question of the time and place to which the invention of printing should be referred, has been often discussed. it is not probable that it will ever be settled to the entire satisfaction of holland and germany. the dutch claim that movable types were first used at harlem, fixing the time variously between the years and . the first and very faulty editions of lorenz are religiously preserved at harlem.] philip died in february, . the details of his life and career do not belong to our purpose. the practical tendency of his government was to repress the spirit of liberty, while especial privileges, extensive in nature, but limited in time, were frequently granted to corporations. philip, in one day, conferred thirty charters upon as many different bodies of citizens. these were, however, grants of monopoly not concessions of rights. he also fixed the number of city councils or vroedschappen in many netherland cities, giving them permission to present a double list of candidates for burgomasters and judges, from which he himself made the appointments. he was certainly neither a good nor great prince, but he possessed much administrative ability. his military talents were considerable, and he was successful in his wars. he was an adroit dissembler, a practical politician. he had the sense to comprehend that the power of a prince, however absolute, must depend upon the prosperity of his subjects. he taxed severely the wealth, but he protected the commerce and the manufactures of holland and flanders. he encouraged art, science, and literature. the brothers, john and hubert van eyck, were attracted by his generosity to bruges, where they painted many pictures. john was even a member of the duke's council. the art of oil-painting was carried to great perfection by hubert's scholar, john of bruges. an incredible number of painters, of greater or less merit, flourished at this epoch in the netherlands, heralds of that great school, which, at a subsequent period, was to astonish the world with brilliant colors; profound science, startling effects, and vigorous reproductions of nature. authors, too, like olivier de la marche and philippe de comines, who, in the words of the latter, "wrote, not for the amusement of brutes, and people of low degree, but for princes and other persons of quality," these and other writers, with aims as lofty, flourished at the court of burgundy, and were rewarded by the duke with princely generosity. philip remodelled and befriended the university of louvain. he founded at brussels the burgundian library, which became celebrated throughout europe. he levied largely, spent profusely, but was yet so thrifty a housekeeper, as to leave four hundred thousand crowns of gold, a vast amount in those days, besides three million marks' worth of plate and furniture, to be wasted like water in the insane career of his son. the exploits of that son require but few words of illustration. hardly a chapter of european history or romance is more familiar to the world than the one which records the meteoric course of charles the bold. the propriety of his title was never doubtful. no prince was ever bolder, but it is certain that no quality could be less desirable, at that particular moment in the history of his house. it was not the quality to confirm a usurping family in its ill-gotten possessions. renewed aggressions upon the rights of others justified retaliation and invited attack. justice, prudence, firmness, wisdom of internal administration were desirable in the son of philip and the rival of louis. these attributes the gladiator lacked entirely. his career might have been a brilliant one in the old days of chivalry. his image might have appeared as imposing as the romantic forms of baldwin bras de fer or godfrey of bouillon, had he not been misplaced in history. nevertheless, he imagined himself governed by a profound policy. he had one dominant idea, to make burgundy a kingdom. from the moment when, with almost the first standing army known to history, and with coffers well filled by his cautious father's economy, he threw himself into the lists against the crafty louis, down to the day when he was found dead, naked, deserted, and with his face frozen into a pool of blood and water, he faithfully pursued this thought. his ducal cap was to be exchanged for a kingly crown, while all the provinces which lay beneath the mediterranean and the north sea, and between france and germany, were to be united under his sceptre. the netherlands, with their wealth, had been already appropriated, and their freedom crushed. another land of liberty remained; physically, the reverse of holland, but stamped with the same courageous nationality, the same ardent love of human rights. switzerland was to be conquered. her eternal battlements of ice and granite were to constitute the great bulwark of his realm. the world knows well the result of the struggle between the lord of so many duchies and earldoms, and the alpine mountaineers. with all his boldness, charles was but an indifferent soldier. his only merit was physical courage. he imagined himself a consummate commander, and, in conversation with his jester, was fond of comparing himself to hannibal. "we are getting well hannibalized to-day, my lord," said the bitter fool, as they rode off together from the disastrous defeat of gransen. well "hannibalized" he was, too, at gransen, at murten, and at nancy. he followed in the track of his prototype only to the base of the mountains. as a conqueror, he was signally unsuccessful; as a politician, he could out-wit none but himself; it was only as a tyrant within his own ground, that he could sustain the character which he chose to enact. he lost the crown, which he might have secured, because he thought the emperor's son unworthy the heiress of burgundy; and yet, after his father's death, her marriage with that very maximilian alone secured the possession of her paternal inheritance. unsuccessful in schemes of conquest, and in political intrigue, as an oppressor of the netherlands, he nearly carried out his plans. those provinces he regarded merely as a bank to draw upon. his immediate intercourse with the country was confined to the extortion of vast requests. these were granted with ever-increasing reluctance, by the estates. the new taxes and excises, which the sanguinary extravagance of the duke rendered necessary, could seldom be collected in the various cities without tumults, sedition, and bloodshed. few princes were ever a greater curse to the people whom they were allowed to hold as property. he nearly succeeded in establishing a centralized despotism upon the ruins of the provincial institutions. his sudden death alone deferred the catastrophe. his removal of the supreme court of holland from the hague to mechlin, and his maintenance of a standing army, were the two great measures by which he prostrated the netherlands. the tribunal had been remodelled by his father; the expanded authority which philip had given to a bench of judges dependent upon himself, was an infraction of the rights of holland. the court, however, still held its sessions in the country; and the sacred privilege--de non evocando--the right of every hollander to be tried in his own land, was, at least, retained. charles threw off the mask; he proclaimed that this council--composed of his creatures, holding office at his pleasure--should have supreme jurisdiction over all the charters of the provinces; that it was to follow his person, and derive all authority from his will. the usual seat of the court he transferred to mechlin. it will be seen, in the sequel, that the attempt, under philip the second, to enforce its supreme authority was a collateral cause of the great revolution of the netherlands. charles, like his father, administered the country by stadholders. from the condition of flourishing self-ruled little republics, which they had, for a moment, almost attained, they became departments of an ill-assorted, ill-conditioned, ill-governed realm, which was neither commonwealth nor empire, neither kingdom nor duchy; and which had no homogeneousness of population, no affection between ruler and people, small sympathies of lineage or of language. his triumphs were but few, his fall ignominious. his father's treasure was squandered, the curse of a standing army fixed upon his people, the trade and manufactures of the country paralyzed by his extortions, and he accomplished nothing. he lost his life in the forty-fourth year of his age ( ), leaving all the provinces, duchies, and lordships, which formed the miscellaneous realm of burgundy, to his only child, the lady mary. thus already the countries which philip had wrested from the feeble hand of jacqueline, had fallen to another female. philip's own granddaughter, as young, fair, and unprotected as jacqueline, was now sole mistress of those broad domains. viii. a crisis, both for burgundy and the netherlands, succeeds. within the provinces there is an elastic rebound, as soon as the pressure is removed from them by the tyrant's death. a sudden spasm of liberty gives the whole people gigantic strength. in an instant they recover all, and more than all, the rights which they had lost. the cities of holland, flanders, and other provinces call a convention at ghent. laying aside their musty feuds, men of all parties-hooks and kabbeljaws, patricians and people, move forward in phalanx to recover their national constitutions. on the other hand, louis the eleventh seizes burgundy, claiming the territory for his crown, the heiress for his son. the situation is critical for the lady mary. as usual in such cases, appeals are made to the faithful commons. a prodigality of oaths and pledges is showered upon the people, that their loyalty may be refreshed and grow green. the congress meets at ghent. the lady mary professes much, but she will keep her vow. the deputies are called upon to rally the country around the duchess, and to resist the fraud and force of louis. the congress is willing to maintain the cause of its young mistress. the members declare, at the same time, very roundly, "that the provinces have been much impoverished and oppressed by the enormous taxation imposed upon them by the ruinous wars waged by duke charles from the beginning to the end of his life." they rather require "to be relieved than additionally encumbered." they add that, "for many years past, there has been a constant violation of the provincial and municipal charters, and that they should be happy to see them restored." the result of the deliberations is the formal grant by duchess mary of the "groot privilegie," or great privilege, the magna charta of holland. although this instrument was afterwards violated, and indeed abolished, it became the foundation of the republic. it was a recapitulation and recognition of ancient rights, not an acquisition of new privileges. it was a restoration, not a revolution. its principal points deserve attention from those interested in the political progress of mankind. "the duchess shall not marry without consent of the estates of her provinces. all offices in her gift shall be conferred on natives only. no man shall fill two offices. no office shall be farmed. the 'great council and supreme court of holland' is re-established. causes shall be brought before it on appeal from the ordinary courts. it shall have no original jurisdiction of matters within the cognizance of the provincial and municipal tribunals. the estates and cities are guaranteed in their right not to be summoned to justice beyond the limits of their territory. the cities, in common with all the provinces of the netherlands, may hold diets as often ten and at such places as they choose. no new taxes shall be imposed but by consent of the provincial estates. neither the duchess nor her descendants shall begin either an offensive or defensive war without consent of the estates. in case a war be illegally undertaken, the estates are not bound to contribute to its maintenance. in all public and legal documents, the netherland language shall be employed. the commands of the duchess shall be invalid, if conflicting with the privileges of a city. "the seat of the supreme council is transferred from mechlin to the hague. no money shall be coined, nor its value raised or lowered, but by consent of the estates. cities are not to be compelled to contribute to requests which they have not voted. the sovereign shall come in person before the estates, to make his request for supplies." here was good work. the land was rescued at a blow from the helpless condition to which it had been reduced. this summary annihilation of all the despotic arrangements of charles was enough to raise him from his tomb. the law, the sword, the purse, were all taken from the hand of the sovereign and placed within the control of parliament. such sweeping reforms, if maintained, would restore health to the body politic. they gave, moreover, an earnest of what was one day to arrive. certainly, for the fifteenth century, the "great privilege" was a reasonably liberal constitution. where else upon earth, at that day, was there half so much liberty as was thus guaranteed? the congress of the netherlands, according to their magna charta, had power to levy all taxes, to regulate commerce and manufactures, to declare war, to coin money, to raise armies and navies. the executive was required to ask for money in person, could appoint only natives to office, recognized the right of disobedience in his subjects, if his commands should conflict with law, and acknowledged himself bound by decisions of courts of justice. the cities appointed their own magistrates, held diets at their own pleasure, made their local by-laws and saw to their execution. original cognizance of legal matters belonged to the municipal courts, appellate jurisdiction to the supreme tribunal, in which the judges were appointed by the sovereign. the liberty of the citizen against arbitrary imprisonment was amply provided for. the 'jus de non evocando', the habeas corpus of holland, was re-established. truly, here was a fundamental law which largely, roundly, and reasonably recognized the existence of a people with hearts, heads, and hands of their own. it was a vast step in advance of natural servitude, the dogma of the dark ages. it was a noble and temperate vindication of natural liberty, the doctrine of more enlightened days. to no people in the world more than to the stout burghers of flanders and holland belongs the honor of having battled audaciously and perennially in behalf of human rights. similar privileges to the great charter of holland are granted to many other provinces; especially to flanders, ever ready to stand forward in fierce vindication of freedom. for a season all is peace and joy; but the duchess is young, weak, and a woman. there is no lack of intriguing politicians, reactionary councillors. there is a cunning old king in the distance, lying in wait; seeking what he can devour. a mission goes from the estates to france. the well-known tragedy of imbrecourt and hugonet occurs. envoys from the states, they dare to accept secret instructions from the duchess to enter into private negotiations with the french monarch, against their colleagues--against the great charter--against their country. sly louis betrays them, thinking that policy the more expedient. they are seized in ghent, rapidly tried, and as rapidly beheaded by the enraged burghers. all the entreaties of the lady mary, who, dressed in mourning garments, with dishevelled hair, unloosed girdle, and streaming eyes; appears at the town-house and afterwards in the market place, humbly to intercede for her servants, are fruitless there is no help for the juggling diplomatists. the punishment was sharp. was it more severe and sudden than that which betrayed monarchs usually inflict? would the flemings, at that critical moment, have deserved their freedom had they not taken swift and signal vengeance for this first infraction of their newly recognized rights? had it not been weakness to spare the traitors who had thus stained the childhood of the national joy at liberty regained? ix. another step, and a wide one, into the great stream of european history. the lady mary espouses the archduke maximilian. the netherlands are about to become habsburg property. the ghenters reject the pretensions of the dauphin, and select for husband of their duchess the very man whom her father had so stupidly rejected. it had been a wiser choice for charles the bold than for the netherlanders. the marriage takes place on the th of august, . mary of burgundy passes from the guardianship of ghent burghers into that of the emperor's son. the crafty husband allies himself with the city party, feeling where the strength lies. he knows that the voracious kabbeljaws have at last swallowed the hooks, and run away with them. promising himself future rights of reconsideration, he is liberal in promises to the municipal party. in the mean time he is governor and guardian of his wife and her provinces. his children are to inherit the netherlands and all that therein is. what can be more consistent than laws of descent, regulated by right divine? at the beginning of the century, good philip dispossesses jacqueline, because females can not inherit. at its close, his granddaughter succeeds to the property, and transmits it to her children. pope and emperor maintain both positions with equal logic. the policy and promptness of maximilian are as effective as the force and fraud of philip. the lady mary falls from her horse and dies. her son, philip, four years of age, is recognized as successor. thus the house of burgundy is followed by that of austria, the fifth and last family which governed holland, previously to the erection of the republic. maximilian is recognized by the provinces as governor and guardian, during the minority of his children. flanders alone refuses. the burghers, ever prompt in action, take personal possession of the child philip, and carry on the government in his name. a commission of citizens and nobles thus maintain their authority against maximilian for several years. in , the archduke, now king of the romans, with a small force of cavalry, attempts to take the city of bruges, but the result is a mortifying one to the roman king. the citizens of bruges take him. maximilian, with several councillors, is kept a prisoner in a house on the market-place. the magistrates are all changed, the affairs of government conducted in the name of the young philip alone. meantime, the estates of the other netherlands assemble at ghent; anxious, unfortunately, not for the national liberty, but for that of the roman king. already holland, torn again by civil feuds, and blinded by the artifices of maximilian, has deserted, for a season, the great cause to which flanders has remained so true. at last, a treaty is made between the archduke and the flemings. maximilian is to be regent of the other provinces; philip, under guardianship of a council, is to govern flanders. moreover, a congress of all the provinces is to be summoned annually, to provide for the general welfare. maximilian signs and swears to the treaty on the th may, . he swears, also, to dismiss all foreign troops within four days. giving hostages for his fidelity, he is set at liberty. what are oaths and hostages when prerogative, and the people are contending? emperor frederic sends to his son an army under the duke of saxony. the oaths are broken, the hostages left to their fate. the struggle lasts a year, but, at the end of it, the flemings are subdued. what could a single province effect, when its sister states, even liberty-loving holland, had basely abandoned the common cause? a new treaty is made, (oct. ). maximilian obtains uncontrolled guardianship of his son, absolute dominion over flanders and the other provinces. the insolent burghers are severely punished for remembering that they had been freemen. the magistrates of ghent, bruges, and ypres, in black garments, ungirdled, bare-headed, and kneeling, are compelled to implore the despot's forgiveness, and to pay three hundred thousand crowns of gold as its price. after this, for a brief season, order reigns in flanders. the course of maximilian had been stealthy, but decided. allying himself with the city party, he had crushed the nobles. the power thus obtained, he then turned against the burghers. step by step he had trampled out the liberties which his wife and himself had sworn to protect. he had spurned the authority of the "great privilege," and all other charters. burgomasters and other citizens had been beheaded in great numbers for appealing to their statutes against the edicts of the regent, for voting in favor of a general congress according to the unquestionable law. he had proclaimed that all landed estates should, in lack of heirs male, escheat to his own exchequer. he had debased the coin of the country, and thereby authorized unlimited swindling on the part of all his agents, from stadholders down to the meanest official. if such oppression and knavery did not justify the resistance of the flemings to the guardianship of maximilian, it would be difficult to find any reasonable course in political affairs save abject submission to authority. in , maximilian succeeds to the imperial throne, at the death of his father. in the following year his son, philip the fair, now seventeen years of age, receives the homage of the different states of the netherlands. he swears to maintain only the privileges granted by philip and charles of burgundy, or their ancestors, proclaiming null and void all those which might have been acquired since the death of charles. holland, zeland, and the other provinces accept him upon these conditions, thus ignominiously, and without a struggle, relinquishing the great privilege, and all similar charters. friesland is, for a brief season, politically separated from the rest of the country. harassed and exhausted by centuries of warfare, foreign, and domestic, the free frisians, at the suggestion or command of emperor maximilian, elect the duke of saxony as their podesta. the sovereign prince, naturally proving a chief magistrate far from democratic, gets himself acknowledged, or submitted to, soon afterwards, as legitimate sovereign of friesland. seventeen years afterward saxony sells the sovereignty to the austrian house for , crowns. this little country, whose statutes proclaimed her to be "free as the wind, as long as it blew," whose institutions charlemagne had honored and left unmolested, who had freed herself with ready poniard from norman tyranny, who never bowed her neck to feudal chieftain, nor to the papal yoke, now driven to madness and suicide by the dissensions of her wild children, forfeits at last her independent existence. all the provinces are thus united in a common servitude, and regret, too late, their supineness at a moment when their liberties might yet have been vindicated. their ancient and cherished charters, which their bold ancestors had earned with the sweat of their brows and the blood of their hearts, are at the mercy of an autocrat, and liable to be superseded by his edicts. in , the momentous marriage of philip the fair with joanna, daughter of ferdinand and isabella of castile and aragon, is solemnized. of this union, in the first year of the century, is born the second charlemagne, who is to unite spain and the netherlands, together with so many vast and distant realms, under a single sceptre. six years afterwards (sept. , ), philip dies at burgos. a handsome profligate, devoted to his pleasures, and leaving the cares of state to his ministers, philip, "croit-conseil," is the bridge over which the house of habsburg passes to almost universal monarchy, but, in himself, is nothing. x. two prudent marriages, made by austrian archdukes within twenty years, have altered the face of the earth. the stream, which we have been tracing from its source, empties itself at last into the ocean of a world-empire. count dirk the first, lord of a half-submerged corner of europe, is succeeded by count charles the second of holland, better known as charles the fifth, king of spain, sicily, and jerusalem, duke of milan, emperor of germany, dominator in asia and africa, autocrat of half the world. the leading events of his brilliant reign are familiar to every child. the netherlands now share the fate of so large a group of nations, a fate, to these provinces, most miserable. the weddings of austria felix were not so prolific of happiness to her subjects as to herself. it can never seem just or reasonable that the destiny of many millions of human beings should depend upon the marriage-settlements of one man with one woman, and a permanent, prosperous empire can never be reared upon so frail a foundation. the leading thought of the first charlemagne was a noble and a useful one, nor did his imperial scheme seem chimerical, even although time, wiser than monarchs or lawgivers, was to prove it impracticable. to weld into one great whole the various tribes of franks, frisians, saxons, lombards, burgundians, and others, still in their turbulent youth, and still composing one great teutonic family; to enforce the mutual adhesion of naturally coherent masses, all of one lineage, one language, one history, and which were only beginning to exhibit their tendencies to insulation, to acquiesce in a variety of local laws and customs, while an iron will was to concentrate a vast, but homogeneous, people into a single nation; to raise up from the grave of corrupt and buried rome a fresh, vigorous, german, christian empire; this was a reasonable and manly thought. far different the conception of the second charlemagne. to force into discordant union, tribes which, for seven centuries, had developed themselves into hostile nations, separated by geography and history, customs and laws, to combine many millions under one sceptre, not because of natural identity, but for the sake of composing one splendid family property, to establish unity by annihilating local institutions, to supersede popular and liberal charters by the edicts of a central despotism, to do battle with the whole spirit of an age, to regard the souls as well as the bodies of vast multitudes as the personal property of one individual, to strive for the perpetuation in a single house of many crowns, which accident had blended, and to imagine the consecration of the whole system by placing the pope's triple diadem forever upon the imperial head of the habsburgs;--all this was not the effort of a great, constructive genius, but the selfish scheme of an autocrat. the union of no two countries could be less likely to prove advantageous or agreeable than that of the netherlands and spain. they were widely separated geographically, while in history, manners, and politics, they were utterly opposed to each other. spain, which had but just assumed the form of a single state by the combination of all its kingdoms, with its haughty nobles descended from petty kings, and arrogating almost sovereign power within their domains, with its fierce enthusiasm for the catholic religion, which, in the course of long warfare with the saracens, had become the absorbing characteristic of a whole nation, with its sparse population scattered over a wide and stern country, with a military spirit which led nearly all classes to prefer poverty to the wealth attendant upon degrading pursuits of trade;--spain, with her gloomy, martial, and exaggerated character, was the absolute contrast of the netherlands. these provinces had been rarely combined into a whole, but there was natural affinity in their character, history, and position. there was life, movement, bustling activity every where. an energetic population swarmed in all the flourishing cities which dotted the surface of a contracted and highly cultivated country. their ships were the carriers for the world;--their merchants, if invaded in their rights, engaged in vigorous warfare with their own funds and their own frigates; their fabrics were prized over the whole earth; their burghers possessed the wealth of princes, lived with royal luxury, and exercised vast political influence; their love of liberty was their predominant passion. their religious ardor had not been fully awakened; but the events of the next generation were to prove that in no respect more than in the religious sentiment, were the two races opposed to each other. it was as certain that the netherlanders would be fierce reformers as that the spaniards would be uncompromising persecutors. unhallowed was the union between nations thus utterly contrasted. philip the fair and ferdinand had detested and quarrelled with each other from the beginning. the spaniards and flemings participated in the mutual antipathy, and hated each other cordially at first sight. the unscrupulous avarice of the netherland nobles in spain, their grasping and venal ambition, enraged and disgusted the haughty spaniards. this international malignity furnishes one of the keys to a proper understanding of the great revolt in the next reign. the provinces, now all united again under an emperor, were treated, opulent and powerful as they were, as obscure dependencies. the regency over them was entrusted by charles to his near relatives, who governed in the interest of his house, not of the country. his course towards them upon the religious question will be hereafter indicated. the political character of his administration was typified, and, as it were, dramatized, on the occasion of the memorable insurrection at ghent. for this reason, a few interior details concerning that remarkable event, seem requisite. xi. ghent was, in all respects, one of the most important cities in europe. erasmus, who, as a hollander and a courtier, was not likely to be partial to the turbulent flemings, asserted that there was no town in all christendom to be compared to it for size, power, political constitution, or the culture of its inhabitants. it was, said one of its inhabitants at the epoch of the insurrection, rather a country than a city. the activity and wealth of its burghers were proverbial. the bells were rung daily, and the drawbridges over the many arms of the river intersecting the streets were raised, in order that all business might be suspended, while the armies of workmen were going to or returning from their labors. as early as the fourteenth century, the age of the arteveldes, froissart estimated the number of fighting men whom ghent could bring into the field at eighty thousand. the city, by its jurisdiction over many large but subordinate towns, disposed of more than its own immediate population, which has been reckoned as high as two hundred thousand. placed in the midst of well cultivated plains, ghent was surrounded by strong walls, the external circuit of which measured nine miles. its streets and squares were spacious and elegant, its churches and other public buildings numerous and splendid. the sumptuous church of saint john or saint bavon, where charles the fifth had been baptized, the ancient castle whither baldwin bras de fer had brought the daughter of charles the bald, the city hall with its graceful moorish front, the well-known belfry, where for three centuries had perched the dragon sent by the emperor baldwin of flanders from constantinople, and where swung the famous roland, whose iron tongue had called the citizens, generation after generation, to arms, whether to win battles over foreign kings at the head of their chivalry, or to plunge their swords in each others' breasts, were all conspicuous in the city and celebrated in the land. especially the great bell was the object of the burghers' affection, and, generally, of the sovereign's hatred; while to all it seemed, as it were, a living historical personage, endowed with the human powers and passions which it had so long directed and inflamed. the constitution of the city was very free. it was a little republic in all but name. its population was divided into fifty-two guilds of manufacturers and into thirty-two tribes of weavers; each fraternity electing annually or biennally its own deans and subordinate officers. the senate, which exercised functions legislative, judicial, and administrative, subject of course to the grand council of mechlin and to the sovereign authority, consisted of twenty-six members. these were appointed partly from the upper class, or the men who lived upon their means, partly from the manufacturers in general, and partly from the weavers. they were chosen by a college of eight electors, who were appointed by the sovereign on nomination by the citizens. the whole city, in its collective capacity, constituted one of the four estates (membra) of the province of flanders. it is obvious that so much liberty of form and of fact, added to the stormy character by which its citizens were distinguished, would be most offensive in the eyes of charles, and that the delinquencies of the little commonwealth would be represented in the most glaring colors by all those quiet souls, who preferred the tranquillity of despotism to the turbulence of freedom. the city claimed, moreover, the general provisions of the "great privilege" of the lady mary, the magna charta, which, according to the monarchical party, had been legally abrogated by maximilian. the liberties of the town had also been nominally curtailed by the "calf-skin" (kalf vel). by this celebrated document, charles the fifth, then fifteen years of age, had been made to threaten with condign punishment all persons who should maintain that he had sworn at his inauguration to observe any privileges or charters claimed by the ghenters before the peace of cadsand. the immediate cause of the discontent, the attempt to force from flanders a subsidy of four hundred thousand caroli, as the third part of the twelve hundred thousand granted by the states of the netherlands, and the resistance of ghent in opposition to the other three members of the province, will, of course, be judged differently, according as the sympathies are stronger with popular rights or with prerogative. the citizens claimed that the subsidy could only be granted by the unanimous consent of the four estates of the province. among other proofs of this their unquestionable right, they appealed to a muniment, which had never existed, save in the imagination of the credulous populace. at a certain remote epoch, one of the counts of flanders, it was contended, had gambled away his countship to the earl of holland, but had been extricated from his dilemma by the generosity of ghent. the burghers of the town had paid the debts and redeemed the sovereignty of their lord, and had thereby gained, in return, a charter, called the bargain of flanders (koop van flandern). among the privileges granted by this document, was an express stipulation that no subsidy should ever be granted by the province without the consent of ghent. this charter would have been conclusive in the present emergency, had it not labored under the disadvantage of never having existed. it was supposed by many that the magistrates, some of whom were favorable to government, had hidden the document. lieven pyl, an ex-senator, was supposed to be privy to its concealment. he was also, with more justice, charged with an act of great baseness and effrontery. reputed by the citizens to carry to the queen regent their positive refusal to grant the subsidy, he had, on the contrary, given an answer, in their name, in the affirmative. for these delinquencies, the imaginary and the real, he was inhumanly tortured and afterwards beheaded. "i know, my children," said he upon the scaffold, "that you will be grieved when you have seen my blood flow, and that you will regret me when it is too late." it does not appear, however, that there was any especial reason to regret him, however sanguinary the punishment which had requited his broken faith. the mischief being thus afoot, the tongue of roland, and the easily-excited spirits of the citizens, soon did the rest. ghent broke forth into open insurrection. they had been willing to enlist and pay troops under their own banners, but they had felt outraged at the enormous contribution demanded of them for a foreign war, undertaken in the family interests of their distant master. they could not find the "bargain of flanders," but they got possession of the odious "calf skin," which was solemnly cut in two by the dean of the weavers. it was then torn in shreds by the angry citizens, many of whom paraded the streets with pieces of the hated document stuck in their caps, like plumes. from these demonstrations they proceeded to intrigues with francis the first. he rejected them, and gave notice of their overtures to charles, who now resolved to quell the insurrection, at once. francis wrote, begging that the emperor would honor him by coming through france; "wishing to assure you," said he, "my lord and good brother, by this letter, written and signed by my hand, upon my honor, and on the faith of a prince, and of the best brother you have, that in passing through my kingdom every possible honor and hospitality will be offered you, even as they could be to myself." certainly, the french king, after such profuse and voluntary pledges, to confirm which he, moreover, offered his two sons and other great individuals as hostages, could not, without utterly disgracing himself, have taken any unhandsome advantage of the emperor's presence in his dominions. the reflections often made concerning the high-minded chivalry of francis, and the subtle knowledge of human nature displayed by charles upon the occasion, seem, therefore, entirely superfluous. the emperor came to paris. "here," says a citizen of ghent, at the time, who has left a minute account of the transaction upon record, but whose sympathies were ludicrously with the despot and against his own townspeople, "here the emperor was received as if the god of paradise had descended." on the th of february, , he left brussels; on the th he came to ghent. his entrance into the city lasted more than six hours. four thousand lancers, one thousand archers, five thousand halberdmen and musqueteers composed his bodyguard, all armed to the teeth and ready for combat. the emperor rode in their midst, surrounded by "cardinals, archbishops, bishops, and other great ecclesiastical lords," so that the terrors of the church were combined with the panoply of war to affright the souls of the turbulent burghers. a brilliant train of "dukes, princes, earls, barons, grand masters, and seignors, together with most of the knights of the fleece," were, according to the testimony of the same eyewitness, in attendance upon his majesty. this unworthy son of ghent was in ecstasies with the magnificence displayed upon the occasion. there was such a number of "grand lords, members of sovereign houses, bishops, and other ecclesiastical dignitaries going about the streets, that," as the poor soul protested with delight, "there was nobody else to be met with." especially the fine clothes of these distinguished guests excited his warmest admiration. it was wonderful to behold, he said, "the nobility and great richness of the princes and seignors, displayed as well in their beautiful furs, martins and sables, as in the great chains of fine gold which they wore twisted round their necks, and the pearls and precious stones in their bonnets and otherwise, which they displayed in great abundance. it was a very triumphant thing to see them so richly dressed and accoutred." an idea may be formed of the size and wealth of the city at this period, from the fact that it received and accommodated sixty thousand strangers, with their fifteen thousand horses, upon the occasion of the emperor's visit. charles allowed a month of awful suspense to intervene between his arrival and his vengeance. despair and hope alternated during the interval. on the th of march, the spell was broken by the execution of nineteen persons, who were beheaded as ringleaders. on the th of april, he pronounced sentence upon the city. the hall where it was rendered was open to all comers, and graced by the presence of the emperor, the queen regent, and the great functionaries of court, church, and state. the decree, now matured, was read at length. it annulled all the charters, privileges, and laws of ghent. it confiscated all its public property, rents, revenues, houses, artillery, munitions of war, and in general every thing which the corporation, or the traders, each and all, possessed in common. in particular, the great bell--roland was condemned and sentenced to immediate removal. it was decreed that the four hundred thousand florins, which had caused the revolt, should forthwith be paid, together with an additional fine by ghent of one hundred and fifty thousand, besides six thousand a year, forever after. in place of their ancient and beloved constitution, thus annihilated at a blow, was promulgated a new form of municipal government of the simplest kind, according to which all officers were in future to be appointed by himself and the guilds, to be reduced to half their number; shorn of all political power, and deprived entirely of self-government. it was, moreover, decreed, that the senators, their pensionaries, clerks and secretaries, thirty notable burghers, to be named by the emperor, with the great dean and second dean of the weavers, all dressed in black robes, without their chains, and bareheaded, should appear upon an appointed day, in company with fifty persons from the guilds, and fifty others, to be arbitrarily named, in their shirts, with halters upon their necks. this large number of deputies, as representatives of the city, were then to fall upon their knees before the emperor, say in a loud and intelligible voice, by the mouth of one of their clerks, that they were extremely sorry for the disloyalty, disobedience, infraction of laws, commotions, rebellion, and high treason, of which they had been guilty, promise that they would never do the like again, and humbly implore him, for the sake of the passion of jesus christ, to grant them mercy and forgiveness. the third day of may was appointed for the execution of the sentence. charles, who was fond of imposing exhibitions and prided himself upon arranging them with skill, was determined that this occasion should be long remembered by all burghers throughout his dominions who might be disposed to insist strongly upon their municipal rights. the streets were alive with troops: cavalry and infantry in great numbers keeping strict guard at every point throughout the whole extent of the city; for it was known that the hatred produced by the sentence was most deadly, and that nothing but an array of invincible force could keep those hostile sentiments in check. the senators in their black mourning robes, the other deputies in linen shirts, bareheaded, with halters on their necks, proceeded, at the appointed hour, from the senate house to the imperial residence. high on his throne, with the queen regent at his side, surrounded by princes, prelates and nobles, guarded by his archers and halberdiers, his crown on his head and his sceptre in his hand, the emperor, exalted, sat. the senators and burghers, in their robes cf humiliation, knelt in the dust at his feet. the prescribed words of contrition and of supplication for mercy were then read by the pensionary, all the deputies remaining upon their knees, and many of them crying bitterly with rage and shame. "what principally distressed them," said the honest citizen, whose admiration for the brilliant accoutrement of the princes and prelates has been recorded, "was to have the halter on their necks, which they found hard to bear, and, if they had not been compelled, they would rather have died than submit to it." as soon as the words had been all spoken by the pensionary, the emperor, whose cue was now to appear struggling with mingled emotions of reasonable wrath and of natural benignity, performed his part with much dramatic effect. "he held himself coyly for a little time," says the eye-witness, "without saying a word; deporting himself as though he were considering whether or not he would grant the pardon for which the culprits had prayed." then the queen regent enacted her share in the show. turning to his majesty "with all reverence, honor and humility, she begged that he would concede forgiveness, in honor of his nativity, which had occurred in that city." upon this the emperor "made a fine show of benignity," and replied "very sweetly" that in consequence of his "fraternal love for her, by reason of his being a gentle and virtuous prince, who preferred mercy to the rigor of justice, and in view of their repentance, he would accord his pardon to the citizens." the netherlands, after this issue to the struggle of ghent, were reduced, practically, to a very degraded condition. the form of local self-government remained, but its spirit, when invoked, only arose to be derided. the supreme court of mechlin, as in the days of charles the bold, was again placed in despotic authority above the ancient charters. was it probable that the lethargy of provinces, which had reached so high a point of freedom only to be deprived of it at last, could endure forever? was it to be hoped that the stern spirit of religious enthusiasm, allying itself with the--keen instinct of civil liberty, would endue the provinces with strength to throw off the spanish yoke? xii. it is impossible to comprehend the character of the great netherland revolt in the sixteenth century without taking a rapid retrospective survey of the religious phenomena exhibited in the provinces. the introduction of christianity has been already indicated. from the earliest times, neither prince, people, nor even prelates were very dutiful to the pope. as the papal authority made progress, strong resistance was often made to its decrees. the bishops of utrecht were dependent for their wealth and territory upon the good will of the emperor. they were the determined opponents of hildebrand, warm adherents of the hohenstaufers-ghibelline rather than guelph. heresy was a plant of early growth in the netherlands. as early as the beginning of the th century, the notorious tanchelyn preached at antwerp, attacking the authority of the pope and of all other ecclesiastics; scoffing at the ceremonies and sacraments of the church. unless his character and career have been grossly misrepresented, he was the most infamous of the many impostors who have so often disgraced the cause of religious reformation. by more than four centuries, he anticipated the licentiousness and greediness manifested by a series of false prophets, and was the first to turn both the stupidity of a populace and the viciousness of a priesthood to his own advancement; an ambition which afterwards reached its most signal expression in the celebrated john of leyden. the impudence of tanchelyn and the superstition of his followers seem alike incredible. all antwerp was his harem. he levied, likewise, vast sums upon his converts, and whenever he appeared in public, his apparel and pomp were befitting an emperor. three thousand armed satellites escorted his steps and put to death all who resisted his commands. so groveling became the superstition of his followers that they drank of the water in which, he had washed, and treasured it as a divine elixir. advancing still further in his experiments upon human credulity, he announced his approaching marriage with the virgin mary, bade all his disciples to the wedding, and exhibited himself before an immense crowd in company with an image of his holy bride. he then ordered the people to provide for the expenses of the nuptials and the dowry of his wife, placing a coffer upon each side of the image, to receive the contributions of either sex. which is the most wonderful manifestation in the history of this personage--the audacity of the impostor, or the bestiality of his victims? his career was so successful in the netherlands that he had the effrontery to proceed to rome, promulgating what he called his doctrines as he went. he seems to have been assassinated by a priest in an obscure brawl, about the year . by the middle of the th century, other and purer heresiarchs had arisen. many netherlanders became converts to the doctrines of waldo. from that period until the appearance of luther, a succession of sects--waldenses, albigenses, perfectists, lollards, poplicans, arnaldists, bohemian brothers--waged perpetual but unequal warfare with the power and depravity of the church, fertilizing with their blood the future field of the reformation. nowhere was the persecution of heretics more relentless than in the netherlands. suspected persons were subjected to various torturing but ridiculous ordeals. after such trial, death by fire was the usual but, perhaps, not the most severe form of execution. in flanders, monastic ingenuity had invented another most painful punishment for waldenses and similar malefactors. a criminal whose guilt had been established by the hot iron, hot ploughshare, boiling kettle, or other logical proof, was stripped and bound to the stake:--he was then flayed, from the neck to the navel, while swarms of bees were let loose to fasten upon his bleeding flesh and torture him to a death of exquisite agony. nevertheless heresy increased in the face of oppression the scriptures, translated by waldo into french, were rendered into netherland rhyme, and the converts to the vaudois doctrine increased in numbers and boldness. at the same time the power and luxury of the clergy was waxing daily. the bishops of utrecht, no longer the defenders of the people against arbitrary power, conducted themselves like little popes. yielding in dignity neither to king nor kaiser, they exacted homage from the most powerful princes of the netherlands. the clerical order became the most privileged of all. the accused priest refused to acknowledge the temporal tribunals. the protection of ecclesiastical edifices was extended over all criminals and fugitives from justice--a beneficent result in those sanguinary ages, even if its roots were sacerdotal pride. to establish an accusation against a bishop, seventy-two witnesses were necessary; against a deacon, twenty-seven; against an inferior dignitary, seven; while two were sufficient to convict a layman. the power to read and write helped the clergy to much wealth. privileges and charters from petty princes, gifts and devises from private persons, were documents which few, save ecclesiastics, could draw or dispute. not content, moreover, with their territories and their tithings, the churchmen perpetually devised new burthens upon the peasantry. ploughs, sickles, horses, oxen, all implements of husbandry, were taxed for the benefit of those who toiled not, but who gathered into barns. in the course of the twelfth century, many religious houses, richly endowed with lands and other property, were founded in the netherlands. was hand or voice raised against clerical encroachment--the priests held ever in readiness a deadly weapon of defence: a blasting anathema was thundered against their antagonist, and smote him into submission. the disciples of him who ordered his followers to bless their persecutors, and to love their enemies, invented such christian formulas as these:--"in the name of the father, the son, the holy ghost, the blessed virgin mary, john the baptist, peter and paul, and all other saints in heaven, do we curse and cut off from our communion him who has thus rebelled against us. may the curse strike him in his house, barn, bed, field, path, city, castle. may he be cursed in battle, accursed in praying, in speaking, in silence, in eating, in drinking, in sleeping. may he be accursed in his taste, hearing, smell, and all his senses. may the curse blast his eyes, head, and his body, from his crown to the soles of his feet. i conjure you, devil, and all your imps, that you take no rest till you have brought him to eternal shame; till he is destroyed by drowning or hanging, till he is torn to pieces by wild beasts, or consumed by fire. let his children become orphans, his wife a widow. i command you, devil, and all your imps, that even as i now blow out these torches, you do immediately extinguish the light from his eyes. so be it--so be it. amen. amen." so speaking, the curser was wont to blow out two waxen torches which he held in his hands, and, with this practical illustration, the anathema was complete. such insane ravings, even in the mouth of some impotent beldame, were enough to excite a shudder, but in that dreary epoch, these curses from the lips of clergymen were deemed sufficient to draw down celestial lightning upon the head, not of the blasphemer, but of his victim. men, who trembled neither at sword nor fire, cowered like slaves before such horrid imprecations, uttered by tongues gifted, as it seemed, with superhuman power. their fellow-men shrank from the wretches thus blasted, and refused communication with them as unclean and abhorred. by the end of the thirteenth century, however, the clerical power was already beginning to decline. it was not the corruption of the church, but its enormous wealth which engendered the hatred, with which it was by many regarded. temporal princes and haughty barons began to dispute the right of ecclesiastics to enjoy vast estates, while refusing the burthen of taxation, and unable to draw a sword for the common defence. at this period, the counts of flanders, of holland, and other netherland sovereigns, issued decrees, forbidding clerical institutions from acquiring property, by devise, gift, purchase, or any other mode. the downfall of the rapacious and licentious knights-templar in the provinces and throughout europe, was another severe blow administered at the same time. the attacks upon church abuses redoubled in boldness, as its authority declined. towards the end of the fourteenth century, the doctrines of wicklif had made great progress in the land. early in the fifteenth, the executions of huss and jerome of prague, produce the bohemian rebellion. the pope proclaims a crusade against the hussites. knights and prelates, esquires and citizens, enlist in the sacred cause, throughout holland and its sister provinces; but many netherlanders, who had felt the might of ziska's arm, come back, feeling more sympathy with the heresy which they had attacked, than with the church for which they had battled. meantime, the restrictions imposed by netherland sovereigns upon clerical rights to hold or acquire property, become more stern and more general. on the other hand, with the invention of printing, the cause of reformation takes a colossal stride in advance. a bible, which, before, had cost five hundred crowns, now costs but five. the people acquire the power of reading god's word, or of hearing it read, for themselves. the light of truth dispels the clouds of superstition, as by a new revelation. the pope and his monks are found to bear, very often, but faint resemblance to jesus and his apostles. moreover, the instinct of self-interest sharpens the eye of the public. many greedy priests, of lower rank, had turned shop-keepers in the netherlands, and were growing rich by selling their wares, exempt from taxation, at a lower rate than lay hucksters could afford. the benefit of clergy, thus taking the bread from the mouths of many, excites jealousy; the more so, as, besides their miscellaneous business, the reverend traders have a most lucrative branch of commerce from which other merchants are excluded. the sale of absolutions was the source of large fortunes to the priests. the enormous impudence of this traffic almost exceeds belief. throughout the netherlands, the price current of the wares thus offered for sale, was published in every town and village. god's pardon for crimes already committed, or about to be committed, was advertised according to a graduated tariff. thus, poisoning, for example, was absolved for eleven ducats, six livres tournois. absolution for incest was afforded at thirty-six livres, three ducats. perjury came to seven livres and three carlines. pardon for murder, if not by poison, was cheaper. even a parricide could buy forgiveness at god's tribunal at one ducat; four livres, eight carlines. henry de montfort, in the year , purchased absolution for that crime at that price. was it strange that a century or so of this kind of work should produce a luther? was it unnatural that plain people, who loved the ancient church, should rather desire to see her purged of such blasphemous abuses, than to hear of st. peter's dome rising a little nearer to the clouds on these proceeds of commuted crime? at the same time, while ecclesiastical abuses are thus augmenting, ecclesiastical power is diminishing in the netherlands. the church is no longer able to protect itself against the secular aim. the halcyon days of ban, book and candle, are gone. in , duke philip of burgundy prohibits the churches from affording protection to fugitives. charles the bold, in whose eyes nothing is sacred save war and the means of making it, lays a heavy impost upon all clerical property. upon being resisted, he enforces collection with the armed hand. the sword and the pen, strength and intellect, no longer the exclusive servants or instruments of priestcraft, are both in open revolt. charles the bold storms one fortress, doctor grandfort, of groningen, batters another. this learned frisian, called "the light of the world," friend and compatriot of the great rudolph agricola, preaches throughout the provinces, uttering bold denunciations of ecclesiastical error. he even disputes the infallibility of the pope, denies the utility of prayers for the dead, and inveighs against the whole doctrine of purgatory and absolution. with the beginning of the th century, the great reformation was actually alive. the name of erasmus of rotterdam was already celebrated; the man, who, according to grotius, "so well showed the road to a reasonable reformation." but if erasmus showed the road, he certainly did not travel far upon it himself. perpetual type of the quietist, the moderate man, he censured the errors of the church with discrimination and gentleness, as if borgianism had not been too long rampant at rome, as if men's minds throughout christendom were not too deeply stirred to be satisfied with mild rebukes against sin, especially when the mild rebuker was in receipt of livings and salaries from the sinner. instead of rebukes, the age wanted reforms. the sage of rotterdam was a keen observer, a shrewd satirist, but a moderate moralist. he loved ease, good company, the soft repose of princely palaces, better than a life of martyrdom and a death at the stake. he was not of the stuff of which martyrs are made, as he handsomely confessed on more than one occasion. "let others affect martyrdom," he said, "for myself i am unworthy of the honor;" and, at another time, "i am not of a mind," he observed "to venture my life for the truth's sake; all men have not strength to endure the martyr's death. for myself, if it came to the point, i should do no better than simon peter." moderate in all things, he would have liked, he said, to live without eating and drinking, although he never found it convenient to do so, and he rejoiced when advancing age diminished his tendency to other carnal pleasures in which he had moderately indulged. although awake to the abuses of the church, he thought luther going too fast and too far. he began by applauding ended by censuring the monk of wittemberg. the reformation might have been delayed for centuries had erasmus and other moderate men been the only reformers. he will long be honored for his elegant, latinity. in the republic of letters, his efforts to infuse a pure taste, a sound criticism, a love for the beautiful and the classic, in place of the owlish pedantry which had so long flapped and hooted through mediveval cloisters, will always be held in grateful reverence. in the history of the religious reformation, his name seems hardly to deserve the commendations of grotius. as the schism yawns, more and more ominously, throughout christendom, the emperor naturally trembles. anxious to save the state, but being no antique roman, he wishes to close the gulf, but with more convenience to himself: he conceives the highly original plan of combining church and empire under one crown. this is maximilian's scheme for church reformation. an hereditary papacy, a perpetual pope-emperor, the charlemagne and hildebrand systems united and simplified--thus the world may yet be saved. "nothing more honorable, nobler, better, could happen to us," writes maximilian to paul lichtenstein ( th sept. ), "than to re-annex the said popedom--which properly belongs to us--to our empire. cardinal adrian approves our reasons and encourages us to proceed, being of opinion that we should not have much trouble with the cardinals. it is much to be feared that the pope may die of his present sickness. he has lost his appetite, and fills himself with so much drink that his health is destroyed. as such matters can not be arranged without money, we have promised the cardinals, whom we expect to bring over, , ducats, [recall that the fine for redemption and pardon for the sin of murder was at that time one ducat. d.w.] which we shall raise from the fuggers, and make payable in rome upon the appointed day." these business-like arrangements he communicates, two days afterwards, in a secret letter to his daughter margaret, and already exults at his future eminence, both in this world and the next. "we are sending monsieur de gurce," he says; "to make an agreement with the pope, that we may be taken as coadjutor, in order that, upon his death, we may be sure of the papacy, and, afterwards, of becoming a saint. after my decease, therefore, you will be constrained to adore me, of which i shall be very proud. i am beginning to work upon the cardinals, in which affair two or three hundred thousand ducats will be of great service." the letter was signed, "from the hand of your good father, maximilian, future pope." these intrigues are not destined, however, to be successful. pope julius lives two years longer; leo the tenth succeeds; and, as medici are not much prone to church reformation some other scheme, and perhaps some other reformer, may be wanted. meantime, the traffic in bulls of absolution becomes more horrible than ever. money must be raised to supply the magnificent extravagance of rome. accordingly, christians, throughout europe, are offered by papal authority, guarantees of forgiveness for every imaginable sin, "even for the rape of god's mother, if that were possible," together with a promise of life eternal in paradise, all upon payment of the price affixed to each crime. the netherlands, like other countries, are districted and farmed for the collection of this papal revenue. much of the money thus raised, remains in the hands of the vile collectors. sincere catholics, who love and honor the ancient religion, shrink with horror at the spectacle offered on every side. criminals buying paradise for money, monks spending the money thus paid in gaming houses, taverns, and brothels; this seems, to those who have studied their testaments, a different scheme of salvation from the one promulgated by christ. there has evidently been a departure from the system of earlier apostles. innocent conservative souls are much perplexed; but, at last, all these infamies arouse a giant to do battle with the giant wrong. martin luther enters the lists, all alone, armed only with a quiver filled with ninety-five propositions, and a bow which can send them all over christendom with incredible swiftness. within a few weeks the ninety-five propositions have flown through germany, the netherlands, spain, and are found in jerusalem. at the beginning, erasmus encourages the bold friar. so long as the axe is not laid at the foot of the tree, which bears the poisonous but golden fruit, the moderate man applauds the blows. "luther's cause is considered odious," writes erasmus to the elector of saxony, "because he has, at the same time, attacked the bellies of the monks and the bulls of the pope." he complains that the zealous man had been attacked with roiling, but not with arguments. he foresees that the work will have a bloody and turbulent result, but imputes the principal blame to the clergy. "the priests talk," said he, "of absolution in such terms, that laymen can not stomach it. luther has been for nothing more censured than for making little of thomas aquinas; for wishing to diminish the absolution traffic; for having a low opinion of mendicant orders, and for respecting scholastic opinions less than the gospels. all this is considered intolerable heresy." erasmus, however, was offending both parties. a swarm of monks were already buzzing about him for the bold language of his commentaries and dialogues. he was called erasmus for his errors--arasmus because he would plough up sacred things--erasinus because he had written himself an ass--behemoth, antichrist, and many other names of similar import. luther was said to have bought the deadly seed in his barn. the egg had been laid by erasmus, hatched by luther. on the other hand, he was reviled for not taking side manfully with the reformer. the moderate man received much denunciation from zealots on either side. he soon clears himself, however, from all suspicions of lutheranism. he is appalled at the fierce conflict which rages far and wide. he becomes querulous as the mighty besom sweeps away sacred dust and consecrated cobwebs. "men should not attempt every thing at once," he writes, "but rather step by step. that which men can not improve they must look at through the fingers. if the godlessness of mankind requires such fierce physicians as luther, if man can not be healed with soothing ointments and cooling drinks, let us hope that god will comfort, as repentant, those whom he has punished as rebellious. if the dove of christ--not the owl of minerva--would only fly to us, some measure might be put to the madness of mankind." meantime the man, whose talk is not of doves and owls, the fierce physician, who deals not with ointments and cooling draughts, strides past the crowd of gentle quacks to smite the foul disease. devils, thicker than tiles on house-tops, scare him not from his work. bans and bulls, excommunications and decrees, are rained upon his head. the paternal emperor sends down dire edicts, thicker than hail upon the earth. the holy father blasts and raves from rome. louvain doctors denounce, louvain hangmen burn, the bitter, blasphemous books. the immoderate man stands firm in the storm, demanding argument instead of illogical thunder; shows the hangmen and the people too, outside the elster gate at wittenberg, that papal bulls will blaze as merrily as heretic scrolls. what need of allusion to events which changed the world--which every child has learned--to the war of titans, uprooting of hoary trees and rock-ribbed hills, to the worms diet, peasant wars, the patmos of eisenach, and huge wrestlings with the devil? imperial edicts are soon employed to suppress the reformation in the netherlands by force. the provinces, unfortunately; are the private property of charles, his paternal inheritance; and most paternally, according to his view of the matter, does he deal with them. germany can not be treated thus summarily, not being his heritage. "as it appears," says the edict of , "that the aforesaid martin is not a man, but a devil under the form of a man, and clothed in the dress of a priest, the better to bring the human race to hell and damnation, therefore all his disciples and converts are to be punished with death and forfeiture of all their goods." this was succinct and intelligible. the bloody edict, issued at worms, without even a pretence of sanction by the estates, was carried into immediate effect. the papal inquisition was introduced into the provinces to assist its operations. the bloody work, for which the reign of charles is mainly distinguished in the netherlands, now began. in , july st, two augustine monks were burned at brussels, the first victims to lutheranism in the provinces. erasmus observed, with a sigh, that "two had been burned at brussels, and that the city now began strenuously to favor lutheranism." pope adrian the sixth, the netherland boat-maker's son and the emperor's ancient tutor, was sufficiently alive to the sins of churchmen. the humble scholar of utrecht was, at least, no borgia. at the diet of nuremberg, summoned to put down luther, the honest pope declared roundly, through the bishop of fabriane, that "these disorders had sprung from the sins of men, more especially from the sins of priests and prelates. even in the holy chair," said he, "many horrible crimes have been committed. many abuses have grown up in the ecclesiastical state. the contagious disease, spreading from the head to the members--from the pope to lesser prelates--has spread far and wide, so that scarcely any one is to be found who does right, and who is free from infection. nevertheless, the evils have become so ancient and manifold, that it will be necessary to go step by step." in those passionate days, the ardent reformers were as much outraged by this pregnant confession as the ecclesiastics. it would indeed be a slow process, they thought, to move step by step in the reformation, if between each step, a whole century was to intervene. in vain did the gentle pontiff call upon erasmus to assuage the stormy sea with his smooth rhetoric. the sage of rotterdam was old and sickly; his day was over. adrian's head; too; languishes beneath the triple crown but twenty months. he dies th sept., , having arrived at the conviction, according to his epitaph, that the greatest misfortune of his life was to have reigned. another edict, published in the netherlands, forbids all private assemblies for devotion; all reading of the scriptures; all discussions within one's own doors concerning faith, the sacraments, the papal authority, or other religious matter, under penalty of death. the edicts were no dead letter. the fires were kept constantly supplied with human fuel by monks, who knew the art of burning reformers better than that of arguing with them. the scaffold was the most conclusive of syllogisms, and used upon all occasions. still the people remained unconvinced. thousands of burned heretics had not made a single convert. a fresh edict renewed and sharpened the punishment for reading the scriptures in private or public. at the same time, the violent personal altercation between luther and erasmus, upon predestination, together with the bitter dispute between luther and zwingli concerning the real presence, did more to impede the progress of the reformation than ban or edict, sword or fire. the spirit of humanity hung her head, finding that the bold reformer had only a new dogma in place of the old ones, seeing that dissenters, in their turn, were sometimes as ready as papists, with age, fagot, and excommunication. in , felix mants, the anabaptist, is drowned at zurich, in obedience to zwingli's pithy formula--'qui iterum mergit mergatur'. thus the anabaptists, upon their first appearance, were exposed to the fires of the church and the water of the zwinglians. there is no doubt that the anabaptist delusion was so ridiculous and so loathsome, as to palliate or at least render intelligible the wrath with which they were regarded by all parties. the turbulence of the sect was alarming to constituted authorities, its bestiality disgraceful to the cause of religious reformation. the leaders were among the most depraved of human creatures, as much distinguished for licentiousness, blasphemy and cruelty as their followers for grovelling superstition. the evil spirit, driven out of luther, seemed, in orthodox eyes, to have taken possession of a herd of swine. the germans, muncer and hoffmann, had been succeeded, as chief prophets, by a dutch baker, named matthiszoon, of harlem; who announced himself as enoch. chief of this man's disciples was the notorious john boccold, of leyden. under the government of this prophet, the anabaptists mastered the city of munster. here they confiscated property, plundered churches, violated females, murdered men who refused to join the gang, and, in briefs practised all the enormities which humanity alone can conceive or perpetrate. the prophet proclaimed himself king of sion, and sent out apostles to preach his doctrines in germany and the netherlands. polygamy being a leading article of the system, he exemplified the principle by marrying fourteen wives. of these, the beautiful widow of matthiszoon was chief, was called the queen of sion, and wore a golden crown. the prophet made many fruitless efforts to seize amsterdam and leyden. the armed invasion of the anabaptists was repelled, but their contagious madness spread. the plague broke forth in amsterdam. on a cold winter's night, (february, ), seven men and five women, inspired by the holy ghost, threw off their clothes and rushed naked and raving through the streets, shrieking "wo, wo, wo! the wrath of god, the wrath of god!" when arrested, they obstinately refused to put on clothing. "we are," they observed, "the naked truth." in a day or two, these furious lunatics, who certainly deserved a madhouse rather than the scaffold, were all executed. the numbers of the sect increased with the martyrdom to which they were exposed, and the disorder spread to every part of the netherlands. many were put to death in lingering torments, but no perceptible effect was produced by the chastisement. meantime the great chief of the sect, the prophet john, was defeated by the forces of the bishop of munster, who recovered his city and caused the "king of zion" to be pinched to death with red-hot tongs. unfortunately the severity of government was not wreaked alone upon the prophet and his mischievous crew. thousands and ten-thousands of virtuous, well-disposed men and women, who had as little sympathy with anabaptistical as with roman depravity; were butchered in cold blood, under the sanguinary rule of charles, in the netherlands. in , queen dowager mary of hungary, sister of the emperor, regent of the provinces, the "christian widow" admired by erasmus, wrote to her brother that "in her opinion all heretics, whether repentant or not, should be prosecuted with such severity as that error might be, at once, extinguished, care being only taken that the provinces were not entirely depopulated." with this humane limitation, the "christian widow" cheerfully set herself to superintend as foul and wholesale a system of murder as was ever organized. in , an imperial edict was issued at brussels, condemning all heretics to death; repentant males to be executed with the sword, repentant females to be buried alive, the obstinate, of both sexes, to be burned. this and similar edicts were the law of the land for twenty years, and rigidly enforced. imperial and papal persecution continued its daily deadly work with such diligence as to make it doubtful whether the limits set by the regent mary might not be overstepped. in the midst of the carnage, the emperor sent for his son philip, that he might receive the fealty of the netherlands as their future lord and master. contemporaneously, a new edict was published at brussels ( th april, ), confirming and reenacting all previous decrees in their most severe provisions. thus stood religious matters in the netherlands at the epoch of the imperial abdication. xiii. the civil institutions of the country had assumed their last provincial form, in the burgundo-austrian epoch. as already stated, their tendency, at a later period a vicious one, was to substitute fictitious personages for men. a chain of corporations was wound about the liberty of the netherlands; yet that liberty had been originally sustained by the system in which it, one day, might be strangled. the spirit of local self-government, always the life-blood of liberty, was often excessive in its manifestations. the centrifugal force had been too much developed, and, combining with the mutual jealousy of corporations, had often made the nation weak against a common foe. instead of popular rights there were state rights, for the large cities, with extensive districts and villages under their government, were rather petty states than municipalities. although the supreme legislative and executive functions belonged to the sovereign, yet each city made its by-laws, and possessed, beside, a body of statutes and regulations, made from time to time by its own authority and confirmed by the prince. thus a large portion, at least, of the nation shared practically in the legislative functions, which, technically, it did not claim; nor had the requirements of society made constant legislation so necessary, as that to exclude the people from the work was to enslave the country. there was popular power enough to effect much good, but it was widely scattered, and, at the same time, confined in artificial forms. the guilds were vassals of the towns, the towns, vassals of the feudal lord. the guild voted in the "broad council" of the city as one person; the city voted in the estates as one person. the people of the united netherlands was the personage yet to be invented, it was a privilege, not a right, to exercise a handiwork, or to participate in the action of government. yet the mass of privileges was so large, the shareholders so numerous, that practically the towns were republics. the government was in the hands of a large number of the people. industry and intelligence led to wealth and power. this was great progress from the general servitude of the th and th centuries, an immense barrier against arbitrary rule. loftier ideas of human rights, larger conceptions of commerce, have taught mankind, in later days, the difference between liberties and liberty, between guilds and free competition. at the same time it was the principle of mercantile association, in the middle ages, which protected the infant steps of human freedom and human industry against violence and wrong. moreover, at this period, the tree of municipal life was still green and vigorous. the healthful flow of sap from the humblest roots to the most verdurous branches indicated the internal soundness of the core, and provided for the constant development of exterior strength. the road to political influence was open to all, not by right of birth, but through honorable exertion of heads and hands. the chief city of the netherlands, the commercial capital of the world, was antwerp. in the north and east of europe, the hanseatic league had withered with the revolution in commerce. at the south, the splendid marble channels, through which the overland india trade had been conducted from the mediterranean by a few stately cities, were now dry, the great aqueducts ruinous and deserted. verona, venice, nuremberg, augsburg, bruges, were sinking, but antwerp, with its deep and convenient river, stretched its arm to the ocean and caught the golden prize, as it fell from its sister cities' grasp. the city was so ancient that its genealogists, with ridiculous gravity, ascended to a period two centuries before the trojan war, and discovered a giant, rejoicing in the classic name of antigonus, established on the scheld. this patriarch exacted one half the merchandise of all navigators who passed his castle, and was accustomed to amputate and cast into the river the right hands of those who infringed this simple tariff. thus hand-werpen, hand-throwing, became antwerp, and hence, two hands, in the escutcheon of the city, were ever held up in heraldic attestation of the truth. the giant was, in his turn, thrown into the scheld by a hero, named brabo, from whose exploits brabant derived its name; "de quo brabonica tellus." but for these antiquarian researches, a simpler derivation of the name would seem an t' werf, "on the wharf." it had now become the principal entrepot and exchange of europe. the huggers, velsens, ostetts, of germany, the gualterotti and bonvisi of italy, and many other great mercantile houses were there established. no city, except paris, surpassed it in population, none approached it in commercial splendor. its government was very free. the sovereign, as marquis of antwerp, was solemnly sworn to govern according to the ancient charters and laws. the stadholder, as his representative, shared his authority with the four estates of the city. the senate of eighteen members was appointed by the stadholder out of a quadruple number nominated by the senate itself and by the fourth body, called the borgery. half the board was thus renewed annually. it exercised executive and appellate judicial functions, appointed two burgomasters, and two pensionaries or legal councillors, and also selected the lesser magistrates and officials of the city. the board of ancients or ex-senators, held their seats ex officio. the twenty-six ward-masters, appointed, two from each ward, by the senate on nomination by the wards, formed the third estate. their especial business was to enrol the militia and to attend to its mustering and training. the deans of the guilds, fifty-four in number, two from each guild, selected by the senate, from a triple list of candidates presented by the guilds, composed the fourth estate. this influential body was always assembled in the broad-council of the city. their duty was likewise to conduct the examination of candidates claiming admittance to any guild and offering specimens of art or handiwork, to superintend the general affairs of the guilds and to regulate disputes. there were also two important functionaries, representing the king in criminal and civil matters. the vicarius capitalis, scultetus, schout, sheriff, or margrave, took precedence of all magistrates. his business was to superintend criminal arrests, trials, and executions. the vicarius civilis was called the amman, and his office corresponded with that of the podesta in the frisian and italian republics. his duties were nearly similar, in civil, to those of his colleague, in criminal matters. these four branches, with their functionaries and dependents, composed the commonwealth of antwerp. assembled together in council, they constituted the great and general court. no tax could be imposed by the sovereign, except with consent of the four branches, all voting separately. the personal and domiciliary rights of the citizen were scrupulously guarded. the schout could only make arrests with the burgomaster's warrant, and was obliged to bring the accused, within three days, before the judges, whose courts were open to the public. the condition of the population was prosperous. there were but few poor, and those did not seek but were sought by the almoners: the schools were excellent and cheap. it was difficult to find a child of sufficient age who could not read, write, and speak, at least, two languages. the sons of the wealthier citizens completed their education at louvain, douay, paris, or padua. the city itself was one of the most beautiful in europe. placed upon a plain along the banks of the scheld, shaped like a bent bow with the river for its string, it enclosed within it walls some of the most splendid edifices in christendom. the world-renowned church of notre dame, the stately exchange where five thousand merchants daily congregated, prototype of all similar establishments throughout the world, the capacious mole and port where twenty-five hundred vessels were often seen at once, and where five hundred made their daily entrance or departure, were all establishments which it would have been difficult to rival in any other part of the world. from what has already been said of the municipal institutions of the country, it may be inferred that the powers of the estates-general were limited. the members of that congress were not representatives chosen by the people, but merely a few ambassadors from individual provinces. this individuality was not always composed of the same ingredients. thus, holland consisted of two members, or branches--the nobles and the six chief cities; flanders of four branches--the cities, namely, of ghent, bruges, ypres, and the "freedom of bruges;" brabant of louvain, brussels, bois le due, and antwerp, four great cities, without representation of nobility or clergy; zeland, of one clerical person, the abbot of middelburg, one noble, the marquis of veer and vliessingen, and six chief cities; utrecht, of three branches--the nobility, the clergy, and five cities. these, and other provinces, constituted in similar manner, were supposed to be actually present at the diet when assembled. the chief business of the states-general was financial; the sovereign, or his stadholder, only obtaining supplies by making a request in person, while any single city, as branch of a province, had a right to refuse the grant. education had felt the onward movement of the country and the times. the whole system was, however, pervaded by the monastic spirit, which had originally preserved all learning from annihilation, but which now kept it wrapped in the ancient cerecloths, and stiffening in the stony sarcophagus of a bygone age. the university of louvain was the chief literary institution in the provinces. it had been established in by duke john iv. of brabant. its government consisted of a president and senate, forming a close corporation, which had received from the founder all his own authority, and the right to supply their own vacancies. the five faculties of law, canon law, medicine, theology, and the arts, were cultivated at the institution. there was, besides, a high school for under graduates, divided into four classes. the place reeked with pedantry, and the character of the university naturally diffused itself through other scholastic establishments. nevertheless, it had done and was doing much to preserve the love for profound learning, while the rapidly advancing spirit of commerce was attended by an ever increasing train of humanizing arts. the standard of culture in those flourishing cities was elevated, compared with that observed in many parts of europe. the children of the wealthier classes enjoyed great facilities for education in all the great capitals. the classics, music, and the modern languages, particularly the french, were universally cultivated. nor was intellectual cultivation confined to the higher orders. on the contrary, it was diffused to a remarkable degree among the hard-working artisans and handicraftsmen of the great cities. for the principle of association had not confined itself exclusively to politics and trade. besides the numerous guilds by which citizenship was acquired in the various cities, were many other societies for mutual improvement, support, or recreation. the great secret, architectural or masonic brotherhood of germany, that league to which the artistic and patient completion of the magnificent works of gothic architecture in the middle ages is mainly to be attributed, had its branches in nether germany, and explains the presence of so many splendid and elaborately finished churches in the provinces. there were also military sodalities of musketeers, cross-bowmen, archers, swordsmen in every town. once a year these clubs kept holiday, choosing a king, who was selected for his prowess and skill in the use of various weapons. these festivals, always held with great solemnity and rejoicing, were accompanied bye many exhibitions of archery and swordsmanship. the people were not likely, therefore, voluntarily to abandon that privilege and duty of freemen, the right to bear arms, and the power to handle them. another and most important collection of brotherhoods were the so-called guilds of rhetoric, which existed, in greater or less number, in all the principal cities. these were associations of mechanics, for the purpose of amusing their leisure with poetical effusions, dramatic and musical exhibitions, theatrical processions, and other harmless and not inelegant recreations. such chambers of rhetoric came originally in the fifteenth century from france. the fact that in their very title they confounded rhetoric with poetry and the drama indicates the meagre attainments of these early "rederykers." in the outset of their career they gave theatrical exhibitions. "king herod and his deeds" was enacted in the cathedral at utrecht in . the associations spread with great celerity throughout the netherlands, and, as they were all connected with each other, and in habits of periodical intercourse, these humble links of literature were of great value in drawing the people of the provinces into closer union. they became, likewise, important political engines. as early as the time of philip the good, their songs and lampoons became so offensive to the arbitrary notions of the burgundian government, as to cause the societies to be prohibited. it was, however, out of the sovereign's power permanently to suppress institutions, which already partook of the character of the modern periodical press combined with functions resembling the show and licence of the athenian drama. viewed from the stand-point of literary criticism their productions were not very commendable in taste, conception, or execution. to torture the muses to madness, to wire-draw poetry through inextricable coils of difficult rhymes and impossible measures; to hammer one golden grain of wit into a sheet of infinite platitude, with frightful ingenuity to construct ponderous anagrams and preternatural acrostics, to dazzle the vulgar eye with tawdry costumes, and to tickle the vulgar ear with virulent personalities, were tendencies which perhaps smacked of the hammer, the yard-stick and the pincers, and gave sufficient proof, had proof been necessary, that literature is not one of the mechanical arts, and that poetry can not be manufactured to a profit by joint stock companies. yet, if the style of these lucubrations was often depraved, the artisans rarely received a better example from the literary institutions above them. it was not for guilds of mechanics to give the tone to literature, nor were their efforts in more execrable taste than the emanations from the pedants of louvain. the "rhetoricians" are not responsible for all the bad taste of their generation. the gravest historians of the netherlands often relieved their elephantine labors by the most asinine gambols, and it was not to be expected that these bustling weavers and cutlers should excel their literary superiors in taste or elegance. philip the fair enrolled himself as a member in one of these societies. it may easily be inferred, therefore, that they had already become bodies of recognized importance. the rhetorical chambers existed in the most obscure villages. the number of yards of flemish poetry annually manufactured and consumed throughout the provinces almost exceed belief. the societies had regular constitutions. their presiding officers were called kings, princes, captains, archdeacons, or rejoiced in similar high-sounding names. each chamber had its treasurer, its buffoon, and its standard-bearer for public processions. each had its peculiar title or blazon, as the lily, the marigold, or the violet, with an appropriate motto. by the year , the associations had become so important, that philip the fair summoned them all to a general assembly at mechlin. here they were organized, and formally incorporated under the general supervision of an upper or mother-society of rhetoric, consisting of fifteen members, and called by the title of "jesus with the balsam flower." the sovereigns were always anxious to conciliate these influential guilds by becoming members of them in person. like the players, the rhetoricians were the brief abstract and chronicle of the time, and neither prince nor private person desired their ill report. it had, indeed, been philip's intention to convert them into engines for the arbitrary purposes of his house, but fortunately the publicly organized societies were not the only chambers. on the contrary, the unchartered guilds were the moat numerous and influential. they exercised a vast influence upon the progress of the religious reformation, and the subsequent revolt of the netherlands. they ridiculed, with their farces and their satires, the vices of the clergy. they dramatized tyranny for public execration. it was also not surprising, that among the leaders of the wild anabaptists who disgraced the great revolution in church and state by their hideous antics, should be found many who, like david of delft, john of leyden, and others, had been members of rhetorical chambers. the genius for mummery and theatrical exhibitions, transplanted from its sphere, and exerting itself for purposes of fraud and licentiousness, was as baleful in its effects as it was healthy in its original manifestations. such exhibitions were but the excrescences of a system which had borne good fruit. these literary guilds befitted and denoted a people which was alive, a people which had neither sunk to sleep in the lap of material prosperity, nor abased itself in the sty of ignorance and political servitude. the spirit of liberty pervaded these rude but not illiterate assemblies, and her fair proportions were distinctly visible, even through the somewhat grotesque garb which she thus assumed. the great leading recreations which these chambers afforded to themselves and the public, were the periodic jubilees which they celebrated in various capital cities. all the guilds of rhetoric throughout the netherlands were then invited to partake and to compete in magnificent processions, brilliant costumes, living pictures, charades, and other animated, glittering groups, and in trials of dramatic and poetic skill, all arranged under the superintendence of the particular association which, in the preceding year, had borne away the prize. such jubilees were called "land jewels." from the amusements of a people may be gathered much that is necessary for a proper estimation of its character. no unfavorable opinion can be formed as to the culture of a nation, whose weavers, smiths, gardeners, and traders, found the favorite amusement of their holidays in composing and enacting tragedies or farces, reciting their own verses, or in personifying moral and esthetic sentiments by ingeniously-arranged groups, or gorgeous habiliments. the cramoisy velvets and yellow satin doublets of the court, the gold-brocaded mantles of priests and princes are often but vulgar drapery of little historic worth. such costumes thrown around the swart figures of hard-working artisans, for literary and artistic purposes, have a real significance, and are worthy of a closer examination. were not these amusements of the netherlanders as elevated and humanizing as the contemporary bull-fights and autos-da-fe of spain? what place in history does the gloomy bigot merit who, for the love of christ, converted all these gay cities into shambles, and changed the glittering processions of their land jewels into fettered marches to the scaffold? thus fifteen ages have passed away, and in the place of a horde of savages, living among swamps and thickets, swarm three millions of people, the most industrious, the most prosperous, perhaps the most intelligent under the sun. their cattle, grazing on the bottom of the sea, are the finest in europe, their agricultural products of more exchangeable value than if nature had made their land to overflow with wine and oil. their navigators are the boldest, their mercantile marine the most powerful, their merchants the most enterprising in the world. holland and flanders, peopled by one race, vie with each other in the pursuits of civilization. the flemish skill in the mechanical and in the fine arts is unrivalled. belgian musicians delight and instruct other nations, belgian pencils have, for a century, caused the canvas to glow with colors and combinations never seen before. flemish fabrics are exported to all parts of europe, to the east and west indies, to africa. the splendid tapestries, silks, linens, as well as the more homely and useful manufactures of the netherlands, are prized throughout the world. most ingenious, as they had already been described by the keen-eyed caesar, in imitating the arts of other nations, the skillful artificers of the country at louvain, ghent, and other places, reproduce the shawls and silks of india with admirable accuracy. their national industry was untiring; their prosperity unexampled; their love of liberty indomitable; their pugnacity proverbial. peaceful in their pursuits, phlegmatic by temperament, the netherlands were yet the most belligerent and excitable population of europe. two centuries of civil war had but thinned the ranks of each generation without quenching the hot spirit of the nation. the women were distinguished by beauty of form and vigor of constitution. accustomed from childhood to converse freely with all classes and sexes in the daily walks of life, and to travel on foot or horseback from one town to another, without escort and without fear, they had acquired manners more frank and independent than those of women in other lands, while their morals were pure and their decorum undoubted. the prominent part to be sustained by the women of holland in many dramas of the revolution would thus fitly devolve upon a class, enabled by nature and education to conduct themselves with courage. within the little circle which encloses the seventeen provinces are walled cities, many of them among the most stately in christendom, chartered towns, , villages, with their watch-towers and steeples, besides numerous other more insignificant hamlets; the whole guarded by a belt of sixty fortresses of surpassing strength. xiv. thus in this rapid sketch of the course and development of the netherland nation during sixteen centuries, we have seen it ever marked by one prevailing characteristic, one master passion--the love of liberty, the instinct of self-government. largely compounded of the bravest teutonic elements, batavian and frisian, the race ever battles to the death with tyranny, organizes extensive revolts in the age of vespasian, maintains a partial independence even against the sagacious dominion of charlemagne, refuses in friesland to accept the papal yoke or feudal chain, and, throughout the dark ages, struggles resolutely towards the light, wresting from a series of petty sovereigns a gradual and practical recognition of the claims of humanity. with the advent of the burgundian family, the power of the commons has reached so high a point, that it is able to measure itself, undaunted, with the spirit of arbitrary rule, of which that engrossing and tyrannical house is the embodiment. for more than a century the struggle for freedom, for civic life, goes on; philip the good, charles the bold, mary's husband maximilian, charles v., in turn, assailing or undermining the bulwarks raised, age after age, against the despotic principle. the combat is ever renewed. liberty, often crushed, rises again and again from her native earth with redoubled energy. at last, in the th century, a new and more powerful spirit, the genius of religious freedom, comes to participate in the great conflict. arbitrary power, incarnated in the second charlemagne, assails the new combination with unscrupulous, unforgiving fierceness. venerable civic magistrates; haltered, grovel in sackcloth and ashes; innocent, religious reformers burn in holocausts. by the middle of the century, the battle rages more fiercely than ever. in the little netherland territory, humanity, bleeding but not killed, still stands at bay and defies the hunters. the two great powers have been gathering strength for centuries. they are soon to be matched in a longer and more determined combat than the world had ever seen. the emperor is about to leave the stage. the provinces, so passionate for nationality, for municipal freedom, for religious reformation, are to become the property of an utter stranger; a prince foreign to their blood, their tongue, their religion, their whole habits of life and thought. such was the political, religious, and social condition of a nation who were now to witness a new and momentous spectacle. etext editor's bookmarks: absolution for incest was afforded at thirty-six livres achieved the greatness to which they had not been born advancing age diminished his tendency to other carnal pleasures all his disciples and converts are to be punished with death all reading of the scriptures (forbidden) altercation between luther and erasmus, upon predestination an hereditary papacy, a perpetual pope-emperor announced his approaching marriage with the virgin mary as ready as papists, with age, fagot, and excommunication attacking the authority of the pope bold reformer had only a new dogma in place of the old ones charles the fifth autocrat of half the world condemning all heretics to death craft meaning, simply, strength criminal whose guilt had been established by the hot iron criminals buying paradise for money crusades made great improvement in the condition of the serfs democratic instincts of the ancient german savages denies the utility of prayers for the dead difference between liberties and liberty dispute between luther and zwingli concerning the real presence divine right drank of the water in which, he had washed enormous wealth (of the church) which engendered the hatred erasmus encourages the bold friar erasmus of rotterdam even for the rape of god's mother, if that were possible executions of huss and jerome of prague fable of divine right is invented to sanction the system felix mants, the anabaptist, is drowned at zurich few, even prelates were very dutiful to the pope fiction of apostolic authority to bind and loose fishermen and river raftsmen become ocean adventurers for myself i am unworthy of the honor (of martyrdom) forbids all private assemblies for devotion force clerical--the power of clerks great privilege, the magna charta of holland guarantees of forgiveness for every imaginable sin halcyon days of ban, book and candle heresy was a plant of early growth in the netherlands in holland, the clergy had neither influence nor seats invented such christian formulas as these (a curse) july st, two augustine monks were burned at brussels king of zion to be pinched to death with red-hot tongs labored under the disadvantage of never having existed learn to tremble as little at priestcraft as at swordcraft many greedy priests, of lower rank, had turned shop-keepers no one can testify but a householder not of the stuff of which martyrs are made (erasmus) nowhere was the persecution of heretics more relentless obstinate, of both sexes, to be burned one golden grain of wit into a sheet of infinite platitude pardon for crimes already committed, or about to be committed pardon for murder, if not by poison, was cheaper paying their passage through, purgatory poisoning, for example, was absolved for eleven ducats pope and emperor maintain both positions with equal logic power to read and write helped the clergy to much wealth readiness to strike and bleed at any moment in her cause repentant females to be buried alive repentant males to be executed with the sword sale of absolutions was the source of large fortunes to the priests same conjury over ignorant baron and cowardly hind scoffing at the ceremonies and sacraments of the church sharpened the punishment for reading the scriptures in private slavery was both voluntary and compulsory soldier of the cross was free upon his return st. peter's dome rising a little nearer to the clouds tanchelyn the bad duke of burgundy, philip surnamed "the good," the egg had been laid by erasmus, hatched by luther the vivifying becomes afterwards the dissolving principle thousands of burned heretics had not made a single convert thus hand-werpen, hand-throwing, became antwerp to prefer poverty to the wealth attendant upon trade tranquillity of despotism to the turbulence of freedom villagers, or villeins motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. philip the second in the netherlands [chapter i.] abdication of charles resolved upon--brussels in the sixteenth century--hall of the palace described--portraits of prominent individuals present at the ceremony--formalities of the abdication-- universal emotion--remarks upon the character and career of charles --his retirement at juste. on the twenty-fifth day of october, , the estates of the netherlands were assembled in the great hall of the palace at brussels. they had been summoned to be the witnesses and the guarantees of the abdication which charles v. had long before resolved upon, and which he was that day to execute. the emperor, like many potentates before and since, was fond of great political spectacles. he knew their influence upon the masses of mankind. although plain, even to shabbiness, in his own costume, and usually attired in black, no one ever understood better than he how to arrange such exhibitions in a striking and artistic style. we have seen the theatrical and imposing manner in which he quelled the insurrection at ghent, and nearly crushed the life forever out of that vigorous and turbulent little commonwealth. the closing scene of his long and energetic reign he had now arranged with profound study, and with an accurate knowledge of the manner in which the requisite effects were to be produced. the termination of his own career, the opening of his beloved philip's, were to be dramatized in a manner worthy the august character of the actors, and the importance of the great stage where they played their parts. the eyes of the whole world were directed upon that day towards brussels; for an imperial abdication was an event which had not, in the sixteenth century, been staled by custom. the gay capital of brabant--of that province which rejoiced in the liberal constitution known by the cheerful title of the "joyful entrance," was worthy to be the scene of the imposing show. brussels had been a city for more than five centuries, and, at that day, numbered about one hundred thousand inhabitants. its walls, six miles in circumference, were already two hundred years old. unlike most netherland cities, lying usually upon extensive plains, it was built along the sides of an abrupt promontory. a wide expanse of living verdure, cultivated gardens, shady groves, fertile cornfields, flowed round it like a sea. the foot of the town was washed by the little river senne, while the irregular but picturesque streets rose up the steep sides of the hill like the semicircles and stairways of an amphitheatre. nearly in the heart of the place rose the audacious and exquisitely embroidered tower of the townhouse, three hundred and sixty-six feet in height, a miracle of needlework in stone, rivalling in its intricate carving the cobweb tracery of that lace which has for centuries been synonymous with the city, and rearing itself above a facade of profusely decorated and brocaded architecture. the crest of the elevation was crowned by the towers of the old ducal palace of brabant, with its extensive and thickly-wooded park on the left, and by the stately mansions of orange, egmont, aremberg, culemburg, and other flemish grandees, on the right.. the great forest of soignies, dotted with monasteries and convents, swarming with every variety of game, whither the citizens made their summer pilgrimages, and where the nobles chased the wild boar and the stag, extended to within a quarter of a mile of the city walls. the population, as thrifty, as intelligent, as prosperous as that of any city in europe, was divided into fifty-two guilds of artisans, among which the most important were the armorers, whose suits of mail would turn a musket-ball; the gardeners, upon whose gentler creations incredible sums were annually lavished; and the tapestry-workers, whose gorgeous fabrics were the wonder of the world. seven principal churches, of which the most striking was that of st. gudule, with its twin towers, its charming facade, and its magnificently painted windows, adorned the upper part of the city. the number seven was a magic number in brussels, and was supposed at that epoch, during which astronomy was in its infancy and astrology in its prime, to denote the seven planets which governed all things terrestrial by their aspects and influences. seven noble families, springing from seven ancient castles, supplied the stock from which the seven senators were selected who composed the upper council of the city. there were seven great squares, seven city gates, and upon the occasion of the present ceremony, it was observed by the lovers of wonderful coincidences, that seven crowned heads would be congregated under a single roof in the liberty-loving city. the palace where the states-general were upon this occasion convened, had been the residence of the dukes of brabant since the days of john the second, who had built it about the year . it was a spacious and convenient building, but not distinguished for the beauty of its architecture. in front was a large open square, enclosed by an iron railing; in the rear an extensive and beautiful park, filled with forest trees, and containing gardens and labyrinths, fish-ponds and game preserves, fountains and promenades, race-courses and archery grounds. the main entrance to this edifice opened upon a spacious hall, connected with a beautiful and symmetrical chapel. the hall was celebrated for its size, harmonious proportions, and the richness of its decorations. it was the place where the chapters of the famous order of the golden fleece were held. its walls were hung with a magnificent tapestry of arran, representing the life and achievements of gideon, the midianite, and giving particular prominence to the miracle of the "fleece of wool," vouchsafed to that renowned champion, the great patron of the knights of the fleece. on the present occasion there were various additional embellishments of flowers and votive garlands. at the western end a spacious platform or stage, with six or seven steps, had been constructed, below which was a range of benches for the deputies of the seventeen provinces. upon the stage itself there were rows of seats, covered with tapestry, upon the right hand and upon the left. these were respectively to accommodate the knights of the order and the guests of high distinction. in the rear of these were other benches, for the members of the three great councils. in the centre of the stage was a splendid canopy, decorated with the arms of burgundy, beneath which were placed three gilded arm-chairs. all the seats upon the platform were vacant, but the benches below, assigned to the deputies of the provinces, were already filled. numerous representatives from all the states but two--gelderland and overyssel--had already taken their places. grave magistrates, in chain and gown, and executive officers in the splendid civic uniforms for which the netherlands were celebrated, already filled every seat within the apace allotted. the remainder of the hall was crowded with the more favored portion of the multitude which had been fortunate enough to procure admission to the exhibition. the archers and hallebardiers of the body-guard kept watch at all the doors. the theatre was filled--the audience was eager with expectation--the actors were yet to arrive. as the clock struck three, the hero of the scene appeared. caesar, as he was always designated in the classic language of the day, entered, leaning on the shoulder of william of orange. they came from the chapel, and were immediately followed by philip the second and queen mary of hungary. the archduke maximilian the duke of savoy, and other great personages came afterwards, accompanied by a glittering throng of warriors, councillors, governors, and knights of the fleece. many individuals of existing or future historic celebrity in the netherlands, whose names are so familiar to the student of the epoch, seemed to have been grouped, as if by premeditated design, upon this imposing platform, where the curtain was to fall forever upon the mightiest emperor since charlemagne, and where the opening scene of the long and tremendous tragedy of philip's reign was to be simultaneously enacted. there was the bishop of arras, soon to be known throughout christendom by the more celebrated title of cardinal granvelle, the serene and smiling priest whose subtle influence over the destinies of so many individuals then present, and over the fortunes of the whole land, was to be so extensive and so deadly. there was that flower of flemish chivalry, the lineal descendant of ancient frisian kings, already distinguished for his bravery in many fields, but not having yet won those two remarkable victories which were soon to make the name of egmont like the sound of a trumpet throughout the whole country. tall, magnificent in costume, with dark flowing hair, soft brown eye, smooth cheek, a slight moustache, and features of almost feminine delicacy; such was the gallant and ill-fated lamoral egmont. the count of horn; too, with bold, sullen face, and fan-shaped beard-a brave, honest, discontented, quarrelsome, unpopular man; those other twins in doom--the marquis berghen and the lord of montigny; the baron berlaymont, brave, intensely loyal, insatiably greedy for office and wages, but who, at least, never served but one party; the duke of arschot, who was to serve all, essay to rule all, and to betray all--a splendid seignor, magnificent in cramoisy velvet, but a poor creature, who traced his pedigree from adam, according to the family monumental inscriptions at louvain, but who was better known as grand-nephew of the emperor's famous tutor, chiebres; the bold, debauched brederode, with handsome, reckless face and turbulent demeanor; the infamous noircarmes, whose name was to be covered with eternal execration, for aping towards his own compatriots and kindred as much of alva's atrocities and avarice, as he was permitted to exercise; the distinguished soldiers meghen and aremberg--these, with many others whose deeds of arms were to become celebrated throughout europe, were all conspicuous in the brilliant crowd. there, too, was that learned frisian, president viglius, crafty, plausible, adroit, eloquent--a small, brisk man, with long yellow hair, glittering green eyes, round, tumid, rosy cheeks, and flowing beard. foremost among the spanish grandees, and close to philip, stood the famous favorite, ruy gomez, or as he was familiarly called "re y gomez" (king and gomez), a man of meridional aspect, with coal-black hair and beard, gleaming eyes, a face pallid with intense application, and slender but handsome figure; while in immediate attendance upon the emperor, was the immortal prince of orange. such were a few only of the most prominent in that gay throng, whose fortunes, in part, it will be our humble duty to narrate; how many of them passing through all this glitter to a dark and mysterious doom!--some to perish on public scaffolds, some by midnight assassination; others, more fortunate, to fall on the battle-field --nearly all, sooner or later, to be laid in bloody graves! all the company present had risen to their feet as the emperor entered. by his command, all immediately afterwards resumed their places. the benches at either end of the platform were accordingly filled with the royal and princely personages invited, with the fleece knights, wearing the insignia of their order, with the members of the three great councils, and with the governors. the emperor, the king, and the queen of hungary, were left conspicuous in the centre of the scene. as the whole object of the ceremony was to present an impressive exhibition, it is worth our while to examine minutely the appearance of the two principal characters. charles the fifth was then fifty-five years and eight months old; but he was already decrepit with premature old age. he was of about the middle height, and had been athletic and well-proportioned. broad in the shoulders, deep in the chest, thin in the flank, very muscular in the arms and legs, he had been able to match himself with all competitors in the tourney and the ring, and to vanquish the bull with his own hand in the favorite national amusement of spain. he had been able in the field to do the duty of captain and soldier, to endure fatigue and exposure, and every privation except fasting. these personal advantages were now departed. crippled in hands, knees and legs, he supported himself with difficulty upon a crutch, with the aid of, an attendant's shoulder. in face he had always been extremely ugly, and time had certainly not improved his physiognomy. his hair, once of a light color, was now white with age, close-clipped and bristling; his beard was grey, coarse, and shaggy. his forehead was spacious and commanding; the eye was dark blue, with an expression both majestic and benignant. his nose was aquiline but crooked. the lower part of his face was famous for its deformity. the under lip, a burgundian inheritance, as faithfully transmitted as the duchy and county, was heavy and hanging; the lower jaw protruding so far beyond the upper, that it was impossible for him to bring together the few fragments of teeth which still remained, or to speak a whole sentence in an intelligible voice. eating and talking, occupations to which he was always much addicted, were becoming daily more arduous, in consequence of this original defect, which now seemed hardly human, but rather an original deformity. so much for the father. the son, philip the second, was a small, meagre man, much below the middle height, with thin legs, a narrow chest, and the shrinking, timid air of an habitual invalid. he seemed so little, upon his first visit to his aunts, the queens eleanor and mary, accustomed to look upon proper men in flanders and germany, that he was fain to win their favor by making certain attempts in the tournament, in which his success was sufficiently problematical. "his body," says his professed panegyrist, "was but a human cage, in which, however brief and narrow, dwelt a soul to whose flight the immeasurable expanse of heaven was too contracted." [cabrera] the same wholesale admirer adds, that "his aspect was so reverend, that rustics who met him alone in a wood, without knowing him, bowed down with instinctive veneration." in face, he was the living image of his father, having the same broad forehead, and blue eye, with the same aquiline, but better proportioned, nose. in the lower part of the countenance, the remarkable burgundian deformity was likewise reproduced. he had the same heavy, hanging lip, with a vast mouth, and monstrously protruding lower jaw. his complexion was fair, his hair light and thin, his beard yellow, short, and pointed. he had the aspect of a fleming, but the loftiness of a spaniard. his demeanor in public was still, silent, almost sepulchral. he looked habitually on the ground when he conversed, was chary of speech, embarrassed, and even suffering in manner. this was ascribed partly to a natural haughtiness which he had occasionally endeavored to overcome, and partly to habitual pains in the stomach, occasioned by his inordinate fondness for pastry. [bodavaro] such was the personal appearance of the man who was about to receive into his single hand the destinies of half the world; whose single will was, for the future, to shape the fortunes of every individual then present, of many millions more in europe, america, and at the ends of the earth, and of countless millions yet unborn. the three royal personages being seated upon chairs placed triangularly under the canopy, such of the audience as had seats provided for them, now took their places, and the proceedings commenced. philibert de bruxelles, a member of the privy council of the netherlands, arose at the emperor's command, and made a long oration. he spoke of the emperor's warm affection for the provinces, as the land of his birth; of his deep regret that his broken health and failing powers, both of body and mind, compelled him to resign his sovereignty, and to seek relief for his shattered frame in a more genial climate. caesar's gout was then depicted in energetic language, which must have cost him a twinge as he sat there and listened to the councillor's eloquence. "'tis a most truculent executioner," said philibert: "it invades the whole body, from the crown of the head to the soles of the feet, leaving nothing untouched. it contracts the nerves with intolerable anguish, it enters the bones, it freezes the marrow, it converts the lubricating fluids of the joints into chalk, it pauses not until, having exhausted and debilitated the whole body, it has rendered all its necessary instruments useless, and conquered the mind by immense torture." [godelaevus] [the historian was present at the ceremony, and gives a very full report of the speeches, all of which he heard. his imagination may have assisted his memory in the task. the other reporters of the councillor's harangue have reduced this pathological flight of rhetoric to a very small compass.] engaged in mortal struggle with such an enemy, caesar felt himself obliged, as the councillor proceeded to inform his audience, to change the scene of the contest from the humid air of flanders to the warmer atmosphere of spain. he rejoiced, however, that his son was both vigorous and experienced, and that his recent marriage with the queen of england had furnished the provinces with a most valuable alliance. he then again referred to the emperor's boundless love for his subjects, and concluded with a tremendous, but superfluous, exhortation to philip on the necessity of maintaining the catholic religion in its purity. after this long harangue, which has been fully reported by several historians who were present at the ceremony, the councillor proceeded to read the deed of cession, by which philip, already sovereign of sicily, naples, milan, and titular king of england, france, and jerusalem, now received all the duchies, marquisates, earldoms, baronies, cities, towns, and castles of the burgundian property, including, of course, the seventeen netherlands. as de bruxelles finished, there was a buzz of admiration throughout the assembly, mingled with murmurs of regret, that in the present great danger upon the frontiers from the belligerent king of france and his warlike and restless nation, the provinces should be left without their ancient and puissant defender. the emperor then rose to his feet. leaning on his crutch, he beckoned from his seat the personage upon whose arm he had leaned as he entered the hall. a tall, handsome youth of twenty-two came forward--a man whose name from that time forward, and as long as history shall endure, has been, and will be, more familiar than any other in the mouths of netherlanders. at that day he had rather a southern than a german or flemish appearance. he had a spanish cast of features, dark, well chiselled, and symmetrical. his head was small and well placed upon his shoulders. his hair was dark brown, as were also his moustache and peaked beard. his forehead was lofty, spacious, and already prematurely engraved with the anxious lines of thought. his eyes were full, brown, well opened, and expressive of profound reflection. he was dressed in the magnificent apparel for which the netherlanders were celebrated above all other nations, and which the ceremony rendered necessary. his presence being considered indispensable at this great ceremony, he had been summoned but recently from the camp on the frontier, where, notwithstanding his youth, the emperor had appointed him to command his army in chief against such antagonists as admiral coligny and the due de nevers. thus supported upon his crutch and upon the shoulder of william of orange, the emperor proceeded to address the states, by the aid of a closely-written brief which he held in his hand. he reviewed rapidly the progress of events from his seventeenth year up to that day. he spoke of his nine expeditions into germany, six to spain, seven to italy, four to france, ten to the netherlands, two to england, as many to africa, and of his eleven voyages by sea. he sketched his various wars, victories, and treaties of peace, assuring his hearers that the welfare of his subjects and the security of the roman catholic religion had ever been the leading objects of his life. as long as god had granted him health, he continued, only enemies could have regretted that charles was living and reigning, but now that his strength was but vanity, and life fast ebbing away, his love for dominion, his affection for his subjects, and his regard for their interests, required his departure. instead of a decrepit man with one foot in the grave, he presented them with a sovereign in the prime of life and the vigor of health. turning toward philip, he observed, that for a dying father to bequeath so magnificent an empire to his son was a deed worthy of gratitude, but that when the father thus descended to the grave before his time, and by an anticipated and living burial sought to provide for the welfare of his realms and the grandeur of his son, the benefit thus conferred was surely far greater. he added, that the debt would be paid to him and with usury, should philip conduct himself in his administration of the province with a wise and affectionate regard to their true interests. posterity would applaud his abdication, should his son prove worthy of his bounty; and that could only be by living in the fear of god, and by maintaining law, justice, and the catholic religion in all their purity, as the true foundation of the realm. in conclusion, he entreated the estates, and through them the nation, to render obedience to their new prince, to maintain concord and to preserve inviolate the catholic faith; begging them, at the same time, to pardon him all errors or offences which he might have committed towards them during his reign, and assuring them that he should unceasingly remember their obedience and affection in his every prayer to that being to whom the remainder of his life was to be dedicated. such brave words as these, so many vigorous asseverations of attempted performance of duty, such fervent hopes expressed of a benign administration in behalf of the son, could not but affect the sensibilities of the audience, already excited and softened by the impressive character of the whole display. sobs were heard throughout every portion of the hall, and tears poured profusely from every eye. the fleece knights on the platform and the burghers in the background were all melted with the same emotion. as for the emperor himself, he sank almost fainting upon his chair as he concluded his address. an ashy paleness overspread his countenance, and he wept like a child. even the icy philip was almost softened, as he rose to perform his part in the ceremony. dropping upon his knees before his father's feet, he reverently kissed his hand. charles placed his hands solemnly upon his son's head, made the sign of the cross, and blessed him in the name of the holy trinity. then raising him in his arms he tenderly embraced him saying, as he did so, to the great potentates around him, that he felt a sincere compassion for the son on whose shoulders so heavy a weight had just devolved, and which only a life-long labor would enable him to support. philip now uttered a few words expressive of his duty to his father and his affection for his people. turning to the orders, he signified his regret that he was unable to address them either in the french or flemish language, and was therefore obliged to ask their attention to the bishop of arras, who would act as his interpreter. antony perrenot accordingly arose, and in smooth, fluent, and well-turned commonplaces, expressed at great length the gratitude of philip towards his father, with his firm determination to walk in the path of duty, and to obey his father's counsels and example in the future administration of the provinces. this long address of the prelate was responded to at equal length by jacob maas, member of the council of brabant, a man of great learning, eloquence and prolixity, who had been selected to reply on behalf of the states-general, and who now, in the name of these; bodies, accepted the abdication in an elegant and complimentary harangue. queen mary of hungary, the "christian widow" of erasmus, and regent of the netherlands during the past twenty-five years, then rose to resign her office, making a brief address expressive of her affection for the people, her regrets at leaving them, and her hopes that all errors which she might have committed during her long administration would be forgiven her. again the redundant maas responded, asserting in terms of fresh compliment and elegance the uniform satisfaction of the provinces with her conduct during her whole career. the orations and replies having now been brought to a close, the ceremony was terminated. the emperor, leaning on the shoulders of the prince of orange and of the count de buren, slowly left the hall, followed by philip, the queen of hungary, and the whole court; all in the same order in which they had entered, and by the same passage into the chapel. it is obvious that the drama had been completely successful. it had been a scene where heroic self-sacrifice, touching confidence, ingenuous love of duty, patriotism, and paternal affection upon one side; filial reverence, with a solemn regard for public duty and the highest interests of the people on the other, were supposed to be the predominant sentiments. the happiness of the netherlands was apparently the only object contemplated in the great transaction. all had played well their parts in the past, all hoped the best in the times which were to follow. the abdicating emperor was looked upon as a hero and a prophet. the stage was drowned in tears. there is not the least doubt as to the genuine and universal emotion which was excited throughout the assembly. "caesar's oration," says secretary godelaevus, who was present at the ceremony, "deeply moved the nobility and gentry, many of whom burst into tears; even the illustrious knights of the fleece were melted." the historian, pontus heuterus, who, then twenty years of age, was likewise among the audience, attests that "most of the assembly were dissolved in tears; uttering the while such sonorous sobs that they compelled his caesarean majesty and the queen to cry with them. my own face," he adds, "was certainly quite wet." the english envoy, sir john mason, describing in a despatch to his government the scene which he had just witnessed, paints the same picture. "the emperor," he said, "begged the forgiveness of his subjects if he had ever unwittingly omitted the performance of any of his duties towards them. and here," continues the envoy, "he broke into a weeping, whereunto, besides the dolefulness of the matter, i think, he was moche provoked by seeing the whole company to do the lyke before; there beyng in myne opinion not one man in the whole assemblie, stranger or another, that dewring the time of a good piece of his oration poured not out as abundantly teares, some more, some lesse. and yet he prayed them to beare with his imperfections, proceeding of his sickly age, and of the mentioning of so tender a matter as the departing from such a sort of dere and loving subjects." and yet what was the emperor charles to the inhabitants of the netherlands that they should weep for him? his conduct towards them during his whole career had been one of unmitigated oppression. what to them were all these forty voyages by sea and land, these journeyings back and forth from friesland to tunis, from madrid to vienna. what was it to them that the imperial shuttle was thus industriously flying to and fro? the fabric wrought was but the daily growing grandeur and splendor of his imperial house; the looms were kept moving at the expense of their hardly-earned treasure, and the woof was often dyed red in the blood of his bravest subjects. the interests of the netherlands had never been even a secondary consideration with their master. he had fulfilled no duty towards them, he had committed the gravest crimes against them. he had regarded them merely as a treasury upon which to draw; while the sums which he extorted were spent upon ceaseless and senseless wars, which were of no more interest to them than if they had been waged in another planet. of five millions of gold annually, which he derived from all his realms, two millions came from these industrious and opulent provinces, while but a half million came from spain and another half from the indies. the mines of wealth which had been opened by the hand of industry in that slender territory of ancient morass and thicket, contributed four times as much income to the imperial exchequer as all the boasted wealth of mexico and peru. yet the artisans, the farmers and the merchants, by whom these riches were produced, were consulted about as much in the expenditure of the imposts upon their industry as were the savages of america as to the distribution of the mineral treasures of their soil. the rivalry of the houses of habsburg and valois, this was the absorbing theme, during the greater part of the reign which had just been so dramatically terminated. to gain the empire over francis, to leave to don philip a richer heritage than the dauphin could expect, were the great motives of the unparalleled energy displayed by charles during the longer and the more successful portion of his career. to crush the reformation throughout his dominions, was his occupation afterward, till he abandoned the field in despair. it was certainly not desirable for the netherlanders that they should be thus controlled by a man who forced them to contribute so largely to the success of schemes, some of which were at best indifferent, and others entirely odious to them. they paid , , crowns a year regularly; they paid in five years an extraordinary subsidy of eight millions of ducats, and the states were roundly rebuked by the courtly representatives of their despot, if they presumed to inquire into the objects of the appropriations, or to express an interest in their judicious administration. yet it maybe supposed to have been a matter of indifference to them whether francis or charles had won the day at pavia, and it certainly was not a cause of triumph to the daily increasing thousands of religious reformers in holland and flanders that their brethren had been crushed by the emperor at muhlberg. but it was not alone that he drained their treasure, and hampered their industry. he was in constant conflict with their ancient and dearly-bought political liberties. like his ancestor charles the bold, he was desirous of constructing a kingdom out of the provinces. he was disposed to place all their separate and individual charters on a procrustean bed, and shape them all into uniformity simply by reducing the whole to a nullity. the difficulties in the way, the stout opposition offered by burghers, whose fathers had gained these charters with their blood, and his want of leisure during the vast labors which devolved upon him as the autocrat of so large a portion of the world, caused him to defer indefinitely the execution of his plan. he found time only to crush some of the foremost of the liberal institutions of the provinces, in detail. he found the city of tournay a happy, thriving, self-governed little republic in all its local affairs; he destroyed its liberties, without a tolerable pretext, and reduced it to the condition of a spanish or italian provincial town. his memorable chastisement of ghent for having dared to assert its ancient rights of self-taxation, is sufficiently known to the world, and has been already narrated at length. many other instances might be adduced, if it were not a superfluous task, to prove that charles was not only a political despot, but most arbitrary and cruel in the exercise of his despotism. but if his sins against the netherlands had been only those of financial and political oppression, it would be at least conceivable, although certainly not commendable, that the inhabitants should have regretted his departure. but there are far darker crimes for which he stands arraigned at the bar of history, and it is indeed strange that the man who had committed them should have been permitted to speak his farewell amid blended plaudits and tears. his hand planted the inquisition in the netherlands. before his day it is idle to say that the diabolical institution ever had a place there. the isolated cases in which inquisitors had exercised functions proved the absence and not the presence of the system, and will be discussed in a later chapter. charles introduced and organized a papal inquisition, side by side with those terrible "placards" of his invention, which constituted a masked inquisition even more cruel than that of spain. the execution of the system was never permitted to languish. the number of netherlanders who were burned, strangled, beheaded, or buried alive, in obedience to his edicts, and for the offences of reading the scriptures, of looking askance at a graven image, or of ridiculing the actual presence of the body and blood of christ in a wafer, have been placed as high as one hundred thousand by distinguished authorities, and have never been put at a lower mark than fifty thousand. the venetian envoy navigero placed the number of victims in the provinces of holland and friesland alone at thirty thousand, and this in , ten years before the abdication, and five before the promulgation of the hideous edict of ! the edicts and the inquisition were the gift of charles to the netherlands, in return for their wasted treasure and their constant obedience. for this, his name deserves to be handed down to eternal infamy, not only throughout the netherlands, but in every land where a single heart beats for political or religious freedom. to eradicate these institutions after they had been watered and watched by the care of his successor, was the work of an eighty years' war, in the course of which millions of lives were sacrificed. yet the abdicating emperor had summoned his faithful estates around him, and stood up before them in his imperial robes for the last time, to tell them of the affectionate regard which he had always borne them, and to mingle his tears with theirs. could a single phantom have risen from one of the many thousand graves where human beings had been thrust alive by his decree, perhaps there might have been an answer to the question propounded by the emperor amid all that piteous weeping. perhaps it might have told the man who asked his hearers to be forgiven if he had ever unwittingly offended them, that there was a world where it was deemed an offence to torture, strangle, burn, and drown one's innocent fellow-creatures. the usual but trifling excuse for such enormities can not be pleaded for the emperor. charles was no fanatic. the man whose armies sacked rome, who laid his sacrilegious hands on christ's vicegerent, and kept the infallible head of the church a prisoner to serve his own political ends, was then no bigot. he believed in nothing; save that when the course of his imperial will was impeded, and the interests of his imperial house in jeopardy, pontiffs were to succumb as well as anabaptists. it was the political heresy which lurked in the restiveness of the religious reformers under dogma, tradition, and supernatural sanction to temporal power, which he was disposed to combat to the death. he was too shrewd a politician not to recognize the connection between aspirations for religious and for political freedom. his hand was ever ready to crush both heresies in one. had he been a true son of the church, a faithful champion of her infallibility, he would not have submitted to the peace of passau, so long as he could bring a soldier to the field. yet he acquiesced in the reformation for germany, while the fires for burning the reformers were ever blazing in the netherlands, where it was death even to allude to the existence of the peace of passau. nor did he acquiesce only from compulsion, for long before his memorable defeat by maurice, he had permitted the german troops, with whose services he could not dispense, regularly to attend protestant worship performed by their own protestant chaplains. lutheran preachers marched from city to city of the netherlands under the imperial banner, while the subjects of those patrimonial provinces were daily suffering on the scaffold for their nonconformity. the influence of this garrison-preaching upon the progress of the reformation in the netherlands is well known. charles hated lutherans, but he required soldiers, and he thus helped by his own policy to disseminate what had he been the fanatic which he perhaps became in retirement, he would have sacrificed his life to crush. it is quite true that the growing calvinism of the provinces was more dangerous both religiously and politically, than the protestantism of the german princes, which had not yet been formally pronounced heresy, but it is thus the more evident that it was political rather than religious heterodoxy which the despot wished to suppress. no man, however, could have been more observant of religious rites. he heard mass daily. he listened to a sermon every sunday and holiday. he confessed and received the sacrament four times a year. he was sometimes to be seen in his tent at midnight, on his knees before a crucifix with eyes and hands uplifted. he ate no meat in lent, and used extraordinary diligence to discover and to punish any man, whether courtier or plebeian, who failed to fast during the whole forty days. he was too good a politician not to know the value of broad phylacteries and long prayers. he was too nice an observer of human nature not to know how easily mint and cummin could still outweigh the "weightier matters of law, judgment, mercy and faith;" as if the founder of the religion which he professed, and to maintain which he had established the inquisition and the edicts, had never cried woe upon the pharisees. yet there is no doubt that the emperor was at times almost popular in the netherlands, and that he was never as odious as his successor. there were some deep reasons for this, and some superficial ones; among others, a singularly fortunate manner. he spoke german, spanish, italian, french, and flemish, and could assume the characteristics of each country as easily as he could use its language. he could be stately with spaniards, familiar with flemings witty with italians. he could strike down a bull in the ring like a matador at madrid, or win the prize in the tourney like a knight of old; he could ride at the ring with the flemish nobles, hit the popinjay with his crossbow among antwerp artisans, or drink beer and exchange rude jests with the boors of brabant. for virtues such as these, his grave crimes against god and man, against religion and chartered and solemnly-sworn rights have been palliated, as if oppression became more tolerable because the oppressor was an accomplished linguist and a good marksman. but the great reason for his popularity no doubt lay in his military genius. charles was inferior to no general of his age. "when he was born into the world," said alva, "he was born a soldier," and the emperor confirmed the statement and reciprocated the compliment, when he declared that "the three first captains of the age were himself first, and then the duke of alva and constable montmorency." it is quite true that all his officers were not of the same opinion, and many were too apt to complain that his constant presence in the field did more harm than good, and "that his majesty would do much better to stay at home." there is, however, no doubt that he was both a good soldier and a good general. he was constitutionally fearless, and he possessed great energy and endurance. he was ever the first to arm when a battle was to be fought, and the last to take off his harness. he commanded in person and in chief, even when surrounded by veterans and crippled by the gout. he was calm in great reverses. it was said that he was never known to change color except upon two occasions: after the fatal destruction of his fleet at algiers, and in the memorable flight from innspruck. he was of a phlegmatic, stoical temperament, until shattered by age and disease; a man without a sentiment and without a tear. it was said by spaniards that he was never seen to weep, even at the death of his nearest relatives and friends, except on the solitary occasion of the departure of don ferrante gonzaga from court. such a temperament was invaluable in the stormy career to which he had devoted his life. he was essentially a man of action, a military chieftain. "pray only for my health and my life," he was accustomed to say to the young officers who came to him from every part of his dominions to serve under his banners, "for so, long as i have these i will never leave you idle; at least in france. i love peace no better than the rest of you. i was born and bred to arms, and must of necessity keep on my harness till i can bear it no longer." the restless energy and the magnificent tranquillity of his character made him a hero among princes, an idol with his officers, a popular favorite every where. the promptness with which, at much personal hazard, he descended like a thunderbolt in the midst of the ghent insurrection; the juvenile ardor with which the almost bedridden man arose from his sick-bed to smite the protestants at muhlberg; the grim stoicism with which he saw sixty thousand of his own soldiers perish in the wintry siege of metz; all ensured him a large measure of that applause which ever follows military distinction, especially when the man who achieves it happens to wear a crown. he combined the personal prowess of a knight of old with the more modern accomplishments of a scientific tactician. he could charge the enemy in person like the most brilliant cavalry officer, and he thoroughly understood the arrangements of a campaign, the marshalling and victualling of troops, and the whole art of setting and maintaining an army in the field. yet, though brave and warlike as the most chivalrous of his ancestors, gothic, burgundian, or suabian, he was entirely without chivalry. fanaticism for the faith, protection for the oppressed, fidelity to friend and foe, knightly loyalty to a cause deemed sacred, the sacrifice of personal interests to great ideas, generosity of hand and heart; all those qualities which unite with courage and constancy to make up the ideal chevalier, charles not only lacked but despised. he trampled on the weak antagonist, whether burgher or petty potentate. he was false as water. he inveigled his foes who trusted to imperial promises, by arts unworthy an emperor or a gentleman. he led about the unfortunate john frederic of saxony, in his own language, "like a bear in a chain," ready to be slipped upon maurice should "the boy" prove ungrateful. he connived at the famous forgery of the prelate of arras, to which the landgrave philip owed his long imprisonment; a villany worse than many for which humbler rogues have suffered by thousands upon the gallows. the contemporary world knew well the history of his frauds, on scale both colossal and minute, and called him familiarly "charles qui triche." the absolute master of realms on which the sun perpetually shone, he was not only greedy for additional dominion, but he was avaricious in small matters, and hated to part with a hundred dollars. to the soldier who brought him the sword and gauntlets of francis the first, he gave a hundred crowns, when ten thousand would have been less than the customary present; so that the man left his presence full of desperation. the three soldiers who swam the elbe, with their swords in their mouths; to bring him the boats with which he passed to the victory of muhlberg, received from his imperial bounty a doublet, a pair of stockings, and four crowns apiece. his courtiers and ministers complained bitterly of his habitual niggardliness, and were fain to eke out their slender salaries by accepting bribes from every hand rich enough to bestow them. in truth charles was more than any thing else a politician, notwithstanding his signal abilities as a soldier. if to have founded institutions which could last, be the test of statesmanship, he was even a statesman; for many of his institutions have resisted the pressure of three centuries. but those of charlemagne fell as soon as his hand was cold, while the works of many ordinary legislators have attained to a perpetuity denied to the statutes of solon or lycurgus. durability is not the test of merit in human institutions. tried by the only touchstone applicable to governments, their capacity to insure the highest welfare of the governed, we shall not find his polity deserving of much admiration. it is not merely that he was a despot by birth and inclination, nor that he naturally substituted as far as was practicable, the despotic for the republican element, wherever his hand can be traced. there may be possible good in despotisms as there is often much tyranny in democracy. tried however according to the standard by which all governments may be measured, those laws of truth and divine justice which all christian nations recognize, and which are perpetual, whether recognized or not, we shall find little to venerate in the life work of the emperor. the interests of his family, the security of his dynasty, these were his end and aim. the happiness or the progress of his people never furnished even the indirect motives of his conduct, and the result was a baffled policy and a crippled and bankrupt empire at last. he knew men, especially he knew their weaknesses, and he knew how to turn them to account. he knew how much they would bear, and that little grievances would sometimes inflame more than vast and deliberate injustice. therefore he employed natives mainly in the subordinate offices of his various states, and he repeatedly warned his successor that the haughtiness of spaniards and the incompatibility of their character with the flemish, would be productive of great difficulties and dangers. it was his opinion that men might be tyrannized more intelligently by their own kindred, and in this perhaps he was right. he was indefatigable in the discharge of business, and if it were possible that half a world could be administered as if it were the private property of an individual, the task would have been perhaps as well accomplished by charles as by any man. he had not the absurdity of supposing it possible for him to attend to the details of every individual affair in every one of his realms; and he therefore intrusted the stewardship of all specialities to his various ministers and agents. it was his business to know men and to deal with affairs on a large scale, and in this he certainly was superior to his successor. his correspondence was mainly in the hands of granvelle the elder, who analyzed letters received, and frequently wrote all but the signatures of the answers. the same minister usually possessed the imperial ear, and farmed it out for his own benefit. in all this there was of course room for vast deception, but the emperor was quite aware of what was going on, and took a philosophic view of the matter as an inevitable part of his system. granvelle grew enormously rich under his eye by trading on the imperial favor and sparing his majesty much trouble. charles saw it all, ridiculed his peculations, but called him his "bed of down." his knowledge of human nature was however derived from a contemplation mainly of its weaknesses, and was therefore one-sided. he was often deceived, and made many a fatal blunder, shrewd politician though he was. he involved himself often in enterprises which could not be honorable or profitable, and which inflicted damage on his greatest interests. he often offended men who might have been useful friends, and converted allies into enemies. "his majesty," said a keen observer who knew him well, "has not in his career shown the prudence which was necessary to him. he has often offended those whose love he might have conciliated, converted friends into enemies, and let those perish who were his most faithful partisans." thus it must be acknowledged that even his boasted knowledge of human nature and his power of dealing with men was rather superficial and empirical than the real gift of genius. his personal habits during the greater part of his life were those of an indefatigable soldier. he could remain in the saddle day and night, and endure every hardship but hunger. he was addicted to vulgar and miscellaneous incontinence. he was an enormous eater. he breakfasted at five, on a fowl seethed in milk and dressed with sugar and spices. after this he went to sleep again. he dined at twelve, partaking always of twenty dishes. he supped twice; at first, soon after vespers, and the second time at midnight or one o'clock, which meal was, perhaps, the most solid of the four. after meat he ate a great quantity of pastry and sweetmeats, and he irrigated every repast by vast draughts of beer and wine. his stomach, originally a wonderful one, succumbed after forty years of such labors. his taste, but not his appetite began to fail, and he complained to his majordomo, that all his food was insipid. the reply is, perhaps, among the most celebrated of facetia. the cook could do nothing more unless he served his majesty a pasty of watches. the allusion to the emperor's passion for horology was received with great applause. charles "laughed longer than he was ever known to laugh before, and all the courtiers (of course) laughed as long as his majesty." [badovaro] the success of so sorry a jest would lead one to suppose that the fooling was less admirable at the imperial court than some of the recorded quips of tribaulet would lead us to suppose. the transfer of the other crowns and dignitaries to philip, was accomplished a month afterwards, in a quiet manner. spain, sicily, the balearic islands, america, and other portions of the globe, were made over without more display than an ordinary 'donatio inter vivos'. the empire occasioned some difficulty. it had been already signified to ferdinand, that his brother was to resign the imperial crown in his favor, and the symbols of sovereignty were accordingly transmitted to him by the hands of william of orange. a deputation, moreover, of which that nobleman, vice-chancellor seld, and dr. wolfgang haller were the chiefs, was despatched to signify to the electors of the empire the step which had been thus resolved upon. a delay of more than two years, however, intervened, occasioned partly by the deaths of three electors, partly by the war which so soon broke out in europe, before the matter was formally acted upon. in february, , however, the electors, having been assembled in frankfort, received the abdication of charles, and proceeded to the election of ferdinand. that emperor was crowned in march, and immediately despatched a legation to the pope to apprize him of the fact. nothing was less expected than any opposition on the part of the pontiff. the querulous dotard, however, who then sat in st. peter's chair, hated charles and all his race. he accordingly denied the validity of the whole transaction, without sanction previously obtained from the pope, to whom all crowns belonged. ferdinand, after listening, through his envoys, to much ridiculous dogmatism on the part of the pope, at last withdrew from the discussion, with a formal protest, and was first recognized by caraffa's successor, pius iv. charles had not deferred his retirement till the end of these disputes. he occupied a private house in brussels, near the gate of louvain, until august of the year . on the th of that month, he addressed a letter from ghent to john of osnabruck, president of the chamber of spiers, stating his abdication in favor of ferdinand, and requesting that in the interim the same obedience might be rendered to ferdinand, as could have been yielded to himself. ten days later; he addressed a letter to the estates of the empire, stating the same fact; and on the th september, , he set sail from zeland for spain. these delays and difficulties occasioned some misconceptions. many persons who did not admire an abdication, which others, on the contrary, esteemed as an act of unexampled magnanimity, stoutly denied that it was the intention of charles to renounce the empire. the venetian envoy informed his government that ferdinand was only to be lieutenant for charles, under strict limitations, and that the emperor was to resume the government so soon as his health would allow. the bishop of arras and don juan de manrique had both assured him, he said, that charles would not, on any account, definitely abdicate. manrique even asserted that it was a mere farce to believe in any such intention. the emperor ought to remain to protect his son, by the resources of the empire, against france, the turks, and the heretics. his very shadow was terrible to the lutherans, and his form might be expected to rise again in stern reality from its temporary grave. time has shown the falsity of all these imaginings, but views thus maintained by those in the best condition to know the truth, prove how difficult it was for men to believe in a transaction which was then so extraordinary, and how little consonant it was in their eyes with true propriety. it was necessary to ascend to the times of diocletian, to find an example of a similar abdication of empire, on so deliberate and extensive a scale, and the great english historian of the roman empire has compared the two acts with each other. but there seems a vast difference between the cases. both emperors were distinguished soldiers; both were merciless persecutors of defenceless christians; both exchanged unbounded empire for absolute seclusion. but diocletian was born in the lowest abyss of human degradation--the slave and the son of a slave. for such a man, after having reached the highest pinnacle of human greatness, voluntarily to descend from power, seems an act of far greater magnanimity than the retreat of charles. born in the purple, having exercised unlimited authority from his boyhood, and having worn from his cradle so many crowns and coronets, the german emperor might well be supposed to have learned to estimate them at their proper value. contemporary minds were busy, however, to discover the hidden motives which could have influenced him, and the world, even yet, has hardly ceased to wonder. yet it would have been more wonderful, considering the emperor's character, had he remained. the end had not crowned the work; it not unreasonably discrowned the workman. the earlier, and indeed the greater part of his career had been one unbroken procession of triumphs. the cherished dream of his grandfather, and of his own youth, to add the pope's triple crown to the rest of the hereditary possessions of his family, he had indeed been obliged to resign. he had too much practical flemish sense to indulge long in chimeras, but he had achieved the empire over formidable rivals, and he had successively not only conquered, but captured almost every potentate who had arrayed himself in arms against him. clement and francis, the dukes and landgraves of, clever, hesse, saxony, and brunswick, he had bound to his chariot wheels; forcing many to eat the bread of humiliation and captivity, during long and weary years. but the concluding portion of his reign had reversed all its previous glories. his whole career had been a failure. he had been defeated, after all, in most of his projects. he had humbled francis, but henry had most signally avenged his father. he had trampled upon philip of hesse and frederic of saxony, but it had been reserved for one of that german race, which he characterized as "dreamy, drunken, and incapable of intrigue," to outwit the man who had outwitted all the world, and to drive before him, in ignominious flight, the conqueror of the nations. the german lad who had learned both war and dissimulation in the court and camp of him who was so profound a master of both arts, was destined to eclipse his teacher on the most august theatre of christendom. absorbed at innspruck with the deliberations of the trent council, charles had not heeded the distant mutterings of the tempest which was gathering around him. while he was preparing to crush, forever, the protestant church, with the arms which a bench of bishops were forging, lo! the rapid and desperate maurice, with long red beard streaming like a meteor in the wind, dashing through the mountain passes, at the head of his lancers--arguments more convincing than all the dogmas of granvelle! disguised as an old woman, the emperor had attempted on the th april, to escape in a peasant's wagon, from innspruck into flanders. saved for the time by the mediation of ferdinand, he had, a few weeks later, after his troops had been defeated by maurice, at fussen, again fled at midnight of the nd may, almost unattended, sick in body and soul, in the midst of thunder, lightning, and rain, along the difficult alpine passes from innspruck into carinthia. his pupil had permitted his escape, only because in his own language, "for such a bird he had no convenient cage." the imprisoned princes now owed their liberation, not to the emperor's clemency, but to his panic. the peace of passau, in the following august, crushed the whole fabric of the emperor's toil, and laid-the foundation of the protestant church. he had smitten the protestants at muhlberg for the last time. on the other hand, the man who had dealt with rome, as if the pope, not he, had been the vassal, was compelled to witness, before he departed, the insolence of a pontiff who took a special pride in insulting and humbling his house, and trampling upon the pride of charles, philip and ferdinand. in france too, the disastrous siege of metz had taught him that in the imperial zodiac the fatal sign of cancer had been reached. the figure of a crab, with the words "plus citra," instead of his proud motto of "plus ultra," scrawled on the walls where he had resided during that dismal epoch, avenged more deeply, perhaps, than the jester thought, the previous misfortunes of france. the grand turk, too, solyman the magnificent, possessed most of hungary, and held at that moment a fleet ready to sail against naples, in co-operation with the pope and france. thus the infidel, the protestant, and the holy church were all combined together to crush him. towards all the great powers of the earth, he stood not in the attitude of a conqueror, but of a disappointed, baffled, defeated potentate. moreover, he had been foiled long before in his earnest attempts to secure the imperial throne for philip. ferdinand and maximilian had both stoutly resisted his arguments and his blandishments. the father had represented the slender patrimony of their branch of the family, compared with the enormous heritage of philip; who, being after all, but a man, and endowed with finite powers, might sink under so great a pressure of empire as his father wished to provide for him. maximilian, also, assured his uncle that he had as good an appetite for the crown as philip, and could digest the dignity quite as easily. the son, too, for whom the emperor was thus solicitous, had already, before the abdication, repaid his affection with ingratitude. he had turned out all his father's old officials in milan, and had refused to visit him at brussels, till assured as to the amount of ceremonial respect which the new-made king was to receive at the hands of his father. had the emperor continued to live and reign, he would have found himself likewise engaged in mortal combat with that great religious movement in the netherlands, which he would not have been able many years longer to suppress, and which he left as a legacy of blood and fire to his successor. born in the same year with his century, charles was a decrepit, exhausted man at fifty-five, while that glorious age, in which humanity was to burst forever the cerements in which it had so long been buried, was but awakening to a consciousness of its strength. disappointed in his schemes, broken in his fortunes, with income anticipated, estates mortgaged, all his affairs in confusion; failing in mental powers, and with a constitution hopelessly shattered; it was time for him to retire. he showed his keenness in recognizing the fact that neither his power nor his glory would be increased, should he lag superfluous on the stage where mortification instead of applause was likely to be his portion. his frame was indeed but a wreck. forty years of unexampled gluttony had done their work. he was a victim to gout, asthma, dyspepsia, gravel. he was crippled in the neck, arms, knees, and hands. he was troubled with chronic cutaneous eruptions. his appetite remained, while his stomach, unable longer to perform the task still imposed upon it, occasioned him constant suffering. physiologists, who know how important a part this organ plays in the affairs of life, will perhaps see in this physical condition of the emperor a sufficient explanation, if explanation were required, of his descent from the throne. moreover, it is well known that the resolution to abdicate before his death had been long a settled scheme with him. it had been formally agreed between himself and the empress that they should separate at the approach of old age, and pass the remainder of their lives in a convent and a monastery. he had, when comparatively a young man, been struck by the reply made to him by an aged officer, whose reasons he had asked for, earnestly soliciting permission to retire from the imperial service. it was, said the veteran, that he might put a little space of religious contemplation between the active portion of his life and the grave. a similar determination, deferred from time to time, charles had now carried into execution. while he still lingered in brussels, after his abdication, a comet appeared, to warn him to the fulfilment of his purpose. from first to last, comets and other heavenly bodies were much connected with his evolutions and arrangements. there was no mistaking the motives with which this luminary had presented itself. the emperor knew very well, says a contemporary german chronicler, that it portended pestilence and war, together with the approaching death of mighty princes. "my fates call out," he cried, and forthwith applied himself to hasten the preparations for his departure. the romantic picture of his philosophical retirement at juste, painted originally by sandoval and siguenza, reproduced by the fascinating pencil of strada, and imitated in frequent succession by authors of every age and country, is unfortunately but a sketch of fancy. the investigations of modern writers have entirely thrown down the scaffolding on which the airy fabric, so delightful to poets and moralists, reposed. the departing emperor stands no longer in a transparency robed in shining garments. his transfiguration is at an end. every action, almost every moment of his retirement, accurately chronicled by those who shared his solitude, have been placed before our eyes, in the most felicitous manner, by able and brilliant writers. the emperor, shorn of the philosophical robe in which he had been conventionally arrayed for three centuries, shivers now in the cold air of reality. so far from his having immersed himself in profound and pious contemplation, below the current of the world's events, his thoughts, on the contrary, never were for a moment diverted from the political surface of the times. he read nothing but despatches; he wrote or dictated interminable ones in reply, as dull and prolix as any which ever came from his pen. he manifested a succession of emotions at the course of contemporary affairs, as intense and as varied, as if the world still rested in his palm. he was, in truth, essentially a man of action. he had neither the taste nor talents which make a man great in retirement. not a lofty thought, not a generous sentiment, not a profound or acute suggestion in his retreat has been recorded from his lips. the epigrams which had been invented for him by fabulists have been all taken away, and nothing has been substituted, save a few dull jests exchanged with stupid friars. so far from having entertained and even expressed that sentiment of religious toleration for which he was said to have been condemned as a heretic by the inquisition, and for which philip was ridiculously reported to have ordered his father's body to be burned, and his ashes scattered to the winds, he became in retreat the bigot effectually, which during his reign he had only been conventionally. bitter regrets that he should have kept his word to luther, as if he had not broken faith enough to reflect upon in his retirement; stern self-reproach for omitting to put to death, while he had him in his power, the man who had caused all the mischief of the age; fierce instructions thundered from his retreat to the inquisitors to hasten the execution of all heretics, including particularly his ancient friends, preachers and almoners, cazalla and constantine de fuente; furious exhortations to philip--as if philip needed a prompter in such a work--that he should set himself to "cutting out the root of heresy with rigor and rude chastisement;"--such explosions of savage bigotry as these, alternating with exhibitions of revolting gluttony, with surfeits of sardine omelettes, estramadura sausages, eel pies, pickled partridges, fat capons, quince syrups, iced beer, and flagons of rhenish, relieved by copious draughts of senna and rhubarb, to which his horror-stricken doctor doomed him as he ate--compose a spectacle less attractive to the imagination than the ancient portrait of the cloistered charles. unfortunately it is the one which was painted from life. etext editor's bookmarks: burned, strangled, beheaded, or buried alive ( , ) despot by birth and inclination (charles v.) endure every hardship but hunger gallant and ill-fated lamoral egmont he knew men, especially he knew their weaknesses his imagination may have assisted his memory in the task little grievances would sometimes inflame more than vast often much tyranny in democracy planted the inquisition in the netherlands motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. philip the second in the netherlands - [chapter ii.] sketch of philip the second--characteristics of mary tudor--portrait of philip--his council--rivalry of rup gomez and alva--character of rup gomez--queen mary of hungary--sketch of philibert of savoy-- truce of vaucelles--secret treaty between the pope and henry ii.-- rejoicings in the netherlands on account of the peace--purposes of philip--re-enactment of the edict of --the king's dissimulation --"request" to the provinces--infraction of the truce in italy-- character of pope paul iv.--intrigues of cardinal caraffa--war against spain resolved upon by france--campaign in italy--amicable siege of rome--pence with the pontiff--hostilities on the flemish border--coligny foiled at douay--sacks lens--philip in england-- queen mary engages in the war--philip's army assembled at givet-- portrait of count egmont--the french army under coligny and montmorency--siege of st. quentin--attempts of the constable to relieve the city--battle of st. quentin--hesitation and timidity of philip--city of st. quentin taken and sacked--continued indecision of philip--his army disbanded--campaign of the duke of guise-- capture of calais--interview between cardinal de lorraine and the bishop of arran--secret combinations for a league between france and spain against heresy--languid movements of guise--foray of de thermes on the flemish frontier--battle of gravelines--popularity of egmont--enmity of alva. philip the second had received the investiture of milan and the crown of naples, previously to his marriage with mary tudor. the imperial crown he had been obliged, much against his will, to forego. the archduchy of austria, with the hereditary german dependencies of his father's family, had been transferred by the emperor to his brother ferdinand, on the occasion of the marriage of that prince with anna, only sister of king louis of hungary. ten years afterwards, ferdinand (king of hungary and bohemia since the death of louis, slain in at the battle of mohacz) was elected king of the romans, and steadily refused all the entreaties afterwards made to him in behalf of philip, to resign his crown and his succession to the empire, in favor of his nephew. with these diminutions, philip had now received all the dominions of his father. he was king of all the spanish kingdoms and of both the sicilies. he was titular king of england, france, and jerusalem. he was "absolute dominator" in asia, africa, and america; he was duke of milan and of both burgundies, and hereditary sovereign of the seventeen netherlands. thus the provinces had received a new master. a man of foreign birth and breeding, not speaking a word of their language, nor of any language which the mass of the inhabitants understood, was now placed in supreme authority over them, because he represented, through the females, the "good" philip of burgundy, who a century before had possessed himself by inheritance, purchase, force, or fraud, of the sovereignty in most of those provinces. it is necessary to say an introductory word or two concerning the previous history of the man to whose hands the destiny of so many millions was now entrusted. he was born in may, , and was now therefore twenty-eight years of age. at the age of sixteen he had been united to his cousin, maria of portugal, daughter of john iii. and of the emperor's sister, donna catalina. in the following year ( ) he became father of the celebrated and ill-starred don carlos, and a widower. the princess owed her death, it was said, to her own imprudence and to the negligence or bigotry of her attendants. the duchess of alva, and other ladies who had charge of her during her confinement, deserted her chamber in order to obtain absolution by witnessing an auto-da-fe of heretics. during their absence, the princess partook voraciously of a melon, and forfeited her life in consequence. in , don philip had made his first appearance in the netherlands. he came thither to receive homage in the various provinces as their future sovereign, and to exchange oaths of mutual fidelity with them all. andrew doria, with a fleet of fifty ships, had brought him to genoa, whence he had passed to milan, where he was received with great rejoicing. at trent he was met by duke maurice of saxony, who warmly begged his intercession with the emperor in behalf of the imprisoned landgrave of hesse. this boon philip was graciously pleased to promise,--and to keep the pledge as sacredly as most of the vows plighted by him during this memorable year. the duke of aerschot met him in germany with a regiment of cavalry and escorted him to brussels. a summer was spent in great festivities, the cities of the nether lands vieing with each other in magnificent celebrations of the ceremonies, by which philip successively swore allegiance to the various constitutions and charters of the provinces, and received their oaths of future fealty in return. his oath to support all the constitutions and privileges was without reservation, while his father and grandfather had only sworn to maintain the charters granted or confirmed by philip and charles of burgundy. suspicion was disarmed by these indiscriminate concessions, which had been resolved upon by the unscrupulous charles to conciliate the good will of the people. in view of the pretensions which might be preferred by the brederode family in holland, and by other descendants of ancient sovereign races in other provinces, the emperor, wishing to ensure the succession to his sisters in case of the deaths of himself, philip, and don carlos without issue, was unsparing in those promises which he knew to be binding only upon the weak. although the house of burgundy had usurped many of the provinces on the express pretext that females could not inherit, the rule had been already violated, and he determined to spare no pains to conciliate the estates, in order that they might be content with a new violation, should the contingency occur. philip's oaths were therefore without reserve, and the light-hearted flemings, brabantines, and walloons received him with open arms. in valenciennes the festivities which attended his entrance were on a most gorgeous scale, but the "joyous entrance" arranged for him at antwerp was of unparalleled magnificence. a cavalcade of the magistrates and notable burghers, "all attired in cramoisy velvet," attended by lackies in splendid liveries and followed by four thousand citizen soldiers in full uniform, went forth from the gates to receive him. twenty-eight triumphal arches, which alone, according to the thrifty chronicler, had cost , carolus guldens, were erected in the different streets and squares, and every possible demonstration of affectionate welcome was lavished upon the prince and the emperor. the rich and prosperous city, unconscious of the doom which awaited it in the future, seemed to have covered itself with garlands to honor the approach of its master. yet icy was the deportment with which philip received these demonstrations of affection, and haughty the glance with which he looked down upon these exhibitions of civic hilarity, as from the height of a grim and inaccessible tower. the impression made upon the netherlanders was any thing but favorable, and when he had fully experienced the futility of the projects on the empire which it was so difficult both for his father and himself to resign, he returned to the more congenial soil of spain. in he had again issued from the peninsula to marry the queen of england, a privilege which his father had graciously resigned to him. he was united to mary tudor at winchester, on the th july of that year, and if congeniality of tastes could have made a marriage happy, that union should have been thrice blessed. to maintain the supremacy of the church seemed to both the main object of existence, to execute unbelievers the most sacred duty imposed by the deity upon anointed princes, to convert their kingdoms into a hell the surest means of winning heaven for themselves. it was not strange that the conjunction of two such wonders of superstition in one sphere should have seemed portentous in the eyes of the english nation. philip's mock efforts in favor of certain condemned reformers, and his pretended intercessions in favor of the princess elizabeth, failed entirely of their object. the parliament refused to confer upon him more than a nominal authority in england. his children, should they be born, might be sovereigns; he was but husband of the queen; of a woman who could not atone by her abject but peevish fondness for himself, and by her congenial blood-thirstiness towards her subjects, for her eleven years seniority, her deficiency in attractions, and her incapacity to make him the father of a line of english monarchs. it almost excites compassion even for mary tudor, when her passionate efforts to inspire him with affection are contrasted with his impassiveness. tyrant, bigot, murderess though she was, she was still woman, and she lavished upon her husband all that was not ferocious in her nature. forbidding prayers to be said for the soul of her father, hating her sister and her people, burning bishops, bathing herself in the blood of heretics, to philip she was all submissiveness and feminine devotion. it was a most singular contrast, mary, the queen of england and mary the wife of philip. small, lean and sickly, painfully near-sighted, yet with an eye of fierceness and fire; her face wrinkled by the hands of care and evil passions still more than by time, with a big man's voice, whose harshness made those in the next room tremble; yet feminine in her tastes, skilful with her needle, fond of embroidery work, striking the lute with a touch remarkable for its science and feeling, speaking many languages, including latin, with fluency and grace; most feminine, too, in her constitutional sufferings, hysterical of habit, shedding floods of tears daily at philip's coldness, undisguised infidelity, and frequent absences from england--she almost awakens compassion and causes a momentary oblivion of her identity. her subjects, already half maddened by religious persecution, were exasperated still further by the pecuniary burthens which she imposed upon them to supply the king's exigencies, and she unhesitatingly confronted their frenzy, in the hope of winning a smile from him. when at last her chronic maladies had assumed the memorable form which caused philip and mary to unite in a letter to cardinal pole, announcing not the expected but the actual birth of a prince, but judiciously leaving the date in blank, the momentary satisfaction and delusion of the queen was unbounded. the false intelligence was transmitted every where. great were the joy and the festivities in the netherlands, where people were so easily made to rejoice and keep holiday for any thing. "the regent, being in antwerp," wrote sir thomas gresham to the lords of council, "did cause the great bell to rings to give all men to understand that the news was trewe. the queene's highness here merchants caused all our inglishe ships to shoote off with such joy and triumph, as by men's arts and pollicey coulde be devised--and the regent sent our inglishe maroners one hundred crownes to drynke." if bell-ringing and cannon-firing could have given england a spanish sovereign, the devoutly-wished consummation would have been reached. when the futility of the royal hopes could no longer be concealed, philip left the country, never to return till his war with france made him require troops, subsidies, and a declaration of hostilities from england. the personal appearance of the new sovereign has already been described. his manner was far from conciliatory, and in this respect he was the absolute reverse of his father. upon his first journey out of spain, in , into his various dominions, he had made a most painful impression every where. "he was disagreeable," says envoy suriano, "to the italians, detestable to the flemings, odious to the germans." the remonstrances of the emperor, and of queen mary of hungary, at the impropriety of his manners, had produced, however, some effect, so that on his wedding journey to england, he manifested much "gentleness and humanity, mingled with royal gravity." upon this occasion, says another venetian, accredited to him, "he had divested himself of that spanish haughtiness, which, when he first came from spain, had rendered him so odious." the famous ambassador, badovaro confirms the impression. "upon his first journey," he says, "he was esteemed proud, and too greedy for the imperial succession; but now 'tis the common opinion that his humanity and modesty are all which could be desired." these humane qualities, however, it must be observed, were exhibited only in the presence of ambassadors and grandees, the only representatives of "humanity" with whom he came publicly and avowedly in contact. he was thought deficient in manly energy. he was an infirm valetudinarian, and was considered as sluggish in character, as deficient in martial enterprise, as timid of temperament as he was fragile and sickly of frame. it is true, that on account of the disappointment which he occasioned by his contrast to his warlike father, he mingled in some tournaments in brussels, where he was matched against count mansfeld, one of the most distinguished chieftains of the age, and where, says his professed panegyrist, "he broke his lances very mach to the satisfaction of his father and aunts." that learned and eloquent author, estelle calvete, even filled the greater part of a volume, in which he described the journey of the prince, with a minute description of these feasts and jousts, but we may reasonably conclude that to the loyal imagination of his eulogist philip is indebted for most of these knightly trophies. it was the universal opinion of unprejudiced cotemporaries, that he was without a spark of enterprise. he was even censured for a culpable want of ambition, and for being inferior to his father in this respect, as if the love of encroaching on his neighbor's dominions, and a disposition to foreign. commotions and war would have constituted additional virtues, had he happened to possess them. those who were most disposed to think favorably of him, remembered that there was a time when even charles the fifth was thought weak and indolent, and were willing to ascribe philip's pacific disposition to his habitual cholic and side-ache, and to his father's inordinate care for him in youth. they even looked forward to the time when he should blaze forth to the world as a conqueror and a hero. these, however, were views entertained by but few; the general and the correct opinion, as it proved, being, that philip hated war, would never certainly acquire any personal distinction in the field, and when engaged in hostilities would be apt to gather his laurels at the hands of his generals, rather than with his own sword. he was believed to be the reverse of the emperor. charles sought great enterprises, philip would avoid them. the emperor never recoiled before threats; the son was reserved, cautious, suspicious of all men, and capable of sacrificing a realm from hesitation and timidity. the father had a genius for action, the son a predilection for repose. charles took "all men's opinions, but reserved his judgment," and acted on it, when matured, with irresistible energy; philip was led by others, was vacillating in forming decisions, and irresolute in executing them when formed. philip, then, was not considered, in that warlike age, as likely to shine as a warrior. his mental capacity, in general, was likewise not very highly esteemed. his talents were, in truth, very much below mediocrity. his mind was incredibly small. a petty passion for contemptible details characterized him from his youth, and, as long as he lived, he could neither learn to generalize, nor understand that one man, however diligent, could not be minutely acquainted with all the public and private affairs of fifty millions of other men. he was a glutton of work. he was born to write despatches, and to scrawl comments upon those which he received. [the character of these apostilles, always confused, wordy and awkward, was sometimes very ludicrous; nor did it improve after his thirty or forty years' daily practice in making them. thus, when he received a letter from france in , narrating the assassination of henry iii., and stating that "the manner in which he had been killed was that a jacobin monk had given him a pistol-shot in the head" (la facon qua l'on dit qu'il a ette tue, sa ette par un jacobin qui luy a donna d'un cou de pistolle dans la tayte), he scrawled the following luminous comment upon the margin. underlining the word "pistolle," he observed, "this is perhaps some kind of knife; and as for 'tayte,' it can be nothing else but head, which is not tayte, but tete, or teyte, as you very well know" (quiza de alguna manera de cuchillo, etc., etc.)--gachard. rapport a m. le minist. de l'interieur, prefixed to corresp. philippe ii. vol. i. xlix. note . it is obvious that a person who made such wonderful commentaries as this, and was hard at work eight or nine hours a day for forty years, would leave a prodigious quantity of unpublished matter at his death.] he often remained at the council-board four or five hours at a time, and he lived in his cabinet. he gave audiences to ambassadors and deputies very willingly, listening attentively to all that was said to him, and answering in monosyllables. he spoke no tongue but spanish; and was sufficiently sparing of that, but he was indefatigable with his pen. he hated to converse, but he could write a letter eighteen pages long, when his correspondent was in the next room, and when the subject was, perhaps, one which a man of talent could have settled with six words of his tongue. the world, in his opinion, was to move upon protocols and apostilles. events had no right to be born throughout his dominions, without a preparatory course of his obstetrical pedantry. he could never learn that the earth would not rest on its axis, while he wrote a programme of the way it was to turn. he was slow in deciding, slower in communicating his decisions. he was prolix with his pen, not from affluence, but from paucity of ideas. he took refuge in a cloud of words, sometimes to conceal his meaning, oftener to conceal the absence of any meaning, thus mystifying not only others but himself. to one great purpose, formed early, he adhered inflexibly. this, however, was rather an instinct than an opinion; born with him, not created by him. the idea seemed to express itself through him, and to master him, rather than to form one of a stock of sentiments which a free agent might be expected to possess. although at certain times, even this master-feeling could yield to the pressure of a predominant self-interest-thus showing that even in philip bigotry was not absolute--yet he appeared on the whole the embodiment of spanish chivalry and spanish religious enthusiasm, in its late and corrupted form. he was entirely a spaniard. the burgundian and austrian elements of his blood seemed to have evaporated, and his veins were filled alone with the ancient ardor, which in heroic centuries had animated the gothic champions of spain. the fierce enthusiasm for the cross, which in the long internal warfare against the crescent, had been the romantic and distinguishing feature of the national character, had degenerated into bigotry. that which had been a nation's glory now made the monarch's shame. the christian heretic was to be regarded with a more intense hatred than even moor or jew had excited in the most christian ages, and philip was to be the latest and most perfect incarnation of all this traditional enthusiasm, this perpetual hate. thus he was likely to be single-hearted in his life. it was believed that his ambition would be less to extend his dominions than to vindicate his title of the most catholic king. there could be little doubt entertained that he would be, at least, dutiful to his father in this respect, and that the edicts would be enforced to the letter. he was by birth, education, and character, a spaniard, and that so exclusively, that the circumstance would alone have made him unfit to govern a country so totally different in habits and national sentiments from his native land. he was more a foreigner in brussels, even, than in england. the gay, babbling, energetic, noisy life of flanders and brabant was detestable to him. the loquacity of the netherlanders was a continual reproach upon his taciturnity. his education had imbued him, too, with the antiquated international hatred of spaniard and fleming, which had been strengthening in the metropolis, while the more rapid current of life had rather tended to obliterate the sentiment in the provinces. the flippancy and profligacy of philip the handsome, the extortion and insolence of his flemish courtiers, had not been forgotten in spain, nor had philip the second forgiven his grandfather for having been a foreigner. and now his mad old grandmother, joanna, who had for years been chasing cats in the lonely tower where she had been so long imprisoned, had just died; and her funeral, celebrated with great pomp by both her sons, by charles at brussels and ferdinand at augsburg, seemed to revive a history which had begun to fade, and to recall the image of castilian sovereignty which had been so long obscured in the blaze of imperial grandeur. his education had been but meagre. in an age when all kings and noblemen possessed many languages, he spoke not a word of any tongue but spanish,--although he had a slender knowledge of french and italian, which he afterwards learned to read with comparative facility. he had studied a little history and geography, and he had a taste for sculpture, painting, and architecture. certainly if he had not possessed a feeling for art, he would have been a monster. to have been born in the earlier part of the sixteenth century, to have been a king, to have had spain, italy, and the netherlands as a birthright, and not to have been inspired with a spark of that fire which glowed so intensely in those favored lands and in that golden age, had indeed been difficult. the king's personal habits were regular. his delicate health made it necessary for him to attend to his diet, although he was apt to exceed in sweetmeats and pastry. he slept much, and took little exercise habitually, but he had recently been urged by the physicians to try the effect of the chase as a corrective to his sedentary habits. he was most strict in religious observances, as regular at mass, sermons, and vespers as a monk; much more, it was thought by many good catholics, than was becoming to his rank and age. besides several friars who preached regularly for his instruction, he had daily discussions with others on abstruse theological points. he consulted his confessor most minutely as to all the actions of life, inquiring anxiously whether this proceeding or that were likely to burthen his conscience. he was grossly licentious. it was his chief amusement to issue forth at night disguised, that he might indulge in vulgar and miscellaneous incontinence in the common haunts of vice. this was his solace at brussels in the midst of the gravest affairs of state. he was not illiberal, but, on the contrary, it was thought that he would have been even generous, had he not been straitened for money at the outset of his career. during a cold winter, he distributed alms to the poor of brussels with an open hand. he was fond of jests in private, and would laugh immoderately, when with a few intimate associates, at buffooneries, which he checked in public by the icy gravity of his deportment. he dressed usually in the spanish fashion, with close doublet, trunk hose, and short cloak, although at times he indulged in the more airy fashions of france and burgundy, wearing buttons on his coats and feathers in his hat. he was not thought at that time to be cruel by nature, but was usually spoken of, in the conventional language appropriated to monarchs, as a prince "clement, benign, and debonnaire." time was to show the justice of his claims to such honorable epithets. the court was organized during his residence at brussels on the burgundian, not the spanish model, but of the one hundred and fifty persons who composed it, nine tenths of the whole were spaniards; the other fifteen or sixteen being of various nations, flemings, burgundians, italians, english, and germans. thus it is obvious how soon he disregarded his father's precept and practice in this respect, and began to lay the foundation of that renewed hatred to spaniards which was soon to become so intense, exuberant, and fatal throughout every class of netherlanders. he esteemed no nation but the spanish, with spaniards he consorted, with spaniards he counselled, through spaniards he governed. his council consisted of five or six spanish grandees, the famous ruy gomez, then count of melito, afterwards prince of eboli; the duke of alva, the count de feria, the duke of franca villa, don antonio toledo, and don juan manrique de lara. the "two columns," said suriano, "which sustain this great machine, are ruy gomez and alva, and from their councils depends the government of half the world." the two were ever bitterly opposed to each other. incessant were their bickerings, intense their mutual hate, desperate and difficult the situation of any man, whether foreigner or native, who had to transact business with the government. if he had secured the favor of gomez, he had already earned the enmity of alva. was he protected by the duke, he was sure to be cast into outer darkness by the favorite.--alva represented the war party, ruy gomez the pacific polity more congenial to the heart of philip. the bishop of arras, who in the opinion of the envoys was worth them all for his capacity and his experience, was then entirely in the background, rarely entering the council except when summoned to give advice in affairs of extraordinary delicacy or gravity. he was, however, to reappear most signally in course of the events already preparing. the duke of alva, also to play so tremendous a part in the yet unborn history of the netherlands, was not beloved by philip. he was eclipsed at this period by the superior influence of the favorite, and his sword, moreover, became necessary in the italian campaign which was impending. it is remarkable that it was a common opinion even at that day that the duke was naturally hesitating and timid. one would have thought that his previous victories might have earned for him the reputation for courage and skill which he most unquestionably deserved. the future was to develop those other characteristics which were to make his name the terror and wonder of the world. the favorite, ruy gomez da silva, count de melito, was the man upon whose shoulders the great burthen of the state reposed. he was of a family which was originally portuguese. he had been brought up with the king, although some eight years his senior, and their friendship dated from earliest youth. it was said that ruy gomez, when a boy, had been condemned to death for having struck philip, who had come between him and another page with whom he was quarrelling. the prince threw himself passionately at his father's feet, and implored forgiveness in behalf of the culprit with such energy that the emperor was graciously pleased to spare the life of the future prime minister. the incident was said to have laid the foundation of the remarkable affection which was supposed to exist between the two, to an extent never witnessed before between king and subject. ruy gomez was famous for his tact and complacency, and omitted no opportunity of cementing the friendship thus auspiciously commenced. he was said to have particularly charmed his master, upon one occasion, by hypocritically throwing up his cards at a game of hazard played for a large stake, and permitting him to win the game with a far inferior hand. the king learning afterwards the true state of the case, was charmed by the grace and self-denial manifested by the young nobleman. the complacency which the favorite subsequently exhibited in regard to the connexion which existed so long and so publicly between his wife, the celebrated princess eboli, and philip, placed his power upon an impregnable basis, and secured it till his death. at the present moment he occupied the three posts of valet, state councillor, and finance minister. he dressed and undressed his master, read or talked him to sleep, called him in the morning, admitted those who were to have private audiences, and superintended all the arrangements of the household. the rest of the day was devoted to the enormous correspondence and affairs of administration which devolved upon him as first minister of state and treasury. he was very ignorant. he had no experience or acquirement in the arts either of war or peace, and his early education had been limited. like his master, he spoke no tongue but spanish, and he had no literature. he had prepossessing manners, a fluent tongue, a winning and benevolent disposition. his natural capacity for affairs was considerable, and his tact was so perfect that he could converse face to face with statesmen; doctors, and generals upon campaigns, theology, or jurisprudence, without betraying any remarkable deficiency. he was very industrious, endeavoring to make up by hard study for his lack of general knowledge, and to sustain with credit the burthen of his daily functions. at the same time, by the king's desire, he appeared constantly at the frequent banquets, masquerades, tourneys and festivities, for which brussels at that epoch was remarkable. it was no wonder that his cheek was pale, and that he seemed dying of overwork. he discharged his duties cheerfully, however, for in the service of philip he knew no rest. "after god," said badovaro, "he knows no object save the felicity of his master." he was already, as a matter of course, very rich, having been endowed by philip with property to the amount of twenty-six thousand dollars yearly, [at values of ] and the tide of his fortunes was still at the flood. such were the two men, the master and the favorite, to whose hands the destinies of the netherlands were now entrusted. the queen of hungary had resigned the office of regent of the netherlands, as has been seen, on the occasion of the emperor's abdication. she was a woman of masculine character, a great huntress before the lord, a celebrated horsewoman, a worthy descendant of the lady mary of burgundy. notwithstanding all the fine phrases exchanged between herself and the eloquent maas, at the great ceremony of the th of october, she was, in reality, much detested in the provinces, and she repaid their aversion with abhorrence. "i could not live among these people," she wrote to the emperor, but a few weeks before the abdication, "even as a private person, for it would be impossible for me to do my duty towards god and my prince. as to governing them, i take god to witness that the task is so abhorrent to me, that i would rather earn my daily bread by labor than attempt it." she added, that a woman of fifty years of age, who had served during twenty-five of them, had a right to repose, and that she was moreover "too old to recommence and learn her a, b, c." the emperor, who had always respected her for the fidelity with which she had carried out his designs, knew that it was hopeless to oppose her retreat. as for philip, he hated his aunt, and she hated him--although, both at the epoch of the abdication and subsequently, he was desirous that she should administer the government. the new regent was to be the duke of savoy. this wandering and adventurous potentate had attached himself to philip's fortunes, and had been received by the king with as much favor as he had ever enjoyed at the hands of the emperor. emanuel philibert of savoy, then about twenty-six or seven years of age, was the son of the late unfortunate duke, by donna beatrice of portugal, sister of the empress. he was the nephew of charles, and first cousin to philip. the partiality of the emperor for his mother was well known, but the fidelity with which the family had followed the imperial cause had been productive of nothing but disaster to the duke. he had been ruined in fortune, stripped of all his dignities and possessions. his son's only inheritance was his sword. the young prince of piedmont, as he was commonly called in his youth; sought the camp of the emperor, and was received with distinguished favor. he rose rapidly in the military service. acting always upon his favorite motto, "spoliatis arma supersunt," he had determined, if possible, to carve his way to glory, to wealth, and even to his hereditary estates, by his sword alone. war was not only his passion, but his trade. every one of his campaigns was a speculation, and he had long derived a satisfactory income by purchasing distinguished prisoners of war at a low price from the soldiers who had captured them, and were ignorant of their rank, and by ransoming them afterwards at an immense advance. this sort of traffic in men was frequent in that age, and was considered perfectly honorable. marshal strozzi, count mansfeld, and other professional soldiers, derived their main income from the system. they were naturally inclined, therefore, to look impatiently upon a state of peace as an unnatural condition of affairs which cut off all the profits of their particular branch of industry, and condemned them both to idleness and poverty. the duke of savoy had become one of the most experienced and successful commanders of the age, and an especial favorite with the emperor. he had served with alva in the campaigns against the protestants of germany, and in other important fields. war being his element, he considered peace as undesirable, although he could recognize its existence. a truce he held, however, to be a senseless parodox, unworthy of the slightest regard. an armistice, such as was concluded on the february following the abdication, was, in his opinion, only to be turned to account by dealing insidious and unsuspected blows at the enemy, some portion of whose population might repose confidence in the plighted faith of monarchs and plenipotentiaries. he had a show of reason for his political and military morality, for he only chose to execute the evil which had been practised upon himself. his father had been beggared, his mother had died of spite and despair, he had himself been reduced from the rank of a sovereign to that of a mercenary soldier, by spoliations made in time of truce. he was reputed a man of very decided abilities, and was distinguished for headlong bravery. his rashness and personal daring were thought the only drawbacks to his high character as a commander. he had many accomplishments. he spoke latin, french, spanish, and italian with equal fluency, was celebrated for his attachment to the fine arts, and wrote much and with great elegance. such had been philibert of savoy, the pauper nephew of the powerful emperor, the adventurous and vagrant cousin of the lofty philip, a prince without a people, a duke without a dukedom; with no hope but in warfare, with no revenue but rapine; the image, in person, of a bold and manly soldier, small, but graceful and athletic, martial in bearing, "wearing his sword under his arm like a corporal," because an internal malady made a belt inconvenient, and ready to turn to swift account every chance which a new series of campaigns might open to him. with his new salary as governor, his pensions, and the remains of his possessions in nice and piedmont, he had now the splendid annual income of one hundred thousand crowns, and was sure to spend it all. it had been the desire of charles to smooth the commencement of philip's path. he had for this purpose made a vigorous effort to undo, as it were, the whole work of his reign, to suspend the operation of his whole political system. the emperor and conqueror, who had been warring all his lifetime, had attempted, as the last act of his reign, to improvise a peace. but it was not so easy to arrange a pacification of europe as dramatically as he desired, in order that he might gather his robes about him, and allow the curtain to fall upon his eventful history in a grand hush of decorum and quiet. during the autumn and winter of , hostilities had been virtually suspended, and languid negotiations ensued. for several months armies confronted each other without engaging, and diplomatists fenced among themselves without any palpable result. at last the peace commissioners, who had been assembled at vaucelles since the beginning of the year , signed a treaty of truce rather than of peace, upon the th of february. it was to be an armistice of five years, both by land and sea, for france, spain, flanders, and italy, throughout all the dominions of the french and spanish monarchs. the pope was expressly included in the truce, which was signed on the part of france by admiral coligny and sebastian l'aubespine; on that of spain, by count de lalain, philibert de bruxelles, simon renard, and jean baptiste sciceio, a jurisconsult of cremona. during the precious month of december, however, the pope had concluded with the french monarch a treaty, by which this solemn armistice was rendered an egregious farce. while henry's plenipotentiaries had been plighting their faith to those of philip, it had been arranged that france should sustain, by subsidies and armies, the scheme upon which paul was bent, to drive the spaniards entirely out of the italian peninsula. the king was to aid the pontiff, and, in return, was to carve thrones for his own younger children out of the confiscated realms of philip. when was france ever slow to sweep upon italy with such a hope? how could the ever-glowing rivalry of valois and habsburg fail to burst into a general conflagration, while the venerable vicegerent of christ stood thus beside them with his fan in his hand? for a brief breathing space, however, the news of the pacification occasioned much joy in the provinces. they rejoiced even in a temporary cessation of that long series of campaigns from which they could certainly derive no advantage, and in which their part was to furnish money, soldiers, and battlefields, without prospect of benefit from any victory, however brilliant, or any treaty, however elaborate. manufacturing, agricultural and commercial provinces, filled to the full with industrial life, could not but be injured by being converted into perpetual camps. all was joy in the netherlands, while at antwerp, the great commercial metropolis of the provinces and of europe, the rapture was unbounded. oxen were roasted whole in the public squares; the streets, soon to be empurpled with the best blood of her citizens, ran red with wine; a hundred triumphal arches adorned the pathway of philip as he came thither; and a profusion of flowers, although it was february, were strewn before his feet. such was his greeting in the light-hearted city, but the countenance was more than usually sullen with which the sovereign received these demonstrations of pleasure. it was thought by many that philip had been really disappointed in the conclusion of the armistice, that he was inspired with a spark of that martial ambition for which his panegyrists gave him credit, and that knowing full well the improbability of a long suspension of hostilities, he was even eager for the chance of conquest which their resumption would afford him. the secret treaty of the pope was of course not so secret but that the hollow intention of the contracting parties to the truce of vaucelles were thoroughly suspected; intentions which certainly went far to justify the maxims and the practice of the new governor-general of the netherlands upon the subject of armistices. philip, understanding his position, was revolving renewed military projects while his subjects were ringing merry bells and lighting bonfires in the netherlands. these schemes, which were to be carried out in the immediate future, caused, however, a temporary delay in the great purpose to which he was to devote his life. the emperor had always desired to regard the netherlands as a whole, and he hated the antiquated charters and obstinate privileges which interfered with his ideas of symmetry. two great machines, the court of mechlin and the inquisition, would effectually simplify and assimilate all these irregular and heterogeneous rights. the civil tribunal was to annihilate all diversities in their laws by a general cassation of their constitutions, and the ecclesiastical court was to burn out all differences in their religious faith. between two such millstones it was thought that the netherlands might be crushed into uniformity. philip succeeded to these traditions. the father had never sufficient leisure to carry out all his schemes, but it seemed probable that the son would be a worthy successor, at least in all which concerned the religious part of his system. one of the earliest measures of his reign was to re-enact the dread edict of . this he did by the express advice of the bishop of arras who represented to him the expediency of making use of the popularity of his father's name, to sustain the horrible system resolved upon. as charles was the author of the edict, it could be always argued that nothing new was introduced; that burning, hanging, and drowning for religious differences constituted a part of the national institutions; that they had received the sanction of the wise emperor, and had been sustained by the sagacity of past generations. nothing could have been more subtle, as the event proved, than this advice. innumerable were the appeals made in subsequent years, upon this subject, to the patriotism and the conservative sentiments of the netherlanders. repeatedly they were summoned to maintain the inquisition, on the ground that it had been submitted to by their ancestors, and that no change had been made by philip, who desired only to maintain church and crown in the authority which they had enjoyed in the days of his father of very laudable memory. nevertheless, the king's military plans seemed to interfere for the moment with this cherished object. he seemed to swerve, at starting, from pursuing the goal which he was only to abandon with life. the edict of was re-enacted and confirmed, and all office-holders were commanded faithfully to enforce it upon pain of immediate dismissal. nevertheless, it was not vigorously carried into effect any where. it was openly resisted in holland, its proclamation was flatly refused in antwerp, and repudiated throughout brabant. it was strange that such disobedience should be tolerated, but the king wanted money. he was willing to refrain for a season from exasperating the provinces by fresh religious persecution at the moment when he was endeavoring to extort every penny which it was possible to wring from their purses. the joy, therefore, with which the pacification had been hailed by the people was far from an agreeable spectacle to the king. the provinces would expect that the forces which had been maintained at their expense during the war would be disbanded, whereas he had no intention of disbanding them. as the truce was sure to be temporary, he had no disposition to diminish his available resources for a war which might be renewed at any moment. to maintain the existing military establishment in the netherlands, a large sum of money was required, for the pay was very much in arrear. the king had made a statement to the provincial estates upon this subject, but the matter was kept secret during the negotiations with france. the way had thus been paved for the "request" or "bede," which he now made to the estates assembled at brussels, in the spring of . it was to consist of a tax of one per cent. (the hundredth penny) upon all real estate, and of two per cent. upon all merchandise; to be collected in three payments. the request, in so far as the imposition of the proposed tax was concerned, was refused by flanders, brabant, holland, and all the other important provinces, but as usual, a moderate, even a generous, commutation in money was offered by the estates. this was finally accepted by philip, after he had become convinced that at this moment, when he was contemplating a war with france, it would be extremely impolitic to insist upon the tax. the publication of the truce in italy had been long delayed, and the first infractions which it suffered were committed in that country. the arts of politicians; the schemes of individual ambition, united with the short-lived military ardor of philip to place the monarch in an eminently false position, that of hostility to the pope. as was unavoidable, the secret treaty of december acted as an immediate dissolvent to the truce of february. great was the indignation of paul caraffa, when that truce was first communicated to him by the cardinal de tournon, on the part of the french government. notwithstanding the protestations of france that the secret league was still binding, the pontiff complained that he was likely to be abandoned to his own resources, and to be left single-handed to contend with the vast power of spain. pope paul iv., of the house of caraffa, was, in position, the well-known counterpart of the emperor charles. at the very moment when the conqueror and autocrat was exchanging crown for cowl, and the proudest throne of the universe for a cell, this aged monk, as weary of scientific and religious seclusion as charles of pomp and power, had abdicated his scholastic pre-eminence, and exchanged his rosary for the keys and sword. a pontifical faustus, he had become disgusted with the results of a life of study and abnegation, and immediately upon his election appeared to be glowing with mundane passions, and inspired by the fiercest ambition of a warrior. he had rushed from the cloister as eagerly as charles had sought it. he panted for the tempests of the great external world as earnestly as the conqueror who had so long ridden upon the whirlwind of human affairs sighed for a haven of repose. none of his predecessors had been more despotic, more belligerent, more disposed to elevate and strengthen the temporal power of rome. in the inquisition he saw the grand machine by which this purpose could be accomplished, and yet found himself for a period the antagonist of philip. the single circumstance would have been sufficient, had other proofs been wanting, to make manifest that the part which he had chosen to play was above his genius. had his capacity been at all commensurate with his ambition, he might have deeply influenced the fate of the world; but fortunately no wizard's charm came to the aid of paul caraffa, and the triple-crowned monk sat upon the pontifical throne, a fierce, peevish, querulous, and quarrelsome dotard; the prey and the tool of his vigorous enemies and his intriguing relations. his hatred of spain and spaniards was unbounded. he raved at them as "heretics, schismatics, accursed of god, the spawn of jews and moors, the very dregs of the earth." to play upon such insane passions was not difficult, and a skilful artist stood ever ready to strike the chords thus vibrating with age and fury. the master spirit and principal mischief-maker of the papal court was the well-known cardinal caraffa, once a wild and dissolute soldier, nephew to the pope. he inflamed the anger of the pontiff by his representations, that the rival house of colonna, sustained by the duke of alva, now viceroy of naples, and by the whole spanish power, thus relieved from the fear of french hostilities, would be free to wreak its vengeance upon their family. it was determined that the court of france should be held by the secret league. moreover, the pope had been expressly included in the treaty of vaucelles, although the troops of spain had already assumed a hostile attitude in the south of italy. the cardinal was for immediately proceeding to paris, there to excite the sympathy of the french monarch for the situation of himself and his uncle. an immediate rupture between france and spain, a re-kindling of the war flames from one end of europe to the other, were necessary to save the credit and the interests of the caraffas. cardinal de tournon, not desirous of so sudden a termination to the pacific relations between his, country and spain, succeeded in detaining him a little longer in rome.--he remained, but not in idleness. the restless intriguer had already formed close relations with the most important personage in france, diana of poitiers.--this venerable courtesan, to the enjoyment of whose charms henry had succeeded, with the other regal possessions, on the death of his father, was won by the flatteries of the wily caraffa, and by the assiduities of the guise family. the best and most sagacious statesmen, the constable, and the admiral, were in favor of peace, for they knew the condition of the kingdom. the duke of guise and the cardinal lorraine were for a rupture, for they hoped to increase their family influence by war. coligny had signed the treaty of vaucelles, and wished to maintain it, but the influence of the catholic party was in the ascendant. the result was to embroil the catholic king against the pope and against themselves. the queen was as favorably inclined as the mistress to listen to caraffa, for catherine de medici was desirous that her cousin, marshal strozzi, should have honorable and profitable employment in some fresh italian campaigns. in the mean time an accident favored the designs of the papal court. an open quarrel with spain resulted from an insignificant circumstance. the spanish ambassador at rome was in the habit of leaving the city very often, at an early hour in the morning, upon shooting excursions, and had long enjoyed the privilege of ordering the gates to be opened for him at his pleasure. by accident or design, he was refused permission upon one occasion to pass through the gate as usual. unwilling to lose his day's sport, and enraged at what he considered an indignity, his excellency, by the aid of his attendants, attacked and beat the guard, mastered them, made his way out of the city, and pursued his morning's amusement. the pope was furious, caraffa artfully inflamed his anger. the envoy was refused an audience, which he desired, for the sake of offering explanations, and the train being thus laid, it was thought that the right moment had arrived for applying the firebrand. the cardinal went to paris post haste. in his audience of the king, he represented that his holiness had placed implicit reliance upon his secret treaty with his majesty, that the recently concluded truce with spain left the pontiff at the mercy of the spaniard, that the duke of alva had already drawn the sword, that the pope had long since done himself the pleasure and the honor of appointing the french monarch protector of the papal chair in general, and of the caraffa family in particular, and that the moment had arrived for claiming the benefit of that protection. he assured him, moreover, as by full papal authority, that in respecting the recent truce with spain, his majesty would violate both human and divine law. reason and justice required him to defend the pontiff, now that the spaniards were about to profit by the interval of truce to take measures for his detriment. moreover, as the pope was included in the truce of vaucelles, he could not be abandoned without a violation of that treaty itself.--the arts and arguments of the cardinal proved successful; the war was resolved upon in favor of the pope. the cardinal, by virtue of powers received and brought with him from his holiness, absolved the king from all obligation to keep his faith with spain. he also gave him a dispensation from the duty of prefacing hostilities by a declaration of war. strozzi was sent at once into italy, with some hastily collected troops, while the duke of guise waited to organize a regular army. the mischief being thus fairly afoot, and war let loose again upon europe, the cardinal made a public entry into paris, as legate of the pope. the populace crowded about his mule, as he rode at the head of a stately procession through the streets. all were anxious to receive a benediction from the holy man who had come so far to represent the successor of st. peter, and to enlist the efforts of all true believers in his cause. he appeared to answer the entreaties of the superstitious rabble with fervent blessings, while the friends who were nearest him were aware that nothing but gibes and sarcasms were falling from his lips. "let us fool these poor creatures to their heart's content, since they will be fools," he muttered; smiling the while upon them benignantly, as became his holy office. such were the materials of this new combination; such was the fuel with which this new blaze was lighted and maintained. thus were the great powers of the earth--spain, france, england, and the papacy embroiled, and the nations embattled against each other for several years. the preceding pages show how much national interests, or principles; were concerned in the struggle thus commenced, in which thousands were to shed their life-blood, and millions to be reduced from peace and comfort to suffer all the misery which famine and rapine can inflict. it would no doubt have increased the hilarity of caraffa, as he made his triumphant entry into paris, could the idea have been suggested to his mind that the sentiments, or the welfare of the people throughout the great states now involved in his meshes, could have any possible bearing upon the question of peace or wax. the world was governed by other influences. the wiles of a cardinal--the arts of a concubine--the snipe-shooting of an ambassador--the speculations of a soldier of fortune--the ill temper of a monk--the mutual venom of italian houses--above all, the perpetual rivalry of the two great historical families who owned the greater part of europe between them as their private property--such were the wheels on which rolled the destiny of christendom. compared to these, what were great moral and political ideas, the plans of statesmen, the hopes of nations? time was soon to show. meanwhile, government continued to be administered exclusively for the benefit of the governors. meanwhile, a petty war for paltry motives was to precede the great spectacle which was to prove to europe that principles and peoples still existed, and that a phlegmatic nation of merchants and manufacturers could defy the powers of the universe, and risk all their blood and treasure, generation after generation, in a sacred cause. it does not belong to our purpose to narrate the details of the campaign in italy; neither is this war of politics and chicane of any great interest at the present day. to the military minds of their age, the scientific duel which now took place upon a large scale, between two such celebrated captains as the dukes of guise and alva, was no doubt esteemed the most important of spectacles; but the progress of mankind in the art of slaughter has stripped so antiquated an exhibition of most of its interest, even in a technical point of view. not much satisfaction could be derived from watching an old-fashioned game of war, in which the parties sat down before each other so tranquilly, and picked up piece after piece, castle after castle, city after city, with such scientific deliberation as to make it evident that, in the opinion of the commanders, war was the only serious business to be done in the world; that it was not to be done in a hurry, nor contrary to rule, and that when a general had a good job upon his hands he ought to know his profession much too thoroughly, to hasten through it before he saw his way clear to another. from the point of time, at the close of the year , when that well-trained but not very successful soldier, strozzi, crossed the alps, down to the autumn of the following year, when the duke of alva made his peace with the pope, there was hardly a pitched battle, and scarcely an event of striking interest. alva, as usual, brought his dilatory policy to bear upon his adversary with great effect. he had no intention, he observed to a friend, to stake the whole kingdom of naples against a brocaded coat of the duke of guise. moreover, he had been sent to the war, as ruy gomez informed the venetian ambassador, "with a bridle in his mouth." philip, sorely troubled in his mind at finding himself in so strange a position as this hostile attitude to the church, had earnestly interrogated all the doctors and theologians with whom he habitually took counsel, whether this war with the pope would not work a forfeiture of his title of the most catholic king. the bishop of arras and the favorite both disapproved of the war, and encouraged, with all their influence, the pacific inclinations of the monarch. the doctors were, to be sure, of opinion that philip, having acted in italy only in self-defence, and for the protection of his states, ought not to be anxious as to his continued right to the title on which he valued himself so highly. nevertheless, such ponderings and misgivings could not but have the effect of hampering the actions of alva. that general chafed inwardly at what he considered his own contemptible position. at the same time, he enraged the duke of guise still more deeply by the forced calmness of his proceedings. fortresses were reduced, towns taken, one after another, with the most provoking deliberation, while his distracted adversary in vain strove to defy, or to delude him, into trying the chances of a stricken field. the battle of saint quentin, the narrative of which belongs to our subject, and will soon occupy our attention, at last decided the italian operations. egmont's brilliant triumph in picardy rendered a victory in italy superfluous, and placed in alva's hand the power of commanding the issue of his own campaign. the duke of guise was recalled to defend the french frontier, which the bravery of the flemish hero had imperilled, and the pope was left to make the best peace which he could. all was now prosperous and smiling, and the campaign closed with a highly original and entertaining exhibition. the pontiff's puerile ambition, sustained by the intrigues of his nephew, had involved the french monarch in a war which was contrary to his interests and inclination. paul now found his ally too sorely beset to afford him that protection upon which he had relied, when he commenced, in his dotage, his career as a warrior. he was, therefore, only desirous of deserting his friend, and of relieving himself from his uncomfortable predicament, by making a treaty with his catholic majesty upon the best terms which he could obtain. the king of france, who had gone to war only for the sake of his holiness, was to be left to fight his own battles, while the pope was to make his peace with all the world. the result was a desirable one for philip. alva was accordingly instructed to afford the holy father a decorous and appropriate opportunity for carrying out his wishes. the victorious general was apprized that his master desired no fruit from his commanding attitude in italy and the victory of saint quentin, save a full pardon from the pope for maintaining even a defensive war against him. an amicable siege of rome was accordingly commenced, in the course of which an assault or "camiciata" on the holy city, was arranged for the night of the th august, . the pontiff agreed to be taken by surprise--while alva, through what was to appear only a superabundance of his habitual discretion, was to draw off his troops at the very moment when the victorious assault was to be made. the imminent danger to the holy city and to his own sacred person thus furnishing the pontiff with an excuse for abandoning his own cause, as well as that of his ally the duke of alva was allowed, in the name of his master and himself; to make submission to the church and his peace with rome. the spanish general, with secret indignation and disgust, was compelled to humor the vanity of a peevish but imperious old man. negotiations were commenced, and so skilfully had the duke played his game during the spring and summer, that when he was admitted to kiss the pope's toe, he was able to bring a hundred italian towns in his hand, as a peace-offering to his holiness. these he now restored, with apparent humility and inward curses, upon the condition that the fortifications should be razed, and the french alliance absolutely renounced. thus did the fanaticism of philip reverse the relative position of himself and his antagonist. thus was the vanquished pontiff allowed almost to dictate terms to the victorious general. the king who could thus humble himself to a dotard, while he made himself the scourge of his subjects, deserved that the bull of excommunication which had been prepared should have been fulminated. he, at least, was capable of feeling the scathing effects of such anathemas. the duke of guise, having been dismissed with the pontiff's assurance that he had done little for the interests of his sovereign, less for the protection of the church, and least of all for his own reputation, set forth with all speed for civita vecchia, to do what he could upon the flemish frontier to atone for his inglorious campaign in italy. the treaty between the pope and the duke of alva was signed on the th september ( ), and the spanish general retired for the winter to milan. cardinal caraffa was removed from the french court to that of madrid, there to spin new schemes for the embroilment of nations and the advancement of his own family. very little glory was gained by any of the combatants in this campaign. spain, france, nor paul iv., not one of them came out of the italian contest in better condition than that in which they entered upon it. in fact all were losers. france had made an inglorious retreat, the pope a ludicrous capitulation, and the only victorious party, the king of spain, had, during the summer, conceded to cosmo de medici the sovereignty of sienna. had venice shown more cordiality towards philip, and more disposition to sustain his policy, it is probable that the republic would have secured the prize which thus fell to the share of cosmo. that astute and unprincipled potentate, who could throw his net so well in troubled water, had successfully duped all parties, spain, france, and rome. the man who had not only not participated in the contest, but who had kept all parties and all warfare away from his borders, was the only individual in italy who gained territorial advantage from the war. to avoid interrupting the continuity of the narrative, the spanish campaign has been briefly sketched until the autumn of , at which period the treaty between the pope and philip was concluded. it is now necessary to go back to the close of the preceding year. simultaneously with the descent of the french troops upon italy, hostilities had broken out upon the flemish border. the pains of the emperor in covering the smouldering embers of national animosities so precipitately, and with a view rather to scenic effect than to a deliberate and well-considered result, were thus set at nought, and within a year from the day of his abdication, hostilities were reopened from the tiber to the german ocean. the blame of first violating the truce of vaucelles was laid by each party upon the other with equal justice, for there can be but little doubt that the reproach justly belonged to both. both had been equally faithless in their professions of amity. both were equally responsible for the scenes of war, plunder, and misery, which again were desolating the fairest regions of christendom. at the time when the french court had resolved to concede to the wishes of the caraffa family, admiral coligny, who had been appointed governor of picardy, had received orders to make a foray upon the frontier of flanders. before the formal annunciation of hostilities, it was thought desirable to reap all the advantage possible from the perfidy which had been resolved upon. it happened that a certain banker of lucca, an ancient gambler and debauchee, whom evil courses had reduced from affluence to penury, had taken up his abode upon a hill overlooking the city of douay. here he had built himself a hermit's cell. clad in sackcloth, with a rosary at his waist, he was accustomed to beg his bread from door to door. his garb was all, however, which he possessed of sanctity, and he had passed his time in contemplating the weak points in the defences of the city with much more minuteness than those in his own heart. upon the breaking out of hostilities in italy, the instincts of his old profession had suggested to him that a good speculation might be made in flanders, by turning to account as a spy the observations which he had made in his character of a hermit. he sought an interview with coligny, and laid his propositions before him. the noble admiral hesitated, for his sentiments were more elevated than those of many of his contemporaries. he had, moreover, himself negotiated and signed the truce with spain, and he shrank from violating it with his own hand, before a declaration of war. still he was aware that a french army was on its way to attack the spaniards in italy; he was under instructions to take the earliest advantage which his position upon the frontier might offer him; he knew that both theory and practice authorized a general, in that age, to break his fast, even in time of truce, if a tempting morsel should present itself; and, above all, he thoroughly understood the character of his nearest antagonist, the new governor of the netherlands, philibert of savoy, whom he knew to be the most unscrupulous chieftain in europe. these considerations decided him to take advantage of the hermit-banker's communication. a day was accordingly fixed, at which, under the guidance of this newly-acquired ally, a surprise should be attempted by the french forces, and the unsuspecting city of douay given over to the pillage of a brutal soldiery. the time appointed was the night of epiphany, upon occasion of which festival, it was thought that the inhabitants, overcome with sleep and wassail, might be easily overpowered. ( th january, .) the plot was a good plot, but the admiral of france was destined to be foiled by an old woman. this person, apparently the only creature awake in the town, perceived the danger, ran shrieking through the streets, alarmed the citizens while it was yet time, and thus prevented the attack. coligny, disappointed in his plan, recompensed his soldiers by a sudden onslaught upon lens in arthois, which he sacked and then levelled with the ground. such was the wretched condition of frontier cities, standing, even in time of peace, with the ground undermined beneath them, and existing every moment, as it were, upon the brink of explosion. hostilities having been thus fairly commenced, the french government was in some embarrassment. the duke of guise, with the most available forces of the kingdom, having crossed the alps, it became necessary forthwith to collect another army. the place of rendezvous appointed was pierrepoint, where an army of eighteen thousand infantry and five thousand horse were assembled early in the spring. in the mean time, philip finding the war fairly afoot, had crossed to england for the purpose (exactly in contravention of all his marriage stipulations) of cajoling his wife and browbeating her ministers into a participation in his war with france. this was easily accomplished. the english nation found themselves accordingly engaged in a contest with which they had no concern, which, as the event proved, was very much against their interests, and in which the moving cause for their entanglement was the devotion of a weak, bad, ferocious woman, for a husband who hated her. a herald sent from england arrived in france, disguised, and was presented to king henry at rheims. here, dropping on one knee, he recited a list of complaints against his majesty, on behalf of the english queen, all of them fabricated or exaggerated for the occasion, and none of them furnishing even a decorous pretext for the war which was now formally declared in consequence. the french monarch expressed his regret and surprise that the firm and amicable relations secured by treaty between the two countries should thus, without sufficient cause, be violated. in accepting the wager of warfare thus forced upon him, he bade the herald, norris, inform his mistress that her messenger was treated with courtesy only because he represented a lady, and that, had he come from a king, the language with which he would have been greeted would have befitted the perfidy manifested on the occasion. god would punish this shameless violation of faith, and this wanton interruption to the friendship of two great nations. with this the herald was dismissed from the royal presence, but treated with great distinction, conducted to the hotel of the english ambassador, and presented, on the part of the french sovereign with a chain of gold. philip had despatched ruy gomez to spain for the purpose of providing ways and means, while he was himself occupied with the same task in england. he stayed there three months. during this time, he "did more," says a spanish contemporary, "than any one could have believed possible with that proud and indomitable nation. he caused them to declare war against france with fire and sword, by sea and land." hostilities having been thus chivalrously and formally established, the queen sent an army of eight thousand men, cavalry, infantry, and pioneers, who, "all clad in blue uniform," commanded by lords pembroke and clinton, with the three sons of the earl of northumberland, and officered by many other scions of england's aristocracy, disembarked at calais, and shortly afterwards joined the camp before saint quentin. philip meantime had left england, and with more bustle and activity than was usual with him, had given directions for organizing at once a considerable army. it was composed mainly of troops belonging to the netherlands, with the addition of some german auxiliaries. thirty-five thousand foot and twelve thousand horse had, by the middle of july, advanced through the province of namur, and were assembled at givet under the duke of savoy, who, as governor-general of the netherlands, held the chief command. all the most eminent grandees of the provinces, orange, aerschot, berlaymont, meghen, brederode, were present with the troops, but the life and soul of the army, upon this memorable occasion, was the count of egmont. lamoral, count of egmont, prince of gavere, was now in the thirty-sixth year of his age, in the very noon of that brilliant life which was destined to be so soon and so fatally overshadowed. not one of the dark clouds, which were in the future to accumulate around him, had yet rolled above his horizon. young, noble, wealthy, handsome, valiant, he saw no threatening phantom in the future, and caught eagerly at the golden opportunity, which the present placed within his grasp, of winning fresh laurels on a wider and more fruitful field than any in which he had hitherto been a reaper. the campaign about to take place was likely to be an imposing, if not an important one, and could not fail to be attractive to a noble of so ardent and showy a character as egmont. if there were no lofty principles or extensive interests to be contended for, as there certainly were not, there was yet much that was stately and exciting to the imagination in the warfare which had been so deliberately and pompously arranged. the contending armies, although of moderate size, were composed of picked troops, and were commanded by the flower of europe's chivalry. kings, princes, and the most illustrious paladins of christendom, were arming for the great tournament, to which they had been summoned by herald and trumpet; and the batavian hero, without a crown or even a country, but with as lofty a lineage as many anointed sovereigns could boast, was ambitious to distinguish himself in the proud array. upon the north-western edge of the narrow peninsula of north holland, washed by the stormy waters of the german ocean, were the ancient castle, town, and lordship, whence egmont derived his family name, and the title by which he was most familiarly known. he was supposed to trace his descent, through a line of chivalrous champions and crusaders, up to the pagan kings of the most ancient of existing teutonic races. the eighth century names of the frisian radbold and adgild among his ancestors were thought to denote the antiquity of a house whose lustre had been increased in later times by the splendor of its alliances. his father, united to francoise de luxemburg, princess of gavere, had acquired by this marriage, and transmitted to his posterity, many of the proudest titles and richest estates of flanders. of the three children who survived him, the only daughter was afterwards united to the count of vaudemont, and became mother of louise de vaudemont, queen of the french monarch, henry the third. of his two sons, charles, the elder, had died young and unmarried, leaving all the estates and titles of the family to his brother. lamoral, born in , was in early youth a page of the emperor. when old enough to bear arms he demanded and obtained permission to follow the career of his adventurous sovereign. he served his apprenticeship as a soldier in the stormy expedition to barbary, where, in his nineteenth year, he commanded a troop of light horse, and distinguished himself under the emperor's eye for his courage and devotion, doing the duty not only of a gallant commander but of a hardy soldier. returning, unscathed by the war, flood, or tempest of that memorable enterprise, he reached his country by the way of corsica, genoa, and lorraine, and was three years afterwards united (in the year ) to sabina of bavaria, sister of frederick, elector palatine. the nuptials had taken place at spiers, and few royal weddings could have been more brilliant. the emperor, his brother ferdinand king of the romans, with the archduke maximilian, all the imperial electors, and a concourse of the principal nobles of the empire, were present on the occasion been at the emperor's side during the unlucky siege of metz; in he had been sent at the head of a splendid embassy to england, to solicit for philip the hand of mary tudor, and had witnessed the marriage in winchester cathedral, the same year. although one branch of his house had, in past times, arrived at the sovereignty of gueldres, and another had acquired the great estates and titles of buren, which had recently passed, by intermarriage with the heiress, into the possession of the prince of orange, yet the prince of gavere, count of egmont, was the chief of a race which yielded to none of the great batavian or flemish families in antiquity, wealth, or power. personally, he was distinguished for his bravery, and although he was not yet the idol of the camp, which he was destined to become, nor had yet commanded in chief on any important occasion, he was accounted one of the five principal generals in the spanish service. eager for general admiration, he was at the same time haughty and presumptuous, attempting to combine the characters of an arrogant magnate and a popular chieftain. terrible and sudden in his wrath, he was yet of inordinate vanity, and was easily led by those who understood his weakness. with a limited education, and a slender capacity for all affairs except those relating to the camp, he was destined to be as vacillating and incompetent as a statesman, as he was prompt and fortunately audacious in the field. a splendid soldier, his evil stars had destined him to tread, as a politician, a dark and dangerous path, in which not even genius, caution, and integrity could ensure success, but in which rashness alternating with hesitation, and credulity with violence, could not fail to bring ruin. such was count egmont, as he took his place at the-head of the king's cavalry in the summer of . the early operations of the duke of savoy were at first intended to deceive the enemy. the army, after advancing as far into picardy as the town of vervins, which they burned and pillaged, made a demonstration with their whole force upon the city of guise. this, however, was but a feint, by which attention was directed and forces drawn off from saint quentin, which was to be the real point of attack in the mean time, the constable of france, montmorency, arrived upon the th july ( ), to take command of the french troops. he was accompanied by the marechal de saint andre and by admiral coligny. the most illustrious names of france, whether for station or valor, were in the officers' list of this select army. nevers and montpensier, enghien and conde, vendome and rochefoucauld, were already there, and now the constable and the admiral came to add the strength of their experience and lofty reputation to sustain the courage of the troops. the french were at pierrepoint, a post between champagne and picardy, and in its neighborhood. the spanish army was at vervins, and threatening guise. it had been the opinion in france that the enemy's intention was to invade champagne, and the duc de nevers, governor of that province, had made a disposition of his forces suitable for such a contingency. it was the conviction of montmorency, however, that picardy was to be the quarter really attacked, and that saint quentin, which was the most important point at which the enemy's progress, by that route, towards paris could be arrested, was in imminent danger. the constable's opinion was soon confirmed by advices received by coligny. the enemy's army, he was informed, after remaining three days before guise, had withdrawn from that point, and had invested saint quentin with their whole force. this wealthy and prosperous city stood upon an elevation rising from the river somme. it was surrounded by very extensive suburbs, ornamented with orchards and gardens, and including within their limits large tracts of a highly cultivated soil. three sides of the place were covered by a lake, thirty yards in width, very deep at some points, in others, rather resembling a morass, and extending on the flemish side a half mile beyond the city. the inhabitants were thriving and industrious; many of the manufacturers and merchants were very rich, for it was a place of much traffic and commercial importance. teligny, son-in-law of the admiral, was in the city with a detachment of the dauphin's regiment; captain brueuil was commandant of the town. both informed coligny of the imminent peril in which they stood. they represented the urgent necessity of immediate reinforcements both of men and supplies. the city, as the admiral well knew, was in no condition to stand a siege by such an army, and dire were the consequences which would follow the downfall of so important a place. it was still practicable, they wrote, to introduce succor, but every day diminished the possibility of affording effectual relief. coligny was not the man to let the grass grow under his feet, after such an appeal in behalf of the principal place in his government. the safety of france was dependent upon that of st. quentin. the bulwark overthrown, paris was within the next stride of an adventurous enemy. the admiral instantly set out, upon the d of august, with strong reinforcements. it was too late. the english auxiliaries, under lords pembroke, clinton, and grey, had, in the mean time, effected their junction with the duke of savoy, and appeared in the camp before st. quentin. the route, by which it had been hoped that the much needed succor could be introduced, was thus occupied and rendered impracticable. the admiral, however, in consequence of the urgent nature of the letters received from brueuil and teligny, had outstripped, in his anxiety, the movements of his troops. he reached the city, almost alone and unattended. notwithstanding the remonstrances of his officers, he had listened to no voice save the desperate entreaties of the besieged garrison, and had flown before his army. he now shut himself up in the city, determined to effect its deliverance by means of his skill and experience, or, at least, to share its fate. as the gates closed upon coligny, the road was blocked up for his advancing troops. a few days were passed in making ineffectual sorties, ordered by coligny for the sake of reconnoitring the country, and of discovering the most practicable means of introducing supplies. the constable, meantime, who had advanced with his army to la fore, was not idle. he kept up daily communications with the beleagured admiral, and was determined, if possible, to relieve the city. there was, however, a constant succession of disappointments. moreover, the brave but indiscreet teligny, who commanded during a temporary illness of the admiral, saw fit, against express orders, to make an imprudent sortie. he paid the penalty of his rashness with his life. he was rescued by the admiral in person, who, at imminent hazard, brought back the unfortunate officer covered with wounds, into the city, there to die at his father's feet, imploring forgiveness for his disobedience. meantime the garrison was daily growing weaker. coligny sent out of the city all useless consumers, quartered all the women in the cathedral and other churches, where they were locked in, lest their terror and their tears should weaken the courage of the garrison; and did all in his power to strengthen the defences of the city, and sustain the resolution of the inhabitants. affairs were growing desperate. it seemed plain that the important city must soon fall, and with it most probably paris. one of the suburbs was already in the hands of the enemy. at last coligny discovered a route by which he believed it to be still possible to introduce reinforcements. he communicated the results of his observations to the constable. upon one side of the city the lake, or morass, was traversed by a few difficult and narrow pathways, mostly under water, and by a running stream which could only be passed in boats. the constable, in consequence of this information received from coligny, set out from la fere upon the th of august, with four thousand infantry and two thousand horse. halting his troops at the village of essigny, he advanced in person to the edge of the morass, in order to reconnoitre the ground and prepare his plans. the result was a determination to attempt the introduction of men and supplies into the town by the mode suggested. leaving his troops drawn up in battle array, he returned to la fere for the remainder of his army, and to complete his preparations. coligny in the mean time was to provide boats for crossing the stream. upon the th august, which was the festival of st. laurence, the constable advanced with four pieces of heavy artillery, four culverines, and four lighter pieces, and arrived at nine o'clock in the morning near the faubourg d'isle, which was already in possession of the spanish troops. the whole army of the constable consisted of twelve thousand german, with fifteen companies of french infantry; making in all some sixteen thousand foot, with five thousand cavalry in addition. the duke of savoy's army lay upon the same side of the town, widely extended, and stretching beyond the river and the morass. montmorency's project was to be executed in full view of the enemy. fourteen companies of spaniards were stationed in the faubourg. two companies had been pushed forward as far as a water-mill, which lay in the pathway of the advancing constable. these soldiers stood their ground for a moment, but soon retreated, while a cannonade was suddenly opened by the french upon the quarters of the duke of savoy. the duke's tent was torn to pieces, and he had barely time to hurry on his cuirass, and to take refuge with count egmont. the constable, hastening to turn this temporary advantage to account at once, commenced the transportation of his troops across the morass. the enterprise was, however, not destined to be fortunate. the number of boats which had been provided was very inadequate; moreover they were very small, and each as it left the shore was consequently so crowded with soldiers that it was in danger of being swamped. several were overturned, and the men perished. it was found also that the opposite bank was steep and dangerous. many who had crossed the river were unable to effect a landing, while those who escaped drowning in the water lost their way in the devious and impracticable paths, or perished miserably in the treacherous quagmires. very few effected their entrance into the town, but among them was andelot, brother of coligny, with five hundred followers. meantime, a council of officers was held in egmont's tent. opinions were undecided as to the course to be pursued under the circumstances. should an engagement be risked, or should the constable, who had but indifferently accomplished his project and had introduced but an insignificant number of troops into the city, be allowed to withdraw with the rest of his army? the fiery vehemence of egmont carried all before it. here was an opportunity to measure arms at advantage with the great captain of the age. to relinquish the prize, which the fortune of war had now placed within reach of their valor, was a thought not to be entertained. here was the great constable montmorency, attended by princes of the royal blood, the proudest of the nobility, the very crown and flower of the chivalry of france, and followed by an army of her bravest troops. on a desperate venture he had placed himself within their grasp. should he go thence alive and unmolested? the moral effect of destroying such an army would be greater than if it were twice its actual strength. it would be dealing a blow at the very heart of france, from which she could not recover. was the opportunity to be resigned without a struggle of laying at the feet of philip, in this his first campaign since his accession to his father's realms, a prize worthy of the proudest hour of the emperor's reign? the eloquence of the impetuous batavian was irresistible, and it was determined to cut off the constable's retreat. three miles from the faubourg d'isle, to which that general had now advanced, was a narrow pass or defile, between steep and closely hanging hills. while advancing through this ravine in the morning, the constable had observed that the enemy might have it in their power to intercept his return at that point. he had therefore left the rhinegrave, with his company of mounted carabineers, to guard the passage. being ready to commence his retreat, he now sent forward the due de nevers, with four companies of cavalry to strengthen that important position, which he feared might be inadequately guarded. the act of caution came too late. this was the fatal point which the quick glance of egmont had at once detected. as nevers reached the spot, two thousand of the enemy's cavalry rode through and occupied the narrow passage. inflamed by mortification and despair, nevers would have at once charged those troops, although outnumbering his own by nearly, four to one. his officers restrained him with difficulty, recalling to his memory the peremptory orders which he had received from the constable to guard the passage, but on no account to hazard an engagement, until sustained by the body of the army. it was a case in which rashness would have been the best discretion. the headlong charge which the duke had been about to make, might possibly have cleared the path and have extricated the army, provided the constable had followed up the movement by a rapid advance upon his part. as it was, the passage was soon blocked up by freshly advancing bodies of spanish and flemish cavalry, while nevers slowly and reluctantly fell back upon the prince of conde, who was stationed with the light horse at the mill where the first skirmish had taken place. they were soon joined by the constable, with the main body of the army. the whole french force now commenced its retrograde movement. it was, however, but too evident that they were enveloped. as they approached the fatal pass through which lay their only road to la fire, and which was now in complete possession of the enemy, the signal of assault was given by count egmont. that general himself, at the head of two thousand light horse, led the charge upon the left flank. the other side was assaulted by the dukes eric and henry of brunswick, each with a thousand heavy dragoons, sustained by count horn, at the head of a regiment of mounted gendarmerie. mansfeld, lalain, hoogstraaten; and vilain, at the same time made a furious attack upon the front. the french cavalry wavered with the shock so vigorously given. the camp followers, sutlers, and pedlers, panic-struck, at once fled helter-skelter, and in their precipitate retreat, carried confusion and dismay throughout all the ranks of the army. the rout was sudden and total. the onset and the victory were simultaneous, nevers riding through a hollow with some companies of cavalry, in the hope of making a detour and presenting a new front to the enemy, was overwhelmed at once by the retreating french and their furious pursuers. the day was lost, retreat hardly possible, yet, by a daring and desperate effort, the duke, accompanied by a handful of followers, cut his way through the enemy and effected his escape. the cavalry had been broken at the first onset and nearly destroyed. a portion of the infantry still held firm, and attempted to continue their retreat. some pieces of artillery, however, now opened upon them, and before they reached essigny, the whole army was completely annihilated. the defeat was absolute. half the french troops actually engaged in the enterprise, lost their lives upon the field. the remainder of the army was captured or utterly disorganized. when nevers reviewed, at laon, the wreck of the constable's whole force, he found some thirteen hundred french and three hundred german cavalry, with four companies of french infantry remaining out of fifteen, and four thousand german foot remaining of twelve thousand. of twenty-one or two thousand remarkably fine and well-appointed troops, all but six thousand had been killed or made prisoners within an hour. the constable himself, with a wound in the groin, was a captive. the duke of enghien, after behaving with brilliant valor, and many times rallying the troops, was shot through the body, and brought into the enemy's camp only to expire. the due de montpensier, the marshal de saint andre, the due de loggieville, prince ludovic of mantua, the baron corton, la roche du mayne, the rhinegrave, the counts de rochefoucauld, d'aubigni, de rochefort, all were taken. the due de nevers, the prince of conde, with a few others, escaped; although so absolute was the conviction that such an escape was impossible, that it was not believed by the victorious army. when nevers sent a trumpet, after the battle, to the duke of savoy, for the purpose of negotiating concerning the prisoners, the trumpeter was pronounced an impostor, and the duke's letter a forgery; nor was it till after the whole field had been diligently searched for his dead body without success, that nevers could persuade the conquerors that he was still in existence. of philip's army but fifty lost their lives. lewis of brederode was smothered in his armor; and the two counts spiegelberg and count waldeck were also killed; besides these, no officer of distinction fell. all the french standards and all their artillery but two pieces were taken, and placed before the king, who the next day came into the camp before saint quentin. the prisoners of distinction were likewise presented to him in long procession. rarely had a monarch of spain enjoyed a more signal triumph than this which philip now owed to the gallantry and promptness of count egmont. while the king stood reviewing the spoils of victory, a light horseman of don henrico manrique's regiment approached, and presented him with a sword. "i am the man, may it please your majesty," said the trooper, "who took the constable; here is his sword; may your majesty be pleased to give me something to eat in my house." "i promise it," replied philip; upon which the soldier kissed his majesty's hand and retired. it was the custom universally recognized in that day, that the king was the king's captive, and the general the general's, but that the man, whether soldier or officer, who took the commander-in-chief, was entitled to ten thousand ducats. upon this occasion the constable was the prisoner of philip, supposed to command his own army in person. a certain spanish captain valenzuela, however, disputed the soldier's claim to the constable's sword. the trooper advanced at once to the constable, who stood there with the rest of the illustrious prisoners. "your excellency is a christian," said he; "please to declare upon your conscience and the faith of a cavalier, whether 't was i that took you prisoner. it need not surprise your excellency that i am but a soldier, since with soldiers his majesty must wage his wars." "certainly," replied the constable, "you took me and took my horse, and i gave you my sword. my word, however, i pledged to captain valenzuela." it appearing, however, that the custom of spain did not recognize a pledge given to any one but the actual captor, it was arranged that the soldier should give two thousand of his ten thousand ducats to the captain. thus the dispute ended. such was the brilliant victory of saint quentin, worthy to be placed in the same list with the world-renowned combats of creqy and agincourt. like those battles, also, it derives its main interest from the personal character of the leader, while it seems to have been hallowed by the tender emotions which sprang from his subsequent fate. the victory was but a happy move in a winning game. the players were kings, and the people were stakes--not parties. it was a chivalrous display in a war which was waged without honorable purpose, and in which no single lofty sentiment was involved. the flemish frontier was, however, saved for the time from the misery which was now to be inflicted upon the french border. this was sufficient to cause the victory to be hailed as rapturously by the people as by the troops. from that day forth the name of the brave hollander was like the sound of a trumpet to the army. "egmont and saint quentin" rang through every mouth to the furthest extremity of philip's realms. a deadly blow was struck to the very heart of france. the fruits of all the victories of francis and henry withered. the battle, with others which were to follow it, won by the same hand, were soon to compel the signature of the most disastrous treaty which had ever disgraced the history of france. the fame and power of the constable faded--his misfortunes and captivity fell like a blight upon the ancient glory of the house of montmorency--his enemies destroyed his influence and his popularity--while the degradation of the kingdom was simultaneous with the downfall of his illustrious name. on the other hand, the exultation of philip was as keen as his cold and stony nature would permit. the magnificent palace-convent of the escurial, dedicated to the saint on whose festival the battle had been fought, and built in the shape of the gridiron, on which that martyr had suffered, was soon afterwards erected in pious commemoration of the event. such was the celebration of the victory. the reward reserved for the victor was to be recorded on a later page of history. the coldness and caution, not to say the pusillanimity of philip, prevented him from seizing the golden fruits of his triumph. ferdinand gonzaga wished the blow to be followed up by an immediate march upon paris.--such was also the feeling of all the distinguished soldiers of the age. it was unquestionably the opinion, and would have been the deed, of charles, had he been on the field of saint quentin, crippled as he was, in the place of his son. he could not conceal his rage and mortification when he found that paris had not fallen, and is said to have refused to read the despatches which recorded that the event had not been consummated. there was certainly little of the conqueror in philip's nature; nothing which would have led him to violate the safest principles of strategy. he was not the man to follow up enthusiastically the blow which had been struck; saint quentin, still untaken, although defended by but eight hundred soldiers, could not be left behind him; nevers was still in his front, and although it was notorious that he commanded only the wreck of an army, yet a new one might be collected, perhaps, in time to embarrass the triumphant march to paris. out of his superabundant discretion, accordingly, philip refused to advance till saint quentin should be reduced. although nearly driven to despair by the total overthrow of the french in the recent action, coligny still held bravely out, being well aware that every day by which the siege could be protracted was of advantage to his country. again he made fresh attempts to introduce men into the city. a fisherman showed him a submerged path, covered several feet deep with water, through which he succeeded in bringing one hundred and fifty unarmed and half-drowned soldiers into the place. his garrison consisted barely of eight hundred men, but the siege was still sustained, mainly by his courage and sagacity, and by the spirit of his brother andelot. the company of cavalry, belonging to the dauphin's regiment, had behaved badly, and even with cowardice, since the death of their commander teligny. the citizens were naturally weary and impatient of the siege. mining and countermining continued till the st august. a steady cannonade was then maintained until the th. upon that day, eleven breaches having been made in the walls, a simultaneous assault was ordered at four of them. the citizens were stationed upon the walls, the soldiers in the breaches. there was a short but sanguinary contest, the garrison resisting with uncommon bravery. suddenly an entrance was effected through a tower which had been thought sufficiently strong, and which had been left unguarded. coligny, rushing to the spot, engaged the enemy almost single-handed. he was soon overpowered, being attended only by four men and a page, was made a prisoner by a soldier named francisco diaz, and conducted through one of the subterranean mines into the presence of the duke of savoy, from whom the captor received ten thousand ducats in exchange for the admiral's sword. the fighting still continued with great determination in the streets, the brave andelot resisting to the last. he was, however, at last overpowered, and taken prisoner. philip, who had, as usual, arrived in the trenches by noon, armed in complete harness, with a page carrying his helmet, was met by the intelligence that the city of saint quentin was his own. to a horrible carnage succeeded a sack and a conflagration still more horrible. in every house entered during the first day, every human being was butchered. the sack lasted all that day and the whole of the following, till the night of the th. there was not a soldier who did not obtain an ample share of plunder, and some individuals succeeded in getting possession of two, three, and even twelve thousand ducats each. the women were not generally outraged, but they were stripped almost entirely naked, lest they should conceal treasure which belonged to their conquerors, and they were slashed in the face with knives, partly in sport, partly as a punishment for not giving up property which was not in their possession. the soldiers even cut off the arms of many among these wretched women, and then turned them loose, maimed and naked, into the blazing streets; for the town, on the th, was fired in a hundred places, and was now one general conflagration. the streets were already strewn with the corpses of the butchered garrison and citizens; while the survivors were now burned in their houses. human heads, limbs, and trunks, were mingled among the bricks and rafters of the houses, which were falling on every side. the fire lasted day and night, without an attempt being made to extinguish it; while the soldiers dashed like devils through flame and smoke in search of booty. bearing lighted torches, they descended into every subterrranean vault and receptacle, of which there were many in the town, and in every one of which they hoped to discover hidden treasure. the work of killing, plundering, and burning lasted nearly three days and nights. the streets, meanwhile, were encumbered with heaps of corpses, not a single one of which had been buried since the capture of the town. the remains of nearly all the able bodied male population, dismembered, gnawed by dogs or blackened by fire, polluted the midsummer air meantime, the women had been again driven into the cathedral, where they had housed during the siege, and where they now crouched together in trembling expectation of their fate.' on the th august, at two o'clock in the afternoon, philip issued an order that every woman, without an exception, should be driven out of the city into the french territory. saint quentin, which seventy years before had been a flemish town, was to be re-annexed, and not a single man, woman, or child who could speak the french language was to remain another hour in the place. the tongues of the men had been effectually silenced. the women, to the number of three thousand five hundred, were now compelled to leave the cathedral and the city. some were in a starving condition; others had been desperately wounded; all, as they passed through the ruinous streets of what had been their home, were compelled to tread upon the unburied remains of their fathers, husbands, or brethren. to none of these miserable creatures remained a living protector--hardly even a dead body which could be recognized; and thus the ghastly procession of more than three thousand women, many with gaping wounds in the face, many with their arms cut off and festering, of all ranks and ages, some numbering more than ninety years, bareheaded, with grey hair streaming upon their shoulders; others with nursing infants in their arms, all escorted by a company of heavy-armed troopers, left forever their native city. all made the dismal journey upon foot, save that carts were allowed to transport the children between the ages of two and six years. the desolation and depopulation were now complete. "i wandered through the place, gazing at all this," says a spanish soldier who was present, and kept a diary of all which occurred, "and it seemed to me that it was another destruction of jerusalem. what most struck me was to find not a single denizen of the town left, who was or who dared to call himself french. how vain and transitory, thought i, are the things of this world! six days ago what riches were in the city, and now remains not one stone upon another." the expulsion of the women had been accomplished by the express command of philip, who moreover had made no effort to stay the work of carnage, pillage, and conflagration. the pious king had not forgotten, however, his duty to the saints. as soon as the fire had broken out, he had sent to the cathedral, whence he had caused the body of saint quentin to be removed and placed in the royal tent. here an altar, was arranged, upon one side of which was placed the coffin of that holy personage, and upon the other the head of the "glorious saint gregory" (whoever that glorious individual may have been in life), together with many other relics brought from the church. within the sacred enclosure many masses were said daily, while all this devil's work was going on without. the saint who had been buried for centuries was comfortably housed and guarded by the monarch, while dogs were gnawing the carcases of the freshly-slain men of saint quentin, and troopers were driving into perpetual exile its desolate and mutilated women. the most distinguished captives upon this occasion were, of course, coligny and his brother. andelot was, however, fortunate enough to make his escape that night under the edge of the tent in which he was confined. the admiral was taken to antwerp. here he lay for many weeks sick with a fever. upon his recovery, having no better pastime, he fell to reading the scriptures. the result was his conversion to calvinism; and the world shudders yet at the fate in which that conversion involved him. saint quentin being thus reduced, philip was not more disposed to push his fortune. the time was now wasted in the siege of several comparatively unimportant places, so that the fruits of egmont's valor were not yet allowed to ripen. early in september le catelet was taken. on the th of the same month the citadel of ham yielded, after receiving two thousand shots from philip's artillery, while nojon, chanly, and some other places of less importance, were burned to the ground. after all this smoke and fire upon the frontier, productive of but slender consequences, philip disbanded his army, and retired to brussels. he reached that city on the th october. the english returned to their own country. the campaign of was closed without a material result, and the victory of saint quentin remained for a season barren. in the mean time the french were not idle. the army of the constable had been destroyed but the duke de guise, who had come post-haste from italy after hearing the news of saint quentin, was very willing to organize another. he was burning with impatience both to retrieve his own reputation, which had suffered some little damage by his recent italian campaign, and to profit by the captivity of his fallen rival the constable. during the time occupied by the languid and dilatory proceedings of philip in the autumn, the duke had accordingly recruited in france and germany a considerable army. in january ( ) he was ready to take the field. it had been determined in the french cabinet, however, not to attempt to win back the places which they had lost in picardy, but to carry the war into the territory of the ally. it was fated that england should bear all the losses, and philip appropriate all the gain and glory, which resulted from their united exertions. it was the war of the queen's husband, with which the queen's people had no concern, but in which the last trophies of the black prince were to be forfeited. on the first january, , the duc de guise appeared before calais. the marshal strozzi had previously made an expedition, in disguise, to examine the place. the result of his examination was that the garrison was weak, and that it relied too much upon the citadel. after a tremendous cannonade, which lasted a week, and was heard in antwerp, the city was taken by assault. thus the key to the great norman portal of france, the time-honored key which england had worn at her girdle since the eventful day of crecy, was at last taken from her. calais had been originally won after a siege which had lasted a twelvemonth, had been held two hundred and ten years, and was now lost in seven days. seven days more, and ten thousand discharges from thirty-five great guns sufficed for the reduction of guines. thus the last vestige of english dominion, the last substantial pretext of the english sovereign to wear the title and the lilies of france, was lost forever. king henry visited calais, which after two centuries of estrangement had now become a french town again, appointed paul de thermes governor of the place, and then returned to paris to celebrate soon afterwards the marriage of the dauphin with the niece of the guises, mary, queen of scots. these events, together with the brief winter campaign of the duke, which had raised for an instant the drooping head of france, were destined before long to give a new face to affairs, while it secured the ascendancy of the catholic party in the kingdom. disastrous eclipse had come over the house of montmorency and coligny, while the star of guise, brilliant with the conquest of calais, now culminated to the zenith. it was at this period that the memorable interview between the two ecclesiastics, the bishop of arras and the cardinal de lorraine, took place at peronne. from this central point commenced the weaving of that wide-spread scheme, in which the fate of millions was to be involved. the duchess christina de lorraine, cousin of philip, had accompanied him to saint quentin. permission had been obtained by the duc de guise and his brother, the cardinal, to visit her at peronne. the duchess was accompanied by the bishop of arras, and the consequence was a full and secret negotiation between the two priests. it may be supposed that philip's short-lived military ardor had already exhausted itself. he had mistaken his vocation, and already recognized the false position in which he was placed. he was contending against the monarch in whom he might find the surest ally against the arch enemy of both kingdoms, and of the world. the french monarch held heresy in horror, while, for himself, philip had already decided upon his life's mission. the crafty bishop was more than a match for the vain and ambitious cardinal. that prelate was assured that philip considered the captivity of coligny and montmorency a special dispensation of providence, while the tutelar genius of france, notwithstanding the reverses sustained by that kingdom, was still preserved. the cardinal and his brother, it was suggested, now held in their hands the destiny of the kingdom, and of europe. the interests of both nations, of religion, and of humanity, made it imperative upon them to put an end to this unnatural war, in order that the two monarchs might unite hand and heart for the extirpation of heresy. that hydra-headed monster had already extended its coils through france, while its pestilential breath was now wafted into flanders from the german as well as the french border. philip placed full reliance upon the wisdom and discretion of the cardinal. it was necessary that these negotiations should for the present remain a profound secret; but in the mean time a peace ought to be concluded with as little delay as possible; a result which, it was affirmed, was as heartily desired by philip as it could be by henry. the bishop was soon aware of the impression which his artful suggestions had produced. the cardinal, inspired by the flattery thus freely administered, as well as by the promptings of his own ambition, lent a willing ear to the bishop's plans. thus was laid the foundation of a vast scheme, which time was to complete. a crusade with the whole strength of the french and spanish crowns, was resolved upon against their own subjects. the bishop's task was accomplished. the cardinal returned to france, determined to effect a peace with spain. he was convinced that the glory of his house was to be infinitely enhanced, and its power impregnably established, by a cordial co-operation with philip in his dark schemes against religion and humanity. the negotiations were kept, however, profoundly secret. a new campaign and fresh humiliations were to precede the acceptance by france of the peace which was thus proffered. hostile operations were renewed soon after the interview at peronne. the duke of guise, who had procured five thousand cavalry and fourteen thousand infantry in germany, now, at the desire of the king, undertook an enterprise against thionville, a city of importance and great strength in luxemburg, upon the river moselle. it was defended by peter de quarebbe, a gentleman of louvain, with a garrison of eighteen hundred men. on the th june, thirty-five pieces of artillery commenced the work; the mining and countermining-continuing seventeen days; on the nd the assault was made, and the garrison capitulated immediately afterwards. it was a siege conducted in a regular and business-like way, but the details possess no interest. it was, however, signalized by the death of one of the eminent adventurers of the age, marshal strozzi. this brave, but always unlucky soldier was slain by a musket ball while assisting the duke of guise--whose arm was, at that instant, resting upon his shoulder--to point a gun at the fortress. after the fall of thionville, the due de guise, for a short time, contemplated the siege of the city of luxemburg, but contented himself with the reduction of the unimportant places of vireton and arlon. here he loitered seventeen days, making no exertions to follow up the success which had attended him at the opening of the campaign. the good fortune of the french was now neutralized by the same languor which had marked the movements of philip after the victory of saint quentin. the time, which might have been usefully employed in following up his success, was now wasted by the duke in trivial business, or in absolute torpor. this may have been the result of a treacherous understanding with spain, and the first fruits of the interview at peronne. whatever the cause, however, the immediate consequences were disaster to the french nation, and humiliation to the crown. it had been the plan of the french cabinet that marshal de thermes, who, upon the capture of calais, had been appointed governor of the city, should take advantage of his position as soon as possible. having assembled an army of some eight thousand foot and fifteen hundred horse, partly gascons and partly germans, he was accordingly directed to ravage the neighboring country, particularly the county of saint pol. in the mean time, the due de guise, having reduced the cities on the southern frontier, was to move in a northerly direction, make a junction with the marshal, and thus extend a barrier along the whole frontier of the netherlands. de therlries set forth from calais, in the beginning of june, with his newly-organized army. passing by gravelines and bourbourg, he arrived before dunkerk on the d of july. the city, which was without a garrison, opened negotiations, during the pendency of which it was taken by assault and pillaged. the town of saint winochsberg shared the same fate. de thermes, who was a martyr to the gout, was obliged at this point temporarily to resign the command to d'estonteville, a ferocious soldier, who led the predatory army as far as niewport, burning, killing, ravishing, plundering, as they went. meantime philip, who was at brussels, had directed the duke of savoy to oppose the due de guise with an army which had been hastily collected and organized at maubeuge, in the province of namur. he now desired, if possible, to attack and cut off the forces of de thermes before he should extend the hand to guise, or make good his retreat to calais. flushed with victory over defenceless peasants, laden with the spoils of sacked and burning towns, the army of de thermes was already on its homeward march. it was the moment for a sudden and daring blow. whose arm should deal it? what general in philip's army possessed the requisite promptness, and felicitous audacity; who, but the most brilliant of cavalry officers, the bold and rapid hero of st. quentin? egmont, in obedience to the king's command, threw himself at once into the field. he hastily collected all the available forces in the neighborhood. these, with drafts from the duke of savoy's army, and with detachments under marshal bigonicourt from the garrisons of saint omer, bethune, aire, and bourbourg, soon amounted to ten thousand foot and two thousand horse. his numbers were still further swollen by large bands of peasantry, both men and women, maddened by their recent injuries, and thirsting for vengeance. with these troops the energetic chieftain took up his position directly in the path of the french army. determined to destroy de thermes with all his force, or to sacrifice himself, he posted his army at gravelines, a small town lying near the sea-shore, and about midway between calais and dunkerk. the french general was putting the finishing touch to his expedition by completing the conflagration at dunkerk, and was moving homeward, when he became aware of the lion in his path. although suffering from severe sickness, he mounted his horse and personally conducted his army to gravelines. here he found his progress completely arrested. on that night, which was the th july, he held a council of officers. it was determined to refuse the combat offered, and, if possible, to escape at low tide along the sands toward calais. the next morning he crossed the river aa, below gravelines. egmont, who was not the man, on that occasion at least, to build a golden bridge for a flying enemy, crossed the same stream just above the town, and drew up his whole force in battle array. de thermes could no longer avoid the conflict thus resolutely forced upon him. courage was now his only. counsellor. being not materially outnumbered by his adversaries, he had, at least, an even chance of cutting his way through all obstacles, and of saving his army and his treasure. the sea was on his right hand, the aa behind him, the enemy in front. he piled his baggage and wagons so as to form a barricade upon his left, and placed his artillery, consisting of four culverines and three falconeta, in front. behind these he drew up his cavalry, supported at each side by the gascons, and placed his french and german infantry in the rear. egmont, on the other hand, divided his cavalry into five squadrons. three of light horse were placed in advance for the first assault--the centre commanded by himself, the two wings by count pontenals and henrico henriquez. the black hussars of lazarus schwendi and the flemish gendarmes came next. behind these was the infantry, divided into three nations, spanish, german, and flemish, and respectively commanded by carvajal, monchausen, and bignicourt. egmont, having characteristically selected the post of danger in the very front of battle for himself, could no longer restrain his impatience. "the foe is ours already," he shouted; "follow me, all who love their fatherland:" with that he set spurs to his horse, and having his own regiment well in hand, dashed upon the enemy. the gascons received the charge with coolness, and under cover of a murderous fire from the artillery in front, which mowed down the foremost ranks of their assailants-sustained the whole weight of the first onset without flinching. egmont's horse was shot under him at the commencement of the action. mounting another, he again cheered his cavalry to the attack. the gascons still maintained an unwavering front, and fought with characteristic ferocity. the courage of despair inflamed the french, the hope of a brilliant and conclusive victory excited the spaniards and flemings. it was a wild, hand to hand conflict--general and soldier, cavalier and pikeman, lancer and musketeer, mingled together in one dark, confused, and struggling mass, foot to foot, breast to breast, horse to horse-a fierce, tumultuous battle on the sands, worthy the fitful pencil of the national painter, wouvermans. for a long time it was doubtful on which side victory was to incline, but at last ten english vessels unexpectedly appeared in the offing, and ranging up soon afterwards as close to the share as was possible, opened their fire upon the still unbroken lines of the french. the ships were too distant, the danger of injuring friend as well as foe too imminent, to allow of their exerting any important influence upon the result. the spirit of the enemy was broken, however, by this attack upon their seaward side, which they had thought impregnable. at the same time, too, a detachment of german cavalry which had been directed by egmont to make their way under the downs to the southward, now succeeded in turning their left flank. egmont, profiting by their confusion, charged them again with redoubled vigor. the fate of the day was decided. the french cavalry wavered, broke their ranks, and in their flight carried dismay throughout the whole army. the rout was total; horse and foot; french, gascon, and german fled from the field together. fifteen hundred fell in the action, as many more were driven into the sea, while great numbers were torn to pieces by the exasperated peasants, who now eagerly washed out their recent injuries in the blood of the dispersed, wandering, and wounded soldiers. the army of de thermes was totally destroyed, and with it, the last hope of france for an honorable and equal negotiation. she was now at philip's feet, so that this brilliant cavalry action, although it has been surpassed in importance by many others, in respect to the numbers of the combatants and the principles involved in the contest, was still, in regard to the extent both of its immediate and its permanent results, one of the most decisive and striking which have ever been fought. the french army engaged was annihilated. marshal de thermes, with a wound in the head, senarpont, annibault, villefon, morvilliers, chanlis, and many others of high rank were prisoners. the french monarch had not much heart to set about the organization of another army; a task which he was now compelled to undertake. he was soon obliged to make the best terms which he could, and to consent to a treaty which was one of the most ruinous in the archives of france. the marshal de thermes was severely censured for having remained so long at dunkerk and in its neighborhood. he was condemned still more loudly for not having at least effected his escape beyond gravelines, during the night which preceded the contest. with regard to the last charge, however, it may well be doubted whether any nocturnal attempt would have been likely to escape the vigilance of egmont. with regard to his delay at dunkerk, it was asserted that he had been instructed to await in that place the junction with the due de guise, which had been previously arranged. but for the criminal and, then, inexplicable languor which characterized that commander's movements, after the capture of thionville, the honor of france might still have been saved. whatever might have been the faults of de thermes or of guise, there could be little doubt as to the merit of egmont. thus within eleven months of the battle of saint quentin, had the dutch hero gained another victory so decisive as to settle the fate of the war, and to elevate his sovereign to a position from which he might dictate the terms of a triumphant peace. the opening scenes of philip's reign were rendered as brilliant as the proudest days of the emperor's career, while the provinces were enraptured with the prospect of early peace. to whom, then, was the sacred debt of national and royal gratitude due but to lamoral of egmont? his countrymen gladly recognized the claim. he became the idol of the army; the familiar hero of ballad and story; the mirror of chivalry, and the god of popular worship. throughout the netherlands he was hailed as the right hand of the fatherland, the saviour of flanders from devastation and outrage, the protector of the nation, the pillar of the throne. the victor gained many friends by his victory, and one enemy. the bitterness of that foe was likely, in the future, to outweigh all the plaudits of his friends. the duke of alva had strongly advised against giving battle to de thermes. he depreciated the triumph after it had been gained, by reflections upon the consequences which would have flowed, had a defeat been suffered instead. he even held this language to egmont himself after his return to brussels. the conqueror, flushed with his glory, was not inclined to digest the criticism, nor what he considered the venomous detraction of the duke. more vain and arrogant than ever, he treated his powerful spanish rival with insolence, and answered his observations with angry sarcasms, even in the presence of the king. alva was not likely to forget the altercation, nor to forgive the triumph. there passed, naturally, much bitter censure and retort on both sides at court, between the friends and adherents of egmont and those who sustained the party of his adversary. the battle of gravelines was fought over daily, amid increasing violence and recrimination, between spaniard and fleming, and the old international hatred flamed more fiercely than ever. alva continued to censure the foolhardiness which had risked so valuable an army on a single blow. egmont's friends replied that it was easy for foreigners, who had nothing at risk in the country, to look on while the fields of the netherlands were laid waste, and the homes and hearths of an industrious population made desolate, by a brutal and rapacious soldiery. they who dwelt in the provinces would be ever grateful to their preserver for the result. they had no eyes for the picture which the spanish party painted of an imaginary triumph of de thermos and its effects. however the envious might cavil, now that the blow had been struck, the popular heart remained warm as ever, and refused to throw down the idol which had so recently been set up. - [chapter iii.] secret negotiations for peace--two fresh armies assembled, but inactive--negotiations at cercamp--death of mary tudor--treaty of cateau cambresis--death of henry ii.--policy of catharine de medici --revelations by henry ii. to the prince of orange--funeral of charles v. in brussels--universal joy in the netherlands at the restoration of peace--organization of the government by philip, and preparations for his departure--appointment of margaret of parma as regent of the netherlands--three councils--the consulta--the stadholders of the different provinces--dissatisfaction caused by the foreign troops--assembly of the estates at ghent to receive the parting instructions and farewell of the king--speech of the bishop of arras--request for three millions--fierce denunciation of heresy on the part of philip--strenuous enforcement of the edicts commanded--reply by the states of arthois--unexpected conditions-- rage of the king--similar conduct on the part of the other provinces--remonstrance in the name of states--general against the foreign soldiery--formal reply on the part of the crown--departure of the king from the netherlands--autos--da--fe in spain. the battle of gravelines had decided the question. the intrigues of the two cardinals at peronne having been sustained by egmont's victory, all parties were ready for a peace. king henry was weary of the losing game which he had so long been playing, philip was anxious to relieve himself from his false position, and to concentrate his whole mind and the strength of his kingdom upon his great enemy the netherland heresy, while the duke of savoy felt that the time had at last arrived when an adroit diplomacy might stand him in stead, and place him in the enjoyment of those rights which the sword had taken from him, and which his own sword had done so much towards winning back. the sovereigns were inclined to peace, and as there had never been a national principle or instinct or interest involved in the dispute, it was very certain that peace would be popular every where, upon whatever terms it might be concluded. montmorency and the prince of orange were respectively empowered to open secret negotiations. the constable entered upon the task with alacrity, because he felt that every day of his captivity was alike prejudicial to his own welfare and the interests of his country.--the guises, who had quarrelled with the duchess de valentinois (diane de poitiers), were not yet powerful enough to resist the influence of the mistress; while, rather to baffle them than from any loftier reasons, that interest was exerted in behalf of immediate peace. the cardinal de lorraine had by no means forgotten the eloquent arguments used by the bishop of arras; but his brother, the due de guise, may be supposed to have desired some little opportunity of redeeming the credit of the kingdom, and to have delayed the negotiations until his valor could secure a less inglorious termination to the war. a fresh army had, in fact, been collected under his command, and was already organized at pierrepoint. at the same time, philip had assembled a large force, consisting of thirty thousand foot and fifteen thousand cavalry, with which he had himself taken the field, encamping towards the middle of august upon the banks of the river anthies, near the border of picardy. king henry, on the other hand, had already arrived in the camp at pierrepoint, and had reviewed as imposing an army as had ever been at the disposal of a french monarch. when drawn up in battle array it covered a league and a half of ground, while three hours were required to make its circuit on horseback. all this martial display was only for effect. the two kings, at the head of their great armies, stood looking at each other while the negotiations for, peace were proceeding. an unimportant skirmish or two at the out-posts, unattended with loss of life, were the only military results of these great preparations. early in the autumn, all the troops were disbanded, while the commissioners of both crowns met in open congress at the abbey of cercamp, near cambray, by the middle of october. the envoys on the part of philip were the prince of orange, the duke of alva, the bishop of arras, ruy gomez de silva, the president viglius; on that of the french monarch, the constable, the marshal de saint andre, the cardinal de lorraine, the bishop of orleans, and claude l'aubespine. there were also envoys sent by the queen of england, but as the dispute concerning calais was found to hamper the negotiations at cercamp, the english question was left to be settled by another congress, and was kept entirely separate from the arrangements concluded between france and spain. the death of queen mary, on the th november, caused a temporary suspension of the proceedings. after the widower, however, had made a fruitless effort to obtain the hand of her successor, and had been unequivocally repulsed, the commissioners again met in february, , at cateau cambresis. the english difficulty was now arranged by separate commissioners, and on the third of april a treaty between france and spain was concluded. by this important convention, both kings bound themselves to maintain the catholic worship inviolate by all means in their power, and agreed that an oecumenical council should at once assemble, to compose the religious differences, and to extinguish the increasing heresy in both kingdoms. furthermore, it was arranged that the conquests made by each country during the preceding eight years should be restored. thus all the gains of francis and henry were annulled by a single word, and the duke of savoy converted, by a dash of the pen, from a landless soldier of fortune into a sovereign again. he was to receive back all his estates, and was moreover to marry henry's sister margaret, with a dowry of three hundred thousand crowns. philip, on the other hand, now a second time a widower, was to espouse henry's daughter isabella, already betrothed to the infant don carlos, and to receive with her a dowry of four hundred thousand crowns. the restitutions were to be commenced by henry, and to be completed within three months. philip was to restore his conquests in the course of a month afterwards. most of the powers of europe were included by both parties in this treaty: the pope, the emperor, all the electors, the republics of venice, genoa and switzerland, the kingdoms of england, scotland, poland, denmark, sweden; the duchies of ferrara, savoy and parma, besides other inferior principalities. nearly all christendom, in short, was embraced in this most amicable compact, as if philip were determined that, henceforth and forever, calvinists and mahometans, turks and flemings, should be his only enemies. the king of france was to select four hostages from among philip's subjects, to accompany him to paris as pledges for the execution of all the terms of the treaty. the royal choice fell upon the prince of orange, the duke of alva, the duke of aerschot, and the count of egmont. such was the treaty of cateau cambresis. thus was a termination put to a war between france and spain, which had been so wantonly undertaken. marshal monluc wrote that a treaty so disgraceful and disastrous had never before been ratified by a french monarch. it would have been difficult to point to any one more unfortunate upon her previous annals; if any treaty can be called unfortunate, by which justice is done and wrongs repaired, even under coercion. the accumulated plunder of years, which was now disgorged by france, was equal in value to one third of that kingdom. one hundred and ninety-eight fortified towns were surrendered, making, with other places of greater or less importance, a total estimated by some writers as high as four hundred. the principal gainer was the duke of savoy, who, after so many years of knight-errantry, had regained his duchy, and found himself the brother-in-law of his ancient enemy. the well-known tragedy by which the solemnities of this pacification were abruptly concluded in paris, bore with it an impressive moral. the monarch who, in violation of his plighted word and against the interests of his nation and the world, had entered precipitately into a causeless war, now lost his life in fictitious combat at the celebration of peace. on the tenth of july, henry the second died of the wound inflicted by montgomery in the tournament held eleven days before. of this weak and worthless prince, all that even his flatterers could favorably urge was his great fondness for war, as if a sanguinary propensity, even when unaccompanied by a spark of military talent, were of itself a virtue. yet, with his death the kingdom fell even into more pernicious hands, and the fate of christendom grew darker than ever. the dynasty of diane de poitiers was succeeded by that of catharine de medici; the courtesan gave place to the dowager; and france during the long and miserable period in which she lay bleeding in the grasp of the italian she-wolf and her litter of cowardly and sanguinary princes--might even lament the days of henry and his diana. charles the ninth, henry the third, francis of alencon, last of the valois race--how large a portion of the fearful debt which has not yet been discharged by half a century of revolution and massacre was of their accumulation. the duchess of valentinois had quarrelled latterly with the house of guise, and was disposed to favor montmorency. the king, who was but a tool in her hands, might possibly have been induced, had he lived, to regard coligny and his friends with less aversion. this is, however, extremely problematical, for it was henry the second who had concluded that memorable arrangement with his royal brother of spain, to arrange for the huguenot chiefs throughout both realms, a "sicilian vespers," upon the first favorable occasion. his death and the subsequent policy of the queen-regent deferred the execution of the great scheme till fourteen years later. henry had lived long enough, however, after the conclusion of the secret agreement to reveal it to one whose life was to be employed in thwarting this foul conspiracy of monarchs against their subjects. william of orange, then a hostage for the execution of the treaty of cateau cambresis, was the man with whom the king had the unfortunate conception to confer on the subject of the plot. the prince, who had already gained the esteem of charles the fifth by his habitual discretion, knew how to profit by the intelligence and to bide his time; but his hostility to the policy of the french and spanish courts was perhaps dated from that hour. pending the peace negotiations, philip had been called upon to mourn for his wife and father. he did not affect grief for the death of mary tudor, but he honored the emperor's departure with stately obsequies at brussels. the ceremonies lasted two days (the th and th december, ). in the grand and elaborate procession which swept through the streets upon the first day, the most conspicuous object was a ship floating apparently upon the waves, and drawn by a band of tritons who disported at the bows. the masts, shrouds, and sails of the vessel were black, it was covered with heraldic achievements, banners and emblematic mementos of the emperor's various expeditions, while the flags of turks and moors trailed from her sides in the waves below. three allegorical personages composed the crew. hope, "all clothyd in brown, with anker in hand," stood at the prow; faith, with sacramental chalice and red cross, clad in white garment, with her face nailed "with white tiffany," sat on a "stool of estate" before the mizen-mast; while charity "in red, holding in her hand a burning heart," was at the helm to navigate the vessel. hope, faith, and love were thought the most appropriate symbols for the man who had invented the edicts, introduced the inquisition, and whose last words, inscribed by a hand already trembling with death, had adjured his son, by his love, allegiance, and hope of salvation, to deal to all heretics the extreme rigor of the law, "without respect of persons and without regard to any plea in their favor." the rest of the procession, in which marched the duke of alva, the prince of orange, and other great personages, carrying the sword, the globe, the sceptre, and the "crown imperial," contained no emblems or imagery worthy of being recorded. the next day the king, dressed in mourning and attended by a solemn train of high officers and nobles, went again to the church. a contemporary letter mentions a somewhat singular incident as forming the concluding part of the ceremony. "and the service being done," wrote sir richard clough to sir thomas gresham, "there went a nobleman into the herse (so far as i codde understande, it was the prince of orange), who, standing before the herse, struck with his hand upon the chest and sayd, 'he is ded.' then standing styli awhile, he sayd, 'he shall remayn ded.' and 'then resting awhile, he struck again and sayd, 'he is ded, and there is another rysen up in his place greater than ever he was.' whereupon the kynge's hoode was taken off and the kynge went home without his hoode." if the mourning for the dead emperor was but a mummery and a masquerade, there was, however, heartiness and sincerity in the rejoicing which now burst forth like a sudden illumination throughout the netherlands, upon the advent of peace. all was joy in the provinces, but at antwerp, the metropolis of the land, the enthusiasm was unbounded. nine days were devoted to festivities. bells rang their merriest peals, artillery thundered, beacons blazed, the splendid cathedral spire flamed nightly with three hundred burning cresaets, the city was strewn with flowers and decorated with triumphal arches, the guilds of rhetoric amazed the world with their gorgeous processions, glittering dresses and bombastic versification, the burghers all, from highest to humblest, were feasted and made merry, wine flowed in the streets and oxen were roasted whole, prizes on poles were climbed for, pigs were hunted blindfold, men and women raced in sacks, and in short, for nine days long there was one universal and spontaneous demonstration of hilarity in antwerp and throughout the provinces. but with this merry humor of his subjects, the sovereign had but little sympathy. there was nothing in his character or purposes which owed affinity with any mood of this jocund and energetic people. philip had not made peace with all the world that the netherlanders might climb on poles or ring bells, or strew flowers in his path for a little holiday time, and then return to their industrious avocations again. he had made peace with all the world that he might be free to combat heresy; and this arch enemy had taken up its strong hold in the provinces. the treaty of cateau cambresis left him at liberty to devote himself to that great enterprise. he had never loved the netherlands, a residence in these constitutional provinces was extremely irksome to him, and he was therefore anxious to return to spain. from the depths of his cabinet he felt that he should be able to direct the enterprise he was resolved upon, and that his presence in the netherlands would be superfluous and disagreeable. the early part of the year was spent by philip in organizing the government of the provinces and in making the necessary preparations for his departure. the duke of savoy, being restored to his duchy, had, of course, no more leisure to act as regent of the netherlands, and it was necessary, therefore, to fix upon his successor in this important post, at once. there were several candidates. the duchess christina of lorraine had received many half promises of the appointment, which she was most anxious to secure; the emperor was even said to desire the nomination of the archduke maximilian, a step which would have certainly argued more magnanimity upon philip's part than the world could give him credit for; and besides these regal personages, the high nobles of the land, especially orange and egmont, had hopes of obtaining the dignity. the prince of orange, however, was too sagacious to deceive himself long, and became satisfied very soon that no netherlander was likely to be selected for regent. he therefore threw his influence in favor of the duchess christina, whose daughter, at the suggestion of the bishop of arras, he was desirous of obtaining in marriage. the king favored for a time, or pretended to favor, both the appointment of madame de lorraine and the marriage project of the prince. afterwards, however, and in a manner which was accounted both sudden and mysterious, it appeared that the duchess and orange had both been deceived, and that the king and bishop had decided in favor of another candidate, whose claims had not been considered, before, very prominent. this was the duchess margaret of parma, natural daughter of charles the fifth. a brief sketch of this important personage, so far as regards her previous career, is reserved for the following chapter. for the present it is sufficient to state the fact of the nomination. in order to afford a full view of philip's political arrangements before his final departure from the netherlands, we defer until the same chapter, an account of the persons who composed the boards of council organized to assist the new regent in the government. these bodies themselves were three in number: a state and privy council and one of finance. they were not new institutions, having been originally established by the emperor, and were now arranged by his successor upon the same nominal basis upon which they had before existed. the finance council, which had superintendence of all matters relating to the royal domains and to the annual budgets of the government, was presided over by baron berlaymont. the privy council, of which viglius was president, was composed of ten or twelve learned doctors, and was especially entrusted with the control of matters relating to law, pardons, and the general administration of justice. the state council, which was far the most important of the three boards, was to superintend all high affairs of government, war, treaties, foreign intercourse, internal and interprovincial affairs. the members of this council were the bishop of arras, viglius, berlaymont, the prince of orange, count egmont, to which number were afterwards added the seigneur de glayon, the duke of aerschot, and count horn. the last-named nobleman, who was admiral of the provinces, had, for the present, been appointed to accompany the king to spain, there to be specially entrusted with the administration of affairs relating to the netherlands. he was destined, however, to return at the expiration of two years. with the object, as it was thought, of curbing the power of the great nobles, it had been arranged that the three councils should be entirely distinct from each other, that the members of the state council should have no participation in the affairs of the two other bodies; but, on the other hand, that the finance and privy councillors, as well as the knights of the fleece, should have access to the deliberations of the state council. in the course of events, however, it soon became evident that the real power of the government was exclusively in the hands of the consulta, a committee of three members of the state council, by whose deliberations the regent was secretly instructed to be guided on all important occasions. the three, viglius, berlaymont, and arras, who composed the secret conclave or cabinet, were in reality but one. the bishop of arras was in all three, and the three together constituted only the bishop of arras. there was no especial governor or stadholder appointed for the province of brabant, where the regent was to reside and to exercise executive functions in person. the stadholders for the other provinces were, for flanders and artois, the count of egmont; for holland, zeeland, and utrecht, the prince of orange; for gueldres and zutfen, the count of meghen; for friesland, groningen and overyssel, count aremberg; for hainault, valenciennes and cambray, the marquis of berghen; for tournay and tournaisis, baron montigny; for namur, baron berlaymont; for luxemburg, count mansfeld; for ryssel, douay and orchies, the baron coureires. all these stadholders were commanders-in-chief of the military forces in their respective provinces. with the single exception of count egmont, in whose province of flanders the stadholders were excluded from the administration of justice,--all were likewise supreme judges in the civil and criminal tribunal. the military force of the netherlands in time of peace was small, for the provinces were jealous of the presence of soldiery. the only standing army which then legally existed in the netherlands were the bandes d'ordonnance, a body of mounted gendarmerie--amounting in all to three thousand men--which ranked among the most accomplished and best disciplined cavalry of europe. they were divided into fourteen squadrons, each under the command of a stadholder, or of a distinguished noble. besides these troops, however, there still remained in the provinces a foreign force amounting in the aggregate to four thousand men. these soldiers were the remainder of those large bodies which year after year had been quartered upon the netherlands during the constant warfare to which they had been exposed. living upon the substance of the country, paid out of its treasury, and as offensive by their licentious and ribald habits of life as were the enemies against whom they were enrolled, these troops had become an intolerable burthen to the people. they were now disposed in different garrisons, nominally to protect the frontier. as a firm peace, however, had now been concluded between spain and france, and as there was no pretext for compelling the provinces to accept this protection, the presence of a foreign soldiery strengthened a suspicion that they were to be used in the onslaught which was preparing against the religious freedom and the political privileges of the country. they were to be the nucleus of a larger army, it was believed, by which the land was to be reduced to a state of servile subjection to spain. a low, constant, but generally unheeded murmur of dissatisfaction and distrust upon this subject was already perceptible throughout the netherlands; a warning presage of the coming storm. all the provinces were now convoked for the th of august ( ), at ghent, there to receive the parting communication and farewell of the king. previously to this day, however, philip appeared in person upon several solemn occasions, to impress upon the country the necessity of attending to the great subject with which his mind was exclusively occupied. he came before the great council of mechlin, in order to address that body with his own lips upon the necessity of supporting the edicts to the letter, and of trampling out every vestige of heresy, wherever it should appear, by the immediate immolation of all heretics, whoever they might be. he likewise caused the estates of flanders to be privately assembled, that he might harangue them upon the same great topic. in the latter part of july he proceeded to ghent, where a great concourse of nobles, citizens, and strangers had already assembled. here, in the last week of the month, the twenty-third chapter of the golden fleece was held with much pomp, and with festivities which lasted three days. the fourteen vacancies which existed were filled with the names of various distinguished personages. with this last celebration the public history of philip the good's ostentatious and ambitious order of knighthood was closed. the subsequent nominations were made 'ex indultu apostolico', and without the assembling of a chapter. the estates having duly assembled upon the day prescribed, philip, attended by margaret of parma, the duke of savoy, and a stately retinue of ambassadors and grandees, made his appearance before them. after the customary ceremonies had been performed, the bishop of arras arose and delivered, in the name of his sovereign, an elaborate address of instructions and farewells. in this important harangue, the states were informed that the king had convened them in order that they might be informed of his intention of leaving the netherlands immediately. he would gladly have remained longer in his beloved provinces, had not circumstances compelled his departure. his father had come hither for the good of the country in the year , and had never returned to spain, except to die. upon the king's accession to the sovereignty he had arranged a truce of five years, which had been broken through by the faithlessness of france. he had, therefore, been obliged, notwithstanding his anxiety to return to a country where his presence was so much needed, to remain in the provinces till he had conducted the new war to a triumphant close. in doing this he had been solely governed by his intense love for the netherlands, and by his regard for their interests. all the money which he had raised from their coffers had been spent for their protection. upon this account his majesty expressed his confidence that the estates would pay an earnest attention to the "request" which had been laid before them, the more so, as its amount, three millions of gold florins, would all be expended for the good of the provinces. after his return to spain he hoped to be able to make a remittance. the duke of savoy, he continued, being obliged, in consequence of the fortunate change in his affairs, to resign the government of the netherlands, and his own son, don carlos, not yet being sufficiently advanced in years to succeed to that important post, his majesty had selected his sister, the duchess margaret of parma, daughter of the emperor, as the most proper person for regent. as she had been born in the netherlands, and had always entertained a profound affection for the provinces, he felt a firm confidence that she would prove faithful both to their interests and his own. as at this moment many countries, and particularly the lands in the immediate neighborhood, were greatly infested by various "new, reprobate, and damnable sects;" as these sects, proceeding from the foul fiend, father of discord, had not failed to keep those kingdoms in perpetual dissension and misery, to the manifest displeasure of god almighty; as his majesty was desirous to avert such terrible evils from his own realms, according to his duty to the lord god, who would demand reckoning from him hereafter for the well-being of the provinces; as all experience proved that change of religion ever brought desolation and confusion to the commonweal; as low persons, beggars and vagabonds, under color of religion, were accustomed to traverse the land for the purpose of plunder and disturbance; as his majesty was most desirous of following in the footsteps of his lord and father; as it would be well remembered what the emperor had said to him upon the memorable occasion of his abdication; therefore his majesty had commanded the regent margaret of parma, for the sake of religion and the glory of god, accurately and exactly to cause to be enforced the edicts and decrees made by his imperial majesty, and renewed by his present majesty, for the extirpation of all sects and heresies. all governors, councillors, and others having authority, were also instructed to do their utmost to accomplish this great end. the great object of the discourse was thus announced in the most impressive manner, and with all that conventional rhetoric of which the bishop of arras was considered a consummate master. not a word was said on the subject which was nearest the hearts of the netherlanders--the withdrawal of the spanish troops. [bentivoglio. guerra di fiandra, i. (opere, parigi, ), gives a different report, which ends with a distinct promise on the part of the king to dismiss the troops as soon as possible: "--in segno di the spetialmente havrebbe quanto prima, a fatti uscire i presidij stranieri dalle fortezze a levata ogn' insolita contributione al paese." it is almost superfluous to state that the cardinal is no authority for speeches, except, indeed, for those which were never made. long orations by generals upon the battle-field, by royal personages in their cabinets, by conspirators in secret conclave, are reported by him with muck minuteness, and none can gainsay the accuracy with which these harangues, which never had any existence, except in the author's imagination, are placed before the reader. bentivoglio's stately and graceful style, elegant descriptions, and general acquaintance with his subject will always make his works attractive, but the classic and conventional system of inventing long speeches for historical characters has fortunately gone out of fashion. it is very interesting to know what an important personage really did say or write upon remarkable occasions; but it is less instructive to be told what the historian thinks might have been a good speech or epistle for him to utter or indito.] not a hint was held out that a reduction of the taxation, under which the provinces had so long been groaning, was likely to take place; but, on the contrary, the king had demanded a new levy of considerable amount. a few well-turned paragraphs were added on the subject of the administration of justice--"without which the republic was a dead body without a soul"--in the bishop's most approved style, and the discourse concluded with a fervent exhortation to the provinces to trample heresy and heretics out of existence, and with the hope that the lord god, in such case, would bestow upon the netherlands health and happiness. after the address had been concluded, the deputies, according to ancient form, requested permission to adjourn, that the representatives of each province might deliberate among themselves on the point of granting or withholding the request for the three millions. on the following day they again assembled in the presence of the king, for the purpose of returning their separate answers to the propositions. the address first read was that of the estates of artois. the chairman of the deputies from that province read a series of resolutions, drawn up, says a contemporary, "with that elegance which characterized all the public acts of the artesians; bearing witness to the vivacity of their wits." the deputies spoke of the extreme affection which their province had always borne to his majesty and to the emperor. they had proved it by the constancy with which they had endured the calamities of war so long, and they now cheerfully consented to the request, so far as their contingent went. they were willing to place at his majesty's disposal, not only the remains of their property, but even the last drop of their blood. as the eloquent chairman reached this point in his discourse, philip, who was standing with his arm resting upon egmont's shoulder, listening eagerly to the artesian address, looked upon the deputies of the province with a smiling face, expressing by the unwonted benignity of his countenance the satisfaction which he received from these loyal expressions of affection, and this dutiful compliance with his request. the deputy, however, proceeded to an unexpected conclusion, by earnestly entreating his majesty, as a compensation for the readiness thus evinced in the royal service, forthwith to order the departure of all foreign troops then in the netherlands. their presence, it was added, was now rendered completely superfluous by the ratification of the treaty of peace so fortunately arranged with all the world. at this sudden change in the deputy's language, the king, no longer smiling, threw himself violently upon his chair of state, where he remained, brooding with a gloomy countenance upon the language which had been addressed to him. it was evident, said an eye-witness, that he was deeply offended. he changed color frequently, so that all present "could remark, from the working of his face, how much his mind was agitated." the rest of the provinces were even more explicit than the deputies of artois. all had voted their contingents to the request, but all had made the withdrawal of the troops an express antecedent condition to the payment of their respective quotas. the king did not affect to conceal his rage at these conditions, exclaiming bitterly to count egmont and other seignors near the throne that it was very easy to estimate, by these proceedings, the value of the protestations made by the provinces of their loyalty and affection. besides, however, the answers thus addressed by the separate states to the royal address, a formal remonstrance had also been drawn up in the name of the states general, and signed by the prince of orange, count egmont, and many of the leading patricians of the netherlands. this document, which was formally presented to the king before the adjournment of the assembly, represented the infamous "pillaging, insults, and disorders" daily exercised by the foreign soldiery; stating that the burthen had become intolerable, and that the inhabitants of marienburg, and of many other large towns and villages had absolutely abandoned their homes rather than remain any longer exposed to such insolence and oppression. the king, already enraged, was furious at the presentation of this petition. he arose from his seat, and rushed impetuously from the assembly, demanding of the members as he went, whether he too, as a spaniard, was expected immediately to leave the land, and to resign all authority over it. the duke of savoy made use of this last occasion in which he appeared in public as regent, violently to rebuke the estates for the indignity thus offered to their sovereign. it could not be forgotten, however, by nobles and burghers, who had not yet been crushed by the long course of oppression which was in store for them, that there had been a day when philip's ancestors had been more humble in their deportment in the face of the provincial authorities. his great-grandfather, maximilian, kept in durance by the citizens of bruges; his great-grandmother, mary of burgundy, with streaming eyes and dishevelled hair, supplicating in the market-place for the lives of her treacherous ambassadors, were wont to hold a less imperious language to the delegates of the states. this burst of ill temper on the part of the monarch was, however, succeeded by a different humor. it was still thought advisable to dissemble, and to return rather an expostulatory than a peremptory answer to the remonstrance of the states general. accordingly a paper of a singular tone was, after the delay of a few days, sent into the assembly. in this message it was stated that the king was not desirous of placing strangers in the government--a fact which was proved by the appointment of the duchess margaret; that the spanish infantry was necessary to protect the land from invasion; that the remnant of foreign troops only amounted to three or four thousand men, who claimed considerable arrears of pay, but that the amount due would be forwarded to them immediately after his majesty's return to spain. it was suggested that the troops would serve as an escort for don carlos when he should arrive in the netherlands, although the king would have been glad to carry them to spain in his fleet, had he known the wishes of the estates in time. he would, however, pay for their support himself, although they were to act solely for the good of the provinces. he observed, moreover, that he had selected two seignors of the provinces, the prince of orange and count egmont, to take command of these foreign troops, and he promised faithfully that, in the course of three or four months at furthest, they should all be withdrawn. on the same day in which the estates had assembled at ghent, philip had addressed an elaborate letter to the grand council of mechlin, the supreme court of the provinces, and to the various provincial councils and tribunals of the whole country. the object of the communication was to give his final orders on the subject of the edicts, and for the execution of all heretics in the most universal and summary manner. he gave stringent and unequivocal instructions that these decrees for burning, strangling, and burying alive, should be fulfilled to the letter. he ordered all judicial officers and magistrates "to be curious to enquire on all sides as to the execution of the placards," stating his intention that "the utmost rigor should be employed without any respect of persons," and that not only the transgressors should be proceeded against, but also the judges who should prove remiss in their prosecution of heretics. he alluded to a false opinion which had gained currency that the edicts were only intended against anabaptists. correcting this error, he stated that they were to be "enforced against all sectaries, without any distinction or mercy, who might be spotted merely with the errors introduced by luther." the king, notwithstanding the violent scenes in the assembly, took leave of the estates at another meeting with apparent cordiality. his dissatisfaction was sufficiently manifest, but it expressed itself principally against individuals. his displeasure at the course pursued by the leading nobles, particularly by the prince of orange, was already no secret. philip, soon after the adjournment of the assembly, had completed the preparations for his departure. at middelburg he was met by the agreeable intelligence that the pope had consented to issue a bull for the creation of the new bishoprics which he desired for the netherlands.--this important subject will be resumed in another chapter; for the present we accompany the king to flushing, whence the fleet was to set sail for spain. he was escorted thither by the duchess regent, the duke of savoy, and by many of the most eminent personages of the provinces. among others william of orange was in attendance to witness the final departure of the king, and to pay him his farewell respects. as philip was proceeding on board the ship which was to bear him forever from the netherlands, his eyes lighted upon the prince. his displeasure could no longer be restrained. with angry face he turned upon him, and bitterly reproached him for having thwarted all his plans by means of his secret intrigues. william replied with humility that every thing which had taken place had been done through the regular and natural movements of the states. upon this the king, boiling with rage, seized the prince by the wrist, and shaking it violently, exclaimed in spanish, "no los estados, ma vos, vos, vos!--not the estates, but you, you, you!" repeating thrice the word vos, which is as disrespectful and uncourteous in spanish as "toi" in french. after this severe and public insult, the prince of orange did not go on board his majesty's vessel, but contented himself with wishing philip, from the shore, a fortunate journey. it may be doubted, moreover, whether he would not have made a sudden and compulsory voyage to spain had he ventured his person in the ship, and whether, under the circumstances, he would have been likely to effect as speedy a return. his caution served him then as it was destined to do on many future occasions, and philip left the netherlands with this parting explosion of hatred against the man who, as he perhaps instinctively felt, was destined to circumvent his measures and resist his tyranny to the last. the fleet, which consisted of ninety vessels, so well provisioned that, among other matters, fifteen thousand capons were put on board, according to the antwerp chronicler, set sail upon the th august ( ), from flushing. the voyage proved tempestuous, so that much of the rich tapestry and other merchandise which had been accumulated by charles and philip was lost. some of the vessels foundered; to save others it was necessary to lighten the cargo, and "to enrobe the roaring waters with the silks," for which the netherlands were so famous; so that it was said that philip and his father had impoverished the earth only to enrich the ocean. the fleet had been laden with much valuable property, because the king had determined to fix for the future the wandering capital of his dominions in spain. philip landed in safety, however, at laredo, on the th september. his escape from imminent peril confirmed him in the great purpose to which he had consecrated his existence. he believed himself to have been reserved from shipwreck only because a mighty mission had been confided to him, and lest his enthusiasm against heresy should languish, his eyes were soon feasted, upon his arrival in his native country, with the spectacle of an auto-da fe. early in january of this year the king being persuaded that it was necessary every where to use additional means to check the alarming spread of lutheran opinions, had written to the pope for authority to increase, if that were possible, the stringency of the spanish inquisition. the pontiff, nothing loath, had accordingly issued a bull directed to the inquisitor general, valdez, by which he was instructed to consign to the flames all prisoners whatever, even those who were not accused of having "relapsed." great preparations had been made to strike terror into the hearts of heretics by a series of horrible exhibitions, in the course of which the numerous victims, many of them persons of high rank, distinguished learning, and exemplary lives, who had long been languishing in the dungeons of the holy office, were to be consigned to the flames. the first auto-da fe had been consummated at valladolid on the st may ( ), in the absence of the king, of course, but in the presence of the royal family and the principal notabilities, civil, ecclesiastical, and military. the princess regent, seated on her throne, close to the scaffold, had held on high the holy sword. the archbishop of seville, followed by the ministers of the inquisition and by the victims, had arrived in solemn procession at the "cadahalso," where, after the usual sermon in praise of the holy office and in denunciation of heresy, he had administered the oath to the intante, who had duly sworn upon the crucifix to maintain forever the sacred inquisition and the apostolic decrees. the archbishop had then cried aloud, "so may god prosper your highnesses and your estates;" after which the men and women who formed the object of the show had been cast into the flames.--[cabrera]. it being afterwards ascertained that the king himself would soon be enabled to return to spain, the next festival was reserved as a fitting celebration for his arrival. upon the th october, accordingly, another auto-da fe took place at valladolid. the king, with his sister and his son, the high officers of state, the foreign ministers, and all the nobility of the kingdom, were present, together with an immense concourse of soldiery, clergy, and populace. the sermon was preached by the bishop of cuenga. when it was finished, inquisitor general valdez cried with a loud voice, "oh god, make speed to help us!" the king then drew his sword. valdez, advancing to the platform upon which philip was seated, proceeded to read the protestation: "your majesty swears by the cross of the sword, whereon your royal hand reposes, that you will give all necessary favor to the holy office of the inquisition against heretics, apostates, and those who favor them, and will denounce and inform against all those who, to your royal knowledge, shall act or speak against the faith." the king answered aloud, "i swear it," and signed the paper. the oath was read to the whole assembly by an officer of the inquisition. thirteen distinguished victims were then burned before the monarch's eyes, besides one body which a friendly death had snatched from the hands of the holy office, and the effigy of another person who had been condemned, although not yet tried or even apprehended. among the sufferers was carlos de sessa, a young noble of distinguished character and abilities, who said to the king as he passed by the throne to the stake, "how can you thus look on and permit me to be burned?" philip then made the memorable reply, carefully recorded by his historiographer and panegyrist; "i would carry the wood to burn my own son withal, were he as wicked as you." in seville, immediately afterwards, another auto-da fe was held, in which fifty living heretics were burned, besides the bones of doctor constantine ponce de la fuente, once the friend, chaplain, and almoner of philip's father. this learned and distinguished ecclesiastic had been released from a dreadful dungeon by a fortunate fever. the holy office, however, not content with punishing his corpse, wreaked also an impotent and ludicrous malice upon his effigy. a stuffed figure, attired in his robes and with its arms extended in the attitude which was habitual with him in prayer, was placed upon the scaffold among the living victims, and then cast into the flames, that bigotry might enjoy a fantastic triumph over the grave. such were the religious ceremonies with which philip celebrated his escape from shipwreck, and his marriage with isabella of france, immediately afterwards solemnized. these human victims, chained and burning at the stake, were the blazing torches which lighted the monarch to his nuptial couch. etext editor's bookmarks: consign to the flames all prisoners whatever (papal letter) courage of despair inflamed the french decrees for burning, strangling, and burying alive i would carry the wood to burn my own son withal inventing long speeches for historical characters let us fool these poor creatures to their heart's content petty passion for contemptible details promises which he knew to be binding only upon the weak rashness alternating with hesitation these human victims, chained and burning at the stake motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. administration of the duchess margaret. - [chapter i.] biographical sketch and portrait of margaret of parma--the state council--berlaymont--viglius--sketch of william the silent--portrait of antony perrenot, afterwards cardinal granvelle--general view of the political, social and religious condition of the netherlands-- habits of the aristocracy--emulation in extravagance--pecuniary embarrassments--sympathy for the reformation, steadily increasing among the people, the true cause of the impending revolt--measures of the government.--edict of described--papal bulls granted to philip for increasing the number of bishops in the netherlands-- necessity for retaining the spanish troops to enforce the policy of persecution. margaret of parma, newly appointed regent of the netherlands, was the natural daughter of charles the fifth, and his eldest born child. her mother, of a respectable family called van der genst, in oudenarde, had been adopted and brought up by the distinguished house of hoogstraaten. peculiar circumstances, not necessary to relate at length, had palliated the fault to which margaret owed her imperial origin, and gave the child almost a legitimate claim upon its father's protection. the claim was honorably acknowledged. margaret was in her infancy placed by the emperor in the charge of his paternal aunt, margaret of savoy, then regent of the provinces. upon the death of that princess, the child was entrusted to the care of the emperor's sister, mary, queen dowager of hungary, who had succeeded to the government, and who occupied it until the abdication. the huntress-queen communicated her tastes to her youthful niece, and margaret soon outrivalled her instructress. the ardor with which she pursued the stag, and the courageous horsemanship which she always displayed, proved her, too, no degenerate descendant of mary of burgundy. her education for the distinguished position in which she had somewhat surreptitiously been placed was at least not neglected in this particular. when, soon after the memorable sack of rome, the pope and the emperor had been reconciled, and it had been decided that the medici family should be elevated upon the ruins of florentine liberty, margaret's hand was conferred in marriage upon the pontiff's nephew alexander. the wretched profligate who was thus selected to mate with the emperor's eldest born child and to appropriate the fair demesnes of the tuscan republic was nominally the offspring of lorenzo de medici by a moorish slave, although generally reputed a bastard of the pope himself. the nuptials were celebrated with great pomp at naples, where the emperor rode at the tournament in the guise of a moorish warrior. at florence splendid festivities had also been held, which were troubled with omens believed to be highly unfavorable. it hardly needed, however, preternatural appearances in heaven or on earth to proclaim the marriage ill-starred which united a child of twelve years with a worn-out debauchee of twenty-seven. fortunately for margaret, the funereal portents proved true. her husband, within the first year of their wedded life, fell a victim to his own profligacy, and was assassinated by his kinsman, lorenzino de medici. cosmo, his successor in the tyranny of florence, was desirous of succeeding to the hand of margaret, but the politic emperor, thinking that he had already done enough to conciliate that house, was inclined to bind to his interests the family which now occupied the papal throne. margaret was accordingly a few years afterwards united to ottavio farnese, nephew of paul the third. it was still her fate to be unequally matched. having while still a child been wedded to a man of more than twice her years, she was now, at the age of twenty, united to an immature youth of thirteen. she conceived so strong an aversion to her new husband, that it became impossible for them to live together in peace. ottavio accordingly went to the wars, and in accompanied the emperor in his memorable expedition to barbary. rumors of disaster by battle and tempest reaching europe before the results of the expedition were accurately known, reports that the emperor had been lost in a storm, and that the young ottavio had perished with him, awakened remorse in the bosom of margaret. it seemed to her that he had been driven forth by domestic inclemency to fall a victim to the elements. when, however, the truth became known, and it was ascertained that her husband, although still living, was lying dangerously ill in the charge of the emperor, the repugnance which had been founded upon his extreme youth changed to passionate fondness. his absence, and his faithful military attendance upon her father, caused a revulsion in her feelings, and awakened her admiration. when ottavio, now created duke of parma and piacenza, returned to rome, he was received by his wife with open arms. their union was soon blessed with twins, and but for a certain imperiousness of disposition which margaret had inherited from her father, and which she was too apt to exercise even upon her husband, the marriage would have been sufficiently fortunate. various considerations pointed her out to philip as a suitable person for the office of regent, although there seemed some mystery about the appointment which demanded explanation. it was thought that her birth would make her acceptable to the people; but perhaps, the secret reason with philip was, that she alone of all other candidates would be amenable to the control of the churchman in whose hand he intended placing the real administration of the provinces. moreover, her husband was very desirous that the citadel of piacenza, still garrisoned by spanish troops, should be surrendered to him. philip was disposed to conciliate the duke, but unwilling to give up the fortress. he felt that ottavio would be flattered by the nomination of his wife to so important an office, and be not too much dissatisfied at finding himself relieved for a time from her imperious fondness. her residence in the netherlands would guarantee domestic tranquillity to her husband, and peace in italy to the king. margaret would be a hostage for the fidelity of the duke, who had, moreover, given his eldest son to philip to be educated in his service. she was about thirty-seven years of age when she arrived in the netherlands, with the reputation of possessing high talents, and a proud and energetic character. she was an enthusiastic catholic, and had sat at the feet of loyola, who had been her confessor and spiritual guide. she felt a greater horror for heretics than for any other species of malefactors, and looked up to her father's bloody edicts as if they had been special revelations from on high. she was most strenuous in her observance of roman rites, and was accustomed to wash the feet of twelve virgins every holy week, and to endow them in marriage afterwards.--her acquirements, save that of the art of horsemanship, were not remarkable. carefully educated in the machiavellian and medicean school of politics, she was versed in that "dissimulation," to which liberal anglo-saxons give a shorter name, but which formed the main substance of statesmanship at the court of charles and philip. in other respects her accomplishments were but meagre, and she had little acquaintance with any language but italian. her personal appearance, which was masculine, but not without a certain grand and imperial fascination, harmonized with the opinion generally entertained of her character. the famous moustache upon her upper lips was supposed to indicate authority and virility of purpose, an impression which was confirmed by the circumstance that she was liable to severe attacks of gout, a disorder usually considered more appropriate to the sterner sex. such were the previous career and public reputation of the duchess margaret. it remains to be unfolded whether her character and endowments, as exemplified in her new position, were to justify the choice of philip. the members of the state council, as already observed, were berlaymont, viglius, arras, orange, and egmont. the first was, likewise, chief of the finance department. most of the catholic writers described him as a noble of loyal and highly honorable character. those of the protestant party, on the contrary, uniformly denounced him as greedy, avaricious, and extremely sanguinary. that he was a brave and devoted soldier, a bitter papist, and an inflexible adherent to the royal cause, has never been disputed. the baron himself, with his four courageous and accomplished sons, were ever in the front ranks to defend the crown against the nation. it must be confessed, however, that fanatical loyalty loses most of the romance with which genius and poetry have so often hallowed the sentiment, when the "legitimate" prince for whom the sword is drawn is not only an alien in tongue and blood, but filled with undisguised hatred for the land he claims to rule. viglius van aytta van zuichem was a learned frisian, born, according to some writers, of "boors' degree, but having no inclination for boorish work". according to other authorities, which the president himself favored, he was of noble origin; but, whatever his race, it is certain that whether gentle or simple, it derived its first and only historical illustration from his remarkable talents and acquirements. these in early youth were so great as to acquire the commendation of erasmus. he had studied in louvain, paris, and padua, had refused the tutorship philip when that prince was still a child, and had afterwards filled a professorship at ingolstadt. after rejecting several offers of promotion from the emperor, he had at last accepted in a seat in the council of mechlin, of which body he had become president in . he had been one of the peace commissioners to france in , and was now president of the privy council, a member of the state council, and of the inner and secret committee of that board, called the consults. much odium was attached to his name for his share in the composition of the famous edict of . the rough draught was usually attributed to his pen, but he complained bitterly, in letters written at this time, of injustice done him in this respect, and maintained that he had endeavored, without success, to induce the emperor to mitigate the severity of the edict. one does not feel very strongly inclined to accept his excuses, however, when his general opinions on the subject of religion are remembered. he was most bigoted in precept and practice. religious liberty he regarded as the most detestable and baleful of doctrines; heresy he denounced as the most unpardonable of crimes. from no man's mouth flowed more bitter or more elegant commonplaces than from that of the learned president against those blackest of malefactors, the men who claimed within their own walls the right to worship god according to their own consciences. for a common person, not learned in law or divinity, to enter into his closet, to shut the door, and to pray to him who seeth in secret, was, in his opinion, to open wide the gate of destruction for all the land, and to bring in the father of evil at once to fly away with the whole population, body and soul. "if every man," said he to hopper, "is to believe what he likes in his own house, we shall have hearth gods and tutelar divinities, again, the country will swarm with a thousand errors and sects, and very few there will be, i fear, who will allow themselves to be enclosed in the sheepfold of christ. i have ever considered this opinion," continued the president, "the most pernicious of all. they who hold it have a contempt for all religion, and are neither more nor less than atheists. this vague, fireside liberty should be by every possible means extirpated; therefore did christ institute shepherds to drive his wandering sheep back into the fold of the true church; thus only can we guard the lambs against the ravening wolves, and prevent their being carried away from the flock of christ to the flock of belial. liberty of religion, or of conscience, as they call it, ought never to be tolerated." this was the cant with which viglius was ever ready to feed not only his faithful hopper, but all the world beside. the president was naturally anxious that the fold of christ should be entrusted to none but regular shepherds, for he looked forward to taking one of the most lucrative crooks into his own hand, when he should retire from his secular career. it is now necessary to say a few introductory words concerning the man who, from this time forth, begins to rise upon the history of his country with daily increasing grandeur and influence. william of nassau, prince of orange, although still young in years, is already the central personage about whom the events and the characters of the epoch most naturally group themselves; destined as he is to become more and more with each succeeding year the vivifying source of light, strength, and national life to a whole people. the nassau family first emerges into distinct existence in the middle of the eleventh century. it divides itself almost as soon as known into two great branches. the elder remained in germany, ascended the imperial throne in the thirteenth century in the person of adolph of nassau and gave to the country many electors, bishops, and generals. the younger and more illustrious branch retained the modest property and petty sovereignty of nassau dillenbourg, but at the same time transplanted itself to the netherlands, where it attained at an early period to great power and large possessions. the ancestors of william, as dukes of gueldres, had begun to exercise sovereignty in the provinces four centuries before the advent of the house of burgundy. that overshadowing family afterwards numbered the netherland nassaus among its most stanch and powerful adherents. engelbert the second was distinguished in the turbulent councils and in the battle-fields of charles the bold, and was afterwards the unwavering supporter of maximilian, in court and camp. dying childless, he was succeeded by his brother john, whose two sons, henry and william, of nassau, divided the great inheritance after their father's death, william succeeded to the german estates, became a convert to protestantism, and introduced the reformation into his dominions. henry, the eldest son, received the family possessions and titles in luxembourg, brabant, flanders and holland, and distinguished himself as much as his uncle engelbert, in the service of the burgundo-austrian house. the confidential friend of charles the fifth, whose governor he had been in that emperor's boyhood, he was ever his most efficient and reliable adherent. it was he whose influence placed the imperial crown upon the head of charles. in he espoused claudia de chalons, sister of prince philibert of orange, "in order," as he wrote to his father, "to be obedient to his imperial majesty, to please the king of france, and more particularly for the sake of his own honor and profit." his son rene de nassau-chalons succeeded philibert. the little principality of orange, so pleasantly situated between provence and dauphiny, but in such dangerous proximity to the seat of the "babylonian captivity" of the popes at avignon, thus passed to the family of nassau. the title was of high antiquity. already in the reign of charlemagne, guillaume au court-nez, or "william with the short nose," had defended the little--town of orange against the assaults of the saracens. the interest and authority acquired in the demesnes thus preserved by his valor became extensive, and in process of time hereditary in his race. the principality became an absolute and free sovereignty, and had already descended, in defiance of the salic law, through the three distinct families of orange, baux, and chalons. in , prince rene died at the emperor's feet in the trenches of saint dizier. having no legitimate children, he left all his titles and estates to his cousin-german, william of nassau, son of his father's brother william, who thus at the age of eleven years became william the ninth of orange. for this child, whom the future was to summon to such high destinies and such heroic sacrifices, the past and present seemed to have gathered riches and power together from many sources. he was the descendant of the othos, the engelberts, and the henries, of the netherlands, the representative of the philiberts and the renes of france; the chief of a house, humbler in resources and position in germany, but still of high rank, and which had already done good service to humanity by being among the first to embrace the great principles of the reformation. his father, younger brother of the emperor's friend henry, was called william the rich. he was, however, only rich in children. of these he had five sons and seven daughters by his wife juliana of stolberg. she was a person of most exemplary character and unaffected piety. she instilled into the minds of all her children the elements of that devotional sentiment which was her own striking characteristic, and it was destined that the seed sown early should increase to an abundant harvest. nothing can be more tender or more touching than the letters which still exist from her hand, written to her illustrious sons in hours of anxiety or anguish, and to the last, recommending to them with as much earnest simplicity as if they were still little children at her knee, to rely always in the midst of the trials and dangers which were to beset their paths through life, upon the great hand of god. among the mothers of great men, juliana of stolberg deserves a foremost place, and it is no slight eulogy that she was worthy to have been the mother of william of orange and of lewis, adolphus, henry, and john of nassau. at the age of eleven years, william having thus unexpectedly succeeded to such great possessions, was sent from his father's roof to be educated in brussels. no destiny seemed to lie before the young prince but an education at the emperor's court, to be followed by military adventures, embassies, viceroyalties, and a life of luxury and magnificence. at a very early age he came, accordingly, as a page into the emperor's family. charles recognized, with his customary quickness, the remarkable character of the boy. at fifteen, william was the intimate, almost confidential friend of the emperor, who prided himself, above all other gifts, on his power of reading and of using men. the youth was so constant an attendant upon his imperial chief that even when interviews with the highest personages, and upon the gravest affairs, were taking place, charles would never suffer him to be considered superfluous or intrusive. there seemed to be no secrets which the emperor held too high for the comprehension or discretion of his page. his perceptive and reflective faculties, naturally of remarkable keenness and depth, thus acquired a precocious and extraordinary development. he was brought up behind the curtain of that great stage where the world's dramas were daily enacted. the machinery and the masks which produced the grand delusions of history had no deceptions for him. carefully to observe men's actions, and silently to ponder upon their motives, was the favorite occupation of the prince during his apprenticeship at court. as he advanced to man's estate, he was selected by the emperor for the highest duties. charles, whose only merit, so far as the provinces were concerned, was in having been born in ghent, and that by an ignoble accident, was glad to employ this representative of so many great netherland houses, in the defence of the land. before the prince was twenty-one he was appointed general-in-chief of the army on the french frontier, in the absence of the duke of savoy. the post was coveted by many most distinguished soldiers: the counts of buren, bossu, lalaing, aremberg, meghem, and particularly by count egmont; yet charles showed his extraordinary confidence in the prince of orange, by selecting him for the station, although he had hardly reached maturity, and was moreover absent in france. the young prince acquitted himself of his high command in a manner which justified his appointment. it was the prince's shoulder upon which the emperor leaned at the abdication; the prince's hand which bore the imperial insignia of the discrowned monarch to ferdinand, at augsburg. with these duties his relations with charles were ended, and those with philip begun. he was with the army during the hostilities which were soon after resumed in picardy; he was the secret negotiator of the preliminary arrangement with france, soon afterwards confirmed by the triumphant treaty of april, . he had conducted these initiatory conferences with the constable montmorency and marshal de saint andre with great sagacity, although hardly a man in years, and by so doing he had laid philip under deep obligations. the king was so inexpressibly anxious for peace that he would have been capable of conducting a treaty upon almost any terms. he assured the prince that "the greatest service he could render him in this world was to make peace, and that he desired to have it at any price what ever, so eager was he to return to spain." to the envoy suriano, philip had held the same language. "oh, ambassador," said he, "i wish peace on any terms, and if the king of france had not sued for it, i would have begged for it myself." with such impatience on the part of the sovereign, it certainly manifested diplomatic abilities of a high character in the prince, that the treaty negotiated by him amounted to a capitulation by france. he was one of the hostages selected by henry for the due execution of the treaty, and while in france made that remarkable discovery which was to color his life. while hunting with the king in the forest of vincennes, the prince and henry found themselves alone together, and separated from the rest of the company. the french monarch's mind was full of the great scheme which had just secretly been formed by philip and himself, to extirpate protestantism by a general extirpation of protestants. philip had been most anxious to conclude the public treaty with france, that he might be the sooner able to negotiate that secret convention by which he and his most christian majesty were solemnly to bind themselves to massacre all the converts to the new religion in france and the netherlands. this conspiracy of the two kings against their subjects was the matter nearest the hearts of both. the duke of alva, a fellow hostage with william of orange, was the plenipotentiary to conduct this more important arrangement. the french monarch, somewhat imprudently imagining that the prince was also a party to the plot, opened the whole subject to him without reserve. he complained of the constantly increasing numbers of sectaries in his kingdom, and protested that his conscience would never be easy, nor his state secure until his realm should be delivered of "that accursed vermin." a civil revolution, under pretext of a religious reformation, was his constant apprehension, particularly since so many notable personages in the realm, and even princes of the blood, were already tainted with heresy. nevertheless, with the favor of heaven, and the assistance of his son and brother philip, he hoped soon to be master of the rebels. the king then proceeded, with cynical minuteness, to lay before his discreet companion the particulars of the royal plot, and the manner in which all heretics, whether high or humble, were to be discovered and massacred at the most convenient season. for the furtherance of the scheme in the netherlands, it was understood that the spanish regiments would be exceedingly efficient. the prince, although horror-struck and indignant at the royal revelations, held his peace, and kept his countenance. the king was not aware that, in opening this delicate negotiation to alva's colleague and philip's plenipotentiary, he had given a warning of inestimable value to the man who had been born to resist the machinations of philip and of alva. william of orange earned the surname of "the silent," from the manner in which he received these communications of henry without revealing to the monarch, by word or look, the enormous blunder which he had committed. his purpose was fixed from that hour. a few days afterwards he obtained permission to visit the netherlands, where he took measures to excite, with all his influence, the strongest and most general opposition to the continued presence of the spanish troops, of which forces, touch against his will, he had been, in conjunction with egmont, appointed chief. he already felt, in his own language, that "an inquisition for the netherlands had been, resolved upon more cruel than that of spain; since it would need but to look askance at an image to be cast into the flames." although having as yet no spark of religious sympathy for the reformers, he could not, he said, "but feel compassion for so many virtuous men and women thus devoted to massacre," and he determined to save them if he could!' at the departure of philip he had received instructions, both patent and secret, for his guidance as stadholder of holland, friesland, and utrecht. he was ordered "most expressly to correct and extirpate the sects reprobated by our holy mother church; to execute the edicts of his imperial majesty, renewed by the king, with absolute rigor. he was to see that the judges carried out the edicts, without infraction, alteration, or moderation, since they were there to enforce, not to make or to discuss the law." in his secret instructions he was informed that the execution of the edicts was to be with all rigor, and without any respect of persons. he was also reminded that, whereas some persons had imagined the severity of the law "to be only intended against anabaptists, on the contrary, the edicts were to be enforced on lutherans and all other sectaries without distinction." moreover, in one of his last interviews with philip, the king had given him the names of several "excellent persons suspected of the new religion," and had commanded him to have them put to death. this, however, he not only omitted to do, but on the contrary gave them warning, so that they might effect their escape, "thinking it more necessary to obey god than man." william of orange, at the departure of the king for spain, was in his twenty-seventh year. he was a widower; his first wife, anne of egmont, having died in , after seven years of wedlock. this lady, to whom he had been united when they were both eighteen years of age, was the daughter of the celebrated general, count de buren, and the greatest heiress in the netherlands. william had thus been faithful to the family traditions, and had increased his possessions by a wealthy alliance. he had two children, philip and mary. the marriage had been more amicable than princely marriages arranged for convenience often prove. the letters of the prince to his wife indicate tenderness and contentment. at the same time he was accused, at a later period, of "having murdered her with a dagger." the ridiculous tale was not even credited by those who reported it, but it is worth mentioning, as a proof that no calumny was too senseless to be invented concerning the man whose character was from that hour forth to be the mark of slander, and whose whole life was to be its signal, although often unavailing, refutation. yet we are not to regard william of orange, thus on the threshold of his great career, by the light diffused from a somewhat later period. in no historical character more remarkably than in his is the law of constant development and progress illustrated. at twenty-six he is not the "pater patriae," the great man struggling upward and onward against a host of enemies and obstacles almost beyond human strength, and along the dark and dangerous path leading through conflict, privation, and ceaseless labor to no repose but death. on the contrary, his foot was hardly on the first step of that difficult ascent which was to rise before him all his lifetime. he was still among the primrose paths. he was rich, powerful, of sovereign rank. he had only the germs within him of what was thereafter to expand into moral and intellectual greatness. he had small sympathy for the religious reformation, of which he was to be one of the most distinguished champions. he was a catholic, nominally, and in outward observance. with doctrines he troubled himself but little. he had given orders to enforce conformity to the ancient church, not with bloodshed, yet with comparative strictness, in his principality of orange. beyond the compliance with rites and forms, thought indispensable in those days to a personage of such high degree, he did not occupy himself with theology. he was a catholic, as egmont and horn, berlaymont and mansfeld, montigny and even brederode, were catholic. it was only tanners, dyers and apostate priests who were protestants at that day in the netherlands. his determination to protect a multitude of his harmless inferiors from horrible deaths did not proceed from sympathy with their religious sentiments, but merely from a generous and manly detestation of murder. he carefully averted his mind from sacred matters. if indeed the seed implanted by his pious parents were really the germ of his future conversion to protestantism, it must be confessed that it lay dormant a long time. but his mind was in other pursuits. he was disposed for an easy, joyous, luxurious, princely life. banquets, masquerades, tournaments, the chase, interspersed with the routine of official duties, civil and military, seemed likely to fill out his life. his hospitality, like his fortune, was almost regal. while the king and the foreign envoys were still in the netherlands, his house, the splendid nassau palace of brussels, was ever open. he entertained for the monarch, who was, or who imagined himself to be, too poor to discharge his own duties in this respect, but he entertained at his own expense. this splendid household was still continued. twenty-four noblemen and eighteen pages of gentle birth officiated regularly in his family. his establishment was on so extensive a scale that upon one day twenty-eight master cooks were dismissed, for the purpose of diminishing the family expenses, and there was hardly a princely house in germany which did not send cooks to learn their business in so magnificent a kitchen. the reputation of his table remained undiminished for years. we find at a later period, that philip, in the course of one of the nominal reconciliations which took place several times between the monarch and william of orange, wrote that, his head cook being dead, he begged the prince to "make him a present of his chief cook, master herman, who was understood to be very skilful." in this hospitable mansion, the feasting continued night and day. from early morning till noon, the breakfast-tables were spread with wines and luxurious viands in constant succession, to all comers and at every moment.--the dinner and supper were daily banquets for a multitude of guests. the highest nobles were not those alone who were entertained. men of lower degree were welcomed with a charming hospitality which made them feel themselves at their ease. contemporaries of all parties unite in eulogizing the winning address and gentle manners of the prince. "never," says a most bitter catholic historian, "did an arrogant or indiscreet word fall from his lips. he, upon no occasion, manifested anger to his servants, however much they might be in fault, but contented himself with admonishing them graciously, without menace or insult. he had a gentle and agreeable tongue, with which he could turn all the gentlemen at court any way he liked. he was beloved and honored by the whole community." his manner was graceful, familiar, caressing, and yet dignified. he had the good breeding which comes from the heart, refined into an inexpressible charm from his constant intercourse, almost from his cradle, with mankind of all ranks. it may be supposed that this train of living was attended with expense. moreover, he had various other establishments in town and country; besides his almost royal residence in brussels. he was ardently fond of the chase, particularly of the knightly sport of falconry. in the country he "consoled himself by taking every day a heron in the clouds." his falconers alone cost him annually fifteen hundred florins, after he had reduced their expenses to the lowest possible point. he was much in debt, even at this early period and with his princely fortune. "we come of a race," he wrote carelessly to his brother louis, "who are somewhat bad managers in our young days, but when we grow older, we do better, like our late father: 'sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper et in secula seculorum'. my greatest difficulty," he adds, "as usual, is on account of the falconers." his debts already amounted, according to granvelle's statement, to , or , florins. he had embarrassed himself, not only through his splendid extravagance, by which all the world about him were made to partake of his wealth, but by accepting the high offices to which he had been appointed. when general-in-chief on the frontier, his salary was three hundred florins monthly; "not enough," as he said, "to pay the servants in his tent," his necessary expenses being twenty-five hundred florins, as appears by a letter to his wife. his embassy to carry the crown to ferdinand, and his subsequent residence as a hostage for the treaty in paris, were also very onerous, and he received no salary; according to the economical system in this respect pursued by charles and philip. in these two embassies or missions alone, together with the entertainments offered by him to the court and to foreigners, after the peace at brussels, the prince spent, according to his own estimate, , , florins. he was, however, although deeply, not desperately involved, and had already taken active measures to regulate and reduce his establishment. his revenues were vast, both in his own right and in that of his deceased wife. he had large claims upon the royal treasury for service and expenditure. he had besides ample sums to receive from the ransoms of the prisoners of st. quentin and gravelines, having served in both campaigns. the amount to be received by individuals from this source may be estimated from the fact that count horn, by no means one of the most favored in the victorious armies, had received from leonor d'orleans, due de loggieville, a ransom of eighty thousand crowns. the sum due, if payment were enforced, from the prisoners assigned to egmont, orange, and others, must have been very large. granvelle estimated the whole amount at two millions; adding, characteristically, "that this kind of speculation was a practice" which our good old fathers, lovers of virtue, would not have found laudable. in this the churchman was right, but he might have added that the "lovers of virtue" would have found it as little "laudable" for ecclesiastics to dispose of the sacred offices in their gift, for carpets, tapestry, and annual payments of certain percentages upon the cure of souls. if the profits respectively gained by military and clerical speculators in that day should be compared, the disadvantage would hardly be found to lie with those of the long robe. such, then, at the beginning of , was william of orange; a generous, stately, magnificent, powerful grandee. as a military commander, he had acquitted himself very creditably of highly important functions at an early age. nevertheless it was the opinion of many persons, that he was of a timid temperament. he was even accused of having manifested an unseemly panic at philippeville, and of having only been restrained by the expostulations of his officers, from abandoning both that fortress and charlemont to admiral coligny, who had made his appearance in the neighborhood, merely at the head of a reconnoitring party. if the story were true, it would be chiefly important as indicating that the prince of orange was one of the many historical characters, originally of an excitable and even timorous physical organization, whom moral courage and a strong will have afterwards converted into dauntless heroes. certain it is that he was destined to confront open danger in every form, that his path was to lead through perpetual ambush, yet that his cheerful confidence and tranquil courage were to become not only unquestionable but proverbial. it may be safely asserted, however, that the story was an invention to be classed with those fictions which made him the murderer of his first wife, a common conspirator against philip's crown and person, and a crafty malefactor in general, without a single virtue. it must be remembered that even the terrible alva, who lived in harness almost from the cradle to the grave, was, so late as at this period, censured for timidity, and had been accused in youth of flat cowardice. he despised the insinuation, which for him had no meaning. there is no doubt too that caution was a predominant characteristic of the prince. it was one of the chief sources of his greatness. at that period, perhaps at any period, he would have been incapable of such brilliant and dashing exploits as had made the name of egmont so famous. it had even become a proverb, "the counsel of orange, the execution of egmont," yet we shall have occasion to see how far this physical promptness which had been so felicitous upon the battle-field was likely to avail the hero of st. quentin in the great political combat which was approaching. as to the talents of the prince, there was no difference of opinion. his enemies never contested the subtlety and breadth of his intellect, his adroitness and capacity in conducting state affairs, his knowledge of human nature, and the profoundness of his views. in many respects it must be confessed that his surname of the silent, like many similar appellations, was a misnomer. william of orange was neither "silent" nor "taciturn," yet these are the epithets which will be forever associated with the name of a man who, in private, was the most affable, cheerful, and delightful of companions, and who on a thousand great public occasions was to prove himself, both by pen and by speech, the most eloquent man of his age. his mental accomplishments were considerable: he had studied history with attention, and he spoke and wrote with facility latin, french, german, flemish, and spanish. the man, however, in whose hands the administration of the netherlands was in reality placed, was anthony perrenot, then bishop of arras, soon to be known by the more celebrated title of cardinal granvelle. he was the chief of the consults, or secret council of three, by whose deliberations the duchess regent was to be governed. his father, nicholas perrenot, of an obscure family in burgundy, had been long the favorite minister and man of business to the emperor charles. anthony, the eldest of thirteen children, was born in . he was early distinguished for his talents. he studied at dole, padua, paris, and louvain. at, the age of twenty he spoke seven languages with perfect facility, while his acquaintance with civil and ecclesiastical laws was considered prodigious. at the age of twenty-three he became a canon of liege cathedral. the necessary eight quarters of gentility produced upon that occasion have accordingly been displayed by his panegyrists in triumphant refutation of that theory which gave him a blacksmith for his grandfather. at the same period, although he had not reached the requisite age, the rich bishopric of arras had already been prepared for him by his father's care. three years afterwards, in , he distinguished himself by a most learned and brilliant harangue before the council of trent, by which display he so much charmed the emperor, that he created him councillor of state. a few years afterwards he rendered the unscrupulous charles still more valuable proofs of devotion and dexterity by the part he played in the memorable imprisonment of the landgrave of hesse and the saxon dukes. he was thereafter constantly employed in embassies and other offices of trust and profit. there was no doubt as to his profound and varied learning, nor as to his natural quickness and dexterity. he was ready witted, smooth and fluent of tongue, fertile in expedients, courageous, resolute. he thoroughly understood the art of managing men, particularly his superiors. he knew how to govern under the appearance of obeying. he possessed exquisite tact in appreciating the characters of those far above him in rank and beneath him in intellect. he could accommodate himself with great readiness to the idiosyncrasies of sovereigns. he was a chameleon to the hand which fed him. in his intercourse with the king, he colored himself, as it were, with the king's character. he was not himself, but philip; not the sullen, hesitating, confused philip, however, but philip endowed with eloquence, readiness, facility. the king ever found himself anticipated with the most delicate obsequiousness, beheld his struggling ideas change into winged words without ceasing to be his own. no flattery could be more adroit. the bishop accommodated himself to the king's epistolary habits. the silver-tongued and ready debater substituted protocols for conversation, in deference to a monarch who could not speak. he corresponded with philip, with margaret of parma, with every one. he wrote folios to the duchess when they were in the same palace. he would write letters forty pages long to the king, and send off another courier on the same day with two or three additional despatches of identical date. such prolixity enchanted the king, whose greediness for business epistles was insatiable. the painstaking monarch toiled, pen in hand, after his wonderful minister in vain. philip was only fit to be the bishop's clerk; yet he imagined himself to be the directing and governing power. he scrawled apostilles in the margins to prove that he had read with attention, and persuaded himself that he suggested when he scarcely even comprehended. the bishop gave advice and issued instructions when he seemed to be only receiving them. he was the substance while he affected to be the shadow. these tactics were comparatively easy and likely to be triumphant, so long as he had only to deal with inferior intellects like those of philip and margaret. when he should be matched against political genius and lofty character combined, it was possible that his resources might not prove so all-sufficient. his political principles were sharply defined in reality, but smoothed over by a conventional and decorous benevolence of language, which deceived vulgar minds. he was a strict absolutist. his deference to arbitrary power was profound and slavish. god and "the master," as he always called philip, he professed to serve with equal humility. "it seems to me," said he, in a letter of this epoch, "that i shall never be able to fulfil the obligation of slave which i owe to your majesty, to whom i am bound by so firm a chain;--at any rate, i shall never fail to struggle for that end with sincerity." as a matter of course, he was a firm opponent of the national rights of the netherlands, however artfully he disguised the sharp sword of violent absolutism under a garland of flourishing phraseology. he had strenuously warned philip against assembling the states-general before his departure for the sake of asking them for supplies. he earnestly deprecated allowing the constitutional authorities any control over the expenditures of the government, and averred that this practice under the regent mary had been the cause of endless trouble. it may easily be supposed that other rights were as little to his taste as the claim to vote the subsidies, a privilege which was in reality indisputable. men who stood forth in defence of the provincial constitutions were, in his opinion, mere demagogues and hypocrites; their only motive being to curry favor with the populace. yet these charters were, after all, sufficiently limited. the natural rights of man were topics which had never been broached. man had only natural wrongs. none ventured to doubt that sovereignty was heaven-born, anointed of god. the rights of the netherlands were special, not general; plural, not singular; liberties, not liberty; "privileges," not maxims. they were practical, not theoretical; historical, not philosophical. still, such as they were, they were facts, acquisitions. they had been purchased by the blood and toil of brave ancestors; they amounted--however open to criticism upon broad humanitarian grounds, of which few at that day had ever dreamed--to a solid, substantial dyke against the arbitrary power which was ever chafing and fretting to destroy its barriers. no men were more subtle or more diligent in corroding the foundation of these bulwarks than the disciples of granvelle. yet one would have thought it possible to tolerate an amount of practical freedom so different from the wild, social speculations which in later days, have made both tyrants and reasonable lovers of our race tremble with apprehension. the netherlanders claimed, mainly, the right to vote the money which was demanded in such enormous profusion from their painfully-acquired wealth; they were also unwilling to be burned alive if they objected to transubstantiation. granvelle was most distinctly of an opposite opinion upon both topics. he strenuously deprecated the interference of the states with the subsidies, and it was by his advice that the remorseless edict of , the emperor's ordinance of blood and fire, was re-enacted, as the very first measure of philip's reign. such were his sentiments as to national and popular rights by representation. for the people itself--"that vile and mischievous animal called the people"--as he expressed it, he entertained a cheerful contempt. his aptitude for managing men was very great; his capacity for affairs incontestable; but it must be always understood as the capacity for the affairs of absolutism. he was a clever, scheming politician, an adroit manager; it remained to be seen whether he had a claim to the character of a statesman. his industry was enormous. he could write fifty letters a day with his own hand. he could dictate to half a dozen amanuenses at once, on as many different subjects, in as many different languages, and send them all away exhausted. he was already rich. his income from his see and other livings was estimated, in , at ten thousand dollars--[ approximation. the decimal point more places to the right would in not be out of line. d.w.]--; his property in ready money, "furniture, tapestry, and the like," at two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. when it is considered that, as compared with our times, these sums represent a revenue of a hundred thousand, and a capital of two millions and a half in addition, it may be safely asserted that the prelate had at least made a good beginning. besides his regular income, moreover, he had handsome receipts from that simony which was reduced to a system, and which gave him a liberal profit, generally in the shape of an annuity, upon every benefice which he conferred. he was, however, by no means satisfied. his appetite was as boundless as the sea; he was still a shameless mendicant of pecuniary favors and lucrative offices. already, in , the emperor had roundly rebuked his greediness. "as to what you say of getting no 'merced' nor 'ayuda de costa,'" said he, "'tis merced and ayuda de costa quite sufficient, when one has fat benefices, pensions, and salaries, with which a man might manage to support himself." the bishop, however, was not easily abashed, and he was at the epoch which now occupies us, earnestly and successfully soliciting from philip the lucrative abbey of saint armand. not that he would have accepted this preferment, "could the abbey have been annexed to any of the new bishoprics;" on the contrary, he assured the king that "to carry out so holy a work as the erection of those new sees, he would willingly have contributed even out of his own miserable pittance." it not being considered expedient to confiscate the abbey to any particular bishop, philip accordingly presented it to the prelate of arras, together with a handsome sum of money in the shape of an "ayuda de costa" beside. the thrifty bishop, who foresaw the advent of troublous times in the netherlands, however, took care in the letters by which he sent his thanks, to instruct the king to secure the money upon crown property in arragon, naples, and sicily, as matters in the provinces were beginning to look very precarious. such, at the commencement of the duchess margaret's administration, were the characters and the previous histories of the persons into whose hands the netherlands were entrusted. none of them have been prejudged. we have contented ourselves with stating the facts with regard to all, up to the period at which we have arrived. their characters have been sketched, not according to subsequent developments, but as they appeared at the opening of this important epoch. the aspect of the country and its inhabitants offered many sharp contrasts, and revealed many sources of future trouble. the aristocracy of the netherlands was excessively extravagant, dissipated, and already considerably embarrassed in circumstances. it had been the policy of the emperor and of philip to confer high offices, civil, military, and diplomatic, upon the leading nobles, by which enormous expenses were entailed upon them, without any corresponding salaries. the case of orange has been already alluded to, and there were many other nobles less able to afford the expense, who had been indulged with these ruinous honors. during the war, there had been, however, many chances of bettering broken fortunes. victory brought immense prizes to the leading officers. the ransoms of so many illustrious prisoners as had graced the triumphs of saint quentin and gravelines had been extremely profitable. these sources of wealth had now been cut off; yet, on the departure of the king from the netherlands, the luxury increased instead of diminishing, "instead of one court," said a contemporary, "you would have said that there were fifty." nothing could be more sumptuous than the modes of life in brussels. the household of orange has been already painted. that of egmont was almost as magnificent. a rivalry in hospitality and in display began among the highest nobles, and extended to those less able to maintain themselves in the contest. during the war there had been the valiant emulation of the battlefield; gentlemen had vied with each other how best to illustrate an ancient name with deeds of desperate valor, to repair the fortunes of a ruined house with the spoils of war. they now sought to surpass each other in splendid extravagance. it was an eager competition who should build the stateliest palaces, have the greatest number of noble pages and gentlemen in waiting, the most gorgeous liveries, the most hospitable tables, the most scientific cooks. there was, also, much depravity as well as extravagance. the morals of high society were loose. gaming was practised to a frightful extent. drunkenness was a prevailing characteristic of the higher classes. even the prince of orange himself, at this period, although never addicted to habitual excess, was extremely convivial in his tastes, tolerating scenes and companions, not likely at a later day to find much favor in his sight. "we kept saint martin's joyously," he wrote, at about this period, to his brother, "and in the most jovial company. brederode was one day in such a state that i thought he would certainly die, but he has now got over it." count brederode, soon afterwards to become so conspicuous in the early scenes of the revolt, was, in truth, most notorious for his performances in these banqueting scenes. he appeared to have vowed as uncompromising hostility to cold water as to the inquisition, and always denounced both with the same fierce and ludicrous vehemence. their constant connection with germany at that period did not improve the sobriety of the netherlands' nobles. the aristocracy of that country, as is well known, were most "potent at potting." "when the german finds himself sober," said the bitter badovaro, "he believes himself to be ill." gladly, since the peace, they had welcomed the opportunities afforded for many a deep carouse with their netherlands cousins. the approaching marriage of the prince of orange with the saxon princess--an episode which will soon engage our attention--gave rise to tremendous orgies. count schwartzburg, the prince's brother-in-law, and one of the negotiators of the marriage, found many occasions to strengthen the bonds of harmony between the countries by indulgence of these common tastes. "i have had many princes and counts at my table," he wrote to orange, "where a good deal more was drunk than eaten. the rhinegrave's brother fell down dead after drinking too much malvoisie; but we have had him balsamed and sent home to his family." these disorders among the higher ranks were in reality so extensive as to justify the biting remark of the venetian: "the gentlemen intoxicate themselves every day," said he, "and the ladies also; but much less than the men." his remarks as to the morality, in other respects, of both sexes were equally sweeping, and not more complimentary. if these were the characteristics of the most distinguished society, it may be supposed that they were reproduced with more or less intensity throughout all the more remote but concentric circles of life, as far as the seductive splendor of the court could radiate. the lesser nobles emulated the grandees, and vied with each other in splendid establishments, banquets, masquerades, and equipages. the natural consequences of such extravagance followed. their estates were mortgaged, deeply and more deeply; then, after a few years, sold to the merchants, or rich advocates and other gentlemen of the robe, to whom they had been pledged. the more closely ruin stared the victims in the face, the more heedlessly did they plunge into excesses. "such were the circumstances," moralizes a catholic writer, "to which, at an earlier period, the affairs of catiline, cethegus, lentulus, and others of that faction had been reduced, when they undertook to overthrow the roman republic." many of the nobles being thus embarrassed, and some even desperate, in their condition, it was thought that they were desirous of creating disturbances in the commonwealth, that the payment of just debts might be avoided, that their mortgaged lands might be wrested by main force from the low-born individuals who had become possessed of them, that, in particular, the rich abbey lands held by idle priests might be appropriated to the use of impoverished gentlemen who could turn them to so much better account. it is quite probable that interested motives such as these were not entirely inactive among a comparatively small class of gentlemen. the religious reformation in every land of europe derived a portion of its strength from the opportunity it afforded to potentates and great nobles for helping themselves to church property. no doubt many netherlanders thought that their fortunes might be improved at the expense of the monks, and for the benefit of religion. even without apostasy from the mother church, they looked with longing eyes on the wealth of her favored and indolent children. they thought that the king would do well to carve a round number of handsome military commanderies out of the abbey lands, whose possessors should be bound to military service after the ancient manner of fiefs, so that a splendid cavalry, headed by the gentlemen of the country, should be ever ready to mount and ride at the royal pleasure, in place of a horde of lazy epicureans, telling beads and indulging themselves in luxurious vice. such views were entertained; such language often held. these circumstances and sentiments had their influence among the causes which produced the great revolt now impending. care should be taken, however, not to exaggerate that influence. it is a prodigious mistake to refer this great historical event to sources so insufficient as the ambition of a few great nobles, and the embarrassments of a larger number of needy gentlemen. the netherlands revolt was not an aristocratic, but a popular, although certainly not a democratic movement. it was a great episode--the longest, the darkest, the bloodiest, the most important episode in the history of the religious reformation in europe. the nobles so conspicuous upon the surface at the outbreak, only drifted before a storm which they neither caused nor controlled. even the most powerful and the most sagacious were tossed to and fro by the surge of great events, which, as they rolled more and more tumultuously around them, seemed to become both irresistible and unfathomable. for the state of the people was very different from the condition of the aristocracy. the period of martyrdom had lasted long and was to last loner; but there were symptoms that it might one day be succeeded by a more active stage of popular disease. the tumults of the netherlands were long in ripening; when the final outbreak came it would have been more philosophical to enquire, not why it had occurred, but how it could have been so long postponed. during the reign of charles, the sixteenth century had been advancing steadily in strength as the once omnipotent emperor lapsed into decrepitude. that extraordinary century had not dawned upon the earth only to increase the strength of absolutism and superstition. the new world had not been discovered, the ancient world reconquered, the printing-press perfected, only that the inquisition might reign undisturbed over the fairest portions of the earth, and chartered hypocrisy fatten upon its richest lands. it was impossible that the most energetic and quick-witted people of europe should not feel sympathy with the great effort made by christendom to shake off the incubus which had so long paralyzed her hands and brain. in the netherlands, where the attachment to rome had never been intense, where in the old times, the bishops of utrecht had been rather ghibelline than guelph, where all the earlier sects of dissenters--waldenses, lollards, hussites--had found numerous converts and thousands of martyrs, it was inevitable that there should be a response from the popular heart to the deeper agitation which now reached to the very core of christendom. in those provinces, so industrious and energetic, the disgust was likely to be most easily awakened for a system under which so many friars battened in luxury upon the toils of others, contributing nothing to the taxation, nor to the military defence of the country, exercising no productive avocation, except their trade in indulgences, and squandering in taverns and brothels the annual sums derived from their traffic in licences to commit murder, incest, and every other crime known to humanity. the people were numerous, industrious, accustomed for centuries to a state of comparative civil freedom, and to a lively foreign trade, by which their minds were saved from the stagnation of bigotry. it was natural that they should begin to generalize, and to pass from the concrete images presented them in the flemish monasteries to the abstract character of rome itself. the flemish, above all their other qualities, were a commercial nation. commerce was the mother of their freedom, so far as they had acquired it, in civil matters. it was struggling to give birth to a larger liberty, to freedom of conscience. the provinces were situated in the very heart of europe. the blood of a world-wide traffic was daily coursing through the thousand arteries of that water-in-woven territory. there was a mutual exchange between the netherlands and all the world; and ideas were as liberally interchanged as goods. truth was imported as freely as less precious merchandise. the psalms of marot were as current as the drugs of molucca or the diamonds of borneo. the prohibitory measures of a despotic government could not annihilate this intellectual trade, nor could bigotry devise an effective quarantine to exclude the religious pest which lurked in every bale of merchandise, and was wafted on every breeze from east and west. the edicts of the emperor had been endured, but not accepted. the horrible persecution under which so many thousands had sunk had produced its inevitable result. fertilized by all this innocent blood, the soil of the netherlands became as a watered garden, in which liberty, civil and religious, was to flourish perennially. the scaffold had its daily victims, but did not make a single convert. the statistics of these crimes will perhaps never be accurately adjusted, nor will it be ascertained whether the famous estimate of grotius was an exaggerated or an inadequate calculation. those who love horrible details may find ample material. the chronicles contain the lists of these obscure martyrs; but their names, hardly pronounced in their life-time, sound barbarously in our ears, and will never ring through the trumpet of fame. yet they were men who dared and suffered as much as men can dare and suffer in this world, and for the noblest cause which can inspire humanity. fanatics they certainly were not, if fanaticism consists in show, without corresponding substance. for them all was terrible reality. the emperor and his edicts were realities, the axe, the stake were realities, and the heroism with which men took each other by the hand and walked into the flames, or with which women sang a song of triumph while the grave-digger was shovelling the earth upon their living faces, was a reality also. thus, the people of the netherlands were already pervaded, throughout the whole extent of the country, with the expanding spirit of religious reformation. it was inevitable that sooner or later an explosion was to arrive. they were placed between two great countries, where the new principles had already taken root. the lutheranism of germany and the calvinism of france had each its share in producing the netherland revolt, but a mistake is perhaps often made in estimating the relative proportion of these several influences. the reformation first entered the provinces, not through the augsburg, but the huguenot gate. the fiery field-preachers from the south of france first inflamed the excitable hearts of the kindred population of the south-western netherlands. the walloons were the first to rebel against and the first to reconcile themselves with papal rome, exactly as their celtic ancestors, fifteen centuries earlier, had been foremost in the revolt against imperial rome, and precipitate in their submission to her overshadowing power. the batavians, slower to be moved but more steadfast, retained the impulse which they received from the same source which was already agitating their "welsh" compatriots. there were already french preachers at valenciennes and tournay, to be followed, as we shall have occasion to see, by many others. without undervaluing the influence of the german churches, and particularly of the garrison-preaching of the german military chaplains in the netherlands, it may be safely asserted that the early reformers of the provinces were mainly huguenots in their belief: the dutch church became, accordingly, not lutheran, but calvinistic, and the founder of the commonwealth hardly ceased to be a nominal catholic before he became an adherent to the same creed. in the mean time, it is more natural to regard the great movement, psychologically speaking, as a whole, whether it revealed itself in france, germany, the netherlands, england, or scotland. the policy of governments, national character, individual interests, and other collateral circumstances, modified the result; but the great cause was the same; the source of all the movements was elemental, natural, and single. the reformation in germany had been adjourned for half a century by the augsburg religious peace, just concluded. it was held in suspense in france through the macchiavellian policy which catharine de medici had just adopted, and was for several years to prosecute, of balancing one party against the other, so as to neutralize all power but her own. the great contest was accordingly transferred to the netherlands, to be fought out for the rest of the century, while the whole of christendom were to look anxiously for the result. from the east and from the west the clouds rolled away, leaving a comparatively bright and peaceful atmosphere, only that they might concentrate themselves with portentous blackness over the devoted soil of the netherlands. in germany, the princes, not the people, had conquered rome, and to the princes, not the people, were secured the benefits of the victory--the spoils of churches, and the right to worship according to conscience. the people had the right to conform to their ruler's creed, or to depart from his land. still, as a matter of fact, many of the princes being reformers, a large mass of the population had acquired the privilege for their own generation and that of their children to practise that religion which they actually approved. this was a fact, and a more comfortable one than the necessity of choosing between what they considered wicked idolatry and the stake--the only election left to their netherland brethren. in france, the accidental splinter from montgomery's lance had deferred the huguenot massacre for a dozen years. during the period in which the queen regent was resolved to play her fast and loose policy, all the persuasions of philip and the arts of alva were powerless to induce her to carry out the scheme which henry had revealed to orange in the forest of vincennes. when the crime came at last, it was as blundering as it was bloody; at once premeditated and accidental; the isolated execution of an interregal conspiracy, existing for half a generation, yet exploding without concert; a wholesale massacre, but a piecemeal plot. the aristocracy and the masses being thus, from a variety of causes, in this agitated and dangerous condition, what were the measures of the government? the edict of had been re-enacted immediately after philip's accession to sovereignty. it is necessary that the reader should be made acquainted with some of the leading provisions of this famous document, thus laid down above all the constitutions as the organic law of the land. a few plain facts, entirely without rhetorical varnish, will prove more impressive in this case than superfluous declamation. the american will judge whether the wrongs inflicted by laud and charles upon his puritan ancestors were the severest which a people has had to undergo, and whether the dutch republic does not track its source to the same high, religious origin as that of our own commonwealth. "no one," said the edict, "shall print, write, copy, keep, conceal, sell, buy or give in churches, streets, or other places, any book or writing made by martin luther, john ecolampadius, ulrich zwinglius, martin bucer, john calvin, or other heretics reprobated by the holy church; nor break, or otherwise injure the images of the holy virgin or canonized saints.... nor in his house hold conventicles, or illegal gatherings, or be present at any such in which the adherents of the above-mentioned heretics teach, baptize, and form conspiracies against the holy church and the general welfare..... moreover, we forbid," continues the edict, in name of the sovereign, "all lay persons to converse or dispute concerning the holy scriptures, openly or secretly, especially on any doubtful or difficult matters, or to read, teach, or expound the scriptures, unless they have duly studied theology and been approved by some renowned university..... or to preach secretly, or openly, or to entertain any of the opinions of the above-mentioned heretics..... on pain, should anyone be found to have contravened any of the points above-mentioned, as perturbators of our state and of the general quiet, to be punished in the following manner." and how were they to be punished? what was the penalty inflicted upon the man or woman who owned a hymn-book, or who hazarded the opinion in private, that luther was not quite wrong in doubting the power of a monk to sell for money the license to commit murder or incest; or upon the parent, not being a roman catholic doctor of divinity, who should read christ's sermon on the mount to his children in his own parlor or shop? how were crimes like these to be visited upon the transgressor? was it by reprimand, fine, imprisonment, banishment, or by branding on the forehead, by the cropping of the ears or the slitting of nostrils, as was practised upon the puritan fathers of new england for their nonconformity? it was by a sharper chastisement than any of these methods. the puritan fathers of the dutch republic had to struggle against a darker doom. the edict went on to provide-- "that such perturbators of the general quiet are to be executed, to wit: the men with the sword and the women to be buried alive, if they do not persist in their errors; if they do persist in them, then they are to be executed with fire; all their property in both cases being confiscated to the crown." thus, the clemency of the sovereign permitted the repentant heretic to be beheaded or buried, alive, instead of being burned. the edict further provided against all misprision of heresy by making those who failed to betray the suspected liable to the same punishment as if suspected or convicted themselves: "we forbid," said the decree, "all persons to lodge, entertain, furnish with food, fire, or clothing, or otherwise to favor any one holden or notoriously suspected of being a heretic; . . . and any one failing to denounce any such we ordain shall be liable to the above-mentioned punishments." the edict went on to provide, "that if any person, being not convicted of heresy or error, but greatly suspected thereof, and therefore condemned by the spiritual judge to abjure such heresy, or by the secular magistrate to make public fine and reparation, shall again become suspected or tainted with heresy--although it should not appear that he has contravened or violated any one of our abovementioned commands--nevertheless, we do will and ordain that such person shall be considered as relapsed, and, as such, be punished with loss of life and property, without any hope of moderation or mitigation of the above-mentioned penalties." furthermore, it was decreed, that "the spiritual judges, desiring to proceed against any one for the crime of heresy, shall request any of our sovereign courts or provincial councils to appoint any one of their college, or such other adjunct as the council shall select, to preside over the proceedings to be instituted against the suspected. all who know of any person tainted with heresy are required to denounce and give them up to all judges, officers of the bishops, or others having authority on the premises, on pain of being punished according to the pleasure of the judge. likewise, all shall be obliged, who know of any place where such heretics keep themselves, to declare them to the authorities, on pain of being held as accomplices, and punished as such heretics themselves would be if apprehended." in order to secure the greatest number of arrests by a direct appeal to the most ignoble, but not the least powerful principle of human nature, it was ordained "that the informer, in case of conviction, should be entitled to one half the property of the accused, if not more than one hundred pounds flemish; if more, then ten per cent. of all such excess." treachery to one's friends was encouraged by the provision, "that if any man being present at any secret conventicle, shall afterwards come forward and betray his fellow-members of the congregation, he shall receive full pardon." in order that neither the good people of the netherlands, nor the judges and inquisitors should delude themselves with the notion that these fanatic decrees were only intended to inspire terror, not for practical execution, the sovereign continued to ordain--"to the end that the judges and officers may have no reason, under pretext that the penalties are too great and heavy and only devised to terrify delinquents, to punish them less severely than they deserve--that the culprits be really punished by the penalties above declared; forbidding all judges to alter or moderate the penalties in any manner forbidding any one, of whatsoever condition, to ask of us, or of any one having authority, to grant pardon, or to present any petition in favor of such heretics, exiles, or fugitives, on penalty of being declared forever incapable of civil and military office, and of being, arbitrarily punished besides." such were the leading provisions of this famous edict, originally promulgated in as a recapitulation and condensation of all the previous ordinances of the emperor upon religious subjects. by its style and title it was a perpetual edict, and, according to one of its clauses, was to be published forever, once in every six months, in every city and village of the netherlands. it had been promulgated at augsburg, where the emperor was holding a diet, upon the th of september. its severity had so appalled the dowager queen of hungary, that she had made a journey to augsburg expressly to procure a mitigation of some of its provisions. the principal alteration which she was able to obtain of the emperor was, however, in the phraseology only. as a concession to popular, prejudice, the words "spiritual judges" were substituted for "inquisitors" wherever that expression had occurred in the original draft. the edict had been re-enacted by the express advice of the bishop of arras, immediately on the accession of philip: the prelate knew the value of the emperor's name; he may have thought, also, that it would be difficult to increase the sharpness of the ordinances. "i advised the king," says granvelle, in a letter written a few years later, "to make no change in the placards, but to proclaim the text drawn up by the emperor, republishing the whole as the king's edict, with express insertion of the phrase, 'carolus,' etc. i recommended this lest men should calumniate his majesty as wishing to introduce novelties in the matter of religion." this edict, containing the provisions which have been laid before the reader, was now to be enforced with the utmost rigor; every official personage, from the stadholders down, having received the most stringent instructions to that effect, under philip's own hand. this was the first gift of philip and of granvelle to the netherlands; of the monarch who said of himself that he had always, "from the beginning of his government, followed the path of clemency, according to his natural disposition, so well known to all the world;" of the prelate who said of himself, "that he had ever combated the opinion that any thing could be accomplished by terror, death, and violence." during the period of the french and papal war, it has been seen that the execution of these edicts had been permitted to slacken. it was now resumed with redoubled fury. moreover, a new measure had increased the disaffection and dismay of the people, already sufficiently filled with apprehension. as an additional security for the supremacy of the ancient religion, it had been thought desirable that the number of bishops should be increased. there were but four sees in the netherlands, those of arras, cambray, tournay, and utrecht. that of utrecht was within the archiepiscopate of cologne; the other three were within that of rheims. it seemed proper that the prelates of the netherlands should owe no extraprovincial allegiance. it was likewise thought that three millions of souls required more than four spiritual superintendents. at any rate, whatever might be the interest of the flocks, it was certain that those broad and fertile pastures would sustain more than the present number of shepherds. the wealth of the religious houses in the provinces was very great. the abbey of afflighem alone had a revenue of fifty thousand florins, and there were many others scarcely inferior in wealth. but these institutions were comparatively independent both of king and pope. electing their own superiors from time to time, in nowise desirous of any change by which their ease might be disturbed and their riches endangered, the honest friars were not likely to engage in any very vigorous crusade against heresy, nor for the sake of introducing or strengthening spanish institutions, which they knew to be abominated by the people, to take the risk, of driving all their disciples into revolt and apostacy. comforting themselves with an erasmian philosophy, which they thought best suited to the times, they were as little likely as the sage of rotterdam himself would have been, to make martyrs of themselves for the sake of extirpating calvinism. the abbots and monks were, in political matters, very much under the influence of the great nobles, in whose company they occupied the benches of the upper house of the states-general. doctor francis sonnius had been sent on a mission to the pope, for the purpose of representing the necessity of an increase in the episcopal force of the netherlands. just as the king was taking his departure, the commissioner arrived, bringing with him the bull of paul the fourth, dated may , . this was afterwards confirmed by that of pius the fourth, in january of the following year. the document stated that "paul the fourth, slave of slaves, wishing to provide for the welfare of the provinces and the eternal salvation of their inhabitants, had determined to plant in that fruitful field several new bishoprics. the enemy of mankind being abroad," said the bull, "in so many forms at that particular time, and the netherlands, then under the sway of that beloved son of his holiness, philip the catholic, being compassed about with heretic and schismatic nations, it was believed that the eternal welfare of the land was in great danger. at the period of the original establishment of cathedral churches, the provinces had been sparsely peopled; they had now become filled to overflowing, so that the original ecclesiastical arrangement did not suffice. the harvest was plentiful, but the laborers were few." in consideration of these and other reasons, three archbishoprics were accordingly appointed. that of mechlin was to be principal, under which were constituted six bishoprics, those, namely, of antwerp, bois le due, rurmond, ghent, bruges and ypres. that of cambray was second, with the four subordinate dioceses of tournay, arras, saint omer and namur. the third archbishopric was that of utrecht, with the five sees of haarlem, middelburg, leeuwarden, groningen and deventer. the nomination to these important offices was granted to the king, subject to confirmation by the pope. moreover, it was ordained by the bull that "each bishop should appoint nine additional prebendaries, who were to assist him in the matter of the inquisition throughout his bishopric, two of whom were themselves to be inquisitors." to sustain these two great measures, through which philip hoped once and forever to extinguish the netherland heresy, it was considered desirable that the spanish troops still remaining in the provinces, should be kept there indefinitely. the force was not large, amounting hardly to four thousand men, but they were unscrupulous, and admirably disciplined. as the entering wedge, by which a military and ecclesiastical despotism was eventually to be forced into the very heart of the land, they were invaluable. the moral effect to be hoped from the regular presence of a spanish standing army during a time of peace in the netherlands could hardly be exaggerated. philip was therefore determined to employ every argument and subterfuge to detain the troops. etext editor's bookmarks: burned alive if they objected to transubstantiation german finds himself sober--he believes himself ill govern under the appearance of obeying informer, in case of conviction, should be entitled to one half man had only natural wrongs (no natural rights) no calumny was too senseless to be invented ruinous honors sovereignty was heaven-born, anointed of god that vile and mischievous animal called the people understood the art of managing men, particularly his superiors upon one day twenty-eight master cooks were dismissed william of nassau, prince of orange motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. - [chapter ii.] agitation in the netherlands--the ancient charters resorted to as barriers against the measures of government--"joyous entrance" of brabant--constitution of holland--growing unpopularity of antony perrenot, archbishop of mechlin--opposition to the new bishoprics, by orange, egmont, and other influential nobles--fury of the people at the continued presence of the foreign soldiery--orange resigns the command of the legion--the troops recalled--philip's personal attention to the details of persecution--perrenot becomes cardinal de granvelle--all the power of government in his hands--his increasing unpopularity--animosity and violence of egmont towards the cardinal--relations between orange and granvelle--ancient friendship gradually changing to enmity--renewal of the magistracy at antwerp--quarrel between the prince and cardinal--joint letter of orange and egmont to the king--answer of the king--indignation of philip against count horn--secret correspondence between the king and cardinal--remonstrances against the new bishoprics--philip's private financial statements--penury of the exchequer in spain and in the provinces--plan for debasing the coin--marriage of william the silent with the princess of lorraine circumvented--negotiations for his matrimonial alliance with princess anna of saxony-- correspondence between granvelle and philip upon the subject-- opposition of landgrave philip and of philip the second--character and conduct of elector augustus--mission of count schwartzburg-- communications of orange to the king and to duchess margaret-- characteristic letter of philip--artful conduct of granvelle and of the regent--visit of orange to dresden--proposed "note" of elector augustus--refusal of the prince--protest of the landgrave against the marriage--preparations for the wedding at leipzig--notarial instrument drawn up on the marriage day--wedding ceremonies and festivities--entrance of granvelle into mechlin as archbishop-- compromise in brabant between the abbeys and bishops. the years and were mainly occupied with the agitation and dismay produced by the causes set forth in the preceding chapter. against the arbitrary policy embodied in the edicts, the new bishoprics and the foreign soldiery, the netherlanders appealed to their ancient constitutions. these charters were called "handvests" in the vernacular dutch and flemish, because the sovereign made them fast with his hand. as already stated, philip had made them faster than any of the princes of his house had ever done, so far as oath and signature could accomplish that purpose, both as hereditary prince in , and as monarch in . the reasons for the extensive and unconditional manner in which he swore to support the provincial charters, have been already indicated. of these constitutions, that of brabant, known by the title of the 'joyeuse entree, blyde inkomst', or blithe entrance, furnished the most decisive barrier against the present wholesale tyranny. first and foremost, the "joyous entry" provided "that the prince of the land should not elevate the clerical state higher than of old has been customary and by former princes settled; unless by consent of the other two estates, the nobility and the cities." again; "the prince can prosecute no one of his subjects nor any foreign resident, civilly or criminally, except in the ordinary and open courts of justice in the province, where the accused may answer and defend himself with the help of advocates." further; "the prince shall appoint no foreigners to office in brabant." lastly; "should the prince, by force or otherwise, violate any of these privileges, the inhabitants of brabant, after regular protest entered, are discharged of their oaths of allegiance, and as free, independent and unbound people, may conduct themselves exactly as seems to them best." such were the leading features, so far as they regarded the points now at issue, of that famous constitution which was so highly esteemed in the netherlands, that mothers came to the province in order to give birth to their children, who might thus enjoy, as a birthright, the privileges of brabant. yet the charters of the other provinces ought to have been as effective against the arbitrary course of the government. "no foreigner," said the constitution of holland, "is eligible as, councillor, financier, magistrate, or member of a court. justice can be administered only by the ordinary tribunals and magistrates. the ancient laws and customs shall remain inviolable. should the prince infringe any of these provisions, no one is bound to obey him." these provisions, from the brabant and holland charters, are only cited as illustrative of the general spirit of the provincial constitutions. nearly all the provinces possessed privileges equally ample, duly signed and sealed. so far as ink and sealing wax could defend a land against sword and fire, the netherlands were impregnable against the edicts and the renewed episcopal inquisition. unfortunately, all history shows how feeble are barriers of paper or lambskin, even when hallowed with a monarch's oath, against the torrent of regal and ecclesiastical absolutism. it was on the reception in the provinces of the new and confirmatory bull concerning the bishoprics, issued in january, , that the measure became known, and the dissatisfaction manifest. the discontent was inevitable and universal. the ecclesiastical establishment which was not to be enlarged or elevated but by consent of the estates, was suddenly expanded into three archiepiscopates and fifteen bishoprics. the administration of justice, which was only allowed in free and local courts, distinct for each province, was to be placed, so far as regarded the most important of human interests, in the hands of bishops and their creatures, many of them foreigners and most of them monks. the lives and property of the whole population were to be at the mercy of these utterly irresponsible conclaves. all classes were outraged. the nobles were offended because ecclesiastics, perhaps foreign ecclesiastics, were to be empowered to sit in the provincial estates and to control their proceedings in place of easy, indolent, ignorant abbots and friars, who had generally accepted the influence of the great seignors. the priests were enraged because the religious houses were thus taken out of their control and confiscated to a bench of bishops, usurping the places of those superiors who had formally been elected by and among themselves. the people were alarmed because the monasteries, although not respected nor popular, were at least charitable and without ambition to exercise ecclesiastical cruelty; while, on the other hand, by the new episcopal arrangements, a force of thirty new inquisitors was added to the apparatus for enforcing orthodoxy already established. the odium of the measure was placed upon the head of that churchman, already appointed archbishop of mechlin, and soon to be known as cardinal granvelle. from this time forth, this prelate began to be regarded with a daily increasing aversion. he was looked upon as the incarnation of all the odious measures which had been devised; as the source of that policy of absolutism which revealed itself more and more rapidly after the king's departure from the country. it was for this reason that so much stress was laid by popular clamor upon the clause prohibiting foreigners from office. granvelle was a burgundian; his father had passed most of his active life in spain, while both he and his more distinguished son were identified in the general mind with spanish politics. to this prelate, then, were ascribed the edicts, the new bishoprics, and the continued presence of the foreign troops. the people were right as regarded the first accusation. they were mistaken as to the other charges. the king had not consulted anthony perrenot with regard to the creation of the new bishoprics. the measure, which had been successively contemplated by philip "the good," by charles the bold, and by the emperor charles, had now been carried out by philip the second, without the knowledge of the new archbishop of mechlin. the king had for once been able to deceive the astuteness of the prelate, and had concealed from him the intended arrangement, until the arrival of sonnius with the bulls. granvelle gave the reasons for this mystery with much simplicity. "his majesty knew," he said, "that i should oppose it, as it was more honorable and lucrative to be one of four than one of eighteen." in fact, according to his own statement, he lost money by becoming archbishop of mechlin, and ceasing to be bishop of arras. for these reasons he declined, more than once, the proffered dignity, and at last only accepted it from fear of giving offence to the king, and after having secured compensation for his alleged losses. in the same letter (of th may, ) in which he thanked philip for conferring upon him the rich abbey of saint armand, which he had solicited, in addition to the "merced" in ready money, concerning the safe investment of which he had already sent directions, he observed that he was now willing to accept the archbishopric of mechlin; notwithstanding the odium attached to the measure, notwithstanding his feeble powers, and notwithstanding that, during the life of the bishop of tournay, who was then in rude health, he could only receive three thousand ducats of the revenue, giving up arras and gaining nothing in mechlin; notwithstanding all this, and a thousand other things besides, he assured his majesty that, "since the royal desire was so strong that he should accept, he would consider nothing so difficult that he would not at least attempt it." having made up his mind to take the see and support the new arrangements, he was resolved that his profits should be as large as possible. we have seen how he had already been enabled to indemnify himself. we shall find him soon afterwards importuning the king for the abbey of afflighem, the enormous revenue of which the prelate thought would make another handsome addition to the rewards of his sacrifices. at the same time, he was most anxious that the people, and particularly the great nobles, should not ascribe the new establishment to him, as they persisted in doing. "they say that the episcopates were devised to gratify my ambition," he wrote to philip two years later; "whereas your majesty knows how steadily i refused the see of mechlin, and that i only accepted it in order not to live in idleness, doing nothing for god and your majesty." he therefore instructed philip, on several occasions, to make it known to the government of the regent, to the seignors, and to the country generally, that the measure had been arranged without his knowledge; that the marquis berghen had known of it first, and that the prelate had, in truth, been kept in the dark on the subject until the arrival of sonnius with the bulls. the king, always docile to his minister, accordingly wrote to the duchess the statements required, in almost the exact phraseology suggested; taking pains to repeat the declarations on several occasions, both by letter and by word of mouth, to many influential persons. the people, however, persisted in identifying the bishop with the scheme. they saw that he was the head of the new institutions; that he was to receive the lion's share of the confiscated abbeys, and that he was foremost in defending and carrying through the measure, in spite of all opposition. that opposition waxed daily more bitter, till the cardinal, notwithstanding that he characterised the arrangement to the king as "a holy work," and warmly assured secretary perez that he would contribute his fortune, his blood, and his life, to its success, was yet obliged to exclaim in the bitterness of his spirit, "would to god that the erection of these new sees had never been thought of. amen! amen!" foremost in resistance was the prince of orange. although a catholic, he had no relish for the horrible persecution which had been determined upon. the new bishoprics he characterized afterwards as parts "of one grand scheme for establishing the cruel inquisition of spain; the said bishops to serve as inquisitors, burners of bodies; and tyrants of conscience: two prebendaries in each see being actually constituted inquisitors." for this reason he omitted no remonstrance on the subject to the duchess, to granvelle, and by direct letters to the king. his efforts were seconded by egmont, berghen, and other influential nobles. even berlaymont was at first disposed to side with the opposition, but upon the argument used by the duchess, that the bishoprics and prebends would furnish excellent places for his sons and other members of the aristocracy, he began warmly to support the measure. most of the labor, however, and all the odium, of the business fell upon the bishop's shoulders. there was still a large fund of loyalty left in the popular mind, which not even forty years of the emperor's dominion had consumed, and which philip was destined to draw upon as prodigally as if the treasure had been inexhaustible. for these reasons it still seemed most decorous to load all the hatred upon the minister's back, and to retain the consolatory formula, that philip was a prince, "clement, benign, and debonair." the bishop, true to his habitual conviction, that words, with the people, are much more important than things, was disposed to have the word "inquisitor" taken out of the text of the new decree. he was anxious at this juncture to make things pleasant, and he saw no reason why men should be unnecessarily startled. if the inquisition could be practised, and the heretics burned, he was in favor of its being done comfortably. the word "inquisitor" was unpopular, almost indecent. it was better to suppress the term and retain the thing. "people are afraid to speak of the new bishoprics," he wrote to perez, "on account of the clause providing that of nine canons one shall be inquisitor. hence people fear the spanish inquisition."--he, therefore, had written to the king to suggest instead, that the canons or graduates should be obliged to assist the bishop, according as he might command. those terms would suffice, because, although not expressly stated, it was clear that the bishop was an ordinary inquisitor; but it was necessary to expunge words that gave offence. it was difficult, however, with all the bishop's eloquence and dexterity, to construct an agreeable inquisition. the people did not like it, in any shape, and there were indications, not to be mistaken, that one day there would be a storm which it would be beyond human power to assuage. at present the people directed their indignation only upon a part of the machinery devised for their oppression. the spanish troops were considered as a portion of the apparatus by which the new bishoprics and the edicts were to be forced into execution. moreover, men were, weary of the insolence and the pillage which these mercenaries had so long exercised in the land. when the king had been first requested to withdraw them, we have seen that he had burst into a violent passion. he had afterward dissembled. promising, at last, that they should all be sent from the country within three or four months after his departure, he had determined to use every artifice to detain them in the provinces. he had succeeded, by various subterfuges, in keeping them there fourteen months; but it was at last evident that their presence would no longer be tolerated. towards the close of they were quartered in walcheren and brill. the zelanders, however, had become so exasperated by their presence that they resolutely refused to lay a single hand upon the dykes, which, as usual at that season, required great repairs. rather than see their native soil profaned any longer by these hated foreign mercenaries, they would see it sunk forever in the ocean. they swore to perish-men, women, and children together-in the waves, rather than endure longer the outrages which the soldiery daily inflicted. such was the temper of the zelanders that it was not thought wise to trifle with their irritation. the bishop felt that it was no longer practicable to detain the troops, and that all the pretext devised by philip and his government had become ineffectual. in a session of the state council, held on the th october, , he represented in the strongest terms to the regent the necessity for the final departure of the troops. viglius, who knew the character of his countrymen, strenuously seconded the proposal. orange briefly but firmly expressed the same opinion, declining any longer to serve as commander of the legion, an office which, in conjunction with egmont, he had accepted provisionally, with the best of motives, and on the pledge of philip that the soldiers should be withdrawn. the duchess urged that the order should at least be deferred until the arrival of count egmont, then in spain, but the proposition was unanimously negatived. letters were accordingly written, in the name of the regent, to the king. it was stated that the measure could no longer be delayed, that the provinces all agreed in this point, that so long as the foreigners remained not a stiver should be paid into the treasury; that if they had once set sail, the necessary amount for their arrears would be furnished to the government; but that if they should return it was probable that they would be resisted by the inhabitants with main force, and that they would only be allowed to enter the cities through a breach in their wall. it was urged, moreover, that three or four thousand spaniards would not be sufficient to coerce all the provinces, and that there was not money enough in the royal exchequer to pay the wages of a single company of the troops. "it cuts me to the heart," wrote the bishop to philip, "to see the spanish infantry leave us; but go they must. would to god that we could devise any pretext, as your majesty desires, under which to keep them here! we have tried all means humanly possible for retaining them, but i see no way to do it without putting the provinces in manifest danger of sudden revolt." fortunately for the dignity of the government, or for the repose of the country, a respectable motive was found for employing the legion elsewhere. the important loss which spain had recently met with in the capture of zerby made a reinforcement necessary in the army engaged in the southern service. thus, the disaster in barbary at last relieved the netherlands of the pest which had afflicted them so long. for a brief breathing space the country was cleared of foreign mercenaries. the growing unpopularity of the royal government, still typified, however, in the increasing hatred entertained for the bishop, was not materially diminished by the departure of the spaniards. the edicts and the bishoprics were still there, even if the soldiers were gone. the churchman worked faithfully to accomplish his master's business. philip, on his side, was industrious to bring about the consummation of his measures. ever occupied with details, the monarch, from his palace in spain, sent frequent informations against the humblest individuals in the netherlands. it is curious to observe the minute reticulations of tyranny which he had begun already to spin about a whole, people, while cold, venomous, and patient he watched his victims from the centre of his web. he forwarded particular details to the duchess and cardinal concerning a variety of men and women, sending their names, ages, personal appearance, occupations, and residence, together with directions for their immediate immolation. even the inquisitors of seville were set to work to increase, by means of their branches or agencies in the provinces, the royal information on this all-important subject. "there are but few of us left in the world," he moralized in a letter to the bishop, "who care for religion. 'tis necessary, therefore, for us to take the greater heed for christianity. we must lose our all, if need be, in order to do our duty; in fine," added he, with his usual tautology, "it is right that a man should do his duty." granvelle--as he must now be called, for his elevation to the cardinalship will be immediately alluded to--wrote to assure the king that every pains would be taken to ferret out and execute the individuals complained of. he bewailed, however, the want of heartiness on the part of the netherland inquisitors and judges. "i find," said he, "that all judicial officers go into the matter of executing the edicts with reluctance, which i believe is caused by their fear of displeasing the populace. when they do act they do it but languidly, and when these matters are not taken in hand with the necessary liveliness, the fruit desired is not gathered. we do not fail to exhort and to command them to do their work." he added that viglius and berlaymont displayed laudable zeal, but that he could not say as much for the council of brabant. those councillors "were forever prating," said he, "of the constitutional rights of their province, and deserved much less commendation." the popularity of the churchman, not increased by these desperate exertions to force an inhuman policy upon an unfortunate nation, received likewise no addition from his new elevation in rank. during the latter part of the year , margaret of parma, who still entertained a profound admiration of the prelate, and had not yet begun to chafe under his smooth but imperious dominion, had been busy in preparing for him a delightful surprise. without either his knowledge or that of the king, she had corresponded with the pope, and succeeded in obtaining, as a personal favor to herself, the cardinal's hat for anthony perrenot. in february, , cardinal borromeo wrote to announce that the coveted dignity had been bestowed. the duchess hastened, with joyous alacrity, to communicate the intelligence to the bishop, but was extremely hurt to find that he steadily refused to assume his new dignity, until he had written to the king to announce the appointment, and to ask his permission to accept the honor. the duchess, justly wounded at his refusal to accept from her hands the favor which she, and she only, had obtained for him, endeavored in vain to overcome his pertinacity. she represented that although philip was not aware of the application or the appointment, he was certain to regard it as an agreeable surprise. she urged, moreover, that his temporary refusal would be misconstrued at rome, where it would certainly excite ridicule, and very possibly give offence in the highest quarter. the bishop was inexorable. he feared, says his panegyrist, that he might one day be on worse terms than at present with the duchess, and that then she might reproach him with her former benefits. he feared also that the king might, in consequence of the step, not look with satisfaction upon him at some future period, when he might stand in need of his favors. he wrote, accordingly, a most characteristic letter to philip, in which he informed him that he had been honored with the cardinal's hat. he observed that many persons were already congratulating him, but that before he made any demonstration of accepting or refusing, he waited for his majesty's orders: upon his will he wished ever to depend. he also had the coolness, under the circumstances, to express his conviction that "it was his majesty who had secretly procured this favor from his holiness." the king received the information very graciously, observing in reply, that although he had never made any suggestion of the kind, he had "often thought upon the subject." the royal command was of course at once transmitted, that the dignity should be accepted. by special favor, moreover, the pope dispensed the new cardinal from the duty of going to rome in person, and despatched his chamberlain, theophilus friso, to brussels, with the red hat and tabbard. the prelate, having thus reached the dignity to which he had long aspired, did not grow more humble in his deportment, or less zealous in the work through which he had already gained so much wealth and preferment. his conduct with regard to the edicts and bishoprics had already brought him into relations which were far from amicable with his colleagues in the council. more and more he began to take the control of affairs into his own hand. the consulta, or secret committee of the state council, constituted the real government of the country. here the most important affairs were decided upon without the concurrence of the other seignors, orange, egmont, and glayon, who, at the same time, were held responsible for the action of government. the cardinal was smooth in manner, plausible of speech, generally even-tempered, but he was overbearing and blandly insolent. accustomed to control royal personages, under the garb of extreme obsequiousness, he began, in his intercourse with those of less exalted rank, to omit a portion of the subserviency while claiming a still more undisguised authority. to nobles like egmont and orange, who looked down upon the son of nicolas perrenot and nicola bonvalot as a person immeasurably beneath themselves in the social hierarchy, this conduct was sufficiently irritating. the cardinal, placed as far above philip, and even margaret, in mental power as he was beneath them in worldly station, found it comparatively easy to deal with them amicably. with such a man as egmont, it was impossible for the churchman to maintain friendly relations. the count, who notwithstanding his romantic appearance, his brilliant exploits, and his interesting destiny, was but a commonplace character, soon conceived a mortal aversion to granvelle. a rude soldier, entertaining no respect for science or letters, ignorant and overbearing, he was not the man to submit to the airs of superiority which pierced daily more and more decidedly through the conventional exterior of the cardinal. granvelle, on the other hand, entertained a gentle contempt for egmont, which manifested itself in all his private letters to the king, and was sufficiently obvious in his deportment. there had also been distinct causes of animosity between them. the governorship of hesdin having become vacant, egmont, backed by orange and other nobles, had demanded it for the count de roeulx, a gentleman of the croy family, who, as well as his father, had rendered many important services to the crown. the appointment was, however, bestowed, through granvelle's influence, upon the seigneur d'helfault, a gentleman of mediocre station and character, who was thought to possess no claims whatever to the office. egmont, moreover, desired the abbey of trulle for a poor relation of his own; but the cardinal, to whom nothing in this way ever came amiss, had already obtained the king's permission to, appropriate the abbey to himself egmont was now furious against the prelate, and omitted no opportunity of expressing his aversion, both in his presence and behind his back. on one occasion, at least, his wrath exploded in something more than words. exasperated by granvelle's polished insolence in reply to his own violent language, he drew his dagger upon him in the presence of the regent herself, "and," says a contemporary, "would certainly have sent the cardinal into the next world had he not been forcibly restrained by the prince of orange and other persons present, who warmly represented to him that such griefs were to be settled by deliberate advice, not by choler." at the same time, while scenes like these were occurring in the very bosom of the state council, granvelle, in his confidential letters to secretary perez, asserted warmly that all reports of a want of harmony between himself and the other seignors and councillors were false, and that the best relations existed among them all. it was not his intention, before it should be necessary, to let the king doubt his ability to govern the counsel according to the secret commission with which he had been invested. his relations with orange were longer in changing from friendship to open hostility. in the prince the cardinal met his match. he found himself confronted by an intellect as subtle, an experience as fertile in expedients, a temper as even, and a disposition sometimes as haughty as his own. he never affected to undervalue the mind of orange. "'tis a man of profound genius, vast ambition--dangerous, acute, politic," he wrote to the king at a very early period. the original relations between himself and the prince bad been very amicable. it hardly needed the prelate's great penetration to be aware that the friendship of so exalted a personage as the youthful heir to the principality of orange, and to the vast possessions of the chalons-nassau house in burgundy and the netherlands, would be advantageous to the ambitious son of the burgundian councillor granvelle. the young man was the favorite of the emperor from boyhood; his high rank, and his remarkable talents marked him indisputably for one of the foremost men of the coming reign. therefore it was politic in perrenot to seize every opportunity of making himself useful to the prince. he busied himself with securing, so far as it might be necessary to secure, the succession of william to his cousin's principality. it seems somewhat ludicrous for a merit to be made not only for granvelle but for the emperor, that the prince should have been allowed to take an inheritance which the will of rene de nassau most unequivocally conferred, and which no living creature disputed. yet, because some of the crown lawyers had propounded the dogma that "the son of a heretic ought not to succeed," it was gravely stated as an immense act of clemency upon the part of charles the fifth that he had not confiscated the whole of the young prince's heritage. in return granvelle's brother jerome had obtained the governorship of the youth, upon whose majority he had received an honorable military appointment from his attached pupil. the prelate had afterwards recommended the marriage with the count de buren's heiress, and had used his influence with the emperor to overcome certain objections entertained by charles, that the prince, by this great accession of wealth, might be growing too powerful. on the other hand, there were always many poor relations and dependents of granvelle, eager to be benefitted by orange's patronage, who lived in the prince's household, or received handsome appointments from his generosity. thus, there had been great intimacy, founded upon various benefits mutually conferred; for it could hardly be asserted that the debt of friendship was wholly upon one side. when orange arrived in brussels from a journey, he would go to the bishop's before alighting at his own house. when the churchman visited the prince, he entered his bed-chamber without ceremony before he had risen; for it was william's custom, through life, to receive intimate acquaintances, and even to attend to important negotiations of state, while still in bed. the show of this intimacy had lasted longer than its substance. granvelle was the most politic of men, and the prince had not served his apprenticeship at the court of charles the fifth to lay himself bare prematurely to the criticism or the animosity of the cardinal with the recklessness of horn and egmont. an explosion came at last, however, and very soon after an exceedingly amicable correspondence between the two upon the subject of an edict of religious amnesty which orange was preparing for his principality, and which granvelle had recommended him not to make too lenient. a few weeks after this, the antwerp magistracy was to be renewed. the prince, as hereditary burgrave of that city, was entitled to a large share of the appointing power in these political arrangements, which at the moment were of great importance. the citizens of antwerp were in a state of excitement on the subject of the new bishops. they openly, and in the event, successfully resisted the installation of the new prelate for whom their city had been constituted a diocese. the prince was known to be opposed to the measure, and to the whole system of ecclesiastical persecution. when the nominations for the new magistracy came before the regent, she disposed of the whole matter in the secret consulta, without the knowledge, and in a manner opposed to the views of orange. he was then furnished with a list of the new magistrates, and was informed that he had been selected as commissioner along with count aremberg, to see that the appointments were carried into effect. the indignation of the prince was extreme. he had already taken offence at some insolent expressions upon this topic, which the cardinal had permitted himself. he now sent back the commission to the duchess, adding, it was said, that he was not her lackey, and that she might send some one else with her errands. the words were repeated in the state council. there was a violent altercation--orange vehemently resenting his appointment merely to carry out decisions in which he claimed an original voice. his ancestors, he said, had often changed the whole of the antwerp magistracy by their own authority. it was a little too much that this matter, as well as every other state affair, should be controlled by the secret committee of which the cardinal was the chief. granvelle, on his side, was also in a rage. he flung from the council-chamber, summoned the chancellor of brabant, and demanded, amid bitter execrations against orange, what common and obscure gentleman there might be, whom he could appoint to execute the commission thus refused by the prince and by aremberg. he vowed that in all important matters he would, on future occasions, make use of nobles less inflated by pride, and more tractable than such grand seignors. the chancellor tried in vain to appease the churchman's wrath, representing that the city of antwerp would be highly offended at the turn things were taking, and offering his services to induce the withdrawal, on the part of the prince, of the language which had given so much offence. the cardinal was inexorable and peremptory. "i will have nothing to do with the prince, master chancellor," said he, "and these are matters which concern you not." thus the conversation ended, and thus began the open state of hostilities between the great nobles and the cardinal, which had been brooding so long. on the rd july, , a few weeks after the scenes lately described, the count of egmont and the prince of orange addressed a joint letter to the king. they reminded him in this despatch that, they had originally been reluctant to take office in the state council, on account of their previous experience of the manner in which business had been conducted during the administration of the duke of savoy. they had feared that important matters of state might be transacted without their concurrence. the king had, however, assured them, when in zeland, that all affairs would be uniformly treated in full council. if the contrary should ever prove the case, he had desired them to give him information to that effect, that he might instantly apply the remedy. they accordingly now gave him that information. they were consulted upon small matters: momentous affairs were decided upon in their absence. still they would not even now have complained had not cardinal granvelle declared that all the members of the state council were to be held responsible for its measures, whether they were present at its decisions or not. not liking such responsibility, they requested the king either to accept their resignation or to give orders that all affairs should be communicated to the whole board and deliberated upon by all the councillors. in a private letter, written some weeks later (august ), egmont begged secretary erasso to assure the king that their joint letter had not been dictated by passion, but by zeal for his service. it was impossible, he said, to imagine the insolence of the cardinal, nor to form an idea of the absolute authority which he arrogated. in truth, granvelle, with all his keenness, could not see that orange, egmont, berghen, montigny and the rest, were no longer pages and young captains of cavalry, while he was the politician and the statesman. by six or seven years the senior of egmont, and by sixteen years of orange, he did not divest himself of the superciliousness of superior wisdom, not unjust nor so irritating when they had all been boys. in his deportment towards them, and in the whole tone of his private correspondence with philip, there was revealed, almost in spite of himself, an affectation of authority, against which egmont rebelled and which the prince was not the man to acknowledge. philip answered the letter of the two nobles in his usual procrastinating manner. the count of horn, who was about leaving spain (whither he had accompanied the king) for the netherlands, would be entrusted with the resolution which he should think proper to take upon the subject suggested. in the mean time, he assured them that he did not doubt their zeal in his service. as to count horn, granvelle had already prejudiced the king against him. horn and the cardinal had never been friends. a brother of the prelate had been an aspirant for the hand of the admiral's sister, and had been somewhat contemptuously rejected. horn, a bold, vehement, and not very good-tempered personage, had long kept no terms with granvelle, and did not pretend a friendship which he had never felt. granvelle had just written to instruct the king that horn was opposed bitterly to that measure which was nearest the king's heart--the new bishoprics. he had been using strong language, according to the cardinal, in opposition to the scheme, while still in spain. he therefore advised that his majesty, concealing, of course, the source of the information, and speaking as it were out of the royal mind itself, should expostulate with the admiral upon the subject. thus prompted, philip was in no gracious humor when he received count horn, then about to leave madrid for the netherlands, and to take with him the king's promised answer to the communication of orange and egmont. his majesty had rarely been known to exhibit so much anger towards any person as he manifested upon that occasion. after a few words from the admiral, in which he expressed his sympathy with the other netherland nobles, and his aversion to granvelle, in general terms, and in reply to philip's interrogatories, the king fiercely interrupted him: "what! miserable man!" he vociferated, "you all complain of this cardinal, and always in vague language. not one of you, in spite of all my questions, can give me a single reason for your dissatisfaction." with this the royal wrath boiled over in such unequivocal terms that the admiral changed color, and was so confused with indignation and astonishment, that he was scarcely able to find his way out of the room. this was the commencement of granvelle's long mortal combat with egmont, horn, and orange. this was the first answer which the seignors were to receive to their remonstrances against the churchman's arrogance. philip was enraged that any opposition should be made to his coercive measures, particularly to the new bishoprics, the "holy work" which the cardinal was ready, to "consecrate his fortune and his blood" to advance. granvelle fed his master's anger by constant communications as to the efforts made by distinguished individuals to delay the execution of the scheme. assonville had informed him, he wrote, that much complaint had been made on the subject by several gentlemen, at a supper of count egmont's. it was said that the king ought to have consulted them all, and the state councillors especially. the present nominees to the new episcopates were good enough, but it would be found, they said, that very improper personages would be afterwards appointed. the estates ought not to permit the execution of the scheme. in short, continued granvelle, "there is the same kind of talk which brought about the recall of the spanish troops." a few months later, he wrote to inform philip that a petition against the new bishoprics was about to be drawn up by "the two lords.". they had two motives; according to the cardinal, for this step--first, to let the king know that he could do nothing without their permission; secondly, because in the states' assembly they were then the cocks of the walk. they did not choose, therefore, that in the clerical branch of the estates any body should be above the abbots, whom they could frighten into doing whatever they chose. at the end, of the year, granvelle again wrote to instruct his sovereign how to reply to the letter which was about to be addressed to him by the prince of orange and the marquis berghen on the subject of the bishoprics. they would tell him, he said, that the incorporation of the brabant abbeys into the new bishoprics was contrary to the constitution of the "joyful entrance." philip was, however, to make answer that he had consulted the universities, and those learned in the laws, and had satisfied himself that it was entirely constitutional. he was therefore advised to send his command that the prince and marquis should use all their influence to promote the success of the measure. thus fortified, the king was enabled not only to deal with the petition of the nobles, but also with the deputies from the estates of brabant, who arrived about this time at madrid. to these envoys, who asked for the appointment of royal commissioners, with whom they might treat on the subject of the bishoprics, the abbeys, and the "joyful entrance," the king answered proudly, "that in matters which concerned the service of god, he was his own commissioner." he afterwards, accordingly, recited to them, with great accuracy, the lesson which he had privately received from the ubiquitous cardinal. philip was determined that no remonstrance from great nobles or from private citizens should interfere with the thorough execution of the grand scheme on which he was resolved, and of which the new bishoprics formed an important part. opposition irritated him more and more, till his hatred of the opponents became deadly; but it, at the same time, confirmed him in his purpose. "'tis no time to temporize," he wrote to granvelle; "we must inflict chastisement with full rigor and severity. these rascals can only be made to do right through fear, and not always even by that means." at the same time, the royal finances did not admit of any very active measures, at the moment, to enforce obedience to a policy which was already so bitterly opposed. a rough estimate, made in the king's own handwriting, of the resources and obligations of his exchequer, a kind of balance sheet for the years and , drawn up much in the same manner as that in which a simple individual would make a note of his income and expenditure, gave but a dismal picture of his pecuniary, condition. it served to show how intelligent a financier is despotism, and how little available are the resources of a mighty empire when regarded merely as private property, particularly when the owner chances to have the vanity of attending to all details himself: "twenty millions of ducats," began the memorandum, "will be required to disengage my revenues. but of this," added the king, with whimsical pathos for an account-book, "we will not speak at present, as the matter is so entirely impossible." he then proceeded to enter the various items of expense which were to be met during the two years; such as so many millions due to the fuggers (the rothschilds of the sixteenth century), so many to merchants in flanders, seville, and other places, so much for prince doria's galleys, so much for three years' pay due to his guards, so much for his household expenditure, so much for the tuition of don carlos, and don juan d'austria, so much for salaries of ambassadors and councillors--mixing personal and state expenses, petty items and great loans, in one singular jumble, but arriving at a total demand upon his purse of ten million nine hundred and ninety thousand ducats. to meet this expenditure he painfully enumerated the funds upon which he could reckon for the two years. his ordinary rents and taxes being all deeply pledged, he could only calculate from that source upon two hundred thousand ducats. the indian revenue, so called, was nearly spent; still it might yield him four hundred and twenty thousand ducats. the quicksilver mines would produce something, but so little as hardly to require mentioning. as to the other mines, they were equally unworthy of notice, being so very uncertain, and not doing as well as they were wont. the licences accorded by the crown to carry slaves to america were put down at fifty thousand ducats for the two years. the product of the "crozada" and "cuarta," or money paid to him in small sums by individuals, with the permission of his holiness, for the liberty of abstaining from the church fasts, was estimated at five hundred thousand ducats. these and a few more meagre items only sufficed to stretch his income to a total of one million three hundred and thirty thousand far the two years, against an expenditure calculated at near eleven millions. "thus, there are nine millions, less three thousand ducats, deficient," he concluded ruefully (and making a mistake in his figures in his own favor of six hundred and sixty-three thousand besides), "which i may look for in the sky, or try to raise by inventions already exhausted." thus, the man who owned all america and half of europe could only raise a million ducats a year from his estates. the possessor of all peru and mexico could reckon on "nothing worth mentioning" from his mines, and derived a precarious income mainly from permissions granted his subjects to carry on the slave-trade and to eat meat on fridays. this was certainly a gloomy condition of affairs for a monarch on the threshold of a war which was to outlast his own life and that of his children; a war in which the mere army expenses were to be half a million florins monthly, in which about seventy per cent. of the annual disbursements was to be regularly embezzled or appropriated by the hands through which it passed, and in which for every four men on paper, enrolled and paid for, only one, according to the average, was brought into the field. granvelle, on the other hand, gave his master but little consolation from the aspect of financial affairs in the provinces. he assured him that "the government was often in such embarrassment as not to know where to look for ten ducats." he complained bitterly that the states would meddle with the administration of money matters, and were slow in the granting of subsidies. the cardinal felt especially outraged by the interference of these bodies with the disbursement of the sums which they voted. it has been seen that the states had already compelled the government to withdraw the troops, much to the regret of granvelle. they continued, however, to be intractable on the subject of supplies. "these are very vile things," he wrote to philip, "this authority which they assume, this audacity with which they say whatever they think proper; and these impudent conditions which they affix to every proposition for subsidies." the cardinal protested that he had in vain attempted to convince them of their error, but that they remained perverse. it was probably at this time that the plan for debasing the coin, suggested to philip some time before by a skilful chemist named malen, and always much approved of both by himself and ruy gomez, recurred to his mind. "another and an extraordinary source of revenue, although perhaps not a very honorable one," wrote suriano, "has hitherto been kept secret; and on account of differences of opinion between the king and his confessor, has been discontinued." this source of revenue, it seemed, was found in "a certain powder, of which one ounce mixed with six ounces of quicksilver would make six ounces of silver." the composition was said to stand the test of the hammer, but not of the fire. partly in consequence of theological scruples and partly on account of opposition from the states, a project formed by the king to pay his army with this kind of silver was reluctantly abandoned. the invention, however, was so very agreeable to the king, and the inventor had received such liberal rewards, that it was supposed, according to the envoy, that in time of scarcity his majesty would make use of such coin without reluctance. it is necessary, before concluding this chapter, which relates the events of the years and , to allude to an important affair which occupied much attention during the whole of this period. this is the celebrated marriage of the prince of orange with the princess anna of saxony. by many superficial writers; a moving cause of the great netherland revolt was found in the connexion of the great chieftain with this distinguished lutheran house. one must have studied the characters and the times to very little purpose, however, to believe it possible that much influence could be exerted on the mind of william of orange by such natures as those of anna of saxony, or of her uncle the elector augustus, surnamed "the pious." the prince had become a widower in , at the age of twenty-five. granvelle, who was said to have been influential in arranging his first marriage, now proposed to him, after the year of mourning had expired, an alliance with mademoiselle renee, daughter of the duchess de lorraine, and granddaughter of christiern the third of denmark, and his wife isabella, sister of the emperor charles the fifth. such a connexion, not only with the royal house of spain but with that of france--for, the young duke of lorraine, brother of the lady, had espoused the daughter of henry the considered highly desirable by the prince. philip and the duchess margaret of parma both approved, or pretended to approve, the match. at the same time the dowager duchess of lorraine, mother of the intended bride, was a candidate, and a very urgent one, for the regency of the netherlands. being a woman of restless ambition, and intriguing character, she naturally saw in a man of william's station and talents a most desirable ally in her present and future schemes. on the other hand, philip--who had made open protestation of his desire to connect the prince thus closely with his own blood, and had warmly recommended the match to the young lady's mother--soon afterwards, while walking one day with the prince in the park at brussels, announced to him that the duchess of lorraine had declined his proposals. such a result astonished the prince, who was on the best of terms with the mother, and had been urging her appointment to the regency with all his-influence, having entirely withdrawn his own claims to that office. no satisfactory explanation was ever given of this singular conclusion to a courtship, begun with the apparent consent of all parties. it was hinted that the young lady did not fancy the prince; but, as it was not known that a word had ever been exchanged between them, as the prince, in appearance and reputation, was one of the most brilliant cavaliers of the age, and as the approval of the bride was not usually a matter of primary consequence in such marriages of state, the mystery seemed to require a further solution. the prince suspected granvelle and the king, who were believed to have held mature and secret deliberation together, of insincerity. the bishop was said to have expressed the opinion, that although the friendship he bore the prince would induce him to urge the marriage, yet his duty to his master made him think it questionable whether it were right to advance a personage already placed so high by birth, wealth, and popularity, still higher by so near an alliance with his majesty's family. the king, in consequence, secretly instructed the duchess of lorraine to decline the proposal, while at the same time he continued openly to advocate the connexion. the prince is said to have discovered this double dealing, and to have found in it the only reasonable explanation of the whole transaction. moreover, the duchess of lorraine, finding herself equally duped, and her own ambitious scheme equally foiled by her unscrupulous cousin--who now, to the surprise of every one, appointed margaret of parma to be regent, with the bishop for her prime minister--had as little reason to be satisfied with the combinations of royal and ecclesiastical intrigue as the prince of orange himself. soon after this unsatisfactory mystification, william turned his attentions to germany. anna of saxony, daughter of the celebrated elector maurice, lived at the court of her uncle, the elector augustus. a musket-ball, perhaps a traitorous one, in an obscure action with albert of brandenbourg, had closed the adventurous career of her father seven years before. the young lady, who was thought to have inherited much of his restless, stormy character, was sixteen years of age. she was far from handsome, was somewhat deformed, and limped. her marriage-portion was deemed, for the times, an ample one; she had seventy thousand rix dollars in hand, and the reversion of thirty thousand on the death of john frederic the second, who had married her mother after the death of maurice. her rank was accounted far higher in germany than that of william of nassau, and in this respect, rather than for pecuniary considerations, the marriage seemed a desirable one for him. the man who held the great nassau-chalons property, together with the heritage of count maximilian de buren, could hardly have been tempted by , thalers. his own provision for the children who might spring from the proposed marriage was to be a settlement of seventy thousand florins annually. the fortune which permitted of such liberality was not one to be very materially increased by a dowry which might seem enormous to many of the pauper princes of germany. "the bride's portion," says a contemporary, "after all, scarcely paid for the banquets and magnificent festivals which celebrated the marriage. when the wedding was paid for, there was not a thaler remaining of the whole sum." nothing, then, could be more puerile than to accuse the prince of mercenary motives in seeking this alliance; an accusation, however, which did not fail to be brought. there were difficulties on both sides to be arranged before this marriage could take place. the bride was a lutheran, the prince was a catholic. with regard to the religion of orange not the slightest doubt existed, nor was any deception attempted. granvelle himself gave the most entire attestation of the prince's orthodoxy. "this proposed marriage gives me great pain," he wrote to philip, "but i have never had reason to suspect his principles." in another letter he observed that he wished the marriage could be broken off; but that he hoped so much from the virtue of the prince that nothing could suffice to separate him from the true religion. on the other side there was as little doubt as to his creed. old landgrave philip of hesse, grandfather of the young lady, was bitterly opposed to the match. "'tis a papist," said he, "who goes to mass, and eats no meat on fast days." he had no great objection to his character, but insurmountable ones to his religion. "old count william," said he, "was an evangelical lord to his dying day. this man is a papist!" the marriage, then, was to be a mixed marriage. it is necessary, however, to beware of anachronisms upon the subject. lutherans were not yet formally denounced as heretics. on the contrary, it was exactly at this epoch that the pope was inviting the protestant princes of germany to the trent council, where the schism was to be closed, and all the erring lambs to be received again into the bosom of the fold. so far from manifesting an outward hostility, the papal demeanor was conciliating. the letters of invitation from the pope to the princes were sent by a legate, each commencing with the exordium, "to my beloved son," and were all sent back to his holiness, contemptuously, with the coarse jest for answer, "we believe our mothers to have been honest women, and hope that we had better fathers." the great council had not yet given its decisions. marriages were of continual occurrence, especially among princes and potentates, between the adherents of rome and of the new religion. even philip had been most anxious to marry the protestant elizabeth, whom, had she been a peasant, he would unquestionably have burned, if in his power. throughout germany, also, especially in high places, there was a disposition to cover up the religious controversy; to abstain from disturbing the ashes where devastation still glowed, and was one day to rekindle itself. it was exceedingly difficult for any man, from the archduke maximilian down, to define his creed. a marriage, therefore; between a man and woman of discordant views upon this topic was not startling, although in general not considered desirable. there were, however, especial reasons why this alliance should be distasteful, both to philip of spain upon one side, and to the landgrave philip of hesse on the other. the bride was the daughter of the elector maurice. in that one name were concentrated nearly all the disasters, disgrace, and disappointment of the emperor's reign. it was maurice who had hunted the emperor through the tyrolean mountains; it was maurice who had compelled the peace of passau; it was maurice who had overthrown the catholic church in germany, it was maurice who had frustrated philip's election as king of the romans. if william of orange must seek a wife among the pagans, could no other bride be found for him than the daughter of such a man? anna's grandfather, on the other hand, landgrave philip, was the celebrated victim to the force and fraud of charles the fifth. he saw in the proposed bridegroom, a youth who had been from childhood, the petted page and confidant of the hated emperor, to whom he owed his long imprisonment. he saw in him too, the intimate friend and ally--for the brooding quarrels of the state council were not yet patent to the world--of the still more deeply detested granvelle; the crafty priest whose substitution of "einig" for "ewig" had inveigled him into that terrible captivity. these considerations alone would have made him unfriendly to the prince, even had he not been a catholic. the elector augustus, however, uncle and guardian to the bride, was not only well-disposed but eager for the marriage, and determined to overcome all obstacles, including the opposition of the landgrave, without whose consent he was long pledged not to bestow the hand of anna. for this there were more than one reason. augustus, who, in the words of one of the most acute historical critics of our day, was "a byzantine emperor of the lowest class, re-appearing in electoral hat and mantle," was not firm in his rights to the dignity he held. he had inherited from his brother, but his brother had dispossessed john frederic. maurice, when turning against the emperor, who had placed him in his cousin's seat, had not thought it expedient to restore to the rightful owner the rank which he himself owed to the violence of charles. those claims might be revindicated, and augustus be degraded in his turn, by a possible marriage of the princess anna, with some turbulent or intriguing german potentate. out of the land she was less likely to give trouble. the alliance, if not particularly desirable on the score of rank, was, in other worldly respects, a most brilliant one for his niece. as for the religious point, if he could overcome or circumvent the scruples of the landgrave, he foresaw little difficulty in conquering his own conscience. the prince of orange, it is evident, was placed in such a position, that it would be difficult for him to satisfy all parties. he intended that the marriage, like all marriages among persons in high places at that day, should be upon the "uti possidetis" principle, which was the foundation of the religious peace of germany. his wife, after marriage and removal to the netherlands, would "live catholically;" she would be considered as belonging to the same church with her husband, was to give no offence to the government, and bring no suspicion upon himself, by violating any of the religious decencies. further than this, william, who at that day was an easy, indifferent catholic, averse to papal persecutions, but almost equally averse to long, puritanical prayers and faces, taking far more pleasure in worldly matters than in ecclesiastical controversies, was not disposed to advance in this thorny path. having a stern bigot to deal with, in madrid, and another in cassel, he soon convinced himself that he was not likely entirely to satisfy either, and thought it wiser simply to satisfy himself. early in , count gunther de schwartzburg, betrothed to the prince's sister catharine, together with colonel george von holl, were despatched to germany to open the marriage negotiations. they found the elector augustus already ripe and anxious for the connexion. it was easy for the envoys to satisfy all his requirements on the religious question. if, as the elector afterwards stated to the landgrave, they really promised that the young lady should be allowed to have an evangelical preacher in her own apartments, together with the befitting sacraments, it is very certain that they travelled a good way out of their instructions, for such concessions were steadily refused by william in person. it is, however, more probable that augustus, whose slippery feet were disposed to slide smoothly and swiftly over this dangerous ground, had represented the prince's communications under a favorable gloss of his own. at any rate, nothing in the subsequent proceedings justified the conclusions thus hastily formed. the landgrave philip, from the beginning, manifested his repugnance to the match. as soon as the proposition had been received by augustus, that potentate despatched hans von carlowitz to the grandfather at cassel. the prince of orange, it was represented, was young, handsome, wealthy, a favorite of the spanish monarch; the princess anna, on the other hand, said her uncle was not likely to grow straighter or better proportioned in body, nor was her crooked and perverse character likely to improve with years. it was therefore desirable to find a settlement for her as soon as possible. the elector, however, would decide upon nothing without the landgrave's consent. to this frank, and not very flattering statement, so far as the young lady was concerned, the landgrave answered stoutly and characteristically. the prince was a spanish subject, he said, and would not be able to protect anna in her belief, who would sooner or later become a fugitive: he was but a count in germany, and no fitting match for an elector's daughter; moreover, the lady herself ought to be consulted, who had not even seen the prince. if she were crooked in body, as the elector stated, it was a shame to expose her; to conceal it, however, was questionable, as the prince might complain afterwards that a straight princess had been promised, and a crooked one fraudulently substituted,--and so on, though a good deal more of such quaint casuistry, in which the landgrave was accomplished. the amount of his answer, however, to the marriage proposal was an unequivocal negative, from which he never wavered. in consequence of this opposition, the negotiations were for a time suspended. augustus implored the prince not to abandon the project, promising that every effort should be made to gain over the landgrave, hinting that the old man might "go to his long rest soon," and even suggesting that if the worst came to the worst, he had bound himself to do nothing without the knowledge of the landgrave, but was not obliged to wait for his consent. on the other hand, the prince had communicated to the king of spain the fact of the proposed marriage. he had also held many long conversations with the regent and with granvelle. in all these interviews he had uniformly used one language: his future wife was to "live as a catholic," and if that point were not conceded, he would break off the negotiations. he did not pretend that she was to abjure her protestant faith. the duchess, in describing to philip the conditions, as sketched to her by the prince, stated expressly that augustus of saxony was to consent that his niece "should live catholically after the marriage," but that it was quite improbable that "before the nuptials she would be permitted to abjure her errors, and receive necessary absolution, according to the rules of the church." the duchess, while stating her full confidence in the orthodoxy of the prince, expressed at the same time her fears that attempts might be made in the future by his new connexions "to pervert him to their depraved opinions." a silence of many months ensued on the part of the sovereign, during which he was going through the laborious process of making up his mind, or rather of having it made up for him by people a thousand miles off. in the autumn granvelle wrote to say that the prince was very much surprised to have been kept so long waiting for a definite reply to his communications, made at the beginning of the year concerning his intended marriage, and to learn at last that his majesty had sent no answer, upon the ground that the match had been broken off; the fact being, that the negotiations were proceeding more earnestly than ever. nothing could be more helpless and more characteristic than the letter which philip sent, thus pushed for a decision. "you wrote me," said he, "that you had hopes that this matter of the prince's marriage would go no further, and seeing that you did not write oftener on the subject, i thought certainly that it had been terminated. this pleased me not a little, because it was the best thing that could be done. likewise," continued the most tautological of monarchs, "i was much pleased that it should be done. nevertheless;" he added, "if the marriage is to be proceeded with, i really don't know what to say about it, except to refer it to my sister, inasmuch as a person being upon the spot can see better what can be done with regard to it; whether it be possible to prevent it, or whether it be best, if there be no remedy, to give permission. but if there be a remedy, it would be better to take it, because," concluded the king, pathetically, "i don't see how the prince could think of marrying with the daughter of the man who did to his majesty, now in glory, that which duke maurice did." armed with this luminous epistle, which, if it meant any thing, meant a reluctant affirmation to the demand of the prince for the royal consent, the regent and granvelle proceeded to summon william of orange, and to catechise him in a manner most galling to the pride, and with a latitude not at all justified by any reasonable interpretation of the royal instructions. they even informed him that his majesty had assembled "certain persons learned in cases of conscience, and versed in theology," according to whose advice a final decision, not yet possible, would be given at some future period. this assembly of learned conscience-keepers and theologians had no existence save in the imaginations of granvelle and margaret. the king's letter, blind and blundering as it was, gave the duchess the right to decide in the affirmative on her own responsibility; yet fictions like these formed a part of the "dissimulation," which was accounted profound statesmanship by the disciples of machiavelli. the prince, however irritated, maintained his steadiness; assured the regent that the negotiation had advanced too far to be abandoned, and repeated his assurance that the future princess of orange was to "live as a catholic." in december, , william made a visit to dresden, where he was received by the elector with great cordiality. this visit was conclusive as to the marriage. the appearance and accomplishments of the distinguished suitor made a profound impression upon the lady. her heart was carried by storm. finding, or fancying herself very desperately enamored of the proposed bridegroom, she soon manifested as much eagerness for the marriage as did her uncle, and expressed herself frequently with the violence which belonged to her character. "what god had decreed," she said, "the devil should not hinder." the prince was said to have exhibited much diligence in his attention to the services of the protestant church during his visit at dreaden. as that visit lasted, however, but ten or eleven days, there was no great opportunity for shewing much zeal. at the same period one william knuttel was despatched by orange on the forlorn hope of gaining the old landgrave's consent, without making any vital concessions. "will the prince," asked the landgrave, "permit my granddaughter to have an evangelical preacher in the house?"--"no," answered knuttel. "may she at least receive the sacrament of the lord's supper in her own chamber, according to the lutheran form?"--"no," answered knuttel, "neither in breda, nor any where else in the netherlands. if she imperatively requires such sacraments, she must go over the border for them, to the nearest protestant sovereign." upon the th april, , the elector, returning to the charge, caused a little note to be drawn up on the religious point, which he forwarded, in the hope that the prince would copy and sign it. he added a promise that the memorandum should never be made public to the signer's disadvantage. at the same time he observed to count louis, verbally, "that he had been satisfied with the declarations made by the prince when in dresden, upon all points, except that concerning religion. he therefore felt obliged to beg for a little agreement in writing."--"by no means! by no means!" interrupted louis promptly, at the very first word, "the prince can give your electoral highness no such assurance. 't would be risking life, honor, and fortune to do so, as your grace is well aware." the elector protested that the declaration, if signed, should never come into the spanish monarch's hands, and insisted upon sending it to the prince. louis, in a letter to his brother, characterized the document as "singular, prolix and artful," and strongly advised the prince to have nothing to do with it. this note, which the prince was thus requested to sign, and which his brother louis thus strenuously advised him not to sign, the prince never did sign. its tenor was to the following effect:--the princess, after marriage, was, neither by menace nor persuasion; to be turned from the true and pure word of god, or the use of the sacrament according to the doctrines of the augsburg confession. the prince was to allow her to read books written in accordance with the augsburg confession. the prince was to permit her, as often, annually, as she required it, to go out of the netherlands to some place where she could receive the sacrament according to the augsburg confession. in case she were in sickness or perils of childbirth, the prince, if necessary, would call to her an evangelical preacher, who might administer to her the holy sacrament in her chamber. the children who might spring from the marriage were to be instructed as to the doctrines of the augsburg confession. even if executed, this celebrated memorandum would hardly have been at variance with the declarations made by the prince to the spanish government. he had never pretended that his bride was to become a catholic, but only to live as a catholic. all that he had promised, or was expected to promise, was that his wife should conform to the law in the netherlands. the paper, in a general way, recognized that law. in case of absolute necessity, however, it was stipulated that the princess should have the advantage of private sacraments. this certainly would have been a mortal offence in a calvinist or anabaptist, but for lutherans the practise had never been so strict. moreover, the prince already repudiated the doctrines of the edicts, and rebelled against the command to administer them within his government. a general promise, therefore, made by him privately, in the sense of the memorandum drawn up by the elector, would have been neither hypocritical nor deceitful, but worthy the man who looked over such grovelling heads as granvelle and philip on the one side, or augustus of saxony on the other, and estimated their religious pretences at exactly what they were worth. a formal document, however, technically according all these demands made by the elector, would certainly be regarded by the spanish government as a very culpable instrument. the prince never signed the note, but, as we shall have occasion to state in its proper place, he gave a verbal declaration, favorable to its tenor, but in very vague and brief terms, before a notary, on the day of the marriage. if the reader be of opinion that too much time has been expended upon the elucidation of this point, he should remember that the character of a great and good man is too precious a possession of history to be lightly abandoned. it is of no great consequence to ascertain the precise creed of augustus of saxony, or of his niece; it is of comparatively little moment to fix the point at which william of orange ceased to be an honest, but liberal catholic, and opened his heart to the light of the reformation; but it is of very grave interest that his name should be cleared of the charge of deliberate fraud and hypocrisy. it has therefore been thought necessary to prove conclusively that the prince never gave, in dresden or cassel, any assurance inconsistent with his assertions to king and cardinal. the whole tone of his language and demeanor on the religious subject was exhibited in his reply to the electress, who, immediately after the marriage, entreated that he would not pervert her niece from the paths of the true religion. "she shall not be troubled," said the prince, "with such melancholy things. instead of holy writ she shall read 'amadis de gaule,' and such books of pastime which discourse de amore; and instead of knitting and sewing she shall learn to dance a galdiarde, and such courtoisies as are the mode of our country and suitable to her rank." the reply was careless, flippant, almost contemptuous. it is very certain that william of orange was not yet the "father william" he was destined to become--grave, self-sacrificing, deeply religious, heroic; but it was equally evident from this language that he had small sympathy, either in public or private, with lutheranism or theological controversy. landgrave william was not far from right when he added, in his quaint style, after recalling this well-known reply, "your grace will observe, therefore, that when the abbot has dice in his pocket, the convent will play." so great was the excitement at the little court of cassel, that many protestant princes and nobles declared that "they would sooner give their daughters to a boor or a swineherd than to a papist." the landgrave was equally vigorous in his protest, drawn up in due form on the th april, . he was not used, he said, "to flatter or to tickle with a foxtail." he was sorry if his language gave offense, nevertheless "the marriage was odious, and that was enough." he had no especial objection to the prince, "who before the world was a brave and honorable man." he conceded that his estates were large, although he hinted that his debts also were ample; allowed that he lived in magnificent style, had even heard "of one of his banquets, where all the table-cloths, plates, and every thing else, were made of sugar," but thought he might be even a little too extravagant; concluding, after a good deal of skimble-skamble of this nature, with "protesting before god, the world, and all pious christians, that he was not responsible for the marriage, but only the elector augustus and others, who therefore would one day have to render account thereof to the lord." meantime the wedding had been fixed to take place on sunday, the th august, . this was st. bartholomew's, a nuptial day which was not destined to be a happy one in the sixteenth century. the landgrave and his family declined to be present at the wedding, but a large and brilliant company were invited. the king of spain sent a bill of exchange to the regent, that she might purchase a ring worth three thousand crowns, as a present on his part to the bride. beside this liberal evidence that his opposition to the marriage was withdrawn, he authorized his sister to appoint envoys from among the most distinguished nobles to represent him on the occasion. the baron de montigny, accordingly, with a brilliant company of gentlemen, was deputed by the duchess, although she declined sending all the governors of the provinces, according to the request of the prince. the marriage was to take place at leipsic. a slight picture of the wedding festivities, derived entirely from unpublished sources, may give some insight into the manners and customs of high life in germany and the netherlands at this epoch. the kings of spain and denmark were invited, and were represented by special ambassadors. the dukes of brunswick, lauenburg, mecklenburg, the elector and margraves of brandenburg, the archbishop of cologne, the duke of cleves, the bishops of naumburg, meneburg, meissen, with many other potentates, accepted the invitations, and came generally in person, a few only being represented by envoys. the town councils of erfurt, leipsic, magdeburg, and other cities, were also bidden. the bridegroom was personally accompanied by his brothers john, adolphus, and louis; by the burens, the leuchtenbergs, and various other distinguished personages. as the electoral residence at leipsic was not completely finished, separate dwellings were arranged for each of the sovereign families invited, in private houses, mostly on the market-place. here they were to be furnished with provisions by the elector's officials, but they were to cook for themselves. for this purpose all the princes had been requested to bring their own cooks and butlers, together with their plate and kitchen utensils. the sovereigns themselves were to dine daily with the elector at the town-house, but the attendants and suite were to take their meals in their own lodgings. a brilliant collection of gentlemen and pages, appointed by the elector to wait at his table, were ordered to assemble at leipsic on the d, the guests having been all invited for the d. many regulations were given to these noble youths, that they might discharge their duties with befitting decorum. among other orders, they received particular injunctions that they were to abstain from all drinking among themselves, and from all riotous conduct whatever, while the sovereigns and potentates should be at dinner. "it would be a shameful indecency," it was urged, "if the great people sitting at table should be unable to hear themselves talk on account of the screaming of the attendants." this provision did not seem unreasonable. they were also instructed that if invited to drink by any personage at the great tables they were respectfully to decline the challenge, and to explain the cause after the repast. particular arrangements were also made for the safety of the city. besides the regular guard of leipsic, two hundred and twenty arquebuseers, spearsmen, and halberdmen, were ordered from the neighboring towns. these were to be all dressed in uniform; one arm, side and leg in black, and the other in yellow, according to a painting distributed beforehand to the various authorities. as a mounted patrole, leipsic had a regular force of two men. these were now increased to ten, and received orders to ride with their lanterns up and down all the streets and lanes, to accost all persons whom they might find abroad without lights in their hands, to ask them their business in courteous language, and at the same time to see generally to the peace and safety of the town. fifty arquebuseers were appointed to protect the town-house, and a burgher watch of six hundred was distributed in different quarters, especially to guard against fire. on saturday, the day before the wedding, the guests had all arrived at leipsic, and the prince of orange, with his friends, at meneburg. on sunday, the th august, the elector at the head of his guests and attendants, in splendid array, rode forth to receive the bridegroom. his cavalcade numbered four thousand. william of orange had arrived, accompanied by one thousand mounted men. the whole troop now entered the city together, escorting the prince to the town-house. here he dismounted, and was received on the staircase by the princess anna, attended by her ladies. she immediately afterwards withdrew to her apartments. it was at this point, between and p.m., that the elector and electress, with the bride and bridegroom, accompanied also by the dame sophia von miltitz and the councillors hans von ponika and ubrich woltersdorff upon one side, and by count john of nassau and heinrich von wiltberg upon the other, as witnesses, appeared before wolf seidel, notary, in a corner room of the upper story of the town-house. one of the councillors, on the part of the elector, then addressed the bridegroom. he observed that his highness would remember, no doubt, the contents of a memorandum or billet, sent by the elector on the th april of that year, by the terms of which the prince was to agree that he would, neither by threat nor persuasion, prevent his future wife from continuing in the augsburg confession; that he would allow her to go to places where she might receive the augsburg sacraments; that in case of extreme need she should receive them in her chamber; and that the children who might spring from the marriage should be instructed as to the augsburg doctrines. as, however, continued the councillor, his highness the prince of orange has, for various reasons, declined giving any such agreement in writing, as therefore it had been arranged that before the marriage ceremony the prince should, in the presence of the bride and of the other witnesses, make a verbal promise on the subject, and as the parties were now to be immediately united in marriage, therefore the elector had no doubt that the prince would make no objection in presence of those witnesses to give his consent to maintain the agreements comprised in the memorandum or note. the note was then read. thereupon, the prince answered verbally. "gracious elector; i remember the writing which you sent me on the th april. all the point: just narrated by the doctor were contained in it. i now state to your highness that i will keep it all as becomes a prince, and conform to it." thereupon he gave the elector his hand.-- what now was the amount and meaning of this promise on the part of the prince? almost nothing. he would conform to the demands of the elector, exactly as he had hitherto said he would conform to them. taken in connexion with his steady objections to sign and seal any instrument on the subject--with his distinct refusal to the landgrave (through knuttel) to allow the princess an evangelical preacher or to receive the sacraments in the netherlands--with the vehement, formal, and public protest, on the part of the landgrave, against the marriage--with the prince's declarations to the elector at dresden, which were satisfactory on all points save the religious point,--what meaning could this verbal promise have, save that the prince would do exactly as much with regard to the religious question as he had always promised, and no more? this was precisely what did happen. there was no pretence on the part of the elector, afterwards, that any other arrangement had been contemplated. the princess lived catholically from the moment of her marriage, exactly as orange had stated to the duchess margaret, and as the elector knew would be the case. the first and the following children born of the marriage were baptized by catholic priests, with very elaborate catholic ceremonies, and this with the full consent of the elector, who sent deputies and officiated as sponsor on one remarkable occasion. who, of all those guileless lambs then, philip of spain, the elector of saxony, or cardinal granvelle, had been deceived by the language or actions of the prince? not one. it may be boldly asserted that the prince, placed in a transition epoch, both of the age and of his own character, surrounded by the most artful and intriguing personages known to history, and involved in a network of most intricate and difficult circumstances, acquitted himself in a manner as honorable as it was prudent. it is difficult to regard the notarial instrument otherwise than as a memorandum, filed rather by augustus than by wise william, in order to put upon record for his own justification, his repeated though unsuccessful efforts to procure from the prince a regularly signed, sealed, and holographic act, upon the points stated in the famous note. after the delay occasioned by these private formalities, the bridal procession, headed by the court musicians, followed by the court marshals, councillors, great officers of state, and the electoral family, entered the grand hall of the town-house. the nuptial ceremony was then performed by "the superintendent doctor pfeffinger." immediately afterwards, and in the same hall, the bride and bridegroom were placed publicly upon a splendid, gilded bed, with gold-embroidered curtains, the princess being conducted thither by the elector and electress. confects and spiced drinks were then served to them and to the assembled company. after this ceremony they were conducted to their separate chambers, to dress for dinner. before they left the hall, however, margrave hans of brandenburg, on part of the elector of saxony, solemnly recommended the bride to her husband, exhorting him to cherish her with faith and affection, and "to leave her undisturbed in the recognized truth of the holy gospel and the right use of the sacraments." five round tables were laid in the same hall immediately afterwards--each accommodating ten guests. as soon as the first course of twenty-five dishes had been put upon the chief table, the bride and bridegroom, the elector and electress, the spanish and danish envoys and others, were escorted to it, and the banquet began. during the repast, the elector's choir and all the other bands discoursed the "merriest and most ingenious music." the noble vassals handed the water, the napkins, and the wine, and every thing was conducted decorously and appropriately. as soon as the dinner was brought to a close, the tables were cleared away, and the ball began in the same apartment. dances, previously arranged, were performed, after which "confects and drinks" were again distributed, and the bridal pair were then conducted to the nuptial chamber. the wedding, according to the lutheran custom of the epoch, had thus taken place not in a church, but in a private dwelling; the hall of the town-house, representing, on this occasion, the elector's own saloons. on the following morning, however, a procession was formed at seven o'clock to conduct the newly-married couple to the church of st. nicholas, there to receive an additional exhortation and benediction. two separate companies of gentlemen, attended by a great number of "fifers, drummers, and trumpeters," escorted the bride and the bridegroom, "twelve counts wearing each a scarf of the princess anna's colors, with golden garlands on their heads and lighted torches in their hands," preceding her to the choir, where seats had been provided for the more illustrious portion of the company. the church had been magnificently decked in tapestry, and, as the company entered, a full orchestra performed several fine motettos. after listening to a long address from dr. pfeffinger, and receiving a blessing before the altar, the prince and princess of orange returned, with their attendant processions, to the town-house. after dinner, upon the same and the three following days, a tournament was held. the lists were on the market-place, on the side nearest the town-house; the electress and the other ladies looking down from balcony and window to "rain influence and adjudge the prize." the chief hero of these jousts, according to the accounts in the archives, was the elector of saxony. he "comported himself with such especial chivalry" that his far-famed namesake and remote successor, augustus the strong, could hardly have evinced more knightly prowess. on the first day he encountered george von wiedebach, and unhorsed him so handsomely that the discomfited cavalier's shoulder was dislocated. on the following day he tilted with michael von denstedt, and was again victorious, hitting his adversary full in the target, and "bearing him off over his horse's tail so neatly, that the knight came down, heels over head, upon the earth." on wednesday, there was what was called the palliatourney. the prince of orange, at the head of six bands, amounting in all to twenty-nine men; the margrave george of brandenburg, with seven bands, comprising thirty-four men, and the elector augustus, with one band of four men, besides himself, all entered the lists. lots were drawn for the "gate of honor," and gained by the margrave, who accordingly defended it with his band. twenty courses were then run between these champions and the prince of orange, with his men. the brandenburgs broke seven lances, the prince's party only six, so that orange was obliged to leave the lists discomfited. the ever-victorious augustus then took the field, and ran twenty courses against the defenders, breaking fourteen spears to the brandenburg's ten. the margrave, thus defeated, surrendered the "gate of honor" to the elector, who maintained, it the rest of the day against all comers. it is fair to suppose, although the fact is not recorded, that the elector's original band had received some reinforcement. otherwise, it would be difficult to account for these constant victories, except by ascribing more than mortal strength, as well as valor, to augustus and his four champions. his party broke one hundred and fifty-six lances, of which number the elector himself broke thirty-eight and a half. he received the first prize, but declined other guerdons adjudged to him. the reward for the hardest hitting was conferred on wolf von schonberg, "who thrust kurt von arnim clean out of the saddle, so that he fell against the barriers." on thursday was the riding at the ring. the knights who partook of this sport wore various strange garbs over their armor. some were disguised as hussars, some as miners, come as lansquenettes; others as tartans, pilgrims, fools, bird-catchers, hunters, monks; peasants, or netherland cuirassiers. each party was attended by a party of musicians, attired in similar costume. moreover, count gunter von schwartzburg made, his appearance in the lists, accompanied "by five remarkable giants of wonderful proportions and appearance, very ludicrous to behold, who performed all kind of odd antics on horseback." the next day there was a foot tourney, followed in the evening by "mummeries," or masquerades. these masques were repeated on the following evening, and afforded great entertainment. the costumes were magnificent, "with golden and pearl embroidery," the dances were very merry and artistic, and the musicians, who formed a part of the company, exhibited remarkable talent. these "mummeries" had been brought by william of orange from the netherlands, at the express request of the elector, on the ground that such matters were much better understood in the provinces than in germany. such is a slight sketch of the revels by which this ill-fated bartholomew marriage was celebrated. while william of orange was thus employed in germany, granvelle seized the opportunity to make his entry into the city of mechlin, as archbishop; believing that such a step would be better accomplished in the absence of the prince from the country. the cardinal found no one in the city to welcome him. none of the great nobles were there. "the people looked upon the procession with silent hatred. no man cried, god bless him." he wrote to the king that he should push forward the whole matter of the bishoprics as fast as possible, adding the ridiculous assertion that the opposition came entirely from the nobility, and that "if the seigniors did not talk so much, not a man of the people would open his mouth on the subject." the remonstrance offered by the three estates of brabant against the scheme had not influenced philip. he had replied in a peremptory tone. he had assured them that he had no intention of receding, and that the province of brabant ought to feel itself indebted to him for having given them prelates instead of abbots to take care of their eternal interests, and for having erected their religious houses into episcopates. the abbeys made what resistance they could, but were soon fain to come to a compromise with the bishops, who, according to the arrangement thus made, were to receive a certain portion of the abbey revenues, while the remainder was to belong to the institutions, together with a continuance of their right to elect their own chiefs, subordinate, however, to the approbation of the respective prelates of the diocese. thus was the episcopal matter settled in brabant. in many of the other bishoprics the new dignitaries were treated with disrespect, as they made their entrance into their cities, while they experienced endless opposition and annoyance on attempting to take possession of the revenue assigned to them. etext editor's bookmarks: history shows how feeble are barriers of paper licences accorded by the crown to carry slaves to america we believe our mothers to have been honest women when the abbot has dice in his pocket, the convent will play wiser simply to satisfy himself motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. - [chapter iii.] the inquisition the great cause of the revolt--the three varieties of the institution--the spanish inquisition described--the episcopal inquisition in the netherlands--the papal inquisition established in the provinces by charles v.--his instructions to the inquisitors-- they are renewed by philip--inquisitor titelmann--instances of his manner of proceeding--spanish and netherland inquisitions compared-- conduct of granvelle--faveau and mallart condemned at valenciennes-- "journee des maubrulea"--severe measures at valenciennes--attack of the rhetoric clubs upon granvelle--granvelle's insinuations against egmont and simon renard--timidity of viglius--universal hatred toward the cardinal--buffoonery of brederode and lumey--courage of granvelle--philip taxes the netherlands for the suppression of the huguenots in france--meeting of the knights of the fleece--assembly at the house of orange--demand upon the estates for supplies-- montigny appointed envoy to spain--open and determined opposition to granvelle--secret representations by the cardinal to philip, concerning egmont and other seigniors--line of conduct traced out for the king--montigny's representations in spain--unsatisfactory result of his mission. the great cause of the revolt which, within a few years, was to break forth throughout the netherlands; was the inquisition. it is almost puerile to look further or deeper, when such a source of convulsion lies at the very outset of any investigation. during the war there had been, for reasons already indicated, an occasional pause in the religious persecution. philip had now returned to spain, having arranged, with great precision, a comprehensive scheme for exterminating that religious belief which was already accepted by a very large portion of his netherland subjects. from afar there rose upon the provinces the prophetic vision of a coming evil still more terrible than any which had yet oppressed them. as across the bright plains of sicily, when the sun is rising, the vast pyramidal shadow of mount etna is definitely and visibly projected--the phantom of that ever-present enemy, which holds fire and devastation in its bosom--so, in the morning hour of philip's reign, the shadow of the inquisition was cast from afar across those warm and smiling provinces--a spectre menacing fiercer flames and wider desolation than those which mere physical agencies could ever compass. there has been a good deal of somewhat superfluous discussion concerning the different kinds of inquisition. the distinction drawn between the papal, the episcopal, and the spanish inquisitions, did not, in the sixteenth century, convince many unsophisticated minds of the merits of the establishment in any of its shapes. however classified or entitled, it was a machine for inquiring into a man's thoughts, and for burning him if the result was not satisfactory. the spanish inquisition, strictly so called, that is to say, the modern or later institution established by pope alexander the sixth and ferdinand the catholic, was doubtless invested with a more complete apparatus for inflicting human misery, and for appalling human imagination, than any of the other less artfully arranged inquisitions, whether papal or episcopal. it had been originally devised for jews or moors, whom the christianity of the age did not regard as human beings, but who could not be banished without depopulating certain districts. it was soon, however, extended from pagans to heretics. the dominican torquemada was the first moloch to be placed upon this pedestal of blood and fire, and from that day forward the "holy office" was almost exclusively in the hands of that band of brothers. in the eighteen years of torquemada's administration; ten thousand two hundred and twenty individuals were burned alive, and ninety-seven thousand three hundred and twenty-one punished with infamy, confiscation of property, or perpetual imprisonment, so that the total number of families destroyed by this one friar alone amounted to one hundred and fourteen thousand four hundred and one. in course of time the jurisdiction of the office was extended. it taught the savages of india and america to shudder at the name of christianity. the fear of its introduction froze the earlier heretics of italy, france, and ger many into orthodoxy. it was a court owning allegiance to no temporal authority, superior to all other tribunals. it was a bench of monks without appeal, having its familiars in every house, diving into the secrets of every fireside, judging, and executing its horrible decrees without responsibility. it condemned not deeds, but thoughts. it affected to descend into individual conscience, and to punish the crimes which it pretended to discover. its process was reduced to a horrible simplicity. it arrested on suspicion, tortured till confession, and then punished by fire. two witnesses, and those to separate facts, were sufficient to consign the victim to a loathsome dungeon. here he was sparingly supplied with food, forbidden to speak, or even to sing to which pastime it could hardly be thought he would feel much inclination--and then left to himself, till famine and misery should break his spirit. when that time was supposed to have arrived he was examined. did he confess, and forswear his heresy, whether actually innocent or not, he might then assume the sacred shirt, and escape with confiscation of all his property. did he persist in the avowal of his innocence, two witnesses sent him to the stake, one witness to the rack. he was informed of the testimony against him, but never confronted with the witness. that accuser might be his son, father, or the wife of his bosom, for all were enjoined, under the death penalty, to inform the inquisitors of every suspicious word which might fall from their nearest relatives. the indictment being thus supported, the prisoner was tried by torture. the rack was the court of justice; the criminal's only advocate was his fortitude--for the nominal counsellor, who was permitted no communication with the prisoner, and was furnished neither with documents nor with power to procure evidence, was a puppet, aggravating the lawlessness of the proceedings by the mockery of legal forms: the torture took place at midnight, in a gloomy dungeon, dimly, lighted by torches. the victim--whether man, matron, or tender virgin--was stripped naked, and stretched upon the wooden bench. water, weights, fires, pulleys, screws--all the apparatus by which the sinews could be strained without cracking, the bones crushed without breaking, and the body racked exquisitely without giving up its ghost, was now put into operation. the executioner, enveloped in a black robe from head to foot, with his eyes glaring at his victim through holes cut in the hood which muffled his face, practised successively all the forms of torture which the devilish ingenuity of the monks had invented. the imagination sickens when striving to keep pace with these dreadful realities. those who wish to indulge their curiosity concerning the details of the system, may easily satisfy themselves at the present day. the flood of light which has been poured upon the subject more than justifies the horror and the rebellion of the netherlanders. the period during which torture might be inflicted from day to day was unlimited in duration. it could only be terminated by confession; so that the scaffold was the sole refuge from the rack. individuals have borne the torture and the dungeon fifteen years, and have been burned at the stake at last. execution followed confession, but the number of condemned prisoners was allowed to accumulate, that a multitude of victims might grace each great gala-day. the auto-da fe was a solemn festival. the monarch, the high functionaries of the land, the reverend clergy, the populace regarded it as an inspiring and delightful recreation. when the appointed morning arrived, the victim was taken from his dungeon. he was then attired in a yellow robe without sleeves, like a herald's coat, embroidered all over with black figures of devils. a large conical paper mitre was placed upon his head, upon which was represented a human being in the midst of flames, surrounded by imps. his tongue was then painfully gagged, so that he could neither open nor shut his mouth. after he was thus accoutred, and just as he was leaving his cell, a breakfast, consisting of every delicacy, was placed before him, and he was urged, with ironical politeness, to satisfy his hunger. he was then led forth into the public square. the procession was formed with great pomp. it was headed by the little school children, who were immediately followed by the band of prisoners, each attired in the horrible yet ludicrous manner described. then came the magistrates and nobility, the prelates and other dignitaries of the church: the holy inquisitors, with their officials and familiars, followed, all on horseback, with the blood-red flag of the "sacred office" waving above them, blazoned upon either side with the portraits of alexander and of ferdinand, the pair of brothers who had established the institution. after the procession came the rabble. when all had reached the neighborhood of the scaffold, and had been arranged in order, a sermon was preached to the assembled multitude. it was filled with laudations of the inquisition, and with blasphemous revilings against the condemned prisoners. then the sentences were read to the individual victims. then the clergy chanted the fifty-first psalm, the whole vast throng uniting in one tremendous miserere. if a priest happened to be among the culprits, he was now stripped of the canonicals which he had hitherto worn; while his hands, lips, and shaven crown were scraped with a bit of glass, by which process the oil of his consecration was supposed to be removed. he was then thrown into the common herd. those of the prisoners who were reconciled, and those whose execution was not yet appointed, were now separated from the others. the rest were compelled to mount a scaffold, where the executioner stood ready to conduct them to the fire. the inquisitors then delivered them into his hands, with an ironical request that he would deal with them tenderly, and without blood-letting or injury. those who remained steadfast to the last were then burned at the stake; they who in the last extremity renounced their faith were strangled before being thrown into the flames. such was the spanish inquisition--technically--so called: it was, according' to the biographer of philip the second, a "heavenly remedy, a guardian angel of paradise, a lions' den in which daniel and other just men could sustain no injury, but in which perverse sinners were torn to pieces." it was a tribunal superior to all human law, without appeal, and certainly owing no allegiance to the powers of earth or heaven. no rank, high or humble, was safe from its jurisdiction. the royal family were not sacred, nor, the pauper's hovel. even death afforded no protection. the holy office invaded the prince in his palace and the beggar in his shroud. the corpses of dead heretics were mutilated and burned. the inquisitors preyed upon carcases and rifled graves. a gorgeous festival of the holy office had, as we have seen, welcomed philip to his native land. the news of these tremendous autos-da fe, in which so many illustrious victims had been sacrificed before their sovereign's eyes, had reached the netherlands almost simultaneously with the bulls creating the new bishoprics in the provinces. it was not likely that the measure would be rendered more palatable by this intelligence of the royal amusements. the spanish inquisition had never flourished in any soil but that of the peninsula. it is possible that the king and granvelle were sincere in their protestations of entertaining no intention of introducing it into the netherlands, although the protestations of such men are entitled to but little weight. the truth was, that the inquisition existed already in the provinces. it was the main object of the government to confirm and extend the institution. the episcopal inquisition, as we have already seen, had been enlarged by the enormous increase in the number of bishops, each of whom was to be head inquisitor in his diocese, with two special inquisitors under him. with this apparatus and with the edicts, as already described, it might seem that enough had already been done for the suppression of heresy. but more had been done. a regular papal inquisition also existed in the netherlands. this establishment, like the edicts, was the gift of charles the fifth. a word of introduction is here again necessary--nor let the reader deem that too much time is devoted to this painful subject. on the contrary, no definite idea can be formed as to the character of the netherland revolt without a thorough understanding of this great cause--the religious persecution in which the country had lived, breathed, and had its being, for half a century, and in which, had the rebellion not broken out at last, the population must have been either exterminated or entirely embruted. the few years which are immediately to occupy us in the present and succeeding chapter, present the country in a daily increasing ferment from the action of causes which had existed long before, but which received an additional stimulus as the policy of the new reign developed itself. previously to the accession of charles v., it can not be said that an inquisition had ever been established in the provinces. isolated instances to the contrary, adduced by the canonists who gave their advice to margaret of parma, rather proved the absence than the existence of the system. in the reign of philip the good, the vicar of the inquisitor-general gave sentence against some heretics, who were burned in lille ( ). in , pierre troussart, a jacobin monk, condemned many waldenses, together with some leading citizens of artois, accused of sorcery and heresy. he did this, however, as inquisitor for the bishop of arras, so that it was an act of episcopal, and not papal inquisition. in general, when inquisitors were wanted in the provinces, it was necessary to borrow them from france or germany. the exigencies of persecution making a domestic staff desirable, charles the fifth, in the year , applied to his ancient tutor, whom he had placed on the papal throne. charles had, however, already, in the previous year appointed francis van der hulst to be inquisitor-general for the netherlands. this man, whom erasmus called a "wonderful enemy to learning," was also provided with a coadjutor, nicholas of egmond by name, a carmelite monk, who was characterized by the same authority as "a madman armed with a sword." the inquisitor-general received full powers to cite, arrest, imprison, torture heretics without observing the ordinary forms of law, and to cause his sentences to be executed without appeal. he was, however, in pronouncing definite judgments, to take the advice of laurens, president of the grand council of mechlin, a coarse, cruel and ignorant man, who "hated learning with a more than deadly hatred," and who might certainly be relied upon to sustain the severest judgments which the inquisitor might fulminate. adrian; accordingly, commissioned van der hulst to be universal and general inquisitor for all the netherlands. at the same time it was expressly stated that his functions were not to supersede those exercised by the bishops as inquisitors in their own sees. thus the papal inquisition was established in the provinces. van der hulst, a person of infamous character, was not the man to render the institution less odious than it was by its nature. before he had fulfilled his duties two years, however, he was degraded from his office by the emperor for having forged a document. in , buedens, houseau and coppin were confirmed by clement the seventh as inquisitors in the room of van der hulst. in , ruard tapper and michael drutius were appointed by paul the third, on the decease of coppin, the other two remaining in office. the powers of the papal inquisitors had been gradually extended, and they were, by , not only entirely independent of the episcopal inquisition, but had acquired right of jurisdiction over bishops and archbishops, whom they were empowered to arrest and imprison. they had also received and exercised the privilege of appointing delegates, or sub-inquisitors, on their own authority. much of the work was, indeed, performed by these officials, the most notorious of whom were barbier, de monte, titelmann, fabry, campo de zon, and stryen. in , and again in , a stringent set of instructions were drawn up by the emperor for the guidance of these papal inquisitors. a glance at their context shows that the establishment was not intended to be an empty form. they were empowered to inquire, proceed against, and chastise all heretics, all persons suspected of heresy, and their protectors. accompanied by a notary, they were to collect written information concerning every person in the provinces, "infected or vehemently suspected." they were authorized to summon all subjects of his majesty, whatever their rank, quality, or station, and to compel them to give evidence, or to communicate suspicions. they were to punish all who pertinaciously refused such depositions with death. the emperor commanded his presidents, judges, sheriffs, and all other judicial and executive officers to render all "assistance to the inquisitors and their familiars in their holy and pious inquisition, whenever required so to do," on pain of being punished as encouragers of heresy, that is to say, with death. whenever the inquisitors should be satisfied as to the heresy of any individual, they were to order his arrest and detention by the judge of the place, or by others arbitrarily to be selected by them. the judges or persons thus chosen, were enjoined to fulfil the order, on pain of being punished as protectors of heresy, that is to say, with death, by sword or fire. if the prisoner were an ecclesiastic, the inquisitor was to deal summarily with the case "without noise or form in the process--selecting an imperial councillor to render the sentence of absolution or condemnation." if the prisoner were a lay person, the inquisitor was to order his punishment, according to the edicts, by the council of the province. in case of lay persons suspected but not convicted of heresy, the inquisitor was to proceed to their chastisement, "with the advice of a counsellor or some other expert." in conclusion, the emperor ordered the "inquisitors to make it known that they were not doing their own work, but that of christ, and to persuade all persons of this fact." this clause of their instructions seemed difficult of accomplishment, for no reasonable person could doubt that christ, had he re-appeared in human form, would have been instantly crucified again, or burned alive in any place within the dominions of charles or philip. the blasphemy with which the name of jesus was used by such men to sanctify all these nameless horrors, is certainly not the least of their crimes. in addition to these instructions, a special edict had been issued on the th april, , according to which all judicial officers, at the requisition of the inquisitors, were to render them all assistance in the execution of their office, by arresting and detaining all persons suspected of heresy, according to the instructions issued to said inquisitors; and this, notwithstanding any privileges or charters to the contrary. in short, the inquisitors were not subject to the civil authority, but the civil authority to them. the imperial edict empowered them "to chastise, degrade, denounce, and deliver over heretics to the secular judges for punishment; to make use of gaols, and to make arrests, without ordinary warrant, but merely with notice given to a single counselor, who was obliged to give sentence according to their desire, without application to the ordinary judge." these instructions to the inquisitors had been renewed and confirmed by philip, in the very first month of his reign ( th nov. ). as in the case of the edicts, it had been thought desirable by granvelle to make use of the supposed magic of the emperor's name to hallow the whole machinery of persecution. the action of the system during the greater part of the imperial period had been terrible. suffered for a time to languish during the french war, it had lately been renewed with additional vigor. among all the inquisitors, the name of peter titelmann was now pre-eminent. he executed his infamous functions throughout flanders, douay, and tournay, the most thriving and populous portions of the netherlands, with a swiftness, precision, and even with a jocularity which hardly seemed human. there was a kind of grim humor about the man. the woman who, according to lear's fool, was wont to thrust her live eels into the hot paste, "rapping them o' the coxcombs with a stick and crying reproachfully, wantons, lie down!" had the spirit of a true inquisitor. even so dealt titelmann with his heretics writhing on the rack or in the flames. cotemporary chronicles give a picture of him as of some grotesque yet terrible goblin, careering through the country by night or day, alone, on horseback, smiting the trembling peasants on the head with a great club, spreading dismay far and wide, dragging suspected persons from their firesides or their beds, and thrusting them into dungeons, arresting, torturing, strangling, burning, with hardly the shadow of warrant, information, or process. the secular sheriff, familiarly called red-rod, from the color of his wand of office, meeting this inquisitor titelmann one day upon the high road, thus wonderingly addressed him--"how can you venture to go about alone, or at most with an attendant or two, arresting people on every side, while i dare not attempt to execute my office, except at the head of a strong force, armed in proof; and then only at the peril of my life?" "ah! red-rod," answered peter, jocosely, "you deal with bad people. i have nothing to fear, for i seize only the innocent and virtuous, who make no resistance, and let themselves be taken like lambs." "mighty well," said the other; "but if you arrest all the good people and i all the bad, 'tis difficult to say who in the world is to escape chastisement." the reply of the inquisitor has not been recorded, but there is no doubt that he proceeded like a strong man to run his day's course. he was the most active of all the agents in the religious persecution at the epoch of which we are now treating, but he had been inquisitor for many years. the martyrology of the provinces reeks with his murders. he burned men for idle words or suspected thoughts; he rarely waited, according to his frank confession, for deeds. hearing once that a certain schoolmaster, named geleyn de muler, of audenarde, "was addicted to reading the bible," he summoned the culprit before him and accused him of heresy. the schoolmaster claimed, if he were guilty of any crime, to be tried before the judges of his town. "you are my prisoner," said titelmann, "and are to answer me and none other." the inquisitor proceeded accordingly to catechize him, and soon satisfied himself of the schoolmaster's heresy. he commanded him to make immediate recantation. the schoolmaster refused. "do you not love your wife and children?" asked the demoniac titelmann. "god knows," answered the heretic, "that if the whole world were of gold, and my own, i would give it all only to have them with me, even had i to live on bread and water and in bondage." "you have then," answered the inquisitor, "only to renounce the error of your opinions."--"neither for wife, children, nor all the world, can i renounce my god and religious truth," answered the prisoner. thereupon titelmann sentenced him to the stake. he was strangled and then thrown into the flames. at about the same-time, thomas calberg, tapestry weaver, of tournay, within the jurisdiction of this same inquisitor, was convicted of having copied some hymns from a book printed in geneva. he was burned alive. another man, whose name has perished, was hacked to death with seven blows of a rusty sword, in presence of his wife, who was so horror-stricken that she died on the spot before her husband. his crime, to be sure, was anabaptism, the most deadly offence in the calendar. in the same year, one walter kapell was burned at the stake for heretical opinions. he was a man of some property, and beloved by the poor people of dixmuyde, in flanders, where he resided, for his many charities. a poor idiot, who had been often fed by his bounty, called out to the inquisitor's subalterns, as they bound his patron to the stake, "ye are bloody murderers; that man has done no wrong; but has given me bread to eat." with these words, he cast himself headlong into the flames to perish with his protector, but was with difficulty rescued by the officers. a day or two afterwards, he made his way to the stake, where the half-burnt skeleton of walter kapell still remained, took the body upon his shoulders, and carried it through the streets to the house of the chief burgomaster, where several other magistrates happened then to be in session. forcing his way into their presence, he laid his burthen at their feet, crying, "there, murderers! ye have eaten his flesh, now eat his bones!" it has not been recorded whether titelmann sent him to keep company with his friend in the next world. the fate of so obscure a victim could hardly find room on the crowded pages of the netherland martyrdom. this kind of work, which went on daily, did not increase the love of the people for the inquisition or the edicts. it terrified many, but it inspired more with that noble resistance to oppression, particularly to religious oppression, which is the sublimest instinct of human nature. men confronted the terrible inquisitors with a courage equal to their cruelty: at tournay, one of the chief cities of titelmann's district, and almost before his eyes, one bertrand le blas, a velvet manufacturer, committed what was held an almost incredible crime. having begged his wife and children to pray for a blessing upon what he was about to undertake, he went on christmas-day to the cathedral of tournay and stationed himself near the altar. having awaited the moment in which the priest held on high the consecrated host, le blas then forced his way through the crowd, snatched the wafer from the hands of the astonished ecclesiastic, and broke it into bits, crying aloud, as he did so, "misguided men, do ye take this thing to be jesus christ, your lord and saviour?" with these words, he threw the fragments on the ground and trampled them with his feet. [histoire des martyrs, f. , exev.; apud brandt, i. , . it may be well supposed that this would be regarded as a crime of almost inconceivable magnitude. it was death even to refuse to kneel in the streets when the wafer was carried by. thus, for example, a poor huckster, named simon, at bergen-op-zoom, who neglected to prostrate himself before his booth at the passage of the host, was immediately burned. instances of the same punishment for that offence might be multiplied. in this particular case, it is recorded that the sheriff who was present at the execution was so much affected by the courage and fervor of the simple-minded victim, that he went home, took to his bed, became delirious, crying constantly, ah, simon! simon! and died miserably, "notwithstanding all that the monks could do to console him."] the amazement and horror were so universal at such an appalling offence, that not a finger was raised to arrest the criminal. priests and congregation were alike paralyzed, so that he would have found no difficulty in making his escape. ho did not stir, however; he had come to the church determined to execute what he considered a sacred duty, and to abide the consequences. after a time, he was apprehended. the inquisitor demanded if he repented of what he had done. he protested, on the contrary, that he gloried in the deed, and that he would die a hundred deaths to rescue from such daily profanation the name of his redeemer, christ. he was then put thrice to the torture, that he might be forced to reveal his accomplices. it did not seem in human power for one man to accomplish such a deed of darkness without confederates. bertrand had none, however, and could denounce none. a frantic sentence was then devised as a feeble punishment for so much wickedness. he was dragged on a hurdle, with his mouth closed with an iron gag, to the market-place. here his right hand and foot were burned and twisted off between two red-hot irons. his tongue was then torn out by the roots, and because he still endeavored to call upon the name of god, the iron gag was again applied. with his arms and legs fastened together behind his back, he was then hooked by the middle of his body to an iron chain, and made to swing to and fro over a slow fire till he was entirely roasted. his life lasted almost to the end of these ingenious tortures, but his fortitude lasted as long as his life. in the next year, titelmann caused one robert ogier, of ryssel, in flanders, to be arrested, together with his wife and two sons. their crime consisted in not going to mass, and in practising private worship at home. they confessed the offence, for they protested that they could not endure to see the profanation of their saviour's name in the idolatrous sacraments. they were asked what rites they practised in their own house. one of the sons, a mere boy, answered, "we fall on our knees, and pray to god that he may enlighten our hearts, and forgive our sins. we pray for our sovereign, that his reign may be prosperous, and his life peaceful. we also pray for the magistrates and others in authority, that god may protect and preserve them all." the boy's simple eloquence drew tears even from the eyes of some of his judges; for the inquisitor had placed the case before the civil tribunal. the father and eldest son were, however, condemned to the flames. "oh god!" prayed the youth at the stake, "eternal father, accept the sacrifice of our lives, in the name of thy beloved son."--"thou liest, scoundrel!" fiercely interrupted a monk, who was lighting the fire; "god is not your father; ye are the devil's children." as the flames rose about them, the boy cried out once more, "look, my father, all heaven is opening, and i see ten hundred thousand angels rejoicing over us. let us be glad, for we are dying for the truth."--"thou liest! thou liest!" again screamed the monk; "all hell is opening, and you see ten thousand devils thrusting you into eternal fire." eight days afterwards, the wife of ogier and his other son were burned; so that there was an end of that family. such are a few isolated specimens of the manner of proceeding in a single district of the netherlands. the inquisitor titelmann certainly deserved his terrible reputation. men called him saul the persecutor, and it was well known that he had been originally tainted with the heresy which he had, for so many years, been furiously chastising. at the epoch which now engages our attention, he felt stimulated by the avowed policy of the government to fresh exertions, by which all his previous achievements should be cast into the shade. in one day he broke into a house in ryssel, seized john de swarte, his wife and four children, together with two newly-married couples, and two other persons, convicted them of reading the bible, and of praying in their own doors, and had them all immediately burned. are these things related merely to excite superfluous horror? are the sufferings of these obscure christians beneath the dignity of history? is it not better to deal with murder and oppression in the abstract, without entering into trivial details? the answer is, that these things are the history of the netherlands at this epoch; that these hideous details furnish the causes of that immense movement, out of which a great republic was born and an ancient tyranny destroyed; and that cardinal granvelle was ridiculous when he asserted that the people would not open their mouths if the seigniors did not make such a noise. because the great lords "owed their very souls"--because convulsions might help to pay their debts, and furnish forth their masquerades and banquets--because the prince of orange was ambitious, and egmont jealous of the cardinal--therefore superficial writers found it quite natural that the country should be disturbed, although that "vile and mischievous animal, the people," might have no objection to a continuance of the system which had been at work so long. on the contrary, it was exactly because the movement was a popular and a religious movement that it will always retain its place among the most important events of history. dignified documents, state papers, solemn treaties, are often of no more value than the lambskin on which they are engrossed. ten thousand nameless victims, in the cause of religious and civil freedom, may build up great states and alter the aspect of whole continents. the nobles, no doubt, were conspicuous, and it was well for the cause of the right that, as in the early hours of english liberty, the crown and mitre were opposed by the baron's sword and shield. had all the seigniors made common cause with philip and granvelle, instead of setting their breasts against the inquisition, the cause of truth and liberty would have been still more desperate. nevertheless they were directed and controlled, under providence, by humbler, but more powerful agencies than their own. the nobles were but the gilded hands on the outside of the dial--the hour to strike was determined by the obscure but weighty movements within. nor is it, perhaps, always better to rely upon abstract phraseology, to produce a necessary impression. upon some minds, declamation concerning liberty of conscience and religious tyranny makes but a vague impression, while an effect may be produced upon them, for example by a dry, concrete, cynical entry in an account book, such as the following, taken at hazard from the register of municipal expenses at tournay, during the years with which we are now occupied: "to mr. jacques barra, executioner, for having tortured, twice, jean de lannoy, ten sous. "to the same, for having executed, by fire, said lannoy, sixty sous. for having thrown his cinders into the river, eight sous." this was the treatment to which thousands, and tens of thousands, had been subjected in the provinces. men, women, and children were burned, and their "cinders" thrown away, for idle words against rome, spoken years before, for praying alone in their closets, for not kneeling to a wafer when they met it in the streets, for thoughts to which they had never given utterance, but which, on inquiry, they were too honest to deny. certainly with this work going on year after year in every city in the netherlands, and now set into renewed and vigorous action by a man who wore a crown only that he might the better torture his fellow-creatures, it was time that the very stones in the streets should be moved to mutiny. thus it may be seen of how much value were the protestations of philip and of granvelle, on which much stress has latterly been laid, that it was not their intention to introduce the spanish inquisition. with the edicts and the netherland inquisition, such as we have described them, the step was hardly necessary. in fact, the main difference between the two institutions consisted in the greater efficiency of the spanish in discovering such of its victims as were disposed to deny their faith. devised originally for more timorous and less conscientious infidels who were often disposed to skulk in obscure places and to renounce without really abandoning their errors, it was provided with a set of venomous familiars who glided through every chamber and coiled themselves at every fireside. the secret details of each household in the realm being therefore known to the holy office and to the monarch, no infidel or heretic could escape discovery. this invisible machinery was less requisite for the netherlands. there was comparatively little difficulty in ferreting out the "vermin"--to use the expression of a walloon historian of that age--so that it was only necessary to maintain in good working order the apparatus for destroying the noxious creatures when unearthed. the heretics of the provinces assembled at each other's houses to practise those rites described in such simple language by baldwin ogier, and denounced under such horrible penalties by the edicts. the inquisitorial system of spain was hardly necessary for men who had but little prudence in concealing, and no inclination to disavow their creed. "it is quite a laughable matter," wrote granvelle, who occasionally took a comic view of the inquisition, "that the king should send us depositions made in spain by which we are to hunt for heretics here, as if we did not know of thousands already. would that i had as many doubloons of annual income," he added, "as there are public and professed heretics in the provinces." no doubt the inquisition was in such eyes a most desirable establishment. "to speak without passion," says the walloon, "the inquisition well administered is a laudable institution, and not less necessary than all the other offices of spirituality and temporality belonging both to the bishops and to the commissioners of the roman see." the papal and episcopal establishments, in co-operation with the edicts, were enough, if thoroughly exercised and completely extended. the edicts alone were sufficient. "the edicts and the inquisition are one and the same thing," said the prince of orange. the circumstance, that the civil authorities were not as entirely superseded by the netherland, as by the spanish system, was rather a difference of form than of fact. we have seen that the secular officers of justice were at the command of the inquisitors. sheriff, gaoler, judge, and hangman, were all required, under the most terrible penalties, to do their bidding. the reader knows what the edicts were. he knows also the instructions to the corps of papal inquisitors, delivered by charles and philip: he knows that philip, both in person and by letter, had done his utmost to sharpen those instructions, during the latter portion of his sojourn in the netherlands. fourteen new bishops, each with two special inquisitors under him, had also been appointed to carry out the great work to which the sovereign had consecrated his existence. the manner in which the hunters of heretics performed their office has been exemplified by slightly sketching the career of a single one of the sub-inquisitors, peter titelmann. the monarch and his minister scarcely needed, therefore, to transplant the peninsular exotic. why should they do so? philip, who did not often say a great deal in a few words, once expressed the whole truth of the matter in a single sentence: "wherefore introduce the spanish inquisition?" said he; "the inquisition of the netherlands is much more pitiless than that of spain." such was the system of religious persecution commenced by charles, and perfected by philip. the king could not claim the merit of the invention, which justly belonged to the emperor. at the same time, his responsibility for the unutterable woe caused by the continuance of the scheme is not a jot diminished. there was a time when the whole system had fallen into comparative desuetude. it was utterly abhorrent to the institutions and the manners of the netherlanders. even a great number of the catholics in the provinces were averse to it. many of the leading grandees, every one of whom was catholic were foremost in denouncing its continuance. in short, the inquisition had been partially endured, but never accepted. moreover, it had never been introduced into luxemburg or groningen. in gelderland it had been prohibited by the treaty through which that province had been annexed to the emperor's dominions, and it had been uniformly and successfully resisted in brabant. therefore, although philip, taking the artful advice of granvelle, had sheltered himself under the emperor's name by re-enacting, word for word, his decrees, and re-issuing his instructions, he can not be allowed any such protection at the bar of history. such a defence for crimes so enormous is worse than futile. in truth, both father and son recognized instinctively the intimate connexion between ideas of religious and of civil freedom. "the authority of god and the supremacy of his majesty" was the formula used with perpetual iteration to sanction the constant recourse to scaffold and funeral pile. philip, bigoted in religion, and fanatical in his creed of the absolute power of kings, identified himself willingly with the deity, that he might more easily punish crimes against his own sacred person. granvelle carefully sustained him in these convictions, and fed his suspicions as to the motives of those who opposed his measures. the minister constantly represented the great seigniors as influenced by ambition and pride. they had only disapproved of the new bishoprics, he insinuated, because they were angry that his majesty should dare to do anything without their concurrence, and because their own influence in the states would be diminished. it was their object, he said, to keep the king "in tutelage"--to make him a "shadow and a cipher," while they should themselves exercise all authority in the provinces. it is impossible to exaggerate the effect of such suggestions upon the dull and gloomy mind to which they were addressed. it is easy, however, to see that a minister with such views was likely to be as congenial to his master as he was odious to the people. for already, in the beginning of , granvelle was extremely unpopular. "the cardinal is hated of all men," wrote sir thomas gresham. the great struggle between him and the leading nobles had already commenced. the people justly identified him with the whole infamous machinery of persecution, which had either originated or warmly made his own. viglius and berlaymont were his creatures. with the other members of the state council, according to their solemn statement, already recorded, he did not deign to consult, while he affected to hold them responsible for the measures of the administration. even the regent herself complained that the cardinal took affairs quite out of her hands, and that he decided upon many important matters without her cognizance. she already began to feel herself the puppet which it had been intended she should become; she already felt a diminution of the respectful attachment for the ecclesiastic which had inspired her when she procured his red hat. granvelle was, however, most resolute in carrying out the intentions of his master. we have seen how vigorously he had already set himself to the inauguration of the new bishoprics, despite of opposition and obloquy. he was now encouraging or rebuking the inquisitors in their "pious office" throughout all the provinces. notwithstanding his exertions, however, heresy continued to spread. in the walloon provinces the infection was most prevalent, while judges and executioners were appalled by the mutinous demonstrations which each successive sacrifice provoked. the victims were cheered on their way to the scaffold. the hymns of marot were sung in the very faces of the inquisitors. two ministers, faveau and mallart, were particularly conspicuous at this moment at valenciennes. the governor of the province, marquis berghen, was constantly absent, for he hated with his whole soul the system of persecution. for this negligence granvelle denounced him secretly and perpetually to philip, "the marquis says openly," said the cardinal, "that 'tis not right to shed blood for matters of faith. with such men to aid us, your majesty can judge how much progress we can make." it was, however, important, in granvelle's opinion, that these two ministers at valenciennes should be at once put to death. they were avowed heretics, and they preached to their disciples, although they certainly were not doctors of divinity. moreover, they were accused, most absurdly, no doubt, of pretending to work miracles. it was said that, in presence of several witnesses, they had undertaken to cast out devils; and they had been apprehended on an accusation of this nature. ["histoire des choses les plus memorables qui se sent passees en la ville et compte de valenciennes depuis le commencement des troubles des pays-bas sons le regne de phil. ii., jusqu' a l'annee ."-- ms. (collect. gerard).--this is a contemporary manuscript belonging to the gerard collection in the royal library at the hague. its author was a citizen of valenciennes, and a personal witness of most of the events which he describes. he appears to have attained to a great age, as he minutely narrates, from personal observation, many scenes which occurred before , and his work is continued till the year . it is a mere sketch, without much literary merit, but containing many local anecdotes of interest. its anonymous author was a very sincere catholic.] their offence really consisted in reading the bible to a few of their friends. granvelle sent philibert de bruxelles to valenciennes to procure their immediate condemnation and execution. he rebuked the judges and inquisitors, he sent express orders to marquis berghen to repair at once to the scene of his duties. the prisoners were condemned in the autumn of . the magistrates were, however, afraid to carry the sentence into effect. granvelle did not cease to censure them for their pusillanimity, and wrote almost daily letters, accusing the magistrates of being themselves the cause of the tumults by which they were appalled. the popular commotion was, however, not lightly to be braved. six or seven months long the culprits remained in confinement, while daily and nightly the people crowded the streets, hurling threats and defiance at the authorities, or pressed about the prison windows, encouraging their beloved ministers, and promising to rescue them in case the attempt should be made to fulfil the sentence. at last granvelle sent down a peremptory order to execute the culprits by fire. on the th of april, , faveau and mallart were accordingly taken from their jail and carried to the market-place, where arrangements had been made for burning them. simon faveau, as the executioner was binding him to the stake, uttered the invocation, "o! eternal father!" a woman in the crowd, at the same instant, took off her shoe and threw it at the funeral pile. this was a preconcerted signal. a movement was at once visible in the crowd. men in great numbers dashed upon the barriers which had been erected in the square around the place of execution. some seized the fagots, which had been already lighted, and scattered them in every direction; some tore up the pavements; others broke in pieces the barriers. the executioners were prevented from carrying out the sentence, but the guard were enabled, with great celerity and determination, to bring off the culprits and to place them in their dungeon again. the authorities were in doubt and dismay. the inquisitors were for putting the ministers to death in prison, and hurling their heads upon the street. evening approached while the officials were still pondering. the people who had been chanting the psalms of david through the town, without having decided what should be their course of action, at last determined to rescue the victims. a vast throng, after much hesitation, accordingly directed their steps to the prison. "you should have seen this vile populace," says an eye-witness, "moving, pausing, recoiling, sweeping forward, swaying to and fro like the waves of the sea when it is agitated by contending winds." the attack was vigorous, the defence was weak--for the authorities had expected no such fierce demonstration, notwithstanding the menacing language which had been so often uttered. the prisoners were rescued, and succeeded in making their escape from the city. the day in which the execution had been thus prevented was called, thenceforward, the "day of the ill-burned," (journee des mau-brulez). one of the ministers, however, simon faveau, not discouraged by this near approach to martyrdom, persisted in his heretical labors, and was a few years afterwards again apprehended. "he was then," says the chronicler, cheerfully, "burned well and finally" in the same place whence he had formerly been rescued. [valenciennes ms.] this desperate resistance to tyranny was for a moment successful, because, notwithstanding the murmurs and menaces by which the storm had been preceded, the authorities had not believed the people capable of proceeding to such lengths. had not the heretics--in the words of inquisitor titelmann--allowed themselves, year after year, to be taken and slaughtered like lambs? the consternation of the magistrates was soon succeeded by anger. the government at brussels was in a frenzy of rage when informed of the occurrence. a bloody vengeance was instantly prepared, to vindicate the insult to the inquisition. on the th of april, detachments of bossu's and of berghen's "band of ordonnance" were sent into valenciennes, together with a company of the duke of aerschot's regiment. the prisons were instantly filled to overflowing with men and women arrested for actual or suspected participation in the tumult. orders had been sent down from the capital to make a short process and a sharp execution for all the criminals. on the th of may, the slaughter commenced. some were burned at the stake, some were beheaded: the number of victims was frightful. "nothing was left undone by the magistrates," says an eyewitness, with great approbation, "which could serve for the correction and amendment of the poor people." it was long before the judges and hangmen rested from their labors. when at last the havoc was complete, it might be supposed that a sufficient vengeance had been taken for the "day of the ill-burned," and an adequate amount of "amendment" provided for the "poor people." such scenes as these did not tend to increase the loyalty of the nation, nor the popularity of the government. on granvelle's head was poured a daily increasing torrent of hatred. he was looked upon in the provinces as the impersonation of that religious oppression which became every moment more intolerable. the king and the regent escaped much of the odium which belonged to them, because the people chose to bestow all their maledictions upon the cardinal. there was, however, no great injustice in this embodiment. granvelle was the government. as the people of that day were extremely reverent to royalty, they vented all their rage upon the minister, while maintaining still a conventional respect for the sovereign. the prelate had already become the constant butt of the "rhetoric chambers." these popular clubs for the manufacture of homespun poetry and street farces out of the raw material of public sentiment, occupied the place which has been more effectively filled in succeeding ages, and in free countries by the daily press. before the invention of that most tremendous weapon, which liberty has ever wielded against tyranny, these humble but influential associations shared with the pulpit the only power which existed of moving the passions or directing the opinions of the people. they were eminently liberal in their tendencies. the authors and the actors of their comedies, poems, and pasquils were mostly artisans or tradesmen, belonging to the class out of which proceeded the early victims, and the later soldiers of the reformation. their bold farces and truculent satire had already effected much in spreading among the people a detestation of church abuses. they were particularly severe upon monastic licentiousness. "these corrupt comedians, called rhetoricians," says the walloon contemporary already cited, "afforded much amusement to the people." always some poor little nuns or honest monks were made a part of the farce. it seemed as if the people could take no pleasure except in ridiculing god and the church. the people, however, persisted in the opinion that the ideas of a monk and of god were not inseparable. certainly the piety of the early reformers was sufficiently fervent, and had been proved by the steadiness with which they confronted torture and death, but they knew no measure in the ridicule which they heaped upon the men by whom they were daily murdered in droves. the rhetoric comedies were not admirable in an aesthetic point of view, but they were wrathful and sincere. therefore they cost many thousand lives, but they sowed the seed of resistance to religious tyranny, to spring up one day in a hundredfold harvest. it was natural that the authorities should have long sought to suppress these perambulating dramas. "there was at that tyme," wrote honest richard clough to sir thomas gresham, "syche playes (of reteryke) played thet hath cost many a man's lyves, for in these plays was the word of god first opened in thys country. weche playes were and are forbidden moche more strictly than any of the bookes of martin luther." these rhetoricians were now particularly inflamed against granvelle. they were personally excited against him, because he had procured the suppression of their religious dramas. "these rhetoricians who make farces and street plays," wrote the cardinal to philip, "are particularly angry with me, because two years ago i prevented them from ridiculing the holy scriptures." nevertheless, these institutions continued to pursue their opposition to the course of the government. their uncouth gambols, their awkward but stunning blows rendered daily service to the cause of religious freedom. upon the newly-appointed bishops they poured out an endless succession of rhymes and rebuses, epigrams, caricatures and extravaganzas. poems were pasted upon the walls of every house, and passed from hand to hand. farces were enacted in every street; the odious ecclesiastics figuring as the principal buffoons. these representations gave so much offence, that renewed edicts were issued to suppress them. the prohibition was resisted, and even ridiculed in many provinces, particularly in holland. the tyranny which was able to drown a nation in blood and tears, was powerless to prevent them from laughing most bitterly at their oppressors. the tanner, cleon, was never belabored more soundly by the wits of athens, than the prelate by these flemish "rhetoricians." with infinitely less attic salt, but with as much heartiness as aristophanes could have done, the popular rhymers gave the minister ample opportunity to understand the position which he occupied in the netherlands. one day a petitioner placed a paper in his hand and vanished. it contained some scurrilous verses upon himself, together with a caricature of his person. in this he was represented as a hen seated upon a pile of eggs, out of which he was hatching a brood of bishops. some of these were clipping the shell, some thrusting forth an arm, some a leg, while others were running about with mitres on their heads, all bearing whimsical resemblance to various prelates who had been newly-appointed. above the cardinal's head the devil was represented hovering, with these words issuing from his mouth: "this is my beloved son, listen to him, my people." there was another lampoon of a similar nature, which was so well executed, that it especially excited granvelle's anger. it was a rhymed satire of a general nature, like the rest, but so delicate and so stinging, that the cardinal ascribed it to his old friend and present enemy, simon renard. this man, a burgundian by birth, and college associate of granvelle, had been befriended both by himself and his father. aided by their patronage and his own abilities, he had arrived at distinguished posts; having been spanish envoy both in france and england, and one of the negotiators of the truce of vaucelles. he had latterly been disappointed in his ambition to become a councillor of state, and had vowed vengeance upon the cardinal, to whom he attributed his ill success. he was certainly guilty of much ingratitude, for he had been under early obligations to the man in whose side he now became a perpetual thorn. it must be confessed, on the other hand, that granvelle repaid the enmity of his old associate with a malevolence equal to his own, and if renard did not lose his head as well as his political station, it was not for want of sufficient insinuation on the part of the minister. especially did granvelle denounce him to "the master" as the perverter of egmont, while he usually described that nobleman himself, as weak, vain, "a friend of smoke," easily misguided, but in the main well-intentioned and loyal. at the same time, with all these vague commendations, he never omitted to supply the suspicious king with an account of every fact or every rumor to the count's discredit. in the case of this particular satire, he informed philip that he could swear it came from the pen of renard, although, for the sake of deception, the rhetoric comedians had been employed. he described the production as filled with "false, abominable, and infernal things," and as treating not only himself, but the pope and the whole ecclesiastical order with as much contumely as could be showed in germany. he then proceeded to insinuate, in the subtle manner which was peculiarly his own, that egmont was a party to the publication of the pasquil. renard visited at that house, he said, and was received there on a much more intimate footing than was becoming. eight days before the satire was circulated, there had been a conversation in egmont's house, of a nature exactly similar to the substance of the pamphlet. the man, in whose hands it was first seen, continued granvelle, was a sword cutler, a godson of the count. this person said that he had torn it from the gate of the city hall, but god grant, prayed the cardinal, that it was not he who had first posted it up there. 'tis said that egmont and mansfeld, he added, have sent many times to the cutler to procure copies of the satire, all which augments the suspicion against them. with the nobles he was on no better terms than with the people. the great seigniors, orange, egmont, horn, and others, openly avowed their hostility to him, and had already given their reasons to the king. mansfeld and his son at that time were both with the opposition. aerschot and aremberg kept aloof from the league which was forming against the prelate, but had small sympathy for his person. even berlaymont began to listen to overtures from the leading nobles, who, among other inducements, promised to supply his children with bishoprics. there were none truly faithful and submissive to the cardinal but such men as the prevot morillon, who had received much advancement from him. this distinguished pluralist was popularly called "double a, b, c," to indicate that he had twice as many benefices as there were letters in the alphabet. he had, however, no objection to more, and was faithful to the dispensing power. the same course was pursued by secretary bave, esquire bordey, and other expectants and dependents. viglius, always remarkable for his pusillanimity, was at this period already anxious to retire. the erudite and opulent frisian preferred a less tempestuous career. he was in favor of the edicts, but he trembled at the uproar which their literal execution was daily exciting, for he knew the temper of his countrymen. on the other hand, he was too sagacious not to know the inevitable consequence of opposition to the will of philip. he was therefore most eager to escape the dilemma. he was a scholar, and could find more agreeable employment among his books. he had accumulated vast wealth, and was desirous to retain it as long as possible. he had a learned head and was anxious to keep it upon his shoulders. these simple objects could be better attained in a life of privacy. the post of president of the privy council and member of the "consulta" was a dangerous one. he knew that the king was sincere in his purposes. he foresaw that the people would one day be terribly in earnest. of ancient frisian blood himself, he knew that the spirit of the ancient batavians and frisians had not wholly deserted their descendants. he knew that they were not easily roused, that they were patient, but that they would strike at last and would endure. he urgently solicited the king to release him, and pleaded his infirmities of body in excuse. philip, however, would not listen to his retirement, and made use of the most convincing arguments to induce him to remain. four hundred and fifty annual florins, secured by good reclaimed swamps in friesland, two thousand more in hand, with a promise of still larger emoluments when the king should come to the netherlands, were reasons which the learned doctor honestly confessed himself unable to resist. fortified by these arguments, he remained at his post, continued the avowed friend and adherent of granvelle, and sustained with magnanimity the invectives of nobles and people. to do him justice, he did what he could to conciliate antagonists and to compromise principles. if it had ever been possible to find the exact path between right and wrong, the president would have found it, and walked in it with respectability and complacency. in the council, however, the cardinal continued to carry it with a high hand; turning his back on orange and egmont, and retiring with the duchess and president to consult, after every session. proud and important personages, like the prince and count, could ill brook such insolence; moreover, they suspected the cardinal of prejudicing the mind of their sovereign against them. a report was very current, and obtained almost universal belief, that granvelle had expressly advised his majesty to take off the heads of at least half a dozen of the principal nobles in the land. this was an error; "these two seigniors," wrote the cardinal to philip, "have been informed that i have written to your majesty, that you will never be master of these provinces without taking off at least half a dozen heads, and that because it would be difficult, on account of the probable tumults which such a course would occasion, to do it here, your majesty means to call them to spain and do it there. your majesty can judge whether such a thing has ever entered my thoughts. i have laughed at it as a ridiculous invention. this gross forgery is one of renard's." the cardinal further stated to his majesty that he had been informed by these same nobles that the duke of alva, when a hostage for the treaty of cateau cambresis, had negotiated an alliance between the crowns of france and spain for the extirpation of heresy by the sword. he added, that he intended to deal with the nobles with all gentleness, and that he should do his best to please them. the only thing which he could not yield was the authority of his majesty; to sustain that, he would sacrifice his life, if necessary. at the same time granvelle carefully impressed upon the king the necessity of contradicting the report alluded to, a request which he took care should also be made through the regent in person. he had already, both in his own person and in that of the duchess, begged for a formal denial, on the king's part, that there was any intention of introducing the spanish inquisition into the netherlands, and that the cardinal had counselled, originally, the bishoprics. thus instructed, the king accordingly wrote to margaret of parma to furnish the required contradictions. in so doing, he made a pithy remark. "the cardinal had not counselled the cutting off the half a dozen heads," said the monarch, "but perhaps it would not be so bad to do it!" time was to show whether philip was likely to profit by the hint conveyed in the cardinal's disclaimer, and whether the factor "half dozen" were to be used or not as a simple multiplier in the terrible account preparing. the contradictions, however sincere, were not believed by the persons most interested. nearly all the nobles continued to regard the cardinal with suspicion and aversion. many of the ruder and more reckless class vied with the rhetoricians and popular caricaturists in the practical jests which they played off almost daily against the common foe. especially count brederode, "a madman, if there ever were one," as a contemporary expressed himself, was most untiring in his efforts to make granvelle ridiculous. he went almost nightly to masquerades, dressed as a cardinal or a monk; and as he was rarely known to be sober on these or any other occasions, the wildness of his demonstrations may easily be imagined. he was seconded on all these occasions by his cousin robert de la marck, seigneur de lumey, a worthy descendant of the famous "wild boar of ardennes;" a man brave to temerity, but utterly depraved, licentious, and sanguinary. these two men, both to be widely notorious, from their prominence in many of the most striking scenes by which the great revolt was ushered in, had vowed the most determined animosity to the cardinal, which was manifested in the reckless, buffooning way which belonged to their characters. besides the ecclesiastical costumes in which they always attired themselves at their frequent festivities, they also wore fog-tails in their hats instead of plumes. they decked their servants also with the same ornaments; openly stating, that by these symbols they meant to signify that the old fox granvelle, and his cubs, viglius, berlaymont, and the rest, should soon be hunted down by them, and the brush placed in their hats as a trophy. moreover, there is no doubt that frequent threats of personal violence were made against the cardinal. granvelle informed the king that his life was continually menaced by, the nobles, but that he feared them little, "for he believed them too prudent to attempt any thing of the kind." there is no doubt, when his position with regard to the upper and lower classes in the country is considered, that there was enough to alarm a timid man; but granvelle was constitutionally brave. he was accused of wearing a secret shirt of mail, of living in perpetual trepidation, of having gone on his knees to egmont and orange, of having sent richardot, bishop of arras, to intercede for him in the same humiliating manner with egmont. all these stories were fables. bold as he was arrogant, he affected at this time to look down with a forgiving contempt on the animosity of the nobles. he passed much of his time alone, writing his eternal dispatches to the king. he had a country-house, called la fontaine, surrounded by beautiful gardens, a little way outside the gates of brussels, where he generally resided, and whence, notwithstanding the remonstrances of his friends, he often returned to town, after sunset, alone, or with but a few attendants. he avowed that he feared no attempts at assassination, for, if the seigniors took his life, they would destroy the best friend they ever had. this villa, where most of his plans were matured and his state papers drawn up, was called by the people, in derision of his supposed ancestry, "the smithy." here, as they believed, was the anvil upon which the chains of their slavery were forging; here, mostly deserted by those who had been his earlier, associates, he assumed a philosophical demeanor which exasperated, without deceiving his adversaries. over the great gate of his house he had placed the marble statue of a female. it held an empty wine-cup in one hand, and an urn of flowing water in the other. the single word "durate" was engraved upon the pedestal. by the motto, which was his habitual device, he was supposed, in this application, to signify that his power would outlast that of the nobles, and that perennial and pure as living water, it would flow tranquilly on, long after the wine of their life had been drunk to the lees. the fiery extravagance of his adversaries, and the calm and limpid moderation of his own character, thus symbolized, were supposed to convey a moral lesson to the world. the hieroglyphics, thus interpreted, were not relished by the nobles--all avoided his society, and declined his invitations. he consoled himself with the company of the lesser gentry,--a class which he now began to patronize, and which he urgently recommended to the favor of the king,--hinting that military and civil offices bestowed upon their inferiors would be a means of lowering the pride of the grandees. he also affected to surround himself with even humbler individuals. "it makes me laugh," he wrote to philip, "to see the great seigniors absenting themselves from my dinners; nevertheless, i can always get plenty of guests at my table, gentlemen and councillors. i sometimes invite even citizens, in order to gain their good will." the regent was well aware of the anger excited in the breasts of the leading nobles by the cool manner in which they had been thrust out of their share in the administration of affairs. she defended herself with acrimony in her letters to the king, although a defence was hardly needed in that quarter for implicit obedience to the royal commands. she confessed her unwillingness to consult with her enemies. she avowed her determination to conceal the secrets of the government from those who were capable of abusing her confidence. she represented that there were members of the council who would willingly take advantage of the trepidation which she really felt, and which she should exhibit if she expressed herself without reserve before them. for this reason she confined herself, as philip had always intended, exclusively to the consulta. it was not difficult to recognize the hand which wrote the letter thus signed by margaret of parma. both nobles and people were at this moment irritated by another circumstance. the civil war having again broken out in france, philip, according to the promise made by him to catharine de medici, when he took her daughter in marriage, was called upon to assist the catholic party with auxiliaries. he sent three thousand infantry, accordingly, which he had levied in italy, as many more collected in spain, and gave immediate orders that the duchess of parma should despatch at least two thousand cavalry, from the netherlands. great was the indignation in the council when the commands were produced. sore was the dismay of margaret. it was impossible to obey the king. the idea of sending the famous mounted gendarmerie of the provinces to fight against the french huguenots could not be tolerated for an instant. the "bands of ordonnance" were very few in number, and were to guard the frontier. they were purely for domestic purposes. it formed no part of their duty to go upon crusades in foreign lands; still less to take a share in a religious quarrel, and least of all to assist a monarch against a nation. these views were so cogently presented to the duchess in council, that she saw the impossibility of complying with her brother's commands. she wrote to philip to that effect. meantime, another letter arrived out of spain, chiding her delay, and impatiently calling upon her to furnish the required cavalry at once. the duchess was in a dilemma. she feared to provoke another storm in the council, for there was already sufficient wrangling there upon domestic subjects. she knew it was impossible to obtain the consent, even of berlaymont and viglius, to such an odious measure as the one proposed. she was, however, in great trepidation at the peremptory tone of the king's despatch. under the advice of granvelle, she had recourse to a trick. a private and confidential letter of philip was read to the council, but with alterations suggested and interpolated by the cardinal. the king was represented as being furious at the delay, but as willing that a sum of money should be furnished instead of the cavalry, as originally required. this compromise, after considerable opposition, was accepted. the duchess wrote to philip, explaining and apologizing for the transaction. the king received the substitution with as good a grace as could have been expected, and sent fifteen hundred troopers from spain to his medicean mother-in-law, drawing upon the duchess of parma for the money to pay their expenses. thus was the industry of the netherlands taxed that the french might be persecuted by their own monarch. the regent had been forbidden, by her brother, to convoke the states-general; a body which the prince of orange, sustained by berghen, montigny, and other nobles, was desirous of having assembled. it may be easily understood that granvelle would take the best care that the royal prohibition should be enforced. the duchess, however, who, as already hinted, was beginning to feel somewhat uncomfortable under the cardinal's dominion, was desirous of consulting some larger council than that with which she held her daily deliberations. a meeting of the knights of the fleece was accordingly summoned. they assembled in brussels, in the month of may, . the learned viglius addressed them in a long and eloquent speech, in which he discussed the troubled and dangerous condition of the provinces, alluded to some of its causes, and suggested various remedies. it may be easily conceived, however, that the inquisition was not stated among the causes, nor its suppression included among the remedies. a discourse, in which the fundamental topic was thus conscientiously omitted, was not likely, with all its concinnities, to make much impression upon the disaffected knights, or to exert a soothing influence upon the people. the orator was, however, delighted with his own performance. he informs us, moreover, that the duchess was equally charmed, and that she protested she had never in her whole life heard any thing more "delicate, more suitable, or more eloquent." the prince of orange, however, did not sympathize with her admiration. the president's elegant periods produced but little effect upon his mind. the meeting adjourned, after a few additional words from the duchess, in which she begged the knights to ponder well the causes of the increasing discontent, and to meet her again, prepared to announce what, in their opinion, would be the course best adapted to maintain the honor of the king, the safety of the provinces, and the glory of god. soon after the separation of the assembly, the prince of orange issued invitations to most of the knights, to meet at his house for the purpose of private deliberation. the president and cardinal were not included in these invitations. the meeting was, in fact, what we should call a caucus, rather than a general gathering. nevertheless, there were many of the government party present--men who differed from the prince, and were inclined to support granvelle. the meeting was a stormy one. two subjects were discussed. the first was the proposition of the duchess, to investigate the general causes of the popular dissatisfaction; the second was an inquiry how it could be rendered practicable to discuss political matters in future--a proceeding now impossible, in consequence of the perverseness and arrogance of certain functionaries, and one which, whenever attempted, always led to the same inevitable result. this direct assault upon the cardinal produced a furious debate. his enemies were delighted with the opportunity of venting their long-suppressed spleen. they indulged in savage invectives against the man whom they so sincerely hated. his adherents, on the other hand--bossu, berlaymont, courieres--were as warm in his defence. they replied by indignant denials of the charge against him, and by bitter insinuations against the prince of orange. they charged him with nourishing the desire of being appointed governor of brabant, an office considered inseparable from the general stadholderate of all the provinces. they protested for themselves that they were actuated by no ambitious designs--that they were satisfied with their own position, and not inspired by jealousy of personages more powerful than themselves. it is obvious that such charges and recriminations could excite no healing result, and that the lines between cardinalists and their opponents would be defined in consequence more sharply than ever. the adjourned meeting of the chevaliers of the fleece took place a few days afterwards. the duchess exerted herself as much as possible to reconcile the contending factions, without being able, however, to apply the only remedy which could be effective. the man who was already fast becoming the great statesman of the country knew that the evil was beyond healing, unless by a change of purpose on the part of the government. the regent, on the other hand, who it must be confessed never exhibited any remarkable proof of intellectual ability during the period of her residence in the netherlands, was often inspired by a feeble and indefinite hope that the matter might be arranged by a compromise between the views of conflicting parties. unfortunately the inquisition was not a fit subject for a compromise. nothing of radical importance was accomplished by the assembly of the fleece. it was decided that an application should be made to the different states for a giant of money, and that, furthermore, a special envoy should be despatched to spain. it was supposed by the duchess and her advisers that more satisfactory information concerning the provinces could be conveyed to philip by word of mouth than by the most elaborate epistles. the meeting was dissolved after these two measures had been agreed upon. doctor viglius, upon whom devolved the duty of making the report and petition to the states, proceeded to draw up the necessary application. this he did with his customary elegance, and, as usual, very much to his own satisfaction. on returning to his house, however, after having discharged this duty, he was very much troubled at finding that a large mulberry-tree; which stood in his garden, had been torn up by the roots in a violent hurricane. the disaster was considered ominous by the president, and he was accordingly less surprised than mortified when he found, subsequently, that his demand upon the orders had remained as fruitless as his ruined tree. the tempest which had swept his garden he considered typical of the storm which was soon to rage through the land, and he felt increased anxiety to reach a haven while it was yet comparatively calm. the estates rejected the request for supplies, on various grounds; among others, that the civil war was drawing to a conclusion in france, and that less danger was to be apprehended from that source than had lately been the case. thus, the "cup of bitterness," of which granvelle had already complained; was again commended to his lips, and there was more reason than ever for the government to regret that the national representatives had contracted the habit of meddling with financial matters. florence de montmorency, seigneur de montigny, was selected by the regent for the mission which had been decided upon for spain. this gentleman was brother to count horn, but possessed of higher talents and a more amiable character than those of the admiral. he was a warm friend of orange, and a bitter enemy to granvelle. he was a sincere catholic, but a determined foe to the inquisition. his brother had declined to act as envoy. this refusal can excite but little surprise, when philip's wrath at their parting interview is recalled, and when it is also remembered that the new mission would necessarily lay bare fresh complaints against the cardinal, still more extensive than those which had produced the former explosion of royal indignation. montigny, likewise, would have preferred to remain at home, but he was overruled. it had been written in his destiny that he should go twice into the angry lion's den, and that he should come forth once, alive. thus it has been shown that there was an open, avowed hostility on the part of the grand seignors and most of the lesser nobility to the cardinal and his measures. the people fully and enthusiastically sustained the prince of orange in his course. there was nothing underhand in the opposition made to the government. the netherlands did not constitute an absolute monarchy. they did not even constitute a monarchy. there was no king in the provinces. philip was king of spain, naples, jerusalem, but he was only duke of brabant, count of flanders, lord of friesland, hereditary chief, in short, under various titles, of seventeen states, each one of which, although not republican, possessed constitutions as sacred as, and much more ancient than, the crown. the resistance to the absolutism of granvelle and philip was, therefore, logical, legal, constitutional. it was no cabal, no secret league, as the cardinal had the effrontery to term it, but a legitimate exercise of powers which belonged of old to those who wielded them, and which only an unrighteous innovation could destroy. granvelle's course was secret and subtle. during the whole course of the proceedings which have just been described, he was; in daily confidential correspondence with the king, besides being the actual author of the multitudinous despatches which were sent with the signature of the duchess. he openly asserted his right to monopolize all the powers of the government; he did his utmost to force upon the reluctant and almost rebellious people the odious measures which the king had resolved upon, while in his secret letters he uniformly represented the nobles who opposed him, as being influenced, not by an honest hatred of oppression and attachment to ancient rights, but by resentment, and jealousy of their own importance. he assumed, in his letters to his master, that the absolutism already existed of right and in fact, which it was the intention of philip to establish. while he was depriving the nobles, the states and the nation of their privileges, and even of their natural rights (a slender heritage in those days), he assured the king that there was an evident determination to reduce his authority to a cipher. the estates, he wrote, had usurped the whole administration of the finances, and had farmed it out to antony van stralen and others, who were making enormous profits in the business. "the seignors," he said, "declare at their dinner parties that i wish to make them subject to the absolute despotism of your majesty. in point of fact, however, they really exercise a great deal more power than the governors of particular provinces ever did before; and it lacks but little that madame and your majesty should become mere ciphers, while the grandees monopolize the whole power. this," he continued, "is the principal motive of their opposition to the new bishoprics. they were angry that your majesty should have dared to solicit such an arrangement at rome, without, first obtaining their consent. they wish to reduce your majesty's authority to so low a point that you can do nothing unless they desire it. their object is the destruction of the royal authority and of the administration of justice, in order to avoid the payment of their debts; telling their creditors constantly that they, have spent their all in your majesty's service, and that they have never received recompence or salary. this they do to make your majesty odious." as a matter of course, he attributed the resistance on the part of the great nobles, every man of whom was catholic, to base motives. they were mere demagogues, who refused to burn their fellow-creatures, not from any natural repugnance to the task, but in order to gain favor with the populace. "this talk about the inquisition," said he, "is all a pretext. 'tis only to throw dust in the eyes of the vulgar, and to persuade them into tumultuous demonstrations, while the real reason is, that they choose that your majesty should do nothing without their permission, and through their hands." he assumed sometimes, however, a tone of indulgence toward the seignors--who formed the main topics of his letters--an affectation which might, perhaps, have offended them almost as much as more open and sincere denunciation. he could forgive offences against himself. it was for philip to decide as to their merits or crimes so far as the crown was concerned. his language often was befitting a wise man who was speaking of very little children. "assonleville has told me, as coming from egmont," he wrote, "that many of the nobles are dissatisfied with me; hearing from spain that i am endeavoring to prejudice your majesty against them." certainly the tone of the cardinal's daily letters would have justified such suspicion, could the nobles have seen them. granvelle begged the king, however, to disabuse them upon this point. "would to god," said he, piously, "that they all would decide to sustain the authority of your majesty, and to procure such measures as tend to the service of god and the security of the states. may i cease to exist if i do not desire to render good service to the very least of these gentlemen. your majesty knows that, when they do any thing for the benefit of your service, i am never silent. nevertheless, thus they are constituted. i hope, however, that this flurry will blow over, and that when your majesty comes they will all be found to deserve rewards of merit." of egmont, especially, he often spoke in terms of vague, but somewhat condescending commendation. he never manifested resentment in his letters, although, as already stated, the count had occasionally indulged, not only in words, but in deeds of extreme violence against him. but the cardinal was too forgiving a christian, or too keen a politician not to pass by such offences, so long as there was a chance of so great a noble's remaining or becoming his friend. he, accordingly, described him, in general, as a man whose principles, in the main, were good, but who was easily led by his own vanity and the perverse counsels of others. he represented him as having been originally a warm supporter of the new bishoprics, and as having expressed satisfaction that two of them, those of bruges and ypres, should have been within his own stadholderate. he regretted, however; to inform the king that the count was latterly growing lukewarm, perhaps from fear of finding himself separated from the other nobles. on the whole, he was tractable enough, said the cardinal, if he were not easily persuaded by the vile; but one day, perhaps, he might open his eyes again. notwithstanding these vague expressions of approbation, which granvelle permitted himself in his letters to philip, he never failed to transmit to the monarch every fact, every rumor, every inuendo which might prejudice the royal mind against that nobleman or against any of the noblemen, whose characters he at the same time protested he was most unwilling to injure. it is true that he dealt mainly by insinuation, while he was apt to conclude his statements with disclaimers upon his own part, and with hopes of improvement in the conduct of the seignors. at this particular point of time he furnished philip with a long and most circumstantial account of a treasonable correspondence which was thought to be going on between the leading nobles and the future emperor, maximilian. the narrative was a good specimen of the masterly style of inuendo in which the cardinal excelled, and by which he was often enabled to convince his master of the truth of certain statements while affecting to discredit them. he had heard a story, he said, which he felt bound to communicate to his majesty, although he did not himself implicitly believe it. he felt himself the more bound to speak upon the subject because it tallied exactly with intelligence which he had received from another source. the story was that one of these seigniors (the cardinal did not know which, for he had not yet thought proper to investigate the matter) had said that rather than consent that the king should act in this matter of the bishoprics against the privileges of brabant, the nobles would elect for their sovereign some other prince of the blood. this, said the cardinal, was perhaps a fantasy rather than an actual determination. count egmont, to be sure, he said, was constantly exchanging letters with the king of bohemia (maximilian), and it was supposed, therefore, that he was the prince of the blood who was to be elected to govern the provinces. it was determined that he should be chosen king of the romans, by fair means or by force, that he should assemble an army to attack the netherlands, that a corresponding movement should be made within the states, and that the people should be made to rise, by giving them the reins in the matter of religion. the cardinal, after recounting all the particulars of this fiction with great minuteness, added, with apparent frankness, that the correspondence between egmont and maximilian did not astonish him, because there had been much intimacy between them in the time of the late emperor. he did not feel convinced, therefore, from the frequency of the letters exchanged, that there was a scheme to raise an army to attack the provinces and to have him elected by force. on the contrary, maximilian could never accomplish such a scheme without the assistance of his imperial father the emperor, whom granvelle was convinced would rather die than be mixed up with such villany against philip. moreover, unless the people should become still more corrupted by the bad counsels constantly given them, the cardinal did not believe that any of the great nobles had the power to dispose in this way of the provinces at their pleasure. therefore, he concluded that the story was to be rejected as improbable, although it had come to him directly from the house of the said count egmont. it is remarkable that, at the commencement of his narrative, the cardinal had expressed his ignorance of the name of the seignior who was hatching all this treason, while at the end of it he gave a local habitation to the plot in the palace of egmont. it is also quite characteristic that he should add that, after all, he considered that nobleman one of the most honest of all, if appearances did not deceive. it may be supposed, however, that all these details of a plot which was quite imaginary, were likely to produce more effect upon a mind so narrow and so suspicious as that of philip, than could the vague assertions of the cardinal, that in spite of all, he would dare be sworn that he thought the count honest, and that men should be what they seemed. notwithstanding the conspiracy, which, according to granvelle's letters, had been formed against him, notwithstanding that his life was daily threatened, he did not advise the king at this period to avenge him by any public explosion of wrath. he remembered, he piously observed, that vengeance belonged to god, and that he would repay. therefore he passed over insults meekly, because that comported best with his majesty's service. therefore, too, he instructed philip to make no demonstration at that time, in order not to damage his own affairs. he advised him to dissemble, and to pretend not to know what was going on in the provinces. knowing that his master looked to him daily for instructions, always obeyed them with entire docility, and, in fact, could not move a step in netherland matters without them, he proceeded to dictate to him the terms in which he was to write to the nobles, and especially laid down rules for his guidance in his coming interviews with the seigneur de montigny. philip, whose only talent consisted in the capacity to learn such lessons with laborious effort, was at this juncture particularly in need of tuition. the cardinal instructed him, accordingly, that he was to disabuse all men of the impression that the spanish inquisition was to be introduced into the provinces. he was to write to the seigniors, promising to pay them their arrears of salary; he was to exhort them to do all in their power for the advancement of religion and maintenance of the royal authority; and he was to suggest to them that, by his answer to the antwerp deputation, it was proved that there was no intention of establishing the inquisition of spain, under pretext of the new bishoprics. the king was, furthermore, to signify his desire that all the nobles should exert themselves to efface this false impression from the popular mind. he was also to express himself to the same effect concerning the spanish inquisition, the bishoprics, and the religious question, in the public letters to madame de parma, which were to be read in full council. the cardinal also renewed his instructions to the king as to the manner in which the antwerp deputies were to be answered, by giving them, namely, assurances that to transplant the spanish inquisition into the provinces would be as hopeless as to attempt its establishment in naples. he renewed his desire that philip should contradict the story about the half dozen heads, and he especially directed him to inform montigny that berghen had known of the new bishoprics before the cardinal. this, urged granvelle, was particularly necessary, because the seigniors were irritated that so important a matter should have been decided upon without their advice, and because the marquis berghen was now the "cock of the opposition." at about the same time, it was decided by granvelle and the regent, in conjunction with the king, to sow distrust and jealousy among the nobles, by giving greater "mercedes" to some than to others, although large sums were really due to all. in particular, the attempt was made in this paltry manner, to humiliate william of orange. a considerable sum was paid to egmont, and a trifling one to the prince, in consideration of their large claims upon the treasury. moreover the duke of aerschot was selected as envoy to the frankfort diet, where the king of the romans was to be elected, with the express intention, as margaret wrote to philip, of creating divisions among the nobles, as he had suggested. the duchess at the same time informed her brother that, according to, berlaymont, the prince of orange was revolving some great design, prejudicial to his majesty's service. philip, who already began to suspect that a man who thought so much must be dangerous, was eager to find out the scheme over which william the silent was supposed to be brooding, and wrote for fresh intelligence to the duchess. neither margaret nor the cardinal, however, could discover any thing against the prince--who, meantime, although disappointed of the mission to frankfort, had gone to that city in his private capacity--saving that he had been heard to say, "one day we shall be the stronger." granvelle and madame de parma both communicated this report upon the same day, but this was all that they were able to discover of the latent plot. in the autumn of this year ( ) montigny made his visit to spain, as confidential envoy from the regent. the king being fully prepared as to the manner in which he was to deal with him, received the ambassador with great cordiality. he informed him in the course of their interviews, that granvelle had never attempted to create prejudice against the nobles, that he was incapable of the malice attributed to him, and that even were it otherwise, his evil representations against other public servants would produce no effect. the king furthermore protested that he had no intention of introducing the spanish inquisition into the netherlands, and that the new bishops were not intended as agents for such a design, but had been appointed solely with a view of smoothing religious difficulties in the provinces, and of leading his people back into the fold of the faithful. he added, that as long ago as his visit to england for the purpose of espousing queen mary, he had entertained the project of the new episcopates, as the marquis berghen, with whom he had conversed freely upon the subject, could bear witness. with regard to the connexion of granvelle with the scheme, he assured montigny that the cardinal had not been previously consulted, but had first learned the plan after the mission of sonnius. such was the purport of the king's communications to the envoy, as appears from memoranda in the royal handwriting and from the correspondence of margaret of parma. philip's exactness in conforming to his instructions is sufficiently apparent, on comparing his statements with the letters previously received from the omnipresent cardinal. beyond the limits of those directions the king hardly hazarded a syllable. he was merely the plenipotentiary of the cardinal, as montigny was of the regent. so long as granvelle's power lasted, he was absolute and infallible. such, then, was the amount of satisfaction derived from the mission of montigny. there was to be no diminution of the religious persecution, but the people were assured upon royal authority, that the inquisition, by which they were daily burned and beheaded, could not be logically denominated the spanish inquisition. in addition to the comfort, whatever it might be, which the nation could derive from this statement, they were also consoled with the information that granvelle was not the inventor of the bishoprics. although he had violently supported the measure as soon as published, secretly denouncing as traitors and demagogues, all those who lifted their voices against it, although he was the originator of the renewed edicts, although he took, daily, personal pains that this netherland inquisition, "more pitiless than the spanish," should be enforced in its rigor, and although he, at the last, opposed the slightest mitigation of its horrors, he was to be represented to the nobles and the people as a man of mild and unprejudiced character, incapable of injuring even his enemies. "i will deal with the seigniors most blandly," the cardinal had written to philip, "and will do them pleasure, even if they do not wish it, for the sake of god and your majesty." it was in this light, accordingly, that philip drew the picture of his favorite minister to the envoy. montigny, although somewhat influenced by the king's hypocritical assurances of the benignity with which he regarded the netherlands, was, nevertheless, not to be deceived by this flattering portraiture of a man whom he knew so well and detested so cordially as he did granvelle. solicited by the king, at their parting interview, to express his candid opinion as to the causes of the dissatisfaction in the provinces, montigny very frankly and most imprudently gave vent to his private animosity towards the cardinal. he spoke of his licentiousness, greediness, ostentation, despotism, and assured the monarch that nearly all the inhabitants of the netherlands entertained the same opinion concerning him. he then dilated upon the general horror inspired by the inquisition and the great repugnance felt to the establishment of the new episcopates. these three evils, granvelle, the inquisition, and the bishoprics, he maintained were the real and sufficient causes of the increasing popular discontent. time was to reveal whether the open-hearted envoy was to escape punishment for his frankness, and whether vengeance for these crimes against granvelle and philip were to be left wholly, as the cardinal had lately suggested, in the hands of the lord. montigny returned late in december. his report concerning the results of his mission was made in the state council, and was received with great indignation. the professions of benevolent intentions on the part of the sovereign made no impression on the mind of orange, who was already in the habit of receiving secret information from spain with regard to the intentions of the government. he knew very well that the plot revealed to him by henry the second in the wood of vincennes was still the royal program, so far as the spanish monarch was concerned. moreover, his anger was heightened by information received from montigny that the names of orange, egmont and their adherents, were cited to him as he passed through france as the avowed defenders of the huguenots, in politics and religion. the prince, who was still a sincere catholic, while he hated the persecutions of the inquisition, was furious at the statement. a violent scene occurred in the council. orange openly denounced the report as a new slander of granvelle, while margaret defended the cardinal and denied the accusation, but at the same time endeavored with the utmost earnestness to reconcile the conflicting parties. it had now become certain, however, that the government could no longer be continued on its present footing. either granvelle or the seigniors must succumb. the prince of orange was resolved that the cardinal should fall or that he would himself withdraw from all participation in the affairs of government. in this decision he was sustained by egmont, horn, montigny, berghen, and the other leading nobles. etext editor's bookmarks: affecting to discredit them an inspiring and delightful recreation (auto-da-fe) arrested on suspicion, tortured till confession inquisition of the netherlands is much more pitiless inquisition was not a fit subject for a compromise made to swing to and fro over a slow fire orator was, however, delighted with his own performance philip, who did not often say a great deal in a few words scaffold was the sole refuge from the rack ten thousand two hundred and twenty individuals were burned torquemada's administration (of the inquisition) two witnesses sent him to the stake, one witness to the rack motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. - [chapter iv.] joint letter to philip, from orange, egmont, and horn--egmont's quarrel with aerschot and with aremberg--philip's answer to the three nobles--his instructions to the duchess--egmont declines the king's invitation to visit spain--second letter of the three seigniors--mission of armenteros--letter of alva--secret letters of granvelle to philip--the cardinal's insinuations and instructions-- his complaints as to the lukewarmness of berghen and montigny in the cause of the inquisition--anecdotes to their discredit privately chronicled by granvelle--supposed necessity for the king's presence in the provinces--correspondence of lazarus schwendi--approaching crisis--anxiety of granvelle to retire--banquet of caspar schetz-- invention of the foolscap livery--correspondence of the duchess and of the cardinal with philip upon the subject--entire withdrawal of the three seigniors from the state council--the king advises with alva concerning the recall of granvelle--elaborate duplicity of philip's arrangements--his secret note to the cardinal--his dissembling letters to others--departure of granvelle from the netherlands--various opinions as to its cause--ludicrous conduct of brederode and hoogstraaten--fabulous statements in granvelle's correspondence concerning his recall--universal mystification--the cardinal deceived by the king--granvelle in retirement--his epicureanism--fears in the provinces as to his return--universal joy at his departure--representations to his discredit made by the duchess to philip--her hypocritical letters to the cardinal-- masquerade at count mansfeld's--chantonnay's advice to his brother-- review of granvelle's administration and estimate of his character. on the th march, , orange, horn, and egmont united in a remarkable letter to the king. they said that as their longer "taciturnity" might cause the ruin of his majesty's affairs, they were at last compelled to break silence. they hoped that the king would receive with benignity a communication which was pure, frank, and free from all passion. the leading personages of the province, they continued, having thoroughly examined the nature and extent of cardinal granvelle's authority, had arrived at the conclusion that every thing was in his hands. this persuasion, they said, was rooted in the hearts of all his majesty's subjects, and particularly in their own, so deeply, that it could not be eradicated as long as the cardinal remained. the king was therefore implored to consider the necessity of remedying the evil. the royal affairs, it was affirmed, would never be successfully conducted so long as they were entrusted to granvelle, because he was so odious to so many people. if the danger were not imminent, they should not feel obliged to write to his majesty with so much vehemence. it was, however, an affair which allowed neither delay nor dissimulation. they therefore prayed the king, if they had ever deserved credence in things of weight, to believe them now. by so doing, his majesty would avoid great mischief. many grand seigniors, governors, and others, had thought it necessary to give this notice, in order that the king might prevent the ruin of the country. if, however, his majesty were willing, as they hoped, to avoid discontenting all for the sake of satisfying one, it was possible that affairs might yet prosper. that they might not be thought influenced by ambition or by hope of private profit, the writers asked leave to retire from the state council. neither their reputation, they said, nor the interests of the royal service would permit them to act with the cardinal. they professed themselves dutiful subjects and catholic vassals. had it not been for the zeal of the leading seigniors, the nobility, and other well-disposed persons, affairs would not at that moment be so tranquil; the common people having been so much injured, and the manner of life pursued by the cardinal not being calculated to give more satisfaction than was afforded by his unlimited authority. in conclusion, the writers begged his majesty not to throw the blame upon them, if mischance should follow the neglect of this warning. this memorable letter was signed by guillaume, de nassau, lamoral d'egmont, and philippes de montmorency (count horn). it was despatched undercover to charles de tisnacq, a belgian, and procurator for the affairs of the netherlands at madrid, a man whose relations with count egmont were of a friendly character. it was impossible, however, to keep the matter a secret from the person most interested. the cardinal wrote to the king the day before the letter was written, and many weeks before it was sent, to apprize him that it was coming, and to instruct him as to the answer he was to make. nearly all the leading nobles and governors had adhered to the substance of the letter, save the duke of aerschot, count aremberg, and baron berlaymont. the duke and count had refused to join the league; violent scenes having occurred upon the subject between them and the leaders of the opposition party. egmont, being with a large shooting party at aerschot's country place, beaumont, had taken occasion to urge the duke to join in the general demonstration against the cardinal, arguing the matter in the rough, off-hand, reckless manner which was habitual with him. his arguments offended the nobleman thus addressed, who was vain and irascible. he replied by affirming that he was a friend to egmont, but would not have him for his master. he would have nothing to do, he said, with their league against the cardinal, who had never given him cause of enmity. he had no disposition to dictate to the king as to his choice of ministers, and his majesty was quite right to select his servants at his own pleasure. the duke added that if the seigniors did not wish him for a friend, it was a matter of indifference to him. not one of them was his superior; he had as large a band of noble followers and friends as the best of them, and he had no disposition to accept the supremacy of any nobleman in the land. the conversation carried on in this key soon became a quarrel, and from words the two gentlemen would soon have come to blows, but for the interposition of aremberg and robles, who were present at the scene. the duchess of parma, narrating the occurrence to the king, added that a duel had been the expected result of the affair, but that the two nobles had eventually been reconciled. it was characteristic of aerschot that he continued afterward to associate with the nobles upon friendly terms, while maintaining an increased intimacy with the cardinal. the gentlemen who sent the letter were annoyed at the premature publicity which it seemed to have attained. orange had in vain solicited count aremberg to join the league, and had quarrelled with him in consequence. egmont, in the presence of madame de parma, openly charged aremberg with having divulged the secret which had been confided to him. the count fiercely denied that he had uttered a syllable on the subject to a human being; but added that any communication on his part would have been quite superfluous, while egmont and his friends were daily boasting of what they were to accomplish. egmont reiterated the charge of a breach of faith by aremberg. that nobleman replied by laying his hand upon his sword, denouncing as liars all persons who should dare to charge him again with such an offence, and offering to fight out the quarrel upon the instant. here, again, personal combat was, with much difficulty, averted. egmont, rude, reckless, and indiscreet, was already making manifest that he was more at home on a battle-field than in a political controversy where prudence and knowledge of human nature were as requisite as courage. he was at this period more liberal in his sentiments than at any moment of his life. inflamed by his hatred of granvelle, and determined to compass the overthrow of that minister, he conversed freely with all kinds of people, sought popularity among the burghers, and descanted to every one with much imprudence upon the necessity of union for the sake of liberty and the national good. the regent, while faithfully recording in her despatches every thing of this nature which reached her ears, expressed her astonishment at egmont's course, because, as she had often taken occasion to inform the king, she had always considered the count most sincerely attached to his majesty's service. berlaymont, the only other noble of prominence who did not approve the th of march letter, was at this period attempting to "swim in two waters," and, as usual in such cases, found it very difficult to keep himself afloat. he had refused to join the league, but he stood aloof from granvelle. on a hope held out by the seigniors that his son should be made bishop of liege, he had ceased during a whole year from visiting the cardinal, and had never spoken to him at the council-board. granvelle, in narrating these circumstances to the king, expressed the opinion that berlaymont, by thus attempting to please both parties, had thoroughly discredited himself with both. the famous epistle, although a most reasonable and manly statement of an incontrovertible fact, was nevertheless a document which it required much boldness to sign. the minister at that moment seemed omnipotent, and it was obvious that the king was determined upon a course of political and religious absolutism. it is, therefore, not surprising that, although many sustained its principles, few were willing to affix their names to a paper which might prove a death-warrant to the signers. even montigny and berghen, although they had been active in conducting the whole cabal, if cabal it could be called, refused to subscribe the letter. egmont and horn were men of reckless daring, but they were not keen-sighted enough to perceive fully the consequences of their acts. orange was often accused by his enemies of timidity, but no man ever doubted his profound capacity to look quite through the deeds of men. his political foresight enabled him to measure the dangerous precipice which they were deliberately approaching, while the abyss might perhaps be shrouded to the vision of his companions. he was too tranquil of nature to be hurried, by passions into a grave political step, which in cooler moments he might regret. he resolutely, therefore, and with his eyes open, placed himself in open and recorded enmity with the most powerful and dangerous man in the whole spanish realm, and incurred the resentment of a king who never forgave. it may be safely averred that as much courage was requisite thus to confront a cold and malignant despotism, and to maintain afterwards, without flinching, during a whole lifetime, the cause of national rights and liberty of conscience, as to head the most brilliant charge of cavalry that ever made hero famous. philip answered the letter of the three nobles on the th june following. in this reply, which was brief, he acknowledged the zeal and affection by which the writers had been actuated. he suggested, nevertheless, that, as they had mentioned no particular cause for adopting the advice contained in their letter, it would be better that one of them should come to madrid to confer with him. such matters, he said, could be better treated by word of mouth. he might thus receive sufficient information to enable him to form a decision, for, said he in conclusion, it was not his custom to aggrieve any of his ministers without cause. this was a fine phrase, but under the circumstances of its application, quite ridiculous. there was no question of aggrieving the minister. the letter of the three nobles was very simple. it consisted of a fact and a deduction. the fact stated was, that the cardinal was odious to all classes of the nation. the deduction drawn was, that the government could no longer be carried on by him without imminent danger of ruinous convulsions. the fact was indisputable. the person most interested confirmed it in his private letters. "'tis said," wrote granvelle to philip, "that grandees, nobles, and people, all abhor me, nor am i surprised to find that grandees, nobles, and people are all openly against me, since each and all have been invited to join in the league." the cardinal's reasons for the existence of the unpopularity, which he admitted to the full, have no bearing upon the point in the letter. the fact was relied upon to sustain a simple, although a momentous inference. it was for philip to decide upon the propriety of the deduction, and to abide by the consequences of his resolution when taken. as usual, however, the monarch was not capable of making up his mind. he knew very well that the cardinal was odious and infamous, because he was the willing impersonation of the royal policy. philip was, therefore, logically called upon to abandon the policy or to sustain the minister. he could make up his mind to do neither the one nor the other. in the mean time a well-turned period of mock magnanimity had been furnished him. this he accordingly transmitted as his first answer to a most important communication upon a subject which, in the words of the writers, "admitted neither of dissimulation nor delay." to deprive philip of dissimulation and delay, however, was to take away his all. they were the two weapons with which he fought his long life's battle. they summed up the whole of his intellectual resources. it was inevitable, therefore, that he should at once have recourse to both on such an emergency as the present one. at the same time that he sent his answer to the nobles, he wrote an explanatory letter to the regent. he informed her that he had received the communication of the three seigniors, but instructed her that she was to appear to know nothing of the matter until egmont should speak to her upon the subject. he added that, although he had signified his wish to the three nobles, that one of them, without specifying which, should come to madrid, he in reality desired that egmont, who seemed the most tractable of the three, should be the one deputed. the king added, that his object was to divide the nobles, and to gain time. it was certainly superfluous upon philip's part to inform his sister that his object was to gain time. procrastination was always his first refuge, as if the march of the world's events would pause indefinitely while he sat in his cabinet and pondered. it was, however, sufficiently puerile to recommend to his sister an affectation of ignorance on a subject concerning which nobles had wrangled, and almost drawn their swords in her presence. this, however, was the king's statesmanship when left to his unaided exertions. granvelle, who was both philip and margaret when either had to address or to respond to the world at large, did not always find it necessary to regulate the correspondence of his puppets between themselves. in order more fully to divide the nobles, the king also transmitted to egmont a private note, in his own handwriting, expressing his desire that he should visit spain in person, that they might confer together upon the whole subject. these letters, as might be supposed, produced any thing but a satisfactory effect. the discontent and rage of the gentlemen who had written or sustained the th of march communication, was much increased. the answer was, in truth, no answer at all. "'tis a cold and bad reply," wrote louis of nassau, "to send after so long a delay. 'tis easy to see that the letter came from the cardinal's smithy. in summa it is a vile business, if the gentlemen are all to be governed by one person. i hope to god his power will come soon to an end. nevertheless," added louis, "the gentlemen are all wide awake, for they trust the red fellow not a bit more than he deserves." the reader has already seen that the letter was indeed "from the cardinal's smithy," granvelle having instructed his master how to reply to the seigniors before the communication had been despatched. the duchess wrote immediately to inform her brother that egmont had expressed himself willing enough to go to spain, but had added that he must first consult orange and horn. as soon as that step had been taken, she had been informed that it was necessary for them to advise with all the gentlemen who had sanctioned their letter. the duchess had then tried in vain to prevent such an assembly, but finding that, even if forbidden, it would still take place, she had permitted the meeting in brussels, as she could better penetrate into their proceedings there, than if it should be held at a distance. she added, that she should soon send her secretary armenteros to spain, that the king might be thoroughly acquainted with what was occurring. egmont soon afterwards wrote to philip, declining to visit spain expressly on account of the cardinal. he added, that he was ready to undertake the journey, should the king command his presence for any other object. the same decision was formally communicated to the regent by those chevaliers of the fleece who had approved the th of march letter--montigny; berghen, meghem, mansfeld, ligne, hoogstraaten, orange, egmont, and horn. the prince of orange, speaking in the name of all, informed her that they did not consider it consistent with their reputation, nor with the interest of his majesty, that any one of them should make so long and troublesome a journey, in order to accuse the cardinal. for any other purpose, they all held themselves ready to go to spain at once. the duchess expressed her regret at this resolution. the prince replied by affirming that, in all their proceedings, they had been governed, not by hatred of granvelle but by a sense of duty to his majesty. it was now, he added, for the king to pursue what course it pleased him. four days after this interview with the regent, orange, egmont, and horn addressed a second letter to the king. in this communication they stated that they had consulted with all the gentlemen with whose approbation their first letter had been written. as to the journey of one of them to spain,--as suggested, they pronounced it very dangerous for any seignior to absent himself, in the condition of affairs which then existed. it was not a sufficient cause to go thither on account of granvelle. they disclaimed any intention of making themselves parties to a process against the cardinal. they had thought that their simple, brief announcement would have sufficed to induce his majesty to employ that personage in other places, where his talents would be more fruitful. as to "aggrieving the cardinal without cause," there was no question of aggrieving him at all, but of relieving him of an office which could not remain in his hands without disaster. as to "no particular cause having been mentioned," they said the omission was from no lack of many such. they had charged none, however, because, from their past services and their fidelity to his majesty, they expected to be believed on their honor, without further witnesses or evidence. they had no intention of making themselves accusers. they had purposely abstained from specifications. if his majesty should proceed to ampler information, causes enough would be found. it was better, however, that they should be furnished by others than by themselves. his majesty would then find that the public and general complaint was not without adequate motives. they renewed their prayer to be excused from serving in the council of state, in order that they might not be afterwards inculpated for the faults of others. feeling that the controversy between themselves and the cardinal de granvelle in the state council produced no fruit for his majesty's affairs, they preferred to yield to him. in conclusion, they begged the king to excuse the simplicity of their letters, the rather that they were not by nature great orators, but more accustomed to do well than to speak well, which was also more becoming to persons of their quality. on the th of august, count horn also addressed a private letter to the king, written in the same spirit as that which characterized the joint letter just cited. he assured his majesty that the cardinal could render no valuable service to the crown on account of the hatred which the whole nation bore him, but that, as far as regarded the maintenance of the ancient religion, all the nobles were willing to do their duty. the regent now despatched, according to promise, her private secretary, thomas de armenteros, to spain. his instructions, which were very elaborate, showed that granvelle was not mistaken when he charged her with being entirely changed in regard to him, and when he addressed her a reproachful letter, protesting his astonishment that his conduct had become auspicious, and his inability to divine the cause of the weariness and dissatisfaction which she manifested in regard to him. armenteros, a man of low, mercenary, and deceitful character, but a favorite of the regent, and already beginning to acquire that influence over her mind which was soon to become so predominant, was no friend of the cardinal. it was not probable that he would diminish the effect of that vague censure mingled with faint commendation, which characterized margaret's instructions by any laudatory suggestions of his own. he was directed to speak in general terms of the advance of heresy, and the increasing penury of the exchequer. he was to request two hundred thousand crowns toward the lottery, which the regent proposed to set up as a financial scheme. he was to represent that the duchess had tried, unsuccessfully, every conceivable means of accommodating the quarrel between the cardinal and the seigniors. she recognized granvelle's great capacity, experience, zeal, and devotion--for all which qualities she made much of him--while on the other hand she felt that it would be a great inconvenience, and might cause a revolt of the country, were she to retain him in the netherlands against the will of the seigniors. these motives had compelled her, the messenger was to add, to place both views of the subject before the eyes of the king. armenteros was, furthermore, to narrate the circumstances of the interviews which had recently taken place between herself and the leaders of the opposition party. from the tenor of these instructions, it was sufficiently obvious that margaret of parma was not anxious to retain the cardinal, but that, on the contrary, she was beginning already to feel alarm at the dangerous position in which she found herself. a few days after the three nobles had despatched their last letter to the king, they had handed her a formal remonstrance. in this document they stated their conviction that the country was on the high road to ruin, both as regarded his majesty's service and the common weal. the bare, the popular discontent daily increasing, the fortresses on the frontier in a dilapidated condition. it was to be apprehended daily that merchants and other inhabitants of the provinces would be arrested in foreign countries, to satisfy the debts owed by his majesty. to provide against all these evils, but one course, it was suggested, remained to the government--to summon the states-general, and to rely upon their counsel and support. the nobles, however, forbore to press this point, by reason of the prohibition which the regent had received from the king. they suggested, however, that such an interdiction could have been dictated only by a distrust created between his majesty and the estates by persons having no love for either, and who were determined to leave no resource by which the distress of the country could be prevented. the nobles, therefore, begged her highness not to take it amiss if, so long as the king was indisposed to make other arrangements for the administration of the provinces, they should abstain from appearing at the state council. they preferred to cause the shadow at last to disappear, which they had so long personated. in conclusion, however, they expressed their determination to do their duty in their several governments, and to serve the regent to the best of their abilities. after this remonstrance had been delivered, the prince of orange, count horn, and count egmont abstained entirely from the sessions of the state council. she was left alone with the cardinal, whom she already hated, and with his two shadows, viglius and berlaymont. armenteros, after a month spent on his journey, arrived in spain, and was soon admitted to an audience by philip. in his first interview, which lasted four hours, he read to the king all the statements and documents with which he had come provided, and humbly requested a prompt decision. such a result was of course out of the question. moreover, the cortes of tarragon, which happened then to be in session, and which required the royal attention, supplied the monarch with a fresh excuse for indulging in his habitual vacillation. meantime, by way of obtaining additional counsel in so grave an emergency, he transmitted the letters of the nobles, together with the other papers, to the duke of alva, and requested his opinion on the subject. alva replied with the roar of a wild beast, "every time," he wrote, "that i see the despatches of those three flemish seigniors my rage is so much excited that if i did not use all possible efforts to restrain it, my sentiments would seem those of a madman." after this splenitive exordium he proceeded to express the opinion that all the hatred and complaints against the cardinal had arisen from his opposition to the convocation of the states-general. with regard to persons who had so richly deserved such chastisement, he recommended "that their heads should be taken off; but, until this could be done, that the king should dissemble with them." he advised philip not to reply to their letters, but merely to intimate, through the regent, that their reasons for the course proposed by them did not seem satisfactory. he did not prescribe this treatment of the case as "a true remedy, but only as a palliative; because for the moment only weak medicines could be employed, from which, however, but small effect could be anticipated." as to recalling the cardinal, "as they had the impudence to propose to his majesty," the duke most decidedly advised against the step. in the mean time, and before it should be practicable to proceed "to that vigorous chastisement already indicated," he advised separating the nobles as much as possible by administering flattery and deceitful caresses to egmont, who might be entrapped more easily than the others. here, at least, was a man who knew his own mind. here was a servant who could be relied upon to do his master's bidding whenever this master should require his help. the vigorous explosion of wrath with which the duke thus responded to the first symptoms of what he regarded as rebellion, gave a feeble intimation of the tone which he would assume when that movement should have reached a more advanced stage. it might be guessed what kind of remedies he would one day prescribe in place of the "mild medicines" in which he so reluctantly acquiesced for the present. while this had been the course pursued by the seigniors, the regent and the king, in regard to that all-absorbing subject of netherland politics--the straggle against granvelle--the cardinal, in his letters to philip, had been painting the situation by minute daily touches, in a manner of which his pencil alone possessed the secret. still maintaining the attitude of an injured but forgiving christian, he spoke of the nobles in a tone of gentle sorrow. he deprecated any rising of the royal wrath in his behalf; he would continue to serve the gentlemen, whether they would or no; he was most anxious lest any considerations on his account should interfere with the king's decision in regard to the course to be pursued in the netherlands. at the same time, notwithstanding these general professions of benevolence towards the nobles, he represented them as broken spendthrifts, wishing to create general confusion in order to escape from personal liabilities; as conspirators who had placed themselves within the reach of the attorney-general; as ambitious malcontents who were disposed to overthrow the royal authority, and to substitute an aristocratic republic upon its ruins. he would say nothing to prejudice the king's mind against these gentlemen, but he took care to omit nothing which could possibly accomplish that result. he described them as systematically opposed to the policy which he knew lay nearest the king's heart, and as determined to assassinate the faithful minister who was so resolutely carrying it out, if his removal could be effected in no other way. he spoke of the state of religion as becoming more and more unsatisfactory, and bewailed the difficulty with which he could procure the burning of heretics; difficulties originating in the reluctance of men from whose elevated rank better things might have been expected. as granvelle is an important personage, as his character has been alternately the subject of much censure and of more applause, and as the epoch now described was the one in which the causes of the great convulsion were rapidly germinating, it is absolutely necessary that the reader should be placed in a position to study the main character, as painted by his own hand; the hand in which were placed, at that moment, the destinies of a mighty empire. it is the historian's duty, therefore, to hang the picture of his administration fully in the light. at the moment when the th of march letter was despatched, the cardinal represented orange and egmont as endeavoring by every method of menace or blandishment to induce all the grand seigniors and petty nobles to join in the league against himself. they had quarrelled with aerschot and aremberg, they had more than half seduced berlaymont, and they stigmatized all who refused to enter into their league as cardinalists and familiars of the inquisition. he protested that he should regard their ill-will with indifference, were he not convinced that he was himself only a pretext, and that their designs were really much deeper. since the return of montigny, the seigniors had established a league which that gentleman and his brother, count horn, had both joined. he would say nothing concerning the defamatory letters and pamphlets of which he was the constant object, for he wished no heed taken of matters which concerned exclusively himself, notwithstanding this disclaimer, however, he rarely omitted to note the appearance of all such productions for his majesty's especial information. "it was better to calm men's spirits," he said, "than to excite them." as to fostering quarrels among the seigniors, as the king had recommended, that was hardly necessary, for discord was fast sowing its own seeds. "it gave him much pain," he said, with a christian sigh, "to observe that such dissensions had already arisen, and unfortunately on his account." he then proceeded circumstantially to describe the quarrel between aerschot and egmont, already narrated by the regent, omitting in his statement no particular which could make egmont reprehensible in the royal eyes. he likewise painted the quarrel between the same noble and aremberg, to which he had already alluded in previous letters to the king, adding that many gentlemen, and even the more prudent part of the people, were dissatisfied with the course of the grandees, and that he was taking underhand but dexterous means to confirm them in such sentiments. he instructed philip how to reply to the letter addressed to him, but begged his majesty not to hesitate to sacrifice him if the interests of his crown should seem to require it. with regard to religious matters, he repeatedly deplored that, notwithstanding his own exertions and those of madame de parma, things were not going on as he desired, but, on the contrary, very badly. "for the-love of god and the service of the holy religion," he cried out fervently, "put your royal hand valiantly to the work, otherwise we have only to exclaim, help, lord, for we perish!" having uttered this pious exhortation in the ear of a man who needed no stimulant in the path of persecution, he proceeded to express his regrets that the judges and other officers were not taking in hand the chastisement of heresy with becoming vigor. yet, at that very moment peter titelmann was raging through flanders, tearing whole families out of bed and burning them to ashes, with such utter disregard to all laws or forms as to provoke in the very next year a solemn protest from the four estates of flanders; and titelmann was but one of a dozen inquisitors. granvelle, however, could find little satisfaction in the exertions of subordinates so long as men in high station were remiss in their duties. the marquis berghen, he informed philip, showed but little disposition to put down heresy, in valenciennes, while montigny was equally remiss at tournay. they were often heard to say, to any who chose to listen, that it was not right to inflict the punishment of death for matters of religion. this sentiment, uttered in that age of blood and fire, and crowning the memory of those unfortunate nobles with eternal honor, was denounced by the churchman as criminal, and deserving of castigation. he intimated, moreover, that these pretences of clemency were mere hypocrisy, and that self-interest was at the bottom of their compassion. "'tis very black," said he, "when interest governs; but these men are a in debt, so deeply that they owe their very souls. they are seeking every means of escaping from their obligations, and are most desirous of creating general confusion." as to the prince of orange, the cardinal asserted that he owed nine hundred thousand florins, and had hardly twenty-five thousand a-year clear income, while he spent ninety thousand, having counts; barons, and gentlemen in great numbers, in his household. at this point, he suggested that it might be well to find employment for some of these grandees in spain and other dominions of his majesty, adding that perhaps orange might accept the vice-royalty of sicily. resuming the religious matter, a few weeks later, he expressed himself a little more cheerfully, "we have made so much outcry," said he, "that at last marquis berghen has been forced to burn a couple of heretics at valenciennes. thus, it is obvious," moralized the cardinal, "that if he were really willing to apply the remedy in that place, much progress might be made; but that we can do but little so long as he remains in the government of the provinces and refuses to assist us." in a subsequent letter, he again uttered com plaints against the marquis and montigny, who were evermore his scapegoats and bugbears. berghen will give us no aid, he wrote, despite of all the letters we send him. he absents himself for private and political reasons. montigny has eaten meat in lent, as the bishop of tournay informs me. both he and the marquis say openly that it is not right to shed blood for matters of faith, so that the king can judge how much can be effected with such coadjutors. berghen avoids the persecution of heretics, wrote the cardinal again, a month later, to secretary perez. he has gone to spa for his health, although those who saw him last say he is fat and hearty. granvelle added, however, that they had at last "burned one more preacher alive." the heretic, he stated, had feigned repentance to save his life, but finding that, at any rate, his head would be cut off as a dogmatizer, he retracted his recantation. "so," concluded the cardinal, complacently, "they burned him." he chronicled the sayings and doings of the principal personages in the netherlands, for the instruction of the king, with great regularity, insinuating suspicions when unable to furnish evidence, and adding charitable apologies, which he knew would have but small effect upon the mind of his correspondent. thus he sent an account of a "very secret meeting" held by orange, egmont, horn, montigny and berghen, at the abbey of la forest, near brussels, adding, that he did not know what they had been doing there, and was at loss what to suspect. he would be most happy, he said, to put the best interpretation upon their actions, but he could not help remembering with great sorrow the observation so recently made by orange to montigny, that one day they should be stronger. later in the year, the cardinal informed the king that the same nobles were holding a conference at weerdt, that he had not learned what had been transacted there, but thought the affair very suspicious. philip immediately communicated the intelligence to alva, together with an expression of granvelle's fears and of his own, that a popular outbreak would be the consequence of the continued presence of the minister in the netherlands. the cardinal omitted nothing in the way of anecdote or inuendo, which could injure the character of the leading nobles, with the exception, perhaps, of count egmont. with this important personage, whose character he well understood, he seemed determined, if possible, to maintain friendly relations. there was a deep policy in this desire, to which we shall advert hereafter. the other seigniors were described in general terms as disposed to overthrow the royal authority. they were bent upon granvelle's downfall as the first step, because, that being accomplished, the rest would follow as a matter of course. "they intend," said he, "to reduce the state into the form of a republic, in which the king shall have no power except to do their bidding." he added, that he saw with regret so many german troops gathering on the borders; for he believed them to be in the control of the disaffected nobles of the netherlands. having made this grave insinuation, he proceeded in the same breath to express his anger at a statement said to have been made by orange and egmont, to the effect that he had charged them with intending to excite a civil commotion, an idea, he added, which had never entered his head. in the same paragraph, he poured into the most suspicious ear that ever listened to a tale of treason, his conviction that the nobles were planning a republic by the aid of foreign troops, and uttered a complaint that these nobles had accused him of suspecting them. as for the prince of orange, he was described as eternally boasting of his influence in germany, and the great things which he could effect by means of his connexions there, "so that," added the cardinal, "we hear no other song." he had much to say concerning the projects of these grandees to abolish all the councils, but that of state, of which body they intended to obtain the entire control. marquis berghen was represented as being at the bottom of all these intrigues. the general and evident intention was to make a thorough change in the form of government. the marquis meant to command in every thing, and the duchess would soon have nothing to do in the provinces as regent for the king. in fact, philip himself would be equally powerless, "for," said the cardinal, "they will have succeeded in putting your majesty completely under guardianship." he added, moreover, that the seigniors, in order to gain favor with the people and with the estates, had allowed them to acquire so much power, that they would respond to any request for subsidies by a general popular revolt. "this is the simple truth," said granvelle, "and moreover, by the same process, in a very few days there will likewise be no religion left in the land." when the deputies of some of the states, a few weeks later, had been irregularly convened in brussels, for financial purposes, the cardinal informed the monarch that the nobles were endeavoring to conciliate their good-will, by offering them a splendid series of festivities and banquets. he related various anecdotes which came to his ears from time to time, all tending to excite suspicions as to the loyalty and orthodoxy of the principal nobles. a gentleman coming from burgundy had lately, as he informed the king, been dining with the prince of orange, with whom horn and montigny were then lodging. at table, montigny called out in a very loud voice to the strange cavalier, who was seated at a great distance from him, to ask if there were many huguenots in burgundy. no, replied the gentleman nor would they be permitted to exist there. "then there can be very few people of intelligence in that province," returned montigny, "for those who have any wit are mostly all huguenots." the prince of orange here endeavored to put a stop to the conversation, saying that the burgundians were very right to remain as they were; upon which montigny affirmed that he had heard masses enough lately to last him for three months. these things may be jests, commented granvelle, but they are very bad ones; and 'tis evident that such a man is an improper instrument to remedy the state of religious affairs in tournay. at another large party, the king was faithfully informed by the same chronicler, that marquis berghen had been teasing the duke of aerschot very maliciously, because he would not join the league. the duke had responded as he had formerly done to egmont, that his majesty was not to receive laws from his vassals; adding that, for himself, he meant to follow in the loyal track of his ancestors, fearing god and honoring the king. in short, said granvelle, he answered them with so much wisdom, that although they had never a high opinion of his capacity, they were silenced. this conversation had been going on before all the servants, the marquis being especially vociferous, although the room was quite full of them. as soon as the cloth was removed, and while some of the lackies still remained, berghen had resumed the conversation. he said he was of the same mind as his ancestor, john of berghen, had been, who had once told the king's grandfather, philip the fair, that if his majesty was bent on his own perdition, he had no disposition to ruin himself. if the present monarch means to lose these provinces by governing them as he did govern them, the marquis affirmed that he had no wish to lose the little property that he himself possessed in the country. "but if," argued the duke of aerschot, "the king absolutely refuse to do what you demand of him; what then?"--"par la cordieu!" responded berghen, in a rage, "we will let him see!" whereupon all became silent. granvelle implored the king to keep these things entirely to himself; adding that it was quite necessary for his majesty to learn in this manner what were the real dispositions of the gentlemen of the provinces. it was also stated in the same letter, that a ruffian genoese, who had been ordered out of the netherlands by the regent, because of a homicide he had committed, was kept at weert, by count horn, for the purpose of murdering the cardinal. he affirmed that he was not allowed to request the expulsion of the assassin from the count's house; but that he would take care, nevertheless, that neither this ruffian nor any other, should accomplish his purpose. a few weeks afterwards, expressing his joy at the contradiction of a report that philip had himself been assassinated, granvelle added; "i too, who am but a worm in comparison, am threatened on so many sides, that many must consider me already dead. nevertheless, i will endeavor, with god's help, to live as long as i can, and if they kill me, i hope they will not gain every thing." yet, with characteristic jesuitism, the cardinal could not refrain, even in the very letter in which he detailed the rebellious demonstrations of berghen, and the murderous schemes of horn, to protest that he did not say these things "to prejudice his majesty against any one, but only that it might be known to what a height the impudence was rising." certainly the king and the ecclesiastic, like the roman soothsayers, would have laughed in each other's face, could they have met, over the hollowness of such demonstrations. granvelle's letters were filled, for the greater part, with pictures of treason, stratagem, and bloody intentions, fabricated mostly out of reports, table-talk, disjointed chat in the careless freedom of domestic intercourse, while at the same time a margin was always left to express his own wounded sense of the injurious suspicions uttered against him by the various subjects of his letters. "god knows," said he to perez, "that i always speak of them with respect, which is more than they do of me. but god forgive them all. in times like these, one must hold one's tongue. one must keep still, in order not to stir up a hornet's nest." in short, the cardinal, little by little, during the last year of his residence in the netherlands, was enabled to spread a canvas before his sovereign's eye, in which certain prominent figures, highly colored by patiently accumulated touches, were represented as driving a whole nation, against its own will, into manifest revolt. the estates and the people, he said, were already tired of the proceedings of the nobles, and those personages would find themselves very much mistaken in thinking that men who had any thing to lose would follow them, when they began a rebellion against his majesty. on the whole, he was not desirous of prolonging his own residence, although, to do him justice, he was not influenced by fear. he thought or affected to think that the situation was one of a factitious popular discontent, procured by the intrigues of a few ambitious and impoverished catilines and cethegi, not a rising rebellion such as the world had never seen, born of the slowly-awakened wrath of, a whole people, after the martyrdom of many years. the remedy that he recommended was that his majesty should come in person to the provinces. the monarch would cure the whole disorder as soon as he appeared, said the cardinal, by merely making the sign of the cross. whether, indeed, the rapidly-increasing cancer of national discontent would prove a mere king's evil, to be healed by the royal touch, as many persons besides granvelle believed, was a point not doomed to be tested. from that day forward philip began to hold out hopes that he would come to administer the desired remedy, but even then it was the opinion of good judges that he would give millions rather than make his appearance in the netherlands. it was even the hope of william of orange that the king would visit the provinces. he expressed his desire, in a letter to lazarus schwendi, that his sovereign should come in person, that he might see whether it had been right to sow so much distrust between himself and his loyal subjects. the prince asserted that it was impossible for any person not on the spot to imagine the falsehoods and calumnies circulated by granvelle and his friends, accusing orange and his associates of rebellion and heresy, in the most infamous manner in the world. he added, in conclusion, that he could write no more, for the mere thought of the manner in which the government of the netherlands was carried on filled him with disgust and rage. this letter, together with one in a similar strain from egmont, was transmitted by the valiant and highly intellectual soldier to whom they were addressed, to the king of spain, with an entreaty that he would take warning from the bitter truths which they contained. the colonel, who was a most trusty friend of orange, wrote afterwards to margaret of parma in the same spirit, warmly urging her to moderation in religious matters. this application highly enraged morillon, the cardinal's most confidential dependent, who accordingly conveyed the intelligence to his already departed chief, exclaiming in his letter, "what does the ungrateful baboon mean by meddling with our affairs? a pretty state of things, truly, if kings are to choose or retain their ministers at the will of the people; little does he know of the disasters which would be caused by a relaxation of the edicts." in the same sense, the cardinal, just before his departure, which was now imminent, wrote to warn his sovereign of the seditious character of the men who were then placing their breasts between the people and their butchers. he assured philip that upon the movement of those nobles depended the whole existence of the country. it was time that they should be made to open their eyes. they should be solicited in every way to abandon their evil courses, since the liberty which they thought themselves defending was but abject slavery; but subjection to a thousand base and contemptible personages, and to that "vile animal called the people." it is sufficiently obvious, from the picture which we have now presented of the respective attitudes of granvelle, of the seigniors and of the nation, during the whole of the year , and the beginning of the following year, that a crisis was fast approaching. granvelle was, for the moment, triumphant, orange, egmont, and horn had abandoned the state council, philip could not yet make up his mind to yield to the storm, and alva howled defiance at the nobles and the whole people of the netherlands. nevertheless, margaret of parma was utterly weary of the minister, the cardinal himself was most anxious to be gone, and the nation--for there was a nation, however vile the animal might be--was becoming daily more enraged at the presence of a man in whom, whether justly or falsely, it beheld the incarnation of the religious oppression under which they groaned. meantime, at the close of the year, a new incident came to add to the gravity of the situation. caspar schetz, baron of grobbendonck, gave a great dinner-party, in the month of december, . this personage, whose name was prominent for many years in the public affairs of the nation, was one of the four brothers who formed a very opulent and influential mercantile establishment. he was the king's principal factor and financial agent. he was one of the great pillars of the bourse at antwerp. he was likewise a tolerable scholar, a detestable poet, an intriguing politician, and a corrupt financier. he was regularly in the pay of sir thomas gresham, to whom he furnished secret information, for whom he procured differential favors, and by whose government he was rewarded by gold chains and presents of hard cash, bestowed as secretly as the equivalent was conveyed adroitly. nevertheless, although his venality was already more than suspected, and although his peculation, during his long career became so extensive that he was eventually prosecuted by government, and died before the process was terminated, the lord of grobbendonck was often employed in most delicate negotiations, and, at the present epoch, was a man of much importance in the netherlands. the treasurer-general accordingly gave his memorable banquet to a distinguished party of noblemen. the conversation, during dinner, turned, as was inevitable, upon the cardinal. his ostentation, greediness, insolence, were fully canvassed. the wine flowed freely as it always did in those flemish festivities--the brains of the proud and reckless cavaliers became hot with excitement, while still the odious ecclesiastic was the topic of their conversation, the object alternately of fierce invective or of scornful mirth. the pompous display which he affected in his equipages, liveries, and all the appurtenances of his household, had frequently excited their derision, and now afforded fresh matter for their ridicule. the customs of germany, the simple habiliments in which the retainers of the greatest houses were arrayed in that country, were contrasted with the tinsel and glitter in which the prelate pranked himself. it was proposed, by way of showing contempt for granvelle, that a livery should be forthwith invented, as different as possible from his in general effect, and that all the gentlemen present should indiscriminately adopt it for their own menials. thus would the people whom the cardinal wished to dazzle with his finery learn to estimate such gauds at their true value. it was determined that something extremely plain, and in the german fashion, should be selected. at the same time, the company, now thoroughly inflamed with wine, and possessed by the spirit of mockery, determined that a symbol should be added to the livery, by which the universal contempt for granvelle should be expressed. the proposition was hailed with acclamation, but who should invent the hieroglyphical costume? all were reckless and ready enough, but ingenuity of device was required. at last it was determined to decide the question by hazard. amid shouts of hilarity, the dice were thrown. those men were staking their lives, perhaps, upon the issue, but the reflection gave only a keener zest to the game. egmont won. it was the most fatal victory which he had ever achieved, a more deadly prize even than the trophies of st. quentin and gravelingen. in a few days afterwards, the retainers of the house of egmont surprised brussels by making their appearance in a new livery. doublet and hose of the coarsest grey, and long hanging sleeves, without gold or silver lace, and having but a single ornament, comprised the whole costume. an emblem which seemed to resemble a monk's cowl, or a fool's cap and bells, was embroidered upon each sleeve. the device pointed at the cardinal, as did, by contrast, the affected coarseness of the dress. there was no doubt as to the meaning of the hood, but they who saw in the symbol more resemblance to the jester's cap, recalled certain biting expressions which granvelle had been accustomed to use. he had been wont, in the days of his greatest insolence, to speak of the most eminent nobles as zanies, lunatics, and buffoons. the embroidered fool's cap was supposed to typify the gibe, and to remind the arrogant priest that a brutus, as in the olden time, might be found lurking in the costume of the fool. however witty or appropriate the invention, the livery had an immense success. according to agreement, the nobles who had dined with the treasurer ordered it for all their servants. never did a new dress become so soon the fashion. the unpopularity of the minister assisted the quaintness of the device. the fool's-cap livery became the rage. never was such a run upon the haberdashers, mercers, and tailors, since brussels had been a city. all the frieze-cloth in brabant was exhausted. all the serge in flanders was clipped into monastic cowls. the duchess at first laughed with the rest, but the cardinal took care that the king should be at once informed upon the subject. the regent was, perhaps, not extremely sorry to see the man ridiculed whom she so cordially disliked, and, she accepted the careless excuses made on the subject by egmont and by orange without severe criticism. she wrote to her brother that, although the gentlemen had been influenced by no evil intention, she had thought it best to exhort them not to push the jest too far. already, however, she found that two thousand pairs, of sleeves had been made, and the most she could obtain was that the fools' caps, or monks' hoods, should in future be omitted from the livery. a change was accordingly made in the costume, at about the time of the cardinal's departure. a bundle of arrows, or in some instances a wheat-sheaf, was substituted for the cowls. various interpretations were placed upon this new emblem. according to the nobles themselves, it denoted the union of all their hearts in the king's service, while their enemies insinuated that it was obviously a symbol of conspiracy. the costume thus amended was worn by the gentlemen themselves, as well as by their servants. egmont dined at the regent's table, after the cardinal's departure, in a camlet doublet, with hanging sleeves, and buttons stamped with the bundle of arrows. for the present, the cardinal affected to disapprove of the fashion only from its rebellious tendency. the fools' caps and cowls, he meekly observed to philip, were the least part of the offence, for an injury to himself could be easily forgiven. the wheat-sheaf and the arrow-bundles, however, were very vile things, for they betokened and confirmed the existence of a conspiracy, such as never could be tolerated by a prince who had any regard for his own authority. this incident of the livery occupied the public attention, and inflamed the universal hatred during the later months of the minister's residence in the country. meantime the three seigniors had become very impatient at receiving no answer to their letter. margaret of parma was urging her brother to give them satisfaction, repeating to him their bitter complaints that their characters and conduct were the subject of constant misrepresentation to their sovereign, and picturing her own isolated condition. she represented herself as entirely deprived of the support of those great personages, who, despite her positive assurances to the contrary, persisted in believing that they were held up to the king as conspirators, and were in danger of being punished as traitors. philip, on his part, was conning granvelle's despatches, filled with hints of conspiracy, and holding counsel with alva, who had already recommended the taking off several heads for treason. the prince of orange, who already had secret agents in the king's household, and was supplied with copies of the most private papers in the palace, knew better than to be deceived by the smooth representations of the regent. philip had, however, at last begun secretly to yield. he asked alva's advice whether on the whole it would not be better to let the cardinal leave the netherlands, at least for a time, on pretence of visiting his mother in burgundy, and to invite count egmont to madrid, by way of striking one link from the chain, as granvelle had suggested. the duke had replied that he had no doubt of the increasing insolence of the three seigniors, as depicted in the letters of the duchess margaret, nor of their intention to make the cardinal their first victim; it being the regular principle in all revolts against the sovereign, to attack the chief minister in the first place. he could not, however, persuade himself that the king should yield and granvelle be recalled. nevertheless, if it were to be done at all, he preferred that the cardinal should go to burgundy without leave asked either of the duchess or of philip; and that he should then write; declining to return, on the ground that his life was not safe in the netherlands. after much hesitation, the monarch at last settled upon a plan, which recommended itself through the extreme duplicity by which it was marked, and the complicated system of small deceptions, which it consequently required. the king, who was never so thoroughly happy or at home as when elaborating the ingredients of a composite falsehood, now busily employed himself in his cabinet. he measured off in various letters to the regent, to the three nobles, to egmont alone, and to granvelle, certain proportionate parts of his whole plan, which; taken separately, were intended to deceive, and did deceive nearly every person in the world, not only in his own generation, but for three centuries afterwards, but which arranged synthetically, as can now be done, in consequence of modern revelations, formed one complete and considerable lie, the observation of which furnishes the student with a lesson in the political chemistry of those days, which was called macchiavellian statesmanship. the termination of the granvelle regency is, moreover, most important, not only for the grave and almost interminable results to which it led, but for the illustration which it affords of the inmost characters of the cardinal and "his master." the courier who was to take philip's letters to the three nobles was detained three weeks, in order to allow armenteros, who was charged with the more important and secret despatches for the duchess and granvelle to reach brussels first. all the letters, however, were ready at the same time. the letter of instructions for armenteros enjoined upon that envoy to tell the regent that the heretics were to be chastised with renewed vigor, that she was to refuse to convoke the states-general under any pretext, and that if hard pressed, she was to refer directly to the king. with regard to granvelle, the secretary was to state that his majesty was still deliberating, and that the duchess would be informed as to the decision when it should be made. he was to express the royal astonishment that the seigniors should absent themselves from the state council, with a peremptory intimation that they should immediately return to their posts. as they had specified no particularities against the cardinal, the king would still reflect upon the subject. he also wrote a private note to the duchess, stating that he had not yet sent the letters for the three nobles, because he wished that armenteros should arrive before their courier. he, however, enclosed two notes for egmont, of which margaret was to deliver that one, which, in her opinion, was, under the circumstances, the best. in one of these missives the king cordially accepted, and in the other he politely declined egmont's recent offer to visit spain. he also forwarded a private letter in his own hand-writing to the cardinal. armenteros, who travelled but slowly on account of the state of his health, arrived in brussels towards the end of february. five or six days afterwards, on the st march, namely, the courier arrived bringing the despatches for the seigniors. in his letter to orange, egmont, and horn, the king expressed his astonishment at their resolution to abstain from the state council. nevertheless, said he, imperatively, fail not to return thither and to show how much more highly you regard my service and the good of the country than any other particularity whatever. as to granvelle, continued philip, since you will not make any specifications, my intention is to think over the matter longer, in order to arrange it as may seem most fitting. this letter was dated february ( ), nearly a month later therefore than the secret letter to granvelle, brought by armenteros, although all the despatches had been drawn up at the same time and formed parts of the same plan. in this brief note to granvelle, however, lay the heart of the whole mystery. "i have reflected much," wrote the king, "on all that you have written me during these last few months, concerning the ill-will borne you by certain personages. i notice also your suspicions that if a revolt breaks out, they will commence with your person, thus taking occasion to proceed from that point to the accomplishment of their ulterior designs. i have particularly taken into consideration the notice received by you from the curate of saint gudule, as well as that which you have learned concerning the genoese who is kept at weert; all which has given me much anxiety as well from my desire for the preservation of your life in which my service is so deeply interested, as for the possible results if any thing should happen to you, which god forbid. i have thought, therefore, that it would be well, in order to give time and breathing space to the hatred and rancor which those persons entertain towards you, and in order to see what coarse they will take in preparing the necessary remedy, for the provinces, for you to leave the country for some days, in order to visit your mother, and this with the knowledge of the duchess, my sister, and with her permission, which you will request, and which i have written to her that she must give, without allowing it to appear that you have received orders to that effect from me. you will also beg her to write to me requesting my approbation of what she is to do. by taking this course neither my authority nor yours will suffer prejudice; and according to the turn which things may take, measures may be taken for your return when expedient, and for whatever else there may be to arrange." thus, in two words, philip removed the unpopular minister forever. the limitation of his absence had no meaning, and was intended to have none. if there were not strength enough to keep the cardinal in his place, it was not probable that the more difficult task of reinstating him after his fall would be very soon attempted. it, seemed, however, to be dealing more tenderly with granvelle's self-respect thus to leave a vague opening for a possible return, than to send him an unconditional dismissal. thus, while the king refused to give any weight to the representations of the nobles, and affected to be still deliberating whether or not he should recall the cardinal, he had in reality already recalled him. all the minute directions according to which permission was to be asked of the duchess to take a step which had already been prescribed by the monarch, and philip's indulgence craved for obeying his own explicit injunctions, were fulfilled to the letter. as soon as the cardinal received the royal order, he privately made preparations for his departure. the regent, on the other hand, delivered to count egmont the one of philip's two letters in which that gentleman's visit was declined, the duchess believing that, in the present position of affairs, she should derive more assistance from him than from the rest of the seigniors. as granvelle, however, still delayed his departure, even after the arrival of the second courier, she was again placed in a situation of much perplexity. the three nobles considered philip's letter to them extremely "dry and laconic," and orange absolutely refused to comply with the order to re-enter the state council. at a session of that body, on the d of march, where only granvelle, viglius, and berlaymont were present, margaret narrated her fruitless attempts to persuade the seigniors into obedience to the royal orders lately transmitted, and asked their opinions. the extraordinary advice was then given, that "she should let them champ the bit a little while longer, and afterwards see what was to be done." even at the last moment, the cardinal, reluctant to acknowledge himself beaten, although secretly desirous to retire, was inclined for a parting struggle. the duchess, however, being now armed with the king's express commands, and having had enough of holding the reins while such powerful and restive personages were "champing the bit," insisted privately that the cardinal should make his immediate departure known. pasquinades and pamphlets were already appearing daily, each more bitter than the other; the livery was spreading rapidly through all classes of people, and the seigniors most distinctly refused to recede from their determination of absenting themselves from the council so long as granvelle remained. there was no help for it; and on the th of march the cardinal took his departure. notwithstanding the mystery of the whole proceeding, however, william of orange was not deceived. he felt certain that the minister had been recalled, and thought it highly improbable that he would ever be permitted to return. "although the cardinal talks of coming back again soon," wrote the prince to schwartzburg, "we nevertheless hope that, as he lied about his departure, so he will also spare the truth in his present assertions." this was the general conviction, so far as the question of the minister's compulsory retreat was concerned, of all those who were in the habit of receiving their information and their opinions from the prince of orange. many even thought that granvelle had been recalled with indignity and much against his will. "when the cardinal," wrote secretary lorich to count louis, "received the king's order to go, he growled like a bear, and kept himself alone in his chamber for a time, making his preparations for departure. he says he shall come back in two months, but some of us think they will be two long months which will eat themselves up like money borrowed of the jews." a wag, moreover, posted a large placard upon the door of granvelle's palace in brussels as soon as the minister's departure was known, with the inscription, in large letters, "for sale, immediately." in spite of the royal ingenuity, therefore, many shrewdly suspected the real state of the case, although but very few actually knew the truth. the cardinal left brussels with a numerous suite, stately equipages, and much parade. the duchess provided him with her own mules and with a sufficient escort, for the king had expressly enjoined that every care should be taken against any murderous attack. there was no fear of such assault, however, for all were sufficiently satisfied to see the minister depart. brederode and count hoogstraaten were standing together, looking from the window of a house near the gate of caudenberg, to feast their eyes with the spectacle of their enemy's retreat. as soon as the cardinal had passed through that gate, on his way to namur, the first stage of his journey, they rushed into the street, got both upon one horse, hoogstraaten, who alone had boots on his legs, taking the saddle and brederode the croup, and galloped after the cardinal, with the exultation of school-boys. thus mounted, they continued to escort the cardinal on his journey. at one time, they were so near his carriage, while it was passing through a ravine, that they might have spoken to him from the heights above, where they had paused to observe him; but they pulled the capes of their cloaks over their faces and suffered him to pass unchallenged. "but they are young folk," said the cardinal, benignantly, after relating all these particulars to the duchess, "and one should pay little regard to their actions." he added, that one of egmont's gentlemen dogged their party on the journey, lodging in the same inns with them, apparently in the hope of learning something from their conversation or proceedings. if that were the man's object, however, granvelle expressed the conviction that he was disappointed, as nothing could have been more merry than the whole company, or more discreet than their conversation. the cardinal began at once to put into operation the system of deception, as to his departure, which had been planned by philip. the man who had been ordered to leave the netherlands by the king, and pushed into immediate compliance with the royal command by the duchess, proceeded to address letters both to philip and margaret. he wrote from namur to beg the regent that she would not fail to implore his majesty graciously to excuse his having absented himself for private reasons at that particular moment. he wrote to philip from besancon, stating that his desire to visit his mother, whom he had not seen for nineteen years, and his natal soil, to which he had been a stranger during the same period, had induced him to take advantage of his brother's journey to accompany him for a few days into burgundy. he had, therefore, he said, obtained the necessary permission from the duchess, who had kindly promised to write very particularly by the first courier, to beg his majesty's approval of the liberty which they had both taken. he wrote from the same place to the regent again, saying that some of the nobles pretended to have learned from armenteros that the king had ordered the cardinal to leave the country and not to return; all which, he added, was a very false renardesque invention, at which he did nothing but laugh. as a matter of course, his brother, in whose company he was about to visit the mother whom he had not seen for the past nineteen years, was as much mystified as the rest of the world. chantonnay was not aware that any thing but the alleged motives had occasioned the journey, nor did he know that his brother would perhaps have omitted to visit their common parent for nineteen years longer had he not received the royal order to leave the netherlands. philip, on the other side, had sustained his part, in the farce with much ability. viglius, berlaymont, morillon, and all the lesser cardinalists were entirely taken in by the letters which were formally despatched to the duchess in reply to her own and the cardinal's notification. "i can not take it amiss," wrote the king, "that you have given leave of absence to cardinal de granvelle, for two or three months, according to the advices just received from you, that he may attend to some private affairs of his own." as soon as these letters had been read in the council, viglius faithfully transmitted them to granvelle for that personage's enlightenment; adding his own innocent reflection, that "this was very different language from that held by some people, that your most illustrious lordship had retired by order of his majesty." morillon also sent the cardinal a copy of the same passage in the royal despatch, saying, very wisely, "i wonder what they will all say now, since these letters have been read in council." the duchess, as in duty bound, denied flatly, on all occasions, that armenteros had brought any letters recommending or ordering the minister's retreat. she conscientiously displayed the letters of his majesty, proving the contrary, and yet, said viglius, it was very hard to prevent people talking as they liked. granvelle omitted no occasion to mystify every one of his correspondents on the subject, referring, of course, to the same royal letters which had been written for public reading, expressly to corroborate these statements. "you see by his majesty's letters to madame de parma," said he to morillon, "how false is the report that the king had ordered me to leave flanders, and in what confusion those persons find themselves who fabricated the story." it followed of necessity that he should carry out his part in the royal program, but he accomplished his task so adroitly, and with such redundancy of zeal, as to show his thorough sympathy with the king's policy. he dissembled with better grace, even if the king did it more naturally. nobody was too insignificant to be deceived, nobody too august. emperor ferdinand fared no better than "esquire" bordey. "some of those who hate me," he wrote to the potentate, "have circulated the report that i had been turned out of the country, and was never to return. this story has ended in smoke, since the letters written by his majesty to the duchess of parma on the subject of the leave of absence which she had given me." philip himself addressed a private letter to granvelle, of course that others might see it, in which he affected to have just learned that the cardinal had obtained permission from the regent "to make a visit to his mother, in order to arrange certain family matters," and gravely gave his approbation to the step. at the same time it was not possible for the king to resist the temptation of adding one other stroke of dissimulation to his own share in the comedy. granvelle and philip had deceived all the world, but philip also deceived granvelle. the cardinal made a mystery of his departure to pollwiller, viglius, morillon, to the emperor, to his own brother, and also to the king's secretary, gonzalo perez; but he was not aware that perez, whom he thought himself deceiving as ingeniously as he had done all the others, had himself drawn up the letter of recall, which the king had afterwards copied out in his own hand and marked "secret and confidential." yet granvelle might have guessed that in such an emergency philip would hardly depend upon his own literary abilities. granvelle remained month after month in seclusion, doing his best to philosophize. already, during the latter period of his residence in the netherlands, he had lived in a comparative and forced solitude. his house had been avoided by those power-worshippers whose faces are rarely turned to the setting sun. he had, in consequence, already, before his departure, begun to discourse on the beauties of retirement, the fatigues of greatness, and the necessity of repose for men broken with the storms of state. a great man was like a lake, he said, to which a thirsty multitude habitually resorted till the waters were troubled, sullied, and finally exhausted. power looked more attractive in front than in the retrospect. that which men possessed was ever of less value than that which they hoped. in this fine strain of eloquent commonplace the falling minister had already begun to moralize upon the vanity of human wishes. when he was established at his charming retreat in burgundy, he had full leisure to pursue the theme. he remained in retirement till his beard grew to his waist, having vowed, according to report, that he would not shave till recalled to the netherlands. if the report were true, said some of the gentlemen in the provinces, it would be likely to grow to his feet. he professed to wish himself blind and deaf that he might have no knowledge of the world's events, described himself as buried in literature, and fit for no business save to remain in his chamber, fastened to his books, or occupied with private affairs and religious exercises. he possessed a most charming residence at orchamps, where he spent a great portion of his time. in one of his letters to vice-chancellor seld, he described the beauties of this retreat with much delicacy and vigor--"i am really not as badly off here," said he, "as i should be in the indies. i am in sweet places where i have wished for you a thousand times, for i am certain that you would think them appropriate for philosophy and worthy the habitation of the muses. here are beautiful mountains, high as heaven, fertile on all their sides, wreathed with vineyards, and rich with every fruit; here are rivers flowing through charming valleys, the waters clear as crystal, filled with trout, breaking into numberless cascades. here are umbrageous groves, fertile fields, lovely meadows; on the one aide great warmth, on the other aide delectable coolness, despite the summer's heat. nor is there any lack of good company, friends, and relations, with, as you well know, the very best wines in the world." thus it is obvious that the cardinal was no ascetic. his hermitage contained other appliances save those for study and devotion. his retired life was, in fact, that of a voluptuary. his brother, chantonnay, reproached him with the sumptuousness and disorder of his establishment. he lived in "good and joyous cheer." he professed to be thoroughly satisfied with the course things had taken, knowing that god was above all, and would take care of all. he avowed his determination to extract pleasure and profit even from the ill will of his adversaries. "behold my philosophy," he cried, "to live joyously as possible, laughing at the world, at passionate people, and at all their calumnies." it is evident that his philosophy, if it had any real existence, was sufficiently epicurean. it was, however, mainly compounded of pretence, like his whole nature and his whole life. notwithstanding the mountains high as heaven, the cool grottos, the trout, and the best burgundy wines in the world, concerning which he descanted so eloquently, he soon became in reality most impatient of his compulsory seclusion. his pretence of "composing himself as much as possible to tranquillity and repose" could deceive none of the intimate associates to whom he addressed himself in that edifying vein. while he affected to be blind and deaf to politics, he had eyes and ears for nothing else. worldly affairs were his element, and he was shipwrecked upon the charming solitude which he affected to admire. he was most anxious to return to the world again, but he had difficult cards to play. his master was even more dubious than usual about everything. granvelle was ready to remain in burgundy as long as philip chose that he should remain there. he was also ready to go to "india, peru, or into the fire," whenever his king should require any such excursion, or to return to the netherlands, confronting any danger which might lie in his path. it is probable that he nourished for a long time a hope that the storm would blow over in the provinces, and his resumption of power become possible. william of orange, although more than half convinced that no attempt would be made to replace the minister, felt it necessary to keep strict watch on his movements. "we must be on our guard," said he, "and not be deceived. perhaps they mean to put us asleep, in order the better to execute their designs. for the present things are peaceable, and all the world is rejoiced at the departure of that good cardinal." the prince never committed the error of undervaluing the talents of his great adversary, and he felt the necessity of being on the alert in the present emergency. "'tis a sly and cunning bird that we are dealing with," said he, "one that sleeps neither day nor night if a blow is to be dealt to us." honest brederode, after solacing himself with the spectacle of his enemy's departure, soon began to suspect his return, and to express himself on the subject, as usual, with ludicrous vehemence. "they say the red fellow is back again," he wrote to count louis, "and that berlaymont has gone to meet him at namur. the devil after the two would be a good chase." nevertheless, the chances of that return became daily fainter. margaret of parma hated the cardinal with great cordiality. she fell out of her servitude to him into far more contemptible hands, but for a brief interval she seemed to take a delight in the recovery of her freedom. according to viglius, the court, after granvelle's departure, was like a school of boys and girls when the pedagogue's back is turned. he was very bitter against the duchess for her manifest joy at emancipation. the poor president was treated with the most marked disdain by margaret, who also took pains to show her dislike to all the cardinalists. secretary armenteros forbade bordey, who was granvelle's cousin and dependent, from even speaking to him in public. the regent soon became more intimate with orange and egmont than she had ever been with the cardinal. she was made to see--and, seeing, she became indignant--the cipher which she had really been during his administration. "one can tell what's o'clock," wrote morillon to the fallen minister, "since she never writes to you nor mentions your name." as to armenteros, with whom granvelle was still on friendly relations, he was restless in his endeavors to keep the once-powerful priest from rising again. having already wormed himself into the confidence of the regent, he made a point of showing to the principal seigniors various letters, in which she had been warned by the cardinal to put no trust in them. "that devil," said armenteros, "thought he had got into paradise here; but he is gone, and we shall take care that he never returns." it was soon thought highly probable that the king was but temporizing, and that the voluntary departure of the minister had been a deception. of course nothing was accurately known upon the subject. philip had taken good care of that, but meantime the bets were very high that there would be no restoration, with but few takers. men thought if there had been any royal favor remaining for the great man, that the duchess would not be so decided in her demeanor on the subject. they saw that she was scarlet with indignation whenever the cardinal's name was mentioned. they heard her thank heaven that she had but one son, because if she had had a second he must have been an ecclesiastic, and as vile as priests always were. they witnessed the daily contumely which she heaped upon poor viglius, both because he was a friend of granvelle and was preparing in his old age to take orders. the days were gone, indeed, when margaret was so filled with respectful affection for the prelate, that she could secretly correspond with the holy father at rome, and solicit the red hat for the object of her veneration. she now wrote to philip, stating that she was better informed as to affairs in the netherlands than she had ever formerly been. she told her brother that all the views of granvelle and of his followers, viglius with the rest, had tended to produce a revolution which they hoped that philip would find in full operation when he should come to the netherlands. it was their object, she said, to fish in troubled waters, and, to attain that aim, they had ever pursued the plan of gaining the exclusive control of all affairs. that was the reason why they had ever opposed the convocation of the states-general. they feared that their books would be read, and their frauds, injustice, simony, and rapine discovered. this would be the result, if tranquillity were restored to the country, and therefore they had done their best to foment and maintain discord. the duchess soon afterwards entertained her royal brother with very detailed accounts of various acts of simony, peculation, and embezzlement committed by viglius, which the cardinal had aided and abetted, and by which he had profited.--[correspondence de phil. ii, i. - .]--these revelations are inestimable in a historical point of view. they do not raise our estimate of margaret's character, but they certainly give us a clear insight into the nature of the granvelle administration. at the same time it was characteristic of the duchess, that while she was thus painting the portrait of the cardinal for the private eye of his sovereign, she should address the banished minister himself in a secret strain of condolence, and even of penitence. she wrote to assure granvelle that she repented extremely having adopted the views of orange. she promised that she would state publicly every where that the cardinal was an upright man, intact in his morals and his administration, a most zealous and faithful servant of the king. she added that she recognized the obligations she was under to him, and that she loved him like a brother. she affirmed that if the flemish seigniors had induced her to cause the cardinal to be deprived of the government, she was already penitent, and that her fault deserved that the king, her brother, should cut off her head, for having occasioned so great a calamity.--["memoires de granvelle," tom. , p. .] there was certainly discrepancy between the language thus used simultaneously by the duchess to granvelle and to philip, but margaret had been trained in the school of macchiavelli, and had sat at the feet of loyola. the cardinal replied with equal suavity, protesting that such a letter from the duchess left him nothing more to desire, as it furnished him with an "entire and perfect justification" of his conduct. he was aware of her real sentiments, no doubt, but he was too politic to quarrel with so important a personage as philip's sister. an incident which occurred a few months after the minister's departure served, to show the general estimation in which he was held by all ranks of netherlanders. count mansfeld celebrated the baptism of his son, philip octavian, by a splendid series of festivities at luxemburg, the capital of his government. besides the tournaments and similar sports, with which the upper classes of european society were accustomed at that day to divert themselves, there was a grand masquerade, to which the public were admitted as spectators. in this "mummery" the most successful spectacle was that presented by a group arranged in obvious ridicule of granvelle. a figure dressed in cardinal's costume, with the red hat upon his head, came pacing through the arena upon horseback. before him marched a man attired like a hermit, with long white beard, telling his beads upon a rosary, which he held ostentatiously in his hands. behind the mounted cardinal came the devil, attired in the usual guise considered appropriate to the prince of darkness, who scourged both horse and rider with a whip of fog-tails, causing them to scamper about the lists in great trepidation, to the immense delight of the spectators. the practical pun upon simon renard's name embodied in the fox-tail, with the allusion to the effect of the manifold squibs perpetrated by that most bitter and lively enemy upon granvelle, were understood and relished by the multitude. nothing could be more hearty than the blows bestowed upon the minister's representative, except the applause with which this satire, composed of actual fustigation, was received. the humorous spectacle absorbed all the interest of the masquerade, and was frequently repeated. it seemed difficult to satisfy the general desire to witness a thorough chastisement of the culprit. the incident made a great noise in the country. the cardinalists felt naturally very much enraged, but they were in a minority. no censure came from the government at brussels, and mansfeld was then and for a long time afterwards the main pillar of royal authority in the netherlands. it was sufficiently obvious that granvelle, for the time at least, was supported by no party of any influence. meantime he remained in his seclusion. his unpopularity did not, however, decrease in his absence. more than a year after his departure, berlaymont said the nobles detested the cardinal more than ever, and would eat him alive if they caught him. the chance of his returning was dying gradually out. at about the same period chantonnay advised his brother to show his teeth. he assured granvelle that he was too quiet in his disgrace, reminded him that princes had warm affections when they wished to make use of people, but that when they could have them too cheaply, they esteemed them but little; making no account of men whom they were accustomed to see under their feet. he urged the cardinal, in repeated letters, to take heart again, to make himself formidable, and to rise from his crouching attitude. all the world say, he remarked, that the game is up between the king and yourself, and before long every one will be laughing at you, and holding you for a dupe. stung or emboldened by these remonstrances, and weary of his retirement, granvelle at last abandoned all intention of returning to the netherlands, and towards the end of , departed to rome, where he participated in the election of pope pius v. five years afterwards he was employed by philip to negotiate the treaty between spain, rome, and venice against the turk. he was afterwards viceroy of naples, and in , he removed to madrid, to take an active part in the management of the public business, "the disorder of which," says the abbe boisot, "could be no longer arrested by men of mediocre capacity." he died in that city on the st september, , at the age of seventy, and was buried at besancon. we have dwelt at length on the administration of this remarkable personage, because the period was one of vital importance in the history of the netherland commonwealth. the minister who deals with the country at an epoch when civil war is imminent, has at least as heavy a responsibility upon his head as the man who goes forth to confront the armed and full-grown rebellion. all the causes out of which the great revolt was born, were in violent operation during the epoch of granvelle's power. by the manner in which he comported himself in presence of those dangerous and active elements of the coming convulsions, must his character as a historical personage be measured. his individuality had so much to do with the course of the government, the powers placed in his hands were so vast, and his energy so untiring, that it is difficult to exaggerate the importance of his influence upon the destiny of the country which he was permitted to rule. it is for this reason that we have been at great pains to present his picture, sketched as it were by his own hand. a few general remarks are, however, necessary. it is the historian's duty to fix upon one plain and definite canvas the chameleon colors in which the subtle cardinal produced his own image. almost any theory concerning his character might be laid down and sustained by copious citations from his works; nay, the most opposite conclusions as to his interior nature, may be often drawn from a single one of his private and interminable letters. embarked under his guidance, it is often difficult to comprehend the point to which we are tending. the oarsman's face beams upon us with serenity, but he looks in one direction, and rows in the opposite course. even thus it was three centuries ago. was it to be wondered at that many did not see the precipice towards which the bark which held their all was gliding under the same impulse? no man has ever disputed granvelle's talents. from friend and foe his intellect has received the full measure of applause which it could ever claim. no doubt his genius was of a rare and subtle kind. his great power was essentially dramatic in its nature. he mastered the characters of the men with whom he had to deal, and then assumed them. he practised this art mainly upon personages of exalted station, for his scheme was to govern the world by acquiring dominion over its anointed rulers. a smooth and supple slave in appearance, but, in reality, while his power lasted, the despot of his masters, he exercised boundless control by enacting their parts with such fidelity that they were themselves deceived. it is impossible not to admire the facility with which this accomplished proteus successively assumed the characters of philip and of margaret, through all the complicated affairs and voluminous correspondence of his government. when envoys of high rank were to be despatched on confidential missions to spain, the cardinal drew their instructions as the duchess--threw light upon their supposed motives in secret letters as the king's sister--and answered their representations with ponderous wisdom as philip; transmitting despatches, letters and briefs for royal conversations, in time to be thoroughly studied before the advent of the ambassador. whoever travelled from brussels to madrid in order to escape the influence of the ubiquitous cardinal, was sure to be confronted with him in the inmost recesses of the king's cabinet as soon as he was admitted to an audience. to converse with philip or margaret was but to commune with antony. the skill with which he played his game, seated quietly in his luxurious villa, now stretching forth one long arm to move the king at madrid, now placing margaret upon what square he liked, and dealing with bishops, knight of the fleece, and lesser dignitaries, the richardota, the morillons, the viglii and the berlaymonts, with sole reference to his own scheme of action, was truly of a nature to excite our special wonder. his aptitude for affairs and his power to read character were extraordinary; but it was necessary that the affairs should be those of a despotism, and the characters of an inferior nature. he could read philip and margaret, egmont or berlaymont, alva or viglius, but he had no plummet to sound the depths of a mind like that of william the silent. his genius was adroit and subtle, but not profound. he aimed at power by making the powerful subservient, but he had not the intellect which deals in the daylight face to face with great events and great minds. in the violent political struggle of which his administration consisted, he was foiled and thrown by the superior strength of a man whose warfare was open and manly, and who had no defence against the poisoned weapons of his foe. his literary accomplishments were very great. his fecundity was prodigious, and he wrote at will in seven languages. 'this polyglot facility was not in itself a very remarkable circumstance, for it grew out of his necessary education and geographical position. few men in that age and region were limited to their mother tongue. the prince of orange, who made no special pretence to learning, possessed at least five languages. egmont, who was accounted an ignorant man, was certainly familiar with three. the cardinal, however, wrote not only with ease, but with remarkable elegance, vigor and vivacity, in whatever language he chose to adopt. the style of his letters and other documents, regarded simply as compositions, was inferior to that of no writer of the age. his occasional orations, too, were esteemed models of smooth and flowing rhetoric, at an epoch when the art of eloquence was not much cultivated. yet it must be allowed that beneath all the shallow but harmonious flow of his periods, it would be idle to search for a grain of golden sand. not a single sterling, manly thought is to be found in all his productions. if at times our admiration is excited with the appearance of a gem of true philosophy, we are soon obliged to acknowledge, on closer inspection, that we have been deceived by a false glitter. in retirement, his solitude was not relieved by serious application to any branch of knowledge. devotion to science and to the advancement of learning, a virtue which has changed the infamy of even baser natures than his into glory, never dignified his seclusion. he had elegant tastes, he built fine palaces, he collected paintings, and he discoursed of the fine arts with the skill and eloquence of a practised connoisseur; but the nectared fruits of divine philosophy were but harsh and crabbed to him. his moral characteristics are even more difficult to seize than his intellectual traits. it is a perplexing task to arrive at the intimate interior structure of a nature which hardly had an interior. he did not change, but he presented himself daily in different aspects. certain peculiarities he possessed, however, which were unquestionable. he was always courageous, generally calm. placed in the midst of a nation which hated him, exposed to the furious opposition of the most powerful adversaries, having hardly a friend, except the cowardly viglius and the pluralist morillon, secretly betrayed by margaret of parma, insulted by rude grandees, and threatened by midnight assassins, he never lost his self-possession, his smooth arrogance, his fortitude. he was constitutionally brave. he was not passionate in his resentments. to say that he was forgiving by nature would be an immense error; but that he could put aside vengeance at the dictate of policy is very certain. he could temporize, even after the reception of what he esteemed grave injuries, if the offenders were powerful. he never manifested rancor against the duchess. even after his fall from power in the netherlands, he interceded with the pope in favor of the principality of orange, which the pontiff was disposed to confiscate. the prince was at that time as good a catholic as the cardinal. he was apparently on good terms with his sovereign, and seemed to have a prosperous career before him. he was not a personage to be quarrelled with. at a later day, when the position of that great man was most clearly defined to the world, the cardinal's ancient affection for his former friend and pupil did not prevent him from suggesting the famous ban by which a price was set upon his head, and his life placed in the hands of every assassin in europe. it did not prevent him from indulging in the jocularity of a fiend, when the news of the first-fruits of that bounty upon murder reached his ears. it did not prevent him from laughing merrily at the pain which his old friend must have suffered, shot through the head and face with a musket-ball, and at the mutilated aspect which his "handsome face must have presented to the eyes of his apostate wife." it did not prevent him from stoutly disbelieving and then refusing to be comforted, when the recovery of the illustrious victim was announced. he could always dissemble without entirely forgetting his grievances. certainly, if he were the forgiving christian he pictured himself, it is passing strange to reflect upon the ultimate fate of egmont, horn, montigny, berghen, orange, and a host of others, whose relations with him were inimical. his extravagance was enormous, and his life luxurious. at the same time he could leave his brother champagny--a man, with all his faults, of a noble nature, and with scarcely inferior talents to his own--to languish for a long time in abject poverty; supported by the charity of an ancient domestic. his greediness for wealth was proverbial. no benefice was too large or too paltry to escape absorption, if placed within his possible reach. loaded with places and preferments, rolling in wealth, he approached his sovereign with the whine of a mendicant. he talked of his property as a "misery," when he asked for boons, and expressed his thanks in the language of a slave when he received them. having obtained the abbey of st. armand, he could hardly wait for the burial of the bishop of tournay before claiming the vast revenues of afflighem, assuring the king as he did so that his annual income was but eighteen thousand crowns. at the same time, while thus receiving or pursuing the vast rents of st. armand and afflighem, he could seize the abbey of trulle from the expectant hands of poor dependents, and accept tapestries and hogsheads of wine from jacques lequien and others, as a tax on the benefices which he procured for them. yet the man who, like his father before him, had so long fattened on the public money, who at an early day had incurred the emperor's sharp reproof for his covetousness, whose family, beside all these salaries and personal property, possessed already fragments of the royal domain, in the shape of nineteen baronies and seigniories in burgundy, besides the county of cantecroix and other estates in the netherlands, had the effrontery to affirm, "we have always rather regarded the service of the master than our own particular profit." in estimating the conduct of the minister, in relation to the provinces, we are met upon the threshold by a swarm of vague assertions which are of a nature to blind or distract the judgment. his character must be judged as a whole, and by its general results, with a careful allowance for contradictions and equivocations. truth is clear and single, but the lights are parti-colored and refracted in the prism of hypocrisy. the great feature of his administration was a prolonged conflict between himself and the leading seigniors of the netherlands. the ground of the combat was the religious question. let the quarrel be turned or tortured in any manner that human ingenuity can devise, it still remains unquestionable that granvelle's main object was to strengthen and to extend the inquisition, that of his adversaries to overthrow the institution. it followed, necessarily, that the ancient charters were to be trampled in the dust before that tribunal could be triumphant. the nobles, although all catholics, defended the cause of the poor religious martyrs, the privileges of the nation and the rights of their order. they were conservatives, battling for the existence of certain great facts, entirely consonant to any theory of justice and divine reason--for ancient constitutions which had been purchased with blood and treasure. "i will maintain," was the motto of william of orange. philip, bigoted and absolute almost beyond comprehension, might perhaps have proved impervious to any representations, even of granvelle. nevertheless, the minister might have attempted the task, and the responsibility is heavy upon the man who shared the power and directed the career, but who never ceased to represent the generous resistance of individuals to frantic cruelty, as offences against god and the king. yet extracts are drawn from his letters to prove that he considered the spaniards as "proud and usurping," that he indignantly denied ever having been in favor of subjecting the netherlands to the soldiers of that nation; that he recommended the withdrawal of the foreign regiments, and that he advised the king, when he came to the country, to bring with him but few spanish troops. it should, however, be remembered that he employed, according to his own statements, every expedient which human ingenuity could suggest to keep the foreign soldiers in the provinces, that he "lamented to his inmost soul" their forced departure, and that he did not consent to that measure until the people were in a tumult, and the zealanders threatening to lay the country under the ocean. "you may judge of the means employed to excite the people," he wrote to perez in , "by the fact that a report is circulated that the duke of alva is coming hither to tyrannize the provinces." yet it appears by the admissions of del ryo, one of alva's blood council, that, "cardinal granvelle expressly advised that an army of spaniards should be sent to the netherlands, to maintain the obedience to his majesty and the catholic religion," and that the duke of alva was appointed chief by the advice of cardinal spinosa, and by that of cardinal granvelle, as, appeared by many letters written at the time to his friends. by the same confessions; it appeared that the course of policy thus distinctly recommended by granvelle, "was to place the country under a system of government like that of spain and italy, and to reduce it entirely under the council of spain." when the terrible duke started on his errand of blood and fire, the cardinal addressed him, a letter of fulsome flattery; protesting "that all the world know that no person could be found so appropriate as he, to be employed in an affair of such importance;" urging him to advance with his army as rapidly as possible upon the netherlands, hoping that "the duchess of parma would not be allowed to consent that any pardon or concession should be made to the cities, by which the construction of fortresses would be interfered with, or the revocation of the charters which had been forfeited, be prevented," and giving him much advice as to the general measures to be adopted, and the persons to be employed upon his arrival, in which number the infamous noircarmes was especially recommended. in a document found among his papers, these same points, with others, were handled at considerable length. the incorporation of the provinces into one kingdom, of which the king was to be crowned absolute sovereign; the establishment of, a universal law for the catholic religion, care being taken not to call that law inquisition, "because there was nothing so odious to the northern nations as the word spanish inquisition, although the thing in itself be most holy and just;" the abolition and annihilation of the broad or general council in the cities, the only popular representation in the country; the construction of many citadels and fortresses to be garrisoned with spaniards, italians, and germans. such were the leading features in that remarkable paper. the manly and open opposition of the nobles was stigmatized as a cabal by the offended priest. he repeatedly whispered in the royal ear that their league was a treasonable conspiracy, which the attorney-general ought to prosecute; that the seigniors meant to subvert entirely the authority of the sovereign; that they meant to put their king under tutelage, to compel him to obey all their commands, to choose another prince of the blood for their chief, to establish a republic by the aid of foreign troops. if such insinuations, distilled thus secretly into the ear of philip, who, like his predecessor, dionysius, took pleasure in listening daily to charges against his subjects and to the groans of his prisoners, were not likely to engender a dangerous gangrene in the royal mind, it would be difficult to indicate any course which would produce such a result. yet the cardinal maintained that he had never done the gentlemen ill service, but that "they were angry with him for wishing to sustain the authority of the master." in almost every letter he expressed vague generalities of excuse, or even approbation, while he chronicled each daily fact which occurred to their discredit. the facts he particularly implored the king to keep to himself, the vague laudation he as urgently requested him to repeat to those interested. perpetually dropping small innuendos like pebbles into the depths of his master's suspicious soul, he knew that at last the waters of bitterness would overflow, but he turned an ever-smiling face upon those who were to be his victims. there was ever something in his irony like the bland request of the inquisitor to the executioner that he would deal with his prisoners gently. there was about the same result in regard to such a prayer to be expected from philip as from the hangman. even if his criticisms had been uniformly indulgent, the position of the nobles and leading citizens thus subjected to a constant but secret superintendence, would have been too galling to be tolerated. they did not know, so precisely as we have learned after three centuries, that all their idle words and careless gestures as well as their graver proceedings, were kept in a noting book to be pored over and conned by rote in the recesses of the royal cabinet and the royal mind; but they suspected the espionage of the cardinal, and they openly charged him with his secret malignity. the men who refused to burn their fellow-creatures for a difference in religious opinion were stigmatized as demagogues; as ruined spendthrifts who wished to escape from their liabilities in the midst of revolutionary confusion; as disguised heretics who were waiting for a good opportunity to reveal their true characters. montigny, who, as a montmorency, was nearly allied to the constable and admiral of france, and was in epistolary correspondence with those relatives, was held up as a huguenot; of course, therefore, in philip's eye, the most monstrous of malefactors. although no man could strew pious reflections and holy texts more liberally, yet there was always an afterthought even in his most edifying letters. a corner of the mask is occasionally lifted and the deadly face of slow but abiding vengeance is revealed. "i know very well," he wrote, soon after his fall, to viglius, "that vengeance is the lord's-god is my witness that i pardon all the past." in the same letter, nevertheless, he added, "my theology, however, does not teach me, that by enduring, one is to enable one's enemies to commit even greater wrongs. if the royal justice is not soon put into play, i shall be obliged to right myself. this thing is going on too long-patience exhausted changes to fury. 'tis necessary that every man should assist himself as he can, and when i choose to throw the game into confusion i shall do it perhaps more notably than the others." a few weeks afterwards, writing to the same correspondent, he observed, "we shall have to turn again, and rejoice together. whatever the king commands i shall do, even were i to march into the fire, whatever happens, and without fear or respect for any person i mean to remain the same man to the end--durate;--and i have a head that is hard enough when i do undertake any thing--'nec animism despondeo'." here, certainly, was significant foreshadowing of the general wrath to come, and it was therefore of less consequence that the portraits painted by him of berghen, horn, montigny, and others, were so rarely relieved by the more flattering tints which he occasionally mingled with the sombre coloring of his other pictures. especially with regard to count egmont, his conduct was somewhat perplexing and, at first sight, almost inscrutable. that nobleman had been most violent in opposition to his course, had drawn a dagger upon him, had frequently covered him with personal abuse, and had crowned his offensive conduct by the invention of the memorable fool's-cap: livery. yet the cardinal usually spoke of him with pity and gentle consideration, described him as really well disposed in the main, as misled by others, as a "friend of smoke," who might easily be gained by flattery and bribery. when there was question of the count's going to madrid, the cardinal renewed his compliments with additional expression of eagerness that they should be communicated to their object. whence all this christian meekness in the author of the ban against orange and the eulogist of alva? the true explanation of this endurance on the part of the cardinal lies in the estimate which he had formed of egmont's character. granvelle had taken the man's measure, and even he could not foresee the unparalleled cruelty and dulness which were eventually to characterize philip's conduct towards him. on the contrary, there was every reason why the cardinal should see in the count a personage whom brilliant services, illustrious rank, and powerful connexions, had marked for a prosperous future. it was even currently asserted that philip was about to create him governor-general of the netherlands, in order to detach him entirely from orange, and to bind him more closely to the crown. he was, therefore, a man to be forgiven. nothing apparently but a suspicion of heresy could damage the prospects of the great noble, and egmont was orthodox beyond all peradventure. he was even a bigot in the catholic faith. he had privately told the duchess of parma that he had always been desirous of seeing the edicts thoroughly enforced; and he denounced as enemies all those persons who charged him with ever having been in favor of mitigating the system. he was reported, to be sure, at about the time of granvelle's departure from the netherlands, to have said "post pocula, that the quarrel was not with the cardinal, but with the king, who was administering the public affairs very badly, even in the matter of religion." such a bravado, however, uttered by a gentleman in his cups, when flushed with a recent political triumph, could hardly outweigh in the cautious calculations of granvelle; distinct admissions in favor of persecution. egmont in truth stood in fear of the inquisition. the hero of gravelingen and st. quentin actually trembled before peter titelmann. moreover, notwithstanding all that had past, he had experienced a change in his sentiments in regard to the cardinal. he frequently expressed the opinion that, although his presence in the netherlands was inadmissible, he should be glad to see him pope. he had expressed strong disapprobation of the buffooning masquerade by which he had been ridiculed at the mansfeld christening party. when at madrid he not only spoke well of granvelle himself; but would allow nothing disparaging concerning him to be uttered in his presence. when, however, egmont had fallen from favor, and was already a prisoner, the cardinal diligently exerted himself to place under the king's eye what he considered the most damning evidence of the count's imaginary treason; a document with which the public prosecutor had not been made acquainted. thus, it will be seen by this retrospect how difficult it is to seize all the shifting subtleties of this remarkable character. his sophisms even, when self-contradictory, are so adroit that they are often hard to parry. he made a great merit to himself for not having originated the new episcopates; but it should be remembered that he did his utmost to enforce the measure, which was "so holy a scheme that he would sacrifice for its success his fortune and his life." he refused the archbishopric of mechlin, but his motives for so doing were entirely sordid. his revenues were for the moment diminished, while his personal distinction was not, in his opinion, increased by the promotion. he refused to accept it because "it was no addition to his dignity, as he was already cardinal and bishop of arras," but in this statement he committed an important anachronism. he was not cardinal when he refused the see of mechlin; having received the red hat upon february , , and having already accepted the archbishopric in may of the preceding year. he affirmed that "no man would more resolutely defend the liberty and privileges of the provinces than he would do," but he preferred being tyrannized by his prince, to maintaining the joyful entrance. he complained of the insolence of the states in meddling with the supplies; he denounced the convocation of the representative bodies, by whose action alone, what there was of "liberty and privilege" in the land could be guarded; he recommended the entire abolition of the common councils in the cities. he described himself as having always combated the opinion that "any thing could be accomplished by terror, death and violence," yet he recommended the mission of alva, in whom "terror, death, and violence" were incarnate. he was indignant that he should be accused of having advised the introduction of the spanish inquisition; but his reason was that the term sounded disagreeably in northern ears, while the thing was most commendable. he manifested much anxiety that the public should be disabused of their fear of the spanish inquisition, but he was the indefatigable supporter of the netherland inquisition, which philip declared with reason to be "the more pitiless institution" of the two. he was the author, not of the edicts, but of their re-enactment, verbally and literally, in all the horrid extent to which they had been carried by charles the fifth; and had recommended the use of the emperor's name to sanctify the infernal scheme. he busied himself personally in the execution of these horrible laws, even when judge and hangman slackened. to the last he denounced all those "who should counsel his majesty to permit a moderation of the edicts," and warned the king that if he should consent to the least mitigation of their provisions, things would go worse in the provinces than in france. he was diligent in establishing the reinforced episcopal inquisition side by side with these edicts, and with the papal inquisition already in full operation. he omitted no occasion of encouraging the industry of all these various branches in the business of persecution. when at last the loud cry from the oppressed inhabitants of flanders was uttered in unanimous denunciation by the four estates of that province of the infamous titelmann, the cardinal's voice, from the depths of his luxurious solitude, was heard, not in sympathy with the poor innocent wretches, who were daily dragged from their humble homes to perish by sword and fire, but in pity for the inquisitor who was doing the work of hell. "i deeply regret," he wrote to viglius, "that the states of flanders should be pouting at inquisitor titelmann. truly he has good zeal, although sometimes indiscreet and noisy; still he must be supported, lest they put a bridle upon him, by which his authority will be quite enervated." the reader who is acquainted with the personality of peter titelmann can decide as to the real benignity of the joyous epicurean who could thus commend and encourage such a monster of cruelty. if popularity be a test of merit in a public man, it certainly could not be claimed by the cardinal. from the moment when gresham declared him to be "hated of all men," down to the period of his departure, the odium resting upon him had been rapidly extending: he came to the country with two grave accusations resting upon his name. the emperor maximilian asserted that the cardinal had attempted to take his life by poison, and he persisted in the truth of the charge thus made by him, till the day of his death. another accusation was more generally credited. he was the author of the memorable forgery by which the landgrave philip of hesse had been entrapped into his long imprisonment. his course in and towards the netherlands has been sufficiently examined. not a single charge has been made lightly, but only after careful sifting of evidence. moreover they are all sustained mainly from the criminal's own lips. yet when the secrecy of the spanish cabinet and the macchiavellian scheme of policy by which the age was characterized are considered, it is not strange that there should have been misunderstandings and contradictions with regard to the man's character till a full light had been thrown upon it by the disinterment of ancient documents. the word "durate," which was the cardinals device, may well be inscribed upon his mask, which has at last been torn aside, but which was formed of such durable materials, that it has deceived the world for three centuries. etext editor's bookmarks: attempting to swim in two waters dissimulation and delay excited with the appearance of a gem of true philosophy insinuating suspicions when unable to furnish evidence maintaining the attitude of an injured but forgiving christian more accustomed to do well than to speak well perpetually dropping small innuendos like pebbles procrastination was always his first refuge they had at last burned one more preacher alive motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. - [chapter v.] return of the three seigniors to the state council--policy of orange--corrupt character of the government--efforts of the prince in favor of reform--influence of armenteros--painful situation of viglius--his anxiety to retire--secret charges against him transmitted by the duchess to philip--ominous signs of the times-- attention of philip to the details of persecution--execution of fabricius, and tumult at antwerp--horrible cruelty towards the protestants--remonstrance of the magistracy of bruges and of the four flemish estates against titelmann--obduracy of philip--council of trent--quarrel for precedence between the french and spanish envoys--order for the publication of the trent decrees in the netherlands--opposition to the measure--reluctance of the duchess-- egmont accepts a mission to spain--violent debate in the council concerning his instructions--remarkable speech of orange--apoplexy of viglius--temporary appointment of hopper--departure of egmont-- disgraceful scene at cambray--character of the archbishop--egmont in spain--flattery and bribery--council of doctors--vehement declarations of philip--his instructions to egmont at his departure --proceedings of orange in regard to his principality--egmont's report to the state council concerning his mission--his vainglory-- renewed orders from philip to continue the persecution--indignation of egmont--habitual dissimulation of the king--reproof of egmont by orange--assembly of doctors in brussels--result of their deliberations transmitted to philip--universal excitement in the netherlands--new punishment for heretics--interview at bayonne between catharine de medici and her daughter, the queen of spain-- mistaken views upon this subject--diplomacy of alva--artful conduct of catharine--stringent letters from philip to the duchess with regard to the inquisition--consternation of margaret and of viglius --new proclamation of the edicts, the inquisition, and the council of trent--fury of the people--resistance of the leading seigniors and of the brabant council--brabant declared free of the inquisition--prince alexander of parma betrothed to donna maria of portugal--her portrait--expensive preparations for the nuptials-- assembly of the golden fleece--oration of viglius--wedding of prince alexander. the remainder of the year, in the spring of which the cardinal had left the netherlands, was one of anarchy, confusion, and corruption. at first there had been a sensation of relief. philip had exchanged letters of exceeding amity with orange, egmont, and horn. these three seigniors had written, immediately upon granvelle's retreat, to assure the king of their willingness to obey the royal commands, and to resume their duties at the state council. they had, however, assured the duchess that the reappearance of the cardinal in the country would be the signal for their instantaneous withdrawal. they appeared at the council daily, working with the utmost assiduity often till late into the night. orange had three great objects in view, by attaining which the country, in his opinion, might yet be saved, and the threatened convulsions averted. these were to convoke the states-general, to moderate or abolish the edicts, and to suppress the council of finance and the privy council, leaving only the council of state. the two first of these points, if gained, would, of course, subvert the whole absolute policy which philip and granvelle had enforced; it was, therefore, hardly probable that any impression would be made upon the secret determination of the government in these respects. as to the council of state, the limited powers of that body, under the administration of the cardinal, had formed one of the principal complaints against that minister. the justice and finance councils were sinks of iniquity. the most barefaced depravity reigned supreme. a gangrene had spread through the whole government. the public functionaries were notoriously and outrageously venal. the administration of justice had been poisoned at the fountain, and the people were unable to slake their daily thirst at the polluted stream. there was no law but the law of the longest purse. the highest dignitaries of philip's appointment had become the most mercenary hucksters who ever converted the divine temple of justice into a den of thieves. law was an article of merchandise, sold by judges to the highest bidder. a poor customer could obtain nothing but stripes and imprisonment, or, if tainted with suspicion of heresy, the fagot or the sword, but for the rich every thing was attainable. pardons for the most atrocious crimes, passports, safe conducts, offices of trust and honor, were disposed of at auction to the highest bidder. against all this sea of corruption did the brave william of orange set his breast, undaunted and unflinching. of all the conspicuous men in the land, he was the only one whose worst enemy had never hinted through the whole course of his public career, that his hands had known contamination. his honor was ever untarnished by even a breath of suspicion. the cardinal could accuse him of pecuniary embarrassment, by which a large proportion of his revenues were necessarily diverted to the liquidation of his debts, but he could not suggest that the prince had ever freed himself from difficulties by plunging his hands into the public treasury, when it might easily have been opened to him. it was soon, however, sufficiently obvious that as desperate a struggle was to be made with the many-headed monster of general corruption as with the cardinal by whom it had been so long fed and governed. the prince was accused of ambition and intrigue. it was said that he was determined to concentrate all the powers of government in the state council, which was thus to become an omnipotent and irresponsible senate, while the king would be reduced to the condition of a venetian doge. it was, of course, suggested that it was the aim of orange to govern the new tribunal of ten. no doubt the prince was ambitious. birth, wealth, genius, and virtue could not have been bestowed in such eminent degree on any man without carrying with them the determination to assert their value. it was not his wish so much as it was the necessary law of his being to impress himself upon his age and to rule his fellow-men. but he practised no arts to arrive at the supremacy which he felt must always belong to him, what ever might be his nominal position in the political hierarchy. he was already, although but just turned of thirty years, vastly changed from the brilliant and careless grandee, as he stood at the hour of the imperial abdication. he was becoming careworn in face, thin of figure, sleepless of habit. the wrongs of which he was the daily witness, the absolutism, the cruelty, the rottenness of the government, had marked his face with premature furrows. "they say that the prince is very sad," wrote morillon to granvelle; "and 'tis easy to read as much in his face. they say he can not sleep." truly might the monarch have taken warning that here was a man who was dangerous, and who thought too much. "sleekheaded men, and such as slept o' nights," would have been more eligible functionaries, no doubt, in the royal estimation, but, for a brief period, the king was content to use, to watch, and to suspect the man who was one day to be his great and invincible antagonist. he continued assiduous at the council, and he did his best, by entertaining nobles and citizens at his hospitable mansion, to cultivate good relations with large numbers of his countrymen. he soon, however, had become disgusted with the court. egmont was more lenient to the foul practices which prevailed there, and took almost a childish pleasure in dining at the table of the duchess, dressed, as were many of the younger nobles, in short camlet doublet with the wheat-sheaf buttons. the prince felt more unwilling to compromise his personal dignity by countenancing the flagitious proceedings and the contemptible supremacy of armenteros, and it was soon very obvious, therefore, that egmont was a greater favorite at court than orange. at the same time the count was also diligently cultivating the good graces of the middle and lower classes in brussels, shooting with the burghers at the popinjay, calling every man by his name, and assisting at jovial banquets in town-house or guild-hall. the prince, although at times a necessary partaker also in these popular amusements, could find small cause for rejoicing in the aspect of affairs. when his business led him to the palace, he was sometimes forced to wait in the ante-chamber for an hour, while secretary armenteros was engaged in private consultation with margaret upon the most important matters of administration. it could not be otherwise than galling to the pride and offensive to the patriotism of the prince, to find great public transactions entrusted to such hands. thomas de armenteros was a mere private secretary--a simple clerk. he had no right to have cognizance of important affairs, which could only come before his majesty's sworn advisers. he was moreover an infamous peculator. he was rolling up a fortune with great rapidity by his shameless traffic in benefices, charges, offices, whether of church or state. his name of armenteros was popularly converted into argenteros, in order to symbolize the man who was made of public money. his confidential intimacy with the duchess procured for him also the name of "madam's barber," in allusion to the famous ornaments of margaret's upper lip, and to the celebrated influence enjoyed by the barbers of the duke of savoy, and of louis the eleventh. this man sold dignities and places of high responsibility at public auction. the regent not only connived at these proceedings, which would have been base enough, but she was full partner in the disgraceful commerce. through the agency of the secretary, she, too, was amassing a large private fortune. "the duchess has gone into the business of vending places to the highest bidders," said morillon, "with the bit between her teeth." the spectacle presented at the council-board was often sufficiently repulsive not only to the cardinalists, who were treated with elaborate insolence, but to all men who loved honor and justice, or who felt an interest in the prosperity of government. there was nothing majestic in the appearance of the duchess, as she sat conversing apart with armenteros, whispering, pinching, giggling, or disputing, while important affairs of state were debated, concerning which the secretary had no right to be informed. it was inevitable that orange should be offended to the utmost by such proceedings, although he was himself treated with comparative respect. as for the ancient adherents of granvelle, the bordeys, baves, and morillons, they were forbidden by the favorite even to salute him in the streets. berlaymont was treated by the duchess with studied insult. "what is the man talking about?" she would ask with languid superciliousness, if he attempted to express his opinion in the state-council. viglius, whom berlaymont accused of doing his best, without success, to make his peace with the seigniors, was in even still greater disgrace than his fellow-cardinalists. he longed, he said, to be in burgundy, drinking granvelle's good wine. his patience under the daily insults which he received from the government made him despicable in the eyes of his own party. he was described by his friends as pusillanimous to an incredible extent, timid from excess of riches, afraid of his own shadow. he was becoming exceedingly pathetic, expressing frequently a desire to depart and end his days in peace. his faithful hopper sustained and consoled him, but even joachim could not soothe his sorrows when he reflected that after all the work performed by himself and colleagues, "they had only been beating the bush for others," while their own share in the spoils had been withheld. nothing could well be more contumelious than margaret's treatment of the learned frisian. when other councillors were summoned to a session at three o'clock, the president was invited at four. it was quite impossible for him to have an audience of the duchess except in the presence of the inevitable armenteras. he was not allowed to open his mouth, even when he occasionally plucked up heart enough to attempt the utterance of his opinions. his authority was completely dead. even if he essayed to combat the convocation of the states-general by the arguments which the duchess, at his suggestion, had often used for the purpose, he was treated with the same indifference. "the poor president," wrote granvelle to the king's chief secretary, gonzalo perez, "is afraid, as i hear, to speak a word, and is made to write exactly what they tell him." at the same time the poor president, thus maltreated and mortified, had the vanity occasionally to imagine himself a bold and formidable personage. the man whom his most intimate friends described as afraid of his own shadow, described himself to granvelle as one who went his own gait, speaking his mind frankly upon every opportunity, and compelling people to fear him a little, even if they did not love him. but the cardinal knew better than to believe in this magnanimous picture of the doctor's fancy. viglius was anxious to retire, but unwilling to have the appearance of being disgraced. he felt instinctively, although deceived as to the actual facts, that his great patron had been defeated and banished. he did not wish to be placed in the same position. he was desirous, as he piously expressed himself, of withdrawing from the world, "that he might balance his accounts with the lord, before leaving the lodgings of life." he was, however, disposed to please "the master" as well as the lord. he wished to have the royal permission to depart in peace. in his own lofty language, he wished to be sprinkled on taking his leave "with the holy water of the court." moreover, he was fond of his salary, although he disliked the sarcasms of the duchess. egmont and others had advised him to abandon the office of president to hopper, in order, as he was getting feeble, to reserve his whole strength for the state-council. viglius did not at all relish the proposition. he said that by giving up the seals, and with them the rank and salary which they conferred, he should become a deposed saint. he had no inclination, as long as he remained on the ground at all, to part with those emoluments and honors, and to be converted merely into the "ass of the state-council." he had, however, with the sagacity of an old navigator, already thrown out his anchor into the best holding-ground during the storms which he foresaw were soon to sweep the state. before the close of the year which now occupies, the learned doctor of laws had become a doctor of divinity also; and had already secured, by so doing, the wealthy prebend of saint bavon of ghent. this would be a consolation in the loss of secular dignities, and a recompence for the cold looks of the duchess. he did not scruple to ascribe the pointed dislike which margaret manifested towards him to the awe in which she stood of his stern integrity of character. the true reason why armenteros and the duchess disliked him was because, in his own words, "he was not of their mind with regard to lotteries, the sale of offices, advancement to abbeys, and many other things of the kind, by which they were in such a hurry to make their fortune." upon another occasion he observed, in a letter to granvelle, that "all offices were sold to the highest bidder, and that the cause of margaret's resentment against both the cardinal and himself was, that they had so long prevented her from making the profit which she was now doing from the sale of benefices, offices, and other favors." the duchess, on her part, characterized the proceedings and policy, both past and present, of the cardinalists as factious, corrupt, and selfish in the last degree. she assured her brother that the simony, rapine, and dishonesty of granvelle, viglius, and all their followers, had brought affairs into the ruinous condition which was then but too apparent. they were doing their best, she said, since the cardinal's departure, to show, by their sloth and opposition, that they were determined to allow nothing to prosper in his absence. to quote her own vigorous expression to philip--"viglius made her suffer the pains of hell." she described him as perpetually resisting the course of the administration, and she threw out dark suspicions, not only as to his honesty but his orthodoxy. philip lent a greedy ear to these scandalous hints concerning the late omnipotent minister and his friends. it is an instructive lesson in human history to look through the cloud of dissimulation in which the actors of this remarkable epoch were ever enveloped, and to watch them all stabbing fiercely at each other in the dark, with no regard to previous friendship, or even present professions. it is edifying to see the cardinal, with all his genius and all his grimace, corresponding on familiar terms with armenteros, who was holding him up to obloquy upon all occasions; to see philip inclining his ear in pleased astonishment to margaret's disclosures concerning the cardinal, whom he was at the very instant assuring of his undiminished confidence; and to see viglius, the author of the edict of , and the uniform opponent of any mitigation in its horrors, silently becoming involved without the least suspicion of the fact in the meshes of inquisitor titelmann. upon philip's eager solicitations for further disclosures, margaret accordingly informed her brother of additional facts communicated to her, after oaths of secrecy had been exchanged, by titelmann and his colleague del canto. they had assured her, she said, that there were grave doubts touching the orthodoxy of viglius. he had consorted with heretics during a large portion of his life, and had put many suspicious persons into office. as to his nepotism, simony, and fraud, there was no doubt at all. he had richly provided all his friends and relations in friesland with benefices. he had become in his old age a priest and churchman, in order to snatch the provostship of saint bavon, although his infirmities did not allow him to say mass, or even to stand erect at the altar. the inquisitors had further accused him of having stolen rings, jewels, plate, linen, beds, tapestry, and other furniture, from the establishment, all which property he had sent to friesland, and of having seized one hundred thousand florins in ready money which had belonged to the last abbe--an act consequently of pure embezzlement. the duchess afterwards transmitted to philip an inventory of the plundered property, including the furniture of nine houses, and begged him to command viglius to make instant restitution. if there be truth in the homely proverb, that in case of certain quarrels honest men recover their rights, it is perhaps equally certain that when distinguished public personages attack each other, historians may arrive at the truth. here certainly are edifying pictures of the corruption of the spanish regency in the netherlands, painted by the president of the state-council, and of the dishonesty of the president painted by the regent. a remarkable tumult occurred in october of this year, at antwerp. a carmelite monk, christopher smith, commonly called fabricius, had left a monastery in bruges, adopted the principles of the reformation, and taken to himself a wife. he had resided for a time in england; but, invited by his friends, he had afterwards undertaken the dangerous charge of gospel-teacher in the commercial metropolis of the netherlands. he was, however, soon betrayed to the authorities by a certain bonnet dealer, popularly called long margaret, who had pretended, for the sake of securing the informer's fee, to be a convert to his doctrines. he was seized, and immediately put to the torture. he manfully refused to betray any members of his congregation, as manfully avowed and maintained his religious creed. he was condemned to the flames, and during the interval which preceded his execution, he comforted his friends by letters of advice, religious consolation and encouragement, which he wrote from his dungeon. he sent a message to the woman who had betrayed him, assuring her of his forgiveness, and exhorting her to repentance. his calmness, wisdom, and gentleness excited the admiration of all. when; therefore, this humble imitator of christ was led through the streets of antwerp to the stake, the popular emotion was at once visible. to the multitude who thronged about the executioners with threatening aspect, he addressed an urgent remonstrance that they would not compromise their own safety by a tumult in his cause. he invited all, however, to remain steadfast to the great truth for which he was about to lay down his life. the crowd, as they followed the procession of hangmen, halberdsmen, and magistrates, sang the hundred and thirtieth psalm in full chorus. as the victim arrived upon the market-place, he knelt upon the ground to pray, for the last time. he was, however, rudely forced to rise by the executioner, who immediately chained him to the stake, and fastened a leathern strap around his throat. at this moment the popular indignation became uncontrollable; stones were showered upon the magistrates and soldiers, who, after a slight resistance, fled for their lives. the foremost of the insurgents dashed into the enclosed arena, to rescue the prisoner. it was too late. the executioner, even as he fled, had crushed the victim's head with a sledge hammer, and pierced him through and through with a poniard. some of the bystanders maintained afterwards that his fingers and lips were seen to move, as if in feeble prayer, for a little time longer, until, as the fire mounted, he fell into the flames. for the remainder of the day, after the fire had entirely smouldered to ashes, the charred and half-consumed body of the victim remained on the market-place, a ghastly spectacle to friend and foe. it was afterwards bound to a stone and cast into the scheld. such was the doom of christopher fabricius, for having preached christianity in antwerp. during the night an anonymous placard, written with blood, was posted upon the wall of the town-house, stating that there were men in the city who would signally avenge his murder. nothing was done, however, towards the accomplishment of the threat. the king, when he received the intelligence of the transaction, was furious with indignation, and wrote savage letters to his sister, commanding instant vengeance to be taken upon all concerned in so foul a riot. as one of the persons engaged had, however, been arrested and immediately hanged, and as the rest had effected their escape, the affair was suffered to drop. the scenes of outrage, the frantic persecutions, were fast becoming too horrible to be looked upon by catholic or calvinist. the prisons swarmed with victims, the streets were thronged with processions to the stake. the population of thriving cities, particularly in flanders, were maddened by the spectacle of so much barbarity inflicted, not upon criminals, but usually upon men remarkable for propriety of conduct and blameless lives. it was precisely at this epoch that the burgomasters, senators, and council of the city of bruges (all catholics) humbly represented to the duchess regent, that peter titelmann, inquisitor of the faith, against all forms of law, was daily exercising inquisition among the inhabitants, not only against those suspected or accused of heresy, but against all, however untainted their characters; that he was daily citing before him whatever persons he liked, men or women, compelling them by force to say whatever it pleased him; that he was dragging people from their houses, and even from the sacred precincts of the church; often in revenge for verbal injuries to himself, always under pretext of heresy, and without form or legal warrant of any kind. they therefore begged that he might be compelled to make use of preparatory examinations with the co-operation of the senators of the city, to suffer that witnesses should make their depositions without being intimidated by menace, and to conduct all his subsequent proceedings according to legal forms, which he had uniformly violated; publicly declaring that he would conduct himself according to his own pleasure. the four estates of flanders having, in a solemn address to the king, represented the same facts, concluded their brief but vigorous description of titelmann's enormities by calling upon philip to suppress these horrible practices, so manifestly in violation of the ancient charters which he had sworn to support. it may be supposed that the appeal to philip would be more likely to call down a royal benediction than the reproof solicited upon the inquisitor's head. in the privy council, the petitions and remonstrances were read, and, in the words of the president, "found to be in extremely bad taste." in the debate which followed, viglius and his friends recalled to the duchess, in earnest language, the decided will of the king, which had been so often expressed. a faint representation was made, on the other hand, of the dangerous consequences, in case the people were driven to a still deeper despair. the result of the movement was but meagre. the duchess announced that she could do nothing in the matter of the request until further information, but that meantime she had charged titelmann to conduct himself in his office "with discretion and modesty." the discretion and modesty, however, never appeared in any modification of the inquisitor's proceedings, and he continued unchecked in his infamous career until death, which did not occur till several years afterwards. in truth, margaret was herself in mortal fear of this horrible personage. he besieged her chamber door almost daily, before she had risen, insisting upon audiences which, notwithstanding her repugnance to the man, she did not dare to refuse. "may i perish," said morillon, "if she does not stand in exceeding awe of titelmann." under such circumstances, sustained by the king in spain, the duchess in brussels, the privy council, and by a leading member of what had been thought the liberal party, it was not difficult for the inquisition to maintain its ground, notwithstanding the solemn protestations of the estates and the suppressed curses of the people. philip, so far from having the least disposition to yield in the matter of the great religious persecution, was more determined as to his course than ever. he had already, as easy as august of this year, despatched orders to the duchess that the decrees of the council of trent should be published and enforced throughout the netherlands. the memorable quarrel as to precedency between the french and spanish delegates had given some hopes of a different determination. nevertheless, those persons who imagined that, in consequence of this quarrel of etiquette, philip would slacken in his allegiance to the church, were destined to be bitterly mistaken. he informed his sister that, in the common cause of christianity, he should not be swayed by personal resentments. how, indeed, could a different decision be expected? his envoy at rome, as well as his representatives at the council, had universally repudiated all doubts as to the sanctity of its decrees. "to doubt the infallibility of the council, as some have dared to do," said francis de vargas, "and to think it capable of error, is the most devilish heresy of all." nothing could so much disturb and scandalize the world as such a sentiment. therefore the archbishop of granada told, very properly, the bishop of tortosa, that if he should express such an opinion in spain, they would burn him. these strenuous notions were shared by the king. therefore, although all europe was on tip-toe with expectation to see how philip would avenge himself for the slight put upon his ambassador, philip disappointed all europe. in august, , he wrote to the duchess regent, that the decrees were to be proclaimed and enforced without delay. they related to three subjects, the doctrines to be inculcated by the church, the reformation of ecclesiastical moral, and the education of the people. general police regulations were issued at the same time, by which heretics were to be excluded from all share in the usual conveniences of society, and were in fact to be strictly excommunicated. inns were to receive no guests, schools no children, alms-houses no paupers, grave-yards no dead bodies, unless guests, children, paupers, and dead bodies were furnished with the most satisfactory proofs of orthodoxy. midwives of unsuspected romanism were alone to exercise their functions, and were bound to give notice within twenty-four hours of every birth which occurred; the parish clerks were as regularly to record every such addition to the population, and the authorities to see that catholic baptism was administered in each case with the least possible delay. births, deaths, and marriages could only occur with validity under the shadow of the church. no human being could consider himself born or defunct unless provided with a priest's certificate. the heretic was excluded, so far as ecclesiastical dogma could exclude him, from the pale of humanity, from consecrated earth, and from eternal salvation. the decrees contained many provisions which not only conflicted with the privileges of the provinces, but with the prerogatives of the sovereign. for this reason many of the lords in council thought that at least the proper exceptions should be made upon their promulgation. this was also the opinion of the duchess, but the king, by his letters of october, and november ( ), expressly prohibited any alteration in the ordinances, and transmitted a copy of the form according to which the canons had been published in spain, together with the expression of his desire that a similar course should be followed in the netherlands. margaret of parma was in great embarrassment. it was evident that the publication could no longer be deferred. philip had issued his commands, but grave senators and learned doctors of the university had advised strongly in favor of the necessary exceptions. the extreme party, headed by viglius, were in favor of carrying out the royal decisions. they were overruled, and the duchess was induced to attempt a modification, if her brother's permission could be obtained. the president expressed the opinion that the decrees, even with the restrictions proposed, would "give no contentment to the people, who, moreover, had no right to meddle with theology." the excellent viglius forgot, however, that theology had been meddling altogether too much with the people to make it possible that the public attention should be entirely averted from the subject. men and women who might be daily summoned to rack, stake, and scaffold, in the course of these ecclesiastical arrangements, and whose births, deaths, marriages, and position in the next world, were now to be formally decided upon, could hardly be taxed with extreme indiscretion, if they did meddle with the subject. in the dilemma to which the duchess was reduced, she again bethought herself of a special mission to spain. at the end of the year ( ), it was determined that egmont should be the envoy. montigny excused himself on account of private affairs; marquis berghen "because of his indisposition and corpulence." there was a stormy debate in council after egmont had accepted the mission and immediately before his departure. viglius had been ordered to prepare the count's instructions. having finished the rough draught, he laid it before the board. the paper was conceived in general terms and might mean any thing or nothing. no criticism upon its language was, however, offered until it came to the turn of orange to vote upon the document. then, however, william the silent opened his lips, and poured forth a long and vehement discourse, such as he rarely pronounced, but such as few except himself could utter. there was no shuffling, no disguise, no timidity in his language. he took the ground boldly that the time had arrived for speaking out. the object of sending an envoy of high rank and european reputation like the count of egmont, was to tell the king the truth. let philip know it now. let him be unequivocally informed that this whole machinery of placards and scaffolds, of new bishops and old hangmen, of decrees, inquisitors, and informers, must once and forever be abolished. their day was over. the netherlands were free provinces, they were surrounded by free countries, they were determined to vindicate their ancient privileges. moreover, his majesty was to be plainly informed of the frightful corruption which made the whole judicial and administrative system loathsome. the venality which notoriously existed every where, on the bench, in the council chamber, in all public offices, where purity was most essential, was denounced by the prince in scathing terms. he tore the mask from individual faces, and openly charged the chancellor of brabant, engelbert maas, with knavery and corruption. he insisted that the king should be informed of the necessity of abolishing the two inferior councils, and of enlarging the council of state by the admission of ten or twelve new members selected for their patriotism, purity, and capacity. above all, it was necessary plainly to inform his majesty that the canons of trent, spurned by the whole world, even by the catholic princes of germany, could never be enforced in the netherlands, and that it would be ruinous to make the attempt. he proposed and insisted that the count of egmont should be instructed accordingly. he avowed in conclusion that he was a catholic himself and intended to remain in the faith, but that he could not look on with pleasure when princes strove to govern the souls of men, and to take away their liberty in matters of conscience and religion. here certainly was no daintiness of phraseology, and upon these leading points, thus slightly indicated, william of orange poured out his eloquence, bearing conviction upon the tide of his rapid invective. his speech lasted till seven in the evening, when the duchess adjourned the meeting. the council broke up, the regent went to supper, but the effect of the discourse upon nearly all the members was not to be mistaken. viglius was in a state of consternation, perplexity, and despair. he felt satisfied that, with perhaps the exception of berlaymont, all who had listened or should afterwards listen to the powerful arguments of orange, would be inevitably seduced or bewildered. the president lay awake, tossing and tumbling in his bed, recalling the prince's oration, point by point, and endeavoring, to answer it in order. it was important, he felt, to obliterate the impression produced. moreover, as we have often seen, the learned doctor valued himself upon his logic. it was absolutely necessary, therefore, that in his reply, next day, his eloquence should outshine that of his antagonist. the president thus passed a feverish and uncomfortable night, pronouncing and listening to imaginary harangues. with the dawn of day he arose and proceeded to dress himself. the excitement of the previous evening and the subsequent sleeplessness of his night had, however, been too much for his feeble and slightly superannuated frame. before he had finished his toilet, a stroke of apoplexy stretched him senseless upon the floor. his servants, when they soon afterwards entered the apartment, found him rigid, and to all appearance dead. after a few days, however, he recovered his physical senses in part, but his reason remained for a longer time shattered, and was never perhaps fully restored to its original vigor. this event made it necessary that his place in the council should be supplied. viglius had frequently expressed intentions of retiring, a measure to which he could yet never fully make up his mind. his place was now temporarily supplied by his friend and countryman, joachim hopper, like himself a frisian doctor of ancient blood and extensive acquirements, well versed in philosophy and jurisprudence; a professor of louvain and a member of the mechlin council. he was likewise the original founder and projector of douay university, an institution which at philip's desire he had successfully organized in , in order that a french university might be furnished for walloon youths, as a substitute for the seductive and poisonous paris. for the rest, hopper was a mere man of routine. he was often employed in private affairs by philip, without being entrusted with the secret at the bottom of them. his mind was a confused one, and his style inexpressibly involved and tedious. "poor master hopper," said granvelle, "did not write the best french in the world; may the lord forgive him. he was learned in letters, but knew very little of great affairs." his manners were as cringing as his intellect was narrow. he never opposed the duchess, so that his colleagues always called him councillor "yes, madam," and he did his best to be friends with all the world. in deference to the arguments of orange, the instructions for egmont were accordingly considerably modified from the original draughts of viglius. as drawn up by the new president, they contained at least a few hints to his majesty as to the propriety of mitigating the edicts and extending some mercy to his suffering people. the document was, however, not very satisfactory to the prince, nor did he perhaps rely very implicitly upon the character of the envoy. egmont set forth upon his journey early in january ( ). he travelled in great state. he was escorted as far as cambray by several nobles of his acquaintance, who improved the occasion by a series of tremendous banquets during the count's sojourn, which was protracted till the end of january. the most noted of these gentlemen were hoogstraaten, brederode, the younger mansfeld, culemburg, and noircarmes. before they parted with the envoy, they drew up a paper which they signed with their blood, and afterwards placed in the hands of his countess. in this document they promised, on account of their "inexpressible and very singular affection" for egmont, that if, during his mission to spain, any evil should befal him, they would, on their faith as gentlemen and cavaliers of honor, take vengeance, therefore, upon the cardinal granvelle, or upon all who should be the instigators thereof. [green v. p., archives, etc., i. , from arnoldi, hist. denkwurd, p. ., it is remarkable that after the return of the count from. spain, hoogstraaten received this singular bond from the countess, and gave it to mansfeld, to be burned in his presence. mansfeld, however, advised keeping it, on account of noircarmes, whose signature was attached to the document, and whom he knew to be so false and deceitful a man that it might be well to have it within their power at some future day to reproach him therewith.--ibid. it will be seen in the sequel that noircarmes more than justified the opinion of mansfeld, but that the subsequent career of mansfeld himself did not entitle him to reproach any of philip's noble hangmen.] wherever brederode was, there, it was probable, would be much severe carousing. before the conclusion, accordingly, of the visit to cambray, that ancient city rang with the scandal created by a most uproarious scene. a banquet was given to egmont and his friends in the citadel. brederode, his cousin lumey, and the other nobles from brussels, were all present. the archbishop of cambray, a man very odious to the liberal party in the provinces, was also bidden to the feast. during the dinner, this prelate, although treated with marked respect by egmont, was the object of much banter and coarse pleasantry by the ruder portion of the guests. especially these convivial gentlemen took infinite pains to overload him with challenges to huge bumpers of wine; it being thought very desirable, if possible; to place the archbishop under the table. this pleasantry was alternated with much rude sarcasm concerning the new bishoprics. the conversation then fell upon other topics, among others, naturally upon the mission of count egmont. brederede observed that it was a very hazardous matter to allow so eminent a personage to leave the land at such a critical period. should any thing happen to the count, the netherlands would sustain an immense loss. the archbishop, irritated by the previous conversation, ironically requested the speaker to be comforted, "because," said he, "it will always be easy to find a new egmont." upon this, brederode, beside himself with rage, cried out vehemently, "are we to tolerate such language from this priest?" gulemburg, too, turning upon the offender, observed, "your observation would be much more applicable to your own case. if you were to die, 't would be easy to find five hundred of your merit, to replace you in the see of cambray." the conversation was, to say the least, becoming personal. the bishop, desirous of terminating this keen encounter of wits, lifted a goblet full of wine and challenged brederode to drink. that gentleman declined the invitation. after the cloth had been removed, the cup circulated more freely than ever. the revelry became fast and furious. one of the younger gentlemen who was seated near the bishop snatched the bonnet of that dignitary from his head and placed it upon his own. he then drained a bumper to his health, and passed the goblet and the cap to his next neighbor. both circulated till they reached the viscount of ghent, who arose from his seat and respectfully restored the cap to its owner. brederode then took a large "cup of silver and gold," filled it to the brim, and drained it to the confusion of cardinal granvelle; stigmatizing that departed minister, as he finished, by an epithet of more vigor than decency. he then called upon all the company to pledge him to the same toast, and denounced as cardinalists all those who should refuse. the archbishop, not having digested the affronts which had been put upon him already, imprudently ventured himself once more into the confusion, and tried to appeal to the reason of the company. he might as well have addressed the crew of comus. he gained nothing but additional insult. brederode advanced upon him with threatening gestures. egmont implored the prelate to retire, or at least not to take notice of a nobleman so obviously beyond the control of his reason. the bishop, however, insisted--mingling reproof, menace; and somewhat imperious demands--that the indecent saturnalia should cease. it would have been wiser for him to retire. count hoogstraaten, a young man and small of stature, seized the gilt laver, in which the company had dipped their fingers before seating themselves at table: "be quiet, be quiet, little man," said egmont, soothingly, doing his best to restrain the tumult. "little man, indeed," responded the count, wrathfully; "i would have you to know that never did little man spring from my race." with those words he hurled the basin, water, and all, at the head of the archbishop. hoogstraaten had no doubt manifested his bravery before that day; he was to display, on future occasions, a very remarkable degree of heroism; but it must be confessed that the chivalry of the noble house of lalaing was not illustrated by this attack upon a priest. the bishop was sprinkled by the water, but not struck by the vessel. young mansfeld, ashamed of the outrage, stepped forward to apologize for the conduct of his companions and to soothe the insulted prelate. that personage, however, exasperated, very naturally, to the highest point, pushed him rudely away, crying, "begone, begone! who is this boy that is preaching to me?" whereupon, mansfeld, much irritated, lifted his hand towards the ecclesiastic, and snapped his fingers contemptuously in his face. some even said that he pulled the archiepiscopal nose, others that he threatened his life with a drawn dagger. nothing could well have been more indecent or more cowardly than the conduct of these nobles upon this occasion. their intoxication, together with the character of the victim, explained, but certainly could not palliate the vulgarity of the exhibition. it was natural enough that men like brederode should find sport in this remarkable badgering of a bishop, but we see with regret the part played by hoogstraaten in the disgraceful scene. the prelate, at last, exclaiming that it appeared that he had been invited only to be insulted, left the apartment, accompanied by noircarmes and the viscount of ghent, and threatening that all his friends and relations should be charged with his vengeance. the next day a reconciliation was effected, as well as such an arrangement was possible, by the efforts of egmont, who dined alone with the prelate. in the evening, hoogstraaten, culemburg, and brederode called upon the bishop, with whom they were closeted for, an hour, and the party separated on nominal terms of friendship. this scandalous scene; which had been enacted not only before many guests, but in presence of a host of servants, made necessarily a great sensation throughout the country. there could hardly be much difference of opinion among respectable people as to the conduct of the noblemen who had thus disgraced themselves. even brederode himself, who appeared to have retained, as was natural, but a confused impression of the transaction, seemed in the days which succeeded the celebrated banquet, to be in doubt whether he and his friends had merited any great amount of applause. he was, however, somewhat self-contradictory, although always vehement in his assertions on the subject. at one time he maintained--after dinner, of course--that he would have killed the archbishop if they had not been forcibly separated; at other moments he denounced as liars all persons who should insinuate that he had committed or contemplated any injury to that prelate; offering freely to fight any man who disputed either of his two positions. the whole scene was dramatized and represented in masquerade at a wedding festival given by councillor d'assonleville, on the marriage of councillor hopper's daughter, one of the principal parts being enacted by a son of the president-judge of artois. it may be supposed that if such eminent personages, in close connexion with the government, took part in such proceedings, the riot must have been considered of a very pardonable nature. the truth was, that the bishop was a cardinalist, and therefore entirely out of favor with the administration. he was also a man of treacherous, sanguinary character, and consequently detested by the people. he had done his best to destroy heresy in valenciennes by fire and sword. "i will say one thing," said he in a letter to granvelle, which had been intercepted, "since the pot is uncovered, and the whole cookery known, we had best push forward and make an end of all the principal heretics, whether rich or poor, without regarding whether the city will be entirely ruined by such a course. such an opinion i should declare openly were it not that we of the ecclesiastical profession are accused of always crying out for blood." such was the prelate's theory. his practice may be inferred from a specimen of his proceedings which occurred at a little later day. a citizen of cambray, having been converted to the lutheran confession, went to the archbishop, and requested permission to move out of the country, taking his property with him. the petitioner having made his appearance in the forenoon, was requested to call again after dinner, to receive his answer. the burgher did so, and was received, not by the prelate, but by the executioner, who immediately carried the lutheran to the market-place, and cut off his head. it is sufficiently evident that a minister of christ, with such propensities, could not excite any great sympathy, however deeply affronted he might have been at a drinking party, so long as any christians remained in the land. egmont departed from cambray upon the th january, his friends taking a most affectionate farewell of him; and brederode assuring him, with a thousand oaths, that he would forsake god for his service. his reception at madrid was most brilliant. when he made his first appearance at the palace, philip rushed from his cabinet into the grand hall of reception, and fell upon his neck, embracing him heartily before the count had time to drop upon his knee and kiss the royal hand. during the whole period of his visit he dined frequently at the king's private table, an honor rarely accorded by philip, and was feasted and flattered by all the great dignitaries of the court as never a subject of the spanish crown had been before. all vied with each other in heaping honors upon the man whom the king was determined to honor. philip took him out to drive daily in his own coach, sent him to see the wonders of the new escorial, which he was building to commemorate the battle of st. quentin, and, although it was still winter, insisted upon showing him the beauties of his retreat in the segovian forest. granvelle's counsels as to the method by which the "friend of smoke" was so easily to be gained, had not fallen unheeded in his royal pupil's ears. the count was lodged in the house of ruy gomez, who soon felt himself able, according to previous assurances to that effect, contained in a private letter of armenteros, to persuade the envoy to any course which philip might command. flattery without stint was administered. more solid arguments to convince the count that philip was the most generous and clement of princes were also employed with great effect. the royal dues upon the estate of gaasbecque, lately purchased by egmont, were remitted. a mortgage upon his seigneurie of ninove was discharged, and a considerable sum of money presented to him in addition. altogether, the gifts which the ambassador received from the royal bounty amounted to one hundred thousand crowns. thus feasted, flattered, and laden with presents, it must be admitted that the count more than justified the opinions expressed in the letter of armenteros, that he was a man easily governed by those who had credit with him. egmont hardly broached the public matters which had brought him to madrid. upon the subject of the edicts, philip certainly did not dissemble, however loudly the envoy may have afterwards complained at brussels. in truth, egmont, intoxicated by the incense offered to him at the spanish court, was a different man from egmont in the netherlands, subject to the calm but piercing glance and the irresistible control of orange. philip gave him no reason to suppose that he intended any change in the religious system of the provinces, at least in any sense contemplated by the liberal party. on the contrary, a council of doctors and ecclesiastics was summoned, at whose deliberations the count was invited to assist; on which occasion the king excited general admiration by the fervor of his piety and the vehemence of his ejaculations. falling upon his knees before a crucifix, in the midst of the assembly, he prayed that god would keep him perpetually in the same mind, and protested that he would never call himself master of those who denied the lord god. such an exhibition could leave but little doubt in the minds of those who witnessed it as to the royal sentiments, nor did egmont make any effort to obtain any relaxation of those religious edicts, which he had himself declared worthy of approbation, and fit to be maintained. as to the question of enlarging the state-council, philip dismissed the subject with a few vague observations, which egmont, not very zealous on the subject at the moment, perhaps misunderstood. the punishment of heretics by some new method, so as to secure the pains but to take away the glories of martyrdom, was also slightly discussed, and here again egmont was so unfortunate as to misconceive the royal meaning, and to interpret an additional refinement of cruelty into an expression of clemency. on the whole, however, there was not much negotiation between the monarch and the ambassador. when the count spoke of business, the king would speak to him of his daughters, and of his desire to see them provided with brilliant marriages. as egmont had eight girls, besides two sons, it was natural that he should be pleased to find philip taking so much interest in looking out husbands for them. the king spoke to him, as hardly could be avoided, of the famous fool's-cap livery. the count laughed the matter off as a jest, protesting that it was a mere foolish freak, originating at the wine-table, and asseverating, with warmth, that nothing disrespectful or disloyal to his majesty had been contemplated upon that or upon any other occasion. had a single gentleman uttered an undutiful word against the king, egmont vowed he would have stabbed him through and through upon the spot, had he been his own brother. these warm protestations were answered by a gentle reprimand as to the past by philip, and with a firm caution as to the future. "let it be discontinued entirely, count," said the king, as the two were driving together in the royal carriage. egmont expressed himself in handsome terms concerning the cardinal, in return for the wholesale approbation quoted to him in regard to his own character, from the private letters of that sagacious personage to his majesty. certainly, after all this, the count might suppose the affair of the livery forgiven. thus amicably passed the hours of that mission, the preliminaries for which had called forth so much eloquence from the prince of orange and so nearly carried off with apoplexy the president viglius. on his departure egmont received a letter of instructions from philip as to the report which he was to make upon his arrival in brussels, to the duchess. after many things personally flattering to himself, the envoy was directed to represent the king as overwhelmed with incredible grief at hearing the progress made by the heretics, but as immutably determined to permit no change of religion within his dominions, even were he to die a thousand deaths in consequence. the king, he was to state, requested the duchess forthwith to assemble an extraordinary session of the council, at which certain bishops, theological doctors, and very orthodox lawyers, were to assist, in which, under pretence of discussing the council of trent matter, it was to be considered whether there could not be some new way devised for executing heretics; not indeed one by which any deduction should be made from their sufferings (which certainly was not the royal wish, nor likely to be grateful to god or salutary to religion), but by which all hopes of glory--that powerful incentive to their impiety--might be precluded. with regard to any suggested alterations in the council of state, or in the other two councils, the king was to be represented as unwilling to form any decision until he should hear, at length, from the duchess regent upon the subject. certainly here was a sufficient amount of plain speaking upon one great subject, and very little encouragement with regard to the other. yet egmont, who immediately after receiving these instructions set forth upon his return to the netherlands, manifested nothing but satisfaction. philip presented to him, as his travelling companion, the young prince alexander of parma, then about to make a visit to his mother in brussels, and recommended the youth, afterwards destined to play so prominent a part in flemish history, to his peculiar caret egmont addressed a letter to the king from valladolid, in which he indulged in ecstasies concerning the escorial and the wood of segovia, and declared that he was returning to the netherlands "the most contented man in the world." he reached brussels at the end of april. upon the fifth of may he appeared before the council, and proceeded to give an account of his interview with the king, together with a statement of the royal intentions and opinions. these were already sufficiently well known. letters, written after the envoy's departure, had arrived before him, in which, while in the main presenting the same views as those contained in the instructions to egmont, philip had expressed his decided prohibition of the project to enlarge the state council and to suppress the authority of the other two. nevertheless, the count made his report according to the brief received at madrid, and assured his hearers that the king was all benignity, having nothing so much at heart as the temporal and eternal welfare of the provinces. the siege of malta, he stated, would prevent the royal visit to the netherlands for the moment, but it was deferred only for a brief period. to remedy the deficiency in the provincial exchequer, large remittances would be made immediately from spain. to provide for the increasing difficulties of the religious question, a convocation of nine learned and saintly personages was recommended, who should devise some new scheme by which the objections to the present system of chastising heretics might be obviated. it is hardly necessary to state that so meagre a result to the mission of egmont was not likely to inspire the hearts of orange and his adherents with much confidence. no immediate explosion of resentment, however, occurred. the general aspect for a few days was peaceful. egmont manifested much contentment with the reception which he met with in spain, and described the king's friendly dispositions towards the leading nobles in lively colors. he went to his government immediately after his return, assembled the states of artois, in the city of arras, and delivered the letters sent to that body by the king. he made a speech on this occasion, informing the estates that his majesty had given orders that the edicts of the emperor were to be enforced to the letter; adding that he had told the king, freely, his own opinion upon the subject; in order to dissuade him from that which others were warmly urging. he described philip as the most liberal and debonair of princes; his council in spain as cruel and sanguinary. time was to show whether the epithets thus applied to the advisers were not more applicable to the monarch than the eulogies thus lavished by the blind and predestined victim. it will also be perceived that this language, used before the estates of artois, varied materially from his observation to the dowager duchess of aerschot, denouncing as enemies the men who accused him of having requested a moderation of the edicts. in truth, this most vacillating, confused, and unfortunate of men perhaps scarcely comprehended the purport of his recent negotiations in spain, nor perceived the drift of his daily remarks at home. he was, however, somewhat vainglorious immediately after his return, and excessively attentive to business. "he talks like a king," said morillon, spitefully, "negotiates night and day, and makes all bow before him." his house was more thronged with petitioners, courtiers, and men of affairs, than even the palace of the duchess. he avowed frequently that he would devote his life and his fortune to the accomplishment of the king's commands, and declared his uncompromising hostility to all who should venture to oppose that loyal determination. it was but a very short time, however, before a total change was distinctly perceptible in his demeanor. these halcyon days were soon fled. the arrival of fresh letters from spain gave a most unequivocal evidence of the royal determination, if, indeed, any doubt could be rationally entertained before. the most stringent instructions to keep the whole machinery of persecution constantly at work were transmitted to the duchess, and aroused the indignation of orange and his followers. they avowed that they could no longer trust the royal word, since, so soon after egmont's departure, the king had written despatches so much at variance with his language, as reported by the envoy. there was nothing, they said, clement and debonair in these injunctions upon gentlemen of their position and sentiments to devote their time to the encouragement of hangmen and inquisitors. the duchess was unable to pacify the nobles. egmont was beside himself with rage. with his usual recklessness and wrath, he expressed himself at more than one session of the state council in most unmeasured terms. his anger had been more inflamed by information which he had received from the second son of berlaymont, a young and indiscreet lad, who had most unfortunately communicated many secrets which he had learned from his father, but which were never intended for egmont's ear. philip's habitual dissimulation had thus produced much unnecessary perplexity. it was his custom to carry on correspondence through the aid of various secretaries, and it was his invariable practice to deceive them all. those who were upon the most confidential terms with the monarch, were most sure to be duped upon all important occasions. it has been seen that even the astute granvelle could not escape this common lot of all who believed their breasts the depositories of the royal secrets. upon this occasion, gonzalo perez and ruy gomez complained bitterly that they had known nothing of the letters which had recently been despatched from valladolid, while tisnacq and courterville had been ignorant of the communications forwarded by the hands of egmont. they avowed that the king created infinite trouble by thus treating his affairs in one way with one set of councillors and in an opposite sense with the others, thus dissembling with all, and added that philip was now much astonished at the dissatisfaction created in the provinces by the discrepancy between the french letters brought by egmont, and the spanish letters since despatched to the duchess. as this was his regular manner of transacting business, not only for the netherlands, but for all his dominions, they were of opinion that such confusion and dissatisfaction might well be expected. after all, however, notwithstanding the indignation of egmont, it must be confessed that he had been an easy dupe. he had been dazzled by royal smiles, intoxicated by court incense, contaminated by yet baser bribes. he had been turned from the path of honor and the companionship of the wise and noble to do the work of those who were to compass his destruction. the prince of orange reproached him to his face with having forgotten, when in spain, to represent the views of his associates and the best interests of the country, while he had well remembered his own private objects, and accepted the lavish bounty of the king. egmont, stung to the heart by the reproof, from one whom he honored and who wished him well, became sad and sombre for a long time, abstained from the court and from society, and expressed frequently the intention of retiring to his estates. he was, however, much governed by his secretary, the seigneur de bakerzeel, a man of restless, intriguing, and deceitful character, who at this period exercised as great influence over the count as armenteros continued to maintain over the duchess, whose unpopularity from that and other circumstances was daily increasing. in obedience to the commands of the king, the canons of trent had been published. they were nominally enforced at cambray, but a fierce opposition was made by the clergy themselves to the innovation in mechlin, utrecht, and many other places. this matter, together with other more vitally important questions, came before the assembly of bishops and doctors, which, according to philip's instructions, had been convoked by the duchess. the opinion of the learned theologians was, on the whole, that the views of the trent council, with regard to reformation of ecclesiastical morals and popular education, was sound. there was some discordancy between the clerical and lay doctors upon other points. the seigniors, lawyers, and deputies from the estates were all in favor of repealing the penalty of death for heretical offences of any kind. president viglius, with all the bishops and doctors of divinity, including the prelates of st. omer, namur and ypres, and four theological professors from louvain, stoutly maintained the contrary opinion. the president especially, declared himself vehemently in favor of the death punishment, and expressed much anger against those who were in favor of its abolition. the duchess, upon the second day of the assembly, propounded formally the question, whether any change was to be made in the chastisement of heretics. the prince of orange, with counts horn and egmont, had, however, declined to take part in the discussions, on the ground that it was not his majesty's intention that state councillors should deliver their opinions before strangers, but that persons from outside had been summoned to communicate their advice to the council. the seigniors having thus washed their hands of the matter, the doctors came to a conclusion with great alacrity. it was their unanimous opinion that it comported neither with the service of god nor the common weal, to make any change in the punishment, except, perhaps, in the case of extreme youth; but that, on the contrary, heretics were only to be dealt with by retaining the edicts in their rigor, and by courageously chastising the criminals. after sitting for the greater part of six days, the bishops and doctors of divinity reduced their sentiments to writing, and affixed their signatures to the document. upon the great point of the change suggested in the penalties of heresy, it was declared that no alteration was advisable in the edicts, which had been working so well for thirty-five years. at the same time it was suggested that "some persons, in respect to their age and quality, might be executed or punished more or less rigorously than others; some by death, some by galley slavery, some by perpetual banishment and entire confiscation of property." the possibility was also admitted, of mitigating the punishment of those who, without being heretics or sectaries, might bring themselves within the provisions of the edicts, "through curiosity, nonchalance, or otherwise." such offenders, it was hinted, might be "whipped with rods, fined, banished, or subjected to similar penalties of a lighter nature." it will be perceived by this slight sketch of the advice thus offered to the duchess that these theologians were disposed very carefully to strain the mercy, which they imagined possible in some cases, but which was to drop only upon the heads of the just. heretics were still to be dealt with, so far as the bishops and presidents could affect their doom, with unmitigated rigor. when the assembly was over, the duchess, thus put in possession of the recorded wisdom of these special councillors, asked her constitutional advisers what she was to do with it. orange, egmont, horn, mansfeld replied, however, that it was not their affair, and that their opinion had not been demanded by his majesty in the premises. the duchess accordingly transmitted to philip the conclusions of the assembly, together with the reasons of the seigniors for refusing to take part in its deliberations. the sentiments of orange could hardly be doubtful, however, nor his silence fail to give offense to the higher powers. he contented himself for the time with keeping his eyes and ears open to the course of events, but he watched well. he had "little leisure for amusing himself," as brederode suggested. that free-spoken individual looked upon the proceedings of the theological assembly with profound disgust. "your letter," he wrote to count louis, "is full of those blackguards of bishops and presidents. i would the race were extinct, like that of green dogs. they will always combat with the arms which they have ever used, remaining to the end avaricious, brutal, obstinate, ambitious, et cetera. i leave you to supply the rest." thus, then, it was settled beyond peradventure that there was to be no compromise with heresy. the king had willed it. the theologians had advised it. the duchess had proclaimed it. it was supposed that without the axe, the fire, and the rack, the catholic religion would be extinguished, and that the whole population of the netherlands would embrace the reformed faith. this was the distinct declaration of viglius, in a private letter to granvelle. "many seek to abolish the chastisement of heresy," said he; "if they gain this point, actum est de religione catholica; for as most of the people are ignorant fools, the heretics will soon be the great majority, if by fear of punishment they are not kept in the true path." the uneasiness, the terror, the wrath of the people seemed rapidly culminating to a crisis. nothing was talked of but the edicts and the inquisition. nothing else entered into the minds of men. in the streets, in the shops, in the taverns, in the fields; at market, at church, at funerals, at weddings; in the noble's castle, at the farmer's fireside, in the mechanic's garret, upon the merchants' exchange, there was but one perpetual subject of shuddering conversation. it was better, men began to whisper to each other, to die at once than to live in perpetual slavery. it was better to fall with arms in hand than to be tortured and butchered by the inquisition. who could expect to contend with such a foe in the dark? they reproached the municipal authorities with lending themselves as instruments to the institution. they asked magistrates and sheriffs how far they would go in their defence before god's tribunal for the slaughter of his creatures, if they could only answer the divine arraignment by appealing to the edict of . on the other hand, the inquisitors were clamorous in abuse of the languor and the cowardice of the secular authorities. they wearied the ear of the duchess with complaints of the difficulties which they encountered in the execution of their functions--of the slight alacrity on the part of the various officials to assist them in the discharge of their duties. notwithstanding the express command of his majesty to that effect, they experienced, they said, a constant deficiency of that cheerful co-operation which they had the right to claim, and there was perpetual discord in consequence. they had been empowered by papal and by royal decree to make use of the gaols, the constables, the whole penal machinery of each province; yet the officers often refused to act, and had even dared to close the prisons. nevertheless, it had been intended, as fully appeared by the imperial and royal instructions to the inquisitors, that their action through the medium of the provincial authorities should be unrestrained. not satisfied with these representations to the regent, the inquisitors had also made a direct appeal to the king. judocus tiletanus and michael de bay addressed to philip a letter from louvain. they represented to him that they were the only two left of the five inquisitors-general appointed by the pope for all the netherlands, the other three having been recently converted into bishops. daily complaints, they said, were reaching them of the prodigious advance of heresy, but their own office was becoming so odious, so calumniated, and exposed to so much resistance, that they could not perform its duties without personal danger. they urgently demanded from his majesty, therefore, additional support and assistance. thus the duchess, exposed at once to the rising wrath of a whole people and to the shrill blasts of inquisitorial anger, was tossed to and fro, as upon a stormy sea. the commands of the king, too explicit to be tampered with, were obeyed. the theological assembly had met and given advice. the council of trent was here and there enforced. the edicts were republished and the inquisitors encouraged. moreover, in accordance with philip's suggestion, orders were now given that the heretics should be executed at midnight in their dungeons, by binding their heads between their knees, and then slowly suffocating them in tubs of water. secret drowning was substituted for public burning, in order that the heretic's crown of vainglory, which was thought to console him in his agony, might never be placed upon his head. in the course of the summer, magaret wrote to her brother that the popular frenzy was becoming more and more intense. the people were crying aloud, she said, that the spanish inquisition, or a worse than spanish inquisition, had been established among them by means of bishops and ecclesiastics. she urged philip to cause the instructions for the inquisitors to be revised. egmont, she said, was vehement in expressing his dissatisfaction at the discrepancy between philip's language to him by word of mouth and that of the royal despatches on the religious question. the other seigniors were even more indignant. while the popular commotion in the netherlands was thus fearfully increasing, another circumstance came to add to the prevailing discontent. the celebrated interview between catharine de medici and her daughter, the queen of spain, occurred in the middle of the month of june, at bayonne. the darkest suspicions as to the results to humanity of the plots to be engendered in this famous conference between the representatives of france and spain were universally entertained. these suspicions were most reasonable, but they were nevertheless mistaken. the plan for a concerted action to exterminate the heretics in both kingdoms had, as it was perfectly well known, been formed long before this epoch. it was also no secret that the queen regent of france had been desirous of meeting her son-in-law in order to confer with him upon important matters, face to face. philip, however, had latterly been disinclined for the personal interview with catharine. as his wife was most anxious to meet her mother, it was nevertheless finally arranged that queen isabella should make the journey; but he excused himself, on account of the multiplicity of his affairs, from accompanying her in the expedition. the duke of alva was, accordingly, appointed to attend the queen to bayonne. both were secretly instructed by philip to leave nothing undone in the approaching interview toward obtaining the hearty co-operation of catharine de medici in a general and formally-arranged scheme for the simultaneous extermination of all heretics in the french and spanish dominions. alva's conduct in this diplomatic commission was stealthy in the extreme. his letters reveal a subtlety of contrivance and delicacy of handling such as the world has not generally reckoned among his characteristics. all his adroitness, as well as the tact of queen isabella, by whose ability alva declared himself to have been astounded, proved quite powerless before the steady fencing of the wily catharine. the queen regent, whose skill the duke, even while defeated, acknowledged to his master, continued firm in her design to maintain her own power by holding the balance between guise and montmorency, between leaguer and huguenot. so long as her enemies could be employed in exterminating each other, she was willing to defer the extermination of the huguenots. the great massacre of st. bartholomew was to sleep for seven years longer. alva was, to be sure, much encouraged at first by the language of the french princes and nobles who were present at bayonne. monluc protested that "they might saw the queen dowager in two before she would become huguenot." montpensier exclaimed that "he would be cut in pieces for philip's service--that the spanish monarch was the only hope for france," and, embracing alva with fervor, he affirmed that "if his body were to be opened at that moment, the name of philip would be found imprinted upon his heart." the duke, having no power to proceed to an autopsy, physical or moral, of montpensier's interior, was left somewhat in the dark, notwithstanding these ejaculations. his first conversation with the youthful king, however, soon dispelled his hopes. he found immediately, in his own words, that charles the ninth "had been doctored." to take up arms, for religious reasons, against his own subjects, the monarch declared to be ruinous and improper. it was obvious to alva that the royal pupil had learned his lesson for that occasion. it was a pity for humanity that the wisdom thus hypocritically taught him could not have sunk into his heart. the duke did his best to bring forward the plans and wishes of his royal master, but without success. the queen regent proposed a league of the two kings and the emperor against the turk, and wished to arrange various matrimonial alliances between the sons and daughters of the three houses. alva expressed the opinion that the alliances were already close enough, while, on the contrary, a secret league against the protestants would make all three families the safer. catherine, however, was not to be turned from her position. she refused even to admit that the chancellor de l'hospital was a huguenot, to which the duke replied that she was the only person in her kingdom who held that opinion. she expressed an intention of convoking an assembly of doctors, and alva ridiculed in his letters to philip the affectation of such a proceeding. in short, she made it sufficiently evident that the hour for the united action of the french and spanish sovereigns against their subjects had not struck, so that the famous bayonne conference was terminated without a result. it seemed not the less certain, however, in the general opinion of mankind, that all the particulars of a regular plot had been definitely arranged upon this occasion, for the extermination of the protestants, and the error has been propagated by historians of great celebrity of all parties, down to our own days. the secret letters of alva, however, leave no doubt as to the facts. in the course of november, fresh letters from philip arrived in the netherlands, confirming every thing which he had previously written. he wrote personally to the inquisitors-general, tiletanus and de bay, encouraging them, commending them, promising them his support, and urging them not to be deterred by any consideration from thoroughly fulfilling their duties. he wrote peter titelmann a letter, in which he applauded the pains taken by that functionary to remedy the ills which religion was suffering, assured him of his gratitude, exhorted him to continue in his virtuous course, and avowed his determination to spare neither pains, expense, nor even his own life, to sustain the catholic faith. to the duchess he wrote at great length, and in most unequivocal language. he denied that what he had written from valladolid was of different meaning from the sense of the despatches by egmont. with regard to certain anabaptist prisoners, concerning whose fate margaret had requested his opinion, he commanded their execution, adding that such was his will in the case of all, whatever their quality, who could be caught. that which the people said in the netherlands touching the inquisition, he pronounced extremely distasteful to him. that institution, which had existed under his predecessors, he declared more necessary than ever; nor would he suffer it to be discredited. he desired his sister to put no faith in idle talk, as to the inconveniences likely to flow from the rigor of the inquisition. much greater inconveniences would be the result if the inquisitors did not proceed with their labors, and the duchess was commanded to write to the secular judges, enjoining upon them to place no obstacles in the path, but to afford all the assistance which might be required. to egmont, the king wrote with his own hand, applauding much that was contained in the recent decisions of the assembly of bishops and doctors of divinity, and commanding the count to assist in the execution of the royal determination. in affairs of religion, philip expressed the opinion that dissimulation and weakness were entirely out of place. when these decisive letters came before the state council, the consternation was extreme. the duchess had counted, in spite of her inmost convictions, upon less peremptory instructions. the prince of orange, the count of egmont, and the admiral, were loud in their denunciations of the royal policy. there was a violent and protracted debate. the excitement spread at once to the people. inflammatory hand-bills were circulated. placards were posted every night upon the doors of orange, egmont, and horn, calling upon them to come forth boldly as champions of the people and of liberty in religious matters. banquets were held daily at the houses of the nobility, in which the more ardent and youthful of their order, with brains excited by wine and anger, indulged in flaming invectives against the government, and interchanged vows to protect each other and the cause of the oppressed provinces. meanwhile the privy council, to which body the duchess had referred the recent despatches from madrid, made a report upon the whole subject to the state council, during the month of november, sustaining the royal views, and insisting upon the necessity of carrying them into effect. the edicts and inquisition having been so vigorously insisted upon by the king, nothing was to be done but to issue new proclamations throughout the country, together with orders to bishops, councils, governors and judges, that every care should be taken to enforce them to the full. this report came before the state council, and was sustained by some of its members. the prince of orange expressed the same uncompromising hostility to the inquisition which he had always manifested, but observed that the commands of the king were so precise and absolute, as to leave no possibility of discussing that point. there was nothing to be done, he said, but to obey, but he washed his hands of the fatal consequences which he foresaw. there was no longer any middle course between obedience and rebellion. this opinion, the soundness of which could scarcely be disputed, was also sustained by egmont and horn. viglius, on the contrary, nervous, agitated, appalled, was now disposed to temporize. he observed that if the seigniors feared such evil results, it would be better to prevent, rather than to accelerate the danger which would follow the proposed notification to the governors and municipal authorities throughout the country, on the subject of the inquisition. to make haste, was neither to fulfil the intentions nor to serve the interests of the king, and it was desirable "to avoid emotion and scandal." upon these heads the president made a very long speech, avowing, in conclusion, that if his majesty should not find the course proposed agreeable, he was ready to receive all the indignation upon his own head. certainly, this position of the president was somewhat inconsistent with his previous course. he had been most violent in his denunciations of all who should interfere with the execution of the great edict of which he had been the original draughtsman. he had recently been ferocious in combating the opinion of those civilians in the assembly of doctors who had advocated the abolition of the death penalty against heresy. he had expressed with great energy his private opinion that the ancient religion would perish if the machinery of persecution were taken away; yet he now for the first time seemed to hear or to heed the outcry of a whole nation, and to tremble at the sound. now that the die had been cast, in accordance with the counsels of his whole life, now that the royal commands, often enigmatical and hesitating; were at last too distinct to be misconstrued, and too peremptory to be tampered with--the president imagined the possibility of delay. the health of the ancient frisian had but recently permitted him to resume his seat at the council board. his presence there was but temporary, for he had received from madrid the acceptance of his resignation, accompanied with orders to discharge the duties of president until the arrival of his successor, charles de tisnacq. thus, in his own language, the duchess was still obliged to rely for a season "upon her ancient palinurus," a necessity far from agreeable to her, for she had lost confidence in the pilot. it may be supposed that he was anxious to smooth the troubled waters during the brief period in which he was still to be exposed to their fury; but he poured out the oil of his eloquence in vain. nobody sustained his propositions. the duchess, although terrified at the probable consequences, felt the impossibility of disobeying the deliberate decree of her brother. a proclamation was accordingly prepared, by which it was ordered that the council of trent, the edicts and the inquisition, should be published in every town and village in the provinces, immediately, and once in six months forever afterwards. the deed was done, and the prince of orange, stooping to the ear of his next neighbor, as they sat at the council-board, whispered that they were now about to witness the commencement of the most extraordinary tragedy which had ever been enacted. the prophecy was indeed a proof that the prince could read the future, but the sarcasm of the president, that the remark had been made in a tone of exultation, was belied by every action of the prophet's life. the fiat went forth. in the market-place of every town and village of the netherlands, the inquisition was again formally proclaimed. every doubt which had hitherto existed as to the intention of the government was swept away. no argument was thenceforward to be permissible as to the constitutionality of the edicts as to the compatibility of their provisions with the privileges of the land. the cry of a people in its agony ascended to heaven. the decree was answered with a howl of execration. the flames of popular frenzy arose lurid and threatening above the house-tops of every town and village. the impending conflict could no longer be mistaken. the awful tragedy which the great watchman in the land had so long unceasingly predicted, was seen sweeping solemnly and steadily onward. the superstitious eyes of the age saw supernatural and ominous indications in the sky. contending armies trampled the clouds; blood dropped from heaven; the exterminating angel rode upon the wind. there was almost a cessation of the ordinary business of mankind. commerce was paralyzed. antwerp shook as with an earthquake. a chasm seemed to open, in which her prosperity and her very existence were to be forever engulfed. the foreign merchants, manufacturers, and artisans fled from her gates as if the plague were raging within them. thriving cities were likely soon to be depopulated. the metropolitan heart of the whole country was almost motionless. men high in authority sympathized with the general indignation. the marquis berghen, the younger mansfeld, the baron montigny, openly refused to enforce the edicts within their governments. men of eminence inveighed boldly and bitterly against the tyranny of the government, and counselled disobedience. the netherlanders, it was stoutly maintained, were not such senseless brutes as to be ignorant of the mutual relation of prince and people. they knew that the obligation of a king to his vassals was as sacred as the duties of the subjects to the sovereign. the four principal cities of brabant first came forward in formal denunciation of the outrage. an elaborate and conclusive document was drawn up in their name, and presented to the regent. it set forth that the recent proclamation violated many articles in the "joyous entry." that ancient constitution had circumscribed the power of the clergy, and the jealousy had been felt in old times as much by the sovereign as the people. no ecclesiastical tribunal had therefore been allowed, excepting that of the bishop of cambray, whose jurisdiction was expressly confined to three classes of cases--those growing out of marriages, testaments, and mortmains. it would be superfluous to discuss the point at the present day, whether the directions to the inquisitors and the publication of the edicts conflicted with the "joyous entrance." to take a man from his house and burn him, after a brief preliminary examination, was clearly not to follow the letter and spirit of the brabantine habeas corpus, by which inviolability of domicile and regular trials were secured and sworn to by the monarch; yet such had been the uniform practice of inquisitors throughout the country. the petition of the four cities was referred by the regent to the council of brabant. the chancellor, or president judge of that tribunal was notoriously corrupt--a creature of the spanish. his efforts to sustain the policy of the administration however vain. the duchess ordered the archives of the province to be searched for precedents, and the council to report upon the petition. the case was too plain for argument or dogmatism, but the attempt was made to take refuge in obscurity. the answer of the council was hesitating and equivocal. the duchess insisted upon a distinct and categorical answer to the four cities. thus pressed, the council of brabant declared roundly that no inquisition of any kind had ever existed, in the provinces. it was impossible that any other answer could be given, but viglius, with his associates in the privy council, were extremely angry at the conclusion. the concession was, however, made, notwithstanding the bad example which, according to some persons, the victory thus obtained by so important a province would afford to the people in the other parts of the country. brabant was declared free of the inquisition. meanwhile the pamphlets, handbills, pasquils, and other popular productions were multiplied. to use a flemish expression, they "snowed in the streets." they were nailed nightly on all the great houses in brussels. patriots were called upon to strike, speak, redress. pungent lampoons, impassioned invectives, and earnest remonstrances, were thrust into the hands of the duchess. the publications, as they appeared; were greedily devoured by the people. "we are willing," it was said, in a remarkable letter to the king, "to die for the gospel, but we read therein 'render unto caesar that which is caesar's, and unto god that which is god's.' we thank god that our enemies themselves are compelled to bear witness to our piety and patience; so that it is a common saying--'he swears not; he is a protestant; he is neither a fornicator nor a drunkard; he is of the new sect.' yet, notwithstanding these testimonials to our character, no manner of punishment has been forgotten by which we can possibly be chastised." this statement of the morality of the puritans of the netherlands was the justification of martyrs--not the self-glorification of pharisees. the fact was incontrovertible. their tenets were rigid, but their lives were pure. they belonged generally to the middling and lower classes. they were industrious artisans, who desired to live in the fear of god and in honor of their king. they were protected by nobles and gentlemen of high position, very many of whom came afterwards warmly to espouse the creed which at first they had only generously defended. their whole character and position resembled, in many features, those of the english puritans, who, three quarters of a century afterwards, fled for refuge to the dutch republic, and thence departed to establish the american republic. the difference was that the netherlanders were exposed to a longer persecution and a far more intense martyrdom. towards the end of the year ( ) which was closing in such universal gloom; the contemporary chronicles are enlivened with a fitful gleam of sunshine. the light enlivens only the more elevated regions of the flemish world, but it is pathetic to catch a glimpse of those nobles, many of whose lives were to be so heroic, and whose destinies so tragic, as amid the shadows projected by coming evil, they still found time for the chivalrous festivals of their land and epoch. a splendid tournament was held at the chateau d'antoing to celebrate the nuptials of baron montigny with the daughter of prince d'espinoy. orange, horn, and hoogstraaten were the challengers, and maintained themselves victoriously against all comers, egmont and other distinguished knights being, among the number. thus brilliantly and gaily moved the first hours of that marriage which before six months had fled was to be so darkly terminated. the doom which awaited the chivalrous bridegroom in the dungeon of simancas was ere long to be recorded in one of the foulest chapters of philip's tyranny. a still more elaborate marriage-festival, of which the hero was, at a later day, to exercise a most decisive influence over the fortunes of the land, was celebrated at brussels before the close of the year. it will be remembered that alexander, prince of parma, had accompanied egmont on his return from spain in the month of april. the duchess had been delighted with the appearance of her son, then twenty years of age, but already an accomplished cavalier. she had expressed her especial pleasure in finding him so thoroughly a spaniard "in manner, costume, and conversation," that it could not be supposed he had ever visited any other land, or spoken any other tongue than that of spain. the nobles of the flemish court did not participate in the mother's enthusiasm. it could not be denied that he was a handsome and gallant young prince; but his arrogance was so intolerable as to disgust even those most disposed to pay homage to margaret's son. he kept himself mainly in haughty retirement, dined habitually alone in his own apartments, and scarcely honored any of the gentlemen of the netherlands with his notice. even egmont, to whose care he had been especially recommended by philip, was slighted. if, occasionally, he honored one or two of the seigniors with an invitation to his table, he sat alone in solemn state at the head of the board, while the guests, to whom he scarcely vouchsafed a syllable, were placed on stools without backs, below the salt. such insolence, it may be supposed, was sufficiently galling to men of the proud character, but somewhat reckless demeanor, which distinguished the netherland aristocracy. after a short time they held themselves aloof, thinking it sufficient to endure such airs from philip. the duchess at first encouraged the young prince in his haughtiness, but soon became sad, as she witnessed its effects. it was the universal opinion that the young prince was a mere compound of pride and emptiness. "there is nothing at all in the man," said chantonnay. certainly the expression was not a fortunate one. time was to show that there was more in the man than in all the governors despatched successively by philip to the netherlands; but the proof was to be deferred to a later epoch. meantime, his mother was occupied and exceedingly perplexed with his approaching nuptials. he had been affianced early in the year to the princess donna maria of portugal. it was found necessary, therefore, to send a fleet of several vessels to lisbon, to fetch the bride to the netherlands, the wedding being appointed to take place in brussels. this expense alone was considerable, and the preparations for banquets, jousts, and other festivities, were likewise undertaken on so magnificent a scale that the duke, her husband, was offended at margaret's extravagance. the people, by whom she was not beloved, commented bitterly on the prodigalities which they were witnessing in a period of dearth and trouble. many of the nobles mocked at her perplexity. to crown the whole, the young prince was so obliging as to express the hope, in his mother's hearing, that the bridal fleet, then on its way from portugal, might sink with all it contained, to the bottom of the sea. the poor duchess was infinitely chagrined by all these circumstances. the "insane and outrageous expenses" in which the nuptials had involved her, the rebukes of her husband, the sneers of the seigniors, the undutiful epigrams of her son, the ridicule of the people, affected her spirits to such a degree, harassed as she was with grave matters of state, that she kept her rooms for days together, weeping, hour after hour, in the most piteous manner. her distress was the town talk; nevertheless, the fleet arrived in the autumn, and brought the youthful maria to the provinces. this young lady, if the faithful historiographer of the farnese house is to be credited, was the paragon of princesses. [this princess, in her teens, might already exclaim, with the venerable faustus: "habe nun philosophie juristerei and medicin und leider ach: theologie durch studirt mit heissem bemuhen," etc. the panegyrists of royal houses in the sixteenth century were not accustomed to do their work by halves.--strada.] she was the daughter of prince edward, and granddaughter of john the third. she was young and beautiful; she could talk both latin and greek, besides being well versed in philosophy, mathematics and theology. she had the scriptures at her tongue's end, both the old dispensation and the new, and could quote from the fathers with the promptness of a bishop. she was so strictly orthodox that, on being compelled by stress of weather to land in england, she declined all communication with queen elizabeth, on account of her heresy. she was so eminently chaste that she could neither read the sonnets of petrarch, nor lean on the arm of a gentleman. her delicacy upon such points was, indeed, carried to such excess, that upon one occasion when the ship which was bringing her to the netherlands was discovered to be burning, she rebuked a rude fellow who came forward to save her life, assuring him that there was less contamination in the touch of fire than in that of man. fortunately, the flames were extinguished, and the phoenix of portugal was permitted to descend, unburned, upon the bleak shores of flanders. the occasion, notwithstanding the recent tears of the duchess, and the arrogance of the prince, was the signal for much festivity among the courtiers of brussels. it was also the epoch from which movements of a secret and important character were to be dated. the chevaliers of the fleece were assembled, and viglius pronounced before them one of his most classical orations. he had a good deal to say concerning the private adventures of saint andrew, patron of the order, and went into some details of a conversation which that venerated personage had once held with the proconsul aegeas. the moral which he deduced from his narrative was the necessity of union among the magnates for the maintenance of the catholic faith; the nobility and the church being the two columns upon which the whole social fabric reposed. it is to be feared that the president became rather prosy upon the occasion. perhaps his homily, like those of the fictitious archbishop of granada, began to smack of the apoplexy from which he had so recently escaped. perhaps, the meeting being one of hilarity, the younger nobles became restive under the infliction of a very long and very solemn harangue. at any rate, as the meeting broke up, there was a good dial of jesting on the subject. de hammes, commonly called "toison d'or," councillor and king-at-arms of the order, said that the president had been seeing visions and talking with saint andrew in a dream. marquis berghen asked for the source whence he had derived such intimate acquaintance with the ideas of the saint. the president took these remarks rather testily, and, from trifling, the company became soon earnestly engaged in a warm discussion of the agitating topics of the day. it soon became evident to viglius that de hammer and others of his comrades had been dealing with dangerous things. he began shrewdly to suspect that the popular heresy was rapidly extending into higher regions; but it was not the president alone who discovered how widely the contamination was spreading. the meeting, the accidental small talk, which had passed so swiftly from gaiety to gravity, the rapid exchange of ideas, and the free-masonry by which intelligence upon forbidden topics had been mutually conveyed, became events of historical importance. interviews between nobles, who, in the course of the festivities produced by the montigny and parma marriages, had discovered that they entertained a secret similarity of sentiment upon vital questions, became of frequent occurrence. the result to which such conferences led will be narrated in the following chapter. meantime, upon the th november, , the marriage of prince alexander and donna maria was celebrated; with great solemnity, by the archbishop of cambray, in the chapel of the court at brussels. on the following sunday the wedding banquet was held in the great hall, where, ten years previously, the memorable abdication of the bridegroom's imperial grandfather had taken place. the walls were again hung with the magnificent tapestry of gideon, while the knights of the fleece, with all the other grandees of the land, were assembled to grace the spectacle. the king was represented by his envoy in england, don guzman de silva, who came to brussels for the occasion, and who had been selected for this duty because, according to armenteros, "he was endowed, beside his prudence, with so much witty gracefulness with ladies in matters of pastime and entertainment." early in the month of december, a famous tournament was held in the great market-place of brussels, the duke of parma, the duke of aerschot, and count egmont being judges of the jousts. count mansfeld was the challenger, assisted by his son charles, celebrated among the gentry of the land for his dexterity in such sports. to count charles was awarded upon this occasion the silver cup from the lady of the lists. count bossu received the prize for breaking best his lances; the seigneur de beauvoir for the most splendid entrance; count louis, of nassau, for having borne himself most gallantly in the melee. on the same evening the nobles, together with the bridal pair, were entertained at a splendid supper, given by the city of brussels in the magnificent hotel de ville. on this occasion the prizes gained at the tournament were distributed, amid the applause and hilarity of all the revellers. thus, with banquet, tourney, and merry marriage bells, with gaiety gilding the surface of society, while a deadly hatred to the inquisition was eating into the heart of the nation, and while the fires of civil war were already kindling, of which no living man was destined to witness the extinction, ended the year . etext editor's bookmarks: all offices were sold to the highest bidder english puritans habeas corpus he did his best to be friends with all the world look through the cloud of dissimulation no law but the law of the longest purse panegyrists of royal houses in the sixteenth century secret drowning was substituted for public burning sonnets of petrarch st. bartholomew was to sleep for seven years longer to think it capable of error, is the most devilish heresy of all motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. [chapter vi.] francis junius--his sermon at culemburg house--the compromise-- portraits of sainte aldegonde, of louis 'nassau, of "toison d'or," of charles mansfeld--sketch of the compromise--attitude of orange-- his letter to the duchess--signers of the compromise--indiscretion of the confederates--espionage over philip by orange-- dissatisfaction of the seigniors--conduct of egmont--despair of the people--emigration to england--its effects--the request--meeting at breda and hoogstraaten--exaggerated statements concerning the request in the state council--hesitation of the duchess--assembly of notables--debate concerning the request and the inquisition-- character of brederode--arrival of the petitioners in brussels-- presentation of the request--emotion of margaret--speech of brederode--sketch of the request--memorable sarcasm of berlaymont-- deliberation in the state council--apostille to the request--answer to the apostille--reply of the duchess--speech of d'esquerdes-- response of margaret--memorable banquet at culemburg house--name of "the beggars" adopted--orange, egmont, and horn break up the riotous meeting--costume of "the beggars"--brederode at antwerp--horrible execution at oudenardo--similar cruelties throughout the provinces-- project of "moderation"--religious views of orange--his resignation of all his offices not accepted--the "moderation" characterized-- egmont at arras debate on the "moderation"--vacillation of egmont-- mission of montigny and berghen to spain--instructions to the envoys--secret correspondence of philip with the pope concerning the netherland inquisition and the edicts--field-preaching in the provinces--modet at ghent--other preachers characterized--excitement at tournay--peter gabriel at harlem--field--preaching near antwerp-- embarrassment of the regent--excitement at antwerp--pensionary wesenbeck sent to brussels--orange at antwerp--his patriotic course --misrepresentation of the duchess--intemperate zeal of dr. rythovius--meeting at st. trond--conference at duffel--louis of nassau deputed to the regent--unsatisfactory negotiations. the most remarkable occurrence in the earlier part of the year was the famous compromise. this document, by which the signers pledged themselves to oppose the inquisition, and to defend each other against all consequences of such a resistance, was probably the work of philip de marnix, lord of sainte aldegonde. much obscurity, however, rests upon the origin of this league. its foundations had already been laid in the latter part of the preceding year. the nuptials of parma with the portuguese princess had been the cause of much festivity, not only in brussels, but at antwerp. the great commercial metropolis had celebrated the occasion by a magnificent banquet. there had been triumphal arches, wreaths of flowers, loyal speeches, generous sentiments, in the usual profusion. the chief ornament of the dinner-table had been a magnificent piece of confectionary, netting elaborately forth the mission of count mansfeld with the fleet to portugal to fetch the bride from her home, with exquisitely finished figures in sugar--portraits, it is to be presumed--of the principal personages as they appeared during the most striking scenes of the history. at the very moment, however, of these delectations, a meeting was held at brussels of men whose minds were occupied with sterner stuff than sugar-work. on the wedding-day of parma, francis junius, a dissenting minister then residing at antwerp, was invited to brussels to preach a sermon in the house of count culemburg, on the horse-market (now called little sablon), before a small assembly of some twenty gentlemen. this francis junius, born of a noble family in bourges, was the pastor of the secret french congregation of huguenots at antwerp. he was very young, having arrived from geneva, where he had been educated, to take charge of the secret church, when but just turned of twenty years. he was, however, already celebrated for his learning, his eloquence, and his courage. towards the end of , it had already become known that junius was in secret understanding with louis of nassau, to prepare an address to government on the subject of the inquisition and edicts. orders were given for his arrest. a certain painter of brussels affected conversion to the new religion, that he might gain admission to the congregation, and afterwards earn the reward of the informer. he played his part so well that he was permitted to attend many meetings, in the course of which he sketched the portrait of the preacher, and delivered it to the duchess regent, together with minute statements as to his residence and daily habits. nevertheless, with all this assistance, the government could not succeed in laying hands on him. he escaped to breda, and continued his labors in spite of persecution. the man's courage may be estimated from the fact that he preached on one occasion a sermon, advocating the doctrines of the reformed church with his usual eloquence, in a room overlooking the market-place, where, at the very, instant, the execution by fire of several heretics was taking place, while the light from the flames in which the brethren of their faith were burning, was flickering through the glass windows of the conventicle. such was the man who preached a sermon in culemburg palace on parma's wedding-day. the nobles who listened to him were occupied with grave discourse after conclusion of the religious exercises. junius took no part in their conversation, but in his presence it was resolved that a league against the "barbarous and violent inquisition" should be formed, and, that the confederates should mutually bind themselves both within and without the netherlands to this great purpose. junius, in giving this explicit statement; has not mentioned the names of the nobles before whom he preached. it may be inferred that some of them were the more ardent and the more respectable among the somewhat miscellaneous band by whom the compromise was afterwards signed. at about the same epoch, louis of nassau, nicolas de hammes, and certain other gentlemen met at the baths of spa. at this secret assembly, the foundations of the compromise were definitely laid. a document was afterwards drawn up, which was circulated for signatures in the early part of . it is, therefore, a mistake to suppose that this memorable paper was simultaneously signed and sworn to at any solemn scene like that of the declaration of american independence, or like some of the subsequent transactions in the netherland revolt, arranged purposely for dramatic effect. several copies of the compromise were passed secretly from hand to hand, and in the course of two months some two thousand signatures had been obtained. the original copy bore but three names, those of brederode, charles de mansfeld, and louis of nassau. the composition of the paper is usually ascribed to sainte aldegonde, although the fact is not indisputable. at any rate, it is very certain that he was one of the originators and main supporters of the famous league. sainte aldegonde was one of the most accomplished men of his age. he was of ancient nobility, as he proved by an abundance of historical and heraldic evidence, in answer to a scurrilous pamphlet in which he had been accused, among other delinquencies, of having sprung from plebeian blood. having established his "extraction from true and ancient gentlemen of savoy, paternally and maternally," he rebuked his assailants in manly strain. "even had it been that i was without nobility of birth," said he, "i should be none the less or more a virtuous or honest man; nor can any one reproach me with having failed in the point of honor or duty. what greater folly than to boast of the virtue or gallantry of others, as do many nobles who, having neither a grain of virtue in their souls nor a drop of wisdom in their brains, are entirely useless to their country! yet there are such men, who, because their ancestors have done some valorous deed, think themselves fit to direct the machinery of a whole country, having from their youth learned nothing but to dance and to spin like weathercocks with their heads as well as their heels." certainly sainte aldegonde had learned other lessons than these. he was one of the many-sided men who recalled the symmetry of antique patriots. he was a poet of much vigor and imagination; a prose writer whose style was surpassed by that of none of his contemporaries, a diplomatist in whose tact and delicacy william of orange afterwards reposed in the most difficult and important negotiations, an orator whose discourses on many great public occasions attracted the attention of europe, a soldier whose bravery was to be attested afterwards on many a well-fought field, a theologian so skilful in the polemics of divinity, that, as it will hereafter appear, he was more than a match for a bench of bishops upon their own ground, and a scholar so accomplished, that, besides speaking and writing the classical and several modern languages with facility, he had also translated for popular use the psalms of david into vernacular verse, and at a very late period of his life was requested by the states-general of the republic to translate all the scriptures, a work, the fulfilment of which was prevented by his death. a passionate foe to the inquisition and to all the abuses of the ancient church, an ardent defender of civil liberty, it must be admitted that he partook also of the tyrannical spirit of calvinism. he never rose to the lofty heights to which the spirit of the great founder of the commonwealth was destined to soar, but denounced the great principle of religious liberty for all consciences as godless. he was now twenty-eight years of age, having been born in the same year with his friend louis of nassau. his device, "repos ailleurs," finely typified the restless, agitated and laborious life to which he was destined. that other distinguished leader of the newly-formed league, count louis, was a true knight of the olden time, the very mirror of chivalry. gentle, generous, pious; making use, in his tent before the battle, of the prayers which his mother sent him from the home of his childhood,--yet fiery in the field as an ancient crusader--doing the work of general and soldier with desperate valor and against any numbers--cheerful and steadfast under all reverses, witty and jocund in social intercourse, animating with his unceasing spirits the graver and more foreboding soul of his brother; he was the man to whom the eyes of the most ardent among the netherland reformers were turned at this early epoch, the trusty staff upon which the great prince of orange was to lean till it was broken. as gay as brederode, he was unstained by his vices, and exercised a boundless influence over that reckless personage, who often protested that he would "die a poor soldier at his feet." the career of louis was destined to be short, if reckoned by years, but if by events, it was to attain almost a patriarchal length. at the age of nineteen he had taken part in the battle of st. quentin, and when once the war of freedom opened, his sword was never to be sheathed. his days were filled with life, and when he fell into his bloody but unknown grave, he was to leave a name as distinguished for heroic valor and untiring energy as for spotless integrity. he was small of stature, but well formed; athletic in all knightly exercises, with agreeable features, a dark laughing eye, close-clipped brown hair, and a peaked beard. "golden fleece," as nicholas de hammes was universally denominated, was the illegitimate scion of a noble house. he was one of the most active of the early adherents to the league, kept the lists of signers in his possession, and scoured the country daily to procure new confederates. at the public preachings of the reformed religion, which soon after this epoch broke forth throughout the netherlands as by a common impulse, he made himself conspicuous. he was accused of wearing, on such occasions, the ensigns of the fleece about his neck, in order to induce ignorant people to believe that they might themselves legally follow, when they perceived a member of that illustrious fraternity to be leading the way. as de hammer was only an official or servant of that order, but not a companion, the seduction of the lieges by such false pretenses was reckoned among the most heinous of his offences. he was fierce in his hostility to the government, and one of those fiery spirits whose premature zeal was prejudicial to the cause of liberty, and disheartening to the cautious patriotism of orange. he was for smiting at once the gigantic atrocity of the spanish dominion, without waiting for the forging of the weapons by which the blows were to be dealt. he forgot that men and money were as necessary as wrath, in a contest with the most tremendous despotism of the world. "they wish," he wrote to count louis, "that we should meet these hungry wolves with remonstrances, using gentle words, while they are burning and cutting off heads.--be it so then. let us take the pen let them take the sword. for them deeds, for us words. we shall weep, they will laugh. the lord be praised for all; but i can not write this without tears." this nervous language painted the situation and the character of the writer. as for charles mansfeld, he soon fell away from the league which he had embraced originally with excessive ardor. by the influence of the leaders many signatures were obtained during the first two months of the year. the language of the document was such that patriotic catholics could sign it as honestly as protestants. it inveighed bitterly against the tyranny of "a heap of strangers," who, influenced only by private avarice and ambition, were making use of an affected zeal for the catholic religion, to persuade the king into a violation of his oaths. it denounced the refusal to mitigate the severity of the edicts. it declared the inquisition, which it seemed the intention of government to fix permanently upon them, as "iniquitous, contrary to all laws, human and divine, surpassing the greatest barbarism which was ever practised by tyrants, and as redounding to the dishonor of god and to the total desolation of the country." the signers protested, therefore, that "having a due regard to their duties as faithful vassals of his majesty, and especially, as noblemen--and in order not to be deprived of their estates and their lives by those who, under pretext of religion, wished to enrich themselves by plunder and murder," they had bound themselves to each other by holy covenant and solemn oath to resist the inquisition. they mutually promised to oppose it in every shape, open or covert, under whatever mask, it might assume, whether bearing the name of inquisition, placard, or edict, "and to extirpate and eradicate the thing in any form, as the mother of all iniquity and disorder." they protested before god and man, that they would attempt nothing to the dishonor of the lord or to the diminution of the king's grandeur, majesty, or dominion. they declared, on the contrary, an honest purpose to "maintain the monarch in his estate, and to suppress all seditious, tumults, monopolies, and factions." they engaged to preserve their confederation, thus formed, forever inviolable, and to permit none of its members to be persecuted in any manner, in body or goods, by any proceeding founded on the inquisition, the edicts, or the present league. it will be seen therefore, that the compromise was in its origin, a covenant of nobles. it was directed against the foreign influence by which the netherlands were exclusively governed, and against the inquisition, whether papal, episcopal, or by edict. there is no doubt that the country was controlled entirely by spanish masters, and that the intention was to reduce the ancient liberty of the netherlands into subjection to a junta of foreigners sitting at madrid. nothing more legitimate could be imagined than a constitutional resistance to such a policy. the prince of orange had not been consulted as to the formation of the league. it was sufficiently obvious to its founders that his cautious mind would find much to censure in the movement. his sentiments with regard to the inquisition and the edicts were certainly known to all men. in the beginning of this year, too, he had addressed a remarkable letter to the duchess, in answer to her written commands to cause the council of trent, the inquisition, and the edicts, in accordance with the recent commands of the king, to be published and enforced throughout his government. although his advice on the subject had not been asked, he expressed his sense of obligation to speak his mind on the subject, preferring the hazard of being censured for his remonstrance, to that of incurring the suspicion of connivance at the desolation of the land by his silence. he left the question of reformation in ecclesiastical morals untouched, as not belonging to his vocation: as to the inquisition, he most distinctly informed her highness that the hope which still lingered in the popular mind of escaping the permanent establishment of that institution, had alone prevented the utter depopulation of the country, with entire subversion of its commercial and manufacturing industry. with regard to the edicts, he temperately but forcibly expressed the opinion that it was very hard to enforce those placards now in their rigor, when the people were exasperated, and the misery universal, inasmuch as they had frequently been modified on former occasions. the king, he said, could gain nothing but difficulty for himself, and would be sure to lose the affection of his subjects by renewing the edicts, strengthening the inquisition, and proceeding to fresh executions, at a time when the people, moved by the example of their neighbors, were naturally inclined to novelty. moreover, when by reason of the daily increasing prices of grain a famine was impending over the land, no worse moment could be chosen to enforce such a policy. in conclusion, he observed that he was at all times desirous to obey the commands of his majesty and her highness, and to discharge the duties of "a good christian." the use of the latter term is remarkable, as marking an epoch in the history of the prince's mind. a year before he would have said a good catholic, but it was during this year that his mind began to be thoroughly pervaded by religious doubt, and that the great question of the reformation forced itself, not only as a political, but as a moral problem upon him, which he felt that he could not much longer neglect instead of solving. such were the opinions of orange. he could not, however, safely entrust the sacred interests of a commonwealth to such hands as those of brederode--however deeply that enthusiastic personage might drink the health of "younker william," as he affectionately denominated the prince--or to "golden fleece," or to charles mansfeld, or to that younger wild boar of ardennes, robert de la marck. in his brother and in sainte aldegonde he had confidence, but he did not exercise over them that control which he afterwards acquired. his conduct towards the confederacy was imitated in the main by the other great nobles. the covenanters never expected to obtain the signatures of such men as orange, egmont, horn, meghen, berghen, or montigny, nor were those eminent personages ever accused of having signed the compromise, although some of them were afterwards charged with having protected those who did affix their names to the document. the confederates were originally found among the lesser nobles. of these some were sincere catholics, who loved the ancient church but hated the inquisition; some were fierce calvinists or determined lutherans; some were troublous and adventurous spirits, men of broken fortunes, extravagant habits, and boundless desires, who no doubt thought that the broad lands of the church, with their stately abbeys; would furnish much more fitting homes and revenues for gallant gentlemen than for lazy monks. all were young, few had any prudence or conduct, and the history of the league more than justified the disapprobation of orange. the nobles thus banded together, achieved little by their confederacy. they disgraced a great cause by their orgies, almost ruined it by their inefficiency, and when the rope of sand which they had twisted fell asunder, the people had gained nothing and the gentry had almost lost the confidence of the nation. these remarks apply to the mass of the confederates and to some of the leaders. louis of nassau and sainte aldegonde were ever honored and trusted as they deserved. although the language of the compromise spoke of the leaguers as nobles, yet the document was circulated among burghers and merchants also, many of whom, according to the satirical remark of a netherland catholic, may, have been influenced by the desire of writing their names in such aristocratic company, and some of whom were destined to expiate such vainglory upon the scaffold. with such associates, therefore, the profound and anxious mind of orange could have little in common. confidence expanding as the numbers increased, their audacity and turbulence grew with the growth of the league. the language at their wild banquets was as hot as the wine which confused their heads; yet the prince knew that there was rarely a festival in which there did not sit some calm, temperate spaniard, watching with quiet eye and cool brain the extravagant demeanor, and listening with composure to the dangerous avowals or bravados of these revellers, with the purpose of transmitting a record of their language or demonstrations, to the inmost sanctuary of philip's cabinet at madrid. the prince knew, too, that the king was very sincere in his determination to maintain the inquisition, however dilatory his proceedings might appear. he was well aware that an armed force might be expected ere long to support the royal edicts. already the prince had organized that system of espionage upon philip, by which the champion of his country was so long able to circumvent its despot. the king left letters carefully locked in his desk at night, and unseen hands had forwarded copies of them to william of orange before the morning. he left memoranda in his pockets on retiring to bed, and exact transcripts of those papers found their way, likewise, ere he rose, to the same watchman in the netherlands. no doubt that an inclination for political intrigue was a prominent characteristic of the prince, and a blemish upon the purity of his moral nature. yet the dissimulating policy of his age he had mastered only that he might accomplish the noblest purposes to which a great and good man can devote his life-the protection of the liberty and the religion of a whole people against foreign tyranny. his intrigue served his country, not a narrow personal ambition, and it was only by such arts that he became philip's master, instead of falling at once, like so many great personages, a blind and infatuated victim. no doubt his purveyors of secret information were often destined fearfully to atone for their contraband commerce, but they who trade in treason must expect to pay the penalty of their traffic. although, therefore, the great nobles held themselves aloof from the confederacy, yet many of them gave unequivocal signs of their dissent from the policy adopted by government. marquis berghen wrote to the duchess; resigning his posts, on the ground of his inability to execute the intention of the king in the matter of religion. meghen replied to the same summons by a similar letter. egmont assured her that he would have placed his offices in the king's hands in spain, could he have foreseen that his majesty would form such resolutions as had now been proclaimed. the sentiments of orange were avowed in the letter to which we have already alluded. his opinions were shared by montigny, culemburg, and many others. the duchess was almost reduced to desperation. the condition of the country was frightful. the most determined loyalists, such as berlaymont, viglius and hopper, advised her not to mention the name of inquisition in a conference which she was obliged to hold with a deputation from antwerp. she feared, all feared, to pronounce the hated word. she wrote despairing letters to philip, describing the condition of the land and her own agony in the gloomiest colors. since the arrival of the royal orders, she said, things had gone from bad to worse. the king had been ill advised. it was useless to tell the people that the inquisition had always existed in the provinces. they maintained that it was a novelty; that the institution was a more rigorous one than the spanish inquisition, which, said margaret, "was most odious, as the king knew." it was utterly impossible to carry the edicts into execution. nearly all the governors of provinces had told her plainly that they would not help to burn fifty or sixty thousand netherlanders. thus bitterly did margaret of parma bewail the royal decree; not that she had any sympathy for the victims, but because she felt the increasing danger to the executioner. one of two things it was now necessary to decide upon, concession or armed compulsion. meantime, while philip was slowly and secretly making his levies, his sister, as well as his people, was on the rack. of all the seigniors, not one was placed in so painful a position as egmont. his military reputation and his popularity made him too important a personage to be slighted, yet he was deeply mortified at the lamentable mistake which he had committed. he now averred that he would never take arms against the king, but that he would go where man should never see him more. such was the condition of the nobles, greater and less. that of the people could not well be worse. famine reigned in the land. emigration, caused not by over population, but by persecution, was fast weakening the country. it was no wonder that not only, foreign merchants should be scared from the great commercial cities by the approaching disorders; but that every industrious artisan who could find the means of escape should seek refuge among strangers, wherever an asylum could be found. that asylum was afforded by protestant england, who received these intelligent and unfortunate wanderers with cordiality, and learned with eagerness the lessons in mechanical skill which they had to teach. already thirty thousand emigrant netherlanders were established in sandwich, norwich, and other places, assigned to them by elizabeth. it had always, however, been made a condition of the liberty granted to these foreigners for practising their handiwork, that each house should employ at least one english apprentice. "thus," said a walloon historian, splenetically, "by this regulation, and by means of heavy duties on foreign manufactures, have the english built up their own fabrics and prohibited those of the netherlands. thus have they drawn over to their own country our skilful artisans to practise their industry, not at home but abroad, and our poor people are thus losing the means of earning their livelihood. thus has clothmaking, silk-making and the art of dyeing declined in this country, and would have been quite extinguished but by our wise countervailing edicts." the writer, who derived most of his materials and his wisdom from the papers of councillor d'assonleville, could hardly doubt that the persecution to which these industrious artisans, whose sufferings he affected to deplore, had been subjected, must have had something to do with their expatriation; but he preferred to ascribe it wholly to the protective system adopted by england. in this he followed the opinion of his preceptor. "for a long time," said assonleville, "the netherlands have been the indies to england; and as long as she has them, she needs no other. the french try to surprise our fortresses and cities: the english make war upon our wealth and upon the purses of the people." whatever the cause, however, the current of trade was already turned. the cloth-making of england was already gaining preponderance over that of the provinces. vessels now went every week from sandwich to antwerp, laden with silk, satin, and cloth, manufactured in england, while as many but a few years before, had borne the flemish fabrics of the same nature from antwerp to england. it might be supposed by disinterested judges that persecution was at the bottom of this change in commerce. the prince of orange estimated that up to this period fifty thousand persons in the provinces had been put to death in obedience to the edicts. he was a moderate man, and accustomed to weigh his words. as a new impulse had been given to the system of butchery--as it was now sufficiently plain that "if the father had chastised his people with a scourge the son held a whip of scorpions" as the edicts were to be enforced with renewed vigor--it was natural that commerce and manufactures should make their escape out of a doomed land as soon as possible, whatever system of tariffs might be adopted by neighboring nations. a new step had been resolved upon early in the month of march by the confederates. a petition, or "request," was drawn up, which was to be presented to the duchess regent in a formal manner by a large number of gentlemen belonging to the league. this movement was so grave, and likely to be followed by such formidable results, that it seemed absolutely necessary for orange and his friends to take some previous cognizance of it before it was finally arranged. the prince had no power, nor was there any reason why he should have the inclination, to prevent the measure, but he felt it his duty to do what he could to control the vehemence of the men who were moving so rashly forward, and to take from their manifesto, as much as possible, the character of a menace. for this end, a meeting ostensibly for social purposes and "good cheer" was held, in the middle of march, at breda, and afterwards adjourned to hoogstraaten. to these conferences orange invited egmont, horn, hoogstraaten, berghen, meghen, montigny, and other great nobles. brederode, tholouse, boxtel, and other members of the league, were also present. the object of the prince in thus assembling his own immediate associates, governors of provinces and knights of the fleece, as well as some of the leading members of the league, was twofold. it had long been his opinion that a temperate and loyal movement was still possible, by which the impending convulsions might be averted. the line of policy which he had marked out required the assent of the magnates of the land, and looked towards the convocation of the states-general. it was natural that he should indulge in the hope of being seconded by the men who were in the same political and social station with himself. all, although catholics, hated the inquisition. as viglius pathetically exclaimed, "saint paul himself would have been unable to persuade these men that good fruit was to be gathered from the inquisition in the cause of religion." saint paul could hardly be expected to reappear on earth for such a purpose. meantime the arguments of the learned president had proved powerless, either to convince the nobles that the institution was laudable or to obtain from the duchess a postponement in the publication of the late decrees. the prince of orange, however, was not able to bring his usual associates to his way of thinking. the violent purposes of the leaguers excited the wrath of the more loyal nobles. their intentions were so dangerous, even in the estimation of the prince himself, that he felt it his duty to lay the whole subject before the duchess, although he was not opposed to the presentation of a modest and moderate request. meghen was excessively indignant at the plan of the confederates, which he pronounced an insult to the government, a treasonable attempt to overawe the duchess, by a "few wretched vagabonds." he swore that "he would break every one of their heads, if the king would furnish him with a couple of hundred thousand florins." orange quietly rebuked this truculent language, by assuring him both that such a process would be more difficult than he thought, and that he would also find many men of great respectability among the vagabonds. the meeting separated at hoogstraaten without any useful result, but it was now incumbent upon the prince, in his own judgment, to watch, and in a measure to superintend, the proceedings of the confederates. by his care the contemplated request was much altered, and especially made more gentle in its tone. meghen separated himself thenceforth entirely from orange, and ranged himself exclusively upon the side of government. egmont vacillated, as usual, satisfying neither the prince nor the duchess. margaret of parma was seated in her council chamber very soon after these occurrences, attended both by orange and egmont, when the count of meghen entered the apartment. with much precipitation, he begged that all matters then before the board might be postponed, in order that he might make an important announcement. he then stated that he had received information from a gentleman on whose word he could rely, a very affectionate servant of the king, but whose name he had promised not to reveal, that a very extensive conspiracy of heretics and sectaries had been formed, both within and without the netherlands, that they had already a force of thirty-five thousand men, foot and horse, ready for action, that they were about to make a sudden invasion, and to plunder the whole country, unless they immediately received a formal concession of entire liberty of conscience, and that, within six or seven days, fifteen hundred men-at-arms would make their appearance before her highness. these ridiculous exaggerations of the truth were confirmed by egmont, who said that he had received similar information from persons whose names he was not at liberty to mention, but from whose statements he could announce that some great tumult might be expected every day. he added that there were among the confederates many who wished to change their sovereign, and that the chieftains and captains of the conspiracy were all appointed. the same nobleman also laid before the council a copy of the compromise, the terms of which famous document scarcely justified the extravagant language with which it had been heralded. the duchess was astounded at these communications. she had already received, but probably not yet read, a letter from the prince of orange upon the subject, in which a moderate and plain statement of the actual facts was laid down, which was now reiterated by the same personage by word of mouth. an agitated and inconclusive debate followed, in which, however, it sufficiently appeared, as the duchess informed her brother, that one of two things must be done without further delay. the time had arrived for the government to take up arms, or to make concessions. in one of the informal meetings of councillors, now held almost daily, on the subject of the impending request, aremberg, meghen, and berlaymont maintained that the door should be shut in the face of the petitioners without taking any further notice of the petition. berlaymont suggested also, that if this course were not found advisable, the next best thing would be to allow the confederates to enter the palace with their request, and then to cut them to pieces to the very last man, by means of troops to be immediately ordered from the frontiers. such sanguinary projects were indignantly rebuked by orange. he maintained that the confederates were entitled to be treated with respect. many of them, he said, were his friends--some of them his relations--and there was no reason for refusing to gentlemen of their rank, a right which belonged to the poorest plebeian in the land. egmont sustained these views of the prince as earnestly as he had on a previous occasion appeared to countenance the more violent counsels of meghen. meantime, as it was obvious that the demonstration on the part of the confederacy was soon about to be made, the duchess convened a grand assembly of notables, in which not only all the state and privy councillors, but all the governors and knights of the fleece were to take part. on the th of march, this assembly was held, at which the whole subject of the request, together with the proposed modifications of the edicts and abolition of the inquisition, was discussed. the duchess also requested the advice of the meeting--whether it would not be best for her to retire to some other city, like mons, which she had selected as her stronghold in case of extremity. the decision was that it would be a high-handed proceeding to refuse the right of petition to a body of gentlemen, many of them related to the greatest nobles in the land; but it was resolved that they should be required to make their appearance without arms. as to the contemplated flight of the duchess, it was urged, with much reason, that such a step would cast disgrace upon the government, and that it would be a sufficiently precautionary measure to strengthen the guards at the city gates--not to prevent the entrance of the petitioners, but to see that they were unaccompanied by an armed force. it had been decided that count brederode should present the petition to the duchess at the head of a deputation of about three hundred gentlemen. the character of the nobleman thus placed foremost on such an important occasion has been sufficiently made manifest. he had no qualities whatever but birth and audacity to recommend him as a leader for a political party. it was to be seen that other attributes were necessary to make a man useful in such a position, and the count's deficiencies soon became lamentably conspicuous. he was the lineal descendant and representative of the old sovereign counts of holland. five hundred years before his birth; his ancestor sikko, younger brother of dirk the third, had died, leaving two sons, one of whom was the first baron of brederode. a descent of five centuries in unbroken male succession from the original sovereigns of holland, gave him a better genealogical claim to the provinces than any which philip of spain could assert through the usurping house of burgundy. in the approaching tumults he hoped for an opportunity of again asserting the ancient honors of his name. he was a sworn foe to spaniards and to "water of the fountain." but a short time previously to this epoch he had written to louis of nassau, then lying ill of a fever, in order gravely to remonstrate with him on the necessity of substituting wine for water on all occasions, and it will be seen in the sequel that the wine-cup was the great instrument on which he relied for effecting the deliverance of the country. although "neither bachelor nor chancellor," as he expressed it, he was supposed to be endowed with ready eloquence and mother wit. even these gifts, however, if he possessed them, were often found wanting on important emergencies. of his courage there was no question, but he was not destined to the death either of a warrior or a martyr. headlong, noisy, debauched, but brave, kind-hearted and generous, he was a fitting representative of his ancestors, the hard-fighting, hard-drinking, crusading, free-booting sovereigns of holland and friesland, and would himself have been more at home and more useful in the eleventh century than in the sixteenth. it was about six o'clock in the evening, on the third day of april ( ), that the long-expected cavalcade at last entered brussels. an immense concourse of citizens of all ranks thronged around the noble confederates as soon as they made their appearance. they were about two hundred in number, all on horseback, with pistols in their holsters, and brederode, tall, athletic, and martial in his bearing, with handsome features and fair curling locks upon his shoulders, seemed an appropriate chieftain for that band of batavian chivalry. the procession was greeted with frequent demonstrations of applause as it wheeled slowly through the city till it reached the mansion of orange nassau. here brederode and count louis alighted, while the rest of the company dispersed to different quarters of the town. "they thought that i should not come to brussels," said brederode, as he dismounted. "very well, here i am; and perhaps i shall depart in a different manner." in the course of the next day, counts culemburg and van den berg entered the city with one hundred other cavaliers. on the morning of the fifth of april, the confederates were assembled at the culemburg mansion, which stood on the square called the sabon, within a few minutes' walk of the palace. a straight handsome street led from the house along the summit of the hill, to the splendid residence of the ancient dukes of brabant, then the abode of duchess margaret. at a little before noon, the gentlemen came forth, marching on foot, two by two, to the number of three hundred. nearly all were young, many of them bore the most ancient historical names of their country, every one was arrayed in magnificent costume. it was regarded as ominous, that the man who led the procession, philip de bailleul, was lame. the line was closed by brederode and count louis, who came last, walking arm in arm. an immense crowd was collected in the square in front of the palace, to welcome the men who were looked upon as the deliverers of the land from spanish tyranny, from the cardinalists, and from the inquisition. they were received with deafening huzzas and clappings of hands by the assembled populace. as they entered the council chamber, passing through the great hall, where ten years before the emperor had given away his crowns, they found the emperor's daughter seated in the chair of state, and surrounded by the highest personages of the country. the emotion of the duchess was evident, as the procession somewhat abruptly made its appearance; nor was her agitation diminished as she observed among the petitioners many relatives and, retainers of the orange and egmont houses, and saw friendly glances of recognition exchanged between them and their chiefs. as soon as all had entered the senate room, brederode advanced, made a low obeisance, and spoke a brief speech. he said that he had come thither with his colleagues to present a humble petition to her highness. he alluded to the reports which had been rife, that they had contemplated tumult, sedition, foreign conspiracies, and, what was more abominable than all, a change of sovereign. he denounced such statements as calumnies, begged the duchess to name the men who had thus aspersed an honorable and loyal company, and called upon her to inflict exemplary punishment upon the slanderers. with these prefatory remarks he presented the petition. the famous document was then read aloud.--its tone was sufficiently loyal, particularly in the preamble, which was filled with protestations of devotion to both king and duchess. after this conventional introduction, however, the petitioners proceeded to state, very plainly, that the recent resolutions of his majesty, with regard to the edict and the inquisition, were likely to produce a general rebellion. they had hoped, they said, that a movement would be made by the seigniors or by the estates, to remedy the evil by striking at its cause, but they had waited in vain. the danger, on the other hand, was augmenting every day, universal sedition was at the gate, and they had therefore felt obliged to delay no longer, but come forward the first and do their duty. they professed to do this with more freedom, because the danger touched them very nearly. they were the most exposed to the calamities which usually spring from civil commotions, for their houses and lands situate in the open fields, were exposed to the pillage of all the world. moreover there was not one of them, whatever his condition, who was not liable at any moment to be executed under the edicts, at the false complaint of the first man who wished to obtain his estate, and who chose to denounce him to the inquisitor, at whose mercy were the lives and property of all. they therefore begged the duchess regent to despatch an envoy on their behalf, who should humbly implore his majesty to abolish the edicts. in the mean time they requested her highness to order a general surcease of the inquisition, and of all executions, until the king's further pleasure was made known, and until new ordinances, made by his majesty with advice and consent of the states-general duly assembled, should be established. the petition terminated as it had commenced, with expressions of extreme respect and devoted loyalty. the agitation of duchess margaret increased very perceptibly during the reading of the paper. when it was finished, she remained for a few minutes quite silent, with tears rolling down her cheeks. as soon as she could overcome her excitement, she uttered a few words to the effect that she would advise with her councillors and give the petitioners such answer as should be found suitable. the confederates then passed out from the council chamber into the grand hall; each individual, as he took his departure, advancing towards the duchess and making what was called the "caracole," in token of reverence. there was thus ample time to contemplate the whole company; and to count the numbers of the deputation. after this ceremony had been concluded, there was much earnest debate in. the council. the prince of orange addressed a few words to the duchess, with the view of calming her irritation. he observed that the confederates were no seditious rebels, but loyal gentlemen, well born, well connected, and of honorable character. they had been influenced, he said, by an honest desire to save their country from impending danger--not by avarice or ambition. egmont shrugged his shoulders, and observed that it was necessary for him to leave the court for a season, in order to make a visit to the baths of aix, for an inflammation which he had in the leg. it was then that berlaymont, according to the account which has been sanctioned by nearly every contemporary writer, whether catholic or protestant, uttered the gibe which was destined to become immortal, and to give a popular name to the confederacy. "what, madam," he is reported to have cried in a passion, "is it possible that your highness can entertain fears of these beggars? (gueux). is it not obvious what manner of men they are? they have not had wisdom enough to manage their own estates, and are they now to teach the king and your highness how to govern the country? by the living god, if my advice were taken, their petition should have a cudgel for a commentary, and we would make them go down the steps of the palace a great deal faster than they mounted them." the count of meghen was equally violent in his language. aremberg was for ordering "their reverences; the confederates," to, quit brussels without delay. the conversation, carried on in so violent a key, might not unnaturally have been heard by such of the gentlemen as had not yet left the grand hall adjoining the council chamber. the meeting of the council was then adjourned for an hour or two, to meet again in the afternoon, for the purpose of deciding deliberately upon the answer to be given to the request. meanwhile, many of the confederates were swaggering about the streets, talking very bravely of the scene which had just occurred, and it is probable, boasting not a little of the effect which their demonstration would produce. as they passed by the house of berlaymont, that nobleman, standing at his window in company with count aremberg, is said to have repeated his jest. "there go our fine beggars again," said he. "look, i pray you, with what bravado they are passing before us!" on the th of april, brederode, attended by a large number of his companions, again made his appearance at the palace. he then received the petition, which was returned to him with an apostille or commentary to this effect:--her highness would despatch an envoy for the purpose of inducing his majesty to grant the request. every thing worthy of the king's unaffected (naive) and customary benignity might be expected as to the result. the duchess had already, with the assistance of the state and privy councillors, fleece knights and governors, commenced a project for moderating the edicts, to be laid before the king. as her authority did not allow her to suspend the inquisition and placards, she was confident that the petitioners would be satisfied with the special application about to be made to the king. meantime, she would give orders to all inquisitors, that they should proceed "modestly and discreetly" in their office, so that no one would have cause to complain. her highness hoped likewise that the gentlemen on their part would conduct themselves in a loyal and satisfactory manner; thus proving that they had no intention to make innovations in the ancient religion of the country. upon the next day but one, monday, th of april, brederode, attended by a number of the confederates, again made his appearance at the palace, for the purpose of delivering an answer to the apostille. in this second paper the confederates rendered thanks for the prompt reply which the duchess had given to their request, expressed regrets that she did not feel at liberty to suspend the inquisition, and declared their confidence that she would at once give such orders to the inquisitors and magistrates that prosecutions for religious matters should cease, until the king's further pleasure should be declared. they professed themselves desirous of maintaining whatever regulations should be thereafter established by his majesty, with the advice and consent of the states-general, for the security of the ancient religion, and promised to conduct themselves generally in such wise that her highness would have every reason to be satisfied with them. they, moreover, requested that the duchess would cause the petition to be printed in authentic form by the government printer. the admission that the confederates would maintain the ancient religion had been obtained, as margaret informed her brother, through the dexterous management of hoogstraaten, without suspicion on the part of the petitioners that the proposition for such a declaration came from her. the duchess replied by word of mouth to the second address thus made to her by the confederates, that she could not go beyond the apostille which she had put on record. she had already caused letters for the inquisitors and magistrates to be drawn up. the minutes for those instructions should be laid before the confederates by count hoogstraaten and secretary berty. as for the printing of their petition, she was willing to grant their demand, and would give orders to that effect. the gentlemen having received this answer, retired into the great hall. after a few minutes' consultation, however, they returned to the council chamber, where the seigneur d'esquerdes, one of their number, addressed a few parting words, in the name of his associates, to the regent; concluding with a request that she would declare, the confederates to have done no act, and made no demonstration, inconsistent with their duty and with a perfect respect for his majesty. to this demand the duchess answered somewhat drily that she could not be judge in such a cause. time and their future deeds, she observed, could only bear witness as to their purposes. as for declarations from her, they must be satisfied with the apostille which they had already received. with this response, somewhat more tart than agreeable, the nobles were obliged to content themselves, and they accordingly took their leave. it must be confessed that they had been disposed to slide rather cavalierly over a good deal of ground towards the great object which they had in view. certainly the petitio principii was a main feature of their logic. they had, in their second address, expressed perfect confidence as to two very considerable concessions. the duchess was practically to suspend the inquisition, although she had declared herself without authority for that purpose, the king, who claimed, de jure and de facto, the whole legislative power, was thenceforth to make laws on religious matters by and with the consent of the states-general. certainly, these ends were very laudable, and if a civil and religious revolution could have been effected by a few gentlemen going to court in fine clothes to present a petition, and by sitting down to a tremendous banquet afterwards, brederode and his associates were the men to accomplish the task. unfortunately, a sea of blood and long years of conflict lay between the nation and the promised land, which for a moment seemed so nearly within reach. meantime the next important step in brederode's eyes was a dinner. he accordingly invited the confederates to a magnificent repast which he had ordered to be prepared in the culemburg mansion. three hundred guests sat down, upon the th of april, to this luxurious banquet, which was destined to become historical. the board glittered with silver and gold. the wine circulated with more than its usual rapidity among the band of noble bacchanals, who were never weary of drinking the healths of brederode, of orange, and of egmont. it was thought that the occasion imperiously demanded an extraordinary carouse, and the political events of the past three days lent an additional excitement to the wine. there was an earnest discussion as to an appropriate name to be given to their confederacy. should they call themselves the "society of concord," the restorers of lost liberty, or by what other attractive title should the league be baptized? brederode was, however, already prepared to settle the question. he knew the value of a popular and original name; he possessed the instinct by which adroit partisans in every age have been accustomed to convert the reproachful epithets of their opponents into watchwords of honor, and he had already made his preparations for a startling theatrical effect. suddenly, amid the din of voices, he arose, with all his rhetorical powers at command: he recounted to the company the observations which the seigneur de berlaymont was reported to have made to the duchess, upon the presentation of the request, and the name which he had thought fit to apply to them collectively. most of the gentlemen then heard the memorable sarcasm for the first time. great was the indignation of all that the state councillor should have dared to stigmatize as beggars a band of gentlemen with the best blood of the land in their veins. brederode, on the contrary, smoothing their anger, assured them with good humor that nothing could be more fortunate. "they call us beggars!" said he; "let us accept the name. we will contend with the inquisition, but remain loyal to the king, even till compelled to wear the beggar's sack." he then beckoned to one of his pages, who brought him a leathern wallet, such as was worn at that day by professional mendicants, together with a large wooden bowl, which also formed part of their regular appurtenances. brederode immediately hung the wallet around his neck, filled the bowl with wine, lifted it with both hands, and drained it at a draught. "long live the beggars!" he cried, as he wiped his beard and set the bowl down. "vivent les gueulx." then for the first time, from the lips of those reckless nobles rose the famous, cry, which was so often to ring over land and sea, amid blazing cities, on blood-stained decks, through the smoke and carnage of many a stricken field. the humor of brederode was hailed with deafening shouts of applause. the count then threw the wallet around the neck of his nearest neighbor, and handed him the wooden bawl. each guest, in turn, donned the mendicant's knapsack. pushing aside his golden goblet, each filled the beggars' bowl to the brim, and drained it to the beggars' health. roars of laughter, and shouts of "vivent les gueulx" shook the walls of the stately mansion, as they were doomed never to shake again. the shibboleth was invented. the conjuration which they had been anxiously seeking was found. their enemies had provided them with a spell, which was to prove, in after days, potent enough to start a spirit from palace or hovel, forest or wave, as the deeds of the "wild beggars," the "wood beggars," and the "beggars of the sea" taught philip at last to understand the nation which he had driven to madness. when the wallet and bowl had made the circuit of the table, they were suspended to a pillar in the hall. each of the company in succession then threw some salt into his goblet, and, placing himself under these symbols of the brotherhood, repeated a jingling distich, produced impromptu for the occasion. by this salt, by this bread, by this wallet we swear, these beggars ne'er will change, though all the world should stare. this ridiculous ceremony completed the rites by which the confederacy received its name; but the banquet was by no means terminated. the uproar became furious. the younger and more reckless nobles abandoned themselves to revelry, which would have shamed heathen saturnalia. they renewed to each other, every moment, their vociferous oaths of fidelity to the common cause, drained huge beakers to the beggars' health, turned their caps and doublets inside out, danced upon chairs and tables. several addressed each other as lord abbot, or reverend prior, of this or that religious institution, thus indicating the means by which some of them hoped to mend their broken fortunes. while the tumult was at its height, the prince of orange with counts horn and egmont entered the apartment. they had been dining quietly with mansfeld, who was confined to his house with an inflamed eye, and they were on their way to the council chamber, where the sessions were now prolonged nightly to a late hour. knowing that hoogstraaten, somewhat against his will, had been induced to be present at the banquet, they had come round by the way of culemburg house, to induce him to retire. they were also disposed, if possible, to abridge the festivities which their influence would have been powerless to prevent. these great nobles, as soon as they made their appearance, were surrounded by a crew of "beggars," maddened and dripping with their recent baptism of wine, who compelled them to drink a cup amid shouts of "vivent le roi et les gueulx!" the meaning of this cry they of course could not understand, for even those who had heard berlaymont's contemptuous remarks, might not remember the exact term which he had used, and certainly could not be aware of the importance to which it had just been elevated. as for horn, he disliked and had long before quarrelled with brederode, had prevented many persons from signing the compromise, and, although a guest at that time of orange, was in the habit of retiring to bed before supper, to avoid the company of many who frequented the house. yet his presence for a few moments, with the best intentions, at the conclusion of this famous banquet, was made one of the most deadly charges which were afterwards drawn up against him by the crown. the three seigniors refused to be seated, and remained but for a moment, "the length of a miserere," taking with them hoogstraaten as they retired. they also prevailed upon the whole party to break up at the same time, so that their presence had served at least to put a conclusion to the disgraceful riot. when they arrived at the council chamber they received the thanks of the duchess for what they had done. such was the first movement made by the members of the compromise. was it strange that orange should feel little affinity with such companions? had he not reason to hesitate, if the sacred cause of civil and religious liberty could only be maintained by these defenders and with such assistance? the "beggars" did not content themselves with the name alone of the time-honored fraternity of mendicants in which they had enrolled themselves. immediately after the culemburg banquet, a costume for the confederacy was decided upon. these young gentlemen discarding gold lace and velvet, thought it expedient to array themselves in doublets and hose of ashen grey, with short cloaks of the same color, all of the coarsest materials. they appeared in this guise in the streets, with common felt hats on their heads, and beggars' pouches and bowls at their sides. they caused also medals of lead and copper to be struck, bearing upon one side the head of philip; upon the reverse, two hands clasped within a wallet, with the motto, "faithful to the king, even to wearing the beggar's sack." these badges they wore around their necks, or as buttons to their hats. as a further distinction they shaved their beards close, excepting the moustachios, which were left long and pendent in the turkish fashion,--that custom, as it seemed, being an additional characteristic of mendicants. very soon after these events the nobles of the league dispersed from the capital to their various homes. brederode rode out of brussels at the head of a band of cavaliers, who saluted the concourse of applauding spectators with a discharge of their pistols. forty-three gentlemen accompanied him to antwerp, where he halted for a night. the duchess had already sent notice to the magistrates of that city of his intended visit, and warned them to have an eye upon his proceedings. "the great beggar," as hoogstraaten called him, conducted himself, however, with as much propriety as could be expected. four or five thousand of the inhabitants thronged about the hotel where he had taken up his quarters. he appeared at a window with his wooden bowl, filled with wine, in his hands, and his wallet at his side. he assured the multitude that he was ready to die to defend the good people of antwerp and of all the netherlands against the edicts and the inquisition. meantime he drank their healths, and begged all who accepted the pledge to hold up their hands. the populace, highly amused, held up and clapped their hands as honest brederode drained his bowl, and were soon afterwards persuaded to retire in great good humor. these proceedings were all chronicled and transmitted to madrid. it was also both publicly reported and secretly registered, that brederode had eaten capons and other meat at antwerp, upon good friday, which happened to be the day of his visit to that city. he denied the charge, however; with ludicrous vehemence. "they who have told madame that we ate meat in antwerp," he wrote to count louis, "have lied wickedly and miserably, twenty-four feet down in their throats." he added that his nephew, charles mansfeld, who, notwithstanding the indignant prohibition of his father, had assisted of the presentation of the request, and was then in his uncle's company at antwerp, had ordered a capon, which brederode had countermanded. "they told me afterwards," said he, "that my nephew had broiled a sausage in his chamber. i suppose that he thought himself in spain, where they allow themselves such dainties." let it not be thought that these trifles are beneath the dignity of history. matters like these filled the whole soul of philip, swelled the bills of indictment for thousands of higher and better men than brederode, and furnished occupation as well for secret correspondents and spies as for the most dignified functionaries of government. capons or sausages on good friday, the psalms of clement marot, the sermon on the mount in the vernacular, led to the rack, the gibbet, and the stake, but ushered in a war against the inquisition which was to last for eighty years. brederode was not to be the hero of that party which he disgraced by his buffoonery. had he lived, he might, perhaps, like many of his confederates, have redeemed, by his bravery in the field, a character which his orgies had rendered despicable. he now left antwerp for the north of holland, where, as he soon afterwards reported to count louis, "the beggars were as numerous as the sands on the seashore." his "nephew charles," two months afterwards, obeyed his father's injunction, and withdrew formally from the confederacy. meantime the rumor had gone abroad that the request of the nobles had already produced good fruit, that the edicts were to be mitigated, the inquisition abolished, liberty of conscience eventually to prevail. "upon these reports," says a contemporary, "all the vermin of exiles and fugitives for religion, as well as those who had kept in concealment, began to lift up their heads and thrust forth their horns." it was known that margaret of parma had ordered the inquisitors and magistrates to conduct themselves "modestly and discreetly." it was known that the privy council was hard at work upon the project for "moderating" the edicts. modestly and discreetly, margaret of parma, almost immediately after giving these orders, and while the "moderation" was still in the hands of the lawyers, informed her brother that she had given personal attention to the case of a person who had snatched the holy wafer from the priest's hand at oudenarde. this "quidam," as she called him--for his name was beneath the cognizance of an emperor's bastard daughter--had by her orders received rigorous and exemplary justice. and what was the "rigorous and exemplary justice" thus inflicted upon the "quidam?" the procurator of the neighboring city of tournay has enabled us to answer. the young man, who was a tapestry weaver, hans tiskaen by name, had, upon the th may, thrown the holy wafer upon the ground. for this crime, which was the same as that committed on christmas-day of the previous year by bertrand le blas, at tournay, he now met with a similar although not quite so severe a punishment. having gone quietly home after doing the deed, he was pursued, arrested, and upon the saturday ensuing taken to the market-place of oudenarde. here the right hand with which he had committed the offence was cut off, and he was then fastened to the stake and burned to death over a slow fire. he was fortunately not more than a quarter of an hour in torment, but he persisted in his opinions, and called on god for support to his last breath. this homely tragedy was enacted at oudenarde, the birth place of duchess margaret. she was the daughter of the puissant charles the fifth, but her mother was only the daughter of a citizen of oudenarde; of a "quidam" like the nameless weaver who had thus been burned by her express order. it was not to be supposed, however, that the circumstance could operate in so great a malefactor's favor. moreover, at the same moment, she sent orders that a like punishment should be inflicted upon another person then in a flemish prison, for the crime of anabaptism. the privy council, assisted by thirteen knights of the fleece, had been hard at work, and the result of their wisdom was at last revealed in a "moderation" consisting of fifty-three articles. what now was the substance of those fifty-three articles, so painfully elaborated by viglius, so handsomely drawn up into shape by councillor d'assonleville? simply to substitute the halter for the fagot. after elimination of all verbiage, this fact was the only residuum. it was most distinctly laid down that all forms of religion except the roman catholic were forbidden; that no public or secret conventicles were to be allowed; that all heretical writings were to be suppressed; that all curious inquiries into the scriptures were to be prohibited. persons who infringed these regulations were divided into two classes--the misleaders and the misled. there was an affectation of granting mercy to persons in the second category, while death was denounced upon those composing the first. it was merely an affectation; for the rambling statute was so open in all its clauses, that the juggernaut car of persecution could be driven through the whole of them, whenever such a course should seem expedient. every man or woman in the netherlands might be placed in the list of the misleaders, at the discretion of the officials. the pretended mercy to the misguided was a mere delusion. the superintendents, preachers, teachers, ministers, sermon-makers, deacons, and other officers, were to be executed with the halter, with confiscation of their whole property. so much was very plain. other heretics, however, who would abjure their heresy before the bishop, might be pardoned for the first offence, but if obstinate, were to be banished. this seemed an indication of mercy, at least to the repentant criminals. but who were these "other" heretics? all persons who discussed religious matters were to be put to death. all persons, not having studied theology at a "renowned university," who searched and expounded the scriptures, were to be put to death. all persons in whose houses any act of the perverse religion should be committed, were to be put to death. all persons who harbored or protected ministers and teachers of any sect, were to be put to death. all the criminals thus carefully enumerated were to be executed, whether repentant or not. if, however, they abjured their errors, they were to be beheaded instead of being strangled. thus it was obvious that almost any heretic might be brought to the halter at a moment's notice. strictly speaking, the idea of death by the halter or the axe was less shocking to the imagination than that of being burned or buried alive. in this respect, therefore, the edicts were softened by the proposed "moderation." it would, however, always be difficult to persuade any considerable slumber of intelligent persons, that the infliction of a violent death, by whatever process, on account of religious opinions, was an act of clemency. the netherlanders were, however, to be persuaded into this belief. the draft of the new edict was ostentatiously called the "moderatie," or the "moderation." it was very natural, therefore, that the common people, by a quibble, which is the same in flemish as in english, should call the proposed "moderation" the "murderation." the rough mother-wit of the people had already characterized and annihilated the project, while dull formalists were carrying it through the preliminary stages. a vote in favor of the project having been obtained from the estates of artois, hainault, and flanders, the instructions for the envoys; baron montigny and marquis berghen, were made out in conformity to the scheme. egmont had declined the mission, not having reason to congratulate himself upon the diplomatic success of his visit to spain in the preceding year. the two nobles who consented to undertake the office were persuaded into acceptance sorely against their will. they were aware that their political conduct since the king's departure from the country had not always been deemed satisfactory at madrid, but they were, of course, far from suspecting the true state of the royal mind. they were both as sincere catholics and as loyal gentlemen as granvelle, but they were not aware how continuously, during a long course of years, that personage had represented them to philip as renegades and rebels. they had maintained the constitutional rights of the state, and they had declined to act as executioners for the inquisition, but they were yet to learn that such demonstrations amounted to high treason. montigny departed, on the th may, from brussels. he left the bride to whom he had been wedded amid scenes of festivity, the preceding autumn--the unborn child who was never to behold its father's face. he received warnings in paris, by which he scorned to profit. the spanish ambassador in that city informed him that philip's wrath at the recent transactions in the netherlands was high. he was most significantly requested, by a leading personage in france, to feign illness, or to take refuge in any expedient by which he might avoid the fulfilment of his mission. such hints had no effect in turning him from his course, and he proceeded to madrid, where he arrived on the th of june. his colleague in the mission, marquis berghen, had been prevented from setting forth at the same time, by an accident which, under the circumstances, might almost seem ominous. walking through the palace park, in a place where some gentlemen were playing at pall-mall, he was accidentally struck in the leg by a wooden ball. the injury, although trifling, produced go much irritation and fever that he was confined to his bed for several weeks. it was not until the st of july that he was able to take his departure from brussels. both these unfortunate nobles thus went forth to fulfil that dark and mysterious destiny from which the veil of three centuries has but recently been removed. besides a long historical discourse, in eighteen chapters, delivered by way of instruction to the envoys, margaret sent a courier beforehand with a variety of intelligence concerning the late events. alonzo del canto, one of philip's spies in the netherlands, also wrote to inform the king that the two ambassadors were the real authors of all the troubles then existing in the country. cardinal granvelle, too, renewed his previous statements in a confidential communication to his majesty, adding that no persons more appropriate could have been selected than berghen and montigny, for they knew better than any one else the state of affairs in which they had borne the principal part. nevertheless, montigny, upon his arrival in madrid on the th of june, was received by philip with much apparent cordiality, admitted immediately to an audience, and assured in the strongest terms that there was no dissatisfaction in the royal mind against the seigniors, whatever false reports might be circulated to that effect. in other respects, the result of this and of his succeeding interviews with the monarch was sufficiently meagre. it could not well be otherwise. the mission of the envoys was an elaborate farce to introduce a terrible tragedy. they were sent to procure from philip the abolition of the inquisition and the moderation of the edicts. at the very moment, however, of all these legislative and diplomatic arrangements, margaret of parma was in possession of secret letters from philip, which she was charged to deliver to the archbishop of sorrento, papal nuncio at the imperial court, then on a special visit to brussels. this ecclesiastic had come to the netherlands ostensibly to confer with the prince of orange upon the affairs of his principality, to remonstrate with count culemburg, and to take measures for the reformation of the clergy. the real object of his mission, however, was to devise means for strengthening the inquisition and suppressing heresy in the provinces. philip, at whose request he had come, had charged him by no means to divulge the secret, as the king was anxious to have it believed that the ostensible was the only business which the prelate had to perform in the country. margaret accordingly delivered to him the private letters, in which philip avowed his determination to maintain the inquisition and the edicts in all their rigor, but enjoined profound secrecy upon the subject. the duchess, therefore, who knew the face of the cards, must have thought it a superfluous task to continue the game, which to philip's cruel but procrastinating temperament was perhaps a pleasurable excitement. the scheme for mitigating the edicts by the substitution of strangling for burning, was not destined therefore far much success either in spain or in the provinces; but the people by whom the next great movement was made in the drama of the revolt, conducted themselves in a manner to shame the sovereign who oppressed, and the riotous nobles who had undertaken to protect their liberties. at this very moment, in the early summer of , many thousands of burghers, merchants, peasants, and gentlemen, were seen mustering and marching through the fields of every province, armed with arquebus, javelin, pike and broadsword. for what purpose were these gatherings? only to hear sermons and to sing hymns in the open air, as it was unlawful to profane the churches with such rites. this was the first great popular phase of the netherland rebellion. notwithstanding the edicts and the inquisition with their daily hecatombs, notwithstanding the special publication at this time throughout the country by the duchess regent that all the sanguinary statutes concerning religion were in as great vigor as ever, notwithstanding that margaret offered a reward of seven hundred crowns to the man who would bring her a preacher--dead or alive,--the popular thirst for the exercises of the reformed religion could no longer be slaked at the obscure and hidden fountains where their priests had so long privately ministered. partly emboldened by a temporary lull in the persecution, partly encouraged by the presentation of the request and by the events to which it had given rise, the reformers now came boldly forth from their lurking places and held their religious meetings in the light of day. the consciousness of numbers and of right had brought the conviction of strength. the audacity of the reformers was wonderful to the mind of president viglius, who could find no language strong enough with which to characterize and to deplore such blasphemous conduct. the field-preaching seemed in the eyes of government to spread with the rapidity of a malignant pestilence. the miasma flew upon the wings of the wind. as early as , there had been public preaching in the neighborhood of ypres. the executions which followed, however, had for the time suppressed the practice both in that place as well as throughout flanders and the rest of the provinces. it now broke forth as by one impulse from one end of the country to the other. in the latter part of june, hermann stryoker or modet, a monk who had renounced his vows to become one of the most popular preachers in the reformed church, addressed a congregation of seven or eight thousand persons in the neighborhood of ghent. peter dathenus, another unfrocked monk, preached at various places in west flanders, with great effect. a man endowed with a violent, stormy eloquence, intemperate as most zealots, he was then rendering better services to the cause of the reformation than he was destined to do at later periods. but apostate priests were not the only preachers. to the ineffable disgust of the conservatives in church and state, there were men with little education, utterly devoid of hebrew, of lowly station--hatters, curriers, tanners, dyers, and the like, who began to preach also; remembering, unseasonably perhaps, that the early disciples, selected by the founder of christianity, had not all been doctors of theology, with diplomas from a "renowned university." but if the nature of such men were subdued to what it worked in, that charge could not be brought against ministers with the learning and accomplishments of ambrose wille, marnier, guy de bray, or francis junius, the man whom scaliger called the "greatest of all theologians since the days of the apostles." an aristocratic sarcasm could not be levelled against peregrine de la grange, of a noble family in provence, with the fiery blood of southern france in his veins, brave as his nation, learned, eloquent, enthusiastic, who galloped to his field-preaching on horseback, and fired a pistol-shot as a signal for his congregation to give attention. on the th of june, , at eleven o'clock at night, there was an assemblage of six thousand people near tournay, at the bridge of ernonville, to hear a sermon from ambrose wille, a man who had studied theology in geneva, at the feet of calvin, and who now, with a special price upon his head,--was preaching the doctrines he had learned. two days afterwards, ten thousand people assembled at the same spot, to hear peregrine de la grange. governor moulbais thundered forth a proclamation from the citadel, warning all men that the edicts were as rigorous as ever, and that every man, woman, or child who went to these preachings, was incurring the penalty of death. the people became only the more ardent and excited. upon sunday, the seventh of july; twenty thousand persons assembled at the same bridge to hear ambrose wille. one man in three was armed. some had arquebuses, others pistols, pikes, swords, pitchforks, poniards, clubs. the preacher, for whose apprehension a fresh reward had been offered, was escorted to his pulpit by a hundred mounted troopers. he begged his audience not to be scared from the word of god by menace; assured them that although but a poor preacher himself, he held a divine commission; that he had no fear of death; that, should he fall, there were many better than he to supply his place, and fifty thousand men to avenge his murder. the duchess sent forth proclamations by hundreds. she ordered the instant suppression of these armed assemblies and the arrest of the preachers. but of what avail were proclamations against such numbers with weapons in their hands. why irritate to madness these hordes of enthusiasts, who were now entirely pacific, and who marched back to the city, after conclusion of divine service, with perfect decorum? all classes of the population went eagerly to the sermons. the gentry of the place, the rich merchants, the notables, as well as the humbler artisans and laborers, all had received the infection. the professors of the reformed religion outnumbered the catholics by five or six to one. on sundays and other holidays, during the hours of service, tournay was literally emptied of its inhabitants. the streets were as silent as if war or pestilence had swept the place. the duchess sent orders, but she sent no troops. the trained-bands of the city, the cross-bow-men of st. maurice, the archers of st. sebastian, the sword-players of st. christopher, could not be ordered from tournay to suppress the preaching, for they had all gone to the preaching themselves. how idle, therefore; to send peremptory orders without a matchlock to enforce the command. throughout flanders similar scenes were enacted. the meetings were encampments, for the reformers now came to their religious services armed to the teeth, determined, if banished from the churches, to defend their right to the fields. barricades of upturned wagons, branches, and planks, were thrown up around the camps. strong guards of mounted men were stationed at every avenue. outlying scouts gave notice of approaching danger, and guided the faithful into the enclosure. pedlers and hawkers plied the trade upon which the penalty of death was fixed, and sold the forbidden hymn-books to all who chose to purchase. a strange and contradictory spectacle! an army of criminals doing deeds which could only be expiated at the stake; an entrenched rebellion, bearding the government with pike, matchlock, javelin and barricade, and all for no more deadly purpose than to listen to the precepts of the pacific jesus. thus the preaching spread through the walloon provinces to the northern netherlands. towards the end of july, an apostate monk, of singular eloquence, peter gabriel by name, was announced to preach at overeen near harlem. this was the first field-meeting which had taken place in holland. the people were wild with enthusiasm; the authorities beside themselves with apprehension. people from the country flocked into the town by thousands. the other cities were deserted, harlem was filled to overflowing. multitudes encamped upon the ground the night before. the magistrates ordered the gates to be kept closed in the morning till long after the usual hour. it was of no avail. bolts and bars were but small impediments to enthusiasts who had travelled so many miles on foot or horseback to listen to a sermon. they climbed the walls, swam the moat and thronged to the place of meeting long before the doors had been opened. when these could no longer be kept closed without a conflict, for which the magistrates were not prepared, the whole population poured out of the city with a single impulse. tens of thousands were assembled upon the field. the bulwarks were erected as usual, the guards were posted, the necessary precautions taken. but upon this occasion, and in that region there was but little danger to be apprehended. the multitude of reformers made the edicts impossible, so long as no foreign troops were there to enforce them. the congregation was encamped and arranged in an orderly manner. the women, of whom there were many, were placed next the pulpit, which, upon this occasion, was formed of a couple of spears thrust into the earth, sustaining a cross-piece, against which the preacher might lean his back. the services commenced with the singing of a psalm by the whole vast assemblage. clement marot's verses, recently translated by dathenus, were then new and popular. the strains of the monarch minstrel, chanted thus in their homely but nervous mother tongue by a multitude who had but recently learned that all the poetry and rapture of devotion were not irrevocably coffined with a buried language, or immured in the precincts of a church, had never produced a more elevating effect. no anthem from the world-renowned organ in that ancient city ever awakened more lofty emotions than did those ten thousand human voices ringing from the grassy meadows in that fervid midsummer noon. when all was silent again, the preacher rose; a little, meagre man, who looked as if he might rather melt away beneath the blazing sunshine of july, than hold the multitude enchained four uninterrupted hours long, by the magic of his tongue. his text was the th, th, and th verses of the second chapter of ephesians; and as the slender monk spoke to his simple audience of god's grace, and of faith in jesus, who had descended from above to save the lowliest and the most abandoned, if they would put their trust in him, his hearers were alternately exalted with fervor or melted into tears. he prayed for all conditions of men--for themselves, their friends, their enemies, for the government which had persecuted them, for the king whose face was turned upon them in anger. at times, according to one who was present, not a dry eye was to be seen in the crowd. when the minister had finished, he left his congregation abruptly, for he had to travel all night in order to reach alkmaar, where he was to preach upon the following day. by the middle of july the custom was established outside all the principal cities. camp-meetings were held in some places; as, for instance, in the neighborhood of antwerp, where the congregations numbered often fifteen thousand and on some occasions were estimated at between twenty and thirty thousand persons at a time; "very many of them," said an eye-witness, "the best and wealthiest in the town." the sect to which most of these worshippers belonged was that of calvin. in antwerp there were lutherans, calvinists, and anabaptists. the lutherans were the richest sect, but the calvinists the most numerous and enthusiastic. the prince of orange at this moment was strenuously opposed both to calvinism and anabaptism, but inclining to lutheranism. political reasons at this epoch doubtless influenced his mind in religious matters. the aid of the lutheran princes of germany, who detested the doctrines of geneva, could hardly be relied upon for the netherlanders, unless they would adapt the confession of augsburg. the prince knew that the emperor, although inclined to the reformation, was bitterly averse to calvinism, and he was, therefore, desirous of healing the schism which existed in the general reformed church. to accomplish this, however, would be to gain a greater victory over the bigotry which was the prevailing characteristic of the age than perhaps could be expected. the prince, from the first moment of his abandoning the ancient doctrines, was disposed to make the attempt. the duchess ordered the magistrates of antwerp to put down these mass-meetings by means of the guild-militia. they replied that at an earlier day such a course might have been practicable, but that the sects had become quite too numerous for coercion. if the authorities were able to prevent the exercises of the reformed religion within the city, it would be as successful a result as could be expected. to prevent the preaching outside the walls, by means of the bourgher force, was an utter impossibility. the dilatoriness of the sovereign placed the regent in a frightful dilemma, but it was sufficiently obvious that the struggle could not long be deferred. "there will soon be a hard nut to crack," wrote count louis. "the king will never grant the preaching; the people will never give it up, if it cost them their necks. there's a hard puff coming upon the country before long." the duchess was not yet authorized to levy troops, and she feared that if she commenced such operations, she should perhaps offend the king, while she at the same time might provoke the people into more effective military preparations than her own. she felt that for one company levied by her, the sectaries could raise ten. moreover, she was entirely without money, even if she should otherwise think it expedient to enrol an army. meantime she did what she could with "public prayers, processions, fasts, sermons, exhortations," and other ecclesiastical machinery which she ordered the bishops to put in motion. her situation was indeed sufficiently alarming. egmont, whom many of the sectaries hoped to secure as their leader in case of a civil war, showed no disposition to encourage such hopes, but as little to take up arms against the people. he went to flanders, where the armed assemblages for field-preaching had become so numerous that a force of thirty or forty thousand men might be set on foot almost at a moment's warning, and where the conservatives, in a state of alarm, desired the presence of their renowned governor. the people of antwerp, on their part, demanded william of orange. the prince, who was hereditary burgrave of the city, had at first declined the invitation of the magistracy. the duchess united her request with the universal prayer of the inhabitants. events meantime had been thickening, and suspicion increasing. meghen had been in the city for several days, much to the disgust of the reformers, by whom he was hated. aremberg was expected to join him, and it was rumored that measures were secretly in progress under the auspices of these two leading cardinalists, for introducing a garrison, together with great store of ammunition, into the city. on the other hand, the "great beggar," brederode, had taken up his quarters also in antwerp; had been daily entertaining a crowd of roystering nobles at his hotel, previously to a second political demonstration, which will soon be described, and was constantly parading the street, followed by a swarm of adherents in the beggar livery. the sincere reformers were made nearly as uncomfortable by the presence of their avowed friends, as by that of meghen and aremberg, and earnestly desired to be rid of them all. long and anxious were the ponderings of the magistrates upon all these subjects. it was determined, at last, to send a fresh deputation to brussels, requesting the regent to order the departure of meghen, aremberg, and brederode from antwerp; remonstrating with her against any plan she might be supposed to entertain of sending mercenary troops into the city; pledging the word of the senate to keep the peace, meanwhile, by their regular force; and above all, imploring her once more, in the most urgent terms, to send thither the burgrave, as the only man who was capable of saving the city from the calamities into which it was so likely to fall. the prince of orange being thus urgently besought, both by the government of antwerp, the inhabitants of that city, and by the regent herself, at last consented to make the visit so earnestly demanded. on the th july, he arrived in antwerp. the whole city was alive with enthusiasm. half its population seemed to have come forth from the gates to bid him welcome, lining the road for miles. the gate through which he was to pass, the ramparts, the roofs of the houses were packed close, with expectant and eager faces. at least thirty thousand persons had assembled to welcome their guest. a long cavalcade of eminent citizens had come as far as berghen to meet him and to escort him into the city. brederode, attended by some of the noble confederates, rode at the head of the procession. as they encountered the prince, a discharge of pistol-shots was fired by way of salute, which was the signal for a deafening shout from the assembled multitude. the crowd thronged about the prince as he advanced, calling him their preserver, their father, their only hope. wild shouts of welcome rose upon every side, as he rode through the town, mingled with occasional vociferations of "long life to the beggars." these party cries were instantly and sharply rebuked by orange, who expressed, in brederode's presence, the determination that he would make men unlearn that mischievous watchword. he had, moreover, little relish at that time for the tumultuous demonstrations of attachment to his person, which were too fervid to be censured, but too unseasonable to be approved. when the crowd had at last been made to understand that their huzzas were distasteful to the prince, most of the multitude consented to disperse, feeling, however, a relief from impending danger in the presence of the man to whom they instinctively looked as their natural protector. the senators had come forth in a body to receive the burgrave and escort him to the hotel prepared for him. arrived there, he lost no time in opening the business which had brought him to antwerp. he held at once a long consultation with the upper branch of the government. afterwards, day after day, he honestly, arduously, sagaciously labored to restore the public tranquillity. he held repeated deliberations with every separate portion of the little commonwealth, the senate, the council of ancients, the corporation of ward-masters, the deans of trades. nor did he confine his communication to these organized political bodies alone. he had frequent interviews with the officers of the military associations, with the foreign merchant companies, with the guilds of "rhetoric." the chambers of the "violet" and the "marigold" were not too frivolous or fantastic to be consulted by one who knew human nature and the constitution of netherland society so well as did the prince. night and day he labored with all classes of citizens to bring about a better understanding, and to establish mutual confidence. at last by his efforts tranquillity was restored. the broad-council having been assembled, it was decided that the exercise of the reformed religion should be excluded from the city, but silently tolerated in the suburbs, while an armed force was to be kept constantly in readiness to suppress all attempts at insurrection. the prince had desired, that twelve hundred men should be enlisted and paid by the city, so that at least a small number of disciplined troops might be ready at a moment's warning; but he found it impossible to carry the point with the council. the magistrates were willing to hold themselves responsible for the peace of the city, but they would have no mercenaries. thus, during the remainder of july and the early part of august, was william of orange strenuously occupied in doing what should have been the regent's work. he was still regarded both by the duchess and by the calvinist party--although having the sympathies of neither,--as the only man in the netherlands who could control the rising tide of a national revolt. he took care, said his enemies, that his conduct at antwerp should have every appearance of loyalty; but they insinuated that he was a traitor from the beginning, who was insidiously fomenting the troubles which he appeared to rebuke. no one doubted his genius, and all felt or affected admiration at its display upon this critical occasion. "the prince of orange is doing very great and notable services at antwerp to the king and to the country," said assonleville. "that seignior is very skilful in managing great affairs." margaret of parma wrote letters to him fixed with the warmest gratitude, expressions of approbation, and of wishes that he could both remain in antwerp and return to assist her in brussels. philip, too, with his own pen, addressed him a letter, in which implicit confidence in the prince's character was avowed, all suspicion on the part of the sovereign indignantly repudiated, earnest thanks for his acceptance of the antwerp mission uttered, and a distinct refusal given to the earnest request made by orange to resign his offices. the prince read or listened to all this commendation, and valued it exactly at its proper worth. he knew it to be pure grimace. he was no more deceived by it than if he had read the letter sent by margaret to philip, a few weeks later, in which she expressed herself as "thoroughly aware that it was the intention of orange to take advantage of the impending tumults, for the purpose of conquering the provinces and of dividing the whole territory among himself and friends." nothing could be more utterly false than so vile and ridiculous a statement. the course of the prince had hitherto been, and was still, both consistent and loyal. he was proceeding step by step to place the monarch in the wrong, but the only art which he was using, was to plant himself more firmly upon the right. it was in the monarch's power to convoke the assembly of the states-general, so loudly demanded by the whole nation, to abolish the inquisition, to renounce persecution, to accept the great fact of the reformation. to do so he must have ceased to be philip. to have faltered in attempting to bring him into that path, the prince must have ceased to be william of orange. had he succeeded, there would have been no treason and no republic of holland. his conduct at the outbreak of the antwerp troubles was firm and sagacious. even had his duty required him to put down the public preaching with peremptory violence, he had been furnished with no means to accomplish the purpose. the rebellion, if it were one, was already full-grown. it could not be taken by the throat and strangled with one hand, however firm. a report that the high sheriff of brabant was collecting troops by command of government, in order to attack the reformers at their field-preachings, went far to undo the work already accomplished by the prince. the assemblages swelled again from ten or twelve thousand to twenty-five thousand, the men all providing themselves more thoroughly with weapons than before. soon afterwards, the intemperate zeal of another individual, armed to the teeth--not, however, like the martial sheriff and his forces, with arquebus and javelin, but with the still more deadly weapons of polemical theology,--was very near causing a general outbreak. a peaceful and not very numerous congregation were listening to one of their preachers in a field outside the town. suddenly an unknown individual in plain clothes and with a pragmatical demeanor, interrupted the discourse by giving a flat contradiction to some of the doctrines advanced. the minister replied by a rebuke, and a reiteration of the disputed sentiment.--the stranger, evidently versed in ecclesiastical matters, volubly and warmly responded. the preacher, a man of humble condition and moderate abilities, made as good show of argument as he could, but was evidently no match for his antagonist. he was soon vanquished in the wordy warfare. well he might be, for it appeared that the stranger was no less a personage than peter rythovius, a doctor of divinity, a distinguished pedant of louvain, a relation of a bishop and himself a church dignitary. this learned professor, quite at home in his subject, was easily triumphant, while the poor dissenter, more accustomed to elevate the hearts of his hearers than to perplex their heads, sank prostrate and breathless under the storm of texts, glosses, and hard hebrew roots with which he was soon overwhelmed. the professor's triumph was, however, but short-lived, for the simple-minded congregation, who loved their teacher, were enraged that he should be thus confounded. without more ado, therefore, they laid violent hands upon the quixotic knight-errant of the church, and so cudgelled and belabored him bodily that he might perhaps have lost his life in the encounter had he not been protected by the more respectable portion of the assembly. these persons, highly disapproving the whole proceeding, forcibly rescued him from the assailants, and carried him off to town, where the news of the incident at once created an uproar. here he was thrown into prison as a disturber of the peace, but in reality that he might be personally secure. the next day the prince of orange, after administering to him a severe rebuke for his ill-timed exhibition of pedantry, released him from confinement, and had him conveyed out of the city. "this theologian;" wrote the prince to duchess margaret, "would have done better, methinks, to stay at home; for i suppose he had no especial orders to perform this piece of work." thus, so long as this great statesman could remain in the metropolis, his temperate firmness prevented the explosion which had so long been expected. his own government of holland and zeland, too, especially demanded his care. the field-preaching had spread in that region with prodigious rapidity. armed assemblages, utterly beyond the power of the civil authorities, were taking place daily in the neighborhood of amsterdam. yet the duchess could not allow him to visit his government in the north. if he could be spared from antwerp for a day, it was necessary that he should aid her in a fresh complication with the confederated nobles in the very midst, therefore, of his antwerp labors, he had been obliged, by margaret's orders, to meet a committee at duffel. for in this same eventful month of july a great meeting was held by the members of the compromise at st. trond, in the bishopric of liege. they came together on the thirteenth of the month, and remained assembled till the beginning of august. it was a wild, tumultuous convention, numbering some fifteen hundred cavaliers, each with his esquires and armed attendants; a larger and more important gathering than had yet been held. brederode and count louis were the chieftains of the assembly, which, as may be supposed from its composition and numbers, was likely to be neither very orderly in its demonstrations nor wholesome in its results. it was an ill-timed movement. the convention was too large for deliberation, too riotous to inspire confidence. the nobles quartered themselves every where in the taverns and the farm-houses of the neighborhood, while large numbers encamped upon the open fields. there was a constant din of revelry and uproar, mingled with wordy warfare, and an occasional crossing of swords. it seemed rather like a congress of ancient, savage batavians, assembled in teutonic fashion to choose a king amid hoarse shouting, deep drinking, and the clash of spear and shield, than a meeting for a lofty and earnest purpose, by their civilized descendants. a crowd of spectators, landlopers, mendicants, daily aggregated themselves to the aristocratic assembly, joining, with natural unction, in the incessant shout of "vivent les gueux!" it was impossible that so soon after their baptism the self-styled beggars should repudiate all connection with the time-honored fraternity in which they had enrolled themselves. the confederates discussed--if an exchange of vociferations could be called discussion--principally two points: whether, in case they obtained the original objects of their petition, they should pause or move still further onward; and whether they should insist upon receiving some pledge from the government, that no vengeance should be taken upon them for their previous proceedings. upon both questions, there was much vehemence of argument and great difference of opinion. they, moreover, took two very rash and very grave resolutions--to guarantee the people against all violence on account of their creeds, and to engage a force of german soldiery, four thousand horse and forty companies of infantry by, "wart geld" or retaining wages. it was evident that these gentlemen were disposed to go fast and far. if they had been ready in the spring to receive their baptism of wine, the "beggars" were now eager for the baptism of blood. at the same time it must be observed that the levies which they proposed, not to make, but to have at command, were purely for defence. in case the king, as it was thought probable, should visit the netherlands with fire and sword, then there would be a nucleus of resistance already formed. upon the th july, the prince of orange, at the earnest request of the regent, met a committee of the confederated nobles at duffel. count egmont was associated with him in this duty. the conference was not very satisfactory. the deputies from st. trend, consisting of brederode, culemburg, and others, exchanged with the two seigniors the old arguments. it was urged upon the confederates, that they had made themselves responsible for the public tranquillity so long as the regent should hold to her promise; that, as the duchess had sent two distinguished envoys to madrid, in order to accomplish, if possible, the wishes of the nobles, it was their duty to redeem their own pledges; that armed assemblages ought to be suppressed by their efforts rather than encouraged by their example; and that, if they now exerted themselves zealously to check, the tumults, the duchess was ready to declare, in her own-name and that of his majesty, that the presentation of the request had been beneficial. the nobles replied that the pledges had become a farce, that the regent was playing them false, that persecution was as fierce as ever, that the "moderation" was a mockery, that the letters recommending "modesty and discretion" to the inquisitors had been mere waste paper, that a price had been set upon the heads of the preachers as if they had been wild beasts, that there were constant threats of invasions from spain, that the convocation of the states-general had been illegally deferred, that the people had been driven to despair, and that it was the conduct of government, not of the confederates, which had caused the reformers to throw off previous restraint and to come boldly forth by tens of thousands into the fields, not to defy their king, but to worship their god. such, in brief, was the conference of duffel. in conclusion, a paper was drawn up which brederode carried back to the convention, and which it was proposed to submit to the duchess for her approval. at the end of the month, louis of nassau was accordingly sent to brussels, accompanied by twelve associates, who were familiarly called his twelve apostles. here he laid before her highness in council a statement, embodying the views of the confederates. in this paper they asserted that they were ever ready to mount and ride against a foreign foe, but that they would never draw a sword against their innocent countrymen. they maintained that their past conduct deserved commendation, and that in requiring letters of safe conduct in the names both of the duchess and of the fleece-knights, they were governed not by a disposition to ask for pardon, but by a reluctance without such guarantees to enter into stipulations touching the public tranquillity. if, however, they should be assured that the intentions of the regent were amicable and that there was no design to take vengeance for the past--if, moreover, she were willing to confide in the counsels of horn, egmont, and orange, and to take no important measure without their concurrence--if, above all, she would convoke the states-general, then, and then only, were the confederates willing to exert their energies to preserve peace, to restrain popular impetuosity and banish universal despair. so far louis of nassau and his twelve apostles. it must be confessed that, whatever might be thought of the justice, there could be but one opinion as to the boldness of these views. the duchess was furious. if the language held in april had been considered audacious, certainly this new request was, in her own words, "still more bitter to the taste and more difficult of digestion." she therefore answered in a very unsatisfactory, haughty and ambiguous manner, reserving decision upon their propositions till they had been discussed by the state council, and intimating that they would also be laid before the knights of the fleece, who were to hold a meeting upon the th of august. there was some further conversation without any result. esquerdes complained that the confederates were the mark of constant calumny, and demanded that the slanderers should be confronted with them and punished. "i understand perfectly well," interrupted margaret, "you wish to take justice into your own hands and to be king yourself." it was further intimated by these reckless gentlemen, that if they should be driven by violence into measures of self-protection, they had already secured friends in a certain country. the duchess, probably astonished at the frankness of this statement, is said to have demanded further explanations. the confederates replied by observing that they had resources both in the provinces and in germany. the state council decided that to accept the propositions of the confederates would be to establish a triumvirate at once, and the duchess wrote to her brother distinctly advising against the acceptance of the proposal. the assembly at st. trond was then dissolved, having made violent demonstrations which were not followed by beneficial results, and having laid itself open to various suspicions, most of which were ill-founded, while some of them were just. before giving the reader a brief account of the open and the secret policy pursued by the government at brussels and madrid, in consequence of these transactions, it is now necessary to allude to a startling series of events, which at this point added to the complications of the times, and exercised a fatal influence upon the situation of the commonwealth. [chapter vii.] ecclesiastical architecture in the netherlands--the image-breaking-- description of antwerp cathedral--ceremony of the ommegang-- precursory disturbances--iconoclasts at antwerp--incidents of the image--breaking in various cities--events at tournay--preaching of wille--disturbance by a little boy--churches sacked at tournay-- disinterment of duke adolphus of gueldres--iconoclasts defeated and massacred at anchin--bartholomew's day at valenciennes--general characteristics of the image-breaking--testimony of contemporaries as to the honesty of the rioters--consternation of the duchess-- projected flight to mons--advice of horn and other seigniors-- accord of th august. the netherlands possessed an extraordinary number of churches and monasteries. their exquisite architecture and elaborate decoration had been the earliest indication of intellectual culture displayed in the country. in the vast number of cities, towns, and villages which were crowded upon that narrow territory, there had been, from circumstances operating throughout christendom, a great accumulation of ecclesiastical wealth. the same causes can never exist again which at an early day covered the soil of europe with those magnificent creations of christian art. it was in these anonymous but entirely original achievements that gothic genius; awaking from its long sleep of the dark ages, first expressed itself. the early poetry of the german races was hewn and chiselled in atone. around the steadfast principle of devotion then so firmly rooted in the soil, clustered the graceful and vigorous emanations of the newly-awakened mind. all that science could invent, all that art could embody, all that mechanical ingenuity could dare, all that wealth could lavish, whatever there was of human energy which was panting for pacific utterance, wherever there stirred the vital principle which instinctively strove to create and to adorn at an epoch when vulgar violence and destructiveness were the general tendencies of humanity, all gathered around these magnificent temples, as their aspiring pinnacles at last pierced the mist which had so long brooded over the world. there were many hundreds of churches, more or less remarkable, in the netherlands. although a severe criticism might regret to find in these particular productions of the great germanic school a development of that practical tendency which distinguished the batavian and flemish branches,--although it might recognize a departure from that mystic principle which, in its efforts to symbolize the strivings of humanity towards the infinite object of worship above, had somewhat disregarded the wants of the worshippers below,--although the spaces might be too wide and the intercolumniations too empty, except for the convenience of congregations; yet there were, nevertheless, many ecclesiastical masterpieces, which could be regarded as very brilliant manifestations of the batavian and belgic mind during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. many were filled with paintings from a school which had precedence in time and merit over its sister nurseries of art in germany. all were peopled with statues. all were filled with profusely-adorned chapels, for the churches had been enriched generation after generation by wealthy penitence, which had thus purchased absolution for crime and smoothed a pathway to heaven. and now, for the space of only six or seven summer days and nights, there raged a storm by which all these treasures were destroyed. nearly every one of these temples was entirely rifled of its contents; not for the purpose of plunder, but of destruction. hardly a province or a town escaped. art must forever weep over this bereavement; humanity must regret that the reforming is thus always ready to degenerate into the destructive principle; but it is impossible to censure very severely the spirit which prompted the brutal, but not ferocious deed. those statues, associated as they were with the remorseless persecution which had so long desolated the provinces, had ceased to be images. they had grown human and hateful, so that the people arose and devoted them to indiscriminate massacre. no doubt the iconoclastic fury is to be regretted; for such treasures can scarcely be renewed. the age for building and decorating great cathedrals is past. certainly, our own age, practical and benevolent, if less poetical, should occupy itself with the present, and project itself into the future. it should render glory to god rather by causing wealth to fertilize the lowest valleys of humanity, than by rearing gorgeous temples where paupers are to kneel. to clothe the naked, redeem the criminal, feed the hungry, less by alms and homilies than by preventive institutions and beneficent legislation; above all, by the diffusion of national education, to lift a race upon a level of culture hardly attained by a class in earlier times, is as lofty a task as to accumulate piles of ecclesiastical splendor. it would be tedious to recount in detail the events which characterized the remarkable image-breaking in the netherlands. as antwerp was the central point in these transactions, and as there was more wealth and magnificence in the great cathedral of that city than in any church of northern europe, it is necessary to give a rapid outline of the events which occurred there. from its exhibition in that place the spirit every where will best be shown. the church of our lady, which philip had so recently converted into a cathedral, dated from the year , although it may be more fairly considered a work of the fourteenth century. its college of canons had been founded in another locality by godfrey of bouillon. the brabantine hero, who so romantically incarnates the religious poetry of his age, who first mounted the walls of redeemed jerusalem, and was its first christian monarch, but who refused to accept a golden diadem on the spot where the saviour had been crowned with thorns; the fleming who lived and was the epic which the great italian, centuries afterwards; translated into immortal verse, is thus fitly associated with the beautiful architectural poem which was to grace his ancestral realms. the body of the church, the interior and graceful perspectives of which were not liable to the reproach brought against many netherland churches, of assimilating themselves already to the municipal palaces which they were to suggest--was completed in the fourteenth century. the beautiful facade, with its tower, was not completed till the year . the exquisite and daring spire, the gigantic stem upon which the consummate flower of this architectural creation was to be at last unfolded, was a plant of a whole century's growth. rising to a height of nearly five hundred feet, over a church of as many feet in length, it worthily represented the upward tendency of gothic architecture. externally and internally the cathedral was a true expression of the christian principle of devotion. amid its vast accumulation of imagery, its endless ornaments, its multiplicity of episodes, its infinite variety of details, the central, maternal principle was ever visible. every thing pointed upwards, from the spire in the clouds to the arch which enshrined the smallest sculptured saint in the chapels below. it was a sanctuary, not like pagan temples, to enclose a visible deity, but an edifice where mortals might worship an unseen being in the realms above. the church, placed in the centre of the city, with the noisy streets of the busiest metropolis in europe eddying around its walls, was a sacred island in the tumultuous main. through the perpetual twilight, tall columnar trunks in thick profusion grew from a floor chequered with prismatic lights and sepulchral shadows. each shaft of the petrified forest rose to a preternatural height, their many branches intermingling in the space above, to form an impenetrable canopy. foliage, flowers and fruit of colossal luxuriance, strange birds, beasts, griffins and chimeras in endless multitudes, the rank vegetation and the fantastic zoology of a fresher or fabulous world, seemed to decorate and to animate the serried trunks and pendant branches, while the shattering symphonies or dying murmurs of the organ suggested the rushing of the wind through the forest, now the full diapason of the storm and now the gentle cadence of the evening breeze. internally, the whole church was rich beyond expression. all that opulent devotion and inventive ingenuity could devise, in wood, bronze, marble, silver, gold, precious jewelry, or blazing sacramental furniture, had been profusely lavished. the penitential tears of centuries had incrusted the whole interior with their glittering stalactites. divided into five naves, with external rows of chapels, but separated by no screens or partitions, the great temple forming an imposing whole, the effect was the more impressive, the vistas almost infinite in appearance. the wealthy citizens, the twenty-seven guilds, the six military associations, the rhythmical colleges, besides many other secular or religious sodalities, had each their own chapels and altars. tombs adorned with the effigies of mailed crusaders and pious dames covered the floor, tattered banners hung in the air, the escutcheons of the golden fleece, an order typical of flemish industry, but of which emperors and kings were proud to be the chevaliers, decorated the columns. the vast and beautifully-painted windows glowed with scriptural scenes, antique portraits, homely allegories, painted in those brilliant and forgotten colors which art has not ceased to deplore. the daylight melting into gloom or colored with fantastic brilliancy, priests in effulgent robes chanting in unknown language, the sublime breathing of choral music, the suffocating odors of myrrh and spikenard, suggestive of the oriental scenery and imagery of holy writ, all combined to bewilder and exalt the senses. the highest and humblest seemed to find themselves upon the same level within those sacred precincts, where even the bloodstained criminal was secure, and the arm of secular justice was paralyzed. but the work of degeneration had commenced. the atmosphere of the cathedral was no longer holy in the eyes of increasing multitudes. better the sanguinary rites of belgic druids, better the yell of slaughtered victims from the "wild wood without mercy" of the pagan forefathers of the nation, than this fantastic intermingling of divine music, glowing colors, gorgeous ceremonies, with all the burning, beheading and strangling work which had characterized the system of human sacrifice for the past half-century. such was the church of notre dame at antwerp. thus indifferent or hostile towards the architectural treasure were the inhabitants of a city, where in a previous age the whole population would have risked their lives to defend what they esteemed the pride and garland of their metropolis. the prince of orange had been anxiously solicited by the regent to attend the conference at duffel. after returning to antwerp, he consented, in consequence of the urgent entreaties of the senate, to delay his departure until the th of august should be past. on the th of that month he had agreed with the magistrates upon an ordinance, which was accordingly published, and by which the preachings were restricted to the fields. a deputation of merchants and others waited upon him with a request to be permitted the exercises of the reformed religion in the city. this petition the prince peremptorily refused, and the deputies, as well as their constituents, acquiesced in the decision, "out of especial regard and respect for his person." he, however, distinctly informed the duchess that it would be difficult or impossible to maintain such a position long, and that his departure from the city would probably be followed by an outbreak. he warned her that it was very imprudent for him to leave antwerp at that particular juncture. nevertheless, the meeting of the fleece-knights seemed, in margaret's opinion, imperatively to require his presence in brussels. she insisted by repeated letters that he should leave antwerp immediately. upon the th august, the great and time-honored ceremony of the ommegang occurred. accordingly, the great procession, the principal object of which was to conduct around the city a colossal image of the virgin, issued as usual from the door of the cathedral. the image, bedizened and effulgent, was borne aloft upon the shoulders of her adorers, followed by the guilds, the military associations, the rhetoricians, the religious sodalities, all in glittering costume, bearing blazoned banners, and marching triumphantly through the streets with sound of trumpet and beat of drum. the pageant, solemn but noisy, was exactly such a show as was most fitted at that moment to irritate protestant minds and to lead to mischief. no violent explosion of ill-feeling, however, took place. the procession was followed by a rabble rout of scoffers, but they confined themselves to words and insulting gestures. the image was incessantly saluted, as she was borne along--the streets, with sneers, imprecations, and the rudest, ribaldry. "mayken! mayken!" (little mary) "your hour is come. 'tis your last promenade. the city is tired of you." such were the greetings which the representative of the holy virgin received from men grown weary of antiquated mummery. a few missiles were thrown occasionally at the procession as it passed through the city, but no damage was inflicted. when the image was at last restored to its place, and the pageant brought to a somewhat hurried conclusion, there seemed cause for congratulation that no tumult had occurred. on the following morning there was a large crowd collected in front of the cathedral. the image, instead of standing in the centre of the church, where, upon all former occasions, it had been accustomed during the week succeeding the ceremony to receive congratulatory, visits, was now ignominiously placed behind an iron railing within the choir. it had been deemed imprudent to leave it exposed to sacrilegious hands. the precaution excited derision. many vagabonds of dangerous appearance, many idle apprentices and ragged urchins were hanging for a long time about the imprisoned image, peeping through the railings, and indulging in many a brutal jest. "mayken! mayken!" they cried; "art thou terrified so soon? hast flown to thy nest so early? dost think thyself beyond the reach of mischief? beware, mayken! thine hour is fast approaching!" others thronged around the balustrade, shouting "vivent les gueux!" and hoarsely commanding the image to join in the beggars' cry. then, leaving the spot, the mob roamed idly about the magnificent church, sneering at the idols, execrating the gorgeous ornaments, scoffing at crucifix and altar. presently one of the rabble, a ragged fellow of mechanical aspect, in a tattered black doublet and an old straw hat, ascended the pulpit. opening a sacred volume which he found there, he began to deliver an extemporaneous and coarse caricature of a monkish sermon. some of the bystanders applauded, some cried shame, some shouted "long live the beggars!" some threw sticks and rubbish at the mountebank, some caught him by the legs and strove to pull him from the place. he, on the other hand, manfully maintained his ground, hurling back every missile, struggling with his assailants, and continuing the while to pour forth a malignant and obscene discourse. at last a young sailor, warm in the catholic faith, and impulsive as mariners are prone to be, ascended the pulpit from behind, sprang upon the mechanic, and flung him headlong down the steps. the preacher grappled with his enemy as he fell, and both came rolling to the ground. neither was much injured, but a tumult ensued. a pistol-shot was fired, and the sailor wounded in the arm. daggers were drawn, cudgels brandished, the bystanders taking part generally against the sailor, while those who protected him were somewhat bruised and belabored before they could convey him out of the church. nothing more, however, transpired that day, and the keepers of the cathedral were enabled to expel the crowd and to close the doors for the night. information of this tumult was brought to the senate, then assembled in the hotel de ville. that body was thrown into a state of great perturbation. in losing the prince of orange, they seemed to have lost their own brains, and the first measure which they took was to despatch a messenger to implore his return. in the mean time, it was necessary that they should do something for themselves. it was evident that a storm was brewing. the pest which was sweeping so rapidly through the provinces would soon be among them. symptoms of the dreaded visitation were already but too manifest. what precaution should: they take? should they issue a proclamation? such documents had been too common of late, and had lost their virtue. it was the time not to assert but to exercise authority. should they summon the ward-masters, and order the instant arming and mustering of their respective companies? should they assemble the captains of the military associations? nothing better could have been desired than such measures in cases of invasion or of ordinary tumult, but who should say how deeply the poison had sunk into the body politic; who should say with how much or how little alacrity the burgher militia would obey the mandates of the magistracy? it would be better to issue no proclamation unless they could enforce its provisions; it would be better not to call out the citizen soldiery unless they were likely to prove obedient. should mercenary troops at this late hour be sent for? would not their appearance at this crisis rather inflame the rage than intimidate the insolence of the sectaries? never were magistrates in greater perplexity. they knew not what course was likely to prove the safest, and in their anxiety to do nothing wrong, the senators did nothing at all. after a long and anxious consultation, the honest burgomaster and his associates all went home to their beds, hoping that the threatening flame of civil tumult would die out of itself, or perhaps that their dreams would supply them with that wisdom which seemed denied to their waking hours. in the morning, as it was known that no precaution had been taken, the audacity of the reformers was naturally increased. within the cathedral a great crowd was at an early hour collected, whose savage looks and ragged appearance denoted that the day and night were not likely to pass away so peacefully as the last. the same taunts and imprecations were hurled at the image of the virgin; the same howling of the beggars' cry resounded through the lofty arches. for a few hours, no act of violence was committed, but the crowd increased. a few trifles, drifting, as usual, before the event, seemed to indicate the approaching convulsion. a very paltry old woman excited the image-breaking of antwerp. she had for years been accustomed to sit before the door of the cathedral with wax-tapers and wafers, earning scanty subsistence from the profits of her meagre trade, and by the small coins which she sometimes received in charity. some of the rabble began to chaffer with this ancient hucksteress. they scoffed at her consecrated wares; they bandied with her ribald jests, of which her public position had furnished her with a supply; they assured her that the hour had come when her idolatrous traffic was to be forever terminated, when she and her patroness, mary, were to be given over to destruction together. the old woman, enraged, answered threat with threat, and gibe with gibe. passing from words to deeds, she began to catch from the ground every offensive missile or weapon which she could find, and to lay about her in all directions. her tormentors defended themselves as they could. having destroyed her whole stock-in-trade, they provoked others to appear in her defence. the passers-by thronged to the scene; the cathedral was soon filled to overflowing; a furious tumult was already in progress. many persons fled in alarm to the town-house, carrying information of this outbreak to the magistrates. john van immerzeel, margrava of antwerp, was then holding communication with the senate, and awaiting the arrival of the ward-masters, whom it had at last been thought expedient to summon. upon intelligence of this riot, which the militia, if previously mustered, might have prevented, the senate determined to proceed to the cathedral in a body, with the hope of quelling the mob by the dignity of their presence. the margrave, who was the high executive officer of the little commonwealth, marched down to the cathedral accordingly, attended by the two burgomasters and all the senators. at first their authority, solicitations, and personal influence, produced a good effect. some of those outside consented to retire, and the tumult partially subsided within. as night, however, was fast approaching, many of the mob insisted upon remaining for evening mass. they were informed that there would be none that night, and that for once the people could certainly dispense with their vespers. several persons now manifesting an intention of leaving the cathedral, it was suggested to the senators that if, they should lead the way, the populace would follow in their train, and so disperse to their homes. the excellent magistrates took the advice, not caring, perhaps, to fulfil any longer the dangerous but not dignified functions of police officers. before departing, they adopted the precaution of closing all the doors of the church, leaving a single one open, that the rabble still remaining might have an opportunity to depart. it seemed not to occur to the senators that the same gate would as conveniently afford an entrance for those without as an egress for those within. that unlooked-for event happened, however. no sooner had the magistrates retired than the rabble burst through the single door which had been left open, overpowered the margrave, who, with a few attendants, had remained behind, vainly endeavoring by threats and exhortations to appease the tumult, drove him ignominiously from the church, and threw all the other portals wide open. then the populace flowed in like an angry sea. the whole of the cathedral was at the mercy of the rioters, who were evidently bent on mischief. the wardens and treasurers of the church, after a vain attempt to secure a few of its most precious possessions, retired. they carried the news to the senators, who, accompanied by a few halberdmen, again ventured to approach the spot. it was but for a moment, however, for, appalled by the furious sounds which came from within the church, as if subterranean and invisible forces were preparing a catastrophe which no human power could withstand, the magistrates fled precipitately from the scene. fearing that the next attack would be upon the town-house, they hastened to concentrate at that point their available forces, and left the stately cathedral to its fate. and now, as the shadows of night were deepening the perpetual twilight of the church, the work of destruction commenced. instead of evening mass rose the fierce music of a psalm, yelled by a thousand angry voices. it seemed the preconcerted signal for a general attack. a band of marauders flew upon the image of the virgin, dragged it forth from its receptacle, plunged daggers into its inanimate body, tore off its jewelled and embroidered garments, broke the whole figure into a thousand pieces, and scattered the fragments along the floor. a wild shout succeeded, and then the work which seemed delegated to a comparatively small number of the assembled crowd, went on with incredible celerity. some were armed with axes, some with bludgeons, some with sledge-hammers; others brought ladders, pulleys, ropes, and levers. every statue was hurled from its niche, every picture torn from the wall, every wonderfully-painted window shivered to atoms, every ancient monument shattered, every sculptured decoration, however inaccessible in appearance, hurled to the ground. indefatigably, audaciously,--endowed, as it seemed, with preternatural strength and nimbleness, these furious iconoclasts clambered up the dizzy heights, shrieking and chattering like malignant apes, as they tore off in triumph the slowly-matured fruit of centuries. in a space of time wonderfully brief, they had accomplished their task. a colossal and magnificent group of the saviour crucified between two thieves adorned the principal altar. the statue of christ was wrenched from its place with ropes and pulleys, while the malefactors, with bitter and blasphemous irony, were left on high, the only representatives of the marble crowd which had been destroyed. a very beautiful piece of architecture decorated the choir,--the "repository," as it was called, in which the body of christ was figuratively enshrined. this much-admired work rested upon a single column, but rose, arch upon arch, pillar upon pillar, to the height of three hundred feet, till quite lost in the vault above. "it was now shattered into a million pieces." the statues, images, pictures, ornaments, as they lay upon the ground, were broken with sledge-hammers, hewn with axes, trampled, torn; and beaten into shreds. a troop of harlots, snatching waxen tapers from the altars, stood around the destroyers and lighted them at their work. nothing escaped their omnivorous rage. they desecrated seventy chapels, forced open all the chests of treasure, covered their own squalid attire with the gorgeous robes of the ecclesiastics, broke the sacred bread, poured out the sacramental wine into golden chalices, quaffing huge draughts to the beggars' health; burned all the splendid missals and manuscripts, and smeared their shoes with the sacred oil, with which kings and prelates had been anointed. it seemed that each of these malicious creatures must have been endowed with the strength of a hundred giants. how else, in the few brief hours of a midsummer night, could such a monstrous desecration have been accomplished by a troop which, according to all accounts, was not more than one hundred in number. there was a multitude of spectators, as upon all such occasions, but the actual spoilers were very few. the noblest and richest temple of the netherlands was a wreck, but the fury of the spoilers was excited, not appeased. each seizing a burning torch, the whole herd rushed from the cathedral, and swept howling through the streets. "long live the beggars!" resounded through the sultry midnight air, as the ravenous pack flew to and fro, smiting every image of the virgin, every crucifix, every sculptured saint, every catholic symbol which they met with upon their path. all night long, they roamed from one sacred edifice to another, thoroughly destroying as they went. before morning they had sacked thirty churches within the city walls. they entered the monasteries, burned their invaluable libraries, destroyed their altars, statues, pictures, and descending into the cellars, broached every cask which they found there, pouring out in one great flood all the ancient wine and ale with which those holy men had been wont to solace their retirement from generation to generation. they invaded the nunneries, whence the occupants, panic-stricken, fled for refuge to the houses of their friends and kindred. the streets were filled with monks and nuns, running this way and that, shrieking and fluttering, to escape the claws of these fiendish calvinists. the terror was imaginary, for not the least remarkable feature in these transactions was, that neither insult nor injury was offered to man or woman, and that not a farthing's value of the immense amount of property destroyed, was appropriated. it was a war not against the living, but against graven images, nor was the sentiment which prompted the onslaught in the least commingled with a desire of plunder. the principal citizens of antwerp, expecting every instant that the storm would be diverted from the ecclesiastical edifices to private dwellings, and that robbery, rape, and murder would follow sacrilege, remained all night expecting the attack, and prepared to defend their hearths, even if the altars were profaned. the precaution was needless. it was asserted by the catholics that the confederates and other opulent protestants had organized this company of profligates for the meagre pittance of ten stivers day. on the other hand, it was believed by many that the catholics had themselves plotted the whole outrage in order to bring odium upon the reformers. both statements were equally unfounded. the task was most thoroughly performed, but it was prompted: by a furious fanaticism, not by baser motives. two days and nights longer the havoc raged unchecked through all the churches of antwerp and the neighboring villages. hardly a statue or picture escaped destruction. fortunately, the illustrious artist, whose labors were destined in the next generation to enrich and ennoble the city, rubens, most profound of colorists, most dramatic--of artists; whose profuse tropical genius seemed to flower the more luxuriantly, as if the destruction wrought by brutal hands were to be compensated by the creative energy of one, divine spirit, had not yet been born. of the treasures which existed the destruction was complete. yet the rage was directed exclusively against stocks and stones. not a man was wounded nor a woman outraged. prisoners, indeed, who had been languishing hopelessly in dungeons were liberated. a monk, who had been in the prison of the barefoot monastery, for twelve years, recovered his freedom. art was trampled in the dust, but humanity deplored no victims. these leading features characterized the movement every where. the process was simultaneous and almost universal. it was difficult to say where it began and where it ended. a few days in the midst of august sufficed for the whole work. the number of churches desecrated has never been counted. in the single province of flanders, four hundred were sacked. in limburg, luxemburg, and namur, there was no image-breaking. in mechlin, seventy or eighty persons accomplished the work thoroughly, in the very teeth of the grand council, and of an astonished magistracy. in tournay, a city distinguished for its ecclesiastical splendor, the reform had been making great progress during the summer. at the same time the hatred between the two religions had been growing more and more intense. trifles and serious matters alike fed the mutual animosity. a tremendous outbreak had been nearly occasioned by an insignificant incident. a jesuit of some notoriety had been preaching a glowing discourse in the pulpit of notre dane. he earnestly avowed his wish that he were good enough to die for all his hearers. he proved to demonstration that no man should shrink from torture or martyrdom in order to sustain the ancient faith. as he was thus expatiating, his fervid discourse was suddenly interrupted by three sharp, sudden blows, of a very peculiar character, struck upon the great portal of the church. the priest, forgetting his love for martyrdom, turned pale and dropped under the pulpit. hurrying down the steps, he took refuge in the vestry, locking and barring the door. the congregation shared in his panic: "the beggars are coming," was the general cry. there was a horrible tumult, which extended through the city as the congregation poured precipitately out of the cathedral, to escape a band of destroying and furious calvinists. yet when the shock had a little subsided, it was discovered that a small urchin was the cause of the whole tumult. having been bathing in the scheldt, he had returned by way of the church with a couple of bladders under his arm. he had struck these against the door of the cathedral, partly to dry them, partly from a love of mischief. thus a great uproar, in the course of which it had been feared that toumay was to be sacked and drenched in blood, had been caused by a little wanton boy who had been swimming on bladders. this comedy preceded by a few days only the actual disaster. on the d of august the news reached tournay that the churches in antwerp, ghent, and many other places, had been sacked. there was an instantaneous movement towards imitating the example on the same evening. pasquier de la barre, procureur-general of the city, succeeded by much entreaty in tranquillizing the people for the night. the "guard of terror" was set, and hopes were entertained that the storm might blow over. the expectation, was vain. at daybreak next day, the mob swept upon the churches and stripped them to the very walls. pictures, statues; organs, ornaments, chalices of silver and gold, reliquaries, albs, chasubles, copes, ciboriea, crosses, chandeliers, lamps; censers, all of richest material, glittering with pearls, rubies, and other precious stones, were scattered in heaps of ruin upon the ground. as the spoilers burrowed among the ancient tombs, they performed, in one or two instances, acts of startling posthumous justice. the embalmed body of duke adolphus of gueldres, last of the egmonts, who had reigned in that province, was dragged from its sepulchre and recognized. although it had been there for ninety years, it was as uncorrupted, "owing to the excellent spices which had preserved it from decay," as upon the day of burial. thrown upon the marble floor of the church, it lay several days exposed to the execrations of the multitude. the duke had committed a crime against his father, in consequence of which the province which had been ruled by native races, had passed under the dominion of charles the bold. weary of waiting for the old duke's inheritance, he had risen against him in open rebellion. dragging him from his bed at midnight in the depth of winter, he had compelled the old man, with no covering but his night gear, to walk with naked feet twenty-five miles over ice and snow from grave to buren, while he himself performed the same journey in his company on horseback. he had then thrown him into a dungeon beneath the tower of buren castle, and kept him a close prisoner for six months. [memoires de philippe de comines (loud. et paris, ), liv. iv. - . in the royal gallery at berlin is a startling picture by rembrandt, in which the old duke is represented looking out of the bars of his dungeon at his son, who is threatening him with uplifted hand and savage face. no subject could be imagined better adapted to the gloomy and sarcastic genius of that painter.] at last, the duke of burgundy summoned the two before his council, and proposed that adolphus should allow his father florins annually, with the title of duke till his death. "he told us," said comines, "that he would sooner throw the old man head-foremost down a well and jump in himself afterwards. his father had been duke forty-four years, and it was time for him to retire." adolphus being thus intractable, had been kept in prison till after the death of charles the bold. to the memorable insurrection of ghent, in the time of the lady mary, he owed his liberty. the insurgent citizens took him from prison, and caused him to lead them in their foray against tournay. beneath the walls of that city he was slain, and buried under its cathedral. and now as if his offence had not been sufficiently atoned for by the loss of his ancestral honors, his captivity, and his death, the earth, after the lapse of nearly a century, had cast him forth from her bosom. there, once more beneath the sunlight, amid a ribald crew of a later generation which had still preserved the memory of his sin, lay the body of the more than parricide, whom "excellent spices" had thus preserved from corruption, only to be the mark of scorn and demoniac laughter. a large assemblage of rioters, growing in numbers as they advanced, swept over the province of tournay, after accomplishing the sack of the city churches. armed with halberds, hammers, and pitchforks, they carried on the war, day after day, against the images. at the convent of marchiennes, considered by contemporaries the most beautiful abbey in all the netherlands, they halted to sing the ten commandments in marot's verse. hardly had the vast chorus finished the precept against graven images; taiiler ne to feras imaige de quelque chose que ce soit, sy bonneur luy fail on hommaige, bon dieu jalousie en recoit, when the whole mob seemed seized with sudden madness. without waiting to complete the psalm, they fastened upon the company of marble martyrs, as if they had possessed sensibility to feel the blows inflicted. in an hour they had laid the whole in ruins. having accomplished this deed, they swept on towards anchin. here, however, they were confronted by the seigneur de la tour, who, at the head of a small company of peasants, attacked the marauders and gained a complete victory. five or six hundred of them were slain, others were drowned in the river and adjacent swamps, the rest were dispersed. it was thus proved that a little more spirit upon the part of the orderly portion of the inhabitants, might have brought about a different result than the universal image-breaking. in valenciennes, "the tragedy," as an eye-witness calls it, was performed upon saint bartholomew's day. it was, however, only a tragedy of statues. hardly as many senseless stones were victims as there were to be living huguenots sacrificed in a single city upon a bartholomew which was fast approaching. in the valenciennes massacre, not a human being was injured. such in general outline and in certain individual details, was the celebrated iconomachy of the netherlands. the movement was a sudden explosion of popular revenge against the symbols of that church from which the reformers had been enduring such terrible persecution. it was also an expression of the general sympathy for the doctrines which had taken possession of the national heart. it was the depravation of that instinct which had in the beginning of the summer drawn calvinists and lutherans forth in armed bodies, twenty thousand strong, to worship god in the open fields. the difference between the two phenomena was, that the field-preaching was a crime committed by the whole mass of the reformers; men, women, and children confronting the penalties of death, by a general determination, while the imagebreaking was the act of a small portion of the populace. a hundred persons belonging to the lowest order of society sufficed for the desecration of the antwerp churches. it was, said orange, "a mere handful of rabble" who did the deed. sir richard clough saw ten or twelve persons entirely sack church after church, while ten thousand spectators looked on, indifferent or horror-struck. the bands of iconoclasts were of the lowest character, and few in number. perhaps the largest assemblage was that which ravaged the province of tournay, but this was so weak as to be entirely routed by a small and determined force. the duty of repression devolved upon both catholics and protestants. neither party stirred. all seemed overcome with special wonder as the tempest swept over the land. the ministers of the reformed religion, and the chiefs of the liberal party, all denounced the image-breaking. francis junius bitterly regretted such excesses. ambrose wille, pure of all participation in the crime, stood up before ten thousand reformers at tournay--even while the storm was raging in the neighboring cities, and, when many voices around him were hoarsely commanding similar depravities to rebuke the outrages by which a sacred cause was disgraced. the prince of orange, in his private letters, deplored the riots, and stigmatized the perpetrators. even brederode, while, as suzerain of his city of viane, he ordered the images there to be quietly taken from the churches, characterized this popular insurrection as insensate and flagitious. many of the leading confederates not only were offended with the proceedings, but, in their eagerness to chastise the iconoclasts and to escape from a league of which they were weary, began to take severe measures against the ministers and reformers, of whom they had constituted themselves in april the especial protectors. the next remarkable characteristic of these tumults was the almost entire abstinence of the rioters from personal outrage and from pillage. the testimony of a very bitter, but honest catholic at valenciennes, is remarkable upon this point. "certain chroniclers," said he, "have greatly mistaken the character of this image-breaking. it has been said that the calvinists killed a hundred priests in this city, cutting some of them into pieces, and burning others over a slow fire. i remember very well every thing which happened upon that abominable day, and i can affirm that not a single priest was injured. the huguenots took good care not to injure in any way the living images." this was the case every where. catholic and protestant writers agree that no deeds of violence were committed against man or woman. it would be also very easy to accumulate a vast weight of testimony as to their forbearance from robbery. they destroyed for destruction's sake, not for purposes of plunder. although belonging to the lowest classes of society, they left heaps of jewellery, of gold and silver plate, of costly embroidery, lying unheeded upon the ground. they felt instinctively that a great passion would be contaminated by admixture with paltry motives. in flanders a company of rioters hanged one of their own number for stealing articles to the value of five shillings. in valenciennes the iconoclasts were offered large sums if they would refrain from desecrating the churches of that city, but they rejected the proposal with disdain. the honest catholic burgher who recorded the fact, observed that he did so because of the many misrepresentations on the subject, not because he wished to flatter heresy and rebellion. at tournay, the greatest scrupulousness was observed upon this point. the floor of the cathedral was strewn with "pearls and precious stones, with chalices and reliquaries of silver and gold;" but the ministers of the reformed religion, in company with the magistrates, came to the spot, and found no difficulty, although utterly without power to prevent the storm, in taking quiet possession of the wreck. "we had every thing of value," says procureur-general de la barre, "carefully inventoried, weighed, locked in chests, and placed under a strict guard in the prison of the halle, to which one set of keys were given to the ministers, and another to the magistrates." who will dare to censure in very severe language this havoc among stocks and stones in a land where so many living men and women, of more value than many statues, had been slaughtered by the inquisition, and where alva's "blood tribunal" was so soon to eclipse even that terrible institution in the number of its victims and the amount of its confiscations? yet the effect of the riots was destined to be most disastrous for a time to the reforming party. it furnished plausible excuses for many lukewarm friends of their cause to withdraw from all connection with it. egmont denounced the proceedings as highly flagitious, and busied himself with punishing the criminals in flanders. the regent was beside herself with indignation and terror. philip, when he heard the news, fell into a paroxysm of frenzy. "it shall cost them dear!" he cried, as he tore his beard for rage; "it shall cost them dear! i swear it by the soul of my father!" the reformation in the netherlands, by the fury of these fanatics, was thus made apparently to abandon the high ground upon which it had stood in the early summer. the sublime spectacle of the multitudinous field-preaching was sullied by the excesses of the image-breaking. the religious war, before imminent, became inevitable. nevertheless, the first effect of the tumults was a temporary advantage to the reformers. a great concession was extorted from the fears of the duchess regent, who was certainly placed in a terrible position. her conduct was not heroic, although she might be forgiven for trepidation. her treachery, however, under these trying circumstances was less venial. at three o'clock in the morning of the nd of august, orange, egmont, horn, hoogatraaten, mansfeld, and others were summoned to the palace. they found her already equipped for flight, surrounded by her waiting-women, chamberlains and lackeys, while the mules and hackneys stood harnessed in the court-yard, and her body-guard were prepared to mount at a moment's notice. she announced her intention of retreating at once to mons, in which city, owing to aerschot's care, she hoped to find refuge against the fury of the rebellion then sweeping the country. her alarm was almost beyond control. she was certain that the storm was ready to burst upon brussels, and that every catholic was about to be massacred before her eyes. aremberg, berlaymont, and noircarmes were with the duchess when the other seigniors arrived. a part of the duke of aerschot's company had been ordered out to escort the projected flight to mons. orange, horn, egmont, and hoogstraaten implored her to desist from her fatal resolution. they represented that such a retreat before a mob would be the very means of ruining the country. they denounced all persons who had counselled the scheme, as enemies of his majesty and herself. they protested their readiness to die at her feet in her defence, but besought her not to abandon the post of duty in the hour of peril. while they were thus anxiously debating, viglius entered the chamber. with tears streaming down her cheeks, margaret turned to the aged president, uttering fierce reproaches and desponding lamentations. viglius brought the news that the citizens had taken possession of the gates, and were resolved not to permit her departure from the city. he reminded her, according to the indispensable practice of all wise counsellors, that he had been constantly predicting this result. he, however, failed in administering much consolation, or in suggesting any remedy. he was, in truth, in as great a panic as herself, and it was, according to the statement of the duchess, mainly in order to save the president from threatened danger, that she eventually resolved to make concessions. "viglius," wrote margaret to philip, "is so much afraid of being cut to pieces, that his timidity has become incredible." upon the warm assurance of count horn, that he would enable her to escape from the city, should it become necessary, or would perish in the attempt, a promise in which he was seconded by the rest of the seigniors, she consented to remain for the day in her palace.--mansfeld was appointed captain-general of the city; egmont, horn, orange, and the others agreed to serve under his orders, and all went down together to the townhouse. the magistrates were summoned, a general meeting of the citizens was convened, and the announcement made of mansfeld's appointment, together with an earnest appeal to all honest men to support the government. the appeal was answered by a shout of unanimous approbation, an enthusiastic promise to live or die with the regent, and the expression of a resolution to permit neither reformed preaching nor image-breaking within the city. nevertheless, at seven o'clock in the evening, the duchess again sent for the seigniors. she informed them that she had received fresh and certain information, that the churches were to be sacked that very night; that viglius, berlaymont, and aremberg were to be killed, and that herself and egmont were to be taken prisoners. she repeated many times that she had been ill-advised, expressed bitter regret at having deferred her flight from the city, and called upon those who had obstructed her plan, now to fulfil their promises. turning fiercely upon count horn, she uttered a volley of reproaches upon his share in the transaction. "you are the cause," said she, "that i am now in this position. why do you not redeem your pledge and enable me to leave the place at once." horn replied that he was ready to do so if she were resolved to stay no longer. he would at the instant cut his way through the guard at the caudenberg gate, and bring her out in safety, or die in the effort. at the same time he assured her that he gave no faith to the idle reports flying about the city, reminded her that nobles, magistrates, and citizens were united in her defence, and in brief used the same arguments which had before been used to pacify her alarm. the nobles were again successful in enforcing their counsels, the duchess was spared the ignominy and the disaster of a retreat before an insurrection which was only directed against statues, and the ecclesiastical treasures of brussels were saved from sacrilege. on the th august came the crowning act of what the reformers considered their most complete triumph, and the regent her deepest degradation. it was found necessary under the alarming aspect of affairs, that liberty of worship, in places where it had been already established, should be accorded to the new religion. articles of agreement to this effect were accordingly drawn up and exchanged between the government and lewis of nassau, attended by fifteen others of the confederacy. a corresponding pledge was signed by them, that so long as the regent was true to her engagement, they would consider their previously existing league annulled, and would assist cordially in every endeavor to maintain tranquillity and support the authority of his majesty. the important accord was then duly signed by the duchess. it declared that the inquisition was abolished, that his majesty would soon issue a new general edict, expressly and unequivocally protecting the nobles against all evil consequences from past transactions, that they were to be employed in the royal service, and that public preaching according to the forms of the new religion was to be practised in places where it had already taken place. letters general were immediately despatched to the senates of all the cities, proclaiming these articles of agreement and ordering their execution. thus for a fleeting moment there was a thrill of joy throughout the netherlands. the inquisition was thought forever abolished, the era of religious reformation arrived. etext editor's bookmarks: all denounced the image-breaking anxiety to do nothing wrong, the senators did nothing at all before morning they had sacked thirty churches bigotry which was the prevailing characteristic of the age enriched generation after generation by wealthy penitence fifty thousand persons in the provinces (put to death) furious fanaticism lutheran princes of germany, detested the doctrines of geneva monasteries, burned their invaluable libraries no qualities whatever but birth and audacity to recommend him notre dame at antwerp persons who discussed religious matters were to be put to death premature zeal was prejudicial to the cause purchased absolution for crime and smoothed a pathway to heaven rearing gorgeous temples where paupers are to kneel schism which existed in the general reformed church storm by which all these treasures were destroyed (in days) the noblest and richest temple of the netherlands was a wreck tyrannical spirit of calvinism would not help to burn fifty or sixty thousand netherlanders etext editor's bookmarks the dutch republic, - , complete: a pleasantry called voluntary contributions or benevolences a country disinherited by nature of its rights absolution for incest was afforded at thirty-six livres achieved the greatness to which they had not been born advancing age diminished his tendency to other carnal pleasures affecting to discredit them all offices were sold to the highest bidder all denounced the image-breaking all his disciples and converts are to be punished with death all reading of the scriptures (forbidden) altercation between luther and erasmus, upon predestination an hereditary papacy, a perpetual pope-emperor an inspiring and delightful recreation (auto-da-fe) announced his approaching marriage with the virgin mary annual harvest of iniquity by which his revenue was increased anxiety to do nothing wrong, the senators did nothing at all arrested on suspicion, tortured till confession as ready as papists, with age, fagot, and excommunication attacking the authority of the pope attempting to swim in two waters batavian legion was the imperial body guard beating the netherlanders into christianity before morning they had sacked thirty churches bigotry which was the prevailing characteristic of the age bishop is a consecrated pirate bold reformer had only a new dogma in place of the old ones brethren, parents, and children, having wives in common burned alive if they objected to transubstantiation burned, strangled, beheaded, or buried alive ( , ) charles the fifth autocrat of half the world condemning all heretics to death consign to the flames all prisoners whatever (papal letter) courage of despair inflamed the french craft meaning, simply, strength criminal whose guilt had been established by the hot iron criminals buying paradise for money crusades made great improvement in the condition of the serfs decrees for burning, strangling, and burying alive democratic instincts of the ancient german savages denies the utility of prayers for the dead despot by birth and inclination (charles v.) difference between liberties and liberty dispute between luther and zwingli concerning the real presence dissimulation and delay divine right drank of the water in which, he had washed endure every hardship but hunger english puritans enormous wealth (of the church) which engendered the hatred enriched generation after generation by wealthy penitence erasmus encourages the bold friar erasmus of rotterdam even for the rape of god's mother, if that were possible excited with the appearance of a gem of true philosophy executions of huss and jerome of prague fable of divine right is invented to sanction the system felix mants, the anabaptist, is drowned at zurich few, even prelates were very dutiful to the pope fiction of apostolic authority to bind and loose fifty thousand persons in the provinces (put to death) fishermen and river raftsmen become ocean adventurers for myself i am unworthy of the honor (of martyrdom) for women to lament, for men to remember forbids all private assemblies for devotion force clerical--the power of clerks furious fanaticism gallant and ill-fated lamoral egmont gaul derided the roman soldiers as a band of pigmies german finds himself sober--he believes himself ill govern under the appearance of obeying great science of political equilibrium great privilege, the magna charta of holland guarantees of forgiveness for every imaginable sin habeas corpus halcyon days of ban, book and candle he knew men, especially he knew their weaknesses he did his best to be friends with all the world heresy was a plant of early growth in the netherlands his imagination may have assisted his memory in the task history shows how feeble are barriers of paper holland, england, and america, are all links of one chain i would carry the wood to burn my own son withal in holland, the clergy had neither influence nor seats informer, in case of conviction, should be entitled to one half inquisition of the netherlands is much more pitiless inquisition was not a fit subject for a compromise insinuating suspicions when unable to furnish evidence invented such christian formulas as these (a curse) inventing long speeches for historical characters july st, two augustine monks were burned at brussels king of zion to be pinched to death with red-hot tongs labored under the disadvantage of never having existed learn to tremble as little at priestcraft as at swordcraft let us fool these poor creatures to their heart's content licences accorded by the crown to carry slaves to america little grievances would sometimes inflame more than vast long succession of so many illustrious obscure look through the cloud of dissimulation lutheran princes of germany, detested the doctrines of geneva made to swing to and fro over a slow fire maintaining the attitude of an injured but forgiving christian man had only natural wrongs (no natural rights) many greedy priests, of lower rank, had turned shop-keepers monasteries, burned their invaluable libraries more accustomed to do well than to speak well no one can testify but a householder no calumny was too senseless to be invented no law but the law of the longest purse no qualities whatever but birth and audacity to recommend him not of the stuff of which martyrs are made (erasmus) notre dame at antwerp nowhere was the persecution of heretics more relentless obstinate, of both sexes, to be burned often much tyranny in democracy one golden grain of wit into a sheet of infinite platitude orator was, however, delighted with his own performance others go to battle, says the historian, these go to war panegyrists of royal houses in the sixteenth century pardon for murder, if not by poison, was cheaper pardon for crimes already committed, or about to be committed paying their passage through, purgatory perpetually dropping small innuendos like pebbles persons who discussed religious matters were to be put to death petty passion for contemptible details philip, who did not often say a great deal in a few words planted the inquisition in the netherlands poisoning, for example, was absolved for eleven ducats pope and emperor maintain both positions with equal logic power to read and write helped the clergy to much wealth premature zeal was prejudicial to the cause procrastination was always his first refuge promises which he knew to be binding only upon the weak purchased absolution for crime and smoothed a pathway to heaven rashness alternating with hesitation readiness to strike and bleed at any moment in her cause rearing gorgeous temples where paupers are to kneel repentant females to be buried alive repentant males to be executed with the sword revocable benefices or feuds ruinous honors sale of absolutions was the source of large fortunes to the priests same conjury over ignorant baron and cowardly hind scaffold was the sole refuge from the rack schism which existed in the general reformed church scoffing at the ceremonies and sacraments of the church secret drowning was substituted for public burning sharpened the punishment for reading the scriptures in private slavery was both voluntary and compulsory soldier of the cross was free upon his return sonnets of petrarch sovereignty was heaven-born, anointed of god st. peter's dome rising a little nearer to the clouds st. bartholomew was to sleep for seven years longer storm by which all these treasures were destroyed (in days) tanchelyn taxation upon sin ten thousand two hundred and twenty individuals were burned that vile and mischievous animal called the people the noblest and richest temple of the netherlands was a wreck the gaul was singularly unchaste the vivifying becomes afterwards the dissolving principle the bad duke of burgundy, philip surnamed "the good," the egg had been laid by erasmus, hatched by luther these human victims, chained and burning at the stake they had at last burned one more preacher alive thousands of burned heretics had not made a single convert thus hand-werpen, hand-throwing, became antwerp to think it capable of error, is the most devilish heresy of all to prefer poverty to the wealth attendant upon trade torquemada's administration (of the inquisition) tranquillity of despotism to the turbulence of freedom two witnesses sent him to the stake, one witness to the rack tyrannical spirit of calvinism understood the art of managing men, particularly his superiors upon one day twenty-eight master cooks were dismissed villagers, or villeins we believe our mothers to have been honest women when the abbot has dice in his pocket, the convent will play william of nassau, prince of orange wiser simply to satisfy himself would not help to burn fifty or sixty thousand netherlanders motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, - , complete the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley volume , book ., [chapter viii.] secret policy of the government--berghen and montigny in spain-- debates at segovia--correspondence of the duchess with philip-- procrastination and dissimulation of the king--secret communication to the pope--effect in the provinces of the king's letters to the government--secret instructions to the duchess--desponding statements of margaret--her misrepresentations concerning orange, egmont, and others--wrath and duplicity of philip--egmont's exertions in flanders--orange returns to antwerp--his tolerant spirit--agreement of d september--horn at tournay--excavations in the cathedral--almost universal attendance at the preaching-- building of temples commenced--difficult position of horn--preaching in the clothiers' hall--horn recalled--noircarmes at tournay-- friendly correspondence of margaret with orange, egmont, horn, and hoogstraaten--her secret defamation of these persons. egmont in flanders, orange at antwerp, horn at tournay; hoogstraaten at mechlin, were exerting themselves to suppress insurrection and to avert ruin. what, meanwhile, was the policy of the government? the secret course pursued both at brussels and at madrid may be condensed into the usual formula--dissimulation, procrastination, and again dissimulation. it is at this point necessary to take a rapid survey of the open and the secret proceedings of the king and his representatives from the moment at which berghen and montigny arrived in madrid. those ill-fated gentlemen had been received with apparent cordiality, and admitted to frequent, but unmeaning, interviews with his majesty. the current upon which they were embarked was deep and treacherous, but it was smooth and very slow. they assured the king that his letters, ordering the rigorous execution of the inquisition and edicts, had engendered all the evils under which the provinces were laboring. they told him that spaniards and tools of spaniards had attempted to govern the country, to the exclusion of native citizens and nobles, but that it would soon be found that netherlanders were not to be trodden upon like the abject inhabitants of milan, naples, and sicily. such words as these struck with an unaccustomed sound upon the royal ear, but the envoys, who were both catholic and loyal, had no idea, in thus expressing their opinions, according to their sense of duty, and in obedience to the king's desire, upon the causes of the discontent, that they were committing an act of high treason. when the news of the public preaching reached spain, there were almost daily consultations at the grove of segovia. the eminent personages who composed the royal council were the duke of alva, the count de feria, don antonio de toledo, don juan manrique de lara, ruy gomez, quixada, councillor tisnacq, recently appointed president of the state council, and councillor hopper. six spaniards and two netherlanders, one of whom, too, a man of dull intellect and thoroughly subservient character, to deal with the local affairs of the netherlands in a time of intense excitement! the instructions of the envoys had been to represent the necessity of according three great points--abolition of the inquisition, moderation of the edicts, according to the draft prepared in brussels, and an ample pardon for past transactions. there was much debate upon all these propositions. philip said little, but he listened attentively to the long discourses in council, and he took an incredible quantity of notes. it was the general opinion that this last demand on the part of the netherlanders was the fourth link in the chain of treason. the first had been the cabal by which granvelle had been expelled; the second, the mission of egmont, the main object of which had been to procure a modification of the state council, in order to bring that body under the control of a few haughty and rebellious nobles; the third had been the presentation of the insolent and seditious request; and now, to crown the whole, came a proposition embodying the three points--abolition of the inquisition, revocation of the edicts, and a pardon to criminals, for whom death was the only sufficient punishment. with regard to these three points, it was, after much wrangling, decided to grant them under certain restrictions. to abolish the inquisition would be to remove the only instrument by which the church had been accustomed to regulate the consciences and the doctrines of its subjects. it would be equivalent to a concession of religious freedom, at least to individuals within their own domiciles, than which no concession could be more pernicious. nevertheless, it might be advisable to permit the temporary cessation of the papal inquisition, now that the episcopal inquisition had been so much enlarged and strengthened in the netherlands, on the condition that this branch of the institution should be maintained in energetic condition. with regard to the moderation, it was thought better to defer that matter till, the proposed visit of his majesty to the provinces. if, however, the regent should think it absolutely necessary to make a change, she must cause a new draft to be made, as that which had been sent was not found admissible. touching the pardon general, it would be necessary to make many conditions and restrictions before it could be granted. provided these were sufficiently minute to exclude all persons whom it might be found desirable to chastise, the amnesty was possible. otherwise it was quite out of the question. meantime, margaret of parma had been urging her brother to come to a decision, painting the distracted condition of the country in the liveliest colors, and insisting, although perfectly aware of philip's private sentiments, upon a favorable decision as to the three points demanded by the envoys. especially she urged her incapacity to resist any rebellion, and demanded succor of men and money in case the "moderation" were not accepted by his majesty. it was the last day of july before the king wrote at all, to communicate his decisions upon the crisis which had occurred in the first week of april. the disorder for which he had finally prepared a prescription had, before his letter arrived, already passed through its subsequent stages of the field-preaching and the image-breaking. of course these fresh symptoms would require much consultation, pondering, and note-taking before they could be dealt with. in the mean time they would be considered as not yet having happened. this was the masterly procrastination of the sovereign, when his provinces were in a blaze. his masterly dissimulation was employed in the direction suggested by his councillors. philip never originated a thought, nor laid down a plan, but he was ever true to the falsehood of his nature, and was indefatigable in following out the suggestions of others. no greater mistake can be made than to ascribe talent to this plodding and pedantic monarch. the man's intellect was contemptible, but malignity and duplicity, almost superhuman; have effectually lifted his character out of the regions of the common-place. he wrote accordingly to say that the pardon, under certain conditions, might be granted, and that the papal inquisition might cease--the bishops now being present in such numbers, "to take care of their flocks," and the episcopal inquisition being, therefore established upon so secure a basis. he added, that if a moderation of the edicts were still desired, a new project might be sent to madrid, as the one brought by berghen and montigny was not satisfactory. in arranging this wonderful scheme for composing the tumults of the country, which had grown out of a determined rebellion to the inquisition in any form, he followed not only the advice, but adopted the exact language of his councillors. certainly, here was not much encouragement for patriotic hearts in the netherlands. a pardon, so restricted that none were likely to be forgiven save those who had done no wrong; an episcopal inquisition stimulated to renewed exertions, on the ground that the papal functionaries were to be discharged; and a promise that, although the proposed moderation of the edicts seemed too mild for the monarch's acceptance, yet at some future period another project would be matured for settling the matter to universal satisfaction--such were the propositions of the crown. nevertheless, philip thought he had gone too far, even in administering this meagre amount of mercy, and that he had been too frank in employing so slender a deception, as in the scheme thus sketched. he therefore summoned a notary, before whom, in presence of the duke of alva, the licentiate menchaca and dr. velasco, he declared that, although he had just authorized margaret of parma, by force of circumstances, to grant pardon to all those who had been compromised in the late disturbances of the netherlands, yet as he had not done this spontaneously nor freely, he did not consider himself bound by the authorization, but that, on the contrary, he reserved his right to punish all the guilty, and particularly those who had been the authors and encouragers of the sedition. so much for the pardon promised in his official correspondence. with regard to the concessions, which he supposed himself to have made in the matter of the inquisition and the edicts, he saved his conscience by another process. revoking with his right hand all which his left had been doing, he had no sooner despatched his letters to the duchess regent than he sent off another to his envoy at rome. in this despatch he instructed requesens to inform the pope as to the recent royal decisions upon the three points, and to state that there had not been time to consult his holiness beforehand. nevertheless, continued philip "the prudent," it was perhaps better thus, since the abolition could have no force, unless the pope, by whom the institution had been established, consented to its suspension. this matter, however, was to be kept a profound secret. so much for the inquisition matter. the papal institution, notwithstanding the official letters, was to exist, unless the pope chose to destroy it; and his holiness, as we have seen, had sent the archbishop of sorrento, a few weeks before, to brussels, for the purpose of concerting secret measures for strengthening the "holy office" in the provinces. with regard to the proposed moderation of the edicts, philip informed pius the fifth, through requesens, that the project sent by the duchess not having been approved, orders had been transmitted for a new draft, in which all the articles providing for the severe punishment of heretics were to be retained, while alterations, to be agreed upon by the state and privy councils, and the knights of the fleece, were to be adopted--certainly in no sense of clemency. on the contrary, the king assured his holiness, that if the severity of chastisement should be mitigated the least in the world by the new articles, they would in no case receive the royal approbation. philip further implored the pope "not to be scandalized" with regard to the proposed pardon, as it would be by no means extended to offenders against religion. all this was to be kept entirely secret. the king added, that rather than permit the least prejudice to the ancient religion, he would sacrifice all his states, and lose a hundred lives if he had so many; for he would never consent to be the sovereign of heretics. he said he would arrange the troubles of the netherlands, without violence, if possible, because forcible measures would cause the entire destruction of the country. nevertheless they should be employed, if his purpose could be accomplished in no other way. in that case the king would himself be the executor of his own design, without allowing the peril which he should incur, nor the ruin of the provinces, nor that of his other realms, to prevent him from doing all which a christian prince was bound to do, to maintain the catholic religion and the authority of the holy see, as well as to testify his personal regard for the reigning pontiff, whom he so much loved and esteemed. here was plain speaking. here were all the coming horrors distinctly foreshadowed. here was the truth told to the only being with whom philip ever was sincere. yet even on this occasion, he permitted himself a falsehood by which his holiness was not deceived. philip had no intention of going to the netherlands in person, and the pope knew that he had none. "i feel it in my bones," said granvelle, mournfully, "that nobody in rome believes in his majesty's journey to the provinces." from that time forward, however, the king began to promise this visit, which was held out as a panacea for every ill, and made to serve as an excuse for constant delay. it may well be supposed that if philip's secret policy had been thoroughly understood in the netherlands, the outbreak would have come sooner. on the receipt, however, of the public despatches from madrid, the administration in brussels made great efforts to represent their tenor as highly satisfactory. the papal inquisition was to be abolished, a pardon was to be granted, a new moderation was to be arranged at some indefinite period; what more would men have? yet without seeing the face of the cards, the people suspected the real truth, and orange was convinced of it. viglius wrote that if the king did not make his intended visit soon, he would come too late, and that every week more harm was done by procrastination than could be repaired by months of labor and perhaps by torrents of blood. what the precise process was, through which philip was to cure all disorders by his simple presence, the president did not explain. as for the measures propounded by the king after so long a delay, they were of course worse than useless; for events had been marching while he had been musing. the course suggested was, according to viglius, but "a plaster for a wound, but a drag-chain for the wheel." he urged that the convocation of the states-general was the only remedy for the perils in which the country was involved; unless the king should come in person. he however expressed the hope that by general consultation some means would be devised by which, if not a good, at least a less desperate aspect would be given to public affairs, "so that the commonwealth, if fall it must, might at least fall upon its feet like a cat, and break its legs rather than its neck." notwithstanding this highly figurative view of the subject; and notwithstanding the urgent representations of duchess margaret to her brother, that nobles and people were all clamoring about the necessity of convening the states general, philip was true to his instincts on this as on the other questions. he knew very well that the states-general of the netherlands and spanish despotism were incompatible ideas, and he recoiled from the idea of the assembly with infinite aversion. at the same time a little wholesome deception could do no harm. he wrote to the duchess, therefore, that he was determined never to allow the states-general to be convened. he forbade her to consent to the step under any circumstances, but ordered her to keep his prohibition a profound secret. he wished, he said, the people to think that it was only for the moment that the convocation was forbidden, and that the duchess was expecting to receive the necessary permission at another time. it was his desire, he distinctly stated, that the people should not despair of obtaining the assembly, but he was resolved never to consent to the step, for he knew very well what was meant by a meeting of the states-general. certainly after so ingenuous but secret a declaration from the disciple of macchiavelli, margaret might well consider the arguments to be used afterward by herself and others, in favor of the ardently desired measure, as quite superfluous. such then was the policy secretly resolved upon by philip; even before he heard of the startling events which were afterwards to break upon him. he would maintain the inquisition and the edicts; he would exterminate the heretics, even if he lost all his realms and his own life in the cause; he would never hear of the national representatives coming together. what then were likely to be his emotions when he should be told of twenty thousand armed heretics assembling at one spot, and fifteen thousand at another, in almost every town in every province, to practice their blasphemous rites; when he should be told of the whirlwind which had swept all the ecclesiastical accumulations of ages out of existence; when he should read margaret's despairing letters, in which she acknowledged that she had at last committed an act unworthy of god, of her king, and of herself, in permitting liberty of worship to the renegades from the ancient church! the account given by the duchess was in truth very dismal. she said that grief consumed her soul and crimson suffused her cheeks while she related the recent transactions. she took god to witness that she had resisted long, that she had past many sleepless nights, that she had been wasted with fever and grief. after this penitential preface she confessed that, being a prisoner and almost besieged in her palace, sick in body and soul, she had promised pardon and security to the confederates, with liberty of holding assemblies to heretics in places where the practice had already obtained. these concessions had been made valid until the king by and with the consent of the states-general, should definitely arrange the matter. she stated, however, that she had given her consent to these two demands, not in the royal name, but in her own. the king was not bound by her promise, and she expreesed the hope that he would have no regard to any such obligation. she further implored her brother to come forth as soon as possibe to avenge the injuries inflicted upon the ancient church, adding, that if deprived of that consolation, she should incontinently depart this life. that hope alone would prevent her death. this was certainly strong language. she was also very explicit in her representations of the influence which had been used by certain personages to prevent the exercise of any authority upon her own part. "wherefore," said margaret, "i eat my heart; and shall never have peace till the arrival of your majesty." there was no doubt who those personages were who, as it was pretended, had thus held the duchess in bondage, and compelled her to grant these infamous concessions. in her secret italian letters, she furnished the king with a tissue of most extravagant and improbable falsehoods, supplied to her mainly by noircarmes and mansfeld, as to the course pursued at this momentous crisis by orange, egmont, horn, and hoogstraaten. they had all, she said, declared against god and against religion.--horn, at least, was for killing all the priests and monks in the country, if full satisfaction were not given to the demands of the heretics. egmont had declared openly for the beggars, and was levying troops in germany. orange had the firm intention of making himself master of the whole country, and of dividing it among the other seigniors and himself. the prince had said that if she took refuge in mons, as she had proposed, they would instantly convoke the states-general, and take all necessary measures. egmont had held the same language, saying that he would march at the head of forty thousand men to besiege her in that city. all these seigniors, however, had avowed their determination to prevent her flight, to assemble the estates, and to drag her by force before the assembly, in order to compel her consent to every measure which might be deemed expedient. under all these circumstances, she had been obliged to defer her retreat, and to make the concessions which had overwhelmed her with disgrace. with such infamous calumnies, utterly disproved by every fact in the case, and unsupported by a tittle of evidence, save the hearsay reports of a man like noircarmes, did this "woman, nourished at rome, in whom no one could put confidence," dig the graves of men who were doing their best to serve her. philip's rage at first hearing of the image-breaking has been indicated. he was ill of an intermittent fever at the wood of segovia when the news arrived, and it may well be supposed that his wrath at these proceedings was not likely to assuage his malady. nevertheless, after the first burst of indignation, he found relief in his usual deception. while slowly maturing the most tremendous vengeance which anointed monarch ever deliberately wreaked upon his people, he wrote to say, that it was "his intention to treat his vassals and subjects in the provinces like a good and clement prince, not to ruin them nor to put them into servitude, but to exercise all humanity, sweetness, and grace, avoiding all harshness." such were the avowed intentions of the sovereign towards his people at the moment when the terrible alva, who was to be the exponent of all this "humanity, sweetness, and grace," was already beginning the preparations for his famous invasion of the netherlands. the essence of the compact agreed to upon the d august between the confederates and the regent, was that the preaching of the reformed religion should be tolerated in places where it had previously to that date been established. upon this basis egmont, horn, orange, hoogstraaten, and others, were directed once more to attempt the pacification of the different provinces. egmont departed for his government of flanders, and from that moment vanished all his pretensions, which at best had been, slender enough, to the character of a national chieftain. during the whole of the year his course had been changeful. he had felt the influence of orange; he had generous instincts; he had much vanity; he had the pride of high rank; which did not easily brook the domination of strangers, in a land which he considered himself and his compeers entitled by their birth to rule. at this juncture, however, particularly when in the company of noircarmes, berlaymont, and viglius, he expressed, notwithstanding their calumnious misstatements, the deepest detestation of the heretics. he was a fervent catholic, and he regarded the image-breaking as an unpardon able crime. "we must take up arms," said he, "sooner or later, to bring these reformers to reason, or they will end by laying down the law for us." on the other hand, his anger would be often appeased by the grave but gracious remonstrances of orange. during a part of the summer, the reformers had been so strong in flanders that upon a single day sixty thousand armed men had been assembled at the different field-preachings within that province. "all they needed was a jacquemart, or a philip van artevelde," says a catholic, contemporary, "but they would have scorned to march under the banner of a brewer; having dared to raise their eyes for a chief, to the most illustrious warrior of his ages." no doubt, had egmont ever listened to these aspirations, he might have taken the field against the government with an invincible force, seized the capital, imprisoned the regent, and mastered the whole country, which was entirely defenceless, before philip would have had time to write more than ten despatches upon the subject. these hopes of the reformers, if hopes they could be called, were now destined to be most bitterly disappointed. egmont entered flanders, not as a chief of rebels--not as a wise pacificator, but as an unscrupulous partisan of government, disposed to take summary vengeance on all suspected persons who should fall in his way. he ordered numerous executions of image-breakers and of other heretics. the whole province was in a state of alarm; for, although he had not been furnished by the regent with a strong body of troops, yet the name of the conqueror at saint quentin and gravelines was worth many regiments. his severity was excessive. his sanguinary exertions were ably seconded also by his secretary bakkerzeel, a man who exercised the greatest influence over his chief, and who was now fiercely atoning for having signed the compromise by persecuting those whom that league had been formed to protect. "amid all the perplexities of the duchess regent," says a walloon historian, "this virtuous princess was consoled by the exploits of bakkerzeel, gentleman in count egmont's service. on one occasion he hanged twenty heretics, including a minister, at a single heat." such achievements as these by the hands or the orders of the distinguished general who had been most absurdly held up as a possible protector of the civil and religious liberties of the country, created profound sensation. flanders and artois were filled with the wives and children of suspected i thousands who had fled the country to escape the wrath of egmont. the cries and piteous lamentations of these unfortunate creatures were heard on every side. count louis was earnestly implored to intercede for the persecuted reformers. "you who have been so nobly gifted by heaven, you who have good will and singular bounty written upon your face," said utenhove to louis, "have the power to save these poor victims from the throats of the ravenous wolves." the count responded to the appeal, and strove to soften the severity of egmont, without, however, producing any very signal effect. flanders was soon pacified, nor was that important province permitted to enjoy the benefits of the agreement which had been extorted, from the duchess. the preachings were forbidden, and the ministers and congregations arrested and chastised, even in places where the custom had been established previously to the d august. certainly such vigorous exertions upon the part both of master and man did not savor of treason to philip, and hardly seemed to indicate the final doom of egmont and bakkerzeel. the course of orange at antwerp was consistent with his whole career. he honestly came to arrange a pacification, but he knew that this end could be gained only by loyally maintaining the accord which had been signed between the confederates and the regent. he came back to the city on the th august, and found order partially re-established. the burghers having at last become thoroughly alarmed, and the fury of the image-breakers entirely appeased, it had been comparatively easy to restore tranquillity. the tranquillity, however, rather restored itself, and when the calm had succeeded to the tempest, the placid heads of the burgomasters once, more emerged from the waves. three image-breakers, who had been taken in the act, were hanged by order of the magistrates upon the th of august. the presence of orange gave them courage to achieve these executions which he could not prevent, as the fifth article of the accord enjoined the chastisement of the rioters. the magistrates chose that the "chastisement" on this occasion should be exemplary, and it was not in the power of orange to interfere with the regular government of the city when acting according to its laws. the deed was not his, however, and he hastened, in order to obviate the necessity of further violence, to prepare articles of agreement, upon the basis of margaret's concessions. public preaching, according to the reformed religion, had already taken place within the city. upon the d, possession had been taken of at least three churches. the senate had deputed pensionary wesenbeck to expostulate with the ministers, for the magistrates were at that moment not able to command. taffin, the walloon preacher, had been tractable, and had agreed to postpone his exercises. he furthermore had accompanied the pensionary to the cathedral, in order to persuade herman modet that it would be better for him likewise to defer his intended ministrations. they had found that eloquent enthusiast already in the great church, burning with impatience to ascend upon the ruins, and quite unable to resist the temptation of setting a flemish psalm and preaching a flemish sermon within the walls which had for so many centuries been vocal only to the roman tongue and the roman ritual. all that he would concede to the entreaties of his colleague and of the magistrate, was that his sermon should be short. in this, however, he had overrated his powers of retention, for the sermon not only became a long one, but he had preached another upon the afternoon of the same day. the city of antwerp, therefore, was clearly within the seventh clause of the treaty of the th august, for preaching had taken place in the cathedral, previously to the signing of that accord. upon the d september, therefore, after many protracted interview with the heads of the reformed religion, the prince drew up sixteen articles of agreement between them, the magistrates and the government, which were duly signed and exchanged. they were conceived in the true spirit of statesmanship, and could the rulers of the land have elevated themselves to the mental height of william de nassau, had philip been able of comprehending such a mind, the prince, who alone possessed the power in those distracted times of governing the wills of all men, would have enabled the monarch to transmit that beautiful cluster of provinces, without the lose of a single jewel, to the inheritors of his crown. if the prince were playing a game, he played it honorably. to have conceived the thought of religious toleration in an age of universal dogmatism; to have labored to produce mutual respect among conflicting opinions, at a period when many dissenters were as bigoted as the orthodox, and when most reformers fiercely proclaimed not liberty for every christian doctrine, but only a new creed in place of all the rest,--to have admitted the possibility of several roads, to heaven, when zealots of all creeds would shut up all pathways but their own; if such sentiments and purposes were sins, they would have been ill-exchanged for the best virtues of the age. yet, no doubt, this was his crying offence in the opinion of many contemporaries. he was now becoming apostate from the ancient church, but he had long thought that emperors, kings, and popes had taken altogether too much care of men's souls in times past, and had sent too many of them prematurely to their great account. he was equally indisposed to grant full-powers for the same purpose to calvinists, lutherans, or anabaptists. "he censured the severity of our theologians," said a catholic contemporary, accumulating all the religious offences of the prince in a single paragraph, "because they keep strictly the constitutions of the church without conceding a single point to their adversaries; he blamed the calvinists as seditious and unruly people, yet nevertheless had a horror for the imperial edicts which condemned them to death; he said it was a cruel thing to take a man's life for sustaining an erroneous opinion; in short, he fantasied in his imagination a kind of religion, half catholic, half reformed, in order to content all persons; a system which would have been adopted could he have had his way." this picture, drawn by one of his most brilliant and bitter enemies, excites our admiration while intended to inspire aversion. the articles of agreement at antwerp thus promulgated assigned three churches to the different sects of reformers, stipulated that no attempt should be made by catholics or protestants to disturb the religious worship of each other, and provided that neither by mutual taunts in their sermons, nor by singing street ballads, together with improper allusions and overt acts of hostility, should the good-fellowship which ought to reign between brethren and fellow-citizens, even although entertaining different opinions as to religious rites and doctrines, be for the future interrupted. this was the basis upon which the very brief religious peace, broken almost as soon as established, was concluded by william of orange, not only at antwerp, but at utrecht, amsterdam, and other principal cities within his government. the prince, however, notwithstanding his unwearied exertions, had slender hopes of a peaceful result. he felt that the last step taken by the reformation had been off a precipice. he liked not such rapid progress. he knew that the king would never forgive the image-breaking. he felt that he would never recognize the accord of the th august. sir thomas gresham, who, as the representative of the protestant queen of england in the great commercial metropolis of europe, was fully conversant with the turn things were taking, was already advising some other place for the sale of english commodities. he gave notice to his government that commerce would have no security at antwerp "in those brabbling times." he was on confidential terms with the prince, who invited him to dine upon the th september, and caused pensionary wesenbeck, who was also present, to read aloud the agreement which was that day to be proclaimed at the town-house. orange expressed himself, however, very doubtfully as to the future prospects of the provinces, and as to the probable temper of the king. "in all his talke," says gresham, "the prince aside unto me, 'i know this will nothing contente the king!'" while egmont had been, thus busied in flanders, and orange at antwerp, count horn had been doing his best in the important city of tournay. the admiral was not especially gifted with intellect, nor with the power of managing men, but he went there with an honest purpose of seeing the accord executed, intending, if it should prove practicable, rather to favor the government than the reformers. at the same time, for the purpose of giving satisfaction to the members of "the religion," and of manifesting his sincere desire for a pacification, he accepted lodgings which had been prepared for him at the house of a calvinist merchant in the city, rather, than, take up his quarters with fierce old governor moulbais, in the citadel. this gave much offence to the catholics; and inspired the reformers, with the hope of having their preaching inside the town. to this privilege they were entitled, for the practice had already been established there, previously to the th october. nevertheless, at first he was disposed to limit them, in accordance with the wishes of the duchess, to extra-mural exercises. upon his arrival, by a somewhat ominous conjuncture, he had supped with some of the leading citizens in the hall of the "gehenna" or torture room, certainly not a locality calculated to inspire a healthy appetite. on the following sunday he had been entertained with a great banquet, at which all the principal burghers were present, held in a house on the market-place. the festivities had been interrupted by a quarrel, which had been taking place in the cathedral. beneath the vaults of that edifice, tradition said that a vast treasure was hidden, and the canons had been known to boast that this buried wealth would be sufficient to rebuild their temple more magnificently than ever, in case of its total destruction. the admiral had accordingly placed a strong guard in the church as soon as he arrived, and commenced very extensive excavations in search of this imaginary mine. the regent informed her brother that the count was prosecuting this work with the view of appropriating whatever might be found to his own benefit. as she knew that he was a ruined man, there seemed no more satisfactory mode of accounting for these proceedings. horn had, however, expressly stated to her that every penny which should come into his possession from that or any other source would carefully be restored to the rightful owners. nothing of consequence was ever found to justify the golden legends of the monks, but in the mean time the money-diggers gave great offence. the canons, naturally alarmed for the safety of their fabulous treasure, had forced the guard, by surreptitiously obtaining the countersign from a certain official of the town. a quarrel ensued which ended in the appearance of this personage, together with the commander of the military force on guard in the cathedral, before the banqueting company. the count, in the rough way habitual with him, gave the culprit a sound rebuke for his intermeddling, and threatened, in case the offence were repeated, to have him instantly bound, gagged, and forwarded to brussels for further punishment. the matter thus satisfactorily adjusted, the banquet proceeded, the merchants present being all delighted at seeing the said official, who was exceedingly, unpopular, "so well huffed by the count." the excavations were continued for along time, until there seemed danger of destroying the foundation of the church, but only a few bits of money were discovered, with some other articles of small value. horn had taken his apartments in the city in order to be at hand to suppress any tumults, and to inspire confidence in the people. he had come to a city where five sixths of the inhabitants--were of the reformed religion, and he did not, therefore, think it judicious to attempt violently the suppression of their worship. upon his arrival he had issued a proclamation, ordering that all property which might have been pillaged from the religious houses should be instantly restored to the magistracy, under penalty that all who disobeyed the command should "be forthwith strangled at the gibbet." nothing was brought back, however, for the simple reason that nothing had been stolen. there was, therefore, no one to be strangled. the next step was to publish the accord of th august, and to signify the intention of the admiral to enforce its observance. the preachings were as enthusiastically attended as ever, while the storm which had been raging among the images had in the mean time been entirely allayed. congregations of fifteen thousand were still going to hear ambrose wille in the suburbs, but they were very tranquil in their demeanor. it was arranged between the admiral and the leaders of the reformed consistories, that three places, to be selected by horn, should be assigned for their places of worship. at these spots, which were outside the walls, permission was given the reformers to build meeting-houses. to this arrangement the duchess formally gave her consent. nicholas taffin; councillor, in the name of the reformers, made "a brave and elegant harangue" before the magistrates, representing that, as on the most moderate computation, three quarters of the population were dissenters, as the regent had ordered the construction of the new temples, and as the catholics retained possession of all the churches in the city, it was no more than fair that the community should bear the expense of the new buildings. it was indignantly replied, however, that catholics could not be expected to pay for the maintenance of heresy, particularly when they had just been so much exasperated by the image-breaking councillor taffin took nothing, therefore by his "brave and elegant harangue," saving a small vote of forty livres. the building was, however, immediately commenced. many nobles and rich citizens contributed to the work; some making donations in money; others giving quantities of oaks, poplars, elms, and other timber trees, to be used in the construction. the foundation of the first temple outside the ports de cocquerel was immediately laid. vast heaps of broken images and other ornaments of the desecrated churches were most unwisely used for this purpose, and the catholics were exceedingly enraged at beholding those male and female saints, who had for centuries been placed in such "reverend and elevated positions," fallen so low as to be the foundation-stones of temples whose builders denounced all those holy things as idols. as the autumn began to wane, the people were clamorous for permission to have their preaching inside the city. the new buildings could not be finished before the winter; but in the mean time the camp-meetings were becoming, in the stormy seasons fast approaching, a very inconvenient mode of worship. on the other hand, the duchess was furious at the proposition, and commanded horn on no account to consent that the interior of tournay should be profaned by these heretical rites. it was in vain that the admiral represented the justice of the claim, as these exercises had taken place in several of the city churches previously to the accord of the th of august. that agreement had been made by the duchess only to be broken. she had already received money and the permission to make levies, and was fast assuming a tone very different from the abject demeanor which had characterized her in august. count horn had been used even as egmont, orange and hoogstraaten had been employed, in order that their personal influence with the reformers might be turned to account. the tools and the work accomplished by them were to be thrown away at the most convenient opportunity. the admiral was placed in a most intolerable position. an honest, common-place, sullen kind of man, he had come to a city full of heretics, to enforce concessions just made by the government to heresy. he soon found himself watched, paltered with, suspected by the administration at brussels. governor moulbais in the citadel, who was nominally under his authority, refused obedience to his orders, was evidently receiving secret instructions from the regent, and was determined to cannonade the city into submission at a very early day. horn required him to pledge himself that no fresh troops should enter the castle. moulbais swore he would make no such promise to a living soul. the admiral stormed with his usual violence, expressed his regret that his brother montigny had so bad a lieutenant in the citadel, but could make no impression upon the determined veteran, who knew, better than horn, the game which was preparing. small reinforcements were daily arriving at the castle; the soldiers of the garrison had been heard to boast "that they would soon carve and eat the townsmen's flesh on their dressers," and all the good effect from the admiral's proclamation on arriving, had completely vanished. horn complained bitterly of the situation in which he was placed. he knew himself the mark of incessant and calumnious misrepresentation both at brussels and madrid. he had been doing his best, at a momentous crisis, to serve the government without violating its engagements, but he declared himself to be neither theologian nor jurist, and incapable, while suspected and unassisted, of performing a task which the most learned doctors of the council would find impracticable. he would rather, he bitterly exclaimed, endure a siege in any fortress by the turks, than be placed in such a position. he was doing all that he was capable of doing, yet whatever he did was wrong. there was a great difference, he said, between being in a place and talking about it at a distance. in the middle of october he was recalled by the duchess, whose letters had been uniformly so ambiguous that he confessed he was quite unable to divine their meaning. before he left the city, he committed his most unpardonable crime. urged by the leaders of the reformed congregations to permit their exercises in the clothiers' hall until their temples should be finished, the count accorded his consent provisionally, and subject to revocation by the regent, to whom the arrangement was immediately to be communicated. horn departed, and the reformers took instant possession of the hall. it was found in a very dirty and disorderly condition, encumbered with benches, scaffoldings, stakes, gibbets, and all the machinery used for public executions upon the market-place. a vast body of men went to work with a will; scrubbing, cleaning, whitewashing, and removing all the foul lumber of the hall; singing in chorus, as they did so, the hymns of clement marot. by dinner-time the place was ready. the pulpit and benches for the congregation had taken the place of the gibbet timber. it is difficult to comprehend that such work as this was a deadly crime. nevertheless, horn, who was himself a sincere catholic, had committed the most mortal of all his offences against philip and against god, by having countenanced so flagitious a transaction. the admiral went to brussels. secretary de la torre, a very second-rate personage, was despatched to tournay to convey the orders of the regent. governor moulbais, now in charge of affairs both civil and military, was to prepare all things for the garrison, which was soon to be despatched under noircarmes. the duchess had now arms in her hands, and her language was bold. la torre advised the reformers to be wise "while the rod was yet green and growing, lest it should be gathered for their backs; for it was unbecoming is subjects to make bargains with their king." there was hardly any decent pretext used in violating the accord of the th august, so soon as the government was strong enough to break it. it was always said that the preachings suppressed, had not been established previously to that arrangement; but the preachings had in reality obtained almost every where, and were now universally abolished. the ridiculous quibble was also used that, in the preachings other religious exercises were not included, whereas it was notorious that they had never been separated. it is, however, a gratuitous task, to unravel the deceptions of tyranny when it hardly deigns to disguise itself. the dissimulations which have resisted the influence of centuries are more worthy of serious investigation, and of these the epoch offers us a sufficient supply. at the close of the year, the city of tournay was completely subjugated and the reformed religion suppressed. upon the nd day of january, , the seignior de noircarmes arrived before the gates at the head of eleven companies, with orders from duchess margaret to strengthen the garrison and disarm the citizens. he gave the magistrates exactly one hour and a half to decide whether they would submit without a murmur. he expressed an intention of maintaining the accord of th august; a ridiculous affectation under the circumstances, as the event proved. the notables were summoned, submission agreed upon, and within the prescribed time the magistrates came before noircarmes, with an unconditional acceptance of his terms. that truculent personage told them, in reply, that they had done wisely, for if they had delayed receiving the garrison a minute longer, he would have instantly burned the city to ashes and put every one of the inhabitants to the sword. he had been fully authorized to do so, and subsequent events were to show, upon more than one dreadful occasion, how capable noircarmes would have been of fulfilling this menace. the soldiers, who had made a forced march all night, and who had been firmly persuaded that the city would refuse the terms demanded, were excessively disappointed at being obliged to forego the sack and pillage upon which they had reckoned. eight or nine hundred rascally peasants, too, who had followed in the skirts of the regiments, each provided with a great empty bag, which they expected to fill with booty which they might purchase of the soldiers, or steal in the midst of the expected carnage and rapine, shared the discontent of the soldiery, by whom they were now driven ignominiously out of the town. the citizens were immediately disarmed. all the fine weapons which they had been obliged to purchase at their own expense, when they had been arranged by the magistrates under eight banners, for defence of the city against tumult and invasion, were taken from them; the most beautiful cutlasses, carbines, poniards, and pistols, being divided by noircarmes among his officers. thus tournay was tranquillized. during the whole of these proceedings in flanders, and at antwerp, tournay, and mechlin, the conduct of the duchess had been marked with more than her usual treachery. she had been disavowing acts which the men upon whom she relied in her utmost need had been doing by her authority; she had been affecting to praise their conduct, while she was secretly misrepresenting their actions and maligning their motives, and she had been straining every nerve to make foreign levies, while attempting to amuse the confederates and sectaries with an affectation of clemency. when orange complained that she had been censuring his proceedings at antwerp, and holding language unfavorable to his character, she protested that she thoroughly approved his arrangements--excepting only the two points of the intramural preachings and the permission to heretics of other exercises than sermons--and that if she were displeased with him he might be sure that she would rather tell him so than speak ill of him behind his back. the prince, who had been compelled by necessity, and fully authorized by the terms of the "accord", to grant those two points which were the vital matter in his arrangements, answered very calmly, that he was not so frivolous as to believe in her having used language to his discredit had he not been quite certain of the fact, as he would soon prove by evidence. orange was not the man to be deceived as to the position in which he stood, nor as to the character of those with whom he dealt. margaret wrote, however, in the same vein concerning him to hoogstmaten, affirming that nothing could be further from her intention than to characterize the proceedings of "her cousin, the prince of orange, as contrary to the service of his majesty; knowing, as she did, how constant had been his affection, and how diligent his actions, in the cause of god and the king." she also sent councillor d'assonleville on a special mission to the prince, instructing that smooth personage to inform her said cousin of orange that he was and always had been "loved and cherished by his majesty, and that for herself she had ever loved him like a brother or a child." she wrote to horn, approving of his conduct in the main, although in obscure terms, and expressing great confidence in his zeal, loyalty, and good intentions. she accorded the same praise to hoogstraaten, while as to egmont she was perpetually reproaching him for the suspicions which he seemed obstinately to entertain as to her disposition and that of philip, in regard to his conduct and character. it has already been partly seen what were her private sentiments and secret representations as to the career of the distinguished personages thus encouraged and commended. her pictures were painted in daily darkening colors. she told her brother that orange, egmont, and horn were about to place themselves at the head of the confederates, who were to take up arms and had been levying troops; that the lutheran religion was to be forcibly established, that the whole power of the government was to be placed in the triumvirate thus created by those seigniors, and that philip was in reality to be excluded entirely from those provinces which were his ancient patrimony. all this information she had obtained from mansfeld, at whom the nobles were constantly sneering as at a faithful valet who would never receive his wages. she also informed the king that the scheme for dividing the country was already arranged: that augustus of saxony was to have friesland and overyssel; count brederode, holland; the dukes of cleves and lorraine, gueldres; the king of france, flanders, artois, and hainault, of which territories egmont was to be perpetual stadholder; the prince of orange, brabant; and so on indefinitely. a general massacre of all the catholics had been arranged by orange, horn, and egmont, to commence as soon as the king should put his foot on shipboard to come to the country. this last remarkable fact margaret reported to philip, upon the respectable authority of noircarmes. she apologized for having employed the service of these nobles, on the ground of necessity. their proceedings in flanders, at antwerp, tournay, mechlin, had been highly reprehensible, and she had been obliged to disavow them in the most important particulars. as for egmont, she had most unwillingly entrusted forces to his hands for the purpose of putting down the flemish sectaries. she had been afraid to show a want of confidence in his character, but at the same time she believed that all soldiers under egmont's orders would be so many enemies to the king. notwithstanding his protestations of fidelity to the ancient religion and to his majesty, she feared that he was busied with some great plot against god and the king. when we remember the ruthless manner in which the unfortunate count had actually been raging against the sectaries, and the sanguinary proofs which he had been giving of his fidelity to "god and the king," it seems almost incredible that margaret could have written down all these monstrous assertions. the duchess gave, moreover, repeated warnings to her brother, that the nobles were in the habit of obtaining possession of all the correspondence between madrid and brussels; and that they spent a vast deal of money in order to read her own and philip's most private letters. she warned him therefore, to be upon his guard, for she believed that almost all their despatches were read. such being the cases and the tenor of those documents being what we have seen it to be, her complaints as to the incredulity of those seigniors to her affectionate protestations, seem quite wonderful. chapter ix., part ., position of orange--the interview at dendermonde--the supposititious letters of alava--views of egmont--isolation of orange--conduct of egmont and of horn--confederacy, of the nobles dissolved--weak behavior of prominent personages----watchfulness of orange-- convocation of states general demanded--pamphlet of orange--city of valenciennes refuses a garrison--influence of la grange and de bray --city, declared in a state of siege--invested by noircarmes-- movements to relieve the place--calvinists defeated at lannoy and at waterlots--elation of the government--the siege pressed more closely--cruelties practised upon the country people--courage of the inhabitants--remonstrance to the knights of the fleece--conduct of brederode--orange at amsterdam--new oath demanded by government-- orange refuses--he offers his resignation of all offices--meeting at breda--new "request" of brederode--he creates disturbances and levies troops in antwerp--conduct of hoogstraaten--plans of brederode--supposed connivance of orange--alarm at brussels-- tholouse at ostrawell--brederode in holland--de beauvoir defeats tholouse--excitement at antwerp--determined conduct of orange--three days' tumult at antwerp suppressed by the wisdom and courage of orange. it is necessary to allude to certain important events contemporaneous with those recorded in the last chapter, that the reader may thoroughly understand the position of the leading personages in this great drama at the close of the year . the prince of orange had, as we have seen, bean exerting all his energies faithfully to accomplish the pacification of the commercial metropolis, upon the basis assented to beforehand by the duchess. he had established a temporary religious peace, by which alone at that crisis the gathering tempest could be averted; but he had permitted the law to take its course upon certain rioters, who had been regularly condemned by courts of justice. he had worked day and night--notwithstanding immense obstacles, calumnious misstatements, and conflicting opinions--to restore order out of chaos; he had freely imperilled his own life--dashing into a tumultuous mob on one occasion, wounding several with the halberd which he snatched from one of his guard, and dispersing almost with his single arm a dangerous and threatening insurrection--and he had remained in antwerp, at the pressing solicitations of the magistracy, who represented that the lives of not a single ecclesiastic would be safe as soon as his back was turned, and that all the merchants would forthwith depart from the city. it was nevertheless necessary that he should make a personal visit to his government of holland, where similar disorders had been prevailing, and where men of all ranks and parties were clamoring for their stadholder. notwithstanding all his exertions however, he was thoroughly aware of the position in which he stood towards the government. the sugared phrases of margaret, the deliberate commendation of the "benign and debonair" philip, produced no effect upon this statesman, who was accustomed to look through and through men's actions to the core of their hearts. in the hearts of philip and margaret he already saw treachery and revenge indelibly imprinted. he had been especially indignant at the insult which the duchess regent had put upon him, by sending duke eric of brunswick with an armed force into holland in order to protect gouda, woerden, and other places within the prince's own government. he was thoroughly conversant with the general tone in which the other seigniors and himself were described to their sovereign. he, was already convinced that the country was to be conquered by foreign mercenaries, and that his own life, with these of many other nobles, was to be sacrificed. the moment had arrived in which he was justified in looking about him for means of defence, both for himself and his country, if the king should be so insane as to carry out the purposes which the prince suspected. the time was fast approaching in which a statesman placed upon such an elevation before the world as that which he occupied, would be obliged to choose his part for life. to be the unscrupulous tool of tyranny, a rebel, or an exile, was his necessary fate. to a man so prone to read the future, the moment for his choice seemed already arrived. moreover, he thought it doubtful, and events were most signally to justify his doubts, whether he could be accepted as the instrument of despotism, even were he inclined to prostitute himself to such service. at this point, therefore, undoubtedly began the treasonable thoughts of william the silent, if it be treason to attempt the protection of ancient and chartered liberties against a foreign oppressor. he despatched a private envoy to egmont, representing the grave suspicions manifested by the duchess in sending duke eric into holland, and proposing that means should be taken into consideration for obviating the dangers with which the country was menaced. catholics as well as protestants, he intimated, were to be crushed in one universal conquest as soon as philip had completed the formidable preparations which he was making for invading the provinces. for himself, he said, he would not remain in the land to witness the utter desolation of the people, nor to fall an unresisting victim to the vengeance which he foresaw. if, however, he might rely upon the co-operation of egmont and horn, he was willing, with the advice of the states-general, to risk preparations against the armed invasion of spaniards by which the country was to be reduced to slavery. it was incumbent, however, upon men placed as they were, "not to let the grass grow under their feet;" and the moment for action was fast approaching. this was the scheme which orange was willing to attempt. to make use of his own influence and that of his friends, to interpose between a sovereign insane with bigotry, and a people in a state of religious frenzy, to resist brutal violence if need should be by force, and to compel the sovereign to respect the charters which he had sworn to maintain, and which were far more ancient than his sovereignty; so much of treason did william of orange already contemplate, for in no other way could he be loyal to his country and his own honor. nothing came of this secret embassy, for egmont's heart and fate were already fixed. before orange departed, however; for the north, where his presence in the dutch provinces was now imperatively required, a memorable interview took place at dendermonde between orange, horn, egmont, hoogstraaten, and count louis. the nature of this conference was probably similar to that of the secret mission from orange to egmont just recorded. it was not a long consultation. the gentlemen met at eleven o'clock, and conversed until dinner was ready, which was between twelve and one in the afternoon. they discussed the contents of a letter recently received by horn from his brother montigny at segovia, giving a lively picture of philip's fury at the recent events in the netherlands, and expressing the baron's own astonishment and indignation that it had been impossible for the seigniors to prevent such outrages as the public preaching, the image-breaking and the accord. they had also some conversation concerning the dissatisfaction manifested by the duchess at the proceedings of count horn at tournay, and they read a very remarkable letter which had been furnished them, as having been written by the spanish envoy in paris, don francis of alava, to margaret of parma. this letter was forged. at least the regent, in her italian correspondence, asserted it to be fictitious, and in those secret letters to philip she usually told the truth. the astuteness of william of orange had in this instance been deceived. the striking fidelity, however, with which the present and future policy of the government was sketched, the accuracy with which many unborn events were foreshadowed, together with the minute touches which gave an air of genuineness to the fictitious despatch, might well deceive even so sagacious an observer as the prince. the letters alluded to the deep and long-settled hostility of philip to orange, horn, and egmont, as to a fact entirely within the writer's knowledge, and that of his correspondent, but urged upon the duchess the assumption of an extraordinary degree of apparent cordiality in her intercourse with them. it was the king's intention to use them and to destroy them, said the writer, and it was the regent's duty to second the design. "the tumults and troubles have not been without their secret concurrence," said the supposititious alava, "and your highness may rest assured that they will be the first upon whom his majesty will seize, not to confer benefits, but to chastise them as they deserve. your highness, however, should show no symptom of displeasure, but should constantly maintain in their minds the idea that his majesty considers them as the most faithful of his servants. while they are persuaded of this, they can be more easily used, but when the time comes, they will be treated in another manner. your highness may rest assured that his majesty is not less inclined than your highness that they should receive the punishment which they merit." the duchess was furthermore recommended "to deal with the three seigniors according to the example of the spanish governments in its intercourse with the envoys, bergen and montigny, who are met with a smiling face, but who are closely watched, and who will never be permitted to leave spain alive." the remainder of the letter alludes to supposed engagements between france and spain for the extirpation of heresy, from which allusion to the generally accepted but mistaken notion as to the bayonne conference, a decided proof seems to be furnished that the letter was not genuine. great complaints, however, are made, as to the conduct of the queen regent, who is described as "a certain lady well known to her highness, and as a person without faith, friendship, or truth; the most consummate hypocrite in the world." after giving instances of the duplicity manifested by catherine de medici, the writer continues: "she sends her little black dwarf to me upon frequent errands, in order that by means of this spy she may worm out my secrets. i am, however, upon my guard, and flatter myself that i learn more from him than she from me. she shall never be able to boast of having deceived a spaniard." an extract or two from this very celebrated document seemed indispensable, because of the great importance attached to it, both at the dendermonde conference, and at the trials of egmont and horn. the contemporary writers of holland had no doubt of its genuineness, and what is more remarkable, strada, the historiographer of the farnese family, after quoting margaret's denial of the authenticity of the letter, coolly observes: "whether this were only an invention of the conspirators, or actually a despatch from alava, i shall not decide. it is certain, however, that the duchess declared it to be false." certainly, as we read the epistles, and observe how profoundly the writer seems to have sounded the deep guile of the spanish cabinet, and how distinctly events, then far in the future, are indicated, we are tempted to exclaim: "aut alava, aut diabolus;" either the envoy wrote the despatch, or orange. who else could look into the future, and into philip's heart so unerringly? as the charge has never been made, so far as we are aware, against the prince, it is superfluous to discuss the amount of immorality which should belong to such a deception. a tendency to employ stratagem in his warfare against spain was, no doubt, a blemish upon his--high character. before he is condemned, however, in the court of conscience, the ineffable wiles of the policy with which he had to combat must be thoroughly scanned, as well as the pure and lofty purpose for which his life's long battle was fought. there was, doubtless, some conversation at dendermonde on the propriety or possibility of forcible resistance to a spanish army, with which it seemed probable that philip was about to invade the provinces, and take the lives of the leading nobles. count louis was in favor of making provision in germany for the accomplishment of this purpose. it is also highly probable that the prince may have encouraged the proposition. in the sense of his former communication to egmont, he may have reasoned on the necessity of making levies to sustain the decisions of the states-general against violence. there is, however, no proof of any such fact. egmont, at any rate, opposed the scheme, on the ground that "it was wrong to entertain any such ill opinion of so good a king as philip, that he had never done any thing unjust towards his subjects, and that if any one was in fear, he had better leave the country." egmont, moreover; doubted the authenticity of the letters from alava, but agreed to carry them to brussels, and to lay them before the regent. that lady, when she saw them, warmly assured the count that they were inventions. the conference broke up after it had lasted an hour and a half. the nobles then went to dinner, at which other persons appear to have been present, and the celebrated dendermonde meeting was brought to a close. after the repast was finished, each of the five nobles mounted his horse, and departed on his separate way. from this time forth the position of, these leading seigniors became more sharply defined. orange was left in almost complete isolation. without the assistance of egmont, any effective resistance to the impending invasion from spain seemed out of the question. the count, however, had taken his irrevocable and fatal resolution. after various oscillations during the stormy period which had elapsed, his mind, notwithstanding all the disturbing causes by which it had hitherto been partially influenced, now pointed steadily to the point of loyalty. the guidance of that pole star was to lead him to utter shipwreck. the unfortunate noble, entrenched against all fear of philip by the brazen wall of an easy conscience; saw no fault in his past at which he should grow pale with apprehension. moreover, he was sanguine by nature, a catholic in religion, a royalist from habit and conviction. henceforth he was determined that his services to the crown should more than counterbalance any idle speeches or insolent demonstrations of which he might have been previously guilty. horn pursued a different course, but one which separated him also from the prince, while it led to the same fate which egmont was blindly pursuing.--the admiral had committed no act of treason. on the contrary, he had been doing his best, under most difficult circumstances, to avert rebellion and save the interests of a most ungrateful sovereign. he was now disposed to wrap himself in his virtue, to retreat from a court life, for which he had never felt a vocation, and to resign all connection with a government by which he felt himself very badly, treated. moody, wrathful, disappointed, ruined, and calumniated, he would no longer keep terms with king or duchess. he had griefs of long standing against the whole of the royal family. he had never forgiven the emperor for refusing him, when young, the appointment of chamberlain. he had served philip long and faithfully, but he had never received a stiver of salary or "merced," notwithstanding all his work as state councillor, as admiral, as superintendent in spain; while his younger brother had long been in receipt of nine or ten thousand florins yearly. he had spent four hundred thousand florins in the king's service; his estates were mortgaged to their full value; he had been obliged to sell, his family plate. he had done his best in tourney to serve the duchess, and he had averted the "sicilian vespers," which had been imminent at his arrival. he had saved the catholics from a general massacre, yet he heard nevertheless from montigny, that all his actions were distorted in spain, and his motives blackened. his heart no longer inclined him to continue in philip's service, even were he furnished with the means of doing so. he had instructed his secretary, alonzo de la loo, whom he had despatched many months previously to madrid, that he was no longer to press his master's claims for a "merced," but to signify that he abandoned all demands and resigned all posts. he could turn hermit for the rest of his days, as well as the emperor charles. if he had little, he could live upon little. it was in this sense that he spoke to margaret of parma, to assonleville, to all around him. it was precisely in this strain and temper that he wrote to philip, indignantly defending his course at tourney, protesting against the tortuous conduct of the duchess, and bluntly declaring that he would treat no longer with ladies upon matters which concerned a man's honor. thus, smarting under a sense of gross injustice, the admiral expressed himself in terms which philip was not likely to forgive. he had undertaken the pacification of tournay, because it was montigny's government, and he had promised his services whenever they should be requisite. horn was a loyal and affectionate brother, and it is pathetic to find him congratulating montigny on being, after all, better off in spain than in the netherlands. neither loyalty nor the sincere catholicism for which montigny at this period commended horn in his private letters, could save the two brothers from the doom which was now fast approaching. thus horn, blind as egmont--not being aware that a single step beyond implicit obedience had created an impassable gulf between philip and himself--resolved to meet his destiny in sullen retirement. not an entirely disinterested man, perhaps, but an honest one, as the world went, mediocre in mind, but brave, generous, and direct of purpose, goaded by the shafts of calumny, hunted down by the whole pack which fawned upon power as it grew more powerful, he now retreated to his "desert," as he called his ruined home at weert, where he stood at bay, growling defiance at the regent, at philip, at all the world. thus were the two prominent personages upon whose co-operation orange had hitherto endeavored to rely, entirely separated from him. the confederacy of nobles, too, was dissolved, having accomplished little, notwithstanding all its noisy demonstrations, and having lost all credit with the people by the formal cessation of the compromise in consequence of the accord of august. as a body, they had justified the sarcasm of hubert languet, that "the confederated nobles had ruined their country by their folly and incapacity." they had profaned a holy cause by indecent orgies, compromised it by seditious demonstrations, abandoned it when most in need of assistance. bakkerzeel had distinguished himself by hanging sectaries in flanders. "golden fleece" de hammes, after creating great scandal in and about antwerp, since the accord, had ended by accepting an artillery commission in the emperor's army, together with three hundred crowns for convoy from duchess margaret. culemburg was serving the cause of religious freedom by defacing the churches within his ancestral domains, pulling down statues, dining in chapels and giving the holy wafer to his parrot. nothing could be more stupid than these acts of irreverence, by which catholics were offended and honest patriots disgusted. nothing could be more opposed to the sentiments of orange, whose first principle was abstinence by all denominations of christians from mutual insults. at the same time, it is somewhat revolting to observe the indignation with which such offences were regarded by men of the most abandoned character. thus, armenteros, whose name was synonymous with government swindling, who had been rolling up money year after year, by peculations, auctioneering of high posts in church and state, bribes, and all kinds of picking and stealing, could not contain his horror as he referred to wafers eaten by parrots, or "toasted on forks" by renegade priests; and poured out his emotions on the subject into the faithful bosom of antonio perez, the man with whose debaucheries, political villanies, and deliberate murders all europe was to ring. no doubt there were many individuals in the confederacy for whom it was reserved to render honorable service in the national cause. the names of louis nassau, mamix of st. aldegonde, bernard de merode, were to be written in golden letters in their country's rolls; but at this moment they were impatient, inconsiderate, out of the control of orange. louis was anxious for the king to come from spain with his army, and for "the bear dance to begin." brederode, noisy, bawling, and absurd as ever, was bringing ridicule upon the national cause by his buffoonery, and endangering the whole people by his inadequate yet rebellious exertions. what course was the prince of orange to adopt? he could find no one to comprehend his views. he felt certain at the close of the year that the purpose of the government was fixed. he made no secret of his determination never to lend himself as an instrument for the contemplated subjugation of the people. he had repeatedly resigned all his offices. he was now determined that the resignation once for all should be accepted. if he used dissimulation, it was because philip's deception permitted no man to be frank. if the sovereign constantly disavowed all hostile purposes against his people, and manifested extreme affection for the men whom he had already doomed to the scaffold, how could the prince openly denounce him? it was his duty to save his country and his friends from impending ruin. he preserved, therefore, an attitude of watchfulness. philip, in the depth of his cabinet, was under a constant inspection by the sleepless prince. the sovereign assured his sister that her apprehensions about their correspondence was groundless. he always locked up his papers, and took the key with him. nevertheless, the key was taken out of his pocket and the papers read. orange was accustomed to observe, that men of leisure might occupy themselves with philosophical pursuits and with the secrets of nature, but that it was his business to study the hearts of kings. he knew the man and the woman with whom he had to deal. we have seen enough of the policy secretly pursued by philip and margaret to appreciate the accuracy with which the prince, groping as it were in the dark, had judged the whole situation. had his friends taken his warnings, they might have lived to render services against tyranny. had he imitated their example of false loyalty, there would have been one additional victim, more illustrious than all the rest, and a whole country hopelessly enslaved. it is by keeping these considerations in view, that we can explain his connection with such a man as brederode. the enterprises of that noble, of tholouse, and others, and the resistance of valenciennes, could hardly have been prevented even by the opposition of the prince. but why should he take the field against men who, however rashly or ineffectually, were endeavoring to oppose tyranny, when he knew himself already proscribed and doomed by the tyrant? such loyalty he left to egmont. till late in the autumn, he had still believed in the possibility of convoking the states-general, and of making preparations in germany to enforce their decrees. the confederates and sectaries had boasted that they could easily raise an army of sixty thousand men within the provinces,--that twelve hundred thousand florins monthly would be furnished by the rich merchants of antwerp, and that it was ridiculous to suppose that the german mercenaries enrolled by the duchess in saxony, hesse, and other protestant countries, would ever render serious assistance against the adherents of the reformed religion. without placing much confidence in such exaggerated statements, the prince might well be justified in believing himself strong enough, if backed by the confederacy, by egmont, and by his own boundless influence, both at antwerp and in his own government, to sustain the constituted authorities of the nation even against a spanish army, and to interpose with legitimate and irresistible strength between the insane tyrant and the country which he was preparing to crush. it was the opinion of the best informed catholics that, if egmont should declare for the confederacy, he could take the field with sixty thousand men, and make himself master of the whole country at a blow. in conjunction with orange, the moral and physical force would have been invincible. it was therefore not orange alone, but the catholics and protestants alike, the whole population of the country, and the duchess regent herself, who desired the convocation of the estates. notwithstanding philip's deliberate but secret determination never to assemble that body, although the hope was ever to be held out that they should be convened, margaret had been most importunate that her brother should permit the measure. "there was less danger," she felt herself compelled to say, "in assembling than in not assembling the states; it was better to preserve the catholic religion for a part of the country, than to lose it altogether." "the more it was delayed," she said, "the more ruinous and desperate became the public affairs. if the measure were postponed much longer, all flanders, half brabant, the whole of holland, zeland, gueldrea, tournay, lille, mechlin, would be lost forever, without a chance of ever restoring the ancient religion." the country, in short, was "without faith, king, or law," and nothing worse could be apprehended from any deliberation of the states-general. these being the opinions of the duchess, and according to her statement those of nearly all the good catholics in the country, it could hardly seem astonishing or treasonable that the prince should also be in favor of the measure. as the duchess grew stronger, however, and as the people, aghast at the fate of tournay and valenciennes, began to lose courage, she saw less reason for assembling the states. orange, on the other hand, completely deserted by egmont and horn, and having little confidence in the characters of the ex-confederates, remained comparatively quiescent but watchful. at the close of the year, an important pamphlet from his hand was circulated, in which his views as to the necessity of allowing some degree of religious freedom were urged upon the royal government with his usual sagacity of thought, moderation of language, and modesty in tone. the man who had held the most important civil and military offices in the country almost from boyhood, and who was looked up to by friend and foe as the most important personage in the three millions of its inhabitants, apologized for his "presumption" in coming forward publicly with his advice. "i would not," he said, "in matters of such importance, affect to be wiser or to make greater pretensions than my age or experience warrants, yet seeing affairs in such perplexity, i will rather incur the risk of being charged with forwardness than neglect that which i consider my duty." this, then, was the attitude of the principal personages in the netherlands, and the situation of affairs at the end of the eventful year , the last year of peace which the men then living or their children were to know. the government, weak at the commencement, was strong at the close. the confederacy was broken and scattered. the request, the beggar banquets, the public preaching, the image-breaking, the accord of august, had been followed by reaction. tournay had accepted its garrison. egmont, completely obedient to the crown, was compelling all the cities of flanders and artois to receive soldiers sufficient to maintain implicit obedience, and to extinguish all heretical demonstrations, so that the regent was at comparative leisure to effect the reduction of valenciennes. this ancient city, in the province of hainault, and on the frontier of france, had been founded by the emperor valentinian, from whom it had derived its name. originally established by him as a city of refuge, it had received the privilege of affording an asylum to debtors, to outlaws, and even to murderers. this ancient right had been continued, under certain modifications, even till the period with which we are now occupied. never, however, according to the government, had the right of asylum, even in the wildest times, been so abused by the city before. what were debtors, robbers, murderers, compared to heretics? yet these worst enemies of their race swarmed in the rebellious city, practising even now the foulest rites of calvin, and obeying those most pestilential of all preachers, guido de bray, and peregrine de la grange. the place was the hot-bed of heresy and sedition, and it seemed to be agreed, as by common accord, that the last struggle for what was called the new religion, should take place beneath its walls. pleasantly situated in a fertile valley, provided with very strong fortifications and very deep moats, valenciennes, with the scheld flowing through its centre, and furnishing the means of laying the circumjacent meadows under water, was considered in those days almost impregnable. the city was summoned, almost at the same time as tournay, to accept a garrison. this demand of government was met by a peremptory refusal. noircarmes, towards the middle of december, ordered the magistrates to send a deputation to confer with him at conde. pensionary outreman accordingly repaired to that neighboring city, accompanied by some of his colleagues. this committee was not unfavorable to the demands of government. the magistracies of the cities, generally, were far from rebellious; but in the case of valenciennes the real power at that moment was with the calvinist consistory, and the ministers. the deputies, after their return from conde, summoned the leading members of the reformed religion, together with the preachers. it was urged that it was their duty forthwith to use their influence in favor of the demand made by the government upon the city. "may i grow mute as a fish!" answered de la grange, stoutly, "may the tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, before i persuade my people to accept a garrison of cruel mercenaries, by whom their rights of conscience are to be trampled upon!" councillor outreman reasoned with the fiery minister, that if he and his colleague were afraid of their own lives, ample provision should be made with government for their departure under safe conduct. la grange replied that he had no fears for himself, that the lord would protect those who preached and those who believed in his holy word, but that he would not forgive them should they now bend their necks to his enemies. it was soon very obvious that no arrangement could be made. the magistrates could exert no authority, the preachers were all-powerful; and the citizens, said a catholic inhabitant of valenciennes, "allowed themselves to be led by their ministers like oxen." upon the th december, , a proclamation was accordingly issued by the duchess regent, declaring the city in a state of siege, and all its inhabitants rebels. the crimes for which this penalty was denounced, were elaborately set forth in the edict. preaching according to the reformed religion had been permitted in two or three churches, the sacrament according to the calvinistic manner had been publicly administered, together with a renunciation by the communicants of their adhesion to the catholic church, and now a rebellious refusal to receive the garrison sent to them by the duchess had been added to the list of their iniquities. for offences like these the regent deemed it her duty to forbid all inhabitants of any city, village, or province of the netherlands holding communication with valenciennes, buying or selling with its inhabitants, or furnishing them with provisions; on pain of being considered accomplices in their rebellion, and as such of being executed with the halter. the city was now invested by noircarmes with all the troops which could be spared. the confederates gave promises of assistance to the beleaguered citizens, orange privately encouraged them to holdout in their legitimate refusal. brederode and others busied themselves with hostile demonstrations which were destined to remain barren; but in the mean time the inhabitants had nothing to rely upon save their own stout hearts and arms. at first, the siege was sustained with a light heart. frequent sallies were made, smart skirmishes were ventured, in which the huguenots, on the testimony of a most bitter catholic contemporary, conducted themselves with the bravery of veteran troops, and as if they had done nothing all their lives but fight; forays were made upon the monasteries of the neighborhood for the purpose of procuring supplies, and the broken statues of the dismantled churches were used to build a bridge across an arm of the river, which was called in derision the bridge of idols. noircarmes and the six officers under him, who were thought to be conducting their operations with languor, were christened the seven sleepers. gigantic spectacles, three feet in circumference, were planted derisively upon the ramparts, in order that the artillery, which it was said that the papists of arras were sending, might be seen, as soon as it should arrive. councillor outreman, who had left the city before the siege, came into it again, on commission from noircarmes. he was received with contempt, his proposals on behalf of the government were answered with outcries of fury; he was pelted with stones, and was very glad to make his escape alive. the pulpits thundered with the valiant deeds of joshua, judas maccabeus, and other bible heroes. the miracles wrought in their behalf served to encourage the enthusiasm of the people, while the movements making at various points in the neighborhood encouraged a hope of a general rising throughout the country. those hopes were destined to disappointment. there were large assemblages made, to be sure, at two points. nearly three thousand sectaries had been collected at lannoy under pierre comaille, who, having been a locksmith and afterwards a calvinist preacher, was now disposed to try his fortune as a general. his band was, however, disorderly. rustics armed with pitchforks, young students and old soldiers out of employment, furnished with rusty matchlocks, pikes and halberds, composed his force. a company similar in character, and already amounting to some twelve hundred in number, was collecting at waterlots. it was hoped that an imposing array would soon be assembled, and that the two bands, making a junction, would then march to the relief of valenciennes. it was boasted that in a very short time, thirty thousand men would be in the field. there was even a fear of some such result felt by the catholics. etext editor's bookmarks: , the last year of peace dissenters were as bigoted as the orthodox if he had little, he could live upon little incur the risk of being charged with forwardness than neglect not to let the grass grow under their feet motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley [chapter ix., part .] calvinists defeated at lannoy and at waterlots--elation of the government--the siege pressed more closely--cruelties practised upon the country people--courage of the inhabitants--remonstrance to the knights of the fleece--conduct of brederode--orange at amsterdam-- new oath demanded by government--orange refuses--he offers his resignation of all offices--meeting at breda--new "request" of brederode--he creates disturbances and levies troops in antwerp-- conduct of hoogstraaten--plans of brederode--supposed connivance of orange--alarm at brussels--tholouse at ostrawell--brederode in holland--de beauvoir defeats tholouse--excitement at antwerp-- determined conduct of orange--three days' tumult at antwerp suppressed by the wisdom and courage of orange. it was then that noircarmes and his "seven sleepers" showed that they were awake. early in january, , that fierce soldier, among whose vices slothfulness was certainly never reckoned before or afterwards, fell upon the locksmith's army at zannoy, while the seigneur de rassinghem attacked the force at waterlots on the same day. noircarmes destroyed half his enemies at the very first charge. the ill-assorted rabble fell asunder at once. the preacher fought well, but his undisciplined force fled at the first sight of the enemy. those who carried arquebusses threw them down without a single discharge, that they might run the faster. at least a thousand were soon stretched dead upon the field; others were hunted into the river. twenty-six hundred, according to the catholic accounts, were exterminated in an hour. rassinghem, on his part, with five or six hundred regulars, attacked teriel's force, numbering at least twice as many. half of these were soon cut to pieces and put to flight. six hundred, however, who had seen some service, took refuge in the cemetery of waterlots. here, from behind the stone wall of the inclosure, they sustained the attack of the catholics with some spirit. the repose of the dead in the quiet country church-yard was disturbed by the uproar of a most sanguinary conflict. the temporary fort was soon carried, and the huguenots retreated into the church. a rattling arquebusade was poured in upon them as they struggled in the narrow doorway. at least four hundred corpses were soon strewn among the ancient graves. the rest were hunted, into the church, and from the church into the belfry. a fire was then made in the steeple and kept up till all were roasted or suffocated. not a man escaped. this was the issue in the first stricken field in the netherlands, for the cause of religious liberty. it must be confessed that it was not very encouraging to the lovers of freedom. the partisans of government were elated, in proportion to the apprehension which had been felt for the result of this rising in the walloon country. "these good hypocrites," wrote a correspondent of orange, "are lifting up their heads like so many dromedaries. they are becoming unmanageable with pride." the duke of aerschot and count meghem gave great banquets in brussels, where all the good chevaliers drank deep in honor of the victory, and to the health of his majesty and madame. "i saw berlaymont just go by the window," wrote schwartz to the prince. "he was coming from aerschot's dinner with a face as red as the cardinal's new hat." on the other hand, the citizens of valenciennes were depressed in equal measure with the exultation of their antagonists. there was no more talk of seven sleepers now, no more lunettes stuck upon lances, to spy the coming forces of the enemy. it was felt that the government was wide awake, and that the city would soon see the impending horrors without telescopes. the siege was pressed more closely. noircarmes took up a commanding position at saint armand, by which he was enabled to cut off all communication between the city and the surrounding country. all the villages in the neighborhood were pillaged; all the fields laid waste. all the infamies which an insolent soldiery can inflict upon helpless peasantry were daily enacted. men and women who attempted any communication--with the city, were murdered in cold blood by hundreds. the villagers were plundered of their miserable possessions, children were stripped naked in the midst of winter for the sake of the rags which covered them; matrons and virgins were sold at public auction by the tap of drum; sick and wounded wretches were burned over slow fires, to afford amusement to the soldiers. in brief, the whole unmitigated curse which military power inflamed by religious bigotry can embody, had descended upon the heads of these unfortunate provincials who had dared to worship god in christian churches without a roman ritual. meantime the city maintained, a stout heart still. the whole population were arranged under different banners. the rich and poor alike took arms to defend the walls which sheltered them. the town paupers were enrolled in three companies, which bore the significant title of the "tons-nulls" or the "stark-nakeds," and many was the fierce conflict delivered outside the gates by men, who, in the words of a catholic then in the city, might rather be taken for "experienced veterans than for burghers and artisans." at the same time, to the honor of valenciennes, it must be stated, upon the same incontestable authority, that not a catholic in the city was injured or insulted. the priests who had remained there were not allowed to say mass, but they never met with an opprobrious word or look from the people. the inhabitants of the city called upon the confederates for assistance. they also issued an address to the knights of the fleece; a paper which narrated the story of their wrongs in pathetic and startling language. they appealed to those puissant and illustrious chevaliers to prevent the perpetration of the great wrong which was now impending over so many innocent heads. "wait not," they said, "till the thunderbolt has fallen, till the deluge has overwhelmed us, till the fires already blazing have laid the land in coals and ashes, till no other course be possible, but to abandon the country in its desolation to foreign barbarity. let the cause of the oppressed come to your ears. so shall your conscience become a shield of iron; so shall the happiness of a whole country witness before the angels, of your truth to his majesty, in the cause of his true grandeur and glory." these stirring appeals to an order of which philip was chief, viglius chancellor, egmont, mansfeld, aerschot, berlaymont, and others, chevaliers, were not likely to produce much effect. the city could rely upon no assistance in those high quarters. meantime, however, the bold brederode was attempting a very extensive diversion, which, if successful, would have saved valenciennes and the whole country beside. that eccentric personage, during the autumn and winter had been creating disturbances in various parts of the country. wherever he happened to be established, there came from the windows of his apartments a sound of revelry and uproar. suspicious characters in various costumes thronged his door and dogged his footsteps. at the same time the authorities felt themselves obliged to treat him with respect. at horn he had entertained many of the leading citizens at a great banquet.--the-health-of-the-beggars had been drunk in mighty potations, and their shibboleth had resounded through the house. in the midst of the festivities, brederode had suspended a beggar's-medal around the neck of the burgomaster, who had consented to be his guest upon that occasion, but who had no intention of enrolling himself in the fraternities of actual or political mendicants. the excellent magistrate, however, was near becoming a member of both. the emblem by which he had been conspicuously adorned proved very embarrassing to him upon his recovery from the effects of his orgies with the "great beggar," and he was subsequently punished for his imprudence by the confiscation of half his property. early in january, brederode had stationed himself in his city of viane. there, in virtue of his seignorial rights, he had removed all statues and other popish emblems from the churches, performing the operation, however, with much quietness and decorum. he had also collected many disorderly men at arms in this city, and had strengthened its fortifications, to resist, as he said, the threatened attacks of duke eric of brunswick and his german mercenaries. a printing-press was established in the place, whence satirical pamphlets, hymn-books, and other pestiferous productions, were constantly issuing to the annoyance of government. many lawless and uproarious individuals enjoyed the count's hospitality. all the dregs and filth of the provinces, according to doctor viglius, were accumulated at viane as in a cesspool. along the placid banks of the lech, on which river the city stands, the "hydra of rebellion" lay ever coiled and threatening. brederode was supposed to be revolving vast schemes, both political and military, and margaret of parma was kept in continual apprehension by the bravado of this very noisy conspirator. she called upon william of orange, as usual, for assistance. the prince, however, was very ill-disposed to come to her relief. an extreme disgust for the policy of the government already began to, characterize his public language. in the autumn and winter he had done all that man could do for the safety of the monarch's crown, and for the people's happiness. his services in antwerp have been recorded. as soon as he could tear himself from that city, where the magistrates and all classes of citizens clung to him as to their only saviour, he had hastened to tranquillize the provinces of holland, zeland, and utrecht. he had made arrangements in the principal cities there upon the same basis which he had adopted in antwerp, and to which margaret had consented in august. it was quite out of the question to establish order without permitting the reformers, who constituted much the larger portion of the population, to have liberty of religious exercises at some places, not consecrated, within the cities. at amsterdam, for instance, as he informed the duchess, there were swarms of unlearned, barbarous people, mariners and the like, who could by no means perceive the propriety of doing their preaching in the open country, seeing that the open country, at that season, was quite under water.--margaret's gracious suggestion that, perhaps, something might be done with boats, was also considered inadmissible. "i know not," said orange, "who could have advised your highness to make such a proposition." he informed her, likewise; that the barbarous mariners had a clear right to their preaching; for the custom had already been established previously to the august treaty, at a place called the "lastadge," among the wharves. "in the name of god, then," wrote margaret; "let them continue to preach in the lastadge." this being all the barbarians wanted, an accord, with the full consent of the regent, was drawn up at amsterdam and the other northern cities. the catholics kept churches and cathedrals, but in the winter season, the greater part of the population obtained permission to worship god upon dry land, in warehouses and dock-yards. within a very few weeks, however, the whole arrangement was coolly cancelled by the duchess, her permission revoked, and peremptory prohibition of all preaching within or without the walls proclaimed. the government was growing stronger. had not noircarmes and rassinghem cut to pieces three or four thousand of these sectaries marching to battle under parsons, locksmiths, and similar chieftains? were not all lovers of good government "erecting their heads like dromedaries?" it may easily be comprehended that the prince could not with complacency permit himself to be thus perpetually stultified by a weak, false, and imperious woman. she had repeatedly called upon him when she was appalled at the tempest and sinking in the ocean; and she had as constantly disavowed his deeds and reviled his character when she felt herself in safety again. he had tranquillized the old batavian provinces, where the old batavian spirit still lingered, by his personal influence and his unwearied exertions. men of all ranks and religions were grateful for his labors. the reformers had not gained much, but they were satisfied. the catholics retained their churches, their property, their consideration. the states of holland had voted him fifty thousand florins, as an acknowledgment of his efforts in restoring peace. he had refused the present. he was in debt, pressed for money, but he did not choose, as he informed philip, "that men should think his actions governed by motives of avarice or particular interest, instead of the true affection which he bore to his majesty's service and the good of the country." nevertheless, his back was hardly turned before all his work was undone by the regent. a new and important step on the part of the government had now placed him in an attitude of almost avowed rebellion. all functionaries, from governors of provinces down to subalterns in the army, were required to take a new oath of allegiance, "novum et hactenua inusitatum religionia juramentum," as the prince characterized it, which was, he said, quite equal to the inquisition. every man who bore his majesty's commission was ordered solemnly to pledge himself to obey the orders of government, every where, and against every person, without limitation or restriction.--count mansfeld, now "factotum at brussels," had taken the oath with great fervor. so had aerachot, berlaymont, meghem, and, after a little wavering, egmont. orange spurned the proposition. he had taken oaths enough which he had never broken, nor intended now to break: he was ready still to do every thing conducive to the real interest of the monarch. who dared do more was no true servant to the government, no true lover of the country. he would never disgrace himself by a blind pledge, through which he might be constrained to do acts detrimental, in his opinion, to the safety of the crown, the happiness of the commonwealth, and his own honor. the alternative presented he willingly embraced. he renounced all his offices, and desired no longer to serve a government whose policy he did not approve, a king by whom he was suspected. his resignation was not accepted by the duchess, who still made efforts to retain the services of a man who was necessary to her administration. she begged him, notwithstanding the purely defensive and watchful attitude which he had now assumed, to take measures that brederode should abandon his mischievous courses. she also reproached the prince with having furnished that personage with artillery for his fortifications. orange answered, somewhat contemptuously, that he was not brederode's keeper, and had no occasion to meddle with his affairs. he had given him three small field-pieces, promised long ago; not that he mentioned that circumstance as an excuse for the donation. "thank god," said he, "we have always had the liberty in this country of making to friends or relatives what presents we liked, and methinks that things have come to a pretty pass when such trifles are scrutinized." certainly, as suzerain of viane, and threatened with invasion in his seignorial rights, the count might think himself justified in strengthening the bulwarks of his little stronghold, and the prince could hardly be deemed very seriously to endanger the safety of the crown by the insignificant present which had annoyed the regent. it is not so agreeable to contemplate the apparent intimacy which the prince accorded to so disreputable a character, but orange was now in hostility to the government, was convinced by evidence, whose accuracy time was most signally to establish, that his own head, as well as many others, were already doomed to the block, while the whole country was devoted to abject servitude, and he was therefore disposed to look with more indulgence upon the follies of those who were endeavoring, however weakly and insanely, to avert the horrors which he foresaw. the time for reasoning had passed. all that true wisdom and practical statesmanship could suggest, he had already placed at the disposal of a woman who stabbed him in the back even while she leaned upon his arm--of a king who had already drawn his death warrant, while reproaching his "cousin of orange" for want of confidence in the royal friendship. was he now to attempt the subjugation of his country by interfering with the proceedings of men whom he had no power to command, and who, at least, were attempting to oppose tyranny? even if he should do so, he was perfectly aware of the reward, reserved for his loyalty. he liked not such honors as he foresaw for all those who had ever interposed between the monarch and his vengeance. for himself he had the liberation of a country, the foundation of a free commonwealth to achieve. there was much work for those hands before he should fall a victim to the crowned assassin. early in february, brederode, hoogstraaten, horn, and some other gentlemen, visited the prince at breda. here it is supposed the advice of orange was asked concerning the new movement contemplated by brederode. he was bent upon presenting a new petition to the duchess with great solemnity. there is no evidence to show that the prince approved the step, which must have seemed to him superfluous, if not puerile. he probably regarded the matter with indifference. brederode, however, who was fond of making demonstrations, and thought himself endowed with a genius for such work, wrote to the regent for letters of safe conduct that he might come to brussels with his petition. the passports were contemptuously refused. he then came to antwerp, from which city he forwarded the document to brussels in a letter. by this new request, the exercise of the reformed religion was claimed as a right, while the duchess was summoned to disband the forces which she had been collecting, and to maintain in good faith the "august" treaty. these claims were somewhat bolder than those of the previous april, although the liberal party was much weaker and the confederacy entirely disbanded. brederode, no doubt, thought it good generalship to throw the last loaf of bread into the enemy's camp before the city should surrender. his haughty tone was at once taken down by margaret of parma. "she wondered," she said, "what manner of nobles these were, who, after requesting, a year before, to be saved only from the inquisition, now presumed to talk about preaching in the cities." the concessions of august had always been odious, and were now canceled. "as for you and your accomplices," she continued to the count, "you will do well to go to your homes at once without meddling with public affairs, for, in case of disobedience, i shall deal with you as i shall deem expedient." brederode not easily abashed, disregarded the advice, and continued in antwerp. here, accepting the answer of the regent as a formal declaration of hostilities, he busied himself in levying troops in and about the city. orange had returned to antwerp early in february. during his absence, hoogstraaten had acted as governor at the instance of the prince and of the regent. during the winter that nobleman, who was very young and very fiery, had carried matters with a high hand, whenever there had been the least attempt at sedition. liberal in principles, and the devoted friend of orange, he was disposed however to prove that the champions of religious liberty were not the patrons of sedition. a riot occurring in the cathedral, where a violent mob were engaged in defacing whatever was left to deface in that church, and in heaping insults on the papists at their worship, the little count, who, says a catholic contemporary, "had the courage of a lion," dashed in among them, sword in hand, killed three upon the spot, and, aided by his followers, succeeded in slaying, wounding, or capturing all the rest. he had also tracked the ringleader of the tumult to his lodging, where he had caused him to be arrested at midnight, and hanged at once in his shirt without any form of trial. such rapid proceedings little resembled the calm and judicious moderation of orange upon all occasions, but they certainly might have sufficed to convince philip that all antagonists of the inquisition were not heretics and outlaws. upon the arrival of the prince in antwerp, it was considered advisable that hoogstraaten should remain associated with him in the temporary government of the city. during the month of february, brederode remained in antwerp, secretly enrolling troops. it was probably his intention--if so desultory and irresponsible an individual could be said to have an intention--to make an attempt upon the island of walcheren. if such important cities as flushing and middelburg could be gained, he thought it possible to prevent the armed invasion now soon expected from spain. orange had sent an officer to those cities, who was to reconnoitre their condition, and to advise them against receiving a garrison from government without his authority. so far he connived at brederode's proceedings, as he had a perfect right to do, for walcheren was within what had been the prince's government, and he had no disposition that these cities should share the fate of tourney, valenciennes, bois le duc, and other towns which had already passed or were passing under the spears of foreign mercenaries. it is also probable that he did not take any special pains to check the enrolments of brederode. the peace of antwerp was not endangered, and to the preservation of that city the prince seemed now to limit himself. he was hereditary burgrave of antwerp, but officer of philip's never more. despite the shrill demands of duchess margaret, therefore; the prince did not take very active measures by which the crown of philip might be secured. he, perhaps, looked upon the struggle almost with indifference. nevertheless, he issued a formal proclamation by which the count's enlistments were forbidden. van der aa, a gentleman who had been active in making these levies, was compelled to leave the city. brederode was already gone to the north to busy himself with further enrolments. in the mean time there had been much alarm in brussels. egmont, who omitted no opportunity of manifesting his loyalty, offered to throw himself at once into the isle of walcheren, for the purpose of dislodging any rebels who might have effected an entrance. he collected accordingly seven or eight hundred walloon veterans, at his disposal in flanders, in the little port of sas de ghent, prepared at once to execute his intention, "worthy," says a catholic writer, "of his well-known courage and magnanimity." the duchess expressed gratitude for the count's devotion and loyalty, but his services in the sequel proved unnecessary. the rebels, several boat-loads of whom had been cruising about in the neighborhood of flushing during the early part of march, had been refused admittance into any of the ports on the island. they therefore sailed up the scheld, and landed at a little village called ostrawell, at the distance of somewhat more than a mile from antwerp. the commander of the expedition was marnix of tholouse, brother to marnix of saint aldegonde. this young nobleman, who had left college to fight for the cause of religious liberty, was possessed of fine talents and accomplishments. like his illustrious brother, he was already a sincere convert to the doctrines of the reformed church. he had nothing, however, but courage to recommend him as a leader in a military expedition. he was a mere boy, utterly without experience in the field. his troops were raw levies, vagabonds and outlaws. such as it was, however, his army was soon posted at ostrawell in a convenient position, and with considerable judgment. he had the scheld and its dykes in his rear, on his right and left the dykes and the village. in front he threw up a breastwork and sunk a trench. here then was set up the standard of rebellion, and hither flocked daily many malcontents from the country round. within a few days three thousand men were in his camp. on the other handy brederode was busy in holland, and boasted of taking the field ere long with six thousand soldiers at the very least. together they would march to the relief of valenciennes, and dictate peace in brussels. it was obvious that this matter could not be allowed to go on. the duchess, with some trepidation, accepted the offer made by philip de lannoy, seigneur de beauvoir, commander of her body-guard in brussels, to destroy this nest of rebels without delay. half the whole number of these soldiers was placed at his disposition, and egmont supplied de beauvoir with four hundred of his veteran walloons. with a force numbering only eight hundred, but all picked men, the intrepid officer undertook his enterprise, with great despatch and secrecy. upon the th march, the whole troop was sent off in small parties, to avoid suspicion, and armed only with sword and dagger. their helmets, bucklers, arquebusses, corselets, spears, standards and drums, were delivered to their officers, by whom they were conveyed noiselessly to the place of rendezvous. before daybreak, upon the following morning, de beauvoir met his soldiers at the abbey of saint bernard, within a league of antwerp. here he gave them their arms, supplied them with refreshments, and made them a brief speech. he instructed them that they were to advance, with furled banners and without beat of drum, till within sight of the enemy, that the foremost section was to deliver its fire, retreat to the rear and load, to be followed by the next, which was to do the same, and above all, that not an arquebus should be discharged till the faces of the enemy could be distinguished. the troop started. after a few minutes' march they were in full sight of ostrawell. they then displayed their flags and advanced upon the fort with loud huzzas. tholouse was as much taken by surprise as if they had suddenly emerged from the bowels of the earth. he had been informed that the government at brussels was in extreme trepidation. when he first heard the advancing trumpets and sudden shouts, he thought it a detachment of brederode's promised force. the cross on the banners soon undeceived him. nevertheless "like a brave and generous young gentleman as he was," he lost no time in drawing up his men for action, implored them to defend their breastworks, which were impregnable against so small a force, and instructed them to wait patiently with their fire, till the enemy were near enough to be marked. these orders were disobeyed. the "young scholar," as de beauvoir had designated him, had no power to infuse his own spirit into his rabble rout of followers. they were already panic-struck by the unexpected appearance of the enemy. the catholics came on with the coolness of veterans, taking as deliberate aim as if it had been they, not their enemies, who were behind breastworks. the troops of tholouse fired wildly, precipitately, quite over the heads of the assailants. many of the defenders were slain as fast as they showed themselves above their bulwarks. the ditch was crossed, the breastwork carried at, a single determined charge. the rebels made little resistance, but fled as soon as the enemy entered their fort. it was a hunt, not a battle. hundreds were stretched dead in the camp; hundreds were driven into the scheld; six or eight hundred took refuge in a farm-house; but de beauvoir's men set fire to the building, and every rebel who had entered it was burned alive or shot. no quarter was given. hardly a man of the three thousand who had held the fort escaped. the body of tholouse was cut into a hundred pieces. the seigneur de beauvoir had reason, in the brief letter which gave an account of this exploit, to assure her highness that there were "some very valiant fellows in his little troop." certainly they had accomplished the enterprise entrusted to them with promptness, neatness, and entire success. of the great rebellious gathering, which every day had seemed to grow more formidable, not a vestige was left. this bloody drama had been enacted in full sight of antwerp. the fight had lasted from daybreak till ten o'clock in the forenoon, during the whole of which period, the city ramparts looking towards ostrawell, the roofs of houses, the towers of churches had been swarming with eager spectators. the sound of drum and trumpet, the rattle of musketry, the shouts of victory, the despairing cries of the vanquished were heard by thousands who deeply sympathized with the rebels thus enduring so sanguinary a chastisement. in antwerp there were forty thousand people opposed to the church of rome. of this number the greater proportion were calvinists, and of these calvinists there were thousands looking down from the battlements upon the disastrous fight. the excitement soon became uncontrollable. before ten o'clock vast numbers of sectaries came pouring towards the red gate, which afforded the readiest egress to the scene of action; the drawbridge of the ostrawell gate having been destroyed the night before by command of orange. they came from every street and alley of the city. some were armed with lance, pike, or arquebus; some bore sledge-hammers; others had the partisans, battle-axes, and huge two-handed swords of the previous century; all were determined upon issuing forth to the rescue of their friends in the fields outside the town. the wife of tholouse, not yet aware of her husband's death, although his defeat was obvious, flew from street to street, calling upon the calvinists to save or to avenge their perishing brethren. a terrible tumult prevailed. ten thousand men were already up and in arms.--it was then that the prince of orange, who was sometimes described by his enemies as timid and pusillanimous by nature, showed the mettle he was made of. his sense of duty no longer bade him defend the crown of philip--which thenceforth was to be entrusted to the hirelings of the inquisition--but the vast population of antwerp, the women, the children, and the enormous wealth of the richest deity in the world had been confided to his care, and he had accepted the responsibility. mounting his horse, he made his appearance instantly at the red gate, before as formidable a mob as man has ever faced. he came there almost alone, without guards. hoogstraaten arrived soon afterwards with the same intention. the prince was received with howls of execration. a thousand hoarse voices called him the pope's servant, minister of antichrist, and lavished upon him many more epithets of the same nature. his life was in imminent danger. a furious clothier levelled an arquebus full at his breast. "die, treacherous villain?" he cried; "thou who art the cause that our brethren have perished thus miserably in yonder field." the loaded weapon was struck away by another hand in the crowd, while the prince, neither daunted by the ferocious demonstrations against his life, nor enraged by the virulent abuse to which he was subjected, continued tranquilly, earnestly, imperatively to address the crowd. william of orange had that in his face and tongue "which men willingly call master-authority." with what other talisman could he, without violence and without soldiers, have quelled even for a moment ten thousand furious calvinists, armed, enraged against his person, and thirsting for vengeance on catholics. the postern of the red gate had already been broken through before orange and his colleague, hoogstraaten, had arrived. the most excited of the calvinists were preparing to rush forth upon the enemy at ostrawell. the prince, after he had gained the ear of the multitude, urged that the battle was now over, that the reformers were entirely cut to pieces, the enemy, retiring, and that a disorderly and ill-armed mob would be unable to retrieve the fortunes of the day. many were persuaded to abandon the design. five hundred of the most violent, however, insisted upon leaving the gates, and the governors, distinctly warning these zealots that their blood must be upon their own heads, reluctantly permitted that number to issue from the city. the rest of the mob, not appeased, but uncertain, and disposed to take vengeance upon the catholics within the walls, for the disaster which had been occurring without, thronged tumultuously to the long, wide street, called the mere, situate in the very heart of the city. meantime the ardor of those who had sallied from the gate grew sensibly cooler, when they found themselves in the open fields. de beauvoir, whose men, after the victory, had scattered in pursuit of the fugitives, now heard the tumult in the city. suspecting an attack, he rallied his compact little army again for a fresh encounter. the last of the vanquished tholousians who had been captured; more fortunate than their predecessors, had been spared for ransom. there were three hundred of them; rather a dangerous number of prisoners for a force of eight hundred, who were just going into another battle. de beauvoir commanded his soldiers, therefore, to shoot them all. this order having been accomplished, the catholics marched towards antwerp, drums beating, colors flying. the five hundred calvinists, not liking their appearance, and being in reality outnumbered, retreated within; the gates as hastily as they had just issued from them. de beauvoir advanced close to the city moat, on the margin of which he planted the banners of the unfortunate tholouse, and sounded a trumpet of defiance. finding that the citizens had apparently no stomach for the fight, he removed his trophies, and took his departure. on the other hand, the tumult within the walls had again increased. the calvinists had been collecting in great numbers upon the mere. this was a large and splendid thoroughfare, rather an oblong market-place than a street, filled with stately buildings, and communicating by various cross streets with the exchange and with many other public edifices. by an early hour in the afternoon twelve or fifteen thousand calvinists, all armed and fighting men, had assembled upon the place. they had barricaded the whole precinct with pavements and upturned wagons. they had already broken into the arsenal and obtained many field-pieces, which were planted at the entrance of every street and by-way. they had stormed the city jail and liberated the prisoners, all of whom, grateful and ferocious, came to swell the numbers who defended the stronghold on the mere. a tremendous mischief was afoot. threats of pillaging the churches and the houses of the catholics, of sacking the whole opulent city, were distinctly heard among this powerful mob, excited by religious enthusiasm, but containing within one great heterogeneous mass the elements of every crime which humanity can commit. the alarm throughout the city was indescribable. the cries of women and children, as they remained in trembling expectation of what the next hour might bring forth, were, said one who heard them, "enough to soften the hardest hearts." nevertheless the diligence and courage of the prince kept pace with the insurrection. he had caused the eight companies of guards enrolled in september, to be mustered upon the square in front of the city hall, for the protection of that building and of the magistracy. he had summoned the senate of the city, the board of ancients, the deans of guilds, the ward masters, to consult with him at the council-room. at the peril of his life he had again gone before the angry mob in the mere, advancing against their cannon and their outcries, and compelling them to appoint eight deputies to treat with him and the magistrates at the town-hall. this done, quickly but deliberately he had drawn up six articles, to which those deputies gave their assent, and in which the city government cordially united. these articles provided that the keys of the city should remain in the possession of the prince and of hoogstraaten, that the watch should be held by burghers and soldiers together, that the magistrates should permit the entrance of no garrison, and that the citizens should be entrusted with the care of, the charters, especially with that of the joyful entrance. these arrangements, when laid before the assembly at the mere by their deputies, were not received with favor. the calvinists demanded the keys of the city. they did not choose to be locked up at the mercy of any man. they had already threatened to blow the city hall into the air if the keys were not delivered to them. they claimed that burghers, without distinction of religion, instead of mercenary troops, should be allowed to guard the market-place in front of the town-hall. it was now nightfall, and no definite arrangement had been concluded. nevertheless, a temporary truce was made, by means of a concession as to the guard. it was agreed that the burghers, calvinists and lutherans, as well as catholics, should be employed to protect the city. by subtlety, however, the calvinists detailed for that service, were posted not in the town-house square, but on the ramparts and at the gates. a night of dreadful expectation was passed. the army of fifteen thousand mutineers remained encamped and barricaded on the mere, with guns loaded and artillery pointed. fierce cries of "long live the beggars,"--"down with the papists," and other significant watchwords, were heard all night long, but no more serious outbreak occurred. during the whole of the following day, the calvinists remained in their encampment, the catholics and the city guardsmen at their posts near the city hall. the prince was occupied in the council-chamber from morning till night with the municipal authorities, the deputies of "the religion," and the guild officers, in framing a new treaty of peace. towards evening fifteen articles were agreed upon, which were to be proposed forthwith to the insurgents, and in case of nonacceptance to be enforced. the arrangement provided that there should be no garrison; that the september contracts permitting the reformed worship at certain places within the city should be maintained; that men of different parties should refrain from mutual insults; that the two governors, the prince and hoogstraaten, should keep the keys; that the city should be guarded by both soldiers and citizens, without distinction of religious creed; that a band of four hundred cavalry and a small flotilla of vessels of war should be maintained for the defence of the place, and that the expenses to be incurred should be levied upon all classes, clerical and lay, catholic and reformed, without any exception. it had been intended that the governors, accompanied by the magistrates, should forthwith proceed to the mere, for the purpose of laying these terms before the insurgents. night had, however, already arrived, and it was understood that the ill-temper of the calvinists had rather increased than diminished, so that it was doubtful whether the arrangement would be accepted. it was, therefore, necessary to await the issue of another day, rather than to provoke a night battle in the streets. during the night the prince labored incessantly to provide against the dangers of the morrow. the calvinists had fiercely expressed their disinclination to any reasonable arrangement. they had threatened, without farther pause, to plunder the religious houses and the mansions of all the wealthy catholics, and to drive every papist out of town. they had summoned the lutherans to join with them in their revolt, and menaced them, in case of refusal, with the same fate which awaited the catholics. the prince, who was himself a lutheran, not entirely free from the universal prejudice against the calvinists, whose sect he afterwards embraced, was fully aware of the deplorable fact, that the enmity at that day between calvinists and lutherans was as fierce as that between reformers and catholics. he now made use of this feeling, and of his influence with those of the augsburg confession, to save the city. during the night he had interviews with the ministers and notable members of the lutheran churches, and induced them to form an alliance upon this occasion with the catholics and with all friends of order, against an army of outlaws who were threatening to burn and sack the city. the lutherans, in the silence of night, took arms and encamped, to the number of three or four thousand, upon the river side, in the neighborhood of saint michael's cloister. the prince also sent for the deans of all the foreign mercantile associations--italian, spanish, portuguese, english, hanseatic, engaged their assistance also for the protection of the city, and commanded them to remain in their armor at their respective factories, ready to act at a moment's warning. it was agreed that they should be informed at frequent intervals as to the progress of events. on the morning of the th, the city of antwerp presented a fearful sight. three distinct armies were arrayed at different points within its walls. the calvinists, fifteen thousand strong, lay in their encampment on the mere; the lutherans, armed, and eager for action, were at st. michael's; the catholics and the regulars of the city guard were posted on the square. between thirty-five and forty thousand men were up, according to the most moderate computation. all parties were excited, and eager for the fray. the fires of religious hatred burned fiercely in every breast. many malefactors and outlaws, who had found refuge in the course of recent events at antwerp, were in the ranks of the calvinists, profaning a sacred cause, and inspiring a fanatical party with bloody resolutions. papists, once and forever, were to be hunted down, even as they had been for years pursuing reformers. let the men who had fed fat on the spoils of plundered christians be dealt with in like fashion. let their homes be sacked, their bodies given to the dogs--such were the cries uttered by thousands of armed men. on the other hand, the lutherans, as angry and as rich as the catholics, saw in every calvinist a murderer and a robber. they thirsted after their blood; for the spirit of religious frenzy; the characteristic of the century, can with difficulty be comprehended in our colder and more sceptical age. there was every probability that a bloody battle was to be fought that day in the streets of antwerp--a general engagement, in the course of which, whoever might be the victors, the city was sure to be delivered over to fire, sack, and outrage. such would have been the result, according to the concurrent testimony of eye-witnesses, and contemporary historians of every country and creed, but for the courage and wisdom of one man. william of orange knew what would be the consequence of a battle, pent up within the walls of antwerp. he foresaw the horrible havoc which was to be expected, the desolation which would be brought to every hearth in the city. "never were men so desperate and so willing to fight," said sir thomas gresham, who had been expecting every hour his summons to share in the conflict. if the prince were unable that morning to avert the impending calamity, no other power, under heaven, could save antwerp from destruction. the articles prepared on the th had been already approved by those who represented the catholic and lutheran interests. they were read early in the morning to the troops assembled on the square and at st. michael's, and received with hearty cheers. it was now necessary that the calvinists should accept them, or that the quarrel should be fought out at once. at ten o'clock, william of orange, attended by his colleague, hoogstraaten, together with a committee of the municipal authorities, and followed by a hundred troopers, rode to the mere. they wore red scarfs over their armor, as symbols by which all those who had united to put down the insurrection were distinguished. the fifteen thousand calvinists, fierce and disorderly as ever, maintained a threatening aspect. nevertheless, the prince was allowed to ride into the midst of the square. the articles were then read aloud by his command, after which, with great composure, he made a few observations. he pointed out that the arrangement offered them was founded upon the september concessions, that the right of worship was conceded, that the foreign garrison was forbidden, and that nothing further could be justly demanded or honorably admitted. he told them that a struggle upon their part would be hopeless, for the catholics and lutherans, who were all agreed as to the justice of the treaty, outnumbered them by nearly two to one. he, therefore, most earnestly and affectionately adjured them to testify their acceptance to the peace offered by repeating the words with which he should conclude. then, with a firm voice; the prince exclaimed, "god save the king!" it was the last time that those words were ever heard from the lips of the man already proscribed by philip. the crowd of calvinists hesitated an instant, and then, unable to resist the tranquil influence, convinced by his reasonable language, they raised one tremendous shout of "vive le roi!" the deed was done, the peace accepted, the dreadful battle averted, antwerp saved. the deputies of the calvinists now formally accepted and signed the articles. kind words were exchanged among the various classes of fellow-citizens, who but an hour before had been thirsting for each other's blood, the artillery and other weapons of war were restored to the arsenals, calvinists, lutherans, and catholics, all laid down their arms, and the city, by three o'clock, was entirely quiet. fifty thousand armed men had been up, according to some estimates, yet, after three days of dreadful expectation, not a single person had been injured, and the tumult was now appeased. the prince had, in truth, used the mutual animosity of protestant sects to a good purpose; averting bloodshed by the very weapons with which the battle was to have been waged. had it been possible for a man like william the silent to occupy the throne where philip the prudent sat, how different might have been the history of spain and the fate of the netherlands. gresham was right, however, in his conjecture that the regent and court would not "take the business well." margaret of parma was incapable of comprehending such a mind as that of orange, or of appreciating its efforts. she was surrounded by unscrupulous and mercenary soldiers, who hailed the coming civil war as the most profitable of speculations. "factotum" mansfeld; the counts aremberg and meghem, the duke of aerschot, the sanguinary noircarmes, were already counting their share in the coming confiscations. in the internecine conflict approaching, there would be gold for the gathering, even if no honorable laurels would wreath their swords. "meghen with his regiment is desolating the country," wrote william of orange to the landgrave of hesse, "and reducing many people to poverty. aremberg is doing the same in friesland. they are only thinking how, under the pretext of religion, they may grind the poor christians, and grow rich and powerful upon their estates and their blood." the seignior de beauvoir wrote to the duchess, claiming all the estates of tholouse, and of his brother st. aldegonde, as his reward for the ostrawell victory, while noircarmes was at this very moment to commence at valenciennes that career of murder and spoliation which, continued at mons a few years afterwards, was to load his name with infamy. from such a regent, surrounded by such councillors, was the work of william de nassau's hands to gain applause? what was it to them that carnage and plunder had been spared in one of the richest and most populous cities in christendom? were not carnage and plunder the very elements in which they disported themselves? and what more dreadful offence against god and philip could be committed than to permit, as the prince had just permitted, the right of worship in a christian land to calvinists and lutherans? as a matter of course, therefore, margaret of parma denounced the terms by which antwerp had been saved as a "novel and exorbitant capitulation," and had no intention of signifying her approbation either to prince or magistrate. [chapter x.] egmont and aerschot before valenciennes--severity of egmont-- capitulation of the city--escape and capture of the ministers-- execution of la grange and de bray--horrible cruelty at valenciennes--effects of the reduction of valenciennes--the duchess at antwerp--armed invasion of the provinces decided upon in spain-- appointment of alva--indignation of margaret--mission of de billy-- pretended visit of philip--attempts of the duchess to gain over orange--mission of berty--interview between orange and egmont at willebroek--orange's letters to philip, to egmont, and to horn-- orange departs from the netherlands--philip's letter to egmont-- secret intelligence received by orange--la torre's mission to brederode--brederode's departure and death--death of bergen--despair in the provinces--great emigration--cruelties practised upon those of the new religion--edict of th may--wrath of the king. valenciennes, whose fate depended so closely upon the issue of these various events, was now trembling to her fall. noircarmes had been drawing the lines more and more closely about the city, and by a refinement of cruelty had compelled many calvinists from tournay to act as pioneers in the trenches against their own brethren in valenciennes. after the defeat of tholouse, and the consequent frustration of all brederode's arrangements to relieve the siege, the duchess had sent a fresh summons to valenciennes, together with letters acquainting the citizens with the results of the ostrawell battle. the intelligence was not believed. egmont and aerschot, however, to whom margaret had entrusted this last mission to the beleaguered town, roundly rebuked the deputies who came to treat with them, for their insolence in daring to doubt the word of the regent. the two seigniors had established themselves in the chateau of beusnage, at a league's distance from valenciennes. here they received commissioners from the city, half of whom were catholics appointed by the magistrates, half calvinists deputed by the consistories. these envoys were informed that the duchess would pardon the city for its past offences, provided the gates should now be opened, the garrison received, and a complete suppression of all religion except that of rome acquiesced in without a murmur. as nearly the whole population was of the calvinist faith, these terms could hardly be thought favorable. it was, however, added, that fourteen days should be allowed to the reformers for the purpose of converting their property, and retiring from the country. the deputies, after conferring with their constituents in the city, returned on the following day with counter-propositions, which were not more likely to find favor with the government. they offered to accept the garrison, provided the soldiers should live at their own expense, without any tax to the citizens for their board, lodging, or pay. they claimed that all property which had been seized should be restored, all persons accused of treason liberated. they demanded the unconditional revocation of the edict by which the city had been declared rebellious, together with a guarantee from the knights of the fleece and the state council that the terms of the propose& treaty should be strictly observed. as soon as these terms had been read to the two seigniors, the duke of aerschot burst into an immoderate fit of laughter. he protested that nothing could be more ludicrous than such propositions, worthy of a conqueror dictating a peace, thus offered by a city closely beleaguered, and entirely at the mercy of the enemy. the duke's hilarity was not shared by egmont, who, on the contrary, fell into a furious passion. he swore that the city should be burned about their ears, and that every one of the inhabitants should be put to the sword for the insolent language which they had thus dared to address to a most clement sovereign. he ordered the trembling deputies instantly to return with this peremptory rejection of their terms, and with his command that the proposals of government should be accepted within three days' delay. the commissioners fell upon their knees at egmont's feet, and begged for mercy. they implored him at least to send this imperious message by some other hand than theirs, and to permit them to absent themselves from the city. they should be torn limb from limb, they said, by the enraged inhabitants, if they dared to present themselves with such instructions before them. egmont, however, assured them that they should be sent into the city, bound hand and foot, if they did not instantly obey his orders. the deputies, therefore, with heavy hearts, were fain to return home with this bitter result to their negotiations. the terms were rejected, as a matter of course, but the gloomy forebodings of the commissioners, as to their own fate at the hands of their fellow-citizens, were not fulfilled. instant measures were now taken to cannonade the city. egmont, at the hazard of his life, descended into the foss, to reconnoitre the works, and to form an opinion as to the most eligible quarter at which to direct the batteries. having communicated the result of his investigations to noircarmes, he returned to report all these proceedings to the regent at brussels. certainly the count had now separated himself far enough from william of orange, and was manifesting an energy in the cause of tyranny which was sufficiently unscrupulous. many people who had been deceived by his more generous demonstrations in former times, tried to persuade themselves that he was acting a part. noircarmes, however--and no man was more competent to decide the question distinctly--expressed his entire confidence in egmont's loyalty. margaret had responded warmly to his eulogies, had read with approbation secret letters from egmont to noircarmes, and had expressed the utmost respect and affection for "the count." egmont had also lost no time in writing to philip, informing him that he had selected the most eligible spot for battering down the obstinate city of valenciennes, regretting that he could not have had the eight or ten military companies, now at his disposal, at an earlier day, in which case he should have been able to suppress many tumults, but congratulating his sovereign that the preachers were all fugitive, the reformed religion suppressed, and the people disarmed. he assured the king that he would neglect no effort to prevent any renewal of the tumults, and expressed the hope that his majesty would be satisfied with his conduct, notwithstanding the calumnies of which the times were full. noircarmes meanwhile, had unmasked his batteries, and opened his fire exactly according to egmont's suggestions. the artillery played first upon what was called the "white tower," which happened to bear this ancient, rhyming inscription: "when every man receives his own, and justice reigns for strong and weak, perfect shall be this tower of stone, and all the dumb will learn to speak." "quand chacun sera satisfaict, et la justice regnera, ce boulevard sera parfaict, et--la muette parlera."--valenciennes ms. for some unknown reason, the rather insipid quatrain was tortured into a baleful prophecy. it was considered very ominous that the battery should be first opened against this sibylline tower. the chimes, too, which had been playing, all through the siege, the music of marot's sacred songs, happened that morning to be sounding forth from every belfry the twenty-second psalm: "my god, my god, why hast thou forsaken me?" it was palm sunday, d of march. the women and children were going mournfully about the streets, bearing green branches in their hands, and praying upon their knees, in every part of the city. despair and superstition had taken possession of citizens, who up to that period had justified la noue's assertion, that none could endure a siege like huguenots. as soon as the cannonading began, the spirit of the inhabitants seemed to depart. the ministers exhorted their flocks in vain as the tiles and chimneys began to topple into the streets, and the concussions of the artillery were responded to by the universal wailing of affrighted women. upon the very first day after the unmasking of the batteries, the city sent to noircarmes, offering almost an unconditional surrender. not the slightest breach had been effected--not the least danger of an assault existed--yet the citizens, who had earned the respect of their antagonists by the courageous manner in which they had sallied and skirmished during the siege, now in despair at any hope of eventual succor, and completely demoralized by the course of recent events outside their walls, surrendered ignominiously, and at discretion. the only stipulation agreed to by noircarmes was, that the city should not be sacked, and that the lives of the inhabitants should be spared. this pledge was, however, only made to be broken. noircarmes entered the city and closed the gates. all the richest citizens, who of course were deemed the most criminal, were instantly arrested. the soldiers, although not permitted formally to sack the city, were quartered upon the inhabitants, whom they robbed and murdered, according to the testimony of a catholic citizen, almost at their pleasure. michael herlin, a very wealthy and distinguished burgher, was arrested upon the first day. the two ministers, guido de bray and peregrine de la grange, together with the son of herlin, effected their escape by the water-gate. having taken refuge in a tavern at saint arnaud, they were observed, as they sat at supper, by a peasant, who forthwith ran off to the mayor of the borough with the intelligence that some individuals, who looked like fugitives, had arrived at saint arnaud. one of them, said the informer, was richly dressed; and wore a gold-hilted sword with velvet scabbard. by the description, the mayor recognized herlin the younger,--and suspected his companions. they were all arrested, and sent to noircarmes. the two herlins, father and son, were immediately beheaded. guido de bray and peregrine de la grange were loaded with chains, and thrown into a filthy dungeon, previously to their being hanged. here they were visited by the countess de roeulx, who was curious to see how the calvinists sustained themselves in their martyrdom. she asked them how they could sleep, eat, or drink, when covered with such heavy fetters. "the cause, and my good conscience," answered de bray, "make me eat, drink, and sleep better than those who are doing me wrong. these shackles are more honorable to me than golden rings and chains. they are more useful to me, and as i hear their clank, methinks i hear the music of sweet voices and the tinkling of lutes." this exultation never deserted these courageous enthusiasts. they received their condemnation to death "as if it had been an invitation to a marriage feast." they encouraged the friends who crowded their path to the scaffold with exhortations to remain true in the reformed faith. la grange, standing upon the ladder, proclaimed with a loud voice, that he was slain for having preached the pure word of god to a christian people in a christian land. de bray, under the same gibbet; testified stoutly that he, too, had committed that offence alone. he warned his friends to obey the magistrates, and all others in authority, except in matters of conscience; to abstain from sedition; but to obey the will of god. the executioner threw him from the ladder while he was yet speaking. so ended the lives of two eloquent, learned, and highly-gifted divines. many hundreds of victims were sacrificed in the unfortunate city. "there were a great many other citizens strangled or beheaded," says an aristocratic catholic historian of the time, "but they were mostly personages of little quality, whose names are quite unknown to me."--[pontus payen]--the franchises of the city were all revoked. there was a prodigious amount of property confiscated to the benefit of noircarmes and the rest of the "seven sleepers." many calvinists were burned, others were hanged. "for--two whole years," says another catholic, who was a citizen of valenciennes at the time, "there was, scarcely a week in which several citizens were not executed and often a great number were despatched at a time. all this gave so much alarm to the good and innocent, that many quitted the city as fast as they could." if the good and innocent happened to be rich, they might be sure that noircarmes would deem that a crime for which no goodness and innocence could atone. upon the fate of valenciennes had depended, as if by common agreement, the whole destiny of the anti-catholic party. "people had learned at last," says another walloon, "that the king had long arms, and that he had not been enlisting soldiers to string beads. so they drew in their horns and their evil tempers, meaning to put them forth again, should the government not succeed at the siege of valenciennes." the government had succeeded, however, and the consternation was extreme, the general submission immediate and even abject. "the capture of valenciennes," wrote noircarmes to granvelle, "has worked a miracle. the other cities all come forth to meet me, putting the rope around their own necks." no opposition was offered any where. tournay had been crushed; valenciennes, bois le duc, and all other important places, accepted their garrisons without a murmur. even antwerp had made its last struggle, and as soon as the back of orange was turned, knelt down in the dust to receive its bridle. the prince had been able, by his courage and wisdom, to avert a sanguinary conflict within its walls, but his personal presence alone could guarantee any thing like religious liberty for the inhabitants, now that the rest of the country was subdued. on the th april, sixteen companies of infantry, under count mansfeld, entered the gates. on the th the duchess made a visit to the city, where she was received with respect, but where her eyes were shocked by that which she termed the "abominable, sad, and hideous spectacle of the desolated churches." to the eyes of all who loved their fatherland and their race, the sight of a desolate country, with its ancient charters superseded by brute force, its industrious population swarming from the land in droves, as if the pestilence were raging, with gibbets and scaffolds erected in every village, and with a sickening and universal apprehension of still darker disasters to follow, was a spectacle still more sad, hideous, and abominable. for it was now decided that the duke of alva, at the head of a spanish army, should forthwith take his departure for the netherlands. a land already subjugated was to be crushed, and every vestige of its ancient liberties destroyed. the conquered provinces, once the abode of municipal liberty, of science, art, and literature, and blessed with an unexampled mercantile and manufacturing prosperity, were to be placed in absolute subjection to the cabinet council at madrid. a dull and malignant bigot, assisted by a few spanish grandees, and residing at the other extremity of europe, was thenceforth to exercise despotic authority over countries which for centuries had enjoyed a local administration, and a system nearly approaching to complete self-government. such was the policy devised by granvelle and spinosa, which the duke of alva, upon the th april, had left madrid to enforce. it was very natural that margaret of parma should be indignant at being thus superseded. she considered herself as having acquired much credit by the manner in which the latter insurrectionary movements had been suppressed, so soon as philip, after his endless tergiversations, had supplied her with arms and money. therefore she wrote in a tone of great asperity to her brother, expressing her discontent. she had always been trammelled in her action, she said, by his restrictions upon her authority. she complained that he had no regard for her reputation or her peace of mind. notwithstanding, all impediments and dangers, she had at last settled the country, and now another person was to reap the honor. she also despatched the seigneur de billy to spain, for the purpose of making verbal representations to his majesty upon the inexpediency of sending the duke of alva to the netherlands at that juncture with a spanish army. margaret gained nothing, however, by her letters and her envoy, save a round rebuke from philip, who was not accustomed to brook the language of remonstrance; even from his sister. his purpose was fixed. absolute submission was now to be rendered by all. "he was highly astonished and dissatisfied," he said, "that she should dare to write to him with so much passion, and in so resolute a manner. if she received no other recompense, save the glory of having restored the service of god, she ought to express her gratitude to the king for having given her the opportunity of so doing." the affectation of clement intentions was still maintained, together with the empty pretence of the royal visit. alva and his army were coming merely to prepare the way for the king, who still represented himself as "debonair and gentle, slow to anger, and averse from bloodshed." superficial people believed that the king was really coming, and hoped wonders from his advent. the duchess knew better. the pope never believed in it, granvelle never believed in it, the prince of orange never believed in it, councillor d'assonleville never believed in it. "his majesty," says the walloon historian, who wrote from assonleville's papers, "had many imperative reasons for not coming. he was fond of quiet, he was a great negotiator, distinguished for phlegm and modesty, disinclined to long journeys, particularly to sea voyages, which were very painful to him. moreover, he was then building his escorial with so much taste and affection that it was impossible for him to leave home." these excellent reasons sufficed to detain the monarch, in whose place a general was appointed, who, it must be confessed, was neither phlegmatic nor modest, and whose energies were quite equal to the work required. there had in truth never been any thing in the king's project of visiting the netherlands but pretence. on the other hand, the work of orange for the time was finished. he had saved antwerp, he had done his best to maintain the liberties of the country, the rights of conscience, and the royal authority, so far as they were compatible with each other. the alternative had now been distinctly forced upon every man, either to promise blind obedience or to accept the position of a rebel. william of orange had thus become a rebel. he had been requested to sign the new oath, greedily taken by the mansfelds, the berlaymont, the aerachot, and the egmonts, to obey every order which he might receive, against every person and in every place, without restriction or limitation,--and he had distinctly and repeatedly declined the demand. he had again and again insisted upon resigning all his offices. the duchess, more and more anxious to gain over such an influential personage to the cause of tyranny, had been most importunate in her requisitions. "a man with so noble a heart," she wrote to the prince, "and with a descent from, such illustrious and loyal ancestors, can surely not forget his duties to his majesty and the country." william of orange knew his duty to both better than the duchess could understand. he answered this fresh summons by reminding her that he had uniformly refused the new and extraordinary pledge required of him. he had been true to his old oaths, and therefore no fresh pledge was necessary. moreover, a pledge without limitation he would never take. the case might happen, he said, that he should be ordered to do things contrary to his conscience, prejudicial to his majesty's service, and in violation of his oaths to maintain the laws of the country. he therefore once more resigned all his offices, and signified his intention of leaving the provinces. margaret had previously invited him to an interview at brussels, which he had declined, because he had discovered a conspiracy in that place to "play him a trick." assonleville had already been sent to him without effect. he had refused to meet a deputation of fleece knights at mechlin, from the same suspicion of foul play. after the termination of the antwerp tumult, orange again wrote to the duchess, upon the th march, repeating his refusal to take the oath, and stating that he considered himself as at least suspended from all his functions, since she had refused, upon the ground of incapacity, to accept his formal resignation. margaret now determined, by the advice of the state council, to send secretary berty, provided with an ample letter of instructions, upon a special mission to the prince at antwerp. that respectable functionary performed his task with credit, going through the usual formalities, and adducing the threadbare arguments in favor of the unlimited oath, with much adroitness and decorum. he mildly pointed out the impropriety of laying down such responsible posts as those which the prince now occupied at such a juncture. he alluded to the distress which the step must occasion to the debonair sovereign. william of orange became somewhat impatient under the official lecture of this secretary to the privy council, a mere man of sealing-wax and protocols. the slender stock of platitudes with which he had come provided was soon exhausted. his arguments shrivelled at once in the scorn with which the prince received them. the great statesman, who, it was hoped, would be entrapped to ruin, dishonor, and death by such very feeble artifices, asked indignantly whether it were really expected that he should acknowledge himself perjured to his old obligations by now signing new ones; that he should disgrace himself by an unlimited pledge which might require him to break his oaths to the provincial statutes and to the emperor; that he should consent to administer the religious edicts which he abhorred; that he should act as executioner of christians on account of their religious opinions, an office against which his soul revolted; that he should bind himself by an unlimited promise which might require, him to put his own wife to death, because she was a lutheran? moreover, was it to be supposed that he would obey without restriction any orders issued to him in his majesty's name, when the king's representative might be a person whose supremacy it ill became one of his' race to acknowledge? was william of orange to receive absolute commands from the duke of alva? having mentioned that name with indignation, the prince became silent. it was very obvious that no impression was to be made upon the man by formalists. poor berty having conjugated his paradigm conscientiously through all its moods and tenses, returned to his green board in the council-room with his proces verbal of the conference. before he took his leave, however, he prevailed upon orange to hold an interview with the duke of aerschot, count mansfeld, and count egmont. this memorable meeting took place at willebroek, a village midway between antwerp and brussels, in the first week of april. the duke of aerschot was prevented from attending, but mansfeld and egmont--accompanied by the faithful berty, to make another proces verbal--duly made their appearance. the prince had never felt much sympathy with mansfeld, but a tender and honest friendship had always existed between himself and egmont, notwithstanding the difference of their characters, the incessant artifices employed by the spanish court to separate them, and the impassable chasm which now, existed between their respective positions towards the government. the same common-places of argument and rhetoric were now discussed between orange and the other three personages, the prince distinctly stating, in conclusion, that he considered himself as discharged from all his offices, and that he was about to leave the netherlands for germany. the interview, had it been confined to such formal conversation, would have but little historic interest. egmont's choice had been made. several months before he had signified his determination to hold those for enemies who should cease to conduct themselves as faithful vassals, declared himself to be without fear that the country was to be placed in the hands of spaniards, and disavowed all intention, in any case whatever, of taking arms against the king. his subsequent course, as we have seen, had been entirely in conformity with these solemn declarations. nevertheless, the prince, to whom they had been made, thought it still possible to withdraw his friend from the precipice upon which he stood, and to save him from his impending fate. his love for egmont had, in his own noble; and pathetic language, "struck its roots too deeply into his heart" to permit him, in this their parting interview, to neglect a last effort, even if this solemn warning were destined to be disregarded. by any reasonable construction of history, philip was an unscrupulous usurper, who was attempting to convert himself from a duke of brabant and a count of holland into an absolute king. it was william who was maintaining, philip who was destroying; and the monarch who was thus blasting the happiness of the provinces, and about to decimate their population, was by the same process to undermine his own power forever, and to divest himself of his richest inheritance. the man on whom he might have leaned for support, had he been capable of comprehending his character, and of understanding the age in which he had himself been called upon to reign, was, through philip's own insanity, converted into the instrument by which his most valuable provinces were, to be taken from him, and eventually re-organized into: an independent commonwealth. could a vision, like that imagined by the immortal dramatist for another tyrant and murderer, have revealed the future to philip, he, too, might have beheld his victim, not crowned himself, but pointing to a line of kings, even to some who 'two-fold balls and treble sceptres carried', and smiling on them for his. but such considerations as these had no effect upon the prince of orange. he knew himself already proscribed, and he knew that the secret condemnation had extended to egmont also. he was anxious that his friend should prefer the privations of exile, with the chance of becoming the champion of a struggling country, to the wretched fate towards which his blind confidence was leading him. even then it seemed possible that the brave soldier, who had been recently defiling his sword in the cause of tyranny, might be come mindful of his brighter and earlier fame. had egmont been as true to his native land as, until "the long divorce of steel fell on him," he was faithful to philip, he might yet have earned brighter laurels than those gained at st. quentin and gravelines. was he doomed to fall, he might find a glorious death upon freedom's battle-field, in place of that darker departure then so near him, which the prophetic language of orange depicted, but which he was too sanguine to fear. he spoke with confidence of the royal clemency. "alas, egmont," answered the prince, "the king's clemency, of which you boast, will destroy you. would that i might be deceived, but i foresee too clearly that you are to be the bridge which the spaniards will destroy so soon as they have passed over it to invade our country." with these last, solemn words he concluded his appeal to awaken the count from his fatal security. then, as if persuaded that he was looking upon his friend for the last time, william of orange threw his arms around egmont, and held him for a moment in a close embrace. tears fell from the eyes of both at this parting moment--and then the brief scene of simple and lofty pathos terminated--egmont and orange separated from each other, never to meet again on earth. a few days afterwards, orange addressed a letter to philip once more resigning all his offices, and announcing his intention of departing from the netherlands for germany. he added, that he should be always ready to place himself and his property at the king's orders in every thing which he believed conducive to the true service of his majesty. the prince had already received a remarkable warning from old landgrave philip of hesse, who had not forgotten the insidious manner in which his own memorable captivity had been brought about by the arts of granvelle and of alva. "let them not smear your mouths with honey," said the landgrave. "if the three seigniors, of whom the duchess margaret has had so much to say, are invited to court by alva, under pretext of friendly consultation, let them be wary, and think twice ere they accept. i know the duke of alva and the spaniards, and how they dealt with me." the prince, before he departed, took a final leave of horn and egmont, by letters, which, as if aware of the monumental character they were to assume for posterity, he drew up in latin. he desired, now that he was turning his back upon the country, that those two nobles who had refused to imitate, and had advised against his course, should remember that, he was acting deliberately, conscientiously, and in pursuance of a long-settled plan. to count horn he declared himself unable to connive longer at the sins daily committed against the country and his own conscience. he assured him that the government had been accustoming the country to panniers, in order that it might now accept patiently the saddle and bridle. for himself, he said, his back was not strong enough for the weight already imposed upon it, and he preferred to endure any calamity which might happen to him in exile, rather than be compelled by those whom they had all condemned to acquiesce in the object so long and steadily pursued. he reminded egmont, who had been urging him by letter to remain, that his resolution had been deliberately taken, and long since communicated to his friends. he could not, in conscience, take the oath required; nor would he, now that all eyes were turned upon him, remain in the land, the only recusant. he preferred to encounter all that could happen, rather than attempt to please others by the sacrifice of liberty, of his fatherland, of his own conscience. "i hope, therefore," said he to egmont in conclusion, "that you, after weighing my reasons, will not disapprove my departure. the rest i leave to god, who will dispose of all as may most conduce to the glory of his name. for yourself, i pray you to believe that you have no more sincere friend than i am. my love for you has struck such deep root into my heart, that it can be lessened by no distance of time or place, and i pray you in return to maintain the same feelings towards me which you have always cherished." the prince had left antwerp upon the th april, and had written these letters from breda, upon the th of the same month. upon the d, he took his departure for dillenburg, the ancestral seat of his family in germany, by the way of grave and cleves. it was not to be supposed that this parting message would influence egmont's decision with regard to his own movements, when his determination had not been shaken at his memorable interview with the prince. the count's fate was sealed. had he not been praised by noircarmes; had he not earned the hypocritical commendations of duchess margaret; nay more, had he not just received a most affectionate letter of, thanks and approbation from the king of spain himself? this letter, one of the most striking monuments of philip's cold-blooded perfidy, was dated the th of march. "i am pleased, my cousin," wrote the monarch to egmont, "that you have taken the new oath, not that i considered it at all necessary so far as regards yourself, but for the example which you have thus given to others, and which i hope they will all follow. i have received not less pleasure in hearing of the excellent manner in which you are doing your duty, the assistance you are rendering, and the offers which you are making to my sister, for which i thank you, and request you to continue in the same course." the words were written by the royal hand which had already signed the death-warrant of the man to whom they were addressed. alva, who came provided with full powers to carry out the great scheme resolved upon, unrestrained by provincial laws or by the statutes of the golden fleece, had left madrid to embark for carthagena, at the very moment when egmont was reading the royal letter. "the spanish honey," to use once more old landgrave philip's homely metaphor, had done its work, and the unfortunate victim was already entrapped. count horn remained in gloomy silence in his lair at weert, awaiting the hunters of men, already on their way. it seemed inconceivable that he, too, who knew himself suspected and disliked, should have thus blinded himself to his position. it will be seen, however, that the same perfidy was to be employed to ensnare him which proved so successful with egmont. as for the prince himself, he did not move too soon. not long after his arrival in germany, vandenesse, the king's private secretary, but orange's secret agent, wrote him word that he had read letters from the king to alva in which the duke was instructed to "arrest the prince as soon as he could lay hands upon him, and not to let his trial last more than twenty-four hours." brederode had remained at viane, and afterwards at amsterdam, since the ill-starred expedition of tholouse, which he had organized, but at which he had not assisted. he had given much annoyance to the magistracy of amsterdam, and to all respectable persons, calvinist or catholic. he made much mischief, but excited no hopes in the minds of reformers. he was ever surrounded by a host of pot companions, swaggering nobles disguised as sailors, bankrupt tradesmen, fugitives and outlaws of every description, excellent people to drink the beggars' health and to bawl the beggars' songs, but quite unfit for any serious enterprise. people of substance were wary of him, for they had no confidence in his capacity, and were afraid of his frequent demands for contributions to the patriotic cause. he spent his time in the pleasure gardens, shooting at the mark with arquebuss or crossbow, drinking with his comrades, and shrieking "vivent les gueux." the regent, determined to dislodge him, had sent secretary la torre to him in march, with instructions that if brederode refused to leave amsterdam, the magistracy were to call for assistance upon count meghem, who had a regiment at utrecht. this clause made it impossible for la torre to exhibit his instructions to brederode. upon his refusal, that personage, although he knew the secretary as well as he knew his own father, coolly informed him that he knew nothing about him; that he did not consider him as respectable a person as he pretended to be; that he did not believe a word of his having any commission from the duchess, and that he should therefore take no notice whatever of his demands. la torre answered meekly, that he was not so presumptuous, nor so destitute of sense as to put himself into comparison with a gentleman of count brederode's quality, but that as he had served as secretary to the privy council for twenty-three years, he had thought that he might be believed upon his word. hereupon la tome drew up a formal protest, and brederode drew up another. la torre made a proces verbal of their interview, while brederode stormed like a madman, and abused the duchess for a capricious and unreasonable tyrant. he ended by imprisoning la torre for a day or two, and seizing his papers. by a singular coincidence, these events took place on the th, th, and th of march, the very days of the great antwerp tumult. the manner in which the prince of orange had been dealing with forty or fifty thousand armed men, anxious to cut each other's throats, while brederode was thus occupied in browbeating a pragmatical but decent old secretary, illustrated the difference in calibre of the two men. this was the count's last exploit. he remained at amsterdam some weeks longer, but the events which succeeded changed the hector into a faithful vassal. before the th of april, he wrote to egmont, begging his intercession with margaret of parma, and offering "carte blanche" as to terms, if he might only be allowed to make his peace with government. it was, however, somewhat late in the day for the "great beggar" to make his submission. no terms were accorded him, but he was allowed by the duchess to enjoy his revenues provisionally, subject to the king's pleasure. upon the th april, he entertained a select circle of friends at his hotel in amsterdam, and then embarked at midnight for embden. a numerous procession of his adherents escorted him to the ship, bearing lighted torches, and singing bacchanalian songs. he died within a year afterwards, of disappointment and hard drinking, at castle hardenberg, in germany, after all his fretting and fury, and notwithstanding his vehement protestations to die a poor soldier at the feet of louis nassau. that "good chevalier and good christian," as his brother affectionately called him, was in germany, girding himself for the manly work which providence had destined him to perform. the life of brederode, who had engaged in the early struggle, perhaps from the frivolous expectation of hearing himself called count of holland, as his ancestors had been, had contributed nothing to the cause of freedom, nor did his death occasion regret. his disorderly band of followers dispersed in every direction upon the departure of their chief. a vessel in which batenburg, galaina, and other nobles, with their men-at-arms, were escaping towards a german port, was carried into harlingen, while those gentlemen, overpowered by sleep and wassail, were unaware of their danger, and delivered over to count meghem, by the treachery of their pilot. the soldiers, were immediately hanged. the noblemen were reserved to grace the first great scaffold which alva was to erect upon the horse-market in brussels. the confederacy was entirely broken to pieces. of the chieftains to whom the people had been accustomed to look for support and encouragement, some had rallied to the government, some were in exile, some were in prison. montigny, closely watched in spain, was virtually a captive, pining for the young bride to whom he had been wedded amid such brilliant festivities but a few months before his departure, and for the child which was never to look upon its father's face. his colleague, marquis berghen, more fortunate, was already dead. the excellent viglius seized the opportunity to put in a good word for noircarmes, who had been grinding tournay in the dust, and butchering the inhabitants of valenciennes. "we have heard of berghen's death," wrote the president to his faithful joachim. "the lord of noircarmes, who has been his substitute in the governorship of hainault, has given a specimen of what he can do. although i have no private intimacy with that nobleman, i can not help embracing him with all my benevolence. therefore, oh my hopper, pray do your best to have him appointed governor." with the departure of orange, a total eclipse seemed to come over the netherlands. the country was absolutely helpless, the popular heart cold with apprehension. all persons at all implicated in the late troubles, or suspected of heresy, fled from their homes. fugitive soldiers were hunted into rivers, cut to pieces in the fields, hanged, burned, or drowned, like dogs, without quarter, and without remorse. the most industrious and valuable part of the population left the land in droves. the tide swept outwards with such rapidity that the netherlands seemed fast becoming the desolate waste which they had been before the christian era. throughout the country, those reformers who were unable to effect their escape betook themselves to their old lurking-places. the new religion was banished from all the cities, every conventicle was broken up by armed men, the preachers and leading members were hanged, their disciples beaten with rods, reduced to beggary, or imprisoned, even if they sometimes escaped the scaffold. an incredible number, however, were executed for religious causes. hardly a village so small, says the antwerp chronicler,--[meteren]--but that it could furnish one, two, or three hundred victims to the executioner. the new churches were levelled to the ground, and out of their timbers gallows were constructed. it was thought an ingenious pleasantry to hang the reformers upon the beams under which they had hoped to worship god. the property of the fugitives was confiscated. the beggars in name became beggars in reality. many who felt obliged to remain, and who loved their possessions better than their creed, were suddenly converted into the most zealous of catholics. persons who had for years not gone to mass, never omitted now their daily and nightly visits to the churches. persons who had never spoken to an ecclesiastic but with contumely, now could not eat their dinners without one at their table. many who were suspected of having participated in calvinistic rites, were foremost and loudest in putting down and denouncing all forms and shows of the reformation. the country was as completely "pacified," to use the conqueror's expression, as gaul had been by caesar. the regent issued a fresh edict upon the th may, to refresh the memories of those who might have forgotten previous statutes, which were, however, not calculated to make men oblivious. by this new proclamation, all ministers and teachers were sentenced to the gallows. all persons who had suffered their houses to be used for religious purposes were sentenced to the gallows. all parents or masters whose children or servants had attended such meetings were sentenced to the gallows, while the children and servants were only to be beaten with rods. all people who sang hymns at the burial of their relations were sentenced to the gallows. parents who allowed their newly-born children to be baptized by other hands than those of the catholic priest were sentenced to the gallows. the same punishment was denounced against the persons who should christen the child or act as its sponsors. schoolmasters who should teach any error or false doctrine were likewise to be punished with death. those who infringed the statutes against the buying and selling of religious books and songs were to receive the same doom; after the first offence. all sneers or insults against priests and ecclesiastics were also made capital crimes. vagabonds, fugitives; apostates, runaway monks, were ordered forthwith to depart from every city on pain of death. in all cases confiscation of the whole property of the criminal was added to the hanging. this edict, says a contemporary historian, increased the fear of those professing the new religion to such an extent that they left the country "in great heaps." it became necessary, therefore, to issue a subsequent proclamation forbidding all persons, whether foreigners or natives, to leave the land or to send away their property, and prohibiting all shipmasters, wagoners, and other agents of travel, from assisting in the flight of such fugitives, all upon pain of death. yet will it be credited that the edict of th may, the provisions of which have just been sketched, actually excited the wrath of philip on account of their clemency? he wrote to the duchess, expressing the pain and dissatisfaction which he felt, that an edict so indecent, so illegal, so contrary to the christian religion, should have been published. nothing, he said, could offend or distress him more deeply, than any outrage whatever, even the slightest one, offered to god and to his roman catholic church. he therefore commanded his sister instantly to revoke the edict. one might almost imagine from reading the king's letter that philip was at last appalled at the horrors committed in his name. alas, he was only indignant that heretics had been suffered to hang who ought to have been burned, and that a few narrow and almost impossible loopholes had been left through which those who had offended alight effect their escape. and thus, while the country is paralyzed with present and expected woe, the swiftly advancing trumpets of the spanish army resound from beyond the alps. the curtain is falling upon the prelude to the great tragedy which the prophetic lips of orange had foretold. when it is again lifted, scenes of disaster and of bloodshed, battles, sieges, executions, deeds of unfaltering but valiant tyranny, of superhuman and successful resistance, of heroic self-sacrifice, fanatical courage and insane cruelty, both in the cause of the wrong and the right, will be revealed in awful succession--a spectacle of human energy, human suffering, and human strength to suffer, such as has not often been displayed upon the stage of the world's events. etext editor's bookmarks: god save the king! it was the last time having conjugated his paradigm conscientiously indignant that heretics had been suffered to hang insane cruelty, both in the cause of the wrong and the right sick and wounded wretches were burned over slow fires slender stock of platitudes the time for reasoning had passed who loved their possessions better than their creed motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley [part iii., alva, chapter .] continued dissensions in the spanish cabinet--ruy gomez and alva-- conquest of the netherlands entrusted to the duke--birth, previous career and character of alva--organization of the invading army-- its march to the provinces--complaints of duchess margaret--alva receives deputations on the frontier--interview between the duke and egmont--reception of alva by the duchess of parma--circular letters to the cities requiring their acceptance of garrisons--margaret's secret correspondence--universal apprehension--keys of the great cities demanded by alva--secret plans of the government, arranged before the duke's departure--arrest of orange, egmont, horn, and others, determined upon--stealthy course of the government towards them--infatuation of egmont--warnings addressed to him by de billy and others--measures to entrap count horn--banquet of the grand prior--the grand prior's warning to egmont--evil counsels of noircarmes--arrests of egmont, horn, bakkerzeel and straalen-- popular consternation--petulant conduct of duchess margaret-- characteristic comments of granvelle--his secret machinations and disclaimers--berghen and montigny--last moments of marquis berghen-- perfidy of ruy gomez--establishment of the "blood-council"--its leading features--insidious behavior of viglius--secret correspondence, concerning the president, between philip and alva-- members of the "blood-council"--portraits of vargas and hessels-- mode of proceeding adopted by the council--wholesale executions-- despair in the provinces--the resignation of duchess margaret accepted--her departure from the netherlands--renewed civil war in france--death of montmorency--auxiliary troops sent by alva to france--erection of antwerp citadel--description of the citadel. the armed invasion of the netherlands was the necessary consequence of all which had gone before. that the inevitable result had been so long deferred lay rather in the incomprehensible tardiness of philip's character than in the circumstances of the case. never did a monarch hold so steadfastly to a deadly purpose, or proceed so languidly and with so much circumvolution to his goal. the mask of benignity, of possible clemency, was now thrown off, but the delusion of his intended visit to the provinces was still maintained. he assured the regent that he should be governed by her advice, and as she had made all needful preparations to receive him in zeland, that it would be in zeland he should arrive. the same two men among philip's advisers were prominent as at an earlier day--the prince of eboli and the duke of alva. they still represented entirely opposite ideas, and in character, temper, and history, each was the reverse of the other. the policy of the prince was pacific and temporizing; that of the duke uncompromising and ferocious. ruy gomez was disposed to prevent, if possible, the armed mission of alva, and he now openly counselled the king to fulfil his long-deferred promise, and to make his appearance in person before his rebellious subjects. the jealousy and hatred which existed between the prince and the duke--between the man of peace and the man of wrath--were constantly exploding, even in the presence of the king. the wrangling in the council was incessant. determined, if possible; to prevent the elevation of his rival, the favorite was even for a moment disposed to ask for the command of the army himself. there was something ludicrous in the notion, that a man whose life had been pacific, and who trembled at the noise of arms, should seek to supersede the terrible alva, of whom his eulogists asserted, with, castilian exaggeration, that the very name of fear inspired him with horror. but there was a limit beyond which the influence of anna de mendoza and her husband did not extend. philip was not to be driven to the netherlands against his will, nor to be prevented from assigning the command of the army to the most appropriate man in europe for his purpose. it was determined at last that the netherland heresy should be conquered by force of arms. the invasion resembled both a crusade against the infidel, and a treasure-hunting foray into the auriferous indies, achievements by which spanish chivalry had so often illustrated itself. the banner of the cross was to be replanted upon the conquered battlements of three hundred infidel cities, and a torrent of wealth, richer than ever flowed from mexican or peruvian mines, was to flow into the royal treasury from the perennial fountains of confiscation. who so fit to be the tancred and the pizarro of this bicolored expedition as the duke of alva, the man who had been devoted from his earliest childhood, and from his father's grave, to hostility against unbelievers, and who had prophesied that treasure would flow in a stream, a yard deep, from the netherlands as soon as the heretics began to meet with their deserts. an army of chosen troops was forthwith collected, by taking the four legions, or terzios, of naples, sicily, sardinia, and lombardy, and filling their places in italy by fresh levies. about ten thousand picked and veteran soldiers were thus obtained, of which the duke of alva was appointed general-in-chief. ferdinando alvarez de toledo, duke of alva, was now in his sixtieth year. he was the most successful and experienced general of spain, or of europe. no man had studied more deeply, or practised more constantly, the military science. in the most important of all arts at that epoch he was the most consummate artist. in the only honorable profession of the age, he was the most thorough and the most pedantic professor. since the days of demetrius poliorcetes, no man had besieged so many cities. since the days of fabius cunctator; no general had avoided so many battles, and no soldier, courageous as he was, ever attained to a more sublime indifference to calumny or depreciation. having proved in his boyhood, at fontarabia, and in his maturity: at muhlberg, that he could exhibit heroism and headlong courage; when necessary, he could afford to look with contempt upon the witless gibes which his enemies had occasionally perpetrated at his expense. conscious of holding his armies in his hand, by the power of an unrivalled discipline, and the magic of a name illustrated by a hundred triumphs, he, could bear with patience and benevolence the murmurs of his soldiers when their battles were denied them. he was born in , of a family which boasted, imperial descent. a palaeologus, brother of a byzantine emperor, had conquered the city of toledo, and transmitted its appellation as a family name. the father of ferdinando, don garcia, had been slain on the isle of gerbes, in battle with the moors, when his son was but four years of age. the child was brought up by his grandfather, don frederic, and trained from his tenderest infancy to arms. hatred to the infidel, and a determination to avenge his father's blood; crying to him from a foreign grave, were the earliest of his instincts. as a youth he was distinguished for his prowess. his maiden sword was fleshed at fontarabia, where, although but sixteen years of age, he was considered, by his constancy in hardship, by his brilliant and desperate courage, and by the example of military discipline which he afforded to the troops, to have contributed in no small degree to the success of the spanish arms. in , he accompanied the emperor in his campaign against the turk. charles, instinctively recognizing the merit of the youth who was destined to be the life-long companion of his toils and glories, distinguished him with his favor at the opening of his career. young, brave, and enthusiastic, ferdinand de toledo at this period was as interesting a hero as ever illustrated the pages of castilian romance. his mad ride from hungary to spain and back again, accomplished in seventeen days, for the sake of a brief visit to his newly-married wife, is not the least attractive episode in the history of an existence which was destined to be so dark and sanguinary. in , he accompanied the emperor on his memorable expedition to tunis. in and he was generalissimo in the war against the smalcaldian league. his most brilliant feat of arms-perhaps the most brilliant exploit of the emperor's reign--was the passage of the elbe and the battle of muhlberg, accomplished in spite of maximilian's bitter and violent reproaches, and the tremendous possibilities of a defeat. that battle had finished the war. the gigantic and magnanimous john frederic, surprised at his devotions in the church, fled in dismay, leaving his boots behind him, which for their superhuman size, were ridiculously said afterwards to be treasured among the trophies of the toledo house. [hist. du due d'albe, i. . brantome, hom. illust., etc. (ch. v.), says that one of the boots was "large enough to hold a camp bedstead," p. . i insert the anecdote only as a specimen of the manner in which similar absurdities, both of great and, of little consequence, are perpetuated by writers in every land and age. the armor of the noble-hearted and unfortunate john frederic may still be seen in dresden. its size indicates a man very much above the average height, while the external length of the iron shoe, on-the contrary, is less than eleven inches.] the rout was total. "i came, i saw, and god conquered," said the emperor, in pious parody of his immortal predecessor's epigram. maximilian, with a thousand apologies for his previous insults, embraced the heroic don ferdinand over and over again, as, arrayed in a plain suit of blue armor, unadorned save with streaks of his enemies' blood, he returned from pursuit of the fugitives. so complete and so sudden was the victory, that it was found impossible to account for it, save on the ground of miraculous interposition. like joshua, in the vale of ajalon, don ferdinand was supposed to have commanded the sun to stand still for a season, and to have been obeyed. otherwise, how could the passage of the river, which was only concluded at six in the evening, and the complete overthrow of the protestant forces, have all been accomplished within the narrow space of an april twilight? the reply of the duke to henry the second of france, who questioned him subsequently upon the subject, is well known. "your majesty, i was too much occupied that evening with what was taking place on the earth beneath, to pay much heed to the evolutions of the heavenly bodies." spared as he had been by his good fortune from taking any part in the algerine expedition, or in witnessing the ignominious retreat from innspruck, he was obliged to submit to the intercalation of the disastrous siege of metz in the long history of his successes. doing the duty of a field-marshal and a sentinel, supporting his army by his firmness and his discipline when nothing else could have supported them, he was at last enabled, after half the hundred thousand men with whom charles had begun the siege had been sacrificed, to induce his imperial master to raise the siege before the remaining fifty thousand had been frozen or starved to death. the culminating career of alva seemed to have closed in the mist which gathered around the setting star of the empire. having accompanied philip to england in , on his matrimonial-expedition, he was destined in the following years, as viceroy and generalissimo of italy, to be placed in a series of false positions. a great captain engaged in a little war, the champion of the cross in arms against the successor of st. peter, he had extricated himself, at last, with his usual adroitness, but with very little glory. to him had been allotted the mortification, to another the triumph. the lustre of his own name seemed to sink in the ocean while that of a hated rival, with new spangled ore, suddenly "flamed in the forehead of the morning sky." while he had been paltering with a dotard, whom he was forbidden to crush, egmont had struck down the chosen troops of france, and conquered her most illustrious commanders. here was the unpardonable crime which could only be expiated by the blood of the victor. unfortunately for his rival, the time was now approaching when the long-deferred revenge was to be satisfied. on the whole, the duke of alva was inferior to no general of his age. as a disciplinarian he was foremost in spain, perhaps in europe. a spendthrift of time, he was an economist of blood, and this was, perhaps, in the eye of humanity, his principal virtue. time and myself are two, was a frequent observation of philip, and his favorite general considered the maxim as applicable to war as to politics. such were his qualities as a military commander. as a statesman, he had neither experience nor talent. as a man his character was simple. he did not combine a great variety of vices, but those which he had were colossal, and he possessed no virtues. he was neither lustful nor intemperate, but his professed eulogists admitted his enormous avarice, while the world has agreed that such an amount of stealth and ferocity, of patient vindictiveness and universal bloodthirstiness, were never found in a savage beast of the forest, and but rarely in a human bosom. his history was now to show that his previous thrift of human life was not derived from any love of his kind. personally he was stern and overbearing. as difficult of access as philip himself, he was even more haughty to those who were admitted to his presence. he addressed every one with the depreciating second person plural. possessing the right of being covered in the presence of the spanish monarch, he had been with difficulty brought to renounce it before the german emperor. he was of an illustrious family; but his territorial possessions were not extensive. his duchy was a small one, furnishing him with not more than fourteen thousand crowns of annual income, and with four hundred soldiers. he had, however, been a thrifty financier all his life, never having been without a handsome sum of ready money at interest. ten years before his arrival in the netherlands, he was supposed to have already increased his income to forty thousand a year by the proceeds of his investments at antwerp. as already intimated, his military character was sometimes profoundly misunderstood. he was often considered rather a pedantic than a practical commander, more capable to discourse of battles than to gain them. notwithstanding that his long life had been an almost unbroken campaign, the ridiculous accusation of timidity was frequently made against him. a gentleman at the court of the emperor charles once addressed a letter to the duke with the title of "general of his majesty's armies in the duchy of milan in time of peace, and major-domo of the household in the time of war." it was said that the lesson did the duke good, but that he rewarded very badly the nobleman who gave it, having subsequently caused his head to be taken off. in general, however, alva manifested a philosophical contempt for the opinions expressed concerning his military fame, and was especially disdainful of criticism expressed by his own soldiers. "recollect," said he, at a little later period, to don john of austria, "that the first foes with whom one has to contend are one's own troops; with their clamors for an engagement at this moment, and--their murmurs, about results at another; with their 'i thought that the battle should be fought;' or, 'it was my opinion that the occasion ought not to be lost.' your highness will have opportunity enough to display valor, and will never be weak enough to be conquered by the babble of soldiers." in person he was tall, thin, erect, with a small head, a long visage, lean yellow cheek, dark twinkling eyes, a dust complexion, black bristling hair, and a long sable-silvered beard, descending in two waving streams upon his breast. such being the design, the machinery was well selected. the best man in europe to lead the invading force was placed at the head of ten thousand picked veterans. the privates in this exquisite little army, said the enthusiastic connoisseur brantome, who travelled post into lorraine expressly to see them on their march, all wore engraved or gilded armor, and were in every respect equipped like captains. they were the first who carried muskets, a weapon which very much astonished the flemings when it first rattled in their ears. the musketeers, he observed, might have been mistaken, for princes, with such agreeable and graceful arrogance did they present themselves. each was attended by his servant or esquire, who carried his piece for him, except in battle, and all were treated with extreme deference by the rest of the army, as if they had been officers. the four regiments of lombardy, sardinia, sicily, and naples, composed a total of not quite nine thousand of the best foot soldiers in europe. they were commanded respectively by don sancho de lodiono, don gonzalo de bracamonte, julien romero, and alfonso de ulloa, all distinguished and experienced generals. the cavalry, amounting to about twelve hundred; was under the command of the natural son of the duke, don ferdinando de toledo, prior of the knights of st. john. chiapin vitelli, marquis of cetona, who had served the king in many a campaign, was appointed marechal de camp, and gabriel cerbelloni was placed in command of the artillery. on the way the duke received, as a present from the duke of savoy, the services of the distinguished engineer, pacheco, or paciotti, whose name was to be associated with the most celebrated citadel of the netherlands; and whose dreadful fate was to be contemporaneous with the earliest successes of the liberal party. with an army thus perfect, on a small scale, in all its departments, and furnished, in addition, with a force of two thousand prostitutes, as regularly enrolled, disciplined, and distributed as the cavalry or the artillery, the duke embarked upon his momentous enterprise, on the th of may, at carthagena. thirty-seven galleys, under command of prince andrea doria, brought the principal part of the force to genoa, the duke being delayed a few days at nice by an attack of fever. on the d of june, the army was mustered at alexandria de palla, and ordered to rendezvous again at san ambrosio at the foot of the alps. it was then directed to make its way over mount cenis and through savoy; burgundy, and lorraine, by a regularly arranged triple movement. the second division was each night to encamp on the spot which had been occupied upon the previous night by the vanguard, and the rear was to place itself on the following night in the camp of the corps de bataille. thus coiling itself along almost in a single line by slow and serpentine windings, with a deliberate, deadly, venomous purpose, this army, which was to be the instrument of philip's long deferred vengeance, stole through narrow mountain pass and tangled forest. so close and intricate were many of the defiles through which the journey led them that, had one tithe of the treason which they came to punish, ever existed, save in the diseased imagination of their monarch, not one man would have been left to tell the tale. egmont, had he really been the traitor and the conspirator he was assumed to be, might have easily organized the means of cutting off the troops before they could have effected their entrance into the country which they had doomed to destruction. his military experience, his qualifications for a daring stroke, his great popularity, and the intense hatred entertained for alva, would have furnished him with a sufficient machinery for the purpose. twelve days' march carried the army through burgundy, twelve more through lorraine. during the whole of the journey they were closely accompanied by a force of cavalry and infantry, ordered upon this service by the king of france, who, for fear of exciting a fresh huguenot demonstration, had refused the spaniards a passage through his dominions. this reconnoitring army kept pace with them like their shadow, and watched all their movements. a force of six thousand swiss, equally alarmed and uneasy at the progress of the troops, hovered likewise about their flanks, without, however, offering any impediment to their advance. before the middle of august they had reached thionville, on the luxemburg frontier, having on the last day marched a distance of two leagues through a forest, which seemed expressly arranged to allow a small defensive force to embarrass and destroy an invading army. no opposition, however, was attempted, and the spanish soldiers encamped at last within the territory of the netherlands, having accomplished their adventurous journey in entire safety, and under perfect discipline. the duchess had in her secret letters to philip continued to express her disapprobation of the enterprise thus committed to alva, she had bitterly complained that now when the country had been pacified by her efforts, another should be sent to reap all the glory, or perhaps to undo all that she had so painfully and so successfully done. she stated to her brother, in most unequivocal language, that the name of alva was odious enough to make the whole spanish nation detested in the netherlands. she could find no language sufficiently strong to express her surprise that the king should have decided upon a measure likely to be attended with such fatal consequences without consulting her on the subject, and in opposition to what had been her uniform advice. she also wrote personally to alva, imploring, commanding, and threatening, but with equally ill success. the duke knew too well who was sovereign of the netherlands now; his master's sister or himself. as to the effects of his armed invasion upon the temper of the provinces, he was supremely indifferent. he came as a conqueror not as a mediator. "i have tamed people of iron in my day," said he, contemptuously, "shall i not easily crush these men of butter?" at thionville he was, however, officially waited upon by berlaymont and noircarmes, on the part of the regent. he at this point, moreover, began to receive deputations from various cities, bidding him a hollow and trembling welcome, and deprecating his displeasure for any thing in the past which might seem offensive. to all such embassies he replied in vague and conventional language; saying, however, to his confidential attendants: i am here, so much is certain, whether i am welcome or not is to me a matter of little consequence. at tirlemont, on the d august, he was met by count egmont, who had ridden forth from brussels to show him a becoming respect, as the representative of his sovereign, the count was accompanied by several other noblemen, and brought to the duke a present of several beautiful horses. alva received him, however, but coldly, for he was unable at first to adjust the mask to his countenance as adroitly as was necessary. behold the greatest of all the heretics, he observed to his attendants, as soon as the nobleman's presence was announced, and in a voice loud enough for him to hear. even after they had exchanged salutations, he addressed several remarks to him in a half jesting, half biting tone, saying among other things, that his countship might have spared him the trouble of making this long journey in his old age. there were other observations in a similar strain which might have well aroused the suspicion of any man not determined, like egmont, to continue blind and deaf. after a brief interval, however, alva seems to have commanded himself. he passed his arm lovingly over that stately neck, which he had already devoted to the block, and the count having resolved beforehand to place himself, if possible, upon amicable terms with the new viceroy--the two rode along side by side in friendly conversation, followed by the regiment of infantry and three companies of light horse, which belonged to the duke's immediate command. alva, still attended by egmont, rode soon afterwards through the louvain gate into brussels, where they separated for a season. lodgings had been taken for the duke at the house of a certain madame de jasse, in the neighborhood of egmont's palace. leaving here the principal portion of his attendants, the captain-general, without alighting, forthwith proceeded to the palace to pay his respects to the duchess of parma. for three days the regent had been deliberating with her council as to the propriety of declining any visit from the man whose presence she justly considered a disgrace and an insult to herself. this being the reward of her eight years' devotion to her brother's commands; to be superseded by a subject, and one too who came to carry out a policy which she had urgently deprecated, it could hardly be expected of the emperor's daughter that she should graciously submit to the indignity, and receive her successor with a smiling countenance. in consequence, however, of the submissive language with which the duke had addressed her in his recent communications, offering with true castilian but empty courtesy, to place his guards, his army, and himself at her feet, she had consented to receive his visit with or without his attendants. on his appearance in the court-yard, a scene of violent altercation and almost of bloodshed took place between his body-guard and the archers of the regent's household, who were at last, with difficulty, persuaded to allow the mercenaries of the hated captain-general to pass. presenting himself at three o'clock in the afternoon, after these not very satisfactory preliminaries, in the bedchamber of the duchess, where it was her habit to grant confidential audiences, he met, as might easily be supposed, with a chilling reception: the duchess, standing motionless in the centre of the apartment, attended by berlaymont, the duke of aerachot, and count egmont, acknowledged his salutations with calm severity. neither she nor any one of her attendants advanced a step to meet him. the duke took off his hat, but she, calmly recognizing his right as a spanish grandee, insisted upon his remaining covered. a stiff and formal conversation of half an hour's duration then ensued, all parties remaining upon their feet. the duke, although respectful; found it difficult to conceal his indignation and his haughty sense of approaching triumph. margaret was cold, stately, and forbidding, disguising her rage and her mortification under a veil of imperial pride. alva, in a letter to philip, describing the interview, assured his majesty that he had treated the duchess with as much deference as he could have shown to the queen, but it is probable, from other contemporaneous accounts, that an ill-disguised and even angry arrogance was at times very visible in his demeanor. the state council had advised the duchess against receiving him until he had duly exhibited his powers. this ceremony had been waived, but upon being questioned by the duchess at this interview as to their nature and extent, he is reported to have coolly answered that he really did not exactly remember, but that he would look them over, and send her information at his earliest convenience. the next day, however, his commission was duly exhibited. in this document, which bore date st january, , philip appointed him to be captain-general "in correspondence with his majesty's dear sister of parma, who was occupied with other matters belonging to the government," begged the duchess to co-operate with him and to command obedience for him, and ordered all the cities of the netherlands to receive such garrisons as he should direct. at the official interview between alva and madame de parma, at which these powers were produced, the necessary preliminary arrangements were made regarding the spanish troops, which were now to be immediately quartered in the principal cities. the duke, however, informed the regent that as these matters were not within her province, he should take the liberty of arranging them with the authorities, without troubling her in the matter, and would inform her of the result of his measures at their next interview, which was to take place on the th august. circular letters signed by philip, which alva had brought with him, were now despatched to the different municipal bodies of the country. in these the cities were severally commanded to accept the garrisons, and to provide for the armies whose active services the king hoped would not be required, but which he had sent beforehand to prepare a peaceful entrance for himself. he enjoined the most absolute obedience to the duke of alva until his own arrival, which was to be almost immediate. these letters were dated at madrid on the th february, and were now accompanied by a brief official circular, signed by margaret of parma, in which she announced the arrival of her dear cousin of alva, and demanded unconditional submission to his authority. having thus complied with these demands of external and conventional propriety, the indignant duchess unbosomed herself, in her private italian letters to her brother, of the rage which had been hitherto partially suppressed. she reiterated her profound regret that philip had not yet accepted the resignation which she had so recently and so earnestly offered. she disclaimed all jealousy of the supreme powers now conferred upon alva, but thought that his majesty might have allowed her to leave the country before the duke arrived with an authority which was so extraordinary, as well as so humiliating to herself. her honor might thus have been saved. she was pained to perceive that she was like to furnish a perpetual example to all others, who considering the manner in which she had been treated by the king, would henceforth have but little inducement to do their duty. at no time, on no occasion, could any person ever render him such services as hers had been. for nine years she had enjoyed not a moment of repose. if the king had shown her but little gratitude, she was consoled by the thought that she had satisfied her god, herself, and the world. she had compromised her health, perhaps her life, and now that she had pacified the country, now that the king was more absolute, more powerful than ever before, another was sent to enjoy the fruit of her labors and her sufferings. the duchess made no secret of her indignation at being thus superseded and as she considered the matter, outraged. she openly avowed her displeasure. she was at times almost beside herself with rage. there was universal sympathy with her emotions, for all hated the duke, and shuddered at the arrival of the spaniards. the day of doom for all the crimes which had ever been committed in the course of ages, seemed now to have dawned upon the netherlands. the sword which had so long been hanging over them, seemed now about to descend. throughout the provinces, there was but one feeling of cold and hopeless dismay. those who still saw a possibility of effecting their escape from the fated land, swarmed across the frontier. all foreign merchants deserted the great marts. the cities became as still as if the plague-banner had been unfurled on every house-top. meantime the captain-general proceeded methodically with his work. he distributed his troops through brussels, ghent, antwerp, and other principal cities. as a measure of necessity and mark of the last humiliation, he required the municipalities to transfer their keys to his keeping. the magistrates of ghent humbly remonstrated against the indignity, and egmont was imprudent enough to make himself the mouth-piece of their remonstrance, which, it is needless to add, was unsuccessful. meantime his own day of reckoning had arrived. as already observed, the advent of alva at the head of a foreign army was the natural consequence of all which had gone before. the delusion of the royal visit was still maintained, and the affectation of a possible clemency still displayed, while the monarch sat quietly in his cabinet without a remote intention of leaving spain, and while the messengers of his accumulated and long-concealed wrath were already descending upon their prey. it was the deliberate intention of philip, when the duke was despatched to the netherlands, that all the leaders of the anti-inquisition party, and all who had, at any time or in any way, implicated themselves in opposition to the government, or in censure of its proceedings, should be put to death. it was determined that the provinces should be subjugated to the absolute domination of the council of spain, a small body of foreigners sitting at the other end of europe, a junta in which netherlanders were to have no voice and exercise no influence. the despotic government of the spanish and italian possessions was to be extended to these flemish territories, which were thus to be converted into the helpless dependencies of a foreign and an absolute crown. there was to be a re-organization of the inquisition, upon the same footing claimed for it before the outbreak of the troubles, together with a re-enactment and vigorous enforcement of the famous edicts against heresy. such was the scheme recommended by granvelle and espinosa, and to be executed by alva. as part and parcel of this plan, it was also arranged at secret meetings at the house of espinosa, before the departure of the duke, that all the seigniors against whom the duchess margaret had made so many complaints, especially the prince of orange, with the counts egmont, horn, and hoogstraaten, should be immediately arrested and brought to chastisement. the marquis berghen and the baron montigny, being already in spain, could be dealt with at pleasure. it was also decided that the gentlemen implicated in the confederacy or compromise, should at once be proceeded against for high treason, without any regard to the promise of pardon granted by the duchess. the general features of the great project having been thus mapped out, a few indispensable preliminaries were at once executed. in order that egmont, horn, and other distinguished victims might not take alarm, and thus escape the doom deliberately arranged for them, royal assurances were despatched to the netherlands, cheering their despondency and dispelling their doubts. with his own hand philip wrote the letter, full of affection and confidence, to egmont, to which allusion has already been made. he wrote it after alva had left madrid upon his mission of vengeance. the same stealthy measures were pursued with regard to others. the prince of orange was not capable of falling into the royal trap, however cautiously baited. unfortunately he could not communicate his wisdom to his friends. it is difficult to comprehend so very sanguine a temperament as that to which egmont owed his destruction. it was not the prince of orange alone who had prophesied his doom. warnings had come to the count from every quarter, and they were now frequently repeated. certainly he was not without anxiety, but he had made his decision; determined to believe in the royal word, and in the royal gratitude for his services rendered, not only against montmorency and de thermes, but against the heretics of flanders. he was, however, much changed. he had grown prematurely old. at forty-six years his hair was white, and he never slept without pistols under his pillow. nevertheless he affected, and sometimes felt, a light-heartedness which surprised all around him. the portuguese gentleman robles, seigneur de billy, who had returned early in the summer from spain; whither he had been sent upon a confidential mission by madame de parma, is said to have made repeated communications to egmont as to the dangerous position in which he stood. immediately after his arrival in brussels he had visited the count, then confined to his house by an injury caused by the fall of his horse. "take care to get well very fast," said de billy, "for there are very bad stories told about you in spain." egmont laughed heartily at the observation, as if, nothing could well be more absurd than such a warning. his friend--for de billy is said to have felt a real attachment to the count--persisted in his prophecies, telling him that "birds in the field sang much more sweetly than those in cages," and that he would do well to abandon the country before the arrival of alva. these warnings were repeated almost daily by the same gentleman, and by others, who were more and more astonished at egmont's infatuation. nevertheless, he had disregarded their admonitions, and had gone forth to meet the duke at tirlemont. even then he might have seen, in the coldness of his first reception, and in the disrespectful manner of the spanish soldiers, who not only did not at first salute him, but who murmured audibly that he was a lutheran and traitor, that he was not so great a favorite with the government at madrid as he desired to be. after the first few moments, however, alva's manner had changed, while chiappin vitelli, gabriel de serbelloni, and other principal officers, received the count with great courtesy, even upon his first appearance. the grand prior, ferdinando de toledo, natural son of the duke, and already a distinguished soldier, seems to have felt a warm and unaffected friendship for egmont, whose brilliant exploits in the field had excited his youthful admiration, and of whose destruction he was, nevertheless, compelled to be the unwilling instrument. for a few days, accordingly, after the arrival of the new governor-general all seemed to be going smoothly. the grand prior and egmont became exceedingly intimate, passing their time together in banquets, masquerades, and play, as joyously as if the merry days which had succeeded the treaty of cateau cambreais were returned. the duke, too, manifested the most friendly dispositions, taking care to send him large presents of spanish and italian fruits, received frequently by the government couriers. lapped in this fatal security, egmont not only forgot his fears, but unfortunately succeeded in inspiring count horn with a portion of his confidence. that gentleman had still remained in his solitary mansion at weert, notwithstanding the artful means which had been used to lure him from that "desert." it is singular that the very same person who, according to a well-informed catholic contemporary, had been most eager to warn egmont of his danger, had also been the foremost instrument for effecting the capture of the admiral. the seigneur de billy, on the day after his arrival from madrid, had written to horn, telling him that the king was highly pleased with his services and character. de billy also stated that he had been commissioned by philip to express distinctly the royal gratitude for the count's conduct, adding that his majesty was about to visit the netherlands in august, and would probably be preceded or accompanied by baron montigny. alva and his son don ferdinando had soon afterwards addressed letters from gerverbiller (dated th and th july) to count horn, filled with expressions of friendship and confidence. the admiral, who had sent one of his gentlemen to greet the duke, now responded from weert that he was very sensible of the kindness manifested towards him, but that for reasons which his secretary alonzo de la loo would more fully communicate, he must for the present beg to be excused from a personal visit to brussels. the secretary was received by alva with extreme courtesy. the duke expressed infinite pain that the king had not yet rewarded count horn's services according to their merit, said that a year before he had told his brother montigny how very much he was the admiral's friend, and begged la loo to tell his master that he should not doubt the royal generosity and gratitude. the governor added, that if he could see the count in person he could tell him things which would please him, and which would prove that he had not been forgotten by his friends. la loo had afterward a long conversation with the duke's secretary albornoz, who assured him that his master had the greatest affection for count horn, and that since his affairs were so much embarrassed, he might easily be provided with the post of governor at milan, or viceroy of naples, about to become vacant. the secretary added, that the duke was much hurt at receiving no visits from many distinguished nobles whose faithful friend and servant he was, and that count horn ought to visit brussels, if not to treat of great affairs, at least to visit the captain-general as a friend. "after all this," said honest alonzo, "i am going immediately to weert, to urge his lordship to yield to the duke's desires." this scientific manoeuvring, joined to the urgent representations of egmont, at last produced its effect. the admiral left his retirement at weert to fall into the pit which his enemies had been so skilfully preparing at brussels. on the night of the th september, egmont received another most significative and mysterious warning. a spaniard, apparently an officer of rank, came secretly into his house, and urged him solemnly to effect his escape before the morrow. the countess, who related the story afterwards, always believed, without being certain, that the mysterious visitor was julian romero, marechal de camp. egmont, however, continued as blindly confident as before. on the following day, september th, the grand prior, don ferdinando, gave a magnificent dinner, to which egmont and horn, together with noircarmes, the viscount of ghent, and many other noblemen were invited. the banquet was enlivened by the music of alva's own military band, which the duke sent to entertain the company. at three o'clock he sent a message begging the gentlemen, after their dinner should be concluded, to favor him with their company at his house (the maison de jassey), as he wished to consult them concerning the plan of the citadel, which he proposed erecting at antwerp. at this moment, the grand prior who was seated next to egmont, whispered in his ear; "leave this place, signor count, instantly; take the fleetest horse in your stable and make your escape without a moment's delay." egmont, much troubled, and remembering the manifold prophecies and admonitions which he had passed by unheeded, rose from the table and went into the next room. he was followed by noircarmes and two other gentlemen, who had observed his agitation, and were curious as to its cause. the count repeated to them the mysterious words just whispered to him by the grand prior, adding that he was determined to take the advice without a moment's delay. "ha! count," exclaimed noircarmes, "do not put lightly such implicit confidence in this stranger who is counselling you to your destruction. what will the duke of alva and all the spaniards say of such a precipitate flight? will they not say that your excellency has fled from the consciousness of guilt? will not your escape be construed into a confession of high treason." if these words were really spoken by noircarmes; and that they were so, we have the testimony of a walloon gentleman in constant communication with egmont's friends and with the whole catholic party, they furnish another proof of the malignant and cruel character of the man. the advice fixed forever the fate of the vacillating egmont. he had risen from table determined to take the advice of a noble-minded spaniard, who had adventured his life to save his friend. he now returned in obedience to the counsel of a fellow-countryman, a flemish noble, to treat the well-meant warning with indifference, and to seat himself again at the last banquet which he was ever to grace with his presence. at four o'clock, the dinner being finished, horn and egmont, accompanied by the other gentlemen, proceeded to the "jassy" house, then occupied by alva, to take part in the deliberations proposed. they were received by the duke with great courtesy. the engineer, pietro urbino, soon appeared and laid upon the table a large parchment containing the plan and elevation of the citadel to be erected at antwerp. a warm discussion upon the subject soon arose, egmont, horn, noircarmes and others, together with the engineers urbino and pacheco, all taking part in the debate. after a short time, the duke of alva left the apartment, on pretext of a sudden indisposition, leaving the company still warmly engaged in their argument. the council lasted till near seven in the evening. as it broke up, don sancho d'avila, captain of the duke's guard, requested egmont to remain for a moment after the rest, as he had a communication to make to him. after an insignificant remark or two, the spanish officer, as soon as the two were alone, requested egmont to surrender his sword. the count, agitated, and notwithstanding every thing which had gone before, still taken by surprise, scarcely knew what reply to make. don sancho repeated that he had been commissioned to arrest him, and again demanded his sword. at the same moment the doors of the adjacent apartment were opened, and egmont saw himself surrounded by a company of spanish musqueteers and halberdmen. finding himself thus entrapped, he gave up his sword, saying bitterly, as he did so, that it had at least rendered some service to the king in times which were past. he was then conducted to a chamber, in the upper story of the house, where his temporary prison had been arranged. the windows were barricaded, the daylight excluded, the whole apartment hung with black. here he remained fourteen days (from the th to d september). during this period, he was allowed no communication with his friends. his room was lighted day and night with candles, and he was served in strict silence by spanish attendants, and guarded by spanish soldiers. the captain of the watch drew his curtain every midnight, and aroused him from sleep that he might be identified by the relieving officer. count horn was arrested upon the same occasion by captain salinas, as he was proceeding through the court-yard of the house, after the breaking up of the council. he was confined in another chamber of the mansion, and met with a precisely similar treatment to that experienced by egmont. upon the d september, both were removed under a strong guard to the castle of ghent. on this same day, two other important arrests, included and arranged in the same program, had been successfully accomplished. bakkerzeel, private and confidential secretary of egmont, and antony van straalen, the rich and influential burgomaster of antwerp, were taken almost simultaneously. at the request of alva, the burgomaster had been invited by the duchess of parma to repair on business to brussels. he seemed to have feared an ambuscade, for as he got into his coach to set forth upon the journey, he was so muffed in a multiplicity of clothing, that he was scarcely to be recognized. he was no sooner, however, in the open country and upon a spot remote from human habitations, than he was suddenly beset by a band of forty soldiers under command of don alberic lodron and don sancho de lodrono. these officers had been watching his movements for many days. the capture of bakkerzeel was accomplished with equal adroitness at about the same hour. alva, while he sat at the council board with egmont and horn, was secretly informed that those important personages, bakkerzeel and straalen, with the private secretary of the admiral, alonzo de la loo, in addition, had been thus successfully arrested. he could with difficulty conceal his satisfaction, and left the apartment immediately that the trap might be sprung upon the two principal victims of his treachery. he had himself arranged all the details of these two important arrests, while his natural son, the prior don ferdinando, had been compelled to superintend the proceedings. the plot had been an excellent plot, and was accomplished as successfully as it bad been sagaciously conceived. none but spaniards had been employed in any part of the affair. officers of high rank in his majesty's army had performed the part of spies and policemen with much adroitness, nor was it to be expected that the duty would seem a disgrace, when the prior of the knights of saint john was superintendent of the operations, when the captain-general of the netherlands had arranged the whole plan, and when all, from subaltern to viceroy, had received minute instructions as to the contemplated treachery from the great chief of the spanish police, who sat on the throne of castile and aragon. no sooner were these gentlemen in custody than the secretary albornoz was dispatched to the house of count horn, and to that of bakkerzeel, where all papers were immediately seized, inventoried, and placed in the hands of the duke. thus, if amid the most secret communications of egmont and horn or their correspondents, a single treasonable thought should be lurking, it was to go hard but it might be twisted into a cord strong enough to strangle them all. the duke wrote a triumphant letter to his majesty that very night. he apologized that these important captures had been deferred so long but, stated that he had thought it desirable to secure all these leading personages at a single stroke. he then narrated the masterly manner in which the operations had been conducted. certainly, when it is remembered that the duke had only reached brussels upon the d august, and that the two counts were securely lodged in prison on the th of september, it seemed a superfluous modesty upon his part thus to excuse himself for an apparent delay. at any rate, in the eyes of the world and of posterity, his zeal to carry out the bloody commands of his master was sufficiently swift. the consternation was universal throughout the provinces when the arrests became known. egmont's great popularity and distinguished services placed him so high above the mass of citizens, and his attachment to the catholic religion was moreover so well known, as to make it obvious that no man could now be safe, when men like him were in the power of alva and his myrmidons. the animosity to the spaniards increased hourly. the duchess affected indignation at the arrest of the two nobles, although it nowhere appears that she attempted a word in their defence, or lifted, at any subsequent moment, a finger to save them. she was not anxious to wash her hands of the blood of two innocent men; she was only offended that they had been arrested without her permission. the duke had, it is true, sent berlaymont and mansfeld to give her information of the fact, as soon as the capture had been made, with the plausible excuse that he preferred to save her from all the responsibility and all the unpopularity of the measure, nothing, however, could appease her wrath at this and every other indication of the contempt in which he appeared to hold the sister of his sovereign. she complained of his conduct daily to every one who was admitted to her presence. herself oppressed by a sense of personal indignity, she seemed for a moment to identify herself with the cause of the oppressed provinces. she seemed to imagine herself the champion of their liberties, and the netherlanders, for a moments seemed to participate in the delusion. because she was indignant at the insolence of the duke of alva to her self, the honest citizens began to give her credit for a sympathy with their own wrongs. she expressed herself determined to move about from one city to another, until the answer to her demand for dismissal should arrive. she allowed her immediate attendants to abuse the spaniards in good set terms upon every occasion. even her private chaplain permitted himself, in preaching before her in the palace chapel, to denounce the whole nation as a race of traitors and ravishers, and for this offence was only reprimanded, much against her will, by the duchess, and ordered to retire for a season to his convent. she did not attempt to disguise her dissatisfaction at every step which had been taken by the duke. in all this there was much petulance, but very little dignity, while there was neither a spark of real sympathy for the oppressed millions, nor a throb of genuine womanly emotion for the impending fate of the two nobles. her principal grief was that she had pacified the provinces, and that another had now arrived to reap the glory; but it was difficult, while the unburied bones of many heretics were still hanging, by her decree, on the rafters of their own dismantled churches, for her successfully to enact the part of a benignant and merciful regent. but it is very true that the horrors of the duke's administration have been propitious to the fame of margaret, and perhaps more so to that of cardinal granvelle. the faint and struggling rays of humanity which occasionally illumined the course of their government, were destined to be extinguished in a chaos so profound and dark, that these last beams of light seemed clearer and more bountiful by the contrast. the count of hoogstraaten, who was on his way to brussels, had, by good fortune, injured his hand through the accidental discharge of a pistol. detained by this casualty at cologne, he was informed, before his arrival at the capital, of the arrest of his two distinguished friends, and accepted the hint to betake himself at once to a place of safety. the loyalty of the elder mansfeld was beyond dispute even by alva. his son charles had, however, been imprudent, and, as we have seen, had even affixed his name to the earliest copies of the compromise. he had retired, it is true, from all connexion with the confederates, but his father knew well that the young count's signature upon that famous document would prove his death-warrant, were he found in the country. he therefore had sent him into germany before the arrival of the duke. the king's satisfaction was unbounded when he learned this important achievement of alva, and he wrote immediately to express his approbation in the most extravagant terms. cardinal granvelle, on the contrary, affected astonishment at a course which he had secretly counselled. he assured his majesty that he had never believed egmont to entertain sentiments opposed to the catholic religion, nor to the interests of the crown, up to the period of his own departure from the netherlands. he was persuaded, he said, that the count had been abused by others, although, to be sure, the cardinal had learned with regret what egmont had written on the occasion of the baptism of count hoogstraaten's child. as to the other persons arrested, he said that no one regretted their fate. the cardinal added, that he was supposed to be himself the instigator of these captures, but that he was not disturbed by that, or by other imputations of a similar nature. in conversation with those about him, he frequently expressed regret that the prince of orange had been too crafty to be caught in the same net in which his more simple companions were so inextricably entangled. indeed, on the first arrival of the news, that men of high rank had been arrested in brussels, the cardinal eagerly inquired if the taciturn had been taken, for by that term he always characterized the prince. receiving a negative reply, he expressed extreme disappointment, adding, that if orange had escaped, they had taken nobody; and that his capture would have been more valuable than that of every man in the netherlands. peter titelmann, too, the famous inquisitor, who, retired from active life, was then living upon philip's bounty, and encouraged by friendly letters from that monarch, expressed the same opinion. having been informed that egmont and horn had been captured, he eagerly inquired if "wise william" had also been taken. he was, of course, answered in the negative. "then will our joy be but brief," he observed. "woe unto us for the wrath to come from germany." on the th of july, of this year, philip wrote to granvelle to inquire the particulars of a letter which the prince of orange, according to a previous communication of the cardinal, had written to egmont on the occasion of the baptism of count hoogstraaten's child. on the th of august, the cardinal replied, by setting the king right as to the error which he had committed. the letter, as he had already stated, was not written by orange, but by egmont, and he expressed his astonishment that madame de parma had not yet sent it to his majesty. the duchess must have seen it, because her confessor had shown it to the person who was granvelle's informant. in this letter, the cardinal continued, the statement had been made by egmont to the prince of orange that their plots were discovered, that the king was making armaments, that they were unable to resist him, and that therefore it had become necessary to dissemble and to accommodate themselves as well as possible to the present situation, while waiting for other circumstances under which to accomplish their designs. granvelle advised, moreover, that straalen, who had been privy to the letter, and perhaps the amanuensis, should be forthwith arrested. the cardinal was determined not to let the matter sleep, notwithstanding his protestation of a kindly feeling towards the imprisoned count. against the statement that he knew of a letter which amounted to a full confession of treason, out of egmont's own mouth--a fact which, if proved, and perhaps, if even insinuated, would be sufficient with philip to deprive egmont of twenty thousand lives--against these constant recommendations to his suspicious and sanguinary master, to ferret out this document, if it were possible, it must be confessed that the churchman's vague and hypocritical expressions on the side of mercy were very little worth. certainly these seeds of suspicion did not fall upon a barren soil. philip immediately communicated the information thus received to the duke of alva, charging him on repeated occasions to find out what was written, either by egmont or by straalen, at egmont's instigation, stating that such a letter was written at the time of the hoogstraaten baptism, that it would probably illustrate the opinions of egmont at that period, and that the letter itself, which the confessor of madame de parma had once had in his hands, ought, if possible, to be procured. thus the very language used by granvelle to philip was immediately repeated by the monarch to his representative in the netherlands, at the moment when all egmont's papers were in his possession, and when egmont's private secretary was undergoing the torture, in order that; secrets might be wrenched from him which had never entered his brain. the fact that no such letter was found, that the duchess had never alluded to any such document, and that neither a careful scrutiny of papers, nor the application of the rack, could elicit any satisfactory information on the subject, leads to the conclusion that no such treasonable paper had ever existed, save in the imagination of the cardinal. at any rate, it is no more than just to hesitate before affixing a damning character to a document, in the absence of any direct proof that there ever was such a document at all. the confessor of madame de parma told another person, who told the cardinal, that either count egmont, or burgomaster straalen, by command of count egmont, wrote to the prince of orange thus and so. what evidence was this upon which to found a charge of high treason against a man whom granvelle affected to characterize as otherwise neither opposed to the catholic religion, nor to the true service of the king? what vulpine kind of mercy was it on the part of the cardinal, while making such deadly insinuations, to recommend the imprisoned victim to clemency? the unfortunate envoys, marquis bergen and baron montigny, had remained in spain under close observation. of those doomed victims who, in spite of friendly remonstrances and of ominous warnings, had thus ventured into the lion's den, no retreating footmarks were ever to be seen. their fate, now that alva had at last been despatched to the netherlands, seemed to be sealed, and the marquis bergen, accepting the augury in its most evil sense, immediately afterwards had sickened unto death. whether it were the sickness of hope deferred, suddenly changing to despair, or whether it were a still more potent and unequivocal poison which came to the relief of the unfortunate nobleman, will perhaps never be ascertained with certainty. the secrets of those terrible prison-houses of spain, where even the eldest begotten son, and the wedded wife of the monarch, were soon afterwards believed to have been the victims of his dark revenge, can never perhaps be accurately known, until the grave gives up its dead, and the buried crimes of centuries are revealed. it was very soon after the departure of alva's fleet from carthagena, that the marquis bergen felt his end approaching. he sent for the prince of eboli, with whom he had always maintained intimate relations, and whom he believed to be his disinterested friend. relying upon his faithful breast, and trusting to receive from his eyes alone the pious drops of sympathy which he required, the dying noble poured out his long and last complaint. he charged him to tell the man whom he would no longer call his king, that he had ever been true and loyal, that the bitterness of having been constantly suspected, when he was conscious of entire fidelity, was a sharper sorrow than could be lightly believed, and that he hoped the time would come when his own truth and the artifices of his enemies would be brought to light. he closed his parting message by predicting that after he had been long laid in the grave, the impeachments against his character would be, at last, although too late, retracted. so spake the unhappy envoy, and his friend replied with words of consolation. it is probable that he even ventured, in the king's name, to grant him the liberty of returning to his home; the only remedy, as his physicians had repeatedly stated, which could possibly be applied to his disease. but the devilish hypocrisy of philip, and the abject perfidy of eboli, at this juncture, almost surpass belief. the prince came to press the hand and to close the eyes of the dying man whom he called his friend, having first carefully studied a billet of most minute and secret instructions from his master as to the deportment he was to observe upon this solemn occasion and afterwards. this paper, written in philip's own hand, had been delivered to eboli on the very day of his visit to bergen, and bore the superscription that it was not to be read nor opened till the messenger who brought it had left his presence. it directed the prince, if it should be evident marquis was past recovery, to promise him, in the king's name, the permission of returning to the netherlands. should, however, a possibility of his surviving appear, eboli was only to hold out a hope that such permission might eventually be obtained. in case of the death of bergen, the prince was immediately to confer with the grand inquisitor and with the count of feria, upon the measures to be taken for his obsequies. it might seem advisable, in that event to exhibit the regret which the king and his ministers felt for his death, and the great esteem in which they held the nobles of the netherlands. at the same time, eboli was further instructed to confer with the same personages as to the most efficient means for preventing the escape of baron montigny; to keep a vigilant eye upon his movements, and to give general directions to governors and to postmasters to intercept his flight, should it be attempted. finally, in case of bergen's death, the prince was directed to despatch a special messenger, apparently on his own responsibility, and as if in the absence and without the knowledge of the king, to inform the duchess of parma of the event, and to urge her immediately to take possession of the city of bergen-op-zoom, and of all other property belonging to the marquis, until it should be ascertained whether it were not possible to convict him, after death, of treason, and to confiscate his estates accordingly. such were the instructions of philip to eboli, and precisely in accordance with the program, was the horrible comedy enacted at the death-bed of the envoy. three days after his parting interview with his disinterested friend, the marquis was a corpse.--before his limbs were cold, a messenger was on his way to brussels, instructing the regent to sequestrate his property, and to arrest, upon suspicion of heresy, the youthful kinsman and niece, who, by the will of the marquis, were to be united in marriage and to share his estate. the whole drama, beginning with the death scene, was enacted according to order: before the arrival of alva in the netherlands, the property of the marquis was in the hands of the government, awaiting the confiscation,--which was but for a brief season delayed, while on the other hand, baron montigny, bergen's companion in doom, who was not, however, so easily to be carried off by homesickness, was closely confined in the alcazar of segovia, never to leave a spanish prison alive. there is something pathetic in the delusion in which montigny and his brother, the count horn, both indulged, each believing that the other was out of harm's way, the one by his absence from the netherlands, the other by his absence from spain, while both, involved in the same meshes, were rapidly and surely approaching their fate. in the same despatch of the th september, in which the duke communicated to philip the capture of egmont and horn, he announced to him his determination to establish a new court for the trial of crimes committed during the recent period of troubles. this wonderful tribunal was accordingly created with the least possible delay. it was called the council of troubles, but it soon acquired the terrible name, by which it will be forever known in history, of the 'blood-council'. it superseded all other institutions. every court, from those of the municipal magistracies up to the supreme councils of the provinces, were forbidden to take cognizance in future of any cause growing out of the late troubles. the council of state, although it was not formally disbanded, fell into complete desuetude, its members being occasionally summoned into alva's private chambers in an irregular manner, while its principal functions were usurped by the blood-council. not only citizens of every province, but the municipal bodies and even the sovereign provincial estates themselves, were compelled to plead, like humble individuals, before this new and extraordinary tribunal. it is unnecessary to allude to the absolute violation which was thus committed of all charters, laws and privileges, because the very creation of the council was a bold and brutal proclamation that those laws and privileges were at an end. the constitution or maternal principle of this suddenly erected court was of a twofold nature. it defined and it punished the crime of treason. the definitions, couched in eighteen articles, declared it to be treason to have delivered or signed any petition against the new bishops, the inquisition, or the edicts; to have tolerated public preaching under any circumstances; to have omitted resistance to the image-breaking, to the field-preaching, or to the presentation of the request by the nobles, and "either through sympathy or surprise" to have asserted that the king did not possess the right to deprive all the provinces of their liberties, or to have maintained that this present tribunal was bound to respect in any manner any laws or any charters. in these brief and simple, but comprehensive terms, was the crime of high treason defined. the punishment was still more briefly, simply, and comprehensively stated, for it was instant death in all cases. so well too did this new and terrible engine perform its work, that in less than three months from the time of its erection, eighteen hundred human beings had suffered death by its summary proceedings; some of the highest, the noblest, and the most virtuous in the land among the number; nor had it then manifested the slightest indication of faltering in its dread career. yet, strange to say, this tremendous court, thus established upon the ruins of all the ancient institutions of the country, had not been provided with even a nominal authority from any source whatever. the king had granted it no letters patent or charter, nor had even the duke of alva thought it worth while to grant any commissions either in his own name or as captain-general, to any of the members composing the board. the blood-council was merely an informal club, of which the duke was perpetual president, while the other members were all appointed by himself. of these subordinate councillors, two had the right of voting, subject, however, in all cases to his final decision, while the rest of the number did not vote at all. it had not, therefore, in any sense, the character of a judicial, legislative, or executive tribunal, but was purely a board of advice by which the bloody labors of the duke were occasionally lightened as to detail, while not a feather's weight of power or of responsibility was removed from his shoulders. he reserved for himself the final decision upon all causes which should come before the council, and stated his motives for so doing with grim simplicity. "two reasons," he wrote to the king, "have determined me thus to limit the power of the tribunal; the first that, not knowing its members, i might be easily deceived by them; the second, that the men of law only condemn for crimes which are proved; whereas your majesty knows that affairs of state are governed by very different rules from the laws which they have here." it being, therefore, the object of the duke to compose a body of men who would be of assistance to him in condemning for crimes which could not be proved, and in slipping over statutes which were not to be recognized, it must be confessed that he was not unfortunate in the appointments which he made to the office of councillors. in this task of appointment he had the assistance of the experienced viglius. that learned jurisconsult, with characteristic lubricity, had evaded the dangerous honor for himself, but he nominated a number of persons from whom the duke selected his list. the sacerdotal robes which he had so recently and so "craftily" assumed, furnished his own excuse, and in his letters to his faithful hopper he repeatedly congratulated himself upon his success in keeping himself at a distance from so bloody and perilous a post. it is impossible to look at the conduct of the distinguished frisian at this important juncture without contempt. bent only upon saving himself, his property, and his reputation, he did not hesitate to bend before the "most illustrious duke," as he always denominated him, with fulsome and fawning homage. while he declined to dip his own fingers in the innocent blood which was about to flow in torrents, he did not object to officiate at the initiatory preliminaries of the great netherland holocaust. his decent and dainty demeanor seems even more offensive than the jocularity of the real murderers. conscious that no man knew the laws and customs of the netherlands better than himself, he had the humble effrontery to observe that it was necessary for him at that moment silently to submit his own unskilfulness to the superior judgment and knowledge of others. having at last been relieved from the stone of sisyphus, which, as he plaintively expressed himself, he had been rolling for twenty years; having, by the arrival of tisnacq, obtained his discharge as president of the state council, he was yet not unwilling to retain the emoluments and the rank of president of the privy council, although both offices had become sinecures since the erection of the council of blood. although his life had been spent in administrative and judicial employments, he did not blush upon a matter of constitutional law to defer to the authority of such jurisconsults as the duke of alva and his two spanish bloodhounds, vargas and del rio. he did not like, he observed, in his confidential correspondence, to gainsay the duke, when maintaining, that in cases of treason, the privileges of brabant were powerless, although he mildly doubted whether the brabantines would agree with the doctrine. he often thought, he said, of remedies for restoring the prosperity of the provinces, but in action he only assisted the duke, to the best of his abilities, in arranging the blood-council. he wished well to his country, but he was more anxious for the favor of alva. "i rejoice," said he, in one of his letters, "that the most illustrious duke has written to the king in praise of my obsequiousness; when i am censured here for so reverently cherishing him, it is a consolation that my services to the king and to the governor are not unappreciated there." indeed the duke of alva, who had originally suspected the president's character, seemed at last overcome by his indefatigable and cringing homage. he wrote to the king, in whose good graces the learned doctor was most anxious at that portentous period to maintain himself, that the president was very serviceable and diligent, and that he deserved to receive a crumb of comfort from the royal hand. philip, in consequence, wrote in one of his letters a few lines of vague compliment, which could be shown to viglius, according to alva's suggestion. it is, however, not a little characteristic of the spanish court and of the spanish monarch, that, on the very day before, he had sent to the captain-general a few documents of very different import. in order, as he said, that the duke might be ignorant of nothing which related to the netherlands, he forwarded to him copies of the letters written by margaret of parma from brussels, three years before. these letters, as it will be recollected, contained an account of the secret investigations which the duchess had made as to the private character and opinions of viglius--at the very moment when he apparently stood highest in her confidence--and charged him with heresy, swindling, and theft. thus the painstaking and time-serving president, with all his learning and experience, was successively the dupe of margaret and of alva, whom he so obsequiously courted, and always of philip, whom he so feared and worshipped. with his assistance, the list of blood-councillors was quickly completed. no one who was offered the office refused it. noircarmes and berlaymont accepted with very great eagerness. several presidents and councillors of the different provincial tribunals were appointed, but all the netherlanders were men of straw. two spaniards, del rio and vargas, were the only members who could vote; while their decisions, as already stated, were subject to reversal by alva. del rio was a man without character or talent, a mere tool in the hands of his superiors, but juan de vargas was a terrible reality. no better man could have been found in europe for the post to which he was thus elevated. to shed human blood was, in his opinion, the only important business and the only exhilarating pastime of life. his youth had been stained with other crimes. he had been obliged to retire from spain, because of his violation of an orphan child to whom he was guardian, but, in his manhood, he found no pleasure but in murder. he executed alva's bloody work with an industry which was almost superhuman, and with a merriment which would have shamed a demon. his execrable jests ring through the blood and smoke and death-cries of those days of perpetual sacrifice. he was proud to be the double of the iron-hearted duke, and acted so uniformly in accordance with his views, that the right of revision remained but nominal. there could be no possibility of collision where the subaltern was only anxious to surpass an incomparable superior. the figure of vargas rises upon us through the mist of three centuries with terrible distinctness. even his barbarous grammar has not been forgotten, and his crimes against syntax and against humanity have acquired the same immortality. "heretici fraxerunt templa, boni nihili faxerunt contra, ergo debent omnes patibulare," was the comprehensive but barbarous formula of a man who murdered the latin language as ruthlessly as he slaughtered his contemporaries. among the ciphers who composed the rest of the board, the flemish councillor hessels was the one whom the duke most respected. he was not without talent or learning, but the duke only valued him for his cruelty. being allowed to take but little share in the deliberations, hessels was accustomed to doze away his afternoon hours at the council table, and when awakened from his nap in order that he might express an opinion on the case then before the court, was wont to rub his eyes and to call out "ad patibulum, ad patibulum," ("to the gallows with him, to the gallows with him,") with great fervor, but in entire ignorance of the culprit's name or the merits of the case. his wife, naturally disturbed that her husband's waking and sleeping hours were alike absorbed with this hangman's work, more than once ominously expressed her hope to him, that he, whose head and heart were thus engrossed with the gibbet, might not one day come to hang upon it himself; a gloomy prophecy which the future most terribly fulfilled. the council of blood, thus constituted, held its first session on the th september, at the lodgings of alva. springing completely grown and armed to the teeth from the head of its inventor, the new tribunal--at the very outset in possession of all its vigor--forthwith began to manifest a terrible activity in accomplishing the objects of its existence. the councillors having been sworn to "eternal secrecy as to any thing which should be transacted at the board, and having likewise made oath to denounce any one of their number who should violate the pledge," the court was considered as organized. alva worked therein seven hours daily. it may be believed that the subordinates were not spared, and that their office proved no sinecure. their labors, however, were not encumbered by antiquated forms. as this supreme and only tribunal for all the netherlands had no commission or authority save the will of the captain-general, so it was also thought a matter of supererogation to establish a set of rules and orders such as might be useful in less independent courts. the forms of proceeding were brief and artless. there was a rude organization by which a crowd of commissioners, acting as inferior officers of the council, were spread over the provinces, whose business was to collect information concerning all persons who might be incriminated for participation in the recent troubles. the greatest crime, however, was to be rich, and one which could be expiated by no virtues, however signal. alva was bent upon proving himself as accomplished a financier as he was indisputably a consummate commander, and he had promised his master an annual income of , ducats from the confiscations which were to accompany the executions. it was necessary that the blood torrent should flow at once through the netherlands, in order that the promised golden river, a yard deep, according to his vaunt, should begin to irrigate the thirsty soil of spain. it is obvious, from the fundamental laws which were made to define treason at the same moment in which they established the council, that any man might be at any instant summoned to the court. every man, whether innocent or guilty, whether papist or protestant, felt his head shaking on his shoulders. if he were wealthy, there seemed no remedy but flight, which was now almost impossible, from the heavy penalties affixed by the new edict upon all carriers, shipmasters, and wagoners, who should aid in the escape of heretics. a certain number of these commissioners were particularly instructed to collect information as to the treason of orange, louis nassau, brederode, egmont, horn, culemberg, vanden berg, bergen, and montigny. upon such information the proceedings against those distinguished seigniors were to be summarily instituted. particular councillors of the court of blood were charged with the arrangement of these important suits, but the commissioners were to report in the first instance to the duke himself, who afterwards returned the paper into the hands of his subordinates. with regard to the inferior and miscellaneous cases which were daily brought in incredible profusion before the tribunal, the same preliminaries were observed, by way of aping the proceedings in courts of justice. alva sent the cart-loads of information which were daily brought to him, but which neither he nor any other man had time to read, to be disposed of by the board of councillors. it was the duty of the different subalterns, who, as already stated, had no right of voting, to prepare reports upon the cases. nothing could be more summary. information was lodged against a man, or against a hundred men, in one document. the duke sent the papers to the council, and the inferior councillors reported at once to vargas. if the report concluded with a recommendation of death to the man, or the hundred men in question, vargas instantly approved it, and execution was done upon the man, or the hundred men, within forty-eight hours. if the report had any other conclusion, it was immediately sent back for revision, and the reporters were overwhelmed with reproaches by the president. such being the method of operation, it may be supposed that the councillors were not allowed to slacken in their terrible industry. the register of every city, village, and hamlet throughout the netherlands showed the daily lists of men, women, and children thus sacrificed at the shrine of the demon who had obtained the mastery over this unhappy land. it was not often that an individual was of sufficient importance to be tried--if trial it could be called--by himself. it was found more expeditious to send them in batches to the furnace. thus, for example, on the th of january, eighty-four inhabitants of valenciennes were condemned; on another day, ninety-five miscellaneous individuals, from different places in flanders; on another, forty-six inhabitants of malines; on another, thirty-five persons from different localities, and so on. the evening of shrovetide, a favorite holiday in the netherlands, afforded an occasion for arresting and carrying off a vast number of doomed individuals at a single swoop. it was correctly supposed that the burghers, filled with wine and wassail, to which perhaps the persecution under which they lived lent an additional and horrible stimulus, might be easily taken from their beds in great numbers, and be delivered over at once to the council. the plot was ingenious, the net was spread accordingly. many of the doomed were, however, luckily warned of the terrible termination which was impending over their festival, and bestowed themselves in safety for a season. a prize of about five hundred prisoners was all which rewarded the sagacity of the enterprise. it is needless to add that they were all immediately executed. it is a wearisome and odious task to ransack the mouldy records of three centuries ago, in order to reproduce the obscure names of the thousands who were thus sacrificed.. the dead have buried their dead, and are forgotten. it is likewise hardly necessary to state that the proceedings before the council were all 'ex parte', and that an information was almost inevitably followed by a death-warrant. it sometimes happened even that the zeal of the councillors outstripped the industry of the commissioners. the sentences were occasionally in advance of the docket. thus upon one occasion a man's case was called for trial, but before the investigation was commenced it was discovered that he had been already executed. a cursory examination of the papers proved, moreover, as usual, that the culprit had committed no crime. "no matter for that," said vargas, jocosely, "if he has died innocent, it will be all the better for him when he takes his trial in the other world." but, however the councillors might indulge in these gentle jests among themselves, it was obvious that innocence was in reality impossible, according to the rules which had been laid down regarding treason. the practice was in accordance with the precept, and persons were daily executed with senseless pretexts, which was worse than executions with no pretexts at all. thus peter de witt of amsterdam was beheaded, because at one of the tumults in that city he had persuaded a rioter not to fire upon a magistrate. this was taken as sufficient proof that he was a man in authority among the rebels, and he was accordingly put to death. madame juriaen, who, in , had struck with her slipper a little wooden image of the virgin, together with her maid-servant, who had witnessed without denouncing the crime, were both drowned by the hangman in a hogshead placed on the scaffold. death, even, did not in all cases place a criminal beyond the reach of the executioner. egbert meynartzoon, a man of high official rank, had been condemned, together with two colleagues, on an accusation of collecting money in a lutheran church. he died in prison of dropsy. the sheriff was indignant with the physician, because, in spite of cordials and strengthening prescriptions, the culprit had slipped through his fingers before he had felt those of the hangman. he consoled himself by placing the body on a chair, and having the dead man beheaded in company with his colleagues. thus the whole country became a charnel-house; the deathbell tolled hourly in every village; not a family but was called to mourn for its dearest relatives, while the survivors stalked listlessly about, the ghosts of their former selves, among the wrecks of their former homes. the spirit of the nation, within a few months after the arrival of alva, seemed hopelessly broken. the blood of its best and bravest had already stained the scaffold; the men to whom it bad been accustomed to look for guidance and protection, were dead, in prison, or in exile. submission had ceased to be of any avail, flight was impossible, and the spirit of vengeance had alighted at every fireside. the mourners went daily about the streets, for there was hardly a house which had not been made desolate. the scaffolds, the gallows, the funeral piles, which had been sufficient in ordinary times, furnished now an entirely inadequate machinery for the incessant executions. columns and stakes in every street, the door-posts of private houses, the fences in the fields were laden with human carcasses, strangled, burned, beheaded. the orchards in the country bore on many a tree the hideous fruit of human bodies. thus the netherlands were crushed, and but for the stringency of the tyranny which had now closed their gates, would have been depopulated. the grass began to grow in the streets of those cities which had recently nourished so many artisans. in all those great manufacturing and industrial marts, where the tide of human life had throbbed so vigorously, there now reigned the silence and the darkness of midnight. it was at this time that the learned viglius wrote to his friend hopper, that all venerated the prudence and gentleness of the duke of alva. such were among the first-fruits of that prudence and that gentleness. the duchess of parma had been kept in a continued state of irritation. she had not ceased for many months to demand her release from the odious position of a cipher in a land where she had so lately been sovereign, and she had at last obtained it. philip transmitted his acceptance of her resignation by the same courier who brought alva's commission to be governor-general in her place. the letters to the duchess were full of conventional compliments for her past services, accompanied, however, with a less barren and more acceptable acknowledgment, in the shape of a life income of , ducats instead of the hitherto enjoyed by her highness. in addition to this liberal allowance, of which she was never to be deprived, except upon receiving full payment of , ducats, she was presented with , florins by the estates of brabant, and with , by those of flanders. with these substantial tokens of the success of her nine years' fatigue and intolerable anxiety, she at last took her departure from the netherlands, having communicated the dissolution of her connexion with the provinces by a farewell letter to the estates dated th december, . within a few weeks afterwards, escorted by the duke of alva across the frontier of brabant; attended by a considerable deputation of flemish nobility into germany, and accompanied to her journey's end at parma by the count and countess of mansfeld, she finally closed her eventful career in the netherlands. the horrors of the succeeding administration proved beneficial to her reputation. upon the dark ground of succeeding years the lines which recorded her history seemed written with letters of light. yet her conduct in the netherlands offers but few points for approbation, and many for indignant censure. that she was not entirely destitute of feminine softness and sentiments of bounty, her parting despatch to her brother proved. in that letter she recommended to him a course of clemency and forgiveness, and reminded him that the nearer kings approach to god in station, the more they should endeavor to imitate him in his attributes of benignity. but the language of this farewell was more tender than had been the spirit of her government. one looks in vain, too, through the general atmosphere of kindness which pervades the epistle; for a special recommendation of those distinguished and doomed seigniors, whose attachment to her person and whose chivalrous and conscientious endeavors to fulfil her own orders, had placed them upon the edge of that precipice from which they were shortly to be hurled. the men who had restrained her from covering herself with disgrace by a precipitate retreat from the post of danger, and who had imperilled their lives by obedience to her express instructions, had been long languishing in solitary confinement, never to be terminated except by a traitor's death--yet we search in vain for a kind word in their behalf. meantime the second civil war in france had broken out. the hollow truce by which the guise party and the huguenots had partly pretended to deceive each other was hastened to its end; among other causes, by the march of alva, to the netherlands. the huguenots had taken alarm, for they recognized the fellowship which united their foes in all countries against the reformation, and conde and coligny knew too well that the same influence which had brought alva to brussels would soon create an exterminating army against their followers. hostilities were resumed with more bitterness than ever. the battle of st. denis--fierce, fatal, but indecisive--was fought. the octogenarian hero, montmorency, fighting like a foot soldier, refusing to yield his sword, and replying to the respectful solicitations of his nearest enemy by dashing his teeth down his throat with the butt-end of his pistol, the hero of so many battles, whose defeat at st. quintin had been the fatal point in his career, had died at last in his armor, bravely but not gloriously, in conflict with his own countrymen, led by his own heroic nephew. the military control of the catholic party was completely in the hand of the guises; the chancellor de l'hopital had abandoned the court after a last and futile effort to reconcile contending factions, which no human power could unite; the huguenots had possessed themselves of rochelle and of other strong places, and, under the guidance of adroit statesmen and accomplished generals, were pressing the most christian monarch hard in the very heart of his kingdom. as early as the middle of october, while still in antwerp, alva had received several secret agents of the french monarch, then closely beleaguered in his capital. cardinal lorraine offered to place several strong places of france in the hands of the spaniard, and alva had written to philip that he was disposed to accept the offer, and to render the service. the places thus held would be a guarantee for his expenses, he said, while in case king charles and his brother should die, "their possession would enable philip to assert his own claim to the french crown in right of his wife, the salic law being merely a pleasantry." the queen dowager, adopting now a very different tone from that which characterized her conversation at the bayonne interview, wrote to alva, that, if for want of spanish musketeers, which she requested him to furnish, she should be obliged to succumb, she chose to disculpate herself in advance before god and christian princes for the peace which she should be obliged to make. the duke wrote to her in reply, that it was much better to have a kingdom ruined in preserving it for god and the king by war, than to have it kept entire without war, to the profit of the devil and of his followers. he was also reported on another occasion to have reminded her of the spanish proverb--that the head of one salmon is worth those of a hundred frogs. the hint, if it were really given, was certainly destined to be acted upon. the duke not only furnished catherine with advice, but with the musketeers which she had solicited. two thousand foot and fifteen hundred horse, under the count of aremberg, attended by a choice band of the catholic nobility of the netherlands, had joined the royal camp at paris before the end of the year, to take their part in the brief hostilities by which the second treacherous peace was to be preceded. meantime, alva was not unmindful of the business which had served as a pretext in the arrest of the two counts. the fortifications of the principal cities were pushed on with great rapidity. the memorable citadel of antwerp in particular had already been commenced in october under the superintendence of the celebrated engineers, pacheco and gabriel de cerbelloni. in a few months it was completed, at a cost of one million four hundred thousand florins, of which sum the citizens, in spite of their remonstrances, were compelled to contribute more than one quarter. the sum of four hundred thousand florins was forced from the burghers by a tax upon all hereditary property within the municipality. two thousand workmen were employed daily in the construction of this important fortress, which was erected, as its position most plainly manifested, not to protect, but to control the commercial capital of the provinces. it stood at the edge of the city, only separated from its walls by an open esplanade. it was the most perfect pentagon in europe, having one of its sides resting on the scheld, two turned towards the city, and two towards the open country. five bastions, with walls of hammered stone, connected by curtains of turf and masonry, surrounded by walls measuring a league in circumference, and by an outer moat fed by the scheld, enclosed a spacious enceinte, where a little church with many small lodging-houses, shaded by trees and shrubbery, nestled among the bristling artillery, as if to mimic the appearance of a peaceful and pastoral village. to four of the five bastions, the captain-general, with characteristic ostentation, gave his own names and titles. one was called the duke, the second ferdinando, a third toledo, a fourth alva, while the fifth was baptized with the name of the ill-fated engineer, pacheco. the watergate was decorated with the escutcheon of alva, surrounded by his golden fleece collar, with its pendant lamb of god; a symbol of blasphemous irony, which still remains upon the fortress, to recal the image of the tyrant and murderer. each bastion was honeycombed with casemates and subterranean storehouses, and capable of containing within its bowels a vast supply of provisions, munitions, and soldiers. such was the celebrated citadel built to tame the turbulent spirit of antwerp, at the cost of those whom it was to terrify and to insult. etext editor's bookmarks: conde and coligny furnished, in addition, with a force of two thousand prostitutes he came as a conqueror not as a mediator hope deferred, suddenly changing to despair meantime the second civil war in france had broken out spendthrift of time, he was an economist of blood the greatest crime, however, was to be rich time and myself are two motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley [chapter ii.] orange, count louis, hoogstraaten, and others, cited before the blood-council--charges against them--letter of orange in reply-- position and sentiments of the prince--seizure of count de buren-- details of that transaction--petitions to the council from louvain and other places--sentence of death against the whole population of the netherlands pronounced by the spanish inquisition and proclaimed by philip--cruel inventions against heretics--the wild beggars-- preliminary proceedings of the council against egmont and horn-- interrogatories addressed to them in prison--articles of accusation against them--foreclosure of the cases--pleas to the jurisdiction-- efforts by the countesses egmont and horn, by many knights of the fleece, and by the emperor, in favor of the prisoners--answers of alva and of philip--obsequious behavior of viglius--difficulties arising from the golden fleece statutes set aside--particulars of the charges against count horn and of his defence--articles of accusation against egmont--sketch of his reply--reflections upon the two trials--attitude of orange--his published 'justification'--his secret combinations--his commission to count louis--large sums of money subscribed by the nassau family, by netherland refugees, and others--great personal sacrifices made by the prince--quadruple scheme for invading the netherlands--defeat of the patriots under cocqueville--defeat of millers--invasion of friesland by count louis--measures of alva to oppose him--command of the royalists entreated to aremberg and meghem--the duke's plan for the campaign-- skirmish at dam--detention of meghem--count louis at heiliger--lee-- nature of the ground--advance of aremberg--disposition of the patriot forces--impatience of the spanish troops to engage--battle of heiliger-lee--defeat and death of aremberg--death of adolphus nassau--effects of the battle--anger and severe measures of alva-- eighteen nobles executed at brussels--sentence of death pronounced upon egmont and horn--the bishop of ypres sent to egmont--fruitless intercession by the prelate and the countess--egmont's last night in prison--the "grande place" at brussels--details concerning the execution of egmont and horn--observation upon the characters of the two nobles--destitute condition of egmont's family. late in october, the duke of alva made his triumphant entry into the new fortress. during his absence, which was to continue during the remainder of the year, he had ordered the secretary courteville and the councillor del rio to superintend the commission, which was then actually engaged in collecting materials for the prosecutions to be instituted against the prince of orange and the other nobles who had abandoned the country. accordingly, soon after his return, on the th of january, , the prince, his brother louis of nassau, his brother-in-law, count van den berg, the count hoogstraaten, the count culemburg, and the baron montigny, were summoned in the name of alva to appear before the blood-council, within thrice fourteen days from the date of the proclamation, under pain of perpetual banishment with confiscation of their estates. it is needless to say that these seigniors did not obey the summons. they knew full well that their obedience would be rewarded only by death. the charges against the prince of orange, which were drawn up in ten articles, stated, chiefly and briefly, that he had been, and was, the head and front of the rebellion; that as soon as his majesty had left the netherlands, he had begun his machinations to make himself master of the country and to expel his sovereign by force, if he should attempt to return to the provinces; that he had seduced his majesty's subjects by false pretences that the spanish inquisition was about to be introduced; that he had been the secret encourager and director of brederode and the confederated nobles; and that when sent to antwerp, in the name of the regent, to put down the rebellion, he had encouraged heresy and accorded freedom of religion to the reformers. the articles against hoogstraaten and the other gentlemen mere of similar tenor. it certainly was not a slender proof of the calm effrontery of the government thus to see alva's proclamation charging it as a crime upon orange that he had inveigled the lieges into revolt by a false assertion that the inquisition was about to be established, when letters from the duke to philip, and from granvelle to philip, dated upon nearly the same day, advised the immediate restoration of the inquisition as soon as an adequate number of executions had paved the way for the measure. it was also a sufficient indication of a reckless despotism, that while the duchess, who had made the memorable accord with the religionists, received a flattering letter of thanks and a farewell pension of fourteen thousand ducats yearly, those who, by her orders, had acted upon that treaty as the basis of their negotiations, were summoned to lay down their heads upon the block. the prince replied to this summons by a brief and somewhat contemptuous plea to the jurisdiction. as a knight of the fleece, as a member of the germanic empire, as a sovereign prince in france, as a citizen of the netherlands, he rejected the authority of alva and of his self-constituted tribunal. his innocence he was willing to establish before competent courts and righteous judges. as a knight of the fleece, he said he could be tried only by his peers, the brethren of the order, and, for that purpose, he could be summoned only by the king as head of the chapter, with the sanction of at least six of his fellow-knights. in conclusion, he offered to appear before his imperial majesty, the electors, and other members of the empire, or before the knights of the golden fleece. in the latter case, he claimed the right, under the statutes of that order, to be placed while the trial was pending, not in a solitary prison, as had been the fate of egmont and of horn, but under the friendly charge and protection of the brethren themselves. the letter was addressed to the procurator-general, and a duplicate was forwarded to the duke. from the general tenor of the document, it is obvious both that the prince was not yet ready to throw down the gauntlet to his sovereign, nor to proclaim his adhesion to the new religion: of departing from the netherlands in the spring, he had said openly that he was still in possession of sixty thousand florins yearly, and that he should commence no hostilities against philip, so long as he did not disturb him in his honor or his estates. far-seeing politician, if man ever were, he knew the course whither matters were inevitably tending, but he knew how much strength was derived from putting an adversary irretrievably in the wrong. he still maintained an attitude of dignified respect towards the monarch, while he hurled back with defiance the insolent summons of the viceroy. moreover, the period had not yet arrived for him to break publicly with the ancient faith. statesman, rather than religionist, at this epoch, he was not disposed to affect a more complete conversion than the one which he had experienced. he was, in truth, not for a new doctrine, but for liberty of conscience. his mind was already expanding beyond any dogmas of the age. the man whom his enemies stigmatized as atheist and renegade, was really in favor of toleration, and therefore, the more deeply criminal in the eyes of all religious parties. events, personal to himself, were rapidly to place him in a position from which he might enter the combat with honor. his character had already been attacked, his property threatened with confiscation. his closest ties of family were now to be severed by the hand of the tyrant. his eldest child, the count de buren, torn from his protection, was to be carried into indefinite captivity in a foreign land. it was a remarkable oversight, for a person of his sagacity, that, upon his own departure from the provinces, he should leave his son, then a boy of thirteen years, to pursue his studies at the college of louvain. thus exposed to the power of the government, he was soon seized as a hostage for the good behavior of the father. granvelle appears to have been the first to recommend the step in a secret letter to philip, but alva scarcely needed prompting. accordingly, upon the th of february, , the duke sent the seignior de chassy to louvain, attended by four officers and by twelve archers. he was furnished with a letter to the count de buren, in which that young nobleman was requested to place implicit confidence in the bearer of the despatch, and was informed that the desire which his majesty had to see him educated for his service, was the cause of the communication which the seignior de chassy was about to make. that gentleman was, moreover, minutely instructed as to his method of proceeding in this memorable case of kidnapping. he was to present the letter to the young count in presence of his tutor. he was to invite him to spain in the name of his majesty. he was to assure him that his majesty's commands were solely with a view, to his own good, and that he was not commissioned to arrest, but only to escort him. he was to allow the count to be accompanied only by two valets, two pages, a cook, and a keeper of accounts. he was, however, to induce his tutor to accompany him, at least to the spanish frontier. he was to arrange that the second day after his arrival at louvain, the count should set out for antwerp, where he was to lodge with count lodron, after which they were to proceed to flushing, whence they were to embark for spain. at that city he was to deliver the young prince to the person whom he would find there, commissioned for that purpose by the duke. as soon as he had made the first proposition at louvain to the count, he was, with the assistance of his retinue, to keep the most strict watch over him day and night, but without allowing the supervision to be perceived. the plan was carried out admirably, and in strict accordance with the program. it was fortunate, however, for the kidnappers, that the young prince proved favorably disposed to the plan. he accepted the invitation of his captors with alacrity. he even wrote to thank the governor for his friendly offices in his behalf. he received with boyish gratification the festivities with which lodron enlivened his brief sojourn at antwerp, and he set forth without reluctance for that gloomy and terrible land of spain, whence so rarely a flemish traveller had returned. a changeling, as it were, from his cradle, he seemed completely transformed by his spanish tuition, for he was educated and not sacrificed by philip. when he returned to the netherlands, after a twenty years' residence in spain, it was difficult to detect in his gloomy brow, saturnine character, and jesuistical habits, a trace of the generous spirit which characterized that race of heroes, the house of orange-nassau. philip had expressed some anxiety as to the consequences of this capture upon the governments of germany. alva, however, re-assured his sovereign upon that point, by reason of the extreme docility of the captive, and the quiet manner in which the arrest had been conducted. at that particular juncture, moreover, it would, have been difficult for the government of the netherlands to excite surprise any where, except by an act of clemency. the president and the deputation of professors from the university of louvain waited upon vargas, by whom, as acting president of the blood-council, the arrest had nominally been made, with a remonstrance that the measure was in gross violation of their statutes and privileges. that personage, however, with his usual contempt both for law and latin, answered brutally, "non curamus vestros privilegios," and with this memorable answer, abruptly closed his interview with the trembling pedants. petitions now poured into the council from all quarters, abject recantations from terror-stricken municipalities, humble intercessions in behalf of doomed and imprisoned victims. to a deputation of the magistracy of antwerp, who came with a prayer for mercy in behalf of some of their most distinguished fellow-citizens, then in prison, the duke gave a most passionate and ferocious reply. he expressed his wonder that the citizens of antwerp, that hotbed of treason, should dare to approach him in behalf of traitors and heretics. let them look to it in future, he continued, or he would hang every man in the whole city, to set an example to the rest of the country; for his majesty would rather the whole land should become an uninhabited wilderness, than that a single dissenter should exist within its territory. events now marched with rapidity. the monarch seemed disposed literally to execute the threat of his viceroy. early in the year, the most sublime sentence of death was promulgated which has ever been pronounced since the creation of the world. the roman tyrant wished that his enemies' heads were all upon a single neck, that he might strike them off at a blow; the inquisition assisted philip to place the heads of all his netherland subjects upon a single neck for the same fell purpose. upon the th february, , a sentence of the holy office condemned all the inhabitants of the netherlands to death as heretics. from this universal doom only a few persons, especially named; were excepted. a proclamation of the king, dated ten days later, confirmed this decree of the inquisition, and ordered it to be carried into instant execution, without regard to age, sex, or condition. this is probably the most concise death-warrant that was ever framed. three millions of people, men, women, and children, were sentenced to the scaffold in: three lines; and, as it was well known that these were not harmless thunders, like some bulls of the vatican, but serious and practical measures, which it was intended should be enforced, the horror which they produced may be easily imagined. it was hardly the purpose of government to compel the absolute completion of the wholesale plan in all its length and breadth, yet in the horrible times upon which they had fallen, the netherlanders might be excused for believing that no measure was too monstrous to be fulfilled. at any rate, it was certain that when all were condemned, any might at a moment's warning be carried to the scaffold, and this was precisely the course adopted by the authorities. under this universal decree the industry of the blood-council might, now seem superfluous. why should not these mock prosecutions be dispensed with against individuals, now that a common sentence had swallowed the whole population in one vast grave? yet it may be supposed that if the exertions of the commissioners and councillors served no other purpose, they at least furnished the government with valuable evidence as to the relative wealth and other circumstances of the individual victims. the leading thought of the government being that persecution, judiciously managed, might fructify into a golden harvest,--it was still desirable to persevere in the cause in which already such bloody progress had been made. and under this new decree, the executions certainly did not slacken. men in the highest and the humblest positions were daily and hourly dragged to the stake. alva, in a single letter to philip, coolly estimated the number of executions which were to take place immediately after the expiration of holy week, "at eight hundred heads." many a citizen, convicted of a hundred thousand florins and of no other crime, saw himself suddenly tied to a horse's tail, with his hands fastened behind him, and so dragged to the gallows. but although wealth was an unpardonable sin, poverty proved rarely a protection. reasons sufficient could always be found for dooming the starveling laborer as well as the opulent burgher. to avoid the disturbances created in the streets by the frequent harangues or exhortations addressed to the bystanders by the victims on their way to the scaffold, a new gag was invented. the tongue of each prisoner was screwed into an iron ring, and then seared with a hot iron. the swelling and inflammation which were the immediate result, prevented the tongue from slipping through the ring, and of course effectually precluded all possibility of speech. although the minds of men were not yet prepared for concentrated revolt against the tyranny under which they were languishing, it was not possible to suppress all sentiments of humanity, and to tread out every spark of natural indignation. unfortunately, in the bewilderment and misery of this people, the first development of a forcible and organized resistance was of a depraved and malignant character. extensive bands of marauders and highway robbers sprang into existence, who called themselves the wild beggars, and who, wearing the mask and the symbols of a revolutionary faction, committed great excesses in many parts of the country, robbing, plundering, and murdering. their principal wrath was exercised against religious houses and persons. many monasteries were robbed, many clerical persons maimed and maltreated. it became a habit to deprive priests of their noses or ears, and to tie them to the tails of horses. this was the work of ruffian gangs, whose very existence was engendered out of the social and moral putrescence to which the country was reduced, and who were willing to profit by the deep and universal hatred which was felt against catholics and monks. an edict thundered forth by alva, authorizing and commanding all persons to slay the wild beggars at sight, without trial or hangman, was of comparatively slight avail. an armed force of veterans actively scouring the country was more successful, and the freebooters were, for a time, suppressed. meantime the counts egmont and horn had been kept in rigorous confinement at ghent. not a warrant had been read or drawn up for their arrest. not a single preliminary investigation, not the shadow of an information had preceded the long imprisonment of two men so elevated in rank, so distinguished in the public service. after the expiration of two months, however, the duke condescended to commence a mock process against them. the councillors appointed to this work were vargas and del rio, assisted by secretary praets. these persons visited the admiral on the th, th, th and th of november, and count egmont on the th, th, th, and th, of the same month; requiring them to respond to a long, confused, and rambling collection of interrogatories. they were obliged to render these replies in prison, unassisted by any advocates, on penalty of being condemned 'in contumaciam'. the questions, awkwardly drawn up as they seemed, were yet tortuously and cunningly arranged with a view of entrapping the prisoners into self-contradiction. after this work had been completed, all the papers by which they intended to justify their answers were taken away from them. previously, too, their houses and those of their secretaries, bakkerzeel and alonzo de la loo, had been thoroughly ransacked, and every letter and document which could be found placed in the hands of government. bakkerzeel, moreover, as already stated, had been repeatedly placed upon the rack, for the purpose of extorting confessions which might implicate his master. these preliminaries and precautionary steps having been taken, the counts had again been left to their solitude for two months longer. on the th january, each was furnished with a copy of the declarations or accusations filed against him by the procurator-general. to these documents, drawn up respectively in sixty-three, and in ninety articles, they were required, within five days' time, without the assistance of an advocate, and without consultation with any human being, to deliver a written answer, on pain, as before, of being proceeded against and condemned by default. this order was obeyed within nearly the prescribed period and here, it may be said, their own participation in their trial ceased; while the rest of the proceedings were buried in the deep bosom of the blood-council. after their answers had been delivered, and not till then, the prisoners were, by an additional mockery, permitted to employ advocates. these advocates, however, were allowed only occasional interviews with their clients, and always in the presence of certain persons, especially deputed for that purpose by the duke. they were also allowed commissioners to collect evidence and take depositions, but before the witnesses were ready, a purposely premature day, th of may, was fixed upon for declaring the case closed, and not a single tittle of their evidence, personal or documentary, was admitted.--their advocates petitioned for an exhibition of the evidence prepared by government, and were refused. thus, they were forbidden to use the testimony in their favor, while that which was to be employed against them was kept secret. finally, the proceedings were formally concluded on the st of june, and the papers laid before the duke. the mass of matter relating to these two monster processes was declared, three days afterwards to have been examined--a physical impossibility in itself--and judgment was pronounced upon the th of june. this issue was precipitated by the campaign of louis nassau in friesland, forming a aeries of important events which it will be soon our duty to describe. it is previously necessary, however, to add a few words in elucidation of the two mock trials which have been thus briefly sketched. the proceeding had been carried on, from first to last, under protest by the prisoners, under a threat of contumacy on the part of the government. apart from the totally irresponsible and illegal character of the tribunal before which they were summoned--the blood-council being a private institution of alva's without pretext or commission--these nobles acknowledged the jurisdiction of but three courts. as knights of the golden fleece, both claimed the privilege of that order to be tried by its statutes. as a citizen and noble of brabant, egmont claimed the protection of the "joyeuse entree," a constitution which had been sworn to by philip and his ancestors, and by philip more amply, than by all his ancestors. as a member and count of the holy roman empire, the admiral claimed to be tried by his peers, the electors and princes of the realm. the countess egmont, since her husband's arrest, and the confiscation of his estates before judgment, had been reduced to a life of poverty as well as agony. with her eleven children, all of tender age, she had taken refuge in a convent. frantic with despair, more utterly desolate, and more deeply wronged than high-born lady had often been before, she left no stone unturned to save her husband from his fate, or at least to obtain for him an impartial and competent tribunal. she addressed the duke of alva, the king, the emperor, her brother the elector palatine, and many leading knights of the fleece. the countess dowager of horn, both whose sons now lay in the jaws of death, occupied herself also with the most moving appeals to the same high personages. no pains were spared to make the triple plea to the jurisdiction valid. the leading knights of the fleece, mansfeld, whose loyalty was unquestioned, and hoogstraaten, although himself an outlaw; called upon the king of spain to protect the statutes of the illustrious order of which he was the chief. the estates of brabant, upon the petition of sabina, countess egmont, that they would take to heart the privileges of the province, so that her husband might enjoy that protection of which the meanest citizen in the land could not be justly deprived, addressed a feeble and trembling protest to alva, and enclosed to him the lady's petition. the emperor, on behalf of count horn, wrote personally to philip, to claim for him a trial before the members of the realm. it was all in vain. the conduct of philip and his viceroy coincided in spirit with the honest brutality of vargas. "non curamus vestros privilegios," summed up the whole of the proceedings. non curamus vestros privilegios had been the unanswerable reply to every constitutional argument which had been made against tyranny since philip mounted his father's throne. it was now the only response deemed necessary to the crowd of petitions in favor of the counts, whether they proceeded from sources humble or august. personally, the king remained silent as the grave. in writing to the duke of alva, he observed that "the emperor, the dukes of bavaria and lorraine, the duchess and the duchess-dowager, had written to him many times, and in the most pressing manner, in favor of the counts horn and egmont." he added, that he had made no reply to them, nor to other knights of the fleece who had implored him to respect the statutes of the order, and he begged alva "to hasten the process as fast as possible." to an earnest autograph letter, in which the emperor, on the nd of march, , made a last effort to save the illustrious prisoners, he replied, that "the whole world would at last approve his conduct, but that, at any rate, he would not act differently, even if he should risk the loss of the provinces, and if the sky should fall on his head." but little heed was paid to the remonstrances in behalf of the imperial courts, or the privileges of brabant. these were but cobweb impediments which, indeed, had long been brushed away. president viglius was even pathetic on the subject of madame egmont's petition to the council of brabant. it was so bitter, he said, that the duke was slightly annoyed, and took it ill that the royal servants in that council should have his majesty's interests so little at heart. it seemed indecent in the eyes of the excellent frisian, that a wife pleading for her husband, a mother for her, eleven children, so soon to be fatherless, should indulge in strong language! the statutes of the fleece were obstacles somewhat more serious. as, however, alva had come to the netherlands pledged to accomplish the destruction of these two nobles, as soon as he should lay his hands upon them, it was only a question of form, and even that question was, after a little reflection, unceremoniously put aside. to the petitions in behalf of the two counts, therefore, that they should be placed in the friendly keeping of the order, and be tried by its statutes, the duke replied, peremptorily, that he had undertaken the cognizance of this affair by commission of his majesty, as sovereign of the land, not as head of the golden fleece, that he should carry it through as it had been commenced, and that the counts should discontinue presentations of petitions upon this point. in the embarrassment created by the stringent language of these statutes, doctor viglius found an opportunity to make himself very useful. alva had been turning over the laws and regulations of the order, but could find no loophole. the president, however, came to his rescue, and announced it as his legal opinion that the governor need concern himself no further on the subject, and that the code of the fleece offered no legal impediment to the process. alva immediately wrote to communicate this opinion to philip, adding, with great satisfaction, that he should immediately make it known to the brethren of the order, a step which was the more necessary because egmont's advocate had been making great trouble with these privileges, and had been protesting at every step of the proceedings. in what manner the learned president argued these troublesome statutes out of the way, has nowhere appeared; but he completely reinstated himself in favor, and the king wrote to thank him for his legal exertions. it was now boldly declared that the statutes of the fleece did not extend to such crimes as those with which the prisoner were charged. alva, moreover, received an especial patent, ante-dated eight or nine months, by which philip empowered him to proceed against all persons implicated in the troubles, and particularly against knights of the golden fleece. it is superfluous to observe that these were merely the arbitrary acts of a despot. it is hardly necessary to criticise such proceedings. the execution of the nobles had been settled before alva left spain. as they were inhabitants of a constitutional country, it was necessary to stride over the constitution. as they were knights of the fleece, it was necessary to set aside the statutes of the order. the netherland constitutions seemed so entirely annihilated already, that they could hardly be considered obstacles; but the order of the fleece was an august little republic of which philip was the hereditary chief, of which emperors, kings, and great seigniors were the citizens. tyranny might be embarrassed by such subtle and golden filaments as these, even while it crashed through municipal charters as if they had been reeds and bulrushes. nevertheless, the king's course was taken. although the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth chapters of the order expressly provided for the trial and punishment of brethren who had been guilty of rebellion, heresy, or treason; and although the eleventh chapter; perpetual and immutable, of additions to that constitution by the emperor charles, conferred on the order exclusive jurisdiction over all crimes whatever committed by the knights, yet it was coolly proclaimed by alva, that the crimes for which the admiral and egmont had been arrested, were beyond the powers of the tribunal. so much for the plea to the jurisdiction. it is hardly worth while to look any further into proceedings which were initiated and brought to a conclusion in the manner already narrated. nevertheless, as they were called a process, a single glance at the interior of that mass of documents can hardly be superfluous. the declaration against count horn; upon which, supported by invisible witnesses, he was condemned, was in the nature of a narrative. it consisted in a rehearsal of circumstances, some true and some fictitious, with five inferences. these five inferences amounted to five crimes--high treason, rebellion, conspiracy, misprision of treason, and breach of trust. the proof of these crimes was evolved, in a dim and misty manner, out of a purposely confused recital. no events, however, were recapitulated which have not been described in the course of this history. setting out with a general statement, that the admiral, the prince of orange, count egmont, and other lords had organized a plot to expel his majesty from the netherlands, and to divide the provinces among themselves; the declaration afterwards proceeded to particulars. ten of its sixty-three articles were occupied with the cardinal granvelle, who, by an absurd affectation, was never directly named, but called "a certain personage--a principal personage--a grand personage, of his majesty's state council." none of the offences committed against him were forgotten: the th of march letter, the fool's-cap, the livery, were reproduced in the most violent colors, and the cabal against the minister was quietly assumed to constitute treason against the monarch. the admiral, it was further charged, had advised and consented to the fusion of the finance and privy councils with that of state, a measure which was clearly treasonable. he had, moreover, held interviews with the prince of orange, with egmont, and other nobles, at breda and at hoogstraaten, at which meetings the confederacy and the petition had been engendered. that petition had been the cause of all the evils which had swept the land. "it had scandalously injured the king, by affirming that the inquisition was a tyranny to humanity, which was an infamous and unworthy proposition." the confederacy, with his knowledge and countenance, had enrolled , men. he had done nothing, any more than orange or egmont, to prevent the presentation of the petition. in the consultation at the state-council which ensued, both he and the prince were for leaving brussels at once, while count egmont expressed an intention of going to aix to drink the waters. yet count egmont's appearance (proceeded this indictment against another individual) exhibited not a single sign of sickness. the admiral had, moreover, drank the toast of "vivent leg gueux" on various occasions, at the culemberg house banquet, at the private table of the prince of orange, at a supper at the monastery of saint bernard's, at a dinner given by burgomaster straalen. he had sanctioned the treaties with the rebels at duffel, by which he had clearly rendered himself guilty of high treason. he had held an interview with orange, egmont, and hoogstraaten, at denremonde, for the treasonable purpose of arranging a levy of troops to prevent his majesty's entrance into the netherlands. he had refused to come to brussels at the request of the duchess of parma, when the rebels were about to present the petition. he had written to his secretary that he was thenceforth resolved to serve neither king nor kaiser. he had received from one taffin, with marks of approbation, a paper, stating that the assembling of the states-general was the only remedy for the troubles in the land. he had, repeatedly affirmed that the inquisition and edicts ought to be repealed. on his arrival at tournay in august, , the people had cried "vivent les gueux;" a proof that he liked the cry. all his transactions at tournay, from first to last, had been criminal. he had tolerated reformed preaching, he had forbidden catholics and protestants to molest each other, he had omitted to execute heretics, he had allowed the religionists to erect an edifice for public worship outside the walls. he had said, at the house of prince espinoy, that if the king should come into the provinces with force, he would oppose him with , troops. he had said, if his brother montigny should be detained in spain, he would march to his rescue at the head of , men whom he had at his command. he had on various occasions declared that "men should live according to their consciences"--as if divine and human laws were dead, and men, like wild beasts, were to follow all their lusts and desires. lastly, he had encouraged the rebellion in valenciennes. of all these crimes and misdeeds the procurator declared himself sufficiently informed, and the aforesaid defendant entirely, commonly, and publicly defamed. wherefore, that officer terminated his declaration by claiming "that the cause should be concluded summarily, and without figure or form of process; and that therefore, by his excellency or his sub-delegated judges, the aforesaid defendant should be declared to have in diverse ways committed high treason, should be degraded from his dignities, and should be condemned to death, with confiscation of all his estates." the admiral, thus peremptorily summoned, within five days, without assistance, without documents, and from the walls of a prison, to answer to these charges, 'solos ex vinculis causam dicere', undertook his task with the boldness of innocence. he protested, of course, to the jurisdiction, and complained of the want of an advocate, not in order to excuse any weakness in his defence, but only any inelegance in his statement. he then proceeded flatly to deny some of the facts, to admit others, and to repel the whole treasonable inference. his answer in all essential respects was triumphant. supported by the evidence which, alas was not collected and published till after his death, it was impregnable. he denied that he had ever plotted against his king, to whom he had ever been attached, but admitted that he had desired the removal of granvelle, to whom he had always been hostile. he had, however, been an open and avowed enemy to the cardinal, and had been engaged in no secret conspiracy against his character or against his life. he denied that the livery (for which, however, he was not responsible) had been intended to ridicule the cardinal, but asserted that it was intended to afford an example of economy to an extravagant nobility. he had met orange and egmont at breda and hoogstraaten, and had been glad to do so, for he had been long separated from them. these interviews, however, had been social, not political, for good cheer and merry-making, not for conspiracy and treason. he had never had any connection with the confederacy; he had neither advised nor protected the petition, but, on the contrary, after hearing of the contemplated movement, had written to give notice thereof to the duchess. he was in no manner allied, with brederode, but, on the contrary, for various reasons, was not upon friendly terms with him. he had not entered his house since his return from spain. he had not been a party to the dinner at culemburg house. upon that day he had dined with the prince of orange, with whom he was lodging and, after dinner, they had both gone together to visit mansfeld, who was confined with an inflamed eye. there they had met egmont, and the three had proceeded together to culemburg house in order to bring away hoogstraaten, whom the confederates had compelled to dine with them; and also to warn the nobles not to commit themselves by extravagant and suspicious excesses. they had remained in the house but a few minutes, during which time the company had insisted upon their drinking a single cup to the toast of "vivent le roy et les gueux." they had then retired, taking with them hoogstraaten, and all thinking that they had rendered a service to the government by their visit, instead of having made themselves liable to a charge of treason. as to the cries of "vivent les gueux" at the tables of orange, of the abbot of saint bernard, and at other places, those words had been uttered by simple, harmless fellows; and as he considered, the table a place of freedom, he had not felt himself justified in rebuking the manners of his associates, particularly, in houses where he was himself but a guest. as for committing treason at the duffel meeting, he had not been there at all. he thanked god that, at that epoch, he had been absent from brussels, for had he, as well as orange and egmont, been commissioned by the duchess to arrange those difficult matters, he should have considered it his duty to do as they did. he had never thought of levying troops against his majesty. the denremonde meeting had been held, to consult upon four subjects: the affairs of tournay; the intercepted letters of the french ambassador, alava; the letter of montigny, in which he warned his brother of the evil impression which the netherland matters were making in spain; and the affairs of antwerp, from which city the prince of orange found it necessary at that moment to withdraw.--with regard to his absence from brussels, he stated that he had kept away from the court because he was ruined. he was deeply in debt, and so complete was his embarrassment, that he had been unable in antwerp to raise crowns upon his property, even at an interest of one hundred per cent. so far from being able to levy troops, he was hardly able to pay for his daily bread. with regard to his transactions at tournay, he had, throughout them all, conformed himself to the instructions of madame de parma. as to the cry of "vivent les gueux," he should not have cared at that moment if the populace had cried 'vive comte horn', for his thoughts were then occupied with more substantial matters. he had gone thither under a special commission from the duchess, and had acted under instructions daily received by her own hand. he had, by her orders, effected a temporary compromise between the two religious parties, on the basis of the duffel treaty. he had permitted the public preaching to continue, but had not introduced it for the first time. he had allowed temples to be built outside the gates, but it was by express command of madame, as he could prove by her letters. she had even reproved him before the council, because the work had not been accomplished with sufficient despatch. with regard to his alleged threat, that he would oppose the king's entrance with , men, he answered, with astonishing simplicity, that he did not remember making any such observation, but it was impossible for a man to retain in his mind all the nonsense which he might occasionally utter. the honest admiral thought that his poverty, already pleaded, was so notorious that the charge was not worthy of a serious answer. he also treated the observation which he was charged with having made, relative to his marching to spain with , men to rescue montigny as "frivolous and ridiculous." he had no power to raise a hundred men. moreover he had rejoiced at montigny's detention, for he had thought that to be out of the netherlands was to be out of harm's way. on the whole, he claimed that in all those transactions of his which might be considered anti-catholic, he had been governed entirely by the instructions of the regent, and by her accord with the nobles. that accord, as she had repeatedly stated to him, was to be kept sacred until his majesty, by advice of the states-general, should otherwise ordain. finally, he observed, that law was not his vocation. he was no pettifogger, but he had endeavored loyally to conform himself to the broad and general principles of honor, justice, and truth. in a very few and simple words, he begged his judges to have regard to his deeds, and to a life of loyal service. if he had erred occasionally in those times of tumult, his intentions had ever been faithful and honorable. the charges against count egmont were very similar to those against count horn. the answers of both defendants were nearly identical. interrogations thus addressed to two different persons, as to circumstances which had occurred long before, could not have been thus separately, secretly, but simultaneously answered in language substantially the same, had not that language been the words of truth. egmont was accused generally of plotting with others to expel the king from the provinces, and to divide the territory among themselves. through a long series of ninety articles, he was accused of conspiring against the character and life of cardinal granvelle. he was the inventor, it was charged, of the fool's-cap livery. he had joined in the letters to the king, demanding the prelate's removal. he had favored the fusion of the three councils. he had maintained that the estates-general ought to be forthwith assembled, that otherwise the debts of his majesty and of the country could never be paid, and that the provinces would go to the french, to the germans, or to the devil. he had asserted that he would not be instrumental in burning forty or fifty thousand men, in order that the inquisition and the edicts might be sustained. he had declared that the edicts were rigorous. he had advised the duchess, to moderate them, and remove the inquisition, saying that these measures, with a pardon general in addition, were the only means of quieting the country. he had advised the formation of the confederacy, and promised to it his protection and favor. he had counselled the presentation of the petition. he had arranged all these matters, in consultation with the other nobles, at the interviews at breda and hoogstraaten. he had refused the demand of madame de parma, to take arms in her defence. he had expressed his intention, at a most critical moment, of going to the baths of aix for his health, although his personal appearance gave no indication of any malady whatever. he had countenanced and counselled the proceedings of the rebel nobles at saint trond. he had made an accord with those of "the religion" at ghent, bruges, and other places. he had advised the duchess to grant a pardon to those who had taken up arms. he had maintained, in common with the prince of orange, at a session of the state council, that if madame should leave brussels, they would assemble the states-general of their own authority, and raise a force of forty thousand men. he had plotted treason, and made arrangements for the levy of troops at the interview at denremonde, with horn, hoogstraaten, and the prince of orange. he had taken under his protection on the th april, , the confederacy of the rebels; had promised that they should never be molested, for the future, on account of the inquisition or the edicts, and that so long as they kept within the terms of the petition and the compromise, he would defend them with his own person. he had granted liberty of preaching outside the walls in many cities within his government. he had said repeatedly, that if the king desired to introduce the inquisition into the netherlands, he would sell all his property and remove to another land; thus declaring with how much contempt and detestation he regarded the said inquisition. he had winked at all the proceedings of the sectaries. he had permitted the cry of "vivent les gueux" at his table. he had assisted at the banquet at culemburg house. these were the principal points in the interminable act of accusation. like the admiral, egmont admitted many of the facts, and flatly denied the rest. he indignantly repelled the possibility of a treasonable inference from any of, or all, his deeds. he had certainly desired the removal of granvelle, for he believed that the king's service would profit by his recal. he replied, almost in the same terms as the admiral had done, to the charge concerning the livery, and asserted that its principal object had been to set an example of economy. the fool's-cap and bells had been changed to a bundle of arrows, in consequence of a certain rumor which became rife in brussels, and in obedience to an ordinance of madame de parma. as to the assembling of the states-general, the fusion of the councils, the moderation of the edicts, he had certainly been in favor of these measures, which he considered to be wholesome and lawful, not mischievous or treasonable. he had certainly maintained that the edicts were rigorous, and had advised the duchess, under the perilous circumstances of the country, to grant a temporary modification until the pleasure of his majesty could be known. with regard to the compromise, he had advised all his friends to keep out of it, and many in consequence had kept out of it. as to the presentation of the petition, he had given madame de parma notice thereof, so soon as he had heard that such a step was contemplated. he used the same language as had been employed by horn, with regard to the interview at breda and hoogstraaten--that they had been meetings of "good cheer" and good fellowship. he had always been at every moment at the command of the duchess, save when he had gone to flanders and artois to suppress the tumults, according to her express orders. he had no connexion with the meeting of the nobles at saint trond. he had gone to duffel as special envoy from the duchess, to treat with certain plenipotentiaries appointed at the saint trond meeting. he had strictly conformed to the letter of instructions, drawn up by the duchess, which would be found among his papers, but he had never promised the nobles his personal aid or protection. with regard to the denremonde meeting, he gave almost exactly the same account as horn had given. the prince, the admiral, and himself, had conversed between a quarter past eleven and dinner time, which was twelve o'clock, on various matters, particularly upon the king's dissatisfaction with recent events in the netherlands, and upon a certain letter from the ambassador alava in paris to the duchess of parma. he had, however, expressed his opinion to madame that the letter was a forgery. he had permitted public preaching in certain cities, outside the walls, where it had already been established, because this was in accordance with the treaty which madame had made at duffel, which she had ordered him honorably to maintain. he had certainly winked at the religious exercises of the reformers, because he had been expressly commanded to do so, and because the government at that time was not provided with troops to suppress the new religion by force. he related the visit of horn, orange, and himself to culemburg house, at the memorable banquet, in almost the same words which the admiral had used. he had done all in his power to prevent madame from leaving brussels, in which effort he had been successful, and from which much good had resulted to the country. he had never recommended that a pardon should be granted to those who had taken up arms, but on the contrary, had advised their chastisement, as had appeared in his demeanor towards the rebels at osterwel, tournay, and valenciennes. he had never permitted the cry of "vivent les gueux" at his own table, nor encouraged it in his presence any where else. such were the leading features in these memorable cases of what was called high treason. trial there was none. the tribunal was incompetent; the prisoners were without advocates; the government evidence was concealed; the testimony for the defence was excluded; and the cause was finally decided before a thousandth part of its merits could have been placed under the eyes of the judge who gave the sentence. but it is almost puerile to speak of the matter in the terms usually applicable to state trials. the case had been settled in madrid long before the arrest of the prisoners in brussels. the sentence, signed by philip in blank, had been brought in alva's portfolio from spain. the proceedings were a mockery, and, so far as any effect upon public opinion was concerned, might as well have been omitted. if the gentlemen had been shot in the court-yard of jasse-house, by decree of a drum-head court-martial, an hour after their arrest, the rights of the provinces and the sentiments of humanity would not have been outraged more utterly. every constitutional and natural right was violated from first to last. this certainly was not a novelty. thousands of obscure individuals, whose relations and friends were not upon thrones and in high places, but in booths and cellars, and whose fate therefore did not send a shudder of sympathy throughout europe, had already been sacrificed by the blood tribunal. still this great case presented a colossal emblem of the condition in which the netherlands were now gasping. it was a monumental exhibition of the truth which thousands had already learned to their cost, that law and justice were abrogated throughout the land. the country was simply under martial law--the entire population under sentence of death. the whole civil power was in alva's hand; the whole responsibility in alva's breast. neither the most ignoble nor the most powerful could lift their heads in the sublime desolation which was sweeping the country. this was now proved beyond peradventure. a miserable cobbler or weaver might be hurried from his shop to the scaffold, invoking the 'jus de non evocando' till he was gagged, but the emperor would not stoop from his throne, nor electors palatine and powerful nobles rush to his rescue; but in behalf of these prisoners the most august hands and voices of christendom had been lifted up at the foot of philip's throne; and their supplications had proved as idle as the millions of tears and death-cries which had beep shed or uttered in the lowly places of the land. it was obvious; then, that all intercession must thereafter be useless. philip was fanatically impressed with his mission. his viceroy was possessed by his loyalty as by a demon. in this way alone, that conduct which can never be palliated may at least be comprehended. it was philip's enthusiasm to embody the wrath of god against heretics. it was alva's enthusiasm to embody the wrath of philip. narrow-minded, isolated, seeing only that section of the world which was visible through the loop-hole of the fortress in which nature had imprisoned him for life, placing his glory in unconditional obedience to his superior, questioning nothing, doubting nothing, fearing nothing, the viceroy accomplished his work of hell with all the tranquillity of an angel. an iron will, which clove through every obstacle; adamantine fortitude, which sustained without flinching a mountain of responsibility sufficient to crush a common nature, were qualities which, united to, his fanatical obedience, made him a man for philip's work such as could not have been found again in the world. the case, then, was tried before a tribunal which was not only incompetent, under the laws of the land, but not even a court of justice in any philosophical or legal sense. constitutional and municipal law were not more outraged in its creation, than all national and natural maxims. the reader who has followed step by step the career of the two distinguished victims through the perilous days of margaret's administration, is sufficiently aware of the amount of treason with which they are chargeable. it would be an insult to common sense for us to set forth, in full, the injustice of their sentence. both were guiltless towards the crown; while the hands of one, on the contrary, were deeply dyed in the blood of the people. this truth was so self-evident, that even a member of the blood-council, pierre arsens, president of artois, addressed an elaborate memoir to the duke of alva, criticising the case according to the rules of law, and maintaining that egmont, instead of deserving punishment, was entitled to a signal reward. so much for the famous treason of counts egmont and horn, so far as regards the history of the proceedings and the merits of the case. the last act of the tragedy was precipitated by occurrences which must be now narrated. the prince of orange had at last thrown down the gauntlet. proscribed, outlawed, with his netherland property confiscated, and his eldest child kidnapped, he saw sufficient personal justification for at last stepping into the lists, the avowed champion of a nation's wrongs. whether the revolution was to be successful, or to be disastrously crushed; whether its result would be to place him upon a throne or a scaffold, not even he, the deep-revolving and taciturn politician, could possibly foresee. the reformation, in which he took both a political and a religious interest, might prove a sufficient lever in his hands for the overthrow of spanish power in the netherlands. the inquisition might roll back upon his country and himself, crushing them forever. the chances seemed with the inquisition. the spaniards, under the first chieftain in europe, were encamped and entrenched in the provinces. the huguenots had just made their fatal peace in france, to the prophetic dissatisfaction of coligny. the leading men of liberal sentiments in the netherlands were captive or in exile. all were embarrassed by the confiscations which, in anticipation of sentence, had severed the nerves of war. the country was terror-stricken; paralyzed, motionless, abject, forswearing its convictions, and imploring only life. at this moment william of orange reappeared upon the scene. he replied to the act of condemnation, which had been pronounced against him in default, by a published paper, of moderate length and great eloquence. he had repeatedly offered to place himself, he said, upon trial before a competent court. as a knight of the fleece, as a member of the holy roman empire, as a sovereign prince, he could acknowledge no tribunal save the chapters of the knights or of the realm. the emperor's personal intercession with philip had been employed in vain, to obtain the adjudication of his case by either. it would be both death and degradation on his part to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the infamous council of blood. he scorned, he said, to plead his cause "before he knew not what base knaves, not fit to be the valets of his companions and himself." he appealed therefore to the judgment of the world. he published not an elaborate argument, but a condensed and scathing statement of the outrages which had been practised upon him. he denied that he had been a party to the compromise. he denied that he had been concerned in the request, although he denounced with scorn the tyranny which could treat a petition to government as an act of open war against the sovereign. he spoke of granvelle with unmeasured wrath. he maintained that his own continuance in office had been desired by the cardinal, in order that his personal popularity might protect the odious designs of the government. the edicts, the inquisition, the persecution, the new bishoprics, had been the causes of the tumults. he concluded with a burst of indignation against philip's conduct toward himself. the monarch had forgotten his services and those of his valiant ancestors. he had robbed him of honor, he had robbed him of his son--both dearer to him than life. by thus doing he had degraded himself more than he had injured him, for he had broken all his royal oaths and obligations. the paper was published early in the summer of . at about the same time, the count of hoogstraaten published a similar reply to the act of condemnation with which he had been visited. he defended himself mainly upon the ground, that all the crimes of which he stood arraigned had been committed in obedience to the literal instructions of the duchess of parma, after her accord with the confederates. the prince now made the greatest possible exertions to raise funds and troops. he had many meetings with influential individuals in germany. the protestant princes, particularly the landgrave of hesse and the elector of saxony, promised him assistance. he brought all his powers of eloquence and of diplomacy to make friends for the cause which he had now boldly espoused. the high-born demosthenes electrified large assemblies by his indignant invectives against the spanish philip. he excelled even his royal antagonist in the industrious subtlety with which he began to form a thousand combinations. swift, secret, incapable of fatigue, this powerful and patient intellect sped to and fro, disentangling the perplexed skein where all had seemed so hopelessly confused, and gradually unfolding broad schemes of a symmetrical and regenerated polity. he had high correspondents and higher hopes in england. he was already secretly or openly in league with half the sovereigns of germany. the huguenots of france looked upon him as their friend, and on louis of nassau as their inevitable chieftain, were coligny destined to fall. he was in league with all the exiled and outlawed nobles of the netherlands. by his orders recruits were daily enlisted, without sound of drum. he granted a commission to his brother louis, one of the most skilful and audacious soldiers of the age, than whom the revolt could not have found a more determined partisan, nor the prince a more faithful lieutenant. this commission, which was dated dillenburg, th april, , was a somewhat startling document. it authorized the count to levy troops and wage war against philip, strictly for philip's good. the fiction of loyalty certainly never went further. the prince of orange made known to all "to whom those presents should come," that through the affection which he bore the gracious king, he purposed to expel his majesty's forces from the netherlands. "to show our love for the monarch and his hereditary provinces," so ran the commission, "to prevent the desolation hanging over the country by the ferocity of the spaniards, to maintain the privileges sworn to by his majesty and his predecessors, to prevent the extirpation of all religion by the edicts, and to save the sons and daughters of the land from abject slavery, we have requested our dearly beloved brother louis nassau to enrol as many troops as he shall think necessary." van der bergh, hoogstraaten, and others, provided with similar powers, were also actively engaged in levying troops; but the right hand of the revolt was count louis, as his illustrious brother was its head and heart. two hundred thousand crowns was the sum which the prince considered absolutely necessary for organizing the army with which he contemplated making an entrance into the netherlands. half this amount had been produced by the cities of antwerp, amsterdam, leyden, harlem, middelburg, flushing, and other towns, as well as by refugee merchants in england. the other half was subscribed by individuals. the prince himself contributed , florins, hoogstraaten , , louis of nassau , , culemberg , , van der bergh , , the dowager-countess horn , , and other persons in less proportion. count john of nassau also pledged his estates to raise a large sum for the cause. the prince himself sold all his jewels, plate, tapestry, and other furniture, which were of almost regal magnificence. not an enthusiast, but a deliberate, cautious man, he now staked his all upon the hazard, seemingly so desperate. the splendor of his station has been sufficiently depicted. his luxury, his fortune, his family, his life, his children, his honor, all were now ventured, not with the recklessness of a gambler, but with the calm conviction of a statesman. a private and most audacious attempt to secure the person: of alva and the possession of brussels had failed. he was soon, however, called upon to employ all his energies against the open warfare which was now commenced. according to the plan of the prince, the provinces were to be attacked simultaneously, in three places, by his lieutenants, while he himself was waiting in the neighborhood of cleves, ready for a fourth assault. an army of huguenots and refugees was to enter artois upon the frontier of france; a second, under hoogstraaten, was to operate between the rhine and the meuse; while louis of nassau was to raise the standard of revolt in friesland. the two first adventures were destined to be signally unsuccessful. a force under seigneur de cocqueville, latest of all, took the field towards the end of june. it entered the bailiwick of hesdin in artois, was immediately driven across the frontier by the count de roeulx, and cut to pieces at st. valery by marechal de cossis, governor of picardy. this action was upon the th july. of the men who composed the expedition, scarce escaped. the few netherlanders who were taken prisoners were given to the spanish government, and, of course, hanged. the force under the seigneur de villars was earlier under arms, and the sooner defeated. this luckless gentleman, who had replaced the count of hoogstraaten, crossed the frontier of juliers; in the neighborhood of maestricht, by the th april. his force, infantry and cavalry, amounted to nearly three thousand men. the object of the enterprise was to, raise the country; and, if possible, to obtain a foothold by securing an important city. roermonde was the first point of attack, but the attempts, both by stratagem and by force, to secure the town, were fruitless. the citizens were not ripe for revolt, and refused the army admittance. while the invaders were, therefore, endeavoring to fire the gates, they were driven off by the approach of a spanish force. the duke, so soon as the invasion was known to him, had acted with great promptness. don sancho de lodrono and don sancho de avila, with five vanderas of spanish infantry, three companies of cavalry, and about three hundred pikemen under count eberstein, a force amounting in all to about picked troops, had been at once despatched against villars. the rebel chieftain, abandoning his attempt upon roermonde, advanced towards erkelens. upon the th april, between erkelens and dalem, the spaniards came up with him, and gave him battle. villars lost all his cavalry and two vanderas of his infantry in the encounter. with the remainder of his force, amounting to men, he effected his retreat in good order to dalem. here he rapidly entrenched himself. at four in the afternoon, sancho de lodrono, at the head of infantry, reached the spot. he was unable to restrain the impetuosity of his men, although the cavalry under avila, prevented by the difficult nature of the narrow path through which the rebels had retreated, had not yet arrived. the enemy were two to one, and were fortified; nevertheless, in half an hour the entrenchments were carried, and almost every man in the patriot army put to the sword. villars himself, with a handful of soldiers, escaped into the town, but was soon afterwards taken prisoner, with all his followers. he sullied the cause in which he was engaged by a base confession of the designs formed by the prince of orange--a treachery, however, which did not save him from the scaffold. in the course of this day's work, the spanish lost twenty men, and the rebels nearly . this portion of the liberating forces had been thus disastrously defeated on the eve of the entrance of count louis into friesland. as early as the d april, alva had been informed, by the lieutenant-governor of that province, that the beggars were mustering in great force in the neighborhood of embden. it was evident that an important enterprise was about to be attempted. two days afterwards, louis of nassau entered the provinces, attended by a small body of troops. his banners blazed with patriotic inscriptions. 'nunc aut nunquam, recuperare aut mori', were the watchwords of his desperate adventure: "freedom for fatherland and conscience" was the device which was to draw thousands to his standard. on the western wolds of frisia, he surprised the castle of wedde, a residence of the absent aremberg, stadholder of the province. thence he advanced to appingadam, or dam, on the tide waters of the dollart. here he was met by, his younger brother, the gallant adolphus, whose days were so nearly numbered, who brought with him a small troop of horse. at wedde, at dam, and at slochteren, the standard was set up. at these three points there daily gathered armed bodies of troops, voluntary adventurers, peasants with any rustic weapon which they could find to their hand. lieutenant-governor groesbeck wrote urgently to the duke, that the beggars were hourly increasing in force; that the leaders perfectly understood their game; that they kept their plans a secret, but were fast seducing the heart of the country. on the th may, louis issued a summons to the magistracy of groningen, ordering them to send a deputation to confer with him at dam. he was prepared, he said, to show the commission with which he was provided. he had not entered the country on a mere personal adventure, but had received orders to raise a sufficient army. by the help of the eternal god, he was determined, he said, to extirpate the detestable tyranny of those savage persecutors who had shed so much christian blood. he was resolved to lift up the down-trod privileges, and, to protect the fugitive, terror-stricken christians and patriarchs of the country. if the magistrates were disposed to receive him with friendship, it was well. otherwise, he should, with regret, feel himself obliged to proceed against them, as enemies of his majesty and of the common weal. as the result of this summons, louis received a moderate sum of money, on condition of renouncing for the moment an attack upon the city. with this temporary supply he was able to retain a larger number of the adventurers; who were daily swarming around him. in the mean time alva was not idle. on the th april, he wrote to groesbeck, that he must take care not to be taken napping; that he must keep his eyes well open until the arrival of succor, which was already on the way. he then immediately ordered count aremberg, who had just returned from france on conclusion of hostilities, to hasten to the seat of war. five vanderas of his own regiment; a small body of cavalry, and braccamonte's sardinian legion, making in all a force of nearly men, were ordered to follow him with the utmost expedition. count meghem, stadholder of gueldres, with five vanderas of infantry, three of light horse, and some artillery, composing a total of about men, was directed to co-operate with aremberg. upon this point the orders of the governor-general were explicit. it seemed impossible that the rabble rout under louis nassau could stand a moment before nearly picked and veteran troops, but the duke was earnest in warning his generals not to undervalue the enemy. on the th may, counts meghem and aremberg met and conferred at arnheim, on their way to friesland. it was fully agreed between them, after having heard full reports of the rising in that province, and of the temper throughout the eastern netherlands, that it would be rash to attempt any separate enterprise. on the th, aremberg reached vollenhoven, where he was laid up in his bed with the gout. bodies of men, while he lay sick, paraded hourly with fife and drum before his windows, and discharged pistols and arquebuses across the ditch of the blockhouse where he was quartered. on the th, braccamonte, with his legion, arrived by water at harlingen. not a moment more was lost. aremberg, notwithstanding his gout, which still confined him to a litter, started at once in pursuit of the enemy. passing through groningen, he collected all the troops which could be spared.. he also received six pieces of artillery. six cannon, which the lovers of harmony had baptized with the notes of the gamut, 'ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la', were placed at his disposal by the authorities, and have acquired historical celebrity. it was, however, ordained that when those musical pieces piped, the spaniards were not to dance. on the d, followed by his whole force, consisting of braccamonte's legion, his own four vanderas, and a troop of germans, he came in sight of the enemy at dam. louis of nassau sent out a body of arquebusiers, about one thousand strong, from the city. a sharp skirmish ensued, but the beggars were driven into their entrenchments, with a loss of twenty or thirty men, and nightfall terminated the contest. it was beautiful to see, wrote aremberg to alva, how brisk and eager were the spaniards, notwithstanding the long march which they had that day accomplished. time was soon to show how easily immoderate, valor might swell into a fault. meantime, aremberg quartered his troops in and about wittewerum abbey, close to the little unwalled city of dam. on the other hand, meghem, whose co-operation had been commanded by alva, and arranged personally with aremberg a fortnight before, at arnheim, had been delayed in his movements. his troops, who had received no wages for a long time had mutinied. a small sum of money, however, sent from brussels, quelled this untimely insubordination. meghem then set forth to effect his junction with his colleague, having assured the governor-general that the war would be ended in six days. the beggars had not a stiver, he said, and must disband or be beaten to pieces as soon as aremberg and he had joined forces. nevertheless he admitted that these same "master-beggars," as he called them, might prove too many for either general alone. alva, in reply, expressed his confidence that four or five thousand choice troops of spain would be enough to make a short war of it, but nevertheless warned his officers of the dangers of overweening confidence. he had been informed that the rebels had assumed the red scarf of the spanish uniform. he hoped the stratagem would not save them from broken heads, but was unwilling that his majesty's badge should be altered. he reiterated his commands that no enterprise should be undertaken, except by the whole army in concert; and enjoined the generals incontinently to hang and strangle all prisoners the moment they should be taken. marching directly northward, meghem reached coeverden, some fifty miles from dam, on the night of the d. he had informed aremberg that he might expect him with his infantry and his light horse in the course of the next day. on the following morning, the d, aremberg wrote his last letter to the duke, promising to send a good account of the beggars within a very few hours. louis of nassau had broken up his camp at dam about midnight. falling back, in a southerly direction, along the wold-weg, or forest road, a narrow causeway through a swampy district, he had taken up a position some three leagues from his previous encampment. near the monastery of heiliger lee, or the "holy lion," he had chosen his ground. a little money in hand, ample promises, and the hopes of booty, had effectually terminated the mutiny, which had also broken out in his camp. assured that meghem had not yet effected his junction with aremberg, prepared to strike, at last, a telling blow for freedom and fatherland, louis awaited the arrival of his eager foe. his position was one of commanding strength and fortunate augury. heiliger lee was a wooded eminence, artificially reared by premonstrant monks. it was the only rising ground in that vast extent of watery pastures, enclosed by the ems and lippe--the "fallacious fields" described by tacitus. here hermann, first of teutonic heroes, had dashed out of existence three veteran legions of tyrant rome. here the spectre of varus, begrimed and gory, had risen from the morass to warn germanicus, who came to avenge him, that gothic freedom was a dangerous antagonist. and now, in the perpetual reproductions of history, another german warrior occupied a spot of vantage in that same perilous region. the tyranny with which he contended strove to be as universal as that of rome, and had stretched its wings of conquest into worlds of which the caesars had never dreamed. it was in arms, too, to crush not only the rights of man, but the rights of god. the battle of freedom was to be fought not only for fatherland, but for conscience. the cause was even holier than that which had inspired the arm of hermann. although the swamps of that distant age had been transformed into fruitful pastures, yet the whole district was moist, deceitful, and dangerous. the country was divided into squares, not by hedges but by impassable ditches. agricultural entrenchments had long made the country almost impregnable, while its defences against the ocean rendered almost as good service against a more implacable human foe. aremberg, leading his soldiers along the narrow causeway, in hot pursuit of what they considered a rabble rout of fugitive beggars, soon reached winschoten. here he became aware of the presence of his despicable foe. louis and adolphus of nassau, while sitting at dinner in the convent of the "holy lion," had been warned by a friendly peasant of the approach of the spaniards. the opportune intelligence had given the patriot general time to make his preparations. his earnest entreaties had made his troops ashamed of their mutinous conduct on the preceding day, and they were now both ready and willing to engage. the village was not far distant from the abbey, and in the neighborhood of the abbey louis of nassau was now posted. behind him was a wood, on his left a hill of moderate elevation, before him an extensive and swampy field. in the front of the field was a causeway leading to the abbey. this was the road which aremberg was to traverse. on the plain which lay between the wood and the hill, the main body of the beggars were drawn up. they were disposed in two squares or squadrons, rather deep than wide, giving the idea of a less number than they actually contained. the lesser square, in which were two thousand eight hundred men, was partially sheltered by the hill. both were flanked by musketeers. on the brow of the hill was a large body of light armed troops, the 'enfans perdus' of the army. the cavalry, amounting to not more than three hundred men, was placed in front, facing the road along which aremberg was to arrive. that road was bordered by a wood extending nearly to the front of the hill. as aremberg reached its verge, he brought out his artillery, and opened a fire upon the body of light troops. the hill protected a large part of the enemy's body from this attack. finding the rebels so strong in numbers and position, aremberg was disposed only to skirmish. he knew better than did his soldiers the treacherous nature of the ground in front of the enemy. he saw that it was one of those districts where peat had been taken out in large squares for fuel, and where a fallacious and verdant scum upon the surface of deep pools simulated the turf that had been removed. he saw that the battle-ground presented to him by his sagacious enemy was one great sweep of traps and pitfalls. before he could carry the position, many men must necessarily be engulfed. he paused for an instant. he was deficient in cavalry, having only martinengo's troop, hardly amounting to four hundred men. he was sure of meghem's arrival within twenty-four hours. if, then, he could keep the rebels in check, without allowing them any opportunity to disperse, he should be able, on the morrow, to cut them to pieces, according to the plan agreed upon a fortnight before. but the count had to contend with a double obstacle. his soldiers were very hot, his enemy very cool. the spaniards, who had so easily driven a thousand musketeers from behind their windmill, the evening before, who had seen the whole rebel force decamp in hot haste on the very night of their arrival before dam, supposed themselves in full career of victory. believing that the name alone of the old legions had stricken terror to the hearts of the beggars, and that no resistance was possible to spanish arms, they reviled their general for his caution. his reason for delay was theirs for hurry. why should meghem's loitering and mutinous troops, arriving at the eleventh hour, share in the triumph and the spoil? no man knew the country better than aremberg, a native of the netherlands, the stadholder of the province. cowardly or heretical motives alone could sway him, if he now held them back in the very hour of victory. inflamed beyond endurance by these taunts, feeling his pride of country touched to the quick, and willing to show that a netherlander would lead wherever spaniards dared to follow, aremberg allowed himself to commit the grave error for which he was so deeply to atone. disregarding the dictates of his own experience and the arrangements of his superior, he yielded to the braggart humor of his soldiers, which he had not, like alva, learned to moderate or to despise. in the mean, time, the body of light troops which had received the fire from the musical pieces of groningen was seen to waver. the artillery was then brought beyond the cover of the wood, and pointed more fully upon the two main squares of the enemy. a few shots told. soon afterward the 'enfans perdus' retreated helter-skelter, entirely deserting their position. this apparent advantage, which was only a preconcerted stratagem, was too much for the fiery spaniards. they rushed merrily forward to attack the stationary squares, their general being no longer able, to restrain their impetuosity. in a moment the whole van-guard had plunged into the morass. in a few minutes more they were all helplessly and hopelessly struggling in the pools, while the musketeers of the enemy poured in a deadly fire upon them, without wetting the soles of their own feet. the pikemen, too, who composed the main body of the larger square, now charged upon all who were extricating themselves from their entanglement, and drove them back again to a muddy death. simultaneously, the lesser patriot squadron, which had so long been sheltered, emerged from the cover of the hill, made a detour around its base, enveloped the rear-guard of the spaniards before they could advance to the succor of their perishing comrades, and broke them to pieces almost instantly. gonzalo de braccamonte, the very spanish colonel who had been foremost in denunciation of aremberg, for his disposition to delay the contest, was now the first to fly. to his bad conduct was ascribed the loss of the day. the anger of alva was so high, when he was informed of the incident, that he would have condemned the officer to death but for the intercession of his friends and countrymen. the rout was sudden and absolute. the foolhardiness of the spaniards had precipitated them into the pit which their enemies had dug. the day, was lost. nothing was left for aremberg but to perish with honor. placing himself at the head of his handful of cavalry, he dashed into the melee. the shock was sustained by young adolphus of nassau, at the head of an equal number of riders. each leader singled out the other. they met as "captains of might" should do, in the very midst of the affray. aremberg, receiving and disregarding a pistol shot from his adversary, laid adolphus dead at his feet, with a bullet through his body and a sabre cut on his head. two troopers in immediate attendance upon the young count shared the same fate from the same hand. shortly afterward, the horse of aremberg, wounded by a musket ball, fell to the ground. a few devoted followers lifted the charger to his legs and the bleeding rider to his saddle. they endeavored to bear their wounded general from the scene of action. the horse staggered a few paces and fell dead. aremberg disengaged himself from his body, and walked a few paces to the edge of a meadow near the road. here, wounded in the action, crippled by the disease which had so long tormented him, and scarcely able to sustain longer the burthen of his armor, he calmly awaited his fate. a troop of the enemy advanced soon afterwards, and aremberg fell, covered with wounds, fighting like a hero of homer, single-handed, against a battalion, with a courage worthy a better cause and a better fate. the sword by which he received his final death-blow was that of the seigneur do haultain. that officer having just seen his brother slain before his eyes, forgot the respect due to unsuccessful chivalry. the battle was scarcely finished when an advancing trumpet was heard. the sound caused the victors to pause in their pursuit, and enabled a remnant of the conquered spaniards to escape. meghem's force was thought to be advancing. that general had indeed arrived, but he was alone. he had reached zuidlaren, a village some four leagues from the scene of action, on the noon of that day. here he had found a letter from aremberg, requesting him to hasten. he had done so. his troops, however, having come from coevorden that morning, were unable to accomplish so long a march in addition. the count, accompanied by a few attendants, reached the neighborhood of heiliger lee only in time to meet with some of the camp sutlers and other fugitives, from whom he learned the disastrous news of the defeat. finding that all was lost, he very properly returned to zuidlaren, from which place he made the best of his way to groningen. that important city, the key of friesland, he was thus enabled to secure. the troops which he brought, in addition to the four german vanderas of schaumburg, already quartered there, were sufficient to protect it against the ill-equipped army of louis nassau. the patriot leader had accomplished, after all, but a barren victory. he had, to be sure, destroyed a number of spaniards, amounting, according to the different estimates, from five hundred to sixteen hundred men. he had also broken up a small but veteran army. more than all, he had taught the netherlanders, by this triumphant termination to a stricken field, that the choice troops of spain were not invincible. but the moral effect of the victory was the only permanent one. the count's badly paid troops could with difficulty be kept together. he had no sufficient artillery to reduce the city whose possession would have proved so important to the cause. moreover, in common with the prince of orange and all his brethren, he had been called to mourn for the young and chivalrous adolphus, whose life-blood had stained the laurels of this first patriot victory. having remained, and thus wasted the normal three days upon the battle-field, louis now sat down before groningen, fortifying and entrenching himself in a camp within cannonshot of the city. on the rd we have seen that aremberg had written, full of confidence, to the governor-general, promising soon to send him good news of the beggars. on the th, count meghem wrote that, having spoken with a man who had helped to place aremberg in his coffin, he could hardly entertain any farther doubt as to his fate. the wrath of the duke was even greater than his surprise. like augustus, he called in vain on the dead commander for his legions, but prepared himself to inflict a more rapid and more terrible vengeance than the roman's. recognizing the gravity of his situation, he determined to take the field in person, and to annihilate this insolent chieftain who had dared not only to cope with, but to conquer his veteran regiments. but before he could turn his back upon brussels, many deeds were to be done. his measures now followed each other in breathless succession, fulminating and blasting at every stroke. on the th may, he issued an edict, banishing, on pain of death, the prince of orange, louis nassau, hoogstraaten, van den berg, and others, with confiscation of all their property. at the same time he razed the culemburg palace to the ground, and erected a pillar upon its ruins, commemorating the accursed conspiracy which had been engendered within its walls. on the st june, eighteen prisoners of distinction, including the two barons batenburg, maximilian kock, blois de treslong and others, were executed upon the horse market, in brussels. in the vigorous language of hoogstraaten, this horrible tragedy was enacted directly before the windows of that "cruel animal, noircarmes," who, in company of his friend, berlaymont, and the rest of the blood-council, looked out upon the shocking spectacle. the heads of the victims were exposed upon stakes, to which also their bodies were fastened. eleven of these victims were afterward deposited, uncoffined, in unconsecrated ground; the other seven were left unburied to moulder on the gibbet. on the d june, villars, the leader in the daalem rising, suffered on the scaffold, with three others. on the d, counts egmont and horn were brought in a carriage from ghent to brussels, guarded by ten companies of infantry and one of cavalry. they were then lodged in the "brood-huis" opposite the town hall, on the great square of brussels. on the th, alva having, as he solemnly declared before god and the world, examined thoroughly the mass of documents appertaining to those two great prosecutions which had only been closed three days before, pronounced sentence against the illustrious prisoners. these documents of iniquity signed and sealed by the duke, were sent to the blood-council, where they were read by secretary praets. the signature of philip was not wanting, for the sentences had been drawn upon blanks signed by the monarch, of which the viceroy had brought a whole trunk full from spain. the sentence against egmont declared very briefly that the duke of alva, having read all the papers and evidence in the case, had found the count guilty of high treason. it was proved that egmont had united with the confederates; that he had been a party to the accursed conspiracy of the prince of orange; that he had taken the rebel nobles under his protection, and that he had betrayed the government and the holy catholic church by his conduct in flanders. therefore the duke condemned him to be executed by the sword on the following day, and decreed that his head should be placed on high in a public place, there to remain until the duke should otherwise direct. the sentence against count horn was similar in language and purport. that afternoon the duke sent for the bishop of ypres, the prelate arrived at dusk. as soon as he presented himself, alva informed him of the sentence which had just been pronounced, and ordered him to convey the intelligence to the prisoners. he further charged him with the duty of shriving the victims, and preparing their souls for death. the bishop fell on his knees, aghast at the terrible decree. he implored the governor-general to have mercy upon the two unfortunate nobles. if their lives could not be spared, he prayed him at any rate to grant delay. with tears and earnest supplications the prelate endeavored to avert or to postpone the doom which had been pronounced. it was in vain. the sentence, inflexible as destiny, had been long before ordained. its execution had been but hastened by the temporary triumph of rebellion in friesland. alva told the bishop roughly that he had not been summoned to give advice. delay or pardon was alike impossible. he was to act as confessor to the criminals, not as councillor to the viceroy. the bishop, thus rebuked, withdrew to accomplish his melancholy mission. meanwhile, on the same evening, the miserable countess of egmont had been appalled by rumors, too vague for belief, too terrible to be slighted. she was in the chamber of countess aremberg, with whom she had come to condole for the death of the count, when the order for the immediate execution of her own husband was announced to her. she hastened to the presence of the governor-general. the princess palatine, whose ancestors had been emperors, remembered only that she was a wife and a mother. she fell at the feet of the man who controlled the fate of her husband, and implored his mercy in humble and submissive terms. the duke, with calm and almost incredible irony, reassured the countess by the information that, on the morrow, her husband was certainly to be released. with this ambiguous phrase, worthy the paltering oracles of antiquity, the wretched woman was obliged to withdraw. too soon afterward the horrible truth of the words was revealed to her--words of doom, which she had mistaken for consolation. an hour before midnight the bishop of ypres reached egmont's prison. the count was confined in a chamber on the second story of the brood-huis, the mansion of the crossbowmen's guild, in that corner of the building which rests on a narrow street running back from the great square. he was aroused from his sleep by the approach of his visitor. unable to speak, but indicating by the expression of his features the occurrence of a great misfortune, the bishop, soon after his entrance, placed the paper given to him by alva in egmont's hands. the unfortunate noble thus suddenly received the information that his death-sentence had been pronounced, and that its execution was fixed for the next morning. he read the paper through without flinching, and expressed astonishment rather than dismay at its tidings. exceedingly sanguine by nature, he had never believed, even after his nine months' imprisonment, in a fatal termination to the difficulties in which he was involved. he was now startled both at the sudden condemnation which had followed his lingering trial, and at the speed with which his death was to fulfil the sentence. he asked the bishop, with many expressions of amazement, whether pardon was impossible; whether delay at least might not be obtained? the prelate answered by a faithful narrative of the conversation which had just occurred between alva and himself. egmont, thus convinced of his inevitable doom, then observed to his companion, with exquisite courtesy, that, since he was to die, he rendered thanks both to god and to the duke that his last moments were to be consoled by so excellent a father confessor. afterwards, with a natural burst of indignation, he exclaimed that it was indeed a cruel and unjust sentence. he protested that he had never in his whole life wronged his majesty; certainly never so deeply as to deserve such a punishment. all that he had done had been with loyal intentions. the king's true interest had been his constant aim. nevertheless, if he had fallen into error, he prayed to god that his death might wipe away his misdeeds, and that his name might not be dishonored, nor his children brought to shame. his beloved wife and innocent children were to endure misery enough by his death and the confiscation of his estates. it was at least due to his long services that they should be spared further suffering. he then asked his father confessor what advice he had to give touching his present conduct. the bishop replied by an exhortation, that he should turn himself to god; that he should withdraw his thoughts entirely from all earthly interests, and prepare himself for the world beyond the grave. he accepted the advice, and kneeling before the bishop, confessed himself. he then asked to receive the sacrament, which the bishop administered, after the customary mass. egmont asked what prayer would be most appropriate at the hour of execution. his confessor replied that there was none more befitting than the one which jesus had taught his disciples--our father, which art in heaven. some conversation ensued, in which the count again expressed his gratitude that his parting soul had been soothed by these pious and friendly offices. by a revulsion of feeling, he then bewailed again the sad fate of his wife and of his young children. the bishop entreated him anew to withdraw his mind from such harrowing reflections, and to give himself entirely to god. overwhelmed with grief, egmont exclaimed with natural and simple pathos--"alas! how miserable and frail is our nature, that, when we should think of god only, we are unable to shut out the images of wife and children." recovering from his emotion, and having yet much time, he sat down and wrote with perfect self-possession two letters, one to philip and one to alva. the celebrated letter to the king was as follows: "sire,--i have learned, this evening, the sentence which your majesty has been pleased to pronounce upon me. although i have never had a thought, and believe myself never to have done a deed, which could tend to the prejudice of your majesty's person or service, or to the detriment of our true ancient and catholic religion, nevertheless i take patience to bear that which it has pleased the good god to send. if, during these troubles in the netherlands, i have done or permitted aught which had a different appearance, it has been with the true and good intent to serve god and your majesty, and the necessity of the times. therefore, i pray your majesty to forgive me, and to have compassion on my poor wife, my children, and my servants; having regard to my past services. in which hope i now commend myself to the mercy of god. "from brussels, "ready to die, this th june, , "your majesty's very humble and loyal vassal and servant, "lamoral d'egmont." having thus kissed the murderous hand which smote him, he handed the letter, stamped rather with superfluous loyalty than with christian forgiveness, to the bishop, with a request that he would forward it to its destination, accompanied by a letter from his own hand. this duty the bishop solemnly promised to fulfil. facing all the details of his execution with the fortitude which belonged to his character, he now took counsel with his confessor as to the language proper for him to hold from the scaffold to the assembled people. the bishop, however, strongly dissuaded him from addressing the multitude at all. the persons farthest removed, urged the priest, would not hear the words, while the spanish troops in the immediate vicinity would not understand them. it seemed, therefore, the part of wisdom and of dignity for him to be silent, communing only with his god. the count assented to this reasoning, and abandoned his intention of saying a few farewell words to the people, by many of whom he believed himself tenderly beloved. he now made many preparations for the morrow, in order that his thoughts, in the last moments, might not be distracted by mechanical details, cutting the collar from his doublet and from his shirt with his own hands, in order that those of the hangman might have no excuse for contaminating his person. the rest of the night was passed in prayer and meditation. fewer circumstances concerning the last night of count horn's life have been preserved. it is, however, well ascertained that the admiral received the sudden news of his condemnation with absolute composure. he was assisted at his devotional exercises in prison by the curate of la chapelle. during the night, the necessary preparations for the morning tragedy had been made in the great square of brussels. it was the intention of government to strike terror to the heart of the people by the exhibition of an impressive and appalling spectacle. the absolute and irresponsible destiny which ruled them was to be made manifest by the immolation of these two men, so elevated by rank, powerful connexion, and distinguished service. the effect would be heightened by the character of the locality where the gloomy show was to be presented. the great square of brussels had always a striking and theatrical aspect. its architectural effects, suggesting in some degree the meretricious union between oriental and a corrupt grecian art, accomplished in the medieval midnight, have amazed the eyes of many generations. the splendid hotel de ville, with its daring spire and elaborate front, ornamented one side of the place; directly opposite was the graceful but incoherent facade of the brood-huis, now the last earthly resting-place of the two distinguished victims, while grouped around these principal buildings rose the fantastic palaces of the archers, mariners, and of other guilds, with their festooned walls and toppling gables bedizened profusely with emblems, statues, and quaint decorations. the place had been alike the scene of many a brilliant tournament and of many a bloody execution. gallant knights had contended within its precincts, while bright eyes rained influence from all those picturesque balconies and decorated windows. martyrs to religious and to political liberty had, upon the same spot, endured agonies which might have roused every stone of its pavement to mutiny or softened them to pity. here egmont himself, in happier days, had often borne away the prize of skill or of valor, the cynosure of every eye; and hence, almost in the noon of a life illustrated by many brilliant actions, he was to be sent, by the hand of tyranny, to his great account. on the morning of the th of june, three thousand spanish troops were drawn up in battle array around a scaffold which had been erected in the centre of the square. upon this scaffold, which was covered with black cloth, were placed two velvet cushions, two iron spikes, and a small table. upon the table was a silver crucifix. the provost-marshal, spelle, sat on horseback below, with his red wand in his hand, little dreaming that for him a darker doom was reserved than that of which he was now the minister. the executioner was concealed beneath the draperies of the scaffold. at eleven o'clock, a company of spanish soldiers, led by julian romero and captain salinas, arrived at egmont's chamber. the count was ready for them. they were about to bind his hands, but he warmly protested against the indignity, and, opening the folds of his robe, showed them that he had himself shorn off his collars, and made preparations for his death. his request was granted. egmont, with the bishop at his side, then walked with a steady step the short distance which separated him from the place of execution. julian romero and the guard followed him. on his way, he read aloud the fifty-first psalm: "hear my cry, o god, and give ear unto my prayer!" he seemed to have selected these scriptural passages as a proof that, notwithstanding the machinations of his enemies, and the cruel punishment to which they had led him, loyalty to his sovereign was as deeply rooted and as religious a sentiment in his bosom as devotion to his god. "thou wilt prolong the king's life; and his years as many generations. he shall abide before god for ever! o prepare mercy and truth which may preserve him." such was the remarkable prayer of the condemned traitor on his way to the block. having ascended the scaffold, he walked across it twice or thrice. he was dressed in a tabard or robe of red damask, over which was thrown a short black mantle, embroidered in gold. he had a black silk hat, with black and white plumes, on his head, and held a handkerchief in his hand. as he strode to and fro, he expressed a bitter regret that he had not been permitted to die, sword in hand, fighting for his country and his king. sanguine to the last, he passionately asked romero, whether the sentence was really irrevocable, whether a pardon was not even then to be granted. the marshal shrugged his shoulders, murmuring a negative reply. upon this, egmont gnashed his teeth together, rather in rage than despair. shortly afterward commanding himself again, he threw aside his robe and mantle, and took the badge of the golden fleece from his neck. kneeling, then, upon one of the cushions, he said the lord's prayer aloud, and requested the bishop, who knelt at his side, to repeat it thrice. after this, the prelate gave him the silver crucifix to kiss, and then pronounced his blessing upon him. this done, the count rose again to his feet, laid aside his hat and handkerchief, knelt again upon the cushion, drew a little cap over his eyes, and, folding his hands together, cried with a loud voice, "lord, into thy hands i commit my spirit." the executioner then suddenly appeared, and severed his head from his shoulders at a single blow. a moment of shuddering silence succeeded the stroke. the whole vast assembly seemed to have felt it in their own hearts. tears fell from the eyes even of the spanish soldiery, for they knew and honored egmont as a valiant general. the french embassador, mondoucet, looking upon the scene from a secret place, whispered that he had now seen the head fall before which france had twice trembled. tears were even seen upon the iron cheek of alva, as, from a window in a house directly opposite the scaffold, he looked out upon the scene. a dark cloth was now quickly thrown over the body and the blood, and, within a few minutes, the admiral was seen advancing through the crowd. his bald head was uncovered, his hands were unbound. he calmly saluted such of his acquaintances as he chanced to recognize upon his path. under a black cloak, which he threw off when he had ascended the scaffold, he wore a plain, dark doublet, and he did not, like egmont, wear the insignia of the fleece. casting his eyes upon the corpse, which lay covered with the dark cloth, he asked if it were the body of egmont. being answered in the affirmative, he muttered a few words in spanish, which were not distinctly audible. his attention was next caught by the sight of his own coat of arms reversed, and he expressed anger at this indignity to his escutcheon, protesting that he had not deserved the insult. he then spoke a few words to the crowd below, wishing them happiness, and begging them to pray for his soul. he did not kiss the crucifix, but he knelt upon the scaffold to pray, and was assisted in his devotions by the bishop of ypres. when they were concluded, he rose again to his feet. then drawing a milan cap completely over his face, and uttering, in latin, the same invocation which egmont had used, he submitted his neck to the stroke. egmont had obtained, as a last favor, that his execution should precede that of his friend. deeming himself in part to blame for horn's reappearance in brussels after the arrival of alva, and for his, death, which was the result, he wished to be spared the pang of seeing him dead. gemma frisius, the astrologer who had cast the horoscope of count horn at his birth, had come to him in the most solemn manner to warn him against visiting brussels. the count had answered stoutly that he placed his trust in god, and that, moreover, his friend egmont was going thither also, who had engaged that no worse fate should befal the one of them than the other. the heads of both sufferers were now exposed for two hours upon the iron stakes. their bodies, placed in coffins, remained during the same interval upon the scaffold. meantime, notwithstanding the presence of the troops, the populace could not be restrained from tears and from execrations. many crowded about the scaffold, and dipped their handkerchiefs in the blood, to be preserved afterwards as memorials of the crime and as ensigns of revenge. the bodies were afterwards delivered to their friends. a stately procession of the guilds, accompanied by many of the clergy, conveyed their coffins to the church of saint gudule. thence the body of egmont was carried to the convent of saint clara, near the old brussels gate, where it was embalmed. his escutcheon and banners were hung upon the outward wall of his residence, by order of the countess. by command of alva they were immediately torn down. his remains were afterwards conveyed to his city of sottegem, in flanders, where they were interred. count horn was entombed at kempen. the bodies had been removed from the scaffold at two o'clock. the heads remained exposed between burning torches for two hours longer. they were then taken down, enclosed in boxes, and, as it was generally supposed, despatched to madrid. the king was thus enabled to look upon the dead faces of his victims without the trouble of a journey to the provinces. thus died philip montmorency, count of horn, and lamoral of egmont, prince of gaveren. the more intense sympathy which seemed to attach itself to the fate of egmont, rendered the misfortune of his companion in arms and in death comparatively less interesting. egmont is a great historical figure, but he was certainly not a great man. his execution remains an enduring monument not only of philip's cruelty and perfidy but of his dullness. the king had everything to hope from egmont and nothing to fear. granvelle knew the man well, and, almost to the last, could not believe in the possibility of so unparalleled a blunder as that which was to make a victim, a martyr, and a popular idol of a personage brave indeed, but incredibly vacillating and inordinately vain, who, by a little management, might have been converted into a most useful instrument for the royal purposes. it is not necessary to recapitulate the events of egmont's career. step by step we have studied his course, and at no single period have we discovered even a germ of those elements which make the national champion. his pride of order rendered him furious at the insolence of granvelle, and caused him to chafe under his dominion. his vanity of high rank and of distinguished military service made him covet the highest place under the crown, while his hatred of those by whom he considered himself defrauded of his claims, converted him into a malcontent. he had no sympathy with the people, but he loved, as a grand seignior, to be looked up to and admired by a gaping crowd. he was an unwavering catholic, held sectaries in utter loathing, and, after the image-breaking, took a positive pleasure in hanging ministers, together with their congregations, and in pressing the besieged christians of valenciennes to extremities. upon more than one occasion he pronounced his unequivocal approval of the infamous edicts, and he exerted himself at times to enforce them within his province. the transitory impression made upon his mind by the lofty nature of orange was easily effaced in spain by court flattery and by royal bribes. notwithstanding the coldness, the rebuffs, and the repeated warnings which might have saved him from destruction, nothing could turn him at last from the fanatic loyalty towards which, after much wavering, his mind irrevocably pointed. his voluntary humiliation as a general, a grandee, a fleming, and a christian before the insolent alva upon his first arrival, would move our contempt were it not for the gentler emotions suggested by the infatuated nobleman's doom. upon the departure of orange, egmont was only too eager to be employed by philip in any work which the monarch could find for him to do. yet this was the man whom philip chose, through the executioner's sword, to convert into a popular idol, and whom poetry has loved to contemplate as a romantic champion of freedom. as for horn, details enough have likewise been given of his career to enable the reader thoroughly to understand the man. he was a person of mediocre abilities and thoroughly commonplace character. his high rank and his tragic fate are all which make him interesting. he had little love for court or people. broken in fortunes, he passed his time mainly in brooding over the ingratitude of charles and philip, and in complaining bitterly of the disappointments to which their policy had doomed him. he cared nothing for cardinalists or confederates. he disliked brederode, he detested granvelle. gloomy and morose, he went to bed, while the men who were called his fellow-conspirators were dining and making merry in the same house with himself: he had as little sympathy with the cry of "vivent les gueux" as for that of "vive le roy." the most interesting features in his character are his generosity toward his absent brother and the manliness with which, as montigny's representative at tournay, he chose rather to confront the anger of the government, and to incur the deadly revenge of philip, than make himself the executioner of the harmless christians in tournay. in this regard, his conduct is vastly more entitled to our respect than that of egmont, and he was certainly more deserving of reverence from the people, even though deserted by all men while living, and left headless and solitary in his coffin at saint gudule. the hatred for alva, which sprang from the graves of these illustrious victims, waxed daily more intense. "like things of another world," wrote hoogstraaten, "seem the cries, lamentations, and just compassion which all the inhabitants of brussels, noble or ignoble, feel for such barbarous tyranny, while this nero of an alva is boasting that he will do the same to all whom he lays his hands upon." no man believed that the two nobles had committed a crime, and many were even disposed to acquit philip of his share in the judicial murder. the people ascribed the execution solely to the personal jealousy of the duke. they discoursed to each other not only of the envy with which the governor-general had always regarded the military triumphs of his rival, but related that egmont had at different times won large sums of alva at games of hazard, and that he had moreover, on several occasions, carried off the prize from the duke in shooting at the popinjay. nevertheless, in spite of all these absurd rumors, there is no doubt that philip and alva must share equally in the guilt of the transaction, and that the "chastisement" had been arranged before alva had departed from spain. the countess egmont remained at the convent of cambre with her eleven children, plunged in misery and in poverty. the duke wrote to philip, that he doubted if there were so wretched a family in the world. he, at the same time, congratulated his sovereign on the certainty that the more intense the effects, the more fruitful would be the example of this great execution. he stated that the countess was considered a most saintly woman, and that there had been scarcely a night in which, attended by her daughters, she had not gone forth bare-footed to offer up prayers for her husband in every church within the city. he added, that it was doubtful whether they had money enough to buy themselves a supper that very night, and he begged the king to allow them the means of supporting life. he advised that the countess should be placed, without delay in a spanish convent, where her daughters might at once take the veil, assuring his majesty that her dower was entirely inadequate to her support. thus humanely recommending his sovereign to bestow an alms on the family which his own hand had reduced from a princely station to beggary, the viceroy proceeded to detail the recent events in friesland, together with the measures which he was about taking to avenge the defeat and death of count aremberg. etext editor's bookmarks: deeply criminal in the eyes of all religious parties he had omitted to execute heretics holy office condemned all the inhabitants of the netherlands not for a new doctrine, but for liberty of conscience questioning nothing, doubting nothing, fearing nothing the perpetual reproductions of history wealth was an unpardonable sin motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley [chapter iii.] preparations of the duke against count louis--precarious situation of louis in friesland--timidity of the inhabitants--alva in friesland--skirmishing near groningen--retreat of the patriots-- error committed by louis--his position at jemmingen--mutinous demonstrations of his troops--louis partially restores order-- attempt to destroy the dykes interrupted by the arrival of alva's forces--artful strategy of the duke--defeat of count louis and utter destruction of his army--outrages committed by the spaniards--alva at utrecht--execution of vrow van diemen--episode of don carlos-- fables concerning him and queen isabella--mystery, concerning his death--secret letters of philip to the pope--the one containing the truth of the transaction still concealed in the vatican--case against philip as related by mathieu, de thou, and others--testimony in the king's favor by the nuncio, the venetian envoy, and others-- doubtful state of the question--anecdotes concerning don carlos--his character. those measures were taken with the precision and promptness which marked the duke's character, when precision and promptness were desirable. there had been a terrible energy in his every step, since the successful foray of louis nassau. having determined to take the field in person with nearly all the spanish veterans, he had at once acted upon the necessity of making the capital secure, after his back should be turned. it was impossible to leave three thousand choice troops to guard count egmont. a less number seemed insufficient to prevent a rescue. he had, therefore, no longer delayed the chastisement which had already been determined, but which the events in the north had precipitated. thus the only positive result of louis nassau's victory was the execution of his imprisoned friends. the expedition under aremberg had failed from two causes. the spanish force had been inadequate, and they had attacked the enemy at a disadvantage. the imprudent attack was the result of the contempt with which they had regarded their antagonist. these errors were not to be repeated. alva ordered count meghem, now commanding in the province of groningen, on no account to hazard hostilities until the game was sure. he also immediately ordered large reinforcements to move forward to the seat of war. the commanders intrusted with this duty were duke eric of brunswick, chiappin vitelli, noircarmes, and count de roeulx. the rendezvous for the whole force was deventer, and here they all arrived on the th july. on the same day the duke of alva himself entered deventer, to take command in person. on the evening of the th july he reached rolden, a village three leagues distant from groningen, at the head of three terzios of spanish infantry, three companies of light horse, and a troop of dragoons. his whole force in and about groningen amounted to fifteen thousand choice troops besides a large but uncertain number of less disciplined soldiery. meantime, louis of nassau, since his victory, had accomplished nothing. for this inactivity there was one sufficient excuse, the total want of funds. his only revenue was the amount of black mail which he was able to levy upon the inhabitants of the province. he repeated his determination to treat them all as enemies, unless they furnished him with the means of expelling their tyrants from the country. he obtained small sums in this manner from time to time. the inhabitants were favorably disposed, but they were timid and despairing. they saw no clear way towards the accomplishment of the result concerning which louis was so confident. they knew that the terrible alva was already on his way. they felt sure of being pillaged by both parties, and of being hanged as rebels, besides, as soon as the governor-general should make his appearance. louis had, however, issued two formal proclamations for two especial contributions. in these documents he had succinctly explained that the houses of all recusants should be forthwith burned about their ears, and in consequence of these peremptory measures, he had obtained some ten thousand florins. alva ordered counter-proclamations to be affixed to church doors and other places, forbidding all persons to contribute to these forced loans of the rebels, on penalty of paying twice as much to the spaniards, with arbitrary punishment in addition, after his arrival. the miserable inhabitants, thus placed between two fires, had nothing for it but to pay one-half of their property to support the rebellion in the first place, with the prospect of giving the other half as a subsidy to tyranny afterwards; while the gibbet stood at the end of the vista to reward their liberality. such was the horrible position of the peasantry in this civil conflict. the weight of guilt thus accumulated upon the crowned head which conceived, and upon the red right hand which wrought all this misery, what human scales can measure? with these precarious means of support, the army of louis of nassau, as may easily be supposed, was anything but docile. after the victory of heiliger lee there had seemed to his german mercenaries a probability of extensive booty, which grew fainter as the slender fruit of that battle became daily more apparent. the two abbots of wittewerum and of heiliger lee, who had followed aremberg's train in order to be witnesses of his victory, had been obliged to pay to the actual conqueror a heavy price for the entertainment to which they had invited themselves, and these sums, together with the amounts pressed from the reluctant estates, and the forced contributions paid by luckless peasants, enabled him to keep his straggling troops together a few weeks longer. mutiny, however, was constantly breaking out, and by the eloquent expostulations and vague promises of the count, was with difficulty suppressed. he had, for a few weeks immediately succeeding the battle, distributed his troops in three different stations. on the approach of the duke, however, he hastily concentrated his whole force at his own strongly fortified camp, within half cannon shot of groningen. his army, such as it was, numbered from , to , men. alva reached groningen early in the morning, and without pausing a moment, marched his troops directly through the city. he then immediately occupied an entrenched and fortified house, from which it was easy to inflict damage upon the camp. this done, the duke, with a few attendants, rode forward to reconnoitre the enemy in person. he found him in a well fortified position, having the river on his front, which served as a moat to his camp, and with a deep trench three hundred yards beyond, in addition. two wooden bridges led across the river; each was commanded by a fortified house, in which was a provision of pine torches, ready at a moment's warning, to set fire to the bridges. having thus satisfied himself, the duke rode back to his army, which had received strict orders not to lift a finger till his return. he then despatched a small force of five hundred musketeers, under robles, to skirmish with the enemy, and, if possible, to draw them from their trenches. the troops of louis, however, showed no greediness to engage. on the contrary, it soon became evident that their dispositions were of an opposite tendency. the count himself, not at that moment trusting his soldiery, who were in an extremely mutinous condition, was desirous of falling back before his formidable antagonist. the duke, faithful, however, to his life-long principles, had no intentions of precipitating the action in those difficult and swampy regions. the skirmishing, therefore, continued for many hours, an additional force of men being detailed from the spanish army. the day was very sultry, however, the enemy reluctant, and the whole action languid. at last, towards evening, a large body, tempted beyond their trenches, engaged warmly with the spaniards. the combat lasted but a few minutes, the patriots were soon routed, and fled precipitately back to their camp. the panic spread with them, and the whole army was soon in retreat. on retiring, they had, however, set fire to the bridges, and thus secured an advantage at the outset of the chase. the spaniards were no longer to be held. vitelli obtained permission to follow with additional troops. the fifteen hundred who had already been engaged, charged furiously upon their retreating foes. some dashed across the blazing bridges, with their garments and their very beards on fire. others sprang into the river. neither fire nor water could check the fierce pursuit. the cavalry dismounting, drove their horses into the stream, and clinging to their tails, pricked the horses forward with their lances. having thus been dragged across, they joined their comrades in the mad chase along the narrow dykes, and through the swampy and almost impassable country where the rebels were seeking shelter. the approach of night, too soon advancing, at last put an end to the hunt. the duke with difficulty recalled his men, and compelled them to restrain their eagerness until the morrow. three hundred of the patriots were left dead upon the field, besides at least an equal number who perished in the river and canals. the army of louis was entirely routed, and the duke considered it virtually destroyed. he wrote to the state council that he should pursue them the next day, but doubted whether he should find anybody to talk with him. in this the governor-general soon found himself delightfully disappointed. five days later, the duke arrived at reyden, on the ems. owing to the unfavorable disposition of the country people, who were willing to protect the fugitives by false information to their pursuers, he was still in doubt as to the position then occupied by the enemy. he had been fearful that they would be found at this very village of reyden. it was a fatal error on the part of count louis that they were not. had he made a stand at this point, he might have held out a long time. the bridge which here crossed the river would have afforded him a retreat into germany at any moment, and the place was easily to be defended in front. thus he might have maintained himself against his fierce but wary foe, while his brother orange, who was at strasburg watching the progress of events, was executing his own long-planned expedition into the heart of the netherlands. with alva thus occupied in friesland, the results of such an invasion might have been prodigious. it was, however, not on the cards for that campaign. the mutinous disposition of the mercenaries under his command had filled louis with doubt and disgust. bold and sanguine, but always too fiery and impatient, he saw not much possibility of paying his troops any longer with promises. perhaps he was not unwilling to place them in a position where they would be obliged to fight or to perish. at any rate, such was their present situation. instead of halting at reyden, he had made his stand at jemmingen, about four leagues distant from that place, and a little further down the river. alva discovered this important fact soon after his arrival at reyden, and could not conceal his delight. already exulting at the error made by his adversary, in neglecting the important position which he now occupied himself, he was doubly delighted at learning the nature of the place which he had in preference selected. he saw that louis had completely entrapped himself. jemmingen was a small town on the left bank of the ems. the stream here very broad and deep, is rather a tide inlet than a river, being but a very few miles from the dollart. this circular bay, or ocean chasm, the result of the violent inundation of the th century, surrounds, with the river, a narrow peninsula. in the corner of this peninsula, as in the bottom of a sack, louis had posted his army. his infantry, as usual, was drawn up in two large squares, and still contained ten thousand men. the rear rested upon the village, the river was upon his left; his meagre force of cavalry upon the right. in front were two very deep trenches. the narrow road, which formed the only entrance to his camp, was guarded by a ravelin on each side, and by five pieces of artillery. the duke having reconnoitred the enemy in person, rode back, satisfied that no escape was possible. the river was too deep and too wide for swimming or wading, and there were but very few boats. louis was shut up between twelve thousand spanish veterans and the river ems. the rebel army, although not insufficient in point of numbers, was in a state of disorganization. they were furious for money and reluctant to fight. they broke out into open mutiny upon the very verge of battle, and swore that they would instantly disband, if the gold, which, as they believed, had been recently brought into the camp, were not immediately distributed among them. such was the state of things on the eventful morning of the st july. all the expostulations of count louis seemed powerless. his eloquence and his patience, both inferior to his valor, were soon exhausted. he peremptorily, refused the money for which they clamored, giving the most cogent of all reasons, an empty coffer. he demonstrated plainly that they were in that moment to make their election, whether to win a victory or to submit to a massacre. neither flight nor surrender was possible. they knew how much quarter they could expect from the lances of the spaniards or the waters of the dollart. their only chance of salvation lay in their own swords. the instinct of self-preservation, thus invoked, exerted a little of its natural effect. meantime, a work which had been too long neglected, was then, if possible, to be performed. in that watery territory, the sea was only held in check by artificial means. in a very short time, by the demolition of a few dykes and the opening of a few sluices, the whole country through which the spaniards had to pass could be laid under water. believing it yet possible to enlist the ocean in his defence, louis, having partially reduced his soldiers to obedience, ordered a strong detachment upon this important service. seizing a spade, he commenced the work himself, and then returned to set his army in battle array. two or three tide gates had been opened, two or three bridges had been demolished, when alva, riding in advance of his army, appeared within a mile or two of jemmingen. it was then eight o'clock in the morning. the patriots redoubled their efforts. by ten o'clock the waters were already knee high, and in some places as deep as to the waist. at that hour, the advanced guard of the spaniards arrived. fifteen hundred musketeers were immediately ordered forward by the duke. they were preceded by a company of mounted carabineers, attended by a small band of volunteers of distinction. this little band threw themselves at once upon the troops engaged in destroying the dykes. the rebels fled at the first onset, and the spaniards closed the gates. feeling the full importance of the moment, count louis ordered a large force of musketeers to recover the position, and to complete the work of inundation. it was too late. the little band of spaniards held the post with consummate tenacity. charge after charge, volley after volley, from the overwhelming force brought against them, failed to loosen the fierce grip with which they held this key to the whole situation. before they could be driven from the dykes, their comrades arrived, when all their antagonists at once made a hurried retreat to their camp. very much the same tactics were now employed by the duke, as in the engagement near selwaert abbey. he was resolved that this affair, also, should be a hunt, not a battle; but foresaw that it was to be a more successful one. there was no loophole of escape, so that after a little successful baiting, the imprisoned victims would be forced to spring from their lurking-place, to perish upon his spears. on his march from reyden that morning, he had taken care to occupy every farm-house, every building of whatever description along the road, with his troops. he had left a strong guard on the bridge at reyden, and had thus closed carefully every avenue. the same fifteen hundred musketeers were now advanced further towards the camp. this small force, powerfully but secretly sustained, was to feel the enemy; to skirmish with him, and to draw him as soon as possible out of his trenches. the plan succeeded. gradually the engagements between them and the troops sent out by count louis grew more earnest. finding so insignificant a force opposed to them, the mutinous rebels took courage. the work waged hot. lodrono and romero, commanders of the musketeers, becoming alarmed, sent to the duke for reinforcements. he sent back word in reply, that if they were not enough to damage the enemy, they could, at least, hold their own for the present. so much he had a right to expect of spanish soldiers. at any rate, he should send no reinforcements. again they were more warmly pressed; again their messenger returned with the same reply. a third time they send the most urgent entreaties for succour. the duke was still inexorable. meantime the result of this scientific angling approached. by noon the rebels, not being able to see how large a portion of the spanish army had arrived, began to think the affair not so serious. count louis sent out a reconnoitring party upon the river in a few boats. they returned without having been able to discover any large force. it seemed probable, therefore, that the inundation had been more successful in stopping their advance than had been supposed. louis, always too rash, inflamed his men with temporary enthusiasm. determined to cut their way out by one vigorous movement, the whole army at last marched forth from their entrenchments, with drums beating, colors flying; but already the concealed reinforcements of their enemies were on the spot. the patriots met with a warmer reception than they had expected. their courage evaporated. hardly had they advanced three hundred yards, when the whole body wavered and then retreated precipitately towards the encampment, having scarcely exchanged a shot with the enemy. count louis, in a frenzy of rage and despair, flew from rank to rank, in vain endeavouring to rally his terror-stricken troops. it was hopeless. the battery which guarded the road was entirely deserted. he rushed to the cannon himself, and fired them all with his own hand. it was their first and last discharge. his single arm, however bold, could not turn the tide of battle, and he was swept backwards with his coward troops. in a moment afterwards, don lope de figueroa, who led the van of the spaniards, dashed upon the battery, and secured it, together with the ravelins. their own artillery was turned against the rebels, and the road was soon swept. the spaniards in large numbers now rushed through the trenches in pursuit of the retreating foe. no resistance was offered, nor quarter given. an impossible escape was all which was attempted. it was not a battle, but a massacre. many of the beggars in their flight threw down their arms; all had forgotten their use. their antagonists butchered them in droves, while those who escaped the sword were hurled into the river. seven spaniards were killed, and seven thousand rebels. [letter of alva to the council of state. correspondanee du duc d'albe, . the same letter is published in igor, iv. , . all writers allow seven thousand to have been killed on the patriot side, and--the number of spaniards slain is not estimated at more than eighty, even by the patriotic meteren, . compare bor, iv. - ; herrera, av. ; hoofd, v, , and mendoza, .] the swift ebb-tide swept the hats of the perishing wretches in such numbers down the stream, that the people at embden knew the result of the battle in an incredibly short period of time. the skirmishing had lasted from ten o'clock till one, but the butchery continued much longer. it took time to slaughter even unresisting victims. large numbers obtained refuge for the night upon an island in the river. at low water next day the spaniards waded to them, and slew every man. many found concealment in hovels, swamps, and thickets, so that the whole of the following day was occupied in ferreting out and despatching them. there was so much to be done, that there was work enough for all. "not a soldier," says, with great simplicity, a spanish historian who fought in the battle, "not a soldier, nor even a lad, who wished to share in the victory, but could find somebody to wound, to kill, to burn, or to drown." the wounding, killing, burning, drowning lasted two days, and very few escaped. the landward pursuit extended for three or four leagues around, so that the roads and pastures were covered with bodies, with corslets, and other weapons. count louis himself stripped off his clothes, and made his escape, when all was over, by swimming across the ems. with the paltry remnant of his troops he again took refuge in germany. the spanish army, two days afterwards, marched back to groningen. the page which records their victorious campaign is foul with outrage and red with blood. none of the horrors which accompany the passage of hostile troops through a defenceless country were omitted. maids and matrons were ravished in multitudes; old men butchered in cold blood. as alva returned, with the rear-guard of his army, the whole sky was red with a constant conflagration; the very earth seemed changed to ashes. every peasant's hovel, every farm-house, every village upon the road had been burned to the ground. so gross and so extensive had been the outrage, that the commander-in-chief felt it due to his dignity to hang some of his own soldiers who had most distinguished themselves in this work. thus ended the campaign of count louis in friesland. thus signally and terribly had the duke of alva vindicated the supremacy of spanish discipline and of his own military skill. on his return to groningen, the estates were summoned, and received a severe lecture for their suspicious demeanour in regard to the rebellion. in order more effectually to control both province and city, the governor-general ordered the construction of a strong fortress, which was soon begun but never completed. having thus furnished himself with a key to this important and doubtful region, he returned by way of amsterdam to utrecht. there he was met by his son frederic with strong reinforcements. the duke reviewed his whole army, and found himself at the head of , infantry and , cavalry. having fully subdued the province, he had no occupation for such a force, but he improved the opportunity by cutting off the head of an old woman in utrecht. the vrow van diemen, eighteen months previously, had given the preacher arendsoon a night's lodging in her house. the crime had, in fact, been committed by her son-in-law, who dwelt under her roof, and who had himself, without her participation, extended this dangerous hospitality to a heretic; but the old lady, although a devout catholic, was rich. her execution would strike a wholesome terror into the hearts of her neighbours. the confiscation of her estates would bring a handsome sum into the government coffers. it would be made manifest that the same hand which could destroy an army of twelve thousand rebels at a blow could inflict as signal punishment on the small delinquencies of obscure individuals. the old lady, who was past eighty-four years of age, was placed in a chair upon the scaffold. she met her death with heroism, and treated her murderers with contempt. "i understand very well," she observed, "why my death is considered necessary. the calf is fat and must be killed." to the executioner she expressed a hope that his sword was sufficiently sharp, "as he was likely to find her old neck very tough." with this grisly parody upon the pathetic dying words of anne boleyn, the courageous old gentlewoman submitted to her fate. the tragedy of don carlos does not strictly belong to our subject, which is the rise of the netherland commonwealth--not the decline of the spanish monarchy, nor the life of philip the second. the thread is but slender which connects the unhappy young prince with the fortunes of the northern republic. he was said, no doubt with truth, to desire the government of flanders. he was also supposed to be in secret correspondence with the leaders of the revolt in the provinces. he appeared, however, to possess very little of their confidence. his name is only once mentioned by william of orange, who said in a letter that "the prince of spain had lately eaten sixteen pounds of fruit, including four pounds of grapes at a single sitting, and had become ill in consequence." the result was sufficiently natural, but it nowhere appears that the royal youth, born to consume the fruits of the earth so largely, had ever given the netherlanders any other proof of his capacity to govern them. there is no doubt that he was a most uncomfortable personage at home, both to himself and to others, and that he hated his father' very cordially. he was extremely incensed at the nomination of alva to the netherlands, because he had hoped that either the king would go thither or entrust the mission to him, in either of which events he should be rid for a time of the paternal authority, or at least of the paternal presence. it seems to be well ascertained that carlos nourished towards his father a hatred which might lead to criminal attempts, but there is no proof that such attempts were ever made. as to the fabulous amours of the prince and the queen, they had never any existence save in the imagination of poets, who have chosen to find a source of sentimental sorrow for the infante in the arbitrary substitution of his father for himself in the marriage contract with the daughter of henry the second. as carlos was but twelve or thirteen years of age when thus deprived of a bride whom he had never seen, the foundation for a passionate regret was but slight. it would hardly be a more absurd fantasy, had the poets chosen to represent philip's father, the emperor charles, repining in his dotage for the loss of "bloody mary," whom he had so handsomely ceded to his son. philip took a bad old woman to relieve his father; he took a fair young princess at his son's expense; but similar changes in state marriages were such matters of course, that no emotions were likely to be created in consequence. there is no proof whatever, nor any reason to surmise; that any love passages ever existed between don carlos and his step-mother. as to the process and the death of the prince, the mystery has not yet been removed, and the field is still open to conjecture. it seems a thankless task to grope in the dark after the truth at a variety of sources; when the truth really exists in tangible shape if profane hands could be laid upon it. the secret is buried in the bosom of the vatican. philip wrote two letters on the subject to pius v. the contents of the first ( st january, ) are known. he informed the pontiff that he had been obliged to imprison his son, and promised that he would, in the conduct of the affair, omit nothing which could be expected of a father and of a just and prudent king. the second letter, in which he narrated, or is supposed to have narrated, the whole course of the tragic proceedings, down to the death and burial of the prince, has never yet been made public. there are hopes that this secret missive, after three centuries of darkness, may soon see the light.--[i am assured by mr. gachard that a copy of this important letter is confidently expected by the commission royale d'histoire.] as philip generally told the truth to the pope, it is probable that the secret, when once revealed, will contain the veritable solution of the mystery. till that moment arrives, it seems idle to attempt fathoming the matter. nevertheless, it may be well briefly to state the case as it stands. as against the king, it rests upon no impregnable, but certainly upon respectable authority. the prince of orange, in his famous apology, calls philip the murderer of his wife and of his son, and says that there was proof of the facts in france. he alludes to the violent death of carlos almost as if it were an indisputable truth. "as for don charles," he says, "was he not our future sovereign? and if the father could allege against his son fit cause for death, was it not rather for us to judge him than for three or four monks or inquisitors of spain?" the historian, p. matthieu, relates that philip assembled his council of conscience; that they recommended mercy; that hereupon philip gave the matter to the inquisition, by which tribunal carlos was declared a heretic on account of his connexion with protestants, and for his attempt against his father's life was condemned to death, and that the sentence was executed by four slaves, two holding the arms, one the feet, while the fourth strangled him. de thou gives the following account of the transaction, having derived many of his details from the oral communications of louis de foix: philip imagined that his son was about to escape from spain, and to make his way to the netherlands. the king also believed himself in danger of assassination from carlos, his chief evidence being that the prince always carried pistols in the pockets of his loose breeches. as carlos wished always to be alone at night without any domestic in his chamber, de foix had arranged for him a set of pulleys, by means of which he could open or shut his door without rising from his bed. he always slept with two pistols and two drawn swords under his pillow, and had two loaded arquebusses in a wardrobe close at hand. these remarkable precautions would seem rather to indicate a profound fear of being himself assassinated; but they were nevertheless supposed to justify philip's suspicions, that the infante was meditating parricide. on christmas eve, however ( ), don carlos told his confessor that he had determined to kill a man. the priest, in consequence, refused to admit him to the communion. the prince demanded, at least, a wafer which was not consecrated, in order that he might seem to the people to be participating in the sacrament. the confessor declined the proposal, and immediately repairing to the king, narrated the whole story. philip exclaimed that he was himself the man whom the prince intended to kill, but that measures should be forthwith taken to prevent such a design. the monarch then consulted the holy office of the inquisition, and the resolution was taken to arrest his son. de foix was compelled to alter the pulleys of the door to the prince's chamber in such a manner that it could be opened without the usual noise, which was almost sure to awaken him. at midnight, accordingly, count lerma entered the room so stealthily that the arms were all, removed from the prince's pillow and the wardrobe, without awakening the sleeper. philip, ruy gomez, the duke de feria, and two other nobles, then noiselessly, crept into the apartment. carlos still slept so profoundly that it was necessary for derma to shake him violently by the arm before he could be aroused. starting from his sleep in the dead of night, and seeing his father thus accompanied, before his bed, the prince cried out that he was a dead man, and earnestly besought the bystanders to make an end of him at once. philip assured him, however, that he was not come to kill him, but to chastise him paternally, and to recal him to his duty. he then read him a serious lecture, caused him to rise from his bed, took away his servants, and placed him under guard. he was made to array himself in mourning habiliments, and to sleep on a truckle bed. the prince was in despair. he soon made various attempts upon his own life. he threw himself into the fire, but was rescued by his guards, with his clothes all in flames. he passed several days without taking any food, and then ate so many patties of minced meat that he nearly died of indigestion. he was also said to have attempted to choke himself with a diamond, and to have been prevented by his guard; to have filled his bed with ice; to have sat in cold draughts; to have gone eleven days without food, the last method being, as one would think, sufficiently thorough. philip, therefore, seeing his son thus desperate, consulted once more with the holy office, and came to the decision that it was better to condemn him legitimately to death than to permit him to die by his own hand. in order, however, to save appearances, the order was secretly carried into execution. don carlos was made to swallow poison in a bowl of broth, of which he died in a few hours. this was at the commencement of his twenty-third year. the death was concealed for several months, and was not made public till after alva's victory at jemmingen. such was the account drawn up by de thou from the oral communications of de foix, and from other sources not indicated. certainly, such a narrative is far from being entitled to implicit credence. the historian was a contemporary, but he was not in spain, and the engineer's testimony is, of course, not entitled to much consideration on the subject of the process and the execution (if there were an execution); although conclusive as to matters which had been within his personal knowledge. for the rest, all that it can be said to establish is the existence of the general rumor, that carlos came to his death by foul means and in consequence of advice given by the inquisition. on the other hand, in all the letters written at the period by persons in madrid most likely, from their position, to know the truth, not a syllable has been found in confirmation of the violent death said to have been suffered by carlos. secretary erasso, the papal nuncio castagna, the venetian envoy cavalli, all express a conviction that the death of the prince had been brought about by his own extravagant conduct and mental excitement; by alternations of starving and voracious eating, by throwing himself into the fire; by icing his bed, and by similar acts of desperation. nearly every writer alludes to the incident of the refusal of the priest to admit carlos to communion, upon the ground of his confessed deadly hatred to an individual whom all supposed to be the king. it was also universally believed that carlos meant to kill his father. the nuncio asked spinosa (then president of castile) if this report were true. "if nothing more were to be feared," answered the priest, "the king would protect himself by other measures," but the matter was worse, if worse could be. the king, however, summoned all the foreign diplomatic body and assured them that the story was false. after his arrest, the prince, according to castagna, attempted various means of suicide, abstaining, at last, many days from food, and dying in consequence, "discoursing, upon his deathbed, gravely and like a man of sense." the historian cabrera, official panegyrist of philip the second, speaks of the death of carlos as a natural one, but leaves a dark kind of mystery about the symptoms of his disease. he states, that the prince was tried and condemned by a commission or junta, consisting of spinosa, ruy gomez, and the licentiate virviesca, but that he was carried off by an illness, the nature of which he does not describe. llorente found nothing in the records of the inquisition to prove that the holy office had ever condemned the prince or instituted any process against him. he states that he was condemned by a commission, but that he died of a sickness which supervened. it must be confessed that the illness was a convenient one, and that such diseases are very apt to attack individuals whom tyrants are disposed to remove from their path, while desirous, at the same time, to save appearances. it would certainly be presumptuous to accept implicitly the narrative of de thou, which is literally followed by hoofd and by many modern writers. on the other hand, it would be an exaggeration of historical scepticism to absolve philip from the murder of his son, solely upon negative testimony. the people about court did not believe in the crime. they saw no proofs of it. of course they saw none. philip would take good care that there should be none if he had made up his mind that the death of the prince should be considered a natural one. and priori argument, which omits the character of the suspected culprit, and the extraordinary circumstances of time and place, is not satisfactory. philip thoroughly understood the business of secret midnight murder. we shall soon have occasion to relate the elaborate and ingenious method by which the assassination of montigny was accomplished and kept a profound secret from the whole world, until the letters of the royal assassin, after three centuries' repose, were exhumed, and the foul mystery revealed. philip was capable of any crime. moreover, in his letter to his aunt, queen catharine of portugal, he distinctly declares himself, like abraham, prepared to go all lengths in obedience to the lord. "i have chosen in this matter," he said, "to make the sacrifice to god of my own flesh and blood, and to prefer his service and the universal welfare to all other human considerations." whenever the letter to pius v. sees the light, it will appear whether the sacrifice which the monarch thus made to his god proceeded beyond the imprisonment and condemnation of his son, or was completed by the actual immolation of the victim. with regard to the prince himself, it is very certain that, if he had lived, the realms of the spanish crown would have numbered one tyrant more. carlos from his earliest youth, was remarkable for the ferocity of his character. the emperor charles was highly pleased with him, then about fourteen years of age, upon their first interview after the abdication. he flattered himself that the lad had inherited his own martial genius together with his name. carlos took much interest in his grandfather's account of his various battles, but when the flight from innspruck was narrated, he repeated many times, with much vehemence, that he never would have fled; to which position he adhered, notwithstanding all the arguments of the emperor, and very much to his amusement. the young prince was always fond of soldiers, and listened eagerly to discourses of war. he was in the habit also of recording the names of any military persons who, according to custom, frequently made offers of their services to the heir apparent, and of causing them to take a solemn oath to keep their engagements. no other indications of warlike talent, however, have been preserved concerning him. "he was crafty, ambitious, cruel, violent," says the envoy suriano, "a hater of buffoons, a lover of soldiers." his natural cruelty seems to have been remarkable from his boyhood. after his return from the chase, he was in the habit of cutting the throats of hares and other animals, and of amusing himself with their dying convulsions. he also frequently took pleasure in roasting them alive. he once received a present of a very large snake from some person who seemed to understand how to please this remarkable young prince. after a time, however, the favorite reptile allowed itself to bite its master's finger, whereupon don carlos immediately retaliated by biting off its head. he was excessively angry at the suggestion that the prince who was expected to spring from his father's marriage with the english queen, would one day reign over the netherlands, and swore he would challenge him to mortal combat in order to prevent such an infringement of his rights. his father and grandfather were both highly diverted with this manifestation of spirit, but it was not decreed that the world should witness the execution of these fraternal intentions against the babe which was never to be born. ferocity, in short, seems to have been the leading characteristic of the unhappy carlos. his preceptor, a man of learning and merit, who was called "the honorable john", tried to mitigate this excessive ardor of temperament by a course of cicero de officiis, which he read to him daily. neither the eloquence of tully, however, nor the precepts of the honorable john made the least impression upon this very savage nature. as he grew older he did not grow wiser nor more gentle. he was prematurely and grossly licentious. all the money which as a boy, he was allowed, he spent upon women of low character, and when he was penniless, he gave them his chains, his medals, even the clothes from his back. he took pleasure in affronting respectable females when he met them in the streets, insulting them by the coarsest language and gestures. being cruel, cunning, fierce and licentious, he seemed to combine many of the worst qualities of a lunatic. that he probably was one is the best defence which can be offered for his conduct. in attempting to offer violence to a female, while he was at the university of alcala, he fell down a stone staircase, from which cause he was laid up for a long time with a severely wounded head, and was supposed to have injured his brain. the traits of ferocity recorded of him during his short life are so numerous that humanity can hardly desire that it should have been prolonged. a few drops of water having once fallen upon his head from a window, as he passed through the street, he gave peremptory orders to his guard to burn the house to the ground, and to put every one of its inhabitants to the sword. the soldiers went forthwith to execute the order, but more humane than their master, returned with the excuse that the holy sacrament of the viaticum had that moment been carried into the house. this appeal to the superstition of the prince successfully suspended the execution of the crimes which his inconceivable malignity had contemplated. on another occasion, a nobleman, who slept near his chamber, failed to answer his bell on the instant. springing upon his dilatory attendant, as soon as he made his appearance, the prince seized him in his arms and was about to throw him from the window, when the cries of the unfortunate chamberlain attracted attention, and procured a rescue. the cardinal espinoza had once accidentally detained at his palace an actor who was to perform a favorite part by express command of don carlos. furious at this detention, the prince took the priest by the throat as soon as he presented himself at the palace, and plucking his dagger from its sheath, swore, by the soul of his father, that he would take his life on the spot. the grand inquisitor fell on his knees and begged for mercy, but it is probable that the entrance of the king alone saved his life. there was often something ludicrous mingled with the atrocious in these ungovernable explosions of wrath. don pedro manuel, his chamberlain, had once, by his command, ordered a pair of boots to be made for the prince. when brought home, they were, unfortunately, too tight. the prince after vainly endeavouring to pull them on, fell into a blazing passion. he swore that it was the fault of don pedro, who always wore tight boots himself, but he at the same time protested that his father was really at the bottom of the affair. he gave the young nobleman a box on the ear for thus conspiring with the king against his comfort, and then ordered the boots to be chopped into little pieces, stewed and seasoned. then sending for the culprit shoemaker, he ordered him to eat his own boots, thus converted into a pottage; and with this punishment the unfortunate mechanic, who had thought his life forfeited, was sufficiently glad to comply. even the puissant alva could not escape his violence. like all the men in whom his father reposed confidence, the duke was odious to the heir apparent. don carlos detested him with the whole force of his little soul. he hated him as only a virtuous person deserved to be hated by such a ruffian. the heir apparent had taken the netherlands under his patronage. he had even formed the design of repairing secretly to the provinces, and could not, therefore, disguise his wrath at the appointment of the duke. it is doubtful whether the country would have benefited by the gratification of his wishes. it is possible that the pranks of so malignant an ape might have been even more mischievous than the concentrated and vigorous tyranny of an alva. when the new captain-general called, before his departure, to pay his respects to the infante, the duke seemed, to his surprise, to have suddenly entered the den of a wild beast. don carlos sprang upon him with a howl of fury, brandishing a dagger in his hand. he uttered reproaches at having been defrauded of the netherland government. he swore that alva should never accomplish his mission, nor leave his presence alive. he was proceeding to make good the threat with his poniard, when the duke closed with him. a violent struggle succeeded. both rolled together on the ground, the prince biting and striking like a demoniac, the duke defending himself as well as he was able, without attempting his adversary's life. before the combat was decided, the approach of many persons put an end to the disgraceful scene. as decent a veil as possible was thrown over the transaction, and the duke departed on his mission. before the end of the year, the prince was in the prison whence he never came forth alive. the figure of don carlos was as misshapen as his mind. his head was disproportionately large, his limbs were rickety, one shoulder was higher, one leg longer than the other. with features resembling those of his father, but with a swarthy instead of a fair complexion, with an expression of countenance both fierce and foolish, and with a character such as we have sketched it, upon the evidence of those who knew him well, it is indeed strange that he should ever have been transformed by the magic of poetry into a romantic hero. as cruel and cunning as his father, as mad as his great-grandmother, he has left a name, which not even his dark and mysterious fate can render interesting. [chapter iv.] continued and excessive barbarity of the government--execution of antony van straalen, of "red--rod" spelle--the prince of orange advised by his german friends to remain quiet--heroic sentiments of orange--his religious opinions--his efforts in favor of toleration-- his fervent piety--his public correspondence with the emperor--his "justification," his "warning," and other papers characterized--the prince, with a considerable army, crosses the rhine--passage of the meuse at stochem--he offers battle to alva--determination of the duke to avoid an engagement--comparison of his present situation with his previous position in friesland--masterly tactics of the duke--skirmish on the geta--defeat of the orangists--death of hoogstraaten--junction with genlis--adherence of alva to his original plan--the prince crosses the frontier of france-- correspondence between charles ix. and orange--the patriot army disbanded at strasburg--comments by granvelle upon the position of the prince--triumphant attitude of alva--festivities at brussels-- colossal statue of alva erected by himself in antwerp citadel-- intercession of the emperor with philip--memorial of six electors to the emperor--mission of the archduke charles to spain--his negotiations with philip--public and private correspondence between the king and emperor--duplicity of maximilian--abrupt conclusion to the intervention--granvelle's suggestions to philip concerning the treaty of passau. the duke having thus crushed the project of count bouts, and quelled the insurrection in friesland, returned in triumph to brussels. far from softened by the success of his arms, he renewed with fresh energy the butchery which, for a brief season, had been suspended during his brilliant campaign in the north. the altars again smoked with victims; the hanging, burning, drowning, beheading, seemed destined to be the perpetual course of his administration, so long as human bodies remained on which his fanatical vengeance could be wreaked. four men of eminence were executed soon after his return to the capital. they had previously suffered such intense punishment on the rack, that it was necessary to carry them to the scaffold and bind them upon chairs, that they might be beheaded. these four sufferers were a frisian nobleman, named galena, the secretaries of egmont and horn, bakkerzeel and la loo, and the distinguished burgomaster of antwerp, antony van straalen. the arrest of the three last-mentioned individuals, simultaneously with that of the two counts, has been related in a previous chapter. in the case of van straalen, the services rendered by him to the provinces during his long and honorable career, had been so remarkable, that even the blood-council, in sending his case to alva for his sentence, were inspired by a humane feeling. they felt so much compunction at the impending fate of a man who, among other meritorious acts, had furnished nearly all the funds for the brilliant campaign in picardy, by which the opening years of philip's reign had been illustrated, as to hint at the propriety of a pardon. but the recommendation to mercy, though it came from the lips of tigers, dripping with human blood, fell unheeded on the tyrant's ear. it seemed meet that the man who had supplied the nerves of war in that unforgiven series of triumphs, should share the fate of the hero who had won the laurels. [bor, cappella, hoofd, ubi sup. the last words of the burgomaster as he bowed his neck to the executioner's stroke were, "voor wel gedaan, kwaclyk beloud,"--"for faithful service, evil recompense." --cappella, .] hundreds of obscure martyrs now followed in the same path to another world, where surely they deserved to find their recompense, if steadfast adherence to their faith, and a tranquil trust in god amid tortures and death too horrible to be related, had ever found favor above. the "red-rod," as the provost of brabant was popularly designated, was never idle. he flew from village to village throughout the province, executing the bloody behests of his masters with congenial alacrity. nevertheless his career was soon destined to close upon the same scaffold where he had so long officiated. partly from caprice, partly from an uncompromising and fantastic sense of justice, his master now hanged the executioner whose industry had been so untiring. the sentence which was affixed to his breast, as he suffered, stated that he had been guilty of much malpractice; that he had executed many persons without a warrant, and had suffered many guilty persons for a bribe, to escape their doom. the reader can judge which of the two clauses constituted the most sufficient reason. during all these triumphs of alva, the prince of orange had not lost his self-possession. one after another, each of his bold, skilfully-conceived and carefully-prepared plans had failed. villers had been entirely discomfited at dalhena, cocqueville had been cut to pieces in picardy, and now the valiant and experienced louis had met with an entire overthrow in friesland. the brief success of the patriots at heiliger zee had been washed out in the blood-torrents of jemmingen. tyranny was more triumphant, the provinces more timidly crouching, than ever. the friends on whom william of orange relied in germany, never enthusiastic in his cause, although many of them true-hearted and liberal, now grew cold and anxious. for months long, his most faithful and affectionate allies, such men as the elector of hesse and the duke of wirtemberg, as well as the less trustworthy augustus of saxony, had earnestly expressed their opinion that, under the circumstances, his best course was to sit still and watch the course of events. it was known that the emperor had written an urgent letter to philip on the subject of his policy in the netherlands in general, and concerning the position of orange in particular. all persons, from the emperor down to the pettiest potentate, seemed now of opinion that the prince had better pause; that he was, indeed, bound to wait the issue of that remonstrance. "your highness must sit still," said landgrave william. "your highness must sit still," said augustus of saxony. "you must move neither hand nor foot in the cause of the perishing provinces," said the emperor. "not a soldier-horse, foot, or dragoon-shall be levied within the empire. if you violate the peace of the realm, and embroil us with our excellent brother and cousin philip, it is at your own peril. you have nothing to do but to keep quiet and await his answer to our letter." but the prince knew how much effect his sitting still would produce upon the cause of liberty and religion. he knew how much effect the emperor's letter was like to have upon the heart of philip. he knew that the more impenetrable the darkness now gathering over that land of doom which he had devoted his life to defend, the more urgently was he forbidden to turn his face away from it in its affliction. he knew that thousands of human souls, nigh to perishing, were daily turning towards him as their only hope on earth, and he was resolved, so long as he could dispense a single ray of light, that his countenance should never be averted. it is difficult to contemplate his character, at this period, without being infected with a perhaps dangerous enthusiasm. it is not an easy task coldly to analyse a nature which contained so much of the self-sacrificing and the heroic, as well as of the adroit and the subtle; and it is almost impossible to give utterance to the emotions which naturally swell the heart at the contemplation of so much active virtue, without rendering oneself liable to the charge of excessive admiration. through the mists of adversity, a human form may dilate into proportions which are colossal and deceptive. our judgment may thus, perhaps, be led captive, but at any rate the sentiment excited is more healthful than that inspired by the mere shedder of blood, by the merely selfish conqueror. when the cause of the champion is that of human right against tyranny, of political ind religious freedom against an all-engrossing and absolute bigotry, it is still more difficult to restrain veneration within legitimate bounds. to liberate the souls and bodies of millions, to maintain for a generous people, who had well-nigh lost their all, those free institutions which their ancestors had bequeathed, was a noble task for any man. but here stood a prince of ancient race, vast possessions, imperial blood, one of the great ones of the earth, whose pathway along the beaten track would have been smooth and successful, but who was ready to pour out his wealth like water, and to coin his heart's blood, drop by drop, in this virtuous but almost desperate cause. he felt that of a man to whom so much had been entrusted, much was to be asked. god had endowed him with an incisive and comprehensive genius, unfaltering fortitude, and with the rank and fortune which enable a man to employ his faculties, to the injury or the happiness of his fellows, on the widest scale. the prince felt the responsibility, and the world was to learn the result. it was about this time that a deep change came over his mind. hitherto, although nominally attached to the communion of the ancient church, his course of life and habits of mind had not led him to deal very earnestly with things beyond the world. the severe duties, the grave character of the cause to which his days were henceforth to be devoted, had already led him to a closer inspection of the essential attributes of christianity. he was now enrolled for life as a soldier of the reformation. the reformation was henceforth his fatherland, the sphere, of his duty and his affection. the religious reformers became his brethren, whether in france, germany, the netherlands, or england. yet his mind had taken a higher flight than that of the most eminent reformers. his goal was not a new doctrine, but religious liberty. in an age when to think was a crime, and when bigotry and a persecuting spirit characterized romanists and lutherans, calvinists and zwinglians, he had dared to announce freedom of conscience as the great object for which noble natures should strive. in an age when toleration was a vice, he had the manhood to cultivate it as a virtue. his parting advice to the reformers of the netherlands, when he left them for a season in the spring of , was to sink all lesser differences in religious union. those of the augsburg confession and those of the calvinistic church, in their own opinion as incapable of commingling as oil and water, were, in his judgment, capable of friendly amalgamation. he appealed eloquently to the good and influential of all parties to unite in one common cause against oppression. even while favoring daily more and more the cause of the purified church, and becoming daily more alive to the corruption of rome, he was yet willing to tolerate all forms of worship, and to leave reason to combat error. without a particle of cant or fanaticism, he had become a deeply religious man. hitherto he had been only a man of the world and a statesman, but from this time forth he began calmly to rely upon god's providence in all the emergencies of his eventful life. his letters written to his most confidential friends, to be read only by themselves, and which have been gazed upon by no other eyes until after the lapse of nearly three centuries, abundantly prove his sincere and simple trust. this sentiment was not assumed for effect to delude others, but cherished as a secret support for himself. his religion was not a cloak to his designs, but a consolation in his disasters. in his letter of instruction to his most confidential agent, john bazius, while he declared himself frankly in favor of the protestant principles, he expressed his extreme repugnance to the persecution of catholics. "should we obtain power over any city or cities," he wrote, "let the communities of papists be as much respected and protected as possible. let them be overcome, not by violence, but with gentle-mindedness and virtuous treatment." after the terrible disaster at jemmingen, he had written to louis, consoling him, in the most affectionate language, for the unfortunate result of his campaign. not a word of reproach escaped from him, although his brother had conducted the operations in friesland, after the battle of heiliger lee, in a manner quite contrary to his own advice. he had counselled against a battle, and had foretold a defeat; but after the battle had been fought and a crushing defeat sustained, his language breathed only unwavering submission to the will of god, and continued confidence in his own courage. "you may be well assured, my brother," he wrote, "that i have never felt anything more keenly than the pitiable misfortune which has happened to you, for many reasons which you can easily imagine. moreover, it hinders us much in the levy which we are making, and has greatly chilled the hearts of those who otherwise would have been ready to give us assistance. nevertheless, since it has thus pleased god, it is necessary to have patience and to lose not courage; conforming ourselves to his divine will, as for my part i have determined to do in everything which may happen, still proceeding onward in our work with his almighty aid. 'soevis tranquillus in undis', he was never more placid than when the storm was wildest and the night darkest. he drew his consolations and refreshed his courage at the never-failing fountains of divine mercy. "i go to-morrow," he wrote to the unworthy anne of saxony; "but when i shall return, or when i shall see you, i cannot, on my honor, tell you with certainty. i have resolved to place myself in the hands of the almighty, that he may guide me whither it is his good pleasure that i should go. i see well enough that i am destined to pass this life in misery and labor, with which i am well content, since it thus pleases the omnipotent, for i know that i have merited still greater chastisement. i only implore him graciously to send me strength to endure with patience." such language, in letters the most private, never meant to be seen by other eyes than those to which they were addressed, gives touching testimony to the sincere piety of his character. no man was ever more devoted to a high purpose, no man had ever more right to imagine himself, or less inclination to pronounce himself, entrusted with a divine mission. there was nothing of the charlatan in his character. his nature was true and steadfast. no narrow-minded usurper was ever more loyal to his own aggrandisement than this large-hearted man to the cause of oppressed humanity. yet it was inevitable that baser minds should fail to recognise his purity. while he exhausted his life for the emancipation of a people, it was easy to ascribe all his struggles to the hope of founding a dynasty. it was natural for grovelling natures to search in the gross soil of self-interest for the sustaining roots of the tree beneath whose branches a nation found its shelter. what could they comprehend of living fountains and of heavenly dews? in may, , the emperor maximilian had formally issued a requisition to the prince of orange to lay down his arms, and to desist from all levies and machinations against the king of spain and the peace of the realm. this summons he was commanded to obey on pain of forfeiting all rights, fiefs, privileges and endowments bestowed by imperial hands on himself or his predecessors, and of incurring the heaviest disgrace, punishment, and penalties of the empire. to this document the prince replied in august, having paid in the meantime but little heed to its precepts. now that the emperor, who at first was benignant, had begun to frown on his undertaking, he did not slacken in his own endeavours to set his army on foot. one by one, those among the princes of the empire who had been most stanch in his cause, and were still most friendly to his person, grew colder as tyranny became stronger; but the ardor of the prince was not more chilled by their despair than by the overthrow at jemmingen, which had been its cause. in august, he answered the letter of the emperor, respectfully but warmly. he still denounced the tyranny of alva and the arts of granvelle with that vigorous eloquence which was always at his command, while, as usual, he maintained a show of almost exaggerated respect for their monarch. it was not to be presumed, he said, that his majesty, "a king debonair and bountiful," had ever intended such cruelties as those which had been rapidly retraced in the letter, but it was certain that the duke of alva had committed them all of his own authority. he trusted, moreover, that the emperor, after he had read the "justification" which the prince had recently published, would appreciate the reason for his taking up arms. he hoped that his majesty would now consider the resistance just, christian, and conformable to the public peace. he expressed the belief that rather than interpose any hindrance, his majesty would thenceforth rather render assistance "to the poor and desolate christians," even as it was his majesty's office and authority to be the last refuge of the injured. the "justification against the false blame of his calumniators by the prince of orange," to which the prince thus referred, has been mentioned in a previous chapter. this remarkable paper had been drawn up at the advice of his friends, landgrave william and elector augustus, but it was not the only document which the prince caused to be published at this important epoch. he issued a formal declaration of war against the duke of alva; he addressed a solemn and eloquent warning or proclamation to all the inhabitants of the netherlands. these documents are all extremely important and interesting. their phraseology shows the intentions and the spirit by which the prince was actuated on first engaging in the struggle. without the prince and his efforts--at this juncture, there would probably have never been a free netherland commonwealth. it is certain, likewise, that without an enthusiastic passion for civil and religious liberty throughout the masses of the netherland people, there would have been no successful effort on the part of the prince. he knew his countrymen; while they, from highest to humblest, recognised in him their saviour. there was, however, no pretence of a revolutionary movement. the prince came to maintain, not to overthrow. the freedom which had been enjoyed in the provinces until the accession of the burgundian dynasty, it was his purpose to restore. the attitude which he now assumed was a peculiar one in history. this defender of a people's cause set up no revolutionary standard. in all his documents he paid apparent reverence to the authority of the king. by a fiction, which was not unphilosophical, he assumed that the monarch was incapable of the crimes which he charged upon the viceroy. thus he did not assume the character of a rebel in arms against his prince, but in his own capacity of sovereign he levied troops and waged war against a satrap whom he chose to consider false to his master's orders. in the interest of philip, assumed to be identical with the welfare of his people, he took up arms against the tyrant who was sacrificing both. this mask of loyalty would never save his head from the block, as he well knew, but some spirits lofty as his own, might perhaps be influenced by a noble sophistry, which sought to strengthen the cause of the people by attributing virtue to the king. and thus did the sovereign of an insignificant little principality stand boldly forth to do battle with the most powerful monarch in the world. at his own expense, and by almost superhuman exertions, he had assembled nearly thirty thousand men. he now boldly proclaimed to the world, and especially to the inhabitants of the provinces, his motives, his purposes, and his hopes. "we, by god's grace prince of orange," said his declaration of st august, , "salute all faithful subjects of his majesty. to few people is it unknown that the spaniards have for a long time sought to govern the land according to their pleasure. abusing his majesty's goodness, they have persuaded him to decree the introduction of the inquisition into the netherlands. they well understood, that in case the netherlanders could be made to tolerate its exercise, they would lose all protection to their liberty; that if they opposed its introduction, they would open those rich provinces as a vast field of plunder. we had hoped that his majesty, taking the matter to heart, would have spared his hereditary provinces from such utter ruin. we have found our hopes futile. we are unable, by reason of our loyal service due to his majesty, and of our true compassion for the faithful lieges, to look with tranquillity any longer at such murders, robberies, outrages, and agony. we are, moreover, certain that his majesty has been badly informed upon netherland matters. we take up arms, therefore, to oppose the violent tyranny of the spaniards, by the help of the merciful god, who is the enemy of all bloodthirstiness. cheerfully inclined to wager our life and all our worldly wealth on the cause, we have now, god be thanked, an excellent army of cavalry, infantry, and artillery, raised all at our own expense. we summon all loyal subjects of the netherlands to come and help us. let them take to heart the uttermost need of the country, the danger of perpetual slavery for themselves and their children, and of the entire overthrow of the evangelical religion. only when alva's blood- thirstiness shall have been at last overpowered, can the provinces hope to recover their pure administration of justice, and a prosperous condition for their commonwealth." in the "warning" or proclamation to all the inhabitants of the netherlands, the prince expressed similar sentiments. he announced his intention of expelling the spaniards forever from the country. to accomplish the mighty undertaking, money was necessary. he accordingly called on his countrymen to contribute, the rich out of their abundance, the poor even out of their poverty, to the furtherance of the cause. to do this, while it was yet time, he solemnly warned them "before god, the fatherland, and the world." after the title of this paper were cited the th, th, and th verses of the tenth chapter of proverbs. the favorite motto of the prince, "pro lege, rege, grege," was also affixed to the document. these appeals had, however, but little effect. of three hundred thousand crowns, promised on behalf of leading nobles and merchants of the netherlands by marcus perez, but ten or twelve thousand came to hand. the appeals to the gentlemen who had signed the compromise, and to many others who had, in times past, been favorable to the liberal party were powerless. a poor anabaptist preacher collected a small sum from a refugee congregation on the outskirts of holland, and brought it, at the peril of his life, into the prince's camp. it came from people, he said, whose will was better than the gift. they never wished to be repaid, he said, except by kindness, when the cause of reform should be triumphant in the netherlands. the prince signed a receipt for the money, expressing himself touched by this sympathy from these poor outcasts. in the course of time, other contributions from similar sources, principally collected by dissenting preachers, starving and persecuted church communities, were received. the poverty-stricken exiles contributed far more, in proportion, for the establishment of civil and religious liberty, than the wealthy merchants or the haughty nobles. late in september, the prince mustered his army in the province of treves, near the monastery of romersdorf. his force amounted to nearly thirty thousand men, of whom nine thousand were cavalry. lumey, count de la marek, now joined him at the head of a picked band of troopers; a bold, ferocious partisan, descended from the celebrated wild boar of ardennes. like civilis, the ancient batavian hero, he had sworn to leave hair and beard unshorn till the liberation of the country was achieved, or at least till the death of egmont, whose blood relation he was, had been avenged. it is probable that the fierce conduct of this chieftain, and particularly the cruelties exercised upon monks and papists by his troops, dishonored the cause more than their valor could advance it. but in those stormy times such rude but incisive instruments were scarcely to be neglected, and the name of lumey was to be forever associated with important triumphs of the liberal cause. it was fated, however, that but few laurels should be won by the patriots in this campaign. the prince crossed the rhine at saint feit, a village belonging to himself. he descended along the banks as far as the neighbourhood of cologne. then, after hovering in apparent uncertainty about the territories of juliers and limburg, he suddenly, on a bright moonlight night, crossed the meuse with his whole army, in the neighbourhood of stochem. the operation was brilliantly effected. a compact body of cavalry, according to the plan which had been more than once adopted by julius caesar, was placed in the midst of the current, under which shelter the whole army successfully forded the river. the meuse was more shallow than usual, but the water was as high as the soldiers' necks. this feat was accomplished on the night and morning of the th and th of october. it was considered so bold an achievement that its fame spread far and wide. the spaniards began to tremble at the prowess of a prince whom they had affected to despise. the very fact of the passage was flatly contradicted. an unfortunate burgher at amsterdam was scourged at the whipping-post, because he mentioned it as matter of common report. the duke of alva refused to credit the tale when it was announced to him. "is the army of the prince of orange a flock of wild geese," he asked, "that it can fly over rivers like the meuse?" nevertheless it was true. the outlawed, exiled prince stood once more on the borders of brabant, with an army of disciplined troops at his back. his banners bore patriotic inscriptions. "pro lege, rege, grege," was emblazoned upon some. a pelican tearing her breast to nourish her young with her life-blood was the pathetic emblem of others. it was his determination to force or entice the duke of alva into a general engagement. he was desirous to wipe out the disgrace of jemmingen. could he plant his victorious standard thus in the very heart of the country, he felt that thousands would rally around it. the country would rise almost to a man, could he achieve a victory over the tyrant, flushed as he was with victory, and sated with blood. with banners flying, drums beating, trumpets sounding, with all the pomp and defiance which an already victorious general could assume, orange marched into brabant, and took up a position within six thousand paces of alva's encampment. his plan was at every hazard to dare or to decoy his adversary into the chances of a stricken field. the governor was entrenched at a place called keiserslager, which julius caesar had once occupied. the city of maestricht was in his immediate neighbourhood, which was thus completely under his protection, while it furnished him with supplies. the prince sent to the duke a herald, who was to propose that all prisoners who might be taken in the coming campaign should be exchanged instead of being executed. the herald, booted and spurred, even as he had dismounted from his horse, was instantly hanged. this was the significant answer to the mission of mercy. alva held no parley with rebels before a battle, nor gave quarter afterwards. in the meantime, the duke had carefully studied the whole position of affairs, and had arrived at his conclusion. he was determined not to fight. it was obvious that the prince would offer battle eagerly, ostentatiously, frequently, but the governor was resolved never to accept the combat. once taken, his resolution was unalterable. he recognized the important difference between his own attitude at present, and that in which he had found himself during the past summer in friesland. there a battle had been necessary, now it was more expedient to overcome his enemy by delay. in friesland, the rebels had just achieved a victory over the choice troops of spain. here they were suffering from the stigma of a crushing defeat. then, the army of louis nassau was swelling daily by recruits, who poured in from all the country round. now, neither peasant nor noble dared lift a finger for the prince. the army of louis had been sustained by the one which his brother was known to be preparing. if their movements had not been checked, a junction would have been effected. the armed revolt would then have assumed so formidable an aspect, that rebellion would seem, even for the timid, a safer choice than loyalty. the army of the prince, on the contrary, was now the last hope of the patriots: the three by which it had been preceded had been successively and signally vanquished. friesland, again, was on the outskirts of the country. a defeat sustained by the government there did not necessarily imperil the possession of the provinces. brabant, on the contrary, was the heart of the netherlands. should the prince achieve a decisive triumph then and there, he would be master of the nation's fate. the viceroy knew himself to be odious, and he reigned by terror. the prince was the object of the people's idolatry, and they would rally round him if they dared. a victory gained by the liberator over the tyrant, would destroy the terrible talisman of invincibility by which alva governed. the duke had sufficiently demonstrated his audacity in the tremendous chastisement which he had inflicted upon the rebels under louis. he could now afford to play that scientific game of which he was so profound a master, without risking any loss of respect or authority. he was no enthusiast. although he doubtless felt sufficiently confident of overcoming the prince in a pitched battle, he had not sufficient relish for the joys of contest to be willing to risk even a remote possibility of defeat. his force, although composed of veterans and of the best musketeers and pikemen in europe, was still somewhat inferior in numbers to that of his adversary. against the twenty thousand foot and eight thousand, horse of orange, he could oppose only fifteen or sixteen thousand foot and fifty-five hundred riders. moreover, the advantage which he had possessed in friesland, a country only favorable to infantry, in which he had been stronger than his opponent, was now transferred to his new enemy. on the plains of brabant, the prince's superiority in cavalry was sure to tell. the season of the year, too, was an important element in the calculation. the winter alone would soon disperse the bands of german mercenaries, whose expenses orange was not able to support, even while in active service. with unpaid wages and disappointed hopes of plunder, the rebel army would disappear in a few weeks as totally as if defeated in the open field. in brief, orange by a victory would gain new life and strength, while his defeat could no more than anticipate, by a few weeks, the destruction of his army, already inevitable. alva, on the contrary, might lose the mastery of the netherlands if unfortunate, and would gain no solid advantage if triumphant. the prince had everything to hope, the duke everything to fear, from the result of a general action. the plan, thus deliberately resolved upon, was accomplished with faultless accuracy. as a work of art, the present campaign of alva against orange was a more consummate masterpiece than the more brilliant and dashing expedition into friesland. the duke had resolved to hang upon his adversary's skirts, to follow him move by move, to check him at every turn, to harass him in a hundred ways, to foil all his enterprises, to parry all his strokes, and finally to drive him out of the country, after a totally barren campaign, when, as he felt certain, his ill-paid hirelings would vanish in all directions, and leave their patriot prince a helpless and penniless adventurer. the scheme thus sagaciously conceived, his adversary, with all his efforts, was unable to circumvent. the campaign lasted little more than a month. twenty-nine times the prince changed his encampment, and at every remove the duke was still behind him, as close and seemingly as impalpable as his shadow. thrice they were within cannon-shot of each other; twice without a single trench or rampart between them. the country people refused the prince supplies, for they trembled at the vengeance of the governor. alva had caused the irons to be removed from all the mills, so that not a bushel of corn could be ground in the whole province. the country thus afforded but little forage for the thirty thousand soldiers of the prince. the troops, already discontented, were clamorous for pay and plunder. during one mutinous demonstration, the prince's sword was shot from his side, and it was with difficulty that a general outbreak was suppressed. the soldiery were maddened and tantalized by the tactics of alva. they found themselves constantly in the presence of an enemy, who seemed to court a battle at one moment and to vanish like a phantom at the next they felt the winter approaching, and became daily more dissatisfied with the irritating hardships to which they were exposed. upon the night of the th and th of october the prince had crossed the meuse at stochem. thence he had proceeded to tongres, followed closely by the enemy's force, who encamped in the immediate neighbourhood. from tongres he had moved to saint trond, still pursued and still baffled in the same cautious manner. the skirmishing at the outposts was incessant, but the main body was withdrawn as soon as there seemed a chance of its becoming involved. from saint trond, in the neighbourhood of which he had remained several days, he advanced in a southerly direction towards jodoigne. count de genlis, with a reinforcement of french huguenots, for which the prince had been waiting, had penetrated through the ardennes, crossed the meuse at charlemont, and was now intending a junction with him at waveron. the river geta flowed between them. the prince stationed a considerable force upon a hill near the stream to protect the passage, and then proceeded leisurely to send his army across the river. count hoogstraaten, with the rear-guard, consisting of about three thousand men, were alone left upon the hither bank, in order to provoke or to tempt the enemy, who, as usual, was encamped very near. alva refused to attack the main army, but frederic with a force of four thousand men, were alone left on the hither bank, in order to provoke or to tempt the enemy, who as usual, was encamped very near. alva refused to attack the main army but rapidly detached his son, don fredrick, with a force of four thousand foot and three thousand horse, to cut off the rear-guard. the movement was effected in a masterly manner, the hill was taken, the three thousand troops which had not passed the river were cut to pieces, and vitelli hastily despatched a gentleman named barberini to implore the duke to advance with the main body, cross the river, and, once for all, exterminate the rebels in a general combat. alva, inflamed, not with ardor for an impending triumph, but with rage, that his sagely-conceived plans could not be comprehended even by his son and by his favorite officers, answered the eager messenger with peremptory violence. "go back to vitelli," he cried. "is he, or am i, to command in this campaign? tell him not to suffer a single man to cross the river. warn him against sending any more envoys to advise a battle; for should you or any other man dare to bring me another such message, i swear to you, by the head of the king, that you go not hence alive." with this decisive answer the messenger had nothing for it but to gallop back with all haste, in order to participate in what might be left of the butchery of count hoogstraaten's force, and to prevent vitelli and don frederic in their ill-timed ardor, from crossing the river. this was properly effected, while in the meantime the whole rear-guard of the patriots had been slaughtered. a hundred or two, the last who remained, had made their escape from the field, and had taken refuge in a house in the neighbourhood. the spaniards set the buildings on fire, and standing around with lifted lances, offered the fugitives the choice of being consumed in the flames or of springing out upon their spears. thus entrapped some chose the one course, some the other. a few, to escape the fury of the fire and the brutality of the spaniards, stabbed themselves with their own swords. others embraced, and then killed each other, the enemies from below looking on, as at a theatrical exhibition; now hissing and now applauding, as the death struggles were more or less to their taste. in a few minutes all the fugitives were dead. nearly three thousand of the patriots were slain in this combat, including those burned or butchered after the battle was over. the sieur de louverwal was taken prisoner, and soon afterwards beheaded in brussels; but the greatest misfortune sustained by the liberal party upon this occasion was the death of antony de lalaing, count of hoogstraaten. this brave and generous nobleman, the tried friend of the prince of orange, and his colleague during the memorable scenes at antwerp, was wounded in the foot during the action, by an accidental discharge of his own pistol. the injury, although apparently slight, caused his death in a few days. there seemed a strange coincidence in his good and evil fortunes. a casual wound in the hand from his own pistol while he was on his way to brussels, to greet alva upon his first arrival, had saved him from the scaffold. and now in his first pitched battle with the duke, this seemingly trifling injury in the foot was destined to terminate his existence. another peculiar circumstance had marked the event. at a gay supper in the course of this campaign, hoogstraaten had teased count louis, in a rough, soldierly way, with his disaster at jemmingen. he had affected to believe that the retreat upon that occasion had been unnecessary. "we have been now many days in the netherlands;" said he, "and we have seen nothing of the spaniards but their backs."--"and when the duke does break loose," replied louis, somewhat nettled, "i warrant you will see their faces soon enough, and remember them for the rest of your life." the half-jesting remark was thus destined to become a gloomy prophecy. this was the only important action daring the campaign. its perfect success did not warp alva's purpose, and, notwithstanding the murmurs of many of his officers, he remained firm in his resolution. after the termination of the battle on the geta, and the duke's obstinate refusal to pursue his advantage, the baron de chevreau dashed his pistol to the ground, in his presence, exclaiming that the duke would never fight. the governor smiled at the young man's chagrin, seemed even to approve his enthusiasm, but reminded him that it was the business of an officer to fight, of a general to conquer. if the victory were bloodless, so much the better for all. this action was fought on the th of october. a few days afterwards, the prince made his junction with genlis at waveren, a place about three leagues from louvain and from brussels. this auxiliary force was, however, insignificant. there were only five hundred cavalry and three thousand foot, but so many women and children, that it seemed rather an emigrating colony than an invading army. they arrived late. if they had come earlier, it would have been of little consequence, for it had been written that no laurels were to be gathered in that campaign. the fraternal spirit which existed between the reformers in all countries was all which could be manifested upon the occasion. the prince was frustrated in his hopes of a general battle, still more bitterly disappointed by the supineness of the country. not a voice was raised to welcome the deliverer. not a single city opened its gates. all was crouching, silent, abject. the rising, which perhaps would have been universal had a brilliant victory been obtained, was, by the masterly tactics of alva, rendered an almost inconceivable idea. the mutinous demonstrations in the prince's camp became incessant; the soldiers were discontented and weary. what the duke had foretold was coming to pass, for the prince's army was already dissolving. genlis and the other french officers were desirous that the prince should abandon the netherlands for the present, and come to the rescue of the huguenots, who had again renewed the religious war under conde and coligny. the german soldiers, however would listen to no such proposal. they had enlisted to fight the duke of alva in the netherlands, and would not hear of making war against charles ix. in france. the prince was obliged to countermarch toward the rhine. he recrossed the geta, somewhat to alva's astonishment, and proceeded in the direction of the meuse. the autumn rains, however, had much swollen that river since his passage at the beginning of the month, so that it could no longer be forded. he approached the city of liege, and summoned their bishop, as he had done on his entrance into the country, to grant a free passage to his troops. the bishop who stood in awe of alva, and who had accepted his protection again refused. the prince had no time to parley. he was again obliged to countermarch, and took his way along the high-road to france, still watched and closely pursued by alva, between whose troops and his own daily skirmishes took place. at le quesnoy, the prince gained a trifling advantage over the spaniards; at cateau cambresis he also obtained a slight and easy-victory; but by the th of november the duke of alva had entered cateau cambresis, and the prince had crossed the frontier of france. the marechal de cosse, who was stationed on the boundary of france and flanders, now harassed the prince by very similar tactics to those of alva. he was, however, too weak to inflict any serious damage, although strong enough to create perpetual annoyance. he also sent a secretary to the prince, with a formal prohibition, in the name of charles ix., against his entering the french territory with his troops. besides these negotiations, conducted by secretary favelles on the part of marechal de cosse, the king, who was excessively alarmed, also despatched the marechal gaspar de schomberg on the same service. that envoy accordingly addressed to the prince a formal remonstrance in the name of his sovereign. charles ix., it was represented, found it very strange that the prince should thus enter the french territory. the king was not aware that he had ever given him the least cause for hostile proceedings, could not therefore take it in good part that the prince should thus enter france with a "large and puissant army;" because no potentate, however humble, could tolerate such a proceeding, much less a great and powerful monarch. orange was therefore summoned to declare his intentions, but was at the same, time informed, that if he merely desired "to pass amiably through the country," and would give assurance, and request permission to that, effect, under his hand and seal, his majesty would take all necessary measures to secure that amiable passage. the prince replied by a reference to the statements which he had already made to marechal de cosse. he averred that he had not entered france with evil intent, but rather with a desire to render very humble service to his majesty, so far as he could do so with a clear conscience. touching the king's inability to remember having given any occasion to hostile proceedings on the part of the prince, he replied that he would pass that matter by. although he could adduce many, various, and strong reasons for violent measures, he was not so devoid of understanding as not to recognize the futility of attempting anything, by his own personal means, against so great and powerful a king, in comparison with whom he was "but a petty companion." "since the true religion," continued orange, "is a public and general affair, which ought to be preferred to all private matters; since the prince, as a true christian, is held by his honor and conscience to procure, with all his strength, its advancement and establishment in every place whatever; since, on the other hand, according to the edict published in september last by his majesty, attempts have been made to force in their consciences all those who are of the christian religion; and since it has been determined to exterminate the pure word of god, and the entire exercise thereof, and to permit no other religion than the roman catholic, a thing very, prejudicial to the neighbouring nations where there is a free exercise of the christian religion, therefore the prince would put no faith in the assertions of his majesty, that it was not his majesty's intentions to force the consciences of any one." having given this very deliberate and succinct contradiction to the statements of the french king, the prince proceeded to express his sympathy for the oppressed christians everywhere. he protested that he would give them all the aid, comfort, counsel, and assistance that he was able to give them. he asserted his conviction that the men who professed the religion demanded nothing else than the glory of god and the advancement of his word, while in all matters of civil polity they were ready to render obedience to his majesty. he added that all his doings were governed by a christian and affectionate regard for the king and his subjects, whom his majesty must be desirous of preserving from extreme ruin. he averred, moreover, that if he should perceive any indication that those of the religion were pursuing any other object than liberty of conscience and security for life and property, he would not only withdraw his assistance from them, but would use the whole strength of his army to exterminate them. in conclusion, he begged the king to believe that the work which the prince had undertaken was a christian work, and that his intentions were good and friendly towards his majesty. [this very eloquently written letter was dated ciasonne, december rd, . it has never been published. it is in the collection of mss, pivoen concernant, etc., hague archives.] it was, however, in vain that the prince endeavoured to induce his army to try the fortunes of the civil war in france. they had enlisted for the netherlands, the campaign was over, and they insisted upon being led back to germany. schomberg, secretly instructed by the king of france, was active in fomenting the discontent, and the prince was forced to yield. he led his army through champagne and lorraine to strasburg, where they were disbanded. all the money which the prince had been able to collect was paid them. he pawned all his camp equipage, his plate, his furniture. what he could not pay in money he made up in promises, sacredly to be fulfilled, when he should be restored to his possessions. he even solemnly engaged, should he return from france alive, and be still unable to pay their arrears of wages, to surrender his person to them as a hostage for his debt. thus triumphantly for alva, thus miserably for orange, ended the campaign. thus hopelessly vanished the army to which so many proud hopes had attached themselves. eight thousand teen had been slain in paltry encounters, thirty thousand were dispersed, not easily to be again collected. all the funds which the prince could command had been wasted without producing a result. for the present, nothing seemed to afford a ground of hope for the netherlands, but the war of freedom had been renewed in france. a band of twelve hundred mounted men-at-arms were willing to follow the fortunes of the prince. the three brothers accordingly; william, louis, and henry--a lad of eighteen, who had abandoned his studies at the university to obey the chivalrous instincts of his race--set forth early in the following spring to join the banner of conde. cardinal granvelle, who had never taken his eyes or thoughts from the provinces during his residence at rome, now expressed himself with exultation. he had predicted, with cold malice, the immediate results of the campaign, and was sanguine enough to believe the contest over, and the prince for ever crushed. in his letters to philip he had taken due notice of the compliments paid to him by orange in his justification, in his declaration, and in his letter to the emperor. he had declined to make any answer to the charges, in order to enrage the prince the more. he had expressed the opinion, however, that this publication of writings was not the business of brave soldiers, but of cowards. he made the same reflection upon the alleged intrigues by orange to procure an embassy on his own behalf from the emperor to philip--a mission which was sure to end in smoke, while it would cost the prince all credit, not only in germany but the netherlands. he felt sure, he said, of the results of the impending campaign. the duke of alva was a man upon whose administrative prudence and military skill his sovereign could implicitly rely, nor was there a person in the ranks of the rebels capable of, conducting an enterprise of such moment. least of all had the prince of orange sufficient brains for carrying on such weighty affairs, according to the opinion which he had formed of him during their long intercourse in former days. when the campaign had been decided, and the prince had again become an exile, granvelle observed that it was now proved how incompetent he and all his companions were to contend in military skill with the duke of alva. with a cold sneer at motives which he assumed, as a matter of course, to be purely selfish, he said that the prince had not taken the proper road to recover his property, and that he would now be much embarrassed to satisfy his creditors. thus must those ever fall, he moralized, who would fly higher than they ought; adding, that henceforth the prince would have enough to do in taking care of madam his wife, if she did not change soon in humor and character. meantime the duke of alva, having despatched from cateau cambresis a brief account of the victorious termination of the campaign, returned in triumph to brussels. he had certainly amply vindicated his claim to be considered the first warrior of the age. by his lieutenants he had summarily and rapidly destroyed two of the armies sent against him; he had annihilated in person the third, by a brilliantly successful battle, in which he had lost seven men, and his enemies seven thousand; and he had now, by consummate strategy, foiled the fourth and last under the idolized champion of the netherlands, and this so decisively that, without losing a man, he had destroyed eight thousand rebels, and scattered to the four winds the remaining twenty thousand. such signal results might well make even a meeker nature proud. such vast and fortunate efforts to fix for ever an impregnable military tyranny upon a constitutional country, might cause a more modest despot to exult. it was not wonderful that the haughty, and now apparently omnipotent alva, should almost assume the god. on his return to brussels he instituted a succession of triumphant festivals. the people were called upon to rejoice and to be exceeding glad, to strew flowers in his path, to sing hosannas in his praise who came to them covered with the blood of those who had striven in their defence. the holiday was duly called forth; houses, where funeral hatchments for murdered inmates had been perpetually suspended, were decked with garlands; the bells, which had hardly once omitted their daily knell for the victims of an incredible cruelty, now rang their merriest peals; and in the very square where so lately egmont and horn, besides many other less distinguished martyrs, had suffered an ignominious death, a gay tournament was held, day after day, with all the insolent pomp which could make the exhibition most galling. but even these demonstrations of hilarity were not sufficient. the conqueror and tamer of the netherlands felt that a more personal and palpable deification was necessary for his pride. when germanicus had achieved his last triumph over the ancient freedom of those generous races whose descendants, but lately in possession of a better organized liberty, alva had been sent by the second and the worse tiberius to insult and to crush, the valiant but modest roman erected his trophy upon the plains of idistavisus. "the army of tiberius caesar having subdued the nations between the rhine and the elbe, dedicate this monument to mars, to jupiter, and to augustus." so ran the inscription of germanicus, without a word of allusion to his own name. the duke of alva, on his return from the battle-fields of brabant and friesland, reared a colossal statue of himself, and upon its pedestal caused these lines to be engraved: "to ferdinand alvarez de toledo, duke of alva, governor of the netherlands under philip the second, for having extinguished sedition, chastised rebellion, restored religion, secured justice, established peace; to the king's most faithful minister this monument is erected." [bor, iv. , . meteren, . de thou, v. - , who saw it after it was overthrown, and who was "as much struck by the beauty of the work as by the insane pride of him who ordered it to be made."] so pompous a eulogy, even if truthful and merited, would be sufficiently inflated upon a tombstone raised to a dead chieftain by his bereaved admirers. what shall we say of such false and fulsome tribute, not to a god, not to the memory of departed greatness, but to a living, mortal man, and offered not by his adorers but by himself? certainly, self-worship never went farther than in this remarkable monument, erected in alva's honor, by alva's hands. the statue was colossal, and was placed in the citadel of antwerp. its bronze was furnished by the cannon captured at jemmingen. it represented the duke trampling upon a prostrate figure with two heads, four arms, and one body. the two heads were interpreted by some to represent egmont and horn, by others, the two nassaus, william and louis. others saw in them an allegorical presentment of the nobles and commons of the netherlands, or perhaps an impersonation of the compromise and the request. besides the chief inscription on the pedestal, were sculptured various bas-reliefs; and the spectator, whose admiration for the governor-general was not satiated with the colossal statue itself, was at liberty to find a fresh, personification of the hero, either in a torch-bearing angel or a gentle shepherd. the work, which had considerable esthetic merit, was executed by an artist named jacob jongeling. it remained to astonish and disgust the netherlanders until it was thrown down and demolished by alva's successor, requesens. it has already been observed that many princes of the empire had, at first warmly and afterwards, as the storm darkened around him, with less earnestness, encouraged the efforts of orange. they had, both privately and officially, urged the subject upon the attention of the emperor, and had solicited his intercession with philip. it was not an interposition to save the prince from chastisement, however the artful pen of granvelle might distort the facts. it was an address in behalf of religious liberty for the netherlands, made by those who had achieved it in their own persons, and who were at last enjoying immunity from persecution. it was an appeal which they who made it were bound to make, for the netherland commissioners had assisted at the consultations by which the peace of passau had been wrung from the reluctant hand of charles. these applications, however, to the emperor, and through him to the king of spain, had been, as we have seen, accompanied by perpetual advice to the prince of orange, that he should "sit still." the emperor had espoused his cause with apparent frankness, so far as friendly mediation went, but in the meantime had peremptorily commanded him to refrain from levying war upon alva, an injunction which the prince had as peremptorily declined to obey. the emperor had even sent especial envoys to the duke and to the prince, to induce them to lay down their arms, but without effect. orange knew which course was the more generous to his oppressed country; to take up arms, now that hope had been converted into despair by the furious tyranny of alva, or to "sit still" and await the result of the protocols about to be exchanged between king and kaiser. his arms had been unsuccessful indeed, but had he attended the issue of this sluggish diplomacy, it would have been even worse for the cause of freedom. the sympathy of his best friends, at first fervent then lukewarm, had, as disasters thickened around him, grown at last stone-cold. from the grave, too, of queen isabella arose the most importunate phantom in his path. the king of spain was a widower again, and the emperor among his sixteen children had more than one marriageable daughter. to the titles of "beloved cousin and brother-in-law," with which philip had always been greeted in the imperial proclamations, the nearer and dearer one of son-in-law was prospectively added. the ties of wedlock were sacred in the traditions of the habsburg house, but still the intervention was nominally made. as early as august, , the emperor's minister at madrid had addressed a memorial to the king. he had spoken in warm and strong language of the fate of egmont and horn, and had reminded philip that the executions which were constantly taking place in the provinces were steadily advancing the prince of orange's cause. on the nd september, , the six electors had addressed a formal memorial to the emperor. they thanked him for his previous interposition in favor of the netherlands, painted in lively colors the cruelty of alva, and denounced the unheard-of rigor with which he had massacred, not only many illustrious seigniors, but people of every degree. notwithstanding the repeated assurances given by the king to the contrary, they reminded the emperor, that the inquisition, as well as the council of trent, had now been established in the netherlands in full vigor. they maintained that the provinces had been excluded from the augsburg religious peace, to which their claim was perfect. nether germany was entitled to the same privileges as upper germany. they begged the emperor to make manifest his sentiments and their own. it was fitting that his catholic majesty should be aware that the princes of the empire were united for the conservation of fatherland and of tranquillity. to this end they placed in the emperor's hands their estates, their fortunes, and their lives. such was the language of that important appeal to the emperor in behalf of oppressed millions in the netherlands, an appeal which granvelle had coldly characterized as an intrigue contrived by orange to bring about his own restoration to favor! the emperor, in answer, assured the electoral envoys that he had taken the affair to heart, and had resolved to despatch his own brother, the archduke charles, on a special mission to spain. accordingly, on the st october, , the emperor presented his brother with an ample letter of instructions. he was to recal to philip's memory the frequent exhortations made by the emperor concerning the policy pursued in the netherlands. he was to mention the urgent interpellations made to him by the electors and princes of the empire in their recent embassy. he was to state that the emperor had recently deputed commissioners to the prince of orange and the duke of alva, in order to bring about, if possible, a suspension of arms. he was to represent that the great number of men raised by the prince of orange in germany, showed the powerful support which he had found in the country. under such circumstances he was to show that it had been impossible for the emperor to decree the ban against him, as the duke of alva had demanded. the archduke was to request the king's consent to the reconciliation of orange, on honorable conditions. he was to demand the substitution of clemency in for severity, and to insist on the recall of the foreign soldiery from the netherlands. furnished with this very warm and stringent letter, the archduke arrived in madrid on the th december, . a few days later he presented the king with a copy of the instructions; those brave words upon which the prince of orange was expected to rely instead of his own brave heart and the stout arms of his followers. philip having examined the letter, expressed his astonishment that such propositions should be made to him, and by the agency, too, of such a personage as the archduke. he had already addressed a letter to the emperor, expressing his dissatisfaction at the step now taken. he had been disturbed at the honor thus done to the prince of orange, and at this interference with his own rights. it was, in his opinion, an unheard-of proceeding thus to address a monarch of his quality upon matters in which he could accept the law from no man. he promised, however, that a written answer should be given to the letter of instructions. on the th of january, , that answer was placed in the hands of the archduke. it was intimated that the paper was a public one, fit to be laid by the emperor, before the electors; but that the king had also caused a confidential one to be prepared, in which his motives and private griefs were indicated to maximilian. in the more public document, philip observed that he had never considered himself obliged to justify his conduct, in his own affairs, to others. he thought, however, that his example of severity would have been received with approbation by princes whose subjects he had thus taught obedience. he could not admit that, on account of the treaties which constituted the netherlands a circle of the empire, he was obliged to observe within their limits the ordinances of the imperial diet. as to the matter of religion, his principal solicitude, since his accession to the crown, had been to maintain the catholic faith throughout all his states. in things sacred he could admit no compromise. the church alone had the right to prescribe rules to the faithful. as to the chastisement inflicted by him upon the netherland rebels, it would be found that he had not used rigor, as had been charged against him, but, on the contrary, great clemency and gentleness. he had made no change in the government of the provinces, certainly none in the edicts, the only statutes binding upon princes. he had appointed the duke of alva to the regency, because it was his royal will and pleasure so to appoint him. the spanish soldiery were necessary for the thorough chastisement of the rebels, and could not be at present removed. as to the prince of orange, whose case seemed the principal motive for this embassy, and in whose interest so much had been urged, his crimes were so notorious that it was impossible even to attempt to justify them. he had been, in effect, the author of all the conspiracies, tumults, and seditious which had taken place in the netherlands. all the thefts, sacrileges, violations of temples, and other misdeeds of which these provinces had been the theatre, were, with justice, to be imputed to him. he had moreover, levied an army and invaded his majesty's territories. crimes so enormous had closed the gate to all clemency. notwithstanding his respect for the intercession made by the emperor and the princes of the empire, the king could not condescend to grant what was now asked of him in regard to the prince of orange. as to a truce between him and the duke of alva, his imperial majesty ought to reflect upon the difference between a sovereign and his rebellious vassal, and consider how indecent and how prejudicial to the king's honor such a treaty must be esteemed. so far the public letter, of which the archduke was furnished with a copy, both in spanish and in latin. the private memorandum was intended for the emperor's eyes alone and those of his envoy. in this paper the king expressed himself with more warmth and in more decided language. he was astonished, he said, that the prince of orange, in levying an army for the purpose of invading the states of his natural sovereign, should have received so much aid and comfort in germany. it seemed incredible that this could not have been prevented by imperial authority. he had been pained that commissioners had been sent to the prince. he regretted such a demonstration in his favor as had now been made by the mission of the archduke to madrid. that which, however, had caused the king the deepest sorrow was, that his imperial majesty should wish to persuade him in religious matters to proceed with mildness. the emperor ought to be aware that no human consideration, no regard for his realms, nothing in the world which could be represented or risked, would cause him to swerve by a single hair's breadth from his path in the matter of religion. this path was the same throughout all his kingdoms. he had ever trod in it faithfully, and he meant to keep in it perpetually. he would admit neither counsel nor persuasion to the contrary, and should take it ill if counsel or persuasion should be offered. he could not but consider the terms of the instructions given to the archduke as exceeding the limits of amicable suggestion. they in effect amounted to a menace, and he was astonished that a menace should be employed, because, with princes constituted like himself, such means could have but little success. on the rd of january, , the archduke presented the king with a spirited reply to the public letter. it was couched in the spirit of the instructions, and therefore need not be analysed at length. he did not believe that his imperial majesty would admit any justification of the course pursued in the netherlands. the estates of the empire would never allow philip's reasoning concerning the connexion of those countries with the empire, nor that they were independent, except in the particular articles expressed in the treaty of augsburg. in , when charles the fifth and king ferdinand had settled the religious peace, they had been assisted by envoys from the netherlands. the princes of the empire held the ground, therefore, that the religious peace, which alone had saved a vestige of romanism in germany, should of right extend to the provinces. as to the prince of orange, the archduke would have preferred to say nothing more, but the orders of the emperor did not allow him to be silent. it was now necessary to put an end to this state of things in lower germany. the princes of the empire were becoming exasperated. he recalled the dangers of the smalcaldian war--the imminent peril in which the emperor had been placed by the act of a single elector. they who believed that flanders could be governed in the same manner as italy and spain were greatly mistaken, and charles the fifth had always recognised that error. this was the sum and substance of the archduke's mission to madrid, so far as its immediate objects were concerned. in the course, however, of the interview between this personage and philip, the king took occasion to administer a rebuke to his imperial majesty for his general negligence in religious matters. it was a matter which lay at his heart, he said, that the emperor, although, as he doubted not, a christian and catholic prince, was from policy unaccustomed to make those exterior demonstrations which matters of faith required. he therefore begged the archduke to urge this matter upon the attention of his imperial majesty. the emperor, despite this solemn mission, had become more than indifferent before his envoy had reached madrid. for this indifference there were more reasons than one. when the instructions had been drawn up, the death of the queen of spain had not been known in vienna. the archduke had even been charged to inform philip of the approaching marriages of the two archduchesses, that of anne with the king of france, and that of isabella with the king of portugal. a few days later, however, the envoy received letters from the emperor, authorizing him to offer to the bereaved philip the hand of the archduchess anne. [herrera (lib. xv. ) erroneously states that the archduke was, at the outset, charged with these two commissions by the emperor; namely, to negotiate the marriage of the archduchess anne with philip, and to arrange the affairs of the netherlands. on the contrary, he was empowered to offer anne to the king of france, and had already imparted his instructions to that effect to philip, before he received letters from vienna, written after the death of isabella had become known. at another interview, he presented this new matrimonial proposition to philip. these facts are important, for they indicate how completely the objects of the embassy, the commencement of which was so pretentious, were cast aside, that a more advantageous marriage for one of the seven austrian archduchesses might be secured.--compare correspondance de philippe] the king replied to the archduke, when this proposition was made, that if he had regard only to his personal satisfaction, he should remain as he was. as however he had now no son, he was glad that the proposition had been made, and would see how the affair could be arranged with france. thus the ill success of orange in brabant, so disheartening to the german princes most inclined to his cause, and still more the widowhood of philip, had brought a change over the views of maximilian. on the th of january, , three days before his ambassador had entered upon his negotiations, he had accordingly addressed an autograph letter to his catholic majesty. in this epistle, by a few, cold lines, he entirely annihilated any possible effect which might have been produced by the apparent earnestness of his interposition in favor of the netherlands. he informed the king that the archduke had been sent, not to vex him, but to convince him of his friendship. he assured philip that he should be satisfied with his response, whatever it might be. he entreated only that it might be drawn up in such terms that the princes and electors to whom it must be shown, might not be inspired with suspicion. the archduke left madrid on the th of march, . he retired, well pleased with the results of his mission, not because its ostensible objects had been accomplished, for those had signally failed, but because the king had made him a present of one hundred thousand ducats, and had promised to espouse the archduchess anne. on the th of may, , the emperor addressed a final reply to philip, in which he expressly approved the king's justification of his conduct. it was founded, he thought, in reason and equity. nevertheless, it could hardly be shown, as it was, to the princes and electors, and he had therefore modified many points which he thought might prove offensive. thus ended "in smoke," as granvelle had foretold, the famous mission of archduke charles. the holy roman emperor withdrew from his pompous intervention, abashed by a rebuke, but consoled by a promise. if it were good to be guardian of religious freedom in upper and nether germany, it was better to be father-in-law to the king of spain and both the indies. hence the lame and abrupt conclusion. cardinal granvelle had been very serviceable in this juncture. he had written to philip to assure him that, in his, opinion, the netherlands had no claim, under the transaction of augsburg, to require the observance within their territory of the decrees of the empire. he added, that charles the fifth had only agreed to the treaty of passau to save his brother ferdinand from ruin; that he had only consented to it as emperor, and had neither directly nor indirectly included the netherlands within its provisions. he stated, moreover, that the emperor had revoked the treaty by an act which was never published, in consequence of the earnest solicitations of ferdinand. it has been seen that the king had used this opinion of granvelle in the response presented to the archduke. although he did not condescend to an argument, he had laid down the fact as if it were indisputable. he was still more delighted to find that charles had revoked the treaty of passau, and eagerly wrote to granvelle to inquire where the secret instrument was to be found. the cardinal replied that it was probably among his papers at brussels, but that he doubted whether it would be possible to find it in his absence. whether such a document ever existed, it is difficult to say. to perpetrate such a fraud would have been worthy of charles; to fable its perpetration not unworthy of the cardinal. in either case, the transaction was sufficiently high-handed and exceedingly disgraceful. etext editor's bookmarks: age when toleration was a vice an age when to think was a crime business of an officer to fight, of a general to conquer cruelties exercised upon monks and papists for faithful service, evil recompense pathetic dying words of anne boleyn seven spaniards were killed, and seven thousand rebels the calf is fat and must be killed the illness was a convenient one the tragedy of don carlos motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley - [chapter v.] quarrel between alva and queen elizabeth of england--spanish funds seized by the english government--non-intercourse between england and the netherlands--stringent measures against heresy--continued persecution--individual cases--present of hat and sword to alva from the pope--determination of the governor--general to establish a system of arbitrary taxation in the provinces--assembly of estates at brussels--alva's decrees laid before them--the hundredth, tenth, and fifth pence--opposition of viglius to the project--estates of various provinces give a reluctant consent--determined resistance of utrecht--the city and province cited before the blood council-- sentence of confiscation and disfranchisement against both--appeal to the king--difficulty of collecting the new tax--commutation for two years--projects for a pardon-general--growing disfavour of the duke--his desire to resign his post--secret hostility between the governor and viglius--altered sentiments of the president--opinions expressed by granvelle--the pardon pompously proclaimed by the duke at antwerp--character of the amnesty--dissatisfaction of the people with the act--complaints of alva to the king--fortunes and fate of baron montigny in spain--his confinement at segovia--his attempt to escape--its failure--his mock trial--his wife's appeal to philip-- his condemnation--his secret assassination determined upon--its details, as carefully prescribed and superintended by the king-- terrible inundation throughout the netherlands--immense destruction of life and property in friesland--lowestein castle taken by de ruyter, by stratagem--recapture of the place by the spaniards-- desperate resistance and death of de ruyter. it was very soon after the duke's return to brussels that a quarrel between himself and the queen of england took place. it happened thus. certain vessels, bearing roving commissions from the prince of conde, had chased into the ports of england some merchantmen coming from spain with supplies in specie for the spanish army in the netherlands. the trading ships remained in harbor, not daring to leave for their destination, while the privateers remained in a neighbouring port ready to pounce upon them should they put to sea. the commanders of the merchant fleet complained to the spanish ambassador in london. the envoy laid the case before the queen. the queen promised redress, and, almost as soon as the promise had been made, seized upon all the specie in the vessels, amounting to about eight hundred thousand dollars--[ exchange rate]--and appropriated the whole to her own benefit. the pretext for this proceeding was twofold. in the first place, she assured the ambassador that she had taken the money into her possession in order that it might be kept safe for her royal brother of spain. in the second place, she affirmed that the money did not belong to the spanish government at all, but that it was the property of certain genoese merchants, from whom, as she had a right to do, she had borrowed it for a short period. both these positions could hardly be correct, but either furnished an excellent reason for appropriating the funds to her own use. the duke of alva being very much in want of money, was furious when informed of the circumstance. he immediately despatched councillor d'assonleville with other commissioners on a special embassy to the queen of england. his envoys were refused an audience, and the duke was taxed with presumption in venturing, as if he had been a sovereign, to send a legation to a crowned head. no satisfaction was given to alva, but a secret commissioner was despatched to spain to discuss the subject there. the wrath of alva was not appeased by this contemptuous treatment. chagrined at the loss of his funds, and stung to the quick by a rebuke which his arrogance had merited, he resorted to a high-handed measure. he issued a proclamation commanding the personal arrest of every englishman within the territory of the netherlands, and the seizure of every article of property which could be found belonging to individuals of that nation. the queen retaliated by measures of the same severity against netherlanders in england. the duke followed up his blow by a proclamation (of march st, ), in which the grievance was detailed, and strict non-intercourse with england enjoined. while the queen and the viceroy were thus exchanging blows, the real sufferers were, of course, the unfortunate netherlanders. between the upper and nether millstones of elizabeth's rapacity and alva's arrogance, the poor remains of flemish prosperity were well nigh crushed out of existence. proclamations and commissions followed hard upon each other, but it was not till april , that the matter was definitely arranged. before that day arrived, the commerce of the netherlands had suffered, at the lowest computation, a dead loss of two million florins, not a stiver of which was ever reimbursed to the sufferers by the spanish government. meantime, neither in the complacency of his triumph over william of orange, nor in the torrent of his wrath against the english queen, did the duke for a moment lose sight of the chief end of his existence in the netherlands. the gibbet and the stake were loaded with their daily victims. the records of the period are foul with the perpetually renewed barbarities exercised against the new religion. to the magistrates of the different cities were issued fresh instructions, by which all municipal officers were to be guided in the discharge of their great duty. they were especially enjoined by the duke to take heed that catholic midwives, and none other, should be provided for every parish, duly sworn to give notice within twenty-four hours of every birth which occurred, in order that the curate might instantly proceed to baptism. they were also ordered to appoint certain spies who should keep watch at every administration of the sacraments, whether public or private, whether at the altar or at death-beds, and who should report for exemplary punishment (that is to say, death by fire) all persons who made derisive or irreverential gestures, or who did not pay suitable honor to the said sacraments. furthermore, in order that not even death itself should cheat the tyrant of his prey, the same spies were to keep watch at the couch of the dying, and to give immediate notice to government of all persons who should dare to depart this life without previously receiving extreme unction and the holy wafer. the estates of such culprits, it was ordained, should be confiscated, and their bodies dragged to the public place of execution. an affecting case occurred in the north of holland, early in this year, which, for its peculiarity, deserves brief mention. a poor anabaptist, guilty of no crime but his fellowship with a persecuted sect, had been condemned to death. he had made his escape, closely pursued by an officer of justice, across a frozen lake. it was late in the winter, and the ice had become unsound. it trembled and cracked beneath his footsteps, but he reached the shore in safety. the officer was not so fortunate. the ice gave way beneath him, and he sank into the lake, uttering a cry for succor. there were none to hear him, except the fugitive whom he had been hunting. dirk willemzoon, for so was the anabaptist called, instinctively obeying the dictates of a generous nature, returned, crossed the quaking and dangerous ice, at the peril of his life, extended his hand to his enemy, and saved him from certain death. unfortunately for human nature, it cannot be added that the generosity, of, the action was met by a corresponding heroism. the officer was desirous, it is true, of avoiding the responsibility of sacrificing the preserver of his life, but the burgomaster of asperen sternly reminded him to remember his oath. he accordingly arrested the fugitive, who, on the th of may following, was burned to death under the most lingering tortures. almost at the same time four clergymen, the eldest seventy years of age, were executed at the hague, after an imprisonment of three years. all were of blameless lives, having committed no crime save that of having favored the reformation. as they were men of some local eminence, it was determined that they should be executed with solemnity. they were condemned to the flames, and as they were of the ecclesiastical profession, it was necessary before execution that their personal sanctity should be removed. accordingly, on the th may, attired in the gorgeous robes of high mass, they were brought before the bishop of bois le duc. the prelate; with a pair of scissors, cut a lock of hair from each of their heads. he then scraped their crowns and the tips of their fingers with a little silver knife very gently, and without inflicting the least injury. the mystic oil of consecration was thus supposed to be sufficiently removed. the prelate then proceeded to disrobe the victims, saying to each one as he did so, "eximo tibi vestem justitiae, quem volens abjecisti;" to which the oldest pastor, arent dirkzoon, stoutly replied, "imo vestem injustitiae." the bishop having thus completed the solemn farce of desecration, delivered the prisoners to the blood council, begging that they might be handled very gently. three days afterwards they were all executed at the stake, having, however, received the indulgence of being strangled before being thrown into the flames. it was precisely at this moment, while the agents of the duke's government were thus zealously enforcing his decrees, that a special messenger arrived from the pope, bringing as a present to alva a jewelled hat and sword. it was a gift rarely conferred by the church, and never save upon the highest dignitaries, or upon those who had merited her most signal rewards by the most shining exploits in her defence. the duke was requested, in the autograph letter from his holiness which accompanied the presents, "to remember, when he put the hat upon his head, that he was guarded with it as with a helmet of righteousness, and with the shield of god's help, indicating the heavenly crown which was ready for all princes who support the holy church and the roman catholic faith." the motto on the sword ran as follows, "accipe sanctum gladium, menus a deo in quo dejicies adversarios populi mei israel." the viceroy of philip, thus stimulated to persevere in his master's precepts by the vicegerent of christ, was not likely to swerve from his path, nor to flinch from his work. it was beyond the power of man's ingenuity to add any fresh features of horror to the religious persecution under which the provinces were groaning, but a new attack could be made upon the poor remains of their wealth. the duke had been dissatisfied with the results of his financial arrangements. the confiscation of banished and murdered heretics had not proved the inexhaustible mine he had boasted. the stream of gold which was to flow perennially into the spanish coffers, soon ceased to flow at all. this was inevitable. confiscations must, of necessity, offer but a precarious supply to any treasury. it was only the frenzy of an alva which could imagine it possible to derive a permanent revenue from such a source. it was, however, not to be expected that this man, whose tyranny amounted to insanity, could comprehend the intimate connection between the interests of a people and those of its rulers, and he was determined to exhibit; by still more fierce and ludicrous experiments, how easily a great soldier may become a very paltry financier. he had already informed his royal master that, after a very short time, remittances would no longer be necessary from spain to support the expenses of the array and government in the netherlands. he promised, on the contrary, that at least two millions yearly should be furnished by the provinces, over and above the cost of their administration, to enrich the treasury at home. another peru had already been discovered by his ingenuity, and one which was not dependent for its golden fertility on the continuance of that heresy which it was his mission to extirpate. his boast had been much ridiculed in madrid, where he had more enemies than friends, and he was consequently the more eager to convert it into reality. nettled by the laughter with which all his schemes of political economy had been received at home, he was determined to show that his creative statesmanship was no less worthy of homage than his indisputable genius for destruction. his scheme was nothing more than the substitution of an arbitrary system of taxation by the crown, for the legal and constitutional right of the provinces to tax themselves. it was not a very original thought, but it was certainly a bold one. for although a country so prostrate might suffer the imposition of any fresh amount of tyranny, yet it was doubtful whether she had sufficient strength remaining to bear the weight after it had been imposed. it was certain, moreover, that the new system would create a more general outcry than any which had been elicited even by the religious persecution. there were many inhabitants who were earnest and sincere catholics, and who therefore considered themselves safe from the hangman's hands, while there were none who could hope to escape the gripe of the new tax-gatherers. yet the governor was not the man to be daunted by the probable unpopularity of the measure. courage he possessed in more than mortal proportion. he seemed to have set himself to the task of ascertaining the exact capacity of the country for wretchedness. he was resolved accurately to gauge its width and its depth; to know how much of physical and moral misery might be accumulated within its limits, before it should be full to overflowing. every man, woman, and child in the country had been solemnly condemned to death; and arbitrary executions, in pursuance of that sentence, had been daily taking place. millions of property had been confiscated; while the most fortunate and industrious, as well as the bravest of the netherlanders, were wandering penniless in distant lands. still the blows, however recklessly distributed, had not struck every head. the inhabitants had been decimated, not annihilated, and the productive energy of the country, which for centuries had possessed so much vitality, was even yet not totally extinct. in the wreck of their social happiness, in the utter overthrow of their political freedom, they had still preserved the shadow, at least, of one great bulwark against despotism. the king could impose no tax. the "joyeuse entree" of brabant, as well as the constitutions of flanders, holland, utrecht, and all the other provinces, expressly prescribed the manner in which the requisite funds for government should be raised. the sovereign or his stadholder was to appear before the estates in person, and make his request for money. it was for the estates, after consultation with their constituents, to decide whether or not this petition (bede) should be granted, and should a single branch decline compliance, the monarch was to wait with patience for a more favorable moment. such had been the regular practice in the netherlands, nor had the reigning houses often had occasion to accuse the estates of parsimony. it was, however, not wonderful that the duke of alva should be impatient at the continued existence of this provincial privilege. a country of condemned criminals, a nation whose universal neck might at any moment be laid upon the block without ceremony, seemed hardly fit to hold the purse-strings, and to dispense alms to its monarch. the viceroy was impatient at this arrogant vestige of constitutional liberty. moreover, although he had taken from the netherlanders nearly all the attributes of freemen, he was unwilling that they should enjoy the principal privilege of slaves, that of being fed and guarded at their master's expense. he had therefore summoned a general assembly of the provincial estates in brussels, and on the th of march, , had caused the following decrees to be laid before them. a tax of the hundredth penny, or one per cent., was laid upon all property, real and personal, to be collected instantly. this impost, however, was not perpetual, but only to be paid once, unless, of course, it should suit the same arbitrary power by which it was assessed to require it a second time. a tax of the twentieth penny; or five per cent., was laid upon every transfer of real estate. this imposition was perpetual. thirdly, a tag of the tenth penny, or ten per cent., was assessed upon every article of merchandise or personal-property, to be paid as often as it should be sold. this tax was likewise to be perpetual. the consternation in the assembly when these enormous propositions were heard, can be easily imagined. people may differ about religious dogmas. in the most bigoted persecutions there will always be many who, from conscientious although misguided motives, heartily espouse the cause of the bigot. moreover, although resistance to tyranny in matters of faith, is always the most ardent of struggles, and is supported by the most sublime principle in our nature, yet all men are not of the sterner stuff of which martyrs are fashioned. in questions relating to the world above; many may be seduced from their convictions by interest, or forced into apostasy by violence. human nature is often malleable or fusible, where religious interests are concerned, but in affairs material and financial opposition to tyranny is apt to be unanimous. the interests of commerce and manufacture, when brought into conflict with those of religion, had often proved victorious in the netherlands. this new measure, however--this arbitrary and most prodigious system of taxation, struck home to every fireside. no individual, however adroit or time-serving, could parry the blow by which all were crushed. it was most unanswerably maintained in the assembly, that this tenth and twentieth penny would utterly destroy the trade and the manufactures of the country. the hundredth penny, or the one per cent. assessment on all property throughout the land, although a severe subsidy, might be borne with for once. to pay, however, a twentieth part of the full value of a house to the government as often as the house was sold, was a most intolerable imposition. a house might be sold twenty times in a year, and in the course, therefore, of the year be confiscated in its whole value. it amounted either to a prohibition of all transfers of real estate, or to an eventual surrender of its price. as to the tenth penny upon articles of merchandise, to be paid by the vendor at every sale, the scheme was monstrous. all trade and manufactures must, of necessity, expire, at the very first attempt to put it in execution. the same article might be sold ten times in a week, and might therefore pay one hundred per cent. weekly. an article, moreover, was frequently compounded of ten, different articles, each of which might pay one hundred per cent., and therefore the manufactured article, if ten times transferred, one thousand per cent. weekly. quick transfers and unfettered movements being the nerves and muscles of commerce, it was impossible for it long to survive the paralysis of such a tax. the impost could never be collected, and would only produce an entire prostration of industry. it could by no possibility enrich the government. the king could not derive wealth from the ruin of his subjects; yet to establish such a system was the stern and absurd determination of the governor-general. the infantine simplicity of the effort seemed incredible. the ignorance was as sublime as the tyranny. the most lucid arguments and the most earnest remonstrances were all in vain. too opaque to be illumined by a flood of light, too hard to be melted by a nation's tears, the viceroy held calmly to his purpose. to the keen and vivid representations of viglius, who repeatedly exhibited all that was oppressive and all that was impossible in the tax, he answered simply that it was nothing more nor less than the spanish "alcabala," and that he derived , ducats yearly from its imposition in his own city of alva. viglius was upon this occasion in opposition to the duke. it is but justice to state that the learned jurisconsult manfully and repeatedly confronted the wrath of his superior in many a furious discussion in council upon the subject. he had never essayed to snatch one brand from the burning out of the vast holocaust of religious persecution, but he was roused at last by the threatened destruction of all the material interests of the land. he confronted the tyrant with courage, sustained perhaps by the knowledge that the proposed plan was not the king's, but the governor's. he knew that it was openly ridiculed in madrid, and that philip, although he would probably never denounce it in terms, was certainly not eager for its execution. the president enlarged upon the difference which existed between the condition of a sparsely-peopled country of herdsmen and laborers in spain, and the densely-thronged and bustling cities of the netherlands. if the duke collected , ducats yearly from the alcabala in alva, he could only offer him his congratulations, but could not help assuring him that the tax would prove an impossibility in the provinces. to his argument, that the impost would fall with severity not upon the highest nor the lowest classes of society, neither upon the great nobility and clergy nor on the rustic population, but on the merchants and manufacturers, it was answered by the president that it was not desirable to rob saint peter's altar in order to build one to saint paul. it might have been simpler to suggest that the consumer would pay the tax, supposing it were ever paid at all, but the axiom was not so familiar three centuries ago as now. meantime, the report of the deputies to the assembly on their return to their constituents had created the most intense excitement and alarm. petition after petition, report after report, poured in upon the government. there was a cry of despair, and almost of defiance, which had not been elicited by former agonies. to induce, however, a more favorable disposition on the part of the duke, the hundredth penny, once for all, was conceded by the estates. the tenth and twentieth occasioned--severe and protracted struggles, until the various assemblies of the patrimonial provinces, one after another, exhausted, frightened, and hoping that no serious effort would be made to collect the tax, consented, under certain restrictions, to its imposition.--the principal conditions were a protest against the legality of the proceeding, and the provision that the consent of no province should be valid until that of all had been obtained. holland, too, was induced to give in its adhesion, although the city of amsterdam long withheld its consent; but the city and province of utrecht were inexorable. they offered a handsome sum in commutation, increasing the sum first proposed from , to , florins, but they resolutely refused to be saddled with this permanent tax. their stout resistance was destined to cost them dear. in the course of a few months alva, finding them still resolute in their refusal, quartered the regiment of lombardy upon them, and employed other coercive measures to bring them to reason. the rude, insolent, unpaid and therefore insubordinate soldiery were billeted in every house in the city, so that the insults which the population were made to suffer by the intrusion of these ruffians at their firesides would soon, it was thought, compel the assent of the province to the tax. it was not so, however. the city and the province remained stanch in their opposition. accordingly, at the close of the year ( th. december, ) the estates were summoned to appear within fourteen days before the blood council. at the appointed time the procureur-general was ready with an act of accusation, accompanied, as was usually the case, with a simultaneous sentence of condemnation. the indictment revived and recapitulated all previous offences committed in the city and the province, particularly during the troubles of , and at the epoch of the treaty with duchess margaret. the inhabitants and the magistrates, both in their individual and public capacities, were condemned for heresy, rebellion, and misprision. the city and province were accordingly pronounced guilty of high treason, were deprived of all their charters, laws, privileges, freedoms, and customs, and were declared to have forfeited all their property, real and personal, together with all tolls, rents, excises, and imposts, the whole being confiscated to the benefit of his majesty. the immediate execution of the sentence was, however, suspended, to allow the estates opportunity to reply. an enormous mass of pleadings, replies, replications, rejoinders, and apostilles was the result, which few eyes were destined to read, and least of all those to whom they were nominally addressed. they were of benefit to none save in the shape of fees which they engendered to the gentlemen of the robe. it was six months, however, before the case was closed. as there was no blood to be shed, a summary process was not considered necessary. at last, on the th july, the voluminous pile of documents was placed before vargas. it was the first time he had laid eyes upon them, and they were, moreover, written in a language of which he did not understand a word. such, however, was his capacity for affairs, that a glance only at the outside of the case enabled him to form his decision. within half an hour afterwards, booted and spurred, he was saying mass in the church of saint gudule, on his way to pronounce sentence at antwerp. that judgment was rendered the same day, and confirmed the preceding act of condemnation. vargas went to his task as cheerfully as if it had been murder. the act of outlawry and beggary was fulminated against the city and province, and a handsome amount of misery for others, and of plunder for himself, was the result of his promptness. many thousand citizens were ruined, many millions of property confiscated. thus was utrecht deprived of all its ancient liberties, as a punishment for having dared to maintain them. the clergy, too, of the province, having invoked the bull "in coena domini," by which clerical property was declared exempt from taxation, had excited the wrath of the duke. to wield so slight a bulrush against the man who had just been girded with the consecrated and jewelled sword of the pope, was indeed but a feeble attempt at defence. alva treated the coena domini with contempt, but he imprisoned the printer who had dared to-republish it at this juncture. finding, moreover, that it had been put in press by the orders of no less a person than secretary la torre, he threw that officer also into prison, besides suspending him from his functions for a year. the estates of the province and the magistracy of the city appealed to his majesty from the decision of the duke. the case did not directly concern the interests of religion, for although the heretical troubles of furnished the nominal motives of the condemnation, the resistance to the tenth and twentieth penny was the real crime for which they were suffering. the king, therefore, although far from clement, was not extremely rigorous. he refused the object of the appeal, but he did not put the envoys to death by whom it was brought to madrid. this would have certainly been the case in matters strictly religious, or even had the commissioners arrived two years before, but even philip believed, perhaps, that for the moment almost enough innocent blood had been shed. at any rate he suffered the legates from utrecht to return, not with their petition, granted, but at least with their heads upon their shoulders. early in the following year, the provinces still remaining under martial law, all the utrecht charters were taken into the possession of government, and deposited in the castle of vredenberg. it was not till after the departure of alva, that they were restored; according to royal command, by the new governor, requesens. by the middle of the year , alva wrote to the king, with great cheerfulness of tone, announcing that the estates of the provinces had all consented to the tax. he congratulated his majesty upon the fact that this income might thenceforth be enjoyed in perpetuity, and that it would bring at least two millions yearly into his coffers, over and above the expenses of government. the hundredth penny, as he calculated, would amount to at least five millions. he was, however, very premature in his triumph, for the estates were not long in withdrawing a concession which had either been wrung from them by violence or filched from them by misrepresentation. taking the ground that the assent of all had been stipulated before that of any one should be esteemed valid, every province now refused to enforce or to permit the collection of the tenth or the twentieth penny within their limits. dire were the threatenings and the wrath of the viceroy, painfully protracted the renewed negotiations with the estates. at last, a compromise was effected, and the final struggle postponed. late in the summer it was agreed that the provinces should pay two millions yearly for the two following years, the term to expire in the month of august, . till that period, therefore, there was comparative repose upon the subject. the question of a general pardon had been agitated for more than a year, both in brussels and madrid. viglius, who knew his countrymen better than the viceroy knew them, had written frequently to his friend hopper, on the propriety of at once proclaiming an amnesty. there had also been many conferences between himself and the duke of alva, and he had furnished more than one draught for the proposed measure. the president knew full well that the point had been reached beyond which the force of tyranny could go no further. all additional pressure, he felt sure, could only produce reaction, the effect of which might be to drive the spaniards from the netherlands. there might then be another game to play. the heads of those who had so assiduously served the government throughout its terrible career might, in their turn, be brought to the block, and their estates be made to enrich the treasury. moreover, there were symptoms that alva's favor was on the wane. the king had not been remarkably struck with the merits of the new financial measures, and had expressed much, anxiety lest the trade of the country should suffer. the duke was known to be desirous of his recal. his health was broken, he felt that he was bitterly detested throughout the country, and he was certain that his enemies at madrid were fast undermining his credit. he seemed also to have a dim suspicion that his mission was accomplished in the netherlands; that as much blood had been shed at present as the land could easily absorb. he wrote urgently and even piteously to philip, on the subject of his return. "were your majesty only pleased to take me from this country," he said, "i should esteem it as great a favor as if your majesty had given me life." he swore "by the soul of the duchess," that he "would rather be cut into little pieces" than retire from his post were his presence necessary, but he expressed the opinion that through his exertions affairs had been placed in such train that they were sure to roll on smoothly to the end of time. "at present, and for the future," he wrote, "your majesty is and will be more strictly obeyed than any of your predecessors;" adding, with insane self-complacency, "and all this has been accomplished without violence." he also assured his majesty as to the prosperous condition of financial affairs. his tax was to work wonders. he had conversed with capitalists who had offered him four millions yearly for the tenth penny, but he had refused, because he estimated the product at a much higher figure. the hundredth penny could not be rated lower than five millions. it was obvious, therefore, that instead of remitting funds to the provinces, his majesty would, for the future, derive from them a steady and enormous income. moreover, he assured the king that there was at present no one to inspire anxiety from within or without. the only great noble of note in the country was the duke of aerschot, who was devoted to his majesty, and who, moreover, "amounted to very little," as the king well knew. as for the prince of orange, he would have business enough in keeping out of the clutches of his creditors. they had nothing to fear from germany. england would do nothing as long as germany was quiet; and france was sunk too low to be feared at all. such being the sentiments of the duke, the king was already considering the propriety of appointing his successor. all this was known to the president. he felt instinctively that more clemency was to be expected from that successor, whoever he might be; and he was satisfied, therefore, that he would at least not be injuring his own position by inclining at this late hour to the side of mercy. his opposition to the tenth and twentieth penny had already established a breach between himself and the viceroy, but he felt secretly comforted by the reflection that the king was probably on the same side with himself. alva still spoke of him, to be sure, both in public and private, with approbation; taking occasion to commend him frequently, in his private letters, as a servant upright and zealous, as a living register, without whose universal knowledge of things and persons he should hardly know which way to turn. the president, however, was growing weary of his own sycophancy. he begged his friend joachim to take his part, if his excellency should write unfavorably about his conduct to the king. he seemed to have changed his views of the man concerning whose "prudence and gentleness" he could once turn so many fine periods. he even expressed some anxiety lest doubts should begin to be entertained as to the perfect clemency of the king's character. "here is so much confiscation and bloodshed going on," said he, "that some taint of cruelty or avarice may chance to bespatter the robe of his majesty." he also confessed that he had occasionally read in history of greater benignity than was now exercised against the poor netherlanders. had the learned frisian arrived at these humane conclusions at a somewhat earlier day, it might perhaps have been better for himself and for his fatherland. had he served his country as faithfully as he had served time, and philip, and alva, his lands would not have been so broad, nor his dignities so numerous, but he would not have been obliged, in his old age; to exclaim, with whimsical petulance, that "the faithful servant is always a perpetual ass." it was now certain that an act of amnesty was in contemplation by the king. viglius had furnished several plans, which, however, had been so much disfigured by the numerous exceptions suggested by alva, that the president could scarce recognize his work. granvelle, too, had frequently urged the pardon on the attention of philip. the cardinal was too astute not to perceive that the time had arrived when a continued severity could only defeat its own work. he felt that the country could not be rendered more abject, the spirit of patriotism more apparently extinct. a show of clemency, which would now cost nothing, and would mean nothing, might be more effective than this profuse and wanton bloodshed. he saw plainly that the brutality of alva had already overshot the mark. too politic, however, openly to reprove so powerful a functionary, he continued to speak of him and of his administration to philip in terms of exalted eulogy. he was a "sage seignior," a prudent governor, one on whom his majesty could entirely repose. he was a man of long experience, trained all his life to affairs, and perfectly capable of giving a good account of everything to which he turned his hands. he admitted, however, to other correspondents, that the administration of the sage seignior, on whom his majesty could so implicitly rely, had at last "brought that provinces into a deplorable condition." four different forms of pardon had been sent from madrid, toward the close of . from these four the duke was to select one, and carefully to destroy the other three. it was not, however, till july of the following year that the choice was made, and the viceroy in readiness to announce the pardon. on the th of that month a great festival was held at antwerp, for the purpose of solemnly proclaiming the long expected amnesty. in the morning, the duke, accompanied by a brilliant staff, and by a long procession of clergy in their gorgeous robes, paraded through the streets of the commercial capital, to offer up prayers and hear mass in the cathedral. the bishop of arras then began a sermon upon the blessings of mercy, with a running commentary upon the royal clemency about to be exhibited. in the very outset, however, of his discourse, he was seized with convulsions, which required his removal from the pulpit; an incident which was not considered of felicitous augury. in the afternoon, the duke with his suite appeared upon the square in front of the town house. here a large scaffolding or theatre had been erected. the platform and the steps which led to it were covered with scarlet cloth. a throne, covered with cloth of gold, was arranged in the most elevated position for the duke. on the steps immediately below him were placed two of the most beautiful women in antwerp, clad in allegorical garments to represent righteousness and peace. the staircase and platform were lined with officers, the square was beset with troops, and filled to its utmost verge with an expectant crowd of citizens. toward the close of a summer's afternoon, the duke wearing the famous hat and sword of the pope, took his seat on the throne with all the airs of royalty. after a few preliminary ceremonies, a civil functionary, standing between two heralds; then recited the long-expected act of grace. his reading, however, was so indistinct, that few save the soldiers in the immediate vicinity of the platform could hear a word of the document. this effect was, perhaps, intentional. certainly but little enthusiasm could be expected from the crowd, had the text of the amnesty been heard. it consisted of three parts--a recitation of the wrongs committed, a statement of the terms of pardon, and a long list of exceptions. all the sins of omission and commission, the heresy, the public preaching, the image-breaking, the compromise, the confederacy, the rebellion, were painted in lively colors. pardon, however, was offered to all those who had not rendered themselves liable to positive impeachment, in case they should make their peace with the church before the expiration of two months, and by confession and repentance obtain their absolution. the exceptions, however, occupied the greater part of the document. when the general act of condemnation had been fulminated by which all netherlanders were sentenced to death, the exceptions had been very few, and all the individuals mentioned by name. in the act of pardon, the exceptions comprehended so many classes of inhabitants, that it was impossible for any individual to escape a place in, some one of the categories, whenever it should please the government to take his life. expressly excluded from the benefit of the act were all ministers, teachers, dogmatizers, and all who had favored and harbored such dogmatizers and preachers; all those in the least degree implicated in the image-breaking; all who had ever been individually suspected of heresy or schism; all who had ever signed or favored the compromise or the petition to the regent; all those who had taken up arms, contributed money, distributed tracts; all those in any manner chargeable with misprision, or who had failed to denounce those guilty of heresy. all persons, however, who were included in any of these classes of exceptions might report themselves within six months, when, upon confession of their crime, they might hope for a favorable consideration of their case. such, in brief, and stripped of its verbiage, was this amnesty for which the netherlands had so long been hoping. by its provisions, not a man or woman was pardoned who had ever committed a fault. the innocent alone were forgiven. even they were not sure of mercy, unless they should obtain full absolution from the pope. more certainly than ever would the accustomed rigor be dealt to all who had committed any of those positive acts for which so many had already lost their heads. the clause by which a possibility of pardon was hinted to such criminals, provided they would confess and surrender, was justly regarded as a trap. no one was deceived by it. no man, after the experience of the last three years; would voluntarily thrust his head into the lion's mouth, in order to fix it more firmly upon his shoulders. no man who had effected his escape was likely to play informer against himself, in hope of obtaining a pardon from which all but the most sincere and zealous catholics were in reality excepted. the murmur and discontent were universal, therefore, as soon as the terms of the act became known. alva wrote to the king, to be sure, "that the people were entirely satisfied, save only the demagogues, who could tolerate no single exception from the amnesty; but he could neither deceive his sovereign nor himself by such statements." certainly, philip was totally disappointed in the effect which he had anticipated from the measure. he had thought "it would stop the mouths of many people." on the contrary, every mouth in the netherlands became vociferous to denounce the hypocrisy by which a new act of condemnation had been promulgated under the name of a pardon. viglius, who had drawn up an instrument of much ampler clemency, was far from satisfied with the measure which had been adopted. "certainly," he wrote to his confidant, "a more benignant measure was to be expected from so merciful a prince. after four years have past, to reserve for punishment and for execution all those who during the tumult did not, through weakness of mind, render as much service to government as brave men might have offered, is altogether unexampled." alva could not long affect to believe in the people's satisfaction. he soon wrote to the king, acknowledging that the impression produced by the pardon was far from favorable. he attributed much evil effect to the severe censure which was openly pronounced upon the act by members of the government, both in spain and the netherlands. he complained that hopper had written to viglius, that "the most severe of the four forms of pardon transmitted had been selected;" the fact being, that the most lenient one had been adopted. if this were so, whose imagination is powerful enough to portray the three which had been burned, and which, although more severe than the fierce document promulgated, were still entitled acts of pardon? the duke spoke bitterly of the manner in which influential persons in madrid had openly abominated the cruel form of amnesty which had been decreed. his authority in the netherlands was already sufficiently weakened, he said, and such censure upon his actions from head-quarters did not tend to improve it. "in truth," he added, almost pathetically, "it is not wonderful that the whole nation should be ill-disposed towards me, for i certainly have done nothing to make them love me. at the same time, such language transmitted from madrid does not increase their tenderness." in short, viewed as a measure by which government, without disarming itself of its terrible powers, was to pacify the popular mind, the amnesty was a failure. viewed as a net, by which fresh victims should be enticed to entangle themselves, who had already made their way into the distant atmosphere of liberty, it was equally unsuccessful. a few very obscure individuals made their appearance to claim the benefit of the act, before the six months had expired. with these it was thought expedient to deal gently; but no one was deceived by such clemency. as the common people expressed themselves, the net was not spread on that occasion for finches. the wits of the netherlands, seeking relief from their wretched condition in a still more wretched quibble, transposed two letters of the word pardona, and re-baptized the new measure pandora. the conceit was not without meaning. the amnesty, descending from supernal regions, had been ushered into the presence of mortals as a messenger laden with heavenly gifts. the casket, when opened, had diffused curses instead of blessings. there, however, the classical analogy ended, for it would have puzzled all the pedants of louvain to discover hope lurking, under any disguise, within the clauses of the pardon. very soon after the promulgation of this celebrated act, the new bride of philip, anne of austria, passed through the netherlands, on her way to madrid. during her brief stay in brussels, she granted an interview to the dowager countess of horn. that unhappy lady, having seen her eldest son, the head of her illustrious house, so recently perish on the scaffold, wished to make a last effort in behalf of the remaining one, then closely confined in the prison of segovia. the archduchess solemnly promised that his release should be the first boon which she would request of her royal bridegroom, and the bereaved countess retired almost with a hope. a short digression must here be allowed, to narrate the remaining fortunes of that son, the ill-starred seigneur de montigny. his mission to madrid in company of the marquis berghen has been related in a previous volume. the last and most melancholy scene in the life of his fellow envoy has been described in a recent chapter. after that ominous event, montigny became most anxious to effect his retreat from spain. he had been separated more than a year from his few months' bride. he was not imprisoned, but he felt himself under the most rigid although secret inspection. it was utterly impossible for him to obtain leave to return, or to take his departure without permission. on one occasion, having left the city accidentally for a ride on horseback to an adjoining village, he found himself surrounded by an unexpected escort of forty troopers. still, however, the king retained a smiling mien. to montigny's repeated and urgent requests for dismissal, philip graciously urged his desire for a continuance of his visit. he was requested to remain in order to accompany his sovereign upon that journey to the netherlands which would not be much longer delayed. in his impatience anything seemed preferable to the state of suspense in which he was made to linger. he eagerly offered, if he were accused or suspected of crime, to surrender himself to imprisonment if he only could be brought to trial. soon after alva's arrival in the netherlands, the first part of this offer was accepted. no sooner were the arrests of egmont and horn known in madrid, than montigny was deprived of his liberty, and closely confined in the alcazar of segovia. here he remained imprisoned for eight or nine months in a high tower, with no attendant save a young page, arthur de munter, who had accompanied him from the netherlands. eight men-at-arms were expressly employed to watch over him and to prevent his escape. one day towards the middle of july, , a band of pilgrims, some of them in flemish attire, went through the streets of segovia. they were chanting, as was customary on such occasions, a low, monotonous song, in which montigny, who happened to be listening, suddenly recognized the language of his fatherland. his surprise was still greater when, upon paying closer attention, he distinguished the terrible meaning of the song. the pretended pilgrims, having no other means of communication with the prisoner, were singing for his information the tragic fates of his brother, count horn, and of his friend, count egmont. mingled with the strain were warnings of his own approaching doom; if he were not able to effect his escape before it should be too late. thus by this friendly masquerade did montigny learn the fate of his brother, which otherwise, in that land of terrible secrecy, might have been concealed from him for ever. the hint as to his own preservation was not lost upon him; and he at once set about a plan of escape. he succeeded in gaining over to his interests one of the eight soldiers by whom he was guarded, and he was thus enabled to communicate with many of his own adherents without the prison walls. his major-domo had previously been permitted to furnish his master's table with provisions dressed by his own cook. a correspondence was now carried on by means of letters concealed within the loaves of bread sent daily to the prisoner. in the same way files were provided for sawing through his window-bars. a very delicate ladder of ropes, by which he was to effect his escape into the court below, was also transmitted. the plan had been completely arranged. a certain pole employed in the enterprise was to be at hernani, with horses in readiness to convey them to san sebastian. there a sloop had been engaged, and was waiting their arrival. montigny, accordingly, in a letter enclosed within a loaf of bread--the last, as he hoped, which he should break in prison--was instructed, after cutting off his beard and otherwise disguising his person, to execute his plan and join his confederates at hernani. unfortunately, the major-domo of montigny was in love. upon the eve of departure from spain, his farewell interview with his mistress was so much protracted that the care of sending the bread was left to another. the substitute managed so unskilfully that the loaf was brought to the commandant of the castle, and not to the prisoner. the commandant broke the bread, discovered the letter, and became master of the whole plot. all persons engaged in the enterprise were immediately condemned to death, and the spanish soldier executed without delay. the others being considered, on account of their loyalty to their master as deserving a commutation of punishment, were sent to the galleys. the major-domo, whose ill-timed gallantry had thus cost montigny his liberty, received two hundred lashes in addition. all, however, were eventually released from imprisonment. the unfortunate gentleman was now kept in still closer confinement in his lonely tower. as all his adherents had been disposed of, he could no longer entertain a hope of escape. in the autumn of this year ( ) it was thought expedient by alva to bring his case formally before the blood council. montigny had committed no crime, but he was one of that band of popular, nobles whose deaths had been long decreed. letters were accordingly sent to spain, empowering certain functionaries there to institute that preliminary examination, which, as usual, was to be the only trial vouchsafed. a long list of interrogatories was addressed to him on february th, , in his prison at segovia. a week afterwards, he was again visited by the alcalde, who read over to him the answers which he had made on the first occasion, and required him to confirm them. he was then directed to send his procuration to certain persons in the netherlands, whom he might wish to appear in his behalf. montigny complied by sending several names, with a clause of substitution. all the persons thus appointed, however, declined to act, unless they could be furnished with a copy of the procuration, and with a statement of the articles of accusation. this was positively refused by the blood council. seeing no possibility of rendering service to their friend by performing any part in this mockery of justice, they refused to accept the procuration. they could not defend a case when not only the testimony, but even the charges against the accused were kept secret. an individual was accordingly appointed by government to appear in the prisoner's behalf. thus the forms of justice were observed, and montigny, a close prisoner in the tower of segovia, was put upon trial for his life in brussels. certainly nothing could exceed the irony of such a process. the advocate had never seen his client, thousands of miles away, and was allowed to hold no communication with him by letter. the proceedings were instituted by a summons, addressed by the duke of alva to madame de montigny in brussels. that unhappy lady could only appeal to the king. "convinced," she said, "that her husband was innocent of the charges brought against him, she threw herself, overwhelmed and consumed by tears and misery, at his majesty's feet. she begged the king to remember the past services of montigny, her own youth, and that she had enjoyed his company but four months. by all these considerations, and by the passion of jesus christ, she adjured the monarch to pardon any faults which her husband might have committed." the reader can easily judge how much effect such a tender appeal was like to have upon the heart of philip. from that rock; thus feebly smitten, there flowed no fountain of mercy. it was not more certain that montigny's answers to the interrogatories addressed to him had created a triumphant vindication of his course, than that such vindication would be utterly powerless to save his life. the charges preferred against him were similar to those which had brought egmont and horn to the block, and it certainly created no ground of hope for him, that he could prove himself even more innocent of suspicious conduct than they had done. on the th march, , accordingly, the duke of alva pronounced sentence against him. the sentence declared that his head should be cut off, and afterwards exposed to public view upon the head of a pike. upon the th march, , the duke addressed a requisitory letter to the alcaldes, corregidors, and other judges of castile, empowering them to carry the sentence into execution. on the arrival of this requisition there was a serious debate before the king in council. it seemed to be the general opinion that there had been almost severity enough in the netherlands for the present. the spectacle of the public execution of another distinguished personage, it was thought, might now prove more irritating than salutary. the king was of this opinion himself. it certainly did not occur to him or to his advisers that this consideration should lead them to spare the life of an innocent man. the doubts entertained as to the expediency of a fresh murder were not allowed to benefit the prisoner, who, besides being a loyal subject and a communicant of the ancient church, was also clothed in the white robes of an envoy, claiming not only justice but hospitality, as the deputy of philip's sister, margaret of parma. these considerations probably never occurred to the mind of his majesty. in view, however, of the peculiar circumstances of the case, it was unanimously agreed that there should be no more blood publicly shed. most of the councillors were in favor of slow poison. montigny's meat and drink, they said, should be daily drugged, so that he might die by little and little. philip, however, terminated these disquisitions by deciding that the ends of justice would not thus be sufficiently answered. the prisoner, he had resolved, should be regularly executed, but the deed should be secret, and it should be publicly announced that he had died of a fever. this point having been settled; the king now set about the arrangement of his plan with all that close attention to detail which marked his character. the patient industry which, had god given him a human heart and a love of right, might have made him a useful monarch, he now devoted to a scheme of midnight murder with a tranquil sense of enjoyment which seems almost incredible. there is no exaggeration in calling the deed a murder, for it certainly was not sanctioned by any law, divine or human, nor justified or excused by any of the circumstances which are supposed to palliate homicide. nor, when the elaborate and superfluous luxury of arrangements made by philip for the accomplishment of his design is considered, can it be doubted that he found a positive pleasure in his task. it would almost seem that he had become jealous of alva's achievements in the work of slaughter. he appeared willing to prove to those immediately about him, that however capable might be the viceroy of conducting public executions on a grand and terrifying scale, there was yet a certain delicacy of finish never attained by alva in such business, and which was all his majesty's own. the king was resolved to make the assassination of montigny a masterpiece. on the th august, , he accordingly directed don eugenio de peralta, concierge of the fortress of simancas, to repair to segovia, and thence to remove the seigneur montigny to simancas. here he was to be strictly immured; yet was to be allowed at times to walk in the corridor adjoining his chamber. on the th october following, the licentiate don alonzo de avellano, alcalde of valladolid, was furnished with an order addressed by the king to don eugenio de peralta, requiring him to place the prisoner in the hands of the said licentiate, who was charged with the execution of alva's sentence. this functionary had, moreover, been provided with a minute letter of instructions, which had been drawn up according to the king's directions, on the st october. in these royal instructions, it was stated that, although the sentence was for a public execution, yet the king had decided in favor of a private one within the walls of the fortress. it was to be managed so that no one should suspect that montigny had been executed, but so that, on the contrary, it should be universally said and believed that he had died a natural death. very few persons, all sworn and threatened into secrecy, were therefore to be employed. don alonzo was to start immediately for valladolid; which was within two short leagues of simancas. at that place he would communicate with don eugenio, and arrange the mode, day, and hour of execution. he would leave valladolid on the evening before a holiday, late in the afternoon, so as to arrive a little after dark at simancas. he would take with him a confidential notary, an executioner, and as few servants as possible. immediately upon his entrance to the fortress, he was to communicate the sentence of death to montigny, in presence of don eugenio and of one or two other persons. he would then console him, in which task he would be assisted by don eugenio. he would afterwards leave him with the religious person who would be appointed for that purpose. that night and the whole of the following day, which would be a festival, till after midnight, would be allotted to montigny, that he might have time to confess, to receive the sacraments, to convert himself to god, and to repent. between one and two o'clock in the morning the execution was to take place, in presence of the ecclesiastic, of don eugenio de peralta, of the notary, and of one or two other persons, who would be needed by the executioner. the ecclesiastic was to be a wise and prudent person, and to be informed how little confidence montigny inspired in the article of faith. if the prisoner should wish to make a will, it could not be permitted. as all his property had been confiscated, he could dispose of nothing. should he, however, desire to make a memorial of the debts which he would wish paid; he was to be allowed that liberty. it was, however, to be stipulated that he was to make no allusion, in any memorial or letter which he might write, to the execution which was about to take place. he was to use the language of a man seriously ill, and who feels himself at the point of death. by this infernal ingenuity it was proposed to make the victim an accomplice in the plot, and to place a false exculpation of his assassins in his dying lips. the execution having been fulfilled, and the death having been announced with the dissimulation prescribed, the burial was to take place in the church of saint saviour, in simancas. a moderate degree of pomp, such as befitted a person of montigny's quality, was to be allowed, and a decent tomb erected. a grand mass was also to be celebrated, with a respectable number, "say seven hundred," of lesser masses. as the servants of the defunct were few in number, continued the frugal king, they might be provided each with a suit of mourning. having thus personally arranged all the details of this secret work, from the reading of the sentence to the burial of the prisoner; having settled not only the mode of his departure from life, but of his passage through purgatory, the king despatched the agent on his mission. the royal program was faithfully enacted. don alonzo arrived at valladolid; and made his arrangements with don eugenio. it was agreed that a paper, prepared by royal authority, and brought by don alonzo from madrid, should be thrown into the corridor of montigny's prison. this paper, written in latin, ran as follows: "in the night, as i understand, there will be no chance for your escape. in the daytime there will be many; for you are then in charge of a single gouty guardian, no match in strength or speed for so vigorous a man as you. make your escape from the th to the th of october, at any hour you can, and take the road contiguous to the castle gate through which you entered. you will find robert and john, who will be ready with horses, and with everything necessary. may god favor your undertaking.--r. d. m." the letter, thus designedly thrown into the corridor by one confederate, was soon afterwards picked up by the other, who immediately taxed montigny with an attempt to escape. notwithstanding the vehement protestations of innocence naturally made by the prisoner, his pretended project was made the pretext for a still closer imprisonment in the "bishop's tower." a letter, written at madrid, by philip's orders, had been brought by don alonzo to simancas, narrating by anticipation these circumstances, precisely as they had now occurred. it moreover stated that montigny, in consequence of his close confinement, had fallen grievously ill, and that he would receive all the attention compatible with his safe keeping. this letter, according to previous orders, was now signed by don eugenio de peralta, dated th october, ; and publicly despatched to philip. it was thus formally established that montigny was seriously ill. a physician, thoroughly instructed and sworn to secrecy, was now ostentatiously admitted to the tower, bringing with him a vast quantity of drugs. he duly circulated among the townspeople, on his return, his opinion that the illustrious prisoner was afflicted with a disorder from which it was almost impossible that he should recover. thus, thanks to philip's masterly precautions, not a person in madrid or simancas was ignorant that montigny was dying of a fever, with the single exception of the patient himself. on saturday, the th of october, at nightfall, don alonzo de avellano, accompanied by the prescribed individuals, including fray hernando del, castillo, an ecclesiastic of high reputation, made their appearance at the prison of simancas. at ten in the evening the announcement of the sentence was made to montigny. he was visibly agitated at the sudden intelligence, for it was entirely unexpected by him. he had, on the contrary, hoped much from the intercession of, the queen, whose arrival he had already learned. he soon recovered himself, however, and requested to be left alone with the ecclesiastic. all the night and the following day were passed in holy offices. he conducted himself with great moderation, courage, and tranquillity. he protested his entire innocence of any complicity with the prince of orange, or of any disloyal designs or sentiments at any period of his life. he drew up a memorial, expressing his strong attachment to every point of the catholic faith, from which he had never for an instant swerved. his whole demeanor was noble, submissive, and christian. "in every essential," said fray hernando, "he conducted himself so well that we who remain may bear him envy." he wrote a paper of instructions concerning his faithful and bereaved dependents. he placed his signet ring, attached to a small gold chain, in the hands of the ecclesiastic, to be by him transmitted to his wife. another ring, set with turquois, he sent to his mother-in-law, the princess espinoy, from whom he had received it. about an hour after midnight, on the morning, therefore, of the th of october, fray hernando gave notice that the prisoner was ready to die. the alcalde don alonzo then entered, accompanied by the executioner and the notary. the sentence of alva was now again recited, the alcalde adding that the king, "out of his clemency and benignity," had substituted a secret for a public execution. montigny admitted that the judgment would be just and the punishment lenient, if it were conceded that the charges against him were true. his enemies, however, while he had been thus immured, had possessed the power to accuse him as they listed. he ceased to speak, and the executioner then came forward and strangled him. the alcalde, the notary, and the executioner then immediately started for valladolid, so that no person next morning knew that they had been that night at simancas, nor could guess the dark deed which they had then and there accomplished. the terrible, secret they were forbidden, on pain of death, to reveal. montigny, immediately after his death, was clothed in the habit of saint francis, in order to conceal the marks of strangulation. in the course of the day the body was deposited, according to the king's previous orders, in the church of saint saviour. don eugenio de peralta, who superintended the interment, uncovered the face of the defunct to prove his identity, which was instantly recognised by many sorrowing servants. the next morning the second letter, prepared by philip long before, and brought by don alonzo de avellano to simancas, received the date of th october, , together with the signature of don eugenio de peralta, keeper of simancas fortress, and was then publicly despatched to the king. it stated that, notwithstanding the care given to the seigneur de montigny in his severe illness by the physicians who had attended him, he had continued to grow worse and worse until the previous morning between three and four o'clock, when he had expired. the fray hernando del castillo, who had accidentally happened to be at simancas, had performed the holy offices, at the request of the deceased, who had died in so catholic a frame of mind, that great hopes might be entertained of his salvation. although he possessed no property, yet his burial had been conducted very respectably. on the rd of november, , these two letters, ostensibly written by don eugenio de peralta, were transmitted by philip to the duke of alva. they were to serve as evidence of the statement which the governor-general was now instructed to make, that the seigneur de montigny had died a natural death in the fortress of simancas. by the same courier, the king likewise forwarded a secret memoir, containing the exact history of the dark transaction, from which memoir the foregoing account has been prepared. at the same time the duke was instructed publicly to exhibit the lying letters of don eugenio de peralta, as containing an authentic statement of the affair. the king observed, moreover, in his letter, that there was not a person in spain who doubted that montigny had died of a fever. he added that if the sentiments of the deceased nobleman had been at all in conformity with his external manifestations, according to the accounts received of his last moments, it was to be hoped that god would have mercy upon his soul. the secretary who copied the letter, took the liberty of adding, however, to this paragraph the suggestion, that "if montigny were really a heretic, the devil, who always assists his children in such moments, would hardly have failed him in his dying hour." philip, displeased with this flippancy, caused the passage to be erased. he even gave vent to his royal indignation in a marginal note, to the effect that we should always express favorable judgments concerning the dead--a pious sentiment always dearer to writing masters than to historians. it seemed never to have occurred however to this remarkable moralist, that it was quite as reprehensible to strangle an innocent man as to speak ill of him after his decease. thus perished baron montigny, four years after his arrival in madrid as duchess margaret's ambassador, and three years after the death of his fellow-envoy marquis berghen. no apology is necessary for so detailed an account of this dark and secret tragedy. the great transactions of a reign are sometimes paltry things; great battles and great treaties, after vast consumption of life and of breath, often leave the world where they found it. the events which occupy many of the statelier pages of history, and which have most lived in the mouths of men, frequently contain but commonplace lessons of philosophy. it is perhaps otherwise when, by the resuscitation of secret documents, over which the dust of three centuries has gathered, we are enabled to study the internal working of a system of perfect tyranny. liberal institutions, republican or constitutional governments, move in the daylight; we see their mode of operation, feel the jar of their wheels, and are often needlessly alarmed at their apparent tendencies. the reverse of the picture is not always so easily attainable. when, therefore, we find a careful portrait of a consummate tyrant, painted by his own hand, it is worth our while to pause for a moment, that we may carefully peruse the lineaments. certainly, we shall afterwards not love liberty the less. towards the end of the year , still another and a terrible misfortune descended upon the netherlands. it was now the hand of god which smote the unhappy country, already so tortured by the cruelty of war. an inundation, more tremendous than any which had yet been recorded in those annals so prolific in such catastrophes, now swept the whole coast from flanders to friesland. not the memorable deluge of the thirteenth century, out of which the zuyder zee was born; not that in which the waters of the dollart had closed for ever over the villages and churches of groningen; not one of those perpetually recurring floods by which the inhabitants of the netherlands, year after year, were recalled to an anxious remembrance of the watery chaos out of which their fatherland had been created, and into which it was in daily danger of resolving itself again, had excited so much terror and caused so much destruction. a continued and violent gale from the north-west had long been sweeping the atlantic waters into the north sea, and had now piled them upon the fragile coasts of the provinces. the dykes, tasked beyond their strength, burst in every direction. the cities of flanders, to a considerable distance inland, were suddenly invaded by the waters of the ocean. the whole narrow peninsula of north holland was in imminent danger of being swept away for ever. between amsterdam and meyden, the great diemer dyke was broken through in twelve places. the hand-bos, a bulwark formed of oaken piles, fastened with metal clamps, moored with iron anchors, and secured by gravel and granite, was snapped to pieces like packthread. the "sleeper," a dyke thus called, because it was usually left in repose by the elements, except in great emergencies, alone held firm, and prevented the consummation of the catastrophe. still the ocean poured in upon the land with terrible fury. dort, rotterdam, and many other cities were, for a time, almost submerged. along the coast, fishing vessels, and even ships of larger size, were floated up into the country, where they entangled themselves in groves and orchards, or beat to pieces the roofs and walls of houses. the destruction of life and of property was enormous throughout the maritime provinces, but in friesland the desolation was complete. there nearly all the dykes and sluices were dashed to fragments; the country, far and-wide, converted into an angry sea. the steeples and towers of inland cities became islands of the ocean. thousands of human beings were swept out of existence in a few hours. whole districts of territory, with all their villages, farms, and churches, were rent from their places, borne along by the force of the waves, sometimes to be lodged in another part of the country, sometimes to be entirely engulfed. multitudes of men, women, children, of horses, oxen, sheep, and every domestic animal, were struggling in the waves in every direction. every boat, and every article which could serve as a boat, were eagerly seized upon. every house was inundated; even the grave-yards gave up their dead. the living infant in his cradle, and the long-buried corpse in his coffin, floated side by side. the ancient flood seemed about to be renewed. everywhere, upon the top of trees, upon the steeples of churches, human beings were clustered, praying to god for mercy, and to their fellow-men for assistance. as the storm at last was subsiding, boats began to ply in every direction, saving those who were still struggling in the water, picking fugitives from roofs and tree-tops, and collecting the bodies of those already drowned. colonel robles, seigneur de billy, formerly much hated for his spanish or portuguese blood, made himself very active in this humane work. by his exertions, and those of the troops belonging to groningen, many lives were rescued, and gratitude replaced the ancient animosity. it was estimated that at least twenty thousand persons were destroyed in the province of friesland alone. throughout the netherlands, one hundred thousand persons perished. the damage alone to property, the number of animals engulfed in the sea, were almost incalculable. these events took place on the st and nd november, . the former happened to be the day of all saints, and the spaniards maintained loudly that the vengeance of heaven had descended upon the abode of heretics. the netherlanders looked upon the catastrophe as ominous of still more terrible misfortunes in store for them. they seemed doomed to destruction by god and man. an overwhelming tyranny had long been chafing against their constitutional bulwarks, only to sweep over them at last; and now the resistless ocean, impatient of man's feeble barriers, had at last risen to reclaim his prey. nature, as if disposed to put to the blush the feeble cruelty of man, had thus wrought more havoc in a few hours, than bigotry, however active, could effect in many years. nearly at the close of this year ( ) an incident occurred, illustrating the ferocious courage so often engendered in civil contests. on the western verge of the isle of bommel, stood the castle of lowestein. the island is not in the sea. it is the narrow but important territory which is enclosed between the meuse and the waal. the castle, placed in a slender hook, at the junction of the two rivers, commanded the two cities of gorcum and dorcum, and the whole navigation of the waters. one evening, towards the end of december, four monks, wearing the cowls and robes of mendicant grey friars, demanded hospitality at the castle gate. they were at once ushered into the presence of the commandant, a brother of president tisnacq. he was standing by the fire, conversing with his wife. the foremost monk approaching him, asked whether the castle held for the duke of alva or the prince of orange. the castellian replied that he recognized no prince save philip, king of spain. thereupon the monk, who was no other than herman de ruyter, a drover by trade, and a warm partisan of orange, plucked a pistol from beneath his robe, and shot the commandant through the head. the others, taking advantage of the sudden panic, overcame all the resistance offered by the feeble garrison, and made themselves masters of the place. in the course of the next day they introduced into the castle four or five and twenty men, with which force they diligently set themselves to fortify the place, and secure themselves in its possession. a larger reinforcement which they had reckoned upon, was detained by the floods and frosts, which, for the moment, had made the roads and fivers alike impracticable. don roderigo de toledo, governor of bois le duc, immediately despatched a certain captain perea, at the head of two hundred soldiers, who were joined on the way by a miscellaneous force of volunteers, to recover the fortress as soon as possible. the castle, bathed on its outward walls by the waal and meuse, and having two redoubts, defended by a double interior foss, would have been difficult to take by assaults had the number of the besieged been at all adequate to its defence. as matters stood, however, the spaniards, by battering a breach in the wall with their cannon on the first day, and then escalading the inner works with remarkable gallantry upon the second, found themselves masters of the place within eight and forty hours of their first appearance before its gates. most of the defenders were either slain or captured alive. de ruyter alone had betaken himself to an inner hall of the castle, where he stood at bay upon the threshold. many spaniards, one after another, as they attempted to kill or to secure him, fell before his sword, which he wielded with the strength of a giant. at last, overpowered by numbers, and weakened by the loss of blood, he retreated slowly into the hall, followed by many of his antagonists. here, by an unexpected movement, he applied a match to a train of powder, which he had previously laid along the floor of the apartment. the explosion was instantaneous. the tower, where the contest was taking place, sprang into the air, and de ruyter with his enemies shared a common doom. a part of the mangled remains of this heroic but ferocious patriot were afterwards dug from the ruins of the tower, and with impotent malice nailed upon the gallows at bois le duc. of his surviving companions, some were beheaded, some were broken on the wheel, some were hung and quartered--all were executed. etext editor's bookmarks: constitutional governments, move in the daylight consumer would pay the tax, supposing it were ever paid at all financial opposition to tyranny is apt to be unanimous great battles often leave the world where they found it great transactions of a reign are sometimes paltry things the faithful servant is always a perpetual ass motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley [chapter vi.] orange and count louis in france--peace with the huguenots-- coligny's memoir, presented by request to charles ix., on the subject of invading the netherlands--secret correspondence of orange organized by paul buys--privateering commissions issued by the prince--regulations prescribed by him for the fleets thus created-- impoverished condition of the prince--his fortitude--his personal sacrifices and privations--his generosity--renewed contest between the duke and the estates on the subject of the tenth and twentieth pence--violent disputes in the council--firm opposition of viglius-- edict commanding the immediate collection of the tax--popular tumults--viglius denounced by alva--the duke's fierce complaints to the king--secret schemes of philip against queen elizabeth of england--the ridolphi plot to murder elizabeth countenanced by philip and pius v.--the king's orders to alva to further the plan-- the duke's remonstrances--explosion of the plot--obstinacy of philip--renewed complaints of alva as to the imprudent service required of him--other attempts of philip to murder elizabeth--don john of austria in the levant----battle of lepanto--slothfulness of selim--appointment of medina celi--incessant wrangling in brussels upon the tax--persevering efforts of orange--contempt of alva for the prince--proposed sentence of ignominy against his name--sonoy's mission to germany--remarkable papers issued by the prince--the "harangue"--intense hatred for alva entertained by the highest as well as lower orders--visit of francis de alva to brussels--his unfavourable report to the king--querulous language of the duke-- deputation to spain--universal revolt against the tax--ferocity of alva--execution of eighteen tradesmen secretly ordered--interrupted by the capture of brill--beggars of the sea--the younger wild boar of ardennes--reconciliation between the english government and that of alva--the netherland privateersmen ordered out of english ports-- de la marck's fleet before brill--the town summoned to surrender-- commissioners sent out to the fleet--flight of the magistrates and townspeople--capture of the place--indignation of alva--popular exultation in brussels--puns and caricatures--bossu ordered to recover the town of brill--his defeat--his perfidious entrance into rotterdam--massacre in that city--flushing revolutionized-- unsuccessful attempt of governor de bourgogne to recal the citizens to their obedience--expedition under treslong from brill to assist the town of flushing--murder of paccheco by the patriots--zeraerts appointed governor of walcheren by orange. while such had been the domestic events of the netherlands during the years and , the prince of orange, although again a wanderer, had never allowed himself to despair. during this whole period, the darkest hour for himself and for his country, he was ever watchful. after disbanding his troops at strasburg, and after making the best arrangements possible under the circumstances for the eventual payment of their wages, he had joined the army which the duke of deux ponts had been raising in germany to assist the cause of the huguenots in france. the prince having been forced to acknowledge that, for the moment, all open efforts in the netherlands were likely to be fruitless, instinctively turned his eyes towards the more favorable aspect of the reformation in france. it was inevitable that, while he was thus thrown for the time out of his legitimate employment, he should be led to the battles of freedom in a neighbouring land. the duke of deux ponts, who felt his own military skill hardly adequate to the task which he had assumed, was glad, as it were, to put himself and his army under the orders of orange. meantime the battle of jamac had been fought; the prince of condo, covered with wounds, and exclaiming that it was sweet to die for christ and country, had fallen from his saddle; the whole huguenot army had been routed by the royal forces under the nominal command of anjou, and the body of conde, tied to the back of a she ass, had been paraded through the streets of jarnap in derision. affairs had already grown almost as black for the cause of freedom in france as in the provinces. shortly afterwards william of orange, with a band of twelve hundred horsemen, joined the banners of coligny. his two brothers accompanied him. henry, the stripling, had left the university to follow the fortunes of the prince. the indomitable louis, after seven thousand of his army had been slain, had swum naked across the ems, exclaiming "that his courage, thank god, was as fresh and lively as ever," and had lost not a moment in renewing his hostile schemes against the spanish government. in the meantime he had joined the huguenots in france. the battle of moncontour had succeeded, count peter mansfeld, with five thousand troops sent by alva, fighting on the side of the royalists, and louis nassau on that of the huguenots, atoning by the steadiness and skill with which he covered the retreat, for his intemperate courage, which had precipitated the action, and perhaps been the main cause of coligny's overthrow. the prince of orange, who had been peremptorily called to the netherlands in the beginning of the autumn, was not present at the battle. disguised as a peasant, with but five attendants, and at great peril, he had crossed the enemy's lines, traversed france, and arrived in germany before the winter. count louis remained with the huguenots. so necessary did he seem to their cause, and so dear had he become to their armies, that during the severe illness of coligny in the course of the following summer all eyes were turned upon him as the inevitable successor of that great man, the only remaining pillar of freedom in france. coligny recovered. the deadly peace between the huguenots and the court succeeded. the admiral, despite his sagacity and his suspicions, embarked with his whole party upon that smooth and treacherous current which led to the horrible catastrophe of saint bartholomew. to occupy his attention, a formal engagement was made by the government to send succor to the netherlands. the admiral was to lead the auxiliaries which were to be despatched across the frontier to overthrow the tyrannical government of alva. long and anxious were the colloquies held between coligny and the royalists. the monarch requested a detailed opinion, in writing, from the admiral, on the most advisable plan for invading the netherlands. the result was the preparation of the celebrated memoir, under coligny's directions, by young de mornay, seigneur de plessis. the document was certainly not a paper of the highest order. it did not appeal to the loftier instincts which kings or common mortals might be supposed to possess. it summoned the monarch to the contest in the netherlands that the ancient injuries committed by spain might be avenged. it invoked the ghost of isabella of france, foully murdered, as it was thought, by philip. it held out the prospect of re-annexing the fair provinces, wrested from the king's ancestors by former spanish sovereigns. it painted the hazardous position of philip; with the moorish revolt gnawing at the entrails of his kingdom, with the turkish war consuming its extremities, with the canker of rebellion corroding the very heart of the netherlands. it recalled, with exultation, the melancholy fact that the only natural and healthy existence of the french was in a state of war--that france, if not occupied with foreign campaigns, could not be prevented from plunging its sword into its own vitals. it indulged in refreshing reminiscences of those halcyon days, not long gone by, when france, enjoying perfect tranquillity within its own borders, was calmly and regularly carrying on its long wars beyond the frontier. in spite of this savage spirit, which modern documents, if they did not scorn, would, at least have shrouded, the paper was nevertheless a sagacious one; but the request for the memoir, and the many interviews on the subject of the invasion, were only intended to deceive. they were but the curtain which concealed the preparations for the dark tragedy which was about to be enacted. equally deceived, and more sanguine than ever, louis nassau during this period was indefatigable in his attempts to gain friends for his cause. he had repeated audiences of the king, to whose court he had come in disguise. he made a strong and warm impression upon elizabeth's envoy at the french court, walsingham. it is probable that in the count's impetuosity to carry his point, he allowed more plausibility to be given to certain projects for subdividing the netherlands than his brother would ever have sanctioned. the prince was a total stranger to these inchoate schemes. his work was to set his country free, and to destroy the tyranny which had grown colossal. that employment was sufficient for a lifetime, and there is no proof to be found that a paltry and personal self-interest had even the lowest place among his motives. meantime, in the autumn of , orange had again reached germany. paul buys, pensionary of leyden, had kept him constantly informed of the state of affairs in the provinces. through his means an extensive correspondence was organized and maintained with leading persons in every part of the netherlands. the conventional terms by which different matters and persons of importance were designated in these letters were familiarly known to all friends of the cause, not only in the provinces, but in france, england, germany, and particularly in the great commercial cities. the prince, for example, was always designated as martin willemzoon, the duke of alva as master powels van alblas, the queen of england as henry philipzoon, the king of denmark as peter peterson. the twelve signs of the zodiac were used instead of the twelve months, and a great variety of similar substitutions were adopted. before his visit to france, orange had, moreover, issued commissions, in his capacity of sovereign, to various seafaring persons, who were empowered to cruise against spanish commerce. the "beggars of the sea," as these privateersmen designated themselves, soon acquired as terrible a name as the wild beggars, or the forest beggars; but the prince, having had many conversations with admiral coligny on the important benefits to be derived from the system, had faithfully set himself to effect a reformation of its abuses after his return from france. the seigneur de dolhain, who, like many other refugee nobles, had acquired much distinction in this roving corsair life, had for a season acted as admiral for the prince. he had, however, resolutely declined to render any accounts of his various expeditions, and was now deprived of his command in consequence. gillain de fiennes, seigneur de lumbres, was appointed to succeed him. at the same time strict orders were issued by orange, forbidding all hostile measures against the emperor or any of the princes of the empire, against sweden, denmark, england, or against any potentates who were protectors of the true christian religion. the duke of alva and his adherents were designated as the only lawful antagonists. the prince, moreover, gave minute instructions as to the discipline to be observed in his fleet. the articles of war were to be strictly enforced. each commander was to maintain a minister on board his ship, who was to preach god's word, and to preserve christian piety among the crew. no one was to exercise any command in the fleet save native netherlanders, unless thereto expressly commissioned by the prince of orange. all prizes were to be divided and distributed by a prescribed rule. no persons were to be received on board, either as sailors or soldiers, save "folk of goad name and fame." no man who had ever been punished of justice was to be admitted. such were the principal features in the organization of that infant navy which, in course of this and the following centuries, was to achieve so many triumphs, and to which a powerful and adventurous mercantile marine had already led the way. "of their ships," said cardinal bentivoglio, "the hollanders make houses, of their houses schools. here they are born, here educated, here they learn their profession. their sailors, flying from one pale to the other, practising their art wherever the sun displays itself to mortals, become so skilful that they can scarcely be equalled, certainly not surpassed; by any nation in the civilized world." the prince, however, on his return from france, had never been in so forlorn a condition. "orange is plainly perishing," said one of the friends of the cause. not only had he no funds to organize new levies, but he was daily exposed to the most clamorously-urged claims, growing out of the army which he had been recently obliged to disband. it had been originally reported in the netherlands that he had fallen in the battle of moncontour. "if he have really been taken off," wrote viglius, hardly daring to credit the great news, "we shall all of us have less cause to tremble." after his actual return, however, lean and beggared, with neither money nor credit, a mere threatening shadow without substance or power, he seemed to justify the sarcasm of granvelle. "vana sine viribus ira," quoted the cardinal, and of a verity it seemed that not a man was likely to stir in germany in his behalf, now that so deep a gloom had descended upon his cause. the obscure and the oppressed throughout the provinces and germany still freely contributed out of their weakness and their poverty, and taxed themselves beyond their means to assist enterprizes for the relief of the netherlands. the great ones of the earth, however, those on whom the prince had relied; those to whom he had given his heart; dukes, princes, and electors, in this fatal change of his fortunes fell away like water. still his spirit was unbroken. his letters showed a perfect appreciation of his situation, and of that to which his country was reduced; but they never exhibited a trace of weakness or despair. a modest, but lofty courage; a pious, but unaffected resignation, breathed through--every document, public or private, which fell from his pen during this epoch. he wrote to his brother john that he was quite willing to go, to frankfort, in order to give himself up as a hostage to his troops for the payment of their arrears. at the same time he begged his brother to move heaven and earth to raise at least one hundred thousand thalers. if he could only furnish them with a month's pay, the soldiers would perhaps be for a time contented. he gave directions also concerning the disposition of what remained of his plate and furniture, the greater part of it having been already sold and expended in the cause. he thought it would, on the whole, be better to have the remainder sold, piece by piece, at the fair. more money would be raised by that course than by a more wholesale arrangement. he was now obliged to attend personally to the most minute matters of domestic economy. the man who been the mate of emperors, who was himself a sovereign, had lived his life long in pomp and luxury, surrounded by countless nobles, pages, men-at-arms, and menials, now calmly accepted the position of an outlaw and an exile. he cheerfully fulfilled tasks which had formerly devolved upon his grooms and valets. there was an almost pathetic simplicity in the homely details of an existence which, for the moment, had become so obscure and so desperate. "send by the bearer," he wrote, "the little hackney given me by the admiral; send also my two pair of trunk hose; one pair is at the tailor's to be mended, the other, pair you will please order to be taken from the things which i wore lately at dillenburg. they lie on the table with my accoutrements. if the little hackney be not in condition, please send the grey horse with the cropped ears and tail." he was always mindful, however, not only of the great cause to which he had devoted himself, but of the wants experienced by individuals who had done him service. he never forgot his friends. in the depth of his own misery he remembered favors received from humble persons. "send a little cup, worth at least a hundred florins, to hartmann wolf," he wrote to his brother; "you can take as much silver out of the coffer, in which there is still some of my chapel service remaining."--"you will observe that affenstein is wanting a horse," he wrote on another occasion; "please look him out one, and send it to me with the price. i will send you the money. since he has shown himself so willing in the cause, one ought to do something for him." the contest between the duke and the estates, on the subject of the tenth and twentieth penny had been for a season adjusted. the two years' term, however, during which it had been arranged that the tax should be commuted, was to expire in the autumn of . early therefore in this year the disputes were renewed with greater acrimony than ever. the estates felt satisfied that the king was less eager than the viceroy. viglius was satisfied that the power of alva was upon the wane. while the king was not likely openly to rebuke his recent measures, it seemed not improbable that the governor's reiterated requests to be recalled might be granted. fortified by these considerations, the president, who had so long been the supple tool of the tyrant, suddenly assumed the character of a popular tribune. the wranglings, the contradictions, the vituperations, the threatenings, now became incessant in the council. the duke found that he had exulted prematurely, when he announced to the king the triumphant establishment, in perpetuity, of the lucrative tax. so far from all the estates having given their consent, as he had maintained, and as he had written to philip, it now appeared that not one of those bodies considered itself bound beyond its quota for the two years. this was formally stated in the council by berlaymont and other members. the wrath of the duke blazed forth at this announcement. he berated berlaymont for maintaining, or for allowing it to be maintained, that the consent of the orders had ever been doubtful. he protested that they had as unequivocally agreed to the perpetual imposition of the tag as he to its commutation during two years. he declared, however, that he was sick of quotas. the tax should now be collected forthwith, and treasurer schetz was ordered to take his measures accordingly. at a conference on the th may, the duke asked viglius for his opinion. the president made a long reply, taking the ground that the consent of the orders had been only conditional, and appealing to such members of the finance council as were present to confirm his assertion. it was confirmed by all. the duke, in a passion, swore that those who dared maintain such a statement should be chastised. viglius replied that it had always been the custom for councillors to declare their opinion, and that they had never before been threatened with such consequences. if such, however, were his excellency's sentiments, councillors had better stay at home, hold their tongues, and so avoid chastisement. the duke, controlling himself a little, apologized for this allusion to chastisement, a menace which he disclaimed having intended with reference to councillors whom he had always commended to the king, and of whom his majesty had so high an opinion. at a subsequent meeting the duke took viglius aside, and assured him that he was quite of his own way of thinking. for certain reasons, however, he expressed himself as unwilling that the rest of the council should be aware of the change in his views. he wished, he said, to dissemble. the astute president, for a moment, could not imagine the governor's drift. he afterwards perceived that the object of this little piece of deception had been to close his mouth. the duke obviously conjectured that the president, lulled into security, by this secret assurance, would be silent; that the other councillors, believing the president to have adopted the governor's views, would alter their opinions; and that the opposition of the estates, thus losing its support in the council, would likewise very soon be abandoned. the president, however, was not to be entrapped by this falsehood. he resolutely maintained his hostility to the tax, depending for his security on the royal opinion, the popular feeling, and the judgment of his colleagues. the daily meetings of the board were almost entirely occupied by this single subject. although since the arrival of alva the council of blood had usurped nearly all the functions of the state and finance-councils, yet there now seemed a disposition on the part of alva to seek the countenance, even while he spurned the authority, of other functionaries. he found, however, neither sympathy nor obedience. the president stoutly told him that he was endeavouring to swim against the stream, that the tax was offensive to the people, and that the voice of the people was the voice of god. on the last day of july, however, the duke issued an edict, by which summary collection of the tenth and twentieth pence was ordered. the whole country was immediately in uproar. the estates of every province, the assemblies of every city, met and remonstrated. the merchants suspended all business, the petty dealers shut up their shops. the people congregated together in masses, vowing resistance to the illegal and cruel impost. not a farthing was collected. the "seven stiver people", spies of government, who for that paltry daily stipend were employed to listen for treason in every tavern, in every huckster's booth, in every alley of every city, were now quite unable to report all the curses which were hourly heard uttered against the tyranny of the viceroy. evidently, his power was declining. the councillors resisted him, the common people almost defied him. a mercer to whom he was indebted for thirty thousand florins' worth of goods, refused to open his shop, lest the tax should be collected on his merchandize. the duke confiscated his debt, as the mercer had foreseen, but this being a pecuniary sacrifice, seemed preferable to acquiescence in a measure so vague and so boundless that it might easily absorb the whole property of the country. no man saluted the governor as he passed through the streets. hardly an attempt was made by the people to disguise their abhorrence of his person: alva, on his side, gave daily exhibitions of ungovernable fury. at a council held on th september, , he stated that the king had ordered the immediate enforcement of the edict. viglius observed that there were many objections to its form. he also stoutly denied that the estates had ever given their consent. alva fiercely asked the president if he had not himself once maintained that the consent had been granted! viglius replied that he had never made such an assertion. he had mentioned the conditions and the implied promises on the part of government, by which a partial consent had been extorted. he never could have said that the consent had been accorded, for he had never believed that it could be obtained. he had not proceeded far in his argument when he was interrupted by the duke--"but you said so, you said so, you said so," cried the exasperated governor, in a towering passion, repeating many times this flat contradiction to the president's statements. viglius firmly stood his ground. alva loudly denounced him for the little respect he had manifested for his authority. he had hitherto done the president good offices, he said, with his majesty, but certainly should not feel justified in concealing his recent and very unhandsome conduct. viglius replied that he had always reverently cherished the governor, and had endeavoured to merit his favor by diligent obsequiousness. he was bound by his oath, however; to utter in council that which comported with his own sentiments and his majesty's interests. he had done this heretofore in presence of emperors, kings, queens, and regents, and they had not taken offence. he did not, at this hour, tremble for his grey head, and hoped his majesty would grant him a hearing before condemnation. the firm attitude of the president increased the irritation of the viceroy. observing that he knew the proper means of enforcing his authority he dismissed the meeting. immediately afterwards, he received the visits of his son, don frederic of vargas, and other familiars. to these he recounted the scene which had taken place, raving the while so ferociously against viglius as to induce the supposition that something serious was intended against him. the report flew from mouth to mouth. the affair became the town talk, so that, in the words of the president, it was soon discussed by every barber and old woman in brussels. his friends became alarmed for his safety, while, at the same time, the citizens rejoiced that their cause had found so powerful an advocate. nothing, however, came of these threats and these explosions. on the contrary, shortly afterwards the duke gave orders that the tenth penny should be remitted upon four great articles-corn, meat, wine, and beer. it was also not to be levied upon raw materials used in manufactures. certainly, these were very important concessions. still the constitutional objections remained. alva could not be made to understand why the alcabala, which was raised without difficulty in the little town of alva, should encounter such fierce opposition in the netherlands. the estates, he informed the king, made a great deal of trouble. they withheld their consent at command of their satrap. the motive which influenced the leading men was not the interest of factories or fisheries, but the fear that for the future they might not be able to dictate the law to their sovereign. the people of that country, he observed, had still the same character which had been described by julius caesar. the duke, however, did not find much sympathy at madrid. courtiers and councillors had long derided his schemes. as for the king, his mind was occupied with more interesting matters. philip lived but to enforce what he chose to consider the will of god. while the duke was fighting this battle with the netherland constitutionalists, his master had engaged at home in a secret but most comprehensive scheme. this was a plot to assassinate queen elizabeth of england, and to liberate mary queen of scots, who was to be placed on the throne in her stead. this project, in which was of course involved the reduction of england under the dominion of the ancient church, could not but prove attractive to philip. it included a conspiracy against a friendly sovereign, immense service to the church, and a murder. his passion for intrigue, his love of god, and his hatred of man, would all be gratified at once. thus, although the moorish revolt within the heart of his kingdom had hardly been terminated--although his legions and his navies were at that instant engaged in a contest of no ordinary importance with the turkish empire--although the netherlands, still maintaining their hostility and their hatred, required the flower of the spanish army to compel their submission, he did not hesitate to accept the dark adventure which was offered to him by ignoble hands. one ridolfi, a florentine, long resident in england, had been sent to the netherlands as secret agent of the duke of norfolk. alva read his character immediately, and denounced him to philip as a loose, prating creature, utterly unfit to be entrusted with affairs of importance. philip, however, thinking more of the plot than of his fellow-actors, welcomed the agent of the conspiracy to madrid, listened to his disclosures attentively, and, without absolutely committing himself by direct promises, dismissed him with many expressions of encouragement. on the th of july, , philip wrote to the duke of alva, giving an account of his interview with roberto ridolfi. the envoy, after relating the sufferings of the queen of scotland, had laid before him a plan for her liberation. if the spanish monarch were willing to assist the duke of norfolk and his friends, it would be easy to put upon mary's head the crown of england. she was then to intermarry with norfolk. the kingdom of england was again to acknowledge the authority of rome, and the catholic religion to be everywhere restored. the most favorable moment for the execution of the plan would be in august or september. as queen elizabeth would at that season quit london for the country, an opportunity would be easily found for seizing and murdering her. pius v., to whom ridolfi had opened the whole matter, highly approved the scheme, and warmly urged philip's cooperation. poor and ruined as he was himself; the pope protested that he was ready to sell his chalices, and even his own vestments, to provide funds for the cause. philip had replied that few words were necessary to persuade him. his desire to see the enterprize succeed was extreme, notwithstanding the difficulties by which it was surrounded. he would reflect earnestly upon the subject, in the hope that god, whose cause it was, would enlighten and assist him. thus much he had stated to ridolfi, but he had informed his council afterwards that he was determined to carry out the scheme by certain means of which the duke would soon be informed. the end proposed was to kill or to capture elizabeth, to set at liberty the queen of scotland, and to put upon her head the crown of england. in this enterprize he instructed the duke of alva secretly to assist, without however resorting to open hostilities in his own name or in that of his sovereign. he desired to be informed how many spaniards the duke could put at the disposition of the conspirators. they had asked for six thousand arquebusiers for england, two thousand for scotland, two thousand for ireland. besides these troops, the viceroy was directed to provide immediately four thousand arquebuses and two thousand corslets. for the expenses of the enterprize philip would immediately remit two hundred thousand crowns. alva was instructed to keep the affair a profound secret from his councillors. even hopper at madrid knew nothing of the matter, while the king had only expressed himself in general terms to the nuncio and to ridolfi, then already on his way to the netherlands. the king concluded his letter by saying, that from what he had now written with his own hand, the duke could infer how much he had this affair at heart. it was unnecessary for him to say more, persuaded as he was that the duke would take as profound an interest in it as himself. alva perceived all the rashness of the scheme, and felt how impossible it would be for him to comply with philip's orders. to send an army from the netherlands into england for the purpose of dethroning and killing a most popular sovereign, and at the same time to preserve the most amicable relations with the country, was rather a desperate undertaking. a force of ten thousand spaniards, under chiappin vitelli, and other favorite officers of the duke, would hardly prove a trifle to be overlooked, nor would their operations be susceptible of very friendly explanations. the governor therefore, assured philip that he "highly applauded his master for his plot. he could not help rendering infinite thanks to god for having made him vassal to such a prince." he praised exceedingly the resolution which his majesty had taken. after this preamble, however, he proceeded to pour cold water upon his sovereign's ardor. he decidedly expressed the opinion that philip should not proceed in such an undertaking until at any rate the party of the duke of norfolk had obtained possession of elizabeth's person. should the king declare himself prematurely, he might be sure that the venetians, breaking off their alliance with him, would make their peace with the turk; and that elizabeth would, perhaps, conclude that marriage with the duke of alencon which now seemed but a pleasantry. moreover, he expressed his want of confidence in the duke of norfolk, whom he considered as a poor creature with but little courage. he also expressed his doubts concerning the prudence and capacity of don gueran de espes, his majesty's ambassador at london. it was not long before these machinations became known in england. the queen of scots was guarded more closely than ever, the duke of norfolk was arrested; yet philip, whose share in the conspiracy had remained a secret, was not discouraged by the absolute explosion of the whole affair. he still held to an impossible purpose with a tenacity which resembled fatuity. he avowed that his obligations in the sight of god were so strict that he was still determined to proceed in the sacred cause. he remitted, therefore, the promised funds to the duke of alva, and urged him to act with proper secrecy and promptness. the viceroy was not a little perplexed by these remarkable instructions. none but lunatics could continue to conspire, after the conspiracy had been exposed and the conspirators arrested. yet this was what his catholic majesty expected of his governor-general. alva complained, not unreasonably, of the contradictory demands to which he was subjected. he was to cause no rupture with england, yet he was to send succor to an imprisoned traitor; he was to keep all his operations secret from his council, yet he was to send all his army out of the country, and to organize an expensive campaign. he sneered: at the flippancy of ridolfi, who imagined that it was the work of a moment to seize the queen of england, to liberate the queen of scotland, to take possession of the tower of london, and to burn the fleet in the thames. "were your majesty and the queen of england acting together," he observed, "it would be impossible to execute the plan proposed by ridolfi." the chief danger to be apprehended was from france and germany. were those countries not to interfere, he would undertake to make philip sovereign of england before the winter. their opposition, however, was sufficient to make the enterprise not only difficult, but impossible. he begged his, master not to be precipitate in the most important affair which had been negotiated by man since christ came upon earth. nothing less, he said, than the existence of the christian faith was at stake, for, should his majesty fail in this undertaking, not one stone of the ancient religion would be left upon another. he again warned the king of the contemptible character, of ridolfi, who had spoken of the affair so freely that it was a common subject of discussion on the bourse, at antwerp, and he reiterated, in all his letters his distrust of the parties prominently engaged in the transaction. such was the general, tenor of the long despatches exchanged between the king and the duke of alva upon this iniquitous scheme. the duke showed himself reluctant throughout the whole affair, although he certainly never opposed his master's project by any arguments founded upon good faith, christian charity, or the sense of honor. to kill the queen of england, subvert the laws of her realm, burn her fleets, and butcher her subjects, while the mask of amity and entire consideration was sedulously preserved--all these projects were admitted to be strictly meritorious in themselves, although objections were taken as to the time and mode of execution. alva never positively refused to accept his share in the enterprise, but he took care not to lift his finger till the catastrophe in england had made all attempts futile. philip, on the other hand, never positively withdrew from the conspiracy, but, after an infinite deal of writing and intriguing, concluded by leaving the whole affair in the hands of alva. the only sufferer for philip's participation in the plot was the spanish envoy at london, don gueran de espes. this gentleman was formally dismissed by queen elizabeth, for having given treacherous and hostile advice to the duke of alva and to philip; but her majesty at the same time expressed the most profound consideration for her brother of spain. towards the close of the same year, however (december, ); alva sent two other italian assassins to england, bribed by the promise of vast rewards, to attempt the life of elizabeth, quietly, by poison or otherwise. the envoy, mondoucet, in apprizing the french monarch of this scheme, added that the duke was so ulcerated and annoyed by the discovery of the previous enterprise, that nothing could exceed his rage. these ruffians were not destined to success, but the attempts of the duke upon the queen's life were renewed from time to time. eighteen months later (august, ), two scotchmen, pensioners of philip, came from spain, with secret orders to consult with alva. they had accordingly much negotiation with the duke and his secretary, albornoz. they boasted that they could easily capture elizabeth, but said that the king's purpose was to kill her. the plan, wrote mondoucet, was the same as it had been before, namely, to murder the queen of england, and to give her crown to mary of scotland, who would thus be in their power, and whose son was to be seized, and bestowed in marriage in such a way as to make them perpetual masters of both kingdoms. it does not belong to this history to discuss the merits, nor to narrate the fortunes, of that bickering and fruitless alliance which had been entered into at this period by philip with venice and the holy see against the turk. the revolt of granada had at last, after a two years' struggle, been subdued, and the remnants of the romantic race which had once swayed the peninsula been swept into slavery. the moors had sustained the unequal conflict with a constancy not to have been expected of so gentle a people. "if a nation meek as lambs could resist so bravely," said the prince of orange, "what ought not to be expected of a hardy people like the netherlanders?" don john of austria having concluded a series of somewhat inglorious forays against women, children, and bed-ridden old men in andalusia and granada; had arrived, in august of this year, at naples, to take command of the combined fleet in the levant. the battle of lepanto had been fought, but the quarrelsome and contradictory conduct of the allies had rendered the splendid victory as barren as the waves: upon which it had been won. it was no less true, however, that the blunders of the infidels had previously enabled philip to extricate himself with better success from the dangers of the moorish revolt than might have been his fortune. had the rebels succeeded in holding granada and the mountains of andalusia, and had they been supported, as they had a right to expect, by the forces of the sultan, a different aspect might have been given to the conflict, and one far less triumphant for spain. had a prince of vigorous ambition and comprehensive policy governed at that moment the turkish empire; it would have cost philip a serious struggle to maintain himself in his hereditary dominions. while he was plotting against the life and throne of elizabeth, he might have had cause to tremble for his own. fortunately, however, for his catholic majesty, selim was satisfied to secure himself in the possession of the isle of venus, with its fruitful vineyards. "to shed the blood" of cyprian vines, in which he was so enthusiastic a connoisseur, was to him a more exhilarating occupation than to pursue, amid carnage and hardships, the splendid dream of a re-established eastern caliphate. on the th sept. , a commission of governor-general of the netherlands was at last issued to john de la cerda, duke of medina coeli. philip, in compliance with the duke's repeated requests, and perhaps not entirely satisfied with the recent course of events in the provinces, had at last, after great hesitation, consented to alva's resignation. his successor; however, was not immediately to take his departure, and in the meantime the duke was instructed to persevere in his faithful services. these services had, for the present, reduced themselves to a perpetual and not very triumphant altercation with his council, with the estates, and with the people, on the subject of his abominable tax. he was entirely alone. they who had stood unflinchingly at his side when the only business of the administration was to burn heretics, turned their backs upon him now that he had engaged in this desperate conflict with. the whole money power of the country. the king was far from cordial in his support, the councillors much too crafty to retain their hold upon the wheel, to which they had only attached themselves in its ascent. viglius and berlaymont; noircarmes and aerschot, opposed and almost defied the man they now thought sinking, and kept the king constantly informed of the vast distress which the financial measures of the duke were causing. quite, at the close of the year, an elaborate petition from the estates of brabant was read before the state council. it contained a strong remonstrance against the tenth penny. its repeal was strongly urged, upon the ground that its collection would involve the country in universal ruin. upon this, alva burst forth in one of the violent explosions of rage to which he was subject. the prosperity of the netherlands, he protested, was not dearer to the inhabitants than to himself. he swore by the cross, and by the most holy of holies, preserved in the church of saint gudule, that had he been but a private individual, living in spain, he would, out of the love he bore the provinces, have rushed to their defence had their safety been endangered. he felt therefore deeply wounded that malevolent persons should thus insinuate that he had even wished to injure the country, or to exercise tyranny over its citizens. the tenth penny, he continued, was necessary to the defence of the land, and was much preferable to quotas. it was highly improper that every man in the rabble should know how much was contributed, because each individual, learning the gross amount, would imagine that he, had paid it all himself. in conclusion, he observed that, broken in health and stricken in years as he felt himself, he was now most anxious to return, and was daily looking with eagerness for the arrival of the duke of medina coeli. during the course of this same year, the prince of orange had been continuing his preparations. he had sent his agents to every place where a hope was held out to him of obtaining support. money was what he was naturally most anxious to obtain from individuals; open and warlike assistance what he demanded from governments. his funds, little by little, were increasing, owing to the generosity of many obscure persons, and to the daring exploits of the beggars of the sea. his mission, however, to the northern courts had failed. his envoys had been received in sweden and denmark with barren courtesy. the duke of alva, on the other hand, never alluded to the prince but with contempt; knowing not that the ruined outlaw was slowly undermining the very ground beneath the monarch's feet; dreaming not that the feeble strokes which he despised were the opening blows of a century's conflict; foreseeing not that long before its close the chastised province was to expand into a great republic, and that the name of the outlaw was to become almost divine. granvelle had already recommended that the young count de buren should be endowed with certain lands in spain, in exchange for his hereditary estates, in order that the name and fame of the rebel william should be forever extinguished in the netherlands. with the same view, a new sentence against the prince of orange was now proposed by the viceroy. this was, to execute him solemnly in effigy, to drag his escutcheon through the streets at the tails of horses, and after having broken it in pieces, and thus cancelled his armorial bearings, to declare him and his descendants, ignoble, infamous, and incapable of holding property or estates. could a leaf or two of future history have been unrolled to king, cardinal, and governor, they might have found the destined fortune of the illustrious rebel's house not exactly in accordance with the plan of summary extinction thus laid down. not discouraged, the prince continued to send his emissaries in every direction. diedrich sonoy, his most trustworthy agent, who had been chief of the legation to the northern courts, was now actively canvassing the governments and peoples of, germany with the same object. several remarkable papers from the hand of orange were used upon this service. a letter, drawn up and signed by his own hand, recited; in brief and striking language, the history of his campaign in , and of his subsequent efforts in the sacred cause. it was now necessary, he said, that others besides himself should partake of his sacrifices. this he stated plainly and eloquently. the document was in truth a letter asking arms for liberty. "for although all things," said the prince, "are in the hand of god, and although he has created all things out of nought, yet hath he granted to different men different means, whereby, as with various instruments, he accomplishes his, almighty purposes. thereto hath he endowed some with strength of body, others with worldly wealth, others with still different gifts, all of which are to be used by their possessors to his honor and glory, if they wish not to incur the curse of the unworthy steward, who buried his talent in the earth. . . . . now ye may easily see," he continued, "that the prince cannot carry out this great work alone, having lost land, people, and goods, and having already employed in the cause all which had remained to him, besides incurring heavy obligations in addition." similar instructions were given to other agents, and a paper called the harangue, drawn up according to his suggestions, was also extensively circulated. this document is important to all who are interested in his history and character. he had not before issued a missive so stamped with the warm, religious impress of the reforming party. sadly, but without despondency, the harangue recalled the misfortunes of the past; and depicted the gloom of the present. earnestly, but not fanatically, it stimulated hope and solicited aid for the future. "although the appeals made to the prince," so ran a part of the document, "be of diverse natures, and various in their recommendations, yet do they all tend to the advancement of god's glory, and to the liberation of the fatherland. this it is which enables him and those who think with him to endure hunger; thirst, cold, heat, and all the misfortunes which heaven may send. . . . . . our enemies spare neither their money nor their labor; will ye be colder and duller than your foes? let, then, each church congregation set an example to the others. we read that king saul, when he would liberate the men of jabez from the hands of nahad, the ammonite, hewed a yoke of oxen in pieces, and sent them as tokens over all israel, saying, 'ye who will not follow saul and samuel, with them shall be dealt even as with these oxen. and the fear of the lord came upon the people, they came forth, and the men of jabez were delivered.' ye have here the same warning, look to it, watch well ye that despise it, lest the wrath of god, which the men of israel by their speedy obedience escaped, descend upon your heads. ye may say that ye are banished men. 'tis true: but thereby are ye not stripped of all faculty of rendering service; moreover, your assistance is asked for one who will restore ye to your homes. ye may say that ye have been robbed of all your goods; yet many of you have still something remaining, and of that little ye should contribute, each his mite. ye say that you have given much already. 'tis true, but the enemy is again in the field; fierce for your subjugation, sustained by the largess of his supporters. will ye be less courageous, less generous, than your foes." these urgent appeals did not remain fruitless. the strength of the prince was slowly but steadily increasing. meantime the abhorrence with which alva was universally regarded had nearly reached to frenzy. in the beginning of the year , don francis de alava, philip's ambassador in france, visited brussels. he had already been enlightened as to the consequences of the duke's course by the immense immigration of netherland refugees to france, which he had witnessed with his own eyes. on his journey towards brussels he had been met near cambray by noircarmes. even that "cruel animal," as hoogstraaten had called him, the butcher of tournay and valenciennes, had at last been roused to alarm, if not to pity, by the sufferings of the country. "the duke will never disabuse his mind of this filthy tenth penny," said he to alava. he sprang from his chair with great emotion as the ambassador alluded to the flight of merchants and artisans from the provinces. "senor don francis," cried he, "there are ten thousand more who are on the point of leaving the country, if the governor does not pause in his career. god grant that no disaster arise beyond human power to remedy." the ambassador arrived in brussels, and took up his lodgings in the palace. here he found the duke just recovering from a fit of the gout, in a state of mind sufficiently savage. he became much excited as don francis began to speak of the emigration, and he assured him that there was gross deception on the subject. the envoy replied that he could not be mistaken, for it was a matter which, so to speak, he had touched with his own fingers, and seen with his own eyes. the duke, persisting that don francis had been abused and misinformed, turned the conversation to other topics. next day the ambassador received visits from berlaymont and his son, the seigneur de hierges. he was taken aside by each of them, separately. "thank god, you have come hither," said they, in nearly the same words, "that you may fully comprehend the condition of the provinces, and without delay admonish his majesty of the impending danger." all his visitors expressed the same sentiments. don frederic of toledo furnished the only exception, assuring the envoy that his father's financial measures were opposed by noircarmes and others, only because it deprived them of their occupation and their influence. this dutiful language, however, was to be expected in one of whom secretary albornoz had written, that he was the greatest comfort to his father, and the most divine genius ever known. it was unfortunately corroborated by no other inhabitant of the country. on the third day, don francis went to take his leave. the duke begged him to inform his majesty of the impatience with which he was expecting the arrival of his successor. he then informed his guest that they had already begun to collect the tenth penny in brabant, the most obstinate of all the provinces. "what do you say to that, don francis?" he cried, with exultation. alava replied that he thought, none the less, that the tax would encounter many obstacles, and begged him earnestly to reflect. he assured him, moreover, that he should, without reserve, express his opinions fully to the king. the duke used the same language which don frederic had held, concerning the motives of those who opposed the tax. "it may be so," said don francis, "but at any rate, all have agreed to sing to the same tune." a little startled, the duke rejoined, "do you doubt that the cities will keep their promises? depend upon it, i shall find the means to compel them." "god grant it may be so," said alava, "but in my poor judgment you will have need of all your prudence and of all your authority." the ambassador did not wait till he could communicate with his sovereign by word of mouth. he forwarded to spain an ample account of his observations and deductions. he painted to philip in lively colors the hatred entertained by all men for the duke. the whole nation, he assured his majesty, united in one cry, "let him begone, let him begone, let him begone!" as for the imposition of the tenth penny, that, in the opinion of don francis, was utterly impossible. he moreover warned his majesty that alva was busy in forming secret alliances with the catholic princes of europe, which would necessarily lead to defensive leagues among the protestants. while thus, during the earlier part of the year , the prince of orange, discouraged by no defeats, was indefatigable in his exertions to maintain the cause of liberty, and while at the same time the most stanch supporters of arbitrary power were unanimous in denouncing to philip the insane conduct of his viceroy, the letters of alva himself were naturally full of complaints and expostulations. it was in vain, he said, for him to look for a confidential councillor, now that matters which he had wished to be kept so profoundly secret that the very earth should not hear of them, had been proclaimed aloud above the tiles of every housetop. nevertheless, he would be cut into little pieces but his majesty should be obeyed, while he remained alive to enforce the royal commands. there were none who had been ever faithful but berlaymont, he said, and even he had been neutral in the affair of the tax. he had rendered therein neither good nor bad offices, but, as his majesty was aware, berlaymont was entirely ignorant of business, and "knew nothing more than to be a good fellow." that being the case, he recommended hierges, son of the "good fellow," as a proper person to be governor of friesland. the deputations appointed by the different provinces to confer personally with the king received a reprimand upon their arrival, for having dared to come to spain without permission. farther punishment, however, than this rebuke was not inflicted. they were assured that the king was highly displeased with their venturing to bring remonstrances against the tax, but they were comforted with the assurance that his majesty would take the subject of their petition into consideration. thus, the expectations of alva were disappointed, for the tenth penny was not formally confirmed; and the hopes of the provinces frustrated, because it was not distinctly disavowed. matters had reached another crisis in the provinces. "had we money now," wrote the prince of orange, "we should, with the help of god, hope to effect something. this is a time when, with even small sums, more can be effected than at other seasons with ampler funds." the citizens were in open revolt against the tax. in order that the tenth penny should not be levied upon every sale of goods, the natural but desperate remedy was adopted--no goods were sold at all. not only the wholesale commerce oh the provinces was suspended, but the minute and indispensable traffic of daily life was entirely at a stand. the shops were all shut. "the brewers," says a contemporary, "refused to brew, the bakers to bake, the tapsters to tap." multitudes, thrown entirely out of employment, and wholly dependent upon charity, swarmed in every city. the soldiery, furious for their pay, which alva had for many months neglected to furnish, grew daily more insolent; the citizens, maddened by outrage and hardened by despair, became more and more obstinate in their resistance; while the duke, rendered inflexible by opposition and insane by wrath, regarded the ruin which he had caused with a malignant spirit which had long ceased to be human. "the disease is gnawing at our vitals," wrote viglius; "everybody is suffering for the want of the necessaries of life. multitudes are in extreme and hopeless poverty. my interest in the welfare of the commonwealth," he continued, "induces me to send these accounts to spain. for myself, i fear nothing. broken by sickness and acute physical suffering, i should leave life without regret." the aspect of the capital was that of a city stricken with the plague. articles of the most absolute necessity could not be obtained. it was impossible to buy bread, or meat, or beer. the tyrant, beside himself with rage at being thus braved in his very lair, privately sent for master carl, the executioner. in order to exhibit an unexpected and salutary example, he had determined to hang eighteen of the leading tradesmen of the city in the doors of their own shops, with the least possible delay and without the slightest form of trial. master carl was ordered, on the very night of his interview with the duke, to prepare eighteen strong cords, and eighteen ladders twelve feet in length. by this simple arrangement, alva was disposed to make manifest on the morrow, to the burghers of brussels, that justice was thenceforth to be carried to every man's door. he supposed that the spectacle of a dozen and a half of butchers and bakers suspended in front of the shops which they had refused to open, would give a more effective stimulus to trade than any to be expected from argument or proclamation. the hangman was making ready his cords and ladders; don frederic of toledo was closeted with president viglius, who, somewhat against his will, was aroused at midnight to draw the warrants for these impromptu executions; alva was waiting with grim impatience for the dawn upon which the show was to be exhibited, when an unforeseen event suddenly arrested the homely tragedy. in the night arrived the intelligence that the town of brill had been captured. the duke, feeling the full gravity of the situation, postponed the chastisement which he had thus secretly planned to a more convenient season, in order without an instant's hesitation to avert the consequences of this new movement on the part of the rebels. the seizure of brill was the deus ex machina which unexpectedly solved both the inextricable knot of the situation and the hangman's noose. allusion has more than once been made to those formidable partisans of the patriot cause, the marine outlaws. cheated of half their birthright by nature, and now driven forth from their narrow isthmus by tyranny, the exiled hollanders took to the ocean. its boundless fields, long arable to their industry, became fatally fruitful now that oppression was transforming a peaceful seafaring people into a nation of corsairs. driven to outlawry and poverty, no doubt many netherlanders plunged into crime. the patriot party had long sine laid aside the respectful deportment which had provoked the sarcasms of the loyalists. the beggars of the sea asked their alms through the mouths of their cannon. unfortunately, they but too often made their demands upon both friend and foe. every ruined merchant, every banished lord, every reckless mariner, who was willing to lay the commercial world under contribution to repair his damaged fortunes, could, without much difficulty, be supplied with a vessel and crew at some northern port, under color of cruising against the viceroy's government. nor was the ostensible motive simply a pretext. to make war upon alva was the leading object of all these freebooters, and they were usually furnished by the prince of orange, in his capacity of sovereign, with letters of marque for that purpose. the prince, indeed, did his utmost to control and direct an evil which had inevitably grown out of the horrors of the time. his admiral, william de la marck, was however, incapable of comprehending the lofty purposes of his superior. a wild, sanguinary, licentious noble, wearing his hair and beard unshorn, according to ancient batavian custom, until the death of his relative, egmont, should have been expiated, a worthy descendant of the wild boar of ardennes, this hirsute and savage corsair seemed an embodiment of vengeance. he had sworn to wreak upon alva and upon popery the deep revenge owed to them by the netherland nobility, and in the cruelties afterwards practised by him upon monks and priests, the blood council learned that their example had made at least one ripe scholar among the rebels. he was lying, at this epoch, with his fleet on the southern coast of england, from which advantageous position he was now to be ejected in a summary manner. the negotiations between the duke of alva and queen elizabeth had already assumed an amicable tone, and were fast ripening to an adjustment. it lay by no means in that sovereign's disposition to involve herself at this juncture in a war with philip, and it was urged upon her government by alva's commissioners, that the continued countenance afforded by the english people to the netherland cruisers must inevitably lead to that result. in the latter days of march, therefore, a sentence of virtual excommunication was pronounced against de la marck and his rovers. a peremptory order of elizabeth forbade any of her subjects to supply them with meat, bread, or beer. the command being strictly complied with, their farther stay was rendered impossible. twenty-four vessels accordingly, of various sizes, commanded by de la marck, treslong, adam van harem, brand, and other distinguished seamen, set sail from dover in the very last days of march. being almost in a state of starvation, these adventurers were naturally anxious to supply themselves with food. they determined to make a sudden foray upon the coasts of north holland, and accordingly steered for enkbuizen, both because it was a rich sea-port and because it contained many secret partisans of the prince. on palm sunday they captured two spanish merchantmen. soon afterwards, however, the wind becoming contrary, they were unable to double the helder or the texel, and on tuesday, the st of april, having abandoned their original intention, they dropped down towards zealand, and entered the broad mouth of the river meuse. between the town of brill, upon the southern lip of this estuary, and naaslandsluis, about half a league distant, upon the opposite aide, the squadron suddenly appeared at about two o'clock of an april afternoon, to the great astonishment of the inhabitants of both places. it seemed too large a fleet to be a mere collection of trading vessels, nor did they appear to be spanish ships. peter koppelstok, a sagacious ferryman, informed the passengers whom he happened to be conveying across the river, that the strangers were evidently the water beggars. the dreaded name filled his hearers with consternation, and they became eager to escape from so perilous a vicinity. having duly landed his customers, however, who hastened to spread the news of the impending invasion, and to prepare for defence or flight, the stout ferryman, who was secretly favorable to the cause of liberty, rowed boldly out to inquire the destination and purposes of the fleet. the vessel which he first hailed was that commanded by william de blois, seigneur of treslong. this adventurous noble, whose brother had been executed by the duke of alva in , had himself fought by the side of count louis at jemmingen, and although covered with wounds, had been one of the few who escaped alive from that horrible carnage. during the intervening period he had become one of the most famous rebels on the ocean, and he had always been well known in brill, where his father had been governor for the king. he at once recognized koppelstok, and hastened with him on board the admiral's ship, assuring de la marck that the ferryman was exactly the man for their purpose. it was absolutely necessary that a landing should be effected, for the people were without the necessaries of life. captain martin brand had visited the ship of adam van haren, as soon as they had dropped anchor in the meuse, begging for food. "i gave him a cheese," said adam, afterwards relating the occurrence, "and assured him that it was the last article of food to be found in the ship." the other vessels were equally destitute. under the circumstances, it was necessary to attempt a landing. treslong, therefore, who was really the hero of this memorable adventure, persuaded de la marck to send a message to the city of brill, demanding its surrender. this was a bold summons to be made by a handful of men, three or four hundred at most, who were both metaphorically and literally beggars. the city of brill was not populous, but it was well walled and fortified. it was moreover a most commodious port. treslong gave his signet ring to the fisherman, koppelstok, and ordered him, thus accredited as an envoy, to carry their summons to the magistracy. koppelstok, nothing loath, instantly rowed ashore, pushed through the crowd of inhabitants, who overwhelmed him with questions, and made his appearance in the town-house before the assembled magistrates. he informed them that he had been sent by the admiral of the fleet and by treslong, who was well known to them, to demand that two commissioners should be sent out on the part of the city to confer with the patriots. he was bidden, he said, to give assurance that the deputies would be courteously treated. the only object of those who had sent him was to free the land from the tenth penny, and to overthrow the tyranny of alva and his spaniards. hereupon he was asked by the magistrates, how large a force de la marck had under his command, to this question the ferryman carelessly replied, that there might be some five thousand in all. this enormous falsehood produced its effect upon the magistrates. there was now no longer any inclination to resist the invader; the only question discussed being whether to treat with them or to fly. on the whole, it was decided to do both. with some difficulty, two deputies were found sufficiently valiant to go forth to negotiate with the beggars, while in their absence most of the leading burghers and functionaries made their preparations for flight. the envoys were assured by de la marck and treslong that no injury was intended to the citizens or to private property, but that the overthrow of alva's government was to be instantly accomplished. two hours were given to the magistrates in which to decide whether or not they would surrender the town and accept the authority of de la marck as admiral of the prince of orange. they employed the two hours thus granted in making an ignominious escape. their example was followed by most of the townspeople. when the invaders, at the expiration of the specified term, appeared under the walls of the city, they found a few inhabitants of the lower class gazing at them from above, but received no official communication from any source. the whole rebel force was now divided into two parties, one of which under treslong made an attack upon the southern gate, while the other commanded by the admiral advanced upon the northern. treslong after a short struggle succeeded in forcing his entrance, and arrested, in doing so, the governor of the city, just taking his departure. de la marck and his men made a bonfire at the northern gate, and then battered down the half-burned portal with the end of an old mast. thus rudely and rapidly did the netherland patriots conduct their first successful siege. the two parties, not more perhaps than two hundred and fifty men in all, met before sunset in the centre of the city, and the foundation of the dutch republic was laid. the weary spirit of freedom, so long a fugitive over earth and sea, had at last found a resting-place, which rude and even ribald hands had prepared. the panic created by the first appearance of the fleet had been so extensive that hardly fifty citizens had remained in the town. the rest had all escaped, with as much property as they could carry away. the admiral, in the name, of the prince of orange, as lawful stadholder of philip, took formal possession of an almost deserted city. no indignity was offered to the inhabitants of either sex, but as soon, as the conquerors were fairly established in the best houses of the place, the inclination to plunder the churches could no longer be restrained. the altars and images were all destroyed, the rich furniture and gorgeous vestments appropriated to private use. adam van hare appeared on his vessel's deck attired in a magnificent high mass chasuble. treslong thenceforth used no drinking cups in his cabin save the golden chalices of the sacrament. unfortunately, their hatred to popery was not confined to such demonstrations. thirteen unfortunate monks and priests, who had been unable to effect their escape, were arrested and thrown into prison, from whence they were taken a few days later, by order of the ferocious admiral, and executed under circumstances of great barbarity. the news of this important exploit spread with great rapidity. alva, surprised at the very moment of venting his rage on the butchers and grocers of brussels, deferred this savage design in order to deal with the new difficulty. he had certainly not expected such a result from the ready compliance of queen elizabeth with his request. his rage was excessive; the triumph of the people, by whom he was cordially detested, proportionably great. the punsters of brussels were sure not to let such an opportunity escape them, for the name of the captured town was susceptible of a quibble, and the event had taken place upon all fools' day. "on april's fool's day, duke alva's spectacles were stolen away," became a popular couplet. the word spectacles, in flemish, as well as the name of the suddenly surprised city, being brill, this allusion to the duke's loss and implied purblindness was not destitute of ingenuity. a caricature, too, was extensively circulated, representing de la marck stealing the duke's spectacles from his nose, while the governor was supposed to be uttering his habitual expression whenever any intelligence of importance was brought to him: 'no es nada, no es nada--'tis nothing, 'tis nothing. the duke, however, lost not an instant in attempting to repair the disaster. count bossu, who had acted as stadholder of holland and zealand, under alva's authority, since the prince of orange had resigned that office, was ordered at once to recover the conquered sea-port, if possible. hastily gathering a force of some ten companies from the garrison of utrecht, some of which very troops had recently and unluckily for government, been removed from brill to that city, the count crossed the sluis to the island of voorn upon easter day, and sent a summons to the rebel force to surrender brill. the patriots being very few in number, were at first afraid to venture outside the gates to attack the much superior force of their invaders. a carpenter, however, who belonged to the city, but had long been a partisan of orange, dashed into the water with his axe in his hand, and swimming to the niewland sluice, hacked it open with a few vigorous strokes. the sea poured in at once, making the approach to the city upon the north side impossible: bossu then led his spaniards along the niewland dyke to the southern gate, where they were received with a warm discharge of artillery, which completely staggered them. meantime treslong and robol had, in the most daring manner, rowed out to the ships which had brought the enemy to the island, cut some adrift, and set others on fire. the spaniards at the southern gate caught sight of their blazing vessels, saw the sea rapidly rising over the dyke, became panic-struck at being thus enclosed between fire and water, and dashed off in precipitate retreat along the slippery causeway and through the slimy and turbid waters, which were fast threatening to overwhelm them. many were drowned or smothered in their flight, but the greater portion of the force effected their escape in the vessels which still remained within reach. this danger averted, admiral de la marck summoned all the inhabitants, a large number of whom had returned to the town after the capture had been fairly established, and required them, as well as all the population of the island, to take an oath of allegiance to the prince of orange as stadholder for his majesty. the prince had not been extremely satisfied with the enterprise of de la marck. he thought-it premature, and doubted whether it would be practicable to hold the place, as he had not yet completed his arrangements in germany, nor assembled the force with which he intended again to take the field. more than all, perhaps, he had little confidence in the character of his admiral. orange was right in his estimate of de la marck. it had not been that rover's design either to take or to hold the place; and after the descent had been made, the ships victualled, the churches plundered, the booty secured, and a few monks murdered, he had given orders for the burning of the town, and for the departure of the fleet. the urgent solicitations of treslong, however, prevailed, with some difficulty, over de la marck' original intentions. it is to that bold and intelligent noble, therefore, more than to any other individual, that the merit of laying this corner-stone of the batavian commonwealth belongs. the enterprise itself was an accident, but the quick eye of treslong saw the possibility of a permanent conquest, where his superior dreamed of nothing beyond a piratical foray. meantime bossu, baffled in his attempt upon brill, took his way towards rotterdam. it was important that he should at least secure such other cities as the recent success of the rebels might cause to waver in their allegiance. he found the gates of rotterdam closed. the authorities refused to comply with his demand to admit a garrison for the king. professing perfect loyalty, the inhabitants very naturally refused to admit a band of sanguinary spaniards to enforce their obedience. compelled to parley, bossu resorted to a perfidious stratagem. he requested permission for his troops to pass through the city without halting. this was granted by the magistrates, on condition that only a corporal's command should be admitted at a time. to these terms the count affixed his hand and seal. with the admission, however, of the first detachment, a violent onset was made upon the gate by the whole spanish force. the townspeople, not suspecting treachery, were not prepared to make effective resistance. a stout smith, confronting the invaders at the gate, almost singly, with his sledge-hammer, was stabbed to the heart by bossu with his own hand. the soldiers having thus gained admittance, rushed through the streets, putting every man to death who offered the slightest resistance. within a few minutes four hundred citizens were murdered. the fate of the women, abandoned now to the outrage of a brutal soldiery, was worse than death. the capture of rotterdam is infamous for the same crimes which blacken the record of every spanish triumph in the netherlands. the important town of flushing, on the isle of walcheren, was first to vibrate with the patriotic impulse given by the success at brill. the seigneur de herpt, a warm partisan of orange, excited the burghers assembled in the market-place to drive the small remnant of the spanish garrison from the city. a little later upon the same day a considerable reinforcement arrived before the walls. the duke had determined, although too late, to complete the fortress which had been commenced long before to control the possession of this important position at the mouth of the western scheld. the troops who were to resume this too long intermitted work arrived just in time to witness the expulsion of their comrades. de herpt easily persuaded the burghers that the die was cast, and that their only hope lay in a resolute resistance. the people warmly acquiesced, while a half-drunken, half-wined fellow in the crowd valiantly proposed, in consideration of a pot of beer, to ascend the ramparts and to discharge a couple of pieces of artillery at the spanish ships. the offer was accepted, and the vagabond merrily mounting the height, discharged the guns. strange to relate, the shot thus fired by a lunatic's hand put the invading ships to flight. a sudden panic seized the spaniards, the whole fleet stood away at once in the direction of middelburg, and were soon out of sight. the next day, however, antony of bourgoyne, governor under alva for the island of walcheren, made his appearance in flushing. having a high opinion of his own oratorical powers, he came with the intention of winning back with his rhetoric a city which the spaniards had thus far been unable to recover with their cannon. the great bell was rung, the whole population assembled in the marketplace, and antony, from the steps of the town-house, delivered a long oration, assuring the burghers, among other asseverations, that the king, who was the best natured prince in all christendom, would forget and forgive their offences if they returned honestly to their duties. the effect of the governor's eloquence was much diminished, however, by the interlocutory remarks, of de herpt and a group of his adherents. they reminded the people of the king's good nature, of his readiness to forget and to forgive, as exemplified by the fate of horn and egmont, of berghen and montigny, and by the daily and almost hourly decrees of the blood council. each well-rounded period of the governor was greeted with ironical cheers. the oration was unsuccessful. "oh, citizens, citizens!" cried at last the discomfited antony, "ye know not what ye do. your blood be upon your own heads; the responsibility be upon your own hearts for the fires which are to consume your cities and the desolation which is to sweep your land!" the orator at this impressive point was interrupted, and most unceremoniously hustled out of the city. the government remained in the hands of the patriots. the party, however, was not so strong in soldiers as in spirit. no sooner, therefore, had they established their rebellion to alva as an incontrovertible fact, than they sent off emissaries to the prince of orange, and to admiral de la marek at brill. finding that the inhabitants of flushing were willing to provide arms and ammunition, de la marck readily consented to send a small number of men, bold and experienced in partisan warfare, of whom he had now collected a larger number than he could well arm or maintain in his present position. the detachment, two hundred in number, in three small vessels, set sail accordingly from brill for flushing; and a wild crew they were, of reckless adventurers under command of the bold treslong. the expedition seemed a fierce but whimsical masquerade. every man in the little fleet was attired in the gorgeous vestments of the plundered churches, in gold-embroidered cassocks, glittering mass-garments, or the more sombre cowls, and robes of capuchin friars. so sped the early standard bearers of that ferocious liberty which had sprung from the fires in which all else for which men cherish their fatherland had been consumed. so swept that resolute but fantastic band along the placid estuaries of zealand, waking the stagnant waters with their wild beggar songs and cries of vengeance. that vengeance found soon a distinguished object. pacheco, the chief engineer of alva, who had accompanied the duke in his march from italy, who had since earned a world-wide reputation as the architect of the antwerp citadel, had been just despatched in haste to flushing to complete the fortress whose construction had been so long delayed. too late for his work, too soon for his safety, the ill-fated engineer had arrived almost at the same moment with treslong and his crew. he had stepped on shore, entirely ignorant of all which had transpired, expecting to be treated with the respect due to the chief commandant of the place, and to an officer high in the confidence of the governor-general. he found himself surrounded by an indignant and threatening mob. the unfortunate italian understood not a word of the opprobrious language addressed to him, but he easily comprehended that the authority of the duke was overthrown. observing de ryk, a distinguished partisan officer and privateersman of amsterdam, whose reputation for bravery and generosity was known, to him, he approached him, and drawing a seal ring from his finger, kissed it, and handed it to the rebel chieftain. by this dumbshow he gave him to understand that he relied upon his honor for the treatment due to a gentleman. de ryk understood the appeal, and would willingly have assured him, at least, a soldier's death, but he was powerless to do so. he arrested him, that he might be protected from the fury of the rabble, but treslong, who now commanded in flushing, was especially incensed against the founder of the antwerp citadel, and felt a ferocious desire to avenge his brother's murder upon the body of his destroyer's favourite. pacheco was condemned to be hanged upon the very day of his arrival. having been brought forth from his prison, he begged hard but not abjectly for his life. he offered a heavy ransom, but his enemies were greedy for blood, not for money. it was, however, difficult to find an executioner. the city hangman was absent, and the prejudice of the country and the age against the vile profession had assuredly not been diminished during the five horrible years of alva's administration. even a condemned murderer, who lay in the town-gaol, refused to accept his life in recompence for performing the office. it should never be said, he observed, that his mother had given birth to a hangman. when told, however, that the intended victim was a spanish officer, the malefactor consented to the task with alacrity, on condition that he might afterwards kill any man who taunted him with the deed. arrived at the foot of the gallows, pacheco complained bitterly of the disgraceful death designed for him. he protested loudly that he came of a house as noble as that of egmont or horn, and was entitled to as honorable an execution as theirs had been. "the sword! the sword!" he frantically exclaimed, as he struggled with those who guarded him. his language was not understood, but the names of egmont and horn inflamed still more highly the rage of the rabble, while his cry for the sword was falsely interpreted by a rude fellow who had happened to possess himself of pacheco's rapier, at his capture, and who now paraded himself with it at the gallows' foot. "never fear for your sword, seilor," cried this ruffian; "your sword is safe enough, and in good hands. up the ladder with you, senor; you have no further use for your sword." pacheco, thus outraged, submitted to his fate. he mounted the ladder with a steady step, and was hanged between two other spanish officers. so perished miserably a brave soldier, and one of the most distinguished engineers of his time; a man whose character and accomplishments had certainly merited for him a better fate. but while we stigmatize as it deserves the atrocious conduct of a few netherland partisans, we should remember who first unchained the demon of international hatred in this unhappy land, nor should it ever be forgotten that the great leader of the revolt, by word, proclamation, example, by entreaties, threats, and condign punishment, constantly rebuked, and to a certain extent, restrained the sanguinary spirit by which some of his followers disgraced the noble cause which they had espoused. treslong did not long remain in command at flushing. an officer, high in the confidence of the prince, jerome van 't zeraerts, now arrived at flushing, with a commission to be lieutenant-governor over the whole isle of walcheren. he was attended by a small band of french infantry, while at nearly the same time the garrison was further strengthened by the arrival of a large number of volunteers from england. etext editor's bookmarks: beggars of the sea, as these privateersmen designated themselves hair and beard unshorn, according to ancient batavian custom only healthy existence of the french was in a state of war motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley [chapter vii.] municipal revolution throughout holland and zealand--characteristics of the movement in various places--sonoy commissioned by orange as governor of north holland--theory of the provisional government-- instructions of the prince to his officers--oath prescribed--clause of toleration--surprise of mons by count louis--exertions of antony oliver--details of the capture--assembly of the citizens--speeches of genlis and of count louis--effect of the various movements upon alva--don frederic ordered to invest mons--the duke's impatience to retire--arrival of medina coeli--his narrow escape--capture of the lisbon fleet--affectation of cordiality between alva and medina-- concessions by king and viceroy on the subject of the tenth penny-- estates of holland assembled, by summons of orange, at dort--appeals from the prince to this congress for funds to pay his newly levied army--theory of the provisional states' assembly--source and nature of its authority--speech of st. aldegonde--liberality of the estates and the provinces--pledges exchanged between the prince's representative and the congress--commission to de la marck ratified --virtual dictatorship of orange--limitation of his power by his own act--count louis at mons--reinforcements led from france by genlis-- rashness of that officer--his total defeat--orange again in the field--rocrmond taken--excesses of the patriot army--proclamation of orange, commanding respect to all personal and religious rights--his reply to the emperor's summons--his progress in the netherlands-- hopes entertained from france--reinforcements under coligny promised to orange by charles ix.--the massacre of st. bartholomew--the event characterized--effect in england, in rome, and in other parts of europe--excessive hilarity of philip--extravagant encomium bestowed by him upon charles ix.--order sent by philip to put all french prisoners in the netherlands to death--secret correspondence of charles ix. with his envoy in the netherlands--exultation of the spaniards before mons--alva urged by the french envoy, according to his master's commands, to put all the frenchmen in mons, and those already captured, to death--effect of the massacre upon the prince of orange--alva and medina in the camp before mons--hopelessness of the prince's scheme to obtain battle from alva--romero's encamisada --narrow escape of the prince--mutiny and dissolution of his army-- his return to holland--his steadfastness--desperate position of count louis in mons--sentiments of alva--capitulation of mons-- courteous reception of count louis by the spanish generals-- hypocrisy of these demonstrations--nature of the mons capitulation-- horrible violation of its terms--noircarmes at mons--establishment of a blood council in the city--wholesale executions--cruelty and cupidity of noircarmes--late discovery of the archives of these crimes--return of the revolted cities of brabant and flanders to obedience--sack of mechlin by the spaniards--details of that event. the example thus set by brill and flushing was rapidly followed. the first half of the year was distinguished by a series of triumphs rendered still more remarkable by the reverses which followed at its close. of a sudden, almost as it were by accident, a small but important sea-port, the object for which the prince had so long been hoping, was secured. instantly afterward, half the island of walcheren renounced the yoke of alva, next, enkbuizen, the key to the zuyder zee, the principal arsenal, and one of the first commercial cities in the netherlands, rose against the spanish admiral, and hung out the banner of orange on its ramparts. the revolution effected here was purely the work of the people--of the mariners and burghers of the city. moreover, the magistracy was set aside and the government of alva repudiated without shedding one drop of blood, without a single wrong to person or property. by the same spontaneous movement, nearly all the important cities of holland and zealand raised the standard of him in whom they recognized their deliverer. the revolution was accomplished under nearly similar circumstances everywhere. with one fierce bound of enthusiasm the nation shook off its chain. oudewater, dort, harlem, leyden, gorcum, loewenstein, gouda, medenblik, horn, alkmaar, edam, monnikendam, purmerende, as well as flushing, veer, and enkbuizen, all ranged themselves under the government of orange, as lawful stadholder for the king. nor was it in holland and zealand alone that the beacon fires of freedom were lighted. city after city in gelderland, overyssel, and the see of utrecht; all the important towns of friesland, some sooner, some later, some without a struggle, some after a short siege, some with resistance by the functionaries of government, some by amicable compromise, accepted the garrisons of the prince, and formally recognized his authority. out of the chaos which a long and preternatural tyranny had produced, the first struggling elements of a new and a better world began to appear. it were superfluous to narrate the details which marked the sudden restoration of liberty in these various groups of cities. traits of generosity marked the change of government in some, circumstances of ferocity, disfigured the revolution in others. the island of walcheren, equally divided as it was between the two parties, was the scene of much truculent and diabolical warfare. it is difficult to say whether the mutual hatred of race or the animosity of religious difference proved the deadlier venom. the combats were perpetual and sanguinary, the prisoners on both sides instantly executed. on more than one occasion; men were seen assisting to hang with their own hands and in cold blood their own brothers, who had been taken prisoners in the enemy's ranks. when the captives were too many to be hanged, they were tied back to back, two and two, and thus hurled into the sea. the islanders found a fierce pleasure in these acts of cruelty. a spaniard had ceased to be human in their eyes. on one occasion, a surgeon at veer cut the heart from a spanish prisoner, nailed it on a vessel's prow; and invited the townsmen to come and fasten their teeth in it, which many did with savage satisfaction. in other parts of the country the revolution was, on the whole, accomplished with comparative calmness. even traits of generosity were not uncommon. the burgomaster of gonda, long the supple slave of alva and the blood council, fled for his life as the revolt broke forth in that city. he took refuge in the house of a certain widow, and begged for a place of concealment. the widow led him to a secret closet which served as a pantry. "shall i be secure there?" asked the fugitive functionary. "o yes, sir burgomaster," replied the widow, "'t was in that very place that my husband lay concealed when you, accompanied by the officers of justice, were searching the house, that you might bring him to the scaffold for his religion. enter the pantry, your worship; i will be responsible for your safety." thus faithfully did the humble widow of a hunted and murdered calvinist protect the life of the magistrate who had brought desolation to her hearth. not all the conquests thus rapidly achieved in the cause of liberty were destined to endure, nor were any to be, retained without a struggle. the little northern cluster of republics which had now restored its honor to the ancient batavian name was destined, however, for a long and vigorous life. from that bleak isthmus the light of freedom was to stream through many years upon struggling humanity in europe; a guiding pharos across a stormy sea; and harlem, leyden, alkmaar--names hallowed by deeds of heroism such as have not often illustrated human annals, still breathe as trumpet-tongued and perpetual a defiance to despotism as marathon, thermopylae, or salamis. a new board of magistrates had been chosen in all the redeemed cities, by popular election. they were required to take an oath of fidelity to the king of spain, and to the prince of orange as his stadholder; to promise resistance to the duke of alva, the tenth penny, and the inquisition; to support every man's freedom and the welfare of the country; to protect widows, orphans, and miserable persons, and to maintain justice and truth. diedrich sonoy arrived on the nd june at enkbuizen. he was provided by the prince with a commission, appointing him lieutenant-governor of north holland or waterland. thus, to combat the authority of alva was set up the authority of the king. the stadholderate over holland and zealand, to which the prince had been appointed in , he now reassumed. upon this fiction reposed the whole provisional polity of the revolted netherlands. the government, as it gradually unfolded itself, from this epoch forward until the declaration of independence and the absolute renunciation of the spanish sovereign power, will be sketched in a future chapter. the people at first claimed not an iota more of freedom than was secured by philip's coronation oath. there was no pretence that philip was not sovereign, but there was a pretence and a determination to worship god according to conscience, and to reclaim the ancient political "liberties" of the land. so long as alva reigned, the blood council, the inquisition, and martial law, were the only codes or courts, and every charter slept. to recover this practical liberty and these historical rights, and to shake from their shoulders a most sanguinary government, was the purpose of william and of the people. no revolutionary standard was displayed. the written instructions given by the prince to his lieutenant sonoy were to "see that the word of god was preached, without, however, suffering any hindrance to the roman church in the exercise of its religion; to restore fugitives and the banished for conscience sake, and to require of all magistrates and officers of guilds and brotherhoods an oath of fidelity." the prince likewise prescribed the form of that oath, repeating therein, to his eternal honor, the same strict prohibition of intolerance. "likewise," said the formula, "shall those of 'the religion' offer no let or hindrance to the roman churches." the prince was still in germany, engaged in raising troops and providing funds. he directed; however, the affairs of the insurgent provinces in their minutest details, by virtue of the dictatorship inevitably forced upon him both by circumstances and by the people. in the meantime; louis of nassau, the bayard of the netherlands, performed a most unexpected and brilliant exploit. he had been long in france, negotiating with the leaders of the huguenots, and, more secretly, with the court. he was supposed by all the world to be still in that kingdom, when the startling intelligence arrived that he had surprised and captured the important city of mons. this town, the capital of hainault, situate in a fertile, undulating, and beautiful country, protected by lofty walls, a triple moat, and a strong citadel, was one of the most flourishing and elegant places in the netherlands. it was, moreover, from its vicinity to the frontiers of france; a most important acquisition to the insurgent party. the capture was thus accomplished. a native of mons, one antony oliver, a geographical painter, had insinuated himself into the confidence of alva, for whom he had prepared at different times some remarkably well-executed maps of the country. having occasion to visit france, he was employed by the duke to keep a watch upon the movements of louis of nassau, and to make a report as to the progress of his intrigues with the court of france. the painter, however, was only a spy in disguise, being in reality devoted to the cause of freedom, and a correspondent of orange and his family. his communications with louis, in paris, had therefore a far different result from the one anticipated by alva. a large number of adherents within the city of mons had already been secured, and a plan was now arranged between count louis, genlis, de la noue, and other distinguished huguenot chiefs, to be carried out with the assistance of the brave and energetic artist. on the rd of may, oliver appeared at the gates of mons, accompanied by three wagons, ostensibly containing merchandise, but in reality laden with arquebusses. these were secretly distributed among his confederates in the city. in the course of the day count louis arrived in the neighbourhood, accompanied by five hundred horsemen and a thousand foot soldiers. this force he stationed in close concealment within the thick forests between maubeuge and mons. towards evening he sent twelve of the most trusty and daring of his followers, disguised as wine merchants, into the city. these individuals proceeded boldly to a public house, ordered their supper, and while conversing with the landlord, carelessly inquired at what hour next morning the city gates would be opened. they were informed that the usual hour was four in the morning, but that a trifling present to the porter would ensure admission, if they desired it, at an earlier hour. they explained their inquiries by a statement that they had some casks of wine which they wished to introduce into the city before sunrise. having obtained all the information which they needed, they soon afterwards left the tavern. the next day they presented themselves very early at the gate, which the porter, on promise of a handsome "drink-penny," agreed to unlock. no sooner were the bolts withdrawn, however, than he was struck dead, while about fifty dragoons rode through the gate. the count and his followers now galloped over the city in the morning twilight, shouting "france! liberty! the town is ours!" "the prince is coming!" "down with the tenth penny; down with the murderous alva!" so soon as a burgher showed his wondering face at the window, they shot at him with their carbines. they made as much noise, and conducted themselves as boldly as if they had been at least a thousand strong. meantime, however, the streets remained empty; not one of their secret confederates showing himself. fifty men could surprise, but were too few to keep possession of the city. the count began to suspect a trap. as daylight approached the alarm spread; the position of the little band was critical. in his impetuosity, louis had far outstripped his army, but they had been directed to follow hard upon his footsteps, and he was astonished that their arrival was so long delayed. the suspense becoming intolerable, he rode out of the city in quest of his adherents, and found them wandering in the woods, where they had completely lost their way. ordering each horseman to take a foot soldier on the crupper behind him, he led them rapidly back to mons. on the way they were encountered by la noue, "with the iron arm," and genlis, who, meantime, had made an unsuccessful attack to recover valenciennes, which within a few hours had been won and lost again. as they reached the gates of mons, they found themselves within a hair's breadth of being too late; their adherents had not come forth; the citizens had been aroused; the gates were all fast but one--and there the porter was quarrelling with a french soldier about an arquebuss. the drawbridge across the moat was at the moment rising; the last entrance was closing, when guitoy de chaumont, a french officer, mounted on a light spanish barb, sprang upon the bridge as it rose. his weight caused it to sink again, the gate was forced, and louis with all his men rode triumphantly into the town. the citizens were forthwith assembled by sound of bell in the market-place. the clergy, the magistracy, and the general council were all present. genlis made the first speech, in which he disclaimed all intention of making conquests in the interest of france. this pledge having been given, louis of nassau next addressed the assembly: "the magistrates," said he, "have not understoood my intentions. i protest that i am no rebel to the king; i prove it by asking no new oaths from any man. remain bound by your old oaths of allegiance; let the magistrates continue to exercise their functions--to administer justice. i imagine that no person will suspect a brother of the prince of orange capable of any design against the liberties of the country. as to the catholic religion, i take it under my very particular protection. you will ask why i am in mons at the head of an armed force: are any of you ignorant of alva's cruelties? the overthrow of this tyrant is as much the interest of the king as of the people, therefore there is nothing in my present conduct inconsistent with fidelity to his majesty. against alva alone i have taken up arms; 'tis to protect you against his fury that i am here. it is to prevent the continuance of a general rebellion that i make war upon him. the only proposition which i have to make to you is this--i demand that you declare alva de toledo a traitor to the king, the executioner of the people, an enemy to the country, unworthy of the government, and hereby deprived of his authority." the magistracy did not dare to accept so bold a proposition; the general council, composing the more popular branch of the municipal government, were comparatively inclined to favor nassau, and many of its members voted for the downfall of the tyrant. nevertheless the demands of count louis were rejected. his position thus became critical. the civic authorities refused to, pay for his troops, who were, moreover, too few, in number to resist the inevitable siege. the patriotism of the citizens was not to be repressed, however, by the authority, of the magistrates; many rich proprietors of the great cloth and silk manufactories, for which mons was famous, raised, and armed companies at their own expense; many volunteer troops were also speedily organized and drilled, and the fortifications were put in order. no attempt was made to force the reformed religion upon the inhabitants, and even catholics who were discovered in secret correspondence with the enemy were treated with such extreme gentleness by nassau as to bring upon him severe reproaches from many of his own party. a large collection of ecclesiastical plate, jewellery, money, and other valuables, which had been sent to the city for safe keeping from the churches and convents of the provinces, was seized, and thus, with little bloodshed and no violence; was the important city secured for the insurgents. three days afterwards, two thousand infantry, chiefly french, arrived in the place. in the early part of the following month louis was still further strengthened by the arrival of thirteen hundred foot and twelve hundred horsemen, under command of count montgomery, the celebrated officer, whose spear at the tournament had proved fatal to henry the second. thus the duke of alva suddenly found himself exposed to a tempest of revolution. one thunderbolt after another seemed descending around him in breathless succession. brill and flushing had been already lost; middelburg was so closely invested that its fall seemed imminent, and with it would go the whole island of walcheren, the key to all the netherlands. in one morning he had heard of the revolt of enkbuizen and of the whole waterland; two hours later came the news of the valenciennes rebellion, and next day the astonishing capture of mons. one disaster followed hard upon another. he could have sworn that the detested louis of nassau, who had dealt this last and most fatal stroke, was at that moment in paris, safely watched by government emissaries; and now he had, as it were, suddenly started out of the earth, to deprive him of this important city, and to lay bare the whole frontier to the treacherous attacks of faithless france. he refused to believe the intelligence when it was first announced to him, and swore that he had certain information that count louis had been seen playing in the tennis-court at paris, within so short a period as to make his presence in hainault at that moment impossible. forced, at last, to admit the truth of the disastrous news, he dashed his hat upon the ground in a fury, uttering imprecations upon the queen dowager of france, to whose perfidious intrigues he ascribed the success of the enterprise, and pledging himself to send her spanish thistles, enough in return for the florentine lilies which she had thus bestowed upon him. in the midst of the perplexities thus thickening around him, the duke preserved his courage, if not his temper. blinded, for a brief season, by the rapid attacks made upon him, he had been uncertain whither to direct his vengeance. this last blow in so vital a quarter determined him at once. he forthwith despatched don frederic to undertake the siege of mons, and earnestly set about raising large reinforcements to his army. don frederic took possession, without much opposition, of the bethlehem cloister in the immediate vicinity of the city, and with four thousand troops began the investment in due form. alva had, for a long time, been most impatient to retire from the provinces. even he was capable of human emotions. through the sevenfold panoply of his pride he had been pierced by the sharpness of a nation's curse. he was wearied with the unceasing execrations which assailed his ears. "the hatred which the people bear me," said he, in a letter to philip, "because of the chastisement which it has been necessary for me to inflict, although with all the moderation in the world, make all my efforts vain. a successor will meet more sympathy and prove more useful." on the th june, the duke of medina coeli; with a fleet of more than forty sail, arrived off blankenburg, intending to enter the scheld. julian romero, with two thousand spaniards, was also on board the fleet. nothing, of course, was known to the new comers of the altered condition of affairs in the netherlands, nor of the unwelcome reception which they were like to meet in flushing. a few of the lighter craft having been taken by the patriot cruisers, the alarm was spread through all the fleet. medina coeli, with a few transports, was enabled to effect his escape to sluys, whence he hastened to brussels in a much less ceremonious manner than he had originally contemplated. twelve biscayan ships stood out to sea, descried a large lisbon fleet, by a singular coincidence, suddenly heaving in sight, changed their course again, and with a favoring breeze bore boldly up the hond; passed flushing in spite of a severe cannonade from the forts, and eventually made good their entrance into rammekens, whence the soldiery, about one-half of whom had thus been saved, were transferred at a very critical moment to middelburg. the great lisbon fleet followed in the wake of the biscayans, with much inferior success. totally ignorant of the revolution which had occurred in the ise of walclieren, it obeyed the summons of the rebel fort to come to anchor, and, with the exception of three or four, the vessels were all taken. it was the richest booty which the insurgents had yet acquired by sea or land. the fleet was laden with spices, money, jewellery, and the richest merchandize. five hundred thousand crowns of gold were taken, and it was calculated that the plunder altogether would suffice to maintain the war for two years at least. one thousand spanish soldiers, and a good amount of ammunition, were also captured. the unexpected condition of affairs made a pause natural and almost necessary, before the government could be decorously transferred. medina coeli with spanish grandiloquence, avowed his willingness to serve as a soldier, under a general whom he so much venerated, while alva ordered that, in all respects, the same outward marks of respect should be paid to his appointed successor as to himself. beneath all this external ceremony, however, much mutual malice was concealed. meantime, the duke, who was literally "without a single real," was forced at last to smother his pride in the matter of the tenth penny. on the th june, he summoned the estates of holland to assemble on the th of the ensuing month. in the missive issued for this purpose, he formally agreed to abolish the whole tax, on condition that the estates-general of the netherlands would furnish him with a yearly supply of two millions of florins. almost at the same moment the king had dismissed the deputies of the estates from madrid, with the public assurance that the tax was to be suspended, and a private intimation that it was not abolished in terms, only in order to save the dignity of the duke. these healing measures came entirely too late. the estates of holland met, indeed, on the appointed day of july; but they assembled not in obedience to alva, but in consequence of a summons from william of orange. they met, too, not at the hague, but at dort, to take formal measures for renouncing the authority of the duke. the first congress of the netherland commonwealth still professed loyalty to the crown, but was determined to accept the policy of orange without a question. the prince had again assembled an army in germany, consisting of fifteen thousand foot and seven thousand horse, besides a number of netherlanders, mostly walloons, amounting to nearly three thousand more. before taking the field, however, it was necessary that he should guarantee at least three months' pay to his troops. this he could no longer do, except by giving bonds endorsed by certain cities of holland as his securities. he had accordingly addressed letters in his own name to all the principal cities, fervently adjuring them to remember, at last, what was due to him, to the fatherland, and to their own character. "let not a sum of gold," said he in one of these letters, "be so dear to you, that for its sake you will sacrifice your lives, your wives, your children, and all your descendants, to the latest generations; that you will bring sin and shame upon yourselves, and destruction upon us who have so heartily striven to assist you. think what scorn you will incur from foreign nations, what a crime you will commit against the lord god, what a bloody yoke ye will impose forever upon yourselves and your children, if you now seek for subterfuges; if you now prevent us from taking the field with the troops which we have enlisted. on the other hand, what inexpressible benefits you will confer on your country, if you now help us to rescue that fatherland from the power of spanish vultures and wolves." this and similar missives, circulated throughout the province of holland, produced a deep impression. in accordance with his suggestions, the deputies from the nobility and from twelve cities of that province assembled on the th july, at dort. strictly speaking, the estates or government of holland, the body which represented the whole people, consisted of the nobler and six great cities. on this occasion, however, amsterdam being still in the power of the king, could send no deputies, while, on the other hand, all the small towns were invited to send up their representatives to the congress. eight accepted the proposal; the rest declined to appoint delegates, partly from motives of economy, partly from timidity.' these estates were the legitimate representatives of the people, but they had no legislative powers. the people had never pretended to sovereignty, nor did they claim it now. the source from which the government of the netherlands was supposed to proceed was still the divine mandate. even now the estates silently conceded, as they had ever done, the supreme legislative and executive functions to the land's master. upon philip of spain, as representative of count dirk the first of holland, had descended, through many tortuous channels, the divine effluence originally supplied by charles the simple of france. that supernatural power was not contested, but it was now ingeniously turned against the sovereign. the king's authority was invoked against himself in the person of the prince of orange, to whom, thirteen years before, a portion of that divine right had been delegated. the estates of holland met at dort on the th july, as representatives of the people; but they were summoned by orange, royally commissioned in as stadholder, and therefore the supreme legislative and executive officer of certain provinces. this was the theory of the provisional government. the prince represented the royal authority, the nobles represented both themselves and the people of the open country, while the twelve cities represented the whole body of burghers. together, they were supposed to embody all authority, both divine and human, which a congress could exercise. thus the whole movement was directed against alva and against count bossu, appointed stadholder by alva in the place of orange. philip's name was destined to figure for a long time, at the head of documents by which monies were raised, troops levied, and taxes collected, all to be used in deadly war against himself. the estates were convened on the th july, when paul buys, pensionary of leyden, the tried and confidential friend of orange, was elected advocate of holland. the convention was then adjourned till the th, when saint aldegonde made his appearance, with full powers to act provisionally in behalf of his highness. the distinguished plenipotentiary delivered before the congress a long and very effective harangue. he recalled the sacrifices and efforts of the prince during previous years. he adverted to the disastrous campaign of , in which the prince had appeared full of high hope, at the head of a gallant army, but had been obliged, after a short period, to retire, because not a city had opened its gates nor a netherlander lifted his finger in the cause. nevertheless, he had not lost courage nor closed his heart; and now that, through the blessing of god, the eyes of men had been opened, and so many cities had declared against the tyrant, the prince had found himself exposed to a bitter struggle. although his own fortunes had been ruined in the cause, he had been unable to resist the daily flood of petitions which called upon him to come forward once more. he had again importuned his relations and powerful friends; he had at last set on foot a new and well-appointed army. the day of payment had arrived. over his own head impended perpetual shame, over the fatherland perpetual woe, if the congress should now refuse the necessary supplies. "arouse ye, then," cried the orator, with fervor, "awaken your own zeal and that of your sister cities. seize opportunity by the locks, who never appeared fairer than she does to-day." the impassioned eloquence of st. aldegonde produced a profound impression. the men who had obstinately refused the demands of alva, now unanimously resolved to pour forth their gold and their blood at the call of orange. "truly," wrote the duke, a little later, "it almost drives me mad to see the difficulty with which your majesty's supplies are furnished, and the liberality with which the people place their lives and fortunes at the disposal of this rebel." it seemed strange to the loyal governor that men should support their liberator with greater alacrity than that with which they served their destroyer! it was resolved that the requisite amount should be at once raised, partly from the regular imposts and current "requests," partly by loans from the rich, from the clergy, from the guilds and brotherhoods, partly from superfluous church ornaments and other costly luxuries. it was directed that subscriptions should be immediately opened throughout the land, that gold and silver plate, furniture, jewellery, and other expensive articles should be received by voluntary contributions, for which inventories and receipts should be given by the magistrates of each city, and that upon these money should be raised, either by loan or sale. an enthusiastic and liberal spirit prevailed. all seemed determined rather than pay the tenth to alva to pay the whole to the prince. the estates, furthermore, by unanimous resolution, declared that they recognized the prince as the king's lawful stadholder over holland, zealand, friesland, and utrecht, and that they would use their influence with the other provinces to procure his appointment as protector of all the netherlands during the king's absence. his highness was requested to appoint an admiral, on whom, with certain deputies from the water-cities, the conduct of the maritime war should devolve. the conduct of the military operations by land was to be directed by dort, leyden, and enkbuizen, in conjunction with the count de la marck. a pledge was likewise exchanged between the estates and the pleni-potentiary, that neither party should enter into any treaty with the king, except by full consent and co-operation of the other. with regard to religion, it was firmly established, that the public exercises of divine worship should be permitted not only to the reformed church, but to the roman catholic--the clergy of both being protected from all molestation. after these proceedings, count de la marck made his appearance before the assembly. his commission from orange was read to the deputies, and by them ratified. the prince, in that document, authorized "his dear cousin" to enlist troops, to accept the fealty of cities, to furnish them with garrisons, to re-establish all the local laws, municipal rights, and ancient privileges which had been suppressed. he was to maintain freedom of religion, under penalty of death to those who infringed it; he was to restore all confiscated property; he was, with advice of his council, to continue in office such city magistrates as were favorable, and to remove those adverse to the cause. the prince was, in reality, clothed with dictatorial and even regal powers. this authority had been forced upon him by the prayers of the people, but he manifested no eagerness as he partly accepted the onerous station. he was provisionally the depositary of the whole sovereignty of the northern provinces, but he cared much less for theories of government than for ways and means. it was his object to release the country from the tyrant who, five years long, had been burning and butchering the people. it was his determination to drive out the foreign soldiery. to do this, he must meet his enemy in the field. so little was he disposed to strengthen his own individual power, that he voluntarily imposed limits on himself, by an act, supplemental to the proceedings of the congress of dort. in this important ordinance made by the prince of orange, as a provisional form of government, he publicly announced "that he would do and ordain nothing except by the advice of the estates, by reason that they were best acquainted with the circumstances and the humours of the inhabitants." he directed the estates to appoint receivers for all public taxes, and ordained that all military officers should make oath of fidelity to him, as stadholder, and to the estates of holland, to be true and obedient, in order to liberate the land from the albanian and spanish tyranny, for the service of his royal majesty as count of holland. the provisional constitution, thus made by a sovereign prince and actual dictator, was certainly as disinterested as it was sagacious. meanwhile the war had opened vigorously in hainault. louis of nassau had no sooner found himself in possession of mons than he had despatched genlis to france, for those reinforcements which had been promised by royal lips. on the other hand, don frederic held the city closely beleaguered; sharp combats before the walls were of almost daily occurrence, but it was obvious that louis would be unable to maintain the position into which he had so chivalrously thrown himself unless he should soon receive important succor. the necessary reinforcements were soon upon the way. genlis had made good speed with his levy, and it was soon announced that he was advancing into hainault, with a force of huguenots, whose numbers report magnified to ten thousand veterans. louis despatched an earnest message to his confederate, to use extreme caution in his approach. above all things, he urged him, before attempting to throw reinforcements into the city, to effect a junction with the prince of orange, who had already crossed the rhine with his new army. genlis, full of overweening confidence, and desirous of acquiring singly the whole glory of relieving the city, disregarded this advice. his rashness proved his ruin, and the temporary prostration of the cause of freedom. pushing rapidly forward across the french frontier, he arrived, towards the middle of july, within two leagues of mons. the spaniards were aware of his approach, and well prepared to frustrate his project. on the th, he found himself upon a circular plain of about a league's extent, surrounded with coppices and forests, and dotted with farm-houses and kitchen gardens. here he paused to send out a reconnoitring party. the little detachment was, however, soon driven in, with the information that don frederic of toledo, with ten thousand men, was coming instantly upon them. the spanish force, in reality, numbered four thousand infantry, and fifteen hundred cavalry; but three thousand half-armed boors had been engaged by don frederic, to swell his apparent force. the demonstration produced its effect, and no sooner had the first panic of the intelligence been spread, than noircarmes came charging upon them at the head of his cavalry. the infantry arrived directly afterwards, and the huguenots were routed almost as soon as seen. it was a meeting rather than a battle. the slaughter of the french was very great, while but an insignificant number of the spaniards fell. chiappin vitelli was the hero of the day. it was to his masterly arrangements before the combat, and to his animated exertions upon the field, that the victory was owing. having been severely wounded in the thigh but a few days previously, he caused himself to be carried upon a litter in a recumbent position in front of his troops, and was everywhere seen, encouraging their exertions, and exposing himself, crippled as he was, to the whole brunt of the battle. to him the victory nearly proved fatal; to don frederic it brought increased renown. vitelli's exertions, in his precarious condition, brought on severe inflammation, under which he nearly succumbed, while the son of alva reaped extensive fame from the total overthrow of the veteran huguenots, due rather to his lieutenant and to julian romero. the number of dead left by the french upon the plain amounted to at least twelve hundred, but a much larger number was butchered in detail by the peasantry, among whom they attempted to take refuge, and who had not yet forgotten the barbarities inflicted by their countrymen in the previous war. many officers were taken prisoners, among whom was the commander-in-chief, genlis. that unfortunate gentleman was destined to atone for his rashness and obstinacy with his life. he was carried to the castle of antwerp, where, sixteen months afterwards, he was secretly strangled by command of alva, who caused the report to be circulated that he had died a natural death. about one hundred foot soldiers succeeded in making their entrance into mona, and this was all the succor which count louis was destined to receive from france, upon which country he had built such lofty and such reasonable hopes. while this unfortunate event was occurring, the prince had already put his army in motion. on the th of july he had crossed the rhine at duisburg, with fourteen thousand foot, seven thousand horse, enlisted in germany, besides a force of three thousand walloons. on the rd of july, he took the city of roermond, after a sharp cannonade, at which place his troops already began to disgrace the honorable cause in which they were engaged, by imitating the cruelties and barbarities of their antagonists. the persons and property of the burghers were, with a very few exceptions, respected; but many priests and monks were put to death by the soldiery under circumstances of great barbarity. the prince, incensed at such conduct, but being unable to exercise very stringent authority over troops whose wages he was not yet able to pay in full, issued a proclamation, denouncing such excesses, and commanding his followers, upon pain of death, to respect the rights of all individuals, whether papist or protestant, and to protect religious exercises both in catholic and reformed churches. it was hardly to be expected that the troops enlisted by the prince in the same great magazine of hireling soldiers, germany, from whence the duke also derived his annual supplies, would be likely to differ very much in their propensities from those enrolled under spanish banners; yet there was a vast contrast between the characters of the two commanders. one leader inculcated the practice of robbery, rape, and murder, as a duty, and issued distinct orders to butcher every mother's son in the cities which he captured; the other restrained every excess to, the utmost of his ability, protecting not only life and property, but even the ancient religion. the emperor maximilian had again issued his injunctions against the military operations of orange. bound to the monarch of spain by so many family ties, being at once cousin, brother-in-law, and father-in-law of philip, it was difficult for him to maintain the attitude which became him, as chief of that empire to which the peace of passau had assured religious freedom. it had, however, been sufficiently proved that remonstrances and intercessions addressed to philip were but idle breath. it had therefore become an insult to require pacific conduct from the prince on the ground of any past or future mediation. it was a still grosser mockery to call upon him to discontinue hostilities because the netherlands were included in the empire, and therefore protected by the treaties of passau and augsburg. well did the prince reply to his imperial majesty's summons in a temperate but cogent letter, in which he addressed to him from his camp, that all intercessions had proved fruitless, and that the only help for the netherlands was the sword. the prince had been delayed for a month at roermonde, because, as he expressed it; "he had not a single sou," and because, in consequence, the troops refused to advance into the netherlands. having at last been furnished with the requisite guarantees from the holland cities for three months' pay, on the th of august, the day of the publication of his letter to the emperor, he crossed the meuse and took his circuitous way through diest, tirlemont, sichem, louvain, mechlin, termonde, oudenarde, nivelles. many cities and villages accepted his authority and admitted his garrisons. of these mechlin was the most considerable, in which he stationed a detachment of his troops. its doom was sealed in that moment. alva could not forgive this act of patriotism on the part of a town which had so recently excluded his own troops. "this is a direct permission of god," he wrote, in the spirit of dire and revengeful prophecy, "for us to punish her as she deserves, for the image-breaking and other misdeeds done there in the time of madame de parma, which our lord was not willing to pass over without chastisement." meantime the prince continued his advance. louvain purchased its neutrality for the time with sixteen thousand ducats; brussels obstinately refused to listen to him, and was too powerful to be forcibly attacked at that juncture; other important cities, convinced by the arguments and won by the eloquence of the various proclamations which he scattered as he advanced, ranged themselves spontaneously and even enthusiastically upon his side. how different world have been the result of his campaign but for the unexpected earthquake which at that instant was to appal christendom, and to scatter all his well-matured plans and legitimate hopes. his chief reliance, under providence and his own strong heart, had been upon french assistance. although genlis, by his misconduct, had sacrificed his army and himself, yet the prince as still justly sanguine as to the policy of the french court. the papers which had been found in the possession of genlis by his conquerors all spoke one language. "you would be struck with stupor," wrote alva's secretary, "could you see a letter which is now in my power, addressed by the king of france to louis of nassau." in that letter the king had declared his determination to employ all the forces which god had placed in his hands to rescue the netherlands from the oppression under which they were groaning. in accordance with the whole spirit and language of the french government, was the tone of coligny in his correspondence with orange. the admiral assured the prince that there was no doubt as to the earnestness of the royal intentions in behalf of the netherlands, and recommending extreme caution, announced his hope within a few days to effect a junction with him at the head of twelve thousand french arquebusiers, and at least three thousand cavalry. well might the prince of orange, strong, and soon to be strengthened, boast that the netherlands were free, and that alva was in his power. he had a right to be sanguine, for nothing less than a miracle could now destroy his generous hopes--and, alas! the miracle took place; a miracle of perfidy and bloodshed such as the world, familiar as it had ever been and was still to be with massacre, had not yet witnessed. on the th of august, coligny had written thus hopefully of his movements towards the netherlands, sanctioned and aided by his king. a fortnight from that day occurred the "paris-wedding;" and the admiral, with thousands of his religious confederates, invited to confidence by superhuman treachery, and lulled into security by the music of august marriage bells, was suddenly butchered in the streets of paris by royal and noble hands. the prince proceeded on his march, during which the heavy news had been brought to him, but he felt convinced that, with the very arrival of the awful tidings, the fate of that campaign was sealed, and the fall of mons inevitable. in his own language, he had been struck to the earth "with the blow of a sledge-hammer,"--nor did the enemy draw a different augury from the great event. the crime was not committed with the connivance of the spanish government. on the contrary, the two courts were at the moment bitterly hostile to each other. in the beginning of the summer, charles ix. and his advisers were as false to philip, as at the end of it they were treacherous to coligny and orange. the massacre of the huguenots had not even the merit of being a well-contrived and intelligently executed scheme. we have seen how steadily, seven years before, catharine de medici had rejected the advances of alva towards the arrangement of a general plan for the extermination of all heretics within france and the netherlands at the same moment. we have seen the disgust with which alva turned from the wretched young king at bayonne, when he expressed the opinion that to take arms against his own subjects was wholly out of the question, and could only be followed by general ruin. "'tis easy to see that he has been tutored," wrote alva to his master. unfortunately, the same mother; who had then instilled those lessons of hypocritical benevolence, had now wrought upon her son's cowardly but ferocious nature with a far different intent. the incomplete assassination of coligny, the dread of signal vengeance at the hands of the huguenots, the necessity of taking the lead in the internecine snuggle; were employed with medicean art, and with entire success. the king was lashed into a frenzy. starting to his feet, with a howl of rage and terror, "i agree to the scheme," he cried, "provided not one huguenot be left alive in france to reproach me with the deed." that night the slaughter commenced. the long premeditated crime was executed in a panic, but the work was thoroughly done. the king, who a few days before had written with his own hand to louis of nassau, expressing his firm determination to sustain the protestant cause both in france and the netherlands, who had employed the counsels of coligny in the arrangement, of his plans, and who had sent french troops, under genlis and la none, to assist their calvinist brethren in flanders, now gave the signal for the general massacre of the protestants, and with his own hands, from his own palace windows, shot his subjects with his arquebuss as if they had been wild beasts. between sunday and tuesday, according to one of the most moderate calculations, five thousand parisians of all ranks were murdered. within the whole kingdom, the number of victims was variously estimated at from twenty-five thousand to one hundred thousand. the heart of protestant europe, for an instant, stood still with horror. the queen of england put on mourning weeds, and spurned the apologies of the french envoy with contempt. at rome, on the contrary, the news of the massacre created a joy beyond description. the pope, accompanied by his cardinals, went solemnly to the church of saint mark to render thanks to god for the grace thus singularly vouchsafed to the holy see and to all christendom; and a te deum was performed in presence of the same august assemblage. but nothing could exceed the satisfaction which the event occasioned in the mind of philip the second. there was an end now of all assistance from the french government to the netherland protestants. "the news of the events upon saint bartholomew's day," wrote the french envoy at madrid, saint goard, to charles ix., "arrived on the th september. the king, on receiving the intelligence, showed, contrary to his natural custom, so much gaiety, that he seemed more delighted than with all the good fortune or happy incidents which had ever before occurred to him. he called all his familiars about him in order to assure them that your majesty was his good brother, and that no one else deserved the title of most christian. he sent his secretary cayas to me with his felicitations upon the event, and with the information that he was just going to saint jerome to render thanks to god, and to offer his prayers that your majesty might receive divine support in this great affair. i went to see him next morning, and as soon as i came into his presence he began to laugh, and with demonstrations of extreme contentment, to praise your majesty as deserving your title of most christian, telling me there was no king worthy to be your majesty's companion, either for valor or prudence. he praised the steadfast resolution and the long dissimulation of so great an enterprise, which all the world would not be able to comprehend." "i thanked him," continued the embassador, "and i said that i thanked god for enabling your majesty to prove to his master that his apprentice had learned his trade, and deserved his title of most christian king. i added, that he ought to confess that he owed the preservation of the netherlands to your majesty." nothing certainly could, in philip's apprehension, be more delightful than this most unexpected and most opportune intelligence. charles ix., whose intrigues in the netherlands he had long known, had now been suddenly converted by this stupendous crime into his most powerful ally, while at the same time the protestants of europe would learn that there was still another crowned head in christendom more deserving of abhorrence than himself. he wrote immediately to alva, expressing his satisfaction that the king of france had disembarrassed himself of such pernicious men, because he would now be obliged to cultivate the friendship of spain, neither the english queen nor the german protestants being thenceforth capable of trusting him. he informed the duke, moreover, that the french envoy, saint goard, had been urging him to command the immediate execution of genlis and his companions, who had been made prisoners, as well as all the frenchmen who would be captured in mons; and that he fully concurred in the propriety of the measure. "the sooner," said philip, "these noxious plants are extirpated from the earth, the less fear there is that a fresh crop will spring up." the monarch therefore added, with his own hand, to the letter, "i desire that if you have not already disembarrassed the world of them, you will do it immediately, and inform me thereof, for i see no reason why it should be deferred." this is the demoniacal picture painted by the french ambassador, and by philip's own hand, of the spanish monarch's joy that his "most christian" brother had just murdered twenty-five thousand of his own subjects. in this cold-blooded way, too, did his catholic majesty order the execution of some thousand huguenots additionally, in order more fully to carry out his royal brother's plans; yet philip could write of himself, "that all the world recognized the gentleness of his nature and the mildness of his intentions." in truth, the advice thus given by saint goard on the subject of the french prisoners in alva's possessions, was a natural result of the saint bartholomew. here were officers and soldiers whom charles ix. had himself sent into the netherlands to fight for the protestant cause against philip and alva. already, the papers found upon them had placed him in some embarrassment, and exposed his duplicity to the spanish government, before the great massacre had made such signal reparation for his delinquency. he had ordered mondoucet, his envoy in the netherlands, to use dissimulation to an unstinted amount, to continue his intrigues with the protestants, and to deny stoutly all proofs of such connivance. "i see that the papers found upon genlis;" he wrote twelve days before the massacre, "have been put into the hands of assonleville, and that they know everything done by genlis to have been committed with my consent." [these remarkable letters exchanged between charles ix. and mondoucet have recently been published by m. emile gachet (chef du bureau paleographique aux archives de belgique) from a manuscript discovered by him in the library at rheims.--compte rendu de la com. roy. d'hist., iv. , sqq.] "nevertheless, you will tell the duke of alva that these are lies invented to excite suspicion against me. you will also give him occasional information of the enemy's affairs, in order to make him believe in your integrity. even if he does not believe you, my purpose will be answered, provided you do it dexterously. at the same time you must keep up a constant communication with the prince of orange, taking great care to prevent discovery of your intelligence with king." were not these masterstrokes of diplomacy worthy of a king whom his mother, from boyhood upwards, had caused to study macchiavelli's "prince," and who had thoroughly taken to heart the maxim, often repeated in those days, that the "science of reigning was the science of lying"? the joy in the spanish camp before mons was unbounded. it was as if the only bulwark between the netherland rebels and total destruction had been suddenly withdrawn. with anthems in saint gudule, with bonfires, festive illuminations, roaring artillery, with trumpets also, and with shawms, was the glorious holiday celebrated in court and camp, in honor of the vast murder committed by the most christian king upon his christian subjects; nor was a moment lost in apprising the huguenot soldiers shut up with louis of nassau in the beleaguered city of the great catastrophe which was to render all their valor fruitless. "'t was a punishment," said a spanish soldier, who fought most courageously before mons, and who elaborately described the siege afterwards, "well worthy of a king whose title is 'the most christian,' and it was still more honorable to inflict it with his own hands as he did." nor was the observation a pithy sarcasm, but a frank expression of opinion, from a man celebrated alike for the skill with which he handled both his sword and his pen. the french envoy in the netherlands was, of course, immediately informed by his sovereign of the great event: charles ix. gave a very pithy account of the transaction. "to prevent the success of the enterprise planned by the admiral," wrote the king on the th of august, with hands yet reeking, and while the havoc throughout france was at its height, "i have been obliged to permit the said guises to rush upon the said admiral,--which they have done, the said admiral having been killed and all his adherents. a very great number of those belonging to the new religion have also been massacred and cut to pieces. it is probable that the fire thus kindled will spread through all the cities of my kingdom, and that all those of the said religion will be made sure of." not often, certainly, in history, has a christian king spoken thus calmly of butchering his subjects while the work was proceeding all around him. it is to be observed, moreover, that the usual excuse for such enormities, religious fanaticism, can not be even suggested on this occasion. catharine, in times past had favored huguenots as much as catholics, while charles had been, up to the very moment of the crime, in strict alliance with the heretics of both france and flanders, and furthering the schemes of orange and nassau. nay, even at this very moment, and in this very letter in which he gave the news of the massacre, he charged his envoy still to maintain the closest but most secret intelligence with the prince of orange; taking great care that the duke of alva should not discover these relations. his motives were, of course, to prevent the prince from abandoning his designs, and from coming to make a disturbance in france. the king, now that the deed was done, was most anxious to reap all the fruits of his crime. "now, m. de mondoucet, it is necessary in such affairs," he continued, "to have an eye to every possible contingency. i know that this news will be most agreeable to the duke of alva, for it is most favorable to his designs. at the same time, i don't desire that he alone should gather the fruit. i don't choose that he should, according to his excellent custom, conduct his affairs in such wise as to throw the prince of orange upon my hands, besides sending back to france genlis and the other prisoners, as well as the french now shut up in mons." this was a sufficiently plain hint, which mondoucet could not well misunderstand. "observe the duke's countenance carefully when you give him this message," added the king, "and let me know his reply." in order, however, that there might be no mistake about the matter, charles wrote again to his ambassador, five days afterwards, distinctly stating the regret which he should feel if alva should not take the city of mons, or if he should take it by composition. "tell the duke," said he, "that it is most important for the service of his master and of god that those frenchmen and others in mons should be cut in pieces." he wrote another letter upon the name day, such was his anxiety upon the subject, instructing the envoy to urge upon alva the necessity of chastising those rebels to the french crown. "if he tells you," continued charles, "that this is tacitly requiring him to put to death all the french prisoners now in hand as well to cut in pieces every man in mons, you will say to him that this is exactly what he ought to do, and that he will be guilty of a great wrong to christianity if he does otherwise." certainly, the duke, having been thus distinctly ordered, both by his own master and by his christian majesty, to put every one of these frenchmen to death, had a sufficiency of royal warrant. nevertheless, he was not able to execute entirely these ferocious instructions. the prisoners already in his power were not destined to escape, but the city of mons, in his own language, "proved to have sharper teeth than he supposed." mondoucet lost no time in placing before alva the urgent necessity of accomplishing the extensive and cold-blooded massacre thus proposed. "the duke has replied," wrote the envoy to his sovereign, "that he is executing his prisoners every day, and that he has but a few left. nevertheless, for some reason which he does not mention, he is reserving the principal noblemen and chiefs." he afterwards informed his master that genlis, jumelles, and the other leaders, had engaged, if alva would grant them a reasonable ransom, to induce the french in mons to leave the city, but that the duke, although his language was growing less confident, still hoped to take the town by assault. "i have urged him," he added, "to put them all to death, assuring him that he would be responsible for the consequences of a contrary course."--"why does not your most christian master," asked alva, "order these frenchmen in mons to come to him under oath to make no disturbance? then my prisoners will be at my discretion and i shall get my city."--"because," answered the envoy, "they will not trust his most christian majesty, and will prefer to die in mons."--[mondoucet to charles ix., th september, .] this certainly was a most sensible reply, but it is instructive to witness the cynicism with which the envoy accepts this position for his master, while coldly recording the results of all these sanguinary conversations. such was the condition of affairs when the prince of orange arrived at peronne, between binche and the duke of alva's entrenchments. the besieging army was rich in notabilities of elevated rank. don frederic of toledo had hitherto commanded, but on the th of august, the dukes of medina coeli and of alva had arrived in the camp. directly afterwards came the warlike archbishop of cologne, at the head of two thousand cavalry. there was but one chance for the prince of orange, and experience had taught him, four years before, its slenderness. he might still provoke his adversary into a pitched battle, and he relied upon god for the result. in his own words, "he trusted ever that the great god of armies was with him, and would fight in the midst of his forces." if so long as alva remained in his impregnable camp, it was impossible to attack him, or to throw reinforcements into mons. the prince soon found, too, that alva was far too wise to hazard his position by a superfluous combat. the duke knew that the cavalry of the prince was superior to his own. he expressed himself entirely unwilling to play into the prince's hands, instead of winning the game which was no longer doubtful. the huguenot soldiers within mons were in despair and mutiny; louis of nassau lay in his bed consuming with a dangerous fever; genlis was a prisoner, and his army cut to pieces; coligny was murdered, and protestant france paralyzed; the troops of orange, enlisted but for three months, were already rebellious, and sure to break into open insubordination when the consequences of the paris massacre should become entirely clear to them; and there were, therefore, even more cogent reasons than in , why alva should remain perfectly still, and see his enemy's cause founder before his eyes. the valiant archbishop of cologne was most eager for the fray. he rode daily at the duke's side, with harness on his back and pistols in his holsters, armed and attired like one of his own troopers, and urging the duke, with vehemence, to a pitched battle with the prince. the duke commended, but did not yield to, the prelate's enthusiasm. "'tis a fine figure of a man, with his corslet and pistols," he wrote to philip, "and he shows great affection for your majesty's service." the issue of the campaign was inevitable. on the th september, don frederic, with a force of four thousand picked men, established himself at saint florian, a village near the havre gate of the city, while the prince had encamped at hermigny, within half a league of the same place, whence he attempted to introduce reinforcements into the town. on the night of the th and th, don frederic hazarded an encamisada upon the enemy's camp, which proved eminently successful, and had nearly resulted in the capture of the prince himself. a chosen band of six hundred arquebussers, attired, as was customary in these nocturnal expeditions, with their shirts outside their armor, that they might recognize each other in the darkness, were led by julian romero, within the lines of the enemy. the sentinels were cut down, the whole army surprised, and for a moment powerless, while, for two hours long, from one o'clock in the morning until three, the spaniards butchered their foes, hardly aroused from their sleep, ignorant by how small a force they had been thus suddenly surprised, and unable in the confusion to distinguish between friend and foe. the boldest, led by julian in person, made at once for the prince's tent. his guards and himself were in profound sleep, but a small spaniel, who always passed the night upon his bed, was a more faithful sentinel. the creature sprang forward, barking furiously at the sound of hostile footsteps, and scratching his master's face with his paws.--there was but just time for the prince to mount a horse which was ready saddled, and to effect his escape through the darkness, before his enemies sprang into the tent. his servants were cut down, his master of the horse and two of his secretaries, who gained their saddles a moment later, all lost their lives, and but for the little dog's watchfulness, william of orange, upon whose shoulders the whole weight of his country's fortunes depended, would have been led within a week to an ignominious death. to his dying day, the prince ever afterwards kept a spaniel of the same race in his bed-chamber. the midnight slaughter still continued, but the spaniards in their fury, set fire to the tents. the glare of the conflagration showed the orangists by how paltry a force they had been surprised. before they could rally, however, romero led off his arquebusiers, every one of whom had at least killed his man. six hundred of the prince's troops had been put to the sword, while many others were burned in their beds, or drowned in the little rivulet which flowed outside their camp. only sixty spaniards lost their lives. this disaster did not alter the plans of the prince, for those plans had already been frustrated. the whole marrow of his enterprise had been destroyed in an instant by the massacre of saint bartholomew. he retreated to wronne and nivelles, an assassin, named heist, a german, by birth, but a french chevalier, following him secretly in his camp, pledged to take his life for a large reward promised by alva--an enterprise not destined, however, to be successful. the soldiers flatly refused to remain an hour longer in the field, or even to furnish an escort for count louis, if, by chance, he could be brought out of the town. the prince was obliged to inform his brother of the desperate state of his affairs, and to advise him to capitulate on the best terms which he could make. with a heavy heart, he left the chivalrous louis besieged in the city which he had so gallantly captured, and took his way across the meuse towards the rhine. a furious mutiny broke out among his troops. his life was, with difficulty, saved from the brutal soldiery--infuriated at his inability to pay them, except in the over-due securities of the holland cities--by the exertions of the officers who still regarded him with veneration and affection. crossing the rhine at orsoy, he disbanded his army and betook himself, almost alone, to holland. yet even in this hour of distress and defeat, the prince seemed more heroic than many a conqueror in his day of triumph. with all his hopes blasted, with the whole fabric of his country's fortunes shattered by the colossal crime of his royal ally, he never lost his confidence in himself nor his unfaltering trust in god. all the cities which, but a few weeks before, had so eagerly raised his standard, now fell off at once. he went to holland, the only province which remained true, and which still looked up to him as its saviour, but he went thither expecting and prepared to perish. "there i will make my sepulchre," was his simple and sublime expression in a private letter to his brother. he had advanced to the rescue of louis, with city after city opening its arms to receive him. he had expected to be joined on the march by coligny, at the head of a chosen army, and he was now obliged to leave his brother to his fate, having the massacre of the admiral and his confederates substituted for their expected army of assistance, and with every city and every province forsaking his cause as eagerly as they had so lately embraced it. "it has pleased god," he said, "to take away every hope which we could have founded upon man; the king has published that the massacre was by his orders, and has forbidden all his subjects, upon pain of death, to assist me; he has, moreover, sent succor to alva. had it not been for this, we had been masters of the duke, and should have made him capitulate at our pleasure." yet even then he was not cast down. nor was his political sagacity liable to impeachment by the extent to which he had been thus deceived by the french court. "so far from being reprehensible that i did not suspect such a crime," he said, "i should rather be chargeable with malignity had i been capable of so sinister a suspicion. 'tis not an ordinary thing to conceal such enormous deliberations under the plausible cover of a marriage festival." meanwhile, count louis lay confined to his couch with a burning fever. his soldiers refused any longer to hold the city, now that the altered intentions of charles ix. were known and the forces of orange withdrawn. alva offered the most honorable conditions, and it was therefore impossible for the count to make longer resistance. the city was so important, and time was at that moment so valuable that the duke was willing to forego his vengeance upon the rebel whom he so cordially detested, and to be satisfied with depriving, him of the prize which he had seized with such audacity. "it would have afforded me sincere pleasure," wrote the duke, "over and above the benefit to god and your majesty, to have had the count of nassau in my power. i would overleap every obstacle to seize him, such is the particular hatred which i bear the man." under, the circumstances, however, he acknowledged that the result of the council of war could only be to grant liberal terms. on the th september, accordingly, articles of capitulation were signed between the distinguished de la none with three others on the one part, and the seigneur de noircarmes and three others on the side of spain. the town was given over to alva, but all the soldiers were to go out with their weapons and property. those of the townspeople who had borne arms against his majesty, and all who still held to the reformed religion, were to retire with the soldiery. the troops were to pledge themselves not to serve in future against the kings of france or spain, but from this provision louis, with his english and german soldiers, was expressly excepted, the count indignantly repudiating the idea of such a pledge, or of discontinuing his hostilities for an instant. it was also agreed that convoys should be furnished, and hostages exchanged, for the due observance of the terms of the treaty. the preliminaries having been thus settled, the patriot forces abandoned the town. count louis, rising from his sick bed, paid his respects in person to the victorious generals, at their request. he was received in alva's camp with an extraordinary show of admiration and esteem. the duke of medina coeli overwhelmed him with courtesies and "basolomanos," while don frederic assured him, in the high-flown language of spanish compliment, that there was nothing which he would not do to serve him, and that he would take a greater pleasure in executing his slightest wish than if he had been his next of kin. as the count next day, still suffering with fever, and attired in his long dressing-gown, was taking his departure from the city, he ordered his carriage to stop at the entrance to don frederic's quarters. that general, who had been standing incognito near the door, gazing with honest admiration at the hero of so many a hard-fought field, withdrew as he approached, that he might not give the invalid the trouble of alighting. louis, however, recognising him, addressed him with the spanish salutation, "perdone vuestra senoria la pesedumbre," and paused at the gate. don frederic, from politeness to his condition, did not present himself, but sent an aid-de-camp to express his compliments and good wishes. having exchanged these courtesies, louis left the city, conveyed, as had been agreed upon, by a guard of spanish troops. there was a deep meaning in the respect with which the spanish generals had treated the rebel chieftain. although the massacre of saint bartholomew met with alva's entire approbation, yet it was his cue to affect a holy horror at the event, and he avowed that he would "rather cut off both his hands than be guilty of such a deed"--as if those hangman's hands had the right to protest against any murder, however wholesale. count louis suspected at once, and soon afterwards thoroughly understood; the real motives of the chivalrous treatment which he had received. he well knew that these very men would have sent him to the scaffold; had he fallen into their power, and he therefore estimated their courtesy at its proper value. it was distinctly stated, in the capitulation of the city, that all the soldiers, as well as such of the inhabitants as had borne arms, should be allowed to leave the city, with all their property. the rest of the people, it was agreed, might remain without molestation to their persons or estates. it has been the general opinion of historians that the articles of this convention were maintained by the conquerors in good faith. never was a more signal error. the capitulation was made late at night, on the th september, without the provision which charles ix. had hoped for: the massacre, namely, of de la none and his companions. as for genlis and those who had been taken prisoners at his defeat, their doom had already been sealed. the city was evacuated on the st september: alva entered it upon the th. most of the volunteers departed with the garrison, but many who had, most unfortunately, prolonged their farewells to their families, trusting to the word of the spanish captain molinos, were thrown into prison. noircarmes the butcher of valenciennes, now made his appearance in mons. as grand bailiff of hainault, he came to the place as one in authority, and his deeds were now to complete the infamy which must for ever surround his name. in brutal violation of the terms upon which the town had surrendered, he now set about the work of massacre and pillage. a commission of troubles, in close imitation of the famous blood council at brussels, was established, the members of the tribunal being appointed by noircarmes, and all being inhabitants of the town. the council commenced proceedings by condemning all the volunteers, although expressly included in the capitulation. their wives and children were all banished; their property all confiscated. on the th december, the executions commenced. the intrepid de leste, silk manufacturer, who had commanded a band of volunteers, and sustained during the siege the assaults of alva's troops with remarkable courage at a very critical moment, was one of the earliest victims. in consideration "that he was a gentleman, and not among the most malicious," he was executed by sword. "in respect that he heard the mass, and made a sweet and catholic end," it was allowed that he should be "buried in consecrated earth." many others followed in quick succession. some were beheaded, some were hanged, some were burned alive. all who had borne arms or worked at the fortifications were, of course, put to death. such as refused to confess and receive the catholic sacraments perished by fire. a poor wretch, accused of having ridiculed these mysteries, had his tongue torn out before being beheaded. a cobbler, named blaise bouzet, was hanged for having eaten meat-soup upon friday. he was also accused of going to the protestant preachings for the sake of participating in the alms distributed an these occasions, a crime for which many other paupers were executed. an old man of sixty-two was sent to the scaffold for having permitted his son to bear arms among the volunteers. at last, when all pretexts were wanting to justify executions; the council assigned as motives for its decrees an adhesion of heart on the part of the victims to the cause of the insurgents, or to the doctrines of the reformed church. ten, twelve, twenty persons, were often hanged, burned, or beheaded in a single day. gibbets laden with mutilated bodies lined the public highways,--while noircarmes, by frightful expressions of approbation, excited without ceasing the fury of his satellites. this monster would perhaps, be less worthy of execration had he been governed in these foul proceedings by fanatical bigotry or by political hatred; but his motives were of the most sordid description. it was mainly to acquire gold for himself that he ordained all this carnage. with the same pen which signed the death-sentences of the richest victims, he drew orders to his own benefit on their confiscated property. the lion's share of the plunder was appropriated by himself. he desired the estate; of francois de glarges, seigneur d'eslesmes. the gentleman had committed no offence of any kind, and, moreover, lived beyond the french frontier. nevertheless, in contempt of international law, the neighbouring territory was invaded, and d'eslesmes dragged before the blood tribunal of mons. noircarmes had drawn up beforehand, in his own handwriting, both the terms of the accusation and of the sentence. the victim was innocent and a catholic, but he was rich. he confessed to have been twice at the preaching, from curiosity, and to have omitted taking the sacrament at the previous easter. for these offences he was beheaded, and his confiscated estate adjudged at an almost nominal price to the secretary of noircarmes, bidding for his master. "you can do me no greater pleasure," wrote noircarmes to the council, "than to make quick work with all these rebels, and to proceed with the confiscation of their estates, real and personal. don't fail to put all those to the torture out of whom anything can be got." notwithstanding the unexampled docility of the commissioners, they found it difficult to extract from their redoubted chief a reasonable share in the wages of blood. they did not scruple, therefore, to display their own infamy, and to enumerate their own crimes, in order to justify their demand for higher salaries. "consider," they said, in a petition to this end, "consider closely, all that is odious in our office, and the great number of banishments and of executions which we have pronounced among all our own relations and friends." it may be added, moreover, as a slight palliation for the enormous crimes committed by these men, that, becoming at last weary of their business, they urged noircarmes to desist from the work of proscription. longehaye, one of the commissioners, even waited upon him personally, with a plea for mercy in favor of "the poor people, even beggars, who, although having borne arms during the siege, might then be pardoned." noircarmes, in a rage at the proposition, said that "if he did not know the commissioners to be honest men, he should believe that their palms had been oiled," and forbade any farther words on the subject. when longehaye still ventured to speak in favor of certain persons "who were very poor and simple, not charged with duplicity, and good catholics besides," he fared no better. "away with you!" cried noircarmes in a great fury, adding that he had already written to have execution done upon the whole of them. "whereupon," said poor blood-councillor longehaye, in his letter to his colleagues, "i retired, i leave you to guess how." thus the work went on day after day, month after month. till the th august of the following year ( ) the executioner never rested, and when requesens, successor to alva, caused the prisons of mons to be opened, there were found still seventy-five individuals condemned to the block, and awaiting their fate. it is the most dreadful commentary upon the times in which these transactions occurred, that they could sink so soon into oblivion. the culprits took care to hide the records of their guilt, while succeeding horrors, on a more extensive scale, at other places, effaced the memory of all these comparatively obscure murders and spoliations. the prosperity of mons, one of the most flourishing and wealthy manufacturing towns in the netherlands, was annihilated, but there were so many cities in the same condition that its misery was hardly remarkable. nevertheless, in our own days, the fall of a mouldering tower in the ruined chateau de naast at last revealed the archives of all these crimes. how the documents came to be placed there remains a mystery, but they have at last been brought to light. the spaniards had thus recovered mons, by which event the temporary revolution throughout the whole southern netherlands was at an end. the keys of that city unlocked the gates of every other in brabant and flanders. the towns which had so lately embraced the authority of orange now hastened to disavow the prince, and to return to their ancient, hypocritical, and cowardly allegiance. the new oaths of fidelity were in general accepted by alva, but the beautiful archiepiscopal city of mechlin was selected for an example and a sacrifice. there were heavy arrears due to the spanish troops. to indemnify them, and to make good his blasphemous prophecy of divine chastisement for its past misdeeds, alva now abandoned this town to the licence of his soldiery. by his command don frederic advanced to the gates and demanded its surrender. he was answered by a few shots from the garrison. those cowardly troops, however, having thus plunged the city still more deeply into the disgrace which, in alva's eyes, they had incurred by receiving rebels within their walls after having but just before refused admittance to the spanish forces, decamped during the night, and left the place defenceless. early next morning there issued from the gates a solemn procession of priests, with banner and crozier, followed by a long and suppliant throng of citizens, who attempted by this demonstration to avert the wrath of the victor. while the penitent psalms were resounding, the soldiers were busily engaged in heaping dried branches and rubbish into the moat. before the religious exercises were concluded, thousands had forced the gates or climbed the walls; and entered the city with a celerity which only the hope of rapine could inspire. the sack instantly commenced. the property of friend and foe, of papist and calvinist, was indiscriminately rifled. everything was dismantled and destroyed. "hardly a nail," said a spaniard, writing soon afterwards from brussels, "was left standing in the walls." the troops seemed to imagine themselves in a turkish town, and wreaked the divine vengeance which alva had denounced upon the city with an energy which met with his fervent applause. three days long the horrible scene continued, one day for the benefit of the spaniards, two more for that of the walloons and germans. all the churches, monasteries, religious houses of every kind, were completely sacked. every valuable article which they contained, the ornaments of altars, the reliquaries, chalices, embroidered curtains, and carpets of velvet or damask, the golden robes of the priests, the repositories of the host, the precious vessels of chrism and extreme unction, the rich clothing and jewellery adorning the effigies of the holy virgin, all were indiscriminately rifled by the spanish soldiers. the holy wafers were trampled underfoot, the sacramental wine was poured upon the ground, and, in brief, all the horrors which had been committed by the iconoclasts in their wildest moments, and for a thousandth part of which enormities heretics had been burned in droves, were now repeated in mechlin by the especial soldiers of christ, by roman catholics who had been sent to the netherlands to avenge the insults offered to the roman catholic faith. the motive, too, which inspired the sacrilegious crew was not fanaticism, but the desire of plunder. the property of romanists was taken as freely as that of calvinists, of which sect there were; indeed, but few in the archiepiscopal city. cardinal granvelle's house was rifled. the pauper funds deposited in the convents were not respected. the beds were taken from beneath sick and dying women, whether lady abbess or hospital patient, that the sacking might be torn to pieces in search of hidden treasure. the iconoclasts of had destroyed millions of property for the sake of an idea, but they had appropriated nothing. moreover, they had scarcely injured a human being; confining their wrath to graven images. the spaniards at mechlin spared neither man nor woman. the murders and outrages would be incredible, were they not attested by most respectable catholic witnesses. men were butchered in their houses, in the streets, at the altars. women were violated by hundreds in churches and in grave-yards. moreover, the deed had been as deliberately arranged as it was thoroughly performed. it was sanctioned by the highest authority. don frederic, son of alva, and general noircarmes were both present at the scene, and applications were in vain made to them that the havoc might be stayed. "they were seen whispering to each other in the ear on their arrival," says an eye-witness and a catholic, "and it is well known that the affair had been resolved upon the preceding day. the two continued together as long as they remained in the city." the work was, in truth, fully accomplished. the ultra-catholic, jean richardot, member of the grand council, and nephew of the bishop of arras, informed the state council that the sack of mechlin had been so horrible that the poor and unfortunate mothers had not a single morsel of bread to put in the mouths of their children, who were dying before their eyes--so insane and cruel had been the avarice of the plunderers. "he could say more," he added, "if his hair did not stand on end, not only at recounting, but even at remembering the scene." three days long the city was abandoned to that trinity of furies which ever wait upon war's footsteps--murder, lust, and rapine--under whose promptings human beings become so much more terrible than the most ferocious beasts. in his letter to his master, the duke congratulated him upon these foul proceedings as upon a pious deed well accomplished. he thought it necessary, however; to excuse himself before the public in a document, which justified the sack of mechlin by its refusal to accept his garrison a few months before, and by the shots which had been discharged at his troops as they approached the city. for these offences, and by his express order, the deed was done. upon his head must the guilt for ever rest. etext editor's bookmarks: hanged for having eaten meat-soup upon friday provided not one huguenot be left alive in france put all those to the torture out of whom anything can be got saint bartholomew's day science of reigning was the science of lying motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley - [chapter viii.] affairs in holland and zealand--siege of tergoes by the patriots-- importance of the place--difficulty of relieving it--its position-- audacious plan for sending succor across the "drowned land"-- brilliant and successful expedition of mondragon--the siege raised-- horrible sack of zutphen--base conduct of count van den berg-- refusal of naarden to surrender--subsequent unsuccessful deputation to make terms with don frederic--don frederic before naarden-- treachery of romero--the spaniards admitted--general massacre of the garrison and burghers--the city burned to the ground--warm reception of orange in holland--secret negotiations with the estates-- desperate character of the struggle between spain and the provinces --don frederic in amsterdam--plans for reducing holland--skirmish on the ice at amsterdam--preparation in harlem for the expected siege-- description of the city--early operations--complete investment-- numbers of besiegers and besieged--mutual barbarities--determined repulse of the first assault--failure of batenburg's expedition-- cruelties in city and camp--mining and countermining--second assault victoriously repelled--suffering and disease in harlem--disposition of don frederic to retire--memorable rebuke by alva--efforts of orange to relieve the place--sonoy's expedition--exploit of john haring--cruel execution of prisoners on both sides--quiryn dirkzoon and his family put to death in the city--fleets upon the lake-- defeat of the patriot armada--dreadful suffering and starvation in the city--parley with the besiegers--despair of the city--appeal to orange--expedition under batenburg to relieve the city--his defeat and death--desperate condition of harlem--its surrender at discretion--sanguinary executions--general massacre--expense of the victory in blood and money--joy of philip at the news. while thus brabant and flanders were scourged back to the chains which they had so recently broken, the affairs of the prince of orange were not improving in zealand. never was a twelvemonth so marked by contradictory fortune, never were the promises of a spring followed by such blight and disappointment in autumn than in the memorable year . on the island of walcheren, middelburg and arnemuyde still held for the king--campveer and flushing for the prince of orange. on the island of south bevelaad, the city of goes or tergoes was still stoutly defended by a small garrison of spanish troops. as long as the place held out, the city of middelburg could be maintained. should that important city fall, the spaniards would lose all hold upon walcheren and the province of zealand. jerome de 't zeraerts, a brave, faithful, but singularly unlucky officer, commanded for the prince in walcheren. he had attempted by various hastily planned expeditions to give employment to his turbulent soldiery, but fortune had refused to smile upon his efforts. he had laid siege to middelburg and failed. he had attempted tergoes and had been compelled ingloriously to retreat. the citizens of flushing, on his return, had shut the gates of the town in his face, and far several days refused to admit him or his troops. to retrieve this disgrace, which had sprung rather from the insubordination of his followers and the dislike which they bore his person than from any want of courage or conduct on his part, he now assembled a force of seven thousand men, marched again to tergoes, and upon the th of august laid siege to the place in forma. the garrison was very insufficient, and although they conducted themselves with great bravery, it was soon evident that unless reinforced they must yield. with their overthrow it was obvious that the spaniards would lose the important maritime province of zealand, and the duke accordingly ordered d'avila, who commanded in antwerp, to throw succor into tergoes without delay. attempts were made, by sea and by land, to this effect, but were all unsuccessful. the zealanders commanded the waters with their fleet,--and were too much at home among those gulfs and shallows not to be more than a match for their enemies. baffled in their attempt to relieve the town by water or by land, the spaniards conceived an amphibious scheme. their plan led to one of the most brilliant feats of arms which distinguishes the history of this war. the scheld, flowing past the city of antwerp and separating the provinces of flanders and brabant, opens wide its two arms in nearly opposite directions, before it joins the sea. between these two arms lie the isles of zealand, half floating upon, half submerged by the waves. the town of tergoes was the chief city of south beveland, the most important part of this archipelago, but south beveland had not always been an island. fifty years before, a tempest, one of the most violent recorded in the stormy annals of that exposed country, had overthrown all barriers, the waters of the german ocean, lashed by a succession of north winds, having been driven upon the low coast of zealand more rapidly than they could be carried off through the narrow straits of dover. the dykes of the island had burst, the ocean had swept over the land, hundreds of villages had been overwhelmed, and a tract of country torn from the province and buried for ever beneath the sea. this "drowned land," as it is called, now separated the island from the main. at low tide it was, however, possible for experienced pilots to ford the estuary, which had usurped the place of the land. the average depth was between four and five feet at low water, while the tide rose and fell at least ten feet; the bottom was muddy and treacherous, and it was moreover traversed by three living streams or channels; always much too deep to be fordable. captain plomaert, a fleming of great experience and bravery, warmly attached to the king's cause, conceived the plan of sending reinforcements across this drowned district to the city of tergoes. accompanied by two peasants of the country, well acquainted with the track, he twice accomplished the dangerous and difficult passage; which, from dry land to dry land, was nearly ten english miles in length. having thus satisfied himself as to the possibility of the enterprise, he laid his plan before the spanish colonel, mondragon. that courageous veteran eagerly embraced the proposal, examined the ground, and after consultation with sancho avila, resolved in person to lead an expedition along the path suggested by plomaert. three thousand picked men, a thousand from each nation,--spaniards, walloons, and germans, were speedily and secretly assembled at bergen op zoom, from the neighbourhood of which city, at a place called aggier, it was necessary that the expedition should set forth. a quantity of sacks were provided, in which a supply of, biscuit and of powder was placed, one to be carried by each soldier upon his head. although it was already late in the autumn, the weather was propitious; the troops, not yet informed: as to the secret enterprise for which they had been selected, were all ready assembled at the edge of the water, and mondragon, who, notwithstanding his age, had resolved upon heading the hazardous expedition, now briefly, on the evening of the th october, explained to them the nature of the service. his statement of the dangers which they were about to encounter, rather inflamed than diminished their ardor. their enthusiasm became unbounded, as he described the importance of the city which they were about to save, and alluded to the glory which would be won by those who thus courageously came forward to its rescue. the time of about half ebb-tide having arrived, the veteran,--preceded only by the guides and plomaert, plunged gaily into the waves, followed by his army, almost in single file. the water was never lowed khan the breast, often higher than the shoulder. the distance to the island, three and a half leagues at least, was to be accomplished within at most, six hours, or the rising tide would overwhelm them for ever. and thus, across the quaking and uncertain slime, which often refused them a footing, that adventurous band, five hours long, pursued their midnight march, sometimes swimming for their lives, and always struggling with the waves which every instant threatened to engulph them. before the tide had risen to more than half-flood, before the day had dawned, the army set foot on dry land again, at the village of irseken. of the whole three thousand, only nine unlucky individuals had been drowned; so much had courage and discipline availed in that dark and perilous passage through the very bottom of the sea. the duke of alva might well pronounce it one of the most brilliant and original achievements in the annals of war. the beacon fires were immediately lighted upon the shore; as agreed upon, to inform sancho d'avila, who was anxiously awaiting the result at bergen op zoom, of the safe arrival of the troops. a brief repose was then allowed. at the approach of daylight, they set forth from irseken, which lay about four leagues from tergoes. the news that a spanish army had thus arisen from the depths of the sea, flew before them as they marched. the besieging force commanded the water with their fleet, the land with their army; yet had these indomitable spaniards found a path which was neither land nor water, and had thus stolen upon them in the silence of night. a panic preceded them as they fell upon a foe much superior in number to their own force. it was impossible for 't zeraerts to induce his soldiers to offer resistance. the patriot army fled precipitately and ignominiously to their ships, hotly pursued by the spaniards, who overtook and destroyed the whole of their rearguard before they could embark. this done, the gallant little garrison which had so successfully held the city, was reinforced with the courageous veterans who had come to their relief his audacious project thus brilliantly accomplished, the "good old mondragon," as his soldiers called him, returned to the province of brabant. after the capture of mons and the sack of mechlin, the duke of alva had taken his way to nimwegen, having despatched his son, don frederic, to reduce the northern and eastern country, which was only too ready to submit to the conqueror. very little resistance was made by any of the cities which had so recently, and--with such enthusiasm, embraced the cause of orange. zutphen attempted a feeble opposition to the entrance of the king's troops, and received a dreadful chastisement in consequence. alva sent orders to his son to leave not a single man alive in the city, and to burn every house to the ground. the duke's command was almost literally obeyed. don frederic entered zutphen, and without a moment's warning put the whole garrison to the sword. the citizens next fell a defenceless, prey; some being, stabbed in the streets, some hanged on the trees which decorated the city, some stripped stark naked; and turned out into the fields to freeze to death in the wintry night. as the work of death became too fatiguing for the butchers, five hundred innocent burghers were tied two and two, back to back, and drowned like dogs in the river yssel. a few stragglers who had contrived to elude pursuit at first, were afterwards taken from their hiding places and hung upon the gallows by the feet, some of which victims suffered four days and nights of agony before death came to their relief. it is superfluous to add that the outrages upon women were no less universal in zutphen than they had been in every city captured or occupied by the spanish troops. these horrors continued till scarcely chastity or life remained, throughout the miserable city. this attack and massacre had been so suddenly executed, that assistance would hardly have been possible, even had there been disposition to render it. there was; however, no such disposition. the whole country was already cowering again, except the provinces of holland and zealand. no one dared approach, even to learn what had occurred within the walls of the town, for days after its doom had been accomplished. "a wail of agony was heard above zutphen last sunday," wrote count nieuwenar, "a sound as of a mighty massacre, but we know not what has taken place." count van, den bergh, another brother-in-law of orange, proved himself signally unworthy of the illustrious race to which he was allied. he had, in the earlier part of the year, received the homage of the cities of gelderland and overyssel, on behalf of the patriot prince. he now basely abandoned the field where he had endeavoured to gather laurels while the sun of success had been shining. having written from kampen, whither he had retired, that he meant to hold the city to the last gasp, he immediately afterwards fled secretly and precipitately from the country. in his flight he was plundered by his own people, while his wife, mary of nassau, then far advanced in pregnancy, was left behind, disguised as a peasant girl, in an obscure village. with the flight of van den bergh, all the cities which, under his guidance, had raised the standard of orange, deserted the cause at once. friesland too, where robles obtained a victory over six thousand patriots, again submitted to the yoke. but if the ancient heart of the free frisians was beating thus feebly, there was still spirit left among their brethren on the other side of the zuyder zee. it was not while william of orange was within her borders, nor while her sister provinces had proved recreant to him, that holland would follow their base example. no rebellion being left, except in the north-western extremities of the netherlands, don frederic was ordered to proceed from zutphen to amsterdam, thence to undertake the conquest of holland. the little city of naarden, on the coast of the zuyder zee, lay in his path, and had not yet formally submitted. on the nd of november a company of one hundred troopers was sent to the city gates to demand its surrender. the small garrison which had been left by the prince was not disposed to resist, but the spirit of the burghers was stouter than, their walls. they answered the summons by a declaration that they had thus far held the city for the king and the prince of orange, and, with god's help, would continue so to do. as the horsemen departed with this reply, a lunatic, called adrian krankhoeft, mounted the ramparts and, discharged a culverine among them. no man was injured, but the words of defiance, and the shot fired by a madman's hand, were destined to be fearfully answered. meanwhile, the inhabitants of the place, which was at best far from strong, and ill provided with arms, ammunition, or soldiers, despatched importunate messages to sonoy, and to ether patriot generals nearest to them, soliciting reinforcements. their messengers came back almost empty handed. they brought a little powder and a great many promises, but not a single man-at-arms, not a ducat, not a piece of artillery. the most influential commanders, moreover, advised an honorable capitulation, if it were still possible. thus baffled, the burghers of the little city found their proud position quite untenable. they accordingly, on the st of december, despatched the burgomaster and a senator to amersfoort, to make terms, if possible, with don frederic. when these envoys reached the place, they were refused admission to the general's presence. the army had already been ordered to move forward to naarden, and they were directed to accompany the advance guard, and to expect their reply at the gates of their own city. this command was sufficiently ominous. the impression which it made upon them was confirmed by the warning voices of their friends in amersfoort, who entreated them not to return to naarden. the advice was not lost upon one of the two envoys. after they had advanced a little distance on their journey, the burgomaster laurentszoon slid privately out of the sledge in which they were travelling, leaving his cloak behind him. "adieu; i think i will not venture back to naarden at present," said he, calmly, as he abandoned his companion to his fate. the other, who could not so easily desert his children, his wife, and his fellow-citizens, in the hour of danger, went forward as calmly to share in their impending doom. the army reached bussem, half a league distant from naarden, in the evening. here don frederic established his head quarters, and proceeded to invest the city. senator gerrit was then directed to return to naarden and to bring out a more numerous deputation on the following morning, duly empowered to surrender the place. the envoy accordingly returned next day, accompanied by lambert hortensius, rector of a latin academy, together with four other citizens. before this deputation had reached bussem, they were met by julian romero, who informed them that he was commissioned to treat with them on the part of don frederic. he demanded the keys of the city, and gave the deputation a solemn pledge that the lives and property of all the inhabitants should be sacredly respected. to attest this assurance don julian gave his hand three several times to lambert hortensius. a soldier's word thus plighted, the commissioners, without exchanging any written documents, surrendered the keys, and immediately afterwards accompanied romero into the city, who was soon followed by five or six hundred musketeers. to give these guests a hospitable reception, all the housewives of the city at once set about preparations for a sumptuous feast, to which the spaniards did ample justice, while the colonel and his officers were entertained by senator gerrit at his own house. as soon as this conviviality had come to an end, romero, accompanied by his host, walked into the square. the great bell had been meantime ringing, and the citizens had been summoned to assemble in the gast huis church, then used as a town hall. in the course of a few minutes five hundred had entered the building, and stood quietly awaiting whatever measures might be offered for their deliberation. suddenly a priest, who had been pacing to and fro before the church door, entered the building, and bade them all prepare for death; but the announcement, the preparation, and the death, were simultaneous. the door was flung open, and a band of armed spaniards rushed across the sacred threshold. they fired a single volley upon the defenceless herd, and then sprang in upon them with sword and dagger. a yell of despair arose as the miserable victims saw how hopelessly they were engaged, and beheld the ferocious faces of their butchers. the carnage within that narrow apace was compact and rapid. within a few minutes all were despatched, and among them senator gerrit, from whose table the spanish commander had but just risen. the church was then set on fire, and the dead and dying were consumed to ashes together. inflamed but not satiated, the spaniards then rushed into the streets, thirsty for fresh horrors. the houses were all rifled of their contents, and men were forced to carry the booty to the camp, who were then struck dead as their reward. the town was then fired in every direction, that the skulking citizens might be forced from their hiding-places. as fast as they came forth they were put to death by their impatient foes. some were pierced with rapiers, some were chopped to pieces with axes, some were surrounded in the blazing streets by troops of laughing soldiers, intoxicated, not with wine but with blood, who tossed them to and fro with their lances, and derived a wild amusement from their dying agonies. those who attempted resistance were crimped alive like fishes, and left to gasp themselves to death in lingering torture. the soldiers becoming more and more insane, as the foul work went on, opened the veins of some of their victims, and drank their blood as if it were wine. some of the burghers were for a time spared, that they might witness the violation of their wives and daughters, and were then butchered in company with these still more unfortunate victims. miracles of brutality were accomplished. neither church nor hearth was sacred: men were slain, women outraged at the altars, in the streets, in their blazing homes. the life of lambert hortensius was spared, out of regard to his learning and genius, but he hardly could thank his foes for the boon, for they struck his only son dead, and tore his heart out before his father's eyes. hardly any man or woman survived, except by accident. a body of some hundred burghers made their escape across the snow into the open country. they were, however, overtaken, stripped stark naked, and hung upon the trees by the feet, to freeze, or to perish by a more lingering death. most of them soon died, but twenty, who happened to be wealthy, succeeded, after enduring much torture, in purchasing their lives of their inhuman persecutors. the principal burgomaster, heinrich lambertszoon, was less fortunate. known to be affluent, he was tortured by exposing the soles of his feet to a fire until they were almost consumed. on promise that his life should be spared, he then agreed to pay a heavy ransom; but hardly had he furnished the stipulated sum when, by express order of don frederic himself, he was hanged in his own doorway, and his dissevered limbs afterwards nailed to the gates of the city. nearly all the inhabitants of naarden, soldiers and citizens, were thus destroyed; and now don frederic issued peremptory orders that no one, on pain of death, should give lodging or food to any fugitive. he likewise forbade to the dead all that could now be forbidden them--a grave. three weeks long did these unburied bodies pollute the streets, nor could the few wretched women who still cowered within such houses as had escaped the flames ever wave from their lurking-places without treading upon the festering remains of what had been their husbands, their fathers, or their brethren. such was the express command of him whom the flatterers called the "most divine genius ever known." shortly afterwards came an order to dismantle the fortifications, which had certainly proved sufficiently feeble in the hour of need, and to raze what was left of the city from the surface of the earth. the work was faithfully accomplished, and for a longtime naarden ceased to exist. alva wrote, with his usual complacency in such cases, to his sovereign, that "they had cut the throats of the burghers and all the garrison, and that they had not left a mother's son alive." the statement was almost literally correct, nor was the cant with which these bloodhounds commented upon their crimes less odious than their guilt. "it was a permission of god," said the duke, "that these people should have undertaken to defend a city, which was so weak that no other persons would have attempted such a thing." nor was the reflection of mendoza less pious. "the sack of naarden," said that really brave and accomplished cavalier, "was a chastisement which must be believed to have taken place by express permission of a divine providence; a punishment for having been the first of the holland towns in which heresy built its nest, whence it has taken flight to all the neighboring cities." it is not without reluctance, but still with a stern determination, that the historian--should faithfully record these transactions. to extenuate would be base; to exaggerate impossible. it is good that the world should not forget how much wrong has been endured by a single harmless nation at the hands of despotism, and in the sacred name of god. there have been tongues and pens enough to narrate the excesses of the people, bursting from time to time out of slavery into madness. it is good, too, that those crimes should be remembered, and freshly pondered; but it is equally wholesome to study the opposite picture. tyranny, ever young and ever old, constantly reproducing herself with the same stony features, with the same imposing mask which she has worn through all the ages, can never be too minutely examined, especially when she paints her own portrait, and when the secret history of her guilt is furnished by the confessions of her lovers. the perusal of her traits will not make us love popular liberty the less. the history of alva's administration in the netherlands is one of those pictures which strike us almost dumb with wonder. why has the almighty suffered such crimes to be perpetrated in his sacred name? was it necessary that many generations should wade through this blood in order to acquire for their descendants the blessings of civil and religious freedom? was it necessary that an alva should ravage a peaceful nation with sword and flame--that desolation should be spread over a happy land, in order that the pure and heroic character of a william of orange should stand forth more conspicuously, like an antique statue of spotless marble against a stormy sky? after the army which the prince had so unsuccessfully led to the relief of mons had been disbanded, he had himself repaired to holland. he had come to kampen shortly before its defection from his cause. thence he had been escorted across the zuyder zee to eukhuyzen. he came to that province, the only one which through good and ill report remained entirely faithful to him, not as a conqueror but as an unsuccessful, proscribed man. but there were warm hearts beating within those cold lagunes, and no conqueror returning from a brilliant series of victories could have been received with more affectionate respect than william in that darkest hour of the country's history. he had but seventy horsemen at his back, all which remained of the twenty thousand troops which he had a second time levied in germany, and he felt that it would be at that period hopeless for him to attempt the formation of a third army. he had now come thither to share the fate of holland, at least, if he could not accomplish her liberation. he went from city to city, advising with the magistracies and with the inhabitants, and arranging many matters pertaining both to peace and war. at harlem the states of the provinces, according to his request, had been assembled. the assembly begged him to lay before them, if it were possible, any schemes and means which he might have devised for further resistance to the duke of alva. thus solicited, the prince, in a very secret session, unfolded his plans, and satisfied them as to the future prospects of the cause. his speech has nowhere been preserved. his strict injunctions as to secrecy, doubtless, prevented or effaced any record of the session. it is probable, however, that he entered more fully into the state of his negotiations with england, and into the possibility of a resumption by count louis of his private intercourse with the french court, than it was safe, publicly, to divulge. while the prince had been thus occupied in preparing the stout-hearted province for the last death-struggle with its foe, that mortal combat was already fast approaching; for the aspect of the contest in the netherlands was not that of ordinary warfare. it was an encounter between two principles, in their nature so hostile to each other that the absolute destruction of one was the only, possible issue. as the fight went on, each individual combatant seemed inspired by direct personal malignity, and men found a pleasure in deeds of cruelty, from which generations not educated to slaughter recoil with horror. to murder defenceless prisoners; to drink, not metaphorically but literally, the heart's blood of an enemy; to exercise a devilish ingenuity in inventions of mutual torture, became not only a duty but a rapture. the liberty of the netherlands had now been hunted to its lair. it had taken its last refuge among the sands and thickets where its savage infancy had been nurtured, and had now prepared itself to crush its tormentor in a last embrace, or to die in the struggle. after the conclusion of the sack and massacre of naarden, don frederic had hastened to amsterdam, where the duke was then quartered, that he might receive the paternal benediction for his well-accomplished work. the royal approbation was soon afterwards added to the applause of his parent, and the duke was warmly congratulated in a letter written by philip as soon as the murderous deed was known, that don frederic had so plainly shown himself to be his father's son. there was now more work for father and son. amsterdam was the only point in holland which held for alva, and from that point it was determined to recover the whole province. the prince of orange was established in the southern district; diedrich sonoy, his lieutenant, was stationed in north holland. the important city of harlem lay between the two, at a spot where the whole breadth of the territory, from sea to sea, was less than an hour's walk. with the fall of that city the province would be cut in twain, the rebellious forces utterly dissevered, and all further resistance, it was thought, rendered impossible. the inhabitants of harlem felt their danger. bossu, alva's stadholder for holland, had formally announced the system hitherto pursued at mechlin, zutphen, and naarden, as the deliberate policy of the government. the king's representative had formally proclaimed the extermination of man, woman; and child in every city which opposed his authority, but the promulgation and practice of such a system had an opposite effect to the one intended. "the hearts of the hollanders were rather steeled to resistance than awed into submission by the fate of naarden." a fortunate event, too, was accepted as a lucky omen for the coming contest. a little fleet of armed vessels, belonging to holland, had been frozen up in the neighbourhood of amsterdam. don frederic on his arrival from naarden, despatched a body of picked men over the ice to attack the imprisoned vessels. the crews had, however, fortified themselves by digging a wide trench around the whole fleet, which thus became from the moment an almost impregnable fortress. out of this frozen citadel a strong band of well-armed and skilful musketeers sallied forth upon skates as the besieging force advanced. a rapid, brilliant, and slippery skirmish succeeded, in which the hollanders, so accustomed to such sports, easily vanquished their antagonists, and drove them off the field, with the loss of several hundred left dead upon the ice. "'t was a thing never heard of before to-day," said alva, "to see a body of arquebusiers thus skirmishing upon a frozen sea." in the course of the next four-and-twenty hours a flood and a rapid thaw released the vessels, which all escaped to enkhuyzen, while a frost, immediately and strangely succeeding, made pursuit impossible. the spaniards were astonished at these novel manoeuvres upon the ice. it is amusing to read their elaborate descriptions of the wonderful appendages which had enabled the hollanders to glide so glibly into battle with a superior force, and so rapidly to glance away, after achieving a signal triumph. nevertheless, the spaniards could never be dismayed, and were always apt scholars, even if an enemy were the teacher. alva immediately ordered seven thousand pairs of skates, and his soldiers soon learned to perform military evolutions with these new accoutrements as audaciously, if not as adroitly, as the hollanders. a portion of the harlem magistracy, notwithstanding the spirit which pervaded the province, began to tremble as danger approached. they were base enough to enter into secret negotiations with alva, and to send three of their own number to treat with the duke at amsterdam. one was wise enough to remain with the enemy. the other two were arrested on their return, and condemned, after an impartial trial, to death. for, while these emissaries of a cowardly magistracy were absent, the stout commandant of the little garrison, ripperda, had assembled the citizens and soldiers in the market-place. he warned them of the absolute necessity to make a last effort for freedom. in startling colors he held up to them the fate of mechlin, of zutphen, of naarden, as a prophetic mirror, in which they might read their own fate should they be base enough to surrender the city. there was no composition possible, he urged, with foes who were as false as they were sanguinary, and whose foul passions were stimulated, not slaked, by the horrors with which they had already feasted themselves. ripperda addressed men who could sympathize with his bold and lofty sentiments. soldiers and citizens cried out for defence instead of surrender, as with one voice, for there were no abject spirits at harlem, save among the magistracy; and saint aldegonde, the faithful minister of orange, was soon sent to harlem by the prince to make a thorough change in that body. harlem, over whose ruins the spanish tyranny intended to make its entrance into holland, lay in the narrowest part of that narrow isthmus which separates the zuyder zee from the german ocean. the distance from sea to sea is hardly five english miles across. westerly from the city extended a slender strip of land, once a morass, then a fruitful meadow; maintained by unflagging fortitude in the very jaws of a stormy ocean. between the north sea and the outer edge of this pasture surged those wild and fantastic downs, heaped up by wind and wave in mimicry of mountains; the long coils of that rope of sand, by which, plaited into additional strength by the slenderest of bulrushes, the waves of the north sea were made to obey the command of man. on the opposite, or eastern aide, harlem looked towards amsterdam. that already flourishing city was distant but ten miles. the two cities were separated by an expanse of inland water, and united by a slender causeway. the harlem lake, formed less than a century before by the bursting of four lesser, meres during a storm which had threatened to swallow the whole peninsula, extended itself on the south and east; a sea of limited dimensions, being only fifteen feet in depth with seventy square miles of surface, but, exposed as it lay to all the winds of heaven, often lashed into storms as dangerous as those of the atlantic. beyond the lake, towards the north, the waters of the y nearly swept across the peninsula. this inlet of the zuyder zee was only separated from the harlem mere by a slender thread of land. over this ran the causeway between the two sister cities, now so unfortunately in arms against each other. midway between the two, the dyke was pierced and closed again with a system of sluice-works, which when opened admitted the waters of the lake into those of the estuary, and caused an inundation of the surrounding country. the city was one of the largest and most beautiful in the netherlands. it was also one of the weakest.--the walls were of antique construction, turreted, but not strong. the extent and feebleness of the defences made a large garrison necessary, but unfortunately, the garrison was even weaker than the walls. the city's main reliance was on the stout hearts of the inhabitants. the streets were, for that day, spacious and regular; the canals planted with limes and poplars. the ancient church of saint bavon, a large imposing structure of brick, stood almost in the centre of the place, the most prominent object, not only of the town but of the province, visible over leagues of sea and of land more level than the sea, and seeming to gather the whole quiet little city under its sacred and protective wings. its tall open-work leaden spire was surmounted by a colossal crown, which an exalted imagination might have regarded as the emblematic guerdon of martyrdom held aloft over the city, to reward its heroism and its agony. it was at once obvious that the watery expanse between harlem and amsterdam would be the principal theatre of the operations about to commence. the siege was soon begun. the fugitive burgomaster, de fries, had the effrontery, with the advice of alva, to address a letter to the citizens, urging them to surrender at discretion. the messenger was hanged--a cruel but practical answer, which put an end to all further traitorous communications. this was in the first week of december. on the th, don frederic, sent a strong detachment to capture the fort and village of sparendam, as an indispensable preliminary to the commencement of the siege. a peasant having shown zapata, the commander of the expedition, a secret passage across the flooded and frozen meadows, the spaniards stormed the place gallantly, routed the whole garrison, killed three hundred, and took possession of the works and village. next day, don frederic appeared before the walls of harlem, and proceeded regularly to invest the place. the misty weather favored his operations, nor did he cease reinforcing himself; until at least thirty thousand men, including fifteen hundred cavalry, had been encamped around the city. the germans, under count overstein, were stationed in a beautiful and extensive grove of limes and beeches, which spread between the southern walls and the shore of harlem lake. don frederic, with his spaniards, took up a position on the opposite side, at a place called the house of kleef, the ruins of which still remain. the walloons, and other regiments were distributed in different places, so as completely to encircle the town. [pierre sterlinckx: eene come waerachtige beschryvinghe van alle geschiedinissen, anschlagen, stormen, schermutsingen oude schieten voor de vroome stadt haerlem in holland gheschicht, etc., etc.-- delft, .--this is by far the best contemporary account of the famous siege. the author was a citizen of antwerp, who kept a daily journal of the events as they occurred at harlem. it is a dry, curt register of horrors, jotted down without passion or comment.-- compare bor, vi. , ; meteren, iv. ; mendoza, viii. , ; wagenaer, vad. hist., vi. , .] on the edge of the mere the prince of orange had already ordered a cluster of forts to be erected, by which the command of its frozen surface was at first secured for harlem. in the course of the siege, however, other forts were erected by don frederic, so that the aspect of things suffered a change. against this immense force, nearly equal in number to that of the whole population of the city, the garrison within the walls never amounted to more than four thousand men. in the beginning it was much less numerous. the same circumstances, however, which assisted the initiatory operations of don frederic, were of advantage to the harlemers. a dense frozen fog hung continually over the surface of the lake. covered by this curtain, large supplies of men, provisions, and ammunition were daily introduced into the city, notwithstanding all the efforts of the besieging force. sledges skimming over the ice, men, women, and even children, moving on their skates as swiftly as the wind, all brought their contributions in the course of the short dark days and long nights of december, in which the wintry siege was opened. the garrison at last numbered about one thousand pioneers or delvers, three thousand fighting men, and about three hundred fighting women. the last was a most efficient corps, all females of respectable character, armed with sword, musket, and dagger. their chief, kenau hasselaer, was a widow of distinguished family and unblemished reputation, about forty-seven years of age, who, at the head of her amazons, participated in many of the most fiercely contested actions of the siege, both within and without the walls. when such a spirit animated the maids and matrons of the city, it might be expected that the men would hardly surrender the place without a struggle. the prince had assembled a force of three or four thousand men at leyden, which he sent before the middle of december towards the city under the command of de la marck. these troops were, however, attacked on the way by a strong detachment under bossu, noircarmes, and romero. after a sharp, action in a heavy snow-storm, de la marek was completely routed. one thousand of his soldiers were cut to pieces, and a large number carried off as prisoners to the gibbets, which were already conspicuously erected in the spanish camp, and which from the commencement to the close of the siege were never bare of victims. among the captives was a gallant officer, baptist van trier, for whom de la marck in vain offered two thousand crowns and nineteen spanish prisoners. the proposition was refused with contempt. van trier was hanged upon the gallows by one leg until he was dead, in return for which barbarity the nineteen spaniards were immediately gibbeted by de la marck. with this interchange of cruelties the siege may be said to have opened. don frederic had stationed himself in a position opposite to the gate of the cross, which was not very strong, but fortified by a ravelin. intending to make a very short siege of it, he established his batteries immediately, and on the th, th, and th december directed a furious cannonade against the cross-gate, the st. john's-gate, and the curtain between the two. six hundred and eighty shots were discharged on the first, and nearly as many on each of the two succeeding days. the walls were much shattered, but men, women, and children worked night and day within the city, repairing the breaches as fast as made. they brought bags of sand; blocks of stone, cart-loads of earth from every quarter, and they stripped the churches of all their statues, which they threw by heaps into the gaps. if they sought thus a more practical advantage from those sculptured saints than they could have gained by only imploring their interposition. the fact, however, excited horror among the besiegers. men who were daily butchering their fellow-beings, and hanging their prisoners in cold blood, affected to shudder at the enormity of the offence thus exercised against graven images. after three days' cannonade, the assault was ordered, don frederic only intending a rapid massacre, to crown his achievements at--zutphen and naarden. the place, he thought, would fall in a week, and after another week of sacking, killing, and ravishing, he might sweep on to "pastures new" until holland was overwhelmed. romero advanced to the breach, followed by a numerous storming party, but met with a resistance which astonished the spaniards. the church bells rang the alarm throughout the city, and the whole population swarmed to the walls. the besiegers were encountered not only with sword and musket, but with every implement which the burghers' hands could find. heavy stones, boiling oil, live coals, were hurled upon the heads of the soldiers; hoops, smeared with pitch and set on fire, were dexterously thrown upon their necks. even spanish courage and spanish ferocity were obliged to shrink before the steady determination of a whole population animated by a single spirit. romero lost an eye in the conflict, many officers were killed and wounded, and three or four hundred soldiers left dead in the breach, while only three or four of the townsmen lost their lives. the signal of recal was reluctantly given, and the spaniards abandoned the assault. don frederic was now aware that harlem would not fall at his feet at the first sound of his trumpet. it was obvious that a siege must precede the massacre. he gave orders therefore that the ravelin should be undermined, and doubted not that, with a few days' delay, the place would be in his hands. meantime, the prince of orange, from his head-quarters at sassenheim, on the southern extremity of the mere, made a fresh effort to throw succor into the place. two thousand men, with seven field-pieces, and many wagon-loads of munitions, were sent forward under batenburg. this officer had replaced de la marck, whom the prince had at last deprived of his commission. the reckless and unprincipled freebooter was no longer to serve a cause which was more sullied by his barbarity than it could be advanced by his desperate valor. batenburg's expedition was, however, not more successful than the one made by his predecessor. the troops, after reaching the vicinity of the city, lost their way in the thick mists, which almost perpetually enveloped the scene. cannons were fired, fog-bells were rung, and beacon fires were lighted on the ramparts, but the party was irretrievably lost. the spaniards fell upon them before they could find their way to the city. many were put to the sword, others made their escape in different directions; a very few succeeded in entering harlem. batenburg brought off a remnant of the forces, but all the provisions so much needed were lost, and the little army entirely destroyed. de koning, the second in command, was among the prisoners. the spaniards cut off his head and threw it over the walls into the city, with this inscription: "this is the head of captain de koning, who is on his way with reinforcements for the good city of harlem." the citizens retorted with a practical jest, which was still more barbarous. they cut off the heads of eleven prisoners and put them into a barrel, which they threw into the spanish camp. a label upon the barrel contained these words: "deliver these ten heads to duke alva in payment of his tenpenny tax, with one additional head for interest." with such ghastly merriment did besieged and besiegers vary the monotonous horror of that winter's siege. as the sallies and skirmishes were of daily occurrence, there was a constant supply of prisoners, upon whom both parties might exercise their ingenuity, so that the gallows in camp or city was perpetually garnished. since the assault of the st december, don frederic had been making his subterranean attack by regular approaches. as fast, however, as the spaniards mined, the citizens countermined. spaniard and netherlander met daily in deadly combat within the bowels of the earth. desperate and frequent were the struggles within gangways so narrow that nothing but daggers could be used, so obscure that the dim lanterns hardly lighted the death-stroke. they seemed the conflicts, not of men but of evil spirits. nor were these hand-to-hand battles all. a shower of heads, limbs, mutilated trunks, the mangled remains of hundreds of human beings, often spouted from the earth as if from an invisible volcano. the mines were sprung with unexampled frequency and determination. still the spaniards toiled on with undiminished zeal, and still the besieged, undismayed, delved below their works, and checked their advance by sword, and spear, and horrible explosions. the prince of orange, meanwhile, encouraged the citizens to persevere, by frequent promises of assistance. his letters, written on extremely small bits of paper; were sent into the town by carrier pigeons. on the th of january he despatched a considerable supply of the two necessaries, powder and bread, on one hundred and seventy sledges across the harlem lake, together with four hundred veteran soldiers. the citizens continued to contest the approaches to the ravelin before the cross-gate, but it had become obvious that they could not hold it long. secretly, steadfastly, and swiftly they had, therefore, during the long wintry nights, been constructing a half moon of solid masonry on the inside of the same portal. old men, feeble women, tender children, united with the able-bodied to accomplish this work, by which they hoped still to maintain themselves after the ravelin had fallen: on the st of january, after two or three days' cannonade against the gates of the cross and of saint john, and the intervening curtains, don frederic ordered a midnight assault. the walls had been much shattered, part of the john's-gate was in ruins; the spaniards mounted the breach in great numbers; the city was almost taken by surprise; while the commander-in-chief, sure of victory, ordered the whole of his forces under arms to cut off the population who were to stream panic-struck from every issue. the attack was unexpected, but the forty or fifty sentinels defended the walls while they sounded the alarm. the tocsin bells tolled, and the citizens, whose sleep was not-apt to be heavy during that perilous winter, soon manned the ramparts again. the daylight came upon them while the fierce struggle was still at its height. the besieged, as before, defended themselves with musket and rapier, with melted pitch, with firebrands, with clubs and stones. meantime, after morning prayers in the spanish camp, the trumpet for a general assault was sounded. a tremendous onset was made upon the gate of the cross, and the ravelin was carried at last. the spaniards poured into this fort, so long the object of their attack, expecting instantly to sweep into the city with sword and fire. as they mounted its wall they became for the first time aware of the new and stronger fortification which had been secretly constructed on the inner side. the reason why the ravelin had been at last conceded was revealed. the half moon, whose existence they had not suspected, rose before them bristling with cannon. a sharp fire was instantly opened upon the besiegers, while at the same instant the ravelin, which the citizens had undermined, blew up with a severe explosion, carrying into the air all the soldiers who had just entered it so triumphantly. this was the turning point. the retreat was sounded, and the spaniards fled to their camp, leaving at least three hundred dead beneath the walls. thus was a second assault, made by an overwhelming force and led by the most accomplished generals of spain, signally and gloriously repelled by the plain burghers of harlem. it became now almost evident that the city could be taken neither by regular approaches nor by sudden attack. it was therefore resolved that it should be reduced by famine. still, as the winter wore on, the immense army without the walls were as great sufferers by that scourge as the population within. the soldiers fell in heaps before the diseases engendered by intense cold and insufficient food, for, as usual in such sieges, these deaths far outnumbered those inflicted by the enemy's hand. the sufferings inside the city necessarily increased day by day, the whole population being put on a strict allowance of food. their supplies were daily diminishing, and with the approach of the spring and the thawing of the ice on the lake, there was danger that they would be entirely cut off. if the possession of the water were lost, they must yield or starve; and they doubted whether the prince would be able to organize a fleet. the gaunt spectre of famine already rose before them with a menace which could not be misunderstood. in their misery they longed for the assaults of the spaniards, that they might look in the face of a less formidable foe. they paraded the ramparts daily, with drums beating, colors flying, taunting the besiegers to renewed attempts. to inflame the religious animosity of their antagonists, they attired themselves in the splendid, gold-embroidered vestments of the priests, which they took from the churches, and moved about in mock procession, bearing aloft images bedizened in ecclesiastical finery, relics, and other symbols, sacred in catholic eyes, which they afterwards hurled from the ramparts, or broke, with derisive shouts, into a thousand fragments. it was, however, at that season earnestly debated by the enemy whether or not to raise the siege. don frederic was clearly of opinion that enough had been done for the honor of the spanish arms. he was wearied with seeing his men perish helplessly around him, and considered the prize too paltry for the lives it must cost. his father thought differently. perhaps he recalled the siege of metz, and the unceasing regret with which, as he believed, his imperial master had remembered the advice received from him. at any rate the duke now sent back don bernardino de mendoza, whom don frederic had despatched to nimwegen, soliciting his father's permission to raise the siege, with this reply: "tell don frederic," said alva, "that if he be not decided to continue the siege till the town be taken, i shall no longer consider him my son, whatever my opinion may formerly have been. should he fall in the siege, i will myself take the field to maintain it, and when we have both perished, the duchess, my wife, shall come from spain to do the same." such language was unequivocal, and hostilities were resumed as fiercely as before. the besieged welcomed them with rapture, and, as usual, made daily the most desperate sallies. in one outbreak the harlemers, under cover of a thick fog, marched up to the enemy's chief battery, and attempted to spike the guns before his face. they were all slain at the cannon's mouth, whither patriotism, not vainglory, had led them, and lay dead around the battery, with their hammers and spikes in their hands. the same spirit was daily manifested. as the spring advanced; the kine went daily out of the gates to their peaceful pasture, notwithstanding, all the turmoil within and around; nor was it possible for the spaniards to capture a single one of these creatures, without paying at least a dozen soldiers as its price. "these citizens," wrote don frederic, "do as much as the best soldiers in the world could do." the frost broke up by the end of february. count bossu, who had been building a fleet of small vessels in amsterdam, soon afterwards succeeded in entering the lake with a few gun-boats, through a breach which he had made in the overtoom, about half a league from that city. the possession of the lake was already imperilled. the prince, however, had not been idle, and he, too, was soon ready to send his flotilla to the mere. at the same time, the city of amsterdam was in almost as hazardous a position as harlem. as the one on the lake, so did the other depend upon its dyke for its supplies. should that great artificial road which led to muyden and utrecht be cut asunder, amsterdam might be starved as soon as harlem. "since i came into the world," wrote alva, "i have never, been in such anxiety. if they should succeed in cutting off the communication along the dykes, we should have to raise the siege of harlem, to surrender, hands crossed, or to starve." orange was fully aware of the position of both places, but he was, as usual, sadly deficient in men and means. he wrote imploringly to his friends in england, in france, in germany. he urged his brother louis to bring a few soldiers, if it were humanly possible. "the whole country longs for you," he wrote to louis, "as if you were the archangel gabriel." the prince, however, did all that it was possible for man, so hampered, to do. he was himself, while anxiously writing, hoping, and waiting for supplies of troops from germany or france, doing his best with such volunteers as he could raise. he was still established at sassenheim, on the south of the city, while sonoy with his slender forces was encamped on the north. he now sent that general with as large a party as he could muster to attack the diemerdyk. his men entrenched themselves as strongly as they could between the diemer and the y, at the same time opening the sluices and breaking through the dyke. during the absence of their commander, who had gone to edam for reinforcements, they were attacked by a large force from amsterdam. a fierce amphibious contest took place, partly in boats, partly on the slippery causeway, partly in the water, resembling in character the frequent combats between the ancient batavians and romans during the wars of civilis. the patriots were eventually overpowered. sonoy, who was on his way to their rescue, was frustrated in his design by the unexpected faint-heartedness of the volunteers whom he had enlisted at edam. braving a thousand perils, he advanced, almost unattended, in his little vessel, but only to witness the overthrow and expulsion of his band. it was too late for him singly to attempt to rally the retreating troops. they had fought well, but had been forced to yield before superior numbers, one individual of the little army having performed prodigies of valor. john haring, of horn, had planted himself entirely alone upon the dyke, where it was so narrow between the y on the one side and the diemer lake on the other, that two men could hardly stand abreast. here, armed with sword and shield, he had actually opposed and held in check one thousand of the enemy, during a period long enough to enable his own men, if they, had been willing, to rally, and effectively to repel the attack. it was too late, the battle was too far lost to be restored; but still the brave soldier held the post, till, by his devotion, he had enabled all those of his compatriots who still remained in the entrenchments to make good their retreat. he then plunged into the sea, and, untouched by spear or bullet, effected his escape. had he been a greek or a roman, an horatius or a chabrias, his name would have been famous in history--his statue erected in the market-place; for the bold dutchman on his dyke had manifested as much valor in a sacred cause as the most classic heroes of antiquity. this unsuccessful attempt to cut off the communication between amsterdam and the country strengthened the hopes of alva. several hundreds of the patriots were killed or captured, and among the slain was antony oliver, the painter, through whose agency louis of nassau had been introduced into mons. his head was cut off by two ensigns in alva's service, who received the price which had been set upon it of two thousand caroli. it was then labelled with its owner's name, and thrown into the city of harlem. at the same time a new gibbet was erected in the spanish camp before the city, in a conspicuous situation, upon which all the prisoners were hanged, some by the neck, some by the heels, in full view of their countrymen. as usual, this especial act of cruelty excited the emulation of the citizens. two of the old board of magistrates, belonging to the spanish party, were still imprisoned at harlem; together with seven other persons, among whom was a priest and a boy of twelve years. they were now condemned to the gallows. the wife of one of the ex-burgomasters and his daughter, who was a beguin, went by his side as he was led to execution, piously exhorting him to sustain with courage the execrations of the populace and his ignominious doom. the rabble, irritated by such boldness, were not satisfied with wreaking their vengeance on the principal victims, but after the execution had taken place they hunted the wife and daughter into the water, where they both perished. it is right to record these instances of cruelty, sometimes perpetrated by the patriots as well as by their oppressors--a cruelty rendered almost inevitable by the incredible barbarity of the foreign invader. it was a war of wolfish malignity. in the words of mendoza, every man within and without harlem "seemed inspired by a spirit of special and personal vengeance." the innocent blood poured out in mechlin, zutphen, naarden, and upon a thousand scaffolds, had been crying too long from the ground. the hollanders must have been more or less than men not to be sometimes betrayed into acts which justice and reason must denounce. [no! it was as evil for one side as the other. d.w.] the singular mood which has been recorded of a high-spirited officer of the garrison, captain corey, illustrated the horror with which such scenes of carnage were regarded by noble natures. of a gentle disposition originally, but inflamed almost to insanity by a contemplation of spanish cruelty, he had taken up the profession of arms, to which he had a natural repugnance. brave to recklessness, he led his men on every daring outbreak, on every perilous midnight adventure. armed only with his rapier, without defensive armor, he was ever found where the battle raged most fiercely, and numerous were the victims who fell before his sword. on returning, however, from such excursions, he invariably shut himself in his quarters, took to his bed, and lay for days, sick with remorse, and bitterly lamenting all that bloodshed in which he had so deeply participated, and which a cruel fate seemed to render necessary. as the gentle mood subsided, his frenzy would return, and again he would rush to the field, to seek new havoc and fresh victims for his rage. the combats before the walls were of almost daily occurrence. on the th march, one thousand of the besieged made a brilliant sally, drove in all the outposts of the enemy, burned three hundred tents, and captured seven cannon, nine standards, and many wagon-loads of provisions, all which they succeeded in bringing with them into the city.--having thus reinforced themselves, in a manner not often practised by the citizens of a beleaguered town, in the very face of thirty thousand veterans--having killed eight hundred of the enemy, which was nearly one for every man engaged, while they lost but four of their own party--the harlemers, on their return, erected a trophy of funereal but exulting aspect. a mound of earth was constructed upon the ramparts, in the form of a colossal grave, in full view of the enemy's camp, and upon it were planted the cannon and standards so gallantly won in the skirmish, with the taunting inscription floating from the centre of the mound "harlem is the graveyard of the spaniards." such were the characteristics of this famous siege during the winter and early spring. alva might well write to his sovereign, that "it was a war such as never before was seen or heard of in any land on earth." yet the duke had known near sixty years of warfare. he informed philip that "never was a place defended with such skill and bravery as harlem, either by rebels or by men fighting for their lawful prince." certainly his son had discovered his mistake in asserting that the city would yield in a week; while the father, after nearly six years' experience, had found this "people of butter" less malleable than even those "iron people" whom he boasted of having tamed. it was seen that neither the skies of greece or italy, nor the sublime scenery of switzerland, were necessary to arouse the spirit of defiance to foreign oppression--a spirit which beat as proudly among the wintry mists and the level meadows of holland as it had ever done under sunnier atmospheres and in more romantic lands. mendoza had accomplished his mission to spain, and had returned with supplies of money within six weeks from the date of his departure. owing to his representations and alva's entreaties, philip had, moreover, ordered requesens, governor of milan, to send forward to the netherlands three veteran spanish regiments, which were now more required at harlem than in italy. while the land force had thus been strengthened, the fleet upon the lake had also been largely increased. the prince of orange had, on the other hand, provided more than a hundred sail of various descriptions, so that the whole surface of the mere was now alive with ships. seafights and skirmishes took place almost daily, and it was obvious that the life and death struggle was now to be fought upon the water. so long as the hollanders could hold or dispute the possession of the lake, it was still possible to succor harlem from time to time. should the spaniards overcome the prince's fleet, the city must inevitably starve. at last, on the th of may, a decisive engagement of the fleets took place. the vessels grappled with each other, and there was a long, fierce, hand-to-hand combat. under bossu were one hundred vessels; under martin brand, admiral of the patriot fleet, nearly one hundred and fifty, but of lesser dimensions. batenhurg commanded the troops on board the dutch vessels. after a protracted conflict, in which several thousands were killed, the victory was decided in favor of the spaniards. twenty-two of the prince's vessels being captured, and the rest totally routed, bossu swept across the lake in triumph. the forts belonging to the patriots were immediately taken, and the harlemers, with their friends, entirely excluded from the lake. this was the beginning of the end. despair took possession of the city. the whole population had been long subsisting upon an allowance of a pound of bread to each man, and half-a-pound for each woman; but the bread was now exhausted, the famine had already begun, and with the loss of the lake starvation was close at their doors. they sent urgent entreaties to, the prince to attempt something in their behalf. three weeks more they assigned as the longest term during which they could possibly hold out. he sent them word by carrier pigeons to endure yet a little time, for he was assembling a force, and would still succeed in furnishing them with supplies. meantime, through the month of june the sufferings of the inhabitants increased hourly. ordinary food had long since vanished. the population now subsisted on linseed and rape-seed; as these supplies were exhausted they devoured cats, dogs, rats, and mice, and when at last these unclean animals had been all consumed, they boiled the hides of horses and oxen; they ate shoe-leather; they plucked the nettles and grass from the graveyards, and the weeds which grew between the stones of the pavement, that with such food they might still support life a little longer, till the promised succor should arrive. men, women, and children fell dead by scores in the streets, perishing of pure starvation, and the survivors had hardly the heart or the strength to bury them out of their sight. they who yet lived seemed to flit like shadows to and fro, envying those whose sufferings had already been terminated by death. thus wore away the month of june. on the st of july the burghers consented to a parley. deputies were sent to confer with the besiegers, but the negotiations were abruptly terminated, for no terms of compromise were admitted by don frederic. on the rd a tremendous cannonade was re-opened upon the city. one thousand and eight balls were discharged--the most which had ever been thrown in one day, since the commencement of the siege. the walls were severely shattered, but the assault was not ordered, because the besiegers were assured that it was physically impossible for the inhabitants to hold out many days longer. a last letter, written in blood, was now despatched to the prince of orange, stating the forlorn condition to which they were reduced. at the same time, with the derision of despair, they flung into the hostile camp the few loaves of bread which yet remained within the city walls. a day or two later, a second and third parley were held, with no more satisfactory result than had attended the first. a black flag was now hoisted on the cathedral tower, the signal of despair to friend and foe, but a pigeon soon afterwards flew into the town with a letter from the prince, begging them to maintain themselves two days longer, because succor was approaching. the prince had indeed been doing all which, under the circumstances, was possible. he assembled the citizens of delft in the market-place, and announced his intention of marching in person to the relief of the city, in the face of the besieging army, if any troops could be obtained. soldiers there were none; but there was the deepest sympathy for harlem throughout its sister cities, delft, rotterdam, gouda. a numerous mass of burghers, many of them persons of station, all people of respectability, volunteered to march to the rescue. the prince highly disapproved of this miscellaneous army, whose steadfastness he could not trust. as a soldier, he knew that for such a momentous enterprise, enthusiasm could not supply the place of experience. nevertheless, as no regular troops could be had, and as the emergency allowed no delay, he drew up a commission, appointing paulus buys to be governor during his absence, and provisional stadholder, should he fall in the expedition. four thousand armed volunteers, with six hundred mounted troopers, under carlo de noot, had been assembled, and the prince now placed himself at their head. there was, however, a universal cry of remonstrance from the magistracies and burghers of all the towns, and from the troops themselves, at this project. they would not consent that a life so precious, so indispensable to the existence of holland, should be needlessly hazarded. it was important to succor harlem, but the prince was of more value than many cities. he at last reluctantly consented, therefore, to abandon the command of the expedition to baron batenburg, the less willingly from the want of confidence which he could not help feeling in the character of the forces. on the th of july, at dusk, the expedition set forth from sassenheim. it numbered nearly five thousand men, who had with them four hundred wagon-loads of provisions and seven field-pieces. among the volunteers, oldenbarneveld; afterwards so illustrious in the history of the republic; marched in the ranks, with his musket on his shoulder. such was a sample of the spirit which pervaded the population of the province. batenburg came to a halt in the woods of nordwyk, on the south aide of the city, where he remained till midnight. all seemed still in the enemy's camp. after prayers, he gave orders to push forward, hoping to steal through the lines of his sleeping adversaries and accomplish the relief by surprise. he was destined to be bitterly disappointed. his plans and his numbers were thoroughly known to the spaniards, two doves, bearing letters which contained the details of the intended expedition, having been shot and brought into don frederic's camp. the citizens, it appeared, had broken through the curtain work on the side where batenburg was expected, in order that a sally might be made in co-operation with the relieving force, as soon as it should appear. signal fires had been agreed upon, by which the besieged were to be made aware of the approach of their friends. the spanish commander accordingly ordered a mass of green branches, pitch, and straw, to be lighted opposite to the gap in the city wall. behind it he stationed five thousand picked troops. five thousand more, with a force of cavalry, were placed in the neighbourhood of the downs, with orders to attack the patriot army on the left. six regiments, under romero, were ordered to move eastward, and assail their right. the dense mass of smoke concealed the beacon lights displayed by batenburg from the observation of the townspeople, and hid the five thousand spaniards from the advancing hollanders. as batenburg emerged from the wood, he found himself attacked by a force superior to his own, while a few minutes later he was entirely enveloped by overwhelming numbers. the whole spanish army was, indeed; under arms, and had been expecting him for two days. the unfortunate citizens alone were ignorant of his arrival. the noise of the conflict they supposed to be a false alarm created by the spaniards, to draw them into their camp; and they declined a challenge which they were in no condition to accept. batenburg was soon slain, and his troops utterly routed. the number killed was variously estimated at from six hundred to two and even three thousand. it is, at any rate, certain that the whole force was entirely destroyed or dispersed, and the attempt to relieve the city completely frustrated. the death of batenburg was the less regretted, because he was accused, probably with great injustice, of having been intoxicated at the time of action, and therefore incapable of properly, conducting the enterprise entrusted to him. the spaniards now cut off the nose and ears of a prisoner and sent him into the city, to announce the news, while a few heads were also thrown over the walls to confirm the intelligence. when this decisive overthrow became known in delft, there was even an outbreak of indignation against orange. according to a statement of alva, which, however, is to be received with great distrust, some of the populace wished to sack the prince's house, and offered him personal indignities. certainly, if these demonstrations were made, popular anger was never more senseless; but the tale rests entirely, upon a vague assertion of the duke, and is entirely, at variance with every other contemporaneous account of these transactions. it had now become absolutely, necessary, however, for the heroic but wretched town to abandon itself to its fate. it was impossible to attempt anything more in its behalf. the lake and its forts were in the hands of the enemy, the best force which could be mustered to make head against the besieging army had been cut to pieces, and the prince of orange, with a heavy heart, now sent word that the burghers were to make the best terms they could with the enemy. the tidings of despair created a terrible commotion in the starving city. there was no hope either in submission or resistance. massacre or starvation was the only alternative. but if there was no hope within the walls, without there was still a soldier's death. for a moment the garrison and the able-bodied citizens resolved to advance from the gates in a solid column, to cut their way through the enemy's camp, or to perish on the field. it was thought that the helpless and the infirm, who would alone be left in the city, might be treated with indulgence after the fighting men had all been slain. at any rate, by remaining the strong could neither protect nor comfort them. as soon, however, as this resolve was known, there was such wailing and outcry of women and children as pierced the hearts of the soldiers and burghers, and caused them to forego the project. they felt that it was cowardly not to die in their presence. it was then determined to form all the females, the sick, the aged, and the children, into a square, to surround them with all the able-bodied men who still remained, and thus arrayed to fight their way forth from the gates, and to conquer by the strength of despair, or at least to perish all together. these desperate projects, which the besieged were thought quite capable of executing, were soon known in the spanish camp. don frederic felt, after what he had witnessed in the past seven months, that there was nothing which the harlemers could not do or dare. he feared lest they should set fire to their city, and consume their houses, themselves, and their children, to ashes together; and he was unwilling that the fruits of his victory, purchased at such a vast expense, should be snatched from his hand as he was about to gather them. a letter was accordingly, by his order, sent to the magistracy and leading citizens, in the name of count overstein, commander of the german forces in the besieging army. this despatch invited a surrender at discretion, but contained the solemn assurance that no punishment should be inflicted except upon those who, in the judgment of the citizens themselves, had deserved it, and promised ample forgiveness if the town should submit without further delay. at the moment of sending this letter, don frederic was in possession of strict orders from his father not to leave a man alive of the garrison, excepting only the germans, and to execute besides a large number of the burghers. these commands he dared not disobey,--even if he had felt any inclination to do so. in consequence of the semi-official letter of overstein, however, the city formally surrendered at discretion on the th july. the great bell was tolled, and orders were issued that all arms in the possession of the garrison or the inhabitants should be brought to the town-house. the men were then ordered to assemble in the cloister of zyl, the women in the cathedral. on the same day, don frederic, accompanied by count bossu and a numerous staff, rode into the city. the scene which met his view might have moved a heart of stone. everywhere was evidence of the misery which had been so bravely endured during that seven months' siege. the smouldering ruins of houses, which had been set on fire by balls, the shattered fortifications, the felled trunks of trees, upturned pavements, broken images and other materials for repairing gaps made by the daily cannonade, strewn around in all directions, the skeletons of unclean animals from which the flesh had been gnawed, the unburied bodies of men and women who had fallen dead in the public thoroughfares--more than all, the gaunt and emaciated forms of those who still survived, the ghosts of their former, selves, all might have induced at least a doubt whether the suffering inflicted already were not a sufficient punishment, even for crimes so deep as heresy and schism. but this was far from being the sentiment of don frederic. he seemed to read defiance as well as despair in the sunken eyes which glared upon him as he entered the place, and he took no thought of the pledge which he had informally but sacredly given. all the officers of the garrison were at once arrested. some of them had anticipated the sentence of their conqueror by a voluntary death. captain bordet, a french officer of distinction, like brutus, compelled his servant to hold the sword upon which he fell, rather than yield himself alive to the vengeance of the spaniards. traits of generosity were not wanting. instead of peter hasselaer, a young officer who had displayed remarkable bravery throughout the siege, the spaniards by. mistake arrested his cousin nicholas. the prisoner was suffering himself to be led away to the inevitable scaffold without remonstrance, when peter hasselaer pushed his way violently through the ranks of the captors. "if you want ensign hasselaer, i am the man. let this innocent person depart," he cried. before the sun set his head had fallen. all the officers were taken to the house of kleef, where they were immediately executed.--captain ripperda, who had so heroically rebuked the craven conduct of the magistracy, whose eloquence had inflamed the soldiers and citizens to resistance, and whose skill and courage had sustained the siege so long, was among the first to suffer. a natural son of cardinal granvelle, who could have easily saved his life by proclaiming a parentage which he loathed, and lancelot brederode, an illegitimate scion of that ancient house, were also among these earliest victims. the next day alva came over to the camp. he rode about the place, examining the condition of the fortifications from the outside, but returned to amsterdam without having entered the city. on the following morning the massacre commenced. the plunder had been commuted for two hundred and forty thousand guilders, which the citizens bound themselves to pay in four instalments; but murder was an indispensable accompaniment of victory, and admitted of no compromise. moreover, alva had already expressed the determination to effect a general massacre upon this occasion. the garrison, during the siege, had been reduced from four thousand to eighteen hundred. of these the germans, six hundred in number, were, by alva's order, dismissed, on a pledge to serve no more against the king. all the rest of the garrison were immediately butchered, with at least as many citizens. drummers went about the city daily, proclaiming that all who harbored persons having, at any former period, been fugitives, were immediately to give them up, on pain of being instantly hanged themselves in their own doors. upon these refugees and upon the soldiery fell the brunt of the slaughter; although, from day to day, reasons were perpetually discovered for putting to death every individual at all distinguished by service, station, wealth, or liberal principles; for the carnage could not be accomplished at once, but, with all the industry and heartiness employed, was necessarily protracted through several days. five executioners, with their attendants, were kept constantly at work; and when at last they were exhausted with fatigue, or perhaps sickened with horror, three hundred wretches were tied two and two, back to back, and drowned in the harlem lake. at last, after twenty-three hundred human creatures had been murdered in cold blood, within a city where so many thousands had previously perished by violent or by lingering deaths; the blasphemous farce of a pardon was enacted. fifty-seven of the most prominent burghers of the place were, however, excepted from the act of amnesty, and taken into custody as security for the future good conduct of the other citizens. of these hostages some were soon executed, some died in prison, and all would have been eventually sacrificed, had not the naval defeat of bossu soon afterwards enabled the prince of orange to rescue the remaining prisoners. ten thousand two hundred and fifty-six shots had been discharged against the walls during the siege. twelve thousand of the besieging army had died of wounds or disease, during the seven months and two days, between the investment and the surrender. in the earlier part of august, after the executions had been satisfactorily accomplished, don frederic made his triumphal entry, and the first chapter in the invasion of holland was closed. such was the memorable siege of harlem, an event in which we are called upon to wonder equally at human capacity to inflict and to endure misery. the spaniards celebrated a victory, while in utrecht they made an effigy of the prince of orange, which they carried about in procession, broke upon the wheel, and burned. it was, however, obvious, that if the reduction of harlem were a triumph, it was one which the conquerors might well exchange for a defeat. at any rate, it was certain that the spanish empire was not strong enough to sustain many more such victories. if it had required thirty thousand choice troops, among which were three regiments called by alva respectively, the "invincibles," the "immortals," and the "none-such," to conquer the weakest city of holland in seven months, and with the loss of twelve thousand men; how many men, how long a time, and how many deaths would it require to reduce the rest of that little province? for, as the sack of naarden had produced the contrary effect from the one intended, inflaming rather than subduing the spirit of dutch resistance, so the long and glorious defence of harlem, notwithstanding its tragical termination, had only served to strain to the highest pitch the hatred and patriotism of the other cities in the province. even the treasures of the new world were inadequate to pay for the conquest of that little sand-bank. within five years, twenty-five millions of florins had been sent from spain for war expenses in the netherlands.--yet, this amount, with the addition of large sums annually derived from confiscations, of five millions, at which the proceeds of the hundredth penny was estimated, and the two millions yearly, for which the tenth and twentieth pence had been compounded, was insufficient to save the treasury from beggary and the unpaid troops from mutiny. nevertheless, for the moment the joy created was intense. philip was lying dangerously ill at the wood of segovia, when the happy tidings of the reduction of harlem, with its accompanying butchery, arrived. the account of all this misery, minutely detailed to him by alva, acted like magic. the blood of twenty-three hundred of his fellow-creatures--coldly murdered, by his orders, in a single city--proved for the sanguinary monarch the elixir of life: he drank and was refreshed. "the principal medicine which has cured his majesty," wrote secretary cayas from madrid to alva, "is the joy caused to him by the good news which you have communicated of the surrender of harlem." in the height of his exultation, the king forgot how much dissatisfaction he had recently felt with the progress of events in the netherlands; how much treasure had been annually expended with an insufficient result. "knowing your necessity," continued cayas, "his majesty instantly sent for doctor velasco, and ordered him to provide you with funds, if he had to descend into the earth to dig for it." while such was the exultation of the spaniards, the prince of orange was neither dismayed nor despondent. as usual, he trusted to a higher power than man. "i had hoped to send you better news," he wrote, to count louis, "nevertheless, since it has otherwise pleased the good god, we must conform ourselves to his divine will. i take the same god to witness that i have done everything according to my means, which was possible, to succor the city." a few days later, writing in the same spirit, he informed his brother that the zealanders had succeeded in capturing the castle of rammekens, on the isle of walcheren. "i hope," he said, "that this will reduce the pride of our enemies, who, after the surrender of harlem, have thought that they were about to swallow us alive. i assure myself, however, that they will find a very different piece of work from the one which they expect." etext editor's bookmarks: enthusiasm could not supply the place of experience envying those whose sufferings had already been terminated leave not a single man alive in the city, and to burn every house not strong enough to sustain many more such victories oldenbarneveld; afterwards so illustrious sent them word by carrier pigeons three hundred fighting women tyranny, ever young and ever old, constantly reproducing herself wonder equally at human capacity to inflict and to endure misery motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley [chapter ix.] position of alva--hatred entertained for him by elevated personages --quarrels between him and medina coeli--departure of the latter-- complaints to the king by each of the other--attempts at conciliation addressed by government to the people of the netherlands--grotesque character of the address--mutinous demonstration of the spanish troops--secret overtures to orange-- obedience, with difficulty, restored by alva--commencement of the siege of alkmaar--sanguinary menaces of the duke--encouraging and enthusiastic language of the prince--preparations in alkmaar for defence--the first assault steadily repulsed--refusal of the soldiers to storm a second time--expedition of the carpenter-envoy-- orders of the prince to flood the country--the carpenter's despatches in the enemy's hands--effect produced upon the spaniards --the siege raised--negotiations of count louis with france-- uneasiness and secret correspondence of the duke--convention with the english government--objects pursued by orange--cruelty of de la marck--his dismissal from office and subsequent death--negotiations with france--altered tone of the french court with regard to the st. bartholomew--ill effects of the crime upon the royal projects-- hypocrisy of the spanish government--letter of louis to charles ix. --complaints of charles ix.--secret aspirations of that monarch and of philip--intrigues concerning the polish election--renewed negotiations between schomberg and count louis, with consent of orange--conditions prescribed by the prince--articles of secret alliance--remarkable letter of count louis to charles ix.-- responsible and isolated situation of orange--the "address" and the "epistle"--religious sentiments of the prince--naval action on the zuyder zee--captivity of bossu and of saint aldegonde--odious position of alva--his unceasing cruelty--execution of uitenhoove-- fraud practised by alva upon his creditors--arrival of requesens, the new governor-general--departure of alva--concluding remarks upon his administration. for the sake of continuity in the narrative, the siege of harlem has been related until its conclusion. this great event constituted, moreover, the principal stuff in netherland, history, up to the middle of the year . a few loose threads must be now taken up before we can proceed farther. alva had for some time felt himself in a false and uncomfortable position. while he continued to be the object of a popular hatred as intense as ever glowed, he had gradually lost his hold upon those who, at the outset of his career, had been loudest and lowest in their demonstrations of respect. "believe me," wrote secretary albornoz to secretary cayas, "this people abhor our nation worse than they abhor the devil. as for the duke of alva, they foam at the mouth when they hear his name." viglius, although still maintaining smooth relations with the governor, had been, in reality, long since estranged from him. even aerschot, far whom the duke had long maintained an intimacy half affectionate, half contemptuous, now began to treat him with a contumely which it was difficult for so proud a stomach to digest. but the main source of discomfort was doubtless the presence of medina coeli. this was the perpetual thorn in his side, which no cunning could extract. a successor who would not and could not succeed him, yet who attended him as his shadow and his evil genius--a confidential colleague who betrayed his confidence, mocked his projects, derided his authority, and yet complained of ill treatment--a rival who was neither compeer nor subaltern, and who affected to be his censor--a functionary of a purely anomalous character, sheltering himself under his abnegation of an authority which he had not dared to assume, and criticising measures which he was not competent to grasp;--such was the duke of medina coeli in alva's estimation. the bickering between the two dukes became unceasing and disgraceful. of course, each complained to the king, and each, according to his own account, was a martyr to the other's tyranny, but the meekness manifested by alva; in all his relations with the new comer, was wonderful, if we are to believe the accounts furnished by himself and by his confidential secretary. on the other hand, medina coeli wrote to the king, complaining of alva in most unmitigated strains, and asserting that he was himself never allowed to see any despatches, nor to have the slightest information as to the policy of the government. he reproached, the duke with shrinking from personal participation in military operations, and begged the royal forgiveness if he withdrew from a scene where he felt himself to be superfluous. accordingly, towards the end of november, he took his departure, without paying his respects. the governor complained to the king of this unceremonious proceeding, and assured his majesty that never were courtesy and gentleness so ill requited as his had been by this ingrate and cankered duke. "he told me," said alva, "that if i did not stay in the field, he would not remain with me in peaceful cities, and he asked me if i intended to march into holland with the troops which were to winter there. i answered, that i should go wherever it was necessary, even should i be obliged to swim through all the canals of holland." after giving these details, the duke added, with great appearance of candor and meekness, that he was certain medina coeli had only been influenced by extreme zeal for his majesty's service, and that, finding, so little for him to do in the netherlands, he had become dissatisfied with his position. immediately after the fall of harlem, another attempt was made by alva to win back the allegiance of the other cities by proclamations. it had become obvious to the governor that so determined a resistance on the part of the first place besieged augured many long campaigns before the whole province could be subdued. a circular was accordingly issued upon the th july from utrecht, and published immediately afterwards in all the cities of the netherlands. it was a paper of singular character, commingling an affectation of almost ludicrous clemency, with honest and hearty brutality. there was consequently something very grotesque about the document. philip, in the outset, was made to sustain towards his undutiful subjects the characters of the brooding hen and the prodigal's father; a range of impersonation hardly to be allowed him, even by the most abject flattery. "ye are well aware," thus ran the address, "that the king has, over and over again, manifested his willingness to receive his children, in however forlorn a condition the prodigals might return. his majesty assures you once more that your sins, however black they may have been, shall be forgiven and forgotten in the plenitude of royal kindness, if you repent and return in season to his majesty's embrace. notwithstanding your manifold crimes, his majesty still seeks, like a hen calling her chickens, to gather you all under the parental wing. the king hereby warns you once more, therefore, to place yourselves in his royal hands, and not to wait for his rage, cruelty, and fury, and the approach of his army." the affectionate character of the address, already fading towards the end of the preamble, soon changes to bitterness. the domestic maternal fowl dilates into the sanguinary dragon as the address proceeds. "but if," continues the monarch, "ye disregard these offers of mercy, receiving them with closed ears, as heretofore, then we warn you that there is no rigor, nor cruelty, however great, which you are not to expect by laying waste, starvation, and the sword, in such manner that nowhere shall remain a relic of that which at present exists, but his majesty will strip bare and utterly depopulate the land, and cause it to be inhabited again by strangers; since otherwise his majesty could not believe that the will of god and of his majesty had been accomplished." it is almost superfluous to add that this circular remained fruitless. the royal wrath, thus blasphemously identifying itself with divine vengeance, inspired no terror, the royal blandishments no affection. the next point of attack was the city of alkmaar, situate quite at the termination of the peninsula, among the lagunes and redeemed prairies of north holland. the prince of orange had already provided it with a small garrison. the city had been summoned to surrender by the middle of july, and had returned a bold refusal.--meantime, the spaniards had retired from before the walls, while the surrender and chastisement of harlem occupied them during the next succeeding weeks. the month of august, moreover, was mainly consumed by alva in quelling a dangerous and protracted mutiny, which broke out among the spanish soldiers at harlem--between three and four thousand of them having been quartered upon the ill-fated population of that city. unceasing misery was endured by the inhabitants at the hands of the ferocious spaniards, flushed with victory, mutinous for long arrears of pay, and greedy for the booty which had been denied. at times, however, the fury of the soldiery was more violently directed against their own commanders than against the enemy. a project was even formed by the malcontent troops to deliver harlem into the hands of orange. a party of them, disguised as baltic merchants, waited upon the prince at delft, and were secretly admitted to his bedside before he had risen. they declared to him that they were spanish soldiers, who had compassion on his cause, were dissatisfied with their own government, and were ready, upon receipt of forty thousand guilders, to deliver the city into his hands. the prince took the matter into consideration, and promised to accept the offer if he could raise the required sum. this, however, he found himself unable to do within the stipulated time, and thus, for want of so paltry a sum, the offer was of necessity declined. various were the excesses committed by the insubordinate troops in every province in the netherlands upon the long-suffering inhabitants. "nothing," wrote alva, "had given him so much pain during his forty years of service." he avowed his determination to go to amsterdam in order to offer himself as a hostage to the soldiery, if by so doing he could quell the mutiny. he went to amsterdam accordingly, where by his exertions, ably seconded by those of the marquis vitelli, and by the payment of thirty crowns to each soldier--fourteen on account of arrearages and sixteen as his share in the harlem compensation money--the rebellion was appeased, and obedience restored. there was now leisure for the general to devote his whole energies against the little city of alkmaar. on that bank and shoal, the extreme verge of habitable earth, the spirit of holland's freedom stood at bay. the grey towers of egmont castle and of egmont abbey rose between the city and the sea, and there the troops sent by the prince of orange were quartered during the very brief period in which the citizens wavered as to receiving them. the die was soon cast, however, and the prince's garrison admitted. the spaniards advanced, burned the village of egmont to the ground as soon as the patriots had left it, and on the st of august don frederic, appearing before the walls, proceeded formally to invest allanaar. in a few days this had been so thoroughly accomplished that, in alva's language, "it was impossible for a sparrow to enter or go out of the city." the odds were somewhat unequal. sixteen thousand veteran troops constituted the besieging force. within the city were a garrison of eight hundred soldiers, together with thirteen hundred burghers, capable of bearing arms. the rest of the population consisted of a very few refugees, besides the women and children. two thousand one hundred able-bodied men, of whom only about one-third were soldiers, to resist sixteen thousand regulars. nor was there any doubt as to the fate which was reserved for them, should they succumb. the duke was vociferous at the ingratitude with which his clemency had hitherto been requited. he complained bitterly of the ill success which had attended his monitory circulars; reproached himself with incredible vehemence, for his previous mildness, and protested that, after having executed only twenty-three hundred persons at the surrender of harlem, besides a few additional burghers since, he had met with no correspondent demonstrations of affection. he promised himself, however, an ample compensation for all this ingratitude, in the wholesale vengeance which he purposed to wreak upon alkmaar. already he gloated in anticipation over the havoc which would soon be let loose within those walls. such ravings, if invented by the pen of fiction, would seem a puerile caricature; proceeding, authentically, from his own,--they still appear almost too exaggerated for belief. "if i take alkmaar," he wrote to philip, "i am resolved not to leave a single creature alive; the knife shall be put to every throat. since the example of harlem has proved of no use, perhaps an example of cruelty will bring the other cities to their senses." he took occasion also to read a lecture to the party of conciliation in madrid, whose counsels, as he believed, his sovereign was beginning to heed. nothing, he maintained, could be more senseless than the idea of pardon and clemency. this had been sufficiently proved by recent events. it was easy for people at a distance to talk about gentleness, but those upon the spot knew better. gentleness had produced nothing, so far; violence alone could succeed in future. "let your majesty," he said, "be disabused of the impression, that with kindness anything can be done with these people. already have matters reached such a point that many of those born in the country, who have hitherto advocated clemency, are now undeceived, and acknowledge--their mistake. they are of opinion that not a living soul should be left in alkmaar, but that every individual should be put to the sword." at the same time he took occasion, even in these ferocious letters, which seem dripping with blood, to commend his own natural benignity of disposition. "your majesty may be certain," he said, "that no man on earth desires the path of clemency more than i do, notwithstanding my particular hatred for heretics and traitors." it was therefore with regret that he saw himself obliged to take the opposite course, and to stifle all his gentler sentiments. upon diedrich sonoy, lieutenant-governor for orange in the province of north holland, devolved the immediate responsibility of defending this part of the country. as the storm rolled slowly up from the south, even that experienced officer became uneasy at the unequal conflict impending. he despatched a letter to his chief, giving a gloomy picture of his position. all looked instinctively towards the prince, as to a god in their time of danger; all felt as if upon his genius and fortitude depended the whole welfare of the fatherland. it was hoped, too, that some resource had been provided in a secret foreign alliance. "if your princely grace," wrote sonoy, "have made a contract for assistance with any powerful potentate, it is of the highest importance that it should be known to all the cities, in order to put an end to the emigration, and to console the people in their affliction." the answer, of the prince was full of lofty enthusiasm. he reprimanded with gentle but earnest eloquence the despondency and little faith of his lieutenant and other adherents. he had not expected, he said, that they would have so soon forgotten their manly courage. they seemed to consider the whole fate of the country attached to the city of harlem. he took god to witness that--he had spared no pains, and would willingly have spared no drop of his blood to save that devoted city. "but as, notwithstanding our efforts," he continued, "it has pleased god almighty to dispose of harlem according to his divine will, shall we, therefore, deny and deride his holy word? has the strong arm of the lord thereby grown weaker? has his church therefore come to caught? you ask if i have entered into a firm treaty with any great king or potentate, to which i answer, that before i ever took up the cause of the oppressed christians in these provinces, i had entered into a close alliance with the king of kings; and i am firmly convinced that all who put their trust in him shall be saved by his almighty hand. the god of armies will raise up armies for us to do battle with our enemies sad his own." in conclusion, he stated his preparations for attacking the enemy by sea as well as by land, and encouraged his lieutenant and the citizens of the northern quarter to maintain a bold front before the advancing foe. and now, with the dismantled and desolate harlem before their eyes, a prophetic phantom, perhaps, of their own imminent fate, did the handful of people shut up within alkmaar prepare for the worst. their main hope lay in the friendly sea. the vast sluices called the zyp, through which an inundation of the whole northern province could be very soon effected, were but a few miles distant. by opening these gates, and by piercing a few dykes, the ocean might be made to fight for them. to obtain this result, however, the consent of the inhabitants was requisite, as the destruction of all the standing crops would be inevitable. the city was so closely invested, that it was a matter of life and death to venture forth, and it was difficult, therefore, to find an envoy for this hazardous mission. at last, a carpenter in the city, peter van der mey by name, undertook the adventure, and was entrusted with letters to sonoy, to the prince of orange, and to the leading personages, in several cities of the province: these papers were enclosed in a hollow walking-staff, carefully made fast at the top. affairs soon approached a crisis within the beleaguered city. daily skirmishes, without decisive result; had taken place outside the walls. at last, on the th of september, after a steady cannonade of nearly twelve hours, don frederic, at three in the afternoon, ordered an assault. notwithstanding his seven months' experience at harlem, he still believed it certain that he should carry alkmaar by storm. the attack took place at once upon the frisian gate and upon the red tower on the opposite side. two choice regiments, recently arrived from lombardy; led the onset, rending the air with their shouts, and confident of an easy victory. they were sustained by what seemed an overwhelming force of disciplined troops. yet never, even in the recent history of harlem, had an attack been received by more dauntless breasts. every living man was on the walls. the storming parties were assailed with cannon, with musketry, with pistols. boiling water, pitch and oil, molten lead, and unslaked lime, were poured upon them every moment. hundreds of tarred and burning hoops were skilfully quoited around the necks of the soldiers, who struggled in vain to extricate themselves from these fiery ruffs, while as fast as any of the invaders planted foot upon the breach, they were confronted face to face with sword and dagger by the burghers, who hurled them headlong into the moat below. thrice was the attack renewed with ever-increasing rage--thrice repulsed with unflinching fortitude. the storm continued four hours long. during all that period, not one of the defenders left his post, till he dropped from it dead or wounded. the women and children, unscared by the balls flying in every direction, or by the hand-to-hand conflicts on the ramparts; passed steadily to and fro from the arsenals to the fortifications, constantly supplying their fathers, husbands, and brothers with powder and ball. thus, every human being in the city that could walk had become a soldier. at last darkness fell upon the scene. the trumpet of recal was sounded, and the spaniards, utterly discomfited, retired from the walls, leaving at least one thousand dead in the trenches, while only thirteen burghers and twenty-four of the garrison lost their lives. thus was alkmaar preserved for a little longer--thus a large and well-appointed army signally defeated by a handful of men fighting for their firesides and altars. ensign solis, who had mounted the breach for an instant, and miraculously escaped with life, after having been hurled from the battlements, reported that he had seen "neither helmet nor harness," as he looked down into the city: only some plain-looking people, generally dressed like fishermen. yet these plain-looking fishermen had defeated the veterans of alva. the citizens felt encouraged by the results of that day's work. moreover, they already possessed such information concerning the condition of affairs in the camp of the enemy as gave them additional confidence. a spaniard, named jeronimo, had been taken prisoner and brought into the city. on receiving a promise of pardon, he had revealed many secrets concerning the position and intentions of the besieging army. it is painful to add that the prisoner, notwithstanding his disclosures and the promise under which they had been made, was treacherously executed. he begged hard for his life as he was led to the gallows, offering fresh revelations, which, however, after the ample communications already made, were esteemed superfluous. finding this of no avail, he promised his captors, with perfect simplicity, to go down on his knees and worship the devil precisely as they did, if by so doing he might obtain mercy. it may be supposed that such a proposition was not likely to gain additional favor for him in the eyes of these rigid calvinists, and the poor wretch was accordingly hanged. the day following the assault, a fresh cannonade was opened upon the city. seven hundred shots having been discharged, the attack was ordered. it was in vain: neither threats nor entreaties could induce the spaniards, hitherto so indomitable, to mount the breach. the place seemed to their imagination protected by more than mortal powers; otherwise how was it possible that a few half-starved fishermen could already have so triumphantly overthrown the time-honored legions of spain. it was thought, no doubt, that the devil, whom they worshipped, would continue to protect his children. neither the entreaties nor the menaces of don frederic were of any avail. several soldiers allowed themselves to be run through the body by their own officers, rather than advance to the walls; and the assault was accordingly postponed to an indefinite period. meantime, as governor sonoy had opened many of the dykes, the land in the neighbourhood of the camp was becoming plashy, although as yet the threatened inundation had not taken place. the soldiers were already very uncomfortable and very refractory. the carpenter-envoy had not been idle, having, upon the th september, arrived at sonoy's quarters, bearing letters from the prince of orange. these despatches gave distinct directions to sonoy to flood the countlv at all risks; rather than allow alkmaar to, fall into the enemy's hands. the dykes and sluices were to be protected by a strong guard, lest the peasants, in order to save their crops, should repair or close them in the night-time. the letters of orange were copied, and, together with fresh communications from sonoy, delivered to the carpenter. a note on the margin of the prince's letter, directed the citizens to kindle four beacon fires in specified places, as soon as it should prove necessary to resort to extreme measures. when that moment should arrive, it was solemnly promised that an inundation should be created which should sweep the whole spanish army into the sea. the work had, in fact, been commenced. the zyp and other sluices had already been opened, and a vast body of water, driven by a strong north-west wind, had rushed in from the ocean. it needed only that two great dykes should be pierced to render the deluge and the desolation complete. the harvests were doomed to destruction, and a frightful loss of property rendered inevitable, but, at any rate, the spaniards, if this last measure were taken, must fly or perish to a man. this decisive blow having been thus ordered and promised; the carpenter set forth towards the city. he was, however, not so successful in accomplishing his entrance unmolested, as he had been in effecting his departure. he narrowly escaped with his life in passing through the enemy's lines, and while occupied in saving himself was so unlucky, or, as it proved, so fortunate, as to lose the stick in which his despatches were enclosed. he made good his entrance into the city, where, byword of mouth, he encouraged his fellow-burghers as to the intentions of the prince and sonoy. in the meantime his letters were laid before the general of the besieging army. the resolution taken by orange, of which don frederic was thus unintentionally made aware, to flood the country far and near, rather than fail to protect alkmaar, made a profound impression upon his mind. it was obvious that he was dealing with a determined leader and with desperate men. his attempt to carry the place by storm had signally failed, and he could not deceive himself as to the temper and disposition of his troops ever since that repulse. when it should become known that they were threatened with submersion in the ocean, in addition to all the other horrors of war, he had reason to believe that they would retire ignominiously from that remote and desolate sand hook, where, by remaining, they could only find a watery grave. these views having been discussed in a council of officers, the result was reached that sufficient had been already accomplished for the glory of spanish arms. neither honor nor loyalty, it was thought, required that sixteen thousand soldiers should be sacrificed in a contest, not with man but with the ocean. on the th of october, accordingly, the siege, which had lasted seven weeks, was raised, and don frederic rejoined his father in amsterdam. ready to die in the last ditch, and to overwhelm both themselves and their foes in a common catastrophe the hollanders had at last compelled their haughty enemy to fly from a position which he had so insolently assumed. these public transactions and military operations were not the only important events which affected the fate of holland and its sister provinces at this juncture. the secret relations which had already been renewed between louis of nassau, as plenipotentiary of his brother and the french court, had for some time excited great uneasiness in the mind of alva. count louis was known to be as skilful a negotiator as he was valiant and accomplished as a soldier. his frankness and boldness created confidence. the "brave spirit in the loyal breast" inspired all his dealing; his experience and quick perception of character prevented his becoming a dupe of even the most adroit politicians, while his truth of purpose made him incapable either of overreaching an ally or of betraying a trust. his career indicated that diplomacy might be sometimes successful, even although founded upon sincerity. alva secretly expressed to his sovereign much suspicion of france. he reminded him that charles ix.; during the early part of the preceding year, had given the assurance that he was secretly dealing with louis of nassau, only that he might induce the count to pass over to philip's service. at the same time charles had been doing all he could to succor moos, and had written the memorable letter which had fallen into alva's hands on the capture of genlis, and which expressed such a fixed determination to inflict a deadly blow upon the king, whom the writer was thus endeavouring to cajole. all this the governor recalled to the recollection of his sovereign. in view of this increasing repugnance of the english court, alva recommended that fair words should be employed; hinting, however, that it would be by no means necessary for his master to consider himself very strictly bound by any such pledges to elizabeth, if they should happen to become inconveniently pressing. "a monarch's promises," he delicately suggested, "were not to be considered so sacred as those of humbler mortals. not that the king should directly violate his word, but at the same time," continued the duke, "i have thought all my life, and i have learned it from the emperor, your majesty's father, that the negotiations of kings depend upon different principles from those of us private gentlemen who walk the world; and in this manner i always observed that your majesty's father, who was, so great a gentleman and so powerful a prince, conducted his affairs." the governor took occasion, likewise, to express his regrets at the awkward manner in which the ridolfi scheme had been managed. had he been consulted at an earlier day, the affair could have been treated much more delicately; as it was, there could be little doubt but that the discovery of the plot had prejudiced the mind of elizabeth against spain. "from that dust," concluded the duke, "has resulted all this dirt." it could hardly be matter of surprise, either to philip or his viceroy, that the discovery by elizabeth of a plot upon their parts to take her life and place the crown upon the head of her hated rival, should have engendered unamiable feelings in her bosom towards them. for the moment, however, alva's negotiations were apparently successful. on the first of may, , the articles of convention between england and spain, with regard to the netherland difficulty, had been formally published in brussels. the duke, in communicating the termination of these arrangements, quietly recommended his master thenceforth to take the english ministry into his pay. in particular he advised his majesty to bestow an annual bribe upon lord burleigh, "who held the kingdom in his hand; for it has always been my opinion," he continued, "that it was an excellent practice for princes to give pensions to the ministers of other potentates, and to keep those at home who took bribes from nobody." on the other hand, the negotiations of orange with the english court were not yet successful, and he still found it almost impossible to raise the requisite funds for carrying on the war. certainly, his private letters showed that neither he nor his brothers were self-seekers in their negotiations. "you know;" said he in a letter to his brothers, "that my intention has never been to seek my private advantage. i have only aspired for the liberty of the country, in conscience and in polity, which foreigners have sought to oppress. i have no other articles to propose, save that religion, reformed according to the word of god, should be permitted, that then the commonwealth should be restored to its ancient liberty, and, to that end, that the spaniards and other soldiery should be compelled to retire." the restoration of civil and religious liberty, the establishment of the great principle of toleration in matters of conscience, constituted the purpose to which his days and nights were devoted, his princely fortune sacrificed, his life-blood risked. at the same time, his enforcement of toleration to both religions excited calumny against him among the bigoted adherents of both. by the catholics he was accused of having instigated the excesses which he had done everything in his power to repress. the enormities of de la marck, which had inspired the prince's indignation, were even laid at the door of him who had risked his life to prevent and to chastise them. de la marck had, indeed, more than counterbalanced his great service in the taking of brill, by his subsequent cruelties. at last, father cornelius musius, pastor of saint agatha, at the age of seventy-two, a man highly esteemed by the prince of orange, had been put to torture and death by this barbarian, under circumstances of great atrocity. the horrid deed cost the prince many tears, aroused the indignation of the estates of holland, and produced the dismission of the perpetrator from their service. it was considered expedient, however, in view of his past services, his powerful connexions, and his troublesome character, that he should be induced peaceably to leave the country. it was long before the prince and the estates could succeed in ridding themselves of this encumbrance. he created several riots in different parts of the province, and boasted, that he had many fine ships of war and three thousand men devoted to him, by whose assistance he could make the estates "dance after his pipe." at the beginning of the following year ( ), he was at last compelled to leave the provinces, which he never again troubled with his presence. some years afterwards, he died of the bite of a mad dog; an end not inappropriate to a man of so rabid a disposition. while the prince was thus steadily striving for a lofty and generous purpose, he was, of course, represented by his implacable enemies as a man playing a game which, unfortunately for himself, was a losing one. "that poor prince," said granvelle, "has been ill advised. i doubt now whether he will ever be able to make his peace, and i think we shall rather try to get rid of him and his brother as if they were turks. the marriage with the daughter of maurice, 'unde mala et quia ipse talis', and his brothers have done him much harm. so have schwendi and german intimacies. i saw it all very plainly, but he did not choose to believe me." ill-starred, worse counselled william of orange! had he but taken the friendly cardinal's advice, kept his hand from german marriages and his feet from conventicles--had he assisted his sovereign in burning heretics and hunting rebels, it would not then have become necessary "to treat him like a turk." this is unquestionable. it is equally so that there would have been one great lamp the less in that strait and difficult pathway which leads to the temple of true glory. the main reliance of orange was upon the secret negotiations which his brother louis was then renewing with the french government. the prince had felt an almost insurmountable repugnance towards entertaining any relation with that blood-stained court, since the massacre of saint bartholomew. but a new face had recently been put upon that transaction. instead of glorying, in their crime, the king and his mother now assumed a tone of compunction, and averred that the deed had been unpremeditated; that it had been the result of a panic or an ecstasy of fear inspired by the suddenly discovered designs of the huguenots; and that, in the instinct of self-preservation, the king, with his family and immediate friends, had plunged into a crime which they now bitterly lamented. the french envoys at the different courts of europe were directed to impress this view upon the minds of the monarchs to whom they were accredited. it was certainly a very different instruction from that which they had at first received. their cue had originally been to claim a full meed of praise and thanksgiving in behalf of their sovereign for his meritorious exploit. the salvos of artillery, the illuminations and rejoicings, the solemn processions and masses by which the auspicious event had been celebrated, mere yet fresh in the memory of men. the ambassadors were sufficiently embarrassed by the distinct and determined approbation which they had recently expressed. although the king, by formal proclamation, had assumed the whole responsibility, as he had notoriously been one of the chief perpetrators of the deed, his agents were now to stultify themselves and their monarch by representing, as a deplorable act of frenzy, the massacre which they had already extolled to the echo as a skilfully executed and entirely commendable achievement. to humble the power of spain, to obtain the hand of queen elizabeth for the duke d'alencon, to establish an insidious kind of protectorate over the protestant princes of germany, to obtain the throne of poland for the duke of anjou, and even to obtain the imperial crown for the house of valois--all these cherished projects seemed dashed to the ground by the paris massacre and the abhorrence which it had created. charles and catharine were not slow to discover the false position in which they had placed themselves, while the spanish jocularity at the immense error committed by france was visible enough through the assumed mask of holy horror. philip and alva listened with mischievous joy to the howl of execration which swept through christendom upon every wind. they rejoiced as heartily in the humiliation of the malefactors as they did in the perpetration of the crime. "your majesty," wrote louis of nassau, very bluntly, to king charles, "sees how the spaniard, your mortal enemy, feasts himself full with the desolation of your affairs; how he laughs, to-split his sides, at your misfortunes. this massacre has enabled him to weaken your majesty more than he could have done by a war of thirty years." before the year had revolved, charles had become thoroughly convinced of the fatal impression produced by the event. bitter and almost abject were his whinings at the catholic king's desertion of his cause. "he knows well," wrote charles to saint goard, "that if he can terminate these troubles and leave me alone in the dance, he will have leisure and means to establish his authority, not only in the netherlands but elsewhere; and that he will render himself more grand and formidable than he has ever been. this is the return they render for the good received from me, which is such as every one knows." gaspar de schomberg, the adroit and honorable agent of charles in germany, had at a very early day warned his royal master of the ill effect of the massacre upon all the schemes which he had been pursuing, and especially upon those which referred to the crowns of the empire and of poland. the first project was destined to be soon abandoned. it was reserved neither for charles nor philip to divert the succession in germany from the numerous offspring of maximilian; yet it is instructive to observe the unprincipled avidity with which the prize was sought by both. each was willing to effect its purchase by abjuring what were supposed his most cherished principles. philip of spain, whose mission was to extirpate heresy throughout his realms, and who, in pursuance of that mission, had already perpetrated more crimes, and waded more deeply in the blood of his subjects, than monarch had often done before; philip, for whom his apologists have never found any defence, save that he believed it his duty to god rather to depopulate his territories than to permit a single heretic within their limits--now entered into secret negotiations with the princes of the empire. he pledged himself, if they would confer the crown upon him, that he would withdraw the spaniards from the netherlands; that he would tolerate in those provinces the exercise of the reformed religion; that he would recognize their union with the rest of the german empire, and their consequent claim to the benefits of the passau treaty; that he would restore the prince of orange "and all his accomplices" to their former possessions, dignities, and condition; and that he would cause to be observed, throughout every realm incorporated with the empire, all the edicts and ordinances which had been constructed to secure religious freedom in germany. in brief, philip was willing, in case the crown of charlemagne should be promised him, to undo the work of his life, to reinstate the arch-rebel whom he had hunted and proscribed, and to bow before that reformation whose disciples he had so long burned, and butchered. so much extent and no more had that religious, conviction by which he had for years had the effrontery to excuse the enormities practised in the netherlands. god would never forgive him so long as one heretic remained unburned in the provinces; yet give him the imperial sceptre, and every heretic, without forswearing his heresy, should be purged with hyssop and become whiter than snow. charles ix., too, although it was not possible for him to recal to life the countless victims of the parisian wedding, was yet ready to explain those murders to the satisfaction of every unprejudiced mind. this had become strictly necessary. although the accession of either his most christian or most catholic majesty to the throne of the caesars was a most improbable event, yet the humbler elective, throne actually vacant was indirectly in the gift of the same powers. it was possible that the crown of poland might be secured for the duke of anjou. that key unlocks the complicated policy of this and the succeeding year. the polish election is the clue to the labyrinthian intrigues and royal tergiversations during the period of the interregnum. sigismund augustus, last of the jagellons, had died on the th july; . the prominent candidates to succeed him were the archduke ernest, son of the emperor, and henry of anjou. the prince of orange was not forgotten. a strong party were in favor of compassing his election, as the most signal triumph which protestantism could gain, but his ambition had not been excited by the prospect of such a prize. his own work required all the energies of all his life. his influence, however, was powerful, and eagerly sought by the partisans of anjou. the lutherans and moravians in poland were numerous, the protestant party there and in germany holding the whole balance of the election in their hands. it was difficult for the prince to overcome his repugnance to the very name of the man whose crime had at once made france desolate, and blighted the fair prospects under which he and his brother had, the year before, entered the netherlands. nevertheless; he was willing to listen to the statements by which the king and his ministers endeavoured, not entirely without success, to remove from their reputations, if not from their souls; the guilt of deep design. it was something, that the murderers now affected to expiate their offence in sackcloth and ashes--it was something that, by favoring the pretensions of anjou, and by listening with indulgence to the repentance of charles, the siege of rochelle could be terminated, the huguenots restored to freedom of conscience, and an alliance with a powerful nation established, by aid of which the netherlands might once more lift their heads. the french government, deeply hostile to spain, both from passion and policy, was capable of rendering much assistance to the revolted provinces. "i entreat you most humbly, my good master," wrote schomberg to charles ix., "to beware of allowing the electors to take into their heads that you are favoring the affairs of the king of spain in any manner whatsoever. commit against him no act of open hostility, if you think that imprudent; but look sharp! if you do not wish to be thrown clean out of your saddle. i should split with rage if i should see you, in consequence of the wicked calumnies of your enemies, fail to secure the prize." orange was induced, therefore, to accept, however distrustfully, the expression of a repentance which was to be accompanied with healing measures. he allowed his brother louis to resume negotiations with schomberg, in germany. he drew up and transmitted to him the outlines of a treaty which he was willing to make with charles. the main conditions of this arrangement illustrated the disinterested character of the man. he stipulated that the king of france should immediately make peace with his subjects, declaring expressly that he had been abused by those, who, under pretext of his service, had sought their own profit at the price of ruin to the crown and people. the king should make religion free. the edict to that effect should be confirmed by all the parliaments and estates of the kingdom, and such confirmations should be distributed without reserve or deceit among all the princes of germany. if his majesty were not inclined to make war for the liberation of the netherlands, he was to furnish the prince of orange with one hundred thousand crowns at once, and every three months with another hundred thousand. the prince was to have liberty to raise one thousand cavalry and seven thousand infantry in france. every city or town in the provinces which should be conquered by his arms, except in holland or zealand, should be placed under the sceptre, and in the hands of the king of france. the provinces of holland and zealand should also be placed under his protection, but should be governed by their own gentlemen and citizens. perfect religious liberty and maintenance of the ancient constitutions, privileges, and charters were to be guaranteed "without any cavilling whatsoever." the prince of orange, or the estates of holland or zealand, were to reimburse his christian majesty for the sums which he was to advance. in this last clause was the only mention which the prince made of himself, excepting in the stipulation that he was to be allowed a levy of troops in france. his only personal claims were to enlist soldiers to fight the battles of freedom, and to pay their expense, if it should not be provided for by the estates. at nearly the same period, he furnished his secret envoys, luinbres and doctor taijaert, who were to proceed to paris, with similar instructions. the indefatigable exertions of schomberg, and the almost passionate explanations on the part of the court of france, at length produced their effect. "you will constantly assure the princes," wrote the duke of anjou to schomberg, "that the things written, to you concerning that which had happened in this kingdom are true; that the events occurred suddenly, without having been in any manner premeditated; that neither the king nor myself have ever had any intelligence with, the king of spain, against those of the religion, and that all is utter imposture which is daily said on this subject to the princes." count louis required peremptorily, however, that the royal repentance should bring forth the fruit of salvation for the remaining victims. out of the nettles of these dangerous intrigues his fearless hand plucked the "flower of safety" for his down-trodden cause. he demanded not words, but deeds, or at least pledges. he maintained with the agents of charles and with the monarch himself the same hardy scepticism which was manifested by the huguenot deputies in their conferences with catharine de medicis. "is the word of a king," said the dowager to the commissioners, who were insisting upon guarantees, "is the word of a king not sufficient?"--"no, madam," replied one of them, "by saint bartholomew, no!" count louis told schomberg roundly, and repeated it many times, that he must have in a very few days a categorical response, "not to consist in words alone, but in deeds, and that he could not, and would not, risk for ever the honor of his brother, nor the property; blood, and life of those poor people who favored the cause." on the rd march, , schomberg had an interview with count louis, which lasted seven or eight hours. in that interview the enterprises of the count, "which," said schomberg, "are assuredly grand and beautiful," were thoroughly discussed, and a series of conditions, drawn up partly in the hand of one, partly in that of the other negotiator; definitely agreed upon. these conditions were on the basis of a protectorate over holland and zealand for the king of france, with sovereignty over the other places to be acquired in the netherlands. they were in strict accordance with the articles furnished by the prince of orange. liberty of worship for those of both religions, sacred preservation of municipal charters, and stipulation of certain annual subsidies on the part of france, in case his majesty should not take the field, were the principal features. ten days later, schomberg wrote to his master that the count was willing to use all the influence of his family to procure for anjou the crown of poland, while louis, having thus completed his negotiations with the agent, addressed a long and earnest letter to the royal principal. this remarkable despatch was stamped throughout with the impress of the writer's frank and fearless character. "thus diddest thou" has rarely been addressed to anointed monarch in such unequivocal tones: the letter painted the favorable position in which the king had been placed previously to the fatal summer of . the queen of england was then most amicably disposed towards him, and inclined to a yet closer connexion with his family. the german princes were desirous to elect him king of the romans, a dignity for which his grandfather had so fruitlessly contended. the netherlanders, driven to despair by the tyranny of their own sovereign, were eager to throw themselves into his arms. all this had been owing to his edict of religious pacification. how changed the picture now! who now did reverence to a king so criminal and so fallen? "your majesty to-day," said louis, earnestly and plainly, "is near to ruin. the state, crumbling on every side and almost abandoned, is a prey to any one who wishes to seize upon it; the more so, because your majesty, having, by the late excess and by the wars previously made, endeavoured to force men's consciences, is now so destitute, not only of nobility and soldiery but of that which constitutes the strongest column of the throne, the love and good wishes of the lieges, that your majesty resembles an ancient building propped up, day after, day, with piles, but which it will be impossible long to prevent from falling to the earth." certainly, here were wholesome truths told in straightforward style. the count proceeded to remind the king of the joy which the "spaniard, his mortal enemy," had conceived from the desolation of his affairs, being assured that he should, by the troubles in france, be enabled to accomplish his own purposes without striking a blow. this, he observed, had been the secret of the courtesy with which the writer himself had been treated by the duke of alva at the surrender of mons. louis assured the king, in continuation, that if he persevered in these oppressive courses towards his subjects of the new religion, there was no hope for him, and that his two brothers would, to no purpose, take their departure for england, and, for poland, leaving him with a difficult and dangerous war upon his hands. so long as he maintained a hostile attitude towards the protestants in his own kingdom, his fair words would produce no effect elsewhere. "we are beginning to be vexed," said the count, "with the manner of negotiation practised by france. men do not proceed roundly to business there, but angle with their dissimulation as with a hook." he bluntly reminded the king of the deceit which he had practised towards the admiral--a sufficient reason why no reliance could in future be placed upon his word. signal vengeance on those concerned in the attempted assassination of that great man had been promised, in the royal letters to the prince of orange, just before st. bartholomew. "two days afterwards," said louis, "your majesty took that vengeance, but in rather ill fashion." it was certain that the king was surrounded by men who desired to work his ruin, and who, for their own purposes, would cause him to bathe still deeper than he had done before in the blood of his subjects. this ruin his majesty could still avert; by making peace in his kingdom, and by ceasing to torment his poor subjects of the religion. in conclusion, the count, with a few simple but eloquent phrases, alluded to the impossibility of chaining men's thoughts. the soul, being immortal, was beyond the reach of kings. conscience was not to be conquered, nor the religious spirit imprisoned. this had been discovered by the emperor charles, who had taken all the cities and great personages of germany captive, but who had nevertheless been unable to take religion captive. "that is a sentiment," said louis, "deeply rooted in the hearts of men, which is not to be plucked out by force of arms. let your majesty, therefore not be deceived by the flattery of those who, like bad physicians, keep their patients in ignorance of their disease, whence comes their ruin." it would be impossible, without insight into these private and most important transactions, to penetrate the heart of the mystery which enwrapped at this period the relations of the great powers with each other. enough has been seen to silence for ever the plea, often entered in behalf of religious tyranny, that the tyrant acts in obedience to a sincere conviction of duty; that, in performing his deeds of darkness, he believes himself to be accomplishing the will of heaven. here we have seen philip, offering to restore the prince of orange, and to establish freedom of religion in the netherlands, if by such promises he can lay hold of the imperial diadem. here also we have charles ix. and his mother--their hands reeking with the heretic-blood of st. bartholomew--making formal engagements with heretics to protect heresy everywhere, if by such pledges the crown of the jagellons and the hand of elizabeth can be secured. while louis was thus busily engaged in germany, orange was usually established at delft. he felt the want of his brother daily, for the solitude of the prince, in the midst of such fiery trials, amounted almost to desolation. not often have circumstances invested an individual with so much responsibility and so little power. he was regarded as the protector and father of the country, but from his own brains and his own resources he was to furnish himself with the means of fulfilling those high functions. he was anxious thoroughly to discharge the duties of a dictatorship without grasping any more of its power than was indispensable to his purpose. but he was alone on that little isthmus, in single combat with the great spanish monarchy. it was to him that all eyes turned, during the infinite horrors of the harlem sieges and in the more prosperous leaguer of alkmaar. what he could do he did. he devised every possible means to succor harlem, and was only restrained from going personally to its rescue by the tears of the whole population of holland. by his decision and the spirit which he diffused through the country, the people were lifted to a pitch of heroism by which alkmaar was saved. yet, during all this harassing period, he had no one to lean upon but himself. "our affairs are in pretty good; condition in holland and zealand," he wrote, "if i only had some aid. 'tis impossible for me to support alone so many labors, and the weight of such great affairs as come upon me hourly--financial, military, political. i have no one to help me, not a single man, wherefore i leave you to suppose in what trouble i find myself." for it was not alone the battles and sieges which furnished him with occupation and filled him with anxiety. alone, he directed in secret the politics of the country, and, powerless and outlawed though he seemed, was in daily correspondence not only with the estates of holland and zealand, whose deliberations he guided, but with the principal governments of europe. the estates of the netherlands, moreover, had been formally assembled by alva in september, at brussels, to devise ways and means for continuing the struggle. it seemed to the prince a good opportunity to make an appeal to the patriotism of the whole country. he furnished the province of holland, accordingly, with the outlines of an address which was forthwith despatched in their own and his name, to the general assembly of the netherlands. the document was a nervous and rapid review of the course of late events in the provinces, with a cogent statement of the reasons which should influence them all to unite in the common cause against the common enemy. it referred to the old affection and true-heartedness with which they had formerly regarded each other, and to the certainty that the inquisition would be for ever established in the land, upon the ruins of all their ancient institutions, unless they now united to overthrow it for ever. it demanded of the people, thus assembled through their representatives, how they could endure the tyranny, murders, and extortions of the duke of alva. the princes of flanders, burgundy, brabant, or holland, had never made war or peace, coined money, or exacted a stiver from the people without the consent of the estates. how could the nation now consent to the daily impositions which were practised? had amsterdam and middelburg remained true; had those important cities not allowed themselves to be seduced from the cause of freedom, the northern provinces would have been impregnable. "'tis only by the netherlands that the netherlands are crushed," said the appeal. "whence has the duke of alva the power of which he boasts, but from yourselves--from netherland cities? whence his ships, supplies, money, weapons, soldiers? from the netherland people. why has poor netherland thus become degenerate and bastard? whither has fled the noble spirit of our brave forefathers, that never brooked the tyranny of foreign nations, nor suffered a stranger even to hold office within our borders? if the little province of holland can thus hold at bay the power of spain, what could not all the netherlands--brabant, flanders, friesland, and the rest united accomplish?" in conclusion, the estates-general were earnestly adjured to come forward like brothers in blood, and join hands with holland, that together they might rescue the fatherland and restore its ancient prosperity and bloom. at almost the same time the prince drew up and put in circulation one of the most vigorous and impassioned productions which ever came from his pen. it was entitled, an "epistle, in form of supplication, to his royal majesty of spain, from the prince of orange and the estates of holland and zealand." the document produced a profound impression throughout christendom. it was a loyal appeal to the monarch's loyalty--a demand that the land-privileges should be restored, and the duke of alva removed. it contained a startling picture of his atrocities and the nation's misery, and, with a few energetic strokes, demolished the pretence that these sorrows had been caused by the people's guilt. in this connexion the prince alluded to those acts of condemnation which the governor-general had promulgated under the name of pardons, and treated with scorn the hypothesis that any crimes had been committed for alva to forgive. "we take god and your majesty to witness," said the epistle, "that if we have done such misdeeds as are charged in the pardon, we neither desire nor deserve the pardon. like the most abject creatures which crawl the earth, we will be content to atone for our misdeeds with our lives. we will not murmur, o merciful king, if we be seized one after another, and torn limb from limb, if it can be proved that we have committed the crimes of which we have been accused." after having thus set forth the tyranny of the government and the innocence of the people, the prince, in his own name and that of the estates, announced the determination at which they had arrived. "the tyrant," he continued, "would rather stain every river and brook with our blood, and hang our bodies upon every tree in the country, than not feed to the full his vengeance, and steep himself to the lips in our misery. therefore we have taken up arms against the duke of alva and his adherents, to free ourselves, our wives and children, from his blood-thirsty hands. if he prove too strong nor us, we will rather die an honorable death and leave a praiseworthy fame, than bend our necks, and reduce our dear fatherland to such slavery. herein are all our cities pledged to each other to stand every siege, to dare the utmost, to endure every possible misery, yea, rather to set fire to all our homes, and be consumed with them into ashes together, than ever submit to the decrees of this cruel tyrant." these were brave words, and destined to be bravely fulfilled, as the life and death of the writer and the records of his country proved, from generation unto generation. if we seek for the mainspring of the energy which thus sustained the prince in the unequal conflict to which he had devoted his life, we shall find it in the one pervading principle of his nature--confidence in god. he was the champion of the political rights of his country, but before all he was the defender of its religion. liberty of conscience for his people was his first object. to establish luther's axiom, that thoughts are toll-free, was his determination. the peace of passau, and far more than the peace of passau, was the goal for which he was striving. freedom of worship for all denominations, toleration for all forms of faith, this was the great good in his philosophy. for himself, he had now become a member of the calvinist, or reformed church, having delayed for a time his public adhesion to this communion, in order not to give offence to the lutherans and to the emperor. he was never a dogmatist, however, and he sought in christianity for that which unites rather than for that which separates christians. in the course of october he publicly joined the church at dort. the happy termination of the siege of alkmaar was followed, three days afterwards, by another signal success on the part of the patriots. count bossu, who had constructed or collected a considerable fleet at amsterdam, had, early in october, sailed into the zuyder zee, notwithstanding the sunken wrecks and other obstructions by which the patriots had endeavored to render the passage of the y impracticable. the patriots of north holland had, however, not been idle, and a fleet of five-and-twenty vessels, under admiral dirkzoon, was soon cruising in the same waters. a few skirmishes took place, but bossu's ships, which were larger, and provided with heavier cannon, were apparently not inclined for the close quarters which the patriots sought. the spanish admiral, hollander as he was, knew the mettle of his countrymen in a close encounter at sea, and preferred to trust to the calibre of his cannon. on the th october, however, the whole patriot fleet, favored by a strong easterly, breeze, bore down upon the spanish armada, which, numbering now thirty sail of all denominations, was lying off and on in the neighbourhood of horn and enkhuyzen. after a short and general engagement, nearly all the spanish fleet retired with precipitation, closely pursued by most of the patriot dutch vessels. five of the king's ships were eventually taken, the rest effected their escape. only the admiral remained, who scorned to yield, although his forces had thus basely deserted him. his ship, the "inquisition,"--for such was her insolent appellation, was far the largest and best manned of both the fleets. most of the enemy had gone in pursuit of the fugitives, but four vessels of inferior size had attacked the "inquisition" at the commencement of the action. of these, one had soon been silenced, while the other three had grappled themselves inextricably to her sides and prow. the four drifted together, before wind and tide, a severe and savage action going on incessantly, during which the navigation of the ships was entirely abandoned. no scientific gunnery, no military or naval tactics were displayed or required in such a conflict. it was a life-and-death combat, such as always occurred when spaniard and netherlander met, whether on land or water. bossu and his men, armed in bullet-proof coats of mail, stood with shield and sword on the deck of the "inquisition," ready to repel all attempts to board. the hollander, as usual, attacked with pitch hoops, boiling oil, and molten lead. repeatedly they effected their entrance to the admiral's ship, and as often they were repulsed and slain in heaps, or hurled into the sea. the battle began at three in the afternoon, and continued without intermission through the whole night. the vessels, drifting together, struck on the shoal called the nek, near wydeness. in the heat of the action the occurrence was hardly heeded. in the morning twilight, john haring, of horn, the hero who had kept one thousand soldiers at bay upon the diemer dyke, clambered on board the "inquisition" and hauled her colors down. the gallant but premature achievement cost him his life. he was shot through the body and died on the deck of the ship, which was not quite ready to strike her flag. in the course of the forenoon, however, it became obvious to bossu that further resistance was idle. the ships were aground near a hostile coast, his own fleet was hopelessly dispersed, three quarters of his crew were dead or disabled, while the vessels with which he was engaged were constantly recruited by boats from the shore, which brought fresh men and ammunition, and removed their killed and wounded. at eleven o'clock, admiral bossu surrendered, and with three hundred prisoners was carried into holland. bossu was himself imprisoned at horn, in which city he was received, on his arrival, with great demonstrations of popular hatred. the massacre of rotterdam, due to his cruelty and treachery, had not yet been forgotten or forgiven. this victory, following so hard upon the triumph at alkmaar, was as gratifying to the patriots as it was galling to alva. as his administration drew to a close, it was marked by disaster and disgrace on land and sea. the brilliant exploits by which he had struck terror into the heart of the netherlanders, at jemmingen and in brabant, had been effaced by the valor of a handful of hollanders, without discipline or experience. to the patriots, the opportune capture of so considerable a personage as the admiral and governor of the northern province was of great advantage. such of the hostages from harlem as had not yet been executed, now escaped with their lives. moreover, saint aldegonde, the eloquent patriot and confidential friend of orange, who was taken prisoner a few weeks later, in an action at maeslands-luis, was preserved from inevitable destruction by the same cause. the prince hastened to assure the duke of alva that the same measure would be dealt to bossu as should be meted to saint aldegonde. it was, therefore, impossible for the governor-general to execute his prisoner, and he was obliged to submit to the vexation of seeing a leading rebel and heretic in his power, whom he dared not strike. both the distinguished prisoners eventually regained their liberty. the duke was, doubtless, lower sunk in the estimation of all classes than he had ever been before, during his long and generally successful life. the reverses sustained by his army, the belief that his master had grown cold towards him, the certainty that his career in the netherlands was closing without a satisfactory result, the natural weariness produced upon men's minds by the contemplation of so monotonous and unmitigated a tyranny during so many years, all contributed to diminish his reputation. he felt himself odious alike to princes and to plebeians. with his cabinet councillors he had long been upon unsatisfactory terms. president tisnacq had died early, in the summer, and viglius, much against his will, had been induced, provisionally, to supply his place. but there was now hardly a pretence of friendship between the learned frisian and the governor. each cordially detested the other. alva was weary of flemish and frisian advisers, however subservient, and was anxious to fill the whole council with spaniards of the vargas stamp. he had forced viglius once more into office, only that, by a little delay, he might expel him and every netherlander at the same moment. "till this ancient set of dogmatizers be removed," he wrote to philip, "with viglius, their chief, who teaches them all their lessons, nothing will go right. 'tis of no use adding one or two spaniards to fill vacancies; that is only pouring a flask of good wine into a hogshead of vinegar; it changes to vinegar likewise. your majesty will soon be able to reorganize the council at a blow; so that italians or spaniards, as you choose, may entirely govern the country." such being his private sentiments with regard to his confidential advisers, it may be supposed that his intercourse with his council during the year was not like to be amicable. moreover, he had kept himself, for the most part, at a distance from the seat of government. during the military operations in holland, his head-quarters had been at amsterdam. here, as the year drew to its close, he had become as unpopular as in brussels. the time-serving and unpatriotic burghers, who, at the beginning of the spring, set up his bust in their houses, and would give large sums for his picture in little, now broke his images and tore his portraits from their walls, for it was evident that the power of his name was gone, both with prince and people. yet, certainly, those fierce demonstrations which had formerly surrounded his person with such an atmosphere of terror had not slackened or become less frequent than heretofore. he continued to prove that he could be barbarous, both on a grand and a minute scale. even as in preceding years, he could ordain wholesale massacres with a breath, and superintend in person the executions of individuals. this was illustrated, among other instances, by the cruel fate of uitenhoove. that unfortunate nobleman, who had been taken prisoner in the course of the summer, was accused of having been engaged in the capture of brill, and was, therefore, condemned by the duke to be roasted to death before a slow fire. he was accordingly fastened by a chain, a few feet in length, to a stake, around which the fagots were lighted. here he was kept in slow torture for a long time, insulted by the gibes of the laughing spaniards who surrounded him--until the executioner and his assistants, more humane than their superior, despatched the victim with their spears--a mitigation of punishment which was ill received by alva. the governor had, however, no reason to remain longer in amsterdam. harlem had fallen; alkmaar was relieved; and leyden--destined in its second siege to furnish so signal a chapter to the history of the war--was beleaguered, it was true, but, because known to be imperfectly supplied, was to be reduced by blockade rather than by active operations. don francis valdez was accordingly left in command of the siege, which, however, after no memorable occurrences, was raised, as will soon be related. the duke had contracted in amsterdam an enormous amount of debt, both public and private. he accordingly, early in november, caused a proclamation to be made throughout the city by sound of trumpet, that all persons having demands upon him were to present their claims, in person, upon a specified day. during the night preceding the day so appointed, the duke and his train very noiselessly took their departure, without notice or beat of drum. by this masterly generalship his unhappy creditors were foiled upon the very eve of their anticipated triumph; the heavy accounts which had been contracted on the faith of the king and the governor, remained for the most part unpaid, and many opulent and respectable families were reduced to beggary. such was the consequence of the unlimited confidence which they had reposed in the honor of their tyrant. on the th of november, don luis de requesens y cuniga, grand commander of saint jago, the appointed successor of alva, arrived in brussels, where he was received with great rejoicings. the duke, on the same day, wrote to the king, "kissing his feet" for thus relieving him of his functions. there was, of course, a profuse interchange of courtesy between the departing and the newly-arrived governors. alva was willing to remain a little while, to assist his successor with his advice, but preferred that the grand commander should immediately assume the reins of office. to this requesens, after much respectful reluctance, at length consented. on the th of november he accordingly took the oaths, at brussels, as lieutenant-governor and captain-general, in presence of the duke of aerschot, baron berlaymont, the president of the council, and other functionaries. on the th of december the duke of alva departed from the provinces for ever. with his further career this history has no concern, and it is not desirable to enlarge upon the personal biography of one whose name certainly never excites pleasing emotions. he had kept his bed for the greater part of the time during the last few weeks of his government--partly on account of his gout, partly to avoid being seen in his humiliation, but mainly, it was said, to escape the pressing demands of his creditors. he expressed a fear of travelling homeward through france, on the ground that he might very probably receive a shot out of a window as he went by. he complained pathetically that, after all his labors, he had not "gained the approbation of the king," while he had incurred "the malevolence and universal hatred of every individual in the country." mondoucet, to whom he made the observation, was of the same opinion; and informed his master that the duke "had engendered such an extraordinary hatred in the hearts of all persons in the land, that they would have fireworks in honor of his departure if they dared." on his journey from the netherlands, he is said to have boasted that he had caused eighteen thousand six hundred inhabitants of the provinces to be executed during the period of his government. the number of those who had perished by battle, siege, starvation, and massacre, defied computation. the duke was well received by his royal master, and remained in favor until a new adventure of don frederic brought father and son into disgrace. having deceived and abandoned a maid of honor, he suddenly espoused his cousins in order to avoid that reparation by marriage which was demanded for his offence. in consequence, both the duke and don frederic were imprisoned and banished, nor was alva released till a general of experience was required for the conquest of portugal. thither, as it were with fetters on his legs, he went. after having accomplished the military enterprise entrusted to him, he fell into a lingering fever, at the termination of which he was so much reduced that he was only kept alive by milk, which he drank from a woman's breast. such was the gentle second childhood of the man who had almost literally been drinking blood for seventy years. he died on the th december, . the preceding pages have been written in vain, if an elaborate estimate be now required of his character. his picture has been painted, as far as possible, by his own hand. his deeds, which are not disputed, and his written words, illustrate his nature more fully than could be done by the most eloquent pen. no attempt has been made to exaggerate his crimes, or to extenuate his superior qualities. virtues he had none, unless military excellence be deemed, as by the romans, a virtue. in war, both as a science and a practical art, he excelled all the generals who were opposed to him in the netherlands, and he was inferior to no commander in the world during the long and belligerent period to which his life belonged. louis of nassau possessed high reputation throughout europe as a skilful and daring general. with raw volunteers he had overthrown an army of spanish regulars, led by a netherland chieftain of fame and experience; but when alva took the field in person the scene was totally changed. the duke dealt him such a blow at jemmingen as would have disheartened for ever a less indomitable champion. never had a defeat been more absolute. the patriot army was dashed out of existence, almost to a man, and its leader, naked and beggared, though not disheartened, sent back into germany to construct his force and his schemes anew. having thus flashed before the eyes of the country the full terrors of his name, and vindicated the ancient military renown of his nation, the duke was at liberty to employ the consummate tactics, in which he could have given instruction to all the world, against his most formidable antagonist. the country, paralyzed with fear, looked anxiously but supinely upon the scientific combat between the two great champions of despotism and protestantism which succeeded. it was soon evident that the conflict could terminate in but one way. the prince had considerable military abilities, and enthusiastic courage; he lost none of his well-deserved reputation by the unfortunate issue of his campaign; he measured himself in arms with the great commander of the age, and defied him, day after day, in vain, to mortal combat; but it was equally certain that the duke's quiet game was, played in the most masterly manner. his positions and his encampments were taken with faultless judgment, his skirmishes wisely and coldly kept within the prescribed control, while the inevitable dissolution of the opposing force took place exactly as he had foreseen, and within the limits which he had predicted. nor in the disastrous commencement of the year did the duke less signally manifest his military genius. assailed as he was at every point, with the soil suddenly upheaving all around him, as by an earthquake, he did not lose his firmness nor his perspicacity. certainly, if he had not been so soon assisted by that other earthquake, which on saint bartholomew's day caused all christendom to tremble, and shattered the recent structure of protestant freedom in the netherlands, it might have been worse for his reputation. with mons safe, the flemish frontier guarded; france faithful, and thirty thousand men under the prince of orange in brabant, the heroic brothers might well believe that the duke was "at their mercy." the treason of charles ix. "smote them as with a club," as the prince exclaimed in the bitterness of his spirit. under the circumstances, his second campaign was a predestined failure, and alva easily vanquished him by a renewed application of those dilatory arts which he so well understood. the duke's military fame was unquestionable when he came to the provinces, and both in stricken fields and in long campaigns, he showed how thoroughly it had been deserved; yet he left the netherlands a baffled man. the prince might be many times defeated, but he was not to be conquered. as alva penetrated into the heart of the ancient batavian land he found himself overmatched as he had never been before, even by the most potent generals of his day. more audacious, more inventive, more desperate than all the commanders of that or any other age, the spirit of national freedom, now taught the oppressor that it was invincible; except by annihilation. the same lesson had been read in the same thickets by the nervii to julius caesar, by the batavians to the legions of vespasian; and now a loftier and a purer flame than that which inspired the national struggles against rome glowed within the breasts of the descendants of the same people, and inspired them with the strength which comes, from religious enthusiasm. more experienced, more subtle, more politic than hermann; more devoted, more patient, more magnanimous than civilis, and equal to either in valor and determination, william of orange was a worthy embodiment of the christian, national resistance of the german race to a foreign tyranny. alva had entered the netherlands to deal with them as with conquered provinces. he found that the conquest was still to be made, and he left the land without having accomplished it. through the sea of blood, the hollanders felt that they were passing to the promised land. more royal soldiers fell during the seven months' siege of harlem than the rebels had lost in the defeat of jemmingen, and in the famous campaign of brabant. at alkmaar the rolling waves of insolent conquest were stayed, and the tide then ebbed for ever. the accomplished soldier struggled hopelessly, with the wild and passionate hatred which his tyranny had provoked. neither his legions nor his consummate strategy availed him against an entirely desperate people. as a military commander, therefore, he gained, upon the whole, no additional laurels during his long administration of the netherlands. of all the other attributes to be expected in a man appointed to deal with a free country, in a state of incipient rebellion, he manifested a signal deficiency. as a financier, he exhibited a wonderful ignorance of the first principles of political economy. no man before, ever gravely proposed to establish confiscation as a permanent source of revenue to the state; yet the annual product from the escheated property of slaughtered heretics was regularly relied upon, during his administration, to replenish the king's treasury, and to support the war of extermination against the king's subjects. nor did statesman ever before expect a vast income from the commerce of a nation devoted to almost universal massacre. during the daily decimation of the people's lives, he thought a daily decimation of their industry possible. his persecutions swept the land of those industrious classes which had made it the rich and prosperous commonwealth it had been so lately; while, at the same time, he found a "peruvian mine," as he pretended, in the imposition of a tenth penny upon every one of its commercial transactions. he thought that a people, crippled as this had been by the operations of the blood council; could pay ten per cent., not annually but daily; not upon its income, but upon its capital; not once only, but every time the value constituting the capital changed hands. he had boasted that he should require no funds from spain, but that, on the contrary, he should make annual remittances to the royal treasury at home, from the proceeds of his imposts and confiscations; yet, notwithstanding these resources, and notwithstanding twenty-five millions of gold in five years, sent by philip from madrid, the exchequer of the provinces was barren and bankrupt when his successor arrived. requesens found neither a penny in the public treasury nor the means of raising one. as an administrator of the civil and judicial affairs of the country, alva at once reduced its institutions to a frightful simplicity. in the place of the ancient laws of which the netherlanders were so proud, he substituted the blood council. this tribunal was even more arbitrary than the inquisition. never was a simpler apparatus for tyranny devised, than this great labor-saving machine. never was so great a quantity of murder and robbery achieved with such despatch and regularity. sentences, executions, and confiscations, to an incredible extent, were turned out daily with appalling precision. for this invention, alva is alone responsible. the tribunal and its councillors were the work and the creatures of his hand, and faithfully did they accomplish the dark purpose of their existence. nor can it be urged, in extenuation of the governor's crimes, that he was but the blind and fanatically loyal slave of his sovereign. a noble nature could not have contaminated itself with such slaughter-house work, but might have sought to mitigate the royal policy, without forswearing allegiance. a nature less rigid than iron, would at least have manifested compunction, as it found itself converted into a fleshless instrument of massacre. more decided than his master, however, he seemed, by his promptness, to rebuke the dilatory genius of philip. the king seemed, at times, to loiter over his work, teasing and tantalising his appetite for vengeance, before it should be gratified: alva, rapid and brutal, scorned such epicureanism. he strode with gigantic steps over haughty statutes and popular constitutions; crushing alike the magnates who claimed a bench of monarchs for their jury, and the ignoble artisans who could appeal only to the laws of their land. from the pompous and theatrical scaffolds of egmont and horn, to the nineteen halters prepared by master karl, to hang up the chief bakers and brewers of brussels on their own thresholds--from the beheading of the twenty nobles on the horse-market, in the opening of the governor's career, to the roasting alive of uitenhoove at its close-from the block on which fell the honored head of antony straalen, to the obscure chair in which the ancient gentlewoman of amsterdam suffered death for an act of vicarious mercy--from one year's end to another's--from the most signal to the most squalid scenes of sacrifice, the eye and hand of the great master directed, without weariness, the task imposed by the sovereign. no doubt the work of almost indiscriminate massacre had been duly mapped out. not often in history has a governor arrived to administer the affairs of a province, where the whole population, three millions strong, had been formally sentenced to death. as time wore on, however, he even surpassed the bloody instructions which he had received. he waved aside the recommendations of the blood council to mercy; he dissuaded the monarch from attempting the path of clemency, which, for secret reasons, philip was inclined at one period to attempt. the governor had, as he assured the king, been using gentleness in vain, and he was now determined to try what a little wholesome severity could effect. these words were written immediately after the massacres at harlem. with all the bloodshed at mons, and naarden, and mechlin, and by the council of tumults, daily, for six years long, still crying from the ground, he taxed himself with a misplaced and foolish tenderness to the people. he assured the king that when alkmaar should be taken, he would, not spare a "living soul among its whole population;" and, as his parting advice, he recommended that every city in the netherlands should be burned to the ground, except a few which could be occupied permanently by the royal troops. on the whole, so finished a picture of a perfect and absolute tyranny has rarely been presented to mankind by history, as in alva's administration of the netherlands. the tens of thousands in those miserable provinces who fell victims to the gallows, the sword, the stake, the living grave, or to living banishment, have never been counted; for those statistics of barbarity are often effaced from human record. enough, however, is known, and enough has been recited in the preceding pages. no mode in which human beings have ever caused their fellow-creatures to suffer, was omitted from daily practice. men, women, and children, old and young, nobles and paupers, opulent burghers, hospital patients, lunatics, dead bodies, all were indiscriminately made to furnish food for-the scaffold and the stake. men were tortured, beheaded, hanged by the neck and by the legs, burned before slow fires, pinched to death with red hot tongs, broken upon the wheel, starved, and flayed alive. their skins stripped from the living body, were stretched upon drums, to be beaten in the march of their brethren to the gallows. the bodies of many who had died a natural death were exhumed, and their festering remains hanged upon the gibbet, on pretext that they had died without receiving the sacrament, but in reality that their property might become the legitimate prey of the treasury. marriages of long standing were dissolved by order of government, that rich heiresses might be married against their will to foreigners whom they abhorred. women and children were executed for the crime of assisting their fugitive husbands and parents with a penny in their utmost need, and even for consoling them with a letter, in their exile. such was the regular course of affairs as administered by the blood council. the additional barbarities committed amid the sack and ruin of those blazing and starving cities, are almost beyond belief; unborn infants were torn from the living bodies of their mothers; women and children were violated by thousands; and whole populations burned and hacked to pieces by soldiers in every mode which cruelty, in its wanton ingenuity, could devise. such was the administration, of which vargas affirmed, at its close, that too much mercy, "nimia misericordia," had been its ruin. even philip, inspired by secret views, became wearied of the governor, who, at an early period, had already given offence by his arrogance. to commemorate his victories, the viceroy had erected a colossal statue, not to his monarch, but to himself. to proclaim the royal pardon, he had seated himself upon a golden throne. such insolent airs could be ill forgiven by the absolute king. too cautious to provoke an open rupture, he allowed the governor, after he had done all his work, and more than all his work, to retire without disgrace, but without a triumph. for the sins of that administration, master and servant are in equal measure responsible. the character of the duke of alva, so far as the netherlands are concerned, seems almost like a caricature. as a creation of fiction, it would seem grotesque: yet even that hardy, historical scepticism, which delights in reversing the judgment of centuries, and in re-establishing reputations long since degraded to the dust, must find it difficult to alter this man's position. no historical decision is final; an appeal to a more remote posterity, founded upon more accurate evidence, is always valid; but when the verdict has been pronounced upon facts which are undisputed, and upon testimony from the criminal's lips, there is little chance of a reversal of the sentence. it is an affectation of philosophical candor to extenuate vices which are not only avowed, but claimed as virtues. [the time is past when it could be said that the cruelty of alva, or the enormities of his administration, have been exaggerated by party violence. human invention is incapable of outstripping the truth upon this subject. to attempt the defence of either the man or his measures at the present day is to convict oneself of an amount of ignorance or of bigotry against which history and argument are alike powerless. the publication of the duke's letters in the correspondence of simancas and in the besancon papers, together with that compact mass of horror, long before the world under the title of "sententien van alva," in which a portion only of the sentences of death and banishment pronounced by him during his reign, have been copied from the official records--these in themselves would be a sufficient justification of all the charges ever brought by the most bitter contemporary of holland or flanders. if the investigator should remain sceptical, however, let him examine the "registre des condamnes et bannia a cause des troubles des pays bas," in three, together with the records of the "conseil des troubles," in forty-three folio volumes, in the royal archives at brussels. after going through all these chronicles of iniquity, the most determined historic, doubter will probably throw up the case.] etext editor's bookmarks: advised his majesty to bestow an annual bribe upon lord burleigh angle with their dissimulation as with a hook luther's axiom, that thoughts are toll-free only kept alive by milk, which he drank from a woman's breast scepticism, which delights in reversing the judgment of centuries so much responsibility and so little power sometimes successful, even although founded upon sincerity we are beginning to be vexed motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley administration of the grand commander part iv. - [chapter i.] previous career of requesens--philip's passion for detail--apparent and real purposes of government--universal desire for peace-- correspondence of leading royalists with orange--bankruptcy of the exchequer at alva's departures--expensive nature of the war-- pretence of mildness on the part of the commander--his private views--distress of mondragon at middelburg--crippled condition of holland--orange's secret negotiations with france--st. aldegonde's views in captivity--expedition to relieve middelburg--counter preparations of orange--defeat of the expedition--capitulation of mondragon--plans of orange and his brothers--an army under count louis crosses the rhine--measures taken by requesens--manoeuvres of avila and of louis--the two armies in face at mook--battle of mook- heath--overthrow and death of count louis--the phantom battle-- character of louis of nassau--painful uncertainty as to his fate-- periodical mutinies of the spanish troops characterized--mutiny after the battle of mook--antwerp attacked and occupied,--insolent and oppressive conduct of the mutineers--offers of requesens refused--mutiny in the citadel--exploits of salvatierra--terms of composition--soldiers' feast on the mere--successful expedition of admiral boisot the horrors of alva's administration had caused men to look back with fondness upon the milder and more vacillating tyranny of the duchess margaret. from the same cause the advent of the grand commander was hailed with pleasure and with a momentary gleam of hope. at any rate, it was a relief that the man in whom an almost impossible perfection of cruelty seemed embodied was at last to be withdrawn it was certain that his successor, however ambitious of following in alva's footsteps, would never be able to rival the intensity and the unswerving directness of purpose which it had been permitted to the duke's nature to attain. the new governor-general was, doubtless, human, and it had been long since the netherlanders imagined anything in common between themselves and the late viceroy. apart from this hope, however, there was little encouragement to be derived from anything positively known of the new functionary, or the policy which he was to represent. don luis de requesens and cuniga, grand commander of castile and late governor of milan, was a man of mediocre abilities, who possessed a reputation for moderation and sagacity which he hardly deserved. his military prowess had been chiefly displayed in the bloody and barren battle of lepanto, where his conduct and counsel were supposed to have contributed, in some measure, to the victorious result. his administration at milan had been characterized as firm and moderate. nevertheless, his character was regarded with anything but favorable eyes in the netherlands. men told each other of his broken faith to the moors in granada, and of his unpopularity in milan, where, notwithstanding his boasted moderation, he had, in reality, so oppressed the people as to gain their deadly hatred. they complained, too, that it was an insult to send, as governor-general of the provinces, not a prince of the blood, as used to be the case, but a simple "gentleman of cloak and sword." any person, however, who represented the royal authority in the provinces was under historical disadvantage. he was literally no more than an actor, hardly even that. it was philip's policy and pride to direct all the machinery of his extensive empire, and to pull every string himself. his puppets, however magnificently attired, moved only in obedience to his impulse, and spoke no syllable but with his voice. upon the table in his cabinet was arranged all the business of his various realms, even to the most minute particulars. plans, petty or vast, affecting the interests of empires and ages, or bounded within the narrow limits of trivial and evanescent detail, encumbered his memory and consumed his time. his ambition to do all the work of his kingdoms was aided by an inconceivable greediness for labor. he loved the routine of business, as some monarchs have loved war, as others have loved pleasure. the object, alike paltry and impossible, of this ambition, bespoke the narrow mind. his estates were regarded by him as private property; measures affecting the temporal and eternal interests of millions were regarded as domestic affairs, and the eye of the master was considered the only one which could duly superintend these estates and those interests. much incapacity to govern was revealed in this inordinate passion to administer. his mind, constantly fatigued by petty labors, was never enabled to survey his wide domains from the height of majesty. in alva, certainly, he had employed an unquestionable reality; but alva, by a fortunate coincidence of character, had seemed his second self. he was now gone, however, and although the royal purpose had not altered, the royal circumstances were changed. the moment had arrived when it was thought that the mask and cothurn might again be assumed with effect; when a grave and conventional personage might decorously make his appearance to perform an interlude of clemency and moderation with satisfactory results. accordingly, the great commander, heralded by rumors of amnesty, was commissioned to assume the government which alva had been permitted to resign. it had been industriously circulated that a change of policy was intended. it was even supposed by the more sanguine that the duke had retired in disgrace. a show of coldness was manifested towards him on his return by the king, while vargas, who had accompanied the governor, was peremptorily forbidden to appear within five leagues of the court. the more discerning, however, perceived much affectation in this apparent displeasure. saint goard, the keen observer of philip's moods and measures, wrote to his sovereign that he had narrowly observed the countenances of both philip and alva; that he had informed himself as thoroughly as possible with regard to the course of policy intended; that he had arrived at the conclusion that the royal chagrin was but dissimulation, intended to dispose the netherlanders to thoughts of an impossible peace, and that he considered the present merely a breathing time, in which still more active preparations might be made for crushing the rebellion. it was now evident to the world that the revolt had reached a stage in which it could be terminated only by absolute conquest or concession. to conquer the people of the provinces, except by extermination, seemed difficult--to judge by the seven years of execution, sieges and campaigns, which had now passed without a definite result. it was, therefore, thought expedient to employ concession. the new governor accordingly, in case the netherlanders would abandon every object for which they had been so heroically contending, was empowered to concede a pardon. it was expressly enjoined upon him, however, that no conciliatory measures should be adopted in which the king's absolute supremacy, and the total prohibition of every form of worship but the roman catholic, were not assumed as a basis. now, as the people had been contending at least ten years long for constitutional rights against prerogative, and at least seven for liberty of conscience against papistry, it was easy to foretell how much effect any negotiations thus commenced were likely to produce. yet, no doubt, in the netherlands there was a most earnest longing for peace. the catholic portion of the population were desirous of a reconciliation with their brethren of the new religion. the universal vengeance which had descended upon heresy had not struck the heretics only. it was difficult to find a fireside, protestant or catholic, which had not been made desolate by execution, banishment, or confiscation. the common people and the grand seigniors were alike weary of the war. not only aerschot and viglius, but noircarmes and berlaymont, were desirous that peace should be at last compassed upon liberal terms, and the prince of orange fully and unconditionally pardoned. even the spanish commanders had become disgusted with the monotonous butchery which had stained their swords. julian romero; the fierce and unscrupulous soldier upon whose head rested the guilt of the naarden massacre, addressed several letters to william of orange, full of courtesy, and good wishes for a speedy termination of the war, and for an entire reconciliation of the prince with his sovereign. noircarmes also opened a correspondence with the great leader of the revolt; and offered to do all in his power to restore peace and prosperity to the country. the prince answered the courtesy of the spaniard with equal, but barren, courtesy; for it was obvious that no definite result could be derived from such informal negotiations. to noircarmes he responded in terms of gentle but grave rebuke, expressing deep regret that a netherland noble of such eminence, with so many others of rank and authority, should so long have supported the king in his tyranny. he, however, expressed his satisfaction that their eyes, however late, had opened to the enormous iniquity which had been practised in the country, and he accepted the offers of friendship as frankly as they had been made. not long afterwards, the prince furnished his correspondent with a proof of his sincerity, by forwarding to him two letters which had been intercepted; from certain agents of government to alva, in which noircarmes and others who had so long supported the king against their own country, were spoken of in terms of menace and distrust. the prince accordingly warned his new correspondent that, in spite of all the proofs of uncompromising loyalty which he had exhibited, he was yet moving upon a dark and slippery-pathway, and might, even like egmont and horn, find a scaffold-as the end and the reward of his career. so profound was that abyss of dissimulation which constituted the royal policy, towards the netherlands, that the most unscrupulous partisans of government could only see doubt and danger with regard to their future destiny, and were sometimes only saved by an opportune death from disgrace and the hangman's hands. such, then, were the sentiments of many eminent personages, even among the most devoted loyalists. all longed for peace; many even definitely expected it, upon the arrival of the great commander. moreover, that functionary discovered, at his first glance into the disorderly state of the exchequer, that at least a short respite was desirable before proceeding with the interminable measures of hostility against the rebellion. if any man had been ever disposed to give alva credit for administrative ability, such delusion must have vanished at the spectacle of confusion and bankruptcy which presented, itself at the termination of his government. he resolutely declined to give his successor any information whatever as to his financial position. so far from furnishing a detailed statement, such as might naturally be expected upon so momentous an occasion, he informed the grand commander that even a sketch was entirely out of the question, and would require more time and labor than he could then afford. he took his departure, accordingly, leaving requesens in profound ignorance as to his past accounts; an ignorance in which it is probable that the duke himself shared to the fullest extent. his enemies stoutly maintained that, however loosely his accounts had been kept, he had been very careful to make no mistakes against himself, and that he had retired full of wealth, if not of honor, from his long and terrible administration. his own letters, on the contrary, accused the king of ingratitude, in permitting an old soldier to ruin himself, not only in health but in fortune, for want of proper recompense during an arduous administration. at any rate it is very certain that the rebellion had already been an expensive matter to the crown. the army in the netherlands numbered more than sixty-two thousand men, eight thousand being spaniards, the rest walloons and germans. forty millions of dollars had already been sunk, and it seemed probable that it would require nearly the whole annual produce of the american mines to sustain the war. the transatlantic gold and silver, disinterred from the depths where they had been buried for ages, were employed, not to expand the current of a healthy, life-giving commerce, but to be melted into blood. the sweat and the tortures of the king's pagan subjects in the primeval forests of the new world, were made subsidiary to the extermination of his netherland people, and the destruction of an ancient civilization. to this end had columbus discovered a hemisphere for castile and aragon, and the new indies revealed their hidden treasures? forty millions of ducats had been spent. six and a half millions of arrearages were due to the army, while its current expenses were six hundred thousand a month. the military expenses alone of the netherlands were accordingly more than seven millions of dollars yearly, and the mines of the new world produced, during the half century of philip's reign, an average of only eleven. against this constantly increasing deficit, there was not a stiver in the exchequer, nor the means of raising one. the tenth penny had been long virtually extinct, and was soon to be formally abolished. confiscation had ceased to afford a permanent revenue, and the estates obstinately refused to grant a dollar. such was the condition to which the unrelenting tyranny and the financial experiments of alva had reduced the country. it was, therefore, obvious to requesens that it would be useful at the moment to hold out hopes of pardon and reconciliation. he saw, what he had not at first comprehended, and what few bigoted supporters of absolutism in any age have ever comprehended, that national enthusiasm, when profound and general, makes a rebellion more expensive to the despot than to the insurgents. "before my arrival," wrote the grand commander to his sovereign, "i did not understand how the rebels could maintain such considerable fleets, while your majesty could not support a single one. it appears, however, that men who are fighting for their lives, their firesides, their property, and their false religion, for their own cause, in short, are contented to receive rations only, without receiving pay." the moral which the new governor drew from his correct diagnosis of the prevailing disorder was, not that this national enthusiasm should be respected, but that it should be deceived. he deceived no one but himself, however. he censured noircarmes and romero for their intermeddling, but held out hopes of a general pacification. he repudiated the idea of any reconciliation between the king and the prince of orange, but proposed at the same time a settlement of the revolt. he had not yet learned that the revolt and william of orange were one. although the prince himself had repeatedly offered to withdraw for ever from the country, if his absence would expedite a settlement satisfactory to the provinces, there was not a patriot in the netherlands who could contemplate his departure without despair. moreover, they all knew better than did requesens, the inevitable result of the pacific measures which had been daily foreshadowed. the appointment of the grand commander was in truth a desperate attempt to deceive the netherlanders. he approved distinctly and heartily of alva's policy, but wrote to the king that it was desirable to amuse the people with the idea of another and a milder scheme. he affected to believe, and perhaps really did believe, that the nation would accept the destruction of all their institutions, provided that penitent heretics were allowed to be reconciled to the mother church, and obstinate ones permitted to go into perpetual exile, taking with them a small portion of their worldly goods. for being willing to make this last and almost incredible concession, he begged pardon sincerely of the king. if censurable, he ought not, he thought, to be too severely blamed, for his loyalty was known. the world was aware how often he had risked his life for his majesty, and how gladly and how many more times he was ready to risk it in future. in his opinion, religion had, after all, but very little to do with the troubles, and so he confidentially informed his sovereign. egmont and horn had died catholics, the people did not rise to assist the prince's invasion in , and the new religion was only a lever by which a few artful demagogues had attempted to overthrow the king's authority. such views as these revealed the measures of the new governor's capacity. the people had really refused to rise in , not because they were without sympathy for orange, but because they were paralyzed by their fear of alva. since those days, however, the new religion had increased and multiplied everywhere, in the blood which had rained upon it. it was now difficult to find a catholic in holland and zealand, who was not a government agent. the prince had been a moderate catholic, in the opening scenes of the rebellion, while he came forward as the champion of liberty for all forms of christianity. he had now become a convert to the new religion without receding an inch from his position in favor of universal toleration. the new religion was, therefore, not an instrument devised by a faction, but had expanded into the atmosphere of the people's daily life. individuals might be executed for claiming to breathe it, but it was itself impalpable to the attacks of despotism. yet the grand commander persuaded himself that religion had little or nothing to do with the state of the netherlands. nothing more was necessary, he thought; or affected to think, in order to restore tranquillity, than once more to spread the net of a general amnesty. the duke of alva knew better. that functionary, with whom, before his departure from the provinces, requesens had been commanded to confer, distinctly stated his opinion that there was no use of talking about pardon. brutally, but candidly, he maintained that there was nothing to be done but to continue the process of extermination. it was necessary, he said, to reduce the country to a dead level of unresisting misery; before an act of oblivion could be securely laid down as the foundation of a new and permanent order of society. he had already given his advice to his majesty, that every town in the country should be burned to the ground, except those which could be permanently occupied by the royal troops. the king, however, in his access of clemency at the appointment of a new administration, instructed the grand commander not to resort to this measure unless it should become strictly necessary.--such were the opposite opinions of the old and new governors with regard to the pardon. the learned viglius sided with alva, although manifestly against his will. "it is both the duke's opinion and my own," wrote the commander, "that viglius does not dare to express his real opinion, and that he is secretly desirous of an arrangement with the rebels." with a good deal of inconsistency, the governor was offended, not only with those who opposed his plans, but with those who favored them. he was angry with viglius, who, at least nominally, disapproved of the pardon, and with noircarmes, aerschot, and others, who manifested a wish for a pacification. of the chief characteristic ascribed to the people by julius caesar, namely, that they forgot neither favors nor injuries, the second half only, in the grand commander's opinion, had been retained. not only did they never forget injuries, but their memory, said he, was so good, that they recollected many which they had never received. on the whole, however, in the embarrassed condition of affairs, and while waiting for further supplies, the commander was secretly disposed to try the effect of a pardon. the object was to deceive the people and to gain time; for there was no intention of conceding liberty of conscience, of withdrawing foreign troops, or of assembling the states-general. it was, however, not possible to apply these hypocritical measures of conciliation immediately. the war was in full career and could not be arrested even in that wintry season. the patriots held mondragon closely besieged in middelburg, the last point in the isle of walcheren which held for the king. there was a considerable treasure in money and merchandise shut up in that city; and, moreover, so deserving and distinguished an officer as mondragon could not be abandoned to his fate. at the same time, famine was pressing him sorely, and, by the end of the year, garrison and townspeople had nothing but rats, mice, dogs, cats, and such repulsive substitutes for food, to support life withal. it was necessary to take immediate measures to relieve the place. on the other hand, the situation of the patriots was not very encouraging. their superiority on the sea was unquestionable, for the hollanders and zealanders were the best sailors in the world, and they asked of their country no payment for their blood, but thanks. the land forces, however, were usually mercenaries, who were apt to mutiny at the commencement of an action if, as was too often the case, their wages could not be paid. holland was entirely cut in twain by the loss of harlem and the leaguer of leyden, no communication between the dissevered portions being possible, except with difficulty and danger. the estates, although they had done much for the cause, and were prepared to do much more, were too apt to wrangle about economical details. they irritated the prince of orange by huckstering about subsidies to a degree which his proud and generous nature could hardly brook. he had strong hopes from france. louis of nassau had held secret interviews with the duke of alencon and the duke of anjou, now king of poland, at blamont. alencon had assured him secretly, affectionately, and warmly, that he would be as sincere a friend to the cause as were his two royal brothers. the count had even received one hundred thousand livres in hand, as an earnest of the favorable intentions of france, and was now busily engaged, at the instance of the prince, in levying an army in germany for the relief of leyden and the rest of holland, while william, on his part, was omitting nothing, whether by representations to the estates or by secret foreign missions and correspondence, to further the cause of the suffering country. at the same time, the prince dreaded the effect--of the promised pardon. he had reason to be distrustful of the general temper of the nation when a man like saint aldegonde, the enlightened patriot and his own tried friend, was influenced, by the discouraging and dangerous position in which he found himself, to abandon the high ground upon which they had both so long and so firmly stood: saint aldegonde had been held a strict prisoner since his capture at maeslandsluis, at the close of alva's administration.--it was, no doubt, a predicament attended with much keen suffering and positive danger. it had hitherto been the uniform policy of the government to kill all prisoners, of whatever rank. accordingly, some had been drowned, some had been hanged--some beheaded some poisoned in their dungeons--all had been murdered. this had been alva's course. the grand commander also highly approved of the system, but the capture of count bossu by the patriots had necessitated a suspension of such rigor. it was certain that bossu's head would fall as soon as saint aldegonde's, the prince having expressly warned the government of this inevitable result. notwithstanding that security, however, for his eventual restoration to liberty, a netherland rebel in a spanish prison could hardly feel himself at ease. there were so many foot-marks into the cave and not a single one coming forth. yet it was not singular, however, that the prince should read with regret the somewhat insincere casuistry with which saint aldegonde sought to persuade himself and his fellow-countrymen that a reconciliation with the monarch was desirable, even upon unworthy terms. he was somewhat shocked that so valiant and eloquent a supporter of the reformation should coolly express his opinion that the king would probably refuse liberty of conscience to the netherlanders, but would, no doubt, permit heretics to go into banishment. "perhaps, after we have gone into exile," added saint aldegonde, almost with baseness, "god may give us an opportunity of doing such good service to the king, that he will lend us a more favorable ear, and, peradventure, permit our return to the country." certainly, such language was not becoming the pen which wrote the famous compromise. the prince himself was, however, not to be induced, even by the captivity and the remonstrances of so valued a friend, to swerve from the path of duty. he still maintained, in public and private, that the withdrawal of foreign troops from the provinces, the restoration of the old constitutional privileges, and the entire freedom of conscience in religious matters, were the indispensable conditions of any pacification. it was plain to him that the spaniards were not ready to grant these conditions; but he felt confident that he should accomplish the release of saint aldegonde without condescending to an ignominious peace. the most pressing matter, upon the great commander's arrival, was obviously to relieve the city of middelburg. mondragon, after so stanch a defence, would soon be obliged to capitulate, unless he should promptly receive supplies. requesens, accordingly, collected seventy-five ships at bergen op zoom; which were placed nominally under the command of admiral de glimes, but in reality under that of julian romero. another fleet of thirty vessels had been assembled at antwerp under sancho d'avila. both, amply freighted with provisions, were destined to make their way to middelburg by the two different passages of the hondo and the eastern scheld. on the other hand, the prince of orange had repaired to flushing to superintend the operations of admiral boisot, who already; in obedience to his orders, had got a powerful squadron in readiness at that place. late in january, , d'avila arrived in the neighbourhood of flushing, where he awaited the arrival of romero's fleet. united, the two commanders were to make a determined attempt to reinforce the starving city of middelburg. at the same time, governor requesens made his appearance in person at bergen op zoom to expedite the departure of the stronger fleet, but it was not the intention of the prince of orange to allow this expedition to save the city. the spanish generals, however valiant, were to learn that their genius was not amphibious, and that the beggars of the sea were still invincible on their own element, even if their brethren of the land had occasionally quailed. admiral boisot's fleet had already moved up the scheld and taken a position nearly opposite to bergen op zoom. on the th of january the prince of orange, embarking from zierick zee, came to make them a visit before the impending action. his galley, conspicuous for its elegant decorations, was exposed for some time to the artillery of the fort, but providentially escaped unharmed. he assembled all the officers of his armada, and, in brief but eloquent language, reminded them how necessary it was to the salvation of the whole country that they should prevent the city of middelburg--the key to the whole of zealand, already upon the point of falling into the hands of the patriots--from being now wrested from their grasp. on the sea, at least, the hollanders and zealanders were at home. the officers and men, with one accord, rent the air with their cheers. they swore that they would shed every drop of blood in their veins but they would sustain the prince and the country; and they solemnly vowed not only to serve, if necessary, without wages, but to sacrifice all that they possessed in the world rather than abandon the cause of their fatherland. having by his presence and his language aroused their valor to so high a pitch of enthusiasm, the prince departed for delft, to make arrangements to drive the spaniards from the siege of leyden. on the th of january, the fleet of romero sailed from bergen, disposed in three divisions, each numbering twenty-five vessels of different sizes. as the grand commander stood on the dyke of schakerloo to witness the departure, a general salute was fired by the fleet in his honor, but with most unfortunate augury. the discharge, by some accident, set fire to the magazines of one of the ships, which blew up with a terrible explosion, every soul on board perishing. the expedition, nevertheless, continued its way. opposite romerswael, the fleet of boisot awaited them, drawn up in battle array. as an indication of the spirit which animated this hardy race, it may be mentioned that schot, captain of the flag-ship, had been left on shore, dying of a pestilential fever. admiral boisot had appointed a flushinger, klaaf klaafzoon, in his place. just before the action, however, schot, "scarcely able to blow a feather from his mouth," staggered on board his ship, and claimed the command. there was no disputing a precedency which he had risen from his death-bed to vindicate. there was, however, a short discussion, as the enemy's fleet approached, between these rival captains regarding the manner in which the spaniards should be received. klaafzoon was of opinion that most of the men should go below till after the enemy's first discharge. schot insisted that all should remain on deck, ready to grapple with the spanish fleet, and to board them without the least delay. the sentiment of schot prevailed, and all hands stood on deck, ready with boarding-pikes and grappling-irons. the first division of romero came nearer, and delivered its first broadside, when schot and klaafzoon both fell mortally wounded. admiral boisot lost an eye, and many officers and sailors in the other vessels were killed or wounded. this was, however, the first and last of the cannonading. as many of romero's vessels as could be grappled within the narrow estuary found themselves locked in close embrace with their enemies. a murderous hand-to-hand conflict succeeded. battle-axe, boarding-pike, pistol, and dagger were the weapons. every man who yielded himself a prisoner was instantly stabbed and tossed into the sea by the remorseless zealanders. fighting only to kill, and not to plunder, they did not even stop to take the gold chains which many spaniards wore on their necks. it had, however, been obvious from the beginning that the spanish fleet were not likely to achieve that triumph over the patriots which was necessary before they could relieve middelburg. the battle continued a little longer; but after fifteen ships had been taken and twelve hundred royalists slain, the remainder of the enemy's fleet retreated into bergen. romero himself, whose ship had grounded, sprang out of a port-hole and swam ashore, followed by such of his men as were able to imitate him. he landed at the very feet of the grand commander, who, wet and cold, had been standing all day upon the dyke of schakerloo, in the midst of a pouring rain, only to witness the total defeat of his armada at last. "i told your excellency," said romero, coolly, as he climbed, all dripping, on the bank, "that i was a land-fighter and not a sailor. if you were to give me the command of a hundred fleets, i believe that none of them would fare better than this has done." the governor and his discomfited, but philosophical lieutenant, then returned to bergen, and thence to brussels, acknowledging that the city of middelburg must fall, while sancho d'avila, hearing of the disaster which had befallen his countrymen, brought his fleet, with the greatest expedition, back to antwerp. thus the gallant mondragon was abandoned to his fate. that fate could no longer be protracted. the city of middelburg had reached and passed the starvation point. still mondragon was determined not to yield at discretion, although very willing to capitulate. the prince of orange, after the victory of bergen, was desirous of an unconditional surrender, believing it to be his right, and knowing that he could not be supposed capable of practising upon middelburg the vengeance which had been wreaked on naarden, zutfen, and harlem. mondragon, however, swore that he would set fire to the city in twenty places, and perish with every soldier and burgher in the flames together, rather than abandon himself to the enemy's mercy. the prince knew that the brave spaniard was entirely capable of executing his threat. he granted honorable conditions, which, on the th february, were drawn up in five articles, and signed. it was agreed that mondragon and his troops should leave the place, with their arms, ammunition, and all their personal property. the citizens who remained were to take oath of fidelity to the prince, as stadholder for his majesty, and were to pay besides a subsidy of three hundred thousand florins. mondragon was, furthermore, to procure the discharge of saint aldegonde, and of four other prisoners of rank, or, failing in the attempt, was to return within two months, and constitute himself prisoner of war. the catholic priests were to take away from the city none of their property but their clothes. in accordance with this capitulation, mondragon, and those who wished to accompany him, left the city on the st of february, and were conveyed to the flemish shore at neuz. it will be seen in the sequel that the governor neither granted him the release of the five prisoners, nor permitted him to return, according to his parole. a few days afterwards, the prince entered the city, re-organized the magistracy, received the allegiance of the inhabitants, restored the ancient constitution, and liberally remitted two-thirds of the sum in which they had been, mulcted. the spaniards had thus been successfully driven from the isle of walcheren, leaving the hollanders and zealanders masters of the sea-coast. since the siege of alkmaar had been raised, however, the enemy had remained within the territory of holland. leyden was closely invested, the country in a desperate condition, and all communication between its different cities nearly suspended. it was comparatively easy for the prince of orange to equip and man his fleets. the genius and habits of the people made them at home upon the water, and inspired them with a feeling of superiority to their adversaries. it was not so upon land. strong to resist, patient to suffer, the hollanders, although terrible in defence; had not the necessary discipline or experience to meet the veteran legions of spain, with confidence in the open field. to raise the siege of leyden, the main reliance of the prince was upon count louis, who was again in germany. in the latter days of alva's administration, william had written to his brothers, urging them speedily to arrange the details of a campaign, of which he forwarded them a sketch. as soon as a sufficient force had been levied in germany, an attempt was to be made upon maestricht. if that failed, louis was to cross the meuse, in the neighbourhood of stochem, make his way towards the prince's own city of gertruidenberg, and thence make a junction with his brother in the neighbourhood of delft. they were then to take up a position together between harlem and leyden. in that case it seemed probable that the spaniards would find themselves obliged to fight at a great disadvantage, or to abandon the country. "in short," said the prince, "if this enterprise be arranged with due diligence and discretion, i hold it as the only certain means for putting a speedy end to the war, and for driving these devils of spaniards out of the country, before the duke of alva has time to raise another army to support them." in pursuance of this plan, louis had been actively engaged all the earlier part of the winter in levying troops and raising supplies. he had been assisted by the french princes with considerable sums of money, as an earnest of what he was in future to expect from that source. he had made an unsuccessful attempt to effect the capture of requesens, on his way to take the government of the netherlands. he had then passed to the frontier of france, where he had held his important interview with catharine de medici and the duke of anjou, then on the point of departure to ascend the throne of poland. he had received liberal presents, and still more liberal promises. anjou had assured him that he would go as far as any of the german princes in rendering active and sincere assistance to the protestant cause in the netherlands. the duc d'alencon--soon, in his brother's absence, to succeed to the chieftainship of the new alliance between the "politiques" and the huguenots--had also pressed his hand, whispering in his ear, as he did so, that the government of france now belonged to him, as it had recently done to anjou, and that the prince might reckon upon his friendship with entire security. these fine words, which cost nothing when whispered in secret, were not destined to fructify into a very rich harvest, for the mutual jealousy of france and england, lest either should acquire ascendency in the netherlands, made both governments prodigal of promises, while the common fear entertained by them of the power of spain rendered both languid; insincere, and mischievous allies. count john, however; was indefatigable in arranging the finances of the proposed expedition, and in levying contributions among his numerous relatives and allies in germany, while louis had profited by the occasion of anjou's passage into poland, to acquire for himself two thousand german and french cavalry, who had served to escort that prince, and who, being now thrown out of employment, were glad to have a job offered them by a general who was thought to be in funds. another thousand of cavalry and six thousand foot were soon assembled from those ever-swarming nurseries of mercenary warriors, the smaller german states. with these, towards the end of february; louis crossed the rhine in a heavy snow-storm, and bent his course towards maestricht. all the three brothers of the prince accompanied this little army, besides duke christopher, son of the elector palatine. before the end of the month the army reached the meuse, and encamped within four miles of maestricht; on the opposite side of the river. the garrison, commanded by montesdoca, was weak, but the news of the warlike preparations in germany had preceded the arrival of count louis. requesens, feeling the gravity of the occasion, had issued orders for an immediate levy of eight thousand cavalry in germany, with a proportionate number of infantry. at the same time he had directed don bernardino de mendoza, with some companies of cavalry, then stationed in breda, to throw himself without delay into maestricht. don sancho d'avila was entrusted with the general care of resisting the hostile expedition. that general had forthwith collected all the troops which could be spared from every town where they were stationed, had strengthened the cities of antwerp, ghent, nimweben, and valenciennes, where there were known to be many secret adherents of orange; and with the remainder of his forces had put himself in motion, to oppose the entrance of louis into brabant, and his junction with his brother in holland. braccamonte had been despatched to leyden, in order instantly to draw off the forces which were besieging the city. thus louis had already effected something of importance by the very hews of his approach. meantime the prince of orange had raised six thousand infantry, whose rendezvous was the isle of bommel. he was disappointed at the paucity of the troops which louis had been able to collect, but he sent messengers immediately to him; with a statement of his own condition, and with directions to join him in the isle of bommel, as soon as maestricht should be reduced. it was, however, not in the destiny of louis to reduce maestricht. his expedition had been marked with disaster from the beginning. a dark and threatening prophecy had, even before its commencement, enwrapped louis, his brethren, and his little army, in a funeral pall. more than a thousand of his men had deserted before he reached the meuse. when he encamped, apposite maestricht, he found the river neither frozen nor open, the ice obstructing the navigation, but being too weak for the weight of an army. while he was thus delayed and embarrassed, mendoza arrived in the city with reinforcements. it seemed already necessary for louis to abandon his hopes of maestricht, but he was at least desirous of crossing the river in that neighbourhood, in order to effect his junction with the prince at the earliest possible moment. while the stream was still encumbered with ice, however, the enemy removed all the boats. on, the rd of march, avila arrived with a large body of troops at maestricht, and on the th mendoza crossed the river in the night, giving the patriots so severe an 'encamisada', that seven hundred were killed, at the expense of only seven of his own party. harassed, but not dispirited by these disasters, louis broke up his camp on the st, and took a position farther down the river, at fauquemont and gulpen, castles in the duchy of limburg. on the rd of april, braccamonite arrived at maestricht, with twenty-five companies of spaniards and three of cavalry, while, on the same day mondragon reached the scene of action with his sixteen companies of veterans. it was now obvious to louis, not only that he should not take maestricht, but that his eventual junction with his brother was at least doubtful, every soldier who could possibly be spared seeming in motion to oppose his progress. he was, to be sure, not yet outnumbered, but the enemy was increasing, and his own force diminishing daily. moreover, the spaniards were highly disciplined and experienced troops; while his own soldiers were mercenaries, already clamorous and insubordinate. on the th of april he again shifted his encaampment, and took his course along the right bank of the meuse, between that river and the rhine, in the direction of nimwegen. avila promptly decided to follow him upon the opposite bank of the meuse, intending to throw himself between louis and the prince of orange, and by a rapid march to give the count battle, before he could join his brother. on the th of april, at early dawn, louis had left the neighbourhood of maestricht, and on the th he encamped at the village of mook near the confines of cleves. sending out his scouts, he learned to his vexation, that the enemy had outmarched him, and were now within cannonshot. on the th, avila had constructed a bridge of boats, over which he had effected the passage of the meuse with his whole army, so that on the count's arrival at mook, he found the enemy facing him, on the same side of the river, and directly in his path. it was, therefore, obvious that, in this narrow space between the waal and the meuse, where they were now all assembled, louis must achieve a victory, unaided, or abandon his expedition, and leave the hollanders to despair. he was distressed at the position in which he found himself, for he had hoped to reduce maestricht, and to join, his brother in holland. together, they could, at least, have expelled the spaniards from that territory, in which case it was probable that a large part of the population in the different provinces would have risen. according to present aspects, the destiny of the country, for some time to come, was likely to hang upon the issue of a battle which he had not planned, and for which he was not fully prepared. still he was not the man to be disheartened; nor had he ever possessed the courage to refuse a battle when: offered. upon this occasion it would be difficult to retreat without disaster and disgrace, but it was equally difficult to achieve a victory. thrust, as he was, like a wedge into the very heart of a hostile country, he was obliged to force his way through, or to remain in his enemy's power. moreover, and worst of all, his troops were in a state of mutiny for their wages. while he talked to them of honor, they howled to him for money. it was the custom of these mercenaries to mutiny on the eve of battle--of the spaniards, after it had been fought. by the one course, a victory was often lost which might have been achieved; by the other, when won it was rendered fruitless. avila had chosen his place of battle with great skill. on the right bank of the meuse, upon a narrow plain which spread from the river to a chain of hills within cannon-shot on the north, lay the little village of mook. the spanish general knew that his adversary had the superiority in cavalry, and that within this compressed apace it would not be possible to derive much advantage from the circumstance. on the th, both armies were drawn up in battle array at earliest dawn, louis having strengthened his position by a deep trench, which extended from mook, where he had stationed ten companies of infantry, which thus rested on the village and the river. next came the bulk of his infantry, disposed in a single square. on their right was his cavalry, arranged in four squadrons, as well as the narrow limits of the field would allow. a small portion of them, for want of apace, were stationed on the hill side. opposite, the forces of don sancho were drawn up in somewhat similar fashion. twenty-five companies of spaniards were disposed in four bodies of pikemen and musketeers; their right resting on the river. on their left was the cavalry, disposed by mendoza in the form of a half moon-the horns garnished by two small bodies of sharpshooters. in the front ranks of the cavalry were the mounted carabineers of schenk; behind were the spanish dancers. the village of mook lay between the two armies. the skirmishing began at early dawn, with an attack upon the trench, and continued some hours, without bringing on a general engagement. towards ten o'clock, count louis became impatient. all the trumpets of the patriots now rang out a challenge to their adversaries, and the spaniards were just returning the defiance, and preparing a general onset, when the seigneur de hierges and baron chevreaux arrived on the field. they brought with them a reinforcement of more than a thousand men, and the intelligence that valdez was on his way with nearly five thousand more. as he might be expected on the following morning, a short deliberation was held as to the expediency of deferring the action. count louis was at the head of six thousand foot and two thousand cavalry. avila mustered only four thousand infantry and not quite a thousand horse. this inferiority would be changed on the morrow into an overwhelming superiority. meantime, it was well to remember the punishment endured by aremberg at heiliger lee, for not waiting till meghen's arrival. this prudent counsel was, however, very generally scouted, and by none more loudly than by hierges and chevreaux, who had brought the intelligence. it was thought that at this juncture nothing could be more indiscreet than discretion. they had a wary and audacious general to deal with. while they were waiting for their reinforcements, he was quite capable of giving them the slip. he might thus effect the passage of the stream and that union with his brother which--had been thus far so successfully prevented. this reasoning prevailed, and the skirmishing at the trench was renewed with redoubled vigour, an additional: force being sent against it. after a short and fierce struggle it was carried, and the spaniards rushed into the village, but were soon dislodged by a larger detachment of infantry, which count louis sent to the rescue. the battle now became general at this point. nearly all the patriot infantry were employed to defend the post; nearly all the spanish infantry were ordered to assail it. the spaniards, dropping on their knees, according to custom, said a paternoster and an ave mary, and then rushed, in mass, to the attack. after a short but sharp conflict, the trench was again carried, and the patriots completely routed. upon this, count louis charged with all his cavalry upon the enemy's horse, which had hitherto remained motionless. with the first shock the mounted arquebusiers of schenk, constituting the vanguard, were broken, and fled in all directions. so great was their panic, as louis drove them before him, that they never stopped till they had swum or been drowned in the river; the survivors carrying the news to grave and to other cities that the royalists had been completely routed. this was, however, very far from the truth. the patriot cavalry, mostly carabineers, wheeled after the first discharge, and retired to reload their pieces, but before they were ready for another attack, the spanish lancers and the german black troopers, who had all remained firm, set upon them with great spirit: a fierce, bloody, and confused action succeeded, in which the patriots were completely overthrown. count louis, finding that the day was lost, and his army cut to pieces, rallied around him a little band of troopers, among whom were his brother, count henry, and duke christopher, and together they made a final and desperate charge. it was the last that was ever seen of them on earth. they all went down together, in the midst of the fight, and were never heard of more. the battle terminated, as usual in those conflicts of mutual hatred, in a horrible butchery, hardly any of the patriot army being left to tell the tale of their disaster. at least four thousand were killed, including those who were slain on the field, those who were suffocated in the marshes or the river, and those who were burned in the farm-houses where they had taken refuge. it was uncertain which of those various modes of death had been the lot of count louis, his brother, and his friend. the mystery was never solved. they had, probably, all died on the field; but, stripped of their clothing, with their faces trampled upon by the hoofs of horses, it was not possible to distinguish them from the less illustrious dead. it was the opinion of, many that they had been drowned in the river; of others, that they had been burned. [meteren, v. . bor, vii. , . hoofd, bentivoglio, ubi sup. the walloon historian, occasionally cited in these pages, has a more summary manner of accounting for the fate of these distinguished personages. according to his statement, the leaders of the protestant forces dined and made merry at a convent in the neighbourhood upon good friday, five days before the battle, using the sacramental chalices at the banquet, and mixing consecrated wafers with their wine. as a punishment for this sacrilege, the army was utterly overthrown, and the devil himself flew away with the chieftains, body and soul.] there was a vague tale that louis, bleeding but not killed, had struggled forth from the heap of corpses where he had been thrown, had crept to the river-side, and, while washing his wounds, had been surprised and butchered by a party of rustics. the story was not generally credited, but no man knew, or was destined to learn, the truth. a dark and fatal termination to this last enterprise of count louis had been anticipated by many. in that superstitious age, when emperors and princes daily investigated the future, by alchemy, by astrology, and by books of fate, filled with formula; as gravely and precisely set forth as algebraical equations; when men of every class, from monarch to peasant, implicitly believed in supernatural portents and prophecies, it was not singular that a somewhat striking appearance, observed in the sky some weeks previously to the battle of mookerheyde, should have inspired many persons with a shuddering sense of impending evil. early in february five soldiers of the burgher guard at utrecht, being on their midnight watch, beheld in the sky above them the representation of a furious battle. the sky was extremely dark, except directly over: their heads; where, for a space equal in extent to the length of the city, and in breadth to that of an ordinary chamber, two armies, in battle array, were seen advancing upon each other. the one moved rapidly up from the north-west, with banners waving; spears flashing, trumpets sounding; accompanied by heavy artillery and by squadrons of cavalry. the other came slowly forward from the southeast; as if from an entrenched camp, to encounter their assailants. there was a fierce action for a few moments, the shouts of the combatants, the heavy discharge of cannon, the rattle of musketry; the tramp of heavy-aimed foot soldiers, the rush of cavalry, being distinctly heard. the firmament trembled with the shock of the contending hosts, and was lurid with the rapid discharges of their artillery. after a short, fierce engagement, the north-western army was beaten back in disorder, but rallied again, after a breathing-time, formed again into solid column, and again advanced. their foes, arrayed, as the witnesses affirmed, in a square and closely serried grove of spears' and muskets, again awaited the attack. once more the aerial cohorts closed upon each other, all the signs and sounds of a desperate encounter being distinctly recognised by the eager witnesses. the struggle seemed but short. the lances of the south-eastern army seemed to snap "like hemp-stalks," while their firm columns all went down together in mass, beneath the onset of their enemies. the overthrow was complete, victors and vanquished had faded, the clear blue space, surrounded by black clouds, was empty, when suddenly its whole extent, where the conflict had so lately raged, was streaked with blood, flowing athwart the sky in broad crimson streams; nor was it till the five witnesses had fully watched and pondered over these portents that the vision entirely vanished. so impressed were the grave magistrates of utrecht with the account given next day by the sentinels, that a formal examination of the circumstances was made, the deposition of each witness, under oath, duly recorded, and a vast deal of consultation of soothsayers' books and other auguries employed to elucidate the mystery. it was universally considered typical of the anticipated battle between count louis and the spaniards. when, therefore, it was known that the patriots, moving from the south-east, had arrived at mookerheyde, and that their adversaries, crossing the meuse at grave, had advanced upon them from the north-west, the result of the battle was considered inevitable; the phantom battle of utrecht its infallible precursor. thus perished louis of nassau in the flower of his manhood, in the midst of a career already crowded with events such as might suffice for a century of ordinary existence. it is difficult to find in history a more frank and loyal character. his life was noble; the elements of the heroic and the genial so mixed in him that the imagination contemplates him, after three centuries, with an almost affectionate interest. he was not a great man. he was far from possessing the subtle genius or the expansive views of his brother; but, called as he was to play a prominent part in one of the most complicated and imposing dramas ever enacted by man, he, nevertheless, always acquitted himself with honor. his direct, fearless and energetic nature commanded alike the respect of friend and foe. as a politician, a soldier, and a diplomatist, he was busy, bold, and true. he, accomplished by sincerity what many thought could only be compassed by trickery. dealing often with the most adroit and most treacherous of princes and statesmen, he frequently carried his point, and he never stooped to flattery. from the time when, attended by his "twelve disciples," he assumed the most prominent part in the negotiations with margaret of parma, through all the various scenes of the revolution, through, all the conferences with spaniards, italians, huguenots. malcontents, flemish councillors, or german princes, he was the consistent and unflinching supporter of religious liberty and constitutional law. the battle of heiliger lee and the capture of mons were his most signal triumphs, but the fruits of both were annihilated by subsequent disaster. his headlong courage was his chief foible. the french accused him of losing the battle of moncontour by his impatience to engage; yet they acknowledged that to his masterly conduct it was owing that their retreat was effected in so successful, and even so brilliant a manner. he was censured for rashness and precipitancy in this last and fatal enterprise, but the reproach seems entirely without foundation. the expedition as already stated, had been deliberately arranged, with the full co-operation of his brother, and had been preparing several months. that he was able to set no larger force on foot than that which he led into gueldres was not his fault. but for the floating ice which barred his passage of the meuse, he would have surprised maestricht; but for the mutiny, which rendered his mercenary soldiers cowards, he might have defeated avila at mookerheyde. had he done so he would have joined his brother in the isle of bommel in triumph; the spaniards would, probably, have been expelled from holland, and leyden saved the horrors of that memorable siege which she was soon called, upon to endure. these results were not in his destiny. providence had decreed that he should perish in the midst of his usefulness; that the prince, in his death,'should lose the right hand which had been so swift to execute his various plans, and the faithful fraternal heart which had always responded so readily to every throb of his own. in figure, he was below the middle height, but martial and noble in his bearing. the expression of his countenance was lively; his manner frank and engaging. all who knew him personally loved him, and he was the idol of his gallant brethren: his mother always addressed him as her dearly beloved, her heart's-cherished louis. "you must come soon to me," she wrote in the last year of his life, "for i have many matters to ask your advice upon; and i thank you beforehand, for you have loved me as your mother all the days of your life; for which may god almighty have you in his holy keeping." it was the doom of this high-born, true-hearted dame to be called upon to weep oftener for her children than is the usual lot of mothers. count adolphus had already perished in his youth on the field of heiliger lee, and now louis and his young brother henry, who had scarcely attained his twenty-sixth year, and whose short life had been passed in that faithful service to the cause of freedom which was the instinct of his race, had both found a bloody and an unknown grave. count john, who had already done so much for the cause, was fortunately spared to do much more. although of the expedition, and expecting to participate in the battle, he had, at the urgent solicitation of all the leaders, left the army for a brief, season, in order to obtain at cologne a supply of money, for the mutinous troops: he had started upon this mission two days before the action in which he, too, would otherwise have been sacrificed. the young duke christopher, "optimm indolis et magnee spei adolescens," who had perished on the same field, was sincerely mourned by the lovers of freedom. his father, the elector, found his consolation in the scriptures, and in the reflection that his son had died in the bed of honor, fighting for the cause of god. "'t was better thus," said that stern calvinist, whose dearest wish was to "calvinize the world," than to have passed his time in idleness, "which is the devil's pillow." vague rumors of the catastrophe had spread far and wide. it was soon certain that louis had been defeated, but, for a long time, conflicting reports were in circulation as to the fate of the leaders. the prince of orange, meanwhile, passed days of intense anxiety, expecting hourly to hear from his brothers, listening to dark rumors, which he refused to credit and could not contradict, and writing letters, day after day, long after the eyes which should have read the friendly missives were closed. the victory of the king's army at mookerheyde had been rendered comparatively barren by the mutiny which broke forth the day after the battle. three years' pay were due to the spanish troops, and it was not surprising that upon this occasion one of those periodic rebellions should break forth, by which the royal cause was frequently so much weakened, and the royal governors so intolerably perplexed. these mutinies were of almost regular occurrence, and attended by as regular a series of phenomena. the spanish troops, living so far from their own country, but surrounded by their women, and constantly increasing swarms of children, constituted a locomotive city of considerable population, permanently established on a foreign soil. it was a city walled in by bayonets, and still further isolated from the people around by the impassable moat of mutual hatred. it was a city obeying the articles of war, governed by despotic authority, and yet occasionally revealing, in full force, the irrepressible democratic element. at periods which could almost be calculated, the military populace were wont to rise upon the privileged classes, to deprive them of office and liberty, and to set up in their place commanders of their own election. a governor-in-chief, a sergeant-major, a board of councillors and various other functionaries, were chosen by acclamation and universal suffrage. the eletto, or chief officer thus appointed, was clothed with supreme power, but forbidden to exercise it. he was surrounded by councillors, who watched his every motion, read all his correspondence, and assisted at all his conferences, while the councillors were themselves narrowly watched by the commonalty. these movements were, however, in general, marked by the most exemplary order. anarchy became a system of government; rebellion enacted and enforced the strictest rules of discipline; theft, drunkenness, violence to women, were severely punished. as soon as the mutiny broke forth, the first object was to take possession of the nearest city, where the eletto was usually established in the town-house, and the soldiery quartered upon the citizens. nothing in the shape of food or lodging was too good for these marauders. men who had lived for years on camp rations--coarse knaves who had held the plough till compelled to handle the musket, now slept in fine linen, and demanded from the trembling burghers the daintiest viands. they ate the land bare, like a swarm of locusts. "chickens and partridges," says the thrifty chronicler of antwerp, "capons and pheasants, hares and rabbits, two kinds of wines;--for sauces, capers and olives, citrons and oranges, spices and sweetmeats; wheaten bread for their dogs, and even wine, to wash the feet of their horses;"--such was the entertainment demanded and obtained by the mutinous troops. they were very willing both to enjoy the luxury of this forage, and to induce the citizens, from weariness of affording compelled hospitality, to submit to a taxation by which the military claims might be liquidated. a city thus occupied was at the mercy of a foreign soldiery, which had renounced all authority but that of self-imposed laws. the king's officers were degraded, perhaps murdered; while those chosen to supply their places had only a nominal control. the eletto, day by day, proclaimed from the balcony of the town-house the latest rules and regulations. if satisfactory, there was a clamor of applause; if objectionable, they were rejected with a tempest of hisses, with discharges of musketry; the eletto did not govern: he was a dictator who could not dictate, but could only register decrees. if too honest, too firm, or too dull for his place, he was deprived of his office and sometimes of his life. another was chosen in his room, often to be succeeded by a series of others, destined to the same fate. such were the main characteristics of those formidable mutinies, the result of the unthriftiness and dishonesty by which the soldiery engaged in these interminable hostilities were deprived of their dearly earned wages. the expense of the war was bad enough at best, but when it is remembered that of three or four dollars sent from spain, or contributed by the provinces for the support of the army, hardly one reached the pockets of the soldier, the frightful expenditure which took place may be imagined. it was not surprising that so much peculation should engender revolt. the mutiny which broke out after the defeat of count louis was marked with the most pronounced and inflammatory of these symptoms. three years' pay was due, to the spaniards, who, having just achieved a signal victory, were-disposed to reap its fruits, by fair means or by force. on receiving nothing but promises, in answer to their clamorous demands, they mutinied to a man, and crossed the meuse to grave, whence, after accomplishing the usual elections, they took their course to antwerp. being in such strong force, they determined to strike at the capital. rumour flew before them. champagny, brother of granvelle, and royal governor of the city, wrote in haste to apprise requesens of the approaching danger. the grand commander, attended only by vitelli, repaired instantly to antwerp. champagny advised throwing up a breastwork with bales of merchandize, upon the esplanade, between the citadel and the town, for it was at this point, where the connection between the fortifications of the castle and those of the city had never been thoroughly completed, that the invasion might be expected. requesens hesitated. he trembled at a conflict with his own soldiery. if successful, he could only be so by trampling upon the flower of his army. if defeated, what would become of the king's authority, with rebellious troops triumphant in rebellious provinces? sorely perplexed, the commander, could think of no expedient. not knowing what to do, he did nothing. in the meantime, champagny, who felt himself odious to the soldiery, retreated to the newtown, and barricaded himself, with a few followers, in the house of the baltic merchants. on the th of april, the mutinous troops in perfect order, marched into the city, effecting their entrance precisely at the weak point where they had been expected. numbering at least three thousand, they encamped on the esplanade, where requesens appeared before them alone on horseback, and made them an oration. they listened with composure, but answered briefly and with one accord, "dineros y non palabras," dollars not speeches. requesens promised profusely, but the time was past for promises. hard silver dollars would alone content an army which, after three years of bloodshed and starvation, had at last taken the law into their own hands. requesens withdrew to consult the broad council of the city. he was without money himself, but he demanded four hundred thousand crowns of the city. this was at first refused, but the troops knew the strength of their position, for these mutinies were never repressed, and rarely punished. on this occasion the commander was afraid to employ force, and the burghers, after the army had been quartered upon them for a time, would gladly pay a heavy ransom to be rid of their odious and expensive guests. the mutineers foreseeing that the work might last a few weeks, and determined to proceed leisurely; took possession of the great square. the eletto, with his staff of councillors, was quartered in the town-house, while the soldiers distributed themselves among the houses of the most opulent citizens, no one escaping a billet who was rich enough to receive such company: bishop or burgomaster, margrave or merchant. the most famous kitchens were naturally the most eagerly sought, and sumptuous apartments, luxurious dishes, delicate wines, were daily demanded. the burghers dared not refuse. the six hundred walloons, who had been previously quartered in the city, were expelled, and for many days, the mutiny reigned paramount. day after day the magistracy, the heads of guilds, all the representatives of the citizens were assembled in the broad council. the governor-general insisted on his demand of four hundred thousand crowns, representing, with great justice, that the mutineers would remain in the city until they had eaten and drunk to that amount, and that there would still be the arrearages; for which the city would be obliged to raise the funds. on the th of may, the authorities made an offer, which was duly communicated to the eletto. that functionary stood forth on a window-sill of the town-house, and addressed the soldiery. he informed them that the grand commander proposed to pay ten months' arrears in cash, five months in silks and woollen cloths, and the balance in promises, to be fulfilled within a few days. the terms were not considered satisfactory, and were received with groans of derision. the eletto, on the contrary, declared them very liberal, and reminded the soldiers of the perilous condition in which they stood, guilty to a man of high treason, with a rope around every neck. it was well worth their while to accept the offer made them, together with the absolute pardon for the past, by which it was accompanied. for himself, he washed his hands of the consequences if the offer were rejected. the soldiers answered by deposing the eletto and choosing another in his room. three days after, a mutiny broke out in the citadel--an unexampled occurrence. the rebels ordered sancho d'avila, the commandant, to deliver the keys of the fortress. he refused to surrender them but with his life. they then contented themselves with compelling his lieutenant to leave the citadel, and with sending their eletto to confer with the grand commander, as well as with the eletto of the army. after accomplishing his mission, he returned, accompanied by chiappin vitelli, as envoy of the governor-general. no sooner, however, had the eletto set foot on the drawbridge than he was attacked by ensign salvatierra of the spanish garrison, who stabbed him to the heart and threw him into the moat. the ensign, who was renowned in the army for his ferocious courage, and who wore embroidered upon his trunk hose the inscription, "el castigador de los flamencos," then rushed upon the sergeant-major of the mutineers, despatched him in the same way, and tossed him likewise into the moat. these preliminaries being settled, a satisfactory arrangement was negotiated between vitelli and the rebellious garrison. pardon for the past, and payment upon the same terms as those offered in the city, were accepted, and the mutiny of the citadel was quelled. it was, however, necessary that salvatierra should conceal himself for a long time, to escape being torn to pieces by the incensed soldiery. meantime, affairs in the city were more difficult to adjust. the mutineers raised an altar of chests and bales upon the public square, and celebrated mass under the open sky, solemnly swearing to be true to each other to the last. the scenes of carousing and merry-making were renewed at the expense of the citizens, who were again exposed to nightly alarms from the boisterous mirth and ceaseless mischief-making of the soldiers. before the end of the month; the broad council, exhausted by the incubus which had afflicted them so many weeks, acceded to the demand of requesens. the four hundred thousand crowns were furnished, the grand commander accepting them as a loan, and giving in return bonds duly signed and countersigned, together with a mortgage upon all the royal domains. the citizens received the documents, as a matter of form, but they had handled such securities before, and valued them but slightly. the mutineers now agreed to settle with the governor-general, on condition of receiving all their wages, either in cash or cloth, together with a solemn promise of pardon for all their acts of insubordination. this pledge was formally rendered with appropriate religious ceremonies, by requesens, in the cathedral. the payments were made directly afterwards, and a great banquet was held on the same day, by the whole mass of the soldiery, to celebrate the event. the feast took place on the place of the meer, and was a scene of furious revelry. the soldiers, more thoughtless than children, had arrayed themselves in extemporaneous costumes, cut from the cloth which they had at last received in payment of their sufferings and their blood. broadcloths, silks, satins, and gold-embroidered brocades, worthy of a queen's wardrobe, were hung in fantastic drapery around the sinewy forms and bronzed faces of the soldiery, who, the day before, had been clothed in rags. the mirth was fast and furious; and scarce was the banquet finished before every drum-head became a gaming-table, around which gathered groups eager to sacrifice in a moment their dearly-bought gold. the fortunate or the prudent had not yet succeeded in entirely plundering their companions, when the distant booming of cannon was heard from the river. instantly, accoutred as they were in their holiday and fantastic costumes, the soldiers, no longer mutinous, were summoned from banquet and gaming-table, and were ordered forth upon the dykes. the patriot admiral boisot, who had so recently defeated the fleet of bergen, under the eyes of the grand commander, had unexpectedly sailed up the scheld, determined to destroy the fleet of antwerp, which upon that occasion had escaped. between, the forts of lillo and callao, he met with twenty-two vessels under the command of vice-admiral haemstede. after a short and sharp action, he was completely victorious. fourteen of the enemy's ships were burned or sunk, with all their crews, and admiral haemstede was taken prisoner. the soldiers opened a warm fire of musketry upon boisot from the dyke, to which he responded with his cannon. the distance of the combatants, however, made the action unimportant; and the patriots retired down the river, after achieving a complete victory. the grand commander was farther than ever from obtaining that foothold on the sea, which as he had informed his sovereign, was the only means by which the netherlands could be reduced. [chapter ii.] first siege of leyden--commencement of the second--description of the city--preparations for defence--letters of orange--act of amnesty issued by requesens--its conditions--its reception by the hollanders--correspondence of the glippers--sorties and fierce combats beneath the walls of leyden--position of the prince--his project of relief magnanimity of the people--breaking of the dykes-- emotions in the city and the besieging camp--letter of the estates of holland--dangerous illness of the prince--the "wild zealanders"-- admiral boisot commences his voyage--sanguinary combat on the land-- scheiding--occupation of that dyke and of the green way--pauses and progress of the flotilla--the prince visits the fleet--horrible sufferings in the city--speech of van der werf--heroism of the inhabitants--the admiral's letters--the storm--advance of boisot-- lammen fortress----an anxious night--midnight retreat of the spaniards--the admiral enters the city--thanksgiving in the great church the prince in leyden--parting words of valdez--mutiny--leyden university founded--the charter--inauguration ceremonies. the invasion of louis of nassau had, as already stated, effected the raising of the first siege of leyden. that leaguer had lasted from the st of october, , to the st of march, , when the soldiers were summoned away to defend the frontier. by an extraordinary and culpable carelessness, the citizens, neglecting the advice of the prince, had not taken advantage of the breathing time thus afforded them to victual the city and strengthen the garrison. they seemed to reckon more confidently upon the success of count louis than he had even done himself; for it was very probable that, in case of his defeat, the siege would be instantly resumed. this natural result was not long in following the battle of mookerheyde. on the th of may, valdez reappeared before the place, at the head of eight thousand walloons and germans, and leyden was now destined to pass through a fiery ordeal. this city was one of the most beautiful in the netherlands. placed in the midst of broad and fruitful pastures, which had been reclaimed by the hand of industry from the bottom of the sea; it was fringed with smiling villages, blooming gardens, fruitful orchards. the ancient and, at last, decrepit rhine, flowing languidly towards its sandy death-bed, had been multiplied into innumerable artificial currents, by which the city was completely interlaced. these watery streets were shaded by lime trees, poplars, and willows, and crossed by one hundred and forty-five bridges, mostly of hammered stone. the houses were elegant, the squares and streets spacious, airy and clean, the churches and public edifices imposing, while the whole aspect, of the place suggested thrift, industry, and comfort. upon an artificial elevation, in the centre of the city, rose a ruined tower of unknown antiquity. by some it was considered to be of roman origin, while others preferred to regard it as a work of the anglo-saxon hengist, raised to commemorate his conquest of england. [guicciardini, descript. holl, et zelandire. bor, vii. . bentivoglio, viii. "putatur engistus britanno orbe redus posuisse victor," etc., etc. according to the celebrated poem of john von der does, the accomplished and valiant commandant of the city. the tower, which is doubtless a roman one, presents, at the present day, almost precisely the same appearance as that described by the contemporaneous historians of the siege. the verses of the commandant show the opinion, that the anglo-saxon conquerors of britain went from holland, to have been a common one in the sixteenth century.] surrounded by fruit trees, and overgrown in the centre with oaks, it afforded, from its mouldering battlements, a charming prospect over a wide expanse of level country, with the spires of neighbouring cities rising in every direction. it was from this commanding height, during the long and terrible summer days which were approaching, that many an eye was to be strained anxiously seaward, watching if yet the ocean had begun to roll over the land. valdez lost no time in securing himself in the possession of maeslandsluis, vlaardingen, and the hague. five hundred english, under command of colonel edward chester, abandoned the fortress of valkenburg, and fled towards leyden. refused admittance by the citizens, who now, with reason, distrusted them, they surrendered to valdez, and were afterwards sent back to england. in the course of a few days, leyden was thoroughly invested, no less than sixty-two redoubts, some of them having remained undestroyed from the previous siege, now girdling the city, while the besiegers already numbered nearly eight thousand, a force to be daily increased. on the other hand, there were no troops in the town, save a small corps of "freebooters," and five companies of the burgher guard. john van der does, seigneur of nordwyck, a gentleman of distinguished family, but still more distinguished for his learning, his poetical genius, and his valor, had accepted the office of military commandant. the main reliance of the city, under god, was on the stout hearts of its inhabitants within the walls, and on, the sleepless energy of william the silent without. the prince, hastening to comfort and encourage the citizens, although he had been justly irritated by their negligence in having omitted to provide more sufficiently against the emergency while there had yet been time, now reminded them that they were not about to contend for themselves alone, but that the fate of their country and of unborn generations would, in all human probability, depend on the issue about to be tried. eternal glory would be their portion if they manifested a courage worthy of their race and of the sacred cause of religion and liberty. he implored them to hold out at least three months, assuring them that he would, within that time, devise the means of their deliverance. the citizens responded, courageously and confidently, to these missives, and assured the prince of their firm confidence in their own fortitude and his exertions. and truly they had a right to rely on that calm and unflinching soul, as on a rock of adamant. all alone, without a being near him to consult, his right arm struck from him by the death of louis, with no brother left to him but the untiring and faithful john, he prepared without delay for the new task imposed upon him. france, since the defeat and death of louis, and the busy intrigues which had followed the accession of henry iii., had but small sympathy for the netherlands. the english government, relieved from the fear of france; was more cold and haughty than ever. an englishman employed by requesens to assassinate the prince of orange, had been arrested in zealand, who impudently pretended that he had undertaken to perform the same office for count john, with the full consent and privity of queen elizabeth. the provinces of holland and zealand were stanch and true, but the inequality of the contest between a few brave men, upon that handsbreadth of territory, and the powerful spanish empire, seemed to render the issue hopeless. moreover, it was now thought expedient to publish the amnesty which had been so long in preparation, and this time the trap was more liberally baited. the pardon, which had: passed the seals upon the th of march, was formally issue: by the grand commander on the th of june. by the terms of this document the king invited all his erring and repentant subjects, to return to his arms; and to accept a full forgiveness for their past offences, upon the sole condition that they should once more throw themselves upon the bosom of the mother church. there were but few exceptions to the amnesty, a small number of individuals, all mentioned by name, being alone excluded; but although these terms were ample, the act was liable to a few stern objections. it was easier now for the hollanders to go to their graves than to mass, for the contest, in its progress, had now entirely assumed the aspect of a religious war. instead of a limited number of heretics in a state which, although constitutional was catholic, there was now hardly a papist to be found among the natives. to accept the pardon then was to concede the victory, and the hollanders had not yet discovered that they were conquered. they were resolved, too, not only to be conquered, but annihilated, before the roman church should be re-established on their soil, to the entire exclusion of the reformed worship. they responded with steadfast enthusiasm to the sentiment expressed by the prince of orange, after the second siege of leyden had been commenced; "as long as there is a living man left in the country, we will contend for our liberty and our religion." the single condition of the amnesty assumed, in a phrase; what spain had fruitlessly striven to establish by a hundred battles, and the hollanders had not faced their enemy on land and sea for seven years to succumb to a phrase at last. moreover, the pardon came from the wrong direction. the malefactor gravely extended forgiveness to his victims. although the hollanders had not yet disembarrassed their minds of the supernatural theory of government, and felt still the reverence of habit for regal divinity, they naturally considered themselves outraged by the trick now played before them. the man who had violated all his oaths, trampled upon all their constitutional liberties, burned and sacked their cities, confiscated their wealth, hanged, beheaded, burned, and buried alive their innocent brethren, now came forward, not to implore, but to offer forgiveness. not in sackcloth, but in royal robes; not with ashes, but with a diadem upon his head, did the murderer present himself vicariously upon the scene of his crimes. it may be supposed that, even in the sixteenth century, there were many minds which would revolt at such blasphemy. furthermore, even had the people of holland been weak enough to accept the pardon, it was impossible to believe that the promise would be fulfilled. it was sufficiently known how much faith was likely to be kept with heretics, notwithstanding that the act was fortified by a papal bull, dated on the th of april, by which gregory xiii. promised forgiveness to those netherland sinners who duly repented and sought absolution for their crimes, even although they had sinned more than seven times seven. for a moment the prince had feared lest the pardon might produce some effect upon men wearied by interminable suffering, but the event proved him wrong. it was received with universal and absolute contempt. no man came forward to take advantage of its conditions, save one brewer in utrecht, and the son of a refugee peddler from leyden. with these exceptions, the only ones recorded, holland remained deaf to the royal voice. the city of leyden was equally cold to the messages of mercy, which were especially addressed to its population by valdez and his agents. certain netherlanders, belonging to the king's party, and familiarly called "glippers," despatched from the camp many letters to their rebellious acquaintances in the city. in these epistles the citizens of leyden were urgently and even pathetically exhorted to submission by their loyal brethren, and were implored "to take pity upon their poor old fathers, their daughters, and their wives." but the burghers of leyden thought that the best pity which they could show to those poor old fathers, daughters, and wives, was to keep them from the clutches of the spanish soldiery; so they made no answer to the glippers, save by this single line, which they wrote on a sheet of paper, and forwarded, like a letter, to valdez: "fistula dulce canit, volucrem cum decipit auceps." according to the advice early given by the prince of orange, the citizens had taken an account of their provisions of all kinds, including the live stock. by the end of june, the city was placed on a strict allowance of food, all the provisions being purchased by the authorities at an equitable price. half a pound of meat and half a pound of bread was allotted to a full grown man, and to the rest, a due proportion. the city being strictly invested, no communication, save by carrier pigeons, and by a few swift and skilful messengers called jumpers, was possible. sorties and fierce combats were, however, of daily occurrence, and a handsome bounty was offered to any man who brought into the city gates the head of a spaniard. the reward was paid many times, but the population was becoming so excited and so apt, that the authorities felt it dangerous to permit the continuance of these conflicts. lest the city, little by little, should lose its few disciplined defenders, it was now proclaimed, by sound of church bell, that in future no man should leave the gates. the prince had his head-quarters at delft and at rotterdam. between those two cities, an important fortress, called polderwaert, secured him in the control of the alluvial quadrangle, watered on two sides by the yssel and the meuse. on the th june, the spaniards, feeling its value, had made an unsuccessful effort to carry this fort by storm. they had been beaten off, with the loss of several hundred men, the prince remaining in possession of the position, from which alone he could hope to relieve leyden. he still held in his hand the keys with which he could unlock the ocean gates and let the waters in upon the land, and he had long been convinced that nothing could save the city but to break the dykes. leyden was not upon the sea, but he could send the sea to. leyden, although an army fit to encounter the besieging force under valdez could not be levied. the battle of mookerheyde had, for the present, quite settled the question, of land relief, but it was possible to besiege the besiegers, with the waves of the ocean. the spaniards occupied the coast from the hague to vlaardingen, but the dykes along the meuse and yssel were in possession of the prince. he determined, that these should be pierced, while, at the same time, the great sluices at rotterdam, schiedam, and delftshaven should be opened. the damage to the fields, villages, and growing crops would be enormous, but he felt that no other course could rescue leyden, and with it the whole of holland from destruction. his clear expositions and impassioned eloquence at last overcame all resistance. by the middle of july the estates consented to his plan, and its execution was immediately undertaken. "better a drowned land than a lost land," cried the patriots, with enthusiasm, as they devoted their fertile fields to desolation. the enterprise for restoring their territory, for a season, to the waves, from which it had been so patiently rescued, was conducted with as much regularity as if it had been a profitable undertaking. a capital was formally subscribed, for which a certain number of bonds were issued, payable at a long date. in addition to this preliminary fund, a monthly allowance of forty-five guldens was voted by the estates, until the work should be completed, and a large sum was contributed by the ladies of the land, who freely furnished their plate, jewellery, and costly furniture to the furtherance of the scheme. meantime, valdez, on the th july; issued most urgent and ample offers of pardon to the citizens, if they would consent to open their gates and accept the king's authority, but his overtures were received with silent contempt, notwithstanding that the population was already approaching the starvation point. although not yet fully informed of the active measures taken by the prince, yet they still chose to rely upon his energy and their own fortitude, rather than upon the honied words which had formerly been heard at the gates of harlem and of naarden. on the rd of august, the prince; accompanied by paul buys, chief of the commission appointed to execute the enterprise, went in person along the yssel; as far as kappelle, and superintended the rupture of the dykes in sixteen places. the gates at schiedam and rotterdam were, opened, and the ocean began to pour over the land. while waiting for the waters to rise, provisions were rapidly, collected, according to an edict of the prince, in all the principal towns of the neighbourhood, and some two hundred vessels, of various sizes, had also been got ready at rotterdam, delftshaven, and other ports. the citizens of leyden were, however, already becoming impatient, for their bread was gone, and of its substitute malt cake, they had but slender provision. on the th of august they received a letter from the prince, encouraging them to resistance, and assuring them of a speedy relief, and on the st they addressed a despatch to him in reply, stating that they had now fulfilled their original promise, for they had held out two months with food, and another month without food. if not soon assisted, human strength could do no more; their malt cake would last but four days, and after that was gone, there was nothing left but starvation. upon the same day, however, they received a letter, dictated by the prince, who now lay in bed at rotterdam with a violent fever, assuring them that the dykes were all pierced, and that the water was rising upon the "land-scheiding," the great outer barrier which separated the city from the sea. he said nothing however of his own illness, which would have cast a deep shadow over the joy which now broke forth among the burghers. the letter was read publicly in the market-place, and to increase the cheerfulness, burgomaster van der werf, knowing the sensibility of his countrymen to music, ordered the city musicians to perambulate the streets, playing lively melodies and martial airs. salvos of cannon were likewise fired, and the starving city for a brief space put on the aspect of a holiday, much to the astonishment of the besieging forces, who were not yet aware of the prince's efforts. they perceived very soon, however, as the water everywhere about leyden had risen to the depth of ten inches, that they stood in a perilous position. it was no trifling danger to be thus attacked by the waves of the ocean, which seemed about to obey with docility the command of william the silent. valdez became anxious and uncomfortable at the strange aspect of affairs, for the besieging army was now in its turn beleaguered, and by a stronger power than man's. he consulted with the most experienced of his officers, with the country people, with the most distinguished among the glippers, and derived encouragement from their views concerning the prince's plan. they pronounced it utterly futile and hopeless: the glippers knew the country well, and ridiculed the desperate project in unmeasured terms. even in the city itself, a dull distrust had succeeded to the first vivid gleam of hope, while the few royalists among the population boldly taunted their fellow-citizens to their faces with the absurd vision of relief which they had so fondly welcomed. "go up to the tower, ye beggars," was the frequent and taunting cry, "go up to the tower, and tell us if ye can see the ocean coming over the dry land to your relief"--and day after day they did go, up to the ancient tower of hengist, with heavy heart and anxious eye, watching, hoping, praying, fearing, and at last almost despairing of relief by god or man. on the th they addressed a desponding letter to the estates, complaining that the city had been forgotten in, its utmost need, and on the same day a prompt and warm-hearted reply was received, in which the citizens were assured that every human effort was to be made for their relief. "rather," said the estates, "will we see our whole land and all our possessions perish in the waves, than forsake thee, leyden. we know full well, moreover, that with leyden, all holland must perish also." they excused themselves for not having more frequently written, upon the ground that the whole management of the measures for their relief had been entrusted to the prince, by whom alone all the details had been administered, and all the correspondence conducted. the fever of the prince had, meanwhile, reached its height. he lay at rotterdam, utterly prostrate in body, and with mind agitated nearly to delirium, by the perpetual and almost unassisted schemes which he was constructing. relief, not only for leyden, but for the whole country, now apparently sinking into the abyss, was the vision which he pursued as he tossed upon his restless couch. never was illness more unseasonable. his attendants were in despair, for it was necessary that his mind should for a time be spared the agitation of business. the physicians who attended him agreed, as to his disorder, only in this, that it was the result of mental fatigue and melancholy, and could be cured only by removing all distressing and perplexing subjects from his thoughts, but all the physicians in the world could not have succeeded in turning his attention for an instant from the great cause of his country. leyden lay, as it were, anxious and despairing at his feet, and it was impossible for him to close his ears to her cry. therefore, from his sick bed he continued to dictate; words of counsel and encouragement to the city; to admiral boisot, commanding, the fleet, minute directions and precautions. towards the end of august a vague report had found its way into his sick chamber that leyden had fallen, and although he refused to credit the tale, yet it served to harass his mind, and to heighten fever. cornelius van mierop, receiver general of holland, had occasion to visit him at rotterdam, and strange to relate, found the house almost deserted. penetrating, unattended, to the prince's bed-chamber, he found him lying quite alone. inquiring what had become, of all his attendants, he was answered by the prince, in a very feeble voice, that he had sent them all away. the receiver-general seems, from this, to have rather hastily arrived at the conclusion that the prince's disorder was the pest, and that his servants and friends had all deserted him from cowardice. this was very far from being the case. his private secretary and his maitre d'hotel watched, day and night, by his couch, and the best physicians of the city were in constant attendance. by a singular accident; all had been despatched on different errands, at the express desire of their master, but there had never been a suspicion that his disorder was the pest, or pestilential. nerves of steel, and a frame of adamant could alone have resisted the constant anxiety and the consuming fatigue to which he had so long been exposed. his illness had been aggravated by the rumor of leyden's fall, a fiction which cornelius mierop was now enabled flatly to contradict. the prince began to mend from that hour. by the end of the first week of september, he wrote along letter to his brother, assuring him of his convalescence, and expressing, as usual; a calm confidence in the divine decrees--"god will ordain for me," said he, "all which is necessary for my good and my salvation. he will load me with no more afflictions than the fragility of this nature can sustain." the preparations for the relief of leyden, which, notwithstanding his exertions, had grown slack during his sickness, were now vigorously resumed. on the st of september, admiral boisot arrived out of zealand with a small number of vessels, and with eight hundred veteran sailors. a wild and ferocious crew were those eight hundred zealanders. scarred, hacked, and even maimed, in the unceasing conflicts in which their lives had passed; wearing crescents in their caps, with the inscription, "rather turkish than popish;" renowned far and wide, as much for their ferocity as for their nautical skill; the appearance of these wildest of the "sea-beggars" was both eccentric and terrific. they were known never to give nor to take quarter, for they went to mortal combat only, and had sworn to spare neither noble nor simple, neither king, kaiser, nor pope, should they fall into their power. more than two hundred-vessels had been assembled, carrying generally ten pieces of cannon, with from ten to eighteen oars, and manned with twenty-five hundred veterans, experienced both on land and water. the work was now undertaken in earnest. the distance from leyden to the outer dyke, over whose ruins the ocean had already been admitted, was nearly fifteen miles. this reclaimed territory, however, was not maintained against the sea by these external barriers alone. the flotilla made its way with ease to the land-scheiding, a strong dyke within five miles of leyden, but here its progress was arrested. the approach to the city was surrounded by many strong ramparts, one within the other, by which it was defended against its ancient enemy, the ocean, precisely like the circumvallations by means of which it was now assailed by its more recent enemy, the spaniard. to enable the fleet, however, to sail over the land; it was necessary to break through this two fold series of defences. between the land-scheiding and leyden were several dykes, which kept out the water; upon the level, were many villages, together with a chain of sixty-two forts, which completely occupied the land. all these villages and fortresses were held by the veteran, troops of the king; the besieging force, being about four times as strong as that which was coming to the rescue. the prince had given orders that the land-scheiding, which was still one-and-a-half foot above water, should be taken possession of; at every hazard. on the night of the th and th of september this was accomplished; by surprise; and in a masterly manner. the few spaniards who had been stationed upon the dyke were all, despatched or driven off, and the patriots fortified themselves upon it, without the loss of a man. as the day dawned the spaniards saw the fatal error which they had committed in leaving thus bulwark so feebly defended, and from two villages which stood close to the dyke, the troops now rushed inconsiderable force to recover what they had lost. a hot action succeeded, but the patriots had too securely established themselves. they completely defeated the enemy, who retired, leaving hundreds of dead on the field, and the patriots in complete possession of the land-scheiding. this first action was sanguinary and desperate. it gave a earnest of what these people, who came to relieve; their brethren, by sacrificing their property and their lives; were determined to effect. it gave a revolting proof, too, of the intense hatred which nerved their arms. a zealander; having struck down a spaniard on the dyke, knelt on his bleeding enemy, tore his heart from his bosom; fastened his teeth in it for an instant, and then threw it to a dog, with the exclamation, "'tis too bitter." the spanish heart was, however, rescued, and kept for years, with the marks of the soldier's teeth upon it, a sad testimonial of the ferocity engendered by this war for national existence. the great dyke having been thus occupied, no time was lost in breaking it through in several places, a work which was accomplished under the very eyes of the enemy. the fleet sailed through the gaps, but, after their passage had been effected in good order, the admiral found, to his surprise, that it was not the only rampart to be carried. the prince had been informed, by those who claimed to know, the country, that, when once the land-scheiding had been passed, the water would flood the country as far as leyden, but the "green-way," another long dyke three-quarters of a mile farther inward, now rose at least a foot above the water, to oppose their further progress. fortunately, by, a second and still more culpable carelessness, this dyke had been left by the spaniards in as unprotected a state as the first had been, promptly and audaciously admiral boisot took possession of this barrier also, levelled it in many places, and brought his flotilla, in triumph, over its ruins. again, however, he was doomed to disappointment. a large mere, called the freshwater lake, was known to extend itself directly in his path about midway between the land-scheiding and the city. to this piece of water, into which he expected to have instantly floated, his only passage lay through one deep canal. the sea which had thus far borne him on, now diffusing itself over a very wide surface, and under the influence of an adverse wind, had become too shallow for his ships. the canal alone was deep enough, but it led directly towards a bridge, strongly occupied by the enemy. hostile troops, moreover, to the amount of three thousand occupied both sides of the canal. the bold boisot, nevertheless, determined to force his passage, if possible. selecting a few of his strongest vessels, his heaviest artillery, and his bravest sailors, he led the van himself, in a desperate attempt to make his way to the mere. he opened a hot fire upon the bridge, then converted into a fortress, while his men engaged in hand-to-hand combat with a succession of skirmishers from the troops along the canal. after losing a few men, and ascertaining the impregnable position of the enemy, he was obliged to withdraw, defeated, and almost despairing. a week had elapsed since the great dyke had been pierced, and the flotilla now lay motionless--in shallow water, having accomplished less than two miles. the wind, too, was easterly, causing the sea rather to sink than to rise. everything wore a gloomy aspect, when, fortunately, on the th, the wind shifted to the north-west, and for three days blew a gale. the waters rose rapidly, and before the second day was closed the armada was afloat again. some fugitives from zoetermeer village now arrived, and informed the admiral that, by making a detour to the right, he could completely circumvent the bridge and the mere. they guided him, accordingly, to a comparatively low dyke, which led between the villages of zoetermeer and benthuyzen: a strong force of spaniards was stationed in each place, but, seized with a panic, instead of sallying to defend the barrier, they fled inwardly towards leyden, and halted at the village of north aa. it was natural that they should be amazed. nothing is more appalling to the imagination than the rising ocean tide, when man feels himself within its power; and here were the waters, hourly deepening and closing around them, devouring the earth beneath their feet, while on the waves rode a flotilla, manned by a determined race; whose courage and ferocity were known throughout the world. the spanish soldiers, brave as they were on land, were not sailors, and in the naval contests which had taken place between them and the hollanders had been almost invariably defeated. it was not surprising, in these amphibious skirmishes, where discipline was of little avail, and habitual audacity faltered at the vague dangers which encompassed them, that the foreign troops should lose their presence of mind. three barriers, one within the other, had now been passed, and the flotilla, advancing with the advancing waves, and driving the enemy steadily before it, was drawing nearer to the beleaguered city. as one circle after another was passed, the besieging army found itself compressed within a constantly contracting field. the "ark of delft," an enormous vessel, with shot-proof bulwarks, and moved by paddle-wheels turned by a crank, now arrived at zoetermeer, and was soon followed by the whole fleet. after a brief delay, sufficient to allow the few remaining villagers to escape, both zoetermeer and benthuyzen, with the fortifications, were set on fire, and abandoned to their fate. the blaze lighted up the desolate and watery waste around, and was seen at leyden, where it was hailed as the beacon of hope. without further impediment, the armada proceeded to north aa; the enemy retreating from this position also, and flying to zoeterwoude, a strongly fortified village but a mile and three quarters from the city walls. it was now swarming with troops, for the bulk of the besieging army had gradually been driven into a narrow circle of forts, within the immediate neighbourhood of leyden. besides zoeterwoude, the two posts where they were principally established were lammen and leyderdorp, each within three hundred rods of the town. at leyderdorp were the head-quarters of valdez; colonel borgia commanded in the very strong fortress of lammen. the fleet was, however, delayed at north aa by another barrier, called the "kirk-way." the waters, too, spreading once more over a wider space, and diminishing under an east wind, which had again arisen, no longer permitted their progress, so that very soon the whole armada was stranded anew. the waters fell to the depth of nine inches; while the vessels required eighteen and twenty. day after day the fleet lay motionless upon the shallow sea. orange, rising from his sick bed as soon as he could stand, now came on board the fleet. his presence diffused universal joy; his words inspired his desponding army with fresh hope. he rebuked the impatient spirits who, weary of their compulsory idleness, had shown symptoms of ill-timed ferocity, and those eight hundred mad zealanders, so frantic in their hatred to the foreigners, who had so long profaned their land, were as docile as children to the prince. he reconnoitred the whole ground, and issued orders for the immediate destruction of the kirkway, the last important barrier which separated the fleet from leyden. then, after a long conference with admiral boisot, he returned to delft. meantime, the besieged city was at its last gasp. the burghers had been in a state of uncertainty for many days; being aware that the fleet had set forth for their relief, but knowing full well the thousand obstacles which it, had to surmount. they had guessed its progress by the illumination from, the blazing villages; they had heard its salvos of artillery, on its arrival at north aa; but since then, all had been dark and mournful again, hope and fear, in sickening alternation, distracting every breast. they knew that the wind was unfavorable, and at the dawn of each day every eye was turned wistfully to the vanes of the steeples. so long as the easterly breeze prevailed, they felt, as they anxiously stood on towers and housetops; that they must look in vain for the welcome ocean. yet, while thus patiently waiting, they were literally starving; for even the misery endured at harlem had not reached that depth and intensity of agony to which leyden was now reduced. bread, malt-cake, horseflesh, had entirely disappeared; dogs, cats, rats, and other vermin, were esteemed luxuries: a small number of cows, kept as long as possible, for their milk, still remained; but a few were killed from day to day; and distributed in minute proportions, hardly sufficient to support life among the famishing population. starving wretches swarmed daily around the shambles where these cattle were slaughtered, contending for any morsel which might fall, and lapping eagerly the blood as it ran along the pavement; while the hides; chopped and boiled, were greedily devoured. women and children, all day long, were seen searching gutters and dunghills for morsels of food, which they disputed fiercely with the famishing dogs. the green leaves were stripped from the trees, every living herb was converted into human food, but these expedients could not avert starvation. the daily mortality was frightful infants starved to death on the maternal breasts, which famine had parched and withered; mothers dropped dead in the streets, with their dead children in their arms. in many a house the watchmen, in their rounds, found a whole family of corpses, father, mother, and children, side by side, for a disorder called the plague, naturally engendered of hardship and famine, now came, as if in kindness, to abridge the agony of the people. the pestilence stalked at noonday through the city, and the doomed inhabitants fell like grass beneath its scythe. from six thousand to eight thousand human beings sank before this scourge alone, yet the people resolutely held out--women and men mutually encouraging each other to resist the entrance of their foreign foe--an evil more horrible than pest or famine. the missives from valdez, who saw more vividly than the besieged could do, the uncertainty of his own position, now poured daily into the city, the enemy becoming more prodigal of his vows, as he felt that the ocean might yet save the victims from his grasp. the inhabitants, in their ignorance, had gradually abandoned their hopes of relief, but they spurned the summons to surrender. leyden was sublime in its despair. a few murmurs were, however, occasionally heard at the steadfastness of the magistrates, and a dead body was placed at the door of the burgomaster, as a silent witness against his inflexibility. a party of the more faint-hearted even assailed the heroic adrian van der werf with threats and reproaches as he passed through the streets. a crowd had gathered around him, as he reached a triangular place in the centre of the town, into which many of the principal streets emptied themselves, and upon one side of which stood the church of saint pancras, with its high brick tower surmounted by two pointed turrets, and with two ancient lime trees at its entrance. there stood the burgomaster, a tall, haggard, imposing figure, with dark visage, and a tranquil but commanding eye. he waved his broadleaved felt hat for silence, and then exclaimed, in language which has been almost literally preserved, what would ye, my friends? why do ye murmur that we do not break our vows and surrender the city to the spaniards? a fate more horrible than the agony which she now endures. i tell you i have made an oath to hold the city, and may god give me strength to keep my oath! i can die but once; whether by your hands, the enemy's, or by the hand of god. my own fate is indifferent to me, not so that of the city intrusted to my care. i know that we shall starve if not soon relieved; but starvation is preferable to the dishonored death which is the only alternative. your menaces move me not; my life is at your disposal; here is my sword, plunge it into my breast, and divide my flesh among you. take my body to appease your hunger, but expect no surrender, so long as i remain alive. the words of the stout burgomaster inspired a new courage in the hearts of those who heard him, and a shout of applause and defiance arose from the famishing but enthusiastic crowd. they left the place, after exchanging new vows of fidelity with their magistrate, and again ascended tower and battlement to watch for the coming fleet. from the ramparts they hurled renewed defiance at the enemy. "ye call us rat-eaters and dog-eaters," they cried, "and it is true. so long, then, as ye hear dog bark or cat mew within the walls, ye may know that the city holds out. and when all has perished but ourselves, be sure that we will each devour our left arms, retaining our right to defend our women, our liberty, and our religion, against the foreign tyrant. should god, in his wrath, doom us to destruction, and deny us all relief, even then will we maintain ourselves for ever against your entrance. when the last hour has come, with our own hands we will set fire to the city and perish, men, women, and children together in the flames, rather than suffer our homes to be polluted and our liberties to be crushed." such words of defiance, thundered daily from the battlements, sufficiently informed valdez as to his chance of conquering the city, either by force or fraud, but at the same time, he felt comparatively relieved by the inactivity of boisot's fleet, which still lay stranded at north aa. "as well," shouted the spaniards, derisively, to the citizens, "as well can the prince of orange pluck the stars from the sky as bring the ocean to the walls of leyden for your relief." on the th of september, a dove flew into the city, bringing a letter from admiral boisot. in this despatch, the position of the fleet at north aa was described in encouraging terms, and the inhabitants were assured that, in a very few days at furthest, the long-expected relief would enter their gates. the letter was read publicly upon the market-place, and the bells were rung for joy. nevertheless, on the morrow, the vanes pointed to the east, the waters, so far from rising, continued to sink, and admiral boisot was almost in despair. he wrote to the prince, that if the spring-tide, now to be expected, should not, together with a strong and favorable wind, come immediately to their relief, it would be in pain to attempt anything further, and that the expedition would, of necessity, be abandoned. the tempest came to their relief. a violent equinoctial gale, on the night of the st and nd of october, came storming from the north-west, shifting after a few hours full eight points, and then blowing still more violently from the south-west. the waters of the north sea were piled in vast masses upon the southern coast of holland, and then dashed furiously landward, the ocean rising over the earth, and sweeping with unrestrained power across the ruined dykes. in the course of twenty-four hours, the fleet at north aa, instead of nine inches, had more than two feet of water. no time was lost. the kirk-way, which had been broken through according to the prince's instructions, was now completely overflowed, and the fleet sailed at midnight, in the midst of the storm and darkness. a few sentinel vessels of the enemy challenged them as they steadily rowed towards zoeterwoude. the answer was a flash from boisot's cannon; lighting up the black waste of waters. there was a fierce naval midnight battle; a strange spectacle among the branches of those quiet orchards, and with the chimney stacks of half-submerged farmhouses rising around the contending vessels. the neighboring village of zoeterwoude shook with the discharges of the zealanders' cannon, and the spaniards assembled in that fortress knew that the rebel admiral was at last, afloat and on his course. the enemy's vessels were soon sunk, their crews hurled into the waves. on went the fleet, sweeping over the broad waters which lay between zoeterwoude and zwieten. as they approached some shallows, which led into the great mere, the zealanders dashed into the sea, and with sheer strength shouldered every vessel through. two obstacles lay still in their path--the forts of zoeterwoude and lammen, distant from the city five hundred and two hundred and fifty yards respectively. strong redoubts, both well supplied with troops and artillery, they were likely to give a rough reception to the light flotilla, but the panic; which had hitherto driven their foes before the advancing patriots; had reached zoeterwoude. hardly was the fleet in sight when the spaniards in the early morning, poured out from the fortress, and fled precipitately to the left, along a road which led in a westerly direction towards the hague. their narrow path was rapidly vanishing in the waves, and hundreds sank beneath the constantly deepening and treacherous flood. the wild zealanders, too, sprang from their vessels upon the crumbling dyke and drove their retreating foes into the sea. they hurled their harpoons at them, with an accuracy acquired in many a polar chase; they plunged into the waves in the keen pursuit, attacking them with boat-hook and dagger. the numbers who thus fell beneath these corsairs, who neither gave nor took quarter, were never counted, but probably not less than a thousand perished. the rest effected their escape to the hague. the first fortress was thus seized, dismantled, set on fire, and passed, and a few strokes of the oars brought the whole fleet close to lammen. this last obstacle rose formidable and frowning directly across their path. swarming as it was with soldiers, and bristling with artillery, it seemed to defy the armada either to carry it by storm or to pass under its guns into the city. it appeared that the enterprise was, after all, to founder within sight of the long expecting and expected haven. boisot anchored his fleet within a respectful distance, and spent what remained of the day in carefully reconnoitring the fort, which seemed only too strong. in conjunction with leyderdorp, the head-quarters of valdez, a mile and a half distant on the right, and within a mile of the city, it seemed so insuperable an impediment that boisot wrote in despondent tone to the prince of orange. he announced his intention of carrying the fort, if it were possible, on the following morning, but if obliged to retreat, he observed, with something like despair, that there would be nothing for it but to wait for another gale of wind. if the waters should rise sufficiently to enable them to make a wide detour, it might be possible, if, in the meantime, leyden did not starve or surrender, to enter its gates from the opposite side. meantime, the citizens had grown wild with expectation. a dove had been despatched by boisot, informing them of his precise position, and a number of citizens accompanied the burgomaster, at nightfall, toward the tower of hengist. yonder, cried the magistrate, stretching out his hand towards lammen, "yonder, behind that fort, are bread and meat, and brethren in thousands. shall all this be destroyed by the spanish guns, or shall we rush to the rescue of our friends?"--"we will tear the fortress to fragments with our teeth and nails," was the reply, "before the relief, so long expected, shall be wrested from us." it was resolved that a sortie, in conjunction with the operations of boisot, should be made against lammen with the earliest dawn. night descended upon the scene, a pitch dark night, full of anxiety to the spaniards, to the armada, to leyden. strange sights and sounds occurred at different moments to bewilder the anxious sentinels. a long procession of lights issuing from the fort was seen to flit across the black face of the waters, in the dead of night, and the whole of the city wall, between the cow-gate and the tower of burgundy, fell with a loud crash. the horror-struck citizens thought that the spaniards were upon them at last; the spaniards imagined the noise to indicate, a desperate sortie of the citizens. everything was vague and mysterious. day dawned, at length, after the feverish, night, and, the admiral prepared for the assault. within the fortress reigned a death-like stillness, which inspired a sickening suspicion. had the city, indeed, been carried in the night; had the massacre already commenced; had all this labor and audacity been expended in vain? suddenly a man was descried, wading breast-high through the water from lammen towards the fleet, while at the same time, one solitary boy was seen to wave his cap from the summit of the fort. after a moment of doubt, the happy mystery was solved. the spaniards had fled, panic struck, during the darkness. their position would still have enabled them, with firmness, to frustrate the enterprise of the patriots, but the hand of god, which had sent the ocean and the tempest to the deliverance of leyden, had struck her enemies with terror likewise. the lights which had been seen moving during the night were the lanterns of the retreating spaniards, and the boy who was now waving his triumphant signal from the battlements had alone witnessed the spectacle. so confident was he in the conclusion to which it led him, that he had volunteered at daybreak to go thither all alone. the magistrates, fearing a trap, hesitated for a moment to believe the truth, which soon, however, became quite evident. valdez, flying himself from leyderdorp, had ordered colonel borgia to retire with all his troops from lammen. thus, the spaniards had retreated at the very moment that an extraordinary accident had laid bare a whole side of the city for their entrance. the noise of the wall, as it fell, only inspired them with fresh alarm for they believed that the citizens had sallied forth in the darkness, to aid the advancing flood in the work of destruction. all obstacles being now removed, the fleet of boisot swept by lammen, and entered the city on the morning of the rd of october. leyden was relieved. the quays were lined with the famishing population, as the fleet rowed through the canals, every human being who could stand, coming forth to greet the preservers of the city. bread was thrown from every vessel among the crowd. the poor creatures who, for two months had tasted no wholesome human food, and who had literally been living within the jaws of death, snatched eagerly the blessed gift, at last too liberally bestowed. many choked themselves to death, in the greediness with which they devoured their bread; others became ill with the effects of plenty thus suddenly succeeding starvation; but these were isolated cases, a repetition of which was prevented. the admiral, stepping ashore, was welcomed by the magistracy, and a solemn procession was immediately formed. magistrates and citizens, wild zealanders, emaciated burgher guards, sailors, soldiers, women, children, nearly every living person within the walls, all repaired without delay to the great church, stout admiral boisot leading the way. the starving and heroic city, which had been so firm in its resistance to an earthly king, now bent itself in humble gratitude before the king of kings. after prayers, the whole vast congregation joined in the thanksgiving hymn. thousands of voices raised the-song, but few were able to carry it to its conclusion, for the universal emotion, deepened by the music, became too full for utterance. the hymn was abruptly suspended, while the multitude wept like children. this scene of honest pathos terminated; the necessary measures for distributing the food and for relieving the sick were taken by the magistracy. a note dispatched to the prince of orange, was received by him at two o'clock, as he sat in church at delft. it was of a somewhat different purport from that of the letter which he had received early in the same day from boisot; the letter in which the admiral had, informed him that the success of the enterprise depended; after-all, upon the desperate assault upon a nearly impregnable fort. the joy of the prince may be easily imagined, and so soon as the sermon was concluded; he handed the letter just received to the minister, to be read to the congregation. thus, all participated in his joy, and united with him in thanksgiving. the next day, notwithstanding the urgent entreaties of his friends, who were anxious lest his life should be endangered by breathing, in his scarcely convalescent state; the air of the city where so many thousands had been dying of the pestilence, the prince repaired to leyden. he, at least, had never doubted his own or his country's fortitude. they could, therefore, most sincerely congratulate each other, now that the victory had been achieved. "if we are doomed to perish," he had said a little before the commencement of the siege, "in the name of god, be it so! at any rate, we shall have the honor to have done what no nation ever, did before us, that of having defended and maintained ourselves, unaided, in so small a country, against the tremendous efforts of such powerful enemies. so long as the poor inhabitants here, though deserted by all the world, hold firm, it will still cost the spaniards the half of spain, in money and in men, before they can make an end of us." the termination of the terrible siege of leyden was a convincing proof to the spaniards that they had not yet made an end of the hollanders. it furnished, also, a sufficient presumption that until they had made an end of them, even unto the last hollander, there would never be an end of the struggle in which they were engaged. it was a slender consolation to the governor-general, that his troops had been vanquished, not by the enemy, but by the ocean. an enemy whom the ocean obeyed with such docility might well be deemed invincible by man. in the head-quarters of valdez, at leyderdorp, many plans of leyden and the neighbourhood were found lying in confusion about the room. upon the table was a hurried farewell of that general to the scenes of his, discomfiture, written in a latin worthy of juan vargas: "vale civitas, valete castelli parvi, qui relicti estis propter aquam et non per vim inimicorum!" in his precipitate retreat before the advancing rebels, the commander had but just found time for this elegant effusion, and, for his parting instructions to colonel borgia that the fortress of lammen was to be forthwith abandoned. these having been reduced to writing, valdez had fled so speedily as to give rise to much censure and more scandal. he was even accused of having been bribed by the hollanders to desert his post, a tale which many repeated, and a few believed. on the th of october, the day following that on which the relief of the city was effected, the wind shifted to the north-east, and again blew a tempest. it was as if the waters, having now done their work, had been rolled back to the ocean by an omnipotent hand, for in the course of a few days, the land was bare again, and the work of reconstructing the dykes commenced. after a brief interval of repose, leyden had regained its former position. the prince, with advice of the estates, had granted the city, as a reward for its sufferings, a ten days' annual fair, without tolls or taxes, and as a further manifestation of the gratitude entertained by the people of holland and zealand for the heroism of the citizens, it was resolved that an academy or university should be forthwith established within their walls. the university of leyden, afterwards so illustrious, was thus founded in the very darkest period of the country's struggle. the university was endowed with a handsome revenue, principally derived from the ancient abbey of egmont, and was provided with a number of professors, selected for their genius, learning, and piety among all the most distinguished scholars of the netherlands. the document by which the institution was founded was certainly a masterpiece of ponderous irony, for as the fiction of the king's sovereignty was still maintained, philip was gravely made to establish the university, as a reward to leyden for rebellion to himself. "considering," said this wonderful charter, "that during these present wearisome wars within our provinces of holland and zealand, all good instruction of youth in the sciences and liberal arts is likely to come into entire oblivion. . . . . considering the differences of religion--considering that we are inclined to gratify our city of leyden, with its burghers, on account of the heavy burthens sustained by them during this war with such faithfulness--we have resolved, after ripely deliberating with our dear cousin, william, prince of orange, stadholder, to erect a free public school and university," etc., etc., etc. so ran the document establishing this famous academy, all needful regulations for the government and police of the institution being entrusted by philip to his "above-mentioned dear cousin of orange." the university having been founded, endowed, and supplied with its teachers, it was solemnly consecrated in the following winter, and it is agreeable to contemplate this scene of harmless pedantry, interposed, as it was, between the acts of the longest and dreariest tragedy of modern time. on the th of february, , the city of leyden, so lately the victim of famine and pestilence, had crowned itself with flowers. at seven in the morning, after a solemn religious celebration in the church of st. peter, a grand procession was formed. it was preceded by a military escort, consisting of the burgher militia and the five companies of infantry stationed in the city. then came, drawn by four horses, a splendid triumphal chariot, on which sat a female figure, arrayed in snow-white garments. this was the holy gospel. she was attended by the four evangelists, who walked on foot at each side of her chariot. next followed justice, with sword and scales, mounted; blindfold, upon a unicorn, while those learned doctors, julian, papinian, ulpian, and tribonian, rode on either side, attended by two lackeys and four men at arms. after these came medicine, on horseback, holding in one hand a treatise of the healing art, in the other a garland of drugs. the curative goddess rode between the four eminent physicians, hippocrates, galen, dioscorides, and theophrastus, and was attended by two footmen and four pike-bearers. last of the allegorical personages came minerva, prancing in complete steel, with lance in rest, and bearing her medusa shield. aristotle and plato, cicero and virgil, all on horseback, with attendants in antique armor at their back, surrounded the daughter of jupiter, while the city band, discoursing eloquent music from hautboy and viol, came upon the heels of the allegory. then followed the mace-bearers and other officials, escorting the orator of the day, the newly-appointed professors and doctors, the magistrates and dignitaries, and the body of the citizens generally completing the procession. marshalled in this order, through triumphal arches, and over a pavement strewed with flowers, the procession moved slowly up and down the different streets, and along the quiet canals of the city. as it reached the nuns' bridge, a barge of triumph, gorgeously decorated, came floating slowly down the sluggish rhine. upon its deck, under a canopy enwreathed with laurels and oranges, and adorned with tapestry, sat apollo, attended by the nine muses, all in classical costume; at the helm stood neptune with his trident. the muses executed some beautiful concerted pieces; apollo twanged his lute. having reached the landing-place, this deputation from parnassus stepped on shore, and stood awaiting the arrival of the procession. each professor, as he advanced, was gravely embraced and kissed by apollo and all the nine muses in turn, who greeted their arrival besides with the recitation of an elegant latin poem. this classical ceremony terminated, the whole procession marched together to the cloister of saint barbara, the place prepared for the new university, where they listened to an eloquent oration by the rev. caspar kolhas, after which they partook of a magnificent banquet. with this memorable feast, in the place where famine had so lately reigned, the ceremonies were concluded. etext editor's bookmarks: crescents in their caps: rather turkish than popish ever-swarming nurseries of mercenary warriors weep oftener for her children than is the usual lot of mothers etext editor's bookmarks, the dutch republic - , complete , the last year of peace advised his majesty to bestow an annual bribe upon lord burleigh age when toleration was a vice an age when to think was a crime angle with their dissimulation as with a hook beggars of the sea, as these privateersmen designated themselves business of an officer to fight, of a general to conquer conde and coligny constitutional governments, move in the daylight consumer would pay the tax, supposing it were ever paid at all crescents in their caps: rather turkish than popish cruelties exercised upon monks and papists deeply criminal in the eyes of all religious parties dissenters were as bigoted as the orthodox enthusiasm could not supply the place of experience envying those whose sufferings had already been terminated ever-swarming nurseries of mercenary warriors financial opposition to tyranny is apt to be unanimous for faithful service, evil recompense furnished, in addition, with a force of two thousand prostitutes god save the king! it was the last time great transactions of a reign are sometimes paltry things great battles often leave the world where they found it hair and beard unshorn, according to ancient batavian custom hanged for having eaten meat-soup upon friday having conjugated his paradigm conscientiously he had omitted to execute heretics he came as a conqueror not as a mediator holy office condemned all the inhabitants of the netherlands hope deferred, suddenly changing to despair if he had little, he could live upon little incur the risk of being charged with forwardness than neglect indignant that heretics had been suffered to hang insane cruelty, both in the cause of the wrong and the right leave not a single man alive in the city, and to burn every house luther's axiom, that thoughts are toll-free meantime the second civil war in france had broken out not for a new doctrine, but for liberty of conscience not to let the grass grow under their feet not strong enough to sustain many more such victories oldenbarneveld; afterwards so illustrious only kept alive by milk, which he drank from a woman's breast only healthy existence of the french was in a state of war pathetic dying words of anne boleyn provided not one huguenot be left alive in france put all those to the torture out of whom anything can be got questioning nothing, doubting nothing, fearing nothing saint bartholomew's day scepticism, which delights in reversing the judgment of centuries science of reigning was the science of lying sent them word by carrier pigeons seven spaniards were killed, and seven thousand rebels sick and wounded wretches were burned over slow fires slender stock of platitudes so much responsibility and so little power sometimes successful, even although founded upon sincerity spendthrift of time, he was an economist of blood the time for reasoning had passed the calf is fat and must be killed the perpetual reproductions of history the greatest crime, however, was to be rich the faithful servant is always a perpetual ass the tragedy of don carlos the illness was a convenient one three hundred fighting women time and myself are two tyranny, ever young and ever old, constantly reproducing herself we are beginning to be vexed wealth was an unpardonable sin weep oftener for her children than is the usual lot of mothers who loved their possessions better than their creed wonder equally at human capacity to inflict and to endure misery motley's history of the netherlands the rise of the dutch republic, volume iii. by john lothrop motley - [chapter iii.] latter days of the blood council--informal and insincere negotiations for peace--characteristics of the negotiators and of their diplomatic correspondence--dr. junius--secret conferences between dr. leoninus and orange--steadfastness of the prince-- changes in the internal government of the northern provinces-- generosity and increasing power of the municipalities--incipient jealousy in regard to orange rebuked--his offer of resignation refused by the estates--his elevation to almost unlimited power-- renewed mediation of maximilian--views and positions of the parties --advice of orange--opening of negotiations at breda--propositions and counter-propositions--adroitness of the plenipotentiaries on both sides--insincere diplomacy and unsatisfactory results--union of holland and zealand under the prince of orange--act defining his powers--charlotte de bourbon--character, fortunes, and fate of anna of saxony--marriage of orange with mademoiselle de bourbon-- indignation thereby excited--horrible tortures inflicted upon papists by sonoy in north holland--oudewater and schoonoven taken by hierges--the isles of zealand--a submarine expedition projected-- details of the adventure--its entire success--death of chiappin vitelli--deliberations in holland and zealand concerning the renunciation of philip's authority--declaration at delft--doubts as to which of the great powers the sovereignty should be offered-- secret international relations--mission to england--unsatisfactory negotiations with elizabeth--position of the grand commander--siege of zieriekzee--generosity of count john--desperate project of the prince--death and character of requesens. the council of troubles, or, as it will be for ever denominated in history, the council of blood, still existed, although the grand commander, upon his arrival in the netherlands, had advised his sovereign to consent to the immediate abolition of so odious an institution. philip accepting the advice of his governor and his cabinet, had accordingly authorized him by a letter of the th of march, , to take that step if he continued to believe it advisable. requesens had made use of this permission to extort money from the obedient portion of the provinces. an assembly of deputies was held at brussels on the th of june, , and there was a tedious interchange of protocols, reports, and remonstrances. the estates, not satisfied with the extinction of a tribunal which had at last worn itself out by its own violence, and had become inactive through lack of victims, insisted on greater concessions. they demanded the departure of the spanish troops, the establishment of a council of netherlanders in spain for netherland affairs, the restoration to offices in the provinces of natives and natives only; for these drawers of documents thought it possible, at that epoch, to recover by pedantry what their brethren of holland and zealand were maintaining with the sword. it was not the moment for historical disquisition, citations from solomon, nor chopping of logic; yet with such lucubrations were reams of paper filled, and days and weeks occupied. the result was what might have been expected. the grand commander obtained but little money; the estates obtained none of their demands; and the blood council remained, as it were, suspended in mid-air. it continued to transact business at intervals during the administration of requesens, and at last, after nine years of existence, was destroyed by the violent imprisonment of the council of state at brussels. this event, however, belongs to a subsequent page of this history. noircarmes had argued, from the tenor of saint aldegonde's letters, that the prince would be ready to accept his pardon upon almost any terms. noircarmes was now dead, but saint aldegonde still remained in prison, very anxious for his release, and as well disposed as ever to render services in any secret negotiation. it will be recollected that, at the capitulation of middelburg, it had been distinctly stipulated by the prince that colonel mondragon should at once effect the liberation of saint aldegonde, with certain other prisoners, or himself return into confinement. he had done neither the one nor the other. the patriots still languished in prison, some of them being subjected to exceedingly harsh treatment, but mondragon, although repeatedly summoned as an officer and a gentleman, by the prince, to return to captivity, had been forbidden by the grand commander to redeem his pledge. saint aldegonde was now released from prison upon parole, and despatched on a secret mission to the prince and estates. as before, he was instructed that two points were to be left untouched--the authority of the king and the question of religion. nothing could be more preposterous than to commence a negotiation from which the two important points were thus carefully eliminated. the king's authority and the question of religion covered the whole ground upon which the spaniards and the hollanders had been battling for six years, and were destined to battle for three-quarters of a century longer. yet, although other affairs might be discussed, those two points were to be reserved for the more conclusive arbitration of gunpowder. the result of negotiations upon such a basis was easily to be foreseen. breath, time, and paper were profusely wasted and nothing gained. the prince assured his friend, as he had done secret agents previously sent to him, that he was himself ready to leave the land, if by so doing he could confer upon it the blessing of peace; but that all hopes of reaching a reasonable conclusion from the premises established was futile. the envoy treated also with the estates, and received from them in return an elaborate report, which was addressed immediately to the king. the style of this paper was bold and blunt, its substance bitter and indigestible. it informed philip what he had heard often enough before, that the spaniards must go and the exiles come back, the inquisition be abolished and the ancient privileges restored, the roman catholic religion renounce its supremacy, and the reformed religion receive permission to exist unmolested, before he could call himself master of that little hook of sand in the north sea. with this paper, which was entrusted to saint aldegonde, by him to be delivered to the grand commander, who was, after reading it, to forward it to its destination, the negotiator returned to his prison. thence he did not emerge again till the course of events released him, upon the th of october, . this report was far from agreeable to the governor, and it became the object of a fresh correspondence between his confidential agent, champagny, and the learned and astute junius de jonge, representative of the prince of orange and governor of yeere. the communication of de jonge consisted of a brief note and a long discourse. the note was sharp and stinging, the discourse elaborate and somewhat pedantic. unnecessarily historical and unmercifully extended, it was yet bold, bitter, and eloquent: the presence of foreigners was proved to have been, from the beginning of philip's reign, the curse of the country. doctor sonnius, with his batch of bishops, had sowed the seed of the first disorder. a prince, ruling in the netherlands, had no right to turn a deaf ear to the petitions of his subjects. if he did so, the hollanders would tell him, as the old woman had told the emperor adrian, that the potentate who had no time to attend to the interests of his subjects, had not leisure enough to be a sovereign. while holland refused to bow its neck to the inquisition, the king of spain dreaded the thunder and lightning of the pope. the hollanders would, with pleasure, emancipate philip from his own thraldom, but it was absurd that he, who was himself a slave to another potentate, should affect unlimited control over a free people. it was philip's councillors, not the hollanders, who were his real enemies; for it was they who held him in the subjection by which his power was neutralized and his crown degraded. it may be supposed that many long pages, conceived in this spirit and expressed with great vigor, would hardly smooth the way for the more official negotiations which were soon to take place, yet doctor junius fairly and faithfully represented the sentiment of his nation. towards the close of the year, doctor elbertus leoninus, professor of louvain, together with hugo bonte, ex-pensionary of middelburg, was commissioned by the grand commander to treat secretly with the prince. he was, however, not found very tractable when the commissioners opened the subject of his own pardon and reconciliation with the king, and he absolutely refused to treat at all except with the cooperation of the estates. he, moreover, objected to the use of the word "pardon" on the ground that he had never done anything requiring his majesty's forgiveness. if adversity should visit him, he cared but little for it; he had lived long enough, he said, and should die with some glory, regretting the disorders and oppressions which had taken place, but conscious that it had not been in his power to remedy them. when reminded by the commissioners of the king's power, he replied that he knew his majesty to be very mighty, but that there was a king more powerful still--even god the creator, who, as he humbly hoped, was upon his side. at a subsequent interview with hugo bonte, the prince declared it almost impossible for himself or the estates to hold any formal communication with the spanish government, as such communications were not safe. no trust could be reposed either in safe conducts or hostages. faith had been too often broken by the administration. the promise made by the duchess of parma to the nobles, and afterwards violated, the recent treachery of mondragon, the return of three exchanged prisoners from the hague, who died next day of poison administered before their release, the frequent attempts upon his own life--all such constantly recurring crimes made it doubtful, in the opinion of the prince, whether it would be possible to find commissioners to treat with his majesty's government. all would fear assassination, afterwards to be disavowed by the king and pardoned by the pope. after much conversation in this vein, the prince gave the spanish agents warning that he might eventually be obliged to seek the protection of some foreign power for the provinces. in this connection he made use of the memorable metaphor, so often repeated afterwards, that "the country was a beautiful damsel, who certainly did not lack suitors able and willing to accept her and defend her against the world." as to the matter of religion, he said he was willing to leave it to be settled by the estates-general; but doubted whether anything short of entire liberty of worship would ever satisfy the people. subsequently there were held other conferences, between the prince and doctor leoninus, with a similar result, all attempts proving fruitless to induce him to abandon his position upon the subject of religion, or to accept a pardon on any terms save the departure of the foreign troops, the assembling of the estates-general, and entire freedom of religion. even if he were willing to concede the religious question himself, he observed that it was idle to hope either from the estates or people a hand's-breadth of concession upon that point. leoninus was subsequently admitted to a secret conferenc with the estates of holland, where his representations were firmly met by the same arguments as those already used by the prince. these proceedings on the part of saint aldegonde, champagny, junius, and elbertus leoninus extended through the whole summer and autumn of , and were not terminated until january of the following year. changes fast becoming necessary in the internal government of the provinces, were also undertaken during this year. hitherto the prince had exercised his power under the convenient fiction of the king's authority, systematically conducting the rebellion in the name of his majesty, and as his majesty's stadholder. by this process an immense power was lodged in his hands; nothing less, indeed, than the supreme executive and legislative functions of the land; while since the revolt had become, as it were, perpetual, ample but anomalous functions had been additionally thrust upon him by the estates and by the general voice of the people. the two provinces, even while deprived of harlem and amsterdam, now raised two hundred and ten thousand florins monthly, whereas alva had never been able to extract from holland more than two hundred and seventy-one thousand florins yearly. they paid all rather than pay a tenth. in consequence of this liberality, the cities insensibly acquired a greater influence in the government. the coming contest between the centrifugal aristocratic principle, represented by these corporations, and the central popular authority of the stadholder, was already foreshadowed, but at first the estates were in perfect harmony with the prince. they even urged upon him more power than he desired, and declined functions which he wished them to exercise. on the th of september, , it had been formally proposed by the general council to confer a regular and unlimited dictatorship upon him, but in the course of a year from that time, the cities had begun to feel their increasing importance. moreover, while growing more ambitious, they became less liberal. the prince, dissatisfied with the conduct of the cities, brought the whole subject before an assembly of the estates of holland on the th october, . he stated the inconveniences produced by the anomalous condition of the government. he complained that the common people had often fallen into the error that the money raised for public purposes had been levied for his benefit only, and that they had, therefore, been less willing to contribute to the taxes. as the only remedy for these evils, he tendered his resignation of all the powers with which he was clothed, so that the estates might then take the government, which they could exercise without conflict or control. for himself, he had never desired power, except as a means of being useful to his country, and he did not offer his resignation from unwillingness to stand by the cause, but from a hearty desire to save it from disputes among its friends. he was ready, now as ever, to shed the last drop of his blood to maintain the freedom of the land. this straightforward language produced an instantaneous effect. the estates knew that they were dealing with a man whose life was governed by lofty principles, and they felt that they were in danger of losing him through their own selfishness and low ambition. they were embarrassed, for they did not like to, relinquish the authority which they had begun to relish, nor to accept the resignation of a man who was indispensable. they felt that to give up william of orange at that time was to accept the spanish yoke for ever. at an assembly held at delft on the th of november, , they accordingly requested him "to continue in his blessed government, with the council established near him," and for this end, they formally offered to him, "under the name of governor or regent," absolute power, authority, and sovereign command. in particular, they conferred on him the entire control of all the ships of war, hitherto reserved to the different cities, together with the right to dispose of all prizes and all monies raised for the support of fleets. they gave him also unlimited power over the domains; they agreed that all magistracies, militia bands, guilds, and communities, should make solemn oath to contribute taxes and to receive garrisons, exactly as the prince, with his council, should ordain; but they made it a condition that the estates should be convened and consulted upon requests, impositions, and upon all changes in the governing body. it was also stipulated that the judges of the supreme court and of the exchequer, with other high officers, should be appointed by and with the consent of the estates. the prince expressed himself willing to accept the government upon these terms. he, however, demanded an allowance of forty-five thousand florins monthly for the army expenses and other current outlays. here, however, the estates refused their consent. in a mercantile spirit, unworthy the occasion and the man with whom they were dealing, they endeavoured to chaffer where they should have been only too willing to comply, and they attempted to reduce the reasonable demand of the prince to thirty thousand florins. the prince, who had poured out his own wealth so lavishly in the cause--who, together with his brothers, particularly the generous john of nassau, had contributed all which they could raise by mortgage, sales of jewellery and furniture, and by extensive loans, subjecting themselves to constant embarrassment, and almost to penury, felt himself outraged by the paltriness of this conduct. he expressed his indignation, and denounced the niggardliness of the estates in the strongest language, and declared that he would rather leave the country for ever, with the maintenance of his own honor, than accept the government upon such disgraceful terms. the estates, disturbed by his vehemence, and struck with its justice, instantly, and without further deliberation, consented to his demand. they granted the forty-five thousand florins monthly, and the prince assumed the government, thus remodelled. during the autumn and early winter of the year , the emperor maximilian had been actively exerting himself to bring about a pacification of the netherlands. he was certainly sincere, for an excellent reason. "the emperor maintains," said saint goard, french ambassador at madrid, "that if peace is not made with the beggars, the empire will depart from the house of austria, and that such is the determination of the electors." on the other hand, if philip were not weary of the war, at any rate his means for carrying it on were diminishing daily. requesens could raise no money in the netherlands; his secretary wrote to spain, that the exchequer was at its last gasp, and the cabinet of madrid was at its wits' end, and almost incapable of raising ways and means. the peace party was obtaining the upper hand; the fierce policy of alva regarded with increasing disfavor. "the people here," wrote saint goard from madrid, "are completely desperate, whatever pains they take to put a good face on the matter. they desire most earnestly to treat, without losing their character." it seemed, nevertheless, impossible for philip to bend his neck. the hope of wearing the imperial crown had alone made his bigotry feasible. to less potent influences it was adamant; and even now, with an impoverished exchequer, and, after seven years of unsuccessful warfare, his purpose was not less rigid than at first. "the hollanders demand liberty of conscience," said saint goard, "to which the king will never consent, or i am much mistaken." as for orange, he was sincerely in favor of peace--but not a dishonorable peace, in which should be renounced all the objects of the war. he was far from sanguine on the subject, for he read the signs of the times and the character of philip too accurately to believe much more in the success of the present than in that of the past efforts of maximilian. he was pleased that his brother-in-law, count schwartzburg, had been selected as the emperor's agent in the affair, but expressed his doubts whether much good would come of the proposed negotiations. remembering the many traps which in times past had been set by philip and his father, he feared that the present transaction might likewise prove a snare. "we have not forgotten the words i 'ewig' and 'einig' in the treaty with landgrave philip," he wrote; "at the same time we beg to assure his imperial majesty that we desire nothing more than a good peace, tending to the glory of god, the service of the king of spain, and the prosperity of his subjects." this was his language to his brother, in a letter which was meant to be shown to the emperor. in another, written on the same day, he explained himself with more clearness, and stated his distrust with more energy. there were no papists left, except a few ecclesiastics, he said; so much had the number of the reformers been augmented, through the singular grace of god. it was out of the question to suppose, therefore, that a measure, dooming all who were not catholics to exile, could be entertained. none would change their religion, and none would consent, voluntarily, to abandon for ever their homes, friends, and property. "such a peace," he said, "would be poor and pitiable indeed." these, then, were the sentiments of the party now about to negotiate. the mediator was anxious for a settlement, because the interests of the imperial house required it. the king of spain was desirous of peace, but was unwilling to concede a hair. the prince of orange was equally anxious to terminate the war, but was determined not to abandon the objects for which it had been undertaken. a favorable result, therefore, seemed hardly possible. a whole people claimed the liberty to stay at home and practice the protestant religion, while their king asserted the right to banish them for ever, or to burn them if they remained. the parties seemed too far apart to be brought together by the most elastic compromise. the prince addressed an earnest appeal to the assembly of holland, then in session at dort, reminding them that, although peace was desirable, it might be more dangerous than war, and entreating them, therefore, to conclude no treaty which should be inconsistent with the privileges of the country and their duty to god. it was now resolved that all the votes of the assembly should consist of five: one for the nobles and large cities of holland, one for the estates of zealand, one for the small cities of holland, one for the cities bommel and buren, and the fifth for william of orange. the prince thus effectually held in his hands three votes: his own, that of the small cities, which through his means only had been admitted to the assembly, and thirdly, that of buren, the capital of his son's earldom. he thus exercised a controlling influence over the coming deliberations. the ten commissioners, who were appointed by the estates for the peace negotiations, were all his friends. among them were saint aldegonde, paul buis, charles boisot, and doctor junius. the plenipotentiaries of the spanish government were leoninus, the seigneur de rassinghem, cornelius suis, and arnold sasbout. the proceedings were opened at breda upon the rd of march, . the royal commissioners took the initiative, requesting to be informed what complaints the estates had to make, and offering to remove, if possible, all grievances which they might be suffering. the states' commissioners replied that they desired nothing, in the first place, but an answer to the petition which they had already presented to the king. this was the paper placed in the hands of saint aldegonde during the informal negotiations of the preceding year. an answer was accordingly given, but couched in such vague and general language as to be quite without meaning. the estates then demanded a categorical reply to the two principal demands in the petition, namely, the departure of the foreign troops and the assembling of the states-general. they, were asked what they understood by foreigners and by the assembly of states-general. they replied that by foreigners they meant those who were not natives, and particularly the spaniards. by the estates-general they meant the same body before which, in , charles had resigned his sovereignty to philip. the royal commissioners made an extremely unsatisfactory answer, concluding with a request that all cities, fortresses, and castles, then in the power of the estates, together with all their artillery and vessels of war, should be delivered to the king. the roman catholic worship, it was also distinctly stated, was to be re-established at once exclusively throughout the netherlands; those of the reformed religion receiving permission, for that time only, to convert their property into cash within a certain time, and to depart the country. orange and the estates made answer on the st march. it could not be called hard, they said, to require the withdrawal of the spanish troops, for this had been granted in , for less imperious reasons. the estates had, indeed, themselves made use of foreigners, but those foreigners had never been allowed to participate in the government. with regard to the assembly of the states-general, that body had always enjoyed the right of advising with the sovereign on the condition of the country, and on general measures of government. now it was only thought necessary to summon them, in order that they might give their consent to the king's "requests." touching the delivery of cities and citadels, artillery and ships, the proposition was, pronounced to resemble that made by the wolves to the sheep, in the fable--that the dogs should be delivered up, as a preliminary to a lasting peace. it was unreasonable to request the hollanders to abandon their religion or their country. the reproach of heresy was unjust, for they still held to the catholic apostolic church, wishing only to purify, it of its abuses. moreover, it was certainly more cruel to expel a whole population than to dismiss three or four thousand spaniards who for seven long years had been eating their fill at the expense of the provinces. it would be impossible for the exiles to dispose of their property, for all would, by the proposed measure, be sellers, while there would be no purchasers. the royal plenipotentiaries, making answer to this communication upon the st of april, signified a willingness that the spanish soldiers should depart, if the states would consent to disband their own foreign troops. they were likewise in favor of assembling the states-general, but could not permit any change in the religion of the country. his majesty had sworn to maintain the true worship at the moment of assuming the sovereignty. the dissenters might, however, be allowed a period of six months in which to leave the land, and eight or ten years for the sale of their property. after the heretics had all departed, his majesty did not doubt that trade and manufactures would flourish again, along with the old religion. as for the spanish inquisition, there was not, and there never had been, any intention of establishing it in the netherlands. no doubt there was something specious in this paper. it appeared to contain considerable concessions. the prince and estates had claimed the departure of the spaniards. it was now promised that they should depart. they had demanded the assembling of the states-general. it was now promised that they should assemble. they had denounced the inquisition. it was now averred that the spanish inquisition was not to be established. nevertheless, the commissioners of the prince were not deceived by such artifices. there was no parity between the cases of the spanish soldiery and of the troops in service of the estates. to assemble the estates-general was idle, if they were to be forbidden the settlement of the great question at issue. with regard to the spanish inquisition, it mattered little whether the slaughter-house were called spanish or flemish, or simply the blood-council. it was, however, necessary for the states' commissioners to consider their reply very carefully; for the royal plenipotentiaries had placed themselves upon specious grounds. it was not enough to feel that the king's government was paltering with them; it was likewise necessary for the states' agents to impress this fact upon the people. there was a pause in the deliberations. meantime, count schwartzburg, reluctantly accepting the conviction that the religious question was an insurmountable obstacle to a peace, left the provinces for germany. the last propositions of the government plenipotentiaries had been discussed in the councils of the various cities, so that the reply of the prince, and estates was delayed until the st of june. they admitted, in this communication, that the offer to restore ancient privileges had an agreeable sound; but regretted that if the whole population were to be banished, there would be but few to derive advantage from the restoration. if the king would put an end to religious persecution, he would find as much loyalty in the provinces as his forefathers had found. it was out of the question, they said, for the states to disarm and to deliver up their strong places, before the spanish soldiery had retired, and before peace had been established. it was their wish to leave the question of religion, together with all other disputed matters, to the decision of the assembly. were it possible, in the meantime, to devise any effectual method for restraining hostilities, it would gladly be embraced. on the th of july, the royal commissioners inquired what guarantee the states would be willing to give, that the decision of the general assembly, whatever it might be, should be obeyed. the demand was answered by another, in which the king's agents were questioned as to their own guarantees. hereupon it was stated that his majesty would give his word and sign manual, together with the word and signature of the emperor into the bargain. in exchange for these promises, the prince and estates were expected to give their own oaths and seals, together with a number of hostages. over and above this, they were requested to deliver up the cities of brill and enkhuizen, flushing and arnemuyde. the disparity of such guarantees was ridiculous. the royal word, even when strengthened by the imperial promise, and confirmed by the autographs of philip and maximilian, was not so solid a security, in the opinion of netherlanders, as to outweigh four cities in holland and zealand, with all their population and wealth. to give collateral pledges and hostages upon one side, while the king offered none, was to assign a superiority to the royal word, over that of the prince and the estates which there was no disposition to recognize. moreover, it was very cogently urged that to give up the cities was to give as security for the contract, some of the principal contracting parties. this closed the negotiations. the provincial plenipotentiaries took their leave by a paper dated th july, , which recapitulated the main incidents of the conference. they expressed their deep regret that his majesty should insist so firmly on the banishment of the reformers, for it was unjust to reserve the provinces to the sole use of a small number of catholics. they lamented that the proposition which had been made, to refer the religious question to the estates, had neither been loyally accepted, nor candidly refused. they inferred, therefore, that the object of the royal government had, been to amuse the states, while tine was thus gained for reducing the country into a slavery more abject than any which had yet existed. on the other hand, the royal commissioners as solemnly averred that the whole responsibility for the failure of the negotiations belonged to the estates. it was the general opinion in the insurgent provinces that the government had been insincere from the beginning, and had neither expected nor desired to conclude a peace. it is probable, however, that philip was sincere; so far as it could be called sincerity to be willing to conclude a peace, if the provinces would abandon the main objects of the war. with his impoverished exchequer, and ruin threatening his whole empire, if this mortal combat should be continued many years longer, he could have no motive for further bloodshed, provided all heretics should consent to abandon the country. as usual, however, he left his agents in the dark as to his real intentions. even requesens was as much in doubt as to the king's secret purposes as margaret of parma had ever been in former times. [compare the remarks of groen v. prinst., archives, etc., v - ; bor, viii. , ; meteren, v. ; hoofd, g. .--count john of nassau was distrustful and disdainful from the beginning. against his brother's loyalty and the straightforward intentions of the estates, he felt that the whole force of the macchiavelli system of policy would be brought to bear with great effect. he felt that the object of the king's party was to temporize, to confuse, and to deceive. he did not believe them capable of conceding the real object in dispute, but he feared lest they might obscure the judgment of the plain and well meaning people with whom they had to deal. alluding to the constant attempts made to poison himself and his brother, he likens the pretended negotiations to venetian drugs, by which eyesight, hearing, feeling, and intellect were destroyed. under this pernicious influence, the luckless people would not perceive the fire burning around them, but would shrink at a rustling leaf. not comprehending then the tendency of their own acts, they would "lay bare their own backs to the rod, and bring faggots for their own funeral pile."-archives, etc., v. - .] moreover, the grand commander and the government had, after all, made a great mistake in their diplomacy. the estates of brabant, although strongly desirous that the spanish troops should be withdrawn, were equally stanch for the maintenance of the catholic religion, and many of the southern provinces entertained the same sentiments. had the governor, therefore, taken the states' commissioners at their word, and left the decision of the religious question to the general assembly, he might perhaps have found the vote in his favor. in this case, it is certain that the prince of orange and his party would have been placed in a very awkward position. the internal government of the insurgent provinces had remained upon the footing which we have seen established in the autumn of , but in the course of this summer ( ), however, the foundation was laid for the union of holland and zealand, under the authority of orange. the selfish principle of municipal aristocracy, which had tended to keep asunder these various groups of cities, was now repressed by the energy of the prince and the strong determination of the people. in april, , certain articles of union between holland and zealand were proposed, and six commissioners appointed to draw up an ordinance for the government of the two provinces. this ordinance was accepted in general assembly of both. it was in twenty articles. it declared that, during the war the prince as sovereign, should have absolute power in all matters concerning the defence of the country. he was to appoint military officers, high and low, establish and remove garrisons, punish offenders against the laws of war. he was to regulate the expenditure of all money voted by the estates. he was to maintain the law, in the king's name, as count of holland, and to appoint all judicial officers upon nominations by the estates. he was, at the usual times, to appoint and renew the magistracies of the cities, according to their constitutions. he was to protect the exercise of the evangelical reformed religion, and to suppress the exercise of the roman religion, without permitting, however, that search should be made into the creed of any person. a deliberative and executive council, by which the jealousy of the corporations had intended to hamper his government, did not come into more than nominal existence. the articles of union having been agreed upon, the prince, desiring an unfettered expression of the national will, wished the ordinance to be laid before the people in their primary assemblies. the estates, however, were opposed to this democratic proceeding. they represented that it had been customary to consult; after the city magistracies, only the captains of companies and the deans of guilds on matters of government. the prince, yielding the point, the captains of companies and deans of guilds accordingly alone united with the aristocratic boards in ratifying the instrument by which his authority over the two united provinces was established. on the th of june this first union was solemnized. upon the th of july, the prince formally accepted the government. he, however, made an essential change in a very important clause of the ordinance. in place of the words, the "roman religion," he insisted that the words, "religion at variance with the gospel," should be substituted in the article by which he was enjoined to prohibit the exercise of such religion. this alteration rebuked the bigotry which had already grown out of the successful resistance to bigotry, and left the door open for a general religious toleration. early in this year the prince had despatched saint aldegonde on a private mission to the elector palatine. during some of his visits to that potentate he had seen at heidelberg the princess charlotte of bourbon. that lady was daughter of the due de montpensier, the most ardent of the catholic princes of france, and the one who at the conferences of bayonne had been most indignant at the queen dowager's hesitation to unite heartily with the schemes of alva and philip for the extermination of the huguenots. his daughter, a woman of beauty, intelligence, and virtue, forced before the canonical age to take the religious vows, had been placed in the convent of joliarrs, of which she had become abbess. always secretly inclined to the reformed religion, she had fled secretly from her cloister, in the year of horrors , and had found refuge at the court of the elector palatine, after which step her father refused to receive her letters, to contribute a farthing to her support, or even to acknowledge her claims upon him by a single line or message of affection. under these circumstances the outcast princess, who had arrived at the years of maturity, might be considered her own mistress, and she was neither morally nor legally bound, when her hand was sought in marriage by the great champion of the reformation, to ask the consent of a parent who loathed her religion and denied her existence. the legality of the divorce from anne of saxony had been settled by a full expression of the ecclesiastical authority which she most respected; [acte de, cinq ministres du st. evangile par lequel ils declarent le mariage du prince d'orange etre legitime.--archives, etc., v. - .] the facts upon which the divorce had been founded having been proved beyond peradventure. nothing, in truth, could well be more unfortunate in its results than the famous saxon marriage, the arrangements for which had occasioned so much pondering to philip, and so much diplomatic correspondence on the part of high personages in germany, the netherlands, and spain. certainly, it was of but little consequence to what church the unhappy princess belonged, and they must be lightly versed in history or in human nature who can imagine these nuptials to have exercised any effect upon the religious or political sentiments of orange. the princess was of a stormy, ill-regulated nature; almost a lunatic from the beginning. the dislike which succeeded to her fantastic fondness for the prince, as well as her general eccentricity, had soon become the talk of all the court at brussels. she would pass week after week without emerging from her chamber, keeping the shutters closed and candles burning, day and night. she quarrelled violently, with countess egmont for precedence, so that the ludicrous contentions of the two ladies in antechambers and doorways were the theme and the amusement of society. her insolence, not only in private but in public, towards her husband became intolerable: "i could not do otherwise than bear it with sadness and patience," said the prince, with great magnanimity, "hoping that with age would come improvement." nevertheless, upon one occasion, at a supper party, she had used such language in the presence of count horn and many other nobles, "that all wondered that he could endure the abusive terms which she applied to him." when the clouds gathered about him, when he had become an exile and a wanderer, her reproaches and her violence increased. the sacrifice of their wealth, the mortgages and sales which he effected of his estates, plate, jewels, and furniture, to raise money for the struggling country, excited her bitter resentment. she separated herself from him by degrees, and at last abandoned him altogether. her temper became violent to ferocity. she beat her servants with her hands and with clubs; she threatened the lives of herself, of her attendants, of count john of nassau, with knives and daggers, and indulged in habitual profanity and blasphemy, uttering frightful curses upon all around. her original tendency to intemperance had so much increased, that she was often unable to stand on her feet. a bottle of wine, holding more than a quart, in the morning, and another in the evening, together with a pound of sugar, was her usual allowance. she addressed letters to alva complaining that her husband had impoverished himself "in his good-for-nothing beggar war," and begging the duke to furnish her with a little ready money and with the means of arriving at the possession of her dower. an illicit connexion with a certain john rubens, an exiled magistrate of antwerp, and father of the celebrated painter, completed the list of her delinquencies, and justified the marriage of the prince with charlotte de bourbon. it was therefore determined by the elector of saxony and the landgrave william to remove her from the custody of the nassaus. this took place with infinite difficulty, at the close of the year . already, in ; augustus had proposed to the landgrave that she should be kept in solitary confinement, and that a minister should preach to her daily through the grated aperture by which her, food was to be admitted. the landgrave remonstrated at so inhuman a proposition, which was, however, carried into effect. the wretched princess, now completely a lunatic, was imprisoned in the electoral palace, in a chamber where the windows were walled up and a small grating let into the upper part of the door. through this wicket came her food, as well as the words of the holy man appointed to preach daily for her edification. two years long, she endured this terrible punishment, and died mad, on the th of december, . on the following day, she was buried in the electoral tomb at meissen; a pompous procession of "school children, clergy, magistrates, nobility, and citizens" conducting her to that rest of which she could no longer be deprived by the cruelty of man nor her own violent temperament. [it can certainly be considered no violation of the sanctity of archives to make these slender allusions to a tale, the main features of which have already been published, not only by mm. groan v. prinsterer and bakhuyzen, in holland, but by the saxon professor bottiger, in germany. it is impossible to understand the character and career of orange, and his relations with germany, without a complete view of the saxon marriage. the extracts from the "geomantic letters" of elector augustus, however, given in bottiger (hist. taschenb. , p. - ), with their furious attacks upon the prince and upon charlotte of bourbon, seem to us too obscene to be admitted, even in a note to these pages, and in a foreign language.] so far, therefore, as the character of mademoiselle de bourbon and the legitimacy of her future offspring were concerned, she received ample guarantees. for the rest, the prince, in a simple letter, informed her that he was already past his prime, having reached his forty-second year, and that his fortune was encumbered not only with settlements for his, children by previous marriages, but by debts contracted in the cause of his oppressed country. a convention of doctors and bishops of france; summoned by the duc de montpensier, afterwards confirmed the opinion that the conventual vows of the princess charlotte had been conformable neither to the laws of france nor to the canons of the trent council. she was conducted to brill by saint aldegonde, where she was received by her bridegroom, to whom she was united on the th of june. the wedding festival was held at dort with much revelry and holiday making, "but without dancing." in this connexion, no doubt the prince consulted his inclination only. eminently domestic in his habits, he required the relief of companionship at home to the exhausting affairs which made up his life abroad. for years he had never enjoyed social converse, except at long intervals, with man or woman; it was natural, therefore, that he should contract this marriage. it was equally natural that he should make many enemies by so impolitic a match. the elector palatine, who was in place of guardian to the bride, decidedly disapproved, although he was suspected of favoring the alliance. the landgrave of hesse for a time was furious; the elector of saxony absolutely delirious with rage. the diet of the empire was to be held within a few weeks at frankfort, where it was very certain that the outraged and influential elector would make his appearance, overflowing with anger, and determined to revenge upon the cause of the netherland reformation the injury which he had personally received. even the wise, considerate, affectionate brother, john of nassau, considered the marriage an act of madness. he did what he could, by argument and entreaty, to dissuade the prince from its completion; although he afterwards voluntarily confessed that the princess charlotte had been deeply calumniated, and was an inestimable treasure to his brother. the french government made use of the circumstance to justify itself in a still further alienation from the cause of the prince than it had hitherto manifested, but this was rather pretence than reality. it was not in the nature of things, however, that the saxon and hessian indignation could be easily allayed. the landgrave was extremely violent. "truly, i cannot imagine," he wrote to the elector of saxony, "quo consilio that wiseacre of an aldegonde, and whosoever else has been aiding and abetting, have undertaken this affair. nam si pietatem respicias, it is to be feared that, considering she is a frenchwoman, a nun, and moreover a fugitive nun, about whose chastity there has been considerable question, the prince has got out of the frying-pan into the fire. si formam it is not to be supposed that it was her beauty which charmed him, since, without doubt, he must be rather frightened than delighted, when he looks upon her. si spem prolis, the prince has certainly only too many heirs already, and ought to wish that he had neither wife nor children. si amicitiam, it is not to be supposed, while her father expresses himself in such threatening language with regard to her, that there will be much cordiality of friendship on his part. let them look to it, then, lest it fare with them no better than with the admiral, at his paris wedding; for those gentlemen can hardly forgive such injuries, sine mercurio et arsenico sublimato." the elector of saxony was frantic with choler, and almost ludicrous in the vehemence of its expression. count john was unceasing in his exhortations to his brother to respect the sensitiveness of these important personages, and to remember how much good and how much evil it was in their power to compass, with regard to himself and to the great cause of the protestant religion. he reminded him, too, that the divorce had not been, and would not be considered impregnable as to form, and that much discomfort and detriment was likely to grow out of the whole proceeding, for himself and his family. the prince, however, was immovable in his resolution, and from the whole tone of his correspondence and deportment it was obvious that his marriage was one rather of inclination than of policy. "i can assure you, my brother," he wrote to count john, "that my character has always tended to this--to care neither for words nor menaces in any matter where i can act with a clear conscience, and without doing injury to my neighbour. truly, if i had paid regard to the threats of princes, i should never have embarked in so many dangerous affairs, contrary to the will of the king, my master, in times past, and even to the advice of many of my relatives and friends." the evil consequences which had been foreseen were not slow to manifest themselves. there was much discussion of the prince's marriage at the diet of frankfort, and there was even a proposition, formally to declare the calvinists excluded in germany from the benefits of the peace of passau. the archduke rudolph was soon afterwards elected king of the romans and of bohemia, although hitherto, according to the policy of the prince of orange, and in the expectation of benefit to the cause of the reformation in germany and the netherlands, there has been a strong disposition to hold out hopes to henry the third, and to excite the fears of maximilian. while these important affairs, public and private, had been occurring in the south of holland and in germany, a very nefarious transaction had disgraced the cause of the patriot party in the northern quarter. diedrich sonoy, governor of that portion of holland, a man of great bravery but of extreme ferocity of character, had discovered an extensive conspiracy among certain of the inhabitants, in aid of an approaching spanish invasion. bands of land-loupers had been employed, according to the intimation which he had received or affected to have received, to set fire to villages and towns in every direction, to set up beacons, and to conduct a series of signals by which the expeditions about to be organized were to be furthered in their objects. the governor, determined to show that the duke of alva could not be more prompt nor more terrible than himself, improvised, of his own authority, a tribunal in imitation of the infamous blood-council. fortunately for the character of the country, sonoy was not a hollander, nor was the jurisdiction of this newly established court allowed to extend beyond very narrow limits. eight vagabonds were, however, arrested and doomed to tortures the most horrible, in order to extort from them confessions implicating persons of higher position in the land than themselves. seven, after a few turns of the pulley and the screw, confessed all which they were expected to confess, and accused all whom they were requested to accuse. the eighth was firmer, and refused to testify to the guilt of certain respectable householders, whose names he had, perhaps, never heard, and against whom there was no shadow of evidence. he was, however, reduced by three hours and a half of sharp torture to confess, entirely according to their orders, so that accusations and evidence were thus obtained against certain influential gentlemen of the province, whose only crime was a secret adherence to the catholic faith. the eight wretches who had been induced by promises of unconditional pardon upon one hand, and by savage torture on the other, to bear this false witness, were condemned to be burned alive, and on their way to the stake, they all retracted the statements which had only been extorted from them by the rack. nevertheless, the individuals who had been thus designated, were arrested. charged with plotting a general conflagration of the villages and farmhouses, in conjunction with an invasion by hierges and other papist generals, they indignantly protested their innocence; but two of them, a certain kopp corneliszoon, and his son, nanning koppezoon, were selected to undergo the most cruel torture which had yet been practised in the netherlands. sonoy, to his eternal shame, was disposed to prove that human ingenuity to inflict human misery had not been exhausted in the chambers of the blood council, for it was to be shown that reformers were capable of giving a lesson even to inquisitors in this diabolical science. kopp, a man advanced in years, was tortured during a whole day. on the following morning he was again brought to the rack, but the old man was too weak to endure all the agony which his tormentors had provided for him. hardly had he been placed upon the bed of torture than he calmly expired, to the great indignation of the tribunal. "the devil has broken his neck and carried him off to hell," cried they ferociously. "nevertheless, that shall not prevent him from being hung and quartered." this decree of impotent vengeance was accordingly executed. the son of kopp, however, nanning koppezoon, was a man in the full vigor of his years. he bore with perfect fortitude a series of incredible tortures, after which, with his body singed from head to heel, and his feet almost entirely flayed, he was left for six weeks to crawl about his dungeon on his knees. he was then brought back to the torture-room, and again stretched upon the rack, while a large earthen vessel, made for the purpose, was placed, inverted, upon his naked body. a number of rats were introduced under this cover, and hot coals were heaped upon the vessel, till the rats, rendered furious by the heat, gnawed into the very bowels of the victim, in their agony to escape. [bor (viii. ) conscientiously furnishes diagrams of the machinery by aid of which this devilish cruelty was inflicted. the rats were sent by the governor himself.--vide letter of the commissioners to sonoy, apud bor, viii. , . the whole letter is a wonderful monument of barbarity. the incredible tortures to which the poor creatures had been subjected are detailed in a business-like manner, as though the transactions were quite regular and laudable, the commissioners conclude with pious wishes for the governor's welfare: "noble, wise, virtuous, and very discreet sir," they say, "we have wished to apprise you of the foregoing, and we now pray that god almighty may spare you in a happy, healthy and long-continued government"--it will be seen, however, that the wise, virtuous, and very discreet governor, who thus caused his fellow- citizens bowels to be gnawed by rats, was not allowed to remain much longer in his "happy and healthy government"] the holes thus torn in his bleeding flesh were filled with red-hot coals. he was afterwards subjected to other tortures too foul to relate; nor was it till he had endured all this agony, with a fortitude which seemed supernatural, that he was at last discovered to be human. scorched; bitten, dislocated in every joint, sleepless, starving, perishing with thirst, he was at last crushed into a false confession, by a promise of absolute forgiveness. he admitted everything which was brought to his charge, confessing a catalogue of contemplated burnings and beacon firings of which he had never dreamed, and avowing himself in league with other desperate papists, still more dangerous than himself. notwithstanding the promises of pardon, nanning was then condemned to death. the sentence ordained that his heart should be torn from his living bosom, and thrown in his face, after which his head was to be taken off and exposed on the church steeple of his native village. his body was then to be cut in four, and a quarter fastened upon different towers of the city of alkmaar, for it was that city, recently so famous for its heroic resistance to the spanish army, which was now sullied by all this cold-blooded atrocity. when led to execution, the victim recanted indignantly the confessions forced from him by weakness of body, and exonerated the persons whom he had falsely accused. a certain clergyman, named jurian epeszoon, endeavored by loud praying to drown his voice, that the people might not rise with indignation, and the dying prisoner with his last breath solemnly summoned this unworthy pastor of christ jo meet him within three days before the judgment-seat of god. it is a remarkable and authentic fact, that the clergyman thus summoned, went home pensively from the place of execution, sickened immediately and died upon the appointed day. notwithstanding this solemn recantation, the persons accused were arrested, and in their turn subjected to torture, but the affair now reached the ears of orange. his peremptory orders, with the universal excitement produced in the neighbourhood, at last checked the course of the outrage, and the accused persons were remanded to prison, where they remained till liberated by the pacification of ghent. after their release they commenced legal proceedings against sonoy, with a view of establishing their own innocence, and of bringing the inhuman functionary to justice. the process languished, however, and was finally abandoned, for the powerful governor had rendered such eminent service in the cause of liberty, that it was thought unwise to push him to extremity. it is no impeachment upon the character of the prince that these horrible crimes were not prevented. it was impossible for him to be omnipresent. neither is it just to consider the tortures and death thus inflicted upon innocent men an indelible stain upon the cause of liberty. they were the crimes of an individual who had been useful, but who, like the count de la marck, had now contaminated his hand with the blood of the guiltless. the new tribunal never took root, and was abolished as soon as its initiatory horrors were known. on the th of july, oudewater, entirely unprepared for such an event, was besieged by hierges, but the garrison and the population, although weak, were brave. the town resisted eighteen days, and on the th of august was carried by assault, after which the usual horrors were fully practised, after which the garrison was put to the sword, and the townspeople fared little better. men, women, and children were murdered in cold blood, or obliged to purchase their lives by heavy ransoms, while matrons and maids were sold by auction to the soldiers at two or three dollars each. almost every house in the city was burned to the ground, and these horrible but very customary scenes having been enacted, the army of hierges took its way to schoonhoven. that city, not defending itself, secured tolerable terms of capitulation, and surrendered on the th of august. the grand commander had not yet given up the hope of naval assistance from spain, notwithstanding the abrupt termination to the last expedition which had been organized. it was, however, necessary that a foothold should be recovered upon the seaboard, before a descent from without could be met with proper co-operation from the land forces withal; and he was most anxious, therefore, to effect the reconquest of some portion of zealand. the island of tholen was still spanish, and had been so since the memorable expedition of mondragon to south beveland. from this interior portion of the archipelago the governor now determined to attempt an expedition against the outer and more important territory. the three principal islands were tholen; duiveland, and sehouwen. tholen was the first which detached itself from the continent. neat, and separated from it by a bay two leagues in width, was duiveland, or the isle of doves. beyond, and parted by a narrower frith, was schouwen, fronting directly upon the ocean, fortified by its strong capital city; zieriekzee, and containing other villages of inferior consequence. requesens had been long revolving in his mind the means of possessing himself of this important, island. he had caused to be constructed, a numerous armada of boats and light vessels of various dimensions, and he now came to tholew to organize the expedition. his prospects were at first not flattering, for the gulfs and estuaries swarmed with zealand vessels, manned by crews celebrated for their skill and audacity. traitors, however, from zealand itself now came forward to teach the spanish commander how to strike at the heart of their own country. these refugees explained to requesens that a narrow flat extended under the sea from philipsland, a small and uninhabited islet situate close to tholen, as far as the shore of duiveland. upon this submerged tongue of land the water, during ebb-tide, was sufficiently shallow to be waded, and it would therefore be possible for a determined band, under cover of the night, to make the perilous passage. once arrived at duiveland, they could more easily cross the intervening creek to schouwen, which was not so deep and only half as wide, so that a force thus, sent through these dangerous shallows, might take possession of duiveland and lay siege to zierickzee, in the very teeth of the zealand fleet, which would be unable to sail near enough to intercept their passage. the commander determined that the enterprise should be attempted. it was not a novelty, because mondragon, as we have seen, had already most brilliantly conducted a very similar expedition. the present was, however, a much more daring scheme. the other exploit, although sufficiently hazardous, and entirely, successful, had been a victory gained over the sea alone. it had been a surprise, and had been effected without any opposition from human enemies. here, however, they were to deal, not only with the ocean and darkness, but with a watchful and determined foe. the zealanders were aware that the enterprise was in contemplation, and their vessels lay about the contiguous waters in considerable force. nevertheless, the determination of the grand commander was hailed with enthusiasm by his troops. having satisfied himself by personal experiment that the enterprise was possible, and that therefore his brave soldiers could accomplish it, he decided that the glory of the achievement should be fairly shared, as before, among the different nations which served the king. after completing his preparations, requesens came to tholen, at which rendezvous were assembled three thousand infantry, partly spaniards, partly germans, partly walloons. besides these, a picked corps of two hundred sappers and miners was to accompany the expedition, in order that no time might be lost in fortifying themselves as soon as they had seized possession of schouwen. four hundred mounted troopers were, moreover, stationed in the town of tholen, while the little fleet, which had been prepared at antwerp; lay near that city ready to co-operate with the land force as soon as they, should complete their enterprise. the grand commander now divided the whole force into two parts: one half was to remain in the boats, under the command of mondragon; the other half, accompanied by the two hundred pioneers, were to wade through the sea from philipsland to duiveland and schouwen. each soldier of this detachment was provided with a pair of shoes, two pounds of powder, and rations for three days in a canvas bag suspended at his neck. the leader of this expedition was don osorio d'ulloa, an officer distinguished for his experience and bravery. on the night selected for the enterprise, that of the th september, the moon was a day old in its fourth quarter, and rose a little before twelve. it was low water at between four and five in the morning. the grand commander, at the appointed hour of midnight, crossed to philipsland, and stood on the shore to watch the setting forth of the little army. he addressed a short harangue to them, in which he skillfully struck the chords of spanish chivalry, and the national love of glory, and was answered with loud and enthusiastic cheers. don osorio d'ulloa then stripped and plunged into the sea immediately after the guides. he was followed by the spaniards, after whom came the germans and then the walloons. the two hundred sappers and miners came next, and don gabriel peralta, with his spanish company; brought up the rear. it was a wild night. incessant lightning, alternately revealed and obscured the progress of the midnight march through the black waters, as the anxious commander watched the expedition from the shore, but the soldiers were quickly swallowed up in the gloom. as they advanced cautiously, two by two, the daring adventurers found themselves soon nearly up to their necks in the waves, while so narrow was the submerged bank along which they were marching, that a misstep to the right or left was fatal. luckless individuals repeatedly sank to rise no more. meantime, as the sickly light, of the waning moon came forth at intervals through the stormy clouds the soldiers could plainly perceive the files of zealand vessels through which they were to march, and which were anchored as close to the flat as the water would allow. some had recklessly stranded themselves, in their eagerness to interrupt the passage, of the troops, and the artillery played unceasingly from the larger vessels. discharges of musketry came continually from all, but the fitful lightning rendered the aim difficult and the fire comparatively harmless while the spaniards were, moreover, protected, as to a large part of their bodies, by the water in which they were immersed. at times; they halted for breath, or to engage in fierce skirmishes with their nearest assailants. standing breast-high in the waves, and surrounded at intervals by total darkness, they were yet able to pour an occasional well-directed volley into the hostile ranks. the zealanders, however, did, not assail them with fire-arms alone. they transfixed some with their fatal harpoons; they dragged others from the path with boathooks; they beat out the brains of others with heavy flails. many were the mortal duels thus fought in the darkness, and, as it were, in the bottom of the sea; many were the deeds of audacity which no eye was to mark save those by whom they were achieved. still, in spite of all impediments and losses, the spaniards steadily advanced. if other arms proved less available, they were attached by the fierce taunts and invectives of their often invisible foes who reviled them as water-dogs, fetching and carrying for a master who despised them; as mercenaries who coined their blood for gold, and were employed by tyrants for the basest uses. if stung by these mocking voices, they turned in the darkness to chastise their unseen tormentors, they were certain to be trampled upon by their comrades, and to be pushed from their narrow pathway into the depths of the sea. thus many perished. the night wore on, and the adventurers still fought it out manfully, but very slowly, the main body of spaniards, germans, and walloons, soon after daylight, reaching the opposite shore, having sustained considerable losses, but in perfect order. the pioneers were not so fortunate. the tide rose over them before they could effect their passage, and swept nearly every one away. the rearguard, under peralta, not surprised, like the pioneers, in the middle of their passage, by the rising tide, but prevented, before it was too late; from advancing far beyond the shore from which they had departed were fortunately enabled to retrace their steps. don osorio, at the head of the successful adventurers, now effected his landing upon duiveland. reposing themselves but for an instant after this unparalleled march through the water, of more than six hours, they took a slight refreshment, prayed to the virgin mary and to saint james, and then prepared to meet their new enemies on land. ten companies of french, scotch, and english auxiliaries lay in duiveland, under the command of charles van boisot. strange to relate, by an inexplicable accident, or by treason, that general was slain by his own soldiers, at the moment when the royal troops landed. the panic created by this event became intense, as the enemy rose suddenly, as it were, out of the depths of the ocean to attack them. they magnified the numbers of their assailants, and fled terror-stricken in every direction. same swam to the zealand vessels which lay in the neighbourhood; others took refuge in the forts which had been constructed on the island; but these were soon carried by the spaniards, and the conquest of duiveland was effected. the enterprise was not yet completed, but the remainder was less difficult and not nearly so hazardous, for the creek which separated duiveland from schouwen was much narrower than the estuary which they had just traversed. it was less than a league in width, but so encumbered by rushes and briers that, although difficult to wade, it was not navigable for vessels of any kind. this part of the expedition was accomplished with equal resolution, so that, after a few hours' delay, the soldiers stood upon the much-coveted island of schouwen. five companies of states' troops, placed to oppose their landing, fled in the most cowardly manner at the first discharge of the spanish muskets, and took refuge in the city of zierickzee, which was soon afterwards beleaguered. the troops has been disembarked upon duiveland from the armada, which had made its way to the scene of action, after having received, by signal, information that the expedition through the water had been successful. brouwershaven, on the northern side of schouwen, was immediately reduced, but bommenede resisted till the th of october, when it was at last carried by assault, and delivered over to fire and sword. of the whole population and garrison not twenty were left alive. siege was then laid to zierickzee, and colonel mondragon was left in charge of the operations. requesens himself came to schouwen to give directions concerning this important enterprise. chiapin vitelli also came thither in the middle of the winter, and was so much injured by a fall from his litter, while making the tour of the island, that he died on shipboard during his return to antwerp. this officer had gained his laurels upon more than one occasion, his conduct in the important action near mons, in which the huguenot force under genlis was defeated, having been particularly creditable. he was of a distinguished umbrian family, and had passed his life in camps, few of the generals who had accompanied alva to the netherlands being better known or more odious to the inhabitants. he was equally distinguished for his courage, his cruelty, and his corpulence. the last characteristic was so remarkable that he was almost monstrous in his personal appearance. his protuberant stomach was always supported in a bandage suspended from his neck, yet in spite of this enormous impediment, he was personally active on the battle-field, and performed more service, not only as a commander but as a subaltern, than many a younger and lighter man. the siege of zierickzee was protracted till the following june, the city holding out with firmness. want of funds caused the operations to be, conducted with languor, but the same cause prevented the prince from accomplishing its relief. thus the expedition from philipsland, the most brilliant military exploit of the whole war, was attended with important results. the communication between walcheren and the rest of zealand was interrupted; the province cut in two; a foothold on the ocean; for a brief interval at least, acquired by spain. the prince was inexpressibly chagrined by these circumstances, and felt that the moment had arrived when all honorable means were to be employed to obtain foreign assistance. the hollanders and zealanders had fought the battles of freedom alone hitherto, and had fought them well, but poverty was fast rendering them incapable of sustaining much longer the unequal conflict. offers of men, whose wages the states were to furnish, were refused; as worse than fruitless. henry of navarre, who perhaps deemed it possible to acquire the sovereignty of the provinces by so barren a benefit, was willing to send two or three thousand men, but not at his own expense. the proposition was respectfully declined. the prince and his little country, were all alone. "even if we should not only see ourselves deserted by all the world, but also all the world against us," he said, "we should not cease to defend ourselves even to the last man. knowing the justice of our cause, we repose, entirely in the mercy of god." he determined, however, once more to have recourse to the powerful of the earth, being disposed to test the truth of his celebrated observation, that "there would be no lack of suitors for the bride that he had to bestow." it was necessary, in short, to look the great question of formally renouncing philip directly in the face. hitherto the fiction of allegiance had been preserved, and, even by the enemies of the prince, it, was admitted: that it had been retained with no disloyal intent. the time however, had come when it was necessary to throw off allegiance, provided another could be found strong enough and frank enough to accept the authority which philip had forfeited. the question was, naturally, between france and england; unless the provinces could effect their re-admission into the body of the germanic empire. already in june the prince had laid the proposition formally before the states, "whether they should not negotiate with the empire on the subject of their admission, with maintenance of their own constitutions," but it was understood that this plan was not to be carried out, if the protection of the empire could be obtained under easier conditions. nothing came of the proposition at that time. the nobles and the deputies of south holland now voted, in the beginning of the ensuing month, "that it was their duty to abandon the king, as a tyrant who sought to oppress and destroy his subjects; and that it behooved them to seek another protector." this was while the breda negotiations were still pending, but when their inevitable result was very visible. there was still a reluctance at taking the last and decisive step in the rebellion, so that the semblance of loyalty was still retained; that ancient scabbard, in which the sword might yet one day be sheathed. the proposition was not adopted at the diet. a committee of nine was merely appointed to deliberate with the prince upon the "means of obtaining foreign assistance, without accepting foreign authority, or severing their connexion with his majesty." the estates were, however, summoned a few months later, by the prince, to deliberate on this important matter at rotterdam. on the st of october he then formally proposed, either to make terms with their enemy, and that the sooner the better, or else, once for all, to separate entirely from the king of spain, and to change their sovereign, in order, with the assistance and under protection of another christian potentate, to maintain the provinces against their enemies. orange, moreover, expressed the opinion that upon so important a subject it was decidedly incumbent upon them all to take the sense of the city governments. the members for the various municipalities acquiesced in the propriety of this suggestion, and resolved to consult their constituents, while the deputies of the nobility also desired to consult with their whole body. after an adjournment of a few days, the diet again assembled at delft, and it was then unanimously resolved by the nobles and the cities, "that they would forsake the king and seek foreign assistance; referring the choice to the prince, who, in regard to the government, was to take the opinion of the estates." thus, the great step was taken, by which two little provinces declared themselves independent of their ancient master. that declaration, although taken in the midst of doubt and darkness, was not destined to be cancelled, and the germ of a new and powerful commonwealth was planted. so little, however, did these republican fathers foresee their coming republic, that the resolution to renounce one king was combined with a proposition to ask for the authority of another. it was not imagined that those two slender columns, which were all that had yet been raised of the future stately peristyle, would be strong enough to stand alone. the question now arose, to what foreign power application should be made. but little hope was to be entertained from germany, a state which existed only in name, and france was still in a condition of religious and intestine discord. the attitude of revolt maintained by the duc d'alencon seemed to make it difficult and dangerous to enter into negotiations with a country where the civil wars had assumed so complicated a character, that loyal and useful alliance could hardly be made with any party. the queen of england, on the other hand; dreaded the wrath of philip, by which her perpetual dangers from the side of scotland would be aggravated, while she feared equally the extension of french authority in the netherlands, by which increase her neighbour would acquire an overshadowing power. she was also ashamed openly to abandon the provinces to their fate, for her realm was supposed to be a bulwark of the protestant religion. afraid to affront philip, afraid to refuse the suit of the netherlands, afraid to concede as aggrandizement to france, what course was open to the english queen. that which, politically and personally, she loved the best--a course of barren coquetry. this the prince of orange foresaw; and although not disposed to leave a stone unturned in his efforts to find assistance for his country, he on the whole rather inclined for france. he, however, better than any man, knew how little cause there was for sanguine expectation from either source. it was determined, in the name of his highness and the estates, first to send a mission to england, but there had already been negotiations this year of an unpleasant character with that power. at the request of the spanish envoy, the foremost netherland rebels, in number about fifty, including by name the prince of orange, the counts of berg and culemburg, with saint aldegonde, boisot, junius, and others, had been formally forbidden by queen elizabeth to enter her realm. the prince had, in consequence, sent aldegonde and junius on a secret mission to france, and the queen; jealous and anxious, had thereupon sent daniel rogers secretly to the prince. at the same tine she had sent an envoy to the grand commander, counselling, conciliatory measures; and promising to send a special mission to spain with the offer of her mediation, but it was suspected by those most in the confidence of the spanish government at brussels, that there was a great deal of deception in these proceedings. a truce for six months having now been established between the duc d'alencon and his brother, it was supposed, that an alliance between france and england, and perhaps between alencon and elizabeth, was on the carpet, and that a kingdom of the netherlands was to be the wedding present of the bride to her husband. these fantasies derived additional color from the fact that, while the queen was expressing the most amicable intentions towards spain, and the greatest jealousy of france, the english residents at antwerp and other cities of the netherlands, had received private instructions to sell out their property as fast as possible, and to retire from the country. on the whole, there was little prospect either of a final answer, or of substantial assistance from the queen. the envoys to england were advocate buis and doctor francis maalzon, nominated by the estates, and saint aldegonde, chief of the mission, appointed by the prince. they arrived in england at christmas-tide. having represented to the queen the result of the breda negotiations, they stated that the prince and the estates, in despair of a secure peace, had addressed themselves to her as an upright protector of the faith, and as a princess descended from the blood of holland. this allusion to the intermarriage of edward iii. of england with philippa, daughter of count william iii. of hainault and holland, would not, it was hoped, be in vain. they furthermore offered to her majesty, in case she were willing powerfully to assist the states, the sovereignty over holland and zealand, under certain conditions. the queen listened graciously to the envoys, and appointed commissioners to treat with them on the subject. meantime, requesens sent champagny to england, to counteract the effect of this embassy of the estates, and to beg the queen to give no heed to the prayers of the rebels, to enter into no negotiations with them, and to expel them at once from her kingdom. the queen gravely assured champagny "that the envoys were no rebels, but faithful subjects of his majesty." there was certainly some effrontery in such a statement, considering the solemn offer which had just been made by the envoys. if to renounce allegiance to philip and to propose the sovereignty to elizabeth did not constitute rebellion, it would be difficult to define or to discover rebellion anywhere. the statement was as honest, however, as the diplomatic grimace with which champagny had reminded elizabeth of the ancient and unbroken friendship which had always, existed between herself and his catholic majesty. the attempt of philip to procure her dethronement and assassination but a few years before was, no doubt, thought too trifling a circumstance to have for a moment interrupted those harmonious relations. nothing came of the negotiations on either side. the queen coquetted, as was her custom. she could not accept the offer of the estates; she could not say them nay. she would not offend philip; she would not abandon the provinces; she would therefore negotiate--thus there was an infinite deal of diplomatic nothing spun and unravelled, but the result was both to abandon the provinces and to offend philip. in the first answer given by her commissioners to the states' envoys, it was declared, "that her majesty considered it too expensive to assume the protection of both provinces." she was willing to protect them in name, but she should confer the advantage exclusively on walcheren in reality. the defence of holland must be maintained at the expense of the prince and the estates. this was certainly not munificent, and the envoys insisted upon more ample and liberal terms. the queen declined, however, committing herself beyond this niggardly and inadmissible offer. the states were not willing to exchange the sovereignty over their country for so paltry a concession. the queen declared herself indisposed to go further, at least before consulting parliament. the commissioners waited for the assembling of parliament. she then refused to lay the matter before that body, and forbade the hollanders taking any steps for that purpose. it was evident that she was disposed to trifle with the provinces, and had no idea of encountering the open hostility of philip. the envoys accordingly begged for their passports. these were granted in april, , with the assurance on the part of her majesty that "she would think more of the offer made to her after she had done all in her power to bring about an arrangement between the provinces and philip." after the result of the negotiations of breda, it is difficult to imagine what method she was likely to devise for accomplishing such a purpose. the king was not more disposed than during the preceding summer to grant liberty of religion, nor were the hollanders more ready than they had been before to renounce either their faith or their fatherland. the envoys, on parting, made a strenuous effort to negotiate a loan, but the frugal queen considered the proposition quite inadmissible. she granted them liberty to purchase arms and ammunition, and to levy a few soldiers with their own money, and this was accordingly done to a limited extent. as it was not difficult to hire soldiers or to buy gunpowder anywhere, in that warlike age, provided the money were ready, the states had hardly reason to consider themselves under deep obligation for this concession. yet this was the whole result of the embassy. plenty of fine words had, been bestowed, which might or might not have meaning, according to the turns taken by coming events. besides these cheap and empty civilities, they received permission to defend holland at their own expense; with the privilege, of surrendering its sovereignty, if they liked, to queen elizabeth-and this was all. on the th of april, the envoys returned to their country, and laid before the estates the meagre result of their negotiations. very soon afterwards, upon an informal suggestion from henry iii. and the queen mother, that a more favorable result might be expected, if the same applications were made to the duc d'alencon which had been received in so unsatisfactory a manner by elizabeth, commissioners were appointed to france. it proved impossible, however, at that juncture, to proceed with the negotiations, in consequence of the troubles occasioned by the attitude of the duke. the provinces were still, even as they had been from the beginning, entirely alone. requesens was more than ever straitened for funds, wringing, with increasing difficulty, a slender subsidy, from time to time, out of the reluctant estates of brabant, flanders, and the other obedient provinces. while he was still at duiveland, the estates-general sent him a long remonstrance against the misconduct of the soldiery, in answer to his demand for supplies. "oh, these estates! these estates!" cried the grand commander, on receiving such vehement reproaches instead of his money; "may the lord deliver me from these estates!" meantime, the important siege of zierickzee continued, and it was evident that the city must fall. there was no money at the disposal of the prince. count john, who was seriously embarrassed by reason of the great obligations in money which he, with the rest of his family, had incurred on behalf of the estates, had recently made application to the prince for his influence towards procuring him relief. he had forwarded an account of the great advances made by himself and his brethren in money, plate, furniture, and endorsements of various kinds, for which a partial reimbursement was almost indispensable to save him from serious difficulties. the prince, however, unable to procure him any assistance, had been obliged him once more to entreat him to display the generosity and the self-denial which the country had never found wanting at his hands or at those of his kindred. the appeal had not been, in vain, but the count was obviously not in a condition to effect anything more at that moment to relieve the financial distress of the states. the exchequer was crippled. [the contributions of holland and zealand for war expenses amounted to one hundred and fifty thousand florins monthly. the pay of a captain was eighty florins monthly; that of a lieutenant, forty; that of a corporal, fifteen; that of a drummer, fifer, or minister, twelve; that of a common soldier, seven and a half. a captain had also one hundred and fifty florins each month to distribute among the most meritorious of his company. each soldier was likewise furnished with food; bedding, fire, light, and washing.--renom de france ms, vol. ii. c. ,] holland and zealand were cut in twain by the occupation of schouwen and the approaching fall of its capital. germany, england, france; all refused to stretch out their hands to save the heroic but exhaustless little provinces. it was at this moment that a desperate but sublime resolution took possession of the prince's mind. there seemed but one way left to exclude the spaniards for ever from holland and zealand, and to rescue the inhabitants from impending ruin. the prince had long brooded over the scheme, and the hour seemed to have struck for its fulfilment. his project was to collect all the vessels, of every description, which could be obtained throughout the netherlands. the whole population of the two provinces, men, women, and children, together with all the moveable property of the country, were then to be embarked on board this numerous fleet, and to seek a new home beyond the seas. the windmills were then to be burned, the dykes pierced, the sluices opened in every direction, and the country restored for ever to the ocean, from which it had sprung. it is difficult to say whether the resolution, if providence had permitted its fulfilment, would have been, on the whole, better or worse for humanity and civilization. the ships which would have borne the heroic prince and his fortunes might have taken the direction of the newly-discovered western hemisphere. a religious colony, planted by a commercial and liberty-loving race, in a virgin soil, and directed by patrician but self-denying hands, might have preceded, by half a century, the colony which a kindred race, impelled by similar motives, and under somewhat similar circumstances and conditions, was destined to plant upon the stern shores of new england. had they directed their course to the warm and fragrant islands of the east, an independent christian commonwealth might have arisen among those prolific regions, superior in importance to any subsequent colony of holland, cramped from its birth by absolute subjection to a far distant metropolis. the unexpected death of requesens suddenly dispelled these schemes. the siege of zierickzee had occupied much of the governor's attention, but he had recently written to his sovereign, that its reduction was now certain. he had added an urgent request for money, with a sufficient supply of which he assured philip that he should be able to bring the war to an immediate conclusion. while waiting for these supplies, he had, contrary to all law or reason, made an unsuccessful attempt to conquer the post of embden, in germany. a mutiny had at about the same time, broken out among his troops in harlem, and he had furnished the citizens with arms to defend themselves, giving free permission to use them against the insurgent troops. by this means the mutiny had been quelled, but a dangerous precedent established. anxiety concerning this rebellion is supposed to have hastened the grand commander's death. a violent fever seized him on the st, and terminated his existence on the th of march, in the fifty-first year of his life. it is not necessary to review elaborately his career, the chief incidents of which have been sufficiently described. requesens was a man of high position by birth and office, but a thoroughly commonplace personage. his talents either for war or for civil employments were not above mediocrity. his friends disputed whether he were greater in the field or in the council, but it is certain that he was great in neither. his bigotry was equal to that of alva, but it was impossible to rival the duke in cruelty. moreover, the condition of the country, after seven years of torture under his predecessor, made it difficult for him, at the time of his arrival, to imitate the severity which had made the name of alva infamous. the blood council had been retained throughout his administration, but its occupation was gone, for want of food for its ferocity. the obedient provinces had been purged of protestants; while crippled, too, by confiscation, they offered no field for further extortion. from holland and zealand, whence catholicism had been nearly excluded, the king of spain was nearly excluded also. the blood council which, if set up in that country, would have executed every living creature of its population, could only gaze from a distance at those who would have been its victims. requesens had been previously distinguished in two fields of action: the granada massacres and the carnage of lepanto. upon both occasions he had been the military tutor of don john of austria, by whom he was soon to be succeeded in the government of the netherlands. to the imperial bastard had been assigned the pre-eminence, but it was thought that the grand commander had been entitled to a more than equal share of the glory. we have seen how much additional reputation was acquired by requesens in the provinces. the expedition against duiveland and schouwen, was, on the whole, the most brilliant feat of arms during the war, and its success reflects an undying lustre on the hardihood and discipline of the spanish, german, and walloon soldiery. as an act of individual audacity in a bad cause, it has rarely been equalled. it can hardly be said, however, that the grand commander was entitled to any large measure of praise for the success of the expedition. the plan was laid by zealand traitors. it was carried into execution by the devotion of the spanish, walloon, and german troops; while requesens was only a spectator of the transaction. his sudden death arrested, for a moment, the ebb-tide in the affairs of the netherlands, which was fast leaving the country bare and desolate, and was followed by a train of unforeseen transactions, which it is now our duty to describe. etext editor's bookmarks: as the old woman had told the emperor adrian beautiful damsel, who certainly did not lack suitors breath, time, and paper were profusely wasted and nothing gained care neither for words nor menaces in any matter distinguished for his courage, his cruelty, and his corpulence he had never enjoyed social converse, except at long intervals human ingenuity to inflict human misery peace was desirable, it might be more dangerous than war proposition made by the wolves to the sheep, in the fable rebuked the bigotry which had already grown reformers were capable of giving a lesson even to inquisitors result was both to abandon the provinces and to offend philip suppress the exercise of the roman religion the more conclusive arbitration of gunpowder motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothop motley chapter iv. assumption of affairs by the state council at brussels--hesitation at madrid--joachim hopper--mal-administration--vigilance of orange-- the provinces drawn more closely together--inequality of the conflict--physical condition of holland--new act of union between holland and zealand--authority of the prince defined and enlarged-- provincial polity characterized--generous sentiments of the prince-- his tolerant spirit--letters from the king--attitude of the great powers towards the netherlands--correspondence and policy of elizabeth--secret negotiations with france and alencon--confused and menacing aspect of germany--responsible, and laborious position of orange--attempt to relieve zierickzee--death of admiral boisot-- capitulation of the city upon honourable terms--mutiny of the spanish troops in schouwen--general causes of discontent--alarming increase of the mutiny--the rebel regiments enter brabant--fruitless attempts to pacify them--they take possession of alost--edicts, denouncing them, from the state council--intense excitement in brussels and antwerp--letters from philip brought by marquis havre-- the king's continued procrastination--ruinous royal confirmation of the authority assumed by the state council--united and general resistance to foreign military oppression--the german troops and the antwerp garrison, under avila, join the revolt--letter of verdugo-- a crisis approaching--jerome de roda in the citadel--the mutiny universal. the death of requesens, notwithstanding his four days' illness, occurred so suddenly, that he had not had time to appoint his successor. had he exercised this privilege, which his patent conferred upon him, it was supposed that he would have nominated count mansfeld to exercise the functions of governor-general, until the king should otherwise ordain. in the absence of any definite arrangement, the council of state, according to a right which that body claimed from custom, assumed the reins of government. of the old board, there were none left but the duke of aerschot, count berlaymont, and viglins. to these were soon added, however, by royal diploma, the spaniard, jerome de roda, and the netherlanders, assonleville, baron rassenghiem and arnold sasbout. thus, all the members, save one, of what had now become the executive body, were natives of the country. roda was accordingly looked askance upon by his colleagues. he was regarded by viglius as a man who desired to repeat the part which had been played by juan vargas in the blood council, while the other members, although stanch catholics, were all of them well-disposed to vindicate the claim of netherland nobles to a share in the government of the netherlands. for a time, therefore, the transfer of authority seemed to have been smoothly accomplished. the council of state conducted the administration of the country. peter ernest mansfeld was entrusted with the supreme military command, including the government of brussels; and the spanish commanders; although dissatisfied that any but a spaniard should be thus honored, were for a time quiescent. when the news reached madrid, philip was extremely disconcerted. the death of requesens excited his indignation. he was angry with him, not for dying, but for dying at so very inconvenient a moment. he had not yet fully decided either upon his successor, or upon the policy to be enforced by his successor. there were several candidates for the vacant post; there was a variety of opinions in the cabinet as to the course of conduct to be adopted. in the impossibility of instantly making up his mind upon this unexpected emergency, philip fell, as it were, into a long reverie, than which nothing could be more inopportune. with a country in a state of revolution and exasperation, the trance, which now seemed to come over the government, was like to be followed by deadly effects. the stationary policy, which the death of requesens had occasioned, was allowed to prolong itself indefinitely, and almost for the first time in his life, joachim hopper was really consulted about the affairs of that department over which he imagined himself, and was generally supposed by others, to preside at madrid. the creature of viglius, having all the subserviency, with none of the acuteness of his patron, he had been long employed as chief of the netherland bureau, while kept in profound ignorance of the affairs which were transacted in his office. he was a privy councillor, whose counsels were never heeded, a confidential servant in whom the king reposed confidence, only on the ground that no man could reveal secrets which he did not know. this deportment of the king's showed that he had accurately measured the man, for hopper was hardly competent for the place of a chief clerk. he was unable to write clearly in any language, because incapable of a fully developed thought upon any subject. it may be supposed that nothing but an abortive policy, therefore, would be produced upon the occasion thus suddenly offered. "'tis a devout man, that poor master hopper," said granvelle, "but rather fitted for platonic researches than for affairs of state." it was a proof of this incompetency, that now, when really called upon for advice in an emergency, he should recommend a continuance of the interim. certainly nothing worse could be devised. granvelle recommended a reappointment of the duchess margaret. others suggested duke eric of brunswick, or an archduke of the austrian house; although the opinion held by most of the influential councillors was in favor of don john of austria. in the interests of philip and his despotism, nothing, at any rate, could be more fatal than delay. in the condition of affairs which then existed, the worst or feeblest governor would have been better than none at all. to leave a vacancy was to play directly into the hands of orange, for it was impossible that so skilful an adversary should not at once perceive the fault, and profit by it to the utmost. it was strange that philip did not see the danger of inactivity at such a crisis. assuredly, indolence was never his vice, but on this occasion indecision did the work of indolence. unwittingly, the despot was assisting the efforts of the liberator. viglius saw the position of matters with his customary keenness, and wondered at the blindness of hopper and philip. at the last gasp of a life, which neither learning nor the accumulation of worldly prizes and worldly pelf could redeem from intrinsic baseness, the sagacious but not venerable old man saw that a chasm was daily widening; in which the religion and the despotism which he loved might soon be hopelessly swallowed. "the prince of orange and his beggars do not sleep," he cried, almost in anguish; "nor will they be quiet till they have made use of this interregnum to do us some immense grievance." certainly the prince of orange did not sleep upon this nor any other great occasion of his life. in his own vigorous language, used to stimulate his friends in various parts of the country, he seized the swift occasion by the forelock. he opened a fresh correspondence with many leading gentlemen in brussels and other places in the netherlands; persons of influence, who now, for the first time, showed a disposition to side with their country against its tyrants. hitherto the land had been divided into two very unequal portions. holland and zealand were devoted to the prince; their whole population, with hardly an individual exception, converted to the reformed religion. the other fifteen provinces were, on the whole, loyal to the king; while the old religion had, of late years, taken root so rapidly again, that perhaps a moiety of their population might be considered as catholic. at the same time, the reign of terror under alva, the paler, but not less distinct tyranny of requesens, and the intolerable excesses of the foreign soldiery, by which the government of foreigners was supported, had at last maddened all the inhabitants of the seventeen provinces. notwithstanding, therefore, the fatal difference of religious opinion, they were all drawn into closer relations with each other; to regain their ancient privileges, and to expel the detested foreigners from the soil, being objects common to all. the provinces were united in one great hatred and one great hope. the hollanders and zealanders, under their heroic leader, had well nigh accomplished both tasks, so far as those little provinces were concerned. never had a contest, however, seemed more hopeless at its commencement. cast a glance at the map. look at holland--not the republic, with its sister provinces beyond the zuyder zee--but holland only, with the zealand archipelago. look at that narrow tongue of half-submerged earth. who could suppose that upon that slender sand-bank, one hundred and twenty miles in length, and varying in breadth from four miles to forty, one man, backed by the population of a handful of cities, could do battle nine years long with the master of two worlds, the "dominator of asia, africa, and america"--the despot of the fairest realms of europe--and conquer him at last. nor was william even entirely master of that narrow shoal where clung the survivors of a great national shipwreck. north and south holland were cut in two by the loss of harlem, while the enemy was in possession of the natural capital of the little country, amsterdam. the prince affirmed that the cause had suffered more from the disloyalty of amsterdam than from all the efforts of the enemy. moreover, the country was in a most desolate condition. it was almost literally a sinking ship. the destruction of the bulwarks against the ocean had been so extensive, in consequence of the voluntary inundations which have been described in previous pages, and by reason of the general neglect which more vital occupations had necessitated, that an enormous outlay, both of labor and money, was now indispensable to save the physical existence of the country. the labor and the money, notwithstanding the crippled and impoverished condition of the nation, were, however, freely contributed; a wonderful example of energy and patient heroism was again exhibited. the dykes which had been swept away in every direction were renewed at a vast expense. moreover, the country, in the course of recent events, had become almost swept bare of its cattle, and it was necessary to pass a law forbidding, for a considerable period, the slaughter of any animals, "oxen, cows, calves, sheep, or poultry." it was, unfortunately, not possible to provide by law against that extermination of the human population which had been decreed by philip and the pope. such was the physical and moral condition of the provinces of holland and zealand. the political constitution of both assumed, at this epoch, a somewhat altered aspect. the union between the two states; effected in june, , required improvement. the administration of justice, the conflicts of laws, and more particularly the levying of monies and troops in equitable proportions, had not been adjusted with perfect smoothness. the estates of the two provinces, assembled in congress at delft, concluded, therefore, a new act of union, which was duly signed upon the th of april, . those estates, consisting of the knights and nobles of holland, with the deputies from the cities and countships of holland and zealand, had been duly summoned by the prince of orange. they as fairly included all the political capacities, and furnished as copious a representation of the national will, as could be expected, for it is apparent upon every page of his history, that the prince, upon all occasions, chose to refer his policy to the approval and confirmation of as large a portion of the people as any man in those days considered capable or desirous of exercising political functions. the new, union consisted of eighteen articles. it was established that deputies from all the estates should meet, when summoned by the prince of orange or otherwise, on penalty of fine, and at the risk of measures binding upon them being passed by the rest of the congress. freshly arising causes of litigation were to be referred to the prince. free intercourse and traffic through the united provinces was guaranteed. the confederates were mutually to assist each other in preventing all injustice, wrong, or violence, even towards an enemy. the authority of law and the pure administration of justice were mutually promised by the contracting states. the common expenses were to be apportioned among the different provinces, "as if they were all included in the republic of a single city." nine commissioners, appointed by the prince on nomination by the estates, were to sit permanently, as his advisers, and as assessors and collectors of the taxes. the tenure of the union was from six months to six months, with six weeks notice. the framers of this compact having thus defined the general outlines of the confederacy, declared that the government, thus constituted, should be placed under a single head. they accordingly conferred supreme authority on the prince, defining his powers in eighteen articles. he was declared chief commander by land and sea. he was to appoint all officers, from generals to subalterns, and to pay them at his discretion. the whole protection of the land was devolved upon him. he was to send garrisons or troops into every city and village at his pleasure, without advice or consent of the estates, magistrates of the cities, or any other persons whatsoever. he was, in behalf of the king as count of holland and zealand, to cause justice to be administered by the supreme court. in the same capacity he was to provide for vacancies in all political and judicial offices of importance, choosing, with the advice of the estates, one officer for each vacant post out of three candidates nominated to him by that body. he was to appoint and renew, at the usual times, the magistracies in the cities, according to the ancient constitutions. he was to make changes in those boards, if necessary, at unusual times, with consent of the majority of those representing the great council and corpus of the said cities. he was to uphold the authority and pre-eminence of all civil functionaries, and to prevent governors and military officers from taking any cognizance of political or judicial affairs. with regard to religion, he was to maintain the practice of the reformed evangelical religion, and to cause to surcease the exercise of all other religions contrary to the gospel. he was, however, not to permit that inquisition should be made into any man's belief or conscience, or that any man by cause thereof should suffer trouble, injury, or hindrance. the league thus concluded was a confederation between a group of virtually independent little republics. each municipality, was, as it were, a little sovereign, sending envoys to a congress to vote and to sign as plenipotentiaries. the vote of each city was, therefore, indivisible, and it mattered little, practically, whether there were one deputy or several. the nobles represented not only their own order, but were supposed to act also in behalf of the rural population. on the whole, there was a tolerably fair representation of the whole nation. the people were well and worthily represented in the government of each city, and therefore equally so in the assembly of the estates. it was not till later that the corporations, by the extinction of the popular element, and by the usurpation of the right of self-election, were thoroughly stiffened into fictitious personages which never died, and which were never thoroughly alive. at this epoch the provincial liberties, so far as they could maintain themselves against spanish despotism, were practical and substantial. the government was a representative one, in which all those who had the inclination possessed, in one mode or another, a voice. although the various members of the confederacy were locally and practically republics or self-governed little commonwealths, the general government which they, established was, in form, monarchical. the powers conferred upon orange constituted him a sovereign ad interim, for while the authority of the spanish monarch remained suspended, the prince was invested, not only with the whole executive and appointing power, but even with a very large share in the legislative functions of the state. the whole system was rather practical than theoretical, without any accurate distribution of political powers. in living, energetic communities, where the blood of the body politic circulates swiftly, there is an inevitable tendency of the different organs to sympathize and commingle more closely than a priori philosophy would allow. it is usually more desirable than practicable to keep the executive, legislative, and judicial departments entirely independent of each other. certainly, the prince of orange did not at that moment indulge in speculations concerning the nature and origin of government. the congress of delft had just clothed him with almost regal authority. in his hands were the powers of war and peace, joint control of the magistracies and courts of justice, absolute supremacy over the army and the fleets. it is true that these attributes had been conferred upon him ad interim, but it depended only upon himself to make the sovereignty personal and permanent. he was so thoroughly absorbed in his work, however, that he did not even see the diadem which he put aside. it was small matter to him whether they called him stadholder or guardian, prince or king. he was the father of his country and its defender. the people, from highest to lowest, called him "father william," and the title was enough for him. the question with him was not what men should call him, but how he should best accomplish his task. so little was he inspired by the sentiment of self-elevation, that he was anxiously seeking for a fitting person--strong, wise, and willing enough--to exercise the sovereignty which was thrust upon himself, but which he desired to exchange against an increased power to be actively useful to his country. to expel the foreign oppressor; to strangle the inquisition; to maintain the ancient liberties of the nation; here was labor enough for his own hands. the vulgar thought of carving a throne out of the misfortunes of his country seems not to have entered his mind. upon one point, however, the prince had been peremptory. he would have no persecution of the opposite creed. he was requested to suppress the catholic religion, in terms. as we have seen, he caused the expression to be exchanged for the words, "religion at variance with the gospel." he resolutely stood out against all meddling with men's consciences, or inquiring into their thoughts. while smiting the spanish inquisition into the dust, he would have no calvinist inquisition set up in its place. earnestly a convert to the reformed religion, but hating and denouncing only what was corrupt in the ancient church, he would not force men, with fire and sword, to travel to heaven upon his own road. thought should be toll-free. neither monk nor minister should burn, drown, or hang his fellow-creatures, when argument or expostulation failed to redeem them from error. it was no small virtue, in that age, to rise to such a height. we know what calvinists, zwinglians, lutherans, have done in the netherlands, in germany, in switzerland, and almost a century later in new england. it is, therefore, with increased veneration that we regard this large and truly catholic mind. his tolerance proceeded from no indifference. no man can read his private writings, or form a thorough acquaintance with his interior life, without recognizing him as a deeply religious man. he had faith unfaltering in god. he had also faith in man and love for his brethren. it was no wonder that in that age of religious bigotry he should have been assaulted on both sides. while the pope excommunicated him as a heretic, and the king set a price upon his head as a rebel, the fanatics of the new religion denounced him as a godless man. peter dathenus, the unfrocked monk of poperingen, shrieked out in his pulpit that the "prince of orange cared nothing either for god or for religion." the death of requesens had offered the first opening through which the watchful prince could hope to inflict a wound in the vital part of spanish authority in the netherlands. the languor of philip and the procrastinating counsel of the dull hopper unexpectedly widened the opening. on the th of march letters were written by his majesty to the states-general, to the provincial estates, and to the courts of justice, instructing them that, until further orders, they were all to obey the council of state. the king was confident that all would do their utmost to assist that body in securing the holy catholic faith and the implicit obedience of the country to its sovereign. he would, in the meantime, occupy himself with the selection of a new governor-general, who should be of his family and blood. this uncertain and perilous condition of things was watched with painful interest in neighbouring countries. the fate of all nations was more or less involved in the development of the great religious contest now waging in the netherlands. england and france watched each other's movements in the direction of the provinces with intense jealousy. the protestant queen was the natural ally of the struggling reformers, but her despotic sentiments were averse to the fostering of rebellion against the lord's anointed. the thrifty queen looked with alarm at the prospect of large subsidies which would undoubtedly be demanded of her. the jealous queen could as ill brook the presence of the french in the netherlands as that of the spaniards whom they were to expel. she therefore embarrassed, as usual, the operations of the prince by a course of stale political coquetry. she wrote to him, on the th of march, soon after the news of the grand commander's death, saying that she could not yet accept the offer which had been made to her, to take the provinces of holland and zealand under her safe keeping, to assume, as countess, the sovereignty over them, and to protect the inhabitants against the alleged tyranny of the king of spain. she was unwilling to do so until she had made every effort to reconcile them with that sovereign. before the death of requesens she had been intending to send him an envoy, proposing a truce, for the purpose of negotiation. this purpose she still retained. she should send commissioners to the council of state and to the new governor, when he should arrive. she should also send a special envoy to the king of spain. she doubted not that the king would take her advice, when he heard her speak in such straightforward language. in the meantime, she hoped that they would negotiate with no other powers. this was not very satisfactory. the queen rejected the offers to herself, but begged that they might, by no means, be made to her rivals. the expressed intention of softening the heart of philip by the use of straightforward language seemed but a sorry sarcasm. it was hardly worth while to wait long for so improbable a result. thus much for england at that juncture. not inimical, certainly; but over-cautious, ungenerous, teasing, and perplexing, was the policy of the maiden queen. with regard to france, events there seemed to favor the hopes of orange. on the th of may, the "peace of monsieur," the treaty by which so ample but so short-lived a triumph was achieved by the huguenots, was signed at paris. everything was conceded, but nothing was secured. rights of worship, rights of office, political and civil, religious enfranchisement, were recovered, but not guaranteed. it seemed scarcely possible that the king could be in earnest then, even if a medicean valois could ever be otherwise than treacherous. it was almost, certain, therefore, that a reaction would take place; but it is easier for us, three centuries after the event, to mark the precise moment of reaction, than it was for the most far-seeing contemporary to foretell how soon it would occur. in the meantime, it was the prince's cue to make use of this sunshine while it lasted. already, so soon as the union of th of april had been concluded between holland and zealand, he had forced the estates to open negotiations with france. the provinces, although desirous to confer sovereignty upon him, were indisposed to renounce their old allegiance to their king in order to place it at the disposal of a foreigner. nevertheless, a resolution, at the reiterated demands of orange, was passed by the estates, to proceed to the change of master, and, for that, purpose, to treat with the king of france, his brother, or any other foreign potentate, who would receive these provinces of holland and zealand under his government and protection. negotiations were accordingly opened with the duke-of-anjou, the dilettante leader of the huguenots at that remarkable juncture. it was a pity that no better champion could be looked for among the anointed of the earth than the false, fickle, foolish alencon, whose career, everywhere contemptible, was nowhere so flagitious as in the netherlands. by the fourteenth article of the peace of paris, the prince was reinstated and secured in his principality of orange; and his other possessions in france. the best feeling; for the time being, was manifested between the french court and the reformation. thus much for england and france. as for germany, the prospects of the netherlands were not flattering. the reforming spirit had grown languid, from various causes. the self-seeking motives of many protestant princes had disgusted the nobles. was that the object of the bloody wars of religion, that a few potentates should be enabled to enrich themselves by confiscating the broad lands and accumulated treasures of the church? had the creed of luther been embraced only for such unworthy ends? these suspicions chilled the ardor of thousands, particularly among the greater ones of the land. moreover, the discord among the reformers themselves waxed daily, and became more and more mischievous. neither the people nor their leaders could learn that, not a new doctrine, but a wise toleration for all christian doctrines was wanted. of new doctrines there was no lack. lutherans, calvinists, flaccianists, majorists, adiaphorists, brantianists, ubiquitists, swarmed and contended pell-mell. in this there would have been small harm, if the reformers had known what reformation meant. but they could not invent or imagine toleration. all claimed the privilege of persecuting. there were sagacious and honest men among the great ones of the country, but they were but few. wise william of hesse strove hard to effect a concordia among the jarring sects; count john of nassau, though a passionate calvinist, did no less; while the elector of saxony, on the other hand, raging and roaring like a bull of bashan, was for sacrificing the interest of millions on the altar of his personal spite. cursed was his tribe if he forgave the prince. he had done what he could at the diet of ratisbon to exclude all calvinists from a participation in the religious peace of germany, and he redoubled his efforts to prevent the extension of any benefits to the calvinists of the netherlands. these determinations had remained constant and intense. on the whole, the political appearance of germany was as menacing as that of france seemed for a time favorable to the schemes of orange. the quarrels of the princes, and the daily widening schism between lutherans and calvinists, seemed to bode little good to the cause of religious freedom. the potentates were perplexed and at variance, the nobles lukewarm and discontented. among the people, although subdivided into hostile factions, there was more life. here, at least, were heartiness of love and hate, enthusiastic conviction, earnestness and agitation. "the true religion," wrote count john, "is spreading daily among the common men. among the powerful, who think themselves highly learned, and who sit in roses, it grows, alas, little. here and there a nicodemus or two may be found, but things will hardly go better here than in france or the netherlands." thus, then, stood affairs in the neighbouring countries. the prospect was black in germany, more encouraging in france, dubious, or worse, in england. more work, more anxiety, more desperate struggles than ever, devolved upon the prince. secretary brunynck wrote that his illustrious chief was tolerably well in health, but so loaded with affairs, sorrows, and travails, that, from morning till night, he had scarcely leisure to breathe. besides his multitudinous correspondence with the public bodies, whose labors he habitually directed; with the various estates of the provinces, which he was gradually moulding into an organised and general resistance to the spanish power; with public envoys and with secret agents to foreign cabinets, all of whom received their instructions from him alone; with individuals of eminence and influence, whom he was eloquently urging to abandon their hostile position to their fatherland; and to assist him in the great work which he was doing; besides these numerous avocations, he was actively and anxiously engaged during the spring of , with the attempt to relieve the city of zierickzee. that important place, the capital of schouwen, and the key to half zealand, had remained closely invested since the memorable expedition to duiveland. the prince had passed much of his time in the neighbourhood, during the month of may, in order to attend personally to the contemplated relief, and to correspond daily with the beleaguered garrison. at last, on the th of may, a vigorous effort was made to throw in succor by sea. the brave admiral boisot, hero of the memorable relief of leyden, had charge of the expedition. mondragon had surrounded the shallow harbor with hulks and chains, and with a loose submerged dyke of piles and rubbish. against this obstacle boisot drove his ship, the 'red lion,' with his customary audacity, but did not succeed in cutting it through. his vessel, the largest of the feet, became entangled: he was, at the same time, attacked from a distance by the besiegers. the tide ebbed and left his ship aground, while the other vessels had been beaten back by the enemy. night approached; and there was no possibility of accomplishing the enterprise. his ship was hopelessly stranded. with the morning's sun his captivity was certain. rather than fall into the hands of his enemy, he sprang into the sea; followed by three hundred of his companions, some of whom were fortunate enough to effect their escape. the gallant admiral swam a long time, sustained by a broken spar. night and darkness came on before assistance could be rendered, and he perished. thus died louis boisot, one of the most enterprising of the early champions of netherland freedom--one of the bravest precursors of that race of heroes, the commanders of the holland navy. the prince deplored his loss deeply, as that of a "valiant gentleman, and one well affectioned to the common cause." his brother, charles boisot, as will be remembered, had perished by treachery at the first landing of the spanish troops; after their perilous passage from duiveland.--thus both the brethren had laid down their lives for their country, in this its outer barrier, and in the hour of its utmost need. the fall of the beleaguered town could no longer be deferred. the spaniards were, at last, to receive the prize of that romantic valor which had led them across the bottom of the sea to attack the city. nearly nine months had, however, elapsed since that achievement; and the grand commander, by whose orders it had been undertaken, had been four months in his grave. he was permitted to see neither the long-delayed success which crowded the enterprise, nor the procession of disasters and crimes which were to mark it as a most fatal success. on the st of june, , zierickzee, instructed by the prince of orange to accept honorable terms, if offered, agreed to surrender. mondragon, whose soldiers were in a state of suffering, and ready to break out in mutiny, was but too happy to grant an honorable capitulation. the garrison were allowed to go out with their arms and personal baggage. the citizens were permitted to retain or resume their privileges and charters, on payment of two hundred thousand guldens. of, sacking and burning there was, on this occasion, fortunately, no question; but the first half of the commutation money was to be paid in cash. there was but little money in the impoverished little town, but mint-masters were appointed by the magistrates to take their seats at once an in the hotel de ville. the citizens brought their spoons and silver dishes; one after another, which were melted and coined into dollars and half-dollars, until the payment was satisfactorily adjusted. thus fell zierickzee, to the deep regret of the prince. "had we received the least succor in the world from any side," he wrote; "the poor city should never have fallen. i could get nothing from france or england, with all my efforts. nevertheless, we do not lose courage, but hope that, although abandoned by all the world, the lord god will extend his right hand over us." the enemies were not destined to go farther. from their own hand now came the blow which was to expel them from the soil which they had so long polluted. no sooner was zierickzee captured than a mutiny broke forth among several companies of spaniards and walloons, belonging, to the army in schouwen. a large number of the most influential officers had gone to brussels, to make arrangements, if possible; for the payment of the troops. in their absence there was more scope for the arguments of the leading mutineers; arguments assuredly, not entirely destitute of justice or logical precision. if ever laborers were worthy of their hire, certainly it was the spanish soldiery. had they not done the work of demons for nine years long? could philip or alva have found in the wide world men to execute their decrees with more unhesitating docility, with more sympathizing eagerness? what obstacle had ever given them pause in their career of duty? what element had they not braved? had not they fought within the bowels of the earth, beneath the depths of the sea, within blazing cities, and upon fields of ice? where was the work which had been too dark and bloody for their performance? had they not slaughtered unarmed human beings by townfuls, at the word of command? had they not eaten the flesh, and drank the hearts' blood of their enemies? had they not stained the house of god with wholesale massacre? what altar and what hearthstone had they not profaned? what fatigue, what danger, what crime, had ever checked them for a moment? and for all this obedience, labor, and bloodshed, were they not even to be paid such wages as the commonest clown, who only tore the earth at home, received? did philip believe that a few thousand spaniards were to execute his sentence of death against three millions of netherlanders, and be cheated of their pay at last? it was in vain that arguments and expostulations were addressed to soldiers who were suffering from want, and maddened by injustice. they determined to take their cause into their own hand, as they had often done before. by the th of july, the mutiny was general on the isle of schouwen. promises were freely offered, both of pay and pardon; appeals were made to their old sense of honor and loyalty; but they had had enough of promises, of honor, and of work. what they wanted now were shoes and jerkins, bread and meat, and money. money they would have, and that at once. the king of spain was their debtor. the netherlands belonged to the king of spain. they would therefore levy on the netherlands for payment of their debt. certainly this was a logical deduction. they knew by experience that this process had heretofore excited more indignation in the minds of the netherland people than in that of their master. moreover, at this juncture, they cared little for their sovereign's displeasure, and not at all for that of the netherlanders. by the middle of july, then, the mutineers, now entirely beyond control, held their officers imprisoned within their quarters at zierickzee. they even surrounded the house of mondtagon, who had so often led them to victory, calling upon him with threats and taunts to furnish them with money. the veteran, roused to fury by their insubordination and their taunts, sprang from his house into the midst of the throng. baring his breast before them, he fiercely invited and dared their utmost violence. of his life-blood, he told them bitterly, he was no niggard, and it was at their disposal. his wealth, had he possessed any, would have been equally theirs. shamed into temporary respect, but not turned from their purpose by the choler of their chief, they left him to himself. soon afterwards, having swept schouwen island bare of every thing which could be consumed, the mutineers swarmed out of zealand into brabant, devouring as they went. it was their purpose to hover for a time in the neighbourhood of the capital, and either to force the council of state to pay them their long arrears, or else to seize and sack the richest city upon which they could lay their hands. the compact, disciplined mass, rolled hither and thither, with uncertainty of purpose, but with the same military precision of movement which had always characterized these remarkable mutinies. it gathered strength daily. the citizens of brussels contemplated with dismay the eccentric and threatening apparition. they knew that rapine, murder, and all the worst evils which man can inflict on his brethren were pent within it, and would soon descend. yet, even with all their past experience, did they not foresee the depth of woe which was really impending. the mutineers had discarded such of their officers as they could not compel to obedience, and had, as usual, chosen their eletto. many straggling companies joined them as they swept to and fro. they came to herenthals, where they were met by count mansfeld, who was deputed by the council of state to treat with them, to appeal to them; to pardon them, to offer, them everything but money. it may be supposed that the success of the commander-in-chief was no better than that of mondragon and his subalterns. they laughed him to scorn when he reminded them how their conduct was tarnishing the glory which they had acquired by nine years of heroism. they answered with their former cynicism, that glory could be put neither into pocket nor stomach. they had no use for it; they had more than enough of it. give them money, or give them a city, these were their last terms. sorrowfully and bodingly mansfeld withdrew to consult again with the state council. the mutineers then made a demonstration upon mechlin, but that city having fortunately strengthened its garrison, was allowed to escape. they then hovered for a time outside the walls of brussels. at grimsberg, where they paused for a short period, they held a parley with captain montesdocca, whom they received with fair words and specious pretences. he returned to brussels with the favourable tidings, and the mutineers swarmed off to assche. thither montesdoeca was again despatched, with the expectation that he would be able to bring them to terms, but they drove him off with jeers and threats, finding that he brought neither money nor the mortgage of a populous city. the next day, after a feint or two in a different direction, they made a sudden swoop upon alost, in flanders. here they had at last made their choice, and the town was carried by storm. all the inhabitants who opposed them were butchered, and the mutiny, at last established in a capital, was able to treat with the state council upon equal terms. they were now between two and three thousand strong, disciplined, veteran troops, posted in a strong and wealthy city. one hundred parishes belonged to the jurisdiction of alost, all of which were immediately laid under contribution. the excitement was now intense in brussels. anxiety and alarm had given place to rage, and the whole population rose in arms to defend the capital, which was felt to be in imminent danger. this spontaneous courage of the burghers prevented the catastrophe, which was reserved for a sister city. meantime, the indignation and horror excited by the mutiny were so universal that the council of state could not withstand the pressure. even the women and children demanded daily in the streets that the rebel soldiers should be declared outlaws. on the th of july, accordingly, the king of spain was made to pronounce, his spaniards traitors and murderers. all men were enjoined to slay one or all of them, wherever they should be found; to refuse them bread, water, and fire, and to assemble at sound of bell; in every city; whenever the magistrates should order an assault upon them. a still more stringent edict was issued on the nd of august; and so eagerly had these degrees been expected, that they were published throughout flanders and brabant almost as soon as issued. hitherto the leading officers of the spanish army had kept aloof from the insurgents, and frowned upon their proceedings. the spanish member of the state council, jerome de roda, had joined without opposition in the edict. as, however, the mutiny gathered strength on the outside, the indignation waxed daily within the capital. the citizens of brussels, one and all, stood to their arms. not a man could enter or leave without their permission. the spaniards who were in the town, whether soldiers or merchants, were regarded with suspicion and abhorrence. the leading spanish officers, romero, montesdocca, verdugo, and others, who had attempted to quell the mutiny, had been driven off with threats and curses, their soldiers defying them and brandishing their swords in their very faces. on the other hand, they were looked upon with ill-will by the netherlanders. the most prominent spanish personages in brussels were kept in a state of half-imprisonment. romero, roda, verdugo, were believed to favor at heart the cause of their rebellious troops, and the burghers of brabant had come to consider all the king's army in a state of rebellion. believing the state council powerless to protect them from the impending storm, they regarded that body with little respect, keeping it, as it were, in durance, while the spaniards were afraid to walk the streets of brussels for fear of being murdered. a retainer of rods, who had ventured to defend the character and conduct of his master before a number of excited citizens, was slain on the spot. in antwerp, champagny, brother of granvelle, and governor of the city, was disposed to cultivate friendly relations with the prince of orange. champagny hated the spaniards, and the hatred seemed to establish enough of sympathy between himself and the liberal party to authorize confidence in him. the prince dealt with him, but regarded him warily. fifteen companies of german troops, under colonel altaemst, were suspected of a strong inclination to join the mutiny. they were withdrawn from antwerp, and in their room came count uberstein, with his regiment, who swore to admit no suspicious person inside the gates, and in all things to obey the orders of champagny. in the citadel, however, matters were very threatening. sancho d'avila, the governor, although he had not openly joined the revolt, treated the edict of outlawry against the rebellious soldiery with derision. he refused to publish a decree which he proclaimed infamous, and which had been extorted, in his opinion, from an impotent and trembling council. even champagny had not desired or dared to publish the edict within the city. the reasons alleged were his fears of irritating and alarming the foreign merchants, whose position was so critical and friendship so important at that moment. on the other hand, it was loudly and joyfully published in most other towns of flanders and brabant. in brussels there were two parties, one holding the decree too audacious for his majesty to pardon; the other clamoring for its instantaneous fulfilment. by far the larger and more influential portion of the population favored the measure, and wished the sentence of outlawry and extermination to be extended at once against all spaniards and other foreigners in the service of the king. it seemed imprudent to wait until all the regiments had formally accepted the mutiny, and concentrated themselves into a single body. at this juncture, on the last day of july, the marquis off havre, brother to the duke of aerschot, arrived out of spain. he was charged by the king with conciliatory but unmeaning phrases to the estates. the occasion was not a happy one. there never was a time when direct and vigorous action had been more necessary. it was probably the king's desire then, as much as it ever had been his desire at all, to make up the quarrel with his provinces. he had been wearied with the policy which alva had enforced, and for which he endeavoured at that period to make the duke appear responsible. the barren clemency which the grand commander had been instructed to affect, had deceived but few persons, and had produced but small results. the king was, perhaps, really inclined at this juncture to exercise clemency--that is to say he was willing to pardon his people for having contended for their rights, provided they were now willing to resign them for ever. so the catholic religion and his own authority, were exclusively and inviolably secured, he was willing to receive his disobedient provinces into favor. to accomplish this end, however, he had still no more fortunate conception than to take the advice of hopper. a soothing procrastination was the anodyne selected for the bitter pangs of the body politic--a vague expression of royal benignity the styptic to be applied to its mortal wounds. an interval of hesitation was to bridge over the chasm between the provinces and their distant metropolis. "the marquis of havre has been sent," said the king, "that he may expressly witness to you of our good intentions, and of our desire, with the grace of god, to bring about a pacification." alas, it was well known whence those pavements of good intentions had been taken, and whither they would lead. they were not the material for a substantial road to reconciliation. "his majesty," said the marquis; on delivering his report to the state council, "has long been pondering over all things necessary to the peace of the land. his majesty, like a very gracious and bountiful prince, has ever been disposed, in times past, to treat these, his subjects, by the best and sweetest means." there being, however, room for an opinion that so bountiful a prince might have discovered sweeter means, by all this pondering, than to burn and gibbet his subjects by thousands, it was thought proper to insinuate that his orders had been hitherto misunderstood. alva and requesens had been unfaithful agents, who did not know their business, but it was to be set right in future. "as the good-will and meaning of his majesty has, by no means been followed," continued the envoy, "his majesty has determined to send councillor hopper, keeper of the privy seal, and myself, hitherwards, to execute the resolutions of his majesty." two such personages as poor, plodding, confused; time-serving hopper, and flighty, talkative havre, whom even requesens despised, and whom don john, while shortly afterwards recommending him for a state councillor, characterized, to philip as "a very great scoundrel;" would hardly be able, even if royally empowered, to undo the work of two preceding administrations. moreover, councillor hopper, on further thoughts, was not despatched at all to the netherlands. the provinces were, however, assured by the king's letters to the brabant estates, to the state council, and other, public bodies, as well as by the report of the marquis, that efficacious remedies were preparing in madrid. the people were only too wait patiently till they should arrive. the public had heard before of these nostrums, made up by the royal prescriptions in spain; and were not likely to accept them as a panacea for their present complicated disorders. never, in truth, had conventional commonplace been applied more unseasonably. here was a general military mutiny flaming in the very centre of the land. here had the intense hatred of race, which for years had been gnawing at the heart of the country, at last broken out into most malignant manifestation. here was nearly the whole native population of every province, from grand seigneur to plebeian, from catholic prelate to anabaptist artisan, exasperated alike by the excesses of six thousand foreign brigands, and united by a common hatred, into a band of brethren. here was a state council too feeble to exercise the authority which it had arrogated, trembling between the wrath of its sovereign, the menacing cries of the brussels burghers, and the wild threats of the rebellious army; and held virtually, captive in the capital which it was supposed to govern. certainly, the confirmation of the council in its authority, for an indefinite, even if for a brief period, was a most unlucky step at this juncture. there were two parties in the provinces, but one was far the most powerful upon the great point of the spanish soldiery. a vast majority were in favor of a declaration of outlawry against the whole army, and it was thought desirable to improve the opportunity by getting rid of them altogether. if the people could rise en masse, now that the royal government was in abeyance, and, as it were, in the nation's hands, the incubus might be cast off for ever. if any of the spanish officers had been sincere in their efforts to arrest the mutiny, the sincerity was not believed. if any of the foreign regiments of the king appeared to hesitate at joining the alost crew, the hesitation was felt to be temporary. meantime, the important german regiments of fugger, fronsberger, and polwiller, with their colonels and other officers, had openly joined the rebellion, while there was no doubt of the sentiments of sancho d'avila and the troops under his command. thus there were two great rallying-places for the sedition, and the most important fortress of the country, the key which unlocked the richest city in the world, was in the hands of the mutineers. the commercial capital of europe, filled to the brim with accumulated treasures, and with the merchandize of every clime; lay at the feet of this desperate band of brigands. the horrible result was but too soon to be made manifest. meantime, in brussels, the few spaniards trembled for their lives. the few officers shut up there were in imminent danger. "as the devil does not cease to do his work," wrote colonel verdugo, "he has put it into the heads of the brabanters to rebel, taking for a pretext the mutiny of the spaniards. the brussels men have handled their weapons so well against those who were placed there to protect them, that they have begun to kill the spaniards, threatening likewise the council of state. such is their insolence, that they care no more for these great lords than for so many varlets." the writer, who had taken refuge, together with jerome de roda and other spaniards, or "hispaniolized" persons, in antwerp citadel, proceeded to sketch the preparations which were going on in brussels, and the counter measures which were making progress in antwerp. "the states," he wrote, "are enrolling troops, saying 'tis to put down the mutiny; but i assure you 'tis to attack the army indiscriminately. to prevent such a villainous undertaking, troops of all nations are assembling here, in order to march straight upon brussels, there to enforce everything which my lords of the state council shall ordain." events were obviously hastening to a crisis--an explosion, before long, was inevitable. "i wish i had my horses here," continued the colonel, "and must beg you to send them. i see a black cloud hanging over our heads. i fear that the brabantines will play the beasts so much, that they will have all the soldiery at their throats." jerome de roda had been fortunate enough to make his escape out of brussels, and now claimed to be sole governor of the netherlands, as the only remaining representative of the state council. his colleagues were in durance at the capital. their authority was derided. although not yet actually imprisoned, they were in reality bound hand and foot, and compelled to take their orders either from the brabant estates or from the burghers of brussels. it was not an illogical proceeding, therefore, that roda, under the shadow of the antwerp citadel, should set up his own person as all that remained of the outraged majesty of spain. till the new governor, don juan, should arrive, whose appointment the king had already communicated to the government, and who might be expected in the netherlands before the close of the autumn, the solitary councillor claimed to embody the whole council. he caused a new seal to be struck--a proceeding very unreasonably charged as forgery by the provincials--and forthwith began to thunder forth proclamations and counter-proclamations in the king's name and under the royal seal. it is difficult to see any technical crime or mistake in such a course. as a spaniard, and a representative of his majesty, he could hardly be expected to take any other view of his duty. at any rate, being called upon to choose between rebellious netherlanders and mutinous spaniards, he was not long in making up his mind. by the beginning of september the mutiny was general. all the spanish army, from general to pioneer, were united. the most important german troops had taken side with them. sancho d'avila held the citadel of antwerp, vowing vengeance, and holding open communication with the soldiers at alost. the council of state remonstrated with him for his disloyalty. he replied by referring to his long years of service, and by reproving them for affecting an authority which their imprisonment rendered ridiculous. the spaniards were securely established. the various citadels which had been built by charles and philip to curb the country now effectually did their work. with the castles of antwerp, valenciennes, ghent, utrecht, culemburg, viane, alost, in the hands of six thousand veteran spaniards, the country seemed chained in every limb. the foreigner's foot was on its neck. brussels was almost the only considerable town out of holland and zealand which was even temporarily safe. the important city of maestricht was held by a spanish garrison, while other capital towns and stations were in the power of the walloon and german mutineers. the depredations committed in the villages, the open country, and the cities were incessant--the spaniards treating every netherlander as their foe. gentleman and peasant, protestant and catholic, priest and layman, all were plundered, maltreated, outraged. the indignation became daily more general and more intense. there were frequent skirmishes between the soldiery and promiscuous bands of peasants, citizens, and students; conflicts in which the spaniards were invariably victorious. what could such half-armed and wholly untrained partisans effect against the bravest and most experienced troops in the whole world? such results only increased the general exasperation, while they impressed upon the whole people the necessity of some great and general effort to throw off the incubus. - [chapter v.] religious and political sympathies and antipathies in the seventeen provinces--unanimous hatred for the foreign soldiery--use made by the prince of the mutiny--his correspondence--necessity of union enforced--a congress from nearly all the provinces meets at ghent-- skirmishes between the foreign troops and partisan bands--slaughter at tisnacq--suspicions entertained of the state-council--arrest of the state-council--siege of ghent citadel--assistance sent by orange--maestricht lost and regained--wealthy and perilous condition of antwerp--preparations of the mutineers under the secret superintendence of avila--stupidity of oberstein--duplicity of don sancho--reinforcements of walloons under havre, egmont, and others, sent to for the expected assault of antwerp--governor champagny's preparations the mutineers--insubordination, incapacity, and negligence of all but him--concentration of all the mutineers from different points, in the citadel--the attack--the panic--the flight --the massacre--the fire--the sack--and other details of the "spanish fury"--statistics of murder and robbery--letter of orange to the states-general--surrender of ghent citadel--conclusion of the "ghent pacification"--the treaty characterized--forms of ratification--fall of zierickzee and recovery of zealand. meantime, the prince of orange sat at middelburg, watching the storm. the position of holland and zealand with regard to the other fifteen provinces was distinctly characterized. upon certain points there was an absolute sympathy, while upon others there was a grave and almost fatal difference. it was the task of the prince to deepen the sympathy, to extinguish the difference. in holland and zealand, there was a warm and nearly universal adhesion to the reformed religion, a passionate attachment to the ancient political liberties. the prince, although an earnest calvinist himself, did all in his power to check the growing spirit of intolerance toward the old religion, omitted no opportunity of strengthening the attachment which the people justly felt for their liberal institutions. on the other hand, in most of the other provinces, the catholic religion had been regaining its ascendency. even in , the estates assembled at brussels declared to requesens "that they would rather die the death than see any change in their religion." that feeling had rather increased than diminished. although there was a strong party attached to the new faith, there was perhaps a larger, certainly a more influential body, which regarded the ancient church with absolute fidelity. owing partly to the persecution which had, in the course of years, banished so many thousands of families from the soil, partly to the coercion, which was more stringent in the immediate presence of the crown's representative, partly to the stronger infusion of the celtic element, which from the earliest ages had always been so keenly alive to the more sensuous and splendid manifestations of the devotional principle--owing to those and many other causes, the old religion, despite of all the outrages which had been committed in its name, still numbered a host of zealous adherents in the fifteen provinces. attempts against its sanctity were regarded with jealous eyes. it was believed, and with reason, that there was a disposition on the part of the reformers to destroy it root and branch. it was suspected that the same enginery of persecution would be employed in its extirpation, should the opposite party gain the supremacy, which the papists had so long employed against the converts to the new religion. as to political convictions, the fifteen provinces differed much less from their two sisters. there was a strong attachment to their old constitutions; a general inclination to make use of the present crisis to effect their restoration. at the same time, it had not come to be the general conviction, as in holland and zealand, that the maintenance of those liberties was incompatible with the continuance of philip's authority. there was, moreover, a strong aristocratic faction which was by no means disposed to take a liberal view of government in general, and regarded with apprehension the simultaneous advance of heretical notions both in church and, state. still there were, on the whole, the elements of a controlling constitutional party throughout the fifteen provinces the great bond of sympathy, however, between all the seventeen was their common hatred to the foreign soldiery. upon this deeply imbedded, immovable fulcrum of an ancient national hatred, the sudden mutiny of the whole spanish army served as a lever of incalculable power. the prince seized it as from the hand of god. thus armed, he proposed to himself the task of upturning the mass of oppression under which the old liberties of the country had so long been crushed. to effect this object, adroitness was as requisite as courage. expulsion of the foreign soldiery, union of the seventeen provinces, a representative constitution, according to the old charters, by the states-general, under an hereditary chief, a large religious toleration, suppression of all inquisition into men's consciences--these were the great objects to which the prince now devoted himself with renewed energy. to bring about a general organization and a general union, much delicacy of handling was necessary. the sentiment of extreme catholicism and monarchism was not to be suddenly scared into opposition. the prince, therefore, in all his addresses and documents was careful to disclaim any intention of disturbing the established religion, or of making any rash political changes. "let no man think," said he, to the authorities of brabant, "that, against the will of the estates, we desire to bring about any change in religion. let no one suspect us capable of prejudicing the rights of any man. we have long since taken up arms to maintain a legal and constitutional freedom, founded upon law. god forbid that we should now attempt to introduce novelties, by which the face of liberty should be defiled." in a brief and very spirited letter to count lalain, a catholic and a loyalist, but a friend of his country and fervent hater of foreign oppression, he thus appealed to his sense of chivalry and justice: "although the honorable house from which you spring," he said, "and the virtue and courage of your ancestors have always impressed me with the conviction that you would follow in their footsteps, yet am i glad to have received proofs that my anticipations were correct. i cannot help, therefore, entreating you to maintain the same high heart, and to accomplish that which you have so worthily begun. be not deluded by false masks, mumming faces, and borrowed titles, which people assume for their own profit, persuading others that the king's service consists in the destruction of his subjects." while thus careful to offend no man's religious convictions, to startle no man's loyalty, he made skillful use of the general indignation felt at, the atrocities of the mutinous army. this chord he struck boldly, powerfully, passionately, for he felt sure of the depth and strength of its vibrations. in his address to the estates of gelderland, he used vigorous language, inflaming and directing to a practical purpose the just wrath which was felt in that, as in every other province. "i write to warn you," he said, "to seize this present opportunity. shake from your necks the yoke of the godless spanish tyranny, join yourselves at once to the lovers of the fatherland, to the defenders of freedom. according to the example of your own ancestors and ours, redeem for the country its ancient laws, traditions, and privileges. permit no longer, to your shame and ours, a band of spanish landloupers and other foreigners, together with three or four self-seeking enemies of their own land, to keep their feet upon our necks. let them no longer, in the very wantonness of tyranny, drive us about like a herd of cattle--like a gang of well-tamed slaves." thus, day after day, in almost countless addresses to public bodies and private individuals, he made use of the crisis to pile fresh fuel upon the flames. at the same time, while thus fanning the general indignation, he had the adroitness to point out that the people had already committed themselves. he represented to them that the edict, by which they had denounced his majesty's veterans as outlaws, and had devoted them to the indiscriminate destruction which such brigands deserved, was likely to prove an unpardonable crime in the eyes of majesty. in short, they had entered the torrent. if they would avoid being dashed over the precipice, they must struggle manfully with the mad waves of civil war into which they had plunged. "i beg you, with all affection," he said to the states of brabant, "to consider the danger in which you have placed yourselves. you have to deal with the proudest and most overbearing race in the world. for these qualities they are hated by all other nations. they are even hateful to themselves. 'tis a race which seeks to domineer wheresoever it comes. it particularly declares its intention to crush and to tyrannize you, my masters, and all the land. they have conquered you already, as they boast, for the crime of lese-majesty has placed you at their mercy. i tell you that your last act, by which you have declared this army to be rebels, is decisive. you have armed and excited the whole people against them, even to the peasants and the peasants' children, and the insults and injuries thus received, however richly deserved and dearly avenged, are all set down to your account. therefore, 'tis necessary for you to decide now, whether to be utterly ruined, yourselves and your children, or to continue firmly the work which you have begun boldly, and rather to die a hundred thousand deaths than to make a treaty with them, which can only end in your ruin. be assured that the measure dealt to you will be ignominy as well as destruction. let not your leaders expect the honorable scaffolds of counts egmont and horn. the whipping-post and then the gibbet will be their certain fate." having by this and similar language, upon various occasions, sought to impress upon his countrymen the gravity of the position, he led them to seek the remedy in audacity and in union. he familiarized them with his theory, that the legal, historical government of the provinces belonged to the states-general, to a congress of nobles, clergy, and commons, appointed from each of the seventeen provinces. he maintained, with reason, that the government of the netherlands was a representative constitutional government, under the hereditary authority of the king. to recover this constitution, to lift up these down-trodden rights, he set before them most vividly the necessity of union, "'tis impossible," he said, "that a chariot should move evenly having its wheels unequally proportioned; and so must a confederation be broken to pieces, if there be not an equal obligation on all to tend to a common purpose." union, close, fraternal, such as became provinces of a common origin and with similar laws, could alone save them from their fate. union against a common tyrant to save a common fatherland. union; by which differences of opinion should be tolerated, in order that a million of hearts should beat for a common purpose, a million hands work out, invincibly, a common salvation. "'tis hardly necessary," he said "to use many words in recommendation of union. disunion has been the cause of all our woes. there is no remedy, no hope, save in the bonds of friendship. let all particular disagreements be left to the decision of the states-general, in order that with one heart and one will we may seek the disenthralment of the fatherland from the tyranny of strangers." the first step to a thorough union among all the provinces was the arrangement of a closer connection between the now isolated states of holland and zealand on the one side, and their fifteen sisters on the other. the prince professed the readiness of those states which he might be said to represent in his single person, to draw as closely as possible the bonds of fellowship. it was almost superfluous for him to promise his own ready co-operation. "nothing remains to us," said he, "but to discard all jealousy and distrust. let us, with a firm resolution and a common accord, liberate these lands from the stranger. hand to hand let us accomplish a just and general peace. as for myself, i present to you, with very, good affection, my person and all which i possess, assuring you that i shall regard all my labors and pains in times which are past, well bestowed, if god now grant me grace to see the desired end. that this end will be reached, if you hold fast your resolution and take to heart the means which god presents to you, i feel to be absolutely certain." such were the tenor and the motives of the documents which he scattered--broadcast at this crisis. they were addressed to the estates of nearly every province. those bodies were urgently implored to appoint deputies to a general congress, at which a close and formal union between holland and zealand with the other provinces might be effected. that important measure secured, a general effort might, at the same time, be made to expel the spaniard from the soil. this done, the remaining matters could be disposed of by the assembly of the estates-general. his eloquence and energy were not without effect. in the course of the autumn, deputies were appointed from the greater number of the provinces, to confer with the representatives of holland and zealand, in a general congress. the place appointed for the deliberations was the city of ghent. here, by the middle of october, a large number of delegates were already assembled. events were rapidly rolling together from every quarter, and accumulating to a crisis. a congress--a rebellious congress, as the king might deem it--was assembling at ghent; the spanish army, proscribed, lawless, and terrible, was strengthening itself daily for some dark and mysterious achievement; don john of austria, the king's natural brother, was expected from spain to assume the government, which the state council was too timid to wield and too loyal to resign, while, meantime, the whole population of the netherlands, with hardly an exception, was disposed to see the great question of the foreign soldiery settled, before the chaos then existing should be superseded by a more definite authority. everywhere, men of all ranks and occupations--the artisan in the city, the peasant in the fields--were deserting their daily occupations to furbish helmets, handle muskets, and learn the trade of war. skirmishes, sometimes severe and bloody, were of almost daily occurrence. in these the spaniards were invariably successful, for whatever may be said of their cruelty and licentiousness, it cannot be disputed that their prowess was worthy of their renown. romantic valor, unflinching fortitude, consummate skill, characterized them always. what could half-armed artisans achieve in the open plain against such accomplished foes? at tisnacq, between louvain and tirlemont, a battle was attempted by a large miscellaneous mass of students, peasantry, and burghers, led by country squires. it soon changed to a carnage, in which the victims were all on one side. a small number of veterans, headed by vargas, mendoza, tassis, and other chivalrous commanders, routed the undisciplined thousands at a single charge. the rude militia threw away their arms, and fled panic-struck in all directions, at the first sight of their terrible foe. two spaniards lost their lives and two thousand netherlanders. it was natural that these consummate warriors should despise such easily slaughtered victims. a single stroke of the iron flail, and the chaff was scattered to the four winds; a single sweep of the disciplined scythe, and countless acres were in an instant mown. nevertheless, although beaten constantly, the netherlanders were not conquered. holland and zealand had read the foe a lesson which he had not forgotten, and although on the open fields, and against the less vigorous population of the more central provinces, his triumphs had been easier, yet it was obvious that the spirit of resistance to foreign oppression was growing daily stronger, notwithstanding daily defeats. meantime, while these desultory but deadly combats were in daily progress, the council of state was looked upon with suspicion by the mass of the population. that body, in which resided provisionally the powers of government, was believed to be desirous of establishing relations with the mutinous army. it was suspected of insidiously provoking the excesses which it seemed to denounce. it was supposed to be secretly intriguing with those whom its own edicts had outlawed. its sympathies were considered, spanish. it was openly boasted by the spanish army that, before long, they would descend from their fastnesses upon brussels, and give the city to the sword. a shuddering sense of coming evil pervaded the population, but no man could say where the blow would first be struck. it was natural that the capital should be thought exposed to imminent danger. at the same time, while every man who had hands was disposed to bear arms to defend the city, the council seemed paralyzed. the capital was insufficiently garrisoned, yet troops were not enrolling for its protection. the state councillors obviously omitted to provide for defence, and it was supposed that they were secretly assisting the attack. it was thought important, therefore, to disarm, or, at least, to control this body which was impotent for protection, and seemed powerful only for mischief. it was possible to make it as contemptible as it was believed to be malicious. an unexpected stroke was therefore suddenly levelled against the council in full session. on the th of september, the seigneur de heze, a young gentleman of a bold, but unstable character, then entertaining close but secret relations with the prince of orange, appeared before the doors of the palace. he was attended by about five hundred troops, under the immediate command of the seigneur de glimes, bailiff of walloon brabant. he demanded admittance, in the name of the brabant estates, to the presence of the state council, and was refused. the doors were closed and bolted. without further ceremony the soldiers produced iron bars brought with them for the purpose, forced all the gates from the hinges, entered the hall of session, and at a word from their commander, laid hands upon the councillors, and made every one prisoner. the duke of aerschot, president of the council, who was then in close alliance with the prince, was not present at the meeting, but lay forewarned, at home, confined to his couch by a sickness assumed for the occasion. viglius, who rarely participated in the deliberations of the board, being already afflicted with the chronic malady under which he was ere long to succumb, also escaped the fate of his fellow-senators. the others were carried into confinement. berlaymont and mansfeld were imprisoned in the brood-huys, where the last mortal hours of egmont and horn had been passed. others were kept strictly guarded in their own houses. after a few weeks, most of them were liberated. councillor del rio was, however, retained in confinement, and sent to holland, where he was subjected to a severe examination by the prince of orange, touching his past career, particularly concerning the doings of the famous blood council. the others were set free, and even permitted to resume their functions, but their dignity was gone, their authority annihilated. thenceforth the states of brabant and the community of brussels were to govern for an interval, for it was in their name that the daring blow against the council had been struck. all individuals and bodies, however, although not displeased with the result, clamorously disclaimed responsibility for the deed. men were appalled at the audacity of the transaction, and dreaded the vengeance of the king: the abbot van perch, one of the secret instigators of the act, actually died of anxiety for its possible consequences. there was a mystery concerning the affair. they in whose name it had been accomplished, denied having given any authority to the perpetrators. men asked each other what unseen agency had been at work, what secret spring had been adroitly touched. there is but little doubt, however, that the veiled but skilful hand which directed the blow, was the same which had so long been guiding the destiny of the netherlands. it had been settled that the congress was to hold its sessions in ghent, although the citadel commanding that city was held by the spaniards. the garrison was not very strong, and mondragon, its commander, was absent in zealand, but the wife of the veteran ably supplied his place, and stimulated the slender body of troops to hold out with heroism, under the orders of his lieutenant, avilos maldonado. the mutineers, after having accomplished their victory at tisnacq, had been earnestly solicited to come to the relief of this citadel. they had refused and returned to alost. meantime, the siege was warmly pressed by the states. there being, however, a deficiency of troops, application for assistance was formally made to the prince of orange. count reulx, governor of flanders; commissioned the seigneur d'haussy, brother of count bossu, who, to obtain the liberation of that long-imprisoned and distinguished nobleman, was about visiting the prince in zealand, to make a request for an auxiliary force. it was, however, stipulated that care should be taken lest any prejudice should be done to the roman catholic religion or the authority of the king. the prince readily acceded to the request, and agreed to comply with the conditions under which only it could be accepted. he promised to send twenty-eight companies. in his letter announcing this arrangement, he gave notice that his troops would receive strict orders to do no injury to person or property, catholic or protestant, ecclesiastic or lay, and to offer no obstruction to the roman religion or the royal dignity. he added, however, that it was not to be taken amiss, if his soldiers were permitted to exercise their own religious rites, and to sing their protestant hymns within their own quarters. he moreover, as security for the expense and trouble, demanded the city of sluys. the first detachment of troops, under command of colonel vander tympel, was, however, hardly on its way, before an alarm was felt among the catholic party at this practical alliance with the rebel prince. an envoy, named ottingen, was despatched to zealand, bearing a letter from the estates of hainault, brabant, and flanders, countermanding the request for troops, and remonstrating categorically upon the subject of religion and loyalty. orange deemed such tergiversation paltry, but controlled his anger. he answered the letter in liberal terms, for he was determined that by no fault of his should the great cause be endangered. he reassured the estates as to the probable behaviour of his troops. moreover, they had been already admitted into the city, while the correspondence was proceeding. the matter of the psalm-singing was finally arranged to the satisfaction of both parties, and it was agreed that niewport, instead of sluys, should be given to the prince as security. the siege of the citadel was now pressed vigorously, and the deliberations of the congress were opened under the incessant roar of cannon. while the attack was thus earnestly maintained upon the important castle of ghent, a courageous effort was made by the citizens of maestricht to wrest their city from the hands of the spaniards. the german garrison having been gained by the burghers, the combined force rose upon the spanish troops, and drove them from the city, montesdocca, the commander, was arrested and imprisoned, but the triumph was only temporary. don francis d'ayala, montesdocca's lieutenant, made a stand, with a few companies, in wieck, a village on the opposite side of the meuse, and connected with the city by a massive bridge of stone. from this point he sent information to other commanders in the neighbourhood. don ferdinand de toledo soon arrived with several hundred troops from dalem. the spaniards, eager to wipe out the disgrace to their arms, loudly demanded to be led back to the city. the head of the bridge, however, over which they must pass, was defended by a strong battery, and the citizens were seen clustering in great numbers to defend their firesides against a foe whom they had once expelled. to advance across the bridge seemed certain destruction to the little force. even spanish bravery recoiled at so desperate an undertaking, but unscrupulous ferocity supplied an expedient where courage was at fault. there were few fighting men present among the population of wieck, but there were many females. each soldier was commanded to seize a woman, and, placing her before his own body, to advance across the bridge. the column, thus bucklered, to the shame of spanish chivalry, by female bosoms, moved in good order toward the battery. the soldiers leveled their muskets with steady aim over the shoulders or under the arms of the women whom they thus held before them. on the other hand, the citizens dared not discharge their cannon at their own townswomen, among whose numbers many recognized mothers, sisters, or wives. the battery was soon taken, while at the same time alonzj vargas, who had effected his entrance from the land side by burning down the brussels gate, now entered the city at the head of a band of cavalry. maestricht was recovered, and an indiscriminate slaughter instantly avenged its temporary loss. the plundering, stabbing, drowning, burning, ravishing; were so dreadful that, in the words of a cotemporary historian, "the burghers who had escaped the fight had reason to think themselves less fortunate than those who had died with arms in their hands." this was the lot of maestricht on the th of october. it was instinctively felt to be the precursor of fresh disasters. vague, incoherent, but widely disseminated rumors had long pointed to antwerp and its dangerous situation. the spaniards, foiled in their views upon brussels, had recently avowed an intention of avenging themselves in the commercial capital. they had waited long enough, and accumulated strength enough. such a trifling city as alost could no longer content their cupidity, but in antwerp there was gold enough for the gathering. there was reason for the fears of the inhabitants, for the greedy longing of their enemy. probably no city in christendom could at that day vie with antwerp in wealth and splendor. its merchants lived in regal pomp and luxury. in its numerous, massive warehouses were the treasures of every clime. still serving as the main entrepot of the world's traffic, the brabantine capital was the centre of that commercial system which was soon to be superseded by a larger international life. in the midst of the miseries which had so long been raining upon the netherlands, the stately and egotistical city seemed to have taken stronger root and to flourish more freshly than ever. it was not wonderful that its palaces and its magazines, glittering with splendor and bursting with treasure, should arouse the avidity of a reckless and famishing soldiery. had not a handful of warriors of their own race rifled the golden indies? had not their fathers, few in number, strong in courage and discipline, revelled in the plunder of a new world? here were the indies in a single city. here were gold and silver, pearls and diamonds, ready and portable; the precious fruit dropping, ripened, from the bough. was it to be tolerated that base, pacific burghers should monopolize the treasure by which a band of heroes might be enriched? a sense of coming evil diffused itself through the atmosphere. the air seemed lurid with the impending storm, for the situation was one of peculiar horror. the wealthiest city in christendom lay at the mercy of the strongest fastness in the world; a castle which had been built to curb, not to protect, the town. it was now inhabited by a band of brigands, outlawed by government, strong in discipline, furious from penury, reckless by habit, desperate in circumstance--a crew which feared not god, nor man, nor devil. the palpitating quarry lay expecting hourly the swoop of its trained and pitiless enemy, for the rebellious soldiers were now in a thorough state of discipline. sancho d'avila, castellan of the citadel, was recognized as the chief of the whole mutiny, the army and the mutiny being now one. the band, entrenched at alost, were upon the best possible understanding with their brethren in the citadel, and accepted without hesitation the arrangements of their superior. on the aide of the scheld, opposite antwerp, a fortification had been thrown up by don sancho's orders, and held by julian romero. lier, breda, as well as alost, were likewise ready to throw their reinforcements into the citadel at a moment's warning. at the signal of their chief, the united bands might sweep from their impregnable castle with a single impulse. the city cried aloud for help, for it had become obvious that an attack might be hourly expected. meantime an attempt, made by don sancho d'avila to tamper with the german troops stationed within the walls, was more than partially, successful. the forces were commanded by colonel van ende and count oberatein. van ende, a crafty traitor to his country, desired no better than to join the mutiny on so promising an occasion, and his soldiers, shared his sentiments. oberatein, a brave, but blundering german, was drawn into the net of treachery by the adroitness of the spaniard and the effrontery of his comrade. on the night of the th of october, half-bewildered and half-drunk, he signed a treaty with sancho d'avilat and the three colonels--fugger, frondsberger, and polwiller. by this unlucky document, which was of course subscribed also by van ende, it was agreed that the antwerp burghers should be forthwith disarmed; that their weapons should be sent into the citadel; that oberstein should hold the city at the disposition of sancho d'avila; that he should refuse admittance to all troops which might be sent into the city, excepting by command of don sancho, and that he should decline compliance with any orders which he might receive from individuals calling themselves the council of state, the states-general, or the estates of brabant. this treaty was signed, moreover; by don jeronimo de rods, then established in the citadel, and claiming to represent exclusively his majesty's government. hardly had this arrangement been concluded than the count saw the trap into which he had fallen. without intending to do so, he had laid the city at the mercy of its foe, but the only remedy which suggested itself to his mind was an internal resolution not to keep his promises. the burghers were suffered to retain their arms, while, on the other hand, don sancho lost no time in despatching messages to alost, to lier, to breda, and even to maestricht, that as large a force as possible might be assembled for the purpose of breaking immediately the treaty of peace which he had just concluded. never was a solemn document, regarded with such perfectly bad faith by all its signers as the accord, of the th of october. three days afterwards, a large force of walloons and germans was despatched from brussels to the assistance of antwerp. the command of these troops was entrusted to the marquis of havre, whose brother, the duke of aerschot; had been recently appointed chief superintendent of military affairs by the deputies assembled at ghent. the miscellaneous duties comprehended under this rather vague denomination did not permit the duke to take charge of the expedition in person, and his younger brother, a still more incompetent and unsubstantial character, was accordingly appointed to the post. a number of young men, of high rank but of lamentably low capacity, were associated with him. foremost among them was philip, count of egmont, a youth who had inherited few of his celebrated father's qualities, save personal courage and a love of personal display. in character and general talents he was beneath mediocrity. beside these were the reckless but unstable de heze, who had executed the coup; d'etat against the state council, de berselen, de capres, d'oyngies, and others, all vaguely desirous of achieving distinction in those turbulent times, but few of them having any political or religious convictions, and none of them possessing experience or influence enough, to render them useful--at the impending crisis. on friday morning, the nd of november, the troops appeared under the walls of antwerp. they consisted of twenty-three companies of infantry and fourteen of cavalry, amounting to five thousand foot and twelve hundred horse. they were nearly all walloons, soldiers who had already seen much active service, but unfortunately of a race warlike and fiery indeed, but upon whose steadiness not much more dependence could be placed at that day than in the age of civilis. champagny, brother of granvelle, was governor of the city. he was a sincere catholic, but a still more sincere hater of the spaniards. he saw in the mutiny a means of accomplishing their expulsion, and had already offered to the prince of orange his eager co-operation towards this result. in other matters there could be but small sympathy between william the silent and the cardinal's brother; but a common hatred united them, for a time at least, in a common purpose. when the troops first made their appearance before the walls, champagny was unwilling to grant them admittance. the addle-brained oberstein had confessed to him the enormous blunder which he had committed in his midnight treaty, and at the same time ingenuously confessed his intention of sending it to the winds. the enemy had extorted from his dulness or his drunkenness a promise, which his mature and sober reason could not consider binding. it is needless to say that champagny rebuked him for signing, and applauded him for breaking the treaty. at the same time its ill effects were already seen in the dissensions which existed among the german troops. where all had been tampered with, and where the commanders had set the example of infidelity, it would have been strange if all had held firm. on the whole, however, oberstein thought he could answer for his own troops: upon van ende's division, although the crafty colonel dissembled his real intentions; very little reliance was placed. thus there was distraction within the walls. among those whom the burghers had been told to consider their defenders, there were probably many who were ready to join with their mortal foes at a moment's warning. under these circumstances, champagny hesitated about admitting these fresh troops from brussels. he feared lest the germans, who knew themselves doubted, might consider themselves doomed. he trembled, lest an irrepressible outbreak should occur within the walls, rendering the immediate destruction of the city by the spaniards from without inevitable. moreover, he thought it more desirable that this auxiliary force should be disposed at different points outside, in order to intercept the passage of the numerous bodies of spaniards and other mutineers, who from various quarters would soon be on their way to the citadel. havre, however, was so peremptory, and the burghers were so importunate, that champagny was obliged to recede from his opposition before twenty-four hours had elapsed. unwilling to take the responsibility of a farther refusal, he admitted the troops through the burgherhout gate, on saturday, the rd of november, at ten o'clock in the morning. the marquis of havre, as commander-in-chief, called a council of war. it assembled at count oberstein's quarters, and consulted at first concerning a bundle of intercepted letters which havre had brought with him. these constituted a correspondence between sancho d'avila with the heads of the mutiny at alost, and many other places. the letters were all dated subsequently to don sancho's treaty with oberstein, and contained arrangements for an immediate concentration of the whole available spanish force at the citadel. the treachery was so manifest, that oberstein felt all self-reproach for his own breach of faith to be superfluous. it was however evident that the attack was to be immediately expected. what was to be done? all the officers counselled the immediate erection of a bulwark on the side of the city exposed to the castle, but there were no miners nor engineers. champagny, however, recommended a skilful and experienced engineer to superintend; the work in the city; and pledged himself that burghers enough would volunteer as miners. in less than an hour, ten or twelve thousand persons, including multitudes of women of all ranks, were at work upon the lines marked out by the engineer. a ditch and breast-work extending from the gate of the beguins to the street of the abbey saint michael, were soon in rapid progress. meantime, the newly arrived troops, with military insolence, claimed the privilege of quartering themselves in the best houses which they could find. they already began to, insult and annoy the citizens whom they had been sent to defend; nor were they destined to atone, by their subsequent conduct in the face of the enemy, for the brutality with which they treated their friends. champagny, however; was ill-disposed to brook their licentiousness. they had been sent to protect the city and the homes of antwerp from invasion. they were not to establish themselves, at every fireside on their first arrival. there was work enough for them out of doors, and they were to do that work at once. he ordered them to prepare for a bivouac in, the streets, and flew from house to house, sword in hand; driving forth the intruders at imminent peril of his life. meantime, a number of italian and spanish merchants fled from the city, and took refuge in the castle. the walloon soldiers were for immediately plundering their houses, as if plunder had been the object for which they had been sent to antwerp. it was several hours before champagny, with all his energy, was able to quell these disturbances. in the course of the day, oberstein received a letter from don sandra d'avila, calling solemnly upon him to fulfil his treaty of the th of october. the german colonels from the citadel had, on the previous afternoon, held a personal interview with oberstein beneath the walls, which had nearly ended in blows, and they had been obliged to save themselves by flight from the anger of the count's soldiers, enraged at the deceit by which their leader had been so nearly entrapped. this summons of ridiculous solemnity to keep a treaty which had already been torn to shreds by both parties, oberstein answered with defiance and contempt. the reply was an immediate cannonade from the batteries of the citadel; which made the position of those erecting the ramparts excessively dangerous. the wall was strengthened with bales of merchandise, casks of earth, upturned wagons, and similar bulky objects, hastily piled together. in, some places it was sixteen feet high; in others less than six. night fell before the fortification was nearly completed. unfortunately it was bright moonlight. the cannon from the fortress continued to play upon the half-finished works. the walloons, and at last the citizens, feared to lift their heads above their frail rampart. the senators, whom champagny had deputed to superintend the progress of the enterprise, finding the men so indisposed, deserted their posts. they promised themselves that, in the darkest hour of the following night, the work should be thoroughly completed. alas! all hours of the coming night were destined to be dark enough, but in them was to be done no manner of work for defence. on champagny alone seemed devolved an the labor and all the responsibility. he did his duty well, but he was but one man. alone, with a heart full of anxiety, he wandered up and down all the night. with his own hands, assisted only by a few citizens and his own servants, he planted all the cannon with which they were provided, in the "fencing court," at a point where the battery might tell upon the castle. unfortunately, the troops from brussels had brought no artillery with them, and the means of defence against the strongest fortress in europe were meagre indeed. the rampart had been left very weak at many vital points. a single upturned wagon was placed across the entrance to the important street of the beguins. this negligence was to cost the city dear. at daybreak, there was a council held in oberstein's quarters. nearly all champagny's directions had been neglected. he had desired that strong detachments should be posted during the night at various places of security on the outskirts of the town, for the troops which were expected to arrive in small bodies at the citadel from various parts, might have thus been cut off before reaching their destination. not even scouts had been stationed in sufficient numbers to obtain information of what was occurring outside. a thick mist hung over the city that eventful morning. through its almost impenetrable veil, bodies of men had been seen moving into the castle, and the tramp of cavalry had been distinctly heard, and the troops of romero, vargas, oliveira, and valdez had already arrived from lier, breda, maestricht, and from the forts on the scheld. the whole available force in the city was mustered without delay. havre had claimed for his post the defence of the lines opposite the citadel, the place of responsibility and honor. here the whole body of walloons were stationed, together with a few companies of germans. the ramparts, as stated, were far from impregnable, but it was hoped that this living rampart of six thousand men, standing on their own soil, and in front of the firesides and altars of their own countrymen; would prove a sufficient bulwark even against spanish fury. unhappily, the living barrier proved more frail than the feeble breastwork which the hands of burghers and women had constructed. six thousand men were disposed along the side of the city opposite the fortress. the bulk of the german troops was stationed at different points on the more central streets and squares. the cavalry was posted on the opposite side of the city, along the horse-market, and fronting the "new-town." the stars were still in the sky when champagny got on horseback and rode through the streets, calling on the burghers to arm and assemble at different points. the principal places of rendezvous were the cattlemarket and the exchange. he rode along the lines of the walloon regiments, conversing with the officers, egmont, de heze, and others, and encouraging the men, and went again to the fencing court, where he pointed the cannon with his own hand, and ordered their first discharge at the fortress. thence he rode to the end of the beguin street, where he dismounted and walked out upon the edge of the esplanade which stretched between the city and the castle. on this battle-ground a combat was even then occurring between a band of burghers and a reconnoitring party from the citadel. champagny saw with satisfaction that the antwerpers were victorious. they were skirmishing well with their disciplined foe, whom they at last beat back to the citadel. his experienced eye saw, however, that the retreat was only the signal for a general onslaught, which was soon to follow; and he returned into the city to give the last directions. at ten o'clock, a moving wood was descried, approaching the citadel from the south-west. the whole body of the mutineers from alost, wearing green branches in their helmets--had arrived under command of their eletto, navarrete. nearly three thousand in number, they rushed into the castle, having accomplished their march of twenty-four miles since three o'clock in the morning. they were received with open arms. sancho d'avila ordered food and refreshments to be laid before them, but they refused everything but a draught of wine. they would dine in paradise, they said, or sup in antwerp. finding his allies in such spirit, don sancho would not balk their humor. since early morning, his own veterans had been eagerly awaiting his signal, "straining upon the start." the troops of romero, vargas, valdez, were no less impatient. at about an hour before noon, nearly every living man in the citadel was mustered for the attack, hardly men enough being left behind to guard the gates. five thousand veteran foot soldiers, besides six hundred cavalry, armed to the teeth, sallied from the portals of alva's citadel. in the counterscarp they fell upon their knees, to invoke, according to custom, the blessing of god upon the devil's work, which they were about to commit. the bletto bore a standard, one side of which was emblazoned with the crucified saviour, and the other with the virgin mary. the image of him who said, "love-your enemies," and the gentle face of the madonna, were to smile from heaven upon deeds which might cause a shudder in the depths of hell. their brief orisons concluded, they swept forward to the city. three thousand spaniards, under their eletto, were to enter by the street of saint michael; the germans, and the remainder of the spanish foot, commanded by romero, through that of saint george. champagny saw them coming, and spoke a last word of encouragement to the walloons. the next moment the compact mass struck the barrier, as the thunderbolt descends from the cloud. there was scarcely a struggle. the walloons, not waiting to look their enemy in the face, abandoned the posts which whey had themselves claimed. the spaniards crashed through the bulwark, as though it had been a wall of glass. the eletto was first to mount the rampart; the next instant he was shot dead, while his followers, undismayed, sprang over his body, and poured into the streets. the fatal gap, due to timidity and carelessness, let in the destructive tide. champagny, seeing that the enemies had all crossed the barrier; leaped over a garden wall, passed through a house into a narrow lane, and thence to the nearest station of the german troops. hastily collecting a small force, he led them in person to the rescue. the germans fought well, died well, but they could not reanimate the courage of the walloons, and all were now in full retreat, pursued by the ferocious spaniards. in vain champagny stormed among them; in vain he strove to rally their broken ranks. with his own hand he seized a banner from a retreating ensign, and called upon the nearest soldiers to make's stand against the foe. it was to bid the flying clouds pause before the tempest. torn, broken, aimless, the scattered troops whirled through the streets before the pursuing wrath. champagny, not yet despairing, galloped hither and thither, calling upon the burghers everywhere to rise in defence of their homes, nor did he call in vain. they came forth from every place of rendezvous, from every alley, from every house. they fought as men fight to defend their hearths and altars, but what could individual devotion avail, against the compact, disciplined, resistless mass of their foes? the order of defence was broken, there was no system, no concert, no rallying point, no authority. so soon as it was known that the spaniards had crossed the rampart, that its six thousand defenders were in full retreat, it was inevitable that a panic should seize the city. their entrance once effected, the spanish force had separated; according to previous arrangement, into two divisions, one half charging up the long street of saint michael, the other forcing its way through the street of saint joris. "santiago, santiago! espana, espana! a sangre, a carne, a fuego, a sacco!" saint james, spain, blood, flesh, fire, sack!!--such were the hideous cries which rang through every quarter of the city, as the savage horde advanced. van ende, with his german troops, had been stationed by the marquis of havre to defend the saint joris gate, but no sooner, did the spaniards under vargas present themselves, than he deserted to them instantly with his whole force. united with the spanish cavalry, these traitorous defenders of antwerp dashed in pursuit of those who had only been fainthearted. thus the burghers saw themselves attacked by many of their friends, deserted by more. whom were they to trust? nevertheless, oberstein's germans were brave and faithful, resisting to the last, and dying every man in his harness. the tide of battle flowed hither and thither, through every street and narrow lane. it poured along the magnificent place de meer, where there was an obstinate contest. in front of the famous exchange, where in peaceful hours, five thousand merchants met daily, to arrange the commercial affairs of christendom, there was a determined rally, a savage slaughter. the citizens and faithful germans, in this broader space, made a stand against their pursuers. the tesselated marble pavement, the graceful, cloister-like arcades ran red with blood. the ill-armed burghers faced their enemies clad in complete panoply, but they could only die for their homes. the massacre at this point was enormous, the resistance at last overcome. meantime, the spanish cavalry had cleft its way through the city. on the side farthest removed from the castle; along the horse-market, opposite the new-town, the states dragoons and the light horse of beveren had been posted, and the flying masses of pursuers and pursued swept at last through this outer circle. champagny was already there. he essayed, as his last hope, to rally the cavalry for a final stand, but the effort was fruitless. already seized by the panic, they had attempted to rush from the city through the gate of eeker. it was locked; they then turned and fled towards the red-gate, where they were met face to face by don pedro tassis, who charged upon them with his dragoons. retreat seemed hopeless. a horseman in complete armor, with lance in rest, was seen to leap from the parapet of the outer wall into the moat below, whence, still on horseback, he escaped with life. few were so fortunate. the confused mob of fugitives and conquerors, spaniards, walloons, germans, burghers, struggling, shouting, striking, cursing, dying, swayed hither and thither like a stormy sea. along the spacious horse-market, the fugitives fled toward towards the quays. many fell beneath the swords of the spaniards, numbers were trodden to death by the hoofs of horses, still greater multitudes were hunted into the scheld. champagny, who had thought it possible, even at the last moment, to make a stand in the newtown, and to fortify the palace of the hansa, saw himself deserted. with great daring and presence of mind, he effected his escape to the fleet of the prince of orange in the river. the marquis of havre, of whom no deeds of valor on that eventful day have been recorded, was equally successful. the unlucky oberstein, attempting to leap into a boat, missed his footing, and oppressed by the weight of his armor, was drowned. meantime, while the short november day was fast declining, the combat still raged in the interior of the city. various currents of conflict, forcing their separate way through many streets, had at last mingled in the grande place. around this irregular, not very spacious square, stood the gorgeous hotel de ville, and the tall, many storied, fantastically gabled, richly decorated palaces of the guilds, here a long struggle took place. it was terminated for a time by the cavalry of vargas, who, arriving through the streets of saint joris, accompanied by the traitor van ende, charged decisively into the melee. the masses were broken, but multitudes of armed men found refuge in the buildings, and every house became a fortress. from, every window and balcony a hot fire was poured into the square, as, pent in a corner, the burghers stood at last at bay. it was difficult to carry the houses by storm, but they were soon set on fire. a large number of sutlers and other varlets had accompanied the spaniards from the citadel, bringing torches and kindling materials for the express purpose of firing the town. with great dexterity, these means were now applied, and in a brief interval, the city-hall, and other edifices on the square were in flames. the conflagration spread with rapidity, house after house, street after street, taking fire. nearly a thousand buildings, in the most splendid and wealthy quarter of the city, were soon in a blaze, and multitudes of human beings were burned with them. in the city-hall many were consumed, while others, leaped from the windows to renew the combat below. the many tortuous, streets which led down a slight descent from the rear of the town house to the quays were all one vast conflagration. on the other side, the magnificent cathedral, separated from the grande place by a single row of buildings, was lighted up, but not attacked by the flames. the tall spire cast its gigantic shadow across the last desperate conflict. in the street called the canal au sucre, immediately behind the town-house, there was a fierce struggle, a horrible massacre. a crowd of burghers; grave magistrates, and such of the german soldiers as remained alive, still confronted the ferocious spaniards. there amid the flaming desolation, goswyn verreyck, the heroic margrave of the city, fought with the energy of hatred and despair. the burgomaster, van der meere, lay dead at his feet; senators, soldiers, citizens, fell fast around him, and he sank at last upon a heap of slain. with him effectual resistance ended. the remaining combatants were butchered, or were slowly forced downward to perish in the scheld. women, children, old men, were killed in countless numbers, and still, through all this havoc, directly over the heads of the struggling throng, suspended in mid-air above the din and smoke of the conflict, there sounded, every half-quarter of every hour, as if in gentle mockery, from the belfry of the cathedral, the tender and melodious chimes. never was there a more monstrous massacre, even in the blood-stained history of the netherlands. it was estimated that, in the course of this and the two following days, not less than eight thousand human beings were murdered. the spaniards seemed to cast off even the vizard of humanity. hell seemed emptied of its fiends. night fell upon the scene before the soldiers were masters of the city; but worse horrors began after the contest was ended. this army of brigands had come thither with a definite, practical purpose, for it was not blood-thirst, nor lust, nor revenge, which had impelled them, but it was avarice, greediness for gold. for gold they had waded through all this blood and fire. never had men more simplicity of purpose, more directness in its execution. they had conquered their india at last; its golden mines lay all before them, and every sword should open a shaft. riot and rape might be deferred; even murder, though congenial to their taste, was only subsidiary to their business. they had come to take possession of the city's wealth, and they set themselves faithfully to accomplish their task. for gold, infants were dashed out of existence in their mothers' arms; for gold, parents were tortured in their children's presence; for gold, brides were scourged to death before their husbands' eyes. wherever, treasure was suspected, every expedient which ingenuity; sharpened by greediness, could suggest, was employed to-extort it from its possessors. the fire, spreading more extensively and more rapidly than had been desired through the wealthiest quarter of the city, had unfortunately devoured a vast amount of property. six millions, at least, had thus been swallowed; a destruction by which no one had profited. there was, however, much left. the strong boxes of the merchants, the gold, silver, and precious jewelry, the velvets, satins, brocades, laces, and similar well concentrated and portable plunder, were rapidly appropriated. so far the course was plain and easy, but in private houses it was more difficult. the cash, plate, and other valuables of individuals were not so easily discovered. torture was, therefore; at once employed to discover the hidden treasures. after all had been, given, if the sum seemed too little, the proprietors were brutally punished for their poverty or their supposed dissimulation. a gentlewoman, named fabry, with her aged mother and other females of the family, had taken refuge in the cellar of her mansion. as the day was drawing to a close, a band of plunderers entered, who, after ransacking the house, descended to the cellarage. finding the door barred, they forced it open with gunpowder. the mother, who was nearest the entrance, fell dead on the threshold. stepping across her mangled body, the brigands sprang upon her daughter, loudly demanding the property which they believed to be concealed. they likewise insisted on being informed where the master of the house had taken refuge. protestations of ignorance as to hidden treasure, or the whereabouts of her husband, who, for aught she knew, was lying dead in the streets, were of no avail. to make her more communicative, they hanged her on a beam in the cellar, and after a few moments cut her down before life was extinct. still receiving no satisfactory reply, where a satisfactory reply was impossible, they hanged her again. again, after another brief interval they gave her a second release, and a fresh interrogatory. this barbarity they repeated several times, till they were satisfied that there was nothing to be gained by it, while, on, the other hand, they were losing much valuable time. hoping to be more successful elsewhere, they left her hanging for the last time, and trooped off to fresher fields. strange to relate, the person thus horribly tortured, survived. a servant in her family, married to a spanish soldier, providentially entered the house in time to rescue her perishing mistress. she was restored to existence, but never to reason. her brain was hopelessly crazed, and she passed the remainder of her life wandering about her house, or feebly digging in her garden for the buried treasure which she had been thus fiercely solicited to reveal. a wedding-feast was rudely interrupted. two young persons, neighbours of opulent families, had been long betrothed, and the marriage day had been fixed for sunday, the fatal th of november. the guests were assembled, the ceremony concluded, the nuptial banquet in progress, when the horrible outcries in the streets proclaimed that the spaniards had broken loose. hour after hour of trembling expectation succeeded. at last, a thundering at the gate proclaimed the arrival of a band of brigands. preceded by their captain, a large number of soldiers forced their way into the house, ransacking every chamber, no opposition being offered by the family and friends, too few and powerless to cope with this band of well-armed ruffians. plate chests, wardrobes, desks, caskets of jewelry, were freely offered, eagerly accepted, but not found sufficient, and to make the luckless wretches furnish more than they possessed, the usual brutalities were employed. the soldiers began by striking the bridegroom dead. the bride fell shrieking into her mother's arms, whence she was torn by the murderers, who immediately put the mother to death, and an indiscriminate massacre then followed the fruitless attempt to obtain by threats and torture treasure which did not exist. the bride, who was of remarkable beauty, was carried off to the citadel. maddened by this last outrage, the father, who was the only man of the party left alive, rushed upon the spaniards. wresting a sword from one of the crew, the old man dealt with it so fiercely, that he stretched more than one enemy dead at his feet, but it is needless to add that he was soon despatched. meantime, while the party were concluding the plunder of the mansion, the bride was left in a lonely apartment of the fortress. without wasting time in fruitless lamentation, she resolved to quit the life which a few hours had made so desolate. she had almost succeeded in hanging herself with a massive gold chain which she wore, when her captor entered the apartment. inflamed, not with lust, but with avarice, excited not by her charms, but by her jewelry; he rescued her from her perilous position. he then took possession of her chain and the other trinkets with which her wedding-dress was adorned, and caused her; to be entirely stripped of her clothing. she was then scourged with rods till her beautiful body was bathed in blood, and at last alone, naked, nearly mad, was sent back into the city. here the forlorn creature wandered up and down through the blazing streets, among the heaps of dead and dying, till she was at last put out of her misery by a gang of soldiers. such are a few isolated instances, accidentally preserved in their details, of the general horrors inflicted on this occasion. others innumerable have sunk into oblivion. on the morning of the th of november, antwerp presented a ghastly sight. the magnificent marble town-house, celebrated as a "world's wonder," even in that age and country, in which so much splendour was lavished on municipal palaces, stood a blackened ruin--all but the walls destroyed, while its archives, accounts, and other valuable contents, had perished. the more splendid portion of the city had been consumed; at least five hundred palaces, mostly of marble or hammered stone, being a smouldering mass of destruction. the dead bodies of those fallen in the massacre were on every side, in greatest profusion around the place de meer, among the gothic pillars of the exchange, and in the streets near the town-house. the german soldiers lay in their armor, some with their heads burned from their bodies, some with legs and arms consumed by the flames through which they had fought. the margrave goswyn verreyck, the burgomaster van der meere, the magistrates lancelot van urselen, nicholas van boekholt, and other leading citizens, lay among piles of less distinguished slain. they remained unburied until the overseers of the poor, on whom the living had then more importunate claims than the dead, were compelled by roda to bury them out of the pauper fund. the murderers were too thrifty to be at funeral charges for their victims. the ceremony was not hastily performed, for the number of corpses had not been completed. two days longer the havoc lasted in the city. of all the crimes which men can commit, whether from deliberate calculation or in the frenzy of passion, hardly one was omitted, for riot, gaming, rape, which had been postponed to the more stringent claims of robbery and murder, were now rapidly added to the sum of atrocities. history has recorded the account indelibly on her brazen tablets; it can be adjusted only at the judgment-seat above. of all the deeds of darkness yet compassed in the netherlands, this was the worst. it was called the spanish fury, by which dread name it has been known for ages. the city, which had been a world of wealth and splendor, was changed to a charnel-house, and from that hour its commercial prosperity was blasted. other causes had silently girdled the yet green and flourishing tree, but the spanish fury was the fire which consumed it to ashes. three thousand dead bodies were discovered in the streets, as many more were estimated to have perished in the scheld, and nearly an equal number were burned or destroyed in other ways. eight thousand persons undoubtedly were put to death. six millions of property were destroyed by the fire, and at least as much more was obtained by the spaniards. in this enormous robbery no class of people was respected. foreign merchants, living under the express sanction and protection of the spanish monarch, were plundered with as little reserve as flemings. ecclesiastics of the roman church were compelled to disgorge their wealth as freely as calvinists. the rich were made to contribute all their abundance, and the poor what could be wrung from their poverty. neither paupers nor criminals were safe. captain caspar ortis made a brilliant speculation by taking possession of the stein, or city prison, whence he ransomed all the inmates who could find means to pay for their liberty. robbers, murderers, even anabaptists, were thus again let loose. rarely has so small a band obtained in three days' robbery so large an amount of wealth. four or five millions divided among five thousand soldiers made up for long arrearages, and the spaniards had reason to congratulate themselves upon having thus taken the duty of payment into their own hands. it is true that the wages of iniquity were somewhat unequally distributed, somewhat foolishly squandered. a private trooper was known to lose ten thousand crowns in one day in a gambling transaction at the bourse, for the soldiers, being thus handsomely in funds, became desirous of aping the despised and plundered merchants, and resorted daily to the exchange, like men accustomed to affairs. the dearly purchased gold was thus lightly squandered by many, while others, more prudent, melted their portion into sword-hilts, into scabbards, even into whole suits of armor, darkened, by precaution, to appear made entirely of iron. the brocades, laces, and jewelry of antwerp merchants were converted into coats of mail for their destroyers. the goldsmiths, however, thus obtained an opportunity to outwit their plunderers, and mingled in the golden armor which they were forced to furnish much more alloy than their employers knew. a portion of the captured booty was thus surreptitiously redeemed. in this spanish fury many more were massacred in antwerp than in the saint bartholomew at paris. almost as many living human beings were dashed out of existence now as there had been statues destroyed in the memorable image-breaking of antwerp, ten years before, an event which had sent such a thrill of horror through the heart of catholic christendom. yet the netherlanders and the protestants of europe may be forgiven, if they regarded this massacre of their brethren with as much execration as had been bestowed upon that fury against stocks and stones. at least, the image-breakers, had been actuated by an idea, and their hands were polluted neither with blood nor rapine. perhaps the spaniards had been. governed equally by religious fanaticism.--might not they believe they were meriting well of their mother church while they were thus disencumbering infidels of their wealth and earth of its infidels? had not the pope and his cardinals gone to church in solemn procession, to render thanks unto god for the massacre of paris? had not cannon thundered and beacons blazed to commemorate that auspicious event? why should not the antwerp executioners claim equal commendation? even if in their delirium they had confounded friend with foe, catholic with calvinist, and church property with lay, could they not point to an equal number of dead bodies, and to an incredibly superior amount of plunder? marvellously few spaniards were slain in these eventful days. two hundred killed is the largest number stated. the discrepancy seems monstrous, but it is hardly more than often existed between the losses inflicted and sustained by the spaniards in such combats. their prowess was equal to their ferocity, and this was enough to make them seem endowed with preterhuman powers. when it is remembered, also, that the burghers were insufficiently armed, that many of their defenders turned against them, that many thousands fled in the first moments of the encounter--and when the effect of a sudden and awful panic is duly considered, the discrepancy between the number of killed on the two sides will not seem so astonishing. a few officers of distinction were taken, alive and carried to the castle. among these were the seigneur de capres and young count egmont. the councillor jerome de roda was lounging on a chair in an open gallery when these two gentlemen were brought before him, and capres was base enough to make a low obeisance to the man who claimed to represent the whole government of his majesty. the worthy successor of vargas replied to his captive's greeting by a "kick in his stomach," adding, with a brutality which his prototype might have envied, "ah puto tradidor,--whoreson traitor, let me have no salutations from such as you." young egmont, who had been captured, fighting bravely at the head of coward troops, by julian romero, who nine years before had stood on his father's scaffold, regarded this brutal scene with haughty indignation. this behaviour had more effect upon roda than the suppleness of capres. "i am sorry for your misfortune, count," said the councillor, without however rising from his chair; "such is the lot of those who take arms against their king." this was the unfortunate commencement of philip egmont's career, which was destined to be inglorious, vacillating, base, and on more than one occasion unlucky. a shiver ran through the country as the news of the horrible crime was spread, but it was a shiver of indignation, not of fear. already the negotiations at ghent between the representatives of the prince and of holland and zealand with the deputies of the other provinces were in a favorable train, and the effect of this event upon their counsels was rather quickening than appalling. a letter from jerome de roda to the king was intercepted, giving an account of the transaction. in that document the senator gave the warmest praise to sancho d'avila, julian romero, alonzo de vargas, francis verdugo, as well as to the german colonels fugger, frondsberger, polwiller, and others who had most exerted themselves in the massacre. "i wish your majesty much good of this victory," concluded the councillor, "'tis a very great one, and the damage to the city is enormous." this cynical view was not calculated to produce a soothing effect on the exasperated minds of the people. on the other hand, the estates of brabant addressed an eloquent appeal to the states-general, reciting their wrongs, and urging immediate action. "'tis notorious," said the remonstrants, "that antwerp was but yesterday the first and principal ornament of all europe; the refuge of all the nations of the world; the source and supply of countless treasure; the nurse of all arts and industry; the protectress of the roman catholic religion; the guardian of science and virtue; and, above all these preeminences; more than faithful and obedient to her sovereign prince and lord. the city is now changed to a gloomy cavern, filled with robbers and murderers, enemies of god, the king, and all good subjects." they then proceeded to recite the story of the massacre, whereof the memory shall be abominable so long as the world stands, and concluded with an urgent appeal for redress. they particularly suggested that an edict should forthwith be passed, forbidding the alienation of property and the exportation of goods in any form from antwerp, together with concession of the right to the proprietors of reclaiming their stolen property summarily, whenever and wheresoever it might be found. in accordance with these instructions, an edict was passed, but somewhat tardily, in the hope of relieving some few of the evil consequences by which the antwerp fury had been attended. at about the same time the prince of orange addressed a remarkable letter to the states-general then assembled at ghent, urging them to hasten the conclusion of the treaty. the news of the massacre, which furnished an additional and most vivid illustration of the truth of his letter, had not then reached him at middelburg, but the earnestness of his views, taken in connexion with this last dark deed, exerted a powerful and indelible effect. the letter was a masterpiece, because it was necessary, in his position, to inflame without alarming; to stimulate the feelings which were in unison, without shocking those which, if aroused, might prove discordant. without; therefore, alluding in terms to the religious question, he dwelt upon the necessity of union, firmness, and wariness. if so much had been done by holland and zealand, how much more might be hoped when all the provinces were united? "the principal flower of the spanish army has fallen," he said, "without having been able to conquer one of those provinces from those whom they call, in mockery, poor beggars; yet what is that handful of cities compared to all the provinces which might join us in the quarrel?" he warned the states of the necessity of showing a strong and united front; the king having been ever led to consider the movement in the netherlands a mere conspiracy of individuals. "the king told me himself; in ," said orange, "that if the estates had no pillars to lean upon, they would not talk so loud." it was, therefore, "necessary to show that prelates, abbots, monks, seigniors, gentlemen, burghers, and peasants, the whole people in short, now cried with one voice, and desired with one will. to such a demonstration the king would not dare oppose himself. by thus preserving a firm and united front, sinking all minor differences, they would, moreover, inspire their friends and foreign princes with confidence. the princes of germany, the lords and gentlemen of france, the queen of england, although sympathizing with the misfortunes of the netherlanders, had been unable effectually to help them, so long as their disunion prevented them from helping themselves; so long as even their appeal to arms seemed merely a levy of bucklers, an emotion of the populace, which, like a wave of the sea, rises and sinks again as soon as risen." while thus exciting to union and firmness, he also took great pains to instil the necessity of wariness. they were dealing with an artful foe. intercepted letters had already proved that the old dissimulation was still to be employed; that while don john of austria was on his way, the netherlanders were to be lulled into confidence by glozing speeches. roda was provided by the king with a secret programme of instructions for the new governor's guidance and don sancho d'avila, for his countenance to the mutineers of alost, had been applauded to the echo in spain. was not this applause a frequent indication of the policy to be adopted by don john, and a thousand times more significative one than the unmeaning phrases of barren benignity with which public documents might be crammed? "the old tricks are again brought into service," said the prince; "therefore 'tis necessary to ascertain your veritable friends, to tear off the painted masks from those who, under pretence-of not daring to displease the king, are seeking to swim between two waters. 'tis necessary to have a touchstone; to sign a declaration in such wise that you may know whom to trust, and whom to suspect." the massacre at antwerp and the eloquence of the prince produced a most quickening effect upon the congress at ghent. their deliberations had proceeded with decorum and earnestness, in the midst of the cannonading against the citadel, and the fortress fell on the same day which saw the conclusion of the treaty. this important instrument, by which the sacrifices and exertions of the prince were, for a brief season, at least, rewarded, contained twenty-five articles. the prince of orange, with the estates of holland and zealand, on the one side, and the provinces signing, or thereafter to sign the treaty, on the other, agreed that there should be a mutual forgiving and forgetting, as regarded the past. they vowed a close and faithful friendship for the future. they plighted a mutual promise to expel the spaniards from the netherlands without delay. as soon as this great deed should be done, there was to be a convocation of the states-general, on the basis of that assembly before which the abdication of the emperor had taken place. by this congress, the affairs of religion in holland and zealand should be regulated, as well as the surrender of fortresses and other places belonging to his majesty. there was to be full liberty of communication and traffic between the citizens of the one side and the other. it should not be legal, however, for those of holland and zealand to attempt anything outside their own territory against the roman catholic religion, nor for cause hereof to injure or irritate any one, by deed or word. all the placards and edicts on the subject of heresy, together with the criminal ordinances made by the duke of alva, were suspended, until the states-general should otherwise ordain. the prince was to remain lieutenant, admiral, and general for his majesty in holland, zealand, and the associated places, till otherwise provided by the states-general; after the departure of the spaniards. the cities and places included in the prince's commission, but not yet acknowledging his authority, should receive satisfaction from him, as to the point of religion and other matters, before subscribing to the union. all prisoners, and particularly the comte de bossu, should be released without ransom. all estates and other property not already alienated should be restored, all confiscations since being declared null and void. the countess palatine, widow of brederode, and count de buren, son of the prince of orange, were expressly named in this provision. prelates and ecclesiastical persons; having property in holland and zealand, should be reinstated, if possible; but in case of alienation, which was likely to be generally the case; there should be reasonable compensation. it was to be decided by the states-general whether the provinces should discharge the debts incurred by the prince of orange in his two campaigns. provinces and cities should not have the benefit of this union until they had signed the treaty, but they should be permitted to sign it when they chose. this memorable document was subscribed at ghent, on the th of november, by saint aldegonde, with eight other commissioners appointed by the prince of orange and the estates of holland on the one side, and by elbertus leoninus and other deputies appointed by brabant, flanders, artois, hainault, valenciennes, lille, douay, orchies, namur, tournay, utrecht, and mechlin on the other side. the arrangement was a masterpiece of diplomacy on the part of the prince, for it was as effectual a provision for the safety of the reformed religion as could be expected under the circumstances. it was much, considering the change which had been wrought of late years in the fifteen provinces, that they should consent to any treaty with their two heretic sisters. it was much more that the pacification should recognize the new religion as the established creed of holland and zealand, while at the same time the infamous edicts of charles were formally abolished. in the fifteen catholic provinces, there was to be no prohibition of private reformed worship, and it might be naturally expected that with time and the arrival of the banished religionists, a firmer stand would be taken in favor of the reformation. meantime, the new religion was formally established in two provinces, and tolerated, in secret, in the other fifteen; the inquisition was for ever abolished, and the whole strength of the nation enlisted to expel the foreign soldiery from the soil. this was the work of william the silent, and the great prince thus saw the labor of years crowned with, at least, a momentary success. his satisfaction was very great when it was announced to him, many days before the exchange of the signatures, that the treaty had been concluded. he was desirous that the pacification should be referred for approval, not to the municipal magistrates only, but to the people itself. in all great emergencies, the man who, in his whole character, least resembled a demagogue, either of antiquity or of modern times, was eager for a fresh expression of the popular will. on this occasion, however, the demand for approbation was superfluous. the whole country thought with his thoughts, and spoke with his words, and the pacification, as soon as published, was received with a shout of joy. proclaimed in the marketplace of every city and village, it was ratified, not by votes, but by hymns of thanksgiving, by triumphal music, by thundering of cannon, and by the blaze of beacons, throughout the netherlands. another event added to the satisfaction of the hour. the country so recently, and by deeds of such remarkable audacity, conquered by the spaniards in the north, was recovered almost simultaneously with the conclusion of the ghent treaty. it was a natural consequence of the great mutiny. the troops having entirely deserted mondragon, it became necessary for that officer to abandon zierickzee, the city which had been won with so much valor. in the beginning of november, the capital, and with it the whole island of schouwen, together with the rest of zealand, excepting tholen, was recovered by count hohenlo, lieutenant-general of the prince of orange, and acting according to his instructions. thus, on this particular point of time, many great events had been crowded. at the very same moment zealand had been redeemed, antwerp ruined, and the league of all the netherlands against the spaniards concluded. it now became known that another and most important event had occurred at the same instant. on the day before the antwerp massacre, four days before the publication of the ghent treaty, a foreign cavalier, attended by a moorish slave and by six men-at-arms, rode into the streets of luxemburg. the cavalier was don ottavio gonzaga, brother of the prince of melfi. the moorish slave was don john of austria, the son of the emperor, the conqueror of granada, the hero of lepanto. the new governor-general had traversed spain and france in disguise with great celerity, and in the romantic manner which belonged to his character. he stood at last on the threshold of the netherlands, but with all his speed he had arrived a few days too late. etext editor's bookmarks: a common hatred united them, for a time at least a most fatal success all claimed the privilege of persecuting blessing of god upon the devil's work daily widening schism between lutherans and calvinists dying at so very inconvenient a moment eight thousand human beings were murdered everything was conceded, but nothing was secured fanatics of the new religion denounced him as a godless man glory could be put neither into pocket nor stomach he would have no calvinist inquisition set up in its place he would have no persecution of the opposite creed in character and general talents he was beneath mediocrity indecision did the work of indolence insinuate that his orders had been hitherto misunderstood king set a price upon his head as a rebel no man could reveal secrets which he did not know of high rank but of lamentably low capacity pope excommunicated him as a heretic preventing wrong, or violence, even towards an enemy they could not invent or imagine toleration uunmeaning phrases of barren benignity motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley part v. don john of austria. - [chapter i.] birth and parentage of don john--barbara blomberg--early education and recognition by philip--brilliant military career--campaign against the moors--battle of lepanto--extravagant ambition--secret and rapid journey of the new governor to the netherlands--contrast between don john and william of orange--secret instructions of philip and private purposes of the governor--cautious policy and correspondence of the prince--preliminary, negotiations with don john at luxemburg characterized--union of brussels--resumption of negotiations with the governor at huy--the discussions analyzed and characterized--influence of the new emperor rudolph ii. and of his envoys--treaty of marche en famine, or the perpetual edict, signed-- remarks upon that transaction--views and efforts of orange in opposition to the treaty--his letter, in name of holland and zealand, to the states-general--anxiety of the royal government to gain over the prince--secret mission of leoninus--his instructions from don john--fruitless attempts to corrupt the prince--secret correspondence between don john and orange--don john at louvain--his efforts to ingratiate himself with the netherlanders--his incipient popularity--departure of the spanish troops--duke of aerschot appointed governor of antwerp citadel--his insincere character. don john of austria was now in his thirty-second year, having been born in ratisbon on the th of february, . his father was charles the fifth, emperor of germany, king of spain, dominator of asia, africa, and america; his mother was barbara blomberg, washerwoman of ratisbon. introduced to the emperor, originally, that she might alleviate his melancholy by her singing, she soon exhausted all that was harmonious in her nature, for never was a more uncomfortable, unmanageable personage than barbara in her after life. married to one pyramus kegell, who was made a military commissary in the netherlands, she was left a widow in the beginning of alva's administration. placed under the especial superintendence of the duke, she became the torment of that warrior's life. the terrible governor, who could almost crush the heart out of a nation of three millions, was unable to curb this single termagant. philip had expressly forbidden her to marry again, but alva informed him that she was surrounded by suitors. philip had insisted that she should go into a convent, but alva, who, with great difficulty, had established her quietly in ghent, assured his master that she would break loose again at the bare suggestion of a convent. philip wished her to go to spain, sending her word that don john was mortified by the life his mother was leading, but she informed the governor that she would be cut to pieces before she would go to spain. she had no objection to see her son, but she knew too well how women were treated in that country. the duke complained most pathetically to his majesty of the life they all led with the ex-mistress of the emperor. never, he frequently observed, had woman so terrible a head. she was obstinate, reckless, abominably extravagant. she had been provided in ghent with a handsome establishment: "with a duenna, six other women, a major domo, two pages, one chaplain, an almoner, and four men-servants," and this seemed a sufficiently liberal scheme of life for the widow of a commissary. moreover, a very ample allowance had been made for the education of her only legitimate son, conrad, the other having perished by an accident on the day of his father's death. while don john of austria was, gathering laurels in granada, his half-brother, pyramus junior, had been ingloriously drowned in a cistern at ghent. barbara's expenses were exorbitant; her way of life scandalous. to send her money, said alva, was to throw it into the sea. in two days she would have spent in dissipation and feasting any sums which the king might choose to supply. the duke, who feared nothing else in the world, stood in mortal awe of the widow kegell. "a terrible animal, indeed, is an unbridled woman," wrote secretary gayas, from madrid, at the close of alva's administration for, notwithstanding every effort to entice, to intimidate, and to kidnap her from the netherlands, there she remained, through all vicissitudes, even till the arrival of don john. by his persuasions or commands she was, at last, induced to accept an exile for the remainder of her days, in spain, but revenged herself by asserting. that he was quite mistaken: in supposing himself the emperor's child; a point, certainly, upon which her, authority might be thought conclusive. thus there was a double mystery about don john. he might be the issue of august parentage on one side; he was; possibly, sprung of most ignoble blood. base-born at best, he was not sure whether to look for the author of his being in the halls of the caesara or the booths of ratisbon mechanics. [cabrera, xii. . an absurd rumor had existed that barbara blomberg had only been employed to personate don john's mother. she died at an estate called arronjo de molinos, four leagues from madrid, some years after the death of don john.] whatever might be the heart of the mystery, it is certain that it was allowed to enwrap all the early life of don john. the emperor, who certainly never doubted his responsibility for the infant's existence, had him conveyed instantly to spain, where he was delivered to louis quixada, of the imperial household, by whom he was brought up in great retirement at villa-garcia. magdalen ulloa, wife of quixada, watched over his infancy with maternal and magnanimous care, for her husband's extreme solicitude for the infant's welfare had convinced her that he was its father. on one occasion, when their house was in flames, quixada rescued the infant before he saved his wife, "although magdalen knew herself to be dearer to him than the apple of his eye." from that time forth she altered her opinion, and believed the mysterious child to be of lofty origin. the boy grew up full of beauty, grace, and agility, the leader of all his companions in every hardy sport. through the country round there were none who could throw the javelin, break a lance, or ride at the ring like little juan quixada. in taming unmanageable horses he was celebrated for his audacity and skill. these accomplishments, however, were likely to prove of but slender advantage in the ecclesiastical profession, to which he had been destined by his imperial father. the death of charles occurred before clerical studies had been commenced, and philip, to whom the secret had been confided at the close of the emperor's life, prolonged the delay thus interposed. juan had already reached his fourteenth year, when one day his supposed father quixada invited him to ride towards valladolid to see the royal hunt. two horses stood at the door--a splendidly caparisoned charger and a common hackney. the boy naturally mounted the humbler steed, and they set forth for the mountains of toro, but on hearing the bugles of the approaching huntsmen, quixada suddenly halted, and bade his youthful companion exchange horses with himself. when this had been done, he seized the hand of the wondering boy and kissing it respectfully, exclaimed, "your highness will be informed as to the meaning of my conduct by his majesty, who is even now approaching." they had proceeded but a short distance before they encountered the royal hunting party, when both quixada and young juan dismounted, and bent the knee to their monarch. philip, commanding the boy to rise, asked him if he knew his father's name. juan replied, with a sigh, that he had at that moment lost the only father whom he had known, for quixada had just disowned him. "you have the same father as myself," cried the king; "the emperor charles was the august parent of us both." then tenderly embracing him, he commanded him to remount his horse, and all returned together to valladolid, philip observing with a sentimentality that seems highly apocryphal, that he had never brought home such precious game from any hunt before. this theatrical recognition of imperial descent was one among the many romantic incidents of don john's picturesque career, for his life was never destined to know the commonplace. he now commenced his education, in company with his two nephews, the duchess margaret's son, and don carlos, prince-royal of spain. they were all of the same age, but the superiority of don john was soon recognized. it was not difficult to surpass the limping, malicious, carlos, either in physical graces or intellectual accomplishments; but the graceful; urbane, and chivalrous alexander, destined afterwards to such wide celebrity, was a more formidable rival, yet even the professed panegyrist of the farnese family, exalts the son of barbara blomberg over the grandson of margaret van geest. still destined for the clerical profession, don john, at the age of eighteen, to avoid compliance with philip's commands, made his escape to barcelona. it was his intention to join the maltese expedition. recalled peremptorily by philip, he was for a short time in disgrace; but afterwards made his peace with the monarch by denouncing some of the mischievous schemes of don carlos. between the prince-royal and the imperial bastard, there had always been a deep animosity, the infante having on one occasion saluted him with the most vigorous and offensive appellation which his illegitimate birth could suggest. "base-born or not," returned don john, "at any rate i had a better father than yours." the words were probably reported to philip and doubtless rankled in his breast, but nothing appeared on the surface, and the youth rose rapidly in favor. in his twenty-third year, he was appointed to the command of the famous campaign against the insurgent moors of granada. here he reaped his first laurels, and acquired great military celebrity. it is difficult to be dazzled by such glory. he commenced his operations by the expulsion of nearly all the moorish inhabitants of granada, bed-ridden men, women, and children, together, and the cruelty inflicted, the sufferings patiently endured in that memorable deportation, were enormous. but few of the many thousand exiles survived the horrid march, those who were so unfortunate as to do so being sold into slavery by their captors. still a few moors held out in their mountain fastnesses, and two years long the rebellion of this handful made head against the power of spain. had their envoys to the porte succeeded in their negotiation, the throne of philip might have trembled; but selim hated the republic of venice as much as he loved the wine of cyprus. while the moors were gasping out their last breath in granada and ronda, the turks had wrested the island of venus from the grasp of the haughty republic fainagosta had fallen; thousands of venetians had been butchered with a ferocity which even christians could not have surpassed; the famous general bragadino had been flayed; stuffed, and sent hanging on the yard-arm of a frigate; to constantinople, as a present to the commander of the faithful; and the mortgage of catherine cornaro, to the exclusion of her husband's bastards, had been thus definitely cancelled. with such practical enjoyments, selim was indifferent to the splendid but shadowy vision of the occidental caliphate--yet the revolt of the moors was only terminated, after the departure of don john, by the duke of arcos. the war which the sultan had avoided in the west, came to seek him in the east. to lift the crucifix against the crescent, at the head of the powerful but quarrelsome alliance between venice, spain, and rome, don john arrived at naples. he brought with him more than a hundred ships and twenty-three thousand men, as the spanish contingent:--three months long the hostile fleets had been cruising in the same waters without an encounter; three more were wasted in barren manoeuvres. neither mussulman nor christian had much inclination for the conflict, the turk fearing the consequences of a defeat, by which gains already secured might be forfeited; the allies being appalled at the possibility of their own triumph. nevertheless, the ottomans manoeuvred themselves at last into the gulf of lepanto, the christians manoeuvred themselves towards its mouth as the foe was coming forth again. the conflict thus rendered inevitable, both turk and christian became equally eager for the fray, equally confident of, victory. six hundred vessels of war met face to face. rarely in history had so gorgeous a scene of martial array been witnessed. an october sun gilded the thousand beauties of an ionian landscape. athens and corinth were behind the combatants, the mountains of alexander's macedon rose in the distance; the rock of sappho and the heights of actium, were before their eyes. since the day when the world had been lost and won beneath that famous promontory, no such combat as the one now approaching had been fought upon the waves. the chivalrous young commander despatched energetic messages to his fellow chieftains, and now that it was no longer possible to elude the encounter, the martial ardor of the allies was kindled. the venetian high-admiral replied with words of enthusiasm. colonna, lieutenant of the league, answered his chief in the language of st. peter; "though i die, yet will i not deny thee." the fleet was arranged in three divisions. the ottomans, not drawn up in crescent form, as usual, had the same triple disposition. barbarigo and the other venetians commanded on the left, john andrew doria on the right, while don john himself and colonna were in the centre, crucifix in hand, the high-admiral rowed from ship to ship exhorting generals and soldiers to show themselves worthy of a cause which he had persuaded himself was holy. fired by his eloquence and by the sight of the enemy, his hearers answered with eager shouts, while don john returned to his ship; knelt upon the quarter-deck, and offered a prayer. he then ordered the trumpets to sound the assault, commanded his sailing-master to lay him alongside the turkish admiral, and the battle began. the venetians, who were first attacked, destroyed ship after ship of their assailants after a close and obstinate contest, but barliarigo fell dead ere the sunset, with an arrow through his brain. meantime the action, immediately after the first onset, had become general. from noon till evening the battle raged, with a carnage rarely recorded in history. don john's own ship lay yard-arm and yard-arm with the turkish admiral, and exposed to the fire of seven large vessels besides. it was a day when personal, audacity, not skilful tactics, was demanded, and the imperial bastard showed the metal he was made of. the turkish admiral's ship was destroyed, his head exposed from don john's deck upon a pike, and the trophy became the signal for a general panic and a complete victory. by sunset the battle had been won. of nearly three hundred turkish galleys, but fifty made their escape. from twenty-five to thirty thousand turks were slain, and perhaps ten thousand christians. the galley-slaves on both sides fought well, and the only beneficial result of the victory was the liberation of several thousand christian captives. it is true that their liberty was purchased with the lives of a nearly equal number of christian soldiers, and by the reduction to slavery of almost as many thousand mussulmen, duly distributed among the christian victors. many causes--contributed to this splendid triumph. the turkish ships, inferior in number, were also worse manned than those of their adversaries; and their men were worse armed. every bullet of the christians told on muslin turbans and embroidered tunics, while the arrows of the moslems fell harmless on the casques and corslets of their foes. the turks, too, had committed the fatal error of fighting upon a lee shore. having no sea room, and being repelled in their first onset, many galleys were driven upon the rocks, to be destroyed with all their crews. [cabrera says that thirty thousand turks were slain, ten thousand made prisoners, ten thousand christians killed, and fifteen thousand christian prisoners liberated, ix. . de thou's estimate is twenty-five thousand turks killed, three thousand prisoners, and ten thousand christians killed, vi. . brantome states the number of turks killed at thirty thousand, without counting those who were drowned or who died afterwards of their wounds; six thousand prisoners, twelve thousand christian prisoners liberated, and ten thousand christians killed. hoofd, vi. , gives the figures at twenty-five thousand turks and ten thousand christians slain. bor, v. , makes a minute estimate, on the authority of pietro contareno, stating the number of christians killed at seven thousand six hundred and fifty, that of turks at twenty-five thousand one hundred and fifty, turkish prisoners at three thousand eight hundred and forty-six, and christians liberated at twelve thousand; giving the number of turkish ships destroyed at eighty, captured fifty. according to the "relation cierta y verdadera," (which was drawn up a few days after the action,) the number of turks slain was thirty thousand and upwards, besides many prisoners, that of christians killed was seven thousand, of christian slaves liberated twelve thousand, of ottoman ships taken or destroyed two hundred and thirty. documentos ineditos, iii. . philip sent an express order, forbidding the ransoming of even the captive officers. the turkish slaves were divided among the victors in the proportion of one-half to philip and one-half to the pope and venice. the other booty was distributed on the same principle. out of the pope's share don john received, as a present, one hundred and seventy-four slaves (documentos ineditos, iii. ). alexander of parma received thirty slaves; requesens thirty. to each general of infantry was assigned six slaves; to each colonel four; to each ship's captain one. the number of "slaves in chains" (esclavos de cadena) allotted to philip was thirty-six hundred (documentoa ineditos, ). seven thousand two hundred turkish slaves, therefore, at least, were divided among christians. this number of wretches, who were not fortunate enough to die with their twenty- five thousand comrades, must be set off against the twelve thousand christian slaves liberated, in the general settlement of the account with humanity.] but whatever the cause of the victory, its consequence was to spread the name and fame of don john of austria throughout the world. alva wrote, with enthusiasm, to congratulate him; pronouncing the victory the most brilliant one ever achieved by christians, and don john the greatest general since the death of julius caesar. at the same time, with a sarcastic fling at the erection of the escorial, he advised philip to improve this new success in some more practical way than by building a house for the lord and a sepulchre for the dead. "if," said the duke, "the conquests of spain be extended in consequence of this triumph, then, indeed, will the cherubim and seraphim sing glory to god." a courier, despatched post haste to spain, bore the glorious news, together with the sacred, standard of the prophet, the holy of holies, inscribed with the name of allah twenty-eight thousand nine hundred times, always kept in mecca during peace, and never since the conquest of constantinople lost in battle before. the king was at vespers in the escorial. entering the sacred precincts, breathless, travel-stained, excited, the messenger found philip impassible as marble to the wondrous news. not a muscle of the royal visage was moved, not a syllable escaped the royal lips, save a brief order to the clergy to continue the interrupted vespers. when the service had been methodically concluded, the king made known the intelligence and requested a te deum. the youthful commander-in-chief obtained more than his full mead of glory. no doubt he had fought with brilliant courage, yet in so close and murderous a conflict, the valor of no single individual could decide the day, and the result was due to the combined determination of all. had don john remained at naples, the issue might have easily been the same. barbarigo, who sealed the victory with his blood; colonna, who celebrated a solemn triumph on his return to rome; parma, doria, giustiniani, venieri, might each as well have claimed a monopoly of the glory, had not the pope, at philip's entreaty, conferred the baton of command upon don john. the meagre result of the contest is as notorious as the victory. while constantinople was quivering with apprehension, the rival generals were already wrangling with animosity. had the christian fleet advanced, every soul would have fled from the capital, but providence had ordained otherwise, and don john sailed westwardly with his ships. he made a descent on the barbary coast, captured tunis, destroyed biserta, and brought king amidas and his two sons prisoners to italy. ordered by philip to dismantle the fortifications of tunis, he replied by repairing them thoroughly, and by placing a strong garrison within the citadel. intoxicated with his glory, the young adventurer already demanded a crown, and the pope was disposed to proclaim him king of tunis, for the queen of the lybian seas was to be the capital of his empire, the new carthage which he already dreamed. philip thought it time to interfere, for he felt that his own crown might be insecure, with such a restless and ambitious spirit indulging in possible and impossible chimeras. he removed john de soto, who had been don john's chief councillor and emissary to the pope, and substituted in his place the celebrated and ill-starred escovedo. the new secretary, however, entered as heartily but secretly into all these romantic schemes. disappointed of the empire which he had contemplated on the edge of the african desert, the champion of the cross turned to the cold islands of the northern seas. there sighed, in captivity, the beauteous mary of scotland, victim of the heretic elizabeth. his susceptibility to the charms of beauty--a characteristic as celebrated as his courage--was excited, his chivalry aroused. what holier triumph for the conqueror of the saracens than the subjugation of these northern infidels? he would dethrone the proud elizabeth; he would liberate and espouse the queen of scots, and together they would reign over, the two united realms. all that the pope could do with bulls and blessings, letters of excommunication, and patents of investiture, he did with his whole heart. don john was at liberty to be king of england and scotland as soon as he liked; all that was left to do was to conquer the kingdoms. meantime, while these schemes were flitting through his brain, and were yet kept comparatively secret by the pope, escovedo, and himself, the news reached him in italy that he had been appointed governor-general of the netherlands. nothing could be more opportune. in the provinces were ten thousand veteran spaniards, ripe for adventure, hardened by years of warfare, greedy for gold, audacious almost beyond humanity, the very instruments for his scheme. the times were critical in the netherlands, it was true; yet he would soon pacify those paltry troubles, and then sweep forward to his prize. yet events were rushing forward with such feverish rapidity, that he might be too late for his adventure. many days were lost in the necessary journey from italy into spain to receive the final instructions of the king. the news from the provinces, grew more and more threatening. with the impetuosity and romance of his temperament, he selected his confidential friend ottavio gonzaga, six men-at-arms, and an adroit and well-experienced swiss courier who knew every road of france. it was no light adventure for the catholic governor-general of the netherlands to traverse the kingdom at that particular juncture. staining his bright locks and fair face to the complexion of a moor, he started on his journey, attired as the servant of gonzaga. arriving at paris, after a rapid journey, he descended at a hostelry opposite the residence of the spanish ambassador, don diego de cuniga. after nightfall he had a secret interview with that functionary, and learning, among other matters, that there was to be a great ball that night at the louvre, he determined to go thither in disguise. there, notwithstanding his hurry, he had time to see and to become desperately enamored of "that wonder of beauty," the fair and frail margaret of valois, queen of navarre. her subsequent visit to her young adorer at namur, to be recorded in a future page of this history, was destined to mark the last turning point in his picturesque career. on his way to the netherlands he held a rapid interview with the duke of guise, to arrange his schemes for the liberation and espousal of that noble's kinswoman, the scottish queen; and on the rd of november he arrived at luxemburg. there stood the young conqueror of lepanto, his brain full of schemes, his heart full of hopes, on the threshhold of the netherlands, at the entrance to what he believed the most brilliant chapter of his life--schemes, hopes, and visions--doomed speedily to fade before the cold reality with which he was to be confronted. throwing off his disguise after reaching luxemburg, the youthful paladin stood confessed. his appearance was as romantic as his origin and his exploits. every contemporary chronicler, french, spanish, italian, flemish, roman, have dwelt upon his personal beauty and the singular fascination of his manner. symmetrical features, blue eyes of great vivacity, and a profusion of bright curling hair, were combined with a person not much above middle height; but perfectly well proportioned. owing to a natural peculiarity of his head, the hair fell backward from the temples, and he had acquired the habit of pushing it from his brows. the custom became a fashion among the host of courtiers, who were but too happy to glass themselves in so brilliant a mirror. as charles the fifth, on his journey to italy to assume the iron crown, had caused his hair to be clipped close, as a remedy for the headaches with which, at that momentous epoch, he was tormented, bringing thereby close shaven polls into extreme fashion; so a mass of hair pushed backward from the temples, in the style to which the name of john of austria was appropriated, became the prevailing mode wherever the favorite son of the emperor appeared. such was the last crusader whom the annals of chivalry were to know; the man who had humbled the crescent as it had not been humbled since the days of the tancreds, the baldwins, the plantagenets--yet, after all, what was this brilliant adventurer when weighed against the tranquil christian champion whom he was to meet face to face? the contrast was striking between the real and the romantic hero. don john had pursued and achieved glory through victories with which the world was ringing; william was slowly compassing a country's emancipation through a series of defeats. he moulded a commonwealth and united hearts with as much contempt for danger as don john had exhibited in scenes of slave driving and carnage. amid fields of blood, and through web's of tortuous intrigue, the brave and subtle son of the emperor pursued only his own objects. tawdry schemes of personal ambition, conquests for his own benefit, impossible crowns for his own wearing, were the motives which impelled, him, and the prizes which he sought. his existence was feverish, fitful, and passionate. "tranquil amid the raging billows," according to his favorite device, the father of his country waved aside the diadem which for him had neither charms nor meaning. their characters were as contrasted as their persons. the curled-darling of chivalry seemed a youth at thirty-one. spare of figure, plain in apparel, benignant, but haggard of countenance, with temples bared by anxiety as much as by his helmet, earnest, almost devout in manner, in his own words, "calvus et calvinists," william of orange was an old man at forty-three. perhaps there was as much good faith on the part of don john, when he arrived in luxemburg, as could be expected of a man coming directly from the cabinet of philip. the king had secretly instructed him to conciliate the provinces, but to concede nothing, for the governor was only a new incarnation of the insane paradox that benignity and the system of charles the fifth were one. he was directed to restore the government, to its state during the imperial epoch. seventeen provinces, in two of which the population were all dissenters, in all of which the principle of mutual toleration had just been accepted by catholics and protestants, were now to be brought back to the condition according to which all protestants were beheaded, burned, or buried alive. so that the inquisition, the absolute authority of the monarch, and the exclusive worship of the roman church were preserved intact, the king professed himself desirous of "extinguishing the fires of rebellion, and of saving the people from the last desperation." with these slight exceptions, philip was willing to be very benignant. "more than this," said he, "cannot and ought not be conceded." to these brief but pregnant instructions was added a morsel of advice, personal in its nature, but very characteristic of the writer. don john was recommended to take great care of his soul, and also to be very cautious in the management of his amours. thus counselled and secretly directed, the new captain-general had been dismissed to the unhappy netherlands. the position, however, was necessarily false. the man who was renowned for martial exploits, and notoriously devoured by ambition, could hardly inspire deep confidence in the pacific dispositions of the government. the crusader of granada and lepanto, the champion of the ancient church, was not likely to please the rugged zealanders who had let themselves be hacked to pieces rather than say one paternoster, and who had worn crescents in their caps at leyden, to prove their deeper hostility to the pope than to the turk. the imperial bastard would derive but alight consideration from his paternal blood, in a country where illegitimate birth was more unfavorably regarded than in most other countries, and where a brabantine edict, recently issued in name of the king; deprived all political or civil functionaries not born in wedlock; of their offices. yet he had received instructions, at his departure, to bring about a pacification, if possible, always maintaining, however, the absolute authority of the crown and the exclusive exercise of the catholic religion. how the two great points of his instructions were to be made entirely palatable, was left to time and chance. there was a vague notion that with the new governor's fame, fascinating manners, and imperial parentage, he might accomplish a result which neither fraud nor force--not the arts of granvelle, nor the atrocity of alva, nor the licentiousness of a buccaneering soldiery had been able to effect. as for don john himself, he came with no definite plans for the netherlanders, but with very daring projects of his own, and to pursue these misty visions was his main business on arriving in the provinces. in the meantime he was disposed to settle the netherland difficulty in some showy, off-hand fashion, which should cost him but little trouble, and occasion no detriment to the cause of papacy or absolutism. unfortunately for these rapid arrangements, william of orange was in zealand, and the pacification had just been signed at ghent. it was, naturally, with very little satisfaction that the prince beheld the arrival of don john. his sagacious combinations would henceforth be impeded, if not wholly frustrated. this he foresaw. he knew that there could be no intention of making any arrangement in which holland and zealand could be included. he was confident that any recognition of the reformed religion was as much out of the question now as ever. he doubted not that there were many catholic magnates, wavering politicians, aspirants for royal favor, who would soon be ready to desert the cause which had so recently been made a general cause, and who would soon be undermining the work of their own hands. the pacification of ghent would never be maintained in letter and spirit by the vicegerent of philip; for however its sense might be commented upon or perverted, the treaty, while it recognized catholicism as the state religion, conceded, to a certain extent, liberty of conscience. an immense stride had been taken, by abolishing the edicts, and prohibiting persecution. if that step were now retraced, the new religion was doomed, and the liberties of holland and zealand destroyed. "if they make an arrangement with don john, it will be for us of the religion to run," wrote the prince to his brother, "for their intention is to suffer no person of that faith to have a fixed domicile in the netherlands." it was, therefore, with a calm determination to counteract and crush the policy of the youthful governor that william the silent awaited his antagonist. were don john admitted to confidence, the peace of holland and zealand was gone. therefore it was necessary to combat him both openly and secretly--by loud remonstrance and by invisible stratagem. what chance had the impetuous and impatient young hero in such an encounter with the foremost statesman of the age? he had arrived, with all the self-confidence of a conqueror; he did not know that he was to be played upon like a pipe--to be caught in meshes spread by his own hands--to struggle blindly--to rage impotently--to die ingloriously. the prince had lost no time in admonishing the states-general as to the course which should now be pursued. he was of opinion that, upon their conduct at this crisis depended the future destinies of the netherlands. "if we understand how to make proper use of the new governor's arrival," said he, "it may prove very advantageous to us; if not, it will be the commencement of our total ruin." the spirit of all his communications was to infuse the distrust which he honestly felt, and which he certainly took no pains to disguise; to impress upon his countrymen the importance of improving the present emergency by the enlargement, instead of the threatened contraction of their liberties, and to enforce with all his energy the necessity of a firm union. he assured the estates that don john had been sent, in this simple manner, to the country, because the king and cabinet had begun to despair of carrying their point by force. at the same time he warned them that force would doubtless be replaced by fraud. he expressed his conviction that so soon as don john should attain the ascendency which he had been sent to secure, the gentleness which now smiled upon the surface would give place to the deadlier purposes which lurked below. he went so far as distinctly to recommend the seizure of don john's person. by so doing, much bloodshed might be saved; for such was the king's respect for the emperor's son that their demands would be granted rather than that his liberty should be permanently endangered. in a very striking and elaborate letter which he addressed from middelburg to the estates-general, he insisted on the expediency of seizing the present opportunity in order to secure and to expand their liberties, and urged them to assert broadly the principle that the true historical polity of the netherlands was a representative, constitutional government, don john, on arriving at luxemburg, had demanded hostages for his own security, a measure which could not but strike the calmest spectator as an infraction of all provincial rights. "he asks you to disarm," continued william of orange; "he invites you to furnish hostages, but the time has been when the lord of the land came unarmed and uncovered, before the estates-general, and swore to support the constitutions before his own sovereignty could be recognized." he reiterated his suspicions as to the honest intentions of the government, and sought, as forcibly as possible, to infuse an equal distrust into the minds of those he addressed. "antwerp," said he, "once the powerful and blooming, now the most forlorn and desolate city of christendom, suffered because she dared to exclude the king's troops. you may be sure that you are all to have a place at the same banquet. we may forget the past, but princes never forget, when the means of vengeance are placed within their hands. nature teaches them to arrive at their end by fraud, when violence will not avail them. like little children, they whistle to the birds they would catch. promises and pretences they will furnish in plenty." he urged them on no account to begin any negotiation with the governor, except on the basis of the immediate departure of the soldiery. "make no agreement with him; unless the spanish and other foreign troops have been sent away beforehand; beware, meantime, of disbanding your own, for that were to put the knife into his hands to cut your own throats withal." he then proceeded to sketch the out lines of a negotiation, such as he could recommend. the plan was certainly sufficiently bold, and it could hardly cause astonishment, if it were not immediately accepted by don john; as the basis of an arrangement. "remember this is not play", said the prince, "and that you have to choose between the two, either total ruin or manly self-defence. don john must command the immediate departure of the spaniards. all our privileges must be revised, and an oath to maintain them required. new councils of state and finance must be appointed by the estates. the general assembly ought to have power to come together twice or thrice yearly, and, indeed, as often as they choose. the states-general must administer and regulate all affairs. the citadels must be demolished everywhere. no troops ought to be enlisted, nor garrisons established, without the consent of the estates." in all the documents, whether public memorials or private letters, which came at this period from the hand of the prince, he assumed, as a matter of course, that in any arrangement with the new governor the pacification of ghent was to be maintained. this, too, was the determination of almost every man in the country. don john, soon after his arrival at luxemburg, had despatched messengers to the states-general, informing them of his arrival. it was not before the close of the month of november that the negotiations seriously began. provost fonck, on the part of the governor, then informed them of don john's intention to enter namur, attended by fifty mounted troopers. permission, however, was resolutely refused, and the burghers of namur were forbidden to render oaths of fidelity until the governor should have complied with the preliminary demands of the estates. to enunciate these demands categorically, a deputation of the estates-general came to luxemburg. these gentlemen were received with courtesy by don john, but their own demeanour was not conciliatory. a dislike to the spanish government; a disloyalty to the monarch with whose brother and representative they were dealing, pierced through all their language. on the other hand, the ardent temper of don john was never slow to take offence. one of the deputies proposed to the governor, with great coolness, that he should assume the government in his own name, and renounce the authority of philip. were he willing to do so, the patriotic gentleman pledged himself that the provinces would at once acknowledge him as sovereign, and sustain his government. don john, enraged at the insult to his own loyalty which the proposition implied, drew his dagger and rushed towards the offender. the deputy would, probably, have paid for his audacity with his life had there not been by-standers enough to prevent the catastrophe. this scene was an unsatisfactory prelude to the opening negotiations. on the th of december the deputies presented to the governor at luxemburg a paper, containing their demands, drawn up in eight articles, and their concessions in ten. the states insisted on the immediate removal of the troops, with the understanding that they were never to return, but without prohibition of their departure by sea; they demanded the immediate release of all prisoners; they insisted on the maintenance of the ghent treaty, there being nothing therein which did not tend to the furtherance of the catholic religion; they claimed an act of amnesty; they required the convocation of the states-general, on the basis of that assembly before which took place the abdication of charles the fifth; they demanded an oath, on the part of don john, to maintain all the charters and customs of the country. should these conditions be complied: with, the deputies consented on the part of the estates, that he should be acknowledged as governor, and that the catholic religion and the authority of his majesty should be maintained. they agreed that all foreign leagues should be renounced, their own foreign soldiery disbanded, and a guard of honor, native netherlanders, such as his majesty was contented with at his "blythe entrance," provided. a truce of fifteen days, for negotiations, was furthermore proposed. don john made answers to these propositions by adding a brief comment, as apostille, upon each of the eighteen articles, in succession. he would send away the troops, but, at the same time, the states must disband their own. he declined engaging himself not to recal his foreign soldiery, should necessity require their service. with regard to the ghent pacification, he professed himself ready for a general peace negotiation, on condition that the supremacy of the catholic church and the authority of his majesty were properly secured. he would settle upon some act of amnesty after due consultation with the state council. he was willing that the states should be convoked in general assembly, provided sufficient security were given him that nothing should be there transacted prejudicial to the catholic religion and the king's sovereignty. as for their privileges, he would govern as had been done in the time of his imperial father. he expressed his satisfaction with most of the promises offered by the estates, particularly with their expression in favor of the church and of his majesty's authority; the two all-important points to secure which he had come thither unattended, at the peril of his life, but he received their offer of a body-guard, by which his hirelings were to be superseded, with very little gratitude. he was on the point, he said, of advancing as far as marche en famine, and should take with him as strong a guard as he considered necessary, and composed of such troops as he had at hand. nothing decisive came of this first interview. the parties had taken the measures of their mutual claims, and after a few days, fencing with apostilles, replies, and rejoinders, they separated, their acrimony rather inflamed than appeased. the departure of the troops and the ghent treaty were the vital points in the negotiation. the estates had originally been content that the troops should go by sea. their suspicions were, however, excited by the pertinacity with which don john held to this mode of removal. although they did not suspect the mysterious invasion of england, a project which was the real reason why the governor objected to their departure by land, yet they soon became aware--that he had been secretly tampering with the troops at every point. the effect of these secret negotiations with the leading officers of the army was a general expression of their unwillingness, on account of the lateness of the season, the difficult and dangerous condition of the roads and mountain-passes, the plague in italy, and other pretexts, to undertake so long a journey by land. on the other hand, the states, seeing the anxiety and the duplicity of don john upon this particular point, came to the resolution to thwart him at all hazards, and insisted on the land journey. too long a time, too much money, too many ships would be necessary, they said, to forward so large a force by sea, and in the meantime it would be necessary to permit them to live for another indefinite period at the charge of the estates. with regard to the ghent pacification, the estates, in the course of december, procured: an express opinion from the eleven professors of theology, and doctors utriusque juris of louvain, that the treaty contained nothing which conflicted with the supremacy of the catholic religion. the various bishops, deacons, abbots, and pastors of the netherlands made a similar decision. an elaborate paper, drawn, up by the state-council, at the request of the states-general, declared that there was nothing in the pacification derogatory to the supreme authority of his majesty. thus fortified; with opinions which, it must be confessed, were rather dogmatically than argumentatively drawn up, and which it would have been difficult very logically to, defend, the states looked forward confidently to the eventual acceptance by don john of the terms proposed. in the meantime, while there was still an indefinite pause in the negotiations, a remarkable measure came to aid the efficacy of the ghent pacification. early in january, , the celebrated "union of brussels" was formed. this important agreement was originally signed by eight leading personages, the abbot of saint gertrude, the counts lalain and bossu, and the seigneur de champagny being among the number. its tenor was to engage its signers to compass the immediate expulsion of the spaniards and the execution of the ghent pacification, to maintain the catholic religion and the king's authority, and to defend the fatherland and all its constitutions. its motive was to generalize the position assumed by the ghent treaty. the new act was to be signed, not by a few special deputies alone, like a diplomatic convention, but by all the leading individuals of all the provinces, in order to exhibit to don john such an array of united strength that he would find himself forced to submit to the demands of the estates. the tenor, motive, and effect were all as had been proposed and foreseen. the agreement to expel the spaniards, under the catholic and loyal manifestations indicated, passed from hand to hand through all the provinces. it soon received the signature and support of all the respectability, wealth, and intelligence of the whole country. nobles, ecclesiastics, citizens, hastened to give to it their adhesion. the states-general had sent it, by solemn resolution, to every province, in order that every man might be forced to range himself either upon the side of the fatherland or of despotism. two copies of the signatures procured in each province were ordered, of which one was to be deposited in its archives, and the other forwarded to brussels. in a short time, every province, with the single exception of luxemburg, had loaded the document with signatures. this was a great step in advance. the ghent pacification, which was in the nature of a treaty between the prince and the estates of holland and zealand on the one side, and a certain number of provinces on the other, had only been signed by the envoys of the contracting parties. though received with deserved and universal acclamation, it had not the authority of a popular document. this, however, was the character studiously impressed upon the "brussels union." the people, subdivided according to the various grades of their social hierarchy, had been solemnly summoned to council, and had deliberately recorded their conviction. no restraint had been put upon their freedom of action, and there was hardly a difference of opinion as to the necessity of the measure. a rapid revolution in friesland, groningen, and the dependencies, had recently restored that important country to the national party. the portuguese de billy had been deprived of his authority as king's stadholder, and count hoogstraaten's brother, baron de ville, afterwards as count renneberg infamous for his, treason to the cause of liberty, had been appointed by the estates in his room. in all this district the "union of brussels" was eagerly signed by men of every degree. holland and zealand, no less than the catholic provinces of the south willingly accepted the compromise which was thus laid down, and which was thought to be not only an additional security for the past, not only a pillar more for the maintenance of the ghent pacification, but also a sure precursor of a closer union in the future. the union of brussels became, in fact, the stepping-stone to the "union of utrecht," itself the foundation-stone of a republic destined to endure more than two centuries. on the other hand, this early union held the seed, of its own destruction within itself. it was not surprising, however, that a strong declaration in favor of the catholic religion should be contained in a document intended for circulation through all the provinces. the object was to unite as large a force, and to make as striking a demonstration before the eyes of the governor general as was practicable under the circumstances. the immediate purpose was answered, temporary union was formed, but it was impossible that a permanent crystallization should take place where so strong a dissolvent as the catholic clause had been admitted. in the sequel, therefore, the union fell asunder precisely at this fatal flaw. the next union was that which definitely separated the provinces into protestant, and catholic, into self-governing republics, and the dependencies of a distant despotism. the immediate effect, however, of the "brussels union" was to rally all lovers of the fatherland and haters of a foreign tyranny upon one vital point--the expulsion of the stranger from the land. the foot of the spanish soldier should no longer profane their soil. all men were forced to pronounce themselves boldly and unequivocally, in order that the patriots might stand shoulder to shoulder, and the traitors be held up to infamy. this measure was in strict accordance with the advice given more than once by the prince of orange, and was almost in literal fulfilment of the compromise, which he had sketched before the arrival of don john. the deliberations were soon resumed with the new governor, the scene being shifted from luxemburg to huy. hither came a fresh deputation from the states-general--many signers of the brussels union among them--and were received by don john with stately courtesy: they had, however, come, determined to carry matters with a high and firm hand, being no longer disposed to brook his imperious demeanour, nor to tolerate his dilatory policy. it is not surprising, therefore, that the courtesy soon changed to bitterness, and that attack and recrimination usurped the place of the dignified but empty formalities which had characterized the interviews at luxemburg. the envoys, particularly sweveghem and champagny, made no concealment of their sentiments towards the spanish soldiery and the spanish nation, and used a freedom of tone and language which the petulant soldier had not been accustomed to hear. he complained, at the outset, that the netherlanders seemed new-born--that instead of bending the knee, they seemed disposed to grasp the sceptre. insolence had taken the place of pliancy, and the former slave now applied the chain and whip to his master. with such exacerbation of temper at the commencement of negotiations, their progress was of necessity stormy and slow. the envoys now addressed three concise questions to the governor. was he satisfied that the ghent pacification contained nothing conflicting with the roman religion and the king's authority? if so, was he willing to approve that treaty in all its articles? was he ready to dismiss his troops at once, and by land, the sea voyage being liable to too many objections? don john answered these three questions--which, in reality, were but three forms of a single question--upon the same day, the th of january. his reply was as complex as the demand had been simple. it consisted of a proposal in six articles, and a requisition in twenty-one, making in all twenty-seven articles. substantially he proposed to dismiss the foreign troops--to effect a general pacification of the netherlands--to govern on the basis of the administration in his imperial father's reign--to arrange affairs in and with regard to the assembly-general as the king should judge to be fitting--to forgive and forget past offences--and to release all prisoners. on the other hand he required the estates to pay the troops before their departure, and to provide ships enough to transport them, as the spaniards did not choose to go by land, and as the deputies, at luxemburg had consented to their removal by sea. furthermore, he demanded that the states should dismiss their own troops. he required ecclesiastical authority to prove the ghent pacification not prejudicial to the catholic religion; legal authority that it was not detrimental to his majesty's supremacy; and an oath from the states-general to uphold both points inviolably, and to provide for their maintenance in holland and zealand. he claimed the right to employ about his person soldiers and civil functionaries of any nation he might choose, and he exacted from the states a promise to prevent the prince of orange from removing his son, count van buren, forcibly or fraudulently, from his domicile in spain. the deputies were naturally indignant at this elaborate trifling. they had, in reality, asked him but one question, and that a simple one--would he maintain the treaty of ghent? here were twenty-seven articles in reply, and yet no answer to that question. they sat up all night, preparing a violent protocol, by which the governor's claims were to be utterly demolished. early in the morning, they waited upon his highness, presented the document, and at the same time asked him plainly, by word of mouth, did he or did he not intend to uphold the treaty. thus pressed into a corner in presence of the deputies, the members of the state council who were in attendance from brussels, and the envoys whom the emperor had recently sent to assist at these deliberations, the governor answered, no. he would not and could not maintain the treaty, because the spanish troops were in that instrument denounced as rebels, because he would not consent to the release of count van buren--and on account of various other reasons not then specified. hereupon ensued a fierce debate, and all day long the altercation lasted, without a result being reached. at ten o'clock in the evening, the deputies having previously retired for a brief interval, returned with a protest that they were not to be held responsible for the termination of the proceedings, and that they washed their hands of the bloodshed which might follow the rupture. upon reading this document; don john fell into a blazing passion. he vehemently denounced the deputies as traitors. he swore that men who came to him thus prepared with ready-made protests in their pockets, were rebels from the commencement, and had never intended any agreement with him. his language and gestures expressed unbounded fury. he was weary of their ways, he said. they had better look to themselves, for the king would never leave their rebellion unpunished. he was ready to draw the sword at once--not his own, but his majesty's, and they might be sure that the war which they were thus provoking, should be the fiercest ever, waged. more abusive language in this strain was uttered, but it was not heard with lamb-like submission. the day had gone by when the deputies of the states-general were wont to quail before the wrath of vicarious royalty. the fiery words of don john were not oil to troubled water, but a match to a mine. the passions of the deputies exploded in their turn, and from hot words they had nearly come to hard blows. one of the deputies replied with so much boldness and vehemence that the governor, seizing a heavy silver bell which stood on the table, was about to hurl it at the offender's head, when an energetic and providential interference on the part of the imperial envoys, prevented the unseemly catastrophe. the day thus unprofitably spent, had now come to its close, and the deputies left the presence of don john with tempers as inflamed as his own. they were, therefore, somewhat surprised at being awakened in their beds, after midnight, by a certain father trigoso, who came to them with a conciliatory message from the governor. while they were still rubbing their eyes with sleep and astonishment, the duke of aerschot, the bishop of liege, and several councillors of state, entered the room. these personages brought the news that don john had at last consented to maintain the pacification of ghent, as would appear by a note written in his own hand, which was then delivered. the billet was eagerly read, but unfortunately did not fulfil the anticipations which had been excited. "i agree," said don john, "to approve the peace made between the states and the prince of orange, on condition that nothing therein may seem detrimental to the authority of his majesty and the supremacy of the catholic religion, and also with reservation of the points mentioned in my last communication." men who had gone to bed in a high state of indignation were not likely to wake in much better humour, when suddenly aroused in their first nap, to listen to such a message as this. it seemed only one piece of trifling the more. the deputies had offered satisfactory opinions of divines and jurisconsults, as to the two points specified which concerned the ghent treaty. it was natural, therefore, that this vague condition concerning them, the determination of which was for the governor's breast alone, should be instantly rejected, and that the envoys should return to their disturbed slumbers with an increase of ill-humour. on the morrow, as the envoys, booted and spurred, were upon the point of departure for brussels, another communication was brought to them from don john. this time, the language of the governor seemed more to the purpose. "i agree," said he, "to maintain the peace concluded between the states and the prince of orange, on condition of receiving from the ecclesiastical authorities, and from the university of louvain, satisfactory assurance that the said treaty contains nothing derogatory to the catholic religion--and similar assurance from the state council, the bishop of liege, and the imperial envoys, that the treaty is in no wise prejudicial to the authority of his majesty." here seemed, at last, something definite. these conditions could be complied with. they had, in fact, been already complied with. the assurances required as to the two points had already been procured, as the deputies and as don john well knew. the pacification of ghent was, therefore, virtually admitted. the deputies waited upon the governor accordingly, and the conversation was amicable. they vainly endeavoured, however, to obtain his consent to the departure of the troops by land--the only point then left in dispute. don john, still clinging to his secret scheme, with which the sea voyage of the troops was so closely connected, refused to concede. he reproached the envoys, on the contrary, with their importunity in making a fresh demand, just as he had conceded the ghent treaty, upon his entire responsibility and without instructions. mentally resolving that this point should still be wrung from the governor, but not suspecting his secret motives for resisting it so strenuously, the deputies took an amicable farewell of the governor, promising a favorable report upon the proceedings, so soon as they should arrive in brussels. don john, having conceded so much, was soon obliged to concede the whole. the emperor rudolph had lately succeeded his father, maximilian. the deceased potentate, whose sentiments on the great subject of religious toleration were so much in harmony with those entertained by the prince of orange, had, on the whole, notwithstanding the ties of relationship and considerations of policy, uniformly befriended the netherlands, so far as words and protestations could go, at the court of philip. active co-operation; practical assistance, he had certainly not rendered. he had unquestionably been too much inclined to accomplish the impossibility of assisting the states without offending the king--an effort which, in the homely language of hans jenitz; was "like wishing his skin washed without being wet." he had even interposed many obstacles to the free action of the prince, as has been seen in the course of this history, but nevertheless, the cause of the netherlands, of religion, and of humanity had much to lose by his death. his eldest son and successor, rudolph the second, was an ardent catholic, whose relations with a proscribed prince and a reformed population could hardly remain long in a satisfactory state. the new emperor had, however, received the secret envoys of orange with bounty, and was really desirous of accomplishing the pacification of the provinces. his envoys had assisted at all the recent deliberations between the estates and don john, and their vivid remonstrances removed, at this juncture, the last objection on the part of the governor-general. with a secret sigh, he deferred the darling and mysterious hope which had lighted him to the netherlands, and consented to the departure of the troops by land. all obstacles having been thus removed, the memorable treaty called the perpetual edict was signed at marche en famine on the th, and at brussels on the th of february, . this document, issued in the name of the king, contained nineteen articles. it approved and ratified the peace of ghent, in consideration that the prelates and clergy, with the doctors 'utriusque juris' of louvain, had decided that nothing in that treaty conflicted either with the supremacy of the catholic church or the authority of the king, but, on the contrary, that it advanced the interests of both. it promised that the soldiery should depart "freely, frankly, and without delay; by land, never to return except in case of foreign war"--the spaniards to set forth within forty days, the germans and others so soon as arrangements had been made by the states-general for their payment. it settled that all prisoners, on both sides, should be released, excepting the count van buren, who was to be set free so soon as the states-general having been convoked, the prince of orange should have fulfilled the resolutions to be passed by that assembly. it promised the maintenance of all the privileges, charters, and constitutions of the netherlands. it required of the states all oath to maintain the catholic religion. it recorded their agreement to disband their troops. it settled that don john should be received as governor-general, immediately upon the departure of the spaniards, italians, and burgundians from the provinces. these were the main provisions of this famous treaty, which was confirmed a few weeks afterwards by philip, in a letter addressed to the states of brabant, and by an edict issued at madrid. it will be seen that everything required by the envoys of the states, at the commencement of their negotiations, had been conceded by don john. they had claimed the departure of the troops, either by land or sea. he had resisted the demand a long time, but had at last consented to despatch them by sea. their departure by land had then been insisted upon. this again he had most reluctantly conceded. the ratification of the ghent treaty, he had peremptorily refused. he had come to the provinces, at the instant of its conclusion, and had, of course, no instructions on the subject. nevertheless, slowly receding, he had agreed, under certain reservations, to accept the treaty. those reservations relating to the great points of catholic and royal supremacy, he insisted upon subjecting to his own judgment alone. again he was overruled. most unwillingly he agreed to accept, instead of his own conscientious conviction, the dogmas of the state council and of the louvain doctors. not seeing very clearly how a treaty which abolished the edicts of charles the fifth and the ordinances of alva--which removed the religious question in holland and zealand from the king's jurisdiction to that of the states-general--which had caused persecution to surcease--had established toleration--and which moreover, had confirmed the arch rebel and heretic of all the netherlands in the government of the two rebellious and heretic provinces, as stadholder for the king--not seeing very clearly how such a treaty was "advantageous rather than prejudicial to royal absolutism and an exclusive catholicism," he naturally hesitated at first. the governor had thus disconcerted the prince of orange, not by the firmness of his resistance, but by the amplitude of his concessions. the combinations of william the silent were, for an instant, deranged. had the prince expected such liberality, he would have placed his demands upon a higher basis, for it is not probable that he contemplated or desired a pacification. the duke of aerschot and the bishop of liege in vain essayed to prevail upon his deputies at marche en famine, to sign the agreement of the th january, upon which was founded the perpetual edict. they refused to do so without consulting the prince and the estates. meantime, the other commissioners forced the affair rapidly forward. the states sent a deputation to the prince to ask his opinion, and signed the agreement before it was possible to receive his reply. this was to treat him with little courtesy, if not absolutely with bad faith. the prince was disappointed and indignant. in truth, as appeared from all his language and letters, he had no confidence in don john. he believed him a consummate hypocrite, and as deadly a foe to the netherlands as the duke of alva, or philip himself. he had carefully studied twenty-five intercepted letters from the king, the governor, jerome de roda, and others, placed recently in his hands by the duke of aerschot, and had found much to confirm previous and induce fresh suspicion. only a few days previously to the signature of the treaty, he had also intercepted other letters from influential personages, alonzo de vargas and others, disclosing extensive designs to obtain possession of the strong places in the country, and then to reduce the land to absolute subjection. he had assured the estates, therefore, that the deliberate intention of the government, throughout the whole negotiation, was to deceive, whatever might be the public language of don john and his agents. he implored them, therefore, to, have "pity upon the poor country," and to save the people from falling into the trap which was laid for them. from first to last, he had expressed a deep and wise distrust, and justified it by ample proofs. he was, with reason, irritated, therefore, at the haste with which the states had concluded the agreement with don john--at the celerity with which, as he afterwards expressed it, "they had rushed upon the boar-spear of that sanguinary heart." he believed that everything had been signed and sworn by the governor, with the mental reservation that such agreements were valid only until he should repent having made them. he doubted the good faith and the stability of the grand seigniors. he had never felt confidence in the professions of the time-serving aerschot, nor did he trust even the brave champagny, notwithstanding his services at the sack of antwerp. he was especially indignant that provision had been made, not for demolishing but for restoring to his majesty those hateful citadels, nests of tyranny, by which the flourishing cities of the land were kept in perpetual anxiety. whether in the hands of king, nobles, or magistrates, they were equally odious to him, and he had long since determined that they should be razed to the ground. in short, he believed that the estates had thrust their heads into the lion's mouth, and he foresaw the most gloomy consequences from the treaty which had just been concluded. he believed, to use his own language, "that the only difference between don john and alva or requesens was, that he was younger and more foolish than his predecessors, less capable of concealing his venom, more impatient, to dip his hands in blood." in the pacification of ghent, the prince had achieved the prize of his life-long labors. he had banded a mass of provinces by the ties of a common history, language, and customs, into a league against a foreign tyranny. he had grappled holland and zealand to their sister provinces by a common love for their ancient liberties, by a common hatred to a spanish soldiery. he had exorcised the evil demon of religious bigotry by which the body politic had been possessed so many years; for the ghent treaty, largely interpreted, opened the door to universal toleration. in the perpetual edict the prince saw his work undone. holland and zealand were again cut adrift from the other fifteen provinces, and war would soon be let loose upon that devoted little territory. the article stipulating the maintenance of the ghent treaty he regarded as idle wind; the solemn saws of the state council and the quiddities from louvain being likely to prove but slender bulwarks against the returning tide of tyranny. either it was tacitly intended to tolerate the reformed religion, or to hunt it down. to argue that the ghent treaty, loyally interpreted, strengthened ecclesiastical or royal despotism, was to contend that a maniac was more dangerous in fetters than when armed with a sword; it was to be blind to the difference between a private conventicle and a public scaffold. the perpetual edict, while affecting to sustain the treaty, would necessarily destroy it at a blow, while during the brief interval of repose, tyranny would have renewed its youth like the eagles. was it possible, then, for william of orange to sustain the perpetual edict, the compromise with don john? ten thousand ghosts from the lake of harlem, from the famine and plague-stricken streets of leyden, from the smoking ruins of antwerp, rose to warn him against such a composition with a despotism as subtle as it was remorseless. it was, therefore, not the policy of william of orange, suspecting, as he did, don john, abhorring philip, doubting the netherland nobles, confiding only in the mass of the citizens, to give his support to the perpetual edict. he was not the more satisfied because the states had concluded the arrangement without his sanction, and against his express, advice. he refused to publish or recognize the treaty in holland and zealand. a few weeks before, he had privately laid before the states of holland and zealand a series of questions, in order to test their temper, asking them, in particular, whether they were prepared to undertake a new and sanguinary war for the sake of their religion, even although their other privileges should be recognised by the new government, and a long and earnest debate had ensued, of a satisfactory nature, although no positive resolution was passed upon the subject. as soon as the perpetual edict had been signed, the states-general had sent to the prince, requesting his opinion and demanding his sanction. orange, in the name of holland and zealand, instantly returned an elaborate answer, taking grave exceptions to the whole tenor of the edict. he complained that the constitution of the land was violated, because the ancient privilege of the states-general to assemble at their pleasure, had been invaded, and because the laws of every province were set at nought by the continued imprisonment of count van buren, who had committed no crime, and whose detention proved that no man, whatever might be promised, could expect security for life or liberty. the ratification of the ghent treaty, it was insisted, was in no wise distinct and categorical, but was made dependent on a crowd of deceitful subterfuges. he inveighed bitterly against the stipulation in the edict, that the states should pay the wages of the soldiers, whom they had just proclaimed to be knaves and rebels, and at whose hands they had suffered such monstrous injuries. he denounced the cowardice which could permit this band of hirelings to retire with so much jewelry, merchandize, and plate, the result of their robberies. he expressed, however, in the name of the two provinces, a willingness to sign the edict, provided the states-general would agree solemnly beforehand, in case the departure of the spaniards did not take place within the stipulated tune, to abstain from all recognition of, or communication with, don john, and themselves to accomplish the removal of the troops by force of arms. such was the first and solemn manifesto made by the prince in reply to the perpetual edict; the states of holland and zealand uniting heart and hand in all that he thought, wrote, and said. his private sentiments were in strict accordance with the opinions thus publicly recorded. "whatever appearance don john may assume to the contrary," wrote the prince to his brother, "'tis by no means his intention to maintain the pacification, and less still to cause the spaniards to depart, with whom he keeps up the most strict correspondence possible." on the other hand, the governor was most anxious to conciliate the prince. he was most earnest to win the friendship of the man without whom every attempt to recover holland and zealand, and to re-establish royal and ecclesiastical tyranny, he knew to be hopeless. "this is the pilot," wrote don john to philip, "who guides the bark. he alone can destroy or save it. the greatest obstacles would be removed if he could be gained." he had proposed, and philip had approved the proposition, that the count van buren should be clothed with his father's dignities, on condition that the prince should himself retire into germany. it was soon evident, however, that such a proposition would meet with little favor, the office of father of his country and protector of her liberties not being transferable. while at louvain, whither he had gone after the publication of the perpetual edict, don john had conferred with the duke of aerschot, and they had decided that it would be well to send doctor leoninus on a private mission to the prince. previously to his departure on this errand, the learned envoy had therefore a full conversation with the governor. he was charged to represent to the prince the dangers to which don john had exposed himself in coming from spain to effect the pacification of the netherlands. leoninus was instructed to give assurance that the treaty just concluded should be maintained, that the spaniards should depart, that all other promises should be inviolably kept, and that the governor would take up arms against all who should oppose the fulfilment of his engagements. he was to represent that don john, in proof of his own fidelity, had placed himself in the power of the states. he was to intimate to the prince that an opportunity was now offered him to do the crown a service, in recompence for which he would obtain, not only pardon for his faults, but the favor of the monarch, and all the honors which could be desired; that by so doing he would assure the future prosperity of his family; that don john would be his good friend, and, as such; would do more for him than he could imagine. the envoy was also to impress upon the prince, that if he persisted in his opposition every man's hand would be against him, and the ruin of his house inevitable. he was to protest that don john came but to forgive and to forget, to restore the ancient government and the ancient prosperity, so that, if it was for those objects the prince had taken up arms, it was now his duty to lay them down, and to do his utmost to maintain peace and the catholic religion. finally, the envoy was to intimate that if he chose to write to don john, he might be sure to receive a satisfactory answer. in these pacific instructions and friendly expressions, don john was sincere. "the name of your majesty," said he, plainly, in giving an account of this mission to the king, "is as much abhorred and despised in the netherlands as that of the prince of orange is loved and feared. i am negotiating with him, and giving him every security, for i see that the establishment of peace, as well as the maintenance of the catholic religion, and the obedience to your majesty, depend now upon him. things have reached that pass that 'tis necessary to make a virtue of necessity. if he lend an ear to my proposals, it will be only upon very advantageous conditions, but to these it will be necessary to submit, rather than to lose everything." don john was in earnest; unfortunately he was not aware that the prince was in earnest also. the crusader, who had sunk thirty thousand paynims at a blow, and who was dreaming of the queen of scotland and the throne of england, had not room in his mind to entertain the image of a patriot. royal favors, family prosperity, dignities, offices, orders, advantageous conditions, these were the baits with which the governor angled for william of orange. he did not comprehend that attachment to a half-drowned land and to a despised religion, could possibly stand in the way of those advantageous conditions and that brilliant future. he did not imagine that the rebel, once assured not only of pardon but of advancement, could hesitate to refuse the royal hand thus amicably offered. don john had not accurately measured his great antagonist. the results of the successive missions which he despatched to the prince were destined to enlighten him. in the course of the first conversation between leoninus and the prince at middelburg, the envoy urged that don john had entered the netherlands without troops, that he had placed himself in the power of the duke of aerschot, that he had since come to louvain without any security but the promise of the citizens and of the students; and that all these things proved the sincerity of his intentions. he entreated the prince not to let slip so favorable an opportunity for placing his house above the reach of every unfavorable chance, spoke to him of marius, sylla, julius caesar, and other promoters of civil wars, and on retiring for the day, begged him to think gravely on what he had thus suggested, and to pray that god might inspire him with good resolutions. next day, william informed the envoy that, having prayed to god for assistance, he was more than ever convinced of his obligation to lay the whole matter before the states, whose servant he was. he added, that he could not forget the deaths of egmont and horn, nor the manner in which the promise made to the confederate nobles by the duchess of parma, had been visited, nor the conduct of the french monarch towards admiral coligny. he spoke of information which he had received from all quarters, from spain, france, and italy, that there was a determination to make war upon him and upon the states of holland and zealand. he added that they were taking their measures in consequence, and that they were well aware that a papal nuncio had arrived in the netherlands, to intrigue against them. in the evening, the prince complained that the estates had been so precipitate in concluding their arrangement with don john. he mentioned several articles in the treaty which were calculated to excite distrust; dwelling particularly on the engagement entered into by the estates to maintain the catholic religion. this article he declared to be in direct contravention to the ghent treaty, by which this point was left to the decision of a future assembly of the estates-general. leoninus essayed, as well as he could, to dispute these positions. in their last interview, the prince persisted in his intention of laying the whole matter before the states of holland and zealand. not to do so, he said, would be to expose himself to ruin on one side, and on the other, to the indignation of those who might suspect him of betraying them. the envoy begged to be informed if any hope could be entertained of a future arrangement. orange replied that he had no expectation of any, but advised doctor leoninus to be present at dort when the estates should assemble. notwithstanding the unfavorable result, of this mission, don john did not even yet despair of bending the stubborn character of the prince. he hoped that, if a personal interview between them could be arranged, he should be able to remove many causes of suspicion from the mind of his adversary. "in such times as these," wrote the governor to philip, "we can make no election, nor do i see any remedy to preserve the state from destruction, save to gain over this man, who has so much influence with the nation." the prince had, in truth, the whole game in his hands. there was scarcely a living creature in holland and zealand who was not willing to be bound by his decision in every emergency. throughout the rest of the provinces, the mass of the people looked up to him with absolute confidence, the clergy and the prominent nobles respecting and fearing him, even while they secretly attempted to thwart his designs. possessing dictatorial power in two provinces, vast influences in the other fifteen, nothing could be easier for him than to betray his country. the time was singularly propitious. the revengeful king was almost on his knees to the denounced rebel. everything was proffered: pardon, advancement, power. an indefinite vista was opened. "you cannot imagine," said don john, "how much it will be within my ability to do for you." the governor was extremely anxious to purchase the only enemy whom philip feared. the prince had nothing personally to gain by a continuance of the contest. the ban, outlawry, degradation, pecuniary ruin, assassination, martyrdom--these were the only guerdons he could anticipate. he had much to lose: but yesterday loaded with dignities, surrounded by pomp and luxury, with many children to inherit his worldly gear, could he not recover all; and more than all, to-day? what service had he to render in exchange? a mere nothing. he had but to abandon the convictions of a lifetime, and to betray a million or two of hearts which trusted him. as to the promises made by the governor to rule the country with gentleness, the prince could not do otherwise than commend the intention, even while distrusting the fulfilment. in his reply to the two letters of don john, he thanked his highness, with what seemed a grave irony, for the benign courtesy and signal honor which he had manifested to him, by inviting him so humanely and so carefully to a tranquil life, wherein, according to his highness, consisted the perfection of felicity in this mortal existence, and by promising him so liberally favor and grace. he stated, however, with earnestness, that the promises in regard to the pacification of the poor netherland people were much more important. he had ever expected, he said, beyond all comparison, the welfare and security of the public before his own; "having always placed his particular interests under his foot, even as he was still resolved to do, as long as life should endure." thus did william of orange receive the private advances made by the government towards himself. meantime, don john of austria came to louvain. until the preliminary conditions of the perpetual edict had been fulfilled, and the spanish troops sent out of the country, he was not to be received as governor-general, but it seemed unbecoming for him to remain longer upon the threshold of the provinces. he therefore advanced into the heart of the country, trusting himself without troops to the loyalty of the people, and manifesting a show of chivalrous confidence which he was far from feeling. he was soon surrounded by courtiers, time-servers, noble office-seekers. they who had kept themselves invisible, so long as the issue of a perplexed negotiation seemed doubtful, now became obsequious and inevitable as his shadow. one grand seignior wanted a regiment, another a government, a third a chamberlain's key; all wanted titles, ribbons, offices, livery, wages. don john distributed favors and promises with vast liberality. the object with which philip had sent him to the netherlands, that he might conciliate the hearts of its inhabitants by the personal graces which he had inherited from his imperial father, seemed in a fair way of accomplishment, for it was not only the venal applause of titled sycophants that he strove to merit, but he mingled gaily and familiarly with all classes of citizens. everywhere his handsome face and charming manner produced their natural effect. he dined and supped with the magistrates in the town-house, honored general banquets of the burghers with his presence, and was affable and dignified, witty, fascinating, and commanding, by turns. at louvain, the five military guilds held a solemn festival. the usual invitations were sent to the other societies, and to all the martial brotherhoods, the country round. gay and gaudy processions, sumptuous banquets, military sports, rapidly succeeded each other. upon the day of the great trial of skill; all the high functionaries of the land were, according to custom, invited, and the governor was graciously pleased to honor the solemnity with his presence. great was the joy of the multitude when don john, complying with the habit of imperial and princely personages in former days, enrolled himself, cross-bow in hand, among the competitors. greater still was the enthusiasm, when the conqueror of lepanto brought down the bird, and was proclaimed king of the year, amid the tumultuous hilarity of the crowd. according to custom, the captains of the guild suspended a golden popinjay around the neck of his highness, and placing themselves in procession, followed him to the great church. thence, after the customary religious exercises, the multitude proceeded to the banquet, where the health of the new king of the cross-bowmen was pledged in deep potations. long and loud was the merriment of this initiatory festival, to which many feasts succeeded during those brief but halcyon days, for the good-natured netherlanders already believed in the blessed advent of peace. they did not dream that the war, which had been consuming the marrow of their commonwealth for ten flaming years, was but in its infancy, and that neither they nor their children were destined to see its close. for the moment, however, all was hilarity at louvain. the governor, by his engaging deportment, awoke many reminiscences of the once popular emperor. he expressed unbounded affection for the commonwealth, and perfect confidence in the loyalty of the inhabitants. he promised to maintain their liberties, and to restore their prosperity. moreover, he had just hit the popinjay with a skill which his imperial father might have envied, and presided at burgher banquets with a grace which charles could have hardly matched. his personal graces, for the moment, took the rank of virtues. "such were the beauty and vivacity of his eyes," says his privy councillor, tassis, "that with a single glance he made all hearts his own," yet, nevertheless, the predestined victim secretly felt himself the object of a marksman who had no time for painted popinjays, but who rarely missed his aim. "the whole country is at the devotion of the prince, and nearly every one of its inhabitants;" such was his secret language to his royal brother, at the very moment of the exuberant manifestations which preceded his own entrance to brussels. while the governor still tarried at louvain, his secretary, escovedo, was busily engaged in arranging the departure of the spaniards, for, notwithstanding his original reluctance and the suspicions of orange, don john loyally intended to keep his promise. he even advanced twenty-seven thousand florins towards the expense of their removal, but to raise the whole amount required for transportation and arrears, was a difficult matter. the estates were slow in providing the one hundred and fifty thousand florins which they had stipulated to furnish. the king's credit, moreover, was at a very low, ebb. his previous bonds had not been duly honored, and there had even been instances of royal repudiation, which by no means lightened the task of the financier, in effecting the new loans required. escovedo was very blunt in his language upon this topic, and both don john and himself urged punctuality in all future payments. they entreated that the bills drawn in philip's name upon lombardy bankers, and discounted at a heavy rate of interest, by the fuggers of antwerp, might be duly provided for at maturity. "i earnestly beg," said escovedo, "that your majesty will see to the payment of these bills, at all events;" adding, with amusing simplicity, "this will be a means of recovering your majesty's credit, and as for my own; i don't care to lose it, small though it be." don john was even more solicitous. "for the love of god, sire," he wrote, "do not be delinquent now. you must reflect upon the necessity of recovering your credit. if this receives now the final blow, all will desert your majesty, and the soldiers too will be driven to desperation." by dint of great diligence on the part of escovedo, and through the confidence reposed in his character, the necessary funds were raised in the course of a few weeks. there was, however, a difficulty among the officers, as to the right of commanding the army on the homeward march. don alonzo de vargas, as chief of the cavalry, was appointed to the post by the governor, but valdez, romero, and other veterans, indignantly refused to serve under one whom they declared their inferior officer. there was much altercation and heartburning, and an attempt was made to compromise the matter by the appointment of count mansfeld to the chief command. this was, however, only adding fuel to the flames. all were dissatisfied with the superiority accorded to a foreigner, and alonzo de vargas, especially offended, addressed most insolent language to the governor. nevertheless, the arrangement was maintained, and the troops finally took their departure from the country, in the latter days of april. a vast concourse of citizens witnessed their departure, and could hardly believe their eyes, as they saw this incubus at last rolling off, by which the land had so many years been crushed. their joy, although extravagant, was, however, limited by the reflection that ten thousand germans still remained in the provinces, attached to the royal service, and that there was even yet a possibility that the departure of the spaniards was a feint. in truth, escovedo, although seconding the orders of don john, to procure the removal of these troops, did not scruple to express his regret to the king, and his doubts as to the result. he had been ever in hopes that an excuse might be found in the condition of affairs in france, to justify the retention of the forces near that frontier. he assured the king that he felt very doubtful as to what turn matters might take, after the soldiers were gone, seeing the great unruliness which even their presence had been insufficient completely to check. he had hoped that they might be retained in the neighbourhood, ready to seize the islands at the first opportunity. "for my part," he wrote, "i care nothing for the occupation of places within the interior, but the islands must be secured. to do this," he continued, with a deceitful allusion to the secret projects of don john, "is, in my opinion, more difficult than to effect the scheme upon england. if the one were accomplished, the other would be easily enough managed, and would require but moderate means. let not your majesty suppose that i say this as favoring the plan of don john, for this i put entirely behind me." notwithstanding these suspicions on the part of the people, this reluctance on the part of then government, the troops readily took up their line of march, and never paused till they reached lombardy. don john wrote repeatedly to the king, warmly urging the claims of these veterans, and of their distinguished officers, romero, avila, valdez, montesdocca, verdugo, mondragon, and others, to his bountiful consideration. they had departed in very ill humour, not having received any recompense for their long and arduous services. certainly, if unflinching endurance, desperate valor, and congenial cruelty, could atone in the monarch's eyes for the mutiny, which had at last compelled their withdrawal, then were these laborers worthy of their hire. don john had pacified them by assurances that they should receive adequate rewards on their arrival in lombardy, and had urged the full satisfaction of their claims and his promises in the strongest language. although don alonzo de vargas had abused him "with-flying colors," as he expressed himself, yet he hastened to intercede for him with the king in the most affectionate terms. "his impatience has not surprised me," said the governor, "although i regret that he has been offended, far i love and esteem him much. he has served many years with great distinction, and i can certify that his character for purity and religion is something extraordinary." the first scene in the withdrawal of the troops had been the evacuation of the citadel of antwerp, and it had been decided that the command of this most important fortress should be conferred upon the duke of aerschot. his claims as commander-in-chief, under the authority of the state council, and as chief of the catholic nobility, could hardly be passed over, yet he was a man whom neither party trusted. he was too visibly governed by interested motives. arrogant where he felt secure of his own, or doubtful as to another's position, he could be supple and cringing when the relations changed. he refused an interview with william of orange before consulting with don john, and solicited one afterwards when he found that every effort was to be made to conciliate the prince. he was insolent to the governor-general himself in february, and respectful in march. he usurped the first place in the church, before don john had been acknowledged governor, and was the first to go forth to welcome him after the matter had been arranged. he made a scene of virtuous indignation in the state council, because he was accused of place-hunting, but was diligent to secure an office of the highest dignity which the governor could bestow. whatever may have been his merits, it is certain that he inspired confidence neither in the adherents of the king nor of the prince; while he by turns professed the warmest regard both to the one party and the other. spaniards and patriots, protestants and catholics, suspected the man at the same moment, and ever attributed to his conduct a meaning which was the reverse of the apparent. such is often the judgment passed upon those who fish in troubled waters only to fill their own nets. the duke, however, was appointed governor of the citadel. sancho d'avila, the former constable, refused, with castillian haughtiness, to surrender the place to his successor, but appointed his lieutenant, martin d'oyo, to perform that ceremony. escovedo, standing upon the drawbridge with aerschot, administered the oath: "i, philip, duke of aerschot," said the new constable, "solemnly swear to hold this castle for the king, and for no others." to which escovedo added, "god help you, with all his angels, if you keep your oath; if not, may the devil carry you away, body and soul." the few bystanders cried amen; and with this hasty ceremony, the keys were delivered, the prisoners, egmont, capres, goignies, and others, liberated, and the spaniards ordered to march forth. etext editor's bookmarks: a terrible animal, indeed, is an unbridled woman agreements were valid only until he should repent all protestants were beheaded, burned, or buried alive arrive at their end by fraud, when violence will not avail them attachment to a half-drowned land and to a despised religion barbara blomberg, washerwoman of ratisbon believed in the blessed advent of peace compassing a country's emancipation through a series of defeats don john of austria don john was at liberty to be king of england and scotland ferocity which even christians could not have surpassed happy to glass themselves in so brilliant a mirror his personal graces, for the moment, took the rank of virtues necessary to make a virtue of necessity one-half to philip and one-half to the pope and venice (slaves) quite mistaken: in supposing himself the emperor's child sentimentality that seems highly apocryphal she knew too well how women were treated in that country those who fish in troubled waters only to fill their own nets worn crescents in their caps at leyden motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley [chapter ii.] triumphal entrance of don john into brussels--reverse of the picture --analysis of the secret correspondence of don john and escovedo with antonio perez--plots against the governor's liberty--his desponding language and gloomy anticipations--recommendation of severe measures--position and principles of orange and his family-- his private views on the question of peace and war--his toleration to catholics and anabaptists censured by his friends--death of viglius--new mission from the governor to orange--details of the gertruydenberg conferences--nature and results of these negotiations--papers exchanged between the envoys and orange--peter panis executed for heresy--three parties in the netherlands-- dissimulation of don john--his dread of capture. as already narrated, the soldiery had retired definitely from the country at the end of april, after which don john made his triumphal entrance into brussels on the st of may. it was long since so festive a may-day had gladdened the hearts of brabant. so much holiday magnificence had not been seen in the netherlands for years. a solemn procession of burghers, preceded by six thousand troops, and garnished by the free companies of archers and musketeers, in their picturesque costumes, escorted the young prince along the streets of the capital. don john was on horseback, wrapped in a long green cloak, riding between the bishop of liege and the papal nuncio. he passed beneath countless triumphal arches. banners waved before him, on which the battle of lepanto, and other striking scenes in his life, were emblazoned. minstrels sang verses, poets recited odes, rhetoric clubs enacted fantastic dramas in his honor, as he rode along. young virgins crowned him with laurels. fair women innumerable were clustered at every window, roof, and balcony, their bright robes floating like summer clouds above him. "softly from those lovely clouds," says a gallant chronicler, "descended the gentle rain of flowers." garlands were strewed before his feet, laurelled victory sat upon his brow. the same conventional enthusiasm and decoration which had characterized the holiday marches of a thousand conventional heroes were successfully produced. the proceedings began with the church, and ended with the banquet, the day was propitious, the populace pleased, and after a brilliant festival, don john of austria saw himself governor-general of the provinces. three days afterwards, the customary oaths, to be kept with the customary conscientiousness, were rendered at the town house, and for a brief moment all seemed smiling and serene. there was a reverse to the picture. in truth, no language can describe the hatred which don john entertained for the netherlands and all the inhabitants. he had come to the country only as a stepping-stone to the english throne, and he never spoke, in his private letters, of the provinces or the people but in terms of abhorrence. he was in a "babylon of disgust," in a "hell," surrounded by "drunkards," "wineskins," "scoundrels," and the like. from the moment of his arrival he had strained every nerve to retain the spanish troops, and to send them away by sea when it should be no longer feasible to keep them. escovedo shared in the sentiments and entered fully into the schemes of his chief. the plot, the secret enterprise, was the great cause of the advent of don john in the uncongenial clime of flanders. it had been, therefore, highly important, in his estimation, to set, as soon as possible, about the accomplishment of this important business. he accordingly entered into correspondence with antonio perez, the king's most confidential secretary of state at that period. that the governor was plotting no treason is sufficiently obvious from the context of his letters: at the same time, with the expansiveness of his character, when he was dealing with one whom he deemed has close and trusty friend, he occasionally made use of expressions which might be made to seem equivocal. this was still more the case with poor escovedo. devoted to his master, and depending most implicitly upon the honor of perez, he indulged in language which might be tortured into a still more suspicious shape when the devilish arts of perez and the universal distrust of philip were tending steadily to that end. for perez--on the whole, the boldest, deepest, and most unscrupulous villain in that pit of duplicity, the spanish court--was engaged at that moment with philip, in a plot to draw from don john and escovedo, by means of this correspondence, the proofs of a treason which the king and minister both desired to find. the letters from spain were written with this view--those from flanders were interpreted to that end. every confidential letter received by perez was immediately laid by him before the king, every letter which the artful demon wrote was filled with hints as to the danger of the king's learning the existence of the correspondence, and with promises of profound secrecy upon his own part, and was then immediately placed in philip's hands, to receive his comments and criticisms, before being copied and despatched to the netherlands. the minister was playing a bold, murderous, and treacherous game, and played it in a masterly manner. escovedo was lured to his destruction, don john was made to fret his heart away, and philip--more deceived than all--was betrayed in what he considered his affections, and made the mere tool of a man as false as himself and infinitely more accomplished. almost immediately after the arrival of don john in the netherlands; he had begun to express the greatest impatience for escovedo, who had not been able to accompany his master upon his journey, but without whose assistance the governor could accomplish none of his undertakings. "being a man, not an angel, i cannot do all which i have to do," said he to perez, "without a single person in whom i can confide." he protested that he could do no more than he was then doing. he went to bed at twelve and rose at seven, without having an hour in the day in which to take his food regularly; in consequence of all which he had already had three fevers. he was plunged into a world of distrust. every man suspected him, and he had himself no confidence in a single individual throughout that whole babylon of disgusts. he observed to perez that he was at liberty to show his letters to the king, or to read them in the council, as he meant always to speak the truth in whatever he should write. he was sure that perez would do all for the best; and there is something touching in these expressions of an honest purpose towards philip, and of generous confidence in perez, while the two were thus artfully attempting to inveigle him into damaging revelations. the netherlanders certainly had small cause to love or trust their new governor, who very sincerely detested and suspected them, but philip had little reason to complain of his brother. "tell me if my letters are read in council, and what his majesty says about them," he wrote; "and, above all, send money. i am driven to desperation at finding myself sold to this people, utterly unprovided as i am, and knowing the slow manner in which all affairs are conducted in spain." he informed the king that there was but one man in the netherlands, and that he was called the prince of orange. to him everything was communicated, with him everything was negotiated, opinions expressed by him were implicitly followed. the governor vividly described the misgivings with which he had placed himself in the power of the states by going to louvain, and the reluctance with which he had consented to send away the troops. after this concession, he complained that the insolence of the states had increased. "they think that they can do and undo what they like, now that i am at their mercy," he wrote to philip. "nevertheless, i do what you command without regarding that i am sold, and that i am in great danger of losing, my liberty, a loss which i dread more than anything in the world, for i wish to remain justified before god and men." he expressed, however, no hopes as to the result. disrespect and rudeness could be pushed no further than it had already gone, while the prince of orange, the actual governor of the country, considered his own preservation dependent upon maintaining things as they then were. don john, therefore, advised the king steadily to make preparations for "a rude and terrible war," which was not to be avoided, save by a miracle, and which ought not--to find him in this unprepared state. he protested that it was impossible to exaggerate the boldness which the people felt at seeing him thus defenseless. "they say publicly," he continued, "that your majesty is not to be feared, not being capable of carrying on a war, and having consumed and exhausted every resource. one of the greatest injuries ever inflicted upon us was by marquis havre, who, after his return from spain, went about publishing everywhere the poverty of the royal exchequer. this has emboldened them to rise, for they believe that, whatever the disposition, there is no strength to chastise them. they see a proof of the correctness of their reasoning in the absence of new levies, and in the heavy arrearages due to the old troops." he protested that he desired, at least, to be equal to the enemy, without asking, as others had usually done, for double the amount of the hostile force. he gave a glance at the foreign complications of the netherlands, telling philip that the estates were intriguing both with france and england. the english envoy had expressed much uneasiness at the possible departure of the spanish troops from the netherlands by sea, coupling it with a probable attempt to liberate the queen of scots. don john, who had come to the provinces for no other purpose, and whose soul had been full of that romantic scheme, of course stoutly denied and ridiculed the idea. "such notions," he had said to the envoy, "were subjects for laughter. if the troops were removed from the country, it was to strengthen his majesty's force in the levant." mr. rogers, much comforted, had expressed the warm friendship which elizabeth entertained both for his majesty and his majesty's representative; protestations which could hardly seem very sincere, after the series of attempts at the queen's life, undertaken so recently by his majesty and his majesty's former representative. nevertheless, don john had responded with great cordiality, had begged for elizabeth's portrait, and had expressed the intention, if affairs went as he hoped, to go privately to england for the purpose of kissing her royal hand. don john further informed the king, upon the envoy's authority, that elizabeth had refused assistance to the estates, saying, if she stirred it would be to render aid to philip, especially if france should meddle in the matter. as to france, the governor advised philip to hold out hopes to alencon of espousing the infanta, but by no means ever to fulfil such a promise, as the duke, "besides being the shield of heretics, was unscrupulously addicted to infamous vices." a month later, escovedo described the downfall of don john's hopes and his own in dismal language.--"you are aware," he wrote to perez, "that a throne--a chair with a canopy--is our intention and our appetite, and all the rest is good for nothing. having failed in our scheme, we are desperate and like madmen. all is now weariness and death." having expressed himself in such desponding accents, he continued, a few days afterwards, in the same lugubrious vein, "i am ready to hang myself," said he, "and i would have done it already, if it were not for keeping myself as executioner for those who have done us so much harm. ah, senor antonio perez!" he added, "what terrible pertinacity have those devils shown in making us give up our plot. it seems as though hell were opened and had sent forth heaps of demons to oppose our schemes." after these vigorous ejaculations he proceeded to inform his friend that the english envoy and the estates, governed by the prince of orange, in whose power were the much-coveted ships, had prevented the departure of the troops by sea. "these devils complain of the expense," said he; "but we would willingly swallow the cost if we could only get the ships." he then described don john as so cast down by his disappointment as to be fit for nothing, and most desirous of quitting the netherlands as soon as possible. he had no disposition to govern these wineskins. any one who ruled in the provinces was obliged to do exactly what they ordered him to do. such rule was not to the taste of don john. without any comparison, a woman would answer the purpose better than any man, and escovedo accordingly suggested the empress dowager, or madame de parma, or even madame de lorraine. he further recommended that the spanish troops, thus forced to leave the netherlands by land, should be employed against the heretics in france. this would be a salve for the disgrace of removing them. "it would be read in history," continued the secretary, "that the troops went to france in order to render assistance in a great religious necessity; while, at the same time, they will be on hand to chastise these drunkards, if necessary. to have the troops in france is almost as well as to keep them here." he begged to be forgiven if he spoke incoherently. 't was no wonder that he should do so, for his reason had been disordered by the blow which had been received. as for don john, he was dying to leave the country, and although the force was small for so great a general, yet it would be well for him to lead these troops to france in person. "it would sound well in history," said poor escovedo, who always thought of posterity, without ever dreaming that his own private letters would be destined, after three centuries, to comment and earnest investigation; "it would sound well in history, that don john went to restore, the french kingdom and to extirpate heretics, with six thousand foot and two thousand horse. 'tis a better employment, too, than to govern such vile creatures as these." if, however, all their plans should fail, the secretary suggested to his friend antonio, that he must see and make courtiers of them. he suggested that a strong administration might be formed in spain, with don john, the marquis de los velez, and the duke of sesa. "with such chiefs, and with anthony and john--[viz., john of escovedo and antony perez.]--for acolytes," he was of opinion that much good work might be done, and that don john might become "the staff for his majesty's old age." he implored perez, in the most urgent language, to procure philip's consent that his brother should leave the provinces. "otherwise," said he, "we shall see the destruction of the friend whom we so much love! he will become seriously ill, and if so, good night to him! his body is too delicate." escovedo protested that he would rather die himself. "in the catastrophe of don john's death," he continued, "adieu the court, adieu the world!" he would incontinently bury himself among the mountains of san sebastian, "preferring to dwell among wild animals than among courtiers." escovedo, accordingly, not urged by the most disinterested motives certainly, but with as warm a friendship for his master as princes usually inspire, proceeded to urge upon perez the necessity of, aiding the man who was able to help them. the first step was to get him out of the netherlands. that was his constant thought, by day and night. as it would hardly be desirable for him to go alone, it seemed proper that escovedo should, upon some pretext, be first sent to spain. such a pretext would be easily found, because, as don john had accepted the government, "it would be necessary for him to do all which the rascals bade him." after these minute statements, the secretary warned his correspondent of the necessity of secrecy, adding that he especially feared "all the court ladies, great and small, but that he in everything confided entirely in perez." nearly at the same time, don john wrote to perez in a similar tone. "ah, senor antonio," he exclaimed, "how certain is my disgrace and my misfortune. ruined is our enterprise, after so much labor and such skilful management." he was to have commenced the work with the very spanish soldiers who were now to be sent off by land, and he had nothing for it but to let them go, or to come to an open rupture with the states. "the last, his conscience, his duty, and the time, alike forbade." he was therefore obliged to submit to the ruin of his plans, and "could think of nothing save to turn hermit, a condition in which a man's labors, being spiritual, might not be entirely in vain." he was so overwhelmed by the blow, he said, that he was constantly thinking of an anchorite's life. that which he had been leading had become intolerable. he was not fitted for the people of the netherlands, nor they for him. rather than stay longer than was necessary in order to appoint his successor, there was no resolution he might not take, even to leaving everything and coming upon them when they least expected him, although he were to receive a bloody punishment in consequence. he, too, suggested the empress, who had all the qualities which he lacked himself, or madame de parma, or madame de lorraine, as each of them was more fit to govern the provinces than he pretended to be. "the people," said he, plainly, "are beginning to abhor me, and i abhor them already." he entreated perez to get him out of the country by fair means or foul, "per fas aut per nefas." his friends ought to procure his liberation, if they wished to save him from the sin of disobedience, and even of infamy. he expressed the most unbounded confidence in the honor of his correspondent, adding that if nothing else could procure his release, the letter might be shown to the king. in general, the governor was always willing that perez should make what changes he thought advisable in the letters for his majesty, altering or softening whatever seemed crude or harsh, provided always the main point--that of procuring his recal--were steadily kept in view, in this, said the governor, vehemently, my life, my honor, and my soul are all at stake; for as to the two first, i shall forfeit them both certainly, and, in my desperate condition, i shall run great risk of losing the last. on the other hand, perez was profuse in his professions of friendship both to don john and to escovedo; dilating in all his letters upon the difficulty of approaching the king upon the subject of his brother's recal, but giving occasional information that an incidental hint had been ventured which might not remain without effect. all these letters, were, however, laid before philip, for his approval, before being despatched, and the whole subject thoroughly and perpetually discussed between them, about which perez pretended that he hardly dared breathe a syllable to his majesty. he had done what he could, he said, while reading, piece by piece, to the king, during a fit of the gout, the official despatches from the netherlands, to insinuate such of the arguments used by the governor and escovedo as might seem admissible, but it was soon obvious that no impression could be made upon the royal mind. perez did not urge the matter, therefore, "because," said he, "if the king should suspect that we had any other object than his interests, we should all be lost." every effort should be made by don john and all his friends to secure his majesty's entire confidence, since by that course more progress would be made in their secret plans, than by proceedings concerning which the governor wrote "with such fury and anxiety of heart." perez warned his correspondent, therefore, most solemnly, against the danger of "striking the blow without hitting the mark," and tried to persuade him that his best interests required him to protract his residence in the provinces for a longer period. he informed don john that his disappointment as to the english scheme had met with the warmest sympathy of the king, who had wished his brother success. "i have sold to him, at as high a price as i could," said perez, "the magnanimity with which your highness had sacrificed, on that occasion, a private object to his service." the minister held the same language, when writing, in a still more intimate and expansive style, to escovedo. "we must avoid, by a thousand--leagues, the possibility of the king's thinking us influenced by private motives," he observed; "for we know the king and the delicacy of these matters. the only way to gain the good-will of the man is carefully to accommodate ourselves to his tastes, and to have the appearance of being occupied solely with his interests." the letter, like all the rest, being submitted to "the man" in question before being sent, was underlined by him at this paragraph and furnished with the following annotation: "but you must enlarge upon the passage which i have marked--say more, even if you are obliged to copy the letter, in order that we may see the nature of the reply." in another letter to escovedo, perez enlarged upon the impropriety, the impossibility of don john's leaving the netherlands at that time. the king was so resolute upon that point, he said, that 'twas out of the question to suggest the matter. "we should, by so doing, only lose all credit with him in other things. you know what a terrible man he is; if he should once suspect us of having a private end in view, we should entirely miss our mark." especially the secretary was made acquainted with the enormous error which would be committed by don john in leaving his post. perez "had ventured into the water" upon the subject, he said, by praising the governor warmly to his majesty. the king had responded by a hearty eulogium, adding that the greatest comfort in having such a brother was, that he might be where his majesty could not be. therefore, it was out of the question for don john to leave the provinces. the greatest tact was necessary, urged perez, in dealing with the king. if he should once "suspect that we have a private purpose, we are lost, and no demosthenes or cicero would be able to influence him afterwards." perez begged that his ardent attachment to don john might be represented in the strongest colors to that high personage, who was to be assured that every effort would be made to place him at the head of affairs in spain, according to the suggestion of escovedo. "it would never do, however," he continued, "to let our man see that we desire it, for then we should never succeed. the only way to conquer him is to make him believe that things are going on as he wishes, not as his highness may desire, and that we have none of us any will but the king's." upon this passage the "terrible man" made a brief annotation: "this paragraph does admirably," he said, adding, with characteristic tautology, "and what you say in it is also excellent." "therefore," continued the minister, "god forbid, master escovedo, that you should come hither now; for we should all be lost. in the english matter, i assure you that his majesty was extremely anxious that the plan should succeed, either through the pope, or otherwise. that puts me in mind," added perez, "to say, body of god! senor escovedo! how the devil came you to send that courier to rome about the english plot without giving me warning?" he then proceeded to state that the papal nuncio in spain had been much troubled in mind upon the subject, and had sent for him. "i went," said perez, "and after he, had closed the door, and looked through the keyhole to see that there were no listeners, he informed me that he had received intelligence from the pope as to the demands made by don john upon his holiness for bulls, briefs, and money to assist him in his english scheme, and that eighty thousand ducats had already been sent to him in consequence." perez added that the nuncio was very anxious to know how the affair should best be communicated to the king, without prejudice to his highness. he had given him the requisite advice, he continued, and had himself subsequently told the king that, no doubt, letters had been written by don john to his majesty, communicating these negotiations at rome, but that probably the despatches had been forgotten. thus, giving himself the appearance of having smoothed the matter with the king, perez concluded with a practical suggestion of much importance--the necessity, namely, of procuring the assassination of the prince of orange as soon as possible. "let it never be absent from your mind," said he, "that a good occasion must be found for finishing orange, since, besides the service which will thus be rendered to our master, and to the states, it will be worth something to ourselves." no apology is necessary for laying a somewhat extensive analysis of this secret correspondence before the reader. if there be any value in the examples of history, certainly few chronicles can furnish a more instructive moral. here are a despotic king and his confidential minister laying their heads together in one cabinet; the viceroy of the most important provinces of the realm, with his secretary, deeply conferring in another, not as to the manner of advancing the great interests, moral or material, of the people over whom god has permitted them to rule, but as to the best means of arranging conspiracies against the throne and life of a neighboring sovereign, with the connivance and subsidies of the pope. in this scheme, and in this only, the high conspirators are agreed. in every other respect, mutual suspicion and profound deceit characterize the scene. the governor is filled with inexpressible loathing for the whole nation of "drunkards and wineskins" who are at the very moment strewing flowers in his path, and deafening his ears with shouts of welcome; the king, while expressing unbounded confidence in the viceroy, is doing his utmost, through the agency of the subtlest intriguer in the world, to inveigle him into confessions of treasonable schemes, and the minister is filling reams of paper with protestations of affection for the governor and secretary, with sneers at the character of the king, and with instructions as to the best method of deceiving him, and then laying the despatches before his majesty for correction and enlargement. to complete the picture, the monarch and his minister are seen urging the necessity of murdering the foremost man of the age upon the very dupe who, within a twelvemonth, was himself to be assassinated by the self-same pair; while the arch-plotter who controls the strings of all these complicated projects is equally false to king, governor, and secretary, and is engaging all the others in these blind and tortuous paths, for the accomplishment of his own secret and most ignoble aims. in reply to the letters of perez, don john constantly expressed the satisfaction and comfort which he derived from them in the midst of his annoyances. "he was very disconsolate," he said, "to be in that hell, and to be obliged to remain in it," now that the english plot had fallen to the ground, but he would nevertheless take patience, and wait for a more favorable conjuncture. escovedo expressed the opinion, however, notwithstanding all the suggestions of perez, that the presence of don john in the provinces had become entirely superfluous. "an old woman with her distaff," suggested the secretary, "would be more appropriate; for there would be nothing to do, if the states had their way, save to sign everything which they should command." if there should be war, his highness would, of course, not abandon his post; even if permitted to do so; but otherwise, nothing could be gained by a prolonged residence. as to the scheme of assassinating the prince of orange, escovedo prayed perez to believe him incapable of negligence on the subject. "you know that the finishing of orange is very near my heart," wrote the poor dupe to the man by whom he was himself so soon to be finished. "you may believe that i have never forgotten it, and never will forget it, until it be done. much, and very much artifice is, however, necessary to accomplish this object. a proper person to undertake a task fraught with such well-known danger, is hard to find. nevertheless, i will not withdraw my attention from the subject till such a person be procured, and the deed be done." a month later, escovedo wrote that he was about to visit spain. he complained that he required rest in his old age, but that perez could judge how much rest he could get in such a condition of affairs. he was, unfortunately, not aware, when he wrote, how soon his correspondent was to give him a long repose. he said, too, that the pleasure of visiting his home was counterbalanced by the necessity of travelling back to the netherlands; but he did not know that perez was to spare him that trouble, and to send him forth upon a much longer journey. the governor-general, had, in truth, not inspired the popular party or its leader with confidence, nor did he place the least reliance upon them. while at louvain, he had complained that a conspiracy had been formed against his life and liberty. two french gentlemen, bonnivet and bellangreville, had been arrested on suspicion of a conspiracy to secure his person, and to carry him off a prisoner to rochelle. nothing came of the examination which followed; the prisoners were released, and an apology was sent by the states-general to the duke of alencon, as well for the indignity which had been offered to two of his servants, as for the suspicion which had been cast upon himself, don john, however, was not satisfied. he persisted in asserting the existence of the conspiracy, and made no secret of his belief that the prince of orange was acquainted with the arrangement. as may be supposed, nothing was discovered in the course of the investigation to implicate that astute politician. the prince had indeed secretly recommended that the governor should be taken into custody on his first arrival, not for the purpose of assassination or personal injury, but in order to extort better terms from philip, through the affection or respect which he might be supposed to entertain for his brother. it will be remembered that unsuccessful attempts had also been made to capture the duke of alva and the commander requesens. such achievements comported with the spirit of the age, and although it is doubtful whether any well-concerted plot existed against the liberty of the governor, it is certain that he entertained no doubt on the subject himself. in addition to these real or suspected designs, there was an ever-present consciousness in the mind of don john that the enthusiasm which greeted his presence was hollow, that no real attachment was felt for his person, that his fate was leading him into a false position, that the hearts of the people were fixed upon another, and that they were never to be won by himself. instinctively he seemed to feel a multitude of invisible threads twining into a snare around him, and the courageous heart and the bounding strength became uneasily conscious of the act in which they were to be held captive till life should be wasted quite away. the universal affection for the rebel prince, and the hopeless abandonment of the people to that deadliest of sins, the liberty of conscience, were alike unquestionable. "they mean to remain free, sire," wrote escovedo to philip, "and to live as they please. to that end they would be willing that the turk should come to be master of the country. by the road which they are travelling, however, it will be the prince of orange--which comes to quite the same thing." at the same time, however, it was hoped that something might be made of this liberty of conscience. all were not equally sunk in the horrible superstition, and those who were yet faithful to church and king might be set against their besotted brethren. liberty of conscience might thus be turned to account. while two great parties were "by the ears, and pulling out each other's hair, all might perhaps be reduced together." his majesty was warned, nevertheless, to expect the worst, and to believe that the country could only be cared with fire and blood. the position of the governor was painful and perplexing. "don john," said escovedo, "is thirty years old. i promise your majesty nothing, save that if he finds himself without requisite assistance, he will take himself off when your majesty is least thinking of such a thing." nothing could be more melancholy than the tone of the governor's letters. he believed himself disliked, even in the midst of affectionate demonstrations. he felt compelled to use moderate counsels, although he considered moderation of no avail. he was chained to his post, even though the post could, in his opinion, be more advantageously filled by another. he would still endeavour to gain the affections of the people, although he believed them hopelessly alienated. if patience would cure the malady of the country, he professed himself capable of applying the remedy, although the medicine had so far done but little good, and although he had no very strong hopes as to its future effects. "thus far, however," said he, "i am but as one crying in the wilderness." he took occasion to impress upon his majesty, in very strong language, the necessity of money. secret agents, spies, and spies upon spies, were more necessary than ever, and were very expensive portions of government machinery. never was money more wanted. nothing could be more important than, to attend faithfully to the financial suggestions of escovedo, and don john, therefore, urged his majesty, again and again, not to dishonor their drafts. "money is the gruel," said he, "with which we must cure this sick man;" and he therefore prayed all those who wished well to his efforts, to see that his majesty did not fail him in this important matter. notwithstanding, however, the vigor of his efforts, and the earnestness of his intentions, he gave but little hope to his majesty of any valuable fruit from the pacification just concluded. he saw the prince of orange strengthening himself, "with great fury," in holland and zealand; he knew that the prince was backed by the queen of england, who, notwithstanding her promises to philip and himself, had offered her support to the rebels in case the proposed terms of peace were rejected in holland, and he felt that "nearly the whole people was at the devotion of the prince." don john felt more and more convinced, too, that a conspiracy was on foot against his liberty. there were so many of the one party, and so few of the other, that if he were once fairly "trussed," he affirmed that not a man among the faithful would dare to budge an inch. he therefore informed his majesty that he was secretly meditating a retreat to some place of security; judging very properly that, if he were still his own master, he should be able to exert more influence over those who were still well disposed, than if he should suffer himself to be taken captive. a suppressed conviction that he could effect nothing, except with his sword, pierced through all his more prudent reflections. he maintained that, after all, there was no remedy for the body but to cut off the diseased parts at once, and he therefore begged his majesty for the means of performing the operation handsomely. the general expressions which he had previously used in favor of broths and mild treatment hardly tallied with the severe amputation thus recommended. there was, in truth, a constant struggle going on between the fierceness of his inclinations and the shackles which had been imposed upon him. he already felt entirely out of place, and although he scorned to fly from his post so long as it seemed the post of danger, he was most anxious that the king should grant him his dismissal, so soon as his presence should no longer be imperiously required. he was sure that the people would never believe in his majesty's forgiveness until the man concerning whom they entertained so much suspicion should be removed; for they saw in him only the "thunderbolt of his majesty's wrath." orange and england confirmed their suspicions, and sustained their malice. should he be compelled, against his will, to remain, he gave warning that he might do something which would be matter of astonishment to everybody. meantime, the man in whose hands really lay the question of war and peace, sat at middelburg, watching the deep current of events as it slowly flowed towards the precipice. the whole population of holland and zealand hung on his words. in approaching the realms of william the silent, don john felt that he had entered a charmed, circle, where the talisman of his own illustrious name lost its power, where his valor was paralyzed, and his sword rusted irrevocably in its sheath. "the people here," he wrote, "are bewitched by the prince of orange. they love him, they fear him, and wish to have him for their master. they inform him of everything, and take no resolution without consulting him." while william was thus directing and animating the whole nation with his spirit, his immediate friends became more and more anxious concerning the perils to which he was exposed. his mother, who had already seen her youngest-born, henry, her adolphus, her chivalrous louis, laid in their bloody graves for the cause of conscience, was most solicitous for the welfare of her "heart's-beloved lord and son," the prince of orange. nevertheless, the high-spirited old dame was even more alarmed at the possibility of a peace in which that religious liberty for which so much dear blood had been, poured forth should be inadequately secured. "my heart longs for certain tidings from my lord," she wrote to william, "for methinks the peace now in prospect will prove but an oppression for soul and conscience. i trust my heart's dearly-beloved lord and son will be supported by divine grace to do nothing against god and his own soul's salvation. 'tis better to lose the temporal than the eternal." thus wrote the mother of william, and we can feel the sympathetic thrill which such tender and lofty words awoke in his breast. his son, the ill-starred philip, now for ten years long a compulsory sojourner in spain, was not yet weaned from his affection for his noble parent, but sent messages of affection to him whenever occasion offered, while a less commendable proof of his filial affection he had lately afforded, at the expense of the luckless captain of his spanish guard. that officer having dared in his presence to speak disrespectfully of his father, was suddenly seized about the waist by the enraged young count, hurled out of the window, and killed stone-dead upon the spot. after this exhibition of his natural feelings, the spanish government thought it necessary to take more subtle means to tame so turbulent a spirit. unfortunately they proved successful. count john of nassau, too, was sorely pressed for money. six hundred thousand florins; at least, had been advanced by himself and brothers to aid the cause of netherland freedom. louis and himself had, unhesitatingly and immediately, turned into that sacred fund the hundred thousand crowns which the king of france had presented them for their personal use, for it was not the prince of orange alone who had consecrated his wealth and his life to the cause, but the members of his family, less immediately interested in the country, had thus furnished what may well be called an enormous subsidy, and one most disproportioned to their means. not only had they given all the cash which they could command by mortgaging their lands and rents, their plate and furniture, but, in the words of count john himself, "they had taken the chains and jewels from the necks of their wives, their children, and their mother, and had hawked them about, as if they had themselves been traders and hucksters." and yet, even now, while stooping under this prodigious debt, count john asked not for present repayment. he only wrote to the prince to signify his extreme embarrassment, and to request some obligation or recognition from the cities of holland and zealand, whence hitherto no expression of gratitude or acknowledgment had proceeded. the prince consoled and assured, as best he could, his mother, son, wife, and brother, even at the same moment that he comforted his people. he also received at this time a second and more solemn embassy from don john. no sooner had the governor exchanged oaths at brussels, and been acknowledged as the representative of his majesty, than he hastened to make another effort to conciliate the prince. don john saw before him only a grand seignior of lofty birth and boundless influence, who had placed himself towards the crown in a false position, from which he might even yet be rescued; for to sacrifice the whims of a reforming and transitory religious fanaticism, which had spun itself for a moment about so clear a brain, would, he thought, prove but a trifling task for so experienced a politician as the prince. william of orange, on the other hand, looked upon his young antagonist as the most brilliant impersonation which had yet been seen of the foul spirit of persecution. it will be necessary to follow, somewhat more in detail than is usually desirable, the interchange of conversations, letters, and protocols, out of which the brief but important administration of don john was composed; for it was exactly in such manifestations that the great fight was really proceeding. don john meant peace, wise william meant war, for he knew that no other issue was possible. peace, in reality, was war in its worst shape. peace would unchain every priestly tongue, and unsheath every knightly sword in the fifteen provinces against little holland and zealand. he had been able to bind all the provinces together by the hastily forged chain of the ghent treaty, and had done what he could to strengthen that union by the principle of mutual religious respect. by the arrival of don john that work had been deranged. it had, however, been impossible for the prince thoroughly to infuse his own ideas on the subject of toleration into the hearts of his nearest associates. he could not hope to inspire his deadly enemies with a deeper sympathy. was he not himself the mark of obloquy among the reformers, because of his leniency to catholics? nay more, was not his intimate councillor, the accomplished saint aldegonde, in despair because the prince refused to exclude the anabaptists of holland from the rights of citizenship? at the very moment when william was straining every nerve to unite warring sects, and to persuade men's hearts into a system by which their consciences were to be laid open to god alone--at the moment when it was most necessary for the very existence of the fatherland that catholic and protestant should mingle their social and political relations, it was indeed a bitter disappointment for him to see wise statesmen of his own creed unable to rise to the idea of toleration. "the affair of the anabaptists," wrote saint aldegonde, "has been renewed. the prince objects to exclude them from citizenship. he answered me sharply, that their yea was equal to our oath, and that we should not press this matter, unless we were willing to confess that it was just for the papists to compel us to a divine service which was against our conscience." it seems hardly credible that this sentence, containing so sublime a tribute to the character of the prince, should have been indited as a bitter censure, and that, too, by an enlightened and accomplished protestant. "in short," continued saint aldegonde, with increasing vexation, "i don't see how we can accomplish our wish in this matter. the prince has uttered reproaches to me that our clergy are striving to obtain a mastery over consciences. he praised lately the saying of a monk who was not long ago here, that our pot had not gone to the fire as often as that of our antagonists, but that when the time came it would be black enough. in short, the prince fears that after a few centuries the clerical tyranny on both sides will stand in this respect on the same footing." early in the month of may, doctor leoninus and caspar schetz, seigneur de grobbendonck, had been sent on a mission from the states-general to the prince of orange. while their negotiations were still pending, four special envoys from don john arrived at middelburg. to this commission was informally adjoined leoninus, who had succeeded to the general position of viglius. viglius was dead. since the memorable arrest of the state council, he had not appeared on the scene of public affairs. the house-arrest, to which he had been compelled by a revolutionary committee, had been indefinitely prolonged by a higher power, and after a protracted illness he had noiselessly disappeared from the stage of life. there had been few more learned doctors of both laws than he. there had been few more adroit politicians, considered from his point of view. his punning device was "vita mortalium vigilia," and he acted accordingly, but with a narrow interpretation. his life had indeed been a vigil, but it must be confessed that the vigils had been for viglius. [bor, x. . meteren, vi. .--another motto of his was, "en groot jurist een booser christ;" that is to say, a good lawyer is a bad christian.--unfortunately his own character did not give the lie satisfactorily to the device.] the weatherbeaten palinurus, as he loved to call himself, had conducted his own argosy so warily that he had saved his whole cargo; and perished in port at last, while others, not sailing by his compass, were still tossed by the tempest. the agents of don john were the duke of aerschot, the seigneur de hierges, seigneur de willerval, and doctor meetkercke, accompanied by doctor andrew gaill, one of the imperial commissioners. the two envoys from the states-general, leoninus and schetz, being present at gertruydenberg were added to the deputation. an important conference took place, the details of which have been somewhat minutely preserved. the prince of orange, accompanied by saint aldegonde and four other councillors, encountered the seven champions from brussels in a long debate, which was more like a passage of arms or a trial of skill than a friendly colloquy with a pacific result in prospect; for it must be remembered that the prince of orange did not mean peace. he had devised the pacification of ghent as a union of the other provinces with holland and zealand, against philip. he did not intend that it should be converted into a union of the other provinces with philip, against holland and zealand. meetkercke was the first to speak. he said that the governor had despatched them to the prince, to express his good intentions, to represent the fidelity with which his promises had thus far been executed, and to entreat the prince, together with the provinces of holland and zealand, to unite with their sister provinces in common allegiance to his majesty. his highness also proposed to advise with them concerning the proper method of convoking the states-general. as soon as meetkercke had finished his observations, the prince demanded that the points and articles should be communicated to him in writing. now this was precisely what the envoys preferred to omit. it was easier, and far more agreeable to expatiate in a general field of controversy,--than to remain tethered to distinct points. it was particularly in these confused conferences, where neither party was entirely sincere, that the volatile word was thought preferable to the permanent letter. already so many watery lines had been traced, in the course of these fluctuating negotiations, that a few additional records would be if necessary, as rapidly effaced as the rest. the commissioners, after whispering in each other's, ears for a few minutes, refused to put down anything in writing. protocols, they said, only engendered confusion. "no, no," said the .prince, in reply, "we will have nothing except in black and white. otherwise things will be said on both sides, which will afterwards be interpreted in different ways. nay, it will be denied that some important points have been discussed at all. we know that by experience. witness the solemn treaty of ghent, which ye have tried to make fruitless, under pretence that some points, arranged by word of mouth, and not stated particularly in writing, had been intended in a different sense from the obvious one. governments given by royal commission, for example; what point could be clearer? nevertheless, ye have hunted up glosses and cavils to obscure the intention of the contracting parties. ye have denied my authority over utrecht, because not mentioned expressly in the treaty of ghent." "but," said one of the envoys, interrupting at this point, "neither the council of state nor the court of mechlin consider utrecht as belonging to your excellency's government." "neither the council of state," replied the prince, "nor the court of mechlin have anything to do with the matter. 'tis in my commission, and all the world knows it." he added that instead of affairs being thrown into confusion by being reduced to writing, he was of opinion, on the contrary, that it was by that means alone they could be made perfectly clear. leoninus replied, good naturedly, that there should be no difficulty upon that score, and that writings should be exchanged. in the meantime, however, he expressed the hope that the prince would honor them with some preliminary information as to the points in which he felt aggrieved, as well as to the pledges which he and the states were inclined to demand. "and what reason have we to hope," cried the prince, "that your pledges, if made; will be redeemed? that which was promised so solemnly at ghent, and ratified by don john and his majesty, has not been fulfilled." "of what particular point do you complain?" asked schetz. "wherein has the pacification been violated?" hereupon the prince launched forth upon a flowing stream of invective. he spoke to them of his son detained in distant captivity--of his own property at breda withheld--of a thousand confiscated estates--of garrisons of german mercenaries--of ancient constitutions annihilated--of the infamous edicts nominally suspended, but actually in full vigor. he complained bitterly that the citadels, those nests and dens of tyranny, were not yet demolished. "ye accuse me of distrust," he cried; "but while the castles of antwerp, ghent, namur, and so many more are standing, 'tis yourselves who show how utterly ye are without confidence in any permanent and peaceful arrangement." "and what," asked a deputy, smoothly, "is the point which touches you most nearly? what is it that your excellency most desires? by what means will it be possible for the government fully to give you contentment?" "i wish," he answered, simply, "the full execution of the ghent pacification. if you regard the general welfare of the land, it is well, and i thank you. if not, 'tis idle to make propositions, for i regard my country's profit, not my own." afterwards, the prince simply repeated his demand that the ghent treaty should be executed; adding, that after the states-general should have been assembled, it would be time to propose the necessary articles for mutual security. hereupon doctor leoninus observed that the assembly of the states-general could hardly be without danger. he alluded to the vast number of persons who would thus be convoked, to the great discrepancy of humors which would thus be manifested. many men would be present neither discreet nor experienced. he therefore somewhat coolly suggested that it might be better to obviate the necessity of holding any general assembly at all. an amicable conference, for the sake of settling doubtful questions, would render the convocation superfluous, and save the country from the dangers by which the step would be attended. the doctor concluded by referring to the recent assemblies of france, the only result of which had been fresh dissensions. it thus appeared that the proposition on the part of don john meant something very different from its apparent signification. to advise with the prince as to the proper method of assembling the estates really meant, to advise with him as to the best means of preventing any such assembly. here, certainly, was a good reason for the preference expressed by the deputies, in favor of amicable discussions over formal protocols. it might not be so easy in a written document to make the assembly, and the prevention of the assembly, appear exactly the same thing. the prince replied that there was a wide difference between the condition of france and of the netherlands. here, was one will and one intention. there, were many factions, many partialities, many family intrigues. since it had been agreed by the ghent treaty that certain points should be provisionally maintained and others settled by a speedy convocation of the states-general, the plainest course was to maintain the provisional points, and to summon the states-general at once. this certainly was concise and logical. it is doubtful, however, whether he were really as anxious for the assembly-general as he appeared to be. both parties were fencing at each other, without any real intention of carrying their points, for neither wished the convocation, while both affected an eagerness for that event. the conversation proceeded. "at least," said an envoy, "you can tell beforehand in what you are aggrieved, and what you have to propose." "we are aggrieved in nothing, and we have nothing to propose," answered the prince, "so long as you maintain the pacification. we demand no other pledge, and are willing to refer everything afterwards to the assembly." "but," asked schetz, "what security do you offer us that you will yourselves maintain the pacification?" "we are not bound to give assurances," answered the prince. "the pacification is itself an assurance. 'tis a provisional arrangement, to be maintained by both parties, until after the decision of the assembly. the pacification must therefore be maintained or disavowed. choose between the two. only, if you mean still to acknowledge it, you must keep its articles. this we mean to do, and if up to the present time you have any complaint to make of our conduct, as we trust you have not, we are ready to give you satisfaction." "in short," said an envoy, "you mean, after we shall have placed in your hands the government of utrecht, amsterdam: and other places, to deny us any pledges on your part to maintain the pacification." "but," replied the prince, "if we are already accomplishing the pacification, what more do you wish?" "in this fashion," cried the others, "after having got all that you ask, and having thus fortified yourselves more than you were ever fortified before, you will make war upon us." "war?" cried the prince, "what are you afraid of? we are but a handful of people; a worm compared to the king of spain. moreover, ye are fifteen provinces to two. what have you to fear?" "ah," said meetkercke, "we have seen what you could do, when you were masters of the sea. don't make yourselves out quite so little." "but," said the prince, "the pacification of ghent provides for all this. your deputies were perfectly satisfied with the guarantees it furnished. as to making war upon you, 'tis a thing without foundation or appearance of probability. had you believed then that you had anything to fear, you world not have forgotten to demand pledges enough. on the contrary, you saw how roundly we were dealing with you then, honestly disgarnishing the country, even before the peace had been concluded. for ourselves, although we felt the right to demand guarantees, we would not do it, for we were treating with you on terms of confidence. we declared expressly that had we been dealing with the king, we should have exacted stricter pledges. as to demanding them of us at the moment, 'tis nonsense. we have neither the means of assailing you, nor do we deem it expedient to do so." "to say the truth," replied schetz, "we are really confident that you will not make war upon us. on the other hand, however, we see you spreading your religion daily, instead of keeping it confined within your provinces. what assurance do you give us that, after all your demand shall have been accorded, you will make no innovation in religion." "the assurance which we give you," answered the prince, "is that we will really accomplish the pacification." "but," persisted schetz, "do you fairly, promise to submit to all which the states-general shall ordain, as well on this point of religious exercise in holland and zealand, as on all the others?" this was a home thrust. the prince parried it for a while. in his secret thoughts he had no expectation or desire that the states-general, summoned in a solemn manner by the governor-general, on the basis of the memorable assembly before which was enacted the grand ceremony of the imperial abdication, would ever hold their session, and although he did not anticipate the prohibition by such assembly, should it take place, of the reformed worship in holland and zealand, he did not intend to submit to it, even should it be made. "i cannot tell," said he, accordingly, in reply to the last question, "for ye have yourselves already broken and violated the pacification; having made an accord with don john without our consent, and having already received him as governor." "so that you don't mean," replied schetz, "to accept the decision of the states?" "i don't say that," returned the prince, continuing to parry; "it is possible that we might accept it; it is possible that we might not. we are no longer in our entire rights, as we were at the time of our first submission at ghent." "but we will make you whole," said schetz. "that you cannot do," replied the prince, "for you have broken the pacification all to pieces. we have nothing, therefore, to expect from the states, but to be condemned off-hand. "you don't mean, then," repeated schetz, "to submit to the estates touching the exercise of religion?" "no, we do not!" replied the prince, driven into a corner at last, and striking out in his turn. "we certainly do not. to tell you the truth, we see that you intend our extirpation, and we don't mean to be extirpated." "ho!" said the duke of aerschot, "there is nobody who wishes that." "indeed, but you do," said the prince. "we have submitted ourselves to you in good faith, and you now would compel us and all the world to maintain exclusively the catholic religion. this cannot be done except by extirpating us." a long, learned, vehement discussion upon abstract points, between saint aldegonde, leoninus, and doctor gaill, then ensued, during which the prince, who had satisfied himself as to the result of the conference, retired from the apartment. he afterwards had a private convention with schetz and leoninus, in which he reproached them with their inclination to reduce their fatherland to slavery. he also took occasion to remark to hiergea, that it was a duty to content the people; that whatever might be accomplished for them was durable, whereas the will of kings was perishing. he told the duke of aerschot that if utrecht were not restored, he would take it by force. he warned the duke that to trust the king was to risk his head. he, at least, would never repose confidence in him, having been deceived too often. the king cherished the maxim, 'hereticis non est servanda fides;' as for himself he was 'calbo y calbanista,' and meant to die so. the formal interchange of documents soon afterwards took place. the conversation thus held between the different parties shows, however, the exact position of, affairs. there was no change in the intentions of either; reformers or royalists. philip and his representatives still contended for two points, and claimed the praise of moderation that their demands were so few in number. they were willing to concede everything, save the unlimited authority of the king and the exclusive maintenance of the catholic religion. the prince of orange, on his side, claimed two points also--the ancient constitutions of the country and religious freedom. it was obvious enough that the contest was, the same in reality, as it had ever been. no approximation had been made towards reconciling absolutism with national liberty, persecution with toleration. the pacification of ghent had been a step in advance. that treaty opened the door to civil and religious liberty, but it was an agreement among the provinces, not a compact between the people and the monarch. by the casuists of brussels and the licentiates of louvain, it had, to be sure, been dogmatically pronounced orthodox, and had been confirmed by royal edict. to believe, however, that his catholic majesty had faith in the dogmas propounded, was as absurd as to believe in the dogmas themselves. if the ghent pacification really had made no breach in royal and roman infallibility, then the efforts of orange and the exultation of the reformers had indeed been idle. the envoys accordingly, in obedience to their instructions, made a formal statement to the prince of orange and the states of holland and zealand, on the part of don john. they alluded to the departure of the spaniards, as if that alone had fulfilled every duty and authorized every claim. they therefore demanded the immediate publication in holland and zealand of the perpetual edict. they insisted on the immediate discontinuance of all hostile attempts to reduce amsterdam to the jurisdiction of orange; required the prince to abandon his pretensions to utrecht, and denounced the efforts making by him and his partisans to diffuse their heretical doctrines through the other provinces. they observed, in conclusion, that the general question of religion was not to be handled, because reserved for the consideration of the states-general, according to the treaty of ghent. the reply, delivered on the following day by the prince of orange and the deputies, maintained that the perpetual edict was widely different from the pacification of ghent, which it affected to uphold; that the promises to abstain from all violation of the ancient constitutions had not been kept; that the german troops had not been dismissed, that the property of the prince in the netherlands and burgundy had not been restored, that his son was detained in captivity, that the government of utrecht was withheld from him, that the charters and constitution of the country, instead of being extended, had been contracted, and that the governor had claimed the right to convoke the states-general at his pleasure, in violation of the ancient right to assemble at their own. the document further complained that the adherents of the reformed religion were not allowed to frequent the different provinces in freedom, according to the stipulations of ghent; that don john, notwithstanding all these short-comings, had been acknowledged as governor-general, without the consent of the prince; that he was surrounded with a train of spaniards italians, and other foreigners--gonzaga, escovedo, and the like--as well as by renegade netherlanders like tassis, by whom he was unduly influenced against the country and the people, and by whom a "back door was held constantly open" to the admission of evils innumerable. finally, it was asserted that, by means of this last act of union, a new form of inquisition had been introduced, and one which was much more cruel than the old system; inasmuch as the spanish inquisition did not take information against men: except upon suspicion, whereas, by the new process, all the world would be examined as to their conscience and religion, under pretence of maintaining the union. such was the result of this second mission to the prince of orange on the part of the governor-general. don john never sent another. the swords were now fairly measured between the antagonists, and the scabbard was soon to be thrown away. a few weeks afterwards, the governor wrote to philip that there was nothing in the world which william of orange so much abhorred as his majesty; adding, with castillian exaggeration, that if the prince could drink the king's blood he would do so with great pleasure. don john, being thus seated in the saddle, had a moment's leisure to look around him. it was but a moment, for he had small confidence in the aspect of affairs, but one of his first acts after assuming the government afforded a proof of the interpretation which he had adopted of the ghent pacification. an edict was issued, addressed to all bishops, "heretic-masters," and provincial councils, commanding the strict enforcement of the canons of trent, and other ecclesiastical decrees. these authorities were summoned instantly to take increased heed, of the flocks under their charge, "and to protect them from the ravening wolves which were seeking to devour them." the measure bore instant fruit. a wretched tailor of mechlin, peter penis by name, an honest man, but a heretic, was arrested upon the charge of having preached or exhorted at a meeting in that city. he confessed that he had been present at the meeting, but denied that he had preached. he was then required to denounce the others who had been present, and the men who had actually officiated. he refused, and was condemned to death. the prince of orange, while the process was pending, wrote an earnest letter to the council of mechlin, imploring them not now to rekindle the fires of religious persecution. his appeal was in vain. the poor tailor was beheaded at mechlin on the th of june, the conqueror of lepanto being present at the execution, and adding dignity to the scene. thus, at the moment when william of orange was protecting the anabaptists of middelburg in their rights of citizenship, even while they refused its obligations, the son of the emperor was dipping his hands in the blood of a poor wretch who had done no harm but to listen to a prayer without denouncing the preacher. the most intimate friends of the prince were offended with his liberality. the imperial shade of don john's father might have risen to approve the son who had so dutifully revived his bloody edicts and his ruthless policy. three parties were now fairly in existence: the nobles, who hated the spaniards, but who were disposed to hold themselves aloof from the people; the adherents of don john, commonly called "johanists;" and the partisans of the prince of orange--for william the silent had always felt the necessity of leaning for support on something more substantial than the court party, a reed shaken by the wind, and failing always when most relied upon. his efforts were constant to elevate the middle class, to build up a strong third party which should unite much of the substantial wealth and intelligence of the land, drawing constantly from the people, and deriving strength from national enthusiasm--a party which should include nearly all the political capacity of the country; and his efforts were successful. no doubt the governor and his secretary were right when they said the people of the netherlands were inclined to brook the turk as easily as the spaniard for their master, and that their hearts were in reality devoted to the prince of orange. as to the grandees, they were mostly of those who "sought to swim between two waters," according to the prince's expression. there were but few unswerving supporters of the spanish rule, like the berlaymont and the tassis families. the rest veered daily with the veering wind. aerschot, the great chief of the catholic party, was but a cringing courtier, false and fawning both to don john and the prince. he sought to play a leading part in a great epoch; he only distinguished himself by courting and betraying all parties, and being thrown away by all. his son and brother were hardly more respectable. the prince knew how little dependence could be placed on such allies, even although they had signed and sworn the ghent pacification. he was also aware how little it was the intention of the governor to be bound by that famous treaty. the spanish troops had been, indeed, disbanded, but there were still, between ten and fifteen thousand german mercenaries in the service of the king; these were stationed in different important places, and held firm possession of the citadels. the great keys of the country were still in the hands of the spaniards. aerschot, indeed, governed the castle of antwerp, in room of sancho d'avila, but how much more friendly would aerschot be than avila, when interest prompted him to sustain don john against the prince? meanwhile; the estates, according to their contract, were straining every nerve to raise the requisite sum for the payment of the german troops. equitable offers were made, by which the soldiers were to receive a certain proportion of the arrears due to them in merchandize, and the remainder in cash. the arrangement was rejected, at the secret instance of don john. while the governor affected an ingenuous desire to aid the estates in their efforts to free themselves from the remaining portion of this incumbrance, he was secretly tampering with the leading german officers, in order to prevent their acceptance of any offered terms. he persuaded these military chiefs that a conspiracy existed, by which they were not only to be deprived of their wages but of their lives. he warned them to heed no promises, to accept no terms. convincing them that he, and he only, was their friend, he arranged secret plans by which they should assist him in taking the fortresses of the country into still more secure possession, for he was not more inclined to trust to the aerschots and the havres than was the prince himself. the governor lived in considerable danger, and in still greater dread of capture, if not of assassination. his imagination, excited by endless tales of ambush and half-discovered conspiracies, saw armed soldiers behind every bush; a pitfall in every street. had not the redoubtable alva been nearly made a captive? did not louis of nassau nearly entrap the grand commander? no doubt the prince of orange was desirous of accomplishing a feat by which he would be placed in regard to philip on the vantage ground which the king had obtained by his seizure of count van buren, nor did don john need for warnings coming from sources far from obscure. in may, the viscount de gand had forced his way to his bedside in the dead of night; and wakening him from his sleep, had assured him, with great solemnity, that his life was not worth a pin's purchase if he remained in brussels. he was aware, he said, of a conspiracy by which both his liberty and his life were endangered, and assured him that in immediate flight lay his only safety. the governor fled to mechlin, where the same warnings were soon afterwards renewed, for the solemn sacrifice of peter panis, the poor preaching tailor of that city, had not been enough to strike terror to the hearts of all the netherlanders. one day, toward the end of june, the duke of aerschot, riding out with don john, gave him a circumstantial account of plots, old and new, whose existence he had discovered or invented, and he showed a copy of a secret letter, written by the prince of orange to the estates, recommending the forcible seizure of his highness. it is true that the duke was, at that period and for long after, upon terms of the most "fraternal friendship" with the prince, and was in the habit of signing himself "his very affectionate brother and cordial friend to serve him," yet this did not prevent him from accomplishing what he deemed his duty, in secretly denouncing his plans, it is also true that he, at the same time, gave the prince private information concerning the government, and sent him intercepted letters from his enemies, thus easing his conscience on both sides, and trimming his sails to every wind which might blow. the duke now, however, reminded his highness of the contumely with which he had been treated at brussels, of the insolent threats with which the citizens had pursued his servants and secretaries even to the very door of his palace. he assured him that the same feeling existed at mechlin, and that neither himself nor family were much safer there than in the capital, a plot being fully organized for securing his person. the conspirators, he said, were openly supported by a large political party who called themselves anti-johanists, and who clothed themselves in symbolic costume, as had been done by the disaffected in the days of cardinal granvelle. he assured the governor that nearly all the members of the states-general were implicated in these schemes. "and what becomes, then, of their promises?" asked don john. "that for their promises!" cried the duke, snapping his fingers; "no man in the land feels bound by engagements now." the governor demanded the object of the states in thus seeking to deprive him of his liberty. the duke informed him that it was to hold him in captivity until they had compelled him to sign every paper which they chose to lay before him. such things had been done in the netherlands in former days, the duke observed, as he proceeded to narrate how a predecessor of his highness and a prince of the land, after having been compelled to sign innumerable documents, had been, in conclusion, tossed out of the windows of his own palace, with all his retinue, to perish upon the pikes of an insurgent mob below. the governor protested that it did not become the son of charles the fifth and the representative of his catholic majesty to hear such intimations a second time. after his return, he brooded over what had been said to him for a few days, and he then broke up his establishment at mechlin, selling off his superfluous furniture and even the wine in his cellars. thus showing that his absence, both from brussels and mechlin, was to be a prolonged one, he took advantage of an unforeseen occurrence again to remove his residence. etext editor's bookmarks: a good lawyer is a bad christian claimed the praise of moderation that their demands were so few confused conferences, where neither party was entirely sincere customary oaths, to be kept with the customary conscientiousness deadliest of sins, the liberty of conscience i regard my country's profit, not my own made no breach in royal and roman infallibility neither wished the convocation, while both affected an eagerness our pot had not gone to the fire as often peace, in reality, was war in its worst shape those who "sought to swim between two waters" volatile word was thought preferable to the permanent letter motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley chapter iii. the city of namur--margaret of valois--her intrigues in hainault in favour of alencon--her reception by don john at namur--festivities in her, honor--seizure of namur citadel by don john--plan for seizing that of antwerp--letter of the estates to philip, sent by escovedo--fortunes and fate of escovedo in madrid--repairing of dykes--the prince's visit to holland--his letter to the estates-- general on the subject of namur citadel--his visit to utrecht-- correspondence and commissioners between don john and the estates-- acrimonious and passionate character of these colloquies--attempt of treslong upon antwerp citadel frustrated by de bourse--fortunate panic of the german mercenaries--antwerp evacuated by the foreign troops--renewed correspondence--audacity of the governor's demands-- letters of escovedo and others intercepted--private schemes of don john not understood by the estates--his letter to the empress dowager--more correspondence with the estates--painful and false position of the governor--demolition, in part, of antwerp citadel, and of other fortresses by the patriots statue of alva--letter of estates-general to the king. there were few cities of the netherlands more picturesque in situation, more trimly built, and more opulent of aspect than the little city of namur. seated at the confluence of the sombre with the meuse, and throwing over each river a bridge of solid but graceful structure, it lay in the lap of a most fruitful valley. abroad crescent-shaped plain, fringed by the rapid meuse, and enclosed by gently rolling hills cultivated to their crests, or by abrupt precipices of limestone crowned with verdure, was divided by numerous hedgerows, and dotted all over with corn-fields, vineyards, and flower gardens. many eyes have gazed with delight upon that well-known and most lovely valley, and many torrents of blood have mingled with those glancing waters since that long buried and most sanguinary age which forms our theme; and still placid as ever is the valley, brightly as ever flows the stream. even now, as in that vanished, but never-forgotten time, nestles the little city in the angle of the two rivers; still directly over its head seems to hang in mid-air the massive and frowning fortress, like the gigantic helmet-in the fiction, as if ready to crush the pigmy town below. it was this famous citadel, crowning an abrupt precipice five hundred feet above the river's bed, and placed near the frontier of france, which made the city so important, and which had now attracted don john's attention in this hour of his perplexity. the unexpected visit of a celebrated personage, furnished him with the pretext which he desired. the beautiful margaret of valois, queen of navarre, was proceeding to the baths of spa, to drink the waters. her health was as perfect as her beauty, but she was flying from a husband whom she hated, to advance the interest of a brother whom she loved with a more than sisterly fondness--for the worthless duke of alencon was one of the many competitors for the netherland government; the correspondence between himself and his brother with orange and his agents being still continued. the hollow truce with the huguenots in france had, however, been again succeeded by war. henry of valois had already commenced operations in gascony against henry of navarre, whom he hated, almost as cordially as margaret herself could do, and the duke of alencon was besieging issoire. meantime, the beautiful queen came to mingle he golden thread of her feminine intrigues with the dark woof of the netherland destinies. few spirits have been more subtle, few faces so fatal as hers. true child of the medicean mother, worthy sister of charles, henry; and francis--princes for ever infamous in the annals of france--she possessed more beauty and wit than mary of scotland, more learning and accomplishments than elizabeth of england. in the blaze of her beauty, according to the inflated language of her most determined worshiper, the wings of all rivals were melted. heaven required to be raised higher and earth made wider, before a full sweep could be given to her own majestic flight. we are further informed that she was a minerva for eloquence, that she composed matchless poems which she sang most exquisitely to the sound of her lute, and that her familiar letters were so full of genius, that "poor cicero" was but a fool to her in the same branch of composition. the world has shuddered for ages at the dark tragedy of her nuptials. was it strange that hatred, incest, murder, should follow in the train of a wedding thus hideously solemnized? don john, as in his moorish disguise he had looked upon her perfections, had felt in danger of becoming really the slave he personated--"her beauty is more divine than human," he had cried, "but fitter to destroy men's souls than to bless them;" and now the enchantress was on her way to his dominions. her road led through namur to liege, and gallantry required that he should meet her as she passed. attended by a select band of gentlemen and a few horsemen of his body-guard, the governor came to namur. meantime the queen crossed the frontier, and was courteously received at cambray. the bishop-of the loyal house of berlaymont--was a stanch supporter of the king, and although a fleming, was spanish to the core. on him the cajolery of the beautiful queen was first essayed, but was found powerless. the prelate gave her a magnificent ball, but resisted her blandishments. he retired with the appearance of the confections, but the governor of the citadel, the seigneur d'inchy remained, with whom margaret was more successful. she found him a cordial hater of spain, a favorer of france, and very impatient under the authority of the bishop. he obtained permission to accompany the royal visitor a few stages of her journey, and returned to cambray, her willing slave; holding the castle in future, neither for king nor bishop, but for margaret's brother, alencon, alone. at mons she was received with great state by the count lalain, who was governor of hainault, while his countess governed him. a week of festivities graced the advent of the queen, during which period the hearts of both lalain and his wife were completely subjugated. they agreed that flanders had been too long separated from the parental france to which it of right belonged. the count was a stanch catholic, but he hated spain. he was a relative of egmont, and anxious to avenge his death, but he was no lover of the people, and was jealous of orange. moreover, his wife had become entirely fascinated by the designing. queen. so warm a friendship had sprung up between the two fair ladies as to make it indispensable that flanders and hainault should be annexed to france. the count promised to hold his whole government at the service of alencon, and recommended that an attempt should be made to gain over the incorruptible governor of cambray. margaret did not inform him that she had already turned that functionary round her finger, but she urged lalain and his wife to seduce him from his allegiance, if possible. the count, with a retinue of mounted men, then accompanied her on her way towards namur, but turned as the distant tramp of don john's cavalcade was heard approaching, for it was not desirable for lalain, at that moment, to find himself face to face with the governor. don john stood a moment awaiting the arrival of the queen. he did not dream of her political intrigues, nor see in the fair form approaching him one mortal enemy the more. margaret travelled in a splendid litter with gilt pillars, lined with scarlet velvet, and entirely enclosed in glass, which was followed by those of the princess de la roche sur yon, and of madame de tournon. after these came ten ladies of honor on horseback, and six chariots filled with female domestics. these, with the guards and other attendants, made up the retinue. on meeting the queen's litter, don john sprang from his horse and presented his greetings. the queen returned his salutation, in the french fashion, by offering her cheek to his embrace, extending the same favor to the duke of aerschot and the marquis of havre. the cavaliers then remounted and escorted the queen to namur, don john riding by the side of the litter and conversing with her all the way. it was late in the evening when the procession arrived in the city. the streets had, however, been brilliantly illuminated; houses and shops, though it was near midnight, being in a blaze of light. don john believing that no attentions could be so acceptable at that hour as to provide for the repose of his guest, conducted the queen at once to the lodgings prepared for her. margaret was astonished at the magnificence of the apartments into which she was ushered. a spacious and stately hall, most gorgeously furnished, opened into a series of chambers and cabinets, worthy, in their appointments, of a royal palace. the tent and bed coverings prepared for the queen were exquisitely embroidered in needlework with scenes representing the battle of lepanto. the great hall was hung with gorgeous tapestry of satin and velvet, ornamented with columns of raised silver work, and with many figures in antique costume, of the same massive embroidery. the rest of the furniture was also of satin, velvet, cloth of gold, and brocade. the queen was dazzled with so much magnificence, and one of the courtiers could not help expressing astonishment at the splendor of the apartments and decorations, which, as he observed to the duke of aerschot; seemed more appropriate to the palace of a powerful monarch than to the apartments of a young bachelor prince. the duke replied by explaining that the expensive embroidery which they saw was the result, not of extravagance, but of valor and generosity. after the battle of lepanto, don john had restored the two sons, who had been taken prisoners, of a powerful turkish bashaw. the father; in gratitude had sent this magnificent tapestry as a present to the conqueror, and don john had received it, at milan; in which city, celebrated for the taste of its upholsterers; it had been arranged for furniture. the next morning a grand mass with military music was performed, followed by a sumptuous banquet in the grand hall. don john and the queen sat at a table three feet apart from the rest, and ottavio gonzaga served them wine upon his knees. after the banquet came, as usual; the ball, the festivities continuing till late in the night, and don john scarcely quitting his fair guest for a moment. the next afternoon, a festival had been arranged upon an island in the river. the company embarked upon the meuse, in a fleet of gaily-scarfed; and painted vessels, many of which were filled with musicians. margaret reclined in her gilded barge, under a richly embroidered canopy. a fairer and falser queen than "egypt," had bewitched the famous youth who had triumphed not, lost the world, beneath the heights of actium. the revellers landed on the island, where the banquet was already spread within a spacious bower of ivy, and beneath umbrageous elms. the dance upon the sward was protracted to a late hour, and the summer stars had been long in the sky when the company returned to their barges. don john, more than ever enthralled by the bride of st. bartholomew, knew not that her sole purpose in visiting his dominion had been to corrupt his servants and to undermine his authority. his own purpose, however, had been less to pay court to the queen than to make, use of her presence to cover his own designs. that purpose he proceeded instantly to execute. the queen next morning pursued her voyage by the river to liege, and scarcely had she floated out of his sight than he sprang upon his horse and, accompanied by a few trusty attendants, galloped out of the gate and across the bridge which led to the citadel. he had already despatched the loyal berlaymont, with his four equally loyal sons, the seigneurs de meghen, floyon, hierges, and haultepenne to that fortress. these gentlemen had informed the castellan that the governor was about to ride forth hunting, and that it would be proper to offer him the hospitalities of the castle as he passed on his way. a considerable number of armed men had been concealed in the woods and thickets of the neighbourhood. the seigneur de froymont, suspecting nothing, acceded to the propriety of the suggestion made by the berlaymonts. meantime, with a blast of his horn, don john appeared at the castle gate. he entered the fortress with the castellan, while one of the gentlemen watched outside, as the ambushed soldiers came toiling up the precipice. when all was ready the gentleman returned to the hall, and made a signal to don john, as he sat at breakfast with the constable. the governor sprang from the table and drew his sword; berlaymont and his four sons drew their pistols, while at the same instant, the soldiers entered. don john, exclaiming that this was the first day of his government, commanded the castellan to surrender. de froymont, taken by surprise, and hardly understanding this very melo-dramatic attack upon a citadel by its own lawful governor, made not much difficulty in complying. he was then turned out of doors, along with his garrison, mostly feeble old men and invalids. the newly arrived soldiers took their places, at command of the governor, and the stronghold of namur was his own. there was little doubt that the representative of philip had a perfect right to possess himself of any fortress within his government; there could be as little that the sudden stratagem by which he had thus made himself master of this citadel would prove offensive to the estates, while it could hardly be agreeable to the king; and yet it is not certain that he could have accomplished his purpose in any other way. moreover, the achievement was one of a projected series by which he meant to re-vindicate his dwindling authority. he was weary of playing the hypocrite, and convinced that he and his monarch were both abhorred by the netherlanders. peace was impossible--war was forbidden him. reduced almost to a nullity by the prince of orange, it was time for him to make a stand, and in this impregnable fastness his position at least was a good one. many months before, the prince of orange had expressed his anxious desire that this most important town and citadel should be secured-for the estates. "you know," he had written to bossu in december, "the evil and the dismay which the loss of the city and fortress of namur would occasion to us. let me beseech you that all possible care be taken to preserve them." nevertheless, their preservation had been entrusted to a feeble-minded old constable, at the head of a handful of cripples. we know how intense had been the solicitude of the prince, not only to secure but to destroy these citadels, "nests of tyranny," which had been built by despots to crush, not protect, the towns at their feet. these precautions had been neglected, and the consequences were displaying themselves, for the castle of namur was not the only one of which don john felt himself secure. although the duke of aerschot seemed so very much his humble servant, the governor did not trust him, and wished to see the citadel of antwerp in more unquestionable keeping. he had therefore withdrawn, not only the duke, but his son, the prince of chimay, commander of the castle in his father's absence, from that important post, and insisted upon their accompanying him to namur. so gallant a courtier as aerschot could hardly refuse to pay his homage to so illustrious a princess as margaret of valois, while during the absence of the duke and prince the keys of antwerp-citadel had been, at the command of don john, placed in the keeping of the seigneur de treslong, an unscrupulous and devoted royalist. the celebrated colonel van ende, whose participation, at the head of his german cavalry, in the terrible sack of that city, which he had been ordered to defend, has been narrated, was commanded to return to antwerp. he was to present himself openly to the city authorities, but he was secretly directed by the governor-general to act in co-operation with the colonels fugger, frondsberger, and polwiller, who commanded the forces already stationed in the city. these distinguished officers had been all summer in secret correspondence with don john, for they were the instruments with which he meant by a bold stroke to recover his almost lost authority. while he had seemed to be seconding the efforts of the states-general to pay off and disband these mercenaries, nothing had in reality been farther from his thoughts; and the time had now come when his secret plans were to be executed, according to the agreement between himself and the german colonels. he wrote to them, accordingly, to delay no longer the accomplishment of the deed--that deed being the seizure of antwerp citadel, as he had already successfully mastered that of namur. the duke of aerschot, his brother, and son, were in his power, and could do nothing to prevent the co-operation of the colonels in the city with treslong in the castle; so that the governor would thus be enabled, laying his head tranquilly upon "the pillow of the antwerp citadel," according to the reproachful expression subsequently used by the estates, to await the progress of events. the current of his adventurous career was not, however, destined to run thus smoothly. it is true that the estates had not yet entirely lost their confidence in his character; but the seizure of namur, and the attempt upon antwerp, together with the contents of the intercepted letters written by himself and escovedo to philip, to perez, to the empress, to the colonels frondsberger and fugger, were soon destined to open their eyes. in the meantime, almost exactly at the moment when don john was executing his enterprise against namur, escovedo had taken an affectionate farewell of the estates at brussels for it had been thought necessary, as already intimated, both for the apparent interests and the secret projects of don john; that the secretary should make a visit to spain. at the command of the governor-general he had offered to take charge of any communication for his majesty which the estates might be disposed to entrust to him, and they had accordingly addressed a long epistle to the king, in which they gave ample expression to their indignation and their woe. they remonstrated with the king concerning the continued presence of the german mercenaries, whose knives were ever at their throats, whose plunder and insolence impoverished and tortured the people. they reminded him of the vast sums which the provinces had contributed in times past to the support of government, and they begged assistance from his bounty now. they recalled to his vision the melancholy spectacle of antwerp, but lately the "nurse of europe, the fairest flower in his royal garland, the foremost and noblest city of the earth, now quite desolate and forlorn," and with additional instructions to escovedo, that he should not fail, in his verbal communications, to represent the evil consequences of the course hitherto pursued by his majesty's governors in the netherlands, they dismissed him with good wishes, and with "crowns for convoy" in his purse to the amount of a revenue of two thousand yearly. his secret correspondence was intercepted and made known a few weeks after his departure for that terrible spain whence so few travellers returned. for a moment we follow him thither. with a single word in anticipation, concerning the causes and the consummation of this celebrated murder, which was delayed till the following year, the unfortunate escovedo may be dismissed from these pages. it has been seen how artfully antonio perez, secretary of state, paramour of princess eboli, and ruling councillor at that day of philip, had fostered in the king's mind the most extravagant suspicions as to the schemes of don john, and of his confidential secretary. he had represented it as their fixed and secret intention, after don john should be finally established on the throne of england, to attack philip himself in spain, and to deprive him of his crown, escovedo being represented as the prime instigator and controller of this astounding plot, which lunatics only could have engendered, and which probably never had existence. no proof of the wild design was offered. the language which escovedo was accused by perez of having held previously to his departure for flanders--that it was the intention of don john and himself to fortify the rock of mogio, with which, and with the command of the city of santander, they could make themselves masters of spain after having obtained possession of england,--is too absurd to have been uttered by a man of escovedo's capacity. certainly, had perez been provided with the least scrap of writing from the hands of don john or escovedo which could be tortured into evidence upon this point, it would have been forthcoming, and would have rendered such fictitious hearsay superfluous. perez in connivance with philip, had been systematically conducting his correspondence with don john and escovedo, in order to elicit some evidence of the imputed scheme. "'t was the only way," said perez to philip, "to make them unbare their bosoms to the sword."--"i am quite of the same opinion," replied philip to perez, "for, according to my theology, you would do your duty neither to god nor the world, unless you did as you are doing." yet the excellent pair of conspirators at madrid could wring no damning proofs from the lips of the supposititious conspirators in flanders, save that don john, after escovedo's arrival in madrid, wrote, impatiently and frequently, to demand that he should be sent back, together with the money which he had gone to spain to procure. "money, more money, and escovedo," wrote the governor, and philip was quite willing to accept this most natural exclamation as evidence of his brother's designs against his crown. out of these shreds and patches--the plot against england, the pope's bull, the desire expressed by don john to march into france as a simple adventurer, with a few thousand men at his back--perez, according to his own statement, drew up a protocol, afterwards formally approved by philip, which concluded with the necessity of taking escovedo's life, instantly but privately, and by poison. the marquis de los velos, to whom the memorial was submitted for his advice, averred that if the death-bed wafer were in his own lips, he should vote for the death of the culprit. philip had already jumped to the same conclusion; perez joyfully undertook the business, having received carte blanche from the king, and thus the unfortunate secretary was doomed. immediately after the arrival of escovedo in madrid, he addressed a letter to the king. philip filed it away among other despatches, with this annotation: "the 'avant courier' has arrived--it is necessary to make great haste, and to despatch him before he murders us." the king, having been thus artfully inflamed against his brother and his unfortunate secretary, became clamorous for the blood of escovedo. at the same time, that personage, soon after his return to spain, was shocked by the discovery of the amour of perez with the princess eboli. he considered it his duty, both towards the deceased prince and the living king, to protest against this perfidy. he threatened to denounce to the king, who seemed the only person about the court ignorant of the affair, this double treason of his mistress and his minister. perez and anna of eboli, furious at escovedo's insolence, and anxious lest he should execute his menace determined to disembarrass themselves of so meddlesome a person. philip's rage against don john was accordingly turned to account, and perez received the king's secret orders to procure escovedo's assassination. thus an imaginary conspiracy of don john against, the crown of philip was the pretext, the fears and rage of eboli and her paramour were the substantial reason, for the crime now projected. the details of the murder were arranged and executed by perez, but it must be confessed in justice to philip, with much inferior nicety to that of his, own performances in the same field. many persons were privy to the plot. there was much blundering, there was great public scandal in madrid, and no one ever had a reasonable doubt as to the instigators and the actual perpetrators of the crime. two attempts to poison escovedo were made by perez, at his own table, through the agency of antonio enriquez, a confidential servant or page. both were unsuccessful. a third was equally so, but suspicions were aroused. a female slave in the household of escovedo, was in consequence arrested, and immediately hanged in the public square, for a pretended attempt to murder her master. a few days afterwards (on the st of march, ) the deed was accomplished at nightfall in the streets of madrid, by six conspirators. they consisted of the majordomo of perez, a page in his household, the page's brother from the country, an ex-scullion from the royal kitchens, juan rubio by name, who had been the unsuccessful agent in the poisoning scheme, together with two professional bravos, hired for the occasion. it was insausti, one of this last-mentioned couple, who despatched escovedo with a single stab, the others aiding and abetting, or keeping watch in the neighbourhood. the murderers effected their escape, and made their report to perez, who for the sake of appearances, was upon a visit in the country. suspicion soon tracked the real culprits, who were above the reach of justice; nor, as to the motives which had prompted the murders, were many ignorant, save only the murderer himself. philip had ordered the assassination; but he was profoundly deceived as to the causes of its accomplishment. he was the dupe of a subtler villain than himself, and thought himself sacrificing a conspirator against his crown, while he had really only crushed a poor creature who had been but too solicitous for what he thought his master's honor. the assassins were, of course, protected from prosecution, and duly recompensed. miguel bosque, the country boy, received one hundred crowns in gold, paid by a clerk of perez. mesa, one of the bravos, was rewarded with a gold chain, fifty doubloons of eight, and a silver cup, besides receiving from the fair hand of princess eboli herself a certificate as under-steward upon her estates. the second bravo, insausti, who had done the deed, the page enriquez, and the scullion, were all appointed ensigns in his majesty's army, with twenty gold crowns of annual pension besides. their commissions were signed by philip on the th of april, . such were the wages of murder at that day in spain; gold chains, silver cups, doubloons, annuities, and commissions in the army! the reward of fidelity, as in poor escovedo's case, was oftener the stiletto. was it astonishing that murder was more common than fidelity? with the subsequent career of antonio perez--his famous process, his banishment, his intrigues, his innuendos, his long exile, and his miserable death, this history has no concern. we return from our brief digression. before narrating the issue of the plot against antwerp citadel, it is necessary to recur for a moment to the prince of orange. in the deeds and the written words of that one man are comprised nearly all the history of the reformation in the netherlands--nearly the whole progress of the infant republic. the rest, during this period, is made up of the plottings and counter-plottings, the mutual wranglings and recriminations of don john and the estates. in the brief breathing-space now afforded them, the inhabitants of holland and zealand had been employing themselves in the extensive repairs of their vast system of dykes. these barriers, which protected their country against the ocean, but which their own hands had destroyed to preserve themselves against tyranny, were now thoroughly reconstructed, at a great expense, the prince everywhere encouraging the people with his presence, directing them by his experience, inspiring them with his energy. the task accomplished was stupendous and worthy, says a contemporary, of eternal memory. at the popular request, the prince afterwards made a tour through the little provinces, honoring every city with a brief visit. the spontaneous homage which went up to him from every heart was pathetic and simple. there were no triumphal arches, no martial music, no banners, no theatrical pageantry nothing but the choral anthem from thousands of grateful hearts. "father william has come! father william has come!" cried men, women, and children to each other, when the news of his arrival in town or village was announced. he was a patriarch visiting his children, not a conqueror, nor a vulgar potentate displaying himself to his admirers. happy were they who heard his voice, happier they who touched his hands, for his words were full of tenderness, his hand was offered to all. there were none so humble as to be forbidden to approach him, none so ignorant as not to know his deeds. all knew that to combat in their cause he had descended from princely station, from luxurious ease, to the position of a proscribed and almost beggared outlaw. for them he had impoverished himself and his family, mortgaged his estates, stripped himself of jewels, furniture, almost of food and raiment. through his exertions the spaniards had been banished from their little territory, the inquisition crushed within their borders, nearly all the sister provinces but yesterday banded into a common cause. he found time, notwithstanding congratulating crowds who thronged his footsteps, to direct the labors of the states-general, who still looked more than ever to his guidance, as their relations with don john became more complicated and unsatisfactory. in a letter addressed to them, on the th of june from harlem, he warned them most eloquently to hold to the ghent pacification as to their anchor in the storm. he assured them, if it was, torn from them, that their destruction was inevitable. he reminded them that hitherto they had got but the shadow, not the substance of the treaty; that they had been robbed of that which was to have been its chief fruit--union among themselves. he and his brothers, with their labor, their wealth, and their blood, had laid down the bridge over which the country had stepped to the pacification of ghent. it was for the nation to maintain what had been so painfully won; yet he proclaimed to them that the government were not acting in good faith, that secret, preparations were making to annihilate the authority of the states; to restore the edicts, to put strangers into high places, and to set up again the scaffold and the whole machinery of persecution. in consequence of the seizure of namur castle, and the accusations made by don john against orange, in order to justify that act, the prince had already despatched taffin and saint aldegonde to the states-general with a commission to declare his sentiments upon the subject. he addressed, moreover, to the same body a letter full of sincere and simple eloquence. "the seigneur don john," said he, "has accused me of violating the peace, and of countenancing attempts against his life, and in endeavouring to persuade you into joining him in a declaration of war against me and against holland and zealand; but i pray you, most affectionately, to remember our mutual and solemn obligations to maintain the treaty of ghent." he entreated the states, therefore, to beware of the artifices employed to seduce them from the only path which led to the tranquillity of their common country, and her true splendor and prosperity. "i believe there is not one of you," he continued, "who can doubt me, if he will weigh carefully all my actions, and consider closely the course which i am pursuing and have always pursued. let all these be confronted with the conduct of don john, and any man will perceive that all my views of happiness, both for my country and myself, imply a peaceable enjoyment of the union, joined with the legitimate restoration of our liberties, to which all good patriots aspire, and towards which all my designs have ever tended. as all the grandeur of don john, on the contrary, consists in war, as there is nothing which he so much abhors as repose, as he has given ample proof of these inclinations in all his designs and enterprises, both before and after the treaty of marche en famine, both within the country and beyond its borders, as it is most manifest that his purpose is, and ever has been, to embroil us with our neighbours of england and scotland in new dissensions, as it must be evident to every one of you that his pretended accusations against me are but colors and shadows to embellish and to shroud his own desire for war, his appetite for vengeance, and his hatred not only to me but to yourselves, and as his determination is, in the words of escovedo, to chastise some of us by means of the rest, and to excite the jealousy of one portion of the country against the other--therefore, gentlemen, do i most affectionately exhort you to found your decision, as to these matters, not upon words but upon actions. examine carefully my conduct in the points concerning which the charges are made; listen attentively to what my envoys will communicate to you in my behalf; and then, having compared it with all the proceedings of seigneur don john, you will be able to form a resolution worthy the rank which you occupy, and befitting your obligations to the whole people, of whom you have been chosen chiefs and protectors, by god and by men. put away all considerations which might obscure your clear eye-sight; maintain with magnanimity, and like men, the safety of yourselves, your wives, your children, your estates, your liberties; see that this poor people, whose eyes are fixed upon you, does not perish; preserve them from the greediness of those who would grow great at your expense; guard them from the yoke of miserable servitude; let not all our posterity lament that, by our pusillanimity, they have lost the liberties which our ancestors had conquered for them, and bequeathed to them as well as to us, and that they have been subjugated by the proud tyranny of strangers. "trusting," said the prince, in conclusion, "that you will accord faith and attention to my envoys, i will only add an expression of my sincere determination to employ myself incessantly in your service, and for the welfare of the whole people, without sparing any means in my power, nor my life itself." the vigilant prince was indeed not slow to take advantage of the governor's false move. while in reality intending peace, if it were possible, don john had thrown down the gauntlet; while affecting to deal openly and manfully, like a warrior and an emperor's son, he had involved himself in petty stratagems and transparent intrigues, by all which he had gained nothing but the character of a plotter, whose word could not be trusted. saint aldegonde expressed the hope that the seizure of namur castle would open the eyes of the people, and certainly the prince did his best to sharpen their vision. while in north holland, william of orange received an urgent invitation from the magistracy and community of utrecht to visit that city. his authority, belonging to him under his ancient commission, had not yet been recognized over that province, but there was no doubt that the contemplated convention of "satisfaction" was soon to be; arranged, for his friends there were numerous and influential. his princess, charlotte de bourbon, who accompanied him on his tour, trembled at the danger to which her husband would expose himself by venturing thus boldly into a territory which might be full of his enemies, but the prince determined to trust the loyalty of a province which he hoped would be soon his own. with anxious forebodings, the princess followed her husband to the ancient episcopal city. as they entered its gates, where an immense concourse was waiting to receive him, a shot passed through the carriage window, and struck the prince upon the breast. the affrighted lady threw her arms about his neck; shrieking that they were betrayed, but the prince, perceiving that the supposed shot was but a wad from one of the cannon, which were still roaring their welcome to him, soon succeeded in calming her fears. the carriage passed lowly through the streets, attended by the vociferous greetings of the multitude; for the whole population had come forth to do him honor. women and children clustered upon every roof and balcony, but a painful incident again marred the tranquillity of the occasion. an apothecary's child, a little girl of ten years, leaning eagerly from a lofty balcony, lost her balance and fell to the ground, directly before the horses of the prince's carriage. she was killed stone dead by the fall. the procession stopped; the prince alighted, lifted the little corpse in his arms, and delivered it, with gentle words and looks of consolation, to the unhappy parents. the day seemed marked with evil omens, which were fortunately destined to prove fallacious. the citizens of utrecht became more than ever inclined to accept the dominion of the prince, whom they honored and whom they already regarded as their natural chief. they entertained him with banquets and festivities during his brief visit, and it was certain before he took his departure that the treaty of "satisfaction" would not be long delayed. it was drawn up, accordingly, in the autumn of the same year, upon the basis of that accepted by harlem and amsterdam--a basis wide enough to support both religions, with a nominal supremacy to the ancient church. meantime, much fruitless correspondence had taken place between don john and the states envoys; despatched by the two parties to each other, had indulged in bitterness and recrimination. as soon as the governor, had taken: possession of namur castle, he had sent the seigneur, de rassinghem to the states-general. that gentleman carried with him copies of two anonymous letters, received by don john upon the th and st of july, , in which a conspiracy against his life and liberty was revealed. it was believed by the governor that count lalain, who had secretly invited him to a conference, had laid an ambush for him. it was known that the country was full of disbanded soldiers, and the governor asserted confidently that numbers of desperadoes were lying in wait for him in every village alehouse of hainault and flanders. he called on the states to ferret out these conspirators, and to inflict condign punishment upon their more guilty chiefs; he required that the soldiers, as well as the citizens, should be disarmed at brussels and throughout brabant, and he justified his seizure of namur, upon the general ground that his life was no longer safe, except in a fortress. in reply to the letter of the governor, which was dated the th of july, the states despatched marolles, archdeacon of ypres, and the seigneur de bresse, to namur, with a special mission to enter into the whole subject of these grievances. these gentlemen, professing the utmost devotion to the cause of his majesty's authority and the catholic religion, expressed doubts as to the existence of the supposed conspiracy. they demanded that don john should denounce the culprits, if any such were known, in order that proper chastisement might be instantly inflicted. the conversation which ensued was certainly unsatisfactory. the governor used lofty and somewhat threatening language, assuring marolles that he was at that moment in possession, not only of namur but of antwerp citadel; and the deputies accordingly departed, having accomplished very little by their journey. their backs were scarcely turned, when don john, on his part, immediately appointed another commission, consisting of rassinghem and grobbendonck, to travel from namur to brussels. these envoys carried a long letter of grievances, enclosing a short list of demands. the letter reiterated his complaints about conspiracies, and his protestations of sincerity. it was full of censure upon the prince of orange; stigmatized his intrigues to obtain possession of amsterdam without a proper "satisfaction," and of utrecht, to which he had no claim at all. it maintained that the hollanders and zealanders were bent upon utterly exterminating the catholic religion, and that they avowed publicly their intention to refuse obedience to the assembly-general, should it decree the maintenance of the ancient worship only. his chief demands were that the states should send him a list of persons qualified to be members of the general assembly, that he might see whether there were not individuals among them whom he might choose to reject. he further required that, if the prince of orange did not instantly fulfil the treaty of ghent, the states should cease to hold any communication with him. he also summoned the states to provide him forthwith with a suitable body-guard. to these demands and complaints, the estates replied by a string of resolutions. they made their usual protestations of attachment to his majesty and the catholic faith, and they granted willingly a foot-guard of three hundred archers. they, however, stoutly denied the governor's right to make eliminations in their lists of deputies, because, from time immemorial, these representatives had been chosen by the clergy, nobles, cities, and boroughs. the names might change daily, nor were there any suspicious ones among them, but it was a matter with which the governor had no concern. they promised that every effort should be made to bring about the execution of the treaty by the prince of orange. they begged don john; however, to abandon the citadel of namur, and gave him to understand that his secret practices had been discovered, a large packet of letters having recently been intercepted in the neighbourhood of bourdeaux, and sent to the prince of orange. among them were some of the despatches of don john and escovedo, to his majesty and to antonio perez, to which allusion has already been made. count bossu, de bresse, and meetkercke were the envoys deputed to convey these resolutions to namur. they had a long and bitter conversation with don john, who complained, more furiously than ever of the conspiracies against his person, and of the intrigues of orange. he insisted that this arch-traitor had been sowing the seed of his damnable doctrines broadcast through the netherlands; that the earth was groaning with a daily ripening harvest of rebellion and heresy. it was time, he cried, for the states to abandon the prince, and rally round their king. patience had been exhausted. he had himself done all, and more than could have been demanded. he had faithfully executed the ghent pacification, but his conduct had neither elicited gratitude nor inspired confidence. the deputies replied, that to the due execution of the ghent treaty it was necessary that he should disband the german troops, assemble the states-general, and carry out their resolutions. until these things, now undone, had been accomplished, he had no right to plead his faithful fulfilment of the pacification. after much conversation--in which the same grievances were repeated, the same statements produced and contradicted, the same demands urged and evaded, and the same menaces exchanged as upon former occasions--the deputies returned to brussels. immediately after their departure, don john learned the result of his project upon antwerp castle. it will be remembered that he had withdrawn aerschot, under pretext of requiring his company on the visit to queen margaret, and that he had substituted treslong, an unscrupulous partisan of his own, in the government of the citadel. the temporary commander soon found, however, that he had undertaken more than he could perform. the troops under van ende were refused admittance into the town, although permission to quarter them there had been requested by the governor-general. the 'authorities had been assured that the troops were necessary for the protection of their city, but the magistrates had learned, but too recently, the nature of the protection which van ende, with his mercenaries, would afford. a detachment of states troops under de yers, champagny's nephew, encountered the regiment of van ende, and put it to flight with considerable loss. at the same time, an officer in the garrison of the citadel itself, captain de bours, undertook secretly to carry the fortress for the estates. his operations were secret and rapid. the seigneur de liedekerke had succeeded champagny in the government of the city. this appointment had been brought about by the agency of the greffier martini, a warm partisan of orange. the new governor was known to be very much the prince's friend, and believed to be at heart a convert to the reformed religion. with martini and liedekerke, de bours arranged his plot. he was supplied with a large sum of money, readily furnished in secret by the leading mercantile houses of the city. these funds were successfully invested in gaining over the garrison, only one company holding firm for treslong. the rest, as that officer himself informed don john, were ready at any moment "to take him by the throat." on the st of august, the day firmed upon in concert with the governor and greffier, he was, in fact, taken by the throat. there was but a brief combat, the issue of which became accidentally doubtful in the city. the white-plumed hat of de bours had been struck from his head in the struggle, and had fallen into the foss. floating out into the river, it had been recognized by the scouts sent out by the personages most interested, and the information was quickly brought to liedekerke, who was lying concealed in the house of martini, awaiting the result. their dismay was great, but martini, having more confidence than the governor, sallied forth to learn the whole truth. scarcely had he got into the streets than he heard a welcome cry, "the beggars have the castle! the beggars have the castle!" shouted a hundred voices. he soon met a lieutenant coming straight from the fortress, who related to him the whole affair. learning that de bours was completely victorious, and that treslong was a prisoner, martini hastened with the important intelligence to his own home, where liedekerke lay concealed. that functionary now repaired to the citadel, whither the magistrates, the leading citizens, and the chief merchants were instantly summoned. the castle was carried, but the city was already trembling with apprehension lest the german mercenaries quartered within its walls, should rise with indignation or panic, and repeat the horrid tragedy of the antwerp fury. in truth, there seemed danger of such a catastrophe. the secret correspondence of don john with the colonels was already discovered, and it was seen how warmly he had impressed upon the men with whom he had been tampering, "that the die was cast," and that all their art was necessary to make it turn up successfully. the castle was carried, but what would become of the city? a brief and eager consultation terminated in an immediate offer of three hundred thousand crowns by the leading merchants. this money was to be employed in amicably satisfying, if possible, the german soldiers, who had meanwhile actually come to arms, and were assembled in the place de meer. feeling unsafe; however, in this locality, their colonels had led them into the new town. here, having barricaded themselves with gun-carriages, bales, and boxes, they awaited, instead of initiating, the events which the day might bring forth. a deputation soon arrived with a white flag from the castle, and commissioners were appointed by the commanding officers of the soldiery. the offer was made to pay over the arrears of their wages, at least to a very large amount, on condition that the troops should forthwith and for ever evacuate the city. one hundred and fifty thousand crowns were offered on the nail. the merchants stood on the bridge leading from the old town-to the new, in full sight of the soldiers. they held in their hands their purses, filled with the glittering gold. the soldiers were frantic with the opportunity, and swore that they would have their officers' lives, if the tempting and unexpected offer should be declined. nevertheless, the commissioners went to and fro, ever finding something to alter or arrange. in truth, the merchants had agreed to furnish; if necessary, three hundred thousand browns; but the thrifty negotiators were disposed, if diplomacy could do it, to save the moiety of that sum. day began to sink, ere the bargain was completed, when suddenly sails were descried in the distance, and presently a large fleet of war vessels, with, banner and pennon flying before a favoring breeze; came sailing up the scheld. it was a squadron of the prince's ships, under command of admiral haultain. he had been sent against tholen, but, having received secret intelligence, had, with happy audacity, seized the opportunity of striking a blow in the cause which he had served so faithfully. a shot or two fired from the vessels among the barricades had a quickening effect. a sudden and astounding panic seized the soldiers. "the beggars are coming! the beggars are coming!" they yelled in dismay; for the deeds of the ocean-beggars had not become less appalling since the memorable siege of leyden. the merchants still stood on the bridge with their purses in their hand. the envoys from the castle still waved their white flags. it was too late. the horror inspired by the wild zealanders overpowered the hope of wages, extinguished all confidence in the friendship of the citizens. the mercenaries, yielding to a violent paroxysm of fear, fled hither and thither, panting, doubling, skulking, like wolves before the hounds. their flight was ludicrous. without staying to accept the money which the merchants were actually offering, without packing up their own property, in many cases even throwing away their arms, they fled, helter skelter, some plunging into the scheid, some skimming along the dykes, some rushing across the open fields. a portion of them under colonel fugger, afterwards shut themselves up in bergen op zoom, where they were at once besieged by champagny, and were soon glad to compromise the matter by surrendering their colonel and laying down their arms. the remainder retreated to breda, where they held out for two months, and were at length overcome by a neat stratagem of orange. a captain, being known to be in the employment of don john, was arrested on his way to breda. carefully sewed up in his waistband was found a letter, of a finger's breadth, written in cipher, and sealed with the governor-general's seal. colonel frondsberger, commanding in breda, was in this missive earnestly solicited to hold out two months longer, within which time a certain relief was promised. in place of this letter, deciphered with much difficulty, a new one was substituted, which the celebrated printer, william sylvius, of antwerp, prepared with great adroitness, adding the signature and seal of don john. in this counterfeit epistle; the colonel was directed to do the best he could for himself, by reason that don john was himself besieged, and unable to render him assistance. the same captain who had brought the real letter was bribed to deliver the counterfeit. this task he faithfully performed, spreading the fictitious intelligence besides, with such ardor through the town, that the troops rose upon their leader, and surrendered him with the city and their own arms, into the custody of the estates. such was the result of the attempt by don john to secure the citadel--of antwerp. not only was the fortress carried for the estates, but the city itself, for the first time in twelve years, was relieved from a foreign soldiery. the rage and disappointment of the governor-general were excessive. he had boasted to marolles a day too soon. the prize which he thought already in his grasp had slipped through his fingers, while an interminable list of demands which he dreamed not of, and which were likely to make him bankrupt, were brought to his door. to the states, not himself, the triumph seemed for the moment decreed. the "dice" had taken a run against him, notwithstanding his pains in loading and throwing. nevertheless, he did not yet despair of revenge. "these rebels," he wrote to the empress-dowager, his sister, "think that fortune is all smiles for them now, and that all is ruin for me. the wretches are growing proud enough, and forget that their chastisement, some fine morning, will yet arrive." on the th of august he addressed another long letter to the estates. this document was accompanied, as usual, by certain demands, drawn up categorically in twenty-three articles. the estates considered his terms hard and strange, for in their opinion it was themselves, not the governor, who were masters of the situation. nevertheless, he seemed inclined to treat as if he had gained, not missed, the citadel of antwerp; as if the troops with whom he had tampered were mustered in the field, not shut up in distant towns, and already at the mercy of the states party. the governor demanded that all the forces of the country should be placed under his own immediate control; that count bossu, or some other person nominated by himself, should be appointed to the government of friesland; that the people of brabant and flanders should set themselves instantly to hunting, catching, and chastising all vagrant heretics and preachers. he required, in particular, that saint aldegonde and theron, those most mischievous rebels, should be prohibited from setting their foot in any city of the netherlands. he insisted that the community of brussels should lay down their arms, and resume their ordinary handicrafts. he demanded that the prince of orange should be made to execute the ghent treaty; to suppress the exercise of the reformed religion in harlem, schoonhoven, and other places; to withdraw his armed vessels from their threatening stations, and to restore nieuport, unjustly detained by him. should the prince persist in his obstinacy, don john summoned them to take arms against him, and to support their lawful governor. he, moreover, required the immediate restitution of antwerp citadel, and the release of treslong from prison. although, regarded from the spanish point of view, such demands might seem reasonable, it was also natural that their audacity should astonish the estates. that the man who had violated so openly the ghent treaty should rebuke the prince for his default--that the man who had tampered with the german mercenaries until they were on the point of making another antwerp fury, should now claim the command over them and all other troops--that the man who had attempted to gain antwerp citadel by a base stratagem should now coolly demand its restoration, seemed to them the perfection of insolence. the baffled conspirator boldly claimed the prize which was to have rewarded a successful perfidy. at the very moment when the escovedo letters and the correspondence with the german colonels had been laid before their eyes, it was a little too much that the double-dealing bastard of the double-dealing emperor should read them a lecture upon sincerity. it was certain that the perplexed, and outwitted warrior had placed himself at last in a very false position. the prince of orange, with his usual adroitness, made the most of his adversary's false moves. don john had only succeeded in digging a pitfall for himself. his stratagems against namur and antwerp had produced him no fruit, saving the character, which his antagonist now fully succeeded in establishing for him, of an unscrupulous and artful schemer. this reputation was enhanced by the discovery of the intercepted letters, and by the ingenuity and eagerness with which they were turned to account against him by the prince, by saint aldegonde, and all the anti-catholic party. the true key to his reluctance against despatching the troops by land, the states had not obtained. they did not dream of his romantic designs upon england, and were therefore excusable in attributing a still deeper perfidy to his arrangements. even had he been sent to the netherlands in the full possession of his faculties, he would have been no match in political combinations for his powerful antagonists. hoodwinked and fettered, suspected by his master, baffled, bewildered, irritated by his adversary, what could he do but plunge from one difficulty to another and oscillate between extravagant menace, and desponding concession, until his hopes and life were wasted quite away. his instructions came from philip through perez, and that most profound dissembler, as we have seen, systematically deceived the governor, with the view of eliciting treasonable matters, philip wishing, if possible, to obtain proofs of don john's secret designs against his own crown. thus every letter from spain was filled with false information and with lying persuasions. no doubt the governor considered himself entitled to wear a crown, and meant to win it, if not in africa, then in england, or wherever fate might look propitiously upon him. he was of the stuff of which crusaders and dynasty founders had been made, at a somewhat earlier epoch. who could have conquered the holy sepulchre, or wrested a crown from its lawful wearer, whether in italy, muscovy, the orient, or in the british ultima thule, more bravely than this imperial bastard, this valiant and romantic adventurer? unfortunately, he came a few centuries too late. the days when dynasties were founded, and european thrones appropriated by a few foreign freebooters, had passed, and had not yet returned. he had come to the netherlands desirous of smoothing over difficulties and of making a peaceful termination to that rebellion a steppingstone to his english throne. he was doomed to a profound disappointment, a broken heart, and a premature grave, instead of the glittering baubles which he pursued. already he found himself bitterly deceived in his hopes. the obstinate netherlanders would not love him, notwithstanding the good wishes he had manifested. they would not even love the king of spain, notwithstanding the blessings which his majesty was declared to have heaped upon them. on the contrary, they persisted in wasting their perverse affections upon the pestilent prince of orange. that heretic was leading them to destruction, for he was showing them the road to liberty, and nothing, in the eyes of the governor, could be more pitiable than to behold an innocent people setting forth upon such a journey. "in truth," said he, bitterly, in his memorable letter to his sister the empress, "they are willing to recognize neither god nor king. they pretend to liberty in all things: so that 'tis a great pity to see how they are going on; to see the impudence and disrespect with which they repay his majesty for the favors which he has shown them, and me for the labors, indignities, and dangers which i have undergone for their sakes." nothing, indeed, in the governor's opinion, could surpass the insolence of the netherlanders, save their ingratitude. that was the serpent's tooth which was ever wounding the clement king and his indignant brother. it seemed so bitter to meet with thanklessness, after seven years of alva and three of requesens; after the labors of the blood council, the massacres of naarden, zutphen, and harlem, the siege of leyden, and the fury of antwerp. "little profit there has been," said the governor to his sister, "or is like to be from all the good which we have done to these bad people. in short, they love and obey in all things the most perverse and heretic tyrant and rebel in the whole world, which is this damned prince of orange, while, on the contrary, without fear of god or shame before men, they abhor and dishonor the name and commandments of their natural sovereign." therefore, with a doubting spirit, and almost with a broken heart, had the warrior shut himself up in namur castle, to await the progress of events, and to escape from the snares of his enemies. "god knows how much i desire to avoid extremities," said he, "but i know not what to do with men who show themselves so obstinately rebellious." thus pathetically don john bewailed his fate. the nation had turned from god, from philip, from himself; yet he still sat in his castle, determined to save them from destruction and his own hands from bloodshed, if such an issue were yet possible. nor was he entirely deserted, for among the faithless a few were faithful still. although the people were in open revolt, there was still a handful of nobles resolved to do their duty towards their god and king. "this little band," said the governor, "has accompanied me hither, like gentlemen and chevaliers of honor." brave berlaymont and his four sons were loyal to the last, but others of this limited number of gentlemen and chevaliers of honor were already deserting him. as soon as the result of the enterprise against antwerp citadel was known, and the storm was gathering most darkly over the royal cause, aerschot and havre were first to spread their wings and flutter away in search of a more congenial atmosphere. in september, the duke was again as he had always professed himself to be, with some important interval of exception--"the affectionate brother and cordial friend of the prince of orange." the letter addressed by don john to the states upon the th of august, had not yet been answered. feeling, soon afterwards, more sensible of his position, and perhaps less inflamed with indignation; he addressed another communication to them, upon the th of the same month. in this epistle he expressed an extreme desire for peace, and a hearty desire to be relieved, if possible, from his most painful situation. he protested, before god and man, that his intentions were most honest, and that he abhorred war more than anything else in the world. he averred that, if his person was as odious to them as it seemed, he was only too ready to leave the land, as soon as the king should appoint his successor. he reminded them that the question of peace or war lay not with himself, but with them; and that the world would denounce as guilty those with whom rested the responsibility. he concluded with an observation which, in its humility, seemed sufficiently ironical, that if they had quite finished the perusal of the despatches from madrid to his address, which they had intercepted, he should be thankful for an opportunity of reading them himself. he expressed a hope, therefore, that they would be forwarded to namur. this letter was answered at considerable length, upon the second day. the states made their customary protestations of attachment to his majesty, their fidelity to the catholic church, their determination to maintain both the ghent treaty and the perpetual edict. they denied all responsibility for the present disastrous condition of the relations between themselves and government, having disbanded nearly all their own troops, while the governor had been strengthening his forces up to the period of his retreat into namur. he protested, indeed, friendship and a sincere desire for peace, but the intercepted letters of escovedo and his own had revealed to them the evil counsels to which he had been listening, and the intrigues which he had been conducting. they left it to his conscience whether they could reasonably believe, after the perusal of these documents, that it was his intention to maintain the ghent treaty, or any treaty; and whether they were not justified in their resort to the natural right of self-defence. don john was already fully aware of the desperate error which he had committed. in seizing namur and attempting antwerp, he had thrown down the gauntlet. wishing peace, he had, in a panic of rage and anxiety; declared and enacted war. the bridge was broken behind him, the ships burned, a gulf opened, a return to peace rendered almost impossible. yet it is painful to observe the almost passionate longings which at times seemed to possess him for accommodating the quarrel, together with his absolute incapacity to appreciate his position. the prince was triumphant; the governor in a trap. moreover, it was a trap which he had not only entered voluntarily, but which he had set himself; he had played into the prince's hands, and was frantic to see his adversary tranquilly winning the game. it was almost melancholy to observe the gradation of his tone from haughty indignation to dismal concession. in an elaborate letter which he addressed "to the particular states, bishops, councillors, and cities of the netherlands," he protested as to the innocence of his intentions, and complained bitterly of the calumnies circulated to his discredit by the prince of orange. he denied any intention of recalling the troops which he had dismissed, except in case of absolute necessity: he affirmed that his majesty sincerely desired peace. he averred that the country was either against the king, against the catholic religion, against himself, or against all three together. he bitterly asked what further concessions were required. had he not done all he had ever promised? had he not discharged the spaniards, placed the castles in the hands of natives, restored the privileges, submitted to insults and indecencies? yet, in spite of all which had passed, he declared his readiness to resign, if another prince or princess of the blood more acceptable to them could be appointed. the letter to the states was followed by a proposition for a cessation of hostilities, and for the appointment of a commission to devise means for faithfully executing the ghent treaty. this proposition was renewed, a few days later, together with an offer for an exchange of hostages. it was not difficult for the estates to answer the letters of the governor. indeed, there was but little lack of argument on either side throughout this unhappy controversy. it is dismal to contemplate the interminable exchange of protocols, declarations, demands, apostilles, replications and rejoinders, which made up the substance of don john's administration. never was chivalrous crusader so out of place. it was not a soldier that was then required for philip's exigency, but a scribe. instead of the famous sword of lepanto, the "barbarous pen" of hopperus had been much more suitable for the work required. scribbling joachim in a war-galley, yard-arm and yard-arm with the turkish capitan pacha, could have hardly felt less at ease than did the brilliant warrior thus condemned to scrawl and dissemble. while marching from concession to concession, he found the states conceiving daily more distrust, and making daily deeper encroachments. moreover, his deeds up to the time when he seemed desirous to retrace his steps had certainly been, at the least, equivocal. therefore, it was natural for the estates, in reply to the questions in his letter, to observe that he had indeed dismissed the spaniards, but that he had tampered with and retained the germans; that he had indeed placed the citadels in the hands of natives, but that he had tried his best to wrest them away again; that he had indeed professed anxiety for peace, but that his intercepted letters proved his preparations for war. already there were rumors of spanish troops returning in small detachments out of france. already the governor was known to be enrolling fresh mercenaries to supply the place of those whom he had unsuccessfully endeavoured to gain to his standard. as early as the th of july, in fact, the marquis d'ayamonte in milan, and don juan de idiaquez in genoa, had received letters from don john of austria, stating that, as the provinces had proved false to their engagements, he would no longer be held by his own, and intimating his desire that the veteran troops which had but so recently been dismissed from flanders, should forthwith return. soon afterwards, alexander farnese, prince of parma, received instructions from the king to superintend these movements, and to carry the aid of his own already distinguished military genius to his uncle in the netherlands. on the other hand, the states felt their strength daily more sensibly. guided, as usual, by orange, they had already assumed a tone in their correspondence which must have seemed often disloyal, and sometimes positively insulting, to the governor. they even answered his hints of resignation in favor of some other prince of the blood, by expressing their hopes that his successor, if a member of the royal house at all, would at least be a legitimate one. this was a severe thrust at the haughty chieftain, whose imperial airs rarely betrayed any consciousness of barbara blomberg and the bend sinister on his shield. he was made to understand, through the medium of brabantine bluntness, that more importance was attached to the marriage, ceremony in the netherlands than he seemed to imagine. the categorical demands made by the estates seemed even more indigestible than such collateral affronts; for they had now formally affirmed the views of orange as to the constitutional government of the provinces. in their letter of th august, they expressed their willingness, notwithstanding the past delinquencies of the governor, to yield him their confidence again; but at the same time; they enumerated conditions which, with his education and views, could hardly seem to him admissible. they required him to disband all the soldiers in his service, to send the germans instantly out of the country, to dismiss every foreigner from office, whether civil or military, and to renounce his secret league with the duke of guise. they insisted that he should thenceforth govern only with the advice and consent of the state council, that he should execute that which should by a majority of votes be ordained there, that neither measures nor despatches should be binding or authentic unless drawn up at that board. these certainly were views of administration which, even if consonant with a sound historical view of the netherland constitutions, hardly tallied with his monarch's instructions, his own opinions, or the practice under alva and requesens, but the country was still in a state of revolution, and the party of the prince was gaining the upper hand. it was the determination of that great statesman, according to that which he considered the legitimate practice of the government, to restore the administration to the state council, which executive body ought of right to be appointed by the states-general. in the states-general, as in the states-particular, a constant care was to be taken towards strengthening the most popular element, the "community" of each city, the aggregate, that is to say, of its guild-representatives and its admitted burghers. this was, in the opinion of the prince, the true theory of the government--republican in all but form--under the hereditary protection, not the despotic authority, of a family, whose rights were now nearly forfeited. it was a great step in advance that these views should come to be thus formally announced, not in holland and zealand only, but by the deputies of the states-general, although such a doctrine, to the proud stomach of don john, seemed sufficiently repulsive. not less so was the cool intimation with which the paper concluded, that if he should execute his threat of resigning, the country would bear his loss with fortitude, coupled as was that statement with a declaration that, until his successor should be appointed, the state council would consider itself charged ad interim with the government. in the meantime, the governor was requested not to calumniate the estates to foreign governments, as he had so recently done in his intercepted letter to the empress-dowager. upon receiving this letter, "don john," says a faithful old chronicler, "found that the cranes had invited the frog to dinner." in truth, the illustrious soldier was never very successful in his efforts, for which his enemies gave him credit, to piece out the skin of the lion with that of the fox. he now felt himself exposed and outwitted, while he did not feel conscious of any very dark design. he answered the letter of the states by a long communication, dated from namur castle, th of august. in style, he was comparatively temperate, but the justification which he attempted of his past conduct was not very happy. he noticed the three different points which formed the leading articles of the accusation brought against him, the matter, namely, of the intercepted letters, of the intrigues with the german colonels, and the seizure of namur. he did not deny the authorship of the letters, but contented himself with a reference to their date, as if its priority to his installation as governor furnished a sufficient palliation of the bad faith which the letters revealed. as to the despatches of escovedo, he denied responsibility for any statements or opinions which they might contain. as the secretary, however, was known to be his most confidential friend, this attempt to shuffle off his own complicity was held to be both lame and unhandsome. as for the correspondence with the colonels, his defence was hardly more successful, and rested upon a general recrimination upon the prince of orange. as that personage was agitating and turbulent, it was not possible, the governor urged, that he should himself remain quiet. it was out of his power to execute the treaty and the edict, in the face of a notorious omission on the part of his adversary to enforce the one or to publish the other. it comported neither with his dignity nor his safety to lay down his weapons while the prince and his adherents were arming. he should have placed himself "in a very foolish position," had he allowed himself unarmed to be dictated to by the armed. in defence of himself on the third point, the seizure of namur castle, he recounted the various circumstances with which the reader is already acquainted. he laid particular stress upon the dramatic manner in which the vicomte de gand had drawn his curtains at the dead of night; he narrated at great length the ominous warning which he had likewise received from the duke of aerschot in brussels, and concluded with a circumstantial account of the ambush which he believed to have been laid for him by count de lalain. the letter concluded with a hope for an arrangement of difficulties, not yet admitted by the governor to be insurmountable, and with a request for a formal conference, accompanied by an exchange of hostages. while this correspondence was proceeding between namur and brussels, an event was occurring in antwerp which gave much satisfaction to orange. the spanish fury, and the recent unsuccessful attempt of don john to master the famous citadel, had determined the authorities to take the counsel which the prince had so often given in vain, and the fortress of antwerp was at length razed to the ground, on the side towards the city.--it would be more correct to say that it was not the authorities, but the city itself which rose at last and threw off the saddle by which it had so long been galled. more than ten thousand persons were constantly at work, morning, noon, and night, until the demolition was accomplished. grave magistrates, great nobles, fair ladies, citizens and their wives, beggars and their children, all wrought together pell-mell. all were anxious to have a hand in destroying the nest where so many murders had been hatched, whence so much desolation had flown. the task was not a long one for workmen so much in earnest, and the fortress was soon laid low in the quarter where it could be injurious to the inhabitants. as the work proceeded, the old statue of alva was discovered in a forgotten crypt, where it had lain since it had been thrown down by the order of requesens. amid the destruction of the fortress, the gigantic phantom of its founder seemed to start suddenly from the gloom, but the apparition added fresh fuel to the rage of the people. the image of the execrated governor was fastened upon with as much fierceness as if the bronze effigy could feel their blows, or comprehend their wrath. it was brought forth from its dark hiding-place into the daylight. thousands of hands were ready to drag it through the streets for universal inspection and outrage. a thousand sledge-hammers were ready to dash it to pieces, with a slight portion, at least, of the satisfaction with which those who wielded them would have dealt the same blows upon the head of the tyrant himself. it was soon reduced to a shapeless mass. small portions were carried away and preserved for generations in families as heirlooms of hatred. the bulk was melted again and reconverted, by a most natural metamorphosis, into the cannon from which it had originally sprung. the razing of the antwerp citadel set an example which was followed in other places; the castle of ghent, in particular, being immediately levelled, amid demonstrations of universal enthusiasm. meantime, the correspondence between don john and the estates at brussels dragged its slow length along, while at the same time, two elaborate letters were addressed to the king, on the th of august and the th of september, by the estates-general of the netherlands. these documents, which were long and able, gave a vigorous representation of past evils and of the present complication of disorders under which the commonwealth was laboring. they asked, as usual, for a royal remedy; and expressed their doubts whether there could be any sincere reconciliation so long as the present governor, whose duplicity and insolence they represented in a very strong light, should remain in office. should his majesty, however, prefer to continue don john in the government, they signified their willingness, in consideration of his natural good qualities, to make the best of the matter. should, however, the estrangement between themselves and the governor seem irremediable, they begged that another and a legitimate prince of the blood might be appointed in his place. etext editor's bookmarks: country would bear his loss with fortitude its humility, seemed sufficiently ironical not upon words but upon actions perfection of insolence was it astonishing that murder was more common than fidelity? motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley chapter iv. orange invited to visit brussels--his correspondence upon the subject with the estates--general--triumphant journey of the prince to the capital----stop put by him to the negotiations with don john --new and stringent demands made upon the governor--his indignation --open rupture--intrigue of netherland grandees with archduke matthias--policy of orange--attitude of queen elizabeth--flight of matthias from vienna--anxiety of elizabeth--adroitness of the prince--the office of reward--election of orange to that dignity-- his complaints against the great nobles--aerschot governor of flanders--a storm brewing in ghent--ryhove and imbize--blood- councillor hessels--arrogance of the aristocratic party in flanders --ryhove's secret interview with orange--outbreak at ghent--arrest of aerschot, hessels, and others of the reactionary party--the duke liberated at demand of orange--the prince's visit to ghent-- rhetorical demonstrations--the new brussels union characterized-- treaty with england--articles by which matthias is nominally constituted governor-general--his inauguration at brussels-- brilliant and fantastic ceremonies--letter of don john to the emperor--his anger with england--an army collecting--arrival of alexander farnese--injudicious distribution of offices in the states' army--the states' army fall back upon gemblours, followed by don john--tremendous overthrow of the patriots--wonderful disparity in the respective losses of the two armies. while these matters were in progress, an important movement was made by the estates-general. the prince of orange was formally and urgently invited to come to brussels to aid them with his counsel and presence. the condemned traitor had not set foot in the capital for eleven years. we have narrated the circumstance of his departure, while the advancing trumpets of alva's army were almost heard in the distance. his memorable and warning interview with egmont has been described. since that period, although his spirit had always been manifesting itself in the capital like an actual presence; although he had been the magnet towards which the states throughout all their oscillations had involuntarily vibrated, yet he had been ever invisible. he had been summoned by the blood council to stand his trial, and had been condemned to death by default. he answered the summons by a defiance, and the condemnation by two campaigns, unsuccessful in appearance, but which had in reality prostrated the authority of the sovereign. since that period, the representative of royalty had sued the condemned traitor for forgiveness. the haughty brother of philip had almost gone upon his knees, that the prince might name his terms, and accept the proffered hand of majesty. the prince had refused, not from contumely, but from distrust. he had spurned the supplications, as he had defied the proscription of the king. there could be no friendship between the destroyer and the protector of a people. had the prince desired only the reversal of his death-sentence, and the infinite aggrandizement of his family, we have seen how completely he had held these issues in his power. never had it been more easy, plausible, tempting, for a proscribed patriot to turn his back upon an almost sinking cause. we have seen how his brave and subtle batavian prototype, civilis, dealt with the representative of roman despotism. the possible or impossible netherland republic of the first century of our era had been reluctantly abandoned, but the modern civilis had justly more confidence in his people. and now again the scene was changed. the son of the emperor, the king's brother, was virtually beleaguered; the proscribed rebel had arrived at victory through a long series of defeats. the nation everywhere acknowledged him master, and was in undisguised revolt against the anointed sovereign. the great nobles, who hated philip on the one hand, and the reformed religion on the other, were obliged, in obedience to the dictates of a people with whom they had little sympathy, to accept the ascendency of the calvinist prince, of whom they were profoundly jealous. even the fleeting and incapable aerschot was obliged to simulate adhesion; even the brave champagny, cordial hater of spaniards, but most devotedly catholic, "the chiefest man of wysedome and stomach at that tyme in brussels," so envoy wilson wrote to burghley, had become "brabantized," as his brother granvelle expressed himself, and was one of the commissioners to invite the great rebel to brussels. the other envoys were the abbot of saint gertrude, dr. leoninus, and the seigneur de liesvelt. these gentlemen, on arriving at gertruydenberg, presented a brief but very important memorial to the prince. in that document they informed him that the states-general, knowing how efficacious would be his presence, by reason of his singular prudence, experience, and love for the welfare and repose of the country, had unanimously united in a supplication that he would incontinently transport himself to the city of brussels, there to advise with them concerning the necessities of the land; but, as the principal calumny employed by their adversaries was that all the provinces and leading personages intended to change both sovereign and religion, at the instigation of his excellency, it was desirable to disprove such fictions. they therefore very earnestly requested the prince to make some contrary demonstration, by which it might be manifest to all that his excellency, together with the estates of holland and zealand, intended faithfully to keep what they had promised. they prayed, therefore, that the prince, permitting the exercise of the roman catholic religion in the places which had recently accepted his authority, would also allow its exercise in holland and zealand. they begged, further, that he would promise by a new and authentic act, that the provinces of holland and zealand, would not suffer the said exercise to be impugned, or any new worship to be introduced, in the other provinces of the netherlands. this letter might almost be regarded as a trap, set by the catholic nobles. certainly the ghent pacification forbade the reformed religion in form, and as certainly, winked at its exercise in fact. the proof was, that the new worship was spreading everywhere, that the exiles for conscience' sake were returning in swarms, and that the synod of the reformed churches, lately held at dort, had been, publicly attended by the ministers and deacons of numerous dissenting churches established in many different, places throughout all the provinces. the pressure of the edicts, the horror of the inquisition being removed, the down-trodden religion had sprung from the earth more freshly than ever. the prince was not likely to fall into the trap, if a trap had really been intended. he answered the envoys loyally, but with distinct reservations. he did not even accept the invitation, save on condition that his visit to brussels should be expressly authorized by holland and zealand. notwithstanding his desire once more to behold his dear country, and to enjoy the good company of his best friends and brothers, he felt it his duty to communicate beforehand with the states of those two provinces, between which, and himself there had been such close and reciprocal obligations, such long-tried and faithful affection. he therefore begged to refer the question to the assembly of the said provinces about to be held at gouda, where, in point of fact, the permission for his journey was, not without considerable difficulty, a few days afterwards obtained. with regard to the more difficult requests addressed to him in the memorial, he professed generally his intention to execute the treaty of ghent. he observed, however, that the point of permitting the exercise of the roman catholic religion in holland and zealand regarded principally the estates of these provinces, which had contracted for no innovation in this matter, at least till the assembling of the states-general. he therefore suggested that he neither could, nor ought to, permit any innovation, without the knowledge and consent of those estates. as to promising by authentic act, that neither he nor the two provinces would suffer the exercise of the catholic religion to be in any wise impugned in the rest of the netherlands, the prince expressed himself content to promise that, according to the said ghent pacification, they would suffer no attempt to be made against the public repose or against the catholic worship. he added that, as he had no intention of usurping any superiority over the states-general assembled at brussels, he was content to leave the settlement of this point to their free-will and wisdom, engaging himself neither to offer nor permit any hindrance to their operations. with this answer the deputies are said to have been well pleased. if they were so, it must be confessed that they were thankful for small favors. they had asked to have the catholic religion introduced into holland and zealand. the prince had simply referred them to the estates of these provinces. they had asked him to guarantee that the exercise of the reformed religion should not be "procured" in the rest of the country. he had merely promised that the catholic worship should not be prevented. the difference between the terms of the request and the reply was sufficiently wide. the consent to his journey was with difficulty accorded by the estates of holland and zealand, and his wife, with many tears and anxious forebodings, beheld him depart for a capital where the heads of his brave and powerful friends had fallen, and where still lurked so many of his deadly foes. during his absence, prayers were offered daily for his safety in all the churches of holland and zealand, by command of the estates. he arrived at antwerp on the th of september, and was received with extraordinary enthusiasm. the prince, who had gone forth alone, without even a bodyguard, had the whole population of the great city for his buckler. here he spent five days, observing, with many a sigh, the melancholy changes which had taken place in the long interval of his absence. the recent traces of the horrible "fury," the blackened walls of the hotel de ville, the prostrate ruins of the marble streets, which he had known as the most imposing in europe, could be hardly atoned for in his eyes even by the more grateful spectacle of the dismantled fortress. on the rd of september he was attended by a vast concourse of citizens to the new canal which led to brussels, where three barges were in waiting for himself and suite. in one a banquet was spread; in the second, adorned with emblematic devices and draped with the banners of the seventeen provinces, he was to perform the brief journey; while the third had been filled by the inevitable rhetoric societies, with all the wonders of their dramatic and plastic ingenuity. rarely had such a complication of vices and virtues, of crushed dragons, victorious archangels, broken fetters, and resurgent nationalities, been seen before, within the limits of a single canal boat. the affection was, however, sincere, and the spirit noble, even though the taste which presided at these remonstrations may have been somewhat pedantic. the prince was met several miles before the gates of brussels by a procession of nearly half the inhabitants of the city, and thus escorted, he entered the capital in the afternoon of the rd of september. it was the proudest day of his life. the representatives of all the provinces, supported by the most undeniable fervor of the united netherland people, greeted "father william." perplexed, discordant, hating, fearing, doubting, they could believe nothing, respect nothing, love nothing, save the "tranquil" prince. his presence at that moment in brussels was the triumph of the people and of religious toleration. he meant to make use of the crisis to extend and to secure popular rights, and to establish the supremacy of the states-general under the nominal sovereignty of some prince, who was yet to be selected, while the executive body was to be a state-council, appointed by the states-general. so far as appears, he had not decided as to the future protector, but he had resolved that it should be neither himself nor philip of spain. the outlaw came to brussels prepared at last to trample out a sovereignty which had worked its own forfeiture. so far as he had made any election within his breast, his choice inclined to the miserable duke of anjou; a prince whom he never came to know as posterity has known him, but whom he at least learned to despise. thus far the worthless and paltry intriguer still wore the heroic mask, deceiving even such far seeing politicians as saint aldegonde and the prince. william's first act was to put a stop to the negotiations already on foot with don john. he intended that they should lead to war, because peace was impossible, except a peace for which civil and religious liberty would be bartered, for it was idle, in his opinion, to expect the maintenance by the spanish governor of the ghent pacification, whatever promises might be extorted from his fears. a deputation, in the name of the states, had already been sent with fresh propositions to don john, at namur. the envoys were caspar schetz and the bishop of bruges. they had nearly come to an amicable convention with the governor, the terms of which had been sent to the states-general for approval, at the very moment of the prince's arrival in brussels. orange, with great promptness, prevented the ratification of these terms, which the estates had in reality already voted to accept. new articles were added to those which had originally been laid before don john. it was now stipulated that the ghent treaty and the perpetual edict should be maintained. the governor was required forthwith to abandon namur castle, and to dismiss the german troops. he was to give up the other citadels and strong places, and to disband all the soldiers in his service. he was to command the governors of every province to prohibit the entrance of all foreign levies. he was forthwith to release captives, restore confiscated property, and reinstate officers who had been removed; leaving the details of such restorations to the council of mechlin and the other provincial tribunals. he was to engage that the count van buren should be set free within two months. he was himself, while waiting for the appointment of his successor, to take up his residence in luxemburg, and while there, he was to be governed entirely by the decision of the state council, expressed by a majority of its members. furthermore, and as not the least stinging of these sharp requisitions, the queen of england--she who had been the secret ally of orange, and whose crown the governor had secretly meant to appropriate--was to be included in the treaty. it could hardly excite surprise that don john, receiving these insolent propositions at the very moment in which he heard of the triumphant entrance into brussels of the prince, should be filled with rage and mortification. never was champion of the cross thus braved by infidels before. the ghent treaty, according to the orange interpretation, that is to say, heresy made legitimate, was to be the law of the land. his majesty was to surrender--colors and cannon--to his revolted subjects. the royal authority was to be superseded by that of a state council, appointed by the states-general, at the dictation of the prince. the governor-general himself, brother of his catholic majesty, was to sit quietly with folded arms in luxemburg, while the arch-heretic and rebel reigned supreme in brussels. it was too much to expect that the choleric soldier would be content with what he could not help regarding as a dishonorable capitulation. the arrangement seemed to him about as reasonable as it would have been to invite sultan selim to the escorial, and to send philip to reside at bayonne. he could not but regard the whole proposition as an insolent declaration of war. he was right. it was a declaration of war; as much so as if proclaimed by trump of herald. how could don john refuse the wager of battle thus haughtily proffered? smooth schetz, lord of grobbendonck, and his episcopal colleague, in vain attempted to calm the governor's wrath, which now flamed forth, in defiance of all considerations. they endeavored, without success, to palliate the presence of orange, and the circumstances of his reception, for it was not probable that their eloquence would bring the governor to look at the subject with their eyes. three days were agreed upon for the suspension of hostilities, and don john was highly indignant that the estates would grant no longer a truce. the refusal was, however, reasonable enough on their part, for they were aware that veteran spaniards and italians were constantly returning to him, and that he was daily strengthening his position. the envoys returned to brussels, to give an account of the governor's rage, which they could not declare to be unnatural, and to assist in preparations for the war, which was now deemed inevitable. don john, leaving a strong garrison in the citadel of namur, from which place he, despatched a final communication to the estates-general, dated the nd of october, retired to luxemburg. in this letter, without exactly uttering defiance, he unequivocally accepted the hostilities which had been pressed upon him, and answered their hollow professions of attachment to the catholic religion and his majesty's authority, by denouncing their obvious intentions to trample upon both. he gave them, in short, to understand that he perceived their intentions, and meant them to comprehend his own. thus the quarrel was brought to an issue, and don john saw with grim complacency, that the pen was at last to be superseded by the sword. a remarkable pamphlet was now published, in seven different languages, latin, french, flemish, german, italian, spanish; and english, containing a succinct account of the proceedings between the governor and the estates, together with copies of the intercepted letters of don john and escovedo to the king, to perez, to the german colonels, and to the empress. this work, composed and published by order of the estates-general, was transmitted with an accompanying address to every potentate in christendom. it was soon afterwards followed by a counter-statement, prepared by order of don john, and containing his account of the same matters, with his recriminations against the conduct of the estates. another important movement had, meanwhile, been made by the third party in this complicated game. the catholic nobles, jealous of the growing influence of orange, and indignant at the expanding power of the people, had opened secret negotiations with the archduke matthias, then a mild, easy-tempered youth of twenty, brother of the reigning emperor, rudolph. after the matter had been discussed some time in secret, it was resolved, towards the end of september, to send a messenger to vienna, privately inviting the young prince to brussels, but much to the surprise of these nobles, it was discovered that some fifteen or sixteen of the grandees of the land, among them aerschot, havre, champagny, de ville, lalain, de heze, and others, had already taken the initiative in the matter. on the th of august, the seigneur de maalsteede had set forth, by their appointment, for vienna. there is no doubt that this step originated in jealousy felt towards orange, but at the same time it is certain that several of the leaders in the enterprise were still his friends. some, like champagny, and de heze, were honestly so; others, like aerschot, havrd, and de ville, always traitors in heart to the national cause, loyal to nothing but their own advancement, were still apparently upon the best terms with him. moreover, it is certain that he had been made aware of the scheme, at least, before the arrival of the archduke in the netherlands, for the marquis havre, on his way to england, as special envoy from the estates, had a conference with him at gertruydenberg. this was in the middle of september, and before his departure for brussels. naturally, the proposition seemed, at first, anything but agreeable; but the marquis represented himself afterwards as having at last induced the prince to look upon it with more favorable eyes. nevertheless, the step had been taken before the consultation was held; nor was it the first time that the advice, of orange had been asked concerning the adoption of a measure after the measure had been adopted. whatever may have been his original sentiments upon the subject; however, he was always less apt to complain of irrevocable events than quick to reconcile them with his own combinations, and it was soon to be discovered that the new stumbling-block which his opponents had placed in his path, could be converted into an additional stepping-stone towards his goal. meanwhile, the secret invitation to the archduke was regarded by the people and by foreign spectators as a plot devised by his enemies. davison, envoy from queen elizabeth, was then in brussels, and informed his royal mistress, whose sentiments and sympathies were unequivocally in favor of orange, of the intrigues against the prince. the efforts of england were naturally to counteract the schemes of all who interfered with his policy, the queen especially, with her customary sagacity, foreseeing the probable inclination of the catholic nobles towards the protectorate of alencon. she did not feel certain as to the precise plans of orange, and there was no course better adapted to draw her from barren coquetry into positive engagements; than to arouse her jealousy of the french influence in the provinces. at this moment, she manifested the warmest friendship for the prince. costly presents were transmitted by her to his wife; among others, an ornament, of which a sculptured lizard formed a part. the princess, in a graceful letter to her husband, desiring that her acknowledgments should be presented to her english majesty, accepted the present as significative. "tis the fabled virtue of the lizard (she said) to awaken sleepers whom a serpent is about to sting. you are the lizard, and the netherlands the sleepers,--pray heaven they may escape the serpent's bite." the prince was well aware, therefore, of the plots which were weaving against him. he had small faith in the great nobles, whom he trusted "as he would adders fanged," and relied only upon the communities, upon the mass of burghers. they deserved his confidence, and watched over his safety with jealous care. on one occasion, when he was engaged at the state council till a late hour, the citizens conceived so much alarm, that a large number of them spontaneously armed themselves, and repaired to the palace. the prince, informed of the circumstance, threw open a window and addressed them, thanking them for their friendship and assuring them of his safety. they were not satisfied, however, to leave him alone, but remained under arms below till the session was terminated, when they escorted him with affectionate respect to his own hotel. the secret envoy arrived in vienna, and excited the ambition of the youthful matthias. it must be confessed that the offer could hardly be a very tempting one, and it excites our surprise that the archduke should have thought the adventure worth the seeking. a most anomalous position in the netherlands was offered to him by a slender and irresponsible faction of netherlanders. there was a triple prospect before him: that of a hopeless intrigue against the first politician in europe, a mortal combat with the most renowned conqueror of the age, a deadly feud with the most powerful and revengeful monarch in the world. into this threefold enterprise he was about to plunge without any adequate resources, for the archduke possessed no experience, power, or wealth. he brought, therefore, no strength to a cause which was itself feeble. he could hope for no protection, nor inspire any confidence. nevertheless, he had courage, pliability, and a turn for political adventure. visions of the discomfited philip conferring the hand of his daughter, with the netherlands as her dowry, upon the enterprising youth who, at this juncture, should succeed in overturning the spanish authority in that country, were conjured up by those who originated the plot, and he was weak enough to consider such absurdities plausible, and to set forth at once to take possession of this castle in the air. on the evening of october rd, , he retired to rest at eight o'clock feigning extreme drowsiness. after waiting till his brother, maximilian, who slept in another bed in the same chamber, was asleep, he slipped from his couch and from the room in his night apparel, without even putting on his slippers. he was soon after provided by the companions of his flight with the disguise of a servant, arrayed in which, with his face blackened, he made his escape by midnight from vienna, but it is doubtful whether rudolph were as ignorant as he affected to be of the scheme. [it was the opinion of languet that the emperor affected ignorance of the plot at its commencement, that he afterwards affected an original connivance, and that he was equally disingenuous in both pretences.] the archduke arrived at cologne, attended only by two gentlemen and a few servants. the governor was beside himself with fury; the queen of england was indignant; the prince only, against whom the measure was mainly directed, preserved his usual tranquillity. secretary walsingham, as soon as the news reached england, sent for meetkercke, colleague of marquis havre in the mission from the estates. he informed that functionary of the great perplexity and excitement which, according to information received from the english resident, davison, were then prevailing in brussels, on account of the approach of the archduke. some, he said, were for receiving him at one place, some at another; others were in favor of forbidding his entrance altogether. things had been sufficiently complicated before, without this additional cause of confusion. don john was strengthening himself daily, through the secret agency of the duke of guise and his party. his warlike genius was well known, as well as the experience of the soldiers who were fast rallying under his banner. on the other hand, the duke of alencon had come to la fere, and was also raising troops, while to oppose this crowd of rival enemies, to deal with this host of impending disasters, there was but one man in the netherlands. on the prince of orange alone could the distracted states rely. to his prudence and valor only could the queen look with hopeful eyes. the secretary proceeded to inform the envoy, therefore, that her majesty would feel herself compelled to withdraw all succor from the states if the prince of orange were deprived of his leadership; for it was upon that leadership only that she had relied for obtaining a successful result. she was quite indisposed to encounter indefinite risk with an impossibility of profit. meetkercke replied to the secretary by observing, that the great nobles of the land had been unanimous in desiring a new governor-general at this juncture. they had thought matthias, with a strong council of state, composed of native netherlanders, to control him, likely to prove a serviceable candidate for the post. they had reason to believe that, after he should be received, the emperor would be reconciled to the measure, and that by his intercession the king of spain would be likewise induced to acquiesce. he alluded, moreover, to the conference between the marquis of havre and orange at gertruydenberg, and quoted the opinion of the prince that it would be unwise, after the invitation had been given, to insult the archduke and his whole imperial house, by beating him with indignity upon his arrival. it was inevitable, said the envoy, that differences of opinion should exist in large assemblies, but according to information which he had recently received from marquis havre, then in brussels, affairs had already become smooth again. at the conclusion of the conference, walsingham repeated emphatically that the only condition upon which the queen would continue her succor to the netherlands was, that the prince should be forthwith appointed lieutenant-general for the archduke. the immediate result of this movement was, that matthias was received at antwerp by orange at the head of two thousand cavalry, and attended by a vast concourse of inhabitants. had the prince chosen a contrary course, the archduke might have been compelled to return, somewhat ridiculously, to vienna; but, at the same time, the anger of the emperor and of all germany would have been aroused against orange and the cause he served. had the prince, on the contrary, abandoned the field himself, and returned to holland, he would have left the game in the hands of his adversaries. ever since he had made what his brother john called that "dangerous gallows journey" to brussels, his influence had been culminating daily, and the jealousy of the great nobles rising as rapidly. had he now allowed himself to be driven from his post, he would have exactly fulfilled their object. by remaining, he counteracted their schemes. by taking matthias wholly into his own possession, he obtained one piece the more in the great game which he was playing against his antagonist in the escorial. by making adroit use of events as they arose, he made the very waves which were to sink him, carry his great cause triumphantly onward. the first result of the invitation to matthias was the election of orange as ruward of brabant. this office was one of great historical dignity, but somewhat anomalous in its functions. the province of brabant, having no special governor, was usually considered under the immediate superintendence of the governor-general. as the capital of brabant was the residence of that functionary, no inconvenience from this course had been felt since the accession of the house of burgundy. at present, however, the condition of affairs was so peculiar--the seat of government being empty without having been permanently vacated--that a special opportunity was offered for conferring both honor and power on the prince. a ruward was not exactly dictator, although his authority was universal. he was not exactly protector, nor governor, nor stadholder. his functions were unlimited as to time--therefore superior to those of an ancient dictator; they were commonly conferred on the natural heir to the sovereignty--therefore more lofty than those of ordinary stadholders. the individuals who had previously held the office in the netherlands had usually reigned afterwards in their own right. duke albert, of the bavarian line; for example, had been ruward of hainault and holland, for thirty years, during the insanity of his brother, and on the death of duke william had succeeded to his title. philip of burgundy had declared himself ruward of brabant in , and had shortly afterwards deprived jacqueline of all her titles and appropriated them to himself. in the one case the regent, in the second case the usurper, had become reigning prince. thus the movement of the jealous nobles against the prince had for its first effect his immediate appointment to an office whose chief characteristic was, that it conducted to sovereignty. the election was accomplished thus. the "members," or estates of brussels, together with the deans, guilds, and other of the principal citizens of antwerp, addressed a request to the states of brabant, that william of orange should be appointed ruward, and after long deliberation the measure was carried. the unsolicited honor was then solemnly offered to him. he refused, and was only, after repeated and urgent entreaties, induced to accept the office. the matter was then referred to the states-general, who confirmed the dignity, after some demur, and with the condition that it might be superseded by the appointment of a governor-general. he was finally confirmed as ruward on the d of october, to the boundless satisfaction of the people, who celebrated the event by a solemn holiday in antwerp, brussels, and other cities. his friends, inspired by the intrigues of his enemies, had thus elevated the prince to almost unlimited power; while a strong expression in favor of his government had been elicited from the most important ally of the netherlands-england. it soon rested with himself only to assume the government of flanders, having been elected stadholder, not once only, but many times, by the four estates of that important province, and having as constantly refused the dignity. with holland and zealand devoted to him, brabant and flanders formally under his government, the netherland capital lavishing testimonials of affection upon him, and the mass of the people almost worshipping him, it would not have been difficult for the prince to play a game as selfish as it had hitherto been close and skilful. he might have proved to the grand seigniors that their suspicions were just, by assuming a crown which they had been intriguing to push from his brows. certainly the nobles deserved their defeat. they had done their best to circumvent orange, in all ways and at all times. they had paid their court to power when it was most powerful, and had sought to swim on the popular tide when it was rising. he avenged himself upon their perfidy only by serving his country more faithfully than ever, but it was natural that he should be indignant at the conduct of these gentlemen, "children of good houses," (in his own words,) "issue of worthy, sires," whose fathers, at least, he had ever loved and honored. "they serve the duke of alva and the grand commander like varlets," he cried; "they make war upon me to the knife. afterwards they treat with me, they reconcile themselves with me, they are sworn foes of the spaniard. don john arrives, and they follow him; they intrigue for my ruin. don john fails in his enterprise upon antwerp citadel; they quit him incontinently and call upon me. no sooner do i come than, against their oath and without previous communication with the states or myself, they call upon the archduke matthias. are the waves of the sea more inconstant--is euripus more uncertain than the counsels of such men?" while these events were occurring at brussels and antwerp, a scene of a different nature was enacting at ghent. the duke of aerschot had recently been appointed to the government of flanders by the state council, but the choice was exceedingly distasteful to a large number of the inhabitants. although, since the defeat of don john's party in antwerp, aerschot had again become "the affectionate brother" of orange, yet he was known to be the head of the cabal which had brought matthias from vienna. flanders, moreover, swarmed with converts to the reformed religion, and the duke's strict romanism was well known. the people, therefore, who hated the pope and adored the prince, were furious at the appointment of the new governor, but by dint of profuse promises regarding the instant restoration of privileges and charters which had long lain dormant, the friends of aerschot succeeded in preparing the way for his installation. on the th of october, attended by twenty-three companies of infantry and three hundred horse, he came to ghent. that famous place was still one of the most powerful and turbulent towns in europe. although diminished in importance since the commercial decline which had been the inevitable result of philip's bloody government, it, was still swarming with a vigorous and dangerous population and it had not forgotten the days when the iron tongue of roland could call eighty thousand fighting men to the city banner. even now, twenty thousand were secretly pledged to rise at the bidding of certain chieftains resident among them; noble by birth, warmly attached to the reformed religion, and devoted to orange. these gentlemen were perfectly conscious that a reaction was to be attempted in favor of don john and of catholicism, through the agency of the newly-appointed governor of flanders. aerschot was trusted or respected by neither party. the only difference in the estimates formed of him was, that some considered him a deep and dangerous traitor; others that he was rather foolish than malicious, and more likely to ruin a good cause than to advance the interests of a bad one. the leaders of the popular party at ghent believed him dangerous. they felt certain that it was the deeply laid design of the catholic nobles foiled as they had been in the objects with which they had brought matthias from vienna, and enraged as they were that the only result of that movement had been to establish the power of orange upon a firmer basis--to set up an opposing influence in ghent. flanders, in the possession of the catholics, was to weigh up brabant, with its recent tendencies to toleration. aerschot was to counteract the schemes of orange. matthias was to be withdrawn from the influence of the great heretic, and be yet compelled to play the part set down for him by those who had placed him upon the stage. a large portion, no doubt, of the schemes here suggested, was in agitation, but the actors were hardly equal to the drama which they were attempting. the intrigue was, however, to be frustrated at once by the hand of orange, acting as it often did from beneath a cloud. of all the chieftains possessing influence with the inhabitants of ghent, two young nobles, named ryhove and imbize, were the most conspicuous. both were of ancient descent and broken fortunes, both were passionately attached to the prince, both were inspired with an intense hatred for all that was catholic or spanish. they had travelled further on the reforming path than many had done in that day, and might even be called democratic in their notions. their heads were filled with visions of greece and rome; the praise of republics was ever on their lips; and they avowed to their intimate associates that it was already feasible to compose a commonwealth like that of the swiss cantons out of the seventeen netherlands. they were regarded as dreamers by some, as desperadoes by others. few had confidence in their capacity or their purity; but orange, who knew mankind, recognized in them useful instruments for any hazardous enterprise. they delighted in stratagems and sudden feats of arms. audacious and cruel by temperament, they were ever most happy in becoming a portion of the desolation which popular tumults engender. there were several excited meetings of the four estates of flanders immediately after the arrival of the duke of aerschot in ghent. his coming had been preceded by extensive promises, but it soon became obvious that their fulfilment was to be indefinitely deferred. there was a stormy session on the th of october, many of the clergy and nobility being present, and comparatively few members of the third estate. very violent speeches were made, and threats openly uttered, that the privileges, about which so much noise had been heard, would be rather curtailed than enlarged under the new administration. at the same session, the commission of aerschot was formally presented by champagny and sweveghem, deputed by the state council for that purpose. champagny was in a somewhat anomalous position. there was much doubt in men's minds concerning him. he had seemed lately the friend of orange, but he was certainly the brother of granvelle. his splendid but fruitless services during the antwerp fury had not been forgotten, but he was known to be a determined catholic. he was a hater of spaniards, but no lover of popular liberty. the nature of his sentiments towards orange was perhaps unjustly suspected. at any rate, two or three days after the events which now occupy our attention, he wrote him a private letter, in which he assured him of his attachment. in reference to the complaints, of the prince, that he had not been seconded as he ought to have been, he said, moreover, that he could solemnly swear never to have seen a single individual who did not hold the prince in admiration, and who was not affectionately devoted to him, not only, by public profession, but by private sentiment. there was little doubt entertained as to the opinions held by the rest of the aristocratic party, then commencing their manoeuvres in ghent. their sentiments were uttered with sufficient distinctness in this remarkable session. hessels, the old blood councillor, was then resident in ghent; where he discharged high governmental functions. it was he, as it will be remembered, who habitually fell asleep at that horrible council board, and could only start from his naps to-shout "ad patibulum," while the other murderers had found their work less narcotic. a letter from hessels to count de reux, late royal governor of flanders, was at the present juncture intercepted. perhaps it was invented, but genuine or fictitious, it was circulated extensively among the popular leaders, and had the effect of proving madame de hessels a true prophet. it precipitated the revolution in flanders, and soon afterwards cost the councillor his life. "we have already brought many notable magistrates of flanders over to the aide of his highness don john," wrote hessels. "we hope, after the duke of aerschot is governor; that we shall fully carry out the intentions of his majesty and the plans of his highness. we shall also know how to circumvent the scandalous heretic with all his adherents and followers." certainly, if this letter were true, it was high time for the friends of the "scandalous heretic" to look about them. if it were a forgery, which is highly probable, it was ingeniously imagined, and did the work of truth. the revolutionary party, being in a small minority in the assembly, were advised by their leaders to bow before the storm. they did so, and the bluster of the reactionary party grew louder as they marked the apparent discomfiture of their foes. they openly asserted that the men who were clamoring for privileges should obtain nothing but halters. the buried charters should never be resuscitated; but the spirit of the dead emperor, who had once put a rope around the necks of the insolent ghenters, still lived in that of his son. there was no lack of denunciation. don john and the duke of aerschot would soon bring the turbulent burghers to their senses, and there would then be an end to this renewed clamor about musty parchments. much indignation was secretly excited in the assembly by such menaces. without doors the subterranean flames spread rapidly, but no tumult occurred that night. before the session was over, ryhove left the city, pretending a visit to tournay. no sooner had he left the gates, however, than he turned his horse's head in the opposite direction, and rode off post haste to antwerp. there he had a conference with william of orange, and painted in lively colors the alarming position of affairs. "and what do you mean to do in the matter?" asked the prince, rather drily. ryhove was somewhat disconcerted. he had expected a violent explosion; well as he knew the tranquil personage whom he was addressing. "i know no better counsel," he replied, at length, "than to take the duke, with his bishops, councillors, lords, and the whole nest of them, by the throat, and thrust them all out together." "rather a desperate undertaking, however?" said the prince; carelessly, but interrogatively. "i know no other remedy," answered ryhove; "i would rather make the attempt, relying upon god alone, and die like a man if needful, than live in eternal slavery. like an ancient roman," continued the young republican noble, in somewhat bombastic vein, "i am ready to wager my life, where my fatherland's welfare is at stake." "bold words!" said the prince, looking gravely at ryhove; "but upon what force do you rely for your undertaking?" "if i can obtain no assistance from your excellency," was the reply, "i shall throw myself on the mass of the citizens. i can arouse them in the name of their ancient liberties, which must be redeemed now or never." the prince, believing probably that the scheme, if scheme there were, was but a wild one, felt little inclination to compromise himself with the young conspirator. he told him he could do nothing at present, and saying that he must at least sleep upon the matter, dismissed him for the night. next morning, at daybreak, ryhove was again closeted with him. the prince asked his sanguine partisan if he were still determined to carry out his project, with no more definite support than he had indicated? ryhove assured him, in reply, that he meant to do so; or to die in the attempt. the prince shrugged his shoulders, and soon afterwards seemed to fall into a reverie. ryhove continued talking, but it was soon obvious that his highness was not listening; and he therefore took his leave somewhat abruptly. hardly had he left the house, however, when the prince despatched saint aldegonde in search of him. that gentleman, proceeding to his hotel, walked straight into the apartment of ryhove, and commenced a conversation with a person whom he found there, but to his surprise he soon discovered, experienced politician though he was, that he had made an egregious blunder. he had opened a dangerous secret to an entire stranger, and ryhove coming into the apartment a few minutes afterwards, was naturally surprised to find the prince's chief councillor in close conversation about the plot with van rooyen, the burgomaster of denremonde. the flemish noble, however, always prompt in emergencies, drew his rapier, and assured the astonished burgomaster that he would either have his life on the instant, or his oath never to reveal a syllable of what he had heard. that functionary, who had neither desired the young noble's confidence, nor contemplated the honor of being run through the body as a consequence of receiving it, was somewhat aghast at the rapid manner in which these gentlemen transacted business. he willingly gave the required pledge, and was permitted to depart. the effect of the conference between saint aldegonde and ryhove was to convince the young partisan that the prince would neither openly countenance his project, nor be extremely vexed should it prove successful. in short, while, as in the case of the arrest of the state council, the subordinates were left to appear the principals in the transactions, the persons most intimate with william of orange were allowed to form satisfactory opinions as to his wishes, and to serve as instruments to his ends. "vive qui vince!" cried saint-aldegonde, encouragingly, to ryhove, shaking hands with him at parting. the conspirator immediately mounted, and rode off towards ghent. during his absence there had been much turbulence, but no decided outbreak, in that city. imbize had accosted the duke of aerschot in the street, and demanded when and how he intended to proclaim the restoration of the ancient charters. the haughty duke had endeavoured to shake off his importunate questioner, while imbize persisted, with increasing audacity, till aerschot lost his temper at last: "charters, charters!" he cried in a rage; "you shall learn soon, ye that are thus howling for charters, that we have still the old means of making you dumb, with a rope on your throats. i tell you this--were you ever so much hounded on by the prince of orange." the violence of the new governor excited the wrath of imbize. he broke from him abruptly, and rushed to a rendezvous of his confederates, every man of whom was ready for a desperate venture. groups of excited people were seen vociferating in different places. a drum was heard to rattle from time to time. nevertheless, the rising tumult seemed to subside again after a season, owing partly to the exertions of the magistrates, partly to the absence of ryhove. at four in the afternoon that gentleman entered the town, and riding directly to the head-quarters of the conspiracy, was incensed to hear that the work, which had begun so bravely, had been allowed to cool. "tis a time," he cried, "for vigilance. if we sleep now, we shall be dead in our beds before morning. better to fan the fire which has begun to blaze in the people's heart. better to gather the fruit while it is ripe. let us go forward, each with his followers, and i pledge myself to lead the way. let us scuttle the old ship of slavery; let us hunt the spanish inquisition, once for all, to the hell from whence it came!" "there spoke the voice of a man!" cried the flemish captain, mieghem, one of the chief conspirators; "lead on, ryhove, i swear to follow you as far as our legs will carry us." thus encouraged, ryhove, rushed about the city, calling upon the people everywhere to rise. they rose almost to a man. arming and mustering at different points, according to previous arrangements, a vast number assembled by toll of bell, after nightfall, on the public square, whence, under command of ryhove, they swept to the residence of aerschot at saint bavon. the guards, seeing the fierce mob approaching, brandishing spears and waving, torches, had scarce time to close the gates; as the people loudly demanded entrance and the delivery to them of the governor. both claims were refused. "let us burn the birds in their nests," cried ryhove, without hesitation. pitch, light wood, and other combustibles, were brought at his command, and in a few moments the palace would have been in flames, had not aerschot, seeing that the insurgents were in earnest, capitulated. as soon as the gates were open, the foremost of the mob rushed upon him, and would have torn him limb from limb, had not ryhove resolutely interfered, and twice protected the life of the governor, at the peril of his own. the duke was then made a prisoner, and, under a strong guard, was conveyed, still in his night-gown, and bare-footed, to the mansion of ryhove. all the other leading members of the catholic party were captured, the arrests proceeding till a late hour in the night. rassinghem, sweveghem, fisch, de la porta, and other prominent members of the flemish estates or council, were secured, but champagny was allowed to make his escape. the bishops of bruges and ypres were less fortunate. blood-councillor hessels, whose letter--genuine or counterfeited--had been so instrumental in hastening this outbreak, was most carefully guarded, and to him and to senator fisch the personal consequences of that night's work were to be very tragic. thus audaciously, successfully, and hitherto without bloodshed, was the anti-catholic revolution commenced in flanders. the event was the first of a long and most signal series. the deed was done. the provisional government was established, at the head of which was placed ryhove, to whom oaths of allegiance were rendered, subject to the future arrangements of the states-general and orange: on the th of november, the nobles, notables, and community of ghent published an address, in which they elaborately defended the revolution which had been effected and the arrests which had taken place; while the catholic party, with aerschot at its head, was declared to be secretly in league with don john to bring back the spanish troops, to overthrow the prince of orange, to deprive him of the protectorate of brabant, to set at nought the ghent treaty, and to suppress the reformed religion. the effect of this sudden rising of the popular party was prodigious throughout the netherlands. at the same time, the audacity of such extreme proceedings could hardly be countenanced by any considerable party in the states-general. champagny wrote to the prince of orange that, even if the letter of hessels were genuine, it proved nothing against aerschot, and he urged the necessity of suppressing such scene of licence immediately, through the influence of those who could command the passions of the mob. otherwise, he affirmed that all legitimate forms of justice would disappear, and that it would be easy to set the bloodhounds upon any game whatever. saint aldegonde wrote to the prince, that it would be a great point, but a very difficult one, to justify the ghent transaction; for there was little doubt that the hessels letter was a forgery. it was therefore as well, no doubt, that the prince had not decidedly committed himself to ryhove's plot; and thus deprived himself of the right to interfere afterwards, according to what seemed the claims of justice and sound policy. he now sent arend van dorp to ghent, to remonstrate with the leaders of the insurrection upon the violence of their measures, and to demand the liberation of the prisoners--a request which was only complied with in the case of aerschot. that nobleman was liberated on the th of november, under the condition that he would solemnly pledge himself to forget and forgive the treatment which he had received, but the other prisoners were retained in custody for a much longer period. a few weeks afterwards, the prince of orange visited ghent, at the earnest request of the four estates of flanders, and it was hoped that his presence would contribute to the restoration of tranquillity. this visit was naturally honored by a brilliant display of "rhetorical" spectacles and tableaux vivants; for nothing could exceed the passion of the netherlanders of that century for apologues and charades. in allegory they found an ever-present comforter in their deepest afflictions. the prince was escorted from the town-gate to the jacob's church amid a blaze of tar-barrels and torches, although it was mid-day, where a splendid exhibition had been arranged by that sovereign guild of rhetoric, "jesus with the balsam flower." the drama was called judas maccabaeus, in compliment to the prince. in the centre of the stage stood the hebrew patriot, in full armor, symbolizing the illustrious guest doing battle for his country. he was attended by the three estates of the country, ingeniously personified by a single individual, who wore the velvet bonnet of a noble, the cassock of a priest, end the breeches of a burgher. groups of allegorical personages were drawn up on the right and left;--courage, patriotism, freedom, mercy, diligence, and other estimable qualities upon one side, were balanced by murder, rapine, treason, and the rest of the sisterhood of crime on the other. the inquisition was represented as a lean and hungry hag. the "ghent pacification" was dressed in cramoisy satin, and wore a city on her head for a turban; while; tied to her apron-strings were catholicism and protestantism, bound in a loving embrace by a chain of seventeen links, which she was forging upon an anvil. under the anvil was an individual in complete harness, engaged in eating his heart; this was discord. in front of the scene stood history and rhetoric, attired as "triumphant maidens, in white garments," each with a laurel crown and a burning torch. these personages, after holding a rhymed dialogue between themselves, filled with wonderful conceits and quibbles, addressed the prince of orange and maccabaeus, one after the other, in a great quantity of very detestable verses. after much changing of scenes and groups, and an enormous quantity of flemish-woven poetry, the "ghent peace" came forward, leading a lion in one hand, and holding a heart of pure gold in the other. the heart, upon which was inscribed sinceritas, was then presented to the real prince, as he sat "reposing after the spectacle," and perhaps slightly yawning, the gift being accompanied by another tremendous discharge of complimentary verses. after this, william of orange was permitted to proceed towards the lodgings provided for him, but the magistrates and notables met him upon the threshold, and the pensionary made him a long oration. even after the prince was fairly housed, he had not escaped the fangs of allegory; for, while he sat at supper refreshing his exhausted frame after so much personification and metaphor, a symbolical personage, attired to represent the town corporation made his appearance, and poured upon him a long and particularly dull heroic poem. fortunately, this episode closed the labors of the day. on the th of december, , the states-general formally declared that don john was no longer stadholder, governor, nor captain-general, but an infractor of the peace which he had sworn to maintain, and an enemy of the fatherland. all natives of the country who should show him favor or assistance were declared rebels and traitors; and by a separate edict, issued the same day, it was ordained that an inventory of the estates of such persons should forthwith be taken. thus the war, which had for a brief period been suspended during the angry, tortuous, and hopeless negotiations which succeeded the arrival of don john, was once more to be let loose. to this point had tended all the policy of orange-faithful as ever to the proverb with which he had broken off the breda conferences, "that war was preferable to a doubtful peace." even, however, as his policy had pointed to a war as the necessary forerunner of a solid peace with spain, so had his efforts already advanced the cause of internal religious concord within the provinces themselves. on the th of december, a new act of union was signed at brussels, by which those of the roman church and those who had retired from that communion bound themselves to respect and to protect each other with mutual guarantees against all enemies whatsoever. here was a step beyond the ghent pacification, and in the same direction. the first treaty tacitly introduced toleration by suppressing the right of persecution, but the new union placed the reformed religion on a level with the old. this was the result of the prince's efforts; and, in truth, there was no lack of eagerness among these professors of a faith which had been so long under ban, to take advantage of his presence. out of dark alleys, remote thickets, subterranean conventicles, where the dissenters had so long been trembling for their lives, the oppressed now came forth into the light of day. they indulged openly in those forms of worship which persecution had affected to regard with as much holy horror as the badahuennan or hercynian mysteries of celtic ages could inspire, and they worshipped boldly the common god of catholic and puritan, in the words most consonant to their tastes, without dreading the gibbet as an inevitable result of their audacity. in truth, the time had arrived for bringing the northern and southern, the celtic and german, the protestant and catholic, hearts together, or else for acquiescing in their perpetual divorce. if the sentiment of nationality, the cause of a common fatherland, could now overcome the attachment to a particular form of worship--if a common danger and a common destiny could now teach the great lesson of mutual toleration, it might yet be possible to create a united netherland, and defy for ever the power of spain. since the union of brussels, of january, , the internal cancer of religious discord had again begun to corrode the body politic. the pacification of ghent had found the door open to religious toleration. it had not opened, but had left it open. the union of brussels had closed the door again. contrary to the hopes of the prince of orange and of the patriots who followed in his track, the sanction given to the roman religion had animated the catholics to fresh arrogance and fresh persecution. in the course of a few months, the only fruits of the new union, from which so much had been hoped, were to be seen in imprisonments, confiscations, banishments, executions. the perpetual edict, by which the fifteen provinces had united in acknowledging don john while the protestant stronghold of holland and zealand had been placed in a state of isolation by the wise distrust of orange, had widened the breach between catholics and protestants. the subsequent conduct of don john had confirmed the suspicions and demonstrated the sagacity of the prince. the seizure of namur and the open hostility avowed by the governor once more forced the provinces together. the suppressed flames of nationality burst forth again. catholic and protestant, fleming and hollander, instinctively approached each other, and felt the necessity of standing once more shoulder to shoulder in defence of their common rights. the prince of orange was called for by the unanimous cry of the whole country. he came to brussels. his first step, as already narrated, was to break off negotiations which had been already ratified by the votes of the states-general. the measure was reconsidered, under pretence of adding certain amendments. those amendments were the unconditional articles of surrender proposed for don john's signature on the th of september--articles which could only elicit words of defiance from his lips. thus far the prince's object was accomplished. a treacherous peace, which would have ensured destruction, was averted, but a new obstacle to the development of his broad and energetic schemes arose in the intrigue which brought the archduke from vienna. the cabals of orange's secret enemies were again thwarted with the same adroitness to which his avowed antagonists were forced to succumb. matthias was made the exponent of the new policy, the standard-bearer of the new union which the prince now succeeded in establishing; for his next step was immediately to impress upon the provinces which had thus united in casting down the gauntlet to a common enemy the necessity of uniting in a permanent league. one province was already lost by the fall of namur. the bonds of a permanent union for the other sixteen could be constructed of but one material--religious toleration, and for a moment, the genius of orange, always so far beyond his age, succeeded in raising the mass of his countrymen to the elevation upon which he had so long stood alone. the "new or nearer union of brussels" was signed on the th of december, eleven months after the formation of the first union. this was the third and, unfortunately, the last confederation of all the netherlands. the original records have been lost, but it is known that the measure was accepted unanimously in the estates-general as soon as presented. the leading catholic nobles were with the army, but a deputation, sent to the camp, returned with their signatures and hearty approval; with the signatures and approval of such determined catholics as the lalains, meluns, egmont, and la motte. if such men could unite for the sake of the fatherland in an act of religious toleration, what lofty hopes for the future was not the prince justified in forming; for it was the prince alone who accomplished this victory of reason over passion. as a monument, not only of his genius, but of the elevated aspirations of a whole people in an age of intolerance, the "closer union of brussels" deserves especial place in the history of human progress. unfortunately, it was destined to a brief existence. the battle of gemblours was its death-blow, and before the end of a month, the union thus hopefully constructed was shattered for ever. the netherland people was never united again. by the union of utrecht, seven states subsequently rescued their existence, and lived to construct a powerful republic. the rest were destined to remain for centuries in the condition of provinces to a distant metropolis, to be shifted about as make-weights in political balances, and only in our own age to come into the honorable rank of independent constitutional states. the prince had, moreover, strengthened himself for the coming struggle by an alliance with england. the thrifty but politic queen, fearing the result of the secret practices of alencon--whom orange, as she suspected, still kept in reserve to be played off, in case of need, against matthias and don john--had at last consented to a treaty of alliance and subsidy. on the th of january, , the marquis havre, envoy from the estates, concluded an arrangement in london, by which the queen was to lend them her credit--in other words, to endorse their obligations, to the amount of one hundred thousand pounds sterling. the money was to be raised wherever the states might be able to negotiate the bills, and her liability was to cease within a year. she was likewise to be collaterally secured by pledges from certain cities in the netherlands. this amount was certainly not colossal, while the conditions were sufficiently parsimonious. at the same time a beginning was made, and the principle of subsidy was established. the queen, furthermore, agreed to send five thousand infantry and one thousand cavalry to the provinces, under the command of an officer of high rank, who was to have a seat and vote in the netherland council of state. these troops were to be paid by the provinces, but furnished by the queen. the estates were to form no treaty without her knowledge, nor undertake any movement of importance without her consent. in case she should be herself attacked by any foreign power, the provinces were to assist her to the same extent as the amount of aid now afforded to themselves; and in case of a naval war, with a fleet of at least forty ships. it had already been arranged that the appointment of the prince of orange as lieutenant-general for matthias was a 'sine qua non' in any treaty of assistance with england. soon after the conclusion of this convention, sir thomas wilkes was despatched on a special mission to spain, and mr. leyton sent to confer privately with don john. it was not probable, however, that the diplomatic skill of either would make this new arrangement palatable to philip or his governor. within a few days after their signature of this important treaty, the prince had, at length, wholly succeeded in conquering the conflicting passions in the states-general, and in reconciling them, to a certain extent, with each other. the closer union had been accepted, and now thirty articles, which had been prepared under his superintendence, and had already on the th of december been accepted by matthias, were established as the fundamental terms, according to which the archduke was to be received as governor-general. no power whatever was accorded to the young man, who had come so far with eager and ambitious views. as the prince had neither solicited nor desired a visit which had, on the contrary, been the result of hostile machinations, the archduke could hardly complain that the power accorded him was but shadowy, and that his presence was rendered superfluous. it was not surprising that the common people gave him the name of greffier, or registering clerk to the prince; for his functions were almost limited to the signing of acts which were countersigned by orange. according to the stipulations of the queen of england, and the views of the whole popular party, the prince remained ruward of brabant, notwithstanding the appointment of a nominal governor-general, by whom his own duties were to be superseded. the articles which were laid down as the basis upon which the archduke was to be accepted; composed an ample representative constitution, by which all the legislative and many of the executive powers of government were bestowed upon the states-general or upon the council by them to be elected. to avoid remaining in the condition of a people thus left without a head, the states declared themselves willing to accept matthias as governor-general, on condition of the king's subsequent approbation, and upon the general basis of the ghent treaty. the archduke, moreover, was to take an oath of allegiance to the king and to the states-general at the same time. he was to govern the land by the advice of a state council, the members of which were to be appointed by the states-general, and were "to be native netherlanders, true patriots; and neither ambitious nor greedy." in all matters discussed before the state council, a majority of votes was to decide. the governor-general, with his council of state, should conclude nothing concerning the common affairs of the nation--such as requests, loans, treaties of peace or declarations of war, alliances or confederacies with foreign nations--without the consent of the states-general. he was to issue no edict or ordinance, and introduce no law, without the consent of the same body duly assembled, and representing each individual province. a majority of the members was declared necessary to a quorum of the council. all acts and despatches were to be drawn up by a member of the board. the states-general were to assemble when, where, and as often as, and remain in session as long as, they might think it expedient. at the request of any individual province, concerning matters about which a convention of the generality was customary, the other states should be bound to assemble without waiting for directions from the governor-general. the estates of each particular province were to assemble at their pleasure. the governor and council, with advice of the states-general, were to appoint all the principal military officers. troops were to be enrolled and garrisons established by and with the consent of the states. governors of provinces were to be appointed by the governor-general, with advice of his council, and with the consent of the estates of the province interested. all military affairs were to be conducted during war by the governor, with advice of his council, while the estates were to have absolute control over the levying and expenditure of the common funds of the country. it is sufficiently plain from this brief summary, that the powers thus conferred upon matthias alone, were absolutely null, while those which he might exercise in conjunction with the state council, were not much more extensive. the actual force of the government--legislative, executive, and, administrative--was lodged in the general assembly, while no authority was left to the king, except the nominal right to approve these revolutionary proceedings, according to the statement in the preamble. such a reservation in favor of his majesty seemed a superfluous sarcasm. it was furthermore resolved that the prince of orange should be appointed lieutenant-general for matthias, and be continued in his office of ruward. this constitution, drawn up under the superintendence of the prince, had been already accepted by matthias, while still at antwerp, and upon the th of january, , the ceremony of his inauguration took place. it was the third triumphal procession which brussels had witnessed within nine months. it was also the most brilliant of all; for the burghers, as if to make amends to the archduke for the actual nullity to which he had been reduced, seemed resolved to raise him to the seventh heaven of allegory. by the rhetorical guilds he was regarded as the most brilliant constellation of virtues which had yet shone above the flemish horizon. a brilliant cavalcade, headed by orange, accompanied by count john of nassau, the prince de chimay and other notables, met him at vilvoorde, and escorted him to the city gate. on an open field, outside the town, count bossu had arranged a review of troops, concluding with a sham-fight, which, in the words of a classical contemporary, seemed as "bloody a rencontre as that between duke miltiades of athens and king darius upon the plains of attics." the procession entered the louvain gate, through a splendid triumphal arch, filled with a band of invisible musicians. "i believe that orpheus had never played so melodiously on his harp," says the same authority, "nor apollo on his lyre, nor pan on his lute, as the city waits then performed." on entering the gates, matthias was at once delivered over to the hands of mythology, the burghers and rhetoricians taking possession of their illustrious captive, and being determined to outdo themselves in demonstrations of welcome. the representatives of the "nine nations" of brussels met him in the ritter-street, followed by a gorgeous retinue. although it was mid-day, all bore flaming torches. although it was january, the streets were strewed with flowers. the houses were festooned with garlands, and hung with brilliant silks and velvets. the streets were thronged with spectators, and encumbered with triumphal arches. on the grande place always the central scene in brussels, whether for comedies, or tournaments, or executions, the principal dramatic effects had been accumulated. the splendid front of the hotel de ville was wreathed with scarfs and banners; its windows and balconies, as well as those of the picturesque houses which formed the square, were crowded with gaily-dressed women. upon the area of the place, twenty-four theatres had been erected, where a aeries of magnificent living pictures were represented by the most beautiful young females that could be found in the city. all were attired in brocades, embroideries, and cloth of gold. the subjects of the tableaux vivants were, of course, most classic, for the netherlanders were nothing, if not allegorical; yet, as spectacles, provided by burghers and artisans for the amusement of their fellow-citizens, they certainly proved a considerable culture in the people who could thus be amused. all the groups were artistically arranged. upon one theatre stood juno with her peacock, presenting matthias with the city of brussels, which she held, beautifully modelled, in her hand. upon another, cybele gave him the keys, reason handed him a bridle, hebe a basket of flowers, wisdom a looking-glass and two law books, diligence a pair of spurs; while constancy, magnanimity, prudence, and other virtues, furnished him with a helmet; corslet, spear, and shield. upon other theatres, bellona presented him with several men-at-arms, tied in a bundle; fame gave him her trumpet, and glory her crown. upon one stage quintus curtius, on horseback, was seen plunging into the yawning abyss; upon six others scipio africanus was exhibited, as he appeared in the most picturesque moments of his career. the beardless archduke had never achieved anything, save his nocturnal escape from vienna in his night-gown; but the honest flemings chose to regard him as a re-incarnation of those two eminent romans. carried away by their own learning, they already looked upon him as a myth; and such indeed he was destined to remain throughout his netherland career. after surveying all these wonders, matthias was led up the hill again to the ducal palace, where, after hearing speeches and odes till he was exhausted, he was at last allowed to eat his supper and go to bed. meantime the citizens feasted in the streets. bonfires were blazing everywhere, at which the people roasted "geese, pigs, capons, partridges, and chickens," while upon all sides were the merriest piping and dancing. of a sudden, a fiery dragon was seen flying through the air. it poised for a while over the heads of the revelling crowd in the grande place, and then burst with a prodigious explosion, sending forth rockets and other fireworks in every direction. this exhibition, then a new one, so frightened the people, that they all took to their heels, "as if a thousand soldiers had assaulted them," tumbling over each other in great confusion, and so dispersing to their homes. the next day matthias took the oaths as governor-general, to support the new constitution, while the prince of orange was sworn in as lieutenant-general and governor of brabant. upon the next a splendid banquet was given them in the grand ball of the hotel de ville, by the states-general, and when the cloth was removed, rhetoric made her last and most ingenious demonstration, through the famous guild of "mary with the flower garland." two individuals--the one attired as a respectable burgher; the other as a clerical personage in gown and bands-made their appearance upon a stage, opposite the seats of their highnesses, and pronounced a long dialogue in rhyme. one of the speakers rejoiced in the appellation of the "desiring heart," the other was called "common comfort." common sense might have been more to the purpose, but appeared to have no part in the play. desiring heart, being of an inquisitive disposition, propounded a series of puzzling questions, mythological in their nature, which seemed like classical conundrums, having reference, mainly, to the proceedings of venus, neptune, juno, and other divinities. they appeared to have little to do with matthias or the matter in hand, but common comfort knew better. that clerical personage, accordingly, in a handsome allowance of rhymes, informed his despairing colleague that everything would end well; that jupiter, diana, venus, and the rest of them would all do their duty, and that belgica would be relieved from all her woes, at the advent of a certain individual. whereupon cried desiring heart, oh common comfort who is he? his name, and of what family? to which comfort responded by mentioning the archduke, in a poetical and highly-complimentary strain, with handsome allusions to the inevitable quintus curtius and scipio africanus. the concluding words of the speech were not spoken, but were taken as the cue for a splendid charade; the long-suffering scipio again making his appearance, in company with alexander and hannibal; the group typifying the future government of matthias. after each of these, heroic individuals had spouted a hundred lines or so, the play was terminated, and rhetoric took her departure. the company had remained at table during this long representation, and now the dessert was served, consisting of a "richly triumphant banquet of confectionary, marmalade, and all kinds of genteelnesses in sugar." meanwhile, don john sat chafing and almost frenzied with rage at namur. certainly he had reasons enough for losing his temper. never since the days of maximilian had king's brother been so bearded by rebels. the cross was humbled in the dust, the royal authority openly derided, his majesty's representative locked up in a fortress, while "the accursed prince of orange" reigned supreme in brussels, with an imperial archduke for his private secretary. the governor addressed a long, private, and most bitter letter to the emperor, for the purpose of setting himself right in the opinion of that potentate, and of giving him certain hints as to what was expected of the imperial court by philip and himself. he expressed confidence that the imperial commissioners would have some effect in bringing about the pacification of the netherlands, and protested his own strong desire for such a result, provided always that the two great points of the catholic religion and his majesty's authority were preserved intact. "in the hope that those articles would be maintained," said he, "i have emptied cities and important places of their garrisons, when i might easily have kept the soldiers, and with the soldiers the places, against all the world, instead of consigning them to the care of men who at this hour have arms in their hand against their natural prince." he declared vehemently that in all his conduct, since his arrival in the provinces, he had been governed exclusively by the interests of philip, an object which he should steadily pursue to the end. he urged, too, that the emperor, being of the same house as philip, and therefore more obliged than all others to sustain his quarrel, would do well to espouse his cause with all the warmth possible. "the forgetfulness by vassals," said don john, "of the obedience due to their sovereign is so dangerous, that all princes and potentates, even those at the moment exempt from trouble; should assist in preparing the remedy, in order that their subjects also may not take it into their heads to do the like, liberty being a contagious disease, which goes on infecting one neighbour after another, if the cure be not promptly applied." it was, he averred, a desperate state of things for monarchs, when subjects having obtained such concessions as the netherlanders had obtained, nevertheless loved him and obeyed him so little. they showed, but too clearly, that the causes alleged by them had been but pretexts, in order to effect designs, long ago conceived, to overthrow the ancient constitution of the country, and to live thenceforward in unbridled liberty. so many indecent acts had been committed prejudicial to religion and to his majesty's grandeur, that the governor avowed his, determination to have no farther communication with the provinces without fresh commands to that effect. he begged the emperor to pay no heed to what the states said, but to observe what they did. he assured him that nothing could be more senseless than the reports that philip and his governor-general in the netherlands were negotiating with france, for the purpose of alienating the provinces from the austrian crown. philip, being chief of the family, and sovereign of the netherlands, could not commit the absurdity of giving away his own property to other people, nor would don john choose to be an instrument in so foolish a transaction. the governor entreated the emperor, therefore, to consider such fables as the invention of malcontents and traitors, of whom there were no lack at his court, and to remember that nothing was more necessary for the preservation of the greatness of his family than to cultivate the best relations with all its members. "therefore," said he, with an absurd affectation of candor, "although i make no doubt whatever that the expedition hitherwards of the archduke matthias has been made with the best intentions; nevertheless, many are of opinion that it would have been better altogether omitted. if the archduke," he continued, with hardly dissembled irony, "be desirous of taking charge of his majesty's affairs, it would be preferable to employ himself in the customary manner. your majesty would do a laudable action by recalling him from this place, according to your majesty's promise to me to that effect." in conclusion, don john complained that difficulties had been placed in his way for making levies of troops in the empire, while every facility had been afforded to the rebels. he therefore urgently insisted that so unnatural and unjust a condition of affairs should be remedied. don john was not sorry in his heart that the crisis was at last come. his chain was broken. his wrath exploded in his first interview with leyton, the english envoy, whom queen elizabeth had despatched to calm, if possible, his inevitable anger at her recent treaty with the states. he knew nothing of england, he said, nor of france, nor of the emperor. his catholic majesty had commissioned him now to make war upon these rebellious provinces. he would do it with all his heart. as for the emperor, he would unchain the turks upon him for his perfidy. as for the burghers of brussels, they would soon feel his vengeance. it was very obvious that these were not idle threats. war had again broken loose throughout these doomed provinces. a small but well-appointed army had been rapidly collecting under the banner of don john at luxemburg, peter ernest mansfeld had brought many well-trained troops from france, and prince alexander of parma had arrived with several choice and veteran regiments of italy and spain. the old schoolfellow, playmate and comrade of don john, was shocked-on his arrival, to witness the attenuated frame and care-worn features of his uncle. the son of charles the fifth, the hero of lepanto, seemed even to have lost the air of majesty which was so natural to him, for petty insults, perpetual crosses, seemed to have left their squalid traces upon his features. nevertheless, the crusader was alive again, at the notes of warlike preparations which now resounded throughout the land. on the th of january he issued a proclamation, couched in three languages--french, german, and flemish. he declared in this document that he had not come to enslave the provinces, but to protect them. at the same time he meant to re-establish his majesty's authority, and the down-trod religion of rome. he summoned all citizens and all soldiers throughout the provinces to join his banners, offering them pardon for their past offences, and protection against heretics and rebels. this declaration was the natural consequence of the exchange of defiances which had already taken place, and it was evident also that the angry manifesto was soon to be followed up by vigorous blows. the army of don john already numbered more than twenty thousand well-seasoned and disciplined veterans. he was himself the most illustrious chieftain in europe. he was surrounded by lieutenants cf the most brilliant reputation. alexander of parma, who had fought with distinction at lepanto, was already recognised as possessing that signal military genius which was soon to stamp him as the first soldier of his age, while mansfeld, mondragon, mendoza, and other distinguished officers, who had already won so much fame in the netherlands, had now returned to the scene of their former achievements. on the other hand, the military affairs of the states were in confusion. troops in nearly equal numbers to those of the royal army had been assembled, but the chief offices had been bestowed, by a mistaken policy, upon the great nobles. already the jealousy of orange, entertained by their whole order was painfully apparent. notwithstanding the signal popularity which had made his appointment as lieutenant-general inevitable it was not easy for him always to vindicate his authority over captious and rival magnates. he had every wish to conciliate the affections of men whom he could not in his heart respect, and he went as far in gratifying their ambition as comported with his own dignity; perhaps farther than was consistent with the national interests. he was still willing to trust lalain, of whose good affection to the country he felt sure. re had even been desirous of declining the office of lieutenant-general, in order to avoid giving that nobleman the least occasion to think "that he would do him, or any other gentleman of the army, prejudice in any single matter in the world." this magnanimity had, not been repaid with corresponding confidence. we have already seen that lalain had been secretly in the interest of anjou ever since his wife and himself had lost their hearts to margaret of navarre; yet the count was chief commander of the infantry in the states' army then assembled. robert melun, vicomte de gand, was commander of the cavalry, but he had recently been private envoy from don john to the english queen. both these gentlemen, together with pardieu de la motte, general of the artillery, were voluntarily absent from the forces, under pretext of celebrating the wedding of the seigneur de bersel with the niece and heiress of the unfortunate marquis of bergen. the ghost of that ill-starred noble might almost have seemed to rise at the nuptial banquet of his heiress, to warn the traitors of the signal and bloody massacre which their treachery was soon to occasion. philip egmont, eldest son of the famous lamoral, was with the army, as was the seigneur de heze, hero of the state council's arrest, and the unstable havre. but little was to be hoped from such leaders. indeed, the affairs of the states continued to be in as perplexed a condition as that which honest john of nassau had described some weeks before. "there were very few patriots," he had said, "but plenty of priests, with no lack of inexperienced lads--some looking for distinction, and others for pelf." the two armies had been mustered in the latter days of january. the pope had issued a bull for the benefit of don john, precisely similar to those formerly employed in the crusades against the saracens. authority was given him to levy contributions upon ecclesiastical property, while full absolution, at the hour of death, for all crimes committed during a whole lifetime, was proclaimed to those who should now join the standard of the cross. there was at least no concealment. the crescent-wearing zealanders had been taken at their word, and the whole nation of netherlanders were formally banned as unbelievers. the forces of don john were mustered at marche in luxemburg; those of the states in a plain within a few miles of namur. both armies were nearly equal in number, amounting to nearly twenty thousand each, including a force of two thousand cavalry on each side. it had been the original intention of the patriots to attack don john in namur. having learned, however, that he purposed marching forth himself to offer battle, they decided to fall back upon gemblours, which was nine miles distant from that city. on the last day of january, they accordingly broke up their camp at saint martius, before dawn, and marched towards gemblours. the chief commander was de goignies, an old soldier of charles the fifth, who had also fought at saint quintin. the states' army was disposed in three divisions. the van consisted of the infantry regiments of de heze and montigny, flanked by a protective body of light horse. the centre, composed of the walloon and german regiments, with a few companies of french, and thirteen companies of scotch and english under colonel balfour, was commanded by two most distinguished officers, bossu and champagny. the rear, which, of course, was the post of responsibility and honor, comprised all the heavy cavalry, and was commanded by philip egmont and lumey de la marck. the marquis havre and the general-in-chief, goignies, rode to and fro, as the army proceeded, each attended by his staff. the troops of don john broke up from before namur with the earliest dawn, and marched in pursuit of the retiring foe. in front was nearly the whole of the cavalry-carabineers, lancers, and heavy dragoons. the centre, arranged in two squares, consisted chiefly of spanish infantry, with a lesser number of germans. in the rear came the walloons, marching also in a square, and protecting the baggage and ammunition. charles mansfeld had been left behind with a reserved force, stationed on the meuse; ottavio gonzaga commanded in front, ernest mansfeld brought up the rear; while in the centre rode don john himself, attended by the prince of parma. over his head streamed the crucifix-emblazoned banner, with its memorable inscription--in hoc signo vici turcos, in hoc haereticos vincam. small detachments of cavalry had been sent forward; under olivera and acosta, to scour the roads and forests, and to disturb all ambuscades which might have been prepared. from some stragglers captured by these officers, the plans of the retreating generals were learned. the winter's day was not far advanced, when the rearward columns of the states' army were descried in the distance. don john, making a selection of some six hundred cavalry, all picked men, with a thousand infantry, divided the whole into two bodies, which he placed under command of gonzaga and the famous old christopher mondragon. these officers received orders to hang on the rear of the enemy, to harass him, and to do him all possible damage consistent with the possibility of avoiding a general engagement, until the main army under parma and don john should arrive. the orders were at first strictly obeyed. as the skirmishing grew hotter, however, goazaga observed that a spirited cavalry officer, named perotti, had already advanced, with a handful of men, much further within the reach of the hostile forces than was deemed expedient. he sent hastily to recal the too eager chieftain. the order, delivered in a tone more peremptory than agreeable, was flatly disobeyed. "tell ottavio gonzaga," said perotti, "that i never yet turned my back on the enemy, nor shall i now begin. moreover, were i ever so much inclined to do so, retreat is impossible." the retiring army was then proceeding along the borders of a deep ravine, filled with mire and water, and as broad and more dangerous than a river. in the midst of the skirmishing, alexander of parma rode up to reconnoitre. he saw at once that the columns of the enemy were marching unsteadily to avoid being precipitated into this creek. he observed the waving of their spears, the general confusion of their ranks, and was quick to take advantage of the fortunate moment. pointing out to the officers about him the opportunity thus offered of attacking the retiring army unawares in flank, he assembled, with great rapidity, the foremost companies of cavalry already detached from the main body. mounting a fresh and powerful horse, which camillo monte held in readiness for him, he signified his intention of dashing through the dangerous ravine, and dealing a stroke where it was least expected, "tell don john of austria," he cried to an officer whom he sent back to the commander-in-chief, "that alexander of parma has plunged into the abyss, to perish there, or to come-forth again victorious." the sudden thought was executed with lightning-like celerity. in an instant the bold rider was already struggling through the dangerous swamp; in another, his powerful charger had carried him across. halting for a few minutes, lance in rest, till his troops had also forced their passage, gained the level ground unperceived, and sufficiently breathed their horses, he drew up his little force in a compact column. then, with a few words of encouragement, he launched them at the foe. the violent and entirely unexpected shock was even more successful than the prince had anticipated. the hostile cavalry reeled and fell into hopeless confusion, egmont in vain striving to rally them to resistance. that name had lost its magic. goignies also attempted, without success, to restore order among the panic-struck ranks. the sudden conception of parma, executed as suddenly and in so brilliant a manner, had been decisive. assaulted in flank and rear at the same moment, and already in temporary confusion, the cavalry of the enemy turned their backs and fled. the centre of the states' army thus left exposed, was now warmly attacked by parma. it had, moreover, been already thrown into disorder by the retreat of its own horse, as they charged through them in rapid and disgraceful panic. the whole army bloke to pieces at once, and so great was the trepidation, that the conquered troops had hardly courage to run away. they were utterly incapable of combat. not a blow was struck by the fugitives. hardly a man in the spanish ranks was wounded; while, in the course of an hour and a half, the whole force of the enemy was exterminated. it is impossible to state with accuracy the exact numbers slain. some accounts spoke of ten thousand killed, or captive, with absolutely no loss on the royal side. moreover, this slaughter was effected, not by the army under don john, but by so small a fragment of it, that some historians have even set down the whole number of royalists engaged at the commencement of the action, at six hundred, increased afterwards to twelve hundred. by this calculation, each spaniard engaged must have killed ten enemies with his own hand; and that within an hour and a half's space! other historians more wisely omit the exact statistics of the massacre, and allow that a very few--ten or eleven, at most--were slain within the spanish ranks. this, however, is the utmost that is claimed by even the netherland historians, and it is, at any rate, certain that the whole states' army was annihilated. rarely had a more brilliant exploit been performed by a handful of cavalry. to the distinguished alexander of parma, who improvised so striking and complete a victory out of a fortuitous circumstance, belonged the whole credit of the day, for his quick eye detected a passing weakness of the enemy, and turned it to terrible account with the promptness which comes from genius alone. a whole army was overthrown. everything belonging to the enemy fell into the hands of the spaniards. thirty-four standards, many field-pieces, much camp equipage, and ammunition, besides some seven or eight thousand dead bodies, and six hundred living prisoners, were the spoils of that winter's day. of the captives, some were soon afterwards hurled off the bridge at namur, and drowned like dogs in the meuse, while the rest were all hanged, none escaping with life. don john's clemency was not superior to that of his sanguinary predecessors. and so another proof was added--if proofs were still necessary of spanish prowess. the netherlanders may be pardoned if their foes seemed to them supernatural, and almost invulnerable. how else could these enormous successes be accounted for? how else could thousands fall before the spanish swords, while hardly a single spanish corpse told of effectual resistance? at jemmingen, alva had lost seven soldiers, and slain seven thousand; in the antwerp fury, two hundred spaniards, at most, had fallen, while eight thousand burghers and states' troops had been butchered; and now at gemblours, six, seven, eight, ten--heaven knew how many--thousand had been exterminated, and hardly a single spaniard had been slain! undoubtedly, the first reason for this result was the superiority of the spanish soldiers. they were the boldest, the best disciplined, the most experienced in the world. their audacity, promptness, and ferocity made them almost invincible. in this particular action, at least half the army of don john was composed of spanish or spanish-italian veterans. moreover, they were commanded by the most renowned captains of the age--by don john himself, and alexander of parma, sustained by such veterans as mondragon, the hero of the memorable submarine expeditions; mendoza, the accomplished cavalry officer, diplomatist, and historian; and mansfeld, of whom don john had himself written to the king that his majesty had not another officer of such account in all the netherlands. such officers as these, besides gonzaga, camillo monte, mucio pagano, at the head of such troops as fought that day under the banner of the cross, might go far in accounting for this last and most tremendous victory of the inquisition. on the other hand, although bossu and champagny were with the states' army, yet their hearts were hardly with the cause. both had long been loyal, and had earned many laurels against the rebels, while champagny was still devoutly a papist, and wavered painfully between his hatred to heresy and to spain. egmont and de heze were raw, unpractised lads, in whom genius did not come to supply the place of experience. the commander, de goignies, was a veteran, but a veteran who had never gained much glory, and the chiefs of the cavalry, infantry, and artillery, were absent at the brussels wedding. the news of this additional massacre inflicted upon a nation, for which berghen and montigny had laid down their lives, was the nuptial benediction for berghen's heiress; for it was to the chief wedding guests upon, that occasion that the disaster was justly attributed. the rank and file of the states' army were mainly mercenaries, with whom the hope of plunder was the prevailing motive; the chief commanders were absent; while those officers who were with the troops were neither heartily friendly to their own flag nor sufficiently experienced to make it respected. etext editor's bookmarks: absurd affectation of candor always less apt to complain of irrevocable events imagined, and did the work of truth judas maccabaeus neither ambitious nor greedy superfluous sarcasm motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley chapter v. towns taken by don john--wrath excited against the aristocratic party by the recent defeat--attempts upon amsterdam--"satisfaction" of amsterdam and its effects--de selles sent with royal letters from spain--terms offered by philip--proclamation of don john-- correspondence between de selles and the states-general--between the king and the governor-general--new forces raised by the states--st. aldegonde at the diet--municipal revolution in amsterdam--the prince's letter on the subject of the anabaptists of middelburg-- the two armies inactive--de la none--action at rijnemants--john casimir--perverse politics of queen elizabeth--alencon in the netherlands--portrait of the duke--orange's position in regard to him--avowed and supposed policy of the french court--anger of elizabeth--terms arranged between alencon and the estates--renewed negotiations with don john--severe terms offered him--interview of the english envoys with the governor--despondency of don john-- orange's attempts to enforce a religious peace--his isolation in sentiment--the malcontent party--count john governor of gelderland --proposed form of religious peace--proclamation to that effect by orange, in antwerp--a petition in favor of the roman church presented by champagny and other catholic nobles to the states-- general--consequent commotion in brussels--champagny and others imprisoned--indolence and poverty of the two armies--illness and melancholy of don john--his letters to doria, to mendoza, and to the king--death of don john--suspicions of poison--pompous burial-- removal of his body to spain--concluding remarks upon his character. don john having thus vindicated his own military fame and the amazing superiority of the spanish arms, followed up his victory by the rapid reduction of many towns of second-rate importance louvain, judoigne, tirlemont, aerschot, bauvignes, sichem, nivelle, roeux, soignies, binch, beaumont, walcourt, tviaubeuge, and chimay, either submitted to their conqueror, or were taken after short sieges. the usual atrocities were inflicted upon the unfortunate inhabitants of towns where resistance was attempted. the commandant of sichem was hanged out of his own window, along with several chief burghers and officers, while the garrison was put to the sword, and the bodies cast into the denver. the only crime committed by these unfortunates was to have ventured a blow or two in behalf of the firesides which they were employed to protect. in brussels, on the other hand, there was less consternation excited by these events than boundless rage against the aristocratic party, for the defeat of gemblours was attributed, with justice, to the intrigues and the incapacity of the catholic magnates. it was with difficulty that orange, going about by night from house to house, from street to street, succeeded in calming the indignation of the people, and in preventing them from sweeping in a mass to the residence of the leading nobles, in order to inflict summary vengeance on the traitors. all looked to the prince as their only saviour, not a thought nor a word being wasted upon matthias. not a voice was raised in the assembly to vindicate the secret proceedings of the catholic party, nor to oppose the measures which the prince might suggest. the terrible disaster had taught the necessity of union. all parties heartily joined in the necessary steps to place the capital in a state of complete defence, and to assemble forthwith new troops to take the place of the army just annihilated. the victor gained nothing by his victory, in comparison with the profit acquired by the states through their common misfortune. nor were all the towns which had recently fallen into the hands of don john at all comparable in importance to the city of amsterdam, which now, by a most timely arrangement, furnished a rich compensation to the national party for the disaster of gemblours. since the conclusion of the ghent pacification, it had been the most earnest wish of the prince, and of holland and zealand, to recover possession of this most important city. the wish was naturally shared by every true patriot in the states-general. it had, however, been extremely difficult to arrange the terms of the "satisfaction." every fresh attempt at an amicable compromise was wrecked upon the obstinate bigotry of the leading civic authorities. they would make no agreement to accept the authority of orange, except, as saint aldegonde expressed himself; upon terms which would enable them "to govern their governor." the influence of the monks, who were resident in large numbers within the city, and of the magistrates, who were all stanch catholics, had been hitherto sufficient to outweigh the efforts made by the large masses of the reformed religionists composing the bulk of the population. it was, however, impossible to allow amsterdam to remain in this isolated and hostile attitude to the rest of holland. the prince, having promised to use no coercion, and loyally adhering to his pledge, had only with extreme difficulty restrained the violence of the hollanders and zealanders, who were determined, by fair means or foul, to restore the capital city to its natural place within his stadholderate. he had been obliged, on various occasions, particularly on the st of october of the preceding year, to address a most decided and peremptory letter to the estates of holland and zealand, forbidding the employment of hostile measures against amsterdam. his commands had been reluctantly, partially, and only temporarily obeyed. the states desisted from their scheme of reducing the city by famine, but they did not the less encourage the secret and unofficial expeditions which were daily set on foot to accomplish the annexation by a sudden enterprise. late in november, a desperate attempt had been made by colonel helling, in conjunction with governor sonoy, to carry the city by surprise. the force which the adventurer collected for the purpose was inadequate, and his plans were unskilfully arranged. he was himself slain in the streets, at the very commencement of the action; whereupon, in the quaint language of the contemporary chronicler, "the hearts of his soldiers sank in their shoes," and they evacuated the city with much greater rapidity than they had entered it. the prince was indignant at these violent measures, which retarded rather than advanced the desired consummation. at the same time it was an evil of immense magnitude--this anomalous condition of his capital. ceaseless schemes were concerted by the municipal and clerical conspirators within its walls, and various attempts were known, at different times, to have been contemplated by don john, to inflict a home-thrust upon the provinces of holland and zealand at the most vulnerable and vital point. the "satisfaction" accepted by utrecht, in the autumn of , had, however, paved the way for the recovery of amsterdam; so that upon february the th, , certain deputies from utrecht succeeded at last in arranging terms, which were accepted by the sister city. the basis of the treaty was, as usual, the nominal supremacy of the catholic religion, with toleration for the reformed worship. the necessary effect would be, as in harlem, utrecht, and other places, to establish the new religion upon an entire equality with the old. it was arranged that no congregations were to be disturbed in their religious exercises in the places respectively assigned to them. those of the reformed faith were to celebrate their worship without the walls. they were, however, to enjoy the right of burying their dead within these precincts, and it is singular how much importance was attached at that day to a custom, at which the common sentiment and the common sense of modern times revolt. "to bury our dead within our own cities is a right hardly to be denied to a dog," said the prince of orange; and accordingly this right was amply secured by the new satisfaction of amsterdam. it was, however, stipulated that the funerals should be modest, and attended by no more than twenty-four persons at once. the treaty was hailed with boundless joy in holland and zealand, while countless benedictions were invoked upon the "blessed peace-makers," as the utrecht deputies walked through the streets of amsterdam. there is no doubt that the triumph thus achieved by the national party far counterbalanced the governor-general's victory at gemblours. meantime, the seigneur de selles, brother of the deceased noircarmes, had arrived from spain. he was the special bearer of a letter from the king to the states-general, written in reply to their communications of the th of august and th of september of the previous year. the tone of the royal despatch was very affectionate, the substance such as entirely to justify the whole policy of orange. it was obvious that the penetrating and steadfast statesman had been correct in refusing to be moved to the right or the left by the specious language of philip's former letters, or by the apparent frankness of don john. no doubt the governor had been sincere in his desire for peace, but the prince knew very well his incapacity to confer that blessing. the prince knew--what no man else appeared fully to comprehend at that epoch--that the mortal combat between the inquisition and the reformation was already fully engaged. the great battle between divine reason and right divine, on which the interests of unborn generations were hanging, was to be fought out, before the eyes of all christendom, on the plain of the netherlands. orange was willing to lay down his arms if he could receive security for the reformed worship. he had no desire to exterminate the ancient religion, but he meant also to protect the new against extermination. such security, he felt, would never be granted, and he had therefore resolutely refused to hearken to don john, for he was sure that peace with him was impossible. the letters now produced by de selles confirmed his positions completely. the king said not a word concerning the appointment of a new governor-general, but boldly insisted upon the necessity of maintaining the two cardinal points--his royal supremacy, and the catholic religion upon the basis adopted by his father, the emperor charles the fifth. this was the whole substance of his communication: the supremacy of royalty and of papacy as in the time of charles the fifth. these cabalistic words were repeated twice in the brief letter to the estates. they were repeated five times in the instructions furnished by his majesty to de selles. the letter and the instructions indeed contained nothing else. two simples were offered for the cure of the body politic, racked by the fever and convulsion of ten horrible years--two simples which the patient could hardly be so unreasonable as to reject--unlimited despotism and religious persecution. the whole matter lay in a nut-shell, but it was a nut-shell which enclosed the flaming edicts of charles the fifth, with their scaffolds, gibbets, racks, and funeral piles. the prince and the states-general spurned such pacific overtures, and preferred rather to gird themselves for the combat. that there might be no mistake about the matter, don john, immediately after receiving the letter, issued a proclamation to enforce the king's command. he mentioned it as an acknowledged fact that the states-general had long ago sworn the maintenance of the two points of royal and catholic supremacy, according to the practice under the emperor charles. the states instantly published an indignant rejoinder, affirming the indisputable truth, that they had sworn to the maintenance of the ghent pacification, and proclaiming the assertion of don john an infamous falsehood. it was an outrage upon common sense, they said, that the ghent treaty could be tortured into sanctioning the placards and the inquisition, evils which that sacred instrument had been expressly intended to crush. a letter was then formally addressed to his majesty, in the name of the archduke matthias--and of the estates, demanding the recal of don john and the maintenance of the ghent pacification. de seller, in reply, sent a brief, deprecatory paper, enclosing a note from don john, which the envoy acknowledged might seem somewhat harsh in its expressions. the letter contained, indeed, a sufficiently fierce and peremptory summons to the states to obey the king's commands with regard to the system of charles the fifth, according to their previous agreement, together with a violent declaration of the governor's displeasure that they had dared to solicit the aid of foreign princes. on the th of february came a proposition from de seller that the prince, of orange should place himself in the hands of don john, while the prince of parma, alone and without arms, would come before the assembly, to negotiate with them upon these matters. the reply returned by the states-general to this absurd suggestion expressed their regret that the son of the duchess margaret should have taken part with the enemy of the netherlanders, complained of the bull by which the pope had invited war against them as if they had been saracens, repeated their most unanswerable argument--that the ghent pacification had established a system directly the reverse of that which existed under charles the fifth--and affirmed their resolution never more to submit to spanish armies, executioners, edicts, or inquisitions, and never more to return to the principles of the emperor and of alva. to this diplomatic correspondence succeeded a war of words and of pamphlets, some of them very inflammatory and very eloquent. meantime, the preparations for active hostilities were proceeding daily. the prince of orange, through his envoys in england, had arranged for subsidies in the coming campaign, and for troops which were to be led to the netherlands, under duke casimir of the palatinate. he sent commissioners through the provinces to raise the respective contributions agreed upon, besides an extraordinary quota of four hundred thousand guilders monthly. he also negotiated a loan of a hundred and twenty thousand guilders from the citizens of antwerp. many new taxes were imposed by his direction, both upon income and upon consumption. by his advice, however, and with the consent of the states-general, the provinces of holland and zealand held no community of burthens with the other provinces, but of their own free will contributed more than the sums for which they would have been assessed. mr. leyton, who was about to return from his unsuccessful mission from elizabeth to don john, was requested by the states-general to convey to her majesty a faithful report of the recent correspondence, and especially of the language held by the governor-general. he was also urged to use his influence with the queen, to the end that her promises of assistance might be speedily fulfilled. troops were rapidly enrolled, and again, by the same honest but mistaken policy, the chief offices were conferred upon the great nobles--aerschot, champagny, bossu, egmont, lalain, the viscount of ghent, baron de ville, and many others, most of whom were to desert the cause in the hour of its need. on the other hand, don john was proceeding with his military preparations upon an extensive scale. the king had recently furnished him with one million nine hundred thousand dollars, and had promised to provide him with two hundred thousand more, monthly. with these funds his majesty estimated that an army of thirty thousand foot, sixteen thousand cavalry, and thirty pieces of artillery, could be levied and kept on foot. if more remittances should prove to be necessary, it was promised that they should be forthcoming. this was the result of many earnest remonstrances made by the governor concerning the dilatory policy of the king. wearied with being constantly ordered "to blow hot and cold with the same, breath," he had insisted that his majesty should select the hot or the cold, and furnish him with the means of enforcing the choice. for himself, don john assured his brother that the hottest measures were most to his taste, and most suitable to the occasion. fire and sword could alone save the royal authority, for all the provinces had "abandoned themselves, body and soul, to the greatest heretic and tyrant that prince ever had for vassal." unceasing had been the complaints and entreaties of the captain-general, called forth by the apathy or irresolution of philip. it was--only by assuring him that the netherlands actually belonged to orange, that the monarch could be aroused. "his they are; and none other's," said the governor, dolefully. the king had accordingly sent back de billy, don john's envoy; with decided injunctions to use force and energy to put down the revolt at once, and with an intimation that funds might be henceforth more regularly depended upon, as the indian fleets were expected in july. philip also advised his brother to employ a portion of his money in purchasing the governors and principal persons who controlled the cities and other strong places belonging to the states. meantime, don john thundered forth a manifesto which had been recently prepared in madrid, by which the estates, both general and particular, were ordered forthwith to separate, and forbidden to assemble again, except by especial licence. all commissions, civil or military, granted by states' authority, were moreover annulled, together with a general prohibition of any act of obedience to such functionaries, and of contribution to any imposts which might be levied by their authority. such thunders were now comparatively harmless, for the states had taken their course, and were busily engaged, both at home and abroad, in arming for the conflict. saint aldegonde was deputed to attend the imperial diet, then in session at worms, where he delivered an oration, which was very celebrated in its day as a composition, but, which can hardly be said to have produced much practical effect. the current was setting hard in germany against the reformed religion and against the netherland cause, the augsburg confessionists showing hardly more sympathy with dutch calvinists than with spanish papists. envoys from don john also attended the diet, and requested saint aldegonde to furnish them with a copy of his oration. this he declined to do. while in germany, saint aldegonde was informed by john casimir that duke charles of sweden, had been solicited to furnish certain ships of war for a contemplated operation against amsterdam. the duke had himself given information of this plot to the prince palatine. it was therefore natural that saint aldegonde should forthwith despatch the intelligence to his friends in the netherlands, warning them of the dangers still to be apprehended from the machinations of the catholic agents and functionaries in amsterdam; for although the reformation had made rapid progress in that important city since the conclusion of the satisfaction, yet the magistracy remained catholic. william bardez, son of a former high-sheriff, a warm partisan of orange and of the "religion," had already determined to overthrow that magistracy and to expel the friars who infested the city. the recent information despatched by saint aldegonde confirmed him in his purpose. there had been much wrangling between the popish functionaries and those of the reformed religion concerning the constitution of the burgher guard. the calvinists could feel no security for their own lives, or the repose of the commonwealth of holland, unless they were themselves allowed a full participation in the government of those important bands. they were, moreover, dissatisfied with the assignment which had been made of the churchyards to the members of their communion. these causes of discord had maintained a general irritation among the body of the inhabitants, and were now used as pretexts by bardez for his design. he knew the city to be ripe for the overthrow of the magistracy, and he had arranged with governor sonoy to be furnished with a sufficient number of well-tried soldiers, who were to be concealed in the houses of the confederates. a large number of citizens were also ready to appear at his bidding with arms in their hands. on the th of may, he wrote to sonoy, begging him to hold himself in readiness, as all was prepared within the city. at the same time, he requested the governor to send him forthwith a "morion and a buckler of proof;" for, he intended to see the matter fairly through. sonoy answered encouragingly, and sent him the armor, as directed. on the th of may, bardez, with four confederates, went to the council-room, to remonstrate with the senate concerning the grievances which had been so often discussed. at about mid-day, one of the confederates, upon leaving the council-room, stepped out for a moment upon the balcony, which looked towards the public square. standing there for a moment, he gravely removed his hat, and then as gravely replaced it upon his head. this was a preconcerted signal. at the next instant a sailor was seen to rush across the square, waving a flag in both hands. "all ye who love the prince of orange, take heart and follow me!" he shouted. in a moment the square was alive. soldiers and armed citizens suddenly sprang forth, as if from the bowels of the earth. bardez led a strong force directly into the council-chamber, and arrested every one of the astonished magistrates. at the same time, his confederates had scoured the town and taken every friar in the city into custody. monks and senators were then marched solemnly down towards the quay, where a vessel was in readiness to receive them. "to the gallows with them--to the gallows with them!" shouted the populace, as they passed along. "to the gibbet, whither they have brought many a good fellow before his time!" such were the openly, expressed desires of their fellow-citizens, as these dignitaries and holy men proceeded to what they believed their doom. although treated respectfully by those who guarded them, they were filled with trepidation, for they believed the execrations of the populace the harbingers of their fate. as they entered the vessel, they felt convinced that a watery death had been substituted for the gibbet. poor old heinrich dirckzoon, ex-burgomaster, pathetically rejected a couple of clean shirts which his careful wife had sent him by the hands of the housemaid. "take them away; take them home again," said the rueful burgomaster; "i shall never need clean shirts again in this world." he entertained no doubt that it was the intention of his captors to scuttle the vessel as soon as they had put a little out to sea, and so to leave them to their fate. no such tragic end was contemplated, however, and, in fact, never was a complete municipal revolution accomplished in so good-natured and jocose a manner. the catholic magistrates and friars escaped with their fright. they were simply turned out of town, and forbidden, for their lives, ever to come back again. after the vessel had proceeded a little distance from the city, they were all landed high and dry upon a dyke, and so left unharmed within the open country. a new board of magistrates, of which stout william bardez was one, was soon appointed; the train-bands were reorganized, and the churches thrown open to the reformed worship--to the exclusion, at first, of the catholics. this was certainly contrary to the ghent treaty, and to the recent satisfaction; it was also highly repugnant to the opinions of orange. after a short time, accordingly, the catholics were again allowed access to the churches, but the tables had now been turned for ever in the capital of holland, and the reformation was an established fact throughout that little province. similar events occurring upon the following day at harlem, accompanied with some bloodshed--for which, however, the perpetrator was punished with death--opened the great church of that city to the reformed congregations, and closed them for a time to the catholics. thus, the cause of the new religion was triumphant in holland and zealand, while it was advancing with rapid strides through the other provinces. public preaching was of daily occurrence everywhere. on a single sunday; fifteen different ministers of the reformed religion preached in different places in antwerp. "do you think this can be put down?" said orange to the remonstrating burgomaster of that city. "'tis for you to repress it," said the functionary, "i grant your highness full power to do so." "and do you think," replied the prince, "that i can do at this late moment, what the duke of alva was unable to accomplish in the very plenitude of his power?" at the same time, the prince of orange was more than ever disposed to rebuke his own church for practising persecution in her turn. again he lifted his commanding voice in behalf of the anabaptists of middelburg. he reminded the magistrates of that city that these peaceful burghers were always perfectly willing to bear their part in all the common burthens, that their word was as good as their oath, and that as to the matter of military service, although their principles forbade them to bear arms, they had ever been ready to provide and pay for substitutes. "we declare to you therefore," said he, "that you have no right to trouble yourselves with any man's conscience, so long as nothing is done to cause private harm or public scandal. we therefore expressly ordain that you desist from molesting these baptists, from offering hindrance to their handicraft and daily trade, by which they can earn bread for their wives and children, and that you permit them henceforth to open their shops and to do their work, according to the custom of former days. beware, therefore, of disobedience and of resistance to the ordinance which we now establish." meantime, the armies on both sides had been assembled, and had been moving towards each other. don john was at the head of nearly thirty thousand troops, including a large proportion of spanish and italian veterans. the states' army hardly numbered eighteen thousand foot and two thousand cavalry, under the famous francois de la none, surnamed bras de fer, who had been recently appointed marechal de camp, and, under count bossu, commander-in-chief. the muster-place of the provincial forces was in the plains between herenthals and lier. at this point they expected to be reinforced by duke casimir, who had been, since the early part of the summer, in the country of zutfen, but who was still remaining there inglorious and inactive, until he could be furnished with the requisite advance-money to his troops. don john was determined if possible, to defeat the states army, before duke casimir, with his twelve thousand germans, should effect his juncture with bossu. the governor therefore crossed the demer, near aerschot, towards the end of july, and offered battle, day after day, to the enemy. a series of indecisive skirmishes was the result, in the last of which, near rijnemants, on the first day of august, the royalists were worsted and obliged to retire, after a desultory action of nearly eight hours, leaving a thousand dead upon the field. their offer of "double or quits," the following morning was steadily refused by bossu, who, secure within his intrenchments, was not to be induced at that moment to encounter the chances of a general engagement. for this he was severely blamed by the more violent of the national party. his patriotism, which was of such recent origin, was vehemently suspected; and his death, which occurred not long afterwards, was supposed to have alone prevented his deserting the states to fight again under spanish colours. these suspicions were probably unjust. bossu's truth of character had been as universally recognized as was his signal bravery. if he refused upon this occasion a general battle, those who reflected upon the usual results to the patriot banner of such engagements, might confess, perhaps, that one disaster the more had been avoided. don john, finding it impossible to accomplish his purpose, and to achieve another gemblours victory, fell back again to the neighbourhood of namur. the states' forces remained waiting for the long-promised succor of john casimir. it was the th of august, however, before the duke led his twelve thousand men to the neighbourhood of mechlin, where bossu was encamped. this young prince possessed neither the ability nor the generosity which were requisite for the heroic part which he was ambitious to perform in the netherland drama. he was inspired by a vague idea of personal aggrandizement, although he professed at the same time the utmost deference to william of orange. he expressed the hope that he and the prince "should be but two heads under one hat;" but he would have done well to ask himself whether his own contribution to this partnership of brains would very much enrich the silent statesman. orange himself regarded him with respectful contempt, and considered his interference with netherland matters but as an additional element of mischief. the duke's right hand man, however, peter peutterich, the "equestrian doctor"--as sir philip sydney called him--equally skilful with the sword as with the pen, had succeeded, while on a mission to england, in acquiring the queen's favor for his master. to casimir, therefore, had been entrusted the command of the levies, and the principal expenditure of the subsidies which she had placed at the disposition of the states. upon casimir she relied, as a counterweight to the duke of alencon, who, as she knew, had already entered the provinces at the secret solicitation of a large faction among the nobles. she had as much confidence as ever in orange, but she imagined herself to be strengthening his cause by providing him with such a lieutenant. casimir's immediate friends had but little respect for his abilities. his father-in-law, augustus of saxony, did not approve his expedition. the landgrave william, to whom he wrote for counsel, answered, in his quaint manner, that it was always difficult for one friend to advise another in three matters--to wit, in taking a wife, going to sea, and going to war; but that, nevertheless, despite the ancient proverb, he would assume the responsibility of warning casimir not to plunge into what he was pleased to call the "'confusum chaos' of netherland politics." the duke felt no inclination, however, to take the advice which he had solicited. he had been stung by the sarcasm which alva had once uttered, that the german potentates carried plenty of lions, dragons, eagles, and griffins on their shields; but that these ferocious animals were not given to biting or scratching. he was therefore disposed, once for all, to show that the teeth and claws of german princes could still be dangerous. unfortunately, he was destined to add a fresh element of confusion to the chaos, and to furnish rather a proof than a refutation of the correctness of alva's gibe. this was the hero who was now thrust, head and shoulders as it were, into the entangled affairs of the netherlanders, and it was elizabeth of england, more than ever alarmed at the schemes of alencon, who had pushed forward this protestant champion, notwithstanding the disinclination of orange. the queen was right in her uneasiness respecting the french prince. the catholic nobles, relying upon the strong feeling still rife throughout the walloon country against the reformed religion, and inflamed more than ever by their repugnance to orange, whose genius threw them so completely into the shade, had already drawn closer to the duke. the same influences were at work to introduce alencon, which had formerly been employed to bring matthias from vienna. now that the archduke, who was to have been the rival, had become the dependent of william, they turned their attention to the son of catherine de medici, orange himself having always kept the duke in reserve, as an instrument to overcome the political coquetry of elizabeth. that great princess never manifested less greatness than in her earlier and most tormenting connexion with the netherlands. having allured them for years with bright but changeful face, she still looked coldly down upon the desolate sea where they were drifting she had promised much; her performance had been nothing. her jealousy of french influence had at length been turned to account; a subsidy and a levy extorted from her fears. her ministers and prominent advisers were one and all in favor of an open and generous support to the provinces. walsingham, burleigh, knollys, davidson, sidney, leicester, fleetwood, wilson, all desired that she should frankly espouse their cause. a bold policy they believed to be the only prudent one in this case; yet the queen considered it sagacious to despatch envoys both to philip and to don john, as if after what they knew of her secret practices, such missions could effect any useful purpose. better, therefore, in the opinion of the honest and intrepid statesmen of england, to throw down the gauntlet at once in the cause of the oppressed than to shuffle and palter until the dreaded rival should cross the frontier. a french netherlands they considered even mere dangerous than a spanish, and elizabeth partook of their sentiments, although incapable of their promptness. with the perverseness which was the chief blot upon her character, she was pleased that the duke should be still a dangler for her hand, even while she was intriguing against his political hopes. she listened with undisguised rapture to his proposal of love, while she was secretly thwarting the plans of his ambition. meanwhile, alencon had arrived at mons, and we have seen already the feminine adroitness with which his sister of navarre had prepared his entrance. not in vain had she cajoled the commandant of cambray citadel; not idly had she led captive the hearts of lalain and his countess, thus securing the important province of hainault for the duke. don john might, indeed, gnash his teeth with rage, as he marked the result of all the feasting and flattery, the piping and dancing at namur. francis duke of alencon, and since the accession of his brother henry to the french throne--duke of anjou was, upon the whole, the most despicable personage who had ever entered the netherlands. his previous career at home had, been so flagrantly false that he had forfeited the esteem of every honest man in europe, catholic or lutheran, huguenot or malcontent. the world has long known his character. history will always retain him as an example, to show mankind the amount of mischief which may be perpetrated by a prince, ferocious without courage, ambitious without talent, and bigoted without opinions. incapable of religious convictions himself, he had alternately aspired to be a commander of catholic and of huguenot zealots, and he had acquired nothing by his vacillating course, save the entire contempt of all parties and of both religions. scared from the aide of navarre and conde by the menacing attitude of the "league," fearing to forfeit the succession to the throne, unless he made his peace with the court, he had recently resumed his place among the catholic commanders. nothing was easier for him than to return shamelessly to a party which he had shamelessly deserted, save perhaps to betray it again, should his interest prompt him to do so, on the morrow. since the peace of , it had been evident that the protestants could not count upon his friendship, and he had soon afterwards been placed at the head of the army which was besieging the huguenots of issoire. he sought to atone for having commanded the troops of the new religion by the barbarity with which he now persecuted its votaries. when issoire fell into his hands, the luckless city was spared none of the misery which can be inflicted by a brutal and frenzied soldiery. its men were butchered, its females outraged; its property plundered with a thoroughness which rivalled the netherland practice of alva, or frederic toledo, or julian romero. the town was sacked and burned to ashes by furious catholics, under the command of francis alencon,--almost at the very moment when his fair sister, margaret, was preparing the way in the netherlands for the fresh treason--which he already meditated to the catholic cause. the treaty of bergerac, signed in the autumn of , again restored a semblance of repose to france, and again afforded an opportunity for alencon to change his politics, and what he called his religion. reeking with the blood of the protestants of issoire, he was now at leisure to renew his dalliance with the queen of protestant england, and to resume his correspondence with the great-chieftain of the reformation in the netherlands. it is perhaps an impeachment upon the perspicacity of orange, that he could tolerate this mischievous and worthless "son of france," even for the grave reasons which influenced him. nevertheless, it must be remembered that he only intended to keep him in reserve, for the purpose of irritating the jealousy and quickening the friendship of the english queen. those who see anything tortuous in such politics must beware of judging the intriguing age of philip and catherine de' medici by the higher standard of later, and possibly more candid times. it would have been puerile for a man of william the silent's resources, to allow himself to be outwitted by the intrigues of all the courts and cabinets in europe. moreover, it must be remembered that, if he alone could guide himself and his country through the perplexing labyrinth in which they were involved; it was because he held in his hand the clue of an honest purpose. his position in regard to the duke of alencon, had now become sufficiently complicated, for the tiger that he had led in a chain had been secretly unloosed by those who meant mischief. in the autumn of the previous year, the aristocratic and catholic party in the states-general had opened their communications with a prince, by whom they hoped to be indemnified for their previous defeat. the ill effects of elizabeth's coquetry too plainly manifested themselves at last, and alencon had now a foothold in the netherlands. precipitated by the intrigues of the party which had always been either openly or secretly hostile to orange, his advent could no longer be delayed. it only remained for the prince to make himself his master, as he had already subdued each previous rival. this he accomplished with his customary adroitness. it was soon obvious, even to so dull and so base a nature as that of the duke, that it was his best policy to continue to cultivate so powerful a friendship. it cost him little to crouch, but events were fatally, to prove at a later day, that there are natures too malignant to be trusted or to be tamed. for the present, however, alencon professed the most friendly sentiments towards the prince. solicited by so ardent and considerable a faction, the duke was no longer to be withheld from trying the venture, and if, he could not effect his entrance by fair means, was determined to do so by force.--he would obtrude his assistance, if it were declined. he would do his best to dismember the provinces, if only a portion of them would accept his proffered friendship. under these circumstances, as the prince could no longer exclude him from the country, it became necessary to accept his friendship, and to hold him in control. the duke had formally offered his assistance to the states-general, directly after the defeat of gemblours, and early in july had made his appearance in mons. hence he despatched his envoys, des pruneaux and rochefort, to deal with the states-general and with orange, while he treated matthias with contempt, and declared that he had no intention to negotiate with him. the archduke burst into tears when informed of this slight; and feebly expressed a wish that succor might be found in germany which would render this french alliance unnecessary. it was not the first nor the last mortification which the future emperor was to undergo. the prince was addressed with distinguished consideration; des pruneaux protesting that he desired but three things--the glory of his master, the glory of god, and the glory of william of orange. the french king was naturally supposed to be privy to his brother's schemes, for it was thought ridiculous to suggest that henry's own troops could be led by his own brother, on this foreign expedition, without his connivance. at the same time, private letters, written by him at this epoch, expressed disapprobation of the schemes of alencon, and jealousy of his aggrandizement. it was, perhaps, difficult to decide as to the precise views of a monarch who was too weak to form opinions for himself, and too false to maintain those with which he had been furnished by others. with the medicean mother it was different, and it was she who was believed to be at the bottom of the intrigue. there was even a vague idea that the spanish sovereign himself might be privy to the plot, and that a possible marriage between alencon and the infanta might be on the cards. in truth, however, philip felt himself outraged by the whole proceedings. he resolutely refused to accept the excuses proffered by the french court, or to doubt the complicity of the queen dowager, who, it was well known, governed all her sons. she had, to be sure, thought proper to read the envoys of the states-general a lecture upon the impropriety of subjects opposing the commands of their lawful prince, but such artifices were thought too transparent to deceive. granvelle scouted the idea of her being ignorant of anjou's scheme, or opposed to its success. as for william of hesse, while he bewailed more than ever the luckless plunge into "confusum chaos" which casimir had taken, he unhesitatingly expressed his conviction that the invasion of alencon was a master-piece of catherine. the whole responsibility of the transaction he divided, in truth, between the dowager and the comet, which just then hung over the world, filling the soul of the excellent landgrave with dismal apprehension. the queen of england was highly incensed by the actual occurrence of the invasion which she had so long dreaded. she was loud in her denunciations of the danger and dishonor which would be the result to the provinces of this french alliance. she threatened not only to withdraw herself from their cause, but even to take arms against a commonwealth which had dared to accept alencon for its master. she had originally agreed to furnish one hundred thousand pounds by way of loan. this assistance had been afterwards commuted into a levy of three thousand foot and-two thousand horse, to be added to the forces of john casimir, and to be placed under his command. it had been stipulated; also, that the palatine should have the rank and pay of an english general-in-chief, and be considered as the queen's lieutenant. the money had been furnished and the troops enrolled. so much had been already bestowed, and could not be recalled, but it was not probable that, in her present humor, the queen would be induced to add to her favors. the prince, obliged by the necessity of the case, had prescribed the terms and the title under which alencon should be accepted. upon the th of august the duke's envoy concluded a convention in twenty-three articles; which were afterwards subscribed by the duke himself, at mons, upon the twentieth of the same month. the substance of this arrangement was that alencon should lend his assistance to the provinces against the intolerable tyranny of the spaniards and the unjustifiable military invasion of don john. he was, moreover, to bring into the field ten thousand foot and two thousand horse for three months. after the expiration of this term, his forces might be reduced to three thousand foot and five hundred horse. the states were to confer upon him the title of "defender of the liberty of the netherlands against the tyranny of the spaniards and their adherents." he was to undertake no hostilities against queen elizabeth. the states were to aid him, whenever it should become necessary, with the same amount of force with which he now assisted them. he was to submit himself contentedly to the civil government of the country, in everything regarding its internal polity. he was to make no special contracts or treaties with any cities or provinces of the netherlands. should the states-general accept another prince as sovereign, the duke was to be preferred to all others, upon conditions afterwards to be arranged. all cities which might be conquered within the territory of the united provinces were to belong to the states. such places not in that territory, as should voluntarily surrender, were to be apportioned, by equal division, between the duke and the states. the duke was to bring no foreign troops but french into the provinces. the month of august was reserved, during which the states were, if possible, to make a composition with don john. these articles were certainly drawn up with skill. a high-sounding but barren title, which gratified the duke's vanity and signified nothing, had been conferred upon him, while at the same time he was forbidden to make conquests or contracts, and was obliged to submit himself to the civil government of the country: in short, he was to obey the prince of orange in all things--and so here was another plot of the prince's enemies neutralized. thus, for the present at least, had the position of anjou been defined. as the month of august, during which it was agreed that negotiations with the governor-general should remain open, had already half expired, certain articles, drawn up by the states-general, were at once laid before don john. lord cobham and sir francis walsingham were then in the netherlands, having been sent by elizabeth for the purpose of effecting a pacification of the estates with the governor, if possible. they had also explained--so far as an explanation was possible--the assistance which the english government had rendered to the rebels, upon the ground that the french invasion could be prevented in no other way. this somewhat lame apology had been passed over in silence rather than accepted by don john. in the same interview the envoys made an equally unsuccessful effort to induce the acceptance by the governor of the terms offered by the states. a further proposition, on their part, for an "interim," upon the plan attempted by charles the fifth in germany, previously to the peace of passau, met with no more favor than it merited, for certainly that name--which became so odious in germany that cats and dogs were called "interim" by the common people, in derision--was hardly a potent word to conjure with, at that moment, in the netherlands. they then expressed their intention of retiring to england, much grieved at the result of their mission. the governor replied that they might do as they liked, but that he, at least, had done all in his power to bring about a peace, and that the king had been equally pacific in his intentions. he then asked the envoys what they themselves thought of the terms proposed. "indeed, they are too hard, your highness," answered walsingham, "but 'tis only by pure menace that we have extorted them from the states, unfavorable though they, seem." "then you may tell them," replied the governor, "to keep their offers to themselves. such terms will go but little way in any negotiation with me." the envoys shrugged their shoulders. "what is your own opinion on the whole affair?" resumed don john. "perhaps your advice may yet help me to a better conclusion." the envoys continued silent and pensive. "we can only answer," said walsingham, at length, "by imitating the physician, who would prescribe no medicine until he was quite sure that the patient was ready to swallow it. 'tis no use wasting counsel or drugs." the reply was not satisfactory, but the envoys had convinced themselves that the sword was the only surgical instrument likely to find favor at that juncture. don john referred, in vague terms, to his peaceable inclinations, but protested that there was no treating with so unbridled a people as the netherlanders. the ambassadors soon afterwards took their leave. after this conference, which was on the th of august, , walsingham and cobham addressed a letter to the states-general, deploring the disingenuous and procrastinating conduct of the governor, and begging that the failure to effect a pacification might not be imputed to them. they then returned to england. the imperial envoy, count schwartzburg, at whose urgent solicitation this renewed attempt at a composition had been made, was most desirous that the governor should accept the articles. they formed, indeed, the basis of a liberal, constitutional, representative government, in which the spanish monarch was to retain only a strictly limited sovereignty. the proposed convention required don john, with all his troops and adherents, forthwith to leave the land after giving up all strongholds and cities in his possession. it provided that the archduke matthias should remain as governor general, under the conditions according to which he had been originally accepted. it left the question of religious worship to the decision of the states-general. it provided for the release of all prisoners, the return of all exiles, the restoration of all confiscated property. it stipulated that upon the death or departure of matthias, his majesty was not to appoint a governor-general without the consent of the states-general. when count schwartzburg waited upon the governor with these astonishing propositions--which walsingham might well call somewhat hard--he found him less disposed to explode with wrath than he had been in previous conferences. already the spirit of the impetuous young soldier was broken, both by the ill health which was rapidly undermining his constitution and by the helpless condition in which he had been left while contending with the great rebellion. he had soldiers, but no money to pay them withal; he had no means of upholding that supremacy of crown and church which he was so vigorously instructed to maintain; and he was heartily wearied of fulminating edicts which he had no power to enforce. he had repeatedly solicited his recal, and was growing daily more impatient that his dismissal did not arrive. moreover, the horrible news of escovedo's assassination had sickened him to the soul. the deed had flashed a sudden light into the abyss of dark duplicity in which his own fate was suspended. his most intimate and confidential friend had been murdered by royal command, while he was himself abandoned by philip, exposed to insult, left destitute of defence. no money was forthcoming, in spite of constant importunities and perpetual promises. plenty of words were sent him; he complained, as if he possessed the art of extracting gold from them, or as if war could be carried on with words alone. being in so desponding a mood, he declined entering into any controversy with regard to the new propositions, which, however, he characterized as most iniquitous. he stated merely that his majesty had determined to refer the netherland matters to the arbitration of the emperor; that the duke de terra nova would soon be empowered to treat upon the subject at the imperial court; and that, in the meantime, he was himself most anxiously awaiting his recal. a synod of the reformed churches had been held, during the month of june, at dort. there they had laid down a platform of their principles of church government in one hundred and one articles. in the same month, the leading members of the reformed church had drawn up an ably reasoned address to matthias and the council of state on the subject of a general peace of religion for the provinces. william of orange did his utmost to improve the opportunity. he sketched a system of provisional toleration, which he caused to be signed by the archduke matthias, and which, at least for a season, was to establish religious freedom. the brave; tranquil, solitary man still held his track across the raging waves, shedding as much light as one clear human soul could dispense; yet the dim lantern, so far in advance, was swallowed in the mist, ere those who sailed in his wake could shape their course by his example. no man understood him. not even his nearest friends comprehended his views, nor saw that he strove to establish not freedom for calvinism, but freedom for conscience. saint aldegonde complained that the prince would not persecute the anabaptists, peter dathenus denounced him as an atheist, while even count john; the only one left of his valiant and generous brothers, opposed the religious peace--except where the advantage was on the side of the new religion. where the catholics had been effectually put down, as in holland and zealand, honest john saw so reason for allowing them to lift themselves up again. in the popish provinces, on the other hand, he was for a religious peace. in this bigoted spirit he was followed by too many of the reforming mass, while, on their part, the walloons were already banding themselves together in the more southern provinces, under the name of malcontents. stigmatized by the calvinists as "paternoster jacks," they were daily drawing closer their alliance with alencon; and weakening the bands which united them with their protestant brethren. count john had at length become a permanent functionary in the netherlands. urgently solicited by the leaders and the great multitude of the reformers, he had long been unwilling to abandon his home, and to neglect the private affairs which his devotion to the netherland cause had thrown into great confusion. the landgrave, too, whose advice he had asked, had strongly urged him not to "dip his fingers into the olla podrida." the future of the provinces was, in his opinion, so big with disaster, that the past, with all its horrors; under alva and requesens, had only furnished the "preludia" of that which was to ensue. for these desperate views his main reason, as usual, was the comet; that mischievous luminary still continuing to cast a lurid glare across the landgrave's path. notwithstanding these direful warnings from a prince of the reformation, notwithstanding the "olla podrida" and the "comet," count john had nevertheless accepted the office of governor of gelderland, to which he had been elected by the estates of that province on the th of march. that important bulwark of holland, zealand, and utrecht on the one side, and of groningen and friesland on the other--the main buttress, in short, of the nascent republic, was now in hands which would defend it to the last. as soon as the discussion came up in the states-general on the subject of the dort petitions, orange requested that every member who had formed his opinions should express them fully and frankly. all wished, however, to be guided and governed by the sentiments of the prince. not a man spoke, save to demand their leader's views, and to express adhesion in advance to the course which his wisdom might suggest. the result was a projected convention, a draft for a religious peace, which, if definitely established, would have healed many wounds and averted much calamity. it was not, however, destined to be accepted at that time by the states of the different provinces where it was brought up for discussion; and several changes were made, both of form and substance, before the system was adopted at all. meantime, for the important city of antwerp, where religious broils were again on the point of breaking out, the prince preferred a provisional arrangement, which he forthwith carried into execution. a proclamation, in the name of the archduke matthias and of the state council, assigned five special places in the city where the members of the "pretended reformed religion" should have liberty to exercise their religious worship, with preaching, singing, and the sacraments. the churchyards of the parochial churches were to be opened for the burial of their dead, but the funerals were to be unaccompanied with exhortation, or any public demonstration which might excite disturbance. the adherents of one religion were forbidden to disturb, to insult, or in any way to interfere with the solemnities of the other. all were to abstain from mutual jeerings--by pictures, ballads, books, or otherwise--and from all injuries to ecclesiastical property. every man, of whatever religion, was to be permitted entrance to the churches of either religion, and when there, all were to conform to the regulations of the church with modesty and respect. those of the new religion were to take oaths of obedience to the authorities, and to abstain from meddling with the secular administration of affairs. preachers of both religions were forbidden to preach out of doors, or to make use of language tending to sedition. all were to bind themselves to assist the magistrates in quelling riots, and in sustaining the civil government. this example of religious peace, together with the active correspondence thus occasioned with the different state assemblies, excited the jealousy of the catholic leaders and of the walloon population. champagny, who despite his admirable qualities and brilliant services, was still unable to place himself on the same platform of toleration with orange, now undertook a decided movement against the policy of the prince. catholic to the core, he drew up a petition, remonstrating most vigorously against the draft for a religions peace, then in circulation through the provinces. to this petition he procured many signatures among the more ardent catholic nobles. de heze, de glimes, and others of the same stamp, were willing enough to follow the lead of so distinguished a chieftain. the remonstrance was addressed to the archduke, the prince of orange, the state council, and the states-general, and called upon them all to abide by their solemn promises to permit no schism in the ancient church. should the exercise of the new religion be allowed, the petitioners insisted that the godless licentiousness of the netherlands would excite the contempt of all peoples and potentates. they suggested, in conclusion, that all the principal cities of france--and in particular the city of paris--had kept themselves clear of the exercise of the new religion, and that repose and prosperity had been the result. this petition was carried with considerable solemnity by champagny, attended by many of his confederates, to the hotel-de ville, and presented to the magistracy of brussels. these functionaries were requested to deliver it forthwith to the archduke and council. the magistrates demurred. a discussion ensued, which grew warmer and warmer as it proceeded. the younger nobles permitted themselves abusive language, which the civic dignitaries would not brook. the session was dissolved, and the magistrates, still followed by the petitioners, came forth into the street. the confederates, more inflamed than ever, continued to vociferate and to threaten. a crowd soon collected in the square. the citizens were naturally curious to know why their senators were thus browbeaten and insulted by a party of insolent young catholic nobles. the old politician at their head, who, in spite of many services, was not considered a friend to the nation, inspired them with distrust. being informed of the presentation of the petition, the multitude loudly demanded that the document should be read. this was immediately done. the general drift of the remonstrance was anything but acceptable, but the allusion to paris, at the close, excited a tempest of indignation. "paris! paris! saint bartholomew! saint bartholomew! are we to have paris weddings in brussels also?" howled the mob, as is often the case, extracting but a single idea, and that a wrong one; from the public lecture which had just been made. "are we to have a paris massacre, a paris blood-bath here in the netherland capital? god forbid! god forbid! away with the conspirators! down with the papists!" it was easily represented to the inflamed imaginations of the populace that a brussels saint bartholomew had been organized, and that champagny, who stood there before them, was its originator and manager. the ungrateful netherlanders forgot the heroism with which the old soldier had arranged the defence of antwerp against the "spanish fury" but two years before. they heard only the instigations of his enemies; they remembered only that he was the hated granvelle's brother; they believed only that there was a plot by which, in some utterly incomprehensible manner, they were all to be immediately engaged in cutting each others throats and throwing each other out of the windows, as had been done half a dozen years before in paris. such was the mischievous intention ascribed to a petition, which champagny and his friends had as much right to offer--however narrow and mistaken their opinions might now be considered--as had the synod of dort to present their remonstrances. never was a more malignant or more stupid perversion of a simple and not very alarming phrase. no allusion had been made to saint bartholomew, but all its horrors were supposed to be concealed in the sentence which referred to paris. the nobles were arrested on the spot and hurried to prison, with the exception of champagny, who made his escape at first, and lay concealed for several days. he was, however, finally ferreted out of his hiding-place and carried off to ghent. there he was thrown into strict confinement, being treated in all respects as the accomplice of aerschot and the other nobles who had been arrested in the time of ryhove's revolution. certainly, this conduct towards a brave and generous gentleman was ill calculated to increase general sympathy for the cause, or to merit the approbation of orange. there was, however, a strong prejudice against champagny. his brother granvelle had never been forgotten by the netherlanders, and, was still regarded as their most untiring foe, while champagny was supposed to be in close league with the cardinal. in these views the people were entirely wrong. while these events were taking place in brussels and antwerp, the two armies of the states and of don john were indolently watching each other. the sinews of war had been cut upon both sides. both parties were cramped by the most abject poverty. the troops under bossu and casimir, in the camp sear mechlin, were already discontented, for want of pay. the one hundred thousand pounds of elizabeth had already been spent, and it was not probable that the offended queen would soon furnish another subsidy. the states could with difficulty extort anything like the assessed quotas from the different provinces. the duke of alencon was still at mons, from which place he had issued a violent proclamation of war against don john--a manifesto which had, however, not been followed up by very vigorous demonstrations. don john himself was in his fortified camp at bouge, within a league of namur, but the here was consuming with mental and with bodily fever. he was, as it were, besieged. he was left entirely without funds, while his royal brother obstinately refused compliance with his earnest demands to be recalled, and coldly neglected his importunities for pecuniary assistance. compelled to carry on a war against an armed rebellion with such gold only as could be extracted from loyal swords; stung to the heart by the suspicion of which he felt himself the object at home, and by the hatred with which he was regarded in the provinces; outraged in his inmost feelings by the murder of escovedo; foiled, outwitted, reduced to a political nullity by the masterly tactics of the "odious heretic of heretics" to whom he had originally offered his patronage and the royal forgiveness, the high-spirited soldier was an object to excite the tenderness even of religious and political opponents. wearied with the turmoil of camps without battle and of cabinets without counsel, he sighed for repose, even if it could be found only in a cloister or the grave. "i rejoice to see by your letter," he wrote, pathetically, to john andrew doria, at genoa, "that your life is flowing on with such calmness, while the world around me is so tumultuously agitated. i consider you most fortunate that you are passing the remainder of your days for god and yourself; that you are not forced to put yourself perpetually in the scales of the world's events, nor to venture yourself daily on its hazardous games." he proceeded to inform his friend of his own painful situation, surrounded by innumerable enemies, without means of holding out more than three months, and cut off from all assistance by a government which could not see that if the present chance were lost all was lost. he declared it impossible for him to fight in the position to which he was reduced, pressed as he was within half a mile of the point which he had always considered as his last refuge. he stated also that the french were strengthening themselves in hainault, under alencon, and that the king of france was in readiness to break in through burgundy, should his brother obtain a firm foothold in the provinces. "i have besought his majesty over and over again," he continued, "to send to me his orders; if they come they shall be executed, unless they arrive too late. they have cut of our hands and we have now nothing for it but to stretch forth our heads also to the axe. i grieve to trouble you with my sorrows, but i trust to your sympathy as a man and a friend. i hope that you will remember me in your prayers, for you can put your trust where, in former days, i never could place my own." the dying crusader wrote another letter, in the same mournful strain, to another intimate friend, don pedro mendoza, spanish envoy in genoa. it was dated upon the same day from his camp near namur, and repeated the statement that the king of france was ready to invade the netherlands, so soon as alencon should prepare an opening. "his majesty," continued don john, "is resolved upon nothing; at least, i am kept in ignorance of his intentions. our life is doled out to us here by moments. i cry aloud, but it profits me little. matters will soon be disposed, through our negligence, exactly as the devil would best wish them. it is plain that we are left here to pine away till our last breath. god direct us all as he may see fit; in his hands are all things." four days later he wrote to the king, stating that he was confined to his chamber with a fever, by which he was already as much reduced as if he had been ill for a month. "i assure your majesty," said he "that the work here is enough to destroy any constitution and any life." he reminded philip how often he had been warned by him as to the insidious practices of the french. those prophecies had now become facts. the french had entered the country, while some of the inhabitants were frightened, others disaffected. don john declared himself in a dilemma. with his small force, hardly enough to make head against the enemy immediately in front, and to protect the places which required guarding, 'twas impossible for him to leave his position to attack the enemy in burgundy. if he remained stationary, the communications were cut off through which his money and supplies reached him. "thus i remain," said he, "perplexed and confused, desiring, more than life, some decision on your majesty's part, for which i have implored so many times." he urged the king most vehemently to send him instructions as to the course to be pursued, adding that it wounded him to the soul to find them so long delayed. he begged to be informed whether he was to attack the enemy in burgundy, whether he should await where he then was the succor of his majesty, or whether he was to fight, and if so with which of his enemies: in fine, what he was to do; because, losing or winning, he meant to conform to his majesty's will. he felt deeply pained, he said, at being disgraced and abandoned by the king, having served him, both as a brother, and a man, with love and faith and heartiness. "our lives," said he, "are at stake upon this game, and all we wish is to lose them honorably." he begged the king to send a special envoy to france, with remonstrances on the subject of alencon, and another to the pope to ask for the duke's excommunication. he protested that he would give his blood rather than occasion so much annoyance to the king, but that he felt it his duty to tell the naked truth. the pest was ravaging his little army. twelve hundred were now in hospital, besides those nursed in private houses, and he had no means or money to remedy the evil. moreover, the enemy, seeing that they were not opposed in the open field, had cut off the passage into liege by the meuse, and had advanced to nivelles and chimay for the sake of communications with france, by the same river. ten days after these pathetic passages had been written, the writer was dead. since the assassination of escovedo, a consuming melancholy had settled upon his spirits, and a burning fever came, in the month of september, to destroy his physical strength. the house where he lay was a hovel, the only chamber of which had been long used as a pigeon-house. this wretched garret was cleansed, as well as it could be of its filth, and hung with tapestry emblazoned with armorial bearings. in that dovecot the hero of lepanto was destined to expire. during the last few, days of his illness, he was delirious. tossing upon his uneasy couch, he again arranged in imagination, the combinations of great battles, again shouted his orders to rushing squadrons, and listened with brightening eye to the trumpet of victory. reason returned, however, before the hour of death, and permitted him, the opportunity to make the dispositions rendered necessary by his condition. he appointed his nephew, alexander of parma, who had been watching assiduously over his deathbed, to succeed him, provisionally, in the command of the army and in his other dignities, received the last sacraments with composure, and tranquilly breathed his last upon the first day of october, the month which, since the battle of lepanto, he had always considered a festive and a fortunate one. it was inevitable that suspicion of poison should be at once excited by his decease. those suspicions have been never set at rest, and never proved. two englishmen, ratcliff and gray by name, had been arrested and executed on a charge of having been employed by secretary walsingham to assassinate the governor. the charge was doubtless an infamous falsehood; but had philip, who was suspected of being the real criminal, really compassed the death of his brother, it was none the less probable that an innocent victim or two would be executed, to save appearances. now that time has unveiled to us many mysteries, now that we have learned from philip's own lips and those of his accomplices the exact manner in which montigny and escovedo were put to death, the world will hardly be very charitable with regard to other imputations. it was vehemently suspected that don john had been murdered by the command of philip; but no such fact was ever proved. the body, when opened that it might be embalmed, was supposed to offer evidence of poison. the heart was dry, the other internal organs were likewise so desiccated as to crumble when touched, and the general color of the interior was of a blackish brown, as if it had been singed. various persona were mentioned as the probable criminals; various motives assigned for the commission of the deed. nevertheless, it must be admitted that there were causes, which were undisputed, for his death, sufficient to render a search for the more mysterious ones comparatively superfluous. a disorder called the pest was raging in his camp, and had carried off a thousand of his soldiers within a few days, while his mental sufferings had been acute enough to turn his heart to ashes. disappointed, tormented by friend and foe, suspected, insulted, broken spirited, it was not strange that he should prove an easy victim to a pestilent disorder before which many stronger men were daily falling. on the third day after his decease, the funeral rites were celebrated. a dispute between the spaniards, germans, and netherlanders in the army arose, each claiming precedence in the ceremony, on account of superior national propinquity to the illustrious deceased. all were, in truth, equally near to him, for different reasons, and it was arranged that all should share equally in the obsequies. the corpse disembowelled and embalmed, was laid upon a couch of state. the hero was clad in complete armor; his swords helmet, and steel gauntlets lying at his feet, a coronet, blazing with precious stones, upon his head, the jewelled chain and insignia of the golden fleece about his neck, and perfumed gloves upon his hands. thus royally and martially arrayed, he was placed upon his bier and borne forth from the house where he had died, by the gentlemen of his bedchamber. from them he was received by the colonels of the regiments stationed next his own quarters. these chiefs, followed by their troops with inverted arms and mined drums, escorted the body to the next station, where it was received by the commanding officers of other national regiments, to be again transmitted to those of the third. thus by soldiers of the three nations, it was successively conducted to the gates of namur, where it was received by the civic authorities. the pall-bearers, old peter ernest mansfeld, ottavio gonzaga, the marquis de villa franca, and the count de reux, then bore it to the church, where it was deposited until the royal orders should be received from spain. the heart of the hero was permanently buried beneath the pavement of the little church, and a monumental inscription, prepared by alexander farnese, still indicates the spot where that lion heart returned to dust. it had been don john's dying request to philip that his remains might be buried in the escorial by the side of his imperial father, and the prayer being granted, the royal order in due time arrived for the transportation of the corpse to spain. permission had been asked and given for the passage of a small number of spanish troops through france. the thrifty king had, however, made no allusion to the fact that those soldiers were to bear with them the mortal remains of lepanto's hero, for he was disposed to save the expense which a public transportation of the body and the exchange of pompous courtesies with the authorities of every town upon the long journey would occasion. the corpse was accordingly divided into three parts, and packed in three separate bags; and thus the different portions, to save weight, being suspended at the saddle-bows of different troopers, the body of the conqueror was conveyed to its distant resting-place. "expende hannibalem: quot libras in duce summo invenies?". . . . . . . . . . thus irreverently, almost blasphemously, the disjointed relics of the great warrior were hurried through france; france, which the romantic saracen slave had traversed but two short years before, filled with high hopes, and pursuing extravagant visions. it has been recorded by classic historians, that the different fragments, after their arrival in spain, were re-united, and fastened together with wire; that the body was then stuffed, attired in magnificent habiliments, placed upon its feet, and supported by a martial staff, and that thus prepared for a royal interview, the mortal remains of don john were presented to his most catholic majesty. philip is said to have manifested emotion at sight of the hideous spectre--for hideous and spectral, despite of jewels, balsams, and brocades, must have been that unburied corpse, aping life in attitude and vestment, but standing there only to assert its privilege of descending into the tomb. the claim was granted, and don john of austria at last found repose by the side of his imperial father. a sufficient estimate of his character has been apparent in the course of the narrative. dying before he had quite completed his thirty-third year, he excites pity and admiration almost as much as censure. his military career was a blaze of glory. commanding in the moorish wars at twenty-three, and in the turkish campaigns at twenty-six, he had achieved a matchless renown before he had emerged from early youth; but his sun was destined to go down at noon. he found neither splendor nor power in the netherlands, where he was deserted by his king and crushed by the superior genius of the prince of orange. although he vindicated his martial skill at gemblours, the victory was fruitless. it was but the solitary sprig of the tiger from his jungle, and after that striking conflict his life was ended in darkness and obscurity. possessing military genius of a high order, with extraordinary personal bravery, he was the last of the paladins and the crusaders. his accomplishments were also considerable, and he spoke italian, german, french, and spanish with fluency. his beauty was remarkable; his personal fascinations acknowledged by either sex; but as a commander of men, excepting upon the battle-field, he possessed little genius. his ambition was the ambition of a knight-errant, an adventurer, a norman pirate; it was a personal and tawdry ambition. vague and contradictory dreams of crowns, of royal marriages, of extemporized dynasties, floated ever before him; but he was himself always the hero of his own romance. he sought a throne in africa or in britain; he dreamed of espousing mary of scotland at the expense of elizabeth, and was even thought to aspire secretly to the hand of the great english queen herself. thus, crusader and bigot as he was, he was willing to be reconciled with heresy, if heresy could furnish him with a throne. it is superfluous to state that he was no match, by mental endowments, for william of orange; but even had he been so, the moral standard by which each measured himself placed the conqueror far below the father of a people. it must be admitted that don john is entitled to but small credit for his political achievements in the netherlands. he was incapable of perceiving that the great contest between the reformation and the inquisition could never be amicably arranged in those provinces, and that the character of william of orange was neither to be softened by royal smiles, nor perverted by appeals to sordid interests. it would have been perhaps impossible for him, with his education and temperament, to have embraced what seems to us the right cause, but it ought, at least, to have been in his power to read the character of his antagonist, and to estimate his own position with something like accuracy. he may be forgiven that he did not succeed in reconciling hostile parties, when his only plan to accomplish such a purpose was the extermination of the most considerable faction; but although it was not to be expected that he would look on the provinces with the eyes of william the silent, he might have comprehended that the netherland chieftain was neither to be purchased nor cajoled. the only system by which the two religions could live together in peace had been discovered by the prince; but toleration, in the eyes of catholics, and of many protestants, was still thought the deadliest heresy of all. etext editor's bookmarks: difficult for one friend to advise another in three matters establish not freedom for calvinism, but freedom for conscience taxes upon income and upon consumption toleration thought the deadliest heresy of all motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley part vi. alexander of parma - . chapter i. birth, education, marriage, and youthful character of alexander farnese--his private adventures--exploits at lepanto and at gemblours--he succeeds to the government--personal appearance and characteristics--aspect of affairs--internal dissensions--anjou at mons--john casimir's intrigues at ghent--anjou disbands his soldiers--the netherlands ravaged by various foreign troops--anarchy and confusion in ghent--imbize and ryhove--fate of hessels and visch--new pacification drawn up by orange--representations of queen elizabeth--remonstrance of brussels riots and image-breaking in ghent--displeasure of orange--his presence implored at ghent, where he establishes a religious peace--painful situation of john casimir --sharp rebukes of elizabeth--he takes his departure--his troops apply to farnese, who allows them to leave the country--anjou's departure and manifesto--elizabeth's letters to the states-general with regard to him--complimentary addresses by the estates to the duke--death of bossu--calumnies against orange--venality of the malcontent grandees--la motte's treason--intrigues of the prior of renty--saint aldegonde at arras--the prior of st. vaast's exertions --opposition of the clergy in the walloon provinces to the taxation of the general government--triangular contest--municipal revolution in arras led by gosson and others--counter-revolution--rapid trials and executions--"reconciliation" of the malcontent chieftains-- secret treaty of mount st. eloi: mischief made by the prior of renty--his accusations against the reconciled lords--vengeance taken upon him--counter movement by the liberal party--union of utrecht-- the act analyzed and characterized. a fifth governor now stood in the place which had been successively vacated by margaret of parma, by alva, by the grand commander, and by don john of austria. of all the eminent personages to whom philip had confided the reins of that most difficult and dangerous administration, the man who was now to rule was by far the ablest and the best fitted for his post. if there were living charioteer skilful enough to guide the wheels of state, whirling now more dizzily than ever through "confusum chaos," alexander farnese was the charioteer to guide--his hand the only one which could control. he was now in his thirty-third year--his uncle don john, his cousin don carlos, and himself, having all been born within a few months of each other. his father was ottavio farnese, the faithful lieutenant of charles the fifth, and grandson of pope paul the third; his mother was margaret of parma, first regent of the netherlands after the departure of philip from the provinces. he was one of the twins by which the reunion of margaret and her youthful husband had been blessed, and the only one that survived. his great-grandfather, paul, whose secular name of alexander he had received, had placed his hand upon the new-born infant's head, and prophesied that he would grow up to become a mighty warrior. the boy, from his earliest years, seemed destined to verify the prediction. though apt enough at his studies, he turned with impatience from his literary tutors to military exercises and the hardiest sports. the din of arms surrounded his cradle. the trophies of ottavio, returning victorious from beyond the alps, had dazzled the eyes of his infancy, and when but six years of age he had witnessed the siege of his native parma, and its vigorous defence by his martial father. when philip was in the netherlands--in the years immediately succeeding the abdication of the emperor--he had received the boy from his parents as a hostage for their friendship. although but eleven years of age, alexander had begged earnestly to be allowed to serve as a volunteer on the memorable day of saint quentin, and had wept bitterly when the amazed monarch refused his request.--his education had been, completed at alcala, and at madrid, under the immediate supervision of his royal uncle, and in the companionship of the infante carlos and the brilliant don john. the imperial bastard was alone able to surpass, or even to equal the italian prince in all martial and manly pursuits. both were equally devoted to the chase and to the tournay; both longed impatiently for the period when the irksome routine of monkish pedantry, and the fictitious combats which formed their main recreation, should be exchanged for the substantial delights of war. at the age of twenty he had been affianced to maria of portugal; daughter of prince edward, granddaughter of king emanuel, and his nuptials with that peerless princess were; as we have seen, celebrated soon afterwards with much pomp in brussels. sons and daughters were born to him in due time, during his subsequent residence in parma. here, however, the fiery and impatient spirit of the future illustrious commander was doomed for a time to fret under restraint, and to corrode in distasteful repose. his father, still in the vigor of his years, governing the family duchies of parma and piacenza, alexander had no occupation in the brief period of peace which then existed. the martial spirit, pining for a wide and lofty sphere of action, in which alone its energies could be fitly exercised, now sought delight in the pursuits of the duellist and gladiator. nightly did the hereditary prince of the land perambulate the streets of his capital, disguised, well armed, alone, or with a single confidential attendant. every chance passenger of martial aspect whom he encountered in the midnight streets was forced to stand and measure swords with an unknown, almost unseen but most redoubtable foe, and many were the single combats which he thus enjoyed, so long as his incognito was preserved. especially, it was his wont to seek and defy every gentleman whose skill or bravery had ever been commended in his hearing: at last, upon one occasion it was his fortune to encounter a certain count torelli, whose reputation as a swordsman and duellist was well established in parma. the blades were joined, and the fierce combat had already been engaged in the darkness, when the torch of an accidental passenger gashed full in the face of alexander. torelli, recognising thus suddenly his antagonist, dropped his sword and implored forgiveness, for the wily italian was too keen not to perceive that even if the death of neither combatant should be the result of the fray, his own position was, in every event, a false one. victory would ensure him the hatred, defeat the contempt of his future sovereign. the unsatisfactory issue and subsequent notoriety of this encounter put a termination to these midnight joys of alexander, and for a season he felt obliged to assume more pacific habits, and to solace himself with the society of that "phoenix of portugal," who had so long sat brooding on his domestic hearth. at last the holy league was formed, the new and last crusade proclaimed, his uncle and bosom friend appointed to the command of the united troops of rome, spain, and venice. he could no longer be restrained. disdaining the pleadings of his mother and of his spouse, he extorted permission from philip, and flew to the seat of war in the levant. don john received him with open arms, just before the famous action of lepanto, and gave him an excellent position in the very front of the battle, with the command of several genoese galleys. alexander's exploits on that eventful day seemed those of a fabulous hero of romance. he laid his galley alongside of the treasure-ship of the turkish fleet, a vessel, on account of its importance, doubly manned and armed. impatient that the crescent was not lowered, after a few broadsides, he sprang on board the enemy alone, waving an immense two-handed sword--his usual weapon--and mowing a passage right and left through the hostile ranks for the warriors who tardily followed the footsteps of their vehement chief. mustapha bey, the treasurer and commander of the ship, fell before his sword, besides many others, whom he hardly saw or counted. the galley was soon his own, as well as another, which came to the rescue of the treasure-ship only to share its defeat. the booty which alexander's crew secured was prodigious, individual soldiers obtaining two and three thousand ducats each. don john received his nephew after the battle with commendations, not, however, unmingled with censure. the successful result alone had justified such insane and desperate conduct, for had he been slain or overcome, said the commander-in-chief, there would have been few to applaud his temerity. alexander gaily replied by assuring his uncle that he had felt sustained by a more than mortal confidence, the prayers which his saintly wife was incessantly offering in his behalf since he went to the wars being a sufficient support and shield in even greater danger than he had yet confronted. this was alexander's first campaign, nor was he permitted to reap any more glory for a few succeeding years. at last, philip was disposed to send both his mother and himself to the netherlands; removing don john from the rack where he had been enduring such slow torture. granvelle's intercession proved fruitless with the duchess, but alexander was all eagerness to go where blows were passing current, and he gladly led the reinforcements which were sent to don john at the close of the year . he had reached luxemburg, on the th of december of that year, in time, as we have seen, to participate, and, in fact, to take the lead in the signal victory of gemblours. he had been struck with the fatal change which disappointment and anxiety had wrought upon the beautiful and haughty features of his illustrious kinsman. he had since closed his eyes in the camp, and erected a marble tablet over his heart in the little church. he now governed in his stead. his personal appearance corresponded with his character. he had the head of a gladiator, round; compact, combative, with something alert and snake-like in its movements. the black, closely-shorn hair was erect and bristling. the forehead was lofty and narrow. the features were, handsome, the nose regularly aquiline, the eyes well opened, dark piercing, but with something dangerous and sinister in their expression. there was an habitual look askance; as of a man seeking to parry or inflict a mortal blow--the look of a swordsman and professional fighter. the lower part of the face was swallowed in a bushy beard; the mouth and chin being quite invisible. he was of middle stature, well formed, and graceful in person, princely in demeanor, sumptuous and stately in apparel. his high ruff of point lace, his badge of the golden fleece, his gold-inlaid milan armor, marked him at once as one of high degree. on the field of battle he possessed the rare gift of inspiring his soldiers with his own impetuous and chivalrous courage. he ever led the way upon the most dangerous and desperate ventures, and, like his uncle and his imperial grandfather, well knew how to reward the devotion of his readiest followers with a poniard, a feather, a riband, a jewel, taken with his own hands from his own attire. his military, abilities--now for the first time to be largely called into employment--were unquestionably superior to those of don john; whose name had been surrounded with such splendor by the world-renowned battle of lepanto. moreover, he possessed far greater power for governing men, whether in camp or cabinet. less attractive and fascinating, he was more commanding than his kinsman. decorous and self-poised, he was only passionate before the enemy, but he rarely permitted a disrespectful look or word to escape condign and deliberate chastisement. he was no schemer or dreamer. he was no knight errant. he would not have crossed seas and mountains to rescue a captive queen, nor have sought to place her crown on his own head as a reward for his heroism. he had a single and concentrated kind of character. he knew precisely the work which philip required, and felt himself to be precisely the workman that had so long been wanted. cool, incisive, fearless, artful, he united the unscrupulous audacity of a condottiere with the wily patience of a jesuit. he could coil unperceived through unsuspected paths, could strike suddenly, sting mortally. he came prepared, not only to smite the netherlanders in the open field, but to cope with them in tortuous policy; to outwatch and outweary them in the game to which his impatient predecessor had fallen a baked victim. he possessed the art and the patience--as time was to prove--not only to undermine their most impregnable cities, but to delve below the intrigues of their most accomplished politicians. to circumvent at once both their negotiators and their men-at-arms was his appointed task. had it not been for the courage, the vigilance, and the superior intellect of a single antagonist, the whole of the netherlands would have shared the fate which was reserved for the more southern portion. had the life of william of orange been prolonged, perhaps the evil genius of the netherlands might have still been exorcised throughout the whole extent of the country. as for religion, alexander farnese was, of course, strictly catholic, regarding all seceders from romanism as mere heathen dogs. not that he practically troubled himself much with sacred matters--for, during the life-time of his wife, he had cavalierly thrown the whole burden of his personal salvation upon her saintly shoulders. she had now flown to higher spheres, but alexander was, perhaps, willing to rely upon her continued intercessions in his behalf. the life of a bravo in time of peace--the deliberate project in war to exterminate whole cities full of innocent people, who had different notions on the subject of image-worship and ecclesiastical ceremonies from those entertained at rome, did not seem to him at all incompatible with the precepts of jesus. hanging, drowning, burning and butchering heretics were the legitimate deductions of his theology. he was no casuist nor pretender to holiness: but in those days every man was devout, and alexander looked with honest horror upon the impiety of the heretics, whom he persecuted and massacred. he attended mass regularly--in the winter mornings by torch-light--and would as soon have foregone his daily tennis as his religious exercises. romanism was the creed of his caste. it was the religion of princes and gentlemen of high degree. as for lutheranism, zwinglism, calvinism, and similar systems, they were but the fantastic rites of weavers, brewers, and the like--an ignoble herd whose presumption in entitling themselves christian, while rejecting the pope; called for their instant extermination. his personal habits were extremely temperate. he was accustomed to say that he ate only to support life; and he rarely finished a dinner without having risen three or four times from table to attend to some public business which, in his opinion, ought not to be deferred. his previous connections in the netherlands were of use to him, and he knew how to turn them to immediate account. the great nobles, who had been uniformly actuated by jealousy of the prince of orange, who had been baffled in their intrigue with matthias, whose half-blown designs upon anjou had already been nipped in the bud, were now peculiarly in a position to listen to the wily tongue of alexander farnese. the montignys, the la mottes, the meluns, the egmonts, the aerschots, the havres, foiled and doubly foiled in all their small intrigues and their base ambition, were ready to sacrifice their country to the man they hated, and to the ancient religion which they thought that they loved. the malcontents ravaging the land of hainault and threatening ghent, the "paternoster jacks" who were only waiting for a favorable opportunity and a good bargain to make their peace with spain, were the very instruments which parma most desired to use at this opening stage of his career. the position of affairs was far more favorable for him than it had been for don john when he first succeeded to power. on the whole, there seemed a bright prospect of success. it seemed quite possible that it would be in parma's power to reduce, at last, this chronic rebellion, and to reestablish the absolute supremacy of church and king. the pledges of the ghent treaty had been broken, while in the unions of brussels which had succeeded, the fatal religious cause had turned the instrument of peace into a sword. the "religion-peace" which had been proclaimed at antwerp had hardly found favor anywhere. as the provinces, for an instant, had seemingly got the better of their foe, they turned madly upon each other, and the fires of religious discord, which had been extinguished by the common exertions of a whole race trembling for the destruction of their fatherland, were now re-lighted with a thousand brands plucked from the sacred domestic hearth. fathers and children, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, were beginning to wrangle, and were prepared to persecute. catholic and protestant, during the momentary relief from pressure, forgot their voluntary and most blessed pacification, to renew their internecine feuds. the banished reformers, who had swarmed back in droves at the tidings of peace and good-will to all men, found themselves bitterly disappointed. they were exposed in the walloon provinces to the persecutions of the malcontents, in the frisian regions to the still powerful coercion of the royal stadholders. persecution begat counter-persecution. the city of ghent became the centre of a system of insurrection, by which all the laws of god and man were outraged under the pretence of establishing a larger liberty in civil and religious matters. it was at ghent that the opening scenes, in parma's administration took place. of the high-born suitors for the netherland bride, two were still watching each other with jealous eyes. anjou was at mons, which city he had secretly but unsuccessfully attempted to master for, his, own purposes. john casimir was at ghent, fomenting an insurrection which he had neither skill to guide, nor intelligence to comprehend. there was a talk of making him count of flanders,--and his paltry ambition was dazzled by the glittering prize. anjou, who meant to be count of flanders himself, as well as duke or count of all the other netherlands, was highly indignant at this report, which he chose to consider true. he wrote to the estates to express his indignation. he wrote to ghent to offer his mediation between the burghers and the malcontents. casimir wanted money for his troops. he obtained a liberal supply, but he wanted more. meantime, the mercenaries were expatiating on their own account throughout the southern provinces; eating up every green leaf, robbing and pillaging, where robbery and pillage had gone so often that hardly anything was left for rapine. thus dealt the soldiers in the open country, while their master at ghent was plunging into the complicated intrigues spread over that unfortunate city by the most mischievous demagogues that ever polluted a sacred cause. well had cardinal granvelle, his enemy, william of hesse, his friend and kinsman, understood the character of john casimir. robbery and pillage were his achievements, to make chaos more confounded was his destiny. anjou--disgusted with the temporary favor accorded to a rival whom he affected to despise--disbanded his troops in dudgeon, and prepared to retire to france. several thousand of these mercenaries took service immediately with the malcontents under montigny, thus swelling the ranks of the deadliest foes to that land over which anjou had assumed the title of protector. the states' army, meanwhile, had been rapidly dissolving. there were hardly men enough left to make a demonstration in the field, or properly to garrison the more important towns. the unhappy provinces, torn by civil and religious dissensions, were overrun by hordes of unpaid soldiers of all nations, creeds, and tongues-spaniards, italians, burgundians, walloons, germans, scotch and english; some who came to attack and others to protect, but who all achieved nothing and agreed in nothing save to maltreat and to outrage the defenceless peasantry and denizens of the smaller towns. the contemporary chronicles are full of harrowing domestic tragedies, in which the actors are always the insolent foreign soldiery and their desperate victims. ghent energetic, opulent, powerful, passionate, unruly ghent--was now the focus of discord, the centre from whence radiated not the light and warmth of reasonable and intelligent liberty, but the bale-fires of murderous licence and savage anarchy. the second city of the netherlands, one of the wealthiest and most powerful cities of christendom, it had been its fate so often to overstep the bounds of reason and moderation in its devotion to freedom, so often to incur ignominious chastisement from power which its own excesses had made more powerful, that its name was already becoming a bye-word. it now, most fatally and for ever, was to misunderstand its true position. the prince of orange, the great architect of his country's fortunes, would have made it the keystone of the arch which he was laboring to construct. had he been allowed to perfect his plan, the structure might have endured for ages, a perpetual bulwark against, tyranny and wrong. the temporary and slender frame by which the great artist had supported his arch while still unfinished, was plucked away by rude and ribald hands; the keystone plunged into the abyss, to be lost for ever, and the great work of orange remained a fragment from its commencement. the acts of demagogues, the conservative disgust at licence, the jealousy of rival nobles, the venality of military leaders, threw daily fresh stumbling-blocks in his heroic path. it was not six months after the advent of farnese to power, before that bold and subtle chieftain had seized the double-edged sword of religious dissension as firmly as he had grasped his celebrated brand when he boarded the galley of muatapha bey, and the netherlands were cut in twain, to be re-united nevermore. the separate treaty of the walloon provinces was soon destined to separate the celtic and romanesque elements from the batavian and frisian portion of a nationality, which; thoroughly fused in all its parts, would have formed as admirable a compound of fire and endurance as history has ever seen. meantime, the grass was growing and the cattle were grazing in the streets of ghent, where once the tramp of workmen going to and from their labor was like the movement of a mighty army. the great majority of the burghers were of the reformed religion, and disposed to make effectual resistance to the malcontents, led by the disaffected nobles. the city, considering itself the natural head of all the southern country, was indignant that the walloon provinces should dare to reassert that supremacy of romanism which had been so effectually suppressed, and to admit the possibility of friendly relations with a sovereign who had been virtually disowned. there were two parties, however, in ghent. both were led by men of abandoned and dangerous character. imbize, the worse of the two demagogues, was inconstant, cruel, cowardly, and treacherous, but possessed of eloquence and a talent for intrigue. ryhove was a bolder ruffian--wrathful, bitter, and unscrupulous. imbize was at the time opposed to orange, disliking his moderation, and trembling at his firmness. ryhove considered himself the friend of the prince. we have seen that he had consulted him previously to his memorable attack upon aerschot, in the autumn of the preceding year, and we know the result of that conference. the prince, with the slight dissimulation which belonged less to his character than to his theory of politics, and which was perhaps not to be avoided, in that age of intrigue, by any man who would govern his fellow-men, whether for good or evil, had winked at a project which he would not openly approve. he was not thoroughly acquainted, however, with the desperate character of the man, for he would have scorned an instrument so thoroughly base as ryhove subsequently proved. the violence of that personage on the occasion of the arrest of aerschot and his colleagues was mildness compared with the deed with which he now disgraced the cause of freedom. he had been ordered out from ghent to oppose a force of malcontents which was gathering in the neighbourhood of courtray; but he swore that he would not leave the gates so long as two of the gentlemen whom he had arrested on the twenty-eighth of the previous october, and who yet remained in captivity, were still alive. these two prisoners were ex-procurator visch and blood-councillor hessels. hessels, it seemed, had avowed undying hostility to ryhove for the injury sustained at his hands, and he had sworn, "by his grey beard," that the ruffian should yet hang for the outrage. ryhove, not feeling very safe in the position of affairs which then existed, and knowing that he could neither trust imbize, who had formerly been his friend, nor the imprisoned nobles, who had ever been his implacable enemies, was resolved to make himself safe in one quarter at least, before he set forth against the malcontents. accordingly, hessels and visch, as they sat together in their prison, at chess, upon the th of october, , were suddenly summoned to leave the house, and to enter a carriage which stood at the door. a force of armed men brought the order, and were sufficiently strong to enforce it. the prisoners obeyed, and the coach soon rolled slowly through the streets, left the courtray gate, and proceeded a short distance along the road towards that city. after a few minutes a halt was made. ryhove then made his appearance at the carriage-window, and announced to the astonished prisoners that, they were forthwith to be hanged upon a tree which stood by the road-side. he proceeded to taunt the aged hessels with his threat against himself, and with his vow "by his grey beard." "such grey beard shalt thou never live thyself to wear, ruffian," cried hessels, stoutly-furious rather than terrified at the suddenness of his doom. "there thou liest, false traitor!" roared ryhove in reply; and to prove the falsehood, he straightway tore out a handful of the old man's beard, and fastened it upon his own cap like a plume. his action was imitated by several of his companions, who cut for themselves locks from the same grey beard, and decorated themselves as their leader had done. this preliminary ceremony having been concluded, the two aged prisoners were forthwith hanged on a tree, without-the least pretence of trial or even sentence. such was the end of the famous councillor who had been wont to shout "ad patibulum" in his sleep. it was cruel that the fair face of civil liberty showing itself after years of total eclipse, should be insulted by such bloody deeds on the part of her votaries. it was sad that the crimes of men like imbize and ryhove should have cost more to the cause of religious and political freedom than the lives of twenty thousand such ruffians were worth. but for the influence of demagogues like these, counteracting the lofty efforts and pure life of orange, the separation might never have occurred between the two portions of the netherlands. the prince had not power enough, however, nor the nascent commonwealth sufficient consistency, to repress the disorganizing tendency of a fanatical romanism on the one side, and a retaliatory and cruel ochlocracy on the other. such events, with the hatred growing daily more intense between the walloons and the ghenters, made it highly important that some kind of an accord should be concluded, if possible. in the country, the malcontents, under pretence of protecting the catholic clergy, were daily abusing and plundering the people, while in ghent the clergy were maltreated, the cloisters pillaged, under the pretence of maintaining liberty. in this emergency the eyes of all honest men turned naturally to orange. deputies went to and fro between antwerp and ghent, three points were laid down by the prince as indispensable to any arrangement--firstly, that the catholic clergy should be allowed the free use of their property; secondly, that they should not be disturbed in the exercise of their religion; thirdly, that the gentlemen kept in prison since the memorable twenty-eighth of october should be released. if these points should be granted, the archduke matthias, the states-general, and the prince of orange would agree to drive off the walloon soldiery, and to defend ghent against all injury. the two first points were granted, upon condition that sufficient guarantees should be established for the safety of the reformed religion. the third was rejected, but it was agreed that the prisoners, champagny, sweveghem, and the rest--who, after the horrid fate of hessels and visch, might be supposed to be sufficiently anxious as to their own doom--should have legal trial, and be defended in the meantime from outrage. on the rd of november, , a formal act of acceptance of these terms was signed at antwerp. at the same time, there was murmuring at ghent, the extravagant portion of the liberal party averring that they had no intention of establishing the "religious peace" when they agreed not to molest the catholics. on the th of november, the prince of orange sent messengers to ghent in the name of the archduke and the states-general, summoning the authorities to a faithful execution of the act of acceptance. upon the same day the english envoy, davidson, made an energetic representation to the same magistrates, declaring that the conduct of the ghenters was exciting regret throughout the world, and affording a proof that it was their object to protract, not suppress, the civil war which had so long been raging. such proceedings, he observed, created doubts whether they were willing to obey any law or any magistracy. as, however, it might be supposed that the presence of john casimir in ghent at that juncture was authorized by queen elizabeth--inasmuch as it was known that he had received a subsidy from her--the envoy took occasion to declare that her majesty entirely disavowed his proceedings. he observed further that, in the opinion of her majesty, it was still possible to maintain peace by conforming to the counsels of the prince of orange and of the states-general. this, however, could be done only by establishing the three points which he had laid down. her majesty likewise warned the ghenters that their conduct would soon compel her to abandon the country's cause altogether, and, in conclusion, she requested, with characteristic thriftiness, to be immediately furnished with a city bond for forty-five thousand pounds sterling. two days afterwards, envoys arrived from brussels to remonstrate, in their turn, with the sister city, and to save her, if possible, from the madness which had seized upon her. they recalled to the memory of the magistrates the frequent and wise counsels of the prince of orange. he had declared that he knew of no means to avert the impending desolation of the fatherland save union of all the provinces and obedience to the general government. his own reputation, and the honor of his house, he felt now to be at stake; for, by reason of the offices which he now held, he had been ceaselessly calumniated as the author of all the crimes which had been committed at ghent. against these calumnies he had avowed his intention of publishing his defence. after thus citing the opinion of the prince, the envoys implored the magistrates to accept the religious peace which he had proposed, and to liberate the prisoners as he had demanded. for their own part, they declared that the inhabitants of brussels would never desert him; for, next to god, there was no one who understood their cause so entirely, or who could point out the remedy so intelligently. thus reasoned the envoys from the states-general and from brussels, but even while they were reasoning, a fresh tumult occurred at ghent. the people had been inflamed by demagogues, and by the insane howlings of peter dathenus, the unfrocked monk of poperingen, who had been the servant and minister both of the pope and of orange, and who now hated each with equal fervor. the populace, under these influences, rose in its wrath upon the catholics, smote all their images into fragments, destroyed all their altar pictures, robbed them of much valuable property, and turned all the papists themselves out of the city. the riot was so furious that it seemed, says a chronicler, as if all the inhabitants had gone raving mad. the drums beat the alarm, the magistrates went forth to expostulate, but no commands were heeded till the work of destruction had been accomplished, when the tumult expired at last by its own limitation. affairs seemed more threatening than ever. nothing more excited the indignation of the prince of orange than such senseless iconomachy. in fact, he had at one time procured an enactment by the ghent authorities, making it a crime punishable with death. he was of luther's opinion, that idol-worship was to be eradicated from the heart, and that then the idols in the churches would fall of themselves. he felt too with landgrave william, that "the destruction of such worthless idols was ever avenged by torrents of good human blood." therefore it may be well supposed that this fresh act of senseless violence, in the very teeth of his remonstrances, in the very presence of his envoys, met with his stern disapprobation. he was on the point of publishing his defence against the calumnies which his toleration had drawn upon him from both catholic and calvinist. he was deeply revolving the question, whether it were not better to turn his back at once upon a country which seemed so incapable of comprehending his high purposes, or seconding his virtuous efforts. from both projects he was dissuaded; and although bitterly wronged by both friend and foe, although, feeling that even in his own holland, there were whispers against his purity, since his favorable inclinations towards anjou had become the general topic, yet he still preserved his majestic tranquillity, and smiled at the arrows which fell harmless at his feet. "i admire his wisdom, daily more and more," cried hubert languet; "i see those who profess themselves his friends causing him more annoyance than his foes; while, nevertheless, he ever remains true to himself, is driven by no tempests from his equanimity, nor provoked by repeated injuries to immoderate action." the prince had that year been chosen unanimously by the four "members" of flanders to be governor of that province, but had again declined the office. the inhabitants, notwithstanding the furious transactions at ghent, professed attachment to his person, and respect for his authority. he was implored to go to the city. his presence, and that alone, would restore the burghers to their reason, but the task was not a grateful one. it was also not unattended with danger; although this was a consideration which never influenced him, from the commencement of his career to its close. imbize and his crew were capable of resorting to any extremity or any ambush; to destroy the man whom they feared and hated. the presence of john casimir was an additional complication; for orange, while he despised the man, was unwilling to offend his friends. moreover, casimir had professed a willingness to assist the cause, and to, defer to the better judgment of the prince: he had brought an army into the field, with which, however, he had accomplished nothing except a thorough pillaging of the peasantry, while, at the same time, he was loud in his demands upon the states to pay his soldiers' wages. the soldiers of the different armies who now overran the country, indeed, vied with each other in extravagant insolence. "their outrages are most execrable," wrote marquis havre; "they demand the most exquisite food, and drink champagne and burgundy by the bucketfull." nevertheless, on the th of december, the prince came to ghent. he held constant and anxious conferences with the magistrates. he was closeted daily with john casimir, whose vanity and extravagance of temper he managed with his usual skill. he even dined with imbue, and thus, by smoothing difficulties and reconciling angry passions, he succeeded at last in obtaining the consent of all to a religious peace, which was published on the th of december, . it contained the same provisions as those of the project prepared and proposed during the previous summer throughout the netherlands. exercise of both religions was established; mutual insults and irritations--whether by word, book, picture, song, or gesture--were prohibited, under severe penalties, while all persons were sworn to protect the common tranquillity by blood, purse, and life. the catholics, by virtue of this accord, re-entered into possession of their churches and cloisters, but nothing could be obtained in favor of the imprisoned gentlemen. the walloons and malcontents were now summoned to lay down their arms; but, as might be supposed, they expressed dissatisfaction with the religious peace, proclaiming it hostile to the ghent treaty and the brussels union. in short, nothing would satisfy them but total suppression of the reformed religion; as nothing would content imbize and his faction but the absolute extermination of romanism. a strong man might well seem powerless in the midst of such obstinate and worthless fanatics. the arrival of the prince in ghent was, on the whole, a relief to john casimir. as usual, this addle-brained individual had plunged headlong into difficulties, out of which he was unable to extricate himself. he knew not what to do, or which way to turn. he had tampered with imbue and his crew, but he had found that they were not the men for a person of his quality to deal with. he had brought a large army into the field, and had not a stiver in his coffers. he felt bitterly the truth of the landgrave's warning--"that 'twas better to have thirty thousand devils at one's back than thirty thousand german troopers, with no money to give them;" it being possible to pay the devils with the sign of the cross, while the soldiers could be discharged only with money or hard knocks. queen elizabeth, too, under whose patronage he had made this most inglorious campaign, was incessant in her reproofs, and importunate in her demands for reimbursement. she wrote to him personally, upbraiding him with his high pretensions and his shortcomings. his visit to ghent, so entirely unjustified and mischievous; his failure to effect that junction of his army with the states' force under bossu, by which the royal army was to have been surprised and annihilated; his having given reason to the common people to suspect her majesty and the prince of orange of collusion with his designs, and of a disposition to seek their private advantage and not the general good of the whole netherlands; the imminent danger, which he had aggravated, that the walloon provinces, actuated by such suspicions, would fall away from the "generality" and seek a private accord with parma; these and similar sins of omission and commission were sharply and shrewishly set forth in the queen's epistle. 'twas not for such marauding and intriguing work that she had appointed him her lieutenant, and furnished him with troops and subsidies. she begged him forthwith to amend his ways, for the sake of his name and fame, which were sufficiently soiled in the places where his soldiers had been plundering the country which they came to protect. the queen sent daniel rogers with instructions of similar import to the states-general, repeatedly and expressly disavowing casimir's proceedings and censuring his character. she also warmly insisted on her bonds. in short, never was unlucky prince more soundly berated by his superiors, more thoroughly disgraced by his followers. in this contemptible situation had casimir placed himself by his rash ambition to prove before the world that german princes could bite and scratch like griffins and tigers as well as carry them in their shields. from this position orange partly rescued him. he made his peace with the states-general. he smoothed matters with the extravagant reformers, and he even extorted from the authorities of ghent the forty-five thousand pounds bond, on which elizabeth had insisted with such obduracy. casimir repaid these favors of the prince in the coin with which narrow minds and jealous tempers are apt to discharge such obligations--ingratitude. the friendship which he openly manifested at first grew almost immediately cool. soon afterwards he left ghent and departed for germany, leaving behind him a long and tedious remonstrance, addressed to the states-general, in which document he narrated the history of his exploits, and endeavored to vindicate the purity of his character. he concluded this very tedious and superfluous manifesto by observing that--for reasons which he thought proper to give at considerable length--he felt himself "neither too useful nor too agreeable to the provinces." as he had been informed, he said, that the states-general had requested the queen of england to procure his departure, he had resolved, in order to spare her and them inconvenience, to return of his own accord, "leaving the issue of the war in the high and mighty hand of god." the estates answered this remonstrance with words of unlimited courtesy; expressing themselves "obliged to all eternity" for his services, and holding out vague hopes that the monies which he demanded on behalf of his troops should ere long be forthcoming. casimir having already answered queen elizabeth's reproachful letter by throwing the blame of his apparent misconduct upon the states-general, and having promised soon to appear before her majesty in person, tarried accordingly but a brief season in germany, and then repaired to england. here he was feasted, flattered, caressed, and invested with the order of the garter. pleased with royal blandishments, and highly enjoying the splendid hospitalities of england he quite forgot the "thirty thousand devils" whom he had left running loose in the netherlands, while these wild soldiers, on their part, being absolutely in a starving condition--for there was little left for booty in a land which had been so often plundered--now had the effrontery to apply to the prince of parma for payment of their wages. alexander farnese laughed heartily at the proposition, which he considered an excellent jest. it seemed in truth, a jest, although but a sorry one. parma replied to the messenger of maurice of saxony who had made the proposition, that the germans must be mad to ask him for money, instead of offering to pay him, a heavy sum for permission to leave the country. nevertheless, he was willing to be so far indulgent as to furnish them with passports, provided they departed from the netherlands instantly. should they interpose the least delay, he would set upon them without further preface, and he gave them notice, with the arrogance becoming a spanish general; that the courier was already waiting to report to spain the number of them left alive after the encounter. thus deserted by their chief, and hectored by the enemy, the mercenaries, who had little stomach for fight without wages, accepted the passports proffered by parma. they revenged themselves for the harsh treatment which they had received from casimir and from the states-general, by singing, everywhere as they retreated, a doggerel ballad--half flemish, half german--in which their wrongs were expressed with uncouth vigor. casimir received the news of the departure of his ragged soldiery on the very day which witnessed his investment with the garter by the fair hands of elizabeth herself. a few days afterwards he left england, accompanied by an escort of lords and gentlemen, especially appointed for that purpose by the queen. he landed in flushing, where he was received with distinguished hospitality, by order of the prince of orange, and on the th of february, , he passed through utrecht. here he conversed freely at his lodgings in the "german house" on the subject of his vagabond troops, whose final adventures and departure seemed to afford him considerable amusement; and he, moreover, diverted his company by singing, after supper, a few verses of the ballad already mentioned. o, have you been in brabant, fighting for the states? o, have you brought back anything except your broken pates? o, i have been in brabant, myself and all my mates. we'll go no more to brabant, unless our brains were addle, we're coming home on foot, we went there in the saddle; for there's neither gold nor glory got, in fighting for the states. the duke of anjou, meantime, after disbanding his troops, had lingered for a while near the frontier. upon taking his final departure, he sent his resident minister, des pruneaux, with a long communication to the states-general, complaining that they had not published their contract with himself, nor fulfilled its conditions. he excused, as well as he could, the awkward fact that his disbanded troops had taken refuge with the walloons, and he affected to place his own departure upon the ground of urgent political business in france, to arrange which his royal brother had required his immediate attendance. he furthermore most hypocritically expressed a desire for a speedy reconciliation of the provinces with their sovereign, and a resolution that--although for their sake he had made himself a foe to his catholic majesty--he would still interpose no obstacle to so desirable a result. to such shallow discourse the states answered with infinite urbanity, for it was the determination of orange not to make enemies, at that juncture, of france and england in the same breath. they had foes enough already, and it seemed obvious at that moment, to all persons most observant of the course of affairs, that a matrimonial alliance was soon to unite the two crowns. the probability of anjou's marriage with elizabeth was, in truth, a leading motive with orange for his close alliance with the duke. the political structure, according to which he had selected the french prince as protector of the netherlands, was sagaciously planned; but unfortunately its foundation was the shifting sandbank of female and royal coquetry. those who judge only by the result, will be quick to censure a policy which might have had very different issue. they who place themselves in the period anterior to anjou's visit to england, will admit that it was hardly human not to be deceived by the apolitical aspects of that moment. the queen, moreover, took pains to upbraid the states-general, by letter, with their disrespect and ingratitude towards the duke of anjou--behaviour with which he had been "justly scandalized." for her own part, she assured them of her extreme displeasure at learning that such a course of conduct had been held with a view to her especial contentment--"as if the person of monsieur, son of france, brother of the king, were disagreeable to her, or as if she wished him ill;" whereas, on the contrary, they would best satisfy her wishes by showing him all the courtesy to which his high degree and his eminent services entitled him. the estates, even before receiving this letter, had, however, acted in its spirit. they had addressed elaborate apologies and unlimited professions to the duke. they thanked him heartily for his achievements, expressed unbounded regret at his departure, with sincere hopes for his speedy return, and promised "eternal remembrance" of his heroic virtues. they assured him, moreover, that should the first of the following march arrive without bringing with it an honorable peace with his catholic majesty, they should then feel themselves compelled to declare that the king had forfeited his right to the sovereignty of these provinces. in this case they concluded that, as the inhabitants would be then absolved from their allegiance to the spanish monarch, it would then be in their power to treat with his highness of anjou concerning the sovereignty, according to the contract already existing. these assurances were ample, but the states, knowing the vanity of the man, offered other inducements, some of which seemed sufficiently puerile. they promised that "his statue, in copper, should be placed in the public squares of antwerp and brussels, for the eternal admiration of posterity," and that a "crown of olive-leaves should be presented to him every year." the duke--not inexorable to such courteous solicitations--was willing to achieve both immortality and power by continuing his friendly relations with the states, and he answered accordingly in the most courteous terms. the result of this interchange of civilities it will be soon our duty to narrate. at the close of the year the count of bossu died, much to the regret of the prince of orange, whose party--since his release from prison by virtue of the ghent treaty--he had warmly espoused. "we are in the deepest distress in the world," wrote the prince to his brother, three days before the count's death, "for the dangerous malady of m. de bossu. certainly, the country has much to lose in his death, but i hope that god will not so much afflict us." yet the calumniators of the day did not scruple to circulate, nor the royalist chroniclers to perpetuate, the most senseless and infamous fables on the subject of this nobleman's death. he died of poison, they said, administered to him "in oysters," by command of the prince of orange, who had likewise made a point of standing over him on his death-bed, for the express purpose of sneering at the catholic ceremonies by which his dying agonies were solaced. such were the tales which grave historians have recorded concerning the death of maximilian of bossu, who owed so much to the prince. the command of the states' army, a yearly pension of five thousand florins, granted at the especial request of orange but a few months before, and the profound words of regret in the private letter jest cited, are a sufficient answer to such slanders. the personal courage and profound military science of parma were invaluable to the royal cause; but his subtle, unscrupulous, and subterranean combinations of policy were even more fruitful at this period. no man ever understood the art of bribery more thoroughly or practised it more skillfully. he bought a politician, or a general, or a grandee, or a regiment of infantry, usually at the cheapest price at which those articles could be purchased, and always with the utmost delicacy with which such traffic could be conducted. men conveyed themselves to government for a definite price--fixed accurately in florins and groats, in places and pensions--while a decent gossamer of conventional phraseology was ever allowed to float over the nakedness of unblushing treason. men high in station, illustrious by ancestry, brilliant in valor, huckstered themselves, and swindled a confiding country for as ignoble motives as ever led counterfeiters or bravoes to the gallows, but they were dealt with in public as if actuated only by the loftiest principles. behind their ancient shields, ostentatiously emblazoned with fidelity to church and king, they thrust forth their itching palms with the mendicity which would be hardly credible, were it not attested by the monuments more perennial than brass, of their own letters and recorded conversations. already, before the accession of parma to power, the true way to dissever the provinces had been indicated by the famous treason of the seigneur de la motte. this nobleman commanded a regiment in the service of the states-general, and was governor of gravelines. on promise of forgiveness for all past disloyalty, of being continued in the same military posts under philip which he then held for the patriots, and of a "merced" large enough to satisfy his most avaricious dreams, he went over to the royal government. the negotiation was conducted by alonzo curiel, financial agent of the king, and was not very nicely handled. the paymaster, looking at the affair purely as a money transaction--which in truth it was--had been disposed to drive rather too hard a bargain. he offered only fifty thousand crowns for la motte and his friend baron montigny, and assured his government that those gentlemen, with the soldiers under their command, were very dear at the price. la motte higgled very hard for more, and talked pathetically of his services and his wounds--for he had been a most distinguished and courageous campaigner--but alonzo was implacable. moreover, one robert bien-aime, prior of renty, was present at all the conferences. this ecclesiastic was a busy intriguer, but not very adroit. he was disposed to make himself useful to government, for he had set his heart upon putting the mitre of saint omer upon his head, and he had accordingly composed a very ingenious libel upon the prince of orange, in which production, "although the prior did not pretend to be apelles or lysippus," he hoped that the governor-general would recognize a portrait colored to the life. this accomplished artist was, however, not so successful as he was picturesque and industrious. he was inordinately vain of his services, thinking himself, said alonzo, splenetically, worthy to be carried in a procession like a little saint, and as he had a busy brain, but an unruly tongue, it will be seen that he possessed a remarkable faculty of making himself unpleasant. this was not the way to earn his bishopric. la motte, through the candid communications of the prior, found himself the subject of mockery in parma's camp and cabinet, where treachery to one's country and party was not, it seemed, regarded as one of the loftier virtues, however convenient it might be at the moment to the royal cause. the prior intimated especially that ottavio gonzaga had indulged in many sarcastic remarks at la motte's expense. the brave but venal warrior, highly incensed at thus learning the manner in which his conduct was estimated by men of such high rank in the royal service, was near breaking off the bargain. he was eventually secured, however, by still larger offers--don john allowing him three hundred florins a month, presenting him with the two best horses in his stable, and sending him an open form, which he was to fill out in the most stringent language which he could devise, binding the government to the payment of an ample and entirely satisfactory "merced." thus la motte's bargain was completed a crime which, if it had only entailed the loss of the troops under his command, and the possession of gravelines, would have been of no great historic importance. it was, however, the first blow of a vast and carefully sharpened treason, by which the country was soon to be cut in twain for ever--the first in a series of bargains by which the noblest names of the netherlands were to be contaminated with bribery and fraud. while the negotiations with la notte were in progress, the government of the states-general at brussels had sent saint aldegonde to arras. the states of artois, then assembled in that city, had made much difficulty in acceding to an assessment of seven thousand florins laid upon them by the central authority. the occasion was skillfully made use of by the agents of the royal party to weaken the allegiance of the province, and of its sister walloon provinces, to the patriot cause. saint aldegonde made his speech before the assembly, taking the ground boldly, that the war was made for liberty of conscience and of fatherland, and that all were bound, whether catholic or protestant, to contribute to the sacred fund. the vote passed, but it was provided that a moiety of the assessment should be paid by the ecclesiastical branch, and the stipulation excited a tremendous uproar. the clerical bench regarded the tax as both a robbery and an affront. "we came nearly to knife-playing," said the most distinguished priest in the assembly, "and if we had done so, the ecclesiastics would not have been the first to cry enough." they all withdrew in a rage, and held a private consultation upon "these exorbitant and more than turkish demands." john sarrasin, prior of saint yaast, the keenest, boldest, and most indefatigable of the royal partisans of that epoch, made them an artful harangue. this man--a better politician than the other prior--was playing for a mitre too, and could use his cards better. he was soon to become the most invaluable agent in the great treason preparing. no one could, be more delicate, noiseless, or unscrupulous, and he was soon recognized both by governor-general and king as the individual above all others to whom the re-establishment of the royal authority over the walloon provinces was owing. with the shoes of swiftness on his feet, the coat of darkness on his back, and the wishing purse in his hand, he sped silently and invisibly from one great malcontent chieftain to another, buying up centurions, and captains, and common soldiers; circumventing orangists, ghent democrats, anjou partisans; weaving a thousand intrigues, ventilating a hundred hostile mines, and passing unharmed through the most serious dangers and the most formidable obstacles. eloquent, too, at a pinch, he always understood his audience, and upon this occasion unsheathed the most incisive, if not the most brilliant weapon which could be used in the debate. it was most expensive to be patriotic, he said, while silver was to be saved, and gold to be earned by being loyal. they ought to keep their money to defend themselves, not give it to the prince of orange, who would only put it into his private pocket on pretence of public necessities. the ruward would soon be slinking back to his lair, he observed, and leave them all in the fangs of their enemies. meantime, it was better to rush into the embrace of a bountiful king, who was still holding forth his arms to them. they were approaching a precipice, said the prior; they were entering a labyrinth; and not only was the "sempiternal loss of body and soul impending over them, but their property was to be taken also, and the cat to be thrown against their legs." by this sudden descent into a very common proverbial expression, sarrasin meant to intimate that they were getting themselves into a difficult position, in which they were sure to reap both danger and responsibility. the harangue had much effect upon his hearers, who were now more than ever determined to rebel against the government which they had so recently accepted, preferring, in the words of the prior, "to be maltreated by their prince, rather than to be barbarously tyrannized over by a heretic." so much anger had been excited in celestial minds by a demand of thirty-five hundred florins. saint aldegonde was entertained in the evening at a great banquet, followed by a theological controversy, in which john sarrasin complained that "he had been attacked upon his own dunghill." next day the distinguished patriot departed on a canvassing tour among the principal cities; the indefatigable monk employing the interval of his absence in aggravating the hostility of the artesian orders to the pecuniary demands of the general government. he was assisted in his task by a peremptory order which came down from brussels, ordering, in the name of matthias, a levy upon the ecclesiastical property, "rings, jewels, and reliquaries," unless the clerical contribution should be forthcoming. the rage of the bench was now intense, and by the time of saint aldegonde's return a general opposition had been organized. the envoy met with a chilling reception; there were no banquets anymore--no discussions of any kind. to his demands for money, "he got a fine nihil," said saint vaast; and as for polemics, the only conclusive argument for the country would be, as he was informed on the same authority, the "finishing of orange and of his minister along with him." more than once had the prior intimated to government--as so many had done before him--that to "despatch orange, author of all the troubles," was the best preliminary to any political arrangement. from philip and his governor-general, down to the humblest partisan, this conviction had been daily strengthening. the knife or bullet of an assassin was the one thing needful to put an end to this incarnated rebellion. thus matters grew worse and worse in artois. the prior, busier than ever in his schemes, was one day arrested along with other royal emissaries, kept fifteen days "in a stinking cellar, where the scullion washed the dishes," and then sent to antwerp to be examined by the states-general. he behaved with great firmness, although he had good reason to tremble for his neck. interrogated by leoninus on the part of the central government, he boldly avowed that these pecuniary demands upon the walloon estates, and particularly upon their ecclesiastical branches, would never be tolerated. "in alva's time," said sarrasin, "men were flayed, but not shorn." those who were more attached to their skin than their fleece might have thought the practice in the good old times of the duke still more objectionable. such was not the opinion of the prior and the rest of his order. after an unsatisfactory examination and a brief duresse, the busy ecclesiastic was released; and as his secret labors had not been detected, he resumed them after his return more ardently than ever. a triangular intrigue was now fairly established in the walloon country. the duke of alencon's head-quarters were at mons; the rallying-point of the royalist faction was with la motte at gravelines; while the ostensible leader of the states' party, viscount ghent, was governor of artois, and supposed to be supreme in arras. la motte was provided by government with a large fund of secret-service money, and was instructed to be very liberal in his bribes to men of distinction; having a tender regard, however, to the excessive demands of this nature now daily made upon the royal purse. the "little count," as the prior called lalain, together with his brother, baron montigny, were considered highly desirable acquisitions for government, if they could be gained. it was thought, however, that they had the "fleur-de-lys imprinted too deeply upon their hearts," for the effect produced upon lalain, governor of hainault, by margaret of valois, had not yet been effaced. his brother also had been disposed to favor the french prince, but his mind was more open to conviction. a few private conferences with la motte, and a course of ecclesiastical tuition from the prior--whose golden opinions had irresistible resonance--soon wrought a change in the malcontent chieftain's mind. other leading seigniors were secretly dealt with in the same manner. lalain, heze, havre, capres, egmont, and even the viscount of ghent, all seriously inclined their ears to the charmer, and looked longingly and lovingly as the wily prior rolled in his tangles before them--"to mischief swift." few had yet declared themselves; but of the grandees who commanded large bodies of troops, and whose influence with their order was paramount, none were safe for the patriot cause throughout the walloon country. the nobles and ecclesiastics were ready to join hands in support of church and king, but in the city of arras, the capital of the whole country, there was a strong orange and liberal party. gosson, a man of great wealth, one of the most distinguished advocates in the netherlands, and possessing the gift of popular eloquence to a remarkable degree, was the leader of this burgess faction. in the earlier days of parma's administration, just as a thorough union of the walloon provinces in favor of the royal government had nearly been formed, these orangists of arras risked a daring stroke. inflamed by the harangues of gosson, and supported by five hundred foot soldiers and fifty troopers under one captain ambrose, they rose against the city magistracy, whose sentiments were unequivocally for parma, and thrust them all into prison. they then constituted a new board of fifteen, some catholics and some protestants, but all patriots, of whom gosson was chief. the stroke took the town by surprise; and was for a moment successful. meantime, they depended upon assistance from brussels. the royal and ecclesiastical party was, however, not so easily defeated, and an old soldier, named bourgeois, loudly denounced captain ambrose, the general of the revolutionary movement, as a vile coward, and affirmed that with thirty good men-at-arms he would undertake to pound the whole rebel army to powder-- "a pack of scarecrows," he said, "who were not worth as many owls for military purposes." three days after the imprisonment of the magistracy, a strong catholic rally was made in their behalf in the fishmarket, the ubiquitous prior of saint vaast flitting about among the malcontents, blithe and busy as usual when storms were brewing. matthew doucet, of the revolutionary faction--a man both martial and pacific in his pursuits, being eminent both as a gingerbread baker and a swordplayer--swore he would have the little monk's life if he had to take him from the very horns of the altar; but the prior had braved sharper threats than these. moreover, the grand altar would have been the last place to look fox him on that occasion. while gosson was making a tremendous speech in favor of conscience and fatherland at the hotel de ville, practical john sarrasin, purse in hand, had challenged the rebel general, ambrose to private combat. in half an hour, that warrior was routed, and fled from the field at the head of his scarecrows, for there was no resisting the power before which the montignys and the la mottes had succumbed. eloquent gosson was left to his fate. having the catholic magistracy in durance, and with nobody to guard them, he felt, as was well observed by an ill-natured contemporary, like a man holding a wolf by the ears, equally afraid to let go or to retain his grasp. his dilemma was soon terminated. while he was deliberating with his colleagues--mordacq, an old campaigner, crugeot, bertoul, and others--whether to stand or, fly, the drums and trumpets of the advancing royalists were heard. in another instant the hotel de ville was swarming with men-at-arms, headed by bourgeois, the veteran who had expressed so alighting an opinion as to the prowess of captain ambrose. the tables were turned, the miniature revolution was at an end, the counter-revolution effected. gosson and his confederates escaped out of a back door, but were soon afterwards arrested. next morning, baron capres, the great malcontent seignior, who was stationed with his regiment in the neighbourhood, and who had long been secretly coquetting with the prior and parma, marched into the city at the head of a strong detachment, and straightway proceeded to erect a very tall gibbet in front of the hotel de ville. this looked practical in the eyes of the liberated and reinstated magistrates, and gosson, crugeot, and the rest were summoned at once before them. the advocate thought, perhaps, with a sigh, that his judges, so recently his prisoners, might have been the fruit for another gallowstree, had he planted it when the ground was his own; but taking heart of grace, he encouraged his colleagues--now his fellow-culprits. crugeot, undismayed, made his appearance before the tribunal, arrayed in a corslet of proof, with a golden hilted sword, a scarf embroidered with pearls and gold, and a hat bravely plumaged with white, blue, and, orange feathers--the colors of william the silent--of all which finery he was stripped, however, as soon as he entered the court. the process was rapid. a summons from brussels was expected every hour from the general government, ordering the cases to be brought before the federal tribunal; and as the walloon provinces were not yet ready for open revolt, the order would be an inconvenient one. hence the necessity for haste. the superior court of artois, to which an appeal from the magistrates lay, immediately held a session in another chamber of the hotel de ville while the lower court was trying the prisoners, and bertoul, crugeot, mordacq, with several others, were condemned in a few hours to the gibbet. they were invited to appeal, if they chose, to the council of artois, but hearing that the court was sitting next door, so that there was no chance of a rescue in the streets, they declared themselves satisfied with the sentence. gosson had not been tried, his case being reserved for the morrow. meantime, the short autumnal day had drawn to a close. a wild, stormy, rainy night then set in, but still the royalist party--citizens and soldiers intermingled--all armed to the teeth, and uttering fierce cries, while the whole scene was fitfully illuminated with the glare of flambeaux and blazing tar-barrels, kept watch in the open square around the city hall. a series of terrible rembrandt-like nightpieces succeeded--grim, fantastic, and gory. bertoul, an old man, who for years had so surely felt himself predestined to his present doom that he had kept a gibbet in his own house to accustom himself to the sight of the machine, was led forth the first, and hanged at ten in the evening. he was a good man, of perfectly blameless life, a sincere catholic, but a warm partisan of orange. valentine de mordacq, an old soldier, came from the hotel de ville to the gallows at midnight. as he stood on the ladder, amid the flaming torches, he broke forth into furious execrations, wagging his long white beard to and fro, making hideous grimaces, and cursing the hard fate which, after many dangers on the battle-field and in beleaguered cities, had left him to such a death. the cord strangled his curses. crugeot was executed at three in the morning, having obtained a few hours' respite in order to make his preparations, which he accordingly occupied himself in doing as tranquilly as if he had been setting forth upon an agreeable journey. he looked like a phantom, according to eye-witnesses, as he stood under the gibbet, making a most pious and, catholic address to the crowd. the whole of the following day was devoted to the trial of gosson. he was condemned at nightfall, and heard by appeal before the superior court directly afterwards. at midnight, of the th of october, , he was condemned to lose his head, the execution to take place without delay. the city guards and the infantry under capres still bivouacked upon the square; the howling storm still continued, but the glare of fagots and torches made the place as light as day. the ancient advocate, with haggard eyes and features distorted by wrath, walking between the sheriff and a franciscan monk, advanced through the long lane of halberdiers, in the grand hall of the town house, and thence emerged upon the scaffold erected before the door. he shook his fists with rage at the released magistrates, so lately his prisoners, exclaiming that to his misplaced mercy it was owing that his head, instead of their own, was to be placed upon the block. he bitterly reproached the citizens for their cowardice in shrinking from dealing a blow for their fatherland, and in behalf of one who had so faithfully served them. the clerk of the court then read the sentence amid a silence so profound that every syllable he uttered, and, every sigh and ejaculation of the victim were distinctly heard in the most remote corner of the square. gosson then, exclaiming that he was murdered without cause, knelt upon the scaffold. his head fell while an angry imprecation was still upon his lips. several other persons of lesser note were hanged daring the week-among others, matthew doucet, the truculent man of gingerbread, whose rage had been so judiciously but so unsuccessfully directed against the prior of saint vaast. captain ambrose, too, did not live long to enjoy the price of his treachery. he was arrested very soon afterwards by the states' government in antwerp, put to the torture, hanged and quartered. in troublous times like those, when honest men found it difficult to keep their heads upon their shoulders, rogues were apt to meet their deserts, unless they had the advantage of lofty lineage and elevated position. "ille crucem sceleris pretium tulit, hic diadema." this municipal revolution and counter-revolution, obscure though they seem, were in reality of very grave importance. this was the last blow struck for freedom in the walloon country. the failure of the movement made that scission of the netherlands certain, which has endured till our days, for the influence of the ecclesiastics in the states of artois and hainault, together with the military power of the malcontent grandees, whom parma and john sarrasin had purchased, could no longer be resisted. the liberty of the celtic provinces was sold, and a few high-born traitors received the price. before the end of the year ( ) montigny had signified to the duke of alencon that a prince who avowed himself too poor to pay for soldiers was no master for him. the baron, therefore, came, to an understanding with la motte and sarrasin, acting for alexander farnese, and received the command of the infantry in the walloon provinces, a merced of four thousand crowns a year, together with as large a slice of la motte's hundred thousand florins for himself and soldiers, as that officer could be induced to part with. baron capres, whom sarrasin--being especially enjoined to purchase him--had, in his own language, "sweated blood and water" to secure, at last agreed to reconcile himself with the king's party upon condition of receiving the government-general of artois, together with the particular government of hesdin--very lucrative offices, which the viscount of ghent then held by commission of the states-general. that politic personage, however, whose disinclination to desert the liberty party which had clothed him with such high functions, was apparently so marked that the prior had caused an ambush to be laid both for him and the marquis havre, in-order to obtain bodily possession of two such powerful enemies, now, at the last moment, displayed his true colors. he consented to reconcile himself also, on condition of receiving the royal appointment to the same government which he then held from the patriot authorities, together with the title of marquis de richebourg, the command of all the cavalry in the royalist provinces, and certain rewards in money besides. by holding himself at a high mark, and keeping at a distance, he had obtained his price. capres, for whom philip, at parma's suggestion, had sent the commission as governor of artois and of hesdin, was obliged to renounce those offices, notwithstanding his earlier "reconciliation," and the "blood and water" of john sarrasin. ghent was not even contented with these guerdons, but insisted upon the command of all the cavalry, including the band of ordnance which, with handsome salary, had been assigned to lalain as a part of the wages for his treason, while the "little count"--fiery as his small and belligerent cousin whose exploits have been recorded in the earlier pages of this history--boldly taxed parma and the king with cheating him out of his promised reward, in order to please a noble whose services had been less valuable than those of the lalain family. having thus obtained the lion's share, due, as he thought, to his well known courage and military talents, as well as to the powerful family influence, which he wielded--his brother, the prince of espinoy, hereditary seneschal of hainault, having likewise rallied to the king's party--ghent jocosely intimated to parma his intention of helping himself to the two best horses in the prince's stables in exchange for those lost at gemblours, in which disastrous action he had commanded the cavalry for the states. he also sent two terriers to farnese, hoping that they would "prove more useful than beautiful." the prince might have thought, perhaps, as much of the viscount's treason. john sarrasin, the all-accomplished prior, as the reward of his exertions, received from philip the abbey of saint vaast, the richest and most powerful ecclesiastical establishment in the netherlands. at a subsequent period his grateful sovereign created him archbishop of cambray. thus the "troubles of arras"--as they were called--terminated. gosson the respected, wealthy, eloquent, and virtuous advocate; together with his colleagues--all catholics, but at the same time patriots and liberals--died the death of felons for their unfortunate attempt to save their fatherland from an ecclesiastical and venal conspiracy; while the actors in the plot, having all performed well their parts, received their full meed of prizes and applause. the private treaty by which the walloon provinces of artois, hainault, lille, douay, and orchies, united themselves in a separate league was signed upon the th of january, ; but the final arrangements for the reconciliation of the malcontent nobles and their soldiers were not completed until april th, upon which day a secret paper was signed at mount saint eloi. the secret current of the intrigue had not, however, flowed on with perfect smoothness until this placid termination. on the contrary, here had been much bickering, heart-burning, and mutual suspicions and recriminations. there had been violent wranglings among the claimants of the royal rewards. lalain and capres were not the only malcontents who had cause to complain of being cheated of the promised largess. montigny, in whose favor parma had distinctly commanded la motte to be liberal of the king's secret-service money, furiously charged the governor of gravelines with having received a large supply of gold from spain, and of "locking the rascal counters from his friends," so that parma was obliged to quiet the baron, and many other barons in the same predicament, out of his own purse. all complained bitterly, too, that the king, whose promises had been so profuse to the nobles while the reconciliation was pending, turned a deaf ear to their petitions and left their letters unanswered; after the deed was accomplished. the unlucky prior of renty, whose disclosures to la motte concerning the spanish sarcasms upon his venality, had so nearly caused the preliminary negotiation with that seignior to fail, was the cause of still further mischief through the interception of alonzo curiel's private letters. such revelations of corruption, and of contempt on the part of the corrupters, were eagerly turned to account by the states' government. a special messenger was despatched to montigny with the intercepted correspondence, accompanied by an earnest prayer that he would not contaminate his sword and his noble name by subserviency to men who despised even while they purchased traitors. that noble, both confounded and exasperated, was for a moment inclined to listen to the voice of honor and patriotism, but reflection and solitude induced him to pocket up his wrongs and his "merced" together. the states-general also sent the correspondence to the walloon provincial authorities, with an eloquent address, begging them to study well the pitiful part which la motte had enacted in the private comedy then performing, and to behold as in a mirror their own position, if they did not recede ere it was too late. the only important effect produced by the discovery was upon the prior of renty himself. ottavio gonzaga, the intimate friend of don john, and now high in the confidence of parma, wrote to la motte, indignantly denying the truth of bien aime's tattle, and affirming that not a word had ever been uttered by himself or by any gentleman in his presence to the disparagement of the governor of gravelines. he added that if the prior had worn another coat, and were of quality equal to his own, he would have made him eat his words or a few inches of steel. in the same vehement terms he addressed a letter to bien aime himself. very soon afterwards, notwithstanding his coat and his quality, that unfortunate ecclesiastic found himself beset one dark night by two soldiers, who left him, severely wounded and bleeding nearly to death upon the high road, but escaping with life, he wrote to parma, recounting his wrongs and the "sword-thrust in his left thigh," and made a demand for a merced. the prior recovered from this difficulty only to fall into another, by publishing what he called an apologue, in which he charged that the reconciled nobles were equally false to the royal and to the rebel government, and that, although "the fatted calf had been killed for them, after they had so long been feeding with perverse heretical pigs," they were, in truth, as mutinous as ever, being bent upon establishing an oligarchy in the netherlands, and dividing the territory among themselves, to the exclusion of the sovereign. this naturally excited the wrath of the viscount and others. the seigneur d'auberlieu, in a letter written in what the writer himself called the "gross style of a gendarme," charged the prior with maligning honorable lords and--in the favorite colloquial phrase of the day--with attempting "to throw the cat against their legs." the real crime of the meddling priest, however, was to have let that troublesome animal out of the bag. he was accordingly waylaid again, and thrown into prison by count lalain. while in durance he published an abject apology for his apologue, explaining that his allusions to "returned prodigals," "heretic swine," and to "sodom and gomorrah," had been entirely misconstrued. he was, however, retained in custody until parma ordered his release on the ground that the punishment had been already sufficient for the offence. he then requested to be appointed bishop of saint omer, that see being vacant. parma advised the king by no means to grant the request--the prior being neither endowed with the proper age nor discretion for such a dignity--but to bestow some lesser reward, in money or otherwise, upon the discomfited ecclesiastic, who had rendered so many services and incurred so many dangers. the states-general and the whole national party regarded, with prophetic dismay, the approaching dismemberment of their common country. they sent deputation on deputation to the walloon states, to warn them of their danger, and to avert, if possible, the fatal measure. meantime, as by the already accomplished movement, the "generality" was fast disappearing, and was indeed but the shadow of its former self, it seemed necessary to make a vigorous effort to restore something like unity to the struggling country. the ghent pacification had been their outer wall, ample enough and strong enough to enclose and to protect all the provinces. treachery and religious fanaticism had undermined the bulwark almost as soon as reared. the whole beleaguered country was in danger of becoming utterly exposed to a foe who grew daily more threatening. as in besieged cities, a sudden breastwork is thrown up internally, when the outward defences are crumbling--so the energy of orange had been silently preparing the union of utrecht, as a temporary defence until the foe should be beaten back, and there should be time to decide on their future course of action. during the whole month of december, an active correspondence had been carried on by the prince and his brother john with various agents in gelderland, friesland, and groningen, as well as with influential personages in the more central provinces and cities. gelderland, the natural bulwark to holland and zealand, commanding the four great rivers of the country, had been fortunately placed under the government of the trusty john of nassau, that province being warmly in favor of a closer union with its sister provinces, and particularly with those more nearly allied to itself in religion and in language. already, in december ( ), count john, in behalf of his brother, had laid before the states of holland and zealand, assembled at gorcum, the project of a new union with "gelderland, ghent, friesland, utrecht, overyssel, and groningen." the proposition had been favorably entertained, and commissioners had been appointed to confer with other commissioners at utrecht, whenever they should be summoned by count john. the prince, with the silence and caution which belonged to his whole policy, chose not to be the ostensible mover in the plan himself. he did not choose to startle unnecessarily the archduke matthias--the cipher who had been placed by his side, whose sudden subtraction would occasion more loss than his presence had conferred benefit. he did not choose to be cried out upon as infringing the ghent pacification, although the whole world knew that treaty to be hopelessly annulled. for these and many other weighty motives, he proposed that the new union should be the apparent work of other hands, and only offered to him and to the country, when nearly completed. january, the deputies of gelderland and zutfelt, with count john, stadholder of these provinces, at their head, met with the deputies of holland, zealand, and the provinces between the ems and the lauwers, early in january, , and on the rd of that month, without waiting longer for the deputies of the other provinces, they agreed provisionally upon a treaty of union which was published afterwards on the th, from the town house of utrecht. this memorable document--which is ever regarded as the foundation of the netherland republic--contained twenty-six articles. the preamble stated the object of the union. it was to strengthen, not to forsake the ghent pacification, already nearly annihilated by the force of foreign soldiery. for this purpose, and in order more conveniently to defend themselves against their foes, the deputies of gelderland, zutfen, holland, zealand, utrecht, and the frisian provinces, thought it desirable to form a still closer union. the contracting provinces agreed to remain eternally united, as if they were but one province. at the same time, it was understood that each was to retain its particular privileges, liberties, laudable and traditionary customs, and other laws. the cities, corporations, and inhabitants of every province were to be guaranteed as to their ancient constitutions. disputes concerning these various statutes and customs were to be decided by the usual tribunals, by "good men," or by amicable compromise. the provinces, by virtue of the union, were to defend each other "with life, goods, and blood," against all force brought against them in the king's name or behalf. they were also to defend each other against all foreign or domestic potentates, provinces, or cities, provided such defence were controlled by the "generality" of the union. for the expense occasioned by the protection of the provinces, certain imposts and excises were to be equally assessed and collected. no truce or peace was to be concluded, no war commenced, no impost established affecting the "generality," but by unanimous advice and consent of the provinces. upon other matters the majority was to decide; the votes being taken in the manner then customary in the assembly of states-general. in case of difficulty in coming to a unanimous vote when required, the matter was to be referred to the stadholders then in office. in case cf their inability to agree, they were to appoint arbitrators, by whose decision the parties were to be governed. none of the united provinces, or of their cities or corporations, were to make treaties with other potentates or states, without consent of their confederates. if neighbouring princes, provinces, or cities, wished to enter into this confederacy, they were to be received by the unanimous consent of the united provinces. a common currency was to be established for the confederacy. in the matter of divine worship, holland and zealand were to conduct themselves as they should think proper. the other provinces of the union, however, were either to conform to the religious peace already laid down by archduke matthias and his council, or to make such other arrangements as each province should for itself consider appropriate for the maintenance of its internal tranquillity--provided always that every individual should remain free in his religion, and that no man should be molested or questioned on the subject of divine worship, as had been already established by the ghent pacification. as a certain dispute arose concerning the meaning of this important clause, an additional paragraph was inserted a few days afterwards. in this it was stated that there was no intention of excluding from the confederacy any province or city which was wholly catholic, or in which the number of the reformed was not sufficiently large to entitle them, by the religious peace, to public worship. on the contrary, the intention was to admit them, provided they obeyed the articles of union, and conducted themselves as good patriots; it being intended that no province or city should interfere with another in the matter of divine service. disputes between two provinces were to be decided by the others, or--in case the generality were concerned--by the provisions of the ninth article. the confederates were to assemble at utrecht whenever summoned by those commissioned for that purpose. a majority of votes was to decide on matters then brought before them, even in case of the absence of some members of the confederacy, who might, however, send written proxies. additions or amendments to these articles could only be made by unanimous consent. the articles were to be signed by the stadholders, magistrates, and principal officers of each province and city, and by all the train-bands, fraternities, and sodalities which might exist in the cities or villages of the union. such were the simple provisions of that instrument which became the foundation of the powerful commonwealth of the united netherlands. on the day when it was concluded, there were present deputies from five provinces only. count john of nassau signed first, as stadholder of gelderland and zutfen. his signature was followed by those of four deputies from that double province; and the envoys of holland, zealand, utrecht and the frisian provinces, then signed the document. the prince himself, although in reality the principal director of the movement, delayed appending his signature until may the rd, . herein he was actuated by the reasons already stated, and by the hope which he still entertained that a wider union might be established, with matthias for its nominal chief. his enemies, as usual, attributed this patriotic delay to baser motives. they accused him of a desire to assume the governor-generalship himself, to the exclusion of the archduke--an insinuation which the states of holland took occasion formally to denounce as a calumny. for those who have studied the character and history of the man, a defence against such slander is superfluous. matthias was but the shadow, orange the substance. the archduke had been accepted only to obviate the evil effects of a political intrigue, and with the express condition that the prince should be his lieutenant-general in name, his master in fact. directly after his departure in the following year, the prince's authority, which nominally departed also, was re-established in his own person, and by express act of the states-general. the union of utrecht was the foundation-stone of the netherland republic; but the framers of the confederacy did not intend the establishment of a republic, or of an independent commonwealth of any kind. they had not forsworn the spanish monarch. it was not yet their intention to forswear him. certainly the act of union contained no allusion to such an important step. on the contrary, in the brief preamble they expressly stated their intention to strengthen the ghent pacification, and the ghent pacification acknowledged obedience to the king. they intended no political innovation of any kind. they expressly accepted matters as they were. all statutes, charters, and privileges of provinces, cities, or corporations were to remain untouched. they intended to form neither an independent state nor an independent federal system. no doubt the formal renunciation of allegiance, which was to follow within two years, was contemplated by many as a future probability; but it could not be foreseen with certainty. the simple act of union was not regarded as the constitution of a commonwealth. its object was a single one--defence against a foreign oppressor. the contracting parties bound themselves together to spend all their treasure and all their blood in expelling the foreign soldiery from their soil. to accomplish this purpose, they carefully abstained from intermeddling with internal politics and with religion. every man was to worship god according to the dictates of his conscience. every combination of citizens, from the provincial states down to the humblest rhetoric club, was to retain its ancient constitution. the establishment of a republic, which lasted two centuries, which threw a girdle of rich dependencies entirely round the globe, and which attained so remarkable a height of commercial prosperity and political influence, was the result of the utrecht union; but, it was not a premeditated result. a state, single towards the rest of the world, a unit in its external relations, while permitting internally a variety of sovereignties and institutions--in many respects the prototype of our own much more extensive and powerful union--was destined to spring from the act thus signed by the envoys of five provinces. those envoys were acting, however, under the pressure of extreme necessity, and for what was believed an evanescent purpose. the future confederacy was not to resemble the system of the german empire, for it was to acknowledge no single head. it was to differ from the achaian league, in the far inferior amount of power which it permitted to its general assembly, and in the consequently greater proportion of sovereign attributes which were retained by the individual states. it was, on the other hand, to furnish a closer and more intimate bond than that of the swiss confederacy, which was only a union for defence and external purposes, of cantons otherwise independent. it was, finally, to differ from the american federal commonwealth in the great feature that it was to be merely a confederacy of sovereignties, not a representative republic. its foundation was a compact, not a constitution. the contracting parties were states and corporations, who considered themselves as representing small nationalities 'dejure et de facto', and as succeeding to the supreme power at the very instant in which allegiance to the spanish monarch was renounced. the general assembly was a collection of diplomatic envoys, bound by instructions from independent states. the voting was not by heads, but by states. the deputies were not representatives of the people, but of the states; for the people of the united states of the netherlands never assembled--as did the people of the united states of america two centuries later--to lay down a constitution, by which they granted a generous amount of power to the union, while they reserved enough of sovereign attributes to secure that local self-government which is the life-blood of liberty. the union of utrecht; narrowed as it was to the nether portion of that country which, as a whole, might have formed a commonwealth so much more powerful, was in origin a proof of this lamentable want of patriotism. could the jealousy of great nobles, the rancour of religious differences, the catholic bigotry of the walloon population, on the one side, contending with the democratic insanity of the ghent populace on the other, have been restrained within bounds by the moderate counsels of william of orange, it would have been possible to unite seventeen provinces instead of seven, and to save many long and blighting years of civil war. the utrecht union was, however, of inestimable value. it was time for some step to be taken, if anarchy were not to reign until the inquisition and absolutism were restored. already, out of chaos and night, the coming republic was assuming substance and form. the union, if it created nothing else, at least constructed a league against a foreign foe whose armed masses were pouring faster and faster into the territory of the provinces. farther than this it did not propose to go. it maintained what it found. it guaranteed religious liberty, and accepted the civil and political constitutions already in existence. meantime, the defects of those constitutions, although visible and sensible, had not grown to the large proportions which they were destined to attain. thus by the union of utrecht on the one hand, and the fast approaching reconciliation of the walloon provinces on the other, the work of decomposition and of construction went land in hand. etext editor's bookmarks: are apt to discharge such obligations--(by) ingratitude like a man holding a wolf by the ears local self-government which is the life-blood of liberty no man ever understood the art of bribery more thoroughly not so successful as he was picturesque plundering the country which they came to protect presumption in entitling themselves christian protect the common tranquillity by blood, purse, and life republic, which lasted two centuries throw the cat against their legs worship god according to the dictates of his conscience motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley chapter ii. parma's feint upon antwerp--he invests maestricht--deputation and letters from the states-general, from brussels, and from parma, to the walloon provinces--active negotiations by orange and by farnese --walloon envoys in parma's camp before maestricht--festivities--the treaty of reconciliation--rejoicings of the royalist party--comedy enacted at the paris theatres--religious tumults in antwerp, utrecht, and other cities--religious peace enforced by orange-- philip egmont's unsuccessful attempt upon brussels--siege of maestricht--failure at the tongres gate--mining and countermining-- partial destruction of the tongres ravelin--simultaneous attack upon the tongres and bolls-le-duo gates--the spaniards repulsed with great loss--gradual encroachments of the besiegers--bloody contests --the town taken--horrible massacre--triumphal entrance and solemn thanksgiving--calumnious attacks upon orange--renewed troubles in ghent--imbue and dathenus--the presence of the prince solicited-- coup d'etat of imbue--order restored, and imbue expelled by orange the political movements in both directions were to be hastened by the military operations of the opening season. on the night of the nd of march, , the prince of parma made a demonstration against antwerp. a body of three thousand scotch and english, lying at borgerhout, was rapidly driven in, and a warm skirmish ensued, directly under the walls of the city. the prince of orange, with the archduke matthias, being in antwerp at the time, remained on the fortifications; superintending the action, and parma was obliged to retire after an hour or two of sharp fighting, with a loss of four hundred men. this demonstration was, however, only a feint. his real design was upon maestricht; before which important city he appeared in great force, ten days afterwards, when he was least expected. well fortified, surrounded by a broad and deep moat; built upon both sides of the meuse, upon the right bank of which river, however, the portion of the town was so inconsiderable that it was merely called the village of wyk, this key to the german gate of the netherlands was, unfortunately, in brave but feeble hands. the garrison was hardly one thousand strong; the trained bands of burghers amounted to twelve hundred more; while between three and four thousand peasants; who had taken refuge within the city walls, did excellent service as sappers and miners. parma, on the other hand, had appeared before the walls with twenty thousand men; to which number he received constant reinforcements. the bishop of liege, too, had sent him four thousand pioneers--a most important service; for mining and countermining was to decide the fate of maestricht. early in january the royalists had surprised the strong chateau of carpen, in the neighbourhood of the city, upon which occasion the garrison were all hanged by moonlight on the trees in the orchard. the commandant shared their fate; and it is a curious fact that he had, precisely a year previously, hanged the royalist captain, blomaert, on the same spot, who, with the rope around his neck, had foretold a like doom to his destroyer. the prince of orange, feeling the danger of maestricht, lost no time in warning the states to the necessary measures, imploring them "not to fall asleep in the shade of a peace negotiation," while meantime parma threw two bridges over the meuse, above and below the city, and then invested the place so closely that all communication was absolutely suspended. letters could pass to and fro only at extreme peril to the messengers, and all possibility of reinforcing the city at the moment was cut off. while this eventful siege was proceeding, the negotiations with the walloons were ripening. the siege and the conferences went hand in hand. besides the secret arrangements already described for the separation of the walloon provinces, there had been much earnest and eloquent remonstrance on the part of the states-general and of orange--many solemn embassies and public appeals. as usual, the pacification of ghent was the two-sided shield which hung between the parties to cover or to justify the blows which each dealt at the other. there is no doubt as to the real opinion entertained concerning that famous treaty by the royal party. "through the peace of ghent," said saint vaast, "all our woes have been brought upon us." la motte informed parma that it was necessary to pretend a respect for the pacification, however, on account of its popularity, but that it was well understood by the leaders of the walloon movement, that the intention was to restore the system of charles the fifth. parma signified his consent to make use of that treaty as a basis, "provided always it were interpreted healthily, and not dislocated by cavillations and sinister interpolations, as had been done by the prince of orange." the malcontent generals of the walloon troops were inexpressibly anxious lest the cause of religion should be endangered; but the arguments by which parma convinced those military casuists as to the compatibility of the ghent peace with sound doctrine have already been exhibited. the influence of the reconciled nobles was brought to bear with fatal effect upon the states of artois, hainault, and of a portion of french flanders. the gallic element in their blood, and an intense attachment to the roman ceremonial, which distinguished the walloon population from their batavian brethren, were used successfully by the wily parma to destroy the unity of the revolted netherlands. moreover, the king offered good terms. the monarch, feeling safe on the religious point, was willing to make liberal promises upon the political questions. in truth, the great grievance of which the walloons complained was the insolence and intolerable outrages of the foreign soldiers. this, they said, had alone made them malcontent. it was; therefore, obviously the cue of parma to promise the immediate departure of the troops. this could be done the more easily, as he had no intention of keeping the promise. meantime the efforts of orange, and of the states-general, where his influence was still paramount, were unceasing to counteract the policy of parma. a deputation was appointed by the generality to visit the estates of the walloon provinces. another was sent by the authorities of brussels. the marquis of havre, with several colleagues on behalf of the states-general, waited upon the viscount of ghent, by whom they were received with extreme insolence. he glared upon them, without moving, as they were admitted to his presence; "looking like a dead man, from whom the soul had entirely departed." recovering afterwards from this stony trance of indignation, he demanded a sight of their instructions. this they courteously refused, as they were accredited not to him, but to the states of artois. at this he fell into a violent passion, and threatened them with signal chastisement for daring to come thither with so treasonable a purpose. in short, according to their own expression; he treated them "as if they had been rogues and vagabonds." the marquis of havre, high-born though he was, had been sufficiently used to such conduct. the man who had successively served and betrayed every party, who had been the obsequious friend and the avowed enemy of don john within the same fortnight, and who had been able to swallow and inwardly digest many an insult from that fiery warrior, was even fain to brook the insolence of robert melun. the papers which the deputation had brought were finally laid before the states of artois, and received replies as prompt and bitter as the addresses were earnest and eloquent. the walloons, when summoned to hold to that aegis of national unity, the ghent peace, replied that it was not they, but the heretic portion of the states-general, who were for dashing it to the ground. the ghent treaty was never intended to impair the supremacy of the catholic religion, said those provinces, which were already on the point of separating for ever from the rest. the ghent treaty was intended expressly to destroy the inquisition and the placards, answered the national-party. moreover, the "very marrow of that treaty" was the-departure of the foreign soldiers, who were even then overrunning the land. the walloons answered that alexander had expressly conceded the withdrawal of the troops. "believe not the fluting and the piping of the crafty foe," urged the patriots. "promises are made profusely enough--but only to lure you to perdition. your enemies allow you to slake your hunger and thirst with this idle hope of the troops' departure, but you are still in fetters, although the chain be of spanish pinchbeck, which you mistake for gold." "'tis not we," cried the walloons, "who wish to separate from the generality; 'tis the generality which separates from us. we had rather die the death than not maintain the union. in the very same breath, however, they boasted of the excellent terms which the monarch was offering, and of their strong inclination to accept them." "kings, struggling to recover a lost authority, always promise golden mountains and every sort of miracles," replied the patriots; but the warning was uttered in vain. meantime the deputation from the city of brussels arrived on the th of march at mons, in hainault, where they were received with great courtesy by count de lalain, governor of the province. the enthusiasm with which he had espoused the cause of queen margaret and her brother anjou had cooled, but the count received the brussels envoys with a kindness in marked contrast with the brutality of melun. he made many fine speeches--protesting his attachment to, the union, for which he was ready to shed the last drop of his blood--entertained the deputies at dinner, proposed toasts to the prosperity of the united provinces, and dismissed his guests at last with many flowery professions. after dancing attendance for a few days, however, upon the estates of the walloon provinces, both sets of deputies were warned to take their instant departure as mischief-makers and rebels. they returned, accordingly, to brussels, bringing the written answers which the estates had vouchsafed to send. the states-general, too, inspired by william of orange, addressed a solemn appeal to their sister provinces, thus about to abjure the bonds of relationship for ever. it seemed right, once for all, to grapple with the ghent pacification for the last time, and to strike a final blow in defence of that large statesmanlike interpretation, which alone could make the treaty live. this was done eloquently and logically. the walloons were reminded that at the epoch of the ghent peace the number of reformers outside of holland and zealand was supposed small. now the new religion had spread its roots through the whole land, and innumerable multitudes desired its exercise. if holland and zealand chose to reestablish the catholic worship within their borders, they could manifestly do so without violating the treaty of ghent. why then was it not competent to other provinces, with equal allegiance to the treaty, to sanction the reformed religion within their limits? parma, on his part, publicly invited the states-general, by letter, to sustain the ghent treaty by accepting the terms offered to the walloons, and by restoring the system of the emperor charles, of very lofty memory. to this superfluous invitation the states-general replied, on the th of march, that it had been the system of the emperor charles; of lofty memory, to maintain the supremacy of catholicism and of majesty in the netherlands by burning netherlanders--a custom which the states, with common accord, had thought it desirable to do away with. in various fervently-written appeals by orange, by the states-general, and by other bodies, the wavering provinces were warned against seduction. they were reminded that the prince of parma was using this minor negotiation "as a second string to his bow;" that nothing could be more puerile than to suppose the spaniards capable, after securing maestricht, of sending away their troops thus "deserting the bride in the midst of the honeymoon." they expressed astonishment at being invited to abandon the great and general treaty which had been made upon the theatre of the whole world by the intervention of the principal princes of christendom, in order to partake in underhand negotiation with the commissioners of parma-men, "who, it would not be denied, were felons and traitors." they warned their brethren not to embark on the enemy's ships in the dark, for that, while chaffering as to the price of the voyage, they would find that the false pilots had hoisted sail and borne them away in the night. in vain would they then seek to reach the shore again. the example of la motte and others, "bird-limed with spanish gold," should be salutary for all-men who were now driven forward with a whip, laughed to scorn by their new masters, and forced to drink the bitter draught of humiliation along with the sweet poison of bribery. they were warned to study well the intercepted letters of curiel, in order fully to fathom the deep designs and secret contempt of the enemy. such having been the result of the negotiations between the states-general and the walloon provinces, a strong deputation now went forth from those provinces, towards the end of april, to hold a final colloquy with parma, then already busied with the investment of maestricht. they were met upon the road with great ceremony, and escorted into the presence of farnese with drum, trumpet, and flaunting banners. he received them with stately affability, in a magnificently decorated pavilion, carelessly inviting them to a repast, which he called an afternoon's lunch, but which proved a most sumptuous and splendidly appointed entertainment. this "trifling foolish banquet" finished, the deputies were escorted, with great military parade, to the lodgings which had been provided for them in a neighbouring village. during the period of their visit, all the chief officers of the army and the household were directed to entertain the walloons with showy festivals, dinners, suppers, dances, and carousals of all kinds. at one of the most brilliant of these revels--a magnificent ball, to which all the matrons and maids of the whole country round had been bidden--the prince of parma himself unexpectedly made his appearance. he gently rebuked the entertainers for indulging in such splendid hospitality without, at least, permitting him to partake of it. charmingly affable to the ladies assembled in the ball-room, courteous, but slightly reserved, towards the walloon envoys, he excited the admiration of all by the splendid decorum of his manners. as he moved through the halls, modulating his steps in grave cadence to the music, the dignity and grace of his deportment seemed truly majestic; but when he actually danced a measure himself the enthusiasm was at its height. they should, indeed, be rustics, cried the walloon envoys in a breath, not to give the hand of fellowship at once to a prince so condescending and amiable. the exclamation seemed to embody the general wish, and to foreshadow a speedy conclusion. very soon afterwards a preliminary accord was signed between the king's government and the walloon provinces. the provisions on his majesty's part were sufficiently liberal. the religious question furnishing no obstacle, it was comparatively easy for philip to appear benignant. it was stipulated that the provincial privileges should be respected; that a member of the king's own family, legitimately born, should always be governor-general, and that the foreign troops should be immediately withdrawn. the official exchange and ratification of this treaty were delayed till the th of the following september, but the news that, the reconciliation had been definitely settled soon spread through the country. the catholics were elated, the patriots dismayed. orange-the "prince of darkness," as the walloons of the day were fond of calling him--still unwilling to despair, reluctant to accept this dismemberment, which he foresaw was to be a perpetual one, of his beloved country, addressed the most passionate and solemn adjurations to the walloon provinces, and to their military chieftains. he offered all his children as hostages for his good faith in keeping sacredly any covenant which his catholic countrymen might be willing to close with him. it was in vain. the step was irretrievably taken; religious bigotry, patrician jealousy, and wholesale bribery, had severed the netherlands in twain for ever. the friends of romanism, the enemies of civil and religious liberty, exulted from one end of christendom to the other, and it was recognized that parma had, indeed, achieved a victory which although bloodless, was as important to the cause of absolutism as any which even his sword was likely to achieve. the joy of the catholic party in paris manifested itself in a variety of ways. at the principal theatre an uncouth pantomime was exhibited, in which his catholic majesty was introduced upon the stage, leading by a halter a sleek cow, typifying the netherlands. the animal by a sudden effort, broke the cord, and capered wildly about. alexander of parma hastened to fasten the fragments together, while sundry personages, representing the states-general, seized her by the horns, some leaping upon her back, others calling upon the bystanders to assist in holding the restive beast. the emperor, the king of france, and the queen of england--which last personage was observed now to smile upon one party, now to affect deep sympathy with the other--remained stationary; but the duke of alencon rushed upon the stage, and caught the cow by the tail. the prince of orange and hans casimir then appeared with a bucket, and set themselves busily to milk her, when alexander again seized the halter. the cow gave a plunge, upset the pail, prostrated casimir with one kick and orange with another, and then followed parma with docility as he led her back to philip. this seems not very "admirable fooling," but it was highly relished by the polite parisians of the sixteenth century, and has been thought worthy of record by classical historians. the walloon accord was an auspicious prelude, in the eyes of the friends of absolutism, to the negotiations which were opened in the month of may, at cologne. before sketching, as rapidly as possible, those celebrated but barren conferences, it is necessary, for the sake of unity in the narrative, to cast a glance at certain synchronical events in different parts of the netherlands. the success attained by the catholic party in the walloon negotiations had caused a corresponding bitterness in the hearts of the reformers throughout the country. as usual, bitterness had begot bitterness; intolerance engendered intolerance. on the th of may, , as the catholics of antwerp were celebrating the ommegang--the same festival which had been the exciting cause of the memorable tumults of the year sixty-five--the irritation of the populace could not be repressed. the mob rose in its wrath to put down these demonstrations--which, taken in connection with recent events, seemed ill-timed and insolent--of a religion whose votaries then formed but a small minority of the antwerp citizens. there was a great tumult. two persons were killed. the archduke matthias, who was himself in the cathedral of notre dame assisting at the ceremony, was in danger of his life. the well known cry of "paapen uit" (out with the papists) resounded through the streets, and the priests and monks were all hustled out of town amid a tempest of execrations. orange did his utmost to quell the mutiny, nor were his efforts fruitless--for the uproar, although seditious and disgraceful, was hardly sanguinary. next day the prince summoned the magistracy, the monday council, the guild officers, with all the chief municipal functionaries, and expressed his indignation in decided terms. he protested that if such tumults, originating in that very spirit of intolerance which he most deplored, could not be repressed for the future, he was determined to resign his offices, and no longer to affect authority in a city where his counsels were derided. the magistrates, alarmed at his threats, and sympathizing with his anger, implored him not to desert them, protesting that if he should resign his offices, they would instantly lay down their own. an ordinance was then drawn up and immediately, proclaimed at the town house, permitting the catholics to re-enter the city, and to enjoy the privileges of religious worship. at the same time, it was announced that a new draft of a religious peace would be forthwith issued for the adoption of every city. a similar tumult, arising from the same cause, at utrecht, was attended with the like result. on the other hand, the city of brussels was astonished by a feeble and unsuccessful attempts at treason, made by a youth who bore an illustrious name. philip, count of egmont, eldest son of the unfortunate lamoral, had command of a regiment in the service of the states. he had, besides, a small body of cavalry in immediate attendance upon his person. he had for some time felt inclined--like the lalains, meluns, la mottes, and others to reconcile himself with the crown, and he wisely thought that the terms accorded to him would be more liberal if he could bring the capital of brabant with him as a peace offering to his majesty. his residence was in brussels. his regiment was stationed outside the gates, but in the immediate neighbourhood of the city. on the morning of the th of june he despatched his troopers--as had been frequently his custom--on various errands into the country. on their return, after having summoned the regiment, they easily mastered and butchered the guard at the gate through which they had re-entered, supplying their place with men from their own ranks. the egmont regiment then came marching through the gate in good order--count philip at their head--and proceeded to station themselves upon the grande place in the centre of the city. all this was at dawn of day. the burghers, who looked forth from their houses, were astounded and perplexed by this movement at so unwonted an hour, and hastened to seize their weapons. egmont sent a detachment to take possession of the palace. he was too late. colonel van der tympel, commandant of the city, had been beforehand with him, had got his troops under arms, and now secured the rebellious detachment. meantime, the alarm had spread. armed burghers came from every house, and barricades were hastily thrown up across every one of the narrow streets leading to the square. every issue was closed. not a man of egmont's adherents--if he indeed had adherents among the townsmen--dared to show his face. the young traitor and his whole regiment, drawn up on the grande place, were completely entrapped. he had not taken brussels, but assuredly brussels had taken him. all day long he was kept in his self-elected prison and pillory, bursting with rage and shame. his soldiers, who were without meat or drink, became insolent and uproarious, and he was doomed also to hear the bitter and well-merited taunts of the towns-people. a thousand stinging gibes, suggested by his name and the locality, were mercilessly launched upon him. he was asked if he came thither to seek his father's head. he was reminded that the morrow was the anniversary of that father's murder upon that very spot--by those with whom the son would now make his treasonable peace. he was bidden to tear up but a few stones from the pavement beneath his feet, that the hero's blood might cry out against him from the very ground. tears of shame and fury sprang from the young man's eyes as he listened to these biting sarcasms, but the night closed upon that memorable square, and still the count was a prisoner. eleven years before, the summer stars had looked down upon a more dense array of armed men within that place. the preparations for the pompous and dramatic execution, which on the morrow was to startle all europe, had been carried out in the midst of a hushed and overawed population; and now, on the very anniversary of the midnight in which that scaffold had risen, should not the grand spectre of the victim have started from the grave to chide his traitorous son? thus for a whole day and night was the baffled conspirator compelled to remain in the ignominious position which he had selected for himself. on the morning of the th of june he was permitted to depart, by a somewhat inexplicable indulgence, together with all his followers. he rode out of the gate at early dawn, contemptible and crest-fallen, at the head of his regiment of traitors, and shortly afterwards--pillaging and levying black mail as he went--made his way to montigny's quarters. it might have seemed natural, after such an exhibition, that philip egmont should accept his character of renegade, and confess his intention of reconciling himself with the murderers of his father. on the contrary, he addressed a letter to the magistracy of brussels, denying with vehemence "any intention of joining the party of the pernicious spaniards," warmly protesting his zeal and affection for the states, and denouncing the "perverse inventors of these calumnies against him as the worst enemies of the poor afflicted country." the magistrates replied by expressing their inability to comprehend how the count, who had suffered villainous wrongs from the spaniards, such as he could never sufficiently deplore or avenge, should ever be willing to enslave himself, to those tyrants. nevertheless, exactly at the moment of this correspondence, egmont was in close negotiation with spain, having fifteen days before the date of his letter to the brussels senate, conveyed to parma his resolution to "embrace the cause of his majesty and the ancient religion"--an intention which he vaunted himself to have proved "by cutting the throats of three companies of states' soldiers at nivelle, grandmont, and ninove." parma had already written to communicate the intelligence to the king, and to beg encouragement for the count. in september, the monarch wrote a letter to egmont, full of gratitude and promises, to which the count replied by expressing lively gratification that his majesty was pleased with his little services, by avowing profound attachment to church and king, and by asking eagerly for money, together with the government of alost. he soon became singularly importunate for rewards and promotion, demanding, among other posts, the command of the "band of ordnance," which had been his father's. parma, in reply, was prodigal of promises, reminding the young noble "that he was serving a sovereign who well knew how to reward the distinguished exploits of his subjects." such was the language of philip the second and his governor to the son of the headless hero of saint quentin; such was the fawning obsequiousness with which egmont could kiss that royal hand reeking with his father's blood. meanwhile the siege of maestricht had been advancing with steady precision. to military minds of that epoch--perhaps of later ages--this achievement of parma seemed a masterpiece of art. the city commanded the upper meuse, and was the gate into germany. it contained thirty-four thousand inhabitants. an army, numbering almost as many souls, was brought against it; and the number of deaths by which its capture was at last effected, was probably equal to that of a moiety of the population. to the technical mind, the siege no doubt seemed a beautiful creation of human intelligence. to the honest student of history, to the lover of human progress, such a manifestation of intellect seems a sufficiently sad exhibition. given, a city with strong walls and towers, a slender garrison and a devoted population on one side; a consummate chieftain on the other, with an army of veterans at his back, no interruption to fear, and a long season to work in; it would not seem to an unsophisticated mind a very lofty exploit for the soldier to carry the city at the end of four months' hard labor. the investment of maestricht was commenced upon the th of march, . in the city, besides the population, there were two thousand peasants, both men and women, a garrison of one thousand soldiers; and a trained burgher guard; numbering about twelve hundred. the name of the military commandant was melchior. sebastian tappin, a lorraine officer of much experience and bravery, was next in command, and was, in truth, the principal director of the operations. he had been despatched thither by the prince of orange, to serve under la none, who was to have commanded in maestricht, but had been unable to enter the city. feeling that the siege was to be a close one, and knowing how much depended upon the issue, sebastian lost no time in making every needful preparation for coming events. the walls were strengthened everywhere; shafts were sunk, preparatory to the countermining operations which were soon to become necessary; the moat was deepened and cleared, and the forts near the gates were put in thorough repair. on the other hand, alexander had encircled the city, and had thrown two bridges, well fortified, across the river. there were six gates to the town, each provided with ravelins, and there was a doubt in what direction the first attack should be made. opinions wavered between the gate of bois-le-duc, next the river, and that of tongres on the south-western side, but it was finally decided to attempt the gate of tongres. over against that point the platforms were accordingly constructed, and after a heavy cannonade from forty-six great guns continued for several days, it was thought, by the th of march, that an impression had been made upon the city. a portion of the brick curtain had crumbled, but through the breach was seen a massive terreplein, well moated, which, after six thousand shots already delivered on the outer wall--still remained uninjured. it was recognized that the gate of tongres was not the most assailable, but rather the strongest portion of the defences, and alexander therefore determined to shift his batteries to the gate of bois-le-duc. at the same time, the attempt upon that of tongres was to be varied, but not abandoned. four thousand miners, who had passed half their lives in burrowing for coal in that anthracite region, had been furnished by the bishop of liege, and this force was now set to their subterranean work. a mine having been opened at a distance, the besiegers slowly worked their way towards the tongres gate, while at the same time the more ostensible operations were in the opposite direction. the besieged had their miners also, for the peasants in the city had been used to work with mattock and pickaxe. the women, too, enrolled themselves into companies, chose their officers--or "mine-mistresses," as they were called--and did good service daily in the caverns of the earth. thus a whole army of gnomes were noiselessly at work to destroy and defend the beleaguered city. the mine advanced towards the gate; the besieged delved deeper, and intersected it with a transverse excavation, and the contending forces met daily, in deadly encounter, within these sepulchral gangways. many stratagems were, mutually employed. the citizens secretly constructed a dam across the spanish mine, and then deluged their foe with hogsheads of boiling water. hundreds were thus scalded to death. they heaped branches and light fagots in the hostile mine, set fire to the pile, and blew thick volumes of smoke along the passage with organ-bellows brought from the churches for the purpose. many were thus suffocated. the discomfited besiegers abandoned the mine where they had met with such able countermining, and sunk another shaft, at midnight, in secret, at a long distance from the tongres gate. still towards that point, however, they burrowed in the darkness; guiding themselves to their destination with magnet, plumbline and level, as the mariner crosses the trackless ocean with compass and chart. they worked their way, unobstructed, till they arrived at their subterranean port, directly beneath the doomed ravelin. here they constructed a spacious chamber, supporting it with columns, and making all their architectural arrangements with as much precision and elegance as if their object had been purely esthetic. coffers full of powder, to an enormous amount, were then placed in every direction across the floor, the train was laid, and parma informed that all was ready. alexander, having already arrayed the troops destined for the assault, then proceeded in person to the mouth of the shaft, and gave orders to spring the mine. the explosion was prodigious; a part of the tower fell with the concussion, and the moat was choked with heaps of rubbish. the assailants sprang across the passage thus afforded, and mastered the ruined portion of the fort. they were met in the breach, however, by the unflinching defenders of the city, and, after a fierce combat of some hours, were obliged to retire; remaining masters, however, of the moat, and of the ruined portion of the ravelin. this was upon the rd of april. five days afterwards, a general assault was ordered. a new mine having been already constructed towards the tongres ravelin, and a faithful cannonade having been kept up for a fortnight against the bois-le-duc gate, it was thought advisable to attack at both points at once. on the th of april, accordingly, after uniting in prayer, and listening to a speech from alexander farnese, the great mass of the spanish army advanced to the breach. the moat had been rendered practicable in many places by the heaps of rubbish with which it had been encumbered, and by the fagots and earth with which it had been filled by the besiegers. the action at the bois-le-duc gate was exceedingly warm. the tried veterans of spain, italy, and burgundy, were met face to face by the burghers of maestricht, together with their wives and children. all were armed to the teeth, and fought with what seemed superhuman valor. the women, fierce as tigresses defending their young, swarmed to the walls, and fought in the foremost rank. they threw pails of boiling water on the besiegers, they hurled firebrands in their faces; they quoited blazing pitch-hoops with, unerring dexterity about their necks. the rustics too, armed with their ponderous flails, worked as cheerfully at this bloody harvesting as if thrashing their corn at home. heartily did they winnow the ranks of the royalists who came to butcher them, and thick and fast fell the invaders, fighting bravely, but baffled by these novel weapons used by peasant and woman, coming to the aid of the sword; spear, and musket of trained soldiery. more than a thousand had fallen at the bois-le-duc gate, and still fresh besiegers mounted the breach, only to be beaten back, or to add to the mangled heap of the slain. at the tongres gate, meanwhile, the assault had fared no better. a herald had been despatched thither in hot haste, to shout at the top of his lungs, "santiago! santiago! the lombards have the gate of bois-le-duc!" while the same stratagem was employed to persuade the invaders on the other side of the town that their comrades had forced the gate of tongres. the soldiers, animated by this fiction, and advancing with fury against the famous ravelin; which had been but partly destroyed, were received with a broadside from the great guns of the unshattered portion, and by a rattling discharge of musketry from the walls. they wavered a little. at the same instant the new mine--which was to have been sprung between the ravelin and the gate, but which had been secretly countermined by the townspeople, exploded with a horrible concussion, at a moment least expected by the besiegers. five hundred royalists were blown into the air. ortiz, a spanish captain of engineers, who had been inspecting the excavations, was thrown up bodily from the subterranean depth. he fell back again instantly into the same cavern, and was buried by the returning shower of earth which had spouted from the mine. forty-five years afterwards, in digging for the foundations of a new wall, his skeleton was found. clad in complete armor, the helmet and cuirass still sound, with his gold chain around his neck, and his mattock and pickaxe at his feet, the soldier lay unmutilated, seeming almost capable of resuming his part in the same war which--even after his half century's sleep--was still ravaging the land. five hundred of the spaniards, perished by the explosion, but none of the defenders were injured, for they, had been prepared. recovering from the momentary panic, the besiegers again rushed to the attack. the battle raged. six hundred and seventy officers, commissioned or non-commissioned, had already fallen, more than half mortally wounded. four thousand royalists, horribly mutilated, lay on the ground. it was time that the day's work should be finished, for maastricht was not to be carried upon that occasion. the best and bravest of the surviving officers besought parma to put an end to the carnage by recalling the troops; but the gladiator heart of the commander was heated, not softened, by the savage spectacle. "go back to the breach," he cried, "and tell the soldiers that alexander is coming to lead them into the city in triumph, or to perish with his comrades." he rushed forward with the fury which had marked him when he boarded mustapha's galley at lepanto; but all the generals who were near him threw themselves upon his path, and implored him to desist from such insensate rashness. their expostulations would have probably been in vain, had not his confidential friend, serbelloni, interposed with something like paternal authority, reminding him of the strict commands contained in his majesty's recent letters, that the governor-general, to whom so much was entrusted, should refrain, on pain of the royal displeasure, from exposing his life like a common fighter. alexander reluctantly gave the signal of recal at last, and accepted the defeat. for the future he determined to rely more upon the sapper and miner, and less upon the superiority of veterans to townsmen and rustics in open fight. sure to carry the city at last, according to line and rule, determined to pass the whole summer beneath the walls, rather than abandon his purpose, he calmly proceeded to complete his circumvallations. a chain of eleven forts upon the left, and five upon the right side of the meuse, the whole connected by a continuous wall, afforded him perfect security against interruptions, and allowed him to continue the siege at leisure. his numerous army was well housed and amply supplied, and he had built a strong and populous city in order to destroy another. relief was impossible. but a few thousand men were now required to defend farnese's improvised town, while the bulk of his army could be marched at any moment against an advancing foe. a force of seven thousand, painfully collected by the prince of orange, moved towards the place, under command of hohenlo and john of nassau, but struck with wonder at what they saw, the leaders recognized the hopelessness of attempting relief. maestricht was surrounded by a second maestricht. the efforts of orange were now necessarily directed towards obtaining, if possible, a truce of a few weeks from the negotiators at cologne. parma was too crafty, however, to allow terranova to consent, and as the duke disclaimed any power over the direct question of peace and war, the siege proceeded. the gates of bois-le-duc and tongres having thus far resisted the force brought against them, the scene was changed to the gate of brussels. this adjoined that of tongres, was farthest from the river, and faced westwardly towards the open country. here the besieged had constructed an additional ravelin, which they had christened, in derision, "parma," and against which the batteries of parma were now brought to bear. alexander erected a platform of great extent and strength directly opposite the new work, and after a severe and constant cannonade from this elevation, followed by a bloody action, the "parma" fort was carried. one thousand, at least, of the defenders fell, as, forced gradually from one defence to another, they saw the triple walls of their ravelin crumble successively before their eyes. the tower was absolutely annihilated before they abandoned its ruins, and retired within their last defences. alexander being now master of the fosa and the defences of the brussels gate, drew up a large force on both aides of that portal, along the margin of the moat, and began mining beneath the inner wall of the city. meantime, the garrison had been reduced to four hundred soldiers, nearly all of whom were wounded: wearied and driven to despair, these soldiers were willing to treat. the townspeople, however, answered the proposition with a shout of fury, and protested that they would destroy the garrison with their own hands if such an insinuation were repeated. sebastian tappin, too, encouraged them with the hope of speedy relief, and held out to them the wretched consequences of trusting to the mercy of their foes. the garrison took heart again, while that of the burghers and their wives had, never faltered. their main hope now was in a fortification which they had been constructing inside the brussels gate--a demilune of considerable strength. behind it was a breastwork of turf and masonry, to serve as a last bulwark when every other defence should be forced. the whole had been surrounded by a foss thirty feet in depth, and the besiegers, as they mounted upon the breaches which they had at last effected in the outer curtain, near the brussels gate, saw for the first time this new fortification. the general condition of the defences, and the disposition of the inhabitants, had been revealed to alexander by a deserter from the town. against this last fortress the last efforts of the foe were now directed. alexander ordered a bridge to be thrown across the city moat. as it was sixty feet wide and as many deep, and lay directly beneath the guns of the new demilune, the enterprise was sufficiently hazardous. alexander led the way in person, with a mallet in one hand and a mattockin the other. two men fell dead instantly, one on his right hand and his left, while he calmly commenced, in his own person, the driving of the first piles for the bridge. his soldiers fell fast around him. count berlaymont was shot dead, many officers of distinction were killed or wounded, but no soldier dared recoil while their chieftain wrought amid the bullets like a common pioneer. alexander, unharmed, as by a miracle, never left the spot till the bridge had been constructed, and till ten great guns had been carried across it, and pointed against the demilune. the battery was opened, the mines previously excavated were sprung, a part of the demilune was blown into the air, and the assailants sprang into the breach. again a furious hand-to-hand conflict succeeded; again, after an obstinate resistance, the townspeople were forced to yield. slowly abandoning the shattered fort, they retired behind the breastwork in its rear--their innermost and last defence. to this barrier they clung as to a spar in shipwreck, and here at last they stood at bay, prepared dearly to sell their lives. the breastwork, being still strong, was not attempted upon that day. the assailants were recalled, and in the mean time a herald was sent by parma, highly applauding the courage of the defenders, and begging them to surrender at discretion. they answered the messenger with words of haughty defiance, and, rushing in a mass to the breastwork, began with spade, pickax, and trowel, to add to its strength. here all the able-bodied men of the town took up their permanent position, and here they ate, drank, and slept upon their posts, while their food was brought to them by the women and children. a little letter, "written in a fine neat handwriting," now mysteriously arrived in the city, encouraging them in the name of the archduke and the prince of orange, and assuring them of relief within fourteen days. a brief animation was thus produced, attended by a corresponding languor upon the part of the besiegers, for alexander had been lying ill with a fever since the day when the demilune had been carried. from his sick bed he rebuked his officers severely that a temporary breastwork, huddled together by boors and burghers in the midst of a siege, should prove an insurmountable obstacle to men who had carried everything before them. the morrow was the festival of saint peter and saint paul, and it was meet that so sacred a day should be hallowed by a christian and apostolic victory. saint peter would be there with, his keys to open the gate; saint paul would lead them to battle with his invincible sword. orders were given accordingly, and the assault was assigned for the following morning. meantime, the guards were strengthened and commanded to be more than usually watchful. the injunction had a remarkable effect. at the dead of night, a soldier of the watch was going his rounds on the outside of the breastwork, listening, if perchance he might catch, as was not unusual, a portion of the conversation among the beleaguered burghers within. prying about on every side, he at last discovered a chink in the wall, the result, doubtless, of the last cannonade, and hitherto overlooked. he enlarged the gap with his fingers, and finally made an opening wide enough to admit his person. he crept boldly through, and looked around in the clear starlight. the sentinels were all slumbering at their posts. he advanced stealthily in the dusky streets. not a watchman was going his rounds. soldiers, burghers, children, women, exhausted by incessant fatigue, were all asleep. not a footfall was heard; not a whisper broke the silence; it seemed a city of the dead. the soldier crept back through the crevice, and hastened to apprise his superiors of his adventure. alexander, forthwith instructed as to the condition of the city, at once ordered the assault, and the last wall was suddenly stormed before the morning broke. the soldiers forced their way through the breach or sprang over the breastwork, and surprised at last--in its sleep--the city which had so long and vigorously defended itself. the burghers, startled from their slumber, bewildered, unprepared, found themselves engaged in unequal conflict with alert and savage foes. the battle, as usual when netherland towns were surprised by philip's soldiers, soon changed to a massacre. the townspeople rushed hither and thither, but there was neither escape, nor means of resisting an enemy who now poured into the town by thousands upon thousands. an indiscriminate slaughter succeeded: women, old men, and children, had all been combatants; and all, therefore, had incurred the vengeance of the conquerors. a cry of agony arose which was distinctly heard at the distance of a league. mothers took their infants in their arms, and threw themselves by hundreds into the meuse--and against women the blood-thirst of the assailants was especially directed. females who had fought daily in the trenches, who had delved in mines and mustered on the battlements, had unsexed themselves in the opinion of those whose comrades they had helped to destroy. it was nothing that they had laid aside the weakness of women in order to defend all that was holy and dear to them on earth. it was sufficient that many a spanish, burgundian, or italian mercenary had died by their hands. women were pursued from house to house, and hurled from roof and window. they were hunted into the river; they were torn limb from limb in the streets. men and children fared no better; but the heart sickens at the oft-repeated tale. horrors, alas, were commonplaces in the netherlands. cruelty too monstrous for description, too vast to be believed by a mind not familiar with the outrages practised by the soldiers of spain and italy upon their heretic fellow-creatures, were now committed afresh in the streets of maestricht. on the first day four thousand men and women were slaughtered. the massacre lasted two days longer; nor would it be an exaggerated estimate, if we assume that the amount of victims upon the two last days was equal to half the number sacrificed on the first. it was said that not four hundred citizens were left alive after the termination of the siege. these soon wandered away, their places being supplied by a rabble rout of walloon sutlers and vagabonds. maestricht was depopulated as well as captured. the booty obtained after the massacre was very large, for the city had been very thriving, its cloth manufacture extensive and important. sebastian tappin, the heroic defender of the place, had been shot through the shoulder at the taking of the parma ravelin, and had been afterwards severely injured at the capture of the demilune. at the fall of the city he was mortally wounded, and carried a prisoner to the hostile camp, only to expire. the governor, swartsenberg, also lost his life. alexander, on the contrary, was raised from his sick bed with the joyful tidings of victory, and as soon as he could be moved, made his appearance in the city. seated in a splendid chair of state, borne aloft on the shoulders of his veterans, with a golden canopy above his head to protect him from the summer's sun, attended by the officers of his staff, who were decked by his special command in, their gayest trappings, escorted by his body-guard, followed by his "plumed troops," to the number of twenty thousand, surrounded by all the vanities of war, the hero made his stately entrance into the town. his way led through deserted streets of shattered houses. the pavement ran red with blood. headless corpses, mangled limbs--an obscene mass of wretchedness and corruption, were spread on every side, and tainted the summer air. through the thriving city which, in the course of four months alexander had converted into a slaughter-house and a solitude, the pompous procession took its course to the church of saint servais. here humble thanks were offered to the god of love, and to jesus of nazareth, for this new victory. especially was gratitude expressed to the apostles paul and peter; upon whose festival, and by whose sword and key the crowning mercy had been accomplished,--and by whose special agency eight thousand heretics now lay unburied in the streets. these acts of piety performed, the triumphal procession returned to the camp, where, soon afterwards, the joyful news of alexander farnese's entire convalescence was proclaimed. the prince of orange, as usual, was blamed for the tragical termination to this long drama. all that one man could do, he had done to awaken his countrymen to the importance of the siege. he had repeatedly brought the subject solemnly before the assembly, and implored for maestricht, almost upon his knees. lukewarm and parsimonious, the states had responded to his eloquent appeals with wrangling addressee and insufficient votes. with a special subsidy obtained in april and may, he had organized the slight attempt at relief, which was all which he had been empowered to make, but which proved entirely unsuccessful. now that the massacre to be averted was accomplished, men were loud in reproof, who had been silent, and passive while there was yet time to speak and to work. it was the prince, they said, who had delivered so many thousands of his fellow-countrymen to, butchery. to save himself, they insinuated he was now plotting to deliver the land into the power of the treacherous frenchman, and he alone, they asserted, was the insuperable obstacle to an honorable peace with spain. a letter, brought by an unknown messenger, was laid before the states' assembly, in full session, and sent to the clerk's table, to be read aloud. after the first few sentences, that functionary faltered in his recital. several members also peremptorily ordered him to stop; for the letter proved to be a violent and calumnious libel upon orange, together with a strong appeal in favor of the peace propositions then under debate at cologne. the prince alone, of all the assembly, preserving his tranquillity, ordered the document to be brought to him, and forthwith read it aloud himself, from beginning to end. afterwards, he took occasion to express his mind concerning the ceaseless calumnies of which he was the mark. he especially alluded to the oft-repeated accusation that he was the only obstacle to peace, and repeated that he was ready at that moment to leave the land, and to close his lips for ever, if by so doing he could benefit his country, and restore her to honorable repose. the outcry, with the protestations of attachment and confidence which at once broke from the assembly, convinced him, however, that he was deeply rooted in the hearts of all patriotic netherlanders, and that it was beyond the power of slanderers to loosen his hold upon their affection. meantime, his efforts had again and again been demanded to restore order in that abode of anarchy, the city of ghent. after his visit during the previous winter, and the consequent departure of john casimir to the palatinate, the pacific arrangements made by the prince had for a short time held good. early in march, however, that master of misrule, john van imbize, had once more excited the populace to sedition. again the property of catholics, clerical and lay, was plundered; again the persons of catholics, of every degree, were maltreated. the magistrates, with first senator imbize at their head, rather encouraged than rebuked the disorder; but orange, as soon as he received official intelligence of the event, hastened to address them in the words of earnest warning and wisdom. he allowed that the inhabitants of the province had reason to be discontented with the presence and the misconduct of the walloon soldiery. he granted that violence and the menaces of a foreign tyranny made it difficult for honest burghers to gain a livelihood. at the same time he expressed astonishment that reasonable men should seek a remedy for such evils in tumults which would necessarily bring utter destruction upon the land. "it was," he observed, "as if a patient should from impatience, tear the bandages from his wounds, and, like a maniac, instead of allowing himself to be cured, plunge a dagger into his own heart." these exhortations exerted a wholesome effect for a moment, but matters soon went from bad to worse. imbize, fearing the influence of the prince, indulged in open-mouthed abuse of a man whose character he was unable even to comprehend, he accused him of intriguing with france for his own benefit, of being a papist in disguise, of desiring to establish what he called a "religious peace," merely to restore roman idolatry. in all these insane ravings, the demagogue was most ably seconded by the ex-monk. incessant and unlicensed were the invectives hurled by peter dathenus from his pulpit upon william the silent's head. he denounced him--as he had often done before--as an atheist in heart; as a man who changed his religion as easily as his garments; as a man who knew no god but state expediency, which was the idol of his worship; a mere politician who would tear his shirt from his back and throw it in the fire, if he thought it were tainted with religion. such witless but vehement denunciation from a preacher who was both popular and comparatively sincere, could, not but affect the imagination of the weaker portion of his, healers. the faction of imbize became triumphant. ryhove--the ruffian whose hands were stained with the recent blood of visch and hessels--rather did damage than service to the cause of order. he opposed himself to the demagogue who was prating daily of greece, rome, and geneva, while his clerical associate was denouncing william of orange, but he opposed himself in vain. an attempt to secure the person of imbize failed, but by the influence of ryhove, however, a messenger was despatched to antwerp in the name of a considerable portion of the community of ghent. the counsel and the presence of the man to whom all hearts in every part of the netherlands instinctively turned in the hour of need, were once more invoked. the prince again addressed them in language which none but he could employ with such effect. he told them that his life, passed in service and sacrifice, ought to witness sufficiently for his fidelity. nevertheless, he thought it necessary--in view of the calumnies which were circulated--to repeat once more his sentiment that no treaty of peace, war, or alliance, ought to be negotiated, save with the consent of the people. his course in holland and zealand had proved, he said, his willingness always to consult the wishes of his countrymen. as for the matter of religion it was almost incredible that there should be any who doubted the zeal which he bore the religion for which he had suffered so much. "i desire," he continued, fervently, "that men should compare that which has been done by my accusers during ten years past with that which i have done. in that which touches the true advancement of religion, i will yield to no man. they who so boldly accuse me have no liberty of speech, save that which has been acquired for them by the blood of my kindred, by my labors, and my excessive expenditures. to me they owe it that they dare speak at all." this letter, (which was dated on the th of july, ) contained an assurance that the writer was about to visit ghent. on the following day, imbize executed a coup d'etat. having a body of near two thousand soldiers at his disposal, he suddenly secured the persons of all the magistrates and other notable individuals not friendly to his policy, and then, in violation of all law, set up a new board of eighteen irresponsible functionaries, according to a list prepared by himself alone. this was his way of enforcing the democratic liberty of greece, rome, and geneva, which was so near to his heart. a proclamation, in fourteen articles, was forthwith issued, justifying this arbitrary proceeding. it was declared that the object of the somewhat irregular measure "was to prevent the establishment of the religious peace, which was merely a method of replanting uprooted papistry and the extirpated tyranny of spain." although the arrangement's had not been made in strict accordance with formal usage and ceremony, yet they were defended upon the ground that it had been impossible, by other means, to maintain their ancient liberties and their religious freedom. at the same time a pamphlet, already prepared for the occasion by dathenus, was extensively circulated. in this production the arbitrary revolution effected by a demagogue was defended with effrontery, while the character, of orange, was loaded with customary abuse. to prevent the traitor from coming to ghent, and establishing what he called his religious peace, these irregular measures, it was urged, had been wisely taken. such were the efforts of john imbize--such the calumnies of peter dathenus--in order to counteract the patriotic endeavors of the prince; but neither the ruffianism of john nor the libels of peter were destined upon this occasion to be successful. william the silent treated the slanders of the scolding monk with dignified contempt. "having been informed," said he to the magistrates of ghent, "that master peter dathenns has been denouncing me as a man without religion or fidelity, and full of ambition, with other propositions hardly becoming his cloth; i do not think it worth while to answer more at this time than that i willingly refer myself to the judgment of all who know me." the prince came to ghent, great as had been the efforts of imbize and his partisans to prevent his coming. his presence was like magic. the demagogue and his whole flock vanished like unclean birds at the first rays of the sun. imbize dared not look the father of his country in the face. orange rebuked the populace in the strong and indignant language that public and private virtue, energy, and a high purpose enabled such a leader of the people to use. he at once set aside the board of eighteen--the grecian-roman-genevese establishment of imbize--and remained in the city until the regular election, in conformity with the privileges, had taken place. imbize, who had shrunk at his approach, was meantime discovered by his own companions. he had stolen forth secretly on the night before the prince's arrival, and was found cowering in the cabin of a vessel, half dead with fear, by an ale-house keeper who had been his warm partisan. "no skulking," cried the honest friend; seizing the tribune of the people by the shoulder; "no sailing away in the night-time. you have got us all into this bog, and must come back, and abide the issue with your supporters." in this collapsed state was the windy demagogue, who had filled half flanders with his sound and fury, conveyed before the patriot prince. he met with grave and bitter rebukes, but felt sufficiently relieved when allowed to depart unharmed. judging of his probable doom by the usual practice of himself and his fellows in similar cases, he had anticipated nothing short of the gibbet. that punishment, however, was to be inflicted at a later period, by other hands, and not until he had added treason to his country and a shameless recantation of all his violent professions in favor of civil and religious liberty to the list of his crimes. on the present occasion he was permitted to go free. in company with his clerical companion, peter dathenus, he fled to the abode of his excellent friend, john casimir, who received both with open arms, and allowed them each a pension. order being thus again restored in ghent by the exertions of the prince, when no other human hand could have dispelled the anarchy which seemed to reign supreme, william the silent, having accepted the government of flanders, which had again and again been urged upon him, now returned to antwerp. chapter iii. the cologne conferences--intentions of the parties--preliminary attempt by government to purchase the prince of orange--offer and rejection of various articles among the plenipotentiaries--departure of the imperial commissionere--ultimatum of the states compared with that of the royal government--barren negotiations terminated-- treason of de bours, governor of mechlin--liberal theories concerning the nature of government--abjuration of philip imminent-- self-denial of orange--attitude of germany--of england--marriage negotiations between elizabeth and anjou--orange favors the election of the duke as sovereign--address and speeches of the prince-- parsimony and interprovincial jealousy rebuked----secret correspondence of count renneberg with the royal government-- his treason at groningen. since the beginning of may, the cologne negotiations had been dragging their slow length along. few persons believed that any good was likely to result from these stately and ponderous conferences; yet men were so weary of war, so desirous that a termination might be put to the atrophy under which the country was languishing, that many an eager glance was turned towards the place where the august assembly was holding its protracted session. certainly, if wisdom were to be found in mitred heads--if the power to heal angry passions and to settle the conflicting claims of prerogative and conscience were to be looked for among men of lofty station, then the cologne conferences ought to have made the rough places smooth and the crooked paths straight throughout all christendom. there was the archbishop of rossano, afterwards pope urban vii, as plenipotentiary from rome; there was charles of aragon, duke of terranova, supported by five councillors, as ambassador from his catholic majesty; there were the duke of aerschot, the abbot of saint gertrude, the abbot of marolles, doctor bucho aytta, caspar schetz, lord of grobbendonck, that learned frisian, aggeus van albada, with seven other wise men, as envoys from the states-general: there were their serene highnesses the elector and archbishops of cologne and treves, with the bishop of wurtzburg. there was also a numerous embassy from his imperial majesty, with count otto de schwartzenburg at its head. here then were holiness, serenity, dignity, law, and learning in abundance. here was a pope 'in posse', with archbishops, princes, dukes, jurisconsults, and doctors of divinity 'in esse', sufficient to remodel a world, if worlds were to be remodelled by such instruments. if protocols, replications, annotations, apostilles, could heal a bleeding country, here were the physicians to furnish those drugs in unlimited profusion. if reams of paper, scrawled over with barbarous technicalities, could smother and bury a quarrel which had its origin in the mutual antagonism of human elements, here were the men to scribble unflinchingly, till the reams were piled to a pyramid. if the same idea presented in many aspects could acquire additional life, here were the word-mongers who, could clothe one shivering thought in a hundred thousand garments, till it attained all the majesty which decoration could impart. in truth, the envoys came from spain, rome, and vienna, provided with but two ideas. was it not a diplomatic masterpiece, that from this frugal store they could contrive to eke out seven mortal months of negotiation? two ideas--the supremacy of his majesty's prerogative, the exclusive exercise of the roman catholic religion--these were the be-all and the end-all of their commission. upon these two strings they were to harp, at least till the walls of maestricht had fallen. the envoys did their duty well; they were sent to enact a solemn comedy, and in the most stately manner did they walk through their several parts. not that the king was belligerent; on, the contrary, he was heartily weary of the war. prerogative was weary--romanism was weary--conscience was weary--the spirit of freedom was weary but the prince of orange was not weary. blood and treasure had been pouring forth so profusely during twelve flaming years, that all but that one tranquil spirit were beginning to flag. at the same time, neither party had more disposition to concede than stomach to fight. certainly the royal party had no inclination to yield. the king had granted easy terms to the walloons, because upon the one great point of religion there was, no dispute, and upon the others there was no intention of keeping faith. with regard to the present negotiation, it was desirable to gain a little time. it was thought probable that the religious difference, judiciously managed at this juncture, might be used to effect a permanent severance of the provinces so lately banded together in a common union. "to, divide them," wrote tassis, in a very confidential letter, "no better method can be found than to amuse them with this peace negotiation. some are ready for a pacification from their desire of repose, some from their fear of war, some from the differences which exist among themselves, and which it is especially important to keep alive." above all things, it was desirable to maintain the religious distraction till maestricht had been taken. that siege was the key to the whole situation. if the separate walloon accord could be quietly made in a corner, while parma was battering that stronghold on the meuse, and while decorous negotiation was smoothly holding its course on the rhine, much disorganization, it was hoped, would be handsomely accomplished before the end of the year. "as for a suspension of arms," wrote alexander to terranova, on the st of may, "the longer 'tis deferred the better. with regard to maestricht, everything depends upon it that we possess, or desire to possess. truly, if the prince of orange can relieve the city he will do it. if he does so, neither will this expedition of ours, nor any other expedition, be brought to a good end. as soon as men are aware that our affairs are looking badly, they will come again to a true union, and all will join together, in hope to accomplish their boasts." therefore, it was natural that the peace-wrights of cologne should industriously ply their task. it is not desirable to disturb much of that learned dust, after its three centuries' repose. a rapid sketch of the course of the proceedings, with an indication of the spirit which animated the contending parties, will be all that is necessary. they came and they separated with precisely opposite views. "the desires of terranova and of the estates," says the royalist, tassis, "were diametrically contrary, to each other. the king wished that the exercise of the roman catholic religion should be exclusively established, and the absolute prerogative preserved in its integrity." on the other hand, the provinces desired their charters and a religious' peace. in these perpetual lines and curves ran the asymptotical negotiation from beginning to end--and so it might have run for two centuries, without hope of coincidence. neither party was yet vanquished. the freshly united provinces were no readier now than before to admit that the holy office formed part of their national institutions. the despotic faction was not prepared to renounce that establishment. foiled, but not disheartened, sat the inquisition, like a beldame, upon the border, impotently threatening the land whence she had been for ever excluded; while industrious as the parcae, distaff in hand, sat, in cologne, the inexorable three--spain, the empire, and rome--grimly, spinning and severing the web of mortal destinies. the first step in the proceedings had been a secret one. if by any means the prince of orange could be detached from his party--if by bribery, however enormous, he could be induced--to abandon a tottering cause, and depart for the land of his birth--he was distinctly but indirectly given to understand that he had but to name his terms. we have seen the issue of similar propositions made by don john of austria. probably there was no man living who would care to make distinct application of this dishonorable nature to the father of his country. the aerschots, the meluns, the lalains, and a swarm of other nobles, had their price, and were easily transferable from one to another, but it was not easy to make a direct offer to william of orange. they knew--as he said shortly afterwards in his famous apology--that "neither for property nor for life, neither for wife nor for children, would he mix in his cup a single drop of treason." nevertheless, he was distinctly given to understand that "there was nothing he could demand for himself personally that would not be granted." all his confiscated property, restoration of his imprisoned son, liberty of worship for himself, payment of all his debts, reimbursement of all his past expenses, and anything else which he could desire, were all placed within his reach. if he chose to retire into another land, his son might be placed in possession of all his cities, estates, and dignities, and himself indemnified in germany; with a million of money over and above as a gratuity. the imperial envoy, count schwartzenburg, pledged his personal honor and reputation that every promise which might be made to the prince should be most sacredly fulfilled. it was all in vain. the indirect applications of the imperial commissioners made to his servants and his nearest relations were entirely unsuccessful. the prince was not to be drawn into a negotiation in his own name or for his own benefit. if the estates were satisfied, he was satisfied. he wanted no conditions but theirs; "nor would he directly, or indirectly," he said, "separate himself from the cause on which hung all his evil or felicity." he knew that it was the object of the enemy to deprive the country of its head, and no inducements were sufficient to make him a party to the plot. at the same time, he was unwilling to be an obstacle, in his own person, to the conclusion of an honorable peace. he would resign his offices which he held at the solicitation of the whole country, if thus a negotiation were likely to be more successful. "the prince of parma and the disunited provinces," said he to the states-general, "affect to consider this war as one waged against me and in my name--as if the question alone concerned the name and person of the general. if it be so, i beg you to consider whether it is not because i have been ever faithful to the land. nevertheless, if i am an obstacle, i am ready to remove it. if you, therefore, in order to deprive the enemy of every right to inculpate us, think proper to choose another head and conductor of your affairs, i promise you to serve and to be obedient to him with all my heart. thus shall we leave the enemy no standing-place to work dissensions among us." such was his language to friend and foe, and here, at least, was one man in history whom kings were not rich enough to purchase. on the th of may, the states' envoys at cologne presented fourteen articles, demanding freedom of religion and the ancient political charters. religion, they said, was to be referred; not to man, but to god. to him the king was subject as well as the people. both king and people--"and by people was meant every individual in the land"--were bound to serve god according to their conscience. the imperial envoys found such language extremely reprehensible, and promptly refused, as umpires, to entertain the fourteen articles. others drawn up by terranova and colleagues, embodying the claims of the royal and roman party, were then solemnly presented, and as promptly rejected. then the imperial umpires came forward with two bundles of proposisitions--approved beforehand by the spanish plenipotentiaries. in the political bundle; obedience due to the king was insisted upon, "as in the time of the emperor charles." the religious category declared that "the roman religion--all others excluded--should thenceforth be exercised in all the provinces." both these categories were considered more objectionable by the states' envoys than the terms of terranova, and astonishment was expressed that "mention should again be made of the edicts--as if blood enough had not been shed already in the cause of religion." the netherland envoys likewise gave the imperial commissioners distinctly to understand that--in case peace were not soon made--"the states would forthwith declare the king fallen from his sovereignty;" would for ever dispense the people from their oaths of allegiance to him, and would probably accept the duke of anjou in his place. the states-general, to which body the imperial propositions had been sent, also rejected the articles in a logical and historical argument of unmerciful length. an appeal secretly made by the imperial and spanish commissioners, from the states' envoys to the states themselves, and even to the people of the various provinces, had excited the anger of the plenipotentiaries. they complained loudly of this violation of all diplomatic etiquette, and the answer of the states-general, fully confirming the views of their ambassadors, did not diminish their wrath. on the th of november, , the states' envoys were invited into the council chamber of the imperial commissioners, to hear the last solemn commonplaces of those departing, functionaries. seven months long they had been waiting in vain, they said, for the states' envoys to accede to moderate demands. patience was now exhausted. moreover, their mediatory views had been the subject of bitter lampooning throughout the country, while the authorities of many cities had publicly declared that all the inhabitants would rather, die the death than accept such terms. the peace-makers, accordingly, with endless protestations as to, their own purity, wisdom, and benevolence, left the whole "in the hands of god and the parties concerned." the reply to this elaborate farewell was curt and somewhat crusty. "had they known," said the states' envoys, "that their transparencies and worthinesses had no better intention, and the duke of terranova no ampler commission, the whole matter might have been despatched, not in six months, but in six days." thus ended the conferences, and the imperial commissioners departed. nevertheless, schwartzenburg remained yet a little time at cologne, while five of the states' envoys also protracted their stay, in order to make their private peace with the king. it is hardly necessary to observe that the chief of these penitents was the duke of aerschot. the ultimatum of the states was deposited by the departing envoys with schwartzenburg, and a comparison of its terms with those offered by the imperial mediators, as the best which could be obtained from spain, shows the hopelessness of the pretended negotiation. departure of the foreign troops, restitution of all confiscated property, unequivocal recognition of the ghent treaty and the perpetual edict, appointment to office of none but natives, oaths of allegiance to the king and the states-general, exercise of the reformed religion and of the confession of augsburg in all places where it was then publicly practised: such were the main demands of the patriot party. in the secret instructions furnished by the states to their envoys, they were told to urge upon his majesty the absolute necessity, if he wished to retain the provinces, of winking at the exercise of the reformed and the augsburg creeds. "the new religion had taken too deep root," it was urged, "ever to be torn forth, save with the destruction of the whole country." thus, after seven dreary months of negotiation, after protocols and memoranda in ten thousand folia, the august diplomatists had travelled round to the points from which they had severally started. on the one side, unlimited prerogative and exclusive catholicism; on the other, constitutional liberty, with freedom of conscience for catholic and protestant alike: these were the claims which each party announced at the commencement, and to which they held with equal firmness at the close of the conferences. the congress had been expensive. though not much had been accomplished for the political or religious advancement of mankind, there had been much excellent eating and drinking at cologne during the seven months. those drouthy deliberations had needed moistening. the bishop of wurtzburg had consumed "eighty hogsheads of rhenish wine and twenty great casks of beer." the expense of the states' envoys were twenty-four thousand guldens. the archbishop of cologne had expended forty thousand thalers. the deliberations were, on the whole, excessively detrimental to the cause of the provinces, "and a great personage" wrote to the states-general, that the king had been influenced by no motive save to cause dissension. this was an exaggeration, for his majesty would have been well pleased to receive the whole of the country on the same terms which had been accepted by the walloons. meantime, those southern provinces had made their separate treaty, and the netherlands were permanently dissevered. maestricht had fallen. disunion and dismay had taken possession of the country. during the course of the year other severe misfortunes had happened to the states. treachery, even among the men who had done good service to the cause of freedom, was daily showing her hateful visage. not only the great chieftains who had led the malcontent walloon party, with the fickle aerschot and the wavering havre besides, had made their separate reconciliation with parma, but the epidemic treason had mastered such bold partisans as the seigneur de bours, the man whose services in rescuing the citadel of antwerp had been so courageous and valuable. he was governor of mechlin; count renneberg was governor of friesland. both were trusted implicitly by orange and by the estates; both were on the eve of repaying the confidence reposed in them by the most venal treason. it was already known that parma had tampered with de bours; but renneberg was still unsuspected. "the prince," wrote count john, "is deserted by all the noblemen; save the stadholder of friesland and myself, and has no man else in whom he can repose confidence." the brothers were doomed to be rudely awakened from the repose with regard to renneberg, but previously the treason of a less important functionary was to cause a considerable but less lasting injury to the national party. in mechlin was a carmelite friar, of audacious character and great eloquence; a man who, "with his sweet, poisonous tongue, could ever persuade the people to do his bidding." this dangerous monk, peter lupus, or peter wolf, by name, had formed the design of restoring mechlin to the prince of parma, and of obtaining the bishopric of namur as the reward of his services. to this end he had obtained a complete mastery over the intellect of the bold but unprincipled de bours. a correspondence was immediately opened between parma and the governor, and troops were secretly admitted into the city. the prince of orange, in the name of the archduke and the estates, in vain endeavoured to recal the infatuated governor to his duty. in vain he conjured him, by letter after letter, to be true to his own bright fame so nobly earned. an old friend of de bours, and like himself a catholic, was also employed to remonstrate with him. this gentleman, de fromont by name, wrote him many letters; but de bours expressed his surprise that fromont, whom he had always considered a good catholic and a virtuous gentleman, should wish to force him into a connection with the prince of orange and his heretic supporters. he protested that his mind was quite made up, and that he had been guaranteed by parma not only the post which he now held, but even still farther advancement. de fromont reminded him, in reply, of the frequent revolutions of fortune's wheel, and warned him that the advancement of which he boasted would probably be an entire degradation. he bitterly recalled to the remembrance of the new zealot for romanism his former earnest efforts to establish calvinism. he reproached him, too, with having melted up the silver images of the mechlin churches, including even the renowned shrine of saint rombout, which the prince of orange had always respected. "i don't say how much you took of that plunder for your own share," continued the indignant de fromont, "for the very children cry it in your ears as you walk the streets. 'tis known that if god himself had been changed into gold you would have put him in your pocket." this was plain language, but as just as it was plain. the famous shrine of saint rombout--valued at seventy thousand guldens, of silver gilt, and enriched with precious stones--had been held sacred alike by the fanatical iconoclasts and the greedy spaniards who had successively held the city. it had now been melted up, and appropriated by peter lupin; the carmelite, and de bours, the catholic convert, whose mouths were full of devotion to the ancient church and of horror for heresy. the efforts of orange and of the states were unavailing. de bours surrendered the city, and fled to parma, who received him with cordiality, gave him five thousand florins--the price promised for his treason, besides a regiment of infantry--but expressed surprise that he should have reached the camp alive. his subsequent career was short, and he met his death two years afterwards, in the trenches before tournay. the archiepiscopal city was thus transferred to the royal party, but the gallant van der tympel, governor of brussels, retook it by surprise within six months of its acquisition by parma, and once more restored it to the jurisdiction of the states. peter lupus, the carmelite, armed to the teeth, and fighting fiercely at the head of the royalists, was slain in the street, and thus forfeited his chance for the mitre of namur. during the weary progress of the cologne negotiations, the prince had not been idle, and should this august and slow-moving congress be unsuccessful in restoring peace, the provinces were pledged to an act of abjuration. they would then be entirely without a head. the idea of a nominal republic was broached by none. the contest had not been one of theory, but of facts; for the war had not been for revolution, but for conservation, so far as political rights were concerned. in religion, the provinces had advanced from one step to another, till they now claimed the largest liberty--freedom of conscience--for all. religion, they held, was god's affair, not man's, in which neither people nor king had power over each other, but in which both were subject to god alone. in politics it was different. hereditary sovereignty was acknowledged as a fact, but at the same time, the spirit of freedom was already learning its appropriate language. it already claimed boldly the natural right of mankind to be governed according to the laws of reason and of divine justice. if a prince were a shepherd, it was at least lawful to deprive him of his crook when he butchered the flock which he had been appointed to protect. "what reason is there," said the states-general, "why the provinces should suffer themselves to be continually oppressed by their sovereign, with robbings, burnings, stranglings, and murderings? why, being thus oppressed, should they still give their sovereign--exactly as if he were well conducting himself--the honor and title of lord of the land?" on the other hand, if hereditary rule were an established fact, so also were ancient charters. to maintain, not to overthrow, the political compact, was the purpose of the states. "je maintiendrai" was the motto of orange's escutcheon. that a compact existed between prince and people, and that the sovereign held office only on condition of doing his duty, were startling truths which men were beginning, not to whisper to each other in secret, but to proclaim in the market-place. "'tis well known to all," said the famous declaration of independence, two years afterwards, "that if a prince is appointed by god over the land, 'tis to protect them from harm, even as a shepherd to the guardianship of his flock. the subjects are not appointed by god for the behoof of the prince, but the prince for his subjects, without whom he is no prince. should he violate the laws, he is to be forsaken by his meanest subject, and to be recognized no longer as prince." william of orange always recognized these truths, but his scheme of government contemplated a permanent chief, and as it was becoming obvious that the spanish sovereign would soon be abjured, it was necessary to fix upon a substitute. "as to governing these provinces in the form of a republic," said he, speaking for the states-general, "those who know the condition, privileges, and ordinances of the country, can easily understand that 'tis hardly possible to dispense with a head or superintendent." at the same time, he plainly intimated that this "head or superintendent" was to be, not a monarch--a one-ruler--but merely the hereditary chief magistrate of a free commonwealth. where was this hereditary chief magistrate to be found? his own claims he absolutely withdrew. the office was within his grasp, and he might easily have constituted himself sovereign of all the netherlands. perhaps it would have been better at that time had he advanced his claims and accepted the sovereignty which philip had forfeited. as he did not believe in the possibility of a republic, he might honestly have taken into his own hands the sceptre which he considered indispensable. his self-abnegation was, however, absolute. not only did he decline sovereignty, but he repeatedly avowed his readiness to, lay down all the offices which he held, if a more useful substitute could be found. "let no man think," said he, in a remarkable speech to the states-general, "that my good-will is in any degree changed or diminished. i agree to obey--as the least of the lords or gentlemen of the land could do--whatever person it may, please you to select. you have but to command my services wheresoever they are most wanted; to guard a province or a single city, or in any capacity in which i may be found most useful. i promise to do my duty, with all my strength and skill, as god and my conscience are witnesses that i have done it hitherto." the negotiations pointed to a speedy abjuration of philip; the republic was contemplated by none; the prince of orange absolutely refused to stretch forth his own hand; who then was to receive the sceptre which was so soon to be bestowed? a german prince--had been tried--in a somewhat abnormal position--but had certainly manifested small capacity for aiding the provinces. nothing could well be more insignificant than the figure of matthias; and, moreover, his imperial brother was anything but favorably disposed. it was necessary to manage rudolph. to treat the archduke with indignity, now that he had been partly established in the netherlands, would be to incur the emperor's enmity. his friendship, however, could hardly be secured by any advancement bestowed upon his brother; for rudolph's services against prerogative and the pope were in no case to be expected. nor was there much hope from the protestant princes of germany. the day had passed for generous sympathy with those engaged in the great struggle which martin luther had commenced. the present generation of german protestants were more inclined to put down the calvinistic schism at home than to save it from oppression abroad. men were more disposed to wrangle over the thrice-gnawed bones of ecclesiastical casuistry, than to assist their brethren in the field. "i know not," said gaultherus, "whether the calamity of the netherlands, or the more than bestial stupidity of the germans, be most deplorable. to the insane contests on theological abstractions we owe it that many are ready to breathe blood and slaughter against their own brethren. the hatred of the lutherans has reached that point that they can rather tolerate papists than ourselves." in england, there was much sympathy for the provinces and there--although the form of government was still arbitrary--the instincts for civil and religious freedom, which have ever characterized the anglo-saxon race, were not to be repressed. upon many a battle-field for liberty in the netherlands, "men whose limbs were made in england" were found contending for the right. the blood and treasure of englishmen flowed freely in the cause of their relatives by religion and race, but these were the efforts of individuals. hitherto but little assistance had been rendered by the english queen, who had, on the contrary, almost distracted the provinces by her fast-and-loose policy, both towards them and towards anjou. the political rivalry between that prince and herself in the netherlands had, however, now given place to the memorable love-passage from which important results were expected, and it was thought certain that elizabeth would view with satisfaction any dignity conferred upon her lover. orange had a right to form this opinion. at the same time, it is well known that the chief councillors of elizabeth--while they were all in favor of assisting the provinces--looked with anything but satisfaction upon the anjou marriage. "the duke," wrote davidson to walsingham in july, , "seeks, forsooth, under a pretext of marriage with her highness, the rather to espouse the low countries--the chief ground and object of his pretended love, howsoever it be disguised." the envoy believed both elizabeth and the provinces in danger of taking unto themselves a very bad master. "is there any means," he added, "so apt to sound the very bottom of our estate, and to hinder and breake the neck of all such good purpose as the necessity of the tyme shall set abroch?" the provinces of holland and zealand, notwithstanding the love they bore to william of orange, could never be persuaded by his arguments into favoring anjou. indeed, it was rather on account of the love they bore the prince--whom they were determined to have for their sovereign--that they refused to listen to any persuasion in favor of his rival, although coming from his own lips. the states-general, in a report to the states of holland, drawn up under the superintendence of the prince, brought forward all the usual arguments for accepting the french duke, in case the abjuration should take place. they urged the contract with anjou (of august th, ), the great expenses he had already incurred in their behalf; the danger of offending him; the possibility that in such case he would ally himself with spain; the prospect that, in consequence of such a result, there would be three enemies in the field against them--the walloons, the spaniards, and the french, all whose forces would eventually be turned upon holland and zealand alone. it was represented that the selection of anjou would, on the other hand, secure the friendship of france--an alliance which would inspire both the emperor and the spanish monarch with fear; for they could not contemplate without jealousy a possible incorporation of the provinces with that kingdom. moreover, the geographical situation of france made its friendship inexpressibly desirable. the states of holland and zealand were, therefore, earnestly invited to send deputies to an assembly of the states-general, in order to conclude measures touching the declaration of independence to be made against the king, and concerning the election of the duke of anjou. the official communications by speech or writing of orange to the different corporations and assemblies, were at this period of enormous extent. he was moved to frequent anger by the parsimony, the inter-provincial jealousy, the dull perception of the different estates, and he often expressed his wrath in unequivocal language. he dealt roundly with all public bodies. his eloquence was distinguished by a bold, uncompromising, truth-telling spirit, whether the words might prove palatable or bitter to his audience. his language rebuked his hearers more frequently than it caressed them, for he felt it impossible, at all times, to consult both the humors and the high interests of the people, and he had no hesitation, as guardian of popular liberty, in denouncing the popular vices by which it was endangered. by both great parties, he complained, his shortcomings were all noted, the good which he had accomplished passed over in silence. [letter to the states-general, august, , apud bor, xiv. , sqq. this was the opinion frequently expressed by languet: "cherish the friendship of the prince, i beseech you," he writes to sir philip sydney, "for there is no man like him in all christendom. nevertheless, his is the lot of all men of prudence--to be censured by all parties. the people complain that he despises them; the nobility declare that it is their order which he hates; and this is as sensible as if you were to tell me that you were the son of a clown."] he solemnly protested that he desired, out of his whole heart, the advancement of that religion which he publicly professed, and with god's blessing, hoped to profess to the end of his life, but nevertheless, he reminded the states that he had sworn, upon taking office as lieutenant-general, to keep "all the subjects of the land equally under his protection," and that he had kept his oath. he rebuked the parsimony which placed the accepted chief of the provinces in a sordid and contemptible position. "the archduke has been compelled," said he, in august, to the states-general, "to break up housekeeping, for want of means. how shameful and disreputable for the country, if he should be compelled, for very poverty, to leave the land!" he offered to lay down all the power with which he had himself been clothed, but insisted, if he were to continue in office, upon being provided with, larger means of being useful. "'twas impossible," he said, "for him to serve longer on the same footing as heretofore; finding himself without power or authority, without means, without troops, without money, without obedience." he reminded the states-general that the enemy--under pretext of peace negotiations--were ever circulating calumnious statements to the effect that he was personally the only obstacle to peace. the real object of these hopeless conferences was to sow dissension through the land, to set burgher against burgher, house against house. as in italy, guelphs and ghibellines--as in florence, the neri and bianchi--as in holland, the hooks and cabbeljaws had, by their unfortunate quarrels, armed fellow countrymen and families against each other--so also, nothing was so powerful as religious difference to set friend against friend, father against son, husband against wife. he warned the states against the peace propositions of the enemy. spain had no intention to concede, but was resolved to extirpate. for himself; he had certainly everything to lose by continued war. his magnificent estates were withheld, and--added he with simplicity--there is no man who does not desire to enjoy his own. the liberation of his son, too, from his foreign captivity, was, after the glory of god and the welfare of the fatherland, the dearest object of his heart. moreover, he was himself approaching the decline of life. twelve years he had spent in perpetual anxiety and labor for the cause. as he approached old age, he had sufficient reason to desire repose. nevertheless, considering the great multitude of people who were leaning upon him, he should account himself disgraced if, for the sake of his own private advantage, he were to recommend a peace which was not perfectly secure. as regarded his own personal interests, he could easily place himself beyond danger--yet it would be otherwise with the people. the existence of the religion which, through the mercy of god he professed, would be sacrificed, and countless multitudes of innocent men would, by his act, be thrown bodily into the hands of the blood-thirsty inquisitors who, in times past, had murdered so many persons, and so utterly desolated the land. in regard to the ceaseless insinuations against his character which men uttered "over their tables and in the streets," he observed philosophically, that "mankind were naturally inclined to calumny, particularly against those who exercised government over them. his life was the best answer to those slanders. being overwhelmed with debt, he should doubtless do better in a personal point of view to accept the excellent and profitable offers which were daily made to him by the enemy." he might be justified in such a course, when it was remembered how many had deserted him and forsworn their religion. nevertheless, he had ever refused, and should ever refuse to listen to offers by which only his own personal interests were secured. as to the defence of the country, he had thus far done all in his power, with the small resources placed at his command. he was urged by the "nearer-united states" to retain the poet of lieutenant-general. he was ready to consent. he was, however, not willing to hold office a moment, unless he had power to compel cities to accept garrisons, to enforce the collection of needful supplies throughout the provinces, and in general to do everything which he judged necessary for the best interests of the country. three councils were now established--one to be in attendance upon the archduke and the prince of orange, the two others to reside respectively in flanders and in utrecht. they were to be appointed by matthias and the prince, upon a double nomination from the estates of the united provinces. their decisions were to be made according to a majority of votes,--and there was to be no secret cabinet behind and above their deliberations. it was long, however, before these councils were put into working order. the fatal jealousy of the provincial authorities, the small ambition of local magistrates, interposed daily obstacles to the vigorous march of the generality. never was jealousy more mischievous, never circumspection more misapplied. it was not a land nor a crisis in which there was peril of centralization: local municipal government was in truth the only force left. there was no possibility of its being merged in a central authority which did not exist. the country was without a centre. there was small chance of apoplexy where there was no head. the danger lay in the mutual repulsiveness of these atoms of sovereignty--in the centrifugal tendencies which were fast resolving a nebulous commonwealth into chaos. disunion and dissension would soon bring about a more fatal centralization--that of absorption in a distant despotism. at the end of november, , orange made another remarkable speech in the states-general at antwerp. he handled the usual topics with his customary vigor, and with that grace and warmth of delivery which always made his eloquence so persuasive and impressive. he spoke of the countless calumnies against himself, the chaffering niggardliness of the provinces, the slender result produced by his repeated warnings. he told them bluntly the great cause of all their troubles. it was the absence of a broad patriotism; it was the narrow power grudged rather than given to the deputies who sat in the general assembly. they were mere envoys, tied by instructions. they were powerless to act, except after tedious reference to the will of their masters, the provincial boards. the deputies of the union came thither, he said, as advocates of their provinces or their cities, not as councillors of a commonwealth--and sought to further those narrow interests, even at the risk of destruction to their sister states. the contributions, he complained, were assessed unequally, and expended selfishly. upon this occasion, as upon all occasions, he again challenged inquiry into the purity of his government, demanded chastisement, if any act of mal-administration on his part could be found, and repeated his anxious desire either to be relieved from his functions, or to be furnished with the means of discharging them with efficiency. on the th of december, , he again made a powerful speech in the states-general. upon the th of january , following, he made an elaborate address upon the state of the country, urging the necessity of raising instantly a considerable army of good and experienced soldiers. he fixed the indispensable number of such a force at twelve thousand foot, four thousand horse, and at least twelve hundred pioneers. "weigh well the matters," said he, in conclusion; "which i have thus urged, and which are of the most extreme necessity. men in their utmost need are daily coming to me for refuge, as if i held power over all things in my hand." at the same time he complained that by reason of the dilatoriness of the states, he was prevented from alleviating misery when he knew the remedy to be within reach. "i beg you, however, my masters," he continued, "to believe that this address of mine is no simple discourse. 'tis a faithful presentment of matters which, if not reformed, will cause the speedy and absolute ruin of the land. whatever betide, however, i pray you to hold yourselves assured, that with god's help, i am determined to live with you or to die with you." early in the year , the prince was doomed to a bitter disappointment, and the provinces to a severe loss, in the treason of count renneberg, governor of friesland. this young noble was of the great lalain family. he was a younger brother of: anthony, count of hoogstraaten--the unwavering friend of orange. he had been brought up in the family of his cousin, the count de lalain, governor of hainault, and had inherited the title of renneberg from an uncle, who was a dignitary of the church. for more than a year there had been suspicions of his fidelity. he was supposed to have been tampered with by the duke of terranova, on the first arrival of that functionary in the netherlands. nevertheless, the prince of orange was unwilling to listen to the whispers against him. being himself the mark of calumny, and having a tender remembrance of the elder brother, he persisted in reposing confidence in a man who was in reality unworthy of his friendship. george lalain, therefore, remained stadholder of friesland and drenthe, and in possession of the capital city, groningen. the rumors concerning him proved correct. in november, , he entered into a formal treaty with terranova, by which he was to receive--as the price of "the virtuous resolution which he contemplated"--the sum of ten thousand crowns in hand, a further sum of ten thousand crowns within three months, and a yearly pension of ten thousand florins. moreover, his barony of ville was to be erected into a marquisate, and he was to receive the order of the golden fleece at the first vacancy. he was likewise to be continued in the same offices under the king which he now held from the estates. the bill of sale, by which he agreed with a certain quislain le bailly to transfer himself to spain, fixed these terms with the technical scrupulousness of any other mercantile transaction. renneberg sold himself as one would sell a yoke of oxen, and his motives were no whit nobler than the cynical contract would indicate. "see you not," said he in a private letter to a friend, "that this whole work is brewed by the nassaus for the sake of their own greatness, and that they are everywhere provided with the very best crumbs. they are to be stadholders of the principal provinces; we are to content ourselves with overyssel and drente. therefore i have thought it best to make my peace with the king, from whom more benefits are to be got." jealousy and selfishness; then, were the motives of his "virtuous resolution." he had another, perhaps a nobler incentive. he was in love with the countess meghen, widow of lancelot berlaymont, and it was privately stipulated that the influence of his majesty's government should be employed to bring about his marriage with the lady. the treaty, however, which renneberg had made with quislain le bailly was not immediately carried out. early in february, , his sister and evil genius, cornelia lalain, wife of baron monceau, made him a visit at groningen. she implored him not to give over his soul to perdition by oppressing the holy church. she also appealed to his family pride, which should keep him, she said, from the contamination of companionship with "base-born weavers and furriers." she was of opinion that to contaminate his high-born fingers with base bribes were a lower degradation. the pension, the crowns in hand, the marquisate, the collar of the golden fleece, were all held before his eyes again. he was persuaded, moreover, that the fair hand of the wealthy widow would be the crowning prize of his treason, but in this he was destined to disappointment. the countess was reserved for a more brilliant and a more bitter fate. she was to espouse a man of higher rank, but more worthless character, also a traitor to the cause of freedom, to which she was herself devoted, and who was even accused of attempting her life in her old age, in order to supply her place with a younger rival. the artful eloquence of cornelia de lalain did its work, and renneberg entered into correspondence with parma. it is singular with how much indulgence his conduct and character were regarded both before and subsequently to his treason. there was something attractive about the man. in an age when many german and netherland nobles were given to drunkenness and debauchery, and were distinguished rather for coarseness of manner and brutality of intellect than for refinement or learning, count renneberg, on the contrary, was an elegant and accomplished gentleman--the sydney of his country in all but loyalty of character. he was a classical scholar, a votary of music and poetry, a graceful troubadour, and a valiant knight. he was "sweet and lovely of conversation," generous and bountiful by nature. with so many good gifts, it was a thousand pities that the gift of truth had been denied him. never did treason look more amiable, but it was treason of the blackest die. he was treacherous, in the hour of her utmost need, to the country which had trusted him. he was treacherous to the great man who had leaned upon his truth, when all others had abandoned him. he was treacherous from the most sordid of motives jealousy of his friend and love of place and pelf; but his subsequent remorse and his early death have cast a veil over the blackness of his crime. while cornelia de lalain was in groningen, orange was in holland. intercepted letters left no doubt of the plot, and it was agreed that the prince, then on his way to amsterdam, should summon the count to an interview. renneberg's trouble at the proximity of orange could not be suppressed. he felt that he could never look his friend in the face again. his plans were not ripe; it was desirable to dissemble for a season longer; but how could he meet that tranquil eye which "looked quite through the deeds of men?" it was obvious to renneberg that his deed was to be done forthwith, if he would escape discomfiture. the prince would soon be in groningen, and his presence would dispel the plots which had been secretly constructed. on the evening of march the rd, , the count entertained a large number of the most distinguished families of the place at a ball and banquet. at the supper-table, hildebrand, chief burgomaster of the city, bluntly interrogated his host concerning the calumnious reports which were in circulation, expressing the hope that there was no truth in these inventions of his enemies. thus summoned, renneberg, seizing the hands of hildebrand in both his own, exclaimed, "oh; my father! you whom i esteem as my father, can you suspect me of such guilt? i pray you, trust me, and fear me not!" with this he restored the burgomaster and all the other guests to confidence. the feast and dance proceeded, while renneberg was quietly arranging his plot. during the night all the leading patriots were taken out of their beds, and carried to prison, notice being at the same time given to the secret adherents of renneberg. before dawn, a numerous mob of boatmen and vagrants, well armed, appeared upon the public square. they bore torches and standards, and amazed the quiet little city with their shouts. the place was formally taken into possession, cannon were planted in front of the town house to command the principal streets, and barricades erected at various important points. just at daylight, renneberg himself, in complete armor, rode into the square, and it was observed that he looked ghastly as a corpse. he was followed by thirty troopers, armed like himself, from head to foot. "stand by me now," he cried to the assembled throng; "fail me not at this moment, for now i am for the first time your stadholder." while he was speaking, a few citizens of the highest class forced their way through the throng and addressed the mob in tones of authority. they were evidently magisterial persons endeavoring to quell the riot. as they advanced, one of renneberg's men-at-arms discharged his carabine at the foremost gentleman, who was no other than burgomaster hildebrand. he fell dead at the feet of the stadholder--of the man who had clasped his hands a few hours before, called him father, and implored him to entertain no suspicions of his honor. the death of this distinguished gentleman created a panic, during which renneberg addressed his adherents, and stimulated them to atone by their future zeal in the king's service for their former delinquency. a few days afterwards the city was formally reunited to the royal government; but the count's measures had been precipitated to such an extent, that he was unable to carry the province with him, as he had hoped. on the contrary, although he had secured the city, he had secured nothing else. he was immediately beleaguered by the states' force in the province under the command of barthold entes, hohenlo, and philip louis nassau, and it was necessary to send for immediate assistance from parma. the prince of orange, being thus bitterly disappointed by the treachery of his friend, and foiled in his attempt to avert the immediate consequences, continued his interrupted journey to amsterdam. here he was received with unbounded enthusiasm. etext editor's bookmarks: all the majesty which decoration could impart amuse them with this peace negotiation conflicting claims of prerogative and conscience it is not desirable to disturb much of that learned dust logical and historical argument of unmerciful length mankind were naturally inclined to calumny men were loud in reproof, who had been silent more easily, as he had no intention of keeping the promise not to fall asleep in the shade of a peace negotiation nothing was so powerful as religious difference on the first day four thousand men and women were slaughtered power grudged rather than given to the deputies the disunited provinces there is no man who does not desire to enjoy his own to hear the last solemn commonplaces word-mongers who, could clothe one shivering thought motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley chapter iv. captivity of la noue--cruel propositions of philip--siege of groningen--death of barthold enter--his character--hohenlo commands in the north--his incompetence--he is defeated on hardenberg heath-- petty operations--isolation of orange--dissatisfaction and departure of count john--remonstrance of archduke matthias--embassy to anjou-- holland and zealand offer the sovereignty to orange--conquest of portugal--granvelle proposes the ban against the prince--it is published--the document analyzed--the apology of orange analyzed and characterized--siege of steenwyk by renneberg--forgeries--siege relieved--death of renneberg--institution of the "land-council"-- duchess of parma sent to the netherlands--anger of alexander-- prohibition of catholic worship in antwerp, utrecht, and elsewhere-- declaration of independence by the united provinces--negotiations with anjou--the sovereignty of holland and zealand provisionally accepted by orange--tripartition of the netherlands--power of the prince described--act of abjuration analyzed--philosophy of netherland politics.--views of the government compact--acquiescence by the people in the action of the estates--departure of archduke matthias. the war continued in a languid and desultory manner in different parts of the country. at an action near ingelmunster, the brave and accomplished de la noue was made prisoner. this was a severe loss to the states, a cruel blow to orange, for he was not only one of the most experienced soldiers, but one of the most accomplished writers of his age. his pen was as celebrated as his sword. in exchange for the illustrious frenchman the states in vain offered count egmont, who had been made prisoner a few weeks before, and de belles, who was captured shortly afterwards. parma answered contemptuously, that he would not give a lion for two sheep. even champagny was offered in addition, but without success. parma had written to philip, immediately upon the capture, that, were it not for egmont, seller, and others, then in the power of oranges he should order the execution of la noue. under the circumstances, however, he had begged to be in formed as to his majesty's pleasure, and in the meantime had placed the prisoner in the castle of limburg, under charge of de billy. [strada, d. , iii. , . parma is said to have hinted to philip that de billy would willingly undertake, the private assassination of la noue.--popeliniere, hist. des pays bas; - .] his majesty, of course, never signified his pleasure, and the illustrious soldier remained for five years in a loathsome dungeon more befitting a condemned malefactor than a prisoner of war. it was in the donjon keep of the castle, lighted only by an aperture in the roof, and was therefore exposed to the rain and all inclemencies of the sky, while rats, toads, and other vermin housed in the miry floor. here this distinguished personage, francis with the iron arm, whom all frenchmen, catholic or huguenot, admired far his genius, bravery, and purity of character, passed five years of close confinement. the government was most anxious to take his life, but the captivity of egmont and others prevented the accomplishment of their wishes. during this long period, the wife and numerous friends of la noue were unwearied in, their efforts to effect his ransom or exchange, but none of the prisoners in the hands of the patriots were considered a fair equivalent. the hideous proposition was even made by philip the second to la noue, that he should receive his liberty if he would permit his eyes to be put out, as a preliminary condition. the fact is attested by several letters written by la noue to his wife. the prisoner, wearied, shattered in health, and sighing for air and liberty, was disposed and even anxious to accept the infamous offer, and discussed the matter philosophically in his letters. that lady, however, horror-struck at the suggestion, implored him to reject the condition, which he accordingly consented to do. at last, in june, , he was exchanged, on extremely rigorous terms, for egmont. during his captivity in this vile dungeon, he composed not only his famous political and military discourses, but several other works, among the rest; annotations upon plutarch and upon the histories of guicciardini. the siege of groningen proceeded, and parma ordered some forces under martin schenck to advance to its relief. on the other hand, the meagre states' forces under sonoy, hohenlo, entes, and count john of nassau's young son, william louis, had not yet made much impression upon the city. there was little military skill to atone for the feebleness of the assailing army, although there was plenty of rude valor. barthold entes, a man of desperate character, was impatient at the dilatoriness of the proceedings. after having been in disgrace with the states, since the downfall of his friend and patron, the count de la marck, he had recently succeeded to a regiment in place of colonel ysselstein, "dismissed for a homicide or two." on the th of may, he had been dining at rolda, in company with hohenlo and the young count of nassau. returning to the trenches in a state of wild intoxication, he accosted a knot of superior officers, informing them that they were but boys, and that he would show them how to carry the faubourg of groningen on the instant. he was answered that the faubourg, being walled and moated, could be taken only by escalade or battery. laughing loudly, he rushed forward toward the counterscarp, waving his sword, and brandishing on his left arm the cover of a butter firkin, which he had taken instead of his buckler. he had advanced, however, but a step, when a bullet from the faubourg pierced his brain, and he fell dead without a word. so perished one of the wild founders of the netherland commonwealth--one of the little band of reckless adventurers who had captured the town of brill in , and thus laid the foundation stone of a great republic, which was to dictate its laws to the empire of charles the fifth. he was in some sort a type. his character was emblematical of the worst side of the liberating movement. desperate, lawless, ferocious--a robber on land, a pirate by sea--he had rendered great service in the cause of his fatherland, and had done it much disgrace. by the evil deeds of men like himself, the fair face of liberty had been profaned at its first appearance. born of a respectable family, he had been noted, when a student in this very groningen where he had now found his grave, for the youthful profligacy of his character. after dissipating his partrimony, he had taken to the sea, the legalized piracy of the mortal struggle with spain offering a welcome refuge to spendthrifts like himself. in common with many a banished noble of ancient birth and broken fortunes, the riotous student became a successful corsair, and it is probable that his prizes were made as well among the friends as the enemies of his country. he amassed in a short time one hundred thousand crowns--no contemptible fortune in those days. he assisted la marck in the memorable attack upon brill, but behaved badly and took to flight when mondragon made his memorable expedition to relieve tergoes. he had subsequently been imprisoned, with la marck for insubordination, and during his confinement had dissipated a large part of his fortune. in , after the violation of the ghent treaty, he had returned to, his piratical pursuits, and having prospered again as rapidly as he had done during his former cruises, had been glad to exchange the ocean for more honorable service on shore. the result was the tragic yet almost ludicrous termination which we have narrated. he left a handsome property, the result of his various piracies, or, according to the usual euphemism, prizes. he often expressed regret at the number of traders whom he had cast into the sea, complaining, in particular, of one victim whom he had thrown overboard, who would never sink, but who for years long ever floated in his wake, and stared him in the face whenever he looked over his vessel's side. a gambler, a profligate, a pirate, he had yet rendered service to the cause of freedom, and his name--sullying the purer and nobler ones of other founders of the commonwealth--"is enrolled in the capitol." count philip hohenlo, upon whom now, devolved the entire responsibility of the groningen siege and of the friesland operations, was only a few degrees superior to this northern corsair. a noble of high degree, nearly connected with the nassau family, sprung of the best blood in germany, handsome and dignified in appearance, he was, in reality only a debauchee and a drunkard. personal bravery was his main qualification for a general; a virtue which he shared with many of his meanest soldiers. he had never learned the art of war, nor had he the least ambition to acquire it. devoted to his pleasures, he depraved those under his command, and injured the cause for which he was contending. nothing but defeat and disgrace were expected by the purer patriots from such guidance. "the benediction of god," wrote albada, "cannot be hoped for under this chieftain, who by life and manners is fitter to drive swine than to govern pious and honorable men." the event justified the prophecy. after a few trifling operations before groningen, hohenlo was summoned to the neighbourhood of coewerden, by the reported arrival of martin schenck, at the head of a considerable force. on the th of june, the count marched all night and a part of the follow morning, in search of the enemy. he came up with them upon hardenberg heath, in a broiling summer forenoon. his men were jaded by the forced march, overcame with the heat, tormented with thirst, and unable to procure even a drop of water. the royalists were fresh so that the result of the contest was easily to be foreseen. hohenlo's army was annihilated in an hour's time, the whole population fled out of coewerden, the siege of groningen was raised; renneberg was set free to resume his operations on a larger scale, and the fate of all the north-eastern provinces was once more swinging in the wind. the boors of drenthe and friesland rose again. they had already mustered in the field at an earlier season of the year, in considerable force. calling themselves "the desperates," and bearing on their standard an eggshell with the yolk running out--to indicate that, having lost the meat they were yet ready to fight for the shell--they had swept through the open country, pillaging and burning. hohenlo had defeated them in two enchanters, slain a large number of their forces, and reduced them for a time to tranquillity. his late overthrow once more set them loose. renneberg, always apt to be over-elated in prosperity, as he was unduly dejected in adversity, now assumed all the airs of a conqueror. he had hardly eight thousand men under his orders, but his strength lay in the weakness of his adversaries. a small war now succeeded, with small generals, small armies, small campaigns, small sieges. for the time, the prince of orange was even obliged to content himself with such a general as hohenlo. as usual, he was almost alone. "donec eris felix," said he, emphatically-- "multos numerabis amicos, tempera cum erunt nubila, nullus erit," and he was this summer doomed to a still harder deprivation by the final departure of his brother john from the netherlands. the count had been wearied out by petty miseries. his stadholderate of gelderland had overwhelmed him with annoyance, for throughout the north-eastern provinces there was neither system nor subordination. the magistrates could exercise no authority over an army which they did not pay, or a people whom they did not protect. there were endless quarrels between the various boards of municipal and provincial government--particularly concerning contributions and expenditures. [when the extraordinary generosity of the count himself; and the altogether unexampled sacrifices of the prince are taken into account, it may well be supposed that the patience of the brothers would be sorely tried by the parsimony of the states. it appears by a document laid before the states-general in the winter of - , that the count had himself advanced to orange , florins in the cause. the total of money spent by the prince himself for the sake of netherland liberty was , , . these vast sums had been raised in various ways and from various personages. his estates were deeply hypothecated, and his creditors so troublesome, that, in his own language, he was unable to attend properly to public affairs, so frequent and so threatening were the applications made upon him for payment. day by day he felt the necessity advancing more closely upon him of placing himself personally in the hands of his creditors and making over his estates to their mercy until the uttermost farthing should be paid. in his two campaigns against alva ( and ) he had spent , , florins. he owed the elector palatine , florins, the landgrave , , count john , , and other sums to other individuals.] during this wrangling, the country was exposed to the forces of parma, to the private efforts of the malcontents, to the unpaid soldiery of the states, to the armed and rebellious peasantry. little heed was paid to the admonitions of count john, who was of a hotter temper than was the tranquil prince. the stadholder gave way to fits of passion at the meanness and the insolence to which he was constantly exposed. he readily recognized his infirmity, and confessed himself unable to accommodate his irascibility to the "humores" of the inhabitants. there was often sufficient cause for his petulance. never had praetor of a province a more penurious civil list. "the baker has given notice," wrote count john, in november, "that he will supply no more bread after to-morrow, unless he is paid." the states would furnish no money to pay the bill. it was no better with the butcher. "the cook has often no meat to roast," said the count, in the same letter, "so that we are often obliged to go supperless to bed." his lodgings were a half-roofed, half-finished, unfurnished barrack, where the stadholder passed his winter days and evenings in a small, dark, freezing-cold chamber, often without fire-wood. such circumstances were certainly not calculated to excite envy. when in addition to such wretched parsimony, it is remembered that the count was perpetually worried by the quarrels of the provincial authorities with each other and with himself, he may be forgiven for becoming thoroughly exhausted at last. he was growing "grey and grizzled" with perpetual perplexity. he had been fed with annoyance, as if--to use his own homely expression--"he had eaten it with a spoon." having already loaded himself with a debt of six hundred thousand florins, which he had spent in the states' service, and having struggled manfully against the petty tortures of his situation, he cannot be severely censured for relinquishing his post. the affairs of his own countship were in great confusion. his children--boys and girls--were many, and needed their fathers' guidance, while the eldest, william louis, was already in arms for the-netherlands, following the instincts of his race. distinguished for a rash valor, which had already gained the rebuke of his father and the applause of his comrades, he had commenced his long and glorious career by receiving a severe wound at coewerden, which caused him to halt for life. leaving so worthy a representative, the count was more justified in his departure. his wife, too, had died in his absence, and household affairs required his attention. it must be confessed, however, that if the memory of his deceased spouse had its claims, the selection of her successor was still more prominent among his anxieties. the worthy gentleman had been supernaturally directed as to his second choice, ere that choice seemed necessary, for before the news of his wife's death had reached him, the count dreamed that he was already united in second nuptials to the fair cunigunda, daughter of the deceased elector palatine--a vision which was repeated many times. on the morrow he learned, to his amazement, that he was a widower, and entertained no doubt that he had been specially directed towards the princess seen in his slumbers, whom he had never seen in life. his friends were in favor of his marrying the electress dowager, rather than her daughter, whose years numbered less than half his own. the honest count, however, "after ripe consideration," decidedly preferred the maid to the widow. "i confess," he said, with much gravity, "that the marriage with the old electress, in respect of her god-fearing disposition, her piety, her virtue, and the like, would be much more advisable. moreover, as she hath borne her cross, and knows how to deal with gentlemen, so much the better would it be for me. nevertheless, inasmuch as she has already had two husbands, is of a tolerable age, and is taller of stature than myself, my inclination is less towards her than towards her daughter." for these various considerations, count john, notwithstanding the remonstrances of his brother, definitely laid down his government of gelderland, and quitted the netherlands about midsummer. enough had not been done, in the opinion of the prince, so long as aught remained to do, and he could not bear that his brother should desert the country in the hour of its darkness, or doubt the almighty when his hand was veiled in clouds. "one must do one's best," said he, "and believe that when such misfortunes happen, god desires to prove us. if he sees that we do not lose our courage, he will assuredly help us. had we thought otherwise, we should never have pierced the dykes on a memorable occasion, for it was an uncertain thing and a great sorrow for the poor people; yet did god bless the undertaking. he will bless us still, for his arm hath not been shortened." on the nd of july, , the archduke matthias, being fully aware of the general tendency of affairs, summoned a meeting of the generality in antwerp. he did not make his appearance before the assembly, but requested that a deputation might wait upon him at his lodgings, and to this committee he unfolded his griefs. he expressed his hope that the states were not--in violation of the laws of god and man--about to throw themselves into the arms of a foreign prince. he reminded them of their duty to the holy catholic religion to the illustrious house of austria, while he also pathetically called their attention to the necessities of his own household, and hoped that they would, at least, provide for the arrears due to his domestics. the states-general replied with courtesy as to the personal claims of the archduke. for the rest, they took higher grounds, and the coming declaration of independence already pierced through the studied decorum of their language. they defended their negotiation with anjou on the ground of necessity, averring that the king of spain had proved inexorable to all intercession, while, through the intrigues of their bitterest enemies, they had been entirely forsaken by the empire. soon afterwards, a special legation, with saint aldegonde at its head, was despatched to france to consult with the duke of anjou, and settled terms of agreement with him by the treaty of plessis les tours (on the th of september, ), afterwards definitely ratified by the convention of bordeaux, signed on the rd of the following january. the states of holland and zealand, however, kept entirely aloof from this transaction, being from the beginning opposed to the choice of anjou. from the first to the last, they would have no master but orange, and to him, therefore, this year they formally offered the sovereignty of their provinces; but they offered it in vain. the conquest of portugal had effected a diversion in the affairs of the netherlands. it was but a transitory one. the provinces found the hopes which they had built upon the necessity of spain for large supplies in the peninsula--to their own consequent relief--soon changed into fears, for the rapid success of alva in portugal gave his master additional power to oppress the heretics of the north. henry, the cardinal king, had died in , after succeeding to the youthful adventurer, don sebastian, slain during his chivalrous african campaign ( th of august, ). the contest for the succession which opened upon the death of the aged monarch was brief, and in fifty-eight days, the bastard antonio, philip's only formidable competitor, had been utterly defeated and driven forth to lurk, like 'a hunted wild beast, among rugged mountain caverns, with a price of a hundred thousand crowns upon his head. in the course of the succeeding year, philip received homage at lisbon as king of portugal. from the moment of this conquest, he was more disposed, and more at leisure than ever, to vent his wrath against the netherlands, and against the man whom he considered the incarnation of their revolt. cardinal granvelle had ever whispered in the king's ear the expediency of taking off the prince by assassination. it has been seen how subtly distilled, and how patiently hoarded, was this priest's venom against individuals, until the time arrived when he could administer the poison with effect. his hatred of orange was intense and of ancient date. he was of opinion, too, that the prince might be scared from the post of duty, even if the assassin's hand were not able to reach his heart. he was in favor of publicly setting a price upon his head-thinking that if the attention of all the murderers in the world were thus directed towards the illustrious victim, the prince would tremble at the dangers which surrounded him. "a sum of money would be well employed in this way," said the cardinal, "and, as the prince of orange is a vile coward, fear alone will throw him into confusion." again, a few months later, renewing the subject, he observed, "'twould be well to offer a reward of thirty or forty thousand crowns to any one who will deliver the prince, dead or alive; since from very fear of it--as he is pusillanimous--it would not be unlikely that he should die of his own accord." it was insulting even to philip's intelligence to insinuate that the prince would shrink before danger, or die of fear. had orange ever been inclined to bombast, he might have answered the churchman's calumny, as caesar the soothsayer's warning:-- "-----------------danger knows full well that caesar is more dangerous than he--" and in truth, philip had long trembled on his throne before the genius of the man who had foiled spain's boldest generals and wiliest statesmen. the king, accepting the priest's advice, resolved to fulminate a ban against the prince, and to set a price upon his head. "it will be well," wrote philip to parma, "to offer thirty thousand crowns or so to any one who will deliver him dead or alive. thus the country may be rid of a man so pernicious; or at any rate he will be held in perpetual fear, and therefore prevented from executing leisurely his designs." in accordance with these suggestions and these hopes, the famous ban was accordingly drawn up, and dated on the th of march, . it was, however, not formally published in the netherlands until the month of june of the same year. this edict will remain the most lasting monument to the memory of cardinal granvelle. it will be read when all his other state-papers and epistles--able as they incontestably are--shall have passed into oblivion. no panegyric of friend, no palliating magnanimity of foe, can roll away this rock of infamy from his tomb. it was by cardinal granvelle and by philip that a price was set upon the head of the foremost man of his age, as if he had been a savage beast, and that admission into the ranks of spain's haughty nobility was made the additional bribe to tempt the assassin. the ban consisted of a preliminary narrative to justify the penalty with which it was concluded. it referred to the favors conferred by philip and his father upon the prince; to his-signal ingratitude and dissimulation. it accused him of originating the request, the image-breaking, and the public preaching. it censured his marriage with an abbess--even during the lifetime of his wife; alluded to his campaigns against alva, to his rebellion in holland, and to the horrible massacres committed by spaniards in that province--the necessary consequences of his treason. it accused him of introducing liberty of conscience, of procuring his own appointment as ruward, of violating the ghent treaty, of foiling the efforts of don john, and of frustrating the counsels of the cologne commissioners by his perpetual distrust. it charged him with a newly-organized conspiracy, in the erection of the utrecht union; and for these and similar crimes--set forth, with involutions, slow, spiral, and cautious as the head and front of the indictment was direct and deadly--it denounced the chastisement due to the "wretched hypocrite" who had committed such offences. "for these causes," concluded the ban, "we declare him traitor and miscreant, enemy of ourselves and of the country. as such we banish him perpetually from all our realms, forbidding all our subjects, of whatever quality, to communicate with him openly or privately--to administer to him victuals, drink, fire, or other necessaries. we allow all to injure him in property or life. we expose the said william nassau, as an enemy of the human-race--giving his property to all who may; seize it. and if anyone of our subjects or any stranger should be found sufficiently generous of heart to rid us of this pest, delivering him to us, alive or dead, or taking his life, we will cause to be furnished to him immediately after the deed shall have been done, the sum of twenty-five thousand crowns; in gold. if he have committed any crime, however heinous, we promise to pardon him; and if he be not already noble, we will ennoble him for his valor." such was the celebrated ban against the prince of orange. it was answered before the end of the year by the memorable "apology of the prince of orange" one of the moat startling documents in history. no defiance was ever thundered forth in the face of a despot in more terrible tones. it had become sufficiently manifest to the royal party that the prince was not to be purchased by "millions of money," or by unlimited family advancement--not to be cajoled by flattery or offers of illustrious friendship. it had been decided, therefore, to terrify him into retreat, or to remove him by murder. the government had been thoroughly convinced that the only way to finish the revolt, was to "finish orange," according to the ancient advice of antonio perez. the mask was thrown off. it had been decided to forbid the prince bread, water, fire, and shelter; to give his wealth to the fisc, his heart to the assassin, his soul, as it was hoped, to the father of evil. the rupture being thus complete, it was right that the "wretched hypocrite" should answer ban with ban, royal denunciation with sublime scorn. he had ill-deserved, however, the title of hypocrite, he said. when the friend of government, he had warned them that by their complicated and perpetual persecutions they were twisting the rope of their own ruin. was that hypocrisy? since becoming their enemy, there had likewise been little hypocrisy found in him--unless it were hypocrisy to make open war upon government, to take their cities, to expel their armies from the country. the proscribed rebel, towering to a moral and even social superiority over the man who affected to be his master by right divine, swept down upon his antagonist with crushing effect. he repudiated the idea of a king in the netherlands. the word might be legitimate in castillo, or naples, or the indies, but the provinces knew no such title. philip had inherited in those countries only the power of duke or count--a power closely limited by constitutions more ancient than his birthright. orange was no rebel then--philip no legitimate monarch. even were the prince rebellious, it was no more than philip's ancestor, albert of austria, had been towards his anointed sovereign, emperor adolphus of nassau, ancestor of william. the ties of allegiance and conventional authority being, severed, it had become idle for the king to affect superiority of lineage to the man whose family had occupied illustrious stations when the habsburgs were obscure squires in switzerland, and had ruled as sovereign in the netherlands before that overshadowing house had ever been named. but whatever the hereditary claims of philip in the country, he had forfeited them by the violation of his oaths, by his tyrannical suppression of the charters of the land; while by his personal crimes he had lost all pretension to sit in judgment upon his fellow man. was a people not justified in rising against authority when all their laws had been trodden under foot, "not once only, but a million of times?"--and was william of orange, lawful husband of the virtuous charlotte de bourbon, to be denounced for moral delinquency by a lascivious, incestuous, adulterous, and murderous king? with horrible distinctness he laid before the monarch all the crimes of which he believed him guilty, and having thus told philip to his beard, "thus diddest thou," he had a withering word for the priest who stood at his back. "tell me," he cried, "by whose command cardinal granvelle administered poison to the emperor maximilian? i know what the emperor told me, and how much fear he felt afterwards for the king and for all spaniards." he ridiculed the effrontery of men like philip and granvelle; in charging "distrust" upon others, when it was the very atmosphere of their own existence. he proclaimed that sentiment to be the only salvation for the country. he reminded philip of the words which his namesake of macedon--a schoolboy in tyranny, compared to himself--had heard from the lips of demosthenes--that the strongest fortress of a free people against a tyrant was distrust. that sentiment, worthy of eternal memory, the prince declared that he had taken from the "divine philippic," to engrave upon the heart, of the nation, and he prayed god that he might be more readily believed than the great orator had been by his people. he treated with scorn the price set upon his head, ridiculing this project to terrify him, for its want of novelty, and asking the monarch if he supposed the rebel ignorant of the various bargains which had frequently been made before with cutthroats and poisoners to take away his life. "i am in the hand of god," said william of orange; "my worldly goods and my life have been long since dedicated to his service. he will dispose of them as seems best for his glory and my salvation." on the contrary, however, if it could be demonstrated, or even hoped, that his absence would benefit the cause of the country, he proclaimed himself ready to go into exile. "would to god," said he, in conclusion, "that my perpetual banishment, or even my death, could bring you a true deliverance from so many calamities. oh, how consoling would be such banishment--how sweet such a death! for why have i exposed my property? was it that i might enrich myself? why have i lost my brothers? was it that i might find new; ones? why have i left my son so long a prisoner? can you give me another? why have i put my life so often in, danger? what reward, can i hope after my long services, and the almost total wreck, of my earthly fortunes, if not the prize, of having acquired, perhaps at the expense of my life, your liberty?--if then, my masters, if you judge that my absence or my death can serve you, behold me ready to obey. command me--send me to the ends of the earth--i will obey. here is my head, over which no prince, no monarch, has power but yourselves. dispose of it for your good, for the preservation of your republic, but if you judge that the moderate amount of experience and industry which is in me, if you judge that the remainder of my property and of my life can yet be of service to you, i dedicate them afresh to you and to the country." his motto--most appropriate to his life and character--"je maintiendrai," was the concluding phrase of the document. his arms and signature were also formally appended, and the apology, translated into most modern languages, was sent, to nearly every potentate in christendom. it had been previously, on the th of december, , read before the assembly of the united states at delft, and approved as cordially as the ban was indignantly denounced. during the remainder of the year , and the half of the following year, the seat of hostilities was mainly in the northeast-parma, while waiting the arrival of fresh troops, being inactive. the operations, like the armies and the generals, were petty. hohenlo was opposed to renneberg. after a few insignificant victories, the latter laid siege to steenwyk, a city in itself of no great importance, but the key to the province of drenthe. the garrison consisted of six hundred soldiers, and half as many trained burghers. renneberg, having six thousand foot and twelve hundred horse, summoned the place to surrender, but was answered with defiance. captain cornput, who had escaped from groningen, after unsuccessfully warning the citizens of renneberg's meditated treason, commanded in steenwyk, and his courage and cheerfulness sustained the population of the city during a close winter siege. tumultuous mobs in the streets demanding that the place should be given over ere it was too late, he denounced to their faces as "flocks of gabbling geese," unworthy the attention of brave men. to a butcher who, with the instinct of his craft, begged to be informed what the population were to eat when the meat was all gone, he coolly observed, "we will eat you, villain, first of all, when the time comes; so go home and rest assured that you, at least, are not to die of starvation." with such rough but cheerful admonitions did the honest soldier, at the head of his little handful, sustain the courage of the beleaguered city. meantime renneberg pressed it hard. he bombarded it with red-hot balls, a new invention introduced five years before by stephen bathor, king of poland, at the siege of dantzig. many houses were consumed, but still cornput and the citizens held firm. as the winter advanced, and the succor which had been promised still remained in the distance, renneberg began to pelt the city with sarcasms, which, it was hoped, might prove more effective than the red-hot balls. he sent a herald to know if the citizens had eaten all their horses yet; a question which was answered by an ostentatious display of sixty starving hacks--all that could be mustered-upon the heights. he sent them on another occasion, a short letter, which ran as follows: "most honorable, most steadfast,--as, during the present frost, you have but little exercise in the trenches--as you cannot pass your time in twirling your finger-rings, seeing that they have all been sold to pay your soldiers' wages--as you have nothing to rub your teeth upon, nor to scour your stomachs withal, and as, nevertheless, you require something if only to occupy your minds, i send you the enclosed letter, in hope it may yield amusement.--january , ." the enclosure was a letter from the prince of orange to the duke of anjou, which, as it was pretended, had been intercepted. it was a clumsy forgery, but it answered the purpose of more skilful counterfeiting, at a period when political and religious enmity obscured men's judgment. "as to the point of religion," the prince was made to observe, for example, to his illustrious correspondent, "that is all plain and clear. no sovereign who hopes to come to any great advancement ought to consider religion, or hold it in regard. your highness, by means of the garrisons, and fortresses, will be easily master of the principal cities in flanders and brabant, even if the citizens were opposed to you. afterwards you will compel them without difficulty to any religion which may seem most conducive to the interests of your highness." odious and cynical as was the whole tone of the letter, it was extensively circulated. there were always natures base and brutal enough to accept the calumny and to make it current among kindred souls. it may be doubted whether renneberg attached faith to the document; but it was natural that he should take a malicious satisfaction in spreading this libel against the man whose perpetual scorn he had so recently earned. nothing was more common than such forgeries, and at that very moment a letter, executed with equal grossness, was passing from hand to hand, which purported to be from the count himself to parma. history has less interest in contradicting the calumnies against a man like renneberg. the fictitious epistle of orange, however, was so often republished, and the copies so carefully distributed, that the prince had thought it important to add an express repudiation of its authorship, by way of appendix to his famous apology. he took the occasion to say, that if a particle of proof could be brought that he had written the letter, or any letter resembling it, he would forthwith leave the netherlands, never to show his face there again. notwithstanding this well known denial, however, renneberg thought it facetious to send the letter into steenvayk, where it produced but small effect upon the minds' of the burghers. meantime, they had received intimation that succor was on its way. hollow balls containing letters were shot into the town, bringing the welcome intelligence that the english colonel, john norris, with six thousand states' troops, would soon make his appearance for their relief, and the brave cornput added his cheerful exhortations to heighten the satisfaction thus produced. a day or two afterwards, three quails were caught in the public square, and the commandant improved the circumstance by many quaint homilies. the number three, he observed, was typical of the holy trinity, which had thus come symbolically to their relief. the lord had sustained the fainting israelites with quails. the number three indicated three weeks, within which time the promised succor was sure to arrive. accordingly, upon the nd of february, , at the expiration of the third week, norris succeeded in victualling the town, the merry and steadfast cornput was established as a true prophet, and count renneberg abandoned the siege in despair. the subsequent career of that unhappy nobleman was brief. on the th of july his troops were signally defeated by sonny--and norris, the fugitive royalists retreating into groningen at the very moment when their general, who had been prevented by illness from commanding them, was receiving the last sacraments. remorse, shame, and disappointment had literally brought renneberg to his grave. "his treason," says a contemporary, "was a nail in his coffin, and on his deathbed he bitterly bemoaned his crime. 'groningen! groningen!' would that i had never seen thy walls!" he cried repeatedly in his last hours. he refused to see his sister, whose insidious counsels had combined with his own evil passions to make him a traitor; and he died on the rd of july, , repentant and submissive. his heart, after his decease, was found "shrivelled to the dimensions of a walnut," a circumstance attributed to poison by some, to remorse by others. his regrets; his early death, and his many attractive qualities, combined to: save his character from universal denunciation, and his name, although indelibly stained by treason, was ever mentioned with pity rather than with rancor. great changes, destined to be perpetual, were steadily preparing in the internal condition of the provinces. a preliminary measure of an important character had been taken early this year by the assembly of the united provinces held in the month of january at delft. this was the establishment of a general executive council. the constitution of the board was arranged on the th of the month, and was embraced in eighteen articles. the number of councillors was fixed at thirty, all to be native netherlanders; a certain proportion to be appointed from each province by its estates. the advice and consent of this body as to treaties with foreign powers were to be indispensable, but they were not to interfere with the rights and duties of the states-general, nor to interpose any obstacle to the arrangements with the duke of anjou. while this additional machine for the self-government of the provinces was in the course of creation; the spanish monarch, on the other hand, had made another effort to recover the authority which he felt slipping from his grasp. philip was in portugal, preparing for his coronation in, that, new kingdom--an event to be nearly contemporaneous with his deposition from the netherland sovereignty, so solemnly conferred upon him a quarter of a century before in brussels; but although thus distant, he was confident that he could more wisely govern the netherlands than the inhabitants could do, and unwilling as ever to confide in the abilities of those to whom he had delegated his authority. provided; as he unquestionably was at that moment, with a more energetic representative than any who had before exercised the functions of royal governor in the provinces, he was still disposed to harass, to doubt, and to interfere. with the additional cares of the portuguese conquest upon his hands, he felt as irresistibly impelled as ever to superintend the minute details of provincial administration. to do this was impossible. it was, however, not impossible, by attempting to do it, to produce much mischief. "it gives me pain," wrote granvelle, "to see his majesty working as before--choosing to understand everything and to do everything. by this course, as i have often said before, he really accomplishes much less." the king had, moreover, recently committed the profound error of sending the duchess margaret of parma to the netherlands again. he had the fatuity to believe her memory so tenderly cherished in the provinces as to ensure a burst of loyalty at her reappearance, while the irritation which he thus created in the breast of her son he affected to disregard. the event was what might have been foreseen. the netherlanders were very moderately excited by the arrival of their former regent, but the prince of parma was furious. his mother actually arrived at namur in the month of august, , to assume the civil administration of the provinces,--and he was himself, according to the king's request, to continue in the command of the army. any one who had known human nature at all, would have recognized that alexander farnese was not the man to be put into leading strings. a sovereign who was possessed of any administrative sagacity, would have seen the absurdity of taking the reins of government at that crisis from the hands of a most determined and energetic man, to confide them to the keeping of a woman. a king who was willing to reflect upon the consequences of his own acts, must have foreseen the scandal likely to result from an open quarrel for precedence between such a mother and son. margaret of parma was instantly informed, however, by alexander, that a divided authority like that proposed was entirely out of the question. both offered to resign; but alexander was unflinching in his determination to retain all the power or none. the duchess, as docile to her son after her arrival as she had been to the king on undertaking the journey, and feeling herself unequal to the task imposed upon her, implored philip's permission to withdraw, almost as soon as she had reached her destination. granvelle's opinion was likewise opposed to this interference with the administration of alexander, and the king at last suffered himself to be overruled. by the end of the year , letters arrived confirming the prince of parma in his government, but requesting the duchess of parma to remain, privately in the netherlands. she accordingly continued to reside there under an assumed name until the autumn of , when she was at last permitted to return to italy. during the summer of , the same spirit of persecution which had inspired the catholics to inflict such infinite misery upon those of the reformed faith in the netherlands, began to manifest itself in overt acts against the papists by those who had at last obtained political. ascendency over them. edicts were published in antwerp, in utrecht, and in different cities of holland, suspending the exercise of the roman worship. these statutes were certainly a long way removed in horror from those memorable placards which sentenced the reformers by thousands to the axe; the cord, and the stake, but it was still melancholy to see the persecuted becoming persecutors in their turn. they were excited to these stringent measures by the noisy zeal of certain dominican monks in brussels, whose extravagant discourses were daily inflaming the passions of the catholics to a dangerous degree. the authorities of the city accordingly thought it necessary to suspend, by proclamation, the public exercise of the ancient religion, assigning, as their principal reason for this prohibition, the shocking jugglery by which simple-minded persons were constantly deceived. they alluded particularly to the practice of working miracles by means of relics, pieces of the holy cross, bones of saints, and the perspiration of statues. they charged that bits of lath were daily exhibited as fragments of the cross; that the bones of dogs and monkeys were held up for adoration as those of saints; and that oil was poured habitually into holes drilled in the heads of statues, that the populace might believe in their miraculous sweating. for these reasons, and to avoid the tumult and possible bloodshed to which the disgust excited by such charlatanry might give rise, the roman catholic worship was suspended until the country should be restored to greater tranquillity. similar causes led to similar proclamations in other cities. the prince of orange lamented the intolerant spirit thus showing itself among those who had been its martyrs, but it was not possible at that moment to keep it absolutely under control. a most important change was now to take place in his condition, a most vital measure was to be consummated by the provinces. the step, which could never be retraced was, after long hesitation, finally taken upon the th of july, , upon which day the united provinces, assembled at the hague, solemnly declared their independence of philip, and renounced their allegiance for ever. this act was accomplished with the deliberation due to its gravity. at the same time it left the country in a very divided condition. this was inevitable. the prince had done all that one man could do to hold the netherlands together and unite them perpetually into one body politic, and perhaps, if he had been inspired by a keener personal ambition, this task might have been accomplished.--the seventeen provinces might have accepted his dominion, but they would agree to that of no other sovereign. providence had not decreed that the country, after its long agony, should give birth to a single and perfect commonwealth. the walloon provinces had already fallen off from the cause, notwithstanding the entreaties of the prince. the other netherlands, after long and tedious negotiation with anjou, had at last consented to his supremacy, but from this arrangement holland and zealand held themselves aloof. by a somewhat anomalous proceeding, they sent deputies along with those of the other provinces, to the conferences with the duke, but it was expressly understood that they would never accept him as sovereign. they were willing to contract with him and with their sister provinces--over which he was soon to exercise authority--a firm and perpetual league, but as to their own chief, their hearts were fixed. the prince of orange should be their lord and master, and none other. it lay only in his self-denying character that he had not been clothed with this dignity long before. he had, however, persisted in the hope that all the provinces might be brought to acknowledge the duke of anjou as their sovereign, under conditions which constituted a free commonwealth with an hereditary chief, and in this hope he had constantly refused concession to the wishes of the northern provinces. he in reality exercised sovereign power over nearly the whole population, of the netherlands. already in , at the assembly held in april, the states of holland had formally requested him to assume the full sovereignty over them, with the title of count of holland and zealand forfeited by philip. he had not consented, and the proceedings had been kept comparatively secret. as the negotiations with anjou advanced, and as the corresponding abjuration of philip was more decisively indicated, the consent of the prince to this request was more warmly urged. as it was evident that the provinces thus bent upon placing him at their head, could by no possibility be induced to accept the sovereignty of anjou--as, moreover; the act of renunciation of philip could no longer be deferred, the prince of orange reluctantly and provisionally accepted the supreme power over holland and zealand. this arrangement was finally accomplished upon the th of july, , and the act of abjuration took place two days afterwards. the offer of the sovereignty over the other united provinces had been accepted by anjou six months before. thus, the netherlands were divided into three portions--the reconciled provinces, the united provinces under anjou, and the northern provinces under orange; the last division forming the germ, already nearly developed, of the coming republic. the constitution, or catalogue of conditions, by which the sovereignty accorded to anjou was reduced to such narrow limits as to be little more than a nominal authority, while the power remained in the hands of the representative body of the provinces, will be described, somewhat later, together with the inauguration of the duke. for the present it is necessary that the reader should fully understand the relative position of the prince and of the northern provinces. the memorable act of renunciation--the netherland declaration of independence--will then be briefly explained. on the th of march, , a resolution passed the assembly of holland and zealand never to make peace or enter into any negotiations with the king of spain on the basis of his sovereignty. the same resolution provided that his name--hitherto used in all public acts--should be for ever discarded, that his seal should be broken, and that the name and seal of the prince of orange should be substituted in all commissions and public documents. at almost the same time the states of utrecht passed a similar resolution. these offers were, however, not accepted, and the affair was preserved profoundly secret. on the th of july, , "the knights, nobles, and cities of holland and zealand," again, in an urgent and solemn manner, requested the prince to accept the "entire authority as sovereign and chief of the land, as long as the war should continue." this limitation as to time was inserted most reluctantly by the states, and because it was perfectly well understood that without it the prince would not accept the sovereignty at all. the act by which this dignity was offered, conferred full power to command all forces by land and sea, to appoint all military officers, and to conduct all warlike operations, without the control or advice of any person whatsoever. it authorized him, with consent of the states, to appoint all financial and judicial officers, created him the supreme executive chief, and fountain of justice and pardon, and directed him "to maintain the exercise only of the reformed evangelical religion, without, however, permitting that inquiries should be made into any man's belief or conscience, or that any injury or hindrance should be offered to any man on account of his religion." the sovereignty thus pressingly offered, and thus limited as to time, was finally accepted by william of orange, according to a formal act dated at the hague, th of july, , but it will be perceived that no powers were conferred by this new instrument beyond those already exercised by the prince. it was, as it were, a formal continuance of the functions which he had exercised since as the king's stadholder, according to his old commission of , although a vast, difference existed in reality. the king's name was now discarded and his sovereignty disowned, while the proscribed rebel stood in his place, exercising supreme functions, not vicariously, but in his own name. the limitation as to time was, moreover, soon afterwards secretly, and without the knowledge of orange, cancelled by the states. they were determined that the prince should be their sovereign--if they could make him so--for the term of his life. the offer having thus been made and accepted upon the th of july, oaths of allegiance and fidelity were exchanged between the prince and the estates upon the th of the same month. in these solemnities, the states, as representing the provinces, declared that because the king of spain, contrary to his oath as count of holland and zealand, had not only not protected these provinces, but had sought with all his might to reduce them to eternal slavery, it had been found necessary to forsake him. they therefore proclaimed every inhabitant absolved from allegiance, while at the same time, in the name of the population, they swore fidelity to the prince of orange, as representing the supreme authority. two days afterwards, upon the th of july, , the memorable declaration of independence was issued by the deputies of the united provinces, then solemnly assembled at the hague. it was called the act of abjuration. it deposed philip from his sovereignty, but was not the proclamation of a new form of government, for the united provinces were not ready to dispense with an hereditary chief. unluckily, they had already provided themselves with a very bad one to succeed philip in the dominion over most of their territory, while the northern provinces were fortunate enough and wise enough to take the father of the country for their supreme magistrate. the document by which the provinces renounced their allegiance was not the most felicitous of their state papers. it was too prolix and technical. its style had more of the formal phraseology of legal documents than befitted this great appeal to the whole world and to all time. nevertheless, this is but matter of taste. the netherlanders were so eminently a law-abiding people, that, like the american patriots of the eighteenth century, they on most occasions preferred punctilious precision to florid declamation. they chose to conduct their revolt according to law. at the same time, while thus decently wrapping herself in conventional garments, the spirit of liberty revealed none the less her majestic proportions. at the very outset of the abjuration, these fathers of the republic laid down wholesome truths, which at that time seemed startling blasphemies in the ears of christendom. "all mankind know," said the preamble, "that a prince is appointed by god to cherish his subjects, even as a shepherd to guard his sheep. when, therefore, the prince--does not fulfil his duty as protector; when he oppresses his subjects, destroys their ancient liberties, and treats them as slaves, he is to be considered, not a prince, but a tyrant. as such, the estates of the land may lawfully and reasonably depose him, and elect another in his room." having enunciated these maxims, the estates proceeded to apply them to their own case, and certainly never was an ampler justification for renouncing a prince since princes were first instituted. the states ran through the history of the past quarter of a century, patiently accumulating a load of charges against the monarch, a tithe of which would have furnished cause for his dethronement. without passion or exaggeration, they told the world their wrongs. the picture was not highly colored. on the contrary, it was rather a feeble than a striking portrait of the monstrous iniquity which had so long been established over them. nevertheless, they went through the narrative conscientiously and earnestly. they spoke of the king's early determination to govern the netherlands, not by natives but by spaniards; to treat them not as constitutional countries, but as conquered provinces; to regard the inhabitants not as liege subjects, but as enemies; above all, to supersede their ancient liberty by the spanish inquisition, and they alluded to the first great step in this scheme--the creation of the new bishoprics, each with its staff of inquisitors. they noticed the memorable petition, the mission of berghen and montigny, their imprisonment and taking off, in violation of all national law, even that which had ever been held sacred by the most cruel and tyrannical princes. they sketched the history of alva's administration; his entrapping the most eminent nobles by false promises, and delivering them to the executioner; his countless sentences of death, outlawry, and confiscation; his erection of citadels to curb, his imposition of the tenth and twentieth penny to exhaust the land; his blood council and its achievements; and the immeasurable, woe produced by hanging, burning, banishing, and plundering, during his seven years of residence. they adverted to the grand commander, as having been sent, not to improve the condition of the country, but to pursue the same course of tyranny by more concealed ways. they spoke of the horrible mutiny which broke forth at his death; of the antwerp fury; of the express approbation rendered to that great outrage by the king, who had not only praised the crime, but promised to recompense the criminals. they alluded to don john of austria and his duplicity; to his pretended confirmation of the ghent treaty; to his attempts to divide the country against itself; to the escovedo policy; to the intrigues with the german regiments. they touched upon the cologne negotiations, and the fruitless attempt of the patriots upon that occasion to procure freedom of religion, while the object of the royalists was only to distract and divide the nation. finally, they commented with sorrow and despair upon that last and crowning measure of tyranny--the ban against the prince of orange. they calmly observed, after this recital, that they were sufficiently justified in forsaking a sovereign who for more than twenty years had forsaken them. obeying the law of nature--desirous of maintaining the rights, charters, and liberties of their fatherland--determined to escape from slavery to spaniards--and making known their decision to the world, they declared the king of spain deposed from his sovereignty, and proclaimed that they should recognize thenceforth neither his title nor jurisdiction. three days afterwards, on the th of july, the assembly adopted a formula, by which all persons were to be required to signify their abjuration. such were the forms by which the united provinces threw off their allegiance to spain, and ipso facto established a republic, which was to flourish for two centuries. this result, however, was not exactly foreseen by the congress which deposed philip. the fathers of the commonwealth did not baptize it by the name of republic. they did not contemplate a change in their form of government. they had neither an aristocracy nor a democracy in their thoughts. like the actors in our own great national drama, these netherland patriots were struggling to sustain, not to overthrow; unlike them, they claimed no theoretical freedom for humanity--promulgated no doctrine of popular sovereignty: they insisted merely on the fulfilment of actual contracts, signed sealed, and sworn to by many successive sovereigns. acting, upon the principle that government should be for the benefit of the governed, and in conformity to the dictates of reason and justice, they examined the facts by those divine lights, and discovered cause to discard their ruler. they did not object to being ruled. they were satisfied with their historical institutions, and preferred the mixture of hereditary sovereignty with popular representation, to which they were accustomed. they did not devise an a priori constitution. philip having violated the law of reason and the statutes of the land, was deposed, and a new chief magistrate was to be elected in his stead. this was popular sovereignty in fact, but not in words. the deposition and election could be legally justified only by the inherent right of the people to depose and to elect; yet the provinces, in their declaration of independence, spoke of the divine right of kings, even while dethroning, by popular right, their own king! so also, in the instructions given by the states to their envoys charged to justify the abjuration before the imperial diet held at augsburg, twelve months later, the highest ground was claimed for the popular right to elect or depose the sovereign, while at the same time, kings were spoken of as "appointed by god." it is true that they were described, in the same clause, as "chosen by the people"--which was, perhaps, as exact a concurrence in the maxim of vox populi, vox dei, as the boldest democrat of the day could demand. in truth, a more democratic course would have defeated its own ends. the murderous and mischievous pranks of imbize, ryhove, and such demagogues, at ghent and elsewhere, with their wild theories of what they called grecian, roman, and helvetian republicanism, had inflicted damage enough on the cause of freedom, and had paved the road for the return of royal despotism. the senators assembled at the hague gave more moderate instructions to their delegates at augsburg. they were to place the king's tenure upon contract--not an implied one, but a contract as literal as the lease of a farm. the house of austria, they were to maintain, had come into the possession of the seventeen netherlands upon certain express conditions, and with the understanding that its possession was to cease with the first condition broken. it was a question of law and fact, not of royal or popular right. they were to take the ground, not only that the contract had been violated, but that the foundation of perpetual justice upon which it rested; had likewise been undermined. it was time to vindicate both written charters and general principles. "god has given absolute power to no mortal man," said saint aldegonde, "to do his own will against all laws and all reason." "the contracts which the king has broken are no pedantic fantasies," said the estates, "but laws planted by nature in the universal heart of mankind, and expressly acquiesced in by prince and people." all men, at least, who speak the english tongue, will accept the conclusion of the provinces, that when laws which protected the citizen against arbitrary imprisonment and guaranteed him a trial in his own province--which forbade the appointment of foreigners to high office--which secured the property of the citizen from taxation, except by the representative body--which forbade intermeddling on the part of the sovereign with the conscience of the subject in religious matters--when such laws had been subverted by blood tribunals, where drowsy judges sentenced thousands to stake and scaffold without a hearing by excommunication, confiscation, banishment-by hanging, beheading, burning, to such enormous extent and with such terrible monotony that the executioner's sword came to be looked upon as the only symbol of justice--then surely it might be said, without exaggeration, that the complaints of the netherlanders were "no pedantic fantasies," and that the king had ceased to perform his functions as dispenser of god's justice. the netherlanders dealt with facts. they possessed a body of laws, monuments of their national progress, by which as good a share of individual liberty was secured to the citizen as was then enjoyed in any country of the world. their institutions admitted of great improvement, no doubt; but it was natural that a people so circumstanced should be unwilling to exchange their condition for the vassalage of "moors or indians." at the same time it may be doubted whether the instinct for political freedom only would have sustained them in the long contest, and whether the bonds which united them to the spanish crown would have been broken, had it not been for the stronger passion for religious liberty, by which so large a portion of the people was animated. boldly as the united states of the netherlands laid down their political maxima, the quarrel might perhaps have been healed if the religious question had admitted of a peaceable solution. philip's bigotry amounting to frenzy, and the netherlanders of "the religion" being willing, in their own words, "to die the death" rather than abandon the reformed faith, there was upon this point no longer room for hope. in the act of abjuration, however, it was thought necessary to give offence to no class of the inhabitants, but to lay down such principles only as enlightened catholics would not oppose. all parties abhorred the inquisition, and hatred to that institution is ever prominent among the causes assigned for the deposition of the monarch. "under pretence of maintaining the roman religion," said the estates, "the king has sought by evil means to bring into operation the whole strength of the placards and of the inquisition--the first and true cause of all our miseries." without making any assault upon the roman catholic faith, the authors of the great act by which philip was for ever expelled from the netherlands showed plainly enough that religious persecution had driven them at last to extremity. at the same time, they were willing--for the sake of conciliating all classes of their countrymen--to bring the political causes of discontent into the foreground, and to use discreet language upon the religious question. such, then, being the spirit which prompted the provinces upon this great occasion, it may be asked who were the men who signed a document of such importance? in whose-name and by what authority did they act against the sovereign? the signers of the declaration of independence acted in the name and by the authority of the netherlands people. the estates were the constitutional representatives of that people. the statesmen of that day discovering, upon cold analysis of facts, that philip's sovereignty was, legally forfeited; formally proclaimed that forfeiture. then inquiring what had become of the sovereignty, they found it not in the mass of the people, but in the representative body, which actually personated the people. the estates of the different provinces--consisting of the knights, nobles, and burgesses of each--sent, accordingly, their deputies to the general assembly at the hague; and by this congress the decree of abjuration was issued. it did, not occur to any one to summon the people in their primary assemblies, nor would the people of that day, have comprehended the objects of such a summons. they were accustomed to the action of the estates, and those bodies represented as large a number of political capacities as could be expected of assemblies chosen then upon general principles. the hour had not arrived for more profound analysis of the social compact. philip was accordingly deposed justly, legally formally justly, because it had become necessary to abjur a monarch who was determined not only to oppress; but to exterminate his people; legally, because he had habitually violated the constitutions which he had sworn to support; formally, because the act was done in the name of the people, by the body historically representing the people. what, then, was the condition of the nation, after this great step had been taken? it stood, as it were, with its sovereignty in its hand, dividing it into two portions, and offering it, thus separated, to two distinct individuals. the sovereignty of holland and zealand had been reluctantly accepted by orange. the sovereignty of the united provinces had been offered to anjou, but the terms of agreement with that duke had not yet been ratified. the movement was therefore triple, consisting of an abjuration and of two separate elections of hereditary chiefs; these two elections being accomplished in the same manner, by the representative bodies respectively of the united provinces, and of holland and zealand. neither the abjuration nor the elections were acted upon beforehand by the communities, the train-bands, or the guilds of the cities--all represented, in fact, by the magistrates and councils of each; nor by the peasantry of the open country--all supposed to be represented by the knights and nobles. all classes of individuals, however; arranged in various political or military combinations, gave their acquiescence afterwards, together with their oaths of allegiance. the people approved the important steps taken by their representatives. without a direct intention on the part of the people or its leaders to establish a republic, the republic established itself. providence did not permit the whole country, so full of wealth intelligence, healthy political action--so stocked with powerful cities and an energetic population, to be combined into one free and prosperous commonwealth. the factious ambition of a few grandees, the cynical venality of many nobles, the frenzy of the ghent democracy, the spirit of religious intolerance, the consummate military and political genius of alexander farnese, the exaggerated self-abnegation and the tragic fate of orange, all united to dissever this group of flourishing and kindred provinces. the want of personal ambition on the part of william the silent inflicted perhaps a serious damage upon his country. he believed a single chief requisite for the united states; he might have been, but always refused to become that chief; and yet he has been held up for centuries by many writers as a conspirator and a self-seeking intriguer. "it seems to me," said he, with equal pathos and truth, upon one occasion, "that i was born in this bad planet that all which i do might be misinterpreted." the people worshipped him, and there was many an occasion when his election would have been carried with enthusiasm. "these provinces," said john of nassau, "are coming very unwillingly into the arrangement with the duke of alencon, the majority feel much more inclined to elect the prince, who is daily, and without intermission, implored to give his consent. his grace, however, will in no wise agree to this; not because he fears the consequences, such as loss of property or increased danger, for therein he is plunged as deeply as he ever could be;--on the contrary, if he considered only the interests of his race and the grandeur of his house, he could expect nothing but increase of honor, gold, and gear, with all other prosperity. he refuses only on this account that it may not be thought that, instead of religious freedom for the country, he has been seeking a kingdom for himself and his own private advancement. moreover, he believes that the connexion with france will be of more benefit to the country and to christianity than if a peace should be made with spain, or than if he should himself accept the sovereignty, as he is desired to do." the unfortunate negotiations with anjou, to which no man was more opposed than count john, proceeded therefore. in the meantime, the sovereignty over the united provinces was provisionally held by the national council, and, at the urgent solicitation of the states-general, by the prince. the archduke matthias, whose functions were most unceremoniously brought to an end by the transactions which we have been recording, took his leave of the states, and departed in the month of october. brought to the country a beardless boy, by the intrigues of a faction who wished to use him as a tool against william of orange, he had quietly submitted, on the contrary, to serve as the instrument of that great statesman. his personality during his residence was null, and he had to expiate, by many a petty mortification, by many a bitter tear, the boyish ambition which brought him to the netherlands. he had certainly had ample leisure to repent the haste with which he had got out of his warm bed in vienna to take his bootless journey to brussels. nevertheless, in a country where so much baseness, cruelty, and treachery was habitually practised by men of high position, as was the case in the netherlands; it is something in favor of matthias that he had not been base, or cruel, or treacherous. the states voted him, on his departure, a pension of fifty thousand guldens annually, which was probably not paid with exemplary regularity. chapter v. policy of electing anjou as sovereign--commode et incommode--views of orange--opinions at the french court,--anjou relieves cambray-- parma besieges tourney--brave defence by the princess of espinoy-- honorable capitulation--anjou's courtship in england--the duke's arrival in the netherlands--portrait of anjou--festivities in flushing--inauguration at antwerp--the conditions or articles subscribed to by the duke--attempt upon the life of orange--the assassin's papers--confession of venero--gaspar anastro--his escape --execution of venero and zimmermann--precarious condition of the prince--his recovery--death of the princess--premature letters of parma--further negotiations with orange as to the sovereignty of holland and zealand--character of the revised constitution-- comparison of the positions of the prince before and after his acceptance of the countship. thus it was arranged that, for the--present, at least, the prince should exercise sovereignty over holland and zealand; although he had himself used his utmost exertions to induce those provinces to join the rest of the united netherlands in the proposed election of anjou. this, however, they sternly refused to do. there was also a great disinclination felt by many in the other states to this hazardous offer of their allegiance, and it was the personal influence of orange that eventually carried the measure through. looking at the position of affairs and at the character of anjou, as they appear to us now, it seems difficult to account for the prince's policy. it is so natural to judge only by the result, that we are ready to censure statesmen for consequences which beforehand might seem utterly incredible, and for reading falsely human characters whose entire development only a late posterity has had full opportunity to appreciate. still, one would think that anjou had been sufficiently known to inspire distrust. there was but little, too, in the aspect of the french court to encourage hopes of valuable assistance from that quarter. it was urged, not without reason, that the french were as likely to become as dangerous as the spaniards; that they would prove nearer and more troublesome masters; that france intended the incorporation of the netherlands into her own kingdom; that the provinces would therefore be dispersed for ever from the german empire; and that it was as well to hold to the tyrant under whom they had been born, as to give themselves voluntarily to another of their own making. in short, it was maintained, in homely language, that "france and spain were both under one coverlid." it might have been added that only extreme misery could make the provinces take either bedfellow. moreover, it was asserted, with reason, that anjou would be a very expensive master, for his luxurious and extravagant habits were notorious--that he was a man in whom no confidence could be placed, and one who would grasp at arbitrary power by any means which might present themselves. above all, it was urged that he was not of the true religion, that he hated the professors of that faith in his heart, and that it was extremely unwise for men whose dearest interests were their religious ones, to elect a sovereign of opposite creed to their own. to these plausible views the prince of orange and those who acted with him, had, however; sufficient answers. the netherlands had waited long enough for assistance from other quarters. germany would not lift a finger in the cause; on the contrary, the whole of germany, whether protestant or catholic, was either openly or covertly hostile. it was madness to wait till assistance came to them from unseen sources. it was time for them to assist themselves, and to take the best they could get; for when men were starving they could not afford to be dainty. they might be bound, hand and foot, they might be overwhelmed a thousand times before they would receive succor from germany, or from any land but france. under the circumstances in which they found themselves, hope delayed was but a cold and meagre consolation. "to speak plainly," said orange, "asking us to wait is very much as if you should keep a man three days without any food in the expectation of a magnificent banquet, should persuade him to refuse bread, and at the end of three days should tell him that the banquet was not ready, but that a still better one was in preparation. would it not be better, then, that the poor man, to avoid starvation, should wait no longer, but accept bread wherever he might find it? such is our case at present." it was in this vein that he ever wrote and spoke: the netherlands were to rely upon their own exertions, and to procure the best alliance, together with the most efficient protection possible. they were not strong enough to cope singlehanded with their powerful tyrant, but they were strong enough if they used the instruments which heaven offered. it was not trusting but tempting providence to wait supinely, instead of grasping boldly at the means of rescue within reach. it became the character of brave men to act, not to expect. "otherwise," said the prince, "we may climb to the top of trees, like the anabaptists of munster, and expect god's assistance to drop from the clouds." it is only by listening to these arguments so often repeated, that we can comprehend the policy of orange at thin period. "god has said that he would furnish the ravens with food, and the lions with their prey," said he; "but the birds and the lions do not, therefore, sit in their nests and their lairs waiting for their food to descend from heaven, but they seek it where it is to be found." so also, at a later day, when events seemed to have justified the distrust so, generally felt in anjou, the prince; nevertheless, held similar language. "i do not," said he, calumniate those who tell us to put our trust in god. that is my opinion also. but it is trusting god to use the means which he places in our hands, and to ask that his blessings may come upon them. there was a feeling entertained by the more sanguine that the french king would heartily assist the netherlands, after his brother should be fairly installed. he had expressly written to that effect, assuring anjou that he would help him with all his strength, and would enter into close alliance with those netherlands which should accept him as prince and sovereign. in another and more private letter to the duke, the king promised to assist his brother, "even to his last shirt." there is no doubt that it was the policy of the statesmen of france to assist the netherlands, while the "mignons" of the worthless king were of a contrary opinion. many of them were secret partizans of spain; and found it more agreeable to receive the secret pay of philip than to assist his revolted provinces. they found it easy to excite the jealousy of the monarch against his brother--a passion which proved more effective than the more lofty ambition of annexing the low countries, according to the secret promptings of many french politicians. as for the queen mother, she was fierce in her determination to see fulfilled in this way the famous prediction of nostradamus. three of her sons had successively worn the crown of france. that she might be "the mother of four kings," without laying a third child in the tomb, she was greedy for this proffered sovereignty to her youngest and favorite son. this well-known desire of catherine de medici was duly insisted upon by the advocates of the election; for her influence, it was urged, would bring the whole power of france to support the netherlands. at any rate, france could not be worse--could hardly be so bad--as their present tyranny. "better the government of the gaul, though suspect and dangerous," said everard reyd, "than the truculent dominion of the spaniard. even thus will the partridge fly to the hand of man, to escape the talons of the hawk." as for the individual character of anjou, proper means would be taken, urged the advocates of his sovereignty, to keep him in check, for it was intended so closely to limit the power conferred upon him, that it would be only supreme in name. the netherlands were to be, in reality, a republic, of which anjou was to be a kind of italian or frisian podesta. "the duke is not to act according to his pleasure," said one of the negotiators, in a private letter to count john; "we shall take care to provide a good muzzle for him." how conscientiously the "muzzle" was prepared, will appear from the articles by which the states soon afterwards accepted the new sovereign. how basely he contrived to slip the muzzle--in what cruel and cowardly fashion he bathed his fangs in the blood of the flock committed to him, will also but too soon appear. as for the religious objection to anjou, on which more stress was laid than upon any other, the answer was equally ready. orange professed himself "not theologian enough" to go into the subtleties brought forward. as it was intended to establish most firmly a religious peace, with entire tolerance for all creeds, he did not think it absolutely essential to require a prince of the reformed faith. it was bigotry to dictate to the sovereign, when full liberty in religious matters was claimed for the subject. orange was known to be a zealous professor of the reformed worship himself; but he did not therefore reject political assistance, even though offered by a not very enthusiastic member of the ancient church. "if the priest and the levite pass us by when we are fallen among thieves," said he, with much aptness and some bitterness, "shall we reject the aid proffered by the samaritan, because he is of a different faith from the worthy fathers who have left us to perish?" in short, it was observed with perfect truth that philip had been removed, not because he was a catholic, but because he was a tyrant; not because his faith was different from that of his subjects, but because he was resolved to exterminate all men whose religion differed from his own. it was not, therefore, inconsistent to choose another catholic for a sovereign, if proper guarantees could be obtained that he would protect and not oppress the reformed churches. "if the duke have the same designs as the king," said saint aldegonde, "it would be a great piece of folly to change one tyrant and persecutor for another. if, on the contrary, instead of oppressing our liberties, he will maintain them, and in place of extirpating the disciples of the true religion, he will protect them, then are all the reasons of our opponents without vigor." by midsummer the duke of anjou made his appearance in the western part of the netherlands. the prince of parma had recently come before cambray with the intention of reducing that important city. on the arrival of anjou, however, at the head of five thousand cavalry--nearly all of them gentlemen of high degree, serving as volunteers--and of twelve thousand infantry, alexander raised the siege precipitately, and retired towards tournay. anjou victualled the city, strengthened the garrison, and then, as his cavalry had only enlisted for a summer's amusement, and could no longer be held together, he disbanded his forces. the bulk of the infantry took service for the states under the prince of espinoy, governor of tournay. the duke himself, finding that, notwithstanding the treaty of plessis les tours and the present showy demonstration upon his part, the states were not yet prepared to render him formal allegiance, and being, moreover, in the heyday of what was universally considered his prosperous courtship of queen elizabeth, soon afterwards took his departure for england. parma; being thus relieved of his interference, soon afterwards laid siege to the important city of tournay. the prince of espinoy was absent with the army in the north, but the princess commanded in his absence. she fulfilled her duty in a manner worthy of the house from which she sprang, for the blood of count horn was in her veins. the daughter of mary, de montmorency, the admiral's sister, answered the summons of parma to surrender at discretion with defiance. the garrison was encouraged by her steadfastness. the princess appeared daily among her troops, superintending the defences, and personally directing the officers. during one of the assaults, she is said, but perhaps erroneously; to have been wounded in the arm, notwithstanding which she refused to retire. the siege lasted two months. meantime, it became impossible for orange and the estates, notwithstanding their efforts, to raise a sufficient force to drive parma from his entrenchments. the city was becoming gradually and surely undermined from without, while at the same time the insidious art of a dominican friar, father gery by name, had been as surely sapping the fidelity of the garrison from within. an open revolt of the catholic population being on the point of taking place, it became impossible any longer to hold the city. those of the reformed faith insisted that the place should be surrendered; and the princess, being thus deserted by all parties, made an honorable capitulation with parma. she herself, with all her garrison, was allowed to retire with personal property, and with all the honors of war, while the sack of the city was commuted for one hundred thousand crowns, levied upon the inhabitants: the princess, on leaving the gates, was received with such a shout of applause from the royal army that she seemed less like a defeated commander than a conqueror. upon the th november, parma accordingly entered the place which he had been besieging since the st of october. by the end of the autumn, the prince of orange, more than ever dissatisfied with the anarchical condition of affairs, and with the obstinate jealousy and parsimony of the different provinces, again summoned the country in the most earnest language to provide for the general defence, and to take measures for the inauguration of anjou. he painted in sombre colors the prospect which lay before them, if nothing was done to arrest the progress of the internal disorders and of the external foe, whose forces were steadily augmenting: had the provinces followed his advice, instead of quarreling among themselves, they would have had a powerful army on foot to second the efforts of anjou, and subsequently to save tournay. they had remained supine and stolid, even while the cannonading against these beautiful cities was in their very ears. no man seemed to think himself interested in public affair, save when his own province or village was directly attacked. the general interests of the commonwealth were forgotten, in local jealousy. had it been otherwise, the enemy would have long since been driven over the meuse. "when money," continued the prince, "is asked for to carry on the war, men answer as if they were talking with the dead emperor. to say, however, that they will pay no more, is as much as to declare that they will give up their land and their religion both. i say this, not because i have any desire to put my hands into the common purse. you well know that i have never touched the public money, but it is important that you should feel that there is no war in the country except the one which concerns you all." the states, thus shamed and stimulated, set themselves in earnest to obey the mandates of the prince, and sent a special mission to england, to arrange with the duke of anjou for his formal installation as sovereign. saint aldegonde and other commissioners were already there. it was the memorable epoch in the anjou wooing, when the rings were exchanged between elizabeth and the duke, and when the world thought that the nuptials were on the point of being celebrated. saint aldegonde wrote to the prince of orange on the nd of november, that the marriage had been finally settled upon that day. throughout the netherlands, the auspicious tidings were greeted with bonfires, illuminations, and cannonading, and the measures for hailing the prince, thus highly favored by so great a queen, as sovereign master of the provinces, were pushed forward with great energy. nevertheless, the marriage ended in smoke. there were plenty of tournays, pageants, and banquets; a profusion of nuptial festivities, in short, where nothing was omitted but the nuptials. by the end of january, , the duke was no nearer the goal than upon his arrival three months before. acceding, therefore, to the wishes of the netherland envoys, he prepared for a visit to their country, where the ceremony of his joyful entrance as duke of brabant and sovereign of the other provinces was to take place. no open rupture with elizabeth occurred. on the contrary, the queen accompanied the duke, with a numerous and stately retinue, as far as canterbury, and sent a most brilliant train of her greatest nobles and gentlemen to escort him to the netherlands, communicating at the same time, by special letter, her wishes to the estates-general, that he should be treated with as much honor "as if he were her second self." on the th of february, fifteen large vessels cast anchor at flushing. the duke of anjou, attended by the earl of leicester, the lords hunsdon, willoughby, sheffield, howard, sir philip sidney, and many other personages of high rank and reputation, landed from this fleet. he was greeted on his arrival by the prince of orange, who, with the prince of espinoy and a large deputation of the states-general, had been for some days waiting to welcome him. the man whom the netherlands had chosen for their new master stood on the shores of zealand. francis hercules, son of france, duke of alencon and anjou, was at that time just twenty-eight years of age; yet not even his flatterers, or his "minions," of whom he had as regular a train as his royal brother, could claim for him the external graces of youth or of princely dignity. he was below the middle height, puny and ill-shaped. his hair and eyes were brown, his face was seamed with the small-pox, his skin covered with blotches, his nose so swollen and distorted that it seemed to be double. this prominent feature did not escape the sarcasms of his countrymen, who, among other gibes, were wont to observe that the man who always wore two faces, might be expected to have two noses also. it was thought that his revolting appearance was the principal reason for the rupture of the english marriage, and it was in vain that his supporters maintained that if he could forgive her age, she might, in return, excuse his ugliness. it seemed that there was a point of hideousness beyond which even royal princes could not descend with impunity, and the only wonder seemed that elizabeth, with the handsome robert dudley ever at her feet, could even tolerate the addresses of francis valois. his intellect was by no means contemptible. he was not without a certain quickness of apprehension and vivacity of expression which passed current, among his admirers for wit and wisdom. even the experienced. saint aldegonde was deceived in his character, and described him after an hour and half's interview, as a prince overflowing with bounty, intelligence, and sincerity. that such men as saint aldegonde and the prince of orange should be at fault in their judgment, is evidence not so much of their want of discernment, as of the difference between the general reputation of the duke at that period, and that which has been eventually established for him in history. moreover, subsequent events were to exhibit the utter baseness of his character more signally than it had been displayed during his previous career, however vacillating. no more ignoble yet more dangerous creature had yet been loosed upon the devoted soil of the netherlands. not one of the personages who had hitherto figured in the long drama of the revolt had enacted so sorry a part. ambitious but trivial, enterprising but cowardly, an intriguer and a dupe, without religious convictions or political principles, save that he was willing to accept any creed or any system which might advance his own schemes, he was the most unfit protector for a people who, whether wrong or right; were at least in earnest, and who were accustomed to regard truth as one of the virtues. he was certainly not deficient in self-esteem. with a figure which was insignificant, and a countenance which was repulsive, he had hoped to efface the impression made upon elizabeth's imagination by the handsomest man in europe. with a commonplace capacity, and with a narrow political education, he intended to circumvent the most profound statesman of his age. and there, upon the pier at flushing, he stood between them both; between the magnificent leicester, whom he had thought to outshine, and the silent prince of orange, whom he was determined to outwit. posterity has long been aware how far he succeeded in the one and the other attempt. the duke's arrival was greeted with the roar of artillery, the ringing of bells, and the acclamations of a large concourse of the inhabitants; suitable speeches were made by the magistrates of the town, the deputies of zealand, and other functionaries, and a stately banquet was provided, so remarkable "for its sugar-work and other delicacies, as to entirely astonish the french and english lords who partook thereof." the duke visited middelburg, where he was received with great state, and to the authorities of which he expressed his gratification at finding two such stately cities situate so close to each other on one little island. on the th of february, he set sail for antwerp. a fleet of fifty-four vessels, covered with flags and streamers, conveyed him and his retinue, together with the large deputation which had welcomed him at flushing, to the great commercial metropolis. he stepped on shore at kiel within a bowshot of the city--for, like other dukes of brabant, he was not to enter antwerp until he had taken the oaths to respect the constitution--and the ceremony of inauguration was to take place outside the walls. a large platform had been erected for this purpose, commanding a view of the stately city, with its bristling fortifications and shady groves. a throne, covered with velvet and gold, was prepared, and here the duke took his seat, surrounded by a brilliant throng, including many of the most distinguished personages in europe. it was a bright winter's morning. the gaily bannered fleet lay conspicuous in the river, while an enormous concourse of people were thronging from all sides to greet the new sovereign. twenty thousand burgher troops, in bright uniforms, surrounded the platform, upon the tapestried floor of which stood the magistrates of antwerp, the leading members of the brabant estates, with the prince of orange at their head, together with many other great functionaries. the magnificence everywhere displayed, and especially the splendid costumes of the military companies, excited the profound astonishment of the french, who exclaimed that every soldier seemed a captain, and who regarded with vexation their own inferior equipments. andrew hesaels, 'doctor utriusque juris', delivered a salutatory oration, in which, among other flights of eloquence, he expressed the hope of the provinces that the duke, with the beams of his greatness, wisdom, and magnanimity, would disipate all the mists, fogs, and other exhalations which were pernicious to their national prosperity, and that he would bring back the sunlight of their ancient glory. anjou answered these compliments with equal courtesy, and had much to say of his willingness to shed every drop of his blood in defence of the brabant liberties; but it might have damped the enthusiasm of the moment could the curtain of the not very distant future have been lifted. the audience, listening to these promises, might have seen that it was not so much his blood as theirs which he was disposed to shed, and less, too, in defence than in violation of those same liberties which he was swearing to protect. orator hessels then read aloud the articles of the joyous entry, in the flemish language, and the duke was asked if he required any explanations of that celebrated constitution. he replied that he had thoroughly studied its provisions, with the assistance of the prince of orange, during his voyage from flushing, and was quite prepared to swear to maintain them. the oaths, according to the antique custom, were then administered. afterwards, the ducal hat and the velvet mantle, lined with ermine, were brought, the prince of orange assisting his highness to assume this historical costume of the brabant dukes, and saying to him, as he fastened the button at the throat, "i must secure this robe so firmly, my lord, that no man may ever tear it from your shoulders." thus arrayed in his garment of sovereignty, anjou was compelled to listen to another oration from, the pensionary of antwerp, john van der werken. he then exchanged oaths with the magistrates of the city, and received the keys, which he returned for safe-keeping to the burgomaster. meanwhile the trumpets sounded, largess of gold and silver coins was scattered among the people, and the heralds cried aloud, "long live the duke of brabant." a procession was then formed to escort the new duke to his commercial capital. a stately and striking procession it was. the hanseatic merchants in ancient german attires the english merchants in long velvet cassocks, the heralds is their quaint costume, the long train of civic militia with full, bands of music, the chief functionaries of city and province in their black mantles and gold chains, all marching under emblematical standards or time-honored blazons, followed each other in dignified order. then came the duke himself on a white barbary horse, caparisoned with cloth of gold. he was surrounded with english, french, and netherland grandees, many of them of world-wide reputation. there was the stately leicester; sir philip sidney, the mirror of chivalry; the gaunt and imposing form of william the silent; his son; count maurice of nassau, destined to be the first captain of his age, then a handsome, dark-eyed lad of fifteen; the dauphin of auvergne; the marechal de biron and his sons; the prince of espinoy; the lords sheffield; willoughby, howard; hunsdon, and many others of high degree and distinguished reputation. the ancient guilds of the crossbow-men; and archers of brabant, splendidly accoutred; formed the bodyguard of the duke, while his french cavaliers, the life-guardsmen of the prince of orange, and the troops of they line; followed in great numbers, their glittering uniforms all, gaily intermingled, "like the flowers de luce upon a royal mantle!" the procession, thus gorgeous and gay, was terminated by, a dismal group of three hundred malefactors, marching in fetters, and imploring pardon of the duke, a boon which was to be granted at evening. great torches, although it was high noon were burning along the road, at intervals of four or five feet, in a continuous line reaching from the platform at kiel to the portal of saint joris, through which the entrance to the city was to be made. inside the gate a stupendous allegory was awaiting the approach of the new sovereign. a huge gilded car, crowded with those emblematical and highly bedizened personages so dear to the netherlanders, obstructed the advance of the procession. all the virtues seemed to have come out for an airing in one chariot, and were now waiting to offer their homage to francis hercules valois. religion in "red satin," holding the gospel in her hand, was supported by justice, "in orange velvet," armed with blade and beam. prudence and fortitude embraced each other near a column enwreathed by serpents "with their tails in their ears to typify deafness to flattery," while patriotism as a pelican, and patience as a brooding hen, looked benignantly upon the scene. this greeting duly acknowledged, the procession advanced into the city. the streets were lined with troops and with citizens; the balconies were filled with fair women; "the very gables," says an enthusiastic contemporary, "seemed to laugh with ladies' eyes." the market-place was filled with waxen torches and with blazing tar barrels, while in its centre stood the giant antigonus--founder of the city thirteen hundred years before the christian era--the fabulous personage who was accustomed to throw the right hands of all smuggling merchants into the scheld. this colossal individual, attired in a "surcoat of sky-blue," and holding a banner emblazoned with the arms of spain, turned its head as the duke entered the square, saluted the new sovereign, and then dropping the spanish scutcheon upon the ground, raised aloft another bearing the arms of anjou. and thus, amid exuberant outpouring of confidence, another lord and master had made his triumphal entrance into the netherlands. alas how often had this sanguine people greeted with similar acclamations the advent of their betrayers and their tyrants! how soon were they to discover that the man whom they were thus receiving with the warmest enthusiasm was the most treacherous tyrant of all. it was nightfall before the procession at last reached the palace of saint michael, which had been fitted up for the temporary reception of the duke. the next day was devoted to speech-making; various deputations waiting upon the new duke of brabant with congratulatory addresses. the grand pensionary delivered a pompous oration upon a platform hung with sky-blue silk, and carpeted with cloth of gold. a committee of the german and french reformed churches made a long harangue, in which they expressed the hope that the lord would make the duke "as valiant as david, as wise as solomon, and as pious as hezekiah." a roman catholic deputation informed his highness that for eight months the members of the ancient church had been forbidden all religious exercises, saving baptism, marriage, visitation of the sick, and burials. a promise was therefore made that this prohibition, which had been the result of the disturbances recorded in a preceding chapter, should be immediately modified, and on the th of march, accordingly, it was arranged, by command of the magistrates, that all catholics should have permission to attend public worship, according to the ancient ceremonial, in the church of saint michael, which had been originally designated for the use of the new duke of brabant. it was, however, stipulated that all who desired to partake of this privilege should take the oath of abjuration beforehand, and go to the church without arms. here then had been oaths enough, orations enough, compliments enough, to make any agreement steadfast, so far as windy suspirations could furnish a solid foundation for the social compact. bells, trumpets, and the brazen throats of men and of cannons had made a sufficient din, torches and tar-barrels had made a sufficient glare, to confirm--so far as noise and blazing pitch could confirm--the decorous proceedings of church and town-house, but time was soon to show the value of such demonstrations. meantime, the "muzzle" had been fastened with solemnity and accepted with docility. the terms of the treaty concluded at plessis lea tours and bordeaux were made public. the duke had subscribed to twenty-seven articles; which made as stringent and sensible a constitutional compact as could be desired by any netherland patriot. these articles, taken in connection with the ancient charters which they expressly upheld, left to the new sovereign no vestige of arbitrary power. he was merely the hereditary president of a representative republic. he was to be duke, count, margrave, or seignior of the different provinces on the same terms which his predecessors had accepted. he was to transmit the dignities to his children. if there were more than one child, the provinces were to select one of the number for their sovereign. he was to maintain all the ancient privileges, charters, statutes, and customs, and to forfeit his sovereignty at the first violation. he was to assemble the states-general at least once a year. he was always to reside in the netherlands. he was to permit none but natives to hold office. his right of appointment to all important posts was limited to a selection from three candidates, to be proposed by the estates of the province concerned, at each vacancy. he was to maintain "the religion" and the religious peace in the same state in which they then were, or as should afterwards be ordained by the estates of each province, without making any innovation on his own part. holland and zealand were to remain as they were, both in the matter of religion and otherwise. his highness was not to permit that any one should be examined or molested in his house, or otherwise, in the matter or under pretext of religion. he was to procure the assistance of the king of france for the netherlands. he was to maintain a perfect and a perpetual league, offensive and defensive, between that kingdom and the provinces; without; however, permitting any incorporation of territory. he was to carry on the war against spain with his own means and those furnished by his royal brother, in addition to a yearly, contribution by the estates of two million four hundred thousand guldens. he was to dismiss all troops at command of the states-general. he was to make no treaty with spain without their consent. it would be superfluous to point out the great difference between the notions entertained upon international law in the sixteenth century and in our own. a state of nominal peace existed between spain, france and england; yet here was the brother of the french monarch, at the head of french troops, and attended by the grandees of england solemnly accepting the sovereignty over the revolted provinces of spain. it is also curious to observe that the constitutional compact, by which the new sovereign of the netherlands was admitted to the government, would have been repudiated as revolutionary and republican by the monarchs of france or england, if an attempt had been made to apply it to their own realms, for the ancient charters--which in reality constituted a republican form of government--had all been re-established by the agreement with anjou. the first-fruits of the ban now began to display themselves. sunday, th of march, , was the birthday of the duke of anjou, and a great festival had been arranged, accordingly, for the evening, at the palace of saint michael, the prince of orange as well as all the great french lords being of course invited. the prince dined, as usual, at his house in the neighbourhood of the citadel, in company with the counts hohenlo and laval, and the two distinguished french commissioners, bonnivet and des pruneaux. young maurice of nassau, and two nephews of the prince, sons of his brother john, were also present at table. during dinner the conversation was animated, many stories being related of the cruelties which had been practised by the spaniards in the provinces. on rising from the table, orange led the way from the dining room to his own apartments, showing the noblemen in his company as he passed along, a piece of tapestry upon which some spanish soldiers were represented. at this moment, as he stood upon the threshold of the ante-chamber, a youth of small stature, vulgar mien, and pale dark complexion, appeared from among the servants and offered him a petition. he took the paper, and as he did so, the stranger suddenly drew a pistol and discharged it at the head of the prince. the ball entered the neck under the right ear, passed through the roof of the mouth, and came out under the left jaw-bone, carrying with it two teeth. the pistol had been held so near, that the hair and beard of the prince were set on fire by the discharge. he remained standing, but blinded, stunned, and for a moment entirely ignorant of what had occurred. as he afterwards observed, he thought perhaps that a part of the house had suddenly fallen. finding very soon that his hair and beard were burning, he comprehended what had occurred; and called out quickly, "do not kill him--i forgive him my death!" and turning to the french noblemen present, he added, "alas! what a faithful servant does his highness lose in me!" these were his first words, spoken when, as all believed, he had been mortally wounded. the message of mercy came, however, too late; for two of the gentlemen present, by an irresistible impulse, had run the assassin through with their rapiers. the halberdiers rushed upon him immediately after wards, so that he fell pierced in thirty-two vital places. the prince, supported by his friends, walked to his chamber, where he was put to bed, while the surgeons examined and bandaged the wound. it was most dangerous in appearance, but a very strange circumstance gave more hope than could otherwise have been entertained. the flame from the pistol had been so close that it had actually cauterized the wound inflicted by the ball. but for this, it was supposed that the flow of blood from the veins which had been shot through would have proved fatal before the wound could be dressed. the prince, after the first shock, had recovered full possession of his senses, and believing himself to be dying, he expressed the most unaffected sympathy for the condition in which the duke of anjou would be placed by his death. "alas, poor prince!" he cried frequently; "alas, what troubles will now beset thee!" the surgeons enjoined and implored his silence, as speaking might cause the wound to prove immediately fatal. he complied, but wrote incessantly. as long as his heart could beat, it was impossible for him not to be occupied with his country. lion petit, a trusty captain of the city guard, forced his way to the chamber, it being, absolutely necessary, said the honest burgher, for him to see with his own eyes that the prince was living, and report the fact to the townspeople otherwise, so great was the excitement, it was impossible to say what might be the result. it was in fact believed that the prince was already dead, and it was whispered that he had been assassinated by the order of anjou. this horrible suspicion was flying through the city, and producing a fierce exasperation, as men talked of the murder of coligny, of saint bartholomew, of the murderous propensities of the valois race. had the attempt taken place in the evening, at the birth-night banquet of anjou, a horrible massacre would have been the inevitable issue. as it happened, however, circumstances soon, occurred to remove, the suspicion from the french, and to indicate the origin of the crime. meantime, captain petit was urged by the prince, in writing, to go forth instantly with the news that he yet survived, but to implore the people, in case god should call him to himself, to hold him in kind remembrance, to make no tumult, and to serve the duke obediently and faithfully. meantime, the youthful maurice of nassau was giving proof of that cool determination which already marked his character. it was natural that a boy of fifteen should be somewhat agitated at seeing such a father shot through the head before his eyes. his situation was rendered doubly grave by the suspicions which were instantly engendered as to the probable origin of the attempt. it was already whispered in the hall that the gentlemen who had been so officious in slaying the assassin, were his accomplices, who--upon the principle that dead men would tell no tales--were disposed, now that the deed was done, to preclude inconvenient revelations as to their own share in the crime. maurice, notwithstanding these causes for perturbation, and despite his grief at his father's probable death, remained steadily by the body of the murderer. he was determined, if possible, to unravel the plot, and he waited to possess himself of all papers and other articles which might be found upon the person of the deceased. a scrupulous search was at once made by the attendants, and everything placed in the young count's own hands. this done, maurice expressed a doubt lest some of the villain's accomplices might attempt to take the articles from him, whereupon a faithful old servant of his father came forward, who with an emphatic expression of the importance of securing such important documents, took his young master under his cloak, and led him to a retired apartment of the house. here, after a rapid examination, it was found that the papers were all in spanish, written by spaniards to spaniards, so that it was obvious that the conspiracy, if one there were, was not a french conspiracy. the servant, therefore, advised maurice to go to his father, while he would himself instantly descend to the hall with this important intelligence. count hohenlo had, from the instant of the murder, ordered the doors to be fastened, and had permitted no one to enter or to leave the apartment without his permission. the information now brought by the servant as to the character of the papers caused great relief to the minds of all; for, till that moment, suspicion had even lighted upon men who were the firm friends of the prince. saint aldegonde, who had meantime arrived, now proceeded, in company of the other gentlemen, to examine the papers and other articles taken from the assassin. the pistol with which he had done the deed was lying upon the floor; a naked poniard, which he would probably have used also, had his thumb not been blown off by the discharge of the pistol, was found in his trunk hose. in his pockets were an agnus dei, a taper of green wax, two bits of hareskin, two dried toads--which were supposed to be sorcerer's charms--a crucifix, a jesuit catechism, a prayer-book, a pocket-book containing two spanish bills of exchange--one for two thousand, and one for eight hundred and seventy-seven crowns--and a set of writing tablets. these last were covered with vows and pious invocations, in reference to the murderous affair which the writer had in hand. he had addressed fervent prayers to the "virgin mary, to the angel gabriel, to the saviour, and to the saviour's son as if," says the antwerp chronicler, with simplicity, "the lord jesus had a son"--that they might all use their intercession with the almighty towards the certain and safe accomplishment of the contemplated deed. should he come off successful and unharmed, he solemnly vowed to fast a week on bread and water. furthermore, he promised to christ a "new coat of costly pattern;" to the mother of god, at guadalupe, a new gown; to our lady of montserrat, a crown, a gown, and a lamp; and so on through along list of similar presents thus contemplated for various shrines. the poor fanatical fool had been taught by deeper villains than himself that his pistol was to rid the world of a tyrant, and to open his own pathway to heaven, if his career should be cut short on earth. to prevent so undesirable a catastrophe to himself, however, his most natural conception had been to bribe the whole heavenly host, from the virgin mary downwards, for he had been taught that absolution for murder was to be bought and sold like other merchandise. he had also been persuaded that, after accomplishing the deed, he would become invisible. saint aldegonde hastened to lay the result of this examination before the duke of anjou. information was likewise instantly conveyed to the magistrates at the town house, and these measures were successful in restoring confidence throughout the city as to the intentions of the new government. anjou immediately convened the state council, issued a summons for an early meeting of the states-general, and published a proclamation that all persons having information to give concerning the crime which had just been committed, should come instantly forward, upon pain of death. the body of the assassin was forthwith exposed upon the public square, and was soon recognized as that of one juan jaureguy, a servant in the employ of gaspar d'anastro, a spanish merchant of antwerp. the letters and bills of exchange had also, on nearer examination at the town house, implicated anastro in the affair. his house was immediately searched, but the merchant had taken his departure, upon the previous tuesday, under pretext of pressing affairs at calais. his cashier, venero, and a dominican friar, named antony zimmermann, both inmates of his family, were, however, arrested upon suspicion. on the following day the watch stationed at the gate carried the foreign post-bags, as soon as they arrived, to the magistracy, when letters were found from anastro to venero, which made the affair quite plain. after they had been thoroughly studied, they were shown to venero, who, seeing himself thus completely ruined, asked for pen and ink, and wrote a full confession. it appeared that the crime was purely a commercial speculation on the part of anastro. that merchant, being on the verge of bankruptcy, had entered with philip into a mutual contract, which the king had signed with his hand and sealed with his seal, and according to which anastro, within a certain period, was to take the life of william of orange, and for so doing was to receive eighty thousand ducats, and the cross of santiago. to be a knight companion of spain's proudest order of chivalry was the guerdon, over and above the eighty thousand pieces of silver, which spain's monarch promised the murderer, if he should succeed. as for anastro himself, he was too frugal and too wary to risk his own life, or to lose much of the premium. with, tears streaming down his cheeks, he painted to his faithful cashier the picture which his master would present, when men should point at him and say, "behold yon bankrupt!" protesting, therefore, that he would murder orange and secure the reward, or perish in the attempt. saying this, he again shed many tears. venero, seeing his master thus disconsolate, wept bitterly likewise; and begged him not to risk his own precious life. after this pathetic commingling of their grief, the merchant and his book-keeper became more composed, and it was at last concerted between them that john jaureguy should be entrusted with the job. anastro had intended--as he said in a letter afterwards intercepted--"to accomplish the deed with his own hand; but, as god had probably reserved him for other things, and particularly to be of service to his very affectionate friends, he had thought best to entrust the execution of the design to his servant." the price paid by the master to the man, for the work, seems to have been but two thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven crowns. the cowardly and crafty principal escaped. he had gone post haste to dunkirk, pretending that the sudden death of his agent in calais required his immediate presence in that city. governor sweveseel, of dunkirk, sent an orderly to get a passport for him from la motte, commanding at gravelingen. anastro being on tenter-hooks lest the news should arrive that the projected murder had been consummated before he had crossed the border, testified extravagant joy on the arrival of the passport, and gave the messenger who brought it thirty pistoles. such conduct naturally excited a vague suspicion in the mind of the governor, but the merchant's character was good, and he had brought pressing letters from admiral treslong. sweveseel did not dare to arrest him without cause, and he neither knew that any crime had been committed; nor that the man before him was the criminal. two hours after the traveller's departure, the news arrived of the deed, together with orders to arrest anastro, but it was too late. the merchant had found refuge within the lines of parma. meanwhile, the prince lay in a most critical condition. believing that his end was fast approaching; he dictated letters to the states-general, entreating them to continue in their obedience to the duke, than whom he affirmed that he knew no better prince for the government of the provinces. these letters were despatched by saint aldegonde to the assembly, from which body a deputation, in obedience to the wishes of orange, was sent to anjou, with expressions of condolence and fidelity. on wednesday a solemn fast was held, according to proclamation, in antwerp, all work and all amusements being prohibited, and special prayers commanded in all the churches for the recovery of the prince. "never, within men's memory," says an account published at the moment, in antwerp, "had such crowds been seen in the churches, nor so many tears been shed." the process against venero and zimmermann was rapidly carried through, for both had made a full confession of their share in the crime. the prince had enjoined from his sick bed, however, that the case should be conducted with strict regard to justice, and, when the execution could no longer be deferred, he had sent a written request, by the hands of saint aldegonde, that they should be put to death in the least painful manner. the request was complied with, but there can be no doubt that the criminals, had it not been made, would have expiated their offence by the most lingering tortures. owing to the intercession of the man who was to have been their victim, they were strangled, before being quartered, upon a scaffold erected in the market-place, opposite the town house. this execution took place on wednesday, the th of march. the prince, meanwhile, was thought to be mending, and thanksgivings began to be mingled with the prayers offered almost every hour in the churches; but for eighteen days he lay in a most precarious state. his wife hardly left his bedside, and his sister, catharine countess of schwartzburg, was indefatigable in her attentions. the duke of anjou visited him daily, and expressed the most filial anxiety for his recovery, but the hopes, which had been gradually growing stronger, were on the th of april exchanged for the deepest apprehensions. upon that day the cicatrix by which the flow of blood from the neck had been prevented, almost from the first infliction of the wound, fell off. the veins poured forth a vast quantity of blood; it seemed impossible to check the haemorrhage, and all hope appeared to vanish. the prince resigned himself to his fate, and bade his children "good night for ever," saying calmly, "it is now all over with me." it was difficult, without suffocating the patient, to fasten a bandage tightly enough to staunch the wound, but leonardo botalli, of asti, body physician of anjou, was nevertheless fortunate enough to devise a simple mechanical expedient, which proved successful. by his advice; a succession of attendants, relieving each other day and night, prevented the flow of blood by keeping the orifice of the wound slightly but firmly compressed with the thumb. after a period of anxious expectation, the wound again closed; and by the end of the month the prince was convalescent. on the nd of may he went to offer thanksgiving in the great cathedral, amid the joyful sobs of a vast and most earnest throng. the prince, was saved, but unhappily the murderer had yet found an illustrious victim. the princess of orange; charlotte de bourbon--the devoted wife who for seven years, had so faithfully shared his joys and sorrows--lay already on her death-bed. exhausted by anxiety, long watching; and the alternations of hope and fear during the first eighteen days, she had been prostrated by despair at the renewed haemorrhage. a violent fever seized her, under which she sank on the th of may, three days after the solemn thanksgiving for her husband's recovery. the prince, who loved her tenderly, was in great danger of relapse upon the sad event, which, although not sudden, had not been anticipated. she was laid in her grave on the th of may, amid the lamentations of the whole country, for her virtues were universally known and cherished. she was a woman of rare intelligence, accomplishment, and gentleness of disposition; whose only offence had been to break, by her marriage, the church vows to which she had been forced in her childhood, but which had been pronounced illegal by competent authority, both ecclesiastical and lay. for this, and for the contrast which her virtues afforded to the vices of her predecessor, she was the mark of calumny and insult. these attacks, however, had cast no shadow upon the serenity of her married life, and so long as she lived she was the trusted companion and consoler of her husband. "his highness," wrote count john in , "is in excellent health, and, in spite of adversity, incredible labor, perplexity, and dangers, is in such good spirits that, it makes me happy to witness it. no doubt a chief reason is the consolation he derives from the pious and highly-intelligent wife whom, the lord has given him--a woman who ever conforms to his wishes, and is inexpressibly dear to him." the princess left six daughters--louisa juliana, elizabeth, catharina belgica, flandrina, charlotta brabantica, and emilia secunda. parma received the first intelligence of the attempt from the mouth of anastro himself, who assured him that the deed had been entirely successful, and claimed the promised reward. alexander, in consequence, addressed circular letters to the authorities of antwerp, brussels, bruges, and other cities, calling upon them, now that they had been relieved of their tyrant and their betrayer, to return again to the path of their duty and to the ever open arms of their lawful monarch. these letters were premature. on the other hand, the states of holland and zealand remained in permanent session, awaiting with extreme anxiety the result of the prince's wound. "with the death of his excellency, if god should please to take him to himself," said the magistracy of leyden, "in the death of the prince we all foresee our own death." it was, in truth, an anxious moment, and the revulsion of feeling consequent on his recovery was proportionately intense. in consequence of the excitement produced by this event, it was no longer possible for the prince to decline accepting the countship of holland and zealand, which he had refused absolutely two years before, and which he had again rejected, except for a limited period, in the year . it was well understood, as appears by the treaty with anjou, and afterwards formally arranged, "that the duke was never, to claim sovereignty over holland and zealand," and the offer of the sovereign countship of holland was again made to the prince of orange in most urgent terms. it will be recollected that he had accepted the sovereignty on the th of july, , only for the term of the war. in a letter, dated bruges, th of august, , he accepted the dignity without limitation. this offer and acceptance, however, constituted but the preliminaries, for it was further necessary that the letters of "renversal" should be drawn up, that they should be formally delivered, and that a new constitution should be laid down, and confirmed by mutual oaths. after these steps had been taken, the ceremonious inauguration or rendering of homage was to be celebrated. all these measures were duly arranged, except the last. the installation of the new count of holland was prevented by his death, and the northern provinces remained a republic, not only in fact but in name. in political matters; the basis of the new constitution was the "great privilege" of the lady mary, the magna charta of the country. that memorable monument in the history of the netherlands and of municipal progress had, been overthrown by mary's son, with the forced acquiescence of the states, and it was therefore stipulated by the new article, that even such laws and privileges as had fallen into disuse should be revived. it was furthermore provided that the little state should be a free countship, and should thus silently sever its connexion with the empire. with regard to the position of the prince, as hereditary chief of the little commonwealth, his actual power was rather diminished than increased by his new dignity. what was his position at the moment? he was sovereign during the war, on the general basis of the authority originally bestowed upon him by the king's commission of stadholder. in , his majesty had been abjured and the stadholder had become sovereign. he held in his hands the supreme power, legislative, judicial, executive. the counts of holland--and philip as their successor--were the great fountains of that triple stream. concessions and exceptions had become so extensive; no doubt, that the provincial charters constituted a vast body of "liberties" by which the whole country was reasonably well supplied. at the same time, all the power not expressly granted away remained in the breast of the count. if ambition, then, had been william's ruling principle, he had exchanged substance for shadow, for the new state now constituted was a free commonwealth--a republic in all but name. by the new constitution he ceased to be the source of governmental life, or to derive his own authority from above by right divine. the sacred oil which had flowed from charles the simple's beard was dried up. orange's sovereignty was from the estates; as legal representatives of the people; and, instead of exercising all the powers not otherwise granted away, he was content with those especially conferred upon him. he could neither declare war nor conclude peace without the co-operation of the representative body. the appointing power was scrupulously limited. judges, magistrates, governors, sheriffs, provincial and municipal officers, were to be nominated by the local authorities or by the estates, on the triple principle. from these triple nominations he had only the right of selection by advice and consent of his council. he was expressly enjoined to see that the law was carried to every man's door, without any distinction of persons; to submit himself to its behests, to watch against all impedimenta to the even flow of justice, to prevent false imprisonments, and to secure trials for every accused person by the local tribunals. this was certainly little in accordance with the arbitrary practice of the past quarter of a century. with respect to the great principle of taxation, stricter bonds even were provided than those which already existed. not only the right of taxation remained with the states, but the count was to see that, except for war purposes, every impost was levied by a unanimous vote. he was expressly forbidden to tamper with the currency. as executive head, save in his capacity as commander-in-chief by land or sea, the new sovereign was, in short, strictly limited by self-imposed laws. it had rested with him to dictate or to accept a constitution. he had in his memorable letter of august, , from bruges, laid down generally the articles prepared at plessia and bourdeaux, for anjou-together with all applicable provisions of the joyous entry of brabant--as the outlines of the constitution for the little commonwealth then forming in the north. to these provisions he was willing to add any others which, after ripe deliberation, might be thought beneficial to the country. thus limited were his executive functions. as to his judicial authority it had ceased to exist. the count of holland was now the guardian of the laws, but the judges were to administer them. he held the sword of justice to protect and to execute, while the scales were left in the hands which had learned to weigh and to measure. as to the count's legislative authority, it had become coordinate with, if not subordinate to, that of the representative body. he was strictly prohibited from interfering with the right of the separate or the general states to assemble as often as they should think proper; and he was also forbidden to summon them outside their own territory. this was one immense step in the progress of representative liberty, and the next was equally important. it was now formally stipulated that the estates were to deliberate upon all measures which "concerned justice and polity," and that no change was to be made--that is to say, no new law was to pass without their consent as well as that of the council. thus, the principle was established of two legislative chambers, with the right, but not the exclusive right, of initiation on the part of government, and in the sixteenth century one would hardly look for broader views of civil liberty and representative government. the foundation of a free commonwealth was thus securely laid, which had william lived, would have been a representative monarchy, but which his death converted into a federal republic. it was necessary for the sake of unity to give a connected outline of these proceedings with regard to the sovereignty of orange. the formal inauguration, only remained, and this, as will be seen, was for ever interrupted. etext editor's bookmarks: character of brave men to act, not to expect colonel ysselstein, "dismissed for a homicide or two" god has given absolute power to no mortal man hope delayed was but a cold and meagre consolation natural to judge only by the result no authority over an army which they did not pay unduly dejected in adversity motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley chapter vi. parma recals the foreign troops--siege of oudenarde--coolness of alexander--capture of the city and of nineve--inauguration of anjou at ghent--attempt upon his life and that of orange--lamoral egmont's implication in the plot--parma's unsuccessful attack upon ghent-- secret plans of anjou--dunkirk, ostend, and other towns surprised by his adherents--failure at bruges--suspicions at antwerp--duplicity of anjou--the "french fury"--details of that transaction-- discomfiture and disgrace of the duke--his subsequent effrontery-- his letters to the magistracy of antwerp, to, the estates, and to orange--extensive correspondence between anjou and the french court with orange and the estates--difficult position of the prince--his policy--remarkable letter to the states-general--provisional arrangement with anjou--marriage of the archbishop of cologne-- marriage of orange with louisa de coligny--movements in holland, brabant, flanders, and other provinces, to induce the prince to accept sovereignty over the whole country--his steady refusal-- treason of van den berg in gueldres--intrigues of prince chimay and imbize in flanders--counter efforts of orange and the patriot party --fate of imbize--reconciliation of bruges--death of anjou during the course of the year , the military operations on both sides had been languid and desultory, the prince of parma, not having a large force at his command, being comparatively inactive. in consequence, however, of the treaty concluded between the united states and anjou, parma had persuaded the walloon provinces that it had now become absolutely necessary for them to permit the entrance of fresh italian and spanish troops. this, then, was the end of the famous provision against foreign soldiery in the walloon treaty of reconciliation. the abbot of saint vaast was immediately despatched on a special mission to spain, and the troops, by midsummer, had already begun to pour, into the netherlands. in the meantime, farnese, while awaiting these reinforcements, had not been idle, but had been quietly picking up several important cities. early in the spring he had laid siege to oudenarde, a place of considerable importance upon the scheld, and celebrated as the birthplace of his grandmother, margaret van geest. the burghers were obstinate; the defence was protracted; the sorties were bold; the skirmishes frequent and sanguinary: alexander commanded personally in the trenches, encouraging his men by his example, and often working with the mattock, or handling a spear in the assault, like a private pioneer or soldier. towards the end of the siege, he scarcely ever left the scene of operation, and he took his meals near the outer defences, that he might lose no opportunity of superintending the labors of his troops. one day his dinner was laid for himself and staff in the open air, close to the entrenchment. he was himself engaged in planting a battery against a weak point in the city wall, and would on no account withdraw for all instant. the tablecloth was stretched over a number of drum-heads, placed close together, and several, nobles of distinction--aremberg, montigny, richebourg, la motte, and others, were his guests at dinner. hardly had the repast commenced, when a ball came flying over the table, taking off the head of a young walloon officer who was sitting near parma, and, who was earnestly requesting a foremost place in the morrow's assault. a portion of his skull struck out the eye of another gentleman present. a second ball from the town fortifications, equally well directed, destroyed two more of the guests as they sat at the banquet--one a german captain, the other the judge-advocate-general. the blood and brains of these unfortunate individuals were strewn over the festive board, and the others all started to their feet, having little appetite left for their dinner. alexander alone remained in his seat, manifesting no discomposure. quietly ordering the attendants to remove the dead bodies, and to bring a clean tablecloth, he insisted that his guests should resume their places at the banquet which had been interrupted in such ghastly fashion. he stated with very determined aspect that he could not allow the heretic burghers of oudenarde the triumph of frightening him from his dinner, or from the post of danger. the other gentlemen could, of course, do no less than imitate the impassibility of their chief, and the repast was accordingly concluded without further interruption. not long afterwards, the city, close pressed by so determined a commander, accepted terms, which were more favorable by reason of the respect which alexander chose to render to his mother's birthplace. the pillage was commuted for thirty thousand, crowns, and on the th of july the place was surrendered to parma almost under the very eyes of anjou, who was making a demonstration of relieving the siege. ninove, a citadel then belonging to the egmont family, was next reduced. here, too, the defence was more obstinate than could have been expected from the importance of the place, and as the autumn advanced, parma's troops were nearly starved in their trenches, from the insufficient supplies furnished them. they had eaten no meat but horseflesh for weeks, and even that was gone. the cavalry horses were all consumed, and even the chargers of the officers were not respected. an aid-de-camp of parma fastened his steed one day at the door of the prince's tent, while he entered to receive his commander's instructions. when he came out again, a few minutes afterwards, he found nothing but the saddle and bridle hanging where he had fastened the horse. remonstrance was useless, for the animal had already been cut into quarters, and the only satisfaction offered to the aid-de-camp was in the shape of a steak. the famine was long familiarly known as the "ninove starvation," but notwithstanding this obstacle, the place was eventually surrendered. an attempt upon lochum, an important city, in gelderland, was unsuccessful, the place being relieved by the duke of anjou's forces, and parma's troops forced to abandon the siege. at steenwyk, the royal arms were more successful, colonel tassis, conducted by a treacherous frisian peasant, having surprised the city which had so, long and so manfully sustained itself against renneberg during the preceding winter. with this event the active operations under parma closed for the year. by the end of the autumn, however, he had the satisfaction of numbering, under his command, full sixty thousand well-appointed and disciplined troops, including the large reinforcements recently despatched: from spain and italy. the monthly expense of this army-half of which was required for garrison duty, leaving only the other moiety for field operations--was estimated at six hundred and fifty thousand florins. the forces under anjou and the united provinces were also largely increased, so that the marrow of the land was again in fair way of being thoroughly exhausted by its defenders and its foes. the incidents of anjou's administration, meantime, during the year , had been few and of no great importance. after the pompous and elaborate "homage-making" at antwerp, he had, in the month of july, been formally accepted, by writing, as duke of guelders and lord of friesland. in the same month he had been ceremoniously, inaugurated at bruges as count of flanders--an occasion upon which the prince of orange had been present. in that ancient and stately city there had been, accordingly, much marching about under triumphal arches, much cannonading and haranguing, much symbol work of suns dispelling fogs, with other cheerful emblems, much decoration of ducal shoulders with velvet robes lined with weasel skin, much blazing of tar-barrels and torches. in the midst of this event, an attempt was made upon the lives both of orange and anjou. an italian, named basa, and a spaniard, called salseda, were detected in a scheme to administer poison to both princes, and when arrested, confessed that they had been hired by the prince of parma to compass this double assassination. basa destroyed himself in prison. his body was, however, gibbeted, with an inscription that he had attempted, at the instigation of parma, to take the lives of orange and anjou. salseda, less fortunate, was sent to paris, where he was found guilty, and executed by being torn to pieces by four horses. sad to relate, lamoral egmont, younger son and namesake of the great general, was intimate with salseda, and implicated in this base design. his mother, on her death-bed, had especially recommended the youth to the kindly care of orange. the prince had ever recognized the claim, manifesting uniform tenderness for the son of his ill-started friend; and now the youthful lamoral--as if the name of egmont had not been sufficiently contaminated by the elder brother's treason at brussels--had become the comrade of hired conspirators against his guardian's life. the affair was hushed up, but the story was current and generally believed that egmont had himself undertaken to destroy the prince at his own table by means of poison which he kept concealed in a ring. saint aldegonde was to have been taken off in the same way, and a hollow ring filled with poison was said to have been found in egmont's lodgings. the young noble was imprisoned; his guilt was far from doubtful; but the powerful intercessions of orange himself, combined with egmont's near relationship to the french queen saved his life, and he was permitted, after a brief captivity, to take his departure for france. the duke of anjou, a month later, was received with equal pomp, in the city of ghent. here the ceremonies were interrupted in another manner. the prince of parma, at the head of a few regiments of walloons, making an attack on a body of troops by which anjou had been escorted into flanders, the troops retreated in good order, and without much loss, under the walls of ghent, where a long and sharp action took place, much to the disadvantage of parma, the prince, of orange and the duke; of anjou were on the city walls during the whole skirmish giving orders and superintending the movements of their troops, and at nightfall parma was forced, to retire, leaving a large number of dead behind him. the th day of december, in this year was celebrated according to the new ordinance of gregory the thirteenth--as christmas. it was the occasion of more than usual merry-making among the catholics of antwerp, who had procured, during the preceding summer, a renewed right of public worship from anjou and the estates. many nobles of high rank came from france, to pay their homage to the new duke of brabant. they secretly expressed their disgust, however, at the close constitutional bonds in which they found their own future sovereign imprisoned by the provinces. they thought it far beneath the dignity of the "son of france" to play the secondary part of titular duke of brabant, count of flanders, lord of friesland, and the like, while the whole power of government was lodged with the states. they whispered that it was time to take measures for the incorporation of the netherlands into france, and they persuaded the false and fickle anjou that there would never be any hope of his royal brother's assistance, except upon the understanding that the blood and treasure of frenchmen were to be spent to increase the power, not of upstart and independent provinces, but of the french crown. they struck the basest chords of the duke's base nature by awakening his jealousy of orange. his whole soul vibrated to the appeal. he already hated the man by whose superior intellect he was overawed, and by whose pure character he was shamed. he stoutly but secretly swore that he would assert his own rights; and that he would no longer serve as a shadow, a statue, a zero, a matthias. it is needless to add, that neither in his own judgment nor in that of his mignons, were the constitutional articles which he had recently sworn to support, or the solemn treaty which he had signed and sealed at bordeaux, to furnish any obstacles to his seizure of unlimited power, whenever the design could be cleverly accomplished. he rested not, day or night, in the elaboration of his plan. early in january, , he sent one night for several of his intimate associates, to consult with him after he had retired to bed. he complained of the insolence of the states, of the importunity of the council which they had forced upon him, of the insufficient sums which they furnished both for him and his troops, of the daily insults offered to the catholic religion. he protested that he should consider himself disgraced in the eyes of all christendom, should he longer consent to occupy his present ignoble position. but two ways were open to him, he observed; either to retire altogether from the nether lands, or to maintain his authority with the strong hand, as became a prince. the first course would cover him with disgrace. it was therefore necessary for him to adopt the other. he then unfolded his plan to his confidential friends, la fougere, de fazy, palette, the sons of marechal biron, and others. upon the same day, if possible, he was determined to take possession, with his own troops, of the principal cities in flanders. dunkirk, dixmuyde, denremonde, bruges, ghent, vilvoorde, alost, and other important places, were to be simultaneously invaded, under pretext of quieting tumults artfully created and encouraged between the burghers and the garrisons, while antwerp was reserved for his own especial enterprise. that important capital he would carry by surprise at the same moment in which the other cities were to be secured by his lieutenants. the plot was pronounced an excellent one by the friends around his bed--all of them eager for catholic supremacy, for the establishment of the right divine on the part of france to the netherlands, and for their share in the sacking of so many wealthy cities at once. these worthless mignons applauded their weak master to the echo; whereupon the duke leaped from his bed, and kneeling on the floor in his night-gown, raised his eyes and his clasped hands to heaven, and piously invoked the blessing of the almighty upon the project which he had thus announced. he added the solemn assurance that; if favored with success in his undertaking, he would abstain in future from all unchastity, and forego the irregular habits by which his youth had been stained. having thus bribed the deity, and received the encouragement of his flatterers, the duke got into bed again. his next care was to remove the seigneur du plessis, whom he had observed to be often in colloquy with the prince of orange, his suspicious and guilty imagination finding nothing but mischief to himself in the conjunction of two such natures. he therefore dismissed du plessis, under pretext of a special mission to his sister, margaret of navarre; but in reality, that he might rid himself of the presence of an intelligent and honorable countryman. on the a th january, , the day fixed for the execution of the plot, the french commandant of dunkirk, captain chamois, skillfully took advantage of a slight quarrel between the citizens and the garrison, to secure that important frontier town. the same means were employed simultaneously, with similar results, at ostend, dixmuyde, denremonde, alost, and vilvoorde, but there was a fatal delay at one important city. la fougere, who had been with chamois at dunkirk, was arrested on his way to bruges by some patriotic citizens who had got wind of what had just been occurring in the other cities, so that when palette, the provost of anjou, and colonel la rebours, at the head of fifteen hundred french troops, appeared before the gates, entrance was flatly refused. de grijse, burgomaster of bruges, encouraged his fellow townsmen by words and stout action, to resist the nefarious project then on foot against religious liberty and free government, in favor of a new foreign tyranny. he spoke to men who could sympathize with, and second his courageous resolution, and the delay of twenty-four hours, during which the burghers had time to take the alarm, saved the city. the whole population was on the alert, and the baffled frenchmen were forced to retire from the gates, to avoid being torn to pieces by the citizens whom they had intended to surprise. at antwerp, meanwhile, the duke of anjou had been rapidly maturing his plan, under pretext of a contemplated enterprise against the city of endhoven, having concentrated what he esteemed a sufficient number of french troops at borgerhout, a village close to the walls of antwerp. on the th of january, suspicion was aroused in the city. a man in a mask entered the main guard-house in the night, mysteriously gave warning that a great crime was in contemplation, and vanished before he could be arrested. his accent proved him to be a frenchman. strange rumors flew about the streets. a vague uneasiness pervaded the whole population as to the intention of their new master, but nothing was definitely known, for of course there was entire ignorance of the events which were just occurring in other cities. the colonels and captains of the burgher guard came to consult the prince of orange. he avowed the most entire confidence in the duke of anjou, but, at the same time; recommended that the chains should be drawn, the lanterns hung out, and the drawbridge raised an hour earlier than usual, and that other precautions; customary in the expectation of an attack, should be duly taken. he likewise sent the burgomaster of the interior, dr. alostanus, to the duke of anjou, in order to communicate the suspicions created in the minds of the city authorities by the recent movements of troops. anjou, thus addressed, protested in the most solemn manner that nothing was farther from his thoughts than any secret enterprise against antwerp. he was willing, according to the figure of speech which he had always ready upon every emergency, "to shed every drop of his blood in her defence." he swore that he would signally punish all those who had dared to invent such calumnies against himself and his faithful frenchmen, declaring earnestly, at the same time, that the troops had only been assembled in the regular course of their duty. as the duke was so loud and so fervent; as he, moreover, made no objections to the precautionary measures which had been taken; as the burgomaster thought, moreover, that the public attention thus aroused would render all evil designs futile, even if any had been entertained; it was thought that the city might sleep in security for that night at least. on the following, morning, as vague suspicions were still entertained by many influential persons, a deputation of magistrates and militia officers waited upon the duke, the prince of orange--although himself still feeling a confidence which seems now almost inexplicable--consenting to accompany them. the duke was more vehement than ever in his protestations of loyalty to his recent oaths, as well as of deep affection for the netherlands--for brabant in particular, and for antwerp most of all, and he made use of all his vivacity to persuade the prince, the burgomasters, and the colonels, that they had deeply wronged him by such unjust suspicions. his assertions were accepted as sincere, and the deputation withdrew, anjou having first solemnly promised--at the suggestion of orange--not to leave the city during the whole day, in order that unnecessary suspicion might be prevented. this pledge the duke proceeded to violate almost as soon as made. orange returned with confidence to his own house, which was close to the citadel, and therefore far removed from the proposed point of attack, but he had hardly arrived there when he received a visit from the duke's private secretary, quinsay, who invited him to accompany his highness on a visit to the camp. orange declined the request, and sent an earnest prayer to the duke not to leave the city that morning. the duke dined as usual at noon. while at dinner he received a letter; was observed to turn pale on reading it, and to conceal it hastily in a muff which he wore on his left arm. the repast finished, the duke ordered his horse. the animal was restive, and so, strenuously resisted being mounted that, although it was his usual charger; it was exchanged for another. this second horse started in such a flurry that the duke lost his cloak, and almost his seat. he maintained his self-possession, however, and placing himself at the head of his bodyguard and some troopers, numbering in all three hundred mounted men, rode out of the palace-yard towards the kipdorp gate. this portal opened on the road towards borgerhout, where his troops were stationed, and at the present day bears the name of that village: it is on the side of the city farthest removed from and exactly opposite the river. the town was very quiet, the streets almost deserted; for it was one o'clock, the universal dinner-hour, and all suspicion had been disarmed by the energetic protestations of the duke. the guard at the gate looked listlessly upon the cavalcade as it approached, but as soon as anjou had crossed the first drawbridge, he rose in his stirrups and waved his hand. "there is your city, my lads," said he to the troopers behind him; "go and take possession of it!" at the same time he set spurs to his horse, and galloped off towards the camp at borgerhout. instantly afterwards; a gentleman of his suite, count bochepot, affected to have broken his leg through the plunging of his horse, a circumstance by which he had been violently pressed, against the wall as he entered the gate. kaiser, the commanding officer at the guard-house, stepped kindly forward to render him assistance, and his reward was a desperate thrust from the frenchman's rapier. as he wore a steel cuirass, he fortunately escaped with a slight wound. the expression, "broken leg," was the watch-word, for at one and the same instant, the troopers and guardsmen of anjou set upon the burgher watch at the gate, and butchered every man. a sufficient force was left to protect the entrance thus easily mastered, while the rest of the frenchmen entered the town at full gallop, shrieking "ville gaignee, ville gaignee! vive la messe! vive le due d'anjou!" they were followed by their comrades from the camp outside, who now poured into the town at the preconcerted signal, at least six hundred cavalry and three thousand musketeers, all perfectly appointed, entering antwerp at once. from the kipdorp gate two main arteries--the streets called the kipdorp and the meer--led quite through the heart of the city, towards the townhouse and the river beyond. along these great thoroughfares the french soldiers advanced at a rapid pace; the cavalry clattering furiously in the van, shouting "ville gaignee, ville gaignee! vive la messe, vive la messe! tue, tue, tue!" the burghers coming to door and window to look for the cause of all this disturbance, were saluted with volleys of musketry. they were for a moment astonished, but not appalled, for at first they believed it to be merely an accidental tumult. observing, however, that the soldiers, meeting with but little effective resistance, were dispersing into dwellings and warehouses, particularly into the shops of the goldsmiths and lapidaries, the citizens remembered the dark suspicions which had been so rife, and many recalled to mind that distinguished french officers had during the last few days been carefully examining the treasures of the jewellers, under pretext of purchasing, but, as it now appeared, with intent to rob intelligently. the burghers, taking this rapid view of their position, flew instantly to arms. chains and barricades were stretched across the streets; the trumpets sounded through the city; the municipal guards swarmed to the rescue. an effective rally was made, as usual, at the bourse, whither a large detachment of the invaders had forced their way. inhabitants of all classes and conditions, noble and simple, catholic and protestant, gave each other the hand, and swore to die at each other's side in defence of the city against the treacherous strangers. the gathering was rapid and enthusiastic. gentlemen came with lance and cuirass, burghers with musket and bandoleer, artisans with axe, mallet, and other implements of their trade. a bold baker, standing by his oven-stark naked, according to the custom of bakers at that day--rushed to the street as the sound of the tumult reached his ear. with his heavy bread shovel, which he still held in his hand, he dealt a french cavalry, officer, just riding and screaming by, such a hearty blow that he fell dead from his horse. the baker seized the officer's sword, sprang all unattired as he was, upon his steed, and careered furiously through the streets, encouraging his countrymen everywhere to the attack, and dealing dismay through the ranks of the enemy. his services in that eventful hour were so signal that he was publicly thanked afterwards by the magistrates for his services, and rewarded with a pension of three hundred florins for life. the invaders had been forced from the bourse, while another portion of them had penetrated as far as the market-place. the resistance which they encountered became every instant more formidable, and fervacques, a leading french officer, who was captured on the occasion, acknowledged that no regular troops could have fought more bravely than did these stalwart burghers. women and children mounted to roof and window, whence they hurled, not only tiles and chimney pots, but tables, ponderous chairs, and other bulky articles, upon the heads of the assailants, while such citizens as had used all their bullets, loaded their pieces with the silver buttons from their doublets, or twisted gold and silver coins with their teeth into ammunition. with a population so resolute, the four thousand invaders, however audacious, soon found themselves swallowed up. the city had closed over them like water, and within an hour nearly a third of their whole number had been slain. very few of the burghers had perished, and fresh numbers were constantly advancing to the attack. the frenchmen, blinded, staggering, beaten, attempted to retreat. many threw themselves from the fortifications into the moat. the rest of the survivors struggled through the streets--falling in large numbers at every step-towards the point at which they had so lately entered the city. here at the kipdorp gate was a ghastly spectacle, the slain being piled up in the narrow passage full ten feet high, while some of the heap, not quite dead, were striving to extricate a hand or foot, and others feebly thrust forth their heads to gain a mouthful of air. from the outside, some of anjou's officers were attempting to climb over this mass of bodies in order to enter the city; from the interior, the baffled and fugitive remnant of their comrades were attempting to force their passage through the same horrible barrier; while many dropped at, every instant upon the heap of slain, under the blows of the unrelenting burghers. on the other hand, count rochepot himself, to whom the principal command of the enterprise had been entrusted by anjou, stood directly in the path of his fugitive soldiers, not only bitterly upbraiding them with their cowardice, but actually slaying ten or twelve of them with his own hands, as the most effectual mode of preventing their retreat. hardly an hour had elapsed from the time when the duke of anjou first rode out of the kipdorp gate, before nearly the whole of the force which he had sent to accomplish his base design was either dead or captive. two hundred and fifty nobles of high rank and illustrious name were killed; recognized at once as they lay in the streets by their magnificent costume. a larger number of the gallant chivalry of france had been sacrificed--as anjou confessed--in this treacherous and most shameful enterprise, than had often fallen upon noble and honorable fields. nearly two thousand of the rank and file had perished, and the rest were prisoners. it was at first asserted that exactly fifteen hundred and eighty-three frenchmen had fallen, but this was only because this number happened to be the date of the year, to which the lovers of marvellous coincidences struggled very hard to make the returns of the dead correspond. less than one hundred burghers lost their lives. anjou, as he looked on at a distance, was bitterly reproached for his treason by several of the high-minded gentlemen about his person, to whom he had not dared to confide his plot. the duke of montpensier protested vehemently that he washed his hands of the whole transaction, whatever might be the issue. he was responsible for the honor of an illustrious house, which should never be stained, he said, if he could prevent it, with such foul deeds. the same language was held by laval, by rochefoucauld, and by the marechal de biron, the last gentleman, whose two sons were engaged in the vile enterprise, bitterly cursing the duke to his face, as he rode through the gate after revealing his secret undertaking. meanwhile, anjou, in addition to the punishment of hearing these reproaches from men of honor, was the victim of a rapid and violent fluctuation of feeling. hope, fear, triumph, doubt, remorse, alternately swayed him. as he saw the fugitives leaping from the walls, he shouted exultingly, without accurately discerning what manner of men they were, that the city was his, that four thousand of his brave soldiers were there, and were hurling the burghers from the battlements. on being made afterwards aware of his error, he was proportionably depressed; and when it was obvious at last that the result of the enterprise was an absolute and disgraceful failure, together with a complete exposure of his treachery, he fairly mounted his horse, and fled conscience-stricken from the scene. the attack had been so unexpected, in consequence of the credence that had been rendered by orange and the magistracy to the solemn protestations of the duke, that it had been naturally out of any one's power to prevent the catastrophe. the prince was lodged in apart of the town remote from the original scene of action, and it does not appear that information had reached him that anything unusual was occurring, until the affair was approaching its termination. then there was little for him to do. he hastened, however, to the scene, and mounting the ramparts, persuaded the citizens to cease cannonading the discomfited and retiring foe. he felt the full gravity of the situation, and the necessity of diminishing the rancor of the inhabitants against their treacherous allies, if such a result were yet possible. the burghers had done their duty, and it certainly would have been neither in his power nor his inclination to protect the french marauders from expulsion and castigation. such was the termination of the french fury, and it seems sufficiently strange that it should have been so much less disastrous to antwerp than was the spanish fury of , to which men could still scarcely allude without a shudder. one would have thought the french more likely to prove successful in their enterprise than the spaniards in theirs. the spaniards were enemies against whom the city had long been on its guard. the french were friends in whose sincerity a somewhat shaken confidence had just been restored. when the spanish attack was made, a large force of defenders was drawn up in battle array behind freshly strengthened fortifications. when the french entered at leisure through a scarcely guarded gate, the whole population and garrison of the town were quietly eating their dinners. the numbers of the invading forces on the two occasions did not materially differ; but at the time of the french fury there was not a large force of regular troops under veteran generals to resist the attack. perhaps this was the main reason for the result, which seems at first almost inexplicable. for protection against the spanish invasion, the burghers relied on mercenaries, some of whom proved treacherous, while the rest became panic-struck. on the present occasion the burghers relied on themselves. moreover, the french committed the great error of despising their enemy. recollecting the ease with which the spaniards had ravished the city, they believed that they had nothing to do but to enter and take possession. instead of repressing their greediness, as the spaniards had done, until they had overcome resistance, they dispersed almost immediately into by-streets, and entered warehouses to search for plunder. they seemed actuated by a fear that they should not have time to rifle the city before additional troops should be sent by anjou to share in the spoil. they were less used to the sacking of netherland cities than were the spaniards, whom long practice had made perfect in the art of methodically butchering a population at first, before attention should be diverted to plundering, and supplementary outrages. at any rate, whatever the causes, it is certain that the panic, which upon such occasions generally decides the fate of the day, seized upon the invaders and not upon the invaded, almost from the very first. as soon as the marauders faltered in their purpose and wished to retreat, it was all over with them. returning was worse than advance, and it was the almost inevitable result that hardly a man escaped death or capture. the duke retreated the same day in the direction of denremonde, and on his way met with another misfortune, by which an additional number of his troops lost their lives. a dyke was cut by the mechlin citizens to impede his march, and the swollen waters of the dill, liberated and flowing across the country which he was to traverse, produced such an inundation, that at least a thousand of his followers were drowned. as soon as he had established himself in a camp near berghem, he opened a correspondence with the prince of orange, and with the authorities of antwerp. his language was marked by wonderful effrontery. he found himself and soldiers suffering for want of food; he remembered that he had left much plate and valuable furniture in antwerp; and he was therefore desirous that the citizens, whom he had so basely outraged, should at once send him supplies and restore his property. he also reclaimed the prisoners who still remained in the city, and to obtain all this he applied to the man whom he had bitterly deceived, and whose life would have been sacrificed by the duke, had the enterprise succeeded. it had been his intention to sack the city, to re-establish exclusively the roman catholic worship, to trample upon the constitution which he had so recently sworn to maintain, to deprive orange, by force, of the renversal by which the duke recognized the prince as sovereign of holland; zealand; and utrecht, yet notwithstanding that his treason had-been enacted in broad daylight, and in a most deliberate manner, he had the audacity to ascribe the recent tragic occurrences to chance. he had the farther originality to speak of himself as an aggrieved person, who had rendered great services to the netherlands, and who had only met with ingratitude in return. his envoys, messieurs landmater and escolieres, despatched on the very day of the french fury to the burgomasters and senate of antwerp, were instructed to remind those magistrates that the duke had repeatedly exposed his life in the cause of the netherlands. the affronts, they were to add, which he had received, and the approaching ruin of the country, which he foresaw, had so altered his excellent nature, as to engender the present calamity, which he infinitely regretted. nevertheless, the senate was to be assured that his affection for the commonwealth was still so strong, as to induce a desire on his part to be informed what course was now to be pursued with, regard to him. information upon that important point was therefore to be requested, while at the same time the liberation of the prisoners at antwerp, and the restaration of the duke's furniture and papers, were to be urgently demanded. letters of similar, import were also despatched by the duke to the states of the union, while to the prince of orange; his application was brief but brazen. "you know well,--my cousin," said he "the just and frequent causes of offence which this people has given me. the insults which i, this morning experienced cut me so deeply to the heart that they are the only reasons of the misfortune which has happened today. nevertheless, to those who desire my friendship i shall show equal friendship and affection. herein i shall follow the counsel you have uniformly given me, since i know it comes from one who has always loved me. therefore i beg that you will kindly bring it to pass, that i may obtain some decision, and that no injury may be inflicted upon my people. otherwise the land shall pay for it dearly." to these appeals, neither the prince nor the authorities of antwerp answered immediately in their own names. a general consultation was, however, immediately held with the estates-general, and an answer forthwith despatched to the duke by the hands of his envoys. it was agreed to liberate the prisoners, to restore the furniture, and to send a special deputation for the purpose of making further arrangements with the duke by word of mouth, and for this deputation his highness was requested to furnish a safe conduct. anjou was overjoyed when he received this amicable communication. relieved for a time from his fears as to the result of his crime, he already assumed a higher ground. he not only spoke to the states in a paternal tone, which was sufficiently ludicrous, but he had actually the coolness to assure them of his forgiveness. "he felt hurt," he said, "that they should deem a safe conduct necessary for the deputation which they proposed to send. if they thought that he had reason on account of the past, to feel offended, he begged them to believe that he had forgotten it all, and that he had buried the past in its ashes, even as if it had never been." he furthermore begged them--and this seemed the greatest insult of all--"in future to trust to his word, and to believe that if any thing should be attempted to their disadvantage, he would be the very first to offer himself for their protection." it will be observed that in his first letters the duke had not affected to deny his agency in the outrage--an agency so flagrant that all subterfuge seemed superfluous. he in fact avowed that the attempt had been made by his command, but sought to palliate the crime on the ground that it had been the result of the ill-treatment which he had experienced from the states. "the affronts which i have received," said he, both to the magistrates of antwerp and to orange, "have engendered the present calamity." so also, in a letter written at the same time to his brother, henry the third, he observed that "the indignities which were put upon him, and the manifest intention of the states to make a matthias of him, had been the cause of the catastrophe." he now, however, ventured a step farther. presuming upon the indulgence which he had already experienced; and bravely assuming the tone of injured innocence, he ascribed the enterprise partly to accident, and partly to the insubordination of his troops. this was the ground which he adopted in his interviews with the states' commissioners. so also, in a letter addressed to van der tympel, commandant of brussels, in which he begged for supplies for his troops, he described the recent invasion of antwerp as entirely unexpected by himself, and beyond his control. he had been intending, he said, to leave the city and to join his army. a tumult had accidentally arisen between his soldiers and the guard at the gate. other troops rushing in from without, had joined in the affray, so that to, his great sorrow, an extensive disorder had arisen. he manifested the same christian inclination to forgive, however, which he had before exhibited. he observed that "good men would never grow cold in his regard, or find his affection diminished." he assured van der tympel, in particular, of his ancient goodwill, as he knew him to be a lover of the common weal. in his original communications he had been both cringing and threatening but, at least, he had not denied truths which were plain as daylight. his new position considerably damaged his cause. this forgiving spirit on the part of the malefactor was a little more than the states could bear, disposed as they felt, from policy, to be indulgent, and to smooth over the crime as gently as possible. the negotiations were interrupted, and the authorities of antwerp published a brief and spirited defence of their own conduct. they denied that any affront or want of respect on their part could have provoked the outrage of which the duke had been guilty. they severely handled his self-contradiction, in ascribing originally the recent attempt to his just vengeance for past injuries, and in afterwards imputing it to accident or sudden mutiny, while they cited the simultaneous attempts at bruges, denremonde, alost, digmuyde, newport, ostend, vilvoorde, and dunkirk, as a series of damning proofs of a deliberate design. the publication of such plain facts did not advance the negotiations when resumed. high and harsh words were interchanged between his highness and the commissioners, anjou complaining, as usual, of affronts and indignities, but when pushed home for particulars, taking refuge in equivocation. "he did not wish," he said, "to re-open wounds which had been partially healed." he also affected benignity, and wishing to forgive and to forget, he offered some articles as the basis of a fresh agreement. of these it is sufficient to state that they were entirely different from the terms of the bordeaux treaty, and that they were rejected as quite inadmissible. he wrote again to the prince of orange, invoking his influence to bring about an arrangement. the prince, justly indignant at the recent treachery and the present insolence of the man whom he had so profoundly trusted, but feeling certain that the welfare of the country depended at present upon avoiding, if possible, a political catastrophe, answered the duke in plain, firm, mournful, and appropriate language. he had ever manifested to his highness, he said, the most uniform and sincere friendship. he had, therefore, the right to tell him that affairs were now so changed that his greatness and glory had departed. those men in the netherlands, who, but yesterday, had been willing to die at the feet of his highness, were now so exasperated that they avowedly preferred an open enemy to a treacherous protector. he had hoped, he said, that after what had happened in so many cities at the same moment, his highness would have been pleased to give the deputies a different and a more becoming answer. he had hoped for some response which might lead to an arrangement. he, however, stated frankly, that the articles transmitted by his highness were so unreasonable that no man in the land would dare open his mouth to recommend them. his highness, by this proceeding, had much deepened the distrust. he warned the duke accordingly, that he was not taking the right course to reinstate himself in a position of honor and glory, and he begged him, therefore, to adopt more appropriate means. such a step was now demanded of him, not only by the country, but by all christendom. this moderate but heartfelt appeal to the better nature of the duke, if he had a better nature, met with no immediate response. while matters were in this condition, a special envoy arrived out of france, despatched by the king and queen-mother, on the first reception of the recent intelligence from antwerp. m. de mirambeau, the ambassador, whose son had been killed in the fury, brought letters of credence to the states of the union and to the prince of orange. he delivered also a short confidential note, written in her own hand, from catherine de medici to the prince, to the following effect: "my cousin,--the king, my son, and myself, send you monsieur de mirambeau, to prove to you that we do not believe--for we esteem you an honorable man--that you would manifest ingratitude to my son, and to those who have followed him for the welfare of your country. we feel that you have too much affection for one who has the support of so powerful a prince as the king of france, as to play him so base a trick. until i learn the truth, i shall not renounce the good hope which i have always indulged--that you would never have invited my son to your country, without intending to serve him faithfully. as long as you do this, you may ever reckon on the support of all who belong to him. "your good cousin, "catherine." it would have been very difficult to extract much information or much comfort from this wily epistle. the menace was sufficiently plain, the promise disagreeably vague. moreover, a letter from the same catherine de medici, had been recently found in a casket at the duke's lodgings in antwerp. in that communication, she had distinctly advised her son to re-establish the roman catholic religion, assuring him that by so doing, he would be enabled to marry the infanta of spain. nevertheless, the prince, convinced that it was his duty to bridge over the deep and fatal chasm which had opened between the french prince and the provinces, if an honorable reconciliation were possible, did not attach an undue importance either to the stimulating or to the upbraiding portion of the communication from catherine. he was most anxious to avert the chaos which he saw returning. he knew that while the tempers of rudolph, of the english queen, and of the protestant princes of germany, and the internal condition of the netherlands remained the same, it were madness to provoke the government of france, and thus gain an additional enemy, while losing their only friend. he did not renounce the hope of forming all the netherlands--excepting of course the walloon provinces already reconciled to philip--into one independent commonwealth, freed for ever from spanish tyranny. a dynasty from a foreign house he was willing to accept, but only on condition that the new royal line should become naturalized in the netherlands, should, conform itself to the strict constitutional compact established, and should employ only natives in the administration of netherland affairs. notwithstanding, therefore, the recent treachery of anjou, he was willing to treat with him upon the ancient basis. the dilemma was a very desperate one, for whatever might be his course, it was impossible that it should escape censure. even at this day, it is difficult to decide what might have been the result of openly braving the french government, and expelling anjou. the prince of parma--subtle, vigilant, prompt with word and blow--was waiting most anxiously to take advantage of every false step of his adversary. the provinces had been already summoned in most eloquent language, to take warning by the recent fate of antwerp, and to learn by the manifestation just made by anjou, of his real intentions; that their only salvation lay in a return to the king's arms. anjou himself, as devoid of shame as of honor, was secretly holding interviews with parma's agents, acosta and flaminio carnero, at the very moment when he was alternately expressing to the states his resentment that they dared to doubt his truth, or magnanimously extending to them his pardon for their suspicions. he was writing letters full of injured innocence to orange and to the states, while secretly cavilling over the terms of the treaty by which he was to sell himself to spain. scruples as to enacting so base a part did not trouble the "son of france." he did not hesitate at playing this doubly and trebly false game with the provinces, but he was anxious to drive the best possible bargain for himself with parma. he, offered to restore dunkirk, dixmuyde, and the other cities which he had so recently filched from the states, and to enter into a strict alliance with philip; but he claimed that certain netherland cities on the french frontier, should be made over to him in exchange. he required; likewise; ample protection for his retreat from a country which was likely to be sufficiently exasperated. parma and his agents smiled, of course, at such exorbitant terms. nevertheless, it was necessary to deal cautiously with a man who, although but a poor baffled rogue to-day, might to-morrow be seated on the throne of france. while they were all secretly haggling over the terms of the bargain, the prince of orange discovered the intrigue. it convinced him of the necessity of closing with a man whose baseness was so profound, but whose position made his enmity, on the whole, more dangerous than his friendship. anjou, backed by so astute and unscrupulous a politician as parma, was not to be trifled with. the feeling of doubt and anxiety was spreading daily through the country: many men, hitherto firm, were already wavering, while at the same time the prince had no confidence in the power of any of the states, save those of holland and utrecht; to maintain a resolute attitude of defiance, if not assisted from without. he therefore endeavored to repair the breach, if possible, and thus save the union. mirambeau, in his conferences with the estates, suggested, on his part, all that words could effect. he expressed the hope that the estates would use their discretion "in compounding some sweet and friendly medicine" for the present disorder; and that they would not judge the duke too harshly for a fault which he assured them did not come from his natural disposition. he warned them that the enemy would be quick to take advantage of the present occasion to bring about, if possible, their destruction, and he added that he was commissioned to wait upon the duke of anjou, in order to assure him that, however alienated he might then be from the netherlands, his majesty was determined to effect an entire reconciliation. the envoy conferred also with the prince of orange, and urged him most earnestly to use his efforts to heal the rupture. the prince, inspired by the sentiments already indicated, spoke with perfect sincerity. his highness, he said, had never known a more faithful and zealous friend than himself, he had begun to lose his own credit with the people by reason of the earnestness with which he had ever advocated the duke's cause, and he could not flatter himself that his recommendation would now be of any advantage to his highness. it would be more injurious than his silence. nevertheless, he was willing to make use of all the influence which was left to him for the purpose of bringing about a reconciliation, provided that the duke were acting in good faith. if his highness were now sincerely desirous of conforming to the original treaty, and willing to atone for the faults committed by him on the same day in so many cities--offences which could not be excused upon the ground of any affronts which he might have received from the citizens of antwerp--it might even now be possible to find a remedy for the past. he very bluntly told the envoy, however, that the frivolous excuses offered by the duke caused more bitterness than if he had openly acknowledged his fault. it were better, he said, to express contrition, than to excuse himself by laying blame on those to whom no blame belonged, but who, on the contrary, had ever shown themselves faithful servants of his highness. the estates of the union, being in great perplexity as to their proper course, now applied formally, as they always did in times of danger and doubt, to the prince, for a public expression of his views. somewhat reluctantly, he complied with their wishes in one of the most admirable of his state papers. he told the states-that he felt some hesitation in expressing his views. the blame of the general ill success was always laid upon his shoulders; as if the chances of war could be controlled even by a great potentate with ample means at his disposal. as for himself, with so little actual power that he could never have a single city provided with what he thought a sufficient garrison, it could not be expected that he could command fortune. his advice, he said, was always asked, but ever judged good or evil according to the result, as if the issue were in any hands but god's. it did not seem advisable for a man of his condition and years, who had so often felt the barb of calumny's tongue, to place his honor, again in the judgment scale of mankind, particularly as he was likely to incur fresh censure for another man's crime. nevertheless, he was willing, for the love he bore the land, once more to encounter this danger. he then rapidly reviewed the circumstances which had led to the election of anjou, and reminded the estates that they had employed sufficient time to deliberate concerning that transaction. he recalled to their remembrance his frequent assurances of support and sympathy if they would provide any other means of self-protection than the treaty with the french prince. he thought it, therefore, unjust, now that calamity had sprung from the measure, to ascribe the blame entirely to him, even had the injury been greater than the one actually sustained. he was far from palliating the crime, or from denying that the duke's rights under the treaty of bordeaux had been utterly forfeited. he was now asked what was to be done. of three courses, he said, one must be taken: they must make their peace with the king, or consent to a reconciliation with anjou, or use all the strength which god had given them to resist, single-handed, the enemy. with regard to the first point, he resumed the argument as to the hopelessness of a satisfactory arrangement with the monarch of spain. the recent reconciliation of the walloon provinces and its shameful infraction by parma in the immediate recal of large masses of spanish and italian troops, showed too plainly the value of all solemn stipulations with his catholic majesty. moreover, the time was unpropitious. it was idle to look, after what had recently occurred, for even fair promises. it was madness then to incur the enmity of two such powers at once. the french could do the netherlands more harm as enemies than the spaniards. the spaniards would be more dangerous as friends, for in cases of a treaty with philip the inquisition would be established in the place of a religious peace. for these reasons the prince declared himself entirely opposed to any negotiations with the crown of spain. as to the second point, he admitted that anjou had gained little honor by his recent course; and that it would be a mistake on their part to stumble a second time over the same stone. he foresaw, nevertheless, that the duke--irritated as he was by the loss of so many of his nobles, and by the downfall of all his hopes in the netherlands--would be likely to inflict great injuries upon their cause. two powerful nations like france and spain would be too much to have on their hands at once. how much danger, too, would be incurred by braving at once the open wrath of the french king, and, the secret displeasure of the english queen. she had warmly recommended the duke of anjou. she had said--that honors to him were rendered to herself; and she was now entirely opposed to their keeping the present quarrel alive. if france became their enemy, the road was at once opened through that kingdom for spain. the estates were to ponder well whether they possessed the means to carry on such a double war without assistance. they were likewise to remember how many cities still remained in the hands of anjou, and their possible fate if the duke were pushed to extremity. the third point was then handled with vigor. he reminded the states of the perpetual difficulty of raising armies, of collecting money to pay for troops, of inducing cities to accept proper garrisons, of establishing a council which could make itself respected. he alluded briefly and bitterly to the perpetual quarrels of the states among themselves; to their mutual jealousy; to their obstinate parsimony; to their jealousy of the general government; to their apathy and inertness before impending ruin. he would not calumniate those, he said, who counselled trust in god. that was his sentiment also: to attempt great affairs, however, and, through avarice, to-withhold sufficient means, was not trusting, but tempting god.--on the contrary, it was trusting god to use the means which he offered to their hands. with regard, then, to the three points, he rejected the first. reconciliation with the king of spain was impossible. for his own part, he would much prefer the third course. he had always been in favor of their maintaining independence by their own means and the assistance of the almighty. he was obliged, however, in sadness; to confess that the narrow feeling of individual state rights, the general tendency to disunion, and the constant wrangling, had made this course a hopeless one. there remained, therefore, only the second, and they must effect an honorable reconciliation with anjou. whatever might be their decision, however, it was meet that it should be a speedy one. not an hour was to be lost. many fair churches of god, in anjou's power, were trembling on the issue, and religious and political liberty was more at stake than ever. in conclusion, the prince again expressed his determination, whatever might be their decision, to devote the rest of his days to the services of his country. the result of these representations by the prince--of frequent letters from queen elizabeth, urging a reconciliation--and of the professions made by the duke and the french envoys, was a provisional arrangement, signed on the th and th of march. according to the terms of this accord, the duke was to receive thirty thousand florins for his troops, and to surrender the cities still in his power. the french prisoners were to be liberated, the duke's property at antwerp was to be restored, and the duke himself was to await at dunkirk the arrival of plenipotentiaries to treat with him as to a new and perpetual arrangement. the negotiations, however, were languid. the quarrel was healed on the surface, but confidence so recently and violently uprooted was slow to revive. on the th of june, the duke of anjou left dunkirk for paris, never to return to the netherlands, but he exchanged on his departure affectionate letters with the prince and the estates. m. des pruneaux remained as his representative, and it was understood that the arrangements for re-installing him as soon as possible in the sovereignty which he had so basely forfeited, were to be pushed forward with earnestness. in the spring of the same year, gerard truchses, archbishop of cologne, who had lost his see for the love of agnes mansfeld, whom he had espoused in defiance of the pope; took refuge with the prince of orange at delft. a civil war in germany broke forth, the protestant princes undertaking to support the archbishop, in opposition to ernest of bavaria, who had been appointed in his place. the palatine, john casimir, thought it necessary to mount and ride as usual. making his appearance at the head of a hastily collected force, and prepared for another plunge into chaos, he suddenly heard, however, of his elder brother's death at heidelberg. leaving his men, as was his habit, to shift for themselves, and baron truchses, the archbishop's brother, to fall into the hands of the enemy, he disappeared from the scene with great rapidity, in order that his own interests in the palatinate and in the guardianship of the young palatines might not suffer by his absence. at this time, too, on the th of april, the prince of orange was married, for the fourth time, to louisa, widow of the seigneur de teligny, and daughter of the illustrious coligny. in the course of the summer, the states of holland and zealand, always bitterly opposed to the connection with anjou, and more than ever dissatisfied with the resumption of negotiations since the antwerp catastrophe, sent a committee to the prince in order to persuade him to set his face against the whole proceedings. they delivered at the same time a formal remonstrance, in writing ( th of august, ), in which they explained how odious the arrangement with the duke had ever been to them. they expressed the opinion that even the wisest might be sometimes mistaken, and that the prince had been bitterly deceived by anjou and by the french court. they besought him to rely upon the assistance of the almighty, and upon the exertions of the nation, and they again hinted at the propriety of his accepting that supreme sovereignty over all the united provinces which would be so gladly conferred, while, for their own parts, they voluntarily offered largely to increase the sums annually contributed to the common defence. very soon afterwards, in august, , the states of the united provinces assembled at middelburg formally offered the general government--which under the circumstances was the general sovereignty--to the prince, warmly urging his acceptance of the dignity. he manifested, however, the same reluctance which he had always expressed, demanding that the project should beforehand be laid before the councils of all the large cities, and before the estates of certain provinces which had not been represented at the middelburg diet. he also made use of the occasion to urge the necessity of providing more generously for the army expenses and other general disbursements. as to ambitious views, he was a stranger to them, and his language at this moment was as patriotic and self-denying as at any previous period. he expressed his thanks to the estates for this renewed proof of their confidence in his character, and this additional approbation of his course,--a sentiment which he was always ready "as a good patriot to justify by his most faithful service." he reminded them, however, that he was no great monarch, having in his own hands the means to help and the power to liberate them; and that even were he in possession of all which god had once given him, he should be far from strong enough to resist, single-handed, their powerful enemy. all that was left to him, he said, was an "honest and moderate experience in affairs." with this he was ever ready to serve them to the utmost; but they knew very well that the means to make that experience available were to be drawn from the country itself. with modest simplicity, he observed that he had been at work fifteen or sixteen years, doing his best, with the grace of god, to secure the freedom of the fatherland and to resist tyranny of conscience; that he alone--assisted by his brothers and some friends and relatives--had borne the whole burthen in the beginning, and that he had afterwards been helped by the states of holland and zealand, so that he could not but render thanks to god for his great mercy in thus granting his blessing to so humble an instrument, and thus restoring so many beautiful provinces to their ancient freedom and to the true religion. the prince protested that this result was already a sufficient reward for his labors--a great consolation in his sufferings. he had hoped, he said, that the estates, "taking into consideration his long-continued labors, would have been willing to excuse him from a new load of cares, and would have granted him some little rest in his already advanced age;" that they would have selected "some other person more fitted for the labor, whom he would himself faithfully promise to assist to the best of his abilities, rendering him willing obedience proportionate to the authority conferred upon him." like all other attempts to induce the acceptance, by the prince, of supreme authority, this effort proved ineffectual, from the obstinate unwillingness of his hand to receive the proffered sceptre. in connection with this movement, and at about the same epoch, jacob swerius, member of the brabant council, with other deputies, waited upon orange, and formally tendered him the sovereign dukedom of brabant, forfeited and vacant by the late crime of anjou. the prince, however, resolutely refused to accept the dignity, assuring the committee that he had not the means to afford the country as much protection as they had a right to expect from their sovereign. he added that "he would never give the king of spain the right-to say that the prince of orange had been actuated by no other motives in his career than the hope of self-aggrandizement, and the desire to deprive his majesty of the provinces in order to appropriate them to himself." accordingly, firmly refusing to heed the overtures of the united states, and of holland in particular, he continued to further the re-establishment of anjou--a measure in which, as he deliberately believed, lay the only chance of union and in dependence. the prince of parma, meantime, had not been idle. he had been unable to induce the provinces to listen to his wiles, and to rush to the embrace of the monarch whose arms he described as ever open to the repentant. he had, however, been busily occupied in the course of the summer in taking up many of the towns which the treason of anjou had laid open to his attacks. eindhoven, diest, dunkirk, newport, and other places, were successively surrendered to royalist generals. on the nd of september, , the city of zutfen, too, was surprised by colonel tassis, on the fall of which most important place, the treason of orange's brother-in-law, count van den berg, governor of gueldres, was revealed. his fidelity had been long suspected, particularly by count john of nassau, but always earnestly vouched for by his wife and by his sons. on the capture of zutfen, however, a document was found and made public, by which van den berg bound himself to deliver the principal cities of gueldres and zutfen, beginning with zutfen itself, into the hands of parma, on condition of receiving the pardon and friendship of the king. not much better could have been expected of van den berg. his pusillanimous retreat from his post in alva's time will be recollected; and it is certain that the prince had never placed implicit confidence in his character. nevertheless, it was the fate of this great man to be often deceived by the friends whom he trusted, although never to be outwitted by his enemies. van den berg was arrested, on the th of november, carried to the hague, examined and imprisoned for a time in delftshaven. after a time he was, however, liberated, when he instantly, with all his sons, took service under the king. while treason was thus favoring the royal arms in the north, the same powerful element, to which so much of the netherland misfortunes had always been owing was busy in flanders. towards the end of the year , the prince of chimay, eldest son of the duke of aerschot, had been elected governor of that province. this noble was as unstable in character, as vain, as unscrupulous, and as ambitious as his father and uncle. he had been originally desirous of espousing the eldest daughter of the prince of orange, afterwards the countess of hohenlo, but the duchess of aerschot was too strict a catholic to consent to the marriage, and her son was afterwards united to the countess of meghem, widow of lan celot berlaymont. as affairs seemed going on prosperously for the states in the beginning, of this year, the prince of chimay had affected a strong inclination for the reformed religion, and as governor of bruges, he had appointed many members of that church to important offices, to the exclusion of catholics. by so decided a course, he acquired the confidence of the patriot party and at the end of the year he became governor of flanders. no sooner was he installed in this post, than he opened a private correspondence with parma, for it was his intention to make his peace with the king, and to purchase pardon and advancement by the brilliant service which he now undertook, of restoring this important province to the royal authority. in the arrangement of his plans he was assisted by champagny, who, as will be recollected, had long been a prisoner in ghent, but whose confinement was not so strict as to prevent frequent intercourse with his friends without. champagny was indeed believed to be the life of the whole intrigue. the plot was, however, forwarded by imbize, the roaring demagogue whose republicanism could never reconcile itself with what he esteemed the aristocratic policy of orange, and whose stern puritanism could be satisfied with nothing short of a general extermination of catholics. this man, after having been allowed to depart, infamous and contemptible, from the city which he had endangered, now ventured after five years, to return, and to engage in fresh schemes which were even more criminal than his previous enterprises. the uncompromising foe to romanism, the advocate of grecian and genevan democracy, now allied himself with champagny and with chimay, to effect a surrender of flanders to philip and to the inquisition. he succeeded in getting himself elected chief senator in ghent, and forthwith began to use all his influence to further the secret plot. the joint efforts and intrigues of parma, champagny, chimay, and imbize, were near being successful. early, in the spring of a formal resolution was passed by the government of ghent, to open negotiations with parma. hostages were accordingly exchanged, and a truce of three weeks was agreed upon, during which an animated correspondence was maintained between the authorities of ghent and the prince of chimay on the one side, and the united states-general, the magistracy of antwerp, the states of brabant, and other important bodies on the other. the friends of the union and of liberty used all their eloquence to arrest the city of ghent in its course, and to save the province of flanders from accepting the proposed arrangement with parma. the people of ghent were reminded that the chief promoter of this new negotiation was champagny, a man who owed a deep debt of hatred to their city, for the long, and as he believed, the unjust confinement which he had endured within its walls. moreover, he was the brother of granvelle, source of all their woes. to take counsel with champagny, was to come within reach of a deadly foe, for "he who confesses himself to a wolf," said the burgomasters of antwerp, "will get wolf's absolution." the flemings were warned by all their correspondents that it was puerile to hope for faith in philip; a monarch whose first principle was, that promises to heretics were void. they were entreated to pay no heed to the "sweet singing of the royalists," who just then affected to disapprove of the practice adopted by the spanish inquisition, that they might more surely separate them from their friends. "imitate not," said the magistrates of brussels, "the foolish sheep who made with the wolves a treaty of perpetual amity, from which the faithful dogs were to be excluded." it was affirmed--and the truth was certainly beyond peradventure--that religious liberty was dead at the moment when the treaty with parma should be signed. "to look for political privilege or evangelical liberty," said the antwerp authorities, "in any arrangement with the spaniards, is to look for light in darkness, for fire in water." "philip is himself the slave of the inquisition," said the states-general, "and has but one great purpose in life--to cherish the institution everywhere, and particularly in the netherlands. before margaret of parma's time, one hundred thousand netherlanders had been burned or strangled, and alva had spent seven years in butchering and torturing many thousands more." the magistrates of brussells used similar expressions. "the king of spain," said they to their brethren of ghent, "is fastened to the inquisition. yea, he is so much in its power, that even if he desired, he is unable to maintain his promises." the prince of orange too, was indefatigable in public and private efforts to counteract the machinations of parma and the spanish party in ghent. he saw with horror the progress which the political decomposition of that most important commonwealth was making, for he considered the city the keystone to the union of the provinces, for he felt with a prophetic instinct that its loss would entail that of all the southern provinces, and make a united and independent netherland state impossible. already in the summer of , he addressed a letter full of wisdom and of warning to the authorities of ghent, a letter in which he set fully before them the iniquity and stupidity of their proceedings, while at the same time he expressed himself with so much dexterity and caution as to avoid giving offence, by accusations which he made, as it were, hypothetically, when, in truth, they were real ones. these remonstrances were not fruitless, and the authorities and citizens of ghent once more paused ere they stepped from the precipice. while they were thus wavering, the whole negotiation with parma was abruptly brought to a close by a new incident, the demagogue imbize having been discovered in a secret attempt to obtain possession of the city of denremonde, and deliver it to parma. the old acquaintance, ally, and enemy of imbize, the seigneur de ryhove, was commandant of the city, and information was privately conveyed to him of the design, before there had been time for its accomplishment. ryhove, being thoroughly on his guard, arrested his old comrade, who was shortly afterwards brought to trial, and executed at ghent. john van imbize had returned to the city from which the contemptuous mercy of orange had permitted him formerly to depart, only to expiate fresh turbulence and fresh treason by a felon's death. meanwhile the citizens: of ghent; thus warned by word and deed, passed an earnest resolution to have no more intercourse with parma, but to abide faithfully by the union. their example was followed by the other flemish cities, excepting, unfortunately, bruges, for that important town, being entirely in the power of chimay, was now surrendered by him to the royal government. on the th of may, , baron montigny, on the part of parma, signed an accord with the prince of chimay, by which the city was restored to his majesty, and by which all inhabitants not willing to abide by the roman catholic religion were permitted to leave the land. the prince was received with favor by parma, on conclusion of the transaction, and subsequently met with advancement from the king, while the princess, who had embraced the reformed religion, retired to holland. the only other city of importance gained on this occasion by the government was ypres, which had been long besieged, and was, soon afterwards forced to yield. the new bishop, on taking possession, resorted to instant measures for cleansing a place which had been so long in the hands of the infidels, and as the first step in this purification, the bodies of many heretics who had been buried for years were taken from their graves, and publicly hanged in their coffins. all living adherents to the reformed religion were instantly expelled from the place. ghent and the rest of flanders were, for the time, saved from the power of spain, the inhabitants being confirmed in their resolution of sustaining their union with the other provinces by the news from france. early in the spring the negotiations between anjou and the states-general had been earnestly renewed, and junius, mouillerie, and asseliers, had been despatched on a special mission to france, for the purpose of arranging a treaty with the duke. on the th of april, , they arrived in delft, on their return, bringing warm letters from the french court, full of promises to assist the netherlands; and it was understood that a constitution, upon the basis of the original arrangement of bordeaux, would be accepted by the duke. these arrangements were, however, for ever terminated by the death of anjou, who had been ill during the whole course of the negotiations. on the th of june, , he expired at chateau thierry, in great torture, sweating blood from every pore, and under circumstances which, as usual, suggested strong suspicions of poison. chapter vii. various attempts upon the life of orange--delft--mansion of the prince described--francis guion or balthazar girard--his antecedents--his correspondence and interviews with parma and with d'assonleville--his employment in france--his return to delft and interview with orange--the crime--the confession--the punishment-- the consequences--concluding remarks. it has been seen that the ban against the prince of orange had not been hitherto without fruits, for although unsuccessful, the efforts to take his life and earn the promised guerdon had been incessant. the attempt of jaureguy, at antwerp, of salseda and baza at bruges, have been related, and in march, , moreover, one pietro dordogno was executed in antwerp for endeavoring to assassinate the prince. before his death, he confessed that he had come from spain solely for the purpose, and that he had conferred with la motte, governor of gravelines, as to the best means of accomplishing his design. in april, , hans hanzoon, a merchant of flushing, had been executed for attempting to destroy the prince by means of gunpowder, concealed under his house in that city, and under his seat in the church. he confessed that he had deliberately formed the intention of performing the deed, and that he had discussed the details of the enterprise with the spanish ambassador in paris. at about the same time, one le goth, a captive french officer, had been applied to by the marquis de richebourg, on the part of alexander of parma, to attempt the murder of the prince. le goth had consented, saying that nothing could be more easily done; and that he would undertake to poison him in a dish of eels, of which he knew him to be particularly fond. the frenchman was liberated with this understanding; but being very much the friend of orange, straightway told him the whole story, and remained ever afterwards a faithful servant of the states. it is to be presumed that he excused the treachery to which he owed his escape from prison on the ground that faith was no more to be kept with murderers than with heretics. thus within two years there had been five distinct attempts to assassinate the prince, all of them, with the privity of the spanish government. a sixth was soon to follow. in the summer of , william of orange was residing at delft, where his wife, louisa de coligny, had given birth, in the preceding winter, to a son, afterwards the celebrated stadholder, frederic henry. the child had received these names from his two godfathers, the kings of denmark and of navarre, and his baptism had been celebrated with much rejoicing on the th of june, in the place of his birth. it was a quiet, cheerful, yet somewhat drowsy little city, that ancient burgh of delft. the placid canals by which it was intersected in every direction were all planted with whispering, umbrageous rows of limes and poplars, and along these watery highways the traffic of the place glided so noiselessly that the town seemed the abode of silence and tranquillity. the streets were clean and airy, the houses well built, the whole aspect of the place thriving. one of the principal thoroughfares was called the old delftstreet. it was shaded on both sides by lime trees, which in that midsummer season covered the surface of the canal which flowed between them with their light and fragrant blossoms. on one side of this street was the "old kirk," a plain, antique structure of brick, with lancet windows, and with a tall, slender tower, which inclined, at a very considerable angle, towards a house upon the other side of the canal. that house was the mansion of william the silent. it stood directly opposite the church, being separated by a spacious courtyard from the street, while the stables and other offices in the rear extended to the city wall. a narrow lane, opening out of delft-street, ran along the side of the house and court, in the direction of the ramparts. the house was a plain, two-storied edifice of brick, with red-tiled roof, and had formerly been a cloister dedicated to saint agatha, the last prior of which had been hanged by the furious lumey de la merck. the news of anjou's death had been brought to delft by a special messenger from the french court. on sunday morning, the th of july, , the prince of orange, having read the despatches before leaving his bed, caused the man who had brought them to be summoned, that he might give some particular details by word of mouth concerning the last illness of the duke. the courier was accordingly admitted to the prince's bed-chamber, and proved to be one francis guion, as he called himself. this man had, early in the spring, claimed and received the protection of orange, on the ground of being the son of a protestant at besancon, who had suffered death for--his religion, and of his own ardent attachment to the reformed faith. a pious, psalm-singing, thoroughly calvinistic youth he seemed to be having a bible or a hymn-book under his arm whenever he walked the street, and most exemplary in his attendance at sermon and lecture. for, the rest, a singularly unobtrusive personage, twenty-seven years of age, low of stature, meagre, mean-visaged, muddy complexioned, and altogether a man of no account--quite insignificant in the eyes of all who looked upon him. if there were one opinion in which the few who had taken the trouble to think of the puny, somewhat shambling stranger from burgundy at all coincided, it was that he was inoffensive but quite incapable of any important business. he seemed well educated, claimed to be of respectable parentage and had considerable facility of speech, when any person could be found who thought it worth while to listen to him; but on the whole he attracted little attention. nevertheless, this insignificant frame locked up a desperate and daring character; this mild and inoffensive nature had gone pregnant seven years with a terrible crime, whose birth could not much longer be retarded. francis guion, the calvinist, son of a martyred calvinist, was in reality balthazar gerard, a fanatical catholic, whose father and mother were still living at villefans in burgundy. before reaching man's estate, he had formed the design of murdering the prince of orange, "who, so long as he lived, seemed like to remain a rebel against the catholic king, and to make every effort to disturb the repose of the roman catholic apostolic religion." when but twenty years of age, he had struck his dagger with all his might into a door, exclaiming, as he did so, "would that the blow had been in the heart of orange!" for this he was rebuked by a bystander, who told him it was not for him to kill princes, and that it was not desirable to destroy so good a captain as the prince, who, after all, might one day reconcile himself with the king. as soon as the ban against orange was published, balthazar, more anxious than ever to execute his long-cherished design, left dole and came to luxemburg. here he learned that the deed had already been done by john jaureguy. he received this intelligence at first with a sensation of relief, was glad to be excused from putting himself in danger, and believing the prince dead, took service as clerk with one john duprel, secretary to count mansfeld, governor of luxemburg. ere long, the ill success of jaureguy's attempt becoming known, the "inveterate determination" of gerard aroused itself more fiercely than ever. he accordingly took models of mansfeld's official seals in wax, in order that he might make use of them as an acceptable offering to the orange party, whose confidence he meant to gain. various circumstances detained him, however. a sum of money was stolen, and he was forced to stay till it was found, for fear of being arrested as the thief. then his cousin and employer fell sick, and gerard was obliged to wait for his recovery. at last, in march, , "the weather, as he said, appearing to be fine," balthazar left luxemburg and came to treves. while there, he confided his scheme to the regent of the jesuit college--a "red-haired man" whose name has not been preserved. that dignitary expressed high approbation of the plan, gave gerard his blessing, and promised him that, if his life should be sacrificed in achieving his purpose, he should be enrolled among the martyrs. another jesuit, however, in the same college, with whom he likewise communicated, held very different language, making great efforts to turn the young man from his design, on the ground of the inconveniences which might arise from the forging of mansfeld's seals--adding, that neither he nor any of the jesuits liked to meddle with such affairs, but advising that the whole matter should be laid before the prince of parma. it does not appear that this personage, "an excellent man and a learned," attempted to dissuade the young man from his project by arguments, drawn from any supposed criminality in the assassination itself, or from any danger, temporal or eternal, to which the perpetrator might expose himself. not influenced, as it appears, except on one point, by the advice of this second ghostly confessor, balthazar came to tournay, and held council with a third--the celebrated franciscan, father gery--by whom he was much comforted and strengthened in his determination. his next step was to lay the project before parma, as the "excellent and learned" jesuit at treves had advised. this he did by a letter, drawn up with much care, and which he evidently thought well of as a composition. one copy of this letter he deposited with the guardian of the franciscan convent at tournay; the other he presented with his own hand to the prince of parma. "the vassal," said he, "ought always to prefer justice and the will of the king to his own life." that being the case, he expressed his astonishment that no man had yet been found to execute the sentence against william of nassau, "except the gentle biscayan, since defunct." to accomplish the task, balthazar observed, very judiciously, that it was necessary to have access, to the person of the prince--wherein consisted the difficulty. those who had that advantage, he continued, were therefore bound to extirpate the pest at once, without obliging his majesty to send to rome for a chevalier, because not one of them was willing to precipitate himself into the venomous gulf, which by its contagion infected and killed the souls and bodies, of all poor abused subjects, exposed to its influence. gerard avowed himself to have been so long goaded and stimulated by these considerations--so extremely nettled with displeasure and bitterness at seeing the obstinate wretch still escaping his just judgment--as to have formed the design of baiting a trap for the fox, hoping thus to gain access to him, and to take him unawares. he added--without explaining the nature of the trap and the bait--that he deemed it his duty to lay the subject before the most serene prince of parma, protesting at the same time that he did not contemplate the exploit for the sake of the reward mentioned in the sentence, and that he preferred trusting in that regard to the immense liberality of his majesty. parma had long been looking for a good man to murder orange, feeling--as philip, granvelle, and all former governors of the netherlands had felt--that this was the only means of saving the royal authority in any part of the provinces. many unsatisfactory assassins had presented themselves from time to time, and alexander had paid money in hand to various individuals--italians, spaniards, lorrainers; scotchmen, englishmen, who had generally spent the sums received without attempting the job. others were supposed to be still engaged in the enterprise; and at that moment there were four persons--each unknown to the others, and of different nations--in the city of delft, seeking to compass the death of william the silent. shag-eared, military, hirsute ruffians--ex-captains of free companies and such marauders--were daily offering their services; there was no lack of them, and they had done but little. how should parma, seeing this obscures undersized, thin-bearded, runaway clerk before him, expect pith and energy from him? he thought him quite unfit for an enterprise of moment, and declared as much to his secret councillors and to the king. he soon dismissed him, after receiving his letters; and it may be supposed that the bombastic style of that epistle would not efface the unfavorable impression produced by balthazar's exterior. the representations of haultepenne and others induced him so far to modify his views as to send his confidential councillor, d'assonleville, to the stranger, in order to learn the details of the scheme. assonleville had accordingly an interview with gerard, in which he requested the young man to draw up a statement of his plan in writing, ani this was done upon the th of april, . in this letter gerard explained his plan of introducing himself to the notice of orange, at delft, as the son of an executed calvinist; as himself warmly, though secretly, devoted to the reformed faith, and as desirous, therefore, of placing himself in the prince's service, in order to avoid the insolence of the papists. having gained the confidence of those about the prince, he would suggest to them the great use which might be made of mansfeld's signet in forging passports for spies and other persons whom it might be desirous to send into the territory of the royalists. "with these or similar feints and frivolities," continued gerard, "he should soon obtain access to the person of the said nassau," repeating his protestation that nothing had moved him to his enterprise "save the good zeal which he bore to the faith and true religion guarded by the holy mother church catholic, apostolic, and roman, and to the service of his majesty." he begged pardon for having purloined the impressions of the seals--a turpitude which he would never have committed, but would sooner have suffered a thousand deaths, except for the great end in view. he particularly wished forgiveness for that crime before going to his task, "in order that he might confess, and receive the holy communion at the coming easter, without scruples of conscience." he likewise begged the prince of parma to obtain for him absolution from his holiness for this crime of pilfering--the more so "as he was about to keep company for some time with heretics and atheists, and in some sort to conform himself to their customs." from the general tone of the letters of gerard, he might be set down at once as a simple, religious fanatic, who felt sure that, in executing the command of philip publicly issued to all the murderers of europe, he was meriting well of god and his king. there is no doubt that he was an exalted enthusiast, but not purely an enthusiast. the man's character offers more than one point of interest, as a psychological phenomenon. he had convinced himself that the work which he had in hand was eminently meritorious, and he was utterly without fear of consequences. he was, however, by no means so disinterested as he chose to represent himself in letters which, as he instinctively felt, were to be of perennial interest. on the contrary, in his interviews with assonleville, he urged that he was a poor fellow, and that he had undertaken this enterprise in order to acquire property--to make himself rich--and that he depended upon the prince of parma's influence in obtaining the reward promised by the ban to the individual who should put orange to death. this second letter decided parma so far that he authorized assonleville to encourage the young man in his attempt, and to promise that the reward should be given to him in case of success, and to his heirs in the event of his death. assonleville, in the second interview, accordingly made known these assurances in the strongest manner to gerard, warning him, at the same time, on no account; if arrested, to inculpate the prince of parma. the councillor, while thus exhorting the stranger, according to alexander's commands, confined himself, however, to generalities, refusing even to advance fifty crowns, which balthazar had begged from the governor-general in order to provide for the necessary expenses of his project. parma had made similar advances too often to men who had promised to assassinate the prince and had then done little, and he was resolute in his refusal to this new adventurer, of whom he expected absolutely nothing. gerard, notwithstanding this rebuff, was not disheartened. "i will provide myself out of my own purse," said he to assonleville, "and within six weeks you will hear of me."--"go forth, my son," said assonleville, paternally, upon this spirited reply, "and if you succeed in your enterprise, the king will fulfil all his promises, and you will gain an immortal name beside." the "inveterate deliberation," thus thoroughly matured, gerard now proceeded to carry into effect. he came to delft; obtained a hearing of millers, the clergyman and intimate friend of orange, showed him the mansfeld seals, and was, somewhat against his will, sent to france, to exhibit them to marechal biron, who, it was thought, was soon to be appointed governor of cambray. through orange's recommendation, the burgundian was received into the suite of noel de caron, seigneur de schoneval, then setting forth on a special mission to the duke of anjou. while in france, gerard could rest neither by day nor night, so tormented was he by the desire of accomplishing his project, and at length he obtained permission, upon the death of the duke, to carry this important intelligence to the prince of orange. the despatches having been entrusted to him, he travelled posthaste to delft, and, to his astonishment, the letters had hardly been delivered before he was summoned in person to the chamber of the prince. here was an opportunity such as he had never dared to hope for. the arch-enemy to the church and to the human race, whose death, would confer upon his destroyer wealth and nobility in this world, besides a crown of glory in the next, lay unarmed, alone, in bed, before the man who had thirsted seven long years for his blood. balthazar could scarcely control his emotions sufficiently to answer the questions which the prince addressed to him concerning the death of anjou, but orange, deeply engaged with the despatches, and with the reflections which their deeply-important contents suggested, did not observe the countenance of the humble calvinist exile, who had been recently recommended to his patronage by millers. gerard, had, moreover, made no preparation for an interview so entirely unexpected, had come unarmed, and had formed no plan for escape. he was obliged to forego his prey when most within his reach, and after communicating all the information which the prince required, he was dismissed from the chamber. it was sunday morning, and the bells were tolling for church. upon leaving the house he loitered about the courtyard, furtively examining the premises, so that a sergeant of halberdiers asked him why he was waiting there. balthazar meekly replied that he was desirous of attending divine worship in the church opposite, but added, pointing to, his shabby and travel-stained attire, that, without at least a new pair of shoes and stockings, he was unfit to join the congregation. insignificant as ever, the small, pious, dusty stranger excited no suspicion in the mind of the good-natured sergeant. he forthwith spoke of the wants of gerard to an officer, by whom they were communicated to orange himself, and the prince instantly ordered a sum of money to be given him. thus balthazar obtained from william's charity what parma's thrift had denied--a fund for carrying out his purpose. next morning, with the money thus procured he purchased a pair of pistols, or small carabines, from a soldier, chaffering long about the price because the vender could not supply a particular kind of chopped bullets or slugs which he desired. before the sunset of the following day that soldier had stabbed himself to the heart, and died despairing, on hearing for what purpose the pistols had been bought. on tuesday, the th of july, , at about half-past twelve, the prince, with his wife on his arm, and followed by the ladies and gentlemen of his family, was going to the dining-room. william the silent was dressed upon that day, according to his usual custom, in very plain fashion. he wore a wide-leaved, loosely-shaped hat of dark felt; with a silken cord round the crown-such as had been worn by the beggars in the early days of the revolt. a high ruff encircled his neck, from which also depended one of the beggar's medals, with the motto, "fideles au roy jusqu'a la besace," while a loose surcoat of grey frieze cloth, over a tawny leather doublet, with wide, slashed underclothes completed his costume. gerard presented himself at the doorway, and demanded a passport. the princess, struck with the pale and agitated countenance of the man, anxiously questioned her husband concerning the stranger. the prince carelessly observed that "it was merely a person who came for a passport," ordering, at the same time, a secretary forthwith to prepare one. the princess, still not relieved, observed in an under-tone that "she had never seen so villainous a countenance." orange, however, not at all impressed with the appearance of gerard, conducted himself at table with his usual cheerfulness, conversing much with the burgomaster of leewarden, the only guest present at the family dinner, concerning the political and religious aspects of friesland. at two o'clock the company rose from table. the prince led the way, intending to pass to his private apartments above. the dining-room, which was on the ground floor, opened into a little square vestibule, which communicated, through an arched passageway, with the main entrance into the court-yard. this vestibule was also directly at the foot of the wooden staircase leading to the next floor, and was scarcely six feet in width. upon its left side, as one approached the stairway, was an obscure arch, sunk deep in the wall, and completely in the shadow of the door. behind this arch a portal opened to the narrow lane at the side of the house. the stairs themselves were completely lighted by a large window, half way up the flight. the prince came from the dining-room, and began leisurely to ascend. he had only reached the second stair, when a man emerged from the sunken arch, and, standing within a foot or two of him, discharged a pistol full at his heart. three balls entered his body, one of which, passing quite through him, struck with violence against the wall beyond. the prince exclaimed in french, as he felt the wound, "o my god; have mercy upon my soul! o my god, have mercy upon this poor people." these were the last words he ever spoke, save that when his sister, catherine of schwartzburg, immediately afterwards asked him if he commended his soul to jesus christ, he faintly answered, "yes." his master of the horse, jacob van maldere, had caught him in his arms as the fatal shot was fired. the prince was then placed on the stairs for an instant, when he immediately began to swoon. he was afterwards laid upon a couch in the dining-room, where in a few minutes, he breathed his last in the arms of his wife and sister. the murderer succeeded in making his escape through the side door, and sped swiftly up the narrow lane. he had almost reached the ramparts, from which he intended to spring into the moat, when he stumbled over a heap of rubbish. as he rose, he was seized by several pages and halberdiers, who had pursued him from the house. he had dropped his pistols upon the spot where he had committed the crime, and upon his person were found a couple, of bladders, provided with apiece of pipe with which he had intended to assist himself across the moat, beyond which a horse was waiting for him. he made no effort to deny his identity, but boldly avowed himself and his deed. he was brought back to the house, where he immediately underwent a preliminary examination before the city magistrates. he was afterwards subjected to excruciating tortures; for the fury against the wretch who had destroyed the father of the country was uncontrollable, and william the silent was no longer alive to intercede--as he had often done before--in behalf of those who assailed his life. the organization of balthazar gerard would furnish a subject of profound study, both for the physiologist and the metaphysician. neither wholly a fanatic, nor entirely a ruffian, he combined the most dangerous elements of both characters. in his puny body and mean exterior were enclosed considerable mental powers and accomplishments, a daring ambition, and a courage almost superhuman. yet those qualities led him only to form upon the threshold of life a deliberate determination to achieve greatness by the assassin's trade. the rewards held out by the ban, combining with his religious bigotry and his passion for distinction, fixed all his energies with patient concentration upon the one great purpose for which he seemed to have been born, and after seven years' preparation, he had at last fulfilled his design. upon being interrogated by the magistrates, he manifested neither despair nor contrition, but rather a quiet exultation. "like david," he said, "he had slain goliath of gath." when falsely informed that his victim was not dead, he showed no credulity or disappointment. he had discharged three poisoned balls into the prince's stomach, and he knew that death must have already ensued. he expressed regret, however, that the resistance of the halberdiers had prevented him from using his second pistol, and avowed that if he were a thousand leagues away he would return in order to do the deed again, if possible. he deliberately wrote a detailed confession of his crime, and of the motives and manner of its commission, taking care, however, not to implicate parma in the transaction. after sustaining day after day the most horrible tortures, he subsequently related his interviews with assonleville and with the president of the jesuit college at treves adding that he had been influenced in his work by the assurance of obtaining the rewards promised by the ban. during the intervals of repose from the rack he conversed with ease, and even eloquence, answering all questions addressed to him with apparent sincerity. his constancy in suffering so astounded his judges that they believed him supported by witchcraft. "ecce homo!" he exclaimed, from time to time, with insane blasphemy, as he raised his blood-streaming head from the bench. in order to destroy the charm which seemed to render him insensible to pain, they sent for the shirt of a hospital patient, supposed to be a sorcerer. when clothed in this garment, however, balthazar was none the less superior to the arts of the tormentors, enduring all their inflictions, according to an eye-witness, "without once exclaiming, ah me!" and avowing that he would repeat his enterprise, if possible, were he to die a thousand deaths in consequence. some of those present refused to believe that he was a man at all. others asked him how long since he had sold himself to the devil? to which he replied, mildly, that he had no acquaintance whatever with the devil. he thanked the judges politely for the food which he received in prison, and promised to recompense them for the favor. upon being asked how that was possible, he replied; that he would serve as their advocate in paradise. the sentence pronounced against the assassin was execrable--a crime against the memory of the great man whom it professed to avenge. it was decreed that the right hand of gerard should be burned off with a red-hot iron, that his flesh should be torn from his bones with pincers in six different places, that he should be quartered and disembowelled alive, that his heart should be torn from his bosom and flung in his face, and that, finally, his head should be taken off. not even his horrible crime, with its endless consequences, nor the natural frenzy of indignation which it had excited, could justify this savage decree, to rebuke which the murdered hero might have almost risen from the sleep of death. the sentence was literally executed on the th of july, the criminal supporting its horrors with the same astonishing fortitude. so calm were his nerves, crippled and half roasted as he was ere he mounted the scaffold, that when one of the executioners was slightly injured in the ear by the flying from the handle of the hammer with which he was breaking the fatal pistol in pieces, as the first step in the execution--a circumstance which produced a general laugh in the crowd--a smile was observed upon balthazar's face in sympathy with the general hilarity. his lips were seen to move up to the moment when his heart was thrown in his face--"then," said a looker-on, "he gave up the ghost." the reward promised by philip to the man who should murder orange was paid to the heirs of gerard. parma informed his sovereign that the "poor man" had been executed, but that his father and mother were still living; to whom he recommended the payment of that "merced" which "the laudable and generous deed had so well deserved." this was accordingly done, and the excellent parents, ennobled and enriched by the crime of their son, received instead of the twenty-five thousand crowns promised in the ban, the three seignories of lievremont, hostal, and dampmartin in the franche comte, and took their place at once among the landed aristocracy. thus the bounty of the prince had furnished the weapon by which his life was destroyed, and his estates supplied the fund out of which the assassin's family received the price of blood. at a later day, when the unfortunate eldest son of orange returned from spain after twenty-seven years' absence, a changeling and a spaniard, the restoration of those very estates was offered to him by philip the second, provided he would continue to pay a fixed proportion of their rents to the family of his father's murderer. the education which philip william had received, under the king's auspices, had however, not entirely destroyed all his human feelings, and he rejected the proposal with scorn. the estates remained with the gerard family, and the patents of nobility which they had received were used to justify their exemption from certain taxes, until the union of franche comte, with france, when a french governor tore the documents in pieces and trampled them under foot. william of orange, at the period of his death, was aged fifty-one years and sixteen days. he left twelve children. by his first wife, anne of egmont, he had one son, philip, and one daughter, mary, afterwards married to count hohenlo. by his second wife, anna of saxony; he had one son, the celebrated maurice of nassau, and two daughters, anna, married afterwards to her cousin, count william louis, and emilie, who espoused the pretender of portugal, prince emanuel. by charlotte of bourbon, his third wife, he had six daughters; and by his fourth, louisa de coligny, one son, frederic william, afterwards stadholder of the republic in her most palmy days. the prince was entombed on the rd of august, at delft, amid the tears of a whole nation. never was a more extensive, unaffected, and legitimate sorrow felt at the death of any human being. the life and labors of orange had established the emancipated common-wealth upon a secure foundation, but his death rendered the union of all the netherlands into one republic hopeless. the efforts of the malcontent nobles, the religious discord, the consummate ability, both political and military, of parma, all combined with the lamentable loss of william the silent to separate for ever the southern and catholic provinces from the northern confederacy. so long as the prince remained alive, he was the father of the whole country; the netherlands--saving only the two walloon provinces--constituting a whole. notwithstanding the spirit of faction and the blight of the long civil war, there was at least one country; or the hope of a country, one strong heart, one guiding head, for the patriotic party throughout the land. philip and granvelle were right in their estimate of the advantage to be derived from the prince's death, in believing that an assassin's hand could achieve more than all the wiles which spanish or italian statesmanship could teach, or all the armies which spain or italy could muster. the pistol of the insignificant gerard destroyed the possibility of a united netherland state, while during the life of william there was union in the policy, unity in the history of the country. in the following year, antwerp, hitherto the centre around which all the national interests and historical events group themselves, fell before the scientific efforts of parma. the city which had so long been the freest, as well as the most opulent, capital in europe, sank for ever to the position of a provincial town. with its fall, combined with other circumstances, which it is not necessary to narrate in anticipation, the final separation of the netherlands was completed. on the other hand, at the death of orange, whose formal inauguration as sovereign count had not yet taken place, the states of holland and zealand reassumed the sovereignty. the commonwealth which william had liberated for ever from spanish tyranny continued to exist as a great and flourishing republic during more than two centuries, under the successive stadholderates of his sons and descendants. his life gave existence to an independent country--his death defined its limits. had he lived twenty years longer, it is probable that the seven provinces would have been seventeen; and that the spanish title would have been for ever extinguished both in nether germany and celtic gaul. although there was to be the length of two human generations more of warfare ere spain acknowledged the new government, yet before the termination of that period the united states had become the first naval power and one of the most considerable commonwealths in the world; while the civil and religious liberty, the political independence of the land, together with the total expulsion of the ancient foreign tyranny from the soil, had been achieved ere the eyes of william were closed. the republic existed, in fact, from the moment of the abjuration in . the most important features of the polity which thus assumed a prominent organization have been already indicated. there was no revolution, no radical change. the ancient rugged tree of netherland liberty--with its moss-grown trunk, gnarled branches, and deep-reaching roots--which had been slowly growing for ages, was still full of sap, and was to deposit for centuries longer its annual rings of consolidated and concentric strength. though lopped of some luxuriant boughs, it was sound at the core, and destined for a still larger life than even in the healthiest moments of its mediveval existence. the history of the rise of the netherland republic has been at the same time the biography of william the silent. this, while it gives unity to the narrative, renders an elaborate description of his character superfluous. that life was a noble christian epic; inspired with one great purpose from its commencement to its close; the stream flowing ever from one fountain with expanding fulness, but retaining all its original pity. a few general observations are all which are necessary by way of conclusion. in person, orange was above the middle height, perfectly well made and sinewy, but rather spare than stout. his eyes, hair, beard, and complexion were brown. his head was small, symmetrically-shaped, combining the alertness and compactness characteristic of the soldier; with the capacious brow furrowed prematurely with the horizontal lines of thought, denoting the statesman and the sage. his physical appearance was, therefore, in harmony, with his organization, which was of antique model. of his moral qualities, the most prominent was his piety. he was more than anything else a religious man. from his trust in god, he ever derived support and consolation in the darkest hours. implicitly relying upon almighty wisdom and goodness, he looked danger in the face with a constant smile, and endured incessant labors and trials with a serenity which seemed more than human. while, however, his soul was full of piety, it was tolerant of error. sincerely and deliberately himself a convert to the reformed church, he was ready to extend freedom of worship to catholics on the one hand, and to anabaptists on the other, for no man ever felt more keenly than he, that the reformer who becomes in his turn a bigot is doubly odious. his firmness was allied to his piety. his constancy in bearing the whole weight of struggle as unequal as men have ever undertaken, was the theme of admiration even to his enemies. the rock in the ocean, "tranquil amid raging billows," was the favorite emblem by which his friends expressed, their sense of his firmness. from the time when, as a hostage in france, he first discovered the plan of philip to plant the inquisition in the netherlands, up to the last moment of his life, he never faltered in his determination to resist that iniquitous scheme. this resistance was the labor of his life. to exclude the inquisition; to maintain the ancient liberties of his country, was the task which he appointed to himself when a youth of three-and-twenty. never speaking a word concerning a heavenly mission, never deluding himself or others with the usual phraseology of enthusiasts, he accomplished the task, through danger, amid toils, and with sacrifices such as few men have ever been able to make on their country's altar; for the disinterested benevolence of the man was as prominent as his fortitude. a prince of high rank, and, with royal revenues, he stripped himself of station, wealth, almost at times of the common necessaries of life, and became, in his country's cause, nearly a beggar as well as an outlaw. nor was he forced into his career by an accidental impulse from which there was no recovery. retreat was ever open to him. not only pardon but advancement was urged upon him again and again. officially and privately, directly and circuitously, his confiscated estates, together with indefinite and boundless favors in addition, were offered to him on every great occasion. on the arrival of don john, at the breda negotiations, at the cologne conferences, we have seen how calmly these offers were waved aside, as if their rejection was so simple that it hardly required many words for its signification, yet he had mortgaged his estates so deeply that his heirs hesitated at accepting their inheritance, for fear it should involve them in debt. ten years after his death, the account between his executors and his brother john amounted to one million four hundred thousand florins--due to the count, secured by various pledges of real and personal property; and it was finally settled upon this basis. he was besides largely indebted to every one of his powerful relatives, so that the payment of the incumbrances upon his estate very nearly justified the fears of his children. while on the one hand, therefore, he poured out these enormous sums like water, and firmly refused a hearing to the tempting offers of the royal government, upon the other hand he proved the disinterested nature of his services by declining, year after year, the sovereignty over the provinces; and by only accepting, in the last days of his life, when refusal had become almost impossible, the limited, constitutional supremacy over that portion of them which now makes the realm of his descendants. he lived and died, not for himself, but for his country: "god pity this poor people!" were his dying words. his intellectual faculties were various and of the highest order. he had the exact, practical, and combining qualities which make the great commander, and his friends claimed that, in military genius, he was second to no captain in europe. this was, no doubt, an exaggeration of partial attachment, but it is certain that the emperor charles had an exalted opinion of his capacity for the field. his fortification of philippeville and charlemont, in the face of the enemy his passage of the meuse in alva's sight--his unfortunate but well-ordered campaign against that general--his sublime plan of relief, projected and successfully directed at last from his sick bed, for the besieged city of leyden--will always remain monuments of his practical military skill. of the soldier's great virtues--constancy in disaster, devotion to duty, hopefulness in defeat--no man ever possessed a larger share. he arrived, through a series of reverses, at a perfect victory. he planted a free commonwealth under the very battery of the inquisition, in defiance of the most powerful empire existing. he was therefore a conqueror in the loftiest sense, for he conquered liberty and a national existence for a whole people. the contest was long, and he fell in the struggle, but the victory was to the dead hero, not to the living monarch. it is to be remembered, too, that he always wrought with inferior instruments. his troops were usually mercenaries, who were but too apt to mutiny upon the eve of battle, while he was opposed by the most formidable veterans of europe, commanded successively by the first captains of the age. that, with no lieutenant of eminent valor or experience, save only his brother louis, and with none at all after that chieftain's death, william of orange should succeed in baffling the efforts of alva, requesens, don john of austria, and alexander farnese--men whose names are among the most brilliant in the military annals of the world--is in itself, sufficient evidence of his warlike ability. at the period of his death he had reduced the number of obedient provinces to two; only artois and hainault acknowledging philip, while the other fifteen were in open revolt, the greater part having solemnly forsworn their sovereign. the supremacy of his political genius was entirely beyond question. he was the first statesman of the age. the quickness of his perception was only equalled by the caution which enabled him to mature the results of his observations. his knowledge of human nature was profound. he governed the passions and sentiments of a great nation as if they had been but the keys and chords of one vast instrument; and his hand rarely failed to evoke harmony even out of the wildest storms. the turbulent city of ghent, which could obey no other master, which even the haughty emperor could only crush without controlling, was ever responsive to the master-hand of orange. his presence scared away imbize and his bat-like crew, confounded the schemes of john casimir, frustrated the wiles of prince chimay, and while he lived, ghent was what it ought always to have remained, the bulwark, as it had been the cradle, of popular liberty. after his death it became its tomb. ghent, saved thrice by the policy, the eloquence, the self-sacrifices of orange, fell within three months of his murder into the hands of parma. the loss of this most important city, followed in the next year by the downfall of antwerp, sealed the fate of the southern netherlands. had the prince lived, how different might have been the country's fate! if seven provinces could dilate, in so brief a space, into the powerful commonwealth which the republic soon became, what might not have been achieved by the united seventeen; a confederacy which would have united the adamantine vigor of the batavian and frisian races with the subtler, more delicate, and more graceful national elements in which the genius of the frank, the roman, and the romanized celt were so intimately blended. as long as the father of the country lived, such a union was possible. his power of managing men was so unquestionable, that there was always a hope, even in the darkest hour, for men felt implicit reliance, as well on his intellectual resources as on his integrity. this power of dealing with his fellow-men he manifested in the various ways in which it has been usually exhibited by statesmen. he possessed a ready eloquence--sometimes impassioned, oftener argumentative, always rational. his influence over his audience was unexampled in the annals of that country or age; yet he never condescended to flatter the people. he never followed the nation, but always led her in the path of duty and of honor, and was much more prone to rebuke the vices than to pander to the passions of his hearers. he never failed to administer ample chastisement to parsimony, to jealousy, to insubordination, to intolerance, to infidelity, wherever it was due, nor feared to confront the states or the people in their most angry hours, and to tell them the truth to their faces. this commanding position he alone could stand upon, for his countrymen knew the generosity which had sacrificed his all for them, the self-denial which had eluded rather than sought political advancement, whether from king or people, and the untiring devotion which had consecrated a whole life to toil and danger in the cause of their emancipation. while, therefore, he was ever ready to rebuke, and always too honest to flatter, he at the same time possessed the eloquence which could convince or persuade. he knew how to reach both the mind and the heart of his hearers. his orations, whether extemporaneous or prepared--his written messages to the states-general, to the provincial authorities, to the municipal bodies--his private correspondence with men of all ranks, from emperors and kings down to secretaries, and even children--all show an easy flow of language, a fulness of thought, a power of expression rare in that age, a fund of historical allusion, a considerable power of imagination, a warmth of sentiment, a breadth of view, a directness of purpose--a range of qualities, in short, which would in themselves have stamped him as one of the master-minds of his century, had there been no other monument to his memory than the remains of his spoken or written eloquence. the bulk of his performances in this department was prodigious. not even philip was more industrious in the cabinet. not even granvelle held a more facile pen. he wrote and spoke equally well in french german, or flemish; and he possessed, besides; spanish, italian, latin. the weight of his correspondence alone would have almost sufficed for the common industry of a lifetime, and although many volumes of his speeches and, letters have been published, there remain in the various archives of the netherlands and germany many documents from his hand which will probably never see the light. if the capacity for unremitted intellectual labor in an honorable cause be the measure of human greatness, few minds could be compared to the "large composition" of this man. the efforts made to destroy the netherlands by the most laborious and painstaking of tyrants were counteracted by the industry of the most indefatigable of patriots. thus his eloquence, oral or written, gave him almost boundless power over his countrymen. he possessed, also, a rare perception of human character, together with an iron memory which never lost a face, a place, or an event, once seen or known. he read the minds even the faces of men, like printed books. no man could overreach him, excepting only those to whom he gave his heart. he might be mistaken where he had confided, never where he had been distrustful or indifferent. he was deceived by renneberg, by his brother-in-law van den berg, by the duke of anjou. had it been possible for his brother louis or his brother john to have proved false, he might have been deceived by them. he was never outwitted by philip, or granvelle, or don john, or alexander of parma. anna of saxony was false to him; and entered into correspondence with the royal governors and with the king of spain; charlotte of bourbon or louisa de coligny might have done the same had it been possible for their natures also to descend to such depths of guile. as for the aerschots, the havres, the chimays, he was never influenced either by their blandishments or their plots. he was willing to use them when their interest made them friendly, or to crush them when their intrigues against his policy rendered them dangerous. the adroitness with which he converted their schemes in behalf of matthias, of don john, of anjou, into so many additional weapons for his own cause, can never be too often studied. it is instructive to observe the wiles of the macchiavelian school employed by a master of the craft, to frustrate, not to advance, a knavish purpose. this character, in a great measure, marked his whole policy. he was profoundly skilled in the subtleties of italian statesmanship, which he had learned as a youth at the imperial court, and which he employed in his manhood in the service, not of tyranny, but of liberty. he fought the inquisition with its own weapons. he dealt with philip on his own ground. he excavated the earth beneath the king's feet by a more subtle process than that practised by the most fraudulent monarch that ever governed the spanish empire, and philip, chain-mailed as he was in complicated wiles, was pierced to the quick by a keener policy than his own. ten years long the king placed daily his most secret letters in hands which regularly transmitted copies of the correspondence to the prince of orange, together with a key to the ciphers and every other illustration which might be required. thus the secrets of the king were always as well known to orange as to himself; and the prince being as prompt as philip was hesitating, the schemes could often be frustrated before their execution had been commenced. the crime of the unfortunate clerk, john de castillo, was discovered in the autumn of the year , and he was torn to pieces by four horses. perhaps his treason to the monarch whose bread he was eating, while he received a regular salary from the king's most determined foe, deserved even this horrible punishment, but casuists must determine how much guilt attaches to the prince for his share in the transaction. this history is not the eulogy of orange, although, in discussing his character, it is difficult to avoid the monotony of panegyric. judged by a severe moral standard, it cannot be called virtuous or honorable to suborn treachery or any other crime, even to accomplish a lofty purpose; yet the universal practice of mankind in all ages has tolerated the artifices of war, and no people has ever engaged in a holier or more mortal contest than did the netherlands in their great struggle with spain. orange possessed the rare quality of caution, a characteristic by which he was distinguished from his youth. at fifteen he was the confidential counsellor, as at twenty-one he became the general-in-chief, to the most politic, as well as the most warlike potentate of his age, and if he at times indulged in wiles which modern statesmanship, even while it practises, condemns, he ever held in his hand the clue of an honorable purpose to guide him through the tortuous labyrinth. it is difficult to find any other characteristic deserving of grave censure, but his enemies have adopted a simpler process. they have been able to find few flaws in his nature, and therefore have denounced it in gross. it is not that his character was here and there defective, but that the eternal jewel was false. the patriotism was counterfeit; the self-abnegation and the generosity were counterfeit. he was governed only by ambition--by a desire of personal advancement. they never attempted to deny his talents, his industry, his vast sacrifices of wealth and station; but they ridiculed the idea that he could have been inspired by any but unworthy motives. god alone knows the heart of man. he alone can unweave the tangled skein of human motives, and detect the hidden springs of human action, but as far as can be judged by a careful observation of undisputed facts, and by a diligent collation of public and private documents, it would seem that no man--not even washington--has ever been inspired by a purer patriotism. at any rate, the charge of ambition and self-seeking can only be answered by a reference to the whole picture which these volumes have attempted to portray. the words, the deeds of the man are there. as much as possible, his inmost soul is revealed in his confidential letters, and he who looks in a right spirit will hardly fail to find what he desires. whether originally of a timid temperament or not, he was certainly possessed of perfect courage at last. in siege and battle--in the deadly air of pestilential cities--in the long exhaustion of mind and body which comes from unduly protracted labor and anxiety--amid the countless conspiracies of assassins--he was daily exposed to death in every shape. within two years, five different attempts against his life had been discovered. rank and fortune were offered to any malefactor who would compass the murder. he had already been shot through the head, and almost mortally wounded. under such circumstances even a brave man might have seen a pitfall at every step, a dagger in every hand, and poison in every cup. on the contrary, he was ever cheerful, and hardly took more precaution than usual. "god in his mercy," said he, with unaffected simplicity, "will maintain my innocence and my honor during my life and in future ages. as to my fortune and my life, i have dedicated both, long since, to his service. he will do therewith what pleases him for his glory and my salvation." thus his suspicions were not even excited by the ominous face of gerard, when he first presented himself at the dining-room door. the prince laughed off his wife's prophetic apprehension at the sight of his murderer, and was as cheerful as usual to the last. he possessed, too, that which to the heathen philosopher seemed the greatest good--the sound mind in the sound body. his physical frame was after death found so perfect that a long life might have been in store for him, notwithstanding all which he had endured. the desperate illness of , the frightful gunshot wound inflicted by jaureguy in , had left no traces. the physicians pronounced that his body presented an aspect of perfect health. his temperament was cheerful. at table, the pleasures of which, in moderation, were his only relaxation, he was always animated and merry, and this jocoseness was partly natural, partly intentional. in the darkest hours of his country's trial, he affected a serenity which he was far from feeling, so that his apparent gaiety at momentous epochs was even censured by dullards, who could not comprehend its philosophy, nor applaud the flippancy of william the silent. he went through life bearing the load of a people's sorrows upon his shoulders with a smiling face. their name was the last word upon his lips, save the simple affirmative, with which the soldier who had been battling for the right all his lifetime, commended his soul in dying "to his great captain, christ." the people were grateful and affectionate, for they trusted the character of their "father william," and not all the clouds which calumny could collect ever dimmed to their eyes the radiance of that lofty mind to which they were accustomed, in their darkest calamities, to look for light. as long as he lived, he was the guiding-star of a whole brave nation, and when he died the little children cried in the streets. etext editor's bookmarks: bribed the deity forgiving spirit on the part of the malefactor great error of despising their enemy mistake to stumble a second time over the same stone modern statesmanship, even while it practises, condemns preferred an open enemy to a treacherous protector reformer who becomes in his turn a bigot is doubly odious unremitted intellectual labor in an honorable cause usual phraseology of enthusiasts writing letters full of injured innocence etext editor's bookmarks, rise of the dutch republic, - a terrible animal, indeed, is an unbridled woman a good lawyer is a bad christian a most fatal success a common hatred united them, for a time at least absurd affectation of candor agreements were valid only until he should repent all the majesty which decoration could impart all protestants were beheaded, burned, or buried alive all claimed the privilege of persecuting always less apt to complain of irrevocable events amuse them with this peace negotiation are apt to discharge such obligations--(by) ingratitude arrive at their end by fraud, when violence will not avail them as the old woman had told the emperor adrian attachment to a half-drowned land and to a despised religion barbara blomberg, washerwoman of ratisbon beautiful damsel, who certainly did not lack suitors believed in the blessed advent of peace blessing of god upon the devil's work breath, time, and paper were profusely wasted and nothing gained bribed the deity care neither for words nor menaces in any matter character of brave men to act, not to expect claimed the praise of moderation that their demands were so few colonel ysselstein, "dismissed for a homicide or two" compassing a country's emancipation through a series of defeats conflicting claims of prerogative and conscience confused conferences, where neither party was entirely sincere country would bear his loss with fortitude customary oaths, to be kept with the customary conscientiousness daily widening schism between lutherans and calvinists deadliest of sins, the liberty of conscience difficult for one friend to advise another in three matters distinguished for his courage, his cruelty, and his corpulence don john of austria don john was at liberty to be king of england and scotland dying at so very inconvenient a moment eight thousand human beings were murdered establish not freedom for calvinism, but freedom for conscience everything was conceded, but nothing was secured fanatics of the new religion denounced him as a godless man ferocity which even christians could not have surpassed forgiving spirit on the part of the malefactor glory could be put neither into pocket nor stomach god has given absolute power to no mortal man great error of despising their enemy happy to glass themselves in so brilliant a mirror he had never enjoyed social converse, except at long intervals he would have no calvinist inquisition set up in its place he would have no persecution of the opposite creed his personal graces, for the moment, took the rank of virtues hope delayed was but a cold and meagre consolation human ingenuity to inflict human misery i regard my country's profit, not my own imagined, and did the work of truth in character and general talents he was beneath mediocrity indecision did the work of indolence insinuate that his orders had been hitherto misunderstood it is not desirable to disturb much of that learned dust its humility, seemed sufficiently ironical judas maccabaeus king set a price upon his head as a rebel like a man holding a wolf by the ears local self-government which is the life-blood of liberty logical and historical argument of unmerciful length made no breach in royal and roman infallibility mankind were naturally inclined to calumny men were loud in reproof, who had been silent mistake to stumble a second time over the same stone modern statesmanship, even while it practises, condemns more easily, as he had no intention of keeping the promise natural to judge only by the result necessary to make a virtue of necessity neither wished the convocation, while both affected an eagerness neither ambitious nor greedy no man ever understood the art of bribery more thoroughly no authority over an army which they did not pay no man could reveal secrets which he did not know not so successful as he was picturesque not upon words but upon actions not to fall asleep in the shade of a peace negotiation nothing was so powerful as religious difference of high rank but of lamentably low capacity on the first day four thousand men and women were slaughtered one-half to philip and one-half to the pope and venice (slaves) our pot had not gone to the fire as often peace was desirable, it might be more dangerous than war peace, in reality, was war in its worst shape perfection of insolence plundering the country which they came to protect pope excommunicated him as a heretic power grudged rather than given to the deputies preferred an open enemy to a treacherous protector presumption in entitling themselves christian preventing wrong, or violence, even towards an enemy proposition made by the wolves to the sheep, in the fable protect the common tranquillity by blood, purse, and life quite mistaken: in supposing himself the emperor's child rebuked the bigotry which had already grown reformer who becomes in his turn a bigot is doubly odious reformers were capable of giving a lesson even to inquisitors republic, which lasted two centuries result was both to abandon the provinces and to offend philip sentimentality that seems highly apocryphal she knew too well how women were treated in that country superfluous sarcasm suppress the exercise of the roman religion taxes upon income and upon consumption the disunited provinces the more conclusive arbitration of gunpowder there is no man who does not desire to enjoy his own they could not invent or imagine toleration those who "sought to swim between two waters" those who fish in troubled waters only to fill their own nets throw the cat against their legs to hear the last solemn commonplaces toleration thought the deadliest heresy of all unduly dejected in adversity unremitted intellectual labor in an honorable cause usual phraseology of enthusiasts uunmeaning phrases of barren benignity volatile word was thought preferable to the permanent letter was it astonishing that murder was more common than fidelity? word-mongers who, could clothe one shivering thought worn crescents in their caps at leyden worship god according to the dictates of his conscience writing letters full of injured innocence etext editor's bookmarks the dutch republic, - , complete: , the last year of peace a country disinherited by nature of its rights a pleasantry called voluntary contributions or benevolences a good lawyer is a bad christian a terrible animal, indeed, is an unbridled woman a common hatred united them, for a time at least a most fatal success absolution for incest was afforded at thirty-six livres absurd affectation of candor achieved the greatness to which they had not been born advancing age diminished his tendency to other carnal pleasures advised his majesty to bestow an annual bribe upon lord burleigh affecting to discredit them age when toleration was a vice agreements were valid only until he should repent all offices were sold to the highest bidder all denounced the image-breaking all his disciples and converts are to be punished with death all the majesty which decoration could impart all reading of the scriptures (forbidden) all protestants were beheaded, burned, or buried alive all claimed the privilege of persecuting altercation between luther and erasmus, upon predestination always less apt to complain of irrevocable events amuse them with this peace negotiation an hereditary papacy, a perpetual pope-emperor an inspiring and delightful recreation (auto-da-fe) an age when to think was a crime angle with their dissimulation as with a hook announced his approaching marriage with the virgin mary annual harvest of iniquity by which his revenue was increased anxiety to do nothing wrong, the senators did nothing at all are apt to discharge such obligations--(by) ingratitude arrested on suspicion, tortured till confession arrive at their end by fraud, when violence will not avail them as ready as papists, with age, fagot, and excommunication as the old woman had told the emperor adrian attachment to a half-drowned land and to a despised religion attacking the authority of the pope attempting to swim in two waters barbara blomberg, washerwoman of ratisbon batavian legion was the imperial body guard beating the netherlanders into christianity beautiful damsel, who certainly did not lack suitors before morning they had sacked thirty churches beggars of the sea, as these privateersmen designated themselves believed in the blessed advent of peace bigotry which was the prevailing characteristic of the age bishop is a consecrated pirate blessing of god upon the devil's work bold reformer had only a new dogma in place of the old ones breath, time, and paper were profusely wasted and nothing gained brethren, parents, and children, having wives in common bribed the deity burned alive if they objected to transubstantiation burned, strangled, beheaded, or buried alive ( , ) business of an officer to fight, of a general to conquer care neither for words nor menaces in any matter character of brave men to act, not to expect charles the fifth autocrat of half the world claimed the praise of moderation that their demands were so few colonel ysselstein, "dismissed for a homicide or two" compassing a country's emancipation through a series of defeats conde and coligny condemning all heretics to death conflicting claims of prerogative and conscience confused conferences, where neither party was entirely sincere consign to the flames all prisoners whatever (papal letter) constitutional governments, move in the daylight consumer would pay the tax, supposing it were ever paid at all country would bear his loss with fortitude courage of despair inflamed the french craft meaning, simply, strength crescents in their caps: rather turkish than popish criminal whose guilt had been established by the hot iron criminals buying paradise for money cruelties exercised upon monks and papists crusades made great improvement in the condition of the serfs customary oaths, to be kept with the customary conscientiousness daily widening schism between lutherans and calvinists deadliest of sins, the liberty of conscience decrees for burning, strangling, and burying alive deeply criminal in the eyes of all religious parties democratic instincts of the ancient german savages denies the utility of prayers for the dead despot by birth and inclination (charles v.) difference between liberties and liberty difficult for one friend to advise another in three matters dispute between luther and zwingli concerning the real presence dissenters were as bigoted as the orthodox dissimulation and delay distinguished for his courage, his cruelty, and his corpulence divine right don john of austria don john was at liberty to be king of england and scotland drank of the water in which, he had washed dying at so very inconvenient a moment eight thousand human beings were murdered endure every hardship but hunger english puritans enormous wealth (of the church) which engendered the hatred enriched generation after generation by wealthy penitence enthusiasm could not supply the place of experience envying those whose sufferings had already been terminated erasmus encourages the bold friar erasmus of rotterdam establish not freedom for calvinism, but freedom for conscience even for the rape of god's mother, if that were possible ever-swarming nurseries of mercenary warriors everything was conceded, but nothing was secured excited with the appearance of a gem of true philosophy executions of huss and jerome of prague fable of divine right is invented to sanction the system fanatics of the new religion denounced him as a godless man felix mants, the anabaptist, is drowned at zurich ferocity which even christians could not have surpassed few, even prelates were very dutiful to the pope fiction of apostolic authority to bind and loose fifty thousand persons in the provinces (put to death) financial opposition to tyranny is apt to be unanimous fishermen and river raftsmen become ocean adventurers for myself i am unworthy of the honor (of martyrdom) for faithful service, evil recompense for women to lament, for men to remember forbids all private assemblies for devotion force clerical--the power of clerks forgiving spirit on the part of the malefactor furious fanaticism furnished, in addition, with a force of two thousand prostitutes gallant and ill-fated lamoral egmont gaul derided the roman soldiers as a band of pigmies german finds himself sober--he believes himself ill glory could be put neither into pocket nor stomach god has given absolute power to no mortal man god save the king! it was the last time govern under the appearance of obeying great privilege, the magna charta of holland great transactions of a reign are sometimes paltry things great science of political equilibrium great error of despising their enemy great battles often leave the world where they found it guarantees of forgiveness for every imaginable sin habeas corpus hair and beard unshorn, according to ancient batavian custom halcyon days of ban, book and candle hanged for having eaten meat-soup upon friday happy to glass themselves in so brilliant a mirror having conjugated his paradigm conscientiously he did his best to be friends with all the world he came as a conqueror not as a mediator he would have no persecution of the opposite creed he would have no calvinist inquisition set up in its place he had never enjoyed social converse, except at long intervals he knew men, especially he knew their weaknesses he had omitted to execute heretics heresy was a plant of early growth in the netherlands his imagination may have assisted his memory in the task his personal graces, for the moment, took the rank of virtues history shows how feeble are barriers of paper holland, england, and america, are all links of one chain holy office condemned all the inhabitants of the netherlands hope delayed was but a cold and meagre consolation hope deferred, suddenly changing to despair human ingenuity to inflict human misery i would carry the wood to burn my own son withal i regard my country's profit, not my own if he had little, he could live upon little imagined, and did the work of truth in holland, the clergy had neither influence nor seats in character and general talents he was beneath mediocrity incur the risk of being charged with forwardness than neglect indecision did the work of indolence indignant that heretics had been suffered to hang informer, in case of conviction, should be entitled to one half inquisition was not a fit subject for a compromise inquisition of the netherlands is much more pitiless insane cruelty, both in the cause of the wrong and the right insinuate that his orders had been hitherto misunderstood insinuating suspicions when unable to furnish evidence invented such christian formulas as these (a curse) inventing long speeches for historical characters it is not desirable to disturb much of that learned dust its humility, seemed sufficiently ironical judas maccabaeus july st, two augustine monks were burned at brussels king set a price upon his head as a rebel king of zion to be pinched to death with red-hot tongs labored under the disadvantage of never having existed learn to tremble as little at priestcraft as at swordcraft leave not a single man alive in the city, and to burn every house let us fool these poor creatures to their heart's content licences accorded by the crown to carry slaves to america like a man holding a wolf by the ears little grievances would sometimes inflame more than vast local self-government which is the life-blood of liberty logical and historical argument of unmerciful length long succession of so many illustrious obscure look through the cloud of dissimulation luther's axiom, that thoughts are toll-free lutheran princes of germany, detested the doctrines of geneva made no breach in royal and roman infallibility made to swing to and fro over a slow fire maintaining the attitude of an injured but forgiving christian man had only natural wrongs (no natural rights) mankind were naturally inclined to calumny many greedy priests, of lower rank, had turned shop-keepers meantime the second civil war in france had broken out men were loud in reproof, who had been silent mistake to stumble a second time over the same stone modern statesmanship, even while it practises, condemns monasteries, burned their invaluable libraries more accustomed to do well than to speak well more easily, as he had no intention of keeping the promise natural to judge only by the result necessary to make a virtue of necessity neither wished the convocation, while both affected an eagerness neither ambitious nor greedy no qualities whatever but birth and audacity to recommend him no man could reveal secrets which he did not know no law but the law of the longest purse no calumny was too senseless to be invented no one can testify but a householder no man ever understood the art of bribery more thoroughly no authority over an army which they did not pay not strong enough to sustain many more such victories not to fall asleep in the shade of a peace negotiation not for a new doctrine, but for liberty of conscience not to let the grass grow under their feet not so successful as he was picturesque not upon words but upon actions not of the stuff of which martyrs are made (erasmus) nothing was so powerful as religious difference notre dame at antwerp nowhere was the persecution of heretics more relentless obstinate, of both sexes, to be burned of high rank but of lamentably low capacity often much tyranny in democracy oldenbarneveld; afterwards so illustrious on the first day four thousand men and women were slaughtered one-half to philip and one-half to the pope and venice (slaves) one golden grain of wit into a sheet of infinite platitude only kept alive by milk, which he drank from a woman's breast only healthy existence of the french was in a state of war orator was, however, delighted with his own performance others go to battle, says the historian, these go to war our pot had not gone to the fire as often panegyrists of royal houses in the sixteenth century pardon for crimes already committed, or about to be committed pardon for murder, if not by poison, was cheaper pathetic dying words of anne boleyn paying their passage through, purgatory peace, in reality, was war in its worst shape peace was desirable, it might be more dangerous than war perfection of insolence perpetually dropping small innuendos like pebbles persons who discussed religious matters were to be put to death petty passion for contemptible details philip, who did not often say a great deal in a few words planted the inquisition in the netherlands plundering the country which they came to protect poisoning, for example, was absolved for eleven ducats pope and emperor maintain both positions with equal logic pope excommunicated him as a heretic power to read and write helped the clergy to much wealth power grudged rather than given to the deputies preferred an open enemy to a treacherous protector premature zeal was prejudicial to the cause presumption in entitling themselves christian preventing wrong, or violence, even towards an enemy procrastination was always his first refuge promises which he knew to be binding only upon the weak proposition made by the wolves to the sheep, in the fable protect the common tranquillity by blood, purse, and life provided not one huguenot be left alive in france purchased absolution for crime and smoothed a pathway to heaven put all those to the torture out of whom anything can be got questioning nothing, doubting nothing, fearing nothing quite mistaken: in supposing himself the emperor's child rashness alternating with hesitation readiness to strike and bleed at any moment in her cause rearing gorgeous temples where paupers are to kneel rebuked the bigotry which had already grown reformer who becomes in his turn a bigot is doubly odious reformers were capable of giving a lesson even to inquisitors repentant females to be buried alive repentant males to be executed with the sword republic, which lasted two centuries result was both to abandon the provinces and to offend philip revocable benefices or feuds ruinous honors saint bartholomew's day sale of absolutions was the source of large fortunes to the priests same conjury over ignorant baron and cowardly hind scaffold was the sole refuge from the rack scepticism, which delights in reversing the judgment of centuries schism which existed in the general reformed church science of reigning was the science of lying scoffing at the ceremonies and sacraments of the church secret drowning was substituted for public burning sent them word by carrier pigeons sentimentality that seems highly apocryphal seven spaniards were killed, and seven thousand rebels sharpened the punishment for reading the scriptures in private she knew too well how women were treated in that country sick and wounded wretches were burned over slow fires slavery was both voluntary and compulsory slender stock of platitudes so much responsibility and so little power soldier of the cross was free upon his return sometimes successful, even although founded upon sincerity sonnets of petrarch sovereignty was heaven-born, anointed of god spendthrift of time, he was an economist of blood st. bartholomew was to sleep for seven years longer st. peter's dome rising a little nearer to the clouds storm by which all these treasures were destroyed (in days) superfluous sarcasm suppress the exercise of the roman religion tanchelyn taxation upon sin taxes upon income and upon consumption ten thousand two hundred and twenty individuals were burned that vile and mischievous animal called the people the noblest and richest temple of the netherlands was a wreck the gaul was singularly unchaste the vivifying becomes afterwards the dissolving principle the bad duke of burgundy, philip surnamed "the good," the greatest crime, however, was to be rich the more conclusive arbitration of gunpowder the disunited provinces the faithful servant is always a perpetual ass the time for reasoning had passed the perpetual reproductions of history the egg had been laid by erasmus, hatched by luther the illness was a convenient one the calf is fat and must be killed the tragedy of don carlos there is no man who does not desire to enjoy his own these human victims, chained and burning at the stake they could not invent or imagine toleration they had at last burned one more preacher alive those who "sought to swim between two waters" those who fish in troubled waters only to fill their own nets thousands of burned heretics had not made a single convert three hundred fighting women throw the cat against their legs thus hand-werpen, hand-throwing, became antwerp time and myself are two to think it capable of error, is the most devilish heresy of all to hear the last solemn commonplaces to prefer poverty to the wealth attendant upon trade toleration thought the deadliest heresy of all torquemada's administration (of the inquisition) tranquillity of despotism to the turbulence of freedom two witnesses sent him to the stake, one witness to the rack tyrannical spirit of calvinism tyranny, ever young and ever old, constantly reproducing herself understood the art of managing men, particularly his superiors unduly dejected in adversity unremitted intellectual labor in an honorable cause upon one day twenty-eight master cooks were dismissed usual phraseology of enthusiasts uunmeaning phrases of barren benignity villagers, or villeins volatile word was thought preferable to the permanent letter was it astonishing that murder was more common than fidelity? we believe our mothers to have been honest women we are beginning to be vexed wealth was an unpardonable sin weep oftener for her children than is the usual lot of mothers when the abbot has dice in his pocket, the convent will play who loved their possessions better than their creed william of nassau, prince of orange wiser simply to satisfy himself wonder equally at human capacity to inflict and to endure misery word-mongers who, could clothe one shivering thought worn crescents in their caps at leyden worship god according to the dictates of his conscience would not help to burn fifty or sixty thousand netherlanders writing letters full of injured innocence this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, volume history of the united netherlands, preface. the indulgence with which the history of the rise of the dutch republic was received has encouraged me to prosecute my task with renewed industry. a single word seems necessary to explain the somewhat increased proportions which the present work has assumed over the original design. the intimate connection which was formed between the kingdom of england and the republic of holland, immediately after the death of william the silent, rendered the history and the fate of the two commonwealths for a season almost identical. the years of anxiety and suspense during which the great spanish project for subjugating england and reconquering the netherlands, by the same invasion, was slowly matured, were of deepest import for the future destiny of those two countries, and for the cause of national liberty. the deep-laid conspiracy of spain and rome against human rights deserves to be patiently examined, for it is one of the great lessons of history. the crisis was long and doubtful, and the health--perhaps the existence--of england and holland, and, with them, of a great part of christendom, was on the issue. history has few so fruitful examples of the dangers which come from superstition and despotism, and the blessings which flow from the maintenance of religious and political freedom, as those afforded by the struggle between england and holland on the one side, and spain and rome on the other, during the epoch which i have attempted to describe. it is for this reason that i have thought it necessary to reveal, as minutely as possible, the secret details of this conspiracy of king and priest against the people, and to show how it was baffled at last by the strong self-helping energy of two free nations combined. the period occupied by these two volumes is therefore a short one, when counted by years, for it begins in and ends with the commencement of . when estimated by the significance of events and their results for future ages, it will perhaps be deemed worthy of the close examination which it has received. with the year the crisis was past; england was safe, and the new dutch commonwealth was thoroughly organized. it is my design, in two additional volumes, which, with the two now published, will complete the present work, to carry the history of the republic down to the synod of dort. after this epoch the thirty years' war broke out in germany; and it is my wish, at a future day, to retrace the history of that eventful struggle, and to combine with it the civil and military events in holland, down to the epoch when the thirty years' war and the eighty years' war of the netherlands were both brought to a close by the peace of westphalia. the materials for the volumes now offered to the public were so abundant that it was almost impossible to condense them into smaller compass without doing injustice to the subject. it was desirable to throw full light on these prominent points of the history, while the law of historical perspective will allow long stretches of shadow in the succeeding portions, in which less important objects may be more slightly indicated. that i may not be thought capable of abusing the reader's confidence by inventing conversations, speeches, or letters, i would take this opportunity of stating--although i have repeated the remark in the foot-notes--that no personage in these pages is made to write or speak any words save those which, on the best historical evidence, he is known to have written or spoken. a brief allusion to my sources of information will not seem superfluous: i have carefully studied all the leading contemporary chronicles and pamphlets of holland, flanders, spain, france, germany, and england; but, as the authorities are always indicated in the notes, it is unnecessary to give a list of them here. but by far my most valuable materials are entirely unpublished ones. the archives of england are especially rich for the history of the sixteenth century; and it will be seen, in the course of the narrative, how largely i have drawn from those mines of historical wealth, the state paper office and the ms. department of the british museum. although both these great national depositories are in admirable order, it is to be regretted that they are not all embraced in one collection, as much trouble might then be spared to the historical student, who is now obliged to pass frequently from the one place to the other, in order to, find different portions of the same correspondence. from the royal archives of holland i have obtained many most important, entirely unpublished documents, by the aid of which i have endeavoured to verify, to illustrate, or sometimes to correct, the recitals of the elder national chroniclers; and i have derived the greatest profit from the invaluable series of archives and correspondence of the orange-nassau family, given to the world by m. groen van prinsterer. i desire to renew to that distinguished gentleman, and to that eminent scholar m. bakhuyzen van den brink, the expression of my gratitude for their constant kindness and advice during my residence at the hague. nothing can exceed the courtesy which has been extended to me in holland, and i am deeply grateful for the indulgence with which my efforts to illustrate the history of the country have been received where that history is best known. i have also been much aided by the study of a portion of the archives of simancas, the originals of which are in the archives de l'empire in paris, and which were most liberally laid before me through the kindness of m. le comte de la borde. i have, further; enjoyed an inestimable advantage in the perusal of the whole correspondence between philip ii., his ministers, and governors, relating to the affairs of the netherlands, from the epoch at which this work commences down to that monarch's death. copies of this correspondence have been carefully made from the originals at simancas by order of the belgian government, under the superintendence of the eminent archivist m. gachard, who has already published a synopsis or abridgment of a portion of it in a french translation. the translation and abridgment of so large a mass of papers, however, must necessarily occupy many years, and it may be long, therefore, before the whole of the correspondence--and particularly that portion of it relating to the epoch occupied by these volumes sees the light. it was, therefore, of the greatest importance for me to see the documents themselves unabridged and untranslated. this privilege has been accorded me, and i desire to express my thanks to his excellency m. van de weyer, the distinguished representative of belgium at the english court, to whose friendly offices i am mainly indebted for the satisfaction of my wishes in this respect. a letter from him to his excellency m. rogier, minister of the interior in belgium--who likewise took the most courteous interest in promoting my views--obtained for me the permission thoroughly to study this correspondence; and i passed several months in brussels, occupied with reading the whole of it from the year to the end of the reign of philip ii. i was thus saved a long visit to the archives of simancas, for it would be impossible conscientiously to write the history of the epoch without a thorough examination of the correspondence of the king and his ministers. i venture to hope, therefore--whatever judgment may be passed upon my own labours--that this work may be thought to possess an intrinsic value; for the various materials of which it is composed are original, and--so far as i am aware--have not been made use of by any historical writer. i would take this opportunity to repeat my thanks to m. gachard, archivist of the kingdom of belgium, for the uniform courtesy and kindness which i have received at his-hands, and to bear my testimony to the skill and critical accuracy with which he has illustrated so many passages of belgian and spanish history. , hertford-street, may-fair, november llth . the united netherlands. chapter i. murder of orange--extension of protestantism--vast power of spain-- religious origin of the revolt--disposal of the sovereignty--courage of the estates of holland--children of william the silent-- provisional council of state--firm attitude of holland and zeeland-- weakness of flanders--fall of ghent--adroitness of alexander farnese. william the silent, prince of orange, had been murdered on the th of july, . it is difficult to imagine a more universal disaster than the one thus brought about by the hand of a single obscure fanatic. for nearly twenty years the character of the prince had been expanding steadily as the difficulties of his situation increased. habit, necessity, and the natural gifts of the man, had combined to invest him at last with an authority which seemed more than human. there was such general confidence in his sagacity, courage, and purity, that the nation had come to think with his brain and to act with his hand. it was natural that, for an instant, there should be a feeling as of absolute and helpless paralysis. whatever his technical attributes in the polity of the netherlands--and it would be difficult to define them with perfect accuracy--there is no doubt that he stood there, the head of a commonwealth, in an attitude such as had been maintained by but few of the kings, or chiefs, or high priests of history. assassination, a regular and almost indispensable portion of the working machinery of philip's government, had produced, in this instance, after repeated disappointments, the result at last which had been so anxiously desired. the ban of the pope and the offered gold of the king had accomplished a victory greater than any yet achieved by the armies of spain, brilliant as had been their triumphs on the blood- stained soil of the netherlands. had that "exceeding proud, neat, and spruce" doctor of laws, william parry, who had been busying himself at about the same time with his memorable project against the queen of england, proved as successful as balthazar gerard, the fate of christendom would have been still darker. fortunately, that member of parliament had made the discovery in time-- not for himself, but for elizabeth--that the "lord was better pleased with adverbs than nouns;" the well-known result being that the traitor was hanged and the sovereign saved. yet such was the condition of europe at that day. a small, dull, elderly, imperfectly-educated, patient, plodding invalid, with white hair and protruding under jaw, and dreary visage, was sitting day after day; seldom speaking, never smiling, seven or eight hours out of every twenty- four, at a writing table covered with heaps of interminable despatches, in a cabinet far away beyond the seas and mountains, in the very heart of spain. a clerk or two, noiselessly opening and shutting the door, from time to time, fetching fresh bundles of letters and taking away others-- all written and composed by secretaries or high functionaries--and all to be scrawled over in the margin by the diligent old man in a big schoolboy's hand and style--if ever schoolboy, even in the sixteenth century, could write so illegibly or express himself so awkwardly; couriers in the court-yard arriving from or departing for the uttermost parts of earth-asia, africa america, europe-to fetch and carry these interminable epistles which contained the irresponsible commands of this one individual, and were freighted with the doom and destiny of countless millions of the world's inhabitants--such was the system of government against which the netherlands had protested and revolted. it was a system under which their fields had been made desolate, their cities burned and pillaged, their men hanged, burned, drowned, or hacked to pieces; their women subjected to every outrage; and to put an end to which they had been devoting their treasure and their blood for nearly the length of one generation. it was a system, too, which, among other results, had just brought about the death of the foremost statesman of europe, and had nearly effected simultaneously the murder of the most eminent sovereign in the world. the industrious philip, safe and tranquil in the depths of the escorial, saying his prayers three times a day with exemplary regularity, had just sent three bullets through the body of william the silent at his dining-room door in delft. "had it only been done two years earlier," observed the patient old man, "much trouble might have been spared me; but 'tis better late than never." sir edward stafford, english envoy in paris, wrote to his government--so soon as the news of the murder reached him--that, according to his information out of the spanish minister's own house, "the same practice that had been executed upon the prince of orange, there were practisers more than two or three about to execute upon her majesty, and that within two months." without vouching for the absolute accuracy of this intelligence, he implored the queen to be more upon her guard than ever. "for there is no doubt," said the envoy, "that she is a chief mark to shoot at; and seeing that there were men cunning enough to inchant a man and to encourage him to kill the prince of orange, in the midst of holland, and that there was a knave found desperate enough to do it, we must think hereafter that anything may be done. therefore god preserve her majesty." invisible as the grand lama of thibet, clothed with power as extensive and absolute as had ever been wielded by the most imperial caesar, philip the prudent, as he grew older and feebler in mind and body seemed to become more gluttonous of work, more ambitious to extend his sceptre over lands which he had never seen or dreamed of seeing, more fixed in his determination to annihilate that monster protestantism, which it had been the business of his life to combat, more eager to put to death every human creature, whether anointed monarch or humble artizan, that defended heresy or opposed his progress to universal empire. if this enormous power, this fabulous labour, had, been wielded or performed with a beneficent intention; if the man who seriously regarded himself as the owner of a third of the globe, with the inhabitants thereof, had attempted to deal with these extensive estates inherited from his ancestors with the honest intention of a thrifty landlord, an intelligent slave-owner, it would have yet been possible for a little longer to smile at the delusion, and endure the practice. but there was another old man, who lived in another palace in another remote land, who, in his capacity of representative of saint peter, claimed to dispose of all the kingdoms of the earth--and had been willing to bestow them upon the man who would go down and worship him. philip stood enfeoffed, by divine decree, of all america, the east indies, the whole spanish peninsula, the better portion of italy, the seventeen netherlands, and many other possessions far and near; and he contemplated annexing to this extensive property the kingdoms of france, of england, and ireland. the holy league, maintained by the sword of guise, the pope's ban, spanish ducats, italian condottieri, and german mercenaries, was to exterminate heresy and establish the spanish dominion in france. the same machinery, aided by the pistol or poniard of the assassin, was to substitute for english protestantism and england's queen the roman catholic religion and a foreign sovereign. "the holy league," said duplessis-mornay, one of the noblest characters of the age, "has destined us all to the name sacrifice. the ambition of the spaniard, which has overleaped so many lands and seas, thinks nothing inaccessible." the netherland revolt had therefore assumed world-wide proportions. had it been merely the rebellion of provinces against a sovereign, the importance of the struggle would have been more local and temporary. but the period was one in which the geographical land-marks of countries were almost removed. the dividing-line ran through every state, city, and almost every family. there was a country which believed in the absolute power of the church to dictate the relations between man and his maker, and to utterly exterminate all who disputed that position. there was another country which protested against that doctrine, and claimed, theoretically or practically, a liberty of conscience. the territory of these countries was mapped out by no visible lines, but the inhabitants of each, whether resident in france, germany, england, or flanders, recognised a relationship which took its root in deeper differences than those of race or language. it was not entirely a question of doctrine or dogma. a large portion of the world had become tired of the antiquated delusion of a papal supremacy over every land, and had recorded its determination, once for all, to have done with it. the transition to freedom of conscience became a necessary step, sooner or later to be taken. to establish the principle of toleration for all religions was an inevitable consequence of the dutch revolt; although thus far, perhaps only one conspicuous man in advance of his age had boldly announced that doctrine and had died in its defence. but a great true thought never dies--though long buried in the earth--and the day was to come, after long years, when the seed was to ripen into a harvest of civil and religious emancipation, and when the very word toleration was to sound like an insult and an absurdity. a vast responsibility rested upon the head of a monarch, placed as philip ii. found himself, at this great dividing point in modern history. to judge him, or any man in such a position, simply from his own point of view, is weak and illogical. history judges the man according to its point of view. it condemns or applauds the point of view itself. the point of view of a malefactor is not to excuse robbery and murder. nor is the spirit of the age to be pleaded in defence of the evil-doer at a time when mortals were divided into almost equal troops. the age of philip ii. was also the age of william of orange and his four brethren, of sainte aldegonde, of olden-barneveldt, of duplessis-mornay, la noue, coligny, of luther, melancthon, and calvin, walsingham, sidney, raleigh, queen elizabeth, of michael montaigne, and william shakspeare. it was not an age of blindness, but of glorious light. if the man whom the maker of the universe had permitted to be born to such boundless functions, chose to put out his own eyes that he might grope along his great pathway of duty in perpetual darkness, by his deeds he must be judged. the king perhaps firmly believed that the heretics of the netherlands, of france, or of england, could escape eternal perdition only by being extirpated from the earth by fire and sword, and therefore; perhaps, felt it his duty to devote his life to their extermination. but he believed, still more firmly, that his own political authority, throughout his dominions, and his road to almost universal empire, lay over the bodies of those heretics. three centuries have nearly past since this memorable epoch; and the world knows the fate of the states which accepted the dogma which it was philip's life-work to enforce, and of those who protested against the system. the spanish and italian peninsulas have had a different history from that which records the career of france, prussia, the dutch commonwealth, the british empire, the transatlantic republic. yet the contest between those seven meagre provinces upon the sand-banks of the north sea, and--the great spanish empire, seemed at the moment with which we are now occupied a sufficiently desperate one. throw a glance upon the map of europe. look at the broad magnificent spanish peninsula, stretching across eight degrees of latitude and ten of longitude, commanding the atlantic and the mediterranean, with a genial climate, warmed in winter by the vast furnace of africa, and protected from the scorching heats of summer by shady mountain and forest, and temperate breezes from either ocean. a generous southern territory, flowing with wine and oil, and all the richest gifts of a bountiful nature-splendid cities--the new and daily expanding madrid, rich in the trophies of the most artistic period of the modern world--cadiz, as populous at that day as london, seated by the straits where the ancient and modern systems of traffic were blending like the mingling of the two oceans--granada, the ancient wealthy seat of the fallen moors--toledo, valladolid, and lisbon, chief city of the recently-conquered kingdom of portugal, counting, with its suburbs, a larger population than any city, excepting paris, in europe, the mother of distant colonies, and the capital of the rapidly-developing traffic with both the indies--these were some of the treasures of spain herself. but she possessed sicily also, the better portion of italy, and important dependencies in africa, while the famous maritime discoveries of the age had all enured to her aggrandizement. the world seemed suddenly to have expanded its wings from east to west, only to bear the fortunate spanish empire to the most dizzy heights of wealth and power. the most accomplished generals, the most disciplined and daring infantry the world has ever known, the best- equipped and most extensive navy, royal and mercantile, of the age, were at the absolute command of the sovereign. such was spain. turn now to the north-western corner of europe. a morsel of territory, attached by a slight sand-hook to the continent, and half-submerged by the stormy waters of the german ocean--this was holland. a rude climate, with long, dark, rigorous, winters, and brief summers, a territory, the mere wash of three great rivers, which had fertilized happier portions of europe only to desolate and overwhelm this less-favoured land, a soil so ungrateful, that if the whole of its four hundred thousand acres of arable land had been sowed with grain, it could not feed the labourers alone, and a population largely estimated at one million of souls--these were the characteristics of the province which already had begun to give its name to the new commonwealth. the isles of zeeland--entangled in the coils of deep slow-moving rivers, or combating the ocean without--and the ancient episcopate of utrecht, formed the only other provinces that had quite shaken off the foreign yoke. in friesland, the important city of groningen was still held for the king, while bois-le-duc, zutphen, besides other places in gelderland and north brabant, also in possession of the royalists, made the position of those provinces precarious. the limit of the spanish or "obedient" provinces, on the one hand, and of the united provinces on the other, cannot, therefore, be briefly and distinctly stated. the memorable treason--or, as it was called, the "reconciliation" of the walloon provinces in the year - --had placed the provinces of hainault, arthois, douay, with the flourishing cities arran, valenciennes, lille, tournay, and others--all celtic flanders, in short-in the grasp of spain. cambray was still held by the french governor, seigneur de balagny, who had taken advantage of the duke of anjou's treachery to the states, to establish himself in an unrecognized but practical petty sovereignty, in defiance both of france and spain; while east flanders and south brabant still remained a disputed territory, and the immediate field of contest. with these limitations, it may be assumed, for general purposes, that the territory of the united states was that of the modern kingdom of the netherlands, while the obedient provinces occupied what is now the territory of belgium. such, then, were the combatants in the great eighty years' war for civil and religious liberty; sixteen of which had now passed away. on the one side, one of the most powerful and, populous world-empires of history, then in the zenith of its prosperity; on the other hand, a slender group of cities, governed by merchants and artisans, and planted precariously upon a meagre, unstable soil. a million and a half of souls against the autocrat of a third part of the known world. the contest seemed as desperate as the cause was certainly sacred; but it had ceased to be a local contest. for the history which is to occupy us in these volumes is not exclusively the history of holland. it is the story of the great combat between despotism, sacerdotal and regal, and the spirit of rational human liberty. the tragedy opened in the netherlands, and its main scenes were long enacted there; but as the ambition of spain expanded, and as the resistance to the principle which she represented became more general, other nations were, of necessity, involved in the struggle. there came to be one country, the citizens of which were the leaguers; and another country, whose inhabitants were protestants. and in this lay the distinction between freedom and absolutism. the religious question swallowed all the others. there was never a period in the early history of the dutch revolt when the provinces would not have returned to their obedience, could they have been assured of enjoying liberty of conscience or religious peace; nor was there ever a single moment in philip ii.'s life in which he wavered in his fixed determination never to listen to such a claim. the quarrel was in its nature irreconcilable and eternal as the warfare between wrong and right; and the establishment of a comparative civil liberty in europe and america was the result of the religious war of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. the struggle lasted eighty years, but the prize was worth the contest. the object of the war between the netherlands and spain was not, therefore, primarily, a rebellion against established authority for the maintenance of civil rights. to preserve these rights was secondary. the first cause was religion. the provinces had been fighting for years against the inquisition. had they not taken arms, the inquisition would have been established in the netherlands, and very probably in england, and england might have become in its turn a province of the spanish empire. the death of william the silent produced a sudden change in the political arrangements of the liberated netherlands. during the year , the united provinces had elected francis, duke of anjou, to be duke of brabant and sovereign of the whole country, under certain constitutional provisions enumerated in articles of solemn compact. that compact had been grossly violated. the duke had made a treacherous attempt to possess himself of absolute power and to seize several important cities. he had been signally defeated in antwerp, and obliged to leave the country, covered with ignominy. the states had then consulted william of orange as to the course to be taken in the emergency. the prince had told them that their choice was triple. they might reconcile themselves with spain, and abandon the contest for religious liberty which they had so long been waging; they might reconcile themselves with anjou, notwithstanding that he had so utterly forfeited all claims to their consideration; or they might fight the matter out with spain single- handed. the last course was, in his opinion, the most eligible one, and he was ready to sacrifice his life to its furtherance. it was, however, indispensable, should that policy be adopted, that much larger supplies should be voted than had hitherto been raised, and, in general, that a much more extensive and elevated spirit of patriotism should manifest itself than had hitherto been displayed. it was, on the whole, decided to make a second arrangement with the duke of anjou, queen elizabeth warmly urging that course. at the same time, however, that articles of agreement were drawn up for the installation of anjou as sovereign of the united provinces, the prince had himself consented to accept the title of count of holland, under an ample constitutional charter, dictated by his own lips. neither anjou nor orange lived to be inaugurated into the offices thus bestowed upon them. the duke died at chateau-thierry on the th june, and the prince was assassinated a month later at delft. what now was the political position of the united provinces at this juncture? the sovereignty which had been held by the estates, ready to be conferred respectively upon anjou and orange, remained in the hands of the estates. there was no opposition to this theory. no more enlarged view of the social compact had yet been taken. the people, as such, claimed no sovereignty. had any champion claimed it for them they would hardly have understood him. the nation dealt with facts. after abjuring philip in --an act which had been accomplished by the estates--the same estates in general assembly had exercised sovereign power, and had twice disposed of that sovereign power by electing a hereditary ruler. their right and their power to do this had been disputed by none, save by the deposed monarch in spain. having the sovereignty to dispose of, it seemed logical that the estates might keep it, if so inclined. they did keep it, but only in trust. while orange lived, he might often have been elected sovereign of all the provinces, could he have been induced to consent. after his death, the estates retained, ex necessitate, the sovereignty; and it will soon be related what they intended to do with it. one thing is very certain, that neither orange, while he lived, nor the estates, after his death, were actuated in their policy by personal ambition. it will be seen that the first object of the estates was to dispossess themselves of the sovereignty which had again fallen into their hands. what were the estates? without, at the present moment, any farther inquiries into that constitutional system which had been long consolidating itself, and was destined to exist upon a firmer basis for centuries longer, it will be sufficient to observe, that the great characteristic of the netherland government was the municipality. each province contained a large number of cities, which were governed by a board of magistrates, varying in number from twenty to forty. this college, called the vroedschap (assembly of sages), consisted of the most notable citizens, and was a self-electing body--a close corporation--the members being appointed for life, from the citizens at large. whenever vacancies occurred from death or loss of citizenship, the college chose new members--sometimes immediately, sometimes by means of a double or triple selection of names, the choice of one from among which was offered to the stadtholder of the province. this functionary was appointed by the count, as he was called, whether duke of bavaria or of burgundy, emperor, or king. after the abjuration of philip, the governors were appointed by the estates of each province. the sage-men chose annually a board of senators, or schepens, whose functions were mainly judicial; and there were generally two, and sometimes three, burgomasters, appointed in the same way. this was the popular branch of the estates. but, besides this body of representatives, were the nobles, men of ancient lineage and large possessions, who had exercised, according to the general feudal law of europe, high, low, and intermediate jurisdiction upon their estates, and had long been recognized as an integral part of the body politic, having the right to appear, through delegates of their order, in the provincial and in the general assemblies. regarded as a machine for bringing the most decided political capacities into the administration of public affairs, and for organising the most practical opposition to the system of religious tyranny, the netherland constitution was a healthy, and, for the age, an enlightened one. the officeholders, it is obvious, were not greedy for the spoils of office; for it was, unfortunately, often the case that their necessary expenses in the service of the state were not defrayed. the people raised enormous contributions for carrying on the war; but they could not afford to be extremely generous to their faithful servants. thus constituted was the commonwealth upon the death of william the silent. the gloom produced by that event was tragical. never in human history was a more poignant and universal sorrow for the death of any individual. the despair was, for a brief season, absolute; but it was soon succeeded by more lofty sentiments. it seemed, after they had laid their hero in the tomb, as though his spirit still hovered above the nation which he had loved so well, and was inspiring it with a portion of his own energy and wisdom. even on the very day of the murder, the estates of holland, then sitting at delft, passed a resolution "to maintain the good cause, with god's help, to the uttermost, without sparing gold or blood." this decree was communicated to admiral de warmont, to count hohenlo, to william lewis of nassau, and to other commanders by land and sea. at the same time, the sixteen members--for no greater number happened to be present at the session--addressed letters to their absent colleagues, informing them of the calamity which had befallen them, summoning them at once to conference, and urging an immediate convocation of the estates of all the provinces in general assembly. they also addressed strong letters of encouragement, mingled with manly condolence, upon the common affliction, to prominent military and naval commanders and civil functionaries, begging them to "bear themselves manfully and valiantly, without faltering in the least on account of the great misfortune which had occurred, or allowing themselves to be seduced by any one from the union of the states." among these sixteen were van zuylen, van nyvelt, the seigneur de warmont, the advocate of holland, paul buys, joost de menin, and john van olden-barneveldt. a noble example was thus set at once to their fellow citizens by these their representatives--a manful step taken forward in the path where orange had so long been leading. the next movement, after the last solemn obsequies had been rendered to the prince was to provide for the immediate wants of his family. for the man who had gone into the revolt with almost royal revenues, left his estate so embarrassed that his carpets, tapestries, household linen-- nay, even his silver spoons, and the very clothes of his wardrobe were disposed of at auction for the benefit of his creditors. he left eleven children--a son and daughter by the first wife, a son and daughter by anna of saxony, six daughters by charlotte of bourbon, and an infant, frederic henry, born six months before his death. the eldest son, philip william, had been a captive in spain for seventeen years, having been kidnapped from school, in leyden, in the year . he had already become so thoroughly hispaniolized under the masterly treatment of the king and the jesuits, that even his face had lost all resemblance to the type of his heroic family, and had acquired a sinister, gloomy, forbidding expression, most painful to contemplate. all of good that he had retained was a reverence for his father's name--a sentiment which he had manifested to an extravagant extent on a memorable occasion in madrid, by throwing out of window, and killing on the spot a spanish officer who had dared to mention the great prince with insult. the next son was maurice, then seventeen years of age, a handsome youth, with dark blue eyes, well-chiselled features, and full red lips, who had already manifested a courage and concentration of character beyond his years. the son of william the silent, the grandson of maurice of saxony, whom he resembled in visage and character, he was summoned by every drop of blood in his veins to do life-long battle with the spirit of spanish absolutism, and he was already girding himself for his life's work. he assumed at once for his device a fallen oak, with a young sapling springing from its root. his motto, "tandem fit surculus arbor," "the twig shall yet become a tree"--was to be nobly justified by his career. the remaining son, then a six months' child, was also destined to high fortunes, and to win an enduring name in his country's history. for the present he remained with his mother, the noble louisa de coligny, who had thus seen, at long intervals, her father and two husbands fall victims to the spanish policy; for it is as certain that philip knew beforehand, and testified his approbation of, the massacre of st. bartholomew, as that he was the murderer of orange. the estates of holland implored the widowed princess to remain in their territority, settling a liberal allowance upon herself and her child, and she fixed her residence at leyden. but her position was most melancholy. married in youth to the seigneur de teligny, a young noble of distinguished qualities, she had soon become both a widow and an orphan in the dread night of st. bartholomew. she had made her own escape to switzerland; and ten years afterwards she had united herself in marriage with the prince of orange. at the age of thirty-two, she now found herself desolate and wretched in a foreign land, where she had never felt thoroughly at home. the widow and children of william the silent were almost without the necessaries of life. "i hardly know," wrote the princess to her brother-in-law, count john, "how the children and i are to maintain ourselves according to the honour of the house. may god provide for us in his bounty, and certainly we have much need of it." accustomed to the more luxurious civilisation of france, she had been amused rather than annoyed, when, on her first arrival in holland for her nuptials, she found herself making the journey from rotterdam to delft in an open cart without springs, instead of the well-balanced coaches to which she had been used, arriving, as might have been expected, "much bruised and shaken." such had become the primitive simplicity of william the silent's household. but on his death, in embarrassed circumstances, it was still more straightened. she had no cause either to love leyden, for, after the assassination of her husband, a brutal preacher, hakkius by name, had seized that opportunity for denouncing the french marriage, and the sumptuous christening of the infant in january, as the deeds which had provoked the wrath of god and righteous chastisement. to remain there in her widowhood, with that six months' child, "sole pledge of her dead lord, her consolation and only pleasure," as she pathetically expressed herself, was sufficiently painful, and she had been inclined to fix her residence in flushing, in the edifice which had belonged to her husband, as marquis of vere. she had been persuaded, however, to remain in holland, although "complaining, at first, somewhat of the unkindness of the people." a small well-formed woman, with delicate features, exquisite complexion, and very beautiful dark eyes, that seemed in after-years, as they looked from beneath her coif, to be dim with unshed tears; with remarkable powers of mind, angelic sweetness of disposition, a winning manner, and a gentle voice, louisa de coligny became soon dear to the rough hollanders, and was ever a disinterested and valuable monitress both to her own child and to his elder brother maurice. very soon afterwards the states general established a state council, as a provisional executive board, for the term of three months, for the provinces of holland, zeeland, utrecht, friesland, and such parts of flanders and brabant as still remained in the union. at the head of this body was placed young maurice, who accepted the responsible position, after three days' deliberation. the young man had been completing his education, with a liberal allowance from holland and zeeland, at the university of leyden; and such had been their tender care for the child of so many hopes, that the estates had given particular and solemn warning, by resolution, to his governor during the previous summer, on no account to allow him to approach the sea-shore, lest he should be kidnapped by the prince of parma, who had then some war-vessels cruising on the coast. the salary of maurice was now fixed at thirty thousand florins a year, while each of the councillors was allowed fifteen hundred annually, out of which stipend he was to support at least one servant; without making any claim for travelling or other incidental expenses. the council consisted of three members from brabant, two from flanders, four from holland, three from zeeland, two from utrecht, one from mechlin, and three from friesland--eighteen in all. they were empowered and enjoined to levy troops by land and sea, and to appoint naval and military officers; to establish courts of admiralty, to expend the moneys voted by the states, to maintain the ancient privileges of the country, and to see that all troops in service of the provinces made oath of fidelity to the union. diplomatic relations, questions of peace and war, the treaty-making power, were not entrusted to the council, without the knowledge and consent of the states general, which body was to be convoked twice a year by the state council. thus the provinces in the hour of danger and darkness were true to themselves, and were far from giving way to a despondency which under the circumstances would not have been unnatural. for the waves of bitterness were rolling far and wide around them. a medal, struck in holland at this period, represented a dismasted hulk reeling through the tempest. the motto, "incertum quo fate ferent" (who knows whither fate is sweeping her?) expressed most vividly the ship wrecked condition of the country. alexander of parma, the most accomplished general and one of the most adroit statesmen of the age, was swift to take advantage of the calamity which had now befallen the rebellious provinces. had he been better provided with men and money, the cause of the states might have seemed hopeless. he addressed many letters to the states general, to the magistracies of various cities, and to individuals, affecting to consider that with the death of orange had died all authority, as well as all motive for continuing the contest with spain. he offered easy terms of reconciliation with the discarded monarch--always reserving, however, as a matter of course, the religious question--for it was as well known to the states as to parma that there was no hope of philip making concessions upon that important point. in holland and zeeland the prince's blandishments were of no avail. his letters received in various towns of those provinces, offered, said one who saw them, "almost every thing they would have or demand, even till they should repent." but the bait was not taken. individuals and municipalities were alike stanch, remembering well that faith was not to be kept with heretics. the example was followed by the estates of other provinces, and all sent in to the general assembly, soon in session at delft, "their absolute and irrevocable authority to their deputies to stand to that which they, the said states general, should dispose of as to their persons, goods and country; a resolution and agreement which never concurred before among them, to this day, in what age or government soever." it was decreed that no motion of agreement "with the tyrant of spain" should be entertained either publicly or privately, "under pain to be reputed ill patriots." it was also enacted in the city of dort that any man that brought letter or message from the enemy to any private person "should be forthwith hanged." this was expeditious and business-like. the same city likewise took the lead in recording its determination by public act, and proclaiming it by sound of trumpet, "to live and die in the cause now undertaken." in flanders and brabant the spirit was less noble. those provinces were nearly lost already. bruges seconded parma's efforts to induce its sister-city ghent to imitate its own baseness in surrendering without a struggle; and that powerful, turbulent, but most anarchical little commonwealth was but too ready to listen to the voice of the tempter. "the ducats of spain, madam, are trotting about in such fashion," wrote envoy des pruneaux to catherine de medici, "that they have vanquished a great quantity of courages. your majesties, too, must employ money if you wish to advance one step." no man knew better than parma how to employ such golden rhetoric to win back a wavering rebel to his loyalty, but he was not always provided with a sufficient store of those practical arguments. he was, moreover, not strong in the field, although he was far superior to the states at this contingency. he had, besides his garrisons, something above , men. the provinces had hardly foot and horse, and these were mostly lying in the neighbourhood of zutphen. alexander was threatening at the same time ghent, dendermonde, mechlin, brussels, and antwerp. these five powerful cities lie in a narrow circle, at distances varying from six miles to thirty, and are, as it were, strung together upon the scheldt, by which river, or its tributary, the senne, they are all threaded. it would have been impossible for parma, with , men at his back, to undertake a regular and simultaneous siege of these important places. his purpose was to isolate them from each other and from the rest of the country, by obtaining the control of the great river, and so to reduce them by famine. the scheme was a masterly one, but even the consummate ability of farnese would have proved inadequate to the undertaking, had not the preliminary assassination of orange made the task comparatively easy. treason, faint-heartedness, jealousy, were the fatal allies that the governor- general had reckoned upon, and with reason, in the council-rooms of these cities. the terms he offered were liberal. pardon, permission for soldiers to retreat with technical honour, liberty to choose between apostacy to the reformed religion or exile, with a period of two years granted to the conscientious for the winding up of their affairs; these were the conditions, which seemed flattering, now that the well-known voice which had so often silenced the flemish palterers and intriguers was for ever hushed. upon the th august ( ) dendermonde surrendered, and no lives were taken save those of two preachers, one of whom was hanged, while the other was drowned. upon the th september vilvoorde capitulated, by which event the water-communication between brussels and antwerp was cut off. ghent, now thoroughly disheartened, treated with parma likewise; and upon the th september made its reconciliation with the king. the surrender of so strong and important a place was as disastrous to the cause of the patriots as it was disgraceful to the citizens themselves. it was, however, the result of an intrigue which had been long spinning, although the thread had been abruptly, and, as it was hoped, conclusively, severed several months before. during the early part of the year, after the reconciliation of bruges with the king--an event brought about by the duplicity and adroitness of prince chimay--the same machinery had been diligently and almost successfully employed to produce a like result in ghent. champagny, brother of the famous cardinal granvelle, had been under arrest for six years in that city. his imprisonment was not a strict one however; and he avenged himself for what he considered very unjust treatment at the hands of the patriots, by completely abandoning a cause which he had once begun to favour. a man of singular ability, courage, and energy, distinguished both for military and diplomatic services, he was a formidable enemy to the party from which he was now for ever estranged. as early as april of this year, secret emissaries of parma, dealing with champagny in his nominal prison, and with the disaffected burghers at large, had been on the point of effecting an arrangement with the royal governor. the negotiation had been suddenly brought to a close by the discovery of a flagrant attempt by imbue, one of the secret adherents of the king, to sell the city of dendermonde, of which he was governor, to parma. for this crime he had been brought to ghent for trial, and then publicly beheaded. the incident came in aid of the eloquence of orange, who, up to the latest moment of his life, had been most urgent in his appeals to the patriotic hearts of ghent, not to abandon the great cause of the union and of liberty. william the silent knew full well, that after the withdrawal of the great keystone-city of ghent, the chasm between the celtic-catholic and the flemish-calvinist netherlands could hardly be bridged again. orange was now dead. the negotiations with france, too, on which those of the ghenters who still held true to the national cause had fastened their hopes, had previously been brought to a stand-still by the death of anjou; and champagny, notwithstanding the disaster to imbize, became more active than ever. a private agent, whom the municipal government had despatched to the french court for assistance, was not more successful than his character and course of conduct would have seemed to warrant; for during his residence in paris, he had been always drunk, and generally abusive. this was not good diplomacy, particularly on the part of an agent from a weak municipality to a haughty and most undecided government. "they found at this court," wrote stafford to walsingham, "great fault with his manner of dealing that was sent from gaunt. he was scarce sober from one end of the week to the other, and stood so much on his tiptoes to have present answer within three days, or else that they of gaunt could tell where to bestow themselves. they sent him away after keeping him three weeks, and he went off in great dudgeon, swearing by yea and nay that he will make report thereafter." accordingly, they of ghent did bestow themselves very soon thereafter upon the king of spain. the terms were considered liberal, but there was, of course, no thought of conceding the great object for which the patriots were contending--religious liberty. the municipal privileges-- such as they might prove to be worth under the interpretation of a royal governor and beneath the guns of a citadel filled with spanish troops-- were to be guaranteed; those of the inhabitants who did not choose to go to mass were allowed two years to wind up their affairs before going into perpetual exile, provided they behaved themselves "without scandal;" while on the other hand, the king's authority as count of flanders was to be fully recognised, and all the dispossessed monks and abbots to be restored to their property. accordingly, champagny was rewarded for his exertions by being released from prison and receiving the appointment of governor of the city: and, after a very brief interval, about one-half of the population, the most enterprising of its merchants and manufacturers, the most industrious of its artizans, emigrated to holland and zeeland. the noble city of ghent --then as large as paris, thoroughly surrounded with moats, and fortified with bulwarks, ravelins, and counterscarps, constructed of earth, during the previous two years, at great expense, and provided with bread and meat, powder and shot, enough to last a year--was ignominiously surrendered. the population, already a very reduced and slender one for the great extent of the place and its former importance, had been estimated at , . the number of houses was , , so that as the inhabitants were soon farther reduced to one-half, there remained but one individual to each house. on the other hand, the twenty-five monasteries and convents in the town were repeopled--with how much advantage as a set-off to the thousands of spinners and weavers who had wandered away, and who in the flourishing days of ghent had sent gangs of workmen through the streets "whose tramp was like that of an army"--may be sufficiently estimated by the result. the fall of brussels was deferred till march, and that of mechlin ( th july, ) and of antwerp ( th august, ), till midsummer of the following year; but, the surrender of ghent ( th march ) foreshadowed the fate of flanders and brabant. ostend and sluys, however, were still in the hands of the patriots, and with them the control of the whole flemish coast. the command of the sea was destined to remain for centuries with the new republic. the prince of parma, thus encouraged by the great success of his intrigues, was determined to achieve still greater triumphs with his arms, and steadily proceeded with his large design of closing the scheldt--and bringing about the fall of antwerp. the details of that siege-one of the most brilliant military operations of the age and one of the most memorable in its results--will be given, as a connected whole, in a subsequent series of chapters. for the present, it will be better for the reader who wishes a clear view of european politics at this epoch, and of the position of the netherlands, to give his attention to the web of diplomatic negotiation and court-intrigue which had been slowly spreading over the leading states of christendom, and in which the fate of the world was involved. if diplomatic adroitness consists mainly in the power to deceive, never were more adroit diplomatists than those of the sixteenth century. it would, however, be absurd to deny them a various range of abilities; and the history of no other age can show more subtle, comprehensive, indefatigable--but, it must also be added, often unscrupulous--intellects engaged in the great game of politics in which the highest interests of millions were the stakes, than were those of several leading minds in england, france, germany, and spain. with such statesmen the burgher-diplomatists of the new-born commonwealth had to measure themselves; and the result was to show whether or not they could hold their own in the cabinet as on the field, for the present, however, the new state was unconscious of its latent importance, the new-risen republic remained for a season nebulous, and ready to unsphere itself so soon as the relative attraction of other great powers should determine its absorption. by the death of anjou and of orange the united netherlands had became a sovereign state, an independent republic; but they stood with that sovereignty in their hands, offering it alternately, not to the highest bidder, but to the power that would be willing to accept their allegiance, on the sole condition of assisting them in the maintenance of their religious freedom. chapter ii. relations of the republic to france--queen's severity towards catholics and calvinists--relative positions of england and france-- timidity of germany--apathy of protestant germany--indignation of the netherlanders--henry iii. of france--the king and his minions-- henry of guise--henry of navarre--power of france--embassy of the states to france--ignominious position of the envoys--views of the french huguenots--efforts to procure annexation--success of des pruneaux. the prince of orange had always favoured a french policy. he had ever felt a stronger reliance upon the support of france than upon that of any other power. this was not unreasonable, and so long as he lived, the tendency of the netherlands had been in that direction. it had never been the wish of england to acquire the sovereignty of the provinces. in france on the contrary, the queen dowager, catharine de' medici had always coveted that sovereignty for her darling francis of alencon; and the design had been favoured, so far as any policy could be favoured, by the impotent monarch who occupied the french throne. the religion of the united netherlands was calvinistic. there were also many anabaptists in the country. the queen of england hated anabaptists, calvinists, and other sectarians, and banished them from her realms on pain of imprisonment and confiscation of property. as firmly opposed as was her father to the supremacy of the bishop of rome, she felt much of the paternal reluctance to accept the spirit of the reformation. henry tudor hanged the men who believed in the pope, and burnt alive those who disbelieved in transubstantiation, auricular confession, and the other 'six articles.' his daughter, whatever her secret religious convictions, was stanch in her resistance to rome, and too enlightened a monarch not to see wherein the greatness and glory of england were to be found; but she had no thought of tolerating liberty of conscience. all opposed to the church of england, whether papists or puritans, were denounced as heretics, and as such imprisoned or banished. "to allow churches with contrary rites and ceremonies," said elizabeth, "were nothing else but to sow religion out of religion, to distract good men's minds, to cherish factious men's humours, to disturb religion and commonwealth, and mingle divine and human things; which were a thing in deed evil, in example worst of all; to our own subjects hurtful, and to themselves--to whom it is granted, neither greatly commodious, nor yet at all safe."--[camden] the words were addressed, it is true, to papists, but there is very little doubt that anabaptists or any other heretics would have received a similar reply, had they, too, ventured to demand the right of public worship. it may even be said that the romanists in the earlier days of elizabeth's reign fared better than the calvinists. the queen neither banished nor imprisoned the catholics. she did not enter their houses to disturb their private religious ceremonies, or to inquire into their consciences. this was milder treatment than the burning alive, burying alive, hanging, and drowning, which had been dealt out to the english and the netherland heretics by philip and by mary, but it was not the spirit which william the silent had been wont to manifest in his measures towards anabaptists and papists alike. moreover, the prince could hardly forget that of the nine thousand four hundred catholic ecclesiastics who held benefices at the death of queen mary, all had renounced the pope on the accession of queen elizabeth, and acknowledged her as the head of the church, saving only one hundred and eighty-nine individuals. in the hearts of the nine thousand two hundred and eleven others, it might be thought perhaps that some tenderness for the religion from which they had so suddenly been converted, might linger, while it could hardly be hoped that they would seek to inculcate in the minds of their flocks or of their sovereign any connivance with the doctrines of geneva. when, at a later period, the plotting of catholics, suborned by the pope and philip, against the throne and person of the queen, made more rigorous measures necessary; when it was thought indispensable to execute as traitors those roman seedlings--seminary priests and their disciples-- who went about preaching to the queen's subjects the duty of carrying out the bull by which the bishop of rome had deposed and excommunicated their sovereign, and that "it was a meritorious act to kill such princes as were excommunicate," even then, the men who preached and practised treason and murder experienced no severer treatment than that which other "heretics" had met with at the queen's hands. jesuits and popish priests were, by act of parliament, ordered to depart the realm within forty days. those who should afterwards return to the kingdom were to be held guilty of high treason. students in the foreign seminaries were commanded to return within six months and recant, or be held guilty of high treason. parents and guardians supplying money to such students abroad were to incur the penalty of a preamunire--perpetual exile, namely, with loss of all their goods. many seminary priests and others were annually executed in england under these laws, throughout the queen's reign, but nominally at least they were hanged not as papists, but as traitors; not because they taught transubstantiation, ecclesiastical celibacy, auricular confession, or even papal supremacy, but because they taught treason and murder--because they preached the necessity of killing the queen. it was not so easy, however, to defend or even comprehend the banishment and imprisonment of those who without conspiring against the queen's life or throne, desired to see the church of england reformed according to the church of geneva. yet there is no doubt that many sectaries experienced much inhuman treatment for such delinquency, both in the early and the later years of elizabeth's reign. there was another consideration, which had its due weight in this balance, and that was the respective succession to the throne in the two kingdoms of france and england. mary stuart, the catholic, the niece of the guises, emblem and exponent of all that was most roman in europe, the sworn friend of philip, the mortal foe to all heresy, was the legitimate successor to elizabeth. although that sovereign had ever refused to recognize that claim; holding that to confirm mary in the succession was to "lay her own winding sheet before her eyes, yea, to make her, own grave, while she liveth and looketh on;" and although the unfortunate claimant of two thrones was a prisoner in her enemy's hands, yet, so long as she lived, there was little security for protestantism, even in elizabeth's lifetime, and less still in case of her sudden death. on the other hand, not only were the various politico-religious forces of france kept in equilibrium by their action upon each other--so that it was reasonable to believe that the house of valois, however catholic itself, would be always compelled by the fast-expanding strength of french calvinism, to observe faithfully a compact to tolerate the netherland churches--but, upon the death of henry iii. the crown would be legitimately placed upon the head of the great champion and chief of the huguenots, henry of navarre. it was not unnatural, therefore, that the prince of orange, a calvinist himself, should expect more sympathy with the netherland reformers in france than in england. a large proportion of the population of that kingdom, including an influential part of the nobility, was of the huguenot persuasion, and the religious peace, established by royal edict, had endured so long, that the reformers of france and the netherlands had begun to believe in the royal clemency, and to confide in the royal word. orange did not live to see the actual formation of the holy league, and could only guess at its secrets. moreover, it should be remembered that france at that day was a more formidable state than england, a more dangerous enemy, and, as it was believed, a more efficient protector. the england of the period, glorious as it was for its own and all future ages, was, not the great british empire of to-day. on the contrary, it was what would now be considered, statistically speaking, a rather petty power. the england of elizabeth, walsingham, burghley, drake, and raleigh, of spenser and shakspeare, hardly numbered a larger population than now dwells in its capital and immediate suburbs. it had neither standing army nor considerable royal navy. it was full of conspirators, daring and unscrupulous, loyal to none save to mary of scotland, philip of spain, and the pope of rome, and untiring in their efforts to bring about a general rebellion. with ireland at its side, nominally a subject province, but in a state of chronic insurrection--a perpetual hot-bed for spanish conspiracy and stratagem; with scotland at its back, a foreign country, with half its population exasperated enemies of england, and the rest but doubtful friends, and with the legitimate sovereign of that country, "the daughter of debate, who discord still did sow,"--[sonnet by queen elizabeth.]--a prisoner in elizabeth's hands, the central point around which treason was constantly crystallizing itself, it was not strange that with the known views of the queen on the subject of the reformed dutch religion, england should seem less desirable as a protector for the netherlands than the neighbouring kingdom of france. elizabeth was a great sovereign, whose genius orange always appreciated, in a comparatively feeble realm. henry of valois was the contemptible monarch of a powerful state, and might be led by others to produce incalculable mischief or considerable good. notwithstanding the massacre of st. bartholomew, therefore, and the more recent "french fury" of antwerp, orange had been willing to countenance fresh negociations with france. elizabeth, too, it should never be forgotten, was, if not over generous, at least consistent and loyal in her policy towards the provinces. she was not precisely jealous of france, as has been unjustly intimated on distinguished authority, for she strongly advocated the renewed offer of the sovereignty to anjou, after his memorable expulsion from the provinces. at that period, moreover, not only her own love-coquetries with anjou were over, but he was endeavouring with all his might, though in secret, to make a match with the younger infanta of spain. elizabeth furthered the negociation with france, both publicly and privately. it will soon be narrated how those negociations prospered. if then england were out of the, question, where, except in france, should the netherlanders, not deeming themselves capable of standing alone, seek for protection and support? we have seen the extensive and almost ubiquitous power of spain. where she did not command as sovereign, she was almost equally formidable as an ally. the emperor of germany was the nephew and the brother-in-law of philip, and a strict catholic besides. little aid was to be expected from him or the lands under his control for the cause of the netherland revolt. rudolph hated his brother-in-law, but lived in mortal fear of him. he was also in perpetual dread of the grand turk. that formidable potentate, not then the "sick man" whose precarious condition and territorial inheritance cause so much anxiety in modern days, was, it is true, sufficiently occupied for the moment in persia, and had been sustaining there a series of sanguinary defeats. he was all the more anxious to remain upon good terms with philip, and had recently sent him a complimentary embassy, together with some rather choice presents, among which were "four lions, twelve unicorns, and two horses coloured white, black, and blue." notwithstanding these pacific manifestations towards the west, however, and in spite of the truce with the german empire which the turk had just renewed for nine years,--rudolph and his servants still trembled at every report from the east. "he is much deceived," wrote busbecq, rudolph's ambassador in paris, "who doubts that the turk has sought any thing by this long persian war, but to protect his back, and prepare the way, after subduing that enemy, to the extermination of all christendom, and that he will then, with all his might, wage an unequal warfare with us, in which the existence of the empire will be at stake." the envoy expressed, at the same period, however, still greater awe of spain. "it is to no one," he wrote, "endowed with good judgment, in the least obscure, that the spanish nation, greedy of empire, will never be quiet, even with their great power, but will seek for the dominion of the rest of christendom. how much remains beyond what they have already acquired? afterwards, there will soon be no liberty, no dignity, for other princes and republics. that single nation will be arbiter of all things, than which nothing can be more miserable, nothing more degrading. it cannot be doubted that all kings, princes, and states, whose safety or dignity is dear to them, would willingly associate in arms to extinguish the common conflagration. the death of the catholic king would seem the great opportunity 'miscendis rebus'." unfortunately neither busbecq's master nor any other king or prince manifested any of this commendable alacrity to "take up arms against the conflagration." germany was in a shiver at every breeze from east or west-trembling alike before philip and amurath. the papists were making rapid progress, the land being undermined by the steady and stealthy encroachments of the jesuits. lord burghley sent many copies of his pamphlet, in latin, french, and italian, against the seminaries, to gebhard truchsess; and the deposed archbishop made himself busy in translating that wholesome production into german, and in dispersing it "all germany over." the work, setting duly forth "that the executions of priests in england were not for religion but for treason," was "marvellously liked" in the netherlands. "in uttering the truth," said herle, "'tis likely to do great good;" and he added, that duke augustus of saxony "did now see so far into the sect of jesuits, and to their inward mischiefs, as to become their open enemy, and to make friends against them in the empire." the love of truchsess for agnes mansfeld had created disaster not only for himself but for germany. the whole electorate of cologne had become the constant seat of partisan warfare, and the resort of organised bands of brigands. villages were burned and rifled, highways infested, cities threatened, and the whole country subjected to perpetual black mail (brandschatzung)--fire-insurance levied by the incendiaries in person--by the supporters of the rival bishops. truchsess had fled to delft, where he had been countenanced and supported by orange. two cities still held for him, rheinberg and neuss. on the other hand, his rival, ernest of bavaria; supported by philip ii., and the occasional guest of alexander of parma, had not yet succeeded in establishing a strong foothold in the territory. two pauper archbishops, without men or means of their own, were thus pushed forward and back, like puppets, by the contending highwaymen on either side; while robbery and murder, under the name of protestantism or catholicism, were for a time the only motive or result of the contest. thus along the rhine, as well as the maas and the scheldt, the fires of civil war were ever burning. deeper within the heart of germany, there was more tranquillity; but it was the tranquillity rather of paralysis than of health. a fearful account was slowly accumulating, which was evidently to be settled only by one of the most horrible wars which history has ever recorded. meantime there was apathy where there should have been enthusiasm; parsimony and cowardice where generous and combined effort were more necessary than ever; sloth without security. the protestant princes, growing fat and contented on the spoils of the church, lent but a deaf ear to the moans of truchsess, forgetting that their neighbour's blazing roof was likely soon to fire their own. "they understand better, 'proximus sum egomet mild'," wrote lord willoughby from kronenburg, "than they have learned, 'humani nihid a me alienum puto'. these german princes continue still in their lethargy, careless of the state of others, and dreaming of their ubiquity, and some of them, it is thought, inclining to be spanish or popish more of late than heretofore." the beggared archbishop, more forlorn than ever since the death of his great patron, cried woe from his resting-place in delft, upon protestant germany. his tones seemed almost prophetic of the thirty years' wrath to blaze forth in the next generation. "courage is wanting to the people throughout germany," he wrote to william lewis of nassau. "we are becoming the laughing-stock of the nations. make sheep of yourselves, and the wolf will eat you. we shall find our destruction in our immoderate desire for peace. spain is making a papistical league in germany. therefore is assonleville despatched thither, and that's the reason why our trash of priests are so insolent in the empire. 'tis astonishing how they are triumphing on all sides. god will smite them. thou dear god! what are our evangelists about in germany? asleep on both ears. 'dormiunt in utramque aurem'. i doubt they will be suddenly enough awakened one day, and the cry will be, 'who'd have thought it?' then they will be for getting oil for the lamp, for shutting the stable- door when the steed is stolen," and so on, with a string of homely proverbs worthy of sancho panza, or landgrave william of hesse. in truth, one of the most painful features is the general aspect of affairs was the coldness of the german protestants towards the netherlands. the enmity between lutherans and calvinists was almost as fatal as that between protestants and papists. there was even a talk, at a little later period, of excluding those of the "reformed" church from the benefits of the peace of passau. the princes had got the augsburg confession and the abbey-lands into the bargain; the peasants had got the augsburg confession without the abbey-lands, and were to believe exactly what their masters believed. this was the german-lutheran sixteenth- century idea of religious freedom. neither prince nor peasant stirred in behalf of the struggling christians in the united provinces, battling, year after year, knee-deep in blood, amid blazing cities and inundated fields, breast to breast with the yellow jerkined pikemen of spain and italy, with the axe and the faggot and the rack of the holy inquisition distinctly visible behind them. such were the realities which occupied the netherlanders in those days, not watery beams of theological moonshine, fantastical catechism-making, intermingled with scenes of riot and wantonness, which drove old john of nassau half frantic; with banquetting and guzzling, drinking and devouring, with unchristian flaunting and wastefulness of apparel, with extravagant and wanton dancing, and other lewd abominations; all which, the firm old reformer prophesied, would lead to the destruction of germany. for the mass, slow moving but apparently irresistible, of spanish and papistical absolutism was gradually closing over christendom. the netherlands were the wedge by which alone the solid bulk could be riven asunder. it was the cause of german, of french, of english liberty, for which the provinces were contending. it was not surprising that they were bitter, getting nothing in their hour of distress from the land of luther but dogmas and augsburg catechisms instead of money and gunpowder, and seeing german reiters galloping daily to reinforce the army of parma in exchange for spanish ducats. brave old la noue, with the iron arm, noblest of frenchmen and huguenots --who had just spent five years in spanish bondage, writing military discourses in a reeking dungeon, filled with toads and vermin, after fighting the battle of liberty for a life-time, and with his brave son already in the netherlands emulating his father's valour on the same field--denounced at a little later day, the lukewarmness of protestant germany with whimsical vehemence:--"i am astounded," he cried, "that these princes are not ashamed of themselves; doing nothing while they see the oppressed cut to pieces at their gates. when will god grant me grace to place me among those who are doing their duty, and afar from those who do nothing, and who ought to know that the cause is a common one. if i am ever caught dancing the german cotillon, or playing the german flute, or eating pike with german sauce, i hope it may be flung in my teeth." the great league of the pope and philip was steadily consolidating itself, and there were but gloomy prospects for the counter-league in germany. there was no hope but in england and france. for the reasons already indicated, the prince of orange, taking counsel with the estates, had resolved to try the french policy once more. the balance of power in europe, which no man in christendom so well understood as he, was to be established by maintaining (he thought) the equilibrium between france and spain. in the antagonism of those two great realms lay the only hope for dutch or european liberty. notwithstanding the treason of anjou, therefore, it had been decided to renew negociations with that prince. on the death of the duke, the envoys of the states were accordingly instructed to make the offer to king henry iii. which had been intended for his brother. that proposition was the sovereignty of all the netherlands, save holland and zeeland, under a constitution maintaining the reformed religion and the ancient laws and privileges of the respective provinces. but the death of francis of anjou had brought about a considerable change in french policy. it was now more sharply defined than ever, a right- angled triangle of almost mathematical precision. the three henrys and their partizans divided the realm into three hostile camps--threatening each other in simulated peace since the treaty of fleig ( ), which had put an end to the "lover's war" of the preceding year,--henry of valois, henry of guise, and henry of navarre. henry iii., last of the valois line, was now thirty-three years of age. less than king, less even than man, he was one of those unfortunate personages who seem as if born to make the idea of royalty ridiculous, and to test the capacity of mankind to eat and drink humiliation as if it were wholesome food. it proved how deeply engraved in men's minds of that century was the necessity of kingship, when the hardy netherlanders, who had abjured one tyrant, and had been fighting a generation long rather than return to him, were now willing to accept the sovereignty of a thing like henry of valois. he had not been born without natural gifts, such as heaven rarely denies to prince or peasant; but the courage which he once possessed had been exhausted on the field of moncontour, his manhood had been left behind him at venice, and such wit as heaven had endowed him withal was now expended in darting viperous epigrams at court-ladies whom he was only capable of dishonouring by calumny, and whose charms he burned to outrival in the estimation of his minions. for the monarch of france was not unfrequently pleased to attire himself like a woman and a harlot. with silken flounces, jewelled stomacher, and painted face, with pearls of great price adorning his bared neck and breast, and satin-slippered feet, of whose delicate shape and size he was justly vain, it was his delight to pass his days and nights in a ceaseless round of gorgeous festivals, tourneys, processions; masquerades, banquets, and balls, the cost of which glittering frivolities caused the popular burthen and the popular execration to grow, from day to day, more intolerable and more audible. surrounded by a gang of "minions," the most debauched and the most desperate of france, whose bedizened dresses exhaled perfumes throughout paris, and whose sanguinary encounters dyed every street in blood, henry lived a life of what he called pleasure, careless of what might come after, for he was the last of his race. the fortunes of his minions rose higher and higher, as their crimes rendered them more and more estimable in the eyes of a king who took a woman's pride in the valour of such champions to his weakness, and more odious to a people whose miserable homes were made even more miserable, that the coffers of a few court-favourites might be filled: now sauntering, full-dressed, in the public promenades, with ghastly little death's heads strung upon his sumptuous garments, and fragments of human bones dangling among his orders of knighthood--playing at cup and ball as he walked, and followed by a few select courtiers who gravely pursued the same exciting occupation--now presiding like a queen of beauty at a tournament to assign the prize of valour, and now, by the advice of his mother, going about the streets in robes of penitence, telling his beads as he went, that the populace might be edified by his piety, and solemnly offering up prayers in the churches that the blessing of an heir might be vouchsafed to him,--henry of valois seemed straining every nerve in order to bring himself and his great office into contempt. as orthodox as he was profligate, he hated the huguenots, who sought his protection and who could have saved his throne, as cordially as he loved the jesuits, who passed their lives in secret plottings against his authority and his person, or in fierce denunciations from the paris pulpits against his manifold crimes. next to an exquisite and sanguinary fop, he dearly loved a monk. the presence of a friar, he said, exerted as agreeable an effect upon his mind as the most delicate and gentle tickling could produce upon his body; and he was destined to have a fuller dose of that charming presence than he coveted. his party--for he was but the nominal chief of a faction, 'tanquam unus ex nobis'--was the party in possession--the office-holders' party; the spoilsmen, whose purpose was to rob the exchequer and to enrich themselves. his minions--for the favourites were called by no other name--were even more hated, because less despised than the king. attired in cloth of gold--for silk and satin were grown too coarse a material for them--with their little velvet porringer-caps stuck on the sides of their heads, with their long hair stiff with pomatum, and their heads set inside a well-starched ruff a foot wide, "like st. john's head in a charger," as a splenetic contemporary observed, with a nimbus of musk and violet-powder enveloping them as they passed before vulgar mortals, these rapacious and insolent courtiers were the impersonation of extortion and oppression to the parisian populace. they were supposed, not unjustly, to pass their lives in dancing, blasphemy, dueling, dicing, and intrigue, in following the king about like hounds, fawning at his feet, and showing their teeth to all besides; and for virtues such as these they were rewarded by the highest offices in church, camp, and state, while new taxes and imposts were invented almost daily to feed their avarice and supply their extravagance. france, doomed to feel the beak and talons of these harpies in its entrails, impoverished by a government that robbed her at home while it humiliated her abroad, struggled vainly in its misery, and was now on the verge of another series of internecine combats--civil war seeming the only alternative to a voluptuous and licentious peace. "we all stood here at gaze," wrote ambassador stafford to walsingham, "looking for some great matter to come of this sudden journey to lyons; but, as far as men can find, 'parturient montes', for there hath been nothing but dancing and banquetting from one house to another, bravery in apparel, glittering like the sun." he, mentioned that the duke of epernon's horse, taking fright at a red cloak, had backed over a precipice, breaking his own neck, while his master's shoulder merely was put out of joint. at the same time the duke of joyeuse, coming over mount cenis, on his return from savoy, had broken his wrist. the people, he said, would rather they had both broken their necks "than any other joint, the king having racked the nation for their sakes, as he hath- done." stafford expressed much compassion for the french in the plight in which they found themselves. "unhappy people!" he cried, "to have such a king, who seeketh nothing but to impoverish them to enrich a couple, and who careth not what cometh after his death, so that he may rove on while he liveth, and careth neither for doing his own estate good nor his neighbour's state harm." sir edward added, however, in a philosophizing vein, worthy of corporal nym, that, "seeing we cannot be so happy as to have a king to concur with us to do us any good, yet we are happy to have one that his humour serveth him not to concur with others to do us harm; and 'tis a wisdom for us to follow these humours, that we may keep him still in that humour, and from hearkening to others that may egg him on to worse." it was a dark hour for france, and rarely has a great nation been reduced to a lower level by a feeble and abandoned government than she was at that moment under the distaff of henry iii. society was corrupted to its core. "there is no more truth, no more justice, no more mercy," moaned president l'etoile. "to slander, to lie, to rob, to wench, to steal; all things are permitted save to do right and to speak the truth." impiety the most cynical, debauchery the most unveiled, public and unpunished homicides, private murders by what was called magic, by poison, by hired assassins, crimes natural, unnatural, and preternatural, were the common characteristics of the time. all posts and charges were venal. great offices of justice were sold to the highest bidder, and that which was thus purchased by wholesale was retailed in the same fashion. unhappy the pauper client who dreamed of justice at the hands of law. the great ecclesiastical benefices were equally matter of merchandise, and married men, women, unborn children, enjoyed revenues as dignitaries of the church. infants came into the world, it was said, like the mitre-fish, stamped with the emblems of place. "'twas impossible," said l'etoile, "to find a crab so tortuous and backsliding as the government." this was the aspect of the first of the three factions in france. such was the henry at its head, the representative of royalty. henry with the scar, duke of guise, the well-known chief of the house of lorraine, was the chief of the extreme papistical party. he was now thirty-four years of age, tall, stately, with a dark, martial face and dangerous eyes, which antonio moro loved to paint; a physiognomy made still more expressive by the arquebus-shot which had damaged his left cheek at the fight near chateau-thierry and gained him his name of balafre. although one of the most turbulent and restless plotters of that plotting age, he was yet thought more slow and heavy in character than subtle, teutonic rather than italian. he was the idol of the parisian burghers. the grocers, the market-men, the members of the arquebus and crossbow clubs, all doated on him. the fishwomen worshipped him as a god. he was the defender of the good old religion under which paris and the other cities of france had thriven, the uncompromising opponent of the new-fangled doctrines which western clothiers, and dyers, and tapestry-workers, had adopted, and which the nobles of the mountain- country, the penniless chevaliers of bearn and gascony and guienne, were ceaselessly taking the field and plunging france into misery and bloodshed to support. but for the balafre and madam league--as the great spanish catholic conspiracy against the liberties of france, and of england, and of all europe, was affectionately termed by the paris populace--honest catholics would fare no better in france than they did in england, where, as it was well known, they were every day subjected to fearful tortures: the shopwindows were filled with coloured engravings, representing, in exaggerated fashion, the sufferings of the english catholics under bloody elizabeth, or jezebel, as she was called; and as the gaping burghers stopped to ponder over these works of art, there were ever present, as if by accident, some persons of superior information who would condescendingly explain the various pictures, pointing out with a long stick the phenomena most worthy of notice. these caricatures proving highly successful, and being suppressed by order of government, they were repeated upon canvas on a larger scale, in still more conspicuous situations, as if in contempt of the royal authority, which sullied itself by compromise with calvinism! the pulpits, meanwhile, thundered denunciations on the one hand against the weak and wicked king, who worshipped idols, and who sacrificed the dearly-earned pittance of his subjects to feed the insolent pomp of his pampered favourites; and on the other, upon the arch-heretic, the arch-apostate, the bearnese huguenot, who, after the death of the reigning monarch, would have the effrontery to claim his throne, and to introduce into france the persecutions and the horrors under which unhappy england was already groaning. the scarce-concealed instigator of these assaults upon the royal and upon the huguenot faction was, of course, the duke of guise,--the man whose most signal achievement had been the massacre of st. bartholomew--all the preliminary details of that transaction having been arranged by his skill. so long as charles ix. was living, the balafre had created the confusion which was his element, by entertaining and fomenting the perpetual intrigues of anjou and alencon against their brother; while the altercations between them and the queen mother and the furious madman who then sat upon the throne, had been the cause of sufficient disorder and calamity for france. on the death of charles ix. guise had sought the intimacy of henry of navarre, that by his means he might frustrate the hopes of alencon for the succession. during the early period of the bearnese's residence at the french court the two had been inseparable, living together, going to the same festivals, tournaments, and masquerades, and even sleeping in the same bed. "my master," was ever guise's address to henry; "my gossip," the young king of navarre's reply. but the crafty bearnese had made use of the intimacy only to read the secrets of the balafre's heart; and on navarre's flight from the court, and his return to huguenotism, guise knew that he had been played upon by a subtler spirit than his own. the simulated affection was now changed into undisguised hatred. moreover, by the death of alencon, navarre now stood next the throne, and guise's plots became still more extensive and more open as his own ambition to usurp the crown on the death of the childless henry iii. became more fervid. thus, by artfully inflaming the populace of paris, and through his organized bands of confederates--that of all the large towns of france, against the huguenots and their chief, by appeals to the religious sentiment; and at the same time by stimulating the disgust and indignation of the tax-payers everywhere at the imposts and heavy burthens which the boundless extravagance of the court engendered, guise paved the way for the advancement of the great league which he represented. the other two political divisions were ingeniously represented as mere insolent factions, while his own was the true national and patriotic party, by which alone the ancient religion and the cherished institutions of france could be preserved. and the great chief of this national patriotic party was not henry of guise, but the industrious old man who sat writing despatches in the depths of the escorial. spanish counsels, spanish promises, spanish ducats--these were the real machinery by which the plots of guise against the peace of france and of europe were supported. madam league was simply philip ii. nothing was written, officially or unofficially, to the french government by the spanish court that was not at the same time communicated to "mucio"--as the duke of guise was denominated in the secret correspondence of philip, and mucio was in philip's pay, his confidential agent, spy, and confederate, long before the actual existence of the league was generally suspected. the queen-mother, catharine de' medici, played into the duke's hands. throughout the whole period of her widowhood, having been accustomed to govern her sons, she had, in a certain sense, been used to govern the kingdom. by sowing dissensions among her own children, by inflaming party against party, by watching with care the oscillations of france --so than none of the great divisions should obtain preponderance--by alternately caressing and massacring the huguenots, by cajoling or confronting philip, by keeping, as she boasted, a spy in every family that possessed the annual income of two thousand livres, by making herself the head of an organized system of harlotry, by which the soldiers and politicians of france were inveigled, their secrets faithfully revealed to her by her well-disciplined maids of honour, by surrounding her unfortunate sons with temptation from earliest youth, and plunging them by cold calculation into deepest debauchery, that their enervated faculties might be ever forced to rely in political affairs on the maternal counsel, and to abandon the administration to the maternal will; such were the arts by which catharine had maintained her influence, and a great country been governed for a generation--machiavellian state- craft blended with the more simple wiles of a procuress. now that alencon was dead, and henry iii. hopeless of issue, it was her determination that the children of her daughter, the duchess of lorraine, should succeed to the throne. the matter was discussed as if the throne were already vacant, and guise and the queen-mother, if they agreed in nothing else, were both cordial in their detestation of henry of navarre. the duke affected to support the schemes in favour of his relatives, the princes of lorraine, while he secretly informed the spanish court that this policy was only a pretence. he was not likely, he said, to advance the interests of the younger branch of a house of which he was himself the chief, nor were their backs equal to the burthen. it was necessary to amuse the old queen, but he was profoundly of opinion that the only sovereign for france, upon the death of henry, was philip ii. himself. this was the duke's plan of arriving, by means of spanish assistance, at the throne of france; and such was henry le balafre, chief of the league. and the other henry, the huguenot, the bearnese, henry of bourbon, henry of navarre, the chieftain of the gascon chivalry, the king errant, the hope and the darling of the oppressed protestants in every land--of him it is scarce needful to say a single word. at his very name a figure seems to leap forth from the mist of three centuries, instinct with ruddy vigorous life. such was the intense vitality of the bearnese prince, that even now he seems more thoroughly alive and recognizable than half the actual personages who are fretting their hour upon the stage. we see, at once, a man of moderate stature, light, sinewy, and strong; a face browned with continual exposure; small, mirthful, yet commanding blue eyes, glittering from beneath an arching brow, and prominent cheekbones; a long hawk's nose, almost resting upon a salient chin, a pendent moustache, and a thick, brown, curly beard, prematurely grizzled; we see the mien of frank authority and magnificent good humour, we hear the ready sallies of the shrewd gascon mother-wit, we feel the electricity which flashes out of him, and sets all hearts around him on fire, when the trumpet sounds to battle. the headlong desperate charge, the snow-white plume waving where the fire is hottest, the large capacity for enjoyment of the man, rioting without affectation in the 'certaminis gaudia', the insane gallop, after the combat, to lay its trophies at the feet of the cynthia of the minute, and thus to forfeit its fruits; all are as familiar to us as if the seven distinct wars, the hundred pitched battles, the two hundred sieges; in which the bearnese was personally present, had been occurrences of our own day. he at least was both king and man, if the monarch who occupied the throne was neither. he was the man to prove, too, for the instruction of the patient letter-writer of the escorial, that the crown of france was to be won with foot in stirrup and carbine in hand, rather than to be caught by the weaving and casting of the most intricate nets of diplomatic intrigue, though thoroughly weighted with mexican gold. the king of navarre was now thirty-one years old; for the three henrys were nearly of the same age. the first indications of his existence had been recognized amid the cannon and trumpets of a camp in picardy, and his mother had sung a gay bearnese song as he was coming into the world at pau. thus, said his grandfather, henry of navarre, thou shalt not bear to us a morose and sulky child. the good king, without a kingdom, taking the child, as soon as born, in the lappel of his dressing-gown, had brushed his infant lips with a clove of garlic, and moistened them with a drop of generous gascon wine. thus, said the grandfather again, shall the boy be both merry and bold. there was something mythologically prophetic in the incidents of his birth. the best part of navarre had been long since appropriated by ferdinand of aragon. in france there reigned a young and warlike sovereign with four healthy boys. but the new-born infant had inherited the lilies of france from st. louis, and a later ancestor had added to the escutcheon the motto "espoir." his grandfather believed that the boy was born to revenge upon spain the wrongs of the house of albret, and henry's nature seemed ever. pervaded with robert of clermont's device. the same sensible grandfather, having different views on the subject of education from those manifested by catherine de medici towards her children, had the boy taught to run about bare-headed and bare-footed, like a peasant, among the mountains and rocks of bearn, till he became as rugged as a young bear, and as nimble as a kid. black bread, and beef, and garlic, were his simple fare; and he was taught by his mother and his grandfather to hate lies and liars, and to read the bible. when he was fifteen, the third religious war broke out. both his father and grandfather were dead. his mother, who had openly professed the reformed faith, since the death of her husband, who hated it, brought her boy to the camp at rochelle, where he was received as the chief of the huguenots. his culture was not extensive. he had learned to speak the truth, to ride, to shoot, to do with little sleep and less food. he could also construe a little latin, and had read a few military treatises; but the mighty hours of an eventful life were now to take him by the hand, and to teach him much good and much evil, as they bore him onward. he now saw military treatises expounded practically by professors, like his uncle condo, and admiral coligny, and lewis nassau, in such lecture-rooms as laudun, and jarnac, and montcontour, and never was apter scholar. the peace of arnay-le-duc succeeded, and then the fatal bartholomew marriage with the messalina of valois. the faith taught in the mountains of bearn was no buckler against the demand of "the mass or death," thundered at his breast by the lunatic charles, as he pointed to thousands of massacred huguenots. henry yielded to such conclusive arguments, and became a catholic. four years of court imprisonment succeeded, and the young king of navarre, though proof to the artifices of his gossip guise, was not adamant to the temptations spread for him by catherine de' medici. in the harem entertained for him in the louvre many pitfalls entrapped him; and he became a stock-performer in the state comedies and tragedies of that plotting age. a silken web of palace-politics, palace-diplomacy, palace revolutions, enveloped him. schemes and counter-schemes, stratagems and conspiracies, assassinations and poisonings; all the state-machinery which worked so exquisitely in fair ladies' chambers, to spread havoc and desolation over a kingdom, were displayed before his eyes. now campaigning with one royal brother against huguenots, now fighting with another on their side, now solicited by the queen-mother to attempt the life of her son, now implored by henry iii. to assassinate his brother, the bearnese, as fresh antagonisms, affinities; combinations, were developed, detected, neutralized almost daily, became rapidly an adept in medicean state- chemistry. charles ix. in his grave, henry iii. on the throne, alencon in the huguenot camp--henry at last made his escape. the brief war and peace of monsieur succeeded, and the king of navarre formally abjured the catholic creed. the parties were now sharply defined. guise mounted upon the league, henry astride upon the reformation, were prepared to do battle to the death. the temporary "war of the amorous" was followed by the peace of fleix. four years of peace again; four fat years of wantonness and riot preceding fourteen hungry famine-stricken years of bloodiest civil war. the voluptuousness and infamy of the louvre were almost paralleled in vice, if not in splendour, by the miniature court at pau. henry's spartan grandfather would scarce have approved the courses of the youth, whose education he had commenced on so simple a scale. for margaret of valois, hating her husband, and living in most undisguised and promiscuous infidelity to him, had profited by her mother's lessons. a seraglio of maids of honour ministered to henry's pleasures, and were carefully instructed that the peace and war of the kingdom were playthings in their hands. while at paris royalty was hopelessly sinking in a poisonous marsh, there was danger that even the hardy nature of the bearnese would be mortally enervated by the atmosphere in which he lived. the unhappy henry iii., baited by the guises, worried by alencon and his mother, implored the king of navarre to return to paris and the catholic faith. m. de segur, chief of navarre's council, who had been won over during a visit to the capital, where he had made the discovery that "henry iii. was an angel, and his ministers devils," came back to pau, urging his master's acceptance of the royal invitation. henry wavered. bold d'aubigne, stanchest of huguenots, and of his friends, next day privately showed segur a palace-window opening on a very steep precipice over the bayae, and cheerfully assured him that he should be flung from it did he not instantly reverse his proceedings, and give his master different advice. if i am not able to do the deed myself, said d'aubigne, here are a dozen more to help me. the chief of the council cast a glance behind him, saw a number of grim puritan soldiers, with their hats plucked down upon their brows, looking very serious; so made his bow, and quite changed his line of conduct. at about the same time, philip ii. confidentially offered henry of navarre four hundred thousand crowns in hand, and twelve hundred thousand yearly, if he would consent to make war upon henry iii. mucio, or the duke of guise, being still in philip's pay, the combination of leaguers and huguenots against the unfortunate valois would, it was thought, be a good triangular contest. but henry--no longer the unsophisticated youth who had been used to run barefoot among the cliffs of coarasse--was grown too crafty a politician to be entangled by spanish or medicean wiles. the duke of anjou was now dead. of all the princes who had stood between him and the throne, there was none remaining save the helpless, childless, superannuated youth, who was its present occupant. the king of navarre was legitimate heir to the crown of france. "espoir" was now in letters of light upon his shield, but he knew that his path to greatness led through manifold dangers, and that it was only at the head of his huguenot chivalry that he could cut his way. he was the leader of the nobles of gascony, and dauphins, and guienne, in their mountain fastnesses, of the weavers, cutlers, and artizans, in their thriving manufacturing and trading towns. it was not spanish gold, but carbines and cutlasses, bows and bills, which could bring him to the throne of his ancestors. and thus he stood the chieftain of that great austere party of huguenots, the men who went on, their knees before the battle, beating their breasts with their iron gauntlets, and singing in full chorus a psalm of david, before smiting the philistines hip and thigh. their chieftain, scarcely their representative--fit to lead his puritans on the battle-field, was hardly a model for them elsewhere. yet, though profligate in one respect, he was temperate in every other. in food, wine, and sleep, he was always moderate. subtle and crafty in self- defence, he retained something of his old love of truth, of his hatred for liars. hardly generous perhaps, he was a friend of justice, while economy in a wandering king, like himself, was a necessary virtue, of which france one day was to feel the beneficent action. reckless and headlong in appearance, he was in truth the most careful of men. on the religious question, most cautious of all, he always left the door open behind him, disclaimed all bigotry of opinion, and earnestly implored the papists to seek, not his destruction, but his instruction. yet prudent as he was by nature in every other regard, he was all his life the slave of one woman or another, and it was by good luck rather than by sagacity that he did not repeatedly forfeit the fruits of his courage and conduct, in obedience to his master-passion. always open to conviction on the subject of his faith, he repudiated the appellation of heretic. a creed, he said, was not to be changed like a shirt, but only on due deliberation, and under special advice. in his secret heart he probably regarded the two religions as his chargers, and was ready to mount alternately the one or the other, as each seemed the more likely to bear him safely in the battle. the bearnese was no puritan, but he was most true to himself and to his own advancement. his highest principle of action was to reach his goal, and to that principle he was ever loyal. feeling, too, that it was the interest of france that he should succeed, he was even inspired--compared with others on the stage--by an almost lofty patriotism. amiable by nature and by habit, he had preserved the most unimpaired good-humour throughout the horrible years which succeeded st. bartholomew, during which he carried his life in his hand, and learned not to wear his heart upon his sleeve. without gratitude, without resentment, without fear, without remorse, entirely arbitrary, yet with the capacity to use all men's judgments; without convictions, save in regard to his dynastic interests, he possessed all the qualities, necessary to success. he knew how to use his enemies. he knew how to use his friends, to abuse them, and to throw them away. he refused to assassinate francis alencon at the bidding of henry iii., but he attempted to procure the murder of the truest of his own friends, one of the noblest characters of the age--whose breast showed twelve scars received in his services--agrippa d'aubigne, because the honest soldier had refused to become his pimp--a service the king had implored upon his knees. beneath the mask of perpetual careless good-humour, lurked the keenest eye, a subtle, restless, widely combining brain, and an iron will. native sagacity had been tempered into consummate elasticity by the fiery atmosphere in which feebler natures had been dissolved. his wit was as flashing and as quickly unsheathed as his sword. desperate, apparently reckless temerity on the battle-field was deliberately indulged in, that the world might be brought to recognise a hero and chieftain in a king. the do-nothings of the merovingian line had been succeeded by the pepins; to the effete carlovingians had come a capet; to the impotent valois should come a worthier descendant of st. louis. this was shrewd gascon calculation, aided by constitutional fearlessness. when despatch- writing, invisible philips, stargazing rudolphs, and petticoated henrys, sat upon the thrones of europe, it was wholesome to show the world that there was a king left who could move about in the bustle and business of the age, and could charge as well as most soldiers at the head of his cavalry; that there was one more sovereign fit to reign over men, besides the glorious virgin who governed england. thus courageous, crafty, far-seeing, consistent, untiring, imperturbable, he was born to command, and had a right to reign. he had need of the throne, and the throne had still more need of him. this then was the third henry, representative of the third side of the triangle, the reformers of the kingdom. and before this bubbling cauldron of france, where intrigues, foreign and domestic, conflicting ambitions, stratagems, and hopes, were whirling in never-ceasing tumult, was it strange if the plain netherland envoys should stand somewhat aghast? yet it was necessary that they should ponder well the aspect of affairs; for all their hopes, the very existence of themselves and of their religion, depended upon the organization which should come of this chaos. it must be remembered, however, that those statesmen--even the wisest or the best-informed of them--could not take so correct a view of france and its politics as it is possible for us, after the lapse of three centuries, to do. the interior leagues, subterranean schemes, conflicting factions, could only be guessed at; nor could the immediate future be predicted, even by such far-seeing politicians as william of orange; at a distance, or henry of navarre, upon the spot. it was obvious to the netherlanders that france, although torn by faction, was a great and powerful realm. there had now been, with the brief exception of the lovers' war in , a religious peace of eight years' duration. the huguenots had enjoyed tranquil exercise of their worship during that period, and they expressed perfect confidence in the good faith of the king. that the cities were inordinately taxed to supply the luxury of the court could hardly be unknown to the netherlanders. nevertheless they knew that the kingdom was the richest and most populous of christendom, after that of spain. its capital, already called by contemporaries the "compendium of the world," was described by travellers as "stupendous in extent and miraculous for its numbers." it was even said to contain eight hundred thousand souls; and although, its actual population did not probably exceed three hundred and twenty thousand, yet this was more than double the number of london's inhabitants, and thrice as many as antwerp could then boast, now that a great proportion of its foreign denizens had been scared away. paris was at least by one hundred thousand more populous than any city of europe, except perhaps the remote and barbarous moscow, while the secondary cities of france, rouen in the north, lyons in the centre, and marseilles in the south, almost equalled in size, business, wealth, and numbers, the capitals of other countries. in the whole kingdom were probably ten or twelve millions of inhabitants, nearly as many as in spain, without her colonies, and perhaps three times the number that dwelt in england. in a military point of view, too, the alliance of france was most valuable to the contiguous netherlands. a few regiments of french troops, under the command of one of their experienced marshals, could block up the spaniards in the walloon provinces, effectually stop their operations against ghent, antwerp, and the other great cities of flanders and brabant, and, with the combined action of the united provinces on the north, so surround and cripple the forces of parma, as to reduce the power of philip, after a few vigorous and well-concerted blows, to an absolute nullity in, the low countries. as this result was of as vital importance to the real interests of france and of europe, whether protestant or catholic, as it was to the provinces, and as the french government had privately manifested a strong desire to oppose the progress of spain towards universal empire, it was not surprising that the states general, not feeling capable of standing alone, should make their application to france. this they had done with the knowledge and concurrence of the english government. what lay upon the surface the netherland statesmen saw and pondered well. what lurked beneath, they surmised as shrewdly as they could, but it was impossible, with plummet and fathom-line ever in hand, to sound the way with perfect accuracy, where the quicksands were ever shifting, and the depth or shallowness of the course perpetually varying. it was not easy to discover the intentions of a government which did not know its own intentions, and whose changing policy was controlled by so many hidden currents. moreover, as already indicated, the envoys and those whom they represented had not the same means of arriving at a result as are granted to us. thanks to the liberality of many modern governments of europe, the archives where the state-secrets of the buried centuries have so long mouldered, are now open to the student of history. to him who has patience and industry many mysteries are thus revealed, which no political sagacity or critical acumen could have divined. he leans over the shoulder of philip the second at his writing-table, as the king spells patiently out, with cipher-key in hand, the most concealed hieroglyphics of parma or guise or mendoza. he reads the secret thoughts of "fabius,"--[the name usually assigned to philip himself in the paris- simancas correspondence.]--as that cunctative roman scrawls his marginal apostilles on each despatch; he pries into all the stratagems of camillus, hortensius, mucius, julius, tullius, and the rest of those ancient heroes who lent their names to the diplomatic masqueraders of the th century; he enters the cabinet of the deeply-pondering burghley, and takes from the most private drawer the memoranda which record that minister's unutterable doubtings; he pulls from the dressing-gown folds of the stealthy, softly-gliding walsingham the last secret which he has picked from the emperor's pigeon-holes, or the pope's pocket, and which, not hatton, nor buckhurst, nor leicester, nor the lord treasurer, is to see; nobody but elizabeth herself; he sits invisible at the most secret councils of the nassaus and barneveldt and buys, or pores with farnese over coming victories, and vast schemes of universal conquest; he reads the latest bit of scandal, the minutest characteristic of king or minister, chronicled by the gossiping venetians for the edification of the forty; and, after all this prying and eavesdropping, having seen the cross-purposes, the bribings, the windings, the fencings in the dark, he is not surprised, if those who were systematically deceived did not always arrive at correct conclusions. noel de caron, seigneur de schoneval, had been agent of the states at the french court at the time of the death of the duke of anjou. upon the occurrence of that event, la mouillerie and asseliers were deputed by the provinces to king henry iii., in order to offer him the sovereignty, which they had intended to confer upon his brother. meantime that brother, just before his death, and with the privity of henry, had been negotiating for a marriage with the younger daughter of philip ii.--an arrangement somewhat incompatible with his contemporaneous scheme to assume the sovereignty of philip's revolted provinces. an attempt had been made at the same time to conciliate the duke of savoy, and invite him to the french court; but the duc de joyeuse, then on his return from turin, was bringing the news, not only that the match with anjou was not favored--which, as anjou was dead, was of no great consequence--but that the duke of savoy was himself to espouse the infanta, and was therefore compelled to decline the invitation to paris, for fear of offending his father-in-law. other matters were in progress, to be afterwards indicated, very much interfering with the negotiations of the netherland envoys. when la mouillerie and asseliers arrived at rouen, on their road from dieppe to paris, they received a peremptory order from the queen-mother to proceed no farther. this prohibition was brought by an unofficial personage, and was delivered, not to them, but to des pruneaux, french envoy to the states general, who had accompanied the envoys to france. after three weeks' time, during which they "kept themselves continually concealed in rouen," there arrived in that city a young nephew of secretary brulart, who brought letters empowering him to hear what they had in charge for the king. the envoys, not much flattered by such cavalier treatment on the part of him to, whom they were offering a crown, determined to digest the affront as they best might, and, to save time, opened the whole business to this subordinate stripling. he received from them accordingly an ample memoir to be laid before his majesty, and departed by the post the same night. then they waited ten days longer, concealed as if they had been thieves or spies, rather than the representatives of a friendly power, on a more than friendly errand. at last, on the th july , after the deputies had been thus shut up a whole month, secretary brulart himself arrived from fontainebleau. he stated that the king sent his royal thanks to the states for the offer which they had made him, and to the deputies in particular for taking the trouble of so long a journey; but that he did not find his realm in condition to undertake a foreign war so inopportunely. in every other regard, his majesty offered the states "all possible favours and pleasures." certainly, after having been thus kept in prison for a month, the ambassadors had small cause to be contented with this very cold communication. to be forbidden the royal presence, and to be turned out of the country without even an official and accredited answer to a communication in which they had offered the sovereignty of their fatherland, was not flattering to their dignity. "we little thought," said they to brulart, after a brief consultation among themselves, "to receive such a reply as this. it displeases us infinitely that his majesty will not do us the honour to grant us an audience. we must take the liberty of saying, that 'tis treating the states, our masters, with too much contempt. who ever heard before of refusing audience to public personages? kings often grant audience to mere letter-carriers. even the king of spain never refused a hearing to the deputies from the netherlands when they came to spain to complain of his own government. the states general have sent envoys to many other kinds and princes, and they have instantly granted audience in every case. his majesty, too, has been very ill-informed of the contracts which we formerly made with the duke of anjou, and therefore a personal interview is the more necessary." as the envoys were obstinate on the point of paris, brulart said "that the king, although he should himself be at lyons, would not prevent any one from going to the capital on his own private affairs; but would unquestionably take it very ill if, they should visit that city in a public manner, and as deputies." des pruneaux professed himself "very grievous at this result, and desirous of a hundred deaths in consequence." they stated that they should be ready within a month to bring an army of , horse and , foot into the field for the relief of ghent, besides their military operations against zutphen; and that the enemy had recently been ignominiously defeated in his attack upon fort lille, and had lost , of his best soldiers. here were encouraging facts; and it certainly was worth the while of the french sovereign to pause a moment before rejecting without a hearing, the offer of such powerful and conveniently-situated provinces. des pruneaux, a man of probity and earnestness, but perhaps of insufficient ability to deal with such grave matters as now fell almost entirely upon his shoulders, soon afterwards obtained audience of the king. being most sincerely in favour of the annexation of the netherlands to france, and feeling that now or never was the opportunity of bringing it about, he persuaded the king to send him back to the provinces, in order to continue the negotiation directly with the states general. the timidity and procrastination of the court could be overcome no further. the two dutch envoys, who had stolen secretly to paris, were indulged in a most barren and unmeaning interview with the queen-mother. before their departure from france, however, they had the advantage of much conversation with leading members of the royal council, of the parliaments of paris and rouen, and also with various persons professing the reformed religion. they endeavoured thus to inform themselves, as well as they could, why the king made so much difficulty in accepting their propositions, and whether, and by what means, his majesty could be induced to make war in their behalf upon the king of spain. they were informed that, should holland and zeeland unite with the rest of the netherlands, the king "without any doubt would undertake the cause most earnestly." his councillors, also--even those who had been most active in dissuading his majesty from such a policy--would then be unanimous in supporting the annexation of the provinces and the war with spain. in such a contingency, with the potent assistance of holland and zeeland, the king would have little difficulty, within a very short time, in chasing every single spaniard out of the netherlands. to further this end, many leading personages in france avowed to the envoys their determination "to venture their lives and their fortunes, and to use all the influence which they possessed at court." the same persons expressed their conviction that the king, once satisfied by the provinces as to conditions and reasons, would cheerfully go into the war, without being deterred by any apprehension as to the power of spain. it was, however, fitting that each province should chaffer as little as possible about details, but should give his majesty every reasonable advantage. they should remember that they were dealing with "a great, powerful monarch, who was putting his realm in jeopardy, and not with a duke of anjou, who had every thing to gain and nothing to lose." all the huguenots, with whom the envoys conversed, were excessively sanguine. could the king be once brought they said, to promise the netherlands his protection, there was not the least fear but that he would keep his word. he would use all the means within his power; "yea, he would take the crown from his head," rather than turn back. although reluctant to commence a war with so powerful a sovereign, having once promised his help, he would keep his pledge to the utmost, "for he was a king of his word," and had never broken and would never break his faith with those of the reformed religion. thus spoke the leading huguenots of france, in confidential communication with the netherland envoys, not many months before the famous edict of extermination, published at nemours. at that moment the reformers were full of confidence; not foreseeing the long procession of battles and sieges which was soon to sweep through the land. notwithstanding the urgency of the papists for their extirpation, they extolled loudly the liberty of religious worship which calvinists, as well as catholics, were enjoying in france, and pointed to the fact that the adherents of both religions were well received at court, and that they shared equally in offices of trust and dignity throughout the kingdom. the netherland envoys themselves bore testimony to the undisturbed tranquillity and harmony in which the professors of both religions were living and worshipping side by side "without reproach or quarrel" in all the great cities which they had visited. they expressed the conviction that the same toleration would be extended to all the provinces when under french dominion; and, so far as their ancient constitutions and privileges were concerned, they were assured that the king of france would respect and maintain them with as much fidelity as the states could possibly desire. des pruneaux, accompanied by the two states' envoys, departed forthwith for the netherlands. on the th august, he delivered a discourse before the states general, in which he disclosed, in very general terms, the expectations of henry iii., and intimated very clearly that the different provinces were to lose no time in making an unconditional offer to that monarch. with regard to holland and zeeland he observed that he was provided with a special commission to those estates. it was not long before one province after the other came to the conclusion to offer the sovereignty to the king without written conditions, but with a general understanding that their religious freedom and their ancient constitutions were to be sacredly respected. meantime, des pruneaux made his appearance in holland and zeeland, and declared the king's intentions of espousing the cause of the states, and of accepting the sovereignty of all the provinces. he distinctly observed, however, that it was as sovereign, not as protector, that his majesty must be recognised in holland and zeeland, as well as in the rest of the country. upon this grave question there was much debate and much difference of opinion. holland and zeeland had never contemplated the possibility of accepting any foreign sovereignty, and the opponents of the present scheme were loud and angry, but very reasonable in their remarks. the french, they said, were no respecters of privileges nor of persons. the duke of anjou had deceived william of orange and betrayed the provinces. could they hope to see farther than that wisest and most experienced prince? had not the stout hearts of the antwerp burghers proved a stronger defence to brabant liberties than the "joyous entry" on the dread day of the "french fury," it would have fared ill then and for ever with the cause of freedom and religion in the netherlands. the king of france was a papist, a jesuit. he was incapable of keeping his pledges. should they make the arrangement now proposed and confer the sovereignty upon him, he would forthwith make peace with spain, and transfer the provinces back to that crown in exchange for the duchy of milan, which france had ever coveted. the netherlands, after a quarter of a century of fighting in defence of their hearths and altars, would find themselves handed over again, bound and fettered, to the tender mercies of the spanish inquisition. the kings of france and of spain always acted in concert, for religion was the most potent of bonds. witness the sacrifice of thousands of french soldiers to alva by their own sovereign at mons, witness the fate of genlis, witness the bloody night of st. bartholomew, witness the antwerp fury. men cited and relied upon the advice of william of orange as to this negotiation with france. but orange never dreamed of going so far as now proposed. he was ever careful to keep the provinces of holland and zeeland safe from every foreign master. that spot was to be holy ground. not out of personal ambition. god forbid that they, should accuse his memory of any such impurity, but because he wished one safe refuge for the spirit of freedom. many years long they had held out by land and sea against the spaniards, and should they now, because this des pruneaux shrugged his shoulders, be so alarmed as to open the door to the same spaniard wearing the disguise of a frenchman? prince maurice also made a brief representation to the states' assembly of holland, in which, without distinctly opposing the negotiation with france, he warned them not to proceed too hastily with so grave a matter. he reminded them how far they had gone in the presentation of the sovereignty to his late father, and requested them, in their dealings with france, not to forget his interests and those of his family. he reminded them of the position of that family, overladen with debt contracted in their service alone. he concluded by offering most affectionately his service in any way in which he, young and inexperienced as he knew himself to be, might be thought useful; as he was long since resolved to devote his life to the welfare of his country. these passionate appeals were answered with equal vehemence by those who had made up their minds to try the chances of the french sovereignty. des pruneaux, meanwhile, was travelling from province to province, and from city to city, using the arguments which have already been sufficiently indicated, and urging a speedy compliance with the french king's propositions. at the same time, in accordance with his instructions, he was very cautious to confine himself to generalities, and to avoid hampering his royal master with the restrictions which had proved so irksome to the duke of anjou. "the states general demanded a copy of my speech," he wrote the day after that harangue had been delivered, "but i only gave them a brief outline; extending myself [ th august, ] as little as i possibly could, according to the intention and command of your majesty. when i got here, i found them without hope of our assistance, and terribly agitated by the partizans of spain. there was some danger of their going over in a panic to the enemy. they are now much changed again, and the spanish partizans are beginning to lose their tongues. i invite them, if they intend to address your majesty, to proceed as they ought towards a veritably grand monarch, without hunting up any of their old quibbles, or reservations of provinces, or any thing else which could inspire suspicion. i have sent into gelderland and friesland, for i find i must stay here in holland and zeeland myself. these two provinces are the gates and ramparts through which we must enter. 'tis, in my opinion, what could be called superb, to command all the sea, thus subject to the crown of france. and france, too, with assistance of this country, will command the land as well. they are much astonished here, however, that i communicate nothing of the intention of your majesty. they say that if your majesty does not accept this offer of their country, your majesty puts the rope around their necks." the french envoy was more and more struck with the brilliancy of the prize offered to his master. "if the king gets these provinces," said he to catharine, "'t will be the most splendid inheritance which prince has ever conquered." in a very few weeks the assiduity of the envoy and of the french party was successful. all the other provinces had very soon repeated the offer which they had previously made through asseliers and la mouillerie. by the beginning of october the opposition of holland was vanquished. the estates of that province--three cities excepted, however--determined "to request england and france to assume a joint protectorate over the netherlands. in case the king of france should refuse this proposition, they were then ready to receive him as prince and master, with knowledge and consent of the queen of england, and on such conditions as the united states should approve." immediately afterwards, the general assembly of all the states determined to offer the sovereignty to king henry "on conditions to be afterwards settled." des pruneaux, thus triumphant, received a gold chain of the value of two thousand florins, and departed before the end of october for france. the departure of the solemn embassy to that country, for the purpose of offering the sovereignty to the king, was delayed till the beginning of january. meantime it is necessary to cast a glance at the position of england in relation to these important transactions. etext editor's bookmarks: diplomatic adroitness consists mainly in the power to deceive enmity between lutherans and calvinists find our destruction in our immoderate desire for peace german-lutheran sixteenth-century idea of religious freedom intentions of a government which did not know its own intentions lord was better pleased with adverbs than nouns make sheep of yourselves, and the wolf will eat you necessity of kingship neighbour's blazing roof was likely soon to fire their own nor is the spirit of the age to be pleaded in defence pauper client who dreamed of justice at the hands of law seem as if born to make the idea of royalty ridiculous shutting the stable-door when the steed is stolen string of homely proverbs worthy of sancho panza the very word toleration was to sound like an insult there was apathy where there should have been enthusiasm tranquillity rather of paralysis than of health write so illegibly or express himself so awkwardly this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, volume history united netherlands, volume , - chapter vii., part . the earl of leicester--his triumphal entrance into holland--english spies about him--importance of holland to england--spanish schemes for invading england--letter of the grand commander--perilous position of england--true nature of the contest--wealth and strength of the provinces--power of the dutch and english people--affection of the hollanders for the queen--secret purposes of leicester-- wretched condition of english troops--the nassaus and hohenlo--the earl's opinion of them--clerk and killigrew--interview with the states government general offered to the earl--discussions on the subject--the earl accepts the office--his ambition and mistakes--his installation at the hague--intimations of the queen's displeasure-- deprecatory letters of leicester--davison's mission to england-- queen's anger and jealousy--her angry letters to the earl and the states--arrival of davison--stormy interview with the queen--the second one is calmer--queen's wrath somewhat mitigated--mission of heneago to the states--shirley sent to england by the earl--his interview with elizabeth at last the earl of leicester came. embarking at harwich, with a fleet of fifty ships, and attended "by the flower and chief gallants of england"--the lords sheffield, willoughby, north, burroughs, sir gervase clifton, sir william russell, sir robert sidney, and others among the number--the new lieutenant-general of the english forces in the netherlands arrived on the th december, , at flushing. his nephew, sir philip sidney, and count maurice of nassau, with a body of troops and a great procession of civil functionaries; were in readiness to receive him, and to escort him to the lodgings prepared for him. robert dudley, earl of leicester, was then fifty-four years of age. there are few personages in english history whose adventures, real or fictitious, have been made more familiar to the world than his have been, or whose individuality has been presented in more picturesque fashion, by chronicle, tragedy, or romance. born in the same day of the month and hour of the day with the queen, but two years before her birth, the supposed synastry of their destinies might partly account, in that age of astrological superstition, for the influence which he perpetually exerted. they had, moreover, been fellow-prisoners together, in the commencement of the reign of mary, and it is possible that he may have been the medium through which the indulgent expressions of philip ii. were conveyed to the princess elizabeth. his grandfather, john dudley, that "caterpillar of the commonwealth," who lost his head in the first year of henry viii. as a reward for the grist which he brought to the mill of henry vii.; his father, the mighty duke of northumberland, who rose out of the wreck of an obscure and ruined family to almost regal power, only to perish, like his predecessor, upon the scaffold, had bequeathed him nothing save rapacity, ambition, and the genius to succeed. but elizabeth seemed to ascend the throne only to bestow gifts upon her favourite. baronies and earldoms, stars and garters, manors and monopolies, castles and forests, church livings and college chancellorships, advowsons and sinecures, emoluments and dignities, the most copious and the most exalted, were conferred upon him in breathless succession. wine, oil, currants, velvets, ecclesiastical benefices, university headships, licences to preach, to teach, to ride, to sail, to pick and to steal, all brought "grist to his mill." his grandfather, "the horse leach and shearer," never filled his coffers more rapidly than did lord robert, the fortunate courtier. of his early wedlock with the ill-starred amy robsart, of his nuptial projects with the queen, of his subsequent marriages and mock-marriages with douglas sheffield and lettice of essex, of his plottings, poisonings, imaginary or otherwise, of his countless intrigues, amatory and political--of that luxuriant, creeping, flaunting, all-pervading existence which struck its fibres into the mould, and coiled itself through the whole fabric, of elizabeth's life and reign--of all this the world has long known too much to render a repetition needful here. the inmost nature and the secret deeds of a man placed so high by wealth and station, can be seen but darkly through the glass of contemporary record. there was no tribunal to sit upon his guilt. a grandee could be judged only when no longer a favourite, and the infatuation of elizabeth for leicester terminated only with his life. he stood now upon the soil of the netherlands in the character of a "messiah," yet he has been charged with crimes sufficient to send twenty humbler malefactors to the gibbet. "i think," said a most malignant arraigner of the man, in a published pamphlet, "that the earl of leicester hath more blood lying upon his head at this day, crying for vengeance, than ever had private man before, were he never so wicked." certainly the mass of misdemeanours and infamies hurled at the head of the favourite by that "green-coated jesuit," father parsons, under the title of 'leycester's commonwealth,' were never accepted as literal verities; yet the value of the precept, to calumniate boldly, with the certainty that much of the calumny would last for ever, was never better illustrated than in the case of robert dudley. besides the lesser delinquencies of filling his purse by the sale of honours and dignities, by violent ejectments from land, fraudulent titles, rapacious enclosures of commons, by taking bribes for matters of justice, grace, and supplication to the royal authority, he was accused of forging various letters to the queen, often to ruin his political adversaries, and of plottings to entrap them into conspiracies, playing first the comrade and then the informer. the list of his murders and attempts to murder was almost endless. "his lordship hath a special fortune," saith the jesuit, "that when he desireth any woman's favour, whatsoever person standeth in his way hath the luck to die quickly." he was said to have poisoned alice drayton, lady lennox, lord sussex, sir nicholas throgmorton, lord sheffield, whose widow he married and then poisoned, lord essex, whose widow he also married, and intended to poison, but who was said to have subsequently poisoned him--besides murders or schemes for murder of various other individuals, both french and english. "he was a rare artist in poison," said sir robert naunton, and certainly not caesar borgia, nor his father or sister, was more accomplished in that difficult profession than was dudley, if half the charges against him could be believed. fortunately for his fame, many of them were proved to be false. sir henry sidney, lord deputy of ireland, at the time of the death of lord essex, having caused a diligent inquiry to be made into that dark affair, wrote to the council that it was usual for the earl to fall into a bloody flux when disturbed in his mind, and that his body when opened showed no signs of poison. it is true that sir henry, although an honourable man, was leicester's brother-in-law, and that perhaps an autopsy was not conducted at that day in ireland on very scientific principles. his participation in the strange death of his first wife was a matter of current belief among his contemporaries. "he is infamed by the death of his wife," said burghley, and the tale has since become so interwoven with classic and legendary fiction, as well as with more authentic history, that the phantom of the murdered amy robsart is sure to arise at every mention of the earl's name. yet a coroner's inquest--as appears from his own secret correspondence with his relative and agent at cumnor --was immediately and persistently demanded by dudley. a jury was impannelled--every man of them a stranger to him, and some of them enemies. antony forster, appleyard, and arthur robsart, brother-in-law and brother of the lady, were present, according to dudley's special request; "and if more of her friends could have been sent," said he, "i would have sent them;" but with all their minuteness of inquiry, "they could find," wrote blount, "no presumptions of evil," although he expressed a suspicion that "some of the jurymen were sorry that they could not." that the unfortunate lady was killed by a fall down stairs was all that could be made of it by a coroner's inquest, rather hostile than otherwise, and urged to rigorous investigation by the supposed culprit himself. nevertheless, the calumny has endured for three centuries, and is likely to survive as many more. whatever crimes dudley may have committed in the course of his career, there is no doubt whatever that he was the most abused man in europe. he had been deeply wounded by the jesuit's artful publication, in which all the misdeeds with which he was falsely or justly charged were drawn up in awful array, in a form half colloquial, half judicial. "you had better give some contentment to my lord leicester," wrote the french envoy from london to his government, "on account of the bitter feelings excited in him by these villainous books lately written against him." the earl himself ascribed these calumnies to the jesuits, to the guise faction, and particularly to--the queen of scots. he was said, in consequence, to have vowed an eternal hatred to that most unfortunate and most intriguing princess. "leicester has lately told a friend," wrote charles paget, "that he will persecute you to the uttermost, for that he supposeth your majesty to be privy to the setting forth of the book against him." nevertheless, calumniated or innocent he was at least triumphant over calumny. nothing could shake his hold upon elizabeth's affections. the queen scorned but resented the malignant attacks upon the reputation of her favourite. she declared "before god and in her conscience, that she knew the libels against him to be most scandalous, and such as none but an incarnate devil himself could dream to be true." his power, founded not upon genius nor virtue, but upon woman's caprice, shone serenely above the gulf where there had been so many shipwrecks. "i am now passing into another world," said sussex, upon his death-bed, to his friends, "and i must leave you to your fortunes; but beware of the gipsy, or he will be too hard for you. you know not the beast so well as i do." the "gipsy," as he had been called from his dark complexion, had been renowned in youth for the beauty of his person, being "tall and singularly well-featured, of a sweet aspect, but high foreheaded, which was of no discommendation," according to naunton. the queen, who had the passion of her father for tall and proper men, was easier won by externals, from her youth even to the days of her dotage, than befitted so very sagacious a personage. chamberlains, squires of the body, carvers, cup-bearers, gentlemen-ushers, porters, could obtain neither place nor favour at court, unless distinguished for stature, strength, or extraordinary activity. to lose a tooth had been known to cause the loss of a place, and the excellent constitution of leg which helped sir christopher hatton into the chancellorship, was not more remarkable perhaps than the success of similar endowments in other contemporaries. leicester, although stately and imposing, had passed his summer solstice. a big bulky man, with a long red face, a bald head, a defiant somewhat sinister eye, a high nose, and a little torrent of foam-white curly beard, he was still magnificent in costume. rustling in satin and feathers, with jewels in his ears, and his velvet toque stuck as airily as ever upon the side of his head, he amazed the honest hollanders, who had been used to less gorgeous chieftains. "every body is wondering at the great magnificence and splendour of his clothes," said the plain chronicler of utrecht. for, not much more than a year before, fulke greville had met at delft a man whose external adornments were simpler; a somewhat slip-shod personage, whom he thus pourtrayed: "his uppermost garment was a gown," said the euphuistic fulke, "yet such as, i confidently affirm, a mean-born student of our inns of court would not have been well disposed to walk the streets in. unbuttoned his doublet was, and of like precious matter and form to the other. his waistcoat, which showed itself under it, not unlike the best sort of those woollen knit ones which our ordinary barge-watermen row us in. his company about him, the burgesses of that beerbrewing town. no external sign of degree could have discovered the inequality of his worth or estate from that multitude. nevertheless, upon conversing with him, there was an outward passage of inward greatness." of a certainty there must have been an outward passage of inward greatness about him; for the individual in unbuttoned doublet and bargeman's waistcoat, was no other than william the silent. a different kind of leader had now descended among those rebels, yet it would be a great mistake to deny the capacity or vigorous intentions of the magnificent earl, who certainly was like to find himself in a more difficult and responsible situation than any he had yet occupied. and now began a triumphal progress through the land, with a series of mighty banquets and festivities, in which no man could play a better part than leicester. from flushing he came to middelburg, where, upon christmas eve (according to the new reckoning), there was an entertainment, every dish of which has been duly chronicled. pigs served on their feet, pheasants in their feathers, and baked swans with their necks thrust through gigantic pie-crust; crystal castles of confectionery with silver streams flowing at their base, and fair virgins leaning from the battlements, looking for their new english champion, "wine in abundance, variety of all sorts, and wonderful welcomes "--such was the bill of fare. the next day the lieutenant-general returned the compliment to the magistrates of middelburg with a tremendous feast. then came an interlude of unexpected famine; for as the earl sailed with his suite in a fleet of two hundred vessels for dort--a voyage of not many hours' usual duration--there descended a mighty frozen fog upon the waters, and they lay five whole days and nights in their ships, almost starved with hunger and cold--offering in vain a "pound of silver for a pound of bread." emerging at last from this dismal predicament, he landed at dort, and so went to rotterdam and delft, everywhere making his way through lines of musketeers and civic functionaries, amid roaring cannon, pealing bells, burning cressets, blazing tar-barrels, fiery winged dragons, wreaths of flowers, and latin orations. the farther he went the braver seemed the country, and the better beloved his. lordship. nothing was left undone, in the language of ancient chronicle, to fill the bellies and the heads of the whole company. at the close of the year he came to the hague, where the festivities were unusually magnificent. a fleet of barges was sent to escort him. peter, james, and john, met him upon the shore, while the saviour appeared walking upon the waves, and ordered his disciples to cast their nets, and to present the fish to his excellency. farther on, he was confronted by mars and bellona, who recited latin odes in his honour. seven beautiful damsels upon a stage, representing the united states, offered him golden keys; seven others equally beautiful, embodying the seven sciences, presented him with garlands, while an enthusiastic barber adorned his shop with seven score of copper basins, with a wag-light in each, together with a rose, and a latin posy in praise of queen elizabeth. then there were tiltings in the water between champions mounted upon whales, and other monsters of the deep-representatives of siege, famine, pestilence, and murder--the whole interspersed with fireworks, poetry, charades, and matthias, nor anjou, nor king philip, nor the emperor charles, in their triumphal progresses, had been received with more spontaneous or more magnificent demonstrations. never had the living pictures been more startling, the allegories more incomprehensible, the banquets more elaborate, the orations more tedious. beside himself with rapture, leicester almost assumed the god. in delft, a city which he described as "another london almost for beauty and fairness," he is said so far to have forgotten himself as to declare that his family had--in the person of lady jane grey, his father, and brother--been unjustly deprived of the crown of england; an indiscretion which caused a shudder in all who heard him. it was also very dangerous for the lieutenant- general to exceed the bounds of becoming modesty at that momentous epoch. his power, as we shall soon have occasion to observe, was anomalous, and he was surrounded by enemies. he was not only to grapple with a rapidly developing opposition in the states, but he was surrounded with masked enemies, whom he had brought with him from england. every act and word of his were liable to closest scrutiny, and likely to be turned against him. for it was most characteristic of that intriguing age, that even the astute walsingham, who had an eye and an ear at every key-hole in europe, was himself under closest domestic inspection. there was one poley, a trusted servant of lady sidney, then living in the house of her father walsingham, during sir philip's absence, who was in close communication with lord montjoy's brother, blount, then high in favour of queen elizabeth--"whose grandmother she might be for his age and hers" --and with another brother christopher blount, at that moment in confidential attendance upon lord leicester in holland. now poley, and both the blounts, were, in reality, papists, and in intimate correspondence with the agents of the queen of scots, both at home and abroad, although "forced to fawn upon leicester, to see if they might thereby live quiet." they had a secret "alphabet," or cipher, among them, and protested warmly, that they "honoured the ground whereon queen mary trod better than leicester with all his generation; and that they felt bound to serve her who was the only saint living on the earth." it may be well understood then that the earl's position was a slippery one, and that great assumption might be unsafe. "he taketh the matter upon him," wrote morgan to the queen of scots, "as though he were an absolute king; but he hath many personages about him of good place out of england, the best number whereof desire nothing more than his confusion. some of them be gone with him to avoid the persecution for religion in england. my poor advice and labour shall not be wanting to give leicester all dishonour, which will fall upon him in the end with shame enough; though for the present he be very strong." many of these personages of good place, and enjoying "charge and credit" with the earl had very serious plans in their heads. some of them meant "for the service of god, and the advantage of the king of spain, to further the delivery of some notable towns in holland and zeeland to the said king and his ministers," and we are like to hear of these individuals again. meantime, the earl of leicester was at the hague. why was he there? what was his work? why had elizabeth done such violence to her affection as to part with her favourite-in-chief; and so far overcome her thrift, as to furnish forth, rather meagrely to be sure, that little army of englishmen? why had the flower of england's chivalry set foot upon that dark and bloody ground where there seemed so much disaster to encounter, and so little glory to reap? why had england thrown herself so heroically into the breach, just as the last bulwarks were falling which protected holland from the overwhelming onslaught of spain? it was because holland was the threshold of england; because the two countries were one by danger and by destiny; because the naval expedition from spain against england was already secretly preparing; because the deposed tyrant of spain intended the provinces, when again subjugated, as a steppingstone to the conquest of england; because the naval and military forces of holland--her numerous ships, her hardy mariners, her vast wealth, her commodious sea-ports, close to the english coast--if made spanish property would render philip invincible by sea and land; and because the downfall of holland and of protestantism would be death to elizabeth, and annihilation to england. there was little doubt on the subject in the minds of those engaged in this expedition. all felt most keenly the importance of the game, in which the queen was staking her crown, and england its national existence. "i pray god," said wilford, an officer much in walsingham's confidence, "that i live not to see this enterprise quail, and with it the utter subversion of religion throughout all christendom. it may be i may be judged to be afraid of my own shadow. god grant it be so. but if her majesty had not taken the helm in hand, and my lord of leicester sent over, this country had been gone ere this. . . . this war doth defend england. who is he that will refuse to spend his life and living in it? if her majesty consume twenty thousand men in the cause, the experimented men that will remain will double that strength to the realm." this same wilford commanded a company in ostend, and was employed by leicester in examining the defences of that important place. he often sent information to the secretary, "troubling him with the rude stile of a poor soldier, being driven to scribble in haste." he reiterated, in more than one letter, the opinion, that twenty thousand men consumed in the war would be a saving in the end, and his own determination--although he had intended retiring from the military profession--to spend not only his life in the cause, but also the poor living that god had given him. "her highness hath now entered into it," he said; "the fire is kindled; whosoever suffers it to go out, it will grow dangerous to that side. the whole state of religion is in question, and the realm of england also, if this action quail. god grant we never live to see that doleful day. her majesty hath such footing now in these parts, as i judge it impossible for the king to weary her out, if every man will put to the work his helping hand, whereby it may be lustily followed, and the war not suffered to cool. the freehold of england will be worth but little, if this action quail, and therefore i wish no subject to spare his purse towards it." spain moved slowly. philip the prudent was not sudden or rash, but his whole life had proved, and was to prove, him inflexible in his purposes, and patient in his attempts to carry them into effect, even when the purposes had become chimerical, and the execution impossible. before the fall of antwerp he had matured his scheme for the invasion of england, in most of its details--a necessary part of which was of course the reduction of holland and zeeland. "surely no danger nor fear of any attempt can grow to england," wrote wilford, "so long as we can hold this country good." but never was honest soldier more mistaken than he, when he added:--"the papists will make her highness afraid of a great fleet now preparing in spain. we hear it also, but it is only a scare-crow to cool the enterprise here." it was no scare-crow. on the very day on which wilford was thus writing to walsingham, philip the second was writing to alexander farnese. "the english," he said, "with their troops having gained a footing in the islands (holland and zeeland) give me much anxiety. the english catholics are imploring me with much importunity to relieve them from the persecution they are suffering. when you sent me a plan, with the coasts, soundings, quicksands, and ports of england, you said that the enterprise of invading that country should be deferred till we had reduced the isles; that, having them, we could much more conveniently attack england; or that at least we should wait till we had got antwerp. as the city is now taken, i want your advice now about the invasion of england. to cut the root of the evils constantly growing up there, both for god's service and mine, is desirable. so many evils will thus be remedied, which would not be by only warring with the islands. it would be an uncertain and expensive war to go to sea for the purpose of chastising the insolent english corsairs, however much they deserve chastisement. i charge you to be secret, to give the matter your deepest attention, and to let me have your opinions at once." philip then added a postscript, in his own hand, concerning the importance of acquiring a sea-port in holland, as a basis of operations against england. "without a port," he said, "we can do nothing whatever." a few weeks later, the grand commander of castile, by philip's orders, and upon subsequent information received from the prince of parma, drew up an elaborate scheme for the invasion of england, and for the government of that country afterwards; a program according to which the king was to shape his course for a long time to come. the plot was an excellent plot. nothing could be more artistic, more satisfactory to the prudent monarch; but time was to show whether there might not be some difficulty in the way of its satisfactory development. "the enterprise," said the commander, "ought certainly to be undertaken as serving the cause of the lord. from the pope we must endeavour to extract a promise of the largest aid we can get for the time when the enterprise can be undertaken. we must not declare that time however, in order to keep the thing a secret, and because perhaps thus more will be promised, under the impression that it will never take effect. he added that the work could not well be attempted before august or september of the following year; the only fear of such delay being that the french could hardly be kept during all that time in a state of revolt." for this was a uniform portion of the great scheme. france was to be kept, at philip's expense, in a state of perpetual civil war; its every city and village to be the scene of unceasing conflict and bloodshed--subjects in arms against king, and family against family; and the netherlands were to be ravaged with fire and sword; all this in order that the path might be prepared for spanish soldiers into the homes of england. so much of misery to the whole human race was it in the power of one painstaking elderly valetudinarian to inflict, by never for an instant neglecting the business of his life. troops and vessels for the english invasion ought, in the commander's opinion, to be collected in flanders, under colour of an enterprise against holland and zeeland, while the armada to be assembled in spain, of galleons, galeazas, and galleys, should be ostensibly for an expedition to the indies. then, after the conquest, came arrangements for the government of england. should philip administer his new kingdom by a viceroy, or should he appoint a king out of his own family? on the whole the chances for the prince of parma seemed the best of any. "we must liberate the queen of scotland," said the grand commander, "and marry her to some one or another, both in order to put her out of love with her son, and to conciliate her devoted adherents. of course the husband should be one of your majesty's nephews, and none could be so appropriate as the prince of parma, that great captain, whom his talents, and the part he has to bear in the business, especially indicate for that honour." then there was a difficulty about the possible issue of such a marriage. the farneses claimed portugal; so that children sprung from the bloodroyal of england blended with that of parma, might choose to make those pretensions valid. but the objection was promptly solved by the commander:--"the queen of scotland is sure to have no children," he said. that matter being adjusted, parma's probable attitude as king of england was examined. it was true his ambition might cause occasional uneasiness, but then he might make himself still more unpleasant in the netherlands. "if your majesty suspects him," said the commander, "which, after all, is unfair, seeing the way, in which he has been conducting himself--it is to be remembered that in flanders are similar circumstances and opportunities, and that he is well armed, much beloved in the country, and that the natives are of various humours. the english plan will furnish an honourable departure for him out of the provinces; and the principle of loyal obligation will have much influence over so chivalrous a knight as he, when he is once placed on the english throne. moreover, as he will be new there, he will have need of your majesty's favour to maintain himself, and there will accordingly be good correspondence with holland and the islands. thus your majesty can put the infanta and her husband into full possession of all the netherlands; having provided them with so excellent a neighbour in england, and one so closely bound and allied to them. then, as he is to have no english children" (we have seen that the commander had settled that point) "he will be a very good mediator to arrange adoptions, especially if you make good provision for his son rainuccio in italy. the reasons in favour of this plan being so much stronger than those against it, it would be well that your majesty should write clearly to the prince of parma, directing him to conduct the enterprise" (the english invasion), "and to give him the first offer for this marriage (with queen mary) if he likes the scheme. if not, he had better mention which of the archdukes should be substituted in his place." there happened to be no lack of archdukes at that period for anything comfortable that might offer--such as a throne in england, holland, or france--and the austrian house was not remarkable for refusing convenient marriages; but the immediate future only could show whether alexander i. of the house of farnese was to reign in england, or whether the next king of that country was to be called matthias, maximilian, or ernest of hapsburg. meantime the grand commander was of opinion that the invasion-project was to be pushed forward as rapidly and as secretly as possible; because, before any one of philip's nephews could place himself upon the english throne, it was first necessary to remove elizabeth from that position. before disposing of the kingdom, the preliminary step of conquering it was necessary. afterwards it would be desirable, without wasting more time than was requisite, to return with a large portion of the invading force out of england, in order to complete the conquest of holland. for after all, england was to be subjugated only as a portion of one general scheme; the main features of which were the reannexation of holland and "the islands," and the acquisition of unlimited control upon the seas. thus the invasion of england was no "scarecrow," as wilford imagined, but a scheme already thoroughly matured. if holland and zeeland should meantime fall into the hands of philip, it was no exaggeration on that soldier's part to observe that the "freehold of england would be worth but little." to oppose this formidable array against the liberties of europe stood elizabeth tudor and the dutch republic. for the queen, however arbitrary her nature, fitly embodied much of the nobler elements in the expanding english national character. she felt instinctively that her reliance in the impending death-grapple was upon the popular principle, the national sentiment, both in her own country and in holland. that principle and that sentiment were symbolized in the netherland revolt; and england, although under a somewhat despotic rule, was already fully pervaded with the instinct of self-government. the people held the purse and the sword. no tyranny could be permanently established so long as the sovereign was obliged to come every year before parliament to ask for subsidies; so long as all the citizens and yeomen of england had weapons in their possession, and were carefully trained to use them; so long, in short, as the militia was the only army, and private adventurers or trading companies created and controlled the only navy. war, colonization, conquest, traffic, formed a joint business and a private speculation. if there were danger that england, yielding to purely mercantile habits of thought and action, might degenerate from the more martial standard to which she had been accustomed, there might be virtue in that netherland enterprise, which was now to call forth all her energies. the provinces would be a seminary for english soldiers. "there can be no doubt of our driving the enemy out of the country through famine and excessive charges," said the plain-spoken english soldier already quoted, who came out with leicester, "if every one of us will put our minds to go forward without making a miserable gain by the wars. a man may see, by this little progress journey, what this long peace hath wrought in us. we are weary of the war before we come where it groweth, such a danger hath this long peace brought us into. this is, and will be, in my opinion, a most fit school and nursery to nourish soldiers to be able to keep and defend our country hereafter, if men will follow it." wilford was vehement in denouncing the mercantile tendencies of his countrymen, and returned frequently to that point in his communications with walsingham and other statesmen. "god hath stirred up this action," he repeated again, "to be a school to breed up soldiers to defend the freedom of england, which through these long times of peace and quietness is brought into a most dangerous estate, if it should be attempted. our delicacy is such that we are already weary, yet this journey is naught in respect to the misery and hardship that soldiers must and do endure." he was right in his estimate of the effect likely to be produced by the war upon the military habits of englishmen; for there can be no doubt that the organization and discipline of english troops was in anything but a satisfactory state at that period. there was certainly vast room for improvement. nevertheless he was wrong in his views of the leading tendencies of his age. holland and england, self-helping, self-moving, were already inaugurating a new era in the history of the world. the spirit of commercial maritime enterprise--then expanding rapidly into large proportions--was to be matched against the religious and knightly enthusiasm which had accomplished such wonders in an age that was passing away. spain still personified, and had ever personified, chivalry, loyalty, piety; but its chivalry, loyalty, and piety, were now in a corrupted condition. the form was hollow, and the sacred spark had fled. in holland and england intelligent enterprise had not yet degenerated into mere greed for material prosperity. the love of danger, the thirst for adventure, the thrilling sense of personal responsibility and human dignity--not the base love for land and lucre--were the governing sentiments which led those bold dutch and english rovers to circumnavigate the world in cockle-shells, and to beard the most potent monarch on the earth, both at home and abroad, with a handful of volunteers. this then was the contest, and this the machinery by which it was to be maintained. a struggle for national independence, liberty of conscience, freedom of the seas, against sacerdotal and world-absorbing tyranny; a mortal combat of the splendid infantry of spain and italy, the professional reiters of germany, the floating castles of a world-empire, with the militiamen and mercantile-marine of england and holland united. holland had been engaged twenty years long in the conflict. england had thus far escaped it; but there was no doubt, and could be none, that her time had come. she must fight the battle of protestantism on sea and shore, shoulder to shoulder, with the netherlanders, or await the conqueror's foot on her own soil. what now was the disposition and what the means of the provinces to do their part in the contest? if the twain as holland wished, had become of one flesh, would england have been the loser? was it quite sure that elizabeth--had she even accepted the less compromising title which she refused--would not have been quite as much the protected as the "protectress?" it is very certain that the english, on their arrival in the provinces, were singularly impressed by the opulent and stately appearance of the country and its inhabitants. notwithstanding the tremendous war which the hollanders had been waging against spain for twenty years, their commerce had continued to thrive, and their resources to increase. leicester was in a state of constant rapture at the magnificence which surrounded him, from his first entrance into the country. notwithstanding the admiration expressed by the hollanders for the individual sumptuousness of the lieutenant-general; his followers, on their part, were startled by the general luxury of their new allies. "the realm is rich and full of men," said wilford, "the sums men exceed in apparel would bear the brunt of this war;" and again, "if the excess used in sumptuous apparel were only abated, and that we could convert the same to these wars, it would stop a great gap." the favourable view taken by the english as to the resources and inclination of the netherland commonwealth was universal. "the general wish and desire of these countrymen," wrote sir thomas shirley, "is that the amity begun between england and this nation may be everlasting, and there is not any of our company of judgment but wish the same. for all they that see the goodliness and stateliness of these towns, strengthened both with fortification and natural situation, all able to defend themselves with their own abilities, must needs think it too fair a prey to be let pass, and a thing most worthy to be embraced." leicester, whose enthusiasm continued to increase as rapidly as the queen's zeal seemed to be cooling, was most anxious lest the short- comings of his own government should work irreparable evil. "i pray you, my lord," he wrote to burghley, "forget not us poor exiles; if you do, god must and will forget you. and great pity it were that so noble provinces and goodly havens, with such infinite ships and mariners, should not be always as they may now easily be, at the assured devotion of england. in my opinion he can neither love queen nor country that would not wish and further it should be so. and seeing her majesty is thus far entered into the cause, and that these people comfort themselves in full hope of her favour, it were a sin and a shame it should not be handled accordingly, both for honour and surety." sir john conway, who accompanied the earl through the whole of his "progress journey," was quite as much struck as he by the flourishing aspect and english proclivities of the provinces. "the countries which we have passed," he said, "are fertile in their nature; the towns, cities, buildings, of snore state and beauty, to such as have travelled other countries, than any they have ever seen. the people the most industrious by all means to live that be in the world, and, no doubt, passing rich. they outwardly show themselves of good heart, zeal, and loyalty, towards the queen our mistress. there is no doubt that the general number of them had rather come under her majesty's regiment, than to continue under the states and burgomasters of their country. the impositions which they lay in defence of their state is wonderful. if her highness proceed in this beginning, she may retain these parts hers, with their good love, and her great glory and gain. i would she might as perfectly see the whole country, towns, profits, and pleasures thereof, in a glass, as she may her own face; i do then assure myself she would with careful consideration receive them, and not allow of any man's reason to the contrary . . . . the country is worthy any prince in the world, the people do reverence the queen, and in love of her do so believe that the grace of leicester is by god and her sent among them for her good. and they believe in him for the redemption of their bodies, as they do in god for their souls. i dare pawn my soul, that if her majesty will allow him the just and rightful mean to manage this cause, that he will so handle the manner and matter as shall highly both please and profit her majesty, and increase her country, and his own honour." lord north, who held a high command in the auxiliary force, spoke also with great enthusiasm. "had your lordship seen," he wrote to burghley, "with what thankful hearts these countries receive all her majesty's subjects, what multitudes of people they be, what stately cities and buildings they have, how notably fortified by art, how strong by nature, flow fertile the whole country, and how wealthy it is, you would, i know, praise the lord that opened your lips to undertake this enterprise, the continuance and good success whereof will eternise her majesty, beautify her crown, with the most shipping, with the most populous and wealthy countries, that ever prince added to his kingdom, or that is or can be found in europe. i lack wit, good my lord, to dilate this matter." leicester, better informed than some of those in his employment, entertained strong suspicions concerning philip's intentions with regard to england; but he felt sure that the only way to laugh at a spanish invasion was to make holland and england as nearly one as it was possible to do. "no doubt that the king of spain's preparations by sea be great," he, said; "but i know that all that he and his friends can make are not able to match with her majesty's forces, if it please her to use the means that god hath given her. but besides her own, if she need; i will undertake to furnish her from hence, upon two months' warning, a navy for strong and tall ships, with their furniture and mariners, that the king of spain, and all that he can make, shall not be able to encounter with them. i think the bruit of his preparations is made the greater to terrify her majesty and this country people. but, thanked be god, her majesty hath little cause to fear him. and in this country they esteem no more of his power by sea than i do of six fisher-boats off rye." thus suggestive is it to peep occasionally behind the curtain. in the calm cabinet of the escorial, philip and his comendador mayor are laying their heads together, preparing the invasion of england; making arrangements for king alexander's coronation in that island, and--like sensible, farsighted persons as they are--even settling the succession to the throne after alexander's death, instead of carelessly leaving such distant details to chance, or subsequent consideration. on the other hand, plain dutch sea-captains, grim beggars of the sea, and the like, denizens of a free commonwealth and of the boundless ocean-men who are at home on blue water, and who have burned gunpowder against those prodigious slave-rowed galleys of spain--together with their new allies, the dauntless mariners of england--who at this very moment are "singeing the king of spain's beard," as it had never been singed before--are not so much awestruck with the famous preparations for invasion as was perhaps to be expected. there may be a delay, after all, before parma can be got safely established in london, and elizabeth in orcus, and before the blood-tribunal of the inquisition can substitute its sway for that of the "most noble, wise, and learned united states." certainly, philip the prudent would have been startled, difficult as he was to astonish, could he have known that those rebel hollanders of his made no more account of his slowly-preparing invincible armada than of six fisher-boats off rye. time alone could show where confidence had been best placed. meantime it was certain, that it well behoved holland and england to hold hard together, nor let "that enterprise quail." the famous expedition of sir francis drake was the commencement of a revelation. "that is the string," said leicester, "that touches the king indeed." it was soon to be made known to the world that the ocean was not a spanish lake, nor both the indies the private property of philip. "while the riches of the indies continue," said leicester, "he thinketh he will be able to weary out all other princes; and i know, by good means, that he more feareth this action of sir francis than he ever did anything that has been attempted against him." with these continued assaults upon the golden treasure-houses of spain, and by a determined effort to maintain the still more important stronghold which had been wrested from her in the netherlands, england might still be safe. "this country is so full of ships and mariners," said leicester, "so abundant in wealth, and in the means to make money, that, had it but stood neutral, what an aid had her majesty been deprived of. but if it had been the enemy's also, i leave it to your consideration what had been likely to ensue. these people do now honour and love her majesty in marvellous sort." there was but one feeling on this most important subject among the english who went to the netherlands. all held the same language. the question was plainly presented to england whether she would secure to herself the great bulwark of her defence, or place it in the hands of her mortal foe? how could there be doubt or supineness on such a momentous subject? "surely, my lord," wrote richard cavendish to burghley, "if you saw the wealth, the strength, the shipping, and abundance of mariners, whereof these countries stand furnished, your heart would quake to think that so hateful an enemy as spain should again be furnished with such instruments; and the spaniards themselves do nothing doubt upon the hope of the consequence hereof, to assure themselves of the certain ruin of her majesty and the whole estate." and yet at the very outset of leicester's administration, there was a whisper of peace-overtures to spain, secretly made by elizabeth in her own behalf, and in that of the provinces. we shall have soon occasion to examine into the truth of these rumours, which, whether originating in truth or falsehood, were most pernicious in their effects. the hollanders were determined never to return to slavery again, so long as they could fire a shot in their own defence. they earnestly wished english cooperation, but it was the cooperation of english matchlocks and english cutlasses, not english protecols and apostilles. it was military, not diplomatic machinery that they required. if they could make up their minds to submit to philip and the inquisition again, philip and the holy office were but too ready to receive the erring penitents to their embrace without a go-between. it was war, not peace, therefore, that holland meant by the english alliance. it was war, not peace, that philip intended. it was war, not peace, that elizabeth's most trusty counsellors knew to be inevitable. there was also, as we have shown, no doubt whatever as to the good disposition, and the great power of the republic to bear its share in the common cause. the enthusiasm of the hollanders was excessive. "there was such a noise, both in delft, rotterdam, and dort," said leicester, "in crying 'god save the queen!' as if she had been in cheapside." her own subjects could not be more loyal than were the citizens and yeomen of holland. "the members of the states dare not but be queen elizabeth's," continued the earl, "for by the living god! if there should fall but the least unkindness through their default, the people would kill them. all sorts of people, from highest to lowest, assure themselves, now that they have her majesty's good countenance, to beat all the spaniards out of their country. never was there people in such jollity as these be. i could be content to lose a limb, could her majesty see these countries and towns as i have done." he was in truth excessively elated, and had already, in imagination, vanquished alexander farnese, and eclipsed the fame of william the silent. "they will serve under me," he observed, "with a better will than ever they served under the prince of orange. yet they loved him well, but they never hoped of the liberty of this country till now." thus the english government had every reason to be satisfied with the aspect of its affairs in the netherlands. but the nature of the earl's authority was indefinite. the queen had refused the sovereignty and the protectorate. she had also distinctly and peremptorily forbidden leicester to assume any office or title that might seem at variance with such a refusal on her part. yet it is certain that, from the very first, he had contemplated some slight disobedience to these prohibitions. "what government is requisite"--wrote he in a secret memorandum of "things most necessary to understand"--"to be appointed to him that shall be their governor? first, that he have as much authority as the prince of orange, or any other governor or captain-general, hath had heretofore." now the prince of orange hath been stadholder of each of the united provinces, governor-general, commander-in-chief, count of holland in prospect, and sovereign, if he had so willed it. it would doubtless have been most desirable for the country, in its confused condition, had there been a person competent to wield, and willing to accept, the authority once exercised by william i. but it was also certain that this was exactly the authority which elizabeth had forbidden leicester to assume. yet it is diffcult to understand what position the queen intended that her favourite should maintain, nor how he was to carry out her instructions, while submitting to her prohibitions. he was directed to cause the confused government of the provinces to be redressed, and a better form of polity to be established. he was ordered, in particular, to procure a radical change in the constitution, by causing the deputies to the general assembly to be empowered to decide upon important matters, without, as had always been the custom, making direct reference to the assemblies of the separate provinces. he was instructed to bring about, in some indefinite way, a complete reform in financial matters, by compelling the states-general to raise money by liberal taxation, according to the "advice of her majesty, delivered unto them by her lieutenant." and how was this radical change in the institutions of the provinces to be made by an english earl, whose only authority was that of commander- in-chief over five thousand half-starved, unpaid, utterly-forlorn english troops? the netherland envoys in england, in their parting advice, most distinctly urged him "to hale authority with the first, to declare himself chief head and governor-general" of the whole country,--for it was a political head that was wanted in order to restore unity of action --not an additional general, where there were already generals in plenty. sir john norris, valiant, courageous, experienced--even if not, as walsingham observed, a "religious soldier," nor learned in anything "but a kind of licentious and corrupt government"--was not likely to require the assistance of the new lieutenant-general in field operations nor could the army be brought into a state of thorough discipline and efficiency by the magic of leicester's name. the rank and file of the english army--not the commanders-needed strengthening. the soldiers required shoes and stockings, bread and meat, and for these articles there were not the necessary funds, nor would the title of lieutenant- general supply the deficiency. the little auxiliary force was, in truth, in a condition most pitiable to behold: it was difficult to say whether the soldiers who had been already for a considerable period in the netherlands, or those who had been recently levied in the purlieus of london, were in the most unpromising plight. the beggarly state in which elizabeth had been willing that her troops should go forth to the wars was a sin and a disgrace. well might her lieutenant-general say that her "poor subjects were no better than abjects." there were few effective companies remaining of the old force. "there is but a small number of the first bands left," said sir john conway, "and those so pitiful and unable ever to serve again, as i leave to speak further of theirs, to avoid grief to your heart. a monstrous fault there hath been somewhere." leicester took a manful and sagacious course at starting. those who had no stomach for the fight were ordered to depart. the chaplain gave them sermons; the lieutenant-general, on st. stephen's day, made them a "pithy and honourable" oration, and those who had the wish or the means to buy themselves out of the adventure, were allowed to do so: for the earl was much disgusted with the raw material out of which he was expected to manufacture serviceable troops. swaggering ruffians from the disreputable haunts of london, cockney apprentices, brokendown tapsters, discarded serving men; the bardolphs and pistols, mouldys, warts, and the like--more at home in tavern-brawls or in dark lanes than on the battle- field--were not the men to be entrusted with the honour of england at a momentous crisis. he spoke with grief and shame of the worthless character and condition of the english youths sent over to the netherlands. "believe me," said he, "you will all repent the cockney kind of bringing up at this day of young men. they be gone hence with shame enough, and too many, that i will warrant, will make as many frays with bludgeons and bucklers as any in london shall do; but such shall never have credit with me again. our simplest men in show have been our best men, and your gallant blood and ruffian men the worst of all others." much winnowed, as it was, the small force might in time become more effective; and the earl spent freely of his own substance to supply the wants of his followers, and to atone for the avarice of his sovereign. the picture painted however by muster-master digger of the plumed troops that had thus come forth to maintain the honour of england and the cause of liberty, was anything but imposing. none knew better than digges their squalid and slovenly condition, or was more anxious to effect a reformation therein. "a very wise, stout fellow he is," said the earl, "and very careful to serve thoroughly her majesty." leicester relied much upon his efforts. "there is good hope," said the muster-master, "that his excellency will shortly establish such good order for the government and training of our nation, that these weak, bad-furnished, ill-armed, and worse-trained bands, thus rawly left unto him, shall within a few months prove as well armed, trained, complete, gallant companies as shall be found elsewhere in europe." the damage they were likely to inflict upon the enemy seemed very problematical, until they should have been improved by some wholesome ball-practice. "they are so unskilful," said digger, "that if they should be carried to the field no better trained than yet they are, they would prove much more dangerous to their own leaders and companies than any ways serviceable on their enemies. the hard and miserable estate of the soldiers generally, excepting officers, hath been such, as by the confessions of the captains themselves, they have been offered by many of their soldiers thirty and forty pounds a piece to be dismissed and sent away; whereby i doubt not the flower of the pressed english bands are gone, and the remnant supplied with such paddy persons as commonly, in voluntary procurements, men are glad to accept." even after the expiration of four months the condition of the paddy persons continued most destitute. the english soldiers became mere barefoot starving beggars in the streets, as had never been the case in the worst of times, when the states were their paymasters. the little money brought from the treasury by the earl, and the large sums which he had contributed out of his own pocket, had been spent in settling, and not fully settling, old scores. "let me entreat you," wrote leicester to walsingham, "to be a mean to her majesty, that the poor soldiers be not beaten for my sake. there came no penny of treasure over since my coming hither. that which then came was most part due before it came. there is much still due. they cannot get a penny, their credit is spent, they perish for want of victuals and clothing in great numbers. the whole are ready to mutiny. they cannot be gotten out to service, because they cannot discharge the debts they owe in the places where they are. i have let of my own more than i may spare."--"there was no soldier yet able to buy himself a pair of hose," said the earl again, "and it is too, too great shame to see how they go, and it kills their hearts to show themselves among men." there was no one to dispute the earl's claims. the nassau family was desperately poor, and its chief, young maurice, although he had been elected stadholder of holland and zeeland, had every disposition--as sir philip upon his arrival in flushing immediately informed his uncle--to submit to the authority of the new governor. louisa de coligny, widow of william the silent, was most anxious for the english alliance, through which alone she believed that the fallen fortunes of the family could be raised. it was thus only, she thought, that the vengeance for which she thirsted upon the murderers of her father and her husband could be obtained. "we see now," she wrote to walsingham, in a fiercer strain than would seem to comport with so gentle a nature--deeply wronged as the daughter of coligny and the wife of orange had been by papists--"we see now the effects of our god's promises. he knows when it pleases him to avenge the blood of his own; and i confess that i feel most keenly the joy which is shared in by the whole church of god. there is none that has received more wrong from these murderers than i have done, and i esteem myself happy in the midst of my miseries that god has permitted me to see some vengeance. these beginings make me hope that i shall see yet more, which will be not less useful to the good, both in your country and in these isles." there was no disguise as to the impoverished condition to which the nassau family had been reduced by the self-devotion of its chief. they were obliged to ask alms of england, until the "sapling should become a tree."--"since it is the will of god," wrote the princess to davison, "i am not ashamed to declare the necessity of our house, for it is in his cause that it has fallen. i pray you, sir, therefore to do me and these children the favour to employ your thoughts in this regard." if there had been any strong french proclivities on their part--as had been so warmly asserted--they were likely to disappear. villiers, who had been a confidential friend of william the silent, and a strong favourer of france, in vain endeavoured to keep alive the ancient sentiments towards that country, although he was thought to be really endeavouring to bring about a submission of the nassaus to spain. "this villiers," said leicester, "is a most vile traitorous knave, and doth abuse a young nobleman here extremely, the count maurice. for all his religion, he is a more earnest persuader secretly to have him yield to a reconciliation than sainte aldegonde was. he shall not tarry ten days neither in holland nor zeeland. he is greatly hated here of all sorts, and it shall go hard but i will win the young count." as for hohenlo, whatever his opinions might once have been regarding the comparative merits of frenchmen and englishmen, he was now warmly in favour of england, and expressed an intention of putting an end to the villiers' influence by simply drowning villiers. the announcement of this summary process towards the counsellor was not untinged with rudeness towards the pupil. "the young count," said leicester, "by villiers' means, was not willing to have flushing rendered, which the count hollock perceiving, told the count maurice, in a great rage, that if he took any course than that of the queen of england, and swore by no beggars, he would drown his priest in the haven before his face, and turn himself and his mother-in-law out of their house there, and thereupon went with mr. davison to the delivery of it." certainly, if hohenlo permitted himself such startling demonstrations towards the son and widow of william the silent, it must have been after his habitual potations had been of the deepest. nevertheless it was satisfactory for the new chieftain to know that the influence of so vehement a partisan was secured for england. the count's zeal deserved gratitude upon leicester's part, and leicester was grateful. "this man must be cherished," said the earl; "he is sound and faithful, and hath indeed all the chief holds in his hands, and at his commandment. ye shall do well to procure him a letter of thanks, taking knowledge in general of his good-will to her majesty. he is a right almayn in manner and fashion, free of his purse and of his drink, yet do i wish him her majesty's pensioner before any prince in germany, for he loves her and is able to serve her, and doth desire to be known her servant. he hath been laboured by his nearest kinsfolk and friends in germany to have left the states and to have the king of spain's pension and very great reward; but he would not. i trust her majesty will accept of his offer to be her servant during his life, being indeed a very noble soldier." the earl was indeed inclined to take so cheerful view of matters as to believe that he should even effect a reform in the noble soldier's most unpleasant characteristic. "hollock is a wise gallant gentleman," he said, "and very well esteemed. he hath only one fault, which is drinking; but good hope that he will amend it. some make me believe that i shall be able to do much with him, and i mean to do my best, for i see no man that knows all these countries, and the people of all sorts, like him, and this fault overthrows all." accordingly, so long as maurice continued under the tutelage of this uproarious cavalier--who, at a later day, was to become his brother-in- law-he was not likely to interfere with leicester's authority. the character of the young count was developing slowly. more than his father had ever done, he deserved the character of the taciturn. a quiet keen observer of men and things, not demonstrative nor talkative, nor much given to writing--a modest, calm, deeply-reflecting student of military and mathematical science--he was not at that moment deeply inspired by political ambition. he was perhaps more desirous of raising the fallen fortunes of his house than of securing the independence of his country. even at that early age, however, his mind was not easy to read, and his character was somewhat of a puzzle to those who studied it. "i see him much discontented with the states," said leicester; "he hath a sullen deep wit. the young gentleman is yet to be won only to her majesty, i perceive, of his own inclination. the house is marvellous poor and little regarded by the states, and if they get anything it is like to be by her majesty, which should be altogether, and she may easily, do for him to win him sure. i will undertake it." yet the earl was ever anxious about some of the influences which surrounded maurice, for he thought him more easily guided than he wished him to be by any others but himself. "he stands upon making and marring," he said, "as he meets with good counsel." and at another time he observed, "the young gentleman hath a solemn sly wit; but, in troth, if any be to be doubted toward the king of spain, it is he and his counsellors, for they have been altogether, so far, french, and so far in mislike with england as they cannot almost hide it." and there was still another member of the house of nassau who was already an honour to his illustrious race. count william lewis, hardly more than a boy in years, had already served many campaigns, and had been desperately wounded in the cause for which so much of the heroic blood of his race had been shed. of the five nassau brethren, his father count john was the sole survivor, and as devoted as ever to the cause of netherland liberty. the other four had already laid down their lives in its defence. and william lewis, was worthy to be the nephew of william and lewis, henry and adolphus, and the son of john. not at all a beautiful or romantic hero in appearance, but an odd-looking little man, with a round bullet-head, close-clipped hair, a small, twinkling, sagacious eye, rugged, somewhat puffy features screwed whimsically awry, with several prominent warts dotting, without ornamenting, all that was visible of a face which was buried up to the ears in a furzy thicket of yellow-brown beard, the tough young stadholder of friesland, in his iron corslet, and halting upon his maimed leg, had come forth with other notable personages to the hague. he wished to do honour heartily and freely to queen elizabeth and her representative. and leicester was favourably impressed with his new acquaintance. "here is another little fellow," he said, "as little as may be, but one of the gravest and wisest young men that ever i spake withal; it is the count guilliam of nassau. he governs friesland; i would every province had such another." thus, upon the great question which presented itself upon the very threshold--the nature and extent of the authority to be exercised by leicester--the most influential netherlanders were in favour of a large and liberal interpretation of his powers. the envoys in england, the nassau family hohenlo, the prominent members of the states, such as the shrewd, plausible menin, the "honest and painful" falk, and the chancellor of gelderland--"that very great, wise, old man leoninus," as leicester called him,--were all desirous that he should assume an absolute governor-generalship over the whole country. this was a grave and a delicate matter, and needed to be severely scanned, without delay. but besides the natives, there were two englishmen--together with ambassador davison--who were his official advisers. bartholomew clerk, ll.d., and sir henry killigrew had been appointed by the queen to be members of the council of the united states, according to the provisions of the august treaty. the learned bartholomew hardly seemed equal to his responsible position among those long-headed dutch politicians. philip sidney--the only blemish in whose character was an intolerable tendency to puns--observed that "doctor clerk was of those clerks that are not always the wisest, and so my lord too late was finding him." the earl himself, who never undervalued the intellect of the netherlanders whom he came to govern, anticipated but small assistance from the english civilian. "i find no great stuff in my little colleague," he said, "nothing that i looked for. it is a pity you have no more of his profession, able men to serve. this man hath good will, and a pretty scholar's wit; but he is too little for these big fellows, as heavy as her majesty thinks them to be. i would she had but one or two, such as the worst of half a score be here." the other english statecounsellor seemed more promising. "i have one here," said the earl, "in whom i take no small comfort; that is little hal killigrew. i assure you, my lord, he is a notable servant, and more in him than ever i heretofore thought of him, though i always knew him to be an honest man and an able." but of all the men that stood by leicester's side, the most faithful, devoted, sagacious, experienced, and sincere of his counsellors, english or flemish, was envoy davison. it is important to note exactly the opinion that had been formed of him by those most competent to judge, before events in which he was called on to play a prominent and responsible though secondary part, had placed him in a somewhat false position. "mr. davison," wrote sidney, "is here very careful in her majesty's causes, and in your lordship's. he takes great pains and goes to great charges for it." the earl himself was always vehement in his praise. "mr. davison," said he at another time, "has dealt most painfully and chargeably in her majesty's service here, and you shall find him as sufficiently able to deliver the whole state of this country as any man that ever was in it, acquainted with all sorts here that are men of dealing. surely, my lord, you shall do a good deed that he may be remembered with her majesty's gracious consideration, for his being here has been very chargeable, having kept a very good countenance, and a very good table, all his abode here, and of such credit with all the chief sort, as i know no stranger in any place hath the like. as i am a suitor to you to be his good friend to her majesty, so i must heartily pray you, good my lord, to procure his coming hither shortly to me again, for i know not almost how to do without him. i confess it is a wrong to the gentleman, and i protest before god, if it were for mine own particular respect, i would not require it for l . but your lordship doth little think how greatly i have to do, as also how needful for her majesty's service his being here will, be. wherefore, good my lord, if it may not offend her majesty, be a mean for this my request, for her own service' sake wholly." such were the personages who surrounded the earl on his arrival in the netherlands, and such their sentiments respecting the position that it was desirable for him to assume. but there was one very important fact. he had studiously concealed from davison that the queen had peremptorily and distinctly forbidden his accepting the office of governor-general. it seemed reasonable, if he came thither at all, that he should come in that elevated capacity. the staten wished it. the earl ardently longed for it. the ambassador, who knew more of netherland politics and netherland humours than any man did, approved of it. the interests of both england and holland seemed to require it. no one but leicester knew that her majesty had forbidden it. accordingly, no sooner had the bell-ringing, cannon-explosions, bonfires, and charades, come to an end, and the earl got fairly housed in the hague, than the states took the affair of government seriously in hand. on the th january, chancellor leoninus and paul buys waited upon davison, and requested a copy of the commission granted by the queen to the earl. the copy was refused, but the commission was read; by which it appeared that he had received absolute command over her majesty's forces in the netherlands by land and sea, together with authority to send for all gentlemen and other personages out of england that he might think useful to him. on the th the states passed a resolution to offer him the governor-generalship over all the provinces. on the same day another committee waited upon his "excellency"--as the states chose to denominate the earl, much to the subsequent wrath of the queen--and made an appointment for the whole body to wait upon him the following morning. upon that day accordingly--new year's day, by the english reckoning, th january by the new style--the deputies of all the states at an early hour came to his lodgings, with much pomp, preceded by a herald and trumpeters. leicester, not expecting them quite so soon, was in his dressing-room, getting ready for the solemn audience, when, somewhat to his dismay, a flourish of trumpets announced the arrival of the whole body in his principal hall of audience. hastening his preparations as much as possible, he descended to that apartment, and was instantly saluted by a flourish of rhetoric still more formidable; for that "very great, and wise old leoninus," forthwith began an oration, which promised to be of portentous length and serious meaning. the earl was slightly flustered, when, fortunately; some one whispered in his ear that they had come to offer him the much-coveted prize of the stadholderate-general. thereupon he made bold to interrupt the flow of the chancellor's eloquence in its first outpourings. "as this is a very private matter," said he, "it will be better to treat of it in a more private place i pray you therefore to come into my chamber, where these things may be more conveniently discussed." "you hear what my lord says," cried leoninus, turning to his companions; "we are to withdraw into his chamber." accordingly they withdrew, accompanied by the earl, and by five or six select counsellors, among whom were davison and dr. clerk. then the chancellor once more commenced his harangue, and went handsomely through the usual forms of compliment, first to the queen, and then to her representative, concluding with an earnest request that the earl-- although her majesty had declined the sovereignty "would take the name and place of absolute governor and general of all their forces and soldiers, with the disposition of their whole revenues and taxes." so soon as the oration was concluded, leicester; who did not speak french, directed davison to reply in that language. the envoy accordingly, in name of the earl, expressed the deepest gratitude for this mark of the affection and confidence of the states- general towards the queen. he assured them that the step thus taken by them would be the cause of still more favour and affection on the part of her majesty, who would unquestionably, from day to day, augment the succour that she was extending to the provinces in order to relieve men from their misery. for himself, the earl protested that he could never sufficiently recompense the states for the honour which had thus been conferred upon him, even if he should live one hundred lives. although he felt himself quite unable to sustain the weight of so great an office, yet he declared that they might repose with full confidence on his integrity and good intentions. nevertheless, as the authority thus offered to him was very arduous, and as the subject required deep deliberation, he requested that the proposition should be reduced to writing, and delivered into his hands. he might then come to a conclusion thereupon, most conducive to the glory of god and the welfare of the land. three days afterwards, th january, the offer, drawn up formally in writing, was presented to envoy davison, according to the request of leicester. three days latter, th january, his excellency having deliberated upon the proposition, requested a committee of conference. the conference took place the same day, and there was some discussion upon matters of detail, principally relating to the matter of contributions. the earl, according to the report of the committee, manifested no repugnance to the acceptance of the office, provided these points could be satisfactorily adjusted. he seemed, on the contrary, impatient, rather than reluctant; for, on the day following the conference, he sent his secretary gilpin with a somewhat importunate message. "his excellency was surprised," said the secretary, "that the states were so long in coming to a resolution on the matters suggested by him in relation to the offer of the government-general; nor could his excellency imagine the cause of the delay." for, in truth, the delay was caused by an excessive, rather than a deficient, appetite for power on the part of his excellency. the states, while conferring what they called the "absolute" government, by which it afterwards appeared that they meant absolute, in regard to time, not to function--were very properly desirous of retaining a wholesome control over that government by means of the state-council. they wished not only to establish such a council, as a check upon the authority of the new governor, but to share with him at least in the appointment of the members who were to compose the board. but the aristocratic earl was already restive under the thought of any restraint--most of all the restraint of individuals belonging to what he considered the humbler classes. "cousin, my lord ambassador," said he to davison, "among your sober companions be it always remembered, i beseech you, that your cousin have no other alliance but with gentle blood. by no means consent that he be linked in faster bonds than their absolute grant may yield him a free and honourable government, to be able to do such service as shall be meet for an honest man to perform in such a calling, which of itself is very noble. but yet it is not more to be embraced, if i were to be led in alliance by such keepers as will sooner draw my nose from the right scent of the chace, than to lead my feet in the true pace to pursue the game i desire to reach. consider, i pray you, therefore, what is to be done, and how unfit it will be in respect of my poor self, and how unacceptable to her majesty, and how advantageous to enemies that will seek holes in my coat, if i should take so great a name upon me, and so little power. they challenge acceptation already, and i challenge their absolute grant and offer to me, before they spoke of any instructions; for so it was when leoninus first spoke to me with them all on new years day, as you heard--offering in his speech all manner of absolute authority. if it please them to confirm this, without restraining instructions, i will willingly serve the states, or else, with such advising instructions as the dowager of hungary had." this was explicit enough, and davison, who always acted for leicester in the negotiations with the states, could certainly have no doubt as to the desires of the earl, on the subject of "absolute" authority. he did accordingly what he could to bring the states to his excellency's way of thinking; nor was he unsuccessful. on the nd january, a committee of conference was sent by the states to leyden, in which city leicester was making a brief visit. they were instructed to procure his consent, if possible, to the appointment, by the states themselves, of a council consisting of members from each province. if they could not obtain this concession, they were directed to insist as earnestly as possible upon their right to present a double. list of candidates, from which he was to make nominations. and if the one and the other proposition should be refused, the states were then to agree that his excellency should freely choose and appoint a council of state, consisting of native residents from every province, for the period of one year. the committee was further authorised to arrange the commission for the governor, in accordance with these points; and to draw up a set of instructions for. the state-council, to the satisfaction of his excellency. the committee was also empowered to conclude the matter at once, without further reference to the states. certainly a committee thus instructed was likely to be sufficiently pliant. it had need to be, in order to bend to the humour of his excellency, which was already becoming imperious. the adulation which he had received; the triumphal marches, the latin orations, the flowers strewn in his path, had produced their effect, and the earl was almost inclined to assume the airs of royalty. the committee waited upon him at leyden. he affected a reluctance to accept the "absolute" government, but his coyness could not deceive such experienced statesmen as the "wise old leoliinus," or menin, maalzoon, florin thin, or aitzma, who composed the deputation. it was obvious enough to them that it was not a king log that had descended among them, but it was not a moment for complaining. the governor elect insisted, of course, that the two englishmen, according to the treaty with her majesty, should be members of, the council. he also, at once, nominated leoninus, meetkerk, brederode, falck, and paul buys, to the same office; thinking, no doubt, that these were five keepers--if keepers he must have--who would not draw his nose off the scent, nor prevent his reaching the game he hunted, whatever that game might be. it was reserved for the future, however, to show, whether, the five were like to hunt in company with him as harmoniously as he hoped. as to the other counsellors, he expressed a willingness that candidates should be proposed for him, as to whose qualifications he would make up his mind at leisure. this matter being satisfactorily adjusted-and certainly unless the game pursued by the earl was a crown royal, he ought to have been satisfied with his success--the states received a letter from their committee at leyden, informing them that his excellency, after some previous protestations, had accepted the government ( th january, ). it was agreed that he should be inaugurated governor-general of the united provinces of gelderland and zutphen, flanders, holland, zeeland, utrecht, friesland, and all others in confederacy with them. he was to have supreme military command by land and sea. he was to exercise supreme authority in matters civil and political, according to the customs prevalent in the reign of the emperor charles v. all officers, political, civil, legal, were to be appointed by him out of a double or triple nomination made by the states of the provinces in which vacancies might occur. the states-general were to assemble whenever and wherever he should summon them. they were also--as were the states of each separate province--competent to meet together by their own appointment. the governor-general was to receive an oath of fidelity from the states, and himself to swear the maintenance of the ancient laws, customs, and privileges of the country. the deed was done. in vain had an emissary of the french court been exerting his utmost to prevent the consummation of this close alliance. for the wretched government of henry iii., while abasing itself before philip ii., and offering the fair cities and fertile plains of france as a sacrifice to that insatiable ambition which wore the mask of religious bigotry, was most anxious that holland and england should not escape the meshes by which it was itself enveloped. the agent at the hague came nominally upon some mercantile affairs, but in reality, according to leicester, "to impeach the states from binding themselves to her majesty." but he was informed that there was then no leisure for his affairs; "for the states would attend to the service of the queen of england, before all princes in the world." the agent did not feel complimented by the coolness of this reception; yet it was reasonable enough, certainly, that the hollanders should remember with bitterness the contumely, which they had experienced the previous year in france. the emissary was; however, much disgusted. "the fellow," said leicester, "took it in such snuff, that he came proudly to the states and offered his letters, saying; 'now i trust you have done all your sacrifices to the queen of england, and may yield me some leisure to read my masters letters.'"--"but they so shook him, up," continued the earl, "for naming her majesty in scorn--as they took it--that they hurled him his letters; and bid him content himself;" and so on, much to the agent's discomfiture, who retired in greater "snuff" than ever. so much for the french influence. and now leicester had done exactly what the most imperious woman in the world, whose favour was the breath of his life, had expressly forbidden him to do. the step having been taken, the prize so tempting to his ambition having been snatched, and the policy which had governed the united action of the states and himself seeming so sound, what ought he to have done in order to avert the tempest which he must have foreseen? surely a man who knew so much of woman's nature and of elizabeth's nature as he did, ought to have attempted to conciliate her affections, after having so deeply wounded her pride. he knew his power. besides the graces of his person and manner--which few women, once impressed by them, could ever forget--he possessed the most insidious and flattering eloquence, and, in absence, his pen was as wily as his tongue. for the earl was imbued with the very genius of courtship. none was better skilled than he in the phrases of rapturous devotion, which were music to the ear both of the woman and the queen; and he knew his royal mistress too well not to be aware that the language of passionate idolatry, however extravagant, had rarely fallen unheeded upon her soul. it was strange therefore, that in this emergency, he should not at once throw himself upon her compassion without any mediator. yet, on the contrary, he committed the monstrous error of entrusting his defence to envoy davison, whom he determined to despatch at once with instructions to the queen, and towards whom he committed the grave offence of concealing from him her previous prohibitions. but how could the earl fail to perceive that it was the woman, not the queen, whom be should have implored for pardon; that it was robert dudley, not william davison, who ought to have sued upon his knees. this whole matter of the netherland sovereignty and the leicester stadholderate, forms a strange psychological study, which deserves and requires some minuteness of attention; for it was by the characteristics of these eminent personages that tho current history was deeply stamped. certainly, under the peculiar circumstances of the case, the first letter conveying intelligence so likely to pique the pride of elizabeth, should have been a letter from leicester. on the contrary, it proved to be a dull formal epistle from the states. and here again the assistance of the indispensable davison was considered necessary. on the rd february the ambassador--having announced his intention of going to england, by command of his excellency, so soon as the earl should have been inaugurated, for the purpose of explaining all these important transactions to her majesty--waited upon the states with the request that they should prepare as speedily as might be their letter to the queen, with other necessary documents, to be entrusted to his care. he also suggested that the draft or minute of their proposed epistle should be submitted to him for advice--"because the humours of her majesty were best known to him." now the humours of her majesty were best known to leicester of all men in the whole world, and it is inconceivable that he should have allowed so many days and weeks to pass without taking these humours properly into account. but the earl's head was slightly turned by his sudden and unexpected success. the game that he had been pursuing had fallen into his grasp, almost at the very start, and it is not astonishing that he should have been somewhat absorbed in the enjoyment of his victory. three days later ( th february) the minute of a letter to elizabeth, drawn up by menin, was submitted to the ambassador; eight days after that ( th february) mr. davison took leave of the states, and set forth for the brill on his way to england; and three or four days later yet, he was still in that sea-port, waiting for a favourable wind. thus from the th january, n.s., upon which day the first offer of the absolute government had been made to leicester, nearly forty days had elapsed, during which long period the disobedient earl had not sent one line, private or official, to her majesty on this most important subject. and when at last the queen was to receive information of her favourite's delinquency, it was not to be in his well-known handwriting and accompanied by his penitent tears and written caresses, but to be laid before her with all the formality of parchment and sealingwax, in the stilted diplomatic jargon of those "highly-mighty, very learned, wise, and very foreseeing gentlemen, my lords the states-general." nothing could have been managed with less adroitness. meantime, not heeding the storm gathering beyond the narrow seas, the new governor was enjoying the full sunshine of power. on the th february the ceremony of his inauguration took place, with great pomp and ceremony at the hague. the beautiful, placid, village-capital of holland wore much the same aspect at that day as now. clean, quiet, spacious streets, shaded with rows of whispering poplars and umbrageous limes, broad sleepy canals-- those liquid highways alone; which glided in phantom silence the bustle, and traffic, and countless cares of a stirring population--quaint toppling houses, with tower and gable; ancient brick churches, with slender spire and musical chimes; thatched cottages on the outskirts, with stork-nests on the roofs--the whole without fortification save the watery defences which enclosed it with long-drawn lines on every side; such was the count's park, or 's graven haage, in english called the hague. it was embowered and almost buried out of sight by vast groves of oaks and beeches. ancient badahuennan forests of sanguinary druids, the "wild wood without mercy" of saxon savages, where, at a later period, sovereign dirks and florences, in long succession of centuries, had ridden abroad with lance in rest, or hawk on fist; or under whose boughs, in still nearer days, the gentle jacqueline had pondered and wept over her sorrows, stretched out in every direction between the city and the neighbouring sea. in the heart of the place stood the ancient palace of the counts, built in the thirteenth century by william ii. of holland, king of the romans, with massive brick walls, cylindrical turrets, pointed gable and rose-shaped windows, and with spacious coup-yard, enclosed by feudal moat, drawbridge, and portcullis. in the great banqueting-hall of the ancient palace, whose cedarn-roof of magnificent timber-work, brought by crusading counts from the holy land, had rung with the echoes of many a gigantic revel in the days of chivalry--an apartment one hundred and fifty feet long and forty feet high--there had been arranged an elevated platform, with a splendid chair of state for the "absolute" governor, and with a great profusion of gilding and velvet tapestry, hangings, gilt emblems, complimentary devices, lions, unicorns, and other imposing appurtenances. prince maurice, and all the members of his house, the states-general in full costume, and all the great functionaries, civil and military, were assembled. there was an elaborate harangue by orator menin, in which it was proved; by copious citations from holy writ and from ancient chronicle, that the lord never forsakes his own; so that now, when the provinces were at their last gasp by the death of orange and the loss of antwerp, the queen of england and the earl of leicester had suddenly descended, as if from heaven; to their rescue. then the oaths of mutual fidelity were exchanged between the governor and the states, and, in conclusion, dr. bartholomew clerk ventured to measure himself with the "big fellows," by pronouncing an oration which seemed to command universal approbation. and thus the earl was duly installed governor- general of the united states of the netherlands. but already the first mutterings of the storm were audible. a bird in the air had whispered to the queen that her favourite was inclined to disobedience. "some flying tale hath been told me here," wrote leicester to walsingham, "that her majesty should mislike my name of excellency. but if i had delighted, or would have received titles, i refused a title higher than excellency, as mr. davison, if you ask him, will tell you; and that i, my own self, refused most earnestly that, and, if i might have done it, this also." certainly, if the queen objected to this common form of address, which had always been bestowed upon leicester, as he himself observed, ever since she had made him an earl, it might be supposed that her wrath would mount high when she should hear of him as absolute governor-general. it is also difficult to say what higher title he had refused, for certainly the records show that he had refused nothing, in the way of power and dignity, that it was possible for him to obtain. but very soon afterwards arrived authentic intelligence that the queen had been informed of the proposition made on new year's-day ( .s.), and that, although she could not imagine the possibility of his accepting, she was indignant that he had not peremptorily rejected the offer. "as to the proposal made to you," wrote burghley, "by the mouth of leoninus, her majesty hath been informed that you had thanked them in her name, and alledged that there was no such thing in the contract, and that therefore you could not accept nor knew how to answer the same." now this information was obviously far from correct, although it had been furnished by the earl himself to burghley. we have seen that leicester had by no means rejected, but very gratefully entertained, the proposition as soon as made. nevertheless the queen was dissatisfied, even without suspecting that she had been directly disobeyed. "her majesty," continued the lord-treasurer; "is much offended with this proceeding. she allows not that you should give them thanks, but findeth it very strange that you did not plainly declare to them that they did well know how often her majesty had refused to have any one for her take any such government there, and that she had always so answered peremptorily. therefore there might be some suspicion conceived that by offering on their part, and refusal on hers, some further mischief might be secretly hidden by some odd person's device to the hurt of the cause. but in that your lordship did not flatly say to them that yourself did know her majesty's mind therein, that she never meant, in this sort, to take the absolute government, she is offended considering, as she saith, that none knew her determination therein better than yourself. for at your going hence, she did peremptorily charge you not to accept any such title and office; and therefore her straight commandment now is that you shall not accept the same, for she will never assent thereto, nor avow you with any such title." if elizabeth was so wrathful, even while supposing that the offer had been gratefully declined, what were likely to be her emotions when she should be informed that it had been gratefully accepted. the earl already began to tremble at the probable consequences of his mal- adroitness. grave was the error he had committed in getting himself made governor-general against orders; graver still, perhaps fatal, the blunder of not being swift to confess his fault, and cry for pardon, before other tongues should have time to aggravate his offence. yet even now he shrank from addressing the queen in person, but hoped to conjure the rising storm by means of the magic wand of the lord-treasurer. he implored his friend's interposition to shield him in the emergency, and begged that at least her majesty and the lords of council would suspend their judgment until mr. davison should deliver those messages and explanations with which, fully freighted, he was about to set sail from the brill. "if my reasons seem to your wisdoms," said he, "other than such as might well move a true and a faithful careful man to her majesty to do as i have done, i do desire, for my mistaking offence, to bear the burden of it; to be disavowed with all displeasure and disgrace; a matter of as great reproach and grief as ever can happen to any man." he begged that another person might be sent as soon as possible in his place-protesting, however, by his faith in christ, that he had done only what he was bound to do by his regard for her majesty's service--and that when he set foot in the country he had no more expected to be made governor of the netherlands than to be made king of spain. certainly he had been paying dear for the honour, if honour it was, and he had not intended on setting forth for the provinces to ruin himself, for the sake of an empty title. his motives--and he was honest, when he so avowed them--were motives of state at least as much as of self-advancement. "i have no cause," he said, "to have played the fool thus far for myself; first, to have her majesty's displeasure, which no kingdom in the world could make me willingly deserve; next, to undo myself in my later days; to consume all that should have kept me all my life in one half year. but i must thank god for all, and am most heartily grieved at her majesty's heavy displeasure. i neither desire to live, nor to see my country with it." and at this bitter thought, he began to sigh like furnace, and to shed the big tears of penitence. "for if i have not done her majesty good service at this time," he said, "i shall never hope to do her any, but will withdraw me into some out- corner of the world, where i will languish out the rest of my few-too many-days, praying ever for her majesty's long and prosperous life, and with this only comfort to live an exile, that this disgrace hath happened for no other cause but for my mere regard for her majesty's estate." having painted this dismal picture of the probable termination to his career--not in the hope of melting burghley but of touching the heart of elizabeth--he proceeded to argue the point in question with much logic and sagacity. he had satisfied himself on his arrival in the provinces, that, if he did not take the governor-generalship some other person would; and that it certainly was for the interest of her majesty that her devoted servant, rather than an indifferent person, should be placed in that important position. he maintained that the queen had intimated, to him, in private, her willingness that he should accept the office in question provided the proposition should come from the states and not from her; he reasoned that the double nature of his functions--being general and counsellor for her, as well as general and counsellor for the provinces--made his acceptance of the authority conferred on him almost indispensable; that for him to be merely commander over five thousand english troops, when an abler soldier than himself, sir john norris, was at their head, was hardly worthy her majesty's service or himself, and that in reality the queen had lost nothing, by his appointment, but had gained much benefit and honour by thus having the whole command of the provinces, of their forces by land and sea, of their towns and treasures, with knowledge of all their secrets of state. then, relapsing into a vein of tender but reproachful melancholy, he observed, that, if it had been any man but himself that had done as he had done, he would have been thanked, not censured. "but such is now my wretched case," he said, "as for my faithful, true, and loving heart to her majesty and my country, i have utterly undone myself. for favour, i have disgrace; for reward, utter spoil and ruin. but if this taking upon me the name of governor is so evil taken as it hath deserved dishonour, discredit, disfavour, with all griefs that may be laid upon a man, i must receive it as deserved of god and not of my queen, whom i have reverenced with all humility, and whom i have loved with all fidelity." this was the true way, no doubt, to reach the heart of elizabeth, and leicester had always plenty of such shafts in his quiver. unfortunately he had delayed too long, and even now he dared not take a direct aim. he feared to write to the queen herself, thinking that his so doing, "while she had such conceipts of him, would only trouble her," and he therefore continued to employ the lord-treasurer and mr. secretary as his mediators. thus he committed error upon error. meantime, as if there had not been procrastination enough, davison was loitering at the brill, detained by wind and weather. two days after the letter, just cited, had been despatched to walsingham, leicester sent an impatient message to the envoy. "i am heartily sorry, with all my heart," he said, "to hear of your long stay at brill, the wind serving so fair as it hath done these two days. i would have laid any wager that you had been in england ere this. i pray you make haste, lest our cause take too great a prejudice there ere you come, although i cannot fear it, because it is so good and honest. i pray you imagine in what care i dwell till i shall hear from you, albeit some way very resolute." thus it was obvious that he had no secret despair of his cause when it should be thoroughly laid before the queen. the wonder was that he had added the offence of long silence to the sin of disobedience. davison had sailed, however, before the receipt of the earl's letter. he had been furnished with careful instructions upon the subject of his mission. he was to show how eager the states had been to have leicester for their absolute governor--which was perfectly true--and how anxious the earl had been to decline the proffered honour--which was certainly false, if contemporary record and the minutes of the states-general are to be believed. he was to sketch the general confusion which had descended upon the country, the quarrelling of politicians, and the discontent of officers and soldiers, from out of all which chaos one of two results was sure to arise: the erection of a single chieftain, or a reconciliation of the provinces with spain. that it would be impossible for the earl to exercise the double functions with which he was charged--of general of her majesty's forces, and general and chief counsellor of the states-- if any other man than himself should be appointed governor; was obvious. it was equally plain that the provinces could only be kept at her majesty's disposition by choosing the course which, at their own suggestion, had been adopted. the offer of the government by the states, and its acceptance by the earl, were the logical consequence of the step which the queen had already taken. it was thus only that england could retain her hold upon the country, and even upon the cautionary towns. as to a reconciliation of the provinces with spain--which would have been the probable result of leicester's rejection of the proposition made by the stateait was unnecessary to do more than allude to such a catastrophe. no one but a madman could doubt that, in such an event, the subjugation of england was almost certain. but before the arrival of the ambassador, the queen had been thoroughly informed as to the whole extent of the earl's delinquency. dire was the result. the wintry gales which had been lashing the north sea, and preventing the unfortunate davison from setting forth on his disastrous mission, were nothing to the tempest of royal wrath which had been shaking the court-world to its centre. the queen had been swearing most fearfully ever since she read the news, which leicester had not dared to communicate directly, to herself. no one was allowed to speak a word in extenuation of the favourite's offence. burghley, who lifted up his voice somewhat feebly to appease her wrath, was bid, with a curse, to hold his peace. so he took to his bed-partly from prudence, partly from gout--and thus sheltered himself for a season from the peltings of the storm. walsingham, more manful, stood to his post, but could not gain a hearing. it was the culprit that should have spoken, and spoken in time. "why, why did you not write yourself?" was the plaintive cry of all the earl's friends, from highest to humblest. "but write to her now," they exclaimed, "at any rate; and, above all, send her a present, a love- gift." "lay out two or three hundred crowns in some rare thing, for a token to her majesty," said christopher hatton. strange that his colleagues and his rivals should have been obliged to advise leicester upon the proper course to pursue; that they--not himself--should have been the first to perceive that it was the enraged woman, even more than the offended sovereign, who was to be propitiated and soothed. in truth, all the woman had been aroused in elizabeth's bosom. she was displeased that her favourite should derive power and splendour from any source but her own bounty. she was furious that his wife, whom she hated, was about to share in his honours. for the mischievous tongues of court-ladies had been collecting or fabricating many unpleasant rumours. a swarm of idle but piquant stories had been buzzing about the queen's ears, and stinging her into a frenzy of jealousy. the countess--it was said--was on the point of setting forth for the netherlands, to join the earl, with a train of courtiers and ladies, coaches and side-saddles, such as were never seen before--where the two were about to establish themselves in conjugal felicity, as well as almost royal state. what a prospect for the jealous and imperious sovereign! "coaches and side-saddles! she would show the upstarts that there was one queen, and that her name was elizabeth, and that there was no court but hers." and so she continued to storm and swear, and threaten unutterable vengeance, till all her courtiers quaked in their shoes. thomas dudley, however, warmly contradicted the report, declaring, of his own knowledge, that the countess had no wish to go to the provinces, nor the earl any intention of receiving her there. this information was at once conveyed to the queen, "and," said dudley, "it did greatly pacify her stomach." his friends did what they could to maintain the governor's cause; but burghley, walsingham, hatton, and the rest of them, were all "at their wits end," and were nearly distraught at the delay in davison's arrival. meantime the queen's stomach was not so much pacified but that she was determined to humiliate the earl with the least possible delay. having waited sufficiently long for his explanations, she now appointed sir thomas heneage as special commissioner to the states, without waiting any longer. her wrath vented itself at once in the preamble to the instructions for this agent. "whereas," she said, "we have been given to understand that the earl of leicester hath in a very contemptuous sort--contrary to our express commandment given unto him by ourself, accepted of an offer of a more absolute government made by the states unto him, than was agreed on between us and their commissioners--which kind of contemptible manner of proceeding giveth the world just cause to think that there is not that reverent respect carried towards us by our subjects as in duty appertaineth; especially seeing so notorious a contempt committed by one whom we have raised up and yielded in the eye of the world, even from the beginning of our reign, as great portion of our favour as ever subject enjoyed at any prince's hands; we therefore, holding nothing dearer than our honour, and considering that no one thing could more touch our reputation than to induce so open and public a faction of a prince, and work a greater reproach than contempt at a subject's hand, without reparation of our honour, have found it necessary to send you unto him, as well to charge him with the said contempt, as also to execute such other things as we think meet to be done, for the justifying of ourselves to the world, as the repairing of the indignity cast upon us by his undutiful manner of proceeding towards us . . . . . and for that we find ourselves also not well dealt withal by the states, in that they have pressed the said earl, without our assent or privity, to accept of a more absolute government than was agreed on between us and their commissioners, we have also thought meet that you shall charge them therewith, according to the directions hereafter ensuing. and to the end there may be no delay used in the execution of that which we think meet to be presently done, you shall charge the said states, even as they tender the continuance of our good-will towards them, to proceed to the speedy execution of our request." after this trumpet-like preamble it may be supposed that the blast which followed would be piercing and shrill. the instructions, in truth, consisted in wild, scornful flourishes upon one theme. the word contempt had occurred five times in the brief preamble. it was repeated in almost every line of the instructions. "you shall let the earl" (our cousin no longer) "understand," said the queen, "how highly and justly we are offended with his acceptation of the government, which we do repute to be a very great and strange contempt, least looked for at our hands, being, as he is, a creature of our own." his omission to acquaint her by letter with the causes moving him "so contemptuously to break" her commandment, his delay in sending davison "to answer the said contempt," had much "aggravated the fault," although the queen protested herself unable to imagine any "excuse for so manifest a contempt." the states were to be informed that she "held it strange" that "this creature of her own" should have been pressed by them to "commit so notorious a contempt" against her, both on account of this very exhibition of contempt on leicester's part, and because they thereby "shewed themselves to have a very slender and weak conceit of her judgment, by pressing a minister of hers to accept that which she had refused, as: though her long experience in government had not taught her to discover what was fit to do in matters of state." as the result of such a proceeding would be to disgrace her in the eyes of mankind, by inducing an opinion that her published solemn declaration on this great subject had been intended to abuse the, world, he was directed--in order to remove the hard conceit justly to be taken by the world, "in consideration of the said contempt,"--to make a public and open resignation of the government in the place where he had accepted the same. thus it had been made obvious to the unlucky "creature of her own," that the queen did not easily digest "contempt." nevertheless these instructions to heneage were gentle, compared with the fierce billet which she addressed directly to the earl: it was brief, too, as the posy of a ring; and thus it ran: "to my lord of leicester, from the queen, by sir thomas heneage. how contemptuously we conceive ourself to have been used by you, you shall by this bearer understand, whom we have expressly sent unto you to charge you withal. we could never have imagined, had we not seen it fall out in experience, that a man raised up by ourself, and extraordinarily favoured by us above any other subject of this land, would have, in so contemptible a sort, broken our commandment, in a cause that so greatly toucheth us in honour; whereof, although you have showed yourself to make but little account, in most undutiful a sort, you may not therefore think that we have so little care of the reparation thereof as we mind to pass so great a wrong in silence unredressed. and therefore our express pleasure and commandment is, that--all delays and excuses laid apart--you do presently, upon the duty of your allegiance, obey and fulfil whatsoever the bearer hereof shall direct you to do in our name. whereof fail not, as you will answer the contrary at your uttermost peril." here was no billing and cooing, certainly, but a terse, biting phraseology, about which there could be no misconception. by the same messenger the queen also sent a formal letter to the states- general; the epistle--'mutatis mutandis'--being also addressed to the state-council. in this document her majesty expressed her great surprise that leicester should have accepted their offer of the absolute government, "both for police and war," when she had so expressly rejected it herself. "to tell the truth," she observed, "you seem to have treated us with very little respect, and put a too manifest insult upon us, in presenting anew to one of, our subjects the same proposition which we had already declined, without at least waiting for our answer whether we should like it or no; as if we had not sense enough to be able to decide upon what we ought to accept or refuse." she proceeded to express her dissatisfaction with the course pursued, because so repugnant to her published declaration, in which she had stated to the world her intention of aiding the provinces, without meddling in the least with the sovereignty of the country. "the contrary would now be believed," she said, "at least by those who take the liberty of censuring, according to their pleasure, the actions of princes." thus her honour was at stake. she signified her will, therefore, that, in order to convince the world of her sincerity, the authority conferred should be revoked, and that "the earl," whom she had decided to recall very soon, should, during his brief residence there, only exercise the power agreed upon by the original contract. she warmly reiterated her intention, however, of observing inviolably the promise of assistance which she had given to the states. "and if," she said, "any malicious or turbulent spirits should endeavour, perchance, to persuade the people that this our refusal proceeds from lack of affection or honest disposition to assist you--instead of being founded only on respect for our honour, which is dearer to us than life--we beg you, by every possible means, to shut their mouths, and prevent their pernicious designs." thus, heavily laden with the royal wrath, heneage was on the point of leaving london for the netherlands, on the very day upon which davison arrived, charged with deprecatory missives from that country. after his long detention he had a short passage, crossing from the brill to margate in a single night. coming immediately to london, he sent to walsingham to inquire which way the wind was blowing at court, but received a somewhat discouraging reply. "your long detention by his lordship," said the secretary, "has wounded the whole cause;" adding, that he thought her majesty would not speak with him. on the other hand, it seemed indispensable for him to go to the court, because if the queen should hear of his arrival before he had presented himself, she was likely to be more angry than ever. so, the same afternoon, davison waited upon walsingham, and found him in a state of despondency. "she takes his lordship's acceptance of the, government most haynously," said sir francis, "and has resolved to send sir thomas heneage at once, with orders for him to resign the office. she has been threatening you and sir philip sidney, whom she considers the chief actors and persuaders in the matter, according to information received from some persons about my lord of leicester." davison protested himself amazed at the secretary's discourse, and at once took great pains to show the reasons by which all parties had been influenced in the matter of the government. he declared roundly that if the queen should carry out her present intentions, the earl would be most unworthily disgraced, the cause utterly overthrown, the queen's honour perpetually stained, and that her kingdom would incur great disaster. directly after this brief conversation, walsingham went up stairs to the queen, while davison proceeded to the apartments of sir christopher hatton. thence he was soon summoned to the royal presence, and found that he had not been misinformed as to the temper of her majesty. the queen was indeed in a passion, and began swearing at davison so soon as he got into the chamber; abusing leicester for having accepted the offer of the states, against her many times repeated commandment, and the ambassador for not having opposed his course. the thing had been done, she said, in contempt of her, as if her consent had been of no consequence, or as if the matter in no way concerned her. so soon as she paused to take breath, the envoy modestly, but firmly, appealed to her reason, that she would at any rate lend him a patient and favourable ear, in which case he doubted not that she would form a more favourable opinion of the case than she had hitherto done: he then entered into a long discourse upon the state of the netherlands before the arrival of leicester, the inclination in many quarters for a peace, the "despair that any sound and good fruit would grow of her majesty's cold beginning," the general unpopularity of the states' government, the "corruption, partiality, and confusion," which were visible everywhere, the perilous condition of the whole cause, and the absolute necessity of some immediate reform. "it was necessary," said davison, "that some one person of wisdom and authority should take the helm. among the netherlanders none was qualified for such a charge. lord maurice is a child, poor, and of but little respect among them. elector truchsess, count hohenlo, meurs, and the rest, strangers and incapable of the burden. these considerations influenced the states to the step which had been taken; without which all the rest of her benevolence was to little purpose." although the contract between the commissioners and the queen had not literally provided for such an arrangement, yet it had always been contemplated by the states, who had left themselves without a head until the arrival of the earl. "under one pretext or another," continued the envoy, "my lord of leicester had long delayed to satisfy them,"--(and in so stating he went somewhat further in defence of his absent friend than the facts would warrant), "for he neither flatly refused it, nor was willing to accept, until your majesty's pleasure should be known." certainly the records show no reservation of his acceptance until the queen had been consulted; but the defence by davison of the offending earl was so much the more courageous. "at length, wearied by their importunity, moved with their reasons, and compelled by necessity, he thought it better to take the course he did," proceeded the diplomatist, "for otherwise he must have been an eye- witness of the dismemberment of the whole country, which could not be kept together but by a reposed hope in her majesty's found favour, which had been utterly despaired of by his refusal. he thought it better by accepting to increase the honour, profit; and surety, of her majesty, and the good of the cause, than, by refusing, to utterly hazard the one, and overthrow the other." to all this and more, well and warmly urged by davison; the queen listened by fits and starts, often interrupting his discourse by violent abuse of leicester, accusing him of contempt for her, charging him with thinking more of his own particular greatness than of her honour and service, and then "digressing into old griefs," said the envoy, "too long and tedious to write." she vehemently denounced davison also for dereliction of duty in not opposing the measure; but he manfully declared that he never deemed so meanly of her majesty or of his lordship as to suppose that she would send him, or that he would go to the provinces, merely," to take command of the relics of mr. norris's worn and decayed troops." such a change, protested davison, was utterly unworthy a person of the earl's quality, and utterly unsuited to the necessity of the time and state. but davison went farther in defence of leicester. he had been present at many of the conferences with the netherland envoys during the preceding summer in england, and he now told the queen stoutly to her face that she herself, or at any rate one of her chief counsellors, in her hearing and his, had expressed her royal determination not to prevent the acceptance of whatever authority the states might choose to confer, by any one whom she might choose to send. she had declined to accept it in person, but she had been willing that it should be wielded by her deputy; and this remembrance of his had been confirmed by that of one of the commissioners since their return. she had never--davison maintained--sent him one single line having any bearing on the subject. under such circumstances, "i might have been accused of madness,", said he, "to have dissuaded an action in my poor opinion so necessary and expedient for your majesty's honour, surety, and greatness." if it were to do over again, he avowed, and "were his opinion demanded, he could give no other advice than that which he had given, having received no contrary, commandment from her highness." and so ended the first evening's long and vehement debate, and davison departed, "leaving her," as he said, "much qualified, though in many points unsatisfied." she had however, absolutely refused to receive a letter from leicester, with which he had been charged, but which, in her opinion, had better have been written two months before. the next day, it seemed, after all, that heneage was to be despatched, "in great heat," upon his mission. davison accordingly requested an immediate audience. so soon as admitted to the presence he burst into tears, and implored the queen to pause before she should inflict the contemplated disgrace on one whom she had hitherto so highly esteemed, and, by so doing, dishonour herself and imperil both countries. but the queen was more furious than ever that morning, returning at every pause in the envoy's discourse to harp upon the one string--"how dared he come to such a decision without at least imparting it to me?"--and so on, as so many times before. and again davison, with all the eloquence and with every soothing art he had at command; essayed to pour oil upon the waves. nor was he entirely unsuccessful; for presently the queen became so calm again that he ventured once more to present the rejected letter of the earl. she broke the seal, and at sight of the well-known handwriting she became still more gentle; and so soon as she had read the first of her favourite's honied phrases she thrust the precious document into her pocket, in order to read it afterwards, as davison observed, at her leisure. the opening thus successfully made, and the envoy having thus, "by many insinuations," prepared her to lend him a "more patient and willing ear than she had vouchsafed before," he again entered into a skilful and impassioned argument to show the entire wisdom of the course pursued by the earl. it is unnecessary to repeat the conversation. since to say that no man could have more eloquently and faithfully supported an absent friend under difficulties than davison now defended the earl. the line of argument is already familiar to the reader, and, in truth, the queen had nothing to reply, save to insist upon the governor's delinquency in maintaining so long and inexplicable a silence. and--at this thought, in spite of the envoy's eloquence, she went off again in a paroxysm of anger, abusing the earl, and deeply censuring davison for his "peremptory and partial dealing." "i had conceived a better opinion of you," she said, "and i had intended more good to you than i now find you worthy of." "i humbly thank your highness," replied the ambassador, "but i take yourself to witness that i have never affected or sought any such grace at your hands. and if your majesty persists in the dangerous course on which you are now entering, i only pray your leave, in recompense for all my travails, to retire myself home, where i may spend the rest of my life in praying for you, whom salvation itself is not able to save, if these purposes are continued. henceforth, madam, he is to be deemed happiest who is least interested in the public service." and so ended the second day's debate. the next day the lord-treasurer, who, according to davison, employed himself diligently--as did also walsingham and hatton--in dissuading the queen from the violent measures which she had resolved upon, effected so much of a change as to procure the insertion of those qualifying clauses in heneage's instructions which had been previously disallowed. the open and public disgrace of the earl, which was to have been peremptorily demanded, was now to be deferred, if such a measure seemed detrimental to the public service. her majesty, however, protested herself as deeply offended as ever, although she had consented to address a brief, somewhat mysterious, but benignant letter of compliment to the states. soon after this davison retired for a few days from the court, having previously written to the earl that "the heat of her majesty's offence to his lordship was abating every day somewhat, and that she was disposed both to hear and to speak more temperately of him." he implored him accordingly to a "more diligent entertaining of her by wise letters and messages, wherein his slackness hitherto appeared to have bred a great part of this unkindness." he observed also that the "traffic of peace was still going on underhand; but whether to use it as a second string to our bow, if the first should fail, or of any settled inclination thereunto, he could not affirm." meantime sir thomas heneage was despatched on his mission to the staten, despite all the arguments and expostulations of walsingham, burghley, hatton, and davison. all the queen's counsellors were unequivocally in favour of sustaining leicester; and heneage was not a little embarrassed as to the proper method of conducting the affair. everything, in truth, was in a most confused condition. he hardly understood to what power he was accredited. "heneage writes even now unto me," said walsingham to davison, "that he cannot yet receive any information who be the states, which he thinketh will be a great maimer unto him in his negotiation. i have told him that it is an assembly much like that of our burgesses that represent the state, and that my lord of leicester may cause some of them to meet together, unto whom he may deliver his letters and messages." thus the new envoy was to request the culprit to summon the very assembly by which his downfall and disgrace were to be solemnized, as formally as had been so recently his elevation to the height of power. the prospect was not an agreeable one, and the less so because of his general want of familiarity with the constitutional forms of the country he was about to visit. davison accordingly, at the request of sir francis, furnished heneage with much valuable information and advice upon the subject. thus provided with information, forewarned of danger, furnished with a double set of letters from the queen to the states--the first expressed in language of extreme exasperation, the others couched in almost affectionate terms--and laden with messages brimfull of wrathful denunciation from her majesty to one who was notoriously her majesty's dearly-beloved, sir thomas heneage set forth on his mission. these were perilous times for the davisons and the heneages, when even leicesters and burghleys were scarcely secure. meantime the fair weather at court could not be depended upon from one day to another, and the clouds were perpetually returning after the rain. "since my second and third day's audience," said davison, "the storms i met with at my arrival have overblown and abated daily. on saturday again she fell into some new heat, which lasted not long. this day i was myself at the court, and found her in reasonable good terms, though she will not yet seem satisfied to me either with the matter or manner of your proceeding, notwithstanding all the labour i have taken in that behalf. yet i find not her majesty altogether so sharp as some men look, though her favour has outwardly cooled in respect both of this action and of our plain proceeding with her here in defence thereof." the poor countess--whose imaginary exodus, with the long procession of coaches and side-saddles, had excited so much ire--found herself in a most distressing position. "i have not seen my lady these ten or twelve days," said davison. "to-morrow i hope to do my duty towards her. i found her greatly troubled with tempestuous news she received from court, but somewhat comforted when she understood how i had proceeded with her majesty . . . . but these passions overblown, i hope her majesty will have a gracious regard both towards myself and the cause." but the passions seemed not likely to blow over so soon as was desirable. leicester's brother the earl of warwick took a most gloomy view of the whole transaction, and hoarser than the raven's was his boding tone. "well, our mistress's extreme rage doth increase rather than diminish," he wrote, "and she giveth out great threatening words against you. therefore make the best assurance you can for yourself, and trust not her oath, for that her malice is great and unquenchable in the wisest of their opinions here, and as for other friendships, as far as i can learn, it is as doubtful as the other. wherefore, my good brother, repose your whole trust in god, and he will defend you in despite of all your enemies. and let this be a great comfort to you, and so it is likewise to myself and all your assured friends, and that is, that you were never so honoured and loved in your life amongst all good people as you are at this day, only for dealing so nobly and wisely in this action as you have done; so that, whatsoever cometh of it, you have done your part. i praise god from my heart for it. once again, have great care of yourself, i mean for your safety, and if she will needs revoke you, to the overthrowing of the cause, if i were as you, if i could not be assured there, i would go to the farthest part of christendom rather than ever come into england again. take heed whom you trust, for that you have some false boys about you." and the false boys were busy enough, and seemed likely to triumph in the result of their schemes. for a glance into the secret correspondence of mary of scotland has already revealed the earl to us constantly surrounded by men in masks. many of those nearest his person, and of highest credit out of england, were his deadly foes, sworn to compass his dishonour, his confusion, and eventually his death, and in correspondence with his most powerful adversaries at home and abroad. certainly his path was slippery and perilous along those icy summits of power, and he had need to look well to his footsteps. before heneage had arrived in the netherlands, sir thomas shirley, despatched by leicester to england with a commission to procure supplies for the famishing soldiers, and, if possible, to mitigate the queen's wrath, had, been admitted more than once to her majesty's presence. he had fought the earl's battle as manfully as davison had done, and, like that envoy, had received nothing in exchange for his plausible arguments but bitter words and big oaths. eight days after his arrival he was introduced by hatton into the privy chamber, and at the moment of his entrance was received with a volley of execrations. "i did expressly and peremptorily forbid his acceptance of the absolute government, in the hearing of divers of my council," said the queen. shirley.--"the necessity of the case was imminent, your highness. it was his lordship's intent to do all for your majesty's service. those countries did expect him as a governor at his first landing, and the states durst do no other than satisfy the people also with that opinion. the people's mislike of their present government is such and so great as that the name of states is grown odious amongst them. therefore the states, doubting the furious rage of the people, conferred the authority upon his lordship with incessant suit to him to receive it. notwithstanding this, however, he did deny it until he saw plainly both confusion and ruin of that country if he should refuse. on the other hand, when he had seen into their estates, his lordship found great profit and commodity like to come unto your majesty by your acceptance of it. your highness may now have garrisons of english in as many towns as pleaseth you, without any more charge than you are now at. nor can any peace be made with spain at any time hereafter, but through you: and by you. your majesty should remember, likewise, that if a man of another nation had been chosen governor it might have wrought great danger. moreover it would have been an indignity that your lieutenant-general should of necessity be under him that so should have been elected. finally, this is a stop to any other that may affect the place of government there." queen (who has manifested many signs of impatience during this discourse).--"your speech is all in vain. his lordship's proceeding is sufficient to make me infamous to all princes, having protested the contrary, as i have done, in a book which is translated into divers and sundry languages. his lordship, being my servant, a creature of my own, ought not, in duty towards me, have entered into this course without my knowledge and good allowance." shirley.--"but the world hath conceived a high judgment of your majesty's great wisdom and providence; shown by your assailing the king of spain at one time both in the low countries and also by sir francis drake. i do assure myself that the same judgment which did first cause you to take this in hand must continue a certain knowledge in your majesty that one of these actions must needs stand much better by the other. if sir frances do prosper, then all is well. and though he should not prosper, yet this hold that his lordship hath taken for you on the low countries must always assure an honourable peace at your highness's pleasure. i beseech your majesty to remember that to the king of spain the government of his lordship is no greater matter than if he were but your lieutenant- general there; but the voyage of sir francis is of much greater offence than all." queen (interrupting).--"i can very well answer for sir francis. moreover, if need be, the gentleman careth not if i should disavow him." shirley.--"even so standeth my lord, if your disavowing of him may also stand with your highness's favour towards him. nevertheless; should this bruit of your mislike of his lordship's authority there come unto the ears of those people; being a nation both sudden and suspicious, and having been heretofore used to stratagem--i fear it may work some strange notion in them, considering that, at this time, there is an increase of taxation raised upon them, the bestowing whereof perchance they know not of. his lordship's giving; up of the government may leave them altogether without government, and in worse case than they were ever in before. for now the authority of the states is dissolved, and his lordship's government is the only thing that holdeth them together. i do beseech your highness, then, to consider well of it, and if there be any private cause for which you take grief against his lordship, nevertheless, to have regard unto the public cause, and to have a care of your own safety, which in many wise men's opinions, standeth much upon the good maintenance and upholding of this matter." queen.--"i believe nothing of, what you say concerning the dissolving of the authority of the states. i know well enough that the states do remain states still. i mean not to do harm to the cause, but only to reform that which his lordship hath done beyond his warrant from me." and with this the queen swept suddenly from the apartment. sir thomas, at different stages of the conversation, had in vain besought her to accept a letter from the earl which had been entrusted to his care. she obstinately refused to touch it. shirley had even had recourse to stratagem: affecting ignorance on many points concerning which the queen desired information, and suggesting that doubtless she would find those matters fully explained in his lordship's letter. the artifice was in vain, and the discussion was, on the whole, unsatisfactory. yet there is no doubt that the queen had had the worst of the argument, and she was far too sagacious a politician not to feel the weight of that which had been urged so often in defence of the course pursued. but it was with her partly a matter of temper and offended pride, perhaps even of wounded affection. on the following morning shirley saw the queen walking in the garden of the palace, and made bold to accost her. thinking, as he said, "to test her affection to lord leicester by another means," the artful sir thomas stepped up to her, and observed that his lordship was seriously ill. "it is feared," he said, "that the earl is again attacked by the disease of which dr. goodrowse did once cure him. wherefore his lordship is now a humble suitor to your highness that it would please you to spare goodrowse, and give him leave to go thither for some time." the queen was instantly touched. "certainly--with all my heart, with all my heart, he shall have him," she replied, "and sorry i am that his lordship hath that need of him." "and indeed," returned sly sir thomas, "your highness is a very gracious prince, who are pleased not to suffer his lordship to perish in health, though otherwise you remain deeply offended with him." "you know my mind," returned elizabeth, now all the queen again, and perhaps suspecting the trick; "i may not endure that any man should alter my commission and the authority that i gave him, upon his own fancies and without me." with this she instantly summoned one of her gentlemen, in order to break off the interview, fearing that shirley was about to enter again upon a discussion of the whole subject, and again to attempt the delivery of the earl's letter. in all this there was much of superannuated coquetry, no doubt, and much of tudor despotism, but there was also a strong infusion of artifice. for it will soon be necessary to direct attention to certain secret transactions of an important nature in which the queen was engaged, and which were even hidden from the all-seeing eye of walsingham--although shrewdly suspected both by that statesman and by leicester--but which were most influential in modifying her policy at that moment towards the netherlands. there could be no doubt, however, of the stanch and strenuous manner in which the delinquent earl was supported by his confidential messengers and by some of his fellow-councillors. his true friends were urgent that the great cause in which he was engaged should be forwarded sincerely and without delay. shirley had been sent for money; but to draw money from elizabeth was like coining her life-blood, drachma by drachma. "your lordship is like to have but a poor supply of money at this time," said sir thomas. "to be plain with you, i fear she groweth weary of the charge, and will hardly be brought to deal thoroughly in the action." he was also more explicit than he might have been--had he been better informed as to the disposition of the chief personages of the court, concerning whose temper the absent earl was naturally anxious. hatton was most in favour at the moment, and it was through hatton that the communications upon netherland matters passed; "for," said shirley, "she will hardly endure mr. secretary (walsingham) to speak unto her therein." "and truly, my lord," he continued, "as mr. secretary is a noble, good, and true friend unto you, so doth mr. vice-chamberlain show himself an honourable, true, and faithful gentleman, and doth carefully and most like a good friend for your lordship." and thus very succinctly and graphically had the envoy painted the situation to his principal. "your lordship now sees things just as they stand," he moralized. "your lordship is exceeding wise. you know the queen and her nature best of any man. you know all men here. your lordship can judge the sequel by this that you see: only this i must tell your lordship, i perceive that fears and doubts from thence are like to work better effects here than comforts and assurance. i think it my part to send your lordship this as it is, rather than to be silent." and with these rather ominous insinuations the envoy concluded for the time his narrative. etext editor's bookmarks: intolerable tendency to puns new years day in england, th january by the new style peace and quietness is brought into a most dangerous estate this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, volume history of the united netherlands, - chapter iii. policy of england--schemes of the pretender of portugal--hesitation of the french court--secret wishes of france--contradictory views as to the opinions of netherlanders--their love for england and elizabeth--prominent statesmen of the provinces--roger williams the welshman views of walsingham, burghley, and the queen--an embassy to holland decided upon--davison at the hague--cautious and secret measures of burghley--consequent dissatisfaction of walsingham-- english and dutch suspicion of france--increasing affection of holland for england. the policy of england towards the provinces had been somewhat hesitating, but it had not been disloyal. it was almost inevitable that there should be timidity in the councils of elizabeth, when so grave a question as that of confronting the vast power of spain was forcing itself day by day more distinctly upon the consideration of herself and her statesmen. it was very clear, now that orange was dead, that some new and decided step would be taken. elizabeth was in favour of combined action by the french and english governments, in behalf of the netherlands--a joint protectorate of the provinces, until such time as adequate concessions on the religious question could be obtained from spain. she was unwilling to plunge into the peril and expense of a war with the strongest power in the world. she disliked the necessity under which she should be placed of making repeated applications to her parliament, and of thus fostering the political importance of the commons; she was reluctant to encourage rebellious subjects in another land, however just the cause of their revolt. she felt herself vulnerable in ireland and on the scottish border. nevertheless, the spanish power was becoming so preponderant, that if the netherlands were conquered, she could never feel a moment's security within her own territory. if the provinces were annexed to france, on the other hand, she could not contemplate with complacency the increased power thus placed in the hands of the treacherous and jesuitical house of valois. the path of the queen was thickly strewed with peril: her advisers were shrewd, far-seeing, patriotic, but some of them were perhaps over cautious. the time had, however, arrived when the danger was to be faced, if the whole balance of power in europe were not to come to an end, and weak states, like england and the netherlands, to submit to the tyranny of an overwhelming absolutism. the instinct of the english sovereign, of english statesmen, of the english nation, taught them that the cause of the netherlands was their own. nevertheless, they were inclined to look on yet a little longer, although the part of spectator had become an impossible one. the policy of the english government was not treacherous, although it was timid. that of the french court was both the one and the other, and it would have been better both for england and the provinces, had they more justly appreciated the character of catharine de' medici and her son. the first covert negotiations between henry and the states had caused much anxiety among the foreign envoys in france. don bernardino de mendoza, who had recently returned from spain after his compulsory retreat from his post of english ambassador, was now established in paris, as representative of philip. he succeeded tasais--a netherlander by birth, and one of the ablest diplomatists in the spanish service--and his house soon became the focus of intrigue against the government to which he was accredited--the very head-quarters of the league. his salary was large, his way of living magnificent, his insolence intolerable. "tassis is gone to the netherlands," wrote envoy busbecq to the emperor, "and thence is to proceed to spain. don bernardino has arrived in his place. if it be the duty of a good ambassador to expend largely, it would be difficult to find a better one than he; for they say 'tis his intention to spend sixteen thousand dollars yearly in his embassy. i would that all things were in correspondence; and that he were not in other respects so inferior to tassis." it is, however, very certain that mendoza was not only a brave soldier, but a man of very considerable capacity in civil affairs, although his inordinate arrogance interfered most seriously with his skill as a negotiator. he was, of course, watching with much fierceness the progress of these underhand proceedings between the french court and the rebellious subjects of his master, and using threats and expostulations in great profusion. "mucio," too, the great stipendiary of philip, was becoming daily more dangerous, and the adherents of the league were multiplying with great celerity. the pretender of portugal, don antonio, prior of crato, was also in paris; and it was the policy of both the french and the english governments to protect his person, and to make use of him as a rod over the head of philip. having escaped, after the most severe sufferings, in the mountains of spain, where he had been tracked like a wild beast, with a price of thirty thousand crowns placed upon his head, he was now most anxious to stir the governments of europe into espousing his cause, and into attacking spain through the recently acquired kingdom of portugal. meantime, he was very desirous of some active employment, to keep himself from starving, and conceived the notion, that it would be an excellent thing for the netherlands and himself, were he to make good to them the loss of william the silent. "don antonio," wrote stafford, "made a motion to me yesterday, to move her majesty, that now upon the prince of orange's death, as it is a necessary thing for them to have a governor and head, and him to be at her majesty's devotion, if her majesty would be at the means to work it for him, she should be assured nobody should be more faithfully tied in devotion to her than he. truly you would pity the poor man's case, who is almost next door to starving in effect." a starving condition being, however, not the only requisite in a governor and head to replace the prince of orange, nothing came of this motion. don antonio remained in paris, in a pitiable plight, and very much environed by dangers; for the duke of guise and his brother had undertaken to deliver him into the hands of philip the second, or those of his ministers, before the feast of st. john of the coming year. fifty thousand dollars were to be the reward of this piece of work, combined with other services; "and the sooner they set about it the better," said philip, writing a few months later, "for the longer they delay it, the less easy will they find it."' the money was never earned, however, and meantime don antonio made himself as useful as he could, in picking up information for sir edward stafford and the other opponents of spanish policy in paris. the english envoy was much embarrassed by the position of affairs. he felt sure that the french monarch would never dare to enter the lists against the king of spain, yet he was accurately informed of the secret negotiations with the netherlands, while in the dark as to the ultimate intentions of his own government. "i was never set to school so much," he wrote to walsingham ( th july, ), "as i have been to decipher the cause of the deputies of the low countries coming hither, the offers that they made the king here, and the king's manner of dealing with them!" he expressed great jealousy at the mystery which enveloped the whole transaction; and much annoyance with noel de caron, who "kept very secret, and was angry at the motion," when he endeavoured to discover the business in which they were engaged. yet he had the magnanimity to request walsingham not to mention the fact to the queen, lest she should be thereby prejudiced against the states. "for my part," said he, "i would be glad in any thing to further them, rather than to hinder them--though they do not deserve it--yet for the good the helping them at this time may bring ourselves." meantime, the deputies went away from france, and the king went to lyons, where he had hoped to meet both the duke of savoy and the king of navarre. but joyeuse, who had been received at chambery with "great triumphs and tourneys," brought back only a broken wrist, without bringing the duke of savoy; that potentate sending word that the "king of spain had done him the honour to give him his daughter, and that it was not fit for him to do any thing that might bring jealousy." henry of navarre also, as we have seen, declined the invitation sent him, m. de segur not feeling disposed for the sudden flight out of window suggested by agrippa d' aubigne; so that, on the whole, the king and his mother, with all the court, returned from lyons in marvellous ill humour. "the king storms greatly," said stafford, "and is in a great dump." it was less practicable than ever to discover the intentions of the government; for although it was now very certain that active exertions were making by des pruneaux in the provinces, it was not believed by the most sagacious that a serious resolution against spain had been taken in france. there was even a talk of a double matrimonial alliance, at that very moment, between the two courts. "it is for certain here said," wrote stafford, "that the king of spain doth presently marry the dowager of france, and 'tis thought that if the king of spain marry, he will not live a year. whensoever the marriage be," added the envoy, "i would to god the effect were true, for if it be not by some such handy work of god, i am afraid things will not go so well as i could wish." there was a lull on the surface of affairs, and it was not easy to sound the depths of unseen combinations and intrigues. there was also considerable delay in the appointment and the arrival of the new deputies from the netherlands; and stafford was as doubtful as ever as to the intentions of his own government. "they look daily here for the states," he wrote to walsingham ( th dec. ), "and i pray that i may hear from you as soon as you may, what course i shall take when they be here, either hot or cold or lukewarm in the matter, and in what sort i shall behave myself. some badly affected have gone about to put into the king's head, that they never meant to offer the sovereignty, which, though the king be not thoroughly persuaded of, yet so much is won by this means that the king hearkeneth to see the end, and then to believe as he seeth cause, and in the meantime to speak no more of any such matter than if it had never been moved." while his majesty was thus hearkening in order to see more, according to sir edward's somewhat hibernian mode of expressing himself, and keeping silent that he might see the better, it was more difficult than ever for the envoy to know what course to pursue. some persons went so far as to suggest that the whole negotiation was a mere phantasmagoria devised by queen elizabeth--her purpose being to breed a quarrel between henry and philip for her own benefit; and "then, seeing them together by the ears, as her accustomed manner was, to let them go alone, and sit still to look on." the king did not appear to be much affected by these insinuations against elizabeth; but the doubt and the delay were very harrassing. "i would to god," wrote the english envoy, "that if the states mean to do anything here with the king, and if her. majesty and the council think it fit, they would delay no time, but go roundly either to an agreement or to a breach with the king. otherwise, as the matter now sleepeth, so it will die, for the king must be taken in his humour when he begins to nibble at any bait, for else he will come away, and never bite a full bite while he liveth." there is no doubt that the bait, at which henry nibbled with much avidity, was the maritime part of the netherlands. holland and zeeland in the possession of either england or spain, was a perpetual inconvenience to france. the king, or rather the queen-mother and her advisers--for henry himself hardly indulged in any profound reflections. on state-affairs,--desired and had made a sine qua non of those provinces. it had been the french policy, from the beginning, to delay matters, in order to make the states feel the peril of their position to the full. "the king, differing and temporising," wrote herle to the queen, "would have them fall into that necessity and danger, as that they should offer unto him simply the possession of all their estates. otherwise, they were to see, as in a glass, their evident and hasty ruin." even before the death of orange, henry had been determined, if possible, to obtain possession of the island of walcheren, which controlled the whole country. "to give him that," said herle, "would be to turn the hot end of the poker towards themselves, and put the cold part in the king's hand. he had accordingly made a secret offer to william of orange, through the princess, of two millions of livres in ready money, or, if he preferred it, one hundred thousand livres yearly of perpetual inheritance, if he would secure to him the island of walcheren. in that case he promised to declare war upon the king of spain, to confirm to the states their privileges, and to guarantee to the prince the earldoms of holland and zeeland, with all his other lands and titles." it is superfluous to say that such offers were only regarded by the prince as an affront. it was, however, so necessary, in his opinion; to maintain the cause of the reformed churches in france, and to keep up the antagonism between that country and spain, that the french policy was not abandoned, although the court was always held in suspicion. but on the death of william, there was a strong reaction against france and in favour of england. paul buys, one of the ablest statesmen of the netherlands, advocate of holland, and a confidential friend of william the silent up to the time of his death, now became the leader of the english party, and employed his most strenuous efforts against the french treaty-having "seen the scope of that court." with regard to the other leading personages, there was a strong inclination in favour of queen elizabeth, whose commanding character inspired great respect. at the same time warmer sentiments of adhesion seem to have been expressed towards the french court, by the same individuals, than the, mere language of compliment justified. thus, the widowed princess of orange was described by des pruneaux to his sovereign, as "very desolate, but nevertheless doing all in her power to advance his interests; the count maurice, of gentle hopes, as also most desirous of remaining his majesty's humble servant, while elector truchsess was said to be employing himself, in the same cause, with very great affection." a french statesman resident in the provinces, whose name has not been preserved, but who was evidently on intimate terms with many eminent netherlanders, declared that maurice, "who had a mind entirely french, deplored infinitely the misfortunes of france, and regretted that all the provinces could not be annexed to so fair a kingdom. i do assure you," he added, "that he is in no wise english." of count hohenlo, general-in-chief of the states' army under prince maurice, and afterwards his brother-in-law, the same gentleman spoke with even greater confidence. "count d'oloc," said he (for by that ridiculous transformation of his name the german general was known to french and english), "with whom i have passed three weeks on board the fleet of the states, is now wholly french, and does not love the english at all. the very first time i saw him, he protested twice or thrice, in presence of members of the states general and of the state council, that if he had no frenchmen he could never carry on the war. he made more account," he said, "of two thousand french than of six thousand others, english, or germans." yet all these distinguished persons--the widowed princess of orange, count maurice, ex-elector truchsess, count holenlo--were described to queen elizabeth by her confidential agent, then employed in the provinces, as entirely at that sovereign's devotion. "count maurice holds nothing of the french, nor esteems them," said herle, "but humbly desired me to signify unto your majesty that he had in his mind and determination faithfully vowed his service to your majesty, which should be continued in his actions with all duty, and sealed with his blood; for he knew how much his father and the cause were beholden ever to your highness's goodness." the princess, together with her sister-in-law countess schwartzenburg, and the young daughters of the late prince were described on the same occasion "as recommending their service unto her majesty with a most tender affection, as to a lady of all ladies." "especially," said herle, "did the two princesses in most humble and wise sort, express a certain fervent devotion towards your majesty." elector truchsess was spoken of as "a prince well qualified and greatly devoted to her majesty; who, after many grave and sincere words had of her majesty's virtue, calling her 'la fille unique de dieu, and le bien heureuse princesse', desired of god that he might do her service as she merited." and, finally, count hollock--who seemed to "be reformed in sundry things, if it hold" (a delicate allusion to the count's propensity for strong potations), was said "to desire humbly to be known for one that would obey the commandment of her majesty more than of any earthly prince living besides." there can be no doubt that there was a strong party in favour of an appeal to england rather than to france. the netherlanders were too shrewd a people not to recognize the difference between the king of a great realm, who painted his face and wore satin petticoats, and the woman who entertained ambassadors, each in his own language, on gravest affairs of state, who matched in her wit and wisdom the deepest or the most sparkling intellects of her council, who made extemporaneous latin orations to her universities, and who rode on horseback among her generals along the lines of her troops in battle-array, and yet was only the unmarried queen of a petty and turbulent state. "the reverend respect that is borne to your majesty throughout these countries is great," said william herle. they would have thrown themselves into her arms, heart and soul, had they been cordially extended at that moment of their distress; but she was coy, hesitating, and, for reasons already sufficiently indicated, although not so conclusive as they seemed, disposed to temporize and to await the issue of the negotiations between the provinces and france. in holland and zeeland especially, there was an enthusiastic feeling in favour of the english alliance. "they recommend themselves," said herleo "throughout the country in their consultations and assemblies, as also in their common and private speeches, to the queen of england's only favour and goodness, whom they call their saviour, and the princess of greatest perfection in wisdom and sincerity that ever governed. notwithstanding their treaty now on foot by their deputies with france, they are not more disposed to be governed by the french than to be tyrannized over by the spaniard; concluding it to be alike; and even 'commutare non sortem sed servitutem'." paul buys was indefatigable in his exertions against the treaty with france, and in stimulating the enthusiasm for england and elizabeth. he expressed sincere and unaffected devotion to the queen on all occasions, and promised that no negotiations should take place, however secret and confidential, that were not laid before her majesty. "he has the chief administration among the states," said herle, "and to his credit and dexterity they attribute the despatch of most things. he showed unto me the state of the enemy throughout the provinces, and of the negotiation in france, whereof he had no opinion at all of success, nor any will of his own part but to please the prince of orange in his life-time." it will be seen in the sequel whether or not the views of this experienced and able statesman were lucid and comprehensive. it will also be seen whether his strenuous exertions in favour of the english alliance were rewarded as bountifully as they deserved, by those most indebted to him. meantime he was busily employed in making the english government acquainted with the capacity, disposition, and general plans of the netherlanders. "they have certain other things in consultation amongst the states to determine of," wrote herle, "which they were sworn not to reveal to any, but buys protested that nothing should pass but to your liking and surety, and the same to be altered and disposed as should seem good to your highness's own authority; affirming to me sincerely that holland and zeeland, with the rest of the provinces, for the estimation they had of your high virtue and temperancy, would yield themselves absolutely to your majesty and crown for ever, or to none other (their liberties only reserved), whereof you should have immediate possession, without reservation of place or privilege." the important point of the capability of the provinces to defend themselves, about which elizabeth was most anxious to be informed, was also fully elucidated by the advocate. "the means should be such, proceeding from the provinces," said he, "as your majesty might defend your interest therein with facility against the whole world." he then indicated a plan, which had been proposed by the states of brabant to the states general, according to which they were to keep on foot an army of , foot and horse, with which they should be able, "to expulse the enemy and to reconquer their towns and country lost, within three months." of this army they hoped to induce the queen to furnish english footmen and horse, to be paid monthly by a treasurer of her own; and for the assistance thus to be furnished they proposed to give ostend and sluys as pledge of payment. according to this scheme the elector palatine, john casimir, had promised to furnish, equip, and pay cavalry, taking the town of maestricht and the country of limburg, when freed from the enemy, in pawn for his disbursements; while antwerp and brabant had agreed to supply , crowns in ready money for immediate use. many powerful politicians opposed this policy, however, and urged reliance upon france, "so that this course seemed to be lame in many parts."--[letter of herle]. agents had already been sent both to england and france, to procure, if possible, a levy of troops for immediate necessity. the attempt was unsuccessful in france, but the dutch community of the reformed religion in london subscribed nine thousand and five florins. this sum, with other contributions, proved sufficient to set morgan's regiment on foot, which soon after began to arrive in the netherlands by companies. "but if it were all here at once," said stephen le sieur, "'t would be but a breakfast for the enemy." the agent for the matter in england was de griyse, formerly bailiff of bruges; and although tolerably successful in his mission, he was not thought competent for so important a post, nor officially authorised for the undertaking. while procuring this assistance in english troops he had been very urgent with the queen to further the negotiations between the states and france; and paul buys was offended with him as a mischief- maker and an intriguer. he complained of him as having "thrust himself in, to deal and intermeddle in the affairs of the low countries unavowed," and desired that he might be closely looked after. after the advocate, the next most important statesman in the provinces was, perhaps, meetkerk, president of the high court of flanders, a man of much learning, sincerity, and earnestness of character; having had great experience in the diplomatic service of the country on many important occasions. "he stands second in reputation here," said herle, "and both buys and he have one special care in all practises that are discovered, to examine how near anything may concern your person or kingdom, whereof they will advertise as matter shall fall out in importance." john van olden-barneveldt, afterwards so conspicuous in the history of the country, was rather inclined, at this period, to favour the french party; a policy which was strenuously furthered by villiers and by sainte aldegonde. besides the information furnished to the english government, as to the state of feeling and resources of the netherlands, by buys, meetkerk, and william herle, walsingham relied much upon the experienced eye and the keen biting humour of roger williams. a frank open-hearted welshman, with no fortune but his sword, but as true as its steel, he had done the states much important service in the hard- fighting days of grand commander requesens and of don john of austria. with a shrewd welsh head under his iron morion, and a stout welsh heart under his tawny doublet, he had gained little but hard knocks and a dozen wounds in his campaigning, and had but recently been ransomed, rather grudgingly by his government, from a spanish prison in brabant. he was suffering in health from its effects, but was still more distressed in mind, from his sagacious reading of the signs of the times. fearing that england was growing lukewarm, and the provinces desperate, he was beginning to find himself out of work, and was already casting about him for other employment. poor, honest, and proud, he had repeatedly declined to enter the spanish service. bribes, such as at a little later period were sufficient to sully conspicuous reputations and noble names, among his countrymen in better circumstances than his own, had been freely but unsuccessfully offered him. to serve under any but the english or states' flag in the provinces he scorned; and he thought the opportunity fast slipping away there for taking the papistical party in europe handsomely by the beard. he had done much manful work in the netherlands, and was destined to do much more; but he was now discontented, and thought himself slighted. in more remote regions of the world, the, thrifty soldier thought that there might be as good harvesting for his sword as in the thrice-trampled stubble of flanders. "i would refuse no hazard that is possible to be done in the queen's service," he said to walsingham; "but i do persuade myself she makes no account of me. had it not been for the duty that nature bound me towards her and my country, i needed not to have been in that case that i am in. perhaps i could have fingered more pistoles than mr. newell, the late latiner, and had better usage and pension of the spaniards than he. some can tell that i refused large offers, in the misery of alost, of the prince of parma. last of all, verdugo offered me very fair, being in loccum, to quit the states' service, and accept theirs, without treachery or betraying of place or man." not feeling inclined to teach latin in spain, like the late mr. newell, or to violate oaths and surrender fortresses, like brave soldiers of fortune whose deeds will be afterwards chronicled, he was disposed to cultivate the "acquaintance of divers pollacks," from which he had received invitations. "find i nothing there," said he, "duke matthias has promised me courtesy if i would serve in hungary. if not, i will offer service to one of the turk's bashaws against the persians." fortunately, work was found for the trusty welshman in the old fields. his brave honest face often reappeared; his sharp sensible tongue uttered much sage counsel; and his ready sword did various solid service, in leaguer, battle-field, and martial debate, in flanders, holland, spain, and france. for the present, he was casting his keen glances upon the negotiations in progress, and cavilling at the general policy which seemed predominant. he believed that the object of the french was to trifle with the states, to protract interminably their negotiations, to prevent the english government from getting any hold upon the provinces, and then to leave them to their fate. he advised walsingham to advance men and money, upon the security of sluys and ostend. "i dare venture my life," said he, with much energy, "that were norris, bingham, yorke, or carlisle, in those ports, he would keep them during the spanish king's life." but the true way to attack spain--a method soon afterwards to be carried into such brilliant effect by the naval heroes of england and the netherlands--the long-sighted welshman now indicated; a combined attack, namely, by sea upon the colonial possessions of philip. "i dare be bound," said he, "if you join with treslong, the states admiral, and send off, both, three-score sail into his indies, we will force him to retire from conquering further, and to be contented to let other princes live as well as he." in particular, williams urged rapid action, and there is little doubt, that had the counsels of prompt, quick-witted, ready-handed soldiers like himself, and those who thought with him, been taken; had the stealthy but quick-darting policy of walsingham prevailed over the solemn and stately but somewhat ponderous proceedings of burghley, both ghent and antwerp might have been saved, the trifling and treacherous diplomacy of catharine de' medici neutralized, and an altogether more fortunate aspect given at once to the state of protestant affairs. "if you mean to do anything," said he, "it is more than time now. if you will send some man of credit about it, will it please your honour, i will go with him, because i know the humour of the people, and am acquainted with a number of the best. i shall be able to show him a number of their dealings, as well with the french as in other affairs, and perhaps will find means to send messengers to ghent, and to other places, better than the states; for the message of one soldier is better than twenty boors." it was ultimately decided--as will soon be related--to send a man of credit to the provinces. meantime, the policy of england continued to be expectant and dilatory, and advocate buys, after having in vain attempted to conquer the french influence, and bring about the annexation of the provinces to england, threw down his office in disgust, and retired for a time from the contest. he even contemplated for a moment taking service in denmark, but renounced the notion of abandoning his country, and he will accordingly be found, at a later period, conspicuous in public affairs. the deliberations in the english councils were grave and anxious, for it became daily more obvious that the netherland question was the hinge upon which the, whole fate of christendom was slowly turning. to allow the provinces to fall back again into the grasp of philip, was to offer england herself as a last sacrifice to the spanish inquisition. this was felt by all the statesmen in the land; but some of them, more than the rest, had a vivid perception of the danger, and of the necessity of dealing with it at once. to the prophetic eye of walsingham, the mists of the future at times were lifted; and the countless sails of the invincible armada, wafting defiance and destruction to england, became dimly visible. he felt that the great netherland bulwark of protestantism and liberty was to be defended at all hazards, and that the death-grapple could not long be deferred. burghley, deeply pondering, but less determined, was still disposed to look on and to temporize. the queen, far-seeing and anxious, but somewhat hesitating, still clung to the idea of a joint protectorate. she knew that the reestablishment of spanish authority in the low countries would be fatal to england, but she was not yet prepared to throw down the gauntlet to philip. she felt that the proposed annexation of the provinces to france would be almost as formidable; yet she could not resolve, frankly and fearlessly, to assume, the burthen of their protection. under the inspiration of burghley, she was therefore willing to encourage the netherlanders underhand; preventing them at every hazard from slackening in their determined hostility to spain; discountenancing, without absolutely forbidding, their proposed absorption by france; intimating, without promising, an ultimate and effectual assistance from herself. meantime, with something of feline and feminine duplicity, by which the sex of the great sovereign would so often manifest itself in the most momentous affairs, she would watch and wait, teasing the provinces, dallying with the danger, not quite prepared as yet to abandon the prize to henry or philip, or to seize it herself. the situation was rapidly tending to become an impossible one. late in october a grave conference was held council, "upon the question whether her majesty should presently relieve the states of the low countries." it was shown, upon one side, that the "perils to the queen and to the realm were great, if the king of spain should recover holland and zeeland, as he had the other countries, for lack of succour in seasonable time, either by the french king or the queen's majesty." on the other side, the great difficulties in the way of effectual assistance by england, were "fully remembered." "but in the end, and upon comparison made," said lord burghley, summing up, "betwixt the perils on the one part, and the difficulties on the other," it was concluded that the queen would be obliged to succumb to the power of spain, and the liberties of england be hopelessly lost, if philip were then allowed to carry out his designs, and if the provinces should be left without succour at his mercy. a "wise person" was accordingly to be sent into holland; first, to ascertain whether the provinces had come to an actual agreement with the king of france, and, if such should prove to be the case, to enquire whether that sovereign had pledged himself to declare war upon philip. in this event, the wise person was to express her majesty's satisfaction that the provinces were thus to be "relieved from the tyranny of the king of spain." on the other hand, if it should appear that no such conclusive arrangements had been made, and that the provinces were likely to fall again victims to the "spanish tyranny," her majesty would then "strain herself as far as, with preservation of her own estate, she might, to succour them at this time." the agent was then to ascertain "what conditions the provinces would require" upon the matter of succour, and, if the terms seemed reasonable, he would assure them that "they should not be left to the cruelties of the spaniards." and further, the wise person, "being pressed to answer, might by conference of speeches and persuasions provoke them to offer to the queen the ports of flushing and middelburg and the brill, wherein she meant not to claim any property, but to hold them as gages for her expenses, and for performances of their covenants." he was also to make minute inquiries as to the pecuniary resources of the provinces, the monthly sums which they would be able to contribute, the number of troops and of ships of war that they would pledge themselves to maintain. these investigations were very important, because the queen, although very well disposed to succour them, "so nevertheless she was to consider how her power might be extended, without ruin or manifest peril to her own estate." it was also resolved, in the same conference, that a preliminary step of great urgency was to "procure a good peace with the king of scots." whatever the expense of bringing about such a pacification might be, it was certain that a "great deal more would be expended in defending the realm against scotland," while england was engaged in hostilities with spain. otherwise, it was argued that her majesty would be "so impeached by scotland in favour of the king of spain, that her action against that king would be greatly weakened." other measures necessary to be taken in view of the spanish war were also discussed. the ex-elector of cologne, "a man of great account in germany," was to be assisted with money to make head against his rival supported by the troops of philip. duke casimir of the palatinate was to be solicited to make a diversion in gelderland. the king of france was to be reminded of his treaty with england for mutual assistance in case of the invasion by a foreign power of either realm, and to be informed "not only of the intentions of the spaniards to invade england, upon their conquest of the netherlands, but of their actual invasion of ireland." it was "to be devised how the king of navarre and don antonio of portugal, for their respective titles, might be induced to offend and occupy the king of spain, whereby to diminish his forces bent upon the low countries." it was also decided that parliament should be immediately summoned, in which, besides the request of a subsidy, many other necessary, provisions should be made for her majesty's safety. "the conclusions of the whole," said lord burghley, with much earnestness, "was this. although her majesty should hereby enter into a war presently, yet were she better to do it now, while she may make the same out of her realm, having the help of the people of holland, and before the king of spain shall have consummated his conquests in those countries, whereby he shall be so provoked with pride, solicited by the pope, and tempted by the queen's own subjects, and shall be so strong by sea, and so free from all other actions and quarrels,--yea, shall be so formidable to all the rest of christendom, as that her majesty shall no wise be able, with her own power, nor with aid of any other, neither by sea nor land, to withstand his attempts, but shall be forced to give place to his insatiable malice, which is most terrible to be thought of, but miserable to suffer." thus did the lord treasurer wisely, eloquently, and well, describe the danger by which england was environed. through the shield of holland the spear was aimed full at the heart of england. but was it a moment to linger? was that buckler to be suffered to fall to the ground, or to be raised only upon the arm of a doubtful and treacherous friend? was it an hour when the protection of protestantism and of european liberty against spain was to be entrusted to the hand of a feeble and priest-ridden valois? was it wise to indulge any longer in doubtings and dreamings, and in yet a little more folding of the arms to sleep, while that insatiable malice, so terrible to be thought of, so miserable to feel, was bowing hourly more formidable, and approaching nearer and nearer? early in december, william davison, gentleman-in-ordinary of her majesty's household, arrived at the hague; a man painstaking, earnest, and zealous, but who was fated, on more than one great occasion, to be made a scape-goat for the delinquencies of greater personages than himself. he had audience of the states general on the th december. he then informed that body that the queen had heard, with, sorrowful heart, of the great misfortunes which the united provinces had sustained since the death of the prince of orange; the many cities which they had lost, and the disastrous aspect of the common cause. moved by the affection which she had always borne the country, and anxious for its preservation, she had ordered her ambassador stafford to request the king of france to undertake, jointly with herself, the defence of the provinces against the king of spain. not till very lately, however, had that envoy succeeded in obtaining an audience, and he had then received "a very cold answer." it being obvious to her majesty, therefore, that the french government intended to protract these matters indefinitely, davison informed the states that she had commissioned him to offer them "all possible assistance, to enquire into the state of the country, and to investigate the proper means of making that assistance most useful." he accordingly requested the appointment of a committee to confer with him upon the subject; and declared that the queen did not desire to make herself mistress of the provinces, but only to be informed how she best could aid their cause. a committee was accordingly appointed, and a long series of somewhat concealed negotiations was commenced. as the deputies were upon the eve of their departure for france, to offer the sovereignty of the provinces to henry, these proceedings were necessarily confused, dilatory, and at tines contradictory. after the arrival of the deputies in france, the cunctative policy inspired by the lord treasurer was continued by england. the delusion of a joint protectorate was still clung to by the queen, although the conduct of france was becoming very ambiguous, and suspicion growing darker as to the ultimate and secret purport of the negotiations in progress. the anxiety and jealousy of elizabeth were becoming keener than ever. if the offers to the king were unlimited; he would accept them, and would thus become as dangerous as philip. if they were unsatisfactory, he would turn his back upon the provinces, and leave them a prey to philip. still she would not yet renounce the hope of bringing the french king over to an ingenuous course of action. it was thought, too, that something might be done with the great malcontent nobles of flanders, whose defection from the national cause had been so disastrous, but who had been much influenced in their course, it was thought, by their jealousy of william the silent. now that the prince was dead, it was thought probable that the arschots, and havres, chimays, and lalaings, might arouse themselves to more patriotic views than they had manifested when they espoused the cause of spain. it would be desirable to excite their jealousy of french influence, and, at the same time, to inspire throughout the popular mind the fear of another tyranny almost as absolute as that of spain. "and if it be objected," said burghley, "that except they shall admit the french king to the absolute dominion, he will not aid them, and they, for lack of succour, be forced to yield to the spaniard, it may be answered that rather than they should be wholly subjected to the french, or overcome by the spaniard, her majesty would yield unto them as much as, with preservation of her estate, and defence of her own country, might be demanded." the real object kept in view by the queen's government was, in short, to obtain for the provinces and for the general cause of liberty the greatest possible amount of assistance from henry, and to allow him to acquire in return the least possible amount of power. the end proposed was a reasonable one, but the means employed savoured too much of intrigue. "it may be easily made probable to the states," said the lord treasurer, "that the government of the french is likely to prove as cumbersome and perilous as that of the spaniards; and likewise it may probably be doubted how the french will keep touch and covenants with them, when any opportunity shall be offered to break them; so that her majesty thinketh no good can be looked for to those countries by yielding this large authority to the french. if they shall continue their title by this grant to be absolute lords, there is no end, for a long time, to be expected of this war; and, contrariwise, if they break off, there is an end of any good composition with the king of spain." shivering and shrinking, but still wading in deeper and deeper, inch by inch, the cautious minister was fast finding himself too far advanced to retreat. he was rarely decided, however, and never lucid; and least of all in emergencies, when decision and lucidity would have been more valuable than any other qualities. deeply doubting, painfully balancing, he at times drove the unfortunate davison almost distraught. puzzled himself and still more puzzling to others, he rarely permitted the netherlanders, or even his own agents, to perceive his drift. it was fair enough, perhaps, to circumvent the french government by its own arts, but the netherlanders meanwhile were in danger of sinking into despair. "thus," wrote the lord treasurer to the envoy, "i have discoursed to you of these uncertainties and difficulties, things not unknown to yourself, but now being imparted to you by her majesty's commandment, you are, by your wisdom, to consider with whom to deal for the stay of this french course, and yet, so to use it (as near as you may) that they of the french faction there be not able to charge you therewith, by-advertising into france. for it hath already appeared, by some speeches past between our ambassador there and des pruneaux, that you are had in some jealousy as a hinderer of this french course, and at work for her majesty to have some entrance and partage in that country. nevertheless our ambassador; by his answer, hath satisfied them to think the contrary." they must have been easily satisfied, if they knew as much of the dealings of her majesty's government as the reader already knows. to inspire doubt of the french, to insinuate the probability of their not "keeping touch and covenant," to represent their rule as "cumbersome and perilous," was wholesome conduct enough towards the netherlanders--and still more so, had it been accompanied with frank offers of assistance --but it was certainly somewhat to "hinder the courses of the french." but in truth all parties were engaged for a season in a round game of deception, in which nobody was deceived. walsingham was impatient, almost indignant at this puerility. "your doings, no doubt of it," he wrote to davison, "are observed by the french faction, and therefore you cannot proceed so closely but it will be espied. howsoever it be, seeing direction groweth from hence, we cannot but blame ourselves, if the effects thereof do not fall out to our liking." that sagacious statesman was too well informed, and too much accustomed to penetrate the designs of his antagonists, to expect anything from the present intrigues. to loiter thus, when mortal blows should be struck, was to give the spanish government exactly that of which it was always most gluttonous-- time; and the netherlanders had none of it to spare. "with time and myself, there are two of us," was philip ii.'s favourite observation; and the prince of parma was at this moment sorely perplexed by the parsimony and the hesitations of his own government, by which his large, swift and most creative genius was so often hampered. thus the spanish soldiers, deep in the trenches, went with bare legs and empty stomachs in january; and the dutchmen, among their broken dykes, were up to their ears in mud and water; and german mercenaries, in the obedient provinces, were burning the peasants' houses in order to sell the iron to buy food withal; while grave-visaged statesmen, in comfortable cabinets, wagged their long white beards at each other from a distance, and exchanged grimaces and protocols which nobody heeded. walsingham was weary of this solemn trifling. "i conclude," said he to davison, "that her majesty--with reverence be it spoken--is ill advised, to direct you in a course that is like to work so great peril. i know you will do your best endeavour to keep all things upright, and yet it is hard--the disease being now come to this state, or, as the physicians term it, crisis--to carry yourself in such sort, but that it will, i fear, breed a dangerous alteration in the cause." he denounced with impatience, almost with indignation, the insincerity and injustice of these intolerable hesitations. "sorry am i," said he, "to see the course that is taken in this weighty cause, for we will neither help those poor countries ourselves, nor yet suffer others to do it. i am not ignorant that in time to come the annexing of these countries to the crown of france may prove prejudicial to england, but if france refuse to deal with them, and the rather for that we shall minister some cause of impediment by a kind of dealing underhand, then shall they be forced to return into the hands of spain, which is like to breed such a present peril towards her majesty's self, as never a wise man that seeth it, and loveth her, but lamenteth it from the bottom of his heart." walsingham had made up his mind that it was england, not france, that should take up the cause of the provinces, and defend them at every hazard. he had been overruled, and the queen's government had decided to watch the course of the french negotiation, doing what it could, underhand, to prevent that negotiation from being successful. the secretary did not approve of this disingenuous course. at the same time he had no faith in the good intentions of the french court. "i could wish," said he, "that the french king were carried with that honourable mind into the defence of these countries that her majesty is, but france has not been used to do things for god's sake; neither do they mean to use our advice or assistance in making of the bargain. for they still hold a jealous conceit that when spain and they are together by the ears, we will seek underhand to work our own peace." walsingham, therefore, earnestly deprecated the attitude provisionally maintained by england. meantime, early in january, (jan. , ) the deputation from the provinces had arrived in france. the progress of their negotiation will soon be related, but, before its result was known, a general dissatisfaction had already manifested itself in the netherlands. the factitious enthusiasm which had been created in favour of france, as well as the prejudice against england, began to die out. it became probable in the opinion of those most accustomed to read the signs of the times, that the french court was acting in connivance with philip, and that the negotiation was only intended to amuse the netherlanders, to circumvent the english, and to gain time both for france and spain. it was not believed that the character of henry or the policy of his mother was likely to the cause of any substantial aid to the cause of civil liberty or protestant principles. "they look for no better fruit from the commission to france," wrote davison, who surveyed the general state of affairs with much keenness and breadth of vision, "than a dallying entertainment of the time, neither leaving them utterly hopeless, nor at full liberty to seek for relief elsewhere, especially in england, or else some pleasing motion of peace, wherein the french king will offer his mediation with spain. meantime the people, wearied with the troubles, charges, and hazard of the war, shall be rocked asleep, the provision for their defence neglected, some provinces nearest the danger seduced, the rest by their defection astonished, and the enemy by their decay and confusions, strengthened. this is the scope whereto the doings of the french king, not without intelligence with the spanish sovereign, doth aim, whatever is pretended." there was a wide conviction that the french king was dealing falsely with the provinces. it seemed certain that he must be inspired by intense jealousy of england, and that he was unlikely, for the sake of those whose "religion, popular liberty, and rebellion against their sovereign," he could not but disapprove, to allow queen elizabeth to steal a march upon him, and "make her own market with spain to his cost and disadvantage." in short, it was suspected--whether justly or not will be presently shown--that henry iii. "was seeking to blear the eyes of the world, as his brother charles did before the massacre of st. bartholomew." as the letters received from the dutch envoys in france became less and less encouraging, and as the queen was informed by her ambassador in paris of the tergiversations in paris, she became the more anxious lest the states should be driven to despair. she therefore wrote to davison, instructing him "to nourish in them underhand some hope--as a thing proceeding from himself--that though france should reject them, yet she would not abandon them." he was directed to find out, by circuitous means, what towns they would offer to her as security for any advances she might be induced to make, and to ascertain the amount of monthly contributions towards the support of the war that they were still capable of furnishing. she was beginning to look with dismay at the expatriation of wealthy merchants and manufacturers going so rapidly forward, now that ghent had fallen and brussels and antwerp were in such imminent peril. she feared that, while so much valuable time had been thrown away, the provinces had become too much impoverished to do their own part in their own defence; and she was seriously alarmed at rumours which had become prevalent of a popular disposition towards treating for a peace at any price with spain. it soon became evident that these rumours were utterly without foundation, but the other reasons for elizabeth's anxiety were sufficiently valid. on the whole, the feeling in favour of england was rapidly gaining ground. in holland especially there was general indignation against the french party. the letters of the deputies occasioned "murmur and mislike" of most persons, who noted them to contain "more ample report of ceremonies and compliments than solid argument of comfort." sir edward stafford, who looked with great penetration into the heart of the mysterious proceedings at paris, assured his government that no better result was to be looked for, "after long dalliance and entertainment, than either a flat refusal or such a masked embracing of their cause, as would rather tend to the increasing of their miseries and confusion than relief for their declining estate." while "reposing upon a broken reed," they were, he thought, "neglecting other means more expedient for their necessities." this was already the universal opinion in holland. men now remembered, with bitterness, the treachery of the duke of anjou, which they had been striving so hard to forget, but which less than two years ago had nearly proved fatal to the cause of liberty in the provinces. a committee of the states had an interview with the queen's envoy at the hague; implored her majesty through him not to abandon their cause; expressed unlimited regret for the course which had been pursued, and avowed a determination "to pluck their heads out of the collar," so soon as the opportunity should offer. they stated, moreover, that they had been directed by the assembly to lay before him the instructions for the envoys to france, and the articles proposed for the acceptance of the king. the envoy knew his business better than not to have secretly provided himself with copies of these documents, which he had already laid before his own government. he affected, however, to feel hurt that he had been thus kept in ignorance of papers which he really knew by heart. "after some pretended quarrel," said he, "for their not acquainting me therewith sooner, i did accept them, as if. i had before neither seen nor heard of them." this then was the aspect of affairs in the provinces during the absence of the deputies in france. it is now necessary to shift the scene to that country. chapter iv. reception of the dutch envoys at the louvre--ignominious result of the embassy--secret influences at work--bargaining between the french and spanish courts--claims of catharine de' medici upon portugal--letters of henry and catharine--secret proposal by france to invade england--states' mission to henry of navarre--subsidies of philip to guise--treaty of joinville--philip's share in the league denied by parma--philip in reality its chief--manifesto of the league--attitude of henry iii. and of navarre--the league demands a royal decree--designs of france and spain against england --secret interview of mendoza and villeroy--complaints of english persecution--edict of nemours--excommunication of navarre and his reply. the king, notwithstanding his apparent reluctance, had, in sir edward stafford's language, "nibbled at the bait." he had, however, not been secured at the first attempt, and now a second effort was to be made, under what were supposed to be most favourable circumstances. in accordance with his own instructions, his envoy, des pruneaux, had been busily employed in the states, arranging the terms of a treaty which should be entirely satisfactory. it had been laid down as an indispensable condition that holland and zeeland should unite in the offer of sovereignty, and, after the expenditure of much eloquence, diplomacy, and money, holland and zeeland had given their consent. the court had been for some time anxious and impatient for the arrival of the deputies. early in december, des pruneaux wrote from paris to count maurice, urging with some asperity, the necessity of immediate action. "when i left you," he said, "i thought that performance would follow promises. i have been a little ashamed, as the time passed by, to hear nothing of the deputies, nor of any excuse on the subject. it would seem as though god had bandaged the eyes of those who have so much cause to know their own adversity." to the states his language was still more insolent. "excuse me, gentlemen," he said, "if i tell you that i blush at hearing nothing from you. i shall have the shame and you the damage. i regret much the capture of de teligny, and other losses which are occasioned by your delays and want of resolution." thus did the french court, which a few months before had imprisoned, and then almost ignominiously dismissed the envoys who came to offer the sovereignty of the provinces, now rebuke the governments which had ever since been strenuously engaged in removing all obstacles to the entire fulfillment of the king's demands. the states were just despatching a solemn embassy to renew that offer, with hardly any limitation as to terms. the envoys arrived on january rd, , at boulogne, after a stormy voyage from brielle. yet it seems incredible to relate, that, after all the ignominy heaped upon the last, there was nothing but solemn trifling in reserve for the present legation; although the object of both embassies was to offer a crown. the deputies were, however, not kept in prison, upon this occasion, nor treated like thieves or spies. they were admirably lodged, with plenty of cooks and lacqueys to minister to them; they fared sumptuously every day, at henry's expense, and, after they had been six weeks in the kingdom, they at last succeeded in obtaining their first audience. on the th february the king sent five "very splendid, richly-gilded, court-coach-waggons" to bring the envoys to the palace. at one o'clock they arrived at the louvre, and were ushered through four magnificent antechambers into the royal cabinet. the apartments through which they passed swarmed with the foremost nobles, court-functionaries, and ladies of france, in blazing gala costume, who all greeted the envoys with demonstrations of extreme respect: the halls and corridors were lined with archers, halbardiers, swiss guards, and grooms "besmeared with gold," and it was thought that all this rustle of fine feathers would be somewhat startling to the barbarous republicans, fresh from the fens of holland. henry received them in his cabinet, where he was accompanied only by the duke of joyeuse--his foremost and bravest "minion"--by the count of bouscaige, m. de valette, and the count of chateau vieux. the most christian king was neatly dressed, in white satin doublet and hose, and well-starched ruff, with a short cloak on his shoulders, a little velvet cap on the side of his head, his long locks duly perfumed and curled, his sword at his side, and a little basket, full of puppies, suspended from his neck by a broad ribbon. he held himself stiff and motionless, although his face smiled a good-humoured welcome to the ambassadors; and he moved neither foot, hand, nor head, as they advanced. chancellor leoninus, the most experienced, eloquent, and tedious of men, now made an interminable oration, fertile in rhetoric and barren in facts; and the king made a short and benignant reply, according to the hallowed formula in such cases provided. and then there was a presentation to the queen, and to the queen-mother, when leoninus was more prolix than before, and catharine even more affectionate than her son; and there were consultations with chiverny and villeroy, and brulart and pruneaux, and great banquets at the royal expense, and bales of protocols, and drafts of articles, and conditions and programmes and apostilles by the hundred weight, and at last articles of annexation were presented by the envoys, and pruneaux looked at and pronounced them "too raw and imperative," and the envoys took them home again, and dressed them and cooked them till there was no substance left in them; for whereas the envoys originally offered the crown of their country to france, on condition that no religion but the reformed religion should be tolerated there, no appointments made but by the states, and no security offered for advances to be made by the christian king, save the hearts and oaths of his new subjects--so they now ended by proposing the sovereignty unconditionally, almost abjectly; and, after the expiration of nearly three months, even these terms were absolutely refused, and the deputies were graciously permitted to go home as they came. the annexation and sovereignty were definitely declined. henry regretted and sighed, catharine de' medici wept--for tears were ever at her command-- chancellor chiverny and secretary brulart wept likewise, and pruneaux was overcome with emotion at the parting interview of the ambassadors with the court, in which they were allowed a last opportunity for expressing what was called their gratitude. and then, on the lath march, m. d'oignon came to them, and presented, on the part of the king, to each of the envoys a gold chain weighing twenty- one ounces and two grains. des pruneaux, too--des pruneaux who had spent the previous summer in the netherlands, who had travelled from province to province, from city to city, at the king's command, offering boundless assistance, if they would unanimously offer their sovereignty; who had vanquished by his importunity the resistance of the stern hollanders, the last of all the netherlanders to yield to the royal blandishments--des pruneaux, who had "blushed"--des pruneaux who had wept--now thought proper to assume an airy tone, half encouragement, half condolence. "man proposes, gentlemen," said he "but god disposes. we are frequently called on to observe that things have a great variety of times and terms. many a man is refused by a woman twice, who succeeds the third time," and so on, with which wholesome apothegms des pruneaux faded away then and for ever from the page of netherland history. in a few days afterwards the envoys took shipping at dieppe, and arrived early in april at the hague. and thus terminated the negotiation of the states with france. it had been a scene of elaborate trifling on the king's part from beginning to end. yet the few grains of wheat which have thus been extracted from the mountains of diplomatic chaff so long mouldering in national storehouses, contain, however dry and tasteless, still something for human nourishment. it is something to comprehend the ineffable meanness of the hands which then could hold the destiny of mighty empires. here had been offered a magnificent prize to france; a great extent of frontier in the quarter where expansion was most desirable, a protective network of towns and fortresses on the side most vulnerable, flourishing, cities on the sea-coast where the marine traffic was most lucrative, the sovereignty of a large population, the most bustling, enterprising, and hardy in europe--a nation destined in a few short years to become the first naval and commercial power in the world--all this was laid at the feet of henry valois and catharine de' medici, and rejected. the envoys, with their predecessors, had wasted eight months of most precious time; they had heard and made orations, they had read and written protocols, they had witnessed banquets, masquerades, and revels of stupendous frivolity, in honour of the english garter, brought solemnly to the valois by lord derby, accompanied by one hundred gentlemen "marvellously, sumptuously, and richly accoutred," during that dreadful winter when the inhabitants of brussels, antwerp, mechlin--to save which splendid cities and to annex them to france, was a main object of the solemn embassy from the netherlands--were eating rats, and cats, and dogs, and the weeds from the pavements, and the grass from the churchyards; and were finding themselves more closely pressed than ever by the relentless genius of farnese; and in exchange for all these losses and all this humiliation, the ambassadors now returned to their constituents, bringing an account of chiverny's magnificent banquets and long orations, of the smiles of henry iii., the tears of catharine de' medici, the regrets of m. des pruneaux, besides sixteen gold chains, each weighing twenty-one ounces and two grains. it is worth while to go for a moment behind the scene; we have seen the actors, with mask and cothurn and tinsel crown, playing their well-conned parts upon the stage. let us hear them threaten, and whimper, and chaffer among themselves. so soon as it was intimated that henry iii. was about to grant the netherland, envoys an audience, the wrath of ambassador mendoza was kindled. that magniloquent spaniard instantly claimed an interview with the king, before whom, according to the statement of his colleagues, doing their best to pry into these secrets, he blustered and bounced, and was more fantastical in his insolence than even spanish envoy had ever been before. "he went presently to court," so walsingham was informed by stafford, "and dealt very passionately with the king and queen-mother to deny them audience, who being greatly offended with his presumptuous and malapert manner of proceeding, the king did in choler and with some sharp speeches, let him plainly understand that he was an absolute king, bound to yield account of his doings to no man, and that it was lawful for him to give access to any man within his own realm. the queen-mother answered him likewise very roundly, whereupon he departed for the time, very much discontented." brave words, on both sides, if they had ever been spoken, or if there had been any action corresponding to their spirit. but, in truth, from the beginning, henry and his mother saw in the netherland embassy only the means of turning a dishonest penny. since the disastrous retreat of anjou from the provinces, the city of cambray had remained in the hands of the seigneur de balagny, placed there by the duke. the citadel, garrisoned by french troops, it was not the intention of catharine de' medici to restore to philip, and a truce on the subject had been arranged provisionally for a year. philip, taking parma's advice to prevent the french court, if possible, from "fomenting the netherland rebellion," had authorized the prince to conclude that truce, as if done on his own responsibility, and not by royal order. meantime, balagny was gradually swelling into a petty potentate, on his own account, making himself very troublesome to the prince of parma, and requiring a great deal of watching. cambray was however apparently acquired for france. but, besides this acquisition, there was another way of earning something solid, by turning this netherland matter handsomely to account. philip ii. had recently conquered portugal. among the many pretensions to that crown, those of catherine de' medici had been put forward, but had been little heeded. the claim went back more than three hundred years, and to establish its validity would have been to convert the peaceable possession of a long line of sovereigns into usurpation. to ascend to alphonso iii. was like fetching, as it was said, a claim from evander's grandmother. nevertheless, ever since philip had been upon the portuguese throne, catherine had been watching the opportunity, not of unseating that sovereign, but of converting her claim into money. the netherland embassy seemed to offer the coveted opportunity. there was, therefore, quite as much warmth at the outset, on the part of mendoza, in that first interview after the arrival of the deputies, as had been represented. there was however less dignity and more cunning on the part of henry and catherine than was at all suspected. even before that conference the king had been impatiently expecting overtures from the spanish envoy, and had been disappointed. "he told me," said henry, "that he would make proposals so soon as tassis should be gone, but he has done nothing yet. he said to gondi that all he meant was to get the truce of cambray accomplished. i hope, however, that my brother, the king of spain, will do what is right in regard to madam my mother's pretensions. 'tis likely that he will be now incited thereto, seeing that the deputies of all the netherland provinces are at present in my kingdom, to offer me carte blanche. i shall hear what they have to say, and do exactly what the good of my own affairs shall seem to require. the queen of england, too, has been very pressing and urgent with me for several months on this subject. i shall hear, too, what she has to say, and i presume, if the king of spain will now disclose himself, and do promptly what he ought, that we may set christendom at rest." henry then instructed his ambassador in spain to keep his eyes wide open, in order to penetrate the schemes of philip, and to this end ordered him an increase of salary by a third, that he might follow that monarch on his journey to arragon. meanwhile mendoza had audience of his majesty. "he made a very pressing remonstrance," said the king, "concerning the arrival of these deputies, urging me to send them back at once; denouncing them as disobedient rebels and heretics. i replied that my kingdom was free, and that i should hear from them all that they had to say, because i could not abandon madam my mother in her pretensions, not only for the filial obedience which i owe her, but because i am her only heir. mendoza replied that he should go and make the same remonstrance to the queen- mother, which he accordingly did, and she will herself write you what passed between them. if they do not act up to their duty down there i know how to take my revenge upon them." this is the king's own statement--his veriest words--and he was surely best aware of what occurred between himself and mendoza, under their four eyes only. the ambassador is not represented as extremely insolent, but only pressing; and certainly there is little left of the fine periods on henry's part about listening to the cry of the oppressed, or preventing the rays of his ancestors' diadem from growing pale, with which contemporary chronicles are filled. there was not one word of the advancement and glory of the french nation; not a hint of the fame to be acquired by a magnificent expansion of territory, still less of the duty to deal generously or even honestly with an oppressed people, who in good faith were seeking an asylum in exchange for offered sovereignty, not a syllable upon liberty of conscience, of religious or civil rights; nothing but a petty and exclusive care for the interests of his mother's pocket, and of his own as his mother's heir. this farthing-candle was alone to guide the steps of "the high and mighty king," whose reputation was perpetually represented as so precious to him in all the conferences between his ministers and the netherland deputies. was it possible for those envoys to imagine the almost invisible meanness of such childish tricks? the queen-mother was still more explicit and unblushing throughout the whole affair. "the ambassador of spain," she said, "has made the most beautiful remonstrances he could think of about these deputies from the netherlands. all his talk, however, cannot persuade me to anything else save to increase my desire to have reparation for the wrong that has been done me in regard to my claims upon portugal, which i am determined to pursue by every means within my power. nevertheless i have told don bernardino that i should always be ready to embrace any course likely to bring about a peaceful conclusion. he then entered into a discussion of my rights, which, he said, were not thought in spain to be founded in justice. but when i explained to him the principal points (of which i possess all the pieces of evidence and justification), he hardly knew what to say, save that he was astounded that i had remained so long without speaking of my claims. in reply, i told him ingenuously the truth." the truth which the ingenuous catharine thus revealed was, in brief, that all her predecessors had been minors, women, and persons in situations not to make their rights valid. finding herself more highly placed, she had advanced her claims, which had been so fully recognized in portugal, that she had been received as infanta of the kingdom. all pretensions to the throne being now through women only, hers were the best of any. at all this don bernardino expressed profound astonishment, and promised to send a full account to his master of "the infinite words" which had passed between them at this interview! "i desire," said catharine, "that the lord king of spain should open his mind frankly and promptly upon the recompense which he is willing to make me for portugal, in order that things may pass rather with gentleness than otherwise." it was expecting a great deal to look for frankness and promptness from the lord king of spain, but the queen-mother considered that the netherland envoys had put a whip into her hand. she was also determined to bring philip up to the point, without showing her own game. "i will never say," said catharine--ingenuous no longer--"i will never say how much i ask, but, on the contrary, i shall wait for him to make the offer. i expect it to be reasonable, because he has seen fit to seize and occupy that which i declare to be my property." this is the explanation of all the languor and trifling of the french court in the netherland negotiation. a deep, constant, unseen current was running counter to all the movement which appeared upon the surface. the tergiversations of the spanish cabinet in the portugal matter were the cause of the shufflings of the french ministers on the subject of the provinces. "i know well," said henry a few days later, "that the people down there, and their ambassador here, are leading us on with words, as far as they can, with regard to the recompense of madam my mother for her claims upon portugal. but they had better remember (and i think they will), that out of the offers which these sixteen deputies of the netherlands are bringing me--and i believe it to be carte blanche--i shall be able to pay myself. 'twill be better to come promptly to a good bargain and a brief conclusion, than to spin the matter out longer." "don bernardino," said the queen-mother on the same day, "has been keeping us up to this hour in hopes of a good offer, but 'tis to be feared, for the good of christendom, that 'twill be too late. the deputies are come, bringing carte blanche. nevertheless, if the king of spain is willing to be reasonable, and that instantly, it will be well, and it would seem as if god had been pleased to place this means in our hands." after the conferences had been fairly got under way between the french government and the envoys, the demands upon philip for a good bargain and a handsome offer became still more pressing. "i have given audience to the deputies from the provinces," wrote henry, "and the queen-mother has done the same. chancellor chiverny, villequier, bellievre, and brulart, will now confer with them from day today. i now tell you that it will be well, before things go any farther, for the king of spain to come to reason about the pretensions of madam mother. this will be a means of establishing the repose of christendom. i shall be very willing to concur in such an arrangement, if i saw any approximation to it on the part of the king or his ministers. but i fear they will delay too long, and so you had better tell them. push them to the point as much as possible, without letting them suspect that i have been writing about it, for that would make them rather draw back than come forward." at the same time, during this alternate threatening and coaxing between the french and the spanish court, and in the midst of all the solemn and tedious protocolling of the ministry and the dutch envoys, there was a most sincere and affectionate intercourse maintained between henry iii. and the prince of parma. the spanish governor-general was assured that nothing but the warmest regard was entertained for him and his master on the part of the french court. parma had replied, however, that so many french troops had in times past crossed the frontier to assist the rebels, that he hardly knew what to think. he expressed the hope, now that the duke of anjou was dead, that his christian majesty would not countenance the rebellion, but manifest his good-will. "how can your highness doubt it," said malpierre, henry's envoy, "for his majesty has given proof enough of his good will, having prevented all enterprises in this regard, and preferred to have his own subjects cut into pieces rather than that they should carry out their designs. had his majesty been willing merely to connive at these undertakings, 'tis probable that the affairs of your highness would not have succeeded so well as they have done." with regard to england, also, the conduct of henry and his mother in these negotiations was marked by the same unfathomable duplicity. there was an appearance of cordiality on the surface; but there was deep plotting, and bargaining, and even deadly hostility lurking below. we have seen the efforts which elizabeth's government had been making to counteract the policy which offered the sovereignty of the provinces to the french monarch. at the same time there was at least a loyal disposition upon the queen's part to assist the netherlands, in concurrence with henry. the demeanour of burghley and his colleagues was frankness itself, compared with the secret schemings of the valois; for at least peace and good-will between the "triumvirate" of france, england and the netherlands, was intended, as the true means of resisting the predominant influence of spain. yet very soon after the solemn reception by henry of the garter brought by lord derby, and in the midst of the negotiations between the french court and the united provinces, the french king was not only attempting to barter the sovereignty offered him by the netherlanders against a handsome recompense for the portugal claim, but he was actually proposing to the king of spain to join with him in an invasion of england! even philip himself must have admired and respected such a complication of villany on the part of his most christian brother. he was, however, not disposed to put any confidence in his schemes. "with regard to the attempt against england," wrote philip to mendoza, "you must keep your eyes open--you must look at the danger of letting them, before they have got rid of their rivals and reduced their heretics, go out of their own house and kingdom, and thus of being made fools of when they think of coming back again. let them first exterminate the heretics of france, and then we will look after those of england; because 'tis more important to finish those who are near than those afar off. perhaps the queen-mother proposes this invasion in order to proceed more feebly with matters in her own kingdom; and thus mucio (duke of guise) and his friends will not have so safe a game, and must take heed lest they be deceived." thus it is obvious that henry and catharine intended, on the whole, to deceive the english and the netherlanders, and to get as good a bargain and as safe a friendship from philip as could be manufactured out of the materials placed in the french king's hands by the united provinces. elizabeth honestly wished well to the states, but allowed burghley and those who acted with him to flatter themselves with the chimera that henry could be induced to protect the netherlands without assuming the sovereignty of that commonwealth. the provinces were fighting for their existence, unconscious of their latent strength, and willing to trust to france or to england, if they could only save themselves from being swallowed by spain. as for spain itself, that country was more practised in duplicity even than the government of the medici-valois, and was of course more than a match at the game of deception for the franker politicians of england and holland. the king of navarre had meanwhile been looking on at a distance. too keen an observer, too subtle a reasoner to doubt the secret source of the movements then agitating france to its centre, he was yet unable to foresee the turn that all these intrigues were about to take. he could hardly doubt that spain was playing a dark and desperate game with the unfortunate henry iii.; for, as we have seen, he had himself not long before received a secret and liberal offer from philip ii., if he would agree to make war upon the king. but the bearnese was not the man to play into the hands of spain, nor could he imagine the possibility of the valois or even of his mother taking so suicidal a course. after the netherland deputies had received their final dismissal from the king, they sent calvart, who had been secretary to their embassy, on a secret mission to henry of navarre, then resident at chartres. the envoy communicated to the huguenot chief the meagre result of the long negotiation with the french court. henry bade him be of good cheer, and assured him of his best wishes for their cause. he expressed the opinion that the king of france would now either attempt to overcome the guise faction by gentle means, or at once make war upon them. the bishop of acqs had strongly recommended the french monarch to send the king of navarre, with a strong force, to the assistance of the netherlands, urging the point with much fervid eloquence and solid argument. henry for a moment had seemed impressed, but such a vigorous proceeding was of course entirely beyond his strength, and he had sunk back into his effeminate languor so soon as the bold bishop's back was turned. the bearnese had naturally conceived but little hope that such a scheme would be carried into effect; but he assured calvart, that nothing could give him greater delight than to mount and ride in such a cause. "notwithstanding," said the bearnese, "that the villanous intentions of the guises are becoming plainer and plainer, and that they are obviously supplied with spanish dollars, i shall send a special envoy to the most christian king, and, although 'tis somewhat late, implore him to throw his weight into the scale, in order to redeem your country from its misery. meantime be of good heart, and defend as you have done your hearths, your liberty, and the honour of god." he advised the states unhesitatingly to continue their confidence in the french king, and to keep him informed of their plans and movements; expressing the opinion that these very intrigues of the guise party would soon justify or even force henry iii. openly to assist the netherlands. so far, at that very moment, was so sharp a politician as the bearnese from suspecting the secret schemes of henry of valois. calvart urged the king of navarre to assist the states at that moment with some slight subsidy. antwerp was in such imminent danger as to fill the hearts of all true patriots with dismay; and a timely succour, even if a slender one, might be of inestimable value. henry expressed profound regret that his own means were so limited, and his own position so dangerous, as to make it difficult for him to manifest in broad daylight the full affection which he bore the provinces. "to my sorrow," said he, "your proposition is made in the midst of such dark and stormy weather, that those who have clearest sight are unable to see to what issue these troubles of france are tending." nevertheless, with much generosity and manliness, he promised calvart to send two thousand soldiers, at his own charges, to the provinces without delay; and authorised that envoy to consult with his agent at the court of the french king, in order to obtain the royal permission for the troops to cross the frontier. the crownless and almost houseless king had thus, at a single interview, and in exchange for nothing but good wishes, granted what the most christian monarch of france had refused, after months of negotiation, and with sovereignty as the purchase-money. the envoy, well pleased, sped as swiftly as possible to paris; but, as may easily be imagined, henry of valois forbade the movement contemplated by henry of navarre. "his majesty," said villeroy, secretary of state, "sees no occasion, in so weighty a business, thus suddenly to change his mind; the less so, because he hopes to be able ere long to smooth over these troubles which have begun in france. should the king either openly or secretly assist the netherlands or allow them to be assisted, 'twould be a reason for all the catholics now sustaining his majesty's party to go over to the guise faction. the provinces must remain firm, and make no pacification with the enemy. meantime the queen of england is the only one to whom god has given means to afford you succour. one of these days, when the proper time comes, his majesty will assist her in affording you relief." calvart, after this conference with the king of navarre, and subsequently with the government, entertained a lingering hope that the french king meant to assist the provinces. "i know well who is the author of these troubles," said the unhappy monarch, who never once mentioned the name of guise in all those conferences, "but, if god grant me life, i will give him as good as he sends, and make him rue his conduct." they were not aware after how many strange vacillations henry was one day to wreak this threatened vengeance. as for navarre, he remained upon the watch, good humoured as ever, more merry and hopeful as the tempest grew blacker; manifesting the most frank and friendly sentiments towards the provinces, and writing to queen elizabeth in the chivalrous style so dear to the heart of that sovereign, that he desired nothing better than to be her "servant and captain-general against the common enemy." but, indeed, the french king was not so well informed as he imagined himself to be of the authorship of these troubles. mucio, upon whose head he thus threatened vengeance, was but the instrument. the concealed hand that was directing all these odious intrigues, and lighting these flames of civil war which were so long to make france a scene of desolation, was that of the industrious letter-writer in the escorial. that which henry of navarre shrewdly suspected, when he talked of the spanish dollars in the balafre's pocket, that which was dimly visible to the bishop of acqs when he told henry iii. that the "tagus had emptied itself into the seine and loire, and that the gold of mexico was flowing into the royal cabinet," was much more certain than they supposed. philip, in truth, was neglecting his own most pressing interests that he might direct all his energies towards entertaining civil war in france. that france should remain internally at peace was contrary to all his plans. he had therefore long kept guise and his brother, the cardinal de lorraine, in his pay, and he had been spending large sums of money to bribe many of the most considerable functionaries in the kingdom. the most important enterprises in the netherlands were allowed to languish, that these subterranean operations of the "prudent" monarch of spain should be pushed forward. the most brilliant and original genius that philip had the good fortune to have at his disposal, the genius of alexander farnese, was cramped and irritated almost to madness, by the fetters imposed upon it, by the sluggish yet obstinate nature of him it was bound to obey. farnese was at that moment engaged in a most arduous military undertaking, that famous siege of antwerp, the details of which will be related in future chapters, yet he was never furnished with men or money enough to ensure success to a much more ordinary operation. his complaints, subdued but intense, fell almost unheeded on his master's ear. he had not "ten dollars at his command," his cavalry horses were all dead of hunger or had been eaten by their riders, who were starving to death themselves, his army had dwindled to a "handful," yet he still held on to his purpose, in spite of famine, the desperate efforts of indefatigable enemies, and all the perils and privations of a deadly winter. he, too, was kept for a long time in profound ignorance of philip's designs. meantime, while the spanish soldiers were starving in flanders, philip's dollars were employed by mucio and his adherents in enlisting troops in switzerland and germany, in order to carry on the civil war in france. the french king was held systematically up to ridicule or detestation in every village-pulpit in his own kingdom, while the sister of mucio, the duchess of montpensier, carried the scissors at her girdle, with which she threatened to provide henry with a third crown, in addition to those of france and poland, which he had disgraced--the coronal tonsure of a monk. the convent should be, it was intimated, the eventual fate of the modern childeric, but meantime it was more important than ever to supersede the ultimate pretensions of henry of navarre. to prevent that heretic of heretics, who was not to be bought with spanish gold, from ever reigning, was the first object of philip and mucio. accordingly, on the last day of the year , a secret treaty had been signed at joinville between henry of guise and his brother the duc de mayenne, holding the proxies of their brother the cardinal and those of their uncles, aumale and elbeuf, on the one part, and john baptist tassis and commander moreo, on the other, as representatives of philip. this transaction, sufficiently well known now to the most superficial student of history, was a profound mystery then, so far as regarded the action of the spanish king. it was not a secret, however, that the papistical party did not intend that the bearnese prince should ever come to the throne, and the matter of the succession was discussed, precisely as if the throne had been vacant. it was decided that charles, paternal uncle to henry of navarre, commonly called the cardinal bourbon, should be considered successor to the crown, in place of henry, whose claim was forfeited by heresy. moreover, a great deal of superfluous money and learning was expended in ordering some elaborate legal arguments to be prepared by venal jurisconsults, proving not only that the uncle ought to succeed before the nephew, but that neither the one nor the other had any claim to succeed at all. the pea having thus been employed to do the work which the sword alone could accomplish, the poor old cardinal was now formally established by the guise faction as presumptive heir to the crown. a man of straw, a superannuated court-dangler, a credulous trifler, but an earnest papist as his brother antony had been, sixty-six years old, and feeble beyond his years, who, his life long, had never achieved one manly action, and had now one foot in the grave; this was the puppet placed in the saddle to run a tilt against the bearnese, the man with foot ever in the stirrup, with sword rarely in its sheath. the contracting parties at joinville agreed that the cardinal should succeed on the death of the reigning king, and that no heretic should ever ascend the throne, or hold the meanest office in the kingdom. they agreed further that all heretics should be "exterminated" without distinction throughout france and the netherlands. in order to procure the necessary reforms among the clergy, the council of trent was to be fully carried into effect. philip pledged himself to furnish at least fifty thousand crowns monthly, for the advancement of this holy league, as it was denominated, and as much more as should prove necessary. the sums advanced were to be repaid by the cardinal on his succeeding to the throne. all the great officers of the crown, lords and gentlemen, cities, chapters, and universities, all catholics, in short, in the kingdom, were deemed to be included in the league. if any foreign catholic prince desired to enter the union, he should be admitted with the consent of both parties. neither his catholic majesty nor the confederated princes should treat with the most christian king, either directly or indirectly. the compact was to remain strictly secret--one copy of it being sent to philip, while the other was to be retained by cardinal bourbon and his fellow leaguers. and now--in accordance with this program--philip proceeded stealthily and industriously to further the schemes of mucio, to the exclusion of more urgent business. noiseless and secret himself, and delighting in clothing so much as to glide, as it were, throughout europe, wrapped in the mantle of invisibility, he was perpetually provoked by the noise, the bombast, and the bustle, which his less prudent confederates permitted themselves. while philip for a long time hesitated to confide the secret of the league to parma, whom it most imported to understand these schemes of his master, the confederates were openly boasting of the assistance which they were to derive from parma's cooperation. even when the prince had at last been informed as to the state of affairs, he stoutly denied the facts of which the leaguers made their vaunt; thus giving to mucio and his friends a lesson in dissimulation." "things have now arrived at a point," wrote philip to tassis, th march, , "that this matter of the league cannot and ought not to be concealed from those who have a right to know it. therefore you must speak clearly to the prince of parma, informing him of the whole scheme, and enjoining the utmost secrecy. you must concert with him as to the best means of rendering aid to this cause, after having apprised him of the points which regarded him, and also that of the security of cardinal de bourbon, in case of necessity." the prince was anything but pleased, in the midst of his anxiety and his almost superhuman labour in the antwerp siege, to be distracted, impoverished, and weakened, in order to carry out these schemes against france; but he kept the secret manfully. to malpierre, the french envoy in brussels--for there was the closest diplomatic communication between henry iii. and philip, while each was tampering with the rebellious subjects of the other--to malpierre parma flatly contradicted all complicity on the part of the spanish king or himself with the holy league, of which he knew philip to be the originator and the chief. "if i complain to the prince of parma," said the envoy, "of the companies going from flanders to assist the league, he will make me no other reply than that which the president has done--that there is nothing at all in it--until they are fairly arrived in france. the president (richardot) said that if the catholic king belonged to the league, as they insinuate, his majesty would declare the fact openly." and a few days later, the prince himself averred, as malpierre had anticipated, that "as to any intention on the part of himself or his catholic majesty, to send succour to the league, according to the boast of these gentlemen, he had never thought of such a thing, nor had received any order on the subject from his master. if the king intended to do anything of the kind, he would do it openly. he protested that he had never seen anything, or known anything of the league." here was a man who knew how to keep a secret, and who had no scruples in the matter of dissimulation, however enraged he might be at seeing men and money diverted from his own masterly combinations in order to carry out these schemes of his master. mucio, on the contrary, was imprudent and inclined to boast. his contempt for henry iii, made him blind to the dangers to be apprehended from henry of navarre. he did little, but talked a great deal. philip was very anxious that the work should be done both secretly and thoroughly. "let the business be finished before saint john's day," said he to tassis, when sending fifty thousand dollars for the use of the brothers guise. "tell iniquez to warn them not to be sluggish. let them not begin in a lukewarm manner, but promise them plenty of assistance from me, if they conduct themselves properly. let them beware of wavering, or of falling into plans of conciliation. if they do their duty, i will do mine." but the guise faction moved slowly despite of philip's secret promptings. the truth is, that the means proposed by the spanish monarch were ludicrously inadequate to his plans, and it was idle to suppose that the world was to be turned upside down for his benefit, at the very low price which he was prepared to pay. nothing less than to exterminate all the heretics in christendom, to place himself on the thrones of france and of england, and to extinguish the last spark of rebellion in the netherlands, was his secret thought, and yet it was very difficult to get fifty thousand dollars from him from month to month. procrastinating and indolent himself, he was for ever rebuking the torpid movements of the guises. "let mucio set his game well at the outset," said he; "let him lay the axe to the root of the tree, for to be wasting time fruitlessly is sharpening the knife for himself." this was almost prophetic. when after so much talking and tampering, there began to be recrimination among the leaguers, philip was very angry with his subordinate. "here is mucio," said he, "trying to throw the blame of all the difficulties, which have arisen, upon us. not hastening, not keeping his secret, letting the execution of the enterprise grow cold, and lending an ear to suggestions about peace, without being sure of its conclusion, he has turned his followers into cowards, discredited his cause, and given the king of france opportunity to strengthen his force and improve his party. these are all very palpable things. i am willing to continue my friendship for them, but not, if, while they accept it, they permit themselves to complain, instead of manifesting gratitude." on the whole, however, the affairs of the league seemed prosperous. there was doubtless too much display among the confederates, but there was a growing uneasiness among the royalists. cardinal bourbon, discarding his ecclesiastical robes and scarlet stockings, paraded himself daily in public, clothed in military costume, with all the airs of royalty. many persons thought him mad. on the other hand, epergnon, the haughty minion-in-chief, who governed henry iii., and insulted all the world, was becoming almost polite. "the progress of the league," said busbecq, "is teaching the duc d' epergnon manners. 'tis a youth of such insolence, that without uncovering he would talk with men of royal descent, while they were bareheaded. 'tis a common jest now that he has found out where his hat is." thus, for a long time, a network of secret political combinations had been stretching itself over christendom. there were great movements of troops throughout germany, switzerland, the netherlands, slowly concentrating themselves upon france; yet, on the whole, the great mass of the populations, the men and women who were to pay, to fight, to starve, to be trampled upon, to be outraged, to be plundered, to be burned out of houses and home, to bleed, and to die, were merely ignorant, gaping spectators. that there was something very grave in prospect was obvious, but exactly what was impending they knew no more than the generation yet unborn. very noiselessly had the patient manager who sat in the escorial been making preparations for that european tragedy in which most of the actors had such fatal parts assigned them, and of which few of the spectators of its opening scenes were doomed to witness the conclusion. a shifting and glancing of lights, a vision of vanishing feet, a trampling and bustling of unseen crowds, movements of concealed machinery, a few incoherent words, much noise and confusion vague and incomprehensible, till at last the tinkling of a small bell, and a glimpse of the modest manager stealing away as the curtain was rising--such was the spectacle presented at midsummer , and in truth the opening picture was effective. sixteen black-robed, long-bearded netherland envoys stalking away, discomfited and indignant upon one side; catharine de' medici on the other, regarding them with a sneer, painfully contorted into a pathetic smile; henry the king, robed in a sack of penitence, trembling and hesitating, leaning on the arm of epergnon, but quailing even under the protection of that mighty swordsman; mucio, careering, truncheon in hand, in full panoply, upon his war-horse, waving forward a mingled mass of german lanzknechts, swiss musketeers, and lorraine pikemen; the redoubtable don bernardino de mendoza, in front, frowning and ferocious, with his drawn sword in his hand; elizabeth of england, in the back ground, with the white-bearded burghley and the monastic walsingham, all surveying the scene with eyes of deepest meaning; and, somewhat aside, but in full view, silent, calm, and imperturbably good-humoured, the bold bearnese, standing with a mischievous but prophetic smile glittering through his blue eyes and curly beard--thus grouped were the personages of the drama in the introductory scenes. the course of public events which succeeded the departure of the netherland deputies is sufficiently well known. the secret negotiations and intrigues, however, by which those external facts were preceded or accompanied rest mainly in dusty archives, and it was therefore necessary to dwell somewhat at length upon them in the preceding pages. the treaty of joinville was signed on the last day of the year . we have seen the real nature of the interview of ambassador mendoza with henry iii. and his mother, which took place early in january, . immediately after that conference, don bernardino betook himself to the duke of guise, and lost no time in stimulating his confederate to prompt but secret action. the netherland envoys had their last audience on the th march, and their departure and disappointment was the signal for the general exhibition and explosion. the great civil war began, and the man who refused to annex the netherlands to the french kingdom soon ceased to be regarded as a king. on the st march, the heir presumptive, just manufactured by the guises, sent forth his manifesto. cardinal bourbon, by this document, declared that for twenty-four years past no proper measures had been taken to extirpate the heresy by which france was infested. there was no natural heir to the king. those who claimed to succeed at his death had deprived themselves, by heresy, of their rights. should they gain their ends, the ancient religion would be abolished throughout the kingdom, as it had been in england, and catholics be subjected to the same frightful tortures which they were experiencing there. new men, admitted to the confidence of the crown, clothed with the highest honours, and laden with enormous emoluments, had excluded the ancient and honoured functionaries of the state, who had been obliged to sell out their offices to these upstart successors. these new favourites had seized the finances of the kingdom, all of which were now collected into the private coffers of the king, and shared by him with his courtiers. the people were groaning under new taxes invented every day, yet they knew nothing of the distribution of the public treasure, while the king himself was so impoverished as to be unable to discharge his daily debts. meantime these new advisers of the crown had renewed to the protestants of the kingdom the religious privileges of which they had so justly been deprived, yet the religious peace which had followed had not brought with it the promised diminution of the popular burthens. never had the nation been so heavily taxed or reduced to such profound misery. for these reasons, he, cardinal bourbon, with other princes of the blood, peers, gentlemen, cities, and universities, had solemnly bound themselves by oath to extirpate heresy down to the last root, and to save the people from the dreadful load under which they were languishing. it was for this that they had taken up arms, and till that purpose was accomplished they would never lay them down. the paper concluded with the hope that his majesty would not take these warlike demonstrations amiss; and a copy of the document was placed in the royal hands. it was very obvious to the most superficial observer, that the manifesto was directed almost as much against the reigning sovereign as against henry of navarre. the adherents of the guise faction, and especially certain theologians in their employ, had taken very bold grounds upon the relations between king and subjects, and had made the public very familiar with their doctrines. it was a duty, they said, "to depose a prince who did not discharge his duty. authority ill regulated was robbery, and it was as absurd to call him a king who knew not how to govern, as it was to take a blind man for a guide, or to believe that a statue could influence the movements of living men." yet to the faction, inspired by such rebellious sentiments, and which was thundering in his face such tremendous denunciations, the unhappy henry could not find a single royal or manly word of reply. he threw himself on his knees, when, if ever, he should have assumed an attitude of command. he answered the insolence of the men, who were parading their contempt for his authority, by humble excuses, and supplications for pardon. he threw his crown in the dust before their feet, as if such humility would induce them to place it again upon his head. he abandoned the minions who had been his pride, his joy, and his defence, and deprecated, with an abject whimper, all responsibility for the unmeasured ambition and the insatiable rapacity of a few private individuals. he conjured the party-leaders, who had hurled defiance in his face, to lay down their arms, and promised that they should find in his wisdom and bounty more than all the advantages which they were seeking to obtain by war. henry of navarre answered in a different strain. the gauntlet had at last been thrown down to him, and he came forward to take it up; not insolently nor carelessly, but with the cold courtesy of a christian knight and valiant gentleman. he denied the charge of heresy. he avowed detestation of all doctrines contrary to the word of god, to the decrees of the fathers of the church, or condemned by the councils. the errors and abuses which had from time to time crept into the church, had long demanded, in the opinion of all pious persons, some measures of reform. after many bloody wars, no better remedy had been discovered to arrest the cause of these dire religious troubles, whether in france or germany, than to permit all men to obey the dictates of their own conscience. the protestants had thus obtained in france many edicts by which the peace of the kingdom had been secured. he could not himself be denounced as a heretic, for he had always held himself ready to receive instruction, and to be set right where he had erred. to call him "relapsed" was an outrage. were it true, he were indeed unworthy of the crown, but the world knew that his change at the massacre of st. bartholomew had been made under duresse, and that he had returned to the reformed faith when he had recovered his liberty. religious toleration had been the object of his life. in what the tyranny of the popes and the violence of the spaniards had left him of his kingdom of navarre, catholics and protestants enjoyed a perfect religious liberty. no man had the right, therefore, to denounce him as an enemy of the church, or a disturber of the public repose, for he had ever been willing to accept all propositions of peace which left the rights of conscience protected. he was a frenchman, a prince of france, a living member of the kingdom; feeling with its pains, and bleeding with its wounds. they who denounced him were alien to france, factitious portions of her body, feeling no suffering, even should she be consuming with living fire. the leaguers were the friends and the servants of the spaniards, while he had been born the enemy, and with too good reason, of the whole spanish race. "let the name of papist and of huguenot," he said, "be heard no more among us. those terms were buried in the edict of peace. let us speak only of frenchmen and of spaniards. it is the counter-league which we must all unite to form, the natural union of the head with all its members." finally, to save the shedding of so much innocent blood, to spare all the countless miseries of civil war, he implored the royal permission to terminate this quarrel in person, by single combat with the duke of guise, one to one, two to two, or in as large a number as might be desired, and upon any spot within or without the kingdom that should be assigned. "the duke of guise," said henry of navarre, "cannot but accept my challenge as an honour, coming as it does from a prince infinitely his superior in rank; and thus, may god defend the right." this paper, drawn up by the illustrious duplessis-mornay, who was to have been the second of the king of navarre in the proposed duel, was signed june . the unfortunate henry iii., not so dull as to doubt that the true object of the guise party was to reduce him to insignificance, and to open their own way to the throne, was too impotent of purpose to follow the dictates which his wisest counsellors urged and his own reason approved. his choice had lain between open hostility with his spanish enemy and a more terrible combat with that implacable foe wearing the mask of friendship. he had refused to annex to his crown the rich and powerful netherlands, from dread of a foreign war; and he was now about to accept for himself and kingdom all the horrors of a civil contest, in which his avowed antagonist was the first captain of the age, and his nominal allies the stipendiaries of philip ii. villeroy, his prime minister, and catharine de' medici, his mother, had both devoted him to disgrace and ruin. the deputies from the netherlands had been dismissed, and now, notwithstanding the festivities and exuberant demonstrations of friendship with which the earl of derby's splendid embassy had been greeted, it became necessary to bind henry hand and foot to the conspirators, who had sworn the destruction of that queen, as well as his own, and the extirpation of heresy and heretics in every realm of christendom. on the th june the league demanded a royal decree, forbidding the practice of all religion but the roman catholic, on pain of death. in vain had the clear-sighted bishop of acqs uttered his eloquent warnings. despite such timely counsels, which he was capable at once of appreciating and of neglecting, henry followed slavishly the advice of those whom he knew in his heart to be his foes, and authorised the great conspiracy against elizabeth, against protestantism, and against himself. on the th june villeroy had expressed a wish for a very secret interview with mendoza, on the subject of the invasion of england. "it needed not this overture," said that magniloquent spaniard, "to engender in a person of my talents, and with the heart of a mendoza, venom enough for vengeance. i could not more desire than i did already to assist in so holy a work; nor could i aspire to greater honour than would be gained in uniting those crowns (of france and spain) in strict friendship, for the purpose of extirpating heresy throughout europe, and of chastising the queen of england--whose abominations i am never likely to forget, having had them so long before my eyes--and of satisfying my just resentment for the injuries she has inflicted on myself. it was on this subject," continued the ambassador, "that monsieur de villeroy wished a secret interview with me, pledging himself--if your majesty would deign to unite yourself with this king, and to aid him with your forces--to a successful result." mendoza accordingly expressed a willingness to meet the ingenuous secretary of state--who had so recently been assisting at the banquets and rejoicings with lord derby and his companions, which had so much enlivened the french capital--and assured him that his most catholic majesty would be only too glad to draw closer the bonds of friendship with the most christian king, for the service of god and the glory of his church. the next day the envoy and the secretary of state met, very secretly, in the house of the signor gondi. villeroy commenced his harangue by an allusion to the current opinion, that mendoza had arrived in france with a torch in his hand, to light the fires of civil war in that kingdom, as he had recently done in england. "i do not believe," replied mendoza, "that discreet and prudent persons in france attribute my actions to any such motives. as for the ignorant people of the kingdom, they do not appal me, although they evidently imagine that i have imbibed, during my residence in england, something of the spirit of the enchanter merlin, that, by signs and cabalistic words alone, i am thought capable of producing such commotions." after this preliminary flourish the envoy proceeded to complain bitterly of the most christian king and his mother, who, after the propositions which they had made him, when on his way to spain, had, since his return, become so very cold and dry towards him. and on this theme he enlarged for some time. villeroy replied, by complaining, in his turn, about the dealings of the most catholic king, with the leaguers and the rebels of france; and mendoza rejoined by an intimation that harping upon past grievances and suspicions was hardly the way to bring about harmony in present matters. struck with the justice of this remark, the french secretary of state entered at once upon business. he made a very long speech upon the tyranny which "that englishwoman" was anew inflicting upon the catholics in her kingdom, upon the offences which she had committed against the king of spain, and against the king of france and his brothers, and upon the aliment which she had been yielding to the civil war in the netherlands and in france for so many years. he then said that if mendoza would declare with sincerity, and "without any of the duplicity of a minister"--that philip would league himself with henry for the purpose of invading england, in order to reduce the three kingdoms to the catholic faith, and to place their crowns on the head of the queen of scotland, to whom they of right belonged; then that the king, his master, was most ready to join in so holy an enterprise. he begged mendoza to say with what number of troops the invasion could be made; whether philip could send any from flanders or from spain; how many it would be well to send from france, and under what chieftain; in what manner it would be best to communicate with his most catholic majesty; whether it were desirable to despatch a secret envoy to him, and of what quality such agent ought to be. he also observed that the most christian king could not himself speak to mendoza on the subject before having communicated the matter to the queen-mother, but expressed a wish that a special carrier might be forthwith despatched to spain; for he might be sure that, on an affair of such weight, he would not have permitted himself to reveal the secret wishes of his master, except by his commands. mendoza replied, by enlarging with much enthusiasm on the facility with which england could be conquered by the combined power of france and spain. if it were not a very difficult matter before--even with the jealousy between the two crowns--how much less so, now that they could join their fleets and armies; now that the arming by the one prince would not inspire the other with suspicion; now that they would be certain of finding safe harbour in each other's kingdoms, in case of unfavourable weather and head-winds, and that they could arrange from what ports to sail, in what direction, and under what commanders. he disapproved, however, of sending a special messenger to spain, on the ground of wishing to keep the matter entirely secret, but in reality--as he informed philip--because he chose to keep the management in his own hands; because he could always let slip mucio upon them, in case they should play him false; because he feared that the leaking out of the secret might discourage the leaguers, and because he felt that the bolder and more lively were the cardinal of bourbon and his confederates, the stronger was the party of the king, his master, and the more intimidated and dispirited would be the mind and the forces of the most christian king. "and this is precisely the point," said the diplomatist, "at which a minister of your majesty should aim at this season." thus the civil war in france--an indispensable part of philip's policy-- was to be maintained at all hazards; and although the ambassador was of opinion that the most christian king was sincere in his proposition to invade england, it would never do to allow any interval of tranquillity to the wretched subjects of that christian king. "i cannot doubt," said mendoza, "that the making of this proposal to me with so much warmth was the especial persuasion of god, who, hearing the groans of the catholics of england, so cruelly afflicted, wished to force the french king and his minister to feel, in the necessity which surrounds them, that the offending him, by impeding the grandeur of your majesty, would be their total ruin, and that their only salvation is to unite in sincerity and truth with your majesty for the destruction of the heretics." therefore, although judging from the nature of the french--he might imagine that they were attempting to put him to sleep, mendoza, on the whole, expressed a conviction that the king was in earnest, having arrived at the conclusion that he could only get rid of the guise faction by sending them over to england. "seeing that he cannot possibly eradicate the war from his kingdom," said the envoy, "because of the boldness with which the leaguers maintain it, with the strong assistance of your majesty, he has determined to embrace with much fervour, and without any deception at all, the enterprise against england, as the only remedy to quiet his own dominions. the subjugation of those three kingdoms, in order to restore them to their rightful owner, is a purpose so holy, just, and worthy of your majesty, and one which you have had so constantly in view, that it is superfluous for me to enlarge upon the subject. your majesty knows that its effects will be the tranquillity and preservation of all your realms. the reasons for making the attempt, even without the aid of france, become demonstrations now that she is unanimously in favour of the scheme. the most christian king is resolutely bent--so far as i can comprehend the intrigues of villeroy-- to carry out this project on the foundation of a treaty with the guise party. it will not take much time, therefore, to put down the heretics here; nor will it consume much more to conquer england with the armies of two such powerful princes. the power of that island is of little moment, there being no disciplined forces to oppose us, even if they were all unanimous in its defence; how much less then, with so many catholics to assist the invaders, seeing them so powerful. if your majesty, on account of your netherlands, is not afraid of putting arms into the hands of the guise family in france, there need be less objection to sending one of that house into england, particularly as you will send forces of your own into that kingdom, by the reduction of which the affairs of flanders will be secured. to effect the pacification of the netherlands the sooner, it would be desirable to conquer england as early as october." having thus sufficiently enlarged upon the sincerity of the french king and his prime minister, in their dark projects against a friendly power, and upon the ease with which that friendly power could be subjected, the ambassador begged for a reply from his royal master without delay. he would be careful, meantime, to keep the civil war alive in france--thus verifying the poetical portrait of himself, the truth of which he had just been so indignantly and rhetorically denying--but it was desirable that the french should believe that this civil war was not philip's sole object. he concluded by drawing his master's attention to the sufferings of the english catholics. "i cannot refrain," he said, "from placing before your eyes the terrible persecutions which the catholics are suffering in england; the blood of the martyrs flowing in so many kinds of torments; the groans of the prisoners, of the widows and orphans; the general oppression and servitude, which is the greatest ever endured by a people of god, under any tyrant whatever. your majesty, into whose hands god is now pleased to place the means, so long desired, of extirpating and totally destroying the heresies of our time, can alone liberate them from their bondage." the picture of these kings, prime ministers, and ambassadors, thus plotting treason, stratagem, and massacre, is a dark and dreary one. the description of english sufferings for conscience' sake, under the protestant elizabeth, is even more painful; for it had unfortunately too much, of truth, although as wilfully darkened and exaggerated as could be done by religious hatred and spanish bombast. the queen was surrounded by legions of deadly enemies. spain, the pope, the league, were united in one perpetual conspiracy against her; and they relied on the cooperation of those subjects of hers whom her own cruelty was converting into traitors. we read with a shudder these gloomy secrets of conspiracy and wholesale murder, which make up the diplomatic history of the sixteenth century, and we cease to wonder that a woman, feeling herself so continually the mark at which all the tyrants and assassins of europe were aiming-- although not possessing perhaps the evidences of her peril so completely as they have been revealed to us--should come to consider every english papist as a traitor and an assassin. it was unfortunate that she was not able to rise beyond the vile instincts of the age, and by a magnanimous and sublime toleration, to convert her secret enemies into loyal subjects. and now henry of valois was to choose between league and counter-league, between henry of guise and henry of navarre, between france and spain. the whole chivalry of gascony and guienne, the vast swarm of industrious and hardy huguenot artisans, the netherland rebels, the great english queen, stood ready to support the cause of french nationality, and of all nationalities, against a threatening world-empire, of religious liberty against sacerdotal absolutism, and the crown of a king, whose only merit had hitherto been to acquiesce in a religious toleration dictated to him by others, against those who derided his authority and insulted his person. the bold knight-errant of christendom, the champion to the utterance against spain, stood there with lance in rest, and the king scarcely hesitated. the league, gliding so long unheeded, now reared its crest in the very palace of france, and full in the monarch's face. with a single shudder the victim fell into its coils. the choice was made. on the th of july ( ) the edict of nemours was published, revoking all previous edicts by which religious peace had been secured. death and confiscation of property were now proclaimed as the penalty of practising any religious rites save those of the roman catholic church. six months were allowed to the nonconformists to put their affairs in order, after which they were to make public profession of the catholic religion, with regular attendance upon its ceremonies, or else go into perpetual exile. to remain in france without abjuring heresy was thenceforth a mortal crime, to be expiated upon the gallows. as a matter of course, all huguenots were instantaneously incapacitated from public office, the mixed chambers of justice were abolished, and the cautionary towns were to be restored. on the other hand, the guise faction were to receive certain cities into their possession, as pledges that this sanguinary edict should be fulfilled. thus did henry iii. abjectly kiss the hand which smote him. his mother, having since the death of anjou no further interest in affecting to favour the huguenots, had arranged the basis of this treaty with the spanish party. and now the unfortunate king had gone solemnly down to the parliament of paris, to be present at the registration of the edict. the counsellors and presidents were all assembled, and as they sat there in their crimson robes, they seemed, to the excited imagination of those who loved their country, like embodiments of the impending and most sanguinary tragedy. as the monarch left the parliament-house a faint cry of 'god save the king' was heard in the street. henry hung his head, for it was long since that cry had met his ears, and he knew that it was a false and languid demonstration which had been paid for by the leaguers. and thus was the compact signed--an unequal compact. madam league was on horseback, armed in proof, said a contemporary; the king was on foot, and dressed in a shirt of penitence. the alliance was not an auspicious one. not peace, but a firebrand--'facem, non pacem'--had the king held forth to his subjects. when the news came to henry of navarre that the king had really promulgated this fatal edict, he remained for a time, with amazement and sorrow, leaning heavily upon a table, with his face in his right hand. when he raised his head again--so he afterwards asserted--one side of his moustachio had turned white. meantime gregory xiii., who had always refused to sanction the league, was dead, and cardinal peretti, under the name of sixtus v., now reigned in his place. born of an illustrious house, as he said--for it was a house without a roof--this monk of humble origin was of inordinate ambition. feigning a humility which was but the cloak to his pride, he was in reality as grasping, self-seeking, and revengeful, as he seemed gentle and devout. it was inevitable that a pontiff of this character should seize the opportunity offered him to mimic hildebrand, and to brandish on high the thunderbolts of the church. with a flaming prelude concerning the omnipotence delegated by almighty god to st. peter and his successors--an authority infinitely superior to all earthly powers--the decrees of which were irresistible alike by the highest and the meanest, and which hurled misguided princes from their thrones into the abyss, like children of beelzebub, the pope proceeded to fulminate his sentence of excommunication against those children of wrath, henry of navarre and henry of conde. they were denounced as heretics, relapsed, and enemies of god ( th aug. ). the king was declared dispossessed of his principality of bearne, and of what remained to him of navarre. he was stripped of all dignities, privileges, and property, and especially proclaimed incapable of ever ascending the throne of france. the bearnese replied by a clever political squib. a terse and spirited paper found its way to rome, and was soon affixed, to the statutes of pasquin and marforio, and in other public places of that city, and even to the gates of the papal palace. without going beyond his own doors, his holiness had the opportunity of reading, to his profound amazement, that mr. sixtus, calling himself pope, had foully and maliciously lied in calling the king of navarre a heretic. this henry offered to prove before any free council legitimately chosen. if the pope refused to submit to such decision, he was himself no better than excommunicate and antichrist, and the king of navarre thereby declared mortal and perpetual war upon him. the ancient kings of france had known how to chastise the insolence of former popes, and he hoped, when he ascended the throne, to take vengeance on mr. sixtus for the insult thus offered to all the kings of christendom--and so on, in a vein which showed the bearnese to be a man rather amused than blasted by these papal fireworks. sixtus v., though imperious, was far from being dull. he knew how to appreciate a man when he found one, and he rather admired the cheerful attitude maintained by navarre, as he tossed back the thunderbolts. he often spoke afterwards of henry with genuine admiration, and declared that in all the world he knew but two persons fit to wear a crown--henry of navarre and elizabeth of england. "'twas pity," he said, "that both should be heretics." and thus the fires of civil war had been lighted throughout christendom, and the monarch of france had thrown himself head foremost into the flames. etext editor's bookmarks: hibernian mode of expressing himself his inordinate arrogance his insolence intolerable humility which was but the cloak to his pride longer they delay it, the less easy will they find it oration, fertile in rhetoric and barren in facts round game of deception, in which nobody was deceived 'twas pity, he said, that both should be heretics wasting time fruitlessly is sharpening the knife for himself with something of feline and feminine duplicity this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, volume history of the united netherlands, chapter v., part . position and character of farnese--preparations for antwerp siege-- its characteristics--foresight of william the silent--sainte aldegonde, the burgomaster--anarchy in antwerp--character of sainte aldegonde--admiral treslong--justinus de nassau--hohenlo--opposition to the plan of orange--liefkenshoek--head--quarters of parma at kalloo--difficulty of supplying the city--results of not piercing the dykes--preliminaries of the siege--successes of the spaniards-- energy of farnese with sword and pen--his correspondence with the antwerpers--progress of the bridge--impoverished condition of parma --patriots attempt bois-le-duc--their misconduct--failure of the enterprise--the scheldt bridge completed--description of the structure the negotiations between france and the netherlands have been massed, in order to present a connected and distinct view of the relative attitude of the different countries of europe. the conferences and diplomatic protocolling had resulted in nothing positive; but it is very necessary for the reader to understand the negative effects of all this dissimulation and palace-politics upon the destiny of the new commonwealth, and upon christendom at large. the league had now achieved a great triumph; the king of france had virtually abdicated, and it was now requisite for the king of navarre, the netherlands, and queen elizabeth, to draw more closely together than before, if the last hope of forming a counter-league were not to be abandoned. the next step in political combination was therefore a solemn embassy of the states- general to england. before detailing those negotiations, however, it is proper to direct attention to the external public events which had been unrolling themselves in the provinces, contemporaneously with the secret history which has been detailed in the preceding chapters. by presenting in their natural groupings various distinct occurrences, rather than by detailing them in strict chronological order, a clearer view of the whole picture will be furnished than could be done by intermingling personages, transactions, and scenery, according to the arbitrary command of time alone. the netherlands, by the death of orange, had been left without a head. on the other hand, the spanish party had never been so fortunate in their chief at any period since the destiny of the two nations had been blended with each other. alexander farnese, prince of parma, was a general and a politician, whose character had been steadily ripening since he came into the command of the country. he was now thirty-seven years of age--with the experience of a sexagenarian. no longer the impetuous, arbitrary, hot-headed youth, whose intelligence and courage hardly atoned for his insolent manner and stormy career, he had become pensive, modest, almost gentle. his genius was rapid in conception, patient in combination, fertile in expedients, adamantine in the endurance or suffering; for never did a heroic general and a noble army of veterans manifest more military virtue in the support of an infamous cause than did parma and his handful of italians and spaniards. that which they considered to be their duty they performed. the work before them they did with all their might. alexander had vanquished the rebellion in the celtic provinces, by the masterly diplomacy and liberal bribery which have been related in a former work. artois, hainault, douay, orchies, with the rich cities of lille, tournay, valenciennes, arras, and other important places, were now the property of philip. these unhappy and misguided lands, however, were already reaping the reward of their treason. beggared, trampled upon, plundered, despised, they were at once the prey of the spaniards, and the cause that their sister-states, which still held out, were placed in more desperate condition than ever. they were also, even in their abject plight, made still more forlorn by the forays of balagny, who continued in command of cambray. catharine de' medici claimed that city as her property, by will of the duke of anjou. a strange title--founded upon the treason and cowardice of her favourite son--but one which, for a time, was made good by the possession maintained by balagny. that usurper meantime, with a shrewd eye to his own interests, pronounced the truce of cambray, which was soon afterwards arranged, from year to year, by permission of philip, as a "most excellent milch-cow;" and he continued to fill his pails at the expense of the "reconciled" provinces, till they were thoroughly exhausted. this large south-western section of the netherlands being thus permanently re-annexed to the spanish crown, while holland, zeeland, and the other provinces, already constituting the new dutch republic, were more obstinate in their hatred of philip than ever, there remained the rich and fertile territory of flanders and brabant as the great debateable land. here were the royal and political capital, brussels, the commercial capital, antwerp, with mechlin, dendermonde, vilvoorde, and other places of inferior importance, all to be struggled for to the death. with the subjection of this district the last bulwark between the new commonwealth and the old empire would be overthrown, and spain and holland would then meet face to face. if there had ever been a time when every nerve in protestant christendom should be strained to weld all those provinces together into one great commonwealth, as a bulwark for european liberty, rather than to allow them to be broken into stepping-stones, over which absolutism could stride across france and holland into england, that moment had arrived. every sacrifice should have been cheerfully made by all netherlanders, the uttermost possible subsidies and auxiliaries should have been furnished by all the friends of civil and religious liberty in every land to save flanders and brabant from their impending fate. no man felt more keenly the importance of the business in which he was engaged than parma. he knew his work exactly, and he meant to execute it thoroughly. antwerp was the hinge on which the fate of the whole country, perhaps of all christendom, was to turn. "if we get antwerp," said the spanish soldiers--so frequently that the expression passed into a proverb--"you shall all go to mass with us; if you save antwerp, we will all go to conventicle with you." alexander rose with the difficulty and responsibility of his situation. his vivid, almost poetic intellect formed its schemes with perfect distinctness. every episode in his great and, as he himself termed it, his "heroic enterprise," was traced out beforehand with the tranquil vision of creative genius; and he was prepared to convert his conceptions into reality, with the aid of an iron nature that never knew fatigue or fear. but the obstacles were many. alexander's master sat in his cabinet with his head full of mucio, don antonio, and queen elizabeth; while alexander himself was left neglected, almost forgotten. his army was shrinking to a nullity. the demands upon him were enormous, his finances delusive, almost exhausted. to drain an ocean dry he had nothing but a sieve. what was his position? he could bring into the field perhaps eight or ten thousand men over and above the necessary garrisons. he had before him brussels, antwerp, mechlin, ghent, dendermonde, and other powerful places, which he was to subjugate. here was a problem not easy of solution. given an army of eight thousand, more or less, to reduce therewith in the least possible time, half-a-dozen cities; each containing fifteen or twenty thousand men able to bear arms. to besiege these places in form was obviously a mere chimera. assault, battery, and surprises--these were all out of the question. yet alexander was never more truly heroic than in this position of vast entanglement. untiring, uncomplaining, thoughtful of others, prodigal of himself, generous, modest, brave; with so much intellect and so much devotion to what he considered his duty, he deserved to be a patriot and a champion of the right, rather than an instrument of despotism. and thus he paused for a moment--with much work already accomplished, but his hardest life-task before him; still in the noon of manhood, a fine martial figure, standing, spear in hand, full in the sunlight, though all the scene around him was wrapped in gloom--a noble, commanding shape, entitled to the admiration which the energetic display of great powers, however unscrupulous, must always command. a dark, meridional physiognomy, a quick; alert, imposing head; jet black, close-clipped hair; a bold eagle's face, with full, bright, restless eye; a man rarely reposing, always ready, never alarmed; living in the saddle, with harness on his back--such was the prince of parma; matured and mellowed, but still unharmed by time. the cities of flanders and brabant he determined to reduce by gaining command of the scheldt. the five principal ones ghent, dendermonde, mechlin, brussels antwerp, lie narrow circle, at distances from each other varying from five miles to thirty, and are all strung together by the great netherland river or its tributaries. his plan was immensely furthered by the success of balthasar gerard, an ally whom alexander had despised and distrusted, even while he employed him. the assassination of orange was better to parma than forty thousand men. a crowd of allies instantly started up for him, in the shape of treason, faintheartedness, envy, jealousy, insubordination, within the walls of every beleaguered city. alexander knew well how to deal with those auxiliaries. letters, artfully concocted, full of conciliation and of promise, were circulated in every council-room, in almost every house. the surrender of ghent--brought about by the governor's eloquence, aided by the golden arguments which he knew so well how to advance--had by the middle of september ( th sept. ), put him in possession of west flanders, with the important exception of the coast. dendermonde capitulated at a still earlier day; while the fall of brussels, which held out till many persons had been starved to death, was deferred till the th march of the following year, and that of mechlin till midsummer. the details of the military or political operations, by which the reduction of most of these places were effected, possess but little interest. the siege of antwerp, however, was one of the most striking events of the age; and although the change in military tactics and the progress of science may have rendered this leaguer of less technical importance than it possessed in the sixteenth century, yet the illustration that it affords of the splendid abilities of parma, of the most cultivated mode of warfare in use at that period, and of the internal politics by which the country was then regulated, make it necessary to dwell upon the details of an episode which must ever possess enduring interest. it is agreeable to reflect, too, that the fame of the general is not polluted with the wholesale butchery, which has stained the reputation of other spanish commanders so indelibly. there was no killing for the mere love of slaughter. with but few exceptions, there was no murder in cold blood; and the many lives that were laid down upon those watery dykes were sacrificed at least in bold, open combat; in a contest, the ruling spirits of which were patriotism, or at least honour. it is instructive, too, to observe the diligence and accuracy with which the best lights of the age were brought to bear upon the great problem which parma had undertaken to solve. all the science then at command was applied both by the prince and by his burgher antagonists to the advancement of their ends. hydrostatics, hydraulics, engineering, navigation, gunnery, pyrotechnics, mining, geometry, were summoned as broadly, vigorously, and intelligently to the destruction or preservation of a trembling city, as they have ever been, in more commercial days, to advance a financial or manufacturing purpose. land converted into water, and water into land, castles built upon the breast of rapid streams, rivers turned from their beds and taught new courses; the distant ocean driven across ancient bulwarks, mines dug below the sea, and canals made to percolate obscene morasses--which the red hand of war, by the very act, converted into blooming gardens--a mighty stream bridged and mastered in the very teeth of winter, floating ice-bergs, ocean-tides, and an alert and desperate foe, ever ready with fleets and armies and batteries--such were the materials of which the great spectacle was composed; a spectacle which enchained the attention of europe for seven months, and on the result of which, it was thought, depended the fate of all the netherlands, and perhaps of all christendom. antwerp, then the commercial centre of the netherlands and of europe, stands upon the scheldt. the river, flowing straight, broad, and full along the verge of the city, subtends the arc into which the place arranges itself as it falls back from the shore. two thousand ships of the largest capacity then known might easily find room in its ample harbours. the stream, nearly half a mile in width, and sixty feet in depth, with a tidal rise and fall of eleven feet, moves, for a few miles, in a broad and steady current between the provinces of brabant and flanders. then, dividing itself into many ample estuaries, and gathering up the level isles of zeeland into its bosom, it seems to sweep out with them into the northern ocean. here, at the junction of the river and the sea, lay the perpetual hope of antwerp, for in all these creeks and currents swarmed the fleets of the zeelanders, that hardy and amphibious race, with which few soldiers or mariners could successfully contend, on land or water. even from the beginning of the year parma had been from time to time threatening antwerp. the victim instinctively felt that its enemy was poising and hovering over head, although he still delayed to strike. early in the summer sainte aldegonde, recorder martini, and other official personages, were at delft, upon the occasion of the christening ceremonies of frederic henry, youngest child of orange. the prince, at that moment, was aware of the plans of parma, and held a long conversation with his friends upon the measures which he desired to see immediately undertaken. unmindful of his usual hospitality, he insisted that these gentlemen should immediately leave for antwerp. alexander farnese, he assured them, had taken the firm determination to possess himself of that place, without further delay. he had privately signified his purpose of laying the axe at once to the root of the tree, believing that with the fall of the commercial capital the infant confederacy of the united states would fall likewise. in order to accomplish this object, he would forthwith attempt to make himself master of the banks of the scheldt, and would even throw a bridge across the stream, if his plans were not instantly circumvented. william of orange then briefly indicated his plan; adding that he had no fears for the result; and assuring his friends, who expressed much anxiety on the subject, that if parma really did attempt the siege of antwerp it should be his ruin. the plan was perfectly simple. the city stood upon a river. it was practicable, although extremely hazardous, for the enemy to bridge that river, and by so doing ultimately to reduce the place. but the ocean could not be bridged; and it was quite possible to convert antwerp, for a season, into an ocean-port. standing alone upon an island, with the sea flowing around it, and with full and free marine communication with zeeland and holland, it might safely bid defiance to the land-forces, even of so great a commander as parma. to the furtherance of this great measure of defence, it was necessary to destroy certain bulwarks, the chief of ( th june, ) which was called the blaw-garen dyke; and sainte aldegonde was therefore requested to return to the city, in order to cause this task to be executed without delay. nothing could be more judicious than this advice. the low lands along the scheldt were protected against marine encroachments, and the river itself was confined to its bed, by a magnificent system of dykes, which extended along its edge towards the ocean, in parallel lines. other barriers of a similar nature ran in oblique directions, through the wide open pasture lands, which they maintained in green fertility, against the ever-threatening sea. the blaw-garen, to which the prince mainly alluded, was connected with the great dyke upon the right bank of the scheldt. between this and the city, another bulwark called the kowenstyn dyke, crossed the country at right angles to the river, and joined the other two at a point, not very far from lillo, where the states had a strong fortress. the country in this neighbourhood was low, spongy, full of creeks, small meres, and the old bed of the scheldt. orange, therefore, made it very clear, that by piercing the great dyke just described, such a vast body of water would be made to pour over the land as to submerge the kowenstyn also, the only other obstacle in the passage of fleets from zeeland to antwerp. the city would then be connected with the sea and its islands, by so vast an expanse of navigable water, that any attempt on parma's part to cut off supplies and succour would be hopeless. antwerp would laugh the idea of famine to scorn; and although this immunity would be purchased by the sacrifice of a large amount of agricultural territory the price so paid was but a slender one, when the existence of the capital, and with it perhaps of the whole confederacy was at stake. sainte aldegonde and martini suggested, that, as there would be some opposition to the measure proposed, it might be as well to make a similar attempt on the flemish side, in preference, by breaking through the dykes in the neighbourhood of saftingen. orange replied, by demonstrating that the land in the region which he had indicated was of a character to ensure success, while in the other direction there were certain very unfavourable circumstances which rendered the issue doubtful. the result was destined to prove the sagacity of the prince, for it will be shown in the sequel, that the saftingen plan, afterwards really carried out, was rather advantageous than detrimental to the enemy's projects. sainte aldegonde, accordingly, yielded to the arguments and entreaties of his friend, and repaired without delay to antwerp. the advice of william the silent--as will soon be related--was not acted upon; and, within a few weeks after it had been given, he was in his grave. nowhere was his loss more severely felt than in antwerp. it seemed, said a contemporary, that with his death had died all authority. the prince was the only head which the many-membered body of that very democratic city ever spontaneously obeyed. antwerp was a small republic --in time of peace intelligently and successfully administered--which in the season of a great foreign war, amid plagues, tumults, famine, and internal rebellion, required the firm hand and the clear brain of a single chief. that brain and hand had been possessed by orange alone. before his death he had desired that sainte aldegonde should accept the office of burgomaster of the city. nominally, the position was not so elevated as were many of the posts which that distinguished patriot had filled. in reality, it was as responsible and arduous a place as could be offered to any man's acceptance throughout the country. sainte aldegonde consented, not without some reluctance. he felt that there was odium to be incurred; he knew that much would be expected of him, and that his means would be limited. his powers would be liable to a constant and various restraint. his measures were sure to be the subject of perpetual cavil. if the city were besieged, there were nearly one hundred thousand mouths to feed, and nearly one hundred thousand tongues to dispute about furnishing the food. for the government of antwerp had been degenerating from a well-organised municipal republicanism into anarchy. the clashing of the various bodies exercising power had become incessant and intolerable. the burgomaster was charged with the chief executive authority, both for peace and war. nevertheless he had but a single vote in the board of magistrates, where a majority decided. moreover, he could not always attend the sessions, because he was also member of the council of brabant. important measures might therefore be decided by the magistracy, not only against his judgment, but without his knowledge. then there was a variety of boards or colleges, all arrogating concurrent--which in truth was conflicting- authority. there was the board of militia-colonels, which claimed great powers. here, too, the burgomaster was nominally the chief, but he might be voted down by a majority, and of course was often absent. then there were sixteen captains who came into the colonels' sessions whenever they liked, and had their word to say upon all subjects broached. if they were refused a hearing, they were backed by eighty other captains, who were ready at any moment to carry every disputed point before the "broadcouncil." there were a college of ward-masters, a college of select men, a college of deacons, a college of ammunition, of fortification, of ship-building, all claiming equal authority, and all wrangling among themselves; and there was a college of "peace-makers," who wrangled more than all the rest together. once a week there was a session of the board or general council. dire was the hissing and confusion, as the hydra heads of the multitudinous government were laid together. heads of colleges, presidents of chambers, militia-chieftains; magistrates, ward-masters, deans of fishmongers, of tailors, gardeners, butchers, all met together pell-mell; and there was no predominant authority. this was not a convenient working machinery for a city threatened with a siege by the first captain of the age. moreover there was a deficiency of regular troops: the burgher-militia were well trained and courageous, but not distinguished for their docility. there was also a regiment of english under colonel morgan, a soldier of great experience, and much respected; but, as stephen le sieur said, "this force, unless seconded with more, was but a breakfast for the enemy." unfortunately, too, the insubordination, which was so ripe in the city, seemed to affect these auxiliaries. a mutiny broke out among the english troops. many deserted to parma, some escaped to england, and it was not until morgan had beheaded captain lee and captain powell, that discipline could be restored. and into this scene of wild and deafening confusion came philip de marnix, lord of sainte aldegonde. there were few more brilliant characters than he in all christendom. he was a man, of a most rare and versatile genius. educated in geneva at the very feet of calvin, he had drunk, like mother's milk, the strong and bitter waters of the stern reformer's, creed; but he had in after life attempted, although hardly with success, to lift himself to the height of a general religious toleration. he had also been trained in the severe and thorough literary culture which characterised that rigid school. he was a scholar, ripe and rare; no holiday trifler in the gardens of learning. he spoke and wrote latin like his native tongue. he could compose poignant greek epigrams. he was so familiar with hebrew, that he had rendered the psalms of david out of the original into flowing flemish verse, for the use of the reformed churches. that he possessed the modern tongues of civilized europe, spanish, italian, french, and german, was a matter of course. he was a profound jurisconsult, capable of holding debate against all competitors upon any point of theory or practice of law, civil, municipal, international. he was a learned theologian, and had often proved himself a match for the doctors, bishops, or rabbin of europe, in highest argument of dogma, creed, or tradition. he was a practised diplomatist, constantly employed in delicate and difficult negotiations by william the silent, who ever admired his genius, cherished his friendship, and relied upon his character. he was an eloquent orator, whose memorable harangue, beyond all his other efforts, at the diet of worms, had made the german princes hang their heads with shame, when, taking a broad and philosophical view of the netherland matter, he had shown that it was the great question of europe; that nether germany was all germany; that protestantism could not be unravelled into shreds; that there was but one cause in christendom-- that of absolutism against national liberty, papacy against the reform; and that the seventeen provinces were to be assisted in building themselves into an eternal barrier against spain, or that the "burning mark of shame would be branded upon the forehead of germany;" that the war, in short, was to be met by her on the threshold; or else that it would come to seek her at home--a prophecy which the horrible thirty years' war was in after time most signally to verify. he was a poet of vigour and originality, for he had accomplished what has been achieved by few; he had composed a national hymn, whose strophes, as soon as heard, struck a chord in every netherland heart, and for three centuries long have rung like a clarion wherever the netherland tongue is spoken. "wilhelmus van nassouwe," regarded simply as a literary composition, has many of the qualities which an ode demands; an electrical touch upon the sentiments, a throb of patriotism, sympathetic tenderness, a dash of indignation, with rhythmical harmony and graceful expression; and thus it has rung from millions of lips, from generation to generation. he was a soldier, courageous, untiring, prompt in action, useful in council, and had distinguished himself in many a hard-fought field. taken prisoner in the sanguinary skirmish at maaslandssluys, he had been confined a year, and, for more than three months, had never laid his head, as he declared, upon the pillow without commending his soul as for the last time to his maker, expecting daily the order for his immediate execution, and escaping his doom only because william the silent proclaimed that the proudest head among the spanish prisoners should fall to avenge his death; so that he was ultimately exchanged against the veteran mondragon. from the incipient stages of the revolt he had been foremost among the patriots. he was supposed to be the author of the famous "compromise of the nobles," that earliest and most conspicuous of the state-papers of the republic, and of many other important political documents; and he had contributed to general literature many works of european celebrity, of which the 'roman bee-hive' was the most universally known. scholar, theologian, diplomatist, swordsman, orator, poet, pamphleteer, he had genius for all things, and was eminent in all. he was even famous for his dancing, and had composed an intelligent and philosophical treatise upon the value of that amusement, as an agent of civilisation, and as a counteractor of the grosser pleasures of the table to which upper and nether germans were too much addicted. of ancient savoyard extraction, and something of a southern nature, he had been born in brussels, and was national to the heart's core. a man of interesting, sympathetic presence; of a physiognomy where many of the attaching and attractive qualities of his nature revealed themselves; with crisp curling hair, surmounting a tall, expansive forehead--full of benevolence, idealism, and quick perceptions; broad, brown, melancholy eyes, overflowing with tenderness; a lean and haggard cheek, a rugged flemish nose; a thin flexible mouth; a slender moustache, and a peaked and meagre beard; so appeared sainte aldegonde in the forty- seventh year of his age, when he came to command in antwerp. yet after all--many-sided, accomplished, courageous, energetic, as he was--it may be doubted whether he was the man for the hour or the post. he was too impressionable; he had too much of the temperament of genius. without being fickle, he had, besides his versatility of intellect, a character which had much facility in turning; not, indeed, in the breeze of self-interest, but because he seemed placed in so high and clear an atmosphere of thought that he was often acted upon and swayed by subtle and invisible influences. at any rate his conduct was sometimes inexplicable. he had been strangely fascinated by the ignoble duke of anjou, and, in the sequel, it will be found that he was destined to experience other magnetic or magical impulses, which were once thought suspicious, and have remained mysterious even to the present day. he was imaginative. he was capable of broad and boundless hopes. he was sometimes prone to deep despair. his nature was exquisitely tempered; too fine and polished a blade to be wielded among those hydra-heads by which he was, now surrounded; and for which the stunning sledgehammer of arbitrary force was sometimes necessary. he was perhaps deficient in that gift, which no training and no culture can bestow, and which comes from above alone by birth-right divine--that which men willingly call master, authority; the effluence which came so naturally from the tranquil eyes of william the silent. nevertheless, sainte aldegonde was prepared to do his best, and all his best was to be tasked to the utmost. his position was rendered still more difficult by the unruly nature of some of his coordinates. "from the first day to the last," said one who lived in antwerp during the siege, "the mistakes committed in the city were incredible." it had long been obvious that a siege was contemplated by parma. a liberal sum of money had been voted by the states-general, of which holland and zeeland contributed a very large proportion (two hundred thousand florins); the city itself voted another large subsidy, and an order was issued to purchase at once and import into the city at least a year's supply of every kind of provisions of life and munitions of war. william de blois, lord of treslong, admiral of holland and zeeland, was requested to carry out this order, and superintend the victualling of antwerp. but treslong at once became troublesome. he was one of the old "beggars of the sea," a leader in the wild band who had taken possession of the brill, in the teeth of alva, and so laid the foundation of the republic. an impetuous noble, of wealthy family, high connections, and refractory temper--a daring sailor, ever ready for any rash adventure, but possessed of a very moderate share of prudence or administrative ability, he fell into loose and lawless courses on the death of orange, whose firm hand was needed to control him. the french negotiation had excited his profound disgust, and knowing sainte aldegonde to be heart and soul in favour of that alliance, he was in no haste whatever to carry out his orders with regard to antwerp. he had also an insignificant quarrel with president meetkerk. the prince of parma--ever on the watch for such opportunities--was soon informed of the admiral's discontent, and had long been acquainted with his turbulent character. alexander at once began to inflame his jealousy and soothe his vanity by letters and messengers, urging upon him the propriety of reconciling himself with the king, and promising him large rewards and magnificent employments in the royal service. even the splendid insignia of the golden fleece were dangled before his eyes. it is certain that the bold hollander was not seduced by these visions, but there is no doubt that he listened to the voice of the tempter. he unquestionably neglected his duty. week after week he remained, at ostend, sneering at the french and quaffing huge draughts in honour of queen elizabeth. at last, after much time had elapsed, he agreed to victual antwerp if he could be furnished with thirty krom-stevens,--a peculiar kind of vessel, not to be found in zeeland. the krom-stevens were sent to him from holland. then, hearing that his negligence had been censured by the states-general, he became more obstinate than ever, and went up and down proclaiming that if people made themselves disagreeable to him he would do that which should make all the women and children in the netherlands shriek and tremble. what this nameless horror was to be he never divulged, but meantime he went down to middelburg, and swore that not a boat-load of corn should go up to antwerp until two members of the magistracy, whom he considered unpleasant, had been dismissed from their office. wearied with all this bluster, and imbued with grave suspicion as to his motives, the states at last rose upon their high admiral and threw him into prison. he was accused of many high crimes and misdemeanours, and, it was thought, would be tried for his life. he was suspected and even openly accused of having been tampered with by spain, but there was at any rate a deficiency of proof. "treslong is apprehended," wrote davison to burghley, "and, is charged to have been the cause that the fleet passed not up to antwerp. he is suspected to have otherwise forgotten himself, but whether justly or not will appear by his trial. meantime he is kept in the common prison of middelburg, a treatment which it is thought they would not offer him if they had not somewhat of importance against him." he was subsequently released at the intercession of queen elizabeth, and passed some time in england. he was afterwards put upon trial, but no accuser appearing to sustain the charges against him, he was eventually released. he never received a command in the navy again, but the very rich sinecures of grand falconer and chief forester of holland were bestowed upon him, and he appears to have ended his days in peace and plenty. he was succeeded in the post of admiral of holland and zeeland by justinus de nassau, natural son of william the silent, a young man of much promise but of little experience. general count hohenlo, too, lieutenant for young maurice, and virtual commander-in-chief of the states' forces, was apt to give much trouble. a german noble, of ancient descent and princely rank; brave to temerity, making a jest of danger; and riding into a foray as if to a merry-making; often furiously intoxicated, and always turbulent and uncertain; a handsome, dissipated cavalier, with long curls floating over his shoulders, an imposing aristocratic face, and a graceful, athletic figure, he needed some cool brain and steady hand to guide him--valuable as he was to fulfil any daring project but was hardly willing to accept the authority of a burgomaster. while the young maurice yet needed tutelage, while "the sapling was growing into the tree," hohenlo was a dangerous chieftain and a most disorderly lieutenant. with such municipal machinery and such coadjutors had sainte aldegonde to deal, while, meantime, the delusive french negociation was dragging its slow length along, and while parma was noiselessly and patiently proceeding with his preparations. the burgomaster--for sainte aldegonde, in whom vulgar ambition was not a foible, had refused the dignity and title of margrave of antwerp, which had been tendered him--had neglected no effort towards carrying into effect the advice of orange, given almost with his latest breath. the manner in which that advice was received furnished a striking illustration of the defective machinery which has been pourtrayed. upon his return from delft, sainte aldegonde had summoned a meeting of the magistracy of antwerp. he laid before the board the information communicated by orange as to parma's intentions. he also explained the scheme proposed for their frustration, and urged the measures indicated with so much earnestness that his fellow-magistrates were convinced. the order was passed for piercing the blauw-garen dyke, and sainte aldegonde, with some engineers, was requested to view the locality, and to take order for the immediate fulfilment of the plan. unfortunately there were many other boards in session besides that of the schepens, many other motives at work besides those of patriotism. the guild of butchers held a meeting, so soon as the plan suggested was known, and resolved with all their strength to oppose its execution. the butchers were indeed furious. twelve thousand oxen grazed annually upon the pastures which were about to be submerged, and it was represented as unreasonable that all this good flesh and blood should be sacrificed. at a meeting of the magistrates on the following day, sixteen butchers, delegates from their guild, made their appearance, hoarse with indignation. they represented the vast damage which would be inflicted upon the estates of many private individuals by the proposed inundation, by this sudden conversion of teeming meadows, fertile farms, thriving homesteads, prolific orchards, into sandy desolation. above all they depicted, in glowing colours and with natural pathos, the vast destruction of beef which was imminent, and they urged--with some show of reason--that if parma were really about to reduce antwerp by famine, his scheme certainly would not be obstructed by the premature annihilation of these wholesome supplies. that the scheldt could be, closed in any manner was, however, they said, a preposterous conception. that it could be bridged was the dream of a lunatic. even if it were possible to construct a bridge, and probable that the zeelanders and antwerpers would look on with folded arms while the work proceeded, the fabric, when completed, would be at the mercy of the ice-floods of the winter and the enormous power of the ocean-tides. the prince of orange himself, on a former occasion, when antwerp was spanish, had attempted to close the river with rafts, sunken piles, and other obstructions, but the whole had been swept away, like a dam of bulrushes, by the first descent of the ice-blocks of winter. it was witless to believe that parma contemplated any such measure, and utterly monstrous to believe in its success. thus far the butchers. soon afterwards came sixteen colonels of militia, as representatives of their branch of the multiform government. these personages, attended by many officers of inferior degree, sustained the position of the butchers with many voluble and vehement arguments. not the least convincing of their conclusions was the assurance that it would be idle for the authorities to attempt the destruction of the dyke, seeing that the municipal soldiery itself would prevent the measure by main force, at all hazards, and without regard to their own or others' lives. the violence of this opposition, and the fear of a serious internecine conflict at so critical a juncture, proved fatal to the project. much precious time was lost, and when at last the inhabitants of the city awoke from their delusion, it was to find that repentance, as usual, had come many hours too late. for parma had been acting while his antagonists had been wrangling. he was hampered in his means, but he was assisted by what now seems the incredible supineness of the netherlanders. even sainte aldegonde did not believe in the possibility of erecting the bridge; not a man in antwerp seemed to believe it. "the preparations," said one who lived in the city, "went on before our very noses, and every one was ridiculing the spanish commander's folly." a very great error was, moreover, committed in abandoning herenthals to the enemy. the city of antwerp governed brabant, and it would have been far better for the authorities of the commercial capital to succour this small but important city, and, by so doing, to protract for a long time their own defence. mondragon saw and rejoiced over the mistake. "now 'tis easy to see that the prince of orange is dead," said the veteran, as he took possession, in the icing's name, of the forsaken herenthals. early in the summer, parma's operations had been, of necessity, desultory. he had sprinkled forts up and down the scheldt, and had gradually been gaining control of the navigation upon that river. thus ghent and dendermonde, vilvoorde, brussels, and antwerp, had each been isolated, and all prevented from rendering mutual assistance. below antwerp, however, was to be the scene of the great struggle. here, within nine miles of the city, were two forts belonging to the states, on opposite sides of the stream, lille, and liefkenshoek. it was important for the spanish commander to gain possession of both; before commencing his contemplated bridge. unfortunately for the states, the fortifications of liefkenshoek, on the flemish side of the river, had not been entirely completed. eight hundred men lay within it, under colonel john pettin of arras, an old patriotic officer of much experience. parma, after reconnoitring the place in person, despatched the famous viscount of ghent--now called marquis of roubaix and richebourg--to carry it by assault. the marquis sent one hundred men from his walloon legion, under two officers, in whom he had confidence, to attempt a surprise, with orders, if not successful, to return without delay. they were successful. the one hundred gained entrance into the fort at a point where the defences had not been put into sufficient repair. they were immediately followed by richebourg, at the head of his regiment. the day was a fatal one. it was the th july, and william of orange was falling at delft by the hand of balthazar gerard. liefkenshoek was carried at a blow. of the eight hundred patriots in the place, scarcely a man escaped. four hundred were put to the sword, the others were hunted into the river, when nearly all were drowned. of the royalists a single man was killed, and two or three more were wounded. "our lord was pleased," wrote parma piously to philip, that we "should cut the throats of four hundred of them in a single instant, and that a great many more should be killed upon the dykes; so that i believe very few to have escaped with life. we lost one man, besides two or three wounded." a few were taken prisoners, and among them was the commander john pettin. he was at once brought before richebourg, who was standing in the presence of the prince of parma. the marquis drew his sword, walked calmly up to the captured colonel, and ran him through the body. pettin fell dead upon the spot. the prince was displeased. "too much choler, marquis, too much choler,"--said he reprovingly. "troppa colera, signor marchese, a questa." but richebourg knew better. he had, while still viscount of ghent, carried on a year previously a parallel intrigue with the royalists and the patriots. the prince of parma had bid highest for his services, and had, accordingly, found him a most effectual instrument in completing the reduction of the walloon provinces. the prince was not aware, however, that his brave but venal ally had, at the very same moment, been secretly treating with william of orange; and as it so happened that colonel pettin had been the agent in the unsuccessful negotiation, it was possible that his duplicity would now be exposed. the marquis had, therefore, been prompt to place his old confederate in the condition wherein men tell no tales, and if contemporary chronicles did not bely him, it was not the first time that he had been guilty of such cold-blooded murder. the choler had not been superfluous. the fortress of lille was garrisoned by the antwerp volunteers, called the "young bachelors." teligny, the brave son of the illustrious "iron- armed" la none, commanded in chief: and he had, besides the militia, a company of french under captain gascoigne, and four hundred scotchmen under colonel morgan--perhaps two thousand men in all. mondragon, hero of the famous submarine expeditions of philipsland and zierickzee, was ordered by parma to take the place at every hazard. with five thousand men--a large proportion of the spanish effective force at that moment--the veteran placed himself before the fort, taking possession, of the beautiful country-house and farm of lille, where he planted his batteries, and commenced a regular cannonade. the place was stronger than liefkenshoek, however, and teligny thoroughly comprehended the importance of maintaining it for the states. mondragon dug mines, and teligny countermined. the spanish daily cannonade was cheerfully responded to by the besieged, and by the time mondragon had shot away fifty thousand pounds of powder, he found that he had made no impression upon the fortress, while the number of his troops had been diminishing with great rapidity. mondragon was not so impetuous as he had been on many former occasions. he never ventured an assault. at last teligny made a sortie at the head of a considerable force. a warm action succeeded, at the conclusion of which, without a decided advantage on either side, the sluice-gate in the fortress was opened, and the torrent of the scheldt, swollen by a high tide, was suddenly poured upon the spaniards. assailed at once by the fire from the lillo batteries, and by the waters of the river, they were forced to a rapid retreat. this they effected with great loss, but with signal courage; struggling breast high in the waves, and bearing off their field-pieces in their arms in the very face of the enemy. three weeks long mondragon had been before fort lille, and two thousand of his soldiers had been slain in the trenches. the attempt was now abandoned. parma directed permanent batteries to be established at lillo-house, at oordam, and at other places along the river, and proceeded quietly with his carefully-matured plan for closing the river. his own camp was in the neighbourhood of the villages of beveren, kalloo, and borght. of the ten thousand foot and seventeen hundred horse, which composed at the moment his whole army, about one-half lay with him, while the remainder were with count peter ernest mansfield, in the neighbourhood of stabroek. thus the prince occupied a position on the left bank of the scheldt, nearly opposite antwerp, while mansfield was stationed upon the right bank, and ten miles farther down the river. from a point in the neighbourhood of kalloo, alexander intended to throw a fortified bridge to the opposite shore. when completed, all traffic up the river from zeeland would be cut off; and as the country on the land- side; abut antwerp, had been now reduced, the city would be effectually isolated. if the prince could hold his bridge until famine should break the resistance of the burghers, antwerp would fall into his hands. his head-quarters were at kalloo, and this obscure spot soon underwent a strange transformation. a drowsy placid little village--with a modest parish spire peeping above a clump of poplars, and with half a dozen cottages, with storks nests on their roofs, sprinkled here and there among pastures and orchards--suddenly saw itself changed as it were into a thriving bustling town; for, saving the white tents which dotted the green turf in every direction, the aspect of the scene was, for a time, almost pacific. it was as if, some great manufacturing enterprise had been set on foot, and the world had suddenly awoke to the hidden capabilities of the situation. a great dockyard and arsenal suddenly revealed themselves--rising like an exhalation--where ship-builders, armourers, blacksmiths, joiners, carpenters, caulkers, gravers, were hard at work all day long. the din and hum of what seemed a peaceful industry were unceasing. from kalloo, parma dug a canal twelve miles long to a place called steeken, hundreds of pioneers being kept constantly at work with pick and spade till it was completed. through this artificial channel--so soon as ghent and dendermonde had fallen--came floats of timber, fleets of boats laden with provisions of life and munitions of death, building-materials, and every other requisite for the great undertaking, all to be disembarked at kalloo. the object was a temporary and destructive one, but it remains a monument of the great general's energy and a useful public improvement. the amelioration of the fenny and barren soil, called the waesland, is dated from that epoch; and the spot in europe which is the most prolific, and which nourishes the largest proportion of inhabitants to the square mile, is precisely the long dreary swamp which the prince thus drained for military purposes, and converted into a garden. drusus and corbulo, in the days of the roman empire, had done the same good service for their barbarian foes. at kalloo itself, all the shipwrights, cutlers, masons, brass-founders, rope-makers, anchor-forgers, sailors, boatmen, of flanders and brabant, with a herd of bakers, brewers, and butchers, were congregated by express order of parma. in the little church itself the main workshop was established, and all day long, week after week, month after month, the sound of saw and hammer, adze and plane, the rattle of machinery, the cry of sentinels, the cheers of mariners, resounded, where but lately had been heard nothing save the drowsy homily and the devout hymn of rustic worship. nevertheless the summer and autumn wore on, and still the bridge was hardly commenced. the navigation of the river--although impeded and rendered dangerous by the forts which parma held along the banks--was still open; and, so long as the price of corn in antwerp remained three or four times as high as the sum for which it could be purchased in holland and zeeland, there were plenty of daredevil skippers ready to bring cargoes. fleets of fly-boats, convoyed by armed vessels, were perpetually running the gauntlet. sharp actions on shore between the forts of the patriots and those of parma, which were all intermingled promiscuously along the banks, and amphibious and most bloody encounters on ship-board, dyke, and in the stream itself, between the wild zeelanders and the fierce pikemen of italy and spain, were of repeated occurrence. many a lagging craft fell into the enemy's hands, when, as a matter of course, the men, women, and children, on board, were horribly mutilated by the spaniards, and were then sent drifting in their boat with the tide--their arms, legs, and ears lopped off up to the city, in order that--the dangerous nature of this provision-trade might be fully illustrated. yet that traffic still went on. it would have continued until antwerp had been victualled for more than a year, had not the city authorities, in the plentitude of their wisdom, thought proper to issue orders for its regulation. on the th october ( ) a census was taken, when the number of persons inside the walls was found to be ninety thousand. for this population it was estimated that , veertell, or about , bushels of corn, would be required annually. the grain was coming in very fast, notwithstanding the perilous nature of the trade; for wheat could be bought in holland for fifty florins the last, or about fifteen pence sterling the bushel, while it was worth five or six florins the veertel, or about four shillings the bushel, in antwerp. the magistrates now committed a folly more stupendous than it seemed possible for human creatures, under such circumstances, to compass. they established a maximum upon corn. the skippers who had run their cargoes through the gauntlet, all the way from flushing to antwerp, found on their arrival, that, instead of being rewarded, according to the natural laws of demand and supply, they were required to exchange their wheat, rye, butter, and beef, against the exact sum which the board of schepens thought proper to consider a reasonable remuneration. moreover, in order to prevent the accumulation of provisions in private magazines, it was enacted, that all consumers of grain should be compelled to make their purchases directly from the ships. these two measures were almost as fatal as the preservation of the blaw-garen dyke, in the interest of the butchers. winter and famine were staring the city in the face, and the maximum now stood sentinel against the gate, to prevent the admission of food. the traffic ceased without a struggle. parma himself could not have better arranged the blockade. meantime a vast and almost general inundation had taken place. the aspect of the country for many miles around was strange and desolate. the sluices had been opened in the neighbourhood of saftingen, on, the flemish side, so that all the way from hulst the waters were out, and flowed nearly to the gates of antwerp. a wide and shallow sea rolled over the fertile plains, while church-steeples, the tops of lofty trees, and here and there the turrets of a castle, scarcely lifted themselves above the black waters; the peasants' houses, the granges, whole rural villages, having entirely disappeared. the high grounds of doel, of kalloo, and beveren, where alexander was established, remained out of reach of the flood. far below, on the opposite side of the river, other sluices had been opened, and the sea had burst over the wide, level plain. the villages of wilmerdonk, orderen, ekeren, were changed to islands in the ocean, while all the other hamlets, for miles around, were utterly submerged. still, however, the blaw-garen dyke and its companion the kowenstyn remained obstinately above the waters, forming a present and more fatal obstruction to the communication between antwerp and zeeland than would be furnished even by the threatened and secretly-advancing bridge across the scheldt. had orange's prudent advice been taken, the city had been safe. over the prostrate dykes, whose destruction he had so warmly urged, the ocean would have rolled quite to the gates of antwerp, and it would have been as easy to bridge the north sea as to control the free navigation of the patriots over so wide a surface. when it was too late, the butchers, and colonels, and captains, became penitent enough. an order was passed, by acclamation, in november, to do what orange had recommended in june. it was decreed that the blaw-garen and the kowenstyn should be pierced. alas, the hour had long gone by. alexander of parma was not the man to undertake the construction of a bridge across the river, at a vast expense, and at the same time to permit the destruction of the already existing barrier. there had been a time for such a deed. the seigneur de kowenstyn, who had a castle and manor on and near the dyke which bore his name, had repeatedly urged upon the antwerp magistracy the propriety of piercing this bulwark, even after their refusal to destroy the outer barrier. sainte aldegonde, who vehemently urged the measure, protested that his hair had stood on end, when he found, after repeated entreaty, that the project was rejected. the seigneur de kowenstyn, disgusted and indignant, forswore his patriotism, and went over to parma. the dyke fell into the hands of the enemy. and now from stabroek, where old mansfeid lay with his army, all the way across the flooded country, ran the great bulwark, strengthened with new palisade-work and block-houses, bristling with spanish cannon, pike, and arquebus, even to the bank of the scheldt, in the immediate vicinity of fort lille. at the angle of its junction with the main dyke of the river's bank, a strong fortress called holy cross (santa cruz) had been constructed. that fortress and the whole line of the kowenstyn were held in the iron grip of mondragon. to wrench it from him would be no child's play. five new strong redoubts upon the dyke, and five or six thousand spaniards established there, made the enterprise more formidable than it would have been in june. it had been better to sacrifice the twelve thousand oxen. twelve thousand hollanders might now be slaughtered, and still the dyke remain above the waves. here was the key to the fate of antwerp. on the other hand, the opening of the saftingen sluice had done parma's work for him. even there, too, orange had been prophetic. kalloo was high and dry, but alexander had experienced some difficulty in bringing a fleet of thirty vessels, laden with cannon and other valuable materials, from ghent along the scheldt, into his encampment, because it was necessary for them, before reaching their destination, to pass in front of antwerp. the inundation, together with a rupture in the dyke of borght, furnished him with a watery road; over which his fleet completely avoided the city, and came in triumph to kalloo. sainte aldegonde, much provoked by this masterly movement on the part of parma, had followed the little squadron closely with some armed vessels from the city. a sharp action had succeeded, in which the burgomaster, not being properly sustained by the zeeland ships on which he relied, had been defeated. admiral jacob jacobzoon behaved with so little spirit on the occasion that he acquired with the antwerp populace the name of "run- away jacob," "koppen gaet loppen;" and sainte aldegonde declared, that, but for his cowardice, the fleet of parma would have fallen into their hands. the burgomaster himself narrowly escaped becoming a prisoner, and owed his safety only to the swiftness of his barge, which was called the "flying devil." the patriots, in order to counteract similar enterprises in future, now erected a sconce, which they called fort teligny; upon the ruptured dyke of borght, directly in front of the borght blockhouse, belonging to the spaniards, and just opposite fort hoboken. here, in this narrow passage, close under the walls of antwerp, where friends and foes were brought closely, face to face, was the scene of many a sanguinary skirmish, from the commencement of the siege until its close. still the bridge was believed to be a mere fable, a chimaera. parma, men said, had become a lunatic from pride. it was as easy to make the netherlands submit to the yoke of the inquisition as to put a bridle on the scheldt. its depth; breadth, the ice-floods of a northern winter, the neighbourhood of the zeeland fleets, the activity of the antwerp authorities, all were pledges that the attempt would be signally frustrated. and they should have been pledges--more than enough. unfortunately, however, there was dissension within, and no chieftain in the field, no sage in the council, of sufficient authority to sustain the whole burthen of the war, and to direct all the energies of the commonwealth. orange was dead. his son, one day to become the most illustrious military commander in europe, was a boy of seventeen, nominally captain-general, but in reality but a youthful apprentice to his art. hohenlo was wild, wilful, and obstinate. young william lewis nassau, already a soldier of marked abilities, was fully occupied in friesland, where he was stadholder, and where he had quite enough to do in making head against the spanish governor and general, the veteran verdugo: military operations against zutphen distracted the attention of the states, which should have been fixed upon antwerp. admiral treslong, as we have seen, was refractory, the cause of great delinquency on the part of the fleets, and of infinite disaster to the commonwealth. more than all, the french negotiation was betraying the states into indolence and hesitation; and creating a schism between the leading politicians of the country. several thousand french troops, under monsieur d'allaynes, were daily expected, but never arrived; and thus, while english and french partisans were plotting and counter- plotting, while a delusive diplomacy was usurping the place of lansquenettes and gun-boats--the only possible agents at that moment to preserve antwerp--the bridge of parma was slowly advancing. before the winter had closed in, the preparatory palisades had been finished. between kalloo and ordam, upon the opposite side, a sandbar had been discovered in the river's bed, which diminished the depth of the stream, and rendered the pile-driving comparatively easy. the breadth of the scheldt at this passage was twenty-four hundred feet; its depth, sixty feet. upon the flemish side, near kalloo, a strong fort was erected, called saint mary, in honour of the blessed virgin, to whom the whole siege of antwerp had been dedicated from the beginning. on the opposite bank was a similar fort, flamed philip, for the king. from each of these two points, thus fortified, a framework of heavy timber, supported upon huge piles, had been carried so far into the stream on either side that the distance between the ends had at last been reduced to thirteen hundred feet. the breadth of the roadway--formed of strong sleepers firmly bound together--was twelve feet, along which block-houses of great thickness were placed to defend the whole against assault. thus far the work had been comparatively easy. to bridge the remaining open portion of the river, however, where its current was deepest and strongest, and where the action of tide, tempest, and icebergs, would be most formidable, seemed a desperate undertaking; for as the enterprise advanced, this narrow open space became the scene of daily amphibious encounters between the soldiers and sailors of parma and the forces of the states. unfortunately for the patriots, it was only skirmishing. had a strong, concerted attack, in large force, from holland and zeeland below and from the city above, been agreed upon, there was hardly a period, until very late in the winter, when it might not have had the best chances of success. with a vigorous commander against him, parma, weak in men, and at his wits' end for money, might, in a few hours, have seen the labour of several months hopelessly annihilated. on the other hand, the prince was ably seconded by his lieutenant, marquis richebourg, to whom had been delegated the immediate superintendence of the bridge- building in its minutest details. he was never idle. audacious, indefatigable, ubiquitous, he at least atoned by energy and brilliant courage for his famous treason of the preceding year, while his striking and now rapidly approaching doom upon the very scene of his present labours, made him appear to have been building a magnificent though fleeting monument to his own memory. sainte aldegonde, shut up in antwerp, and hampered by dissension within and obstinate jealousy without the walls, did all in his power to frustrate the enemy's enterprise and animate the patriots. through the whole of the autumn and early winter, he had urged the states of holland and zeeland to make use of the long winter nights, when moonless and stormy, to attempt the destruction of parma's undertaking, but the fatal influences already indicated were more efficient against antwerp than even the genius of farnese; and nothing came of the burgomaster's entreaties save desultory skirmishing and unsuccessful enterprises. an especial misfortune happened in one of these midnight undertakings. teligny ventured forth in a row-barge, with scarcely any companions, to notify the zeelanders of a contemplated movement, in which their co- operation was desired. it was proposed that the antwerp troops should make a fictitious demonstration upon fort ordam, while at the same moment the states' troops from fort lillo should make an assault upon the forts on kowenstyn dyke; and in this important enterprise the zeeland vessels were requested to assist. but the brave teligny nearly forfeited his life by his rashness, and his services were, for a long time, lost to the cause of liberty. it had been better to send a less valuable officer upon such hazardous yet subordinate service. the drip of his oars was heard in the darkness. he was pursued by a number of armed barges, attacked, wounded severely in the shoulder, and captured. he threw his letters overboard, but they were fished out of the water, carried to parma, and deciphered, so that the projected attack upon the kowenstyn was discovered, and, of necessity, deferred. as for teligny, he was taken, as a most valuable prize, into the enemy's camp, and was soon afterwards thrust into prison at tournay, where he remained six years-- one year longer than the period which his illustrious father had been obliged to consume in the infamous dungeon at mons. few disasters could have been more keenly felt by the states than the loss of this brilliant and devoted french chieftain, who, young as he was, had already become very dear to the republic; and sainte aldegonde was severely blamed for sending so eminent a personage on that dangerous expedition, and for sending him, too, with an insufficient convoy. still alexander felt uncertain as to the result. he was determined to secure antwerp, but he yet thought it possible to secure it by negotiation. the enigmatical policy maintained by france perplexed him; for it did not seem possible that so much apparent solemnity and earnestness were destined to lead to an impotent and infamous conclusion. he was left, too, for a long time in ignorance of his own master's secret schemes, he was at liberty to guess, and to guess only, as to the projects of the league, he was without adequate means to carry out to a certain triumph his magnificent enterprise, and he was in constant alarm lest he should be suddenly assailed by an overwhelming french force. had a man sat upon the throne of henry iii., at that moment, parma's bridge- making and dyke-fortifying skilful as they were--would have been all in vain. meantime, in uncertainty as to the great issue, but resolved to hold firmly to his purpose, he made repeated conciliatory offers to the states with one hand, while he steadily prosecuted his aggressive schemes with the other. parma had become really gentle, almost affectionate, towards the netherlanders. he had not the disposition of an alva to smite and to blast, to exterminate the rebels and heretics with fire and sword, with the axe, the rack, and the gallows. provided they would renounce the great object of the contest, he seemed really desirous that they should escape further chastisement; but to admit the worship of god according to the reformed creed, was with him an inconceivable idea. to do so was both unrighteous and impolitic. he had been brought up to believe that mankind could be saved from eternal perdition only by believing in the infallibility of the bishop of rome; that the only keys to eternal paradise were in the hands of st. peter's representative. moreover, he instinctively felt that within this religious liberty which the netherlanders claimed was hidden the germ of civil liberty; and though no bigger than a grain of mustard-seed, it was necessary to destroy it at once; for of course the idea of civil liberty could not enter the brain of the brilliant general of philip ii. on the th of november he addressed a letter to the magistracy and broad-council of antwerp. he asserted that the instigators of the rebellion were not seeking to further the common weal, but their own private ends. especially had this been the ruling motive with the prince of orange and the duke of anjou, both of whom god had removed from the world, in order to manifest to the states their own weakness, and the omnipotence of philip, whose, prosperity the lord was constantly increasing. it was now more than time for the authorities of the country to have regard for themselves, and for the miseries of the poor people. the affection which he had always felt for the provinces from which he had himself sprung and the favours which he had received from them in his youth, had often moved him to propose measures, which, before god and his conscience, he believed adequate to the restoration of peace. but his letters had been concealed or falsely interpreted by the late prince of orange, who had sought nothing but to spread desolation over the land, and to shed the blood of the innocent. he now wrote once more, and for the last time, in all fervour and earnestness, to implore them to take compassion on their own wives and children and forlorn fatherland, to turn their eyes backward on the peace and prosperity which they had formerly enjoyed when obedient to his majesty, and to cast a glance around them upon the miseries which were so universal since the rebellion. he exhorted them to close their ears to the insidious tongues of those who were leading them into delusion as to the benevolence and paternal sweetness of their natural lord and master, which were even now so boundless that he did not hesitate once more to offer them his entire forgiveness. if they chose to negotiate, they would find everything granted that with right and reason could be proposed. the prince concluded by declaring that he made these advances not from any doubt as to the successful issue of the military operations in which he was engaged, but simply out of paternal anxiety for the happiness of the provinces. did they remain obstinate, their ultimate conditions would be rendered still more severe, and themselves, not he, would be responsible for the misery and the bloodshed to ensue. ten days afterwards, the magistrates, thus addressed--after communication with the broad-council--answered parma's. rd nov., letter manfully, copiously, and with the customary but superfluous historical sketch. they begged leave to entertain a doubt as to the paternal sweetness of a king who had dealt so long in racks and gibbets. with parma's own mother, as they told the prince, the netherlanders had once made a treaty, by which the right to worship god according to their consciences had been secured; yet for maintaining that treaty they had been devoted to indiscriminate destruction, and their land made desolate with fire and sword. men had been massacred by thousands, who had never been heard in their own defence, and who had never been accused of any crime, "save that they had assembled together in the name of god, to pray to him through their only mediator and advocate jesus christ, according to his command." the axis of the revolt was the religious question; and it was impossible to hope anything from a monarch who was himself a slave of the inquisition, and who had less independence of action than that enjoyed by jews and turks, according to the express permission of the pope. therefore they informed parma that they had done with philip for ever, and that in consequence of the extraordinary wisdom, justice, and moderation, of the french king, they had offered him the sovereignty of their land, and had implored his protection. they paid a tribute to the character of farnese, who after gaining infinite glory in arms, had manifested so much gentleness and disposition to conciliate. they doubted not that he would, if he possessed the power, have guided the royal councils to better and more generous results, and protested that they would not have delayed to throw themselves into his arms, had they been assured that he was authorized to admit that which alone could form the basis of a successful negotiation-- religious freedom. they would in such case have been willing to close with him, without talking about other conditions than such as his highness in his discretion and sweetness might think reasonable. moreover, as they observed in conclusion, they were precluded, by their present relations with france, from entering into any other negotiation; nor could they listen to any such proposals without deserving to be stigmatized as the most lewd, blasphemous, and thankless mortals, that ever cumbered the earth. being under equal obligations both to the union and to france, they announced that parma's overtures would be laid before the french government and the assembly of the states-general. a day was to come, perhaps, when it would hardly seem lewdness and blasphemy for the netherlanders to doubt the extraordinary justice and wisdom of the french king. meantime, it cannot be denied that they were at least loyal to their own engagements, and long-suffering where they had trusted and given their hearts. parma replied by another letter, dated december rd. he assured the citizens that henry iii. was far too discreet, and much too good a friend to philip ii., to countenance this rebellion. if he were to take up their quarrel, however, the king of spain had a thousand means of foiling all his attempts. as to the religious question--which they affirmed to be the sole cause of the war--he was not inclined to waste words upon that subject; nevertheless, so far as he in his simplicity could understand the true nature of a christian, he could not believe that it comported with the doctrines of jesus, whom they called their only mediator, nor with the dictates of conscience, to take up arms against their lawful king, nor to burn, rob, plunder, pierce dykes, overwhelm their fatherland, and reduce all things to misery and chaos, in the name of religion. thus moralizing and dogmatizing, the prince concluded his letter, and so the correspondence terminated. this last despatch was communicated at once both to the states-general and to the french government, and remained unanswered. soon afterwards the netherlands and england, france and spain, were engaged in that vast game of delusion which has been described in the preceding chapters. meantime both antwerp and parma remained among the deluded, and were left to fight out their battle on their own resources. having found it impossible to subdue antwerp by his rhetoric, alexander proceeded with his bridge. it is impossible not to admire the steadiness and ingenuity with which the prince persisted in his plans, the courage with which he bore up against the parsimony and neglect of his sovereign, the compassionate tenderness which he manifested for his patient little army. so much intellectual energy commands enthusiasm, while the supineness on the other side sometimes excites indignation. there is even a danger of being entrapped into sympathy with tyranny, when the cause of tyranny is maintained by genius; and of being surprised into indifference for human liberty, when the sacred interests of liberty are endangered by self-interest, perverseness, and folly. even sainte aldegonde did not believe that the bridge could be completed. his fears were that the city would be ruined rather by the cessation of its commerce than by want of daily food. already, after the capture of liefkenshoek and the death of orange, the panic among commercial people had been so intense that seventy or eighty merchants, representing the most wealthy mercantile firms in antwerp, made their escape from the place, as if it had been smitten with pestilence, or were already in the hands of parma. all such refugees were ordered to return on peril of forfeiting their property. few came back, however, for they had found means of converting and transferring their funds to other more secure places, despite the threatened confiscation. it was insinuated that holland and zeeland were indifferent to the fate of antwerp, because in the sequel the commercial cities of those provinces succeeded to the vast traffic and the boundless wealth which had been forfeited by the brabantine capital. the charge was an unjust one. at the very commencement of the siege the states of holland voted two hundred thousand florins for its relief; and, moreover, these wealthy refugees were positively denied admittance into the territory of tho united states, and were thus forced to settle in germany or england. this cessation of traffic was that which principally excited the anxiety of aldegonde. he could not bring himself to believe in the possibility of a blockade, by an army of eight or ten thousand men, of a great and wealthy city, where at least twenty thousand citizens were capable of bearing arms. had he thoroughly understood the deprivations under which alexander was labouring, perhaps he would have been even more confident as to the result. "with regard to the affair of the river scheldt," wrote parma to philip, "i should like to send your majesty a drawing of the whole scheme; for the work is too vast to be explained by letters. the more i examine it, the more astonished i am that it should have been conducted to this point; so many forts, dykes, canals, new inventions, machinery, and engines, have been necessarily required." he then proceeded to enlighten the king--as be never failed to do in all his letters--as to his own impoverished, almost helpless condition. money, money, men! this was his constant cry. all would be in vain, he said, if he were thus neglected. "'tis necessary," said he, "for your majesty fully to comprehend, that henceforth the enterprise is your own. i have done my work faithfully thus far; it is now for your majesty to take it thoroughly to heart; and embrace it with the warmth with which an affair involving so much of your own interests deserves to be embraced." he avowed that without full confidence in his sovereign's sympathy he would never have conceived the project. "i confess that the enterprise is great," he said, "and that by many it will be considered rash. certainly i should not have undertaken it, had i not felt certain of your majesty's full support." but he was already in danger of being forced to abandon the whole scheme --although so nearly carried into effect--for want of funds. "the million promised," he wrote, "has arrived in bits and morsels, and with so many ceremonies, that i haven't ten crowns at my disposal. how i am to maintain even this handful of soldiers--for the army is diminished to such a mere handful that it would astonish your majesty--i am unable to imagine. it would move you to witness their condition. they have suffered as much as is humanly possible." many of the troops, indeed, were deserting, and making their escape, beggared and desperate, into france, where, with natural injustice, they denounced their general, whose whole heart was occupied with their miseries, for the delinquency of his master, whose mind was full of other schemes. "there past this way many spanish soldiers," wrote stafford from paris, "so poor and naked as i ever saw any. there have been within this fortnight two hundred at a time in this town, who report the extremity of want of victuals in their camp, and that they have been twenty-four months without pay. they exclaim greatly upon the prince of parma. mendoza seeks to convey them away, and to get money for them by all means he can." stafford urged upon his government the propriety of being at least as negligent as philip had showed himself to be of the spaniards. by prohibiting supplies to the besieging army, england might contribute, negatively, if not otherwise, to the relief of antwerp. "there is no place," he wrote to walsingham, "whence the spaniards are so thoroughly victualled as from us. english boats go by sixteen and seventeen into dunkirk, well laden with provisions." this was certainly not in accordance with the interests nor the benevolent professions of the english ministers. these supplies were not to be regularly depended upon however. they were likewise not to be had without paying a heavy price for them, and the prince had no money in his coffer. he lived from hand to mouth, and was obliged to borrow from every private individual who had anything to lend. merchants, nobles, official personages, were all obliged to assist in eking out the scanty pittance allowed by the sovereign. "the million is all gone," wrote parma to his master; "some to verdugo in friesland; some to repay the advances of marquis richebourg and other gentlemen. there is not a farthing for the garrisons. i can't go on a month longer, and, if not supplied, i shall be obliged to abandon the work. i have not money enough to pay my sailors, joiners, carpenters, and other mechanics, from week to week, and they will all leave me in the lurch, if i leave them unpaid. i have no resource but to rely on your majesty. otherwise the enterprise must wholly fail." in case it did fail, the prince wiped his hands of the responsibility. he certainly had the right to do so. one of the main sources of supply was the city of hertogenbosch, or bois- le-duc. it was one of the four chief cities of brabant, and still held for the king, although many towns in its immediate neighbourhood had espoused the cause of the republic. the states had long been anxious to effect a diversion for the relief of antwerp, by making an attack on bois-le-duc. could they carry the place, parma would be almost inevitably compelled to abandon the siege in which he was at present engaged, and he could moreover spare no troops for its defence. bois-le- duc was a populous, wealthy, thriving town, situate on the deeze, two leagues above its confluence with the meuse, and about twelve leagues from antwerp. it derived its name of `duke's wood' from a magnificent park and forest, once the favourite resort and residence of the old dukes of brabant, of which some beautiful vestiges still remained. it was a handsome well-built city, with two thousand houses of the better class, besides more humble tenements. its citizens were celebrated for their courage and belligerent skill, both on foot and on horseback. they were said to retain more of the antique belgic ferocity which caesar had celebrated than that which had descended to most of their kinsmen. the place was, moreover, the seat of many prosperous manufactures. its clothiers sent the products of their looms over all christendom, and its linen and cutlery were equally renowned. it would be a most fortunate blow in the cause of freedom to secure so, thriving and conspicuous a town, situated thus in the heart of what seemed the natural territory of the united states; and, by so doing, to render nugatory the mighty preparations of parma against antwerp. moreover, it was known that there was no spanish or other garrison within its walls, so that there was no opposition to be feared, except from the warlike nature of the citizens. count hohenlo was entrusted, early in january, with this important enterprise. he accordingly collected a force of four thousand infantry, together with two hundred mounted lancers; having previously reconnoitered the ground. he relied very much, for the success of the undertaking, on captain kleerhagen, a brussels nobleman, whose wife was a native of bois-le-duc, and who was thoroughly familiar with the locality. one dark winter's night, kleerhagen, with fifty picked soldiers, advanced to the antwerp gate of bois-le-duc, while hohenlo, with his whole force, lay in ambuscade as near as possible to the city. between the drawbridge and the portcullis were two small guard-houses, which, very carelessly, had been left empty. kleerhagen, with his fifty followers, successfully climbed into these lurking-places, where they quietly ensconced themselves for the night. at eight o'clock of the following morning ( th january) the guards of the gate drew up the portcullis, and reconnoitered. at the same instant, the ambushed fifty sprang from their concealment, put them to the sword, and made themselves masters of the gate. none of the night-watch escaped with life, save one poor old invalided citizen, whose business had been to draw up the portcullis, and who was severely wounded, and left for dead. the fifty immediately summoned all of rohenlo's ambuscade that were within hearing, and then, without waiting for them, entered the town pell-mell in the best of spirits, and shouting victory! victory! till they were hoarse. a single corporal, with two men, was left to guard the entrance. meantime, the old wounded gate-opener, bleeding and crippled, crept into a dark corner, and laid himself down, unnoticed, to die. soon afterwards hohenlo galloped into the town, clad in complete armour, his long curls floating in the wind, with about two hundred troopers clattering behind him, closely followed by five hundred pike-men on foot. very brutally, foolishly, and characteristically, he had promised his followers the sacking of the city so soon as it should be taken. they accordingly set about the sacking, before it was taken. hardly had the five or six hundred effected their entrance, than throwing off all control, they dispersed through the principal streets, and began bursting open the doors of the most opulent households. the cries of "victory!" "gained city!" "down with the spaniards!" resounded on all sides. many of the citizens, panic-struck, fled from their homes, which they thus abandoned to pillage, while, meantime, the loud shouts of the assailants reached the ears of the sergeant and his two companies who had been left in charge of the gate. fearing that they should be cheated of their rightful share in the plunder, they at once abandoned their post, and set forth after their comrades, as fast as their legs could carry them. now it so chanced--although there was no garrison in the town--that forty burgundian and italian lancers, with about thirty foot-soldiers, had come in the day before to escort a train of merchandise. the seigneur de haultepenne, governor of breda, a famous royalist commander--son of old count berlaymont, who first gave the name of "beggars" to the patriots- had accompanied them in the expedition. the little troop were already about to mount their horses to depart, when they became aware of the sudden tumult. elmont, governor of the city, had also flown to the rescue, and had endeavoured to rally the burghers. not unmindful of their ancient warlike fame, they had obeyed his entreaties. elmont, with a strong party of armed citizens, joined himself to haultepenne's little band of lancers. they fired a few shots at straggling parties of plunderers, and pursued others up some narrow streets. they were but an handful in comparison with the number of the patriots, who had gained entrance to the city. they were, however, compact, united, and resolute. the assailants were scattered, disorderly, and bent only upon plunder. when attacked by an armed and regular band, they were amazed. they had been told that there was no garrison; and behold a choice phalanx of spanish lancers, led on by one of the most famous of philip's netherland chieftains. they thought themselves betrayed by kleerhagen, entrapped into a deliberately arranged ambush. there was a panic. the soldiers, dispersed and doubtful, could not be rallied. hohenlo, seeing that nothing was to be done with his five hundred, galloped furiously out of the gate, to bring in the rest of his troops who had remained outside the walls. the prize of the wealthy city of bois-le-duc was too tempting to be lightly abandoned; but he had much better have thought of making himself master of it himself before he should present it as a prey to his followers. during his absence the panic spread. the states' troops, bewildered, astonished, vigorously assaulted, turned their backs upon their enemies, and fled helter-skelter towards the gates, through which they had first gained admittance. but unfortunately for them, so soon as the corporal had left his position, the wounded old gate-opener, in a dying condition, had crawled forth on his hands and knees from a dark hole in the tower, cut, with a pocket-knife, the ropes of the portcullis, and then given up the ghost. most effective was that blow struck by a dead man's hand. down came the portcullis. the flying plunderers were entrapped. close behind them came the excited burghers--their antique belgic ferocity now fully aroused--firing away with carbine and matchlock, dealing about them with bludgeon and cutlass, and led merrily on by haultepenne and elmont armed in proof, at the head of their squadron of lancers. the unfortunate patriots had risen very early in the morning only to shear the wolf. some were cut to pieces in the streets; others climbed the walls, and threw themselves head foremost into the moat. many were drowned, and but a very few effected their escape. justinus de nassau. sprang over the parapet, and succeeded in swimming the ditch. kleerhagen, driven into the holy cross tower, ascended to its .roof, leaped, all accoutred as he was, into the river, and with the assistance of a scotch soldier, came safe to land. ferdinand truchsess, brother of the ex-elector of cologne, was killed. four or five hundred of the assailants--nearly all who had entered the city--were slain, and about fifty of the burghers. hohenlo soon came back, with colonel ysselstein, and two thousand fresh troops. but their noses, says a contemporary, grew a hundred feet long with surprise when they saw the gate shut in their faces. it might have occurred to the count, when he rushed out of the town for reinforcements, that it would be as well to replace the guard, which--as he must have seen--had abandoned their post. cursing his folly, he returned, mavellously discomfited, and deservedly censured, to gertruydenberg. and thus had a most important enterprise; which had nearly been splendidly successful, ended in disaster and disgrace. to the recklessness of the general, to the cupidity which he had himself awakened in his followers, was the failure alone to be attributed. had he taken possession of the city with a firm grasp at the head of his four thousand men, nothing could have resisted him; haultepenne, and his insignificant force, would have been dead, or his prisoners; the basis of parma's magnificent operations would have been withdrawn; antwerp would have been saved. "infinite gratitude," wrote parma to philip, "should be rendered to the lord. great thanks are also due to haultepenne. had the rebels succeeded in their enterprise against bolduc, i should have been compelled to abandon the siege of antwerp. the town; by its strength and situation, is of infinite importance for the reduction both of that place and of brussels, and the rebels in possession of bolduc would have cut off my supplies." the prince recommended haultepenne most warmly to the king as deserving of a rich "merced." the true hero of the day, however--at least the chief agent in the victory was the poor, crushed, nameless victim who had cut the ropes of the portcullis at the antwerp gate. hohenlo was deeply stung by the disgrace which he had incurred. for a time he sought oblivion in hard drinking; but--brave and energetic, though reckless--he soon became desirous of retrieving his reputation by more successful enterprises. there was no lack of work, and assuredly his hands were rarely idle. "hollach (hohenlo) is gone from hence on friday last," wrote davison to walsingham, "he will do what he may to recover his reputation lost in the attempt, of bois-le-duc; which, for the grief and trouble he hath conceived thereof, hath for the time greatly altered him." meantime the turbulent scheldt, lashed by the storms of winter, was becoming a more formidable enemy to parma's great enterprise than the military demonstrations of his enemies, or the famine which was making such havoc, with his little army. the ocean-tides were rolling huge ice- blocks up and down, which beat against his palisade with the noise of thunder, and seemed to threaten its immediate destruction. but the work stood firm. the piles supporting the piers, which had been thrust out from each bank into the stream, had been driven fifty feet into the river's bed, and did their duty well. but in the space between, twelve hundred and forty feet in width, the current was too deep for pile- driving and a permanent bridge was to be established upon boats. and that bridge was to be laid across the icy and tempestuous flood, in the depth of winter, in the teeth of a watchful enemy, with the probability of an immediate invasion from france, where the rebel envoys were known to be negotiating on express invitation of the king--by half-naked, half- starving soldiers and sailors, unpaid for years, and for the sake of a master who seemed to have forgotten their existence. "thank god," wrote alexander, "the palisade stands firm in spite of the ice. now with the favour of the lord, we shall soon get the fruit we have been hoping, if your majesty is not wanting in that to which your grandeur, your great christianity, your own interests, oblige you. in truth 'tis a great and heroic work, worthy the great power of your majesty." "for my own part," he continued, "i have done what depended upon me. from your own royal hand must emanate the rest;--men, namely, sufficient to maintain the posts, and money enough to support them there." he expressed himself in the strongest language concerning the danger to the royal cause from the weak and gradually sinking condition of the army. even without the french intrigues with the rebels, concerning which, in his ignorance of the exact state of affairs, he expressed much anxiety, it would be impossible, he said, to save the royal cause without men and money. "i have spared myself," said the prince, "neither day nor night. let not your majesty impute the blame to me if we fail. verdugo also is uttering a perpetual cry out of friesland for men--men and money." yet, notwithstanding all these obstacles, the bridge was finished at last. on the th february, ( ) the day sacred to saint matthew, and of fortunate augury to the emperor charles, father of philip and grandfather of alexander, the scheldt was closed. as already stated, from fort saint mary on the kalloo side, and from fort philip, not far from ordain on the brabant shore of the scheldt, strong structures, supported upon piers, had been projected, reaching, respectively, five hundred feet into the stream. these two opposite ends were now connected by a permanent bridge of boats. there were thirty-two of these barges, each of them sixty-two feet in length and twelve in breadth, the spaces between each couple being twenty-two feet wide, and all being bound together, stem, stern, and midships, by quadruple hawsers and chains. each boat was anchored at stem and stern with loose cables. strong timbers, with cross rafters, were placed upon the boats, upon which heavy frame-work the planked pathway was laid down. a thick parapet of closely-fitting beams was erected along both the outer edges of the whole fabric. thus a continuous and well-fortified bridge, two thousand four hundred feet in length, was stretched at last from shore to shore. each of the thirty-two boats on which the central portion of the structure reposed, was a small fortress provided with two heavy pieces of artillery, pointing, the one up, the other down the stream, and manned by thirty-two soldiers and four sailors, defended by a breastwork formed of gabions of great thickness. the forts of saint philip and st. mary, at either end of the bridge, had each ten great guns, and both were filled with soldiers. in front of each fort, moreover, was stationed a fleet of twenty armed vessels, carrying heavy pieces of artillery; ten anchored at the angle towards antwerp, and as many looking down the river. one hundred and seventy great guns, including the armaments of the boats under the bridge of the armada and the forts, protected the whole structure, pointing up and down the stream. but, besides these batteries, an additional precaution had been taken. on each side, above and below the bridge, at a moderate distance--a bow shot--was anchored a heavy, raft floating upon empty barrels. each raft was composed of heavy timbers, bound together in bunches of three, the spaces between being connected by ships' masts and lighter spar-work, and with a tooth-like projection along the whole outer edge, formed of strong rafters, pointed and armed with sharp prongs and hooks of iron. thus a serried phalanx, as it were, of spears stood ever on guard to protect the precious inner structure. vessels coming from zeeland or antwerp, and the floating ice-masses, which were almost as formidable, were obliged to make their first attack upon these dangerous outer defences. each raft; floating in the middle of the stream, extended twelve hundred, and fifty- two feet across, thus protecting the whole of the bridge of boats and a portion of that resting upon piles. such was the famous bridge of parma. the magnificent undertaking has been advantageously compared with the celebrated rhine-bridge of julius caesar. when it is remembered; however; that the roman work was performed in summer, across a river only half as broad as the scheldt, free from the disturbing, action of the tides; and flowing through an unresisting country; while the whole character of the structure; intended only to, serve for the single passage of an army, was far inferior to the massive solidity of parma's bridge; it seems not unreasonable to assign the superiority to the general who had surmounted all the obstacles of a northern winter, vehement ebb and flow from the sea, and enterprising and desperate enemies at every point. when the citizens, at last, looked upon the completed fabric, converted from the "dream," which they had pronounced it to be, into a terrible reality; when they saw the shining array of spanish and italian legions marching and counter-marching upon their new road; and trampling, as it were; the turbulent river beneath their feet; when they witnessed the solemn military spectacle with which the governor-general celebrated his success, amid peals of cannon and shouts of triumph from his army, they bitterly bewailed their own folly. yet even then they could hardly believe that the work had been accomplished by human agency, but they loudly protested that invisible demons had been summoned to plan and perfect this fatal and preter-human work. they were wrong. there had been but one demon--one clear, lofty intelligence, inspiring a steady and untiring hand. the demon was the intellect of alexander farnese; but it had been assisted in its labour by the hundred devils of envy, covetousness, jealousy, selfishness, distrust, and discord, that had housed, not, in his camp, but in the ranks of those who were contending for their hearths and altars. and thus had the prince arrived at success in spite of every obstacle. he took a just pride in the achievement, yet he knew by how many dangers he was still surrounded, and he felt hurt at his sovereign's neglect. "the enterprise at antwerp," he wrote to philip on the day the bridge was completed, "is so great and heroic that to celebrate it would require me to speak more at large than i like, to do, for fear of being tedious to your majesty. what i will say, is that the labours and difficulties have been every day so, great, that if your majesty knew them, you would estimate, what we have done more highly than-you do; and not forget us so utterly, leaving us to die of hunger." he considered the fabric in itself almost impregnable, provided he were furnished with the means to maintain what he had so painfully constructed. "the whole is in such condition," said he, "that in opinion of all competent military judges it would stand though all holland and zeeland should come to destroy our, palisades. their attacks must be made at immense danger, and disadvantage, so severely can we play upon them with our artillery and musketry. every boat is, garnished with the most dainty captains and soldiers, so that if the enemy should attempt to assail us now, they would come back with broken heads." yet in the midst of his apparent triumph he had, at times, almost despair in his heart. he felt really at the last gasp. his troops had dwindled to the mere shadow of an army, and they were forced to live almost upon air. the cavalry had nearly vanished. the garrisons in the different cities were starving. the burghers had no food for the soldiers nor for themselves. "as for the rest of the troops," said alexander, "they are stationed where they have nothing to subsist upon, save salt water and the dykes, and if the lord does not grant a miracle, succour, even if sent by your majesty, will arrive too late." he assured his master, that he could not go on more than five or six days longer, that he had been feeding his soldiers for a long time from hand to mouth, and that it would soon be impossible for him to keep his troops together. if he did not disband them they would run away. his pictures were most dismal, his supplications for money very moving but he never alluded to himself. all his anxiety, all his tenderness, were for his soldiers. "they must have food," he said: "'tis impossible to sustain them any longer by driblets, as i have done for a long time. yet how can i do it without money? and i have none at all, nor do i see where to get a single florin." but these revelations were made only to his master's most secret ear. his letters, deciphered after three centuries, alone make manifest the almost desperate condition in which the apparently triumphant general was placed, and the facility with which his antagonists, had they been well guided and faithful to themselves, might have driven him into the sea. but to those adversaries he maintained an attitude of serene and smiling triumph. a spy, sent from the city to obtain intelligence for the anxious burghers, had gained admission into his lines, was captured and brought before the prince. he expected, of course, to be immediately hanged. on the contrary, alexander gave orders that he should be conducted over every part of the encampment. the forts, the palisades, the bridge, were all to be carefully exhibited and explained to him as if he had been a friendly visitor entitled to every information. he was requested to count the pieces of artillery in the forts, on the bridge, in the armada. after thoroughly studying the scene he was then dismissed with a safe-conduct to the city. "go back to those who sent you," said the prince. "convey to them the information in quest of which you came. apprize them of every thing which you have inspected, counted, heard explained. tell them further, that the siege will never be abandoned, and that this bridge will be my sepulcher or my pathway into antwerp." and now the aspect of the scene was indeed portentous. the chimera had become a very visible bristling reality. there stood the bridge which the citizens had ridiculed while it was growing before their faces. there scowled the kowenstyn--black with cannon, covered all over with fortresses which the butchers had so sedulously preserved. from parma's camp at beveren and kalloo a great fortified road led across the river and along the fatal dyke all the way to the entrenchments at stabroek, where mansfeld's army lay. grim mondragon held the "holy cross" and the whole kowenstyn in his own iron grasp. a chain of forts, built and occupied by the contending hosts of the patriots and the spaniards, were closely packed together along both banks of the scheldt, nine miles long from antwerp to lillo, and interchanged perpetual cannonades. the country all around, once fertile as a garden, had been changed into a wild and wintry sea where swarms of gun-boats and other armed vessels manoeuvred and contended with each other over submerged villages and orchards, and among half-drowned turrets and steeples. yet there rose the great bulwark--whose early destruction would have made all this desolation a blessing--unbroken and obstinate; a perpetual obstacle to communication between antwerp and zeeland. the very spirit of the murdered prince of orange seemed to rise sadly and reproachfully out of the waste of waters, as if to rebuke the men who had been so deaf to his solemn warnings. brussels, too, wearied and worn, its heart sick with hope deferred, now fell into despair as the futile result of the french negotiation became apparent. the stately and opulent city had long been in a most abject condition. many of its inhabitants attempted to escape from the horrors of starving by flying from its walls. of the fugitives, the men were either scourged back by the spaniards into the city, or hanged up along the road-side. the women were treated, leniently, even playfully, for it was thought an excellent jest to cut off the petticoats of the unfortunate starving creatures up to their knees, and then command them to go back and starve at home with their friends and fellow-citizens. a great many persons literally died of hunger. matrons with large families poisoned their children and themselves to avoid the more terrible death by starving. at last, when vilvoorde was taken, when the baseness of the french king was thoroughly understood, when parma's bridge was completed and the scheldt bridled, brussels capitulated on as favourable terms as could well have been expected. etext editor's bookmarks: college of "peace-makers," who wrangled more than all military virtue in the support of an infamous cause not distinguished for their docility repentance, as usual, had come many hours too late this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, volume history united netherlands, v , chapter v., part . sainte aldegonde discouraged--his critical position--his negotiations with the enemy--correspondence with richardot-- commotion in the city--interview of marnix with parma--suspicious conduct of marnix--deputation to the prince--oration of marnix-- private views of parma--capitulation of antwerp--mistakes of marnix --philip on the religious question--triumphal entrance of alexander-- rebuilding of the citadel--gratification of philip--note on sainte aldegonde sainte aldegonde's position had become a painful one. the net had been drawn closely about the city. the bridge seemed impregnable, the great kowenstyn was irrecoverably in the hands of the enemy, and now all the lesser forts in the immediate vicinity of antwerp-borght, hoboken, cantecroix, stralen, berghen, and the rest--had likewise fallen into his grasp. an account of grain, taken on the st of june, gave an average of a pound a-head for a month long, or half a pound for two months. this was not the famine-point, according to the standard which had once been established in leyden; but the courage of the burghers had been rapidly oozing away, under the pressure of their recent disappointments. it seemed obvious to the burgomaster, that the time for yielding had arrived. "i had maintained the city," he said, "for a long period, without any excessive tumult or great effusion of blood--a city where there was such a multitude of inhabitants, mostly merchants or artisans deprived of all their traffic, stripped of their manufactures, destitute of all commodities and means of living. i had done this in the midst of a great diversity of humours and opinions, a vast popular license, a confused anarchy, among a great number of commanders, most of them inexperienced in war; with very little authority of my own, with slender forces of ships, soldiers, and sailors; with alight appearance of support from king or prince without, or of military garrison within; and under all these circumstances i exerted myself to do my uttermost duty in preserving the city, both in regard to its internal government, and by force of arms by land and sea, without sparing myself in any labour or peril. "i know very well that there are many persons, who, finding themselves quite at their ease, and far away from the hard blows that are passing, are pleased to exhibit their wisdom by sitting in judgment upon others, founding their decision only upon the results. but i demand to be judged by equity and reason, when passion has been set aside. i claim that my honour shall be protected against my calumniators; for all should remember that i am not the first man, nor shall i be the last, that has been blamed unjustly. all persons employed in public affairs are subject to such hazards, but i submit myself to him who knows all hearts, and who governs all. i take him to witness that in the affair of antwerp, as in all my other actions since my earliest youth, i have most sincerely sought his glory and the, welfare of his poor people, without regard to my own private interests." for it is not alone the fate of antwerp that is here to be recorded. the fame of sainte aldegonde was now seriously compromised. the character of a great man must always be closely scanned and scrutinised; protected, if needful, against calumny, but always unflinchingly held up to the light. names illustrious by genius and virtue are history's most precious treasures, faithfully to be guarded by her, jealously to be watched; but it is always a misfortune when her eyes are deceived by a glitter which is not genuine. sainte aldegonde was a man of unquestionable genius. his character had ever been beyond the reproach of self-seeking or ignoble ambition. he had multiplied himself into a thousand forms to serve the cause of the united netherland states, and the services so rendered had been brilliant and frequent. a great change in his conduct and policy was now approaching, and it is therefore the more necessary to examine closely at this epoch his attitude and his character. early in june, richardot, president of the council of artois, addressed a letter to sainte aldegonde, by command of alexander of parma, suggesting a secret interview between the burgomaster and the prince. on the th of june, sainte aldegonde replied, in favourable terms, as to the interview; but observed, that, as he was an official personage, it was necessary for him to communicate the project to the magistracy of the city. he expressed likewise the hope that parma would embrace the present opportunity for making a general treaty with all the provinces. a special accord with antwerp, leaving out holland and zeeland, would, he said, lead to the utter desolation of that city, and to the destruction of its commerce and manufactures, while the occasion now presented itself to the prince of "winning praise and immortal glory by bringing back all the country to a voluntary and prompt obedience to his majesty." he proposed, that, instead of his coming alone, there should be a number of deputies sent from antwerp to confer with alexander. on the th june, richardot replied by expressing, his own regrets and those of the prince, that the interview could not have been with the burgomaster alone, but acknowledging the weight of his reasons, and acquiescing in the proposition to send a larger deputation. three days afterwards, sainte aldegonde, on private consultation with some confidential personages, changed his ground; announced his preference for a private interview, under four eyes, with parma; and requested that a passport might be sent. the passport was accordingly forwarded the same day, with an expression of alexander's gratification, and with the offer, on the part of richardot, to come himself to antwerp as hostage during the absence of the burgomaster in parma's camp at beveren. sainte aldegonde was accordingly about to start on the following day ( th of june), but meantime the affair had got wind. a secret interview, thus projected, was regarded by the citizens as extremely suspicious. there was much bitter insinuation against the burgomaster-- many violent demonstrations. "aldegonde, they say, is going to see parma," said one of the burghers, "which gives much dissatisfaction, because, 'tis feared that he will make a treaty according to the appetite and pleasure of his highness, having been gained over to the royal cause by money. he says that it would be a misfortune to send a large number of burghers. last sunday ( th june) there was a meeting of the broad council. the preachers came into the assembly and so animated the citizens by demonstrations of their religion, that all rushed from the council-house, crying with loud voices that they did not desire peace but war." this desire was a healthy and a reasonable one; but, unfortunately, the antwerpers had not always been so vigorous or so united in their resistance to parma. at present, however, they were very furious, so soon as the secret purpose of sainte aldegonde became generally known. the proposed capitulation, which great mobs had been for weeks long savagely demanding at the hands of the burgomaster, was now ascribed to the burgomaster's unblushing corruption. he had obviously, they thought, been purchased by spanish ducats to do what he had hitherto been so steadily refusing. a certain van werne had gone from antwerp into holland a few days before upon his own private affairs, with a safe- conduct from parma. sainte aldegonde had not communicated to him the project then on foot, but he had permitted him to seek a secret interview with count mansfeld. if that were granted, van werne was to hint that in case the provinces could promise themselves a religious peace it would be possible, in the opinion of sainte aldegonde, to induce holland and zealand and all the rest of the united provinces, to return to their obedience. van werne, on his return to antwerp, divulged these secret negotiations, and so put a stop to sainte aldegonde's scheme of going alone to parma. "this has given a bad suspicion to the people," wrote the burgomaster to richardot, "so much so that i fear to have trouble. the broad council has been in session, but i don't know what has taken place there, and i do not dare to ask." sainte aldegonde's motive, as avowed by himself, for seeking a private interview, was because he had received no answer to the main point in his first letter, as to the proposition for a general accord. in order therefore to make the deliberations more rapid, he had been disposed to discuss that preliminary question in secret. "but now," said he to richardot, "as the affair had been too much divulged, as well by diverse reports and writings sown about, very inopportunely, as by the arrival of m. van werne, i have not found it practicable to set out upon my road, without communication with the members of the government. this has been done, however, not in the way of consultation, but as the announcement of a thing already resolved upon." he proceeded to state, that great difficulties had arisen, exactly as he had foreseen. the magistrates would not hear of a general accord, and it was therefore necessary that a delay should be interposed before it would be possible for him to come. he begged richardot to persuade alexander, that he was not trifling with him. "it is not," said he, "from lightness, or any other passion, that i am retarding this affair. i will do all in my power to obtain leave to make a journey to the camp of his highness, at whatever price it may cost and i hope before long to arrive at my object. if i fail, it must be ascribed to the humours of the people; for my anxiety to restore all the provinces to obedience to his majesty is extreme." richardot, in reply, the next day, expressed regret, without astonishment, on the part of alexander and himself, at the intelligence thus received. people had such difference of humour, he said, and all men were not equally capable of reason. nevertheless the citizens were warned not to misconstrue parma's gentleness, because he was determined to die, with his whole army, rather than not take antwerp. "as for the king," said richardot, "he will lay down all his crowns sooner than abandon this enterprise." van werne was represented as free from blame, and sincerely desirous of peace. richardot had only stated to him, in general terms, that letters had been received from sainte aldegonde, expressing an opinion in favour of peace. as for the royalists, they were quite innocent of the reports and writings that had so inopportunely been circulated in the city. it was desirable, however, that the negotiation should not too long be deferred, for otherwise antwerp might perish, before a general accord with holland and zeeland could be made. he begged sainte aldegonde to banish all anxiety as to parma's sentiments towards himself or the community. "put yourself, sir, quite at your ease," said he. "his highness is in no respects dissatisfied with you, nor prone to conceive any indignation against this poor people." he assured the burgomaster that he was not suspected of lightness, nor of a wish to delay matters, but he expressed solicitude with regard to the threatening demonstrations which had been made against him in antwerp. "for," said he, "popular governments are full of a thousand hazards, and it would be infinitely painful to me, if you should come to harm." thus it would appear that it was sainte aldegonde who was chiefly anxious to effect the reconciliation of holland and zeeland with the king. the initiative of this project to include all the united provinces in one scheme with the reduction of antwerp came originally from him, and was opposed, at the outset, by the magistrates of that city, by the prince of parma and his councillors, and, by the states of holland and zeeland. the demonstrations on the part of the preachers, the municipal authorities, and the burghers, against sainte aldegonde and his plan for a secret interview, so soon as it was divulged, made it impossible to carry that project into effect. "aldegonde, who governs antwerp," wrote parma to philip, "was endeavouring, eight days ago, to bring about some kind of negotiation for an accord. he manifested a desire to come hither for the sake of a personal interview with me, which i permitted. it was to have taken place last sunday, th of this month, but by reason of a certain popular tumult, which arose out of these circumstances, it has been necessary to defer the meeting." there was much disappointment felt by the royalist at this unsatisfactory result. "these bravadoes and impertinent demonstrations on the part of some of your people," wrote richardot, ten days later, "will be the destruction of the whole country, and will convert the prince's gentleness into anger. 'tis these good and zealous patriots, trusting to a little favourable breeze that blew for a few days past, who have been the cause of all this disturbance, and who are ruining their miserable country--miserable, i say, for having produced such abortions as themselves." notwithstanding what had passed, however, richardot intimated that alexander was still ready to negotiate. "and if you, sir," he concluded, in his letter to aldegonde, "concerning whom many of our friends have at present a sinister opinion, as if your object was to circumvent us, are willing to proceed roundly and frankly, as i myself firmly believe that you will do, we may yet hope for a favourable issue." thus the burgomaster was already the object of suspicion to both parties. the antwerpers denounced him as having been purchased by spanish gold; the royalists accused him of intending to overreach the king. it was not probable therefore that all were correct in their conjectures. at last it was arranged that deputies should be appointed by the broad council to commence a negotiation with parma. sainte aldegonde informed richardot, that he would ( th july, ) accompany them, if his affairs should permit. he protested his sincerity and frankness throughout the whole affair. "they try to calumniate me," he said, "as much on one side as on the other, but i will overcome by my innocence all the malice of my slanderers. if his highness should be pleased to grant us some liberty for our religion, i dare to promise such faithful service as will give very great satisfaction." four days later, sainte aldegonde himself, together with m. de duffel, m. de schoonhoven, and adrian hesselt, came to parma's camp at beveren, as deputies on the part of the antwerp authorities. they were courteously received by the prince, and remained three days as his guests. during the period of this visit, the terms of a capitulation were thoroughly discussed, between alexander and his councillors upon one part, and the four deputies on the other. the envoys endeavoured, with all the arguments at their command, to obtain the consent of the prince to three preliminary points which they laid down as indispensable. religious liberty must be granted, the citadel must not be reconstructed, a foreign garrison must not be admitted; they said. as it was the firm intention of the king, however, not to make the slightest concession on any one of these points, the discussion was not a very profitable one. besides the public interviews at which all the negotiators were present, there was a private conference between parma and sainte aldegonde which lasted more than four hours, in which each did his best to enforce his opinions upon the other. the burgomaster endeavoured to persuade the prince with all the eloquence for which he was so renowned, that the hearts not of the antwerpers only, but of the hollanders and zeelanders, were easily to be won at that moment. give them religious liberty, and attempt to govern them by gentleness rather than by spanish garrisons, and the road was plain to a complete reconciliation of all the provinces with his majesty. alexander, who knew his master to be inexorable upon these three points, was courteous but peremptory in his statements. he recommended that the rebels should take into consideration their own declining strength, the inexhaustible resources of the king, the impossibility of obtaining succour from france, and the perplexing dilatoriness of england, rather than waste their time in idle expectations of a change in the spanish policy. he also intimated, obliquely but very plainly, to sainte aldegonde, that his own fortune would be made, and that he had everything to hope from his majesty's bounty, if he were now willing to make himself useful in carrying into effect the royal plans. the prince urged these views with so much eloquence, that he seemed, in his own words, to have been directly inspired by the lord for this special occasion! sainte aldegonde, too, was signally impressed by alexander's language, and thoroughly fascinated-magnetized, as it were --by his character. he subsequently declared, that he had often conversed familiarly with many eloquent personages, but that he had never known a man more powerful or persuasive than the prince of parma. he could honestly say of him--as hasdrubal had said of scipio--that farnese was even more admirable when seen face to face, than he had seemed when one only heard of his glorious achievements. "the burgomaster and three deputies," wrote parma to philip, "were here until the th july. we discussed ( th july, ) the points and form of a capitulation, and they have gone back thoroughly satisfied. sainte aldegonde especially was much pleased with the long interview which he had with me, alone, and which lasted more than three hours. i told him, as well as my weakness and suffering from the tertian fever permitted, all that god inspired me to say on our behalf." nevertheless, if sainte aldegonde and his colleagues went away thoroughly satisfied, they had reason, soon after their return, to become thoroughly dejected. the magistrates and burghers would not listen to a proposition to abandon the three points, however strongly urged to do so by arguments drawn from the necessity of the situation, and by representations of parma's benignity. as for the burgomaster, he became the target for calumny, so soon as his three hours' private interview became known; and the citizens loudly declared that his head ought to be cut off, and sent in a bag, as a present, to philip, in order that the traitor might meet the sovereign with whom he sought a reconciliation, face to face, as soon as possible. the deputies, immediately after their return, made their report to the magistrates, as likewise to the colonels and captains, and to the deans of guilds. next day, although it was sunday, there was a session of the broad council, and sainte aldegonde made a long address, in which--as he stated in a letter to richardot--he related everything that had passed in his private conversation with alexander. an answer was promised to parma on the following tuesday, but the burgomaster spoke very discouragingly as to the probability of an accord. "the joy with which our return was greeted," he said, "was followed by a general disappointment and sadness, so soon as the result was known. the want of a religious toleration, as well as the refusal to concede on the other two points, has not a little altered the hearts of all, even of the catholics. a citadel and a garrison are considered ruin and desolation to a great commercial city. i have done what i can to urge the acceptance of such conditions as the prince is willing to give, and have spoken in general terms of his benign intentions. the citizens still desire peace. had his highness been willing to take both religions under his protection, he might have won all hearts, and very soon all the other provinces would have returned to their obedience, while the clemency and magnanimity of his majesty would thus have been rendered admirable throughout the world." the power to form an accurate conception as to the nature of philip and of other personages with whom he was dealing, and as to the general signs of his times, seems to have been wanting in the character of the gifted aldegonde. he had been dazzled by the personal presence of parma, and he now spoke of philip ii., as if his tyranny over the netherlands--which for twenty years had been one horrible and uniform whole--were the accidental result of circumstances, not the necessary expression of his individual character, and might be easily changed at will--as if nero, at a moment's warning, might transform himself into trajan. it is true that the innermost soul of the spanish king could by no possibility be displayed to any contemporary, as it reveals itself, after three centuries, to those who study the record of his most secret thoughts; but, at any rate, it would seem that his career had been sufficiently consistent, to manifest the amount of "clemency and magnanimity" which he might be expected to exercise. "had his majesty," wrote sainte aldegonde, "been willing, since the year sixty-six, to pursue a course of toleration, the memory of his reign would have been sacred to all posterity, with an immortal praise of sapience, benignity, and sovereign felicity." this might be true, but nevertheless a tolerating philip, in the year , ought to have seemed to sainte aldegonde an impossible idea. "the emperors," continued the burgomaster, "who immediately succeeded tiberius were the cause of the wisdom which displayed itself in the good trajan--also a spaniard--and in antoninus, verus, and the rest: if you think that this city, by the banishment of a certain number of persons, will be content to abandon the profession of the reformed faith, you are much mistaken. you will see, with time, that the exile of this religion will be accompanied by a depopulation and a sorrowful ruin and desolation of this flourishing city. but this will be as it pleases god. meantime i shall not fail to make all possible exertions to induce the citizens to consent to a reconciliation with his majesty. the broad council will soon give their answer, and then we shall send a deputation. we shall invite holland and zeeland to join with us, but there is little hope of their consent." certainly there was little hope of their consent. sainte aldegonde was now occupied in bringing about the capitulation of antwerp, without any provision for religious liberty--a concession which parma had most distinctly refused--and it was not probable that holland and zeeland, after twenty years of hard fighting, and with an immediate prospect of assistance from england--could now be induced to resign the great object of the contest without further struggle. it was not until a month had elapsed that the authorities of antwerp sent their propositions to the prince of parma. on the th august, however, sainte aldegonde, accompanied by the same three gentlemen who had been employed on the first mission, and by seventeen others besides, proceeded with safe-conduct to the camp at beveren. here they were received with great urbanity, and hospitably entertained by alexander, who received their formal draft of articles for a capitulation, and referred it to be reported upon to richardot, pamel, and vanden burgh. meantime there were many long speeches and several conferences, sometimes between all the twenty-one envoys and the prince together; on other occasions, more secret ones, at which only aldegonde and one or two of his colleagues were present. it had been obvious, from the date of the first interview, in the preceding month, that the negotiation would be of no avail until the government of antwerp was prepared to abandon all the conditions which they had originally announced as indispensable. alexander had not much disposition and no authority whatever to make concessions. "so far as i can understand," parma had written on the th july, "they are very far from a conclusion. they have most exorbitant ideas, talking of some kind of liberty of conscience, besides refusing on any account to accept of garrisons, and having many reasons to allege on such subjects." the discussions, therefore, after the deputies had at last arrived, though courteously conducted, could scarcely be satisfactory to both parties. "the articles were thoroughly deliberated upon," wrote alexander, "by all the deputies, nor did i fail to have private conferences with aldegonde, that most skilful and practised lawyer and politician, as well as with two or three of the others. i did all in my power to bring them to a thorough recognition of their errors, and to produce a confidence in his majesty's clemency, in order that they might concede what was needful for the interests of the catholic religion and the security of the city. they heard all i had to say without exasperating themselves, and without interposing any strong objections, except in the matter of religion, and, still more, in the matter of the citadel and the garrison. aldegonde took much pains to persuade me that it would be ruinous for a great, opulent, commercial city to submit to a foreign military force. even if compelled by necessity to submit now, the inhabitants would soon be compelled by the same necessity to abandon the place entirely, and to leave in ruins one of the most splendid and powerful cities in the world, and in this opinion catholics and heretics unanimously concurred. the deputies protested, with one accord, that so pernicious and abominable a thing as a citadel and garrison could not even be proposed to their constituents. i answered, that, so long as the rebellion of holland and zeeland lasted, it would be necessary for your majesty to make sure of antwerp, by one or the other of those means, but promised that the city should be relieved of the incumbrance so soon as those islands should be reduced. "sainte aldegonde was not discouraged by this statement, but in the hope of convincing others, or with the wish of showing that he had tried his best, desired that i would hear him before the council of state. i granted the request, and sainte aldegonde then made another long and very elegant oration, intended to divert me from my resolution." it must be confessed--if the reports, which have come down to us of that long and elegant oration be correct--that the enthusiasm of the burgomaster for alexander was rapidly degenerating into idolatry. "we are not here, o invincible prince," he said, "that we may excuse, by an anxious legation, the long defence which we have made of our homes. who could have feared any danger to the most powerful city in the netherlands from so moderate a besieging force? you would yourself have rather wished for, than approved of, a greater facility on our part, for the brave cannot love the timid. we knew the number of your troops, we had discovered the famine in your camp, we were aware of the paucity of your ships, we had heard of the quarrels in your army, we were expecting daily to hear of a general mutiny among your soldiers. were we to believe that with ten or eleven thousand men you would be able to block up the city by land and water, to reduce the open country of brabant, to cut off all aid as well from the neighbouring towns as from the powerful provinces of holland and zeeland, to oppose, without a navy, the whole strength of our fleets, directed against the dyke? truly, if you had been at the head of fifty thousand soldiers, and every soldier had possessed one hundred hands, it would have seemed impossible for you to meet so many emergencies in so many places, and under so many distractions. what you have done we now believe possible to do, only because we see that it has been done. you have subjugated the scheldt, and forced it to bear its bridge, notwithstanding the strength of its current, the fury of the ocean-tides, the tremendous power of the icebergs, the perpetual conflicts with our fleets. we destroyed your bridge, with great slaughter of your troops. rendered more courageous by that slaughter, you restored that mighty work. we assaulted the great dyke, pierced it through and through, and opened a path for our ships. you drove us off when victors, repaired the ruined bulwark, and again closed to us the avenue of relief. what machine was there that we did not employ? what miracles of fire did we not invent? what fleets and floating cidadels did we not put in motion? all that genius, audacity, and art, could teach us we have executed, calling to our assistance water, earth, heaven, and hell itself. yet with all these efforts, with all this enginry, we have not only failed to drive you from our walls, but we have seen you gaining victories over other cities at the same time. you have done a thing, o prince, than which there is nothing greater either in ancient or modern story. it has often occurred, while a general was besieging one city that he lost another situate farther off. but you, while besieging antwerp, have reduced simultaneously dendermonde, ghent, nymegen, brussels, and mechlin." all this, and much more, with florid rhetoric, the burgomaster pronounced in honour of farnese, and the eulogy was entirely deserved. it was hardly becoming, however, for such lips, at such a moment, to sound the praise of him whose victory had just decided the downfall of religious liberty, and of the national independence of the netherlands. his colleagues certainly must have winced, as they listened to commendations so lavishly bestowed upon the representative of philip, and it is not surprising that sainte aldegonde's growing unpopularity should, from that hour, have rapidly increased. to abandon the whole object of the siege, when resistance seemed hopeless, was perhaps pardonable, but to offer such lip-homage to the conqueror was surely transgressing the bounds of decorum. his conclusion, too, might to alexander seem as insolent as the whole tenor of his address had been humble; for, after pronouncing this solemn eulogy upon the conqueror, he calmly proposed that the prize of the contest should be transferred to the conquered. "so long as liberty of religion, and immunity from citadel and garrison can be relied upon," he said, "so long will antwerp remain the most splendid and flourishing city in christendom; but desolation will ensue if the contrary policy is to prevail." but it was very certain that liberty of religion, as well as immunity from citadel and garrison, were quite out of the question. philip and parma had long been inexorably resolved upon all the three points. "after the burgomaster had finished his oration," wrote alexander to his sovereign, "i discussed the matter with him in private, very distinctly and minutely." the religious point was soon given up, sainte aldegonde finding it waste of breath to say anything more about freedom of conscience. a suggestion was however made on the subject of the garrison, which the prince accepted, because it contained a condition which it would be easy to evade. "aldegonde proposed," said parma, "that a garrison might be admissible if i made my entrance into the city merely with infantry and cavalry of nations which were acceptable--walloons, namely, and germans--and in no greater numbers than sufficient for a body-guard. i accepted, because, in substance, this would amount to a garrison, and because, also, after the magistrates shall have been changed, i shall have no difficulty in making myself master of the people, continuing the garrison, and rebuilding the citadel." the prince proceeded to give his reasons why he was willing to accept the capitulation on what he considered so favourable terms to the besieged. autumn was approaching. already the fury of the storms had driven vessels clean over the dykes; the rebels in holland and zeeland were preparing their fleets--augmented by many new ships of war and fire- machines--for another desperate attack upon the palisades, in which there was great possibility of their succeeding; an auxiliary force from england was soon expected; so that, in view of all these circumstances, he had resolved to throw himself at his majesty's feet and implore his clemency. "if this people of antwerp, as the head, is gained," said he, "there will be tranquillity in all the members." these reasons were certainly conclusive; nor is it easy to believe, that, under the circumstances thus succinctly stated by alexander, it would have been impossible for the patriots to hold out until the promised succour from holland and from england should arrive. in point of fact, the bridge could not have stood the winter which actually ensued; for it was the repeatedly expressed opinion of the spanish officers in antwerp, that the icebergs which then filled the scheldt must inevitably have shattered twenty bridges to fragments, had there been so many. it certainly was superfluous for the prince to make excuses to philip for accepting the proposed capitulation. all the prizes of victory had been thoroughly secured, unless pillage, massacre, and rape, which had been the regular accompaniments of alva's victories, were to be reckoned among the indispensable trophies of a spanish triumph. nevertheless, the dearth in the city had been well concealed from the enemy; for, three days after the surrender, not a loaf of bread was to be had for any money in all antwerp, and alexander declared that he would never have granted such easy conditions had he been aware of the real condition of affairs. the articles of capitulation agreed upon between parma and the deputies were brought before the broad council on the th august. there was much opposition to them, as many magistrates and other influential personages entertained sanguine expectations from the english negotiation, and were beginning to rely with confidence upon the promises of queen elizabeth. the debate was waxing warm, when some of the councillors, looking out of window of the great hall, perceived that a violent mob had collected in the streets. furious cries for bread were uttered, and some meagre- looking individuals were thrust forward to indicate the famine which was prevailing, and the necessity of concluding the treaty without further delay. thus the municipal government was perpetually exposed to democratic violence, excited by diametrically opposite influences. sometimes the burgomaster was denounced for having sold himself and his country to the spaniards, and was assailed with execrations for being willing to conclude a sudden and disgraceful peace. at other moments he was accused of forging letters containing promises of succour from the queen of england and from the authorities of holland, in order to protract the lingering tortures of the war. upon this occasion the peace-mob carried its point. the councillors, looking out of window, rushed into the hall with direful accounts of the popular ferocity; the magistrates and colonels who had been warmest in opposition suddenly changed their tone, and the whole body of the broad council accepted the articles of capitulation by a unanimous vote. the window was instantly thrown open, and the decision publicly announced. the populace, wild with delight, rushed through the streets, tearing down the arms of the duke of anjou, which had remained above the public edifices since the period of that personage's temporary residence in the netherlands, and substituting, with wonderful celerity, the escutcheon of philip the second. thus suddenly could an antwerp mob pass from democratic insolence to intense loyalty. the articles, on the whole, were as liberal as could have been expected. the only hope for antwerp and for a great commonwealth of all the netherlands was in holding out, even to the last gasp, until england and holland, now united, had time to relieve the city. this was, unquestionably, possible. had antwerp possessed the spirit of leyden, had william of orange been alive, that spanish escutcheon, now raised with such indecent haste, might have never been seen again on the outside wall of any netherland edifice. belgium would have become at once a constituent portion of a great independent national realm, instead of languishing until our own century, the dependency of a distant and a foreign metropolis. nevertheless, as the antwerpers were not disposed to make themselves martyrs, it was something that they escaped the nameless horrors which had often alighted upon cities subjected to an enraged soldiery. it redounds to the eternal honour of alexander farnese--when the fate of naarden and haarlem and maestricht, in the days of alva, and of antwerp itself in the horrible "spanish fury," is remembered--that there were no scenes of violence and outrage in the populous and wealthy city, which was at length at his mercy after having defied him so long. civil and religious liberty were trampled in the dust, commerce and manufactures were destroyed, the most valuable portion of the citizens sent into hopeless exile, but the remaining inhabitants were not butchered in cold blood. the treaty was signed on the th august. antwerp was to return to its obedience. there was to be an entire amnesty and oblivion for the past, without a single exception. royalist absentees were to be reinstated in their possessions. monasteries, churches, and the king's domains were to be restored to their former proprietors. the inhabitants of the city were to practise nothing but the catholic religion. those who refused to conform were allowed to remain two years for the purpose of winding up their affairs and selling out their property, provided that during that period they lived "without scandal towards the ancient religion"--a very vague and unsatisfactory condition. all prisoners were to be released excepting teligny. four hundred thousand florins were to be paid by the authorities as a fine. the patriot garrison was to leave the city with arms and baggage and all the honours of war. this capitulation gave more satisfaction to the hungry portion of the antwerpers than to the patriot party of the netherlands. sainte aldegonde was vehemently and unsparingly denounced as a venal traitor. it is certain, whatever his motives, that his attitude had completely changed. for it was not antwerp alone that he had reconciled or was endeavouring to reconcile with the king of spain, but holland and zeeland as well, and all the other independent provinces. the ancient champion of the patriot army, the earliest signer of the 'compromise,' the bosom friend of william the silent, the author of the 'wilhelmus' national song, now avowed his conviction, in a published defence of his conduct against the calumnious attacks upon it, "that it was impossible, with a clear conscience, for subjects, under any circumstances, to take up arms against philip, their king." certainly if he had always entertained that opinion he must have suffered many pangs of remorse during his twenty years of active and illustrious rebellion. he now made himself secretly active in promoting the schemes of parma and in counteracting the negotiation with england. he flattered himself, with an infatuation which it is difficult to comprehend, that it would be possible to obtain religious liberty for the revolting provinces, although he had consented to its sacrifice in antwerp. it is true that he had not the privilege of reading philip's secret letters to parma, but what was there in the character of the king--what intimation had ever been given by the governor-general--to induce a belief in even the possibility of such a concession? whatever sainte aldegonde's opinions, it is certain that philip had no intention of changing his own policy. he at first suspected the burgomaster of a wish to protract the negotiations for a perfidious purpose. "necessity has forced antwerp," he wrote on the th of august--the very day on which the capitulation was actually signed--"to enter into negotiation. i understand the artifice of aldegonde in seeking to prolong and make difficult the whole affair, under pretext of treating for the reduction of holland and zeeland at the same time. it was therefore very adroit in you to defeat this joint scheme at once, and urge the antwerp matter by itself, at the same time not shutting the door on the others. with the prudence and dexterity with which this business has thus far been managed i am thoroughly satisfied." the king also expressed his gratification at hearing from parma that the demand for religious liberty in the netherlands would soon be abandoned. "in spite of the vehemence," he said, "which they manifest in the religious matter, desiring some kind of liberty, they will in the end, as you say they will, content themselves with what the other cities, which have returned to obedience, have obtained. this must be done in all cases without flinching, and without permitting any modification." what "had been obtained" by brussels, mechlin, ghent, was well known. the heretics had obtained the choice of renouncing their religion or of going into perpetual exile, and this was to be the case "without flinching" in holland and zeeland, if those provinces chose to return to obedience. yet sainte aldegonde deluded himself with the thought of a religious peace. in another and very important letter of the same date philip laid down his policy very distinctly. the prince of parma, by no means such a bigot as his master, had hinted at the possibility of tolerating the reformed religion in the places recovered from the rebels, sub silentio, for a period not defined, and long enough for the heretics to awake from their errors. "you have got an expression of opinion, i see," wrote the king to alexander, "of some grave men of wisdom and conscience, that the limitation of time, during which the heretics may live without scandal, may be left undefined; but i feel very keenly the danger of such a proposition. with regard to holland and zeeland, or any other provinces or towns, the first step must be for them to receive and maintain alone the exercise of the catholic religion, and to subject themselves to the roman church, without tolerating the exercise of any other religion, in city, village, farm-house, or building thereto destined in the fields, or in any place whatsoever; and in this regulation there is to be no flaw, no change, no concession by convention or otherwise of a religious peace, or anything of the sort. they are all to embrace the roman catholic religion, and the exercise of that is alone to be permitted." this certainly was distinct enough, and nothing had been ever said in public to induce a belief in any modification of the principles on which philip had uniformly acted. that monarch considered himself born to suppress heresy, and he had certainly been carrying out this work during his whole lifetime. the king was willing, however, as alexander had intimated in his negotiations with antwerp, and previously in the capitulation of brussels, ghent, and other places, that there should be an absence of investigation into the private chambers of the heretics, during the period allotted them for choosing between the papacy and exile. "it may be permitted," said philip, "to abstain from inquiring as to what the heretics are doing within their own doors, in a private way, without scandal, or any public exhibition of their rites during a fixed time. but this connivance, and the abstaining from executing the heretics, or from chastising them, even although they may be living very circumspectly, is to be expressed in very vague terms." being most anxious to provide against a second crop of heretics to succeed the first, which he was determined to uproot, he took pains to enjoin with his own hand upon parma the necessity of putting in catholic schoolmasters and mistresses to the exclusion of reformed teachers into all the seminaries of the recovered provinces, in order that all the boys and girls might grow up in thorough orthodoxy. yet this was the man from whom sainte aldegonde imagined the possibility of obtaining a religious peace. ten days after the capitulation, parma made his triumphal entrance into antwerp; but, according to his agreement, he spared the citizens the presence of the spanish and italian soldiers, the military procession being composed of the germans and walloons. escorted by his body-guard, and surrounded by a knot of magnates and veterans, among whom the duke of arschot, the prince of chimay, the counts mansfeld, egmont, and aremberg, were conspicuous, alexander proceeded towards the captured city. he was met at the keyser gate by a triumphal chariot of gorgeous workmanship, in which sat the fair nymph antwerpia, magnificently bedizened, and accompanied by a group of beautiful maidens. antwerpia welcomed the conqueror with a kiss, recited a poem in his honour, and bestowed upon him the keys of the city, one of which was in gold. this the prince immediately fastened to the chain around his neck, from which was suspended the lamb of the golden fleece, with which order he had just been, amid great pomp and ceremony, invested. on the public square called the mere, the genoese merchants had erected two rostral columns, each surmounted by a colossal image, representing respectively alexander of macedon and alexander of parma. before the house of portugal was an enormous phoenix, expanding her wings quite across the street; while, in other parts of the town, the procession was met by ships of war, elephants, dromedaries, whales, dragons, and other triumphal phenomena. in the market-place were seven statues in copper, personifying the seven planets, together with an eighth representing bacchus; and perhaps there were good mythological reasons why the god of wine, together with so large a portion of our solar system, should be done in copper by jacob jongeling, to honour the triumph of alexander, although the key to the enigma has been lost. the cathedral had been thoroughly fumigated with frankincense, and besprinkled with holy water, to purify the sacred precincts from their recent pollution by the reformed rites; and the protestant pulpits which had been placed there, had been soundly beaten with rods, and then burned to ashes. the procession entered within its walls, where a magnificent te deum was performed, and then, after much cannon-firing, bell-ringing, torch-light exhibition, and other pyrotechnics, the prince made his way at last to the palace provided for him. the glittering display, by which the royalists celebrated their triumph, lasted three days' long, the city being thronged from all the country round with eager and frivolous spectators, who were never wearied with examining the wonders of the bridge and the forts, and with gazing at the tragic memorials which still remained of the fight on the kowenstyn. during this interval, the spanish and italian soldiery, not willing to be outdone in demonstrations of respect to their chief, nor defrauded of their rightful claim to a holiday amused themselves with preparing a demonstration of a novel character. the bridge, which, as it was well known, was to be destroyed within a very few days, was adorned with triumphal arches, and decked with trees and flowering plants; its roadway was strewed with branches; and the palisades, parapets, and forts, were garnished with wreaths, emblems, and poetical inscriptions in honour of the prince. the soldiers themselves, attired in verdurous garments of foliage and flower-work, their swart faces adorned with roses and lilies, paraded the bridge and the dyke in fantastic procession with clash of cymbal and flourish of trumpet, dancing, singing, and discharging their carbines, in all the delirium of triumph. nor was a suitable termination to the festival wanting, for alexander, pleased with the genial character of these demonstrations, repaired himself to the bridge, where he was received with shouts of rapture by his army, thus whimsically converted into a horde of fauns and satyrs. afterwards, a magnificent banquet was served to the soldiers upon the bridge. the whole extent of its surface, from the flemish to the brabant shore--the scene so lately of deadly combat, and of the midnight havoc caused by infernal enginery--was changed, as if by the stroke of a wand, into a picture of sylvan and arcadian merry-making, and spread with tables laden with delicate viands. here sat that host of war--bronzed figures, banqueting at their ease, their heads crowned with flowers, while the highest magnates of the army, humouring them in their masquerade, served them with dainties, and filled their goblets with wine. after these festivities had been concluded, parma set himself to practical business. there had been a great opposition, during the discussion of the articles of capitulation to the reconstruction of the famous citadel. that fortress had been always considered, not as a defence of the place against a foreign enemy, but as an instrument to curb the burghers themselves beneath a hostile power. the city magistrates, however, as well as the dean and chief officers in all the guilds and fraternities, were at once changed by parma--catholics being uniformly substituted for heretics. in consequence, it was not difficult to bring about a change of opinion in the broad council. it is true that neither papists nor calvinists regarded with much satisfaction the prospect of military violence being substituted for civic rule, but in the first effusion of loyalty, and in the triumph of the ancient religion, they forgot the absolute ruin to which their own action was now condemning their city. champagny, who had once covered himself with glory by his heroic though unsuccessful efforts to save antwerp from the dreadful "spanish fury" which had descended from that very citadel, was now appointed governor of the town, and devoted himself to the reconstruction of the hated fortress. "champagny has particularly aided me," wrote parma, "with his rhetoric and clever management, and has brought the broad council itself to propose that the citadel should be rebuilt. it will therefore be done, as by the burghers themselves, without your majesty or myself appearing to desire it." this was, in truth, a triumph of "rhetoric and clever management," nor could a city well abase itself more completely, kneeling thus cheerfully at its conqueror's feet, and requesting permission to put the yoke upon its own neck. "the erection of the castle has thus been determined upon," said parma, "and i am supposed to know nothing of the resolution." a little later he observed that they, were "working away most furiously at the citadel, and that within a month it would be stronger than it ever had been before." the building went on, indeed, with astonishing celerity, the fortress rising out of its ruins almost as rapidly, under the hands of the royalists, as it had been demolished, but a few years before, by the patriots. the old foundations still remained, and blocks of houses, which had been constructed out of its ruins, were thrown down that the materials might be again employed in its restoration. the citizens, impoverished and wretched, humbly demanded that the expense of building the citadel might be in part defrayed by the four hundred thousand florins in which they had been mulcted by the capitulation. "i don't marvel at this," said parma, "for certainly the poor city is most forlorn and poverty-stricken, the heretics having all left it." it was not long before it was very satisfactorily established, that the presence of those same heretics and liberty of conscience for all men, were indispensable conditions for the prosperity of the great capital. its downfall was instantaneous. the merchants and industrious artisans all wandered away from the place which had been the seat of a world-wide traffic. civilisation and commerce departed, and in their stead were the citadel and the jesuits. by express command of philip, that order, banished so recently, was reinstated in antwerp, as well as throughout the obedient provinces; and all the schools and colleges were placed under its especial care. no children could be thenceforth instructed except by the lips of those fathers. here was a curb more efficacious even than the citadel. that fortress was at first garrisoned with walloons and germans. "i have not yet induced the citizens," said parma, "to accept a spanish garrison, nor am i surprised; so many of them remembering past events (alluding to the 'spanish fury,' but not mentioning it by name), and observing the frequent mutinies at the present time. before long, i expect, however, to make the spaniards as acceptable and agreeable as the inhabitants of the country themselves." it may easily be supposed that philip was pleased with the triumphs that had thus been achieved. he was even grateful, or affected to be grateful, to him who had achieved them. he awarded great praise to alexander for his exertions, on the memorable occasions of the attack upon the bridge, and the battle of the kowenstyn; but censured him affectionately for so rashly exposing his life. "i have no words," he said, "to render the thanks which are merited for all that you have been doing. i recommend you earnestly however to have a care for the security of your person, for that is of more consequence than all the rest." after the news of the reduction of the city, he again expressed gratification, but in rather cold language. "from such obstinate people," said he, "not more could be extracted than has been extracted; therefore the capitulation is satisfactory." what more he wished to extract it would be difficult to say, for certainly the marrow had been extracted from the bones, and the dead city was thenceforth left to moulder under the blight of a foreign garrison and an army of jesuits. "perhaps religious affairs will improve before long," said philip. they did improve very soon, as he understood the meaning of improvement. a solitude of religion soon brought with it a solitude in every other regard, and antwerp became a desert, as sainte aldegonde had foretold would be the case. the king had been by no means so calm, however, when the intelligence of the capitulation first reached him at madrid. on the contrary, his oldest courtiers had never seen him exhibit such marks of hilarity. when he first heard of the glorious victory at lepanto, his countenance had remained impassive, and he had continued in the chapel at the devotional exercises which the messenger from don john had interrupted. only when the news of the massacre of st. bartholomew first reached him, had he displayed an amount of cheerfulness equal to that which he manifested at the fall of antwerp. "never," said granvelle, "had the king been so radiant with joy as when he held in his hand the despatches which announced the capitulation." the letters were brought to him after he had retired to rest, but his delight was so great that he could not remain in his bed. rushing from his chamber, so soon as he had read them, to that of his dearly-beloved daughter, clara isabella, he knocked loudly at the door, and screaming through the keyhole the three words, "antwerp is ours," returned precipitately again to his own apartment. it was the general opinion in spain, that the capture of this city had terminated the resistance of the netherlands. holland and zeeland would, it was thought, accept with very little hesitation the terms which parma had been offering, through the agency of sainte aldegonde; and, with the reduction of those two provinces, the spanish dominion over the whole country would of course become absolute. secretary idiaquez observed, on drawing up instructions for carlo coloma, a spanish financier then departing on special mission for the provinces, that he would soon come back to spain, for the prince of parma was just putting an end to the whole belgic war. time was to show whether holland and zeeland were as malleable as antwerp, and whether there would not be a battle or two more to fight before that belgic war would come to its end. meantime antwerp was securely fettered, while the spirit of commerce--to which its unexampled prosperity had been due--now took its flight to the lands where civil and religious liberty had found a home. ===================================== note on marnix de sainte aldegonde. as every illustration of the career and character of this eminent personage excites constant interest in the netherlands, i have here thrown together, in the form of an appendix, many important and entirely unpublished details, drawn mainly from the archives of simancas, and from the state paper office and british museum in london. the ex-burgomaster seemed determined to counteract the policy of those netherlanders who wished to offer the sovereignty of the provinces to the english queen. he had been earnestly in favour of annexation to france, for his sympathies and feelings were eminently french. he had never been a friend to england, and he was soon aware that a strong feeling of indignation--whether just or unjust--existed against him both in that country and in the netherlands, on account of the surrender of antwerp. "i have had large conference with villiers," wrote sir john norris to walsingham, "he condemneth ste. aldegonde's doings, but will impute it to fear and not to malice. ste. aldegonde, notwithstanding that he was forbidden to come to holland, and laid for at the fleet, yet stole secretly to dort, where they say he is staid, but i doubt he will be heard speak, and then assuredly he will do great hurt." it was most certainly sainte aldegonde's determination, so soon as the capitulation of antwerp had been resolved upon, to do his utmost to restore all the independent provinces to their ancient allegiance. rather spanish than english was his settled resolution. liberty of religion, if possible--that was his cherished wish--but still more ardently, perhaps, did he desire to prevent the country from falling into the hands of elizabeth. "the prince of parma hath conceived such an assured hope of the fidelity of aldegonde," wrote one of walsingham's agents, richard tomson, "in reducing the provinces, yet enemies, into a perfect subjection, that the spaniards are so well persuaded of the man as if he had never been against them. they say, about the middle of this month, he departed for zeeland and holland, to prosecute the effect of his promises, and i am the more induced to believe that he is become altogether spanish, for that the common bruit goeth that he hastened the surrendering of the town of antwerp, after he had intelligence of the coming of the english succours." there was naturally much indignation felt in the independent provinces, against all who had been thought instrumental in bringing about the reduction of the great cities of flanders. famars, governor of mechlin, van den tympel, governor of brussels, martini, who had been active in effecting the capitulation of antwerp, were all arrested in holland. "from all that i can hear," said parma, "it is likely that they will be very severely handled, which is the reason why ste. aldegonde, although he sent his wife and children to holland, has not ventured thither himself: it appears that they threaten him there, but he means now to go, under pretext of demanding to justify himself from the imputations against him. although he tells me freely that, without some amplification of the concessions hitherto made on the point of religion, he hopes for no good result, yet i trust that he will do good offices in the meantime, in spite of the difficulties which obstruct his efforts. on my part, every exertion will be made, and not without hope of some fruit, if not before, at least after, these people have become as tired of the english as they were of the french." of this mutual ill-feeling between the english and the burgomaster, there can be no doubt whatever. the queen's government was fully aware of his efforts to counteract its negotiation with the netherlands, and to bring about their reconciliation with spain. when the earl of leicester--as will soon be related--arrived in the provinces, he was not long in comprehending his attitude and his influence. "i wrote somewhat of sir aldegonde in putting his case," wrote leicester, "but this is certain, i have the copy of his very letters sent hither to practise the peace not two days before i came, and this day one hath told me that loves him well, that he hates our countrymen unrecoverably. i am sorry for it." on the other hand, the queen was very indignant with the man whom she looked upon as the paid agent of spain. she considered him a renegade, the more dangerous because his previous services had been so illustrious. "her majesty's mislike towards ste. aldegonde continueth," wrote walsingham to leicester, "and she taketh offence that he was not restrained of his liberty by your lordship's order." it is unquestionable that the exburgomaster intended to do his best towards effecting the reconciliation of all the provinces with spain; and it is equally certain that the king had offered to pay him well, if he proved successful in his endeavours. there is no proof, however, and no probability that sainte aldegonde ever accepted or ever intended to accept the proffered bribe. on the contrary, his whole recorded career ought to disprove the supposition. yet it is painful, to find him, at this crisis, assiduous in his attempts to undo the great work of his own life, and still more distressing to find that great rewards were distinctly offered to him for such service. immense promises had been frequently made no doubt to william the silent; nor could any public man, in such times, be so pure that an attempt to tamper with him might not be made: but when the personage, thus solicited, was evidently acting in the interests of the tempters, it is not surprising that he should become the object of grave suspicion. "it does not seem to me bad," wrote philip to parma, "this negotiation which you have commenced with ste. aldegonde, in order to gain him, and thus to employ his services in bringing about a reduction of the islands (holland and zeeland). in exchange for this work, any thing which you think proper to offer to him as a reward, will be capital well invested; but it must not be given until the job is done." but the job was hard to do, and sainte aldegonde cared nothing for the offered bribe. he was, however, most strangely confident of being able to overcome, on the one hand, the opposition of holland and zeeland to the hated authority of spain, and, on the other, the intense abhorrence entertained by philip to liberty of conscience. soon after the capitulation, he applied for a passport to visit those two provinces. permission to come was refused him. honest men from antwerp, he was informed, would be always welcome, but there was no room for him. there was, however--or parma persuaded himself that there was-- a considerable party in those countries in favour of reconciliation with spain. if the ex-burgomaster could gain a hearing, it was thought probable that his eloquence would prove very effective. "we have been making efforts to bring about negotiations with holland and zeeland," wrote alexander to philip. "gelderland and overyssel likewise show signs of good disposition, but i have not soldiers enough to animate the good and terrify the bad. as for holland and zeeland, there is a strong inclination on the part of the people to a reconciliation, if some concession could be made on the religious question, but the governors oppose it, because they are perverse, and are relying on assistance from england. could this religious concession be made, an arrangement could, without doubt, be accomplished, and more quickly than people think. nevertheless, in such a delicate matter, i am obliged to await your majesty's exact instructions and ultimatum." he then proceeded to define exactly the position and intentions of the burgomaster. "the government of holland and zeeland," he said, "have refused a passport to ste. aldegonde, and express dissatisfaction with him for having surrendered antwerp so soon. they know that he has much credit with the people and with the ministers of the sects, and they are in much fear of him because he is inclined for peace, which is against their interests. they are, therefore, endeavouring to counteract my negotiations with him. these have been, thus far, only in general terms. i have sought to induce him to perform the offices required, without giving him reason to expect any concession as to the exercise of religion. he persuades himself that, in the end, there will be some satisfaction obtained upon this point, and, under this impression he considers the peace as good as concluded, there remaining no doubt as to other matters. he has sent his wife to zeeland, and is himself going to germany, where, as he says, he will do all the good service that he can. he hopes that very shortly the provinces will not only invite, but implore him to come to them; in which case, he promises me to perform miracles." alexander then proceeded to pay a distinct tribute to sainte aldegonde's motives; and, when it is remembered that the statement thus made is contained in a secret despatch, in cipher, to the king, it may be assumed to convey the sincere opinion of the man most qualified to judge correctly as to this calumniated person's character. "ste. aldegonde offers me wonders," he said, "and i have promised him that he shall be recompensed very largely; yet, although he is poor, i do not find him influenced by mercenary or selfish considerations, but only very set in opinions regarding his religion." the prince had however no doubt of sainte aldegonde's sincerity, for sincerity was a leading characteristic of the man. his word, once given, was sacred, and he had given his word to do his best towards effecting a reconciliation of the provinces with spain, and frustrating the efforts of england. "through the agency of ste. aldegonde and that of others" wrote parma, "i shall watch, day and night, to bring about a reduction of holland and zeeland, if humanly possible. i am quite persuaded that they will soon be sick of the english, who are now arriving, broken down, without arms or money, and obviously incapable of holding out very long. doubtless, however, this english alliance, and the determination of the queen to do her utmost against us, complicates matters, and assists the government of holland and zeeland in opposing the inclinations of their people." nothing ever came of these intended negotiations. the miracles were never wrought, and even had sainte aldegonde been as venal as he was suspected of being--which we have thus proof positive that he was not-- he never could have obtained the recompense, which, according to philip's thrifty policy, was not to be paid until it had been earned. sainte aldegonde's hands were clean. it is pity that we cannot render the same tribute to his political consistency of character. it is also certain that he remained--not without reason--for a long time under a cloud. he became the object of unbounded and reckless calumny. antwerp had fallen, and the necessary consequence of its reduction was the complete and permanent prostration of its commerce and manufactures. these were transferred to the new, free, national, independent, and prosperous commonwealth that had risen in the "islands" which parma and sainte aldegonde had vainly hoped to restore to their ancient servitude. in a very few years after the subjugation of antwerp, it appeared by statistical documents that nearly all the manufactures of linen, coarse and fine cloths, serges, fustians, tapestry, gold-embroidery, arms-work, silks, and velvets, had been transplanted to the towns of holland and zeeland, which were flourishing and thriving, while the flemish and brabantine cities had become mere dens of thieves and beggars. it was in the mistaken hope of averting this catastrophe--as melancholy as it was inevitable and in despair of seeing all the netherlands united, unless united in slavery, and in deep-rooted distrust of the designs and policy of england, that this statesman, once so distinguished, had listened to the insidious tongue of parma. he had sought to effect a general reconciliation with spain, and the only result of his efforts was a blight upon his own illustrious name. he published a defence of his conduct, and a detailed account of the famous siege. his apology, at the time, was not considered conclusive, but his narrative remains one of the clearest and most trustworthy sources for the history of these important transactions. he was never brought to trial, but he discovered, with bitterness, that he had committed a fatal error, and that his political influence had passed away. he addressed numerous private epistles to eminent persons, indignantly denying the imputations against his character, and demanding an investigation. among other letters he observed in one to count hohenlo, that he was astonished and grieved to find that all his faithful labours and sufferings in the cause of his fatherland had been forgotten in an hour. in place of praise and gratitude, he had reaped nothing but censure and calumny; because men ever judged, not by the merits, but by the issue. that common people should be so unjust, he said, was not to be wondered at, but of men like hohenlo be had hoped better things. he asserted that he had saved antwerp from another "spanish fury," and from impending destruction--a city in which there was not a single regular soldier, and in which his personal authority was so slight that he was unable to count the number of his masters. if a man had ever performed a service to his country, be claimed to have done so in this capitulation. nevertheless, he declared that he was the same philip marnix, earnestly devoted to the service of god, the true religion, and the fatherland; although he avowed himself weary of the war, and of this perpetual offering of the netherland sovereignty to foreign potentates. he was now going, he said, to his estates in zeeland; there to turn farmer again; renouncing public affairs, in the administration of which he had experienced so much ingratitude from his countrymen. count maurice and the states of holland and zeeland wrote to him, however, in very plain language, describing the public indignation as so strong as to make it unsafe for him to visit the country. the netherlands and england--so soon as they were united in policy--were, not without reason, indignant with the man who had made such strenuous efforts to prevent that union. the english were, in truth, deeply offended. he had systematically opposed their schemes, and to his prejudice against their country, and distrust of their intentions, they attributed the fall of antwerp. envoy davison, after his return to holland, on the conclusion of the english treaty, at once expressed his suspicions of the ex-burgomaster, and the great dangers to be apprehended from his presence in the free states. "here is some working underhand," said he to walsingham, "to draw hither sainte aldegonde, under a pretext of his justification, which--as it has hitherto been denied him--so is the sequel suspected, if he should obtain it before they were well settled here, betwixt her majesty and them, considering the manifold presumptions that the subject of his journey should be little profitable or advantageous to the state of these poor countries, as tending, at the best, to the propounding of some general reconcilement." it was certainly not without substantial grounds that the english and hollanders, after concluding their articles of alliance, felt uneasy at the possibility of finding their plans reversed by the intrigues of a man whom they knew to be a mediator between spain and her revolted provinces, and whom they suspected of being a venal agent of the catholic king. it was given out that philip had been induced to promise liberty of religion, in case of reconciliation. we have seen that parma was at heart in favour of such a course, and that he was very desirous of inducing marnix to believe in the possibility of obtaining such a boon, however certain the prince had been made by the king's secret letters, that such a belief was a delusion. "martini hath been examined," wrote davison, "who confesseth both for himself and others, to become hither by direction of the prince of parma and intelligence of sainte aldegonde, from whom he was first addressed by villiers and afterwards to others for advice and assistance. that the scope of this direction was to induce them here to hearken to a peace, wherein the prince of parma promiseth them toleration of religion, although he confesseth yet to have no absolute power in that behalf, but hath written thereof to the king expressly, and holdeth himself assured thereof by the first post, as i have likewise been advertised from rowland york, which if it had been propounded openly here before things had been concluded with her majesty, and order taken for her assurance, your honour can judge what confusion it must of necessity have brought forth." at last, when marnix had become convinced that the toleration would not arrive "by the very next mail from spain," and that, in truth, such a blessing was not to be expected through the post-office at all, he felt an inward consciousness of the mistake which he had committed. too credulously had he inclined his ear to the voice of parma; too obstinately had he steeled his heart against elizabeth, and he was now the more anxious to clear himself at least from the charges of corruption so clamorously made against him by holland and by england. conscious of no fault more censurable than credulity and prejudice, feeling that his long fidelity to the reformed religion ought to be a defence for him against his calumniators, he was desirous both to clear his own honour, and to do at least a tardy justice to england. he felt confident that loyal natures, like those of davison and his colleagues at home, would recognize his own loyalty. he trusted, not without cause, to english honour, and coming to his manor-house of zoubourg, near flushing, he addressed a letter to the ambassador of elizabeth, in which the strong desire to vindicate his aspersed integrity is quite manifest. "i am very joyous," said he, "that coming hither in order to justify myself against the false and malignant imputations with which they charge me, i have learned your arrival here on the part of her majesty, as well as the soon expected coming of the earl of leicester. i see, in truth, that the lord god is just, and never abandons his own. i have never spared myself in the service of my country, and i would have sacrificed my life, a thousand times, had it been possible, in her cause. now, i am receiving for all this a guerdon of blame and calumny, which is cast upon me in order to cover up faults which have been committed by others in past days. i hope, however, to come soon to give you welcome, and to speak more particularly to you of all these things. meantime demanding my justification before these gentlemen, who ought to have known me better than to have added faith to such villanous imputations, i will entreat you that my definite justification, or condemnation, if i have merited it, may be reserved till the arrival of lord leicester." this certainly was not the language of a culprit, nevertheless, his words did not immediately make a deep impression on the hearts of those who heard him. he had come secretly to his house at zoubourg, having previously published his memorable apology; and in accordance with the wishes of the english government, he was immediately confined to his own house. confidence in the intention of a statesman, who had at least committed such grave errors of judgment, and who had been so deeply suspected of darker faults, was not likely very soon to revive. so far from shrinking from an investigation which would have been dangerous, even to his life, had the charges against his honour been founded in fact, he boldly demanded to be confronted with his accusers, in order that he might explain his conduct before all the world. "sir, yesternight, at the shutting of the gates," wrote davison to walsingham, transmitting the little note from marnix, which has just been cited-- "i was advertised that ste. aldegonde was not an hour before secretly landed at the head on the other side the rammekens, and come to his house at zoubourg, having prepared his way by an apology, newly published in his defence, whereof i have as yet recovered one only copy, which herewith i send your honour. this day, whilst i was at dinner, he sent his son unto me, with a few lines, whereof i send you the copy, advertising me of his arrival (which he knew i understood before), together with the desire he had to see me, and speak with me, if the states, before whom he was to come to purge himself of the crimes wherewith he stood, as he with, unjustly charged, would vouchsafe him so much liberty. the same morning, the council of zeeland, taking knowledge of his arrival, sent unto him the pensioner of middelburgh and this town, to sound the causes of his coming, and to will him, in their behalf, to keep his house, and to forbear all meddling by word or writing, with any whatsoever, till they should further advise and determine in his cause. in defence thereof, he fell into large and particular discourse with the deputies, accusing his enemies of malice and untruth, offering himself to any trial, and to abide what punishment the laws should lay upon him, if he were found guilty of the crimes imputed to him. touching the cause of his coming, he pretended and protested that he had no other end than his simple justification, preferring any hazard he might incur thereby, to his honour and good fame." as to the great question at issue, marnix had at last become conscious that he had been a victim to spanish dissimulation, and that alexander fainese was in reality quite powerless to make that concession of religious liberty, without which a reconciliation between holland and philip was impossible. "whereas," said davison, "it was supposed that ste. aldegonde had commission from the prince of parma to make some offer of peace, he assured them of the contrary as a thing which neither the prince had any power to yield unto with the surety of religion, or himself would, in conscience, persuade without it; with a number of other particularities in his excuse; amongst the rest, allowing and commending in his speech, the course they had taken with her majesty, as the only safe way of deliverance for these afflicted countries--letting them understand how much the news thereof-- specially since the entry of our garrison into this place (which before they would in no sort believe), hath troubled the enemy, who doth what he may to suppress the bruit thereof, and yet comforteth himself with the hope that between the factions and partialities nourished by his industry, and musters among the towns, especially in holland and zeeland (where he is persuaded to find some pliable to a reconcilement) and the disorders and misgovernment of our people, there will be yet occasion offered him to make his profit and advantage. i find that the gentleman hath here many friends indifferently persuaded of his innocency, notwithstanding the closing up of his apology doth make but little for him. howsoever it be, it falleth out the better that the treaty with her majesty is finished, and the cautionary towns assured before his coming, which, if he be ill affected, will i hope either reform his judgment or restrain his will. i will not forget to do the best i can to sift and decipher him yet more narrowly and particularly." thus, while the scales had at length fallen from the eyes of marnix, it was not strange that the confidence which he now began to entertain in the policy of england, should not be met, at the outset, with a corresponding sentiment on the part of the statesman by whom that policy was regulated. "howsoever ste. aldegonde would seem to purge himself," said davison, "it is suspected that his end is dangerous. i have done what i may to restrain him, so nevertheless as it may not seem to come from me." and again--"ste. aldegonde," he wrote, "contimieth still our neighbor at his house between this and middelburg; yet unmolested. he findeth many favourers, and, i fear, doth no good offices. he desireth to be reserved till the coming of my lord of leicester, before whom he pretends a desired trial." this covert demeanour on the part of the ambassador was in accordance with, the wishes of his government. it was thought necessary that sainte aldegonde should be kept under arrest until the arrival of the earl, but deemed preferable that the restraint should proceed from the action of the states rather than from the order of the queen. davison was fulfilling orders in attempting, by underhand means, to deprive marnix, for a time, of his liberty. "let him, i pray you, remain in good safety in any wise," wrote leicester, who was uneasy at the thought of so influential, and, as he thought, so ill-affected a person being at large, but at the same time disposed to look dispassionately upon his past conduct, and to do justice, according to the results of an investigation. "it is thought meet," wrote walsingham to davison, "that you should do your best endeavour to procure that ste. aldegonde may be restrained, which in mine opinion were fit to be handled in such sort, as the restraint might rather proceed from themselves than by your solicitation. and yet rather than he should remain at liberty to practise underhand, whereof you seem to stand in great doubt, it is thought meet that you should make yourself a partizan, to seek by all the means that you may to have him restrained under the guard of some well affected patriot until the earl's coming, at what time his cause may receive examination." this was, however, a result somewhat difficult to accomplish; for twenty years of noble service in the cause of liberty had not been utterly in vain, and there were many magnanimous spirits to sympathize with a great man struggling thus in the meshes of calumny. that the man who challenged rather than shunned investigation, should be thrown into prison, as if he were a detected felon upon the point of absconding, seemed a heartless and superfluous precaution. yet davison and others still feared the man whom they felt obliged to regard as a baffled intriguer. "touching the restraint of ste. aldegonde," wrote davison to lord burghley, "which i had order from mr. secretary to procure underhand, i find the difficulty will be great in regard of his many friends and favourers, preoccupied with some opinion of his innocence, although i have travailled with divers of them underhand, and am promised that some order shall be taken in that behalf, which i think will be harder to execute as long as count maurice is here. for ste. aldegonde's affection, i find continual matter to suspect it inclined to a peace, and that as one notably prejudging our scope and proceeding in this cause, doth lie in wait for an occasion to set it forward, being, as it seems, fed with a hope of 'telle quelle liberte de conscience,' which the prince of parma and others of his council have, as he confesseth, earnestly solicited at the king's hands. this appeareth, in truth, the only apt and easy way for them to prevail both against religion and the liberty of these poor countries, having thereby once recovered the authority which must necessarily follow a peace, to renew and alter the magistrates of the particular towns, which, being at their devotion, may turn, as we say, all upside down, and so in an instant being under their servitude, if not wholly, at the least in a great part of the country, leaving so much the less to do about the rest, a thing confessed and looked for of all men of any judgment here, if the drift of our peace- makers may take effect." sainte aldegonde had been cured of his suspicions of england, and at last the purity of his own character shone through the mists. one winter's morning, two days after christmas, , colonel morgan, an ingenuous welshman, whom we have seen doing much hard fighting on kowenstyn dyke, and at other places, and who now commanded the garrison at flushing, was taking a walk outside the gates, and inhaling the salt breezes from the ocean. while thus engaged he met a gentleman coming along, staff in hand, at a brisk pace towards the town, who soon proved to be no other than the distinguished and deeply suspected sainte aldegonde. the two got at once into conversation. "he began," said morgan, "by cunning insinuations, to wade into matters of state, and at the last fell to touching the principal points, to wit, her majesty's entrance into the cause now in hand, which, quoth he, was an action of high importance, considering how much it behoved her to go through the same, as well in regard of the hope that thereby was given to the distressed people of these parts, as also in consideration of that worthy personage whom she hath here placed, whose estate and credit may not be suffered to quail, but must be upholden as becometh the lieutenant of such a princess as her majesty." "the opportunity thus offered," continued honest morgan, "and the way opened by himself, i thought good to discourse with him to the full, partly to see the end and drift of his induced talk, and consequently to touch his quick in the suspected cause of antwerp." and thus, word for word, taken down faithfully the same day, proceeded the dialogue that wintry morning, near three centuries ago. from that simple record-- mouldering unseen and unthought of for ages, beneath piles of official dust--the forms of the illustrious fleming and the bold welsh colonel, seem to start, for a brief moment, out of the three hundred years of sleep which have succeeded their energetic existence upon earth. and so, with the bleak winds of december whistling over the breakers of the north sea, the two discoursed together, as they paced along the coast. morgan.--"i charge you with your want of confidence in her majesty's promised aid. 'twas a thing of no small moment had it been embraced when it was first most graciously offered." sainte aldegonde.--"i left not her prince-like purpose unknown to the states, who too coldly and carelessly passed over the benefit thereof, until it was too late to put the same in practice. for my own part, i acknowledge that indeed i thought some further advice would either alter or at least detract from the accomplishment of her determination. i thought this the rather because she had so long been wedded to peace, and i supposed it impossible to divorce her from so sweet a spouse. but, set it down that she were resolute, yet the sickness of antwerp was so dangerous, as it was to be doubted the patient would be dead before the physician could come. i protest that the state of the town was much worse than was known to any but myself and some few private persons. the want of victuals was far greater than they durst bewray, fearing lest the common people, perceiving the plague of famine to be at hand, would rather grow desperate than patiently expect some happy event. for as they were many in number, so were they wonderfully divided: some being martinists, some papists, some neither the one nor the other, but generally given to be factious, so that the horror at home was equal to the hazard abroad." morgan.--"but you forget the motion made by the martial men for putting out of the town such as were simple artificers, with women and children, mouths that consumed meat, but stood in no stead for defence." sainte aldegonde.--"alas, alas! would you have had me guilty of the slaughter of so many innocents, whose lives were committed to my charge, as well as the best? or might i have answered my god when those massacred creatures should have stood up against me, that the hope of antwerp's deliverance was purchased with the blood of so many simple souls? no, no. i should have found my conscience such a hell and continual worm as the gnawing thereof would have been more painful and bitter than the possession of the whole world would have been pleasant." morgan continued to press the various points which had created suspicion as to the character and motives of marnix, and point by point marnix answered his antagonist, impressing him, armed as he had been in distrust, with an irresistible conviction as to the loftiness of the nature which had been so much calumniated. sainte aldegonde (with vehemence).--"i do assure you, in conclusion, that i have solemnly vowed service and duty to her majesty, which i am ready to perform where and when it may best like her to use the same. i will add moreover that i have oftentimes determined to pass into england to make my own purgation, yet fearing lest her highness would mislike so bold a resolution, i have checked that purpose with a resolution to tarry the lord's leisure, until some better opportunity might answer my desire. for since i know not how i stand in her grace, unwilling i am to attempt her presence without permission; but might it please her to command my attendance, i should not only most joyfully accomplish the same, but also satisfy her of and in all such matters as i stand charged with, and afterwards spend life, land, and goods, to witness my duty towards her highness." morgan.--"i tell you plainly, that if you are in heart the same man that you seem outwardly to be, i doubt not but her majesty might easily be persuaded to conceive a gracious opinion of you. for mine own part, i will surely advertise sir francis walsingham of as much matter as this present conference hath ministered. "hereof," said the colonel--when, according to his promise, faithfully recording the conversation in all its details for mr. secretary's benefit," he seemed not only content but most glad. therefore i beseech your honour to vouchsafe some few lines herein, that i may return him some part of your mind. i have already written thereof to sir philip sidney, lord governor of flushing, with request that his excellency the earl of leicester may presently be made acquainted with the cause." indeed the brave welshman was thoroughly converted from his suspicions by the earnest language and sympathetic presence of the fallen statesman. this result of the conference was creditable to the ingenuous character of both personages. "thus did he," wrote morgan to sir francis, "from point to point, answer all objections from the first to the last, and that in such sound and substantial manner, with a strong show of truth, as i think his very enemies, having heard his tale, would be satisfied. and truly, sir, as heretofore i have thought hardly of him, being led by a superficial judgment of things as they stood in outward appearance; so now, having pierced deep, and weighed causes by a sounder and more deliberate consideration, i find myself somewhat changed in conceit--not so much carried away by the sweetness of his speech, as confirmed by the force of his religious profession, wherein he remaineth constant, without wavering --an argument of great strength to set him free from treacherous attempts; but as i am herein least able and most unworthy to yield any censure, much less to give advice, so i leave the man and the matter to your honour's opinion. only (your graver judgment reserved) thus i think, that it were good either to employ him as a friend, or as an enemy to remove him farther from us, being a man of such action as the world knoweth he is. and to conclude," added morgan, "this was the upshot between us." nevertheless, he remained in this obscurity for a long period. when, towards the close of the year , the english government was established in holland, he was the object of constant suspicion. "here is aldegonde," wrote sir philip sidney to lord leicester from flushing, "a man greatly suspected, but by no man charged. he lives restrained to his own house, and for aught i can find, deals with nothing, only desiring to have his cause wholly referred to your lordship, and therefore, with the best heed i can to his proceedings, i will leave him to his clearing or condemning, when your lordship shall hear him." in another letter, sir philip again spoke of sainte aldegonde as "one of whom he kept a good opinion, and yet a suspicious eye." leicester himself was excessively anxious on the subject, deeply fearing the designs of a man whom he deemed so mischievous, and being earnestly desirous that he should not elude the chastisement which he seemed to deserve. "touching ste. aldegonde," he wrote to davison, "i grieve that he is at his house without good guard. i do earnestly pray you to move such as have power presently to commit a guard about him, for i know he is a dangerous and a bold man, and presumes yet to carry all, for he hath made many promises to the prince of parma. i would he were in fort rammekyns, or else that mr. russell had charge of him, with a recommendation from me to russell to look well to him till i shall arrive. you must have been so commanded in this from her majesty, for she thinks he is in close and safe guard. if he is not, look for a turn of all things, for he hath friends, i know." but very soon after his arrival, the earl, on examining into the matter, saw fit to change his opinions and his language. persuaded, in spite of his previous convictions, even as the honest welsh colonel had been, of the upright character of the man, and feeling sure that a change had come over the feelings of marnix himself in regard to the english alliance, leicester at once interested himself in removing the prejudices entertained towards him by the queen. "now a few words for ste. aldegonde," said he in his earliest despatches from holland; "i will beseech her majesty to stay her judgment till i write next. if the man be as he now seemeth, it were pity to lose him, for he is indeed marvellously friended. her majesty will think, i know, that i am easily pacified or led in such a matter, but i trust so to deal as she shall give me thanks. once if he do offer service it is sure enough, for he is esteemed that way above all the men in this country for his word, if he give it. his worst enemies here procure me to win him, for sure, just matter for his life there is none. he would fain come into england, so far is he come already, and doth extol her majesty for this work of hers to heaven, and confesseth, till now an angel could not make him believe it." here certainly was a noble tribute paid unconsciously, as it were, to the character of the maligned statesman. "above all the men in the country for his word, if he give it." what wonder that orange had leaned upon him, that alexander had sought to gain him, and how much does it add to our bitter regret that his prejudices against england should not have been removed until too late for antwerp and for his own usefulness. had his good angel really been present to make him believe in that "work of her majesty," when his ear was open to the seductions of parma, the destiny of belgium and his own subsequent career might have been more fortunate than they became. the queen was slow to return from her prejudices. she believed--not without reason--that the opposition of ste. aldegonde to her policy had been disastrous to the cause both of england and the netherlands; and it had been her desire that he should be imprisoned, and tried for his life. her councillors came gradually to take a more favourable view of the case, and to be moved by the pathetic attitude of the man who had once been so conspicuous. "i did acquaint sir christopher hatton," wrote walsingham to leicester, "with the letter which ste. aldegonde wrote to your lordship, which, carrying a true picture of an afflicted mind, cannot but move an honest heart, weighing the rare parts the gentleman is endowed withal, to pity his distressed estate, and, to procure him relief and comfort, which mr. vice-chamberlain (hatton) bath promised on his part to perform. i thought good to send ste. aldegonde's letter unto the lord treasurer (burghley), who heretofore has carried a hard conceit of the gentleman, hoping that the view of his letter will breed some remorse towards him. i have also prayed his lordship, if he see cause, to acquaint her majesty with the said letter." but his high public career was closed. he lived down calumny; and put his enemies to shame, but the fatal error which he had committed, in taking the side of spain rather than of england at so momentous a crisis, could never be repaired. he regained the good opinion of the most virtuous and eminent personages in europe, but in the noon of life he voluntarily withdrew from public affairs. the circumstances just detailed had made him impossible as a political leader, and it was equally impossible for him to play a secondary part. he occasionally consented to be employed in special diplomatic missions, but the serious avocations of his life now became theological and literary. he sought-- in his own words--to penetrate himself still more deeply than ever with the spirit of the reformation, and to imbue the minds of the young with that deep love for the reformed religion which had been the guiding thought of his own career. he often spoke with a sigh of his compulsory exile from the field where he had been so conspicuous all his lifetime; he bitterly lamented the vanished dream of the great national union between belgium and holland, which had flattered his youth and his manhood; and he sometimes alluded with bitterness to the calumny which had crippled him of his usefulness. he might have played a distinguished part in that powerful commonwealth which was so steadily and splendidly arising out of the lagunes of zeeland and holland, but destiny and calumny and his own error had decided otherwise. "from the depth of my exile--" he said, "for i am resolved to retire, i know not where, into germany, perhaps into sarmatia, i shall look from afar upon the calamities of my country. that which to me is most mournful is no longer to be able to assist my fatherland by my counsels and my actions." he did not go into exile, but remained chiefly at his mansion of zoubourg, occupied with agriculture and with profound study. many noble works conspicuous in the literature of the epoch--were the results of his learned leisure; and the name of marnix of sainte aldegonde will be always as dear to the lovers of science and letters as to the believers in civil and religious liberty. at the request of the states of holland he undertook, in , a translation of the scriptures from the original, and he was at the same time deeply engaged with a history of christianity, which he intended for his literary master-piece. the man whose sword had done knightly service on many a battle-field for freedom, whose tongue had controlled mobs and senates, courts and councils, whose subtle spirit had metamorphosed itself into a thousand shapes to do battle with the genius of tyranny, now quenched the feverish agitation of his youth and manhood in hebrew and classical lore. a grand and noble figure always: most pathetic when thus redeeming by vigorous but solitary and melancholy hard labor, the political error which had condemned him to retirement. to work, ever to work, was the primary law of his nature. repose in the other world, "repos ailleurs" was the device which he assumed in earliest youth, and to which he was faithful all his days. a great and good man whose life had been brim-full of noble deeds, and who had been led astray from the path, not of virtue, but of sound policy, by his own prejudices and by the fascination of an intellect even more brilliant than his own, he at least enjoyed in his retirement whatever good may come from hearty and genuine labor, and from the high regard entertained for him by the noblest spirits among his contemporaries. "they tell me," said la noue, "that the seigneur de ste. aldegonde has been suspected by the hollanders and the english. i am deeply grieved, for 'tis a personage worthy to be employed. i have always known him to be a zealous friend of his religion and his country, and i will bear him this testimony, that his hands and his heart are clean. had it been otherwise, i must have known it. his example has made me regret the less the promise i was obliged to make, never to bear arms again in the netherlands. for i have thought that since this man, who has so much credit and authority among your people, after having done his duty well, has not failed to be calumniated and ejected from service, what would they have done with me, who am a stranger, had i continued in their employment? the consul terentius varro lost, by his fault, the battle of canna; nevertheless, when he returned to rome, offering the remainder of his life in the cause of his republic reduced to extremity, he was not rejected, but well received, because he hoped well for the country. it is not to be imputed as blame to ste. aldegonde that he lost antwerp, for he surrendered when it could not be saved. what i now say is drawn from me by the compassion i feel when persons of merit suffer without cause at the hands of their fellow citizens. in these terrible tempests, as it is a duty rigorously to punish the betrayers of their country, even so it is an obligation upon us to honor good patriots, and to support them in venial errors, that we may all encourage each other to do the right." strange too as it may now seem to us, a reconciliation of the netherlands with philip was not thought an impossibility by other experienced and sagacious patriots, besides marnix. even olden-barneveld, on taking office as holland's advocate, at this period, made it a condition that his service was to last only until the reunion of the provinces with spain. there was another illustrious personage in a foreign land who ever rendered homage to the character of the retired netherland statesman. amid the desolation of france, duplessis mornay often solaced himself by distant communion with that kindred and sympathizing spirit. "plunged in public annoyances," he wrote to sainte aldegonde, "i find no consolation, except in conference with the good, and among the good i hold you for one of the best. with such men i had rather sigh profoundly than laugh heartily with others. in particular, sir, do me the honor to love me, and believe that i honor you singularly. impart to me something from your solitude, for i consider your deserts to be more fruitful and fertile than our most cultivated habitations. as for me, think of me as of a man drowning in the anxieties of the time, but desirous, if possible, of swimming to solitude." thus solitary, yet thus befriended,--remote from public employment, yet ever employed, doing his daily work with all his soul and strength, marnix passed the fifteen years yet remaining to him. death surprised him at last, at leyden, in the year , while steadily laboring upon his flemish translation of the old testament, and upon the great political, theological, controversial, and satirical work on the differences of religion, which remains the most stately, though unfinished, monument of his literary genius. at the age of sixty he went at last to the repose which he had denied to himself on earth. "repos ailleurs." etext editor's bookmarks: honor good patriots, and to support them in venial errors possible to do, only because we see that it has been done repose in the other world, "repos ailleurs" soldiers enough to animate the good and terrify the bad to work, ever to work, was the primary law of his nature when persons of merit suffer without cause this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, volume history united netherlands, chapter v., part . position of alexander and his army--la motte attempts in vain ostend--patriots gain liefkenshoek--projects of gianibelli--alarm on the bridge--the fire ships--the explosion--its results--death of the viscount of ghent--perpetual anxiety of farnese--impoverished state of the spaniards--intended attack of the kowenstyn--second attack of the kowenstyn--a landing effected--a sharp combat--the dyke pierced --rally of the spaniards--parma comes to the rescue--fierce struggle on the dyke--the spaniards successful--premature triumph at antwerp --defeat of the patriots--the ship war's end--despair of the citizens notwithstanding these triumphs, parma was much inconvenienced by not possessing the sea-coast of flanders. ostend was a perpetual stumbling- block to him. he therefore assented, with pleasure to a proposition made by la motte, one of the most experienced and courageous of the walloon royalist, commanders, to attempt the place by surprise. and la motte; at the first blow; was more than half successful. on the night of the th march, ( ) with two thousand foot and twelve hundred cavalry, he carried the whole of the old port of ostend. leaving a walloon officer, in whom he had confidence, to guard the position already gained, he went back in person for reinforcements. during his advance, the same ill luck attended his enterprise which had blasted hohenlo's achievement at bois-le-duc. the soldiers he left behind him deserted their posts for the sake of rifling the town. the officer in command, instead of keeping them to their duty, joined in the chase. the citizens roused themselves, attacked their invaders, killed many of them, and put the rest to flight. when la motte returned; he found the panic general. his whole force, including the fresh soldiers just brought to the rescue, were beside themselves with fear. he killed several with his own hand, but the troops were not to be rallied. his quick triumph was changed into an absolute defeat. parma, furious at the ignominious result of a plan from which so much had been expected, ordered the walloon captain, from whose delinquency so much disaster had resulted, to be forthwith hanged. "such villainy," said he, "must never go unpunished." it was impossible for the prince to send a second expedition to attempt the reduction of ostend, for the patriots were at last arousing themselves to the necessity of exertion. it was very obvious--now that the bridge had been built, and the kowenstyn fortified--that one or the other was to be destroyed, or antwerp abandoned to its fate. the patriots had been sleeping, as it were, all the winter, hugging the delusive dream of french sovereignty and french assistance. no language can exaggerate the deadly effects from the slow poison of that negotiation. at any rate, the negotiation was now concluded. the dream was dispelled. antwerp must now fall, or a decisive blow must be struck by the patriots themselves, and a telling blow had been secretly and maturely meditated. certain preparatory steps were however necessary. the fort of liefkenshoek, "darling's corner," was a most important post. the patriots had never ceased to regret that precious possession, lost, as we have seen, in so tragical a manner on the very day of orange's death. fort lillo, exactly opposite, on the brabant shore of the scheldt, had always been securely held by them; and was their strongest position. were both places in their power, the navigation of the river, at least as far as the bridge, would be comparatively secure. a sudden dash was made upon liefkenshoek. a number of armed vessels sailed up from zeeland, under command of justinus de nassau. they were assisted from fort lillo by a detachment headed by count hohenlo. these two officers were desirous of retrieving the reputation which they had lost at bois-le-duc. they were successful, and the "darling" fort was carried at a blow. after a brief cannonade, the patriots made a breach, effected a landing, and sprang over the ramparts. the walloons and spaniards fled in dismay; many of them were killed in the fort, and along the dykes; others were hurled into the scheldt. the victors followed up their success by reducing, with equal impetuosity, the fort of saint anthony, situate in the neighbourhood farther down the river. they thus gained entire command of all the high ground, which remained in that quarter above the inundation, and was called the doel. the dyke, on which liefkenshoek stood, led up the river towards kalloo, distant less than a league. there were parma's head-quarters and the famous bridge. but at fort saint mary; where the flemish head of that bridge rested, the dyke was broken. upon that broken end the commanders of the expedition against liefkenshoek were ordered to throw up an entrenchment, without loss of a moment, so soon as they should have gained the fortresses which they were ordered first to assault. sainte aldegonde had given urgent written directions to this effect. from a redoubt situated thus, in the very face of saint mary's, that position, the palisade-work, the whole bridge, might be battered with all the artillery that could be brought from zeeland. but parma was beforehand with them. notwithstanding his rage and mortification that spanish soldiers should have ignominiously lost the important fortress which richebourg had conquered so brilliantly nine months before, he was not the man to spend time in unavailing regrets. his quick eye instantly, detected the flaw which might soon be fatal. in the very same night of the loss of liefkenshoek, he sent as strong a party as could be spared, with plenty of sappers and miners, in flat- bottomed boats across from kalloo. as the morning dawned, an improvised fortress, with the spanish flag waving above its bulwarks, stood on the broken end of the dyke. that done, he ordered one of the two captains who had commanded in liefkenshoek and saint anthony to be beheaded on the same dyke. the other was dismissed with ignominy. ostend was, of course, given up; "but it was not a small matter," said parma, "to fortify ourselves that very night upon the ruptured place, and so prevent the rebels from doing it, which would have been very mal-a-propos." nevertheless, the rebels had achieved a considerable success; and now or never the telling blow, long meditated, was to be struck. there lived in antwerp a subtle mantuan, gianibelli by name, who had married and been long settled in the city. he had made himself busy with various schemes for victualling the place. he had especially urged upon the authorities, at an early period of the siege, the propriety of making large purchases of corn and storing it in magazines at a time when famine-price had by no means been reached. but the leading men had then their heads full of a great ship, or floating castle, which they were building, and which they had pompously named the 'war's end,' 'fin de la guerre.' we shall hear something of this phenomenon at a later period. meanwhile, gianibelli, who knew something of shipbuilding, as he did of most other useful matters, ridiculed the design, which was likely to cost, in itself before completion, as much money as would keep the city in bread for a third of a year. gianibelli was no patriot. he was purely a man of science and of great acquirements, who was looked upon by the ignorant populace alternately as a dreamer and a wizard. he was as indifferent to the cause of freedom as of despotism, but he had a great love for chemistry. he was also a profound mechanician, second to no man of his age in theoretic and practical engineering. he had gone from italy to spain that he might offer his services to philip, and give him the benefit of many original and ingenious inventions. forced to dance attendance, day after day, among sneering courtiers and insolent placemen, and to submit to the criticism of practical sages and philosophers of routine, while, he was constantly denied an opportunity of explaining his projects, the quick-tempered italian had gone away at last, indignant. he had then vowed revenge upon the dulness by which his genius had been slighted, and had sworn that the next time the spaniards heard the name of the man whom they had dared to deride, they should hear it with tears. he now laid before the senate of antwerp a plan for some vessels likely to prove more effective than the gigantic 'war's end,' which he had prophesied would prove a failure. with these he pledged himself to destroy the bridge. he demanded three ships which he had selected from the city fleet; the 'orange,' the 'post,' and the 'golden lion,' measuring, respectively, one hundred and fifty, three hundred and fifty, and five hundred tons. besides these, he wished sixty flat-bottomed scows, which he proposed to send down the river, partially submerged, disposed in the shape of a half moon, with innumerable anchors and grapnel's thrusting themselves out of the water at every point. this machine was intended to operate against the raft. ignorance and incredulity did their work, as usual, and gianbelli's request was refused. as a quarter-measure, nevertheless, he was allowed to take two smaller vessels of seventy and eighty tons. the italian was disgusted with parsimony upon so momentous an occasion, but he at the same time determined, even with these slender materials, to give an exhibition of his power. not all his the glory, however, of the ingenious project. associated with him were two skilful artizans of antwerp; a clockmaker named bory, and a mechanician named timmerman--but gianibelli was the chief and superintendent of the whole daring enterprise. he gave to his two ships the cheerful names of the 'fortune' and the 'hope,' and set himself energetically to justify their titles by their efficiency. they were to be marine volcanos, which, drifting down the river with tide, were to deal destruction where the spaniards themselves most secure. in the hold of each vessel, along the whole length, was laid down a solid flooring of brick and mortar, one foot thick and five feet wide. upon this was built a chamber of marble mason-work, forty feet long, three and a half feet broad, as many high, and with side-walks [walls? d.w.] five feet in thickness. this was the crater. it was filled with seven thousand of gunpowder, of a kind superior to anything known, and prepared by gianibelli himself. it was covered with a roof, six feet in thickness, formed of blue tombstones, placed edgewise. over this crater, rose a hollow cone, or pyramid, made of heavy marble slabs, and filled with mill-stones, cannon balls, blocks of marble, chain-shot, iron hooks, plough-coulters, and every dangerous missile that could be imagined. the spaces between the mine and the sides of each ship were likewise filled with paving stones, iron-bound stakes, harpoons, and other projectiles. the whole fabric was then covered by a smooth light flooring of planks and brick-work, upon which was a pile of wood: this was to be lighted at the proper time, in order that the two vessels might present the appearance of simple fire- ships, intended only to excite a conflagration of the bridge. on the 'fortune' a slow match, very carefully prepared, communicated with the submerged mine, which was to explode at a nicely-calculated moment. the eruption of the other floating volcano was to be regulated by an ingenious piece of clock-work, by which, at the appointed time, fire, struck from a flint, was to inflame the hidden mass of gunpowder below. in addition to these two infernal machines, or "hell-burners," as they were called, a fleet of thirty-two smaller vessels was prepared. covered with tar, turpentine, rosin, and filled with inflammable and combustible materials, these barks were to be sent from antwerp down the river in detachments of eight every half hour with the ebb tide. the object was to clear the way, if possible, of the raft, and to occupy the attention of the spaniards, until the 'fortune' and the `hope' should come down upon the bridge. the th april, ( ) being the day following that on which the successful assault upon liefkenshoek and saint anthony had taken place, was fixed for the descent of the fire-ships. so soon as it should be dark, the thirty-two lesser burning-vessels, under the direction of admiral jacob jacobzoon, were to be sent forth from the neighborhood of the 'boor's sconce'--a fort close to the city walls--in accordance with the italian's plan. "run-a-way jacob," however, or "koppen loppen," had earned no new laurels which could throw into the shade that opprobrious appellation. he was not one of holland's naval heroes, but, on the whole, a very incompetent officer; exactly the man to damage the best concerted scheme which the genius of others could invent. accordingly, koppen-loppen began with a grave mistake. instead of allowing the precursory fire-ships to drift down the stream, at the regular intervals agreed upon, he despatched them all rapidly, and helter skelter, one after another, as fast as they could be set forth on their career. not long afterwards, he sent the two "hellburners," the 'fortune' and the 'hope,' directly in their wake. thus the whole fiery fleet had set forth, almost at once, upon its fatal voyage. it was known to parma that preparations for an attack were making at antwerp, but as to the nature of the danger he was necessarily in the dark. he was anticipating an invasion by a fleet from the city in combination with a squadron of zeelanders coming up from below. so soon as the first vessels, therefore, with their trains not yet lighted, were discovered bearing down from the city, he was confirmed in his conjecture. his drama and trumpets instantly called to arms, and the whole body of his troops was mustered upon the bridge; the palisades, and in the nearest forts. thus the preparations to avoid or to contend with the danger, were leading the spaniards into the very jaws of destruction. alexander, after crossing and recrossing the river, giving minute directions for repelling the expected assault, finally stationed himself in the block-house at the point of junction, on the flemish aide, between the palisade and the bridge of boats. he was surrounded by a group of superior officers, among whom richebourg, billy, gaetano, cessis, and the englishman sir rowland yorke, were conspicuous. it was a dark, mild evening of early spring. as the fleet of vessels dropped slowly down the river, they suddenly became luminous, each ship flaming out of the darkness, a phantom of living fire. the very waves of the scheldt seemed glowing with the conflagration, while its banks were lighted up with a preternatural glare. it was a wild, pompous, theatrical spectacle. the array of soldiers on both aides the river, along the dykes and upon the bridge, with banners waving, and spear and cuirass glancing in the lurid light; the demon fleet, guided by no human hand, wrapped in flames, and flitting through the darkness, with irregular movement; but portentous aspect, at the caprice of wind and tide; the death-like silence of expectation, which had succeeded the sound of trumpet and the shouts of the soldiers; and the weird glow which had supplanted the darkness-all combined with the sense of imminent and mysterious danger to excite and oppress the imagination. presently, the spaniards, as they gazed from the bridge, began to take heart again. one after another, many of the lesser vessels drifted blindly against the raft, where they entangled themselves among the hooks and gigantic spearheads, and burned slowly out without causing any extensive conflagration. others grounded on the banks of the river, before reaching their destination. some sank in the stream. last of all came the two infernal ships, swaying unsteadily with the current; the pilots of course, as they neared the bridge, having noiselessly effected their escape in the skiffs. the slight fire upon the deck scarcely illuminated the dark phantom-like hulls. both were carried by the current clear of the raft, which, by a great error of judgment, as it now appeared, on the part of the builders, had only been made to protect the floating portion of the bridge. the 'fortune' came first, staggering inside the raft, and then lurching clumsily against the dyke, and grounding near kalloo, without touching the bridge. there was a moment's pause of expectation. at last the slow match upon the deck burned out, and there was a faint and partial explosion, by which little or no damage was produced. parma instantly called for volunteers to board the mysterious vessel. the desperate expedition was headed by the bold roland york, a londoner, of whom one day there was more to be heard in netherland history. the party sprang into the deserted and now harmless volcano, extinguishing the slight fires that were smouldering on the deck, and thrusting spears and long poles into the hidden recesses of the hold. there was, however, little time to pursue these perilous investigations, and the party soon made their escape to the bridge. the troops of parma, crowding on the palisade, and looking over the parapets, now began to greet the exhibition with peals of derisive laughter. it was but child's play, they thought, to threaten a spanish army, and a general like alexander farnese, with such paltry fire-works as these. nevertheless all eyes were anxiously fixed upon the remaining fire-ship, or "hell-burner," the 'hope,' which had now drifted very near the place of its destination. tearing her way between the raft and the shore, she struck heavily against the bridge on the kalloo side, close to the block-house at the commencement of the floating portion of the bridge. a thin wreath of smoke was seen curling over a slight and smouldering fire upon her deck. marquis richebourg, standing on the bridge, laughed loudly at the apparently impotent conclusion of the whole adventure. it was his last laugh on earth. a number of soldiers, at parma's summons, instantly sprang on board this second mysterious vessel, and occupied themselves, as the party on board the 'fortune' had done, in extinguishing, the flames, and in endeavoring to ascertain the nature of the machine. richebourg boldly directed from the bridge their hazardous experiments. at the same moment a certain ensign de vega, who stood near the prince of parma, close to the block-house, approached him with vehement entreaties that he should retire. alexander refused to stir from the spot, being anxious to learn the result of these investigations. vega, moved by some instinctive and irresistible apprehension, fell upon his knees, and plucking the general earnestly by the cloak, implored him with such passionate words and gestures to leave the place, that the prince reluctantly yielded. it was not a moment too soon. the clockwork had been better adjusted than the slow match in the 'fortune.' scarcely had alexander reached the entrance of saint mary's fort, at the end of the bridge, when a horrible explosion was heard. the 'hope' disappeared, together with the men who had boarded her, and the block-house, against which she had struck, with all its garrison, while a large portion of the bridge, with all the troops stationed upon it, had vanished into air. it was the work of a single instant. the scheldt yawned to its lowest depth, and then cast its waters across the dykes, deep into the forts, and far over the land. the earth shook as with the throb of a volcano. a wild glare lighted up the scene for one moment, and was then succeeded by pitchy darkness. houses were toppled down miles away, and not a living thing, even in remote places, could keep its feet. the air was filled with a rain of plough-shares, grave-stones, and marble balls, intermixed with the heads, limbs, and bodies, of what had been human beings. slabs of granite, vomited by the flaming ship, were found afterwards at a league's distance, and buried deep in the earth. a thousand soldiers were destroyed in a second of time; many of them being torn to shreds, beyond even the semblance of humanity. richebourg disappeared, and was not found until several days later, when his body was discovered; doubled around an iron chain, which hung from one of the bridge-boats in the centre of the river. the veteran robles, seigneur de billy, a portuguese officer of eminent service and high military rank, was also destroyed. months afterwards, his body was discovered adhering to the timber-work of the bridge, upon the ultimate removal of that structure, and was only recognized by a peculiar gold chain which he habitually wore. parma himself was thrown to the ground, stunned by a blow on the shoulder from a flying stake. the page, who was behind him, carrying his helmet, fell dead without a wound, killed by the concussion of the air. several strange and less tragical incidents occurred. the viscomte de bruxelles was blown out of a boat on the flemish side, and descended safe and, sound into another in the centre of the stream. captain tucci, clad in complete armour, was whirled out of a fort, shot perpendicularly into the air, and then fell back into the river. being of a cool temperament, a good swimmer, and very pious, he skilfully divested himself of cuirass and helmet, recommended himself to the blessed virgin, and swam safely ashore. another young officer of parma's body-guard, francois de liege by name, standing on the kalloo end of the bridge, rose like a feather into the clouds, and, flying quite across the river, alighted on the opposite bank with no further harm than a contused shoulder. he imagined himself (he said afterwards) to have been changed into a cannon-ball, as he rushed through the pitchy atmosphere, propelled by a blast of irresistible fury. [the chief authorities used in the foregoing account of this famous enterprise are those already cited on a previous page, viz.: the ms. letters of the prince of parma in the archives of simancas; bor, ii. , ; strada, h. seq.; meteren, xii. ; hoofd vervolgh, ; baudartii polemographia, ii. - ; bentivoglio, etc., i have not thought it necessary to cite them step by step; for all the accounts, with some inevitable and unimportant discrepancies, agree with each other. the most copious details are to be found in strada and in bor.] it had been agreed that admiral jacobzoon should, immediately after the explosion of the fire-ships, send an eight-oared barge to ascertain the amount of damage. if a breach had been effected, and a passage up to the city opened, he was to fire a rocket. at this signal, the fleet stationed at lillo, carrying a heavy armament, laden with provisions enough to relieve antwerp from all anxiety, and ready to sail on the instant, was at once to force its way up the river. the deed was done. a breach, two hundred feet in width was made. had the most skilful pilot in zeeland held the helm of the 'hope,' with a choice crew obedient to his orders, he could not have guided her more carefully than she had been directed by wind and tide. avoiding the raft which lay in her way, she had, as it were, with the intelligence of a living creature, fulfilled the wishes of the daring genius that had created her; and laid herself alongside the bridge, exactly at the most telling point. she had then destroyed herself, precisely at the right moment. all the effects, and more than all, that had been predicted by the mantuan wizard had come to pass. the famous bridge was cleft through and through, and a thousand picked men--parma's very "daintiest"--were blown out of existence. the governor-general himself was lying stark and stiff upon the bridge which he said should be his triumphal monument or his tomb. his most distinguished officers were dead, and all the survivors were dumb and blind with astonishment at the unheard of, convulsion. the passage was open for the fleet, and the fleet, lay below with sails spread, and oars in the rowlocks, only waiting for the signal to bear up at once to the scene of action, to smite out of existence all that remained of the splendid structure, and to carry relief and triumph into antwerp. not a soul slept in the city. the explosion had shook its walls, and thousands of people thronged the streets, their hearts beating high with expectation. it was a moment of exquisite triumph. the 'hope,' word of happy augury, had not been relied upon in vain, and parma's seven months of patient labour had been annihilated in a moment. sainte aldegonde and gianibelli stood in the 'boors' sconce' on the edge of the river. they had felt and heard the explosion, and they were now straining their eyes through the darkness to mark the flight of the welcome rocket. that rocket never rose. and it is enough, even after the lapse of three centuries, to cause a pang in every heart that beats for human liberty to think of the bitter disappointment which crushed these great and legitimate hopes. the cause lay in the incompetency and cowardice of the man who had been so unfortunately entrusted with a share in a noble enterprise. admiral jacobzoon, paralyzed by the explosion, which announced his own triumph, sent off the barge, but did not wait for its return. the boatmen, too, appalled by the sights and sounds which they had witnessed, and by the murky darkness which encompassed them, did not venture near the scene of action, but, after rowing for a short interval hither and thither, came back with the lying report that nothing had been accomplished, and that the bridge remained unbroken. sainte aldegonde and gianibelli were beside themselves with rage, as they surmised the imbecility of the admiral, and devoted him in their hearts to the gallows, which he certainly deserved. the wrath of the keen italian may be conceived, now that his ingenious and entirely successful scheme was thus rendered fruitless by the blunders of the incompetent fleming. on the other side, there was a man whom no danger could appall. alexander had been thought dead, and the dismay among his followers was universal. he was known to have been standing an instant before the explosion on the very block-house where the 'hope' had struck. after the first terrible moments had passed, his soldiers found their general lying, as if in a trance, on the threshold of st. mary's fort, his drawn sword in his hand, with cessis embracing his knees, and gaetano extended at his side, stunned with a blow upon the head. recovering from his swoon, parma was the first to spring to his feet. sword in hand, he rushed at once upon the bridge to mark the extent of the disaster. the admirable structure, the result of so much patient and intelligent energy, was fearfully shattered; the bridge, the river, and the shore, strewed with the mangled bodies of his soldiers. he expected, as a matter of certainty, that the fleet from below would instantly force its passage, destroy, the remainder of his troops-stunned as they were with the sudden catastrophe complete the demolition of the bridge, and then make its way to antwerp, with ample reinforcements and supplies. and alexander saw that the expedition would be successful. momently expecting the attack, he maintained his courage and semblance of cheerfulness, with despair in his heart. his winter's work seemed annihilated, and it was probable that he should be obliged to raise the siege. nevertheless, he passed in person from rank to rank, from post to post, seeing that the wounded were provided for, encouraging those that remained unhurt, and endeavouring to infuse a portion of his own courage into the survivors of his panic-stricken army. nor was he entirely unsuccessful, as the night wore on and the expected assault was still delayed. without further loss of time, he employed his men to collect the drifting boats, timber, and spar-work, and to make a hasty and temporary restoration--in semblance at least--of the ruined portion of his bridge. and thus he employed himself steadily all the night, although expecting every instant to hear the first broadside of the zeeland cannon. when morning broke, and it became obvious that the patriots were unable or unwilling to follow up their own success, the governor-general felt as secure as ever. he at once set about the thorough repairs of his great work, and--before he could be again molested--had made good the damage which it had sustained. it was not till three days afterwards that the truth was known in antwerp. hohenlo then sent down a messenger, who swam, under the bridge, ascertained the exact state of affairs, and returned, when it was too late, with the first intelligence of the triumph which had been won and lost. the disappointment and mortification were almost intolerable. and thus had. run-a-way jacob, 'koppen loppen,' blasted the hopes of so many wiser and braver spirits than his own. the loss to parma and to the royalist cause in marquis richebourg, was very great. the death of de billy, who was a faithful, experienced, and courageous general, was also much lamented. "the misfortune from their death," said parma, "is not to be exaggerated. each was ever ready to do his duty in your majesty's service, and to save me much fatigue in all my various affairs. nevertheless," continued the prince, with great piety, "we give the lord thanks for all, and take as a favour everything which comes from his hand." alexander had indeed reason to deplore the loss of robert de melun, viscount of ghent, marquis of roubaix and richebourg. he was a most valuable officer. his wealth was great. it had been recently largely increased by the confiscation of his elder brother's estates for his benefit, a measure which at parma's intercession had been accorded by the king. that brother was the patriotic prince of espinoy, whom we have recently seen heading the legation of the states to france. and richebourg was grateful to alexander, for besides these fraternal spoils, he had received two marquisates through his great patron, in addition to the highest military offices. insolent, overbearing, truculent to all the world, to parma he was ever docile, affectionate, watchful, obsequious. a man who knew not fatigue, nor fear, nor remorse, nor natural affection, who could patiently superintend all the details of a great military work, or manage a vast political intrigue by alternations of browbeating and bribery, or lead a forlorn hope, or murder a prisoner in cold blood, or leap into the blazing crater of what seemed a marine volcano, the marquis of richebourg had ever made himself most actively and unscrupulously useful to his master. especially had he rendered invaluable services in the reduction, of the walloon provinces, and in the bridging of the scheldt, the two crowning triumphs of alexander's life. he had now passed from the scene where he had played so energetic and dazzling a part, and lay doubled round an iron cable beneath the current of the restless river. and in this eventful night, parma, as always, had been true to himself and to his sovereign. "we expected," said he, "that the rebels would instantly attack us on all sides after the explosion. but all remained so astonished by the unheard-of accident, that very few understood what was going on. it seemed better that i--notwithstanding the risk of letting myself be seen--should encourage the people not to run away. i did so, and remedied matters a little but not so much as that--if the enemy had then attacked us--we should not have been in the very greatest risk and peril. i did not fail to do what i am obliged to do, and always hope to do; but i say no more of what passed, or what was done by myself, because it does not become me to speak of these things." notwithstanding this discomfiture, the patriots kept up heart, and were incessantly making demonstrations against parma's works. their proceedings against the bridge, although energetic enough to keep the spanish commander in a state of perpetual anxiety, were never so efficient however as on the memorable occasion when the mantuan engineer and the dutch watchmaker had exhausted all their ingenuity. nevertheless, the rebel barks swarmed all over the submerged territory, now threatening this post, and now that, and effecting their retreat at pleasure; for nearly the whole of parma's little armada was stationed at the two extremities of his bridge. many fire-ships were sent down from time to time, but alexander had organized a systematic patrol of a few sentry-boats, armed with scythes and hooks, which rowed up and down in front of the rafts, and protected them against invasion. some little effect was occasionally produced, but there was on the whole more anxiety excited than damage actually inflicted. the perturbation of spirit among the spaniards when any of these 'demon fine-ships,' as they called them, appeared bearing down upon their bridge, was excessive. it could not be forgotten, that the `hope' had sent into space a thousand of the best soldiers of the little army within one moment of time. such rapid proceedings had naturally left an uneasy impression on the minds of the survivors. the fatigue of watching was enormous. hardly an officer or soldier among the besieging forces knew what it was to sleep. there was a perpetual exchanging of signals and beacon-fires and rockets among the patriots--not a day or night, when a concerted attack by the antwerpers from above, and the hollanders from below, with gun-boats and fire-ships, and floating mines, and other devil's enginry, was not expected. "we are always upon the alert," wrote parma, "with arms in our hands. every one must mount guard, myself as well as the rest, almost every night, and the better part of every day." he was quite aware that something was ever in preparation; and the nameless, almost sickening apprehension which existed among his stout- hearted veterans, was a proof that the mantuan's genius--notwithstanding the disappointment as to the great result--had not been exercised entirely in vain. the image of the antwerp devil-ships imprinted itself indelibly upon the spanish mind, as of something preternatural, with which human valour could only contend at a disadvantage; and a day was not very far distant--one of the memorable days of the world's history, big with the fate of england, spain, holland, and all christendom--when the sight of a half-dozen blazing vessels, and the cry of "the antwerp fireships," was to decide the issue of a most momentous enterprise. the blow struck by the obscure italian against antwerp bridge, although ineffective then, was to be most sensibly felt after a few years had passed, upon a wider field. meantime the uneasiness and the watchfulness in the biesieging army were very exhausting. "they are never idle in the city," wrote parma. "they are perpetually proving their obstinacy and pertinacity by their industrious genius and the machines which they devise. every day we are expecting some new invention. on our side we endeavour to counteract their efforts by every human means in our power. nevertheless, i confess that our merely human intellect is not competent to penetrate the designs of their diabolical genius. certainly, most wonderful and extraordinary things have been exhibited, such as the oldest soldiers here have never before witnessed." moreover, alexander saw himself growing weaker and weaker. his force had dwindled to a mere phantom of an army. his soldiers, ill-fed, half- clothed, unpaid, were fearfully overworked. he was obliged to concentrate all the troops at his disposal around antwerp. diversions against ostend, operations in friesland and gelderland, although most desirable, had thus been rendered quite impossible. "i have recalled my cavalry and infantry from ostend," he wrote, "and don juan de manrique has fortunately arrived in stabroek with a thousand good german folk. the commissary-general of the cavalry has come in, too, with a good lot of the troops that had been encamped in the open country. nevertheless, we remain wretchedly weak--quite insufficient to attempt what ought to be done. if the enemy were more in force, or if the french wished to make trouble, your majesty would see how important it had been to provide in time against such contingencies. and although our neighbours, crestfallen, and rushing upon their own destruction, leave us in quiet, we are not without plenty of work. it would be of inestimable advantage to make diversions in gelderland and friesland, because, in that case, the hollanders, seeing the enemy so near their own borders, would be obliged to withdraw their assistance from antwerp. 'tis pity to see how few spaniards your majesty has left, and how diminished is our army. now, also, is the time to expect sickness, and this affair of antwerp is obviously stretching out into large proportions. unless soon reinforced, we must inevitably go to destruction. i implore your majesty to ponder the matter well, and not to defer the remedy." his majesty was sure to ponder the matter well, if that had been all. philip was good at pondering; but it was equally certain that the remedy would be deferred. meantime alexander and his starving but heroic little army were left to fight their battles as they could. his complaints were incessant, most reasonable, but unavailing. with all the forces he could muster, by withdrawing from the neighbourhood of ghent, brussels, vilvoorde, and from all the garrisons, every man that could be spared, he had not strength enough to guard his own posts. to attempt to win back the important forts recently captured by the rebels on the doel, was quite out of the question. the pictures he painted of his army were indeed most dismal. the spaniards were so reduced by sickness that it was pitiful to see them. the italians were not in much better condition, nor the germans. "as for the walloons," said he, "they are deserting, as they always do. in truth, one of my principal dangers is that the french civil wars are now tempting my soldiers across the frontier; the country there is so much richer, and offers so much more for the plundering." during the few weeks which immediately followed them famous descent of the 'hope' and the 'fortune,' there had accordingly been made a variety of less elaborate, but apparently mischievous, efforts against the bridge. on the whole, however, the object was rather to deceive and amuse the royalists, by keeping their attention fixed in that quarter, while a great attack was, in reality, preparing against the kowenstyn. that strong barrier, as repeatedly stated, was even a more formidable obstacle than the bridge to the communication between the beleagured city and their allies upon the outside. its capture and demolition, even at this late period, would open the navigation to all the fleets of zeeland. in the undertaking of the th of april all had been accomplished that human ingenuity could devise; yet the triumph had been snatched away even at the very moment when it was complete. a determined and vigorous effort was soon to be made upon the kowenstyn, in the very face of parma; for it now seemed obvious that the true crisis was to come upon that fatal dyke. the great bulwark was three miles long. it reached from stabroek in brabant, near which village mansfeld's troops were encamped, across the inundated country, up to the line of the scheldt. thence, along the river-dyke, and across the bridge to kalloo and beveren, where parma's forces lay, was a continuous fortified road some three leagues in length; so that the two divisions of the besieging army, lying four leagues apart, were all connected by this important line. could the kowenstyn be pierced, the water, now divided by that great bulwark into two vast lakes, would flow together in one continuous sea. moreover the scheldt, it was thought, would, in that case, return to its own cannel through brabant, deserting its present bed, and thus leaving the famous bridge high and dry. a wide sheet of navigable water would then roll between antwerp and the zeeland coasts, and parma's bridge, the result of seven months' labour, would become as useless as a child's broken toy. alexander had thoroughly comprehended the necessity of maintaining the kowenstyn. all that it was possible to do with the meagre forces at his disposal, he had done. he had fringed both its margins, along its whole length, with a breastwork of closely-driven stakes. he had strengthened the whole body of the dyke with timber-work and piles. upon its river- end, just at the junction with the great scheldt dyke, a strong fortress, called the holy cross, had been constructed, which was under the special command of mondragon. besides this, three other forts had been built, at intervals of about a mile, upon the dyke. the one nearest to mondragon was placed at the kowenstyn manor-house, and was called saint james. this was entrusted to camillo bourbon del monte, an italian officer, who boasted the blood royal of france in his veins, and was disposed on all occasions to vindicate that proud pedigree by his deeds. the next fort was saint george's, sometimes called the black sconce. it had been built by la motte, but it was now in command of the spanish officer, benites. the third was entitled the fort of the palisades, because it had been necessary to support it by a stockade-work in the water, there being absolutely not earth enough to hold the structure. it was placed in the charge of captain gamboa. these little castles had been created, as it were, out of water and upon water, and under a hot fire from the enemy's forts and fleets, which gave the pioneers no repose. "'twas very hard work," said parma, "our soldiers are so exposed during their labour, the rebels playing upon them perpetually from their musket- proof vessels. they fill the submerged land with their boats, skimming everywhere as they like, while we have none at all. we have been obliged to build these three forts with neither material nor space; making land enough for the foundation by bringing thither bundles of hurdles and of earth. the fatigue and anxiety are incredible. not a man can sleep at night; not an officer nor soldier but is perpetually mounting guard. but they are animated to their hard work by seeing that i share in it, like one of themselves. we have now got the dyke into good order, so far as to be able to give them a warm reception, whenever they choose to come." quite at the farther or land end of the kowenstyn, was another fort, called the stabroek, which commanded and raked the whole dyke, and was in the neighbourhood of mansfeld's head-quarters. placed as were these little citadels upon a slender, and--at brief distance--invisible thread of land, with the dark waters rolling around them far and near, they presented an insubstantial dream-like aspect, seeming rather like castles floating between air and ocean than actual fortifications--a deceptive mirage rather than reality. there was nothing imaginary, however, in the work which they were to perform. a series of attacks, some serious, others fictitious, had been made, from time to time, upon both bridge and dyke; but alexander was unable to inspire his soldiers with his own watchfulness. upon the th of may a more determined attempt was made upon the kowenstyn, by the fleet from lillo. hohenlo and colonel ysselstein conducted the enterprise. the sentinels at the point selected--having recently been so often threatened by an enemy, who most frequently made a rapid retreat, as to have grown weary and indifferent-were surprised, at dawn of day, and put to the sword. "if the truth must be told," said parma, "the sentries were sound asleep." five hundred zeelanders, with a strong party of sappers and miners, fairly established themselves upon the dyke, between st. george's and fort palisade. the attack, although spirited at its commencement, was doomed to be unsuccessful. a co-operation, agreed upon by the fleet from antwerp, failed through a misunderstanding. sainte aldegonde had stationed certain members of the munition-chamber in the cathedral tower, with orders to discharge three rockets, when they should perceive a beacon-fire which he should light in fort tholouse. the watchmen mistook an accidental camp-fire in the neighbourhood for the preconcerted signal, and sent up the rockets. hohenlo understanding, accordingly, that the expedition was on the point of starting from antwerp, hastened to perform his portion of the work, and sailed up from lillo. he did his duty faithfully and well, and established himself upon the dyke, but found himself alone and without sufficient force to maintain his position. the antwerp fleet never sailed. it was even whispered that the delinquency was rather intended than accidental; the antwerpers being supposed desirous to ascertain the result of hohenlo's attempt before coming forth to share his fate. such was the opinion expressed by farnese in his letters to philip, but it seems probable that he was mistaken. whatever the cause, however, the fact of the zeelanders' discomfiture was certain. the st. george battery and that of the palisade were opened at once upon them, the balls came plunging among the sappers and miners before they had time to throw up many spade-fulls of earth, and the whole party were soon dead or driven from the dyke. the survivors effected their retreat as they best could, leaving four of their ships behind them and three or four hundred men. "forty rebels lay dead on the dyke," said parma, "and one hundred and fifty more, at least, were drowned. the enemy confess a much larger loss than the number i state, but i am not a friend of giving details larger than my ascertained facts; nor do i know how many were killed in the boats." this enterprise was but a prelude, however, to the great undertaking which had now been thoroughly matured. upon the th may, another and most determined attack was to be made upon the kowenstyn, by the antwerpers and hollanders acting in concert. this time, it was to be hoped, there would be no misconception of signals. "it was a determination," said parma, "so daring and desperate that there was no substantial reason why we should believe they would carry it out; but they were at last solemnly resolved to die or to effect their purpose." two hundred ships in all had been got ready, part of them under hohenlo and justinus de nassau, to sail up from zeeland; the others to advance from antwerp under sainte aldegonde. their destination was the kowenstyn dyke. some of the vessels were laden with provisions, others with gabions, hurdles, branches, sacks of sand and of wool, and with other materials for the rapid throwing up of fortifications. it was two o'clock, half an hour before the chill dawn of a may morning, sunday, the th of the month. the pale sight of a waning moon was faintly perceptible in the sky. suddenly the sentinels upon the kowenstyn--this time not asleep--descried, as they looked towards lillo, four fiery apparitions gliding towards them across the waves. the alarm was given, and soon afterwards the spaniards began to muster, somewhat reluctantly, upon the dyke, filled as they always were with the mysterious dread which those demon-vessels never failed to inspire. the fire-ships floated slowly nearer, and at last struck heavily against the stockade-work. there, covered with tar, pitch, rosin, and gunpowder, they flamed, flared, and exploded, during a brief period, with much vigour, and then burned harmlessly out. one of the objects for which they had been sent--to set fire to the palisade--was not accomplished. the other was gained; for the enemy, expecting another volcanic shower of tombstones and plough-coulters, and remembering the recent fate of their comrades on the bridge, had retired shuddering into the forts. meantime, in the glare of these vast torches, a great swarm of gunboats and other vessels, skimming across the leaden-coloured waters, was seen gradually approaching the dyke. it was the fleet of hohenlo and justinus de nassau, who had been sailing and rowing since ten o'clock of the preceding night. the burning ships lighted them on their way, while it had scared the spaniards from their posts. the boats ran ashore in the mile-long space between forts st. george and the palisade, and a party of zeelanders, admiral haultain, governor of walcheren, at their head, sprang upon the dyke. meantime, however, the royalists, finding that the fire-ships had come to so innocent an end, had rallied and emerged from their forts. haultain and his zeelanders, by the time they had fairly mounted the dyke, found themselves in the iron embrace of several hundred spaniards. after a brief fierce struggle, face to face, and at push of pike, the patriots reeled backward down tile bank, and took refuge in their boats. admiral haultain slipped as he left the shore, missed a rope's end which was thrown to him, fell into the water, and, borne down by the weight of his armour, was drowned. the enemy, pursuing them, sprang to the waist in the ooze on the edge of the dyke, and continued the contest. the boats opened a hot fire, and there was a severe skirmish for many minutes, with no certain result. it was, however, beginning to go hard with the zeelanders, when, just at the critical moment, a cheer from the other side of the dyke was heard, and the antwerp fleet was seen coming swiftly to the rescue. the spaniards, taken between the two bands of assailants, were at a disadvantage, and it was impossible to prevent the landing of these fresh antagonists. the antwerpers sprang ashore. among the foremost was sainte aldegonde, poet, orator, hymn-book maker, burgomaster, lawyer, polemical divine--now armed to the teeth and cheering on his men, in the very thickest of the fight. the diversion was successful, and sainte aldegonde gallantly drove the spaniards quite off the field. the whole combined force from antwerp and zeeland now effected their landing. three thousand men occupied all the space between fort george and the palisade. with sainte aldegonde came the unlucky koppen loppen, and all that could be spared of the english and scotch troops in antwerp, under balfour and morgan. with hohenlo and justinus de nassau came reinier kant, who had just succeeded paul buys as advocate of holland. besides these came two other men, side by side, perhaps in the same boat, of whom the world was like to hear much, from that time forward, and whose names are to be most solemnly linked together, so long as netherland history shall endure; one, a fair-faced flaxen-haired boy of eighteen, the other a square- visaged, heavy-browed man of forty--prince maurice and john of olden- barneveldt. the statesman had been foremost to urge the claim of william the silent's son upon the stadholderate of holland and zeeland, and had been, as it were, the youth's political guardian. he had himself borne arms more than once before, having shouldered his matchlock under batenburg, and marched on that officer's spirited but disastrous expedition for the relief of haarlem. but this was the life of those dutch rebels. quill-driving, law-expounding, speech-making, diplomatic missions, were intermingled with very practical business in besieged towns or open fields, with italian musketeers and spanish pikemen. and here, too, young maurice was taking his first solid lesson in the art of which he was one day to be so distinguished a professor. it was a sharp beginning. upon this ribband of earth, scarce six paces in breadth, with miles of deep water on both sides--a position recently fortified by the first general of the age, and held by the famous infantry of spain and italy--there was likely to be no prentice-work. to assault such a position was in truth, as alexander had declared it to be, a most daring and desperate resolution on the part of the states. "soldiers, citizens, and all," said parma, "they are obstinate as dogs to try their fortune." with wool-sacks, sand-bags, hurdles, planks, and other materials brought with them, the patriots now rapidly entrenched themselves in the position so brilliantly gained; while, without deferring for an instant the great purpose which they had come to effect, the sappers and miners fastened upon the ironbound soil of the dyke, tearing it with pick, mattock, and shovel, digging, delving, and throwing up the earth around them, busy as human beavers, instinctively engaged in a most congenial task. but the beavers did not toil unmolested. the large and determined force of antwerpers and english, hollanders and zeelanders, guarded the fortifications as they were rapidly rising, and the pioneers as they were so manfully delving; but the enemy was not idle. from fort saint james, next beyond saint george, camillo del monte led a strong party to the rescue. there was a tremendous action, foot to foot, breast to breast, with pike and pistol, sword and dagger. never since the beginning of the war had there been harder fighting than now upon that narrow isthmus. "'twas an affair of most brave obstinacy on both sides," said parma, who rarely used strong language. "soldiers, citizens, and all--they were like mad bulldogs." hollanders, italians, scotchmen, spaniards, englishmen, fell thick and fast. the contest was about the entrenchments before they were completed, and especially around the sappers and miners, in whose picks and shovels lay the whole fate of antwerp. many of the dyke-breakers were digging their own graves, and rolled, one after another, into the breach which they were so obstinately creating. upon that slender thread of land the hopes of many thousands were hanging. to tear it asunder, to roll the ocean-waves up to antwerp, and thus to snatch the great city triumphantly from the grasp of philip --to accomplish this, the three thousand had come forth that may morning. to prevent it, to hold firmly that great treasure entrusted to them, was the determination of the spaniards. and so, closely pent and packed, discharging their carbines into each other's faces, rolling, coiled together, down the slimy sides of the dyke into the black waters, struggling to and fro, while the cannon from the rebel fleet and from the royal forts mingled their roar with the sharp crack of the musketry, catholics and patriots contended for an hour, while still, through all the confusion and uproar, the miners dug and delved. at last the patriots were victorious. they made good their entrenchments, drove the spaniards, after much slaughter, back to the fort of saint george on the one side, and of the palisade on the other, and cleared the whole space between the two points. the centre of the dyke was theirs; the great kowenstyn, the only key by which the gates of antwerp could be unlocked, was in the deliverers' hands. they pursued their victory, and attacked the palisade fort. gamboa, its commandant, was severely wounded; many other officers dead or dying; the outworks were in the hands of the hollanders; the slender piles on which the fortress rested in the water were rudely shaken; the victory was almost complete. and now there was a tremendous cheer of triumph. the beavers had done their work, the barrier was bitten through and through, the salt water rushed like a river through the ruptured dyke. a few moments later, and a zeeland barge, freighted with provisions, floated triumphantly into the waters beyond, now no longer an inland sea. the deed was done--the victory achieved. nothing more was necessary than to secure it, to tear the fatal barrier to fragments, to bury it, for its whole length, beneath the waves. then, after the isthmus had been utterly submerged, when the scheldt was rolled back into its ancient bed, when parma's famous bridge had become useless, when the maritime communication between antwerp and holland had been thoroughly established, the spaniards would have nothing left for it but to drown like rats in their entrenchments or to abandon the siege in despair. all this was in the hands of the patriots. the kowenstyn was theirs. the spaniards were driven from the field, the batteries of their forts silenced. for a long period the rebels were unmolested, and felt themselves secure. "we remained thus some three hours," says captain james, an english officer who fought in the action, and described it in rough, soldierly fashion to walsingham the same day, "thinking all things to be secure." yet in the very supreme moment of victory, the leaders, both of the hollanders and of the antwerpers, proved themselves incompetent to their position. with deep regret it must be admitted, that not only the reckless hohenlo, but the all-accomplished sainte aldegonde, committed the gravest error. in the hour of danger, both had comported themselves with perfect courage and conduct. in the instant of triumph, they gave way to puerile exultation. with a celerity as censurable as it seems incredible, both these commanders sprang into the first barge which had thus floated across the dyke, in order that they might, in person, carry the news of the victory to antwerp, and set all the bells ringing and the bonfires blazing. they took with them ferrante spinola, a mortally- wounded italian officer of rank, as a trophy of their battle, and a boatload of beef and flour, as an earnest of the approaching relief. while the conquerors were thus gone to enjoy their triumph, the conquered, though perplexed and silenced, were not yet disposed to accept their defeat. they were even ignorant that they were conquered. they had been forced to abandon the field, and the patriots had entrenched themselves upon the dyke, but neither fort saint george nor the palisade had been carried, although the latter was in imminent danger. old count peter ernest mansfeld--a grizzled veteran, who had passed his childhood, youth, manhood, and old age, under fire--commanded at the land-end of the dyke, in the fortress of stabroek, in which neighbourhood his whole division was stationed. seeing how the day was going, he called a council of war. the patriots had gained a large section of the dyke. so much was certain. could they succeed in utterly demolishing that bulwark in the course of the day? if so, how were they to be dislodged before their work was perfected? it was difficult to assault their position. three thousand hollanders, antwerpers, englishmen-- "mad bulldogs all," as parma called them--showing their teeth very mischievously, with one hundred and sixty zeeland vessels throwing in their broadsides from both margins of the dyke, were a formidable company to face. "oh for one half hour of alexander in the field!" sighed one of the spanish officers in council. but alexander was more than four leagues away, and it was doubtful whether he even knew of the fatal occurrence. yet how to send him a messenger. who could reach him through that valley of death? would it not be better to wait till nightfall? under the cover of darkness something might be attempted, which in the daylight would be hopeless. there was much anxiety, and much difference of opinion had been expressed, when camillo capizucca, colonel of the italian legion, obtained a hearing. a man bold in words as in deeds, he vehemently denounced the pusillanimity which would wait either for parma or for nightfall. "what difference will it make," he asked, "whether we defer our action until either darkness or the general arrives? in each case we give the enemy time enough to destroy the dyke, and thoroughly to relieve the city. that done, what good can be accomplished by our arms? then our disheartened soldiers will either shrink from a fruitless combat or march to certain death." having thus, very warmly but very sagaciously, defined the position in which all were placed, he proceeded to declare that he claimed, neither for himself nor for his legion, any superiority over the rest of the army. he knew not that the italians were more to be relied upon than others in the time of danger, but this he did know, that no man in the world was so devoted as he was to the prince of parma. to show that devotion by waiting with folded arms behind a wall until the prince should arrive to extricate his followers, was not in his constitution. he claimed the right to lead his italians against the enemy at once--in the front rank, if others chose to follow; alone, if the rest preferred to wait till a better leader should arrive. the words of the italian colonel sent a thrill through all who heard him. next in command under capizucca was his camp-marshal, an officer who bore the illustrious name of piccolomini--father of the duke ottavio, of whom so much was to be heard at a later day throughout the fell scenes of that portion of the eighty years' tragedy now enacting, which was to be called the thirty years' war of germany. the camp-marshal warmly seconded the proposition of his colonel. mansfeld, pleased with such enthusiasm among his officers, yielded to their wishes, which were, in truth, his own. six companies of the italian legion were in his encampment while the remainder were stationed, far away, upon the bridge, under command of his son, count charles. early in the morning, before the passage across the dyke had been closed the veteran condottiere, pricking his ears as he snuffed the battle from afar, had contrived to send a message to his son. "charles, my boy," were his words, "to-day we must either beat them or burst." old peter ernest felt that the long-expected, long-deferred assault was to be made that morning in full force, and that it was necessary for the royalists, on both bridge and dyke, to hold their own. piccolomini now drew up three hundred of his italians, picked veterans all, and led them in marching order to mansfeld. that general at the same moment, received another small but unexpected reinforcement. a portion of the spanish legion, which had long been that of pedro pacchi, lay at the extreme verge of the stabroek encampment, several miles away. aroused by the distant cannonading, and suspecting what had occurred, don juan d'aquila, the colonel in command, marched without a moment's delay to mansfeld's head-quarters, at the head of all the force he could muster--about two hundred strong. with him came cardona, gonzales de castro, toralva, and other distinguished officers. as they arrived, capizucca was just setting forth for the field. there arose a dispute for precedence between the italians and the spaniards. capizucca had first demanded the privilege of leading what seemed a forlorn hope, and was unwilling to yield his claim to the new comer. on the other hand, the spaniards were not disposed to follow where they felt entitled to lead. the quarrel was growing warm, when aquila, seizing his italian rival by the hand, protested that it was not a moment for friends to wrangle for precedence. "shoulder to shoulder," said he, "let us go into this business, and let our blows rather fall on our enemies' heads than upon each other's." this terminated the altercation. the italians and spaniards--in battle array as they were--all dropped on their knees, offered a brief prayer to the holy virgin, and then, in the best possible spirits, set forth along the dyke. next to fort stabroek--whence they issued--was the palisade fort, nearly a mile removed, which the patriots had nearly carried, and between which and st. george, another mile farther on, their whole force was established. the troops under capizucca and aquila soon reached the palisade, and attacked the besiegers, while the garrison, cheered by the unexpected relief, made a vigorous sortie. there was a brief sharp contest, in which many were killed on both sides; but at last the patriots fell back upon their own entrenchments, and the fort was saved. its name was instantly changed to fort victory, and the royalists then prepared to charge the fortified camp of the rebels, in the centre of which the dyke- cutting operations were still in progress. at the same moment, from the opposite end of the bulwark, a cry was heard along the whole line of the dyke. from fort holy cross, at the scheldt end, the welcome intelligence was suddenly communicated--as if by a magnetic impulse--that alexander was in the field! it was true. having been up half the night, as usual, keeping watch along his bridge, where he was ever expecting a fatal attack, he had retired for a few hours' rest in his camp at beveren. aroused at day- break by the roar of the cannon, he had hastily thrown on his armour, mounted his horse, and, at the head of two hundred pikemen, set forth for the scene of action. detained on the bridge by a detachment of the antwerp fleet, which had been ordered to make a diversion in that quarter, he had, after beating off their vessels with his boat-artillery, and charging count charles mansfeld to heed well the brief injunction of old peter ernest, made all the haste he could to the kowenstyn. arriving at fort holy cross, he learned from mondragon how the day was going. three thousand rebels, he learned, were established on the dyke, fort palisade was tottering, a fleet from both sides was cannonading the spanish entrenchments, the salt water was flowing across the breach already made. his seven months' work, it seemed, had come to nought. the navigation was already open from the sea to antwerp, the lowenstyn was in the rebels' hands. but alexander was not prone to premature despair. "i arrived," said he to philip in a letter written on the same evening, "at the very nick of time." a less hopeful person might have thought that he had arrived several hours too late. having brought with him every man that could be spared from beveren and from the bridge, he now ordered camillo del monte to transport some additional pieces of artillery from holy cross and from saint james to fort saint georg. at the same time a sharp cannonade was to be maintained upon the rebel fleet from all the forts. mondragon, with a hundred musketeers and pikemen, was sent forward likewise as expeditiously as possible to saint george. no one could be more alert. the battered veteran, hero of some of the most remarkable military adventures that history has ever recorded,' fought his way on foot, in the midst of the fray, like a young ensign who had his first laurels to win. and, in truth, the day was not one for cunning manoeuvres, directed, at a distance, by a skillful tactician. it was a brisk close contest, hand to hand and eye to eye--a homeric encounter, in which the chieftains were to prove a right to command by their personal prowess. alexander, descending suddenly--dramatically, as it were--when the battle seemed lost--like a deity from the clouds-was to justify, by the strength of his arm, the enthusiasm which his name always awakened. having, at a glance, taken in the whole situation, he made his brief arrangements, going from rank to rank, and disposing his troops in the most effective manner. he said but few words, but his voice had always a telling effect. "the man who refuses, this day, to follow me," he said, "has never had regard to his own honour, nor has god's cause or the king's ever been dear to his heart." his disheartened spaniards and italians--roused as by a magic trumpet-- eagerly demanded to be led against the rebels. and now from each end of the dyke, the royalists were advancing toward the central position occupied by the patriots. while capizucca and aquila were occupied at fort victory, parma was steadily cutting his way from holy cross to saint george. on foot, armed with sword and shield, and in coat of mail, and marching at the head of his men along the dyke, surrounded by bevilacqua, bentivoglio, manriquez, sforza, and other officers of historic name and distinguished courage, now upon the summit of the causeway, now on its shelving banks, now breast-high in the waters, through which lay the perilous path, contending at every inch with the scattered bands of the patriots, who slowly retired to their entrenched camp, and with the antwerp and zeeland vessels, whose balls tore through the royalist ranks, the general at last reached saint george. on the preservation of that post depended the whole fortune of the day, for parma had already received the welcome intelligence that the palisade--now fort victory-- had been regained. he instantly ordered an outer breast-work of wool- sacks and sand-bags to be thrown up in front of saint george, and planted a battery to play point-blank at the enemy's entrenchments. here the final issue was to be made. the patriots and spaniards were thus all enclosed in the mile-long space between st. george and the palisade. upon that narrow strip of earth, scarce six paces in width, more than five thousand men met in mortal combat--a narrow arena for so many gladiators, hemmed in on both sides by the sea. the patriots had, with solemn ceremony, before starting upon their enterprise, vowed to destroy the dyke and relieve antwerp, or to perish in the attempt. they were true to their vow. not the ancient batavians or nervii had ever manifested more tenacity against the roman legions than did their descendants against the far-famed spanish infantry upon this fatal day. the fight on the kowenstyn was to be long remembered in the military annals of spain and holland. never, since the curtain first rose upon the great netherland tragedy, had there been a fiercer encounter. flinching was impossible. there was scant room for the play of pike and dagger, and, close packed as were the combatants, the dead could hardly fall to the ground. it was a mile-long series of separate mortal duels, and the oozy dyke was soon slippery with blood. from both sides, under capizucca and aquila on the one band, and under alexander on the other, the entrenchments of the patriots were at last assaulted, and as the royalists fell thick and fast beneath the breast- work which they were storming, their comrades clambered upon their bodies, and attempted, from such vantage-ground, to effect an entrance. three times the invaders were beaten back with heavy loss, and after each repulse the attack was renewed with fresh vigour, while within the entrenchments the pioneers still plied the pick and shovel, undismayed by the uproar around them. a fourth assault, vigorously made, was cheerfully repelled by the antwerpers and hollanders, clustering behind their breast-works, and looking steadily into their enemies' eyes. captain heraugiere--of whom more was to be heard one day--had led two hundred men into action, and now found himself at the head of only thirteen. the loss had been as severe among many other patriot companies, as well as in the spanish ranks, and again the pikemen of spain and italy faltered before the iron visages and cordial blows of the hollanders. this work had lasted a good hour and a half, when at last, on the fifth assault, a wild and mysterious apparition renewed the enthusiasm of the spaniards. the figure of the dead commander of the old spanish legion, don pedro pacchi, who had fallen a few months before at the siege of dendermonde was seen charging in front of his regiment, clad in his well- known armour, and using the gestures which had been habitual with him in life. no satisfactory explanation was ever made of this singular delusion, but it was general throughout the ranks, and in that superstitious age was as effective as truth. the wavering spaniards rallied once more under the guidance of their phantom leader, and again charged the breast-work of the patriots. toralva, mounting upon the back of one of his soldiers, was first to vault into the entrenchments. at the next instant he lay desperately wounded on the ground, but was close followed by capizucca, sustained by a determined band. the entrenchment was carried, but the furious conflict still continued. at nearly the same moment, however, several of the patriot vessels were observed to cast off their moorings, and to be drifting away from the dyke. a large number of the rest had been disabled by the hot fire, which by alexander's judicious orders had been directed upon the fleet. the ebbing tide left no choice to the commander of the others but to retreat or to remain and fall into the enemy's hands, should he gain the day. had they risked the dangerous alternative, it might have ensured the triumph of the whole enterprise, while their actual decision proved most disastrous in the end. "we have conquered," cried alexander, stretching his arm towards the receding waters. "the sea deserts the impious heretics. strike from them now their last hope, and cut off their retreat to the departing ships." the spaniards were not slow to perceive their advantage, while the courage of the patriots at last began to ebb with the tide. the day was lost. in the hour of transitory triumph the leaders of the expedition had turned their backs on their followers, and now, after so much heroism had been exhibited, fortune too had averted her face. the grim resistance changed to desperate panic, and a mad chase began along the blood-stained dyke. some were slain with spear and bullet, others were hunted into the sea, many were smothered in the ooze along the edge of the embankment. the fugitives, making their way to the retreating vessels, were pursued by the spaniards, who swam after them, with their swords in their teeth, and engaged them in mortal combat in the midst of the waves. "and so we cut all their throats," said parma, "the rebels on every side remaining at our mercy, and i having no doubt that my soldiers would avenge the loss of their friends." the english and the scotch, under balfour and morgan, were the very last to abandon the position which they had held so manfully seven hours long. honest captain james, who fought to the last, and described the action the same night in the fewest possible words, was of opinion that the fleet had moved away only to obtain a better position. "they put off to have more room to play on the enemy," said he; "but the hollanders and zeelanders, seeing the enemy come on so hotly, and thinking our galleys would leave them, abandoned their string. the scots, seeing them to retire, left their string. the enemy pursued very hotly; the englishmen stood to repulse, and are put most to the sword. in this shameful retreat there were slain or drowned to the number of two thousand." the blunt englishman was justly indignant that an enterprise, so nearly successful, had been ruined by the desertion of its chiefs. "we had cut the dyke in three places," said he; "but left it most shamefully for want of commandment." poor koppen loppen--whose blunders on former occasions had caused so much disaster--was now fortunate enough to expiate them by a soldier's death. admiral haultain had, as we have seen, been drowned at the commencement of the action. justinus de nassau, at its close, was more successful in his retreat to the ships. he, too, sprang into the water when the overthrow was absolute; but, alighting in some shallows, was able to conceal himself among weeds and waterlilies till he had divested himself of his armour, when he made his escape by swimming to a boat, which conveyed him to lillo. roelke van deest, an officer of some note, was so horribly wounded in the face, that he was obliged to wear a mask for the remainder of his life. parma, overjoyed at his victory, embraced capizucca before the whole army, with warm expressions of admiration for his conduct. both the italian colonel and his spanish rival aquila were earnestly recommended to philip for reward and promotion. the wounded toralva was carried to alexander's own quarters, and placed in alexander's own bed, where he remained till his recovery, and was then presented--a distinction which he much valued--with the armour which the prince had worn on the day of the battle. parma himself, so soon as the action was concluded, went with his chief officers straight from the field to the little village- church of stabroek, where he fell upon his knees and offered up fervent thanks for his victory. he next set about repairing the ruptured dyke, damaged in many places but not hopelessly ruined, and for this purpose the bodies of the rebels, among other materials, were cast by hundreds into the ditches which their own hands had dug. thus ended the eight hours' fight on the kowenstyn. "the feast lasted from seven to eight hours," said parma, "with the most brave obstinacy on both sides that has been seen for many a long day." a thousand royalists were killed and twice as many patriots, and the issue of the conflict was most uncertain up to the very last. "our loss is greater than i wish it was," wrote alexander to philip: "it was a very close thing, and i have never been more anxious in my life as to the result for your majesty's service. the whole fate of the battle was hanging all the time by a thread." more than ever were reinforcements necessary, and it was only by a miracle that the victory had at last been gained with such slender resources. "'tis a large, long, laborious, expensive, and most perilous war," said parma, when urging the claims of capizucca and aquila, "for we have to fight every minute; and there are no castles and other rewards, so that if soldiers are not to have promotion, they will lose their spirit." thirty-two of the rebel vessels grounded, and fell into the hands of the spaniards, who took from them many excellent pieces of artillery. the result was most conclusive and most disheartening for the patriots. meantime--as we have seen--hohenlo and sainte aldegonde had reached antwerp in breathless haste to announce their triumph. they had been met on the quay by groups of excited citizens, who eagerly questioned the two generals arriving thus covered with laurels from the field of battle, and drank with delight all the details of the victory. the poor dying spinola was exhibited in triumph, the boat-load of breadstuffs received with satisfaction, and vast preparations were made to receive, on wharves and in storehouses, the plentiful supplies about to arrive. beacons and bonfires were lighted, the bells from all the steeples rang their merriest peals, cannon thundered in triumph not only in antwerp itself, but subsequently at amsterdam and other more distant cities. in due time a magnificent banquet was spread in the town-house to greet the conquering hohenlo. immense gratification was expressed by those of the reformed religion; dire threats were uttered against the catholics. some were for hanging them all out of hand, others for throwing them into the scheldt; the most moderate proposed packing them all out of town so soon as the siege should be raised--an event which could not now be delayed many days longer. hohenlo, placed on high at the head of the banquet-table, assumed the very god of war. beside and near him sat the loveliest dames of antwerp, rewarding his bravery with their brightest smiles. the count drained huge goblets to their health, to the success of the patriots, and to the confusion of the royalists, while, as he still drank and feasted, the trumpet, kettle-drum, and cymbal, and merry peal of bell without, did honour to his triumph. so gay and gallant was the victor, that he announced another banquet on the following day, still further to celebrate the happy release of antwerp, and invited the fair ladies around him again to grace the board. it is recorded that the gentlewoman next him responded with a sigh, that, if her presentiments were just, the morrow would scarcely be so joyful as the present day had been, and that she doubted whether the triumph were not premature. hardly had she spoken when sinister sounds were heard in the streets. the first few stragglers, survivors of the deadly fight, had arrived with the fatal news that all was lost, the dyke regained, the spaniards victorious, the whole band of patriots cut to pieces. a few frightfully- wounded and dying sufferers were brought into the banqueting-hall. hohenlo sprang from the feast--interrupted in so ghastly a manner-- pursued by shouts and hisses. howls of execration, saluted him in the streets, and he was obliged to conceal himself for a time, to escape the fury of the populace. on the other hand, parma was, not unnaturally, overjoyed at the successful issue to the combat, and expressed himself on the subject in language of (for him) unusual exultation. "to-day, sunday, th of june," said he, in a letter to philip, despatched by special courier on the very same night, "the lord has been pleased to grant to your majesty a great and most signal victory. in this conjuncture of so great importance it may be easily conceived that the best results that can be desired will be obtained if your majesty is now ready to do what is needful. i congratulate your majesty very many times on this occasion, and i desire to render infinite thanks to divine providence." he afterwards proceeded, in a rapid and hurried manner, to give his majesty the outlines of the battle, mentioning, with great encomium, capizucca and aquila, mondragon and vasto, with many other officers, and recommending them for reward and promotion; praising, in short, heartily and earnestly, all who had contributed to the victory, except himself, to whose personal exertions it was chiefly due. "as for good odd mansfeld," said he, "he bore himself like the man he is, and he deserves that your majesty should send him a particular mark of your royal approbation, writing to him yourself pleasantly in spanish, which is that which will be most highly esteemed by him." alexander hinted also that philip would do well to bestow upon mansfeld the countship of biart, as a reward for his long years of faithful service! this action on the kowenstyn terminated the effective resistance of antwerp. a few days before, the monster-vessel, in the construction of which so much time and money had been consumed, had at last been set afloat. she had been called the war's end, and, so far as antwerp was concerned, the fates that presided over her birth seemed to have been paltering in a double sense when the ominous name was conferred. she was larger than anything previously known in naval architecture; she had four masts and three helms. her bulwarks were ten feet thick; her tops were musket-proof. she had twenty guns of largest size, besides many other pieces of artillery of lesser calibre, the lower tier of which was almost at the water's level. she was to carry one thousand men, and she was so supported on corks and barrels as to be sure to float under any circumstances. thus she was a great swimming fortress which could not be sunk, and was impervious to shot. unluckily, however, in spite of her four masts and three helms, she would neither sail nor steer, and she proved but a great, unmanageable and very ridiculous tub, fully justifying all the sarcasms that had been launched upon her during the period of her construction, which had been almost as long as the siege itself. the spaniards called her the bugaboo--a monster to scare children withal. the patriots christened her the elephant, the antwerp folly, the lost penny, with many similar appellations. a small army might have been maintained for a month, they said, on the money she had cost, or the whole city kept in bread for three months. at last, late in may, a few days before the battle of the kowenstyn, she set forth from antwerp, across the submerged land, upon her expedition to sweep all the spanish forts out of existence, and to bring the war to its end. she came to her own end very briefly, for, after drifting helplessly about for an hour, she stuck fast in the sand in the neighbourhood of ordam, while the crew and soldiers made their escape, and came back to the city to share in the ridicule which, from first to last, had attached itself to the monster- ship. two days after the kowenstyn affair, alexander sent an expedition under count charles mansfeld to take possession of the great bugaboo. the boat, in which were count charles, count aremberg, his brother de barbancon, and other noble volunteers, met with an accident: a keg of gun powder accidentally exploding, blowing aremberg into the water, whence he escaped unharmed by swimming, and frightfully damaging mansfeld in the face. this indirect mischief--the only injury ever inflicted by the war's end upon the enemy--did not prevent the rest of the party in the boats from taking possession of the ship, and bringing her in triumph to the prince of parma. after being thoroughly examined and heartily laughed at by the spaniards, she was broken up--her cannon, munitions, and other valuable materials, being taken from her--and then there was an end of the war's end. this useless expenditure-against the judgment and entreaties of many leading personages--was but a type of the difficulties with which sainte aldegonde had been obliged to contend from the first day of the siege to the last. every one in the city had felt himself called on to express an opinion as to the proper measures for defence. diversity of humours, popular license, anarchy, did not constitute the best government for a city beleagured by alexander farnese. we have seen the deadly injury inflicted upon the cause at the outset by the brutality of the butchers, and the manful struggle which sainte aldegonde had maintained against their cupidity and that of their friends. he had dealt with the thousand difficulties which rose up around him from day to day, but his best intentions were perpetually misconstrued, his most strenuous exertions steadily foiled. it was a city where there was much love of money, and where commerce--always timid by nature, particularly when controlled by alien residents--was often the cause of almost abject cowardice. from time to time there had been threatening demonstrations made against the burgomaster, who, by protracting the resistance of antwerp, was bringing about the absolute destruction of a worldwide trade, and the downfall of the most opulent capital in christendom. there were also many popular riots--very easily inflamed by the catholic portion of the inhabitants--for bread. "bread, bread, or peace!" was hoarsely shouted by ill-looking mischievous crowds, that dogged the steps and besieged the doors of sainte aldegonde; but the burgomaster had done his best by eloquence of tongue and personal courage, both against mobs and against the enemy, to inspire the mass of his fellow-citizens with his own generous spirit. he had relied for a long time on the negotiation with france, and it would be difficult to exaggerate the disastrous effects produced by the treachery of the valois court. the historian le petit, a resident of antwerp at the time of the siege, had been despatched on secret mission to paris, and had communicated to the states' deputies sainte aldegonde's earnest adjurations that they should obtain, if possible, before it should be too late, an auxiliary force and a pecuniary subsidy. an immediate assistance, even if slight, might be sufficient to prevent antwerp and its sister cities from falling into the hands of the enemy. on that messenger's return, the burgomaster, much encouraged by his report, had made many eloquent speeches in the senate, and for a long time sustained the sinking spirits of the citizens. the irritating termination to the triumph actually achieved against the bridge, and the tragical result to the great enterprise against the kowenstyn, had now thoroughly broken the heart of antwerp. for the last catastrophe sainte aldegonde himself was highly censurable, although the chief portion of the blame rested on the head of hohenlo. nevertheless the states of holland were yet true to the cause of the union and of liberty. notwithstanding their heavy expenditures, and their own loss of men, they urged warmly and earnestly the continuance of the resistance, and promised, within at latest three months' time, to raise an army of twelve thousand foot and seven thousand horse, with which they pledged themselves to relieve the city, or to perish in the endeavour. at the same time, the legation, which had been sent to england to offer the sovereignty to queen elizabeth, sent encouraging despatches to antwerp, assuring the authorities that arrangements for an auxiliary force had been effected; while elizabeth herself wrote earnestly upon the subject with her own hand. "i am informed," said that princess, "that through the closing of the scheldt you are likely to enter into a treaty with the prince of parma, the issue of which is very much to be doubted, so far as the maintenance of your privileges is concerned. remembering the warm friendship which has ever existed between this crown and the house of burgundy, in the realms of which you are an important member, and considering that my subjects engaged in commerce have always met with more privilege and comity in the netherlands than in any other country, i have resolved to send you at once, assistance, comfort, and aid. the details of the plan will be stated by your envoys; but be assured that by me you will never be forsaken or neglected." the negotiations with queen elizabeth--most important for the netherlands, for england, and for the destinies of europe--which succeeded the futile diplomatic transactions with france, will be laid before the reader in a subsequent chapter. it is proper that they should be massed by themselves, so that the eye can comprehend at a single glance their whole progress and aspect, as revealed both by public and official, and by secret and hitherto unpublished records. meantime, so far as regards antwerp, those negotiations had been too deliberately conducted for the hasty and impatient temper of the citizens. the spirit of the commercial metropolis, long flagging, seemed at last broken. despair was taking possession of all hearts. the common people did nothing but complain, the magistrates did nothing but wrangle. in the broad council the debates and dissensions were discouraging and endless. six of the eight militia-colonels were for holding out at all hazards, while a majority of the eighty captains were for capitulation. the populace was tumultuous and threatening, demanding peace and bread at any price. holland sent promises in abundance, and holland was sincere; but there had been much disappointment, and there was now infinite bitterness. it seemed obvious that a crisis was fast approaching, and-- unless immediate aid should come from holland or from england--that a surrender was inevitable. la none, after five years' imprisonment, had at last been exchanged against count philip egmont. that noble, chief of an ancient house, cousin of the queen of france, was mortified at being ransomed against a simple huguenot gentleman--even though that gentleman was the illustrious "iron-armed" la noue--but he preferred to sacrifice his dignity for the sake of his liberty. he was still more annoyed that one hundred thousand crowns as security were exacted from la noue--for which the king of navarre became bondsman--that he would never again bear arms in the netherlands except in obedience to the french monarch, while no such pledges were required of himself. la none visited the prince of parma at antwerp, to take leave, and was received with the courtesy due to his high character and great distinction. alexander took pleasure in showing him all his fortifications, and explaining to him the whole system of the siege, and la noue was filled with honest amazement. he declared afterwards that the works were superb and impregnable; and that if he had been on the outside at the head of twelve thousand troops, he should have felt obliged to renounce the idea of relieving the city. "antwerp cannot escape you," confessed the veteran huguenot, "but must soon fall into your hands. and when you enter, i would counsel you to hang up your sword at its gate, and let its capture be the crowning trophy in your list of victories." "you are right," answered parma, "and many of my friends have given me the same advice; but how am i to retire, engaged as i am for life in the service of my king?" such was the opinion of la none, a man whose love for the reformed religion and for civil liberty can be as little doubted as his competency to form an opinion upon great military subjects. as little could he be suspected just coming as he did from an infamous prison, whence he had been at one time invited by philip ii. to emerge, on condition of allowing his eyes to be put out--of any partiality for that monarch or his representative. moreover, although the states of holland and the english government were earnestly desirous of relieving the city, and were encouraging the patriots with well-founded promises, the zeeland authorities were lukewarm. the officers of the zeeland navy, from which so much was expected, were at last discouraged. they drew up, signed, and delivered to admiral justinus de nassau, a formal opinion to the effect that the scheldt had now so many dry and dangerous places, and that the tranquil summer-nights--so different from those long, stormy ones of winter--were so short as to allow of no attempt by water likely to be successful to relieve the city. here certainly was much to discourage, and sainte aldegonde was at length discouraged. he felt that the last hope of saving antwerp was gone, and with it all possibility of maintaining the existence of a united netherland commonwealth. the walloon provinces were lost already; ghent, brussels, mechlin, had also capitulated, and, with the fall of antwerp, flanders and brabant must fall. there would be no barrier left even to save holland itself. despair entered the heart of the burgomaster, and he listened too soon to its treacherous voice. yet while he thought a free national state no longer a possibility, he imagined it practicable to secure religious liberty by negotiation with philip ii. he abandoned with a sigh one of the two great objects for which he had struggled side by side with orange for twenty years, but he thought it possible to secure the other. his purpose was now to obtain a favourable capitulation for antwerp, and at the same time to bring about the submission of holland, zeeland, and the other united provinces, to the king of spain. here certainly was a great change of face on the part of one so conspicuous, and hitherto so consistent, in the ranks of netherland patriots, and it is therefore necessary, in order thoroughly to estimate both the man and the crisis, to follow carefully his steps through the secret path of negotiation into which he now entered, and in which the antwerp drama was to find its conclusion. in these transactions, the chief actors are, on the one side, the prince of parma, as representative of absolutism and the papacy; on the other, sainte aldegonde, who had passed his life as the champion of the reformation. no doubt the pressure upon the burgomaster was very great. tumults were of daily occurrence. crowds of rioters beset his door with cries of denunciations and demands for bread. a large and turbulent mob upon one occasion took possession of the horse-market, and treated him with personal indignity and violence, when be undertook to disperse them. on the other hand, parma had been holding out hopes of pardon with more reasonable conditions than could well be expected, and had, with a good deal of art, taken advantage of several trivial circumstances to inspire the burghers with confidence in his good-will. thus, an infirm old lady in the city happened to imagine herself so dependent upon asses milk as to have sent her purveyor out of the city, at the peril of his life, to procure a supply from the neighbourhood. the young man was captured, brought to alexander, from whose hands he very naturally expected the punishment of a spy. the prince, however, presented him, not only with his liberty, but with a she-ass; and loaded the animal with partridges and capons, as a present for the invalid. the magistrates, hearing of the incident, and not choosing to be outdone in courtesy, sent back a waggon-load of old wine and remarkable confectionary as an offering to alexander, and with this interchange of dainties led the way to the amenities of diplomacy. etext editor's bookmarks: courage and semblance of cheerfulness, with despair in his heart demanding peace and bread at any price not a friend of giving details larger than my ascertained facts this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, volume history united netherlands, volume , chapter vi., part . policy of england--diplomatic coquetry--dutch envoys in england-- conference of ortel and walsingham--interview with leicester-- private audience of the queen--letters of the states--general-- ill effects of gilpin's despatch--close bargaining of the queen and states--guarantees required by england--england's comparative weakness--the english characterised--paul hentzner--the envoys in london--their characters--olden-barneveldt described--reception at greenwich--speech of menin--reply of the queen--memorial of the envoys--discussions with the ministers--second speech of the queen --third speech of the queen england as we have seen--had carefully watched the negotiations between france and the netherlands. although she had--upon the whole, for that intriguing age--been loyal in her bearing towards both parties, she was perhaps not entirely displeased with the result. as her cherished triumvirate was out of the question, it was quite obvious that, now or never, she must come forward to prevent the provinces from falling back into the hands of spain. the future was plainly enough foreshadowed, and it was already probable, in case of a prolonged resistance on the part of holland, that philip would undertake the reduction of his rebellious subjects by a preliminary conquest of england. it was therefore quite certain that the expense and danger of assisting the netherlands must devolve upon herself, but, at the same time it was a consolation that her powerful next-door neighbour was not to be made still more powerful by the annexation to his own dominion of those important territories. accordingly, so soon as the deputies in france had received their definite and somewhat ignominious repulse from henry iii. and his mother, the english government lost no time in intimating to the states that they were not to be left without an ally. queen elizabeth was however resolutely averse from assuming that sovereignty which she was not unwilling to see offered for her acceptance; and her accredited envoy at the hague, besides other more secret agents, were as busily employed in the spring of --as des pruneaux had been the previous winter on the part of france--to bring about an application, by solemn embassy, for her assistance. there was, however, a difference of view, from the outset, between the leading politicians of the netherlands and the english queen. the hollanders were extremely desirous of becoming her subjects; for the united states, although they had already formed themselves into an independent republic, were quite ignorant of their latent powers. the leading personages of the country--those who were soon to become the foremost statesmen of the new commonwealth--were already shrinking from the anarchy which was deemed inseparable from a non-regal form of government, and were seeking protection for and against the people under a foreign sceptre. on the other hand, they were indisposed to mortgage large and important fortified towns, such as flushing, brill, and others, for the repayment of the subsidies which elizabeth might be induced to advance. they preferred to pay in sovereignty rather than in money. the queen, on the contrary, preferred money to sovereignty, and was not at all inclined to sacrifice economy to ambition. intending to drive a hard bargain with the states, whose cause was her own, and whose demands for aid she; had secretly prompted, she meant to grant a certain number of soldiers for as brief a period as possible, serving at her expense, and to take for such outlay a most ample security in the shape of cautionary towns. too intelligent a politician not to feel the absolute necessity of at last coming into the field to help the netherlanders to fight her own battle, she was still willing, for a season longer, to wear the mask of coyness and coquetry, which she thought most adapted to irritate the netherlanders into a full compliance with her wishes. her advisers in the provinces were inclined to take the same view. it seemed obvious, after the failure in france, that those countries must now become either english or spanish; yet elizabeth, knowing the risk of their falling back, from desperation, into the arms of her rival, allowed them to remain for a season on the edge of destruction--which would probably have been her ruin also--in the hope of bringing them to her feet on her own terms. there was something of feminine art in this policy, and it was not without the success which often attends such insincere manoeuvres. at the same time, as the statesmen of the republic knew that it was the queen's affair, when so near a neighbour's roof was blazing, they entertained little doubt of ultimately obtaining her alliance. it was pity--in so grave an emergency--that a little frankness could not have been substituted for a good deal of superfluous diplomacy. gilpin, a highly intelligent agent of the english government in zeeland, kept sir francis walsingham thoroughly informed of the sentiments entertained by the people of that province towards england. mixing habitually with the most influential politicians, he was able to render material assistance to the english council in the diplomatic game which had been commenced, and on which a no less important stake than the crown of england was to be hazarded. "in conference," he said, "with particular persons that bear any rule or credit, i find a great inclination towards her majesty, joined notwithstanding with a kind of coldness. they allege that matters of such importance are to be maturely and thoroughly pondered, while some of them harp upon the old string, as if her majesty, for the security of her own estate, was to have the more care of theirs here." he was also very careful to insinuate the expediency of diplomatic coquetry into the mind of a princess who needed no such prompting. "the less by outward appearance," said he, "this people shall perceive that her majesty can be contented to take the protection of them upon her, the forwarder they will be to seek and send unto her, and the larger conditions in treaty may be required. for if they see it to come from herself, then do they persuade themselves that it is for the greater security of our own country and her highness to fear the king of spain's greatness. but if they become seekers unto her majesty, and if they may, by outward show, deem that she accounteth not of the said king's might, but able and sufficient to defend her own realms, then verily i think they may be brought to whatsoever points her majesty may desire." certainly it was an age of intrigue, in which nothing seemed worth getting at all unless it could be got by underhand means, and in which it was thought impossible for two parties to a bargain to meet together except as antagonists, who believed that one could not derive a profit from the transaction unless the other had been overreached. this was neither good morality nor sound diplomacy, and the result of such trifling was much loss of time and great disaster. in accordance with this crafty system, the agent expressed the opinion that it would "be good and requisite for the english government somewhat to temporise," and to dally for a season longer, in order to see what measures the states would take to defend themselves, and how much ability and resources they would show for belligerent purposes. if the queen were too eager, the provinces would become jealous, "yielding, as it were, their power, and yet keeping the rudder in their own hands." at the same time gilpin was favourably impressed with the character both of the country and the nation, soon to be placed in such important relations with england. "this people," he said, "is such as by fair means they will be won to yield and grant any reasonable motion or demand. what these islands of zeeland are her majesty and all my lords of her council do know. yet for their government thus much i must write; that during these troubles it never was better than now. they draw, in a manner, one line, long and carefully in their resolution; but the same once taken and promises made, they would perform them to the uttermost." such then was the character of the people, for no man was better enabled to form an opinion on the subject than was gilpin. had it not been as well, then, for englishmen--who were themselves in that age, as in every other, apt to "perform to the uttermost promises once taken and made," and to respect those endowed with the same wholesome characteristic--to strike hands at once in a cause which was so vital to both nations? so soon as the definite refusal of henry iii, was known in england, leicester and walsingham wrote at once to the netherlands. the earl already saw shining through the distance a brilliant prize for his own ambition, although he was too haughty, perhaps too magnanimous, but certainly far too crafty, to suffer such sentiments as yet to pierce to the surface. "mr. davison," he wrote, "you shall perceive by mr. secretary's letters how the french have dealt with these people. they are well enough served; but yet i think, if they will heartily and earnestly seek it, the lord hath appointed them a far better defence. but you must so use the matter as that they must seek their own good, although we shall be partakers thereof also. they may now, if they will effectually and liberally deal, bring themselves to a better end than ever france would have brought them." at that moment there were two diplomatic agents from the states resident in england--jacques de gryze; whom paul buys had formerly described as having thrust himself head and shoulders into the matter without proper authority, and joachim ortel, a most experienced and intelligent man, speaking and writing english like a native, and thoroughly conversant with english habits and character. so soon as the despatches from france arrived, walsingham, th march, , sent for ortel, and the two held a long conference. walsingham.--"we have just received letters from lord derby and sir edward stafford, dated the th march. they inform us that your deputies--contrary to all expectation and to the great hopes that had been hold out to them--have received, last sunday, their definite answer from the king of france. he tells them, that, considering the present condition of his kingdom, he is unable to undertake the protection of the netherlands; but says that if they like, and if the queen of england be willing to second his motion, he is disposed to send a mission of mediation to spain for the purpose of begging the king to take the condition of the provinces to heart, and bringing about some honourable composition, and so forth, and so forth. "moreover the king of france has sent monsieur de bellievre to lord derby and mr. stafford, and bellievre has made those envoys a long oration. he explained to them all about the original treaty between the states and monsieur, the king's brother, and what had taken place from that day to this, concluding, after many allegations and divers reasons, that the king could not trouble himself with the provinces at present; but hoped her majesty would make the best of it, and not be offended with him. "the ambassadors say further, that they have had an interview with your deputies, who are excessively provoked at this most unexpected answer from the king, and are making loud complaints, being all determined to take themselves off as fast as possible. the ambassadors have recommended that some of the number should come home by the way of england." ortel.--"it seems necessary to take active measures at once, and to leave no duty undone in this matter. it will be advisable to confer, so soon as may be, with some of the principal counsellors of her majesty, and recommend to them most earnestly the present condition of the provinces. they know the affectionate confidence which the states entertain towards england, and must now, remembering the sentiments of goodwill which they have expressed towards the netherlands, be willing to employ their efforts with her majesty in this emergency." walsingham (with much show of vexation).--"this conduct on the part of the french court has been most pernicious. your envoys have been delayed, fed with idle hopes, and then disgracefully sent away, so that the best part of the year has been consumed, and it will be most difficult now, in a great hurry, to get together a sufficient force of horse and foot folk, with other necessaries in abundance. on the contrary, the enemy, who knew from the first what result was to be expected in france, has been doing his best to be beforehand with you in the field: add, moreover, that this french negotiation has given other princes a bad taste in their mouths. this is the case with her majesty. the queen is, not without reason, annoyed that the states have not only despised her friendly and good-hearted offers, but have all along been endeavouring to embark her in this war, for the defence of the provinces, which would have cost her several millions, without offering to her the slightest security. on the contrary, others, enemies of the religion, who are not to be depended upon--who had never deserved well of the states or assisted them in their need, as she has done--have received this large offer of sovereignty without any reserve whatever." ortel (not suffering himself to be disconcerted at this unjust and somewhat insidious attack).--"that which has been transacted with france was not done except with the express approbation and full foreknowledge of her majesty, so far back as the lifetime of his excellency (william of orange), of high and laudable memory. things had already gone so far, and the provinces had agreed so entirely together, as to make it inexpedient to bring about a separation in policy. it was our duty to hold together, and, once for all, thoroughly to understand what the king of france, after such manifold presentations through monsieur des pruneaulx and others, and in various letters of his own, finally intended to do. at the same time, notwithstanding these negotiations, we had always an especial eye upon her majesty. we felt a hopeful confidence that she would never desert us, leaving us without aid or counsel, but would consider that these affairs do not concern the provinces alone or even especially, but are just as deeply important to her and to all other princes of the religion." after this dialogue, with much more conversation of a similar character, the secretary and the envoy set themselves frankly and manfully to work. it was agreed between them that every effort should be made with the leading members of the council to induce the queen "in this terrible conjuncture, not to forsake the provinces, but to extend good counsel and prompt assistance to them in their present embarrassments." there was, however, so much business in parliament just then, that it was impossible to obtain immediately the desired interviews. on the th, ortel and de gryze had another interview with walsingham at the palace of greenwich. the secretary expressed the warmest and most sincere affection for the provinces, and advised that one of the two envoys should set forth at once for home in order to declare to the states, without loss of time, her majesty's good inclination to assume the protection of the land, together with the maintenance of the reformed religion and the ancient privileges. not that she was seeking her own profit, or wished to obtain that sovereignty which had just been offered to another of the contrary religion, but in order to make manifest her affectionate solicitude to preserve the protestant faith and to support her old allies and neighbours. nevertheless, as she could not assume this protectorate without embarking in a dangerous war with the king of spain, in which she would not only be obliged to spend the blood of her subjects, but also at least two millions of gold, there was the more reason that the states should give her certain cities as security. those cities would be held by certain of her gentlemen, nominated thereto, of quality, credit, and religion, at the head of good, true, and well-paid garrisons, who should make oath never to surrender them to the king of spain or to any one else without consent of the states. the provinces were also reciprocally to bind themselves by oath to make no treaty with the king, without the advice and approval of her majesty. it was likewise thoroughly to be understood that such cautionary towns should be restored to the states so soon as payment should be made of all moneys advanced during the war. next day the envoys had an interview with the earl of leicester, whom they found as amicably disposed towards their cause as secretary walsingham had been. "her majesty," said the earl, "is excessively indignant with the king of france, that he should so long have abused the provinces, and at last have dismissed their deputies so contemptuously. nevertheless," he continued, "'tis all your own fault to have placed your hopes so entirely upon him as to entirely forget other princes, and more especially her majesty. notwithstanding all that has passed, however, i find her fully determined to maintain the cause of the provinces. for my own part, i am ready to stake my life, estates, and reputation, upon this issue, and to stand side by side with other gentlemen in persuading her majesty to do her utmost for the assistance of your country." he intimated however, as walsingham had done, that the matter of cautionary towns would prove an indispensable condition, and recommended that one of the two envoys should proceed homeward at once, in order to procure, as speedily as possible, the appointment of an embassy for that purpose to her majesty. "they must bring full powers," said the earl, "to give her the necessary guarantees, and make a formal demand for protection; for it would be unbecoming, and against her reputation, to be obliged to present herself, unsought by the other party." in conclusion, after many strong expressions of good-will, leicester promised to meet them next day at court, where he would address the queen personally on the subject, and see that they spoke with her as well. meantime he sent one of his principal gentlemen to keep company with the envoys, and make himself useful to them. this personage, being "of good quality and a member of parliament," gave them much useful information, assuring them that there was a strong feeling in england in favour of the netherlands, and that the matter had been very vigorously taken up in the national legislature. that assembly had been strongly encouraging her majesty boldly to assume the protectorate, and had manifested a willingness to assist her with the needful. "and if," said he, "one subsidy should not be enough, she shall have three, four, five, or six, or as much as may be necessary." the same day, the envoys had an interview with lord treasurer burghley, who held the same language as walsingham and leicester had done. "the queen, to his knowledge," he said, "was quite ready to assume the protectorate; but it was necessary that it should be formally offered, with the necessary guarantees, and that without further loss of time." on the nd march, according to agreement, ortel and de gryze went to the court at greenwich. while waiting there for the queen, who had ridden out into the country, they had more conversation with walsingham, whom they found even more energetically disposed in their favour than ever, and who assured them that her majesty was quite ready to assume the protectorate so soon as offered. "within a month," he said, "after the signing of a treaty, the troops would be on the spot, under command of such a personage of quality and religion as would be highly satisfactory." while they were talking, the queen rode into the court- yard, accompanied by the earl of leicester and other gentlemen. very soon afterwards the envoys were summoned to her presence, and allowed to recommend the affairs of the provinces to her consideration. she lamented the situation of their country, and in a few words expressed her inclination to render assistance, provided the states would manifest full confidence in her. they replied by offering to take instant measures to gratify all her demands, so soon as those demands should be made known; and the queen finding herself surrounded by so many gentlemen and by a crowd of people, appointed them accordingly to come to her private apartments the same afternoon. at that interview none were present save walsingham and lord chamberlain howard. the queen showed herself "extraordinarily resolute" to take up the affairs of the provinces. "she had always been sure," she said, "that the french negotiation would have no other issue than the one which they had just seen. she was fully aware what a powerful enemy she was about to make--one who could easily create mischief for her in scotland and ireland; but she was nevertheless resolved, if the states chose to deal with her frankly and generously, to take them under her protection. she assured the envoys that if a deputation with full powers and reasonable conditions should be immediately sent to her, she would not delay and dally with them, as had been the case in france, but would despatch them back again at the speediest, and would make her good inclination manifest by deeds as well as words. as she was hazarding her treasure together with the blood and repose of her subjects, she was not at liberty to do this except on receipt of proper securities." accordingly de gryze went to the provinces, provided with complimentary and affectionate letters from the queen, while ortel remained in england. so far all was plain and above-board; and walsingham, who, from the first, had been warmly in favour of taking up the netherland cause, was relieved by being able to write in straightforward language. stealthy and subtle, where the object was to get within the guard of an enemy who menaced a mortal blow, he was, both by nature and policy, disposed to deal frankly with those he called his friends. "monsieur de gryze repaireth presently," he wrote to davison, "to try if he can induce the states to send their deputies hither, furnished with more ample instructions than they had to treat with the french king, considering that her majesty carryeth another manner of princely disposition than that sovereign. meanwhile, for that she doubteth lest in this hard estate of their affairs, and the distrust they have conceived to be relieved from hence, they should from despair throw themselves into the course of spain, her pleasure therefore is--though by burnham i sent you directions to put them in comfort of relief, only as of yourself--that you shall now, as it were, in her name, if you see cause sufficient, assure some of the aptest instruments that you shall make choice of for that purpose, that her majesty, rather than that they should perish, will be content to take them under her protection." he added that it was indispensable for the states, upon their part, to offer "such sufficient cautions and assurances as she might in reason demand." matters were so well managed that by the nd april the states-general addressed a letter to the queen, in which they notified her, that the desired deputation was on the point of setting forth. "recognizing," they said, "that there is no prince or potentate to whom they are more obliged than they are to your majesty, we are about to request you very humbly to accept the sovereignty of these provinces, and the people of the same for your very humble vassals and subjects." they added that, as the necessity of the case was great, they hoped the queen would send, so soon as might be, a force of four or five thousand men for the purpose of relieving the siege of antwerp. a similar letter was despatched by the same courier to the earl of leicester. on the st of may, ortel had audience of the queen, to deliver the letters from the states-general. he found that despatches, very encouraging and agreeable in their tenor, had also just arrived from davison. the queen was in good humour. she took the letter from ortel, read it attentively, and paused a good while. then she assured him that her good affection towards the provinces was not in the least changed, and that she thanked the states for the confidence in her that they were manifesting. "it is unnecessary," said the queen, "for me to repeat over and over again sentiments which i have so plainly declared. you are to assure the states that they shall never be disappointed in the trust that they have reposed in my good intentions. let them deal with me sincerely, and without holding open any back-door. not that i am seeking the sovereignty of the provinces, for i wish only to maintain their privileges and ancient liberties, and to defend them in this regard against all the world. let them ripely consider, then, with what fidelity i am espousing their cause, and how, without fear of any one, i am arousing most powerful enemies." ortel had afterwards an interview with leicester, in which the earl assured him that her majesty had not in the least changed in her sentiments towards the provinces. "for myself," said he, "i am ready, if her majesty choose to make use of me, to go over there in person, and to place life, property, and all the assistance i can gain from my friends, upon the issue. yea, with so good a heart, that i pray the lord may be good to me, only so far as i serve faithfully in this cause." he added a warning that the deputies to be appointed should come with absolute powers, in order that her majesty's bountiful intentions might not be retarded by their own fault. ortel then visited walsingham at his house, barn-elms, where he was confined by illness. sir francis assured the envoy that he would use every effort, by letter to her majesty and by verbal instructions to his son-in-law, sir philip sidney, to further the success of the negotiation, and that he deeply regretted his enforced absence from the court on so important an occasion. matters were proceeding most favourably, and the all-important point of sending an auxiliary force of englishmen to the relief of antwerp--before it should be too late, and in advance of the final conclusion of the treaty between the countries-had been nearly conceded. just at that moment, however, "as ill-luck would have it," said ortel, "came a letter from gilpin. i don't think he meant it in malice, but the effect was most pernicious. he sent the information that a new attack was to be made by the th may upon the kowenstyn, that it was sure to be successful, and that the siege of antwerp was as good as raised. so lord burghley informed me, in presence of lord leicester, that her majesty was determined to await the issue of this enterprise. it was quite too late to get troops in readiness; to co-operate with the states' army, so soon as the th may, and as antwerp was so sure to be relieved, there was no pressing necessity for haste. i uttered most bitter complaints to these lords and to other counsellors of the queen, that she should thus draw back, on account of a letter from a single individual, without paying sufficient heed to the despatches from the states-general, who certainly knew their own affairs and their own necessities better than any one else could do, but her majesty sticks firm to her resolution." here were immense mistakes committed on all sides. the premature shooting up of those three rockets from the cathedral-tower, on the unlucky th may, had thus not only ruined the first assault against the kowenstyn, but also the second and the more promising adventure. had the four thousand bold englishmen there enlisted, and who could have reached the provinces in time to cooperate in that great enterprise, have stood side by side with the hollanders, the zeelanders, and the antwerpers, upon that fatal dyke, it is almost a certainty that antwerp would have been relieved, and the whole of flanders and brabant permanently annexed to the independent commonwealth, which would have thus assumed at once most imposing proportions. it was a great blunder of sainte aldegonde to station in the cathedral, on so important an occasion, watchmen in whose judgment he could not thoroughly rely. it was a blunder in gilpin, intelligent as he generally showed himself, to write in such sanguine style before the event. but it was the greatest blunder of all for queen elizabeth to suspend her cooperation at the very instant when, as the result showed, it was likely to prove most successful. it was a chapter of blunders from first to last, but the most fatal of all the errors was the one thus prompted by the great queen's most traitorous characteristic, her obstinate parsimony. and now began a series of sharp chafferings on both sides, not very much to the credit of either party. the kingdom of england, and the rebellious provinces of spain, were drawn to each other by an irresistible law of political attraction. their absorption into each other seemed natural and almost inevitable; and the weight of the strong protestant organism, had it been thus completed, might have balanced the great catholic league which was clustering about spain. it was unfortunate that the two governments of england and the netherlands should now assume the attitude of traders driving a hard bargain with each other, rather than that of two important commonwealths, upon whose action, at that momentous epoch, the weal and wo of christendom was hanging. it is quite true that the danger to england was great, but that danger in any event was to be confronted--philip was to be defied, and, by assuming the cause of the provinces to be her own, which it unquestionably was, elizabeth was taking the diadem from her head--as the king of sweden well observed--and adventuring it upon the doubtful chance of war. would it not have been better then--her mind being once made up--promptly to accept all the benefits, as well as all the hazards, of the bold game to which she was of necessity a party? but she could not yet believe in the incredible meanness of henry iii. "i asked her majesty" ( rd may, ), said ortel, "whether, in view of these vast preparations in france, it did not behove her to be most circumspect and upon her guard. for, in the opinion of many men, everything showed one great scheme already laid down--a general conspiracy throughout christendom against the reformed religion. she answered me, that thus far she could not perceive this to be the case; 'nor could she believe,' she said, 'that the king of france could be so faint-hearted as to submit to such injuries from the guises.'" time was very soon to show the nature of that unhappy monarch with regard to injuries, and to prove to elizabeth the error she had committed in doubting his faint-heartedness. meanwhile, time was passing, and the netherlands were shivering in the storm. they, needed the open sunshine which her caution kept too long behind the clouds. for it was now enjoined upon walsingham to manifest a coldness upon the part of the english government towards the states. davison was to be allowed to return; "but," said sir francis, "her majesty would not have you accompany the commissioners who are coming from the low countries; but to come over, either before them or after them, lest it be thought they come over by her majesty's procurement." as if they were not coming over by her majesty's most especial procurement, and as if it would matter to philip--the union once made between england and holland--whether the invitation to that union came first from the one party or the other! "i am retired for my health from the court to mine own house," said walsingham, "but i find those in whose judgment her majesty reposeth greatest trust so coldly affected unto the cause, as i have no great hope of the matter; and yet, for that the hearts of princes are in the hands of god, who both can will and dispose them at his pleasure, i would be loath to hinder the repair of the commissioners." here certainly, had the sun gone most suddenly into a cloud. sir francis would be loath to advise the commissioners to stay at home, but he obviously thought them coming on as bootless an errand as that which had taken their colleagues so recently into france. the cause of the trouble was flushing. hence the tears, and the coldness, and the scoldings, on the part of the imperious and the economical queen. flushing was the patrimony--a large portion of that which was left to him--of count maurice. it was deeply mortgaged for the payment of the debts of william the silent, but his son maurice, so long as the elder brother philip william remained a captive in spain, wrote himself marquis of flushing and kampveer, and derived both revenue and importance from his rights in that important town. the states of zeeland, while desirous of a political fusion of the two countries, were averse from the prospect of converting, by exception, their commercial, capital into an english city, the remainder of the provinces remaining meanwhile upon their ancient footing. the negociations on the subject caused a most ill-timed delay. the states finding the english government cooling, affected to grow tepid themselves. this was the true mercantile system, perhaps, for managing a transaction most thriftily, but frankness and promptness would have been more statesmanlike at such a juncture. "i am sorry to understand," wrote walsingham, "that the states are not yet grown to a full resolution for the delivering of the town of flushing into her majesty's hands. the queen finding the people of that island so wavering and inconstant, besides that they can hardly, after the so long enjoying a popular liberty, bear a regal authority, would be loath to embark herself into so dangerous a war without some sufficient caution received from them. it is also greatly to be doubted, that if, by practice and corruption, that town might be recovered by the spaniards, it would put all the rest of the country in peril. i find her majesty, in case that town may be gotten, fully resolved to receive them into her protection, so as it may also be made probable unto her that the promised three hundred thousand guilders the month will be duly paid." a day or two after writing this letter, walsingham sent one afternoon, in a great hurry, for ortel, and informed him very secretly, that, according to information just received, the deputies from the states were coming without sufficient authority in regard to this very matter. thus all the good intentions of the english government were likely to be frustrated, and the provinces to be reduced to direful extremity. "what can we possibly advise her majesty to do?" asked walsingham, "since you are not willing to put confidence in her intentions. you are trying to bring her into a public war, in which she is to risk her treasure and the blood of her subjects against the greatest potentates of the world, and you hesitate meantime at giving her such security as is required for the very defence of the provinces themselves. the deputies are coming hither to offer the sovereignty to her majesty, as was recently done in france, or, if that should not prove acceptable, they are to ask assistance in men and money upon a mere 'taliter qualiter' guaranty. that's not the way. and there are plenty of ill-disposed persons here to take advantage of this position of affairs to ruin the interest of the provinces now placed on so good a footing. moreover, in this perpetual sending of despatches back and forth, much precious time is consumed; and this is exactly what our enemies most desire." in accordance with walsingham's urgent suggestions, ortel wrote at once to his constituents, imploring them to remedy this matter. do not allow," he said, any, more time to be wasted. let us not painfully, build a wall only to knock our own heads against it, to the dismay of our friends and the gratification of our enemies." it was at last arranged that an important blank should be left in the articles to be brought by the deputies, upon which vacant place the names of certain cautionary towns, afterwards to be agreed upon, were to be inscribed by common consent. meantime the english ministers were busy in preparing to receive the commissioners, and to bring the netherland matter handsomely before the legislature. the integrity, the caution, the thrift, the hesitation, which characterized elizabeth's government, were well pourtrayed in the habitual language of the lord treasurer, chief minister of a third-rate kingdom now called on to play a first-rate part, thoroughly acquainted with the moral and intellectual power of the nation whose policy he directed, and prophetically conscious of the great destinies which were opening upon her horizon. lord burghley could hardly be censured--least of all ridiculed--for the patient and somewhat timid attributes of his nature: the ineffable ponderings, which might now be ludicrous, on the part of a minister of the british empire, with two hundred millions of subjects and near a hundred millions of revenue, were almost inevitable in a man guiding a realm of four millions of people with half a million of income. it was, on the whole, a strange negotiation, this between england and holland. a commonwealth had arisen, but was unconscious of the strength which it was to find in the principle of states' union, and of religious equality. it sought, on the contrary, to exchange its federal sovereignty for provincial dependence, and to imitate, to a certain extent, the very intolerance by which it had been driven into revolt. it was not unnatural that the netherlanders should hate the roman catholic religion, in the name of which they had endured such infinite tortures, but it is, nevertheless, painful to observe that they requested queen elizabeth, whom they styled defender, not of "the faith" but of the "reformed religion," to exclude from the provinces, in case she accepted the sovereignty, the exercise of all religious rites except those belonging to the reformed church. they, however, expressly provided against inquisition into conscience. private houses were to be sacred, the, papists free within their own walls, but the churches were to be closed to those of the ancient faith. this was not so bad as to hang, burn, drown, and bury alive nonconformists, as had been done by philip and the holy inquisition in the name of the church of rome; nor is it very surprising that the horrible past should have caused that church to be regarded with sentiments of such deep-rooted hostility as to make the hollanders shudder at the idea of its re-establishment. yet, no doubt, it was idle for either holland or england, at that day, to talk of a reconciliation with rome. a step had separated them, but it was a step from a precipice. no human power could bridge the chasm. the steep contrast between the league and the counter-league, between the systems of philip and mucio, and that of elizabeth and olden-barneveld, ran through the whole world of thought, action, and life. but still the negociation between holland and england was a strange one. holland wished to give herself entirely, and england feared to accept. elizabeth, in place of sovereignty, wanted mortgages; while holland was afraid to give a part, although offering the whole. there was no great inequality between the two countries. both were instinctively conscious, perhaps, of standing on the edge of a vast expansion. both felt that they were about to stretch their wings suddenly for a flight over the whole earth. yet each was a very inferior power, in comparison with the great empires of the past or those which then existed. it is difficult, without a strong effort of the imagination, to reduce the english empire to the slender proportions which belonged to her in the days of elizabeth. that epoch was full of light and life. the constellations which have for centuries been shining in the english firmament were then human creatures walking english earth. the captains, statesmen, corsairs, merchant-adventurers, poets, dramatists, the great queen herself, the cecils, raleigh, walsingham, drake, hawkins, gilbert, howard, willoughby, the norrises, essex, leicester, sidney, spenser, shakspeare and the lesser but brilliant lights which surrounded him; such were the men who lifted england upon an elevation to which she was not yet entitled by her material grandeur. at last she had done with rome, and her expansion dated from that moment. holland and england, by the very condition of their existence, were sworn foes to philip. elizabeth stood excommunicated of the pope. there was hardly a month in which intelligence was not sent by english agents out of the netherlands and france, that assassins, hired by philip, were making their way to england to attempt the life of the queen. the netherlanders were rebels to the spanish monarch, and they stood, one and all, under death-sentence by rome. the alliance was inevitable and wholesome. elizabeth was, however, consistently opposed to the acceptance of a new sovereignty. england was a weak power. ireland was at her side in a state of chronic rebellion--a stepping-stone for spain in its already foreshadowed invasion. scotland was at her back with a strong party of catholics, stipendiaries of philip, encouraged by the guises and periodically inflamed to enthusiasm by the hope of rescuing mary stuart from her imprisonment, bringing her rival's head to the block, and elevating the long-suffering martyr upon the throne of all the british islands. and in the midst of england itself, conspiracies were weaving every day. the mortal duel between the two queens was slowly approaching its termination. in the fatal form of mary was embodied everything most perilous to england's glory and to england's queen. mary stuart meant absolutism at home, subjection to rome and spain abroad. the uncle guises were stipendiaries of philip, philip was the slave of the pope. mucio had frightened the unlucky henry iii. into submission, and there was no health nor hope in france. for england, mary stuart embodied the possible relapse into sloth, dependence, barbarism. for elizabeth, mary stuart embodied sedition, conspiracy, rebellion, battle, murder, and sudden death. it was not to be wondered at that the queen thus situated should be cautious, when about throwing down the gauntlet to the greatest powers of the earth. yet the commissioners from the united states were now on their way to england to propose the throwing of that gauntlet. what now was that england? its population was, perhaps, not greater than the numbers which dwell to-day within its capital and immediate suburbs. its revenue was perhaps equal to the sixtieth part of the annual interest on the present national debt. single, highly-favoured individuals, not only in england but in other countries cis- and trans-atlantic, enjoy incomes equal to more than half the amount of elizabeth's annual budget. london, then containing perhaps one hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, was hardly so imposing a town as antwerp, and was inferior in most material respects to paris and lisbon. forty-two hundred children were born every year within its precincts, and the deaths were nearly as many. in plague years, which were only too frequent, as many as twenty and even thirty thousand people had been annually swept away. at the present epoch there are seventeen hundred births every week, and about one thousand deaths. it is instructive to throw a glance at the character of the english people as it appeared to intelligent foreigners at that day; for the various parts of the world were not then so closely blended, nor did national colours and characteristics flow so liquidly into each other, as is the case in these days of intimate juxta-position. "the english are a very clever, handsome, and well-made people," says a learned antwerp historian and merchant, who had resided a long time in london, "but, like all islanders, by nature weak and tender. they are generally fair, particularly the women, who all--even to the peasant women--protect their complexions from the sun with fans and veils, as only the stately gentlewomen do in germany and the netherlands. as a people they are stout-hearted, vehement, eager, cruel in war, zealous in attack, little fearing: death; not revengeful, but fickle, presumptuous, rash, boastful, deceitful, very suspicious, especially of strangers, whom they despise. they are full of courteous and hypocritical gestures and words, which they consider to imply good manners, civility, and wisdom. they are well spoken, and very hospitable. they feed well, eating much meat, which-owing to the rainy climate and the ranker character of the grass--is not so firm and succulent as the meat of france and the netherlands. the people are not so laborious as the french and hollanders, preferring to lead an indolent life, like the spaniards. the most difficult and ingenious of the handicrafts are in the hands of foreigners, as is the case with the lazy inhabitants of spain. they feed many sheep, with fine wool, from which, two hundred years ago, they learned to make cloth. they keep many idle servants, and many wild animals for their pleasure, instead of cultivating the sail. they have many ships, but they do not even catch fish enough for their own consumption, but purchase of their neighbours. they dress very elegantly. their costume is light and costly, but they are very changeable and capricious, altering their fashions every year, both the men and the women. when they go away from home, riding or travelling, they always wear their best clothes, contrary to the habit of other nations. the english language is broken dutch, mixed with french and british terms and words, but with a lighter pronunciation. they do not speak from the chest, like the germans, but prattle only with the tongue." here are few statistical facts, but certainly it is curious to see how many national traits thus photographed by a contemporary, have quite vanished, and have been exchanged for their very opposites. certainly the last physiological criticism of all would indicate as great a national metamorphosis, during the last three centuries, as is offered by many other of the writer's observations. "with regard to the women," continues the same authority, "they are entirely in the power of the men, except in matters of life and death, yet they are not kept so closely and strictly as in spain and elsewhere. they are not locked up, but have free management of their household, like the netherlanders and their other neighbours. they are gay in their clothing, taking well their ease, leaving house-work to the servant-maids, and are fond of sitting, finely-dressed, before their doors to see the passers-by and to be seen of them. in all banquets and dinner-parties they have the most honour, sitting at the upper end of the board, and being served first. "their time is spent in riding, lounging, card-playing, and making merry with their gossips at child-bearings, christenings, churchings, and buryings; and all this conduct the men wink at, because such are the customs of the land. they much commend however the industry and careful habits of the german and netherland women, who do the work which in england devolves upon the men. hence, england is called the paradise of married women, for the unmarried girls are kept much more strictly than upon the continent. the women are, handsome, white, dressy, modest; although they go freely about the streets without bonnet, hood, or veil; but lately learned to cover their faces with a silken mask or vizard with a plumage of feathers, for they change their fashions every year, to the astonishment of many." paul hentzner, a tourist from germany at precisely the same epoch, touches with equal minuteness on english characteristics. it may be observed, that, with some discrepancies, there is also much similarity, in the views of the two critics. "the english," says the whimsical paul, are serious, like the germans, lovers of show, liking to be followed, wherever they go, by troops of servants, who wear their master's arms, in silver, fastened to their left sleeves, and are justly ridiculed for wearing tails hanging down their backs. they excel in dancing and music, for they are active and lively, although they are of thicker build than the germans. they cut their hair close on the forehead, letting it hang down on either side. they are good sailors, and better pirates, cunning, treacherous, thievish. three hundred and upwards are hanged annually in london. hawking is the favourite sport of the nobility. the english are more polite in eating than the french, devouring less bread, but more meat, which they roast in perfection. they put a great deal of sugar in their drink. their beds are covered with tapestry, even those of farmers. they are powerful in the field, successful against their enemies, impatient of anything like slavery, vastly fond of great ear-filling noises, such as cannon-firing, drum-beating, and bell-ringing; so that it is very common for a number of them, when they have got a cup too much in their heads, to go up to some belfry, and ring the bells for an hour together, for the sake of the amusement. if they see a foreigner very well made or particularly handsome, they will say "'tis pity he is not an englishman." it is also somewhat amusing, at the present day, to find a german elaborately explaining to his countrymen the mysteries of tobacco- smoking, as they appeared to his unsophisticated eyes in england. "at the theatres and everywhere else," says the traveller, "the english are constantly smoking tobacco in the following manner. they have pipes, made on purpose, of clay. at the further end of these is a bowl. into the bowl they put the herb, and then setting fire to it, they draw the smoke into their mouths, which they puff out again through their nostrils, like funnels," and so on; conscientious explanations which a german tourist of our own times might think it superfluous to offer to his compatriots. it is also instructive to read that the light-fingered gentry of the metropolis were nearly as adroit in their calling as they are at present, after three additional centuries of development for their delicate craft; for the learned tobias salander, the travelling companion of paul hentzner, finding himself at a lord mayor's show, was eased of his purse, containing nine crowns, as skilfully as the feat could have been done by the best pickpocket of the nineteenth century, much to that learned person's discomfiture. into such an england and among such english the netherland envoys had now been despatched on their most important errand. after twice putting back, through stress of weather, the commissioners, early in july, arrived at london, and were "lodged and very worshipfully appointed at charges of her majesty in the clothworkers' hall in pynchon- lane, near tower-street." about the tower and its faubourgs the buildings were stated to be as elegant as they were in the city itself, although this was hardly very extravagant commendation. from this district a single street led along the river's strand to westminster, where were the old and new palaces, the famous hall and abbey, the parliament chambers, and the bridge to southwark, built of stone, with twenty arches, sixty feet high, and with rows of shops and dwelling- houses on both its sides. thence, along the broad and beautiful river, were dotted here and there many stately mansions and villas, residences of bishops and nobles, extending farther and farther west as the city melted rapidly into the country. london itself was a town lying high upon a hill--the hill of lud--and consisted of a coil of narrow, tortuous, unseemly streets, each with a black, noisome rivulet running through its centre, and with rows of three-storied, leaden-roofed houses, built of timber-work filled in with lime, with many gables, and with the upper stories overhanging and darkening the basements. there were one hundred and twenty-one churches, small and large, the most conspicuous of which was the cathedral. old saint paul's was not a very magnificent edifice--but it was an extremely large one, for it was seven hundred and twenty feet long, one hundred and thirty broad, and had a massive quadrangular tower, two hundred and sixty feet high. upon this tower had stood a timber-steeple, rising, to a height of five hundred and thirty- four feet from the ground, but it had been struck by lightning in the year , and consumed to the stone-work. the queen's favourite residence was greenwich palace, the place of her birth, and to this mansion, on the th of july, the netherland envoys were conveyed, in royal barges, from the neighbourhood of pynchon-lane, for their first audience. the deputation was a strong one. there was falck of zeeland, a man of consummate adroitness, perhaps not of as satisfactory integrity; "a shrewd fellow and a fine," as lord leicester soon afterwards characterised him. there was menin, pensionary of dort, an eloquent and accomplished orator, and employed on this occasion as chief spokesman of the legation--"a deeper man, and, i think, an honester," said the same personage, adding, with an eye to business, "and he is but poor, which you must consider, but with great secrecy." there was paul buys, whom we have met with before; keen, subtle, somewhat loose of life, very passionate, a most most energetic and valuable friend to england, a determined foe to france, who had resigned the important post of holland's advocate, when the mission offering sovereignty to henry iii. had been resolved upon, and who had since that period been most influential in procuring the present triumph of the english policy. through his exertions the province of holland had been induced at an early moment to furnish the most ample instructions to the commissioners for the satisfaction of queen elizabeth in the great matter of the mortgages. "judge if this paul buys has done his work well," said a french agent in the netherlands, who, despite the infamous conduct of his government towards the provinces, was doing his best to frustrate the subsequent negotiation with england, "and whether or no he has holland under his thumb." the same individual had conceived hopes from falck of zeeland. that province, in which lay the great bone of contention between the queen and the states--the important town of flushing--was much slower than holland to agree to the english policy. it is to be feared that falck was not the most ingenuous and disinterested politician that could be found even in an age not distinguished for frankness or purity; for even while setting forth upon the mission to elizabeth, he was still clingihg, or affecting to cling, to the wretched delusion of french assistance. "i regret infinitely," said falck to the french agent just mentioned, "that i am employed in this affair, and that it is necessary in our present straits to have recourse to england. there is-- so to speak--not a person in our province that is inclined that way, all recognizing very well that france is much more salutary for us, besides that we all bear her a certain affection. indeed, if i were assured that the king still felt any goodwill towards us, i would so manage matters that neither the queen of england, nor any other prince whatever except his most christian-majesty should take a bite at this country, at least at this province, and with that view, while waiting for news from france, i will keep things in suspense, and spin them out as long as it is possible to do." the news from france happened soon to be very conclusive, and it then became difficult even for falek to believe--after intelligence received of the accord between henry iii. and the guises--that his christian majesty, would be inclined for a bite at the netherlands. this duplicity on the part of so leading a personage furnishes a key to much of the apparent dilatoriness on the part of the english government: it has been seen that elizabeth, up to the last moment, could not fairly comprehend the ineffable meanness of the french monarch. she told ortel that she saw no reason to believe in that great catholic conspiracy against herself and against all protestantism which was so soon to be made public by the king's edict of july, promulgated at the very instant of the arrival in england of the netherland envoys. then that dread fiat had gone forth, the most determined favourer of the french alliance could no longer admit its possibility, and falck became the more open to that peculiar line of argument which leicester had suggested with regard to one of the other deputies. "i will do my best," wrote walsingham, "to procure that paul buys and falck shall receive underhand some reward." besides menin, falck, and buys, were noel de caron, an experienced diplomatist; the poet-soldier, van der does; heroic defender of leyden; de gryze, hersolte, francis maalzoon, and three legal frisians of pith and substance, feitsma, aisma, and jongema; a dozen dutchmen together-- as muscular champions as ever little republic sent forth to wrestle with all comers in the slippery ring of diplomacy. for it was instinctively felt that here were conclusions to be tried with a nation of deep, solid thinkers, who were aware that a great crisis in the world's history had occurred, and would put forth their most substantial men to deal with it: burghley and walsingham, the great queen herself, were no feather-weights like the frivolous henry iii., and his minions. it was pity, however, that the discussions about to ensue presented from the outset rather the aspect of a hard hitting encounter of antagonists than that of a frank and friendly congress between two great parties whose interests were identical. since the death of william the silent, there was no one individual in the netherlands to impersonate the great struggle of the provinces with spain and rome, and to concentrate upon his own head a poetical, dramatic, and yet most legitimate interest. the great purpose of the present history must be found in its illustration of the creative power of civil and religious freedom. here was a little republic, just born into the world, suddenly bereft of its tutelary saint, left to its own resources, yet already instinct with healthy vigorous life, and playing its difficult part among friends and enemies with audacity, self-reliance, and success. to a certain extent its achievements were anonymous, but a great principle manifested itself through a series of noble deeds. statesmen, soldiers, patriots, came forward on all sides to do the work which was to be done, and those who were brought into closest contact with the commonwealth acknowledged in strongest language the signal ability with which, self-guided, she steered her course. nevertheless, there was at this moment one netherlander, the chief of the present mission to england, already the foremost statesman of his country, whose name will not soon be effaced from the record of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. that man was john of olden-barneveld. he was now in his thirty-eighth year, having been born at amersfoot on the th of september, . he bore an imposing name, for the olden- barnevelds of gelderland were a race of unquestionable and antique nobility. his enemies, however, questioned his right to the descent which he claimed. they did not dispute that the great grandfather, class van olden-barneveld, was of distinguished lineage and allied to many illustrious houses, but they denied that class was really the great grandfather of john. john's father, gerritt, they said, was a nameless outcast, a felon, a murderer, who had escaped the punishment due to his crimes, but had dragged out a miserable existence in the downs, burrowing like a rabbit in the sand. they had also much to say in disparagement of all john's connections. not only was his father a murderer, but his wife, whom he had married for money, was the child of a most horrible incest, his sisters were prostitutes, his sons and brothers were debauchees and drunkards, and, in short, never had a distinguished man a more uncomfortable and discreditable family-circle than that which surrounded barneveld, if the report of his enemies was to be believed. yet it is agreeable to reflect that, with all the venom which they had such power of secreting, these malignant tongues had been unable to destroy the reputation of the man himself. john's character was honourable and upright, his intellectual power not disputed even by those who at a later period hated him the most bitterly. he had been a profound and indefatigable student from his earliest youth. he had read law at leyden, in france, at heidelberg. here, in the head-quarters of german calvinism, his youthful mind had long pondered the dread themes of foreknowledge, judgment absolute, free will, and predestination: to believe it worth the while of a rational and intelligent deity to create annually several millions of thinking beings, who were to struggle for a brief period on earth, and to consume in perpetual brimstone afterwards, while others were predestined to endless enjoyment, seemed to him an indifferent exchange for a faith in the purgatory and paradise of rome. perplexed in the extreme, the youthful john bethought himself of an inscription over the gateway of his famous but questionable great grandfather's house at amersfort--'nil scire tutissima fides.' he resolved thenceforth to adopt a system of ignorance upon matters beyond the flaming walls of the world; to do the work before him manfully and faithfully while he walked the earth, and to trust that a benevolent creator would devote neither him nor any other man to eternal hellfire. for this most offensive doctrine he was howled at by the strictly pious, while he earned still deeper opprobrium by daring to advocate religious toleration: in face of the endless horrors inflicted by the spanish inquisition upon his native land, he had the hardihood--although a determined protestant himself--to claim for roman catholics the right to exercise their religion in the free states on equal terms with those of the reformed faith. "anyone," said his enemies, "could smell what that meant who had not a wooden nose." in brief, he was a liberal christian, both in theory and practice, and he nobly confronted in consequence the wrath of bigots on both sides. at a later period the most zealous calvinists called him pope john, and the opinions to which he was to owe such appellations had already been formed in his mind. after completing his very thorough legal studies, he had practised as an advocate in holland and zeeland. an early defender of civil and religious freedom, he had been brought at an early day into contact with william the silent, who recognized his ability. he had borne a snap- hance on his shoulder as a volunteer in the memorable attempt to relieve haarlem, and was one of the few survivors of that bloody night. he had stood outside the walls of leyden in company of the prince of orange when that magnificent destruction of the dykes had taken place by which the city had been saved from the fate impending over it. at a still more recent period we have seen him landing from the gun-boats upon the kowenstyn, on the fatal th may. these military adventures were, however, but brief and accidental episodes in his career, which was that of a statesman and diplomatist. as pensionary of rotterdam, he was constantly a member of the general assembly, and had already begun to guide the policy of the new commonwealth. his experience was considerable, and he was now in the high noon of his vigour and his usefulness. he was a man of noble and imposing presence, with thick hair pushed from a broad forehead rising dome-like above a square and massive face; a strong deeply-coloured physiognomy, with shaggy brow, a chill blue eye, not winning but commanding, high cheek bones, a solid, somewhat scornful nose, a firm mouth and chin, enveloped in a copious brown beard; the whole head not unfitly framed in the stiff formal ruff of the period; and the tall stately figure well draped in magisterial robes of velvet and sable--such was john of olden-barneveld. the commissioners thus described arrived at greenwich stairs, and were at once ushered into the palace, a residence which had been much enlarged and decorated by henry viii. they were received with stately ceremony. the presence-chamber was hung with gobelin tapestry, its floor strewn with rushes. fifty-gentlemen pensioners, with gilt battle-ages, and a throng of 'buffetiers', or beef- eaters, in that quaint old-world garb which has survived so many centuries, were in attendance, while the counsellors of the queen, in their robes of state, waited around the throne. there, in close skull-cap and dark flowing gown, was the subtle, monastic-looking walsingham, with long, grave, melancholy face and spanish eyes. there too, white staff in hand, was lord high treasurer burghley, then sixty-five years of age, with serene blue eye, large, smooth, pale, scarce-wrinkled face and forehead; seeming, with his placid, symmetrical features, and great velvet bonnet, under which such silver hairs as remained were soberly tucked away, and with his long dark robes which swept the ground, more like a dignified gentlewoman than a statesman, but for the wintery beard which lay like a snow-drift on his ancient breast. the queen was then in the fifty-third year of her age, and considered herself in the full bloom of her beauty. her, garments were of satin and velvet, with fringes of pearl as big as beans. a small gold crown was upon her head, and her red hair, throughout its multiplicity of curls, blazed with diamonds and emeralds. her forehead was tall, her face long, her complexion fair, her eyes small, dark, and glittering, her nose high and hooked, her lips thin, her teeth black, her bosom white and liberally exposed. as she passed through the ante-chamber to the presence-hall, supplicants presented petitions upon their knees. wherever she glanced, all prostrated themselves on the ground. the cry of "long live queen elizabeth" was spontaneous and perpetual; the reply; "i thank you, my good people," was constant and cordial. she spoke to various foreigners in their respective languages, being mistress, besides the latin and greek, of french, spanish, italian, and german. as the commissioners were presented to her by lord buckhurst it was observed that she was perpetually gloving and ungloving, as if to attract attention to her hand, which was esteemed a wonder of beauty. she spoke french with purity and elegance, but with a drawling, somewhat affected accent, saying "paar maa foi; paar le dieeu vivaant," and so forth, in a style which was ridiculed by parisians, as she sometimes, to her extreme annoyance, discovered. joos de menin, pensionary of dort, in the name of all the envoys, made an elaborate address. he expressed the gratitude which the states entertained for her past kindness, and particularly for the good offices rendered by ambassador davison after the death of the prince of orange, and for the deep regret expressed by her majesty for their disappointment in the hopes they had founded upon france. "since the death of the prince of orange," he said, "the states have lost many important cities, and now, for the preservation of their existence, they have need of a prince and sovereign lord to defend them against the tyranny and iniquitous oppression of the spaniards and their adherents, who are more and more determined utterly to destroy their country, and reduce the poor people to a perpetual slavery worse than that of indians, under the insupportable and detestable yoke of the spanish inquisition. we have felt a confidence that your majesty will not choose to see us perish at the hands of the enemy against whom we have been obliged to sustain this long and cruel war. that war we have undertaken in order to preserve for the poor people their liberty, laws, and franchises, together with the exercise of the true christian religion, of which your majesty bears rightfully the title of defender, and against which the enemy and his allies have made so many leagues and devised so many ambushes and stratagems, besides organizing every day so many plots against the life of your majesty and the safety of your realms--schemes which thus far the good god has averted for the good of christianity and the maintenance of his churches. for these reasons, madam, the states have taken a firm resolution to have recourse to your majesty, seeing that it is an ordinary thing for all oppressed nations to apply in their calamity to neighbouring princes, and especially to such as are endowed with piety, justice, magnanimity, and other kingly virtues. for this reason we have been deputed to offer to your majesty the sovereignty over these provinces, under certain good and equitable conditions, having reference chiefly to the maintenance of the reformed religion and of our ancient liberties and customs. and although, in the course of these long and continued wars, the enemy has obtained possession of many cities and strong places within our couniry, nevertheless the provinces of holland, zeeland, utrecht, and friesland, are, thank god, still entire. and in those lands are many large and stately cities, beautiful and deep rivers, admirable seaports, from which your majesty and your successors can derive much good fruit and commodity, of which it is scarcely, necessary to make a long recital. this point, however, beyond the rest, merits a special consideration; namely, that the conjunction of those provinces of holland, zeeland, utrecht, and friesland, together with the cities of sluys and ostend, with the kingdoms of your majesty, carries with it the absolute empire of the great ocean, and consequently an assurance of perpetual felicity for your subjects. we therefore humbly entreat you to agree to our conditions, to accept the sovereign seignory of these provinces, and consequently to receive the people of the same as your very humble and obedient subjects, under the perpetual safeguard of your crown--a people certainly as faithful and loving towards their princes and sovereign lords, to speak without boasting, as any in all christendom. "so doing, madam, you will preserve many beautiful churches which it has pleased god to raise up in these lands, now much afflicted and shaken, and you will deliver this country and people--before the iniquitous invasion of the spaniards, so rich and flourishing by the great commodity of the sea, their ports and rivers, their commerce and manufactures, for all which they have such natural advantages--from ruin and perpetual slavery of body and soul. this will be a truly excellent work, agreeable to god, profitable to christianity, worthy of immortal praise, and comporting with the heroic virtues of your majesty, and ensuring the prosperity of your country and people. with this we present to your majesty our articles and conditions, and pray that the king of kings may preserve you from all your enemies and ever have you in his holy keeping." the queen listened intently and very courteously to the delivery of this address, and then made answer in french to this effect:--"gentlemen,--had i a thousand tongues i should not be able to express my obligation to you for the great and handsome offers which you have just made. i firmly believe that this proceeds from the true zeal, devotion, and affection, which you have always borne me, and i am certain that you have ever preferred me to all the princes and potentates in the world. even when you selected the late duke of anjou, who was so dear to me, and to whose soul i hope that god has been merciful, i know that you would sooner have offered your country to me if i had desired that you should do so. certainly i esteem it a great thing that you wish to be governed by me, and i feel so much obliged to you in consequence that i will never abandon you, but, on the contrary, assist you till the last sigh of my life. i know very well that your princes have treated you ill, and that the spaniards are endeavouring to ruin you entirely; but i will come to your aid, and i will consider what i can do, consistently with my honour, in regard to the articles which you have brought me. they shall be examined by the members of my council, and i promise that i will not keep you three or four months, for i know very well that your affairs require haste, and that they will become ruinous if you are not assisted. it is not my custom to procrastinate, and upon this occasion i shall not dally, as others have done, but let you have my answer very soon." certainly, if the provinces needed a king, which they had most unequivocally declared to be the case, they might have wandered the whole earth over, and, had it been possible, searched through the whole range of history, before finding a monarch with a more kingly spirit than the great queen to whom they had at last had recourse. unfortunately, she was resolute in her refusal to accept the offered sovereignty. the first interview terminated with this exchange of addresses, and the deputies departed in their barges for their lodgings in pynchon-lane. the next two days were past in perpetual conferences, generally at lord burghley's house, between the envoys and the lords of the council, in which the acceptance of the sovereignty was vehemently urged on the part of the netherlanders, and steadily declined in the name of her majesty. "her highness," said burghley, "cannot be induced, by any writing or harangue that you can make, to accept the principality or proprietorship as sovereign, and it will therefore be labour lost for you to exhibit any writing for the purpose of changing her intention. it will be better to content yourselves with her majesty's consent to assist you, and to take you under her protection." nevertheless, two days afterwards, a writing was exhibited, drawn up by menin, in which another elaborate effort was made to alter the queen's determination. this anxiety, on the part of men already the principal personages in a republic, to merge the independent existence of their commonwealth in another and a foreign political organism, proved, at any rate; that they were influenced by patriotic motives alone. it is also instructive to observe the intense language with which the necessity of a central paramount sovereignty for all the provinces, and the inconveniences of the separate states' right principle were urged by a deputation, at the head of which stood olden-barneveld. "although it is not becoming in us," said they, "to enquire into your majesty's motives for refusing the sovereignty of our country, nevertheless, we cannot help observing that your consent would be most profitable, as well to your majesty, and your successors, as to the provinces themselves. by your acceptance of the sovereignty the two peoples would be, as it were, united in one body. this would cause a fraternal benevolence between them, and a single reverence, love, and obedience to your majesty.--the two peoples being thus under the government of the same sovereign prince, the intrigues and practices which the enemy could attempt with persons under a separate subjection, would of necessity surcease. moreover, those provinces are all distinct duchies, counties, seignories, governed by their own magistrates, laws, and ordinances; each by itself, without any authority or command to be exercised by one province over another. to this end they have need of a supreme power and of one sovereign prince or seignor, who may command all equally, having a constant regard to the public weal--considered as a generality, and not with regard to the profit of the one or the other individual province--and, causing promptly and universally to be executed such ordinances as may be made in the matter of war or police, according to various emergencies. each province, on the contrary, retaining its sovereignty over its own inhabitants, obedience will not be so promptly and completely rendered to the commands of the lieutenant-general of your majesty, and many, a good enterprise and opportunity, will be lost. where there is not a single authority it is always found that one party endeavours to usurp power over another, or to escape doing his duty so thoroughly as the others. and this has notoriously been the case in the matter of contributions, imposts, and similar matters." thus much, and more of similar argument, logically urged, made it sufficiently evident that twenty years of revolt and of hard fighting against one king, had not destroyed in the minds of the leading netherlanders their conviction of the necessity of kingship. if the new commonwealth was likely to remain a republic, it was, at that moment at any rate, because they could not find a king. certainly they did their best to annex themselves to england, and to become loyal subjects of england's elizabeth. but the queen, besides other objections to the course proposed by the provinces, thought that she could do a better thing in the way of mortgages. in this, perhaps, there was something of the penny-wise policy, which sprang from one great defect in her character. at any rate much mischief was done by the mercantile spirit which dictated the hard chaffering on both sides the channel at this important juncture; for during this tedious flint-paring, antwerp, which might have been saved, was falling into the hands of philip. it should never be forgotten, however, that the queen had no standing army, and but a small revenue. the men to be sent from england to the netherland wars were first to be levied wherever it was possible to find them. in truth, many were pressed in the various wards of london, furnished with red coats and matchlocks at the expense of the citizens, and so despatched, helter-skelter, in small squads as opportunity offered. general sir john norris was already superintending these operations, by command of the queen, before the present formal negotiation with the states had begun. subsequently to the th july, on which day the second address had been made to elizabeth, the envoys had many conferences with leicester, burghley, walsingham, and other councillors, without making much progress. there was perpetual wrangling about figures and securities. "what terms will you pledge for the repayment of the monies to be advanced?" asked burghley and walsingham. "but if her majesty takes the sovereignty," answered the deputies, "there will be no question of guarantees. the queen will possess our whole land, and there will be no need of any repayment." "and we have told you over and over again," said the lord treasurer, "that her majesty will never think of accepting the sovereignty. she will assist you in money and men, and must be repaid to the last farthing when the war is over; and, until that period, must have solid pledges in the shape of a town in each province." then came interrogatories as to the amount of troops and funds to be raised respectively by the queen and the states for the common cause. the provinces wished her majesty to pay one-third of the whole expense, while her majesty was reluctant to pay one-quarter. the states wished a permanent force to be kept on foot in the netherlands of thirteen thousand infantry and two thousand cavalry for the field, and twenty- three thousand for garrisons. the councillors thought the last item too much. then there were queries as to the expense of maintaining a force in the provinces. the envoys reckoned one pound sterling, or ten florins, a month for the pay of each foot soldier, including officers; and for the cavalry, three times as much. this seemed reasonable, and the answers to the inquiries touching the expense of the war-vessels and sailors were equally satisfactory. nevertheless it was difficult to bring the queen up to the line to which the envoys had been limited by their instructions. five thousand foot and one thousand horse serving at the queen's expense till the war should be concluded, over and above the garrisons for such cautionary towns as should be agreed upon; this was considered, by the states, the minimum. the queen held out for giving only four thousand foot and four hundred horse, and for deducting the garrisons even from this slender force. as guarantee for the expense thus to be incurred, she required that flushing and brill should be placed in her hands. moreover the position of antwerp complicated the negotiation. elizabeth, fully sensible of the importance of preserving that great capital, offered four thousand soldiers to serve until that city should be relieved, requiring repayment within three months after the object should have been accomplished. as special guarantee for such repayment she required sluys and ostend. this was sharp bargaining, but, at any rate, the envoys knew that the queen, though cavilling to the ninth-part of a hair, was no trifler, and that she meant to perform whatever she should promise. there was another exchange of speeches at the palace of nonesuch, on the th august; and the position of affairs and the respective attitudes of the queen and envoys were plainly characterized by the language then employed. after an exordium about the cruelty of the spanish tyranny and the enormous expense entailed by the war upon the netherlands, menin, who, as usual, was the spokesman, alluded to the difficulty which the states at last felt in maintaining themselves. "five thousand foot and one thousand horse," he said, "over and above the maintenance of garrisons in the towns to be pledged as security to your majesty, seemed the very least amount of succour that would be probably obtained from your royal bounty. considering the great demonstrations of affection and promises of support, made as well by your majesty's own letters as by the mouth of your ambassador davison, and by our envoys de gryse and ortel, who have all declared publicly that your majesty would never forsake us, the states sent us their deputies to this country in full confidence that such reasonable demands as we had been authorized to make would be satisfied." the speaker then proceeded to declare that the offer made by the royal councillors of four thousand foot and four hundred horse, to serve during the war, together with a special force of four thousand for the relief of antwerp, to be paid for within three months after the siege should be raised, auninst a concession of the cities of flushing, brill, sluys, and ostend, did not come within the limitations of the states-general. they therefore begged the queen to enlarge her offer to the number of five thousand foot and one thousand horse, or at least to allow the envoys to conclude the treaty provisionally, and subject to approval of their constituents. so soon as menin had concluded his address, her majesty instantly replied, with much earnestness and fluency of language. "gentlemen," she said, "i will answer you upon the first point, because it touches my honour. you say that i promised you, both by letters and through my agent davison, and also by my own lips, to assist you and never to abandon you, and that this had moved you to come to me at present. very well, masters, do you not think i am assisting you when i am sending you four thousand foot and four hundred horse to serve during the war? certainly, i think yes; and i say frankly that i have never been wanting to my word. no man shall ever say, with truth, that the queen of england had at any time and ever so slightly failed in her promises, whether to the mightiest monarch, to republics, to gentlemen, or even to private persons of the humblest condition. am i, then, in your opinion, forsaking you when i send you english blood, which i love, and which is my own blood, and which i am bound to defend? it seems to me, no. for my part i tell you again that i will never forsake you. "'sed de modo?' that is matter for agreement. you are aware, gentlemen, that i have storms to fear from many quarters--from france, scotland, ireland, and within my own kingdom. what would be said if i looked only on one side, and if on that side i employed all my resources. no, i will give my subjects no cause for murmuring. i know that my counsellors desire to manage matters with prudence; 'sed aetatem habeo', and you are to believe, that, of my own motion, i have resolved not to extend my offer of assistance, at present, beyond the amount already stated. but i don't say that at another time i may not be able to do more for you. for my intention is never to abandon your cause, always to assist you, and never more to suffer any foreign nation to have dominion over you. "it is true that you present me with two places in each of your provinces. i thank you for them infinitely, and certainly it is a great offer. but it will be said instantly, the queen of england wishes to embrace and devour everything; while, on the contrary, i only wish to render you assistance. i believe, in truth, that if other monarchs should have this offer, they would not allow such an opportunity to escape. i do not let it slip because of fears that i entertain for any prince whatever. for to think that i am not aware--doing what i am doing--that i am embarking in a war against the king of spain, is a great mistake. i know very well that the succour which i am affording you will offend him as much as if i should do a great deal more. but what care i? let him begin, i will answer him. for my part, i say again, that never did fear enter my heart. we must all die once. i know very well that many princes are my enemies, and are seeking my ruin; and that where malice is joined with force, malice often arrives at its ends. but i am not so feeble a princess that i have not the means and the will to defend myself against them all. they are seeking to take my life, but it troubles me not. he who is on high has defended me until this hour, and will keep me still, for in him do i trust. "as to the other point, you say that your powers are not extensive enough to allow your acceptance of the offer i make you. nevertheless, if i am not mistaken, i have remarked in passing--for princes look very close to words--that you would be content if i would give you money in place of men, and that your powers speak only of demanding a certain proportion of infantry and another of cavalry. i believe this would be, as you say, an equivalent, 'secundum quod'. but i say this only because you govern yourselves so precisely by the measure of your instructions. nevertheless i don't wish to contest these points with you. for very often 'dum romae disputatur saguntum perit.' nevertheless, it would be well for you to decide; and, in any event, i do not think it good that you should all take your departure, but that, on the contrary, you should leave some of your number here. otherwise it would at once be said that all was broken off, and that i had chosen to nothing for you; and with this the bad would comfort themselves, and the good would be much discouraged. "touching the last point of your demand--according to which you desire a personage of quality--i know, gentlemen, that you do not always agree very well among yourselves, and that it would be good for you to have some one to effect such agreement. for this reason i have always intended, so soon as we should have made our treaty, to send a lord of name and authority to reside with you, to assist you in governing, and to aid, with his advice, in the better direction of your affairs. "would to god that antwerp were relieved! certainly i should be very glad, and very well content to lose all that i am now expending if that city could be saved. i hope, nevertheless, if it can hold out six weeks longer, that we shall see something good. already the two thousand men of general norris have crossed, or are crossing, every day by companies. i will hasten the rest as much as possible; and i assure you, gentlemen, that i will spare no diligence. nevertheless you may, if you choose, retire with my council, and see if together you can come to some good conclusion." thus spoke elizabeth, like the wise, courageous, and very parsimonious princess that she was. alas, it was too true, that saguntum was perishing while the higgling went on at rome. had those two thousand under sir john norris and the rest of the four thousand but gone a few weeks earlier, how much happier might have been the result! nevertheless, it was thought in england that antwerp would still hold out; and, meantime, a treaty for its relief, in combination with another for permanent assistance to the provinces, was agreed upon between the envoys and the lords of council. on the th august, menin presented himself at nonesuch at the head of his colleagues, and, in a formal speech, announced the arrangement which had thus been entered into, subject to the approval of the states. again elizabeth, whose "tongue," in the homely phrase of the netherlanders, "was wonderfully well hung," replied with energy and ready eloquence. "you see, gentlemen," she said, "that i have opened the door; that i am embarking once for all with you in a war against the king of spain. very well, i am not anxious about the matter. i hope that god will aid us, and that we shall strike a good blow in your cause. nevertheless, i pray you, with all my heart, and by the affection you bear me, to treat my soldiers well; for they are my own englishmen, whom i love as i do myself. certainly it would be a great cruelty, if you should treat them ill, since they are about to hazard their lives so freely in your defence, and i am sure that my request in this regard will be received by you as it deserves. "in the next place, as you know that i am sending, as commander of these english troops, an honest gentleman, who deserves most highly for his experience in arms, so i am also informed that you have on your side a gentleman of great valour. i pray you, therefore, that good care be taken lest there be misunderstanding between these two, which might prevent them from agreeing well together, when great exploits of war are to be taken in hand. for if that should happen--which god forbid-- my succour would be rendered quite useless to you. i name count hohenlo, because him alone have i heard mentioned. but i pray you to make the same recommendation to all the colonels and gentlemen in your army; for i should be infinitely sad, if misadventures should arise from such a cause, for your interest and my honour are both at stake. "in the third place, i beg you, at your return, to make a favourable report of me, and to thank the states, in my behalf, for their great offers, which i esteem so highly as to be unable to express my thanks. tell them that i shall remember them for ever. i consider it a great honour, that from the commencement, you have ever been so faithful to me, and that with such great constancy you have preferred me to all other princes, and have chosen me for your queen. and chiefly do i thank the gentlemen of holland and zeeland, who, as i have been informed, were the first who so singularly loved me. and so on my own part i will have a special care of them, and will do my best to uphold them by every possible means, as i will do all the rest who have put their trust in me. but i name holland and zeeland more especially, because they have been so constant and faithful in their efforts to assist the rest in shaking off the yoke of the enemy. "finally, gentlemen, i beg you to assure the states that i do not decline the sovereignty of your country from any dread of the king of spain. for i take god to witness that i fear him not; and i hope, with the blessing of god, to make such demonstrations against him, that men shall say the queen of england does not fear the spaniards." elizabeth then smote herself upon the breast, and cried, with great energy, "'illa que virgo viri;' and is it not quite the same to you, even if i do not assume the sovereignty, since i intend to protect you, and since therefore the effects will be the same? it is true that the sovereignty would serve to enhance my grandeur, but i am content to do without it, if you, upon your own part, will only do your duty. "for myself, i promise you, in truth, that so long as i live, and even to my last sigh, i will never forsake you. go home and tell this boldly to the states which sent you hither." menin then replied with fresh expressions of thanks and compliments, and requested, in conclusion, that her majesty would be pleased to send, as soon as possible, a personage of quality to the netherlands. "gentlemen," replied elizabeth, "i intend to do this, so soon as our treaty shall be ratified, for, in contrary case, the king of spain, seeing your government continue on its present footing, would do nothing but laugh at us. certainly i do not mean this year to provide him with so fine a banquet." etext editor's bookmarks: anarchy which was deemed inseparable from a non-regal form dismay of our friends and the gratification of our enemies her teeth black, her bosom white and liberally exposed (eliz.) holland was afraid to give a part, although offering the whole resolved thenceforth to adopt a system of ignorance say "'tis pity he is not an englishman seeking protection for and against the people three hundred and upwards are hanged annually in london we must all die once wrath of bigots on both sides this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, volume history united netherlands, chapter vi., part . sir john norris sent to holland--parsimony of elizabeth--energy of davison--protracted negotiations--friendly sentiments of count maurice--letters from him and louisa de coligny--davison vexed by the queen's caprice--dissatisfaction of leicester--his vehement complaints--the queen's avarice--perplexity of davison--manifesto of elizabeth--sir philip sidney--his arrival at flushing. the envoys were then dismissed, and soon afterwards a portion of the deputation took their departure from the netherlands with the proposed treaty. it was however, as we know, quite too late for saguntum. two days after the signing of the treaty, the remaining envoys were at the palace of nonesuch, in conference with the earl of leicester, when a gentleman rushed suddenly into the apartment, exclaiming with great manifestations of anger: "antwerp has fallen! a treaty has been signed with the prince of parma. aldegonde is the author of it all. he is the culprit, who has betrayed us;" with many more expressions of vehement denunciation. the queen was disappointed, but stood firm. she had been slow in taking her resolution, but she was unflinching when her mind was made up. instead of retreating from her, position, now that it became doubly dangerous, she advanced several steps nearer towards her allies. for it was obvious, if more precious time should be lost, that holland and zeeland would share the fate of antwerp. already the belief, that, with the loss of that city, all had been lost, was spreading both in the provinces and in england, and elizabeth felt that the time had indeed come to confront the danger. meantime the intrigues of the enemy in the independent provinces were rife. blunt roger williams wrote in very plain language to walsingham, a very few days after the capitulation of antwerp: "if her majesty means to have holland and zeeland," said he, "she must resolve presently. aldegonde hath promised the enemy to bring them to compound. here arrived already his ministers which knew all his dealings about antwerp from first to last. count maurice is governed altogether by villiers, and villiers was never worse for the english than at this hour. to be short, the people say in general, they will accept a peace, unless her majesty do sovereign them presently. all the men of war will be at her highness' devotion, if they be in credit in time. what you do, it must be done presently, for i do assure your honour there is large offers presented unto them by the enemies. if her majesty deals not roundly and resolutely with them now, it will be too late two months hence." her majesty meant to deal roundly and resolutely. her troops had already gone in considerable numbers. she wrote encouraging letters with her own hand to the states, imploring them not to falter now, even though the great city had fallen. she had long since promised never to desert them, and she was, if possible, more determined than ever to redeem her pledge. she especially recommended to their consideration general norris, commander of the forces that had been despatched to the relief of antwerp. a most accomplished officer, sprung of a house renowned for its romantic valour, sir john was the second of the six sons of lord norris of rycot, all soldiers of high reputation, "chickens of mars," as an old writer expressed himself. "such a bunch of brethren for eminent achievement," said he, "was never seen. so great their states and stomachs that they often jostled with others." elizabeth called their mother, "her own crow;" and the darkness of her hair and visage was thought not unbecoming to her martial issue, by whom it had been inherited. daughter of lord williams of tame, who had been keeper of the tower in the time of elizabeth's imprisonment, she had been affectionate and serviceable to the princess in the hour of her distress, and had been rewarded with her favour in the days of her grandeur. we shall often meet this crow-black norris, and his younger brother sir edward--the most daring soldiers of their time, posters of sea and land--wherever the buffeting was closest, or adventure the wildest on ship-board or shore, for they were men who combined much of the knight-errantry of a vanishing age with the more practical and expansive spirit of adventure that characterized the new epoch. nor was he a stranger in the netherlands. "the gentleman to whom we have committed the government of the forces going to the relief of antwerp," said elizabeth, "has already given you such proofs of his affection by the good services he has rendered you, that without recommendation on our part, he should stand already recommended. nevertheless, in respect for his quality, the house from which he is descended, and the valour which he has manifested in your own country, we desire to tell you that we hold him dear, and that he deserves also to be dear to you." when the fall of antwerp was certain, the queen sent davison, who had been for a brief period in england, back again to his post. "we have learned," she said in the letter which she sent by that envoy; "with very great regret of the surrender of antwerp. fearing lest some apprehension should take possession of the people's mind in consequence, and that some dangerous change might ensue, we send you our faithful and well-beloved davison to represent to you how much we have your affairs at heart, and to say that we are determined to forget nothing that may be necessary to your preservation. assure yourselves that we shall never fail to accomplish all that he may promise you in our behalf." yet, notwithstanding the gravity of the situation, the thorough discussion that had taken place of the whole matter, and the enormous loss which had resulted from the money-saving insanity upon both sides, even then the busy devil of petty economy was not quite exorcised. several precious weeks were wasted in renewed chafferings. the queen was willing that the permanent force should now be raised to five thousand foot and one thousand horse--the additional sixteen, hundred men being taken from the antwerp relieving-force--but she insisted that the garrisons for the cautionary towns should be squeezed out of this general contingent. the states, on the contrary, were determined to screw these garrisons out of her grip, as an additional subsidy. each party complained with reason of the other's closeness. no doubt the states were shrewd bargainers, but it would have been difficult for the sharpest hollander that ever sent a cargo of herrings to cadiz, to force open elizabeth's beautiful hand when she chose to shut it close. walsingham and leicester were alternately driven to despair by the covetousness of the one party or the other. it was still uncertain what "personage of quality" was to go to the netherlands in the queen's name, to help govern the country. leicester had professed his readiness to risk his life, estates, and reputation, in the cause, and the states particularly desired his appointment. "the name of your excellency is so very agreeable to this people," said they in a letter to the earl, "as to give promise of a brief and happy end to this grievous and almost immortal war." the queen was, or affected to be, still undecided as to the appointment. while waiting week after week for the ratifications of the treaty from holland, affairs were looking gloomy at home, and her majesty was growing very uncertain in her temper. "i see not her majesty disposed to use the service of the earl of leicester," wrote walsingham. "i suppose the lot of government will light on lord gray. i would to god the ability of his purse were answerable to his sufficiency otherwise." this was certainly a most essential deficiency on the part of lord gray, and it will soon be seen that the personage of quality to be selected as chief in the arduous and honourable enterprise now on foot, would be obliged to rely quite as much on that same ability of purse as upon the sufficiency of his brain or arm. the queen did not mean to send her favourite forth to purchase anything but honour in the netherlands; and it was not the provinces only that were likely to struggle against her parsimony. yet that parsimony sprang from a nobler motive than the mere love of pelf. dangers encompassed her on every side, and while husbanding her own exchequer, she was saving her subjects' resources. "here we are but book-worms," said walsingham, "yet from sundry quarters we hear of great practices against this poor crown. the revolt in scotland is greatly feared, and that out of hand." scotland, france, spain, these were dangerous enemies and neighbours to a maiden queen, who had a rebellious ireland to deal with on one side the channel, and alexander of parma on the other. davison experienced great inconvenience and annoyance before the definite arrangements could be made. there is no doubt that the spanish party had made great progress since the fall of antwerp. roger williams was right in advising the queen to deal" roundly and resolutely" with the states, and to "sovereign them presently." they had need of being sovereigned, for it must be confessed that the self-government which prevailed at that moment was very like no government. the death of orange, the treachery of henry iii., the triumphs of parma, disastrous facts, treading rapidly upon each other, had produced a not very unnatural effect. the peace-at-any-price party was struggling hard for the ascendancy, and the spanish partizans were doing their best to hold up to suspicion the sharp practice of the english queen. she was even accused of underhand dealing with spain, to the disadvantage of the provinces; so much had slander, anarchy, and despair, been able to effect. the states were reluctant to sign those articles with elizabeth which were absolutely necessary to their salvation. "in how doubtful and uncertain terms i found things at my coming hither," wrote davison to burghley, "how thwarted and delayed since for a resolution, and with what conditions, and for what reasons i have been finally drawn to conclude with them as i have done, your lordship may perceive by that i have written to mr. secretary. the chief difficulty has rested upon the point of entertaining the garrisons within the towns of assurance, over and besides the five thousand footmen and one thousand horse." this, as davison proceeded to observe, was considered a 'sine qua non' by the states, so that, under the perilous circumstances in which both countries were placed, he had felt it his duty to go forward as far as possible to meet their demands. davison always did his work veraciously, thoroughly, and resolutely; and it was seldom that his advice, in all matters pertaining to netherland matters, did not prove the very best that could be offered. no man knew better than he the interests and the temper of both countries. the imperious elizabeth was not fond of being thwarted, least of all by any thing savouring of the democratic principle, and already there was much friction between the tudor spirit of absolutism and the rough "mechanical" nature with which it was to ally itself in the netherlands. the economical elizabeth was not pleased at being overreached in a bargain; and, at a moment when she thought herself doing a magnanimous act, she was vexed at the cavilling with which her generosity was received. "'tis a manner of proceeding," said walsingham, "not to be allowed of, and may very well be termed mechanical, considering that her majesty seeketh no interest in that country--as monsieur and the french king did--but only their good and benefit, without regard had of the expenses of her treasure and the hazard of her subjects' lives; besides throwing herself into a present war for their sakes with the greatest prince and potentate in europe. but seeing the government of those countries resteth in the hands of merchants and advocates--the one regarding profit, the other standing upon vantage of quirks--there is no better fruit to be looked to from them." yet it was, after all, no quirk in those merchants and advocates to urge that the queen was not going to war with the great potentate for their sakes alone. to elizabeth's honour, she did thoroughly comprehend that the war of the netherlands was the war of england, of protestantism, and of european liberty, and that she could no longer, without courting her own destruction, defer taking a part in active military operations. it was no quirk, then, but solid reasoning, for the states to regard the subject in the same light. holland and england were embarked in one boat, and were to sink or swim together. it was waste of time to wrangle so fiercely over pounds and shillings, but the fault was not to be exclusively imputed to the one side or the other. there were bitter recriminations, particularly on the part of elizabeth, for it was not safe to touch too closely either the pride or the pocket of that frugal and despotic heroine. "the two thousand pounds promised by the states to norris upon the muster of the two thousand volunteers," said walsingham, "were not paid. her majesty is not a little offended therewith, seeing how little care they have to yield her satisfaction, which she imputeth to proceed rather from contempt, than from necessity. if it should fall out, however, to be such as by them is pretended, then doth she conceive her bargain to be very ill made, to join her fortune with so weak and broken an estate." already there were indications that the innocent might be made to suffer for the short-comings of the real culprits; nor would it be, the first time, or by any means the last, for davison to appear in the character of a scape-goat. "surely, sir," continued mr. secretary, "it is a thing greatly to be feared that the contributions they will yield will fall not more true in paper than in payment; which if it should so happen, it would turn some to blame, whereof you among others are to bear your part." and thus the months of september and of october wore away, and the ratifications of the treaty had not arrived from the netherlands. elizabeth became furious, and those of the netherland deputation who had remained in england were at their wits' end to appease her choler. no news arrived for many weeks. those were not the days of steam and magnetic telegraphs--inventions by which the nature of man and the aspect of history seem altered--and the queen had nothing for it but to fret, and the envoys to concert with her ministers expedients to mitigate her spleen. towards the end of the month, the commissioners chartered a vessel which they despatched for news to holland. on his way across the sea the captain was hailed on the th october by a boat, in which one hans wyghans was leisurely proceeding to england with netherland despatches dated on the th of the same month. this was the freshest intelligence that had yet been received. so soon as the envoys were put in possession of the documents, they obtained an audience of the queen. this was the last day of october. elizabeth read her letters, and listened to the apologies made by the deputies for the delay with anything but a benignant countenance. then, with much vehemence of language, and manifestations of ill-temper, she expressed her displeasure at the dilatoriness of the states. having sent so many troops, and so many gentlemen of quality, she had considered the whole affair concluded. "i have been unhandsomely treated," she said, "and not as comports with a prince of my quality. my inclination for your support--because you show yourselves unworthy of so great benefits--will be entirely destroyed, unless you deal with me and mine more worthily for the future than you have done in the past. through my great and especial affection for your welfare, i had ordered the earl of leicester to proceed to the netherlands, and conduct your affairs; a man of such quality as all the world knows, and one whom i love, as if he were my own brother. he was getting himself ready in all diligence, putting himself in many perils through the practices of the enemy, and if i should have reason to believe that he would not be respected there according to his due, i should be indeed offended. he and many others are not going thither to advance their own affairs, to make themselves rich, or because they have not means enough to live magnificently at home. they proceed to the netherlands from pure affection for your cause. this is the case, too, with many other of my subjects, all dear to me, and of much worth. for i have sent a fine heap of folk thither--in all, with those his excellency is taking with him, not under ten thousand soldiers of the english nation. this is no small succour, and no little unbaring of this realm of mine, threatened as it is with war from many quarters. yet i am seeking no sovereignty, nor anything else prejudicial to the freedom of your country. i wish only, in your utmost need, to help you out of this lamentable war, to maintain for you liberty of conscience, and to see that law and justice are preserved." all this, and more, with great eagerness of expression and gesture, was urged by the queen, much to the discomfiture of the envoys. in vain they attempted to modify and to explain. their faltering excuses were swept rapidly away upon the current of royal wrath; until at last elizabeth stormed herself into exhaustion and comparative tranquillity. she then dismissed them with an assurance that her goodwill towards the states was not diminished, as would be found to be the case, did they not continue to prove themselves unworthy of her favour that a permanent force of five thousand foot and one thousand horse should serve in the provinces at the queen's expense; and that the cities of flushing and brill should be placed in her majesty's hands until the entire reimbursement of the debt thus incurred by the states. elizabeth also--at last overcoming her reluctance--agreed that the force necessary to garrison these towns should form an additional contingent, instead of being deducted from the general auxiliary force. count maurice of nassau had been confirmed by the states of holland and zeeland as permanent stadholder of those provinces. this measure excited some suspicion on the part of leicester, who, as it was now understood, was the "personage of quality" to be sent to the netherlands as representative of the queen's authority. "touching the election of count maurice," said the earl, "i hope it will be no impairing of the authority heretofore allotted to me, for if it will be, i shall tarry but awhile." nothing, however, could be more frank or chivalrously devoted than the language of maurice to the queen. "madam, if i have ever had occasion," he wrote, "to thank god for his benefits, i confess that it was when, receiving in all humility the letters with which it pleased your majesty to honour me, i learned that the great disaster of my lord and father's death had not diminished the debonaire affection and favour which it has always pleased your majesty to manifest to my father's house. it has been likewise grateful to me to learn that your majesty, surrounded by so many great and important affairs, had been pleased to approve the command which the states-general have conferred upon me. i am indeed grieved that my actions cannot correspond with the ardent desire which i feel to serve your majesty and these provinces, for which i hope that my extreme youth will be accepted as an excuse. and although i find myself feeble enough for the charge thus imposed upon me, yet god will assist my efforts to supply by diligence and sincere intention the defect of the other qualities requisite for my thorough discharge of my duty to the contentment of your majesty. to fulfil these obligations, which are growing greater day by day, i trust to prove by my actions that i will never spare either my labour or life." when it was found that the important town of flushing was required as part of the guaranty to the queen, maurice, as hereditary seignor and proprietor of the place--during the captivity of his elder brother in spain--signified his concurrence in the transfer, together with the most friendly feelings towards the earl of leicester, and to sir philip sidney, appointed english governor of the town. he wrote to davison, whom he called "one of the best and most certain friends that the house of nassau possessed in england," begging that he would recommend the interests of the family to the queen, "whose favour could do more than anything else in the world towards maintaining what remained of the dignity of their house." after solemn deliberation with his step-mother, louisa de coligny, and the other members of his family, he made a formal announcement of adhesion on the part of the house of nassau to the arrangements concluded with the english government, and asked the benediction of god upon the treaty. while renouncing, for the moment, any compensation for his consent to the pledging of flushing his "patrimonial property, and a place of such great importance"--he expressed a confidence that the long services of his father, as well as those which he himself hoped to render, would meet in time with "condign recognition." he requested the earl of leicester to consider the friendship which had existed between himself and the late prince of orange, as an hereditary affection to be continued to the children, and he entreated the earl to do him the honour in future to hold him as a son, and to extend to him counsel and authority; declaring, on his part, that he should ever deem it an honour to be allowed to call him father. and in order still more strongly to confirm his friendship, he begged sir philip sidney to consider him as his brother, and as his companion in arms, promising upon his own part the most faithful friendship. in the name of louisa de coligny, and of his whole family, he also particularly recommended to the queen the interests of the eldest brother of the house, philip william, "who had been so long and so iniquitously detained captive in spain," and begged that, in case prisoners of war of high rank should fall into the hands of the english commanders, they might be employed as a means of effecting the liberation of that much-injured prince. he likewise desired the friendly offices of the queen to protect the principality of orange against the possible designs of the french monarch, and intimated that occasions might arise in which the confiscated estates of the family in burgundy might be recovered through the influence of the swiss cantons, particularly those of the grisons and of berne. and, in conclusion, in case the queen should please--as both count maurice and the princess of orange desired with all their hearts--to assume the sovereignty of these provinces, she was especially entreated graciously to observe those suggestions regarding the interests of the house of nassau, which had been made in the articles of the treaty. thus the path had been smoothed, mainly through the indefatigable energy of davison. yet that envoy was not able to give satisfaction to his imperious and somewhat whimsical mistress, whose zeal seemed to cool in proportion to the readiness with which the obstacles to her wishes were removed. davison was, with reason, discontented. he had done more than any other man either in england or the provinces, to bring about a hearty cooperation in the common cause, and to allay mutual heart-burnings and suspicions. he had also, owing to the negligence of the english treasurer for the netherlands, and the niggardliness of elizabeth, been placed in a position, of great financial embarrassment. his situation was very irksome. "i mused at the sentence you sent me," he wrote, "for i know no cause her majesty hath to shrink at her charges hitherto. the treasure she hath yet disbursed here is not above five or six thousand pounds, besides that which i have been obliged to take up for the saving of her honour, and necessity of her service, in danger otherwise of some notable disgrace. i will not, for shame, say how i have been left here to myself." the delay in the formal appointment of leicester, and, more particularly, of the governors for the cautionary towns, was the cause of great confusion and anarchy in the transitional condition of the country. "the burden i am driven to sustain," said davison, "doth utterly weary me. if sir philip sidney were here, and if my lord of leicester follow not all the sooner, i would use her majesty's liberty to return home. if her majesty think me worthy the reputation of a poor, honest, and loyal servant, i have that contents me. for the rest, i wish 'vivere sine invidia, mollesque inglorius annos egigere, amicitias et mihi jungere pares.'" there was something almost prophetic in the tone which this faithful public servant--to whom, on more than one occasion, such hard measure was to be dealt--habitually adopted in his private letters and conversation. he did his work, but he had not his reward; and he was already weary of place without power, and industry without recognition. "for mine own particular," he said, "i will say with the poet, 'crede mihi, bene qui latuit bene vixit, et intra fortunam debet quisque manere suam.'" for, notwithstanding the avidity with which elizabeth had sought the cautionary towns, and the fierceness with which she had censured the tardiness of the states, she seemed now half inclined to drop the prize which she had so much coveted, and to imitate the very languor which she had so lately rebuked. "she hath what she desired," said davison, "and might yet have more, if this content her not. howsoever you value the places at home, they are esteemed here, by such as know them best, no little increase to her majesty's honour, surety, and greatness, if she be as careful to keep them as happy in getting them. of this, our cold beginning doth already make me jealous." sagacious and resolute princess as she was, she showed something of feminine caprice upon this grave occasion. not davison alone, but her most confidential ministers and favourites at home, were perplexed and provoked by her misplaced political coquetries. but while the alternation of her hot and cold fits drove her most devoted courtiers out of patience, there was one symptom that remained invariable throughout all her paroxysms, the rigidity with which her hand was locked. walsingham, stealthy enough when an advantage was to be gained by subtlety, was manful and determined in his dealings with his friends; and he had more than once been offended with elizabeth's want of frankness in these transactions. "i find you grieved, and not without cause," he wrote to davison, "in respect to the over thwart proceedings as well there as here. the disorders in those countries would be easily redressed if we could take a thoroughly resolute course here--a matter that men may rather pray for than hope for. it is very doubtful whether the action now in hand will be accompanied by very hard success, unless they of the country there may be drawn to bear the greatest part of the burden of the wars." and now the great favourite of all had received the appointment which he coveted. the earl of leicester was to be commander-in-chief of her majesty's forces in the netherlands, and representative of her authority in those countries, whatever that office might prove to be. the nature of his post was anomalous from the beginning. it was environed with difficulties, not the least irritating of which proceeded from the captious spirit of the queen. the earl was to proceed in great pomp to holland, but the pomp was to be prepared mainly at his own expense. besides the auxiliary forces that had been shipped during the latter period of the year, leicester was raising a force of lancers, from four to eight hundred in number; but to pay for that levy he was forced to mortgage his own property, while the queen not only refused to advance ready money, but declined endorsing his bills. it must be confessed that the earl's courtship of elizabeth was anything at that moment but a gentle dalliance. in those thorny regions of finance were no beds of asphodel or amaranthine bowers. there was no talk but of troopers, saltpetre, and sulphur, of books of assurance, and bills of exchange; and the aspect of elizabeth, when the budget was under discussion, must effectually have neutralized for the time any very tender sentiment. the sharpness with which she clipped leicester's authority, when authority was indispensable to his dignity, and the heavy demands upon his resources that were the result of her avarice, were obstacles more than enough to the calm fruition of his triumphs. he had succeeded, in appearance at least, in the great object of his ambition, this appointment to the netherlands; but the appointment was no sinecure, and least of all a promising pecuniary speculation. elizabeth had told the envoys, with reason, that she was not sending forth that man--whom she loved as a brother--in order that he might make himself rich. on the contrary, the earl seemed likely to make himself comparatively poor before he got to the provinces, while his political power, at the moment, did not seem of more hopeful growth. leicester had been determined and consistent in this great enterprize from the beginning. he felt intensely the importance of the crisis. he saw that the time had come for swift and uncompromising action, and the impatience with which he bore the fetters imposed upon him may be easily conceived. "the cause is such," he wrote to walsingham, "that i had as lief be dead as be in the case i shall be in if this restraint hold for taking the oath there, or if some more authority be not granted than i see her majesty would i should have. i trust you all will hold hard for this, or else banish me england withal. i have sent you the books to be signed by her majesty. i beseech you return them with all haste, for i get no money till they be under seal." but her majesty would not put them under her seal, much to the favourite's discomfiture. "your letter yieldeth but cold answer," he wrote, two days afterwards. "above all things yet that her majesty doth stick at, i marvel most at her refusal to sign my book of assurance; for there passeth nothing in the earth against her profit by that act, nor any good to me but to satisfy the creditors, who were more scrupulous than needs. i did complain to her of those who did refuse to lend me money, and she was greatly offended with them. but if her majesty were to stay this, if i were half seas over, i must of necessity come back again, for i may not go without money. i beseech, if the matter be refused by her, bestow a post on me to harwich. i lie this night at sir john peters', and but for this doubt i had been to-morrow at harwich. i pray god make you all that be counsellors plain and direct to the furtherance of all good service for her majesty and the realm; and if it be the will of god to plague us that go, and you that tarry, for our sins, yet let us not be negligent to seek to please the lord." the earl was not negligent at any rate in seeking to please the queen, but she was singularly hard to please. she had never been so uncertain in her humours as at this important crisis. she knew, and had publicly stated as much, that she was "embarking in a war with the greatest potentate in europe;" yet now that the voyage had fairly commenced, and the waves were rolling around her, she seemed anxious to put back to the shore. for there was even a whisper of peace-negotiations, than which nothing could have been more ill-timed. "i perceive by your message," said leicester to walsingham, "that your peace with spain will go fast on, but this is not the way." unquestionably it was not the way, and the whisper was, for the moment at least, suppressed. meanwhile leicester had reached harwich, but the post "bestowed on him," contained, as usual, but cold comfort. he was resolved, however, to go manfully forward, and do the work before him, until the enterprise should prove wholly impracticable. it is by the light afforded by the secret never-published correspondence of the period with which we are now occupied, that the true characteristics of elizabeth, the earl of leicester, and other prominent personages, must be scanned, and the study is most important, for it was by those characteristics, in combination with other human elements embodied in distant parts of christendom, that the destiny of the world was determined. in that age, more than in our own perhaps, the influence of the individual was widely and intensely felt. historical chymistry is only rendered possible by a detection of the subtle emanations, which it was supposed would for ever elude analysis, but which survive in those secret, frequently ciphered intercommunications. philip ii., william of orange, queen elizabeth, alexander farnese, robert dudley, never dreamed--when disclosing their inmost thoughts to their trusted friends at momentous epochs--that the day would come on earth when those secrets would be no longer hid from the patient enquirer after truth. well for those whose reputations before the judgment-seat of history appear even comparatively pure, after impartial comparison of their motives with their deeds. "for mine own part, mr. secretary," wrote leicester, "i am resolved to do that which shall be fit for a poor man's honour, and honestly to obey her majesty's commandment. let the rest fall out to others, it shall not concern me. i mean to assemble myself to the camp, where my authority must wholly lie, and will there do that which in good reason and duty i shall be bound to do. i am sorry that her majesty doth deal in this sort, and if content to overthrow so willingly her own cause. if there can be means to salve this sore, i will. if not,--i tell you what shall become of me, as truly as god lives." yet it is remarkable, that, in spite of this dark intimation, the earl, after all, did not state what was to become of him if the sore was not salved. he was, however, explicit enough as to the causes of his grief, and very vehement in its manifestations. "another matter which shall concern me deeply," he said, "and all the subjects there, is now by you to be carefully considered, which is--money. i find that the money is already gone, and this now given to the treasurer will do no more than pay to the end of the month. i beseech you look to it, for by the lord! i will bear no more so miserable burdens; for if i have no money to pay them, let them come home, or what else. i will not starve them, nor stay them. there was never gentleman nor general so sent out as i am; and if neither queen nor council care to help it, but leave men desperate, as i see men shall be, that inconvenience will follow which i trust in the lord i shall be free of." he then used language about himself, singularly resembling the phraseology employed by elizabeth concerning him, when she was scolding the netherland commissioners for the dilatoriness and parsimony of the states. "for mine own part," he said, "i have taken upon me this voyage, not as a desperate nor forlorn man, but as one as well contented with his place and calling at home as any subject was ever. my cause was not, nor is, any other than the lord's and the queen's. if the queen fail, yet must i trust in the lord, and on him, i see, i am wholly to depend. i can say no more, but pray to god that her majesty never send general again as i am sent. and yet i will do what i can for her and my country." the earl had raised a choice body of lancers to accompany him to the netherlands, but the expense of the levy had come mainly upon his own purse. the queen had advanced five thousand pounds, which was much less than the requisite amount, while for the balance required, as well as for other necessary expenses, she obstinately declined to furnish leicester with funds, even refusing him, at last, a temporary loan. she violently accused him of cheating her, reclaimed money which he had wrung from her on good security, and when he had repaid the sum, objected to give him a discharge. as for receiving anything by way of salary, that was quite out of the question. at that moment he would have been only too happy to be reimbursed for what he was already out of pocket. whether elizabeth loved leicester as a brother, or better than a brother, may be a historical question, but it is no question at all that she loved money better than she did leicester. unhappy the man, whether foe or favourite, who had pecuniary transactions with her highness. "i am sorry," said the earl, "that her majesty hath so hard a conceit of me, that i should go about to cozen her, as though i had got a fee simple from her, and had it not before, or that i had not had her full release for payment of the money i borrowed. i pray god, any that did put such scruple in her, have not deceived her more than i have done. i thank god i have a clear conscience for deceiving her, and for money matters. i think i may justly say i have been the only cause of more gain to her coffers than all her chequer-men have been. but so is the hap of some, that all they do is nothing, and others that do nothing, do all, and have all the thanks. but i would this were all the grief i carry with me; but god is my comfort, and on him i cast all, for there is no surety in this world beside. what hope of help can i have, finding her majesty so strait with myself as she is? i did trust that--the cause being hers and this realm's--if i could have gotten no money of her merchants, she would not have refused to have lent money on so easy prized land as mine, to have been gainer and no loser by it. her majesty, i see, will make trial of me how i love her, and what will discourage me from her service. but resolved am i that no worldly respect shall draw me back from my faithful discharge of my duty towards her, though she shall show to hate me, as it goeth very near; for i find no love or favour at all. and i pray you to remember that i have not had one penny of her majesty towards all these charges of mine--not one penny-and, by all truth, i have already laid out above five thousand pounds. her majesty appointed eight thousand pounds for the levy, which was after the rate of four hundred horse, and, upon my fidelity, there is shipped, of horse of service, eight hundred, so that there ought eight thousand more to have been paid me. no general that ever went that was not paid to the uttermost of these things before he went, but had cash for his provision, which her majesty would not allow me--not one groat. well, let all this go, it is like i shall be the last shall bear this, and some must suffer for the people. good mr. secretary, let her majesty know this, for i deserve god-a-mercy, at the least." leicester, to do him justice, was thoroughly alive to the importance of the crisis. on political principle, at any rate, he was a firm supporter of protestantism, and even of puritanism; a form of religion which elizabeth detested, and in which, with keen instinct, she detected a mutinous element against the divine right of kings. the earl was quite convinced of the absolute necessity that england should take up the netherland matter most vigorously, on pain of being herself destroyed. all the most sagacious counsellors of elizabeth were day by day more and more confirmed in this opinion, and were inclined heartily to support the new lieutenant-general. as for leicester himself, while fully conscious of his own merits, and of his firm intent to do his duty, he was also grateful to those who were willing to befriend him in his arduous enterprise. "i have received a letter from my lord willoughby," he said, "to my seeming, as wise a letter as i have read a great while, and not unfit for her majesty's sight. i pray god open her eyes, that they may behold her present estate indeed, and the wonderful means that god doth offer unto her. if she lose these opportunities, who can look for other but dishonour and destruction? my lord treasurer hath also written me a most hearty and comfortable letter touching this voyage, not only in showing the importance of it, both for her majesty's own safety and the realm's, but that the whole state of religion doth depend thereon, and therefore doth faithfully promise his whole and best assistance for the supply of all wants. i was not a little glad to receive such a letter from him at this time." and from on board the 'amity,' ready to set sail, he expressed his thanks to burghley, at finding him so "earnestly bent for the good supply and maintenance of us poor men sent in her majesty's service and our country's." as for walsingham, earnestly a defender of the netherland cause from the beginning, he was wearied and disgusted with fighting against the queen's parsimony and caprice. "he is utterly discouraged," said leicester to burghley, "to deal any more in these causes. i pray god your lordship grow not so too; for then all will to the ground; on my poor side especially." and to sir francis himself, he wrote, even as his vessel was casting off her moorings:--"i am sorry, mr. secretary," he said, "to find you so discouraged, and that her majesty doth deem you so partial. and yet my suits to her majesty have not of late been so many nor great, while the greatest, i am sure, are for her majesty's own service. for my part, i will discharge my duty as far as my poor ability and capacity shall serve, and if i shall not have her gracious and princely support and supply, the lack will be to us, for the present, but the shame and dishonour will be hers." and with these parting words the earl committed himself to the december seas. davison had been meantime doing his best to prepare the way in the netherlands for the reception of the english administration. what man could do, without money and without authority, he had done. the governors for flushing and the brill, sir philip sidney and sir thomas cecil, eldest son of lord burghley, had been appointed, but had not arrived. their coming was anxiously looked for, as during the interval the condition of the garrisons was deplorable. the english treasurer-- by some unaccountable and unpardonable negligence, for which it is to be feared the queen was herself to blame--was not upon the spot, and davison was driven out of his wits to devise expedients to save the soldiers from starving. "your lordship has seen by my former letters," wrote the ambassador to burghley from flushing, "what shift i have been driven to for the relief of this garrison here, left 'a l'abandon;' without which mean they had all fallen into wild and shameful disorder, to her majesty's great disgrace and overthrow of her service. i am compelled, unless i would see the poor men famish, and her majesty aishonournd, to try my poor credit for them." general sir john norris was in the betuwe, threatening nvymegen, a town which he found "not so flexible as he had hoped;" and, as he had but two thousand men, while alexander farnese was thought to be marching upon him with ten thousand, his position caused great anxiety. meantime, his brother, sir edward, a hot-headed and somewhat wilful young man, who "thought that all was too little for him," was giving the sober davison a good deal of trouble. he had got himself into a quarrel, both with that envoy and with roger williams, by claiming the right to control military matters in flushing until the arrival of sidney. "if sir thomas and sir philip," said davison, "do not make choice of more discreet, staid, and expert commanders than those thrust into these places by mr. norris, they will do themselves a great deal of worry, and her majesty a great deal of hurt." as might naturally be expected, the lamentable condition of the english soldiers, unpaid and starving--according to the report of the queen's envoy himself--exercised anything but a salutary influence upon the minds of the netherlanders and perpetually fed the hopes of the spanish partizans that a composition with philip and parma would yet take place. on the other hand, the states had been far more liberal in raising funds than the queen had shown herself to be, and were somewhat indignant at being perpetually taunted with parsimony by her agents. davison was offended by the injustice of norris in this regard. "the complaints which the general hath made of the states to her majesty," said he, "are without cause, and i think, when your lordship shall examine it well, you will find it no little sum they have already disbursed unto him for their part. wherein, nevertheless, if they had been looked into, they were somewhat the more excusable, considering how ill our people at her majesty's entertainment were satisfied hitherto--a thing that doth much prejudice her reputation, and hurt her service." at last, however, the die had been cast. the queen, although rejecting the proposed sovereignty of the netherlands, had espoused their cause, by solemn treaty of alliance, and thereby had thrown down the gauntlet to spain. she deemed it necessary, therefore, out of respect for the opinions of mankind, to issue a manifesto of her motives to the world. the document was published, simultaneously in dutch, french, english, and italian. in this solemn state-paper she spoke of the responsibility of princes to the almighty, of the ancient friendship between england and the netherlands, of the cruelty and tyranny of the spaniards, of their violation of the liberties of the provinces, of their hanging, beheading, banishing without law and against justice, in the space of a few months, so many of the highest nobles in the land. although in the beginning of the cruel persecution, the pretext had been the maintenance of the catholic religion, yet it was affirmed they had not failed to exercise their barbarity upon catholics also, and even upon ecclesiastics. of the principal persons put to death, no one, it was asserted, had been more devoted to the ancient church than was the brave count egmont, who, for his famous victories in the service of spain, could never be forgotten in veracious history any more than could be the cruelty of his execution. the land had been made desolate, continued the queen, with fire, sword, famine, and murder. these misfortunes had ever been bitterly deplored by friendly nations, and none could more truly regret such sufferings than did the english, the oldest allies, and familiar neighbours of the provinces, who had been as close to them in the olden time by community of connexion and language, as man and wife. she declared that she had frequently, by amicable embassies, warned her brother of spain--speaking to him like a good, dear sister and neighbour--that unless he restrained the cruelty of his governors and their soldiers, he was sure to force his provinces into allegiance to some other power. she expressed the danger in which she should be placed if the spaniards succeeded in establishing their absolute government in the netherlands, from which position their attacks upon england would be incessant. she spoke of the enterprise favoured and set on foot by the pope and by spain, against the kingdom of ireland. she alluded to the dismissal of the spanish envoy, don bernardino de mendoza, who had been treated by her with great regard for a long time, but who had been afterwards discovered in league with certain ill-disposed and seditious subjects of hers, and with publicly condemned traitors. that envoy had arranged a plot according to which, as appeared by his secret despatches, an invasion of england by a force of men, coming partly from spain, and partly from the netherlands, might be successfully managed, and he had even noted down the necessary number of ships and men, with various other details. some of the conspirators had fled, she observed, and were now consorting with mendoza, who, after his expulsion from england, had been appointed ambassador in paris; while some had been arrested, and had confessed the plot. so soon as this envoy had been discovered to be the chief of a rebellion and projected invasion, the queen had requested him, she said, to leave the kingdom within a reasonable time, as one who was the object of deadly hatred to the english people. she had then sent an agent to spain, in order to explain the whole transaction. that agent had not been allowed even to deliver despatches to the king. when the french had sought, at a previous period, to establish their authority in scotland, even as the spaniards had attempted to do in the netherlands, and through the enormous ambition of the house of guise, to undertake the invasion of her kingdom, she had frustrated their plots, even as she meant to suppress these spanish conspiracies. she spoke of the prince of parma as more disposed by nature to mercy and humanity, than preceding governors had been, but as unable to restrain the blood- thirstiness of spaniards, increased by long indulgence. she avowed, in assuming the protection of the netherlands, and in sending her troops to those countries, but three objects: peace, founded upon the recognition of religious freedom in the provinces, restoration of their ancient political liberties, and security for england. never could there be tranquillity, for her own realm until these neighbouring countries were tranquil. these were her ends and aims, despite all that slanderous tongues might invent. the world, she observed, was overflowing with blasphemous libels, calumnies, scandalous pamphlets; for never had the devil been so busy in supplying evil tongues with venom against the professors of the christian religion. she added that in a pamphlet, ascribed to the archbishop of milan, just published, she had been accused of ingratitude to the king of spain, and of plots to take the life of alexander farnese. in answer to the first charge, she willingly acknowledged her obligations to the king of spain during the reign of her sister. she pronounced it, however, an absolute falsehood that he had ever saved her life, as if she had ever been condemned to death. she likewise denied earnestly the charge regarding the prince of parma. she protested herself incapable of such a crime, besides declaring that he had never given her offence. on the contrary, he was a man whom she had ever honoured for the rare qualities that she had noted in him, and for which he had deservedly acquired a high reputation. such, in brief analysis, was the memorable declaration of elizabeth in favour of the netherlands--a document which was a hardly disguised proclamation of war against philip. in no age of the world could an unequivocal agreement to assist rebellious subjects, with men and money, against their sovereign, be considered otherwise than as a hostile demonstration. the king of spain so regarded the movement, and forthwith issued a decree, ordering the seizure of all english as well as all netherland vessels within his ports, together with the arrest of persons, and confiscation of property. subsequently to the publication of the queen's memorial, and before the departure of the earl of leicester, sir philip sidney, having received his appointment, together with the rank of general of cavalry, arrived in the isle of walcheren, as governor of flushing, at the head of a portion of the english contingent. it is impossible not to contemplate with affection so radiant a figure, shining through the cold mists of that zeeland winter, and that distant and disastrous epoch. there is hardly a character in history upon which the imagination can dwell with more unalloyed delight. not in romantic fiction was there ever created a more attractive incarnation of martial valour, poetic genius, and purity of heart. if the mocking spirit of the soldier of lepanto could "smile chivalry away," the name alone of his english contemporary is potent enough to conjure it back again, so long as humanity is alive to the nobler impulses. "i cannot pass him over in silence," says a dusty chronicler, "that glorious star, that lively pattern of virtue, and the lovely joy of all the learned sort. it was god's will that he should be born into the world, even to show unto our age a sample of ancient virtue." the descendant of an ancient norman race, and allied to many of the proudest nobles in england, sidney himself was but a commoner, a private individual, a soldier of fortune. he was now in his thirty second year, and should have been foremost among the states men of elizabeth, had it not been, according to lord bacon, a maxim of the cecils, that "able men should be by design and of purpose suppressed." whatever of truth there may have been in the bitter remark, it is certainly strange that a man so gifted as sidney--of whom his father-in-law walsingham had declared, that "although he had influence in all countries, and a hand upon all affairs, his philip did far overshoot him with his own bow"--should have passed so much of his life in retirement, or in comparatively insignificant employments. the queen, as he himself observed, was most apt to interpret everything to his disadvantage. among those who knew him well, there seems never to have been a dissenting voice. his father, sir henry sidney, lord-deputy of ireland, and president of wales, a states man of accomplishments and experience, called him "lumen familiae suae," and said of him, with pardonable pride, "that he had the most virtues which he had ever found in any man; that he was the very formular that all well-disposed young gentlemen do form their manners and life by." the learned hubert languet, companion of melancthon, tried friend of william the silent, was his fervent admirer and correspondent. the great prince of orange held him in high esteem, and sent word to queen elizabeth, that having himself been an actor in the most important affairs of europe, and acquainted with her foremost men, he could "pledge his credit that her majesty had one of the ripest and greatest councillors of state in sir philip sidney that lived in europe." the incidents of his brief and brilliant life, up to his arrival upon the fatal soil of the netherlands, are too well known to need recalling. adorned with the best culture that, in a learned age, could be obtained in the best seminaries of his native country, where, during childhood and youth, he had been distinguished for a "lovely and familiar gravity beyond his years," he rapidly acquired the admiration of his comrades and the esteem of all his teachers. travelling for three years, he made the acquaintance and gained the personal regard of such opposite characters as charles ix. of france, henry of navarre, don john of austria, and william of orange, and perfected his accomplishments by residence and study, alternately, in courts, camps, and learned universities. he was in paris during the memorable days of august, , and narrowly escaped perishing in the st. bartholomew massacre. on his return, he was, for a brief period, the idol of the english court, which, it was said, "was maimed without his company." at the age of twenty-one he was appointed special envoy to vienna, ostensibly for the purpose of congratulating the emperor rudolph upon his accession, but in reality that he might take the opportunity of sounding the secret purposes of the protestant princes of germany, in regard to the great contest of the age. in this mission, young as he was, he acquitted himself, not only to the satisfaction, but to the admiration of walsingham, certainly a master himself in that occult science, the diplomacy of the sixteenth century. "there hath not been," said he, "any gentleman, i am sure, that hath gone through so honourable a charge with as great commendations as he." when the memorable marriage-project of queen elizabeth with anjou seemed about to take effect, he denounced the scheme in a most spirited and candid letter, addressed to her majesty; nor is it recorded that the queen was offended with his frankness. indeed we are informed that "although he found a sweet stream of sovereign humours in that well- tempered lady to run against him, yet found he safety in herself against that selfness which appeared to threaten him in her." whatever this might mean, translated out of euphuism into english, it is certain that his conduct was regarded with small favour by the court-grandees, by whom "worth, duty, and justice, were looked upon with no other eyes than lamia's." the difficulty of swimming against that sweet stream of sovereign humours in the well-tempered elizabeth, was aggravated by his quarrel, at this period, with the magnificent oxford. a dispute at a tennis-court, where many courtiers and foreigners were looking on, proceeded rapidly from one extremity to another. the earl commanded sir philip to leave the place. sir philip responded, that if he were of a mind that he should go, he himself was of a mind that he should remain; adding that if he had entreated, where he had no right to command, he might have done more than "with the scourge of fury."--"this answer," says fulke greville, in a style worthy of don adriano de armado, "did, like a bellows, blowing up the sparks of excess already kindled, make my lord scornfully call sir philip by the name of puppy. in which progress of heat, as the tempest grew more and more vehement within, so did their hearts breathe out their perturbations in a more loud and shrill accent;" and so on; but the impending duel was the next day forbidden by express command of her majesty. sidney, not feeling the full force of the royal homily upon the necessity of great deference from gentlemen to their superiors in rank, in order to protect all orders from the insults of plebeians, soon afterwards retired from the court. to his sylvan seclusion the world owes the pastoral and chivalrous romance of the 'arcadia' and to the pompous earl, in consequence, an emotion of gratitude. nevertheless, it was in him to do, rather than to write, and humanity seems defrauded, when forced to accept the 'arcadia,' the `defence of poesy,' and the 'astrophel and stella,' in discharge of its claims upon so great and pure a soul. notwithstanding this disagreeable affair, and despite the memorable letter against anjou, sir philip suddenly flashes upon us again, as one of the four challengers in a tournament to honour the duke's presence in england. a vision of him in blue gilded armour--with horses caparisoned in cloth of gold, pearl-embroidered, attended by pages in cloth of silver, venetian hose, laced hats, and by gentlemen, yeomen, and trumpeters, in yellow velvet cassocks, buskins, and feathers--as one of "the four fostered children of virtuous desire" (to wit, anjou) storming "the castle of perfect beauty" (to wit, queen elizabeth, aetatis ) rises out of the cloud-dusts of ancient chronicle for a moment, and then vanishes into air again. "having that day his hand, his horse, his lance, guided so well that they attained the prize both in the judgment of our english eyes, but of some sent by that sweet enemy, france," as he chivalrously sings, he soon afterwards felt inclined for wider fields of honourable adventure. it was impossible that knight-errant so true should not feel keenest sympathy with an oppressed people struggling against such odds, as the netherlanders were doing in their contest with spain. so soon as the treaty with england was arranged, it was his ambition to take part in the dark and dangerous enterprise, and, being son-in-law to walsingham and nephew to leicester, he had a right to believe that his talents and character would, on this occasion, be recognised. but, like his "very friend," lord willoughby, he was "not of the genus reptilia, and could neither creep nor crouch," and he failed, as usual, to win his way to the queen's favour. the governorship of flushing was denied him, and, stung to the heart by such neglect, he determined to seek his fortune beyond the seas. "sir philip hath taken a very hard resolution," wrote walsingham to davison, "to accompany sir francis drake in this voyage, moved thereto for that he saw her majesty disposed to commit the charge of flushing unto some other; which he reputed would fall out greatly to his disgrace, to see another preferred before him, both for birth and judgment inferior unto him. the despair thereof and the disgrace that he doubted he should receive have carried him into a different course." the queen, however, relenting at last, interfered to frustrate his design. having thus balked his ambition in the indian seas, she felt pledged to offer him the employment which he had originally solicited, and she accordingly conferred upon him the governorship of flushing, with the rank of general of horse, under the earl of leicester. in the latter part of november, he cast anchor, in the midst of a violent storm, at rammekins, and thence came to the city of his government. young, and looking even younger than his years--"not only of an excellent wit, but extremely beautiful of face"--with delicately chiselled anglo-norman features, smooth fair cheek, a faint moustache, blue eyes, and a mass of amber-coloured hair; such was the author of 'arcadia' and the governor of flushing. and thus an anglo-norman representative of ancient race had come back to the home of his ancestors. scholar, poet, knight-errant, finished gentleman, he aptly typified the result of seven centuries of civilization upon the wild danish pirate. for among those very quicksands of storm-beaten walachria that wondrous normandy first came into existence whose wings were to sweep over all the high places of christendom. out of these creeks, lagunes, and almost inaccessible sandbanks, those bold freebooters sailed forth on their forays against england, france, and other adjacent countries, and here they brought and buried the booty of many a wild adventure. here, at a later day, rollo the dane had that memorable dream of leprosy, the cure of which was the conversion of north gaul into normandy, of pagans into christians, and the subsequent conquest of every throne in christendom from ultima thule to byzantium. and now the descendant of those early freebooters had come back to the spot, at a moment when a wider and even more imperial swoop was to be made by their modern representatives. for the sea-kings of the sixteenth century--the drakes, hawkinses, frobishers, raleighs, cavendishes--the de moors, heemskerks, barendts--all sprung of the old pirate-lineage, whether called englanders or hollanders, and instinct with the same hereditary love of adventure, were about to wrestle with ancient tyrannies, to explore the most inaccessible regions, and to establish new commonwealths in worlds undreamed of by their ancestors-- to accomplish, in short, more wondrous feats than had been attempted by the knuts, and rollos, rurics, ropers, and tancreds, of an earlier age. the place which sidney was appointed to govern was one of great military and commercial importance. flushing was the key to the navigation of the north seas, ever since the disastrous storm of a century before, in which a great trading city on the outermost verge of the island had been swallowed bodily by the ocean. the emperor had so thoroughly recognized its value, as to make special mention of the necessity for its preservation, in his private instructions to philip, and now the queen of england had confided it to one who was competent to appreciate and to defend the prize. "how great a jewel this place (flushing) is to the crown of england," wrote sidney to his uncle leicester, "and to the queen's safety, i need not now write it to your lordship, who knows it so well. yet i must needs say, the better i know it, the more i find the preciousness of it." he did not enter into his government, however, with much pomp and circumstance, but came afoot into flushing in the midst of winter and foul weather. "driven to land at rammekins," said he, "because the wind began to rise in such sort as from thence our mariners durst not enter the town, i came with as dirty a walk as ever poor governor entered his charge withal." but he was cordially welcomed, nor did he arrive by any means too soon. "i find the people very glad of our coming," he said, "and promise myself as much surety in keeping this town, as popular good-will, gotten by light hopes, and by as slight conceits, may breed; for indeed the garrison is far too weak to command by authority, which is pity . . . . i think, truly, that if my coming had been longer delayed, some alteration would have followed; for the truth is, this people is weary of war, and if they do not see such a course taken as may be likely to defend them, they will in a sudden give over the cause. . . . all will be lost if government be not presently used." he expressed much anxiety for the arrival of his uncle, with which sentiments he assured the earl that the netherlanders fully sympathized. "your lordship's coming," he said, "is as much longed for as messias is of the jews. it is indeed most necessary that your lordship make great speed to reform both the dutch and english abuses." etext editor's bookmarks: able men should be by design and of purpose suppressed he did his work, but he had not his reward matter that men may rather pray for than hope for not of the genus reptilia, and could neither creep nor crouch others that do nothing, do all, and have all the thanks peace-at-any-price party the busy devil of petty economy thought that all was too little for him weary of place without power motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition the rise of the dutch republic, - , complete a history by john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. corresponding member of the institute of france, etc. [etext editor's note: john lothrop motley, born in dorchester, mass. , died . other works: morton's hopes and merry mount, novels. motley was the united states minister to austria, - , and the united states minister to england, - . mark twain mentions his respect for john motley. oliver wendell holmes said in 'an oration delivered before the city authorities of boston' on the th of july, : "'it cannot be denied,'--says another observer, placed on one of our national watch-towers in a foreign capital,--'it cannot be denied that the tendency of european public opinion, as delivered from high places, is more and more unfriendly to our cause; but the people,' he adds, 'everywhere sympathize with us, for they know that our cause is that of free institutions,--that our struggle is that of the people against an oligarchy.' these are the words of the minister to austria, whose generous sympathies with popular liberty no homage paid to his genius by the class whose admiring welcome is most seductive to scholars has ever spoiled; our fellow-citizen, the historian of a great republic which infused a portion of its life into our own,--john lothrop motley." (see the biography of motley, by holmes) ed.] preface the rise of the dutch republic must ever be regarded as one of the leading events of modern times. without the birth of this great commonwealth, the various historical phenomena of: the sixteenth and following centuries must have either not existed; or have presented themselves under essential modifications.--itself an organized protest against ecclesiastical tyranny and universal empire, the republic guarded with sagacity, at many critical periods in the world's history; that balance of power which, among civilized states; ought always to be identical with the scales of divine justice. the splendid empire of charles the fifth was erected upon the grave of liberty. it is a consolation to those who have hope in humanity to watch, under the reign of his successor, the gradual but triumphant resurrection of the spirit over which the sepulchre had so long been sealed. from the handbreadth of territory called the province of holland rises a power which wages eighty years' warfare with the most potent empire upon earth, and which, during the progress of the struggle, becoming itself a mighty state, and binding about its own slender form a zone of the richest possessions of earth, from pole to tropic, finally dictates its decrees to the empire of charles. so much is each individual state but a member of one great international commonwealth, and so close is the relationship between the whole human family, that it is impossible for a nation, even while struggling for itself, not to acquire something for all mankind. the maintenance of the right by the little provinces of holland and zealand in the sixteenth, by holland and england united in the seventeenth, and by the united states of america in the eighteenth centuries, forms but a single chapter in the great volume of human fate; for the so-called revolutions of holland, england, and america, are all links of one chain. to the dutch republic, even more than to florence at an earlier day, is the world indebted for practical instruction in that great science of political equilibrium which must always become more and more important as the various states of the civilized world are pressed more closely together, and as the struggle for pre-eminence becomes more feverish and fatal. courage and skill in political and military combinations enabled william the silent to overcome the most powerful and unscrupulous monarch of his age. the same hereditary audacity and fertility of genius placed the destiny of europe in the hands of william's great-grandson, and enabled him to mould into an impregnable barrier the various elements of opposition to the overshadowing monarchy of louis xiv. as the schemes of the inquisition and the unparalleled tyranny of philip, in one century, led to the establishment of the republic of the united provinces, so, in the next, the revocation of the nantes edict and the invasion of holland are avenged by the elevation of the dutch stadholder upon the throne of the stipendiary stuarts. to all who speak the english language; the history of the great agony through which the republic of holland was ushered into life must have peculiar interest, for it is a portion of the records of the anglo-saxon race--essentially the same, whether in friesland, england, or massachusetts. a great naval and commercial commonwealth, occupying a small portion of europe but conquering a wide empire by the private enterprise of trading companies, girdling the world with its innumerable dependencies in asia, america, africa, australia--exercising sovereignty in brazil, guiana, the west indies, new york, at the cape of good hope, in hindostan, ceylon, java, sumatra, new holland--having first laid together, as it were, many of the cyclopean blocks, out of which the british realm, at a late: period, has been constructed--must always be looked upon with interest by englishmen, as in a great measure the precursor in their own scheme of empire. for america the spectacle is one of still deeper import. the dutch republic originated in the opposition of the rational elements of human nature to sacerdotal dogmatism and persecution--in the courageous resistance of historical and chartered liberty to foreign despotism. neither that liberty nor ours was born of the cloud-embraces of a false divinity with, a humanity of impossible beauty, nor was the infant career of either arrested in blood and tears by the madness of its worshippers. "to maintain," not to overthrow, was the device of the washington of the sixteenth century, as it was the aim of our own hero and his great contemporaries. the great western republic, therefore--in whose anglo-saxon veins flows much of that ancient and kindred blood received from the nation once ruling a noble portion of its territory, and tracking its own political existence to the same parent spring of temperate human liberty--must look with affectionate interest upon the trials of the elder commonwealth. these volumes recite the achievement of dutch independence, for its recognition was delayed till the acknowledgment was superfluous and ridiculous. the existence of the republic is properly to be dated from the union of utrecht in , while the final separation of territory into independent and obedient provinces, into the commonwealth of the united states and the belgian provinces of spain, was in reality effected by william the silent, with whose death three years subsequently, the heroic period of the history may be said to terminate. at this point these volumes close. another series, with less attention to minute details, and carrying the story through a longer range of years, will paint the progress of the republic in its palmy days, and narrate the establishment of, its external system of dependencies and its interior combinations for self-government and european counterpoise. the lessons of history and the fate of free states can never be sufficiently pondered by those upon whom so large and heavy a responsibility for the maintenance of rational human freedom rests. i have only to add that this work is the result of conscientious research, and of an earnest desire to arrive at the truth. i have faithfully studied all the important contemporary chroniclers and later historians--dutch, flemish, french, italian, spanish, or german. catholic and protestant, monarchist and republican, have been consulted with the same sincerity. the works of bor (whose enormous but indispensable folios form a complete magazine of contemporary state-papers, letters, and pamphlets, blended together in mass, and connected by a chain of artless but earnest narrative), of meteren, de thou, burgundius, heuterus; tassis, viglius, hoofd, haraeus, van der haer, grotius-of van der vynckt, wagenaer, van wyn, de jonghe, kluit, van kampen, dewez, kappelle, bakhuyzen, groen van prinsterer--of ranke and raumer, have been as familiar to me as those of mendoza, carnero, cabrera, herrera, ulloa, bentivoglio, peres, strada. the manuscript relations of those argus-eyed venetian envoys who surprised so many courts and cabinets in their most unguarded moments, and daguerreotyped their character and policy for the instruction of the crafty republic, and whose reports remain such an inestimable source for the secret history of the sixteenth century, have been carefully examined--especially the narratives of the caustic and accomplished badovaro, of suriano, and michele. it is unnecessary to add that all the publications of m. gachard--particularly the invaluable correspondence of philip ii. and of william the silent, as well as the "archives et correspondence" of the orange nassau family, edited by the learned and distinguished groen van prinsterer, have been my constant guides through the tortuous labyrinth of spanish and netherland politics. the large and most interesting series of pamphlets known as "the duncan collection," in the royal library at the hague, has also afforded a great variety of details by which i have endeavoured to give color and interest to the narrative. besides these, and many other printed works, i have also had the advantage of perusing many manuscript histories, among which may be particularly mentioned the works of pontua payen, of renom de france, and of pasquier de la barre; while the vast collection of unpublished documents in the royal archives of the hague, of brussels, and of dresden, has furnished me with much new matter of great importance. i venture to hope that many years of labour, a portion of them in the archives of those countries whose history forms the object of my study, will not have been entirely in vain; and that the lovers of human progress, the believers in the capacity of nations for self-government and self-improvement, and the admirers of disinterested human genius and virtue, may find encouragement for their views in the detailed history of an heroic people in its most eventful period, and in the life and death of the great man whose name and fame are identical with those of his country. no apology is offered for this somewhat personal statement. when an unknown writer asks the attention of the public upon an important theme, he is not only authorized, but required, to show, that by industry and earnestness he has entitled himself to a hearing. the author too keenly feels that he has no further claims than these, and he therefore most diffidently asks for his work the indulgence of his readers. i would take this opportunity of expressing my gratitude to dr. klemm, hofrath and chief librarian at dresden, and to mr. von weber, ministerial-rath and head of the royal archives of saxony, for the courtesy and kindness extended to me so uniformly during the course of my researches in that city. i would also speak a word of sincere thanks to mr. campbell, assistant librarian at the hague, for his numerous acts of friendship during the absence of, his chief, m. holtrop. to that most distinguished critic and historian, m. bakhuyzen van den brinck, chief archivist of the netherlands, i am under deep obligations for advice, instruction, and constant kindness, during my residence at the hague; and i would also signify my sense of the courtesy of mr. charter-master de schwane, and of the accuracy with which copies of mss. in the archives were prepared for me by his care. finally, i would allude in the strongest language of gratitude and respect to m. gachard, archivist-general of belgium, for his unwearied courtesy and manifold acts of kindness to me during my studies in the royal archives of brussels. the rise of the dutch republic historical introduction. part . i. the north-western corner of the vast plain which extends from the german ocean to the ural mountains, is occupied by the countries called the netherlands. this small triangle, enclosed between france, germany, and the sea, is divided by the modern kingdoms of belgium and holland into two nearly equal portions. our earliest information concerning this territory is derived from the romans. the wars waged by that nation with the northern barbarians have rescued the damp island of batavia, with its neighboring morasses, from the obscurity in which they might have remained for ages, before any thing concerning land or people would have been made known by the native inhabitants. julius caesar has saved from, oblivion the heroic savages who fought against his legions in defence of their dismal homes with ferocious but unfortunate patriotism; and the great poet of england, learning from the conqueror's commentaries the name of the boldest tribe, has kept the nervii, after almost twenty centuries, still fresh and familiar in our ears. tacitus, too, has described with singular minuteness the struggle between the people of these regions and the power of rome, overwhelming, although tottering to its fall; and has moreover, devoted several chapters of his work upon germany to a description of the most remarkable teutonic tribes of the netherlands. geographically and ethnographically, the low countries belong both to gaul and to germany. it is even doubtful to which of the two the batavian island, which is the core of the whole country, was reckoned by the romans. it is, however, most probable that all the land, with the exception of friesland, was considered a part of gaul. three great rivers--the rhine, the meuse, and the scheld--had deposited their slime for ages among the dunes and sand banks heaved up by the ocean around their mouths. a delta was thus formed, habitable at last for man. it was by nature a wide morass, in which oozy islands and savage forests were interspersed among lagoons and shallows; a district lying partly below the level of the ocean at its higher tides, subject to constant overflow from the rivers, and to frequent and terrible inundations by the sea. the rhine, leaving at last the regions where its storied lapse, through so many ages, has been consecrated alike by nature and art-by poetry and eventful truth--flows reluctantly through the basalt portal of the seven mountains into the open fields which extend to the german sea. after entering this vast meadow, the stream divides itself into two branches, becoming thus the two-horned rhine of virgil, and holds in these two arms the island of batavia. the meuse, taking its rise in the vosges, pours itself through the ardennes wood, pierces the rocky ridges upon the southeastern frontier of the low countries, receives the sambre in the midst of that picturesque anthracite basin where now stands the city of namur, and then moves toward the north, through nearly the whole length of the country, till it mingles its waters with the rhine. the scheld, almost exclusively a belgian river, after leaving its fountains in picardy, flows through the present provinces of flanders and hainault. in caesar's time it was suffocated before reaching the sea in quicksands and thickets, which long afforded protection to the savage inhabitants against the roman arms; and which the slow process of nature and the untiring industry of man have since converted into the archipelago of zealand and south holland. these islands were unknown to the romans. such were the rivers, which, with their numerous tributaries, coursed through the spongy land. their frequent overflow, when forced back upon their currents by the stormy sea, rendered the country almost uninhabitable. here, within a half-submerged territory, a race of wretched ichthyophagi dwelt upon terpen, or mounds, which they had raised, like beavers, above the almost fluid soil. here, at a later day, the same race chained the tyrant ocean and his mighty streams into subserviency, forcing them to fertilize, to render commodious, to cover with a beneficent network of veins and arteries, and to bind by watery highways with the furthest ends of the world, a country disinherited by nature of its rights. a region, outcast of ocean and earth, wrested at last from both domains their richest treasures. a race, engaged for generations in stubborn conflict with the angry elements, was unconsciously educating itself for its great struggle with the still more savage despotism of man. the whole territory of the netherlands was girt with forests. an extensive belt of woodland skirted the sea-coast; reaching beyond the mouths of the rhine. along the outer edge of this carrier, the dunes cast up by the sea were prevented by the close tangle of thickets from drifting further inward; and thus formed a breastwork which time and art were to strengthen. the groves of haarlem and the hague are relics of this ancient forest. the badahuenna wood, horrid with druidic sacrifices, extended along the eastern line of the vanished lake of flevo. the vast hercynian forest, nine days' journey in breadth, closed in the country on the german side, stretching from the banks of the rhine to the remote regions of the dacians, in such vague immensity (says the conqueror of the whole country) that no german, after traveling sixty days, had ever reached, or even heard of; its commencement. on the south, the famous groves of ardennes, haunted by faun and satyr, embowered the country, and separated it from celtic gaul. thus inundated by mighty rivers, quaking beneath the level of the ocean, belted about by hirsute forests, this low land, nether land, hollow land, or holland, seemed hardly deserving the arms of the all-accomplished roman. yet foreign tyranny, from the earliest ages, has coveted this meagre territory as lustfully as it has sought to wrest from their native possessors those lands with the fatal gift of beauty for their dower; while the genius of liberty has inspired as noble a resistance to oppression here as it ever aroused in grecian or italian breasts. ii. it can never be satisfactorily ascertained who were the aboriginal inhabitants. the record does not reach beyond caesar's epoch, and he found the territory on the left of the rhine mainly tenanted by tribes of the celtic family. that large division of the indo-european group which had already overspread many portions of asia minor, greece, germany, the british islands, france, and spain, had been long settled in belgic gaul, and constituted the bulk of its population. checked in its westward movement by the atlantic, its current began to flow backwards towards its fountains, so that the gallic portion of the netherland population was derived from the original race in its earlier wanderings and from the later and refluent tide coming out of celtic gaul. the modern appellation of the walloons points to the affinity of their ancestors with the gallic, welsh, and gaelic family. the belgae were in many respects a superior race to most of their blood-allies. they were, according to caesar's testimony, the bravest of all the celts. this may be in part attributed to the presence of several german tribes, who, at this period had already forced their way across the rhine, mingled their qualities with the belgic material, and lent an additional mettle to the celtic blood. the heart of the country was thus inhabited by a gallic race, but the frontiers had been taken possession of by teutonic tribes. when the cimbri and their associates, about a century before our era, made their memorable onslaught upon rome, the early inhabitants of the rhine island of batavia, who were probably celts, joined in the expedition. a recent and tremendous inundation had swept away their miserable homes, and even the trees of the forests, and had thus rendered them still more dissatisfied with their gloomy abodes. the island was deserted of its population. at about the same period a civil dissension among the chatti--a powerful german race within the hercynian forest--resulted in the expatriation of a portion of the people. the exiles sought a new home in the empty rhine island, called it "bet-auw," or "good-meadow," and were themselves called, thenceforward, batavi, or batavians. these batavians, according to tacitus, were the bravest of all the germans. the chatti, of whom they formed a portion, were a pre-eminently warlike race. "others go to battle," says the historian, "these go to war." their bodies were more hardy, their minds more vigorous, than those of other tribes. their young men cut neither hair nor beard till they had slain an enemy. on the field of battle, in the midst of carnage and plunder, they, for the first time, bared their faces. the cowardly and sluggish, only, remained unshorn. they wore an iron ring, too, or shackle upon their necks until they had performed the same achievement, a symbol which they then threw away, as the emblem of sloth. the batavians were ever spoken of by the romans with entire respect. they conquered the belgians, they forced the free frisians to pay tribute, but they called the batavians their friends. the tax-gatherer never invaded their island. honorable alliance united them with the romans. it was, however, the alliance of the giant and the dwarf. the roman gained glory and empire, the batavian gained nothing but the hardest blows. the batavian cavalry became famous throughout the republic and the empire. they were the favorite troops of caesar, and with reason, for it was their valor which turned the tide of battle at pharsalia. from the death of julius down to the times of vespasian, the batavian legion was the imperial body guard, the batavian island the basis of operations in the roman wars with gaul, germany, and britain. beyond the batavians, upon the north, dwelt the great frisian family, occupying the regions between the rhine and ems, the zuyder zee and the dollart, both caused by the terrific inundations of the thirteenth century and not existing at this period, did not then interpose boundaries between kindred tribes. all formed a homogeneous nation of pure german origin. thus, the population of the country was partly celtic, partly german. of these two elements, dissimilar in their tendencies and always difficult to blend, the netherland people has ever been compounded. a certain fatality of history has perpetually helped to separate still more widely these constituents, instead of detecting and stimulating the elective affinities which existed. religion, too, upon all great historical occasions, has acted as the most powerful of dissolvents. otherwise, had so many valuable and contrasted characteristics been early fused into a whole, it would be difficult to show a race more richly endowed by nature for dominion and progress than the belgo-germanic people. physically the two races resembled each other. both were of vast stature. the gigantic gaul derided the roman soldiers as a band of pigmies. the german excited astonishment by his huge body and muscular limbs. both were fair, with fierce blue eyes, but the celt had yellow hair floating over his shoulders, and the german long locks of fiery red, which he even dyed with woad to heighten the favorite color, and wore twisted into a war-knot upon the top of his head. here the german's love of finery ceased. a simple tunic fastened at his throat with a thorn, while his other garments defined and gave full play to his limbs, completed his costume. the gaul, on the contrary, was so fond of dress that the romans divided his race respectively into long-haired, breeched, and gowned gaul; (gallia comata, braccata, togata). he was fond of brilliant and parti-colored clothes, a taste which survives in the highlander's costume. he covered his neck and arms with golden chains. the simple and ferocious german wore no decoration save his iron ring, from which his first homicide relieved him. the gaul was irascible, furious in his wrath, but less formidable in a sustained conflict with a powerful foe. "all the gauls are of very high stature," says a soldier who fought under julian. (amm. marcel. xv. . ). "they are white, golden-haired, terrible in the fierceness of their eyes, greedy of quarrels, bragging and insolent. a band of strangers could not resist one of them in a brawl, assisted by his strong blue-eyed wife, especially when she begins, gnashing her teeth, her neck swollen, brandishing her vast and snowy arms, and kicking with her heels at the same time, to deliver her fisticuffs, like bolts from the twisted strings of a catapult. the voices of many are threatening and formidable. they are quick to anger, but quickly appeased. all are clean in their persons; nor among them is ever seen any man or woman, as elsewhere, squalid in ragged garments. at all ages they are apt for military service. the old man goes forth to the fight with equal strength of breast, with limbs as hardened by cold and assiduous labor, and as contemptuous of all dangers, as the young. not one of them, as in italy is often the case, was ever known to cut off his thumbs to avoid the service of mars." the polity of each race differed widely from that of the other. the government of both may be said to have been republican, but the gallic tribes were aristocracies, in which the influence of clanship was a predominant feature; while the german system, although nominally regal, was in reality democratic. in gaul were two orders, the nobility and the priesthood, while the people, says caesar, were all slaves. the knights or nobles were all trained to arms. each went forth to battle, followed by his dependents, while a chief of all the clans was appointed to take command during the war. the prince or chief governor was elected annually, but only by the nobles. the people had no rights at all, and were glad to assign themselves as slaves to any noble who was strong enough to protect them. in peace the druids exercised the main functions of government. they decided all controversies, civil and criminal. to rebel against their decrees was punished by exclusion from the sacrifices--a most terrible excommunication, through which the criminal was cut off from all intercourse with his fellow-creatures. with the germans, the sovereignty resided in the great assembly of the people. there were slaves, indeed, but in small number, consisting either of prisoners of war or of those unfortunates who had gambled away their liberty in games of chance. their chieftains, although called by the romans princes and kings, were, in reality, generals, chosen by universal suffrage. elected in the great assembly to preside in war, they were raised on the shoulders of martial freemen, amid wild battle cries and the clash of spear and shield. the army consisted entirely of volunteers, and the soldier was for life infamous who deserted the field while his chief remained alive. the same great assembly elected the village magistrates and decided upon all important matters both of peace and war. at the full of the moon it was usually convoked. the nobles and the popular delegates arrived at irregular intervals, for it was an inconvenience arising from their liberty, that two or three days were often lost in waiting for the delinquents. all state affairs were in the hands of this fierce democracy. the elected chieftains had rather authority to persuade than power to command. the gauls were an agricultural people. they were not without many arts of life. they had extensive flocks and herds; and they even exported salted provisions as far as rome. the truculent german, ger-mane, heer-mann, war-man, considered carnage the only useful occupation, and despised agriculture as enervating and ignoble. it was base, in his opinion, to gain by sweat what was more easily acquired by blood. the land was divided annually by the magistrates, certain farms being assigned to certain families, who were forced to leave them at the expiration of the year. they cultivated as a common property the lands allotted by the magistrates, but it was easier to summon them to the battle-field than to the plough. thus they were more fitted for the roaming and conquering life which providence was to assign to them for ages, than if they had become more prone to root themselves in the soil. the gauls built towns and villages. the german built his solitary hut where inclination prompted. close neighborhood was not to his taste. in their system of religion the two races were most widely contrasted. the gauls were a priest-ridden race. their druids were a dominant caste, presiding even over civil affairs, while in religious matters their authority was despotic. what were the principles of their wild theology will never be thoroughly ascertained, but we know too much of its sanguinary rites. the imagination shudders to penetrate those shaggy forests, ringing with the death-shrieks of ten thousand human victims, and with the hideous hymns chanted by smoke-and-blood-stained priests to the savage gods whom they served. the german, in his simplicity, had raised himself to a purer belief than that of the sensuous roman or the superstitious gaul. he believed in a single, supreme, almighty god, all-vater or all-father. this divinity was too sublime to be incarnated or imaged, too infinite to be enclosed in temples built with hands. such is the roman's testimony to the lofty conception of the german. certain forests were consecrated to the unseen god whom the eye of reverent faith could alone behold. thither, at stated times, the people repaired to worship. they entered the sacred grove with feet bound together, in token of submission. those who fell were forbidden to rise, but dragged themselves backwards on the ground. their rules were few and simple. they had no caste of priests, nor were they, when first known to the romans, accustomed to offer sacrifice. it must be confessed that in a later age, a single victim, a criminal or a prisoner, was occasionally immolated. the purity of their religion was soon stained by their celtic neighborhood. in the course of the roman dominion it became contaminated, and at last profoundly depraved. the fantastic intermixture of roman mythology with the gloomy but modified superstition of romanized celts was not favorable to the simple character of german theology. the entire extirpation, thus brought about, of any conceivable system of religion, prepared the way for a true revelation. within that little river territory, amid those obscure morasses of the rhine and scheld, three great forms of religion--the sanguinary superstition of the druid, the sensuous polytheism of the roman, the elevated but dimly groping creed of the german, stood for centuries, face to face, until, having mutually debased and destroyed each other, they all faded away in the pure light of christianity. thus contrasted were gaul and german in religious and political systems. the difference was no less remarkable in their social characteristics. the gaul was singularly unchaste. the marriage state was almost unknown. many tribes lived in most revolting and incestuous concubinage; brethren, parents, and children, having wives in common. the german was loyal as the celt was dissolute. alone among barbarians, he contented himself with a single wife, save that a few dignitaries, from motives of policy, were permitted a larger number. on the marriage day the german offered presents to his bride--not the bracelets and golden necklaces with which the gaul adorned his fair-haired concubine, but oxen and a bridled horse, a sword, a shield, and a spear-symbols that thenceforward she was to share his labors and to become a portion of himself. they differed, too, in the honors paid to the dead. the funerals of the gauls were pompous. both burned the corpse, but the celt cast into the flames the favorite animals, and even the most cherished slaves and dependents of the master. vast monuments of stone or piles of earth were raised above the ashes of the dead. scattered relics of the celtic age are yet visible throughout europe, in these huge but unsightly memorials. the german was not ambitious at the grave. he threw neither garments nor odors upon the funeral pyre, but the arms and the war-horse of the departed were burned and buried with him. the turf was his only sepulchre, the memory of his valor his only monument. even tears were forbidden to the men. "it was esteemed honorable," says the historian, "for women to lament, for men to remember." the parallel need be pursued no further. thus much it was necessary to recall to the historical student concerning the prominent characteristics by which the two great races of the land were distinguished: characteristics which time has rather hardened than effaced. in the contrast and the separation lies the key to much of their history. had providence permitted a fusion of the two races, it is, possible, from their position, and from the geographical and historical link which they would have afforded to the dominant tribes of europe, that a world-empire might have been the result, different in many respects from any which has ever arisen. speculations upon what might have been are idle. it is well, however; to ponder the many misfortunes resulting from a mutual repulsion, which, under other circumstances and in other spheres, has been exchanged for mutual attraction and support. it is now necessary to sketch rapidly the political transformations undergone by the country, from the early period down to the middle of the sixteenth century; the epoch when the long agony commenced, out of which the batavian republic was born. iii. the earliest chapter in the history of the netherlands was written by their conqueror. celtic gaul is already in the power of rome; the belgic tribes, alarmed at the approaching danger, arm against the universal, tyrant. inflammable, quick to strike, but too fickle to prevail against so powerful a foe, they hastily form a league of almost every clan. at the first blow of caesar's sword, the frail confederacy falls asunder like a rope of sand. the tribes scatter in all directions. nearly all are soon defeated, and sue for mercy. the nervii, true to the german blood in their veins, swear to die rather than surrender. they, at least, are worthy of their cause. caesar advances against them at the head of eight legions. drawn up on the banks of the sambre, they await the roman's approach. in three days' march caesar comes up with them, pitches his camp upon a steep hill sloping down to the river, and sends some cavalry across. hardly have the roman horsemen crossed the stream, than the nervii rush from the wooded hill-top, overthrow horse and rider, plunge in one great mass into the current, and, directly afterwards, are seen charging up the hill into the midst of the enemy's force. "at the same moment," says the conqueror, "they seemed in the wood, in the river, and within our lines." there is a panic among the romans, but it is brief. eight veteran roman legions, with the world's victor at their head, are too much for the brave but undisciplined nervii. snatching a shield from a soldier, and otherwise unarmed, caesar throws himself into the hottest of the fight. the battle rages foot to foot and hand to hand but the hero's skill, with the cool valor of his troops, proves invincible as ever. the nervii, true to their vow, die, but not a man surrenders. they fought upon that day till the ground was heaped with their dead, while, as the foremost fell thick and fast, their comrades, says the roman, sprang upon their piled-up bodies, and hurled their javelins at the enemy as from a hill. they fought like men to whom life without liberty was a curse. they were not defeated, but exterminated. of many thousand fighting men went home but five hundred. upon reaching the place of refuge where they had bestowed their women and children, caesar found, after the battle, that there were but three of their senators left alive. so perished the nervii. caesar commanded his legions to treat with respect the little remnant of the tribe which had just fallen to swell the empty echo of his glory, and then, with hardly a breathing pause, he proceeded to annihilate the aduatici, the menapii, and the morini. gaul being thus pacified, as, with sublime irony, he expresses himself concerning a country some of whose tribes had been annihilated, some sold as slaves, and others hunted to their lairs like beasts of prey, the conqueror departed for italy. legations for peace from many german races to rome were the consequence of these great achievements. among others the batavians formed an alliance with the masters of the world. their position was always an honorable one. they were justly proud of paying no tribute, but it was, perhaps, because they had nothing to pay. they had few cattle, they could give no hides and horns like the frisians, and they were therefore allowed to furnish only their blood. from this time forth their cavalry, which was the best of germany, became renowned in the roman army upon every battle-field of europe. it is melancholy, at a later moment, to find the brave batavians distinguished in the memorable expedition of germanicus to crush the liberties of their german kindred. they are forever associated with the sublime but misty image of the great hermann, the hero, educated in rome, and aware of the colossal power of the empire, who yet, by his genius, valor, and political adroitness, preserved for germany her nationality, her purer religion, and perhaps even that noble language which her late-flowering literature has rendered so illustrious--but they are associated as enemies, not as friends. galba, succeeding to the purple upon the suicide of nero, dismissed the batavian life-guards to whom he owed his elevation. he is murdered, otho and vitellius contend for the succession, while all eyes are turned upon the eight batavian regiments. in their hands the scales of empire seem to rest. they declare for vitellius, and the civil war begins. otho is defeated; vitellius acknowledged by senate and people. fearing, like his predecessors, the imperious turbulence of the batavian legions, he, too, sends them into germany. it was the signal for a long and extensive revolt, which had well nigh overturned the roman power in gaul and lower germany. iv. claudius civilis was a batavian of noble race, who had served twenty-five years in the roman armies. his teutonic name has perished, for, like most savages who become denizens of a civilized state, he had assumed an appellation in the tongue of his superiors. he was a soldier of fortune, and had fought wherever the roman eagles flew. after a quarter of a century's service he was sent in chains to rome, and his brother executed, both falsely charged with conspiracy. such were the triumphs adjudged to batavian auxiliaries. he escaped with life, and was disposed to consecrate what remained of it to a nobler cause. civilis was no barbarian. like the german hero arminius, he had received a roman education, and had learned the degraded condition of rome. he knew the infamous vices of her rulers; he retained an unconquerable love for liberty and for his own race. desire to avenge his own wrongs was mingled with loftier motives in his breast. he knew that the sceptre was in the gift of the batavian soldiery. galba had been murdered, otho had destroyed himself, and vitellius, whose weekly gluttony cost the empire more gold than would have fed the whole batavian population and converted their whole island-morass into fertile pastures, was contending for the purple with vespasian, once an obscure adventurer like civilis himself, and even his friend and companion in arms. it seemed a time to strike a blow for freedom. by his courage, eloquence, and talent for political combinations, civilis effected a general confederation of all the netherland tribes, both celtic and german. for a brief moment there was a united people, a batavian commonwealth. he found another source of strength in german superstition. on the banks of the lippe, near its confluence with the rhine, dwelt the virgin velleda, a bructerian weird woman, who exercised vast influence over the warriors of her nation. dwelling alone in a lofty tower, shrouded in a wild forest, she was revered as an oracle. her answers to the demands of her worshippers concerning future events were delivered only to a chosen few. to civilis, who had formed a close friendship with her, she promised success, and the downfall of the roman world. inspired by her prophecies, many tribes of germany sent large subsidies to the batavian chief. the details of the revolt have been carefully preserved by tacitus, and form one of his grandest and most elaborate pictures. the spectacle of a brave nation, inspired by the soul of one great man and rising against an overwhelming despotism, will always speak to the heart, from generation to generation. the battles, the sieges, the defeats, the indomitable spirit of civilis, still flaming most brightly when the clouds were darkest around him, have been described by the great historian in his most powerful manner. the high-born roman has thought the noble barbarian's portrait a subject worthy his genius. the struggle was an unsuccessful one. after many victories and many overthrows, civilis was left alone. the gallic tribes fell off, and sued for peace. vespasian, victorious over vitellius, proved too powerful for his old comrade. even the batavians became weary of the hopeless contest, while fortune, after much capricious hovering, settled at last upon the roman side. the imperial commander cerialis seized the moment when the cause of the batavian hero was most desperate to send emissaries among his tribe, and even to tamper with the mysterious woman whose prophecies had so inflamed his imagination. these intrigues had their effect. the fidelity of the people was sapped; the prophetess fell away from her worshipper, and foretold ruin to his cause. the batavians murmured that their destruction was inevitable, that one nation could not arrest the slavery which was destined for the whole world. how large a part of the human race were the batavians? what were they in a contest with the whole roman empire? moreover, they were not oppressed with tribute. they were only expected to furnish men and valor to their proud allies. it was the next thing to liberty. if they were to have rulers, it was better to serve a roman emperor than a german witch. thus murmured the people. had civilis been successful, he would have been deified; but his misfortunes, at last, made him odious in spite of his heroism. but the batavian was not a man to be crushed, nor had he lived so long in the roman service to be outmatched in politics by the barbarous germans. he was not to be sacrificed as a peace-offering to revengeful rome. watching from beyond the rhine the progress of defection and the decay of national enthusiasm, he determined to be beforehand with those who were now his enemies. he accepted the offer of negotiation from cerialis. the roman general was eager to grant a full pardon, and to re-enlist so brave a soldier in the service of the empire. a colloquy was agreed upon. the bridge across the nabalia was broken asunder in the middle, and cerialis and civilis met upon the severed sides. the placid stream by which roman enterprise had connected the waters of the rhine with the lake of flevo, flowed between the imperial commander and the rebel chieftain. *********************************************** here the story abruptly terminates. the remainder of the roman's narrative is lost, and upon that broken bridge the form of the batavian hero disappears forever. his name fades from history: not a syllable is known of his subsequent career; every thing is buried in the profound oblivion which now steals over the scene where he was the most imposing actor. the soul of civilis had proved insufficient to animate a whole people; yet it was rather owing to position than to any personal inferiority, that his name did not become as illustrious as that of hermann. the german patriot was neither braver nor wiser than the batavian, but he had the infinite forests of his fatherland to protect him. every legion which plunged into those unfathomable depths was forced to retreat disastrously, or to perish miserably. civilis was hemmed in by the ocean; his country, long the basis of roman military operations, was accessible by river and canal, the patriotic spirit which he had for a moment raised, had abandoned him; his allies had deserted him; he stood alone and at bay, encompassed by the hunters, with death or surrender as his only alternative. under such circumstances, hermann could not have shown more courage or conduct, nor have terminated the impossible struggle with greater dignity or adroitness. the contest of civilis with rome contains a remarkable foreshadowing of the future conflict with spain, through which the batavian republic, fifteen centuries later, was to be founded. the characters, the events, the amphibious battles, desperate sieges, slippery alliances, the traits of generosity, audacity and cruelty, the generous confidence, the broken faith seem so closely to repeat themselves, that history appears to present the self-same drama played over and over again, with but a change of actors and of costume. there is more than a fanciful resemblance between civilis and william the silent, two heroes of ancient german stock, who had learned the arts of war and peace in the service of a foreign and haughty world-empire. determination, concentration of purpose, constancy in calamity, elasticity almost preternatural, self-denial, consummate craft in political combinations, personal fortitude, and passionate patriotism, were the heroic elements in both. the ambition of each was subordinate to the cause which he served. both refused the crown, although each, perhaps, contemplated, in the sequel, a batavian realm of which he would have been the inevitable chief. both offered the throne to a gallic prince, for classicus was but the prototype of anjou, as brinno of brederode, and neither was destined, in this world, to see his sacrifices crowned with success. the characteristics of the two great races of the land portrayed themselves in the roman and the spanish struggle with much the same colors. the southrons, inflammable, petulant, audacious, were the first to assault and to defy the imperial power in both revolts, while the inhabitants of the northern provinces, slower to be aroused, but of more enduring wrath, were less ardent at the commencement, but; alone, steadfast at the close of the contest. in both wars the southern celts fell away from the league, their courageous but corrupt chieftains having been purchased with imperial gold to bring about the abject submission of their followers; while the german netherlands, although eventually subjugated by rome, after a desperate struggle, were successful in the great conflict with spain, and trampled out of existence every vestige of her authority. the batavian republic took its rank among the leading powers of the earth; the belgic provinces remained roman, spanish, austrian property. v. obscure but important movements in the regions of eternal twilight, revolutions, of which history has been silent, in the mysterious depths of asia, outpourings of human rivets along the sides of the altai mountains, convulsions up-heaving r mote realms and unknown dynasties, shock after shock throb bing throughout the barbarian world and dying upon the edge of civilization, vast throes which shake the earth as precursory pangs to the birth of a new empire--as dying symptoms of the proud but effete realm which called itself the world; scattered hordes of sanguinary, grotesque savages pushed from their own homes, and hovering with vague purposes upon the roman frontier, constantly repelled and perpetually reappearing in ever-increasing swarms, guided thither by a fierce instinct, or by mysterious laws--such are the well known phenomena which preceded the fall of western rome. stately, externally powerful, although undermined and putrescent at the core, the death-stricken empire still dashed back the assaults of its barbarous enemies. during the long struggle intervening between the age of vespasian and that of odoacer, during all the preliminary ethnographical revolutions which preceded the great people's wandering, the netherlands remained subject provinces. their country was upon the high road which led the goths to rome. those low and barren tracts were the outlying marches of the empire. upon that desolate beach broke the first surf from the rising ocean of german freedom which was soon to overwhelm rome. yet, although the ancient landmarks were soon well nigh obliterated, the netherlands still remained faithful to the empire, batavian blood was still poured out for its defence. by the middle of the fourth century, the franks and allemanians, alle-mannez, all-men, a mass of united germans are defeated by the emperor julian at strasburg, the batavian cavalry, as upon many other great occasions, saving the day for despotism. this achievement, one of the last in which the name appears upon historic record, was therefore as triumphant for the valor as it was humiliating to the true fame of the nation. their individuality soon afterwards disappears, the race having been partly exhausted in the roman service, partly merged in the frank and frisian tribes who occupy the domains of their forefathers. for a century longer, rome still retains its outward form, but the swarming nations are now in full career. the netherlands are successively or simultaneously trampled by franks, vandals, alani, suevi, saxons, frisians, and even sclavonians, as the great march of germany to universal empire, which her prophets and bards had foretold, went majestically forward. the fountains of the frozen north were opened, the waters prevailed, but the ark of christianity floated upon the flood. as the deluge assuaged, the earth had returned to chaos, the last pagan empire had been washed out of existence, but the dimly, groping, faltering, ignorant infancy of christian europe had begun. after the wanderings had subsided, the netherlands are found with much the same ethnological character as before. the frank dominion has succeeded the roman, the german stock preponderates over the celtic, but the national ingredients, although in somewhat altered proportions, remain essentially the same. the old belgae, having become romanized in tongue and customs, accept the new empire of the franks. that people, however, pushed from their hold of the rhine by thickly thronging hordes of gepidi, quadi, sarmati, heruli, saxons, burgundians, move towards the south and west. as the empire falls before odoacer, they occupy celtic gaul with the belgian portion of the netherlands; while the frisians, into which ancient german tribe the old batavian element has melted, not to be extinguished, but to live a renovated existence, the "free frisians;" whose name is synonymous with liberty, nearest blood relations of the anglo-saxon race, now occupy the northern portion, including the whole future european territory of the dutch republic. the history of the franks becomes, therefore, the history of the netherlands. the frisians struggle, for several centuries, against their dominion, until eventually subjugated by charlemagne. they even encroach upon the franks in belgic gaul, who are determined not to yield their possessions. moreover, the pious merovingian faineans desire to plant christianity among the still pagan frisians. dagobert, son of the second clotaire, advances against them as far as the weser, takes possession of utrecht, founds there the first christian church in friesland, and establishes a nominal dominion over the whole country. yet the feeble merovingians would have been powerless against rugged friesland, had not their dynasty already merged in that puissant family of brabant, which long wielded their power before it assumed their crown. it was pepin of heristal, grandson of the netherlander, pepin of landen, who conquered the frisian radbod (a.d. ), and forced him to exchange his royal for the ducal title. it was pepin's bastard, charles the hammer, whose tremendous blows completed his father's work. the new mayor of the palace soon drove the frisian chief into submission, and even into christianity. a bishop's indiscretion, however, neutralized the apostolic blows of the mayor. the pagan radbod had already immersed one of his royal legs in the baptismal font, when a thought struck him. "where are my dead forefathers at present?" he said, turning suddenly upon bishop wolfran. "in hell, with all other unbelievers," was the imprudent answer. "mighty well," replied radbod, removing his leg, "then will i rather feast with my ancestors in the halls of woden, than dwell with your little starveling hand of christians in heaven." entreaties and threats were unavailing. the frisian declined positively a rite which was to cause an eternal separation from his buried kindred, and he died as he had lived, a heathen. his son, poppa, succeeding to the nominal sovereignty, did not actively oppose the introduction of christianity among his people, but himself refused to be converted. rebelling against the frank dominion, he was totally routed by charles martell in a great battle (a.d. ) and perished with a vast number of frisians. the christian dispensation, thus enforced, was now accepted by these northern pagans. the commencement of their conversion had been mainly the work of their brethren from britain. the monk wilfred was followed in a few years by the anglo-saxon willibrod. it was he who destroyed the images of woden in walcheren, abolished his worship, and founded churches in north holland. charles martell rewarded him with extensive domains about utrecht, together with many slaves and other chattels. soon afterwards he was consecrated bishop of all the frisians. thus rose the famous episcopate of utrecht. another anglo-saxon, winfred, or bonifacius, had been equally active among his frisian cousins. his crozier had gone hand in hand with the battle-axe. bonifacius followed close upon the track of his orthodox coadjutor charles. by the middle of the eighth century, some hundred thousand frisians had been slaughtered, and as many more converted. the hammer which smote the saracens at tours was at last successful in beating the netherlanders into christianity. the labors of bonifacius through upper and lower germany were immense; but he, too, received great material rewards. he was created archbishop of mayence, and, upon the death of willibrod, bishop of utrecht. faithful to his mission, however, he met, heroically, a martyr's death at the hands of the refractory pagans at dokkum. thus was christianity established in the netherlands. under charlemagne, the frisians often rebelled, making common cause with the saxons. in , a.d., they were, however, completely subjugated, and never rose again until the epoch of their entire separation from the frank empire. charlemagne left them their name of free frisians, and the property in their own land. the feudal system never took root in their soil. "the frisians," says their statute book; "shall be free, as long as the wind blows out of the clouds and the world stands." they agreed, however, to obey the chiefs whom the frank monarch should appoint to govern them, according to their own laws. those laws were collected, and are still extant. the vernacular version of their asega book contains their ancient customs, together with the frank additions. the general statutes of charlemagne were, of course, in vigor also; but that great legislator knew too well the importance attached by all mankind to local customs, to allow his imperial capitulara to interfere, unnecessarily, with the frisian laws. vi. thus again the netherlands, for the first time since the fall of rome, were united under one crown imperial. they had already been once united, in their slavery to rome. eight centuries pass away, and they are again united, in subjection to charlemagne. their union was but in forming a single link in the chain of a new realm. the reign of charlemagne had at last accomplished the promise of the sorceress velleda and other soothsayers. a german race had re-established the empire of the world. the netherlands, like-the other provinces of the great monarch's dominion, were governed by crown-appointed functionaries, military and judicial. in the northeastern, or frisian portion, however; the grants of land were never in the form of revocable benefices or feuds. with this important exception, the whole country shared the fate, and enjoyed the general organization of the empire. but charlemagne came an age too soon. the chaos which had brooded over europe since the dissolution of the roman world, was still too absolute. it was not to be fashioned into permanent forms, even by his bold and constructive genius. a soil, exhausted by the long culture of pagan empires, was to lie fallow for a still longer period. the discordant elements out of which the emperor had compounded his realm, did not coalesce during his life-time. they were only held together by the vigorous grasp of the hand which had combined them. when the great statesman died, his empire necessarily fell to pieces. society had need of farther disintegration before it could begin to reconstruct itself locally. a new civilization was not to be improvised by a single mind. when did one man ever civilize a people? in the eighth and ninth centuries there was not even a people to be civilized. the construction of charles was, of necessity, temporary. his empire was supported by artificial columns, resting upon the earth, which fell prostrate almost as soon as the hand of their architect was cold. his institutions had not struck down into the soil. there were no extensive and vigorous roots to nourish, from below, a flourishing empire through time and tempest. moreover, the carlovingian race had been exhausted by producing a race of heroes like the pepins and the charleses. the family became, soon, as contemptible as the ox-drawn, long-haired "do-nothings" whom it had expelled; but it is not our task to describe the fortunes of the emperor's ignoble descendants. the realm was divided, sub-divided, at times partially reunited, like a family farm, among monarchs incompetent alike to hold, to delegate, or--to resign the inheritance of the great warrior and lawgiver. the meek, bald, fat, stammering, simple charles, or louis, who successively sat upon his throne--princes, whose only historic individuality consists in these insipid appellations--had not the sense to comprehend, far less to develop, the plans of their ancestor. charles the simple was the last carlovingian who governed lotharingia, in which were comprised most of the netherlands and friesland. the german monarch, henry the fowler, at that period called king of the east franks, as charles of the west franks, acquired lotharingia by the treaty of bonn, charles reserving the sovereignty over the kingdom during his lifetime. in , a.d., however, the simpleton having been imprisoned and deposed by his own subjects, the fowler was recognized king, of lotharingia. thus the netherlands passed out of france into germany, remaining, still, provinces of a loose, disjointed empire. this is the epoch in which the various dukedoms, earldoms, and other petty sovereignties of the netherlands became hereditary. it was in the year that charles the simple presented to count dirk the territory of holland, by letters patent. this narrow hook of land, destined, in future ages, to be the cradle of a considerable empire, stretching through both hemispheres, was, thenceforth, the inheritance of dirk's descendants. historically, therefore, he is dirk i., count of holland. of this small sovereign and his successors, the most powerful foe for centuries was ever the bishop of utrecht, the origin of whose greatness has been already indicated. of the other netherland provinces, now or before become hereditary, the first in rank was lotharingia, once the kingdom of lothaire, now the dukedom of lorraine. in it was divided into upper and lower lorraine, of which the lower duchy alone belonged to the netherlands. two centuries later, the counts of louvain, then occupying most of brabant, obtained a permanent hold of lower lorraine, and began to call themselves dukes of brabant. the same principle of local independence and isolation which created these dukes, established the hereditary power of the counts and barons who formerly exercised jurisdiction under them and others. thus arose sovereign counts of namur, hainault, limburg, zutphen, dukes of luxemburg and gueldres, barons of mechlin, marquesses of antwerp, and others; all petty autocrats. the most important of all, after the house of lorraine, were the earls of flanders; for the bold foresters of charles the great had soon wrested the sovereignty of their little territory from his feeble descendants as easily as baldwin, with the iron arm, had deprived the bald charles of his daughter. holland, zeeland, utrecht, overyssel, groningen, drenthe and friesland (all seven being portions of friesland in a general sense), were crowded together upon a little desolate corner of europe; an obscure fragment of charlemagne's broken empire. they were afterwards to constitute the united states of the netherlands, one of the most powerful republics of history. meantime, for century after century, the counts of holland and the bishops of utrecht were to exercise divided sway over the territory. thus the whole country was broken into many shreds and patches of sovereignty. the separate history of such half-organized morsels is tedious and petty. trifling dynasties, where a family or two were every thing, the people nothing, leave little worth recording. even the most devout of genealogists might shudder to chronicle the long succession of so many illustrious obscure. a glance, however, at the general features of the governmental system now established in the netherlands, at this important epoch in the world's history, will show the transformations which the country, in common with other portions of the western world, had undergone. in the tenth century the old batavian and later roman forms have faded away. an entirely new polity has succeeded. no great popular assembly asserts its sovereignty, as in the ancient german epoch; no generals and temporary kings are chosen by the nation. the elective power had been lost under the romans, who, after conquest, had conferred the administrative authority over their subject provinces upon officials appointed by the metropolis. the franks pursued the same course. in charlemagne's time, the revolution is complete. popular assemblies and popular election entirely vanish. military, civil, and judicial officers-dukes, earls, margraves, and others--are all king's creatures, 'knegton des konings, pueri regis', and so remain, till they abjure the creative power, and set up their own. the principle of charlemagne, that his officers should govern according to local custom, helps them to achieve their own independence, while it preserves all that is left of national liberty and law. the counts, assisted by inferior judges, hold diets from time to time--thrice, perhaps, annually. they also summon assemblies in case of war. thither are called the great vassals, who, in turn, call their lesser vassals; each armed with "a shield, a spear, a bow, twelve arrows, and a cuirass." such assemblies, convoked in the name of a distant sovereign, whose face his subjects had never seen, whose language they could hardly understand, were very different from those tumultuous mass-meetings, where boisterous freemen, armed with the weapons they loved the best, and arriving sooner or later, according to their pleasure, had been accustomed to elect their generals and magistrates and to raise them upon their shields. the people are now governed, their rulers appointed by an invisible hand. edicts, issued by a power, as it were, supernatural, demand implicit obedience. the people, acquiescing in their own annihilation, abdicate not only their political but their personal rights. on the other hand, the great source of power diffuses less and less of light and warmth. losing its attractive and controlling influence, it becomes gradually eclipsed, while its satellites fly from their prescribed bounds and chaos and darkness return. the sceptre, stretched over realms so wide, requires stronger hands than those of degenerate carlovingians. it breaks asunder. functionaries become sovereigns, with hereditary, not delegated, right to own the people, to tax their roads and rivers, to take tithings of their blood and sweat, to harass them in all the relations of life. there is no longer a metropolis to protect them from official oppression. power, the more sub-divided, becomes the more tyrannical. the sword is the only symbol of law, the cross is a weapon of offence, the bishop is a consecrated pirate, every petty baron a burglar, while the people, alternately the prey of duke, prelate, and seignor, shorn and butchered like sheep, esteem it happiness to sell themselves into slavery, or to huddle beneath the castle walls of some little potentate, for the sake of his wolfish protection. here they build hovels, which they surround from time to time with palisades and muddy entrenchments; and here, in these squalid abodes of ignorance and misery, the genius of liberty, conducted by the spirit of commerce, descends at last to awaken mankind from its sloth and cowardly stupor. a longer night was to intervene; however, before the dawn of day. the crown-appointed functionaries had been, of course, financial officers. they collected the revenue of the sovereign, one third of which slipped through their fingers into their own coffers. becoming sovereigns themselves, they retain these funds for their private emolument. four principal sources yielded this revenue: royal domains, tolls and imposts, direct levies and a pleasantry called voluntary contributions or benevolences. in addition to these supplies were also the proceeds of fines. taxation upon sin was, in those rude ages, a considerable branch of the revenue. the old frisian laws consisted almost entirely of a discriminating tariff upon crimes. nearly all the misdeeds which man is prone to commit, were punished by a money-bote only. murder, larceny, arson, rape--all offences against the person were commuted for a definite price. there were a few exceptions, such as parricide, which was followed by loss of inheritance; sacrilege and the murder of a master by a slave, which were punished with death. it is a natural inference that, as the royal treasury was enriched by these imposts, the sovereign would hardly attempt to check the annual harvest of iniquity by which his revenue was increased. still, although the moral sense is shocked by a system which makes the ruler's interest identical with the wickedness of his people, and holds out a comparative immunity in evil-doing for the rich, it was better that crime should be punished by money rather than not be punished at all. a severe tax, which the noble reluctantly paid and which the penniless culprit commuted by personal slavery, was sufficiently unjust as well as absurd, yet it served to mitigate the horrors with which tumult, rapine, and murder enveloped those early days. gradually, as the light of reason broke upon the dark ages, the most noxious features of the system were removed, while the general sentiment of reverence for law remained. etext editor's bookmarks: a country disinherited by nature of its rights a pleasantry called voluntary contributions or benevolences annual harvest of iniquity by which his revenue was increased batavian legion was the imperial body guard beating the netherlanders into christianity bishop is a consecrated pirate brethren, parents, and children, having wives in common for women to lament, for men to remember gaul derided the roman soldiers as a band of pigmies great science of political equilibrium holland, england, and america, are all links of one chain long succession of so many illustrious obscure others go to battle, says the historian, these go to war revocable benefices or feuds taxation upon sin the gaul was singularly unchaste motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. historical introduction., part . vii. five centuries of isolation succeed. in the netherlands, as throughout europe, a thousand obscure and slender rills are slowly preparing the great stream of universal culture. five dismal centuries of feudalism: during which period there is little talk of human right, little obedience to divine reason. rights there are none, only forces; and, in brief, three great forces, gradually arising, developing themselves, acting upon each other, and upon the general movement of society. the sword--the first, for a time the only force: the force of iron. the "land's master," having acquired the property in the territory and in the people who feed thereon, distributes to his subalterns, often but a shade beneath him in power, portions of his estate, getting the use of their faithful swords in return. vavasours subdivide again to vassals, exchanging land and cattle, human or otherwise, against fealty, and so the iron chain of a military hierarchy, forged of mutually interdependent links, is stretched over each little province. impregnable castles, here more numerous than in any other part of christendom, dot the level surface of the country. mail-clad knights, with their followers, encamp permanently upon the soil. the fortunate fable of divine right is invented to sanction the system; superstition and ignorance give currency to the delusion. thus the grace of god, having conferred the property in a vast portion of europe upon a certain idiot in france, makes him competent to sell large fragments of his estate, and to give a divine, and, therefore, most satisfactory title along with them. a great convenience to a man, who had neither power, wit, nor will to keep the property in his own hands. so the dirks of holland get a deed from charles the simple, and, although the grace of god does not prevent the royal grantor himself from dying a miserable, discrowned captive, the conveyance to dirk is none the less hallowed by almighty fiat. so the roberts and guys, the johns and baldwins, become sovereigns in hainault, brabant, flanders and other little districts, affecting supernatural sanction for the authority which their good swords have won and are ever ready to maintain. thus organized, the force of iron asserts and exerts itself. duke, count, seignor and vassal, knight and squire, master and man swarm and struggle amain. a wild, chaotic, sanguinary scene. here, bishop and baron contend, centuries long, murdering human creatures by ten thousands for an acre or two of swampy pasture; there, doughty families, hugging old musty quarrels to their heart, buffet each other from generation to generation; thus they go on, raging and wrestling among themselves, with all the world, shrieking insane war-cries which no human soul ever understood--red caps and black, white hoods and grey, hooks and kabbeljaws, dealing destruction, building castles and burning them, tilting at tourneys, stealing bullocks, roasting jews, robbing the highways, crusading--now upon syrian sands against paynim dogs, now in frisian quagmires against albigenses, stedingers, and other heretics--plunging about in blood and fire, repenting, at idle times, and paying their passage through, purgatory with large slices of ill-gotten gains placed in the ever-extended dead-hand of the church; acting, on the whole, according to their kind, and so getting themselves civilized or exterminated, it matters little which. thus they play their part, those energetic men-at-arms; and thus one great force, the force of iron, spins and expands itself, century after century, helping on, as it whirls, the great progress of society towards its goal, wherever that may be. another force--the force clerical--the power of clerks, arises; the might of educated mind measuring itself against brute violence; a force embodied, as often before, as priestcraft--the strength of priests: craft meaning, simply, strength, in our old mother-tongue. this great force, too, develops itself variously, being sometimes beneficent, sometimes malignant. priesthood works out its task, age after age: now smoothing penitent death-beds, consecrating graves! feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, incarnating the christian precepts, in an age of rapine and homicide, doing a thousand deeds of love and charity among the obscure and forsaken--deeds of which there shall never be human chronicle, but a leaf or two, perhaps, in the recording angel's book; hiving precious honey from the few flowers of gentle, art which bloom upon a howling wilderness; holding up the light of science over a stormy sea; treasuring in convents and crypts the few fossils of antique learning which become visible, as the extinct megatherium of an elder world reappears after the gothic deluge; and now, careering in helm and hauberk with the other ruffians, bandying blows in the thickest of the fight, blasting with bell, book, and candle its trembling enemies, while sovereigns, at the head of armies, grovel in the dust and offer abject submission for the kiss of peace; exercising the same conjury over ignorant baron and cowardly hind, making the fiction of apostolic authority to bind and loose, as prolific in acres as the other divine right to have and hold; thus the force of cultivated intellect, wielded by a chosen few and sanctioned by supernatural authority, becomes as potent as the sword. a third force, developing itself more slowly, becomes even more potent than the rest: the power of gold. even iron yields to the more ductile metal. the importance of municipalities, enriched by trade, begins to be felt. commerce, the mother of netherland freedom, and, eventually, its destroyer--even as in all human history the vivifying becomes afterwards the dissolving principle--commerce changes insensibly and miraculously the aspect of society. clusters of hovels become towered cities; the green and gilded hanse of commercial republicanism coils itself around the decaying trunk of feudal despotism. cities leagued with cities throughout and beyond christendom-empire within empire-bind themselves closer and closer in the electric chain of human sympathy and grow stronger and stronger by mutual support. fishermen and river raftsmen become ocean adventurers and merchant princes. commerce plucks up half-drowned holland by the locks and pours gold into her lap. gold wrests power from iron. needy flemish weavers become mighty manufacturers. armies of workmen, fifty thousand strong, tramp through the swarming streets. silk-makers, clothiers, brewers become the gossips of kings, lend their royal gossips vast sums and burn the royal notes of hand in fires of cinnamon wood. wealth brings strength, strength confidence. learning to handle cross-bow and dagger, the burghers fear less the baronial sword, finding that their own will cut as well, seeing that great armies--flowers of chivalry--can ride away before them fast enough at battles of spurs and other encounters. sudden riches beget insolence, tumults, civic broils. internecine quarrels, horrible tumults stain the streets with blood, but education lifts the citizens more and more out of the original slough. they learn to tremble as little at priestcraft as at swordcraft, having acquired something of each. gold in the end, unsanctioned by right divine, weighs up the other forces, supernatural as they are. and so, struggling along their appointed path, making cloth, making money, making treaties with great kingdoms, making war by land and sea, ringing great bells, waving great banners, they, too--these insolent, boisterous burghers--accomplish their work. thus, the mighty power of the purse develops itself and municipal liberty becomes a substantial fact. a fact, not a principle; for the old theorem of sovereignty remains undisputed as ever. neither the nation, in mass, nor the citizens, in class, lay claim to human rights. all upper attributes--legislative, judicial, administrative--remain in the land-master's breast alone. it is an absurdity, therefore, to argue with grotius concerning the unknown antiquity of the batavian republic. the republic never existed at all till the sixteenth century, and was only born after long years of agony. the democratic instincts of the ancient german savages were to survive in the breasts of their cultivated descendants, but an organized, civilized, republican polity had never existed. the cities, as they grew in strength, never claimed the right to make the laws or to share in the government. as a matter of fact, they did make the laws, and shared, beside, in most important functions of sovereignty, in the treaty-making power, especially. sometimes by bargains; sometimes by blood, by gold, threats, promises, or good hard blows they extorted their charters. their codes, statutes, joyful entrances, and other constitutions were dictated by the burghers and sworn to by the monarch. they were concessions from above; privileges private laws; fragments indeed of a larger liberty, but vastly, better than the slavery for which they had been substituted; solid facts instead of empty abstractions, which, in those practical and violent days, would have yielded little nutriment; but they still rather sought to reconcile themselves, by a rough, clumsy fiction, with the hierarchy which they had invaded, than to overturn the system. thus the cities, not regarding themselves as representatives or aggregations of the people, became fabulous personages, bodies without souls, corporations which had acquired vitality and strength enough to assert their existence. as persons, therefore--gigantic individualities--they wheeled into the feudal ranks and assumed feudal powers and responsibilities. the city of dort; of middelburg, of ghent, of louvain, was a living being, doing fealty, claiming service, bowing to its lord, struggling with its equals, trampling upon its slaves. thus, in these obscure provinces, as throughout europe, in a thousand remote and isolated corners, civilization builds itself up, synthetically and slowly; yet at last, a whole is likely to get itself constructed. thus, impelled by great and conflicting forces, now obliquely, now backward, now upward, yet, upon the whole, onward, the new society moves along its predestined orbit, gathering consistency and strength as it goes. society, civilization, perhaps, but hardly humanity. the people has hardly begun to extricate itself from the clods in which it lies buried. there are only nobles, priests, and, latterly, cities. in the northern netherlands, the degraded condition of the mass continued longest. even in friesland, liberty, the dearest blessing of the ancient frisians, had been forfeited in a variety of ways. slavery was both voluntary and compulsory. paupers sold themselves that they might escape starvation. the timid sold themselves that they might escape violence. these voluntary sales, which were frequent, wore usually made to cloisters and ecclesiastical establishments, for the condition of church-slaves was preferable to that of other serfs. persons worsted in judicial duels, shipwrecked sailors, vagrants, strangers, criminals unable to pay the money-bote imposed upon them, were all deprived of freedom; but the prolific source of slavery was war. prisoners were almost universally reduced to servitude. a free woman who intermarried with a slave condemned herself and offspring to perpetual bondage. among the ripuarian franks, a free woman thus disgracing herself, was girt with a sword and a distaff. choosing the one, she was to strike her husband dead; choosing the other, she adopted the symbol of slavery, and became a chattel for life. the ferocious inroads of the normans scared many weak and timid persons into servitude. they fled, by throngs, to church and monastery, and were happy, by enslaving themselves, to escape the more terrible bondage of the sea-kings. during the brief dominion of the norman godfrey, every free frisian was forced to wear a halter around his neck. the lot of a church-slave was freedom in comparison. to kill him was punishable by a heavy fine. he could give testimony in court, could inherit, could make a will, could even plead before the law, if law could be found. the number of slaves throughout the netherlands was very large; the number belonging to the bishopric of utrecht, enormous. the condition of those belonging to laymen was much more painful. the lyf-eigene, or absolute slaves, were the most wretched. they were mere brutes. they had none of the natural attributes of humanity, their life and death were in the master's hands, they had no claim to a fraction of their own labor or its fruits, they had no marriage, except under condition of the infamous 'jus primoe noctis'. the villagers, or villeins, were the second class and less forlorn. they could commute the labor due to their owner by a fixed sum of money, after annual payment of which, the villein worked for himself. his master, therefore, was not his absolute proprietor. the chattel had a beneficial interest in a portion of his own flesh and blood. the crusades made great improvement in the condition of the serfs. he who became a soldier of the cross was free upon his return, and many were adventurous enough to purchase liberty at so honorable a price. many others were sold or mortgaged by the crusading knights, desirous of converting their property into gold, before embarking upon their enterprise. the purchasers or mortgagees were in general churches and convents, so that the slaves, thus alienated, obtained at least a preferable servitude. the place of the absent serfs was supplied by free labor, so that agricultural and mechanical occupations, now devolving upon a more elevated class, became less degrading, and, in process of time, opened an ever-widening sphere for the industry and progress of freemen. thus a people began to exist. it was, however; a miserable people, with personal, but no civil rights whatever. their condition, although better than servitude, was almost desperate. they were taxed beyond their ability, while priest and noble were exempt. they had no voice in the apportionment of the money thus contributed. there was no redress against the lawless violence to which they were perpetually exposed. in the manorial courts, the criminal sat in judgment upon his victim. the functions of highwayman and magistrate were combined in one individual. by degrees, the class of freemen, artisans, traders, and the like, becoming the more numerous, built stronger and better houses outside the castle gates of the "land's master" or the burghs of the more powerful nobles. the superiors, anxious to increase their own importance, favored the progress of the little boroughs. the population, thus collected, began to divide themselves into guilds. these were soon afterwards erected by the community into bodies corporate; the establishment of the community, of course, preceding, the incorporation of the guilds. those communities were created by charters or keuren, granted by the sovereign. unless the earliest concessions of this nature have perished, the town charters of holland or zeland are nearly a century later than those of flanders, france, and england. the oldest keur, or act of municipal incorporation, in the provinces afterwards constituting the republic, was that granted by count william the first of holland and countess joanna of flanders, as joint proprietors of walcheren, to the town of middelburg. it will be seen that its main purport is to promise, as a special privilege to this community, law, in place of the arbitrary violence by which mankind, in general, were governed by their betters. "the inhabitants," ran the charter, "are taken into protection by both counts. upon fighting, maiming, wounding, striking, scolding; upon peace-breaking, upon resistance to peace-makers and to the judgment of schepens; upon contemning the ban, upon selling spoiled wine, and upon other misdeeds fines are imposed for behoof of the count, the city, and sometimes of the schepens.......to all middelburgers one kind of law is guaranteed. every man must go to law before the schepens. if any one being summoned and present in walcheren does not appear, or refuses submission to sentence, he shall be banished with confiscation of property. schout or schepen denying justice to a complainant, shall, until reparation, hold no tribunal again.......a burgher having a dispute with an outsider (buiten mann) must summon him before the schepens. an appeal lies from the schepens to the count. no one can testify but a householder. all alienation of real estate must take place before the schepens. if an outsider has a complaint against a burgher, the schepens and schout must arrange it. if either party refuses submission to them, they must ring the town bell and summon an assembly of all the burghers to compel him. any one ringing the town bell, except by general consent, and any one not appearing when it tolls, are liable to a fine. no middelburger can be arrested or held in durance within flanders or holland, except for crime." this document was signed, sealed, and sworn to by the two sovereigns in the year . it was the model upon which many other communities, cradles of great cities, in holland and zeland, were afterwards created. these charters are certainly not very extensive, even for the privileged municipalities which obtained them, when viewed from an abstract stand-point. they constituted, however, a very great advance from the stand-point at which humanity actually found itself. they created, not for all inhabitants, but for great numbers of them, the right, not to govern them selves but to be governed by law: they furnished a local administration of justice. they provided against arbitrary imprisonment. they set up tribunals, where men of burgher class were to sit in judgment. they held up a shield against arbitrary violence from above and sedition from within. they encouraged peace-makers, punished peace-breakers. they guarded the fundamental principle, 'ut sua tanerent', to the verge of absurdity; forbidding a freeman, without a freehold, from testifying--a capacity not denied even to a country slave. certainly all this was better than fist-law and courts manorial. for the commencement of the thirteenth century, it was progress. the schout and schepens, or chief magistrate and aldermen, were originally appointed by the sovereign. in process of time, the election of these municipal authorities was conceded to the communities. this inestimable privilege, however, after having been exercised during a certain period by the whole body of citizens, was eventually monopolized by the municipal government itself, acting in common with the deans of the various guilds. thus organized and inspired with the breath of civic life, the communities of flanders and holland began to move rapidly forward. more and more they assumed the appearance of prosperous little republics. for this prosperity they were indebted to commerce, particularly with england and the baltic nations, and to manufactures, especially of wool. the trade between england and the netherlands had existed for ages, and was still extending itself, to the great advantage of both countries. a dispute, however, between the merchants of holland and england, towards the year , caused a privateering warfare, and a ten years' suspension of intercourse. a reconciliation afterwards led to the establishment of the english wool staple, at dort. a subsequent quarrel deprived holland of this great advantage. king edward refused to assist count florence in a war with the flemings, and transferred the staple from dort to bruges and mechlin. the trade of the netherlands with the mediterranean and the east was mainly through this favored city of bruges, which, already in the thirteenth century, had risen to the first rank in the commercial world. it was the resting-place for the lombards and other italians, the great entrepot for their merchandise. it now became, in addition, the great marketplace for english wool, and the woollen fabrics of all the netherlands, as well as for the drugs and spices of the east. it had, however, by no means reached its apogee, but was to culminate with venice, and to sink with her decline. when the overland indian trade fell off with the discovery of the cape passage, both cities withered. grass grew in the fair and pleasant streets of bruges, and sea-weed clustered about the marble halls of venice. at this epoch, however, both were in a state of rapid and insolent prosperity. the cities, thus advancing in wealth and importance, were no longer satisfied with being governed according to law, and began to participate, not only in their own, but in the general government. under guy of flanders, the towns appeared regularly, as well as the nobles, in the assembly of the provincial estates. ( - , a.d.) in the course of the following century, the six chief cities, or capitals, of holland (dort, harlem, delft, leyden, goads, and amsterdam) acquired the right of sending their deputies regularly to the estates of the provinces. these towns, therefore, with the nobles, constituted the parliamentary power of the nation. they also acquired letters patent from the count, allowing them to choose their burgomasters and a limited number of councillors or senators (vroedschappen). thus the liberties of holland and flanders waxed, daily, stronger. a great physical convulsion in the course of the thirteenth century came to add its influence to the slower process of political revolution. hitherto there had been but one friesland, including holland, and nearly all the territory of the future republic. a slender stream alone separated the two great districts. the low lands along the vlie, often threatened, at last sank in the waves. the german ocean rolled in upon the inland lake of flevo. the stormy zuyder zee began its existence by engulfing thousands of frisian villages, with all their population, and by spreading a chasm between kindred peoples. the political, as well as the geographical, continuity of the land was obliterated by this tremendous deluge. the hollanders were cut off from their relatives in the east by as dangerous a sea as that which divided them from their anglo-saxon brethren in britain. the deputies to the general assemblies at aurich could no longer undertake a journey grown so perilous. west friesland became absorbed in holland. east friesland remained a federation of rude but self-governed maritime provinces, until the brief and bloody dominion of the saxon dukes led to the establishment of charles the fifth's authority. whatever the nominal sovereignty over them, this most republican tribe of netherlanders, or of europeans, had never accepted feudalism. there was an annual congress of the whole confederacy. each of the seven little states, on the other hand, regulated its own internal affairs. each state was subdivided into districts, each district governed by a griet-mann (greatman, selectman) and assistants. above all these district officers was a podesta, a magistrate identical, in name and functions, with the chief officer of the italian republics. there was sometimes but one podesta; sometimes one for each province. he was chosen by the people, took oath of fidelity to the separate estates, or, if podesta-general, to the federal diet, and was generally elected for a limited term, although sometimes for life. he was assisted by a board of eighteen or twenty councillors. the deputies to the general congress were chosen by popular suffrage in easter-week. the clergy were not recognized as a political estate. thus, in those lands which a niggard nature had apparently condemned to perpetual poverty and obscurity, the principle of reasonable human freedom, without which there is no national prosperity or glory worth contending for, was taking deepest and strongest root. already in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries friesland was a republic, except in name; holland, flanders, brabant, had acquired a large share of self-government. the powerful commonwealth, at a later period to be evolved out of the great combat between centralized tyranny and the spirit of civil and religious liberty, was already foreshadowed. the elements, of which that important republic was to be compounded, were germinating for centuries. love of freedom, readiness to strike and bleed at any moment in her cause, manly resistance to despotism, however overshadowing, were the leading characteristics of the race in all regions or periods, whether among frisian swamps, dutch dykes, the gentle hills and dales of england, or the pathless forests of america. doubtless, the history of human liberty in holland and flanders, as every where else upon earth where there has been such a history, unrolls many scenes of turbulence and bloodshed; although these features have been exaggerated by prejudiced historians. still, if there were luxury and insolence, sedition and uproar, at any rate there was life. those violent little commonwealths had blood in their veins. they were compact of proud, self-helping, muscular vigor. the most sanguinary tumults which they ever enacted in the face of day, were better than the order and silence born of the midnight darkness of despotism. that very unruliness was educating the people for their future work. those merchants, manufacturers, country squires, and hard-fighting barons, all pent up in a narrow corner of the earth, quarrelling with each other and with all the world for centuries, were keeping alive a national pugnacity of character, for which there was to be a heavy demand in the sixteenth century, and without which the fatherland had perhaps succumbed in the most unequal conflict ever waged by man against oppression. to sketch the special history of even the leading netherland provinces, during the five centuries which we have thus rapidly sought to characterize, is foreign to our purpose. by holding the clue of holland's history, the general maze of dynastic transformations throughout the country may, however, be swiftly threaded. from the time of the first dirk to the close of the thirteenth century there were nearly four hundred years of unbroken male descent, a long line of dirks and florences. this iron-handed, hot-headed, adventurous race, placed as sovereign upon its little sandy hook, making ferocious exertions to swell into larger consequence, conquering a mile or two of morass or barren furze, after harder blows and bloodier encounters than might have established an empire under more favorable circumstances, at last dies out. the courtship falls to the house of avennes, counts of hainault. holland, together with zeland, which it had annexed, is thus joined to the province of hainault. at the end of another half century the hainault line expires. william the fourth died childless in . his death is the signal for the outbreak of an almost interminable series of civil commotions. those two great, parties, known by the uncouth names of hook and kabbeljaw, come into existence, dividing noble against noble, city against city, father against son, for some hundred and fifty years, without foundation upon any abstract or intelligible principle. it may be observed, however, that, in the sequel, and as a general rule, the kabbeljaw, or cod-fish party, represented the city or municipal faction, while the hooks (fish-hooks), that were to catch and control them, were the nobles; iron and audacity against brute number and weight. duke william of bavaria, sister's son--of william the fourth, gets himself established in . he is succeeded by his brother albert; albert by his son william. william, who had married margaret of burgundy, daughter of philip the bold, dies in . the goodly heritage of these three netherland provinces descends to his daughter jacqueline, a damsel of seventeen. little need to trace the career of the fair and ill-starred jacqueline. few chapters of historical romance have drawn more frequent tears. the favorite heroine of ballad and drama, to netherlanders she is endued with the palpable form and perpetual existence of the iphigenias, mary stuarts, joans of arc, or other consecrated individualities. exhausted and broken-hearted, after thirteen years of conflict with her own kinsmen, consoled for the cowardice and brutality of three husbands by the gentle and knightly spirit of the fourth, dispossessed of her father's broad domains, degraded from the rank of sovereign to be lady forester of her own provinces by her cousin, the bad duke of burgundy, philip surnamed "the good," she dies at last, and the good cousin takes undisputed dominion of the land. ( .) the five centuries of isolation are at end. the many obscure streams of netherland history are merged in one broad current. burgundy has absorbed all the provinces which, once more, are forced to recognize a single master. a century and a few years more succeed, during which this house and its heirs are undisputed sovereigns of the soil. philip the good had already acquired the principal netherlands, before dispossessing jacqueline. he had inherited, beside the two burgundies, the counties of flanders and artois. he had purchased the county of namur, and had usurped the duchy of brabant, to which the duchy of limburg, the marquisate of antwerp, and the barony of mechlin, had already been annexed. by his assumption of jacqueline's dominions, he was now lord of holland, zeland, and hainault, and titular master of friesland. he acquired luxemburg a few years later. lord of so many opulent cities and fruitful provinces, he felt himself equal to the kings of europe. upon his marriage with isabella of portugal, he founded, at bruges, the celebrated order of the golden fleece. what could be more practical or more devout than the conception? did not the lamb of god, suspended at each knightly breast, symbolize at once the woollen fabrics to which so much of flemish wealth and burgundian power was owing, and the gentle humility of christ, which was ever to characterize the order? twenty-five was the limited number, including philip himself, as grand master. the chevaliers were emperors, kings, princes, and the most illustrious nobles of christendom; while a leading provision, at the outset, forbade the brethren, crowned heads excepted, to accept or retain the companionship of any other order. the accession of so potent and ambitious a prince as the good philip boded evil to the cause of freedom in the netherlands. the spirit of liberty seemed to have been typified in the fair form of the benignant and unhappy jacqueline, and to be buried in her grave. the usurper, who had crushed her out of existence, now strode forward to trample upon all the laws and privileges of the provinces which had formed her heritage. at his advent, the municipal power had already reached an advanced stage of development. the burgher class controlled the government, not only of the cities, but often of the provinces, through its influence in the estates. industry and wealth had produced their natural results. the supreme authority of the sovereign and the power of the nobles were balanced by the municipal principle which had even begun to preponderate over both. all three exercised a constant and salutary check upon each other. commerce had converted slaves into freemen, freemen into burghers, and the burghers were acquiring daily, a larger practical hold upon the government. the town councils were becoming almost omnipotent. although with an oligarchical tendency, which at a later period was to be more fully developed, they were now composed of large numbers of individuals, who had raised themselves, by industry and intelligence, out of the popular masses. there was an unquestionably republican tone to the institutions. power, actually, if not nominally, was in the hands of many who had achieved the greatness to which they had not been born. the assemblies of the estates were rather diplomatic than representative. they consisted, generally, of the nobles and of the deputations from the cities. in holland, the clergy had neither influence nor seats in the parliamentary body. measures were proposed by the stadholder, who represented the sovereign. a request, for example, of pecuniary, accommodation, was made by that functionary or by the count himself in person. the nobles then voted upon the demand, generally as one body, but sometimes by heads. the measure was then laid before the burghers. if they had been specially commissioned to act upon the matter; they voted, each city as a city, not each deputy, individually. if they had received no instructions, they took back the proposition to lay before the councils of their respective cities, in order to return a decision at an adjourned session, or at a subsequent diet. it will be seen, therefore, that the principle of national, popular representation was but imperfectly developed. the municipal deputies acted only under instructions. each city was a little independent state, suspicious not only of the sovereign and nobles, but of its sister cities. this mutual jealousy hastened the general humiliation now impending. the centre of the system waging daily more powerful, it more easily unsphered these feebler and mutually repulsive bodies. philip's first step, upon assuming the government, was to issue a declaration, through the council of holland, that the privileges and constitutions, which he had sworn to as ruward, or guardian, during the period in which jacqueline had still retained a nominal sovereignty, were to be considered null and void, unless afterwards confirmed by him as count. at a single blow he thus severed the whole knot of pledges, oaths and other political complications, by which he had entangled himself during his cautious advance to power. he was now untrammelled again. as the conscience of the smooth usurper was, thenceforth, the measure of provincial liberty, his subjects soon found it meted to them more sparingly than they wished. from this point, then, through the burgundian period, and until the rise of the republic, the liberty of the netherlands, notwithstanding several brilliant but brief laminations, occurring at irregular intervals, seemed to remain in almost perpetual eclipse. the material prosperity of the country had, however, vastly increased. the fisheries of holland had become of enormous importance. the invention of the humble beukelzoon of biervliet, had expanded into a mine of wealth. the fisheries, too, were most useful as a nursery of seamen, and were already indicating holland's future naval supremacy. the fishermen were the militia of the ocean, their prowess attested in the war with the hanseatic cities, which the provinces of holland and zeland, in philip's name, but by their own unassisted exertions, carried on triumphantly at this epoch. then came into existence that race of cool and daring mariners, who, in after times, were to make the dutch name illustrious throughout the world, the men, whose fierce descendants, the "beggars of the sea," were to make the spanish empire tremble, the men, whose later successors swept the seas with brooms at the mast-head, and whose ocean-battles with their equally fearless english brethren often lasted four uninterrupted days and nights. the main strength of holland was derived from the ocean, from whose destructive grasp she had wrested herself, but in whose friendly embrace she remained. she was already placing securely the foundations of commercial wealth and civil liberty upon those shifting quicksands which the roman doubted whether to call land or water. her submerged deformity, as she floated, mermaid-like, upon the waves was to be forgotten in her material splendor. enriched with the spoils of every clime, crowned with the divine jewels of science and art, she was, one day, to sing a siren song of freedom, luxury, and power. as with holland, so with flanders, brabant, and the other leading provinces. industry and wealth, agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, were constantly augmenting. the natural sources of power were full to overflowing, while the hand of despotism was deliberately sealing the fountain. for the house of burgundy was rapidly culminating and as rapidly curtailing the political privileges of the netherlands. the contest was, at first, favorable to the cause of arbitrary power; but little seeds were silently germinating, which, in the progress of their gigantic development, were, one day, to undermine the foundations of tyranny and to overshadow the world. the early progress of the religious reformation in the netherlands will be outlined in a separate chapter. another great principle was likewise at work at this period. at the very epoch when the greatness of burgundy was most swiftly ripening, another weapon was secretly forging, more potent in the great struggle for freedom than any which the wit or hand of man has ever devised or wielded. when philip the good, in the full blaze of his power, and flushed with the triumphs of territorial aggrandizement, was instituting at bruges the order of the golden fleece, "to the glory of god, of the blessed virgin, and of the holy andrew, patron saint of the burgundian family," and enrolling the names of the kings and princes who were to be honored with its symbols, at that very moment, an obscure citizen of harlem, one lorenz coster, or lawrence the sexton, succeeded in printing a little grammar, by means of movable types. the invention of printing was accomplished, but it was not ushered in with such a blaze of glory as heralded the contemporaneous erection of the golden fleece. the humble setter of types did not deem emperors and princes alone worthy his companionship. his invention sent no thrill of admiration throughout christendom; and yet, what was the good philip of burgundy, with his knights of the golden fleece, and all their effulgent trumpery, in the eye of humanity and civilization, compared with the poor sexton and his wooden types? [the question of the time and place to which the invention of printing should be referred, has been often discussed. it is not probable that it will ever be settled to the entire satisfaction of holland and germany. the dutch claim that movable types were first used at harlem, fixing the time variously between the years and . the first and very faulty editions of lorenz are religiously preserved at harlem.] philip died in february, . the details of his life and career do not belong to our purpose. the practical tendency of his government was to repress the spirit of liberty, while especial privileges, extensive in nature, but limited in time, were frequently granted to corporations. philip, in one day, conferred thirty charters upon as many different bodies of citizens. these were, however, grants of monopoly not concessions of rights. he also fixed the number of city councils or vroedschappen in many netherland cities, giving them permission to present a double list of candidates for burgomasters and judges, from which he himself made the appointments. he was certainly neither a good nor great prince, but he possessed much administrative ability. his military talents were considerable, and he was successful in his wars. he was an adroit dissembler, a practical politician. he had the sense to comprehend that the power of a prince, however absolute, must depend upon the prosperity of his subjects. he taxed severely the wealth, but he protected the commerce and the manufactures of holland and flanders. he encouraged art, science, and literature. the brothers, john and hubert van eyck, were attracted by his generosity to bruges, where they painted many pictures. john was even a member of the duke's council. the art of oil-painting was carried to great perfection by hubert's scholar, john of bruges. an incredible number of painters, of greater or less merit, flourished at this epoch in the netherlands, heralds of that great school, which, at a subsequent period, was to astonish the world with brilliant colors; profound science, startling effects, and vigorous reproductions of nature. authors, too, like olivier de la marche and philippe de comines, who, in the words of the latter, "wrote, not for the amusement of brutes, and people of low degree, but for princes and other persons of quality," these and other writers, with aims as lofty, flourished at the court of burgundy, and were rewarded by the duke with princely generosity. philip remodelled and befriended the university of louvain. he founded at brussels the burgundian library, which became celebrated throughout europe. he levied largely, spent profusely, but was yet so thrifty a housekeeper, as to leave four hundred thousand crowns of gold, a vast amount in those days, besides three million marks' worth of plate and furniture, to be wasted like water in the insane career of his son. the exploits of that son require but few words of illustration. hardly a chapter of european history or romance is more familiar to the world than the one which records the meteoric course of charles the bold. the propriety of his title was never doubtful. no prince was ever bolder, but it is certain that no quality could be less desirable, at that particular moment in the history of his house. it was not the quality to confirm a usurping family in its ill-gotten possessions. renewed aggressions upon the rights of others justified retaliation and invited attack. justice, prudence, firmness, wisdom of internal administration were desirable in the son of philip and the rival of louis. these attributes the gladiator lacked entirely. his career might have been a brilliant one in the old days of chivalry. his image might have appeared as imposing as the romantic forms of baldwin bras de fer or godfrey of bouillon, had he not been misplaced in history. nevertheless, he imagined himself governed by a profound policy. he had one dominant idea, to make burgundy a kingdom. from the moment when, with almost the first standing army known to history, and with coffers well filled by his cautious father's economy, he threw himself into the lists against the crafty louis, down to the day when he was found dead, naked, deserted, and with his face frozen into a pool of blood and water, he faithfully pursued this thought. his ducal cap was to be exchanged for a kingly crown, while all the provinces which lay beneath the mediterranean and the north sea, and between france and germany, were to be united under his sceptre. the netherlands, with their wealth, had been already appropriated, and their freedom crushed. another land of liberty remained; physically, the reverse of holland, but stamped with the same courageous nationality, the same ardent love of human rights. switzerland was to be conquered. her eternal battlements of ice and granite were to constitute the great bulwark of his realm. the world knows well the result of the struggle between the lord of so many duchies and earldoms, and the alpine mountaineers. with all his boldness, charles was but an indifferent soldier. his only merit was physical courage. he imagined himself a consummate commander, and, in conversation with his jester, was fond of comparing himself to hannibal. "we are getting well hannibalized to-day, my lord," said the bitter fool, as they rode off together from the disastrous defeat of gransen. well "hannibalized" he was, too, at gransen, at murten, and at nancy. he followed in the track of his prototype only to the base of the mountains. as a conqueror, he was signally unsuccessful; as a politician, he could out-wit none but himself; it was only as a tyrant within his own ground, that he could sustain the character which he chose to enact. he lost the crown, which he might have secured, because he thought the emperor's son unworthy the heiress of burgundy; and yet, after his father's death, her marriage with that very maximilian alone secured the possession of her paternal inheritance. unsuccessful in schemes of conquest, and in political intrigue, as an oppressor of the netherlands, he nearly carried out his plans. those provinces he regarded merely as a bank to draw upon. his immediate intercourse with the country was confined to the extortion of vast requests. these were granted with ever-increasing reluctance, by the estates. the new taxes and excises, which the sanguinary extravagance of the duke rendered necessary, could seldom be collected in the various cities without tumults, sedition, and bloodshed. few princes were ever a greater curse to the people whom they were allowed to hold as property. he nearly succeeded in establishing a centralized despotism upon the ruins of the provincial institutions. his sudden death alone deferred the catastrophe. his removal of the supreme court of holland from the hague to mechlin, and his maintenance of a standing army, were the two great measures by which he prostrated the netherlands. the tribunal had been remodelled by his father; the expanded authority which philip had given to a bench of judges dependent upon himself, was an infraction of the rights of holland. the court, however, still held its sessions in the country; and the sacred privilege--de non evocando--the right of every hollander to be tried in his own land, was, at least, retained. charles threw off the mask; he proclaimed that this council--composed of his creatures, holding office at his pleasure--should have supreme jurisdiction over all the charters of the provinces; that it was to follow his person, and derive all authority from his will. the usual seat of the court he transferred to mechlin. it will be seen, in the sequel, that the attempt, under philip the second, to enforce its supreme authority was a collateral cause of the great revolution of the netherlands. charles, like his father, administered the country by stadholders. from the condition of flourishing self-ruled little republics, which they had, for a moment, almost attained, they became departments of an ill-assorted, ill-conditioned, ill-governed realm, which was neither commonwealth nor empire, neither kingdom nor duchy; and which had no homogeneousness of population, no affection between ruler and people, small sympathies of lineage or of language. his triumphs were but few, his fall ignominious. his father's treasure was squandered, the curse of a standing army fixed upon his people, the trade and manufactures of the country paralyzed by his extortions, and he accomplished nothing. he lost his life in the forty-fourth year of his age ( ), leaving all the provinces, duchies, and lordships, which formed the miscellaneous realm of burgundy, to his only child, the lady mary. thus already the countries which philip had wrested from the feeble hand of jacqueline, had fallen to another female. philip's own granddaughter, as young, fair, and unprotected as jacqueline, was now sole mistress of those broad domains. viii. a crisis, both for burgundy and the netherlands, succeeds. within the provinces there is an elastic rebound, as soon as the pressure is removed from them by the tyrant's death. a sudden spasm of liberty gives the whole people gigantic strength. in an instant they recover all, and more than all, the rights which they had lost. the cities of holland, flanders, and other provinces call a convention at ghent. laying aside their musty feuds, men of all parties-hooks and kabbeljaws, patricians and people, move forward in phalanx to recover their national constitutions. on the other hand, louis the eleventh seizes burgundy, claiming the territory for his crown, the heiress for his son. the situation is critical for the lady mary. as usual in such cases, appeals are made to the faithful commons. a prodigality of oaths and pledges is showered upon the people, that their loyalty may be refreshed and grow green. the congress meets at ghent. the lady mary professes much, but she will keep her vow. the deputies are called upon to rally the country around the duchess, and to resist the fraud and force of louis. the congress is willing to maintain the cause of its young mistress. the members declare, at the same time, very roundly, "that the provinces have been much impoverished and oppressed by the enormous taxation imposed upon them by the ruinous wars waged by duke charles from the beginning to the end of his life." they rather require "to be relieved than additionally encumbered." they add that, "for many years past, there has been a constant violation of the provincial and municipal charters, and that they should be happy to see them restored." the result of the deliberations is the formal grant by duchess mary of the "groot privilegie," or great privilege, the magna charta of holland. although this instrument was afterwards violated, and indeed abolished, it became the foundation of the republic. it was a recapitulation and recognition of ancient rights, not an acquisition of new privileges. it was a restoration, not a revolution. its principal points deserve attention from those interested in the political progress of mankind. "the duchess shall not marry without consent of the estates of her provinces. all offices in her gift shall be conferred on natives only. no man shall fill two offices. no office shall be farmed. the 'great council and supreme court of holland' is re-established. causes shall be brought before it on appeal from the ordinary courts. it shall have no original jurisdiction of matters within the cognizance of the provincial and municipal tribunals. the estates and cities are guaranteed in their right not to be summoned to justice beyond the limits of their territory. the cities, in common with all the provinces of the netherlands, may hold diets as often ten and at such places as they choose. no new taxes shall be imposed but by consent of the provincial estates. neither the duchess nor her descendants shall begin either an offensive or defensive war without consent of the estates. in case a war be illegally undertaken, the estates are not bound to contribute to its maintenance. in all public and legal documents, the netherland language shall be employed. the commands of the duchess shall be invalid, if conflicting with the privileges of a city. "the seat of the supreme council is transferred from mechlin to the hague. no money shall be coined, nor its value raised or lowered, but by consent of the estates. cities are not to be compelled to contribute to requests which they have not voted. the sovereign shall come in person before the estates, to make his request for supplies." here was good work. the land was rescued at a blow from the helpless condition to which it had been reduced. this summary annihilation of all the despotic arrangements of charles was enough to raise him from his tomb. the law, the sword, the purse, were all taken from the hand of the sovereign and placed within the control of parliament. such sweeping reforms, if maintained, would restore health to the body politic. they gave, moreover, an earnest of what was one day to arrive. certainly, for the fifteenth century, the "great privilege" was a reasonably liberal constitution. where else upon earth, at that day, was there half so much liberty as was thus guaranteed? the congress of the netherlands, according to their magna charta, had power to levy all taxes, to regulate commerce and manufactures, to declare war, to coin money, to raise armies and navies. the executive was required to ask for money in person, could appoint only natives to office, recognized the right of disobedience in his subjects, if his commands should conflict with law, and acknowledged himself bound by decisions of courts of justice. the cities appointed their own magistrates, held diets at their own pleasure, made their local by-laws and saw to their execution. original cognizance of legal matters belonged to the municipal courts, appellate jurisdiction to the supreme tribunal, in which the judges were appointed by the sovereign. the liberty of the citizen against arbitrary imprisonment was amply provided for. the 'jus de non evocando', the habeas corpus of holland, was re-established. truly, here was a fundamental law which largely, roundly, and reasonably recognized the existence of a people with hearts, heads, and hands of their own. it was a vast step in advance of natural servitude, the dogma of the dark ages. it was a noble and temperate vindication of natural liberty, the doctrine of more enlightened days. to no people in the world more than to the stout burghers of flanders and holland belongs the honor of having battled audaciously and perennially in behalf of human rights. similar privileges to the great charter of holland are granted to many other provinces; especially to flanders, ever ready to stand forward in fierce vindication of freedom. for a season all is peace and joy; but the duchess is young, weak, and a woman. there is no lack of intriguing politicians, reactionary councillors. there is a cunning old king in the distance, lying in wait; seeking what he can devour. a mission goes from the estates to france. the well-known tragedy of imbrecourt and hugonet occurs. envoys from the states, they dare to accept secret instructions from the duchess to enter into private negotiations with the french monarch, against their colleagues--against the great charter--against their country. sly louis betrays them, thinking that policy the more expedient. they are seized in ghent, rapidly tried, and as rapidly beheaded by the enraged burghers. all the entreaties of the lady mary, who, dressed in mourning garments, with dishevelled hair, unloosed girdle, and streaming eyes; appears at the town-house and afterwards in the market place, humbly to intercede for her servants, are fruitless there is no help for the juggling diplomatists. the punishment was sharp. was it more severe and sudden than that which betrayed monarchs usually inflict? would the flemings, at that critical moment, have deserved their freedom had they not taken swift and signal vengeance for this first infraction of their newly recognized rights? had it not been weakness to spare the traitors who had thus stained the childhood of the national joy at liberty regained? ix. another step, and a wide one, into the great stream of european history. the lady mary espouses the archduke maximilian. the netherlands are about to become habsburg property. the ghenters reject the pretensions of the dauphin, and select for husband of their duchess the very man whom her father had so stupidly rejected. it had been a wiser choice for charles the bold than for the netherlanders. the marriage takes place on the th of august, . mary of burgundy passes from the guardianship of ghent burghers into that of the emperor's son. the crafty husband allies himself with the city party, feeling where the strength lies. he knows that the voracious kabbeljaws have at last swallowed the hooks, and run away with them. promising himself future rights of reconsideration, he is liberal in promises to the municipal party. in the mean time he is governor and guardian of his wife and her provinces. his children are to inherit the netherlands and all that therein is. what can be more consistent than laws of descent, regulated by right divine? at the beginning of the century, good philip dispossesses jacqueline, because females can not inherit. at its close, his granddaughter succeeds to the property, and transmits it to her children. pope and emperor maintain both positions with equal logic. the policy and promptness of maximilian are as effective as the force and fraud of philip. the lady mary falls from her horse and dies. her son, philip, four years of age, is recognized as successor. thus the house of burgundy is followed by that of austria, the fifth and last family which governed holland, previously to the erection of the republic. maximilian is recognized by the provinces as governor and guardian, during the minority of his children. flanders alone refuses. the burghers, ever prompt in action, take personal possession of the child philip, and carry on the government in his name. a commission of citizens and nobles thus maintain their authority against maximilian for several years. in , the archduke, now king of the romans, with a small force of cavalry, attempts to take the city of bruges, but the result is a mortifying one to the roman king. the citizens of bruges take him. maximilian, with several councillors, is kept a prisoner in a house on the market-place. the magistrates are all changed, the affairs of government conducted in the name of the young philip alone. meantime, the estates of the other netherlands assemble at ghent; anxious, unfortunately, not for the national liberty, but for that of the roman king. already holland, torn again by civil feuds, and blinded by the artifices of maximilian, has deserted, for a season, the great cause to which flanders has remained so true. at last, a treaty is made between the archduke and the flemings. maximilian is to be regent of the other provinces; philip, under guardianship of a council, is to govern flanders. moreover, a congress of all the provinces is to be summoned annually, to provide for the general welfare. maximilian signs and swears to the treaty on the th may, . he swears, also, to dismiss all foreign troops within four days. giving hostages for his fidelity, he is set at liberty. what are oaths and hostages when prerogative, and the people are contending? emperor frederic sends to his son an army under the duke of saxony. the oaths are broken, the hostages left to their fate. the struggle lasts a year, but, at the end of it, the flemings are subdued. what could a single province effect, when its sister states, even liberty-loving holland, had basely abandoned the common cause? a new treaty is made, (oct. ). maximilian obtains uncontrolled guardianship of his son, absolute dominion over flanders and the other provinces. the insolent burghers are severely punished for remembering that they had been freemen. the magistrates of ghent, bruges, and ypres, in black garments, ungirdled, bare-headed, and kneeling, are compelled to implore the despot's forgiveness, and to pay three hundred thousand crowns of gold as its price. after this, for a brief season, order reigns in flanders. the course of maximilian had been stealthy, but decided. allying himself with the city party, he had crushed the nobles. the power thus obtained, he then turned against the burghers. step by step he had trampled out the liberties which his wife and himself had sworn to protect. he had spurned the authority of the "great privilege," and all other charters. burgomasters and other citizens had been beheaded in great numbers for appealing to their statutes against the edicts of the regent, for voting in favor of a general congress according to the unquestionable law. he had proclaimed that all landed estates should, in lack of heirs male, escheat to his own exchequer. he had debased the coin of the country, and thereby authorized unlimited swindling on the part of all his agents, from stadholders down to the meanest official. if such oppression and knavery did not justify the resistance of the flemings to the guardianship of maximilian, it would be difficult to find any reasonable course in political affairs save abject submission to authority. in , maximilian succeeds to the imperial throne, at the death of his father. in the following year his son, philip the fair, now seventeen years of age, receives the homage of the different states of the netherlands. he swears to maintain only the privileges granted by philip and charles of burgundy, or their ancestors, proclaiming null and void all those which might have been acquired since the death of charles. holland, zeland, and the other provinces accept him upon these conditions, thus ignominiously, and without a struggle, relinquishing the great privilege, and all similar charters. friesland is, for a brief season, politically separated from the rest of the country. harassed and exhausted by centuries of warfare, foreign, and domestic, the free frisians, at the suggestion or command of emperor maximilian, elect the duke of saxony as their podesta. the sovereign prince, naturally proving a chief magistrate far from democratic, gets himself acknowledged, or submitted to, soon afterwards, as legitimate sovereign of friesland. seventeen years afterward saxony sells the sovereignty to the austrian house for , crowns. this little country, whose statutes proclaimed her to be "free as the wind, as long as it blew," whose institutions charlemagne had honored and left unmolested, who had freed herself with ready poniard from norman tyranny, who never bowed her neck to feudal chieftain, nor to the papal yoke, now driven to madness and suicide by the dissensions of her wild children, forfeits at last her independent existence. all the provinces are thus united in a common servitude, and regret, too late, their supineness at a moment when their liberties might yet have been vindicated. their ancient and cherished charters, which their bold ancestors had earned with the sweat of their brows and the blood of their hearts, are at the mercy of an autocrat, and liable to be superseded by his edicts. in , the momentous marriage of philip the fair with joanna, daughter of ferdinand and isabella of castile and aragon, is solemnized. of this union, in the first year of the century, is born the second charlemagne, who is to unite spain and the netherlands, together with so many vast and distant realms, under a single sceptre. six years afterwards (sept. , ), philip dies at burgos. a handsome profligate, devoted to his pleasures, and leaving the cares of state to his ministers, philip, "croit-conseil," is the bridge over which the house of habsburg passes to almost universal monarchy, but, in himself, is nothing. x. two prudent marriages, made by austrian archdukes within twenty years, have altered the face of the earth. the stream, which we have been tracing from its source, empties itself at last into the ocean of a world-empire. count dirk the first, lord of a half-submerged corner of europe, is succeeded by count charles the second of holland, better known as charles the fifth, king of spain, sicily, and jerusalem, duke of milan, emperor of germany, dominator in asia and africa, autocrat of half the world. the leading events of his brilliant reign are familiar to every child. the netherlands now share the fate of so large a group of nations, a fate, to these provinces, most miserable. the weddings of austria felix were not so prolific of happiness to her subjects as to herself. it can never seem just or reasonable that the destiny of many millions of human beings should depend upon the marriage-settlements of one man with one woman, and a permanent, prosperous empire can never be reared upon so frail a foundation. the leading thought of the first charlemagne was a noble and a useful one, nor did his imperial scheme seem chimerical, even although time, wiser than monarchs or lawgivers, was to prove it impracticable. to weld into one great whole the various tribes of franks, frisians, saxons, lombards, burgundians, and others, still in their turbulent youth, and still composing one great teutonic family; to enforce the mutual adhesion of naturally coherent masses, all of one lineage, one language, one history, and which were only beginning to exhibit their tendencies to insulation, to acquiesce in a variety of local laws and customs, while an iron will was to concentrate a vast, but homogeneous, people into a single nation; to raise up from the grave of corrupt and buried rome a fresh, vigorous, german, christian empire; this was a reasonable and manly thought. far different the conception of the second charlemagne. to force into discordant union, tribes which, for seven centuries, had developed themselves into hostile nations, separated by geography and history, customs and laws, to combine many millions under one sceptre, not because of natural identity, but for the sake of composing one splendid family property, to establish unity by annihilating local institutions, to supersede popular and liberal charters by the edicts of a central despotism, to do battle with the whole spirit of an age, to regard the souls as well as the bodies of vast multitudes as the personal property of one individual, to strive for the perpetuation in a single house of many crowns, which accident had blended, and to imagine the consecration of the whole system by placing the pope's triple diadem forever upon the imperial head of the habsburgs;--all this was not the effort of a great, constructive genius, but the selfish scheme of an autocrat. the union of no two countries could be less likely to prove advantageous or agreeable than that of the netherlands and spain. they were widely separated geographically, while in history, manners, and politics, they were utterly opposed to each other. spain, which had but just assumed the form of a single state by the combination of all its kingdoms, with its haughty nobles descended from petty kings, and arrogating almost sovereign power within their domains, with its fierce enthusiasm for the catholic religion, which, in the course of long warfare with the saracens, had become the absorbing characteristic of a whole nation, with its sparse population scattered over a wide and stern country, with a military spirit which led nearly all classes to prefer poverty to the wealth attendant upon degrading pursuits of trade;--spain, with her gloomy, martial, and exaggerated character, was the absolute contrast of the netherlands. these provinces had been rarely combined into a whole, but there was natural affinity in their character, history, and position. there was life, movement, bustling activity every where. an energetic population swarmed in all the flourishing cities which dotted the surface of a contracted and highly cultivated country. their ships were the carriers for the world;--their merchants, if invaded in their rights, engaged in vigorous warfare with their own funds and their own frigates; their fabrics were prized over the whole earth; their burghers possessed the wealth of princes, lived with royal luxury, and exercised vast political influence; their love of liberty was their predominant passion. their religious ardor had not been fully awakened; but the events of the next generation were to prove that in no respect more than in the religious sentiment, were the two races opposed to each other. it was as certain that the netherlanders would be fierce reformers as that the spaniards would be uncompromising persecutors. unhallowed was the union between nations thus utterly contrasted. philip the fair and ferdinand had detested and quarrelled with each other from the beginning. the spaniards and flemings participated in the mutual antipathy, and hated each other cordially at first sight. the unscrupulous avarice of the netherland nobles in spain, their grasping and venal ambition, enraged and disgusted the haughty spaniards. this international malignity furnishes one of the keys to a proper understanding of the great revolt in the next reign. the provinces, now all united again under an emperor, were treated, opulent and powerful as they were, as obscure dependencies. the regency over them was entrusted by charles to his near relatives, who governed in the interest of his house, not of the country. his course towards them upon the religious question will be hereafter indicated. the political character of his administration was typified, and, as it were, dramatized, on the occasion of the memorable insurrection at ghent. for this reason, a few interior details concerning that remarkable event, seem requisite. xi. ghent was, in all respects, one of the most important cities in europe. erasmus, who, as a hollander and a courtier, was not likely to be partial to the turbulent flemings, asserted that there was no town in all christendom to be compared to it for size, power, political constitution, or the culture of its inhabitants. it was, said one of its inhabitants at the epoch of the insurrection, rather a country than a city. the activity and wealth of its burghers were proverbial. the bells were rung daily, and the drawbridges over the many arms of the river intersecting the streets were raised, in order that all business might be suspended, while the armies of workmen were going to or returning from their labors. as early as the fourteenth century, the age of the arteveldes, froissart estimated the number of fighting men whom ghent could bring into the field at eighty thousand. the city, by its jurisdiction over many large but subordinate towns, disposed of more than its own immediate population, which has been reckoned as high as two hundred thousand. placed in the midst of well cultivated plains, ghent was surrounded by strong walls, the external circuit of which measured nine miles. its streets and squares were spacious and elegant, its churches and other public buildings numerous and splendid. the sumptuous church of saint john or saint bavon, where charles the fifth had been baptized, the ancient castle whither baldwin bras de fer had brought the daughter of charles the bald, the city hall with its graceful moorish front, the well-known belfry, where for three centuries had perched the dragon sent by the emperor baldwin of flanders from constantinople, and where swung the famous roland, whose iron tongue had called the citizens, generation after generation, to arms, whether to win battles over foreign kings at the head of their chivalry, or to plunge their swords in each others' breasts, were all conspicuous in the city and celebrated in the land. especially the great bell was the object of the burghers' affection, and, generally, of the sovereign's hatred; while to all it seemed, as it were, a living historical personage, endowed with the human powers and passions which it had so long directed and inflamed. the constitution of the city was very free. it was a little republic in all but name. its population was divided into fifty-two guilds of manufacturers and into thirty-two tribes of weavers; each fraternity electing annually or biennally its own deans and subordinate officers. the senate, which exercised functions legislative, judicial, and administrative, subject of course to the grand council of mechlin and to the sovereign authority, consisted of twenty-six members. these were appointed partly from the upper class, or the men who lived upon their means, partly from the manufacturers in general, and partly from the weavers. they were chosen by a college of eight electors, who were appointed by the sovereign on nomination by the citizens. the whole city, in its collective capacity, constituted one of the four estates (membra) of the province of flanders. it is obvious that so much liberty of form and of fact, added to the stormy character by which its citizens were distinguished, would be most offensive in the eyes of charles, and that the delinquencies of the little commonwealth would be represented in the most glaring colors by all those quiet souls, who preferred the tranquillity of despotism to the turbulence of freedom. the city claimed, moreover, the general provisions of the "great privilege" of the lady mary, the magna charta, which, according to the monarchical party, had been legally abrogated by maximilian. the liberties of the town had also been nominally curtailed by the "calf-skin" (kalf vel). by this celebrated document, charles the fifth, then fifteen years of age, had been made to threaten with condign punishment all persons who should maintain that he had sworn at his inauguration to observe any privileges or charters claimed by the ghenters before the peace of cadsand. the immediate cause of the discontent, the attempt to force from flanders a subsidy of four hundred thousand caroli, as the third part of the twelve hundred thousand granted by the states of the netherlands, and the resistance of ghent in opposition to the other three members of the province, will, of course, be judged differently, according as the sympathies are stronger with popular rights or with prerogative. the citizens claimed that the subsidy could only be granted by the unanimous consent of the four estates of the province. among other proofs of this their unquestionable right, they appealed to a muniment, which had never existed, save in the imagination of the credulous populace. at a certain remote epoch, one of the counts of flanders, it was contended, had gambled away his countship to the earl of holland, but had been extricated from his dilemma by the generosity of ghent. the burghers of the town had paid the debts and redeemed the sovereignty of their lord, and had thereby gained, in return, a charter, called the bargain of flanders (koop van flandern). among the privileges granted by this document, was an express stipulation that no subsidy should ever be granted by the province without the consent of ghent. this charter would have been conclusive in the present emergency, had it not labored under the disadvantage of never having existed. it was supposed by many that the magistrates, some of whom were favorable to government, had hidden the document. lieven pyl, an ex-senator, was supposed to be privy to its concealment. he was also, with more justice, charged with an act of great baseness and effrontery. reputed by the citizens to carry to the queen regent their positive refusal to grant the subsidy, he had, on the contrary, given an answer, in their name, in the affirmative. for these delinquencies, the imaginary and the real, he was inhumanly tortured and afterwards beheaded. "i know, my children," said he upon the scaffold, "that you will be grieved when you have seen my blood flow, and that you will regret me when it is too late." it does not appear, however, that there was any especial reason to regret him, however sanguinary the punishment which had requited his broken faith. the mischief being thus afoot, the tongue of roland, and the easily-excited spirits of the citizens, soon did the rest. ghent broke forth into open insurrection. they had been willing to enlist and pay troops under their own banners, but they had felt outraged at the enormous contribution demanded of them for a foreign war, undertaken in the family interests of their distant master. they could not find the "bargain of flanders," but they got possession of the odious "calf skin," which was solemnly cut in two by the dean of the weavers. it was then torn in shreds by the angry citizens, many of whom paraded the streets with pieces of the hated document stuck in their caps, like plumes. from these demonstrations they proceeded to intrigues with francis the first. he rejected them, and gave notice of their overtures to charles, who now resolved to quell the insurrection, at once. francis wrote, begging that the emperor would honor him by coming through france; "wishing to assure you," said he, "my lord and good brother, by this letter, written and signed by my hand, upon my honor, and on the faith of a prince, and of the best brother you have, that in passing through my kingdom every possible honor and hospitality will be offered you, even as they could be to myself." certainly, the french king, after such profuse and voluntary pledges, to confirm which he, moreover, offered his two sons and other great individuals as hostages, could not, without utterly disgracing himself, have taken any unhandsome advantage of the emperor's presence in his dominions. the reflections often made concerning the high-minded chivalry of francis, and the subtle knowledge of human nature displayed by charles upon the occasion, seem, therefore, entirely superfluous. the emperor came to paris. "here," says a citizen of ghent, at the time, who has left a minute account of the transaction upon record, but whose sympathies were ludicrously with the despot and against his own townspeople, "here the emperor was received as if the god of paradise had descended." on the th of february, , he left brussels; on the th he came to ghent. his entrance into the city lasted more than six hours. four thousand lancers, one thousand archers, five thousand halberdmen and musqueteers composed his bodyguard, all armed to the teeth and ready for combat. the emperor rode in their midst, surrounded by "cardinals, archbishops, bishops, and other great ecclesiastical lords," so that the terrors of the church were combined with the panoply of war to affright the souls of the turbulent burghers. a brilliant train of "dukes, princes, earls, barons, grand masters, and seignors, together with most of the knights of the fleece," were, according to the testimony of the same eyewitness, in attendance upon his majesty. this unworthy son of ghent was in ecstasies with the magnificence displayed upon the occasion. there was such a number of "grand lords, members of sovereign houses, bishops, and other ecclesiastical dignitaries going about the streets, that," as the poor soul protested with delight, "there was nobody else to be met with." especially the fine clothes of these distinguished guests excited his warmest admiration. it was wonderful to behold, he said, "the nobility and great richness of the princes and seignors, displayed as well in their beautiful furs, martins and sables, as in the great chains of fine gold which they wore twisted round their necks, and the pearls and precious stones in their bonnets and otherwise, which they displayed in great abundance. it was a very triumphant thing to see them so richly dressed and accoutred." an idea may be formed of the size and wealth of the city at this period, from the fact that it received and accommodated sixty thousand strangers, with their fifteen thousand horses, upon the occasion of the emperor's visit. charles allowed a month of awful suspense to intervene between his arrival and his vengeance. despair and hope alternated during the interval. on the th of march, the spell was broken by the execution of nineteen persons, who were beheaded as ringleaders. on the th of april, he pronounced sentence upon the city. the hall where it was rendered was open to all comers, and graced by the presence of the emperor, the queen regent, and the great functionaries of court, church, and state. the decree, now matured, was read at length. it annulled all the charters, privileges, and laws of ghent. it confiscated all its public property, rents, revenues, houses, artillery, munitions of war, and in general every thing which the corporation, or the traders, each and all, possessed in common. in particular, the great bell--roland was condemned and sentenced to immediate removal. it was decreed that the four hundred thousand florins, which had caused the revolt, should forthwith be paid, together with an additional fine by ghent of one hundred and fifty thousand, besides six thousand a year, forever after. in place of their ancient and beloved constitution, thus annihilated at a blow, was promulgated a new form of municipal government of the simplest kind, according to which all officers were in future to be appointed by himself and the guilds, to be reduced to half their number; shorn of all political power, and deprived entirely of self-government. it was, moreover, decreed, that the senators, their pensionaries, clerks and secretaries, thirty notable burghers, to be named by the emperor, with the great dean and second dean of the weavers, all dressed in black robes, without their chains, and bareheaded, should appear upon an appointed day, in company with fifty persons from the guilds, and fifty others, to be arbitrarily named, in their shirts, with halters upon their necks. this large number of deputies, as representatives of the city, were then to fall upon their knees before the emperor, say in a loud and intelligible voice, by the mouth of one of their clerks, that they were extremely sorry for the disloyalty, disobedience, infraction of laws, commotions, rebellion, and high treason, of which they had been guilty, promise that they would never do the like again, and humbly implore him, for the sake of the passion of jesus christ, to grant them mercy and forgiveness. the third day of may was appointed for the execution of the sentence. charles, who was fond of imposing exhibitions and prided himself upon arranging them with skill, was determined that this occasion should be long remembered by all burghers throughout his dominions who might be disposed to insist strongly upon their municipal rights. the streets were alive with troops: cavalry and infantry in great numbers keeping strict guard at every point throughout the whole extent of the city; for it was known that the hatred produced by the sentence was most deadly, and that nothing but an array of invincible force could keep those hostile sentiments in check. the senators in their black mourning robes, the other deputies in linen shirts, bareheaded, with halters on their necks, proceeded, at the appointed hour, from the senate house to the imperial residence. high on his throne, with the queen regent at his side, surrounded by princes, prelates and nobles, guarded by his archers and halberdiers, his crown on his head and his sceptre in his hand, the emperor, exalted, sat. the senators and burghers, in their robes cf humiliation, knelt in the dust at his feet. the prescribed words of contrition and of supplication for mercy were then read by the pensionary, all the deputies remaining upon their knees, and many of them crying bitterly with rage and shame. "what principally distressed them," said the honest citizen, whose admiration for the brilliant accoutrement of the princes and prelates has been recorded, "was to have the halter on their necks, which they found hard to bear, and, if they had not been compelled, they would rather have died than submit to it." as soon as the words had been all spoken by the pensionary, the emperor, whose cue was now to appear struggling with mingled emotions of reasonable wrath and of natural benignity, performed his part with much dramatic effect. "he held himself coyly for a little time," says the eye-witness, "without saying a word; deporting himself as though he were considering whether or not he would grant the pardon for which the culprits had prayed." then the queen regent enacted her share in the show. turning to his majesty "with all reverence, honor and humility, she begged that he would concede forgiveness, in honor of his nativity, which had occurred in that city." upon this the emperor "made a fine show of benignity," and replied "very sweetly" that in consequence of his "fraternal love for her, by reason of his being a gentle and virtuous prince, who preferred mercy to the rigor of justice, and in view of their repentance, he would accord his pardon to the citizens." the netherlands, after this issue to the struggle of ghent, were reduced, practically, to a very degraded condition. the form of local self-government remained, but its spirit, when invoked, only arose to be derided. the supreme court of mechlin, as in the days of charles the bold, was again placed in despotic authority above the ancient charters. was it probable that the lethargy of provinces, which had reached so high a point of freedom only to be deprived of it at last, could endure forever? was it to be hoped that the stern spirit of religious enthusiasm, allying itself with the--keen instinct of civil liberty, would endue the provinces with strength to throw off the spanish yoke? xii. it is impossible to comprehend the character of the great netherland revolt in the sixteenth century without taking a rapid retrospective survey of the religious phenomena exhibited in the provinces. the introduction of christianity has been already indicated. from the earliest times, neither prince, people, nor even prelates were very dutiful to the pope. as the papal authority made progress, strong resistance was often made to its decrees. the bishops of utrecht were dependent for their wealth and territory upon the good will of the emperor. they were the determined opponents of hildebrand, warm adherents of the hohenstaufers-ghibelline rather than guelph. heresy was a plant of early growth in the netherlands. as early as the beginning of the th century, the notorious tanchelyn preached at antwerp, attacking the authority of the pope and of all other ecclesiastics; scoffing at the ceremonies and sacraments of the church. unless his character and career have been grossly misrepresented, he was the most infamous of the many impostors who have so often disgraced the cause of religious reformation. by more than four centuries, he anticipated the licentiousness and greediness manifested by a series of false prophets, and was the first to turn both the stupidity of a populace and the viciousness of a priesthood to his own advancement; an ambition which afterwards reached its most signal expression in the celebrated john of leyden. the impudence of tanchelyn and the superstition of his followers seem alike incredible. all antwerp was his harem. he levied, likewise, vast sums upon his converts, and whenever he appeared in public, his apparel and pomp were befitting an emperor. three thousand armed satellites escorted his steps and put to death all who resisted his commands. so groveling became the superstition of his followers that they drank of the water in which, he had washed, and treasured it as a divine elixir. advancing still further in his experiments upon human credulity, he announced his approaching marriage with the virgin mary, bade all his disciples to the wedding, and exhibited himself before an immense crowd in company with an image of his holy bride. he then ordered the people to provide for the expenses of the nuptials and the dowry of his wife, placing a coffer upon each side of the image, to receive the contributions of either sex. which is the most wonderful manifestation in the history of this personage--the audacity of the impostor, or the bestiality of his victims? his career was so successful in the netherlands that he had the effrontery to proceed to rome, promulgating what he called his doctrines as he went. he seems to have been assassinated by a priest in an obscure brawl, about the year . by the middle of the th century, other and purer heresiarchs had arisen. many netherlanders became converts to the doctrines of waldo. from that period until the appearance of luther, a succession of sects--waldenses, albigenses, perfectists, lollards, poplicans, arnaldists, bohemian brothers--waged perpetual but unequal warfare with the power and depravity of the church, fertilizing with their blood the future field of the reformation. nowhere was the persecution of heretics more relentless than in the netherlands. suspected persons were subjected to various torturing but ridiculous ordeals. after such trial, death by fire was the usual but, perhaps, not the most severe form of execution. in flanders, monastic ingenuity had invented another most painful punishment for waldenses and similar malefactors. a criminal whose guilt had been established by the hot iron, hot ploughshare, boiling kettle, or other logical proof, was stripped and bound to the stake:--he was then flayed, from the neck to the navel, while swarms of bees were let loose to fasten upon his bleeding flesh and torture him to a death of exquisite agony. nevertheless heresy increased in the face of oppression the scriptures, translated by waldo into french, were rendered into netherland rhyme, and the converts to the vaudois doctrine increased in numbers and boldness. at the same time the power and luxury of the clergy was waxing daily. the bishops of utrecht, no longer the defenders of the people against arbitrary power, conducted themselves like little popes. yielding in dignity neither to king nor kaiser, they exacted homage from the most powerful princes of the netherlands. the clerical order became the most privileged of all. the accused priest refused to acknowledge the temporal tribunals. the protection of ecclesiastical edifices was extended over all criminals and fugitives from justice--a beneficent result in those sanguinary ages, even if its roots were sacerdotal pride. to establish an accusation against a bishop, seventy-two witnesses were necessary; against a deacon, twenty-seven; against an inferior dignitary, seven; while two were sufficient to convict a layman. the power to read and write helped the clergy to much wealth. privileges and charters from petty princes, gifts and devises from private persons, were documents which few, save ecclesiastics, could draw or dispute. not content, moreover, with their territories and their tithings, the churchmen perpetually devised new burthens upon the peasantry. ploughs, sickles, horses, oxen, all implements of husbandry, were taxed for the benefit of those who toiled not, but who gathered into barns. in the course of the twelfth century, many religious houses, richly endowed with lands and other property, were founded in the netherlands. was hand or voice raised against clerical encroachment--the priests held ever in readiness a deadly weapon of defence: a blasting anathema was thundered against their antagonist, and smote him into submission. the disciples of him who ordered his followers to bless their persecutors, and to love their enemies, invented such christian formulas as these:--"in the name of the father, the son, the holy ghost, the blessed virgin mary, john the baptist, peter and paul, and all other saints in heaven, do we curse and cut off from our communion him who has thus rebelled against us. may the curse strike him in his house, barn, bed, field, path, city, castle. may he be cursed in battle, accursed in praying, in speaking, in silence, in eating, in drinking, in sleeping. may he be accursed in his taste, hearing, smell, and all his senses. may the curse blast his eyes, head, and his body, from his crown to the soles of his feet. i conjure you, devil, and all your imps, that you take no rest till you have brought him to eternal shame; till he is destroyed by drowning or hanging, till he is torn to pieces by wild beasts, or consumed by fire. let his children become orphans, his wife a widow. i command you, devil, and all your imps, that even as i now blow out these torches, you do immediately extinguish the light from his eyes. so be it--so be it. amen. amen." so speaking, the curser was wont to blow out two waxen torches which he held in his hands, and, with this practical illustration, the anathema was complete. such insane ravings, even in the mouth of some impotent beldame, were enough to excite a shudder, but in that dreary epoch, these curses from the lips of clergymen were deemed sufficient to draw down celestial lightning upon the head, not of the blasphemer, but of his victim. men, who trembled neither at sword nor fire, cowered like slaves before such horrid imprecations, uttered by tongues gifted, as it seemed, with superhuman power. their fellow-men shrank from the wretches thus blasted, and refused communication with them as unclean and abhorred. by the end of the thirteenth century, however, the clerical power was already beginning to decline. it was not the corruption of the church, but its enormous wealth which engendered the hatred, with which it was by many regarded. temporal princes and haughty barons began to dispute the right of ecclesiastics to enjoy vast estates, while refusing the burthen of taxation, and unable to draw a sword for the common defence. at this period, the counts of flanders, of holland, and other netherland sovereigns, issued decrees, forbidding clerical institutions from acquiring property, by devise, gift, purchase, or any other mode. the downfall of the rapacious and licentious knights-templar in the provinces and throughout europe, was another severe blow administered at the same time. the attacks upon church abuses redoubled in boldness, as its authority declined. towards the end of the fourteenth century, the doctrines of wicklif had made great progress in the land. early in the fifteenth, the executions of huss and jerome of prague, produce the bohemian rebellion. the pope proclaims a crusade against the hussites. knights and prelates, esquires and citizens, enlist in the sacred cause, throughout holland and its sister provinces; but many netherlanders, who had felt the might of ziska's arm, come back, feeling more sympathy with the heresy which they had attacked, than with the church for which they had battled. meantime, the restrictions imposed by netherland sovereigns upon clerical rights to hold or acquire property, become more stern and more general. on the other hand, with the invention of printing, the cause of reformation takes a colossal stride in advance. a bible, which, before, had cost five hundred crowns, now costs but five. the people acquire the power of reading god's word, or of hearing it read, for themselves. the light of truth dispels the clouds of superstition, as by a new revelation. the pope and his monks are found to bear, very often, but faint resemblance to jesus and his apostles. moreover, the instinct of self-interest sharpens the eye of the public. many greedy priests, of lower rank, had turned shop-keepers in the netherlands, and were growing rich by selling their wares, exempt from taxation, at a lower rate than lay hucksters could afford. the benefit of clergy, thus taking the bread from the mouths of many, excites jealousy; the more so, as, besides their miscellaneous business, the reverend traders have a most lucrative branch of commerce from which other merchants are excluded. the sale of absolutions was the source of large fortunes to the priests. the enormous impudence of this traffic almost exceeds belief. throughout the netherlands, the price current of the wares thus offered for sale, was published in every town and village. god's pardon for crimes already committed, or about to be committed, was advertised according to a graduated tariff. thus, poisoning, for example, was absolved for eleven ducats, six livres tournois. absolution for incest was afforded at thirty-six livres, three ducats. perjury came to seven livres and three carlines. pardon for murder, if not by poison, was cheaper. even a parricide could buy forgiveness at god's tribunal at one ducat; four livres, eight carlines. henry de montfort, in the year , purchased absolution for that crime at that price. was it strange that a century or so of this kind of work should produce a luther? was it unnatural that plain people, who loved the ancient church, should rather desire to see her purged of such blasphemous abuses, than to hear of st. peter's dome rising a little nearer to the clouds on these proceeds of commuted crime? at the same time, while ecclesiastical abuses are thus augmenting, ecclesiastical power is diminishing in the netherlands. the church is no longer able to protect itself against the secular aim. the halcyon days of ban, book and candle, are gone. in , duke philip of burgundy prohibits the churches from affording protection to fugitives. charles the bold, in whose eyes nothing is sacred save war and the means of making it, lays a heavy impost upon all clerical property. upon being resisted, he enforces collection with the armed hand. the sword and the pen, strength and intellect, no longer the exclusive servants or instruments of priestcraft, are both in open revolt. charles the bold storms one fortress, doctor grandfort, of groningen, batters another. this learned frisian, called "the light of the world," friend and compatriot of the great rudolph agricola, preaches throughout the provinces, uttering bold denunciations of ecclesiastical error. he even disputes the infallibility of the pope, denies the utility of prayers for the dead, and inveighs against the whole doctrine of purgatory and absolution. with the beginning of the th century, the great reformation was actually alive. the name of erasmus of rotterdam was already celebrated; the man, who, according to grotius, "so well showed the road to a reasonable reformation." but if erasmus showed the road, he certainly did not travel far upon it himself. perpetual type of the quietist, the moderate man, he censured the errors of the church with discrimination and gentleness, as if borgianism had not been too long rampant at rome, as if men's minds throughout christendom were not too deeply stirred to be satisfied with mild rebukes against sin, especially when the mild rebuker was in receipt of livings and salaries from the sinner. instead of rebukes, the age wanted reforms. the sage of rotterdam was a keen observer, a shrewd satirist, but a moderate moralist. he loved ease, good company, the soft repose of princely palaces, better than a life of martyrdom and a death at the stake. he was not of the stuff of which martyrs are made, as he handsomely confessed on more than one occasion. "let others affect martyrdom," he said, "for myself i am unworthy of the honor;" and, at another time, "i am not of a mind," he observed "to venture my life for the truth's sake; all men have not strength to endure the martyr's death. for myself, if it came to the point, i should do no better than simon peter." moderate in all things, he would have liked, he said, to live without eating and drinking, although he never found it convenient to do so, and he rejoiced when advancing age diminished his tendency to other carnal pleasures in which he had moderately indulged. although awake to the abuses of the church, he thought luther going too fast and too far. he began by applauding ended by censuring the monk of wittemberg. the reformation might have been delayed for centuries had erasmus and other moderate men been the only reformers. he will long be honored for his elegant, latinity. in the republic of letters, his efforts to infuse a pure taste, a sound criticism, a love for the beautiful and the classic, in place of the owlish pedantry which had so long flapped and hooted through mediaeval cloisters, will always be held in grateful reverence. in the history of the religious reformation, his name seems hardly to deserve the commendations of grotius. as the schism yawns, more and more ominously, throughout christendom, the emperor naturally trembles. anxious to save the state, but being no antique roman, he wishes to close the gulf, but with more convenience to himself: he conceives the highly original plan of combining church and empire under one crown. this is maximilian's scheme for church reformation. an hereditary papacy, a perpetual pope-emperor, the charlemagne and hildebrand systems united and simplified--thus the world may yet be saved. "nothing more honorable, nobler, better, could happen to us," writes maximilian to paul lichtenstein ( th sept. ), "than to re-annex the said popedom--which properly belongs to us--to our empire. cardinal adrian approves our reasons and encourages us to proceed, being of opinion that we should not have much trouble with the cardinals. it is much to be feared that the pope may die of his present sickness. he has lost his appetite, and fills himself with so much drink that his health is destroyed. as such matters can not be arranged without money, we have promised the cardinals, whom we expect to bring over, , ducats, [recall that the fine for redemption and pardon for the sin of murder was at that time one ducat. d.w.] which we shall raise from the fuggers, and make payable in rome upon the appointed day." these business-like arrangements he communicates, two days afterwards, in a secret letter to his daughter margaret, and already exults at his future eminence, both in this world and the next. "we are sending monsieur de gurce," he says; "to make an agreement with the pope, that we may be taken as coadjutor, in order that, upon his death, we may be sure of the papacy, and, afterwards, of becoming a saint. after my decease, therefore, you will be constrained to adore me, of which i shall be very proud. i am beginning to work upon the cardinals, in which affair two or three hundred thousand ducats will be of great service." the letter was signed, "from the hand of your good father, maximilian, future pope." these intrigues are not destined, however, to be successful. pope julius lives two years longer; leo the tenth succeeds; and, as medici are not much prone to church reformation some other scheme, and perhaps some other reformer, may be wanted. meantime, the traffic in bulls of absolution becomes more horrible than ever. money must be raised to supply the magnificent extravagance of rome. accordingly, christians, throughout europe, are offered by papal authority, guarantees of forgiveness for every imaginable sin, "even for the rape of god's mother, if that were possible," together with a promise of life eternal in paradise, all upon payment of the price affixed to each crime. the netherlands, like other countries, are districted and farmed for the collection of this papal revenue. much of the money thus raised, remains in the hands of the vile collectors. sincere catholics, who love and honor the ancient religion, shrink with horror at the spectacle offered on every side. criminals buying paradise for money, monks spending the money thus paid in gaming houses, taverns, and brothels; this seems, to those who have studied their testaments, a different scheme of salvation from the one promulgated by christ. there has evidently been a departure from the system of earlier apostles. innocent conservative souls are much perplexed; but, at last, all these infamies arouse a giant to do battle with the giant wrong. martin luther enters the lists, all alone, armed only with a quiver filled with ninety-five propositions, and a bow which can send them all over christendom with incredible swiftness. within a few weeks the ninety-five propositions have flown through germany, the netherlands, spain, and are found in jerusalem. at the beginning, erasmus encourages the bold friar. so long as the axe is not laid at the foot of the tree, which bears the poisonous but golden fruit, the moderate man applauds the blows. "luther's cause is considered odious," writes erasmus to the elector of saxony, "because he has, at the same time, attacked the bellies of the monks and the bulls of the pope." he complains that the zealous man had been attacked with roiling, but not with arguments. he foresees that the work will have a bloody and turbulent result, but imputes the principal blame to the clergy. "the priests talk," said he, "of absolution in such terms, that laymen can not stomach it. luther has been for nothing more censured than for making little of thomas aquinas; for wishing to diminish the absolution traffic; for having a low opinion of mendicant orders, and for respecting scholastic opinions less than the gospels. all this is considered intolerable heresy." erasmus, however, was offending both parties. a swarm of monks were already buzzing about him for the bold language of his commentaries and dialogues. he was called erasmus for his errors--arasmus because he would plough up sacred things--erasmus because he had written himself an ass--behemoth, antichrist, and many other names of similar import. luther was said to have bought the deadly seed in his barn. the egg had been laid by erasmus, hatched by luther. on the other hand, he was reviled for not taking side manfully with the reformer. the moderate man received much denunciation from zealots on either side. he soon clears himself, however, from all suspicions of lutheranism. he is appalled at the fierce conflict which rages far and wide. he becomes querulous as the mighty besom sweeps away sacred dust and consecrated cobwebs. "men should not attempt every thing at once," he writes, "but rather step by step. that which men can not improve they must look at through the fingers. if the godlessness of mankind requires such fierce physicians as luther, if man can not be healed with soothing ointments and cooling drinks, let us hope that god will comfort, as repentant, those whom he has punished as rebellious. if the dove of christ--not the owl of minerva--would only fly to us, some measure might be put to the madness of mankind." meantime the man, whose talk is not of doves and owls, the fierce physician, who deals not with ointments and cooling draughts, strides past the crowd of gentle quacks to smite the foul disease. devils, thicker than tiles on house-tops, scare him not from his work. bans and bulls, excommunications and decrees, are rained upon his head. the paternal emperor sends down dire edicts, thicker than hail upon the earth. the holy father blasts and raves from rome. louvain doctors denounce, louvain hangmen burn, the bitter, blasphemous books. the immoderate man stands firm in the storm, demanding argument instead of illogical thunder; shows the hangmen and the people too, outside the elster gate at wittenberg, that papal bulls will blaze as merrily as heretic scrolls. what need of allusion to events which changed the world--which every child has learned--to the war of titans, uprooting of hoary trees and rock-ribbed hills, to the worms diet, peasant wars, the patmos of eisenach, and huge wrestlings with the devil? imperial edicts are soon employed to suppress the reformation in the netherlands by force. the provinces, unfortunately; are the private property of charles, his paternal inheritance; and most paternally, according to his view of the matter, does he deal with them. germany can not be treated thus summarily, not being his heritage. "as it appears," says the edict of , "that the aforesaid martin is not a man, but a devil under the form of a man, and clothed in the dress of a priest, the better to bring the human race to hell and damnation, therefore all his disciples and converts are to be punished with death and forfeiture of all their goods." this was succinct and intelligible. the bloody edict, issued at worms, without even a pretence of sanction by the estates, was carried into immediate effect. the papal inquisition was introduced into the provinces to assist its operations. the bloody work, for which the reign of charles is mainly distinguished in the netherlands, now began. in , july st, two augustine monks were burned at brussels, the first victims to lutheranism in the provinces. erasmus observed, with a sigh, that "two had been burned at brussels, and that the city now began strenuously to favor lutheranism." pope adrian the sixth, the netherland boat-maker's son and the emperor's ancient tutor, was sufficiently alive to the sins of churchmen. the humble scholar of utrecht was, at least, no borgia. at the diet of nuremberg, summoned to put down luther, the honest pope declared roundly, through the bishop of fabriane, that "these disorders had sprung from the sins of men, more especially from the sins of priests and prelates. even in the holy chair," said he, "many horrible crimes have been committed. many abuses have grown up in the ecclesiastical state. the contagious disease, spreading from the head to the members--from the pope to lesser prelates--has spread far and wide, so that scarcely any one is to be found who does right, and who is free from infection. nevertheless, the evils have become so ancient and manifold, that it will be necessary to go step by step." in those passionate days, the ardent reformers were as much outraged by this pregnant confession as the ecclesiastics. it would indeed be a slow process, they thought, to move step by step in the reformation, if between each step, a whole century was to intervene. in vain did the gentle pontiff call upon erasmus to assuage the stormy sea with his smooth rhetoric. the sage of rotterdam was old and sickly; his day was over. adrian's head; too; languishes beneath the triple crown but twenty months. he dies th sept., , having arrived at the conviction, according to his epitaph, that the greatest misfortune of his life was to have reigned. another edict, published in the netherlands, forbids all private assemblies for devotion; all reading of the scriptures; all discussions within one's own doors concerning faith, the sacraments, the papal authority, or other religious matter, under penalty of death. the edicts were no dead letter. the fires were kept constantly supplied with human fuel by monks, who knew the art of burning reformers better than that of arguing with them. the scaffold was the most conclusive of syllogisms, and used upon all occasions. still the people remained unconvinced. thousands of burned heretics had not made a single convert. a fresh edict renewed and sharpened the punishment for reading the scriptures in private or public. at the same time, the violent personal altercation between luther and erasmus, upon predestination, together with the bitter dispute between luther and zwingli concerning the real presence, did more to impede the progress of the reformation than ban or edict, sword or fire. the spirit of humanity hung her head, finding that the bold reformer had only a new dogma in place of the old ones, seeing that dissenters, in their turn, were sometimes as ready as papists, with age, fagot, and excommunication. in , felix mants, the anabaptist, is drowned at zurich, in obedience to zwingli's pithy formula--'qui iterum mergit mergatur'. thus the anabaptists, upon their first appearance, were exposed to the fires of the church and the water of the zwinglians. there is no doubt that the anabaptist delusion was so ridiculous and so loathsome, as to palliate or at least render intelligible the wrath with which they were regarded by all parties. the turbulence of the sect was alarming to constituted authorities, its bestiality disgraceful to the cause of religious reformation. the leaders were among the most depraved of human creatures, as much distinguished for licentiousness, blasphemy and cruelty as their followers for grovelling superstition. the evil spirit, driven out of luther, seemed, in orthodox eyes, to have taken possession of a herd of swine. the germans, muncer and hoffmann, had been succeeded, as chief prophets, by a dutch baker, named matthiszoon, of harlem; who announced himself as enoch. chief of this man's disciples was the notorious john boccold, of leyden. under the government of this prophet, the anabaptists mastered the city of munster. here they confiscated property, plundered churches, violated females, murdered men who refused to join the gang, and, in briefs practised all the enormities which humanity alone can conceive or perpetrate. the prophet proclaimed himself king of sion, and sent out apostles to preach his doctrines in germany and the netherlands. polygamy being a leading article of the system, he exemplified the principle by marrying fourteen wives. of these, the beautiful widow of matthiszoon was chief, was called the queen of sion, and wore a golden crown. the prophet made many fruitless efforts to seize amsterdam and leyden. the armed invasion of the anabaptists was repelled, but their contagious madness spread. the plague broke forth in amsterdam. on a cold winter's night, (february, ), seven men and five women, inspired by the holy ghost, threw off their clothes and rushed naked and raving through the streets, shrieking "wo, wo, wo! the wrath of god, the wrath of god!" when arrested, they obstinately refused to put on clothing. "we are," they observed, "the naked truth." in a day or two, these furious lunatics, who certainly deserved a madhouse rather than the scaffold, were all executed. the numbers of the sect increased with the martyrdom to which they were exposed, and the disorder spread to every part of the netherlands. many were put to death in lingering torments, but no perceptible effect was produced by the chastisement. meantime the great chief of the sect, the prophet john, was defeated by the forces of the bishop of munster, who recovered his city and caused the "king of zion" to be pinched to death with red-hot tongs. unfortunately the severity of government was not wreaked alone upon the prophet and his mischievous crew. thousands and ten-thousands of virtuous, well-disposed men and women, who had as little sympathy with anabaptistical as with roman depravity; were butchered in cold blood, under the sanguinary rule of charles, in the netherlands. in , queen dowager mary of hungary, sister of the emperor, regent of the provinces, the "christian widow" admired by erasmus, wrote to her brother that "in her opinion all heretics, whether repentant or not, should be prosecuted with such severity as that error might be, at once, extinguished, care being only taken that the provinces were not entirely depopulated." with this humane limitation, the "christian widow" cheerfully set herself to superintend as foul and wholesale a system of murder as was ever organized. in , an imperial edict was issued at brussels, condemning all heretics to death; repentant males to be executed with the sword, repentant females to be buried alive, the obstinate, of both sexes, to be burned. this and similar edicts were the law of the land for twenty years, and rigidly enforced. imperial and papal persecution continued its daily deadly work with such diligence as to make it doubtful whether the limits set by the regent mary might not be overstepped. in the midst of the carnage, the emperor sent for his son philip, that he might receive the fealty of the netherlands as their future lord and master. contemporaneously, a new edict was published at brussels ( th april, ), confirming and reenacting all previous decrees in their most severe provisions. thus stood religious matters in the netherlands at the epoch of the imperial abdication. xiii. the civil institutions of the country had assumed their last provincial form, in the burgundo-austrian epoch. as already stated, their tendency, at a later period a vicious one, was to substitute fictitious personages for men. a chain of corporations was wound about the liberty of the netherlands; yet that liberty had been originally sustained by the system in which it, one day, might be strangled. the spirit of local self-government, always the life-blood of liberty, was often excessive in its manifestations. the centrifugal force had been too much developed, and, combining with the mutual jealousy of corporations, had often made the nation weak against a common foe. instead of popular rights there were state rights, for the large cities, with extensive districts and villages under their government, were rather petty states than municipalities. although the supreme legislative and executive functions belonged to the sovereign, yet each city made its by-laws, and possessed, beside, a body of statutes and regulations, made from time to time by its own authority and confirmed by the prince. thus a large portion, at least, of the nation shared practically in the legislative functions, which, technically, it did not claim; nor had the requirements of society made constant legislation so necessary, as that to exclude the people from the work was to enslave the country. there was popular power enough to effect much good, but it was widely scattered, and, at the same time, confined in artificial forms. the guilds were vassals of the towns, the towns, vassals of the feudal lord. the guild voted in the "broad council" of the city as one person; the city voted in the estates as one person. the people of the united netherlands was the personage yet to be invented, it was a privilege, not a right, to exercise a handiwork, or to participate in the action of government. yet the mass of privileges was so large, the shareholders so numerous, that practically the towns were republics. the government was in the hands of a large number of the people. industry and intelligence led to wealth and power. this was great progress from the general servitude of the th and th centuries, an immense barrier against arbitrary rule. loftier ideas of human rights, larger conceptions of commerce, have taught mankind, in later days, the difference between liberties and liberty, between guilds and free competition. at the same time it was the principle of mercantile association, in the middle ages, which protected the infant steps of human freedom and human industry against violence and wrong. moreover, at this period, the tree of municipal life was still green and vigorous. the healthful flow of sap from the humblest roots to the most verdurous branches indicated the internal soundness of the core, and provided for the constant development of exterior strength. the road to political influence was open to all, not by right of birth, but through honorable exertion of heads and hands. the chief city of the netherlands, the commercial capital of the world, was antwerp. in the north and east of europe, the hanseatic league had withered with the revolution in commerce. at the south, the splendid marble channels, through which the overland india trade had been conducted from the mediterranean by a few stately cities, were now dry, the great aqueducts ruinous and deserted. verona, venice, nuremberg, augsburg, bruges, were sinking, but antwerp, with its deep and convenient river, stretched its arm to the ocean and caught the golden prize, as it fell from its sister cities' grasp. the city was so ancient that its genealogists, with ridiculous gravity, ascended to a period two centuries before the trojan war, and discovered a giant, rejoicing in the classic name of antigonus, established on the scheld. this patriarch exacted one half the merchandise of all navigators who passed his castle, and was accustomed to amputate and cast into the river the right hands of those who infringed this simple tariff. thus hand-werpen, hand-throwing, became antwerp, and hence, two hands, in the escutcheon of the city, were ever held up in heraldic attestation of the truth. the giant was, in his turn, thrown into the scheld by a hero, named brabo, from whose exploits brabant derived its name; "de quo brabonica tellus." but for these antiquarian researches, a simpler derivation of the name would seem an t' werf, "on the wharf." it had now become the principal entrepot and exchange of europe. the huggers, velsens, ostetts, of germany, the gualterotti and bonvisi of italy, and many other great mercantile houses were there established. no city, except paris, surpassed it in population, none approached it in commercial splendor. its government was very free. the sovereign, as marquis of antwerp, was solemnly sworn to govern according to the ancient charters and laws. the stadholder, as his representative, shared his authority with the four estates of the city. the senate of eighteen members was appointed by the stadholder out of a quadruple number nominated by the senate itself and by the fourth body, called the borgery. half the board was thus renewed annually. it exercised executive and appellate judicial functions, appointed two burgomasters, and two pensionaries or legal councillors, and also selected the lesser magistrates and officials of the city. the board of ancients or ex-senators, held their seats ex officio. the twenty-six ward-masters, appointed, two from each ward, by the senate on nomination by the wards, formed the third estate. their especial business was to enrol the militia and to attend to its mustering and training. the deans of the guilds, fifty-four in number, two from each guild, selected by the senate, from a triple list of candidates presented by the guilds, composed the fourth estate. this influential body was always assembled in the broad-council of the city. their duty was likewise to conduct the examination of candidates claiming admittance to any guild and offering specimens of art or handiwork, to superintend the general affairs of the guilds and to regulate disputes. there were also two important functionaries, representing the king in criminal and civil matters. the vicarius capitalis, scultetus, schout, sheriff, or margrave, took precedence of all magistrates. his business was to superintend criminal arrests, trials, and executions. the vicarius civilis was called the amman, and his office corresponded with that of the podesta in the frisian and italian republics. his duties were nearly similar, in civil, to those of his colleague, in criminal matters. these four branches, with their functionaries and dependents, composed the commonwealth of antwerp. assembled together in council, they constituted the great and general court. no tax could be imposed by the sovereign, except with consent of the four branches, all voting separately. the personal and domiciliary rights of the citizen were scrupulously guarded. the schout could only make arrests with the burgomaster's warrant, and was obliged to bring the accused, within three days, before the judges, whose courts were open to the public. the condition of the population was prosperous. there were but few poor, and those did not seek but were sought by the almoners: the schools were excellent and cheap. it was difficult to find a child of sufficient age who could not read, write, and speak, at least, two languages. the sons of the wealthier citizens completed their education at louvain, douay, paris, or padua. the city itself was one of the most beautiful in europe. placed upon a plain along the banks of the scheld, shaped like a bent bow with the river for its string, it enclosed within it walls some of the most splendid edifices in christendom. the world-renowned church of notre dame, the stately exchange where five thousand merchants daily congregated, prototype of all similar establishments throughout the world, the capacious mole and port where twenty-five hundred vessels were often seen at once, and where five hundred made their daily entrance or departure, were all establishments which it would have been difficult to rival in any other part of the world. from what has already been said of the municipal institutions of the country, it may be inferred that the powers of the estates-general were limited. the members of that congress were not representatives chosen by the people, but merely a few ambassadors from individual provinces. this individuality was not always composed of the same ingredients. thus, holland consisted of two members, or branches--the nobles and the six chief cities; flanders of four branches--the cities, namely, of ghent, bruges, ypres, and the "freedom of bruges;" brabant of louvain, brussels, bois le due, and antwerp, four great cities, without representation of nobility or clergy; zeland, of one clerical person, the abbot of middelburg, one noble, the marquis of veer and vliessingen, and six chief cities; utrecht, of three branches--the nobility, the clergy, and five cities. these, and other provinces, constituted in similar manner, were supposed to be actually present at the diet when assembled. the chief business of the states-general was financial; the sovereign, or his stadholder, only obtaining supplies by making a request in person, while any single city, as branch of a province, had a right to refuse the grant. education had felt the onward movement of the country and the times. the whole system was, however, pervaded by the monastic spirit, which had originally preserved all learning from annihilation, but which now kept it wrapped in the ancient cerecloths, and stiffening in the stony sarcophagus of a bygone age. the university of louvain was the chief literary institution in the provinces. it had been established in by duke john iv. of brabant. its government consisted of a president and senate, forming a close corporation, which had received from the founder all his own authority, and the right to supply their own vacancies. the five faculties of law, canon law, medicine, theology, and the arts, were cultivated at the institution. there was, besides, a high school for under graduates, divided into four classes. the place reeked with pedantry, and the character of the university naturally diffused itself through other scholastic establishments. nevertheless, it had done and was doing much to preserve the love for profound learning, while the rapidly advancing spirit of commerce was attended by an ever increasing train of humanizing arts. the standard of culture in those flourishing cities was elevated, compared with that observed in many parts of europe. the children of the wealthier classes enjoyed great facilities for education in all the great capitals. the classics, music, and the modern languages, particularly the french, were universally cultivated. nor was intellectual cultivation confined to the higher orders. on the contrary, it was diffused to a remarkable degree among the hard-working artisans and handicraftsmen of the great cities. for the principle of association had not confined itself exclusively to politics and trade. besides the numerous guilds by which citizenship was acquired in the various cities, were many other societies for mutual improvement, support, or recreation. the great secret, architectural or masonic brotherhood of germany, that league to which the artistic and patient completion of the magnificent works of gothic architecture in the middle ages is mainly to be attributed, had its branches in nether germany, and explains the presence of so many splendid and elaborately finished churches in the provinces. there were also military sodalities of musketeers, cross-bowmen, archers, swordsmen in every town. once a year these clubs kept holiday, choosing a king, who was selected for his prowess and skill in the use of various weapons. these festivals, always held with great solemnity and rejoicing, were accompanied bye many exhibitions of archery and swordsmanship. the people were not likely, therefore, voluntarily to abandon that privilege and duty of freemen, the right to bear arms, and the power to handle them. another and most important collection of brotherhoods were the so-called guilds of rhetoric, which existed, in greater or less number, in all the principal cities. these were associations of mechanics, for the purpose of amusing their leisure with poetical effusions, dramatic and musical exhibitions, theatrical processions, and other harmless and not inelegant recreations. such chambers of rhetoric came originally in the fifteenth century from france. the fact that in their very title they confounded rhetoric with poetry and the drama indicates the meagre attainments of these early "rederykers." in the outset of their career they gave theatrical exhibitions. "king herod and his deeds" was enacted in the cathedral at utrecht in . the associations spread with great celerity throughout the netherlands, and, as they were all connected with each other, and in habits of periodical intercourse, these humble links of literature were of great value in drawing the people of the provinces into closer union. they became, likewise, important political engines. as early as the time of philip the good, their songs and lampoons became so offensive to the arbitrary notions of the burgundian government, as to cause the societies to be prohibited. it was, however, out of the sovereign's power permanently to suppress institutions, which already partook of the character of the modern periodical press combined with functions resembling the show and licence of the athenian drama. viewed from the stand-point of literary criticism their productions were not very commendable in taste, conception, or execution. to torture the muses to madness, to wire-draw poetry through inextricable coils of difficult rhymes and impossible measures; to hammer one golden grain of wit into a sheet of infinite platitude, with frightful ingenuity to construct ponderous anagrams and preternatural acrostics, to dazzle the vulgar eye with tawdry costumes, and to tickle the vulgar ear with virulent personalities, were tendencies which perhaps smacked of the hammer, the yard-stick and the pincers, and gave sufficient proof, had proof been necessary, that literature is not one of the mechanical arts, and that poetry can not be manufactured to a profit by joint stock companies. yet, if the style of these lucubrations was often depraved, the artisans rarely received a better example from the literary institutions above them. it was not for guilds of mechanics to give the tone to literature, nor were their efforts in more execrable taste than the emanations from the pedants of louvain. the "rhetoricians" are not responsible for all the bad taste of their generation. the gravest historians of the netherlands often relieved their elephantine labors by the most asinine gambols, and it was not to be expected that these bustling weavers and cutlers should excel their literary superiors in taste or elegance. philip the fair enrolled himself as a member in one of these societies. it may easily be inferred, therefore, that they had already become bodies of recognized importance. the rhetorical chambers existed in the most obscure villages. the number of yards of flemish poetry annually manufactured and consumed throughout the provinces almost exceed belief. the societies had regular constitutions. their presiding officers were called kings, princes, captains, archdeacons, or rejoiced in similar high-sounding names. each chamber had its treasurer, its buffoon, and its standard-bearer for public processions. each had its peculiar title or blazon, as the lily, the marigold, or the violet, with an appropriate motto. by the year , the associations had become so important, that philip the fair summoned them all to a general assembly at mechlin. here they were organized, and formally incorporated under the general supervision of an upper or mother-society of rhetoric, consisting of fifteen members, and called by the title of "jesus with the balsam flower." the sovereigns were always anxious to conciliate these influential guilds by becoming members of them in person. like the players, the rhetoricians were the brief abstract and chronicle of the time, and neither prince nor private person desired their ill report. it had, indeed, been philip's intention to convert them into engines for the arbitrary purposes of his house, but fortunately the publicly organized societies were not the only chambers. on the contrary, the unchartered guilds were the moat numerous and influential. they exercised a vast influence upon the progress of the religious reformation, and the subsequent revolt of the netherlands. they ridiculed, with their farces and their satires, the vices of the clergy. they dramatized tyranny for public execration. it was also not surprising, that among the leaders of the wild anabaptists who disgraced the great revolution in church and state by their hideous antics, should be found many who, like david of delft, john of leyden, and others, had been members of rhetorical chambers. the genius for mummery and theatrical exhibitions, transplanted from its sphere, and exerting itself for purposes of fraud and licentiousness, was as baleful in its effects as it was healthy in its original manifestations. such exhibitions were but the excrescences of a system which had borne good fruit. these literary guilds befitted and denoted a people which was alive, a people which had neither sunk to sleep in the lap of material prosperity, nor abased itself in the sty of ignorance and political servitude. the spirit of liberty pervaded these rude but not illiterate assemblies, and her fair proportions were distinctly visible, even through the somewhat grotesque garb which she thus assumed. the great leading recreations which these chambers afforded to themselves and the public, were the periodic jubilees which they celebrated in various capital cities. all the guilds of rhetoric throughout the netherlands were then invited to partake and to compete in magnificent processions, brilliant costumes, living pictures, charades, and other animated, glittering groups, and in trials of dramatic and poetic skill, all arranged under the superintendence of the particular association which, in the preceding year, had borne away the prize. such jubilees were called "land jewels." from the amusements of a people may be gathered much that is necessary for a proper estimation of its character. no unfavorable opinion can be formed as to the culture of a nation, whose weavers, smiths, gardeners, and traders, found the favorite amusement of their holidays in composing and enacting tragedies or farces, reciting their own verses, or in personifying moral and esthetic sentiments by ingeniously-arranged groups, or gorgeous habiliments. the cramoisy velvets and yellow satin doublets of the court, the gold-brocaded mantles of priests and princes are often but vulgar drapery of little historic worth. such costumes thrown around the swart figures of hard-working artisans, for literary and artistic purposes, have a real significance, and are worthy of a closer examination. were not these amusements of the netherlanders as elevated and humanizing as the contemporary bull-fights and autos-da-fe of spain? what place in history does the gloomy bigot merit who, for the love of christ, converted all these gay cities into shambles, and changed the glittering processions of their land jewels into fettered marches to the scaffold? thus fifteen ages have passed away, and in the place of a horde of savages, living among swamps and thickets, swarm three millions of people, the most industrious, the most prosperous, perhaps the most intelligent under the sun. their cattle, grazing on the bottom of the sea, are the finest in europe, their agricultural products of more exchangeable value than if nature had made their land to overflow with wine and oil. their navigators are the boldest, their mercantile marine the most powerful, their merchants the most enterprising in the world. holland and flanders, peopled by one race, vie with each other in the pursuits of civilization. the flemish skill in the mechanical and in the fine arts is unrivalled. belgian musicians delight and instruct other nations, belgian pencils have, for a century, caused the canvas to glow with colors and combinations never seen before. flemish fabrics are exported to all parts of europe, to the east and west indies, to africa. the splendid tapestries, silks, linens, as well as the more homely and useful manufactures of the netherlands, are prized throughout the world. most ingenious, as they had already been described by the keen-eyed caesar, in imitating the arts of other nations, the skillful artificers of the country at louvain, ghent, and other places, reproduce the shawls and silks of india with admirable accuracy. their national industry was untiring; their prosperity unexampled; their love of liberty indomitable; their pugnacity proverbial. peaceful in their pursuits, phlegmatic by temperament, the netherlands were yet the most belligerent and excitable population of europe. two centuries of civil war had but thinned the ranks of each generation without quenching the hot spirit of the nation. the women were distinguished by beauty of form and vigor of constitution. accustomed from childhood to converse freely with all classes and sexes in the daily walks of life, and to travel on foot or horseback from one town to another, without escort and without fear, they had acquired manners more frank and independent than those of women in other lands, while their morals were pure and their decorum undoubted. the prominent part to be sustained by the women of holland in many dramas of the revolution would thus fitly devolve upon a class, enabled by nature and education to conduct themselves with courage. within the little circle which encloses the seventeen provinces are walled cities, many of them among the most stately in christendom, chartered towns, , villages, with their watch-towers and steeples, besides numerous other more insignificant hamlets; the whole guarded by a belt of sixty fortresses of surpassing strength. xiv. thus in this rapid sketch of the course and development of the netherland nation during sixteen centuries, we have seen it ever marked by one prevailing characteristic, one master passion--the love of liberty, the instinct of self-government. largely compounded of the bravest teutonic elements, batavian and frisian, the race ever battles to the death with tyranny, organizes extensive revolts in the age of vespasian, maintains a partial independence even against the sagacious dominion of charlemagne, refuses in friesland to accept the papal yoke or feudal chain, and, throughout the dark ages, struggles resolutely towards the light, wresting from a series of petty sovereigns a gradual and practical recognition of the claims of humanity. with the advent of the burgundian family, the power of the commons has reached so high a point, that it is able to measure itself, undaunted, with the spirit of arbitrary rule, of which that engrossing and tyrannical house is the embodiment. for more than a century the struggle for freedom, for civic life, goes on; philip the good, charles the bold, mary's husband maximilian, charles v., in turn, assailing or undermining the bulwarks raised, age after age, against the despotic principle. the combat is ever renewed. liberty, often crushed, rises again and again from her native earth with redoubled energy. at last, in the th century, a new and more powerful spirit, the genius of religious freedom, comes to participate in the great conflict. arbitrary power, incarnated in the second charlemagne, assails the new combination with unscrupulous, unforgiving fierceness. venerable civic magistrates; haltered, grovel in sackcloth and ashes; innocent, religious reformers burn in holocausts. by the middle of the century, the battle rages more fiercely than ever. in the little netherland territory, humanity, bleeding but not killed, still stands at bay and defies the hunters. the two great powers have been gathering strength for centuries. they are soon to be matched in a longer and more determined combat than the world had ever seen. the emperor is about to leave the stage. the provinces, so passionate for nationality, for municipal freedom, for religious reformation, are to become the property of an utter stranger; a prince foreign to their blood, their tongue, their religion, their whole habits of life and thought. such was the political, religious, and social condition of a nation who were now to witness a new and momentous spectacle. etext editor's bookmarks: absolution for incest was afforded at thirty-six livres achieved the greatness to which they had not been born advancing age diminished his tendency to other carnal pleasures all his disciples and converts are to be punished with death all reading of the scriptures (forbidden) altercation between luther and erasmus, upon predestination an hereditary papacy, a perpetual pope-emperor announced his approaching marriage with the virgin mary as ready as papists, with age, fagot, and excommunication attacking the authority of the pope bold reformer had only a new dogma in place of the old ones charles the fifth autocrat of half the world condemning all heretics to death craft meaning, simply, strength criminal whose guilt had been established by the hot iron criminals buying paradise for money crusades made great improvement in the condition of the serfs democratic instincts of the ancient german savages denies the utility of prayers for the dead difference between liberties and liberty dispute between luther and zwingli concerning the real presence divine right drank of the water in which, he had washed enormous wealth (of the church) which engendered the hatred erasmus encourages the bold friar erasmus of rotterdam even for the rape of god's mother, if that were possible executions of huss and jerome of prague fable of divine right is invented to sanction the system felix mants, the anabaptist, is drowned at zurich few, even prelates were very dutiful to the pope fiction of apostolic authority to bind and loose fishermen and river raftsmen become ocean adventurers for myself i am unworthy of the honor (of martyrdom) forbids all private assemblies for devotion force clerical--the power of clerks great privilege, the magna charta of holland guarantees of forgiveness for every imaginable sin halcyon days of ban, book and candle heresy was a plant of early growth in the netherlands in holland, the clergy had neither influence nor seats invented such christian formulas as these (a curse) july st, two augustine monks were burned at brussels king of zion to be pinched to death with red-hot tongs labored under the disadvantage of never having existed learn to tremble as little at priestcraft as at swordcraft many greedy priests, of lower rank, had turned shop-keepers no one can testify but a householder not of the stuff of which martyrs are made (erasmus) nowhere was the persecution of heretics more relentless obstinate, of both sexes, to be burned one golden grain of wit into a sheet of infinite platitude pardon for crimes already committed, or about to be committed pardon for murder, if not by poison, was cheaper paying their passage through, purgatory poisoning, for example, was absolved for eleven ducats pope and emperor maintain both positions with equal logic power to read and write helped the clergy to much wealth readiness to strike and bleed at any moment in her cause repentant females to be buried alive repentant males to be executed with the sword sale of absolutions was the source of large fortunes to the priests same conjury over ignorant baron and cowardly hind scoffing at the ceremonies and sacraments of the church sharpened the punishment for reading the scriptures in private slavery was both voluntary and compulsory soldier of the cross was free upon his return st. peter's dome rising a little nearer to the clouds tanchelyn the bad duke of burgundy, philip surnamed "the good," the egg had been laid by erasmus, hatched by luther the vivifying becomes afterwards the dissolving principle thousands of burned heretics had not made a single convert thus hand-werpen, hand-throwing, became antwerp to prefer poverty to the wealth attendant upon trade tranquillity of despotism to the turbulence of freedom villagers, or villeins ***** the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . philip the second in the netherlands chapter i. abdication of charles resolved upon--brussels in the sixteenth century--hall of the palace described--portraits of prominent individuals present at the ceremony--formalities of the abdication-- universal emotion--remarks upon the character and career of charles --his retirement at juste. on the twenty-fifth day of october, , the estates of the netherlands were assembled in the great hall of the palace at brussels. they had been summoned to be the witnesses and the guarantees of the abdication which charles v. had long before resolved upon, and which he was that day to execute. the emperor, like many potentates before and since, was fond of great political spectacles. he knew their influence upon the masses of mankind. although plain, even to shabbiness, in his own costume, and usually attired in black, no one ever understood better than he how to arrange such exhibitions in a striking and artistic style. we have seen the theatrical and imposing manner in which he quelled the insurrection at ghent, and nearly crushed the life forever out of that vigorous and turbulent little commonwealth. the closing scene of his long and energetic reign he had now arranged with profound study, and with an accurate knowledge of the manner in which the requisite effects were to be produced. the termination of his own career, the opening of his beloved philip's, were to be dramatized in a manner worthy the august character of the actors, and the importance of the great stage where they played their parts. the eyes of the whole world were directed upon that day towards brussels; for an imperial abdication was an event which had not, in the sixteenth century, been staled by custom. the gay capital of brabant--of that province which rejoiced in the liberal constitution known by the cheerful title of the "joyful entrance," was worthy to be the scene of the imposing show. brussels had been a city for more than five centuries, and, at that day, numbered about one hundred thousand inhabitants. its walls, six miles in circumference, were already two hundred years old. unlike most netherland cities, lying usually upon extensive plains, it was built along the sides of an abrupt promontory. a wide expanse of living verdure, cultivated gardens, shady groves, fertile cornfields, flowed round it like a sea. the foot of the town was washed by the little river senne, while the irregular but picturesque streets rose up the steep sides of the hill like the semicircles and stairways of an amphitheatre. nearly in the heart of the place rose the audacious and exquisitely embroidered tower of the townhouse, three hundred and sixty-six feet in height, a miracle of needlework in stone, rivalling in its intricate carving the cobweb tracery of that lace which has for centuries been synonymous with the city, and rearing itself above a facade of profusely decorated and brocaded architecture. the crest of the elevation was crowned by the towers of the old ducal palace of brabant, with its extensive and thickly-wooded park on the left, and by the stately mansions of orange, egmont, aremberg, culemburg, and other flemish grandees, on the right.. the great forest of soignies, dotted with monasteries and convents, swarming with every variety of game, whither the citizens made their summer pilgrimages, and where the nobles chased the wild boar and the stag, extended to within a quarter of a mile of the city walls. the population, as thrifty, as intelligent, as prosperous as that of any city in europe, was divided into fifty-two guilds of artisans, among which the most important were the armorers, whose suits of mail would turn a musket-ball; the gardeners, upon whose gentler creations incredible sums were annually lavished; and the tapestry-workers, whose gorgeous fabrics were the wonder of the world. seven principal churches, of which the most striking was that of st. gudule, with its twin towers, its charming facade, and its magnificently painted windows, adorned the upper part of the city. the number seven was a magic number in brussels, and was supposed at that epoch, during which astronomy was in its infancy and astrology in its prime, to denote the seven planets which governed all things terrestrial by their aspects and influences. seven noble families, springing from seven ancient castles, supplied the stock from which the seven senators were selected who composed the upper council of the city. there were seven great squares, seven city gates, and upon the occasion of the present ceremony, it was observed by the lovers of wonderful coincidences, that seven crowned heads would be congregated under a single roof in the liberty-loving city. the palace where the states-general were upon this occasion convened, had been the residence of the dukes of brabant since the days of john the second, who had built it about the year . it was a spacious and convenient building, but not distinguished for the beauty of its architecture. in front was a large open square, enclosed by an iron railing; in the rear an extensive and beautiful park, filled with forest trees, and containing gardens and labyrinths, fish-ponds and game preserves, fountains and promenades, race-courses and archery grounds. the main entrance to this edifice opened upon a spacious hall, connected with a beautiful and symmetrical chapel. the hall was celebrated for its size, harmonious proportions, and the richness of its decorations. it was the place where the chapters of the famous order of the golden fleece were held. its walls were hung with a magnificent tapestry of arran, representing the life and achievements of gideon, the midianite, and giving particular prominence to the miracle of the "fleece of wool," vouchsafed to that renowned champion, the great patron of the knights of the fleece. on the present occasion there were various additional embellishments of flowers and votive garlands. at the western end a spacious platform or stage, with six or seven steps, had been constructed, below which was a range of benches for the deputies of the seventeen provinces. upon the stage itself there were rows of seats, covered with tapestry, upon the right hand and upon the left. these were respectively to accommodate the knights of the order and the guests of high distinction. in the rear of these were other benches, for the members of the three great councils. in the centre of the stage was a splendid canopy, decorated with the arms of burgundy, beneath which were placed three gilded arm-chairs. all the seats upon the platform were vacant, but the benches below, assigned to the deputies of the provinces, were already filled. numerous representatives from all the states but two--gelderland and overyssel--had already taken their places. grave magistrates, in chain and gown, and executive officers in the splendid civic uniforms for which the netherlands were celebrated, already filled every seat within the apace allotted. the remainder of the hall was crowded with the more favored portion of the multitude which had been fortunate enough to procure admission to the exhibition. the archers and hallebardiers of the body-guard kept watch at all the doors. the theatre was filled--the audience was eager with expectation--the actors were yet to arrive. as the clock struck three, the hero of the scene appeared. caesar, as he was always designated in the classic language of the day, entered, leaning on the shoulder of william of orange. they came from the chapel, and were immediately followed by philip the second and queen mary of hungary. the archduke maximilian the duke of savoy, and other great personages came afterwards, accompanied by a glittering throng of warriors, councillors, governors, and knights of the fleece. many individuals of existing or future historic celebrity in the netherlands, whose names are so familiar to the student of the epoch, seemed to have been grouped, as if by premeditated design, upon this imposing platform, where the curtain was to fall forever upon the mightiest emperor since charlemagne, and where the opening scene of the long and tremendous tragedy of philip's reign was to be simultaneously enacted. there was the bishop of arras, soon to be known throughout christendom by the more celebrated title of cardinal granvelle, the serene and smiling priest whose subtle influence over the destinies of so many individuals then present, and over the fortunes of the whole land, was to be so extensive and so deadly. there was that flower of flemish chivalry, the lineal descendant of ancient frisian kings, already distinguished for his bravery in many fields, but not having yet won those two remarkable victories which were soon to make the name of egmont like the sound of a trumpet throughout the whole country. tall, magnificent in costume, with dark flowing hair, soft brown eye, smooth cheek, a slight moustache, and features of almost feminine delicacy; such was the gallant and ill-fated lamoral egmont. the count of horn; too, with bold, sullen face, and fan-shaped beard-a brave, honest, discontented, quarrelsome, unpopular man; those other twins in doom--the marquis berghen and the lord of montigny; the baron berlaymont, brave, intensely loyal, insatiably greedy for office and wages, but who, at least, never served but one party; the duke of arschot, who was to serve all, essay to rule all, and to betray all--a splendid seignor, magnificent in cramoisy velvet, but a poor creature, who traced his pedigree from adam, according to the family monumental inscriptions at louvain, but who was better known as grand-nephew of the emperor's famous tutor, chiebres; the bold, debauched brederode, with handsome, reckless face and turbulent demeanor; the infamous noircarmes, whose name was to be covered with eternal execration, for aping towards his own compatriots and kindred as much of alva's atrocities and avarice, as he was permitted to exercise; the distinguished soldiers meghen and aremberg--these, with many others whose deeds of arms were to become celebrated throughout europe, were all conspicuous in the brilliant crowd. there, too, was that learned frisian, president viglius, crafty, plausible, adroit, eloquent--a small, brisk man, with long yellow hair, glittering green eyes, round, tumid, rosy cheeks, and flowing beard. foremost among the spanish grandees, and close to philip, stood the famous favorite, ruy gomez, or as he was familiarly called "re y gomez" (king and gomez), a man of meridional aspect, with coal-black hair and beard, gleaming eyes, a face pallid with intense application, and slender but handsome figure; while in immediate attendance upon the emperor, was the immortal prince of orange. such were a few only of the most prominent in that gay throng, whose fortunes, in part, it will be our humble duty to narrate; how many of them passing through all this glitter to a dark and mysterious doom!--some to perish on public scaffolds, some by midnight assassination; others, more fortunate, to fall on the battle-field --nearly all, sooner or later, to be laid in bloody graves! all the company present had risen to their feet as the emperor entered. by his command, all immediately afterwards resumed their places. the benches at either end of the platform were accordingly filled with the royal and princely personages invited, with the fleece knights, wearing the insignia of their order, with the members of the three great councils, and with the governors. the emperor, the king, and the queen of hungary, were left conspicuous in the centre of the scene. as the whole object of the ceremony was to present an impressive exhibition, it is worth our while to examine minutely the appearance of the two principal characters. charles the fifth was then fifty-five years and eight months old; but he was already decrepit with premature old age. he was of about the middle height, and had been athletic and well-proportioned. broad in the shoulders, deep in the chest, thin in the flank, very muscular in the arms and legs, he had been able to match himself with all competitors in the tourney and the ring, and to vanquish the bull with his own hand in the favorite national amusement of spain. he had been able in the field to do the duty of captain and soldier, to endure fatigue and exposure, and every privation except fasting. these personal advantages were now departed. crippled in hands, knees and legs, he supported himself with difficulty upon a crutch, with the aid of, an attendant's shoulder. in face he had always been extremely ugly, and time had certainly not improved his physiognomy. his hair, once of a light color, was now white with age, close-clipped and bristling; his beard was grey, coarse, and shaggy. his forehead was spacious and commanding; the eye was dark blue, with an expression both majestic and benignant. his nose was aquiline but crooked. the lower part of his face was famous for its deformity. the under lip, a burgundian inheritance, as faithfully transmitted as the duchy and county, was heavy and hanging; the lower jaw protruding so far beyond the upper, that it was impossible for him to bring together the few fragments of teeth which still remained, or to speak a whole sentence in an intelligible voice. eating and talking, occupations to which he was always much addicted, were becoming daily more arduous, in consequence of this original defect, which now seemed hardly human, but rather an original deformity. so much for the father. the son, philip the second, was a small, meagre man, much below the middle height, with thin legs, a narrow chest, and the shrinking, timid air of an habitual invalid. he seemed so little, upon his first visit to his aunts, the queens eleanor and mary, accustomed to look upon proper men in flanders and germany, that he was fain to win their favor by making certain attempts in the tournament, in which his success was sufficiently problematical. "his body," says his professed panegyrist, "was but a human cage, in which, however brief and narrow, dwelt a soul to whose flight the immeasurable expanse of heaven was too contracted." [cabrera] the same wholesale admirer adds, that "his aspect was so reverend, that rustics who met him alone in a wood, without knowing him, bowed down with instinctive veneration." in face, he was the living image of his father, having the same broad forehead, and blue eye, with the same aquiline, but better proportioned, nose. in the lower part of the countenance, the remarkable burgundian deformity was likewise reproduced. he had the same heavy, hanging lip, with a vast mouth, and monstrously protruding lower jaw. his complexion was fair, his hair light and thin, his beard yellow, short, and pointed. he had the aspect of a fleming, but the loftiness of a spaniard. his demeanor in public was still, silent, almost sepulchral. he looked habitually on the ground when he conversed, was chary of speech, embarrassed, and even suffering in manner. this was ascribed partly to a natural haughtiness which he had occasionally endeavored to overcome, and partly to habitual pains in the stomach, occasioned by his inordinate fondness for pastry. [bodavaro] such was the personal appearance of the man who was about to receive into his single hand the destinies of half the world; whose single will was, for the future, to shape the fortunes of every individual then present, of many millions more in europe, america, and at the ends of the earth, and of countless millions yet unborn. the three royal personages being seated upon chairs placed triangularly under the canopy, such of the audience as had seats provided for them, now took their places, and the proceedings commenced. philibert de bruxelles, a member of the privy council of the netherlands, arose at the emperor's command, and made a long oration. he spoke of the emperor's warm affection for the provinces, as the land of his birth; of his deep regret that his broken health and failing powers, both of body and mind, compelled him to resign his sovereignty, and to seek relief for his shattered frame in a more genial climate. caesar's gout was then depicted in energetic language, which must have cost him a twinge as he sat there and listened to the councillor's eloquence. "'tis a most truculent executioner," said philibert: "it invades the whole body, from the crown of the head to the soles of the feet, leaving nothing untouched. it contracts the nerves with intolerable anguish, it enters the bones, it freezes the marrow, it converts the lubricating fluids of the joints into chalk, it pauses not until, having exhausted and debilitated the whole body, it has rendered all its necessary instruments useless, and conquered the mind by immense torture." [godelaevus] [the historian was present at the ceremony, and gives a very full report of the speeches, all of which he heard. his imagination may have assisted his memory in the task. the other reporters of the councillor's harangue have reduced this pathological flight of rhetoric to a very small compass.] engaged in mortal struggle with such an enemy, caesar felt himself obliged, as the councillor proceeded to inform his audience, to change the scene of the contest from the humid air of flanders to the warmer atmosphere of spain. he rejoiced, however, that his son was both vigorous and experienced, and that his recent marriage with the queen of england had furnished the provinces with a most valuable alliance. he then again referred to the emperor's boundless love for his subjects, and concluded with a tremendous, but superfluous, exhortation to philip on the necessity of maintaining the catholic religion in its purity. after this long harangue, which has been fully reported by several historians who were present at the ceremony, the councillor proceeded to read the deed of cession, by which philip, already sovereign of sicily, naples, milan, and titular king of england, france, and jerusalem, now received all the duchies, marquisates, earldoms, baronies, cities, towns, and castles of the burgundian property, including, of course, the seventeen netherlands. as de bruxelles finished, there was a buzz of admiration throughout the assembly, mingled with murmurs of regret, that in the present great danger upon the frontiers from the belligerent king of france and his warlike and restless nation, the provinces should be left without their ancient and puissant defender. the emperor then rose to his feet. leaning on his crutch, he beckoned from his seat the personage upon whose arm he had leaned as he entered the hall. a tall, handsome youth of twenty-two came forward--a man whose name from that time forward, and as long as history shall endure, has been, and will be, more familiar than any other in the mouths of netherlanders. at that day he had rather a southern than a german or flemish appearance. he had a spanish cast of features, dark, well chiselled, and symmetrical. his head was small and well placed upon his shoulders. his hair was dark brown, as were also his moustache and peaked beard. his forehead was lofty, spacious, and already prematurely engraved with the anxious lines of thought. his eyes were full, brown, well opened, and expressive of profound reflection. he was dressed in the magnificent apparel for which the netherlanders were celebrated above all other nations, and which the ceremony rendered necessary. his presence being considered indispensable at this great ceremony, he had been summoned but recently from the camp on the frontier, where, notwithstanding his youth, the emperor had appointed him to command his army in chief against such antagonists as admiral coligny and the due de nevers. thus supported upon his crutch and upon the shoulder of william of orange, the emperor proceeded to address the states, by the aid of a closely-written brief which he held in his hand. he reviewed rapidly the progress of events from his seventeenth year up to that day. he spoke of his nine expeditions into germany, six to spain, seven to italy, four to france, ten to the netherlands, two to england, as many to africa, and of his eleven voyages by sea. he sketched his various wars, victories, and treaties of peace, assuring his hearers that the welfare of his subjects and the security of the roman catholic religion had ever been the leading objects of his life. as long as god had granted him health, he continued, only enemies could have regretted that charles was living and reigning, but now that his strength was but vanity, and life fast ebbing away, his love for dominion, his affection for his subjects, and his regard for their interests, required his departure. instead of a decrepit man with one foot in the grave, he presented them with a sovereign in the prime of life and the vigor of health. turning toward philip, he observed, that for a dying father to bequeath so magnificent an empire to his son was a deed worthy of gratitude, but that when the father thus descended to the grave before his time, and by an anticipated and living burial sought to provide for the welfare of his realms and the grandeur of his son, the benefit thus conferred was surely far greater. he added, that the debt would be paid to him and with usury, should philip conduct himself in his administration of the province with a wise and affectionate regard to their true interests. posterity would applaud his abdication, should his son prove worthy of his bounty; and that could only be by living in the fear of god, and by maintaining law, justice, and the catholic religion in all their purity, as the true foundation of the realm. in conclusion, he entreated the estates, and through them the nation, to render obedience to their new prince, to maintain concord and to preserve inviolate the catholic faith; begging them, at the same time, to pardon him all errors or offences which he might have committed towards them during his reign, and assuring them that he should unceasingly remember their obedience and affection in his every prayer to that being to whom the remainder of his life was to be dedicated. such brave words as these, so many vigorous asseverations of attempted performance of duty, such fervent hopes expressed of a benign administration in behalf of the son, could not but affect the sensibilities of the audience, already excited and softened by the impressive character of the whole display. sobs were heard throughout every portion of the hall, and tears poured profusely from every eye. the fleece knights on the platform and the burghers in the background were all melted with the same emotion. as for the emperor himself, he sank almost fainting upon his chair as he concluded his address. an ashy paleness overspread his countenance, and he wept like a child. even the icy philip was almost softened, as he rose to perform his part in the ceremony. dropping upon his knees before his father's feet, he reverently kissed his hand. charles placed his hands solemnly upon his son's head, made the sign of the cross, and blessed him in the name of the holy trinity. then raising him in his arms he tenderly embraced him saying, as he did so, to the great potentates around him, that he felt a sincere compassion for the son on whose shoulders so heavy a weight had just devolved, and which only a life-long labor would enable him to support. philip now uttered a few words expressive of his duty to his father and his affection for his people. turning to the orders, he signified his regret that he was unable to address them either in the french or flemish language, and was therefore obliged to ask their attention to the bishop of arras, who would act as his interpreter. antony perrenot accordingly arose, and in smooth, fluent, and well-turned commonplaces, expressed at great length the gratitude of philip towards his father, with his firm determination to walk in the path of duty, and to obey his father's counsels and example in the future administration of the provinces. this long address of the prelate was responded to at equal length by jacob maas, member of the council of brabant, a man of great learning, eloquence and prolixity, who had been selected to reply on behalf of the states-general, and who now, in the name of these; bodies, accepted the abdication in an elegant and complimentary harangue. queen mary of hungary, the "christian widow" of erasmus, and regent of the netherlands during the past twenty-five years, then rose to resign her office, making a brief address expressive of her affection for the people, her regrets at leaving them, and her hopes that all errors which she might have committed during her long administration would be forgiven her. again the redundant maas responded, asserting in terms of fresh compliment and elegance the uniform satisfaction of the provinces with her conduct during her whole career. the orations and replies having now been brought to a close, the ceremony was terminated. the emperor, leaning on the shoulders of the prince of orange and of the count de buren, slowly left the hall, followed by philip, the queen of hungary, and the whole court; all in the same order in which they had entered, and by the same passage into the chapel. it is obvious that the drama had been completely successful. it had been a scene where heroic self-sacrifice, touching confidence, ingenuous love of duty, patriotism, and paternal affection upon one side; filial reverence, with a solemn regard for public duty and the highest interests of the people on the other, were supposed to be the predominant sentiments. the happiness of the netherlands was apparently the only object contemplated in the great transaction. all had played well their parts in the past, all hoped the best in the times which were to follow. the abdicating emperor was looked upon as a hero and a prophet. the stage was drowned in tears. there is not the least doubt as to the genuine and universal emotion which was excited throughout the assembly. "caesar's oration," says secretary godelaevus, who was present at the ceremony, "deeply moved the nobility and gentry, many of whom burst into tears; even the illustrious knights of the fleece were melted." the historian, pontus heuterus, who, then twenty years of age, was likewise among the audience, attests that "most of the assembly were dissolved in tears; uttering the while such sonorous sobs that they compelled his caesarean majesty and the queen to cry with them. my own face," he adds, "was certainly quite wet." the english envoy, sir john mason, describing in a despatch to his government the scene which he had just witnessed, paints the same picture. "the emperor," he said, "begged the forgiveness of his subjects if he had ever unwittingly omitted the performance of any of his duties towards them. and here," continues the envoy, "he broke into a weeping, whereunto, besides the dolefulness of the matter, i think, he was moche provoked by seeing the whole company to do the lyke before; there beyng in myne opinion not one man in the whole assemblie, stranger or another, that dewring the time of a good piece of his oration poured not out as abundantly teares, some more, some lesse. and yet he prayed them to beare with his imperfections, proceeding of his sickly age, and of the mentioning of so tender a matter as the departing from such a sort of dere and loving subjects." and yet what was the emperor charles to the inhabitants of the netherlands that they should weep for him? his conduct towards them during his whole career had been one of unmitigated oppression. what to them were all these forty voyages by sea and land, these journeyings back and forth from friesland to tunis, from madrid to vienna. what was it to them that the imperial shuttle was thus industriously flying to and fro? the fabric wrought was but the daily growing grandeur and splendor of his imperial house; the looms were kept moving at the expense of their hardly-earned treasure, and the woof was often dyed red in the blood of his bravest subjects. the interests of the netherlands had never been even a secondary consideration with their master. he had fulfilled no duty towards them, he had committed the gravest crimes against them. he had regarded them merely as a treasury upon which to draw; while the sums which he extorted were spent upon ceaseless and senseless wars, which were of no more interest to them than if they had been waged in another planet. of five millions of gold annually, which he derived from all his realms, two millions came from these industrious and opulent provinces, while but a half million came from spain and another half from the indies. the mines of wealth which had been opened by the hand of industry in that slender territory of ancient morass and thicket, contributed four times as much income to the imperial exchequer as all the boasted wealth of mexico and peru. yet the artisans, the farmers and the merchants, by whom these riches were produced, were consulted about as much in the expenditure of the imposts upon their industry as were the savages of america as to the distribution of the mineral treasures of their soil. the rivalry of the houses of habsburg and valois, this was the absorbing theme, during the greater part of the reign which had just been so dramatically terminated. to gain the empire over francis, to leave to don philip a richer heritage than the dauphin could expect, were the great motives of the unparalleled energy displayed by charles during the longer and the more successful portion of his career. to crush the reformation throughout his dominions, was his occupation afterward, till he abandoned the field in despair. it was certainly not desirable for the netherlanders that they should be thus controlled by a man who forced them to contribute so largely to the success of schemes, some of which were at best indifferent, and others entirely odious to them. they paid , , crowns a year regularly; they paid in five years an extraordinary subsidy of eight millions of ducats, and the states were roundly rebuked by the courtly representatives of their despot, if they presumed to inquire into the objects of the appropriations, or to express an interest in their judicious administration. yet it maybe supposed to have been a matter of indifference to them whether francis or charles had won the day at pavia, and it certainly was not a cause of triumph to the daily increasing thousands of religious reformers in holland and flanders that their brethren had been crushed by the emperor at muhlberg. but it was not alone that he drained their treasure, and hampered their industry. he was in constant conflict with their ancient and dearly-bought political liberties. like his ancestor charles the bold, he was desirous of constructing a kingdom out of the provinces. he was disposed to place all their separate and individual charters on a procrustean bed, and shape them all into uniformity simply by reducing the whole to a nullity. the difficulties in the way, the stout opposition offered by burghers, whose fathers had gained these charters with their blood, and his want of leisure during the vast labors which devolved upon him as the autocrat of so large a portion of the world, caused him to defer indefinitely the execution of his plan. he found time only to crush some of the foremost of the liberal institutions of the provinces, in detail. he found the city of tournay a happy, thriving, self-governed little republic in all its local affairs; he destroyed its liberties, without a tolerable pretext, and reduced it to the condition of a spanish or italian provincial town. his memorable chastisement of ghent for having dared to assert its ancient rights of self-taxation, is sufficiently known to the world, and has been already narrated at length. many other instances might be adduced, if it were not a superfluous task, to prove that charles was not only a political despot, but most arbitrary and cruel in the exercise of his despotism. but if his sins against the netherlands had been only those of financial and political oppression, it would be at least conceivable, although certainly not commendable, that the inhabitants should have regretted his departure. but there are far darker crimes for which he stands arraigned at the bar of history, and it is indeed strange that the man who had committed them should have been permitted to speak his farewell amid blended plaudits and tears. his hand planted the inquisition in the netherlands. before his day it is idle to say that the diabolical institution ever had a place there. the isolated cases in which inquisitors had exercised functions proved the absence and not the presence of the system, and will be discussed in a later chapter. charles introduced and organized a papal inquisition, side by side with those terrible "placards" of his invention, which constituted a masked inquisition even more cruel than that of spain. the execution of the system was never permitted to languish. the number of netherlanders who were burned, strangled, beheaded, or buried alive, in obedience to his edicts, and for the offences of reading the scriptures, of looking askance at a graven image, or of ridiculing the actual presence of the body and blood of christ in a wafer, have been placed as high as one hundred thousand by distinguished authorities, and have never been put at a lower mark than fifty thousand. the venetian envoy navigero placed the number of victims in the provinces of holland and friesland alone at thirty thousand, and this in , ten years before the abdication, and five before the promulgation of the hideous edict of ! the edicts and the inquisition were the gift of charles to the netherlands, in return for their wasted treasure and their constant obedience. for this, his name deserves to be handed down to eternal infamy, not only throughout the netherlands, but in every land where a single heart beats for political or religious freedom. to eradicate these institutions after they had been watered and watched by the care of his successor, was the work of an eighty years' war, in the course of which millions of lives were sacrificed. yet the abdicating emperor had summoned his faithful estates around him, and stood up before them in his imperial robes for the last time, to tell them of the affectionate regard which he had always borne them, and to mingle his tears with theirs. could a single phantom have risen from one of the many thousand graves where human beings had been thrust alive by his decree, perhaps there might have been an answer to the question propounded by the emperor amid all that piteous weeping. perhaps it might have told the man who asked his hearers to be forgiven if he had ever unwittingly offended them, that there was a world where it was deemed an offence to torture, strangle, burn, and drown one's innocent fellow-creatures. the usual but trifling excuse for such enormities can not be pleaded for the emperor. charles was no fanatic. the man whose armies sacked rome, who laid his sacrilegious hands on christ's vicegerent, and kept the infallible head of the church a prisoner to serve his own political ends, was then no bigot. he believed in nothing; save that when the course of his imperial will was impeded, and the interests of his imperial house in jeopardy, pontiffs were to succumb as well as anabaptists. it was the political heresy which lurked in the restiveness of the religious reformers under dogma, tradition, and supernatural sanction to temporal power, which he was disposed to combat to the death. he was too shrewd a politician not to recognize the connection between aspirations for religious and for political freedom. his hand was ever ready to crush both heresies in one. had he been a true son of the church, a faithful champion of her infallibility, he would not have submitted to the peace of passau, so long as he could bring a soldier to the field. yet he acquiesced in the reformation for germany, while the fires for burning the reformers were ever blazing in the netherlands, where it was death even to allude to the existence of the peace of passau. nor did he acquiesce only from compulsion, for long before his memorable defeat by maurice, he had permitted the german troops, with whose services he could not dispense, regularly to attend protestant worship performed by their own protestant chaplains. lutheran preachers marched from city to city of the netherlands under the imperial banner, while the subjects of those patrimonial provinces were daily suffering on the scaffold for their nonconformity. the influence of this garrison-preaching upon the progress of the reformation in the netherlands is well known. charles hated lutherans, but he required soldiers, and he thus helped by his own policy to disseminate what had he been the fanatic which he perhaps became in retirement, he would have sacrificed his life to crush. it is quite true that the growing calvinism of the provinces was more dangerous both religiously and politically, than the protestantism of the german princes, which had not yet been formally pronounced heresy, but it is thus the more evident that it was political rather than religious heterodoxy which the despot wished to suppress. no man, however, could have been more observant of religious rites. he heard mass daily. he listened to a sermon every sunday and holiday. he confessed and received the sacrament four times a year. he was sometimes to be seen in his tent at midnight, on his knees before a crucifix with eyes and hands uplifted. he ate no meat in lent, and used extraordinary diligence to discover and to punish any man, whether courtier or plebeian, who failed to fast during the whole forty days. he was too good a politician not to know the value of broad phylacteries and long prayers. he was too nice an observer of human nature not to know how easily mint and cummin could still outweigh the "weightier matters of law, judgment, mercy and faith;" as if the founder of the religion which he professed, and to maintain which he had established the inquisition and the edicts, had never cried woe upon the pharisees. yet there is no doubt that the emperor was at times almost popular in the netherlands, and that he was never as odious as his successor. there were some deep reasons for this, and some superficial ones; among others, a singularly fortunate manner. he spoke german, spanish, italian, french, and flemish, and could assume the characteristics of each country as easily as he could use its language. he could be stately with spaniards, familiar with flemings witty with italians. he could strike down a bull in the ring like a matador at madrid, or win the prize in the tourney like a knight of old; he could ride at the ring with the flemish nobles, hit the popinjay with his crossbow among antwerp artisans, or drink beer and exchange rude jests with the boors of brabant. for virtues such as these, his grave crimes against god and man, against religion and chartered and solemnly-sworn rights have been palliated, as if oppression became more tolerable because the oppressor was an accomplished linguist and a good marksman. but the great reason for his popularity no doubt lay in his military genius. charles was inferior to no general of his age. "when he was born into the world," said alva, "he was born a soldier," and the emperor confirmed the statement and reciprocated the compliment, when he declared that "the three first captains of the age were himself first, and then the duke of alva and constable montmorency." it is quite true that all his officers were not of the same opinion, and many were too apt to complain that his constant presence in the field did more harm than good, and "that his majesty would do much better to stay at home." there is, however, no doubt that he was both a good soldier and a good general. he was constitutionally fearless, and he possessed great energy and endurance. he was ever the first to arm when a battle was to be fought, and the last to take off his harness. he commanded in person and in chief, even when surrounded by veterans and crippled by the gout. he was calm in great reverses. it was said that he was never known to change color except upon two occasions: after the fatal destruction of his fleet at algiers, and in the memorable flight from innspruck. he was of a phlegmatic, stoical temperament, until shattered by age and disease; a man without a sentiment and without a tear. it was said by spaniards that he was never seen to weep, even at the death of his nearest relatives and friends, except on the solitary occasion of the departure of don ferrante gonzaga from court. such a temperament was invaluable in the stormy career to which he had devoted his life. he was essentially a man of action, a military chieftain. "pray only for my health and my life," he was accustomed to say to the young officers who came to him from every part of his dominions to serve under his banners, "for so, long as i have these i will never leave you idle; at least in france. i love peace no better than the rest of you. i was born and bred to arms, and must of necessity keep on my harness till i can bear it no longer." the restless energy and the magnificent tranquillity of his character made him a hero among princes, an idol with his officers, a popular favorite every where. the promptness with which, at much personal hazard, he descended like a thunderbolt in the midst of the ghent insurrection; the juvenile ardor with which the almost bedridden man arose from his sick-bed to smite the protestants at muhlberg; the grim stoicism with which he saw sixty thousand of his own soldiers perish in the wintry siege of metz; all ensured him a large measure of that applause which ever follows military distinction, especially when the man who achieves it happens to wear a crown. he combined the personal prowess of a knight of old with the more modern accomplishments of a scientific tactician. he could charge the enemy in person like the most brilliant cavalry officer, and he thoroughly understood the arrangements of a campaign, the marshalling and victualling of troops, and the whole art of setting and maintaining an army in the field. yet, though brave and warlike as the most chivalrous of his ancestors, gothic, burgundian, or suabian, he was entirely without chivalry. fanaticism for the faith, protection for the oppressed, fidelity to friend and foe, knightly loyalty to a cause deemed sacred, the sacrifice of personal interests to great ideas, generosity of hand and heart; all those qualities which unite with courage and constancy to make up the ideal chevalier, charles not only lacked but despised. he trampled on the weak antagonist, whether burgher or petty potentate. he was false as water. he inveigled his foes who trusted to imperial promises, by arts unworthy an emperor or a gentleman. he led about the unfortunate john frederic of saxony, in his own language, "like a bear in a chain," ready to be slipped upon maurice should "the boy" prove ungrateful. he connived at the famous forgery of the prelate of arras, to which the landgrave philip owed his long imprisonment; a villany worse than many for which humbler rogues have suffered by thousands upon the gallows. the contemporary world knew well the history of his frauds, on scale both colossal and minute, and called him familiarly "charles qui triche." the absolute master of realms on which the sun perpetually shone, he was not only greedy for additional dominion, but he was avaricious in small matters, and hated to part with a hundred dollars. to the soldier who brought him the sword and gauntlets of francis the first, he gave a hundred crowns, when ten thousand would have been less than the customary present; so that the man left his presence full of desperation. the three soldiers who swam the elbe, with their swords in their mouths; to bring him the boats with which he passed to the victory of muhlberg, received from his imperial bounty a doublet, a pair of stockings, and four crowns apiece. his courtiers and ministers complained bitterly of his habitual niggardliness, and were fain to eke out their slender salaries by accepting bribes from every hand rich enough to bestow them. in truth charles was more than any thing else a politician, notwithstanding his signal abilities as a soldier. if to have founded institutions which could last, be the test of statesmanship, he was even a statesman; for many of his institutions have resisted the pressure of three centuries. but those of charlemagne fell as soon as his hand was cold, while the works of many ordinary legislators have attained to a perpetuity denied to the statutes of solon or lycurgus. durability is not the test of merit in human institutions. tried by the only touchstone applicable to governments, their capacity to insure the highest welfare of the governed, we shall not find his polity deserving of much admiration. it is not merely that he was a despot by birth and inclination, nor that he naturally substituted as far as was practicable, the despotic for the republican element, wherever his hand can be traced. there may be possible good in despotisms as there is often much tyranny in democracy. tried however according to the standard by which all governments may be measured, those laws of truth and divine justice which all christian nations recognize, and which are perpetual, whether recognized or not, we shall find little to venerate in the life work of the emperor. the interests of his family, the security of his dynasty, these were his end and aim. the happiness or the progress of his people never furnished even the indirect motives of his conduct, and the result was a baffled policy and a crippled and bankrupt empire at last. he knew men, especially he knew their weaknesses, and he knew how to turn them to account. he knew how much they would bear, and that little grievances would sometimes inflame more than vast and deliberate injustice. therefore he employed natives mainly in the subordinate offices of his various states, and he repeatedly warned his successor that the haughtiness of spaniards and the incompatibility of their character with the flemish, would be productive of great difficulties and dangers. it was his opinion that men might be tyrannized more intelligently by their own kindred, and in this perhaps he was right. he was indefatigable in the discharge of business, and if it were possible that half a world could be administered as if it were the private property of an individual, the task would have been perhaps as well accomplished by charles as by any man. he had not the absurdity of supposing it possible for him to attend to the details of every individual affair in every one of his realms; and he therefore intrusted the stewardship of all specialities to his various ministers and agents. it was his business to know men and to deal with affairs on a large scale, and in this he certainly was superior to his successor. his correspondence was mainly in the hands of granvelle the elder, who analyzed letters received, and frequently wrote all but the signatures of the answers. the same minister usually possessed the imperial ear, and farmed it out for his own benefit. in all this there was of course room for vast deception, but the emperor was quite aware of what was going on, and took a philosophic view of the matter as an inevitable part of his system. granvelle grew enormously rich under his eye by trading on the imperial favor and sparing his majesty much trouble. charles saw it all, ridiculed his peculations, but called him his "bed of down." his knowledge of human nature was however derived from a contemplation mainly of its weaknesses, and was therefore one-sided. he was often deceived, and made many a fatal blunder, shrewd politician though he was. he involved himself often in enterprises which could not be honorable or profitable, and which inflicted damage on his greatest interests. he often offended men who might have been useful friends, and converted allies into enemies. "his majesty," said a keen observer who knew him well, "has not in his career shown the prudence which was necessary to him. he has often offended those whose love he might have conciliated, converted friends into enemies, and let those perish who were his most faithful partisans." thus it must be acknowledged that even his boasted knowledge of human nature and his power of dealing with men was rather superficial and empirical than the real gift of genius. his personal habits during the greater part of his life were those of an indefatigable soldier. he could remain in the saddle day and night, and endure every hardship but hunger. he was addicted to vulgar and miscellaneous incontinence. he was an enormous eater. he breakfasted at five, on a fowl seethed in milk and dressed with sugar and spices. after this he went to sleep again. he dined at twelve, partaking always of twenty dishes. he supped twice; at first, soon after vespers, and the second time at midnight or one o'clock, which meal was, perhaps, the most solid of the four. after meat he ate a great quantity of pastry and sweetmeats, and he irrigated every repast by vast draughts of beer and wine. his stomach, originally a wonderful one, succumbed after forty years of such labors. his taste, but not his appetite began to fail, and he complained to his majordomo, that all his food was insipid. the reply is, perhaps, among the most celebrated of facetia. the cook could do nothing more unless he served his majesty a pasty of watches. the allusion to the emperor's passion for horology was received with great applause. charles "laughed longer than he was ever known to laugh before, and all the courtiers (of course) laughed as long as his majesty." [badovaro] the success of so sorry a jest would lead one to suppose that the fooling was less admirable at the imperial court than some of the recorded quips of tribaulet would lead us to suppose. the transfer of the other crowns and dignitaries to philip, was accomplished a month afterwards, in a quiet manner. spain, sicily, the balearic islands, america, and other portions of the globe, were made over without more display than an ordinary 'donatio inter vivos'. the empire occasioned some difficulty. it had been already signified to ferdinand, that his brother was to resign the imperial crown in his favor, and the symbols of sovereignty were accordingly transmitted to him by the hands of william of orange. a deputation, moreover, of which that nobleman, vice-chancellor seld, and dr. wolfgang haller were the chiefs, was despatched to signify to the electors of the empire the step which had been thus resolved upon. a delay of more than two years, however, intervened, occasioned partly by the deaths of three electors, partly by the war which so soon broke out in europe, before the matter was formally acted upon. in february, , however, the electors, having been assembled in frankfort, received the abdication of charles, and proceeded to the election of ferdinand. that emperor was crowned in march, and immediately despatched a legation to the pope to apprize him of the fact. nothing was less expected than any opposition on the part of the pontiff. the querulous dotard, however, who then sat in st. peter's chair, hated charles and all his race. he accordingly denied the validity of the whole transaction, without sanction previously obtained from the pope, to whom all crowns belonged. ferdinand, after listening, through his envoys, to much ridiculous dogmatism on the part of the pope, at last withdrew from the discussion, with a formal protest, and was first recognized by caraffa's successor, pius iv. charles had not deferred his retirement till the end of these disputes. he occupied a private house in brussels, near the gate of louvain, until august of the year . on the th of that month, he addressed a letter from ghent to john of osnabruck, president of the chamber of spiers, stating his abdication in favor of ferdinand, and requesting that in the interim the same obedience might be rendered to ferdinand, as could have been yielded to himself. ten days later; he addressed a letter to the estates of the empire, stating the same fact; and on the th september, , he set sail from zeland for spain. these delays and difficulties occasioned some misconceptions. many persons who did not admire an abdication, which others, on the contrary, esteemed as an act of unexampled magnanimity, stoutly denied that it was the intention of charles to renounce the empire. the venetian envoy informed his government that ferdinand was only to be lieutenant for charles, under strict limitations, and that the emperor was to resume the government so soon as his health would allow. the bishop of arras and don juan de manrique had both assured him, he said, that charles would not, on any account, definitely abdicate. manrique even asserted that it was a mere farce to believe in any such intention. the emperor ought to remain to protect his son, by the resources of the empire, against france, the turks, and the heretics. his very shadow was terrible to the lutherans, and his form might be expected to rise again in stern reality from its temporary grave. time has shown the falsity of all these imaginings, but views thus maintained by those in the best condition to know the truth, prove how difficult it was for men to believe in a transaction which was then so extraordinary, and how little consonant it was in their eyes with true propriety. it was necessary to ascend to the times of diocletian, to find an example of a similar abdication of empire, on so deliberate and extensive a scale, and the great english historian of the roman empire has compared the two acts with each other. but there seems a vast difference between the cases. both emperors were distinguished soldiers; both were merciless persecutors of defenceless christians; both exchanged unbounded empire for absolute seclusion. but diocletian was born in the lowest abyss of human degradation--the slave and the son of a slave. for such a man, after having reached the highest pinnacle of human greatness, voluntarily to descend from power, seems an act of far greater magnanimity than the retreat of charles. born in the purple, having exercised unlimited authority from his boyhood, and having worn from his cradle so many crowns and coronets, the german emperor might well be supposed to have learned to estimate them at their proper value. contemporary minds were busy, however, to discover the hidden motives which could have influenced him, and the world, even yet, has hardly ceased to wonder. yet it would have been more wonderful, considering the emperor's character, had he remained. the end had not crowned the work; it not unreasonably discrowned the workman. the earlier, and indeed the greater part of his career had been one unbroken procession of triumphs. the cherished dream of his grandfather, and of his own youth, to add the pope's triple crown to the rest of the hereditary possessions of his family, he had indeed been obliged to resign. he had too much practical flemish sense to indulge long in chimeras, but he had achieved the empire over formidable rivals, and he had successively not only conquered, but captured almost every potentate who had arrayed himself in arms against him. clement and francis, the dukes and landgraves of, clever, hesse, saxony, and brunswick, he had bound to his chariot wheels; forcing many to eat the bread of humiliation and captivity, during long and weary years. but the concluding portion of his reign had reversed all its previous glories. his whole career had been a failure. he had been defeated, after all, in most of his projects. he had humbled francis, but henry had most signally avenged his father. he had trampled upon philip of hesse and frederic of saxony, but it had been reserved for one of that german race, which he characterized as "dreamy, drunken, and incapable of intrigue," to outwit the man who had outwitted all the world, and to drive before him, in ignominious flight, the conqueror of the nations. the german lad who had learned both war and dissimulation in the court and camp of him who was so profound a master of both arts, was destined to eclipse his teacher on the most august theatre of christendom. absorbed at innspruck with the deliberations of the trent council, charles had not heeded the distant mutterings of the tempest which was gathering around him. while he was preparing to crush, forever, the protestant church, with the arms which a bench of bishops were forging, lo! the rapid and desperate maurice, with long red beard streaming like a meteor in the wind, dashing through the mountain passes, at the head of his lancers--arguments more convincing than all the dogmas of granvelle! disguised as an old woman, the emperor had attempted on the th april, to escape in a peasant's wagon, from innspruck into flanders. saved for the time by the mediation of ferdinand, he had, a few weeks later, after his troops had been defeated by maurice, at fussen, again fled at midnight of the nd may, almost unattended, sick in body and soul, in the midst of thunder, lightning, and rain, along the difficult alpine passes from innspruck into carinthia. his pupil had permitted his escape, only because in his own language, "for such a bird he had no convenient cage." the imprisoned princes now owed their liberation, not to the emperor's clemency, but to his panic. the peace of passau, in the following august, crushed the whole fabric of the emperor's toil, and laid-the foundation of the protestant church. he had smitten the protestants at muhlberg for the last time. on the other hand, the man who had dealt with rome, as if the pope, not he, had been the vassal, was compelled to witness, before he departed, the insolence of a pontiff who took a special pride in insulting and humbling his house, and trampling upon the pride of charles, philip and ferdinand. in france too, the disastrous siege of metz had taught him that in the imperial zodiac the fatal sign of cancer had been reached. the figure of a crab, with the words "plus citra," instead of his proud motto of "plus ultra," scrawled on the walls where he had resided during that dismal epoch, avenged more deeply, perhaps, than the jester thought, the previous misfortunes of france. the grand turk, too, solyman the magnificent, possessed most of hungary, and held at that moment a fleet ready to sail against naples, in co-operation with the pope and france. thus the infidel, the protestant, and the holy church were all combined together to crush him. towards all the great powers of the earth, he stood not in the attitude of a conqueror, but of a disappointed, baffled, defeated potentate. moreover, he had been foiled long before in his earnest attempts to secure the imperial throne for philip. ferdinand and maximilian had both stoutly resisted his arguments and his blandishments. the father had represented the slender patrimony of their branch of the family, compared with the enormous heritage of philip; who, being after all, but a man, and endowed with finite powers, might sink under so great a pressure of empire as his father wished to provide for him. maximilian, also, assured his uncle that he had as good an appetite for the crown as philip, and could digest the dignity quite as easily. the son, too, for whom the emperor was thus solicitous, had already, before the abdication, repaid his affection with ingratitude. he had turned out all his father's old officials in milan, and had refused to visit him at brussels, till assured as to the amount of ceremonial respect which the new-made king was to receive at the hands of his father. had the emperor continued to live and reign, he would have found himself likewise engaged in mortal combat with that great religious movement in the netherlands, which he would not have been able many years longer to suppress, and which he left as a legacy of blood and fire to his successor. born in the same year with his century, charles was a decrepit, exhausted man at fifty-five, while that glorious age, in which humanity was to burst forever the cerements in which it had so long been buried, was but awakening to a consciousness of its strength. disappointed in his schemes, broken in his fortunes, with income anticipated, estates mortgaged, all his affairs in confusion; failing in mental powers, and with a constitution hopelessly shattered; it was time for him to retire. he showed his keenness in recognizing the fact that neither his power nor his glory would be increased, should he lag superfluous on the stage where mortification instead of applause was likely to be his portion. his frame was indeed but a wreck. forty years of unexampled gluttony had done their work. he was a victim to gout, asthma, dyspepsia, gravel. he was crippled in the neck, arms, knees, and hands. he was troubled with chronic cutaneous eruptions. his appetite remained, while his stomach, unable longer to perform the task still imposed upon it, occasioned him constant suffering. physiologists, who know how important a part this organ plays in the affairs of life, will perhaps see in this physical condition of the emperor a sufficient explanation, if explanation were required, of his descent from the throne. moreover, it is well known that the resolution to abdicate before his death had been long a settled scheme with him. it had been formally agreed between himself and the empress that they should separate at the approach of old age, and pass the remainder of their lives in a convent and a monastery. he had, when comparatively a young man, been struck by the reply made to him by an aged officer, whose reasons he had asked for, earnestly soliciting permission to retire from the imperial service. it was, said the veteran, that he might put a little space of religious contemplation between the active portion of his life and the grave. a similar determination, deferred from time to time, charles had now carried into execution. while he still lingered in brussels, after his abdication, a comet appeared, to warn him to the fulfilment of his purpose. from first to last, comets and other heavenly bodies were much connected with his evolutions and arrangements. there was no mistaking the motives with which this luminary had presented itself. the emperor knew very well, says a contemporary german chronicler, that it portended pestilence and war, together with the approaching death of mighty princes. "my fates call out," he cried, and forthwith applied himself to hasten the preparations for his departure. the romantic picture of his philosophical retirement at juste, painted originally by sandoval and siguenza, reproduced by the fascinating pencil of strada, and imitated in frequent succession by authors of every age and country, is unfortunately but a sketch of fancy. the investigations of modern writers have entirely thrown down the scaffolding on which the airy fabric, so delightful to poets and moralists, reposed. the departing emperor stands no longer in a transparency robed in shining garments. his transfiguration is at an end. every action, almost every moment of his retirement, accurately chronicled by those who shared his solitude, have been placed before our eyes, in the most felicitous manner, by able and brilliant writers. the emperor, shorn of the philosophical robe in which he had been conventionally arrayed for three centuries, shivers now in the cold air of reality. so far from his having immersed himself in profound and pious contemplation, below the current of the world's events, his thoughts, on the contrary, never were for a moment diverted from the political surface of the times. he read nothing but despatches; he wrote or dictated interminable ones in reply, as dull and prolix as any which ever came from his pen. he manifested a succession of emotions at the course of contemporary affairs, as intense and as varied, as if the world still rested in his palm. he was, in truth, essentially a man of action. he had neither the taste nor talents which make a man great in retirement. not a lofty thought, not a generous sentiment, not a profound or acute suggestion in his retreat has been recorded from his lips. the epigrams which had been invented for him by fabulists have been all taken away, and nothing has been substituted, save a few dull jests exchanged with stupid friars. so far from having entertained and even expressed that sentiment of religious toleration for which he was said to have been condemned as a heretic by the inquisition, and for which philip was ridiculously reported to have ordered his father's body to be burned, and his ashes scattered to the winds, he became in retreat the bigot effectually, which during his reign he had only been conventionally. bitter regrets that he should have kept his word to luther, as if he had not broken faith enough to reflect upon in his retirement; stern self-reproach for omitting to put to death, while he had him in his power, the man who had caused all the mischief of the age; fierce instructions thundered from his retreat to the inquisitors to hasten the execution of all heretics, including particularly his ancient friends, preachers and almoners, cazalla and constantine de fuente; furious exhortations to philip--as if philip needed a prompter in such a work--that he should set himself to "cutting out the root of heresy with rigor and rude chastisement;"--such explosions of savage bigotry as these, alternating with exhibitions of revolting gluttony, with surfeits of sardine omelettes, estramadura sausages, eel pies, pickled partridges, fat capons, quince syrups, iced beer, and flagons of rhenish, relieved by copious draughts of senna and rhubarb, to which his horror-stricken doctor doomed him as he ate--compose a spectacle less attractive to the imagination than the ancient portrait of the cloistered charles. unfortunately it is the one which was painted from life. etext editor's bookmarks: burned, strangled, beheaded, or buried alive ( , ) despot by birth and inclination (charles v.) endure every hardship but hunger gallant and ill-fated lamoral egmont he knew men, especially he knew their weaknesses his imagination may have assisted his memory in the task little grievances would sometimes inflame more than vast often much tyranny in democracy planted the inquisition in the netherlands motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. chapter ii. - sketch of philip the second--characteristics of mary tudor--portrait of philip--his council--rivalry of rup gomez and alva--character of rup gomez--queen mary of hungary--sketch of philibert of savoy-- truce of vaucelles--secret treaty between the pope and henry ii.-- rejoicings in the netherlands on account of the peace--purposes of philip--re-enactment of the edict of --the king's dissimulation --"request" to the provinces--infraction of the truce in italy-- character of pope paul iv.--intrigues of cardinal caraffa--war against spain resolved upon by france--campaign in italy--amicable siege of rome--pence with the pontiff--hostilities on the flemish border--coligny foiled at douay--sacks lens--philip in england-- queen mary engages in the war--philip's army assembled at givet-- portrait of count egmont--the french army under coligny and montmorency--siege of st. quentin--attempts of the constable to relieve the city--battle of st. quentin--hesitation and timidity of philip--city of st. quentin taken and sacked--continued indecision of philip--his army disbanded--campaign of the duke of guise-- capture of calais--interview between cardinal de lorraine and the bishop of arran--secret combinations for a league between france and spain against heresy--languid movements of guise--foray of de thermes on the flemish frontier--battle of gravelines--popularity of egmont--enmity of alva. philip the second had received the investiture of milan and the crown of naples, previously to his marriage with mary tudor. the imperial crown he had been obliged, much against his will, to forego. the archduchy of austria, with the hereditary german dependencies of his father's family, had been transferred by the emperor to his brother ferdinand, on the occasion of the marriage of that prince with anna, only sister of king louis of hungary. ten years afterwards, ferdinand (king of hungary and bohemia since the death of louis, slain in at the battle of mohacz) was elected king of the romans, and steadily refused all the entreaties afterwards made to him in behalf of philip, to resign his crown and his succession to the empire, in favor of his nephew. with these diminutions, philip had now received all the dominions of his father. he was king of all the spanish kingdoms and of both the sicilies. he was titular king of england, france, and jerusalem. he was "absolute dominator" in asia, africa, and america; he was duke of milan and of both burgundies, and hereditary sovereign of the seventeen netherlands. thus the provinces had received a new master. a man of foreign birth and breeding, not speaking a word of their language, nor of any language which the mass of the inhabitants understood, was now placed in supreme authority over them, because he represented, through the females, the "good" philip of burgundy, who a century before had possessed himself by inheritance, purchase, force, or fraud, of the sovereignty in most of those provinces. it is necessary to say an introductory word or two concerning the previous history of the man to whose hands the destiny of so many millions was now entrusted. he was born in may, , and was now therefore twenty-eight years of age. at the age of sixteen he had been united to his cousin, maria of portugal, daughter of john iii. and of the emperor's sister, donna catalina. in the following year ( ) he became father of the celebrated and ill-starred don carlos, and a widower. the princess owed her death, it was said, to her own imprudence and to the negligence or bigotry of her attendants. the duchess of alva, and other ladies who had charge of her during her confinement, deserted her chamber in order to obtain absolution by witnessing an auto-da-fe of heretics. during their absence, the princess partook voraciously of a melon, and forfeited her life in consequence. in , don philip had made his first appearance in the netherlands. he came thither to receive homage in the various provinces as their future sovereign, and to exchange oaths of mutual fidelity with them all. andrew doria, with a fleet of fifty ships, had brought him to genoa, whence he had passed to milan, where he was received with great rejoicing. at trent he was met by duke maurice of saxony, who warmly begged his intercession with the emperor in behalf of the imprisoned landgrave of hesse. this boon philip was graciously pleased to promise,--and to keep the pledge as sacredly as most of the vows plighted by him during this memorable year. the duke of aerschot met him in germany with a regiment of cavalry and escorted him to brussels. a summer was spent in great festivities, the cities of the nether lands vieing with each other in magnificent celebrations of the ceremonies, by which philip successively swore allegiance to the various constitutions and charters of the provinces, and received their oaths of future fealty in return. his oath to support all the constitutions and privileges was without reservation, while his father and grandfather had only sworn to maintain the charters granted or confirmed by philip and charles of burgundy. suspicion was disarmed by these indiscriminate concessions, which had been resolved upon by the unscrupulous charles to conciliate the good will of the people. in view of the pretensions which might be preferred by the brederode family in holland, and by other descendants of ancient sovereign races in other provinces, the emperor, wishing to ensure the succession to his sisters in case of the deaths of himself, philip, and don carlos without issue, was unsparing in those promises which he knew to be binding only upon the weak. although the house of burgundy had usurped many of the provinces on the express pretext that females could not inherit, the rule had been already violated, and he determined to spare no pains to conciliate the estates, in order that they might be content with a new violation, should the contingency occur. philip's oaths were therefore without reserve, and the light-hearted flemings, brabantines, and walloons received him with open arms. in valenciennes the festivities which attended his entrance were on a most gorgeous scale, but the "joyous entrance" arranged for him at antwerp was of unparalleled magnificence. a cavalcade of the magistrates and notable burghers, "all attired in cramoisy velvet," attended by lackies in splendid liveries and followed by four thousand citizen soldiers in full uniform, went forth from the gates to receive him. twenty-eight triumphal arches, which alone, according to the thrifty chronicler, had cost , carolus guldens, were erected in the different streets and squares, and every possible demonstration of affectionate welcome was lavished upon the prince and the emperor. the rich and prosperous city, unconscious of the doom which awaited it in the future, seemed to have covered itself with garlands to honor the approach of its master. yet icy was the deportment with which philip received these demonstrations of affection, and haughty the glance with which he looked down upon these exhibitions of civic hilarity, as from the height of a grim and inaccessible tower. the impression made upon the netherlanders was any thing but favorable, and when he had fully experienced the futility of the projects on the empire which it was so difficult both for his father and himself to resign, he returned to the more congenial soil of spain. in he had again issued from the peninsula to marry the queen of england, a privilege which his father had graciously resigned to him. he was united to mary tudor at winchester, on the th july of that year, and if congeniality of tastes could have made a marriage happy, that union should have been thrice blessed. to maintain the supremacy of the church seemed to both the main object of existence, to execute unbelievers the most sacred duty imposed by the deity upon anointed princes, to convert their kingdoms into a hell the surest means of winning heaven for themselves. it was not strange that the conjunction of two such wonders of superstition in one sphere should have seemed portentous in the eyes of the english nation. philip's mock efforts in favor of certain condemned reformers, and his pretended intercessions in favor of the princess elizabeth, failed entirely of their object. the parliament refused to confer upon him more than a nominal authority in england. his children, should they be born, might be sovereigns; he was but husband of the queen; of a woman who could not atone by her abject but peevish fondness for himself, and by her congenial blood-thirstiness towards her subjects, for her eleven years seniority, her deficiency in attractions, and her incapacity to make him the father of a line of english monarchs. it almost excites compassion even for mary tudor, when her passionate efforts to inspire him with affection are contrasted with his impassiveness. tyrant, bigot, murderess though she was, she was still woman, and she lavished upon her husband all that was not ferocious in her nature. forbidding prayers to be said for the soul of her father, hating her sister and her people, burning bishops, bathing herself in the blood of heretics, to philip she was all submissiveness and feminine devotion. it was a most singular contrast, mary, the queen of england and mary the wife of philip. small, lean and sickly, painfully near-sighted, yet with an eye of fierceness and fire; her face wrinkled by the hands of care and evil passions still more than by time, with a big man's voice, whose harshness made those in the next room tremble; yet feminine in her tastes, skilful with her needle, fond of embroidery work, striking the lute with a touch remarkable for its science and feeling, speaking many languages, including latin, with fluency and grace; most feminine, too, in her constitutional sufferings, hysterical of habit, shedding floods of tears daily at philip's coldness, undisguised infidelity, and frequent absences from england--she almost awakens compassion and causes a momentary oblivion of her identity. her subjects, already half maddened by religious persecution, were exasperated still further by the pecuniary burthens which she imposed upon them to supply the king's exigencies, and she unhesitatingly confronted their frenzy, in the hope of winning a smile from him. when at last her chronic maladies had assumed the memorable form which caused philip and mary to unite in a letter to cardinal pole, announcing not the expected but the actual birth of a prince, but judiciously leaving the date in blank, the momentary satisfaction and delusion of the queen was unbounded. the false intelligence was transmitted every where. great were the joy and the festivities in the netherlands, where people were so easily made to rejoice and keep holiday for any thing. "the regent, being in antwerp," wrote sir thomas gresham to the lords of council, "did cause the great bell to rings to give all men to understand that the news was trewe. the queene's highness here merchants caused all our inglishe ships to shoote off with such joy and triumph, as by men's arts and pollicey coulde be devised--and the regent sent our inglishe maroners one hundred crownes to drynke." if bell-ringing and cannon-firing could have given england a spanish sovereign, the devoutly-wished consummation would have been reached. when the futility of the royal hopes could no longer be concealed, philip left the country, never to return till his war with france made him require troops, subsidies, and a declaration of hostilities from england. the personal appearance of the new sovereign has already been described. his manner was far from conciliatory, and in this respect he was the absolute reverse of his father. upon his first journey out of spain, in , into his various dominions, he had made a most painful impression every where. "he was disagreeable," says envoy suriano, "to the italians, detestable to the flemings, odious to the germans." the remonstrances of the emperor, and of queen mary of hungary, at the impropriety of his manners, had produced, however, some effect, so that on his wedding journey to england, he manifested much "gentleness and humanity, mingled with royal gravity." upon this occasion, says another venetian, accredited to him, "he had divested himself of that spanish haughtiness, which, when he first came from spain, had rendered him so odious." the famous ambassador, badovaro confirms the impression. "upon his first journey," he says, "he was esteemed proud, and too greedy for the imperial succession; but now 'tis the common opinion that his humanity and modesty are all which could be desired." these humane qualities, however, it must be observed, were exhibited only in the presence of ambassadors and grandees, the only representatives of "humanity" with whom he came publicly and avowedly in contact. he was thought deficient in manly energy. he was an infirm valetudinarian, and was considered as sluggish in character, as deficient in martial enterprise, as timid of temperament as he was fragile and sickly of frame. it is true, that on account of the disappointment which he occasioned by his contrast to his warlike father, he mingled in some tournaments in brussels, where he was matched against count mansfeld, one of the most distinguished chieftains of the age, and where, says his professed panegyrist, "he broke his lances very mach to the satisfaction of his father and aunts." that learned and eloquent author, estelle calvete, even filled the greater part of a volume, in which he described the journey of the prince, with a minute description of these feasts and jousts, but we may reasonably conclude that to the loyal imagination of his eulogist philip is indebted for most of these knightly trophies. it was the universal opinion of unprejudiced cotemporaries, that he was without a spark of enterprise. he was even censured for a culpable want of ambition, and for being inferior to his father in this respect, as if the love of encroaching on his neighbor's dominions, and a disposition to foreign. commotions and war would have constituted additional virtues, had he happened to possess them. those who were most disposed to think favorably of him, remembered that there was a time when even charles the fifth was thought weak and indolent, and were willing to ascribe philip's pacific disposition to his habitual cholic and side-ache, and to his father's inordinate care for him in youth. they even looked forward to the time when he should blaze forth to the world as a conqueror and a hero. these, however, were views entertained by but few; the general and the correct opinion, as it proved, being, that philip hated war, would never certainly acquire any personal distinction in the field, and when engaged in hostilities would be apt to gather his laurels at the hands of his generals, rather than with his own sword. he was believed to be the reverse of the emperor. charles sought great enterprises, philip would avoid them. the emperor never recoiled before threats; the son was reserved, cautious, suspicious of all men, and capable of sacrificing a realm from hesitation and timidity. the father had a genius for action, the son a predilection for repose. charles took "all men's opinions, but reserved his judgment," and acted on it, when matured, with irresistible energy; philip was led by others, was vacillating in forming decisions, and irresolute in executing them when formed. philip, then, was not considered, in that warlike age, as likely to shine as a warrior. his mental capacity, in general, was likewise not very highly esteemed. his talents were, in truth, very much below mediocrity. his mind was incredibly small. a petty passion for contemptible details characterized him from his youth, and, as long as he lived, he could neither learn to generalize, nor understand that one man, however diligent, could not be minutely acquainted with all the public and private affairs of fifty millions of other men. he was a glutton of work. he was born to write despatches, and to scrawl comments upon those which he received. [the character of these apostilles, always confused, wordy and awkward, was sometimes very ludicrous; nor did it improve after his thirty or forty years' daily practice in making them. thus, when he received a letter from france in , narrating the assassination of henry iii., and stating that "the manner in which he had been killed was that a jacobin monk had given him a pistol-shot in the head" (la facon qua l'on dit qu'il a ette tue, sa ette par un jacobin qui luy a donna d'un cou de pistolle dans la tayte), he scrawled the following luminous comment upon the margin. underlining the word "pistolle," he observed, "this is perhaps some kind of knife; and as for 'tayte,' it can be nothing else but head, which is not tayte, but tete, or teyte, as you very well know" (quiza de alguna manera de cuchillo, etc., etc.)--gachard. rapport a m. le minist. de l'interieur, prefixed to corresp. philippe ii. vol. i. xlix. note . it is obvious that a person who made such wonderful commentaries as this, and was hard at work eight or nine hours a day for forty years, would leave a prodigious quantity of unpublished matter at his death.] he often remained at the council-board four or five hours at a time, and he lived in his cabinet. he gave audiences to ambassadors and deputies very willingly, listening attentively to all that was said to him, and answering in monosyllables. he spoke no tongue but spanish; and was sufficiently sparing of that, but he was indefatigable with his pen. he hated to converse, but he could write a letter eighteen pages long, when his correspondent was in the next room, and when the subject was, perhaps, one which a man of talent could have settled with six words of his tongue. the world, in his opinion, was to move upon protocols and apostilles. events had no right to be born throughout his dominions, without a preparatory course of his obstetrical pedantry. he could never learn that the earth would not rest on its axis, while he wrote a programme of the way it was to turn. he was slow in deciding, slower in communicating his decisions. he was prolix with his pen, not from affluence, but from paucity of ideas. he took refuge in a cloud of words, sometimes to conceal his meaning, oftener to conceal the absence of any meaning, thus mystifying not only others but himself. to one great purpose, formed early, he adhered inflexibly. this, however, was rather an instinct than an opinion; born with him, not created by him. the idea seemed to express itself through him, and to master him, rather than to form one of a stock of sentiments which a free agent might be expected to possess. although at certain times, even this master-feeling could yield to the pressure of a predominant self-interest-thus showing that even in philip bigotry was not absolute--yet he appeared on the whole the embodiment of spanish chivalry and spanish religious enthusiasm, in its late and corrupted form. he was entirely a spaniard. the burgundian and austrian elements of his blood seemed to have evaporated, and his veins were filled alone with the ancient ardor, which in heroic centuries had animated the gothic champions of spain. the fierce enthusiasm for the cross, which in the long internal warfare against the crescent, had been the romantic and distinguishing feature of the national character, had degenerated into bigotry. that which had been a nation's glory now made the monarch's shame. the christian heretic was to be regarded with a more intense hatred than even moor or jew had excited in the most christian ages, and philip was to be the latest and most perfect incarnation of all this traditional enthusiasm, this perpetual hate. thus he was likely to be single-hearted in his life. it was believed that his ambition would be less to extend his dominions than to vindicate his title of the most catholic king. there could be little doubt entertained that he would be, at least, dutiful to his father in this respect, and that the edicts would be enforced to the letter. he was by birth, education, and character, a spaniard, and that so exclusively, that the circumstance would alone have made him unfit to govern a country so totally different in habits and national sentiments from his native land. he was more a foreigner in brussels, even, than in england. the gay, babbling, energetic, noisy life of flanders and brabant was detestable to him. the loquacity of the netherlanders was a continual reproach upon his taciturnity. his education had imbued him, too, with the antiquated international hatred of spaniard and fleming, which had been strengthening in the metropolis, while the more rapid current of life had rather tended to obliterate the sentiment in the provinces. the flippancy and profligacy of philip the handsome, the extortion and insolence of his flemish courtiers, had not been forgotten in spain, nor had philip the second forgiven his grandfather for having been a foreigner. and now his mad old grandmother, joanna, who had for years been chasing cats in the lonely tower where she had been so long imprisoned, had just died; and her funeral, celebrated with great pomp by both her sons, by charles at brussels and ferdinand at augsburg, seemed to revive a history which had begun to fade, and to recall the image of castilian sovereignty which had been so long obscured in the blaze of imperial grandeur. his education had been but meagre. in an age when all kings and noblemen possessed many languages, he spoke not a word of any tongue but spanish,--although he had a slender knowledge of french and italian, which he afterwards learned to read with comparative facility. he had studied a little history and geography, and he had a taste for sculpture, painting, and architecture. certainly if he had not possessed a feeling for art, he would have been a monster. to have been born in the earlier part of the sixteenth century, to have been a king, to have had spain, italy, and the netherlands as a birthright, and not to have been inspired with a spark of that fire which glowed so intensely in those favored lands and in that golden age, had indeed been difficult. the king's personal habits were regular. his delicate health made it necessary for him to attend to his diet, although he was apt to exceed in sweetmeats and pastry. he slept much, and took little exercise habitually, but he had recently been urged by the physicians to try the effect of the chase as a corrective to his sedentary habits. he was most strict in religious observances, as regular at mass, sermons, and vespers as a monk; much more, it was thought by many good catholics, than was becoming to his rank and age. besides several friars who preached regularly for his instruction, he had daily discussions with others on abstruse theological points. he consulted his confessor most minutely as to all the actions of life, inquiring anxiously whether this proceeding or that were likely to burthen his conscience. he was grossly licentious. it was his chief amusement to issue forth at night disguised, that he might indulge in vulgar and miscellaneous incontinence in the common haunts of vice. this was his solace at brussels in the midst of the gravest affairs of state. he was not illiberal, but, on the contrary, it was thought that he would have been even generous, had he not been straitened for money at the outset of his career. during a cold winter, he distributed alms to the poor of brussels with an open hand. he was fond of jests in private, and would laugh immoderately, when with a few intimate associates, at buffooneries, which he checked in public by the icy gravity of his deportment. he dressed usually in the spanish fashion, with close doublet, trunk hose, and short cloak, although at times he indulged in the more airy fashions of france and burgundy, wearing buttons on his coats and feathers in his hat. he was not thought at that time to be cruel by nature, but was usually spoken of, in the conventional language appropriated to monarchs, as a prince "clement, benign, and debonnaire." time was to show the justice of his claims to such honorable epithets. the court was organized during his residence at brussels on the burgundian, not the spanish model, but of the one hundred and fifty persons who composed it, nine tenths of the whole were spaniards; the other fifteen or sixteen being of various nations, flemings, burgundians, italians, english, and germans. thus it is obvious how soon he disregarded his father's precept and practice in this respect, and began to lay the foundation of that renewed hatred to spaniards which was soon to become so intense, exuberant, and fatal throughout every class of netherlanders. he esteemed no nation but the spanish, with spaniards he consorted, with spaniards he counselled, through spaniards he governed. his council consisted of five or six spanish grandees, the famous ruy gomez, then count of melito, afterwards prince of eboli; the duke of alva, the count de feria, the duke of franca villa, don antonio toledo, and don juan manrique de lara. the "two columns," said suriano, "which sustain this great machine, are ruy gomez and alva, and from their councils depends the government of half the world." the two were ever bitterly opposed to each other. incessant were their bickerings, intense their mutual hate, desperate and difficult the situation of any man, whether foreigner or native, who had to transact business with the government. if he had secured the favor of gomez, he had already earned the enmity of alva. was he protected by the duke, he was sure to be cast into outer darkness by the favorite.--alva represented the war party, ruy gomez the pacific polity more congenial to the heart of philip. the bishop of arras, who in the opinion of the envoys was worth them all for his capacity and his experience, was then entirely in the background, rarely entering the council except when summoned to give advice in affairs of extraordinary delicacy or gravity. he was, however, to reappear most signally in course of the events already preparing. the duke of alva, also to play so tremendous a part in the yet unborn history of the netherlands, was not beloved by philip. he was eclipsed at this period by the superior influence of the favorite, and his sword, moreover, became necessary in the italian campaign which was impending. it is remarkable that it was a common opinion even at that day that the duke was naturally hesitating and timid. one would have thought that his previous victories might have earned for him the reputation for courage and skill which he most unquestionably deserved. the future was to develop those other characteristics which were to make his name the terror and wonder of the world. the favorite, ruy gomez da silva, count de melito, was the man upon whose shoulders the great burthen of the state reposed. he was of a family which was originally portuguese. he had been brought up with the king, although some eight years his senior, and their friendship dated from earliest youth. it was said that ruy gomez, when a boy, had been condemned to death for having struck philip, who had come between him and another page with whom he was quarrelling. the prince threw himself passionately at his father's feet, and implored forgiveness in behalf of the culprit with such energy that the emperor was graciously pleased to spare the life of the future prime minister. the incident was said to have laid the foundation of the remarkable affection which was supposed to exist between the two, to an extent never witnessed before between king and subject. ruy gomez was famous for his tact and complacency, and omitted no opportunity of cementing the friendship thus auspiciously commenced. he was said to have particularly charmed his master, upon one occasion, by hypocritically throwing up his cards at a game of hazard played for a large stake, and permitting him to win the game with a far inferior hand. the king learning afterwards the true state of the case, was charmed by the grace and self-denial manifested by the young nobleman. the complacency which the favorite subsequently exhibited in regard to the connexion which existed so long and so publicly between his wife, the celebrated princess eboli, and philip, placed his power upon an impregnable basis, and secured it till his death. at the present moment he occupied the three posts of valet, state councillor, and finance minister. he dressed and undressed his master, read or talked him to sleep, called him in the morning, admitted those who were to have private audiences, and superintended all the arrangements of the household. the rest of the day was devoted to the enormous correspondence and affairs of administration which devolved upon him as first minister of state and treasury. he was very ignorant. he had no experience or acquirement in the arts either of war or peace, and his early education had been limited. like his master, he spoke no tongue but spanish, and he had no literature. he had prepossessing manners, a fluent tongue, a winning and benevolent disposition. his natural capacity for affairs was considerable, and his tact was so perfect that he could converse face to face with statesmen; doctors, and generals upon campaigns, theology, or jurisprudence, without betraying any remarkable deficiency. he was very industrious, endeavoring to make up by hard study for his lack of general knowledge, and to sustain with credit the burthen of his daily functions. at the same time, by the king's desire, he appeared constantly at the frequent banquets, masquerades, tourneys and festivities, for which brussels at that epoch was remarkable. it was no wonder that his cheek was pale, and that he seemed dying of overwork. he discharged his duties cheerfully, however, for in the service of philip he knew no rest. "after god," said badovaro, "he knows no object save the felicity of his master." he was already, as a matter of course, very rich, having been endowed by philip with property to the amount of twenty-six thousand dollars yearly, [at values of ] and the tide of his fortunes was still at the flood. such were the two men, the master and the favorite, to whose hands the destinies of the netherlands were now entrusted. the queen of hungary had resigned the office of regent of the netherlands, as has been seen, on the occasion of the emperor's abdication. she was a woman of masculine character, a great huntress before the lord, a celebrated horsewoman, a worthy descendant of the lady mary of burgundy. notwithstanding all the fine phrases exchanged between herself and the eloquent maas, at the great ceremony of the th of october, she was, in reality, much detested in the provinces, and she repaid their aversion with abhorrence. "i could not live among these people," she wrote to the emperor, but a few weeks before the abdication, "even as a private person, for it would be impossible for me to do my duty towards god and my prince. as to governing them, i take god to witness that the task is so abhorrent to me, that i would rather earn my daily bread by labor than attempt it." she added, that a woman of fifty years of age, who had served during twenty-five of them, had a right to repose, and that she was moreover "too old to recommence and learn her a, b, c." the emperor, who had always respected her for the fidelity with which she had carried out his designs, knew that it was hopeless to oppose her retreat. as for philip, he hated his aunt, and she hated him--although, both at the epoch of the abdication and subsequently, he was desirous that she should administer the government. the new regent was to be the duke of savoy. this wandering and adventurous potentate had attached himself to philip's fortunes, and had been received by the king with as much favor as he had ever enjoyed at the hands of the emperor. emanuel philibert of savoy, then about twenty-six or seven years of age, was the son of the late unfortunate duke, by donna beatrice of portugal, sister of the empress. he was the nephew of charles, and first cousin to philip. the partiality of the emperor for his mother was well known, but the fidelity with which the family had followed the imperial cause had been productive of nothing but disaster to the duke. he had been ruined in fortune, stripped of all his dignities and possessions. his son's only inheritance was his sword. the young prince of piedmont, as he was commonly called in his youth; sought the camp of the emperor, and was received with distinguished favor. he rose rapidly in the military service. acting always upon his favorite motto, "spoliatis arma supersunt," he had determined, if possible, to carve his way to glory, to wealth, and even to his hereditary estates, by his sword alone. war was not only his passion, but his trade. every one of his campaigns was a speculation, and he had long derived a satisfactory income by purchasing distinguished prisoners of war at a low price from the soldiers who had captured them, and were ignorant of their rank, and by ransoming them afterwards at an immense advance. this sort of traffic in men was frequent in that age, and was considered perfectly honorable. marshal strozzi, count mansfeld, and other professional soldiers, derived their main income from the system. they were naturally inclined, therefore, to look impatiently upon a state of peace as an unnatural condition of affairs which cut off all the profits of their particular branch of industry, and condemned them both to idleness and poverty. the duke of savoy had become one of the most experienced and successful commanders of the age, and an especial favorite with the emperor. he had served with alva in the campaigns against the protestants of germany, and in other important fields. war being his element, he considered peace as undesirable, although he could recognize its existence. a truce he held, however, to be a senseless parodox, unworthy of the slightest regard. an armistice, such as was concluded on the february following the abdication, was, in his opinion, only to be turned to account by dealing insidious and unsuspected blows at the enemy, some portion of whose population might repose confidence in the plighted faith of monarchs and plenipotentiaries. he had a show of reason for his political and military morality, for he only chose to execute the evil which had been practised upon himself. his father had been beggared, his mother had died of spite and despair, he had himself been reduced from the rank of a sovereign to that of a mercenary soldier, by spoliations made in time of truce. he was reputed a man of very decided abilities, and was distinguished for headlong bravery. his rashness and personal daring were thought the only drawbacks to his high character as a commander. he had many accomplishments. he spoke latin, french, spanish, and italian with equal fluency, was celebrated for his attachment to the fine arts, and wrote much and with great elegance. such had been philibert of savoy, the pauper nephew of the powerful emperor, the adventurous and vagrant cousin of the lofty philip, a prince without a people, a duke without a dukedom; with no hope but in warfare, with no revenue but rapine; the image, in person, of a bold and manly soldier, small, but graceful and athletic, martial in bearing, "wearing his sword under his arm like a corporal," because an internal malady made a belt inconvenient, and ready to turn to swift account every chance which a new series of campaigns might open to him. with his new salary as governor, his pensions, and the remains of his possessions in nice and piedmont, he had now the splendid annual income of one hundred thousand crowns, and was sure to spend it all. it had been the desire of charles to smooth the commencement of philip's path. he had for this purpose made a vigorous effort to undo, as it were, the whole work of his reign, to suspend the operation of his whole political system. the emperor and conqueror, who had been warring all his lifetime, had attempted, as the last act of his reign, to improvise a peace. but it was not so easy to arrange a pacification of europe as dramatically as he desired, in order that he might gather his robes about him, and allow the curtain to fall upon his eventful history in a grand hush of decorum and quiet. during the autumn and winter of , hostilities had been virtually suspended, and languid negotiations ensued. for several months armies confronted each other without engaging, and diplomatists fenced among themselves without any palpable result. at last the peace commissioners, who had been assembled at vaucelles since the beginning of the year , signed a treaty of truce rather than of peace, upon the th of february. it was to be an armistice of five years, both by land and sea, for france, spain, flanders, and italy, throughout all the dominions of the french and spanish monarchs. the pope was expressly included in the truce, which was signed on the part of france by admiral coligny and sebastian l'aubespine; on that of spain, by count de lalain, philibert de bruxelles, simon renard, and jean baptiste sciceio, a jurisconsult of cremona. during the precious month of december, however, the pope had concluded with the french monarch a treaty, by which this solemn armistice was rendered an egregious farce. while henry's plenipotentiaries had been plighting their faith to those of philip, it had been arranged that france should sustain, by subsidies and armies, the scheme upon which paul was bent, to drive the spaniards entirely out of the italian peninsula. the king was to aid the pontiff, and, in return, was to carve thrones for his own younger children out of the confiscated realms of philip. when was france ever slow to sweep upon italy with such a hope? how could the ever-glowing rivalry of valois and habsburg fail to burst into a general conflagration, while the venerable vicegerent of christ stood thus beside them with his fan in his hand? for a brief breathing space, however, the news of the pacification occasioned much joy in the provinces. they rejoiced even in a temporary cessation of that long series of campaigns from which they could certainly derive no advantage, and in which their part was to furnish money, soldiers, and battlefields, without prospect of benefit from any victory, however brilliant, or any treaty, however elaborate. manufacturing, agricultural and commercial provinces, filled to the full with industrial life, could not but be injured by being converted into perpetual camps. all was joy in the netherlands, while at antwerp, the great commercial metropolis of the provinces and of europe, the rapture was unbounded. oxen were roasted whole in the public squares; the streets, soon to be empurpled with the best blood of her citizens, ran red with wine; a hundred triumphal arches adorned the pathway of philip as he came thither; and a profusion of flowers, although it was february, were strewn before his feet. such was his greeting in the light-hearted city, but the countenance was more than usually sullen with which the sovereign received these demonstrations of pleasure. it was thought by many that philip had been really disappointed in the conclusion of the armistice, that he was inspired with a spark of that martial ambition for which his panegyrists gave him credit, and that knowing full well the improbability of a long suspension of hostilities, he was even eager for the chance of conquest which their resumption would afford him. the secret treaty of the pope was of course not so secret but that the hollow intention of the contracting parties to the truce of vaucelles were thoroughly suspected; intentions which certainly went far to justify the maxims and the practice of the new governor-general of the netherlands upon the subject of armistices. philip, understanding his position, was revolving renewed military projects while his subjects were ringing merry bells and lighting bonfires in the netherlands. these schemes, which were to be carried out in the immediate future, caused, however, a temporary delay in the great purpose to which he was to devote his life. the emperor had always desired to regard the netherlands as a whole, and he hated the antiquated charters and obstinate privileges which interfered with his ideas of symmetry. two great machines, the court of mechlin and the inquisition, would effectually simplify and assimilate all these irregular and heterogeneous rights. the civil tribunal was to annihilate all diversities in their laws by a general cassation of their constitutions, and the ecclesiastical court was to burn out all differences in their religious faith. between two such millstones it was thought that the netherlands might be crushed into uniformity. philip succeeded to these traditions. the father had never sufficient leisure to carry out all his schemes, but it seemed probable that the son would be a worthy successor, at least in all which concerned the religious part of his system. one of the earliest measures of his reign was to re-enact the dread edict of . this he did by the express advice of the bishop of arras who represented to him the expediency of making use of the popularity of his father's name, to sustain the horrible system resolved upon. as charles was the author of the edict, it could be always argued that nothing new was introduced; that burning, hanging, and drowning for religious differences constituted a part of the national institutions; that they had received the sanction of the wise emperor, and had been sustained by the sagacity of past generations. nothing could have been more subtle, as the event proved, than this advice. innumerable were the appeals made in subsequent years, upon this subject, to the patriotism and the conservative sentiments of the netherlanders. repeatedly they were summoned to maintain the inquisition, on the ground that it had been submitted to by their ancestors, and that no change had been made by philip, who desired only to maintain church and crown in the authority which they had enjoyed in the days of his father of very laudable memory. nevertheless, the king's military plans seemed to interfere for the moment with this cherished object. he seemed to swerve, at starting, from pursuing the goal which he was only to abandon with life. the edict of was re-enacted and confirmed, and all office-holders were commanded faithfully to enforce it upon pain of immediate dismissal. nevertheless, it was not vigorously carried into effect any where. it was openly resisted in holland, its proclamation was flatly refused in antwerp, and repudiated throughout brabant. it was strange that such disobedience should be tolerated, but the king wanted money. he was willing to refrain for a season from exasperating the provinces by fresh religious persecution at the moment when he was endeavoring to extort every penny which it was possible to wring from their purses. the joy, therefore, with which the pacification had been hailed by the people was far from an agreeable spectacle to the king. the provinces would expect that the forces which had been maintained at their expense during the war would be disbanded, whereas he had no intention of disbanding them. as the truce was sure to be temporary, he had no disposition to diminish his available resources for a war which might be renewed at any moment. to maintain the existing military establishment in the netherlands, a large sum of money was required, for the pay was very much in arrear. the king had made a statement to the provincial estates upon this subject, but the matter was kept secret during the negotiations with france. the way had thus been paved for the "request" or "bede," which he now made to the estates assembled at brussels, in the spring of . it was to consist of a tax of one per cent. (the hundredth penny) upon all real estate, and of two per cent. upon all merchandise; to be collected in three payments. the request, in so far as the imposition of the proposed tax was concerned, was refused by flanders, brabant, holland, and all the other important provinces, but as usual, a moderate, even a generous, commutation in money was offered by the estates. this was finally accepted by philip, after he had become convinced that at this moment, when he was contemplating a war with france, it would be extremely impolitic to insist upon the tax. the publication of the truce in italy had been long delayed, and the first infractions which it suffered were committed in that country. the arts of politicians; the schemes of individual ambition, united with the short-lived military ardor of philip to place the monarch in an eminently false position, that of hostility to the pope. as was unavoidable, the secret treaty of december acted as an immediate dissolvent to the truce of february. great was the indignation of paul caraffa, when that truce was first communicated to him by the cardinal de tournon, on the part of the french government. notwithstanding the protestations of france that the secret league was still binding, the pontiff complained that he was likely to be abandoned to his own resources, and to be left single-handed to contend with the vast power of spain. pope paul iv., of the house of caraffa, was, in position, the well-known counterpart of the emperor charles. at the very moment when the conqueror and autocrat was exchanging crown for cowl, and the proudest throne of the universe for a cell, this aged monk, as weary of scientific and religious seclusion as charles of pomp and power, had abdicated his scholastic pre-eminence, and exchanged his rosary for the keys and sword. a pontifical faustus, he had become disgusted with the results of a life of study and abnegation, and immediately upon his election appeared to be glowing with mundane passions, and inspired by the fiercest ambition of a warrior. he had rushed from the cloister as eagerly as charles had sought it. he panted for the tempests of the great external world as earnestly as the conqueror who had so long ridden upon the whirlwind of human affairs sighed for a haven of repose. none of his predecessors had been more despotic, more belligerent, more disposed to elevate and strengthen the temporal power of rome. in the inquisition he saw the grand machine by which this purpose could be accomplished, and yet found himself for a period the antagonist of philip. the single circumstance would have been sufficient, had other proofs been wanting, to make manifest that the part which he had chosen to play was above his genius. had his capacity been at all commensurate with his ambition, he might have deeply influenced the fate of the world; but fortunately no wizard's charm came to the aid of paul caraffa, and the triple-crowned monk sat upon the pontifical throne, a fierce, peevish, querulous, and quarrelsome dotard; the prey and the tool of his vigorous enemies and his intriguing relations. his hatred of spain and spaniards was unbounded. he raved at them as "heretics, schismatics, accursed of god, the spawn of jews and moors, the very dregs of the earth." to play upon such insane passions was not difficult, and a skilful artist stood ever ready to strike the chords thus vibrating with age and fury. the master spirit and principal mischief-maker of the papal court was the well-known cardinal caraffa, once a wild and dissolute soldier, nephew to the pope. he inflamed the anger of the pontiff by his representations, that the rival house of colonna, sustained by the duke of alva, now viceroy of naples, and by the whole spanish power, thus relieved from the fear of french hostilities, would be free to wreak its vengeance upon their family. it was determined that the court of france should be held by the secret league. moreover, the pope had been expressly included in the treaty of vaucelles, although the troops of spain had already assumed a hostile attitude in the south of italy. the cardinal was for immediately proceeding to paris, there to excite the sympathy of the french monarch for the situation of himself and his uncle. an immediate rupture between france and spain, a re-kindling of the war flames from one end of europe to the other, were necessary to save the credit and the interests of the caraffas. cardinal de tournon, not desirous of so sudden a termination to the pacific relations between his, country and spain, succeeded in detaining him a little longer in rome.--he remained, but not in idleness. the restless intriguer had already formed close relations with the most important personage in france, diana of poitiers.--this venerable courtesan, to the enjoyment of whose charms henry had succeeded, with the other regal possessions, on the death of his father, was won by the flatteries of the wily caraffa, and by the assiduities of the guise family. the best and most sagacious statesmen, the constable, and the admiral, were in favor of peace, for they knew the condition of the kingdom. the duke of guise and the cardinal lorraine were for a rupture, for they hoped to increase their family influence by war. coligny had signed the treaty of vaucelles, and wished to maintain it, but the influence of the catholic party was in the ascendant. the result was to embroil the catholic king against the pope and against themselves. the queen was as favorably inclined as the mistress to listen to caraffa, for catherine de medici was desirous that her cousin, marshal strozzi, should have honorable and profitable employment in some fresh italian campaigns. in the mean time an accident favored the designs of the papal court. an open quarrel with spain resulted from an insignificant circumstance. the spanish ambassador at rome was in the habit of leaving the city very often, at an early hour in the morning, upon shooting excursions, and had long enjoyed the privilege of ordering the gates to be opened for him at his pleasure. by accident or design, he was refused permission upon one occasion to pass through the gate as usual. unwilling to lose his day's sport, and enraged at what he considered an indignity, his excellency, by the aid of his attendants, attacked and beat the guard, mastered them, made his way out of the city, and pursued his morning's amusement. the pope was furious, caraffa artfully inflamed his anger. the envoy was refused an audience, which he desired, for the sake of offering explanations, and the train being thus laid, it was thought that the right moment had arrived for applying the firebrand. the cardinal went to paris post haste. in his audience of the king, he represented that his holiness had placed implicit reliance upon his secret treaty with his majesty, that the recently concluded truce with spain left the pontiff at the mercy of the spaniard, that the duke of alva had already drawn the sword, that the pope had long since done himself the pleasure and the honor of appointing the french monarch protector of the papal chair in general, and of the caraffa family in particular, and that the moment had arrived for claiming the benefit of that protection. he assured him, moreover, as by full papal authority, that in respecting the recent truce with spain, his majesty would violate both human and divine law. reason and justice required him to defend the pontiff, now that the spaniards were about to profit by the interval of truce to take measures for his detriment. moreover, as the pope was included in the truce of vaucelles, he could not be abandoned without a violation of that treaty itself.--the arts and arguments of the cardinal proved successful; the war was resolved upon in favor of the pope. the cardinal, by virtue of powers received and brought with him from his holiness, absolved the king from all obligation to keep his faith with spain. he also gave him a dispensation from the duty of prefacing hostilities by a declaration of war. strozzi was sent at once into italy, with some hastily collected troops, while the duke of guise waited to organize a regular army. the mischief being thus fairly afoot, and war let loose again upon europe, the cardinal made a public entry into paris, as legate of the pope. the populace crowded about his mule, as he rode at the head of a stately procession through the streets. all were anxious to receive a benediction from the holy man who had come so far to represent the successor of st. peter, and to enlist the efforts of all true believers in his cause. he appeared to answer the entreaties of the superstitious rabble with fervent blessings, while the friends who were nearest him were aware that nothing but gibes and sarcasms were falling from his lips. "let us fool these poor creatures to their heart's content, since they will be fools," he muttered; smiling the while upon them benignantly, as became his holy office. such were the materials of this new combination; such was the fuel with which this new blaze was lighted and maintained. thus were the great powers of the earth--spain, france, england, and the papacy embroiled, and the nations embattled against each other for several years. the preceding pages show how much national interests, or principles; were concerned in the struggle thus commenced, in which thousands were to shed their life-blood, and millions to be reduced from peace and comfort to suffer all the misery which famine and rapine can inflict. it would no doubt have increased the hilarity of caraffa, as he made his triumphant entry into paris, could the idea have been suggested to his mind that the sentiments, or the welfare of the people throughout the great states now involved in his meshes, could have any possible bearing upon the question of peace or wax. the world was governed by other influences. the wiles of a cardinal--the arts of a concubine--the snipe-shooting of an ambassador--the speculations of a soldier of fortune--the ill temper of a monk--the mutual venom of italian houses--above all, the perpetual rivalry of the two great historical families who owned the greater part of europe between them as their private property--such were the wheels on which rolled the destiny of christendom. compared to these, what were great moral and political ideas, the plans of statesmen, the hopes of nations? time was soon to show. meanwhile, government continued to be administered exclusively for the benefit of the governors. meanwhile, a petty war for paltry motives was to precede the great spectacle which was to prove to europe that principles and peoples still existed, and that a phlegmatic nation of merchants and manufacturers could defy the powers of the universe, and risk all their blood and treasure, generation after generation, in a sacred cause. it does not belong to our purpose to narrate the details of the campaign in italy; neither is this war of politics and chicane of any great interest at the present day. to the military minds of their age, the scientific duel which now took place upon a large scale, between two such celebrated captains as the dukes of guise and alva, was no doubt esteemed the most important of spectacles; but the progress of mankind in the art of slaughter has stripped so antiquated an exhibition of most of its interest, even in a technical point of view. not much satisfaction could be derived from watching an old-fashioned game of war, in which the parties sat down before each other so tranquilly, and picked up piece after piece, castle after castle, city after city, with such scientific deliberation as to make it evident that, in the opinion of the commanders, war was the only serious business to be done in the world; that it was not to be done in a hurry, nor contrary to rule, and that when a general had a good job upon his hands he ought to know his profession much too thoroughly, to hasten through it before he saw his way clear to another. from the point of time, at the close of the year , when that well-trained but not very successful soldier, strozzi, crossed the alps, down to the autumn of the following year, when the duke of alva made his peace with the pope, there was hardly a pitched battle, and scarcely an event of striking interest. alva, as usual, brought his dilatory policy to bear upon his adversary with great effect. he had no intention, he observed to a friend, to stake the whole kingdom of naples against a brocaded coat of the duke of guise. moreover, he had been sent to the war, as ruy gomez informed the venetian ambassador, "with a bridle in his mouth." philip, sorely troubled in his mind at finding himself in so strange a position as this hostile attitude to the church, had earnestly interrogated all the doctors and theologians with whom he habitually took counsel, whether this war with the pope would not work a forfeiture of his title of the most catholic king. the bishop of arras and the favorite both disapproved of the war, and encouraged, with all their influence, the pacific inclinations of the monarch. the doctors were, to be sure, of opinion that philip, having acted in italy only in self-defence, and for the protection of his states, ought not to be anxious as to his continued right to the title on which he valued himself so highly. nevertheless, such ponderings and misgivings could not but have the effect of hampering the actions of alva. that general chafed inwardly at what he considered his own contemptible position. at the same time, he enraged the duke of guise still more deeply by the forced calmness of his proceedings. fortresses were reduced, towns taken, one after another, with the most provoking deliberation, while his distracted adversary in vain strove to defy, or to delude him, into trying the chances of a stricken field. the battle of saint quentin, the narrative of which belongs to our subject, and will soon occupy our attention, at last decided the italian operations. egmont's brilliant triumph in picardy rendered a victory in italy superfluous, and placed in alva's hand the power of commanding the issue of his own campaign. the duke of guise was recalled to defend the french frontier, which the bravery of the flemish hero had imperilled, and the pope was left to make the best peace which he could. all was now prosperous and smiling, and the campaign closed with a highly original and entertaining exhibition. the pontiff's puerile ambition, sustained by the intrigues of his nephew, had involved the french monarch in a war which was contrary to his interests and inclination. paul now found his ally too sorely beset to afford him that protection upon which he had relied, when he commenced, in his dotage, his career as a warrior. he was, therefore, only desirous of deserting his friend, and of relieving himself from his uncomfortable predicament, by making a treaty with his catholic majesty upon the best terms which he could obtain. the king of france, who had gone to war only for the sake of his holiness, was to be left to fight his own battles, while the pope was to make his peace with all the world. the result was a desirable one for philip. alva was accordingly instructed to afford the holy father a decorous and appropriate opportunity for carrying out his wishes. the victorious general was apprized that his master desired no fruit from his commanding attitude in italy and the victory of saint quentin, save a full pardon from the pope for maintaining even a defensive war against him. an amicable siege of rome was accordingly commenced, in the course of which an assault or "camiciata" on the holy city, was arranged for the night of the th august, . the pontiff agreed to be taken by surprise--while alva, through what was to appear only a superabundance of his habitual discretion, was to draw off his troops at the very moment when the victorious assault was to be made. the imminent danger to the holy city and to his own sacred person thus furnishing the pontiff with an excuse for abandoning his own cause, as well as that of his ally the duke of alva was allowed, in the name of his master and himself; to make submission to the church and his peace with rome. the spanish general, with secret indignation and disgust, was compelled to humor the vanity of a peevish but imperious old man. negotiations were commenced, and so skilfully had the duke played his game during the spring and summer, that when he was admitted to kiss the pope's toe, he was able to bring a hundred italian towns in his hand, as a peace-offering to his holiness. these he now restored, with apparent humility and inward curses, upon the condition that the fortifications should be razed, and the french alliance absolutely renounced. thus did the fanaticism of philip reverse the relative position of himself and his antagonist. thus was the vanquished pontiff allowed almost to dictate terms to the victorious general. the king who could thus humble himself to a dotard, while he made himself the scourge of his subjects, deserved that the bull of excommunication which had been prepared should have been fulminated. he, at least, was capable of feeling the scathing effects of such anathemas. the duke of guise, having been dismissed with the pontiff's assurance that he had done little for the interests of his sovereign, less for the protection of the church, and least of all for his own reputation, set forth with all speed for civita vecchia, to do what he could upon the flemish frontier to atone for his inglorious campaign in italy. the treaty between the pope and the duke of alva was signed on the th september ( ), and the spanish general retired for the winter to milan. cardinal caraffa was removed from the french court to that of madrid, there to spin new schemes for the embroilment of nations and the advancement of his own family. very little glory was gained by any of the combatants in this campaign. spain, france, nor paul iv., not one of them came out of the italian contest in better condition than that in which they entered upon it. in fact all were losers. france had made an inglorious retreat, the pope a ludicrous capitulation, and the only victorious party, the king of spain, had, during the summer, conceded to cosmo de medici the sovereignty of sienna. had venice shown more cordiality towards philip, and more disposition to sustain his policy, it is probable that the republic would have secured the prize which thus fell to the share of cosmo. that astute and unprincipled potentate, who could throw his net so well in troubled water, had successfully duped all parties, spain, france, and rome. the man who had not only not participated in the contest, but who had kept all parties and all warfare away from his borders, was the only individual in italy who gained territorial advantage from the war. to avoid interrupting the continuity of the narrative, the spanish campaign has been briefly sketched until the autumn of , at which period the treaty between the pope and philip was concluded. it is now necessary to go back to the close of the preceding year. simultaneously with the descent of the french troops upon italy, hostilities had broken out upon the flemish border. the pains of the emperor in covering the smouldering embers of national animosities so precipitately, and with a view rather to scenic effect than to a deliberate and well-considered result, were thus set at nought, and within a year from the day of his abdication, hostilities were reopened from the tiber to the german ocean. the blame of first violating the truce of vaucelles was laid by each party upon the other with equal justice, for there can be but little doubt that the reproach justly belonged to both. both had been equally faithless in their professions of amity. both were equally responsible for the scenes of war, plunder, and misery, which again were desolating the fairest regions of christendom. at the time when the french court had resolved to concede to the wishes of the caraffa family, admiral coligny, who had been appointed governor of picardy, had received orders to make a foray upon the frontier of flanders. before the formal annunciation of hostilities, it was thought desirable to reap all the advantage possible from the perfidy which had been resolved upon. it happened that a certain banker of lucca, an ancient gambler and debauchee, whom evil courses had reduced from affluence to penury, had taken up his abode upon a hill overlooking the city of douay. here he had built himself a hermit's cell. clad in sackcloth, with a rosary at his waist, he was accustomed to beg his bread from door to door. his garb was all, however, which he possessed of sanctity, and he had passed his time in contemplating the weak points in the defences of the city with much more minuteness than those in his own heart. upon the breaking out of hostilities in italy, the instincts of his old profession had suggested to him that a good speculation might be made in flanders, by turning to account as a spy the observations which he had made in his character of a hermit. he sought an interview with coligny, and laid his propositions before him. the noble admiral hesitated, for his sentiments were more elevated than those of many of his contemporaries. he had, moreover, himself negotiated and signed the truce with spain, and he shrank from violating it with his own hand, before a declaration of war. still he was aware that a french army was on its way to attack the spaniards in italy; he was under instructions to take the earliest advantage which his position upon the frontier might offer him; he knew that both theory and practice authorized a general, in that age, to break his fast, even in time of truce, if a tempting morsel should present itself; and, above all, he thoroughly understood the character of his nearest antagonist, the new governor of the netherlands, philibert of savoy, whom he knew to be the most unscrupulous chieftain in europe. these considerations decided him to take advantage of the hermit-banker's communication. a day was accordingly fixed, at which, under the guidance of this newly-acquired ally, a surprise should be attempted by the french forces, and the unsuspecting city of douay given over to the pillage of a brutal soldiery. the time appointed was the night of epiphany, upon occasion of which festival, it was thought that the inhabitants, overcome with sleep and wassail, might be easily overpowered. ( th january, .) the plot was a good plot, but the admiral of france was destined to be foiled by an old woman. this person, apparently the only creature awake in the town, perceived the danger, ran shrieking through the streets, alarmed the citizens while it was yet time, and thus prevented the attack. coligny, disappointed in his plan, recompensed his soldiers by a sudden onslaught upon lens in arthois, which he sacked and then levelled with the ground. such was the wretched condition of frontier cities, standing, even in time of peace, with the ground undermined beneath them, and existing every moment, as it were, upon the brink of explosion. hostilities having been thus fairly commenced, the french government was in some embarrassment. the duke of guise, with the most available forces of the kingdom, having crossed the alps, it became necessary forthwith to collect another army. the place of rendezvous appointed was pierrepoint, where an army of eighteen thousand infantry and five thousand horse were assembled early in the spring. in the mean time, philip finding the war fairly afoot, had crossed to england for the purpose (exactly in contravention of all his marriage stipulations) of cajoling his wife and browbeating her ministers into a participation in his war with france. this was easily accomplished. the english nation found themselves accordingly engaged in a contest with which they had no concern, which, as the event proved, was very much against their interests, and in which the moving cause for their entanglement was the devotion of a weak, bad, ferocious woman, for a husband who hated her. a herald sent from england arrived in france, disguised, and was presented to king henry at rheims. here, dropping on one knee, he recited a list of complaints against his majesty, on behalf of the english queen, all of them fabricated or exaggerated for the occasion, and none of them furnishing even a decorous pretext for the war which was now formally declared in consequence. the french monarch expressed his regret and surprise that the firm and amicable relations secured by treaty between the two countries should thus, without sufficient cause, be violated. in accepting the wager of warfare thus forced upon him, he bade the herald, norris, inform his mistress that her messenger was treated with courtesy only because he represented a lady, and that, had he come from a king, the language with which he would have been greeted would have befitted the perfidy manifested on the occasion. god would punish this shameless violation of faith, and this wanton interruption to the friendship of two great nations. with this the herald was dismissed from the royal presence, but treated with great distinction, conducted to the hotel of the english ambassador, and presented, on the part of the french sovereign with a chain of gold. philip had despatched ruy gomez to spain for the purpose of providing ways and means, while he was himself occupied with the same task in england. he stayed there three months. during this time, he "did more," says a spanish contemporary, "than any one could have believed possible with that proud and indomitable nation. he caused them to declare war against france with fire and sword, by sea and land." hostilities having been thus chivalrously and formally established, the queen sent an army of eight thousand men, cavalry, infantry, and pioneers, who, "all clad in blue uniform," commanded by lords pembroke and clinton, with the three sons of the earl of northumberland, and officered by many other scions of england's aristocracy, disembarked at calais, and shortly afterwards joined the camp before saint quentin. philip meantime had left england, and with more bustle and activity than was usual with him, had given directions for organizing at once a considerable army. it was composed mainly of troops belonging to the netherlands, with the addition of some german auxiliaries. thirty-five thousand foot and twelve thousand horse had, by the middle of july, advanced through the province of namur, and were assembled at givet under the duke of savoy, who, as governor-general of the netherlands, held the chief command. all the most eminent grandees of the provinces, orange, aerschot, berlaymont, meghen, brederode, were present with the troops, but the life and soul of the army, upon this memorable occasion, was the count of egmont. lamoral, count of egmont, prince of gavere, was now in the thirty-sixth year of his age, in the very noon of that brilliant life which was destined to be so soon and so fatally overshadowed. not one of the dark clouds, which were in the future to accumulate around him, had yet rolled above his horizon. young, noble, wealthy, handsome, valiant, he saw no threatening phantom in the future, and caught eagerly at the golden opportunity, which the present placed within his grasp, of winning fresh laurels on a wider and more fruitful field than any in which he had hitherto been a reaper. the campaign about to take place was likely to be an imposing, if not an important one, and could not fail to be attractive to a noble of so ardent and showy a character as egmont. if there were no lofty principles or extensive interests to be contended for, as there certainly were not, there was yet much that was stately and exciting to the imagination in the warfare which had been so deliberately and pompously arranged. the contending armies, although of moderate size, were composed of picked troops, and were commanded by the flower of europe's chivalry. kings, princes, and the most illustrious paladins of christendom, were arming for the great tournament, to which they had been summoned by herald and trumpet; and the batavian hero, without a crown or even a country, but with as lofty a lineage as many anointed sovereigns could boast, was ambitious to distinguish himself in the proud array. upon the north-western edge of the narrow peninsula of north holland, washed by the stormy waters of the german ocean, were the ancient castle, town, and lordship, whence egmont derived his family name, and the title by which he was most familiarly known. he was supposed to trace his descent, through a line of chivalrous champions and crusaders, up to the pagan kings of the most ancient of existing teutonic races. the eighth century names of the frisian radbold and adgild among his ancestors were thought to denote the antiquity of a house whose lustre had been increased in later times by the splendor of its alliances. his father, united to francoise de luxemburg, princess of gavere, had acquired by this marriage, and transmitted to his posterity, many of the proudest titles and richest estates of flanders. of the three children who survived him, the only daughter was afterwards united to the count of vaudemont, and became mother of louise de vaudemont, queen of the french monarch, henry the third. of his two sons, charles, the elder, had died young and unmarried, leaving all the estates and titles of the family to his brother. lamoral, born in , was in early youth a page of the emperor. when old enough to bear arms he demanded and obtained permission to follow the career of his adventurous sovereign. he served his apprenticeship as a soldier in the stormy expedition to barbary, where, in his nineteenth year, he commanded a troop of light horse, and distinguished himself under the emperor's eye for his courage and devotion, doing the duty not only of a gallant commander but of a hardy soldier. returning, unscathed by the war, flood, or tempest of that memorable enterprise, he reached his country by the way of corsica, genoa, and lorraine, and was three years afterwards united (in the year ) to sabina of bavaria, sister of frederick, elector palatine. the nuptials had taken place at spiers, and few royal weddings could have been more brilliant. the emperor, his brother ferdinand king of the romans, with the archduke maximilian, all the imperial electors, and a concourse of the principal nobles of the empire, were present on the occasion been at the emperor's side during the unlucky siege of metz; in he had been sent at the head of a splendid embassy to england, to solicit for philip the hand of mary tudor, and had witnessed the marriage in winchester cathedral, the same year. although one branch of his house had, in past times, arrived at the sovereignty of gueldres, and another had acquired the great estates and titles of buren, which had recently passed, by intermarriage with the heiress, into the possession of the prince of orange, yet the prince of gavere, count of egmont, was the chief of a race which yielded to none of the great batavian or flemish families in antiquity, wealth, or power. personally, he was distinguished for his bravery, and although he was not yet the idol of the camp, which he was destined to become, nor had yet commanded in chief on any important occasion, he was accounted one of the five principal generals in the spanish service. eager for general admiration, he was at the same time haughty and presumptuous, attempting to combine the characters of an arrogant magnate and a popular chieftain. terrible and sudden in his wrath, he was yet of inordinate vanity, and was easily led by those who understood his weakness. with a limited education, and a slender capacity for all affairs except those relating to the camp, he was destined to be as vacillating and incompetent as a statesman, as he was prompt and fortunately audacious in the field. a splendid soldier, his evil stars had destined him to tread, as a politician, a dark and dangerous path, in which not even genius, caution, and integrity could ensure success, but in which rashness alternating with hesitation, and credulity with violence, could not fail to bring ruin. such was count egmont, as he took his place at the-head of the king's cavalry in the summer of . the early operations of the duke of savoy were at first intended to deceive the enemy. the army, after advancing as far into picardy as the town of vervins, which they burned and pillaged, made a demonstration with their whole force upon the city of guise. this, however, was but a feint, by which attention was directed and forces drawn off from saint quentin, which was to be the real point of attack in the mean time, the constable of france, montmorency, arrived upon the th july ( ), to take command of the french troops. he was accompanied by the marechal de saint andre and by admiral coligny. the most illustrious names of france, whether for station or valor, were in the officers' list of this select army. nevers and montpensier, enghien and conde, vendome and rochefoucauld, were already there, and now the constable and the admiral came to add the strength of their experience and lofty reputation to sustain the courage of the troops. the french were at pierrepoint, a post between champagne and picardy, and in its neighborhood. the spanish army was at vervins, and threatening guise. it had been the opinion in france that the enemy's intention was to invade champagne, and the duc de nevers, governor of that province, had made a disposition of his forces suitable for such a contingency. it was the conviction of montmorency, however, that picardy was to be the quarter really attacked, and that saint quentin, which was the most important point at which the enemy's progress, by that route, towards paris could be arrested, was in imminent danger. the constable's opinion was soon confirmed by advices received by coligny. the enemy's army, he was informed, after remaining three days before guise, had withdrawn from that point, and had invested saint quentin with their whole force. this wealthy and prosperous city stood upon an elevation rising from the river somme. it was surrounded by very extensive suburbs, ornamented with orchards and gardens, and including within their limits large tracts of a highly cultivated soil. three sides of the place were covered by a lake, thirty yards in width, very deep at some points, in others, rather resembling a morass, and extending on the flemish side a half mile beyond the city. the inhabitants were thriving and industrious; many of the manufacturers and merchants were very rich, for it was a place of much traffic and commercial importance. teligny, son-in-law of the admiral, was in the city with a detachment of the dauphin's regiment; captain brueuil was commandant of the town. both informed coligny of the imminent peril in which they stood. they represented the urgent necessity of immediate reinforcements both of men and supplies. the city, as the admiral well knew, was in no condition to stand a siege by such an army, and dire were the consequences which would follow the downfall of so important a place. it was still practicable, they wrote, to introduce succor, but every day diminished the possibility of affording effectual relief. coligny was not the man to let the grass grow under his feet, after such an appeal in behalf of the principal place in his government. the safety of france was dependent upon that of st. quentin. the bulwark overthrown, paris was within the next stride of an adventurous enemy. the admiral instantly set out, upon the d of august, with strong reinforcements. it was too late. the english auxiliaries, under lords pembroke, clinton, and grey, had, in the mean time, effected their junction with the duke of savoy, and appeared in the camp before st. quentin. the route, by which it had been hoped that the much needed succor could be introduced, was thus occupied and rendered impracticable. the admiral, however, in consequence of the urgent nature of the letters received from brueuil and teligny, had outstripped, in his anxiety, the movements of his troops. he reached the city, almost alone and unattended. notwithstanding the remonstrances of his officers, he had listened to no voice save the desperate entreaties of the besieged garrison, and had flown before his army. he now shut himself up in the city, determined to effect its deliverance by means of his skill and experience, or, at least, to share its fate. as the gates closed upon coligny, the road was blocked up for his advancing troops. a few days were passed in making ineffectual sorties, ordered by coligny for the sake of reconnoitring the country, and of discovering the most practicable means of introducing supplies. the constable, meantime, who had advanced with his army to la fore, was not idle. he kept up daily communications with the beleagured admiral, and was determined, if possible, to relieve the city. there was, however, a constant succession of disappointments. moreover, the brave but indiscreet teligny, who commanded during a temporary illness of the admiral, saw fit, against express orders, to make an imprudent sortie. he paid the penalty of his rashness with his life. he was rescued by the admiral in person, who, at imminent hazard, brought back the unfortunate officer covered with wounds, into the city, there to die at his father's feet, imploring forgiveness for his disobedience. meantime the garrison was daily growing weaker. coligny sent out of the city all useless consumers, quartered all the women in the cathedral and other churches, where they were locked in, lest their terror and their tears should weaken the courage of the garrison; and did all in his power to strengthen the defences of the city, and sustain the resolution of the inhabitants. affairs were growing desperate. it seemed plain that the important city must soon fall, and with it most probably paris. one of the suburbs was already in the hands of the enemy. at last coligny discovered a route by which he believed it to be still possible to introduce reinforcements. he communicated the results of his observations to the constable. upon one side of the city the lake, or morass, was traversed by a few difficult and narrow pathways, mostly under water, and by a running stream which could only be passed in boats. the constable, in consequence of this information received from coligny, set out from la fere upon the th of august, with four thousand infantry and two thousand horse. halting his troops at the village of essigny, he advanced in person to the edge of the morass, in order to reconnoitre the ground and prepare his plans. the result was a determination to attempt the introduction of men and supplies into the town by the mode suggested. leaving his troops drawn up in battle array, he returned to la fere for the remainder of his army, and to complete his preparations. coligny in the mean time was to provide boats for crossing the stream. upon the th august, which was the festival of st. laurence, the constable advanced with four pieces of heavy artillery, four culverines, and four lighter pieces, and arrived at nine o'clock in the morning near the faubourg d'isle, which was already in possession of the spanish troops. the whole army of the constable consisted of twelve thousand german, with fifteen companies of french infantry; making in all some sixteen thousand foot, with five thousand cavalry in addition. the duke of savoy's army lay upon the same side of the town, widely extended, and stretching beyond the river and the morass. montmorency's project was to be executed in full view of the enemy. fourteen companies of spaniards were stationed in the faubourg. two companies had been pushed forward as far as a water-mill, which lay in the pathway of the advancing constable. these soldiers stood their ground for a moment, but soon retreated, while a cannonade was suddenly opened by the french upon the quarters of the duke of savoy. the duke's tent was torn to pieces, and he had barely time to hurry on his cuirass, and to take refuge with count egmont. the constable, hastening to turn this temporary advantage to account at once, commenced the transportation of his troops across the morass. the enterprise was, however, not destined to be fortunate. the number of boats which had been provided was very inadequate; moreover they were very small, and each as it left the shore was consequently so crowded with soldiers that it was in danger of being swamped. several were overturned, and the men perished. it was found also that the opposite bank was steep and dangerous. many who had crossed the river were unable to effect a landing, while those who escaped drowning in the water lost their way in the devious and impracticable paths, or perished miserably in the treacherous quagmires. very few effected their entrance into the town, but among them was andelot, brother of coligny, with five hundred followers. meantime, a council of officers was held in egmont's tent. opinions were undecided as to the course to be pursued under the circumstances. should an engagement be risked, or should the constable, who had but indifferently accomplished his project and had introduced but an insignificant number of troops into the city, be allowed to withdraw with the rest of his army? the fiery vehemence of egmont carried all before it. here was an opportunity to measure arms at advantage with the great captain of the age. to relinquish the prize, which the fortune of war had now placed within reach of their valor, was a thought not to be entertained. here was the great constable montmorency, attended by princes of the royal blood, the proudest of the nobility, the very crown and flower of the chivalry of france, and followed by an army of her bravest troops. on a desperate venture he had placed himself within their grasp. should he go thence alive and unmolested? the moral effect of destroying such an army would be greater than if it were twice its actual strength. it would be dealing a blow at the very heart of france, from which she could not recover. was the opportunity to be resigned without a struggle of laying at the feet of philip, in this his first campaign since his accession to his father's realms, a prize worthy of the proudest hour of the emperor's reign? the eloquence of the impetuous batavian was irresistible, and it was determined to cut off the constable's retreat. three miles from the faubourg d'isle, to which that general had now advanced, was a narrow pass or defile, between steep and closely hanging hills. while advancing through this ravine in the morning, the constable had observed that the enemy might have it in their power to intercept his return at that point. he had therefore left the rhinegrave, with his company of mounted carabineers, to guard the passage. being ready to commence his retreat, he now sent forward the due de nevers, with four companies of cavalry to strengthen that important position, which he feared might be inadequately guarded. the act of caution came too late. this was the fatal point which the quick glance of egmont had at once detected. as nevers reached the spot, two thousand of the enemy's cavalry rode through and occupied the narrow passage. inflamed by mortification and despair, nevers would have at once charged those troops, although outnumbering his own by nearly, four to one. his officers restrained him with difficulty, recalling to his memory the peremptory orders which he had received from the constable to guard the passage, but on no account to hazard an engagement, until sustained by the body of the army. it was a case in which rashness would have been the best discretion. the headlong charge which the duke had been about to make, might possibly have cleared the path and have extricated the army, provided the constable had followed up the movement by a rapid advance upon his part. as it was, the passage was soon blocked up by freshly advancing bodies of spanish and flemish cavalry, while nevers slowly and reluctantly fell back upon the prince of conde, who was stationed with the light horse at the mill where the first skirmish had taken place. they were soon joined by the constable, with the main body of the army. the whole french force now commenced its retrograde movement. it was, however, but too evident that they were enveloped. as they approached the fatal pass through which lay their only road to la fire, and which was now in complete possession of the enemy, the signal of assault was given by count egmont. that general himself, at the head of two thousand light horse, led the charge upon the left flank. the other side was assaulted by the dukes eric and henry of brunswick, each with a thousand heavy dragoons, sustained by count horn, at the head of a regiment of mounted gendarmerie. mansfeld, lalain, hoogstraaten; and vilain, at the same time made a furious attack upon the front. the french cavalry wavered with the shock so vigorously given. the camp followers, sutlers, and pedlers, panic-struck, at once fled helter-skelter, and in their precipitate retreat, carried confusion and dismay throughout all the ranks of the army. the rout was sudden and total. the onset and the victory were simultaneous, nevers riding through a hollow with some companies of cavalry, in the hope of making a detour and presenting a new front to the enemy, was overwhelmed at once by the retreating french and their furious pursuers. the day was lost, retreat hardly possible, yet, by a daring and desperate effort, the duke, accompanied by a handful of followers, cut his way through the enemy and effected his escape. the cavalry had been broken at the first onset and nearly destroyed. a portion of the infantry still held firm, and attempted to continue their retreat. some pieces of artillery, however, now opened upon them, and before they reached essigny, the whole army was completely annihilated. the defeat was absolute. half the french troops actually engaged in the enterprise, lost their lives upon the field. the remainder of the army was captured or utterly disorganized. when nevers reviewed, at laon, the wreck of the constable's whole force, he found some thirteen hundred french and three hundred german cavalry, with four companies of french infantry remaining out of fifteen, and four thousand german foot remaining of twelve thousand. of twenty-one or two thousand remarkably fine and well-appointed troops, all but six thousand had been killed or made prisoners within an hour. the constable himself, with a wound in the groin, was a captive. the duke of enghien, after behaving with brilliant valor, and many times rallying the troops, was shot through the body, and brought into the enemy's camp only to expire. the due de montpensier, the marshal de saint andre, the due de loggieville, prince ludovic of mantua, the baron corton, la roche du mayne, the rhinegrave, the counts de rochefoucauld, d'aubigni, de rochefort, all were taken. the due de nevers, the prince of conde, with a few others, escaped; although so absolute was the conviction that such an escape was impossible, that it was not believed by the victorious army. when nevers sent a trumpet, after the battle, to the duke of savoy, for the purpose of negotiating concerning the prisoners, the trumpeter was pronounced an impostor, and the duke's letter a forgery; nor was it till after the whole field had been diligently searched for his dead body without success, that nevers could persuade the conquerors that he was still in existence. of philip's army but fifty lost their lives. lewis of brederode was smothered in his armor; and the two counts spiegelberg and count waldeck were also killed; besides these, no officer of distinction fell. all the french standards and all their artillery but two pieces were taken, and placed before the king, who the next day came into the camp before saint quentin. the prisoners of distinction were likewise presented to him in long procession. rarely had a monarch of spain enjoyed a more signal triumph than this which philip now owed to the gallantry and promptness of count egmont. while the king stood reviewing the spoils of victory, a light horseman of don henrico manrique's regiment approached, and presented him with a sword. "i am the man, may it please your majesty," said the trooper, "who took the constable; here is his sword; may your majesty be pleased to give me something to eat in my house." "i promise it," replied philip; upon which the soldier kissed his majesty's hand and retired. it was the custom universally recognized in that day, that the king was the king's captive, and the general the general's, but that the man, whether soldier or officer, who took the commander-in-chief, was entitled to ten thousand ducats. upon this occasion the constable was the prisoner of philip, supposed to command his own army in person. a certain spanish captain valenzuela, however, disputed the soldier's claim to the constable's sword. the trooper advanced at once to the constable, who stood there with the rest of the illustrious prisoners. "your excellency is a christian," said he; "please to declare upon your conscience and the faith of a cavalier, whether 't was i that took you prisoner. it need not surprise your excellency that i am but a soldier, since with soldiers his majesty must wage his wars." "certainly," replied the constable, "you took me and took my horse, and i gave you my sword. my word, however, i pledged to captain valenzuela." it appearing, however, that the custom of spain did not recognize a pledge given to any one but the actual captor, it was arranged that the soldier should give two thousand of his ten thousand ducats to the captain. thus the dispute ended. such was the brilliant victory of saint quentin, worthy to be placed in the same list with the world-renowned combats of creqy and agincourt. like those battles, also, it derives its main interest from the personal character of the leader, while it seems to have been hallowed by the tender emotions which sprang from his subsequent fate. the victory was but a happy move in a winning game. the players were kings, and the people were stakes--not parties. it was a chivalrous display in a war which was waged without honorable purpose, and in which no single lofty sentiment was involved. the flemish frontier was, however, saved for the time from the misery which was now to be inflicted upon the french border. this was sufficient to cause the victory to be hailed as rapturously by the people as by the troops. from that day forth the name of the brave hollander was like the sound of a trumpet to the army. "egmont and saint quentin" rang through every mouth to the furthest extremity of philip's realms. a deadly blow was struck to the very heart of france. the fruits of all the victories of francis and henry withered. the battle, with others which were to follow it, won by the same hand, were soon to compel the signature of the most disastrous treaty which had ever disgraced the history of france. the fame and power of the constable faded--his misfortunes and captivity fell like a blight upon the ancient glory of the house of montmorency--his enemies destroyed his influence and his popularity--while the degradation of the kingdom was simultaneous with the downfall of his illustrious name. on the other hand, the exultation of philip was as keen as his cold and stony nature would permit. the magnificent palace-convent of the escurial, dedicated to the saint on whose festival the battle had been fought, and built in the shape of the gridiron, on which that martyr had suffered, was soon afterwards erected in pious commemoration of the event. such was the celebration of the victory. the reward reserved for the victor was to be recorded on a later page of history. the coldness and caution, not to say the pusillanimity of philip, prevented him from seizing the golden fruits of his triumph. ferdinand gonzaga wished the blow to be followed up by an immediate march upon paris.--such was also the feeling of all the distinguished soldiers of the age. it was unquestionably the opinion, and would have been the deed, of charles, had he been on the field of saint quentin, crippled as he was, in the place of his son. he could not conceal his rage and mortification when he found that paris had not fallen, and is said to have refused to read the despatches which recorded that the event had not been consummated. there was certainly little of the conqueror in philip's nature; nothing which would have led him to violate the safest principles of strategy. he was not the man to follow up enthusiastically the blow which had been struck; saint quentin, still untaken, although defended by but eight hundred soldiers, could not be left behind him; nevers was still in his front, and although it was notorious that he commanded only the wreck of an army, yet a new one might be collected, perhaps, in time to embarrass the triumphant march to paris. out of his superabundant discretion, accordingly, philip refused to advance till saint quentin should be reduced. although nearly driven to despair by the total overthrow of the french in the recent action, coligny still held bravely out, being well aware that every day by which the siege could be protracted was of advantage to his country. again he made fresh attempts to introduce men into the city. a fisherman showed him a submerged path, covered several feet deep with water, through which he succeeded in bringing one hundred and fifty unarmed and half-drowned soldiers into the place. his garrison consisted barely of eight hundred men, but the siege was still sustained, mainly by his courage and sagacity, and by the spirit of his brother andelot. the company of cavalry, belonging to the dauphin's regiment, had behaved badly, and even with cowardice, since the death of their commander teligny. the citizens were naturally weary and impatient of the siege. mining and countermining continued till the st august. a steady cannonade was then maintained until the th. upon that day, eleven breaches having been made in the walls, a simultaneous assault was ordered at four of them. the citizens were stationed upon the walls, the soldiers in the breaches. there was a short but sanguinary contest, the garrison resisting with uncommon bravery. suddenly an entrance was effected through a tower which had been thought sufficiently strong, and which had been left unguarded. coligny, rushing to the spot, engaged the enemy almost single-handed. he was soon overpowered, being attended only by four men and a page, was made a prisoner by a soldier named francisco diaz, and conducted through one of the subterranean mines into the presence of the duke of savoy, from whom the captor received ten thousand ducats in exchange for the admiral's sword. the fighting still continued with great determination in the streets, the brave andelot resisting to the last. he was, however, at last overpowered, and taken prisoner. philip, who had, as usual, arrived in the trenches by noon, armed in complete harness, with a page carrying his helmet, was met by the intelligence that the city of saint quentin was his own. to a horrible carnage succeeded a sack and a conflagration still more horrible. in every house entered during the first day, every human being was butchered. the sack lasted all that day and the whole of the following, till the night of the th. there was not a soldier who did not obtain an ample share of plunder, and some individuals succeeded in getting possession of two, three, and even twelve thousand ducats each. the women were not generally outraged, but they were stripped almost entirely naked, lest they should conceal treasure which belonged to their conquerors, and they were slashed in the face with knives, partly in sport, partly as a punishment for not giving up property which was not in their possession. the soldiers even cut off the arms of many among these wretched women, and then turned them loose, maimed and naked, into the blazing streets; for the town, on the th, was fired in a hundred places, and was now one general conflagration. the streets were already strewn with the corpses of the butchered garrison and citizens; while the survivors were now burned in their houses. human heads, limbs, and trunks, were mingled among the bricks and rafters of the houses, which were falling on every side. the fire lasted day and night, without an attempt being made to extinguish it; while the soldiers dashed like devils through flame and smoke in search of booty. bearing lighted torches, they descended into every subterrranean vault and receptacle, of which there were many in the town, and in every one of which they hoped to discover hidden treasure. the work of killing, plundering, and burning lasted nearly three days and nights. the streets, meanwhile, were encumbered with heaps of corpses, not a single one of which had been buried since the capture of the town. the remains of nearly all the able bodied male population, dismembered, gnawed by dogs or blackened by fire, polluted the midsummer air meantime, the women had been again driven into the cathedral, where they had housed during the siege, and where they now crouched together in trembling expectation of their fate.' on the th august, at two o'clock in the afternoon, philip issued an order that every woman, without an exception, should be driven out of the city into the french territory. saint quentin, which seventy years before had been a flemish town, was to be re-annexed, and not a single man, woman, or child who could speak the french language was to remain another hour in the place. the tongues of the men had been effectually silenced. the women, to the number of three thousand five hundred, were now compelled to leave the cathedral and the city. some were in a starving condition; others had been desperately wounded; all, as they passed through the ruinous streets of what had been their home, were compelled to tread upon the unburied remains of their fathers, husbands, or brethren. to none of these miserable creatures remained a living protector--hardly even a dead body which could be recognized; and thus the ghastly procession of more than three thousand women, many with gaping wounds in the face, many with their arms cut off and festering, of all ranks and ages, some numbering more than ninety years, bareheaded, with grey hair streaming upon their shoulders; others with nursing infants in their arms, all escorted by a company of heavy-armed troopers, left forever their native city. all made the dismal journey upon foot, save that carts were allowed to transport the children between the ages of two and six years. the desolation and depopulation were now complete. "i wandered through the place, gazing at all this," says a spanish soldier who was present, and kept a diary of all which occurred, "and it seemed to me that it was another destruction of jerusalem. what most struck me was to find not a single denizen of the town left, who was or who dared to call himself french. how vain and transitory, thought i, are the things of this world! six days ago what riches were in the city, and now remains not one stone upon another." the expulsion of the women had been accomplished by the express command of philip, who moreover had made no effort to stay the work of carnage, pillage, and conflagration. the pious king had not forgotten, however, his duty to the saints. as soon as the fire had broken out, he had sent to the cathedral, whence he had caused the body of saint quentin to be removed and placed in the royal tent. here an altar, was arranged, upon one side of which was placed the coffin of that holy personage, and upon the other the head of the "glorious saint gregory" (whoever that glorious individual may have been in life), together with many other relics brought from the church. within the sacred enclosure many masses were said daily, while all this devil's work was going on without. the saint who had been buried for centuries was comfortably housed and guarded by the monarch, while dogs were gnawing the carcases of the freshly-slain men of saint quentin, and troopers were driving into perpetual exile its desolate and mutilated women. the most distinguished captives upon this occasion were, of course, coligny and his brother. andelot was, however, fortunate enough to make his escape that night under the edge of the tent in which he was confined. the admiral was taken to antwerp. here he lay for many weeks sick with a fever. upon his recovery, having no better pastime, he fell to reading the scriptures. the result was his conversion to calvinism; and the world shudders yet at the fate in which that conversion involved him. saint quentin being thus reduced, philip was not more disposed to push his fortune. the time was now wasted in the siege of several comparatively unimportant places, so that the fruits of egmont's valor were not yet allowed to ripen. early in september le catelet was taken. on the th of the same month the citadel of ham yielded, after receiving two thousand shots from philip's artillery, while nojon, chanly, and some other places of less importance, were burned to the ground. after all this smoke and fire upon the frontier, productive of but slender consequences, philip disbanded his army, and retired to brussels. he reached that city on the th october. the english returned to their own country. the campaign of was closed without a material result, and the victory of saint quentin remained for a season barren. in the mean time the french were not idle. the army of the constable had been destroyed but the duke de guise, who had come post-haste from italy after hearing the news of saint quentin, was very willing to organize another. he was burning with impatience both to retrieve his own reputation, which had suffered some little damage by his recent italian campaign, and to profit by the captivity of his fallen rival the constable. during the time occupied by the languid and dilatory proceedings of philip in the autumn, the duke had accordingly recruited in france and germany a considerable army. in january ( ) he was ready to take the field. it had been determined in the french cabinet, however, not to attempt to win back the places which they had lost in picardy, but to carry the war into the territory of the ally. it was fated that england should bear all the losses, and philip appropriate all the gain and glory, which resulted from their united exertions. it was the war of the queen's husband, with which the queen's people had no concern, but in which the last trophies of the black prince were to be forfeited. on the first january, , the duc de guise appeared before calais. the marshal strozzi had previously made an expedition, in disguise, to examine the place. the result of his examination was that the garrison was weak, and that it relied too much upon the citadel. after a tremendous cannonade, which lasted a week, and was heard in antwerp, the city was taken by assault. thus the key to the great norman portal of france, the time-honored key which england had worn at her girdle since the eventful day of crecy, was at last taken from her. calais had been originally won after a siege which had lasted a twelvemonth, had been held two hundred and ten years, and was now lost in seven days. seven days more, and ten thousand discharges from thirty-five great guns sufficed for the reduction of guines. thus the last vestige of english dominion, the last substantial pretext of the english sovereign to wear the title and the lilies of france, was lost forever. king henry visited calais, which after two centuries of estrangement had now become a french town again, appointed paul de thermes governor of the place, and then returned to paris to celebrate soon afterwards the marriage of the dauphin with the niece of the guises, mary, queen of scots. these events, together with the brief winter campaign of the duke, which had raised for an instant the drooping head of france, were destined before long to give a new face to affairs, while it secured the ascendancy of the catholic party in the kingdom. disastrous eclipse had come over the house of montmorency and coligny, while the star of guise, brilliant with the conquest of calais, now culminated to the zenith. it was at this period that the memorable interview between the two ecclesiastics, the bishop of arras and the cardinal de lorraine, took place at peronne. from this central point commenced the weaving of that wide-spread scheme, in which the fate of millions was to be involved. the duchess christina de lorraine, cousin of philip, had accompanied him to saint quentin. permission had been obtained by the duc de guise and his brother, the cardinal, to visit her at peronne. the duchess was accompanied by the bishop of arras, and the consequence was a full and secret negotiation between the two priests. it may be supposed that philip's short-lived military ardor had already exhausted itself. he had mistaken his vocation, and already recognized the false position in which he was placed. he was contending against the monarch in whom he might find the surest ally against the arch enemy of both kingdoms, and of the world. the french monarch held heresy in horror, while, for himself, philip had already decided upon his life's mission. the crafty bishop was more than a match for the vain and ambitious cardinal. that prelate was assured that philip considered the captivity of coligny and montmorency a special dispensation of providence, while the tutelar genius of france, notwithstanding the reverses sustained by that kingdom, was still preserved. the cardinal and his brother, it was suggested, now held in their hands the destiny of the kingdom, and of europe. the interests of both nations, of religion, and of humanity, made it imperative upon them to put an end to this unnatural war, in order that the two monarchs might unite hand and heart for the extirpation of heresy. that hydra-headed monster had already extended its coils through france, while its pestilential breath was now wafted into flanders from the german as well as the french border. philip placed full reliance upon the wisdom and discretion of the cardinal. it was necessary that these negotiations should for the present remain a profound secret; but in the mean time a peace ought to be concluded with as little delay as possible; a result which, it was affirmed, was as heartily desired by philip as it could be by henry. the bishop was soon aware of the impression which his artful suggestions had produced. the cardinal, inspired by the flattery thus freely administered, as well as by the promptings of his own ambition, lent a willing ear to the bishop's plans. thus was laid the foundation of a vast scheme, which time was to complete. a crusade with the whole strength of the french and spanish crowns, was resolved upon against their own subjects. the bishop's task was accomplished. the cardinal returned to france, determined to effect a peace with spain. he was convinced that the glory of his house was to be infinitely enhanced, and its power impregnably established, by a cordial co-operation with philip in his dark schemes against religion and humanity. the negotiations were kept, however, profoundly secret. a new campaign and fresh humiliations were to precede the acceptance by france of the peace which was thus proffered. hostile operations were renewed soon after the interview at peronne. the duke of guise, who had procured five thousand cavalry and fourteen thousand infantry in germany, now, at the desire of the king, undertook an enterprise against thionville, a city of importance and great strength in luxemburg, upon the river moselle. it was defended by peter de quarebbe, a gentleman of louvain, with a garrison of eighteen hundred men. on the th june, thirty-five pieces of artillery commenced the work; the mining and countermining-continuing seventeen days; on the nd the assault was made, and the garrison capitulated immediately afterwards. it was a siege conducted in a regular and business-like way, but the details possess no interest. it was, however, signalized by the death of one of the eminent adventurers of the age, marshal strozzi. this brave, but always unlucky soldier was slain by a musket ball while assisting the duke of guise--whose arm was, at that instant, resting upon his shoulder--to point a gun at the fortress. after the fall of thionville, the due de guise, for a short time, contemplated the siege of the city of luxemburg, but contented himself with the reduction of the unimportant places of vireton and arlon. here he loitered seventeen days, making no exertions to follow up the success which had attended him at the opening of the campaign. the good fortune of the french was now neutralized by the same languor which had marked the movements of philip after the victory of saint quentin. the time, which might have been usefully employed in following up his success, was now wasted by the duke in trivial business, or in absolute torpor. this may have been the result of a treacherous understanding with spain, and the first fruits of the interview at peronne. whatever the cause, however, the immediate consequences were disaster to the french nation, and humiliation to the crown. it had been the plan of the french cabinet that marshal de thermes, who, upon the capture of calais, had been appointed governor of the city, should take advantage of his position as soon as possible. having assembled an army of some eight thousand foot and fifteen hundred horse, partly gascons and partly germans, he was accordingly directed to ravage the neighboring country, particularly the county of saint pol. in the mean time, the due de guise, having reduced the cities on the southern frontier, was to move in a northerly direction, make a junction with the marshal, and thus extend a barrier along the whole frontier of the netherlands. de therlries set forth from calais, in the beginning of june, with his newly-organized army. passing by gravelines and bourbourg, he arrived before dunkerk on the d of july. the city, which was without a garrison, opened negotiations, during the pendency of which it was taken by assault and pillaged. the town of saint winochsberg shared the same fate. de thermes, who was a martyr to the gout, was obliged at this point temporarily to resign the command to d'estonteville, a ferocious soldier, who led the predatory army as far as niewport, burning, killing, ravishing, plundering, as they went. meantime philip, who was at brussels, had directed the duke of savoy to oppose the due de guise with an army which had been hastily collected and organized at maubeuge, in the province of namur. he now desired, if possible, to attack and cut off the forces of de thermes before he should extend the hand to guise, or make good his retreat to calais. flushed with victory over defenceless peasants, laden with the spoils of sacked and burning towns, the army of de thermes was already on its homeward march. it was the moment for a sudden and daring blow. whose arm should deal it? what general in philip's army possessed the requisite promptness, and felicitous audacity; who, but the most brilliant of cavalry officers, the bold and rapid hero of st. quentin? egmont, in obedience to the king's command, threw himself at once into the field. he hastily collected all the available forces in the neighborhood. these, with drafts from the duke of savoy's army, and with detachments under marshal bigonicourt from the garrisons of saint omer, bethune, aire, and bourbourg, soon amounted to ten thousand foot and two thousand horse. his numbers were still further swollen by large bands of peasantry, both men and women, maddened by their recent injuries, and thirsting for vengeance. with these troops the energetic chieftain took up his position directly in the path of the french army. determined to destroy de thermes with all his force, or to sacrifice himself, he posted his army at gravelines, a small town lying near the sea-shore, and about midway between calais and dunkerk. the french general was putting the finishing touch to his expedition by completing the conflagration at dunkerk, and was moving homeward, when he became aware of the lion in his path. although suffering from severe sickness, he mounted his horse and personally conducted his army to gravelines. here he found his progress completely arrested. on that night, which was the th july, he held a council of officers. it was determined to refuse the combat offered, and, if possible, to escape at low tide along the sands toward calais. the next morning he crossed the river aa, below gravelines. egmont, who was not the man, on that occasion at least, to build a golden bridge for a flying enemy, crossed the same stream just above the town, and drew up his whole force in battle array. de thermes could no longer avoid the conflict thus resolutely forced upon him. courage was now his only. counsellor. being not materially outnumbered by his adversaries, he had, at least, an even chance of cutting his way through all obstacles, and of saving his army and his treasure. the sea was on his right hand, the aa behind him, the enemy in front. he piled his baggage and wagons so as to form a barricade upon his left, and placed his artillery, consisting of four culverines and three falconeta, in front. behind these he drew up his cavalry, supported at each side by the gascons, and placed his french and german infantry in the rear. egmont, on the other hand, divided his cavalry into five squadrons. three of light horse were placed in advance for the first assault--the centre commanded by himself, the two wings by count pontenals and henrico henriquez. the black hussars of lazarus schwendi and the flemish gendarmes came next. behind these was the infantry, divided into three nations, spanish, german, and flemish, and respectively commanded by carvajal, monchausen, and bignicourt. egmont, having characteristically selected the post of danger in the very front of battle for himself, could no longer restrain his impatience. "the foe is ours already," he shouted; "follow me, all who love their fatherland:" with that he set spurs to his horse, and having his own regiment well in hand, dashed upon the enemy. the gascons received the charge with coolness, and under cover of a murderous fire from the artillery in front, which mowed down the foremost ranks of their assailants-sustained the whole weight of the first onset without flinching. egmont's horse was shot under him at the commencement of the action. mounting another, he again cheered his cavalry to the attack. the gascons still maintained an unwavering front, and fought with characteristic ferocity. the courage of despair inflamed the french, the hope of a brilliant and conclusive victory excited the spaniards and flemings. it was a wild, hand to hand conflict--general and soldier, cavalier and pikeman, lancer and musketeer, mingled together in one dark, confused, and struggling mass, foot to foot, breast to breast, horse to horse-a fierce, tumultuous battle on the sands, worthy the fitful pencil of the national painter, wouvermans. for a long time it was doubtful on which side victory was to incline, but at last ten english vessels unexpectedly appeared in the offing, and ranging up soon afterwards as close to the share as was possible, opened their fire upon the still unbroken lines of the french. the ships were too distant, the danger of injuring friend as well as foe too imminent, to allow of their exerting any important influence upon the result. the spirit of the enemy was broken, however, by this attack upon their seaward side, which they had thought impregnable. at the same time, too, a detachment of german cavalry which had been directed by egmont to make their way under the downs to the southward, now succeeded in turning their left flank. egmont, profiting by their confusion, charged them again with redoubled vigor. the fate of the day was decided. the french cavalry wavered, broke their ranks, and in their flight carried dismay throughout the whole army. the rout was total; horse and foot; french, gascon, and german fled from the field together. fifteen hundred fell in the action, as many more were driven into the sea, while great numbers were torn to pieces by the exasperated peasants, who now eagerly washed out their recent injuries in the blood of the dispersed, wandering, and wounded soldiers. the army of de thermes was totally destroyed, and with it, the last hope of france for an honorable and equal negotiation. she was now at philip's feet, so that this brilliant cavalry action, although it has been surpassed in importance by many others, in respect to the numbers of the combatants and the principles involved in the contest, was still, in regard to the extent both of its immediate and its permanent results, one of the most decisive and striking which have ever been fought. the french army engaged was annihilated. marshal de thermes, with a wound in the head, senarpont, annibault, villefon, morvilliers, chanlis, and many others of high rank were prisoners. the french monarch had not much heart to set about the organization of another army; a task which he was now compelled to undertake. he was soon obliged to make the best terms which he could, and to consent to a treaty which was one of the most ruinous in the archives of france. the marshal de thermes was severely censured for having remained so long at dunkerk and in its neighborhood. he was condemned still more loudly for not having at least effected his escape beyond gravelines, during the night which preceded the contest. with regard to the last charge, however, it may well be doubted whether any nocturnal attempt would have been likely to escape the vigilance of egmont. with regard to his delay at dunkerk, it was asserted that he had been instructed to await in that place the junction with the due de guise, which had been previously arranged. but for the criminal and, then, inexplicable languor which characterized that commander's movements, after the capture of thionville, the honor of france might still have been saved. whatever might have been the faults of de thermes or of guise, there could be little doubt as to the merit of egmont. thus within eleven months of the battle of saint quentin, had the dutch hero gained another victory so decisive as to settle the fate of the war, and to elevate his sovereign to a position from which he might dictate the terms of a triumphant peace. the opening scenes of philip's reign were rendered as brilliant as the proudest days of the emperor's career, while the provinces were enraptured with the prospect of early peace. to whom, then, was the sacred debt of national and royal gratitude due but to lamoral of egmont? his countrymen gladly recognized the claim. he became the idol of the army; the familiar hero of ballad and story; the mirror of chivalry, and the god of popular worship. throughout the netherlands he was hailed as the right hand of the fatherland, the saviour of flanders from devastation and outrage, the protector of the nation, the pillar of the throne. the victor gained many friends by his victory, and one enemy. the bitterness of that foe was likely, in the future, to outweigh all the plaudits of his friends. the duke of alva had strongly advised against giving battle to de thermes. he depreciated the triumph after it had been gained, by reflections upon the consequences which would have flowed, had a defeat been suffered instead. he even held this language to egmont himself after his return to brussels. the conqueror, flushed with his glory, was not inclined to digest the criticism, nor what he considered the venomous detraction of the duke. more vain and arrogant than ever, he treated his powerful spanish rival with insolence, and answered his observations with angry sarcasms, even in the presence of the king. alva was not likely to forget the altercation, nor to forgive the triumph. there passed, naturally, much bitter censure and retort on both sides at court, between the friends and adherents of egmont and those who sustained the party of his adversary. the battle of gravelines was fought over daily, amid increasing violence and recrimination, between spaniard and fleming, and the old international hatred flamed more fiercely than ever. alva continued to censure the foolhardiness which had risked so valuable an army on a single blow. egmont's friends replied that it was easy for foreigners, who had nothing at risk in the country, to look on while the fields of the netherlands were laid waste, and the homes and hearths of an industrious population made desolate, by a brutal and rapacious soldiery. they who dwelt in the provinces would be ever grateful to their preserver for the result. they had no eyes for the picture which the spanish party painted of an imaginary triumph of de thermos and its effects. however the envious might cavil, now that the blow had been struck, the popular heart remained warm as ever, and refused to throw down the idol which had so recently been set up. chapter iii. - secret negotiations for peace--two fresh armies assembled, but inactive--negotiations at cercamp--death of mary tudor--treaty of cateau cambresis--death of henry ii.--policy of catharine de medici --revelations by henry ii. to the prince of orange--funeral of charles v. in brussels--universal joy in the netherlands at the restoration of peace--organization of the government by philip, and preparations for his departure--appointment of margaret of parma as regent of the netherlands--three councils--the consulta--the stadholders of the different provinces--dissatisfaction caused by the foreign troops--assembly of the estates at ghent to receive the parting instructions and farewell of the king--speech of the bishop of arras--request for three millions--fierce denunciation of heresy on the part of philip--strenuous enforcement of the edicts commanded--reply by the states of arthois--unexpected conditions-- rage of the king--similar conduct on the part of the other provinces--remonstrance in the name of states--general against the foreign soldiery--formal reply on the part of the crown--departure of the king from the netherlands--autos--da--fe in spain. the battle of gravelines had decided the question. the intrigues of the two cardinals at peronne having been sustained by egmont's victory, all parties were ready for a peace. king henry was weary of the losing game which he had so long been playing, philip was anxious to relieve himself from his false position, and to concentrate his whole mind and the strength of his kingdom upon his great enemy the netherland heresy, while the duke of savoy felt that the time had at last arrived when an adroit diplomacy might stand him in stead, and place him in the enjoyment of those rights which the sword had taken from him, and which his own sword had done so much towards winning back. the sovereigns were inclined to peace, and as there had never been a national principle or instinct or interest involved in the dispute, it was very certain that peace would be popular every where, upon whatever terms it might be concluded. montmorency and the prince of orange were respectively empowered to open secret negotiations. the constable entered upon the task with alacrity, because he felt that every day of his captivity was alike prejudicial to his own welfare and the interests of his country.--the guises, who had quarrelled with the duchess de valentinois (diane de poitiers), were not yet powerful enough to resist the influence of the mistress; while, rather to baffle them than from any loftier reasons, that interest was exerted in behalf of immediate peace. the cardinal de lorraine had by no means forgotten the eloquent arguments used by the bishop of arras; but his brother, the due de guise, may be supposed to have desired some little opportunity of redeeming the credit of the kingdom, and to have delayed the negotiations until his valor could secure a less inglorious termination to the war. a fresh army had, in fact, been collected under his command, and was already organized at pierrepoint. at the same time, philip had assembled a large force, consisting of thirty thousand foot and fifteen thousand cavalry, with which he had himself taken the field, encamping towards the middle of august upon the banks of the river anthies, near the border of picardy. king henry, on the other hand, had already arrived in the camp at pierrepoint, and had reviewed as imposing an army as had ever been at the disposal of a french monarch. when drawn up in battle array it covered a league and a half of ground, while three hours were required to make its circuit on horseback. all this martial display was only for effect. the two kings, at the head of their great armies, stood looking at each other while the negotiations for, peace were proceeding. an unimportant skirmish or two at the out-posts, unattended with loss of life, were the only military results of these great preparations. early in the autumn, all the troops were disbanded, while the commissioners of both crowns met in open congress at the abbey of cercamp, near cambray, by the middle of october. the envoys on the part of philip were the prince of orange, the duke of alva, the bishop of arras, ruy gomez de silva, the president viglius; on that of the french monarch, the constable, the marshal de saint andre, the cardinal de lorraine, the bishop of orleans, and claude l'aubespine. there were also envoys sent by the queen of england, but as the dispute concerning calais was found to hamper the negotiations at cercamp, the english question was left to be settled by another congress, and was kept entirely separate from the arrangements concluded between france and spain. the death of queen mary, on the th november, caused a temporary suspension of the proceedings. after the widower, however, had made a fruitless effort to obtain the hand of her successor, and had been unequivocally repulsed, the commissioners again met in february, , at cateau cambresis. the english difficulty was now arranged by separate commissioners, and on the third of april a treaty between france and spain was concluded. by this important convention, both kings bound themselves to maintain the catholic worship inviolate by all means in their power, and agreed that an oecumenical council should at once assemble, to compose the religious differences, and to extinguish the increasing heresy in both kingdoms. furthermore, it was arranged that the conquests made by each country during the preceding eight years should be restored. thus all the gains of francis and henry were annulled by a single word, and the duke of savoy converted, by a dash of the pen, from a landless soldier of fortune into a sovereign again. he was to receive back all his estates, and was moreover to marry henry's sister margaret, with a dowry of three hundred thousand crowns. philip, on the other hand, now a second time a widower, was to espouse henry's daughter isabella, already betrothed to the infant don carlos, and to receive with her a dowry of four hundred thousand crowns. the restitutions were to be commenced by henry, and to be completed within three months. philip was to restore his conquests in the course of a month afterwards. most of the powers of europe were included by both parties in this treaty: the pope, the emperor, all the electors, the republics of venice, genoa and switzerland, the kingdoms of england, scotland, poland, denmark, sweden; the duchies of ferrara, savoy and parma, besides other inferior principalities. nearly all christendom, in short, was embraced in this most amicable compact, as if philip were determined that, henceforth and forever, calvinists and mahometans, turks and flemings, should be his only enemies. the king of france was to select four hostages from among philip's subjects, to accompany him to paris as pledges for the execution of all the terms of the treaty. the royal choice fell upon the prince of orange, the duke of alva, the duke of aerschot, and the count of egmont. such was the treaty of cateau cambresis. thus was a termination put to a war between france and spain, which had been so wantonly undertaken. marshal monluc wrote that a treaty so disgraceful and disastrous had never before been ratified by a french monarch. it would have been difficult to point to any one more unfortunate upon her previous annals; if any treaty can be called unfortunate, by which justice is done and wrongs repaired, even under coercion. the accumulated plunder of years, which was now disgorged by france, was equal in value to one third of that kingdom. one hundred and ninety-eight fortified towns were surrendered, making, with other places of greater or less importance, a total estimated by some writers as high as four hundred. the principal gainer was the duke of savoy, who, after so many years of knight-errantry, had regained his duchy, and found himself the brother-in-law of his ancient enemy. the well-known tragedy by which the solemnities of this pacification were abruptly concluded in paris, bore with it an impressive moral. the monarch who, in violation of his plighted word and against the interests of his nation and the world, had entered precipitately into a causeless war, now lost his life in fictitious combat at the celebration of peace. on the tenth of july, henry the second died of the wound inflicted by montgomery in the tournament held eleven days before. of this weak and worthless prince, all that even his flatterers could favorably urge was his great fondness for war, as if a sanguinary propensity, even when unaccompanied by a spark of military talent, were of itself a virtue. yet, with his death the kingdom fell even into more pernicious hands, and the fate of christendom grew darker than ever. the dynasty of diane de poitiers was succeeded by that of catharine de medici; the courtesan gave place to the dowager; and france during the long and miserable period in which she lay bleeding in the grasp of the italian she-wolf and her litter of cowardly and sanguinary princes--might even lament the days of henry and his diana. charles the ninth, henry the third, francis of alencon, last of the valois race--how large a portion of the fearful debt which has not yet been discharged by half a century of revolution and massacre was of their accumulation. the duchess of valentinois had quarrelled latterly with the house of guise, and was disposed to favor montmorency. the king, who was but a tool in her hands, might possibly have been induced, had he lived, to regard coligny and his friends with less aversion. this is, however, extremely problematical, for it was henry the second who had concluded that memorable arrangement with his royal brother of spain, to arrange for the huguenot chiefs throughout both realms, a "sicilian vespers," upon the first favorable occasion. his death and the subsequent policy of the queen-regent deferred the execution of the great scheme till fourteen years later. henry had lived long enough, however, after the conclusion of the secret agreement to reveal it to one whose life was to be employed in thwarting this foul conspiracy of monarchs against their subjects. william of orange, then a hostage for the execution of the treaty of cateau cambresis, was the man with whom the king had the unfortunate conception to confer on the subject of the plot. the prince, who had already gained the esteem of charles the fifth by his habitual discretion, knew how to profit by the intelligence and to bide his time; but his hostility to the policy of the french and spanish courts was perhaps dated from that hour. pending the peace negotiations, philip had been called upon to mourn for his wife and father. he did not affect grief for the death of mary tudor, but he honored the emperor's departure with stately obsequies at brussels. the ceremonies lasted two days (the th and th december, ). in the grand and elaborate procession which swept through the streets upon the first day, the most conspicuous object was a ship floating apparently upon the waves, and drawn by a band of tritons who disported at the bows. the masts, shrouds, and sails of the vessel were black, it was covered with heraldic achievements, banners and emblematic mementos of the emperor's various expeditions, while the flags of turks and moors trailed from her sides in the waves below. three allegorical personages composed the crew. hope, "all clothyd in brown, with anker in hand," stood at the prow; faith, with sacramental chalice and red cross, clad in white garment, with her face nailed "with white tiffany," sat on a "stool of estate" before the mizen-mast; while charity "in red, holding in her hand a burning heart," was at the helm to navigate the vessel. hope, faith, and love were thought the most appropriate symbols for the man who had invented the edicts, introduced the inquisition, and whose last words, inscribed by a hand already trembling with death, had adjured his son, by his love, allegiance, and hope of salvation, to deal to all heretics the extreme rigor of the law, "without respect of persons and without regard to any plea in their favor." the rest of the procession, in which marched the duke of alva, the prince of orange, and other great personages, carrying the sword, the globe, the sceptre, and the "crown imperial," contained no emblems or imagery worthy of being recorded. the next day the king, dressed in mourning and attended by a solemn train of high officers and nobles, went again to the church. a contemporary letter mentions a somewhat singular incident as forming the concluding part of the ceremony. "and the service being done," wrote sir richard clough to sir thomas gresham, "there went a nobleman into the herse (so far as i codde understande, it was the prince of orange), who, standing before the herse, struck with his hand upon the chest and sayd, 'he is ded.' then standing styli awhile, he sayd, 'he shall remayn ded.' and 'then resting awhile, he struck again and sayd, 'he is ded, and there is another rysen up in his place greater than ever he was.' whereupon the kynge's hoode was taken off and the kynge went home without his hoode." if the mourning for the dead emperor was but a mummery and a masquerade, there was, however, heartiness and sincerity in the rejoicing which now burst forth like a sudden illumination throughout the netherlands, upon the advent of peace. all was joy in the provinces, but at antwerp, the metropolis of the land, the enthusiasm was unbounded. nine days were devoted to festivities. bells rang their merriest peals, artillery thundered, beacons blazed, the splendid cathedral spire flamed nightly with three hundred burning cresaets, the city was strewn with flowers and decorated with triumphal arches, the guilds of rhetoric amazed the world with their gorgeous processions, glittering dresses and bombastic versification, the burghers all, from highest to humblest, were feasted and made merry, wine flowed in the streets and oxen were roasted whole, prizes on poles were climbed for, pigs were hunted blindfold, men and women raced in sacks, and in short, for nine days long there was one universal and spontaneous demonstration of hilarity in antwerp and throughout the provinces. but with this merry humor of his subjects, the sovereign had but little sympathy. there was nothing in his character or purposes which owed affinity with any mood of this jocund and energetic people. philip had not made peace with all the world that the netherlanders might climb on poles or ring bells, or strew flowers in his path for a little holiday time, and then return to their industrious avocations again. he had made peace with all the world that he might be free to combat heresy; and this arch enemy had taken up its strong hold in the provinces. the treaty of cateau cambresis left him at liberty to devote himself to that great enterprise. he had never loved the netherlands, a residence in these constitutional provinces was extremely irksome to him, and he was therefore anxious to return to spain. from the depths of his cabinet he felt that he should be able to direct the enterprise he was resolved upon, and that his presence in the netherlands would be superfluous and disagreeable. the early part of the year was spent by philip in organizing the government of the provinces and in making the necessary preparations for his departure. the duke of savoy, being restored to his duchy, had, of course, no more leisure to act as regent of the netherlands, and it was necessary, therefore, to fix upon his successor in this important post, at once. there were several candidates. the duchess christina of lorraine had received many half promises of the appointment, which she was most anxious to secure; the emperor was even said to desire the nomination of the archduke maximilian, a step which would have certainly argued more magnanimity upon philip's part than the world could give him credit for; and besides these regal personages, the high nobles of the land, especially orange and egmont, had hopes of obtaining the dignity. the prince of orange, however, was too sagacious to deceive himself long, and became satisfied very soon that no netherlander was likely to be selected for regent. he therefore threw his influence in favor of the duchess christina, whose daughter, at the suggestion of the bishop of arras, he was desirous of obtaining in marriage. the king favored for a time, or pretended to favor, both the appointment of madame de lorraine and the marriage project of the prince. afterwards, however, and in a manner which was accounted both sudden and mysterious, it appeared that the duchess and orange had both been deceived, and that the king and bishop had decided in favor of another candidate, whose claims had not been considered, before, very prominent. this was the duchess margaret of parma, natural daughter of charles the fifth. a brief sketch of this important personage, so far as regards her previous career, is reserved for the following chapter. for the present it is sufficient to state the fact of the nomination. in order to afford a full view of philip's political arrangements before his final departure from the netherlands, we defer until the same chapter, an account of the persons who composed the boards of council organized to assist the new regent in the government. these bodies themselves were three in number: a state and privy council and one of finance. they were not new institutions, having been originally established by the emperor, and were now arranged by his successor upon the same nominal basis upon which they had before existed. the finance council, which had superintendence of all matters relating to the royal domains and to the annual budgets of the government, was presided over by baron berlaymont. the privy council, of which viglius was president, was composed of ten or twelve learned doctors, and was especially entrusted with the control of matters relating to law, pardons, and the general administration of justice. the state council, which was far the most important of the three boards, was to superintend all high affairs of government, war, treaties, foreign intercourse, internal and interprovincial affairs. the members of this council were the bishop of arras, viglius, berlaymont, the prince of orange, count egmont, to which number were afterwards added the seigneur de glayon, the duke of aerschot, and count horn. the last-named nobleman, who was admiral of the provinces, had, for the present, been appointed to accompany the king to spain, there to be specially entrusted with the administration of affairs relating to the netherlands. he was destined, however, to return at the expiration of two years. with the object, as it was thought, of curbing the power of the great nobles, it had been arranged that the three councils should be entirely distinct from each other, that the members of the state council should have no participation in the affairs of the two other bodies; but, on the other hand, that the finance and privy councillors, as well as the knights of the fleece, should have access to the deliberations of the state council. in the course of events, however, it soon became evident that the real power of the government was exclusively in the hands of the consulta, a committee of three members of the state council, by whose deliberations the regent was secretly instructed to be guided on all important occasions. the three, viglius, berlaymont, and arras, who composed the secret conclave or cabinet, were in reality but one. the bishop of arras was in all three, and the three together constituted only the bishop of arras. there was no especial governor or stadholder appointed for the province of brabant, where the regent was to reside and to exercise executive functions in person. the stadholders for the other provinces were, for flanders and artois, the count of egmont; for holland, zeeland, and utrecht, the prince of orange; for gueldres and zutfen, the count of meghen; for friesland, groningen and overyssel, count aremberg; for hainault, valenciennes and cambray, the marquis of berghen; for tournay and tournaisis, baron montigny; for namur, baron berlaymont; for luxemburg, count mansfeld; for ryssel, douay and orchies, the baron coureires. all these stadholders were commanders-in-chief of the military forces in their respective provinces. with the single exception of count egmont, in whose province of flanders the stadholders were excluded from the administration of justice,--all were likewise supreme judges in the civil and criminal tribunal. the military force of the netherlands in time of peace was small, for the provinces were jealous of the presence of soldiery. the only standing army which then legally existed in the netherlands were the bandes d'ordonnance, a body of mounted gendarmerie--amounting in all to three thousand men--which ranked among the most accomplished and best disciplined cavalry of europe. they were divided into fourteen squadrons, each under the command of a stadholder, or of a distinguished noble. besides these troops, however, there still remained in the provinces a foreign force amounting in the aggregate to four thousand men. these soldiers were the remainder of those large bodies which year after year had been quartered upon the netherlands during the constant warfare to which they had been exposed. living upon the substance of the country, paid out of its treasury, and as offensive by their licentious and ribald habits of life as were the enemies against whom they were enrolled, these troops had become an intolerable burthen to the people. they were now disposed in different garrisons, nominally to protect the frontier. as a firm peace, however, had now been concluded between spain and france, and as there was no pretext for compelling the provinces to accept this protection, the presence of a foreign soldiery strengthened a suspicion that they were to be used in the onslaught which was preparing against the religious freedom and the political privileges of the country. they were to be the nucleus of a larger army, it was believed, by which the land was to be reduced to a state of servile subjection to spain. a low, constant, but generally unheeded murmur of dissatisfaction and distrust upon this subject was already perceptible throughout the netherlands; a warning presage of the coming storm. all the provinces were now convoked for the th of august ( ), at ghent, there to receive the parting communication and farewell of the king. previously to this day, however, philip appeared in person upon several solemn occasions, to impress upon the country the necessity of attending to the great subject with which his mind was exclusively occupied. he came before the great council of mechlin, in order to address that body with his own lips upon the necessity of supporting the edicts to the letter, and of trampling out every vestige of heresy, wherever it should appear, by the immediate immolation of all heretics, whoever they might be. he likewise caused the estates of flanders to be privately assembled, that he might harangue them upon the same great topic. in the latter part of july he proceeded to ghent, where a great concourse of nobles, citizens, and strangers had already assembled. here, in the last week of the month, the twenty-third chapter of the golden fleece was held with much pomp, and with festivities which lasted three days. the fourteen vacancies which existed were filled with the names of various distinguished personages. with this last celebration the public history of philip the good's ostentatious and ambitious order of knighthood was closed. the subsequent nominations were made 'ex indultu apostolico', and without the assembling of a chapter. the estates having duly assembled upon the day prescribed, philip, attended by margaret of parma, the duke of savoy, and a stately retinue of ambassadors and grandees, made his appearance before them. after the customary ceremonies had been performed, the bishop of arras arose and delivered, in the name of his sovereign, an elaborate address of instructions and farewells. in this important harangue, the states were informed that the king had convened them in order that they might be informed of his intention of leaving the netherlands immediately. he would gladly have remained longer in his beloved provinces, had not circumstances compelled his departure. his father had come hither for the good of the country in the year , and had never returned to spain, except to die. upon the king's accession to the sovereignty he had arranged a truce of five years, which had been broken through by the faithlessness of france. he had, therefore, been obliged, notwithstanding his anxiety to return to a country where his presence was so much needed, to remain in the provinces till he had conducted the new war to a triumphant close. in doing this he had been solely governed by his intense love for the netherlands, and by his regard for their interests. all the money which he had raised from their coffers had been spent for their protection. upon this account his majesty expressed his confidence that the estates would pay an earnest attention to the "request" which had been laid before them, the more so, as its amount, three millions of gold florins, would all be expended for the good of the provinces. after his return to spain he hoped to be able to make a remittance. the duke of savoy, he continued, being obliged, in consequence of the fortunate change in his affairs, to resign the government of the netherlands, and his own son, don carlos, not yet being sufficiently advanced in years to succeed to that important post, his majesty had selected his sister, the duchess margaret of parma, daughter of the emperor, as the most proper person for regent. as she had been born in the netherlands, and had always entertained a profound affection for the provinces, he felt a firm confidence that she would prove faithful both to their interests and his own. as at this moment many countries, and particularly the lands in the immediate neighborhood, were greatly infested by various "new, reprobate, and damnable sects;" as these sects, proceeding from the foul fiend, father of discord, had not failed to keep those kingdoms in perpetual dissension and misery, to the manifest displeasure of god almighty; as his majesty was desirous to avert such terrible evils from his own realms, according to his duty to the lord god, who would demand reckoning from him hereafter for the well-being of the provinces; as all experience proved that change of religion ever brought desolation and confusion to the commonweal; as low persons, beggars and vagabonds, under color of religion, were accustomed to traverse the land for the purpose of plunder and disturbance; as his majesty was most desirous of following in the footsteps of his lord and father; as it would be well remembered what the emperor had said to him upon the memorable occasion of his abdication; therefore his majesty had commanded the regent margaret of parma, for the sake of religion and the glory of god, accurately and exactly to cause to be enforced the edicts and decrees made by his imperial majesty, and renewed by his present majesty, for the extirpation of all sects and heresies. all governors, councillors, and others having authority, were also instructed to do their utmost to accomplish this great end. the great object of the discourse was thus announced in the most impressive manner, and with all that conventional rhetoric of which the bishop of arras was considered a consummate master. not a word was said on the subject which was nearest the hearts of the netherlanders--the withdrawal of the spanish troops. [bentivoglio. guerra di fiandra, i. (opere, parigi, ), gives a different report, which ends with a distinct promise on the part of the king to dismiss the troops as soon as possible: "--in segno di the spetialmente havrebbe quanto prima, a fatti uscire i presidij stranieri dalle fortezze a levata ogn' insolita contributione al paese." it is almost superfluous to state that the cardinal is no authority for speeches, except, indeed, for those which were never made. long orations by generals upon the battle-field, by royal personages in their cabinets, by conspirators in secret conclave, are reported by him with muck minuteness, and none can gainsay the accuracy with which these harangues, which never had any existence, except in the author's imagination, are placed before the reader. bentivoglio's stately and graceful style, elegant descriptions, and general acquaintance with his subject will always make his works attractive, but the classic and conventional system of inventing long speeches for historical characters has fortunately gone out of fashion. it is very interesting to know what an important personage really did say or write upon remarkable occasions; but it is less instructive to be told what the historian thinks might have been a good speech or epistle for him to utter or indito.] not a hint was held out that a reduction of the taxation, under which the provinces had so long been groaning, was likely to take place; but, on the contrary, the king had demanded a new levy of considerable amount. a few well-turned paragraphs were added on the subject of the administration of justice--"without which the republic was a dead body without a soul"--in the bishop's most approved style, and the discourse concluded with a fervent exhortation to the provinces to trample heresy and heretics out of existence, and with the hope that the lord god, in such case, would bestow upon the netherlands health and happiness. after the address had been concluded, the deputies, according to ancient form, requested permission to adjourn, that the representatives of each province might deliberate among themselves on the point of granting or withholding the request for the three millions. on the following day they again assembled in the presence of the king, for the purpose of returning their separate answers to the propositions. the address first read was that of the estates of artois. the chairman of the deputies from that province read a series of resolutions, drawn up, says a contemporary, "with that elegance which characterized all the public acts of the artesians; bearing witness to the vivacity of their wits." the deputies spoke of the extreme affection which their province had always borne to his majesty and to the emperor. they had proved it by the constancy with which they had endured the calamities of war so long, and they now cheerfully consented to the request, so far as their contingent went. they were willing to place at his majesty's disposal, not only the remains of their property, but even the last drop of their blood. as the eloquent chairman reached this point in his discourse, philip, who was standing with his arm resting upon egmont's shoulder, listening eagerly to the artesian address, looked upon the deputies of the province with a smiling face, expressing by the unwonted benignity of his countenance the satisfaction which he received from these loyal expressions of affection, and this dutiful compliance with his request. the deputy, however, proceeded to an unexpected conclusion, by earnestly entreating his majesty, as a compensation for the readiness thus evinced in the royal service, forthwith to order the departure of all foreign troops then in the netherlands. their presence, it was added, was now rendered completely superfluous by the ratification of the treaty of peace so fortunately arranged with all the world. at this sudden change in the deputy's language, the king, no longer smiling, threw himself violently upon his chair of state, where he remained, brooding with a gloomy countenance upon the language which had been addressed to him. it was evident, said an eye-witness, that he was deeply offended. he changed color frequently, so that all present "could remark, from the working of his face, how much his mind was agitated." the rest of the provinces were even more explicit than the deputies of artois. all had voted their contingents to the request, but all had made the withdrawal of the troops an express antecedent condition to the payment of their respective quotas. the king did not affect to conceal his rage at these conditions, exclaiming bitterly to count egmont and other seignors near the throne that it was very easy to estimate, by these proceedings, the value of the protestations made by the provinces of their loyalty and affection. besides, however, the answers thus addressed by the separate states to the royal address, a formal remonstrance had also been drawn up in the name of the states general, and signed by the prince of orange, count egmont, and many of the leading patricians of the netherlands. this document, which was formally presented to the king before the adjournment of the assembly, represented the infamous "pillaging, insults, and disorders" daily exercised by the foreign soldiery; stating that the burthen had become intolerable, and that the inhabitants of marienburg, and of many other large towns and villages had absolutely abandoned their homes rather than remain any longer exposed to such insolence and oppression. the king, already enraged, was furious at the presentation of this petition. he arose from his seat, and rushed impetuously from the assembly, demanding of the members as he went, whether he too, as a spaniard, was expected immediately to leave the land, and to resign all authority over it. the duke of savoy made use of this last occasion in which he appeared in public as regent, violently to rebuke the estates for the indignity thus offered to their sovereign. it could not be forgotten, however, by nobles and burghers, who had not yet been crushed by the long course of oppression which was in store for them, that there had been a day when philip's ancestors had been more humble in their deportment in the face of the provincial authorities. his great-grandfather, maximilian, kept in durance by the citizens of bruges; his great-grandmother, mary of burgundy, with streaming eyes and dishevelled hair, supplicating in the market-place for the lives of her treacherous ambassadors, were wont to hold a less imperious language to the delegates of the states. this burst of ill temper on the part of the monarch was, however, succeeded by a different humor. it was still thought advisable to dissemble, and to return rather an expostulatory than a peremptory answer to the remonstrance of the states general. accordingly a paper of a singular tone was, after the delay of a few days, sent into the assembly. in this message it was stated that the king was not desirous of placing strangers in the government--a fact which was proved by the appointment of the duchess margaret; that the spanish infantry was necessary to protect the land from invasion; that the remnant of foreign troops only amounted to three or four thousand men, who claimed considerable arrears of pay, but that the amount due would be forwarded to them immediately after his majesty's return to spain. it was suggested that the troops would serve as an escort for don carlos when he should arrive in the netherlands, although the king would have been glad to carry them to spain in his fleet, had he known the wishes of the estates in time. he would, however, pay for their support himself, although they were to act solely for the good of the provinces. he observed, moreover, that he had selected two seignors of the provinces, the prince of orange and count egmont, to take command of these foreign troops, and he promised faithfully that, in the course of three or four months at furthest, they should all be withdrawn. on the same day in which the estates had assembled at ghent, philip had addressed an elaborate letter to the grand council of mechlin, the supreme court of the provinces, and to the various provincial councils and tribunals of the whole country. the object of the communication was to give his final orders on the subject of the edicts, and for the execution of all heretics in the most universal and summary manner. he gave stringent and unequivocal instructions that these decrees for burning, strangling, and burying alive, should be fulfilled to the letter. he ordered all judicial officers and magistrates "to be curious to enquire on all sides as to the execution of the placards," stating his intention that "the utmost rigor should be employed without any respect of persons," and that not only the transgressors should be proceeded against, but also the judges who should prove remiss in their prosecution of heretics. he alluded to a false opinion which had gained currency that the edicts were only intended against anabaptists. correcting this error, he stated that they were to be "enforced against all sectaries, without any distinction or mercy, who might be spotted merely with the errors introduced by luther." the king, notwithstanding the violent scenes in the assembly, took leave of the estates at another meeting with apparent cordiality. his dissatisfaction was sufficiently manifest, but it expressed itself principally against individuals. his displeasure at the course pursued by the leading nobles, particularly by the prince of orange, was already no secret. philip, soon after the adjournment of the assembly, had completed the preparations for his departure. at middelburg he was met by the agreeable intelligence that the pope had consented to issue a bull for the creation of the new bishoprics which he desired for the netherlands.--this important subject will be resumed in another chapter; for the present we accompany the king to flushing, whence the fleet was to set sail for spain. he was escorted thither by the duchess regent, the duke of savoy, and by many of the most eminent personages of the provinces. among others william of orange was in attendance to witness the final departure of the king, and to pay him his farewell respects. as philip was proceeding on board the ship which was to bear him forever from the netherlands, his eyes lighted upon the prince. his displeasure could no longer be restrained. with angry face he turned upon him, and bitterly reproached him for having thwarted all his plans by means of his secret intrigues. william replied with humility that every thing which had taken place had been done through the regular and natural movements of the states. upon this the king, boiling with rage, seized the prince by the wrist, and shaking it violently, exclaimed in spanish, "no los estados, ma vos, vos, vos!--not the estates, but you, you, you!" repeating thrice the word vos, which is as disrespectful and uncourteous in spanish as "toi" in french. after this severe and public insult, the prince of orange did not go on board his majesty's vessel, but contented himself with wishing philip, from the shore, a fortunate journey. it may be doubted, moreover, whether he would not have made a sudden and compulsory voyage to spain had he ventured his person in the ship, and whether, under the circumstances, he would have been likely to effect as speedy a return. his caution served him then as it was destined to do on many future occasions, and philip left the netherlands with this parting explosion of hatred against the man who, as he perhaps instinctively felt, was destined to circumvent his measures and resist his tyranny to the last. the fleet, which consisted of ninety vessels, so well provisioned that, among other matters, fifteen thousand capons were put on board, according to the antwerp chronicler, set sail upon the th august ( ), from flushing. the voyage proved tempestuous, so that much of the rich tapestry and other merchandise which had been accumulated by charles and philip was lost. some of the vessels foundered; to save others it was necessary to lighten the cargo, and "to enrobe the roaring waters with the silks," for which the netherlands were so famous; so that it was said that philip and his father had impoverished the earth only to enrich the ocean. the fleet had been laden with much valuable property, because the king had determined to fix for the future the wandering capital of his dominions in spain. philip landed in safety, however, at laredo, on the th september. his escape from imminent peril confirmed him in the great purpose to which he had consecrated his existence. he believed himself to have been reserved from shipwreck only because a mighty mission had been confided to him, and lest his enthusiasm against heresy should languish, his eyes were soon feasted, upon his arrival in his native country, with the spectacle of an auto-da fe. early in january of this year the king being persuaded that it was necessary every where to use additional means to check the alarming spread of lutheran opinions, had written to the pope for authority to increase, if that were possible, the stringency of the spanish inquisition. the pontiff, nothing loath, had accordingly issued a bull directed to the inquisitor general, valdez, by which he was instructed to consign to the flames all prisoners whatever, even those who were not accused of having "relapsed." great preparations had been made to strike terror into the hearts of heretics by a series of horrible exhibitions, in the course of which the numerous victims, many of them persons of high rank, distinguished learning, and exemplary lives, who had long been languishing in the dungeons of the holy office, were to be consigned to the flames. the first auto-da fe had been consummated at valladolid on the st may ( ), in the absence of the king, of course, but in the presence of the royal family and the principal notabilities, civil, ecclesiastical, and military. the princess regent, seated on her throne, close to the scaffold, had held on high the holy sword. the archbishop of seville, followed by the ministers of the inquisition and by the victims, had arrived in solemn procession at the "cadahalso," where, after the usual sermon in praise of the holy office and in denunciation of heresy, he had administered the oath to the intante, who had duly sworn upon the crucifix to maintain forever the sacred inquisition and the apostolic decrees. the archbishop had then cried aloud, "so may god prosper your highnesses and your estates;" after which the men and women who formed the object of the show had been cast into the flames.--[cabrera]. it being afterwards ascertained that the king himself would soon be enabled to return to spain, the next festival was reserved as a fitting celebration for his arrival. upon the th october, accordingly, another auto-da fe took place at valladolid. the king, with his sister and his son, the high officers of state, the foreign ministers, and all the nobility of the kingdom, were present, together with an immense concourse of soldiery, clergy, and populace. the sermon was preached by the bishop of cuenga. when it was finished, inquisitor general valdez cried with a loud voice, "oh god, make speed to help us!" the king then drew his sword. valdez, advancing to the platform upon which philip was seated, proceeded to read the protestation: "your majesty swears by the cross of the sword, whereon your royal hand reposes, that you will give all necessary favor to the holy office of the inquisition against heretics, apostates, and those who favor them, and will denounce and inform against all those who, to your royal knowledge, shall act or speak against the faith." the king answered aloud, "i swear it," and signed the paper. the oath was read to the whole assembly by an officer of the inquisition. thirteen distinguished victims were then burned before the monarch's eyes, besides one body which a friendly death had snatched from the hands of the holy office, and the effigy of another person who had been condemned, although not yet tried or even apprehended. among the sufferers was carlos de sessa, a young noble of distinguished character and abilities, who said to the king as he passed by the throne to the stake, "how can you thus look on and permit me to be burned?" philip then made the memorable reply, carefully recorded by his historiographer and panegyrist; "i would carry the wood to burn my own son withal, were he as wicked as you." in seville, immediately afterwards, another auto-da fe was held, in which fifty living heretics were burned, besides the bones of doctor constantine ponce de la fuente, once the friend, chaplain, and almoner of philip's father. this learned and distinguished ecclesiastic had been released from a dreadful dungeon by a fortunate fever. the holy office, however, not content with punishing his corpse, wreaked also an impotent and ludicrous malice upon his effigy. a stuffed figure, attired in his robes and with its arms extended in the attitude which was habitual with him in prayer, was placed upon the scaffold among the living victims, and then cast into the flames, that bigotry might enjoy a fantastic triumph over the grave. such were the religious ceremonies with which philip celebrated his escape from shipwreck, and his marriage with isabella of france, immediately afterwards solemnized. these human victims, chained and burning at the stake, were the blazing torches which lighted the monarch to his nuptial couch. etext editor's bookmarks: consign to the flames all prisoners whatever (papal letter) courage of despair inflamed the french decrees for burning, strangling, and burying alive i would carry the wood to burn my own son withal inventing long speeches for historical characters let us fool these poor creatures to their heart's content petty passion for contemptible details promises which he knew to be binding only upon the weak rashness alternating with hesitation these human victims, chained and burning at the stake motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. administration of the duchess margaret. chapter i. - biographical sketch and portrait of margaret of parma--the state council--berlaymont--viglius--sketch of william the silent--portrait of antony perrenot, afterwards cardinal granvelle--general view of the political, social and religious condition of the netherlands-- habits of the aristocracy--emulation in extravagance--pecuniary embarrassments--sympathy for the reformation, steadily increasing among the people, the true cause of the impending revolt--measures of the government.--edict of described--papal bulls granted to philip for increasing the number of bishops in the netherlands-- necessity for retaining the spanish troops to enforce the policy of persecution. margaret of parma, newly appointed regent of the netherlands, was the natural daughter of charles the fifth, and his eldest born child. her mother, of a respectable family called van der genst, in oudenarde, had been adopted and brought up by the distinguished house of hoogstraaten. peculiar circumstances, not necessary to relate at length, had palliated the fault to which margaret owed her imperial origin, and gave the child almost a legitimate claim upon its father's protection. the claim was honorably acknowledged. margaret was in her infancy placed by the emperor in the charge of his paternal aunt, margaret of savoy, then regent of the provinces. upon the death of that princess, the child was entrusted to the care of the emperor's sister, mary, queen dowager of hungary, who had succeeded to the government, and who occupied it until the abdication. the huntress-queen communicated her tastes to her youthful niece, and margaret soon outrivalled her instructress. the ardor with which she pursued the stag, and the courageous horsemanship which she always displayed, proved her, too, no degenerate descendant of mary of burgundy. her education for the distinguished position in which she had somewhat surreptitiously been placed was at least not neglected in this particular. when, soon after the memorable sack of rome, the pope and the emperor had been reconciled, and it had been decided that the medici family should be elevated upon the ruins of florentine liberty, margaret's hand was conferred in marriage upon the pontiff's nephew alexander. the wretched profligate who was thus selected to mate with the emperor's eldest born child and to appropriate the fair demesnes of the tuscan republic was nominally the offspring of lorenzo de medici by a moorish slave, although generally reputed a bastard of the pope himself. the nuptials were celebrated with great pomp at naples, where the emperor rode at the tournament in the guise of a moorish warrior. at florence splendid festivities had also been held, which were troubled with omens believed to be highly unfavorable. it hardly needed, however, preternatural appearances in heaven or on earth to proclaim the marriage ill-starred which united a child of twelve years with a worn-out debauchee of twenty-seven. fortunately for margaret, the funereal portents proved true. her husband, within the first year of their wedded life, fell a victim to his own profligacy, and was assassinated by his kinsman, lorenzino de medici. cosmo, his successor in the tyranny of florence, was desirous of succeeding to the hand of margaret, but the politic emperor, thinking that he had already done enough to conciliate that house, was inclined to bind to his interests the family which now occupied the papal throne. margaret was accordingly a few years afterwards united to ottavio farnese, nephew of paul the third. it was still her fate to be unequally matched. having while still a child been wedded to a man of more than twice her years, she was now, at the age of twenty, united to an immature youth of thirteen. she conceived so strong an aversion to her new husband, that it became impossible for them to live together in peace. ottavio accordingly went to the wars, and in accompanied the emperor in his memorable expedition to barbary. rumors of disaster by battle and tempest reaching europe before the results of the expedition were accurately known, reports that the emperor had been lost in a storm, and that the young ottavio had perished with him, awakened remorse in the bosom of margaret. it seemed to her that he had been driven forth by domestic inclemency to fall a victim to the elements. when, however, the truth became known, and it was ascertained that her husband, although still living, was lying dangerously ill in the charge of the emperor, the repugnance which had been founded upon his extreme youth changed to passionate fondness. his absence, and his faithful military attendance upon her father, caused a revulsion in her feelings, and awakened her admiration. when ottavio, now created duke of parma and piacenza, returned to rome, he was received by his wife with open arms. their union was soon blessed with twins, and but for a certain imperiousness of disposition which margaret had inherited from her father, and which she was too apt to exercise even upon her husband, the marriage would have been sufficiently fortunate. various considerations pointed her out to philip as a suitable person for the office of regent, although there seemed some mystery about the appointment which demanded explanation. it was thought that her birth would make her acceptable to the people; but perhaps, the secret reason with philip was, that she alone of all other candidates would be amenable to the control of the churchman in whose hand he intended placing the real administration of the provinces. moreover, her husband was very desirous that the citadel of piacenza, still garrisoned by spanish troops, should be surrendered to him. philip was disposed to conciliate the duke, but unwilling to give up the fortress. he felt that ottavio would be flattered by the nomination of his wife to so important an office, and be not too much dissatisfied at finding himself relieved for a time from her imperious fondness. her residence in the netherlands would guarantee domestic tranquillity to her husband, and peace in italy to the king. margaret would be a hostage for the fidelity of the duke, who had, moreover, given his eldest son to philip to be educated in his service. she was about thirty-seven years of age when she arrived in the netherlands, with the reputation of possessing high talents, and a proud and energetic character. she was an enthusiastic catholic, and had sat at the feet of loyola, who had been her confessor and spiritual guide. she felt a greater horror for heretics than for any other species of malefactors, and looked up to her father's bloody edicts as if they had been special revelations from on high. she was most strenuous in her observance of roman rites, and was accustomed to wash the feet of twelve virgins every holy week, and to endow them in marriage afterwards.--her acquirements, save that of the art of horsemanship, were not remarkable. carefully educated in the machiavellian and medicean school of politics, she was versed in that "dissimulation," to which liberal anglo-saxons give a shorter name, but which formed the main substance of statesmanship at the court of charles and philip. in other respects her accomplishments were but meagre, and she had little acquaintance with any language but italian. her personal appearance, which was masculine, but not without a certain grand and imperial fascination, harmonized with the opinion generally entertained of her character. the famous moustache upon her upper lips was supposed to indicate authority and virility of purpose, an impression which was confirmed by the circumstance that she was liable to severe attacks of gout, a disorder usually considered more appropriate to the sterner sex. such were the previous career and public reputation of the duchess margaret. it remains to be unfolded whether her character and endowments, as exemplified in her new position, were to justify the choice of philip. the members of the state council, as already observed, were berlaymont, viglius, arras, orange, and egmont. the first was, likewise, chief of the finance department. most of the catholic writers described him as a noble of loyal and highly honorable character. those of the protestant party, on the contrary, uniformly denounced him as greedy, avaricious, and extremely sanguinary. that he was a brave and devoted soldier, a bitter papist, and an inflexible adherent to the royal cause, has never been disputed. the baron himself, with his four courageous and accomplished sons, were ever in the front ranks to defend the crown against the nation. it must be confessed, however, that fanatical loyalty loses most of the romance with which genius and poetry have so often hallowed the sentiment, when the "legitimate" prince for whom the sword is drawn is not only an alien in tongue and blood, but filled with undisguised hatred for the land he claims to rule. viglius van aytta van zuichem was a learned frisian, born, according to some writers, of "boors' degree, but having no inclination for boorish work". according to other authorities, which the president himself favored, he was of noble origin; but, whatever his race, it is certain that whether gentle or simple, it derived its first and only historical illustration from his remarkable talents and acquirements. these in early youth were so great as to acquire the commendation of erasmus. he had studied in louvain, paris, and padua, had refused the tutorship philip when that prince was still a child, and had afterwards filled a professorship at ingolstadt. after rejecting several offers of promotion from the emperor, he had at last accepted in a seat in the council of mechlin, of which body he had become president in . he had been one of the peace commissioners to france in , and was now president of the privy council, a member of the state council, and of the inner and secret committee of that board, called the consults. much odium was attached to his name for his share in the composition of the famous edict of . the rough draught was usually attributed to his pen, but he complained bitterly, in letters written at this time, of injustice done him in this respect, and maintained that he had endeavored, without success, to induce the emperor to mitigate the severity of the edict. one does not feel very strongly inclined to accept his excuses, however, when his general opinions on the subject of religion are remembered. he was most bigoted in precept and practice. religious liberty he regarded as the most detestable and baleful of doctrines; heresy he denounced as the most unpardonable of crimes. from no man's mouth flowed more bitter or more elegant commonplaces than from that of the learned president against those blackest of malefactors, the men who claimed within their own walls the right to worship god according to their own consciences. for a common person, not learned in law or divinity, to enter into his closet, to shut the door, and to pray to him who seeth in secret, was, in his opinion, to open wide the gate of destruction for all the land, and to bring in the father of evil at once to fly away with the whole population, body and soul. "if every man," said he to hopper, "is to believe what he likes in his own house, we shall have hearth gods and tutelar divinities, again, the country will swarm with a thousand errors and sects, and very few there will be, i fear, who will allow themselves to be enclosed in the sheepfold of christ. i have ever considered this opinion," continued the president, "the most pernicious of all. they who hold it have a contempt for all religion, and are neither more nor less than atheists. this vague, fireside liberty should be by every possible means extirpated; therefore did christ institute shepherds to drive his wandering sheep back into the fold of the true church; thus only can we guard the lambs against the ravening wolves, and prevent their being carried away from the flock of christ to the flock of belial. liberty of religion, or of conscience, as they call it, ought never to be tolerated." this was the cant with which viglius was ever ready to feed not only his faithful hopper, but all the world beside. the president was naturally anxious that the fold of christ should be entrusted to none but regular shepherds, for he looked forward to taking one of the most lucrative crooks into his own hand, when he should retire from his secular career. it is now necessary to say a few introductory words concerning the man who, from this time forth, begins to rise upon the history of his country with daily increasing grandeur and influence. william of nassau, prince of orange, although still young in years, is already the central personage about whom the events and the characters of the epoch most naturally group themselves; destined as he is to become more and more with each succeeding year the vivifying source of light, strength, and national life to a whole people. the nassau family first emerges into distinct existence in the middle of the eleventh century. it divides itself almost as soon as known into two great branches. the elder remained in germany, ascended the imperial throne in the thirteenth century in the person of adolph of nassau and gave to the country many electors, bishops, and generals. the younger and more illustrious branch retained the modest property and petty sovereignty of nassau dillenbourg, but at the same time transplanted itself to the netherlands, where it attained at an early period to great power and large possessions. the ancestors of william, as dukes of gueldres, had begun to exercise sovereignty in the provinces four centuries before the advent of the house of burgundy. that overshadowing family afterwards numbered the netherland nassaus among its most stanch and powerful adherents. engelbert the second was distinguished in the turbulent councils and in the battle-fields of charles the bold, and was afterwards the unwavering supporter of maximilian, in court and camp. dying childless, he was succeeded by his brother john, whose two sons, henry and william, of nassau, divided the great inheritance after their father's death, william succeeded to the german estates, became a convert to protestantism, and introduced the reformation into his dominions. henry, the eldest son, received the family possessions and titles in luxembourg, brabant, flanders and holland, and distinguished himself as much as his uncle engelbert, in the service of the burgundo-austrian house. the confidential friend of charles the fifth, whose governor he had been in that emperor's boyhood, he was ever his most efficient and reliable adherent. it was he whose influence placed the imperial crown upon the head of charles. in he espoused claudia de chalons, sister of prince philibert of orange, "in order," as he wrote to his father, "to be obedient to his imperial majesty, to please the king of france, and more particularly for the sake of his own honor and profit." his son rene de nassau-chalons succeeded philibert. the little principality of orange, so pleasantly situated between provence and dauphiny, but in such dangerous proximity to the seat of the "babylonian captivity" of the popes at avignon, thus passed to the family of nassau. the title was of high antiquity. already in the reign of charlemagne, guillaume au court-nez, or "william with the short nose," had defended the little--town of orange against the assaults of the saracens. the interest and authority acquired in the demesnes thus preserved by his valor became extensive, and in process of time hereditary in his race. the principality became an absolute and free sovereignty, and had already descended, in defiance of the salic law, through the three distinct families of orange, baux, and chalons. in , prince rene died at the emperor's feet in the trenches of saint dizier. having no legitimate children, he left all his titles and estates to his cousin-german, william of nassau, son of his father's brother william, who thus at the age of eleven years became william the ninth of orange. for this child, whom the future was to summon to such high destinies and such heroic sacrifices, the past and present seemed to have gathered riches and power together from many sources. he was the descendant of the othos, the engelberts, and the henries, of the netherlands, the representative of the philiberts and the renes of france; the chief of a house, humbler in resources and position in germany, but still of high rank, and which had already done good service to humanity by being among the first to embrace the great principles of the reformation. his father, younger brother of the emperor's friend henry, was called william the rich. he was, however, only rich in children. of these he had five sons and seven daughters by his wife juliana of stolberg. she was a person of most exemplary character and unaffected piety. she instilled into the minds of all her children the elements of that devotional sentiment which was her own striking characteristic, and it was destined that the seed sown early should increase to an abundant harvest. nothing can be more tender or more touching than the letters which still exist from her hand, written to her illustrious sons in hours of anxiety or anguish, and to the last, recommending to them with as much earnest simplicity as if they were still little children at her knee, to rely always in the midst of the trials and dangers which were to beset their paths through life, upon the great hand of god. among the mothers of great men, juliana of stolberg deserves a foremost place, and it is no slight eulogy that she was worthy to have been the mother of william of orange and of lewis, adolphus, henry, and john of nassau. at the age of eleven years, william having thus unexpectedly succeeded to such great possessions, was sent from his father's roof to be educated in brussels. no destiny seemed to lie before the young prince but an education at the emperor's court, to be followed by military adventures, embassies, viceroyalties, and a life of luxury and magnificence. at a very early age he came, accordingly, as a page into the emperor's family. charles recognized, with his customary quickness, the remarkable character of the boy. at fifteen, william was the intimate, almost confidential friend of the emperor, who prided himself, above all other gifts, on his power of reading and of using men. the youth was so constant an attendant upon his imperial chief that even when interviews with the highest personages, and upon the gravest affairs, were taking place, charles would never suffer him to be considered superfluous or intrusive. there seemed to be no secrets which the emperor held too high for the comprehension or discretion of his page. his perceptive and reflective faculties, naturally of remarkable keenness and depth, thus acquired a precocious and extraordinary development. he was brought up behind the curtain of that great stage where the world's dramas were daily enacted. the machinery and the masks which produced the grand delusions of history had no deceptions for him. carefully to observe men's actions, and silently to ponder upon their motives, was the favorite occupation of the prince during his apprenticeship at court. as he advanced to man's estate, he was selected by the emperor for the highest duties. charles, whose only merit, so far as the provinces were concerned, was in having been born in ghent, and that by an ignoble accident, was glad to employ this representative of so many great netherland houses, in the defence of the land. before the prince was twenty-one he was appointed general-in-chief of the army on the french frontier, in the absence of the duke of savoy. the post was coveted by many most distinguished soldiers: the counts of buren, bossu, lalaing, aremberg, meghem, and particularly by count egmont; yet charles showed his extraordinary confidence in the prince of orange, by selecting him for the station, although he had hardly reached maturity, and was moreover absent in france. the young prince acquitted himself of his high command in a manner which justified his appointment. it was the prince's shoulder upon which the emperor leaned at the abdication; the prince's hand which bore the imperial insignia of the discrowned monarch to ferdinand, at augsburg. with these duties his relations with charles were ended, and those with philip begun. he was with the army during the hostilities which were soon after resumed in picardy; he was the secret negotiator of the preliminary arrangement with france, soon afterwards confirmed by the triumphant treaty of april, . he had conducted these initiatory conferences with the constable montmorency and marshal de saint andre with great sagacity, although hardly a man in years, and by so doing he had laid philip under deep obligations. the king was so inexpressibly anxious for peace that he would have been capable of conducting a treaty upon almost any terms. he assured the prince that "the greatest service he could render him in this world was to make peace, and that he desired to have it at any price what ever, so eager was he to return to spain." to the envoy suriano, philip had held the same language. "oh, ambassador," said he, "i wish peace on any terms, and if the king of france had not sued for it, i would have begged for it myself." with such impatience on the part of the sovereign, it certainly manifested diplomatic abilities of a high character in the prince, that the treaty negotiated by him amounted to a capitulation by france. he was one of the hostages selected by henry for the due execution of the treaty, and while in france made that remarkable discovery which was to color his life. while hunting with the king in the forest of vincennes, the prince and henry found themselves alone together, and separated from the rest of the company. the french monarch's mind was full of the great scheme which had just secretly been formed by philip and himself, to extirpate protestantism by a general extirpation of protestants. philip had been most anxious to conclude the public treaty with france, that he might be the sooner able to negotiate that secret convention by which he and his most christian majesty were solemnly to bind themselves to massacre all the converts to the new religion in france and the netherlands. this conspiracy of the two kings against their subjects was the matter nearest the hearts of both. the duke of alva, a fellow hostage with william of orange, was the plenipotentiary to conduct this more important arrangement. the french monarch, somewhat imprudently imagining that the prince was also a party to the plot, opened the whole subject to him without reserve. he complained of the constantly increasing numbers of sectaries in his kingdom, and protested that his conscience would never be easy, nor his state secure until his realm should be delivered of "that accursed vermin." a civil revolution, under pretext of a religious reformation, was his constant apprehension, particularly since so many notable personages in the realm, and even princes of the blood, were already tainted with heresy. nevertheless, with the favor of heaven, and the assistance of his son and brother philip, he hoped soon to be master of the rebels. the king then proceeded, with cynical minuteness, to lay before his discreet companion the particulars of the royal plot, and the manner in which all heretics, whether high or humble, were to be discovered and massacred at the most convenient season. for the furtherance of the scheme in the netherlands, it was understood that the spanish regiments would be exceedingly efficient. the prince, although horror-struck and indignant at the royal revelations, held his peace, and kept his countenance. the king was not aware that, in opening this delicate negotiation to alva's colleague and philip's plenipotentiary, he had given a warning of inestimable value to the man who had been born to resist the machinations of philip and of alva. william of orange earned the surname of "the silent," from the manner in which he received these communications of henry without revealing to the monarch, by word or look, the enormous blunder which he had committed. his purpose was fixed from that hour. a few days afterwards he obtained permission to visit the netherlands, where he took measures to excite, with all his influence, the strongest and most general opposition to the continued presence of the spanish troops, of which forces, touch against his will, he had been, in conjunction with egmont, appointed chief. he already felt, in his own language, that "an inquisition for the netherlands had been, resolved upon more cruel than that of spain; since it would need but to look askance at an image to be cast into the flames." although having as yet no spark of religious sympathy for the reformers, he could not, he said, "but feel compassion for so many virtuous men and women thus devoted to massacre," and he determined to save them if he could!' at the departure of philip he had received instructions, both patent and secret, for his guidance as stadholder of holland, friesland, and utrecht. he was ordered "most expressly to correct and extirpate the sects reprobated by our holy mother church; to execute the edicts of his imperial majesty, renewed by the king, with absolute rigor. he was to see that the judges carried out the edicts, without infraction, alteration, or moderation, since they were there to enforce, not to make or to discuss the law." in his secret instructions he was informed that the execution of the edicts was to be with all rigor, and without any respect of persons. he was also reminded that, whereas some persons had imagined the severity of the law "to be only intended against anabaptists, on the contrary, the edicts were to be enforced on lutherans and all other sectaries without distinction." moreover, in one of his last interviews with philip, the king had given him the names of several "excellent persons suspected of the new religion," and had commanded him to have them put to death. this, however, he not only omitted to do, but on the contrary gave them warning, so that they might effect their escape, "thinking it more necessary to obey god than man." william of orange, at the departure of the king for spain, was in his twenty-seventh year. he was a widower; his first wife, anne of egmont, having died in , after seven years of wedlock. this lady, to whom he had been united when they were both eighteen years of age, was the daughter of the celebrated general, count de buren, and the greatest heiress in the netherlands. william had thus been faithful to the family traditions, and had increased his possessions by a wealthy alliance. he had two children, philip and mary. the marriage had been more amicable than princely marriages arranged for convenience often prove. the letters of the prince to his wife indicate tenderness and contentment. at the same time he was accused, at a later period, of "having murdered her with a dagger." the ridiculous tale was not even credited by those who reported it, but it is worth mentioning, as a proof that no calumny was too senseless to be invented concerning the man whose character was from that hour forth to be the mark of slander, and whose whole life was to be its signal, although often unavailing, refutation. yet we are not to regard william of orange, thus on the threshold of his great career, by the light diffused from a somewhat later period. in no historical character more remarkably than in his is the law of constant development and progress illustrated. at twenty-six he is not the "pater patriae," the great man struggling upward and onward against a host of enemies and obstacles almost beyond human strength, and along the dark and dangerous path leading through conflict, privation, and ceaseless labor to no repose but death. on the contrary, his foot was hardly on the first step of that difficult ascent which was to rise before him all his lifetime. he was still among the primrose paths. he was rich, powerful, of sovereign rank. he had only the germs within him of what was thereafter to expand into moral and intellectual greatness. he had small sympathy for the religious reformation, of which he was to be one of the most distinguished champions. he was a catholic, nominally, and in outward observance. with doctrines he troubled himself but little. he had given orders to enforce conformity to the ancient church, not with bloodshed, yet with comparative strictness, in his principality of orange. beyond the compliance with rites and forms, thought indispensable in those days to a personage of such high degree, he did not occupy himself with theology. he was a catholic, as egmont and horn, berlaymont and mansfeld, montigny and even brederode, were catholic. it was only tanners, dyers and apostate priests who were protestants at that day in the netherlands. his determination to protect a multitude of his harmless inferiors from horrible deaths did not proceed from sympathy with their religious sentiments, but merely from a generous and manly detestation of murder. he carefully averted his mind from sacred matters. if indeed the seed implanted by his pious parents were really the germ of his future conversion to protestantism, it must be confessed that it lay dormant a long time. but his mind was in other pursuits. he was disposed for an easy, joyous, luxurious, princely life. banquets, masquerades, tournaments, the chase, interspersed with the routine of official duties, civil and military, seemed likely to fill out his life. his hospitality, like his fortune, was almost regal. while the king and the foreign envoys were still in the netherlands, his house, the splendid nassau palace of brussels, was ever open. he entertained for the monarch, who was, or who imagined himself to be, too poor to discharge his own duties in this respect, but he entertained at his own expense. this splendid household was still continued. twenty-four noblemen and eighteen pages of gentle birth officiated regularly in his family. his establishment was on so extensive a scale that upon one day twenty-eight master cooks were dismissed, for the purpose of diminishing the family expenses, and there was hardly a princely house in germany which did not send cooks to learn their business in so magnificent a kitchen. the reputation of his table remained undiminished for years. we find at a later period, that philip, in the course of one of the nominal reconciliations which took place several times between the monarch and william of orange, wrote that, his head cook being dead, he begged the prince to "make him a present of his chief cook, master herman, who was understood to be very skilful." in this hospitable mansion, the feasting continued night and day. from early morning till noon, the breakfast-tables were spread with wines and luxurious viands in constant succession, to all comers and at every moment.--the dinner and supper were daily banquets for a multitude of guests. the highest nobles were not those alone who were entertained. men of lower degree were welcomed with a charming hospitality which made them feel themselves at their ease. contemporaries of all parties unite in eulogizing the winning address and gentle manners of the prince. "never," says a most bitter catholic historian, "did an arrogant or indiscreet word fall from his lips. he, upon no occasion, manifested anger to his servants, however much they might be in fault, but contented himself with admonishing them graciously, without menace or insult. he had a gentle and agreeable tongue, with which he could turn all the gentlemen at court any way he liked. he was beloved and honored by the whole community." his manner was graceful, familiar, caressing, and yet dignified. he had the good breeding which comes from the heart, refined into an inexpressible charm from his constant intercourse, almost from his cradle, with mankind of all ranks. it may be supposed that this train of living was attended with expense. moreover, he had various other establishments in town and country; besides his almost royal residence in brussels. he was ardently fond of the chase, particularly of the knightly sport of falconry. in the country he "consoled himself by taking every day a heron in the clouds." his falconers alone cost him annually fifteen hundred florins, after he had reduced their expenses to the lowest possible point. he was much in debt, even at this early period and with his princely fortune. "we come of a race," he wrote carelessly to his brother louis, "who are somewhat bad managers in our young days, but when we grow older, we do better, like our late father: 'sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper et in secula seculorum'. my greatest difficulty," he adds, "as usual, is on account of the falconers." his debts already amounted, according to granvelle's statement, to , or , florins. he had embarrassed himself, not only through his splendid extravagance, by which all the world about him were made to partake of his wealth, but by accepting the high offices to which he had been appointed. when general-in-chief on the frontier, his salary was three hundred florins monthly; "not enough," as he said, "to pay the servants in his tent," his necessary expenses being twenty-five hundred florins, as appears by a letter to his wife. his embassy to carry the crown to ferdinand, and his subsequent residence as a hostage for the treaty in paris, were also very onerous, and he received no salary; according to the economical system in this respect pursued by charles and philip. in these two embassies or missions alone, together with the entertainments offered by him to the court and to foreigners, after the peace at brussels, the prince spent, according to his own estimate, , , florins. he was, however, although deeply, not desperately involved, and had already taken active measures to regulate and reduce his establishment. his revenues were vast, both in his own right and in that of his deceased wife. he had large claims upon the royal treasury for service and expenditure. he had besides ample sums to receive from the ransoms of the prisoners of st. quentin and gravelines, having served in both campaigns. the amount to be received by individuals from this source may be estimated from the fact that count horn, by no means one of the most favored in the victorious armies, had received from leonor d'orleans, due de loggieville, a ransom of eighty thousand crowns. the sum due, if payment were enforced, from the prisoners assigned to egmont, orange, and others, must have been very large. granvelle estimated the whole amount at two millions; adding, characteristically, "that this kind of speculation was a practice" which our good old fathers, lovers of virtue, would not have found laudable. in this the churchman was right, but he might have added that the "lovers of virtue" would have found it as little "laudable" for ecclesiastics to dispose of the sacred offices in their gift, for carpets, tapestry, and annual payments of certain percentages upon the cure of souls. if the profits respectively gained by military and clerical speculators in that day should be compared, the disadvantage would hardly be found to lie with those of the long robe. such, then, at the beginning of , was william of orange; a generous, stately, magnificent, powerful grandee. as a military commander, he had acquitted himself very creditably of highly important functions at an early age. nevertheless it was the opinion of many persons, that he was of a timid temperament. he was even accused of having manifested an unseemly panic at philippeville, and of having only been restrained by the expostulations of his officers, from abandoning both that fortress and charlemont to admiral coligny, who had made his appearance in the neighborhood, merely at the head of a reconnoitring party. if the story were true, it would be chiefly important as indicating that the prince of orange was one of the many historical characters, originally of an excitable and even timorous physical organization, whom moral courage and a strong will have afterwards converted into dauntless heroes. certain it is that he was destined to confront open danger in every form, that his path was to lead through perpetual ambush, yet that his cheerful confidence and tranquil courage were to become not only unquestionable but proverbial. it may be safely asserted, however, that the story was an invention to be classed with those fictions which made him the murderer of his first wife, a common conspirator against philip's crown and person, and a crafty malefactor in general, without a single virtue. it must be remembered that even the terrible alva, who lived in harness almost from the cradle to the grave, was, so late as at this period, censured for timidity, and had been accused in youth of flat cowardice. he despised the insinuation, which for him had no meaning. there is no doubt too that caution was a predominant characteristic of the prince. it was one of the chief sources of his greatness. at that period, perhaps at any period, he would have been incapable of such brilliant and dashing exploits as had made the name of egmont so famous. it had even become a proverb, "the counsel of orange, the execution of egmont," yet we shall have occasion to see how far this physical promptness which had been so felicitous upon the battle-field was likely to avail the hero of st. quentin in the great political combat which was approaching. as to the talents of the prince, there was no difference of opinion. his enemies never contested the subtlety and breadth of his intellect, his adroitness and capacity in conducting state affairs, his knowledge of human nature, and the profoundness of his views. in many respects it must be confessed that his surname of the silent, like many similar appellations, was a misnomer. william of orange was neither "silent" nor "taciturn," yet these are the epithets which will be forever associated with the name of a man who, in private, was the most affable, cheerful, and delightful of companions, and who on a thousand great public occasions was to prove himself, both by pen and by speech, the most eloquent man of his age. his mental accomplishments were considerable: he had studied history with attention, and he spoke and wrote with facility latin, french, german, flemish, and spanish. the man, however, in whose hands the administration of the netherlands was in reality placed, was anthony perrenot, then bishop of arras, soon to be known by the more celebrated title of cardinal granvelle. he was the chief of the consults, or secret council of three, by whose deliberations the duchess regent was to be governed. his father, nicholas perrenot, of an obscure family in burgundy, had been long the favorite minister and man of business to the emperor charles. anthony, the eldest of thirteen children, was born in . he was early distinguished for his talents. he studied at dole, padua, paris, and louvain. at, the age of twenty he spoke seven languages with perfect facility, while his acquaintance with civil and ecclesiastical laws was considered prodigious. at the age of twenty-three he became a canon of liege cathedral. the necessary eight quarters of gentility produced upon that occasion have accordingly been displayed by his panegyrists in triumphant refutation of that theory which gave him a blacksmith for his grandfather. at the same period, although he had not reached the requisite age, the rich bishopric of arras had already been prepared for him by his father's care. three years afterwards, in , he distinguished himself by a most learned and brilliant harangue before the council of trent, by which display he so much charmed the emperor, that he created him councillor of state. a few years afterwards he rendered the unscrupulous charles still more valuable proofs of devotion and dexterity by the part he played in the memorable imprisonment of the landgrave of hesse and the saxon dukes. he was thereafter constantly employed in embassies and other offices of trust and profit. there was no doubt as to his profound and varied learning, nor as to his natural quickness and dexterity. he was ready witted, smooth and fluent of tongue, fertile in expedients, courageous, resolute. he thoroughly understood the art of managing men, particularly his superiors. he knew how to govern under the appearance of obeying. he possessed exquisite tact in appreciating the characters of those far above him in rank and beneath him in intellect. he could accommodate himself with great readiness to the idiosyncrasies of sovereigns. he was a chameleon to the hand which fed him. in his intercourse with the king, he colored himself, as it were, with the king's character. he was not himself, but philip; not the sullen, hesitating, confused philip, however, but philip endowed with eloquence, readiness, facility. the king ever found himself anticipated with the most delicate obsequiousness, beheld his struggling ideas change into winged words without ceasing to be his own. no flattery could be more adroit. the bishop accommodated himself to the king's epistolary habits. the silver-tongued and ready debater substituted protocols for conversation, in deference to a monarch who could not speak. he corresponded with philip, with margaret of parma, with every one. he wrote folios to the duchess when they were in the same palace. he would write letters forty pages long to the king, and send off another courier on the same day with two or three additional despatches of identical date. such prolixity enchanted the king, whose greediness for business epistles was insatiable. the painstaking monarch toiled, pen in hand, after his wonderful minister in vain. philip was only fit to be the bishop's clerk; yet he imagined himself to be the directing and governing power. he scrawled apostilles in the margins to prove that he had read with attention, and persuaded himself that he suggested when he scarcely even comprehended. the bishop gave advice and issued instructions when he seemed to be only receiving them. he was the substance while he affected to be the shadow. these tactics were comparatively easy and likely to be triumphant, so long as he had only to deal with inferior intellects like those of philip and margaret. when he should be matched against political genius and lofty character combined, it was possible that his resources might not prove so all-sufficient. his political principles were sharply defined in reality, but smoothed over by a conventional and decorous benevolence of language, which deceived vulgar minds. he was a strict absolutist. his deference to arbitrary power was profound and slavish. god and "the master," as he always called philip, he professed to serve with equal humility. "it seems to me," said he, in a letter of this epoch, "that i shall never be able to fulfil the obligation of slave which i owe to your majesty, to whom i am bound by so firm a chain;--at any rate, i shall never fail to struggle for that end with sincerity." as a matter of course, he was a firm opponent of the national rights of the netherlands, however artfully he disguised the sharp sword of violent absolutism under a garland of flourishing phraseology. he had strenuously warned philip against assembling the states-general before his departure for the sake of asking them for supplies. he earnestly deprecated allowing the constitutional authorities any control over the expenditures of the government, and averred that this practice under the regent mary had been the cause of endless trouble. it may easily be supposed that other rights were as little to his taste as the claim to vote the subsidies, a privilege which was in reality indisputable. men who stood forth in defence of the provincial constitutions were, in his opinion, mere demagogues and hypocrites; their only motive being to curry favor with the populace. yet these charters were, after all, sufficiently limited. the natural rights of man were topics which had never been broached. man had only natural wrongs. none ventured to doubt that sovereignty was heaven-born, anointed of god. the rights of the netherlands were special, not general; plural, not singular; liberties, not liberty; "privileges," not maxims. they were practical, not theoretical; historical, not philosophical. still, such as they were, they were facts, acquisitions. they had been purchased by the blood and toil of brave ancestors; they amounted--however open to criticism upon broad humanitarian grounds, of which few at that day had ever dreamed--to a solid, substantial dyke against the arbitrary power which was ever chafing and fretting to destroy its barriers. no men were more subtle or more diligent in corroding the foundation of these bulwarks than the disciples of granvelle. yet one would have thought it possible to tolerate an amount of practical freedom so different from the wild, social speculations which in later days, have made both tyrants and reasonable lovers of our race tremble with apprehension. the netherlanders claimed, mainly, the right to vote the money which was demanded in such enormous profusion from their painfully-acquired wealth; they were also unwilling to be burned alive if they objected to transubstantiation. granvelle was most distinctly of an opposite opinion upon both topics. he strenuously deprecated the interference of the states with the subsidies, and it was by his advice that the remorseless edict of , the emperor's ordinance of blood and fire, was re-enacted, as the very first measure of philip's reign. such were his sentiments as to national and popular rights by representation. for the people itself--"that vile and mischievous animal called the people"--as he expressed it, he entertained a cheerful contempt. his aptitude for managing men was very great; his capacity for affairs incontestable; but it must be always understood as the capacity for the affairs of absolutism. he was a clever, scheming politician, an adroit manager; it remained to be seen whether he had a claim to the character of a statesman. his industry was enormous. he could write fifty letters a day with his own hand. he could dictate to half a dozen amanuenses at once, on as many different subjects, in as many different languages, and send them all away exhausted. he was already rich. his income from his see and other livings was estimated, in , at ten thousand dollars--[ approximation. the decimal point more places to the right would in not be out of line. d.w.]--; his property in ready money, "furniture, tapestry, and the like," at two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. when it is considered that, as compared with our times, these sums represent a revenue of a hundred thousand, and a capital of two millions and a half in addition, it may be safely asserted that the prelate had at least made a good beginning. besides his regular income, moreover, he had handsome receipts from that simony which was reduced to a system, and which gave him a liberal profit, generally in the shape of an annuity, upon every benefice which he conferred. he was, however, by no means satisfied. his appetite was as boundless as the sea; he was still a shameless mendicant of pecuniary favors and lucrative offices. already, in , the emperor had roundly rebuked his greediness. "as to what you say of getting no 'merced' nor 'ayuda de costa,'" said he, "'tis merced and ayuda de costa quite sufficient, when one has fat benefices, pensions, and salaries, with which a man might manage to support himself." the bishop, however, was not easily abashed, and he was at the epoch which now occupies us, earnestly and successfully soliciting from philip the lucrative abbey of saint armand. not that he would have accepted this preferment, "could the abbey have been annexed to any of the new bishoprics;" on the contrary, he assured the king that "to carry out so holy a work as the erection of those new sees, he would willingly have contributed even out of his own miserable pittance." it not being considered expedient to confiscate the abbey to any particular bishop, philip accordingly presented it to the prelate of arras, together with a handsome sum of money in the shape of an "ayuda de costa" beside. the thrifty bishop, who foresaw the advent of troublous times in the netherlands, however, took care in the letters by which he sent his thanks, to instruct the king to secure the money upon crown property in arragon, naples, and sicily, as matters in the provinces were beginning to look very precarious. such, at the commencement of the duchess margaret's administration, were the characters and the previous histories of the persons into whose hands the netherlands were entrusted. none of them have been prejudged. we have contented ourselves with stating the facts with regard to all, up to the period at which we have arrived. their characters have been sketched, not according to subsequent developments, but as they appeared at the opening of this important epoch. the aspect of the country and its inhabitants offered many sharp contrasts, and revealed many sources of future trouble. the aristocracy of the netherlands was excessively extravagant, dissipated, and already considerably embarrassed in circumstances. it had been the policy of the emperor and of philip to confer high offices, civil, military, and diplomatic, upon the leading nobles, by which enormous expenses were entailed upon them, without any corresponding salaries. the case of orange has been already alluded to, and there were many other nobles less able to afford the expense, who had been indulged with these ruinous honors. during the war, there had been, however, many chances of bettering broken fortunes. victory brought immense prizes to the leading officers. the ransoms of so many illustrious prisoners as had graced the triumphs of saint quentin and gravelines had been extremely profitable. these sources of wealth had now been cut off; yet, on the departure of the king from the netherlands, the luxury increased instead of diminishing, "instead of one court," said a contemporary, "you would have said that there were fifty." nothing could be more sumptuous than the modes of life in brussels. the household of orange has been already painted. that of egmont was almost as magnificent. a rivalry in hospitality and in display began among the highest nobles, and extended to those less able to maintain themselves in the contest. during the war there had been the valiant emulation of the battlefield; gentlemen had vied with each other how best to illustrate an ancient name with deeds of desperate valor, to repair the fortunes of a ruined house with the spoils of war. they now sought to surpass each other in splendid extravagance. it was an eager competition who should build the stateliest palaces, have the greatest number of noble pages and gentlemen in waiting, the most gorgeous liveries, the most hospitable tables, the most scientific cooks. there was, also, much depravity as well as extravagance. the morals of high society were loose. gaming was practised to a frightful extent. drunkenness was a prevailing characteristic of the higher classes. even the prince of orange himself, at this period, although never addicted to habitual excess, was extremely convivial in his tastes, tolerating scenes and companions, not likely at a later day to find much favor in his sight. "we kept saint martin's joyously," he wrote, at about this period, to his brother, "and in the most jovial company. brederode was one day in such a state that i thought he would certainly die, but he has now got over it." count brederode, soon afterwards to become so conspicuous in the early scenes of the revolt, was, in truth, most notorious for his performances in these banqueting scenes. he appeared to have vowed as uncompromising hostility to cold water as to the inquisition, and always denounced both with the same fierce and ludicrous vehemence. their constant connection with germany at that period did not improve the sobriety of the netherlands' nobles. the aristocracy of that country, as is well known, were most "potent at potting." "when the german finds himself sober," said the bitter badovaro, "he believes himself to be ill." gladly, since the peace, they had welcomed the opportunities afforded for many a deep carouse with their netherlands cousins. the approaching marriage of the prince of orange with the saxon princess--an episode which will soon engage our attention--gave rise to tremendous orgies. count schwartzburg, the prince's brother-in-law, and one of the negotiators of the marriage, found many occasions to strengthen the bonds of harmony between the countries by indulgence of these common tastes. "i have had many princes and counts at my table," he wrote to orange, "where a good deal more was drunk than eaten. the rhinegrave's brother fell down dead after drinking too much malvoisie; but we have had him balsamed and sent home to his family." these disorders among the higher ranks were in reality so extensive as to justify the biting remark of the venetian: "the gentlemen intoxicate themselves every day," said he, "and the ladies also; but much less than the men." his remarks as to the morality, in other respects, of both sexes were equally sweeping, and not more complimentary. if these were the characteristics of the most distinguished society, it may be supposed that they were reproduced with more or less intensity throughout all the more remote but concentric circles of life, as far as the seductive splendor of the court could radiate. the lesser nobles emulated the grandees, and vied with each other in splendid establishments, banquets, masquerades, and equipages. the natural consequences of such extravagance followed. their estates were mortgaged, deeply and more deeply; then, after a few years, sold to the merchants, or rich advocates and other gentlemen of the robe, to whom they had been pledged. the more closely ruin stared the victims in the face, the more heedlessly did they plunge into excesses. "such were the circumstances," moralizes a catholic writer, "to which, at an earlier period, the affairs of catiline, cethegus, lentulus, and others of that faction had been reduced, when they undertook to overthrow the roman republic." many of the nobles being thus embarrassed, and some even desperate, in their condition, it was thought that they were desirous of creating disturbances in the commonwealth, that the payment of just debts might be avoided, that their mortgaged lands might be wrested by main force from the low-born individuals who had become possessed of them, that, in particular, the rich abbey lands held by idle priests might be appropriated to the use of impoverished gentlemen who could turn them to so much better account. it is quite probable that interested motives such as these were not entirely inactive among a comparatively small class of gentlemen. the religious reformation in every land of europe derived a portion of its strength from the opportunity it afforded to potentates and great nobles for helping themselves to church property. no doubt many netherlanders thought that their fortunes might be improved at the expense of the monks, and for the benefit of religion. even without apostasy from the mother church, they looked with longing eyes on the wealth of her favored and indolent children. they thought that the king would do well to carve a round number of handsome military commanderies out of the abbey lands, whose possessors should be bound to military service after the ancient manner of fiefs, so that a splendid cavalry, headed by the gentlemen of the country, should be ever ready to mount and ride at the royal pleasure, in place of a horde of lazy epicureans, telling beads and indulging themselves in luxurious vice. such views were entertained; such language often held. these circumstances and sentiments had their influence among the causes which produced the great revolt now impending. care should be taken, however, not to exaggerate that influence. it is a prodigious mistake to refer this great historical event to sources so insufficient as the ambition of a few great nobles, and the embarrassments of a larger number of needy gentlemen. the netherlands revolt was not an aristocratic, but a popular, although certainly not a democratic movement. it was a great episode--the longest, the darkest, the bloodiest, the most important episode in the history of the religious reformation in europe. the nobles so conspicuous upon the surface at the outbreak, only drifted before a storm which they neither caused nor controlled. even the most powerful and the most sagacious were tossed to and fro by the surge of great events, which, as they rolled more and more tumultuously around them, seemed to become both irresistible and unfathomable. for the state of the people was very different from the condition of the aristocracy. the period of martyrdom had lasted long and was to last loner; but there were symptoms that it might one day be succeeded by a more active stage of popular disease. the tumults of the netherlands were long in ripening; when the final outbreak came it would have been more philosophical to enquire, not why it had occurred, but how it could have been so long postponed. during the reign of charles, the sixteenth century had been advancing steadily in strength as the once omnipotent emperor lapsed into decrepitude. that extraordinary century had not dawned upon the earth only to increase the strength of absolutism and superstition. the new world had not been discovered, the ancient world reconquered, the printing-press perfected, only that the inquisition might reign undisturbed over the fairest portions of the earth, and chartered hypocrisy fatten upon its richest lands. it was impossible that the most energetic and quick-witted people of europe should not feel sympathy with the great effort made by christendom to shake off the incubus which had so long paralyzed her hands and brain. in the netherlands, where the attachment to rome had never been intense, where in the old times, the bishops of utrecht had been rather ghibelline than guelph, where all the earlier sects of dissenters--waldenses, lollards, hussites--had found numerous converts and thousands of martyrs, it was inevitable that there should be a response from the popular heart to the deeper agitation which now reached to the very core of christendom. in those provinces, so industrious and energetic, the disgust was likely to be most easily awakened for a system under which so many friars battened in luxury upon the toils of others, contributing nothing to the taxation, nor to the military defence of the country, exercising no productive avocation, except their trade in indulgences, and squandering in taverns and brothels the annual sums derived from their traffic in licences to commit murder, incest, and every other crime known to humanity. the people were numerous, industrious, accustomed for centuries to a state of comparative civil freedom, and to a lively foreign trade, by which their minds were saved from the stagnation of bigotry. it was natural that they should begin to generalize, and to pass from the concrete images presented them in the flemish monasteries to the abstract character of rome itself. the flemish, above all their other qualities, were a commercial nation. commerce was the mother of their freedom, so far as they had acquired it, in civil matters. it was struggling to give birth to a larger liberty, to freedom of conscience. the provinces were situated in the very heart of europe. the blood of a world-wide traffic was daily coursing through the thousand arteries of that water-in-woven territory. there was a mutual exchange between the netherlands and all the world; and ideas were as liberally interchanged as goods. truth was imported as freely as less precious merchandise. the psalms of marot were as current as the drugs of molucca or the diamonds of borneo. the prohibitory measures of a despotic government could not annihilate this intellectual trade, nor could bigotry devise an effective quarantine to exclude the religious pest which lurked in every bale of merchandise, and was wafted on every breeze from east and west. the edicts of the emperor had been endured, but not accepted. the horrible persecution under which so many thousands had sunk had produced its inevitable result. fertilized by all this innocent blood, the soil of the netherlands became as a watered garden, in which liberty, civil and religious, was to flourish perennially. the scaffold had its daily victims, but did not make a single convert. the statistics of these crimes will perhaps never be accurately adjusted, nor will it be ascertained whether the famous estimate of grotius was an exaggerated or an inadequate calculation. those who love horrible details may find ample material. the chronicles contain the lists of these obscure martyrs; but their names, hardly pronounced in their life-time, sound barbarously in our ears, and will never ring through the trumpet of fame. yet they were men who dared and suffered as much as men can dare and suffer in this world, and for the noblest cause which can inspire humanity. fanatics they certainly were not, if fanaticism consists in show, without corresponding substance. for them all was terrible reality. the emperor and his edicts were realities, the axe, the stake were realities, and the heroism with which men took each other by the hand and walked into the flames, or with which women sang a song of triumph while the grave-digger was shovelling the earth upon their living faces, was a reality also. thus, the people of the netherlands were already pervaded, throughout the whole extent of the country, with the expanding spirit of religious reformation. it was inevitable that sooner or later an explosion was to arrive. they were placed between two great countries, where the new principles had already taken root. the lutheranism of germany and the calvinism of france had each its share in producing the netherland revolt, but a mistake is perhaps often made in estimating the relative proportion of these several influences. the reformation first entered the provinces, not through the augsburg, but the huguenot gate. the fiery field-preachers from the south of france first inflamed the excitable hearts of the kindred population of the south-western netherlands. the walloons were the first to rebel against and the first to reconcile themselves with papal rome, exactly as their celtic ancestors, fifteen centuries earlier, had been foremost in the revolt against imperial rome, and precipitate in their submission to her overshadowing power. the batavians, slower to be moved but more steadfast, retained the impulse which they received from the same source which was already agitating their "welsh" compatriots. there were already french preachers at valenciennes and tournay, to be followed, as we shall have occasion to see, by many others. without undervaluing the influence of the german churches, and particularly of the garrison-preaching of the german military chaplains in the netherlands, it may be safely asserted that the early reformers of the provinces were mainly huguenots in their belief: the dutch church became, accordingly, not lutheran, but calvinistic, and the founder of the commonwealth hardly ceased to be a nominal catholic before he became an adherent to the same creed. in the mean time, it is more natural to regard the great movement, psychologically speaking, as a whole, whether it revealed itself in france, germany, the netherlands, england, or scotland. the policy of governments, national character, individual interests, and other collateral circumstances, modified the result; but the great cause was the same; the source of all the movements was elemental, natural, and single. the reformation in germany had been adjourned for half a century by the augsburg religious peace, just concluded. it was held in suspense in france through the macchiavellian policy which catharine de medici had just adopted, and was for several years to prosecute, of balancing one party against the other, so as to neutralize all power but her own. the great contest was accordingly transferred to the netherlands, to be fought out for the rest of the century, while the whole of christendom were to look anxiously for the result. from the east and from the west the clouds rolled away, leaving a comparatively bright and peaceful atmosphere, only that they might concentrate themselves with portentous blackness over the devoted soil of the netherlands. in germany, the princes, not the people, had conquered rome, and to the princes, not the people, were secured the benefits of the victory--the spoils of churches, and the right to worship according to conscience. the people had the right to conform to their ruler's creed, or to depart from his land. still, as a matter of fact, many of the princes being reformers, a large mass of the population had acquired the privilege for their own generation and that of their children to practise that religion which they actually approved. this was a fact, and a more comfortable one than the necessity of choosing between what they considered wicked idolatry and the stake--the only election left to their netherland brethren. in france, the accidental splinter from montgomery's lance had deferred the huguenot massacre for a dozen years. during the period in which the queen regent was resolved to play her fast and loose policy, all the persuasions of philip and the arts of alva were powerless to induce her to carry out the scheme which henry had revealed to orange in the forest of vincennes. when the crime came at last, it was as blundering as it was bloody; at once premeditated and accidental; the isolated execution of an interregal conspiracy, existing for half a generation, yet exploding without concert; a wholesale massacre, but a piecemeal plot. the aristocracy and the masses being thus, from a variety of causes, in this agitated and dangerous condition, what were the measures of the government? the edict of had been re-enacted immediately after philip's accession to sovereignty. it is necessary that the reader should be made acquainted with some of the leading provisions of this famous document, thus laid down above all the constitutions as the organic law of the land. a few plain facts, entirely without rhetorical varnish, will prove more impressive in this case than superfluous declamation. the american will judge whether the wrongs inflicted by laud and charles upon his puritan ancestors were the severest which a people has had to undergo, and whether the dutch republic does not track its source to the same high, religious origin as that of our own commonwealth. "no one," said the edict, "shall print, write, copy, keep, conceal, sell, buy or give in churches, streets, or other places, any book or writing made by martin luther, john ecolampadius, ulrich zwinglius, martin bucer, john calvin, or other heretics reprobated by the holy church; nor break, or otherwise injure the images of the holy virgin or canonized saints.... nor in his house hold conventicles, or illegal gatherings, or be present at any such in which the adherents of the above-mentioned heretics teach, baptize, and form conspiracies against the holy church and the general welfare..... moreover, we forbid," continues the edict, in name of the sovereign, "all lay persons to converse or dispute concerning the holy scriptures, openly or secretly, especially on any doubtful or difficult matters, or to read, teach, or expound the scriptures, unless they have duly studied theology and been approved by some renowned university..... or to preach secretly, or openly, or to entertain any of the opinions of the above-mentioned heretics..... on pain, should anyone be found to have contravened any of the points above-mentioned, as perturbators of our state and of the general quiet, to be punished in the following manner." and how were they to be punished? what was the penalty inflicted upon the man or woman who owned a hymn-book, or who hazarded the opinion in private, that luther was not quite wrong in doubting the power of a monk to sell for money the license to commit murder or incest; or upon the parent, not being a roman catholic doctor of divinity, who should read christ's sermon on the mount to his children in his own parlor or shop? how were crimes like these to be visited upon the transgressor? was it by reprimand, fine, imprisonment, banishment, or by branding on the forehead, by the cropping of the ears or the slitting of nostrils, as was practised upon the puritan fathers of new england for their nonconformity? it was by a sharper chastisement than any of these methods. the puritan fathers of the dutch republic had to struggle against a darker doom. the edict went on to provide-- "that such perturbators of the general quiet are to be executed, to wit: the men with the sword and the women to be buried alive, if they do not persist in their errors; if they do persist in them, then they are to be executed with fire; all their property in both cases being confiscated to the crown." thus, the clemency of the sovereign permitted the repentant heretic to be beheaded or buried, alive, instead of being burned. the edict further provided against all misprision of heresy by making those who failed to betray the suspected liable to the same punishment as if suspected or convicted themselves: "we forbid," said the decree, "all persons to lodge, entertain, furnish with food, fire, or clothing, or otherwise to favor any one holden or notoriously suspected of being a heretic;... and any one failing to denounce any such we ordain shall be liable to the above-mentioned punishments." the edict went on to provide, "that if any person, being not convicted of heresy or error, but greatly suspected thereof, and therefore condemned by the spiritual judge to abjure such heresy, or by the secular magistrate to make public fine and reparation, shall again become suspected or tainted with heresy--although it should not appear that he has contravened or violated any one of our abovementioned commands--nevertheless, we do will and ordain that such person shall be considered as relapsed, and, as such, be punished with loss of life and property, without any hope of moderation or mitigation of the above-mentioned penalties." furthermore, it was decreed, that "the spiritual judges, desiring to proceed against any one for the crime of heresy, shall request any of our sovereign courts or provincial councils to appoint any one of their college, or such other adjunct as the council shall select, to preside over the proceedings to be instituted against the suspected. all who know of any person tainted with heresy are required to denounce and give them up to all judges, officers of the bishops, or others having authority on the premises, on pain of being punished according to the pleasure of the judge. likewise, all shall be obliged, who know of any place where such heretics keep themselves, to declare them to the authorities, on pain of being held as accomplices, and punished as such heretics themselves would be if apprehended." in order to secure the greatest number of arrests by a direct appeal to the most ignoble, but not the least powerful principle of human nature, it was ordained "that the informer, in case of conviction, should be entitled to one half the property of the accused, if not more than one hundred pounds flemish; if more, then ten per cent. of all such excess." treachery to one's friends was encouraged by the provision, "that if any man being present at any secret conventicle, shall afterwards come forward and betray his fellow-members of the congregation, he shall receive full pardon." in order that neither the good people of the netherlands, nor the judges and inquisitors should delude themselves with the notion that these fanatic decrees were only intended to inspire terror, not for practical execution, the sovereign continued to ordain--"to the end that the judges and officers may have no reason, under pretext that the penalties are too great and heavy and only devised to terrify delinquents, to punish them less severely than they deserve--that the culprits be really punished by the penalties above declared; forbidding all judges to alter or moderate the penalties in any manner forbidding any one, of whatsoever condition, to ask of us, or of any one having authority, to grant pardon, or to present any petition in favor of such heretics, exiles, or fugitives, on penalty of being declared forever incapable of civil and military office, and of being, arbitrarily punished besides." such were the leading provisions of this famous edict, originally promulgated in as a recapitulation and condensation of all the previous ordinances of the emperor upon religious subjects. by its style and title it was a perpetual edict, and, according to one of its clauses, was to be published forever, once in every six months, in every city and village of the netherlands. it had been promulgated at augsburg, where the emperor was holding a diet, upon the th of september. its severity had so appalled the dowager queen of hungary, that she had made a journey to augsburg expressly to procure a mitigation of some of its provisions. the principal alteration which she was able to obtain of the emperor was, however, in the phraseology only. as a concession to popular, prejudice, the words "spiritual judges" were substituted for "inquisitors" wherever that expression had occurred in the original draft. the edict had been re-enacted by the express advice of the bishop of arras, immediately on the accession of philip: the prelate knew the value of the emperor's name; he may have thought, also, that it would be difficult to increase the sharpness of the ordinances. "i advised the king," says granvelle, in a letter written a few years later, "to make no change in the placards, but to proclaim the text drawn up by the emperor, republishing the whole as the king's edict, with express insertion of the phrase, 'carolus,' etc. i recommended this lest men should calumniate his majesty as wishing to introduce novelties in the matter of religion." this edict, containing the provisions which have been laid before the reader, was now to be enforced with the utmost rigor; every official personage, from the stadholders down, having received the most stringent instructions to that effect, under philip's own hand. this was the first gift of philip and of granvelle to the netherlands; of the monarch who said of himself that he had always, "from the beginning of his government, followed the path of clemency, according to his natural disposition, so well known to all the world;" of the prelate who said of himself, "that he had ever combated the opinion that any thing could be accomplished by terror, death, and violence." during the period of the french and papal war, it has been seen that the execution of these edicts had been permitted to slacken. it was now resumed with redoubled fury. moreover, a new measure had increased the disaffection and dismay of the people, already sufficiently filled with apprehension. as an additional security for the supremacy of the ancient religion, it had been thought desirable that the number of bishops should be increased. there were but four sees in the netherlands, those of arras, cambray, tournay, and utrecht. that of utrecht was within the archiepiscopate of cologne; the other three were within that of rheims. it seemed proper that the prelates of the netherlands should owe no extraprovincial allegiance. it was likewise thought that three millions of souls required more than four spiritual superintendents. at any rate, whatever might be the interest of the flocks, it was certain that those broad and fertile pastures would sustain more than the present number of shepherds. the wealth of the religious houses in the provinces was very great. the abbey of afflighem alone had a revenue of fifty thousand florins, and there were many others scarcely inferior in wealth. but these institutions were comparatively independent both of king and pope. electing their own superiors from time to time, in nowise desirous of any change by which their ease might be disturbed and their riches endangered, the honest friars were not likely to engage in any very vigorous crusade against heresy, nor for the sake of introducing or strengthening spanish institutions, which they knew to be abominated by the people, to take the risk, of driving all their disciples into revolt and apostacy. comforting themselves with an erasmian philosophy, which they thought best suited to the times, they were as little likely as the sage of rotterdam himself would have been, to make martyrs of themselves for the sake of extirpating calvinism. the abbots and monks were, in political matters, very much under the influence of the great nobles, in whose company they occupied the benches of the upper house of the states-general. doctor francis sonnius had been sent on a mission to the pope, for the purpose of representing the necessity of an increase in the episcopal force of the netherlands. just as the king was taking his departure, the commissioner arrived, bringing with him the bull of paul the fourth, dated may , . this was afterwards confirmed by that of pius the fourth, in january of the following year. the document stated that "paul the fourth, slave of slaves, wishing to provide for the welfare of the provinces and the eternal salvation of their inhabitants, had determined to plant in that fruitful field several new bishoprics. the enemy of mankind being abroad," said the bull, "in so many forms at that particular time, and the netherlands, then under the sway of that beloved son of his holiness, philip the catholic, being compassed about with heretic and schismatic nations, it was believed that the eternal welfare of the land was in great danger. at the period of the original establishment of cathedral churches, the provinces had been sparsely peopled; they had now become filled to overflowing, so that the original ecclesiastical arrangement did not suffice. the harvest was plentiful, but the laborers were few." in consideration of these and other reasons, three archbishoprics were accordingly appointed. that of mechlin was to be principal, under which were constituted six bishoprics, those, namely, of antwerp, bois le due, rurmond, ghent, bruges and ypres. that of cambray was second, with the four subordinate dioceses of tournay, arras, saint omer and namur. the third archbishopric was that of utrecht, with the five sees of haarlem, middelburg, leeuwarden, groningen and deventer. the nomination to these important offices was granted to the king, subject to confirmation by the pope. moreover, it was ordained by the bull that "each bishop should appoint nine additional prebendaries, who were to assist him in the matter of the inquisition throughout his bishopric, two of whom were themselves to be inquisitors." to sustain these two great measures, through which philip hoped once and forever to extinguish the netherland heresy, it was considered desirable that the spanish troops still remaining in the provinces, should be kept there indefinitely. the force was not large, amounting hardly to four thousand men, but they were unscrupulous, and admirably disciplined. as the entering wedge, by which a military and ecclesiastical despotism was eventually to be forced into the very heart of the land, they were invaluable. the moral effect to be hoped from the regular presence of a spanish standing army during a time of peace in the netherlands could hardly be exaggerated. philip was therefore determined to employ every argument and subterfuge to detain the troops. etext editor's bookmarks: burned alive if they objected to transubstantiation german finds himself sober--he believes himself ill govern under the appearance of obeying informer, in case of conviction, should be entitled to one half man had only natural wrongs (no natural rights) no calumny was too senseless to be invented ruinous honors sovereignty was heaven-born, anointed of god that vile and mischievous animal called the people understood the art of managing men, particularly his superiors upon one day twenty-eight master cooks were dismissed william of nassau, prince of orange motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. chapter ii. - agitation in the netherlands--the ancient charters resorted to as barriers against the measures of government--"joyous entrance" of brabant--constitution of holland--growing unpopularity of antony perrenot, archbishop of mechlin--opposition to the new bishoprics, by orange, egmont, and other influential nobles--fury of the people at the continued presence of the foreign soldiery--orange resigns the command of the legion--the troops recalled--philip's personal attention to the details of persecution--perrenot becomes cardinal de granvelle--all the power of government in his hands--his increasing unpopularity--animosity and violence of egmont towards the cardinal--relations between orange and granvelle--ancient friendship gradually changing to enmity--renewal of the magistracy at antwerp--quarrel between the prince and cardinal--joint letter of orange and egmont to the king--answer of the king--indignation of philip against count horn--secret correspondence between the king and cardinal--remonstrances against the new bishoprics--philip's private financial statements--penury of the exchequer in spain and in the provinces--plan for debasing the coin--marriage of william the silent with the princess of lorraine circumvented--negotiations for his matrimonial alliance with princess anna of saxony-- correspondence between granvelle and philip upon the subject-- opposition of landgrave philip and of philip the second--character and conduct of elector augustus--mission of count schwartzburg-- communications of orange to the king and to duchess margaret-- characteristic letter of philip--artful conduct of granvelle and of the regent--visit of orange to dresden--proposed "note" of elector augustus--refusal of the prince--protest of the landgrave against the marriage--preparations for the wedding at leipzig--notarial instrument drawn up on the marriage day--wedding ceremonies and festivities--entrance of granvelle into mechlin as archbishop-- compromise in brabant between the abbeys and bishops. the years and were mainly occupied with the agitation and dismay produced by the causes set forth in the preceding chapter. against the arbitrary policy embodied in the edicts, the new bishoprics and the foreign soldiery, the netherlanders appealed to their ancient constitutions. these charters were called "handvests" in the vernacular dutch and flemish, because the sovereign made them fast with his hand. as already stated, philip had made them faster than any of the princes of his house had ever done, so far as oath and signature could accomplish that purpose, both as hereditary prince in , and as monarch in . the reasons for the extensive and unconditional manner in which he swore to support the provincial charters, have been already indicated. of these constitutions, that of brabant, known by the title of the 'joyeuse entree, blyde inkomst', or blithe entrance, furnished the most decisive barrier against the present wholesale tyranny. first and foremost, the "joyous entry" provided "that the prince of the land should not elevate the clerical state higher than of old has been customary and by former princes settled; unless by consent of the other two estates, the nobility and the cities." again; "the prince can prosecute no one of his subjects nor any foreign resident, civilly or criminally, except in the ordinary and open courts of justice in the province, where the accused may answer and defend himself with the help of advocates." further; "the prince shall appoint no foreigners to office in brabant." lastly; "should the prince, by force or otherwise, violate any of these privileges, the inhabitants of brabant, after regular protest entered, are discharged of their oaths of allegiance, and as free, independent and unbound people, may conduct themselves exactly as seems to them best." such were the leading features, so far as they regarded the points now at issue, of that famous constitution which was so highly esteemed in the netherlands, that mothers came to the province in order to give birth to their children, who might thus enjoy, as a birthright, the privileges of brabant. yet the charters of the other provinces ought to have been as effective against the arbitrary course of the government. "no foreigner," said the constitution of holland, "is eligible as, councillor, financier, magistrate, or member of a court. justice can be administered only by the ordinary tribunals and magistrates. the ancient laws and customs shall remain inviolable. should the prince infringe any of these provisions, no one is bound to obey him." these provisions, from the brabant and holland charters, are only cited as illustrative of the general spirit of the provincial constitutions. nearly all the provinces possessed privileges equally ample, duly signed and sealed. so far as ink and sealing wax could defend a land against sword and fire, the netherlands were impregnable against the edicts and the renewed episcopal inquisition. unfortunately, all history shows how feeble are barriers of paper or lambskin, even when hallowed with a monarch's oath, against the torrent of regal and ecclesiastical absolutism. it was on the reception in the provinces of the new and confirmatory bull concerning the bishoprics, issued in january, , that the measure became known, and the dissatisfaction manifest. the discontent was inevitable and universal. the ecclesiastical establishment which was not to be enlarged or elevated but by consent of the estates, was suddenly expanded into three archiepiscopates and fifteen bishoprics. the administration of justice, which was only allowed in free and local courts, distinct for each province, was to be placed, so far as regarded the most important of human interests, in the hands of bishops and their creatures, many of them foreigners and most of them monks. the lives and property of the whole population were to be at the mercy of these utterly irresponsible conclaves. all classes were outraged. the nobles were offended because ecclesiastics, perhaps foreign ecclesiastics, were to be empowered to sit in the provincial estates and to control their proceedings in place of easy, indolent, ignorant abbots and friars, who had generally accepted the influence of the great seignors. the priests were enraged because the religious houses were thus taken out of their control and confiscated to a bench of bishops, usurping the places of those superiors who had formally been elected by and among themselves. the people were alarmed because the monasteries, although not respected nor popular, were at least charitable and without ambition to exercise ecclesiastical cruelty; while, on the other hand, by the new episcopal arrangements, a force of thirty new inquisitors was added to the apparatus for enforcing orthodoxy already established. the odium of the measure was placed upon the head of that churchman, already appointed archbishop of mechlin, and soon to be known as cardinal granvelle. from this time forth, this prelate began to be regarded with a daily increasing aversion. he was looked upon as the incarnation of all the odious measures which had been devised; as the source of that policy of absolutism which revealed itself more and more rapidly after the king's departure from the country. it was for this reason that so much stress was laid by popular clamor upon the clause prohibiting foreigners from office. granvelle was a burgundian; his father had passed most of his active life in spain, while both he and his more distinguished son were identified in the general mind with spanish politics. to this prelate, then, were ascribed the edicts, the new bishoprics, and the continued presence of the foreign troops. the people were right as regarded the first accusation. they were mistaken as to the other charges. the king had not consulted anthony perrenot with regard to the creation of the new bishoprics. the measure, which had been successively contemplated by philip "the good," by charles the bold, and by the emperor charles, had now been carried out by philip the second, without the knowledge of the new archbishop of mechlin. the king had for once been able to deceive the astuteness of the prelate, and had concealed from him the intended arrangement, until the arrival of sonnius with the bulls. granvelle gave the reasons for this mystery with much simplicity. "his majesty knew," he said, "that i should oppose it, as it was more honorable and lucrative to be one of four than one of eighteen." in fact, according to his own statement, he lost money by becoming archbishop of mechlin, and ceasing to be bishop of arras. for these reasons he declined, more than once, the proffered dignity, and at last only accepted it from fear of giving offence to the king, and after having secured compensation for his alleged losses. in the same letter (of th may, ) in which he thanked philip for conferring upon him the rich abbey of saint armand, which he had solicited, in addition to the "merced" in ready money, concerning the safe investment of which he had already sent directions, he observed that he was now willing to accept the archbishopric of mechlin; notwithstanding the odium attached to the measure, notwithstanding his feeble powers, and notwithstanding that, during the life of the bishop of tournay, who was then in rude health, he could only receive three thousand ducats of the revenue, giving up arras and gaining nothing in mechlin; notwithstanding all this, and a thousand other things besides, he assured his majesty that, "since the royal desire was so strong that he should accept, he would consider nothing so difficult that he would not at least attempt it." having made up his mind to take the see and support the new arrangements, he was resolved that his profits should be as large as possible. we have seen how he had already been enabled to indemnify himself. we shall find him soon afterwards importuning the king for the abbey of afflighem, the enormous revenue of which the prelate thought would make another handsome addition to the rewards of his sacrifices. at the same time, he was most anxious that the people, and particularly the great nobles, should not ascribe the new establishment to him, as they persisted in doing. "they say that the episcopates were devised to gratify my ambition," he wrote to philip two years later; "whereas your majesty knows how steadily i refused the see of mechlin, and that i only accepted it in order not to live in idleness, doing nothing for god and your majesty." he therefore instructed philip, on several occasions, to make it known to the government of the regent, to the seignors, and to the country generally, that the measure had been arranged without his knowledge; that the marquis berghen had known of it first, and that the prelate had, in truth, been kept in the dark on the subject until the arrival of sonnius with the bulls. the king, always docile to his minister, accordingly wrote to the duchess the statements required, in almost the exact phraseology suggested; taking pains to repeat the declarations on several occasions, both by letter and by word of mouth, to many influential persons. the people, however, persisted in identifying the bishop with the scheme. they saw that he was the head of the new institutions; that he was to receive the lion's share of the confiscated abbeys, and that he was foremost in defending and carrying through the measure, in spite of all opposition. that opposition waxed daily more bitter, till the cardinal, notwithstanding that he characterised the arrangement to the king as "a holy work," and warmly assured secretary perez that he would contribute his fortune, his blood, and his life, to its success, was yet obliged to exclaim in the bitterness of his spirit, "would to god that the erection of these new sees had never been thought of. amen! amen!" foremost in resistance was the prince of orange. although a catholic, he had no relish for the horrible persecution which had been determined upon. the new bishoprics he characterized afterwards as parts "of one grand scheme for establishing the cruel inquisition of spain; the said bishops to serve as inquisitors, burners of bodies; and tyrants of conscience: two prebendaries in each see being actually constituted inquisitors." for this reason he omitted no remonstrance on the subject to the duchess, to granvelle, and by direct letters to the king. his efforts were seconded by egmont, berghen, and other influential nobles. even berlaymont was at first disposed to side with the opposition, but upon the argument used by the duchess, that the bishoprics and prebends would furnish excellent places for his sons and other members of the aristocracy, he began warmly to support the measure. most of the labor, however, and all the odium, of the business fell upon the bishop's shoulders. there was still a large fund of loyalty left in the popular mind, which not even forty years of the emperor's dominion had consumed, and which philip was destined to draw upon as prodigally as if the treasure had been inexhaustible. for these reasons it still seemed most decorous to load all the hatred upon the minister's back, and to retain the consolatory formula, that philip was a prince, "clement, benign, and debonair." the bishop, true to his habitual conviction, that words, with the people, are much more important than things, was disposed to have the word "inquisitor" taken out of the text of the new decree. he was anxious at this juncture to make things pleasant, and he saw no reason why men should be unnecessarily startled. if the inquisition could be practised, and the heretics burned, he was in favor of its being done comfortably. the word "inquisitor" was unpopular, almost indecent. it was better to suppress the term and retain the thing. "people are afraid to speak of the new bishoprics," he wrote to perez, "on account of the clause providing that of nine canons one shall be inquisitor. hence people fear the spanish inquisition."--he, therefore, had written to the king to suggest instead, that the canons or graduates should be obliged to assist the bishop, according as he might command. those terms would suffice, because, although not expressly stated, it was clear that the bishop was an ordinary inquisitor; but it was necessary to expunge words that gave offence. it was difficult, however, with all the bishop's eloquence and dexterity, to construct an agreeable inquisition. the people did not like it, in any shape, and there were indications, not to be mistaken, that one day there would be a storm which it would be beyond human power to assuage. at present the people directed their indignation only upon a part of the machinery devised for their oppression. the spanish troops were considered as a portion of the apparatus by which the new bishoprics and the edicts were to be forced into execution. moreover, men were, weary of the insolence and the pillage which these mercenaries had so long exercised in the land. when the king had been first requested to withdraw them, we have seen that he had burst into a violent passion. he had afterward dissembled. promising, at last, that they should all be sent from the country within three or four months after his departure, he had determined to use every artifice to detain them in the provinces. he had succeeded, by various subterfuges, in keeping them there fourteen months; but it was at last evident that their presence would no longer be tolerated. towards the close of they were quartered in walcheren and brill. the zelanders, however, had become so exasperated by their presence that they resolutely refused to lay a single hand upon the dykes, which, as usual at that season, required great repairs. rather than see their native soil profaned any longer by these hated foreign mercenaries, they would see it sunk forever in the ocean. they swore to perish-men, women, and children together-in the waves, rather than endure longer the outrages which the soldiery daily inflicted. such was the temper of the zelanders that it was not thought wise to trifle with their irritation. the bishop felt that it was no longer practicable to detain the troops, and that all the pretext devised by philip and his government had become ineffectual. in a session of the state council, held on the th october, , he represented in the strongest terms to the regent the necessity for the final departure of the troops. viglius, who knew the character of his countrymen, strenuously seconded the proposal. orange briefly but firmly expressed the same opinion, declining any longer to serve as commander of the legion, an office which, in conjunction with egmont, he had accepted provisionally, with the best of motives, and on the pledge of philip that the soldiers should be withdrawn. the duchess urged that the order should at least be deferred until the arrival of count egmont, then in spain, but the proposition was unanimously negatived. letters were accordingly written, in the name of the regent, to the king. it was stated that the measure could no longer be delayed, that the provinces all agreed in this point, that so long as the foreigners remained not a stiver should be paid into the treasury; that if they had once set sail, the necessary amount for their arrears would be furnished to the government; but that if they should return it was probable that they would be resisted by the inhabitants with main force, and that they would only be allowed to enter the cities through a breach in their wall. it was urged, moreover, that three or four thousand spaniards would not be sufficient to coerce all the provinces, and that there was not money enough in the royal exchequer to pay the wages of a single company of the troops. "it cuts me to the heart," wrote the bishop to philip, "to see the spanish infantry leave us; but go they must. would to god that we could devise any pretext, as your majesty desires, under which to keep them here! we have tried all means humanly possible for retaining them, but i see no way to do it without putting the provinces in manifest danger of sudden revolt." fortunately for the dignity of the government, or for the repose of the country, a respectable motive was found for employing the legion elsewhere. the important loss which spain had recently met with in the capture of zerby made a reinforcement necessary in the army engaged in the southern service. thus, the disaster in barbary at last relieved the netherlands of the pest which had afflicted them so long. for a brief breathing space the country was cleared of foreign mercenaries. the growing unpopularity of the royal government, still typified, however, in the increasing hatred entertained for the bishop, was not materially diminished by the departure of the spaniards. the edicts and the bishoprics were still there, even if the soldiers were gone. the churchman worked faithfully to accomplish his master's business. philip, on his side, was industrious to bring about the consummation of his measures. ever occupied with details, the monarch, from his palace in spain, sent frequent informations against the humblest individuals in the netherlands. it is curious to observe the minute reticulations of tyranny which he had begun already to spin about a whole, people, while cold, venomous, and patient he watched his victims from the centre of his web. he forwarded particular details to the duchess and cardinal concerning a variety of men and women, sending their names, ages, personal appearance, occupations, and residence, together with directions for their immediate immolation. even the inquisitors of seville were set to work to increase, by means of their branches or agencies in the provinces, the royal information on this all-important subject. "there are but few of us left in the world," he moralized in a letter to the bishop, "who care for religion. 'tis necessary, therefore, for us to take the greater heed for christianity. we must lose our all, if need be, in order to do our duty; in fine," added he, with his usual tautology, "it is right that a man should do his duty." granvelle--as he must now be called, for his elevation to the cardinalship will be immediately alluded to--wrote to assure the king that every pains would be taken to ferret out and execute the individuals complained of. he bewailed, however, the want of heartiness on the part of the netherland inquisitors and judges. "i find," said he, "that all judicial officers go into the matter of executing the edicts with reluctance, which i believe is caused by their fear of displeasing the populace. when they do act they do it but languidly, and when these matters are not taken in hand with the necessary liveliness, the fruit desired is not gathered. we do not fail to exhort and to command them to do their work." he added that viglius and berlaymont displayed laudable zeal, but that he could not say as much for the council of brabant. those councillors "were forever prating," said he, "of the constitutional rights of their province, and deserved much less commendation." the popularity of the churchman, not increased by these desperate exertions to force an inhuman policy upon an unfortunate nation, received likewise no addition from his new elevation in rank. during the latter part of the year , margaret of parma, who still entertained a profound admiration of the prelate, and had not yet begun to chafe under his smooth but imperious dominion, had been busy in preparing for him a delightful surprise. without either his knowledge or that of the king, she had corresponded with the pope, and succeeded in obtaining, as a personal favor to herself, the cardinal's hat for anthony perrenot. in february, , cardinal borromeo wrote to announce that the coveted dignity had been bestowed. the duchess hastened, with joyous alacrity, to communicate the intelligence to the bishop, but was extremely hurt to find that he steadily refused to assume his new dignity, until he had written to the king to announce the appointment, and to ask his permission to accept the honor. the duchess, justly wounded at his refusal to accept from her hands the favor which she, and she only, had obtained for him, endeavored in vain to overcome his pertinacity. she represented that although philip was not aware of the application or the appointment, he was certain to regard it as an agreeable surprise. she urged, moreover, that his temporary refusal would be misconstrued at rome, where it would certainly excite ridicule, and very possibly give offence in the highest quarter. the bishop was inexorable. he feared, says his panegyrist, that he might one day be on worse terms than at present with the duchess, and that then she might reproach him with her former benefits. he feared also that the king might, in consequence of the step, not look with satisfaction upon him at some future period, when he might stand in need of his favors. he wrote, accordingly, a most characteristic letter to philip, in which he informed him that he had been honored with the cardinal's hat. he observed that many persons were already congratulating him, but that before he made any demonstration of accepting or refusing, he waited for his majesty's orders: upon his will he wished ever to depend. he also had the coolness, under the circumstances, to express his conviction that "it was his majesty who had secretly procured this favor from his holiness." the king received the information very graciously, observing in reply, that although he had never made any suggestion of the kind, he had "often thought upon the subject." the royal command was of course at once transmitted, that the dignity should be accepted. by special favor, moreover, the pope dispensed the new cardinal from the duty of going to rome in person, and despatched his chamberlain, theophilus friso, to brussels, with the red hat and tabbard. the prelate, having thus reached the dignity to which he had long aspired, did not grow more humble in his deportment, or less zealous in the work through which he had already gained so much wealth and preferment. his conduct with regard to the edicts and bishoprics had already brought him into relations which were far from amicable with his colleagues in the council. more and more he began to take the control of affairs into his own hand. the consulta, or secret committee of the state council, constituted the real government of the country. here the most important affairs were decided upon without the concurrence of the other seignors, orange, egmont, and glayon, who, at the same time, were held responsible for the action of government. the cardinal was smooth in manner, plausible of speech, generally even-tempered, but he was overbearing and blandly insolent. accustomed to control royal personages, under the garb of extreme obsequiousness, he began, in his intercourse with those of less exalted rank, to omit a portion of the subserviency while claiming a still more undisguised authority. to nobles like egmont and orange, who looked down upon the son of nicolas perrenot and nicola bonvalot as a person immeasurably beneath themselves in the social hierarchy, this conduct was sufficiently irritating. the cardinal, placed as far above philip, and even margaret, in mental power as he was beneath them in worldly station, found it comparatively easy to deal with them amicably. with such a man as egmont, it was impossible for the churchman to maintain friendly relations. the count, who notwithstanding his romantic appearance, his brilliant exploits, and his interesting destiny, was but a commonplace character, soon conceived a mortal aversion to granvelle. a rude soldier, entertaining no respect for science or letters, ignorant and overbearing, he was not the man to submit to the airs of superiority which pierced daily more and more decidedly through the conventional exterior of the cardinal. granvelle, on the other hand, entertained a gentle contempt for egmont, which manifested itself in all his private letters to the king, and was sufficiently obvious in his deportment. there had also been distinct causes of animosity between them. the governorship of hesdin having become vacant, egmont, backed by orange and other nobles, had demanded it for the count de roeulx, a gentleman of the croy family, who, as well as his father, had rendered many important services to the crown. the appointment was, however, bestowed, through granvelle's influence, upon the seigneur d'helfault, a gentleman of mediocre station and character, who was thought to possess no claims whatever to the office. egmont, moreover, desired the abbey of trulle for a poor relation of his own; but the cardinal, to whom nothing in this way ever came amiss, had already obtained the king's permission to, appropriate the abbey to himself egmont was now furious against the prelate, and omitted no opportunity of expressing his aversion, both in his presence and behind his back. on one occasion, at least, his wrath exploded in something more than words. exasperated by granvelle's polished insolence in reply to his own violent language, he drew his dagger upon him in the presence of the regent herself, "and," says a contemporary, "would certainly have sent the cardinal into the next world had he not been forcibly restrained by the prince of orange and other persons present, who warmly represented to him that such griefs were to be settled by deliberate advice, not by choler." at the same time, while scenes like these were occurring in the very bosom of the state council, granvelle, in his confidential letters to secretary perez, asserted warmly that all reports of a want of harmony between himself and the other seignors and councillors were false, and that the best relations existed among them all. it was not his intention, before it should be necessary, to let the king doubt his ability to govern the counsel according to the secret commission with which he had been invested. his relations with orange were longer in changing from friendship to open hostility. in the prince the cardinal met his match. he found himself confronted by an intellect as subtle, an experience as fertile in expedients, a temper as even, and a disposition sometimes as haughty as his own. he never affected to undervalue the mind of orange. "'tis a man of profound genius, vast ambition--dangerous, acute, politic," he wrote to the king at a very early period. the original relations between himself and the prince bad been very amicable. it hardly needed the prelate's great penetration to be aware that the friendship of so exalted a personage as the youthful heir to the principality of orange, and to the vast possessions of the chalons-nassau house in burgundy and the netherlands, would be advantageous to the ambitious son of the burgundian councillor granvelle. the young man was the favorite of the emperor from boyhood; his high rank, and his remarkable talents marked him indisputably for one of the foremost men of the coming reign. therefore it was politic in perrenot to seize every opportunity of making himself useful to the prince. he busied himself with securing, so far as it might be necessary to secure, the succession of william to his cousin's principality. it seems somewhat ludicrous for a merit to be made not only for granvelle but for the emperor, that the prince should have been allowed to take an inheritance which the will of rene de nassau most unequivocally conferred, and which no living creature disputed. yet, because some of the crown lawyers had propounded the dogma that "the son of a heretic ought not to succeed," it was gravely stated as an immense act of clemency upon the part of charles the fifth that he had not confiscated the whole of the young prince's heritage. in return granvelle's brother jerome had obtained the governorship of the youth, upon whose majority he had received an honorable military appointment from his attached pupil. the prelate had afterwards recommended the marriage with the count de buren's heiress, and had used his influence with the emperor to overcome certain objections entertained by charles, that the prince, by this great accession of wealth, might be growing too powerful. on the other hand, there were always many poor relations and dependents of granvelle, eager to be benefitted by orange's patronage, who lived in the prince's household, or received handsome appointments from his generosity. thus, there had been great intimacy, founded upon various benefits mutually conferred; for it could hardly be asserted that the debt of friendship was wholly upon one side. when orange arrived in brussels from a journey, he would go to the bishop's before alighting at his own house. when the churchman visited the prince, he entered his bed-chamber without ceremony before he had risen; for it was william's custom, through life, to receive intimate acquaintances, and even to attend to important negotiations of state, while still in bed. the show of this intimacy had lasted longer than its substance. granvelle was the most politic of men, and the prince had not served his apprenticeship at the court of charles the fifth to lay himself bare prematurely to the criticism or the animosity of the cardinal with the recklessness of horn and egmont. an explosion came at last, however, and very soon after an exceedingly amicable correspondence between the two upon the subject of an edict of religious amnesty which orange was preparing for his principality, and which granvelle had recommended him not to make too lenient. a few weeks after this, the antwerp magistracy was to be renewed. the prince, as hereditary burgrave of that city, was entitled to a large share of the appointing power in these political arrangements, which at the moment were of great importance. the citizens of antwerp were in a state of excitement on the subject of the new bishops. they openly, and in the event, successfully resisted the installation of the new prelate for whom their city had been constituted a diocese. the prince was known to be opposed to the measure, and to the whole system of ecclesiastical persecution. when the nominations for the new magistracy came before the regent, she disposed of the whole matter in the secret consulta, without the knowledge, and in a manner opposed to the views of orange. he was then furnished with a list of the new magistrates, and was informed that he had been selected as commissioner along with count aremberg, to see that the appointments were carried into effect. the indignation of the prince was extreme. he had already taken offence at some insolent expressions upon this topic, which the cardinal had permitted himself. he now sent back the commission to the duchess, adding, it was said, that he was not her lackey, and that she might send some one else with her errands. the words were repeated in the state council. there was a violent altercation--orange vehemently resenting his appointment merely to carry out decisions in which he claimed an original voice. his ancestors, he said, had often changed the whole of the antwerp magistracy by their own authority. it was a little too much that this matter, as well as every other state affair, should be controlled by the secret committee of which the cardinal was the chief. granvelle, on his side, was also in a rage. he flung from the council-chamber, summoned the chancellor of brabant, and demanded, amid bitter execrations against orange, what common and obscure gentleman there might be, whom he could appoint to execute the commission thus refused by the prince and by aremberg. he vowed that in all important matters he would, on future occasions, make use of nobles less inflated by pride, and more tractable than such grand seignors. the chancellor tried in vain to appease the churchman's wrath, representing that the city of antwerp would be highly offended at the turn things were taking, and offering his services to induce the withdrawal, on the part of the prince, of the language which had given so much offence. the cardinal was inexorable and peremptory. "i will have nothing to do with the prince, master chancellor," said he, "and these are matters which concern you not." thus the conversation ended, and thus began the open state of hostilities between the great nobles and the cardinal, which had been brooding so long. on the rd july, , a few weeks after the scenes lately described, the count of egmont and the prince of orange addressed a joint letter to the king. they reminded him in this despatch that, they had originally been reluctant to take office in the state council, on account of their previous experience of the manner in which business had been conducted during the administration of the duke of savoy. they had feared that important matters of state might be transacted without their concurrence. the king had, however, assured them, when in zeland, that all affairs would be uniformly treated in full council. if the contrary should ever prove the case, he had desired them to give him information to that effect, that he might instantly apply the remedy. they accordingly now gave him that information. they were consulted upon small matters: momentous affairs were decided upon in their absence. still they would not even now have complained had not cardinal granvelle declared that all the members of the state council were to be held responsible for its measures, whether they were present at its decisions or not. not liking such responsibility, they requested the king either to accept their resignation or to give orders that all affairs should be communicated to the whole board and deliberated upon by all the councillors. in a private letter, written some weeks later (august ), egmont begged secretary erasso to assure the king that their joint letter had not been dictated by passion, but by zeal for his service. it was impossible, he said, to imagine the insolence of the cardinal, nor to form an idea of the absolute authority which he arrogated. in truth, granvelle, with all his keenness, could not see that orange, egmont, berghen, montigny and the rest, were no longer pages and young captains of cavalry, while he was the politician and the statesman. by six or seven years the senior of egmont, and by sixteen years of orange, he did not divest himself of the superciliousness of superior wisdom, not unjust nor so irritating when they had all been boys. in his deportment towards them, and in the whole tone of his private correspondence with philip, there was revealed, almost in spite of himself, an affectation of authority, against which egmont rebelled and which the prince was not the man to acknowledge. philip answered the letter of the two nobles in his usual procrastinating manner. the count of horn, who was about leaving spain (whither he had accompanied the king) for the netherlands, would be entrusted with the resolution which he should think proper to take upon the subject suggested. in the mean time, he assured them that he did not doubt their zeal in his service. as to count horn, granvelle had already prejudiced the king against him. horn and the cardinal had never been friends. a brother of the prelate had been an aspirant for the hand of the admiral's sister, and had been somewhat contemptuously rejected. horn, a bold, vehement, and not very good-tempered personage, had long kept no terms with granvelle, and did not pretend a friendship which he had never felt. granvelle had just written to instruct the king that horn was opposed bitterly to that measure which was nearest the king's heart--the new bishoprics. he had been using strong language, according to the cardinal, in opposition to the scheme, while still in spain. he therefore advised that his majesty, concealing, of course, the source of the information, and speaking as it were out of the royal mind itself, should expostulate with the admiral upon the subject. thus prompted, philip was in no gracious humor when he received count horn, then about to leave madrid for the netherlands, and to take with him the king's promised answer to the communication of orange and egmont. his majesty had rarely been known to exhibit so much anger towards any person as he manifested upon that occasion. after a few words from the admiral, in which he expressed his sympathy with the other netherland nobles, and his aversion to granvelle, in general terms, and in reply to philip's interrogatories, the king fiercely interrupted him: "what! miserable man!" he vociferated, "you all complain of this cardinal, and always in vague language. not one of you, in spite of all my questions, can give me a single reason for your dissatisfaction." with this the royal wrath boiled over in such unequivocal terms that the admiral changed color, and was so confused with indignation and astonishment, that he was scarcely able to find his way out of the room. this was the commencement of granvelle's long mortal combat with egmont, horn, and orange. this was the first answer which the seignors were to receive to their remonstrances against the churchman's arrogance. philip was enraged that any opposition should be made to his coercive measures, particularly to the new bishoprics, the "holy work" which the cardinal was ready, to "consecrate his fortune and his blood" to advance. granvelle fed his master's anger by constant communications as to the efforts made by distinguished individuals to delay the execution of the scheme. assonville had informed him, he wrote, that much complaint had been made on the subject by several gentlemen, at a supper of count egmont's. it was said that the king ought to have consulted them all, and the state councillors especially. the present nominees to the new episcopates were good enough, but it would be found, they said, that very improper personages would be afterwards appointed. the estates ought not to permit the execution of the scheme. in short, continued granvelle, "there is the same kind of talk which brought about the recall of the spanish troops." a few months later, he wrote to inform philip that a petition against the new bishoprics was about to be drawn up by "the two lords.". they had two motives; according to the cardinal, for this step--first, to let the king know that he could do nothing without their permission; secondly, because in the states' assembly they were then the cocks of the walk. they did not choose, therefore, that in the clerical branch of the estates any body should be above the abbots, whom they could frighten into doing whatever they chose. at the end, of the year, granvelle again wrote to instruct his sovereign how to reply to the letter which was about to be addressed to him by the prince of orange and the marquis berghen on the subject of the bishoprics. they would tell him, he said, that the incorporation of the brabant abbeys into the new bishoprics was contrary to the constitution of the "joyful entrance." philip was, however, to make answer that he had consulted the universities, and those learned in the laws, and had satisfied himself that it was entirely constitutional. he was therefore advised to send his command that the prince and marquis should use all their influence to promote the success of the measure. thus fortified, the king was enabled not only to deal with the petition of the nobles, but also with the deputies from the estates of brabant, who arrived about this time at madrid. to these envoys, who asked for the appointment of royal commissioners, with whom they might treat on the subject of the bishoprics, the abbeys, and the "joyful entrance," the king answered proudly, "that in matters which concerned the service of god, he was his own commissioner." he afterwards, accordingly, recited to them, with great accuracy, the lesson which he had privately received from the ubiquitous cardinal. philip was determined that no remonstrance from great nobles or from private citizens should interfere with the thorough execution of the grand scheme on which he was resolved, and of which the new bishoprics formed an important part. opposition irritated him more and more, till his hatred of the opponents became deadly; but it, at the same time, confirmed him in his purpose. "'tis no time to temporize," he wrote to granvelle; "we must inflict chastisement with full rigor and severity. these rascals can only be made to do right through fear, and not always even by that means." at the same time, the royal finances did not admit of any very active measures, at the moment, to enforce obedience to a policy which was already so bitterly opposed. a rough estimate, made in the king's own handwriting, of the resources and obligations of his exchequer, a kind of balance sheet for the years and , drawn up much in the same manner as that in which a simple individual would make a note of his income and expenditure, gave but a dismal picture of his pecuniary, condition. it served to show how intelligent a financier is despotism, and how little available are the resources of a mighty empire when regarded merely as private property, particularly when the owner chances to have the vanity of attending to all details himself: "twenty millions of ducats," began the memorandum, "will be required to disengage my revenues. but of this," added the king, with whimsical pathos for an account-book, "we will not speak at present, as the matter is so entirely impossible." he then proceeded to enter the various items of expense which were to be met during the two years; such as so many millions due to the fuggers (the rothschilds of the sixteenth century), so many to merchants in flanders, seville, and other places, so much for prince doria's galleys, so much for three years' pay due to his guards, so much for his household expenditure, so much for the tuition of don carlos, and don juan d'austria, so much for salaries of ambassadors and councillors--mixing personal and state expenses, petty items and great loans, in one singular jumble, but arriving at a total demand upon his purse of ten million nine hundred and ninety thousand ducats. to meet this expenditure he painfully enumerated the funds upon which he could reckon for the two years. his ordinary rents and taxes being all deeply pledged, he could only calculate from that source upon two hundred thousand ducats. the indian revenue, so called, was nearly spent; still it might yield him four hundred and twenty thousand ducats. the quicksilver mines would produce something, but so little as hardly to require mentioning. as to the other mines, they were equally unworthy of notice, being so very uncertain, and not doing as well as they were wont. the licences accorded by the crown to carry slaves to america were put down at fifty thousand ducats for the two years. the product of the "crozada" and "cuarta," or money paid to him in small sums by individuals, with the permission of his holiness, for the liberty of abstaining from the church fasts, was estimated at five hundred thousand ducats. these and a few more meagre items only sufficed to stretch his income to a total of one million three hundred and thirty thousand far the two years, against an expenditure calculated at near eleven millions. "thus, there are nine millions, less three thousand ducats, deficient," he concluded ruefully (and making a mistake in his figures in his own favor of six hundred and sixty-three thousand besides), "which i may look for in the sky, or try to raise by inventions already exhausted." thus, the man who owned all america and half of europe could only raise a million ducats a year from his estates. the possessor of all peru and mexico could reckon on "nothing worth mentioning" from his mines, and derived a precarious income mainly from permissions granted his subjects to carry on the slave-trade and to eat meat on fridays. this was certainly a gloomy condition of affairs for a monarch on the threshold of a war which was to outlast his own life and that of his children; a war in which the mere army expenses were to be half a million florins monthly, in which about seventy per cent. of the annual disbursements was to be regularly embezzled or appropriated by the hands through which it passed, and in which for every four men on paper, enrolled and paid for, only one, according to the average, was brought into the field. granvelle, on the other hand, gave his master but little consolation from the aspect of financial affairs in the provinces. he assured him that "the government was often in such embarrassment as not to know where to look for ten ducats." he complained bitterly that the states would meddle with the administration of money matters, and were slow in the granting of subsidies. the cardinal felt especially outraged by the interference of these bodies with the disbursement of the sums which they voted. it has been seen that the states had already compelled the government to withdraw the troops, much to the regret of granvelle. they continued, however, to be intractable on the subject of supplies. "these are very vile things," he wrote to philip, "this authority which they assume, this audacity with which they say whatever they think proper; and these impudent conditions which they affix to every proposition for subsidies." the cardinal protested that he had in vain attempted to convince them of their error, but that they remained perverse. it was probably at this time that the plan for debasing the coin, suggested to philip some time before by a skilful chemist named malen, and always much approved of both by himself and ruy gomez, recurred to his mind. "another and an extraordinary source of revenue, although perhaps not a very honorable one," wrote suriano, "has hitherto been kept secret; and on account of differences of opinion between the king and his confessor, has been discontinued." this source of revenue, it seemed, was found in "a certain powder, of which one ounce mixed with six ounces of quicksilver would make six ounces of silver." the composition was said to stand the test of the hammer, but not of the fire. partly in consequence of theological scruples and partly on account of opposition from the states, a project formed by the king to pay his army with this kind of silver was reluctantly abandoned. the invention, however, was so very agreeable to the king, and the inventor had received such liberal rewards, that it was supposed, according to the envoy, that in time of scarcity his majesty would make use of such coin without reluctance. it is necessary, before concluding this chapter, which relates the events of the years and , to allude to an important affair which occupied much attention during the whole of this period. this is the celebrated marriage of the prince of orange with the princess anna of saxony. by many superficial writers; a moving cause of the great netherland revolt was found in the connexion of the great chieftain with this distinguished lutheran house. one must have studied the characters and the times to very little purpose, however, to believe it possible that much influence could be exerted on the mind of william of orange by such natures as those of anna of saxony, or of her uncle the elector augustus, surnamed "the pious." the prince had become a widower in , at the age of twenty-five. granvelle, who was said to have been influential in arranging his first marriage, now proposed to him, after the year of mourning had expired, an alliance with mademoiselle renee, daughter of the duchess de lorraine, and granddaughter of christiern the third of denmark, and his wife isabella, sister of the emperor charles the fifth. such a connexion, not only with the royal house of spain but with that of france--for, the young duke of lorraine, brother of the lady, had espoused the daughter of henry the considered highly desirable by the prince. philip and the duchess margaret of parma both approved, or pretended to approve, the match. at the same time the dowager duchess of lorraine, mother of the intended bride, was a candidate, and a very urgent one, for the regency of the netherlands. being a woman of restless ambition, and intriguing character, she naturally saw in a man of william's station and talents a most desirable ally in her present and future schemes. on the other hand, philip--who had made open protestation of his desire to connect the prince thus closely with his own blood, and had warmly recommended the match to the young lady's mother--soon afterwards, while walking one day with the prince in the park at brussels, announced to him that the duchess of lorraine had declined his proposals. such a result astonished the prince, who was on the best of terms with the mother, and had been urging her appointment to the regency with all his-influence, having entirely withdrawn his own claims to that office. no satisfactory explanation was ever given of this singular conclusion to a courtship, begun with the apparent consent of all parties. it was hinted that the young lady did not fancy the prince; but, as it was not known that a word had ever been exchanged between them, as the prince, in appearance and reputation, was one of the most brilliant cavaliers of the age, and as the approval of the bride was not usually a matter of primary consequence in such marriages of state, the mystery seemed to require a further solution. the prince suspected granvelle and the king, who were believed to have held mature and secret deliberation together, of insincerity. the bishop was said to have expressed the opinion, that although the friendship he bore the prince would induce him to urge the marriage, yet his duty to his master made him think it questionable whether it were right to advance a personage already placed so high by birth, wealth, and popularity, still higher by so near an alliance with his majesty's family. the king, in consequence, secretly instructed the duchess of lorraine to decline the proposal, while at the same time he continued openly to advocate the connexion. the prince is said to have discovered this double dealing, and to have found in it the only reasonable explanation of the whole transaction. moreover, the duchess of lorraine, finding herself equally duped, and her own ambitious scheme equally foiled by her unscrupulous cousin--who now, to the surprise of every one, appointed margaret of parma to be regent, with the bishop for her prime minister--had as little reason to be satisfied with the combinations of royal and ecclesiastical intrigue as the prince of orange himself. soon after this unsatisfactory mystification, william turned his attentions to germany. anna of saxony, daughter of the celebrated elector maurice, lived at the court of her uncle, the elector augustus. a musket-ball, perhaps a traitorous one, in an obscure action with albert of brandenbourg, had closed the adventurous career of her father seven years before. the young lady, who was thought to have inherited much of his restless, stormy character, was sixteen years of age. she was far from handsome, was somewhat deformed, and limped. her marriage-portion was deemed, for the times, an ample one; she had seventy thousand rix dollars in hand, and the reversion of thirty thousand on the death of john frederic the second, who had married her mother after the death of maurice. her rank was accounted far higher in germany than that of william of nassau, and in this respect, rather than for pecuniary considerations, the marriage seemed a desirable one for him. the man who held the great nassau-chalons property, together with the heritage of count maximilian de buren, could hardly have been tempted by , thalers. his own provision for the children who might spring from the proposed marriage was to be a settlement of seventy thousand florins annually. the fortune which permitted of such liberality was not one to be very materially increased by a dowry which might seem enormous to many of the pauper princes of germany. "the bride's portion," says a contemporary, "after all, scarcely paid for the banquets and magnificent festivals which celebrated the marriage. when the wedding was paid for, there was not a thaler remaining of the whole sum." nothing, then, could be more puerile than to accuse the prince of mercenary motives in seeking this alliance; an accusation, however, which did not fail to be brought. there were difficulties on both sides to be arranged before this marriage could take place. the bride was a lutheran, the prince was a catholic. with regard to the religion of orange not the slightest doubt existed, nor was any deception attempted. granvelle himself gave the most entire attestation of the prince's orthodoxy. "this proposed marriage gives me great pain," he wrote to philip, "but i have never had reason to suspect his principles." in another letter he observed that he wished the marriage could be broken off; but that he hoped so much from the virtue of the prince that nothing could suffice to separate him from the true religion. on the other side there was as little doubt as to his creed. old landgrave philip of hesse, grandfather of the young lady, was bitterly opposed to the match. "'tis a papist," said he, "who goes to mass, and eats no meat on fast days." he had no great objection to his character, but insurmountable ones to his religion. "old count william," said he, "was an evangelical lord to his dying day. this man is a papist!" the marriage, then, was to be a mixed marriage. it is necessary, however, to beware of anachronisms upon the subject. lutherans were not yet formally denounced as heretics. on the contrary, it was exactly at this epoch that the pope was inviting the protestant princes of germany to the trent council, where the schism was to be closed, and all the erring lambs to be received again into the bosom of the fold. so far from manifesting an outward hostility, the papal demeanor was conciliating. the letters of invitation from the pope to the princes were sent by a legate, each commencing with the exordium, "to my beloved son," and were all sent back to his holiness, contemptuously, with the coarse jest for answer, "we believe our mothers to have been honest women, and hope that we had better fathers." the great council had not yet given its decisions. marriages were of continual occurrence, especially among princes and potentates, between the adherents of rome and of the new religion. even philip had been most anxious to marry the protestant elizabeth, whom, had she been a peasant, he would unquestionably have burned, if in his power. throughout germany, also, especially in high places, there was a disposition to cover up the religious controversy; to abstain from disturbing the ashes where devastation still glowed, and was one day to rekindle itself. it was exceedingly difficult for any man, from the archduke maximilian down, to define his creed. a marriage, therefore; between a man and woman of discordant views upon this topic was not startling, although in general not considered desirable. there were, however, especial reasons why this alliance should be distasteful, both to philip of spain upon one side, and to the landgrave philip of hesse on the other. the bride was the daughter of the elector maurice. in that one name were concentrated nearly all the disasters, disgrace, and disappointment of the emperor's reign. it was maurice who had hunted the emperor through the tyrolean mountains; it was maurice who had compelled the peace of passau; it was maurice who had overthrown the catholic church in germany, it was maurice who had frustrated philip's election as king of the romans. if william of orange must seek a wife among the pagans, could no other bride be found for him than the daughter of such a man? anna's grandfather, on the other hand, landgrave philip, was the celebrated victim to the force and fraud of charles the fifth. he saw in the proposed bridegroom, a youth who had been from childhood, the petted page and confidant of the hated emperor, to whom he owed his long imprisonment. he saw in him too, the intimate friend and ally--for the brooding quarrels of the state council were not yet patent to the world--of the still more deeply detested granvelle; the crafty priest whose substitution of "einig" for "ewig" had inveigled him into that terrible captivity. these considerations alone would have made him unfriendly to the prince, even had he not been a catholic. the elector augustus, however, uncle and guardian to the bride, was not only well-disposed but eager for the marriage, and determined to overcome all obstacles, including the opposition of the landgrave, without whose consent he was long pledged not to bestow the hand of anna. for this there were more than one reason. augustus, who, in the words of one of the most acute historical critics of our day, was "a byzantine emperor of the lowest class, re-appearing in electoral hat and mantle," was not firm in his rights to the dignity he held. he had inherited from his brother, but his brother had dispossessed john frederic. maurice, when turning against the emperor, who had placed him in his cousin's seat, had not thought it expedient to restore to the rightful owner the rank which he himself owed to the violence of charles. those claims might be revindicated, and augustus be degraded in his turn, by a possible marriage of the princess anna, with some turbulent or intriguing german potentate. out of the land she was less likely to give trouble. the alliance, if not particularly desirable on the score of rank, was, in other worldly respects, a most brilliant one for his niece. as for the religious point, if he could overcome or circumvent the scruples of the landgrave, he foresaw little difficulty in conquering his own conscience. the prince of orange, it is evident, was placed in such a position, that it would be difficult for him to satisfy all parties. he intended that the marriage, like all marriages among persons in high places at that day, should be upon the "uti possidetis" principle, which was the foundation of the religious peace of germany. his wife, after marriage and removal to the netherlands, would "live catholically;" she would be considered as belonging to the same church with her husband, was to give no offence to the government, and bring no suspicion upon himself, by violating any of the religious decencies. further than this, william, who at that day was an easy, indifferent catholic, averse to papal persecutions, but almost equally averse to long, puritanical prayers and faces, taking far more pleasure in worldly matters than in ecclesiastical controversies, was not disposed to advance in this thorny path. having a stern bigot to deal with, in madrid, and another in cassel, he soon convinced himself that he was not likely entirely to satisfy either, and thought it wiser simply to satisfy himself. early in , count gunther de schwartzburg, betrothed to the prince's sister catharine, together with colonel george von holl, were despatched to germany to open the marriage negotiations. they found the elector augustus already ripe and anxious for the connexion. it was easy for the envoys to satisfy all his requirements on the religious question. if, as the elector afterwards stated to the landgrave, they really promised that the young lady should be allowed to have an evangelical preacher in her own apartments, together with the befitting sacraments, it is very certain that they travelled a good way out of their instructions, for such concessions were steadily refused by william in person. it is, however, more probable that augustus, whose slippery feet were disposed to slide smoothly and swiftly over this dangerous ground, had represented the prince's communications under a favorable gloss of his own. at any rate, nothing in the subsequent proceedings justified the conclusions thus hastily formed. the landgrave philip, from the beginning, manifested his repugnance to the match. as soon as the proposition had been received by augustus, that potentate despatched hans von carlowitz to the grandfather at cassel. the prince of orange, it was represented, was young, handsome, wealthy, a favorite of the spanish monarch; the princess anna, on the other hand, said her uncle was not likely to grow straighter or better proportioned in body, nor was her crooked and perverse character likely to improve with years. it was therefore desirable to find a settlement for her as soon as possible. the elector, however, would decide upon nothing without the landgrave's consent. to this frank, and not very flattering statement, so far as the young lady was concerned, the landgrave answered stoutly and characteristically. the prince was a spanish subject, he said, and would not be able to protect anna in her belief, who would sooner or later become a fugitive: he was but a count in germany, and no fitting match for an elector's daughter; moreover, the lady herself ought to be consulted, who had not even seen the prince. if she were crooked in body, as the elector stated, it was a shame to expose her; to conceal it, however, was questionable, as the prince might complain afterwards that a straight princess had been promised, and a crooked one fraudulently substituted,--and so on, though a good deal more of such quaint casuistry, in which the landgrave was accomplished. the amount of his answer, however, to the marriage proposal was an unequivocal negative, from which he never wavered. in consequence of this opposition, the negotiations were for a time suspended. augustus implored the prince not to abandon the project, promising that every effort should be made to gain over the landgrave, hinting that the old man might "go to his long rest soon," and even suggesting that if the worst came to the worst, he had bound himself to do nothing without the knowledge of the landgrave, but was not obliged to wait for his consent. on the other hand, the prince had communicated to the king of spain the fact of the proposed marriage. he had also held many long conversations with the regent and with granvelle. in all these interviews he had uniformly used one language: his future wife was to "live as a catholic," and if that point were not conceded, he would break off the negotiations. he did not pretend that she was to abjure her protestant faith. the duchess, in describing to philip the conditions, as sketched to her by the prince, stated expressly that augustus of saxony was to consent that his niece "should live catholically after the marriage," but that it was quite improbable that "before the nuptials she would be permitted to abjure her errors, and receive necessary absolution, according to the rules of the church." the duchess, while stating her full confidence in the orthodoxy of the prince, expressed at the same time her fears that attempts might be made in the future by his new connexions "to pervert him to their depraved opinions." a silence of many months ensued on the part of the sovereign, during which he was going through the laborious process of making up his mind, or rather of having it made up for him by people a thousand miles off. in the autumn granvelle wrote to say that the prince was very much surprised to have been kept so long waiting for a definite reply to his communications, made at the beginning of the year concerning his intended marriage, and to learn at last that his majesty had sent no answer, upon the ground that the match had been broken off; the fact being, that the negotiations were proceeding more earnestly than ever. nothing could be more helpless and more characteristic than the letter which philip sent, thus pushed for a decision. "you wrote me," said he, "that you had hopes that this matter of the prince's marriage would go no further, and seeing that you did not write oftener on the subject, i thought certainly that it had been terminated. this pleased me not a little, because it was the best thing that could be done. likewise," continued the most tautological of monarchs, "i was much pleased that it should be done. nevertheless;" he added, "if the marriage is to be proceeded with, i really don't know what to say about it, except to refer it to my sister, inasmuch as a person being upon the spot can see better what can be done with regard to it; whether it be possible to prevent it, or whether it be best, if there be no remedy, to give permission. but if there be a remedy, it would be better to take it, because," concluded the king, pathetically, "i don't see how the prince could think of marrying with the daughter of the man who did to his majesty, now in glory, that which duke maurice did." armed with this luminous epistle, which, if it meant any thing, meant a reluctant affirmation to the demand of the prince for the royal consent, the regent and granvelle proceeded to summon william of orange, and to catechise him in a manner most galling to the pride, and with a latitude not at all justified by any reasonable interpretation of the royal instructions. they even informed him that his majesty had assembled "certain persons learned in cases of conscience, and versed in theology," according to whose advice a final decision, not yet possible, would be given at some future period. this assembly of learned conscience-keepers and theologians had no existence save in the imaginations of granvelle and margaret. the king's letter, blind and blundering as it was, gave the duchess the right to decide in the affirmative on her own responsibility; yet fictions like these formed a part of the "dissimulation," which was accounted profound statesmanship by the disciples of machiavelli. the prince, however irritated, maintained his steadiness; assured the regent that the negotiation had advanced too far to be abandoned, and repeated his assurance that the future princess of orange was to "live as a catholic." in december, , william made a visit to dresden, where he was received by the elector with great cordiality. this visit was conclusive as to the marriage. the appearance and accomplishments of the distinguished suitor made a profound impression upon the lady. her heart was carried by storm. finding, or fancying herself very desperately enamored of the proposed bridegroom, she soon manifested as much eagerness for the marriage as did her uncle, and expressed herself frequently with the violence which belonged to her character. "what god had decreed," she said, "the devil should not hinder." the prince was said to have exhibited much diligence in his attention to the services of the protestant church during his visit at dreaden. as that visit lasted, however, but ten or eleven days, there was no great opportunity for shewing much zeal. at the same period one william knuttel was despatched by orange on the forlorn hope of gaining the old landgrave's consent, without making any vital concessions. "will the prince," asked the landgrave, "permit my granddaughter to have an evangelical preacher in the house?"--"no," answered knuttel. "may she at least receive the sacrament of the lord's supper in her own chamber, according to the lutheran form?"--"no," answered knuttel, "neither in breda, nor any where else in the netherlands. if she imperatively requires such sacraments, she must go over the border for them, to the nearest protestant sovereign." upon the th april, , the elector, returning to the charge, caused a little note to be drawn up on the religious point, which he forwarded, in the hope that the prince would copy and sign it. he added a promise that the memorandum should never be made public to the signer's disadvantage. at the same time he observed to count louis, verbally, "that he had been satisfied with the declarations made by the prince when in dresden, upon all points, except that concerning religion. he therefore felt obliged to beg for a little agreement in writing."--"by no means! by no means!" interrupted louis promptly, at the very first word, "the prince can give your electoral highness no such assurance. 't would be risking life, honor, and fortune to do so, as your grace is well aware." the elector protested that the declaration, if signed, should never come into the spanish monarch's hands, and insisted upon sending it to the prince. louis, in a letter to his brother, characterized the document as "singular, prolix and artful," and strongly advised the prince to have nothing to do with it. this note, which the prince was thus requested to sign, and which his brother louis thus strenuously advised him not to sign, the prince never did sign. its tenor was to the following effect:--the princess, after marriage, was, neither by menace nor persuasion; to be turned from the true and pure word of god, or the use of the sacrament according to the doctrines of the augsburg confession. the prince was to allow her to read books written in accordance with the augsburg confession. the prince was to permit her, as often, annually, as she required it, to go out of the netherlands to some place where she could receive the sacrament according to the augsburg confession. in case she were in sickness or perils of childbirth, the prince, if necessary, would call to her an evangelical preacher, who might administer to her the holy sacrament in her chamber. the children who might spring from the marriage were to be instructed as to the doctrines of the augsburg confession. even if executed, this celebrated memorandum would hardly have been at variance with the declarations made by the prince to the spanish government. he had never pretended that his bride was to become a catholic, but only to live as a catholic. all that he had promised, or was expected to promise, was that his wife should conform to the law in the netherlands. the paper, in a general way, recognized that law. in case of absolute necessity, however, it was stipulated that the princess should have the advantage of private sacraments. this certainly would have been a mortal offence in a calvinist or anabaptist, but for lutherans the practise had never been so strict. moreover, the prince already repudiated the doctrines of the edicts, and rebelled against the command to administer them within his government. a general promise, therefore, made by him privately, in the sense of the memorandum drawn up by the elector, would have been neither hypocritical nor deceitful, but worthy the man who looked over such grovelling heads as granvelle and philip on the one side, or augustus of saxony on the other, and estimated their religious pretences at exactly what they were worth. a formal document, however, technically according all these demands made by the elector, would certainly be regarded by the spanish government as a very culpable instrument. the prince never signed the note, but, as we shall have occasion to state in its proper place, he gave a verbal declaration, favorable to its tenor, but in very vague and brief terms, before a notary, on the day of the marriage. if the reader be of opinion that too much time has been expended upon the elucidation of this point, he should remember that the character of a great and good man is too precious a possession of history to be lightly abandoned. it is of no great consequence to ascertain the precise creed of augustus of saxony, or of his niece; it is of comparatively little moment to fix the point at which william of orange ceased to be an honest, but liberal catholic, and opened his heart to the light of the reformation; but it is of very grave interest that his name should be cleared of the charge of deliberate fraud and hypocrisy. it has therefore been thought necessary to prove conclusively that the prince never gave, in dresden or cassel, any assurance inconsistent with his assertions to king and cardinal. the whole tone of his language and demeanor on the religious subject was exhibited in his reply to the electress, who, immediately after the marriage, entreated that he would not pervert her niece from the paths of the true religion. "she shall not be troubled," said the prince, "with such melancholy things. instead of holy writ she shall read 'amadis de gaule,' and such books of pastime which discourse de amore; and instead of knitting and sewing she shall learn to dance a galdiarde, and such courtoisies as are the mode of our country and suitable to her rank." the reply was careless, flippant, almost contemptuous. it is very certain that william of orange was not yet the "father william" he was destined to become--grave, self-sacrificing, deeply religious, heroic; but it was equally evident from this language that he had small sympathy, either in public or private, with lutheranism or theological controversy. landgrave william was not far from right when he added, in his quaint style, after recalling this well-known reply, "your grace will observe, therefore, that when the abbot has dice in his pocket, the convent will play." so great was the excitement at the little court of cassel, that many protestant princes and nobles declared that "they would sooner give their daughters to a boor or a swineherd than to a papist." the landgrave was equally vigorous in his protest, drawn up in due form on the th april, . he was not used, he said, "to flatter or to tickle with a foxtail." he was sorry if his language gave offense, nevertheless "the marriage was odious, and that was enough." he had no especial objection to the prince, "who before the world was a brave and honorable man." he conceded that his estates were large, although he hinted that his debts also were ample; allowed that he lived in magnificent style, had even heard "of one of his banquets, where all the table-cloths, plates, and every thing else, were made of sugar," but thought he might be even a little too extravagant; concluding, after a good deal of skimble-skamble of this nature, with "protesting before god, the world, and all pious christians, that he was not responsible for the marriage, but only the elector augustus and others, who therefore would one day have to render account thereof to the lord." meantime the wedding had been fixed to take place on sunday, the th august, . this was st. bartholomew's, a nuptial day which was not destined to be a happy one in the sixteenth century. the landgrave and his family declined to be present at the wedding, but a large and brilliant company were invited. the king of spain sent a bill of exchange to the regent, that she might purchase a ring worth three thousand crowns, as a present on his part to the bride. beside this liberal evidence that his opposition to the marriage was withdrawn, he authorized his sister to appoint envoys from among the most distinguished nobles to represent him on the occasion. the baron de montigny, accordingly, with a brilliant company of gentlemen, was deputed by the duchess, although she declined sending all the governors of the provinces, according to the request of the prince. the marriage was to take place at leipsic. a slight picture of the wedding festivities, derived entirely from unpublished sources, may give some insight into the manners and customs of high life in germany and the netherlands at this epoch. the kings of spain and denmark were invited, and were represented by special ambassadors. the dukes of brunswick, lauenburg, mecklenburg, the elector and margraves of brandenburg, the archbishop of cologne, the duke of cleves, the bishops of naumburg, meneburg, meissen, with many other potentates, accepted the invitations, and came generally in person, a few only being represented by envoys. the town councils of erfurt, leipsic, magdeburg, and other cities, were also bidden. the bridegroom was personally accompanied by his brothers john, adolphus, and louis; by the burens, the leuchtenbergs, and various other distinguished personages. as the electoral residence at leipsic was not completely finished, separate dwellings were arranged for each of the sovereign families invited, in private houses, mostly on the market-place. here they were to be furnished with provisions by the elector's officials, but they were to cook for themselves. for this purpose all the princes had been requested to bring their own cooks and butlers, together with their plate and kitchen utensils. the sovereigns themselves were to dine daily with the elector at the town-house, but the attendants and suite were to take their meals in their own lodgings. a brilliant collection of gentlemen and pages, appointed by the elector to wait at his table, were ordered to assemble at leipsic on the d, the guests having been all invited for the d. many regulations were given to these noble youths, that they might discharge their duties with befitting decorum. among other orders, they received particular injunctions that they were to abstain from all drinking among themselves, and from all riotous conduct whatever, while the sovereigns and potentates should be at dinner. "it would be a shameful indecency," it was urged, "if the great people sitting at table should be unable to hear themselves talk on account of the screaming of the attendants." this provision did not seem unreasonable. they were also instructed that if invited to drink by any personage at the great tables they were respectfully to decline the challenge, and to explain the cause after the repast. particular arrangements were also made for the safety of the city. besides the regular guard of leipsic, two hundred and twenty arquebuseers, spearsmen, and halberdmen, were ordered from the neighboring towns. these were to be all dressed in uniform; one arm, side and leg in black, and the other in yellow, according to a painting distributed beforehand to the various authorities. as a mounted patrole, leipsic had a regular force of two men. these were now increased to ten, and received orders to ride with their lanterns up and down all the streets and lanes, to accost all persons whom they might find abroad without lights in their hands, to ask them their business in courteous language, and at the same time to see generally to the peace and safety of the town. fifty arquebuseers were appointed to protect the town-house, and a burgher watch of six hundred was distributed in different quarters, especially to guard against fire. on saturday, the day before the wedding, the guests had all arrived at leipsic, and the prince of orange, with his friends, at meneburg. on sunday, the th august, the elector at the head of his guests and attendants, in splendid array, rode forth to receive the bridegroom. his cavalcade numbered four thousand. william of orange had arrived, accompanied by one thousand mounted men. the whole troop now entered the city together, escorting the prince to the town-house. here he dismounted, and was received on the staircase by the princess anna, attended by her ladies. she immediately afterwards withdrew to her apartments. it was at this point, between and p.m., that the elector and electress, with the bride and bridegroom, accompanied also by the dame sophia von miltitz and the councillors hans von ponika and ubrich woltersdorff upon one side, and by count john of nassau and heinrich von wiltberg upon the other, as witnesses, appeared before wolf seidel, notary, in a corner room of the upper story of the town-house. one of the councillors, on the part of the elector, then addressed the bridegroom. he observed that his highness would remember, no doubt, the contents of a memorandum or billet, sent by the elector on the th april of that year, by the terms of which the prince was to agree that he would, neither by threat nor persuasion, prevent his future wife from continuing in the augsburg confession; that he would allow her to go to places where she might receive the augsburg sacraments; that in case of extreme need she should receive them in her chamber; and that the children who might spring from the marriage should be instructed as to the augsburg doctrines. as, however, continued the councillor, his highness the prince of orange has, for various reasons, declined giving any such agreement in writing, as therefore it had been arranged that before the marriage ceremony the prince should, in the presence of the bride and of the other witnesses, make a verbal promise on the subject, and as the parties were now to be immediately united in marriage, therefore the elector had no doubt that the prince would make no objection in presence of those witnesses to give his consent to maintain the agreements comprised in the memorandum or note. the note was then read. thereupon, the prince answered verbally. "gracious elector; i remember the writing which you sent me on the th april. all the point: just narrated by the doctor were contained in it. i now state to your highness that i will keep it all as becomes a prince, and conform to it." thereupon he gave the elector his hand.-- what now was the amount and meaning of this promise on the part of the prince? almost nothing. he would conform to the demands of the elector, exactly as he had hitherto said he would conform to them. taken in connexion with his steady objections to sign and seal any instrument on the subject--with his distinct refusal to the landgrave (through knuttel) to allow the princess an evangelical preacher or to receive the sacraments in the netherlands--with the vehement, formal, and public protest, on the part of the landgrave, against the marriage--with the prince's declarations to the elector at dresden, which were satisfactory on all points save the religious point,--what meaning could this verbal promise have, save that the prince would do exactly as much with regard to the religious question as he had always promised, and no more? this was precisely what did happen. there was no pretence on the part of the elector, afterwards, that any other arrangement had been contemplated. the princess lived catholically from the moment of her marriage, exactly as orange had stated to the duchess margaret, and as the elector knew would be the case. the first and the following children born of the marriage were baptized by catholic priests, with very elaborate catholic ceremonies, and this with the full consent of the elector, who sent deputies and officiated as sponsor on one remarkable occasion. who, of all those guileless lambs then, philip of spain, the elector of saxony, or cardinal granvelle, had been deceived by the language or actions of the prince? not one. it may be boldly asserted that the prince, placed in a transition epoch, both of the age and of his own character, surrounded by the most artful and intriguing personages known to history, and involved in a network of most intricate and difficult circumstances, acquitted himself in a manner as honorable as it was prudent. it is difficult to regard the notarial instrument otherwise than as a memorandum, filed rather by augustus than by wise william, in order to put upon record for his own justification, his repeated though unsuccessful efforts to procure from the prince a regularly signed, sealed, and holographic act, upon the points stated in the famous note. after the delay occasioned by these private formalities, the bridal procession, headed by the court musicians, followed by the court marshals, councillors, great officers of state, and the electoral family, entered the grand hall of the town-house. the nuptial ceremony was then performed by "the superintendent doctor pfeffinger." immediately afterwards, and in the same hall, the bride and bridegroom were placed publicly upon a splendid, gilded bed, with gold-embroidered curtains, the princess being conducted thither by the elector and electress. confects and spiced drinks were then served to them and to the assembled company. after this ceremony they were conducted to their separate chambers, to dress for dinner. before they left the hall, however, margrave hans of brandenburg, on part of the elector of saxony, solemnly recommended the bride to her husband, exhorting him to cherish her with faith and affection, and "to leave her undisturbed in the recognized truth of the holy gospel and the right use of the sacraments." five round tables were laid in the same hall immediately afterwards--each accommodating ten guests. as soon as the first course of twenty-five dishes had been put upon the chief table, the bride and bridegroom, the elector and electress, the spanish and danish envoys and others, were escorted to it, and the banquet began. during the repast, the elector's choir and all the other bands discoursed the "merriest and most ingenious music." the noble vassals handed the water, the napkins, and the wine, and every thing was conducted decorously and appropriately. as soon as the dinner was brought to a close, the tables were cleared away, and the ball began in the same apartment. dances, previously arranged, were performed, after which "confects and drinks" were again distributed, and the bridal pair were then conducted to the nuptial chamber. the wedding, according to the lutheran custom of the epoch, had thus taken place not in a church, but in a private dwelling; the hall of the town-house, representing, on this occasion, the elector's own saloons. on the following morning, however, a procession was formed at seven o'clock to conduct the newly-married couple to the church of st. nicholas, there to receive an additional exhortation and benediction. two separate companies of gentlemen, attended by a great number of "fifers, drummers, and trumpeters," escorted the bride and the bridegroom, "twelve counts wearing each a scarf of the princess anna's colors, with golden garlands on their heads and lighted torches in their hands," preceding her to the choir, where seats had been provided for the more illustrious portion of the company. the church had been magnificently decked in tapestry, and, as the company entered, a full orchestra performed several fine motettos. after listening to a long address from dr. pfeffinger, and receiving a blessing before the altar, the prince and princess of orange returned, with their attendant processions, to the town-house. after dinner, upon the same and the three following days, a tournament was held. the lists were on the market-place, on the side nearest the town-house; the electress and the other ladies looking down from balcony and window to "rain influence and adjudge the prize." the chief hero of these jousts, according to the accounts in the archives, was the elector of saxony. he "comported himself with such especial chivalry" that his far-famed namesake and remote successor, augustus the strong, could hardly have evinced more knightly prowess. on the first day he encountered george von wiedebach, and unhorsed him so handsomely that the discomfited cavalier's shoulder was dislocated. on the following day he tilted with michael von denstedt, and was again victorious, hitting his adversary full in the target, and "bearing him off over his horse's tail so neatly, that the knight came down, heels over head, upon the earth." on wednesday, there was what was called the palliatourney. the prince of orange, at the head of six bands, amounting in all to twenty-nine men; the margrave george of brandenburg, with seven bands, comprising thirty-four men, and the elector augustus, with one band of four men, besides himself, all entered the lists. lots were drawn for the "gate of honor," and gained by the margrave, who accordingly defended it with his band. twenty courses were then run between these champions and the prince of orange, with his men. the brandenburgs broke seven lances, the prince's party only six, so that orange was obliged to leave the lists discomfited. the ever-victorious augustus then took the field, and ran twenty courses against the defenders, breaking fourteen spears to the brandenburg's ten. the margrave, thus defeated, surrendered the "gate of honor" to the elector, who maintained, it the rest of the day against all comers. it is fair to suppose, although the fact is not recorded, that the elector's original band had received some reinforcement. otherwise, it would be difficult to account for these constant victories, except by ascribing more than mortal strength, as well as valor, to augustus and his four champions. his party broke one hundred and fifty-six lances, of which number the elector himself broke thirty-eight and a half. he received the first prize, but declined other guerdons adjudged to him. the reward for the hardest hitting was conferred on wolf von schonberg, "who thrust kurt von arnim clean out of the saddle, so that he fell against the barriers." on thursday was the riding at the ring. the knights who partook of this sport wore various strange garbs over their armor. some were disguised as hussars, some as miners, come as lansquenettes; others as tartans, pilgrims, fools, bird-catchers, hunters, monks; peasants, or netherland cuirassiers. each party was attended by a party of musicians, attired in similar costume. moreover, count gunter von schwartzburg made, his appearance in the lists, accompanied "by five remarkable giants of wonderful proportions and appearance, very ludicrous to behold, who performed all kind of odd antics on horseback." the next day there was a foot tourney, followed in the evening by "mummeries," or masquerades. these masques were repeated on the following evening, and afforded great entertainment. the costumes were magnificent, "with golden and pearl embroidery," the dances were very merry and artistic, and the musicians, who formed a part of the company, exhibited remarkable talent. these "mummeries" had been brought by william of orange from the netherlands, at the express request of the elector, on the ground that such matters were much better understood in the provinces than in germany. such is a slight sketch of the revels by which this ill-fated bartholomew marriage was celebrated. while william of orange was thus employed in germany, granvelle seized the opportunity to make his entry into the city of mechlin, as archbishop; believing that such a step would be better accomplished in the absence of the prince from the country. the cardinal found no one in the city to welcome him. none of the great nobles were there. "the people looked upon the procession with silent hatred. no man cried, god bless him." he wrote to the king that he should push forward the whole matter of the bishoprics as fast as possible, adding the ridiculous assertion that the opposition came entirely from the nobility, and that "if the seigniors did not talk so much, not a man of the people would open his mouth on the subject." the remonstrance offered by the three estates of brabant against the scheme had not influenced philip. he had replied in a peremptory tone. he had assured them that he had no intention of receding, and that the province of brabant ought to feel itself indebted to him for having given them prelates instead of abbots to take care of their eternal interests, and for having erected their religious houses into episcopates. the abbeys made what resistance they could, but were soon fain to come to a compromise with the bishops, who, according to the arrangement thus made, were to receive a certain portion of the abbey revenues, while the remainder was to belong to the institutions, together with a continuance of their right to elect their own chiefs, subordinate, however, to the approbation of the respective prelates of the diocese. thus was the episcopal matter settled in brabant. in many of the other bishoprics the new dignitaries were treated with disrespect, as they made their entrance into their cities, while they experienced endless opposition and annoyance on attempting to take possession of the revenue assigned to them. etext editor's bookmarks: history shows how feeble are barriers of paper licences accorded by the crown to carry slaves to america we believe our mothers to have been honest women when the abbot has dice in his pocket, the convent will play wiser simply to satisfy himself motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. chapter iii. - the inquisition the great cause of the revolt--the three varieties of the institution--the spanish inquisition described--the episcopal inquisition in the netherlands--the papal inquisition established in the provinces by charles v.--his instructions to the inquisitors-- they are renewed by philip--inquisitor titelmann--instances of his manner of proceeding--spanish and netherland inquisitions compared-- conduct of granvelle--faveau and mallart condemned at valenciennes-- "journee des maubrulea"--severe measures at valenciennes--attack of the rhetoric clubs upon granvelle--granvelle's insinuations against egmont and simon renard--timidity of viglius--universal hatred toward the cardinal--buffoonery of brederode and lumey--courage of granvelle--philip taxes the netherlands for the suppression of the huguenots in france--meeting of the knights of the fleece--assembly at the house of orange--demand upon the estates for supplies-- montigny appointed envoy to spain--open and determined opposition to granvelle--secret representations by the cardinal to philip, concerning egmont and other seigniors--line of conduct traced out for the king--montigny's representations in spain--unsatisfactory result of his mission. the great cause of the revolt which, within a few years, was to break forth throughout the netherlands; was the inquisition. it is almost puerile to look further or deeper, when such a source of convulsion lies at the very outset of any investigation. during the war there had been, for reasons already indicated, an occasional pause in the religious persecution. philip had now returned to spain, having arranged, with great precision, a comprehensive scheme for exterminating that religious belief which was already accepted by a very large portion of his netherland subjects. from afar there rose upon the provinces the prophetic vision of a coming evil still more terrible than any which had yet oppressed them. as across the bright plains of sicily, when the sun is rising, the vast pyramidal shadow of mount etna is definitely and visibly projected--the phantom of that ever-present enemy, which holds fire and devastation in its bosom--so, in the morning hour of philip's reign, the shadow of the inquisition was cast from afar across those warm and smiling provinces--a spectre menacing fiercer flames and wider desolation than those which mere physical agencies could ever compass. there has been a good deal of somewhat superfluous discussion concerning the different kinds of inquisition. the distinction drawn between the papal, the episcopal, and the spanish inquisitions, did not, in the sixteenth century, convince many unsophisticated minds of the merits of the establishment in any of its shapes. however classified or entitled, it was a machine for inquiring into a man's thoughts, and for burning him if the result was not satisfactory. the spanish inquisition, strictly so called, that is to say, the modern or later institution established by pope alexander the sixth and ferdinand the catholic, was doubtless invested with a more complete apparatus for inflicting human misery, and for appalling human imagination, than any of the other less artfully arranged inquisitions, whether papal or episcopal. it had been originally devised for jews or moors, whom the christianity of the age did not regard as human beings, but who could not be banished without depopulating certain districts. it was soon, however, extended from pagans to heretics. the dominican torquemada was the first moloch to be placed upon this pedestal of blood and fire, and from that day forward the "holy office" was almost exclusively in the hands of that band of brothers. in the eighteen years of torquemada's administration; ten thousand two hundred and twenty individuals were burned alive, and ninety-seven thousand three hundred and twenty-one punished with infamy, confiscation of property, or perpetual imprisonment, so that the total number of families destroyed by this one friar alone amounted to one hundred and fourteen thousand four hundred and one. in course of time the jurisdiction of the office was extended. it taught the savages of india and america to shudder at the name of christianity. the fear of its introduction froze the earlier heretics of italy, france, and ger many into orthodoxy. it was a court owning allegiance to no temporal authority, superior to all other tribunals. it was a bench of monks without appeal, having its familiars in every house, diving into the secrets of every fireside, judging, and executing its horrible decrees without responsibility. it condemned not deeds, but thoughts. it affected to descend into individual conscience, and to punish the crimes which it pretended to discover. its process was reduced to a horrible simplicity. it arrested on suspicion, tortured till confession, and then punished by fire. two witnesses, and those to separate facts, were sufficient to consign the victim to a loathsome dungeon. here he was sparingly supplied with food, forbidden to speak, or even to sing to which pastime it could hardly be thought he would feel much inclination--and then left to himself, till famine and misery should break his spirit. when that time was supposed to have arrived he was examined. did he confess, and forswear his heresy, whether actually innocent or not, he might then assume the sacred shirt, and escape with confiscation of all his property. did he persist in the avowal of his innocence, two witnesses sent him to the stake, one witness to the rack. he was informed of the testimony against him, but never confronted with the witness. that accuser might be his son, father, or the wife of his bosom, for all were enjoined, under the death penalty, to inform the inquisitors of every suspicious word which might fall from their nearest relatives. the indictment being thus supported, the prisoner was tried by torture. the rack was the court of justice; the criminal's only advocate was his fortitude--for the nominal counsellor, who was permitted no communication with the prisoner, and was furnished neither with documents nor with power to procure evidence, was a puppet, aggravating the lawlessness of the proceedings by the mockery of legal forms: the torture took place at midnight, in a gloomy dungeon, dimly, lighted by torches. the victim--whether man, matron, or tender virgin--was stripped naked, and stretched upon the wooden bench. water, weights, fires, pulleys, screws--all the apparatus by which the sinews could be strained without cracking, the bones crushed without breaking, and the body racked exquisitely without giving up its ghost, was now put into operation. the executioner, enveloped in a black robe from head to foot, with his eyes glaring at his victim through holes cut in the hood which muffled his face, practised successively all the forms of torture which the devilish ingenuity of the monks had invented. the imagination sickens when striving to keep pace with these dreadful realities. those who wish to indulge their curiosity concerning the details of the system, may easily satisfy themselves at the present day. the flood of light which has been poured upon the subject more than justifies the horror and the rebellion of the netherlanders. the period during which torture might be inflicted from day to day was unlimited in duration. it could only be terminated by confession; so that the scaffold was the sole refuge from the rack. individuals have borne the torture and the dungeon fifteen years, and have been burned at the stake at last. execution followed confession, but the number of condemned prisoners was allowed to accumulate, that a multitude of victims might grace each great gala-day. the auto-da fe was a solemn festival. the monarch, the high functionaries of the land, the reverend clergy, the populace regarded it as an inspiring and delightful recreation. when the appointed morning arrived, the victim was taken from his dungeon. he was then attired in a yellow robe without sleeves, like a herald's coat, embroidered all over with black figures of devils. a large conical paper mitre was placed upon his head, upon which was represented a human being in the midst of flames, surrounded by imps. his tongue was then painfully gagged, so that he could neither open nor shut his mouth. after he was thus accoutred, and just as he was leaving his cell, a breakfast, consisting of every delicacy, was placed before him, and he was urged, with ironical politeness, to satisfy his hunger. he was then led forth into the public square. the procession was formed with great pomp. it was headed by the little school children, who were immediately followed by the band of prisoners, each attired in the horrible yet ludicrous manner described. then came the magistrates and nobility, the prelates and other dignitaries of the church: the holy inquisitors, with their officials and familiars, followed, all on horseback, with the blood-red flag of the "sacred office" waving above them, blazoned upon either side with the portraits of alexander and of ferdinand, the pair of brothers who had established the institution. after the procession came the rabble. when all had reached the neighborhood of the scaffold, and had been arranged in order, a sermon was preached to the assembled multitude. it was filled with laudations of the inquisition, and with blasphemous revilings against the condemned prisoners. then the sentences were read to the individual victims. then the clergy chanted the fifty-first psalm, the whole vast throng uniting in one tremendous miserere. if a priest happened to be among the culprits, he was now stripped of the canonicals which he had hitherto worn; while his hands, lips, and shaven crown were scraped with a bit of glass, by which process the oil of his consecration was supposed to be removed. he was then thrown into the common herd. those of the prisoners who were reconciled, and those whose execution was not yet appointed, were now separated from the others. the rest were compelled to mount a scaffold, where the executioner stood ready to conduct them to the fire. the inquisitors then delivered them into his hands, with an ironical request that he would deal with them tenderly, and without blood-letting or injury. those who remained steadfast to the last were then burned at the stake; they who in the last extremity renounced their faith were strangled before being thrown into the flames. such was the spanish inquisition--technically--so called: it was, according' to the biographer of philip the second, a "heavenly remedy, a guardian angel of paradise, a lions' den in which daniel and other just men could sustain no injury, but in which perverse sinners were torn to pieces." it was a tribunal superior to all human law, without appeal, and certainly owing no allegiance to the powers of earth or heaven. no rank, high or humble, was safe from its jurisdiction. the royal family were not sacred, nor, the pauper's hovel. even death afforded no protection. the holy office invaded the prince in his palace and the beggar in his shroud. the corpses of dead heretics were mutilated and burned. the inquisitors preyed upon carcases and rifled graves. a gorgeous festival of the holy office had, as we have seen, welcomed philip to his native land. the news of these tremendous autos-da fe, in which so many illustrious victims had been sacrificed before their sovereign's eyes, had reached the netherlands almost simultaneously with the bulls creating the new bishoprics in the provinces. it was not likely that the measure would be rendered more palatable by this intelligence of the royal amusements. the spanish inquisition had never flourished in any soil but that of the peninsula. it is possible that the king and granvelle were sincere in their protestations of entertaining no intention of introducing it into the netherlands, although the protestations of such men are entitled to but little weight. the truth was, that the inquisition existed already in the provinces. it was the main object of the government to confirm and extend the institution. the episcopal inquisition, as we have already seen, had been enlarged by the enormous increase in the number of bishops, each of whom was to be head inquisitor in his diocese, with two special inquisitors under him. with this apparatus and with the edicts, as already described, it might seem that enough had already been done for the suppression of heresy. but more had been done. a regular papal inquisition also existed in the netherlands. this establishment, like the edicts, was the gift of charles the fifth. a word of introduction is here again necessary--nor let the reader deem that too much time is devoted to this painful subject. on the contrary, no definite idea can be formed as to the character of the netherland revolt without a thorough understanding of this great cause--the religious persecution in which the country had lived, breathed, and had its being, for half a century, and in which, had the rebellion not broken out at last, the population must have been either exterminated or entirely embruted. the few years which are immediately to occupy us in the present and succeeding chapter, present the country in a daily increasing ferment from the action of causes which had existed long before, but which received an additional stimulus as the policy of the new reign developed itself. previously to the accession of charles v., it can not be said that an inquisition had ever been established in the provinces. isolated instances to the contrary, adduced by the canonists who gave their advice to margaret of parma, rather proved the absence than the existence of the system. in the reign of philip the good, the vicar of the inquisitor-general gave sentence against some heretics, who were burned in lille ( ). in , pierre troussart, a jacobin monk, condemned many waldenses, together with some leading citizens of artois, accused of sorcery and heresy. he did this, however, as inquisitor for the bishop of arras, so that it was an act of episcopal, and not papal inquisition. in general, when inquisitors were wanted in the provinces, it was necessary to borrow them from france or germany. the exigencies of persecution making a domestic staff desirable, charles the fifth, in the year , applied to his ancient tutor, whom he had placed on the papal throne. charles had, however, already, in the previous year appointed francis van der hulst to be inquisitor-general for the netherlands. this man, whom erasmus called a "wonderful enemy to learning," was also provided with a coadjutor, nicholas of egmond by name, a carmelite monk, who was characterized by the same authority as "a madman armed with a sword." the inquisitor-general received full powers to cite, arrest, imprison, torture heretics without observing the ordinary forms of law, and to cause his sentences to be executed without appeal. he was, however, in pronouncing definite judgments, to take the advice of laurens, president of the grand council of mechlin, a coarse, cruel and ignorant man, who "hated learning with a more than deadly hatred," and who might certainly be relied upon to sustain the severest judgments which the inquisitor might fulminate. adrian; accordingly, commissioned van der hulst to be universal and general inquisitor for all the netherlands. at the same time it was expressly stated that his functions were not to supersede those exercised by the bishops as inquisitors in their own sees. thus the papal inquisition was established in the provinces. van der hulst, a person of infamous character, was not the man to render the institution less odious than it was by its nature. before he had fulfilled his duties two years, however, he was degraded from his office by the emperor for having forged a document. in , buedens, houseau and coppin were confirmed by clement the seventh as inquisitors in the room of van der hulst. in , ruard tapper and michael drutius were appointed by paul the third, on the decease of coppin, the other two remaining in office. the powers of the papal inquisitors had been gradually extended, and they were, by , not only entirely independent of the episcopal inquisition, but had acquired right of jurisdiction over bishops and archbishops, whom they were empowered to arrest and imprison. they had also received and exercised the privilege of appointing delegates, or sub-inquisitors, on their own authority. much of the work was, indeed, performed by these officials, the most notorious of whom were barbier, de monte, titelmann, fabry, campo de zon, and stryen. in , and again in , a stringent set of instructions were drawn up by the emperor for the guidance of these papal inquisitors. a glance at their context shows that the establishment was not intended to be an empty form. they were empowered to inquire, proceed against, and chastise all heretics, all persons suspected of heresy, and their protectors. accompanied by a notary, they were to collect written information concerning every person in the provinces, "infected or vehemently suspected." they were authorized to summon all subjects of his majesty, whatever their rank, quality, or station, and to compel them to give evidence, or to communicate suspicions. they were to punish all who pertinaciously refused such depositions with death. the emperor commanded his presidents, judges, sheriffs, and all other judicial and executive officers to render all "assistance to the inquisitors and their familiars in their holy and pious inquisition, whenever required so to do," on pain of being punished as encouragers of heresy, that is to say, with death. whenever the inquisitors should be satisfied as to the heresy of any individual, they were to order his arrest and detention by the judge of the place, or by others arbitrarily to be selected by them. the judges or persons thus chosen, were enjoined to fulfil the order, on pain of being punished as protectors of heresy, that is to say, with death, by sword or fire. if the prisoner were an ecclesiastic, the inquisitor was to deal summarily with the case "without noise or form in the process--selecting an imperial councillor to render the sentence of absolution or condemnation." if the prisoner were a lay person, the inquisitor was to order his punishment, according to the edicts, by the council of the province. in case of lay persons suspected but not convicted of heresy, the inquisitor was to proceed to their chastisement, "with the advice of a counsellor or some other expert." in conclusion, the emperor ordered the "inquisitors to make it known that they were not doing their own work, but that of christ, and to persuade all persons of this fact." this clause of their instructions seemed difficult of accomplishment, for no reasonable person could doubt that christ, had he re-appeared in human form, would have been instantly crucified again, or burned alive in any place within the dominions of charles or philip. the blasphemy with which the name of jesus was used by such men to sanctify all these nameless horrors, is certainly not the least of their crimes. in addition to these instructions, a special edict had been issued on the th april, , according to which all judicial officers, at the requisition of the inquisitors, were to render them all assistance in the execution of their office, by arresting and detaining all persons suspected of heresy, according to the instructions issued to said inquisitors; and this, notwithstanding any privileges or charters to the contrary. in short, the inquisitors were not subject to the civil authority, but the civil authority to them. the imperial edict empowered them "to chastise, degrade, denounce, and deliver over heretics to the secular judges for punishment; to make use of gaols, and to make arrests, without ordinary warrant, but merely with notice given to a single counselor, who was obliged to give sentence according to their desire, without application to the ordinary judge." these instructions to the inquisitors had been renewed and confirmed by philip, in the very first month of his reign ( th nov. ). as in the case of the edicts, it had been thought desirable by granvelle to make use of the supposed magic of the emperor's name to hallow the whole machinery of persecution. the action of the system during the greater part of the imperial period had been terrible. suffered for a time to languish during the french war, it had lately been renewed with additional vigor. among all the inquisitors, the name of peter titelmann was now pre-eminent. he executed his infamous functions throughout flanders, douay, and tournay, the most thriving and populous portions of the netherlands, with a swiftness, precision, and even with a jocularity which hardly seemed human. there was a kind of grim humor about the man. the woman who, according to lear's fool, was wont to thrust her live eels into the hot paste, "rapping them o' the coxcombs with a stick and crying reproachfully, wantons, lie down!" had the spirit of a true inquisitor. even so dealt titelmann with his heretics writhing on the rack or in the flames. cotemporary chronicles give a picture of him as of some grotesque yet terrible goblin, careering through the country by night or day, alone, on horseback, smiting the trembling peasants on the head with a great club, spreading dismay far and wide, dragging suspected persons from their firesides or their beds, and thrusting them into dungeons, arresting, torturing, strangling, burning, with hardly the shadow of warrant, information, or process. the secular sheriff, familiarly called red-rod, from the color of his wand of office, meeting this inquisitor titelmann one day upon the high road, thus wonderingly addressed him--"how can you venture to go about alone, or at most with an attendant or two, arresting people on every side, while i dare not attempt to execute my office, except at the head of a strong force, armed in proof; and then only at the peril of my life?" "ah! red-rod," answered peter, jocosely, "you deal with bad people. i have nothing to fear, for i seize only the innocent and virtuous, who make no resistance, and let themselves be taken like lambs." "mighty well," said the other; "but if you arrest all the good people and i all the bad, 'tis difficult to say who in the world is to escape chastisement." the reply of the inquisitor has not been recorded, but there is no doubt that he proceeded like a strong man to run his day's course. he was the most active of all the agents in the religious persecution at the epoch of which we are now treating, but he had been inquisitor for many years. the martyrology of the provinces reeks with his murders. he burned men for idle words or suspected thoughts; he rarely waited, according to his frank confession, for deeds. hearing once that a certain schoolmaster, named geleyn de muler, of audenarde, "was addicted to reading the bible," he summoned the culprit before him and accused him of heresy. the schoolmaster claimed, if he were guilty of any crime, to be tried before the judges of his town. "you are my prisoner," said titelmann, "and are to answer me and none other." the inquisitor proceeded accordingly to catechize him, and soon satisfied himself of the schoolmaster's heresy. he commanded him to make immediate recantation. the schoolmaster refused. "do you not love your wife and children?" asked the demoniac titelmann. "god knows," answered the heretic, "that if the whole world were of gold, and my own, i would give it all only to have them with me, even had i to live on bread and water and in bondage." "you have then," answered the inquisitor, "only to renounce the error of your opinions."--"neither for wife, children, nor all the world, can i renounce my god and religious truth," answered the prisoner. thereupon titelmann sentenced him to the stake. he was strangled and then thrown into the flames. at about the same-time, thomas calberg, tapestry weaver, of tournay, within the jurisdiction of this same inquisitor, was convicted of having copied some hymns from a book printed in geneva. he was burned alive. another man, whose name has perished, was hacked to death with seven blows of a rusty sword, in presence of his wife, who was so horror-stricken that she died on the spot before her husband. his crime, to be sure, was anabaptism, the most deadly offence in the calendar. in the same year, one walter kapell was burned at the stake for heretical opinions. he was a man of some property, and beloved by the poor people of dixmuyde, in flanders, where he resided, for his many charities. a poor idiot, who had been often fed by his bounty, called out to the inquisitor's subalterns, as they bound his patron to the stake, "ye are bloody murderers; that man has done no wrong; but has given me bread to eat." with these words, he cast himself headlong into the flames to perish with his protector, but was with difficulty rescued by the officers. a day or two afterwards, he made his way to the stake, where the half-burnt skeleton of walter kapell still remained, took the body upon his shoulders, and carried it through the streets to the house of the chief burgomaster, where several other magistrates happened then to be in session. forcing his way into their presence, he laid his burthen at their feet, crying, "there, murderers! ye have eaten his flesh, now eat his bones!" it has not been recorded whether titelmann sent him to keep company with his friend in the next world. the fate of so obscure a victim could hardly find room on the crowded pages of the netherland martyrdom. this kind of work, which went on daily, did not increase the love of the people for the inquisition or the edicts. it terrified many, but it inspired more with that noble resistance to oppression, particularly to religious oppression, which is the sublimest instinct of human nature. men confronted the terrible inquisitors with a courage equal to their cruelty: at tournay, one of the chief cities of titelmann's district, and almost before his eyes, one bertrand le blas, a velvet manufacturer, committed what was held an almost incredible crime. having begged his wife and children to pray for a blessing upon what he was about to undertake, he went on christmas-day to the cathedral of tournay and stationed himself near the altar. having awaited the moment in which the priest held on high the consecrated host, le blas then forced his way through the crowd, snatched the wafer from the hands of the astonished ecclesiastic, and broke it into bits, crying aloud, as he did so, "misguided men, do ye take this thing to be jesus christ, your lord and saviour?" with these words, he threw the fragments on the ground and trampled them with his feet. [histoire des martyrs, f. , exev.; apud brandt, i. , . it may be well supposed that this would be regarded as a crime of almost inconceivable magnitude. it was death even to refuse to kneel in the streets when the wafer was carried by. thus, for example, a poor huckster, named simon, at bergen-op-zoom, who neglected to prostrate himself before his booth at the passage of the host, was immediately burned. instances of the same punishment for that offence might be multiplied. in this particular case, it is recorded that the sheriff who was present at the execution was so much affected by the courage and fervor of the simple-minded victim, that he went home, took to his bed, became delirious, crying constantly, ah, simon! simon! and died miserably, "notwithstanding all that the monks could do to console him."] the amazement and horror were so universal at such an appalling offence, that not a finger was raised to arrest the criminal. priests and congregation were alike paralyzed, so that he would have found no difficulty in making his escape. ho did not stir, however; he had come to the church determined to execute what he considered a sacred duty, and to abide the consequences. after a time, he was apprehended. the inquisitor demanded if he repented of what he had done. he protested, on the contrary, that he gloried in the deed, and that he would die a hundred deaths to rescue from such daily profanation the name of his redeemer, christ. he was then put thrice to the torture, that he might be forced to reveal his accomplices. it did not seem in human power for one man to accomplish such a deed of darkness without confederates. bertrand had none, however, and could denounce none. a frantic sentence was then devised as a feeble punishment for so much wickedness. he was dragged on a hurdle, with his mouth closed with an iron gag, to the market-place. here his right hand and foot were burned and twisted off between two red-hot irons. his tongue was then torn out by the roots, and because he still endeavored to call upon the name of god, the iron gag was again applied. with his arms and legs fastened together behind his back, he was then hooked by the middle of his body to an iron chain, and made to swing to and fro over a slow fire till he was entirely roasted. his life lasted almost to the end of these ingenious tortures, but his fortitude lasted as long as his life. in the next year, titelmann caused one robert ogier, of ryssel, in flanders, to be arrested, together with his wife and two sons. their crime consisted in not going to mass, and in practising private worship at home. they confessed the offence, for they protested that they could not endure to see the profanation of their saviour's name in the idolatrous sacraments. they were asked what rites they practised in their own house. one of the sons, a mere boy, answered, "we fall on our knees, and pray to god that he may enlighten our hearts, and forgive our sins. we pray for our sovereign, that his reign may be prosperous, and his life peaceful. we also pray for the magistrates and others in authority, that god may protect and preserve them all." the boy's simple eloquence drew tears even from the eyes of some of his judges; for the inquisitor had placed the case before the civil tribunal. the father and eldest son were, however, condemned to the flames. "oh god!" prayed the youth at the stake, "eternal father, accept the sacrifice of our lives, in the name of thy beloved son."--"thou liest, scoundrel!" fiercely interrupted a monk, who was lighting the fire; "god is not your father; ye are the devil's children." as the flames rose about them, the boy cried out once more, "look, my father, all heaven is opening, and i see ten hundred thousand angels rejoicing over us. let us be glad, for we are dying for the truth."--"thou liest! thou liest!" again screamed the monk; "all hell is opening, and you see ten thousand devils thrusting you into eternal fire." eight days afterwards, the wife of ogier and his other son were burned; so that there was an end of that family. such are a few isolated specimens of the manner of proceeding in a single district of the netherlands. the inquisitor titelmann certainly deserved his terrible reputation. men called him saul the persecutor, and it was well known that he had been originally tainted with the heresy which he had, for so many years, been furiously chastising. at the epoch which now engages our attention, he felt stimulated by the avowed policy of the government to fresh exertions, by which all his previous achievements should be cast into the shade. in one day he broke into a house in ryssel, seized john de swarte, his wife and four children, together with two newly-married couples, and two other persons, convicted them of reading the bible, and of praying in their own doors, and had them all immediately burned. are these things related merely to excite superfluous horror? are the sufferings of these obscure christians beneath the dignity of history? is it not better to deal with murder and oppression in the abstract, without entering into trivial details? the answer is, that these things are the history of the netherlands at this epoch; that these hideous details furnish the causes of that immense movement, out of which a great republic was born and an ancient tyranny destroyed; and that cardinal granvelle was ridiculous when he asserted that the people would not open their mouths if the seigniors did not make such a noise. because the great lords "owed their very souls"--because convulsions might help to pay their debts, and furnish forth their masquerades and banquets--because the prince of orange was ambitious, and egmont jealous of the cardinal--therefore superficial writers found it quite natural that the country should be disturbed, although that "vile and mischievous animal, the people," might have no objection to a continuance of the system which had been at work so long. on the contrary, it was exactly because the movement was a popular and a religious movement that it will always retain its place among the most important events of history. dignified documents, state papers, solemn treaties, are often of no more value than the lambskin on which they are engrossed. ten thousand nameless victims, in the cause of religious and civil freedom, may build up great states and alter the aspect of whole continents. the nobles, no doubt, were conspicuous, and it was well for the cause of the right that, as in the early hours of english liberty, the crown and mitre were opposed by the baron's sword and shield. had all the seigniors made common cause with philip and granvelle, instead of setting their breasts against the inquisition, the cause of truth and liberty would have been still more desperate. nevertheless they were directed and controlled, under providence, by humbler, but more powerful agencies than their own. the nobles were but the gilded hands on the outside of the dial--the hour to strike was determined by the obscure but weighty movements within. nor is it, perhaps, always better to rely upon abstract phraseology, to produce a necessary impression. upon some minds, declamation concerning liberty of conscience and religious tyranny makes but a vague impression, while an effect may be produced upon them, for example by a dry, concrete, cynical entry in an account book, such as the following, taken at hazard from the register of municipal expenses at tournay, during the years with which we are now occupied: "to mr. jacques barra, executioner, for having tortured, twice, jean de lannoy, ten sous. "to the same, for having executed, by fire, said lannoy, sixty sous. for having thrown his cinders into the river, eight sous." this was the treatment to which thousands, and tens of thousands, had been subjected in the provinces. men, women, and children were burned, and their "cinders" thrown away, for idle words against rome, spoken years before, for praying alone in their closets, for not kneeling to a wafer when they met it in the streets, for thoughts to which they had never given utterance, but which, on inquiry, they were too honest to deny. certainly with this work going on year after year in every city in the netherlands, and now set into renewed and vigorous action by a man who wore a crown only that he might the better torture his fellow-creatures, it was time that the very stones in the streets should be moved to mutiny. thus it may be seen of how much value were the protestations of philip and of granvelle, on which much stress has latterly been laid, that it was not their intention to introduce the spanish inquisition. with the edicts and the netherland inquisition, such as we have described them, the step was hardly necessary. in fact, the main difference between the two institutions consisted in the greater efficiency of the spanish in discovering such of its victims as were disposed to deny their faith. devised originally for more timorous and less conscientious infidels who were often disposed to skulk in obscure places and to renounce without really abandoning their errors, it was provided with a set of venomous familiars who glided through every chamber and coiled themselves at every fireside. the secret details of each household in the realm being therefore known to the holy office and to the monarch, no infidel or heretic could escape discovery. this invisible machinery was less requisite for the netherlands. there was comparatively little difficulty in ferreting out the "vermin"--to use the expression of a walloon historian of that age--so that it was only necessary to maintain in good working order the apparatus for destroying the noxious creatures when unearthed. the heretics of the provinces assembled at each other's houses to practise those rites described in such simple language by baldwin ogier, and denounced under such horrible penalties by the edicts. the inquisitorial system of spain was hardly necessary for men who had but little prudence in concealing, and no inclination to disavow their creed. "it is quite a laughable matter," wrote granvelle, who occasionally took a comic view of the inquisition, "that the king should send us depositions made in spain by which we are to hunt for heretics here, as if we did not know of thousands already. would that i had as many doubloons of annual income," he added, "as there are public and professed heretics in the provinces." no doubt the inquisition was in such eyes a most desirable establishment. "to speak without passion," says the walloon, "the inquisition well administered is a laudable institution, and not less necessary than all the other offices of spirituality and temporality belonging both to the bishops and to the commissioners of the roman see." the papal and episcopal establishments, in co-operation with the edicts, were enough, if thoroughly exercised and completely extended. the edicts alone were sufficient. "the edicts and the inquisition are one and the same thing," said the prince of orange. the circumstance, that the civil authorities were not as entirely superseded by the netherland, as by the spanish system, was rather a difference of form than of fact. we have seen that the secular officers of justice were at the command of the inquisitors. sheriff, gaoler, judge, and hangman, were all required, under the most terrible penalties, to do their bidding. the reader knows what the edicts were. he knows also the instructions to the corps of papal inquisitors, delivered by charles and philip: he knows that philip, both in person and by letter, had done his utmost to sharpen those instructions, during the latter portion of his sojourn in the netherlands. fourteen new bishops, each with two special inquisitors under him, had also been appointed to carry out the great work to which the sovereign had consecrated his existence. the manner in which the hunters of heretics performed their office has been exemplified by slightly sketching the career of a single one of the sub-inquisitors, peter titelmann. the monarch and his minister scarcely needed, therefore, to transplant the peninsular exotic. why should they do so? philip, who did not often say a great deal in a few words, once expressed the whole truth of the matter in a single sentence: "wherefore introduce the spanish inquisition?" said he; "the inquisition of the netherlands is much more pitiless than that of spain." such was the system of religious persecution commenced by charles, and perfected by philip. the king could not claim the merit of the invention, which justly belonged to the emperor. at the same time, his responsibility for the unutterable woe caused by the continuance of the scheme is not a jot diminished. there was a time when the whole system had fallen into comparative desuetude. it was utterly abhorrent to the institutions and the manners of the netherlanders. even a great number of the catholics in the provinces were averse to it. many of the leading grandees, every one of whom was catholic were foremost in denouncing its continuance. in short, the inquisition had been partially endured, but never accepted. moreover, it had never been introduced into luxemburg or groningen. in gelderland it had been prohibited by the treaty through which that province had been annexed to the emperor's dominions, and it had been uniformly and successfully resisted in brabant. therefore, although philip, taking the artful advice of granvelle, had sheltered himself under the emperor's name by re-enacting, word for word, his decrees, and re-issuing his instructions, he can not be allowed any such protection at the bar of history. such a defence for crimes so enormous is worse than futile. in truth, both father and son recognized instinctively the intimate connexion between ideas of religious and of civil freedom. "the authority of god and the supremacy of his majesty" was the formula used with perpetual iteration to sanction the constant recourse to scaffold and funeral pile. philip, bigoted in religion, and fanatical in his creed of the absolute power of kings, identified himself willingly with the deity, that he might more easily punish crimes against his own sacred person. granvelle carefully sustained him in these convictions, and fed his suspicions as to the motives of those who opposed his measures. the minister constantly represented the great seigniors as influenced by ambition and pride. they had only disapproved of the new bishoprics, he insinuated, because they were angry that his majesty should dare to do anything without their concurrence, and because their own influence in the states would be diminished. it was their object, he said, to keep the king "in tutelage"--to make him a "shadow and a cipher," while they should themselves exercise all authority in the provinces. it is impossible to exaggerate the effect of such suggestions upon the dull and gloomy mind to which they were addressed. it is easy, however, to see that a minister with such views was likely to be as congenial to his master as he was odious to the people. for already, in the beginning of , granvelle was extremely unpopular. "the cardinal is hated of all men," wrote sir thomas gresham. the great struggle between him and the leading nobles had already commenced. the people justly identified him with the whole infamous machinery of persecution, which had either originated or warmly made his own. viglius and berlaymont were his creatures. with the other members of the state council, according to their solemn statement, already recorded, he did not deign to consult, while he affected to hold them responsible for the measures of the administration. even the regent herself complained that the cardinal took affairs quite out of her hands, and that he decided upon many important matters without her cognizance. she already began to feel herself the puppet which it had been intended she should become; she already felt a diminution of the respectful attachment for the ecclesiastic which had inspired her when she procured his red hat. granvelle was, however, most resolute in carrying out the intentions of his master. we have seen how vigorously he had already set himself to the inauguration of the new bishoprics, despite of opposition and obloquy. he was now encouraging or rebuking the inquisitors in their "pious office" throughout all the provinces. notwithstanding his exertions, however, heresy continued to spread. in the walloon provinces the infection was most prevalent, while judges and executioners were appalled by the mutinous demonstrations which each successive sacrifice provoked. the victims were cheered on their way to the scaffold. the hymns of marot were sung in the very faces of the inquisitors. two ministers, faveau and mallart, were particularly conspicuous at this moment at valenciennes. the governor of the province, marquis berghen, was constantly absent, for he hated with his whole soul the system of persecution. for this negligence granvelle denounced him secretly and perpetually to philip, "the marquis says openly," said the cardinal, "that 'tis not right to shed blood for matters of faith. with such men to aid us, your majesty can judge how much progress we can make." it was, however, important, in granvelle's opinion, that these two ministers at valenciennes should be at once put to death. they were avowed heretics, and they preached to their disciples, although they certainly were not doctors of divinity. moreover, they were accused, most absurdly, no doubt, of pretending to work miracles. it was said that, in presence of several witnesses, they had undertaken to cast out devils; and they had been apprehended on an accusation of this nature. ["histoire des choses les plus memorables qui se sent passees en la ville et compte de valenciennes depuis le commencement des troubles des pays-bas sons le regne de phil. ii., jusqu' a l'annee ."-- ms. (collect. gerard).--this is a contemporary manuscript belonging to the gerard collection in the royal library at the hague. its author was a citizen of valenciennes, and a personal witness of most of the events which he describes. he appears to have attained to a great age, as he minutely narrates, from personal observation, many scenes which occurred before , and his work is continued till the year . it is a mere sketch, without much literary merit, but containing many local anecdotes of interest. its anonymous author was a very sincere catholic.] their offence really consisted in reading the bible to a few of their friends. granvelle sent philibert de bruxelles to valenciennes to procure their immediate condemnation and execution. he rebuked the judges and inquisitors, he sent express orders to marquis berghen to repair at once to the scene of his duties. the prisoners were condemned in the autumn of . the magistrates were, however, afraid to carry the sentence into effect. granvelle did not cease to censure them for their pusillanimity, and wrote almost daily letters, accusing the magistrates of being themselves the cause of the tumults by which they were appalled. the popular commotion was, however, not lightly to be braved. six or seven months long the culprits remained in confinement, while daily and nightly the people crowded the streets, hurling threats and defiance at the authorities, or pressed about the prison windows, encouraging their beloved ministers, and promising to rescue them in case the attempt should be made to fulfil the sentence. at last granvelle sent down a peremptory order to execute the culprits by fire. on the th of april, , faveau and mallart were accordingly taken from their jail and carried to the market-place, where arrangements had been made for burning them. simon faveau, as the executioner was binding him to the stake, uttered the invocation, "o! eternal father!" a woman in the crowd, at the same instant, took off her shoe and threw it at the funeral pile. this was a preconcerted signal. a movement was at once visible in the crowd. men in great numbers dashed upon the barriers which had been erected in the square around the place of execution. some seized the fagots, which had been already lighted, and scattered them in every direction; some tore up the pavements; others broke in pieces the barriers. the executioners were prevented from carrying out the sentence, but the guard were enabled, with great celerity and determination, to bring off the culprits and to place them in their dungeon again. the authorities were in doubt and dismay. the inquisitors were for putting the ministers to death in prison, and hurling their heads upon the street. evening approached while the officials were still pondering. the people who had been chanting the psalms of david through the town, without having decided what should be their course of action, at last determined to rescue the victims. a vast throng, after much hesitation, accordingly directed their steps to the prison. "you should have seen this vile populace," says an eye-witness, "moving, pausing, recoiling, sweeping forward, swaying to and fro like the waves of the sea when it is agitated by contending winds." the attack was vigorous, the defence was weak--for the authorities had expected no such fierce demonstration, notwithstanding the menacing language which had been so often uttered. the prisoners were rescued, and succeeded in making their escape from the city. the day in which the execution had been thus prevented was called, thenceforward, the "day of the ill-burned," (journee des mau-brulez). one of the ministers, however, simon faveau, not discouraged by this near approach to martyrdom, persisted in his heretical labors, and was a few years afterwards again apprehended. "he was then," says the chronicler, cheerfully, "burned well and finally" in the same place whence he had formerly been rescued. [valenciennes ms.] this desperate resistance to tyranny was for a moment successful, because, notwithstanding the murmurs and menaces by which the storm had been preceded, the authorities had not believed the people capable of proceeding to such lengths. had not the heretics--in the words of inquisitor titelmann--allowed themselves, year after year, to be taken and slaughtered like lambs? the consternation of the magistrates was soon succeeded by anger. the government at brussels was in a frenzy of rage when informed of the occurrence. a bloody vengeance was instantly prepared, to vindicate the insult to the inquisition. on the th of april, detachments of bossu's and of berghen's "band of ordonnance" were sent into valenciennes, together with a company of the duke of aerschot's regiment. the prisons were instantly filled to overflowing with men and women arrested for actual or suspected participation in the tumult. orders had been sent down from the capital to make a short process and a sharp execution for all the criminals. on the th of may, the slaughter commenced. some were burned at the stake, some were beheaded: the number of victims was frightful. "nothing was left undone by the magistrates," says an eyewitness, with great approbation, "which could serve for the correction and amendment of the poor people." it was long before the judges and hangmen rested from their labors. when at last the havoc was complete, it might be supposed that a sufficient vengeance had been taken for the "day of the ill-burned," and an adequate amount of "amendment" provided for the "poor people." such scenes as these did not tend to increase the loyalty of the nation, nor the popularity of the government. on granvelle's head was poured a daily increasing torrent of hatred. he was looked upon in the provinces as the impersonation of that religious oppression which became every moment more intolerable. the king and the regent escaped much of the odium which belonged to them, because the people chose to bestow all their maledictions upon the cardinal. there was, however, no great injustice in this embodiment. granvelle was the government. as the people of that day were extremely reverent to royalty, they vented all their rage upon the minister, while maintaining still a conventional respect for the sovereign. the prelate had already become the constant butt of the "rhetoric chambers." these popular clubs for the manufacture of homespun poetry and street farces out of the raw material of public sentiment, occupied the place which has been more effectively filled in succeeding ages, and in free countries by the daily press. before the invention of that most tremendous weapon, which liberty has ever wielded against tyranny, these humble but influential associations shared with the pulpit the only power which existed of moving the passions or directing the opinions of the people. they were eminently liberal in their tendencies. the authors and the actors of their comedies, poems, and pasquils were mostly artisans or tradesmen, belonging to the class out of which proceeded the early victims, and the later soldiers of the reformation. their bold farces and truculent satire had already effected much in spreading among the people a detestation of church abuses. they were particularly severe upon monastic licentiousness. "these corrupt comedians, called rhetoricians," says the walloon contemporary already cited, "afforded much amusement to the people." always some poor little nuns or honest monks were made a part of the farce. it seemed as if the people could take no pleasure except in ridiculing god and the church. the people, however, persisted in the opinion that the ideas of a monk and of god were not inseparable. certainly the piety of the early reformers was sufficiently fervent, and had been proved by the steadiness with which they confronted torture and death, but they knew no measure in the ridicule which they heaped upon the men by whom they were daily murdered in droves. the rhetoric comedies were not admirable in an aesthetic point of view, but they were wrathful and sincere. therefore they cost many thousand lives, but they sowed the seed of resistance to religious tyranny, to spring up one day in a hundredfold harvest. it was natural that the authorities should have long sought to suppress these perambulating dramas. "there was at that tyme," wrote honest richard clough to sir thomas gresham, "syche playes (of reteryke) played thet hath cost many a man's lyves, for in these plays was the word of god first opened in thys country. weche playes were and are forbidden moche more strictly than any of the bookes of martin luther." these rhetoricians were now particularly inflamed against granvelle. they were personally excited against him, because he had procured the suppression of their religious dramas. "these rhetoricians who make farces and street plays," wrote the cardinal to philip, "are particularly angry with me, because two years ago i prevented them from ridiculing the holy scriptures." nevertheless, these institutions continued to pursue their opposition to the course of the government. their uncouth gambols, their awkward but stunning blows rendered daily service to the cause of religious freedom. upon the newly-appointed bishops they poured out an endless succession of rhymes and rebuses, epigrams, caricatures and extravaganzas. poems were pasted upon the walls of every house, and passed from hand to hand. farces were enacted in every street; the odious ecclesiastics figuring as the principal buffoons. these representations gave so much offence, that renewed edicts were issued to suppress them. the prohibition was resisted, and even ridiculed in many provinces, particularly in holland. the tyranny which was able to drown a nation in blood and tears, was powerless to prevent them from laughing most bitterly at their oppressors. the tanner, cleon, was never belabored more soundly by the wits of athens, than the prelate by these flemish "rhetoricians." with infinitely less attic salt, but with as much heartiness as aristophanes could have done, the popular rhymers gave the minister ample opportunity to understand the position which he occupied in the netherlands. one day a petitioner placed a paper in his hand and vanished. it contained some scurrilous verses upon himself, together with a caricature of his person. in this he was represented as a hen seated upon a pile of eggs, out of which he was hatching a brood of bishops. some of these were clipping the shell, some thrusting forth an arm, some a leg, while others were running about with mitres on their heads, all bearing whimsical resemblance to various prelates who had been newly-appointed. above the cardinal's head the devil was represented hovering, with these words issuing from his mouth: "this is my beloved son, listen to him, my people." there was another lampoon of a similar nature, which was so well executed, that it especially excited granvelle's anger. it was a rhymed satire of a general nature, like the rest, but so delicate and so stinging, that the cardinal ascribed it to his old friend and present enemy, simon renard. this man, a burgundian by birth, and college associate of granvelle, had been befriended both by himself and his father. aided by their patronage and his own abilities, he had arrived at distinguished posts; having been spanish envoy both in france and england, and one of the negotiators of the truce of vaucelles. he had latterly been disappointed in his ambition to become a councillor of state, and had vowed vengeance upon the cardinal, to whom he attributed his ill success. he was certainly guilty of much ingratitude, for he had been under early obligations to the man in whose side he now became a perpetual thorn. it must be confessed, on the other hand, that granvelle repaid the enmity of his old associate with a malevolence equal to his own, and if renard did not lose his head as well as his political station, it was not for want of sufficient insinuation on the part of the minister. especially did granvelle denounce him to "the master" as the perverter of egmont, while he usually described that nobleman himself, as weak, vain, "a friend of smoke," easily misguided, but in the main well-intentioned and loyal. at the same time, with all these vague commendations, he never omitted to supply the suspicious king with an account of every fact or every rumor to the count's discredit. in the case of this particular satire, he informed philip that he could swear it came from the pen of renard, although, for the sake of deception, the rhetoric comedians had been employed. he described the production as filled with "false, abominable, and infernal things," and as treating not only himself, but the pope and the whole ecclesiastical order with as much contumely as could be showed in germany. he then proceeded to insinuate, in the subtle manner which was peculiarly his own, that egmont was a party to the publication of the pasquil. renard visited at that house, he said, and was received there on a much more intimate footing than was becoming. eight days before the satire was circulated, there had been a conversation in egmont's house, of a nature exactly similar to the substance of the pamphlet. the man, in whose hands it was first seen, continued granvelle, was a sword cutler, a godson of the count. this person said that he had torn it from the gate of the city hall, but god grant, prayed the cardinal, that it was not he who had first posted it up there. 'tis said that egmont and mansfeld, he added, have sent many times to the cutler to procure copies of the satire, all which augments the suspicion against them. with the nobles he was on no better terms than with the people. the great seigniors, orange, egmont, horn, and others, openly avowed their hostility to him, and had already given their reasons to the king. mansfeld and his son at that time were both with the opposition. aerschot and aremberg kept aloof from the league which was forming against the prelate, but had small sympathy for his person. even berlaymont began to listen to overtures from the leading nobles, who, among other inducements, promised to supply his children with bishoprics. there were none truly faithful and submissive to the cardinal but such men as the prevot morillon, who had received much advancement from him. this distinguished pluralist was popularly called "double a, b, c," to indicate that he had twice as many benefices as there were letters in the alphabet. he had, however, no objection to more, and was faithful to the dispensing power. the same course was pursued by secretary bave, esquire bordey, and other expectants and dependents. viglius, always remarkable for his pusillanimity, was at this period already anxious to retire. the erudite and opulent frisian preferred a less tempestuous career. he was in favor of the edicts, but he trembled at the uproar which their literal execution was daily exciting, for he knew the temper of his countrymen. on the other hand, he was too sagacious not to know the inevitable consequence of opposition to the will of philip. he was therefore most eager to escape the dilemma. he was a scholar, and could find more agreeable employment among his books. he had accumulated vast wealth, and was desirous to retain it as long as possible. he had a learned head and was anxious to keep it upon his shoulders. these simple objects could be better attained in a life of privacy. the post of president of the privy council and member of the "consulta" was a dangerous one. he knew that the king was sincere in his purposes. he foresaw that the people would one day be terribly in earnest. of ancient frisian blood himself, he knew that the spirit of the ancient batavians and frisians had not wholly deserted their descendants. he knew that they were not easily roused, that they were patient, but that they would strike at last and would endure. he urgently solicited the king to release him, and pleaded his infirmities of body in excuse. philip, however, would not listen to his retirement, and made use of the most convincing arguments to induce him to remain. four hundred and fifty annual florins, secured by good reclaimed swamps in friesland, two thousand more in hand, with a promise of still larger emoluments when the king should come to the netherlands, were reasons which the learned doctor honestly confessed himself unable to resist. fortified by these arguments, he remained at his post, continued the avowed friend and adherent of granvelle, and sustained with magnanimity the invectives of nobles and people. to do him justice, he did what he could to conciliate antagonists and to compromise principles. if it had ever been possible to find the exact path between right and wrong, the president would have found it, and walked in it with respectability and complacency. in the council, however, the cardinal continued to carry it with a high hand; turning his back on orange and egmont, and retiring with the duchess and president to consult, after every session. proud and important personages, like the prince and count, could ill brook such insolence; moreover, they suspected the cardinal of prejudicing the mind of their sovereign against them. a report was very current, and obtained almost universal belief, that granvelle had expressly advised his majesty to take off the heads of at least half a dozen of the principal nobles in the land. this was an error; "these two seigniors," wrote the cardinal to philip, "have been informed that i have written to your majesty, that you will never be master of these provinces without taking off at least half a dozen heads, and that because it would be difficult, on account of the probable tumults which such a course would occasion, to do it here, your majesty means to call them to spain and do it there. your majesty can judge whether such a thing has ever entered my thoughts. i have laughed at it as a ridiculous invention. this gross forgery is one of renard's." the cardinal further stated to his majesty that he had been informed by these same nobles that the duke of alva, when a hostage for the treaty of cateau cambresis, had negotiated an alliance between the crowns of france and spain for the extirpation of heresy by the sword. he added, that he intended to deal with the nobles with all gentleness, and that he should do his best to please them. the only thing which he could not yield was the authority of his majesty; to sustain that, he would sacrifice his life, if necessary. at the same time granvelle carefully impressed upon the king the necessity of contradicting the report alluded to, a request which he took care should also be made through the regent in person. he had already, both in his own person and in that of the duchess, begged for a formal denial, on the king's part, that there was any intention of introducing the spanish inquisition into the netherlands, and that the cardinal had counselled, originally, the bishoprics. thus instructed, the king accordingly wrote to margaret of parma to furnish the required contradictions. in so doing, he made a pithy remark. "the cardinal had not counselled the cutting off the half a dozen heads," said the monarch, "but perhaps it would not be so bad to do it!" time was to show whether philip was likely to profit by the hint conveyed in the cardinal's disclaimer, and whether the factor "half dozen" were to be used or not as a simple multiplier in the terrible account preparing. the contradictions, however sincere, were not believed by the persons most interested. nearly all the nobles continued to regard the cardinal with suspicion and aversion. many of the ruder and more reckless class vied with the rhetoricians and popular caricaturists in the practical jests which they played off almost daily against the common foe. especially count brederode, "a madman, if there ever were one," as a contemporary expressed himself, was most untiring in his efforts to make granvelle ridiculous. he went almost nightly to masquerades, dressed as a cardinal or a monk; and as he was rarely known to be sober on these or any other occasions, the wildness of his demonstrations may easily be imagined. he was seconded on all these occasions by his cousin robert de la marck, seigneur de lumey, a worthy descendant of the famous "wild boar of ardennes;" a man brave to temerity, but utterly depraved, licentious, and sanguinary. these two men, both to be widely notorious, from their prominence in many of the most striking scenes by which the great revolt was ushered in, had vowed the most determined animosity to the cardinal, which was manifested in the reckless, buffooning way which belonged to their characters. besides the ecclesiastical costumes in which they always attired themselves at their frequent festivities, they also wore fog-tails in their hats instead of plumes. they decked their servants also with the same ornaments; openly stating, that by these symbols they meant to signify that the old fox granvelle, and his cubs, viglius, berlaymont, and the rest, should soon be hunted down by them, and the brush placed in their hats as a trophy. moreover, there is no doubt that frequent threats of personal violence were made against the cardinal. granvelle informed the king that his life was continually menaced by, the nobles, but that he feared them little, "for he believed them too prudent to attempt any thing of the kind." there is no doubt, when his position with regard to the upper and lower classes in the country is considered, that there was enough to alarm a timid man; but granvelle was constitutionally brave. he was accused of wearing a secret shirt of mail, of living in perpetual trepidation, of having gone on his knees to egmont and orange, of having sent richardot, bishop of arras, to intercede for him in the same humiliating manner with egmont. all these stories were fables. bold as he was arrogant, he affected at this time to look down with a forgiving contempt on the animosity of the nobles. he passed much of his time alone, writing his eternal dispatches to the king. he had a country-house, called la fontaine, surrounded by beautiful gardens, a little way outside the gates of brussels, where he generally resided, and whence, notwithstanding the remonstrances of his friends, he often returned to town, after sunset, alone, or with but a few attendants. he avowed that he feared no attempts at assassination, for, if the seigniors took his life, they would destroy the best friend they ever had. this villa, where most of his plans were matured and his state papers drawn up, was called by the people, in derision of his supposed ancestry, "the smithy." here, as they believed, was the anvil upon which the chains of their slavery were forging; here, mostly deserted by those who had been his earlier, associates, he assumed a philosophical demeanor which exasperated, without deceiving his adversaries. over the great gate of his house he had placed the marble statue of a female. it held an empty wine-cup in one hand, and an urn of flowing water in the other. the single word "durate" was engraved upon the pedestal. by the motto, which was his habitual device, he was supposed, in this application, to signify that his power would outlast that of the nobles, and that perennial and pure as living water, it would flow tranquilly on, long after the wine of their life had been drunk to the lees. the fiery extravagance of his adversaries, and the calm and limpid moderation of his own character, thus symbolized, were supposed to convey a moral lesson to the world. the hieroglyphics, thus interpreted, were not relished by the nobles--all avoided his society, and declined his invitations. he consoled himself with the company of the lesser gentry,--a class which he now began to patronize, and which he urgently recommended to the favor of the king,--hinting that military and civil offices bestowed upon their inferiors would be a means of lowering the pride of the grandees. he also affected to surround himself with even humbler individuals. "it makes me laugh," he wrote to philip, "to see the great seigniors absenting themselves from my dinners; nevertheless, i can always get plenty of guests at my table, gentlemen and councillors. i sometimes invite even citizens, in order to gain their good will." the regent was well aware of the anger excited in the breasts of the leading nobles by the cool manner in which they had been thrust out of their share in the administration of affairs. she defended herself with acrimony in her letters to the king, although a defence was hardly needed in that quarter for implicit obedience to the royal commands. she confessed her unwillingness to consult with her enemies. she avowed her determination to conceal the secrets of the government from those who were capable of abusing her confidence. she represented that there were members of the council who would willingly take advantage of the trepidation which she really felt, and which she should exhibit if she expressed herself without reserve before them. for this reason she confined herself, as philip had always intended, exclusively to the consulta. it was not difficult to recognize the hand which wrote the letter thus signed by margaret of parma. both nobles and people were at this moment irritated by another circumstance. the civil war having again broken out in france, philip, according to the promise made by him to catharine de medici, when he took her daughter in marriage, was called upon to assist the catholic party with auxiliaries. he sent three thousand infantry, accordingly, which he had levied in italy, as many more collected in spain, and gave immediate orders that the duchess of parma should despatch at least two thousand cavalry, from the netherlands. great was the indignation in the council when the commands were produced. sore was the dismay of margaret. it was impossible to obey the king. the idea of sending the famous mounted gendarmerie of the provinces to fight against the french huguenots could not be tolerated for an instant. the "bands of ordonnance" were very few in number, and were to guard the frontier. they were purely for domestic purposes. it formed no part of their duty to go upon crusades in foreign lands; still less to take a share in a religious quarrel, and least of all to assist a monarch against a nation. these views were so cogently presented to the duchess in council, that she saw the impossibility of complying with her brother's commands. she wrote to philip to that effect. meantime, another letter arrived out of spain, chiding her delay, and impatiently calling upon her to furnish the required cavalry at once. the duchess was in a dilemma. she feared to provoke another storm in the council, for there was already sufficient wrangling there upon domestic subjects. she knew it was impossible to obtain the consent, even of berlaymont and viglius, to such an odious measure as the one proposed. she was, however, in great trepidation at the peremptory tone of the king's despatch. under the advice of granvelle, she had recourse to a trick. a private and confidential letter of philip was read to the council, but with alterations suggested and interpolated by the cardinal. the king was represented as being furious at the delay, but as willing that a sum of money should be furnished instead of the cavalry, as originally required. this compromise, after considerable opposition, was accepted. the duchess wrote to philip, explaining and apologizing for the transaction. the king received the substitution with as good a grace as could have been expected, and sent fifteen hundred troopers from spain to his medicean mother-in-law, drawing upon the duchess of parma for the money to pay their expenses. thus was the industry of the netherlands taxed that the french might be persecuted by their own monarch. the regent had been forbidden, by her brother, to convoke the states-general; a body which the prince of orange, sustained by berghen, montigny, and other nobles, was desirous of having assembled. it may be easily understood that granvelle would take the best care that the royal prohibition should be enforced. the duchess, however, who, as already hinted, was beginning to feel somewhat uncomfortable under the cardinal's dominion, was desirous of consulting some larger council than that with which she held her daily deliberations. a meeting of the knights of the fleece was accordingly summoned. they assembled in brussels, in the month of may, . the learned viglius addressed them in a long and eloquent speech, in which he discussed the troubled and dangerous condition of the provinces, alluded to some of its causes, and suggested various remedies. it may be easily conceived, however, that the inquisition was not stated among the causes, nor its suppression included among the remedies. a discourse, in which the fundamental topic was thus conscientiously omitted, was not likely, with all its concinnities, to make much impression upon the disaffected knights, or to exert a soothing influence upon the people. the orator was, however, delighted with his own performance. he informs us, moreover, that the duchess was equally charmed, and that she protested she had never in her whole life heard any thing more "delicate, more suitable, or more eloquent." the prince of orange, however, did not sympathize with her admiration. the president's elegant periods produced but little effect upon his mind. the meeting adjourned, after a few additional words from the duchess, in which she begged the knights to ponder well the causes of the increasing discontent, and to meet her again, prepared to announce what, in their opinion, would be the course best adapted to maintain the honor of the king, the safety of the provinces, and the glory of god. soon after the separation of the assembly, the prince of orange issued invitations to most of the knights, to meet at his house for the purpose of private deliberation. the president and cardinal were not included in these invitations. the meeting was, in fact, what we should call a caucus, rather than a general gathering. nevertheless, there were many of the government party present--men who differed from the prince, and were inclined to support granvelle. the meeting was a stormy one. two subjects were discussed. the first was the proposition of the duchess, to investigate the general causes of the popular dissatisfaction; the second was an inquiry how it could be rendered practicable to discuss political matters in future--a proceeding now impossible, in consequence of the perverseness and arrogance of certain functionaries, and one which, whenever attempted, always led to the same inevitable result. this direct assault upon the cardinal produced a furious debate. his enemies were delighted with the opportunity of venting their long-suppressed spleen. they indulged in savage invectives against the man whom they so sincerely hated. his adherents, on the other hand--bossu, berlaymont, courieres--were as warm in his defence. they replied by indignant denials of the charge against him, and by bitter insinuations against the prince of orange. they charged him with nourishing the desire of being appointed governor of brabant, an office considered inseparable from the general stadholderate of all the provinces. they protested for themselves that they were actuated by no ambitious designs--that they were satisfied with their own position, and not inspired by jealousy of personages more powerful than themselves. it is obvious that such charges and recriminations could excite no healing result, and that the lines between cardinalists and their opponents would be defined in consequence more sharply than ever. the adjourned meeting of the chevaliers of the fleece took place a few days afterwards. the duchess exerted herself as much as possible to reconcile the contending factions, without being able, however, to apply the only remedy which could be effective. the man who was already fast becoming the great statesman of the country knew that the evil was beyond healing, unless by a change of purpose on the part of the government. the regent, on the other hand, who it must be confessed never exhibited any remarkable proof of intellectual ability during the period of her residence in the netherlands, was often inspired by a feeble and indefinite hope that the matter might be arranged by a compromise between the views of conflicting parties. unfortunately the inquisition was not a fit subject for a compromise. nothing of radical importance was accomplished by the assembly of the fleece. it was decided that an application should be made to the different states for a giant of money, and that, furthermore, a special envoy should be despatched to spain. it was supposed by the duchess and her advisers that more satisfactory information concerning the provinces could be conveyed to philip by word of mouth than by the most elaborate epistles. the meeting was dissolved after these two measures had been agreed upon. doctor viglius, upon whom devolved the duty of making the report and petition to the states, proceeded to draw up the necessary application. this he did with his customary elegance, and, as usual, very much to his own satisfaction. on returning to his house, however, after having discharged this duty, he was very much troubled at finding that a large mulberry-tree; which stood in his garden, had been torn up by the roots in a violent hurricane. the disaster was considered ominous by the president, and he was accordingly less surprised than mortified when he found, subsequently, that his demand upon the orders had remained as fruitless as his ruined tree. the tempest which had swept his garden he considered typical of the storm which was soon to rage through the land, and he felt increased anxiety to reach a haven while it was yet comparatively calm. the estates rejected the request for supplies, on various grounds; among others, that the civil war was drawing to a conclusion in france, and that less danger was to be apprehended from that source than had lately been the case. thus, the "cup of bitterness," of which granvelle had already complained; was again commended to his lips, and there was more reason than ever for the government to regret that the national representatives had contracted the habit of meddling with financial matters. florence de montmorency, seigneur de montigny, was selected by the regent for the mission which had been decided upon for spain. this gentleman was brother to count horn, but possessed of higher talents and a more amiable character than those of the admiral. he was a warm friend of orange, and a bitter enemy to granvelle. he was a sincere catholic, but a determined foe to the inquisition. his brother had declined to act as envoy. this refusal can excite but little surprise, when philip's wrath at their parting interview is recalled, and when it is also remembered that the new mission would necessarily lay bare fresh complaints against the cardinal, still more extensive than those which had produced the former explosion of royal indignation. montigny, likewise, would have preferred to remain at home, but he was overruled. it had been written in his destiny that he should go twice into the angry lion's den, and that he should come forth once, alive. thus it has been shown that there was an open, avowed hostility on the part of the grand seignors and most of the lesser nobility to the cardinal and his measures. the people fully and enthusiastically sustained the prince of orange in his course. there was nothing underhand in the opposition made to the government. the netherlands did not constitute an absolute monarchy. they did not even constitute a monarchy. there was no king in the provinces. philip was king of spain, naples, jerusalem, but he was only duke of brabant, count of flanders, lord of friesland, hereditary chief, in short, under various titles, of seventeen states, each one of which, although not republican, possessed constitutions as sacred as, and much more ancient than, the crown. the resistance to the absolutism of granvelle and philip was, therefore, logical, legal, constitutional. it was no cabal, no secret league, as the cardinal had the effrontery to term it, but a legitimate exercise of powers which belonged of old to those who wielded them, and which only an unrighteous innovation could destroy. granvelle's course was secret and subtle. during the whole course of the proceedings which have just been described, he was; in daily confidential correspondence with the king, besides being the actual author of the multitudinous despatches which were sent with the signature of the duchess. he openly asserted his right to monopolize all the powers of the government; he did his utmost to force upon the reluctant and almost rebellious people the odious measures which the king had resolved upon, while in his secret letters he uniformly represented the nobles who opposed him, as being influenced, not by an honest hatred of oppression and attachment to ancient rights, but by resentment, and jealousy of their own importance. he assumed, in his letters to his master, that the absolutism already existed of right and in fact, which it was the intention of philip to establish. while he was depriving the nobles, the states and the nation of their privileges, and even of their natural rights (a slender heritage in those days), he assured the king that there was an evident determination to reduce his authority to a cipher. the estates, he wrote, had usurped the whole administration of the finances, and had farmed it out to antony van stralen and others, who were making enormous profits in the business. "the seignors," he said, "declare at their dinner parties that i wish to make them subject to the absolute despotism of your majesty. in point of fact, however, they really exercise a great deal more power than the governors of particular provinces ever did before; and it lacks but little that madame and your majesty should become mere ciphers, while the grandees monopolize the whole power. this," he continued, "is the principal motive of their opposition to the new bishoprics. they were angry that your majesty should have dared to solicit such an arrangement at rome, without, first obtaining their consent. they wish to reduce your majesty's authority to so low a point that you can do nothing unless they desire it. their object is the destruction of the royal authority and of the administration of justice, in order to avoid the payment of their debts; telling their creditors constantly that they, have spent their all in your majesty's service, and that they have never received recompence or salary. this they do to make your majesty odious." as a matter of course, he attributed the resistance on the part of the great nobles, every man of whom was catholic, to base motives. they were mere demagogues, who refused to burn their fellow-creatures, not from any natural repugnance to the task, but in order to gain favor with the populace. "this talk about the inquisition," said he, "is all a pretext. 'tis only to throw dust in the eyes of the vulgar, and to persuade them into tumultuous demonstrations, while the real reason is, that they choose that your majesty should do nothing without their permission, and through their hands." he assumed sometimes, however, a tone of indulgence toward the seignors--who formed the main topics of his letters--an affectation which might, perhaps, have offended them almost as much as more open and sincere denunciation. he could forgive offences against himself. it was for philip to decide as to their merits or crimes so far as the crown was concerned. his language often was befitting a wise man who was speaking of very little children. "assonleville has told me, as coming from egmont," he wrote, "that many of the nobles are dissatisfied with me; hearing from spain that i am endeavoring to prejudice your majesty against them." certainly the tone of the cardinal's daily letters would have justified such suspicion, could the nobles have seen them. granvelle begged the king, however, to disabuse them upon this point. "would to god," said he, piously, "that they all would decide to sustain the authority of your majesty, and to procure such measures as tend to the service of god and the security of the states. may i cease to exist if i do not desire to render good service to the very least of these gentlemen. your majesty knows that, when they do any thing for the benefit of your service, i am never silent. nevertheless, thus they are constituted. i hope, however, that this flurry will blow over, and that when your majesty comes they will all be found to deserve rewards of merit." of egmont, especially, he often spoke in terms of vague, but somewhat condescending commendation. he never manifested resentment in his letters, although, as already stated, the count had occasionally indulged, not only in words, but in deeds of extreme violence against him. but the cardinal was too forgiving a christian, or too keen a politician not to pass by such offences, so long as there was a chance of so great a noble's remaining or becoming his friend. he, accordingly, described him, in general, as a man whose principles, in the main, were good, but who was easily led by his own vanity and the perverse counsels of others. he represented him as having been originally a warm supporter of the new bishoprics, and as having expressed satisfaction that two of them, those of bruges and ypres, should have been within his own stadholderate. he regretted, however; to inform the king that the count was latterly growing lukewarm, perhaps from fear of finding himself separated from the other nobles. on the whole, he was tractable enough, said the cardinal, if he were not easily persuaded by the vile; but one day, perhaps, he might open his eyes again. notwithstanding these vague expressions of approbation, which granvelle permitted himself in his letters to philip, he never failed to transmit to the monarch every fact, every rumor, every inuendo which might prejudice the royal mind against that nobleman or against any of the noblemen, whose characters he at the same time protested he was most unwilling to injure. it is true that he dealt mainly by insinuation, while he was apt to conclude his statements with disclaimers upon his own part, and with hopes of improvement in the conduct of the seignors. at this particular point of time he furnished philip with a long and most circumstantial account of a treasonable correspondence which was thought to be going on between the leading nobles and the future emperor, maximilian. the narrative was a good specimen of the masterly style of inuendo in which the cardinal excelled, and by which he was often enabled to convince his master of the truth of certain statements while affecting to discredit them. he had heard a story, he said, which he felt bound to communicate to his majesty, although he did not himself implicitly believe it. he felt himself the more bound to speak upon the subject because it tallied exactly with intelligence which he had received from another source. the story was that one of these seigniors (the cardinal did not know which, for he had not yet thought proper to investigate the matter) had said that rather than consent that the king should act in this matter of the bishoprics against the privileges of brabant, the nobles would elect for their sovereign some other prince of the blood. this, said the cardinal, was perhaps a fantasy rather than an actual determination. count egmont, to be sure, he said, was constantly exchanging letters with the king of bohemia (maximilian), and it was supposed, therefore, that he was the prince of the blood who was to be elected to govern the provinces. it was determined that he should be chosen king of the romans, by fair means or by force, that he should assemble an army to attack the netherlands, that a corresponding movement should be made within the states, and that the people should be made to rise, by giving them the reins in the matter of religion. the cardinal, after recounting all the particulars of this fiction with great minuteness, added, with apparent frankness, that the correspondence between egmont and maximilian did not astonish him, because there had been much intimacy between them in the time of the late emperor. he did not feel convinced, therefore, from the frequency of the letters exchanged, that there was a scheme to raise an army to attack the provinces and to have him elected by force. on the contrary, maximilian could never accomplish such a scheme without the assistance of his imperial father the emperor, whom granvelle was convinced would rather die than be mixed up with such villany against philip. moreover, unless the people should become still more corrupted by the bad counsels constantly given them, the cardinal did not believe that any of the great nobles had the power to dispose in this way of the provinces at their pleasure. therefore, he concluded that the story was to be rejected as improbable, although it had come to him directly from the house of the said count egmont. it is remarkable that, at the commencement of his narrative, the cardinal had expressed his ignorance of the name of the seignior who was hatching all this treason, while at the end of it he gave a local habitation to the plot in the palace of egmont. it is also quite characteristic that he should add that, after all, he considered that nobleman one of the most honest of all, if appearances did not deceive. it may be supposed, however, that all these details of a plot which was quite imaginary, were likely to produce more effect upon a mind so narrow and so suspicious as that of philip, than could the vague assertions of the cardinal, that in spite of all, he would dare be sworn that he thought the count honest, and that men should be what they seemed. notwithstanding the conspiracy, which, according to granvelle's letters, had been formed against him, notwithstanding that his life was daily threatened, he did not advise the king at this period to avenge him by any public explosion of wrath. he remembered, he piously observed, that vengeance belonged to god, and that he would repay. therefore he passed over insults meekly, because that comported best with his majesty's service. therefore, too, he instructed philip to make no demonstration at that time, in order not to damage his own affairs. he advised him to dissemble, and to pretend not to know what was going on in the provinces. knowing that his master looked to him daily for instructions, always obeyed them with entire docility, and, in fact, could not move a step in netherland matters without them, he proceeded to dictate to him the terms in which he was to write to the nobles, and especially laid down rules for his guidance in his coming interviews with the seigneur de montigny. philip, whose only talent consisted in the capacity to learn such lessons with laborious effort, was at this juncture particularly in need of tuition. the cardinal instructed him, accordingly, that he was to disabuse all men of the impression that the spanish inquisition was to be introduced into the provinces. he was to write to the seigniors, promising to pay them their arrears of salary; he was to exhort them to do all in their power for the advancement of religion and maintenance of the royal authority; and he was to suggest to them that, by his answer to the antwerp deputation, it was proved that there was no intention of establishing the inquisition of spain, under pretext of the new bishoprics. the king was, furthermore, to signify his desire that all the nobles should exert themselves to efface this false impression from the popular mind. he was also to express himself to the same effect concerning the spanish inquisition, the bishoprics, and the religious question, in the public letters to madame de parma, which were to be read in full council. the cardinal also renewed his instructions to the king as to the manner in which the antwerp deputies were to be answered, by giving them, namely, assurances that to transplant the spanish inquisition into the provinces would be as hopeless as to attempt its establishment in naples. he renewed his desire that philip should contradict the story about the half dozen heads, and he especially directed him to inform montigny that berghen had known of the new bishoprics before the cardinal. this, urged granvelle, was particularly necessary, because the seigniors were irritated that so important a matter should have been decided upon without their advice, and because the marquis berghen was now the "cock of the opposition." at about the same time, it was decided by granvelle and the regent, in conjunction with the king, to sow distrust and jealousy among the nobles, by giving greater "mercedes" to some than to others, although large sums were really due to all. in particular, the attempt was made in this paltry manner, to humiliate william of orange. a considerable sum was paid to egmont, and a trifling one to the prince, in consideration of their large claims upon the treasury. moreover the duke of aerschot was selected as envoy to the frankfort diet, where the king of the romans was to be elected, with the express intention, as margaret wrote to philip, of creating divisions among the nobles, as he had suggested. the duchess at the same time informed her brother that, according to, berlaymont, the prince of orange was revolving some great design, prejudicial to his majesty's service. philip, who already began to suspect that a man who thought so much must be dangerous, was eager to find out the scheme over which william the silent was supposed to be brooding, and wrote for fresh intelligence to the duchess. neither margaret nor the cardinal, however, could discover any thing against the prince--who, meantime, although disappointed of the mission to frankfort, had gone to that city in his private capacity--saving that he had been heard to say, "one day we shall be the stronger." granvelle and madame de parma both communicated this report upon the same day, but this was all that they were able to discover of the latent plot. in the autumn of this year ( ) montigny made his visit to spain, as confidential envoy from the regent. the king being fully prepared as to the manner in which he was to deal with him, received the ambassador with great cordiality. he informed him in the course of their interviews, that granvelle had never attempted to create prejudice against the nobles, that he was incapable of the malice attributed to him, and that even were it otherwise, his evil representations against other public servants would produce no effect. the king furthermore protested that he had no intention of introducing the spanish inquisition into the netherlands, and that the new bishops were not intended as agents for such a design, but had been appointed solely with a view of smoothing religious difficulties in the provinces, and of leading his people back into the fold of the faithful. he added, that as long ago as his visit to england for the purpose of espousing queen mary, he had entertained the project of the new episcopates, as the marquis berghen, with whom he had conversed freely upon the subject, could bear witness. with regard to the connexion of granvelle with the scheme, he assured montigny that the cardinal had not been previously consulted, but had first learned the plan after the mission of sonnius. such was the purport of the king's communications to the envoy, as appears from memoranda in the royal handwriting and from the correspondence of margaret of parma. philip's exactness in conforming to his instructions is sufficiently apparent, on comparing his statements with the letters previously received from the omnipresent cardinal. beyond the limits of those directions the king hardly hazarded a syllable. he was merely the plenipotentiary of the cardinal, as montigny was of the regent. so long as granvelle's power lasted, he was absolute and infallible. such, then, was the amount of satisfaction derived from the mission of montigny. there was to be no diminution of the religious persecution, but the people were assured upon royal authority, that the inquisition, by which they were daily burned and beheaded, could not be logically denominated the spanish inquisition. in addition to the comfort, whatever it might be, which the nation could derive from this statement, they were also consoled with the information that granvelle was not the inventor of the bishoprics. although he had violently supported the measure as soon as published, secretly denouncing as traitors and demagogues, all those who lifted their voices against it, although he was the originator of the renewed edicts, although he took, daily, personal pains that this netherland inquisition, "more pitiless than the spanish," should be enforced in its rigor, and although he, at the last, opposed the slightest mitigation of its horrors, he was to be represented to the nobles and the people as a man of mild and unprejudiced character, incapable of injuring even his enemies. "i will deal with the seigniors most blandly," the cardinal had written to philip, "and will do them pleasure, even if they do not wish it, for the sake of god and your majesty." it was in this light, accordingly, that philip drew the picture of his favorite minister to the envoy. montigny, although somewhat influenced by the king's hypocritical assurances of the benignity with which he regarded the netherlands, was, nevertheless, not to be deceived by this flattering portraiture of a man whom he knew so well and detested so cordially as he did granvelle. solicited by the king, at their parting interview, to express his candid opinion as to the causes of the dissatisfaction in the provinces, montigny very frankly and most imprudently gave vent to his private animosity towards the cardinal. he spoke of his licentiousness, greediness, ostentation, despotism, and assured the monarch that nearly all the inhabitants of the netherlands entertained the same opinion concerning him. he then dilated upon the general horror inspired by the inquisition and the great repugnance felt to the establishment of the new episcopates. these three evils, granvelle, the inquisition, and the bishoprics, he maintained were the real and sufficient causes of the increasing popular discontent. time was to reveal whether the open-hearted envoy was to escape punishment for his frankness, and whether vengeance for these crimes against granvelle and philip were to be left wholly, as the cardinal had lately suggested, in the hands of the lord. montigny returned late in december. his report concerning the results of his mission was made in the state council, and was received with great indignation. the professions of benevolent intentions on the part of the sovereign made no impression on the mind of orange, who was already in the habit of receiving secret information from spain with regard to the intentions of the government. he knew very well that the plot revealed to him by henry the second in the wood of vincennes was still the royal program, so far as the spanish monarch was concerned. moreover, his anger was heightened by information received from montigny that the names of orange, egmont and their adherents, were cited to him as he passed through france as the avowed defenders of the huguenots, in politics and religion. the prince, who was still a sincere catholic, while he hated the persecutions of the inquisition, was furious at the statement. a violent scene occurred in the council. orange openly denounced the report as a new slander of granvelle, while margaret defended the cardinal and denied the accusation, but at the same time endeavored with the utmost earnestness to reconcile the conflicting parties. it had now become certain, however, that the government could no longer be continued on its present footing. either granvelle or the seigniors must succumb. the prince of orange was resolved that the cardinal should fall or that he would himself withdraw from all participation in the affairs of government. in this decision he was sustained by egmont, horn, montigny, berghen, and the other leading nobles. etext editor's bookmarks: affecting to discredit them an inspiring and delightful recreation (auto-da-fe) arrested on suspicion, tortured till confession inquisition of the netherlands is much more pitiless inquisition was not a fit subject for a compromise made to swing to and fro over a slow fire orator was, however, delighted with his own performance philip, who did not often say a great deal in a few words scaffold was the sole refuge from the rack ten thousand two hundred and twenty individuals were burned torquemada's administration (of the inquisition) two witnesses sent him to the stake, one witness to the rack motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. chapter iv. - joint letter to philip, from orange, egmont, and horn--egmont's quarrel with aerschot and with aremberg--philip's answer to the three nobles--his instructions to the duchess--egmont declines the king's invitation to visit spain--second letter of the three seigniors--mission of armenteros--letter of alva--secret letters of granvelle to philip--the cardinal's insinuations and instructions-- his complaints as to the lukewarmness of berghen and montigny in the cause of the inquisition--anecdotes to their discredit privately chronicled by granvelle--supposed necessity for the king's presence in the provinces--correspondence of lazarus schwendi--approaching crisis--anxiety of granvelle to retire--banquet of caspar schetz-- invention of the foolscap livery--correspondence of the duchess and of the cardinal with philip upon the subject--entire withdrawal of the three seigniors from the state council--the king advises with alva concerning the recall of granvelle--elaborate duplicity of philip's arrangements--his secret note to the cardinal--his dissembling letters to others--departure of granvelle from the netherlands--various opinions as to its cause--ludicrous conduct of brederode and hoogstraaten--fabulous statements in granvelle's correspondence concerning his recall--universal mystification--the cardinal deceived by the king--granvelle in retirement--his epicureanism--fears in the provinces as to his return--universal joy at his departure--representations to his discredit made by the duchess to philip--her hypocritical letters to the cardinal-- masquerade at count mansfeld's--chantonnay's advice to his brother-- review of granvelle's administration and estimate of his character. on the th march, , orange, horn, and egmont united in a remarkable letter to the king. they said that as their longer "taciturnity" might cause the ruin of his majesty's affairs, they were at last compelled to break silence. they hoped that the king would receive with benignity a communication which was pure, frank, and free from all passion. the leading personages of the province, they continued, having thoroughly examined the nature and extent of cardinal granvelle's authority, had arrived at the conclusion that every thing was in his hands. this persuasion, they said, was rooted in the hearts of all his majesty's subjects, and particularly in their own, so deeply, that it could not be eradicated as long as the cardinal remained. the king was therefore implored to consider the necessity of remedying the evil. the royal affairs, it was affirmed, would never be successfully conducted so long as they were entrusted to granvelle, because he was so odious to so many people. if the danger were not imminent, they should not feel obliged to write to his majesty with so much vehemence. it was, however, an affair which allowed neither delay nor dissimulation. they therefore prayed the king, if they had ever deserved credence in things of weight, to believe them now. by so doing, his majesty would avoid great mischief. many grand seigniors, governors, and others, had thought it necessary to give this notice, in order that the king might prevent the ruin of the country. if, however, his majesty were willing, as they hoped, to avoid discontenting all for the sake of satisfying one, it was possible that affairs might yet prosper. that they might not be thought influenced by ambition or by hope of private profit, the writers asked leave to retire from the state council. neither their reputation, they said, nor the interests of the royal service would permit them to act with the cardinal. they professed themselves dutiful subjects and catholic vassals. had it not been for the zeal of the leading seigniors, the nobility, and other well-disposed persons, affairs would not at that moment be so tranquil; the common people having been so much injured, and the manner of life pursued by the cardinal not being calculated to give more satisfaction than was afforded by his unlimited authority. in conclusion, the writers begged his majesty not to throw the blame upon them, if mischance should follow the neglect of this warning. this memorable letter was signed by guillaume, de nassau, lamoral d'egmont, and philippes de montmorency (count horn). it was despatched undercover to charles de tisnacq, a belgian, and procurator for the affairs of the netherlands at madrid, a man whose relations with count egmont were of a friendly character. it was impossible, however, to keep the matter a secret from the person most interested. the cardinal wrote to the king the day before the letter was written, and many weeks before it was sent, to apprize him that it was coming, and to instruct him as to the answer he was to make. nearly all the leading nobles and governors had adhered to the substance of the letter, save the duke of aerschot, count aremberg, and baron berlaymont. the duke and count had refused to join the league; violent scenes having occurred upon the subject between them and the leaders of the opposition party. egmont, being with a large shooting party at aerschot's country place, beaumont, had taken occasion to urge the duke to join in the general demonstration against the cardinal, arguing the matter in the rough, off-hand, reckless manner which was habitual with him. his arguments offended the nobleman thus addressed, who was vain and irascible. he replied by affirming that he was a friend to egmont, but would not have him for his master. he would have nothing to do, he said, with their league against the cardinal, who had never given him cause of enmity. he had no disposition to dictate to the king as to his choice of ministers, and his majesty was quite right to select his servants at his own pleasure. the duke added that if the seigniors did not wish him for a friend, it was a matter of indifference to him. not one of them was his superior; he had as large a band of noble followers and friends as the best of them, and he had no disposition to accept the supremacy of any nobleman in the land. the conversation carried on in this key soon became a quarrel, and from words the two gentlemen would soon have come to blows, but for the interposition of aremberg and robles, who were present at the scene. the duchess of parma, narrating the occurrence to the king, added that a duel had been the expected result of the affair, but that the two nobles had eventually been reconciled. it was characteristic of aerschot that he continued afterward to associate with the nobles upon friendly terms, while maintaining an increased intimacy with the cardinal. the gentlemen who sent the letter were annoyed at the premature publicity which it seemed to have attained. orange had in vain solicited count aremberg to join the league, and had quarrelled with him in consequence. egmont, in the presence of madame de parma, openly charged aremberg with having divulged the secret which had been confided to him. the count fiercely denied that he had uttered a syllable on the subject to a human being; but added that any communication on his part would have been quite superfluous, while egmont and his friends were daily boasting of what they were to accomplish. egmont reiterated the charge of a breach of faith by aremberg. that nobleman replied by laying his hand upon his sword, denouncing as liars all persons who should dare to charge him again with such an offence, and offering to fight out the quarrel upon the instant. here, again, personal combat was, with much difficulty, averted. egmont, rude, reckless, and indiscreet, was already making manifest that he was more at home on a battle-field than in a political controversy where prudence and knowledge of human nature were as requisite as courage. he was at this period more liberal in his sentiments than at any moment of his life. inflamed by his hatred of granvelle, and determined to compass the overthrow of that minister, he conversed freely with all kinds of people, sought popularity among the burghers, and descanted to every one with much imprudence upon the necessity of union for the sake of liberty and the national good. the regent, while faithfully recording in her despatches every thing of this nature which reached her ears, expressed her astonishment at egmont's course, because, as she had often taken occasion to inform the king, she had always considered the count most sincerely attached to his majesty's service. berlaymont, the only other noble of prominence who did not approve the th of march letter, was at this period attempting to "swim in two waters," and, as usual in such cases, found it very difficult to keep himself afloat. he had refused to join the league, but he stood aloof from granvelle. on a hope held out by the seigniors that his son should be made bishop of liege, he had ceased during a whole year from visiting the cardinal, and had never spoken to him at the council-board. granvelle, in narrating these circumstances to the king, expressed the opinion that berlaymont, by thus attempting to please both parties, had thoroughly discredited himself with both. the famous epistle, although a most reasonable and manly statement of an incontrovertible fact, was nevertheless a document which it required much boldness to sign. the minister at that moment seemed omnipotent, and it was obvious that the king was determined upon a course of political and religious absolutism. it is, therefore, not surprising that, although many sustained its principles, few were willing to affix their names to a paper which might prove a death-warrant to the signers. even montigny and berghen, although they had been active in conducting the whole cabal, if cabal it could be called, refused to subscribe the letter. egmont and horn were men of reckless daring, but they were not keen-sighted enough to perceive fully the consequences of their acts. orange was often accused by his enemies of timidity, but no man ever doubted his profound capacity to look quite through the deeds of men. his political foresight enabled him to measure the dangerous precipice which they were deliberately approaching, while the abyss might perhaps be shrouded to the vision of his companions. he was too tranquil of nature to be hurried, by passions into a grave political step, which in cooler moments he might regret. he resolutely, therefore, and with his eyes open, placed himself in open and recorded enmity with the most powerful and dangerous man in the whole spanish realm, and incurred the resentment of a king who never forgave. it may be safely averred that as much courage was requisite thus to confront a cold and malignant despotism, and to maintain afterwards, without flinching, during a whole lifetime, the cause of national rights and liberty of conscience, as to head the most brilliant charge of cavalry that ever made hero famous. philip answered the letter of the three nobles on the th june following. in this reply, which was brief, he acknowledged the zeal and affection by which the writers had been actuated. he suggested, nevertheless, that, as they had mentioned no particular cause for adopting the advice contained in their letter, it would be better that one of them should come to madrid to confer with him. such matters, he said, could be better treated by word of mouth. he might thus receive sufficient information to enable him to form a decision, for, said he in conclusion, it was not his custom to aggrieve any of his ministers without cause. this was a fine phrase, but under the circumstances of its application, quite ridiculous. there was no question of aggrieving the minister. the letter of the three nobles was very simple. it consisted of a fact and a deduction. the fact stated was, that the cardinal was odious to all classes of the nation. the deduction drawn was, that the government could no longer be carried on by him without imminent danger of ruinous convulsions. the fact was indisputable. the person most interested confirmed it in his private letters. "'tis said," wrote granvelle to philip, "that grandees, nobles, and people, all abhor me, nor am i surprised to find that grandees, nobles, and people are all openly against me, since each and all have been invited to join in the league." the cardinal's reasons for the existence of the unpopularity, which he admitted to the full, have no bearing upon the point in the letter. the fact was relied upon to sustain a simple, although a momentous inference. it was for philip to decide upon the propriety of the deduction, and to abide by the consequences of his resolution when taken. as usual, however, the monarch was not capable of making up his mind. he knew very well that the cardinal was odious and infamous, because he was the willing impersonation of the royal policy. philip was, therefore, logically called upon to abandon the policy or to sustain the minister. he could make up his mind to do neither the one nor the other. in the mean time a well-turned period of mock magnanimity had been furnished him. this he accordingly transmitted as his first answer to a most important communication upon a subject which, in the words of the writers, "admitted neither of dissimulation nor delay." to deprive philip of dissimulation and delay, however, was to take away his all. they were the two weapons with which he fought his long life's battle. they summed up the whole of his intellectual resources. it was inevitable, therefore, that he should at once have recourse to both on such an emergency as the present one. at the same time that he sent his answer to the nobles, he wrote an explanatory letter to the regent. he informed her that he had received the communication of the three seigniors, but instructed her that she was to appear to know nothing of the matter until egmont should speak to her upon the subject. he added that, although he had signified his wish to the three nobles, that one of them, without specifying which, should come to madrid, he in reality desired that egmont, who seemed the most tractable of the three, should be the one deputed. the king added, that his object was to divide the nobles, and to gain time. it was certainly superfluous upon philip's part to inform his sister that his object was to gain time. procrastination was always his first refuge, as if the march of the world's events would pause indefinitely while he sat in his cabinet and pondered. it was, however, sufficiently puerile to recommend to his sister an affectation of ignorance on a subject concerning which nobles had wrangled, and almost drawn their swords in her presence. this, however, was the king's statesmanship when left to his unaided exertions. granvelle, who was both philip and margaret when either had to address or to respond to the world at large, did not always find it necessary to regulate the correspondence of his puppets between themselves. in order more fully to divide the nobles, the king also transmitted to egmont a private note, in his own handwriting, expressing his desire that he should visit spain in person, that they might confer together upon the whole subject. these letters, as might be supposed, produced any thing but a satisfactory effect. the discontent and rage of the gentlemen who had written or sustained the th of march communication, was much increased. the answer was, in truth, no answer at all. "'tis a cold and bad reply," wrote louis of nassau, "to send after so long a delay. 'tis easy to see that the letter came from the cardinal's smithy. in summa it is a vile business, if the gentlemen are all to be governed by one person. i hope to god his power will come soon to an end. nevertheless," added louis, "the gentlemen are all wide awake, for they trust the red fellow not a bit more than he deserves." the reader has already seen that the letter was indeed "from the cardinal's smithy," granvelle having instructed his master how to reply to the seigniors before the communication had been despatched. the duchess wrote immediately to inform her brother that egmont had expressed himself willing enough to go to spain, but had added that he must first consult orange and horn. as soon as that step had been taken, she had been informed that it was necessary for them to advise with all the gentlemen who had sanctioned their letter. the duchess had then tried in vain to prevent such an assembly, but finding that, even if forbidden, it would still take place, she had permitted the meeting in brussels, as she could better penetrate into their proceedings there, than if it should be held at a distance. she added, that she should soon send her secretary armenteros to spain, that the king might be thoroughly acquainted with what was occurring. egmont soon afterwards wrote to philip, declining to visit spain expressly on account of the cardinal. he added, that he was ready to undertake the journey, should the king command his presence for any other object. the same decision was formally communicated to the regent by those chevaliers of the fleece who had approved the th of march letter--montigny; berghen, meghem, mansfeld, ligne, hoogstraaten, orange, egmont, and horn. the prince of orange, speaking in the name of all, informed her that they did not consider it consistent with their reputation, nor with the interest of his majesty, that any one of them should make so long and troublesome a journey, in order to accuse the cardinal. for any other purpose, they all held themselves ready to go to spain at once. the duchess expressed her regret at this resolution. the prince replied by affirming that, in all their proceedings, they had been governed, not by hatred of granvelle but by a sense of duty to his majesty. it was now, he added, for the king to pursue what course it pleased him. four days after this interview with the regent, orange, egmont, and horn addressed a second letter to the king. in this communication they stated that they had consulted with all the gentlemen with whose approbation their first letter had been written. as to the journey of one of them to spain,--as suggested, they pronounced it very dangerous for any seignior to absent himself, in the condition of affairs which then existed. it was not a sufficient cause to go thither on account of granvelle. they disclaimed any intention of making themselves parties to a process against the cardinal. they had thought that their simple, brief announcement would have sufficed to induce his majesty to employ that personage in other places, where his talents would be more fruitful. as to "aggrieving the cardinal without cause," there was no question of aggrieving him at all, but of relieving him of an office which could not remain in his hands without disaster. as to "no particular cause having been mentioned," they said the omission was from no lack of many such. they had charged none, however, because, from their past services and their fidelity to his majesty, they expected to be believed on their honor, without further witnesses or evidence. they had no intention of making themselves accusers. they had purposely abstained from specifications. if his majesty should proceed to ampler information, causes enough would be found. it was better, however, that they should be furnished by others than by themselves. his majesty would then find that the public and general complaint was not without adequate motives. they renewed their prayer to be excused from serving in the council of state, in order that they might not be afterwards inculpated for the faults of others. feeling that the controversy between themselves and the cardinal de granvelle in the state council produced no fruit for his majesty's affairs, they preferred to yield to him. in conclusion, they begged the king to excuse the simplicity of their letters, the rather that they were not by nature great orators, but more accustomed to do well than to speak well, which was also more becoming to persons of their quality. on the th of august, count horn also addressed a private letter to the king, written in the same spirit as that which characterized the joint letter just cited. he assured his majesty that the cardinal could render no valuable service to the crown on account of the hatred which the whole nation bore him, but that, as far as regarded the maintenance of the ancient religion, all the nobles were willing to do their duty. the regent now despatched, according to promise, her private secretary, thomas de armenteros, to spain. his instructions, which were very elaborate, showed that granvelle was not mistaken when he charged her with being entirely changed in regard to him, and when he addressed her a reproachful letter, protesting his astonishment that his conduct had become auspicious, and his inability to divine the cause of the weariness and dissatisfaction which she manifested in regard to him. armenteros, a man of low, mercenary, and deceitful character, but a favorite of the regent, and already beginning to acquire that influence over her mind which was soon to become so predominant, was no friend of the cardinal. it was not probable that he would diminish the effect of that vague censure mingled with faint commendation, which characterized margaret's instructions by any laudatory suggestions of his own. he was directed to speak in general terms of the advance of heresy, and the increasing penury of the exchequer. he was to request two hundred thousand crowns toward the lottery, which the regent proposed to set up as a financial scheme. he was to represent that the duchess had tried, unsuccessfully, every conceivable means of accommodating the quarrel between the cardinal and the seigniors. she recognized granvelle's great capacity, experience, zeal, and devotion--for all which qualities she made much of him--while on the other hand she felt that it would be a great inconvenience, and might cause a revolt of the country, were she to retain him in the netherlands against the will of the seigniors. these motives had compelled her, the messenger was to add, to place both views of the subject before the eyes of the king. armenteros was, furthermore, to narrate the circumstances of the interviews which had recently taken place between herself and the leaders of the opposition party. from the tenor of these instructions, it was sufficiently obvious that margaret of parma was not anxious to retain the cardinal, but that, on the contrary, she was beginning already to feel alarm at the dangerous position in which she found herself. a few days after the three nobles had despatched their last letter to the king, they had handed her a formal remonstrance. in this document they stated their conviction that the country was on the high road to ruin, both as regarded his majesty's service and the common weal. the bare, the popular discontent daily increasing, the fortresses on the frontier in a dilapidated condition. it was to be apprehended daily that merchants and other inhabitants of the provinces would be arrested in foreign countries, to satisfy the debts owed by his majesty. to provide against all these evils, but one course, it was suggested, remained to the government--to summon the states-general, and to rely upon their counsel and support. the nobles, however, forbore to press this point, by reason of the prohibition which the regent had received from the king. they suggested, however, that such an interdiction could have been dictated only by a distrust created between his majesty and the estates by persons having no love for either, and who were determined to leave no resource by which the distress of the country could be prevented. the nobles, therefore, begged her highness not to take it amiss if, so long as the king was indisposed to make other arrangements for the administration of the provinces, they should abstain from appearing at the state council. they preferred to cause the shadow at last to disappear, which they had so long personated. in conclusion, however, they expressed their determination to do their duty in their several governments, and to serve the regent to the best of their abilities. after this remonstrance had been delivered, the prince of orange, count horn, and count egmont abstained entirely from the sessions of the state council. she was left alone with the cardinal, whom she already hated, and with his two shadows, viglius and berlaymont. armenteros, after a month spent on his journey, arrived in spain, and was soon admitted to an audience by philip. in his first interview, which lasted four hours, he read to the king all the statements and documents with which he had come provided, and humbly requested a prompt decision. such a result was of course out of the question. moreover, the cortes of tarragon, which happened then to be in session, and which required the royal attention, supplied the monarch with a fresh excuse for indulging in his habitual vacillation. meantime, by way of obtaining additional counsel in so grave an emergency, he transmitted the letters of the nobles, together with the other papers, to the duke of alva, and requested his opinion on the subject. alva replied with the roar of a wild beast, "every time," he wrote, "that i see the despatches of those three flemish seigniors my rage is so much excited that if i did not use all possible efforts to restrain it, my sentiments would seem those of a madman." after this splenitive exordium he proceeded to express the opinion that all the hatred and complaints against the cardinal had arisen from his opposition to the convocation of the states-general. with regard to persons who had so richly deserved such chastisement, he recommended "that their heads should be taken off; but, until this could be done, that the king should dissemble with them." he advised philip not to reply to their letters, but merely to intimate, through the regent, that their reasons for the course proposed by them did not seem satisfactory. he did not prescribe this treatment of the case as "a true remedy, but only as a palliative; because for the moment only weak medicines could be employed, from which, however, but small effect could be anticipated." as to recalling the cardinal, "as they had the impudence to propose to his majesty," the duke most decidedly advised against the step. in the mean time, and before it should be practicable to proceed "to that vigorous chastisement already indicated," he advised separating the nobles as much as possible by administering flattery and deceitful caresses to egmont, who might be entrapped more easily than the others. here, at least, was a man who knew his own mind. here was a servant who could be relied upon to do his master's bidding whenever this master should require his help. the vigorous explosion of wrath with which the duke thus responded to the first symptoms of what he regarded as rebellion, gave a feeble intimation of the tone which he would assume when that movement should have reached a more advanced stage. it might be guessed what kind of remedies he would one day prescribe in place of the "mild medicines" in which he so reluctantly acquiesced for the present. while this had been the course pursued by the seigniors, the regent and the king, in regard to that all-absorbing subject of netherland politics--the straggle against granvelle--the cardinal, in his letters to philip, had been painting the situation by minute daily touches, in a manner of which his pencil alone possessed the secret. still maintaining the attitude of an injured but forgiving christian, he spoke of the nobles in a tone of gentle sorrow. he deprecated any rising of the royal wrath in his behalf; he would continue to serve the gentlemen, whether they would or no; he was most anxious lest any considerations on his account should interfere with the king's decision in regard to the course to be pursued in the netherlands. at the same time, notwithstanding these general professions of benevolence towards the nobles, he represented them as broken spendthrifts, wishing to create general confusion in order to escape from personal liabilities; as conspirators who had placed themselves within the reach of the attorney-general; as ambitious malcontents who were disposed to overthrow the royal authority, and to substitute an aristocratic republic upon its ruins. he would say nothing to prejudice the king's mind against these gentlemen, but he took care to omit nothing which could possibly accomplish that result. he described them as systematically opposed to the policy which he knew lay nearest the king's heart, and as determined to assassinate the faithful minister who was so resolutely carrying it out, if his removal could be effected in no other way. he spoke of the state of religion as becoming more and more unsatisfactory, and bewailed the difficulty with which he could procure the burning of heretics; difficulties originating in the reluctance of men from whose elevated rank better things might have been expected. as granvelle is an important personage, as his character has been alternately the subject of much censure and of more applause, and as the epoch now described was the one in which the causes of the great convulsion were rapidly germinating, it is absolutely necessary that the reader should be placed in a position to study the main character, as painted by his own hand; the hand in which were placed, at that moment, the destinies of a mighty empire. it is the historian's duty, therefore, to hang the picture of his administration fully in the light. at the moment when the th of march letter was despatched, the cardinal represented orange and egmont as endeavoring by every method of menace or blandishment to induce all the grand seigniors and petty nobles to join in the league against himself. they had quarrelled with aerschot and aremberg, they had more than half seduced berlaymont, and they stigmatized all who refused to enter into their league as cardinalists and familiars of the inquisition. he protested that he should regard their ill-will with indifference, were he not convinced that he was himself only a pretext, and that their designs were really much deeper. since the return of montigny, the seigniors had established a league which that gentleman and his brother, count horn, had both joined. he would say nothing concerning the defamatory letters and pamphlets of which he was the constant object, for he wished no heed taken of matters which concerned exclusively himself, notwithstanding this disclaimer, however, he rarely omitted to note the appearance of all such productions for his majesty's especial information. "it was better to calm men's spirits," he said, "than to excite them." as to fostering quarrels among the seigniors, as the king had recommended, that was hardly necessary, for discord was fast sowing its own seeds. "it gave him much pain," he said, with a christian sigh, "to observe that such dissensions had already arisen, and unfortunately on his account." he then proceeded circumstantially to describe the quarrel between aerschot and egmont, already narrated by the regent, omitting in his statement no particular which could make egmont reprehensible in the royal eyes. he likewise painted the quarrel between the same noble and aremberg, to which he had already alluded in previous letters to the king, adding that many gentlemen, and even the more prudent part of the people, were dissatisfied with the course of the grandees, and that he was taking underhand but dexterous means to confirm them in such sentiments. he instructed philip how to reply to the letter addressed to him, but begged his majesty not to hesitate to sacrifice him if the interests of his crown should seem to require it. with regard to religious matters, he repeatedly deplored that, notwithstanding his own exertions and those of madame de parma, things were not going on as he desired, but, on the contrary, very badly. "for the-love of god and the service of the holy religion," he cried out fervently, "put your royal hand valiantly to the work, otherwise we have only to exclaim, help, lord, for we perish!" having uttered this pious exhortation in the ear of a man who needed no stimulant in the path of persecution, he proceeded to express his regrets that the judges and other officers were not taking in hand the chastisement of heresy with becoming vigor. yet, at that very moment peter titelmann was raging through flanders, tearing whole families out of bed and burning them to ashes, with such utter disregard to all laws or forms as to provoke in the very next year a solemn protest from the four estates of flanders; and titelmann was but one of a dozen inquisitors. granvelle, however, could find little satisfaction in the exertions of subordinates so long as men in high station were remiss in their duties. the marquis berghen, he informed philip, showed but little disposition to put down heresy, in valenciennes, while montigny was equally remiss at tournay. they were often heard to say, to any who chose to listen, that it was not right to inflict the punishment of death for matters of religion. this sentiment, uttered in that age of blood and fire, and crowning the memory of those unfortunate nobles with eternal honor, was denounced by the churchman as criminal, and deserving of castigation. he intimated, moreover, that these pretences of clemency were mere hypocrisy, and that self-interest was at the bottom of their compassion. "'tis very black," said he, "when interest governs; but these men are a in debt, so deeply that they owe their very souls. they are seeking every means of escaping from their obligations, and are most desirous of creating general confusion." as to the prince of orange, the cardinal asserted that he owed nine hundred thousand florins, and had hardly twenty-five thousand a-year clear income, while he spent ninety thousand, having counts; barons, and gentlemen in great numbers, in his household. at this point, he suggested that it might be well to find employment for some of these grandees in spain and other dominions of his majesty, adding that perhaps orange might accept the vice-royalty of sicily. resuming the religious matter, a few weeks later, he expressed himself a little more cheerfully, "we have made so much outcry," said he, "that at last marquis berghen has been forced to burn a couple of heretics at valenciennes. thus, it is obvious," moralized the cardinal, "that if he were really willing to apply the remedy in that place, much progress might be made; but that we can do but little so long as he remains in the government of the provinces and refuses to assist us." in a subsequent letter, he again uttered com plaints against the marquis and montigny, who were evermore his scapegoats and bugbears. berghen will give us no aid, he wrote, despite of all the letters we send him. he absents himself for private and political reasons. montigny has eaten meat in lent, as the bishop of tournay informs me. both he and the marquis say openly that it is not right to shed blood for matters of faith, so that the king can judge how much can be effected with such coadjutors. berghen avoids the persecution of heretics, wrote the cardinal again, a month later, to secretary perez. he has gone to spa for his health, although those who saw him last say he is fat and hearty. granvelle added, however, that they had at last "burned one more preacher alive." the heretic, he stated, had feigned repentance to save his life, but finding that, at any rate, his head would be cut off as a dogmatizer, he retracted his recantation. "so," concluded the cardinal, complacently, "they burned him." he chronicled the sayings and doings of the principal personages in the netherlands, for the instruction of the king, with great regularity, insinuating suspicions when unable to furnish evidence, and adding charitable apologies, which he knew would have but small effect upon the mind of his correspondent. thus he sent an account of a "very secret meeting" held by orange, egmont, horn, montigny and berghen, at the abbey of la forest, near brussels, adding, that he did not know what they had been doing there, and was at loss what to suspect. he would be most happy, he said, to put the best interpretation upon their actions, but he could not help remembering with great sorrow the observation so recently made by orange to montigny, that one day they should be stronger. later in the year, the cardinal informed the king that the same nobles were holding a conference at weerdt, that he had not learned what had been transacted there, but thought the affair very suspicious. philip immediately communicated the intelligence to alva, together with an expression of granvelle's fears and of his own, that a popular outbreak would be the consequence of the continued presence of the minister in the netherlands. the cardinal omitted nothing in the way of anecdote or inuendo, which could injure the character of the leading nobles, with the exception, perhaps, of count egmont. with this important personage, whose character he well understood, he seemed determined, if possible, to maintain friendly relations. there was a deep policy in this desire, to which we shall advert hereafter. the other seigniors were described in general terms as disposed to overthrow the royal authority. they were bent upon granvelle's downfall as the first step, because, that being accomplished, the rest would follow as a matter of course. "they intend," said he, "to reduce the state into the form of a republic, in which the king shall have no power except to do their bidding." he added, that he saw with regret so many german troops gathering on the borders; for he believed them to be in the control of the disaffected nobles of the netherlands. having made this grave insinuation, he proceeded in the same breath to express his anger at a statement said to have been made by orange and egmont, to the effect that he had charged them with intending to excite a civil commotion, an idea, he added, which had never entered his head. in the same paragraph, he poured into the most suspicious ear that ever listened to a tale of treason, his conviction that the nobles were planning a republic by the aid of foreign troops, and uttered a complaint that these nobles had accused him of suspecting them. as for the prince of orange, he was described as eternally boasting of his influence in germany, and the great things which he could effect by means of his connexions there, "so that," added the cardinal, "we hear no other song." he had much to say concerning the projects of these grandees to abolish all the councils, but that of state, of which body they intended to obtain the entire control. marquis berghen was represented as being at the bottom of all these intrigues. the general and evident intention was to make a thorough change in the form of government. the marquis meant to command in every thing, and the duchess would soon have nothing to do in the provinces as regent for the king. in fact, philip himself would be equally powerless, "for," said the cardinal, "they will have succeeded in putting your majesty completely under guardianship." he added, moreover, that the seigniors, in order to gain favor with the people and with the estates, had allowed them to acquire so much power, that they would respond to any request for subsidies by a general popular revolt. "this is the simple truth," said granvelle, "and moreover, by the same process, in a very few days there will likewise be no religion left in the land." when the deputies of some of the states, a few weeks later, had been irregularly convened in brussels, for financial purposes, the cardinal informed the monarch that the nobles were endeavoring to conciliate their good-will, by offering them a splendid series of festivities and banquets. he related various anecdotes which came to his ears from time to time, all tending to excite suspicions as to the loyalty and orthodoxy of the principal nobles. a gentleman coming from burgundy had lately, as he informed the king, been dining with the prince of orange, with whom horn and montigny were then lodging. at table, montigny called out in a very loud voice to the strange cavalier, who was seated at a great distance from him, to ask if there were many huguenots in burgundy. no, replied the gentleman nor would they be permitted to exist there. "then there can be very few people of intelligence in that province," returned montigny, "for those who have any wit are mostly all huguenots." the prince of orange here endeavored to put a stop to the conversation, saying that the burgundians were very right to remain as they were; upon which montigny affirmed that he had heard masses enough lately to last him for three months. these things may be jests, commented granvelle, but they are very bad ones; and 'tis evident that such a man is an improper instrument to remedy the state of religious affairs in tournay. at another large party, the king was faithfully informed by the same chronicler, that marquis berghen had been teasing the duke of aerschot very maliciously, because he would not join the league. the duke had responded as he had formerly done to egmont, that his majesty was not to receive laws from his vassals; adding that, for himself, he meant to follow in the loyal track of his ancestors, fearing god and honoring the king. in short, said granvelle, he answered them with so much wisdom, that although they had never a high opinion of his capacity, they were silenced. this conversation had been going on before all the servants, the marquis being especially vociferous, although the room was quite full of them. as soon as the cloth was removed, and while some of the lackies still remained, berghen had resumed the conversation. he said he was of the same mind as his ancestor, john of berghen, had been, who had once told the king's grandfather, philip the fair, that if his majesty was bent on his own perdition, he had no disposition to ruin himself. if the present monarch means to lose these provinces by governing them as he did govern them, the marquis affirmed that he had no wish to lose the little property that he himself possessed in the country. "but if," argued the duke of aerschot, "the king absolutely refuse to do what you demand of him; what then?"--"par la cordieu!" responded berghen, in a rage, "we will let him see!" whereupon all became silent. granvelle implored the king to keep these things entirely to himself; adding that it was quite necessary for his majesty to learn in this manner what were the real dispositions of the gentlemen of the provinces. it was also stated in the same letter, that a ruffian genoese, who had been ordered out of the netherlands by the regent, because of a homicide he had committed, was kept at weert, by count horn, for the purpose of murdering the cardinal. he affirmed that he was not allowed to request the expulsion of the assassin from the count's house; but that he would take care, nevertheless, that neither this ruffian nor any other, should accomplish his purpose. a few weeks afterwards, expressing his joy at the contradiction of a report that philip had himself been assassinated, granvelle added; "i too, who am but a worm in comparison, am threatened on so many sides, that many must consider me already dead. nevertheless, i will endeavor, with god's help, to live as long as i can, and if they kill me, i hope they will not gain every thing." yet, with characteristic jesuitism, the cardinal could not refrain, even in the very letter in which he detailed the rebellious demonstrations of berghen, and the murderous schemes of horn, to protest that he did not say these things "to prejudice his majesty against any one, but only that it might be known to what a height the impudence was rising." certainly the king and the ecclesiastic, like the roman soothsayers, would have laughed in each other's face, could they have met, over the hollowness of such demonstrations. granvelle's letters were filled, for the greater part, with pictures of treason, stratagem, and bloody intentions, fabricated mostly out of reports, table-talk, disjointed chat in the careless freedom of domestic intercourse, while at the same time a margin was always left to express his own wounded sense of the injurious suspicions uttered against him by the various subjects of his letters. "god knows," said he to perez, "that i always speak of them with respect, which is more than they do of me. but god forgive them all. in times like these, one must hold one's tongue. one must keep still, in order not to stir up a hornet's nest." in short, the cardinal, little by little, during the last year of his residence in the netherlands, was enabled to spread a canvas before his sovereign's eye, in which certain prominent figures, highly colored by patiently accumulated touches, were represented as driving a whole nation, against its own will, into manifest revolt. the estates and the people, he said, were already tired of the proceedings of the nobles, and those personages would find themselves very much mistaken in thinking that men who had any thing to lose would follow them, when they began a rebellion against his majesty. on the whole, he was not desirous of prolonging his own residence, although, to do him justice, he was not influenced by fear. he thought or affected to think that the situation was one of a factitious popular discontent, procured by the intrigues of a few ambitious and impoverished catilines and cethegi, not a rising rebellion such as the world had never seen, born of the slowly-awakened wrath of, a whole people, after the martyrdom of many years. the remedy that he recommended was that his majesty should come in person to the provinces. the monarch would cure the whole disorder as soon as he appeared, said the cardinal, by merely making the sign of the cross. whether, indeed, the rapidly-increasing cancer of national discontent would prove a mere king's evil, to be healed by the royal touch, as many persons besides granvelle believed, was a point not doomed to be tested. from that day forward philip began to hold out hopes that he would come to administer the desired remedy, but even then it was the opinion of good judges that he would give millions rather than make his appearance in the netherlands. it was even the hope of william of orange that the king would visit the provinces. he expressed his desire, in a letter to lazarus schwendi, that his sovereign should come in person, that he might see whether it had been right to sow so much distrust between himself and his loyal subjects. the prince asserted that it was impossible for any person not on the spot to imagine the falsehoods and calumnies circulated by granvelle and his friends, accusing orange and his associates of rebellion and heresy, in the most infamous manner in the world. he added, in conclusion, that he could write no more, for the mere thought of the manner in which the government of the netherlands was carried on filled him with disgust and rage. this letter, together with one in a similar strain from egmont, was transmitted by the valiant and highly intellectual soldier to whom they were addressed, to the king of spain, with an entreaty that he would take warning from the bitter truths which they contained. the colonel, who was a most trusty friend of orange, wrote afterwards to margaret of parma in the same spirit, warmly urging her to moderation in religious matters. this application highly enraged morillon, the cardinal's most confidential dependent, who accordingly conveyed the intelligence to his already departed chief, exclaiming in his letter, "what does the ungrateful baboon mean by meddling with our affairs? a pretty state of things, truly, if kings are to choose or retain their ministers at the will of the people; little does he know of the disasters which would be caused by a relaxation of the edicts." in the same sense, the cardinal, just before his departure, which was now imminent, wrote to warn his sovereign of the seditious character of the men who were then placing their breasts between the people and their butchers. he assured philip that upon the movement of those nobles depended the whole existence of the country. it was time that they should be made to open their eyes. they should be solicited in every way to abandon their evil courses, since the liberty which they thought themselves defending was but abject slavery; but subjection to a thousand base and contemptible personages, and to that "vile animal called the people." it is sufficiently obvious, from the picture which we have now presented of the respective attitudes of granvelle, of the seigniors and of the nation, during the whole of the year , and the beginning of the following year, that a crisis was fast approaching. granvelle was, for the moment, triumphant, orange, egmont, and horn had abandoned the state council, philip could not yet make up his mind to yield to the storm, and alva howled defiance at the nobles and the whole people of the netherlands. nevertheless, margaret of parma was utterly weary of the minister, the cardinal himself was most anxious to be gone, and the nation--for there was a nation, however vile the animal might be--was becoming daily more enraged at the presence of a man in whom, whether justly or falsely, it beheld the incarnation of the religious oppression under which they groaned. meantime, at the close of the year, a new incident came to add to the gravity of the situation. caspar schetz, baron of grobbendonck, gave a great dinner-party, in the month of december, . this personage, whose name was prominent for many years in the public affairs of the nation, was one of the four brothers who formed a very opulent and influential mercantile establishment. he was the king's principal factor and financial agent. he was one of the great pillars of the bourse at antwerp. he was likewise a tolerable scholar, a detestable poet, an intriguing politician, and a corrupt financier. he was regularly in the pay of sir thomas gresham, to whom he furnished secret information, for whom he procured differential favors, and by whose government he was rewarded by gold chains and presents of hard cash, bestowed as secretly as the equivalent was conveyed adroitly. nevertheless, although his venality was already more than suspected, and although his peculation, during his long career became so extensive that he was eventually prosecuted by government, and died before the process was terminated, the lord of grobbendonck was often employed in most delicate negotiations, and, at the present epoch, was a man of much importance in the netherlands. the treasurer-general accordingly gave his memorable banquet to a distinguished party of noblemen. the conversation, during dinner, turned, as was inevitable, upon the cardinal. his ostentation, greediness, insolence, were fully canvassed. the wine flowed freely as it always did in those flemish festivities--the brains of the proud and reckless cavaliers became hot with excitement, while still the odious ecclesiastic was the topic of their conversation, the object alternately of fierce invective or of scornful mirth. the pompous display which he affected in his equipages, liveries, and all the appurtenances of his household, had frequently excited their derision, and now afforded fresh matter for their ridicule. the customs of germany, the simple habiliments in which the retainers of the greatest houses were arrayed in that country, were contrasted with the tinsel and glitter in which the prelate pranked himself. it was proposed, by way of showing contempt for granvelle, that a livery should be forthwith invented, as different as possible from his in general effect, and that all the gentlemen present should indiscriminately adopt it for their own menials. thus would the people whom the cardinal wished to dazzle with his finery learn to estimate such gauds at their true value. it was determined that something extremely plain, and in the german fashion, should be selected. at the same time, the company, now thoroughly inflamed with wine, and possessed by the spirit of mockery, determined that a symbol should be added to the livery, by which the universal contempt for granvelle should be expressed. the proposition was hailed with acclamation, but who should invent the hieroglyphical costume? all were reckless and ready enough, but ingenuity of device was required. at last it was determined to decide the question by hazard. amid shouts of hilarity, the dice were thrown. those men were staking their lives, perhaps, upon the issue, but the reflection gave only a keener zest to the game. egmont won. it was the most fatal victory which he had ever achieved, a more deadly prize even than the trophies of st. quentin and gravelingen. in a few days afterwards, the retainers of the house of egmont surprised brussels by making their appearance in a new livery. doublet and hose of the coarsest grey, and long hanging sleeves, without gold or silver lace, and having but a single ornament, comprised the whole costume. an emblem which seemed to resemble a monk's cowl, or a fool's cap and bells, was embroidered upon each sleeve. the device pointed at the cardinal, as did, by contrast, the affected coarseness of the dress. there was no doubt as to the meaning of the hood, but they who saw in the symbol more resemblance to the jester's cap, recalled certain biting expressions which granvelle had been accustomed to use. he had been wont, in the days of his greatest insolence, to speak of the most eminent nobles as zanies, lunatics, and buffoons. the embroidered fool's cap was supposed to typify the gibe, and to remind the arrogant priest that a brutus, as in the olden time, might be found lurking in the costume of the fool. however witty or appropriate the invention, the livery had an immense success. according to agreement, the nobles who had dined with the treasurer ordered it for all their servants. never did a new dress become so soon the fashion. the unpopularity of the minister assisted the quaintness of the device. the fool's-cap livery became the rage. never was such a run upon the haberdashers, mercers, and tailors, since brussels had been a city. all the frieze-cloth in brabant was exhausted. all the serge in flanders was clipped into monastic cowls. the duchess at first laughed with the rest, but the cardinal took care that the king should be at once informed upon the subject. the regent was, perhaps, not extremely sorry to see the man ridiculed whom she so cordially disliked, and, she accepted the careless excuses made on the subject by egmont and by orange without severe criticism. she wrote to her brother that, although the gentlemen had been influenced by no evil intention, she had thought it best to exhort them not to push the jest too far. already, however, she found that two thousand pairs, of sleeves had been made, and the most she could obtain was that the fools' caps, or monks' hoods, should in future be omitted from the livery. a change was accordingly made in the costume, at about the time of the cardinal's departure. a bundle of arrows, or in some instances a wheat-sheaf, was substituted for the cowls. various interpretations were placed upon this new emblem. according to the nobles themselves, it denoted the union of all their hearts in the king's service, while their enemies insinuated that it was obviously a symbol of conspiracy. the costume thus amended was worn by the gentlemen themselves, as well as by their servants. egmont dined at the regent's table, after the cardinal's departure, in a camlet doublet, with hanging sleeves, and buttons stamped with the bundle of arrows. for the present, the cardinal affected to disapprove of the fashion only from its rebellious tendency. the fools' caps and cowls, he meekly observed to philip, were the least part of the offence, for an injury to himself could be easily forgiven. the wheat-sheaf and the arrow-bundles, however, were very vile things, for they betokened and confirmed the existence of a conspiracy, such as never could be tolerated by a prince who had any regard for his own authority. this incident of the livery occupied the public attention, and inflamed the universal hatred during the later months of the minister's residence in the country. meantime the three seigniors had become very impatient at receiving no answer to their letter. margaret of parma was urging her brother to give them satisfaction, repeating to him their bitter complaints that their characters and conduct were the subject of constant misrepresentation to their sovereign, and picturing her own isolated condition. she represented herself as entirely deprived of the support of those great personages, who, despite her positive assurances to the contrary, persisted in believing that they were held up to the king as conspirators, and were in danger of being punished as traitors. philip, on his part, was conning granvelle's despatches, filled with hints of conspiracy, and holding counsel with alva, who had already recommended the taking off several heads for treason. the prince of orange, who already had secret agents in the king's household, and was supplied with copies of the most private papers in the palace, knew better than to be deceived by the smooth representations of the regent. philip had, however, at last begun secretly to yield. he asked alva's advice whether on the whole it would not be better to let the cardinal leave the netherlands, at least for a time, on pretence of visiting his mother in burgundy, and to invite count egmont to madrid, by way of striking one link from the chain, as granvelle had suggested. the duke had replied that he had no doubt of the increasing insolence of the three seigniors, as depicted in the letters of the duchess margaret, nor of their intention to make the cardinal their first victim; it being the regular principle in all revolts against the sovereign, to attack the chief minister in the first place. he could not, however, persuade himself that the king should yield and granvelle be recalled. nevertheless, if it were to be done at all, he preferred that the cardinal should go to burgundy without leave asked either of the duchess or of philip; and that he should then write; declining to return, on the ground that his life was not safe in the netherlands. after much hesitation, the monarch at last settled upon a plan, which recommended itself through the extreme duplicity by which it was marked, and the complicated system of small deceptions, which it consequently required. the king, who was never so thoroughly happy or at home as when elaborating the ingredients of a composite falsehood, now busily employed himself in his cabinet. he measured off in various letters to the regent, to the three nobles, to egmont alone, and to granvelle, certain proportionate parts of his whole plan, which; taken separately, were intended to deceive, and did deceive nearly every person in the world, not only in his own generation, but for three centuries afterwards, but which arranged synthetically, as can now be done, in consequence of modern revelations, formed one complete and considerable lie, the observation of which furnishes the student with a lesson in the political chemistry of those days, which was called macchiavellian statesmanship. the termination of the granvelle regency is, moreover, most important, not only for the grave and almost interminable results to which it led, but for the illustration which it affords of the inmost characters of the cardinal and "his master." the courier who was to take philip's letters to the three nobles was detained three weeks, in order to allow armenteros, who was charged with the more important and secret despatches for the duchess and granvelle to reach brussels first. all the letters, however, were ready at the same time. the letter of instructions for armenteros enjoined upon that envoy to tell the regent that the heretics were to be chastised with renewed vigor, that she was to refuse to convoke the states-general under any pretext, and that if hard pressed, she was to refer directly to the king. with regard to granvelle, the secretary was to state that his majesty was still deliberating, and that the duchess would be informed as to the decision when it should be made. he was to express the royal astonishment that the seigniors should absent themselves from the state council, with a peremptory intimation that they should immediately return to their posts. as they had specified no particularities against the cardinal, the king would still reflect upon the subject. he also wrote a private note to the duchess, stating that he had not yet sent the letters for the three nobles, because he wished that armenteros should arrive before their courier. he, however, enclosed two notes for egmont, of which margaret was to deliver that one, which, in her opinion, was, under the circumstances, the best. in one of these missives the king cordially accepted, and in the other he politely declined egmont's recent offer to visit spain. he also forwarded a private letter in his own hand-writing to the cardinal. armenteros, who travelled but slowly on account of the state of his health, arrived in brussels towards the end of february. five or six days afterwards, on the st march, namely, the courier arrived bringing the despatches for the seigniors. in his letter to orange, egmont, and horn, the king expressed his astonishment at their resolution to abstain from the state council. nevertheless, said he, imperatively, fail not to return thither and to show how much more highly you regard my service and the good of the country than any other particularity whatever. as to granvelle, continued philip, since you will not make any specifications, my intention is to think over the matter longer, in order to arrange it as may seem most fitting. this letter was dated february ( ), nearly a month later therefore than the secret letter to granvelle, brought by armenteros, although all the despatches had been drawn up at the same time and formed parts of the same plan. in this brief note to granvelle, however, lay the heart of the whole mystery. "i have reflected much," wrote the king, "on all that you have written me during these last few months, concerning the ill-will borne you by certain personages. i notice also your suspicions that if a revolt breaks out, they will commence with your person, thus taking occasion to proceed from that point to the accomplishment of their ulterior designs. i have particularly taken into consideration the notice received by you from the curate of saint gudule, as well as that which you have learned concerning the genoese who is kept at weert; all which has given me much anxiety as well from my desire for the preservation of your life in which my service is so deeply interested, as for the possible results if any thing should happen to you, which god forbid. i have thought, therefore, that it would be well, in order to give time and breathing space to the hatred and rancor which those persons entertain towards you, and in order to see what coarse they will take in preparing the necessary remedy, for the provinces, for you to leave the country for some days, in order to visit your mother, and this with the knowledge of the duchess, my sister, and with her permission, which you will request, and which i have written to her that she must give, without allowing it to appear that you have received orders to that effect from me. you will also beg her to write to me requesting my approbation of what she is to do. by taking this course neither my authority nor yours will suffer prejudice; and according to the turn which things may take, measures may be taken for your return when expedient, and for whatever else there may be to arrange." thus, in two words, philip removed the unpopular minister forever. the limitation of his absence had no meaning, and was intended to have none. if there were not strength enough to keep the cardinal in his place, it was not probable that the more difficult task of reinstating him after his fall would be very soon attempted. it, seemed, however, to be dealing more tenderly with granvelle's self-respect thus to leave a vague opening for a possible return, than to send him an unconditional dismissal. thus, while the king refused to give any weight to the representations of the nobles, and affected to be still deliberating whether or not he should recall the cardinal, he had in reality already recalled him. all the minute directions according to which permission was to be asked of the duchess to take a step which had already been prescribed by the monarch, and philip's indulgence craved for obeying his own explicit injunctions, were fulfilled to the letter. as soon as the cardinal received the royal order, he privately made preparations for his departure. the regent, on the other hand, delivered to count egmont the one of philip's two letters in which that gentleman's visit was declined, the duchess believing that, in the present position of affairs, she should derive more assistance from him than from the rest of the seigniors. as granvelle, however, still delayed his departure, even after the arrival of the second courier, she was again placed in a situation of much perplexity. the three nobles considered philip's letter to them extremely "dry and laconic," and orange absolutely refused to comply with the order to re-enter the state council. at a session of that body, on the d of march, where only granvelle, viglius, and berlaymont were present, margaret narrated her fruitless attempts to persuade the seigniors into obedience to the royal orders lately transmitted, and asked their opinions. the extraordinary advice was then given, that "she should let them champ the bit a little while longer, and afterwards see what was to be done." even at the last moment, the cardinal, reluctant to acknowledge himself beaten, although secretly desirous to retire, was inclined for a parting struggle. the duchess, however, being now armed with the king's express commands, and having had enough of holding the reins while such powerful and restive personages were "champing the bit," insisted privately that the cardinal should make his immediate departure known. pasquinades and pamphlets were already appearing daily, each more bitter than the other; the livery was spreading rapidly through all classes of people, and the seigniors most distinctly refused to recede from their determination of absenting themselves from the council so long as granvelle remained. there was no help for it; and on the th of march the cardinal took his departure. notwithstanding the mystery of the whole proceeding, however, william of orange was not deceived. he felt certain that the minister had been recalled, and thought it highly improbable that he would ever be permitted to return. "although the cardinal talks of coming back again soon," wrote the prince to schwartzburg, "we nevertheless hope that, as he lied about his departure, so he will also spare the truth in his present assertions." this was the general conviction, so far as the question of the minister's compulsory retreat was concerned, of all those who were in the habit of receiving their information and their opinions from the prince of orange. many even thought that granvelle had been recalled with indignity and much against his will. "when the cardinal," wrote secretary lorich to count louis, "received the king's order to go, he growled like a bear, and kept himself alone in his chamber for a time, making his preparations for departure. he says he shall come back in two months, but some of us think they will be two long months which will eat themselves up like money borrowed of the jews." a wag, moreover, posted a large placard upon the door of granvelle's palace in brussels as soon as the minister's departure was known, with the inscription, in large letters, "for sale, immediately." in spite of the royal ingenuity, therefore, many shrewdly suspected the real state of the case, although but very few actually knew the truth. the cardinal left brussels with a numerous suite, stately equipages, and much parade. the duchess provided him with her own mules and with a sufficient escort, for the king had expressly enjoined that every care should be taken against any murderous attack. there was no fear of such assault, however, for all were sufficiently satisfied to see the minister depart. brederode and count hoogstraaten were standing together, looking from the window of a house near the gate of caudenberg, to feast their eyes with the spectacle of their enemy's retreat. as soon as the cardinal had passed through that gate, on his way to namur, the first stage of his journey, they rushed into the street, got both upon one horse, hoogstraaten, who alone had boots on his legs, taking the saddle and brederode the croup, and galloped after the cardinal, with the exultation of school-boys. thus mounted, they continued to escort the cardinal on his journey. at one time, they were so near his carriage, while it was passing through a ravine, that they might have spoken to him from the heights above, where they had paused to observe him; but they pulled the capes of their cloaks over their faces and suffered him to pass unchallenged. "but they are young folk," said the cardinal, benignantly, after relating all these particulars to the duchess, "and one should pay little regard to their actions." he added, that one of egmont's gentlemen dogged their party on the journey, lodging in the same inns with them, apparently in the hope of learning something from their conversation or proceedings. if that were the man's object, however, granvelle expressed the conviction that he was disappointed, as nothing could have been more merry than the whole company, or more discreet than their conversation. the cardinal began at once to put into operation the system of deception, as to his departure, which had been planned by philip. the man who had been ordered to leave the netherlands by the king, and pushed into immediate compliance with the royal command by the duchess, proceeded to address letters both to philip and margaret. he wrote from namur to beg the regent that she would not fail to implore his majesty graciously to excuse his having absented himself for private reasons at that particular moment. he wrote to philip from besancon, stating that his desire to visit his mother, whom he had not seen for nineteen years, and his natal soil, to which he had been a stranger during the same period, had induced him to take advantage of his brother's journey to accompany him for a few days into burgundy. he had, therefore, he said, obtained the necessary permission from the duchess, who had kindly promised to write very particularly by the first courier, to beg his majesty's approval of the liberty which they had both taken. he wrote from the same place to the regent again, saying that some of the nobles pretended to have learned from armenteros that the king had ordered the cardinal to leave the country and not to return; all which, he added, was a very false renardesque invention, at which he did nothing but laugh. as a matter of course, his brother, in whose company he was about to visit the mother whom he had not seen for the past nineteen years, was as much mystified as the rest of the world. chantonnay was not aware that any thing but the alleged motives had occasioned the journey, nor did he know that his brother would perhaps have omitted to visit their common parent for nineteen years longer had he not received the royal order to leave the netherlands. philip, on the other side, had sustained his part, in the farce with much ability. viglius, berlaymont, morillon, and all the lesser cardinalists were entirely taken in by the letters which were formally despatched to the duchess in reply to her own and the cardinal's notification. "i can not take it amiss," wrote the king, "that you have given leave of absence to cardinal de granvelle, for two or three months, according to the advices just received from you, that he may attend to some private affairs of his own." as soon as these letters had been read in the council, viglius faithfully transmitted them to granvelle for that personage's enlightenment; adding his own innocent reflection, that "this was very different language from that held by some people, that your most illustrious lordship had retired by order of his majesty." morillon also sent the cardinal a copy of the same passage in the royal despatch, saying, very wisely, "i wonder what they will all say now, since these letters have been read in council." the duchess, as in duty bound, denied flatly, on all occasions, that armenteros had brought any letters recommending or ordering the minister's retreat. she conscientiously displayed the letters of his majesty, proving the contrary, and yet, said viglius, it was very hard to prevent people talking as they liked. granvelle omitted no occasion to mystify every one of his correspondents on the subject, referring, of course, to the same royal letters which had been written for public reading, expressly to corroborate these statements. "you see by his majesty's letters to madame de parma," said he to morillon, "how false is the report that the king had ordered me to leave flanders, and in what confusion those persons find themselves who fabricated the story." it followed of necessity that he should carry out his part in the royal program, but he accomplished his task so adroitly, and with such redundancy of zeal, as to show his thorough sympathy with the king's policy. he dissembled with better grace, even if the king did it more naturally. nobody was too insignificant to be deceived, nobody too august. emperor ferdinand fared no better than "esquire" bordey. "some of those who hate me," he wrote to the potentate, "have circulated the report that i had been turned out of the country, and was never to return. this story has ended in smoke, since the letters written by his majesty to the duchess of parma on the subject of the leave of absence which she had given me." philip himself addressed a private letter to granvelle, of course that others might see it, in which he affected to have just learned that the cardinal had obtained permission from the regent "to make a visit to his mother, in order to arrange certain family matters," and gravely gave his approbation to the step. at the same time it was not possible for the king to resist the temptation of adding one other stroke of dissimulation to his own share in the comedy. granvelle and philip had deceived all the world, but philip also deceived granvelle. the cardinal made a mystery of his departure to pollwiller, viglius, morillon, to the emperor, to his own brother, and also to the king's secretary, gonzalo perez; but he was not aware that perez, whom he thought himself deceiving as ingeniously as he had done all the others, had himself drawn up the letter of recall, which the king had afterwards copied out in his own hand and marked "secret and confidential." yet granvelle might have guessed that in such an emergency philip would hardly depend upon his own literary abilities. granvelle remained month after month in seclusion, doing his best to philosophize. already, during the latter period of his residence in the netherlands, he had lived in a comparative and forced solitude. his house had been avoided by those power-worshippers whose faces are rarely turned to the setting sun. he had, in consequence, already, before his departure, begun to discourse on the beauties of retirement, the fatigues of greatness, and the necessity of repose for men broken with the storms of state. a great man was like a lake, he said, to which a thirsty multitude habitually resorted till the waters were troubled, sullied, and finally exhausted. power looked more attractive in front than in the retrospect. that which men possessed was ever of less value than that which they hoped. in this fine strain of eloquent commonplace the falling minister had already begun to moralize upon the vanity of human wishes. when he was established at his charming retreat in burgundy, he had full leisure to pursue the theme. he remained in retirement till his beard grew to his waist, having vowed, according to report, that he would not shave till recalled to the netherlands. if the report were true, said some of the gentlemen in the provinces, it would be likely to grow to his feet. he professed to wish himself blind and deaf that he might have no knowledge of the world's events, described himself as buried in literature, and fit for no business save to remain in his chamber, fastened to his books, or occupied with private affairs and religious exercises. he possessed a most charming residence at orchamps, where he spent a great portion of his time. in one of his letters to vice-chancellor seld, he described the beauties of this retreat with much delicacy and vigor--"i am really not as badly off here," said he, "as i should be in the indies. i am in sweet places where i have wished for you a thousand times, for i am certain that you would think them appropriate for philosophy and worthy the habitation of the muses. here are beautiful mountains, high as heaven, fertile on all their sides, wreathed with vineyards, and rich with every fruit; here are rivers flowing through charming valleys, the waters clear as crystal, filled with trout, breaking into numberless cascades. here are umbrageous groves, fertile fields, lovely meadows; on the one aide great warmth, on the other aide delectable coolness, despite the summer's heat. nor is there any lack of good company, friends, and relations, with, as you well know, the very best wines in the world." thus it is obvious that the cardinal was no ascetic. his hermitage contained other appliances save those for study and devotion. his retired life was, in fact, that of a voluptuary. his brother, chantonnay, reproached him with the sumptuousness and disorder of his establishment. he lived in "good and joyous cheer." he professed to be thoroughly satisfied with the course things had taken, knowing that god was above all, and would take care of all. he avowed his determination to extract pleasure and profit even from the ill will of his adversaries. "behold my philosophy," he cried, "to live joyously as possible, laughing at the world, at passionate people, and at all their calumnies." it is evident that his philosophy, if it had any real existence, was sufficiently epicurean. it was, however, mainly compounded of pretence, like his whole nature and his whole life. notwithstanding the mountains high as heaven, the cool grottos, the trout, and the best burgundy wines in the world, concerning which he descanted so eloquently, he soon became in reality most impatient of his compulsory seclusion. his pretence of "composing himself as much as possible to tranquillity and repose" could deceive none of the intimate associates to whom he addressed himself in that edifying vein. while he affected to be blind and deaf to politics, he had eyes and ears for nothing else. worldly affairs were his element, and he was shipwrecked upon the charming solitude which he affected to admire. he was most anxious to return to the world again, but he had difficult cards to play. his master was even more dubious than usual about everything. granvelle was ready to remain in burgundy as long as philip chose that he should remain there. he was also ready to go to "india, peru, or into the fire," whenever his king should require any such excursion, or to return to the netherlands, confronting any danger which might lie in his path. it is probable that he nourished for a long time a hope that the storm would blow over in the provinces, and his resumption of power become possible. william of orange, although more than half convinced that no attempt would be made to replace the minister, felt it necessary to keep strict watch on his movements. "we must be on our guard," said he, "and not be deceived. perhaps they mean to put us asleep, in order the better to execute their designs. for the present things are peaceable, and all the world is rejoiced at the departure of that good cardinal." the prince never committed the error of undervaluing the talents of his great adversary, and he felt the necessity of being on the alert in the present emergency. "'tis a sly and cunning bird that we are dealing with," said he, "one that sleeps neither day nor night if a blow is to be dealt to us." honest brederode, after solacing himself with the spectacle of his enemy's departure, soon began to suspect his return, and to express himself on the subject, as usual, with ludicrous vehemence. "they say the red fellow is back again," he wrote to count louis, "and that berlaymont has gone to meet him at namur. the devil after the two would be a good chase." nevertheless, the chances of that return became daily fainter. margaret of parma hated the cardinal with great cordiality. she fell out of her servitude to him into far more contemptible hands, but for a brief interval she seemed to take a delight in the recovery of her freedom. according to viglius, the court, after granvelle's departure, was like a school of boys and girls when the pedagogue's back is turned. he was very bitter against the duchess for her manifest joy at emancipation. the poor president was treated with the most marked disdain by margaret, who also took pains to show her dislike to all the cardinalists. secretary armenteros forbade bordey, who was granvelle's cousin and dependent, from even speaking to him in public. the regent soon became more intimate with orange and egmont than she had ever been with the cardinal. she was made to see--and, seeing, she became indignant--the cipher which she had really been during his administration. "one can tell what's o'clock," wrote morillon to the fallen minister, "since she never writes to you nor mentions your name." as to armenteros, with whom granvelle was still on friendly relations, he was restless in his endeavors to keep the once-powerful priest from rising again. having already wormed himself into the confidence of the regent, he made a point of showing to the principal seigniors various letters, in which she had been warned by the cardinal to put no trust in them. "that devil," said armenteros, "thought he had got into paradise here; but he is gone, and we shall take care that he never returns." it was soon thought highly probable that the king was but temporizing, and that the voluntary departure of the minister had been a deception. of course nothing was accurately known upon the subject. philip had taken good care of that, but meantime the bets were very high that there would be no restoration, with but few takers. men thought if there had been any royal favor remaining for the great man, that the duchess would not be so decided in her demeanor on the subject. they saw that she was scarlet with indignation whenever the cardinal's name was mentioned. they heard her thank heaven that she had but one son, because if she had had a second he must have been an ecclesiastic, and as vile as priests always were. they witnessed the daily contumely which she heaped upon poor viglius, both because he was a friend of granvelle and was preparing in his old age to take orders. the days were gone, indeed, when margaret was so filled with respectful affection for the prelate, that she could secretly correspond with the holy father at rome, and solicit the red hat for the object of her veneration. she now wrote to philip, stating that she was better informed as to affairs in the netherlands than she had ever formerly been. she told her brother that all the views of granvelle and of his followers, viglius with the rest, had tended to produce a revolution which they hoped that philip would find in full operation when he should come to the netherlands. it was their object, she said, to fish in troubled waters, and, to attain that aim, they had ever pursued the plan of gaining the exclusive control of all affairs. that was the reason why they had ever opposed the convocation of the states-general. they feared that their books would be read, and their frauds, injustice, simony, and rapine discovered. this would be the result, if tranquillity were restored to the country, and therefore they had done their best to foment and maintain discord. the duchess soon afterwards entertained her royal brother with very detailed accounts of various acts of simony, peculation, and embezzlement committed by viglius, which the cardinal had aided and abetted, and by which he had profited.--[correspondence de phil. ii, i. - .]--these revelations are inestimable in a historical point of view. they do not raise our estimate of margaret's character, but they certainly give us a clear insight into the nature of the granvelle administration. at the same time it was characteristic of the duchess, that while she was thus painting the portrait of the cardinal for the private eye of his sovereign, she should address the banished minister himself in a secret strain of condolence, and even of penitence. she wrote to assure granvelle that she repented extremely having adopted the views of orange. she promised that she would state publicly every where that the cardinal was an upright man, intact in his morals and his administration, a most zealous and faithful servant of the king. she added that she recognized the obligations she was under to him, and that she loved him like a brother. she affirmed that if the flemish seigniors had induced her to cause the cardinal to be deprived of the government, she was already penitent, and that her fault deserved that the king, her brother, should cut off her head, for having occasioned so great a calamity.--["memoires de granvelle," tom. , p. .] there was certainly discrepancy between the language thus used simultaneously by the duchess to granvelle and to philip, but margaret had been trained in the school of macchiavelli, and had sat at the feet of loyola. the cardinal replied with equal suavity, protesting that such a letter from the duchess left him nothing more to desire, as it furnished him with an "entire and perfect justification" of his conduct. he was aware of her real sentiments, no doubt, but he was too politic to quarrel with so important a personage as philip's sister. an incident which occurred a few months after the minister's departure served, to show the general estimation in which he was held by all ranks of netherlanders. count mansfeld celebrated the baptism of his son, philip octavian, by a splendid series of festivities at luxemburg, the capital of his government. besides the tournaments and similar sports, with which the upper classes of european society were accustomed at that day to divert themselves, there was a grand masquerade, to which the public were admitted as spectators. in this "mummery" the most successful spectacle was that presented by a group arranged in obvious ridicule of granvelle. a figure dressed in cardinal's costume, with the red hat upon his head, came pacing through the arena upon horseback. before him marched a man attired like a hermit, with long white beard, telling his beads upon a rosary, which he held ostentatiously in his hands. behind the mounted cardinal came the devil, attired in the usual guise considered appropriate to the prince of darkness, who scourged both horse and rider with a whip of fog-tails, causing them to scamper about the lists in great trepidation, to the immense delight of the spectators. the practical pun upon simon renard's name embodied in the fox-tail, with the allusion to the effect of the manifold squibs perpetrated by that most bitter and lively enemy upon granvelle, were understood and relished by the multitude. nothing could be more hearty than the blows bestowed upon the minister's representative, except the applause with which this satire, composed of actual fustigation, was received. the humorous spectacle absorbed all the interest of the masquerade, and was frequently repeated. it seemed difficult to satisfy the general desire to witness a thorough chastisement of the culprit. the incident made a great noise in the country. the cardinalists felt naturally very much enraged, but they were in a minority. no censure came from the government at brussels, and mansfeld was then and for a long time afterwards the main pillar of royal authority in the netherlands. it was sufficiently obvious that granvelle, for the time at least, was supported by no party of any influence. meantime he remained in his seclusion. his unpopularity did not, however, decrease in his absence. more than a year after his departure, berlaymont said the nobles detested the cardinal more than ever, and would eat him alive if they caught him. the chance of his returning was dying gradually out. at about the same period chantonnay advised his brother to show his teeth. he assured granvelle that he was too quiet in his disgrace, reminded him that princes had warm affections when they wished to make use of people, but that when they could have them too cheaply, they esteemed them but little; making no account of men whom they were accustomed to see under their feet. he urged the cardinal, in repeated letters, to take heart again, to make himself formidable, and to rise from his crouching attitude. all the world say, he remarked, that the game is up between the king and yourself, and before long every one will be laughing at you, and holding you for a dupe. stung or emboldened by these remonstrances, and weary of his retirement, granvelle at last abandoned all intention of returning to the netherlands, and towards the end of , departed to rome, where he participated in the election of pope pius v. five years afterwards he was employed by philip to negotiate the treaty between spain, rome, and venice against the turk. he was afterwards viceroy of naples, and in , he removed to madrid, to take an active part in the management of the public business, "the disorder of which," says the abbe boisot, "could be no longer arrested by men of mediocre capacity." he died in that city on the st september, , at the age of seventy, and was buried at besancon. we have dwelt at length on the administration of this remarkable personage, because the period was one of vital importance in the history of the netherland commonwealth. the minister who deals with the country at an epoch when civil war is imminent, has at least as heavy a responsibility upon his head as the man who goes forth to confront the armed and full-grown rebellion. all the causes out of which the great revolt was born, were in violent operation during the epoch of granvelle's power. by the manner in which he comported himself in presence of those dangerous and active elements of the coming convulsions, must his character as a historical personage be measured. his individuality had so much to do with the course of the government, the powers placed in his hands were so vast, and his energy so untiring, that it is difficult to exaggerate the importance of his influence upon the destiny of the country which he was permitted to rule. it is for this reason that we have been at great pains to present his picture, sketched as it were by his own hand. a few general remarks are, however, necessary. it is the historian's duty to fix upon one plain and definite canvas the chameleon colors in which the subtle cardinal produced his own image. almost any theory concerning his character might be laid down and sustained by copious citations from his works; nay, the most opposite conclusions as to his interior nature, may be often drawn from a single one of his private and interminable letters. embarked under his guidance, it is often difficult to comprehend the point to which we are tending. the oarsman's face beams upon us with serenity, but he looks in one direction, and rows in the opposite course. even thus it was three centuries ago. was it to be wondered at that many did not see the precipice towards which the bark which held their all was gliding under the same impulse? no man has ever disputed granvelle's talents. from friend and foe his intellect has received the full measure of applause which it could ever claim. no doubt his genius was of a rare and subtle kind. his great power was essentially dramatic in its nature. he mastered the characters of the men with whom he had to deal, and then assumed them. he practised this art mainly upon personages of exalted station, for his scheme was to govern the world by acquiring dominion over its anointed rulers. a smooth and supple slave in appearance, but, in reality, while his power lasted, the despot of his masters, he exercised boundless control by enacting their parts with such fidelity that they were themselves deceived. it is impossible not to admire the facility with which this accomplished proteus successively assumed the characters of philip and of margaret, through all the complicated affairs and voluminous correspondence of his government. when envoys of high rank were to be despatched on confidential missions to spain, the cardinal drew their instructions as the duchess--threw light upon their supposed motives in secret letters as the king's sister--and answered their representations with ponderous wisdom as philip; transmitting despatches, letters and briefs for royal conversations, in time to be thoroughly studied before the advent of the ambassador. whoever travelled from brussels to madrid in order to escape the influence of the ubiquitous cardinal, was sure to be confronted with him in the inmost recesses of the king's cabinet as soon as he was admitted to an audience. to converse with philip or margaret was but to commune with antony. the skill with which he played his game, seated quietly in his luxurious villa, now stretching forth one long arm to move the king at madrid, now placing margaret upon what square he liked, and dealing with bishops, knight of the fleece, and lesser dignitaries, the richardota, the morillons, the viglii and the berlaymonts, with sole reference to his own scheme of action, was truly of a nature to excite our special wonder. his aptitude for affairs and his power to read character were extraordinary; but it was necessary that the affairs should be those of a despotism, and the characters of an inferior nature. he could read philip and margaret, egmont or berlaymont, alva or viglius, but he had no plummet to sound the depths of a mind like that of william the silent. his genius was adroit and subtle, but not profound. he aimed at power by making the powerful subservient, but he had not the intellect which deals in the daylight face to face with great events and great minds. in the violent political struggle of which his administration consisted, he was foiled and thrown by the superior strength of a man whose warfare was open and manly, and who had no defence against the poisoned weapons of his foe. his literary accomplishments were very great. his fecundity was prodigious, and he wrote at will in seven languages. 'this polyglot facility was not in itself a very remarkable circumstance, for it grew out of his necessary education and geographical position. few men in that age and region were limited to their mother tongue. the prince of orange, who made no special pretence to learning, possessed at least five languages. egmont, who was accounted an ignorant man, was certainly familiar with three. the cardinal, however, wrote not only with ease, but with remarkable elegance, vigor and vivacity, in whatever language he chose to adopt. the style of his letters and other documents, regarded simply as compositions, was inferior to that of no writer of the age. his occasional orations, too, were esteemed models of smooth and flowing rhetoric, at an epoch when the art of eloquence was not much cultivated. yet it must be allowed that beneath all the shallow but harmonious flow of his periods, it would be idle to search for a grain of golden sand. not a single sterling, manly thought is to be found in all his productions. if at times our admiration is excited with the appearance of a gem of true philosophy, we are soon obliged to acknowledge, on closer inspection, that we have been deceived by a false glitter. in retirement, his solitude was not relieved by serious application to any branch of knowledge. devotion to science and to the advancement of learning, a virtue which has changed the infamy of even baser natures than his into glory, never dignified his seclusion. he had elegant tastes, he built fine palaces, he collected paintings, and he discoursed of the fine arts with the skill and eloquence of a practised connoisseur; but the nectared fruits of divine philosophy were but harsh and crabbed to him. his moral characteristics are even more difficult to seize than his intellectual traits. it is a perplexing task to arrive at the intimate interior structure of a nature which hardly had an interior. he did not change, but he presented himself daily in different aspects. certain peculiarities he possessed, however, which were unquestionable. he was always courageous, generally calm. placed in the midst of a nation which hated him, exposed to the furious opposition of the most powerful adversaries, having hardly a friend, except the cowardly viglius and the pluralist morillon, secretly betrayed by margaret of parma, insulted by rude grandees, and threatened by midnight assassins, he never lost his self-possession, his smooth arrogance, his fortitude. he was constitutionally brave. he was not passionate in his resentments. to say that he was forgiving by nature would be an immense error; but that he could put aside vengeance at the dictate of policy is very certain. he could temporize, even after the reception of what he esteemed grave injuries, if the offenders were powerful. he never manifested rancor against the duchess. even after his fall from power in the netherlands, he interceded with the pope in favor of the principality of orange, which the pontiff was disposed to confiscate. the prince was at that time as good a catholic as the cardinal. he was apparently on good terms with his sovereign, and seemed to have a prosperous career before him. he was not a personage to be quarrelled with. at a later day, when the position of that great man was most clearly defined to the world, the cardinal's ancient affection for his former friend and pupil did not prevent him from suggesting the famous ban by which a price was set upon his head, and his life placed in the hands of every assassin in europe. it did not prevent him from indulging in the jocularity of a fiend, when the news of the first-fruits of that bounty upon murder reached his ears. it did not prevent him from laughing merrily at the pain which his old friend must have suffered, shot through the head and face with a musket-ball, and at the mutilated aspect which his "handsome face must have presented to the eyes of his apostate wife." it did not prevent him from stoutly disbelieving and then refusing to be comforted, when the recovery of the illustrious victim was announced. he could always dissemble without entirely forgetting his grievances. certainly, if he were the forgiving christian he pictured himself, it is passing strange to reflect upon the ultimate fate of egmont, horn, montigny, berghen, orange, and a host of others, whose relations with him were inimical. his extravagance was enormous, and his life luxurious. at the same time he could leave his brother champagny--a man, with all his faults, of a noble nature, and with scarcely inferior talents to his own--to languish for a long time in abject poverty; supported by the charity of an ancient domestic. his greediness for wealth was proverbial. no benefice was too large or too paltry to escape absorption, if placed within his possible reach. loaded with places and preferments, rolling in wealth, he approached his sovereign with the whine of a mendicant. he talked of his property as a "misery," when he asked for boons, and expressed his thanks in the language of a slave when he received them. having obtained the abbey of st. armand, he could hardly wait for the burial of the bishop of tournay before claiming the vast revenues of afflighem, assuring the king as he did so that his annual income was but eighteen thousand crowns. at the same time, while thus receiving or pursuing the vast rents of st. armand and afflighem, he could seize the abbey of trulle from the expectant hands of poor dependents, and accept tapestries and hogsheads of wine from jacques lequien and others, as a tax on the benefices which he procured for them. yet the man who, like his father before him, had so long fattened on the public money, who at an early day had incurred the emperor's sharp reproof for his covetousness, whose family, beside all these salaries and personal property, possessed already fragments of the royal domain, in the shape of nineteen baronies and seigniories in burgundy, besides the county of cantecroix and other estates in the netherlands, had the effrontery to affirm, "we have always rather regarded the service of the master than our own particular profit." in estimating the conduct of the minister, in relation to the provinces, we are met upon the threshold by a swarm of vague assertions which are of a nature to blind or distract the judgment. his character must be judged as a whole, and by its general results, with a careful allowance for contradictions and equivocations. truth is clear and single, but the lights are parti-colored and refracted in the prism of hypocrisy. the great feature of his administration was a prolonged conflict between himself and the leading seigniors of the netherlands. the ground of the combat was the religious question. let the quarrel be turned or tortured in any manner that human ingenuity can devise, it still remains unquestionable that granvelle's main object was to strengthen and to extend the inquisition, that of his adversaries to overthrow the institution. it followed, necessarily, that the ancient charters were to be trampled in the dust before that tribunal could be triumphant. the nobles, although all catholics, defended the cause of the poor religious martyrs, the privileges of the nation and the rights of their order. they were conservatives, battling for the existence of certain great facts, entirely consonant to any theory of justice and divine reason--for ancient constitutions which had been purchased with blood and treasure. "i will maintain," was the motto of william of orange. philip, bigoted and absolute almost beyond comprehension, might perhaps have proved impervious to any representations, even of granvelle. nevertheless, the minister might have attempted the task, and the responsibility is heavy upon the man who shared the power and directed the career, but who never ceased to represent the generous resistance of individuals to frantic cruelty, as offences against god and the king. yet extracts are drawn from his letters to prove that he considered the spaniards as "proud and usurping," that he indignantly denied ever having been in favor of subjecting the netherlands to the soldiers of that nation; that he recommended the withdrawal of the foreign regiments, and that he advised the king, when he came to the country, to bring with him but few spanish troops. it should, however, be remembered that he employed, according to his own statements, every expedient which human ingenuity could suggest to keep the foreign soldiers in the provinces, that he "lamented to his inmost soul" their forced departure, and that he did not consent to that measure until the people were in a tumult, and the zealanders threatening to lay the country under the ocean. "you may judge of the means employed to excite the people," he wrote to perez in , "by the fact that a report is circulated that the duke of alva is coming hither to tyrannize the provinces." yet it appears by the admissions of del ryo, one of alva's blood council, that, "cardinal granvelle expressly advised that an army of spaniards should be sent to the netherlands, to maintain the obedience to his majesty and the catholic religion," and that the duke of alva was appointed chief by the advice of cardinal spinosa, and by that of cardinal granvelle, as, appeared by many letters written at the time to his friends. by the same confessions; it appeared that the course of policy thus distinctly recommended by granvelle, "was to place the country under a system of government like that of spain and italy, and to reduce it entirely under the council of spain." when the terrible duke started on his errand of blood and fire, the cardinal addressed him, a letter of fulsome flattery; protesting "that all the world know that no person could be found so appropriate as he, to be employed in an affair of such importance;" urging him to advance with his army as rapidly as possible upon the netherlands, hoping that "the duchess of parma would not be allowed to consent that any pardon or concession should be made to the cities, by which the construction of fortresses would be interfered with, or the revocation of the charters which had been forfeited, be prevented," and giving him much advice as to the general measures to be adopted, and the persons to be employed upon his arrival, in which number the infamous noircarmes was especially recommended. in a document found among his papers, these same points, with others, were handled at considerable length. the incorporation of the provinces into one kingdom, of which the king was to be crowned absolute sovereign; the establishment of, a universal law for the catholic religion, care being taken not to call that law inquisition, "because there was nothing so odious to the northern nations as the word spanish inquisition, although the thing in itself be most holy and just;" the abolition and annihilation of the broad or general council in the cities, the only popular representation in the country; the construction of many citadels and fortresses to be garrisoned with spaniards, italians, and germans. such were the leading features in that remarkable paper. the manly and open opposition of the nobles was stigmatized as a cabal by the offended priest. he repeatedly whispered in the royal ear that their league was a treasonable conspiracy, which the attorney-general ought to prosecute; that the seigniors meant to subvert entirely the authority of the sovereign; that they meant to put their king under tutelage, to compel him to obey all their commands, to choose another prince of the blood for their chief, to establish a republic by the aid of foreign troops. if such insinuations, distilled thus secretly into the ear of philip, who, like his predecessor, dionysius, took pleasure in listening daily to charges against his subjects and to the groans of his prisoners, were not likely to engender a dangerous gangrene in the royal mind, it would be difficult to indicate any course which would produce such a result. yet the cardinal maintained that he had never done the gentlemen ill service, but that "they were angry with him for wishing to sustain the authority of the master." in almost every letter he expressed vague generalities of excuse, or even approbation, while he chronicled each daily fact which occurred to their discredit. the facts he particularly implored the king to keep to himself, the vague laudation he as urgently requested him to repeat to those interested. perpetually dropping small innuendos like pebbles into the depths of his master's suspicious soul, he knew that at last the waters of bitterness would overflow, but he turned an ever-smiling face upon those who were to be his victims. there was ever something in his irony like the bland request of the inquisitor to the executioner that he would deal with his prisoners gently. there was about the same result in regard to such a prayer to be expected from philip as from the hangman. even if his criticisms had been uniformly indulgent, the position of the nobles and leading citizens thus subjected to a constant but secret superintendence, would have been too galling to be tolerated. they did not know, so precisely as we have learned after three centuries, that all their idle words and careless gestures as well as their graver proceedings, were kept in a noting book to be pored over and conned by rote in the recesses of the royal cabinet and the royal mind; but they suspected the espionage of the cardinal, and they openly charged him with his secret malignity. the men who refused to burn their fellow-creatures for a difference in religious opinion were stigmatized as demagogues; as ruined spendthrifts who wished to escape from their liabilities in the midst of revolutionary confusion; as disguised heretics who were waiting for a good opportunity to reveal their true characters. montigny, who, as a montmorency, was nearly allied to the constable and admiral of france, and was in epistolary correspondence with those relatives, was held up as a huguenot; of course, therefore, in philip's eye, the most monstrous of malefactors. although no man could strew pious reflections and holy texts more liberally, yet there was always an afterthought even in his most edifying letters. a corner of the mask is occasionally lifted and the deadly face of slow but abiding vengeance is revealed. "i know very well," he wrote, soon after his fall, to viglius, "that vengeance is the lord's-god is my witness that i pardon all the past." in the same letter, nevertheless, he added, "my theology, however, does not teach me, that by enduring, one is to enable one's enemies to commit even greater wrongs. if the royal justice is not soon put into play, i shall be obliged to right myself. this thing is going on too long-patience exhausted changes to fury. 'tis necessary that every man should assist himself as he can, and when i choose to throw the game into confusion i shall do it perhaps more notably than the others." a few weeks afterwards, writing to the same correspondent, he observed, "we shall have to turn again, and rejoice together. whatever the king commands i shall do, even were i to march into the fire, whatever happens, and without fear or respect for any person i mean to remain the same man to the end--durate;--and i have a head that is hard enough when i do undertake any thing--'nec animism despondeo'." here, certainly, was significant foreshadowing of the general wrath to come, and it was therefore of less consequence that the portraits painted by him of berghen, horn, montigny, and others, were so rarely relieved by the more flattering tints which he occasionally mingled with the sombre coloring of his other pictures. especially with regard to count egmont, his conduct was somewhat perplexing and, at first sight, almost inscrutable. that nobleman had been most violent in opposition to his course, had drawn a dagger upon him, had frequently covered him with personal abuse, and had crowned his offensive conduct by the invention of the memorable fool's-cap: livery. yet the cardinal usually spoke of him with pity and gentle consideration, described him as really well disposed in the main, as misled by others, as a "friend of smoke," who might easily be gained by flattery and bribery. when there was question of the count's going to madrid, the cardinal renewed his compliments with additional expression of eagerness that they should be communicated to their object. whence all this christian meekness in the author of the ban against orange and the eulogist of alva? the true explanation of this endurance on the part of the cardinal lies in the estimate which he had formed of egmont's character. granvelle had taken the man's measure, and even he could not foresee the unparalleled cruelty and dulness which were eventually to characterize philip's conduct towards him. on the contrary, there was every reason why the cardinal should see in the count a personage whom brilliant services, illustrious rank, and powerful connexions, had marked for a prosperous future. it was even currently asserted that philip was about to create him governor-general of the netherlands, in order to detach him entirely from orange, and to bind him more closely to the crown. he was, therefore, a man to be forgiven. nothing apparently but a suspicion of heresy could damage the prospects of the great noble, and egmont was orthodox beyond all peradventure. he was even a bigot in the catholic faith. he had privately told the duchess of parma that he had always been desirous of seeing the edicts thoroughly enforced; and he denounced as enemies all those persons who charged him with ever having been in favor of mitigating the system. he was reported, to be sure, at about the time of granvelle's departure from the netherlands, to have said "post pocula, that the quarrel was not with the cardinal, but with the king, who was administering the public affairs very badly, even in the matter of religion." such a bravado, however, uttered by a gentleman in his cups, when flushed with a recent political triumph, could hardly outweigh in the cautious calculations of granvelle; distinct admissions in favor of persecution. egmont in truth stood in fear of the inquisition. the hero of gravelingen and st. quentin actually trembled before peter titelmann. moreover, notwithstanding all that had past, he had experienced a change in his sentiments in regard to the cardinal. he frequently expressed the opinion that, although his presence in the netherlands was inadmissible, he should be glad to see him pope. he had expressed strong disapprobation of the buffooning masquerade by which he had been ridiculed at the mansfeld christening party. when at madrid he not only spoke well of granvelle himself; but would allow nothing disparaging concerning him to be uttered in his presence. when, however, egmont had fallen from favor, and was already a prisoner, the cardinal diligently exerted himself to place under the king's eye what he considered the most damning evidence of the count's imaginary treason; a document with which the public prosecutor had not been made acquainted. thus, it will be seen by this retrospect how difficult it is to seize all the shifting subtleties of this remarkable character. his sophisms even, when self-contradictory, are so adroit that they are often hard to parry. he made a great merit to himself for not having originated the new episcopates; but it should be remembered that he did his utmost to enforce the measure, which was "so holy a scheme that he would sacrifice for its success his fortune and his life." he refused the archbishopric of mechlin, but his motives for so doing were entirely sordid. his revenues were for the moment diminished, while his personal distinction was not, in his opinion, increased by the promotion. he refused to accept it because "it was no addition to his dignity, as he was already cardinal and bishop of arras," but in this statement he committed an important anachronism. he was not cardinal when he refused the see of mechlin; having received the red hat upon february , , and having already accepted the archbishopric in may of the preceding year. he affirmed that "no man would more resolutely defend the liberty and privileges of the provinces than he would do," but he preferred being tyrannized by his prince, to maintaining the joyful entrance. he complained of the insolence of the states in meddling with the supplies; he denounced the convocation of the representative bodies, by whose action alone, what there was of "liberty and privilege" in the land could be guarded; he recommended the entire abolition of the common councils in the cities. he described himself as having always combated the opinion that "any thing could be accomplished by terror, death and violence," yet he recommended the mission of alva, in whom "terror, death, and violence" were incarnate. he was indignant that he should be accused of having advised the introduction of the spanish inquisition; but his reason was that the term sounded disagreeably in northern ears, while the thing was most commendable. he manifested much anxiety that the public should be disabused of their fear of the spanish inquisition, but he was the indefatigable supporter of the netherland inquisition, which philip declared with reason to be "the more pitiless institution" of the two. he was the author, not of the edicts, but of their re-enactment, verbally and literally, in all the horrid extent to which they had been carried by charles the fifth; and had recommended the use of the emperor's name to sanctify the infernal scheme. he busied himself personally in the execution of these horrible laws, even when judge and hangman slackened. to the last he denounced all those "who should counsel his majesty to permit a moderation of the edicts," and warned the king that if he should consent to the least mitigation of their provisions, things would go worse in the provinces than in france. he was diligent in establishing the reinforced episcopal inquisition side by side with these edicts, and with the papal inquisition already in full operation. he omitted no occasion of encouraging the industry of all these various branches in the business of persecution. when at last the loud cry from the oppressed inhabitants of flanders was uttered in unanimous denunciation by the four estates of that province of the infamous titelmann, the cardinal's voice, from the depths of his luxurious solitude, was heard, not in sympathy with the poor innocent wretches, who were daily dragged from their humble homes to perish by sword and fire, but in pity for the inquisitor who was doing the work of hell. "i deeply regret," he wrote to viglius, "that the states of flanders should be pouting at inquisitor titelmann. truly he has good zeal, although sometimes indiscreet and noisy; still he must be supported, lest they put a bridle upon him, by which his authority will be quite enervated." the reader who is acquainted with the personality of peter titelmann can decide as to the real benignity of the joyous epicurean who could thus commend and encourage such a monster of cruelty. if popularity be a test of merit in a public man, it certainly could not be claimed by the cardinal. from the moment when gresham declared him to be "hated of all men," down to the period of his departure, the odium resting upon him had been rapidly extending: he came to the country with two grave accusations resting upon his name. the emperor maximilian asserted that the cardinal had attempted to take his life by poison, and he persisted in the truth of the charge thus made by him, till the day of his death. another accusation was more generally credited. he was the author of the memorable forgery by which the landgrave philip of hesse had been entrapped into his long imprisonment. his course in and towards the netherlands has been sufficiently examined. not a single charge has been made lightly, but only after careful sifting of evidence. moreover they are all sustained mainly from the criminal's own lips. yet when the secrecy of the spanish cabinet and the macchiavellian scheme of policy by which the age was characterized are considered, it is not strange that there should have been misunderstandings and contradictions with regard to the man's character till a full light had been thrown upon it by the disinterment of ancient documents. the word "durate," which was the cardinals device, may well be inscribed upon his mask, which has at last been torn aside, but which was formed of such durable materials, that it has deceived the world for three centuries. etext editor's bookmarks: attempting to swim in two waters dissimulation and delay excited with the appearance of a gem of true philosophy insinuating suspicions when unable to furnish evidence maintaining the attitude of an injured but forgiving christian more accustomed to do well than to speak well perpetually dropping small innuendos like pebbles procrastination was always his first refuge they had at last burned one more preacher alive motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. chapter v. - return of the three seigniors to the state council--policy of orange--corrupt character of the government--efforts of the prince in favor of reform--influence of armenteros--painful situation of viglius--his anxiety to retire--secret charges against him transmitted by the duchess to philip--ominous signs of the times-- attention of philip to the details of persecution--execution of fabricius, and tumult at antwerp--horrible cruelty towards the protestants--remonstrance of the magistracy of bruges and of the four flemish estates against titelmann--obduracy of philip--council of trent--quarrel for precedence between the french and spanish envoys--order for the publication of the trent decrees in the netherlands--opposition to the measure--reluctance of the duchess-- egmont accepts a mission to spain--violent debate in the council concerning his instructions--remarkable speech of orange--apoplexy of viglius--temporary appointment of hopper--departure of egmont-- disgraceful scene at cambray--character of the archbishop--egmont in spain--flattery and bribery--council of doctors--vehement declarations of philip--his instructions to egmont at his departure --proceedings of orange in regard to his principality--egmont's report to the state council concerning his mission--his vainglory-- renewed orders from philip to continue the persecution--indignation of egmont--habitual dissimulation of the king--reproof of egmont by orange--assembly of doctors in brussels--result of their deliberations transmitted to philip--universal excitement in the netherlands--new punishment for heretics--interview at bayonne between catharine de medici and her daughter, the queen of spain-- mistaken views upon this subject--diplomacy of alva--artful conduct of catharine--stringent letters from philip to the duchess with regard to the inquisition--consternation of margaret and of viglius --new proclamation of the edicts, the inquisition, and the council of trent--fury of the people--resistance of the leading seigniors and of the brabant council--brabant declared free of the inquisition--prince alexander of parma betrothed to donna maria of portugal--her portrait--expensive preparations for the nuptials-- assembly of the golden fleece--oration of viglius--wedding of prince alexander. the remainder of the year, in the spring of which the cardinal had left the netherlands, was one of anarchy, confusion, and corruption. at first there had been a sensation of relief. philip had exchanged letters of exceeding amity with orange, egmont, and horn. these three seigniors had written, immediately upon granvelle's retreat, to assure the king of their willingness to obey the royal commands, and to resume their duties at the state council. they had, however, assured the duchess that the reappearance of the cardinal in the country would be the signal for their instantaneous withdrawal. they appeared at the council daily, working with the utmost assiduity often till late into the night. orange had three great objects in view, by attaining which the country, in his opinion, might yet be saved, and the threatened convulsions averted. these were to convoke the states-general, to moderate or abolish the edicts, and to suppress the council of finance and the privy council, leaving only the council of state. the two first of these points, if gained, would, of course, subvert the whole absolute policy which philip and granvelle had enforced; it was, therefore, hardly probable that any impression would be made upon the secret determination of the government in these respects. as to the council of state, the limited powers of that body, under the administration of the cardinal, had formed one of the principal complaints against that minister. the justice and finance councils were sinks of iniquity. the most barefaced depravity reigned supreme. a gangrene had spread through the whole government. the public functionaries were notoriously and outrageously venal. the administration of justice had been poisoned at the fountain, and the people were unable to slake their daily thirst at the polluted stream. there was no law but the law of the longest purse. the highest dignitaries of philip's appointment had become the most mercenary hucksters who ever converted the divine temple of justice into a den of thieves. law was an article of merchandise, sold by judges to the highest bidder. a poor customer could obtain nothing but stripes and imprisonment, or, if tainted with suspicion of heresy, the fagot or the sword, but for the rich every thing was attainable. pardons for the most atrocious crimes, passports, safe conducts, offices of trust and honor, were disposed of at auction to the highest bidder. against all this sea of corruption did the brave william of orange set his breast, undaunted and unflinching. of all the conspicuous men in the land, he was the only one whose worst enemy had never hinted through the whole course of his public career, that his hands had known contamination. his honor was ever untarnished by even a breath of suspicion. the cardinal could accuse him of pecuniary embarrassment, by which a large proportion of his revenues were necessarily diverted to the liquidation of his debts, but he could not suggest that the prince had ever freed himself from difficulties by plunging his hands into the public treasury, when it might easily have been opened to him. it was soon, however, sufficiently obvious that as desperate a struggle was to be made with the many-headed monster of general corruption as with the cardinal by whom it had been so long fed and governed. the prince was accused of ambition and intrigue. it was said that he was determined to concentrate all the powers of government in the state council, which was thus to become an omnipotent and irresponsible senate, while the king would be reduced to the condition of a venetian doge. it was, of course, suggested that it was the aim of orange to govern the new tribunal of ten. no doubt the prince was ambitious. birth, wealth, genius, and virtue could not have been bestowed in such eminent degree on any man without carrying with them the determination to assert their value. it was not his wish so much as it was the necessary law of his being to impress himself upon his age and to rule his fellow-men. but he practised no arts to arrive at the supremacy which he felt must always belong to him, what ever might be his nominal position in the political hierarchy. he was already, although but just turned of thirty years, vastly changed from the brilliant and careless grandee, as he stood at the hour of the imperial abdication. he was becoming careworn in face, thin of figure, sleepless of habit. the wrongs of which he was the daily witness, the absolutism, the cruelty, the rottenness of the government, had marked his face with premature furrows. "they say that the prince is very sad," wrote morillon to granvelle; "and 'tis easy to read as much in his face. they say he can not sleep." truly might the monarch have taken warning that here was a man who was dangerous, and who thought too much. "sleekheaded men, and such as slept o' nights," would have been more eligible functionaries, no doubt, in the royal estimation, but, for a brief period, the king was content to use, to watch, and to suspect the man who was one day to be his great and invincible antagonist. he continued assiduous at the council, and he did his best, by entertaining nobles and citizens at his hospitable mansion, to cultivate good relations with large numbers of his countrymen. he soon, however, had become disgusted with the court. egmont was more lenient to the foul practices which prevailed there, and took almost a childish pleasure in dining at the table of the duchess, dressed, as were many of the younger nobles, in short camlet doublet with the wheat-sheaf buttons. the prince felt more unwilling to compromise his personal dignity by countenancing the flagitious proceedings and the contemptible supremacy of armenteros, and it was soon very obvious, therefore, that egmont was a greater favorite at court than orange. at the same time the count was also diligently cultivating the good graces of the middle and lower classes in brussels, shooting with the burghers at the popinjay, calling every man by his name, and assisting at jovial banquets in town-house or guild-hall. the prince, although at times a necessary partaker also in these popular amusements, could find small cause for rejoicing in the aspect of affairs. when his business led him to the palace, he was sometimes forced to wait in the ante-chamber for an hour, while secretary armenteros was engaged in private consultation with margaret upon the most important matters of administration. it could not be otherwise than galling to the pride and offensive to the patriotism of the prince, to find great public transactions entrusted to such hands. thomas de armenteros was a mere private secretary--a simple clerk. he had no right to have cognizance of important affairs, which could only come before his majesty's sworn advisers. he was moreover an infamous peculator. he was rolling up a fortune with great rapidity by his shameless traffic in benefices, charges, offices, whether of church or state. his name of armenteros was popularly converted into argenteros, in order to symbolize the man who was made of public money. his confidential intimacy with the duchess procured for him also the name of "madam's barber," in allusion to the famous ornaments of margaret's upper lip, and to the celebrated influence enjoyed by the barbers of the duke of savoy, and of louis the eleventh. this man sold dignities and places of high responsibility at public auction. the regent not only connived at these proceedings, which would have been base enough, but she was full partner in the disgraceful commerce. through the agency of the secretary, she, too, was amassing a large private fortune. "the duchess has gone into the business of vending places to the highest bidders," said morillon, "with the bit between her teeth." the spectacle presented at the council-board was often sufficiently repulsive not only to the cardinalists, who were treated with elaborate insolence, but to all men who loved honor and justice, or who felt an interest in the prosperity of government. there was nothing majestic in the appearance of the duchess, as she sat conversing apart with armenteros, whispering, pinching, giggling, or disputing, while important affairs of state were debated, concerning which the secretary had no right to be informed. it was inevitable that orange should be offended to the utmost by such proceedings, although he was himself treated with comparative respect. as for the ancient adherents of granvelle, the bordeys, baves, and morillons, they were forbidden by the favorite even to salute him in the streets. berlaymont was treated by the duchess with studied insult. "what is the man talking about?" she would ask with languid superciliousness, if he attempted to express his opinion in the state-council. viglius, whom berlaymont accused of doing his best, without success, to make his peace with the seigniors, was in even still greater disgrace than his fellow-cardinalists. he longed, he said, to be in burgundy, drinking granvelle's good wine. his patience under the daily insults which he received from the government made him despicable in the eyes of his own party. he was described by his friends as pusillanimous to an incredible extent, timid from excess of riches, afraid of his own shadow. he was becoming exceedingly pathetic, expressing frequently a desire to depart and end his days in peace. his faithful hopper sustained and consoled him, but even joachim could not soothe his sorrows when he reflected that after all the work performed by himself and colleagues, "they had only been beating the bush for others," while their own share in the spoils had been withheld. nothing could well be more contumelious than margaret's treatment of the learned frisian. when other councillors were summoned to a session at three o'clock, the president was invited at four. it was quite impossible for him to have an audience of the duchess except in the presence of the inevitable armenteras. he was not allowed to open his mouth, even when he occasionally plucked up heart enough to attempt the utterance of his opinions. his authority was completely dead. even if he essayed to combat the convocation of the states-general by the arguments which the duchess, at his suggestion, had often used for the purpose, he was treated with the same indifference. "the poor president," wrote granvelle to the king's chief secretary, gonzalo perez, "is afraid, as i hear, to speak a word, and is made to write exactly what they tell him." at the same time the poor president, thus maltreated and mortified, had the vanity occasionally to imagine himself a bold and formidable personage. the man whom his most intimate friends described as afraid of his own shadow, described himself to granvelle as one who went his own gait, speaking his mind frankly upon every opportunity, and compelling people to fear him a little, even if they did not love him. but the cardinal knew better than to believe in this magnanimous picture of the doctor's fancy. viglius was anxious to retire, but unwilling to have the appearance of being disgraced. he felt instinctively, although deceived as to the actual facts, that his great patron had been defeated and banished. he did not wish to be placed in the same position. he was desirous, as he piously expressed himself, of withdrawing from the world, "that he might balance his accounts with the lord, before leaving the lodgings of life." he was, however, disposed to please "the master" as well as the lord. he wished to have the royal permission to depart in peace. in his own lofty language, he wished to be sprinkled on taking his leave "with the holy water of the court." moreover, he was fond of his salary, although he disliked the sarcasms of the duchess. egmont and others had advised him to abandon the office of president to hopper, in order, as he was getting feeble, to reserve his whole strength for the state-council. viglius did not at all relish the proposition. he said that by giving up the seals, and with them the rank and salary which they conferred, he should become a deposed saint. he had no inclination, as long as he remained on the ground at all, to part with those emoluments and honors, and to be converted merely into the "ass of the state-council." he had, however, with the sagacity of an old navigator, already thrown out his anchor into the best holding-ground during the storms which he foresaw were soon to sweep the state. before the close of the year which now occupies, the learned doctor of laws had become a doctor of divinity also; and had already secured, by so doing, the wealthy prebend of saint bavon of ghent. this would be a consolation in the loss of secular dignities, and a recompence for the cold looks of the duchess. he did not scruple to ascribe the pointed dislike which margaret manifested towards him to the awe in which she stood of his stern integrity of character. the true reason why armenteros and the duchess disliked him was because, in his own words, "he was not of their mind with regard to lotteries, the sale of offices, advancement to abbeys, and many other things of the kind, by which they were in such a hurry to make their fortune." upon another occasion he observed, in a letter to granvelle, that "all offices were sold to the highest bidder, and that the cause of margaret's resentment against both the cardinal and himself was, that they had so long prevented her from making the profit which she was now doing from the sale of benefices, offices, and other favors." the duchess, on her part, characterized the proceedings and policy, both past and present, of the cardinalists as factious, corrupt, and selfish in the last degree. she assured her brother that the simony, rapine, and dishonesty of granvelle, viglius, and all their followers, had brought affairs into the ruinous condition which was then but too apparent. they were doing their best, she said, since the cardinal's departure, to show, by their sloth and opposition, that they were determined to allow nothing to prosper in his absence. to quote her own vigorous expression to philip--"viglius made her suffer the pains of hell." she described him as perpetually resisting the course of the administration, and she threw out dark suspicions, not only as to his honesty but his orthodoxy. philip lent a greedy ear to these scandalous hints concerning the late omnipotent minister and his friends. it is an instructive lesson in human history to look through the cloud of dissimulation in which the actors of this remarkable epoch were ever enveloped, and to watch them all stabbing fiercely at each other in the dark, with no regard to previous friendship, or even present professions. it is edifying to see the cardinal, with all his genius and all his grimace, corresponding on familiar terms with armenteros, who was holding him up to obloquy upon all occasions; to see philip inclining his ear in pleased astonishment to margaret's disclosures concerning the cardinal, whom he was at the very instant assuring of his undiminished confidence; and to see viglius, the author of the edict of , and the uniform opponent of any mitigation in its horrors, silently becoming involved without the least suspicion of the fact in the meshes of inquisitor titelmann. upon philip's eager solicitations for further disclosures, margaret accordingly informed her brother of additional facts communicated to her, after oaths of secrecy had been exchanged, by titelmann and his colleague del canto. they had assured her, she said, that there were grave doubts touching the orthodoxy of viglius. he had consorted with heretics during a large portion of his life, and had put many suspicious persons into office. as to his nepotism, simony, and fraud, there was no doubt at all. he had richly provided all his friends and relations in friesland with benefices. he had become in his old age a priest and churchman, in order to snatch the provostship of saint bavon, although his infirmities did not allow him to say mass, or even to stand erect at the altar. the inquisitors had further accused him of having stolen rings, jewels, plate, linen, beds, tapestry, and other furniture, from the establishment, all which property he had sent to friesland, and of having seized one hundred thousand florins in ready money which had belonged to the last abbe--an act consequently of pure embezzlement. the duchess afterwards transmitted to philip an inventory of the plundered property, including the furniture of nine houses, and begged him to command viglius to make instant restitution. if there be truth in the homely proverb, that in case of certain quarrels honest men recover their rights, it is perhaps equally certain that when distinguished public personages attack each other, historians may arrive at the truth. here certainly are edifying pictures of the corruption of the spanish regency in the netherlands, painted by the president of the state-council, and of the dishonesty of the president painted by the regent. a remarkable tumult occurred in october of this year, at antwerp. a carmelite monk, christopher smith, commonly called fabricius, had left a monastery in bruges, adopted the principles of the reformation, and taken to himself a wife. he had resided for a time in england; but, invited by his friends, he had afterwards undertaken the dangerous charge of gospel-teacher in the commercial metropolis of the netherlands. he was, however, soon betrayed to the authorities by a certain bonnet dealer, popularly called long margaret, who had pretended, for the sake of securing the informer's fee, to be a convert to his doctrines. he was seized, and immediately put to the torture. he manfully refused to betray any members of his congregation, as manfully avowed and maintained his religious creed. he was condemned to the flames, and during the interval which preceded his execution, he comforted his friends by letters of advice, religious consolation and encouragement, which he wrote from his dungeon. he sent a message to the woman who had betrayed him, assuring her of his forgiveness, and exhorting her to repentance. his calmness, wisdom, and gentleness excited the admiration of all. when; therefore, this humble imitator of christ was led through the streets of antwerp to the stake, the popular emotion was at once visible. to the multitude who thronged about the executioners with threatening aspect, he addressed an urgent remonstrance that they would not compromise their own safety by a tumult in his cause. he invited all, however, to remain steadfast to the great truth for which he was about to lay down his life. the crowd, as they followed the procession of hangmen, halberdsmen, and magistrates, sang the hundred and thirtieth psalm in full chorus. as the victim arrived upon the market-place, he knelt upon the ground to pray, for the last time. he was, however, rudely forced to rise by the executioner, who immediately chained him to the stake, and fastened a leathern strap around his throat. at this moment the popular indignation became uncontrollable; stones were showered upon the magistrates and soldiers, who, after a slight resistance, fled for their lives. the foremost of the insurgents dashed into the enclosed arena, to rescue the prisoner. it was too late. the executioner, even as he fled, had crushed the victim's head with a sledge hammer, and pierced him through and through with a poniard. some of the bystanders maintained afterwards that his fingers and lips were seen to move, as if in feeble prayer, for a little time longer, until, as the fire mounted, he fell into the flames. for the remainder of the day, after the fire had entirely smouldered to ashes, the charred and half-consumed body of the victim remained on the market-place, a ghastly spectacle to friend and foe. it was afterwards bound to a stone and cast into the scheld. such was the doom of christopher fabricius, for having preached christianity in antwerp. during the night an anonymous placard, written with blood, was posted upon the wall of the town-house, stating that there were men in the city who would signally avenge his murder. nothing was done, however, towards the accomplishment of the threat. the king, when he received the intelligence of the transaction, was furious with indignation, and wrote savage letters to his sister, commanding instant vengeance to be taken upon all concerned in so foul a riot. as one of the persons engaged had, however, been arrested and immediately hanged, and as the rest had effected their escape, the affair was suffered to drop. the scenes of outrage, the frantic persecutions, were fast becoming too horrible to be looked upon by catholic or calvinist. the prisons swarmed with victims, the streets were thronged with processions to the stake. the population of thriving cities, particularly in flanders, were maddened by the spectacle of so much barbarity inflicted, not upon criminals, but usually upon men remarkable for propriety of conduct and blameless lives. it was precisely at this epoch that the burgomasters, senators, and council of the city of bruges (all catholics) humbly represented to the duchess regent, that peter titelmann, inquisitor of the faith, against all forms of law, was daily exercising inquisition among the inhabitants, not only against those suspected or accused of heresy, but against all, however untainted their characters; that he was daily citing before him whatever persons he liked, men or women, compelling them by force to say whatever it pleased him; that he was dragging people from their houses, and even from the sacred precincts of the church; often in revenge for verbal injuries to himself, always under pretext of heresy, and without form or legal warrant of any kind. they therefore begged that he might be compelled to make use of preparatory examinations with the co-operation of the senators of the city, to suffer that witnesses should make their depositions without being intimidated by menace, and to conduct all his subsequent proceedings according to legal forms, which he had uniformly violated; publicly declaring that he would conduct himself according to his own pleasure. the four estates of flanders having, in a solemn address to the king, represented the same facts, concluded their brief but vigorous description of titelmann's enormities by calling upon philip to suppress these horrible practices, so manifestly in violation of the ancient charters which he had sworn to support. it may be supposed that the appeal to philip would be more likely to call down a royal benediction than the reproof solicited upon the inquisitor's head. in the privy council, the petitions and remonstrances were read, and, in the words of the president, "found to be in extremely bad taste." in the debate which followed, viglius and his friends recalled to the duchess, in earnest language, the decided will of the king, which had been so often expressed. a faint representation was made, on the other hand, of the dangerous consequences, in case the people were driven to a still deeper despair. the result of the movement was but meagre. the duchess announced that she could do nothing in the matter of the request until further information, but that meantime she had charged titelmann to conduct himself in his office "with discretion and modesty." the discretion and modesty, however, never appeared in any modification of the inquisitor's proceedings, and he continued unchecked in his infamous career until death, which did not occur till several years afterwards. in truth, margaret was herself in mortal fear of this horrible personage. he besieged her chamber door almost daily, before she had risen, insisting upon audiences which, notwithstanding her repugnance to the man, she did not dare to refuse. "may i perish," said morillon, "if she does not stand in exceeding awe of titelmann." under such circumstances, sustained by the king in spain, the duchess in brussels, the privy council, and by a leading member of what had been thought the liberal party, it was not difficult for the inquisition to maintain its ground, notwithstanding the solemn protestations of the estates and the suppressed curses of the people. philip, so far from having the least disposition to yield in the matter of the great religious persecution, was more determined as to his course than ever. he had already, as easy as august of this year, despatched orders to the duchess that the decrees of the council of trent should be published and enforced throughout the netherlands. the memorable quarrel as to precedency between the french and spanish delegates had given some hopes of a different determination. nevertheless, those persons who imagined that, in consequence of this quarrel of etiquette, philip would slacken in his allegiance to the church, were destined to be bitterly mistaken. he informed his sister that, in the common cause of christianity, he should not be swayed by personal resentments. how, indeed, could a different decision be expected? his envoy at rome, as well as his representatives at the council, had universally repudiated all doubts as to the sanctity of its decrees. "to doubt the infallibility of the council, as some have dared to do," said francis de vargas, "and to think it capable of error, is the most devilish heresy of all." nothing could so much disturb and scandalize the world as such a sentiment. therefore the archbishop of granada told, very properly, the bishop of tortosa, that if he should express such an opinion in spain, they would burn him. these strenuous notions were shared by the king. therefore, although all europe was on tip-toe with expectation to see how philip would avenge himself for the slight put upon his ambassador, philip disappointed all europe. in august, , he wrote to the duchess regent, that the decrees were to be proclaimed and enforced without delay. they related to three subjects, the doctrines to be inculcated by the church, the reformation of ecclesiastical moral, and the education of the people. general police regulations were issued at the same time, by which heretics were to be excluded from all share in the usual conveniences of society, and were in fact to be strictly excommunicated. inns were to receive no guests, schools no children, alms-houses no paupers, grave-yards no dead bodies, unless guests, children, paupers, and dead bodies were furnished with the most satisfactory proofs of orthodoxy. midwives of unsuspected romanism were alone to exercise their functions, and were bound to give notice within twenty-four hours of every birth which occurred; the parish clerks were as regularly to record every such addition to the population, and the authorities to see that catholic baptism was administered in each case with the least possible delay. births, deaths, and marriages could only occur with validity under the shadow of the church. no human being could consider himself born or defunct unless provided with a priest's certificate. the heretic was excluded, so far as ecclesiastical dogma could exclude him, from the pale of humanity, from consecrated earth, and from eternal salvation. the decrees contained many provisions which not only conflicted with the privileges of the provinces, but with the prerogatives of the sovereign. for this reason many of the lords in council thought that at least the proper exceptions should be made upon their promulgation. this was also the opinion of the duchess, but the king, by his letters of october, and november ( ), expressly prohibited any alteration in the ordinances, and transmitted a copy of the form according to which the canons had been published in spain, together with the expression of his desire that a similar course should be followed in the netherlands. margaret of parma was in great embarrassment. it was evident that the publication could no longer be deferred. philip had issued his commands, but grave senators and learned doctors of the university had advised strongly in favor of the necessary exceptions. the extreme party, headed by viglius, were in favor of carrying out the royal decisions. they were overruled, and the duchess was induced to attempt a modification, if her brother's permission could be obtained. the president expressed the opinion that the decrees, even with the restrictions proposed, would "give no contentment to the people, who, moreover, had no right to meddle with theology." the excellent viglius forgot, however, that theology had been meddling altogether too much with the people to make it possible that the public attention should be entirely averted from the subject. men and women who might be daily summoned to rack, stake, and scaffold, in the course of these ecclesiastical arrangements, and whose births, deaths, marriages, and position in the next world, were now to be formally decided upon, could hardly be taxed with extreme indiscretion, if they did meddle with the subject. in the dilemma to which the duchess was reduced, she again bethought herself of a special mission to spain. at the end of the year ( ), it was determined that egmont should be the envoy. montigny excused himself on account of private affairs; marquis berghen "because of his indisposition and corpulence." there was a stormy debate in council after egmont had accepted the mission and immediately before his departure. viglius had been ordered to prepare the count's instructions. having finished the rough draught, he laid it before the board. the paper was conceived in general terms and might mean any thing or nothing. no criticism upon its language was, however, offered until it came to the turn of orange to vote upon the document. then, however, william the silent opened his lips, and poured forth a long and vehement discourse, such as he rarely pronounced, but such as few except himself could utter. there was no shuffling, no disguise, no timidity in his language. he took the ground boldly that the time had arrived for speaking out. the object of sending an envoy of high rank and european reputation like the count of egmont, was to tell the king the truth. let philip know it now. let him be unequivocally informed that this whole machinery of placards and scaffolds, of new bishops and old hangmen, of decrees, inquisitors, and informers, must once and forever be abolished. their day was over. the netherlands were free provinces, they were surrounded by free countries, they were determined to vindicate their ancient privileges. moreover, his majesty was to be plainly informed of the frightful corruption which made the whole judicial and administrative system loathsome. the venality which notoriously existed every where, on the bench, in the council chamber, in all public offices, where purity was most essential, was denounced by the prince in scathing terms. he tore the mask from individual faces, and openly charged the chancellor of brabant, engelbert maas, with knavery and corruption. he insisted that the king should be informed of the necessity of abolishing the two inferior councils, and of enlarging the council of state by the admission of ten or twelve new members selected for their patriotism, purity, and capacity. above all, it was necessary plainly to inform his majesty that the canons of trent, spurned by the whole world, even by the catholic princes of germany, could never be enforced in the netherlands, and that it would be ruinous to make the attempt. he proposed and insisted that the count of egmont should be instructed accordingly. he avowed in conclusion that he was a catholic himself and intended to remain in the faith, but that he could not look on with pleasure when princes strove to govern the souls of men, and to take away their liberty in matters of conscience and religion. here certainly was no daintiness of phraseology, and upon these leading points, thus slightly indicated, william of orange poured out his eloquence, bearing conviction upon the tide of his rapid invective. his speech lasted till seven in the evening, when the duchess adjourned the meeting. the council broke up, the regent went to supper, but the effect of the discourse upon nearly all the members was not to be mistaken. viglius was in a state of consternation, perplexity, and despair. he felt satisfied that, with perhaps the exception of berlaymont, all who had listened or should afterwards listen to the powerful arguments of orange, would be inevitably seduced or bewildered. the president lay awake, tossing and tumbling in his bed, recalling the prince's oration, point by point, and endeavoring, to answer it in order. it was important, he felt, to obliterate the impression produced. moreover, as we have often seen, the learned doctor valued himself upon his logic. it was absolutely necessary, therefore, that in his reply, next day, his eloquence should outshine that of his antagonist. the president thus passed a feverish and uncomfortable night, pronouncing and listening to imaginary harangues. with the dawn of day he arose and proceeded to dress himself. the excitement of the previous evening and the subsequent sleeplessness of his night had, however, been too much for his feeble and slightly superannuated frame. before he had finished his toilet, a stroke of apoplexy stretched him senseless upon the floor. his servants, when they soon afterwards entered the apartment, found him rigid, and to all appearance dead. after a few days, however, he recovered his physical senses in part, but his reason remained for a longer time shattered, and was never perhaps fully restored to its original vigor. this event made it necessary that his place in the council should be supplied. viglius had frequently expressed intentions of retiring, a measure to which he could yet never fully make up his mind. his place was now temporarily supplied by his friend and countryman, joachim hopper, like himself a frisian doctor of ancient blood and extensive acquirements, well versed in philosophy and jurisprudence; a professor of louvain and a member of the mechlin council. he was likewise the original founder and projector of douay university, an institution which at philip's desire he had successfully organized in , in order that a french university might be furnished for walloon youths, as a substitute for the seductive and poisonous paris. for the rest, hopper was a mere man of routine. he was often employed in private affairs by philip, without being entrusted with the secret at the bottom of them. his mind was a confused one, and his style inexpressibly involved and tedious. "poor master hopper," said granvelle, "did not write the best french in the world; may the lord forgive him. he was learned in letters, but knew very little of great affairs." his manners were as cringing as his intellect was narrow. he never opposed the duchess, so that his colleagues always called him councillor "yes, madam," and he did his best to be friends with all the world. in deference to the arguments of orange, the instructions for egmont were accordingly considerably modified from the original draughts of viglius. as drawn up by the new president, they contained at least a few hints to his majesty as to the propriety of mitigating the edicts and extending some mercy to his suffering people. the document was, however, not very satisfactory to the prince, nor did he perhaps rely very implicitly upon the character of the envoy. egmont set forth upon his journey early in january ( ). he travelled in great state. he was escorted as far as cambray by several nobles of his acquaintance, who improved the occasion by a series of tremendous banquets during the count's sojourn, which was protracted till the end of january. the most noted of these gentlemen were hoogstraaten, brederode, the younger mansfeld, culemburg, and noircarmes. before they parted with the envoy, they drew up a paper which they signed with their blood, and afterwards placed in the hands of his countess. in this document they promised, on account of their "inexpressible and very singular affection" for egmont, that if, during his mission to spain, any evil should befal him, they would, on their faith as gentlemen and cavaliers of honor, take vengeance, therefore, upon the cardinal granvelle, or upon all who should be the instigators thereof. [green v. p., archives, etc., i. , from arnoldi, hist. denkwurd, p. ., it is remarkable that after the return of the count from. spain, hoogstraaten received this singular bond from the countess, and gave it to mansfeld, to be burned in his presence. mansfeld, however, advised keeping it, on account of noircarmes, whose signature was attached to the document, and whom he knew to be so false and deceitful a man that it might be well to have it within their power at some future day to reproach him therewith.--ibid. it will be seen in the sequel that noircarmes more than justified the opinion of mansfeld, but that the subsequent career of mansfeld himself did not entitle him to reproach any of philip's noble hangmen.] wherever brederode was, there, it was probable, would be much severe carousing. before the conclusion, accordingly, of the visit to cambray, that ancient city rang with the scandal created by a most uproarious scene. a banquet was given to egmont and his friends in the citadel. brederode, his cousin lumey, and the other nobles from brussels, were all present. the archbishop of cambray, a man very odious to the liberal party in the provinces, was also bidden to the feast. during the dinner, this prelate, although treated with marked respect by egmont, was the object of much banter and coarse pleasantry by the ruder portion of the guests. especially these convivial gentlemen took infinite pains to overload him with challenges to huge bumpers of wine; it being thought very desirable, if possible; to place the archbishop under the table. this pleasantry was alternated with much rude sarcasm concerning the new bishoprics. the conversation then fell upon other topics, among others, naturally upon the mission of count egmont. brederede observed that it was a very hazardous matter to allow so eminent a personage to leave the land at such a critical period. should any thing happen to the count, the netherlands would sustain an immense loss. the archbishop, irritated by the previous conversation, ironically requested the speaker to be comforted, "because," said he, "it will always be easy to find a new egmont." upon this, brederode, beside himself with rage, cried out vehemently, "are we to tolerate such language from this priest?" gulemburg, too, turning upon the offender, observed, "your observation would be much more applicable to your own case. if you were to die, 't would be easy to find five hundred of your merit, to replace you in the see of cambray." the conversation was, to say the least, becoming personal. the bishop, desirous of terminating this keen encounter of wits, lifted a goblet full of wine and challenged brederode to drink. that gentleman declined the invitation. after the cloth had been removed, the cup circulated more freely than ever. the revelry became fast and furious. one of the younger gentlemen who was seated near the bishop snatched the bonnet of that dignitary from his head and placed it upon his own. he then drained a bumper to his health, and passed the goblet and the cap to his next neighbor. both circulated till they reached the viscount of ghent, who arose from his seat and respectfully restored the cap to its owner. brederode then took a large "cup of silver and gold," filled it to the brim, and drained it to the confusion of cardinal granvelle; stigmatizing that departed minister, as he finished, by an epithet of more vigor than decency. he then called upon all the company to pledge him to the same toast, and denounced as cardinalists all those who should refuse. the archbishop, not having digested the affronts which had been put upon him already, imprudently ventured himself once more into the confusion, and tried to appeal to the reason of the company. he might as well have addressed the crew of comus. he gained nothing but additional insult. brederode advanced upon him with threatening gestures. egmont implored the prelate to retire, or at least not to take notice of a nobleman so obviously beyond the control of his reason. the bishop, however, insisted--mingling reproof, menace; and somewhat imperious demands--that the indecent saturnalia should cease. it would have been wiser for him to retire. count hoogstraaten, a young man and small of stature, seized the gilt laver, in which the company had dipped their fingers before seating themselves at table: "be quiet, be quiet, little man," said egmont, soothingly, doing his best to restrain the tumult. "little man, indeed," responded the count, wrathfully; "i would have you to know that never did little man spring from my race." with those words he hurled the basin, water, and all, at the head of the archbishop. hoogstraaten had no doubt manifested his bravery before that day; he was to display, on future occasions, a very remarkable degree of heroism; but it must be confessed that the chivalry of the noble house of lalaing was not illustrated by this attack upon a priest. the bishop was sprinkled by the water, but not struck by the vessel. young mansfeld, ashamed of the outrage, stepped forward to apologize for the conduct of his companions and to soothe the insulted prelate. that personage, however, exasperated, very naturally, to the highest point, pushed him rudely away, crying, "begone, begone! who is this boy that is preaching to me?" whereupon, mansfeld, much irritated, lifted his hand towards the ecclesiastic, and snapped his fingers contemptuously in his face. some even said that he pulled the archiepiscopal nose, others that he threatened his life with a drawn dagger. nothing could well have been more indecent or more cowardly than the conduct of these nobles upon this occasion. their intoxication, together with the character of the victim, explained, but certainly could not palliate the vulgarity of the exhibition. it was natural enough that men like brederode should find sport in this remarkable badgering of a bishop, but we see with regret the part played by hoogstraaten in the disgraceful scene. the prelate, at last, exclaiming that it appeared that he had been invited only to be insulted, left the apartment, accompanied by noircarmes and the viscount of ghent, and threatening that all his friends and relations should be charged with his vengeance. the next day a reconciliation was effected, as well as such an arrangement was possible, by the efforts of egmont, who dined alone with the prelate. in the evening, hoogstraaten, culemburg, and brederode called upon the bishop, with whom they were closeted for, an hour, and the party separated on nominal terms of friendship. this scandalous scene; which had been enacted not only before many guests, but in presence of a host of servants, made necessarily a great sensation throughout the country. there could hardly be much difference of opinion among respectable people as to the conduct of the noblemen who had thus disgraced themselves. even brederode himself, who appeared to have retained, as was natural, but a confused impression of the transaction, seemed in the days which succeeded the celebrated banquet, to be in doubt whether he and his friends had merited any great amount of applause. he was, however, somewhat self-contradictory, although always vehement in his assertions on the subject. at one time he maintained--after dinner, of course--that he would have killed the archbishop if they had not been forcibly separated; at other moments he denounced as liars all persons who should insinuate that he had committed or contemplated any injury to that prelate; offering freely to fight any man who disputed either of his two positions. the whole scene was dramatized and represented in masquerade at a wedding festival given by councillor d'assonleville, on the marriage of councillor hopper's daughter, one of the principal parts being enacted by a son of the president-judge of artois. it may be supposed that if such eminent personages, in close connexion with the government, took part in such proceedings, the riot must have been considered of a very pardonable nature. the truth was, that the bishop was a cardinalist, and therefore entirely out of favor with the administration. he was also a man of treacherous, sanguinary character, and consequently detested by the people. he had done his best to destroy heresy in valenciennes by fire and sword. "i will say one thing," said he in a letter to granvelle, which had been intercepted, "since the pot is uncovered, and the whole cookery known, we had best push forward and make an end of all the principal heretics, whether rich or poor, without regarding whether the city will be entirely ruined by such a course. such an opinion i should declare openly were it not that we of the ecclesiastical profession are accused of always crying out for blood." such was the prelate's theory. his practice may be inferred from a specimen of his proceedings which occurred at a little later day. a citizen of cambray, having been converted to the lutheran confession, went to the archbishop, and requested permission to move out of the country, taking his property with him. the petitioner having made his appearance in the forenoon, was requested to call again after dinner, to receive his answer. the burgher did so, and was received, not by the prelate, but by the executioner, who immediately carried the lutheran to the market-place, and cut off his head. it is sufficiently evident that a minister of christ, with such propensities, could not excite any great sympathy, however deeply affronted he might have been at a drinking party, so long as any christians remained in the land. egmont departed from cambray upon the th january, his friends taking a most affectionate farewell of him; and brederode assuring him, with a thousand oaths, that he would forsake god for his service. his reception at madrid was most brilliant. when he made his first appearance at the palace, philip rushed from his cabinet into the grand hall of reception, and fell upon his neck, embracing him heartily before the count had time to drop upon his knee and kiss the royal hand. during the whole period of his visit he dined frequently at the king's private table, an honor rarely accorded by philip, and was feasted and flattered by all the great dignitaries of the court as never a subject of the spanish crown had been before. all vied with each other in heaping honors upon the man whom the king was determined to honor. philip took him out to drive daily in his own coach, sent him to see the wonders of the new escorial, which he was building to commemorate the battle of st. quentin, and, although it was still winter, insisted upon showing him the beauties of his retreat in the segovian forest. granvelle's counsels as to the method by which the "friend of smoke" was so easily to be gained, had not fallen unheeded in his royal pupil's ears. the count was lodged in the house of ruy gomez, who soon felt himself able, according to previous assurances to that effect, contained in a private letter of armenteros, to persuade the envoy to any course which philip might command. flattery without stint was administered. more solid arguments to convince the count that philip was the most generous and clement of princes were also employed with great effect. the royal dues upon the estate of gaasbecque, lately purchased by egmont, were remitted. a mortgage upon his seigneurie of ninove was discharged, and a considerable sum of money presented to him in addition. altogether, the gifts which the ambassador received from the royal bounty amounted to one hundred thousand crowns. thus feasted, flattered, and laden with presents, it must be admitted that the count more than justified the opinions expressed in the letter of armenteros, that he was a man easily governed by those who had credit with him. egmont hardly broached the public matters which had brought him to madrid. upon the subject of the edicts, philip certainly did not dissemble, however loudly the envoy may have afterwards complained at brussels. in truth, egmont, intoxicated by the incense offered to him at the spanish court, was a different man from egmont in the netherlands, subject to the calm but piercing glance and the irresistible control of orange. philip gave him no reason to suppose that he intended any change in the religious system of the provinces, at least in any sense contemplated by the liberal party. on the contrary, a council of doctors and ecclesiastics was summoned, at whose deliberations the count was invited to assist; on which occasion the king excited general admiration by the fervor of his piety and the vehemence of his ejaculations. falling upon his knees before a crucifix, in the midst of the assembly, he prayed that god would keep him perpetually in the same mind, and protested that he would never call himself master of those who denied the lord god. such an exhibition could leave but little doubt in the minds of those who witnessed it as to the royal sentiments, nor did egmont make any effort to obtain any relaxation of those religious edicts, which he had himself declared worthy of approbation, and fit to be maintained. as to the question of enlarging the state-council, philip dismissed the subject with a few vague observations, which egmont, not very zealous on the subject at the moment, perhaps misunderstood. the punishment of heretics by some new method, so as to secure the pains but to take away the glories of martyrdom, was also slightly discussed, and here again egmont was so unfortunate as to misconceive the royal meaning, and to interpret an additional refinement of cruelty into an expression of clemency. on the whole, however, there was not much negotiation between the monarch and the ambassador. when the count spoke of business, the king would speak to him of his daughters, and of his desire to see them provided with brilliant marriages. as egmont had eight girls, besides two sons, it was natural that he should be pleased to find philip taking so much interest in looking out husbands for them. the king spoke to him, as hardly could be avoided, of the famous fool's-cap livery. the count laughed the matter off as a jest, protesting that it was a mere foolish freak, originating at the wine-table, and asseverating, with warmth, that nothing disrespectful or disloyal to his majesty had been contemplated upon that or upon any other occasion. had a single gentleman uttered an undutiful word against the king, egmont vowed he would have stabbed him through and through upon the spot, had he been his own brother. these warm protestations were answered by a gentle reprimand as to the past by philip, and with a firm caution as to the future. "let it be discontinued entirely, count," said the king, as the two were driving together in the royal carriage. egmont expressed himself in handsome terms concerning the cardinal, in return for the wholesale approbation quoted to him in regard to his own character, from the private letters of that sagacious personage to his majesty. certainly, after all this, the count might suppose the affair of the livery forgiven. thus amicably passed the hours of that mission, the preliminaries for which had called forth so much eloquence from the prince of orange and so nearly carried off with apoplexy the president viglius. on his departure egmont received a letter of instructions from philip as to the report which he was to make upon his arrival in brussels, to the duchess. after many things personally flattering to himself, the envoy was directed to represent the king as overwhelmed with incredible grief at hearing the progress made by the heretics, but as immutably determined to permit no change of religion within his dominions, even were he to die a thousand deaths in consequence. the king, he was to state, requested the duchess forthwith to assemble an extraordinary session of the council, at which certain bishops, theological doctors, and very orthodox lawyers, were to assist, in which, under pretence of discussing the council of trent matter, it was to be considered whether there could not be some new way devised for executing heretics; not indeed one by which any deduction should be made from their sufferings (which certainly was not the royal wish, nor likely to be grateful to god or salutary to religion), but by which all hopes of glory--that powerful incentive to their impiety--might be precluded. with regard to any suggested alterations in the council of state, or in the other two councils, the king was to be represented as unwilling to form any decision until he should hear, at length, from the duchess regent upon the subject. certainly here was a sufficient amount of plain speaking upon one great subject, and very little encouragement with regard to the other. yet egmont, who immediately after receiving these instructions set forth upon his return to the netherlands, manifested nothing but satisfaction. philip presented to him, as his travelling companion, the young prince alexander of parma, then about to make a visit to his mother in brussels, and recommended the youth, afterwards destined to play so prominent a part in flemish history, to his peculiar caret egmont addressed a letter to the king from valladolid, in which he indulged in ecstasies concerning the escorial and the wood of segovia, and declared that he was returning to the netherlands "the most contented man in the world." he reached brussels at the end of april. upon the fifth of may he appeared before the council, and proceeded to give an account of his interview with the king, together with a statement of the royal intentions and opinions. these were already sufficiently well known. letters, written after the envoy's departure, had arrived before him, in which, while in the main presenting the same views as those contained in the instructions to egmont, philip had expressed his decided prohibition of the project to enlarge the state council and to suppress the authority of the other two. nevertheless, the count made his report according to the brief received at madrid, and assured his hearers that the king was all benignity, having nothing so much at heart as the temporal and eternal welfare of the provinces. the siege of malta, he stated, would prevent the royal visit to the netherlands for the moment, but it was deferred only for a brief period. to remedy the deficiency in the provincial exchequer, large remittances would be made immediately from spain. to provide for the increasing difficulties of the religious question, a convocation of nine learned and saintly personages was recommended, who should devise some new scheme by which the objections to the present system of chastising heretics might be obviated. it is hardly necessary to state that so meagre a result to the mission of egmont was not likely to inspire the hearts of orange and his adherents with much confidence. no immediate explosion of resentment, however, occurred. the general aspect for a few days was peaceful. egmont manifested much contentment with the reception which he met with in spain, and described the king's friendly dispositions towards the leading nobles in lively colors. he went to his government immediately after his return, assembled the states of artois, in the city of arras, and delivered the letters sent to that body by the king. he made a speech on this occasion, informing the estates that his majesty had given orders that the edicts of the emperor were to be enforced to the letter; adding that he had told the king, freely, his own opinion upon the subject; in order to dissuade him from that which others were warmly urging. he described philip as the most liberal and debonair of princes; his council in spain as cruel and sanguinary. time was to show whether the epithets thus applied to the advisers were not more applicable to the monarch than the eulogies thus lavished by the blind and predestined victim. it will also be perceived that this language, used before the estates of artois, varied materially from his observation to the dowager duchess of aerschot, denouncing as enemies the men who accused him of having requested a moderation of the edicts. in truth, this most vacillating, confused, and unfortunate of men perhaps scarcely comprehended the purport of his recent negotiations in spain, nor perceived the drift of his daily remarks at home. he was, however, somewhat vainglorious immediately after his return, and excessively attentive to business. "he talks like a king," said morillon, spitefully, "negotiates night and day, and makes all bow before him." his house was more thronged with petitioners, courtiers, and men of affairs, than even the palace of the duchess. he avowed frequently that he would devote his life and his fortune to the accomplishment of the king's commands, and declared his uncompromising hostility to all who should venture to oppose that loyal determination. it was but a very short time, however, before a total change was distinctly perceptible in his demeanor. these halcyon days were soon fled. the arrival of fresh letters from spain gave a most unequivocal evidence of the royal determination, if, indeed, any doubt could be rationally entertained before. the most stringent instructions to keep the whole machinery of persecution constantly at work were transmitted to the duchess, and aroused the indignation of orange and his followers. they avowed that they could no longer trust the royal word, since, so soon after egmont's departure, the king had written despatches so much at variance with his language, as reported by the envoy. there was nothing, they said, clement and debonair in these injunctions upon gentlemen of their position and sentiments to devote their time to the encouragement of hangmen and inquisitors. the duchess was unable to pacify the nobles. egmont was beside himself with rage. with his usual recklessness and wrath, he expressed himself at more than one session of the state council in most unmeasured terms. his anger had been more inflamed by information which he had received from the second son of berlaymont, a young and indiscreet lad, who had most unfortunately communicated many secrets which he had learned from his father, but which were never intended for egmont's ear. philip's habitual dissimulation had thus produced much unnecessary perplexity. it was his custom to carry on correspondence through the aid of various secretaries, and it was his invariable practice to deceive them all. those who were upon the most confidential terms with the monarch, were most sure to be duped upon all important occasions. it has been seen that even the astute granvelle could not escape this common lot of all who believed their breasts the depositories of the royal secrets. upon this occasion, gonzalo perez and ruy gomez complained bitterly that they had known nothing of the letters which had recently been despatched from valladolid, while tisnacq and courterville had been ignorant of the communications forwarded by the hands of egmont. they avowed that the king created infinite trouble by thus treating his affairs in one way with one set of councillors and in an opposite sense with the others, thus dissembling with all, and added that philip was now much astonished at the dissatisfaction created in the provinces by the discrepancy between the french letters brought by egmont, and the spanish letters since despatched to the duchess. as this was his regular manner of transacting business, not only for the netherlands, but for all his dominions, they were of opinion that such confusion and dissatisfaction might well be expected. after all, however, notwithstanding the indignation of egmont, it must be confessed that he had been an easy dupe. he had been dazzled by royal smiles, intoxicated by court incense, contaminated by yet baser bribes. he had been turned from the path of honor and the companionship of the wise and noble to do the work of those who were to compass his destruction. the prince of orange reproached him to his face with having forgotten, when in spain, to represent the views of his associates and the best interests of the country, while he had well remembered his own private objects, and accepted the lavish bounty of the king. egmont, stung to the heart by the reproof, from one whom he honored and who wished him well, became sad and sombre for a long time, abstained from the court and from society, and expressed frequently the intention of retiring to his estates. he was, however, much governed by his secretary, the seigneur de bakerzeel, a man of restless, intriguing, and deceitful character, who at this period exercised as great influence over the count as armenteros continued to maintain over the duchess, whose unpopularity from that and other circumstances was daily increasing. in obedience to the commands of the king, the canons of trent had been published. they were nominally enforced at cambray, but a fierce opposition was made by the clergy themselves to the innovation in mechlin, utrecht, and many other places. this matter, together with other more vitally important questions, came before the assembly of bishops and doctors, which, according to philip's instructions, had been convoked by the duchess. the opinion of the learned theologians was, on the whole, that the views of the trent council, with regard to reformation of ecclesiastical morals and popular education, was sound. there was some discordancy between the clerical and lay doctors upon other points. the seigniors, lawyers, and deputies from the estates were all in favor of repealing the penalty of death for heretical offences of any kind. president viglius, with all the bishops and doctors of divinity, including the prelates of st. omer, namur and ypres, and four theological professors from louvain, stoutly maintained the contrary opinion. the president especially, declared himself vehemently in favor of the death punishment, and expressed much anger against those who were in favor of its abolition. the duchess, upon the second day of the assembly, propounded formally the question, whether any change was to be made in the chastisement of heretics. the prince of orange, with counts horn and egmont, had, however, declined to take part in the discussions, on the ground that it was not his majesty's intention that state councillors should deliver their opinions before strangers, but that persons from outside had been summoned to communicate their advice to the council. the seigniors having thus washed their hands of the matter, the doctors came to a conclusion with great alacrity. it was their unanimous opinion that it comported neither with the service of god nor the common weal, to make any change in the punishment, except, perhaps, in the case of extreme youth; but that, on the contrary, heretics were only to be dealt with by retaining the edicts in their rigor, and by courageously chastising the criminals. after sitting for the greater part of six days, the bishops and doctors of divinity reduced their sentiments to writing, and affixed their signatures to the document. upon the great point of the change suggested in the penalties of heresy, it was declared that no alteration was advisable in the edicts, which had been working so well for thirty-five years. at the same time it was suggested that "some persons, in respect to their age and quality, might be executed or punished more or less rigorously than others; some by death, some by galley slavery, some by perpetual banishment and entire confiscation of property." the possibility was also admitted, of mitigating the punishment of those who, without being heretics or sectaries, might bring themselves within the provisions of the edicts, "through curiosity, nonchalance, or otherwise." such offenders, it was hinted, might be "whipped with rods, fined, banished, or subjected to similar penalties of a lighter nature." it will be perceived by this slight sketch of the advice thus offered to the duchess that these theologians were disposed very carefully to strain the mercy, which they imagined possible in some cases, but which was to drop only upon the heads of the just. heretics were still to be dealt with, so far as the bishops and presidents could affect their doom, with unmitigated rigor. when the assembly was over, the duchess, thus put in possession of the recorded wisdom of these special councillors, asked her constitutional advisers what she was to do with it. orange, egmont, horn, mansfeld replied, however, that it was not their affair, and that their opinion had not been demanded by his majesty in the premises. the duchess accordingly transmitted to philip the conclusions of the assembly, together with the reasons of the seigniors for refusing to take part in its deliberations. the sentiments of orange could hardly be doubtful, however, nor his silence fail to give offense to the higher powers. he contented himself for the time with keeping his eyes and ears open to the course of events, but he watched well. he had "little leisure for amusing himself," as brederode suggested. that free-spoken individual looked upon the proceedings of the theological assembly with profound disgust. "your letter," he wrote to count louis, "is full of those blackguards of bishops and presidents. i would the race were extinct, like that of green dogs. they will always combat with the arms which they have ever used, remaining to the end avaricious, brutal, obstinate, ambitious, et cetera. i leave you to supply the rest." thus, then, it was settled beyond peradventure that there was to be no compromise with heresy. the king had willed it. the theologians had advised it. the duchess had proclaimed it. it was supposed that without the axe, the fire, and the rack, the catholic religion would be extinguished, and that the whole population of the netherlands would embrace the reformed faith. this was the distinct declaration of viglius, in a private letter to granvelle. "many seek to abolish the chastisement of heresy," said he; "if they gain this point, actum est de religione catholica; for as most of the people are ignorant fools, the heretics will soon be the great majority, if by fear of punishment they are not kept in the true path." the uneasiness, the terror, the wrath of the people seemed rapidly culminating to a crisis. nothing was talked of but the edicts and the inquisition. nothing else entered into the minds of men. in the streets, in the shops, in the taverns, in the fields; at market, at church, at funerals, at weddings; in the noble's castle, at the farmer's fireside, in the mechanic's garret, upon the merchants' exchange, there was but one perpetual subject of shuddering conversation. it was better, men began to whisper to each other, to die at once than to live in perpetual slavery. it was better to fall with arms in hand than to be tortured and butchered by the inquisition. who could expect to contend with such a foe in the dark? they reproached the municipal authorities with lending themselves as instruments to the institution. they asked magistrates and sheriffs how far they would go in their defence before god's tribunal for the slaughter of his creatures, if they could only answer the divine arraignment by appealing to the edict of . on the other hand, the inquisitors were clamorous in abuse of the languor and the cowardice of the secular authorities. they wearied the ear of the duchess with complaints of the difficulties which they encountered in the execution of their functions--of the slight alacrity on the part of the various officials to assist them in the discharge of their duties. notwithstanding the express command of his majesty to that effect, they experienced, they said, a constant deficiency of that cheerful co-operation which they had the right to claim, and there was perpetual discord in consequence. they had been empowered by papal and by royal decree to make use of the gaols, the constables, the whole penal machinery of each province; yet the officers often refused to act, and had even dared to close the prisons. nevertheless, it had been intended, as fully appeared by the imperial and royal instructions to the inquisitors, that their action through the medium of the provincial authorities should be unrestrained. not satisfied with these representations to the regent, the inquisitors had also made a direct appeal to the king. judocus tiletanus and michael de bay addressed to philip a letter from louvain. they represented to him that they were the only two left of the five inquisitors-general appointed by the pope for all the netherlands, the other three having been recently converted into bishops. daily complaints, they said, were reaching them of the prodigious advance of heresy, but their own office was becoming so odious, so calumniated, and exposed to so much resistance, that they could not perform its duties without personal danger. they urgently demanded from his majesty, therefore, additional support and assistance. thus the duchess, exposed at once to the rising wrath of a whole people and to the shrill blasts of inquisitorial anger, was tossed to and fro, as upon a stormy sea. the commands of the king, too explicit to be tampered with, were obeyed. the theological assembly had met and given advice. the council of trent was here and there enforced. the edicts were republished and the inquisitors encouraged. moreover, in accordance with philip's suggestion, orders were now given that the heretics should be executed at midnight in their dungeons, by binding their heads between their knees, and then slowly suffocating them in tubs of water. secret drowning was substituted for public burning, in order that the heretic's crown of vainglory, which was thought to console him in his agony, might never be placed upon his head. in the course of the summer, magaret wrote to her brother that the popular frenzy was becoming more and more intense. the people were crying aloud, she said, that the spanish inquisition, or a worse than spanish inquisition, had been established among them by means of bishops and ecclesiastics. she urged philip to cause the instructions for the inquisitors to be revised. egmont, she said, was vehement in expressing his dissatisfaction at the discrepancy between philip's language to him by word of mouth and that of the royal despatches on the religious question. the other seigniors were even more indignant. while the popular commotion in the netherlands was thus fearfully increasing, another circumstance came to add to the prevailing discontent. the celebrated interview between catharine de medici and her daughter, the queen of spain, occurred in the middle of the month of june, at bayonne. the darkest suspicions as to the results to humanity of the plots to be engendered in this famous conference between the representatives of france and spain were universally entertained. these suspicions were most reasonable, but they were nevertheless mistaken. the plan for a concerted action to exterminate the heretics in both kingdoms had, as it was perfectly well known, been formed long before this epoch. it was also no secret that the queen regent of france had been desirous of meeting her son-in-law in order to confer with him upon important matters, face to face. philip, however, had latterly been disinclined for the personal interview with catharine. as his wife was most anxious to meet her mother, it was nevertheless finally arranged that queen isabella should make the journey; but he excused himself, on account of the multiplicity of his affairs, from accompanying her in the expedition. the duke of alva was, accordingly, appointed to attend the queen to bayonne. both were secretly instructed by philip to leave nothing undone in the approaching interview toward obtaining the hearty co-operation of catharine de medici in a general and formally-arranged scheme for the simultaneous extermination of all heretics in the french and spanish dominions. alva's conduct in this diplomatic commission was stealthy in the extreme. his letters reveal a subtlety of contrivance and delicacy of handling such as the world has not generally reckoned among his characteristics. all his adroitness, as well as the tact of queen isabella, by whose ability alva declared himself to have been astounded, proved quite powerless before the steady fencing of the wily catharine. the queen regent, whose skill the duke, even while defeated, acknowledged to his master, continued firm in her design to maintain her own power by holding the balance between guise and montmorency, between leaguer and huguenot. so long as her enemies could be employed in exterminating each other, she was willing to defer the extermination of the huguenots. the great massacre of st. bartholomew was to sleep for seven years longer. alva was, to be sure, much encouraged at first by the language of the french princes and nobles who were present at bayonne. monluc protested that "they might saw the queen dowager in two before she would become huguenot." montpensier exclaimed that "he would be cut in pieces for philip's service--that the spanish monarch was the only hope for france," and, embracing alva with fervor, he affirmed that "if his body were to be opened at that moment, the name of philip would be found imprinted upon his heart." the duke, having no power to proceed to an autopsy, physical or moral, of montpensier's interior, was left somewhat in the dark, notwithstanding these ejaculations. his first conversation with the youthful king, however, soon dispelled his hopes. he found immediately, in his own words, that charles the ninth "had been doctored." to take up arms, for religious reasons, against his own subjects, the monarch declared to be ruinous and improper. it was obvious to alva that the royal pupil had learned his lesson for that occasion. it was a pity for humanity that the wisdom thus hypocritically taught him could not have sunk into his heart. the duke did his best to bring forward the plans and wishes of his royal master, but without success. the queen regent proposed a league of the two kings and the emperor against the turk, and wished to arrange various matrimonial alliances between the sons and daughters of the three houses. alva expressed the opinion that the alliances were already close enough, while, on the contrary, a secret league against the protestants would make all three families the safer. catherine, however, was not to be turned from her position. she refused even to admit that the chancellor de l'hospital was a huguenot, to which the duke replied that she was the only person in her kingdom who held that opinion. she expressed an intention of convoking an assembly of doctors, and alva ridiculed in his letters to philip the affectation of such a proceeding. in short, she made it sufficiently evident that the hour for the united action of the french and spanish sovereigns against their subjects had not struck, so that the famous bayonne conference was terminated without a result. it seemed not the less certain, however, in the general opinion of mankind, that all the particulars of a regular plot had been definitely arranged upon this occasion, for the extermination of the protestants, and the error has been propagated by historians of great celebrity of all parties, down to our own days. the secret letters of alva, however, leave no doubt as to the facts. in the course of november, fresh letters from philip arrived in the netherlands, confirming every thing which he had previously written. he wrote personally to the inquisitors-general, tiletanus and de bay, encouraging them, commending them, promising them his support, and urging them not to be deterred by any consideration from thoroughly fulfilling their duties. he wrote peter titelmann a letter, in which he applauded the pains taken by that functionary to remedy the ills which religion was suffering, assured him of his gratitude, exhorted him to continue in his virtuous course, and avowed his determination to spare neither pains, expense, nor even his own life, to sustain the catholic faith. to the duchess he wrote at great length, and in most unequivocal language. he denied that what he had written from valladolid was of different meaning from the sense of the despatches by egmont. with regard to certain anabaptist prisoners, concerning whose fate margaret had requested his opinion, he commanded their execution, adding that such was his will in the case of all, whatever their quality, who could be caught. that which the people said in the netherlands touching the inquisition, he pronounced extremely distasteful to him. that institution, which had existed under his predecessors, he declared more necessary than ever; nor would he suffer it to be discredited. he desired his sister to put no faith in idle talk, as to the inconveniences likely to flow from the rigor of the inquisition. much greater inconveniences would be the result if the inquisitors did not proceed with their labors, and the duchess was commanded to write to the secular judges, enjoining upon them to place no obstacles in the path, but to afford all the assistance which might be required. to egmont, the king wrote with his own hand, applauding much that was contained in the recent decisions of the assembly of bishops and doctors of divinity, and commanding the count to assist in the execution of the royal determination. in affairs of religion, philip expressed the opinion that dissimulation and weakness were entirely out of place. when these decisive letters came before the state council, the consternation was extreme. the duchess had counted, in spite of her inmost convictions, upon less peremptory instructions. the prince of orange, the count of egmont, and the admiral, were loud in their denunciations of the royal policy. there was a violent and protracted debate. the excitement spread at once to the people. inflammatory hand-bills were circulated. placards were posted every night upon the doors of orange, egmont, and horn, calling upon them to come forth boldly as champions of the people and of liberty in religious matters. banquets were held daily at the houses of the nobility, in which the more ardent and youthful of their order, with brains excited by wine and anger, indulged in flaming invectives against the government, and interchanged vows to protect each other and the cause of the oppressed provinces. meanwhile the privy council, to which body the duchess had referred the recent despatches from madrid, made a report upon the whole subject to the state council, during the month of november, sustaining the royal views, and insisting upon the necessity of carrying them into effect. the edicts and inquisition having been so vigorously insisted upon by the king, nothing was to be done but to issue new proclamations throughout the country, together with orders to bishops, councils, governors and judges, that every care should be taken to enforce them to the full. this report came before the state council, and was sustained by some of its members. the prince of orange expressed the same uncompromising hostility to the inquisition which he had always manifested, but observed that the commands of the king were so precise and absolute, as to leave no possibility of discussing that point. there was nothing to be done, he said, but to obey, but he washed his hands of the fatal consequences which he foresaw. there was no longer any middle course between obedience and rebellion. this opinion, the soundness of which could scarcely be disputed, was also sustained by egmont and horn. viglius, on the contrary, nervous, agitated, appalled, was now disposed to temporize. he observed that if the seigniors feared such evil results, it would be better to prevent, rather than to accelerate the danger which would follow the proposed notification to the governors and municipal authorities throughout the country, on the subject of the inquisition. to make haste, was neither to fulfil the intentions nor to serve the interests of the king, and it was desirable "to avoid emotion and scandal." upon these heads the president made a very long speech, avowing, in conclusion, that if his majesty should not find the course proposed agreeable, he was ready to receive all the indignation upon his own head. certainly, this position of the president was somewhat inconsistent with his previous course. he had been most violent in his denunciations of all who should interfere with the execution of the great edict of which he had been the original draughtsman. he had recently been ferocious in combating the opinion of those civilians in the assembly of doctors who had advocated the abolition of the death penalty against heresy. he had expressed with great energy his private opinion that the ancient religion would perish if the machinery of persecution were taken away; yet he now for the first time seemed to hear or to heed the outcry of a whole nation, and to tremble at the sound. now that the die had been cast, in accordance with the counsels of his whole life, now that the royal commands, often enigmatical and hesitating; were at last too distinct to be misconstrued, and too peremptory to be tampered with--the president imagined the possibility of delay. the health of the ancient frisian had but recently permitted him to resume his seat at the council board. his presence there was but temporary, for he had received from madrid the acceptance of his resignation, accompanied with orders to discharge the duties of president until the arrival of his successor, charles de tisnacq. thus, in his own language, the duchess was still obliged to rely for a season "upon her ancient palinurus," a necessity far from agreeable to her, for she had lost confidence in the pilot. it may be supposed that he was anxious to smooth the troubled waters during the brief period in which he was still to be exposed to their fury; but he poured out the oil of his eloquence in vain. nobody sustained his propositions. the duchess, although terrified at the probable consequences, felt the impossibility of disobeying the deliberate decree of her brother. a proclamation was accordingly prepared, by which it was ordered that the council of trent, the edicts and the inquisition, should be published in every town and village in the provinces, immediately, and once in six months forever afterwards. the deed was done, and the prince of orange, stooping to the ear of his next neighbor, as they sat at the council-board, whispered that they were now about to witness the commencement of the most extraordinary tragedy which had ever been enacted. the prophecy was indeed a proof that the prince could read the future, but the sarcasm of the president, that the remark had been made in a tone of exultation, was belied by every action of the prophet's life. the fiat went forth. in the market-place of every town and village of the netherlands, the inquisition was again formally proclaimed. every doubt which had hitherto existed as to the intention of the government was swept away. no argument was thenceforward to be permissible as to the constitutionality of the edicts as to the compatibility of their provisions with the privileges of the land. the cry of a people in its agony ascended to heaven. the decree was answered with a howl of execration. the flames of popular frenzy arose lurid and threatening above the house-tops of every town and village. the impending conflict could no longer be mistaken. the awful tragedy which the great watchman in the land had so long unceasingly predicted, was seen sweeping solemnly and steadily onward. the superstitious eyes of the age saw supernatural and ominous indications in the sky. contending armies trampled the clouds; blood dropped from heaven; the exterminating angel rode upon the wind. there was almost a cessation of the ordinary business of mankind. commerce was paralyzed. antwerp shook as with an earthquake. a chasm seemed to open, in which her prosperity and her very existence were to be forever engulfed. the foreign merchants, manufacturers, and artisans fled from her gates as if the plague were raging within them. thriving cities were likely soon to be depopulated. the metropolitan heart of the whole country was almost motionless. men high in authority sympathized with the general indignation. the marquis berghen, the younger mansfeld, the baron montigny, openly refused to enforce the edicts within their governments. men of eminence inveighed boldly and bitterly against the tyranny of the government, and counselled disobedience. the netherlanders, it was stoutly maintained, were not such senseless brutes as to be ignorant of the mutual relation of prince and people. they knew that the obligation of a king to his vassals was as sacred as the duties of the subjects to the sovereign. the four principal cities of brabant first came forward in formal denunciation of the outrage. an elaborate and conclusive document was drawn up in their name, and presented to the regent. it set forth that the recent proclamation violated many articles in the "joyous entry." that ancient constitution had circumscribed the power of the clergy, and the jealousy had been felt in old times as much by the sovereign as the people. no ecclesiastical tribunal had therefore been allowed, excepting that of the bishop of cambray, whose jurisdiction was expressly confined to three classes of cases--those growing out of marriages, testaments, and mortmains. it would be superfluous to discuss the point at the present day, whether the directions to the inquisitors and the publication of the edicts conflicted with the "joyous entrance." to take a man from his house and burn him, after a brief preliminary examination, was clearly not to follow the letter and spirit of the brabantine habeas corpus, by which inviolability of domicile and regular trials were secured and sworn to by the monarch; yet such had been the uniform practice of inquisitors throughout the country. the petition of the four cities was referred by the regent to the council of brabant. the chancellor, or president judge of that tribunal was notoriously corrupt--a creature of the spanish. his efforts to sustain the policy of the administration however vain. the duchess ordered the archives of the province to be searched for precedents, and the council to report upon the petition. the case was too plain for argument or dogmatism, but the attempt was made to take refuge in obscurity. the answer of the council was hesitating and equivocal. the duchess insisted upon a distinct and categorical answer to the four cities. thus pressed, the council of brabant declared roundly that no inquisition of any kind had ever existed, in the provinces. it was impossible that any other answer could be given, but viglius, with his associates in the privy council, were extremely angry at the conclusion. the concession was, however, made, notwithstanding the bad example which, according to some persons, the victory thus obtained by so important a province would afford to the people in the other parts of the country. brabant was declared free of the inquisition. meanwhile the pamphlets, handbills, pasquils, and other popular productions were multiplied. to use a flemish expression, they "snowed in the streets." they were nailed nightly on all the great houses in brussels. patriots were called upon to strike, speak, redress. pungent lampoons, impassioned invectives, and earnest remonstrances, were thrust into the hands of the duchess. the publications, as they appeared; were greedily devoured by the people. "we are willing," it was said, in a remarkable letter to the king, "to die for the gospel, but we read therein 'render unto caesar that which is caesar's, and unto god that which is god's.' we thank god that our enemies themselves are compelled to bear witness to our piety and patience; so that it is a common saying--'he swears not; he is a protestant; he is neither a fornicator nor a drunkard; he is of the new sect.' yet, notwithstanding these testimonials to our character, no manner of punishment has been forgotten by which we can possibly be chastised." this statement of the morality of the puritans of the netherlands was the justification of martyrs--not the self-glorification of pharisees. the fact was incontrovertible. their tenets were rigid, but their lives were pure. they belonged generally to the middling and lower classes. they were industrious artisans, who desired to live in the fear of god and in honor of their king. they were protected by nobles and gentlemen of high position, very many of whom came afterwards warmly to espouse the creed which at first they had only generously defended. their whole character and position resembled, in many features, those of the english puritans, who, three quarters of a century afterwards, fled for refuge to the dutch republic, and thence departed to establish the american republic. the difference was that the netherlanders were exposed to a longer persecution and a far more intense martyrdom. towards the end of the year ( ) which was closing in such universal gloom; the contemporary chronicles are enlivened with a fitful gleam of sunshine. the light enlivens only the more elevated regions of the flemish world, but it is pathetic to catch a glimpse of those nobles, many of whose lives were to be so heroic, and whose destinies so tragic, as amid the shadows projected by coming evil, they still found time for the chivalrous festivals of their land and epoch. a splendid tournament was held at the chateau d'antoing to celebrate the nuptials of baron montigny with the daughter of prince d'espinoy. orange, horn, and hoogstraaten were the challengers, and maintained themselves victoriously against all comers, egmont and other distinguished knights being, among the number. thus brilliantly and gaily moved the first hours of that marriage which before six months had fled was to be so darkly terminated. the doom which awaited the chivalrous bridegroom in the dungeon of simancas was ere long to be recorded in one of the foulest chapters of philip's tyranny. a still more elaborate marriage-festival, of which the hero was, at a later day, to exercise a most decisive influence over the fortunes of the land, was celebrated at brussels before the close of the year. it will be remembered that alexander, prince of parma, had accompanied egmont on his return from spain in the month of april. the duchess had been delighted with the appearance of her son, then twenty years of age, but already an accomplished cavalier. she had expressed her especial pleasure in finding him so thoroughly a spaniard "in manner, costume, and conversation," that it could not be supposed he had ever visited any other land, or spoken any other tongue than that of spain. the nobles of the flemish court did not participate in the mother's enthusiasm. it could not be denied that he was a handsome and gallant young prince; but his arrogance was so intolerable as to disgust even those most disposed to pay homage to margaret's son. he kept himself mainly in haughty retirement, dined habitually alone in his own apartments, and scarcely honored any of the gentlemen of the netherlands with his notice. even egmont, to whose care he had been especially recommended by philip, was slighted. if, occasionally, he honored one or two of the seigniors with an invitation to his table, he sat alone in solemn state at the head of the board, while the guests, to whom he scarcely vouchsafed a syllable, were placed on stools without backs, below the salt. such insolence, it may be supposed, was sufficiently galling to men of the proud character, but somewhat reckless demeanor, which distinguished the netherland aristocracy. after a short time they held themselves aloof, thinking it sufficient to endure such airs from philip. the duchess at first encouraged the young prince in his haughtiness, but soon became sad, as she witnessed its effects. it was the universal opinion that the young prince was a mere compound of pride and emptiness. "there is nothing at all in the man," said chantonnay. certainly the expression was not a fortunate one. time was to show that there was more in the man than in all the governors despatched successively by philip to the netherlands; but the proof was to be deferred to a later epoch. meantime, his mother was occupied and exceedingly perplexed with his approaching nuptials. he had been affianced early in the year to the princess donna maria of portugal. it was found necessary, therefore, to send a fleet of several vessels to lisbon, to fetch the bride to the netherlands, the wedding being appointed to take place in brussels. this expense alone was considerable, and the preparations for banquets, jousts, and other festivities, were likewise undertaken on so magnificent a scale that the duke, her husband, was offended at margaret's extravagance. the people, by whom she was not beloved, commented bitterly on the prodigalities which they were witnessing in a period of dearth and trouble. many of the nobles mocked at her perplexity. to crown the whole, the young prince was so obliging as to express the hope, in his mother's hearing, that the bridal fleet, then on its way from portugal, might sink with all it contained, to the bottom of the sea. the poor duchess was infinitely chagrined by all these circumstances. the "insane and outrageous expenses" in which the nuptials had involved her, the rebukes of her husband, the sneers of the seigniors, the undutiful epigrams of her son, the ridicule of the people, affected her spirits to such a degree, harassed as she was with grave matters of state, that she kept her rooms for days together, weeping, hour after hour, in the most piteous manner. her distress was the town talk; nevertheless, the fleet arrived in the autumn, and brought the youthful maria to the provinces. this young lady, if the faithful historiographer of the farnese house is to be credited, was the paragon of princesses. [this princess, in her teens, might already exclaim, with the venerable faustus: "habe nun philosophie juristerei and medicin und leider ach: theologie durch studirt mit heissem bemuhen," etc. the panegyrists of royal houses in the sixteenth century were not accustomed to do their work by halves.--strada.] she was the daughter of prince edward, and granddaughter of john the third. she was young and beautiful; she could talk both latin and greek, besides being well versed in philosophy, mathematics and theology. she had the scriptures at her tongue's end, both the old dispensation and the new, and could quote from the fathers with the promptness of a bishop. she was so strictly orthodox that, on being compelled by stress of weather to land in england, she declined all communication with queen elizabeth, on account of her heresy. she was so eminently chaste that she could neither read the sonnets of petrarch, nor lean on the arm of a gentleman. her delicacy upon such points was, indeed, carried to such excess, that upon one occasion when the ship which was bringing her to the netherlands was discovered to be burning, she rebuked a rude fellow who came forward to save her life, assuring him that there was less contamination in the touch of fire than in that of man. fortunately, the flames were extinguished, and the phoenix of portugal was permitted to descend, unburned, upon the bleak shores of flanders. the occasion, notwithstanding the recent tears of the duchess, and the arrogance of the prince, was the signal for much festivity among the courtiers of brussels. it was also the epoch from which movements of a secret and important character were to be dated. the chevaliers of the fleece were assembled, and viglius pronounced before them one of his most classical orations. he had a good deal to say concerning the private adventures of saint andrew, patron of the order, and went into some details of a conversation which that venerated personage had once held with the proconsul aegeas. the moral which he deduced from his narrative was the necessity of union among the magnates for the maintenance of the catholic faith; the nobility and the church being the two columns upon which the whole social fabric reposed. it is to be feared that the president became rather prosy upon the occasion. perhaps his homily, like those of the fictitious archbishop of granada, began to smack of the apoplexy from which he had so recently escaped. perhaps, the meeting being one of hilarity, the younger nobles became restive under the infliction of a very long and very solemn harangue. at any rate, as the meeting broke up, there was a good dial of jesting on the subject. de hammes, commonly called "toison d'or," councillor and king-at-arms of the order, said that the president had been seeing visions and talking with saint andrew in a dream. marquis berghen asked for the source whence he had derived such intimate acquaintance with the ideas of the saint. the president took these remarks rather testily, and, from trifling, the company became soon earnestly engaged in a warm discussion of the agitating topics of the day. it soon became evident to viglius that de hammer and others of his comrades had been dealing with dangerous things. he began shrewdly to suspect that the popular heresy was rapidly extending into higher regions; but it was not the president alone who discovered how widely the contamination was spreading. the meeting, the accidental small talk, which had passed so swiftly from gaiety to gravity, the rapid exchange of ideas, and the free-masonry by which intelligence upon forbidden topics had been mutually conveyed, became events of historical importance. interviews between nobles, who, in the course of the festivities produced by the montigny and parma marriages, had discovered that they entertained a secret similarity of sentiment upon vital questions, became of frequent occurrence. the result to which such conferences led will be narrated in the following chapter. meantime, upon the th november, , the marriage of prince alexander and donna maria was celebrated; with great solemnity, by the archbishop of cambray, in the chapel of the court at brussels. on the following sunday the wedding banquet was held in the great hall, where, ten years previously, the memorable abdication of the bridegroom's imperial grandfather had taken place. the walls were again hung with the magnificent tapestry of gideon, while the knights of the fleece, with all the other grandees of the land, were assembled to grace the spectacle. the king was represented by his envoy in england, don guzman de silva, who came to brussels for the occasion, and who had been selected for this duty because, according to armenteros, "he was endowed, beside his prudence, with so much witty gracefulness with ladies in matters of pastime and entertainment." early in the month of december, a famous tournament was held in the great market-place of brussels, the duke of parma, the duke of aerschot, and count egmont being judges of the jousts. count mansfeld was the challenger, assisted by his son charles, celebrated among the gentry of the land for his dexterity in such sports. to count charles was awarded upon this occasion the silver cup from the lady of the lists. count bossu received the prize for breaking best his lances; the seigneur de beauvoir for the most splendid entrance; count louis, of nassau, for having borne himself most gallantly in the melee. on the same evening the nobles, together with the bridal pair, were entertained at a splendid supper, given by the city of brussels in the magnificent hotel de ville. on this occasion the prizes gained at the tournament were distributed, amid the applause and hilarity of all the revellers. thus, with banquet, tourney, and merry marriage bells, with gaiety gilding the surface of society, while a deadly hatred to the inquisition was eating into the heart of the nation, and while the fires of civil war were already kindling, of which no living man was destined to witness the extinction, ended the year . etext editor's bookmarks: all offices were sold to the highest bidder english puritans habeas corpus he did his best to be friends with all the world look through the cloud of dissimulation no law but the law of the longest purse panegyrists of royal houses in the sixteenth century secret drowning was substituted for public burning sonnets of petrarch st. bartholomew was to sleep for seven years longer to think it capable of error, is the most devilish heresy of all motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. chapter vi. francis junius--his sermon at culemburg house--the compromise-- portraits of sainte aldegonde, of louis 'nassau, of "toison d'or," of charles mansfeld--sketch of the compromise--attitude of orange-- his letter to the duchess--signers of the compromise--indiscretion of the confederates--espionage over philip by orange-- dissatisfaction of the seigniors--conduct of egmont--despair of the people--emigration to england--its effects--the request--meeting at breda and hoogstraaten--exaggerated statements concerning the request in the state council--hesitation of the duchess--assembly of notables--debate concerning the request and the inquisition-- character of brederode--arrival of the petitioners in brussels-- presentation of the request--emotion of margaret--speech of brederode--sketch of the request--memorable sarcasm of berlaymont-- deliberation in the state council--apostille to the request--answer to the apostille--reply of the duchess--speech of d'esquerdes-- response of margaret--memorable banquet at culemburg house--name of "the beggars" adopted--orange, egmont, and horn break up the riotous meeting--costume of "the beggars"--brederode at antwerp--horrible execution at oudenardo--similar cruelties throughout the provinces-- project of "moderation"--religious views of orange--his resignation of all his offices not accepted--the "moderation" characterized-- egmont at arras debate on the "moderation"--vacillation of egmont-- mission of montigny and berghen to spain--instructions to the envoys--secret correspondence of philip with the pope concerning the netherland inquisition and the edicts--field-preaching in the provinces--modet at ghent--other preachers characterized--excitement at tournay--peter gabriel at harlem--field--preaching near antwerp-- embarrassment of the regent--excitement at antwerp--pensionary wesenbeck sent to brussels--orange at antwerp--his patriotic course --misrepresentation of the duchess--intemperate zeal of dr. rythovius--meeting at st. trond--conference at duffel--louis of nassau deputed to the regent--unsatisfactory negotiations. the most remarkable occurrence in the earlier part of the year was the famous compromise. this document, by which the signers pledged themselves to oppose the inquisition, and to defend each other against all consequences of such a resistance, was probably the work of philip de marnix, lord of sainte aldegonde. much obscurity, however, rests upon the origin of this league. its foundations had already been laid in the latter part of the preceding year. the nuptials of parma with the portuguese princess had been the cause of much festivity, not only in brussels, but at antwerp. the great commercial metropolis had celebrated the occasion by a magnificent banquet. there had been triumphal arches, wreaths of flowers, loyal speeches, generous sentiments, in the usual profusion. the chief ornament of the dinner-table had been a magnificent piece of confectionary, netting elaborately forth the mission of count mansfeld with the fleet to portugal to fetch the bride from her home, with exquisitely finished figures in sugar--portraits, it is to be presumed--of the principal personages as they appeared during the most striking scenes of the history. at the very moment, however, of these delectations, a meeting was held at brussels of men whose minds were occupied with sterner stuff than sugar-work. on the wedding-day of parma, francis junius, a dissenting minister then residing at antwerp, was invited to brussels to preach a sermon in the house of count culemburg, on the horse-market (now called little sablon), before a small assembly of some twenty gentlemen. this francis junius, born of a noble family in bourges, was the pastor of the secret french congregation of huguenots at antwerp. he was very young, having arrived from geneva, where he had been educated, to take charge of the secret church, when but just turned of twenty years. he was, however, already celebrated for his learning, his eloquence, and his courage. towards the end of , it had already become known that junius was in secret understanding with louis of nassau, to prepare an address to government on the subject of the inquisition and edicts. orders were given for his arrest. a certain painter of brussels affected conversion to the new religion, that he might gain admission to the congregation, and afterwards earn the reward of the informer. he played his part so well that he was permitted to attend many meetings, in the course of which he sketched the portrait of the preacher, and delivered it to the duchess regent, together with minute statements as to his residence and daily habits. nevertheless, with all this assistance, the government could not succeed in laying hands on him. he escaped to breda, and continued his labors in spite of persecution. the man's courage may be estimated from the fact that he preached on one occasion a sermon, advocating the doctrines of the reformed church with his usual eloquence, in a room overlooking the market-place, where, at the very, instant, the execution by fire of several heretics was taking place, while the light from the flames in which the brethren of their faith were burning, was flickering through the glass windows of the conventicle. such was the man who preached a sermon in culemburg palace on parma's wedding-day. the nobles who listened to him were occupied with grave discourse after conclusion of the religious exercises. junius took no part in their conversation, but in his presence it was resolved that a league against the "barbarous and violent inquisition" should be formed, and, that the confederates should mutually bind themselves both within and without the netherlands to this great purpose. junius, in giving this explicit statement; has not mentioned the names of the nobles before whom he preached. it may be inferred that some of them were the more ardent and the more respectable among the somewhat miscellaneous band by whom the compromise was afterwards signed. at about the same epoch, louis of nassau, nicolas de hammes, and certain other gentlemen met at the baths of spa. at this secret assembly, the foundations of the compromise were definitely laid. a document was afterwards drawn up, which was circulated for signatures in the early part of . it is, therefore, a mistake to suppose that this memorable paper was simultaneously signed and sworn to at any solemn scene like that of the declaration of american independence, or like some of the subsequent transactions in the netherland revolt, arranged purposely for dramatic effect. several copies of the compromise were passed secretly from hand to hand, and in the course of two months some two thousand signatures had been obtained. the original copy bore but three names, those of brederode, charles de mansfeld, and louis of nassau. the composition of the paper is usually ascribed to sainte aldegonde, although the fact is not indisputable. at any rate, it is very certain that he was one of the originators and main supporters of the famous league. sainte aldegonde was one of the most accomplished men of his age. he was of ancient nobility, as he proved by an abundance of historical and heraldic evidence, in answer to a scurrilous pamphlet in which he had been accused, among other delinquencies, of having sprung from plebeian blood. having established his "extraction from true and ancient gentlemen of savoy, paternally and maternally," he rebuked his assailants in manly strain. "even had it been that i was without nobility of birth," said he, "i should be none the less or more a virtuous or honest man; nor can any one reproach me with having failed in the point of honor or duty. what greater folly than to boast of the virtue or gallantry of others, as do many nobles who, having neither a grain of virtue in their souls nor a drop of wisdom in their brains, are entirely useless to their country! yet there are such men, who, because their ancestors have done some valorous deed, think themselves fit to direct the machinery of a whole country, having from their youth learned nothing but to dance and to spin like weathercocks with their heads as well as their heels." certainly sainte aldegonde had learned other lessons than these. he was one of the many-sided men who recalled the symmetry of antique patriots. he was a poet of much vigor and imagination; a prose writer whose style was surpassed by that of none of his contemporaries, a diplomatist in whose tact and delicacy william of orange afterwards reposed in the most difficult and important negotiations, an orator whose discourses on many great public occasions attracted the attention of europe, a soldier whose bravery was to be attested afterwards on many a well-fought field, a theologian so skilful in the polemics of divinity, that, as it will hereafter appear, he was more than a match for a bench of bishops upon their own ground, and a scholar so accomplished, that, besides speaking and writing the classical and several modern languages with facility, he had also translated for popular use the psalms of david into vernacular verse, and at a very late period of his life was requested by the states-general of the republic to translate all the scriptures, a work, the fulfilment of which was prevented by his death. a passionate foe to the inquisition and to all the abuses of the ancient church, an ardent defender of civil liberty, it must be admitted that he partook also of the tyrannical spirit of calvinism. he never rose to the lofty heights to which the spirit of the great founder of the commonwealth was destined to soar, but denounced the great principle of religious liberty for all consciences as godless. he was now twenty-eight years of age, having been born in the same year with his friend louis of nassau. his device, "repos ailleurs," finely typified the restless, agitated and laborious life to which he was destined. that other distinguished leader of the newly-formed league, count louis, was a true knight of the olden time, the very mirror of chivalry. gentle, generous, pious; making use, in his tent before the battle, of the prayers which his mother sent him from the home of his childhood,--yet fiery in the field as an ancient crusader--doing the work of general and soldier with desperate valor and against any numbers--cheerful and steadfast under all reverses, witty and jocund in social intercourse, animating with his unceasing spirits the graver and more foreboding soul of his brother; he was the man to whom the eyes of the most ardent among the netherland reformers were turned at this early epoch, the trusty staff upon which the great prince of orange was to lean till it was broken. as gay as brederode, he was unstained by his vices, and exercised a boundless influence over that reckless personage, who often protested that he would "die a poor soldier at his feet." the career of louis was destined to be short, if reckoned by years, but if by events, it was to attain almost a patriarchal length. at the age of nineteen he had taken part in the battle of st. quentin, and when once the war of freedom opened, his sword was never to be sheathed. his days were filled with life, and when he fell into his bloody but unknown grave, he was to leave a name as distinguished for heroic valor and untiring energy as for spotless integrity. he was small of stature, but well formed; athletic in all knightly exercises, with agreeable features, a dark laughing eye, close-clipped brown hair, and a peaked beard. "golden fleece," as nicholas de hammes was universally denominated, was the illegitimate scion of a noble house. he was one of the most active of the early adherents to the league, kept the lists of signers in his possession, and scoured the country daily to procure new confederates. at the public preachings of the reformed religion, which soon after this epoch broke forth throughout the netherlands as by a common impulse, he made himself conspicuous. he was accused of wearing, on such occasions, the ensigns of the fleece about his neck, in order to induce ignorant people to believe that they might themselves legally follow, when they perceived a member of that illustrious fraternity to be leading the way. as de hammer was only an official or servant of that order, but not a companion, the seduction of the lieges by such false pretenses was reckoned among the most heinous of his offences. he was fierce in his hostility to the government, and one of those fiery spirits whose premature zeal was prejudicial to the cause of liberty, and disheartening to the cautious patriotism of orange. he was for smiting at once the gigantic atrocity of the spanish dominion, without waiting for the forging of the weapons by which the blows were to be dealt. he forgot that men and money were as necessary as wrath, in a contest with the most tremendous despotism of the world. "they wish," he wrote to count louis, "that we should meet these hungry wolves with remonstrances, using gentle words, while they are burning and cutting off heads.--be it so then. let us take the pen let them take the sword. for them deeds, for us words. we shall weep, they will laugh. the lord be praised for all; but i can not write this without tears." this nervous language painted the situation and the character of the writer. as for charles mansfeld, he soon fell away from the league which he had embraced originally with excessive ardor. by the influence of the leaders many signatures were obtained during the first two months of the year. the language of the document was such that patriotic catholics could sign it as honestly as protestants. it inveighed bitterly against the tyranny of "a heap of strangers," who, influenced only by private avarice and ambition, were making use of an affected zeal for the catholic religion, to persuade the king into a violation of his oaths. it denounced the refusal to mitigate the severity of the edicts. it declared the inquisition, which it seemed the intention of government to fix permanently upon them, as "iniquitous, contrary to all laws, human and divine, surpassing the greatest barbarism which was ever practised by tyrants, and as redounding to the dishonor of god and to the total desolation of the country." the signers protested, therefore, that "having a due regard to their duties as faithful vassals of his majesty, and especially, as noblemen--and in order not to be deprived of their estates and their lives by those who, under pretext of religion, wished to enrich themselves by plunder and murder," they had bound themselves to each other by holy covenant and solemn oath to resist the inquisition. they mutually promised to oppose it in every shape, open or covert, under whatever mask, it might assume, whether bearing the name of inquisition, placard, or edict, "and to extirpate and eradicate the thing in any form, as the mother of all iniquity and disorder." they protested before god and man, that they would attempt nothing to the dishonor of the lord or to the diminution of the king's grandeur, majesty, or dominion. they declared, on the contrary, an honest purpose to "maintain the monarch in his estate, and to suppress all seditious, tumults, monopolies, and factions." they engaged to preserve their confederation, thus formed, forever inviolable, and to permit none of its members to be persecuted in any manner, in body or goods, by any proceeding founded on the inquisition, the edicts, or the present league. it will be seen therefore, that the compromise was in its origin, a covenant of nobles. it was directed against the foreign influence by which the netherlands were exclusively governed, and against the inquisition, whether papal, episcopal, or by edict. there is no doubt that the country was controlled entirely by spanish masters, and that the intention was to reduce the ancient liberty of the netherlands into subjection to a junta of foreigners sitting at madrid. nothing more legitimate could be imagined than a constitutional resistance to such a policy. the prince of orange had not been consulted as to the formation of the league. it was sufficiently obvious to its founders that his cautious mind would find much to censure in the movement. his sentiments with regard to the inquisition and the edicts were certainly known to all men. in the beginning of this year, too, he had addressed a remarkable letter to the duchess, in answer to her written commands to cause the council of trent, the inquisition, and the edicts, in accordance with the recent commands of the king, to be published and enforced throughout his government. although his advice on the subject had not been asked, he expressed his sense of obligation to speak his mind on the subject, preferring the hazard of being censured for his remonstrance, to that of incurring the suspicion of connivance at the desolation of the land by his silence. he left the question of reformation in ecclesiastical morals untouched, as not belonging to his vocation: as to the inquisition, he most distinctly informed her highness that the hope which still lingered in the popular mind of escaping the permanent establishment of that institution, had alone prevented the utter depopulation of the country, with entire subversion of its commercial and manufacturing industry. with regard to the edicts, he temperately but forcibly expressed the opinion that it was very hard to enforce those placards now in their rigor, when the people were exasperated, and the misery universal, inasmuch as they had frequently been modified on former occasions. the king, he said, could gain nothing but difficulty for himself, and would be sure to lose the affection of his subjects by renewing the edicts, strengthening the inquisition, and proceeding to fresh executions, at a time when the people, moved by the example of their neighbors, were naturally inclined to novelty. moreover, when by reason of the daily increasing prices of grain a famine was impending over the land, no worse moment could be chosen to enforce such a policy. in conclusion, he observed that he was at all times desirous to obey the commands of his majesty and her highness, and to discharge the duties of "a good christian." the use of the latter term is remarkable, as marking an epoch in the history of the prince's mind. a year before he would have said a good catholic, but it was during this year that his mind began to be thoroughly pervaded by religious doubt, and that the great question of the reformation forced itself, not only as a political, but as a moral problem upon him, which he felt that he could not much longer neglect instead of solving. such were the opinions of orange. he could not, however, safely entrust the sacred interests of a commonwealth to such hands as those of brederode--however deeply that enthusiastic personage might drink the health of "younker william," as he affectionately denominated the prince--or to "golden fleece," or to charles mansfeld, or to that younger wild boar of ardennes, robert de la marck. in his brother and in sainte aldegonde he had confidence, but he did not exercise over them that control which he afterwards acquired. his conduct towards the confederacy was imitated in the main by the other great nobles. the covenanters never expected to obtain the signatures of such men as orange, egmont, horn, meghen, berghen, or montigny, nor were those eminent personages ever accused of having signed the compromise, although some of them were afterwards charged with having protected those who did affix their names to the document. the confederates were originally found among the lesser nobles. of these some were sincere catholics, who loved the ancient church but hated the inquisition; some were fierce calvinists or determined lutherans; some were troublous and adventurous spirits, men of broken fortunes, extravagant habits, and boundless desires, who no doubt thought that the broad lands of the church, with their stately abbeys; would furnish much more fitting homes and revenues for gallant gentlemen than for lazy monks. all were young, few had any prudence or conduct, and the history of the league more than justified the disapprobation of orange. the nobles thus banded together, achieved little by their confederacy. they disgraced a great cause by their orgies, almost ruined it by their inefficiency, and when the rope of sand which they had twisted fell asunder, the people had gained nothing and the gentry had almost lost the confidence of the nation. these remarks apply to the mass of the confederates and to some of the leaders. louis of nassau and sainte aldegonde were ever honored and trusted as they deserved. although the language of the compromise spoke of the leaguers as nobles, yet the document was circulated among burghers and merchants also, many of whom, according to the satirical remark of a netherland catholic, may, have been influenced by the desire of writing their names in such aristocratic company, and some of whom were destined to expiate such vainglory upon the scaffold. with such associates, therefore, the profound and anxious mind of orange could have little in common. confidence expanding as the numbers increased, their audacity and turbulence grew with the growth of the league. the language at their wild banquets was as hot as the wine which confused their heads; yet the prince knew that there was rarely a festival in which there did not sit some calm, temperate spaniard, watching with quiet eye and cool brain the extravagant demeanor, and listening with composure to the dangerous avowals or bravados of these revellers, with the purpose of transmitting a record of their language or demonstrations, to the inmost sanctuary of philip's cabinet at madrid. the prince knew, too, that the king was very sincere in his determination to maintain the inquisition, however dilatory his proceedings might appear. he was well aware that an armed force might be expected ere long to support the royal edicts. already the prince had organized that system of espionage upon philip, by which the champion of his country was so long able to circumvent its despot. the king left letters carefully locked in his desk at night, and unseen hands had forwarded copies of them to william of orange before the morning. he left memoranda in his pockets on retiring to bed, and exact transcripts of those papers found their way, likewise, ere he rose, to the same watchman in the netherlands. no doubt that an inclination for political intrigue was a prominent characteristic of the prince, and a blemish upon the purity of his moral nature. yet the dissimulating policy of his age he had mastered only that he might accomplish the noblest purposes to which a great and good man can devote his life-the protection of the liberty and the religion of a whole people against foreign tyranny. his intrigue served his country, not a narrow personal ambition, and it was only by such arts that he became philip's master, instead of falling at once, like so many great personages, a blind and infatuated victim. no doubt his purveyors of secret information were often destined fearfully to atone for their contraband commerce, but they who trade in treason must expect to pay the penalty of their traffic. although, therefore, the great nobles held themselves aloof from the confederacy, yet many of them gave unequivocal signs of their dissent from the policy adopted by government. marquis berghen wrote to the duchess; resigning his posts, on the ground of his inability to execute the intention of the king in the matter of religion. meghen replied to the same summons by a similar letter. egmont assured her that he would have placed his offices in the king's hands in spain, could he have foreseen that his majesty would form such resolutions as had now been proclaimed. the sentiments of orange were avowed in the letter to which we have already alluded. his opinions were shared by montigny, culemburg, and many others. the duchess was almost reduced to desperation. the condition of the country was frightful. the most determined loyalists, such as berlaymont, viglius and hopper, advised her not to mention the name of inquisition in a conference which she was obliged to hold with a deputation from antwerp. she feared, all feared, to pronounce the hated word. she wrote despairing letters to philip, describing the condition of the land and her own agony in the gloomiest colors. since the arrival of the royal orders, she said, things had gone from bad to worse. the king had been ill advised. it was useless to tell the people that the inquisition had always existed in the provinces. they maintained that it was a novelty; that the institution was a more rigorous one than the spanish inquisition, which, said margaret, "was most odious, as the king knew." it was utterly impossible to carry the edicts into execution. nearly all the governors of provinces had told her plainly that they would not help to burn fifty or sixty thousand netherlanders. thus bitterly did margaret of parma bewail the royal decree; not that she had any sympathy for the victims, but because she felt the increasing danger to the executioner. one of two things it was now necessary to decide upon, concession or armed compulsion. meantime, while philip was slowly and secretly making his levies, his sister, as well as his people, was on the rack. of all the seigniors, not one was placed in so painful a position as egmont. his military reputation and his popularity made him too important a personage to be slighted, yet he was deeply mortified at the lamentable mistake which he had committed. he now averred that he would never take arms against the king, but that he would go where man should never see him more. such was the condition of the nobles, greater and less. that of the people could not well be worse. famine reigned in the land. emigration, caused not by over population, but by persecution, was fast weakening the country. it was no wonder that not only, foreign merchants should be scared from the great commercial cities by the approaching disorders; but that every industrious artisan who could find the means of escape should seek refuge among strangers, wherever an asylum could be found. that asylum was afforded by protestant england, who received these intelligent and unfortunate wanderers with cordiality, and learned with eagerness the lessons in mechanical skill which they had to teach. already thirty thousand emigrant netherlanders were established in sandwich, norwich, and other places, assigned to them by elizabeth. it had always, however, been made a condition of the liberty granted to these foreigners for practising their handiwork, that each house should employ at least one english apprentice. "thus," said a walloon historian, splenetically, "by this regulation, and by means of heavy duties on foreign manufactures, have the english built up their own fabrics and prohibited those of the netherlands. thus have they drawn over to their own country our skilful artisans to practise their industry, not at home but abroad, and our poor people are thus losing the means of earning their livelihood. thus has clothmaking, silk-making and the art of dyeing declined in this country, and would have been quite extinguished but by our wise countervailing edicts." the writer, who derived most of his materials and his wisdom from the papers of councillor d'assonleville, could hardly doubt that the persecution to which these industrious artisans, whose sufferings he affected to deplore, had been subjected, must have had something to do with their expatriation; but he preferred to ascribe it wholly to the protective system adopted by england. in this he followed the opinion of his preceptor. "for a long time," said assonleville, "the netherlands have been the indies to england; and as long as she has them, she needs no other. the french try to surprise our fortresses and cities: the english make war upon our wealth and upon the purses of the people." whatever the cause, however, the current of trade was already turned. the cloth-making of england was already gaining preponderance over that of the provinces. vessels now went every week from sandwich to antwerp, laden with silk, satin, and cloth, manufactured in england, while as many but a few years before, had borne the flemish fabrics of the same nature from antwerp to england. it might be supposed by disinterested judges that persecution was at the bottom of this change in commerce. the prince of orange estimated that up to this period fifty thousand persons in the provinces had been put to death in obedience to the edicts. he was a moderate man, and accustomed to weigh his words. as a new impulse had been given to the system of butchery--as it was now sufficiently plain that "if the father had chastised his people with a scourge the son held a whip of scorpions" as the edicts were to be enforced with renewed vigor--it was natural that commerce and manufactures should make their escape out of a doomed land as soon as possible, whatever system of tariffs might be adopted by neighboring nations. a new step had been resolved upon early in the month of march by the confederates. a petition, or "request," was drawn up, which was to be presented to the duchess regent in a formal manner by a large number of gentlemen belonging to the league. this movement was so grave, and likely to be followed by such formidable results, that it seemed absolutely necessary for orange and his friends to take some previous cognizance of it before it was finally arranged. the prince had no power, nor was there any reason why he should have the inclination, to prevent the measure, but he felt it his duty to do what he could to control the vehemence of the men who were moving so rashly forward, and to take from their manifesto, as much as possible, the character of a menace. for this end, a meeting ostensibly for social purposes and "good cheer" was held, in the middle of march, at breda, and afterwards adjourned to hoogstraaten. to these conferences orange invited egmont, horn, hoogstraaten, berghen, meghen, montigny, and other great nobles. brederode, tholouse, boxtel, and other members of the league, were also present. the object of the prince in thus assembling his own immediate associates, governors of provinces and knights of the fleece, as well as some of the leading members of the league, was twofold. it had long been his opinion that a temperate and loyal movement was still possible, by which the impending convulsions might be averted. the line of policy which he had marked out required the assent of the magnates of the land, and looked towards the convocation of the states-general. it was natural that he should indulge in the hope of being seconded by the men who were in the same political and social station with himself. all, although catholics, hated the inquisition. as viglius pathetically exclaimed, "saint paul himself would have been unable to persuade these men that good fruit was to be gathered from the inquisition in the cause of religion." saint paul could hardly be expected to reappear on earth for such a purpose. meantime the arguments of the learned president had proved powerless, either to convince the nobles that the institution was laudable or to obtain from the duchess a postponement in the publication of the late decrees. the prince of orange, however, was not able to bring his usual associates to his way of thinking. the violent purposes of the leaguers excited the wrath of the more loyal nobles. their intentions were so dangerous, even in the estimation of the prince himself, that he felt it his duty to lay the whole subject before the duchess, although he was not opposed to the presentation of a modest and moderate request. meghen was excessively indignant at the plan of the confederates, which he pronounced an insult to the government, a treasonable attempt to overawe the duchess, by a "few wretched vagabonds." he swore that "he would break every one of their heads, if the king would furnish him with a couple of hundred thousand florins." orange quietly rebuked this truculent language, by assuring him both that such a process would be more difficult than he thought, and that he would also find many men of great respectability among the vagabonds. the meeting separated at hoogstraaten without any useful result, but it was now incumbent upon the prince, in his own judgment, to watch, and in a measure to superintend, the proceedings of the confederates. by his care the contemplated request was much altered, and especially made more gentle in its tone. meghen separated himself thenceforth entirely from orange, and ranged himself exclusively upon the side of government. egmont vacillated, as usual, satisfying neither the prince nor the duchess. margaret of parma was seated in her council chamber very soon after these occurrences, attended both by orange and egmont, when the count of meghen entered the apartment. with much precipitation, he begged that all matters then before the board might be postponed, in order that he might make an important announcement. he then stated that he had received information from a gentleman on whose word he could rely, a very affectionate servant of the king, but whose name he had promised not to reveal, that a very extensive conspiracy of heretics and sectaries had been formed, both within and without the netherlands, that they had already a force of thirty-five thousand men, foot and horse, ready for action, that they were about to make a sudden invasion, and to plunder the whole country, unless they immediately received a formal concession of entire liberty of conscience, and that, within six or seven days, fifteen hundred men-at-arms would make their appearance before her highness. these ridiculous exaggerations of the truth were confirmed by egmont, who said that he had received similar information from persons whose names he was not at liberty to mention, but from whose statements he could announce that some great tumult might be expected every day. he added that there were among the confederates many who wished to change their sovereign, and that the chieftains and captains of the conspiracy were all appointed. the same nobleman also laid before the council a copy of the compromise, the terms of which famous document scarcely justified the extravagant language with which it had been heralded. the duchess was astounded at these communications. she had already received, but probably not yet read, a letter from the prince of orange upon the subject, in which a moderate and plain statement of the actual facts was laid down, which was now reiterated by the same personage by word of mouth. an agitated and inconclusive debate followed, in which, however, it sufficiently appeared, as the duchess informed her brother, that one of two things must be done without further delay. the time had arrived for the government to take up arms, or to make concessions. in one of the informal meetings of councillors, now held almost daily, on the subject of the impending request, aremberg, meghen, and berlaymont maintained that the door should be shut in the face of the petitioners without taking any further notice of the petition. berlaymont suggested also, that if this course were not found advisable, the next best thing would be to allow the confederates to enter the palace with their request, and then to cut them to pieces to the very last man, by means of troops to be immediately ordered from the frontiers. such sanguinary projects were indignantly rebuked by orange. he maintained that the confederates were entitled to be treated with respect. many of them, he said, were his friends--some of them his relations--and there was no reason for refusing to gentlemen of their rank, a right which belonged to the poorest plebeian in the land. egmont sustained these views of the prince as earnestly as he had on a previous occasion appeared to countenance the more violent counsels of meghen. meantime, as it was obvious that the demonstration on the part of the confederacy was soon about to be made, the duchess convened a grand assembly of notables, in which not only all the state and privy councillors, but all the governors and knights of the fleece were to take part. on the th of march, this assembly was held, at which the whole subject of the request, together with the proposed modifications of the edicts and abolition of the inquisition, was discussed. the duchess also requested the advice of the meeting--whether it would not be best for her to retire to some other city, like mons, which she had selected as her stronghold in case of extremity. the decision was that it would be a high-handed proceeding to refuse the right of petition to a body of gentlemen, many of them related to the greatest nobles in the land; but it was resolved that they should be required to make their appearance without arms. as to the contemplated flight of the duchess, it was urged, with much reason, that such a step would cast disgrace upon the government, and that it would be a sufficiently precautionary measure to strengthen the guards at the city gates--not to prevent the entrance of the petitioners, but to see that they were unaccompanied by an armed force. it had been decided that count brederode should present the petition to the duchess at the head of a deputation of about three hundred gentlemen. the character of the nobleman thus placed foremost on such an important occasion has been sufficiently made manifest. he had no qualities whatever but birth and audacity to recommend him as a leader for a political party. it was to be seen that other attributes were necessary to make a man useful in such a position, and the count's deficiencies soon became lamentably conspicuous. he was the lineal descendant and representative of the old sovereign counts of holland. five hundred years before his birth; his ancestor sikko, younger brother of dirk the third, had died, leaving two sons, one of whom was the first baron of brederode. a descent of five centuries in unbroken male succession from the original sovereigns of holland, gave him a better genealogical claim to the provinces than any which philip of spain could assert through the usurping house of burgundy. in the approaching tumults he hoped for an opportunity of again asserting the ancient honors of his name. he was a sworn foe to spaniards and to "water of the fountain." but a short time previously to this epoch he had written to louis of nassau, then lying ill of a fever, in order gravely to remonstrate with him on the necessity of substituting wine for water on all occasions, and it will be seen in the sequel that the wine-cup was the great instrument on which he relied for effecting the deliverance of the country. although "neither bachelor nor chancellor," as he expressed it, he was supposed to be endowed with ready eloquence and mother wit. even these gifts, however, if he possessed them, were often found wanting on important emergencies. of his courage there was no question, but he was not destined to the death either of a warrior or a martyr. headlong, noisy, debauched, but brave, kind-hearted and generous, he was a fitting representative of his ancestors, the hard-fighting, hard-drinking, crusading, free-booting sovereigns of holland and friesland, and would himself have been more at home and more useful in the eleventh century than in the sixteenth. it was about six o'clock in the evening, on the third day of april ( ), that the long-expected cavalcade at last entered brussels. an immense concourse of citizens of all ranks thronged around the noble confederates as soon as they made their appearance. they were about two hundred in number, all on horseback, with pistols in their holsters, and brederode, tall, athletic, and martial in his bearing, with handsome features and fair curling locks upon his shoulders, seemed an appropriate chieftain for that band of batavian chivalry. the procession was greeted with frequent demonstrations of applause as it wheeled slowly through the city till it reached the mansion of orange nassau. here brederode and count louis alighted, while the rest of the company dispersed to different quarters of the town. "they thought that i should not come to brussels," said brederode, as he dismounted. "very well, here i am; and perhaps i shall depart in a different manner." in the course of the next day, counts culemburg and van den berg entered the city with one hundred other cavaliers. on the morning of the fifth of april, the confederates were assembled at the culemburg mansion, which stood on the square called the sabon, within a few minutes' walk of the palace. a straight handsome street led from the house along the summit of the hill, to the splendid residence of the ancient dukes of brabant, then the abode of duchess margaret. at a little before noon, the gentlemen came forth, marching on foot, two by two, to the number of three hundred. nearly all were young, many of them bore the most ancient historical names of their country, every one was arrayed in magnificent costume. it was regarded as ominous, that the man who led the procession, philip de bailleul, was lame. the line was closed by brederode and count louis, who came last, walking arm in arm. an immense crowd was collected in the square in front of the palace, to welcome the men who were looked upon as the deliverers of the land from spanish tyranny, from the cardinalists, and from the inquisition. they were received with deafening huzzas and clappings of hands by the assembled populace. as they entered the council chamber, passing through the great hall, where ten years before the emperor had given away his crowns, they found the emperor's daughter seated in the chair of state, and surrounded by the highest personages of the country. the emotion of the duchess was evident, as the procession somewhat abruptly made its appearance; nor was her agitation diminished as she observed among the petitioners many relatives and, retainers of the orange and egmont houses, and saw friendly glances of recognition exchanged between them and their chiefs. as soon as all had entered the senate room, brederode advanced, made a low obeisance, and spoke a brief speech. he said that he had come thither with his colleagues to present a humble petition to her highness. he alluded to the reports which had been rife, that they had contemplated tumult, sedition, foreign conspiracies, and, what was more abominable than all, a change of sovereign. he denounced such statements as calumnies, begged the duchess to name the men who had thus aspersed an honorable and loyal company, and called upon her to inflict exemplary punishment upon the slanderers. with these prefatory remarks he presented the petition. the famous document was then read aloud.--its tone was sufficiently loyal, particularly in the preamble, which was filled with protestations of devotion to both king and duchess. after this conventional introduction, however, the petitioners proceeded to state, very plainly, that the recent resolutions of his majesty, with regard to the edict and the inquisition, were likely to produce a general rebellion. they had hoped, they said, that a movement would be made by the seigniors or by the estates, to remedy the evil by striking at its cause, but they had waited in vain. the danger, on the other hand, was augmenting every day, universal sedition was at the gate, and they had therefore felt obliged to delay no longer, but come forward the first and do their duty. they professed to do this with more freedom, because the danger touched them very nearly. they were the most exposed to the calamities which usually spring from civil commotions, for their houses and lands situate in the open fields, were exposed to the pillage of all the world. moreover there was not one of them, whatever his condition, who was not liable at any moment to be executed under the edicts, at the false complaint of the first man who wished to obtain his estate, and who chose to denounce him to the inquisitor, at whose mercy were the lives and property of all. they therefore begged the duchess regent to despatch an envoy on their behalf, who should humbly implore his majesty to abolish the edicts. in the mean time they requested her highness to order a general surcease of the inquisition, and of all executions, until the king's further pleasure was made known, and until new ordinances, made by his majesty with advice and consent of the states-general duly assembled, should be established. the petition terminated as it had commenced, with expressions of extreme respect and devoted loyalty. the agitation of duchess margaret increased very perceptibly during the reading of the paper. when it was finished, she remained for a few minutes quite silent, with tears rolling down her cheeks. as soon as she could overcome her excitement, she uttered a few words to the effect that she would advise with her councillors and give the petitioners such answer as should be found suitable. the confederates then passed out from the council chamber into the grand hall; each individual, as he took his departure, advancing towards the duchess and making what was called the "caracole," in token of reverence. there was thus ample time to contemplate the whole company; and to count the numbers of the deputation. after this ceremony had been concluded, there was much earnest debate in. the council. the prince of orange addressed a few words to the duchess, with the view of calming her irritation. he observed that the confederates were no seditious rebels, but loyal gentlemen, well born, well connected, and of honorable character. they had been influenced, he said, by an honest desire to save their country from impending danger--not by avarice or ambition. egmont shrugged his shoulders, and observed that it was necessary for him to leave the court for a season, in order to make a visit to the baths of aix, for an inflammation which he had in the leg. it was then that berlaymont, according to the account which has been sanctioned by nearly every contemporary writer, whether catholic or protestant, uttered the gibe which was destined to become immortal, and to give a popular name to the confederacy. "what, madam," he is reported to have cried in a passion, "is it possible that your highness can entertain fears of these beggars? (gueux). is it not obvious what manner of men they are? they have not had wisdom enough to manage their own estates, and are they now to teach the king and your highness how to govern the country? by the living god, if my advice were taken, their petition should have a cudgel for a commentary, and we would make them go down the steps of the palace a great deal faster than they mounted them." the count of meghen was equally violent in his language. aremberg was for ordering "their reverences; the confederates," to, quit brussels without delay. the conversation, carried on in so violent a key, might not unnaturally have been heard by such of the gentlemen as had not yet left the grand hall adjoining the council chamber. the meeting of the council was then adjourned for an hour or two, to meet again in the afternoon, for the purpose of deciding deliberately upon the answer to be given to the request. meanwhile, many of the confederates were swaggering about the streets, talking very bravely of the scene which had just occurred, and it is probable, boasting not a little of the effect which their demonstration would produce. as they passed by the house of berlaymont, that nobleman, standing at his window in company with count aremberg, is said to have repeated his jest. "there go our fine beggars again," said he. "look, i pray you, with what bravado they are passing before us!" on the th of april, brederode, attended by a large number of his companions, again made his appearance at the palace. he then received the petition, which was returned to him with an apostille or commentary to this effect:--her highness would despatch an envoy for the purpose of inducing his majesty to grant the request. every thing worthy of the king's unaffected (naive) and customary benignity might be expected as to the result. the duchess had already, with the assistance of the state and privy councillors, fleece knights and governors, commenced a project for moderating the edicts, to be laid before the king. as her authority did not allow her to suspend the inquisition and placards, she was confident that the petitioners would be satisfied with the special application about to be made to the king. meantime, she would give orders to all inquisitors, that they should proceed "modestly and discreetly" in their office, so that no one would have cause to complain. her highness hoped likewise that the gentlemen on their part would conduct themselves in a loyal and satisfactory manner; thus proving that they had no intention to make innovations in the ancient religion of the country. upon the next day but one, monday, th of april, brederode, attended by a number of the confederates, again made his appearance at the palace, for the purpose of delivering an answer to the apostille. in this second paper the confederates rendered thanks for the prompt reply which the duchess had given to their request, expressed regrets that she did not feel at liberty to suspend the inquisition, and declared their confidence that she would at once give such orders to the inquisitors and magistrates that prosecutions for religious matters should cease, until the king's further pleasure should be declared. they professed themselves desirous of maintaining whatever regulations should be thereafter established by his majesty, with the advice and consent of the states-general, for the security of the ancient religion, and promised to conduct themselves generally in such wise that her highness would have every reason to be satisfied with them. they, moreover, requested that the duchess would cause the petition to be printed in authentic form by the government printer. the admission that the confederates would maintain the ancient religion had been obtained, as margaret informed her brother, through the dexterous management of hoogstraaten, without suspicion on the part of the petitioners that the proposition for such a declaration came from her. the duchess replied by word of mouth to the second address thus made to her by the confederates, that she could not go beyond the apostille which she had put on record. she had already caused letters for the inquisitors and magistrates to be drawn up. the minutes for those instructions should be laid before the confederates by count hoogstraaten and secretary berty. as for the printing of their petition, she was willing to grant their demand, and would give orders to that effect. the gentlemen having received this answer, retired into the great hall. after a few minutes' consultation, however, they returned to the council chamber, where the seigneur d'esquerdes, one of their number, addressed a few parting words, in the name of his associates, to the regent; concluding with a request that she would declare, the confederates to have done no act, and made no demonstration, inconsistent with their duty and with a perfect respect for his majesty. to this demand the duchess answered somewhat drily that she could not be judge in such a cause. time and their future deeds, she observed, could only bear witness as to their purposes. as for declarations from her, they must be satisfied with the apostille which they had already received. with this response, somewhat more tart than agreeable, the nobles were obliged to content themselves, and they accordingly took their leave. it must be confessed that they had been disposed to slide rather cavalierly over a good deal of ground towards the great object which they had in view. certainly the petitio principii was a main feature of their logic. they had, in their second address, expressed perfect confidence as to two very considerable concessions. the duchess was practically to suspend the inquisition, although she had declared herself without authority for that purpose, the king, who claimed, de jure and de facto, the whole legislative power, was thenceforth to make laws on religious matters by and with the consent of the states-general. certainly, these ends were very laudable, and if a civil and religious revolution could have been effected by a few gentlemen going to court in fine clothes to present a petition, and by sitting down to a tremendous banquet afterwards, brederode and his associates were the men to accomplish the task. unfortunately, a sea of blood and long years of conflict lay between the nation and the promised land, which for a moment seemed so nearly within reach. meantime the next important step in brederode's eyes was a dinner. he accordingly invited the confederates to a magnificent repast which he had ordered to be prepared in the culemburg mansion. three hundred guests sat down, upon the th of april, to this luxurious banquet, which was destined to become historical. the board glittered with silver and gold. the wine circulated with more than its usual rapidity among the band of noble bacchanals, who were never weary of drinking the healths of brederode, of orange, and of egmont. it was thought that the occasion imperiously demanded an extraordinary carouse, and the political events of the past three days lent an additional excitement to the wine. there was an earnest discussion as to an appropriate name to be given to their confederacy. should they call themselves the "society of concord," the restorers of lost liberty, or by what other attractive title should the league be baptized? brederode was, however, already prepared to settle the question. he knew the value of a popular and original name; he possessed the instinct by which adroit partisans in every age have been accustomed to convert the reproachful epithets of their opponents into watchwords of honor, and he had already made his preparations for a startling theatrical effect. suddenly, amid the din of voices, he arose, with all his rhetorical powers at command: he recounted to the company the observations which the seigneur de berlaymont was reported to have made to the duchess, upon the presentation of the request, and the name which he had thought fit to apply to them collectively. most of the gentlemen then heard the memorable sarcasm for the first time. great was the indignation of all that the state councillor should have dared to stigmatize as beggars a band of gentlemen with the best blood of the land in their veins. brederode, on the contrary, smoothing their anger, assured them with good humor that nothing could be more fortunate. "they call us beggars!" said he; "let us accept the name. we will contend with the inquisition, but remain loyal to the king, even till compelled to wear the beggar's sack." he then beckoned to one of his pages, who brought him a leathern wallet, such as was worn at that day by professional mendicants, together with a large wooden bowl, which also formed part of their regular appurtenances. brederode immediately hung the wallet around his neck, filled the bowl with wine, lifted it with both hands, and drained it at a draught. "long live the beggars!" he cried, as he wiped his beard and set the bowl down. "vivent les gueulx." then for the first time, from the lips of those reckless nobles rose the famous, cry, which was so often to ring over land and sea, amid blazing cities, on blood-stained decks, through the smoke and carnage of many a stricken field. the humor of brederode was hailed with deafening shouts of applause. the count then threw the wallet around the neck of his nearest neighbor, and handed him the wooden bawl. each guest, in turn, donned the mendicant's knapsack. pushing aside his golden goblet, each filled the beggars' bowl to the brim, and drained it to the beggars' health. roars of laughter, and shouts of "vivent les gueulx" shook the walls of the stately mansion, as they were doomed never to shake again. the shibboleth was invented. the conjuration which they had been anxiously seeking was found. their enemies had provided them with a spell, which was to prove, in after days, potent enough to start a spirit from palace or hovel, forest or wave, as the deeds of the "wild beggars," the "wood beggars," and the "beggars of the sea" taught philip at last to understand the nation which he had driven to madness. when the wallet and bowl had made the circuit of the table, they were suspended to a pillar in the hall. each of the company in succession then threw some salt into his goblet, and, placing himself under these symbols of the brotherhood, repeated a jingling distich, produced impromptu for the occasion. by this salt, by this bread, by this wallet we swear, these beggars ne'er will change, though all the world should stare. this ridiculous ceremony completed the rites by which the confederacy received its name; but the banquet was by no means terminated. the uproar became furious. the younger and more reckless nobles abandoned themselves to revelry, which would have shamed heathen saturnalia. they renewed to each other, every moment, their vociferous oaths of fidelity to the common cause, drained huge beakers to the beggars' health, turned their caps and doublets inside out, danced upon chairs and tables. several addressed each other as lord abbot, or reverend prior, of this or that religious institution, thus indicating the means by which some of them hoped to mend their broken fortunes. while the tumult was at its height, the prince of orange with counts horn and egmont entered the apartment. they had been dining quietly with mansfeld, who was confined to his house with an inflamed eye, and they were on their way to the council chamber, where the sessions were now prolonged nightly to a late hour. knowing that hoogstraaten, somewhat against his will, had been induced to be present at the banquet, they had come round by the way of culemburg house, to induce him to retire. they were also disposed, if possible, to abridge the festivities which their influence would have been powerless to prevent. these great nobles, as soon as they made their appearance, were surrounded by a crew of "beggars," maddened and dripping with their recent baptism of wine, who compelled them to drink a cup amid shouts of "vivent le roi et les gueulx!" the meaning of this cry they of course could not understand, for even those who had heard berlaymont's contemptuous remarks, might not remember the exact term which he had used, and certainly could not be aware of the importance to which it had just been elevated. as for horn, he disliked and had long before quarrelled with brederode, had prevented many persons from signing the compromise, and, although a guest at that time of orange, was in the habit of retiring to bed before supper, to avoid the company of many who frequented the house. yet his presence for a few moments, with the best intentions, at the conclusion of this famous banquet, was made one of the most deadly charges which were afterwards drawn up against him by the crown. the three seigniors refused to be seated, and remained but for a moment, "the length of a miserere," taking with them hoogstraaten as they retired. they also prevailed upon the whole party to break up at the same time, so that their presence had served at least to put a conclusion to the disgraceful riot. when they arrived at the council chamber they received the thanks of the duchess for what they had done. such was the first movement made by the members of the compromise. was it strange that orange should feel little affinity with such companions? had he not reason to hesitate, if the sacred cause of civil and religious liberty could only be maintained by these defenders and with such assistance? the "beggars" did not content themselves with the name alone of the time-honored fraternity of mendicants in which they had enrolled themselves. immediately after the culemburg banquet, a costume for the confederacy was decided upon. these young gentlemen discarding gold lace and velvet, thought it expedient to array themselves in doublets and hose of ashen grey, with short cloaks of the same color, all of the coarsest materials. they appeared in this guise in the streets, with common felt hats on their heads, and beggars' pouches and bowls at their sides. they caused also medals of lead and copper to be struck, bearing upon one side the head of philip; upon the reverse, two hands clasped within a wallet, with the motto, "faithful to the king, even to wearing the beggar's sack." these badges they wore around their necks, or as buttons to their hats. as a further distinction they shaved their beards close, excepting the moustachios, which were left long and pendent in the turkish fashion,--that custom, as it seemed, being an additional characteristic of mendicants. very soon after these events the nobles of the league dispersed from the capital to their various homes. brederode rode out of brussels at the head of a band of cavaliers, who saluted the concourse of applauding spectators with a discharge of their pistols. forty-three gentlemen accompanied him to antwerp, where he halted for a night. the duchess had already sent notice to the magistrates of that city of his intended visit, and warned them to have an eye upon his proceedings. "the great beggar," as hoogstraaten called him, conducted himself, however, with as much propriety as could be expected. four or five thousand of the inhabitants thronged about the hotel where he had taken up his quarters. he appeared at a window with his wooden bowl, filled with wine, in his hands, and his wallet at his side. he assured the multitude that he was ready to die to defend the good people of antwerp and of all the netherlands against the edicts and the inquisition. meantime he drank their healths, and begged all who accepted the pledge to hold up their hands. the populace, highly amused, held up and clapped their hands as honest brederode drained his bowl, and were soon afterwards persuaded to retire in great good humor. these proceedings were all chronicled and transmitted to madrid. it was also both publicly reported and secretly registered, that brederode had eaten capons and other meat at antwerp, upon good friday, which happened to be the day of his visit to that city. he denied the charge, however; with ludicrous vehemence. "they who have told madame that we ate meat in antwerp," he wrote to count louis, "have lied wickedly and miserably, twenty-four feet down in their throats." he added that his nephew, charles mansfeld, who, notwithstanding the indignant prohibition of his father, had assisted of the presentation of the request, and was then in his uncle's company at antwerp, had ordered a capon, which brederode had countermanded. "they told me afterwards," said he, "that my nephew had broiled a sausage in his chamber. i suppose that he thought himself in spain, where they allow themselves such dainties." let it not be thought that these trifles are beneath the dignity of history. matters like these filled the whole soul of philip, swelled the bills of indictment for thousands of higher and better men than brederode, and furnished occupation as well for secret correspondents and spies as for the most dignified functionaries of government. capons or sausages on good friday, the psalms of clement marot, the sermon on the mount in the vernacular, led to the rack, the gibbet, and the stake, but ushered in a war against the inquisition which was to last for eighty years. brederode was not to be the hero of that party which he disgraced by his buffoonery. had he lived, he might, perhaps, like many of his confederates, have redeemed, by his bravery in the field, a character which his orgies had rendered despicable. he now left antwerp for the north of holland, where, as he soon afterwards reported to count louis, "the beggars were as numerous as the sands on the seashore." his "nephew charles," two months afterwards, obeyed his father's injunction, and withdrew formally from the confederacy. meantime the rumor had gone abroad that the request of the nobles had already produced good fruit, that the edicts were to be mitigated, the inquisition abolished, liberty of conscience eventually to prevail. "upon these reports," says a contemporary, "all the vermin of exiles and fugitives for religion, as well as those who had kept in concealment, began to lift up their heads and thrust forth their horns." it was known that margaret of parma had ordered the inquisitors and magistrates to conduct themselves "modestly and discreetly." it was known that the privy council was hard at work upon the project for "moderating" the edicts. modestly and discreetly, margaret of parma, almost immediately after giving these orders, and while the "moderation" was still in the hands of the lawyers, informed her brother that she had given personal attention to the case of a person who had snatched the holy wafer from the priest's hand at oudenarde. this "quidam," as she called him--for his name was beneath the cognizance of an emperor's bastard daughter--had by her orders received rigorous and exemplary justice. and what was the "rigorous and exemplary justice" thus inflicted upon the "quidam?" the procurator of the neighboring city of tournay has enabled us to answer. the young man, who was a tapestry weaver, hans tiskaen by name, had, upon the th may, thrown the holy wafer upon the ground. for this crime, which was the same as that committed on christmas-day of the previous year by bertrand le blas, at tournay, he now met with a similar although not quite so severe a punishment. having gone quietly home after doing the deed, he was pursued, arrested, and upon the saturday ensuing taken to the market-place of oudenarde. here the right hand with which he had committed the offence was cut off, and he was then fastened to the stake and burned to death over a slow fire. he was fortunately not more than a quarter of an hour in torment, but he persisted in his opinions, and called on god for support to his last breath. this homely tragedy was enacted at oudenarde, the birth place of duchess margaret. she was the daughter of the puissant charles the fifth, but her mother was only the daughter of a citizen of oudenarde; of a "quidam" like the nameless weaver who had thus been burned by her express order. it was not to be supposed, however, that the circumstance could operate in so great a malefactor's favor. moreover, at the same moment, she sent orders that a like punishment should be inflicted upon another person then in a flemish prison, for the crime of anabaptism. the privy council, assisted by thirteen knights of the fleece, had been hard at work, and the result of their wisdom was at last revealed in a "moderation" consisting of fifty-three articles. what now was the substance of those fifty-three articles, so painfully elaborated by viglius, so handsomely drawn up into shape by councillor d'assonleville? simply to substitute the halter for the fagot. after elimination of all verbiage, this fact was the only residuum. it was most distinctly laid down that all forms of religion except the roman catholic were forbidden; that no public or secret conventicles were to be allowed; that all heretical writings were to be suppressed; that all curious inquiries into the scriptures were to be prohibited. persons who infringed these regulations were divided into two classes--the misleaders and the misled. there was an affectation of granting mercy to persons in the second category, while death was denounced upon those composing the first. it was merely an affectation; for the rambling statute was so open in all its clauses, that the juggernaut car of persecution could be driven through the whole of them, whenever such a course should seem expedient. every man or woman in the netherlands might be placed in the list of the misleaders, at the discretion of the officials. the pretended mercy to the misguided was a mere delusion. the superintendents, preachers, teachers, ministers, sermon-makers, deacons, and other officers, were to be executed with the halter, with confiscation of their whole property. so much was very plain. other heretics, however, who would abjure their heresy before the bishop, might be pardoned for the first offence, but if obstinate, were to be banished. this seemed an indication of mercy, at least to the repentant criminals. but who were these "other" heretics? all persons who discussed religious matters were to be put to death. all persons, not having studied theology at a "renowned university," who searched and expounded the scriptures, were to be put to death. all persons in whose houses any act of the perverse religion should be committed, were to be put to death. all persons who harbored or protected ministers and teachers of any sect, were to be put to death. all the criminals thus carefully enumerated were to be executed, whether repentant or not. if, however, they abjured their errors, they were to be beheaded instead of being strangled. thus it was obvious that almost any heretic might be brought to the halter at a moment's notice. strictly speaking, the idea of death by the halter or the axe was less shocking to the imagination than that of being burned or buried alive. in this respect, therefore, the edicts were softened by the proposed "moderation." it would, however, always be difficult to persuade any considerable slumber of intelligent persons, that the infliction of a violent death, by whatever process, on account of religious opinions, was an act of clemency. the netherlanders were, however, to be persuaded into this belief. the draft of the new edict was ostentatiously called the "moderatie," or the "moderation." it was very natural, therefore, that the common people, by a quibble, which is the same in flemish as in english, should call the proposed "moderation" the "murderation." the rough mother-wit of the people had already characterized and annihilated the project, while dull formalists were carrying it through the preliminary stages. a vote in favor of the project having been obtained from the estates of artois, hainault, and flanders, the instructions for the envoys; baron montigny and marquis berghen, were made out in conformity to the scheme. egmont had declined the mission, not having reason to congratulate himself upon the diplomatic success of his visit to spain in the preceding year. the two nobles who consented to undertake the office were persuaded into acceptance sorely against their will. they were aware that their political conduct since the king's departure from the country had not always been deemed satisfactory at madrid, but they were, of course, far from suspecting the true state of the royal mind. they were both as sincere catholics and as loyal gentlemen as granvelle, but they were not aware how continuously, during a long course of years, that personage had represented them to philip as renegades and rebels. they had maintained the constitutional rights of the state, and they had declined to act as executioners for the inquisition, but they were yet to learn that such demonstrations amounted to high treason. montigny departed, on the th may, from brussels. he left the bride to whom he had been wedded amid scenes of festivity, the preceding autumn--the unborn child who was never to behold its father's face. he received warnings in paris, by which he scorned to profit. the spanish ambassador in that city informed him that philip's wrath at the recent transactions in the netherlands was high. he was most significantly requested, by a leading personage in france, to feign illness, or to take refuge in any expedient by which he might avoid the fulfilment of his mission. such hints had no effect in turning him from his course, and he proceeded to madrid, where he arrived on the th of june. his colleague in the mission, marquis berghen, had been prevented from setting forth at the same time, by an accident which, under the circumstances, might almost seem ominous. walking through the palace park, in a place where some gentlemen were playing at pall-mall, he was accidentally struck in the leg by a wooden ball. the injury, although trifling, produced go much irritation and fever that he was confined to his bed for several weeks. it was not until the st of july that he was able to take his departure from brussels. both these unfortunate nobles thus went forth to fulfil that dark and mysterious destiny from which the veil of three centuries has but recently been removed. besides a long historical discourse, in eighteen chapters, delivered by way of instruction to the envoys, margaret sent a courier beforehand with a variety of intelligence concerning the late events. alonzo del canto, one of philip's spies in the netherlands, also wrote to inform the king that the two ambassadors were the real authors of all the troubles then existing in the country. cardinal granvelle, too, renewed his previous statements in a confidential communication to his majesty, adding that no persons more appropriate could have been selected than berghen and montigny, for they knew better than any one else the state of affairs in which they had borne the principal part. nevertheless, montigny, upon his arrival in madrid on the th of june, was received by philip with much apparent cordiality, admitted immediately to an audience, and assured in the strongest terms that there was no dissatisfaction in the royal mind against the seigniors, whatever false reports might be circulated to that effect. in other respects, the result of this and of his succeeding interviews with the monarch was sufficiently meagre. it could not well be otherwise. the mission of the envoys was an elaborate farce to introduce a terrible tragedy. they were sent to procure from philip the abolition of the inquisition and the moderation of the edicts. at the very moment, however, of all these legislative and diplomatic arrangements, margaret of parma was in possession of secret letters from philip, which she was charged to deliver to the archbishop of sorrento, papal nuncio at the imperial court, then on a special visit to brussels. this ecclesiastic had come to the netherlands ostensibly to confer with the prince of orange upon the affairs of his principality, to remonstrate with count culemburg, and to take measures for the reformation of the clergy. the real object of his mission, however, was to devise means for strengthening the inquisition and suppressing heresy in the provinces. philip, at whose request he had come, had charged him by no means to divulge the secret, as the king was anxious to have it believed that the ostensible was the only business which the prelate had to perform in the country. margaret accordingly delivered to him the private letters, in which philip avowed his determination to maintain the inquisition and the edicts in all their rigor, but enjoined profound secrecy upon the subject. the duchess, therefore, who knew the face of the cards, must have thought it a superfluous task to continue the game, which to philip's cruel but procrastinating temperament was perhaps a pleasurable excitement. the scheme for mitigating the edicts by the substitution of strangling for burning, was not destined therefore far much success either in spain or in the provinces; but the people by whom the next great movement was made in the drama of the revolt, conducted themselves in a manner to shame the sovereign who oppressed, and the riotous nobles who had undertaken to protect their liberties. at this very moment, in the early summer of , many thousands of burghers, merchants, peasants, and gentlemen, were seen mustering and marching through the fields of every province, armed with arquebus, javelin, pike and broadsword. for what purpose were these gatherings? only to hear sermons and to sing hymns in the open air, as it was unlawful to profane the churches with such rites. this was the first great popular phase of the netherland rebellion. notwithstanding the edicts and the inquisition with their daily hecatombs, notwithstanding the special publication at this time throughout the country by the duchess regent that all the sanguinary statutes concerning religion were in as great vigor as ever, notwithstanding that margaret offered a reward of seven hundred crowns to the man who would bring her a preacher--dead or alive,--the popular thirst for the exercises of the reformed religion could no longer be slaked at the obscure and hidden fountains where their priests had so long privately ministered. partly emboldened by a temporary lull in the persecution, partly encouraged by the presentation of the request and by the events to which it had given rise, the reformers now came boldly forth from their lurking places and held their religious meetings in the light of day. the consciousness of numbers and of right had brought the conviction of strength. the audacity of the reformers was wonderful to the mind of president viglius, who could find no language strong enough with which to characterize and to deplore such blasphemous conduct. the field-preaching seemed in the eyes of government to spread with the rapidity of a malignant pestilence. the miasma flew upon the wings of the wind. as early as , there had been public preaching in the neighborhood of ypres. the executions which followed, however, had for the time suppressed the practice both in that place as well as throughout flanders and the rest of the provinces. it now broke forth as by one impulse from one end of the country to the other. in the latter part of june, hermann stryoker or modet, a monk who had renounced his vows to become one of the most popular preachers in the reformed church, addressed a congregation of seven or eight thousand persons in the neighborhood of ghent. peter dathenus, another unfrocked monk, preached at various places in west flanders, with great effect. a man endowed with a violent, stormy eloquence, intemperate as most zealots, he was then rendering better services to the cause of the reformation than he was destined to do at later periods. but apostate priests were not the only preachers. to the ineffable disgust of the conservatives in church and state, there were men with little education, utterly devoid of hebrew, of lowly station--hatters, curriers, tanners, dyers, and the like, who began to preach also; remembering, unseasonably perhaps, that the early disciples, selected by the founder of christianity, had not all been doctors of theology, with diplomas from a "renowned university." but if the nature of such men were subdued to what it worked in, that charge could not be brought against ministers with the learning and accomplishments of ambrose wille, marnier, guy de bray, or francis junius, the man whom scaliger called the "greatest of all theologians since the days of the apostles." an aristocratic sarcasm could not be levelled against peregrine de la grange, of a noble family in provence, with the fiery blood of southern france in his veins, brave as his nation, learned, eloquent, enthusiastic, who galloped to his field-preaching on horseback, and fired a pistol-shot as a signal for his congregation to give attention. on the th of june, , at eleven o'clock at night, there was an assemblage of six thousand people near tournay, at the bridge of ernonville, to hear a sermon from ambrose wille, a man who had studied theology in geneva, at the feet of calvin, and who now, with a special price upon his head,--was preaching the doctrines he had learned. two days afterwards, ten thousand people assembled at the same spot, to hear peregrine de la grange. governor moulbais thundered forth a proclamation from the citadel, warning all men that the edicts were as rigorous as ever, and that every man, woman, or child who went to these preachings, was incurring the penalty of death. the people became only the more ardent and excited. upon sunday, the seventh of july; twenty thousand persons assembled at the same bridge to hear ambrose wille. one man in three was armed. some had arquebuses, others pistols, pikes, swords, pitchforks, poniards, clubs. the preacher, for whose apprehension a fresh reward had been offered, was escorted to his pulpit by a hundred mounted troopers. he begged his audience not to be scared from the word of god by menace; assured them that although but a poor preacher himself, he held a divine commission; that he had no fear of death; that, should he fall, there were many better than he to supply his place, and fifty thousand men to avenge his murder. the duchess sent forth proclamations by hundreds. she ordered the instant suppression of these armed assemblies and the arrest of the preachers. but of what avail were proclamations against such numbers with weapons in their hands. why irritate to madness these hordes of enthusiasts, who were now entirely pacific, and who marched back to the city, after conclusion of divine service, with perfect decorum? all classes of the population went eagerly to the sermons. the gentry of the place, the rich merchants, the notables, as well as the humbler artisans and laborers, all had received the infection. the professors of the reformed religion outnumbered the catholics by five or six to one. on sundays and other holidays, during the hours of service, tournay was literally emptied of its inhabitants. the streets were as silent as if war or pestilence had swept the place. the duchess sent orders, but she sent no troops. the trained-bands of the city, the cross-bow-men of st. maurice, the archers of st. sebastian, the sword-players of st. christopher, could not be ordered from tournay to suppress the preaching, for they had all gone to the preaching themselves. how idle, therefore; to send peremptory orders without a matchlock to enforce the command. throughout flanders similar scenes were enacted. the meetings were encampments, for the reformers now came to their religious services armed to the teeth, determined, if banished from the churches, to defend their right to the fields. barricades of upturned wagons, branches, and planks, were thrown up around the camps. strong guards of mounted men were stationed at every avenue. outlying scouts gave notice of approaching danger, and guided the faithful into the enclosure. pedlers and hawkers plied the trade upon which the penalty of death was fixed, and sold the forbidden hymn-books to all who chose to purchase. a strange and contradictory spectacle! an army of criminals doing deeds which could only be expiated at the stake; an entrenched rebellion, bearding the government with pike, matchlock, javelin and barricade, and all for no more deadly purpose than to listen to the precepts of the pacific jesus. thus the preaching spread through the walloon provinces to the northern netherlands. towards the end of july, an apostate monk, of singular eloquence, peter gabriel by name, was announced to preach at overeen near harlem. this was the first field-meeting which had taken place in holland. the people were wild with enthusiasm; the authorities beside themselves with apprehension. people from the country flocked into the town by thousands. the other cities were deserted, harlem was filled to overflowing. multitudes encamped upon the ground the night before. the magistrates ordered the gates to be kept closed in the morning till long after the usual hour. it was of no avail. bolts and bars were but small impediments to enthusiasts who had travelled so many miles on foot or horseback to listen to a sermon. they climbed the walls, swam the moat and thronged to the place of meeting long before the doors had been opened. when these could no longer be kept closed without a conflict, for which the magistrates were not prepared, the whole population poured out of the city with a single impulse. tens of thousands were assembled upon the field. the bulwarks were erected as usual, the guards were posted, the necessary precautions taken. but upon this occasion, and in that region there was but little danger to be apprehended. the multitude of reformers made the edicts impossible, so long as no foreign troops were there to enforce them. the congregation was encamped and arranged in an orderly manner. the women, of whom there were many, were placed next the pulpit, which, upon this occasion, was formed of a couple of spears thrust into the earth, sustaining a cross-piece, against which the preacher might lean his back. the services commenced with the singing of a psalm by the whole vast assemblage. clement marot's verses, recently translated by dathenus, were then new and popular. the strains of the monarch minstrel, chanted thus in their homely but nervous mother tongue by a multitude who had but recently learned that all the poetry and rapture of devotion were not irrevocably coffined with a buried language, or immured in the precincts of a church, had never produced a more elevating effect. no anthem from the world-renowned organ in that ancient city ever awakened more lofty emotions than did those ten thousand human voices ringing from the grassy meadows in that fervid midsummer noon. when all was silent again, the preacher rose; a little, meagre man, who looked as if he might rather melt away beneath the blazing sunshine of july, than hold the multitude enchained four uninterrupted hours long, by the magic of his tongue. his text was the th, th, and th verses of the second chapter of ephesians; and as the slender monk spoke to his simple audience of god's grace, and of faith in jesus, who had descended from above to save the lowliest and the most abandoned, if they would put their trust in him, his hearers were alternately exalted with fervor or melted into tears. he prayed for all conditions of men--for themselves, their friends, their enemies, for the government which had persecuted them, for the king whose face was turned upon them in anger. at times, according to one who was present, not a dry eye was to be seen in the crowd. when the minister had finished, he left his congregation abruptly, for he had to travel all night in order to reach alkmaar, where he was to preach upon the following day. by the middle of july the custom was established outside all the principal cities. camp-meetings were held in some places; as, for instance, in the neighborhood of antwerp, where the congregations numbered often fifteen thousand and on some occasions were estimated at between twenty and thirty thousand persons at a time; "very many of them," said an eye-witness, "the best and wealthiest in the town." the sect to which most of these worshippers belonged was that of calvin. in antwerp there were lutherans, calvinists, and anabaptists. the lutherans were the richest sect, but the calvinists the most numerous and enthusiastic. the prince of orange at this moment was strenuously opposed both to calvinism and anabaptism, but inclining to lutheranism. political reasons at this epoch doubtless influenced his mind in religious matters. the aid of the lutheran princes of germany, who detested the doctrines of geneva, could hardly be relied upon for the netherlanders, unless they would adapt the confession of augsburg. the prince knew that the emperor, although inclined to the reformation, was bitterly averse to calvinism, and he was, therefore, desirous of healing the schism which existed in the general reformed church. to accomplish this, however, would be to gain a greater victory over the bigotry which was the prevailing characteristic of the age than perhaps could be expected. the prince, from the first moment of his abandoning the ancient doctrines, was disposed to make the attempt. the duchess ordered the magistrates of antwerp to put down these mass-meetings by means of the guild-militia. they replied that at an earlier day such a course might have been practicable, but that the sects had become quite too numerous for coercion. if the authorities were able to prevent the exercises of the reformed religion within the city, it would be as successful a result as could be expected. to prevent the preaching outside the walls, by means of the bourgher force, was an utter impossibility. the dilatoriness of the sovereign placed the regent in a frightful dilemma, but it was sufficiently obvious that the struggle could not long be deferred. "there will soon be a hard nut to crack," wrote count louis. "the king will never grant the preaching; the people will never give it up, if it cost them their necks. there's a hard puff coming upon the country before long." the duchess was not yet authorized to levy troops, and she feared that if she commenced such operations, she should perhaps offend the king, while she at the same time might provoke the people into more effective military preparations than her own. she felt that for one company levied by her, the sectaries could raise ten. moreover, she was entirely without money, even if she should otherwise think it expedient to enrol an army. meantime she did what she could with "public prayers, processions, fasts, sermons, exhortations," and other ecclesiastical machinery which she ordered the bishops to put in motion. her situation was indeed sufficiently alarming. egmont, whom many of the sectaries hoped to secure as their leader in case of a civil war, showed no disposition to encourage such hopes, but as little to take up arms against the people. he went to flanders, where the armed assemblages for field-preaching had become so numerous that a force of thirty or forty thousand men might be set on foot almost at a moment's warning, and where the conservatives, in a state of alarm, desired the presence of their renowned governor. the people of antwerp, on their part, demanded william of orange. the prince, who was hereditary burgrave of the city, had at first declined the invitation of the magistracy. the duchess united her request with the universal prayer of the inhabitants. events meantime had been thickening, and suspicion increasing. meghen had been in the city for several days, much to the disgust of the reformers, by whom he was hated. aremberg was expected to join him, and it was rumored that measures were secretly in progress under the auspices of these two leading cardinalists, for introducing a garrison, together with great store of ammunition, into the city. on the other hand, the "great beggar," brederode, had taken up his quarters also in antwerp; had been daily entertaining a crowd of roystering nobles at his hotel, previously to a second political demonstration, which will soon be described, and was constantly parading the street, followed by a swarm of adherents in the beggar livery. the sincere reformers were made nearly as uncomfortable by the presence of their avowed friends, as by that of meghen and aremberg, and earnestly desired to be rid of them all. long and anxious were the ponderings of the magistrates upon all these subjects. it was determined, at last, to send a fresh deputation to brussels, requesting the regent to order the departure of meghen, aremberg, and brederode from antwerp; remonstrating with her against any plan she might be supposed to entertain of sending mercenary troops into the city; pledging the word of the senate to keep the peace, meanwhile, by their regular force; and above all, imploring her once more, in the most urgent terms, to send thither the burgrave, as the only man who was capable of saving the city from the calamities into which it was so likely to fall. the prince of orange being thus urgently besought, both by the government of antwerp, the inhabitants of that city, and by the regent herself, at last consented to make the visit so earnestly demanded. on the th july, he arrived in antwerp. the whole city was alive with enthusiasm. half its population seemed to have come forth from the gates to bid him welcome, lining the road for miles. the gate through which he was to pass, the ramparts, the roofs of the houses were packed close, with expectant and eager faces. at least thirty thousand persons had assembled to welcome their guest. a long cavalcade of eminent citizens had come as far as berghen to meet him and to escort him into the city. brederode, attended by some of the noble confederates, rode at the head of the procession. as they encountered the prince, a discharge of pistol-shots was fired by way of salute, which was the signal for a deafening shout from the assembled multitude. the crowd thronged about the prince as he advanced, calling him their preserver, their father, their only hope. wild shouts of welcome rose upon every side, as he rode through the town, mingled with occasional vociferations of "long life to the beggars." these party cries were instantly and sharply rebuked by orange, who expressed, in brederode's presence, the determination that he would make men unlearn that mischievous watchword. he had, moreover, little relish at that time for the tumultuous demonstrations of attachment to his person, which were too fervid to be censured, but too unseasonable to be approved. when the crowd had at last been made to understand that their huzzas were distasteful to the prince, most of the multitude consented to disperse, feeling, however, a relief from impending danger in the presence of the man to whom they instinctively looked as their natural protector. the senators had come forth in a body to receive the burgrave and escort him to the hotel prepared for him. arrived there, he lost no time in opening the business which had brought him to antwerp. he held at once a long consultation with the upper branch of the government. afterwards, day after day, he honestly, arduously, sagaciously labored to restore the public tranquillity. he held repeated deliberations with every separate portion of the little commonwealth, the senate, the council of ancients, the corporation of ward-masters, the deans of trades. nor did he confine his communication to these organized political bodies alone. he had frequent interviews with the officers of the military associations, with the foreign merchant companies, with the guilds of "rhetoric." the chambers of the "violet" and the "marigold" were not too frivolous or fantastic to be consulted by one who knew human nature and the constitution of netherland society so well as did the prince. night and day he labored with all classes of citizens to bring about a better understanding, and to establish mutual confidence. at last by his efforts tranquillity was restored. the broad-council having been assembled, it was decided that the exercise of the reformed religion should be excluded from the city, but silently tolerated in the suburbs, while an armed force was to be kept constantly in readiness to suppress all attempts at insurrection. the prince had desired, that twelve hundred men should be enlisted and paid by the city, so that at least a small number of disciplined troops might be ready at a moment's warning; but he found it impossible to carry the point with the council. the magistrates were willing to hold themselves responsible for the peace of the city, but they would have no mercenaries. thus, during the remainder of july and the early part of august, was william of orange strenuously occupied in doing what should have been the regent's work. he was still regarded both by the duchess and by the calvinist party--although having the sympathies of neither,--as the only man in the netherlands who could control the rising tide of a national revolt. he took care, said his enemies, that his conduct at antwerp should have every appearance of loyalty; but they insinuated that he was a traitor from the beginning, who was insidiously fomenting the troubles which he appeared to rebuke. no one doubted his genius, and all felt or affected admiration at its display upon this critical occasion. "the prince of orange is doing very great and notable services at antwerp to the king and to the country," said assonleville. "that seignior is very skilful in managing great affairs." margaret of parma wrote letters to him fixed with the warmest gratitude, expressions of approbation, and of wishes that he could both remain in antwerp and return to assist her in brussels. philip, too, with his own pen, addressed him a letter, in which implicit confidence in the prince's character was avowed, all suspicion on the part of the sovereign indignantly repudiated, earnest thanks for his acceptance of the antwerp mission uttered, and a distinct refusal given to the earnest request made by orange to resign his offices. the prince read or listened to all this commendation, and valued it exactly at its proper worth. he knew it to be pure grimace. he was no more deceived by it than if he had read the letter sent by margaret to philip, a few weeks later, in which she expressed herself as "thoroughly aware that it was the intention of orange to take advantage of the impending tumults, for the purpose of conquering the provinces and of dividing the whole territory among himself and friends." nothing could be more utterly false than so vile and ridiculous a statement. the course of the prince had hitherto been, and was still, both consistent and loyal. he was proceeding step by step to place the monarch in the wrong, but the only art which he was using, was to plant himself more firmly upon the right. it was in the monarch's power to convoke the assembly of the states-general, so loudly demanded by the whole nation, to abolish the inquisition, to renounce persecution, to accept the great fact of the reformation. to do so he must have ceased to be philip. to have faltered in attempting to bring him into that path, the prince must have ceased to be william of orange. had he succeeded, there would have been no treason and no republic of holland. his conduct at the outbreak of the antwerp troubles was firm and sagacious. even had his duty required him to put down the public preaching with peremptory violence, he had been furnished with no means to accomplish the purpose. the rebellion, if it were one, was already full-grown. it could not be taken by the throat and strangled with one hand, however firm. a report that the high sheriff of brabant was collecting troops by command of government, in order to attack the reformers at their field-preachings, went far to undo the work already accomplished by the prince. the assemblages swelled again from ten or twelve thousand to twenty-five thousand, the men all providing themselves more thoroughly with weapons than before. soon afterwards, the intemperate zeal of another individual, armed to the teeth--not, however, like the martial sheriff and his forces, with arquebus and javelin, but with the still more deadly weapons of polemical theology,--was very near causing a general outbreak. a peaceful and not very numerous congregation were listening to one of their preachers in a field outside the town. suddenly an unknown individual in plain clothes and with a pragmatical demeanor, interrupted the discourse by giving a flat contradiction to some of the doctrines advanced. the minister replied by a rebuke, and a reiteration of the disputed sentiment.--the stranger, evidently versed in ecclesiastical matters, volubly and warmly responded. the preacher, a man of humble condition and moderate abilities, made as good show of argument as he could, but was evidently no match for his antagonist. he was soon vanquished in the wordy warfare. well he might be, for it appeared that the stranger was no less a personage than peter rythovius, a doctor of divinity, a distinguished pedant of louvain, a relation of a bishop and himself a church dignitary. this learned professor, quite at home in his subject, was easily triumphant, while the poor dissenter, more accustomed to elevate the hearts of his hearers than to perplex their heads, sank prostrate and breathless under the storm of texts, glosses, and hard hebrew roots with which he was soon overwhelmed. the professor's triumph was, however, but short-lived, for the simple-minded congregation, who loved their teacher, were enraged that he should be thus confounded. without more ado, therefore, they laid violent hands upon the quixotic knight-errant of the church, and so cudgelled and belabored him bodily that he might perhaps have lost his life in the encounter had he not been protected by the more respectable portion of the assembly. these persons, highly disapproving the whole proceeding, forcibly rescued him from the assailants, and carried him off to town, where the news of the incident at once created an uproar. here he was thrown into prison as a disturber of the peace, but in reality that he might be personally secure. the next day the prince of orange, after administering to him a severe rebuke for his ill-timed exhibition of pedantry, released him from confinement, and had him conveyed out of the city. "this theologian;" wrote the prince to duchess margaret, "would have done better, methinks, to stay at home; for i suppose he had no especial orders to perform this piece of work." thus, so long as this great statesman could remain in the metropolis, his temperate firmness prevented the explosion which had so long been expected. his own government of holland and zeland, too, especially demanded his care. the field-preaching had spread in that region with prodigious rapidity. armed assemblages, utterly beyond the power of the civil authorities, were taking place daily in the neighborhood of amsterdam. yet the duchess could not allow him to visit his government in the north. if he could be spared from antwerp for a day, it was necessary that he should aid her in a fresh complication with the confederated nobles in the very midst, therefore, of his antwerp labors, he had been obliged, by margaret's orders, to meet a committee at duffel. for in this same eventful month of july a great meeting was held by the members of the compromise at st. trond, in the bishopric of liege. they came together on the thirteenth of the month, and remained assembled till the beginning of august. it was a wild, tumultuous convention, numbering some fifteen hundred cavaliers, each with his esquires and armed attendants; a larger and more important gathering than had yet been held. brederode and count louis were the chieftains of the assembly, which, as may be supposed from its composition and numbers, was likely to be neither very orderly in its demonstrations nor wholesome in its results. it was an ill-timed movement. the convention was too large for deliberation, too riotous to inspire confidence. the nobles quartered themselves every where in the taverns and the farm-houses of the neighborhood, while large numbers encamped upon the open fields. there was a constant din of revelry and uproar, mingled with wordy warfare, and an occasional crossing of swords. it seemed rather like a congress of ancient, savage batavians, assembled in teutonic fashion to choose a king amid hoarse shouting, deep drinking, and the clash of spear and shield, than a meeting for a lofty and earnest purpose, by their civilized descendants. a crowd of spectators, landlopers, mendicants, daily aggregated themselves to the aristocratic assembly, joining, with natural unction, in the incessant shout of "vivent les gueux!" it was impossible that so soon after their baptism the self-styled beggars should repudiate all connection with the time-honored fraternity in which they had enrolled themselves. the confederates discussed--if an exchange of vociferations could be called discussion--principally two points: whether, in case they obtained the original objects of their petition, they should pause or move still further onward; and whether they should insist upon receiving some pledge from the government, that no vengeance should be taken upon them for their previous proceedings. upon both questions, there was much vehemence of argument and great difference of opinion. they, moreover, took two very rash and very grave resolutions--to guarantee the people against all violence on account of their creeds, and to engage a force of german soldiery, four thousand horse and forty companies of infantry by, "wart geld" or retaining wages. it was evident that these gentlemen were disposed to go fast and far. if they had been ready in the spring to receive their baptism of wine, the "beggars" were now eager for the baptism of blood. at the same time it must be observed that the levies which they proposed, not to make, but to have at command, were purely for defence. in case the king, as it was thought probable, should visit the netherlands with fire and sword, then there would be a nucleus of resistance already formed. upon the th july, the prince of orange, at the earnest request of the regent, met a committee of the confederated nobles at duffel. count egmont was associated with him in this duty. the conference was not very satisfactory. the deputies from st. trend, consisting of brederode, culemburg, and others, exchanged with the two seigniors the old arguments. it was urged upon the confederates, that they had made themselves responsible for the public tranquillity so long as the regent should hold to her promise; that, as the duchess had sent two distinguished envoys to madrid, in order to accomplish, if possible, the wishes of the nobles, it was their duty to redeem their own pledges; that armed assemblages ought to be suppressed by their efforts rather than encouraged by their example; and that, if they now exerted themselves zealously to check, the tumults, the duchess was ready to declare, in her own-name and that of his majesty, that the presentation of the request had been beneficial. the nobles replied that the pledges had become a farce, that the regent was playing them false, that persecution was as fierce as ever, that the "moderation" was a mockery, that the letters recommending "modesty and discretion" to the inquisitors had been mere waste paper, that a price had been set upon the heads of the preachers as if they had been wild beasts, that there were constant threats of invasions from spain, that the convocation of the states-general had been illegally deferred, that the people had been driven to despair, and that it was the conduct of government, not of the confederates, which had caused the reformers to throw off previous restraint and to come boldly forth by tens of thousands into the fields, not to defy their king, but to worship their god. such, in brief, was the conference of duffel. in conclusion, a paper was drawn up which brederode carried back to the convention, and which it was proposed to submit to the duchess for her approval. at the end of the month, louis of nassau was accordingly sent to brussels, accompanied by twelve associates, who were familiarly called his twelve apostles. here he laid before her highness in council a statement, embodying the views of the confederates. in this paper they asserted that they were ever ready to mount and ride against a foreign foe, but that they would never draw a sword against their innocent countrymen. they maintained that their past conduct deserved commendation, and that in requiring letters of safe conduct in the names both of the duchess and of the fleece-knights, they were governed not by a disposition to ask for pardon, but by a reluctance without such guarantees to enter into stipulations touching the public tranquillity. if, however, they should be assured that the intentions of the regent were amicable and that there was no design to take vengeance for the past--if, moreover, she were willing to confide in the counsels of horn, egmont, and orange, and to take no important measure without their concurrence--if, above all, she would convoke the states-general, then, and then only, were the confederates willing to exert their energies to preserve peace, to restrain popular impetuosity and banish universal despair. so far louis of nassau and his twelve apostles. it must be confessed that, whatever might be thought of the justice, there could be but one opinion as to the boldness of these views. the duchess was furious. if the language held in april had been considered audacious, certainly this new request was, in her own words, "still more bitter to the taste and more difficult of digestion." she therefore answered in a very unsatisfactory, haughty and ambiguous manner, reserving decision upon their propositions till they had been discussed by the state council, and intimating that they would also be laid before the knights of the fleece, who were to hold a meeting upon the th of august. there was some further conversation without any result. esquerdes complained that the confederates were the mark of constant calumny, and demanded that the slanderers should be confronted with them and punished. "i understand perfectly well," interrupted margaret, "you wish to take justice into your own hands and to be king yourself." it was further intimated by these reckless gentlemen, that if they should be driven by violence into measures of self-protection, they had already secured friends in a certain country. the duchess, probably astonished at the frankness of this statement, is said to have demanded further explanations. the confederates replied by observing that they had resources both in the provinces and in germany. the state council decided that to accept the propositions of the confederates would be to establish a triumvirate at once, and the duchess wrote to her brother distinctly advising against the acceptance of the proposal. the assembly at st. trond was then dissolved, having made violent demonstrations which were not followed by beneficial results, and having laid itself open to various suspicions, most of which were ill-founded, while some of them were just. before giving the reader a brief account of the open and the secret policy pursued by the government at brussels and madrid, in consequence of these transactions, it is now necessary to allude to a startling series of events, which at this point added to the complications of the times, and exercised a fatal influence upon the situation of the commonwealth. chapter vii. ecclesiastical architecture in the netherlands--the image-breaking-- description of antwerp cathedral--ceremony of the ommegang-- precursory disturbances--iconoclasts at antwerp--incidents of the image--breaking in various cities--events at tournay--preaching of wille--disturbance by a little boy--churches sacked at tournay-- disinterment of duke adolphus of gueldres--iconoclasts defeated and massacred at anchin--bartholomew's day at valenciennes--general characteristics of the image-breaking--testimony of contemporaries as to the honesty of the rioters--consternation of the duchess-- projected flight to mons--advice of horn and other seigniors-- accord of th august. the netherlands possessed an extraordinary number of churches and monasteries. their exquisite architecture and elaborate decoration had been the earliest indication of intellectual culture displayed in the country. in the vast number of cities, towns, and villages which were crowded upon that narrow territory, there had been, from circumstances operating throughout christendom, a great accumulation of ecclesiastical wealth. the same causes can never exist again which at an early day covered the soil of europe with those magnificent creations of christian art. it was in these anonymous but entirely original achievements that gothic genius; awaking from its long sleep of the dark ages, first expressed itself. the early poetry of the german races was hewn and chiselled in atone. around the steadfast principle of devotion then so firmly rooted in the soil, clustered the graceful and vigorous emanations of the newly-awakened mind. all that science could invent, all that art could embody, all that mechanical ingenuity could dare, all that wealth could lavish, whatever there was of human energy which was panting for pacific utterance, wherever there stirred the vital principle which instinctively strove to create and to adorn at an epoch when vulgar violence and destructiveness were the general tendencies of humanity, all gathered around these magnificent temples, as their aspiring pinnacles at last pierced the mist which had so long brooded over the world. there were many hundreds of churches, more or less remarkable, in the netherlands. although a severe criticism might regret to find in these particular productions of the great germanic school a development of that practical tendency which distinguished the batavian and flemish branches,--although it might recognize a departure from that mystic principle which, in its efforts to symbolize the strivings of humanity towards the infinite object of worship above, had somewhat disregarded the wants of the worshippers below,--although the spaces might be too wide and the intercolumniations too empty, except for the convenience of congregations; yet there were, nevertheless, many ecclesiastical masterpieces, which could be regarded as very brilliant manifestations of the batavian and belgic mind during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. many were filled with paintings from a school which had precedence in time and merit over its sister nurseries of art in germany. all were peopled with statues. all were filled with profusely-adorned chapels, for the churches had been enriched generation after generation by wealthy penitence, which had thus purchased absolution for crime and smoothed a pathway to heaven. and now, for the space of only six or seven summer days and nights, there raged a storm by which all these treasures were destroyed. nearly every one of these temples was entirely rifled of its contents; not for the purpose of plunder, but of destruction. hardly a province or a town escaped. art must forever weep over this bereavement; humanity must regret that the reforming is thus always ready to degenerate into the destructive principle; but it is impossible to censure very severely the spirit which prompted the brutal, but not ferocious deed. those statues, associated as they were with the remorseless persecution which had so long desolated the provinces, had ceased to be images. they had grown human and hateful, so that the people arose and devoted them to indiscriminate massacre. no doubt the iconoclastic fury is to be regretted; for such treasures can scarcely be renewed. the age for building and decorating great cathedrals is past. certainly, our own age, practical and benevolent, if less poetical, should occupy itself with the present, and project itself into the future. it should render glory to god rather by causing wealth to fertilize the lowest valleys of humanity, than by rearing gorgeous temples where paupers are to kneel. to clothe the naked, redeem the criminal, feed the hungry, less by alms and homilies than by preventive institutions and beneficent legislation; above all, by the diffusion of national education, to lift a race upon a level of culture hardly attained by a class in earlier times, is as lofty a task as to accumulate piles of ecclesiastical splendor. it would be tedious to recount in detail the events which characterized the remarkable image-breaking in the netherlands. as antwerp was the central point in these transactions, and as there was more wealth and magnificence in the great cathedral of that city than in any church of northern europe, it is necessary to give a rapid outline of the events which occurred there. from its exhibition in that place the spirit every where will best be shown. the church of our lady, which philip had so recently converted into a cathedral, dated from the year , although it may be more fairly considered a work of the fourteenth century. its college of canons had been founded in another locality by godfrey of bouillon. the brabantine hero, who so romantically incarnates the religious poetry of his age, who first mounted the walls of redeemed jerusalem, and was its first christian monarch, but who refused to accept a golden diadem on the spot where the saviour had been crowned with thorns; the fleming who lived and was the epic which the great italian, centuries afterwards; translated into immortal verse, is thus fitly associated with the beautiful architectural poem which was to grace his ancestral realms. the body of the church, the interior and graceful perspectives of which were not liable to the reproach brought against many netherland churches, of assimilating themselves already to the municipal palaces which they were to suggest--was completed in the fourteenth century. the beautiful facade, with its tower, was not completed till the year . the exquisite and daring spire, the gigantic stem upon which the consummate flower of this architectural creation was to be at last unfolded, was a plant of a whole century's growth. rising to a height of nearly five hundred feet, over a church of as many feet in length, it worthily represented the upward tendency of gothic architecture. externally and internally the cathedral was a true expression of the christian principle of devotion. amid its vast accumulation of imagery, its endless ornaments, its multiplicity of episodes, its infinite variety of details, the central, maternal principle was ever visible. every thing pointed upwards, from the spire in the clouds to the arch which enshrined the smallest sculptured saint in the chapels below. it was a sanctuary, not like pagan temples, to enclose a visible deity, but an edifice where mortals might worship an unseen being in the realms above. the church, placed in the centre of the city, with the noisy streets of the busiest metropolis in europe eddying around its walls, was a sacred island in the tumultuous main. through the perpetual twilight, tall columnar trunks in thick profusion grew from a floor chequered with prismatic lights and sepulchral shadows. each shaft of the petrified forest rose to a preternatural height, their many branches intermingling in the space above, to form an impenetrable canopy. foliage, flowers and fruit of colossal luxuriance, strange birds, beasts, griffins and chimeras in endless multitudes, the rank vegetation and the fantastic zoology of a fresher or fabulous world, seemed to decorate and to animate the serried trunks and pendant branches, while the shattering symphonies or dying murmurs of the organ suggested the rushing of the wind through the forest, now the full diapason of the storm and now the gentle cadence of the evening breeze. internally, the whole church was rich beyond expression. all that opulent devotion and inventive ingenuity could devise, in wood, bronze, marble, silver, gold, precious jewelry, or blazing sacramental furniture, had been profusely lavished. the penitential tears of centuries had incrusted the whole interior with their glittering stalactites. divided into five naves, with external rows of chapels, but separated by no screens or partitions, the great temple forming an imposing whole, the effect was the more impressive, the vistas almost infinite in appearance. the wealthy citizens, the twenty-seven guilds, the six military associations, the rhythmical colleges, besides many other secular or religious sodalities, had each their own chapels and altars. tombs adorned with the effigies of mailed crusaders and pious dames covered the floor, tattered banners hung in the air, the escutcheons of the golden fleece, an order typical of flemish industry, but of which emperors and kings were proud to be the chevaliers, decorated the columns. the vast and beautifully-painted windows glowed with scriptural scenes, antique portraits, homely allegories, painted in those brilliant and forgotten colors which art has not ceased to deplore. the daylight melting into gloom or colored with fantastic brilliancy, priests in effulgent robes chanting in unknown language, the sublime breathing of choral music, the suffocating odors of myrrh and spikenard, suggestive of the oriental scenery and imagery of holy writ, all combined to bewilder and exalt the senses. the highest and humblest seemed to find themselves upon the same level within those sacred precincts, where even the bloodstained criminal was secure, and the arm of secular justice was paralyzed. but the work of degeneration had commenced. the atmosphere of the cathedral was no longer holy in the eyes of increasing multitudes. better the sanguinary rites of belgic druids, better the yell of slaughtered victims from the "wild wood without mercy" of the pagan forefathers of the nation, than this fantastic intermingling of divine music, glowing colors, gorgeous ceremonies, with all the burning, beheading and strangling work which had characterized the system of human sacrifice for the past half-century. such was the church of notre dame at antwerp. thus indifferent or hostile towards the architectural treasure were the inhabitants of a city, where in a previous age the whole population would have risked their lives to defend what they esteemed the pride and garland of their metropolis. the prince of orange had been anxiously solicited by the regent to attend the conference at duffel. after returning to antwerp, he consented, in consequence of the urgent entreaties of the senate, to delay his departure until the th of august should be past. on the th of that month he had agreed with the magistrates upon an ordinance, which was accordingly published, and by which the preachings were restricted to the fields. a deputation of merchants and others waited upon him with a request to be permitted the exercises of the reformed religion in the city. this petition the prince peremptorily refused, and the deputies, as well as their constituents, acquiesced in the decision, "out of especial regard and respect for his person." he, however, distinctly informed the duchess that it would be difficult or impossible to maintain such a position long, and that his departure from the city would probably be followed by an outbreak. he warned her that it was very imprudent for him to leave antwerp at that particular juncture. nevertheless, the meeting of the fleece-knights seemed, in margaret's opinion, imperatively to require his presence in brussels. she insisted by repeated letters that he should leave antwerp immediately. upon the th august, the great and time-honored ceremony of the ommegang occurred. accordingly, the great procession, the principal object of which was to conduct around the city a colossal image of the virgin, issued as usual from the door of the cathedral. the image, bedizened and effulgent, was borne aloft upon the shoulders of her adorers, followed by the guilds, the military associations, the rhetoricians, the religious sodalities, all in glittering costume, bearing blazoned banners, and marching triumphantly through the streets with sound of trumpet and beat of drum. the pageant, solemn but noisy, was exactly such a show as was most fitted at that moment to irritate protestant minds and to lead to mischief. no violent explosion of ill-feeling, however, took place. the procession was followed by a rabble rout of scoffers, but they confined themselves to words and insulting gestures. the image was incessantly saluted, as she was borne along--the streets, with sneers, imprecations, and the rudest, ribaldry. "mayken! mayken!" (little mary) "your hour is come. 'tis your last promenade. the city is tired of you." such were the greetings which the representative of the holy virgin received from men grown weary of antiquated mummery. a few missiles were thrown occasionally at the procession as it passed through the city, but no damage was inflicted. when the image was at last restored to its place, and the pageant brought to a somewhat hurried conclusion, there seemed cause for congratulation that no tumult had occurred. on the following morning there was a large crowd collected in front of the cathedral. the image, instead of standing in the centre of the church, where, upon all former occasions, it had been accustomed during the week succeeding the ceremony to receive congratulatory, visits, was now ignominiously placed behind an iron railing within the choir. it had been deemed imprudent to leave it exposed to sacrilegious hands. the precaution excited derision. many vagabonds of dangerous appearance, many idle apprentices and ragged urchins were hanging for a long time about the imprisoned image, peeping through the railings, and indulging in many a brutal jest. "mayken! mayken!" they cried; "art thou terrified so soon? hast flown to thy nest so early? dost think thyself beyond the reach of mischief? beware, mayken! thine hour is fast approaching!" others thronged around the balustrade, shouting "vivent les gueux!" and hoarsely commanding the image to join in the beggars' cry. then, leaving the spot, the mob roamed idly about the magnificent church, sneering at the idols, execrating the gorgeous ornaments, scoffing at crucifix and altar. presently one of the rabble, a ragged fellow of mechanical aspect, in a tattered black doublet and an old straw hat, ascended the pulpit. opening a sacred volume which he found there, he began to deliver an extemporaneous and coarse caricature of a monkish sermon. some of the bystanders applauded, some cried shame, some shouted "long live the beggars!" some threw sticks and rubbish at the mountebank, some caught him by the legs and strove to pull him from the place. he, on the other hand, manfully maintained his ground, hurling back every missile, struggling with his assailants, and continuing the while to pour forth a malignant and obscene discourse. at last a young sailor, warm in the catholic faith, and impulsive as mariners are prone to be, ascended the pulpit from behind, sprang upon the mechanic, and flung him headlong down the steps. the preacher grappled with his enemy as he fell, and both came rolling to the ground. neither was much injured, but a tumult ensued. a pistol-shot was fired, and the sailor wounded in the arm. daggers were drawn, cudgels brandished, the bystanders taking part generally against the sailor, while those who protected him were somewhat bruised and belabored before they could convey him out of the church. nothing more, however, transpired that day, and the keepers of the cathedral were enabled to expel the crowd and to close the doors for the night. information of this tumult was brought to the senate, then assembled in the hotel de ville. that body was thrown into a state of great perturbation. in losing the prince of orange, they seemed to have lost their own brains, and the first measure which they took was to despatch a messenger to implore his return. in the mean time, it was necessary that they should do something for themselves. it was evident that a storm was brewing. the pest which was sweeping so rapidly through the provinces would soon be among them. symptoms of the dreaded visitation were already but too manifest. what precaution should: they take? should they issue a proclamation? such documents had been too common of late, and had lost their virtue. it was the time not to assert but to exercise authority. should they summon the ward-masters, and order the instant arming and mustering of their respective companies? should they assemble the captains of the military associations? nothing better could have been desired than such measures in cases of invasion or of ordinary tumult, but who should say how deeply the poison had sunk into the body politic; who should say with how much or how little alacrity the burgher militia would obey the mandates of the magistracy? it would be better to issue no proclamation unless they could enforce its provisions; it would be better not to call out the citizen soldiery unless they were likely to prove obedient. should mercenary troops at this late hour be sent for? would not their appearance at this crisis rather inflame the rage than intimidate the insolence of the sectaries? never were magistrates in greater perplexity. they knew not what course was likely to prove the safest, and in their anxiety to do nothing wrong, the senators did nothing at all. after a long and anxious consultation, the honest burgomaster and his associates all went home to their beds, hoping that the threatening flame of civil tumult would die out of itself, or perhaps that their dreams would supply them with that wisdom which seemed denied to their waking hours. in the morning, as it was known that no precaution had been taken, the audacity of the reformers was naturally increased. within the cathedral a great crowd was at an early hour collected, whose savage looks and ragged appearance denoted that the day and night were not likely to pass away so peacefully as the last. the same taunts and imprecations were hurled at the image of the virgin; the same howling of the beggars' cry resounded through the lofty arches. for a few hours, no act of violence was committed, but the crowd increased. a few trifles, drifting, as usual, before the event, seemed to indicate the approaching convulsion. a very paltry old woman excited the image-breaking of antwerp. she had for years been accustomed to sit before the door of the cathedral with wax-tapers and wafers, earning scanty subsistence from the profits of her meagre trade, and by the small coins which she sometimes received in charity. some of the rabble began to chaffer with this ancient hucksteress. they scoffed at her consecrated wares; they bandied with her ribald jests, of which her public position had furnished her with a supply; they assured her that the hour had come when her idolatrous traffic was to be forever terminated, when she and her patroness, mary, were to be given over to destruction together. the old woman, enraged, answered threat with threat, and gibe with gibe. passing from words to deeds, she began to catch from the ground every offensive missile or weapon which she could find, and to lay about her in all directions. her tormentors defended themselves as they could. having destroyed her whole stock-in-trade, they provoked others to appear in her defence. the passers-by thronged to the scene; the cathedral was soon filled to overflowing; a furious tumult was already in progress. many persons fled in alarm to the town-house, carrying information of this outbreak to the magistrates. john van immerzeel, margrava of antwerp, was then holding communication with the senate, and awaiting the arrival of the ward-masters, whom it had at last been thought expedient to summon. upon intelligence of this riot, which the militia, if previously mustered, might have prevented, the senate determined to proceed to the cathedral in a body, with the hope of quelling the mob by the dignity of their presence. the margrave, who was the high executive officer of the little commonwealth, marched down to the cathedral accordingly, attended by the two burgomasters and all the senators. at first their authority, solicitations, and personal influence, produced a good effect. some of those outside consented to retire, and the tumult partially subsided within. as night, however, was fast approaching, many of the mob insisted upon remaining for evening mass. they were informed that there would be none that night, and that for once the people could certainly dispense with their vespers. several persons now manifesting an intention of leaving the cathedral, it was suggested to the senators that if, they should lead the way, the populace would follow in their train, and so disperse to their homes. the excellent magistrates took the advice, not caring, perhaps, to fulfil any longer the dangerous but not dignified functions of police officers. before departing, they adopted the precaution of closing all the doors of the church, leaving a single one open, that the rabble still remaining might have an opportunity to depart. it seemed not to occur to the senators that the same gate would as conveniently afford an entrance for those without as an egress for those within. that unlooked-for event happened, however. no sooner had the magistrates retired than the rabble burst through the single door which had been left open, overpowered the margrave, who, with a few attendants, had remained behind, vainly endeavoring by threats and exhortations to appease the tumult, drove him ignominiously from the church, and threw all the other portals wide open. then the populace flowed in like an angry sea. the whole of the cathedral was at the mercy of the rioters, who were evidently bent on mischief. the wardens and treasurers of the church, after a vain attempt to secure a few of its most precious possessions, retired. they carried the news to the senators, who, accompanied by a few halberdmen, again ventured to approach the spot. it was but for a moment, however, for, appalled by the furious sounds which came from within the church, as if subterranean and invisible forces were preparing a catastrophe which no human power could withstand, the magistrates fled precipitately from the scene. fearing that the next attack would be upon the town-house, they hastened to concentrate at that point their available forces, and left the stately cathedral to its fate. and now, as the shadows of night were deepening the perpetual twilight of the church, the work of destruction commenced. instead of evening mass rose the fierce music of a psalm, yelled by a thousand angry voices. it seemed the preconcerted signal for a general attack. a band of marauders flew upon the image of the virgin, dragged it forth from its receptacle, plunged daggers into its inanimate body, tore off its jewelled and embroidered garments, broke the whole figure into a thousand pieces, and scattered the fragments along the floor. a wild shout succeeded, and then the work which seemed delegated to a comparatively small number of the assembled crowd, went on with incredible celerity. some were armed with axes, some with bludgeons, some with sledge-hammers; others brought ladders, pulleys, ropes, and levers. every statue was hurled from its niche, every picture torn from the wall, every wonderfully-painted window shivered to atoms, every ancient monument shattered, every sculptured decoration, however inaccessible in appearance, hurled to the ground. indefatigably, audaciously,--endowed, as it seemed, with preternatural strength and nimbleness, these furious iconoclasts clambered up the dizzy heights, shrieking and chattering like malignant apes, as they tore off in triumph the slowly-matured fruit of centuries. in a space of time wonderfully brief, they had accomplished their task. a colossal and magnificent group of the saviour crucified between two thieves adorned the principal altar. the statue of christ was wrenched from its place with ropes and pulleys, while the malefactors, with bitter and blasphemous irony, were left on high, the only representatives of the marble crowd which had been destroyed. a very beautiful piece of architecture decorated the choir,--the "repository," as it was called, in which the body of christ was figuratively enshrined. this much-admired work rested upon a single column, but rose, arch upon arch, pillar upon pillar, to the height of three hundred feet, till quite lost in the vault above. "it was now shattered into a million pieces." the statues, images, pictures, ornaments, as they lay upon the ground, were broken with sledge-hammers, hewn with axes, trampled, torn; and beaten into shreds. a troop of harlots, snatching waxen tapers from the altars, stood around the destroyers and lighted them at their work. nothing escaped their omnivorous rage. they desecrated seventy chapels, forced open all the chests of treasure, covered their own squalid attire with the gorgeous robes of the ecclesiastics, broke the sacred bread, poured out the sacramental wine into golden chalices, quaffing huge draughts to the beggars' health; burned all the splendid missals and manuscripts, and smeared their shoes with the sacred oil, with which kings and prelates had been anointed. it seemed that each of these malicious creatures must have been endowed with the strength of a hundred giants. how else, in the few brief hours of a midsummer night, could such a monstrous desecration have been accomplished by a troop which, according to all accounts, was not more than one hundred in number. there was a multitude of spectators, as upon all such occasions, but the actual spoilers were very few. the noblest and richest temple of the netherlands was a wreck, but the fury of the spoilers was excited, not appeased. each seizing a burning torch, the whole herd rushed from the cathedral, and swept howling through the streets. "long live the beggars!" resounded through the sultry midnight air, as the ravenous pack flew to and fro, smiting every image of the virgin, every crucifix, every sculptured saint, every catholic symbol which they met with upon their path. all night long, they roamed from one sacred edifice to another, thoroughly destroying as they went. before morning they had sacked thirty churches within the city walls. they entered the monasteries, burned their invaluable libraries, destroyed their altars, statues, pictures, and descending into the cellars, broached every cask which they found there, pouring out in one great flood all the ancient wine and ale with which those holy men had been wont to solace their retirement from generation to generation. they invaded the nunneries, whence the occupants, panic-stricken, fled for refuge to the houses of their friends and kindred. the streets were filled with monks and nuns, running this way and that, shrieking and fluttering, to escape the claws of these fiendish calvinists. the terror was imaginary, for not the least remarkable feature in these transactions was, that neither insult nor injury was offered to man or woman, and that not a farthing's value of the immense amount of property destroyed, was appropriated. it was a war not against the living, but against graven images, nor was the sentiment which prompted the onslaught in the least commingled with a desire of plunder. the principal citizens of antwerp, expecting every instant that the storm would be diverted from the ecclesiastical edifices to private dwellings, and that robbery, rape, and murder would follow sacrilege, remained all night expecting the attack, and prepared to defend their hearths, even if the altars were profaned. the precaution was needless. it was asserted by the catholics that the confederates and other opulent protestants had organized this company of profligates for the meagre pittance of ten stivers day. on the other hand, it was believed by many that the catholics had themselves plotted the whole outrage in order to bring odium upon the reformers. both statements were equally unfounded. the task was most thoroughly performed, but it was prompted: by a furious fanaticism, not by baser motives. two days and nights longer the havoc raged unchecked through all the churches of antwerp and the neighboring villages. hardly a statue or picture escaped destruction. fortunately, the illustrious artist, whose labors were destined in the next generation to enrich and ennoble the city, rubens, most profound of colorists, most dramatic--of artists; whose profuse tropical genius seemed to flower the more luxuriantly, as if the destruction wrought by brutal hands were to be compensated by the creative energy of one, divine spirit, had not yet been born. of the treasures which existed the destruction was complete. yet the rage was directed exclusively against stocks and stones. not a man was wounded nor a woman outraged. prisoners, indeed, who had been languishing hopelessly in dungeons were liberated. a monk, who had been in the prison of the barefoot monastery, for twelve years, recovered his freedom. art was trampled in the dust, but humanity deplored no victims. these leading features characterized the movement every where. the process was simultaneous and almost universal. it was difficult to say where it began and where it ended. a few days in the midst of august sufficed for the whole work. the number of churches desecrated has never been counted. in the single province of flanders, four hundred were sacked. in limburg, luxemburg, and namur, there was no image-breaking. in mechlin, seventy or eighty persons accomplished the work thoroughly, in the very teeth of the grand council, and of an astonished magistracy. in tournay, a city distinguished for its ecclesiastical splendor, the reform had been making great progress during the summer. at the same time the hatred between the two religions had been growing more and more intense. trifles and serious matters alike fed the mutual animosity. a tremendous outbreak had been nearly occasioned by an insignificant incident. a jesuit of some notoriety had been preaching a glowing discourse in the pulpit of notre dane. he earnestly avowed his wish that he were good enough to die for all his hearers. he proved to demonstration that no man should shrink from torture or martyrdom in order to sustain the ancient faith. as he was thus expatiating, his fervid discourse was suddenly interrupted by three sharp, sudden blows, of a very peculiar character, struck upon the great portal of the church. the priest, forgetting his love for martyrdom, turned pale and dropped under the pulpit. hurrying down the steps, he took refuge in the vestry, locking and barring the door. the congregation shared in his panic: "the beggars are coming," was the general cry. there was a horrible tumult, which extended through the city as the congregation poured precipitately out of the cathedral, to escape a band of destroying and furious calvinists. yet when the shock had a little subsided, it was discovered that a small urchin was the cause of the whole tumult. having been bathing in the scheldt, he had returned by way of the church with a couple of bladders under his arm. he had struck these against the door of the cathedral, partly to dry them, partly from a love of mischief. thus a great uproar, in the course of which it had been feared that toumay was to be sacked and drenched in blood, had been caused by a little wanton boy who had been swimming on bladders. this comedy preceded by a few days only the actual disaster. on the d of august the news reached tournay that the churches in antwerp, ghent, and many other places, had been sacked. there was an instantaneous movement towards imitating the example on the same evening. pasquier de la barre, procureur-general of the city, succeeded by much entreaty in tranquillizing the people for the night. the "guard of terror" was set, and hopes were entertained that the storm might blow over. the expectation, was vain. at daybreak next day, the mob swept upon the churches and stripped them to the very walls. pictures, statues; organs, ornaments, chalices of silver and gold, reliquaries, albs, chasubles, copes, ciboriea, crosses, chandeliers, lamps; censers, all of richest material, glittering with pearls, rubies, and other precious stones, were scattered in heaps of ruin upon the ground. as the spoilers burrowed among the ancient tombs, they performed, in one or two instances, acts of startling posthumous justice. the embalmed body of duke adolphus of gueldres, last of the egmonts, who had reigned in that province, was dragged from its sepulchre and recognized. although it had been there for ninety years, it was as uncorrupted, "owing to the excellent spices which had preserved it from decay," as upon the day of burial. thrown upon the marble floor of the church, it lay several days exposed to the execrations of the multitude. the duke had committed a crime against his father, in consequence of which the province which had been ruled by native races, had passed under the dominion of charles the bold. weary of waiting for the old duke's inheritance, he had risen against him in open rebellion. dragging him from his bed at midnight in the depth of winter, he had compelled the old man, with no covering but his night gear, to walk with naked feet twenty-five miles over ice and snow from grave to buren, while he himself performed the same journey in his company on horseback. he had then thrown him into a dungeon beneath the tower of buren castle, and kept him a close prisoner for six months. [memoires de philippe de comines (loud. et paris, ), liv. iv. - . in the royal gallery at berlin is a startling picture by rembrandt, in which the old duke is represented looking out of the bars of his dungeon at his son, who is threatening him with uplifted hand and savage face. no subject could be imagined better adapted to the gloomy and sarcastic genius of that painter.] at last, the duke of burgundy summoned the two before his council, and proposed that adolphus should allow his father florins annually, with the title of duke till his death. "he told us," said comines, "that he would sooner throw the old man head-foremost down a well and jump in himself afterwards. his father had been duke forty-four years, and it was time for him to retire." adolphus being thus intractable, had been kept in prison till after the death of charles the bold. to the memorable insurrection of ghent, in the time of the lady mary, he owed his liberty. the insurgent citizens took him from prison, and caused him to lead them in their foray against tournay. beneath the walls of that city he was slain, and buried under its cathedral. and now as if his offence had not been sufficiently atoned for by the loss of his ancestral honors, his captivity, and his death, the earth, after the lapse of nearly a century, had cast him forth from her bosom. there, once more beneath the sunlight, amid a ribald crew of a later generation which had still preserved the memory of his sin, lay the body of the more than parricide, whom "excellent spices" had thus preserved from corruption, only to be the mark of scorn and demoniac laughter. a large assemblage of rioters, growing in numbers as they advanced, swept over the province of tournay, after accomplishing the sack of the city churches. armed with halberds, hammers, and pitchforks, they carried on the war, day after day, against the images. at the convent of marchiennes, considered by contemporaries the most beautiful abbey in all the netherlands, they halted to sing the ten commandments in marot's verse. hardly had the vast chorus finished the precept against graven images; taiiler ne to feras imaige de quelque chose que ce soit, sy bonneur luy fail on hommaige, bon dieu jalousie en recoit, when the whole mob seemed seized with sudden madness. without waiting to complete the psalm, they fastened upon the company of marble martyrs, as if they had possessed sensibility to feel the blows inflicted. in an hour they had laid the whole in ruins. having accomplished this deed, they swept on towards anchin. here, however, they were confronted by the seigneur de la tour, who, at the head of a small company of peasants, attacked the marauders and gained a complete victory. five or six hundred of them were slain, others were drowned in the river and adjacent swamps, the rest were dispersed. it was thus proved that a little more spirit upon the part of the orderly portion of the inhabitants, might have brought about a different result than the universal image-breaking. in valenciennes, "the tragedy," as an eye-witness calls it, was performed upon saint bartholomew's day. it was, however, only a tragedy of statues. hardly as many senseless stones were victims as there were to be living huguenots sacrificed in a single city upon a bartholomew which was fast approaching. in the valenciennes massacre, not a human being was injured. such in general outline and in certain individual details, was the celebrated iconomachy of the netherlands. the movement was a sudden explosion of popular revenge against the symbols of that church from which the reformers had been enduring such terrible persecution. it was also an expression of the general sympathy for the doctrines which had taken possession of the national heart. it was the depravation of that instinct which had in the beginning of the summer drawn calvinists and lutherans forth in armed bodies, twenty thousand strong, to worship god in the open fields. the difference between the two phenomena was, that the field-preaching was a crime committed by the whole mass of the reformers; men, women, and children confronting the penalties of death, by a general determination, while the imagebreaking was the act of a small portion of the populace. a hundred persons belonging to the lowest order of society sufficed for the desecration of the antwerp churches. it was, said orange, "a mere handful of rabble" who did the deed. sir richard clough saw ten or twelve persons entirely sack church after church, while ten thousand spectators looked on, indifferent or horror-struck. the bands of iconoclasts were of the lowest character, and few in number. perhaps the largest assemblage was that which ravaged the province of tournay, but this was so weak as to be entirely routed by a small and determined force. the duty of repression devolved upon both catholics and protestants. neither party stirred. all seemed overcome with special wonder as the tempest swept over the land. the ministers of the reformed religion, and the chiefs of the liberal party, all denounced the image-breaking. francis junius bitterly regretted such excesses. ambrose wille, pure of all participation in the crime, stood up before ten thousand reformers at tournay--even while the storm was raging in the neighboring cities, and, when many voices around him were hoarsely commanding similar depravities to rebuke the outrages by which a sacred cause was disgraced. the prince of orange, in his private letters, deplored the riots, and stigmatized the perpetrators. even brederode, while, as suzerain of his city of viane, he ordered the images there to be quietly taken from the churches, characterized this popular insurrection as insensate and flagitious. many of the leading confederates not only were offended with the proceedings, but, in their eagerness to chastise the iconoclasts and to escape from a league of which they were weary, began to take severe measures against the ministers and reformers, of whom they had constituted themselves in april the especial protectors. the next remarkable characteristic of these tumults was the almost entire abstinence of the rioters from personal outrage and from pillage. the testimony of a very bitter, but honest catholic at valenciennes, is remarkable upon this point. "certain chroniclers," said he, "have greatly mistaken the character of this image-breaking. it has been said that the calvinists killed a hundred priests in this city, cutting some of them into pieces, and burning others over a slow fire. i remember very well every thing which happened upon that abominable day, and i can affirm that not a single priest was injured. the huguenots took good care not to injure in any way the living images." this was the case every where. catholic and protestant writers agree that no deeds of violence were committed against man or woman. it would be also very easy to accumulate a vast weight of testimony as to their forbearance from robbery. they destroyed for destruction's sake, not for purposes of plunder. although belonging to the lowest classes of society, they left heaps of jewellery, of gold and silver plate, of costly embroidery, lying unheeded upon the ground. they felt instinctively that a great passion would be contaminated by admixture with paltry motives. in flanders a company of rioters hanged one of their own number for stealing articles to the value of five shillings. in valenciennes the iconoclasts were offered large sums if they would refrain from desecrating the churches of that city, but they rejected the proposal with disdain. the honest catholic burgher who recorded the fact, observed that he did so because of the many misrepresentations on the subject, not because he wished to flatter heresy and rebellion. at tournay, the greatest scrupulousness was observed upon this point. the floor of the cathedral was strewn with "pearls and precious stones, with chalices and reliquaries of silver and gold;" but the ministers of the reformed religion, in company with the magistrates, came to the spot, and found no difficulty, although utterly without power to prevent the storm, in taking quiet possession of the wreck. "we had every thing of value," says procureur-general de la barre, "carefully inventoried, weighed, locked in chests, and placed under a strict guard in the prison of the halle, to which one set of keys were given to the ministers, and another to the magistrates." who will dare to censure in very severe language this havoc among stocks and stones in a land where so many living men and women, of more value than many statues, had been slaughtered by the inquisition, and where alva's "blood tribunal" was so soon to eclipse even that terrible institution in the number of its victims and the amount of its confiscations? yet the effect of the riots was destined to be most disastrous for a time to the reforming party. it furnished plausible excuses for many lukewarm friends of their cause to withdraw from all connection with it. egmont denounced the proceedings as highly flagitious, and busied himself with punishing the criminals in flanders. the regent was beside herself with indignation and terror. philip, when he heard the news, fell into a paroxysm of frenzy. "it shall cost them dear!" he cried, as he tore his beard for rage; "it shall cost them dear! i swear it by the soul of my father!" the reformation in the netherlands, by the fury of these fanatics, was thus made apparently to abandon the high ground upon which it had stood in the early summer. the sublime spectacle of the multitudinous field-preaching was sullied by the excesses of the image-breaking. the religious war, before imminent, became inevitable. nevertheless, the first effect of the tumults was a temporary advantage to the reformers. a great concession was extorted from the fears of the duchess regent, who was certainly placed in a terrible position. her conduct was not heroic, although she might be forgiven for trepidation. her treachery, however, under these trying circumstances was less venial. at three o'clock in the morning of the nd of august, orange, egmont, horn, hoogatraaten, mansfeld, and others were summoned to the palace. they found her already equipped for flight, surrounded by her waiting-women, chamberlains and lackeys, while the mules and hackneys stood harnessed in the court-yard, and her body-guard were prepared to mount at a moment's notice. she announced her intention of retreating at once to mons, in which city, owing to aerschot's care, she hoped to find refuge against the fury of the rebellion then sweeping the country. her alarm was almost beyond control. she was certain that the storm was ready to burst upon brussels, and that every catholic was about to be massacred before her eyes. aremberg, berlaymont, and noircarmes were with the duchess when the other seigniors arrived. a part of the duke of aerschot's company had been ordered out to escort the projected flight to mons. orange, horn, egmont, and hoogstraaten implored her to desist from her fatal resolution. they represented that such a retreat before a mob would be the very means of ruining the country. they denounced all persons who had counselled the scheme, as enemies of his majesty and herself. they protested their readiness to die at her feet in her defence, but besought her not to abandon the post of duty in the hour of peril. while they were thus anxiously debating, viglius entered the chamber. with tears streaming down her cheeks, margaret turned to the aged president, uttering fierce reproaches and desponding lamentations. viglius brought the news that the citizens had taken possession of the gates, and were resolved not to permit her departure from the city. he reminded her, according to the indispensable practice of all wise counsellors, that he had been constantly predicting this result. he, however, failed in administering much consolation, or in suggesting any remedy. he was, in truth, in as great a panic as herself, and it was, according to the statement of the duchess, mainly in order to save the president from threatened danger, that she eventually resolved to make concessions. "viglius," wrote margaret to philip, "is so much afraid of being cut to pieces, that his timidity has become incredible." upon the warm assurance of count horn, that he would enable her to escape from the city, should it become necessary, or would perish in the attempt, a promise in which he was seconded by the rest of the seigniors, she consented to remain for the day in her palace.--mansfeld was appointed captain-general of the city; egmont, horn, orange, and the others agreed to serve under his orders, and all went down together to the townhouse. the magistrates were summoned, a general meeting of the citizens was convened, and the announcement made of mansfeld's appointment, together with an earnest appeal to all honest men to support the government. the appeal was answered by a shout of unanimous approbation, an enthusiastic promise to live or die with the regent, and the expression of a resolution to permit neither reformed preaching nor image-breaking within the city. nevertheless, at seven o'clock in the evening, the duchess again sent for the seigniors. she informed them that she had received fresh and certain information, that the churches were to be sacked that very night; that viglius, berlaymont, and aremberg were to be killed, and that herself and egmont were to be taken prisoners. she repeated many times that she had been ill-advised, expressed bitter regret at having deferred her flight from the city, and called upon those who had obstructed her plan, now to fulfil their promises. turning fiercely upon count horn, she uttered a volley of reproaches upon his share in the transaction. "you are the cause," said she, "that i am now in this position. why do you not redeem your pledge and enable me to leave the place at once." horn replied that he was ready to do so if she were resolved to stay no longer. he would at the instant cut his way through the guard at the caudenberg gate, and bring her out in safety, or die in the effort. at the same time he assured her that he gave no faith to the idle reports flying about the city, reminded her that nobles, magistrates, and citizens were united in her defence, and in brief used the same arguments which had before been used to pacify her alarm. the nobles were again successful in enforcing their counsels, the duchess was spared the ignominy and the disaster of a retreat before an insurrection which was only directed against statues, and the ecclesiastical treasures of brussels were saved from sacrilege. on the th august came the crowning act of what the reformers considered their most complete triumph, and the regent her deepest degradation. it was found necessary under the alarming aspect of affairs, that liberty of worship, in places where it had been already established, should be accorded to the new religion. articles of agreement to this effect were accordingly drawn up and exchanged between the government and lewis of nassau, attended by fifteen others of the confederacy. a corresponding pledge was signed by them, that so long as the regent was true to her engagement, they would consider their previously existing league annulled, and would assist cordially in every endeavor to maintain tranquillity and support the authority of his majesty. the important accord was then duly signed by the duchess. it declared that the inquisition was abolished, that his majesty would soon issue a new general edict, expressly and unequivocally protecting the nobles against all evil consequences from past transactions, that they were to be employed in the royal service, and that public preaching according to the forms of the new religion was to be practised in places where it had already taken place. letters general were immediately despatched to the senates of all the cities, proclaiming these articles of agreement and ordering their execution. thus for a fleeting moment there was a thrill of joy throughout the netherlands. the inquisition was thought forever abolished, the era of religious reformation arrived. etext editor's bookmarks: all denounced the image-breaking anxiety to do nothing wrong, the senators did nothing at all before morning they had sacked thirty churches bigotry which was the prevailing characteristic of the age enriched generation after generation by wealthy penitence fifty thousand persons in the provinces (put to death) furious fanaticism lutheran princes of germany, detested the doctrines of geneva monasteries, burned their invaluable libraries no qualities whatever but birth and audacity to recommend him notre dame at antwerp persons who discussed religious matters were to be put to death premature zeal was prejudicial to the cause purchased absolution for crime and smoothed a pathway to heaven rearing gorgeous temples where paupers are to kneel schism which existed in the general reformed church storm by which all these treasures were destroyed (in days) the noblest and richest temple of the netherlands was a wreck tyrannical spirit of calvinism would not help to burn fifty or sixty thousand netherlanders etext editor's bookmarks the dutch republic, - , complete: a pleasantry called voluntary contributions or benevolences a country disinherited by nature of its rights absolution for incest was afforded at thirty-six livres achieved the greatness to which they had not been born advancing age diminished his tendency to other carnal pleasures affecting to discredit them all offices were sold to the highest bidder all denounced the image-breaking all his disciples and converts are to be punished with death all reading of the scriptures (forbidden) altercation between luther and erasmus, upon predestination an hereditary papacy, a perpetual pope-emperor an inspiring and delightful recreation (auto-da-fe) announced his approaching marriage with the virgin mary annual harvest of iniquity by which his revenue was increased anxiety to do nothing wrong, the senators did nothing at all arrested on suspicion, tortured till confession as ready as papists, with age, fagot, and excommunication attacking the authority of the pope attempting to swim in two waters batavian legion was the imperial body guard beating the netherlanders into christianity before morning they had sacked thirty churches bigotry which was the prevailing characteristic of the age bishop is a consecrated pirate bold reformer had only a new dogma in place of the old ones brethren, parents, and children, having wives in common burned alive if they objected to transubstantiation burned, strangled, beheaded, or buried alive ( , ) charles the fifth autocrat of half the world condemning all heretics to death consign to the flames all prisoners whatever (papal letter) courage of despair inflamed the french craft meaning, simply, strength criminal whose guilt had been established by the hot iron criminals buying paradise for money crusades made great improvement in the condition of the serfs decrees for burning, strangling, and burying alive democratic instincts of the ancient german savages denies the utility of prayers for the dead despot by birth and inclination (charles v.) difference between liberties and liberty dispute between luther and zwingli concerning the real presence dissimulation and delay divine right drank of the water in which, he had washed endure every hardship but hunger english puritans enormous wealth (of the church) which engendered the hatred enriched generation after generation by wealthy penitence erasmus encourages the bold friar erasmus of rotterdam even for the rape of god's mother, if that were possible excited with the appearance of a gem of true philosophy executions of huss and jerome of prague fable of divine right is invented to sanction the system felix mants, the anabaptist, is drowned at zurich few, even prelates were very dutiful to the pope fiction of apostolic authority to bind and loose fifty thousand persons in the provinces (put to death) fishermen and river raftsmen become ocean adventurers for myself i am unworthy of the honor (of martyrdom) for women to lament, for men to remember forbids all private assemblies for devotion force clerical--the power of clerks furious fanaticism gallant and ill-fated lamoral egmont gaul derided the roman soldiers as a band of pigmies german finds himself sober--he believes himself ill govern under the appearance of obeying great science of political equilibrium great privilege, the magna charta of holland guarantees of forgiveness for every imaginable sin habeas corpus halcyon days of ban, book and candle he knew men, especially he knew their weaknesses he did his best to be friends with all the world heresy was a plant of early growth in the netherlands his imagination may have assisted his memory in the task history shows how feeble are barriers of paper holland, england, and america, are all links of one chain i would carry the wood to burn my own son withal in holland, the clergy had neither influence nor seats informer, in case of conviction, should be entitled to one half inquisition of the netherlands is much more pitiless inquisition was not a fit subject for a compromise insinuating suspicions when unable to furnish evidence invented such christian formulas as these (a curse) inventing long speeches for historical characters july st, two augustine monks were burned at brussels king of zion to be pinched to death with red-hot tongs labored under the disadvantage of never having existed learn to tremble as little at priestcraft as at swordcraft let us fool these poor creatures to their heart's content licences accorded by the crown to carry slaves to america little grievances would sometimes inflame more than vast long succession of so many illustrious obscure look through the cloud of dissimulation lutheran princes of germany, detested the doctrines of geneva made to swing to and fro over a slow fire maintaining the attitude of an injured but forgiving christian man had only natural wrongs (no natural rights) many greedy priests, of lower rank, had turned shop-keepers monasteries, burned their invaluable libraries more accustomed to do well than to speak well no one can testify but a householder no calumny was too senseless to be invented no law but the law of the longest purse no qualities whatever but birth and audacity to recommend him not of the stuff of which martyrs are made (erasmus) notre dame at antwerp nowhere was the persecution of heretics more relentless obstinate, of both sexes, to be burned often much tyranny in democracy one golden grain of wit into a sheet of infinite platitude orator was, however, delighted with his own performance others go to battle, says the historian, these go to war panegyrists of royal houses in the sixteenth century pardon for murder, if not by poison, was cheaper pardon for crimes already committed, or about to be committed paying their passage through, purgatory perpetually dropping small innuendos like pebbles persons who discussed religious matters were to be put to death petty passion for contemptible details philip, who did not often say a great deal in a few words planted the inquisition in the netherlands poisoning, for example, was absolved for eleven ducats pope and emperor maintain both positions with equal logic power to read and write helped the clergy to much wealth premature zeal was prejudicial to the cause procrastination was always his first refuge promises which he knew to be binding only upon the weak purchased absolution for crime and smoothed a pathway to heaven rashness alternating with hesitation readiness to strike and bleed at any moment in her cause rearing gorgeous temples where paupers are to kneel repentant females to be buried alive repentant males to be executed with the sword revocable benefices or feuds ruinous honors sale of absolutions was the source of large fortunes to the priests same conjury over ignorant baron and cowardly hind scaffold was the sole refuge from the rack schism which existed in the general reformed church scoffing at the ceremonies and sacraments of the church secret drowning was substituted for public burning sharpened the punishment for reading the scriptures in private slavery was both voluntary and compulsory soldier of the cross was free upon his return sonnets of petrarch sovereignty was heaven-born, anointed of god st. peter's dome rising a little nearer to the clouds st. bartholomew was to sleep for seven years longer storm by which all these treasures were destroyed (in days) tanchelyn taxation upon sin ten thousand two hundred and twenty individuals were burned that vile and mischievous animal called the people the noblest and richest temple of the netherlands was a wreck the gaul was singularly unchaste the vivifying becomes afterwards the dissolving principle the bad duke of burgundy, philip surnamed "the good," the egg had been laid by erasmus, hatched by luther these human victims, chained and burning at the stake they had at last burned one more preacher alive thousands of burned heretics had not made a single convert thus hand-werpen, hand-throwing, became antwerp to think it capable of error, is the most devilish heresy of all to prefer poverty to the wealth attendant upon trade torquemada's administration (of the inquisition) tranquillity of despotism to the turbulence of freedom two witnesses sent him to the stake, one witness to the rack tyrannical spirit of calvinism understood the art of managing men, particularly his superiors upon one day twenty-eight master cooks were dismissed villagers, or villeins we believe our mothers to have been honest women when the abbot has dice in his pocket, the convent will play william of nassau, prince of orange wiser simply to satisfy himself would not help to burn fifty or sixty thousand netherlanders [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. [chapter vi.] francis junius--his sermon at culemburg house--the compromise-- portraits of sainte aldegonde, of louis 'nassau, of "toison d'or," of charles mansfeld--sketch of the compromise--attitude of orange-- his letter to the duchess--signers of the compromise--indiscretion of the confederates--espionage over philip by orange-- dissatisfaction of the seigniors--conduct of egmont--despair of the people--emigration to england--its effects--the request--meeting at breda and hoogstraaten--exaggerated statements concerning the request in the state council--hesitation of the duchess--assembly of notables--debate concerning the request and the inquisition-- character of brederode--arrival of the petitioners in brussels-- presentation of the request--emotion of margaret--speech of brederode--sketch of the request--memorable sarcasm of berlaymont-- deliberation in the state council--apostille to the request--answer to the apostille--reply of the duchess--speech of d'esquerdes-- response of margaret--memorable banquet at culemburg house--name of "the beggars" adopted--orange, egmont, and horn break up the riotous meeting--costume of "the beggars"--brederode at antwerp--horrible execution at oudenardo--similar cruelties throughout the provinces-- project of "moderation"--religious views of orange--his resignation of all his offices not accepted--the "moderation" characterized-- egmont at arras debate on the "moderation"--vacillation of egmont-- mission of montigny and berghen to spain--instructions to the envoys--secret correspondence of philip with the pope concerning the netherland inquisition and the edicts--field-preaching in the provinces--modet at ghent--other preachers characterized--excitement at tournay--peter gabriel at harlem--field--preaching near antwerp-- embarrassment of the regent--excitement at antwerp--pensionary wesenbeck sent to brussels--orange at antwerp--his patriotic course --misrepresentation of the duchess--intemperate zeal of dr. rythovius--meeting at st. trond--conference at duffel--louis of nassau deputed to the regent--unsatisfactory negotiations. the most remarkable occurrence in the earlier part of the year was the famous compromise. this document, by which the signers pledged themselves to oppose the inquisition, and to defend each other against all consequences of such a resistance, was probably the work of philip de marnix, lord of sainte aldegonde. much obscurity, however, rests upon the origin of this league. its foundations had already been laid in the latter part of the preceding year. the nuptials of parma with the portuguese princess had been the cause of much festivity, not only in brussels, but at antwerp. the great commercial metropolis had celebrated the occasion by a magnificent banquet. there had been triumphal arches, wreaths of flowers, loyal speeches, generous sentiments, in the usual profusion. the chief ornament of the dinner-table had been a magnificent piece of confectionary, netting elaborately forth the mission of count mansfeld with the fleet to portugal to fetch the bride from her home, with exquisitely finished figures in sugar--portraits, it is to be presumed--of the principal personages as they appeared during the most striking scenes of the history. at the very moment, however, of these delectations, a meeting was held at brussels of men whose minds were occupied with sterner stuff than sugar-work. on the wedding-day of parma, francis junius, a dissenting minister then residing at antwerp, was invited to brussels to preach a sermon in the house of count culemburg, on the horse-market (now called little sablon), before a small assembly of some twenty gentlemen. this francis junius, born of a noble family in bourges, was the pastor of the secret french congregation of huguenots at antwerp. he was very young, having arrived from geneva, where he had been educated, to take charge of the secret church, when but just turned of twenty years. he was, however, already celebrated for his learning, his eloquence, and his courage. towards the end of , it had already become known that junius was in secret understanding with louis of nassau, to prepare an address to government on the subject of the inquisition and edicts. orders were given for his arrest. a certain painter of brussels affected conversion to the new religion, that he might gain admission to the congregation, and afterwards earn the reward of the informer. he played his part so well that he was permitted to attend many meetings, in the course of which he sketched the portrait of the preacher, and delivered it to the duchess regent, together with minute statements as to his residence and daily habits. nevertheless, with all this assistance, the government could not succeed in laying hands on him. he escaped to breda, and continued his labors in spite of persecution. the man's courage may be estimated from the fact that he preached on one occasion a sermon, advocating the doctrines of the reformed church with his usual eloquence, in a room overlooking the market-place, where, at the very, instant, the execution by fire of several heretics was taking place, while the light from the flames in which the brethren of their faith were burning, was flickering through the glass windows of the conventicle. such was the man who preached a sermon in culemburg palace on parma's wedding-day. the nobles who listened to him were occupied with grave discourse after conclusion of the religious exercises. junius took no part in their conversation, but in his presence it was resolved that a league against the "barbarous and violent inquisition" should be formed, and, that the confederates should mutually bind themselves both within and without the netherlands to this great purpose. junius, in giving this explicit statement; has not mentioned the names of the nobles before whom he preached. it may be inferred that some of them were the more ardent and the more respectable among the somewhat miscellaneous band by whom the compromise was afterwards signed. at about the same epoch, louis of nassau, nicolas de hammes, and certain other gentlemen met at the baths of spa. at this secret assembly, the foundations of the compromise were definitely laid. a document was afterwards drawn up, which was circulated for signatures in the early part of . it is, therefore, a mistake to suppose that this memorable paper was simultaneously signed and sworn to at any solemn scene like that of the declaration of american independence, or like some of the subsequent transactions in the netherland revolt, arranged purposely for dramatic effect. several copies of the compromise were passed secretly from hand to hand, and in the course of two months some two thousand signatures had been obtained. the original copy bore but three names, those of brederode, charles de mansfeld, and louis of nassau. the composition of the paper is usually ascribed to sainte aldegonde, although the fact is not indisputable. at any rate, it is very certain that he was one of the originators and main supporters of the famous league. sainte aldegonde was one of the most accomplished men of his age. he was of ancient nobility, as he proved by an abundance of historical and heraldic evidence, in answer to a scurrilous pamphlet in which he had been accused, among other delinquencies, of having sprung from plebeian blood. having established his "extraction from true and ancient gentlemen of savoy, paternally and maternally," he rebuked his assailants in manly strain. "even had it been that i was without nobility of birth," said he, "i should be none the less or more a virtuous or honest man; nor can any one reproach me with having failed in the point of honor or duty. what greater folly than to boast of the virtue or gallantry of others, as do many nobles who, having neither a grain of virtue in their souls nor a drop of wisdom in their brains, are entirely useless to their country! yet there are such men, who, because their ancestors have done some valorous deed, think themselves fit to direct the machinery of a whole country, having from their youth learned nothing but to dance and to spin like weathercocks with their heads as well as their heels." certainly sainte aldegonde had learned other lessons than these. he was one of the many-sided men who recalled the symmetry of antique patriots. he was a poet of much vigor and imagination; a prose writer whose style was surpassed by that of none of his contemporaries, a diplomatist in whose tact and delicacy william of orange afterwards reposed in the most difficult and important negotiations, an orator whose discourses on many great public occasions attracted the attention of europe, a soldier whose bravery was to be attested afterwards on many a well-fought field, a theologian so skilful in the polemics of divinity, that, as it will hereafter appear, he was more than a match for a bench of bishops upon their own ground, and a scholar so accomplished, that, besides speaking and writing the classical and several modern languages with facility, he had also translated for popular use the psalms of david into vernacular verse, and at a very late period of his life was requested by the states-general of the republic to translate all the scriptures, a work, the fulfilment of which was prevented by his death. a passionate foe to the inquisition and to all the abuses of the ancient church, an ardent defender of civil liberty, it must be admitted that he partook also of the tyrannical spirit of calvinism. he never rose to the lofty heights to which the spirit of the great founder of the commonwealth was destined to soar, but denounced the great principle of religious liberty for all consciences as godless. he was now twenty-eight years of age, having been born in the same year with his friend louis of nassau. his device, "repos ailleurs," finely typified the restless, agitated and laborious life to which he was destined. that other distinguished leader of the newly-formed league, count louis, was a true knight of the olden time, the very mirror of chivalry. gentle, generous, pious; making use, in his tent before the battle, of the prayers which his mother sent him from the home of his childhood, --yet fiery in the field as an ancient crusader--doing the work of general and soldier with desperate valor and against any numbers-- cheerful and steadfast under all reverses, witty and jocund in social intercourse, animating with his unceasing spirits the graver and more foreboding soul of his brother; he was the man to whom the eyes of the most ardent among the netherland reformers were turned at this early epoch, the trusty staff upon which the great prince of orange was to lean till it was broken. as gay as brederode, he was unstained by his vices, and exercised a boundless influence over that reckless personage, who often protested that he would "die a poor soldier at his feet." the career of louis was destined to be short, if reckoned by years, but if by events, it was to attain almost a patriarchal length. at the age of nineteen he had taken part in the battle of st. quentin, and when once the war of freedom opened, his sword was never to be sheathed. his days were filled with life, and when he fell into his bloody but unknown grave, he was to leave a name as distinguished for heroic valor and untiring energy as for spotless integrity. he was small of stature, but well formed; athletic in all knightly exercises, with agreeable features, a dark laughing eye, close-clipped brown hair, and a peaked beard. "golden fleece," as nicholas de hammes was universally denominated, was the illegitimate scion of a noble house. he was one of the most active of the early adherents to the league, kept the lists of signers in his possession, and scoured the country daily to procure new confederates. at the public preachings of the reformed religion, which soon after this epoch broke forth throughout the netherlands as by a common impulse, he made himself conspicuous. he was accused of wearing, on such occasions, the ensigns of the fleece about his neck, in order to induce ignorant people to believe that they might themselves legally follow, when they perceived a member of that illustrious fraternity to be leading the way. as de hammer was only an official or servant of that order, but not a companion, the seduction of the lieges by such false pretenses was reckoned among the most heinous of his offences. he was fierce in his hostility to the government, and one of those fiery spirits whose premature zeal was prejudicial to the cause of liberty, and disheartening to the cautious patriotism of orange. he was for smiting at once the gigantic atrocity of the spanish dominion, without waiting for the forging of the weapons by which the blows were to be dealt. he forgot that men and money were as necessary as wrath, in a contest with the most tremendous despotism of the world. "they wish," he wrote to count louis, "that we should meet these hungry wolves with remonstrances, using gentle words, while they are burning and cutting off heads.--be it so then. let us take the pen let them take the sword. for them deeds, for us words. we shall weep, they will laugh. the lord be praised for all; but i can not write this without tears." this nervous language painted the situation and the character of the writer. as for charles mansfeld, he soon fell away from the league which he had embraced originally with excessive ardor. by the influence of the leaders many signatures were obtained during the first two months of the year. the language of the document was such that patriotic catholics could sign it as honestly as protestants. it inveighed bitterly against the tyranny of "a heap of strangers," who, influenced only by private avarice and ambition, were making use of an affected zeal for the catholic religion, to persuade the king into a violation of his oaths. it denounced the refusal to mitigate the severity of the edicts. it declared the inquisition, which it seemed the intention of government to fix permanently upon them, as "iniquitous, contrary to all laws, human and divine, surpassing the greatest barbarism which was ever practised by tyrants, and as redounding to the dishonor of god and to the total desolation of the country." the signers protested, therefore, that "having a due regard to their duties as faithful vassals of his majesty, and especially, as noblemen--and in order not to be deprived of their estates and their lives by those who, under pretext of religion, wished to enrich themselves by plunder and murder," they had bound themselves to each other by holy covenant and solemn oath to resist the inquisition. they mutually promised to oppose it in every shape, open or covert, under whatever mask, it might assume, whether bearing the name of inquisition, placard, or edict, "and to extirpate and eradicate the thing in any form, as the mother of all iniquity and disorder." they protested before god and man, that they would attempt nothing to the dishonor of the lord or to the diminution of the king's grandeur, majesty, or dominion. they declared, on the contrary, an honest purpose to "maintain the monarch in his estate, and to suppress all seditious, tumults, monopolies, and factions." they engaged to preserve their confederation, thus formed, forever inviolable, and to permit none of its members to be persecuted in any manner, in body or goods, by any proceeding founded on the inquisition, the edicts, or the present league. it will be seen therefore, that the compromise was in its origin, a covenant of nobles. it was directed against the foreign influence by which the netherlands were exclusively governed, and against the inquisition, whether papal, episcopal, or by edict. there is no doubt that the country was controlled entirely by spanish masters, and that the intention was to reduce the ancient liberty of the netherlands into subjection to a junta of foreigners sitting at madrid. nothing more legitimate could be imagined than a constitutional resistance to such a policy. the prince of orange had not been consulted as to the formation of the league. it was sufficiently obvious to its founders that his cautious mind would find much to censure in the movement. his sentiments with regard to the inquisition and the edicts were certainly known to all men. in the beginning of this year, too, he had addressed a remarkable letter to the duchess, in answer to her written commands to cause the council of trent, the inquisition, and the edicts, in accordance with the recent commands of the king, to be published and enforced throughout his government. although his advice on the subject had not been asked, he expressed his sense of obligation to speak his mind on the subject, preferring the hazard of being censured for his remonstrance, to that of incurring the suspicion of connivance at the desolation of the land by his silence. he left the question of reformation in ecclesiastical morals untouched, as not belonging to his vocation: as to the inquisition, he most distinctly informed her highness that the hope which still lingered in the popular mind of escaping the permanent establishment of that institution, had alone prevented the utter depopulation of the country, with entire subversion of its commercial and manufacturing industry. with regard to the edicts, he temperately but forcibly expressed the opinion that it was very hard to enforce those placards now in their rigor, when the people were exasperated, and the misery universal, inasmuch as they had frequently been modified on former occasions. the king, he said, could gain nothing but difficulty for himself, and would be sure to lose the affection of his subjects by renewing the edicts, strengthening the inquisition, and proceeding to fresh executions, at a time when the people, moved by the example of their neighbors, were naturally inclined to novelty. moreover, when by reason of the daily increasing prices of grain a famine was impending over the land, no worse moment could be chosen to enforce such a policy. in conclusion, he observed that he was at all times desirous to obey the commands of his majesty and her highness, and to discharge the duties of "a good christian." the use of the latter term is remarkable, as marking an epoch in the history of the prince's mind. a year before he would have said a good catholic, but it was during this year that his mind began to be thoroughly pervaded by religious doubt, and that the great question of the reformation forced itself, not only as a political, but as a moral problem upon him, which he felt that he could not much longer neglect instead of solving. such were the opinions of orange. he could not, however, safely entrust the sacred interests of a commonwealth to such hands as those of brederode--however deeply that enthusiastic personage might drink the health of "younker william," as he affectionately denominated the prince--or to "golden fleece," or to charles mansfeld, or to that younger wild boar of ardennes, robert de la marck. in his brother and in sainte aldegonde he had confidence, but he did not exercise over them that control which he afterwards acquired. his conduct towards the confederacy was imitated in the main by the other great nobles. the covenanters never expected to obtain the signatures of such men as orange, egmont, horn, meghen, berghen, or montigny, nor were those eminent personages ever accused of having signed the compromise, although some of them were afterwards charged with having protected those who did affix their names to the document. the confederates were originally found among the lesser nobles. of these some were sincere catholics, who loved the ancient church but hated the inquisition; some were fierce calvinists or determined lutherans; some were troublous and adventurous spirits, men of broken fortunes, extravagant habits, and boundless desires, who no doubt thought that the broad lands of the church, with their stately abbeys; would furnish much more fitting homes and revenues for gallant gentlemen than for lazy monks. all were young, few had any prudence or conduct, and the history of the league more than justified the disapprobation of orange. the nobles thus banded together, achieved little by their confederacy. they disgraced a great cause by their orgies, almost ruined it by their inefficiency, and when the rope of sand which they had twisted fell asunder, the people had gained nothing and the gentry had almost lost the confidence of the nation. these remarks apply to the mass of the confederates and to some of the leaders. louis of nassau and sainte aldegonde were ever honored and trusted as they deserved. although the language of the compromise spoke of the leaguers as nobles, yet the document was circulated among burghers and merchants also, many of whom, according to the satirical remark of a netherland catholic, may, have been influenced by the desire of writing their names in such aristocratic company, and some of whom were destined to expiate such vainglory upon the scaffold. with such associates, therefore, the profound and anxious mind of orange could have little in common. confidence expanding as the numbers increased, their audacity and turbulence grew with the growth of the league. the language at their wild banquets was as hot as the wine which confused their heads; yet the prince knew that there was rarely a festival in which there did not sit some calm, temperate spaniard, watching with quiet eye and cool brain the extravagant demeanor, and listening with composure to the dangerous avowals or bravados of these revellers, with the purpose of transmitting a record of their language or demonstrations, to the inmost sanctuary of philip's cabinet at madrid. the prince knew, too, that the king was very sincere in his determination to maintain the inquisition, however dilatory his proceedings might appear. he was well aware that an armed force might be expected ere long to support the royal edicts. already the prince had organized that system of espionage upon philip, by which the champion of his country was so long able to circumvent its despot. the king left letters carefully locked in his desk at night, and unseen hands had forwarded copies of them to william of orange before the morning. he left memoranda in his pockets on retiring to bed, and exact transcripts of those papers found their way, likewise, ere he rose, to the same watchman in the netherlands. no doubt that an inclination for political intrigue was a prominent characteristic of the prince, and a blemish upon the purity of his moral nature. yet the dissimulating policy of his age he had mastered only that he might accomplish the noblest purposes to which a great and good man can devote his life-the protection of the liberty and the religion of a whole people against foreign tyranny. his intrigue served his country, not a narrow personal ambition, and it was only by such arts that he became philip's master, instead of falling at once, like so many great personages, a blind and infatuated victim. no doubt his purveyors of secret information were often destined fearfully to atone for their contraband commerce, but they who trade in treason must expect to pay the penalty of their traffic. although, therefore, the great nobles held themselves aloof from the confederacy, yet many of them gave unequivocal signs of their dissent from the policy adopted by government. marquis berghen wrote to the duchess; resigning his posts, on the ground of his inability to execute the intention of the king in the matter of religion. meghen replied to the same summons by a similar letter. egmont assured her that he would have placed his offices in the king's hands in spain, could he have foreseen that his majesty would form such resolutions as had now been proclaimed. the sentiments of orange were avowed in the letter to which we have already alluded. his opinions were shared by montigny, culemburg, and many others. the duchess was almost reduced to desperation. the condition of the country was frightful. the most determined loyalists, such as berlaymont, viglius and hopper, advised her not to mention the name of inquisition in a conference which she was obliged to hold with a deputation from antwerp. she feared, all feared, to pronounce the hated word. she wrote despairing letters to philip, describing the condition of the land and her own agony in the gloomiest colors. since the arrival of the royal orders, she said, things had gone from bad to worse. the king had been ill advised. it was useless to tell the people that the inquisition had always existed in the provinces. they maintained that it was a novelty; that the institution was a more rigorous one than the spanish inquisition, which, said margaret, "was most odious, as the king knew." it was utterly impossible to carry the edicts into execution. nearly all the governors of provinces had told her plainly that they would not help to burn fifty or sixty thousand netherlanders. thus bitterly did margaret of parma bewail the royal decree; not that she had any sympathy for the victims, but because she felt the increasing danger to the executioner. one of two things it was now necessary to decide upon, concession or armed compulsion. meantime, while philip was slowly and secretly making his levies, his sister, as well as his people, was on the rack. of all the seigniors, not one was placed in so painful a position as egmont. his military reputation and his popularity made him too important a personage to be slighted, yet he was deeply mortified at the lamentable mistake which he had committed. he now averred that he would never take arms against the king, but that he would go where man should never see him more. such was the condition of the nobles, greater and less. that of the people could not well be worse. famine reigned in the land. emigration, caused not by over population, but by persecution, was fast weakening the country. it was no wonder that not only, foreign merchants should be scared from the great commercial cities by the approaching disorders; but that every industrious artisan who could find the means of escape should seek refuge among strangers, wherever an asylum could be found. that asylum was afforded by protestant england, who received these intelligent and unfortunate wanderers with cordiality, and learned with eagerness the lessons in mechanical skill which they had to teach. already thirty thousand emigrant netherlanders were established in sandwich, norwich, and other places, assigned to them by elizabeth. it had always, however, been made a condition of the liberty granted to these foreigners for practising their handiwork, that each house should employ at least one english apprentice. "thus," said a walloon historian, splenetically, "by this regulation, and by means of heavy duties on foreign manufactures, have the english built up their own fabrics and prohibited those of the netherlands. thus have they drawn over to their own country our skilful artisans to practise their industry, not at home but abroad, and our poor people are thus losing the means of earning their livelihood. thus has clothmaking, silk-making and the art of dyeing declined in this country, and would have been quite extinguished but by our wise countervailing edicts." the writer, who derived most of his materials and his wisdom from the papers of councillor d'assonleville, could hardly doubt that the persecution to which these industrious artisans, whose sufferings he affected to deplore, had been subjected, must have had something to do with their expatriation; but he preferred to ascribe it wholly to the protective system adopted by england. in this he followed the opinion of his preceptor. "for a long time," said assonleville, "the netherlands have been the indies to england; and as long as she has them, she needs no other. the french try to surprise our fortresses and cities: the english make war upon our wealth and upon the purses of the people." whatever the cause, however, the current of trade was already turned. the cloth-making of england was already gaining preponderance over that of the provinces. vessels now went every week from sandwich to antwerp, laden with silk, satin, and cloth, manufactured in england, while as many but a few years before, had borne the flemish fabrics of the same nature from antwerp to england. it might be supposed by disinterested judges that persecution was at the bottom of this change in commerce. the prince of orange estimated that up to this period fifty thousand persons in the provinces had been put to death in obedience to the edicts. he was a moderate man, and accustomed to weigh his words. as a new impulse had been given to the system of butchery--as it was now sufficiently plain that "if the father had chastised his people with a scourge the son held a whip of scorpions" as the edicts were to be enforced with renewed vigor--it was natural that commerce and manufactures should make their escape out of a doomed land as soon as possible, whatever system of tariffs might be adopted by neighboring nations. a new step had been resolved upon early in the month of march by the confederates. a petition, or "request," was drawn up, which was to be presented to the duchess regent in a formal manner by a large number of gentlemen belonging to the league. this movement was so grave, and likely to be followed by such formidable results, that it seemed absolutely necessary for orange and his friends to take some previous cognizance of it before it was finally arranged. the prince had no power, nor was there any reason why he should have the inclination, to prevent the measure, but he felt it his duty to do what he could to control the vehemence of the men who were moving so rashly forward, and to take from their manifesto, as much as possible, the character of a menace. for this end, a meeting ostensibly for social purposes and "good cheer" was held, in the middle of march, at breda, and afterwards adjourned to hoogstraaten. to these conferences orange invited egmont, horn, hoogstraaten, berghen, meghen, montigny, and other great nobles. brederode, tholouse, boxtel, and other members of the league, were also present. the object of the prince in thus assembling his own immediate associates, governors of provinces and knights of the fleece, as well as some of the leading members of the league, was twofold. it had long been his opinion that a temperate and loyal movement was still possible, by which the impending convulsions might be averted. the line of policy which he had marked out required the assent of the magnates of the land, and looked towards the convocation of the states-general. it was natural that he should indulge in the hope of being seconded by the men who were in the same political and social station with himself. all, although catholics, hated the inquisition. as viglius pathetically exclaimed, "saint paul himself would have been unable to persuade these men that good fruit was to be gathered from the inquisition in the cause of religion." saint paul could hardly be expected to reappear on earth for such a purpose. meantime the arguments of the learned president had proved powerless, either to convince the nobles that the institution was laudable or to obtain from the duchess a postponement in the publication of the late decrees. the prince of orange, however, was not able to bring his usual associates to his way of thinking. the violent purposes of the leaguers excited the wrath of the more loyal nobles. their intentions were so dangerous, even in the estimation of the prince himself, that he felt it his duty to lay the whole subject before the duchess, although he was not opposed to the presentation of a modest and moderate request. meghen was excessively indignant at the plan of the confederates, which he pronounced an insult to the government, a treasonable attempt to overawe the duchess, by a "few wretched vagabonds." he swore that "he would break every one of their heads, if the king would furnish him with a couple of hundred thousand florins." orange quietly rebuked this truculent language, by assuring him both that such a process would be more difficult than he thought, and that he would also find many men of great respectability among the vagabonds. the meeting separated at hoogstraaten without any useful result, but it was now incumbent upon the prince, in his own judgment, to watch, and in a measure to superintend, the proceedings of the confederates. by his care the contemplated request was much altered, and especially made more gentle in its tone. meghen separated himself thenceforth entirely from orange, and ranged himself exclusively upon the side of government. egmont vacillated, as usual, satisfying neither the prince nor the duchess. margaret of parma was seated in her council chamber very soon after these occurrences, attended both by orange and egmont, when the count of meghen entered the apartment. with much precipitation, he begged that all matters then before the board might be postponed, in order that he might make an important announcement. he then stated that he had received information from a gentleman on whose word he could rely, a very affectionate servant of the king, but whose name he had promised not to reveal, that a very extensive conspiracy of heretics and sectaries had been formed, both within and without the netherlands, that they had already a force of thirty-five thousand men, foot and horse, ready for action, that they were about to make a sudden invasion, and to plunder the whole country, unless they immediately received a formal concession of entire liberty of conscience, and that, within six or seven days, fifteen hundred men-at-arms would make their appearance before her highness. these ridiculous exaggerations of the truth were confirmed by egmont, who said that he had received similar information from persons whose names he was not at liberty to mention, but from whose statements he could announce that some great tumult might be expected every day. he added that there were among the confederates many who wished to change their sovereign, and that the chieftains and captains of the conspiracy were all appointed. the same nobleman also laid before the council a copy of the compromise, the terms of which famous document scarcely justified the extravagant language with which it had been heralded. the duchess was astounded at these communications. she had already received, but probably not yet read, a letter from the prince of orange upon the subject, in which a moderate and plain statement of the actual facts was laid down, which was now reiterated by the same personage by word of mouth. an agitated and inconclusive debate followed, in which, however, it sufficiently appeared, as the duchess informed her brother, that one of two things must be done without further delay. the time had arrived for the government to take up arms, or to make concessions. in one of the informal meetings of councillors, now held almost daily, on the subject of the impending request, aremberg, meghen, and berlaymont maintained that the door should be shut in the face of the petitioners without taking any further notice of the petition. berlaymont suggested also, that if this course were not found advisable, the next best thing would be to allow the confederates to enter the palace with their request, and then to cut them to pieces to the very last man, by means of troops to be immediately ordered from the frontiers. such sanguinary projects were indignantly rebuked by orange. he maintained that the confederates were entitled to be treated with respect. many of them, he said, were his friends--some of them his relations--and there was no reason for refusing to gentlemen of their rank, a right which belonged to the poorest plebeian in the land. egmont sustained these views of the prince as earnestly as he had on a previous occasion appeared to countenance the more violent counsels of meghen. meantime, as it was obvious that the demonstration on the part of the confederacy was soon about to be made, the duchess convened a grand assembly of notables, in which not only all the state and privy councillors, but all the governors and knights of the fleece were to take part. on the th of march, this assembly was held, at which the whole subject of the request, together with the proposed modifications of the edicts and abolition of the inquisition, was discussed. the duchess also requested the advice of the meeting--whether it would not be best for her to retire to some other city, like mons, which she had selected as her stronghold in case of extremity. the decision was that it would be a high-handed proceeding to refuse the right of petition to a body of gentlemen, many of them related to the greatest nobles in the land; but it was resolved that they should be required to make their appearance without arms. as to the contemplated flight of the duchess, it was urged, with much reason, that such a step would cast disgrace upon the government, and that it would be a sufficiently precautionary measure to strengthen the guards at the city gates--not to prevent the entrance of the petitioners, but to see that they were unaccompanied by an armed force. it had been decided that count brederode should present the petition to the duchess at the head of a deputation of about three hundred gentlemen. the character of the nobleman thus placed foremost on such an important occasion has been sufficiently made manifest. he had no qualities whatever but birth and audacity to recommend him as a leader for a political party. it was to be seen that other attributes were necessary to make a man useful in such a position, and the count's deficiencies soon became lamentably conspicuous. he was the lineal descendant and representative of the old sovereign counts of holland. five hundred years before his birth; his ancestor sikko, younger brother of dirk the third, had died, leaving two sons, one of whom was the first baron of brederode. a descent of five centuries in unbroken male succession from the original sovereigns of holland, gave him a better genealogical claim to the provinces than any which philip of spain could assert through the usurping house of burgundy. in the approaching tumults he hoped for an opportunity of again asserting the ancient honors of his name. he was a sworn foe to spaniards and to "water of the fountain." but a short time previously to this epoch he had written to louis of nassau, then lying ill of a fever, in order gravely to remonstrate with him on the necessity of substituting wine for water on all occasions, and it will be seen in the sequel that the wine-cup was the great instrument on which he relied for effecting the deliverance of the country. although "neither bachelor nor chancellor," as he expressed it, he was supposed to be endowed with ready eloquence and mother wit. even these gifts, however, if he possessed them, were often found wanting on important emergencies. of his courage there was no question, but he was not destined to the death either of a warrior or a martyr. headlong, noisy, debauched, but brave, kind-hearted and generous, he was a fitting representative of his ancestors, the hard-fighting, hard-drinking, crusading, free-booting sovereigns of holland and friesland, and would himself have been more at home and more useful in the eleventh century than in the sixteenth. it was about six o'clock in the evening, on the third day of april ( ), that the long-expected cavalcade at last entered brussels. an immense concourse of citizens of all ranks thronged around the noble confederates as soon as they made their appearance. they were about two hundred in number, all on horseback, with pistols in their holsters, and brederode, tall, athletic, and martial in his bearing, with handsome features and fair curling locks upon his shoulders, seemed an appropriate chieftain for that band of batavian chivalry. the procession was greeted with frequent demonstrations of applause as it wheeled slowly through the city till it reached the mansion of orange nassau. here brederode and count louis alighted, while the rest of the company dispersed to different quarters of the town. "they thought that i should not come to brussels," said brederode, as he dismounted. "very well, here i am; and perhaps i shall depart in a different manner." in the course of the next day, counts culemburg and van den berg entered the city with one hundred other cavaliers. on the morning of the fifth of april, the confederates were assembled at the culemburg mansion, which stood on the square called the sabon, within a few minutes' walk of the palace. a straight handsome street led from the house along the summit of the hill, to the splendid residence of the ancient dukes of brabant, then the abode of duchess margaret. at a little before noon, the gentlemen came forth, marching on foot, two by two, to the number of three hundred. nearly all were young, many of them bore the most ancient historical names of their country, every one was arrayed in magnificent costume. it was regarded as ominous, that the man who led the procession, philip de bailleul, was lame. the line was closed by brederode and count louis, who came last, walking arm in arm. an immense crowd was collected in the square in front of the palace, to welcome the men who were looked upon as the deliverers of the land from spanish tyranny, from the cardinalists, and from the inquisition. they were received with deafening huzzas and clappings of hands by the assembled populace. as they entered the council chamber, passing through the great hall, where ten years before the emperor had given away his crowns, they found the emperor's daughter seated in the chair of state, and surrounded by the highest personages of the country. the emotion of the duchess was evident, as the procession somewhat abruptly made its appearance; nor was her agitation diminished as she observed among the petitioners many relatives and, retainers of the orange and egmont houses, and saw friendly glances of recognition exchanged between them and their chiefs. as soon as all had entered the senate room, brederode advanced, made a low obeisance, and spoke a brief speech. he said that he had come thither with his colleagues to present a humble petition to her highness. he alluded to the reports which had been rife, that they had contemplated tumult, sedition, foreign conspiracies, and, what was more abominable than all, a change of sovereign. he denounced such statements as calumnies, begged the duchess to name the men who had thus aspersed an honorable and loyal company, and called upon her to inflict exemplary punishment upon the slanderers. with these prefatory remarks he presented the petition. the famous document was then read aloud.--its tone was sufficiently loyal, particularly in the preamble, which was filled with protestations of devotion to both king and duchess. after this conventional introduction, however, the petitioners proceeded to state, very plainly, that the recent resolutions of his majesty, with regard to the edict and the inquisition, were likely to produce a general rebellion. they had hoped, they said, that a movement would be made by the seigniors or by the estates, to remedy the evil by striking at its cause, but they had waited in vain. the danger, on the other hand, was augmenting every day, universal sedition was at the gate, and they had therefore felt obliged to delay no longer, but come forward the first and do their duty. they professed to do this with more freedom, because the danger touched them very nearly. they were the most exposed to the calamities which usually spring from civil commotions, for their, houses and lands situate in the open fields, were exposed to the pillage of all the world. moreover there was not one of them, whatever his condition, who was not liable at any moment to be executed under the edicts, at the false complaint of the first man who wished to obtain his estate, and who chose to denounce him to the inquisitor, at whose mercy were the lives and property of all. they therefore begged the duchess regent to despatch an envoy on their behalf, who should humbly implore his majesty to abolish the edicts. in the mean time they requested her highness to order a general surcease of the inquisition, and of all executions, until the king's further pleasure was made known, and until new ordinances, made by his majesty with advice and consent of the states-general duly assembled, should be established. the petition terminated as it had commenced, with expressions of extreme respect and devoted loyalty. the agitation of duchess margaret increased very perceptibly during the reading of the paper. when it was finished, she remained for a few minutes quite silent, with tears rolling down her cheeks. as soon as she could overcome her excitement, she uttered a few words to the effect that she would advise with her councillors and give the petitioners such answer as should be found suitable. the confederates then passed out from the council chamber into the grand hall; each individual, as he took his departure, advancing towards the duchess and making what was called the "caracole," in token of reverence. there was thus ample time to contemplate the whole company; and to count the numbers of the deputation. after this ceremony had been concluded, there was much earnest debate in. the council. the prince of orange addressed a few words to the duchess, with the view of calming her irritation. he observed that the confederates were no seditious rebels, but loyal gentlemen, well born, well connected, and of honorable character. they had been influenced, he said, by an honest desire to save their country from impending danger --not by avarice or ambition. egmont shrugged his shoulders, and observed that it was necessary for him to leave the court for a season, in order to make a visit to the baths of aix, for an inflammation which he had in the leg. it was then that berlaymont, according to the account which has been sanctioned by nearly every contemporary writer, whether catholic or protestant, uttered the gibe which was destined to become immortal, and to give a popular name to the confederacy. "what, madam," he is reported to have cried in a passion, "is it possible that your highness can entertain fears of these beggars? (gueux). is it not obvious what manner of men they are? they have not had wisdom enough to manage their own estates, and are they now to teach the king and your highness how to govern the country? by the living god, if my advice were taken, their petition should have a cudgel for a commentary, and we would make them go down the steps of the palace a great deal faster than they mounted them." the count of meghen was equally violent in his language. aremberg was for ordering "their reverences; the confederates," to, quit brussels without delay. the conversation, carried on in so violent a key, might not unnaturally have been heard by such of the gentlemen as had not yet left the grand hall adjoining the council chamber. the meeting of the council was then adjourned for an hour or two, to meet again in the afternoon, for the purpose of deciding deliberately upon the answer to be given to the request. meanwhile, many of the confederates were swaggering about the streets, talking very bravely of the scene which had just occurred, and it is probable, boasting not a little of the effect which their demonstration would produce. as they passed by the house of berlaymont, that nobleman, standing at his window in company with count aremberg, is said to have repeated his jest. "there go our fine beggars again," said he. "look, i pray you, with what bravado they are passing before us!" on the th of april, brederode, attended by a large number of his companions, again made his appearance at the palace. he then received the petition, which was returned to him with an apostille or commentary to this effect:--her highness would despatch an envoy for the purpose of inducing his majesty to grant the request. every thing worthy of the king's unaffected (naive) and customary benignity might be expected as to the result. the duchess had already, with the assistance of the state and privy councillors, fleece knights and governors, commenced a project for moderating the edicts, to be laid before the king. as her authority did not allow her to suspend the inquisition and placards, she was confident that the petitioners would be satisfied with the special application about to be made to the king. meantime, she would give orders to all inquisitors, that they should proceed "modestly and discreetly" in their office, so that no one would have cause to complain. her highness hoped likewise that the gentlemen on their part would conduct themselves in a loyal and satisfactory manner; thus proving that they had no intention to make innovations in the ancient religion of the country. upon the next day but one, monday, th of april, brederode, attended by a number of the confederates, again made his appearance at the palace, for the purpose of delivering an answer to the apostille. in this second paper the confederates rendered thanks for the prompt reply which the duchess had given to their request, expressed regrets that she did not feel at liberty to suspend the inquisition, and declared their confidence that she would at once give such orders to the inquisitors and magistrates that prosecutions for religious matters should cease, until the king's further pleasure should be declared. they professed themselves desirous of maintaining whatever regulations should be thereafter established by his majesty, with the advice and consent of the states-general, for the security of the ancient religion, and promised to conduct themselves generally in such wise that her highness would have every reason to be satisfied with them. they, moreover, requested that the duchess would cause the petition to be printed in authentic form by the government printer. the admission that the confederates would maintain the ancient religion had been obtained, as margaret informed her brother, through the dexterous management of hoogstraaten, without suspicion on the part of the petitioners that the proposition for such a declaration came from her. the duchess replied by word of mouth to the second address thus made to her by the confederates, that she could not go beyond the apostille which she had put on record. she had already caused letters for the inquisitors and magistrates to be drawn up. the minutes for those instructions should be laid before the confederates by count hoogstraaten and secretary berty. as for the printing of their petition, she was willing to grant their demand, and would give orders to that effect. the gentlemen having received this answer, retired into the great hall. after a few minutes' consultation, however, they returned to the council chamber, where the seigneur d'esquerdes, one of their number, addressed a few parting words, in the name of his associates, to the regent; concluding with a request that she would declare, the confederates to have done no act, and made no demonstration, inconsistent with their duty and with a perfect respect for his majesty. to this demand the duchess answered somewhat drily that she could not be judge in such a cause. time and their future deeds, she observed, could only bear witness as to their purposes. as for declarations from her, they must be satisfied with the apostille which they had already received. with this response, somewhat more tart than agreeable, the nobles were obliged to content themselves, and they accordingly took their leave. it must be confessed that they had been disposed to slide rather cavalierly over a good deal of ground towards the great object which they had in view. certainly the petitio principii was a main feature of their logic. they had, in their second address, expressed perfect confidence as to two very considerable concessions. the duchess was practically to suspend the inquisition, although she had declared herself without authority for that purpose, the king, who claimed, de jure and de facto, the whole legislative power, was thenceforth to make laws on religious matters by and with the consent of the states-general. certainly, these ends were very laudable, and if a civil and religious revolution could have been effected by a few gentlemen going to court in fine clothes to present a petition, and by sitting down to a tremendous banquet afterwards, brederode and his associates were the men to accomplish the task. unfortunately, a sea of blood and long years of conflict lay between the nation and the promised land, which for a moment seemed so nearly within reach. meantime the next important step in brederode's eyes was a dinner. he accordingly invited the confederates to a magnificent repast which he had ordered to be prepared in the culemburg mansion. three hundred guests sat down, upon the th of april, to this luxurious banquet, which was destined to become historical. the board glittered with silver and gold. the wine circulated with more than its usual rapidity among the band of noble bacchanals, who were never weary of drinking the healths of brederode, of orange, and of egmont. it was thought that the occasion imperiously demanded an extraordinary carouse, and the political events of the past three days lent an additional excitement to the wine. there was an earnest discussion as to an appropriate name to be given to their confederacy. should they call themselves the "society of concord," the restorers of lost liberty, or by what other attractive title should the league be baptized? brederode was, however, already prepared to settle the question. he knew the value of a popular and original name; he possessed the instinct by which adroit partisans in every age have been accustomed to convert the reproachful epithets of their opponents into watchwords of honor, and he had already made his preparations for a startling theatrical effect. suddenly, amid the din of voices, he arose, with all his rhetorical powers at command: he recounted to the company the observations which the seigneur de berlaymont was reported to have made to the duchess, upon the presentation of the request, and the name which he had thought fit to apply to them collectively. most of the gentlemen then heard the memorable sarcasm for the first time. great was the indignation of all that the state councillor should have dared to stigmatize as beggars a band of gentlemen with the best blood of the land in their veins. brederode, on the contrary, smoothing their anger, assured them with good humor that nothing could be more fortunate. "they call us beggars!" said he; "let us accept the name. we will contend with the inquisition, but remain loyal to the king, even till compelled to wear the beggar's sack." he then beckoned to one of his pages, who brought him a leathern wallet, such as was worn at that day by professional mendicants, together with a large wooden bowl, which also formed part of their regular appurtenances. brederode immediately hung the wallet around his neck, filled the bowl with wine, lifted it with both hands, and drained it at a draught. "long live the beggars!" he cried, as he wiped his beard and set the bowl down. "vivent les gueulx." then for the first time, from the lips of those reckless nobles rose the famous, cry, which was so often to ring over land and sea, amid blazing cities, on blood-stained decks, through the smoke and carnage of many a stricken field. the humor of brederode was hailed with deafening shouts of applause. the count then threw the wallet around the neck of his nearest neighbor, and handed him the wooden bawl. each guest, in turn, donned the mendicant's knapsack. pushing aside his golden goblet, each filled the beggars' bowl to the brim, and drained it to the beggars' health. roars of laughter, and shouts of "vivent les gueulx" shook the walls of the stately mansion, as they were doomed never to shake again. the shibboleth was invented. the conjuration which they had been anxiously seeking was found. their enemies had provided them with a spell, which was to prove, in after days, potent enough to start a spirit from palace or hovel, forest or wave, as the deeds of the "wild beggars," the "wood beggars," and the "beggars of the sea" taught philip at last to understand the nation which he had driven to madness. when the wallet and bowl had made the circuit of the table, they were suspended to a pillar in the hall. each of the company in succession then threw some salt into his goblet, and, placing himself under these symbols of the brotherhood, repeated a jingling distich, produced impromptu for the occasion. by this salt, by this bread, by this wallet we swear, these beggars ne'er will change, though all the world should stare. this ridiculous ceremony completed the rites by which the confederacy received its name; but the banquet was by no means terminated. the uproar became furious. the younger and more reckless nobles abandoned themselves to revelry, which would have shamed heathen saturnalia. they renewed to each other, every moment, their vociferous oaths of fidelity to the common cause, drained huge beakers to the beggars' health, turned their caps and doublets inside out, danced upon chairs and tables. several addressed each other as lord abbot, or reverend prior, of this or that religious institution, thus indicating the means by which some of them hoped to mend their broken fortunes. while the tumult was at its height, the prince of orange with counts horn and egmont entered the apartment. they had been dining quietly with mansfeld, who was confined to his house with an inflamed eye, and they were on their way to the council chamber, where the sessions were now prolonged nightly to a late hour. knowing that hoogstraaten, somewhat against his will, had been induced to be present at the banquet, they had come round by the way of culemburg house, to induce him to retire. they were also disposed, if possible, to abridge the festivities which their influence would have been powerless to prevent. these great nobles, as soon as they made their appearance, were surrounded by a crew of "beggars," maddened and dripping with their, recent baptism of wine, who compelled them to drink a cup amid shouts of "vivent le roi et les gueulx!" the meaning of this cry they of course could not understand, for even those who had heard berlaymont's contemptuous remarks, might not remember the exact term which he had used, and certainly could not be aware of the importance to which it had just been elevated. as for horn, he disliked and had long before quarrelled with brederode, had prevented many persons from signing the compromise, and, although a guest at that time of orange, was in the habit of retiring to bed before supper, to avoid the company of many who frequented the house. yet his presence for a few moments, with the best intentions, at the conclusion of this famous banquet, was made one of the most deadly charges which were afterwards drawn up against him by the crown. the three seigniors refused to be seated, and remained but for a moment, "the length of a miserere," taking with them hoogstraaten as they retired. they also prevailed upon the whole party to break up at the same time, so that their presence had served at least to put a conclusion to the disgraceful riot. when they arrived at the council chamber they received the thanks of the duchess for what they had done. such was the first movement made by the members of the compromise. was it strange that orange should feel little affinity with such companions? had he not reason to hesitate, if the sacred cause of civil and religious liberty could only be maintained by these defenders and with such assistance? the "beggars" did not content themselves with the name alone of the time- honored fraternity of mendicants in which they had enrolled themselves. immediately after the culemburg banquet, a costume for the confederacy was decided upon. these young gentlemen discarding gold lace and velvet, thought it expedient to array themselves in doublets and hose of ashen grey, with short cloaks of the same color, all of the coarsest materials. they appeared in this guise in the streets, with common felt hats on their heads, and beggars' pouches and bowls at their sides. they caused also medals of lead and copper to be struck, bearing upon one side the head of philip; upon the reverse, two hands clasped within a wallet, with the motto, "faithful to the king, even to wearing the beggar's sack." these badges they wore around their necks, or as buttons to their hats. as a further distinction they shaved their beards close, excepting the moustachios, which were left long and pendent in the turkish fashion, --that custom, as it seemed, being an additional characteristic of mendicants. very soon after these events the nobles of the league dispersed from the capital to their various homes. brederode rode out of brussels at the head of a band of cavaliers, who saluted the concourse of applauding spectators with a discharge of their pistols. forty-three gentlemen accompanied him to antwerp, where he halted for a night. the duchess had already sent notice to the magistrates of that city of his intended visit, and warned them to have an eye upon his proceedings. "the great beggar," as hoogstraaten called him, conducted himself, however, with as much propriety as could be expected. four or five thousand of the inhabitants thronged about the hotel where he had taken up his quarters. he appeared at a window with his wooden bowl, filled with wine, in his hands, and his wallet at his side. he assured the multitude that he was ready to die to defend the good people of antwerp and of all the netherlands against the edicts and the inquisition. meantime he drank their healths, and begged all who accepted the pledge to hold up their hands. the populace, highly amused, held up and clapped their hands as honest brederode drained his bowl, and were soon afterwards persuaded to retire in great good humor. these proceedings were all chronicled and transmitted to madrid. it was also both publicly reported and secretly registered, that brederode had eaten capons and other meat at antwerp, upon good friday, which happened to be the, day of his visit to that city. he denied the charge, however; with ludicrous vehemence. "they who have told madame that we ate meat in antwerp," he wrote to count louis, "have lied wickedly and miserably, twenty-four feet down in their throats." he added that his nephew, charles mansfeld, who, notwithstanding the indignant prohibition of his father, had assisted of the presentation of the request, and was then in his uncle's company at antwerp, had ordered a capon, which brederode had countermanded. "they told me afterwards," said he, "that my nephew had broiled a sausage in his chamber. i suppose that he thought himself in spain, where they allow themselves such dainties." let it not be thought that these trifles are beneath the dignity of history. matters like these filled the whole soul of philip, swelled the bills of indictment for thousands of higher and better men than brederode, and furnished occupation as well for secret correspondents and spies as for the most dignified functionaries of government. capons or sausages on good friday, the psalms of clement marot, the sermon on the mount in the vernacular, led to the rack, the gibbet, and the stake, but ushered in a war against the inquisition which was to last for eighty years. brederode was not to be the hero of that party which he disgraced by his buffoonery. had he lived, he might, perhaps, like many of his confederates, have redeemed, by his bravery in the field, a character which his orgies had rendered despicable. he now left antwerp for the north of holland, where, as he soon afterwards reported to count louis, "the beggars were as numerous as the sands on the seashore." his "nephew charles," two months afterwards, obeyed his father's injunction, and withdrew formally from the confederacy. meantime the rumor had gone abroad that the request of the nobles had already produced good fruit, that the edicts were to be mitigated, the inquisition abolished, liberty of conscience eventually to prevail. "upon these reports," says a contemporary, "all the vermin of exiles and fugitives for religion, as well as those who had kept in concealment, began to lift up their heads and thrust forth their horns." it was known that margaret of parma had ordered the inquisitors and magistrates to conduct themselves "modestly and discreetly." it was known that the privy council was hard at work upon the project for "moderating" the edicts. modestly and discreetly, margaret of parma, almost immediately after giving these orders, and while the "moderation" was still in the hands of the lawyers, informed her brother that she had given personal attention to the case of a person who had snatched the holy wafer from the priest's hand at oudenarde. this "quidam," as she called him--for his name was beneath the cognizance of an emperor's bastard daughter--had by her orders received rigorous and exemplary justice. and what was the "rigorous and exemplary justice" thus inflicted upon the "quidam?" the procurator of the neighboring city of tournay has enabled us to answer. the young man, who was a tapestry weaver, hans tiskaen by name, had, upon the th may, thrown the holy wafer upon the ground. for this crime, which was the same as that committed on christmas-day of the previous year by bertrand le blas, at tournay, he now met with a similar although not quite so severe a punishment. having gone quietly home after doing the deed, he was pursued, arrested, and upon the saturday ensuing taken to the market-place of oudenarde. here the right hand with which he had committed the offence was cut off, and he was then fastened to the stake and burned to death over a slow fire. he was fortunately not more than a quarter of an hour in torment, but he persisted in his opinions, and called on god for support to his last breath. this homely tragedy was enacted at oudenarde, the birth place of duchess margaret. she was the daughter of the puissant charles the fifth, but her mother was only the daughter of a citizen of oudenarde; of a "quidam" like the nameless weaver who had thus been burned by her express order. it was not to be supposed, however, that the circumstance could operate in so great a malefactor's favor. moreover, at the same moment, she sent orders that a like punishment should be inflicted upon another person then in a flemish prison, for the crime of anabaptism. the privy council, assisted by thirteen knights of the fleece, had been hard at work, and the result of their wisdom was at last revealed in a "moderation" consisting of fifty-three articles. what now was the substance of those fifty-three articles, so painfully elaborated by viglius, so handsomely drawn up into shape by councillor d'assonleville? simply to substitute the halter for the fagot. after elimination of all verbiage, this fact was the only residuum. it was most distinctly laid down that all forms of religion except the roman catholic were forbidden; that no public or secret conventicles were to be allowed; that all heretical writings were to be suppressed; that all curious inquiries into the scriptures were to be prohibited. persons who infringed these regulations were divided into two classes--the misleaders and the misled. there was an affectation of granting mercy to persons in the second category, while death was denounced upon those composing the first. it was merely an affectation; for the rambling statute was so open in all its clauses, that the juggernaut car of persecution could be driven through the whole of them, whenever such a course should seem expedient. every man or woman in the netherlands might be placed in the list of the misleaders, at the discretion of the officials. the pretended mercy to the misguided was a mere delusion. the superintendents, preachers, teachers, ministers, sermon-makers, deacons, and other officers, were to be executed with the halter, with confiscation of their whole property. so much was very plain. other heretics, however, who would abjure their heresy before the bishop, might be pardoned for the first offence, but if obstinate, were to be banished. this seemed an indication of mercy, at least to the repentant criminals. but who were these "other" heretics? all persons who discussed religious matters were to be put to death. all persons, not having studied theology at a "renowned university," who searched and expounded the scriptures, were to be put to death. all persons in whose houses any act of the perverse religion should be committed, were to be put to death. all persons who harbored or protected ministers and teachers of any sect, were to be put to death. all the criminals thus carefully enumerated were to be executed, whether repentant or not. if, however, they abjured their errors, they were to be beheaded instead of being strangled. thus it was obvious that almost any heretic might be brought to the halter at a moment's notice. strictly speaking, the idea of death by the halter or the axe was less shocking to the imagination than that of being burned or buried alive. in this respect, therefore, the edicts were softened by the proposed "moderation." it would, however, always be difficult to persuade any considerable slumber of intelligent persons, that the infliction of a violent death, by whatever process, on account of religious opinions, was an act of clemency. the netherlanders were, however, to be persuaded into this belief. the draft of the new edict was ostentatiously called the "moderatie," or the "moderation." it was very natural, therefore, that the common people, by a quibble, which is the same in flemish as in english, should call the proposed "moderation" the "murderation." the rough mother-wit of the people had already characterized and annihilated the project, while dull formalists were carrying it through the preliminary stages. a vote in favor of the project having been obtained from the estates of artois, hainault, and flanders, the instructions for the envoys; baron montigny and marquis berghen, were made out in conformity to the scheme. egmont had declined the mission, not having reason to congratulate himself upon the diplomatic success of his visit to spain in the preceding year. the two nobles who consented to undertake the office were persuaded into acceptance sorely against their will. they were aware that their political conduct since the king's departure from the country had not always been deemed satisfactory at madrid, but they were, of course, far from suspecting the true state of the royal mind. they were both as sincere catholics and as loyal gentlemen as granvelle, but they were not aware how continuously, during a long course of years, that personage had represented them to philip as renegades and rebels. they had maintained the constitutional rights of the state, and they had declined to act as executioners for the inquisition, but they were yet to learn that such demonstrations amounted to high treason. montigny departed, on the th may, from brussels. he left the bride to whom he had been wedded amid scenes of festivity, the preceding autumn-- the unborn child who was never to behold its father's face. he received warnings in paris, by which he scorned to profit. the spanish ambassador in that city informed him that philip's wrath at the recent transactions in the netherlands was high. he was most significantly requested, by a leading personage in france, to feign illness, or to take refuge in any expedient by which he might avoid the fulfilment of his mission. such hints had no effect in turning him from his course, and he proceeded to madrid, where he arrived on the th of june. his colleague in the mission, marquis berghen, had been prevented from setting forth at the same time, by an accident which, under the circumstances, might almost seem ominous. walking through the palace park, in a place where some gentlemen were playing at pall-mall, he was accidentally struck in the leg by a wooden ball. the injury, although trifling, produced go much irritation and fever that he was confined to his bed for several weeks. it was not until the st of july that he was able to take his departure from brussels. both these unfortunate nobles thus went forth to fulfil that dark and mysterious destiny from which the veil of three centuries has but recently been removed. besides a long historical discourse, in eighteen chapters, delivered by way of instruction to the envoys, margaret sent a courier beforehand with a variety of intelligence concerning the late events. alonzo del canto, one of philip's spies in the netherlands, also wrote to inform the king that the two ambassadors were the real authors of all the troubles then existing in the country. cardinal granvelle, too, renewed his previous statements in a confidential communication to his majesty, adding that no persons more appropriate could have been selected than berghen and montigny, for they knew better than any one else the state of affairs. in which they had borne the principal part. nevertheless, montigny, upon his arrival in madrid on the th of june, was received by philip with much apparent cordiality, admitted immediately to an audience, and assured in the strongest terms that there was no dissatisfaction in the royal mind against the seigniors, whatever false reports might be circulated to that effect. in other respects, the result of this and of his succeeding interviews with the monarch was sufficiently meagre. it could not well be otherwise. the mission of the envoys was an elaborate farce to introduce a terrible tragedy. they were sent to procure from philip the abolition of the inquisition and the moderation of the edicts. at the very moment, however, of all these legislative and diplomatic arrangements, margaret of parma was in possession of secret letters from philip, which she was charged to deliver to the archbishop of sorrento, papal nuncio at the imperial court, then on a special visit to brussels. this ecclesiastic had come to the netherlands ostensibly to confer with the prince of orange upon the affairs of his principality, to remonstrate with count culemburg, and to take measures for the reformation of the clergy. the real object of his mission, however, was to devise means for strengthening the inquisition and suppressing heresy in the provinces. philip, at whose request he had come, had charged him by no means to divulge the secret, as the king was anxious to have it believed that the ostensible was the only business which the prelate had to perform in the country. margaret accordingly delivered to him the private letters, in which philip avowed his determination to maintain the inquisition and the edicts in all their rigor, but enjoined profound secrecy upon the subject. the duchess, therefore, who knew the face of the cards, must have thought it a superfluous task to continue the game, which to philip's cruel but procrastinating temperament was perhaps a pleasurable excitement. the scheme for mitigating the edicts by the substitution of strangling for burning, was not destined therefore far much success either in spain or in the provinces; but the people by whom the next great movement was made in the drama of the revolt, conducted themselves in a manner to shame the sovereign who oppressed, and the riotous nobles who had undertaken to protect their liberties. at this very moment, in the early summer of , many thousands of burghers, merchants, peasants, and gentlemen, were seen mustering and marching through the fields of every province, armed with arquebus, javelin, pike and broadsword. for what purpose were these gatherings? only to hear sermons and to sing hymns in the open air, as it was unlawful to profane the churches with such rites. this was the first great popular phase of the netherland rebellion. notwithstanding the edicts and the inquisition with their daily hecatombs, notwithstanding the special publication at this time throughout the country by the duchess regent that all the sanguinary statutes concerning religion were in as great vigor as ever, notwithstanding that margaret offered a reward of seven hundred crowns to the man who would bring her a preacher--dead or alive,--the popular thirst for the exercises of the reformed religion could no longer be slaked at the obscure and hidden fountains where their priests had so long privately ministered. partly emboldened by a temporary lull in the persecution, partly encouraged by the presentation of the request and by the events to which it had given rise, the reformers now came boldly forth from their lurking places and held their religious meetings in the light of day. the consciousness of numbers and of right had brought the conviction of strength. the audacity of the reformers was wonderful to the mind of president viglius, who could find no language strong enough with which to characterize and to deplore such blasphemous conduct. the field- preaching seemed in the eyes of government to spread with the rapidity of a malignant pestilence. the miasma flew upon the wings of the wind. as early as , there had been public preaching in the neighborhood of ypres. the executions which followed, however, had for the time suppressed the practice both in that place as well as throughout flanders and the rest of the provinces. it now broke forth as by one impulse from one end of the country to the other. in the latter part of june, hermann stryoker or modet, a monk who had renounced his vows to become one of the most popular preachers in the reformed church, addressed a congregation of seven or eight thousand persons in the neighborhood of ghent. peter dathenus, another unfrocked monk, preached at various places in west flanders, with great effect. a man endowed with a violent, stormy eloquence, intemperate as most zealots, he was then rendering better services to the cause of the reformation than he was destined to do at later periods. but apostate priests were not the only preachers. to the ineffable disgust of the conservatives in church and state, there were men with little education, utterly devoid of hebrew, of lowly station--hatters, curriers, tanners, dyers, and the like, who began to preach also; remembering, unseasonably perhaps, that the early disciples, selected by the founder of christianity, had not all been doctors of theology, with diplomas from a "renowned university." but if the nature of such men were subdued to what it worked in, that charge could not be brought against ministers with the learning and accomplishments of ambrose wille, marnier, guy de bray, or francis junius, the man whom scaliger called the "greatest of all theologians since the days of the apostles." an aristocratic sarcasm could not be levelled against peregrine de la grange, of a noble family in provence, with the fiery blood of southern france in his veins, brave as his nation, learned, eloquent, enthusiastic, who galloped to his field-preaching on horseback, and fired a pistol-shot as a signal for his congregation to give attention. on the th of june, , at eleven o'clock at night, there was an assemblage of six thousand people near tournay, at the bridge of ernonville, to hear a sermon from ambrose wille, a man who had studied theology in geneva, at the feet of calvin, and who now, with a special price upon his head,--was preaching the doctrines he had learned. two days afterwards, ten thousand people assembled at the same spot, to hear peregrine de la grange. governor moulbais thundered forth a proclamation from the citadel, warning all men that the edicts were as rigorous as ever, and that every man, woman, or child who went to these preachings, was incurring the penalty of death. the people became only the more ardent and excited. upon sunday, the seventh of july; twenty thousand persons assembled at the same bridge to hear ambrose wille. one man in three was armed. some had arquebuses, others pistols, pikes, swords, pitchforks, poniards, clubs. the preacher, for whose apprehension a fresh reward had been offered, was escorted to his pulpit by a hundred mounted troopers. he begged his audience not to be scared from the word of god by menace; assured them that although but a poor preacher himself, he held a divine commission; that he had no fear of death; that, should he fall, there were many better than he to supply his place, and fifty thousand men to avenge his murder. the duchess sent forth proclamations by hundreds. she ordered the instant suppression of these armed assemblies and the arrest of the preachers. but of what avail were proclamations against such numbers with weapons in their hands. why irritate to madness these hordes of enthusiasts, who were now entirely pacific, and who marched back to the city, after conclusion of divine service, with perfect decorum? all classes of the population went eagerly to the sermons. the gentry of the place, the rich merchants, the notables, as well as the humbler artisans and laborers, all had received the infection. the professors of the reformed religion outnumbered the catholics by five or six to one. on sundays and other holidays, during the hours of service, tournay was literally emptied of its inhabitants. the streets were as silent as if war or pestilence had swept the place. the duchess sent orders, but she sent no troops. the trained-bands of the city, the cross-bow-men of st. maurice, the archers of st. sebastian, the sword-players of st. christopher, could not be ordered from tournay to suppress the preaching, for they had all gone to the preaching themselves. how idle, therefore; to send peremptory orders without a matchlock to enforce the command. throughout flanders similar scenes were enacted. the meetings were encampments, for the reformers now came to their religious services armed to the teeth, determined, if banished from the churches, to defend their right to the fields. barricades of upturned wagons, branches, and planks, were thrown up around the camps. strong guards of mounted men were stationed at every avenue. outlying scouts gave notice of approaching danger, and guided the faithful into the enclosure. pedlers and hawkers plied the trade upon which the penalty of death was fixed, and sold the forbidden hymn-books to all who chose to purchase. a strange and contradictory spectacle! an army of criminals doing deeds which could only be expiated at the stake; an entrenched rebellion, bearding the government with pike, matchlock, javelin and barricade, and all for no more deadly purpose than to listen to the precepts of the pacific jesus. thus the preaching spread through the walloon provinces to the northern netherlands. towards the end of july, an apostate monk, of singular eloquence, peter gabriel by name, was announced to preach at overeen near harlem. this was the first field-meeting which had taken place in holland. the people were wild with enthusiasm; the authorities beside themselves with apprehension. people from the country flocked into the town by thousands. the other cities were deserted, harlem was filled to overflowing. multitudes encamped upon the ground the night before. the magistrates ordered the gates to be kept closed in the morning till long after the usual hour. it was of no avail. bolts and bars were but small impediments to enthusiasts who had travelled so many miles on foot or horseback to listen to a sermon. they climbed the walls, swam the moat and thronged to the place of meeting long before the doors had been opened. when these could no longer be kept closed without a conflict, for which the magistrates were not prepared, the whole population poured out of the city with a single impulse. tens of thousands were assembled upon the field. the bulwarks were erected as usual, the guards were posted, the necessary precautions taken. but upon this occasion, and in that region there was but little danger to be apprehended. the multitude of reformers made the edicts impossible, so long as no foreign troops were there to enforce them. the congregation was encamped and arranged in an orderly manner. the women, of whom there were many, were placed next the pulpit, which, upon this occasion, was formed of a couple of spears thrust into the earth, sustaining a cross-piece, against which the preacher might lean his back. the services commenced with the singing of a psalm by the whole vast assemblage. clement marot's verses, recently translated by dathenus, were then new and popular. the strains of the monarch minstrel, chanted thus in their homely but nervous mother tongue by a multitude who had but recently learned that all the poetry and rapture of devotion were not irrevocably coffined with a buried language, or immured in the precincts of a church, had never produced a more elevating effect. no anthem from the world-renowned organ in that ancient city ever awakened more lofty emotions than did those ten thousand human voices ringing from the grassy meadows in that fervid midsummer noon. when all was silent again, the preacher rose; a little, meagre man, who looked as if he might rather melt away beneath the blazing sunshine of july, than hold the multitude enchained four uninterrupted hours long, by the magic of his tongue. his text was the th, th, and th verses of the second chapter of ephesians; and as the slender monk spoke to his simple audience of god's grace, and of faith in jesus, who had descended from above to save the lowliest and the most abandoned, if they would put their trust in him, his hearers were alternately exalted with fervor or melted into tears. he prayed for all conditions of men--for themselves, their friends, their enemies, for the government which had persecuted them, for the king whose face was turned upon them in anger. at times, according to one who was present, not a dry eye was to be seen in the crowd. when the minister had finished, he left his congregation abruptly, for he had to travel all night in order to reach alkmaar, where he was to preach upon the following day. by the middle of july the custom was established outside all the principal cities. camp-meetings were held in some places; as, for instance, in the neighborhood of antwerp, where the congregations numbered often fifteen thousand and on some occasions were estimated at between twenty and thirty thousand persons at a time; "very many of them," said an eye-witness, "the best and wealthiest in the town." the sect to which most of these worshippers belonged was that of calvin. in antwerp there were lutherans, calvinists, and anabaptists. the lutherans were the richest sect, but the calvinists the most numerous and enthusiastic. the prince of orange at this moment was strenuously opposed both to calvinism and anabaptism, but inclining to lutheranism. political reasons at this epoch doubtless influenced his mind in religious matters. the aid of the lutheran princes of germany, who detested the doctrines of geneva, could hardly be relied upon for the netherlanders, unless they would adapt the confession of augsburg. the prince knew that the emperor, although inclined to the reformation, was bitterly averse to calvinism, and he was, therefore, desirous of healing the schism which existed in the general reformed church. to accomplish this, however, would be to gain a greater victory over the bigotry which was the prevailing characteristic of the age than perhaps could be expected. the prince, from the first moment of his abandoning the ancient doctrines, was disposed to make the attempt. the duchess ordered the magistrates of antwerp to put down these mass- meetings by means of the guild-militia. they replied that at an earlier day such a course might have been practicable, but that the sects had become quite too numerous for coercion. if the authorities were able to prevent the exercises of the reformed religion within the city, it would be as successful a result as could be expected. to prevent the preaching outside the walls, by means of the bourgher force, was an utter impossibility. the dilatoriness of the sovereign placed the regent in a frightful dilemma, but it was sufficiently obvious that the struggle could not long be deferred. "there will soon be a hard nut to crack," wrote count louis. "the king will never grant the preaching; the people will never give it up, if it cost them their necks. there's a hard puff coming upon the country before long." the duchess was not yet authorized to levy troops, and she feared that if she commenced such operations, she should perhaps offend the king, while she at the same time might provoke the people into more effective military preparations than her own. she felt that for one company levied by her, the sectaries could raise ten. moreover, she was entirely without money, even if she should otherwise think it expedient to enrol an army. meantime she did what she could with "public prayers, processions, fasts, sermons, exhortations," and other ecclesiastical machinery which she ordered the bishops to put in motion. her situation was indeed sufficiently alarming. egmont, whom many of the sectaries hoped to secure as their leader in case of a civil war, showed no disposition to encourage such hopes, but as little to take up arms against the people. he went to flanders, where the armed assemblages for field-preaching had become so numerous that a force of thirty or forty thousand men might be set on foot almost at a moment's warning, and where the conservatives, in a state of alarm, desired the presence of their renowned governor. the people of antwerp, on their part, demanded william of orange. the prince, who was hereditary burgrave of the city, had at first declined the invitation of the magistracy. the duchess united her request with the universal prayer of the inhabitants. events meantime had been thickening, and suspicion increasing. meghen had been in the city for several days, much to the disgust of the reformers, by whom he was hated. aremberg was expected to join him, and it was rumored that measures were secretly in progress under the auspices of these two leading cardinalists, for introducing a garrison, together with great store of ammunition, into the city. on the other hand, the "great beggar," brederode, had taken up his quarters also in antwerp; had been daily entertaining a crowd of roystering nobles at his hotel, previously to a second political demonstration, which will soon be described, and was constantly parading the street, followed by a swarm of adherents in the beggar livery. the sincere reformers were made nearly as uncomfortable by the presence of their avowed friends, as by that of meghen and aremberg, and earnestly desired to be rid of them all. long and anxious were the ponderings of the magistrates upon all these subjects. it was determined, at last, to send a fresh deputation to brussels, requesting the regent to order the departure of meghen, aremberg, and brederode from antwerp; remonstrating with her against any plan she might be supposed to entertain of sending mercenary troops into the city; pledging the word of the senate to keep the peace, meanwhile, by their regular force; and above all, imploring her once more, in the most urgent terms, to send thither the burgrave, as the only man who was capable of saving the city from the calamities into which it was so likely to fall. the prince of orange being thus urgently besought, both by the government of antwerp, the inhabitants of that city, and by the regent herself, at last consented to make the visit so earnestly demanded. on the th july, he arrived in antwerp. the whole city was alive with enthusiasm. half its population seemed to have come forth from the gates to bid him welcome, lining the road for miles. the gate through which he was to pass, the ramparts, the roofs of the houses were packed close, with expectant and eager faces. at least thirty thousand persons had assembled to welcome their guest. a long cavalcade of eminent citizens had come as far as berghen to meet him and to escort him into the city. brederode, attended by some of the noble confederates, rode at the head of the procession. as they encountered the prince, a discharge of pistol-shots was fired by way of salute, which was the signal for a deafening shout from the assembled multitude. the crowd thronged about the prince as he advanced, calling him their preserver, their father, their only hope. wild shouts of welcome rose upon every side, as he rode through the town, mingled with occasional vociferations of "long life to the beggars." these party cries were instantly and sharply rebuked by orange, who expressed, in brederode's presence, the determination that he would make men unlearn that mischievous watchword. he had, moreover, little relish at that time for the tumultuous demonstrations of attachment to his person, which were too fervid to be censured, but too unseasonable to be approved. when the crowd had at last been made to understand that their huzzas were distasteful to the prince, most of the multitude consented to disperse, feeling, however, a relief from impending danger in the presence of the man to whom they instinctively looked as their natural protector. the senators had come forth in a body to receive the burgrave and escort him to the hotel prepared for him. arrived there, he lost no time in opening the business which had brought him to antwerp. he held at once a long consultation with the upper branch of the government. afterwards, day after day, he honestly, arduously, sagaciously labored to restore the public tranquillity. he held repeated deliberations with every separate portion of the little commonwealth, the senate, the council of ancients, the corporation of ward-masters, the deans of trades. nor did he confine his communication to these organized political bodies alone. he had frequent interviews with the officers of the military associations, with the foreign merchant companies, with the guilds of "rhetoric." the chambers of the "violet" and the "marigold" were not too frivolous or fantastic to be consulted by one who knew human nature and the constitution of netherland society so well as did the prince. night and day he labored with all classes of citizens to bring about a better understanding, and to establish mutual confidence. at last by his efforts tranquillity was restored. the broad-council having been assembled, it was decided that the exercise of the reformed religion should be excluded from the city, but silently tolerated in the suburbs, while an armed force was to be kept constantly in readiness to suppress all attempts at insurrection. the prince had desired, that twelve hundred men should be enlisted and paid by the city, so that at least a small number of disciplined troops might be ready at a moment's warning; but he found it impossible to carry the point with the council. the magistrates were willing to hold themselves responsible for the peace of the city, but they would have no mercenaries. thus, during the remainder of july and the early part of august, was william of orange strenuously occupied in doing what should have been the regent's work. he was still regarded both by the duchess and by the calvinist party--although having the sympathies of neither,--as the only man in the netherlands who could control the rising tide of a national revolt. he took care, said his enemies, that his conduct at antwerp should have every appearance of loyalty; but they insinuated that he was a traitor from the beginning, who was insidiously fomenting the troubles which he appeared to rebuke. no one doubted his genius, and all felt or affected admiration at its display upon this critical occasion. "the prince of orange is doing very great and notable services at antwerp to the king and to the country," said assonleville. "that seignior is very skilful in managing great affairs." margaret of parma wrote letters to him fixed with the warmest gratitude, expressions of approbation, and of wishes that he could both remain in antwerp and return to assist her in brussels. philip, too, with his own pen, addressed him a letter, in which implicit confidence in the prince's character was avowed, all suspicion on the part of the sovereign indignantly repudiated, earnest thanks for his acceptance of the antwerp mission uttered, and a distinct refusal given to the earnest request made by orange to resign his offices. the prince read or listened to all this commendation, and valued it exactly at its proper worth. he knew it to be pure grimace. he was no more deceived by it than if he had read the letter sent by margaret to philip, a few weeks later, in which she expressed herself as "thoroughly aware that it was the intention of orange to take advantage of the impending tumults, for the purpose of conquering the provinces and of dividing the whole territory among himself and friends." nothing could be more utterly false than so vile and ridiculous a statement. the course of the prince had hitherto been, and was still, both consistent and loyal. he was proceeding step by step to place the monarch in the wrong, but the only art which he was using, was to plant himself more firmly upon the right. it was in the monarch's power to convoke the assembly of the states-general, so loudly demanded by the whole nation, to abolish the inquisition, to renounce persecution, to accept the great fact of the reformation. to do so he must have ceased to be philip. to have faltered in attempting to bring him into that path, the prince must have ceased to be william of orange. had he succeeded, there would have been no treason and no republic of holland. his conduct at the outbreak of the antwerp troubles was firm and sagacious. even had his duty required him to put down the public preaching with peremptory violence, he had been furnished with no means to accomplish the purpose. the rebellion, if it were one, was already full-grown. it could not be taken by the throat and strangled with one hand, however firm. a report that the high sheriff of brabant was collecting troops by command of government, in order to attack the reformers at their field- preachings, went far to undo the work already accomplished by the prince. the assemblages swelled again from ten or twelve thousand to twenty-five thousand, the men all providing themselves more thoroughly with weapons than before. soon afterwards, the intemperate zeal of another individual, armed to the teeth--not, however, like the martial sheriff and his forces, with arquebus and javelin, but with the still more deadly weapons of polemical theology,--was very near causing a general outbreak. a peaceful and not very numerous congregation were listening to one of their preachers in a field outside the town. suddenly an unknown individual in plain clothes and with a pragmatical demeanor, interrupted the discourse by giving a flat contradiction to some of the doctrines advanced. the minister replied by a rebuke, and a reiteration of the disputed sentiment.--the stranger, evidently versed in ecclesiastical matters, volubly and warmly responded. the preacher, a man of humble condition and moderate abilities, made as good show of argument as he could, but was evidently no match for his antagonist. he was soon vanquished in the wordy warfare. well he might be, for it appeared that the stranger was no less a personage than peter rythovius, a doctor of divinity, a distinguished pedant of louvain, a relation of a bishop and himself a church dignitary. this learned professor, quite at home in his subject, was easily triumphant, while the poor dissenter, more accustomed to elevate the hearts of his hearers than to perplex their heads, sank prostrate and breathless under the storm of texts, glosses, and hard hebrew roots with which he was soon overwhelmed. the professor's triumph was, however, but short-lived, for the simple-minded congregation, who loved their teacher, were enraged that he should be thus confounded. without more ado, therefore, they laid violent hands upon the quixotic knight-errant of the church, and so cudgelled and belabored him bodily that he might perhaps have lost his life in the encounter had he not been protected by the more respectable portion of the assembly. these persons, highly disapproving the whole proceeding, forcibly rescued him from the assailants, and carried him off to town, where the news of the incident at once created an uproar. here he was thrown into prison as a disturber of the peace, but in reality that he might be personally secure. the next day the prince of orange, after administering to him a severe rebuke for his ill-timed exhibition of pedantry, released him from confinement, and had him conveyed out of the city. "this theologian;" wrote the prince to duchess margaret, "would have done better, methinks, to stay at home; for i suppose he had no especial orders to perform this piece of work." thus, so long as this great statesman could remain in the metropolis, his temperate firmness prevented the explosion which had so long been expected. his own government of holland and zeland, too, especially demanded his care. the field-preaching had spread in that region with prodigious rapidity. armed assemblages, utterly beyond the power of the civil authorities, were taking place daily in the neighborhood of amsterdam. yet the duchess could not allow him to visit his government in the north. if he could be spared from antwerp for a day, it was necessary that he should aid her in a fresh complication with the confederated nobles in the very midst, therefore, of his antwerp labors, he had been obliged, by margaret's orders, to meet a committee at duffel. for in this same eventful month of july a great meeting was held by the members of the compromise at st. trond, in the bishopric of liege. they came together on the thirteenth of the month, and remained assembled till the beginning of august. it was a wild, tumultuous convention, numbering some fifteen hundred cavaliers, each with his esquires and armed attendants; a larger and more important gathering than had yet been held. brederode and count louis were the chieftains of the assembly, which, as may be supposed from its composition and numbers, was likely to be neither very orderly in its demonstrations nor wholesome in its results. it was an ill-timed movement. the convention was too large for deliberation, too riotous to inspire confidence. the nobles quartered themselves every where in the taverns and the farm-houses of the neighborhood, while large numbers encamped upon the open fields. there was a constant din of revelry and uproar, mingled with wordy warfare, and an occasional crossing of swords. it seemed rather like a congress of ancient, savage batavians, assembled in teutonic fashion to choose a king amid hoarse shouting, deep drinking, and the clash of spear and shield, than a meeting for a lofty and earnest purpose, by their civilized descendants. a crowd of spectators, landlopers, mendicants, daily aggregated themselves to the aristocratic assembly, joining, with natural unction, in the incessant shout of "vivent les gueux!" it was impossible that so soon after their baptism the self-styled beggars should repudiate all connection with the time-honored fraternity in which they had enrolled themselves. the confederates discussed--if an exchange of vociferations could be called discussion--principally two points: whether, in case they obtained the original objects of their petition, they should pause or move still further onward; and whether they should insist upon receiving some pledge from the government, that no vengeance should be taken upon them for their previous proceedings. upon both questions, there was much vehemence of argument and great difference of opinion. they, moreover, took two very rash and very grave resolutions--to guarantee the people against all violence on account of their creeds, and to engage a force of german soldiery, four thousand horse and forty companies of infantry by, "wart geld" or retaining wages. it was evident that these gentlemen were disposed to go fast and far. if they had been ready in the spring to receive their baptism of wine, the "beggars" were now eager for the baptism of blood. at the same time it must be observed that the levies which they proposed, not to make, but to have at command, were purely for defence. in case the king, as it was thought probable, should visit the netherlands with fire and sword, then there would be a nucleus of resistance already formed. upon the th july, the prince of orange, at the earnest request of the regent, met a committee of the confederated nobles at duffel. count egmont was associated with him in this duty. the conference was not very satisfactory. the deputies from st. trend, consisting of brederode, culemburg, and others, exchanged with the two seigniors the old arguments. it was urged upon the confederates, that they had made themselves responsible for the public tranquillity so long as the regent should hold to her promise; that, as the duchess had sent two distinguished envoys to madrid, in order to accomplish, if possible, the wishes of the nobles, it was their duty to redeem their own pledges; that armed assemblages ought to be suppressed by their efforts rather than encouraged by their, example; and that, if they now exerted themselves zealously to check, the tumults, the duchess was ready to declare, in her own-name and that of his majesty, that the presentation of the request had been beneficial. the nobles replied that the pledges had become a farce, that the regent was playing them false, that persecution was as fierce as ever, that the "moderation" was a mockery, that the letters recommending "modesty and discretion" to the inquisitors had been mere waste paper, that a price had been set upon the heads of the preachers as if they had been wild beasts, that there were constant threats of invasions from spain, that the convocation of the states-general had been illegally deferred, that the people had been driven to despair, and that it was the conduct of government, not of the confederates, which had caused the reformers to throw off previous restraint and to come boldly forth by tens of thousands into the fields, not to defy their king, but to worship their god. such, in brief, was the conference of duffel. in conclusion, a paper was drawn up which brederode carried back to the convention, and which it was proposed to submit to the duchess for her approval. at the end of the month, louis of nassau was accordingly sent to brussels, accompanied by twelve associates, who were familiarly called his twelve apostles. here he laid before her highness in council a statement, embodying the views of the confederates. in this paper they asserted that they were ever ready to mount and ride against a foreign foe, but that they would never draw a sword against their innocent countrymen. they maintained that their past conduct deserved commendation, and that in requiring letters of safe conduct in the names both of the duchess and of the fleece- knights, they were governed not by a disposition to ask for pardon, but by a reluctance without such guarantees to enter into stipulations touching the public tranquillity. if, however, they should be assured that the intentions of the regent were amicable and that there was no design to take vengeance for the past--if, moreover, she were willing to confide in the counsels of horn, egmont, and orange, and to take no important measure without their concurrence--if, above all, she would convoke the states-general, then, and then only, were the confederates willing to exert their energies to preserve peace, to restrain popular impetuosity and banish universal despair. so far louis of nassau and his twelve apostles. it must be confessed that, whatever might be thought of the justice, there could be but one opinion as to the boldness of these views. the duchess was furious. if the language held in april had been considered audacious, certainly this new request was, in her own words, "still more bitter to the taste and more difficult of digestion." she therefore answered in a very unsatisfactory, haughty and ambiguous manner, reserving decision upon their propositions till they had been discussed by the state council, and intimating that they would also be laid before the knights of the fleece, who were to hold a meeting upon the th of august. there was some further conversation without any result. esquerdes complained that the confederates were the mark of constant calumny, and demanded that the slanderers should be confronted with them and punished. "i understand perfectly well," interrupted margaret, "you wish to take justice into your own hands and to be king yourself." it was further intimated by these reckless gentlemen, that if they should be driven by violence into measures of self-protection, they had already secured friends in a certain country. the duchess, probably astonished at the frankness of this statement, is said to have demanded further explanations. the confederates replied by observing that they had resources both in the provinces and in germany. the state council decided that to accept the propositions of the confederates would be to establish a triumvirate at once, and the duchess wrote to her brother distinctly advising against the acceptance of the proposal. the assembly at st. trond was then dissolved, having made violent demonstrations which were not followed by beneficial results, and having laid itself open to various suspicions, most of which were ill-founded, while some of them were just. before giving the reader a brief account of the open and the secret policy pursued by the government at brussels and madrid, in consequence of these transactions, it is now necessary to allude to a startling series of events, which at this point added to the complications of the times, and exercised a fatal influence upon the situation of the commonwealth. [chapter vii.] ecclesiastical architecture in the netherlands--the image-breaking-- description of antwerp cathedral--ceremony of the ommegang-- precursory disturbances--iconoclasts at antwerp--incidents of the image--breaking in various cities--events at tournay--preaching of wille--disturbance by a little boy--churches sacked at tournay-- disinterment of duke adolphus of gueldres--iconoclasts defeated and massacred at anchin--bartholomew's day at valenciennes--general characteristics of the image-breaking--testimony of contemporaries as to the honesty of the rioters--consternation of the duchess-- projected flight to mons--advice of horn and other seigniors-- accord of th august. the netherlands possessed an extraordinary number of churches and monasteries. their exquisite architecture and elaborate decoration had been the earliest indication of intellectual culture displayed in the country. in the vast number of cities, towns, and villages which were crowded upon that narrow territory, there had been, from circumstances operating throughout christendom, a great accumulation of ecclesiastical wealth. the same causes can never exist again which at an early day covered the soil of europe with those magnificent creations of christian art. it was in these anonymous but entirely original achievements that gothic genius; awaking from its long sleep of the dark ages, first expressed itself. the early poetry of the german races was hewn and chiselled in atone. around the steadfast principle of devotion then so firmly rooted in the soil, clustered the graceful and vigorous emanations of the newly-awakened mind. all that science could invent, all that art could embody, all that mechanical ingenuity could dare, all that wealth could lavish, whatever there was of human energy which was panting for pacific utterance, wherever there stirred the vital principle which instinctively strove to create and to adorn at an epoch when vulgar violence and destructiveness were the general tendencies of humanity, all gathered around these magnificent temples, as their aspiring pinnacles at last pierced the mist which had so long brooded over the world. there were many hundreds of churches, more or less remarkable, in the netherlands. although a severe criticism might regret to find in these particular productions of the great germanic school a development of that practical tendency which distinguished the batavian and flemish branches,--although it might recognize a departure from that mystic principle which, in its efforts to symbolize the strivings of humanity towards the infinite object of worship above, had somewhat disregarded the wants of the worshippers below,--although the spaces might be too wide and the intercolumniations too empty, except for the convenience of congregations; yet there were, nevertheless, many ecclesiastical masterpieces, which could be regarded as very brilliant manifestations of the batavian and belgic mind during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. many were filled with paintings from a school which had precedence in time and merit over its sister nurseries of art in germany. all were peopled with statues. all were filled with profusely-adorned chapels, for the churches had been enriched generation after generation by wealthy penitence, which had thus purchased absolution for crime and smoothed a pathway to heaven. and now, for the space of only six or seven summer days and nights, there raged a storm by which all these treasures were destroyed. nearly every one of these temples was entirely rifled of its contents; not for the purpose of plunder, but of destruction. hardly a province or a town escaped. art must forever weep over this bereavement; humanity must regret that the reforming is thus always ready to degenerate into the destructive principle; but it is impossible to censure very severely the spirit which prompted the brutal, but not ferocious deed. those statues, associated as they were with the remorseless persecution which had so long desolated the provinces, had ceased to be images. they had grown human and hateful, so that the people arose and devoted them to indiscriminate massacre. no doubt the iconoclastic fury is to be regretted; for such treasures can scarcely be renewed. the age for building and decorating great cathedrals is past. certainly, our own age, practical and benevolent, if less poetical, should occupy itself with the present, and project itself into the future. it should render glory to god rather by causing wealth to fertilize the lowest valleys of humanity, than by rearing gorgeous temples where paupers are to kneel. to clothe the naked, redeem the criminal, feed the hungry, less by alms and homilies than by preventive institutions and beneficent legislation; above all, by the diffusion of national education, to lift a race upon a level of culture hardly attained by a class in earlier times, is as lofty a task as to accumulate piles of ecclesiastical splendor. it would be tedious to recount in detail the events which characterized the remarkable image-breaking in the netherlands. as antwerp was the central point in these transactions, and as there was more wealth and magnificence in the great cathedral of that city than in any church of northern europe, it is necessary to give a rapid outline of the events which occurred there. from its exhibition in that place the spirit every where will best be shown. the church of our lady, which philip had so recently converted into a cathedral, dated from the year , although it may be more fairly considered a work of the fourteenth century. its college of canons had been founded in another locality by godfrey of bouillon. the brabantine hero, who so romantically incarnates the religious poetry of his age, who first mounted the walls of redeemed jerusalem, and was its first christian monarch, but who refused to accept a golden diadem on the spot where the saviour had been crowned with thorns; the fleming who lived and was the epic which the great italian, centuries afterwards; translated into immortal verse, is thus fitly associated with the beautiful architectural poem which was to grace his ancestral realms. the body of the church, the interior and graceful perspectives of which were not liable to the reproach brought against many netherland churches, of assimilating themselves already to the municipal palaces which they were to suggest--was completed in the fourteenth century. the beautiful facade, with its tower, was not completed till the year . the exquisite and daring spire, the gigantic stem upon which the consummate flower of this architectural creation was to be at last unfolded, was a plant of a whole century's growth. rising to a height of nearly five hundred feet, over a church of as many feet in length, it worthily represented the upward tendency of gothic architecture. externally and internally the cathedral was a true expression of the christian principle of devotion. amid its vast accumulation of imagery, its endless ornaments, its multiplicity of episodes, its infinite variety of details, the central, maternal principle was ever visible. every thing pointed upwards, from the spire in the clouds to the arch which enshrined the smallest sculptured saint in the chapels below. it was a sanctuary, not like pagan temples, to enclose a visible deity, but an edifice where mortals might worship an unseen being in the realms above. the church, placed in the centre of the city, with the noisy streets of the busiest metropolis in europe eddying around its walls, was a sacred island in the tumultuous main. through the perpetual twilight, tall columnar trunks in thick profusion grew from a floor chequered with prismatic lights and sepulchral shadows. each shaft of the petrified forest rose to a preternatural height, their many branches intermingling in the space above, to form an impenetrable canopy. foliage, flowers and fruit of colossal luxuriance, strange birds, beasts, griffins and chimeras in endless multitudes, the rank vegetation and the fantastic zoology of a fresher or fabulous world, seemed to decorate and to animate the serried trunks and pendant branches, while the shattering symphonies or dying murmurs of the organ suggested the rushing of the wind through the forest, now the full diapason of the storm and now the gentle cadence of the evening breeze. internally, the whole church was rich beyond expression. all that opulent devotion and inventive ingenuity could devise, in wood, bronze, marble, silver, gold, precious jewelry, or blazing sacramental furniture, had been profusely lavished. the penitential tears of centuries had incrusted the whole interior with their glittering stalactites. divided into five naves, with external rows of chapels, but separated by no screens or partitions, the great temple forming an imposing whole, the effect was the more impressive, the vistas almost infinite in appearance. the wealthy citizens, the twenty-seven guilds, the six military associations, the rhythmical colleges, besides many other secular or religious sodalities, had each their own chapels and altars. tombs adorned with the effigies of mailed crusaders and pious dames covered the floor, tattered banners hung in the air, the escutcheons of the golden fleece, an order typical of flemish industry, but of which emperors and kings were proud to be the chevaliers, decorated the columns. the vast and beautifully-painted windows glowed with scriptural scenes, antique portraits, homely allegories, painted in those brilliant and forgotten colors which art has not ceased to deplore. the daylight melting into gloom or colored with fantastic brilliancy, priests in effulgent robes chanting in unknown language, the sublime breathing of choral music, the suffocating odors of myrrh and spikenard, suggestive of the oriental scenery and imagery of holy writ, all combined to bewilder and exalt the senses. the highest and humblest seemed to find themselves upon the same level within those sacred precincts, where even the bloodstained criminal was secure, and the arm of secular justice was paralyzed. but the work of degeneration had commenced. the atmosphere of the cathedral was no longer holy in the eyes of increasing multitudes. better the sanguinary rites of belgic druids, better the yell of slaughtered victims from the "wild wood without mercy" of the pagan forefathers of the nation, than this fantastic intermingling of divine music, glowing colors, gorgeous ceremonies, with all the burning, beheading and strangling work which had characterized the system of human sacrifice for the past half-century. such was the church of notre dame at antwerp. thus indifferent or hostile towards the architectural treasure were the inhabitants of a city, where in a previous age the whole population would have risked their lives to defend what they esteemed the pride and garland of their metropolis. the prince of orange had been anxiously solicited by the regent to attend the conference at duffel. after returning to antwerp, he consented, in consequence of the urgent entreaties of the senate, to delay his departure until the th of august should be past. on the th of that month he had agreed with the magistrates upon an ordinance, which was accordingly published, and by which the preachings were restricted to the fields. a deputation of merchants and others waited upon him with a request to be permitted the exercises of the reformed religion in the city. this petition the prince peremptorily refused, and the deputies, as well as their constituents, acquiesced in the decision, "out of especial regard and respect for his person." he, however, distinctly informed the duchess that it would be difficult or impossible to maintain such a position long, and that his departure from the city would probably be followed by an outbreak. he warned her that it was very imprudent for him to leave antwerp at that particular juncture. nevertheless, the meeting of the fleece-knights seemed, in margaret's opinion, imperatively to require his presence in brussels. she insisted by repeated letters that he should leave antwerp immediately. upon the th august, the great and time-honored ceremony of the ommegang occurred. accordingly, the great procession, the principal object of which was to conduct around the city a colossal image of the virgin, issued as usual from the door of the cathedral. the image, bedizened and effulgent, was borne aloft upon the shoulders of her adorers, followed by the guilds, the military associations, the rhetoricians, the religious sodalities, all in glittering costume, bearing blazoned banners, and marching triumphantly through the streets with sound of trumpet and beat of drum. the pageant, solemn but noisy, was exactly such a show as was most fitted at that moment to irritate protestant minds and to lead to mischief. no violent explosion of ill-feeling, however, took place. the procession was followed by a rabble rout of scoffers, but they confined themselves to words and insulting gestures. the image was incessantly saluted, as she was borne along--the streets, with sneers, imprecations, and the rudest, ribaldry. "mayken! mayken!" (little mary) "your hour is come. 'tis your last promenade. the city is tired of you." such were the greetings which the representative of the holy virgin received from men grown weary of antiquated mummery. a few missiles were thrown occasionally at the procession as it passed through the city, but no damage was inflicted. when the image was at last restored to its place, and the pageant brought to a somewhat hurried conclusion, there seemed cause for congratulation that no tumult had occurred. on the following morning there was a large crowd collected in front of the cathedral. the image, instead of standing in the centre of the church, where, upon all former occasions, it had been accustomed during the week succeeding the ceremony to receive congratulatory, visits, was now ignominiously placed behind an iron railing within the choir. it had been deemed imprudent to leave it exposed to sacrilegious hands. the precaution excited derision. many vagabonds of dangerous appearance, many idle apprentices and ragged urchins were hanging for a long time about the imprisoned image, peeping through the railings, and indulging in many a brutal jest. "mayken! mayken!" they cried; "art thou terrified so soon? hast flown to thy nest so early? dost think thyself beyond the reach of mischief? beware, mayken! thine hour is fast approaching!" others thronged around the balustrade, shouting "vivent les gueux!" and hoarsely commanding the image to join in the beggars' cry. then, leaving the spot, the mob roamed idly about the magnificent church, sneering at the idols, execrating the gorgeous ornaments, scoffing at crucifix and altar. presently one of the rabble, a ragged fellow of mechanical aspect, in a tattered black doublet and an old straw hat, ascended the pulpit. opening a sacred volume which he found there, he began to deliver an extemporaneous and coarse caricature of a monkish sermon. some of the bystanders applauded, some cried shame, some shouted "long live the beggars!" some threw sticks and rubbish at the mountebank, some caught him by the legs and strove to pull him from the place. he, on the other hand, manfully maintained his ground, hurling back every missile, struggling with his assailants, and continuing the while to pour forth a malignant and obscene discourse. at last a young sailor, warm in the catholic faith, and impulsive as mariners are prone to be, ascended the pulpit from behind, sprang upon the mechanic, and flung him headlong down the steps. the preacher grappled with his enemy as he fell, and both came rolling to the ground. neither was much injured, but a tumult ensued. a pistol-shot was fired, and the sailor wounded in the arm. daggers were drawn, cudgels brandished, the bystanders taking part generally against the sailor, while those who protected him were somewhat bruised and belabored before they could convey him out of the church. nothing more, however, transpired that day, and the keepers of the cathedral were enabled to expel the crowd and to close the doors for the night. information of this tumult was brought to the senate, then assembled in the hotel de ville. that body was thrown into a state of great perturbation. in losing the prince of orange, they seemed to have lost their own brains, and the first measure which they took was to despatch a messenger to implore his return. in the mean time, it was necessary that they should do something for themselves. it was evident that a storm was brewing. the pest which was sweeping so rapidly through the provinces would soon be among them. symptoms of the dreaded visitation were already but too manifest. what precaution should: they take? should they issue a proclamation? such documents had been too common of late, and had lost their virtue. it was the time not to assert but to exercise authority. should they summon the ward-masters, and order the instant arming and mustering of their respective companies? should they assemble the captains of the military associations? nothing better could have been desired than such measures in cases of invasion or of ordinary tumult, but who should say how deeply the poison had sunk into the body politic; who should say with how much or how little alacrity the burgher militia would obey the mandates of the magistracy? it would be better to issue no proclamation unless they could enforce its provisions; it would be better not to call out the citizen soldiery unless they were likely to prove obedient. should mercenary troops at this late hour be sent for? would not their appearance at this crisis rather inflame the rage than intimidate the insolence of the sectaries? never were magistrates in greater perplexity. they knew not what course was likely to prove the safest, and in their anxiety to do nothing wrong, the senators did nothing at all. after a long and anxious consultation, the honest burgomaster and his associates all went home to their beds, hoping that the threatening flame of civil tumult would die out of itself, or perhaps that their dreams would supply them with that wisdom which seemed denied to their waking hours. in the morning, as it was known that no precaution had been taken, the audacity of the reformers was naturally increased. within the cathedral a great crowd was at an early hour collected, whose savage looks and ragged appearance denoted that the day and night were not likely to pass away so peacefully as the last. the same taunts and imprecations were hurled at the image of the virgin; the same howling of the beggars' cry resounded through the lofty arches. for a few hours, no act of violence was committed, but the crowd increased. a few trifles, drifting, as usual, before the event, seemed to indicate the approaching convulsion. a very paltry old woman excited the image-breaking of antwerp. she had for years been accustomed to sit before the door of the cathedral with wax-tapers and wafers, earning scanty subsistence from the profits of her meagre trade, and by the small coins which she sometimes received in charity. some of the rabble began to chaffer with this ancient hucksteress. they scoffed at her consecrated wares; they bandied with her ribald jests, of which her public position had furnished her with a supply; they assured her that the hour had come when her idolatrous traffic was to be forever terminated, when she and her patroness, mary, were to be given over to destruction together. the old woman, enraged, answered threat with threat, and gibe with gibe. passing from words to deeds, she began to catch from the ground every offensive missile or weapon which she could find, and to lay about her in all directions. her tormentors defended themselves as they could. having destroyed her whole stock-in-trade, they provoked others to appear in her defence. the passers-by thronged to the scene; the cathedral was soon filled to overflowing; a furious tumult was already in progress. many persons fled in alarm to the town-house, carrying information of this outbreak to the magistrates. john van immerzeel, margrava of antwerp, was then holding communication with the senate, and awaiting the arrival of the ward-masters, whom it had at last been thought expedient to summon. upon intelligence of this riot, which the militia, if previously mustered, might have prevented, the senate determined to proceed to the cathedral in a body, with the hope of quelling the mob by the dignity of their presence. the margrave, who was the high executive officer of the little commonwealth, marched down to the cathedral accordingly, attended by the two burgomasters and all the senators. at first their authority, solicitations, and personal influence, produced a good effect. some of those outside consented to retire, and the tumult partially subsided within. as night, however, was fast approaching, many of the mob insisted upon remaining for evening mass. they were informed that there would be none that night, and that for once the people could certainly dispense with their vespers. several persons now manifesting an intention of leaving the cathedral, it was suggested to the senators that if, they should lead the way, the populace would follow in their train, and so disperse to their homes. the excellent magistrates took the advice, not caring, perhaps, to fulfil any longer the dangerous but not dignified functions of police officers. before departing, they adopted the precaution of closing all the doors of the church, leaving a single one open, that the rabble still remaining might have an opportunity to depart. it seemed not to occur to the senators that the same gate would as conveniently afford an entrance for those without as an egress for those within. that unlooked-for event happened, however. no sooner had the magistrates retired than the rabble burst through the single door which had been left open, overpowered the margrave, who, with a few attendants, had remained behind, vainly endeavoring by threats and exhortations to appease the tumult, drove him ignominiously from the church, and threw all the other portals wide open. then the populace flowed in like an angry sea. the whole of the cathedral was at the mercy of the rioters, who were evidently bent on mischief. the wardens and treasurers of the church, after a vain attempt to secure a few of its most precious possessions, retired. they carried the news to the senators, who, accompanied by a few halberdmen, again ventured to approach the spot. it was but for a moment, however, for, appalled by the furious sounds which came from within the church, as if subterranean and invisible forces were preparing a catastrophe which no human power could withstand, the magistrates fled precipitately from the scene. fearing that the next attack would be upon the town-house, they hastened to concentrate at that point their available forces, and left the stately cathedral to its fate. and now, as the shadows of night were deepening the perpetual twilight of the church, the work of destruction commenced. instead of evening mass rose the fierce music of a psalm, yelled by a thousand angry voices. it seemed the preconcerted signal for a general attack. a band of marauders flew upon the image of the virgin, dragged it forth from its receptacle, plunged daggers into its inanimate body, tore off its jewelled and embroidered garments, broke the whole figure into a thousand pieces, and scattered the fragments along the floor. a wild shout succeeded, and then the work which seemed delegated to a comparatively small number of the assembled crowd, went on with incredible celerity. some were armed with axes, some with bludgeons, some with sledge-hammers; others brought ladders, pulleys, ropes, and levers. every statue was hurled from its niche, every picture torn from the wall, every wonderfully-painted window shivered to atoms, every ancient monument shattered, every sculptured decoration, however inaccessible in appearance, hurled to the ground. indefatigably, audaciously,--endowed, as it seemed, with preternatural strength and nimbleness, these furious iconoclasts clambered up the dizzy heights, shrieking and chattering like malignant apes, as they tore off in triumph the slowly-matured fruit of centuries. in a space of time wonderfully brief, they had accomplished their task. a colossal and magnificent group of the saviour crucified between two thieves adorned the principal altar. the statue of christ was wrenched from its place with ropes and pulleys, while the malefactors, with bitter and blasphemous irony, were left on high, the only representatives of the marble crowd which had been destroyed. a very beautiful piece of architecture decorated the choir,--the "repository," as it was called, in which the body of christ was figuratively enshrined. this much- admired work rested upon a single column, but rose, arch upon arch, pillar upon pillar, to the height of three hundred feet, till quite lost in the vault above. "it was now shattered into a million pieces." the statues, images, pictures, ornaments, as they lay upon the ground, were broken with sledge-hammers, hewn with axes, trampled, torn; and beaten into shreds. a troop of harlots, snatching waxen tapers from the altars, stood around the destroyers and lighted them at their work. nothing escaped their omnivorous rage. they desecrated seventy chapels, forced open all the chests of treasure, covered their own squalid attire with the gorgeous robes of the ecclesiastics, broke the sacred bread, poured out the sacramental wine into golden chalices, quaffing huge draughts to the beggars' health; burned all the splendid missals and manuscripts, and smeared their shoes with the sacred oil, with which kings and prelates had been anointed. it seemed that each of these malicious creatures must have been endowed with the strength of a hundred giants. how else, in the few brief hours of a midsummer night, could such a monstrous desecration have been accomplished by a troop which, according to all accounts, was not more than one hundred in number. there was a multitude of spectators, as upon all such occasions, but the actual spoilers were very few. the noblest and richest temple of the netherlands was a wreck, but the fury of the spoilers was excited, not appeased. each seizing a burning torch, the whole herd rushed from the cathedral, and swept howling through the streets. "long live the beggars!" resounded through the sultry midnight air, as the ravenous pack flew to and fro, smiting every image of the virgin, every crucifix, every sculptured saint, every catholic symbol which they met with upon their path. all night long, they roamed from one sacred edifice to another, thoroughly destroying as they went. before morning they had sacked thirty churches within the city walls. they entered the monasteries, burned their invaluable libraries, destroyed their altars, statues, pictures, and descending into the cellars, broached every cask which they found there, pouring out in one great flood all the ancient wine and ale with which those holy men had been wont to solace their retirement from generation to generation. they invaded the nunneries, whence the occupants, panic-stricken, fled for refuge to the houses of their friends and kindred. the streets were filled with monks and nuns, running this way and that, shrieking and fluttering, to escape the claws of these fiendish calvinists. the terror was imaginary, for not the least remarkable feature in these transactions was, that neither insult nor injury was offered to man or woman, and that not a farthing's value of the immense amount of property destroyed, was appropriated. it was a war not against the living, but against graven images, nor was the sentiment which prompted the onslaught in the least commingled with a desire of plunder. the principal citizens of antwerp, expecting every instant that the storm would be diverted from the ecclesiastical edifices to private dwellings, and that robbery, rape, and murder would follow sacrilege, remained all night expecting the attack, and prepared to defend their hearths, even if the altars were profaned. the precaution was needless. it was asserted by the catholics that the confederates and other opulent protestants had organized this company of profligates for the meagre pittance of ten stivers day. on the other hand, it was believed by many that the catholics had themselves plotted the whole outrage in order to bring odium upon the reformers. both statements were equally unfounded. the task was most thoroughly performed, but it was prompted: by a furious fanaticism, not by baser motives. two days and nights longer the havoc raged unchecked through all the churches of antwerp and the neighboring villages. hardly a statue or picture escaped destruction. fortunately, the illustrious artist, whose labors were destined in the next generation to enrich and ennoble the city, rubens, most profound of colorists, most dramatic--of artists; whose profuse tropical genius seemed to flower the more luxuriantly, as if the destruction wrought by brutal hands were to be compensated by the creative energy of one, divine spirit, had not yet been born. of the treasures which existed the destruction was complete. yet the rage was directed exclusively against stocks and stones. not a man was wounded nor a woman outraged. prisoners, indeed, who had been languishing hopelessly in dungeons were liberated. a monk, who had been in the prison of the barefoot monastery, for twelve years, recovered his freedom. art was trampled in the dust, but humanity deplored no victims. these leading features characterized the movement every where. the process was simultaneous and almost universal. it was difficult to say where it began and where it ended. a few days in the midst of august sufficed for the whole work. the number of churches desecrated has never been counted. in the single province of flanders, four hundred were sacked. in limburg, luxemburg, and namur, there was no image-breaking. in mechlin, seventy or eighty persons accomplished the work thoroughly, in the very teeth of the grand council, and of an astonished magistracy. in tournay, a city distinguished for its ecclesiastical splendor, the reform had been making great progress during the summer. at the same time the hatred between the two religions had been growing more and more intense. trifles and serious matters alike fed the mutual animosity. a tremendous outbreak had been nearly occasioned by an insignificant incident. a jesuit of some notoriety had been preaching a glowing discourse in the pulpit of notre dane. he earnestly avowed his wish that he were good enough to die for all his hearers. he proved to demonstration that no man should shrink from torture or martyrdom in order to sustain the ancient faith. as he was thus expatiating, his fervid discourse was suddenly interrupted by three sharp, sudden blows, of a very peculiar character, struck upon the great portal of the church. the priest, forgetting his love for martyrdom, turned pale and dropped under the pulpit. hurrying down the steps, he took refuge in the vestry, locking and barring the door. the congregation shared in his panic: "the beggars are coming," was the general cry. there was a horrible tumult, which extended through the city as the congregation poured precipitately out of the cathedral, to escape a band of destroying and furious calvinists. yet when the shock had a little subsided, it was discovered that a small urchin was the cause of the whole tumult. having been bathing in the scheldt, he had returned by way of the church with a couple of bladders under his arm. he had struck these against the door of the cathedral, partly to dry them, partly from a love of mischief. thus a great uproar, in the course of which it had been feared that toumay was to be sacked and drenched in blood, had been caused by a little wanton boy who had been swimming on bladders. this comedy preceded by a few days only the actual disaster. on the d of august the news reached tournay that the churches in antwerp, ghent, and many other places, had been sacked. there was an instantaneous movement towards imitating the example on the same evening. pasquier de la barre, procureur-general of the city, succeeded by much entreaty in tranquillizing the people for the night. the "guard of terror" was set, and hopes were entertained that the storm might blow over. the expectation, was vain. at daybreak next day, the mob swept upon the churches and stripped them to the very walls. pictures, statues; organs, ornaments, chalices of silver and gold, reliquaries, albs, chasubles, copes, ciboriea, crosses, chandeliers, lamps; censers, all of richest material, glittering with pearls, rubies, and other precious stones, were scattered in heaps of ruin upon the ground. as the spoilers burrowed among the ancient tombs, they performed, in one or two instances, acts of startling posthumous justice. the embalmed body of duke adolphus of gueldres, last of the egmonts, who had reigned in that province, was dragged from its sepulchre and recognized. although it had been there for ninety years, it was as uncorrupted, "owing to the excellent spices which had preserved it from decay," as upon the day of burial. thrown upon the marble floor of the church, it lay several days exposed to the execrations of the multitude. the duke had committed a crime against his father, in consequence of which the province which had been ruled by native races, had passed under the dominion of charles the bold. weary of waiting for the old duke's inheritance, he had risen against him in open rebellion. dragging him from his bed at midnight in the depth of winter, he had compelled the old man, with no covering but his night gear, to walk with naked feet twenty- five miles over ice and snow from grave to buren, while he himself performed the same journey in his company on horseback. he had then thrown him into a dungeon beneath the tower of buren castle, and kept him a close prisoner for six months. [memoires de philippe de comines (loud. et paris, ), liv. iv. - . in the royal gallery at berlin is a startling picture by rembrandt, in which the old duke is represented looking out of the bars of his dungeon at his son, who is threatening him with uplifted hand and savage face. no subject could be imagined better adapted to the gloomy and sarcastic genius of that painter.] at last, the duke of burgundy summoned the two before his council, and proposed that adolphus should allow his father florins annually, with the title of duke till his death. "he told us," said comines, "that he would sooner throw the old man head-foremost down a well and jump in himself afterwards. his father had been duke forty-four years, and it was time for him to retire." adolphus being thus intractable, had been kept in prison till after the death of charles the bold. to the memorable insurrection of ghent, in the time of the lady mary, he owed his liberty. the insurgent citizens took him from prison, and caused him to lead them in their foray against tournay. beneath the walls of that city he was slain, and buried under its cathedral. and now as if his offence had not been sufficiently atoned for by the loss of his ancestral honors, his captivity, and his death, the earth, after the lapse of nearly a century, had cast him forth from her bosom. there, once more beneath the sunlight, amid a ribald crew of a later generation which had still preserved the memory of his sin, lay the body of the more than parricide, whom "excellent spices" had thus preserved from corruption, only to be the mark of scorn and demoniac laughter. a large assemblage of rioters, growing in numbers as they advanced, swept over the province of tournay, after accomplishing the sack of the city churches. armed with halberds, hammers, and pitchforks, they carried on the war, day after day, against the images. at the convent of marchiennes, considered by contemporaries the most beautiful abbey in all the netherlands, they halted to sing the ten commandments in marot's verse. hardly had the vast chorus finished the precept against graven images; taiiler ne to feras imaige de quelque chose que ce soit, sy bonneur luy fail on hommaige, bon dieu jalousie en recoit, when the whole mob seemed seized with sudden madness. without waiting to complete the psalm, they fastened upon the company of marble martyrs, as if they had possessed sensibility to feel the blows inflicted. in an hour they had laid the whole in ruins. having accomplished this deed, they swept on towards anchin. here, however, they were confronted by the seigneur de la tour, who, at the head of a small company of peasants, attacked the marauders and gained a complete victory. five or six hundred of them were slain, others were drowned in the river and adjacent swamps, the rest were dispersed. it was thus proved that a little more spirit upon the part of the orderly portion of the inhabitants, might have brought about a different result than the universal image-breaking. in valenciennes, "the tragedy," as an eye-witness calls it, was performed upon saint bartholomew's day. it was, however, only a tragedy of statues. hardly as many senseless stones were victims as there were to be living huguenots sacrificed in a single city upon a bartholomew which was fast approaching. in the valenciennes massacre, not a human being was injured. such in general outline and in certain individual details, was the celebrated iconomachy of the netherlands. the movement was a sudden explosion of popular revenge against the symbols of that church from which the reformers had been enduring such terrible persecution. it was also an expression of the general sympathy for the doctrines which had taken possession of the national heart. it was the depravation of that instinct which had in the beginning of the summer drawn calvinists and lutherans forth in armed bodies, twenty thousand strong, to worship god in the open fields. the difference between the two phenomena was, that the field-preaching was a crime committed by the whole mass of the reformers; men, women, and children confronting the penalties of death, by a general determination, while the imagebreaking was the act of a small portion of the populace. a hundred persons belonging to the lowest order of society sufficed for the desecration of the antwerp churches. it was, said orange, "a mere handful of rabble" who did the deed. sir richard clough saw ten or twelve persons entirely sack church after church, while ten thousand spectators looked on, indifferent or horror- struck. the bands of iconoclasts were of the lowest character, and few in number. perhaps the largest assemblage was that which ravaged the province of tournay, but this was so weak as to be entirely routed by a small and determined force. the duty of repression devolved upon both catholics and protestants. neither party stirred. all seemed overcome with special wonder as the tempest swept over the land. the ministers of the reformed religion, and the chiefs of the liberal party, all denounced the image-breaking. francis junius bitterly regretted such excesses. ambrose wille, pure of all participation in the crime, stood up before ten thousand reformers at tournay--even while the storm was raging in the neighboring cities, and, when many voices around him were hoarsely commanding similar depravities to rebuke the outrages by which a sacred cause was disgraced. the prince of orange, in his private letters, deplored the riots, and stigmatized the perpetrators. even brederode, while, as suzerain of his city of viane, he ordered the images there to be quietly taken from the churches, characterized this popular insurrection as insensate and flagitious. many of the leading confederates not only were offended with the proceedings, but, in their eagerness to chastise the iconoclasts and to escape from a league of which they were weary, began to take severe measures against the ministers and reformers, of whom they had constituted themselves in april the especial protectors. the next remarkable characteristic of these tumults was the almost entire abstinence of the rioters from personal outrage and from pillage. the testimony of a very bitter, but honest catholic at valenciennes, is remarkable upon this point. "certain chroniclers," said he, "have greatly mistaken the character of this image-breaking. it has been said that the calvinists killed a hundred priests in this city, cutting some of them into pieces, and burning others over a slow fire. i remember very well every thing which happened upon that abominable day, and i can affirm that not a single priest was injured. the huguenots took good care not to injure in any way the living images." this was the case every where. catholic and protestant writers agree that no deeds of violence were committed against man or woman. it would be also very easy to accumulate a vast weight of testimony as to their forbearance from robbery. they destroyed for destruction's sake, not for purposes of plunder. although belonging to the lowest classes of society, they left heaps of jewellery, of gold and silver plate, of costly embroidery, lying unheeded upon the ground. they felt instinctively that a great passion would be contaminated by admixture with paltry motives. in flanders a company of rioters hanged one of their own number for stealing articles to the value of five shillings. in valenciennes the iconoclasts were offered large sums if they would refrain from desecrating the churches of that city, but they rejected the proposal with disdain. the honest catholic burgher who recorded the fact, observed that he did so because of the many misrepresentations on the subject, not because he wished to flatter heresy and rebellion. at tournay, the greatest scrupulousness was observed upon this point. the floor of the cathedral was strewn with "pearls and precious stones, with chalices and reliquaries of silver and gold;" but the ministers of the reformed religion, in company with the magistrates, came to the spot, and found no difficulty, although utterly without power to prevent the storm, in taking quiet possession of the wreck. "we had every thing of value," says procureur-general de la barre, "carefully inventoried, weighed, locked in chests, and placed under a strict guard in the prison of the halle, to which one set of keys were given to the ministers, and another to the magistrates." who will dare to censure in very severe language this havoc among stocks and stones in a land where so many living men and women, of more value than many statues, had been slaughtered by the inquisition, and where alva's "blood tribunal" was so soon to eclipse even that terrible institution in the number of its victims and the amount of its confiscations? yet the effect of the riots was destined to be most disastrous for a time to the reforming party. it furnished plausible excuses for many lukewarm friends of their cause to withdraw from all connection with it. egmont denounced the proceedings as highly flagitious, and busied himself with punishing the criminals in flanders. the regent was beside herself with indignation and terror. philip, when he heard the news, fell into a paroxysm of frenzy. "it shall cost them dear!" he cried, as he tore his beard for rage; "it shall cost them dear! i swear it by the soul of my father!" the reformation in the netherlands, by the fury of these fanatics, was thus made apparently to abandon the high ground upon which it had stood in the early summer. the sublime spectacle of the multitudinous field-preaching was sullied by the excesses of the image- breaking. the religious war, before imminent, became inevitable. nevertheless, the first effect of the tumults was a temporary advantage to the reformers. a great concession was extorted from the fears of the duchess regent, who was certainly placed in a terrible position. her conduct was not heroic, although she might be forgiven for trepidation. her treachery, however, under these trying circumstances was less venial. at three o'clock in the morning of the nd of august, orange, egmont, horn, hoogatraaten, mansfeld, and others were summoned to the palace. they found her already equipped for flight, surrounded by her waiting- women, chamberlains and lackeys, while the mules and hackneys stood harnessed in the court-yard, and her body-guard were prepared to mount at a moment's notice. she announced her intention of retreating at once to mons, in which city, owing to aerschot's care, she hoped to find refuge against the fury of the rebellion then sweeping the country. her alarm was almost beyond control. she was certain that the storm was ready to burst upon brussels, and that every catholic was about to be massacred before her eyes. aremberg, berlaymont, and noircarmes were with the duchess when the other seigniors arrived. a part of the duke of aerschot's company had been ordered out to escort the projected flight to mons. orange, horn, egmont, and hoogstraaten implored her to desist from her fatal resolution. they represented that such a retreat before a mob would be the very means of ruining the country. they denounced all persons who had counselled the scheme, as enemies of his majesty and herself. they protested their readiness to die at her feet in her defence, but besought her not to abandon the post of duty in the hour of peril. while they were thus anxiously debating, viglius entered the chamber. with tears streaming down her cheeks, margaret turned to the aged president, uttering fierce reproaches and desponding lamentations. viglius brought the news that the citizens had taken possession of the gates, and were resolved not to permit her departure from the city. he reminded her, according to the indispensable practice of all wise counsellors, that he had been constantly predicting this result. he, however, failed in administering much consolation, or in suggesting any remedy. he was, in truth, in as great a panic as herself, and it was, according to the statement of the duchess, mainly in order to save the president from threatened danger, that she eventually resolved to make concessions. "viglius," wrote margaret to philip, "is so much afraid of being cut to pieces, that his timidity has become incredible." upon the warm assurance of count horn, that he would enable her to escape from the city, should it become necessary, or would perish in the attempt, a promise in which he was seconded by the rest of the seigniors, she consented to remain for the day in her palace.--mansfeld was appointed captain-general of the city; egmont, horn, orange, and the others agreed to serve under his orders, and all went down together to the townhouse. the magistrates were summoned, a general meeting of the citizens was convened, and the announcement made of mansfeld's appointment, together with an earnest appeal to all honest men to support the government. the appeal was answered by a shout of unanimous approbation, an enthusiastic promise to live or die with the regent, and the expression of a resolution to permit neither reformed preaching nor image-breaking within the city. nevertheless, at seven o'clock in the evening, the duchess again sent for the seigniors. she informed them that she had received fresh and certain information, that the churches were to be sacked that very night; that viglius, berlaymont, and aremberg were to be killed, and that herself and egmont were to be taken prisoners. she repeated many times that she had been ill-advised, expressed bitter regret at having deferred her flight from the city, and called upon those who had obstructed her plan, now to fulfil their promises. turning fiercely upon count horn, she uttered a volley of reproaches upon his share in the transaction. "you are the cause," said she, "that i am now in this position. why do you not redeem your pledge and enable me to leave the place at once." horn replied that he was ready to do so if she were resolved to stay no longer. he would at the instant cut his way through the guard at the caudenberg gate, and bring her out in safety, or die in the effort. at the same time he assured her that he gave no faith to the idle reports flying about the city, reminded her that nobles, magistrates, and citizens were united in her defence, and in brief used the, same arguments which had before been used to pacify her alarm. the nobles were again successful in enforcing their counsels, the duchess was spared the ignominy and the disaster of a retreat before an insurrection which was only directed against statues, and the ecclesiastical treasures of brussels were saved from sacrilege. on the th august came the crowning act of what the reformers considered their most complete triumph, and the regent her deepest degradation. it was found necessary under the alarming aspect of affairs, that liberty of worship, in places where it had been already established, should be accorded to the new religion. articles of agreement to this effect were accordingly drawn up and exchanged between the government and lewis of nassau, attended by fifteen others of the confederacy. a corresponding pledge was signed by them, that so long as the regent was true to her engagement, they would consider their previously existing league annulled, and would assist cordially in every endeavor to maintain tranquillity and support the authority of his majesty. the important accord was then duly signed by the duchess. it declared that the inquisition was abolished, that his majesty would soon issue a new general edict, expressly and unequivocally protecting the nobles against all evil consequences from past transactions, that they were to be employed in the royal service, and that public preaching according to the forms of the new religion was to be practised in places where it had already taken place. letters general were immediately despatched to the senates of all the cities, proclaiming these articles of agreement and ordering their execution. thus for a fleeting moment there was a thrill of joy throughout the netherlands. the inquisition was thought forever abolished, the era of religious reformation arrived. etext editor's bookmarks: all denounced the image-breaking anxiety to do nothing wrong, the senators did nothing at all before morning they had sacked thirty churches bigotry which was the prevailing characteristic of the age enriched generation after generation by wealthy penitence fifty thousand persons in the provinces (put to death) furious fanaticism lutheran princes of germany, detested the doctrines of geneva monasteries, burned their invaluable libraries no qualities whatever but birth and audacity to recommend him notre dame at antwerp persons who discussed religious matters were to be put to death premature zeal was prejudicial to the cause purchased absolution for crime and smoothed a pathway to heaven rearing gorgeous temples where paupers are to kneel schism which existed in the general reformed church storm by which all these treasures were destroyed (in days) the noblest and richest temple of the netherlands was a wreck tyrannical spirit of calvinism would not help to burn fifty or sixty thousand netherlanders this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley [chapter iii.] preparations of the duke against count louis--precarious situation of louis in friesland--timidity of the inhabitants--alva in friesland--skirmishing near groningen--retreat of the patriots-- error committed by louis--his position at jemmingen--mutinous demonstrations of his troops--louis partially restores order-- attempt to destroy the dykes interrupted by the arrival of alva's forces--artful strategy of the duke--defeat of count louis and utter destruction of his army--outrages committed by the spaniards--alva at utrecht--execution of vrow van diemen--episode of don carlos-- fables concerning him and queen isabella--mystery, concerning his death--secret letters of philip to the pope--the one containing the truth of the transaction still concealed in the vatican--case against philip as related by mathieu, de thou, and others--testimony in the king's favor by the nuncio, the venetian envoy, and others-- doubtful state of the question--anecdotes concerning don carlos--his character. those measures were taken with the precision and promptness which marked the duke's character, when precision and promptness were desirable. there had been a terrible energy in his every step, since the successful foray of louis nassau. having determined to take the field in person with nearly all the spanish veterans, he had at once acted upon the necessity of making the capital secure, after his back should be turned. it was impossible to leave three thousand choice troops to guard count egmont. a less number seemed insufficient to prevent a rescue. he had, therefore, no longer delayed the chastisement which had already been determined, but which the events in the north had precipitated. thus the only positive result of louis nassau's victory was the execution of his imprisoned friends. the expedition under aremberg had failed from two causes. the spanish force had been inadequate, and they had attacked the enemy at a disadvantage. the imprudent attack was the result of the contempt with which they had regarded their antagonist. these errors were not to be repeated. alva ordered count meghem, now commanding in the province of groningen, on no account to hazard hostilities until the game was sure. he also immediately ordered large reinforcements to move forward to the seat of war. the commanders intrusted with this duty were duke eric of brunswick, chiappin vitelli, noircarmes, and count de roeulx. the rendezvous for the whole force was deventer, and here they all arrived on the th july. on the same day the duke of alva himself entered deventer, to take command in person. on the evening of the th july he reached rolden, a village three leagues distant from groningen, at the head of three terzios of spanish infantry, three companies of light horse, and a troop of dragoons. his whole force in and about groningen amounted to fifteen thousand choice troops besides a large but uncertain number of less disciplined soldiery. meantime, louis of nassau, since his victory, had accomplished nothing. for this inactivity there was one sufficient excuse, the total want of funds. his only revenue was the amount of black mail which he was able to levy upon the inhabitants of the province. he repeated his determination to treat them all as enemies, unless they furnished him with the means of expelling their tyrants from the country. he obtained small sums in this manner from time to time. the inhabitants were favorably disposed, but they were timid and despairing. they saw no clear way towards the accomplishment of the result concerning which louis was so confident. they knew that the terrible alva was already on his way. they felt sure of being pillaged by both parties, and of being hanged as rebels, besides, as soon as the governor-general should make his appearance. louis had, however, issued two formal proclamations for two especial contributions. in these documents he had succinctly explained that the houses of all recusants should be forthwith burned about their ears, and in consequence of these peremptory measures, he had obtained some ten thousand florins. alva ordered counter-proclamations to be affixed to church doors and other places, forbidding all persons to contribute to these forced loans of the rebels, on penalty of paying twice as much to the spaniards, with arbitrary punishment in addition, after his arrival. the miserable inhabitants, thus placed between two fires, had nothing for it but to pay one-half of their property to support the rebellion in the first place, with the prospect of giving the other half as a subsidy to tyranny afterwards; while the gibbet stood at the end of the vista to reward their liberality. such was the horrible position of the peasantry in this civil conflict. the weight of guilt thus accumulated upon the crowned head which conceived, and upon the red right hand which wrought all this misery, what human scales can measure? with these precarious means of support, the army of louis of nassau, as may easily be supposed, was anything but docile. after the victory of heiliger lee there had seemed to his german mercenaries a probability of extensive booty, which grew fainter as the slender fruit of that battle became daily more apparent. the two abbots of wittewerum and of heiliger lee, who had followed aremberg's train in order to be witnesses of his victory, had been obliged to pay to the actual conqueror a heavy price for the entertainment to which they had invited themselves, and these sums, together with the amounts pressed from the reluctant estates, and the forced contributions paid by luckless peasants, enabled him to keep his straggling troops together a few weeks longer. mutiny, however, was constantly breaking out, and by the eloquent expostulations and vague promises of the count, was with difficulty suppressed. he had, for a few weeks immediately succeeding the battle, distributed his troops in three different stations. on the approach of the duke, however, he hastily concentrated his whole force at his own strongly fortified camp, within half cannon shot of groningen. his army, such as it was, numbered from , to , men. alva reached groningen early in the morning, and without pausing a moment, marched his troops directly through the city. he then immediately occupied an entrenched and fortified house, from which it was easy to inflict damage upon the camp. this done, the duke, with a few attendants, rode forward to reconnoitre the enemy in person. he found him in a well fortified position, having the river on his front, which served as a moat to his camp, and with a deep trench three hundred yards beyond, in addition. two wooden bridges led across the river; each was commanded by a fortified house, in which was a provision of pine torches, ready at a moment's warning, to set fire to the bridges. having thus satisfied himself, the duke rode back to his army, which had received strict orders not to lift a finger till his return. he then despatched a small force of five hundred musketeers, under robles, to skirmish with the enemy, and, if possible, to draw them from their trenches. the troops of louis, however, showed no greediness to engage. on the contrary, it soon became evident that their dispositions were of an opposite tendency. the count himself, not at that moment trusting his soldiery, who were in an extremely mutinous condition, was desirous of falling back before his formidable antagonist. the duke, faithful, however, to his life-long principles, had no intentions of precipitating the action in those difficult and swampy regions. the skirmishing, therefore, continued for many hours, an additional force of men being detailed from the spanish army. the day was very sultry, however, the enemy reluctant, and the whole action languid. at last, towards evening, a large body, tempted beyond their trenches, engaged warmly with the spaniards. the combat lasted but a few minutes, the patriots were soon routed, and fled precipitately back to their camp. the panic spread with them, and the whole army was soon in retreat. on retiring, they had, however, set fire to the bridges, and thus secured an advantage at the outset of the chase. the spaniards were no longer to be held. vitelli obtained permission to follow with additional troops. the fifteen hundred who had already been engaged, charged furiously upon their retreating foes. some dashed across the blazing bridges, with their garments and their very beards on fire. others sprang into the river. neither fire nor water could check the fierce pursuit. the cavalry dismounting, drove their horses into the stream, and clinging to their tails, pricked the horses forward with their lances. having thus been dragged across, they joined their comrades in the mad chase along the narrow dykes, and through the swampy and almost impassable country where the rebels were seeking shelter. the approach of night, too soon advancing, at last put an end to the hunt. the duke with difficulty recalled his men, and compelled them to restrain their eagerness until the morrow. three hundred of the patriots were left dead upon the field, besides at least an equal number who perished in the river and canals. the army of louis was entirely routed, and the duke considered it virtually destroyed. he wrote to the state council that he should pursue them the next day, but doubted whether he should find anybody to talk with him. in this the governor-general soon found himself delightfully disappointed. five days later, the duke arrived at reyden, on the ems. owing to the unfavorable disposition of the country people, who were willing to protect the fugitives by false information to their pursuers, he was still in doubt as to the position then occupied by the enemy. he had been fearful that they would be found at this very village of reyden. it was a fatal error on the part of count louis that they were not. had lie made a stand at this point, he might have held out a long time. the bridge which here crossed the river would have afforded him a retreat into germany at any moment, and the place was easily to be defended in front. thus he might have maintained himself against his fierce but wary foe, while his brother orange, who was at strasburg watching the progress of events, was executing his own long-planned expedition into the heart of the netherlands. with alva thus occupied in friesland, the results of such an invasion might have been prodigious. it was, however, not on the cards for that campaign. the mutinous disposition of the mercenaries under his command had filled louis with doubt and disgust. bold and sanguine, but always too fiery and impatient, he saw not much possibility of paying his troops any longer with promises. perhaps he was not unwilling to place them in a position where they would be obliged to fight or to perish. at any rate, such was their present situation. instead of halting at reyden, he had made his stand at jemmingen, about four leagues distant from that place, and a little further down the river. alva discovered this important fact soon after his arrival at reyden, and could not conceal his delight. already exulting at the error made by his adversary, in neglecting the important position which he now occupied himself, he was doubly delighted at learning the nature of the place which he had in preference selected. he saw that louis had completely entrapped himself. jemmingen was a small town on the left bank of the ems. the stream here very broad and deep, is rather a tide inlet than a river, being but a very few miles from the dollart. this circular bay, or ocean chasm, the result of the violent inundation of the th century, surrounds, with the river, a narrow peninsula. in the corner of this peninsula, as in the bottom of a sack, louis had posted his army. his infantry, as usual, was drawn up in two large squares, and still contained ten thousand men. the rear rested upon the village, the river was upon his left; his meagre force of cavalry upon the right. in front were two very deep trenches. the narrow road, which formed the only entrance to his camp, was guarded by a ravelin on each side, and by five pieces of artillery. the duke having reconnoitred the enemy in person, rode back, satisfied that no escape was possible. the river was too deep and too wide for swimming or wading, and there were but very few boats. louis was shut up between twelve thousand spanish veterans and the river ems. the rebel army, although not insufficient in point of numbers, was in a state of disorganization. they were furious for money and reluctant to fight. they broke out into open mutiny upon the very verge of battle, and swore that they would instantly disband, if the gold, which, as they believed, had been recently brought into the camp, were not immediately distributed among them. such was the state of things on the eventful morning of the st july. all the expostulations of count louis seemed powerless. his eloquence and his patience, both inferior to his valor, were soon exhausted. he peremptorily, refused the money for which they clamored, giving the most cogent of all reasons, an empty coffer. he demonstrated plainly that they were in that moment to make their election, whether to win a victory or to submit to a massacre. neither flight nor surrender was possible. they knew how much quarter they could expect from the lances of the spaniards or the waters of the dollart. their only chance of salvation lay in their own swords. the instinct of self-preservation, thus invoked, exerted a little of its natural effect. meantime, a work which had been too long neglected, was then, if possible, to be performed. in that watery territory, the sea was only held in check by artificial means. in a very short time, by the demolition of a few dykes and the opening of a few sluices, the whole country through which the spaniards had to pass could be laid under water. believing it yet possible to enlist the ocean in his defence, louis, having partially reduced his soldiers to obedience, ordered a strong detachment upon this important service. seizing a spade, he commenced the work himself, and then returned to set his army in battle array. two or three tide gates had been opened, two or three bridges had been demolished, when alva, riding in advance of his army, appeared within a mile or two of jemmingen. it was then eight o'clock in the morning. the patriots redoubled their efforts. by ten o'clock the waters were already knee high, and in some places as deep as to the waist. at that hour, the advanced guard of the spaniards arrived. fifteen hundred musketeers were immediately ordered forward by the duke. they were preceded by a company of mounted carabineers, attended by a small band of volunteers of distinction. this little band threw themselves at once upon the troops engaged in destroying the dykes. the rebels fled at the first onset, and the spaniards closed the gates. feeling the full importance of the moment, count louis ordered a large force of musketeers to recover the position, and to complete the work of inundation. it was too late. the little band of spaniards held the post with consummate tenacity. charge after charge, volley after volley, from the overwhelming force brought against them, failed to loosen the fierce grip with which they held this key to the whole situation. before they could be driven from the dykes, their comrades arrived, when all their antagonists at once made a hurried retreat to their camp. very much the same tactics were now employed by the duke, as in the engagement near selwaert abbey. he was resolved that this affair, also, should be a hunt, not a battle; but foresaw that it was to be a more successful one. there was no loophole of escape, so that after a little successful baiting, the imprisoned victims would be forced to spring from their lurking-place, to perish upon his spears. on his march from reyden that morning, he had taken care to occupy every farm-house, every building of whatever description along the road, with his troops. he had left a strong guard on the bridge at reyden, and had thus closed carefully every avenue. the same fifteen hundred musketeers were now advanced further towards the camp. this small force, powerfully but secretly sustained, was to feel the enemy; to skirmish with him, and to draw him as soon as possible out of his trenches. the plan succeeded. gradually the engagements between them and the troops sent out by count louis grew more earnest. finding so insignificant a force opposed to them, the mutinous rebels took courage. the work waged hot. lodrono and romero, commanders of the musketeers, becoming alarmed, sent to the duke for reinforcements. he sent back word in reply, that if they were not enough to damage the enemy, they could, at least, hold their own for the present. so much he had a right to expect of spanish soldiers. at any rate, he should send no reinforcements, again they were more warmly pressed; again their messenger returned with the same reply. a third time they send the most urgent entreaties for succour. the duke was still inexorable. meantime the result of this scientific angling approached. by noon the rebels, not being able to see how large a portion of the spanish army had arrived, began to think the affair not so serious. count louis sent out a reconnoitring party upon the river in a few boats. they returned without having been able to discover any large force. it seemed probable, therefore, that the inundation had been more successful in stopping their advance than had been supposed. louis, always too rash, inflamed his men with temporary enthusiasm. determined to cut their way out by one vigorous movement, the whole army at last marched forth from their entrenchments, with drums beating, colors flying; but already the concealed reinforcements of their enemies were on the spot. the patriots met with a warmer reception than they had expected. their courage evaporated. hardly had they advanced three hundred yards, when the whole body wavered and then retreated precipitately towards the encampment, having scarcely exchanged a shot with the enemy. count louis, in a frenzy of rage and despair, flew from rank to rank, in vain endeavouring to rally his terror-stricken troops. it was hopeless. the battery which guarded the road was entirely deserted. he rushed to the cannon himself, and fired them all with his own hand. it was their first and last discharge. his single arm, however bold, could not turn the tide of battle, and he was swept backwards with his coward troops. in a moment afterwards, don lope de figueroa, who led the van of the spaniards, dashed upon the battery, and secured it, together with the ravelins. their own artillery was turned against the rebels, and the road was soon swept. the spaniards in large numbers now rushed through the trenches in pursuit of the retreating foe. no resistance was offered, nor quarter given. an impossible escape was all which was attempted. it was not a battle, but a massacre. many of the beggars in their flight threw down their arms; all had forgotten their use. their antagonists butchered them in droves, while those who escaped the sword were hurled into the river. seven spaniards were killed, and seven thousand rebels. [letter of alva to the council of state. correspondanee du duc d'albe, . the same letter is published in igor, iv. , . all writers allow seven thousand to have been killed on the patriot side, and--the number of spaniards slain is not estimated at more than eighty, even by the patriotic meteren, . compare bor, iv. - ; herrera, av. ; hoofd, v, , and mendoza, .] the swift ebb-tide swept the hats of the perishing wretches in such numbers down the stream, that the people at embden knew the result of the battle in an incredibly short period of time. the skirmishing had lasted from ten o'clock till one, but the butchery continued much longer. it took time to slaughter even unresisting victims. large numbers obtained refuge for the night upon an island in the river. at low water next day the spaniards waded to them, and slew every man. many found concealment in hovels, swamps, and thickets, so that the whole of the following day was occupied in ferreting out and despatching them. there was so much to be done, that there was work enough for all. "not a soldier," says, with great simplicity, a spanish historian who fought in the battle, "not a soldier, nor even a lad, who wished to share in the victory, but could find somebody to wound, to kill, to burn, or to drown." the wounding, killing, burning, drowning lasted two days, and very few escaped. the landward pursuit extended for three or four leagues around, so that the roads and pastures were covered with bodies, with corslets, and other weapons. count louis himself stripped off his clothes, and made his escape, when all was over, by swimming across the ems. with the paltry remnant of his troops he again took refuge in germany. the spanish army, two days afterwards, marched back to groningen. the page which records their victorious campaign is foul with outrage and red with blood. none of the horrors which accompany the passage of hostile troops through a defenceless country were omitted. maids and matrons were ravished in multitudes; old men butchered in cold blood. as alva returned, with the rear-guard of his army, the whole sky was red with a constant conflagration; the very earth seemed changed to ashes. every peasant's hovel, every farm-house, every village upon the road had been burned to the ground. so gross and so extensive had been the outrage, that the commander-in-chief felt it due to his dignity to hang some of his own soldiers who had most distinguished themselves in this work. thus ended the campaign of count louis in friesland. thus signally and terribly had the duke of alva vindicated the supremacy of spanish discipline and of his own military skill. on his return to groningen, the estates were summoned, and received a severe lecture for their suspicious demeanour in regard to the rebellion. in order more effectually to control both province and city, the governor-general ordered the construction of a strong fortress, which was soon begun but never completed. having thus furnished himself with a key to this important and doubtful region, he returned by way of amsterdam to utrecht. there he was met by his son frederic with strong reinforcements. the duke reviewed his whole army, and found himself at the head of , infantry and , cavalry. having fully subdued the province, he had no occupation for such a force, but he improved the opportunity by cutting off the head of an old woman in utrecht. the vrow van diemen, eighteen months previously, had given the preacher arendsoon a night's lodging in her house. the crime had, in fact, been committed by her son-in-law, who dwelt under her roof, and who had himself, without her participation, extended this dangerous hospitality to a heretic; but the old lady, although a devout catholic, was rich. her execution would strike a wholesome terror into the hearts of her neighbours. the confiscation of her estates would bring a handsome sum into the government coffers. it would be made manifest that the same hand which could destroy an army of twelve thousand rebels at a blow could inflict as signal punishment on the small delinquencies of obscure individuals. the old lady, who was past eighty-four years of age, was placed in a chair upon the scaffold. she met her death with heroism, and treated her murderers with contempt. "i understand very well," she observed, "why my death is considered necessary. the calf is fat and must be killed." to the executioner she expressed a hope that his sword was sufficiently sharp, "as he was likely to find her old neck very tough." with this grisly parody upon the pathetic dying words of anne boleyn, the courageous old gentlewoman submitted to her fate. the tragedy of don carlos does not strictly belong to our subject, which is the rise of the netherland commonwealth--not the decline of the spanish monarchy, nor the life of philip the second. the thread is but slender which connects the unhappy young prince with the fortunes of the northern republic. he was said, no doubt with truth, to desire the government of flanders. he was also supposed to be in secret correspondence with the leaders of the revolt in the provinces. he appeared, however, to possess very little of their confidence. his name is only once mentioned by william of orange, who said in a letter that "the prince of spain had lately eaten sixteen pounds of fruit, including four pounds of grapes at a single sitting, and had become ill in consequence." the result was sufficiently natural, but it nowhere appears that the royal youth, born to consume the fruits of the earth so largely, had ever given the netherlanders any other proof of his capacity to govern them. there is no doubt that he was a most uncomfortable personage at home, both to himself and to others, and that he hated his father' very cordially. he was extremely incensed at the nomination of alva to the netherlands, because he had hoped that either the king would go thither or entrust the mission to him, in either of which events he should be rid for a time of the paternal authority, or at least of the paternal presence. it seems to be well ascertained that carlos nourished towards his father a hatred which might lead to criminal attempts, but there is no proof that such attempts were ever made. as to the fabulous amours of the prince and the queen, they had never any existence save in the imagination of poets, who have chosen to find a source of sentimental sorrow for the infante in the arbitrary substitution of his father for himself in the marriage contract with the daughter of henry the second. as carlos was but twelve or thirteen years of age when thus deprived of a bride whom he had never seen, the foundation for a passionate regret was but slight. it would hardly be a more absurd fantasy, had the poets chosen to represent philip's father, the emperor charles, repining in his dotage for the loss of "bloody mary," whom he had so handsomely ceded to his son. philip took a bad old woman to relieve his father; he took a fair young princess at his son's expense; but similar changes in state marriages were such matters of course, that no emotions were likely to be created in consequence. there is no proof whatever, nor any reason to surmise; that any love passages ever existed between don carlos and his step-mother. as to the process and the death of the prince, the mystery has not yet been removed, and the field is still open to conjecture. it seems a thankless task to grope in the dark after the truth at a variety of sources; when the truth really exists in tangible shape if profane hands could be laid upon it. the secret is buried in the bosom of the vatican. philip wrote two letters on the subject to pius v. the contents of the first ( st january, ) are known. he informed the pontiff that he had been obliged to imprison his son, and promised that he would, in the conduct of the affair, omit nothing which could be expected of a father and of a just and prudent king. the second letter, in which he narrated, or is supposed to have narrated, the whole course of the tragic proceedings, down to the death and burial of the prince, has never yet been made public. there are hopes that this secret missive, after three centuries of darkness, may soon see the light.--[i am assured by mr. gachard that a copy of this important letter is confidently expected by the commission royale d'histoire.] as philip generally told the truth to the pope, it is probable that the secret, when once revealed, will contain the veritable solution of the mystery. till that moment arrives, it seems idle to attempt fathoming the matter. nevertheless, it may be well briefly to state the case as it stands. as against the king, it rests upon no impregnable, but certainly upon respectable authority. the prince of orange, in his famous apology, calls philip the murderer of his wife and of his son, and says that there was proof of the facts in france. he alludes to the violent death of carlos almost as if it were an indisputable truth. "as for don charles," he says, "was he not our future sovereign? and if the father could allege against his son fit cause for death, was it not rather for us to judge him than for three or four monks or inquisitors of spain?" the historian, p. matthieu, relates that philip assembled his council of conscience; that they recommended mercy; that hereupon philip gave the matter to the inquisition, by which tribunal carlos was declared a heretic on account of his connexion with protestants, and for his attempt against his father's life was condemned to death, and that the sentence was executed by four slaves, two holding the arms, one the feet, while the fourth strangled him. de thou gives the following account of the transaction, having derived many of his details from the oral communications of louis de foix: philip imagined that his son was about to escape from spain, and to make his way to the netherlands. the king also believed himself in danger of assassination from carlos, his chief evidence being that the prince always carried pistols in the pockets of his loose breeches. as carlos wished always to be alone at night without any domestic in his chamber, de foix had arranged for him a set of pulleys, by means of which he could open or shut his door without rising from his bed. he always slept with two pistols and two drawn swords under his pillow, and had two loaded arquebusses in a wardrobe close at hand. these remarkable precautions would seem rather to indicate a profound fear of being himself assassinated; but they were nevertheless supposed to justify philip's suspicions, that the infante was meditating parricide. on christmas eve, however ( ), don carlos told his confessor that he had determined to kill a man. the priest, in consequence, refused to admit him to the communion. the prince demanded, at least, a wafer which was not consecrated, in order that he might seem to the people to be participating in the sacrament. the confessor declined the proposal, and immediately repairing to the king, narrated the whole story. philip exclaimed that he was himself the man whom the prince intended to kill, but that measures should be forthwith taken to prevent such a design. the monarch then consulted the holy office of the inquisition, and the resolution was taken to arrest his son. de foix was compelled to alter the pulleys of the door to the prince's chamber in such a manner that it could be opened without the usual noise, which was almost sure to awaken him. at midnight, accordingly, count lerma entered the room so stealthily that the arms were all, removed from the prince's pillow and the wardrobe, without awakening the sleeper. philip, ruy gomez, the duke de feria, and two other nobles, then noiselessly, crept into the apartment. carlos still slept so profoundly that it was necessary for derma to shake him violently by the arm before he could be aroused. starting from his sleep in the dead of night, and seeing his father thus accompanied, before his bed, the prince cried out that he was a dead man, and earnestly besought the bystanders to make an end of him at once. philip assured him, however, that he was not come to kill him, but to chastise him paternally, and to recal him to his duty. he then read him a serious lecture, caused him to rise from his bed, took away his servants, and placed him under guard. he was made to array himself in mourning habiliments, and to sleep on a truckle bed. the prince was in despair. he soon made various attempts upon his own life. he threw himself into the fire, but was rescued by his guards, with his clothes all in flames. he passed several days without taking any food, and then ate so many patties of minced meat that he nearly died of indigestion. he was also said to have attempted to choke himself with a diamond, and to have been prevented by his guard; to have filled his bed with ice; to have sat in cold draughts; to have gone eleven days without food, the last method being, as one would think, sufficiently thorough. philip, therefore, seeing his son thus desperate, consulted once more with the holy office, and came to the decision that it was better to condemn him legitimately to death than to permit him to die by his own hand. in order, however, to save appearances, the order was secretly carried into execution. don carlos was made to swallow poison in a bowl of broth, of which he died in a few hours. this was at the commencement of his twenty-third year. the death was concealed for several months, and was not made public till after alva's victory at jemmingen. such was the account drawn up by de thou from the oral communications of de foix, and from other sources not indicated. certainly, such a narrative is far from being entitled to implicit credence. the historian was a contemporary, but he was not in spain, and the engineer's testimony is, of course, not entitled to much consideration on the subject of the process and the execution (if there were an execution); although conclusive as to matters which had been within his personal knowledge. for the rest, all that it can be said to establish is the existence of the general rumor, that carlos came to his death by foul means and in consequence of advice given by the inquisition. on the other hand, in all the letters written at the period by persons in madrid most likely, from their position, to know the truth, not a syllable has been found in confirmation of the violent death said to have been suffered by carlos. secretary erasso, the papal nuncio castagna, the venetian envoy cavalli, all express a conviction that the death of the prince had been brought about by his own extravagant conduct and mental excitement; by alternations of starving and voracious eating, by throwing himself into the fire; by icing his bed, and by similar acts of desperation. nearly every writer alludes to the incident of the refusal of the priest to admit carlos to communion, upon the ground of his confessed deadly hatred to an individual whom all supposed to be the king. it was also universally believed that carlos meant to kill his father. the nuncio asked spinosa (then president of castile) if this report were true. "if nothing more were to be feared," answered the priest, "the king would protect himself by other measures," but the matter was worse, if worse could be. the king, however, summoned all the foreign diplomatic body and assured them that the story was false. after his arrest, the prince, according to castagna, attempted various means of suicide, abstaining, at last, many days from food, and dying in consequence, "discoursing, upon his deathbed, gravely and like a man of sense." the historian cabrera, official panegyrist of philip the second, speaks of the death of carlos as a natural one, but leaves a dark kind of mystery about the symptoms of his disease. he states, that the prince was tried and condemned by a commission or junta, consisting of spinosa, ruy gomez, and the licentiate virviesca, but that he was carried off by an illness, the nature of which he does not describe. llorente found nothing in the records of the inquisition to prove that the holy office had ever condemned the prince or instituted any process against him. he states that he was condemned by a commission, but that he died of a sickness which supervened. it must be confessed that the illness was a convenient one, and that such diseases are very apt to attack individuals whom tyrants are disposed to remove from their path, while desirous, at the same time, to save appearances. it would certainly be presumptuous to accept implicitly the narrative of de thou, which is literally followed by hoofd and by many modern writers. on the other hand, it would be an exaggeration of historical scepticism to absolve philip from the murder of his son, solely upon negative testimony. the people about court did not believe in the crime. they saw no proofs of it. of course they saw none. philip would take good care that there should be none if he had made up his mind that the death of the prince should be considered a natural one. and priori argument, which omits the character of the suspected culprit, and the extraordinary circumstances of time and place, is not satisfactory. philip thoroughly understood the business of secret midnight murder. we shall soon have occasion to relate the elaborate and ingenious method by which the assassination of montigny was accomplished and kept a profound secret from the whole world, until the letters of the royal assassin, after three centuries' repose, were exhumed, and the foul mystery revealed. philip was capable of any crime. moreover, in his letter to his aunt, queen catharine of portugal, he distinctly declares himself, like abraham, prepared to go all lengths in obedience to the lord. "i have chosen in this matter," he said, "to make the sacrifice to god of my own flesh and blood, and to prefer his service and the universal welfare to all other human considerations." whenever the letter to pius v. sees the light, it will appear whether the sacrifice which the monarch thus made to his god proceeded beyond the imprisonment and condemnation of his son, or was completed by the actual immolation of the victim. with regard to the prince himself, it is very certain that, if he had lived, the realms of the spanish crown would have numbered one tyrant more. carlos from his earliest youth, was remarkable for the ferocity of his character. the emperor charles was highly pleased with him, then about fourteen years of age, upon their first interview after the abdication. he flattered himself that the lad had inherited his own martial genius together with his name. carlos took much interest in his grandfather's account of his various battles, but when the flight from innspruck was narrated, he repeated many times, with much vehemence, that he never would have fled; to which position he adhered, notwithstanding all the arguments of the emperor, and very much to his amusement. the young prince was always fond of soldiers, and listened eagerly to discourses of war. he was in the habit also of recording the names of any military persons who, according to custom, frequently made offers of their services to the heir apparent, and of causing them to take a solemn oath to keep their engagements. no other indications of warlike talent, however, have been preserved concerning him. "he was crafty, ambitious, cruel, violent," says the envoy suriano, "a hater of buffoons, a lover of soldiers." his natural cruelty seems to have been remarkable from his boyhood. after his return from the chase, he was in the habit of cutting the throats of hares and other animals, and of amusing himself with their dying convulsions. he also frequently took pleasure in roasting them alive. he once received a present of a very large snake from some person who seemed to understand how to please this remarkable young prince. after a time, however, the favorite reptile allowed itself to bite its master's finger, whereupon don carlos immediately retaliated by biting off its head. he was excessively angry at the suggestion that the prince who was expected to spring from his father's marriage with the english queen, would one day reign over the netherlands, and swore he would challenge him to mortal combat in order to prevent such an infringement of his rights. his father and grandfather were both highly diverted with this manifestation of spirit, but it was not decreed that the world should witness the execution of these fraternal intentions against the babe which was never to be born. ferocity, in short, seems to have been the leading characteristic of the unhappy carlos. his preceptor, a man of learning and merit, who was called "the honorable john", tried to mitigate this excessive ardor of temperament by a course of cicero de officiis, which he read to him daily. neither the eloquence of tully, however, nor the precepts of the honorable john made the least impression upon this very savage nature. as he grew older he did not grow wiser nor more gentle. he was prematurely and grossly licentious. all the money which as a boy, he was allowed, he spent upon women of low character, and when he was penniless, he gave them his chains, his medals, even the clothes from his back. he took pleasure in affronting respectable females when he met them in the streets, insulting them by the coarsest language and gestures. being cruel, cunning, fierce and licentious, he seemed to combine many of the worst qualities of a lunatic. that he probably was one is the best defence which can be offered for his conduct. in attempting to offer violence to a female, while he was at the university of alcala, he fell down a stone staircase, from which cause he was laid up for a long time with a severely wounded head, and was supposed to have injured his brain. the traits of ferocity recorded of him during his short life are so numerous that humanity can hardly desire that it should have been prolonged. a few drops of water having once fallen upon his head from a window, as he passed through the street, he gave peremptory orders to his guard to burn the house to the ground, and to put every one of its inhabitants to the sword. the soldiers went forthwith to execute the order, but more humane than their master, returned with the excuse that the holy sacrament of the viaticum had that moment been carried into the house. this appeal to the superstition of the prince successfully suspended the execution of the crimes which his inconceivable malignity had contemplated. on another occasion, a nobleman, who slept near his chamber, failed to answer his bell on the instant. springing upon his dilatory attendant, as soon as he made his appearance, the prince seized him in his arms and was about to throw him from the window, when the cries of the unfortunate chamberlain attracted attention, and procured a rescue. the cardinal espinoza had once accidentally detained at his palace an actor who was to perform a favorite part by express command of don carlos. furious at this detention, the prince took the priest by the throat as soon as he presented himself at the palace, and plucking his dagger from its sheath, swore, by the soul of his father, that he would take his life on the spot. the grand inquisitor fell on his knees and begged for mercy, but it is probable that the entrance of the king alone saved his life. there was often something ludicrous mingled with the atrocious in these ungovernable explosions of wrath. don pedro manuel, his chamberlain, had once, by his command, ordered a pair of boots to be made for the prince. when brought home, they were, unfortunately, too tight. the prince after vainly endeavouring to pull them on, fell into a blazing passion. he swore that it was the fault of don pedro, who always wore tight boots himself, but he at the same time protested that his father was really at the bottom of the affair. he gave the young nobleman a box on the ear for thus conspiring with the king against his comfort, and then ordered the boots to be chopped into little pieces, stewed and seasoned. then sending for the culprit shoemaker, he ordered him to eat his own boots, thus converted into a pottage; and with this punishment the unfortunate mechanic, who had thought his life forfeited, was sufficiently glad to comply. even the puissant alva could not escape his violence. like all the men in whom his father reposed confidence, the duke was odious to the heir apparent. don carlos detested him with the whole force of his little soul. he hated him as only a virtuous person deserved to be hated by such a ruffian. the heir apparent had taken the netherlands under his patronage. he had even formed the design of repairing secretly to the provinces, and could not, therefore, disguise his wrath at the appointment of the duke. it is doubtful whether the country would have benefited by the gratification of his wishes. it is possible that the pranks of so malignant an ape might have been even more mischievous than the concentrated and vigorous tyranny of an alva. when the new captain- general called, before his departure, to pay his respects to the infante, the duke seemed, to his surprise, to have suddenly entered the den of a wild beast. don carlos sprang upon him with a howl of fury, brandishing a dagger in his hand. he uttered reproaches at having been defrauded of the netherland government. he swore that alva should never accomplish his mission, nor leave his presence alive. he was proceeding to make good the threat with his poniard, when the duke closed with him. a violent struggle succeeded. both rolled together on the ground, the prince biting and striking like a demoniac, the duke defending himself as well as he was able, without attempting his adversary's life. before the combat was decided, the approach of many persons put an end to the disgraceful scene. as decent a veil as possible was thrown over the transaction, and the duke departed on his mission. before the end of the year, the prince was in the prison whence he never came forth alive. the figure of don carlos was as misshapen as his mind. his head was disproportionately large, his limbs were rickety, one shoulder was higher, one leg longer than the other. with features resembling those of his father, but with a swarthy instead of a fair complexion, with an expression of countenance both fierce and foolish, and with a character such as we have sketched it, upon the evidence of those who knew him well, it is indeed strange that he should ever have been transformed by the magic of poetry into a romantic hero. as cruel and cunning as his father, as mad as his great-grandmother, he has left a name, which not even his dark and mysterious fate can render interesting. [chapter iv.] continued and excessive barbarity of the government--execution of antony van straalen, of "red--rod" spelle--the prince of orange advised by his german friends to remain quiet--heroic sentiments of orange--his religious opinions--his efforts in favor of toleration-- his fervent piety--his public correspondence with the emperor--his "justification," his "warning," and other papers characterized--the prince, with a considerable army, crosses the rhine--passage of the meuse at stochem--he offers battle to alva--determination of the duke to avoid an engagement--comparison of his present situation with his previous position in friesland--masterly tactics of the duke--skirmish on the geta--defeat of the orangists--death of hoogstraaten--junction with genlis--adherence of alva to his original plan--the prince crosses the frontier of france-- correspondence between charles ix. and orange--the patriot army disbanded at strasburg--comments by granvelle upon the position of the prince--triumphant attitude of alva--festivities at brussels-- colossal statue of alva erected by himself in antwerp citadel-- intercession of the emperor with philip--memorial of six electors to the emperor--mission of the archduke charles to spain--his negotiations with philip--public and private correspondence between the king and emperor--duplicity of maximilian--abrupt conclusion to the intervention--granvelle's suggestions to philip concerning the treaty of passau. the duke having thus crushed the project of count bouts, and quelled the insurrection in friesland, returned in triumph to brussels. far from softened by the success of his arms, he renewed with fresh energy the butchery which, for a brief season, had been suspended during his brilliant campaign in the north. the altars again smoked with victims; the hanging, burning, drowning, beheading, seemed destined to be the perpetual course of his administration, so long as human bodies remained on which his fanatical vengeance could be wreaked. four men of eminence were executed soon after his return to the capital. they had previously suffered such intense punishment on the rack, that it was necessary to carry them to the scaffold and bind them upon chairs, that they might be beheaded. these four sufferers were a frisian nobleman, named galena, the secretaries of egmont and horn, bakkerzeel and la loo, and the distinguished burgomaster of antwerp, antony van straalen. the arrest of the three last-mentioned individuals, simultaneously with that of the two counts, has been related in a previous chapter. in the case of van straalen, the services rendered by him to the provinces during his long and honorable career, had been so remarkable, that even the blood- council, in sending his case to alva for his sentence, were inspired by a humane feeling. they felt so much compunction at the impending fate of a man who, among other meritorious acts, had furnished nearly all the funds for the brilliant campaign in picardy, by which the opening years of philip's reign had been illustrated, as to hint at the propriety of a pardon. but the recommendation to mercy, though it came from the lips of tigers, dripping with human blood, fell unheeded on the tyrant's ear. it seemed meet that the man who had supplied the nerves of war in that unforgiven series of triumphs, should share the fate of the hero who had won the laurels. [bor, cappella, hoofd, ubi sup. the last words of the burgomaster as he bowed his neck to the executioner's stroke were, "voor wel gedaan, kwaclyk beloud,"--"for faithful service, evil recompense." --cappella, .] hundreds of obscure martyrs now followed in the same path to another world, where surely they deserved to find their recompense, if steadfast adherence to their faith, and a tranquil trust in god amid tortures and death too horrible to be related, had ever found favor above. the "red- rod," as the provost of brabant was popularly designated, was never idle. he flew from village to village throughout the province, executing the bloody behests of his masters with congenial alacrity. nevertheless his career was soon destined to close upon the same scaffold where he had so long officiated. partly from caprice, partly from an uncompromising and fantastic sense of justice, his master now hanged the executioner whose industry had been so untiring. the sentence which was affixed to his breast, as he suffered, stated that he had been guilty of much malpractice; that he had executed many persons without a warrant, and had suffered many guilty persons for a bribe, to escape their doom. the reader can judge which of the two clauses constituted the most sufficient reason. during all these triumphs of alva, the prince of orange had not lost his self-possession. one after another, each of his bold, skilfully- conceived and carefully-prepared plans had failed. villers had been entirely discomfited at dalhena, cocqueville had been cut to pieces in picardy, and now the valiant and experienced louis had met with an entire overthrow in friesland. the brief success of the patriots at heiliger zee had been washed out in the blood-torrents of jemmingen. tyranny was more triumphant, the provinces more timidly crouching, than ever. the friends on whom william of orange relied in germany, never enthusiastic in his cause, although many of them true-hearted and liberal, now grew cold and anxious. for months long, his most faithful and affectionate allies, such men as the elector of hesse and the duke of wirtemberg, as well as the less trustworthy augustus of saxony, had earnestly expressed their opinion that, under the circumstances, his best course was to sit still and watch the course of events. it was known that the emperor had written an urgent letter to philip on the subject of his policy in the netherlands in general, and concerning the position of orange in particular. all persons, from the emperor down to the pettiest potentate, seemed now of opinion that the prince had better pause; that he was, indeed, bound to wait the issue of that remonstrance. "your highness must sit still," said landgrave william. "your highness must sit still," said augustus of saxony. "you must move neither hand nor foot in the cause of the perishing provinces," said the emperor. "not a soldier-horse, foot, or dragoon-shall be levied within the empire. if you violate the peace of the realm, and embroil us with our excellent brother and cousin philip, it is at your own peril. you have nothing to do but to keep quiet and await his answer to our letter." but the prince knew how much effect his sitting still would produce upon the cause of liberty and religion. he knew how much effect the emperor's letter was like to have upon the heart of philip. he knew that the more impenetrable the darkness now gathering over that land of doom which he had devoted his life to defend, the more urgently was he forbidden to turn his face away from it in its affliction. he knew that thousands of human souls, nigh to perishing, were daily turning towards him as their only hope on earth, and he was resolved, so long as he could dispense a single ray of light, that his countenance should never be averted. it is difficult to contemplate his character, at this period, without being infected with a perhaps dangerous enthusiasm. it is not an easy task coldly to analyse a nature which contained so much of the self- sacrificing and the heroic, as well as of the adroit and the subtle; and it is almost impossible to give utterance to the emotions which naturally swell the heart at the contemplation of so much active virtue, without rendering oneself liable to the charge of excessive admiration. through the mists of adversity, a human form may dilate into proportions which are colossal and deceptive. our judgment may thus, perhaps, be led captive, but at any rate the sentiment excited is more healthful than that inspired by the mere shedder of blood, by the merely selfish conqueror. when the cause of the champion is that of human right against tyranny, of political ind religious freedom against an all-engrossing and absolute bigotry, it is still more difficult to restrain veneration within legitimate bounds. to liberate the souls and bodies of millions, to maintain for a generous people, who had well-nigh lost their all, those free institutions which their ancestors had bequeathed, was a noble task for any man. but here stood a prince of ancient race, vast possessions, imperial blood, one of the great ones of the earth, whose pathway along the beaten track would have been smooth and successful, but who was ready to pour out his wealth like water, and to coin his heart's blood, drop by drop, in this virtuous but almost desperate cause. he felt that of a man to whom so much had been entrusted, much was to be asked. god had endowed him with an incisive and comprehensive genius, unfaltering fortitude, and with the rank and fortune which enable a man to employ his faculties, to the injury or the happiness of his fellows, on the widest scale. the prince felt the responsibility, and the world was to learn the result. it was about this time that a deep change came over his mind. hitherto, although nominally attached to the communion of the ancient church, his course of life and habits of mind had not led him to deal very earnestly with things beyond the world. the severe duties, the grave character of the cause to which his days were henceforth to be devoted, had already led him to a closer inspection of the essential attributes of christianity. he was now enrolled for life as a soldier of the reformation. the reformation was henceforth his fatherland, the sphere, of his duty and his affection. the religious reformers became his brethren, whether in france, germany, the netherlands, or england. yet his mind had taken a higher flight than that of the most eminent reformers. his goal was not a new doctrine, but religious liberty. in an age when to think was a crime, and when bigotry and a persecuting spirit characterized romanists and lutherans, calvinists and zwinglians, he had dared to announce freedom of conscience as the great object for which noble natures should strive. in an age when toleration was a vice, he had the manhood to cultivate it as a virtue. his parting advice to the reformers of the netherlands, when he left them for a season in the spring of , was to sink all lesser differences in religious union. those of the augsburg confession and those of the calvinistic church, in their own opinion as incapable of commingling as oil and water, were, in his judgment, capable of friendly amalgamation. he appealed eloquently to the good and influential of all parties to unite in one common cause against oppression. even while favoring daily more and more the cause of the purified church, and becoming daily more alive to the corruption of rome, he was yet willing to tolerate all forms of worship, and to leave reason to combat error. without a particle of cant or fanaticism, he had become a deeply religious man. hitherto he had been only a man of the world and a statesman, but from this time forth he began calmly to rely upon god's providence in all the emergencies of his eventful life. his letters written to his most confidential friends, to be read only by themselves, and which have been gazed upon by no other eyes until after the lapse of nearly three centuries, abundantly prove his sincere and simple trust. this sentiment was not assumed for effect to delude others, but cherished as a secret support for himself. his religion was not a cloak to his designs, but a consolation in his disasters. in his letter of instruction to his most confidential agent, john bazius, while he declared himself frankly in favor of the protestant principles, he expressed his extreme repugnance to the persecution of catholics. "should we obtain power over any city or cities," he wrote, "let the communities of papists be as much respected and protected as possible. let them be overcome, not by violence, but with gentle-mindedness and virtuous treatment." after the terrible disaster at jemmingen, he had written to louis, consoling him, in the most affectionate language, for the unfortunate result of his campaign. not a word of reproach escaped from him, although his brother had conducted the operations in friesland, after the battle of heiliger lee, in a manner quite contrary to his own advice. he had counselled against a battle, and had foretold a defeat; but after the battle had been fought and a crushing defeat sustained, his language breathed only unwavering submission to the will of god, and continued confidence in his own courage. "you may be well assured, my brother," he wrote, "that i have never felt anything more keenly than the pitiable misfortune which has happened to you, for many reasons which you can easily imagine. moreover, it hinders us much in the levy which we are making, and has greatly chilled the hearts of those who otherwise would have been ready to give us assistance. nevertheless, since it has thus pleased god, it is necessary to have patience and to lose not courage; conforming ourselves to his divine will, as for my part i have determined to do in everything which may happen, still proceeding onward in our work with his almighty aid. 'soevis tranquillus in undis', he was never more placid than when the storm was wildest and the night darkest. he drew his consolations and refreshed his courage at the never-failing fountains of divine mercy. "i go to-morrow," he wrote to the unworthy anne of saxony; "but when i shall return, or when i shall see you, i cannot, on my honor, tell you with certainty. i have resolved to place myself in the hands of the almighty, that he may guide me whither it is his good pleasure that i should go. i see well enough that i am destined to pass this life in misery and labor, with which i am well content, since it thus pleases the omnipotent, for i know that i have merited still greater chastisement. i only implore him graciously to send me strength to endure with patience." such language, in letters the most private, never meant to be seen by other eyes than those to which they were addressed, gives touching testimony to the sincere piety of his character. no man was ever more devoted to a high purpose, no man had ever more right to imagine himself, or less inclination to pronounce himself, entrusted with a divine mission. there was nothing of the charlatan in his character. his nature was true and steadfast. no narrow-minded usurper was ever more loyal to his own aggrandisement than this large-hearted man to the cause of oppressed humanity. yet it was inevitable that baser minds should fail to recognise his purity. while he exhausted his life for the emancipation of a people, it was easy to ascribe all his struggles to the hope of founding a dynasty. it was natural for grovelling natures to search in the gross soil of self-interest for the sustaining roots of the tree beneath whose branches a nation found its shelter. what could they comprehend of living fountains and of heavenly dews? in may, , the emperor maximilian had formally issued a requisition to the prince of orange to lay down his arms, and to desist from all levies and machinations against the king of spain and the peace of the realm. this summons he was commanded to obey on pain of forfeiting all rights, fiefs, privileges and endowments bestowed by imperial hands on himself or his predecessors, and of incurring the heaviest disgrace, punishment, and penalties of the empire. to this document the prince replied in august, having paid in the meantime but little heed to its precepts. now that the emperor, who at first was benignant, had begun to frown on his undertaking, he did not slacken in his own endeavours to set his army on foot. one by one, those among the princes of the empire who had been most stanch in his cause, and were still most friendly to his person, grew colder as tyranny became stronger; but the ardor of the prince was not more chilled by their despair than by the overthrow at jemmingen, which had been its cause. in august, he answered the letter of the emperor, respectfully but warmly. he still denounced the tyranny of alva and the arts of granvelle with that vigorous eloquence which was always at his command, while, as usual, he maintained a show of almost exaggerated respect for their monarch. it was not to be presumed, he said, that his majesty, "a king debonair and bountiful," had ever intended such cruelties as those which had been rapidly retraced in the letter, but it was certain that the duke of alva had committed them all of his own authority. he trusted, moreover, that the emperor, after he had read the "justification" which the prince had recently published, would appreciate the reason for his taking up arms. he hoped that his majesty would now consider the resistance just, christian, and conformable to the public peace. he expressed the belief that rather than interpose any hindrance, his majesty would thenceforth rather render assistance "to the poor and desolate christians," even as it was his majesty's office and authority to be the last refuge of the injured. the "justification against the false blame of his calumniators by the prince of orange," to which the prince thus referred, has been mentioned in a previous chapter. this remarkable paper had been drawn up at the advice of his friends, landgrave william and elector augustus, but it was not the only document which the prince caused to be published at this important epoch. he issued a formal declaration of war against the duke of alva; he addressed a solemn and eloquent warning or proclamation to all the inhabitants of the netherlands. these documents are all extremely important and interesting. their phraseology shows the intentions and the spirit by which the prince was actuated on first engaging in the struggle. without the prince and his efforts--at this juncture, there would probably have never been a free netherland commonwealth. it is certain, likewise, that without an enthusiastic passion for civil and religious liberty throughout the masses of the netherland people, there would have been no successful effort on the part of the prince. he knew his countrymen; while they, from highest to humblest, recognised in him their saviour. there was, however, no pretence of a revolutionary movement. the prince came to maintain, not to overthrow. the freedom which had been enjoyed in the provinces until the accession of the burgundian dynasty, it was his purpose to restore. the attitude which he now assumed was a peculiar one in history. this defender of a people's cause set up no revolutionary standard. in all his documents he paid apparent reverence to the authority of the king. by a fiction, which was not unphilosophical, he assumed that the monarch was incapable of the crimes which he charged upon the viceroy. thus he did not assume the character of a rebel in arms against his prince, but in his own capacity of sovereign he levied troops and waged war against a satrap whom he chose to consider false to his master's orders. in the interest of philip, assumed to be identical with the welfare of his people, he took up arms against the tyrant who was sacrificing both. this mask of loyalty would never save his head from the block, as he well knew, but some spirits lofty as his own, might perhaps be influenced by a noble sophistry, which sought to strengthen the cause of the people by attributing virtue to the king. and thus did the sovereign of an insignificant little principality stand boldly forth to do battle with the most powerful monarch in the world. at his own expense, and by almost superhuman exertions, he had assembled nearly thirty thousand men. he now boldly proclaimed to the world, and especially to the inhabitants of the provinces, his motives, his purposes, and his hopes. "we, by god's grace prince of orange," said his declaration of st august, , "salute all faithful subjects of his majesty. to few people is it unknown that the spaniards have for a long time sought to govern the land according to their pleasure. abusing his majesty's goodness, they have persuaded him to decree the introduction of the inquisition into the netherlands. they well understood, that in case the netherlanders could be made to tolerate its exercise, they would lose all protection to their liberty; that if they opposed its introduction, they would open those rich provinces as a vast field of plunder. we had hoped that his majesty, taking the matter to heart, would have spared his hereditary provinces from such utter ruin. we have found our hopes futile. we are unable, by reason of our loyal service due to his majesty, and of our true compassion for the faithful lieges, to look with tranquillity any longer at such murders, robberies, outrages, and agony. we are, moreover, certain that his majesty has been badly informed upon netherland matters. we take up arms, therefore, to oppose the violent tyranny of the spaniards, by the help of the merciful god, who is the enemy of all bloodthirstiness. cheerfully inclined to wager our life and all our worldly wealth on the cause, we have now, god be thanked, an excellent army of cavalry, infantry, and artillery, raised all at our own expense. we summon all loyal subjects of the netherlands to come and help us. let them take to heart the uttermost need of the country, the danger of perpetual slavery for themselves and their children, and of the entire overthrow of the evangelical religion. only when alva's blood- thirstiness shall have been at last overpowered, can the provinces hope to recover their pure administration of justice, and a prosperous condition for their commonwealth." in the "warning" or proclamation to all the inhabitants of the netherlands, the prince expressed similar sentiments. he announced his intention of expelling the spaniards forever from the country. to accomplish the mighty undertaking, money was necessary. he accordingly called on his countrymen to contribute, the rich out of their abundance, the poor even out of their poverty, to the furtherance of the cause. to do this, while it was yet time, he solemnly warned them "before god, the fatherland, and the world." after the title of this paper were cited the th, th, and th verses of the tenth chapter of proverbs. the favorite motto of the prince, "pro lege, rege, grege," was also affixed to the document. these appeals had, however, but little effect. of three hundred thousand crowns, promised on behalf of leading nobles and merchants of the netherlands by marcus perez, but ten or twelve thousand came to hand. the appeals to the gentlemen who had signed the compromise, and to many others who had, in times past, been favorable to the liberal party were powerless. a poor anabaptist preacher collected a small sum from a refugee congregation on the outskirts of holland, and brought it, at the peril of his life, into the prince's camp. it came from people, he said, whose will was better than the gift. they never wished to be repaid, he said, except by kindness, when the cause of reform should be triumphant in the netherlands. the prince signed a receipt for the money, expressing himself touched by this sympathy from these poor outcasts. in the course of time, other contributions from similar sources, principally collected by dissenting preachers, starving and persecuted church communities, were received. the poverty-stricken exiles contributed far more, in proportion, for the establishment of civil and religious liberty, than the wealthy merchants or the haughty nobles. late in september, the prince mustered his army in the province of treves, near the monastery of romersdorf. his force amounted to nearly thirty thousand men, of whom nine thousand were cavalry. lumey, count de la marek, now joined him at the head of a picked band of troopers; a bold, ferocious partisan, descended from the celebrated wild boar of ardennes. like civilis, the ancient batavian hero, he had sworn to leave hair and beard unshorn till the liberation of the country was achieved, or at least till the death of egmont, whose blood relation he was, had been avenged. it is probable that the fierce conduct of this chieftain, and particularly the cruelties exercised upon monks and papists by his troops, dishonored the cause more than their valor could advance it. but in those stormy times such rude but incisive instruments were scarcely to be neglected, and the name of lumey was to be forever associated with important triumphs of the liberal cause. it was fated, however, that but few laurels should be won by the patriots in this campaign. the prince crossed the rhine at saint feit, a village belonging to himself. he descended along the banks as far as the neighbourhood of cologne. then, after hovering in apparent uncertainty about the territories of juliers and limburg, he suddenly, on a bright moonlight night, crossed the meuse with his whole army, in the neighbourhood of stochem. the operation was brilliantly effected. a compact body of cavalry, according to the plan which had been more than once adopted by julius caesar, was placed in the midst of the current, under which shelter the whole army successfully forded the river. the meuse was more shallow than usual, but the water was as high as the soldiers' necks. this feat was accomplished on the night and morning of the th and th of october. it was considered so bold an achievement that its fame spread far and wide. the spaniards began to tremble at the prowess of a prince whom they had affected to despise. the very fact of the passage was flatly contradicted. an unfortunate burgher at amsterdam was scourged at the whipping-post, because he mentioned it as matter of common report. the duke of alva refused to credit the tale when it was announced to him. "is the army of the prince of orange a flock of wild geese," he asked, "that it can fly over rivers like the meuse?" nevertheless it was true. the outlawed, exiled prince stood once more on the borders of brabant, with an army of disciplined troops at his back. his banners bore patriotic inscriptions. "pro lege, rege, grege," was emblazoned upon some. a pelican tearing her breast to nourish her young with her life-blood was the pathetic emblem of others. it was his determination to force or entice the duke of alva into a general engagement. he was desirous to wipe out the disgrace of jemmingen. could he plant his victorious standard thus in the very heart of the country, he felt that thousands would rally around it. the country would rise almost to a man, could he achieve a victory over the tyrant, flushed as he was with victory, and sated with blood. with banners flying, drums beating, trumpets sounding, with all the pomp and defiance which an already victorious general could assume, orange marched into brabant, and took up a position within six thousand paces of alva's encampment. his plan was at every hazard to dare or to decoy his adversary into the chances of a stricken field. the governor was entrenched at a place called keiserslager, which julius caesar had once occupied. the city of maestricht was in his immediate neighbourhood, which was thus completely under his protection, while it furnished him with supplies. the prince sent to the duke a herald, who was to propose that all prisoners who might be taken in the coming campaign should be exchanged instead of being executed. the herald, booted and spurred, even as he had dismounted from his horse, was instantly hanged. this was the significant answer to the mission of mercy. alva held no parley with rebels before a battle, nor gave quarter afterwards. in the meantime, the duke had carefully studied the whole position of affairs, and had arrived at his conclusion. he was determined not to fight. it was obvious that the prince would offer battle eagerly, ostentatiously, frequently, but the governor was resolved never to accept the combat. once taken, his resolution was unalterable. he recognized the important difference between his own attitude at present, and that in which he had found himself during the past summer in friesland. there a battle had been necessary, now it was more expedient to overcome his enemy by delay. in friesland, the rebels had just achieved a victory over the choice troops of spain. here they were suffering from the stigma of a crushing defeat. then, the army of louis nassau was swelling daily by recruits, who poured in from all the country round. now, neither peasant nor noble dared lift a finger for the prince. the army of louis had been sustained by the one which his brother was known to be preparing. if their movements had not been checked, a junction would have been effected. the armed revolt would then have assumed so formidable an aspect, that rebellion would seem, even for the timid, a safer choice than loyalty. the army of the prince, on the contrary, was now the last hope of the patriots: the three by which it had been preceded had been successively and signally vanquished. friesland, again, was on the outskirts of the country. a defeat sustained by the government there did not necessarily imperil the possession of the provinces. brabant, on the contrary, was the heart of the netherlands. should the prince achieve a decisive triumph then and there, he would be master of the nation's fate. the viceroy knew himself to be odious, and he reigned by terror. the prince was the object of the people's idolatry, and they would rally round him if they dared. a victory gained by the liberator over the tyrant, would destroy the terrible talisman of invincibility by which alva governed. the duke had sufficiently demonstrated his audacity in the tremendous chastisement which he had inflicted upon the rebels under louis. he could now afford to play that scientific game of which he was so profound a master, without risking any loss of respect or authority. he was no enthusiast. although he doubtless felt sufficiently confident of overcoming the prince in a pitched battle, he had not sufficient relish for the joys of contest to be willing to risk even a remote possibility of defeat. his force, although composed of veterans and of the best musketeers and pikemen in europe, was still somewhat inferior in numbers to that of his adversary. against the twenty thousand foot and eight thousand, horse of orange, he could oppose only fifteen or sixteen thousand foot and fifty- five hundred riders. moreover, the advantage which he had possessed in friesland, a country only favorable to infantry, in which he had been stronger than his opponent, was now transferred to his new enemy. on the plains of brabant, the prince's superiority in cavalry was sure to tell. the season of the year, too, was an important element in the calculation. the winter alone would soon disperse the bands of german mercenaries, whose expenses orange was not able to support, even while in active service. with unpaid wages and disappointed hopes of plunder, the rebel army would disappear in a few weeks as totally as if defeated in the open field. in brief, orange by a victory would gain new life and strength, while his defeat could no more than anticipate, by a few weeks, the destruction of his army, already inevitable. alva, on the contrary, might lose the mastery of the netherlands if unfortunate, and would gain no solid advantage if triumphant. the prince had everything to hope, the duke everything to fear, from the result of a general action. the plan, thus deliberately resolved upon, was accomplished with faultless accuracy. as a work of art, the present campaign of alva against orange was a more consummate masterpiece than the, more brilliant and dashing expedition into friesland. the duke had resolved to hang upon his adversary's skirts, to follow him move by move, to check him at every turn, to harass him in a hundred ways, to foil all his enterprises, to parry all his strokes, and finally to drive him out of the country, after a totally barren campaign, when, as he felt certain, his ill-paid hirelings would vanish in all directions, and leave their patriot prince a helpless and penniless adventurer. the scheme thus sagaciously conceived, his adversary, with all his efforts, was unable to circumvent. the campaign lasted little more than a month. twenty-nine times the prince changed his encampment, and at every remove the duke was still behind him, as close and seemingly as impalpable as his shadow. thrice they were within cannon-shot of each other; twice without a single trench or rampart between them. the country people refused the prince supplies, for they trembled at the vengeance of the governor. alva had caused the irons to be removed from all the mills, so that not a bushel of corn could be ground in the whole province. the country thus afforded but little forage for the thirty thousand soldiers of the prince. the troops, already discontented, were clamorous for pay and plunder. during one mutinous demonstration, the prince's sword was shot from his side, and it was with difficulty that a general outbreak was suppressed. the soldiery were maddened and tantalized by the tactics of alva. they found themselves constantly in the presence of an enemy, who seemed to court a battle at one moment and to vanish like a phantom at the next they felt the winter approaching, and became daily more dissatisfied with the irritating hardships to which they were exposed. upon the night of the th and th of october the prince had crossed the meuse at stochem. thence he had proceeded to tongres, followed closely by the enemy's force, who encamped in the immediate neighbourhood. from tongres he had moved to saint trond, still pursued and still baffled in the same cautious manner. the skirmishing at the outposts was incessant, but the main body was withdrawn as soon as there seemed a chance of its becoming involved. from saint trond, in the neighbourhood of which he had remained several days, he advanced in a southerly direction towards jodoigne. count de genlis, with a reinforcement of french huguenots, for which the prince had been waiting, had penetrated through the ardennes, crossed the meuse at charlemont, and was now intending a junction with him at waveron. the river geta flowed between them. the prince stationed a considerable force upon a hill near the stream to protect the passage, and then proceeded leisurely to send his army across the river. count hoogstraaten, with the rear-guard, consisting of about three thousand men, were alone left upon the hither bank, in order to provoke or to tempt the enemy, who, as usual, was encamped very near. alva refused to attack the main army, but frederic with a force of four thousand men, were alone left on the hither bank, in order to provoke or to tempt the enemy, who as usual, was encamped very near. alva refused to attack the main army but rapidly detached his son, don fredrick, with a force of four thousand foot and three thousand horse, to cut off the rear-guard. the movement was effected in a masterly manner, the hill was taken, the three thousand troops which had not passed the river were cut to pieces, and vitelli hastily despatched a gentleman named barberini to implore the duke to advance with the main body, cross the river, and, once for all, exterminate the rebels in a general combat. alva, inflamed, not with ardor for an impending triumph, but with rage, that his sagely-conceived plans could not be comprehended even by his son and by his favorite officers, answered the eager messenger with peremptory violence. "go back to vitelli," he cried. "is he, or am i, to command in this campaign? tell him not to suffer a single man to cross the river. warn him against sending any more envoys to advise a battle; for should you or any other man dare to bring me another such message, i swear to you, by the head of the king, that you go not hence alive." with this decisive answer the messenger had nothing for it but to gallop back with all haste, in order to participate in what might be left of the butchery of count hoogstraaten's force, and to prevent vitelli and don frederic in their ill-timed ardor, from crossing the river. this was properly effected, while in the meantime the whole rear-guard of the patriots had been slaughtered. a hundred or two, the last who remained, had made their escape from the field, and had taken refuge in a house in the neighbourhood. the spaniards set the buildings on fire, and standing around with lifted lances, offered the fugitives the choice of being consumed in the flames or of springing out upon their spears. thus entrapped some chose the one course, some the other. a few, to escape the fury of the fire and the brutality of the spaniards, stabbed themselves with their own swords. others embraced, and then killed each other, the enemies from below looking on, as at a theatrical exhibition; now hissing and now applauding, as the death struggles were more or less to their taste. in a few minutes all the fugitives were dead. nearly three thousand of the patriots were slain in this combat, including those burned or butchered after the battle was over. the sieur de louverwal was taken prisoner, and soon afterwards beheaded in brussels; but the greatest misfortune sustained by the liberal party upon this occasion was the death of antony de lalaing, count of hoogstraaten. this brave and generous nobleman, the tried friend of the prince of orange, and his colleague during the memorable scenes at antwerp, was wounded in the foot during the action, by an accidental discharge of his own pistol. the injury, although apparently slight, caused his death in a few days. there seemed a strange coincidence in his good and evil fortunes. a casual wound in the hand from his own pistol while he was on his way to brussels, to greet alva upon his first arrival, had saved him from the scaffold. and now in his first pitched battle with the duke, this seemingly trifling injury in the foot was destined to terminate his existence. another peculiar circumstance had marked the event. at a gay supper in the course of this campaign, hoogstraaten had teased count louis, in a rough, soldierly way, with his disaster at jemmingen. he had affected to believe that the retreat upon that occasion had been unnecessary. "we have been now many days in the netherlands;" said he, "and we have seen nothing of the spaniards but their backs."--"and when the duke does break loose," replied louis, somewhat nettled, "i warrant you will see their faces soon enough, and remember them for the rest of your life." the half-jesting remark was thus destined to become a gloomy prophecy. this was the only important action daring the campaign. its perfect success did not warp alva's purpose, and, notwithstanding the murmurs of many of his officers, he remained firm in his resolution. after the termination of the battle on the geta, and the duke's obstinate refusal to pursue his advantage, the baron de chevreau dashed his pistol to the ground, in his presence, exclaiming that the duke would never fight. the governor smiled at the young man's chagrin, seemed even to approve his enthusiasm, but reminded him that it was the business of an officer to fight, of a general to conquer. if the victory were bloodless, so much the better for all. this action was fought on the th of october. a few days afterwards, the prince made his junction with genlis at waveren, a place about three leagues from louvain and from brussels. this auxiliary force was, however, insignificant. there were only five hundred cavalry and three thousand foot, but so many women and children, that it seemed rather an emigrating colony than an invading army. they arrived late. if they had come earlier, it would have been of little consequence, for it had been written that no laurels were to be gathered in that campaign. the fraternal spirit which existed between the reformers in all countries was all which could be manifested upon the occasion. the prince was frustrated in his hopes of a general battle, still more bitterly disappointed by the supineness of the country. not a voice was raised to welcome the deliverer. not a single city opened its gates. all was crouching, silent, abject. the rising, which perhaps would have been universal had a brilliant victory been obtained, was, by the masterly tactics of alva, rendered an almost inconceivable idea. the mutinous demonstrations in the prince's camp became incessant; the soldiers were discontented and weary. what the duke had foretold was coming to pass, for the prince's army was already dissolving. genlis and the other french officers were desirous that the prince should abandon the netherlands for the present, and come to the rescue of the huguenots, who had again renewed the religious war under conde and coligny. the german soldiers, however would listen to no such proposal. they had enlisted to fight the duke of alva in the netherlands, and would not hear of making war against charles ix. in france. the prince was obliged to countermarch toward the rhine. he recrossed the geta, somewhat to alva's astonishment, and proceeded in the direction of the meuse. the autumn rains, however, had much swollen that river since his passage at the beginning of the month, so that it could no longer be forded. he approached the city of liege, and summoned their bishop, as he had done on his entrance into the country, to grant a free passage to his troops. the bishop who stood in awe of alva, and who had accepted his protection again refused. the prince had no time to parley. he was again obliged to countermarch, and took his way along the high-road to france, still watched and closely pursued by alva, between whose troops and his own daily skirmishes took place. at le quesnoy, the prince gained a trifling advantage over the spaniards; at cateau cambresis he also obtained a slight and easy-victory; but by the th of november the duke of alva had entered cateau cambresis, and the prince had crossed the frontier of france. the marechal de cosse, who was stationed on the boundary of france and flanders, now harassed the prince by very similar tactics to those of alva. he was, however, too weak to inflict any serious damage, although strong enough to create perpetual annoyance. he also sent a secretary to the prince, with a formal prohibition, in the name of charles ix., against his entering the french territory with his troops. besides these negotiations, conducted by secretary favelles on the part of marechal de cosse, the king, who was excessively alarmed, also despatched the marechal gaspar de schomberg on the same service. that envoy accordingly addressed to the prince a formal remonstrance in the name of his sovereign. charles ix., it was represented, found it very strange that the prince should thus enter the french territory. the king was not aware that he had ever given him the least cause for hostile proceedings, could not therefore take it in good part that the prince should thus enter france with a "large and puissant army;" because no potentate, however humble, could tolerate such a proceeding, much less a great and powerful monarch. orange was therefore summoned to declare his intentions, but was at the same, time informed, that if he merely desired "to pass amiably through the country," and would give assurance, and request permission to that, effect, under his hand and seal, his majesty would take all necessary measures to secure that amiable passage. the prince replied by a reference to the statements which he had already made to marechal de cosse. he averred that he had not entered france with evil intent, but rather with a desire to render very humble service to his majesty, so far as he could do so with a clear conscience. touching the king's inability to remember having given any occasion to hostile proceedings on the part of the prince, he replied that he would pass that matter by. although he could adduce many, various, and strong reasons for violent measures, he was not so devoid of understanding as not to recognize the futility of attempting anything, by his own personal means, against so great and powerful a king, in comparison with whom he was "but a petty companion." "since the true religion," continued orange, "is a public and general affair, which ought to be preferred to all private matters; since the prince, as a true christian, is held by his honor and conscience to procure, with all his strength, its advancement and establishment in every place whatever; since, on the other hand, according to the edict published in september last by his majesty, attempts have been made to force in their consciences all those who are of the christian religion; and since it has been determined to exterminate the pure word of god, and the entire exercise thereof, and to permit no other religion than the roman catholic, a thing very, prejudicial to the neighbouring nations where there is a free exercise of the christian religion, therefore the prince would put no faith in the assertions of his majesty, that it was not his majesty's intentions to force the consciences of any one." having given this very deliberate and succinct contradiction to the statements of the french king, the prince proceeded to express his sympathy for the oppressed christians everywhere. he protested that he would give them all the aid, comfort, counsel, and assistance that he was able to give them. he asserted his conviction that the men who professed the religion demanded nothing else than the glory of god and the advancement of his word, while in all matters of civil polity they were ready to render obedience to his majesty. he added that all his doings were governed by a christian and affectionate regard for the king and his subjects, whom his majesty must be desirous of preserving from extreme ruin. he averred, moreover, that if he should perceive any indication that those of the religion were pursuing any other object than liberty of conscience and security for life and property, he would not only withdraw his assistance from them, but would use the whole strength of his army to exterminate them. in conclusion, he begged the king to believe that the work which the prince had undertaken was a christian work, and that his intentions were good and friendly towards his majesty. [this very eloquently written letter was dated ciasonne, december rd, . it has never been published. it is in the collection of mss, pivoen concernant, etc., hague archives.] it was, however, in vain that the prince endeavoured to induce his army to try the fortunes of the civil war in france. they had enlisted for the netherlands, the campaign was over, and they insisted upon being led back to germany. schomberg, secretly instructed by the king of france, was active in fomenting the discontent, and the prince was forced to yield. he led his army through champagne and lorraine to strasburg, where they were disbanded. all the money which the prince had been able to collect was paid them. he pawned all his camp equipage, his plate, his furniture. what he could not pay in money he made up in promises, sacredly to be fulfilled, when he should be restored to his possessions. he even solemnly engaged, should he return from france alive, and be still unable to pay their arrears of wages, to surrender his person to them as a hostage for his debt. thus triumphantly for alva, thus miserably for orange, ended the campaign. thus hopelessly vanished the army to which so many proud hopes had attached themselves. eight thousand teen had been slain in paltry encounters, thirty thousand were dispersed, not easily to be again collected. all the funds which the prince could command had been wasted without producing a result. for the present, nothing seemed to afford a ground of hope for the netherlands, but the war of freedom had been renewed in france. a band of twelve hundred mounted men-at-arms were willing to follow the fortunes of the prince. the three brothers accordingly; william, louis, and henry--a lad of eighteen, who had abandoned his studies at the university to obey the chivalrous instincts of his race--set forth early in the following spring to join the banner of conde. cardinal granvelle, who had never taken his eyes or thoughts from the provinces during his residence at rome, now expressed himself with exultation. he had predicted, with cold malice, the immediate results of the campaign, and was sanguine enough to believe the contest over, and the prince for ever crushed. in his letters to philip he had taken due notice of the compliments paid to him by orange in his justification, in his declaration, and in his letter to the emperor. he had declined to make any answer to the charges, in order to enrage the prince the more. he had expressed the opinion, however, that this publication of writings was not the business of brave soldiers, but of cowards. he made the same reflection upon the alleged intrigues by orange to procure an embassy on his own behalf from the emperor to philip--a mission which was sure to end in smoke, while it would cost the prince all credit, not only in germany but the netherlands. he felt sure, he said, of the results of the impending campaign. the duke of alva was a man upon whose administrative prudence and military skill his sovereign could implicitly rely, nor was there a person in the ranks of the rebels capable of, conducting an enterprise of such moment. least of all had the prince of orange sufficient brains for carrying on such weighty affairs, according to the opinion which he had formed of him during their long intercourse in former days. when the campaign had been decided, and the prince had again become an exile, granvelle observed that it was now proved how incompetent he and all his companions were to contend in military skill with the duke of alva. with a cold sneer at motives which he assumed, as a matter of course, to be purely selfish, he said that the prince had not taken the proper road to recover his property, and that he would now be much embarrassed to satisfy his creditors. thus must those ever fall, he moralized, who would fly higher than they ought; adding, that henceforth the prince would have enough to do in taking care of madam his wife, if she did not change soon in humor and character. meantime the duke of alva, having despatched from cateau cambresis a brief account of the victorious termination of the campaign, returned in triumph to brussels. he had certainly amply vindicated his claim to be considered the first warrior of the age. by his lieutenants he had summarily and rapidly destroyed two of the armies sent against him; he had annihilated in person the third, by a brilliantly successful battle, in which he had lost seven men, and his enemies seven thousand; and he had now, by consummate strategy, foiled the fourth and last under the idolized champion of the netherlands, and this so decisively that, without losing a man, he had destroyed eight thousand rebels, and scattered to the four winds the remaining twenty thousand. such signal results might well make even a meeker nature proud. such vast and fortunate efforts to fix for ever an impregnable military tyranny upon a constitutional country, might cause a more modest despot to exult. it was not wonderful that the haughty, and now apparently omnipotent alva, should almost assume the god. on his return to brussels he instituted a succession of triumphant festivals. the people were called upon to rejoice and to be exceeding glad, to strew flowers in his path, to sing hosannas in his praise who came to them covered with the blood of those who had striven in their defence. the holiday was duly called forth; houses, where funeral hatchments for murdered inmates had been perpetually suspended, were decked with garlands; the bells, which had hardly once omitted their daily knell for the victims of an incredible cruelty, now rang their merriest peals; and in the very square where so lately egmont and horn, besides many other less distinguished martyrs, had suffered an ignominious death, a gay tournament was held, day after day, with all the insolent pomp which could make the exhibition most galling. but even these demonstrations of hilarity were not sufficient. the conqueror and tamer of the netherlands felt that a more personal and palpable deification was necessary for his pride. when germanicus had achieved his last triumph over the ancient freedom of those generous races whose descendants, but lately in possession of a better organized liberty, alva had been sent by the second and the worse tiberius to insult and to crush, the valiant but modest roman erected his trophy upon the plains of idistavisus. "the army of tiberius caesar having subdued the nations between the rhine and the elbe, dedicate this monument to mars, to jupiter, and to augustus." so ran the inscription of germanicus, without a word of allusion to his own name. the duke of alva, on his return from the battle-fields of brabant and friesland, reared a colossal statue of himself, and upon its pedestal caused these lines to be engraved: "to ferdinand alvarez de toledo, duke of alva, governor of the netherlands under philip the second, for having extinguished sedition, chastised rebellion, restored religion, secured justice, established peace; to the king's most faithful minister this monument is erected." [bor, iv. , . meteren, . de thou, v. - , who saw it after it was overthrown, and who was "as much struck by the beauty of the work as by the insane pride of him who ordered it to be made."] so pompous a eulogy, even if truthful and merited, would be sufficiently inflated upon a tombstone raised to a dead chieftain by his bereaved admirers. what shall we say of such false and fulsome tribute, not to a god, not to the memory of departed greatness, but to a living, mortal man, and offered not by his adorers but by himself? certainly, self- worship never went farther than in this remarkable monument, erected in alva's honor, by alva's hands. the statue was colossal, and was placed in the citadel of antwerp. its bronze was furnished by the cannon captured at jemmingen. it represented the duke trampling upon a prostrate figure with two heads, four arms, and one body. the two heads were interpreted by some to represent egmont and horn, by others, the two nassaus, william and louis. others saw in them an allegorical presentment of the nobles and commons of the netherlands, or perhaps an impersonation of the compromise and the request. besides the chief inscription on the pedestal, were sculptured various bas-reliefs; and the spectator, whose admiration for the governor-general was not satiated with the colossal statue itself, was at liberty to find a fresh, personification of the hero, either in a torch-bearing angel or a gentle shepherd. the work, which had considerable esthetic merit, was executed by an artist named jacob jongeling. it remained to astonish and disgust the netherlanders until it was thrown down and demolished by alva's successor, requesens. it has already been observed that many princes of the empire had, at first warmly and afterwards, as the storm darkened around him, with less earnestness, encouraged the efforts of orange. they had, both privately and officially, urged the subject upon the attention of the emperor, and had solicited his intercession with philip. it was not an interposition to save the prince from chastisement, however the artful pen of granvelle might distort the facts. it was an address in behalf of religious liberty for the netherlands, made by those who had achieved it in their own persons, and who were at last enjoying immunity from persecution. it was an appeal which they who made it were bound to make, for the netherland commissioners had assisted at the consultations by which the peace of passau had been wrung from the reluctant hand of charles. these applications, however, to the emperor, and through him to the king of spain, had been, as we have seen, accompanied by perpetual advice to the prince of orange, that he should "sit still." the emperor had espoused his cause with apparent frankness, so far as friendly mediation went, but in the meantime had peremptorily commanded him to refrain from levying war upon alva, an injunction which the prince had as peremptorily declined to obey. the emperor had even sent especial envoys to the duke and to the prince, to induce them to lay down their arms, but without effect. orange knew which course was the more generous to his oppressed country; to take up arms, now that hope had been converted into despair by the furious tyranny of alva, or to "sit still" and await the result of the protocols about to be exchanged between king and kaiser. his arms had been unsuccessful indeed, but had he attended the issue of this sluggish diplomacy, it would have been even worse for the cause of freedom. the sympathy of his best friends, at first fervent then lukewarm, had, as disasters thickened around him, grown at last stone- cold. from the grave, too, of queen isabella arose the most importunate phantom in his path. the king of spain was a widower again, and the emperor among his sixteen children had more than one marriageable daughter. to the titles of "beloved cousin and brother-in-law," with which philip had always been greeted in the imperial proclamations, the nearer and dearer one of son-in-law was prospectively added. the ties of wedlock were sacred in the traditions of the habsburg house, but still the intervention was nominally made. as early as august, , the emperor's minister at madrid had addressed a memorial to the king. he had spoken in warm and strong language of the fate of egmont and horn, and had reminded philip that the executions which were constantly taking place in the provinces were steadily advancing the prince of orange's cause. on the nd september, , the six electors had addressed a formal memorial to the emperor. they thanked him for his previous interposition in favor of the netherlands, painted in lively colors the cruelty of alva, and denounced the unheard-of rigor with which he had massacred, not only many illustrious seigniors, but people of every degree. notwithstanding the repeated assurances given by the king to the contrary, they reminded the emperor, that the inquisition, as well as the council of trent, had now been established in the netherlands in full vigor. they maintained that the provinces had been excluded from the augsburg religious peace, to which their claim was perfect. nether germany was entitled to the same privileges as upper germany. they begged the emperor to make manifest his sentiments and their own. it was fitting that his catholic majesty should be aware that the princes of the empire were united for the conservation of fatherland and of tranquillity. to this end they placed in the emperor's hands their estates, their fortunes, and their lives. such was the language of that important appeal to the emperor in behalf of oppressed millions in the netherlands, an appeal which granvelle had coldly characterized as an intrigue contrived by orange to bring about his own restoration to favor! the emperor, in answer, assured the electoral envoys that he had taken the affair to heart, and had resolved to despatch his own brother, the archduke charles, on a special mission to spain. accordingly, on the st october, , the emperor presented his brother with an ample letter of instructions. he was to recal to philip's memory the frequent exhortations made by the emperor concerning the policy pursued in the netherlands. he was to mention the urgent interpellations made to him by the electors and princes of the empire in their recent embassy. he was to state that the emperor had recently deputed commissioners to the prince of orange and the duke of alva, in order to bring about, if possible, a suspension of arms. he was to represent that the great number of men raised by the prince of orange in germany, showed the powerful support which he had found in the country. under such circumstances he was to show that it had been impossible for the emperor to decree the ban against him, as the duke of alva had demanded. the archduke was to request the king's consent to the reconciliation of orange, on honorable conditions. he was to demand the substitution of clemency in for severity, and to insist on the recall of the foreign soldiery from the netherlands. furnished with this very warm and stringent letter, the archduke arrived in madrid on the th december, . a few days later he presented the king with a copy of the instructions; those brave words upon which the prince of orange was expected to rely instead of his own brave heart and the stout arms of his followers. philip having examined the letter, expressed his astonishment that such propositions should be made to him, and by the agency, too, of such a personage as the archduke. he had already addressed a letter to the emperor, expressing his dissatisfaction at the step now taken. he had been disturbed at the honor thus done to the prince of orange, and at this interference with his own rights. it was, in his opinion, an unheard-of proceeding thus to address a monarch of his quality upon matters in which he could accept the law from no man. he promised, however, that a written answer should be given to the letter of instructions. on the th of january, , that answer was placed in the hands of the archduke. it was intimated that the paper was a public one, fit to be laid by the emperor, before the electors; but that the king had also caused a confidential one to be prepared, in which his motives and private griefs were indicated to maximilian. in the more public document, philip observed that he had never considered himself obliged to justify his conduct, in his own affairs, to others. he thought, however, that his example of severity would have been received with approbation by princes whose subjects he had thus taught obedience. he could not admit that, on account of the treaties which constituted the netherlands a circle of the empire, he was obliged to observe within their limits the ordinances of the imperial diet. as to the matter of religion, his principal solicitude, since his accession to the crown, had been to maintain the catholic faith throughout all his states. in things sacred he could admit no compromise. the church alone had the right to prescribe rules to the faithful. as to the chastisement inflicted by him upon the netherland rebels, it would be found that he had not used rigor, as had been charged against him, but, on the, contrary, great clemency and gentleness. he had made no change in the government of the provinces, certainly none in the edicts, the only statutes binding upon princes. he had appointed the duke of alva to the regency, because it was his royal will and pleasure so to appoint him. the spanish soldiery were necessary for the thorough chastisement of the rebels, and could not be at present removed. as to the prince of orange, whose case seemed the principal motive for this embassy, and in whose interest so much had been urged, his crimes were so notorious that it was impossible even to attempt to justify them. he had been, in effect, the author of all the conspiracies, tumults, and seditious which had taken place in the netherlands. all the thefts, sacrileges, violations of temples, and other misdeeds of which these provinces had been the theatre, were, with justice, to be imputed to him. he had moreover, levied an army and invaded his majesty's territories. crimes so enormous had closed the gate to all clemency. notwithstanding his respect for the intercession made by the emperor and the princes of the empire, the king could not condescend to grant what was now asked of him in regard to the prince of orange. as to a truce between him and the duke of alva, his imperial majesty ought to reflect upon the difference between a sovereign and his rebellious vassal, and consider how indecent and how prejudicial to the king's honor such a treaty must be esteemed. so far the public letter, of which the archduke was furnished with a copy, both in spanish and in latin. the private memorandum was intended for the emperor's eyes alone and those of his envoy. in this paper the king expressed himself with more warmth and in more decided language. he was astonished, he said, that the prince of orange, in levying an army for the purpose of invading the states of his natural sovereign, should have received so much aid and comfort in germany. it seemed incredible that this could not have been prevented by imperial authority. he had been pained that commissioners had been sent to the prince. he regretted such a demonstration in his favor as had now been made by the mission of the archduke to madrid. that which, however, had caused the king the deepest sorrow was, that his imperial majesty should wish to persuade him in religious matters to proceed with mildness. the emperor ought to be aware that no human consideration, no regard for his realms, nothing in the world which could be represented or risked, would cause him to swerve by a single hair's breadth from his path in the matter of religion. this path was the same throughout all his kingdoms. he had ever trod in it faithfully, and he meant to keep in it perpetually. he would admit neither counsel nor persuasion to the contrary, and should take it ill if counsel or persuasion should be offered. he could not but consider the terms of the instructions given to the archduke as exceeding the limits of amicable suggestion. they in effect amounted to a menace, and he was astonished that a menace should be employed, because, with princes constituted like himself, such means could have but little success. on the rd of january, , the archduke presented the king with a spirited reply to the public letter. it was couched in the spirit of the instructions, and therefore need not be analysed at length. he did not believe that his imperial majesty would admit any justification of the course pursued in the netherlands. the estates of the empire would never allow philip's reasoning concerning the connexion of those countries with the empire, nor that they were independent, except in the particular articles expressed in the treaty of augsburg. in , when charles the fifth and king ferdinand had settled the religious peace, they had been assisted by envoys from the netherlands. the princes of the empire held the ground, therefore, that the religious peace, which alone had saved a vestige of romanism in germany, should of right extend to the provinces. as to the prince of orange, the archduke would have preferred to say nothing more, but the orders of the emperor did not allow him to be silent. it was now necessary to put an end to this state of things in lower germany. the princes of the empire were becoming exasperated. he recalled the dangers of the smalcaldian war--the imminent peril in which the emperor had been placed by the act of a single elector. they who believed that flanders could be governed in the same manner as italy and spain were greatly mistaken, and charles the fifth had always recognised that error. this was the sum and substance of the archduke's mission to madrid, so far as its immediate objects were concerned. in the course, however, of the interview between this personage and philip, the king took occasion to administer a rebuke to his imperial majesty for his general negligence in religious matters. it was a matter which lay at his heart, he said, that the emperor, although, as he doubted not, a christian and catholic prince, was from policy unaccustomed to make those exterior demonstrations which matters of faith required. he therefore begged the archduke to urge this matter upon the attention of his imperial majesty. the emperor, despite this solemn mission, had become more than indifferent before his envoy had reached madrid. for this indifference there were more reasons than one. when the instructions had been drawn up, the death of the queen of spain had not been known in vienna. the archduke had even been charged to inform philip of the approaching marriages of the two archduchesses, that of anne with the king of france, and that of isabella with the king of portugal. a few days later, however, the envoy received letters from the emperor, authorizing him to offer to the bereaved philip the hand of the archduchess anne. [herrera (lib. xv. ) erroneously states that the archduke was, at the outset, charged with these two commissions by the emperor; namely, to negotiate the marriage of the archduchess anne with philip, and to arrange the affairs of the netherlands. on the contrary, he was empowered to offer anne to the king of france, and had already imparted his instructions to that effect to philip, before he received letters from vienna, written after the death of isabella had become known. at another interview, he presented this new matrimonial proposition to philip. these facts are important, for they indicate how completely the objects of the embassy, the commencement of which was so pretentious, were cast aside, that a more advantageous marriage for one of the seven austrian archduchesses might be secured.--compare correspondance de philippe] the king replied to the archduke, when this proposition was made, that if he had regard only to his personal satisfaction, he should remain as he was. as however he had now no son, he was glad that the proposition had been made, and would see how the affair could be arranged with france. thus the ill success of orange in brabant, so disheartening to the german princes most inclined to his cause, and still more the widowhood of philip, had brought a change over the views of maximilian. on the th of january, , three days before his ambassador had entered upon his negotiations, he had accordingly addressed an autograph letter to his catholic majesty. in this epistle, by a few, cold lines, he entirely annihilated any possible effect which might have been produced by the apparent earnestness of his interposition in favor of the netherlands. he informed the king that the archduke had been sent, not to vex him, but to convince him of his friendship. he assured philip that he should be satisfied with his response, whatever it might be. he entreated only that it might be drawn up in such terms that the princes and electors to whom it must be shown, might not be inspired with suspicion. the archduke left madrid on the th of march, . he retired, well pleased with the results of his mission, not because its ostensible objects had been accomplished, for those had signally failed, but because the king had made him a present of one hundred thousand ducats, and had promised to espouse the archduchess anne. on the th of may, , the emperor addressed a final reply to philip, in which he expressly approved the king's justification of his conduct. it was founded, he thought, in reason and equity. nevertheless, it could hardly be shown, as it was, to the princes and electors, and he had therefore modified many points which he thought might prove offensive. thus ended "in smoke," as granvelle had foretold, the famous mission of archduke charles. the holy roman emperor withdrew from his pompous intervention, abashed by a rebuke, but consoled by a promise. if it were good to be guardian of religious freedom in upper and nether germany, it was better to be father-in-law to the king of spain and both the indies. hence the lame and abrupt conclusion. cardinal granvelle had been very serviceable in this juncture. he had written to philip to assure him that, in his, opinion, the netherlands had no claim, under the transaction of augsburg, to require the observance within their territory of the decrees of the empire. he added, that charles the fifth had only agreed to the treaty of passau to save his brother ferdinand from ruin; that he had only consented to it as emperor, and had neither directly nor indirectly included the netherlands within its provisions. he stated, moreover, that the emperor had revoked the treaty by an act which was never published, in consequence of the earnest solicitations of ferdinand. it has been seen that the king had used this opinion of granvelle in the response presented to the archduke. although he did not condescend to an argument, he had laid down the fact as if it were indisputable. he was still more delighted to find that charles had revoked the treaty of passau, and eagerly wrote to granvelle to inquire where the secret instrument was to be found. the cardinal replied that it was probably among his papers at brussels, but that he doubted whether it would be possible to find it in his absence. whether such a document ever existed, it is difficult to say. to perpetrate such a fraud would have been worthy of charles; to fable its perpetration not unworthy of the cardinal. in either case, the transaction was sufficiently high-handed and exceedingly disgraceful. etext editor's bookmarks: age when toleration was a vice an age when to think was a crime business of an officer to fight, of a general to conquer cruelties exercised upon monks and papists for faithful service, evil recompense pathetic dying words of anne boleyn seven spaniards were killed, and seven thousand rebels the calf is fat and must be killed the illness was a convenient one the tragedy of don carlos this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley [chapter ii.] orange, count louis, hoogstraaten, and others, cited before the blood-council--charges against them--letter of orange in reply-- position and sentiments of the prince--seizure of count de buren-- details of that transaction--petitions to the council from louvain and other places--sentence of death against the whole population of the netherlands pronounced by the spanish inquisition and proclaimed by philip--cruel inventions against heretics--the wild beggars-- preliminary proceedings of the council against egmont and horn-- interrogatories addressed to them in prison--articles of accusation against them--foreclosure of the cases--pleas to the jurisdiction-- efforts by the countesses egmont and horn, by many knights of the fleece, and by the emperor, in favor of the prisoners--answers of alva and of philip--obsequious behavior of viglius--difficulties arising from the golden fleece statutes set aside--particulars of the charges against count horn and of his defence--articles of accusation against egmont--sketch of his reply--reflections upon the two trials--attitude of orange--his published 'justification'--his secret combinations--his commission to count louis--large sums of money subscribed by the nassau family, by netherland refugees, and others--great personal sacrifices made by the prince--quadruple scheme for invading the netherlands--defeat of the patriots under cocqueville--defeat of millers--invasion of friesland by count louis--measures of alva to oppose him--command of the royalists entreated to aremberg and meghem--the duke's plan for the campaign-- skirmish at dam--detention of meghem--count louis at heiliger--lee-- nature of the ground--advance of aremberg--disposition of the patriot forces--impatience of the spanish troops to engage--battle of heiliger-lee--defeat and death of aremberg--death of adolphus nassau--effects of the battle--anger and severe measures of alva-- eighteen nobles executed at brussels--sentence of death pronounced upon egmont and horn--the bishop of ypres sent to egmont--fruitless intercession by the prelate and the countess--egmont's last night in prison--the "grande place" at brussels--details concerning the execution of egmont and horn--observation upon the characters of the two nobles--destitute condition of egmont's family. late in october, the duke of alva made his triumphant entry into the new fortress. during his absence, which was to continue during the remainder of the year, he had ordered the secretary courteville and the councillor del rio to superintend the commission, which was then actually engaged in collecting materials for the prosecutions to be instituted against the prince of orange and the other nobles who had abandoned the country. accordingly, soon after his return, on the th of january, , the prince, his brother louis of nassau, his brother-in-law, count van den berg, the count hoogstraaten, the count culemburg, and the baron montigny, were summoned in the name of alva to appear before the blood- council, within thrice fourteen days from the date of the proclamation, under pain of perpetual banishment with confiscation of their estates. it is needless to say that these seigniors did not obey the summons. they knew full well that their obedience would be rewarded only by death. the charges against the prince of orange, which were drawn up in ten articles, stated, chiefly and briefly, that he had been, and was, the head and front of the rebellion; that as soon as his majesty had left the netherlands, he had begun his machinations to make himself master of the country and to expel his sovereign by force, if he should attempt to return to the provinces; that he had seduced his majesty's subjects by false pretences that the spanish inquisition was about to be introduced; that he had been the secret encourager and director of brederode and the confederated nobles; and that when sent to antwerp, in the name of the regent, to put down the rebellion, he had encouraged heresy and accorded freedom of religion to the reformers. the articles against hoogstraaten and the other gentlemen mere of similar tenor. it certainly was not a slender proof of the calm effrontery of the government thus to see alva's proclamation charging it as a crime upon orange that he had inveigled the lieges into revolt by a false assertion that the inquisition was about to be established, when letters from the duke to philip, and from granvelle to philip, dated upon nearly the same day, advised the immediate restoration of the inquisition as soon as an adequate number of executions had paved the way for the measure. it was also a sufficient indication of a reckless despotism, that while the duchess, who had made the memorable accord with the religionists, received a flattering letter of thanks and a farewell pension of fourteen thousand ducats yearly, those who, by her orders, had acted upon that treaty as the basis of their negotiations, were summoned to lay down their heads upon the block. the prince replied to this summons by a brief and somewhat contemptuous plea to the jurisdiction. as a knight of the fleece, as a member of the germanic empire, as a sovereign prince in france, as a citizen of the netherlands, he rejected the authority of alva and of his self- constituted tribunal. his innocence he was willing to establish before competent courts and righteous judges. as a knight of the fleece, he said he could be tried only by his peers, the brethren of the order, and, for that purpose, he could be summoned only by the king as head of the chapter, with the sanction of at least six of his fellow-knights. in conclusion, he offered to appear before his imperial majesty, the electors, and other members of the empire, or before the knights of the golden fleece. in the latter case, he claimed the right, under the statutes of that order, to be placed while the trial was pending, not in a solitary prison, as had been the fate of egmont and of horn, but under the friendly charge and protection of the brethren themselves. the letter was addressed to the procurator-general, and a duplicate was forwarded to the duke. from the general tenor of the document, it is obvious both that the prince was not yet ready to throw down the gauntlet to his sovereign, nor to proclaim his adhesion to the new religion: of departing from the netherlands in the spring, he had said openly that he was still in possession of sixty thousand florins yearly, and that he should commence no hostilities against philip, so long as he did not disturb him in his honor or his estates. far-seeing politician, if man ever were, he knew the course whither matters were inevitably tending, but he knew how much strength was derived from putting an adversary irretrievably in the wrong. he still maintained an attitude of dignified respect towards the monarch, while he hurled back with defiance the insolent summons of the viceroy. moreover, the period had not yet arrived for him to break publicly with the ancient faith. statesman, rather than religionist, at this epoch, he was not disposed to affect a more complete conversion than the one which he had experienced. he was, in truth, not for a new doctrine, but for liberty of conscience. his mind was already expanding beyond any dogmas of the age. the man whom his enemies stigmatized as atheist and renegade, was really in favor of toleration, and therefore, the more deeply criminal in the eyes of all religious parties. events, personal to himself, were rapidly to place him in a position from which he might enter the combat with honor. his character had already been attacked, his property threatened with confiscation. his closest ties of family were now to be severed by the hand of the tyrant. his eldest child, the count de buren, torn from his protection, was to be carried into indefinite captivity in a foreign land. it was a remarkable oversight, for a person of his sagacity, that, upon his own departure from the provinces, he should leave his son, then a boy of thirteen years, to pursue his studies at the college of louvain. thus exposed to the power of the government, he was soon seized as a hostage for the good behavior of the father. granvelle appears to have been the first to recommend the step in a secret letter to philip, but alva scarcely needed prompting. accordingly, upon the th of february, , the duke sent the seignior de chassy to louvain, attended by four officers and by twelve archers. he was furnished with a letter to the count de buren, in which that young nobleman was requested to place implicit confidence in the bearer of the despatch, and was informed that the desire which his majesty had to see him educated for his service, was the cause of the communication which the seignior de chassy was about to make. that gentleman was, moreover, minutely instructed as to his method of proceeding in this memorable case of kidnapping. he was to present the letter to the young count in presence of his tutor. he was to invite him to spain in the name of his majesty. he was to assure him that his majesty's commands were solely with a view, to his own good, and that he was not commissioned to arrest, but only to escort him. he was to allow the count to be accompanied only by two valets, two pages, a cook, and a keeper of accounts. he was, however, to induce his tutor to accompany him, at least to the spanish frontier. he was to arrange that the second day after his arrival at louvain, the count should set out for antwerp, where he was to lodge with count lodron, after which they were to proceed to flushing, whence they were to embark for spain. at that city he was to deliver the young prince to the person whom he would find there, commissioned for that purpose by the duke. as soon as he had made the first proposition at louvain to the count, he was, with the assistance of his retinue, to keep the most strict watch over him day and night, but without allowing the supervision to be perceived. the plan was carried out admirably, and in strict accordance with the program. it was fortunate, however, for the kidnappers, that the young prince proved favorably disposed to the plan. he accepted the invitation of his captors with alacrity. he even wrote to thank the governor for his friendly offices in his behalf. he received with boyish gratification the festivities with which lodron enlivened his brief sojourn at antwerp, and he set forth without reluctance for that gloomy and terrible land of spain, whence so rarely a flemish traveller had returned. a changeling, as it were, from his cradle, he seemed completely transformed by his spanish tuition, for he was educated and not sacrificed by philip. when he returned to the netherlands, after a twenty years' residence in spain, it was difficult to detect in his gloomy brow, saturnine character, and jesuistical habits, a trace of the generous spirit which characterized that race of heroes, the house of orange-nassau. philip had expressed some anxiety as to the consequences of this capture upon the governments of germany. alva, however, re-assured his sovereign upon that point, by reason of the extreme docility of the captive, and the quiet manner in which the arrest had been conducted. at that particular juncture, moreover, it would, have been difficult for the government of the netherlands to excite surprise any where, except by an act of clemency. the president and the deputation of professors from the university of louvain waited upon vargas, by whom, as acting president of the blood-council, the arrest had nominally been made, with a remonstrance that the measure was in gross violation of their statutes and privileges. that personage, however, with his usual contempt both for law and latin, answered brutally, "non curamus vestros privilegios," and with this memorable answer, abruptly closed his interview with the trembling pedants. petitions now poured into the council from all quarters, abject recantations from terror-stricken municipalities, humble intercessions in behalf of doomed and imprisoned victims. to a deputation of the magistracy of antwerp, who came with a prayer for mercy in behalf of some of their most distinguished fellow-citizens, then in prison, the duke gave a most passionate and ferocious reply. he expressed his wonder that the citizens of antwerp, that hotbed of treason, should dare to approach him in behalf of traitors and heretics. let them look to it in future, he continued, or he would hang every man in the whole city, to set an example to the rest of the country; for his majesty would rather the whole land should become an uninhabited wilderness, than that a single dissenter should exist within its territory. events now marched with rapidity. the monarch seemed disposed literally to execute the threat of his viceroy. early in the year, the most sublime sentence of death was promulgated which has ever been pronounced since the creation of the world. the roman tyrant wished that his enemies' heads were all upon a single neck, that he might strike them off at a blow; the inquisition assisted philip to place the heads of all his netherland subjects upon a single neck for the same fell purpose. upon the th february, , a sentence of the holy office condemned all the inhabitants of the netherlands to death as heretics. from this universal doom only a few persons, especially named; were excepted. a proclamation of the king, dated ten days later, confirmed this decree of the inquisition, and ordered it to be carried into instant execution, without regard to age, sex, or condition. this is probably the most concise death-warrant that was ever framed. three millions of people, men, women, and children, were sentenced to the scaffold in: three lines; and, as it was well known that these were not harmless thunders, like some bulls of the vatican, but serious and practical measures, which it was intended should be enforced, the horror which they produced may be easily imagined. it was hardly the purpose of government to compel the absolute completion of the wholesale plan in all its length and breadth, yet in the horrible times upon which they had fallen, the netherlanders might be excused for believing that no measure was too monstrous to be fulfilled. at any rate, it was certain that when all were condemned, any might at a moment's warning be carried to the scaffold, and this was precisely the course adopted by the authorities. under this universal decree the industry of the blood-council might, now seem superfluous. why should not these mock prosecutions be dispensed with against individuals, now that a common sentence had swallowed the whole population in one vast grave? yet it may be supposed that if the exertions of the commissioners and councillors served no other purpose, they at least furnished the government with valuable evidence as to the relative wealth and other circumstances of the individual victims. the leading thought of the government being that persecution, judiciously managed, might fructify into a golden harvest,--it was still desirable to persevere in the cause in which already such bloody progress had been made. and under this new decree, the executions certainly did not slacken. men in the highest and the humblest positions were daily and hourly dragged to the stake. alva, in a single letter to philip, coolly estimated the number of executions which were to take place immediately after the expiration of holy week, "at eight hundred heads." many a citizen, convicted of a hundred thousand florins and of no other crime, saw himself suddenly tied to a horse's tail, with his hands fastened behind him, and so dragged to the gallows. but although wealth was an unpardonable sin, poverty proved rarely a protection. reasons sufficient could always be found for dooming the starveling laborer as well as the opulent burgher. to avoid the disturbances created in the streets by the frequent harangues or exhortations addressed to the bystanders by the victims on their way to the scaffold, a new gag was invented. the tongue of each prisoner was screwed into an iron ring, and then seared with a hot iron. the swelling and inflammation which were the immediate result, prevented the tongue from slipping through the ring, and of course effectually precluded all possibility of speech. although the minds of men were not yet prepared for concentrated revolt against the tyranny under which they were languishing, it was not possible to suppress all sentiments of humanity, and to tread out every spark of natural indignation. unfortunately, in the bewilderment and misery of this people, the first development of a forcible and organized resistance was of a depraved and malignant character. extensive bands of marauders and highway robbers sprang into existence, who called themselves the wild beggars, and who, wearing the mask and the symbols of a revolutionary faction, committed great excesses in many parts of the country, robbing, plundering, and murdering. their principal wrath was exercised against religious houses and persons. many monasteries were robbed, many clerical persons maimed and maltreated. it became a habit to deprive priests of their noses or ears, and to tie them to the tails of horses. this was the work of ruffian gangs, whose very existence was engendered out of the social and moral putrescence to which the country was reduced, and who were willing to profit by the deep and universal hatred which was felt against catholics and monks. an edict thundered forth by alva, authorizing and commanding all persons to slay the wild beggars at sight, without trial or hangman, was of comparatively slight avail. an armed force of veterans actively scouring the country was more successful, and the freebooters were, for a time, suppressed. meantime the counts egmont and horn had been kept in rigorous confinement at ghent. not a warrant had been read or drawn up for their arrest. not a single preliminary investigation, not the shadow of an information had preceded the long imprisonment of two men so elevated in rank, so distinguished in the public service. after the expiration of two months, however, the duke condescended to commence a mock process against them. the councillors appointed to this work were vargas and del rio, assisted by secretary praets. these persons visited the admiral on the th, th, th and th of november, and count egmont on the th, th, th, and th, of the same month; requiring them to respond to a long, confused, and rambling collection of interrogatories. they were obliged to render these replies in prison, unassisted by any advocates, on penalty of being condemned 'in contumaciam'. the questions, awkwardly drawn up as they seemed, were yet tortuously and cunningly arranged with a view of entrapping the prisoners into self-contradiction. after this work had been completed, all the papers by which they intended to justify their answers were taken away from them. previously, too, their houses and those of their secretaries, bakkerzeel and alonzo de la loo, had been thoroughly ransacked, and every letter and document which could be found placed in the hands of government. bakkerzeel, moreover, as already stated, had been repeatedly placed upon the rack, for the purpose of extorting confessions which might implicate his master. these preliminaries and precautionary steps having been taken, the counts had again been left to their solitude for two months longer. on the th january, each was furnished with a copy of the declarations or accusations filed against him by the procurator-general. to these documents, drawn up respectively in sixty-three, and in ninety articles, they were required, within five days' time, without the assistance of an advocate, and without consultation with any human being, to deliver a written answer, on pain, as before, of being proceeded against and condemned by default. this order was obeyed within nearly the prescribed period and here, it may be said, their own participation in their trial ceased; while the rest of the proceedings were buried in the deep bosom of the blood- council. after their answers had been delivered, and not till then, the prisoners were, by an additional mockery, permitted to employ advocates. these advocates, however, were allowed only occasional interviews with their clients, and always in the presence of certain persons, especially deputed for that purpose by the duke. they were also allowed commissioners to collect evidence and take depositions, but before the witnesses were ready, a purposely premature day, th of may, was fixed upon for declaring the case closed, and not a single tittle of their evidence, personal or documentary, was admitted.--their advocates petitioned for an exhibition of the evidence prepared by government, and were refused. thus, they were forbidden to use the testimony in their favor, while that which was to be employed against them was kept secret. finally, the proceedings were formally concluded on the st of june, and the papers laid before the duke. the mass of matter relating to these two monster processes was declared, three days afterwards to have been examined--a physical impossibility in itself--and judgment was pronounced upon the th of june. this issue was precipitated by the campaign of louis nassau in friesland, forming a aeries of important events which it will be soon our duty to describe. it is previously necessary, however, to add a few words in elucidation of the two mock trials which have been thus briefly sketched. the proceeding had been carried on, from first to last, under protest by the prisoners, under a threat of contumacy on the part of the government. apart from the totally irresponsible and illegal character of the tribunal before which they were summoned--the blood-council being a private institution of alva's without pretext or commission--these nobles acknowledged the jurisdiction of but three courts. as knights of the golden fleece, both claimed the privilege of that order to be tried by its statutes. as a citizen and noble of brabant, egmont claimed the protection of the "joyeuse entree," a constitution which had been sworn to by philip and his ancestors, and by philip more amply, than by all his ancestors. as a member and count of the holy roman empire, the admiral claimed to be tried by his peers, the electors and princes of the realm. the countess egmont, since her husband's arrest, and the confiscation of his estates before judgment, had been reduced to a life of poverty as well as agony. with her eleven children, all of tender age, she had taken refuge in a convent. frantic with despair, more utterly desolate, and more deeply wronged than high-born lady had often been before, she left no stone unturned to save her husband from his fate, or at least to obtain for him an impartial and competent tribunal. she addressed the duke of alva, the king, the emperor, her brother the elector palatine, and many leading knights of the fleece. the countess dowager of horn, both whose sons now lay in the jaws of death, occupied herself also with the most moving appeals to the same high personages. no pains were spared to make the triple plea to the jurisdiction valid. the leading knights of the fleece, mansfeld, whose loyalty was unquestioned, and hoogstraaten, although himself an outlaw; called upon the king of spain to protect the statutes of the illustrious order of which he was the chief. the estates of brabant, upon the petition of sabina, countess egmont, that they would take to heart the privileges of the province, so that her husband might enjoy that protection of which the meanest citizen in the land could not be justly deprived, addressed a feeble and trembling protest to alva, and enclosed to him the lady's petition. the emperor, on behalf of count horn, wrote personally to philip, to claim for him a trial before the members of the realm. it was all in vain. the conduct of philip and his viceroy coincided in spirit with the honest brutality of vargas. "non curamus vestros privilegios," summed up the whole of the proceedings. non curamus vestros privilegios had been the unanswerable reply to every constitutional argument which had been made against tyranny since philip mounted his father's throne. it was now the only response deemed necessary to the crowd of petitions in favor of the counts, whether they proceeded from sources humble or august. personally, the king remained silent as the grave. in writing to the duke of alva, he observed that "the emperor, the dukes of bavaria and lorraine, the duchess and the duchess-dowager, had written to him many times, and in the most pressing manner, in favor of the counts horn and egmont." he added, that he had made no reply to them, nor to other knights of the fleece who had implored him to respect the statutes of the order, and he begged alva "to hasten the process as fast as possible." to an earnest autograph letter, in which the emperor, on the nd of march, , made a last effort to save the illustrious prisoners, he replied, that "the whole world would at last approve his conduct, but that, at any rate, he would not act differently, even if he should risk the loss of the provinces, and if the sky should fall on his head." but little heed was paid to the remonstrances in behalf of the imperial courts, or the privileges of brabant. these were but cobweb impediments which, indeed, had long been brushed away. president viglius was even pathetic on the subject of madame egmont's petition to the council of brabant. it was so bitter, he said, that the duke was slightly annoyed, and took it ill that the royal servants in that council should have his majesty's interests so little at heart. it seemed indecent in the eyes of the excellent frisian, that a wife pleading for her husband, a mother for her, eleven children, so soon to be fatherless, should indulge in strong language! the statutes of the fleece were obstacles somewhat more serious. as, however, alva had come to the netherlands pledged to accomplish the destruction of these two nobles, as soon as he should lay his hands upon them, it was only a question of form, and even that question was, after a little reflection, unceremoniously put aside. to the petitions in behalf of the two counts, therefore, that they should be placed in the friendly keeping of the order, and be tried by its statutes, the duke replied, peremptorily, that he had undertaken the cognizance of this affair by commission of his majesty, as sovereign of the land, not as head of the golden fleece, that he should carry it through as it had been commenced, and that the counts should discontinue presentations of petitions upon this point. in the embarrassment created by the stringent language of these statutes, doctor viglius found an opportunity to make himself very useful. alva had been turning over the laws and regulations of the order, but could find no loophole. the president, however, came to his rescue, and announced it as his legal opinion that the governor need concern himself no further on the subject, and that the code of the fleece offered no legal impediment to the process. alva immediately wrote to communicate this opinion to philip, adding, with great satisfaction, that he should immediately make it known to the brethren of the order, a step which was the more necessary because egmont's advocate had been making great trouble with these privileges, and had been protesting at every step of the proceedings. in what manner the learned president argued these troublesome statutes out of the way, has nowhere appeared; but he completely reinstated himself in favor, and the king wrote to thank him for his legal exertions. it was now boldly declared that the statutes of the fleece did not extend to such crimes as those with which the prisoner were charged. alva, moreover, received an especial patent, ante-dated eight or nine months, by which philip empowered him to proceed against all persons implicated in the troubles, and particularly against knights of the golden fleece. it is superfluous to observe that these were merely the arbitrary acts of a despot. it is hardly necessary to criticise such proceedings. the execution of the nobles had been settled before alva left spain. as they were inhabitants of a constitutional country, it was necessary to stride over the constitution. as they were knights of the fleece, it was necessary to set aside the statutes of the order. the netherland constitutions seemed so entirely annihilated already, that they could hardly be considered obstacles; but the order of the fleece was an august little republic of which philip was the hereditary chief, of which emperors, kings, and great seigniors were the citizens. tyranny might be embarrassed by such subtle and golden filaments as these, even while it crashed through municipal charters as if they had been reeds and bulrushes. nevertheless, the king's course was taken. although the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth chapters of the order expressly provided for the trial and punishment of brethren who had been guilty of rebellion, heresy, or treason; and although the eleventh chapter; perpetual and immutable, of additions to that constitution by the emperor charles, conferred on the order exclusive jurisdiction over all crimes whatever committed by the knights, yet it was coolly proclaimed by alva, that the crimes for which the admiral and egmont had been arrested, were beyond the powers of the tribunal. so much for the plea to the jurisdiction. it is hardly worth while to look any further into proceedings which were initiated and brought to a conclusion in the manner already narrated. nevertheless, as they were called a process, a single glance at the interior of that mass of documents can hardly be superfluous. the declaration against count horn; upon which, supported by invisible witnesses, he was condemned, was in the nature of a narrative. it consisted in a rehearsal of circumstances, some true and some fictitious, with five inferences. these five inferences amounted to five crimes-- high treason, rebellion, conspiracy, misprision of treason, and breach of trust. the proof of these crimes was evolved, in a dim and misty manner, out of a purposely confused recital. no events, however, were recapitulated which have not been described in the course of this history. setting out with a general statement, that the admiral, the prince of orange, count egmont, and other lords had organized a plot to expel his majesty from the netherlands, and to divide the provinces among themselves; the declaration afterwards proceeded to particulars. ten of its sixty-three articles were occupied with the cardinal granvelle, who, by an absurd affectation, was never directly named, but called "a certain personage--a principal personage--a grand personage, of his majesty's state council." none of the offences committed against him were forgotten: the th of march letter, the fool's-cap, the livery, were reproduced in the most violent colors, and the cabal against the minister was quietly assumed to constitute treason against the monarch. the admiral, it was further charged, had advised and consented to the fusion of the finance and privy councils with that of state, a measure which was clearly treasonable. he had, moreover, held interviews with the prince of orange, with egmont, and other nobles, at breda and at hoogstraaten, at which meetings the confederacy and the petition had been engendered. that petition had been the cause of all the evils which had swept the land. "it had scandalously injured the king, by affirming that the inquisition was a tyranny to humanity, which was an infamous and unworthy proposition." the confederacy, with his knowledge and countenance, had enrolled , men. he had done nothing, any more than orange or egmont, to prevent the presentation of the petition. in the consultation at the state-council which ensued, both he and the prince were for leaving brussels at once, while count egmont expressed an intention of going to aix to drink the waters. yet count egmont's appearance (proceeded this indictment against another individual) exhibited not a single sign of sickness. the admiral had, moreover, drank the toast of "vivent leg gueux" on various occasions, at the culemberg house banquet, at the private table of the prince of orange, at a supper at the monastery of saint bernard's, at a dinner given by burgomaster straalen. he had sanctioned the treaties with the rebels at duffel, by which he had clearly rendered himself guilty of high treason. he had held an interview with orange, egmont, and hoogstraaten, at denremonde, for the treasonable purpose of arranging a levy of troops to prevent his majesty's entrance into the netherlands. he had refused to come to brussels at the request of the duchess of parma, when the rebels were about to present the petition. he had written to his secretary that he was thenceforth resolved to serve neither king nor kaiser. he had received from one taffin, with marks of approbation, a paper, stating that the assembling of the states-general was the only remedy for the troubles in the land. he had, repeatedly affirmed that the inquisition and edicts ought to be repealed. on his arrival at tournay in august, , the people had cried "vivent les gueux;" a proof that he liked the cry. all his transactions at tournay, from first to last, had been criminal. he had tolerated reformed preaching, he had forbidden catholics and protestants to molest each other, he had omitted to execute heretics, he had allowed the religionists to erect an edifice for public worship outside the walls. he had said, at the house of prince espinoy, that if the king should come into the provinces with force, he would oppose him with , troops. he had said, if his brother montigny should be detained in spain, he would march to his rescue at the head of , men whom he had at his command. he had on various occasions declared that "men should live according to their consciences"--as if divine and human laws were dead, and men, like wild beasts, were to follow all their lusts and desires. lastly, he had encouraged the rebellion in valenciennes. of all these crimes and misdeeds the procurator declared himself sufficiently informed, and the aforesaid defendant entirely, commonly, and publicly defamed. wherefore, that officer terminated his declaration by claiming "that the cause should be concluded summarily, and without figure or form of process; and that therefore, by his excellency or his sub-delegated judges, the aforesaid defendant should be declared to have in diverse ways committed high treason, should be degraded from his dignities, and should be condemned to death, with confiscation of all his estates." the admiral, thus peremptorily summoned, within five days, without assistance, without documents, and from the walls of a prison, to answer to these charges, 'solos ex vinculis causam dicere', undertook his task with the boldness of innocence. he protested, of course, to the jurisdiction, and complained of the want of an advocate, not in order to excuse any weakness in his defence, but only any inelegance in his statement. he then proceeded flatly to deny some of the facts, to admit others, and to repel the whole treasonable inference. his answer in all essential respects was triumphant. supported by the evidence which, alas was not collected and published till after his death, it was impregnable. he denied that he had ever plotted against his king, to whom he had ever been attached, but admitted that he had desired the removal of granvelle, to whom he had always been hostile. he had, however, been an open and avowed enemy to the cardinal, and had been engaged in no secret conspiracy against his character or against his life. he denied that the livery (for which, however, he was not responsible) had been intended to ridicule the cardinal, but asserted that it was intended to afford an example of economy to an extravagant nobility. he had met orange and egmont at breda and hoogstraaten, and had been glad to do so, for he had been long separated from them. these interviews, however, had been social, not political, for good cheer and merry-making, not for conspiracy and treason. he had never had any connection with the confederacy; he had neither advised nor protected the petition, but, on the contrary, after hearing of the contemplated movement, had written to give notice thereof to the duchess. he was in no manner allied, with brederode, but, on the contrary, for various reasons, was not upon friendly terms with him. he had not entered his house since his return from spain. he had not been a party to the dinner at culemburg house. upon that day he had dined with the prince of orange, with whom he was lodging and, after dinner, they had both gone together to visit mansfeld, who was confined with an inflamed eye. there they had met egmont, and the three had proceeded together to culemburg house in order to bring away hoogstraaten, whom the confederates had compelled to dine with them; and also to warn the nobles not to commit themselves by extravagant and suspicious excesses. they had remained in the house but a few minutes, during which time the company had insisted upon their drinking a single cup to the toast of "vivent le roy et les gueux." they had then retired, taking with them hoogstraaten, and all thinking that they had rendered a service to the government by their visit, instead of having made themselves liable to a charge of treason. as to the cries of "vivent les gueux" at the tables of orange, of the abbot of saint bernard, and at other places, those words had been uttered by simple, harmless fellows; and as he considered, the table a place of freedom, he had not felt himself justified in rebuking the manners of his associates, particularly, in houses where he was himself but a guest. as for committing treason at the duffel meeting, he had not been there at all. he thanked god that, at that epoch, he had been absent from brussels, for had he, as well as orange and egmont, been commissioned by the duchess to arrange those difficult matters, he should have considered it his duty to do as they did. he had never thought of levying troops against his majesty. the denremonde meeting had been held, to consult upon four subjects: the affairs of tournay; the intercepted letters of the french ambassador, alava; the letter of montigny, in which he warned his brother of the evil impression which the netherland matters were making in spain; and the affairs of antwerp, from which city the prince of orange found it necessary at that moment to withdraw.--with regard to his absence from brussels, he stated that he had kept away from the court because he was ruined. he was deeply in debt, and so complete was his embarrassment, that he had been unable in antwerp to raise crowns upon his property, even at an interest of one hundred per cent. so far from being able to levy troops, he was hardly able to pay for his daily bread. with regard to his transactions at tournay, he had, throughout them all, conformed himself to the instructions of madame de parma. as to the cry of "vivent les gueux," he should not have cared at that moment if the populace had cried 'vive comte horn', for his thoughts were then occupied with more substantial matters. he had gone thither under a special commission from the duchess, and had acted under instructions daily received by her own hand. he had, by her orders, effected a temporary compromise between the two religious parties, on the basis of the duffel treaty. he had permitted the public preaching to continue, but had not introduced it for the first time. he had allowed temples to be built outside the gates, but it was by express command of madame, as he could prove by her letters. she had even reproved him before the council, because the work had not been accomplished with sufficient despatch. with regard to his alleged threat, that he would oppose the king's entrance with , men, he answered, with astonishing simplicity, that he did not remember making any such observation, but it was impossible for a man to retain in his mind all the nonsense which he might occasionally utter. the honest admiral thought that his poverty, already pleaded, was so notorious that the charge was not worthy of a serious answer. he also treated the observation which he was charged with having made, relative to his marching to spain with , men to rescue montigny as "frivolous and ridiculous." he had no power to raise a hundred men. moreover he had rejoiced at montigny's detention, for he had thought that to be out of the netherlands was to be out of harm's way. on the whole, he claimed that in all those transactions of his which might be considered anti-catholic, he had been governed entirely by the instructions of the regent, and by her accord with the nobles. that accord, as she had repeatedly stated to him, was to be kept sacred until his majesty, by advice of the states-general, should otherwise ordain. finally, he observed, that law was not his vocation. he was no pettifogger, but he had endeavored loyally to conform himself to the broad and general principles of honor, justice, and truth. in a very few and simple words, he begged his judges to have regard to his deeds, and to a life of loyal service. if he had erred occasionally in those times of tumult, his intentions had ever been faithful and honorable. the charges against count egmont were very similar to those against count horn. the answers of both defendants were nearly identical. interrogations thus addressed to two different persons, as to circumstances which had occurred long before, could not have been thus separately, secretly, but simultaneously answered in language substantially the same, had not that language been the words of truth. egmont was accused generally of plotting with others to expel the king from the provinces, and to divide the territory among themselves. through a long series of ninety articles, he was accused of conspiring against the character and life of cardinal granvelle. he was the inventor, it was charged, of the fool's-cap livery. he had joined in the letters to the king, demanding the prelate's removal. he had favored the fusion of the three councils. he had maintained that the estates-general ought to be forthwith assembled, that otherwise the debts of his majesty and of the country could never be paid, and that the provinces would go to the french, to the germans, or to the devil. he had asserted that he would not be instrumental in burning forty or fifty thousand men, in order that the inquisition and the edicts might be sustained. he had declared that the edicts were rigorous. he had advised the duchess, to moderate them, and remove the inquisition, saying that these measures, with a pardon general in addition, were the only means of quieting the country. he had advised the formation of the confederacy, and promised to it his protection and favor. he had counselled the presentation of the petition. he had arranged all these matters, in consultation with the other nobles, at the interviews at breda and hoogstraaten. he had refused the demand of madame de parma, to take arms in her defence. he had expressed his intention, at a most critical moment, of going to the baths of aix for his health, although his personal appearance gave no indication of any malady whatever. he had countenanced and counselled the proceedings of the rebel nobles at saint trond. he had made an accord with those of "the religion" at ghent, bruges, and other places. he had advised the duchess to grant a pardon to those who had taken up arms. he had maintained, in common with the prince of orange, at a session of the state council, that if madame should leave brussels, they would assemble the states-general of their own authority, and raise a force of forty thousand men. he had plotted treason, and made arrangements for the levy of troops at the interview at denremonde, with horn, hoogstraaten, and the prince of orange. he had taken under his protection on the th april, , the confederacy of the rebels; had promised that they should never be molested, for the future, on account of the inquisition or the edicts, and that so long as they kept within the terms of the petition and the compromise, he would defend them with his own person. he had granted liberty of preaching outside the walls in many cities within his government. he had said repeatedly, that if the king desired to introduce the inquisition into the netherlands, he would sell all his property and remove to another land; thus declaring with how much contempt and detestation he regarded the said inquisition. he had winked at all the proceedings of the sectaries. he had permitted the cry of "vivent les gueux" at his table. he had assisted at the banquet at culemburg house. these were the principal points in the interminable act of accusation. like the admiral, egmont admitted many of the facts, and flatly denied the rest. he indignantly repelled the possibility of a treasonable inference from any of, or all, his deeds. he had certainly desired the removal of granvelle, for he believed that the king's service would profit by his recal. he replied, almost in the same terms as the admiral had done, to the charge concerning the livery, and asserted that its principal object had been to set an example of economy. the fool's-cap and bells had been changed to a bundle of arrows, in consequence of a certain rumor which became rife in brussels, and in obedience to an ordinance of madame de parma. as to the assembling of the states- general, the fusion of the councils, the moderation of the edicts, he had certainly been in favor of these measures, which he considered to be wholesome and lawful, not mischievous or treasonable. he had certainly maintained that the edicts were rigorous, and had advised the duchess, under the perilous circumstances of the country, to grant a temporary modification until the pleasure of his majesty could be known. with regard to the compromise, he had advised all his friends to keep out of it, and many in consequence had kept out of it. as to the presentation of the petition, he had given madame de parma notice thereof, so soon as he had heard that such a step was contemplated. he used the same language as had been employed by horn, with regard to the interview at breda and hoogstraaten--that they had been meetings of "good cheer" and good fellowship. he had always been at every moment at the command of the duchess, save when he had gone to flanders and artois to suppress the tumults, according to her express orders. he had no connexion with the meeting of the nobles at saint trond. he had gone to duffel as special envoy from the duchess, to treat with certain plenipotentiaries appointed at the saint trond meeting. he had strictly conformed to the letter of instructions, drawn up by the duchess, which would be found among his papers, but he had never promised the nobles his personal aid or protection. with regard to the denremonde meeting, he gave almost exactly the same account as horn had given. the prince, the admiral, and himself, had conversed between a quarter past eleven and dinner time, which was twelve o'clock, on various matters, particularly upon the king's dissatisfaction with recent events in the netherlands, and upon a certain letter from the ambassador alava in paris to the duchess of parma. he had, however, expressed his opinion to madame that the letter was a forgery. he had permitted public preaching in certain cities, outside the walls, where it had already been established, because this was in accordance with the treaty which madame had made at duffel, which she had ordered him honorably to maintain. he had certainly winked at the religious exercises of the reformers, because he had been expressly commanded to do so, and because the government at that time was not provided with troops to suppress the new religion by force. he related the visit of horn, orange, and himself to culemburg house, at the memorable banquet, in almost the same words which the admiral had used. he had done all in his power to prevent madame from leaving brussels, in which effort he had been successful, and from which much good had resulted to the country. he had never recommended that a pardon should be granted to those who had taken up arms, but on the contrary, had advised their chastisement, as had appeared in his demeanor towards the rebels at osterwel, tournay, and valenciennes. he had never permitted the cry of "vivent les gueux" at his own table, nor encouraged it in his presence any where else. such were the leading features in these memorable cases of what was called high treason. trial there was none. the tribunal was incompetent; the prisoners were without advocates; the government evidence was concealed; the testimony for the defence was excluded; and the cause was finally decided before a thousandth part of its merits could have been placed under the eyes of the judge who gave the sentence. but it is almost puerile to speak of the matter in the terms usually applicable to state trials. the case had been settled in madrid long before the arrest of the prisoners in brussels. the sentence, signed by philip in blank, had been brought in alva's portfolio from spain. the proceedings were a mockery, and, so far as any effect upon public opinion was concerned, might as well have been omitted. if the gentlemen had been shot in the court-yard of jasse-house, by decree of a drum-head court-martial, an hour after their arrest, the rights of the provinces and the sentiments of humanity would not have been outraged more utterly. every constitutional and natural right was violated from first to last. this certainly was not a novelty. thousands of obscure individuals, whose relations and friends were not upon thrones and in high places, but in booths and cellars, and whose fate therefore did not send a shudder of sympathy throughout europe, had already been sacrificed by the blood tribunal. still this great case presented a colossal emblem of the condition in which the netherlands were now gasping. it was a monumental exhibition of the truth which thousands had already learned to their cost, that law and justice were abrogated throughout the land. the country was simply under martial law--the entire population under sentence of death. the whole civil power was in alva's hand; the whole responsibility in alva's breast. neither the most ignoble nor the most powerful could lift their heads in the sublime desolation which was sweeping the country. this was now proved beyond peradventure. a miserable cobbler or weaver might be hurried from his shop to the scaffold, invoking the 'jus de non evocando' till he was gagged, but the emperor would not stoop from his throne, nor electors palatine and powerful nobles rush to his rescue; but in behalf of these prisoners the most august hands and voices of christendom had been lifted up at the foot of philip's throne; and their supplications had proved as idle as the millions of tears and death-cries which had beep shed or uttered in the lowly places of the land. it was obvious; then, that all intercession must thereafter be useless. philip was fanatically impressed with his mission. his viceroy was possessed by his loyalty as by a demon. in this way alone, that conduct which can never be palliated may at least be comprehended. it was philip's enthusiasm to embody the wrath of god against heretics. it was alva's enthusiasm to embody the wrath of philip. narrow-minded, isolated, seeing only that section of the world which was visible through the loop-hole of the fortress in which nature had imprisoned him for life, placing his glory in unconditional obedience to his superior, questioning nothing, doubting nothing, fearing nothing, the viceroy accomplished his work of hell with all the tranquillity of an angel. an iron will, which clove through every obstacle; adamantine fortitude, which sustained without flinching a mountain of responsibility sufficient to crush a common nature, were qualities which, united to, his fanatical obedience, made him a man for philip's work such as could not have been found again in the world. the case, then, was tried before a tribunal which was not only incompetent, under the laws of the land, but not even a court of justice in any philosophical or legal sense. constitutional and municipal law were not more outraged in its creation, than all national and natural maxims. the reader who has followed step by step the career of the two distinguished victims through the perilous days of margaret's administration, is sufficiently aware of the amount of treason with which they are chargeable. it would be an insult to common sense for us to set forth, in full, the injustice of their sentence. both were guiltless towards the crown; while the hands of one, on the contrary, were deeply dyed in the blood of the people. this truth was so self-evident, that even a member of the blood-council, pierre arsens, president of artois, addressed an elaborate memoir to the duke of alva, criticising the case according to the rules of law, and maintaining that egmont, instead of deserving punishment, was entitled to a signal reward. so much for the famous treason of counts egmont and horn, so far as regards the history of the proceedings and the merits of the case. the last act of the tragedy was precipitated by occurrences which must be now narrated. the prince of orange had at last thrown down the gauntlet. proscribed, outlawed, with his netherland property confiscated, and his eldest child kidnapped, he saw sufficient personal justification for at last stepping into the lists, the avowed champion of a nation's wrongs. whether the revolution was to be successful, or to be disastrously crushed; whether its result would be to place him upon a throne or a scaffold, not even he, the deep-revolving and taciturn politician, could possibly foresee. the reformation, in which he took both a political and a religious interest, might prove a sufficient lever in his hands for the overthrow of spanish power in the netherlands. the inquisition might roll back upon his country and himself, crushing them forever. the chances seemed with the inquisition. the spaniards, under the first chieftain in europe, were encamped and entrenched in the provinces. the huguenots had just made their fatal peace in france, to the prophetic dissatisfaction of coligny. the leading men of liberal sentiments in the netherlands were captive or in exile. all were embarrassed by the confiscations which, in anticipation of sentence, had severed the nerves of war. the country was terror-stricken; paralyzed, motionless, abject, forswearing its convictions, and imploring only life. at this moment william of orange reappeared upon the scene. he replied to the act of condemnation, which had been pronounced against him in default, by a published paper, of moderate length and great eloquence. he had repeatedly offered to place himself, he said, upon trial before a competent court. as a knight of the fleece, as a member of the holy roman empire, as a sovereign prince, he could acknowledge no tribunal save the chapters of the knights or of the realm. the emperor's personal intercession with philip had been employed in vain, to obtain the adjudication of his case by either. it would be both death and degradation on his part to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the infamous council of blood. he scorned, he said, to plead his cause "before he knew not what base knaves, not fit to be the valets of his companions and himself." he appealed therefore to the judgment of the world. he published not an elaborate argument, but a condensed and scathing statement of the outrages which had been practised upon him. he denied that he had been a party to the compromise. he denied that he had been concerned in the request, although he denounced with scorn the tyranny which could treat a petition to government as an act of open war against the sovereign. he spoke of granvelle with unmeasured wrath. he maintained that his own continuance in office had been desired by the cardinal, in order that his personal popularity might protect the odious designs of the government. the edicts, the inquisition, the persecution, the new bishoprics, had been the causes of the tumults. he concluded with a burst of indignation against philip's conduct toward himself. the monarch had forgotten his services and those of his valiant ancestors. he had robbed him of honor, he had robbed him of his son--both dearer to him than life. by thus doing he had degraded himself more than he had injured him, for he had broken all his royal oaths and obligations. the paper was published early in the summer of . at about the same time, the count of hoogstraaten published a similar reply to the act of condemnation with which he had been visited. he defended himself mainly upon the ground, that all the crimes of which he stood arraigned had been committed in obedience to the literal instructions of the duchess of parma, after her accord with the confederates. the prince now made the greatest possible exertions to raise funds and troops. he had many meetings with influential individuals in germany. the protestant princes, particularly the landgrave of hesse and the elector of saxony, promised him assistance. he brought all his powers of eloquence and of diplomacy to make friends for the cause which he had now boldly espoused. the high-born demosthenes electrified large assemblies by his indignant invectives against the spanish philip. he excelled even his royal antagonist in the industrious subtlety with which he began to form a thousand combinations. swift, secret, incapable of fatigue, this powerful and patient intellect sped to and fro, disentangling the perplexed skein where all had seemed so hopelessly confused, and gradually unfolding broad schemes of a symmetrical and regenerated polity. he had high correspondents and higher hopes in england. he was already secretly or openly in league with half the sovereigns of germany. the huguenots of france looked upon him as their friend, and on louis of nassau as their inevitable chieftain, were coligny destined to fall. he was in league with all the exiled and outlawed nobles of the netherlands. by his orders recruits were daily enlisted, without sound of drum. he granted a commission to his brother louis, one of the most skilful and audacious soldiers of the age, than whom the revolt could not have found a more determined partisan, nor the prince a more faithful lieutenant. this commission, which was dated dillenburg, th april, , was a somewhat startling document. it authorized the count to levy troops and wage war against philip, strictly for philip's good. the fiction of loyalty certainly never went further. the prince of orange made known to all "to whom those presents should come," that through the affection which he bore the gracious king, he purposed to expel his majesty's forces from the netherlands. "to show our love for the monarch and his hereditary provinces," so ran the commission, "to prevent the desolation hanging over the country by the ferocity of the spaniards, to maintain the privileges sworn to by his majesty and his predecessors, to prevent the extirpation of all religion by the edicts, and to save the sons and daughters of the land from abject slavery, we have requested our dearly beloved brother louis nassau to enrol as many troops as he shall think necessary." van der bergh, hoogstraaten, and others, provided with similar powers, were also actively engaged in levying troops; but the right hand of the revolt was count louis, as his illustrious brother was its head and heart. two hundred thousand crowns was the sum which the prince considered absolutely necessary for organizing the army with which he contemplated making an entrance into the netherlands. half this amount had been produced by the cities of antwerp, amsterdam, leyden, harlem, middelburg, flushing, and other towns, as well as by refugee merchants in england. the other half was subscribed by individuals. the prince himself contributed , florins, hoogstraaten , , louis of nassau , , culemberg , , van der bergh , , the dowager-countess horn , , and other persons in less proportion. count john of nassau also pledged his estates to raise a large sum for the cause. the prince himself sold all his jewels, plate, tapestry, and other furniture, which were of almost regal magnificence. not an enthusiast, but a deliberate, cautious man, he now staked his all upon the hazard, seemingly so desperate. the splendor of his station has been sufficiently depicted. his luxury, his fortune, his family, his life, his children, his honor, all were now ventured, not with the recklessness of a gambler, but with the calm conviction of a statesman. a private and most audacious attempt to secure the person: of alva and the possession of brussels had failed. he was soon, however, called upon to employ all his energies against the open warfare which was now commenced. according to the plan of the prince, the provinces were to be attacked simultaneously, in three places, by his lieutenants, while he himself was waiting in the neighborhood of cleves, ready for a fourth assault. an army of huguenots and refugees was to enter artois upon the frontier of france; a second, under hoogstraaten, was to operate between the rhine and the meuse; while louis of nassau was to raise the standard of revolt in friesland. the two first adventures were destined to be signally unsuccessful. a force under seigneur de cocqueville, latest of all, took the field towards the end of june. it entered the bailiwick of hesdin in artois, was immediately driven across the frontier by the count de roeulx, and cut to pieces at st. valery by marechal de cossis, governor of picardy. this action was upon the th july. of the men who composed the expedition, scarce escaped. the few netherlanders who were taken prisoners were given to the spanish government, and, of course, hanged. the force under the seigneur de villars was earlier under arms, and the sooner defeated. this luckless gentleman, who had replaced the count of hoogstraaten, crossed the frontier of juliers; in the neighborhood of maestricht, by the th april. his force, infantry and cavalry, amounted to nearly three thousand men. the object of the enterprise was to, raise the country; and, if possible, to obtain a foothold by securing an important city. roermonde was the first point of attack, but the attempts, both by stratagem and by force, to secure the town, were fruitless. the citizens were not ripe for revolt, and refused the army admittance. while the invaders were, therefore, endeavoring to fire the gates, they were driven off by the approach of a spanish force. the duke, so soon as the invasion was known to him, had acted with great promptness. don sancho de lodrono and don sancho de avila, with five vanderas of spanish infantry, three companies of cavalry, and about three hundred pikemen under count eberstein, a force amounting in all to about picked troops, had been at once despatched against villars. the rebel chieftain, abandoning his attempt upon roermonde, advanced towards erkelens. upon the th april, between erkelens and dalem, the spaniards came up with him, and gave him battle. villars lost all his cavalry and two vanderas of his infantry in the encounter. with the remainder of his force, amounting to men, he effected his retreat in good order to dalem. here he rapidly entrenched himself. at four in the afternoon, sancho de lodrono, at the head of infantry, reached the spot. he was unable to restrain the impetuosity of his men, although the cavalry under avila, prevented by the difficult nature of the narrow path through which the rebels had retreated, had not yet arrived. the enemy were two to one, and were fortified; nevertheless, in half an hour the entrenchments were carried, and almost every man in the patriot army put to the sword. villars himself, with a handful of soldiers, escaped into the town, but was soon afterwards taken prisoner, with all his followers. he sullied the cause in which he was engaged by a base confession of the designs formed by the prince of orange--a treachery, however, which did not save him from the scaffold. in the course of this day's work, the spanish lost twenty men, and the rebels nearly . this portion of the liberating forces had been thus disastrously defeated on the eve of the entrance of count louis into friesland. as early as the d april, alva had been informed, by the lieutenant- governor of that province, that the beggars were mustering in great force in the neighborhood of embden. it was evident that an important enterprise was about to be attempted. two days afterwards, louis of nassau entered the provinces, attended by a small body of troops. his banners blazed with patriotic inscriptions. 'nunc aut nunquam, recuperare aut mori', were the watchwords of his desperate adventure: "freedom for fatherland and conscience" was the device which was to draw thousands to his standard. on the western wolds of frisia, he surprised the castle of wedde, a residence of the absent aremberg, stadholder of the province. thence he advanced to appingadam, or dam, on the tide waters of the dollart. here he was met by, his younger brother, the gallant adolphus, whose days were so nearly numbered, who brought with him a small troop of horse. at wedde, at dam, and at slochteren, the standard was set up. at these three points there daily gathered armed bodies of troops, voluntary adventurers, peasants with any rustic weapon which they could find to their hand. lieutenant-governor groesbeck wrote urgently to the duke, that the beggars were hourly increasing in force; that the leaders perfectly understood their game; that they kept their plans a secret, but were fast seducing the heart of the country. on the th may, louis issued a summons to the magistracy of groningen, ordering them to send a deputation to confer with him at dam. he was prepared, he said, to show the commission with which he was provided. he had not entered the country on a mere personal adventure, but had received orders to raise a sufficient army. by the help of the eternal god, he was determined, he said, to extirpate the detestable tyranny of those savage persecutors who had shed so much christian blood. he was resolved to lift up the down-trod privileges, and, to protect the fugitive, terror-stricken christians and patriarchs of the country. if the magistrates were disposed to receive him with friendship, it was well. otherwise, he should, with regret, feel himself obliged to proceed against them, as enemies of his majesty and of the common weal. as the result of this summons, louis received a moderate sum of money, on condition of renouncing for the moment an attack upon the city. with this temporary supply he was able to retain a larger number of the adventurers; who were daily swarming around him. in the mean time alva was not idle. on the th april, he wrote to groesbeck, that he must take care not to be taken napping; that he must keep his eyes well open until the arrival of succor, which was already on the way. he then immediately ordered count aremberg, who had just returned from france on conclusion of hostilities, to hasten to the seat of war. five vanderas of his own regiment; a small body of cavalry, and braccamonte's sardinian legion, making in all a force of nearly men, were ordered to follow him with the utmost expedition. count meghem, stadholder of gueldres, with five vanderas of infantry, three of light horse, and some artillery, composing a total of about men, was directed to co-operate with aremberg. upon this point the orders of the governor-general were explicit. it seemed impossible that the rabble rout under louis nassau could stand a moment before nearly picked and veteran troops, but the duke was earnest in warning his generals not to undervalue the enemy. on the th may, counts meghem and aremberg met and conferred at arnheim, on their way to friesland. it was fully agreed between them, after having heard full reports of the rising in that province, and of the temper throughout the eastern netherlands, that it would be rash to attempt any separate enterprise. on the th, aremberg reached vollenhoven, where he was laid up in his bed with the gout. bodies of men, while he lay sick, paraded hourly with fife and drum before his windows, and discharged pistols and arquebuses across the ditch of the blockhouse where he was quartered. on the th, braccamonte, with his legion, arrived by water at harlingen. not a moment more was lost. aremberg, notwithstanding his gout, which still confined him to a litter, started at once in pursuit of the enemy. passing through groningen, he collected all the troops which could be spared.. he also received six pieces of artillery. six cannon, which the lovers of harmony had baptized with the notes of the gamut, 'ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la', were placed at his disposal by the authorities, and have acquired historical celebrity. it was, however, ordained that when those musical pieces piped, the spaniards were not to dance. on the d, followed by his whole force, consisting of braccamonte's legion, his own four vanderas, and a troop of germans, he came in sight of the enemy at dam. louis of nassau sent out a body of arquebusiers, about one thousand strong, from the city. a sharp skirmish ensued, but the beggars were driven into their entrenchments, with a loss of twenty or thirty men, and nightfall terminated the contest. it was beautiful to see, wrote aremberg to alva, how brisk and eager were the spaniards, notwithstanding the long march which they had that day accomplished. time was soon to show how easily immoderate, valor might swell into a fault. meantime, aremberg quartered his troops in and about wittewerum abbey, close to the little unwalled city of dam. on the other hand, meghem, whose co-operation had been commanded by alva, and arranged personally with aremberg a fortnight before, at arnheim, had been delayed in his movements. his troops, who had received no wages for a long time had mutinied. a small sum of money, however, sent from brussels, quelled this untimely insubordination. meghem then set forth to effect his junction with his colleague, having assured the governor- general that the war would be ended in six days. the beggars had not a stiver, he said, and must disband or be beaten to pieces as soon as aremberg and he had joined forces. nevertheless he admitted that these same "master-beggars," as he called them, might prove too many for either general alone. alva, in reply, expressed his confidence that four or five thousand choice troops of spain would be enough to make a short war of it, but nevertheless warned his officers of the dangers of overweening confidence. he had been informed that the rebels had assumed the red scarf of the spanish uniform. he hoped the stratagem would not save them from broken heads, but was unwilling that his majesty's badge should be altered. he reiterated his commands that no enterprise should be undertaken, except by the whole army in concert; and enjoined the generals incontinently to hang and strangle all prisoners the moment they should be taken. marching directly northward, meghem reached coeverden, some fifty miles from dam, on the night of the d. he had informed aremberg that he might expect him with his infantry and his light horse in the course of the next day. on the following morning, the d, aremberg wrote his last letter to the duke, promising to send a good account of the beggars within a very few hours. louis of nassau had broken up his camp at dam about midnight. falling back, in a southerly direction, along the wold-weg, or forest road, a narrow causeway through a swampy district, he had taken up a position some three leagues from his previous encampment. near the monastery of heiliger lee, or the "holy lion," he had chosen his ground. a little money in hand, ample promises, and the hopes of booty, had effectually terminated the mutiny, which had also broken out in his camp. assured that meghem had not yet effected his junction with aremberg, prepared to strike, at last, a telling blow for freedom and fatherland, louis awaited the arrival of his eager foe. his position was one of commanding strength and fortunate augury. heiliger lee was a wooded eminence, artificially reared by premonstrant monks. it was the only rising ground in that vast extent of watery pastures, enclosed by the ems and lippe--the "fallacious fields" described by tacitus. here hermann, first of teutonic heroes, had dashed out of existence three veteran legions of tyrant rome. here the spectre of varus, begrimed and gory, had risen from the morass to warn germanicus, who came to avenge him, that gothic freedom was a dangerous antagonist. and now, in the perpetual reproductions of history, another german warrior occupied a spot of vantage in that same perilous region. the tyranny with which he contended strove to be as universal as that of rome, and had stretched its wings of conquest into worlds of which the caesars had never dreamed. it was in arms, too, to crush not only the rights of man, but the rights of god. the battle of freedom was to be fought not only for fatherland, but for conscience. the cause was even holier than that which had inspired the arm of hermann. although the swamps of that distant age had been transformed into fruitful pastures, yet the whole district was moist, deceitful, and dangerous. the country was divided into squares, not by hedges but by impassable ditches. agricultural entrenchments had long made the country almost impregnable, while its defences against the ocean rendered almost as good service against a more implacable human foe. aremberg, leading his soldiers along the narrow causeway, in hot pursuit of what they considered a rabble rout of fugitive beggars, soon reached winschoten. here he became aware of the presence of his despicable foe. louis and adolphus of nassau, while sitting at dinner in the convent of the "holy lion," had been warned by a friendly peasant of the approach of the spaniards. the opportune intelligence had given the patriot general time to make his preparations. his earnest entreaties had made his troops ashamed of their mutinous conduct on the preceding day, and they were now both ready and willing to engage. the village was not far distant from the abbey, and in the neighborhood of the abbey louis of nassau was now posted. behind him was a wood, on his left a hill of moderate elevation, before him an extensive and swampy field. in the front of the field was a causeway leading to the abbey. this was the road which aremberg was to traverse. on the plain which lay between the wood and the hill, the main body of the beggars were drawn up. they were disposed in two squares or squadrons, rather deep than wide, giving the idea of a less number than they actually contained. the lesser square, in which were two thousand eight hundred men, was partially sheltered by the hill. both were flanked by musketeers. on the brow of the hill was a large body of light armed troops, the 'enfans perdus' of the army. the cavalry, amounting to not more than three hundred men, was placed in front, facing the road along which aremberg was to arrive. that road was bordered by a wood extending nearly to the front of the hill. as aremberg reached its verge, he brought out his artillery, and opened a fire upon the body of light troops. the hill protected a large part of the enemy's body from this attack. finding the rebels so strong in numbers and position, aremberg was disposed only to skirmish. he knew better than did his soldiers the treacherous nature of the ground in front of the enemy. he saw that it was one of those districts where peat had been taken out in large squares for fuel, and where a fallacious and verdant scum upon the surface of deep pools simulated the turf that had been removed. he saw that the battle-ground presented to him by his sagacious enemy was one great sweep of traps and pitfalls. before he could carry the position, many men must necessarily be engulfed. he paused for an instant. he was deficient in cavalry, having only martinengo's troop, hardly amounting to four hundred men. he was sure of meghem's arrival within twenty-four hours. if, then, he could keep the rebels in check, without allowing them any opportunity to disperse, he should be able, on the morrow, to cut them to pieces, according to the plan agreed upon a fortnight before. but the count had to contend with a double obstacle. his soldiers were very hot, his enemy very cool. the spaniards, who had so easily driven a thousand musketeers from behind their windmill, the evening before, who had seen the whole rebel force decamp in hot haste on the very night of their arrival before dam, supposed themselves in full career of victory. believing that the name alone of the old legions had stricken terror to the hearts of the beggars, and that no resistance was possible to spanish arms, they reviled their general for his caution. his reason for delay was theirs for hurry. why should meghem's loitering and mutinous troops, arriving at the eleventh hour, share in the triumph and the spoil? no man knew the country better than aremberg, a native of the netherlands, the stadholder of the province. cowardly or heretical motives alone could sway him, if he now held them back in the very hour of victory. inflamed beyond endurance by these taunts, feeling his pride of country touched to the quick, and willing to show that a netherlander would lead wherever spaniards dared to follow, aremberg allowed himself to commit the grave error for which he was so deeply to atone. disregarding the dictates of his own experience and the arrangements of his superior, he yielded to the braggart humor of his soldiers, which he had not, like alva, learned to moderate or to despise. in the mean, time, the body of light troops which had received the fire from the musical pieces of groningen was seen to waver. the artillery was then brought beyond the cover of the wood, and pointed more fully upon the two main squares of the enemy. a few shots told. soon afterward the 'enfans perdus' retreated helter-skelter, entirely deserting their position. this apparent advantage, which was only a preconcerted stratagem, was too much for the fiery spaniards. they rushed. merrily forward to attack the stationary squares, their general being no longer able, to restrain their impetuosity. in a moment the whole van-guard had plunged into the morass. in a few minutes more they were all helplessly and hopelessly struggling in the pools, while the musketeers of the enemy poured in a deadly fire upon them, without wetting the soles of their own feet. the pikemen, too, who composed the main body of the larger square, now charged upon all who were extricating themselves from their entanglement, and drove them back again to a muddy death. simultaneously, the lesser patriot squadron, which had so long been sheltered, emerged from the cover of the hill, made a detour around its base, enveloped the rear- guard of the spaniards before they could advance to the succor of their perishing comrades, and broke them to pieces almost instantly. gonzalo de braccamonte, the very spanish colonel who had been foremost in denunciation of aremberg, for his disposition to delay the contest, was now the first to fly. to his bad conduct was ascribed the loss of the day. the anger of alva was so high, when he was informed of the incident, that he would have condemned the officer to death but for the intercession of his friends and countrymen. the rout was sudden and absolute. the foolhardiness of the spaniards had precipitated them into the pit which their enemies had dug. the day, was lost. nothing was left for aremberg but to perish with honor. placing himself at the head of his handful of cavalry, he dashed into the melee. the shock was sustained by young adolphus of nassau, at the head of an equal number of riders. each leader singled out the other. they met as "captains of might" should do, in the very midst of the affray. aremberg, receiving and disregarding a pistol shot from his adversary, laid adolphus dead at his feet, with a bullet through his body and a sabre cut on his head. two troopers in immediate attendance upon the young count shared the same fate from the same hand. shortly afterward, the horse of aremberg, wounded by a musket ball, fell to the ground. a few devoted followers lifted the charger to his legs and the bleeding rider to his saddle. they endeavored to bear their wounded general from the scene of action. the horse staggered a few paces and fell dead. aremberg disengaged himself from his body, and walked a few paces to the edge of a meadow near the road. here, wounded in the action, crippled by the disease which had so long tormented him, and scarcely able to sustain longer the burthen of his armor, he calmly awaited his fate. a troop of the enemy advanced soon afterwards, and aremberg fell, covered with wounds, fighting like a hero of homer, single-handed, against a battalion, with a courage worthy a better cause and a better fate. the sword by which he received his final death-blow was that of the seigneur do haultain. that officer having just seen his brother slain before his eyes, forgot the respect due to unsuccessful chivalry. the battle was scarcely finished when an advancing trumpet was heard. the sound caused the victors to pause in their pursuit, and enabled a remnant of the conquered spaniards to escape. meghem's force was thought to be advancing. that general had indeed arrived, but he was alone. he had reached zuidlaren, a village some four leagues from the scene of action, on the noon of that day. here he had found a letter from aremberg, requesting him to hasten. he had done so. his troops, however, having come from coevorden that morning, were unable to accomplish so long a march in addition. the count, accompanied by a few attendants, reached the neighborhood of heiliger lee only in time to meet with some of the camp sutlers and other fugitives, from whom he learned the disastrous news of the defeat. finding that all was lost, he very properly returned to zuidlaren, from which place he made the best of his way to groningen. that important city, the key of friesland, he was thus enabled to secure. the troops which he brought, in addition to the four german vanderas of schaumburg, already quartered there, were sufficient to protect it against the ill-equipped army of louis nassau. the patriot leader had accomplished, after all, but a barren victory. he had, to be sure, destroyed a number of spaniards, amounting, according to the different estimates, from five hundred to sixteen hundred men. he had also broken up a small but veteran army. more than all, he had taught the netherlanders, by this triumphant termination to a stricken field, that the choice troops of spain were not invincible. but the moral effect of the victory was the only permanent one. the count's badly paid troops could with difficulty be kept together. he had no sufficient artillery to reduce the city whose possession would have proved so important to the cause. moreover, in common with the prince of orange and all his brethren, he had been called to mourn for the young and chivalrous adolphus, whose life-blood had stained the laurels of this first patriot victory. having remained, and thus wasted the normal three days upon the battle-field, louis now sat down before groningen, fortifying and entrenching himself in a camp within cannonshot of the city. on the rd we have seen that aremberg had written, full of confidence, to the governor-general, promising soon to send him good news of the beggars. on the th, count meghem wrote that, having spoken with a man who had helped to place aremberg in his coffin, he could hardly entertain any farther doubt as to his fate. the wrath of the duke was even greater than his surprise. like augustus, he called in vain on the dead commander for his legions, but prepared himself to inflict a more rapid and more terrible vengeance than the roman's. recognizing the gravity of his situation, he determined to take the field in person, and to annihilate this insolent chieftain who had dared not only to cope with, but to conquer his veteran regiments. but before he could turn his back upon brussels, many deeds were to be done. his measures now followed each other in breathless succession, fulminating and blasting at every stroke. on the th may, he issued an edict, banishing, on pain of death, the prince of orange, louis nassau, hoogstraaten, van den berg, and others, with confiscation of all their property. at the same time he razed the culemburg palace to the ground, and erected a pillar upon its ruins, commemorating the accursed conspiracy which had been engendered within its walls. on the st june, eighteen prisoners of distinction, including the two barons batenburg, maximilian kock, blois de treslong and others, were executed upon the horse market, in brussels. in the vigorous language of hoogstraaten, this horrible tragedy was enacted directly before the windows of that "cruel animal, noircarmes," who, in company of his friend, berlaymont, and the rest of the blood-council, looked out upon the shocking spectacle. the heads of the victims were exposed upon stakes, to which also their bodies were fastened. eleven of these victims were afterward deposited, uncoffined, in unconsecrated ground; the other seven were left unburied to moulder on the gibbet. on the d june, villars, the leader in the daalem rising, suffered on the scaffold, with three others. on the d, counts egmont and horn were brought in a carriage from ghent to brussels, guarded by ten companies of infantry and one of cavalry. they were then lodged in the "brood-huis" opposite the town hall, on the great square of brussels. on the th, alva having, as he solemnly declared before god and the world, examined thoroughly the mass of documents appertaining to those two great prosecutions which had only been closed three days before, pronounced sentence against the illustrious prisoners. these documents of iniquity signed and sealed by the duke, were sent to the blood-council, where they were read by secretary praets. the signature of philip was not wanting, for the sentences had been drawn upon blanks signed by the monarch, of which the viceroy had brought a whole trunk full from spain. the sentence against egmont declared very briefly that the duke of alva, having read all the papers and evidence in the case, had found the count guilty of high treason. it was proved that egmont had united with the confederates; that he had been a party to the accursed conspiracy of the prince of orange; that he had taken the rebel nobles under his protection, and that he had betrayed the government and the holy catholic church by his conduct in flanders. therefore the duke condemned him to be executed by the sword on the following day, and decreed that his head should be placed on high in a public place, there to remain until the duke should otherwise direct. the sentence against count horn was similar in language and purport. that afternoon the duke sent for the bishop of ypres, the prelate arrived at dusk. as soon as he presented himself, alva informed him of the sentence which had just been pronounced, and ordered him to convey the intelligence to the prisoners. he further charged him with the duty of shriving the victims, and preparing their souls for death. the bishop fell on his knees, aghast at the terrible decree. he implored the governor-general to have mercy upon the two unfortunate nobles. if their lives could not be spared, he prayed him at any rate to grant delay. with tears and earnest supplications the prelate endeavored to avert or to postpone the doom which had been pronounced. it was in vain. the sentence, inflexible as destiny, had been long before ordained. its execution had been but hastened by the temporary triumph of rebellion in friesland. alva told the bishop roughly that he had not been summoned to give advice. delay or pardon was alike impossible. he was to act as confessor to the criminals, not as councillor to the viceroy. the bishop, thus rebuked, withdrew to accomplish his melancholy mission. meanwhile, on the same evening, the miserable countess of egmont had been appalled by rumors, too vague for belief, too terrible to be slighted. she was in the chamber of countess aremberg, with whom she had come to condole for the death of the count, when the order for the immediate execution of her own husband was announced to her. she hastened to the presence of the governor-general. the princess palatine, whose ancestors had been emperors, remembered only that she was a wife and a mother. she fell at the feet of the man who controlled the fate of her husband, and implored his mercy in humble and submissive terms. the duke, with calm and almost incredible irony, reassured the countess by the information that, on the morrow, her husband was certainly to be released. with this ambiguous phrase, worthy the paltering oracles of antiquity, the wretched woman was obliged to withdraw. too soon afterward the horrible truth of the words was revealed to her--words of doom, which she had mistaken for consolation. an hour before midnight the bishop of ypres reached egmont's prison. the count was confined in a chamber on the second story of the brood-huis, the mansion of the crossbowmen's guild, in that corner of the building which rests on a narrow street running back from the great square. he was aroused from his sleep by the approach of his visitor. unable to speak, but indicating by the expression of his features the occurrence of a great misfortune, the bishop, soon after his entrance, placed the paper given to him by alva in egmont's hands. the unfortunate noble thus suddenly received the information that his death-sentence had been pronounced, and that its execution was fixed for the next morning. he read the paper through without flinching, and expressed astonishment rather than dismay at its tidings. exceedingly sanguine by nature, he had never believed, even after his nine months' imprisonment, in a fatal termination to the difficulties in which he was involved. he was now startled both at the sudden condemnation which had followed his lingering trial, and at the speed with which his death was to fulfil the sentence. he asked the bishop, with many expressions of amazement, whether pardon was impossible; whether delay at least might not be obtained? the prelate answered by a faithful narrative of the conversation which had just occurred between alva and himself. egmont, thus convinced of his inevitable doom, then observed to his companion, with exquisite courtesy, that, since he was to die, he rendered thanks both to god and to the duke that his last moments were to be consoled by so excellent a father confessor. afterwards, with a natural burst of indignation, he exclaimed that it was indeed a cruel and unjust sentence. he protested that he had never in his whole life wronged his majesty; certainly never so deeply as to deserve such a punishment. all that he had done had been with loyal intentions. the king's true interest had been his constant aim. nevertheless, if he had fallen into error, he prayed to god that his death might wipe away his misdeeds, and that his name might not be dishonored, nor his children brought to shame. his beloved wife and innocent children were to endure misery enough by his death and the confiscation of his estates. it was at least due to his long services that they should be spared further suffering. he then asked his father confessor what advice he had to give touching his present conduct. the bishop replied by an exhortation, that he should turn himself to god; that he should withdraw his thoughts entirely from all earthly interests, and prepare himself for the world beyond the grave. he accepted the advice, and kneeling before the bishop, confessed himself. he then asked to receive the sacrament, which the bishop administered, after the customary mass. egmont asked what prayer would be most appropriate at the hour of execution. his confessor replied that there was none more befitting than the one which jesus had taught his disciples--our father, which art in heaven. some conversation ensued, in which the count again expressed his gratitude that his parting soul had been soothed by these pious and friendly offices. by a revulsion of feeling, he then bewailed again the sad fate of his wife and of his young children. the bishop entreated him anew to withdraw his mind from such harrowing reflections, and to give himself entirely to god. overwhelmed with grief, egmont exclaimed with natural and simple pathos--"alas! how miserable and frail is our nature, that, when we should think of god only, we are unable to shut out the images of wife and children." recovering from his emotion, and having yet much time, he sat down and wrote with perfect self-possession two letters, one to philip and one to alva. the celebrated letter to the king was as follows: "sire,--i have learned, this evening, the sentence which your majesty has been pleased to pronounce upon me. although i have never had a thought, and believe myself never to have done a deed, which could tend to the prejudice of your majesty's person or service, or to the detriment of our true ancient and catholic religion, nevertheless i take patience to bear that which it has pleased the good god to send. if, during these troubles in the netherlands, i have done or permitted aught which had a different appearance, it has been with the true and good intent to serve god and your majesty, and the necessity of the times. therefore, i pray your majesty to forgive me, and to have compassion on my poor wife, my children, and my servants; having regard to my past services. in which hope i now commend myself to the mercy of god. "from brussels, "ready to die, this th june, , "your majesty's very humble and loyal vassal and servant, "lamoral d'egmont." having thus kissed the murderous hand which smote him, he handed the letter, stamped rather with superfluous loyalty than with christian forgiveness, to the bishop, with a request that he would forward it to its destination, accompanied by a letter from his own hand. this duty the bishop solemnly promised to fulfil. facing all the details of his execution with the fortitude which belonged to his character, he now took counsel with his confessor as to the language proper for him to hold from the scaffold to the assembled people. the bishop, however, strongly dissuaded him from addressing the multitude at all. the persons farthest removed, urged the priest, would not hear the words, while the spanish troops in the immediate vicinity would not understand them. it seemed, therefore, the part of wisdom and of dignity for him to be silent, communing only with his god. the count assented to this reasoning, and abandoned his intention of saying a few farewell words to the people, by many of whom he believed himself tenderly beloved. he now made many preparations for the morrow, in order that his thoughts, in the last moments, might not be distracted by mechanical details, cutting the collar from his doublet and from his shirt with his own hands, in order that those of the hangman might have no excuse for contaminating his person. the rest of the night was passed in prayer and meditation. fewer circumstances concerning the last night of count horn's life have been preserved. it is, however, well ascertained that the admiral received the sudden news of his condemnation with absolute composure. he was assisted at his devotional exercises in prison by the curate of la chapelle. during the night, the necessary preparations for the morning tragedy had been made in the great square of brussels. it was the intention of government to strike terror to the heart of the people by the exhibition of an impressive and appalling spectacle. the absolute and irresponsible destiny which ruled them was to be made manifest by the immolation of these two men, so elevated by rank, powerful connexion, and distinguished service. the effect would be heightened by the character of the, locality where the gloomy show was to be presented. the great square of brussels had always a striking and theatrical aspect. its architectural effects, suggesting in some degree the meretricious union between oriental and a corrupt grecian art, accomplished in the medieval midnight, have amazed the eyes of many generations. the splendid hotel de ville, with its daring spire and elaborate front, ornamented one side of the place; directly opposite was the graceful but incoherent facade of the brood- huis, now the last earthly resting-place of the two distinguished victims, while grouped around these principal buildings rose the fantastic palaces of the archers, mariners, and of other guilds, with their festooned walls and toppling gables bedizened profusely with emblems, statues, and quaint decorations. the place had been alike the scene of many a brilliant tournament and of many a bloody execution. gallant knights had contended within its precincts, while bright eyes rained influence from all those picturesque balconies and decorated windows. martyrs to religious and to political liberty had, upon the same spot, endured agonies which might have roused every stone of its pavement to mutiny or softened them to pity. here egmont himself, in happier days, had often borne away the prize of skill or of valor, the cynosure of every eye; and hence, almost in the noon of a life illustrated by many brilliant actions, he was to be sent, by the hand of tyranny, to his great account. on the morning of the th of june, three thousand spanish troops were drawn up in battle array around a scaffold which had been erected in the centre of the square. upon this scaffold, which was covered with black cloth, were placed two velvet cushions, two iron spikes, and a small table. upon the table was a silver crucifix. the provost-marshal, spelle, sat on horseback below, with his red wand in his hand, little dreaming that for him a darker doom was reserved than that of which he was now the minister. the executioner was concealed beneath the draperies of the scaffold. at eleven o'clock, a company of spanish soldiers, led by julian romero and captain salinas, arrived at egmont's chamber. the count was ready for them. they were about to bind his hands, but he warmly protested against the indignity, and, opening the folds of his robe, showed them that he had himself shorn off his collars, and made preparations for his death. his request was granted. egmont, with the bishop at his side, then walked with a steady step the short distance which separated him from the place of execution. julian romero and the guard followed him. on his way, he read aloud the fifty-first psalm: "hear my cry, o god, and give ear unto my prayer!" he seemed to have selected these scriptural passages as a proof that, notwithstanding the machinations of his enemies, and the cruel punishment to which they had led him, loyalty to his sovereign was as deeply rooted and as religious a sentiment in his bosom as devotion to his god. "thou wilt prolong the king's life; and his years as many generations. he shall abide before god for ever! o prepare mercy and truth which may preserve him." such was the remarkable prayer of the condemned traitor on his way to the block. having ascended the scaffold, he walked across it twice or thrice. he was dressed in a tabard or robe of red damask, over which was thrown a short black mantle, embroidered in gold. he had a black silk hat, with black and white plumes, on his head, and held a handkerchief in his hand. as he strode to and fro, he expressed a bitter regret that he had not been permitted to die, sword in hand, fighting for his country and his king. sanguine to the last, he passionately asked romero, whether the sentence was really irrevocable, whether a pardon was not even then to be granted. the marshal shrugged his shoulders, murmuring a negative reply. upon this, egmont gnashed his teeth together, rather in rage than despair. shortly afterward commanding himself again, he threw aside his robe and mantle, and took the badge of the golden fleece from his neck. kneeling, then, upon one of the cushions, he said the lord's prayer aloud, and requested the bishop, who knelt at his side, to repeat it thrice. after this, the prelate gave him the silver crucifix to kiss, and then pronounced his blessing upon him. this done, the count rose again to his feet, laid aside his hat and handkerchief, knelt again upon the cushion, drew a little cap over his eyes, and, folding his hands together, cried with a loud voice, "lord, into thy hands i commit my spirit." the executioner then suddenly appeared, and severed his head from his shoulders at a single blow. a moment of shuddering silence succeeded the stroke. the whole vast assembly seemed to have felt it in their own hearts. tears fell from the eyes even of the spanish soldiery, for they knew and honored egmont as a valiant general. the french embassador, mondoucet, looking upon the scene from a secret place, whispered that he had now seen the head fall before which france had twice trembled. tears were even seen upon the iron cheek of alva, as, from a window in a house directly opposite the scaffold, he looked out upon the scene. a dark cloth was now quickly thrown over the body and the blood, and, within a few minutes, the admiral was seen advancing through the crowd. his bald head was uncovered, his hands were unbound. he calmly saluted such of his acquaintances as he chanced to recognize upon his path. under a black cloak, which he threw off when he had ascended the scaffold, he wore a plain, dark doublet, and he did not, like egmont, wear the insignia of the fleece. casting his eyes upon the corpse, which lay covered with the dark cloth, he asked if it were the body of egmont. being answered in the affirmative, he muttered a few words in spanish, which were not distinctly audible. his attention was next caught by the sight of his own coat of arms reversed, and he expressed anger at this indignity to his escutcheon, protesting that he had not deserved the insult. he then spoke a few words to the crowd below, wishing them happiness, and begging them to pray for his soul. he did not kiss the crucifix, but he knelt upon the scaffold to pray, and was assisted in his devotions by the bishop of ypres. when they were concluded, he rose again to his feet. then drawing a milan cap completely over his face, and uttering, in latin, the same invocation which egmont had used, he submitted his neck to the stroke. egmont had obtained, as a last favor, that his execution should precede that of his friend. deeming himself in part to blame for horn's reappearance in brussels after the arrival of alva, and for his, death, which was the result, he wished to be spared the pang of seeing him dead. gemma frisius, the astrologer who had cast the horoscope of count horn at his birth, had come to him in the most solemn manner to warn him against visiting brussels. the count had answered stoutly that he placed his trust in god, and that, moreover, his friend egmont was going thither also, who had engaged that no worse fate should befal the one of them than the other. the heads of both sufferers were now exposed for two hours upon the iron stakes. their bodies, placed in coffins, remained during the same interval upon the scaffold. meantime, notwithstanding the presence of the troops, the populace could not be restrained from tears and from execrations. many crowded about the scaffold, and dipped their handkerchiefs in the blood, to be preserved afterwards as memorials of the crime and as ensigns of revenge. the bodies were afterwards delivered to their friends. a stately procession of the guilds, accompanied by many of the clergy, conveyed their coffins to the church of saint gudule. thence the body of egmont was carried to the convent of saint clara, near the old brussels gate, where it was embalmed. his escutcheon and banners were hung upon the outward wall of his residence, by order of the countess. by command of alva they were immediately torn down. his remains were afterwards conveyed to his city of sottegem, in flanders, where they were interred. count horn was entombed at kempen. the bodies had been removed from the scaffold at two o'clock. the heads remained exposed between burning torches for two hours longer. they were then taken down, enclosed in boxes, and, as it was generally supposed, despatched to madrid. the king was thus enabled to look upon the dead faces of his victims without the trouble of a journey to the provinces. thus died philip montmorency, count of horn, and lamoral of egmont, prince of gaveren. the more intense sympathy which seemed to attach itself to the fate of egmont, rendered the misfortune of his companion in arms and in death comparatively less interesting. egmont is a great historical figure, but he was certainly not a great man. his execution remains an enduring monument not only of philip's cruelty and perfidy but of his dullness. the king had everything to hope from egmont and nothing to fear. granvelle knew the man well, and, almost to the last, could not believe in the possibility of so unparalleled a blunder as that which was to make a victim, a martyr, and a popular idol of a personage brave indeed, but incredibly vacillating and inordinately vain, who, by a little management, might have been converted into a most useful instrument for the royal purposes. it is not necessary to recapitulate the events of egmont's career. step by step we have studied his course, and at no single period have we discovered even a germ of those elements which make the national champion. his pride of order rendered him furious at the insolence of granvelle, and caused him to chafe under his dominion. his vanity of high rank and of distinguished military service made him covet the highest place under the crown, while his hatred of those by whom he considered himself defrauded of his claims, converted him into a malcontent. he had no sympathy with the people, but he loved, as a grand seignior, to be looked up to and admired by a gaping crowd. he was an unwavering catholic, held sectaries in utter loathing, and, after the image-breaking, took a positive pleasure in hanging ministers, together with their congregations, and in pressing the besieged christians of valenciennes to extremities. upon more than one occasion he pronounced his unequivocal approval of the infamous edicts, and he exerted himself at times to enforce them within his province. the transitory impression made upon his mind by the lofty nature of orange was easily effaced in spain by court flattery and by royal bribes. notwithstanding the coldness, the rebuffs, and the repeated warnings which might have saved him from destruction, nothing could turn him at last from the fanatic loyalty towards which, after much wavering, his mind irrevocably pointed. his voluntary humiliation as a general, a grandee, a fleming, and a christian before the insolent alva upon his first arrival, would move our contempt were it not for the gentler emotions suggested by the infatuated nobleman's doom. upon the departure of orange, egmont was only too eager to be employed by philip in any work which the monarch could find for him to do. yet this was the man whom philip chose, through the executioner's sword, to convert into a popular idol, and whom poetry has loved to contemplate as a romantic champion of freedom. as for horn, details enough have likewise been given of his career to enable the reader thoroughly to understand the man. he was a person of mediocre abilities and thoroughly commonplace character. his high rank and his tragic fate are all which make him interesting. he had little love for court or people. broken in fortunes, he passed his time mainly in brooding over the ingratitude of charles and philip, and in complaining bitterly of the disappointments to which their policy had doomed him. he cared nothing for cardinalists or confederates. he disliked brederode, he detested granvelle. gloomy and morose, he went to bed, while the men who were called his fellow-conspirators were dining and making merry in the same house with himself: he had as little sympathy with the cry of "vivent les gueux" as for that of "vive le roy." the most interesting features in his character are his generosity toward his absent brother and the manliness with which, as montigny's representative at tournay, he chose rather to confront the anger of the government, and to incur the deadly revenge of philip, than make himself the executioner of the harmless christians in tournay. in this regard, his conduct is vastly more entitled to our respect than that of egmont, and he was certainly more deserving of reverence from the people, even though deserted by all men while living, and left headless and solitary in his coffin at saint gudule. the hatred for alva, which sprang from the graves of these illustrious victims, waxed daily more intense. "like things of another world," wrote hoogstraaten, "seem the cries, lamentations, and just compassion which all the inhabitants of brussels, noble or ignoble, feel for such barbarous tyranny, while this nero of an alva is boasting that he will do the same to all whom he lays his hands upon." no man believed that the two nobles had committed a crime, and many were even disposed to acquit philip of his share in the judicial murder. the people ascribed the execution solely to the personal jealousy of the duke. they discoursed to each other not only of the envy with which the governor-general had always regarded the military triumphs of his rival, but related that egmont had at different times won large sums of alva at games of hazard, and that he had moreover, on several occasions, carried off the prize from the duke in shooting at the popinjay. nevertheless, in spite of all these absurd rumors, there is no doubt that philip and alva must share equally in the guilt of the transaction, and that the "chastisement" had been arranged before alva had departed from spain. the countess egmont remained at the convent of cambre with her eleven children, plunged in misery and in poverty. the duke wrote to philip, that he doubted if there were so wretched a family in the world. he, at the same time, congratulated his sovereign on the certainty that the more intense the effects, the more fruitful would be the example of this great execution. he stated that the countess was considered a most saintly woman, and that there had been scarcely a night in which, attended by her daughters, she had not gone forth bare-footed to offer up prayers for her husband in every church within the city. he added, that it was doubtful whether they had money enough to buy themselves a supper that very night, and he begged the king to allow them the means of supporting life. he advised that the countess should be placed, without delay in a spanish convent, where her daughters might at once take the veil, assuring his majesty that her dower was entirely inadequate to her support. thus humanely recommending his sovereign to bestow an alms on the family which his own hand had reduced from a princely station to beggary, the viceroy proceeded to detail the recent events in friesland, together with the measures which he was about taking to avenge the defeat and death of count aremberg. etext editor's bookmarks: deeply criminal in the eyes of all religious parties he had omitted to execute heretics holy office condemned all the inhabitants of the netherlands not for a new doctrine, but for liberty of conscience questioning nothing, doubting nothing, fearing nothing the perpetual reproductions of history wealth was an unpardonable sin [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic john lothrop motley, d.c.l., ll.d. - [chapter v.] return of the three seigniors to the state council--policy of orange--corrupt character of the government--efforts of the prince in favor of reform--influence of armenteros--painful situation of viglius--his anxiety to retire--secret charges against him transmitted by the duchess to philip--ominous signs of the times-- attention of philip to the details of persecution--execution of fabricius, and tumult at antwerp--horrible cruelty towards the protestants--remonstrance of the magistracy of bruges and of the four flemish estates against titelmann--obduracy of philip--council of trent--quarrel for precedence between the french and spanish envoys--order for the publication of the trent decrees in the netherlands--opposition to the measure--reluctance of the duchess-- egmont accepts a mission to spain--violent debate in the council concerning his instructions--remarkable speech of orange--apoplexy of viglius--temporary appointment of hopper--departure of egmont-- disgraceful scene at cambray--character of the archbishop--egmont in spain--flattery and bribery--council of doctors--vehement declarations of philip--his instructions to egmont at his departure --proceedings of orange in regard to his principality--egmont's report to the state council concerning his mission--his vainglory-- renewed orders from philip to continue the persecution--indignation of egmont--habitual dissimulation of the king--reproof of egmont by orange--assembly of doctors in brussels--result of their deliberations transmitted to philip--universal excitement in the netherlands--new punishment for heretics--interview at bayonne between catharine de medici and her daughter, the queen of spain-- mistaken views upon this subject--diplomacy of alva--artful conduct of catharine--stringent letters from philip to the duchess with regard to the inquisition--consternation of margaret and of viglius --new proclamation of the edicts, the inquisition, and the council of trent--fury of the people--resistance of the leading seigniors and of the brabant council--brabant declared free of the inquisition--prince alexander of parma betrothed to donna maria of portugal--her portrait--expensive preparations for the nuptials-- assembly of the golden fleece--oration of viglius--wedding of prince alexander. the remainder of the year, in the spring of which the cardinal had left the netherlands, was one of anarchy, confusion, and corruption. at first there had been a sensation of relief. philip had exchanged letters of exceeding amity with orange, egmont, and horn. these three seigniors had written, immediately upon granvelle's retreat, to assure the king of their willingness to obey the royal commands, and to resume their duties at the state council. they had, however, assured the duchess that the reappearance of the cardinal in the country would be the signal for their instantaneous withdrawal. they appeared at the council daily, working with the utmost assiduity often till late into the night. orange had three great objects in view, by attaining which the country, in his opinion, might yet be saved, and the threatened convulsions averted. these were to convoke the states- general, to moderate or abolish the edicts, and to suppress the council of finance and the privy council, leaving only the council of state. the two first of these points, if gained, would, of course, subvert the whole absolute policy which philip and granvelle had enforced; it was, therefore, hardly probable that any impression would be made upon the secret determination of the government in these respects. as to the council of state, the limited powers of that body, under the administration of the cardinal, had formed one of the principal complaints against that minister. the justice and finance councils were sinks of iniquity. the most barefaced depravity reigned supreme. a gangrene had spread through the whole government. the public functionaries were notoriously and outrageously venal. the administration of justice had been poisoned at the fountain, and the people were unable to slake their daily thirst at the polluted stream. there was no law but the law of the longest purse. the highest dignitaries of philip's appointment had become the most mercenary hucksters who ever converted the divine temple of justice into a den of thieves. law was an article of merchandise, sold by judges to the highest bidder. a poor customer could obtain nothing but stripes and imprisonment, or, if tainted with suspicion of heresy, the fagot or the sword, but for the rich every thing was attainable. pardons for the most atrocious crimes, passports, safe conducts, offices of trust and honor, were disposed of at auction to the highest bidder. against all this sea of corruption did the brave william of orange set his breast, undaunted and unflinching. of all the conspicuous men in the land, he was the only one whose worst enemy had never hinted through the whole course of his public career, that his hands had known contamination. his honor was ever untarnished by even a breath of suspicion. the cardinal could accuse him of pecuniary embarrassment, by which a large proportion of his revenues were necessarily diverted to the liquidation of his debts, but he could not suggest that the prince had ever freed himself from difficulties by plunging his hands into the public treasury, when it might easily have been opened to him. it was soon, however, sufficiently obvious that as desperate a struggle was to be made with the many-headed monster of general corruption as with the cardinal by whom it had been so long fed and governed. the prince was accused of ambition and intrigue. it was said that he was determined to concentrate all the powers of government in the state council, which was thus to become an omnipotent and irresponsible senate, while the king would be reduced to the condition of a venetian doge. it was, of course, suggested that it was the aim of orange to govern the new tribunal of ten. no doubt the prince was ambitious. birth, wealth, genius, and virtue could not have been bestowed in such eminent degree on any man without carrying with them the determination to assert their value. it was not his wish so much as it was the necessary law of his being to impress himself upon his age and to rule his fellow-men. but he practised no arts to arrive at the supremacy which he felt must always belong to him, what ever might be his nominal position in the political hierarchy. he was already, although but just turned of thirty years, vastly changed from the brilliant and careless grandee, as he stood at the hour of the imperial abdication. he was becoming careworn in face, thin of figure, sleepless of habit. the wrongs of which he was the daily witness, the absolutism, the cruelty, the rottenness of the government, had marked his face with premature furrows. "they say that the prince is very sad," wrote morillon to granvelle; "and 'tis easy to read as much in his face. they say he can not sleep." truly might the monarch have taken warning that here was a man who was dangerous, and who thought too much. "sleekheaded men, and such as slept o' nights," would have been more eligible functionaries, no doubt, in the royal estimation, but, for a brief period, the king was content to use, to watch, and to suspect the man who was one day to be his great and invincible antagonist. he continued assiduous at the council, and he did his best, by entertaining nobles and citizens at his hospitable mansion, to cultivate good relations with large numbers of his countrymen. he soon, however, had become disgusted with the court. egmont was more lenient to the foul practices which prevailed there, and took almost a childish pleasure in dining at the table of the duchess, dressed, as were many of the younger nobles, in short camlet doublet with the wheat-sheaf buttons. the prince felt more unwilling to compromise his personal dignity by countenancing the flagitious proceedings and the contemptible supremacy of armenteros, and it was soon very obvious, therefore, that egmont was a greater favorite at court than orange. at the same time the count was also diligently cultivating the good graces of the middle and lower classes in brussels, shooting with the burghers at the popinjay, calling every man by his name, and assisting at jovial banquets in town-house or guild-hall. the prince, although at times a necessary partaker also in these popular amusements, could find small cause for rejoicing in the aspect of affairs. when his business led him to the palace, he was sometimes forced to wait in the ante-chamber for an hour, while secretary armenteros was engaged in private consultation with margaret upon the most important matters of administration. it could not be otherwise than galling to the pride and offensive to the patriotism of the prince, to find great public transactions entrusted to such hands. thomas de armenteros was a mere private secretary--a simple clerk. he had no right to have cognizance of important affairs, which could only come before his majesty's sworn advisers. he was moreover an infamous peculator. he was rolling up a fortune with great rapidity by his shameless traffic in benefices, charges, offices, whether of church or state. his name of armenteros was popularly converted into argenteros, in order to symbolize the man who was made of public money. his confidential intimacy with the duchess procured for him also the name of "madam's barber," in allusion to the famous ornaments of margaret's upper lip, and to the celebrated influence enjoyed by the barbers of the duke of savoy, and of louis the eleventh. this man sold dignities and places of high responsibility at public auction. the regent not only connived at these proceedings, which would have been base enough, but she was full partner in the disgraceful commerce. through the agency of the secretary, she, too, was amassing a large private fortune. "the duchess has gone into the business of vending places to the highest bidders," said morillon, "with the bit between her teeth." the spectacle presented at the council-board was often sufficiently repulsive not only to the cardinalists, who were treated with elaborate insolence, but to all men who loved honor and justice, or who felt an interest in the prosperity of government. there was nothing majestic in the appearance of the duchess, as she sat conversing apart with armenteros, whispering, pinching, giggling, or disputing, while important affairs of state were debated, concerning which the secretary had no right to be informed. it was inevitable that orange should be offended to the utmost by such proceedings, although he was himself treated with comparative respect. as for the ancient adherents of granvelle, the bordeys, baves, and morillons, they were forbidden by the favorite even to salute him in the streets. berlaymont was treated by the duchess with studied insult. "what is the man talking about?" she would ask with languid superciliousness, if he attempted to express his opinion in the state-council. viglius, whom berlaymont accused of doing his best, without success, to make his peace with the seigniors, was in even still greater disgrace than his fellow- cardinalists. he longed, he said, to be in burgundy, drinking granvelle's good wine. his patience under the daily insults which he received from the government made him despicable in the eyes of his own party. he was described by his friends as pusillanimous to an incredible extent, timid from excess of riches, afraid of his own shadow. he was becoming exceedingly pathetic, expressing frequently a desire to depart and end his days in peace. his faithful hopper sustained and consoled him, but even joachim could not soothe his sorrows when he reflected that after all the work performed by himself and colleagues, "they had only been beating the bush for others," while their own share in the spoils had been withheld. nothing could well be more contumelious than margaret's treatment of the learned frisian. when other councillors were summoned to a session at three o'clock, the president was invited at four. it was quite impossible for him to have an audience of the duchess except in the presence of the inevitable armenteras. he was not allowed to open his mouth, even when he occasionally plucked up heart enough to attempt the utterance of his opinions. his authority was completely dead. even if he essayed to combat the convocation of the states-general by the arguments which the duchess, at his suggestion, had often used for the purpose, he was treated with the same indifference. "the poor president," wrote granvelle to the king's chief secretary, gonzalo perez, "is afraid, as i hear, to speak a word, and is made to write exactly what they tell him." at the same time the poor president, thus maltreated and mortified, had the vanity occasionally to imagine himself a bold and formidable personage. the man whom his most intimate friends described as afraid of his own shadow, described himself to granvelle as one who went his own gait, speaking his mind frankly upon every opportunity, and compelling people to fear him a little, even if they did not love him. but the cardinal knew better than to believe in this magnanimous picture of the doctor's fancy. viglius was anxious to retire, but unwilling to have the appearance of being disgraced. he felt instinctively, although deceived as to the actual facts, that his great patron had been defeated and banished. he did not wish to be placed in the same position. he was desirous, as he piously expressed himself, of withdrawing from the world, "that he might balance his accounts with the lord, before leaving the lodgings of life." he was, however, disposed to please "the master" as well as the lord. he wished to have the royal permission to depart in peace. in his own lofty language, he wished to be sprinkled on taking his leave "with the holy water of the court." moreover, he was fond of his salary, although he disliked the sarcasms of the duchess. egmont and others had advised him to abandon the office of president to hopper, in order, as he was getting feeble, to reserve his whole strength for the state-council. viglius did not at all relish the proposition. he said that by giving up the seals, and with them the rank and salary which they conferred, he should become a deposed saint. he had no inclination, as long as he remained on the ground at all, to part with those emoluments and honors, and to be converted merely into the "ass of the state-council." he had, however, with the sagacity of an old navigator, already thrown out his anchor into the best holding-ground during the storms which he foresaw were soon to sweep the state. before the close of the year which now occupies, the learned doctor of laws had become a doctor of divinity also; and had already secured, by so doing, the wealthy prebend of saint bavon of ghent. this would be a consolation in the loss of secular dignities, and a recompence for the cold looks of the duchess. he did not scruple to ascribe the pointed dislike which margaret manifested towards him to the awe in which she stood of his stern integrity of character. the true reason why armenteros and the duchess disliked him was because, in his own words, "he was not of their mind with regard to lotteries, the sale of offices, advancement to abbeys, and many other things of the kind, by which they were in such a hurry to make their fortune." upon another occasion he observed, in a letter to granvelle, that "all offices were sold to the highest bidder, and that the cause of margaret's resentment against both the cardinal and himself was, that they had so long prevented her from making the profit which she was now doing from the sale of benefices, offices, and other favors." the duchess, on her part, characterized the proceedings and policy, both past and present, of the cardinalists as factious, corrupt, and selfish in the last degree. she assured her brother that the simony, rapine, and dishonesty of granvelle, viglius, and all their followers, had brought affairs into the ruinous condition which was then but too apparent. they were doing their best, she said, since the cardinal's departure, to show, by their sloth and opposition, that they were determined to allow nothing to prosper in his absence. to quote her own vigorous expression to philip--"viglius made her suffer the pains of hell." she described him as perpetually resisting the course of the administration, and she threw out dark suspicions, not only as to his honesty but his orthodoxy. philip lent a greedy ear to these scandalous hints concerning the late omnipotent minister and his friends. it is an instructive lesson in human history to look through the cloud of dissimulation in which the actors of this remarkable epoch were ever enveloped, and to watch them all stabbing fiercely at each other in the dark, with no regard to previous friendship, or even present professions. it is edifying to see the cardinal, with all his genius and all his grimace, corresponding on familiar terms with armenteros, who was holding him up to obloquy upon all occasions; to see philip inclining his ear in pleased astonishment to margaret's disclosures concerning the cardinal, whom he was at the very instant assuring of his undiminished confidence; and to see viglius, the author of the edict of , and the uniform opponent of any mitigation in its horrors, silently becoming involved without the least suspicion of the fact in the meshes of inquisitor titelmann. upon philip's eager solicitations for further disclosures, margaret accordingly informed her brother of additional facts communicated to her, after oaths of secrecy had been exchanged, by titelmann and his colleague del canto. they had assured her, she said, that there were grave doubts touching the orthodoxy of viglius. he had consorted with heretics during a large portion of his life, and had put many suspicious persons into office. as to his nepotism, simony, and fraud, there was no doubt at all. he had richly provided all his friends and relations in friesland with benefices. he had become in his old age a priest and churchman, in order to snatch the provostship of saint bavon, although his infirmities did not allow him to say mass, or even to stand erect at the altar. the inquisitors had further accused him of having stolen rings, jewels, plate, linen, beds, tapestry, and other furniture, from the establishment, all which property he had sent to friesland, and of having seized one hundred thousand florins in ready money which had belonged to the last abbe--an act consequently of pure embezzlement. the duchess afterwards transmitted to philip an inventory of the plundered property, including the furniture of nine houses, and begged him to command viglius to make instant restitution. if there be truth in the homely proverb, that in case of certain quarrels honest men recover their rights, it is perhaps equally certain that when distinguished public personages attack each other, historians may arrive at the truth. here certainly are edifying pictures of the corruption of the spanish regency in the netherlands, painted by the president of the state-council, and of the dishonesty of the president painted by the regent. a remarkable tumult occurred in october of this year, at antwerp. a carmelite monk, christopher smith, commonly called fabricius, had left a monastery in bruges, adopted the principles of the reformation, and taken to himself a wife. he had resided for a time in england; but, invited by his friends, he had afterwards undertaken the dangerous charge of gospel- teacher in the commercial metropolis of the netherlands. he was, however, soon betrayed to the authorities by a certain bonnet dealer, popularly called long margaret, who had pretended, for the sake of securing the informer's fee, to be a convert to his doctrines. he was seized, and immediately put to the torture. he manfully refused to betray any members of his congregation, as manfully avowed and maintained his religious creed. he was condemned to the flames, and during the interval which preceded his execution, he comforted his friends by letters of advice, religious consolation and encouragement, which he wrote from his dungeon. he sent a message to the woman who had betrayed him, assuring her of his forgiveness, and exhorting her to repentance. his calmness, wisdom, and gentleness excited the admiration of all. when; therefore, this humble imitator of christ was led through the streets of antwerp to the stake, the popular emotion was at once visible. to the multitude who thronged about the executioners with threatening aspect, he addressed an urgent remonstrance that they would not compromise their own safety by a tumult in his cause. he invited all, however, to remain steadfast to the great truth for which he was about to lay down his life. the crowd, as they followed the procession of hangmen, halberdsmen, and magistrates, sang the hundred and thirtieth psalm in full chorus. as the victim arrived upon the market-place, he knelt upon the ground to pray, for the last time. he was, however, rudely forced to rise by the executioner, who immediately chained him to the stake, and fastened a leathern strap around his throat. at this moment the popular indignation became uncontrollable; stones were showered upon the magistrates and soldiers, who, after a slight resistance, fled for their lives. the foremost of the insurgents dashed into the enclosed arena, to rescue the prisoner. it was too late. the executioner, even as he fled, had crushed the victim's head with a sledge hammer, and pierced him through and through with a poniard. some of the bystanders maintained afterwards that his fingers and lips were seen to move, as if in feeble prayer, for a little time longer, until, as the fire mounted, he fell into the flames. for the remainder of the day, after the fire had entirely smouldered to ashes, the charred and half- consumed body of the victim remained on the market-place, a ghastly spectacle to friend and foe. it was afterwards bound to a stone and cast into the scheld. such was the doom of christopher fabricius, for having preached christianity in antwerp. during the night an anonymous placard, written with blood, was posted upon the wall of the town-house, stating that there were men in the city who would signally avenge his murder. nothing was done, however, towards the accomplishment of the threat. the king, when he received the intelligence of the transaction, was furious with indignation, and wrote savage letters to his sister, commanding instant vengeance to be taken upon all concerned in so foul a riot. as one of the persons engaged had, however, been arrested and immediately hanged, and as the rest had effected their escape, the affair was suffered to drop. the scenes of outrage, the frantic persecutions, were fast becoming too horrible to be looked upon by catholic or calvinist. the prisons swarmed with victims, the streets were thronged with processions to the stake. the population of thriving cities, particularly in flanders, were maddened by the spectacle of so much barbarity inflicted, not upon criminals, but usually upon men remarkable for propriety of conduct and blameless lives. it was precisely at this epoch that the burgomasters, senators, and council of the city of bruges (all catholics) humbly represented to the duchess regent, that peter titelmann, inquisitor of the faith, against all forms of law, was daily exercising inquisition among the inhabitants, not only against those suspected or accused of heresy, but against all, however untainted their characters; that he was daily citing before him whatever persons he liked, men or women, compelling them by force to say whatever it pleased him; that he was dragging people from their houses, and even from the sacred precincts of the church; often in revenge for verbal injuries to himself, always under pretext of heresy, and without form or legal warrant of any kind. they therefore begged that he might be compelled to make use of preparatory examinations with the co-operation of the senators of the city, to suffer that witnesses should make their depositions without being intimidated by menace, and to conduct all his subsequent proceedings according to legal forms, which he had uniformly violated; publicly declaring that he would conduct himself according to his own pleasure. the four estates of flanders having, in a solemn address to the king, represented the same facts, concluded their brief but vigorous description of titelmann's enormities by calling upon philip to suppress these horrible practices, so manifestly in violation of the ancient charters which he had sworn to support. it may be supposed that the appeal to philip would be more likely to call down a royal benediction than the reproof solicited upon the inquisitor's head. in the privy council, the petitions and remonstrances were read, and, in the words of the president, "found to be in extremely bad taste." in the debate which followed, viglius and his friends recalled to the duchess, in earnest language, the decided will of the king, which had been so often expressed. a faint representation was made, on the other hand, of the dangerous consequences, in case the people were driven to a still deeper despair. the result of the movement was but meagre. the duchess announced that she could do nothing in the matter of the request until further information, but that meantime she had charged titelmann to conduct himself in his office "with discretion and modesty." the discretion and modesty, however, never appeared in any modification of the inquisitor's proceedings, and he continued unchecked in his infamous career until death, which did not occur till several years afterwards. in truth, margaret was herself in mortal fear of this horrible personage. he besieged her chamber door almost daily, before she had risen, insisting upon audiences which, notwithstanding her repugnance to the man, she did not dare to refuse. "may i perish," said morillon, "if she does not stand in exceeding awe of titelmann." under such circumstances, sustained by the king in spain, the duchess in brussels, the privy council, and by a leading member of what had been thought the liberal party, it was not difficult for the inquisition to maintain its ground, notwithstanding the solemn protestations of the estates and the suppressed curses of the people. philip, so far from having the least disposition to yield in the matter of the great religious persecution, was more determined as to his course than ever. he had already, as easy as august of this year, despatched orders to the duchess that the decrees of the council of trent should be published and enforced throughout the netherlands. the memorable quarrel as to precedency between the french and spanish delegates had given some hopes of a different determination. nevertheless, those persons who imagined that, in consequence of this quarrel of etiquette, philip would slacken in his allegiance to the church, were destined to be bitterly mistaken. he informed his sister that, in the common cause of christianity, he should not be swayed by personal resentments. how, indeed, could a different decision be expected? his envoy at rome, as well as his representatives at the council, had universally repudiated all doubts as to the sanctity of its decrees. "to doubt the infallibility of the council, as some have dared to do," said francis de vargas, "and to think it capable of error, is the most devilish heresy of all." nothing could so much disturb and scandalize the world as such a sentiment. therefore the archbishop of granada told, very properly, the bishop of tortosa, that if he should express such an opinion in spain, they would burn him. these strenuous notions were shared by the king. therefore, although all europe was on tip-toe with expectation to see how philip would avenge himself for the slight put upon his ambassador, philip disappointed all europe. in august, , he wrote to the duchess regent, that the decrees were to be proclaimed and enforced without delay. they related to three subjects, the doctrines to be inculcated by the church, the reformation of ecclesiastical moral, and the education of the people. general police regulations were issued at the same time, by which heretics were to be excluded from all share in the usual conveniences of society, and were in fact to be strictly excommunicated. inns were to receive no guests, schools no children, alms-houses no paupers, grave-yards no dead bodies, unless guests, children, paupers, and dead bodies were furnished with the most satisfactory proofs of orthodoxy. midwives of unsuspected romanism were alone to exercise their functions, and were bound to give notice within twenty-four hours of every birth which occurred; the parish clerks were as regularly to record every such addition to the population, and the authorities to see that catholic baptism was administered in each case with the least possible delay. births, deaths, and marriages could only occur with validity under the shadow of the church. no human being could consider himself born or defunct unless provided with a priest's certificate. the heretic was excluded, so far as ecclesiastical dogma could exclude him, from the pale of humanity, from consecrated earth, and from eternal salvation. the decrees contained many provisions which not only conflicted with the privileges of the provinces, but with the prerogatives of the sovereign. for this reason many of the lords in council thought that at least the proper exceptions should be made upon their promulgation. this was also the opinion of the duchess, but the king, by his letters of october, and november ( ), expressly prohibited any alteration in the ordinances, and transmitted a copy of the form according to which the canons had been published in spain, together with the expression of his desire that a similar course should be followed in the netherlands. margaret of parma was in great embarrassment. it was evident that the publication could no longer be deferred. philip had issued his commands, but grave senators and learned doctors of the university had advised strongly in favor of the necessary exceptions. the extreme party, headed by viglius, were in favor of carrying out the royal decisions. they were overruled, and the duchess was induced to attempt a modification, if her brother's permission could be obtained. the president expressed the opinion that the decrees, even with the restrictions proposed, would "give no contentment to the people, who, moreover, had no right to meddle with theology." the excellent viglius forgot, however, that theology had been meddling altogether too much with the people to make it possible that the public attention should be entirely averted from the subject. men and women who might be daily summoned to rack, stake, and scaffold, in the course of these ecclesiastical arrangements, and whose births, deaths, marriages, and position in the next world, were now to be formally decided upon, could hardly be taxed with extreme indiscretion, if they did meddle with the subject. in the dilemma to which the duchess was reduced, she again bethought herself of a special mission to spain. at the end of the year ( ), it was determined that egmont should be the envoy. montigny excused himself on account of private affairs; marquis berghen "because of his indisposition and corpulence." there was a stormy debate in council after egmont had accepted the mission and immediately before his departure. viglius had been ordered to prepare the count's instructions. having finished the rough draught, he laid it before the board. the paper was conceived in general terms and might mean any thing or nothing. no criticism upon its language was, however, offered until it came to the turn of orange to vote upon the document. then, however, william the silent opened his lips, and poured forth a long and vehement discourse, such as he rarely pronounced, but such as few except himself could utter. there was no shuffling, no disguise, no timidity in his language. he took the ground boldly that the time had arrived for speaking out. the object of sending an envoy of high rank and european reputation like the count of egmont, was to tell the king the truth. let philip know it now. let him be unequivocally informed that this whole machinery of placards and scaffolds, of new bishops and old hangmen, of decrees, inquisitors, and informers, must once and forever be abolished. their day was over. the netherlands were free provinces, they were surrounded by free countries, they were determined to vindicate their ancient privileges. moreover, his majesty was to be plainly informed of the frightful corruption which made the whole judicial and administrative system loathsome. the venality which notoriously existed every where, on the bench, in the council chamber, in all public offices, where purity was most essential, was denounced by the prince in scathing terms. he tore the mask from individual faces, and openly charged the chancellor of brabant, engelbert maas, with knavery and corruption. he insisted that the king should be informed of the necessity of abolishing the two inferior councils, and of enlarging the council of state by the admission of ten or twelve new members selected for their patriotism, purity, and capacity. above all, it was necessary plainly to inform his majesty that the canons of trent, spurned by the whole world, even by the catholic princes of germany, could never be enforced in the netherlands, and that it would be ruinous to make the attempt. he proposed and insisted that the count of egmont should be instructed accordingly. he avowed in conclusion that he was a catholic himself and intended to remain in the faith, but that he could not look on with pleasure when princes strove to govern the souls of men, and to take away their liberty in matters of conscience and religion. here certainly was no daintiness of phraseology, and upon these leading points, thus slightly indicated, william of orange poured out his eloquence, bearing conviction upon the tide of his rapid invective. his speech lasted till seven in the evening, when the duchess adjourned the meeting. the council broke up, the regent went to supper, but the effect of the discourse upon nearly all the members was not to be mistaken. viglius was in a state of consternation, perplexity, and despair. he felt satisfied that, with perhaps the exception of berlaymont, all who had listened or should afterwards listen to the powerful arguments of orange, would be inevitably seduced or bewildered. the president lay awake, tossing and tumbling in his bed, recalling the prince's oration, point by point, and endeavoring, to answer it in order. it was important, he felt, to obliterate the impression produced. moreover, as we have often seen, the learned doctor valued himself upon his logic. it was absolutely necessary, therefore, that in his reply, next day, his eloquence should outshine that of his antagonist. the president thus passed a feverish and uncomfortable night, pronouncing and listening to imaginary harangues. with the dawn of day he arose and proceeded to dress himself. the excitement of the previous evening and the subsequent sleeplessness of his night had, however, been too much for his feeble and slightly superannuated frame. before he had finished his toilet, a stroke of apoplexy stretched him senseless upon the floor. his servants, when they soon afterwards entered the apartment, found him rigid, and to all appearance dead. after a few days, however, he recovered his physical senses in part, but his reason remained for a longer time shattered, and was never perhaps fully restored to its original vigor. this event made it necessary that his place in the council should be supplied. viglius had frequently expressed intentions of retiring, a measure to which he could yet never fully make up his mind. his place was now temporarily supplied by his friend and countryman, joachim hopper, like himself a, frisian doctor of ancient blood and extensive acquirements, well versed in philosophy and jurisprudence; a professor of louvain and a member of the mechlin council. he was likewise the original founder and projector of douay university, an institution which at philip's desire he had successfully organized in , in order that a french university might be furnished for walloon youths, as a substitute for the seductive and poisonous paris. for the rest, hopper was a mere man of routine. he was often employed in private affairs by philip, without being entrusted with the secret at the bottom of them. his mind was a confused one, and his style inexpressibly involved and tedious. "poor master hopper," said granvelle, "did not write the best french in the world; may the lord forgive him. he was learned in letters, but knew very little of great affairs." his manners were as cringing as his intellect was narrow. he never opposed the duchess, so that his colleagues always called him councillor "yes, madam," and he did his best to be friends with all the world. in deference to the arguments of orange, the instructions for egmont were accordingly considerably modified from the original draughts of viglius. as drawn up by the new president, they contained at least a few hints to his majesty as to the propriety of mitigating the edicts and extending some mercy to his suffering people. the document was, however, not very satisfactory to the prince, nor did he perhaps rely very implicitly upon the character of the envoy. egmont set forth upon his journey early in january ( ). he travelled in great state. he was escorted as far as cambray by several nobles of his acquaintance, who improved the occasion by a series of tremendous banquets during the count's sojourn, which was protracted till the end of january. the most noted of these gentlemen were hoogstraaten, brederode, the younger mansfeld, culemburg, and noircarmes. before they parted with the envoy, they drew up a paper which they signed with their blood, and afterwards placed in the hands of his countess. in this document they promised, on account of their "inexpressible and very singular affection" for egmont, that if, during his mission to spain, any evil should befal him, they would, on their faith as gentlemen and cavaliers of honor, take vengeance, therefore, upon the cardinal granvelle, or upon all who should be the instigators thereof. [green v. p., archives, etc., i. , from arnoldi, hist. denkwurd, p. ., it is remarkable that after the return of the count from. spain, hoogstraaten received this singular bond from the countess, and gave it to mansfeld, to be burned in his presence. mansfeld, however, advised keeping it, on account of noircarmes, whose signature was attached to the document, and whom he knew to be so false and deceitful a man that it might be well to have it within their power at some future day to reproach him therewith.--ibid. it will be seen in the sequel that noircarmes more than justified the opinion of mansfeld, but that the subsequent career of mansfeld himself did not entitle him to reproach any of philip's noble hangmen.] wherever brederode was, there, it was probable, would be much severe carousing. before the conclusion, accordingly, of the visit to cambray, that ancient city rang with the scandal created by a most uproarious scene. a banquet was given to egmont and his friends in the citadel. brederode, his cousin lumey, and the other nobles from brussels, were all present. the archbishop of cambray, a man very odious to the liberal party in the provinces, was also bidden to the feast. during the dinner, this prelate, although treated with marked respect by egmont, was the object of much banter and coarse pleasantry by the ruder portion of the guests. especially these convivial gentlemen took infinite pains to overload him with challenges to huge bumpers of wine; it being thought very desirable, if possible; to place the archbishop under the table. this pleasantry was alternated with much rude sarcasm concerning the new bishoprics. the conversation then fell upon other topics, among others, naturally upon the mission of count egmont. brederede observed that it was a very hazardous matter to allow so eminent a personage to leave the land at such a critical period. should any thing happen to the count, the netherlands would sustain an immense loss. the archbishop, irritated by the previous conversation, ironically requested the speaker to be comforted, "because," said he, "it will always be easy to find a new egmont." upon this, brederode, beside himself with rage, cried out vehemently, "are we to tolerate such language from this priest?" gulemburg, too, turning upon the offender, observed, "your observation would be much more applicable to your own case. if you were to die, 't would be easy to find five hundred of your merit, to replace you in the see of cambray." the conversation was, to say the least, becoming personal. the bishop, desirous of terminating this keen encounter of wits, lifted a goblet full of wine and challenged brederode to drink. that gentleman declined the invitation. after the cloth had been removed, the cup circulated more freely than ever. the revelry became fast and furious. one of the younger gentlemen who was seated near the bishop snatched the bonnet of that dignitary from his head and placed it upon his own. he then drained a bumper to his health, and passed the goblet and the cap to his next neighbor. both circulated till they reached the viscount of ghent, who arose from his seat and respectfully restored the cap to its owner. brederode then took a large "cup of silver and gold," filled it to the brim, and drained it to the confusion of cardinal granvelle; stigmatizing that departed minister, as he finished, by an epithet of more vigor than decency. he then called upon all the company to pledge him to the same toast, and denounced as cardinalists all those who should refuse. the archbishop, not having digested the affronts which had been put upon him already, imprudently ventured himself once more into the confusion, and tried to appeal to the reason of the company. he might as well have addressed the crew of comus. he gained nothing but additional insult. brederode advanced upon him with threatening gestures. egmont implored the prelate to retire, or at least not to take notice of a nobleman so obviously beyond the control of his reason. the bishop, however, insisted--mingling reproof, menace; and somewhat imperious demands--that the indecent saturnalia should cease. it would have been wiser for him to retire. count hoogstraaten, a young man and small of stature, seized the gilt laver, in which the company had dipped their fingers before seating themselves at table: "be quiet, be quiet, little man," said egmont, soothingly, doing his best to restrain the tumult. "little man, indeed," responded the count, wrathfully; "i would have you to know that never did little man spring from my race." with those words he hurled the basin, water, and all, at the head of the archbishop. hoogstraaten had no doubt manifested his bravery before that day; he was to display, on future occasions, a very remarkable degree of heroism; but it must be confessed that the chivalry of the noble house of lalaing was not illustrated by this attack upon a priest. the bishop was sprinkled by the water, but not struck by the vessel. young mansfeld, ashamed of the outrage, stepped forward to apologize for the conduct of his companions and to soothe the insulted prelate. that personage, however, exasperated, very naturally, to the highest point, pushed him rudely away, crying, "begone, begone! who is this boy that is preaching to me?" whereupon, mansfeld, much irritated, lifted his hand towards the ecclesiastic, and snapped his fingers contemptuously in his face. some even said that he pulled the archiepiscopal nose, others that he threatened his life with a drawn dagger. nothing could well have been more indecent or more cowardly than the conduct of these nobles upon this occasion. their intoxication, together with the character of the victim, explained, but certainly could not palliate the vulgarity of the exhibition. it was natural enough that men like brederode should find sport in this remarkable badgering of a bishop, but we see with regret the part played by hoogstraaten in the disgraceful scene. the prelate, at last, exclaiming that it appeared that he had been invited only to be insulted, left the apartment, accompanied by noircarmes and the viscount of ghent, and threatening that all his friends and relations should be charged with his vengeance. the next day a reconciliation was effected, as well as such an arrangement was possible, by the efforts of egmont, who dined alone with the prelate. in the evening, hoogstraaten, culemburg, and brederode called upon the bishop, with whom they were closeted for, an hour, and the party separated on nominal terms of friendship. this scandalous scene; which had been enacted not only before many guests, but in presence of a host of servants, made necessarily a great sensation throughout the country. there could hardly be much difference of opinion among respectable people as to the conduct of the noblemen who had thus disgraced themselves. even brederode himself, who appeared to have retained, as was natural, but a confused impression of the transaction, seemed in the days which succeeded the celebrated banquet, to be in doubt whether he and his friends had merited any great amount of applause. he was, however, somewhat self-contradictory, although always vehement in his assertions on the subject. at one time he maintained-- after dinner, of course--that he would have killed the archbishop if they had not been forcibly separated; at other moments he denounced as liars all persons who should insinuate that be had committed or contemplated any injury to that prelate; offering freely to fight any man who disputed either of his two positions. the whole scene was dramatized and represented in masquerade at a wedding festival given by councillor d'assonleville, on the marriage of councillor hopper's daughter, one of the principal parts being enacted by a son of the president-judge of artois. it may be supposed that if such eminent personages, in close connexion with the government, took part in such proceedings, the riot must have been considered of a very pardonable nature. the truth was, that the bishop was a cardinalist, and therefore entirely out of favor with the administration. he was also a man of treacherous, sanguinary character, and consequently detested by the people. he had done his best to destroy heresy in valenciennes by fire and sword. "i will say one thing," said he in a letter to granvelle, which had been intercepted, "since the pot is uncovered, and the whole cookery known, we had best push forward and make an end of all the principal heretics, whether rich or poor, without regarding whether the city will be entirely ruined by such a course. such an opinion i should declare openly were it not that we of the ecclesiastical profession are accused of always crying out for blood." such was the prelate's theory. his practice may be inferred from a specimen of his proceedings which occurred at a little later day. a citizen of cambray, having been converted to the lutheran confession, went to the archbishop, and requested permission to move out of the country, taking his property with him. the petitioner having made his appearance in the forenoon, was requested to call again after dinner, to receive his answer. the burgher did so, and was received, not by the prelate, but by the executioner, who immediately carried the lutheran to the market-place, and cut off his head. it is sufficiently evident that a minister of christ, with such propensities, could not excite any great sympathy, however deeply affronted he might have been at a drinking party, so long as any christians remained in the land. egmont departed from cambray upon the th january, his friends taking a most affectionate farewell of him; and brederode assuring him, with a thousand oaths, that he would forsake god for his service. his reception at madrid was most brilliant. when he made his first appearance at the palace, philip rushed from his cabinet into the grand hall of reception, and fell upon his neck, embracing him heartily before the count had time to drop upon his knee and kiss the royal hand. during the whole period of his visit he dined frequently at the king's private table, an honor rarely accorded by philip, and was feasted and flattered by all the great dignitaries of the court as never a subject of the spanish crown had been before. all vied with each other in heaping honors upon the man whom the king was determined to honor. philip took him out to drive daily in his own coach, sent him to see the wonders of the new escorial, which he was building to commemorate the battle of st. quentin, and, although it was still winter, insisted upon showing him the beauties of his retreat in the segovian forest. granvelle's counsels as to the method by which the "friend of smoke" was so easily to be gained, had not fallen unheeded in his royal pupil's ears. the count was lodged in the house of ruy gomez, who soon felt himself able, according to previous assurances to that effect, contained in a private letter of armenteros, to persuade the envoy to any course which philip might command. flattery without stint was administered. more solid arguments to convince the count that philip was the most generous and clement of princes were also employed with great effect. the royal dues upon the estate of gaasbecque, lately purchased by egmont, were remitted. a mortgage upon his seigneurie of ninove was discharged, and a considerable sum of money presented to him in addition. altogether, the gifts which the ambassador received from the royal bounty amounted to one hundred thousand crowns. thus feasted, flattered, and laden with presents, it must be admitted that the count more than justified the opinions expressed in the letter of armenteros, that he was a man easily governed by those who had credit with him. egmont hardly broached the public matters which had brought him to madrid. upon the subject of the edicts, philip certainly did not dissemble, however loudly the envoy may have afterwards complained at brussels. in truth, egmont, intoxicated by the incense offered to him at the spanish court, was a different man from egmont in the netherlands, subject to the calm but piercing glance and the irresistible control of orange. philip gave him no reason to suppose that he intended any change in the religious system of the provinces, at least in any sense contemplated by the liberal party. on the contrary, a council of doctors and ecclesiastics was summoned, at whose deliberations the count was invited to assist; on which occasion the king excited general admiration by the fervor of his piety and the vehemence of his ejaculations. falling upon his knees before a crucifix, in the midst of the assembly, he prayed that god would keep him perpetually in the same mind, and protested that he would never call himself master of those who denied the lord god. such an exhibition could leave but little doubt in the minds of those who witnessed it as to the royal sentiments, nor did egmont make any effort to obtain any relaxation of those religious edicts, which he had himself declared worthy of approbation, and fit to be maintained. as to the question of enlarging the state-council, philip dismissed the subject with a few vague observations, which egmont, not very zealous on the subject at the moment, perhaps misunderstood. the punishment of heretics by some new method, so as to secure the pains but to take away the glories of martyrdom, was also slightly discussed, and here again egmont was so unfortunate as to misconceive the royal meaning, and to interpret an additional refinement of cruelty into an expression of clemency. on the whole, however, there was not much negotiation between the monarch and the ambassador. when the count spoke of business, the king would speak to him of his daughters, and of his desire to see them provided with brilliant marriages. as egmont had eight girls, besides two sons, it was natural that he should be pleased to find philip taking so much interest in looking out husbands for them. the king spoke to him, as hardly could be avoided, of the famous fool's-cap livery. the count laughed the matter off as a jest, protesting that it was a mere foolish freak, originating at the wine-table, and asseverating, with warmth, that nothing disrespectful or disloyal to his majesty had been contemplated upon that or upon any other occasion. had a single gentleman uttered an undutiful word against the king, egmont vowed he would have stabbed him through and through upon the spot, had he been his own brother. these warm protestations were answered by a gentle reprimand as to the past by philip, and with a firm caution as to the future. "let it be discontinued entirely, count," said the king, as the two were driving together in the royal carriage. egmont expressed himself in handsome terms concerning the cardinal, in return for the wholesale approbation quoted to him in regard to his own character, from the private letters of that sagacious personage to his majesty. certainly, after all this, the count might suppose the affair of the livery forgiven. thus amicably passed the hours of that mission, the preliminaries for which had called forth so much eloquence from the prince of orange and so nearly carried off with apoplexy the president viglius. on his departure egmont received a letter of instructions from philip as to the report which he was to make upon his arrival in brussels, to the duchess. after many things personally flattering to himself, the envoy was directed to represent the king as overwhelmed with incredible grief at hearing the progress made by the heretics, but as immutably determined to permit no change of religion within his dominions, even were he to die a thousand deaths in consequence. the king, he was to state, requested the duchess forthwith to assemble an extraordinary session of the council, at which certain bishops, theological doctors, and very orthodox lawyers, were to assist, in which, under pretence of discussing the council of trent matter, it was to be considered whether there could not be some new way devised for executing heretics; not indeed one by which any deduction should be made from their sufferings (which certainly was not the royal wish, nor likely to be grateful to god or salutary to religion), but by which all hopes of glory--that powerful incentive to their impiety--might be precluded. with regard to any suggested alterations in the council of state, or in the other two councils, the king was to be represented as unwilling to form any decision until he should hear, at length, from the duchess regent upon the subject. certainly here was a sufficient amount of plain speaking upon one great subject, and very little encouragement with regard to the other. yet egmont, who immediately after receiving these instructions set forth upon his return to the netherlands, manifested nothing but satisfaction. philip presented to him, as his travelling companion, the young prince alexander of parma, then about to make a visit to his mother in brussels, and recommended the youth, afterwards destined to play so prominent a part in flemish history, to his peculiar caret egmont addressed a letter to the king from valladolid, in which he indulged in ecstasies concerning the escorial and the wood of segovia, and declared that he was returning to the netherlands "the most contented man in the world." he reached brussels at the end of april. upon the fifth of may he appeared before the council, and proceeded to give an account of his interview with the king, together with a statement of the royal intentions and opinions. these were already sufficiently well known. letters, written after the envoy's departure, had arrived before him, in which, while in the main presenting the same views as those contained in the instructions to egmont, philip had expressed his decided prohibition of the project to enlarge the state council and to suppress the authority of the other two. nevertheless, the count made his report according to the brief received at madrid, and assured his hearers that the king was all benignity, having nothing so much at heart as the temporal and eternal welfare of the provinces. the siege of malta, he stated, would prevent the royal visit to the netherlands for the moment, but it was deferred only for a brief period. to remedy the deficiency in the provincial exchequer, large remittances would be made immediately from spain. to provide for the increasing difficulties of the religious question, a convocation of nine learned and saintly personages was recommended, who should devise some new scheme by which the objections to the present system of chastising heretics might be obviated. it is hardly necessary to state that so meagre a result to the mission of egmont was not likely to inspire the hearts of orange and his adherents with much confidence. no immediate explosion of resentment, however, occurred. the general aspect for a few days was peaceful. egmont manifested much contentment with the reception which he met with in spain, and described the king's friendly dispositions towards the leading nobles in lively colors. he went to his government immediately after his return, assembled the states of artois, in the city of arras, and delivered the letters sent to that body by the king. he made a speech on this occasion, informing the estates that his majesty had given orders that the edicts of the emperor were to be enforced to the letter; adding that he had told the king, freely, his own opinion upon the subject; in order to dissuade him from that which others were warmly urging. he described philip as the most liberal and debonair of princes; his council in spain as cruel and sanguinary. time was to show whether the epithets thus applied to the advisers were not more applicable to the monarch than the eulogies thus lavished by the blind and predestined victim. it will also be perceived that this language, used before the estates of artois, varied materially from his observation to the dowager duchess of aerschot, denouncing as enemies the men who accused him of having requested a moderation of the edicts. in truth, this most vacillating, confused, and unfortunate of men perhaps scarcely comprehended the purport of his recent negotiations in spain, nor perceived the drift of his daily remarks at home. he was, however, somewhat vainglorious immediately after his return, and excessively attentive to business. "he talks like a king," said morillon, spitefully, "negotiates night and day, and makes all bow before him." his house was more thronged with petitioners, courtiers, and men of affairs, than even the palace of the duchess. he avowed frequently that he would devote his life and his fortune to the accomplishment of the king's commands, and declared his uncompromising hostility to all who should venture to oppose that loyal determination. it was but a very short time, however, before a total change was distinctly perceptible in his demeanor. these halcyon days were soon fled. the arrival of fresh letters from spain gave a most unequivocal evidence of the royal determination, if, indeed, any doubt could be rationally entertained before. the most stringent instructions to keep the whole machinery of persecution constantly at work were transmitted to the duchess, and aroused the indignation of orange and his followers. they avowed that they could no longer trust the royal word, since, so soon after egmont's departure, the king had written despatches so much at variance with his language, as reported by the envoy. there was nothing, they said, clement and debonair in these injunctions upon gentlemen of their position and sentiments to devote their time to the encouragement of hangmen and inquisitors. the duchess was unable to pacify the nobles. egmont was beside himself with rage. with his usual recklessness and wrath, he expressed himself at more than one session of the state council in most unmeasured terms. his anger had been more inflamed by information which he had received from the second son of berlaymont, a young and indiscreet lad, who had most unfortunately communicated many secrets which he had learned from his father, but which were never intended for egmont's ear. philip's habitual dissimulation had thus produced much unnecessary perplexity. it was his custom to carry on correspondence through the aid of various secretaries, and it was his invariable practice to deceive them all. those who were upon the most confidential terms with the monarch, were most sure to be duped upon all important occasions. it has been seen that even the astute granvelle could not escape this common lot of all who believed their breasts the depositories of the royal secrets. upon this occasion, gonzalo perez and ruy gomez complained bitterly that they had known nothing of the letters which had recently been despatched from valladolid, while tisnacq and courterville had been ignorant of the communications forwarded by the hands of egmont. they avowed that the king created infinite trouble by thus treating his affairs in one way with one set of councillors and in an opposite sense with the others, thus dissembling with all, and added that philip was now much astonished at the dissatisfaction created in the provinces by the discrepancy between the french letters brought by egmont, and the spanish letters since despatched to the duchess. as this was his regular manner of transacting business, not only for the netherlands, but for all his dominions, they were of opinion that such confusion and dissatisfaction might well be expected. after all, however, notwithstanding the indignation of egmont, it must be confessed that he had been an easy dupe. he had been dazzled by royal smiles, intoxicated by court incense, contaminated by yet baser bribes. he had been turned from the path of honor and the companionship of the wise and noble to do the work of those who were to compass his destruction. the prince of orange reproached him to his face with having forgotten, when in spain, to represent the views of his associates and the best interests of the country, while he had well remembered his own private objects, and accepted the lavish bounty of the king. egmont, stung to the heart by the reproof, from one whom he honored and who wished him well, became sad and sombre for a long time, abstained from the court and from society, and expressed frequently the intention of retiring to his estates. he was, however, much governed by his secretary, the seigneur de bakerzeel, a man of restless, intriguing, and deceitful character, who at this period exercised as great influence over the count as armenteros continued to maintain over the duchess, whose unpopularity from that and other circumstances was daily increasing. in obedience to the commands of the king, the canons of trent had been published. they were nominally enforced at cambray, but a fierce opposition was made by the clergy themselves to the innovation in mechlin, utrecht, and many other places. this matter, together with other more vitally important questions, came before the assembly of bishops and doctors, which, according to philip's instructions, had been convoked by the duchess. the opinion of the learned theologians was, on the whole, that the views of the trent council, with regard to reformation of ecclesiastical morals and popular education, was sound. there was some discordancy between the clerical and lay doctors upon other points. the seigniors, lawyers, and deputies from the estates were all in favor of repealing the penalty of death for heretical offences of any kind. president viglius, with all the bishops and doctors of divinity, including the prelates of st. omer, namur and ypres, and four theological professors from louvain, stoutly maintained the contrary opinion. the president especially, declared himself vehemently in favor of the death punishment, and expressed much anger against those who were in favor of its abolition. the duchess, upon the second day of the assembly, propounded formally the question, whether any change was to be made in the chastisement of heretics. the prince of orange, with counts horn and egmont, had, however, declined to take part in the discussions, on the ground that it was not his majesty's intention that state councillors should deliver their opinions before strangers, but that persons from outside had been summoned to communicate their advice to the council. the seigniors having thus washed their hands of the matter, the doctors came to a conclusion with great alacrity. it was their unanimous opinion that it comported neither with the service of god nor the common weal, to make any change in the punishment, except, perhaps, in the case of extreme youth; but that, on the contrary, heretics were only to be dealt with by retaining the edicts in their rigor, and by courageously chastising the criminals. after sitting for the greater part of six days, the bishops and doctors of divinity reduced their sentiments to writing, and affixed their signatures to the document. upon the great point of the change suggested in the penalties of heresy, it was declared that no alteration was advisable in the edicts, which had been working so well for thirty-five years. at the same time it was suggested that "some persons, in respect to their age and quality, might be executed or punished more or less rigorously than others; some by death, some by galley slavery, some by perpetual banishment and entire confiscation of property." the possibility was also admitted, of mitigating the punishment of those who, without being heretics or sectaries, might bring themselves within the provisions of the edicts, "through curiosity, nonchalance, or otherwise." such offenders, it was hinted, might be "whipped with rods, fined, banished, or subjected to similar penalties of a lighter nature." it will be perceived by this slight sketch of the advice thus offered to the duchess that these theologians were disposed very carefully to strain the mercy, which they imagined possible in some cases, but which was to drop only upon the heads of the just. heretics were still to be dealt with, so far as the bishops and presidents could affect their doom, with unmitigated rigor. when the assembly was over, the duchess, thus put in possession of the recorded wisdom of these special councillors, asked her constitutional advisers what she was to do with it. orange, egmont, horn, mansfeld replied, however, that it was not their affair, and that their opinion had not been demanded by his majesty in the premises. the duchess accordingly transmitted to philip the conclusions of the assembly, together with the reasons of the seigniors for refusing to take part in its deliberations. the sentiments of orange could hardly be doubtful, however, nor his silence fail to give offense to the higher powers. he contented himself for the time with keeping his eyes and ears open to the course of events, but he watched well. he had "little leisure for amusing himself," as brederode suggested. that free-spoken individual looked upon the proceedings of the theological assembly with profound disgust. "your letter," he wrote to count louis, "is full of those blackguards of bishops and presidents. i would the race were extinct, like that of green dogs. they will always combat with the arms which they have ever used, remaining to the end avaricious, brutal, obstinate, ambitious, et cetera. i leave you to supply the rest." thus, then, it was settled beyond peradventure that there was to be no compromise with heresy. the king had willed it. the theologians had advised it. the duchess had proclaimed it. it was supposed that without the axe, the fire, and the rack, the catholic religion would be extinguished, and that the whole population of the netherlands would embrace the reformed faith. this was the distinct declaration of viglius, in a private letter to granvelle. "many seek to abolish the chastisement of heresy," said he; "if they gain this point, actum est de religione catholica; for as most of the people are ignorant fools, the heretics will soon be the great majority, if by fear of punishment they are not kept in the true path." the uneasiness, the terror, the wrath of the people seemed rapidly culminating to a crisis. nothing was talked of but the edicts and the inquisition. nothing else entered into the minds of men. in the streets, in the shops, in the taverns, in the fields; at market, at church, at funerals, at weddings; in the noble's castle, at the farmer's fireside, in the mechanic's garret, upon the merchants' exchange, there was but one perpetual subject of shuddering conversation. it was better, men began to whisper to each other, to die at once than to live in perpetual slavery. it was better to fall with arms in hand than to be tortured and butchered by the inquisition. who could expect to contend with such a foe in the dark? they reproached the municipal authorities with lending themselves as instruments to the institution. they asked magistrates and sheriffs how far they would go in their defence before god's tribunal for the slaughter of his creatures, if they could only answer the divine arraignment by appealing to the edict of . on the other hand, the inquisitors were clamorous in abuse of the languor and the cowardice of the secular authorities. they wearied the ear of the duchess with complaints of the difficulties which they encountered in the execution of their functions--of the slight alacrity on the part of the various officials to assist them in the discharge of their duties. notwithstanding the express command of his majesty to that effect, they experienced, they said, a constant deficiency of that cheerful co-operation which they had the right to claim, and there was perpetual discord in consequence. they had been empowered by papal and by royal decree to make use of the gaols, the constables, the whole penal machinery of each province; yet the officers often refused to act, and had even dared to close the prisons. nevertheless, it had been intended, as fully appeared by the imperial and royal instructions to the inquisitors, that their action through the medium of the provincial authorities should be unrestrained. not satisfied with these representations to the regent, the inquisitors had also made a direct appeal to the king. judocus tiletanus and michael de bay addressed to philip a letter from louvain. they represented to him that they were the only two left of the five inquisitors-general appointed by the pope for all the netherlands, the other three having been recently converted into bishops. daily complaints, they said, were reaching them of the prodigious advance of heresy, but their own office was becoming so odious, so calumniated, and exposed to so much resistance, that they could not perform its duties without personal danger. they urgently demanded from his majesty, therefore, additional support and assistance. thus the duchess, exposed at once to the rising wrath of a whole people and to the shrill blasts of inquisitorial anger, was tossed to and fro, as upon a stormy sea. the commands of the king, too explicit to be tampered with, were obeyed. the theological assembly had met and given advice. the council of trent was here and there enforced. the edicts were republished and the inquisitors encouraged. moreover, in accordance with philip's suggestion, orders were now given that the heretics should be executed at midnight in their dungeons, by binding their heads between their knees, and then slowly suffocating them in tubs of water. secret drowning was substituted for public burning, in order that the heretic's crown of vainglory, which was thought to console him in his agony, might never be placed upon his head. in the course of the summer, magaret wrote to her brother that the popular frenzy was becoming more and more intense. the people were crying aloud, she said, that the spanish inquisition, or a worse than spanish inquisition, had been established among them by means of bishops and ecclesiastics. she urged philip to cause the instructions for the inquisitors to be revised. egmont, she said, was vehement in expressing his dissatisfaction at the discrepancy between philip's language to him by word of mouth and that of the royal despatches on the religious question. the other seigniors were even more indignant. while the popular commotion in the netherlands was thus fearfully increasing, another circumstance came to add to the prevailing discontent. the celebrated interview between catharine de medici and her daughter, the queen of spain, occurred in the middle of the month of june, at bayonne. the darkest suspicions as to the results to humanity of the plots to be engendered in this famous conference between the representatives of france and spain were universally entertained. these suspicions were most reasonable, but they were nevertheless mistaken. the plan for a concerted action to exterminate the heretics in both kingdoms had, as it was perfectly well known, been formed long before this epoch. it was also no secret that the queen regent of france had been desirous of meeting her son-in-law in order to confer with him upon important matters, face to face. philip, however, had latterly been disinclined for the personal interview with catharine. as his wife was most anxious to meet her mother, it was nevertheless finally arranged that queen isabella should make the journey; but he excused himself, on account of the multiplicity of his affairs, from accompanying her in the expedition. the duke of alva was, accordingly, appointed to attend the queen to bayonne. both were secretly instructed by philip to leave nothing undone in the approaching interview toward obtaining the hearty co-operation of catharine de medici in a general and formally-arranged scheme for the simultaneous extermination of all heretics in the french and spanish dominions. alva's conduct in this diplomatic commission was stealthy in the extreme. his letters reveal a subtlety of contrivance and delicacy of handling such as the world has not generally reckoned among his characteristics. all his adroitness, as well as the tact of queen isabella, by whose ability alva declared himself to have been astounded, proved quite powerless before the steady fencing of the wily catharine. the queen regent, whose skill the duke, even while defeated, acknowledged to his master, continued firm in her design to maintain her own power by holding the balance between guise and montmorency, between leaguer and huguenot. so long as her enemies could be employed in exterminating each other, she was willing to defer the extermination of the huguenots. the great massacre of st. bartholomew was to sleep for seven years longer. alva was, to be sure, much encouraged at first by the language of the french princes and nobles who were present at bayonne. monluc protested that "they might saw the queen dowager in two before she would become huguenot." montpensier exclaimed that "he would be cut in pieces for philip's service--that the spanish monarch was the only hope for france," and, embracing alva with fervor, he affirmed that "if his body were to be opened at that moment, the name of philip would be found imprinted upon his heart." the duke, having no power to proceed to an autopsy, physical or moral, of montpensier's interior, was left somewhat in the dark, notwithstanding these ejaculations. his first conversation with the youthful king, however, soon dispelled his hopes. he found immediately, in his own words, that charles the ninth "had been doctored." to take up arms, for religious reasons, against his own subjects, the monarch declared to be ruinous and improper. it was obvious to alva that the royal pupil had learned his lesson for that occasion. it was a pity for humanity that the wisdom thus hypocritically taught him could not have sunk into his heart. the duke did his best to bring forward the plans and wishes of his royal master, but without success. the queen regent proposed a league of the two kings and the emperor against the turk, and wished to arrange various matrimonial alliances between the sons and daughters of the three houses. alva expressed the opinion that the alliances were already close enough, while, on the contrary, a secret league against the protestants would make all three families the safer. catherine, however, was not to be turned from her position. she refused even to admit that the chancellor de l'hospital was a huguenot, to which the duke replied that she was the only person in her kingdom who held that opinion. she expressed an intention of convoking an assembly of doctors, and alva ridiculed in his letters to philip the affectation of such a proceeding. in short, she made it sufficiently evident that the hour for the united action of the french and spanish sovereigns against their subjects had not struck, so that the famous bayonne conference was terminated without a result. it seemed not the less certain, however, in the general opinion of mankind, that all the particulars of a regular plot had been definitely arranged upon this occasion, for the extermination of the protestants, and the error has been propagated by historians of great celebrity of all parties, down to our own days. the secret letters of alva, however, leave no doubt as to the facts. in the course of november, fresh letters from philip arrived in the netherlands, confirming every thing which he had previously written. he wrote personally to the inquisitors-general, tiletanus and de bay, encouraging them, commending them, promising them his support, and urging them not to be deterred by any consideration from thoroughly fulfilling their duties. he wrote peter titelmann a letter, in which he applauded the pains taken by that functionary to remedy the ills which religion was suffering, assured him of his gratitude, exhorted him to continue in his virtuous course, and avowed his determination to spare neither pains, expense, nor even his own life, to sustain the catholic faith. to the duchess he wrote at great length, and in most unequivocal language. he denied that what he had written from valladolid was of different meaning from the sense of the despatches by egmont. with regard to certain anabaptist prisoners, concerning whose fate margaret had requested his opinion, he commanded their execution, adding that such was his will in the case of all, whatever their quality, who could be caught. that which the people said in the netherlands touching the inquisition, he pronounced extremely distasteful to him. that institution, which had existed under his predecessors, he declared more necessary than ever; nor would he suffer it to be discredited. he desired his sister to put no faith in idle talk, as to the inconveniences likely to flow from the rigor of the inquisition. much greater inconveniences would be the result if the inquisitors did not proceed with their labors, and the duchess was commanded to write to the secular judges, enjoining upon them to place no obstacles in the path, but to afford all the assistance which might be required. to egmont, the king wrote with his own hand, applauding much that was contained in the recent decisions of the assembly of bishops and doctors of divinity, and commanding the count to assist in the execution of the royal determination. in affairs of religion, philip expressed the opinion that dissimulation and weakness were entirely out of place. when these decisive letters came before the state council, the consternation was extreme. the duchess had counted, in spite of her inmost convictions, upon less peremptory instructions. the prince of orange, the count of egmont, and the admiral, were loud in their denunciations of the royal policy. there was a violent and protracted debate. the excitement spread at once to the, people. inflammatory hand-bills were circulated. placards were posted every night upon the doors of orange, egmont, and horn, calling upon them to come forth boldly as champions of the people and of liberty in religious matters. banquets were held daily at the houses of the nobility, in which the more ardent and youthful of their order, with brains excited by wine and anger, indulged in flaming invectives against the government, and interchanged vows to protect each other and the cause of the oppressed provinces. meanwhile the privy council, to which body the duchess had referred the recent despatches from madrid, made a report upon the whole subject to the state council, during the month of november, sustaining the royal views, and insisting upon the necessity of carrying them into effect. the edicts and inquisition having been so vigorously insisted upon by the king, nothing was to be done but to issue new proclamations throughout the country, together with orders to bishops, councils, governors and judges, that every care should be taken to enforce them to the full. this report came before the state council, and was sustained by some of its members. the prince of orange expressed the same uncompromising hostility to the inquisition which he had always manifested, but observed that the commands of the king were so precise and absolute, as to leave no possibility of discussing that point. there was nothing to be done, he said, but to obey, but he washed his hands of the fatal consequences which he foresaw. there was no longer any middle course between obedience and rebellion. this opinion, the soundness of which could scarcely be disputed, was also sustained by egmont and horn. viglius, on the contrary, nervous, agitated, appalled, was now disposed to temporize. he observed that if the seigniors feared such evil results, it would be better to prevent, rather than to accelerate the danger which would follow the proposed notification to the governors and municipal authorities throughout the country, on the subject of the inquisition. to make haste, was neither to fulfil the intentions nor to serve the interests of the king, and it was desirable "to avoid emotion and scandal." upon these heads the president made a very long speech, avowing, in conclusion, that if his majesty should not find the course proposed agreeable, he was ready to receive all the indignation upon his own head. certainly, this position of the president was somewhat inconsistent with his previous course. he had been most violent in his denunciations of all who should interfere with the execution of the great edict of which he had been the original draughtsman. he had recently been ferocious in combating the opinion of those civilians in the assembly of doctors who had advocated the abolition of the death penalty against heresy. he had expressed with great energy his private opinion that the ancient religion would perish if the machinery of persecution were taken away; yet he now for the first time seemed to hear or to heed the outcry of a whole nation, and to tremble at the sound. now that the die had been cast, in accordance with the counsels of his whole life, now that the royal commands, often enigmatical and hesitating; were at last too distinct to be misconstrued, and too peremptory to be tampered with--the president imagined the possibility of delay. the health of the ancient frisian had but recently permitted him to resume his seat at the council board. his presence there was but temporary, for he had received from madrid the acceptance of his resignation, accompanied with orders to discharge the duties of president until the arrival of his successor, charles de tisnacq. thus, in his own language, the duchess was still obliged to rely for a season "upon her ancient palinurus," a necessity far from agreeable to her, for she had lost confidence in the pilot. it may be supposed that he was anxious to smooth the troubled waters during the brief period in which he was still to be exposed to their fury; but he poured out the oil of his eloquence in vain. nobody sustained his propositions. the duchess, although terrified at the probable consequences, felt the impossibility of disobeying the deliberate decree of her brother. a proclamation was accordingly prepared, by which it was ordered that the council of trent, the edicts and the inquisition, should be published in every town and village in the provinces, immediately, and once in six months forever afterwards. the deed was done, and the prince of orange, stooping to the ear of his next neighbor, as they sat at the council-board, whispered that they were now about to witness the commencement of the most extraordinary tragedy which had ever been enacted. the prophecy was indeed a proof that the prince could read the future, but the sarcasm of the president, that the remark had been made in a tone of exultation, was belied by every action of the prophet's life. the fiat went forth. in the market-place of every town and village of the netherlands, the inquisition was again formally proclaimed. every doubt which had hitherto existed as to the intention of the government was swept away. no argument was thenceforward to be permissible as to the constitutionality of the edicts as to the compatibility of their provisions with the privileges of the land. the cry of a people in its agony ascended to heaven. the decree was answered with a howl of execration. the flames of popular frenzy arose lurid and threatening above the house-tops of every town and village. the impending conflict could no longer be mistaken. the awful tragedy which the great watchman in the land had so long unceasingly predicted, was seen sweeping solemnly and steadily onward. the superstitious eyes of the age saw supernatural and ominous indications in the sky. contending armies trampled the clouds; blood dropped from heaven; the exterminating angel rode upon the wind. there was almost a cessation of the ordinary business of mankind. commerce was paralyzed. antwerp shook as with an earthquake. a chasm seemed to open, in which her prosperity and her very existence were to be forever engulfed. the foreign merchants, manufacturers, and artisans fled from her gates as if the plague were raging within them. thriving cities were likely soon to be depopulated. the metropolitan heart of the whole country was almost motionless. men high in authority sympathized with the general indignation. the marquis berghen, the younger mansfeld, the baron montigny, openly refused to enforce the edicts within their governments. men of eminence inveighed boldly and bitterly against the tyranny of the government, and counselled disobedience. the netherlanders, it was stoutly maintained, were not such senseless brutes as to be ignorant of the mutual relation of prince and people. they knew that the obligation of a king to his vassals was as sacred as the duties of the subjects to the sovereign. the four principal cities of brabant first came forward in formal denunciation of the outrage. an elaborate and conclusive document was drawn up in their name, and presented to the regent. it set forth that the recent proclamation violated many articles in the "joyous entry." that ancient constitution had circumscribed the power of the clergy, and the jealousy had been felt in old times as much by the sovereign as the people. no ecclesiastical tribunal had therefore been allowed, excepting that of the bishop of cambray, whose jurisdiction was expressly confined to three classes of cases--those growing out of marriages, testaments, and mortmains. it would be superfluous to discuss the point at the present day, whether the directions to the inquisitors and the publication of the edicts conflicted with the "joyous entrance." to take a man from his house and burn him, after a brief preliminary examination, was clearly not to follow the, letter and spirit of the brabantine habeas corpus, by which inviolability of domicile and regular trials were secured and sworn to by the monarch; yet such had been the uniform practice of inquisitors throughout the country. the petition of the four cities was referred by the regent to the council of brabant. the chancellor, or president judge of that tribunal was notoriously corrupt--a creature of the spanish. his efforts to sustain the policy of the administration however vain. the duchess ordered the archives of the province to be searched for precedents, and the council to report upon the petition. the case was too plain for argument or dogmatism, but the attempt was made to take refuge in obscurity. the answer of the council was hesitating and equivocal. the duchess insisted upon a distinct and categorical answer to the four cities. thus pressed, the council of brabant declared roundly that no inquisition of any kind had ever existed, in the provinces. it was impossible that any other answer could be given, but viglius, with his associates in the privy council, were extremely angry at the conclusion. the concession was, however, made, notwithstanding the bad example which, according to some persons, the victory thus obtained by so important a province would afford to the people in the other parts of the country. brabant was declared free of the inquisition. meanwhile the pamphlets, handbills, pasquils, and other popular productions were multiplied. to use a flemish expression, they "snowed in the streets." they were nailed nightly on all the great houses in brussels. patriots were called upon to strike, speak, redress. pungent lampoons, impassioned invectives, and earnest remonstrances, were thrust into the hands of the duchess. the publications, as they appeared; were greedily devoured by the people. "we are willing," it was said, in a remarkable letter to the king, "to die for the gospel, but we read therein 'render unto caesar that which is caesar's, and unto god that which is god's.' we thank god that our enemies themselves are compelled to bear witness to our piety and patience; so that it is a common saying--'he swears not; he is a protestant; he is neither a fornicator nor a drunkard; he is of the new sect.' yet, notwithstanding these testimonials to our character, no manner of punishment has been forgotten by which we can possibly be chastised." this statement of the morality of the puritans of the netherlands was the justification of martyrs--not the self-glorification of pharisees. the fact was incontrovertible. their tenets were rigid, but their lives were pure. they belonged generally to the middling and lower classes. they were industrious artisans, who desired to live in the fear of god and in honor of their king. they were protected by nobles and gentlemen of high position, very many of whom came afterwards warmly to espouse the creed which at first they had only generously defended. their whole character and position resembled, in many features, those of the english puritans, who, three quarters of a century afterwards, fled for refuge to the dutch republic, and thence departed to establish the american republic. the difference was that the netherlanders were exposed to a longer persecution and a far more intense martyrdom. towards the end of the year ( ) which was closing in such universal gloom; the contemporary chronicles are enlivened with a fitful gleam of sunshine. the light enlivens only the more elevated regions of the flemish world, but it is pathetic to catch a glimpse of those nobles, many of whose lives were to be so heroic, and whose destinies so tragic, as amid the shadows projected by coming evil, they still found time for the chivalrous festivals of their land and epoch. a splendid tournament was held at the chateau d'antoing to celebrate the nuptials of baron montigny with the daughter of prince d'espinoy. orange, horn, and hoogstraaten were the challengers, and maintained themselves victoriously against all comers, egmont and other distinguished knights being, among the number. thus brilliantly and gaily moved the first hours of that marriage which before six months had fled was to be so darkly terminated. the doom which awaited the chivalrous bridegroom in the dungeon of simancas was ere long to be recorded in one of the foulest chapters of philip's tyranny. a still more elaborate marriage-festival, of which the hero was, at a later day, to exercise a most decisive influence over the fortunes of the land, was celebrated at brussels before the close of the year. it will be remembered that alexander, prince of parma, had accompanied egmont on his return from spain in the month of april. the duchess had been delighted with the appearance of her son, then twenty years of age, but already an accomplished cavalier. she had expressed her especial pleasure in finding him so thoroughly a spaniard "in manner, costume, and conversation," that it could not be supposed he had ever visited any other land, or spoken any other tongue than that of spain. the nobles of the flemish court did not participate in the mother's enthusiasm. it could not be denied that he was a handsome and gallant young prince; but his arrogance was so intolerable as to disgust even those most disposed to pay homage to margaret's son. he kept himself mainly in haughty retirement, dined habitually alone in his own apartments, and scarcely honored any of the gentlemen of the netherlands with his notice. even egmont, to whose care he had been especially recommended by philip, was slighted. if, occasionally, he honored one or two of the seigniors with an invitation to his table, he sat alone in solemn state at the head of the board, while the guests, to whom he scarcely vouchsafed a syllable, were placed on stools without backs, below the salt. such insolence, it may be supposed, was sufficiently galling to men of the proud character, but somewhat reckless demeanor, which distinguished the netherland aristocracy. after a short time they held themselves aloof, thinking it sufficient to endure such airs from philip. the duchess at first encouraged the young prince in his haughtiness, but soon became sad, as she witnessed its effects. it was the universal opinion that the young prince was a mere compound of pride and emptiness. "there is nothing at all in the man," said chantonnay. certainly the expression was not a fortunate one. time was to show that there was more in the man than in all the governors despatched successively by philip to the netherlands; but the proof was to be deferred to a later epoch. meantime, his mother was occupied and exceedingly perplexed with his approaching nuptials. he had been affianced early in the year to the princess donna maria of portugal. it was found necessary, therefore, to send a fleet of several vessels to lisbon, to fetch the bride to the netherlands, the wedding being appointed to take place in brussels. this expense alone was considerable, and the preparations for banquets, jousts, and other festivities, were likewise undertaken on so magnificent a scale that the duke, her husband, was offended at margaret's extravagance. the people, by whom she was not beloved, commented bitterly on the prodigalities which they were witnessing in a period of dearth and trouble. many of the nobles mocked at her perplexity. to crown the whole, the young prince was so obliging as to express the hope, in his mother's hearing, that the bridal fleet, then on its way from portugal, might sink with all it contained, to the bottom of the sea. the poor duchess was infinitely chagrined by all these circumstances. the "insane and outrageous expenses" in which the nuptials had involved her, the rebukes of her husband, the sneers of the seigniors, the undutiful epigrams of her son, the ridicule of the people, affected her spirits to such a degree, harassed as she was with grave matters of state, that she kept her rooms for days together, weeping, hour after hour, in the most piteous manner. her distress was the town talk; nevertheless, the fleet arrived in the autumn, and brought the youthful maria to the provinces. this young lady, if the faithful historiographer of the farnese house is to be credited, was the paragon of princesses. [this princess, in her teens, might already exclaim, with the venerable faustus: "habe nun philosophie juristerei and medicin und leider ach: theologie durch studirt mit heissem bemuhen," etc. the panegyrists of royal houses in the sixteenth century were not accustomed to do their work by halves.--strada.] she was the daughter of prince edward, and granddaughter of john the third. she was young and beautiful; she could talk both latin and greek, besides being well versed in philosophy, mathematics and theology. she had the scriptures at her tongue's end, both the old dispensation and the new, and could quote from the fathers with the promptness of a bishop. she was so strictly orthodox that, on being compelled by stress of weather to land in england, she declined all communication with queen elizabeth, on account of her heresy. she was so eminently chaste that she could neither read the sonnets of petrarch, nor lean on the arm of a gentleman. her delicacy upon such points was, indeed, carried to such excess, that upon one occasion when the ship which was bringing her to the netherlands was discovered to be burning, she rebuked a rude fellow who came forward to save her life, assuring him that there was less contamination in the touch of fire than in that of man. fortunately, the flames were extinguished, and the phoenix of portugal was permitted to descend, unburned, upon the bleak shores of flanders. the occasion, notwithstanding the recent tears of the duchess, and the arrogance of the prince, was the signal for much festivity among the courtiers of brussels. it was also the epoch from which movements of a secret and important character were to be dated. the chevaliers of the fleece were assembled, and viglius pronounced before them one of his most classical orations. he had a good deal to say concerning the private adventures of saint andrew, patron of the order, and went into some details of a conversation which that venerated personage had once held with the proconsul aegeas. the moral which he deduced from his narrative was the necessity of union among the magnates for the maintenance of the catholic faith; the nobility and the church being the two columns upon which the whole social fabric reposed. it is to be feared that the president became rather prosy upon the occasion. perhaps his homily, like those of the fictitious archbishop of granada, began to smack of the apoplexy from which he had so recently escaped. perhaps, the meeting being one of hilarity, the younger nobles became restive under the infliction of a very long and very solemn harangue. at any rate, as the meeting broke up, there was a good dial of jesting on the subject. de hammes, commonly called "toison d'or," councillor and king-at-arms of the order, said that the president had been seeing visions and talking with saint andrew in a dream. marquis berghen asked for the source whence he had derived such intimate acquaintance with the ideas of the saint. the president took these remarks rather testily, and, from trifling, the company became soon earnestly engaged in a warm discussion of the agitating topics of the day. it soon became evident to viglius that de hammer and others of his comrades had been dealing with dangerous things. he began shrewdly to suspect that the popular heresy was rapidly extending into higher regions; but it was not the president alone who discovered how widely the contamination was spreading. the meeting, the accidental small talk, which had passed so swiftly from gaiety to gravity, the rapid exchange of ideas, and the free-masonry by which intelligence upon forbidden topics had been mutually conveyed, became events of historical importance. interviews between nobles, who, in the course of the festivities produced by the montigny and parma marriages, had discovered that they entertained a secret similarity of sentiment upon vital questions, became of frequent occurrence. the result to which such conferences led will be narrated in the following chapter. meantime, upon the th november, , the marriage of prince alexander and donna maria was celebrated; with great solemnity, by the archbishop of cambray, in the chapel of the court at brussels. on the following sunday the wedding banquet was held in the great hall, where, ten years previously, the memorable abdication of the bridegroom's imperial grandfather had taken place. the walls were again hung with the magnificent tapestry of gideon, while the knights of the fleece, with all the other grandees of the land, were assembled to grace the spectacle. the king was represented by his envoy in england, don guzman de silva, who came to brussels for the occasion, and who had been selected for this duty because, according to armenteros, "he was endowed, beside his prudence, with so much witty gracefulness with ladies in matters of pastime and entertainment." early in the month of december, a famous tournament was held in the great market-place of brussels, the duke of parma, the duke of aerschot, and count egmont being judges of the jousts. count mansfeld was the challenger, assisted by his son charles, celebrated among the gentry of the land for his dexterity in such sports. to count charles was awarded upon this occasion the silver cup from the lady of the lists. count bossu received the prize for breaking best his lances; the seigneur de beauvoir for the most splendid entrance; count louis, of nassau, for having borne himself most gallantly in the melee. on the same evening the nobles, together with the bridal pair, were entertained at a splendid supper, given by the city of brussels in the magnificent hotel de ville. on this occasion the prizes gained at the tournament were distributed, amid the applause and hilarity of all the revellers. thus, with banquet, tourney, and merry marriage bells, with gaiety gilding the surface of society, while a deadly hatred to the inquisition was eating into the heart of the nation, and while the fires of civil war were already kindling, of which no living man was destined to witness the extinction, ended the year . etext editor's bookmarks: all offices were sold to the highest bidder english puritans habeas corpus he did his best to be friends with all the world look through the cloud of dissimulation no law but the law of the longest purse panegyrists of royal houses in the sixteenth century secret drowning was substituted for public burning sonnets of petrarch st. bartholomew was to sleep for seven years longer to think it capable of error, is the most devilish heresy of all this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley [part iii., alva, chapter .] continued dissensions in the spanish cabinet--ruy gomez and alva-- conquest of the netherlands entrusted to the duke--birth, previous career and character of alva--organization of the invading army-- its march to the provinces--complaints of duchess margaret--alva receives deputations on the frontier--interview between the duke and egmont--reception of alva by the duchess of parma--circular letters to the cities requiring their acceptance of garrisons--margaret's secret correspondence--universal apprehension--keys of the great cities demanded by alva--secret plans of the government, arranged before the duke's departure--arrest of orange, egmont, horn, and others, determined upon--stealthy course of the government towards them--infatuation of egmont--warnings addressed to him by de billy and others--measures to entrap count horn--banquet of the grand prior--the grand prior's warning to egmont--evil counsels of noircarmes--arrests of egmont, horn, bakkerzeel and straalen-- popular consternation--petulant conduct of duchess margaret-- characteristic comments of granvelle--his secret machinations and disclaimers--berghen and montigny--last moments of marquis berghen-- perfidy of ruy gomez--establishment of the "blood-council"--its leading features--insidious behavior of viglius--secret correspondence, concerning the president, between philip and alva-- members of the "blood-council"--portraits of vargas and hessels-- mode of proceeding adopted by the council--wholesale executions-- despair in the provinces--the resignation of duchess margaret accepted--her departure from the netherlands--renewed civil war in france--death of montmorency--auxiliary troops sent by alva to france--erection of antwerp citadel--description of the citadel. the armed invasion of the netherlands was the necessary consequence of all which had gone before. that the inevitable result had been so long deferred lay rather in the incomprehensible tardiness of philip's character than in the circumstances of the case. never did a monarch hold so steadfastly to a deadly purpose, or proceed so languidly and with so much circumvolution to his goal. the mask of benignity, of possible clemency, was now thrown off, but the delusion of his intended visit to the provinces was still maintained. he assured the regent that he should be governed by her advice, and as she had made all needful preparations to receive him in zeland, that it would be in zeland he should arrive. the same two men among philip's advisers were prominent as at an earlier day--the prince of eboli and the duke of alva. they still represented entirely opposite ideas, and in character, temper, and history, each was the reverse of the other. the policy of the prince was pacific and temporizing; that of the duke uncompromising and ferocious. ruy gomez was disposed to prevent, if possible, the armed mission of alva, and he now openly counselled the king to fulfil his long-deferred promise, and to make his appearance in person before his rebellious subjects. the jealousy and hatred which existed between the prince and the duke-- between the man of peace and the man of wrath--were constantly exploding, even in the presence of the king. the wrangling in the council was incessant. determined, if possible; to prevent the elevation of his rival, the favorite was even for a moment disposed to ask for the command of the army himself. there was something ludicrous in the notion, that a man whose life had been pacific, and who trembled at the noise of arms, should seek to supersede the terrible alva, of whom his eulogists asserted, with, castilian exaggeration, that the very name of fear inspired him with horror. but there was a limit beyond which the influence of anna de mendoza and her husband did not extend. philip was not to be driven to the netherlands against his will, nor to be prevented from assigning the command of the army to the most appropriate man in europe for his purpose. it was determined at last that the netherland heresy should be conquered by force of arms. the invasion resembled both a crusade against the infidel, and a treasure-hunting foray into the auriferous indies, achievements by which spanish chivalry had so often illustrated itself. the banner of the cross was to be replanted upon the conquered battlements of three hundred infidel cities, and a torrent of wealth, richer than ever flowed from mexican or peruvian mines, was to flow into the royal treasury from the perennial fountains of confiscation. who so fit to be the tancred and the pizarro of this bicolored expedition as the duke of alva, the man who had been devoted from his earliest childhood, and from his father's grave, to hostility against unbelievers, and who had prophesied that treasure would flow in a stream, a yard deep, from the netherlands as soon as the heretics began to meet with their deserts. an army of chosen troops was forthwith collected, by taking the four legions, or terzios, of naples, sicily, sardinia, and lombardy, and filling their places in italy by fresh levies. about ten thousand picked and veteran soldiers were thus obtained, of which the duke of alva was appointed general-in-chief. ferdinando alvarez de toledo, duke of alva, was now in his sixtieth year. he was the most successful and experienced general of spain, or of europe. no man had studied more deeply, or practised more constantly, the military science. in the most important of all arts at that epoch he was the most consummate artist. in the only honorable profession of the age, he was the most thorough and the most pedantic professor. since the days of demetrius poliorcetes, no man had besieged so many cities. since the days of fabius cunctator; no general had avoided so many battles, and no soldier, courageous as he was, ever attained to a more sublime indifference to calumny or depreciation. having proved in his boyhood, at fontarabia, and in his maturity: at muhlberg, that he could exhibit heroism and headlong courage; when necessary, he could afford to look with contempt upon the witless gibes which his enemies had occasionally perpetrated at his expense. conscious of holding his armies in his hand, by the power of an unrivalled discipline, and the magic of a name illustrated by a hundred triumphs, he, could bear with patience and benevolence the murmurs of his soldiers when their battles were denied them. he was born in , of a family which boasted, imperial descent. a palaeologus, brother of a byzantine emperor, had conquered the city of toledo, and transmitted its appellation as a family name. the father of ferdinando, don garcia, had been slain on the isle of gerbes, in battle with the moors, when his son was but four years of age. the child was brought up by his grandfather, don frederic, and trained from his tenderest infancy to arms. hatred to the infidel, and a determination to avenge his father's blood; crying to him from a foreign grave, were the earliest of his instincts. as a youth he was distinguished for his prowess. his maiden sword was fleshed at fontarabia, where, although but sixteen years of age, he was considered, by his constancy in hardship, by his brilliant and desperate courage, and by the example of military discipline which he afforded to the troops, to have contributed in no small degree to the success of the spanish arms. in , he accompanied the emperor in his campaign against the turk. charles, instinctively recognizing the merit of the youth who was destined to be the life-long companion of his toils and glories, distinguished him with his favor at the opening of his career. young, brave, and enthusiastic, ferdinand de toledo at this period was as interesting a hero as ever illustrated the pages of castilian romance. his mad ride from hungary to spain and back again, accomplished in seventeen days, for the sake of a brief visit to his newly-married wife, is not the least attractive episode in the history of an existence which was destined to be so dark and sanguinary. in , he accompanied the emperor on his memorable expedition to tunis. in and he was generalissimo in the war against the smalcaldian league. his most brilliant feat of arms-perhaps the most brilliant exploit of the emperor's reign--was the passage of the elbe and the battle of muhlberg, accomplished in spite of maximilian's bitter and violent reproaches, and the tremendous possibilities of a defeat. that battle had finished the war. the gigantic and magnanimous john frederic, surprised at his devotions in the church, fled in dismay, leaving his boots behind him, which for their superhuman size, were ridiculously said afterwards to be treasured among the trophies of the toledo house. [hist. du due d'albe, i. . brantome, hom. illust., etc. (ch. v.), says that one of the boots was "large enough to hold a camp bedstead," p. . i insert the anecdote only as a specimen of the manner in which similar absurdities, both of great and, of little consequence, are perpetuated by writers in every land and age. the armor of the noble-hearted and unfortunate john frederic may still be seen in dresden. its size indicates a man very much above the average height, while the external length of the iron shoe, on-the contrary, is less than eleven inches.] the rout was total. "i came, i saw, and god conquered," said the emperor, in pious parody of his immortal predecessor's epigram. maximilian, with a thousand apologies for his previous insults, embraced the heroic don ferdinand over and over again, as, arrayed in a plain suit of blue armor, unadorned save with streaks of his enemies' blood, he returned from pursuit of the fugitives. so complete and so sudden was the victory, that it was found impossible to account for it, save on the ground of miraculous interposition. like joshua, in the vale of ajalon, don ferdinand was supposed to have commanded the sun to stand still for a season, and to have been obeyed. otherwise, how could the passage of the river, which was only concluded at six in the evening, and the complete overthrow of the protestant forces, have all been accomplished within the narrow space of an april twilight? the reply of the duke to henry the second of france, who questioned him subsequently upon the subject, is well known. "your majesty, i was too much occupied that evening with what was taking place on the earth beneath, to pay much heed to the evolutions of the heavenly bodies." spared as he had been by his good fortune from taking any part in the algerine expedition, or in witnessing the ignominious retreat from innspruck, he was obliged to submit to the intercalation of the disastrous siege of metz in the long history of his successes. doing the duty of a field-marshal and a sentinel, supporting his army by his firmness and his discipline when nothing else could have supported them, he was at last enabled, after half the hundred thousand men with whom charles had begun the siege had been sacrificed, to induce his imperial master to raise the siege before the remaining fifty thousand had been frozen or starved to death. the culminating career of alva seemed to have closed in the mist which gathered around the setting star of the empire. having accompanied philip to england in , on his matrimonial-expedition, he was destined in the following years, as viceroy and generalissimo of italy, to be placed in a series of false positions. a great captain engaged in a little war, the champion of the cross in arms against the successor of st. peter, he had extricated himself, at last, with his usual adroitness, but with very little glory. to him had been allotted the mortification, to another the triumph. the lustre of his own name seemed to sink in the ocean while that of a hated rival, with new spangled ore, suddenly "flamed in the forehead of the morning sky." while he had been paltering with a dotard, whom he was forbidden to crush, egmont had struck down the chosen troops of france, and conquered her most illustrious commanders. here was the unpardonable crime which could only be expiated by the blood of the victor. unfortunately for his rival, the time was now approaching when the long-deferred revenge was to be satisfied. on the whole, the duke of alva was inferior to no general of his age. as a disciplinarian he was foremost in spain, perhaps in europe. a spendthrift of time, he was an economist of blood, and this was, perhaps, in the eye of humanity, his principal virtue. time and myself are two, was a frequent observation of philip, and his favorite general considered the maxim as applicable to war as to politics. such were his qualities as a military commander. as a statesman, he had neither experience nor talent. as a man his character was simple. he did not combine a great variety of vices, but those which he had were colossal, and he possessed no virtues. he was neither lustful nor intemperate, but his professed eulogists admitted his enormous avarice, while the world has agreed that such an amount of stealth and ferocity, of patient vindictiveness and universal bloodthirstiness, were never found in a savage beast of the forest, and but rarely in a human bosom. his history was now to show that his previous thrift of human life was not derived from any love of his kind. personally he was stern and overbearing. as difficult of access as philip himself, he was even more haughty to those who were admitted to his presence. he addressed every one with the depreciating second person plural. possessing the right of being covered in the presence of the spanish monarch, he had been with difficulty brought to renounce it before the german emperor. he was of an illustrious family; but his territorial possessions were not extensive. his duchy was a small one, furnishing him with not more than fourteen thousand crowns of annual income, and with four hundred soldiers. he had, however, been a thrifty financier all his life, never having been without a handsome sum of ready money at interest. ten years before his arrival in the netherlands, he was supposed to have already increased his income to forty thousand a year by the proceeds of his investments at antwerp. as already intimated, his military character was sometimes profoundly misunderstood. he was often considered rather a pedantic than a practical commander, more capable to discourse of battles than to gain them. notwithstanding that his long life had been an, almost unbroken campaign, the ridiculous accusation of timidity was frequently made against him. a gentleman at the court of the emperor charles once addressed a letter to the duke with the title of "general of his majesty's armies in the duchy of milan in time of peace, and major-domo of the household in the time of war." it was said that the lesson did the duke good, but that he rewarded very badly the nobleman who gave it, having subsequently caused his head to be taken off. in general, however, alva manifested a philosophical contempt for the opinions expressed concerning his military fame, and was especially disdainful of criticism expressed by his own soldiers. "recollect," said he, at a little later period, to don john of austria, "that the first foes with whom one has to contend are one's own troops; with their clamors for an engagement at this moment, and--their murmurs, about results at another; with their 'i thought that the battle should be fought;' or, 'it was my, opinion that the occasion ought not to be lost.' your highness will have opportunity enough to display valor, and will never be weak enough to be conquered by the babble of soldiers." in person he was tall, thin, erect, with a small head, a long visage, lean yellow cheek, dark twinkling eyes, a dust complexion, black bristling hair, and a long sable-silvered beard, descending in two waving streams upon his breast. such being the design, the machinery was well selected. the best man in europe to lead the invading force was placed at the head of ten thousand picked veterans. the privates in this exquisite little army, said the enthusiastic connoisseur brantome, who travelled post into lorraine expressly to see them on their march, all wore engraved or gilded armor, and were in every respect equipped like captains. they were the first who carried muskets, a weapon which very much astonished the flemings when it first rattled in their ears. the musketeers, he observed, might have been mistaken, for princes, with such agreeable and graceful arrogance did they present themselves. each was attended by his servant or esquire, who carried his piece for him, except in battle, and all were treated with extreme deference by the rest of the army, as if they had been officers. the four regiments of lombardy, sardinia, sicily, and naples, composed a total of not quite nine thousand of the best foot soldiers in europe. they were commanded respectively by don sancho de lodiono, don gonzalo de bracamonte, julien romero, and alfonso de ulloa, all distinguished and experienced generals. the cavalry, amounting to about twelve hundred; was under the command of the natural son of the duke, don ferdinando de toledo, prior of the knights of st. john. chiapin vitelli, marquis of cetona, who had served the king in many a campaign, was appointed marechal de camp, and gabriel cerbelloni was placed in command of the artillery. on the way the duke received, as a present from the duke of savoy, the services of the distinguished engineer, pacheco, or paciotti, whose name was to be associated with the most celebrated citadel of the netherlands; and whose dreadful fate was to be contemporaneous with the earliest successes of the liberal party. with an army thus perfect, on a small scale, in all its departments, and furnished, in addition, with a force of two thousand prostitutes, as regularly enrolled, disciplined, and distributed as the cavalry or the artillery, the duke embarked upon his momentous enterprise, on the th of may, at carthagena. thirty-seven galleys, under command of prince andrea doria, brought the principal part of the force to genoa, the duke being delayed a few days at nice by an attack of fever. on the d of june, the army was mustered at alexandria de palla, and ordered to rendezvous again at san ambrosio at the foot of the alps. it was then directed to make its way over mount cenis and through savoy; burgundy, and lorraine, by a regularly arranged triple movement. the second division was each night to encamp on the spot which had been occupied upon the previous night by the vanguard, and the rear was to place itself on the following night in the camp of the corps de bataille. thus coiling itself along almost in a single line by slow and serpentine windings, with a deliberate, deadly, venomous purpose, this army, which was to be the instrument of philip's long deferred vengeance, stole through narrow mountain pass and tangled forest. so close and intricate were many of the defiles through which the journey led them that, had one tithe of the treason which they came to punish, ever existed, save in the diseased imagination of their monarch, not one man would have been left to tell the tale. egmont, had he really been the traitor and the conspirator he was assumed to be, might have easily organized the means of cutting off the troops before they could have effected their entrance into the country which they had doomed to destruction. his military experience, his qualifications for a daring stroke, his great popularity, and the intense hatred entertained for alva, would have furnished him with a sufficient machinery for the purpose. twelve days' march carried the army through burgundy, twelve more through lorraine. during the whole of the journey they were closely accompanied by a force of cavalry and infantry, ordered upon this service by the king of france, who, for fear of exciting a fresh huguenot demonstration, had refused the spaniards a passage through his dominions. this reconnoitring army kept pace with them like their shadow, and watched all their movements. a force of six thousand swiss, equally alarmed and uneasy at the progress of the troops, hovered likewise about their flanks, without, however, offering any impediment to their advance. before the middle of august they had reached thionville, on the luxemburg frontier, having on the last day marched a distance of two leagues through a forest, which seemed expressly arranged to allow a small defensive force to embarrass and destroy an invading army. no opposition, however, was attempted, and the spanish soldiers encamped at last within the territory of the netherlands, having accomplished their adventurous journey in entire safety, and under perfect discipline. the duchess had in her secret letters to philip continued to express her disapprobation of the enterprise thus committed to alva, she had bitterly complained that now when the country had been pacified by her efforts, another should be sent to reap all the glory, or perhaps to undo all that she had so painfully and so successfully done. she stated to her brother, in most unequivocal language, that the name of alva was odious enough to make the whole spanish nation detested in the netherlands. she could find no language sufficiently strong to express her surprise that the king should have decided upon a measure likely to be attended with such fatal consequences without consulting her on the subject, and in opposition to what had been her uniform advice. she also wrote personally to alva, imploring, commanding, and threatening, but with equally ill success. the duke knew too well who was sovereign of the netherlands now; his master's sister or himself. as to the effects of his armed invasion upon the temper of the provinces, he was supremely indifferent. he came as a conqueror not as a mediator. "i have tamed people of iron in my day," said he, contemptuously, "shall i not easily crush these men of butter?" at thionville he was, however, officially waited upon by berlaymont and noircarmes, on the part of the regent. he at this point, moreover, began to receive deputations from various cities, bidding him a hollow and trembling welcome, and deprecating his displeasure for any thing in the past which might seem offensive. to all such embassies he replied in vague and conventional language; saying, however, to his confidential attendants: i am here, so much is certain, whether i am welcome or not is to me a matter of little consequence. at tirlemont, on the d august, he was met by count egmont, who had ridden forth from brussels to show him a becoming respect, as the representative of his sovereign, the count was accompanied by several other noblemen, and brought to the duke a present of several beautiful horses. alva received him, however, but coldly, for he was unable at first to adjust the mask to his countenance as adroitly as was necessary. behold the greatest of all the heretics, he observed to his attendants, as soon as the nobleman's presence was announced, and in a voice loud enough for him to hear. even after they had exchanged salutations, he addressed several remarks to him in a half jesting, half biting tone, saying among other things, that his countship might have spared him the trouble of making this long journey in his old age. there were other observations in a similar strain which might have well aroused the suspicion of any man not determined, like egmont, to continue blind and deaf. after a brief interval, however, alva seems to have commanded himself. he passed his arm lovingly over that stately neck, which he had already devoted to the block, and the count having resolved beforehand to place himself, if possible, upon amicable terms with the new viceroy--the two rode along side by side in friendly conversation, followed by the regiment of infantry and three companies of light horse, which belonged to the duke's immediate command. alva, still attended by egmont, rode soon afterwards through the louvain gate into brussels, where they separated for a season. lodgings had been taken for the duke at the house of a certain madame de jasse, in the neighborhood of egmont's palace. leaving here the principal portion of his attendants, the captain-general, without alighting, forthwith proceeded to the palace to pay his respects to the duchess of parma. for three days the regent had been deliberating with her council as to the propriety of declining any visit from the man whose presence she justly considered a disgrace and an insult to herself. this being the reward of her eight years' devotion to her brother's commands; to be superseded by a subject, and one too who came to carry out a policy which she had urgently deprecated, it could hardly be expected of the emperor's daughter that she should graciously submit to the indignity, and receive her successor with a smiling countenance. in consequence, however, of the submissive language with which the duke had addressed her in his recent communications, offering with true castilian but empty courtesy, to place his guards, his army, and himself at her feet, she had consented to receive his visit with or without his attendants. on his appearance in the court-yard, a scene of violent altercation and almost of bloodshed took place between his body-guard and the archers of the regent's household, who were at last, with difficulty, persuaded to allow the mercenaries of the hated captain-general to pass. presenting himself at three o'clock in the afternoon, after these not very satisfactory preliminaries, in the bedchamber of the duchess, where it was her habit to grant confidential audiences, he met, as might easily be supposed, with a chilling reception: the duchess, standing motionless in the centre of the apartment, attended by berlaymont, the duke of aerachot, and count egmont, acknowledged his salutations with calm severity. neither she nor any one of her attendants advanced a step to meet him. the duke took off his hat, but she, calmly recognizing his right as a spanish grandee, insisted upon his remaining covered. a stiff and formal conversation of half an hour's duration then ensued, all parties remaining upon their feet. the duke, although respectful; found it difficult to conceal his indignation and his haughty sense of approaching triumph. margaret was cold, stately, and forbidding, disguising her rage and her mortification under a veil of imperial pride. alva, in a letter to philip, describing the interview, assured his majesty that he had treated the duchess with as much deference as he could have shown to the queen, but it is probable, from other contemporaneous accounts, that an ill-disguised and even angry arrogance was at times very visible in his demeanor. the state council had advised the duchess against receiving him until he had duly exhibited his powers. this ceremony had been waived, but upon being questioned by the duchess at this interview as to their nature and extent, he is reported to have coolly answered that he really did not exactly remember, but that he would look them over, and send her information at his earliest convenience. the next day, however, his commission was duly exhibited. in this document, which bore date st january, , philip appointed him to be captain-general "in correspondence with his majesty's dear sister of parma, who was occupied with other matters belonging to the government," begged the duchess to co-operate with him and to command obedience for him, and ordered all the cities of the netherlands to receive such garrisons as he should direct. at the official interview between alva and madame de parma, at which these powers were produced, the necessary preliminary arrangements were made regarding the spanish troops, which were now to be immediately quartered in the principal cities. the duke, however, informed the regent that as these matters were not within her province, he should take the liberty of arranging them with the authorities, without troubling her in the matter, and would inform her of the result of his measures at their next interview, which was to take place on the th august. circular letters signed by philip, which alva had brought with him, were now despatched to the different municipal bodies of the country. in these the cities were severally commanded to accept the garrisons, and to provide for the armies whose active services the king hoped would not be required, but which he had sent beforehand to prepare a peaceful entrance for himself. he enjoined the most absolute obedience to the duke of alva until his own arrival, which was to be almost immediate. these letters were dated at madrid on the th february, and were now accompanied by a brief official circular, signed by margaret of parma, in which she announced the arrival of her dear cousin of alva, and demanded unconditional submission to his authority. having thus complied with these demands of external and conventional propriety, the indignant duchess unbosomed herself, in her private italian letters to her brother, of the rage which had been hitherto partially suppressed. she reiterated her profound regret that philip had not yet accepted the resignation which she had so recently and so earnestly offered. she disclaimed all jealousy of the supreme powers now conferred upon alva, but thought that his majesty might have allowed her to leave the country before the duke arrived with an authority which was so extraordinary, as well as so humiliating to herself. her honor might thus have been saved. she was pained to perceive that she was like to furnish a perpetual example to all others, who considering the manner in which she had been treated by the king, would henceforth have but little inducement to do their duty. at no time, on no occasion, could any person ever render him such services as hers had been. for nine years she had enjoyed not a moment of repose. if the king had shown her but little gratitude, she was consoled by the thought that she had satisfied her god, herself, and the world. she had compromised her health, perhaps her life, and now that she had pacified the country, now that the king was more absolute, more powerful than ever before, another was sent to enjoy the fruit of her labors and her sufferings. the duchess made no secret of her indignation at being thus superseded and as she considered the matter, outraged. she openly avowed her displeasure. she was at times almost beside herself with rage. there was universal sympathy with her emotions, for all hated the duke, and shuddered at the arrival of the spaniards. the day of doom for all the crimes which had ever been committed in the course of ages, seemed now to have dawned upon the netherlands. the sword which had so long been hanging over them, seemed now about to descend. throughout the provinces, there was but one feeling of cold and hopeless dismay. those who still saw a possibility of effecting their escape from the fated land, swarmed across the frontier. all foreign merchants deserted the great marts. the cities became as still as if the plague-banner had been unfurled on every house-top. meantime the captain-general proceeded methodically with his work. he distributed his troops through brussels, ghent, antwerp, and other principal cities. as a measure of necessity and mark of the last humiliation, he required the municipalities to transfer their keys to his keeping. the magistrates of ghent humbly remonstrated against the indignity, and egmont was imprudent enough to make himself the mouth- piece of their remonstrance, which, it is needless to add, was unsuccessful. meantime his own day of reckoning had arrived. as already observed, the advent of alva at the head of a foreign army was the natural consequence of all which had gone before. the delusion of the royal visit was still maintained, and the affectation of a possible clemency still displayed, while the monarch sat quietly in his cabinet without a remote intention of leaving spain, and while the messengers of his accumulated and long-concealed wrath were already descending upon their prey. it was the deliberate intention of philip, when the duke was despatched to the netherlands, that all the leaders of the anti- inquisition party, and all who had, at any time or in any way, implicated themselves in opposition to the government, or in censure of its proceedings, should be put to death. it was determined that the provinces should be subjugated to the absolute domination of the council of spain, a small body of foreigners sitting at the other end of europe, a junta in which netherlanders were to have no voice and exercise no influence. the despotic government of the spanish and italian possessions was to be extended to these flemish territories, which were thus to be converted into the helpless dependencies of a foreign and an absolute crown. there was to be a re-organization of the inquisition, upon the same footing claimed for it before the outbreak of the troubles, together with a re-enactment and vigorous enforcement of the famous edicts against heresy. such was the scheme recommended by granvelle and espinosa, and to be executed by alva. as part and parcel of this plan, it was also arranged at secret meetings at the house of espinosa, before the departure of the duke, that all the seigniors against whom the duchess margaret had made so many complaints, especially the prince of orange, with the counts egmont, horn, and hoogstraaten, should be immediately arrested and brought to chastisement. the marquis berghen and the baron montigny, being already in spain, could be dealt with at pleasure. it was also decided that the gentlemen implicated in the confederacy or compromise, should at once be proceeded against for high treason, without any regard to the promise of pardon granted by the duchess. the general features of the great project having been thus mapped out, a few indispensable preliminaries were at once executed. in order that egmont, horn, and other distinguished victims might not take alarm, and thus escape the doom deliberately arranged for them, royal assurances were despatched to the netherlands, cheering their despondency and dispelling their doubts. with his own hand philip wrote the letter, full of affection and confidence, to egmont, to which allusion has already been made. he wrote it after alva had left madrid upon his mission of vengeance. the same stealthy measures were pursued with regard to others. the prince of orange was not capable of falling into the royal trap, however cautiously baited. unfortunately he could not communicate his wisdom to his friends. it is difficult to comprehend so very sanguine a temperament as that to which egmont owed his destruction. it was not the prince of orange alone who had prophesied his doom. warnings had come to the count from every quarter, and they were now frequently repeated. certainly he was not without anxiety, but he had made his decision; determined to believe in the royal word, and in the royal gratitude for his services rendered, not only against montmorency and de thermes, but against the heretics of flanders. he was, however, much changed. he had grown prematurely old. at forty-six years his hair was white, and he never slept without pistols under his pillow. nevertheless he affected, and sometimes felt, a light- heartedness which surprised all around him. the portuguese gentleman robles, seigneur de billy, who had returned early in the summer from spain; whither he had been sent upon a confidential mission by madame de parma, is said to have made repeated communications to egmont as to the dangerous position in which he stood. immediately after his arrival in brussels he had visited the count, then confined to his house by an injury caused by the fall of his horse. "take care to get well very fast," said de billy, "for there are very bad stories told about you in spain." egmont laughed heartily at the observation, as if, nothing could well be more absurd than such a warning. his friend--for de billy is said to have felt a real attachment to the count--persisted in his prophecies, telling him that "birds in the field sang much more sweetly than those in cages," and that he would do well to abandon the country before the arrival of alva. these warnings were repeated almost daily by the same gentleman, and by others, who were more and more astonished at egmont's infatuation. nevertheless, he had disregarded their admonitions, and had gone forth to meet the duke at tirlemont. even then he might have seen, in the coldness of his first reception, and in the disrespectful manner of the spanish soldiers, who not only did not at first salute him, but who murmured audibly that he was a lutheran and traitor, that he was not so great a favorite with the government at madrid as he desired to be. after the first few moments, however, alva's manner had changed, while chiappin vitelli, gabriel de serbelloni, and other principal officers, received the count with great courtesy, even upon his first appearance. the grand prior, ferdinando de toledo, natural son of the duke, and already a distinguished soldier, seems to have felt a warm and unaffected friendship for egmont, whose brilliant exploits in the field had excited his youthful admiration, and of whose destruction he was, nevertheless, compelled to be the unwilling instrument. for a few days, accordingly, after the arrival of the new governor-general all seemed to be going smoothly. the grand prior and egmont became exceedingly intimate, passing their time together in banquets, masquerades, and play, as joyously as if the merry days which had succeeded the treaty of cateau cambreais were returned. the duke, too, manifested the most friendly dispositions, taking care to send him large presents of spanish and italian fruits, received frequently by the government couriers. lapped in this fatal security, egmont not only forgot his fears, but unfortunately succeeded in inspiring count horn with a portion of his confidence. that gentleman had still remained in his solitary mansion at weert, notwithstanding the artful means which had been used to lure him from that "desert." it is singular that the very same person who, according to a well-informed catholic contemporary, had been most eager to warn egmont of his danger, had also been the foremost instrument for effecting the capture of the admiral. the seigneur de billy, on the day after his arrival from madrid, had written to horn, telling him that the king was highly pleased with his services and character. de billy also stated that he had been commissioned by philip to express distinctly the royal gratitude for the count's conduct, adding that his majesty was about to visit the netherlands in august, and would probably be preceded or accompanied by baron montigny. alva and his son don ferdinando had soon afterwards addressed letters from gerverbiller (dated th and th july) to count horn, filled with expressions of friendship and confidence. the admiral, who had sent one of his gentlemen to greet the duke, now responded from weert that he was very sensible of the kindness manifested towards him, but that for reasons which his secretary alonzo de la loo would more fully communicate, he must for the present beg to be excused from a personal visit to brussels. the secretary was received by alva with extreme courtesy. the duke expressed infinite pain that the king had not yet rewarded count horn's services according to their merit, said that a year before he had told his brother montigny how very much he was the admiral's friend, and begged la loo to tell his master that he should not doubt the royal generosity and gratitude. the governor added, that if he could see the count in person he could tell him things which would please him, and which would prove that he had not been forgotten by his friends. la loo had afterward a long conversation with the duke's secretary albornoz, who assured him that his master had the greatest affection for count horn, and that since his affairs were so much embarrassed, he might easily be provided with the post of governor at milan, or viceroy of naples, about to become vacant. the secretary added, that the duke was much hurt at receiving no visits from many distinguished nobles whose faithful friend and servant he was, and that count horn ought to visit brussels, if not to treat of great affairs, at least to visit the captain-general as a friend. "after all this," said honest alonzo, "i am going immediately to weert, to urge his lordship to yield to the duke's desires." this scientific manoeuvring, joined to the urgent representations of egmont, at last produced its effect. the admiral left his retirement at weert to fall into the pit which his enemies had been so skilfully preparing at brussels. on the night of the th september, egmont received another most significative and mysterious warning. a spaniard, apparently an officer of rank, came secretly into his house, and urged him solemnly to effect his escape before the morrow. the countess, who related the story afterwards, always believed, without being certain, that the mysterious visitor was julian romero, marechal de camp. egmont, however, continued as blindly confident as before. on the following day, september th, the grand prior, don ferdinando, gave a magnificent dinner, to which egmont and horn, together with noircarmes, the viscount of ghent, and many other noblemen were invited. the banquet was enlivened by the music of alva's own military band, which the duke sent to entertain the company. at three o'clock he sent a message begging the gentlemen, after their dinner should be concluded, to favor him with their company at his house (the maison de jassey), as he wished to consult them concerning the plan of the citadel, which he proposed erecting at antwerp. at this moment, the grand prior who was seated next to egmont, whispered in his ear; "leave this place, signor count, instantly; take the fleetest horse in your stable and make your escape without a moment's delay." egmont, much troubled, and remembering the manifold prophecies and admonitions which he had passed by unheeded, rose from the table and went into the next room. he was followed by noircarmes and two other gentlemen, who had observed his agitation, and were curious as to its cause. the count repeated to them the mysterious words just whispered to him by the grand prior, adding that he was determined to take the advice without a moment's delay. "ha! count," exclaimed noircarmes, "do not put lightly such implicit confidence in this stranger who is counselling you to your destruction. what will the duke of alva and all the spaniards say of such a precipitate flight? will they not say that your excellency has fled from the consciousness of guilt? will not your escape be construed into a confession of high treason." if these words were really spoken by noircarmes; and that they were so, we have the testimony of a walloon gentleman in constant communication with egmont's friends and with the whole catholic party, they furnish another proof of the malignant and cruel character of the man. the advice fixed forever the fate of the vacillating egmont. he had risen from table determined to take the advice of a noble-minded spaniard, who had adventured his life to save his friend. he now returned in obedience to the counsel of a fellow-countryman, a flemish noble, to treat the well-meant warning with indifference, and to seat himself again at the last banquet which he was ever to grace with his presence. at four o'clock, the dinner being finished, horn and egmont, accompanied by the other gentlemen, proceeded to the "jassy" house, then occupied by alva, to take part in the deliberations proposed. they were received by the duke with great courtesy. the engineer, pietro urbino, soon appeared and laid upon the table a large parchment containing the plan and elevation of the citadel to be erected at antwerp. a warm discussion upon the subject soon arose, egmont, horn, noircarmes and others, together with the engineers urbino and pacheco, all taking part in the debate. after a short time, the duke of alva left the apartment, on pretext of a sudden indisposition, leaving the company still warmly engaged in their argument. the council lasted till near seven in the evening. as it broke up, don sancho d'avila, captain of the duke's guard, requested egmont to remain for a moment after the rest, as he had a communication to make to him. after an insignificant remark or two, the spanish officer, as soon as the two were alone, requested egmont to surrender his sword. the count, agitated, and notwithstanding every thing which had gone before, still taken by surprise, scarcely knew what reply to make. don sancho repeated that he had been commissioned to arrest him, and again demanded his sword. at the same moment the doors of the adjacent apartment were opened, and egmont saw himself surrounded by a company of spanish musqueteers and halberdmen. finding himself thus entrapped, he gave up his sword, saying bitterly, as he did so, that it had at least rendered some service to the king in times which were past. he was then conducted to a chamber, in the upper story of the house, where his temporary prison had been arranged. the windows were barricaded, the daylight excluded, the whole apartment hung with black. here he remained fourteen days (from the th to d september). during this period, he was allowed no communication with his friends. his room was lighted day and night with candles, and he was served in strict silence by spanish attendants, and guarded by spanish soldiers. the captain of the watch drew his curtain every midnight, and aroused him from sleep that he might be identified by the relieving officer. count horn was arrested upon the same occasion by captain salinas, as he was proceeding through the court-yard of the house, after the breaking up of the council. he was confined in another chamber of the mansion, and met with a precisely similar treatment to that experienced by egmont. upon the d september, both were removed under a strong guard to the castle of ghent. on this same day, two other important arrests, included and arranged in the same program, had been successfully accomplished. bakkerzeel, private and confidential secretary of egmont, and antony van straalen, the rich and influential burgomaster of antwerp, were taken almost simultaneously. at the request of alva, the burgomaster had been invited by the duchess of parma to repair on business to brussels. he seemed to have feared an ambuscade, for as he got into his coach to set forth upon the journey, he was so muffed in a multiplicity of clothing, that he was scarcely to be recognized. he was no sooner, however, in the open country and upon a spot remote from human habitations, than he was suddenly beset by a band of forty soldiers under command of don alberic lodron and don sancho de lodrono. these officers had been watching his movements for many days. the capture of bakkerzeel was accomplished with equal adroitness at about the same hour. alva, while he sat at the council board with egmont and horn, was secretly informed that those important personages, bakkerzeel and straalen, with the private secretary of the admiral, alonzo de la loo, in addition, had been thus successfully arrested. he could with difficulty conceal his satisfaction, and left the apartment immediately that the trap might be sprung upon the two principal victims of his treachery. he had himself arranged all the details of these two important arrests, while his natural son, the prior don ferdinando, had been compelled to superintend the proceedings. the plot had been an excellent plot, and was accomplished as successfully as it bad been sagaciously conceived. none but spaniards had been employed in any part of the affair. officers of high rank in his majesty's army had performed the part of spies and policemen with much adroitness, nor was it to be expected that the duty would seem a disgrace, when the prior of the knights of saint john was superintendent of the operations, when the captain-general of the netherlands had arranged the whole plan, and when all, from subaltern to viceroy, had received minute instructions as to the contemplated treachery from the great chief of the spanish police, who sat on the throne of castile and aragon. no sooner were these gentlemen in custody than the secretary albornoz was dispatched to the house of count horn, and to that of bakkerzeel, where all papers were immediately seized, inventoried, and placed in the hands of the duke. thus, if amid the most secret communications of egmont and horn or their correspondents, a single treasonable thought should be lurking, it was to go hard but it might be twisted into a cord strong enough to strangle them all. the duke wrote a triumphant letter to his majesty that very night. he apologized that these important captures had been deferred so long but, stated that he had thought it desirable to secure all these leading personages at a single stroke. he then narrated the masterly manner in which the operations had been conducted. certainly, when it is remembered that the duke had only reached brussels upon the d august, and that the two counts were securely lodged in prison on the th of september, it seemed a superfluous modesty upon his part thus to excuse himself for an apparent delay. at any rate, in the eyes of the world and of posterity, his zeal to carry out the bloody commands of his master was sufficiently swift. the consternation was universal throughout the provinces when the arrests became known. egmont's great popularity and distinguished services placed him so high above the mass of citizens, and his attachment to the catholic religion was moreover so well known, as to make it obvious that no man could now be safe, when men like him were in the power of alva and his myrmidons. the animosity to the spaniards increased hourly. the duchess affected indignation at the arrest of the two nobles, although it nowhere appears that she attempted a word in their defence, or lifted, at any subsequent moment, a finger to save them. she was not anxious to wash her hands of the blood of two innocent men; she was only offended that they had been arrested without her permission. the duke had, it is true, sent berlaymont and mansfeld to give her information of the fact, as soon as the capture had been made, with the plausible excuse that he preferred to save her from all the responsibility and all the unpopularity of the measure, nothing, however, could appease her wrath at this and every other indication of the contempt in which he appeared to hold the sister of his sovereign. she complained of his conduct daily to every one who was admitted to her presence. herself oppressed by a sense of personal indignity, she seemed for a moment to identify herself with the cause of the oppressed provinces. she seemed to imagine herself the champion of their liberties, and the netherlanders, for a moments seemed to participate in the delusion. because she was indignant at the insolence of the duke of alva to her self, the honest citizens began to give her credit for a sympathy with their own wrongs. she expressed herself determined to move about from one city to another, until the answer to her demand for dismissal should arrive. she allowed her immediate attendants to abuse the spaniards in good set terms upon every occasion. even her private chaplain permitted himself, in preaching before her in the palace chapel, to denounce the whole nation as a race of traitors and ravishers, and for this offence was only reprimanded, much against her will, by the duchess, and ordered to retire for a season to his convent. she did not attempt to disguise her dissatisfaction at every step which had been taken by the duke. in all this there was much petulance, but very little dignity, while there was neither a spark of real sympathy for the oppressed millions, nor a throb of genuine womanly emotion for the impending fate of the two nobles. her principal grief was that she had pacified the provinces, and that another had now arrived to reap the glory; but it was difficult, while the unburied bones of many heretics were still hanging, by her decree, on the rafters of their own dismantled churches, for her successfully to enact the part of a benignant and merciful regent. but it is very true that the horrors of the duke's administration have been propitious to the fame of margaret, and perhaps more so to that of cardinal granvelle. the faint and struggling rays of humanity which occasionally illumined the course of their government, were destined to be extinguished in a chaos so profound and dark, that these last beams of light seemed clearer and more bountiful by the contrast. the count of hoogstraaten, who was on his way to brussels, had, by good fortune, injured his hand through the accidental discharge of a pistol. detained by this casualty at cologne, he was informed, before his arrival at the capital, of the arrest of his two distinguished friends, and accepted the hint to betake himself at once to a place of safety. the loyalty of the elder mansfeld was beyond dispute even by alva. his son charles had, however, been imprudent, and, as we have seen, had even affixed his name to the earliest copies of the compromise. he had retired, it is true, from all connexion with the confederates, but his father knew well that the young count's signature upon that famous document would prove his death-warrant, were he found in the country. he therefore had sent him into germany before the arrival of the duke. the king's satisfaction was unbounded when he learned this important achievement of alva, and he wrote immediately to express his approbation in the most extravagant terms. cardinal granvelle, on the contrary, affected astonishment at a course which he had secretly counselled. he assured his majesty that he had never believed egmont to entertain sentiments opposed to the catholic religion, nor to the interests of the crown, up to the period of his own departure from the netherlands. he was persuaded, he said, that the count had been abused by others, although, to be sure, the cardinal had learned with regret what egmont had written on the occasion of the baptism of count hoogstraaten's child. as to the other persons arrested, he said that no one regretted their fate. the cardinal added, that he was supposed to be himself the instigator of these captures, but that he was not disturbed by that, or by other imputations of a similar nature. in conversation with those about him, he frequently expressed regret that the prince of orange had been too crafty to be caught in the same net in which his more simple companions were so inextricably entangled. indeed, on the first arrival of the news, that men of high rank had been arrested in brussels, the cardinal eagerly inquired if the taciturn had been taken, for by that term he always characterized the prince. receiving a negative reply, he expressed extreme disappointment, adding, that if orange had escaped, they had taken nobody; and that his capture would have been more valuable than that of every man in the netherlands. peter titelmann, too, the famous inquisitor, who, retired from active life, was then living upon philip's bounty, and encouraged by friendly letters from that monarch, expressed the same opinion. having been informed that egmont and horn had been captured, he eagerly inquired if "wise william" had also been taken. he was, of course, answered in the negative. "then will our joy be but brief," he observed. "woe unto us for the wrath to come from germany." on the th of july, of this year, philip wrote to granvelle to inquire the particulars of a letter which the prince of orange, according to a previous communication of the cardinal, had written to egmont on the occasion of the baptism of count hoogstraaten's child. on the th of august, the cardinal replied, by setting the king right as to the error which he had committed. the letter, as he had already stated, was not written by orange, but by egmont, and he expressed his astonishment that madame de parma had not yet sent it to his majesty. the duchess must have seen it, because her confessor had shown it to the person who was granvelle's informant. in this letter, the cardinal continued, the statement had been made by egmont to the prince of orange that their plots were discovered, that the king was making armaments, that they were unable to resist him, and that therefore it had become necessary to dissemble and to accommodate themselves as well as possible to the present situation, while waiting for other circumstances under which to accomplish their designs. granvelle advised, moreover, that straalen, who had been privy to the letter, and perhaps the amanuensis, should be forthwith arrested. the cardinal was determined not to let the matter sleep, notwithstanding his protestation of a kindly feeling towards the imprisoned count. against the statement that he knew of a letter which amounted to a full confession of treason, out of egmont's own mouth--a fact which, if proved, and perhaps, if even insinuated, would be sufficient with philip to deprive egmont of twenty thousand lives--against these constant recommendations to his suspicious and sanguinary master, to ferret out this document, if it were possible, it must be confessed that the churchman's vague and hypocritical expressions on the side of mercy were very little worth. certainly these seeds of suspicion did not fall upon a barren soil. philip immediately communicated the information thus received to the duke of alva, charging him on repeated occasions to find out what was written, either by egmont or by straalen, at egmont's instigation, stating that such a letter was written at the time of the hoogstraaten baptism, that it would probably illustrate the opinions of egmont at that period, and that the letter itself, which the confessor of madame de parma had once had in his hands, ought, if possible, to be procured. thus the very language used by granvelle to philip was immediately repeated by the monarch to his representative in the netherlands, at the moment when all egmont's papers were in his possession, and when egmont's private secretary was undergoing the torture, in order that; secrets might be wrenched from him which had never entered his brain. the fact that no such letter was found, that the duchess had never alluded to any such document, and that neither a careful scrutiny of papers, nor the application of the rack, could elicit any satisfactory information on the subject, leads to the conclusion that no such treasonable paper had ever existed, save in the imagination of the cardinal. at any rate, it is no more than just to hesitate before affixing a damning character to a document, in the absence of any direct proof that there ever was such a document at all. the confessor of madame de parma told another person, who told the cardinal, that either count egmont, or burgomaster straalen, by command of count egmont, wrote to the prince of orange thus and so. what evidence was this upon which to found a charge of high treason against a man whom granvelle affected to characterize as otherwise neither opposed to the catholic religion, nor to the true service of the king? what vulpine kind of mercy was it on the part of the cardinal, while making such deadly insinuations, to recommend the imprisoned victim to clemency? the unfortunate envoys, marquis bergen and baron montigny, had remained in spain under close observation. of those doomed victims who, in spite of friendly remonstrances and of ominous warnings, had thus ventured into the lion's den, no retreating footmarks were ever to be seen. their fate, now that alva had at last been despatched to the netherlands, seemed to be sealed, and the marquis bergen, accepting the augury in its most evil sense, immediately afterwards had sickened unto death. whether it were the sickness of hope deferred, suddenly changing to despair, or whether it were a still more potent and unequivocal poison which came to the relief of the unfortunate nobleman, will perhaps never be ascertained with certainty. the secrets of those terrible prison-houses of spain, where even the eldest begotten son, and the wedded wife of the monarch, were soon afterwards believed to have been the victims of his dark revenge, can never perhaps be accurately known, until the grave gives up its dead, and the buried crimes of centuries are revealed. it was very soon after the departure of alva's fleet from carthagena, that the marquis bergen felt his end approaching. he sent for the prince of eboli, with whom he had always maintained intimate relations, and whom he believed to be his disinterested friend. relying upon his faithful breast, and trusting to receive from his eyes alone the pious drops of sympathy which he required, the dying noble poured out his long and last complaint. he charged him to tell the man whom he would no longer call his king, that he had ever been true and loyal, that the bitterness of having been constantly suspected, when he was conscious of entire fidelity, was a sharper sorrow than could be lightly believed, and that he hoped the time would come when his own truth and the artifices of his enemies would be brought to light. he closed his parting message by predicting that after he had been long laid in the grave, the impeachments against his character would be, at last, although too late, retracted. so spake the unhappy envoy, and his friend replied with words of consolation. it is probable that he even ventured, in the king's name, to grant him the liberty of returning to his home; the only remedy, as his physicians had repeatedly stated, which could possibly be applied to his disease. but the devilish hypocrisy of philip, and the abject perfidy of eboli, at this juncture, almost surpass belief. the prince came to press the hand and to close the eyes of the dying man whom he called his friend, having first carefully studied a billet of most minute and secret instructions from his master as to the deportment he was to observe upon this solemn occasion and afterwards. this paper, written in philip's own hand, had been delivered to eboli on the very day of his visit to bergen, and bore the superscription that it was not to be read nor opened till the messenger who brought it had left his presence. it directed the prince, if it should be evident marquis was past recovery, to promise him, in the king's name, the permission of returning to the netherlands. should, however, a possibility of his surviving appear, eboli was only to hold out a hope that such permission might eventually be obtained. in case of the death of bergen, the prince was immediately to confer with the grand inquisitor and with the count of feria, upon the measures to be taken for his obsequies. it might seem advisable, in that event to exhibit the regret which the king and his ministers felt for his death, and the great esteem in which they held the nobles of the netherlands. at the same time, eboli was further instructed to confer with the same personages as to the most efficient means for preventing the escape of baron montigny; to keep a vigilant eye upon his movements, and to give general directions to governors and to postmasters to intercept his flight, should it be attempted. finally, in case of bergen's death, the prince was directed to despatch a special messenger, apparently on his own responsibility, and as if in the absence and without the knowledge of the king, to inform the duchess of parma of the event, and to urge her immediately to take possession of the city of bergen-op-zoom, and of all other property belonging to the marquis, until it should be ascertained whether it were not possible to convict him, after death, of treason, and to confiscate his estates accordingly. such were the instructions of philip to eboli, and precisely in accordance with the program, was the horrible comedy enacted at the death-bed of the envoy. three days after his parting interview with his disinterested friend, the marquis was a corpse.--before his limbs were cold, a messenger was on his way to brussels, instructing the regent to sequestrate his property, and to arrest, upon suspicion of heresy, the youthful kinsman and niece, who, by the will of the marquis, were to be united in marriage and to share his estate. the whole drama, beginning with the death scene, was enacted according to order: before the arrival of alva in the netherlands, the property of the marquis was in the hands of the government, awaiting the confiscation,--which was but for a brief season delayed, while on the other hand, baron montigny, bergen's companion in doom, who was not, however, so easily to be carried off by homesickness, was closely confined in the alcazar of segovia, never to leave a spanish prison alive. there is something pathetic in the delusion in which montigny and his brother, the count horn, both indulged, each believing that the other was out of harm's way, the one by his absence from the netherlands, the other by his absence from spain, while both, involved in the same meshes, were rapidly and surely approaching their fate. in the same despatch of the th september, in which the duke communicated to philip the capture of egmont and horn, he announced to him his determination to establish a new court for the trial of crimes committed during the recent period of troubles. this wonderful tribunal was accordingly created with the least possible delay. it was called the council of troubles, but it soon acquired the terrible name, by which it will be forever known in history, of the 'blood-council'. it superseded all other institutions. every court, from those of the municipal magistracies up to the supreme councils of the provinces, were forbidden to take cognizance in future of any cause growing out of the late troubles. the council of state, although it was not formally disbanded, fell into complete desuetude, its members being occasionally summoned into alva's private chambers in an irregular manner, while its principal functions were usurped by the blood-council. not only citizens of every province, but the municipal bodies and even the sovereign provincial estates themselves, were compelled to plead, like humble individuals, before this new and extraordinary tribunal. it is unnecessary to allude to the absolute violation which was thus committed of all charters, laws and privileges, because the very creation of the council was a bold and brutal proclamation that those laws and privileges were at an end. the constitution or maternal principle of this suddenly erected court was of a twofold nature. it defined and it punished the crime of treason. the definitions, couched in eighteen articles, declared it to be treason to have delivered or signed any petition against the new bishops, the inquisition, or the edicts; to have tolerated public preaching under any circumstances; to have omitted resistance to the image-breaking, to the field-preaching, or to the presentation of the request by the nobles, and "either through sympathy or surprise" to have asserted that the king did not possess the right to deprive all the provinces of their liberties, or to have maintained that this present tribunal was bound to respect in any manner any laws or any charters. in these brief and simple, but comprehensive terms, was the crime of high treason defined. the punishment was still more briefly, simply, and comprehensively stated, for it was instant death in all cases. so well too did this new and terrible engine perform its work, that in less than three months from the time of its erection, eighteen hundred human beings had suffered death by its summary proceedings; some of the highest, the noblest, and the most virtuous in the land among the number; nor had it then manifested the slightest indication of faltering in its dread career. yet, strange to say, this tremendous court, thus established upon the ruins of all the ancient institutions of the country, had not been provided with even a nominal authority from any source whatever. the king had granted it no letters patent or charter, nor had even the duke of alva thought it worth while to grant any commissions either in his own name or as captain-general, to any of the members composing the board. the blood-council was merely an informal club, of which the duke was perpetual president, while the other members were all appointed by himself. of these subordinate councillors, two had the right of voting, subject, however, in all cases to his final decision, while the rest of the number did not vote at all. it had not, therefore, in any sense, the character of a judicial, legislative, or executive tribunal, but was purely a board of advice by which the bloody labors of the duke were occasionally lightened as to detail, while not a feather's weight of power or of responsibility was removed from his shoulders. he reserved for himself the final decision upon all causes which should come before the council, and stated his motives for so doing with grim simplicity. "two reasons," he wrote to the king, "have determined me thus to limit the power of the tribunal; the first that, not knowing its members, i might be easily deceived by them; the second, that the men of law only condemn for crimes which are proved; whereas your majesty knows that affairs of state are governed by very different rules from the laws which they have here." it being, therefore, the object of the duke to compose a body of men who would be of assistance to him in condemning for crimes which could not be proved, and in slipping over statutes which were not to be recognized, it must be confessed that he was not unfortunate in the appointments which he made to the office of councillors. in this task of appointment he had the assistance of the experienced viglius. that learned jurisconsult, with characteristic lubricity, had evaded the dangerous honor for himself, but he nominated a number of persons from whom the duke selected his list. the sacerdotal robes which he had so recently and so "craftily" assumed, furnished his own excuse, and in his letters to his faithful hopper he repeatedly congratulated himself upon his success in keeping himself at a distance from so bloody and perilous a post. it is impossible to look at the conduct of the distinguished frisian at this important juncture without contempt. bent only upon saving himself, his property, and his reputation, he did not hesitate to bend before the "most illustrious duke," as he always denominated him, with fulsome and fawning homage. while he declined to dip his own fingers in the innocent blood which was about to flow in torrents, he did not object to officiate at the initiatory preliminaries of the great netherland holocaust. his decent and dainty demeanor seems even more offensive than the jocularity of the real murderers. conscious that no man knew the laws and customs of the netherlands better than himself, he had the humble effrontery to observe that it was necessary for him at that moment silently to submit his own unskilfulness to the superior judgment and knowledge of others. having at last been relieved from the stone of sisyphus, which, as he plaintively expressed himself, he had been rolling for twenty years; having, by the arrival of tisnacq, obtained his discharge as president of the state council, he was yet not unwilling to retain the emoluments and the rank of president of the privy council, although both offices had become sinecures since the erection of the council of blood. although his life had been spent in administrative and judicial employments, he did not blush upon a matter of constitutional law to defer to the authority of such jurisconsults as the duke of alva and his two spanish bloodhounds, vargas and del rio. he did not like, he observed, in his confidential correspondence, to gainsay the duke, when maintaining, that in cases of treason, the privileges of brabant were powerless, although he mildly doubted whether the brabantines would agree with the doctrine. he often thought, he said, of remedies for restoring the prosperity of the provinces, but in action he only assisted the duke, to the best of his abilities, in arranging the blood-council. he wished well to his country, but he was more anxious for the favor of alva. "i rejoice," said he, in one of his letters, "that the most illustrious duke has written to the king in praise of my obsequiousness; when i am censured here for so reverently cherishing him, it is a consolation that my services to the king and to the governor are not unappreciated there." indeed the duke of alva, who had originally suspected the president's character, seemed at last overcome by his indefatigable and cringing homage. he wrote to the king, in whose good graces the learned doctor was most anxious at that portentous period to maintain himself, that the president was very serviceable and diligent, and that he deserved to receive a crumb of comfort from the royal hand. philip, in consequence, wrote in one of his letters a few lines of vague compliment, which could be shown to viglius, according to alva's suggestion. it is, however, not a little characteristic of the spanish court and of the spanish monarch, that, on the very day before, he had sent to the captain-general a few documents of very different import. in order, as he said, that the duke might be ignorant of nothing which related to the netherlands, he forwarded to him copies of the letters written by margaret of parma from brussels, three years before. these letters, as it will be recollected, contained an account of the secret investigations which the duchess had made as to the private character and opinions of viglius--at the very moment when he apparently stood highest in her confidence--and charged him with heresy, swindling, and theft. thus the painstaking and time- serving president, with all his learning and experience, was successively the dupe of margaret and of alva, whom he so obsequiously courted, and always of philip, whom he so feared and worshipped. with his assistance, the list of blood-councillors was quickly completed. no one who was offered the office refused it. noircarmes and berlaymont accepted with very great eagerness. several presidents and councillors of the different provincial tribunals were appointed, but all the netherlanders were men of straw. two spaniards, del rio and vargas, were the only members who could vote; while their decisions, as already stated, were subject to reversal by alva. del rio was a man without character or talent, a mere tool in the hands of his superiors, but juan de vargas was a terrible reality. no better man could have been found in europe for the post to which he was thus elevated. to shed human blood was, in his opinion, the only important business and the only exhilarating pastime of life. his youth had been stained with other crimes. he had been obliged to retire from spain, because of his violation of an orphan child to whom he was guardian, but, in his manhood, he found no pleasure but in murder. he executed alva's bloody work with an industry which was almost superhuman, and with a merriment which would have shamed a demon. his execrable jests ring through the blood and smoke and death-cries of those days of perpetual sacrifice. he was proud to be the double of the iron-hearted duke, and acted so uniformly in accordance with his views, that the right of revision remained but nominal. there could be no possibility of collision where the subaltern was only anxious to surpass an incomparable superior. the figure of vargas rises upon us through the mist of three centuries with terrible distinctness. even his barbarous grammar has not been forgotten, and his crimes against syntax and against humanity have acquired the same immortality. "heretici fraxerunt templa, boni nihili faxerunt contra, ergo debent omnes patibulare," was the comprehensive but barbarous formula of a man who murdered the latin language as ruthlessly as he slaughtered his contemporaries. among the ciphers who composed the rest of the board, the flemish councillor hessels was the one whom the duke most respected. he was not without talent or learning, but the duke only valued him for his cruelty. being allowed to take but little share in the deliberations, hessels was accustomed to doze away his afternoon hours at the council table, and when awakened from his nap in order that he might express an opinion on the case then before the court, was wont to rub his eyes and to call out "ad patibulum, ad patibulum," ("to the gallows with him, to the gallows with him,") with great fervor, but in entire ignorance of the culprit's name or the merits of the case. his wife, naturally disturbed that her husband's waking and sleeping hours were alike absorbed with this hangman's work, more than once ominously expressed her hope to him, that he, whose head and heart were thus engrossed with the gibbet, might not one day come to hang upon it himself; a gloomy prophecy which the future most terribly fulfilled. the council of blood, thus constituted, held its first session on the th september, at the lodgings of alva. springing completely grown and armed to the teeth from the head of its inventor, the new tribunal--at the very outset in possession of all its vigor--forthwith began to manifest a terrible activity in accomplishing the objects of its existence. the councillors having been sworn to "eternal secrecy as to any thing which should be transacted at the board, and having likewise made oath to denounce any one of their number who should violate the pledge," the court was considered as organized. alva worked therein seven hours daily. it may be believed that the subordinates were not spared, and that their office proved no sinecure. their labors, however, were not encumbered by antiquated forms. as this supreme and only tribunal for all the netherlands had no commission or authority save the will of the captain-general, so it was also thought a matter of supererogation to establish a set of rules and orders such as might be useful in less independent courts. the forms of proceeding were brief and artless. there was a rude organization by which a crowd of commissioners, acting as inferior officers of the council, were spread over the provinces, whose business was to collect information concerning all persons who might be incriminated for participation in the recent troubles. the greatest crime, however, was to be rich, and one which could be expiated by no virtues, however signal. alva was bent upon proving himself as accomplished a financier as he was indisputably a consummate commander, and he had promised his master an annual income of , ducats from the confiscations which were to accompany the executions. it was necessary that the blood torrent should flow at once through the netherlands, in order that the promised golden river, a yard deep, according to his vaunt, should begin to irrigate the thirsty soil of spain. it is obvious, from the fundamental laws which were made to define treason at the same moment in which they established the council, that any man might be at any instant summoned to the court. every man, whether innocent or guilty, whether papist or protestant, felt his head shaking on his shoulders. if he were wealthy, there seemed no remedy but flight, which was now almost impossible, from the heavy penalties affixed by the new edict upon all carriers, shipmasters, and wagoners, who should aid in the escape of heretics. a certain number of these commissioners were particularly instructed to collect information as to the treason of orange, louis nassau, brederode, egmont, horn, culemberg, vanden berg, bergen, and montigny. upon such information the proceedings against those distinguished seigniors were to be summarily instituted. particular councillors of the court of blood were charged with the arrangement of these important suits, but the commissioners were to report in the first instance to the duke himself, who afterwards returned the paper into the hands of his subordinates. with regard to the inferior and miscellaneous cases which were daily brought in incredible profusion before the tribunal, the same preliminaries were observed, by way of aping the proceedings in courts of justice. alva sent the cart-loads of information which were daily brought to him, but which neither he nor any other man had time to read, to be disposed of by the board of councillors. it was the duty of the different subalterns, who, as already stated, had no right of voting, to prepare reports upon the cases. nothing could be more summary. information was lodged against a man, or against a hundred men, in one document. the duke sent the papers to the council, and the inferior councillors reported at once to vargas. if the report concluded with a recommendation of death to the man, or the hundred men in question, vargas instantly approved it, and execution was done upon the man, or the hundred men, within forty-eight hours. if the report had any other conclusion, it was immediately sent back for revision, and the reporters were overwhelmed with reproaches by the president. such being the method of operation, it may be supposed that the councillors were not allowed to slacken in their terrible industry. the register of every city, village, and hamlet throughout the netherlands showed the daily lists of men, women, and children thus sacrificed at the shrine of the demon who had obtained the mastery over this unhappy land. it was not often that an individual was of sufficient importance to be tried--if trial it could be called--by himself. it was found more expeditious to send them in batches to the furnace. thus, for example, on the th of january, eighty-four inhabitants of valenciennes were condemned; on another day, ninety-five miscellaneous individuals, from different places in flanders; on another, forty-six inhabitants of malines; on another, thirty-five persons from different localities, and so on. the evening of shrovetide, a favorite holiday in the netherlands, afforded an occasion for arresting and carrying off a vast number of doomed individuals at a single swoop. it was correctly supposed that the burghers, filled with wine and wassail, to which perhaps the persecution under which they lived lent an additional and horrible stimulus, might be easily taken from their beds in great numbers, and be delivered over at once to the council. the plot was ingenious, the net was spread accordingly. many of the doomed were, however, luckily warned of the terrible termination which was impending over their festival, and bestowed themselves in safety for a season. a prize of about five hundred prisoners was all which rewarded the sagacity of the enterprise. it is needless to add that they were all immediately executed. it is a wearisome and odious task to ransack the mouldy records of three centuries ago, in order to reproduce the obscure names of the thousands who were thus sacrificed.. the dead have buried their dead, and are forgotten. it is likewise hardly necessary to state that the proceedings before the council were all 'ex parte', and that an information was almost inevitably followed by a death-warrant. it sometimes happened even that the zeal of the councillors outstripped the industry of the commissioners. the sentences were occasionally in advance of the docket. thus upon one occasion a man's case was called for trial, but before the investigation was commenced it was discovered that he had been already executed. a cursory examination of the papers proved, moreover, as usual, that the culprit had committed no crime. "no matter for that," said vargas, jocosely, "if he has died innocent, it will be all the better for him when he takes his trial in the other world." but, however the councillors might indulge in these gentle jests among themselves, it was obvious that innocence was in reality impossible, according to the rules which had been laid down regarding treason. the practice was in accordance with the precept, and persons were daily executed with senseless pretexts, which was worse than executions with no pretexts at all. thus peter de witt of amsterdam was beheaded, because at one of the tumults in that city he had persuaded a rioter not to fire upon a magistrate. this was taken as sufficient proof that he was a man in authority among the rebels, and he was accordingly put to death. madame juriaen, who, in , had struck with her slipper a little wooden image of the virgin, together with her maid-servant, who had witnessed without denouncing the crime, were both drowned by the hangman in a hogshead placed on the scaffold. death, even, did not in all cases place a criminal beyond the reach of the executioner. egbert meynartzoon, a man of high official rank, had been condemned, together with two colleagues, on an accusation of collecting money in a lutheran church. he died in prison of dropsy. the sheriff was indignant with the physician, because, in spite of cordials and strengthening prescriptions, the culprit had slipped through his fingers before he had felt those of the hangman. he consoled himself by placing the body on a chair, and having the dead man beheaded in company with his colleagues. thus the whole country became a charnel-house; the deathbell tolled hourly in every village; not a family but was called to mourn for its dearest relatives, while the survivors stalked listlessly about, the ghosts of their former selves, among the wrecks of their former homes. the spirit of the nation, within a few months after the arrival of alva, seemed hopelessly broken. the blood of its best and bravest had already stained the scaffold; the men to whom it bad been accustomed to look for guidance and protection, were dead, in prison, or in exile. submission had ceased to be of any avail, flight was impossible, and the spirit of vengeance had alighted at every fireside. the mourners went daily about the streets, for there was hardly a house which had not been made desolate. the scaffolds, the gallows, the funeral piles, which had been sufficient in ordinary times, furnished now an entirely inadequate machinery for the incessant executions. columns and stakes in every street, the door-posts of private houses, the fences in the fields were laden with human carcasses, strangled, burned, beheaded. the orchards in the country bore on many a tree the hideous fruit of human bodies. thus the netherlands were crushed, and but for the stringency of the tyranny which had now closed their gates, would have been depopulated. the grass began to grow in the streets of those cities which had recently nourished so many artisans. in all those great manufacturing and industrial marts, where the tide of human life had throbbed so vigorously, there now reigned the silence and the darkness of midnight. it was at this time that the learned viglius wrote to his friend hopper, that all venerated the prudence and gentleness of the duke of alva. such were among the first-fruits of that prudence and that gentleness. the duchess of parma had been kept in a continued state of irritation. she had not ceased for many months to demand her release from the odious position of a cipher in a land where she had so lately been sovereign, and she had at last obtained it. philip transmitted his acceptance of her resignation by the same courier who brought alva's commission to be governor-general in her place. the letters to the duchess were full of conventional compliments for her past services, accompanied, however, with a less barren and more acceptable acknowledgment, in the shape of a life income of , ducats instead of the hitherto enjoyed by her highness. in addition to this liberal allowance, of which she was never to be deprived, except upon receiving full payment of , ducats, she was presented with , florins by the estates of brabant, and with , by those of flanders. with these substantial tokens of the success of her nine years' fatigue and intolerable anxiety, she at last took her departure from the netherlands, having communicated the dissolution of her connexion with the provinces by a farewell letter to the estates dated th december, . within a few weeks afterwards, escorted by the duke of alva across the frontier of brabant; attended by a considerable deputation of flemish nobility into germany, and accompanied to her journey's end at parma by the count and countess of mansfeld, she finally closed her eventful career in the netherlands. the horrors of the succeeding administration proved beneficial to her reputation. upon the dark ground of succeeding years the lines which recorded her history seemed written with letters of light. yet her conduct in the netherlands offers but few points for approbation, and many for indignant censure. that she was not entirely destitute of feminine softness and sentiments of bounty, her parting despatch to her brother proved. in that letter she recommended to him a course of clemency and forgiveness, and reminded him that the nearer kings approach to god in station, the more they should endeavor to imitate him in his attributes of benignity. but the language of this farewell was more tender than had been the spirit of her government. one looks in vain, too, through the general atmosphere of kindness which pervades the epistle; for a special recommendation of those distinguished and doomed seigniors, whose attachment to her person and whose chivalrous and conscientious endeavors to fulfil her own orders, had placed them upon the edge of that precipice from which they were shortly to be hurled. the men who had restrained her from covering herself with disgrace by a precipitate retreat from the post of danger, and who had imperilled their lives by obedience to her express instructions, had been long languishing in solitary confinement, never to be terminated except by a traitor's death--yet we search in vain for a kind word in their behalf. meantime the second civil war in france had broken out. the hollow truce by which the guise party and the huguenots had partly pretended to deceive each other was hastened to its end; among other causes, by the march of alva, to the netherlands. the huguenots had taken alarm, for they recognized the fellowship which united their foes in all countries against the reformation, and conde and coligny knew too well that the same influence which had brought alva to brussels would soon create an exterminating army against their followers. hostilities were resumed with more bitterness than ever. the battle of st. denis--fierce, fatal, but indecisive--was fought. the octogenarian hero, montmorency, fighting like a foot soldier, refusing to yield his sword, and replying to the respectful solicitations of his nearest enemy by dashing his teeth down his throat with the butt-end of his pistol, the hero of so many battles, whose defeat at st. quintin had been the fatal point in his career, had died at last in his armor, bravely but not gloriously, in conflict with his own countrymen, led by his own heroic nephew. the military control of the catholic party was completely in the hand of the guises; the chancellor de l'hopital had abandoned the court after a last and futile effort to reconcile contending factions, which no human power could unite; the huguenots had possessed themselves of rochelle and of other strong places, and, under the guidance of adroit statesmen and accomplished generals, were pressing the most christian monarch hard in the very heart of his kingdom. as early as the middle of october, while still in antwerp, alva had received several secret agents of the french monarch, then closely beleaguered in his capital. cardinal lorraine offered to place several strong places of france in the hands of the spaniard, and alva had written to philip that he was disposed to accept the offer, and to render the service. the places thus held would be a guarantee for his expenses, he said, while in case king charles and his brother should die, "their possession would enable philip to assert his own claim to the french crown in right of his wife, the salic law being merely a pleasantry." the queen dowager, adopting now a very different tone from that which characterized her conversation at the bayonne interview, wrote to alva, that, if for want of spanish musketeers, which she requested him to furnish, she should be obliged to succumb, she chose to disculpate herself in advance before god and christian princes for the peace which she should be obliged to make. the duke wrote to her in reply, that it was much better to have a kingdom ruined in preserving it for god and the king by war, than to have it kept entire without war, to the profit of the devil and of his followers. he was also reported on another occasion to have reminded her of the spanish proverb--that the head of one salmon is worth those of a hundred frogs. the hint, if it were really given, was certainly destined to be acted upon. the duke not only furnished catherine with advice, but with the musketeers which she had solicited. two thousand foot and fifteen hundred horse, under the count of aremberg, attended by a choice band of the catholic nobility of the netherlands, had joined the royal camp at paris before the end of the year, to take their part in the brief hostilities by which the second treacherous peace was to be preceded. meantime, alva was not unmindful of the business which had served as a pretext in the arrest of the two counts. the fortifications of the principal cities were pushed on with great rapidity. the memorable citadel of antwerp in particular had already been commenced in october under the superintendence of the celebrated engineers, pacheco and gabriel de cerbelloni. in a few months it was completed, at a cost of one million four hundred thousand florins, of which sum the citizens, in spite of their remonstrances, were compelled to contribute more than one quarter. the sum of four hundred thousand florins was forced from the burghers by a tax upon all hereditary property within the municipality. two thousand workmen were employed daily in the construction of this important fortress, which was erected, as its position most plainly manifested, not to protect, but to control the commercial capital of the provinces. it stood at the edge of the city, only separated from its walls by an open esplanade. it was the most perfect pentagon in europe, having one of its sides resting on the scheld, two turned towards the city, and two towards the open country. five bastions, with walls of hammered stone, connected by curtains of turf and masonry, surrounded by walls measuring a league in circumference, and by an outer moat fed by the scheld, enclosed a spacious enceinte, where a little church with many small lodging-houses, shaded by trees and shrubbery, nestled among the bristling artillery, as if to mimic the appearance of a peaceful and pastoral village. to four of the five bastions, the captain-general, with characteristic ostentation, gave his own names and titles. one was called the duke, the second ferdinando, a third toledo, a fourth alva, while the fifth was baptized with the name of the ill-fated engineer, pacheco. the watergate was decorated with the escutcheon of alva, surrounded by his golden fleece collar, with its pendant lamb of god; a symbol of blasphemous irony, which still remains upon the fortress, to recal the image of the tyrant and murderer. each bastion was honeycombed with casemates and subterranean storehouses, and capable of containing within its bowels a vast supply of provisions, munitions, and soldiers. such was the celebrated citadel built to tame the turbulent spirit of antwerp, at the cost of those whom it was to terrify and to insult. etext editor's bookmarks: conde and coligny furnished, in addition, with a force of two thousand prostitutes he came as a conqueror not as a mediator hope deferred, suddenly changing to despair meantime the second civil war in france had broken out spendthrift of time, he was an economist of blood the greatest crime, however, was to be rich time and myself are two this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley [chapter ix., part .] calvinists defeated at lannoy and at waterlots--elation of the government--the siege pressed more closely--cruelties practised upon the country people--courage of the inhabitants--remonstrance to the knights of the fleece--conduct of brederode--orange at amsterdam-- new oath demanded by government--orange refuses--he offers his resignation of all offices--meeting at breda--new "request" of brederode--he creates disturbances and levies troops in antwerp-- conduct of hoogstraaten--plans of brederode--supposed connivance of orange--alarm at brussels--tholouse at ostrawell--brederode in holland--de beauvoir defeats tholouse--excitement at antwerp-- determined conduct of orange--three days' tumult at antwerp suppressed by the wisdom and courage of orange. it was then that noircarmes and his "seven sleepers" showed that they were awake. early in january, , that fierce soldier, among whose vices slothfulness was certainly never reckoned before or afterwards, fell upon the locksmith's army at zannoy, while the seigneur de rassinghem attacked the force at waterlots on the same day. noircarmes destroyed half his enemies at the very first charge. the ill-assorted rabble fell asunder at once. the preacher fought well, but his undisciplined force fled at the first sight of the enemy. those who carried arquebusses threw them down without a single discharge, that they might run the faster. at least a thousand were soon stretched dead upon the field; others were hunted into the river. twenty-six hundred, according to the catholic accounts, were exterminated in an hour. rassinghem, on his part, with five or six hundred regulars, attacked teriel's force, numbering at least twice as many. half of these were soon cut to pieces and put to flight. six hundred, however, who had seen some service, took refuge in the cemetery of waterlots. here, from behind the stone wall of the inclosure, they sustained the attack of the catholics with some spirit. the repose of the dead in the quiet country church-yard was disturbed by the uproar of a most sanguinary conflict. the temporary fort was soon carried, and the huguenots retreated into the church. a rattling arquebusade was poured in upon them as they struggled in the narrow doorway. at least four hundred corpses were soon strewn among the ancient graves. the rest were hunted, into the church, and from the church into the belfry. a fire was then made in the steeple and kept up till all were roasted or suffocated. not a man escaped. this was the issue in the first stricken field in the netherlands, for the cause of religious liberty. it must be confessed that it was not very encouraging to the lovers of freedom. the partisans of government were elated, in proportion to the apprehension which had been felt for the result of this rising in the walloon country. "these good hypocrites," wrote a correspondent of orange, "are lifting up their heads like so many dromedaries. they are becoming unmanageable with pride." the duke of aerschot and count meghem gave great banquets in brussels, where all the good chevaliers drank deep in honor of the victory, and to the health of his majesty and madame. "i saw berlaymont just go by the window," wrote schwartz to the prince. "he was coming from aerschot's dinner with a face as red as the cardinal's new hat." on the other hand, the citizens of valenciennes were depressed in equal measure with the exultation of their antagonists. there was no more talk of seven sleepers now, no more lunettes stuck upon lances, to spy the coming forces of the enemy. it was felt that the government was wide awake, and that the city would soon see the impending horrors without telescopes. the siege was pressed more closely. noircarmes took up a commanding position at saint armand, by which he was enabled to cut off all communication between the city and the surrounding country. all the villages in the neighborhood were pillaged; all the fields laid waste. all the infamies which an insolent soldiery can inflict upon helpless peasantry were daily enacted. men and women who attempted any communication--with the city, were murdered in cold blood by hundreds. the villagers were plundered of their miserable possessions, children were stripped naked in the midst of winter for the sake of the rags which covered them; matrons and virgins were sold at public auction by the tap of drum; sick and wounded wretches were burned over slow fires, to afford amusement to the soldiers. in brief, the whole unmitigated curse which military power inflamed by religious bigotry can embody, had descended upon the heads of these unfortunate provincials who had dared to worship god in christian churches without a roman ritual. meantime the city maintained, a stout heart still. the whole population were arranged under different banners. the rich and poor alike took arms to defend the walls which sheltered them. the town paupers were enrolled in three companies, which bore the significant title of the "tons-nulls" or the "stark-nakeds," and many was the fierce conflict delivered outside the gates by men, who, in the words of a catholic then in the city, might rather be taken for "experienced veterans than for burghers and artisans." at the same time, to the honor of valenciennes, it must be stated, upon the same incontestable authority, that not a catholic in the city was injured or insulted. the priests who had remained there were not allowed to say mass, but they never met with an opprobrious word or look from the people. the inhabitants of the city called upon the confederates for assistance. they also issued an address to the knights of the fleece; a paper which narrated the story of their wrongs in pathetic and startling language. they appealed to those puissant and illustrious chevaliers to prevent the perpetration of the great wrong which was now impending over so many innocent heads. "wait not," they said, "till the thunderbolt has fallen, till the deluge has overwhelmed us, till the fires already blazing have laid the land in coals and ashes, till no other course be possible, but to abandon the country in its desolation to foreign barbarity. let the cause of the oppressed come to your ears. so shall your conscience become a shield of iron; so shall the happiness of a whole country witness before the angels, of your truth to his majesty, in the cause of his true grandeur and glory." these stirring appeals to an order of which philip was chief, viglius chancellor, egmont, mansfeld, aerschot, berlaymont, and others, chevaliers, were not likely to produce much effect. the city could rely upon no assistance in those high quarters. meantime, however, the bold brederode was attempting a very extensive diversion, which, if successful, would have saved valenciennes and the whole country beside. that eccentric personage, during the autumn and winter had been creating disturbances in various parts of the country. wherever he happened to be established, there came from the windows of his apartments a sound of revelry and uproar. suspicious characters in various costumes thronged his door and dogged his footsteps. at the same time the authorities felt themselves obliged to treat him with respect. at horn he had entertained many of the leading citizens at a great banquet.--the-health-of-the-beggars had been drunk in mighty potations, and their shibboleth had resounded through the house. in the midst of the festivities, brederode had suspended a beggar's-medal around the neck of the burgomaster, who had consented to be his guest upon that occasion, but who had no intention of enrolling himself in the fraternities of actual or political mendicants. the excellent magistrate, however, was near becoming a member of both. the emblem by which he had been conspicuously adorned proved very embarrassing to him upon his recovery from the effects of his orgies with the "great beggar," and he was subsequently punished for his imprudence by the confiscation of half his property. early in january, brederode had stationed himself in his city of viane. there, in virtue of his seignorial rights, he had removed all statues and other popish emblems from the churches, performing the operation, however, with much quietness and decorum. he had also collected many disorderly men at arms in this city, and had strengthened its fortifications, to resist, as he said, the threatened attacks of duke eric of brunswick and his german mercenaries. a printing-press was established in the place, whence satirical pamphlets, hymn-books, and other pestiferous productions, were constantly issuing to the annoyance of government. many lawless and uproarious individuals enjoyed the count's hospitality. all the dregs and filth of the provinces, according to doctor viglius, were accumulated at viane as in a cesspool. along the placid banks of the lech, on which river the city stands, the "hydra of rebellion" lay ever coiled and threatening. brederode was supposed to be revolving vast schemes, both political and military, and margaret of parma was kept in continual apprehension by the bravado of this very noisy conspirator. she called upon william of orange, as usual, for assistance. the prince, however, was very ill- disposed to come to her relief. an extreme disgust for the policy of the government already began to, characterize his public language. in the autumn and winter he had done all that man could do for the safety of the monarch's crown, and for the people's happiness. his services in antwerp have been recorded. as soon as he could tear himself from that city, where the magistrates and all classes of citizens clung to him as to their only saviour, he had hastened to tranquillize the provinces of holland, zeland, and utrecht. he had made arrangements in the principal cities there upon the same basis which he had adopted in antwerp, and to which margaret had consented in august. it was quite out of the question to establish order without permitting the reformers, who constituted much the larger portion of the population, to have liberty of religious exercises at some places, not consecrated, within the cities. at amsterdam, for instance, as he informed the duchess, there were swarms of unlearned, barbarous people, mariners and the like, who could by no means perceive the propriety of doing their preaching in the open country, seeing that the open country, at that season, was quite under water.--margaret's gracious suggestion that, perhaps, something might be done with boats, was also considered inadmissible. "i know not," said orange, "who could have advised your highness to make such a proposition." he informed her, likewise; that the barbarous mariners had a clear right to their preaching; for the custom had already been established previously to the august treaty, at a place called the "lastadge," among the wharves. "in the name of god, then," wrote margaret; "let them continue to preach in the lastadge." this being all the barbarians wanted, an accord, with the full consent of the regent, was drawn up at amsterdam and the other northern cities. the catholics kept churches and cathedrals, but in the winter season, the greater part of the population obtained permission to worship god upon dry land, in warehouses and dock-yards. within a very few weeks, however, the whole arrangement was coolly cancelled by the duchess, her permission revoked, and peremptory prohibition of all preaching within or without the walls proclaimed. the government was growing stronger. had not noircarmes and rassinghem cut to pieces three or four thousand of these sectaries marching to battle under parsons, locksmiths, and similar chieftains? were not all lovers of good government "erecting their heads like dromedaries?" it may easily be comprehended that the prince could not with complacency permit himself to be thus perpetually stultified by a weak, false, and imperious woman. she had repeatedly called upon him when she was appalled at the tempest and sinking in the ocean; and she had as constantly disavowed his deeds and reviled his character when she felt herself in safety again. he had tranquillized the old batavian provinces, where the old batavian spirit still lingered, by his personal influence and his unwearied exertions. men of all ranks and religions were grateful for his labors. the reformers had not gained much, but they were satisfied. the catholics retained their churches, their property, their consideration. the states of holland had voted him fifty thousand florins, as an acknowledgment of his efforts in restoring peace. he had refused the present. he was in debt, pressed for money, but he did not choose, as he informed philip, "that men should think his actions governed by motives of avarice or particular interest, instead of the true affection which he bore to his majesty's service and the good of the country." nevertheless, his back was hardly turned before all his work was undone by the regent. a new and important step on the part of the government had now placed him in an attitude of almost avowed rebellion. all functionaries, from governors of provinces down to subalterns in the army, were required to take a new oath of allegiance, "novum et hactenua inusitatum religionia juramentum," as the prince characterized it, which was, he said, quite equal to the inquisition. every man who bore his majesty's commission was ordered solemnly to pledge himself to obey the orders of government, every where, and against every person, without limitation or restriction.--count mansfeld, now "factotum at brussels," had taken the oath with great fervor. so had aerachot, berlaymont, meghem, and, after a little wavering, egmont. orange spurned the proposition. he had taken oaths enough which he had never broken, nor intended now to break: he was ready still to do every thing conducive to the real interest of the monarch. who dared do more was no true servant to the government, no true lover of the country. he would never disgrace himself by a blind pledge, through which he might be constrained to do acts detrimental, in his opinion, to the safety of the crown, the happiness of the commonwealth, and his own honor. the alternative presented he willingly embraced. he renounced all his offices, and desired no longer to serve a government whose policy he did not approve, a king by whom he was suspected. his resignation was not accepted by the duchess, who still made efforts to retain the services of a man who was necessary to her administration. she begged him, notwithstanding the purely defensive and watchful attitude which he had now assumed, to take measures that brederode should abandon his mischievous courses. she also reproached the prince with having furnished that personage with artillery for his fortifications. orange answered, somewhat contemptuously, that he was not brederode's keeper, and had no occasion to meddle with his affairs. he had given him three small field-pieces, promised long ago; not that he mentioned that circumstance as an excuse for the donation. "thank god," said he, "we have always had the liberty in this country of making to friends or relatives what presents we liked, and methinks that things have come to a pretty pass when such trifles are scrutinized." certainly, as suzerain of viane, and threatened with invasion in his seignorial rights, the count might think himself justified in strengthening the bulwarks of his little stronghold, and the prince could hardly be deemed very seriously to endanger the safety of the crown by the insignificant present which had annoyed the regent. it is not so agreeable to contemplate the apparent intimacy which the prince accorded to so disreputable a character, but orange was now in hostility to the government, was convinced by evidence, whose accuracy time was most signally to establish, that his own head, as well as many others, were already doomed to the block, while the whole country was devoted to abject servitude, and he was therefore disposed to look with more indulgence upon the follies of those who were endeavoring, however weakly and insanely, to avert the horrors which he foresaw. the time for reasoning had passed. all that true wisdom and practical statesmanship could suggest, he had already placed at the disposal of a woman who stabbed him in the back even while she leaned upon his arm--of a king who had already drawn his death warrant, while reproaching his "cousin of orange" for want of confidence in the royal friendship. was he now to attempt the subjugation of his country by interfering with the proceedings of men whom he had no power to command, and who, at least, were attempting to oppose tyranny? even if he should do so, he was perfectly aware of the reward, reserved for his loyalty. he liked not such honors as he foresaw for all those who had ever interposed between the monarch and his vengeance. for himself he had the liberation of a country, the foundation of a free commonwealth to achieve. there was much work for those hands before he should fall a victim to the crowned assassin. early in february, brederode, hoogstraaten, horn, and some other gentlemen, visited the prince at breda. here it is supposed the advice of orange was asked concerning the new movement contemplated by brederode. he was bent upon presenting a new petition to the duchess with great solemnity. there is no evidence to show that the prince approved the step, which must have seemed to him superfluous, if not puerile. he probably regarded the matter with indifference. brederode, however, who was fond of making demonstrations, and thought himself endowed with a genius for such work, wrote to the regent for letters of safe conduct that he might come to brussels with his petition. the passports were contemptuously refused. he then came to antwerp, from which city he forwarded the document to brussels in a letter. by this new request, the exercise of the reformed religion was claimed as a right, while the duchess was summoned to disband the forces which she had been collecting, and to maintain in good faith the "august" treaty. these claims were somewhat bolder than those of the previous april, although the liberal party was much weaker and the confederacy entirely disbanded. brederode, no doubt, thought it good generalship to throw the last loaf of bread into the enemy's camp before the city should surrender. his haughty tone was at once taken down by margaret of parma. "she wondered," she said, "what manner of nobles these were, who, after requesting, a year before, to be saved only from the inquisition, now presumed to talk about preaching in the cities." the concessions of august had always been odious, and were now canceled. "as for you and your accomplices," she continued to the count, "you will do well to go to your homes at once without meddling with public affairs, for, in case of disobedience, i shall deal with you as i shall deem expedient." brederode not easily abashed, disregarded the advice, and continued in antwerp. here, accepting the answer of the regent as a formal declaration of hostilities, he busied himself in levying troops in and about the city. orange had returned to antwerp early in february. during his absence, hoogstraaten had acted as governor at the instance of the prince and of the regent. during the winter that nobleman, who was very young and very fiery, had carried matters with a high hand, whenever there had been the least attempt at sedition. liberal in principles, and the devoted friend of orange, he was disposed however to prove that the champions of religious liberty were not the patrons of sedition. a riot occurring in the cathedral, where a violent mob were engaged in defacing whatever was left to deface in that church, and in heaping insults on the papists at their worship, the little count, who, says a catholic contemporary, "had the courage of a lion," dashed in among them, sword in hand, killed three upon the spot, and, aided by his followers, succeeded in slaying, wounding, or capturing all the rest. he had also tracked the ringleader of the tumult to his lodging, where he had caused him to be arrested at midnight, and hanged at once in his shirt without any form of trial. such rapid proceedings little resembled the calm and judicious moderation of orange upon all occasions, but they certainly might have sufficed to convince philip that all antagonists of the inquisition were not heretics and outlaws. upon the arrival of the prince in antwerp, it was considered advisable that hoogstraaten should remain associated with him in the temporary government of the city. during the month of february, brederode remained in antwerp, secretly enrolling troops. it was probably his intention--if so desultory and irresponsible an individual could be said to have an intention--to make an attempt upon the island of walcheren. if such important cities as flushing and middelburg could be gained, he thought it possible to prevent the armed invasion now soon expected from spain. orange had sent an officer to those cities, who was to reconnoitre their condition, and to advise them against receiving a garrison from government without his authority. so far he connived at brederode's proceedings, as he had a perfect right to do, for walcheren was within what had been the prince's government, and he had no disposition that these cities should share the fate of tourney, valenciennes, bois le duc, and other towns which had already passed or were passing under the spears of foreign mercenaries. it is also probable that he did not take any special pains to check the enrolments of brederode. the peace of antwerp was not endangered, and to the preservation of that city the prince seemed now to limit himself. he was hereditary burgrave of antwerp, but officer of philip's never more. despite the shrill demands of duchess margaret, therefore; the prince did not take very active measures by which the crown of philip might be secured. he, perhaps, looked upon the struggle almost with indifference. nevertheless, he issued a formal proclamation by which the count's enlistments were forbidden. van der aa, a gentleman who had been active in making these levies, was compelled to leave the city. brederode was already gone to the north to busy himself with further enrolments. in the mean time there had been much alarm in brussels. egmont, who omitted no opportunity of manifesting his loyalty, offered to throw himself at once into the isle of walcheren, for the purpose of dislodging any rebels who might have effected an entrance. he collected accordingly seven or eight hundred walloon veterans, at his disposal in flanders, in the little port of sas de ghent, prepared at once to execute his intention, "worthy," says a catholic writer, "of his well-known courage and magnanimity." the duchess expressed gratitude for the count's devotion and loyalty, but his services in the sequel proved unnecessary. the rebels, several boat-loads of whom had been cruising about in the neighborhood of flushing during the early part of march, had been refused admittance into any of the ports on the island. they therefore sailed up the scheld, and landed at a little village called ostrawell, at the distance of somewhat more than a mile from antwerp. the commander of the expedition was marnix of tholouse, brother to marnix of saint aldegonde. this young nobleman, who had left college to fight for the cause of religious liberty, was possessed of fine talents and accomplishments. like his illustrious brother, he was already a sincere convert to the doctrines of the reformed church. he had nothing, however, but courage to recommend him as a leader in a military expedition. he was a mere boy, utterly without experience in the field. his troops were raw levies, vagabonds and outlaws. such as it was, however, his army was soon posted at ostrawell in a convenient position, and with considerable judgment. he had the scheld and its dykes in his rear, on his right and left the dykes and the village. in front he threw up a breastwork and sunk a trench. here then was set up the standard of rebellion, and hither flocked daily many malcontents from the country round. within a few days three thousand men were in his camp. on the other handy brederode was busy in holland, and boasted of taking the field ere long with six thousand soldiers at the very least. together they would march to the relief of valenciennes, and dictate peace in brussels. it was obvious that this matter could not be allowed to go on. the duchess, with some trepidation, accepted the offer made by philip de lannoy, seigneur de beauvoir, commander of her body-guard in brussels, to destroy this nest of rebels without delay. half the whole number of these soldiers was placed at his disposition, and egmont supplied de beauvoir with four hundred of his veteran walloons. with a force numbering only eight hundred, but all picked men, the intrepid officer undertook his enterprise, with great despatch and secrecy. upon the th march, the whole troop was sent off in small parties, to avoid suspicion, and armed only with sword and dagger. their helmets, bucklers, arquebusses, corselets, spears, standards and drums, were delivered to their officers, by whom they were conveyed noiselessly to the place of rendezvous. before daybreak, upon the following morning, de beauvoir met his soldiers at the abbey of saint bernard, within a league of antwerp. here he gave them their arms, supplied them with refreshments, and made them a brief speech. he instructed them that they were to advance, with furled banners and without beat of drum, till within sight of the enemy, that the foremost section was to deliver its fire, retreat to the rear and load, to be followed by the next, which was to do the same, and above all, that not an arquebus should be discharged till the faces of the enemy could be distinguished. the troop started. after a few minutes' march they were in full sight of ostrawell. they then displayed their flags and advanced upon the fort with loud huzzas. tholouse was as much taken by surprise as if they had suddenly emerged from the bowels of the earth. he had been informed that the government at brussels was in extreme trepidation. when he first heard the advancing trumpets and sudden shouts, he thought it a detachment of brederode's promised force. the cross on the banners soon undeceived him. nevertheless "like a brave and generous young gentleman as he was," he lost no time in drawing up his men for action, implored them to defend their breastworks, which were impregnable against so small a force, and instructed them to wait patiently with their fire, till the enemy were near enough to be marked. these orders were disobeyed. the "young scholar," as de beauvoir had designated him, had no power to infuse his own spirit into his rabble rout of followers. they were already panic-struck by the unexpected appearance of the enemy. the catholics came on with the coolness of veterans, taking as deliberate aim as if it had been they, not their enemies, who were behind breastworks. the troops of tholouse fired wildly, precipitately, quite over the heads of the assailants. many of the defenders were slain as fast as they showed themselves above their bulwarks. the ditch was crossed, the breastwork carried at, a single determined charge. the rebels made little resistance, but fled as soon as the enemy entered their fort. it was a hunt, not a battle. hundreds were stretched dead in the camp; hundreds were driven into the scheld; six or eight hundred took refuge in a farm-house; but de beauvoir's men set fire to the building, and every rebel who had entered it was burned alive or shot. no quarter was given. hardly a man of the three thousand who had held the fort escaped. the body of tholouse was cut into a hundred pieces. the seigneur de beauvoir had reason, in the brief letter which gave an account of this exploit, to assure her highness that there were "some very valiant fellows in his little troop." certainly they had accomplished the enterprise entrusted to them with promptness, neatness, and entire success. of the great rebellious gathering, which every day had seemed to grow more formidable, not a vestige was left. this bloody drama had been enacted in full sight of antwerp. the fight had lasted from daybreak till ten o'clock in the forenoon, during the whole of which period, the city ramparts looking towards ostrawell, the roofs of houses, the towers of churches had been swarming with eager spectators. the sound of drum and trumpet, the rattle of musketry, the shouts of victory, the despairing cries of the vanquished were heard by thousands who deeply sympathized with the rebels thus enduring so sanguinary a chastisement. in antwerp there were forty thousand people opposed to the church of rome. of this number the greater proportion were calvinists, and of these calvinists there were thousands looking down from the battlements upon the disastrous fight. the excitement soon became uncontrollable. before ten o'clock vast numbers of sectaries came pouring towards the red gate, which afforded the readiest egress to the scene of action; the drawbridge of the ostrawell gate having been destroyed the night before by command of orange. they came from every street and alley of the city. some were armed with lance, pike, or arquebus; some bore sledge-hammers; others had the partisans, battle-axes, and huge two-handed swords of the previous century; all were determined upon issuing forth to the rescue of their friends in the fields outside the town. the wife of tholouse, not yet aware of her husband's death, although his defeat was obvious, flew from street to street, calling upon the calvinists to save or to avenge their perishing brethren. a terrible tumult prevailed. ten thousand men were already up and in arms.--it was then that the prince of orange, who was sometimes described by his enemies as timid and pusillanimous by nature, showed the mettle he was made of. his sense of duty no longer bade him defend the crown of philip--which thenceforth was to be entrusted to the hirelings of the inquisition--but the vast population of antwerp, the women, the children, and the enormous wealth of the richest deity in the world had been confided to his care, and he had accepted the responsibility. mounting his horse, he made his appearance instantly at the red gate, before as formidable a mob as man has ever faced. he came there almost alone, without guards. hoogstraaten arrived soon afterwards with the same intention. the prince was received with howls of execration. a thousand hoarse voices called him the pope's servant, minister of antichrist, and lavished upon him many more epithets of the same nature. his life was in imminent danger. a furious clothier levelled an arquebus full at his breast. "die, treacherous villain?" he cried; "thou who art the cause that our brethren have perished thus miserably in yonder field." the loaded weapon was struck away by another hand in the crowd, while the prince, neither daunted by the ferocious demonstrations against his life, nor enraged by the virulent abuse to which he was subjected, continued tranquilly, earnestly, imperatively to address the crowd. william of orange had that in his face and tongue "which men willingly call master- authority." with what other talisman could he, without violence and without soldiers, have quelled even for a moment ten thousand furious calvinists, armed, enraged against his person, and thirsting for vengeance on catholics. the postern of the red gate had already been broken through before orange and his colleague, hoogstraaten, had arrived. the most excited of the calvinists were preparing to rush forth upon the enemy at ostrawell. the prince, after he had gained the ear of the multitude, urged that the battle was now over, that the reformers were entirely cut to pieces, the enemy, retiring, and that a disorderly and ill-armed mob would be unable to retrieve the fortunes of the day. many were persuaded to abandon the design. five hundred of the most violent, however, insisted upon leaving the gates, and the governors, distinctly warning these zealots that their blood must be upon their own heads, reluctantly permitted that number to issue from the city. the rest of the mob, not appeased, but uncertain, and disposed to take vengeance upon the catholics within the walls, for the disaster which had been occurring without, thronged tumultuously to the long, wide street, called the mere, situate in the very heart of the city. meantime the ardor of those who had sallied from the gate grew sensibly cooler, when they found themselves in the open fields. de beauvoir, whose men, after the victory, had scattered in pursuit of the fugitives, now heard the tumult in the city. suspecting an attack, he rallied his compact little army again for a fresh encounter. the last of the vanquished tholousians who had been captured; more fortunate than their predecessors, had been spared for ransom. there were three hundred of them; rather a dangerous number of prisoners for a force of eight hundred, who were just going into another battle. de beauvoir commanded his soldiers, therefore, to shoot them all. this order having been accomplished, the catholics marched towards antwerp, drums beating, colors flying. the five hundred calvinists, not liking their appearance, and being in reality outnumbered, retreated within; the gates as hastily as they had just issued from them. de beauvoir advanced close to the city moat, on the margin of which he planted the banners of the unfortunate tholouse, and sounded a trumpet of defiance. finding that the citizens had apparently no stomach for the fight, he removed his trophies, and took his departure. on the other hand, the tumult within the walls had again increased. the calvinists had been collecting in great numbers upon the mere. this was a large and splendid thoroughfare, rather an oblong market-place than a street, filled with stately buildings, and communicating by various cross streets with the exchange and with many other public edifices. by an early hour in the afternoon twelve or fifteen thousand calvinists, all armed and fighting men, had assembled upon the place. they had barricaded the whole precinct with pavements and upturned wagons. they had already broken into the arsenal and obtained many field-pieces, which were planted at the entrance of every street and by-way. they had stormed the city jail and liberated the prisoners, all of whom, grateful and ferocious, came to swell the numbers who defended the stronghold on the mere. a tremendous mischief was afoot. threats of pillaging the churches and the houses of the catholics, of sacking the whole opulent city, were distinctly heard among this powerful mob, excited by religious enthusiasm, but containing within one great heterogeneous mass the elements of every crime which humanity can commit. the alarm throughout the city was indescribable. the cries of women and children, as they remained in trembling expectation of what the next hour might bring forth, were, said one who heard them, "enough to soften the hardest hearts." nevertheless the diligence and courage of the prince kept pace with the insurrection. he had caused the eight companies of guards enrolled in september, to be mustered upon the square in front of the city hall, for the protection of that building and of the magistracy. he had summoned the senate of the city, the board of ancients, the deans of guilds, the ward masters, to consult with him at the council-room. at the peril of his life he had again gone before the angry mob in the mere, advancing against their cannon and their outcries, and compelling them to appoint eight deputies to treat with him and the magistrates at the town-hall. this done, quickly but deliberately he had drawn up six articles, to which those deputies gave their assent, and in which the city government cordially united. these articles provided that the keys of the city should remain in the possession of the prince and of hoogstraaten, that the watch should be held by burghers and soldiers together, that the magistrates should permit the entrance of no garrison, and that the citizens should be entrusted with the care of, the charters, especially with that of the joyful entrance. these arrangements, when laid before the assembly at the mere by their deputies, were not received with favor. the calvinists demanded the keys of the city. they did not choose to be locked up at the mercy of any man. they had already threatened to blow the city hall into the air if the keys were not delivered to them. they claimed that burghers, without distinction of religion, instead of mercenary troops, should be allowed to guard the market-place in front of the town-hall. it was now nightfall, and no definite arrangement had been concluded. nevertheless, a temporary truce was made, by means of a concession as to the guard. it was agreed that the burghers, calvinists and lutherans, as well as catholics, should be employed to protect the city. by subtlety, however, the calvinists detailed for that service, were posted not in the town-house square, but on the ramparts and at the gates. a night of dreadful expectation was passed. the army of fifteen thousand mutineers remained encamped and barricaded on the mere, with guns loaded and artillery pointed. fierce cries of "long live the beggars,"--"down with the papists," and other significant watchwords, were heard all night long, but no more serious outbreak occurred. during the whole of the following day, the calvinists remained in their encampment, the catholics and the city guardsmen at their posts near the city hall. the prince was occupied in the council-chamber from morning till night with the municipal authorities, the deputies of "the religion," and the guild officers, in framing a new treaty of peace. towards evening fifteen articles were agreed upon, which were to be proposed forthwith to the insurgents, and in case of nonacceptance to be enforced. the arrangement provided that there should be no garrison; that the september contracts permitting the reformed worship at certain places within the city should be maintained; that men of different parties should refrain from mutual insults; that the two governors, the prince and hoogstraaten, should keep the keys; that the city should be guarded by both soldiers and citizens, without distinction of religious creed; that a band of four hundred cavalry and a small flotilla of vessels of war should be maintained for the defence of the place, and that the expenses to be incurred should be levied upon all classes, clerical and lay, catholic and reformed, without any exception. it had been intended that the governors, accompanied by the magistrates, should forthwith proceed to the mere, for the purpose of laying these terms before the insurgents. night had, however, already arrived, and it was understood that the ill-temper of the calvinists had rather increased than diminished, so that it was doubtful whether the arrangement would be accepted. it was, therefore, necessary to await the issue of another day, rather than to provoke a night battle in the streets. during the night the prince labored incessantly to provide against the dangers of the morrow. the calvinists had fiercely expressed their disinclination to any reasonable arrangement. they had threatened, without farther pause, to plunder the religious houses and the mansions of all the wealthy catholics, and to drive every papist out of town. they had summoned the lutherans to join with them in their revolt, and menaced them, in case of refusal, with the same fate which awaited the catholics. the prince, who was himself a lutheran, not entirely free from the universal prejudice against the calvinists, whose sect he afterwards embraced, was fully aware of the deplorable fact, that the enmity at that day between calvinists and lutherans was as fierce as that between reformers and catholics. he now made use of this feeling, and of his influence with those of the augsburg confession, to save the city. during the night he had interviews with the ministers and notable members of the lutheran churches, and induced them to form an alliance upon this occasion with the catholics and with all friends of order, against an army of outlaws who were threatening to burn and sack the city. the lutherans, in the silence of night, took arms and encamped, to the number of three or four thousand, upon the river side, in the neighborhood of saint michael's cloister. the prince also sent for the deans of all the foreign mercantile associations--italian, spanish, portuguese, english, hanseatic, engaged their assistance also for the protection of the city, and commanded them to remain in their armor at their respective factories, ready to act at a moment's warning. it was agreed that they should be informed at frequent intervals as to the progress of events. on the morning of the th, the city of antwerp presented a fearful sight. three distinct armies were arrayed at different points within its walls. the calvinists, fifteen thousand strong, lay in their encampment on the mere; the lutherans, armed, and eager for action, were at st. michael's; the catholics and the regulars of the city guard were posted on the square. between thirty-five and forty thousand men were up, according to the most moderate computation. all parties were excited, and eager for the fray. the fires of religious hatred burned fiercely in every breast. many malefactors and outlaws, who had found refuge in the course of recent events at antwerp, were in the ranks of the calvinists, profaning a sacred cause, and inspiring a fanatical party with bloody resolutions. papists, once and forever, were to be hunted down, even as they had been for years pursuing reformers. let the men who had fed fat on the spoils of plundered christians be dealt with in like fashion. let their homes be sacked, their bodies given to the dogs--such were the cries uttered by thousands of armed men. on the other hand, the lutherans, as angry and as rich as the catholics, saw in every calvinist a murderer and a robber. they thirsted after their blood; for the spirit of religious frenzy; the characteristic of the century, can with difficulty be comprehended in our colder and more sceptical age. there was every probability that a bloody battle was to be fought that day in the streets of antwerp--a general engagement, in the course of which, whoever might be the victors, the city was sure to be delivered over to fire, sack, and outrage. such would have been the result, according to the concurrent testimony of eye-witnesses, and contemporary historians of every country and creed, but for the courage and wisdom of one man. william of orange knew what would be the consequence of a battle, pent up within the walls of antwerp. he foresaw the horrible havoc which was to be expected, the desolation which would be brought to every hearth in the city. "never were men so desperate and so willing to fight," said sir thomas gresham, who had been expecting every hour his summons to share in the conflict. if the prince were unable that morning to avert the impending calamity, no other power, under heaven, could save antwerp from destruction. the articles prepared on the th had been already approved by those who represented the catholic and lutheran interests. they were read early in the morning to the troops assembled on the square and at st. michael's, and received with hearty cheers. it was now necessary that the calvinists should accept them, or that the quarrel should be fought out at once. at ten o'clock, william of orange, attended by his colleague, hoogstraaten, together with a committee of the municipal authorities, and followed by a hundred troopers, rode to the mere. they wore red scarfs over their armor, as symbols by which all those who had united to put down the insurrection were distinguished. the fifteen thousand calvinists, fierce and disorderly as ever, maintained a threatening aspect. nevertheless, the prince was allowed to ride into the midst of the square. the articles were then read aloud by his command, after which, with great composure, he made a few observations. he pointed out that the arrangement offered them was founded upon the september concessions, that the right of worship was conceded, that the foreign garrison was forbidden, and that nothing further could be justly demanded or honorably admitted. he told them that a struggle upon their part would be hopeless, for the catholics and lutherans, who were all agreed as to the justice of the treaty, outnumbered them by nearly two to one. he, therefore, most earnestly and affectionately adjured them to testify their acceptance to the peace offered by repeating the words with which he should conclude. then, with a firm voice; the prince exclaimed, "god save the king!" it was the last time that those words were ever heard from the lips of the man already proscribed by philip. the crowd of calvinists hesitated an instant, and then, unable to resist the tranquil influence, convinced by his reasonable language, they raised one tremendous shout of "vive le roi!" the deed was done, the peace accepted, the dreadful battle averted, antwerp saved. the deputies of the calvinists now formally accepted and signed the articles. kind words were exchanged among the various classes of fellow-citizens, who but an hour before had been thirsting for each other's blood, the artillery and other weapons of war were restored to the arsenals, calvinists, lutherans, and catholics, all laid down their arms, and the city, by three o'clock, was entirely quiet. fifty thousand armed men had been up, according to some estimates, yet, after three days of dreadful expectation, not a single person had been injured, and the tumult was now appeased. the prince had, in truth, used the mutual animosity of protestant sects to a good purpose; averting bloodshed by the very weapons with which the battle was to have been waged. had it been possible for a man like william the silent to occupy the throne where philip the prudent sat, how different might have been the history of spain and the fate of the netherlands. gresham was right, however, in his conjecture that the regent and court would not "take the business well." margaret of parma was incapable of comprehending such a mind as that of orange, or of appreciating its efforts. she was surrounded by unscrupulous and mercenary soldiers, who hailed the coming civil war as the most profitable of speculations. "factotum" mansfeld; the counts aremberg and meghem, the duke of aerschot, the sanguinary noircarmes, were already counting their share in the coming confiscations. in the internecine conflict approaching, there would be gold for the gathering, even if no honorable laurels would wreath their swords. "meghen with his regiment is desolating the country," wrote william of orange to the landgrave of hesse, "and reducing many people to poverty. aremberg is doing the same in friesland. they are only thinking how, under the pretext of religion, they may grind the poor christians, and grow rich and powerful upon their estates and their blood." the seignior de beauvoir wrote to the duchess, claiming all the estates of tholouse, and of his brother st. aldegonde, as his reward for the ostrawell victory, while noircarmes was at this very moment to commence at valenciennes that career of murder and spoliation which, continued at mons a few years afterwards, was to load his name with infamy. from such a regent, surrounded by such councillors, was the work of william de nassau's hands to gain applause? what was it to them that carnage and plunder had been spared in one of the richest and most populous cities in christendom? were not carnage and plunder the very elements in which they disported themselves? and what more dreadful offence against god and philip could be committed than to permit, as the prince had just permitted, the right of worship in a christian land to calvinists and lutherans? as a matter of course, therefore, margaret of parma denounced the terms by which antwerp had been saved as a "novel and exorbitant capitulation," and had no intention of signifying her approbation either to prince or magistrate. [chapter x.] egmont and aerschot before valenciennes--severity of egmont-- capitulation of the city--escape and capture of the ministers-- execution of la grange and de bray--horrible cruelty at valenciennes--effects of the reduction of valenciennes--the duchess at antwerp--armed invasion of the provinces decided upon in spain-- appointment of alva--indignation of margaret--mission of de billy-- pretended visit of philip--attempts of the duchess to gain over orange--mission of berty--interview between orange and egmont at willebroek--orange's letters to philip, to egmont, and to horn-- orange departs from the netherlands--philip's letter to egmont-- secret intelligence received by orange--la torre's mission to brederode--brederode's departure and death--death of bergen--despair in the provinces--great emigration--cruelties practised upon those of the new religion--edict of th may--wrath of the king. valenciennes, whose fate depended so closely upon the issue of these various events, was now trembling to her fall. noircarmes had been drawing the lines more and more closely about the city, and by a refinement of cruelty had compelled many calvinists from tournay to act as pioneers in the trenches against their own brethren in valenciennes. after the defeat of tholouse, and the consequent frustration of all brederode's arrangements to relieve the siege, the duchess had sent a fresh summons to valenciennes, together with letters acquainting the citizens with the results of the ostrawell battle. the intelligence was not believed. egmont and aerschot, however, to whom margaret had entrusted this last mission to the beleaguered town, roundly rebuked the deputies who came to treat with them, for their insolence in daring to doubt the word of the regent. the two seigniors had established themselves in the chateau of beusnage, at a league's distance from valenciennes. here they received commissioners from the city, half of whom were catholics appointed by the magistrates, half calvinists deputed by the consistories. these envoys were informed that the duchess would pardon the city for its past offences, provided the gates should now be opened, the garrison received, and a complete suppression of all religion except that of rome acquiesced in without a murmur. as nearly the whole population was of the calvinist faith, these terms could hardly be thought favorable. it was, however, added, that fourteen days should be allowed to the reformers for the purpose of converting their property, and retiring from the country. the deputies, after conferring with their constituents in the, city, returned on the following day with counter-propositions, which were not more likely to find favor with the government. they offered to accept the garrison, provided the soldiers should live at their own expense, without any tax to the citizens for their board, lodging, or pay. they claimed that all property which had been seized should be restored, all persons accused of treason liberated. they demanded the unconditional revocation of the edict by which the city had been declared rebellious, together with a guarantee from the knights of the fleece and the state council that the terms of the propose& treaty should be strictly observed. as soon as these terms had been read to the two seigniors, the duke of aerschot burst into an immoderate fit of laughter. he protested that nothing could be more ludicrous than such propositions, worthy of a conqueror dictating a peace, thus offered by a city closely beleaguered, and entirely at the mercy of the enemy. the duke's hilarity was not shared by egmont, who, on the contrary, fell into a furious passion. he swore that the city should be burned about their ears, and that every one of the inhabitants should be put to the sword for the insolent language which they had thus dared to address to a most clement sovereign. he ordered the trembling deputies instantly to return with this peremptory rejection of their terms, and with his command that the proposals of government should be accepted within three days' delay. the commissioners fell upon their knees at egmont's feet, and begged for mercy. they implored him at least to send this imperious message by some other hand than theirs, and to permit them to absent themselves from the city. they should be torn limb from limb, they said, by the enraged inhabitants, if they dared to present themselves with such instructions before them. egmont, however, assured them that they should be sent into the city, bound hand and foot, if they did not instantly obey his orders. the deputies, therefore, with heavy hearts, were fain to return home with this bitter result to their negotiations. the, terms were rejected, as a matter of course, but the gloomy forebodings of the commissioners, as to their own fate at the hands of their fellow-citizens, were not fulfilled. instant measures were now taken to cannonade the city. egmont, at the hazard of his life, descended into the foss, to reconnoitre the works, and to form an opinion as to the most eligible quarter at which to direct the batteries. having communicated the result of his investigations to noircarmes, he returned to report all these proceedings to the regent at brussels. certainly the count had now separated himself far enough from william of orange, and was manifesting an energy in the cause of tyranny which was sufficiently unscrupulous. many people who had been deceived by his more generous demonstrations in former times, tried to persuade themselves that he was acting a part. noircarmes, however--and no man was more competent to decide the question distinctly--expressed his entire confidence in egmont's loyalty. margaret had responded warmly to his eulogies, had read with approbation secret letters from egmont to noircarmes, and had expressed the utmost respect and affection for "the count." egmont had also lost no time in writing to philip, informing him that he had selected the most eligible spot for battering down the obstinate city of valenciennes, regretting that he could not have had the eight or ten military companies, now at his disposal, at an earlier day, in which case he should have been able to suppress many tumults, but congratulating his sovereign that the preachers were all fugitive, the reformed religion suppressed, and the people disarmed. he assured the king that he would neglect no effort to prevent any renewal of the tumults, and expressed the hope that his majesty would be satisfied with his conduct, notwithstanding the calumnies of which the times were full. noircarmes meanwhile, had unmasked his batteries, and opened his fire exactly according to egmont's suggestions. the artillery played first upon what was called the "white tower," which happened to bear this ancient, rhyming inscription: "when every man receives his own, and justice reigns for strong and weak, perfect shall be this tower of stone, and all the dumb will learn to speak." "quand chacun sera satisfaict, et la justice regnera, ce boulevard sera parfaict, et--la muette parlera."--valenciennes ms. for some unknown reason, the rather insipid quatrain was tortured into a baleful prophecy. it was considered very ominous that the battery should be first opened against this sibylline tower. the chimes, too, which had been playing, all through the siege, the music of marot's sacred songs, happened that morning to be sounding forth from every belfry the twenty- second psalm: "my god, my god, why hast thou forsaken me?" it was palm sunday, d of march. the women and children were going mournfully about the streets, bearing green branches in their hands, and praying upon their knees, in every part of the city. despair and superstition had taken possession of citizens, who up to that period had justified la noue's assertion, that none could endure a siege like huguenots. as soon as the cannonading began, the spirit of the inhabitants seemed to depart. the ministers exhorted their flocks in vain as the tiles and chimneys began to topple into the streets, and the concussions of the artillery were responded to by the universal wailing of affrighted women. upon the very first day after the unmasking of the batteries, the city sent to noircarmes, offering almost an unconditional surrender. not the slightest breach had been effected--not the least danger of an assault existed--yet the citizens, who had earned the respect of their antagonists by the courageous manner in which they had sallied and skirmished during the siege, now in despair at any hope of eventual succor, and completely demoralized by the course of recent events outside their walls, surrendered ignominiously, and at discretion. the only stipulation agreed to by noircarmes was, that the city should not be sacked, and that the lives of the inhabitants should be spared. this pledge was, however, only made to be broken. noircarmes entered the city and closed the gates. all the richest citizens, who of course were deemed the most criminal, were instantly arrested. the soldiers, although not permitted formally to sack the city, were quartered upon the inhabitants, whom they robbed and murdered, according to the testimony of a catholic citizen, almost at their pleasure. michael herlin, a very wealthy and distinguished burgher, was arrested upon the first day. the two ministers, guido de bray and peregrine de la grange, together with the son of herlin, effected their escape by the water-gate. having taken refuge in a tavern at saint arnaud, they were observed, as they sat at supper, by a peasant, who forthwith ran off to the mayor of the borough with the intelligence that some individuals, who looked like fugitives, had arrived at saint arnaud. one of them, said the informer, was richly dressed; and wore a gold-hilted sword with velvet scabbard. by the description, the mayor recognized herlin the younger,--and suspected his companions. they were all arrested, and sent to noircarmes. the two herlins, father and son, were immediately beheaded. guido de bray and peregrine de la grange were loaded with chains, and thrown into a filthy dungeon, previously to their being hanged. here they were visited by the countess de roeulx, who was curious to see how the calvinists sustained themselves in their martyrdom. she asked them how they could sleep, eat, or drink, when covered with such heavy fetters. "the cause, and my good conscience," answered de bray, "make me eat, drink, and sleep better than those who are doing me wrong. these shackles are more honorable to me than golden rings and chains. they are more useful to me, and as i hear their clank, methinks i hear the music of sweet voices and the tinkling of lutes." this exultation never deserted these courageous enthusiasts. they received their condemnation to death "as if it had been an invitation to a marriage feast." they encouraged the friends who crowded their path to the scaffold with exhortations to remain true in the reformed faith. la grange, standing upon the ladder, proclaimed with a loud voice, that he was slain for having preached the pure word of god to a christian people in a christian land. de bray, under the same gibbet; testified stoutly that he, too, had committed that offence alone. he warned his friends to obey the magistrates, and all others in authority, except in matters of conscience; to abstain from sedition; but to obey the will of god. the executioner threw him from the ladder while he was yet speaking. so ended the lives of two eloquent, learned, and highly-gifted divines. many hundreds of victims were sacrificed in the unfortunate city. "there were a great many other citizens strangled or beheaded," says an aristocratic catholic historian of the time, "but they were mostly personages of little quality, whose names are quite unknown to me."-- [pontus payen]--the franchises of the city were all revoked. there was a prodigious amount of property confiscated to the benefit of noircarmes and the rest of the "seven sleepers." many calvinists were burned, others were hanged. "for--two whole years," says another catholic, who was a citizen of valenciennes at the time, "there was, scarcely a week in which several citizens were not executed and often a great number were despatched at a time. all this gave so much alarm to the good and innocent, that many quitted the city as fast as they could." if the good and innocent happened to be rich, they might be sure that noircarmes would deem that a crime for which no goodness and innocence could atone. upon the fate of valenciennes had depended, as if by common agreement, the whole destiny of the anti-catholic party. "people had learned at last," says another walloon, "that the king had long arms, and that he had not been enlisting soldiers to string beads. so they drew in their horns and their evil tempers, meaning to put them forth again, should the government not succeed at the siege of valenciennes." the government had succeeded, however, and the consternation was extreme, the general submission immediate and even abject. "the capture of valenciennes," wrote noircarmes to granvelle, "has worked a miracle. the other cities all come forth to meet me, putting the rope around their own necks." no opposition was offered any where. tournay had been crushed; valenciennes, bois le duc, and all other important places, accepted their garrisons without a murmur. even antwerp had made its last struggle, and as soon as the back of orange was turned, knelt down in the dust to receive its bridle. the prince had been able, by his courage and wisdom, to avert a sanguinary conflict within its walls, but his personal presence alone could guarantee any thing like religious liberty for the inhabitants, now that the rest of the country was subdued. on the th april, sixteen companies of infantry, under count mansfeld, entered the gates. on the th the duchess made a visit to the city, where she was received with respect, but where her eyes were shocked by that which she termed the "abominable, sad, and hideous spectacle of the desolated churches." to the eyes of all who loved their fatherland and their race, the sight of a desolate country, with its ancient charters superseded by brute force, its industrious population swarming from the land in droves, as if the pestilence were raging, with gibbets and scaffolds erected in every village, and with a sickening and universal apprehension of still darker disasters to follow, was a spectacle still more sad, hideous, and abominable. for it was now decided that the duke of alva, at the head of a spanish army, should forthwith take his departure for the netherlands. a land already subjugated was to be crushed, and every vestige of its ancient liberties destroyed. the conquered provinces, once the abode of municipal liberty, of science, art, and literature, and blessed with an unexampled mercantile and manufacturing prosperity, were to be placed in absolute subjection to the cabinet council at madrid. a dull and malignant bigot, assisted by a few spanish grandees, and residing at the other extremity of europe, was thenceforth to exercise despotic authority over countries which for centuries had enjoyed a local administration, and a system nearly approaching to complete self-government. such was the policy devised by granvelle and spinosa, which the duke of alva, upon the th april, had left madrid to enforce. it was very natural that margaret of parma should be indignant at being thus superseded. she considered herself as having acquired much credit by the manner in which the latter insurrectionary movements had been suppressed, so soon as philip, after his endless tergiversations, had supplied her with arms and money. therefore she wrote in a tone of great asperity to her brother, expressing her discontent. she had always been trammelled in her action, she said, by his restrictions upon her authority. she complained that he had no regard for her reputation or her peace of mind. notwithstanding, all impediments and dangers, she had at last settled the country, and now another person was to reap the honor. she also despatched the seigneur de billy to spain, for the purpose of making verbal representations to his majesty upon the inexpediency of sending the duke of alva to the netherlands at that juncture with a spanish army. margaret gained nothing, however, by her letters and her envoy, save a round rebuke from philip, who was not accustomed to brook the language of remonstrance; even from his sister. his purpose was fixed. absolute submission was now to be rendered by all. "he was highly astonished and dissatisfied," he said, "that she should dare to write to him with so much passion, and in so resolute a manner. if she received no other recompense, save the glory of having restored the service of god, she ought to express her gratitude to the king for having given her the opportunity of so doing." the affectation of clement intentions was still maintained, together with the empty pretence of the royal visit. alva and his army were coming merely to prepare the way for the king, who still represented himself as "debonair and gentle, slow to anger, and averse from bloodshed." superficial people believed that the king was really coming, and hoped wonders from his advent. the duchess knew better. the pope never believed in it, granvelle never believed in it, the prince of orange never believed in it, councillor d'assonleville never believed in it. "his majesty," says the walloon historian, who wrote from assonleville's papers, "had many imperative reasons for not coming. he was fond of quiet, he was a great negotiator, distinguished for phlegm and modesty, disinclined to long journeys, particularly to sea voyages, which were very painful to him. moreover, he was then building his escorial with so much taste and affection that it was impossible for him to leave home." these excellent reasons sufficed to detain the monarch, in whose place a general was appointed, who, it must be confessed, was neither phlegmatic nor modest, and whose energies were quite equal to the work required. there had in truth never been any thing in the king's project of visiting the netherlands but pretence. on the other hand, the work of orange for the time was finished. he had saved antwerp, he had done his best to maintain the liberties of the country, the rights of conscience, and the royal authority, so far as they were compatible with each other. the alternative had now been distinctly forced upon every man, either to promise blind obedience or to accept the position of a rebel. william of orange had thus become a rebel. he had been requested to sign the new oath, greedily taken by the mansfelds, the berlaymont, the aerachot, and the egmonts, to obey every order which he might receive, against every person and in every place, without restriction or limitation,--and he had distinctly and repeatedly declined the demand. he had again and again insisted upon resigning all his offices. the duchess, more and more anxious to gain over such an influential personage to the cause of tyranny, had been most importunate in her requisitions. "a man with so noble a heart," she wrote to the prince, "and with a descent from, such illustrious and loyal ancestors, can surely not forget his duties to his majesty and the country." william of orange knew his duty to both better than the duchess could understand. he answered this fresh summons by reminding her that he had uniformly refused the new and extraordinary pledge required of him. he had been true to his old oaths, and therefore no fresh pledge was necessary. moreover, a pledge without limitation he would never take. the case might happen, he said, that he should be ordered to do things contrary to his conscience, prejudicial to his majesty's service, and in violation of his oaths to maintain the laws of the country. he therefore once more resigned all his offices, and signified his intention of leaving the provinces. margaret had previously invited him to an interview at brussels, which he had declined, because he had discovered a conspiracy in that place to "play him a trick." assonleville had already been sent to him without effect. he had refused to meet a deputation of fleece knights at mechlin, from the same suspicion of foul play. after the termination of the antwerp tumult, orange again wrote to the duchess, upon the th march, repeating his refusal to take the oath, and stating that he considered himself as at least suspended from all his functions, since she had refused, upon the ground of incapacity, to accept his formal resignation. margaret now determined, by the advice of the state council, to send secretary berty, provided with an ample letter of instructions, upon a special mission to the prince at antwerp. that respectable functionary performed his task with credit, going through the usual formalities, and adducing the threadbare arguments in favor of the unlimited oath, with much adroitness and decorum. he mildly pointed out the impropriety of laying down such responsible posts as those which the prince now occupied at such a juncture. he alluded to the distress which the step must occasion to the debonair sovereign. william of orange became somewhat impatient under the official lecture of this secretary to the privy council, a mere man of sealing-wax and protocols. the slender stock of platitudes with which he had come provided was soon exhausted. his arguments shrivelled at once in the scorn with which the prince received them. the great statesman, who, it was hoped, would be entrapped to ruin, dishonor, and death by such very feeble artifices, asked indignantly whether it were really expected that he should acknowledge himself perjured to his old obligations by now signing new ones; that he should disgrace himself by an unlimited pledge which might require him to break his oaths to the provincial statutes and to the emperor; that he should consent to administer the religious edicts which he abhorred; that he should act as executioner of christians on account of their religious opinions, an office against which his soul revolted; that he should bind himself by an unlimited promise which might require, him to put his own wife to death, because she was a lutheran? moreover, was it to be supposed that he would obey without restriction any orders issued to him in his majesty's name, when the king's representative might be a person whose supremacy it ill became one of his' race to acknowledge? was william of orange to receive absolute commands from the duke of alva? having mentioned that name with indignation, the prince became silent. it was very obvious that no impression was to be made upon the man by formalists. poor berty having conjugated his paradigm conscientiously through all its moods and tenses, returned to his green board in the council-room with his proces verbal of the conference. before he took his leave, however, he prevailed upon orange to hold an interview with the duke of aerschot, count mansfeld, and count egmont. this memorable meeting took place at willebroek, a village midway between antwerp and brussels, in the first week of april. the duke of aerschot was prevented from attending, but mansfeld and egmont--accompanied by the faithful berty, to make another proces verbal--duly made their appearance. the prince had never felt much sympathy with mansfeld, but a tender and honest friendship had always existed between himself and egmont, notwithstanding the difference of their characters, the incessant artifices employed by the spanish court to separate them, and the impassable chasm which now, existed between their respective positions towards the government. the same common-places of argument and rhetoric were now discussed between orange and the other three personages, the, prince distinctly stating, in conclusion, that he considered himself as discharged from all his offices, and that he was about to leave the netherlands for germany. the interview, had it been confined to such formal conversation, would have but little historic interest. egmont's choice had been made. several months before he had signified his determination to hold those for enemies who should cease to conduct themselves as faithful vassals, declared himself to be without fear that the country was to be placed in the hands of spaniards, and disavowed all intention, in any case whatever, of taking arms against the king. his subsequent course, as we have seen, had been entirely in conformity with these solemn declarations. nevertheless, the prince, to whom they had been made, thought it still possible to withdraw his friend from the precipice upon which he stood, and to save him from his impending fate. his love for egmont had, in his own noble; and pathetic language, "struck its roots too deeply into his heart" to permit him, in this their parting interview, to neglect a last effort, even if this solemn warning were destined to be disregarded. by any reasonable construction of history, philip was an unscrupulous usurper, who was attempting to convert himself from a duke of brabant and a count of holland into an absolute king. it was william who was maintaining, philip who was destroying; and the monarch who was thus blasting the happiness of the provinces, and about to decimate their population, was by the same process to undermine his own power forever, and to divest himself of his richest inheritance. the man on whom he might have leaned for support, had he been capable of comprehending his character, and of understanding the age in which he had himself been called upon to reign, was, through philip's own insanity, converted into the instrument by which his most valuable provinces were, to be taken from him, and eventually re-organized into: an independent commonwealth. could a vision, like that imagined by the immortal dramatist for another tyrant and murderer, have revealed the future to philip, he, too, might have beheld his victim, not crowned himself, but pointing to a line of kings, even to some who 'two-fold balls and treble sceptres carried', and smiling on them for his. but such considerations as these had no effect upon the prince of orange. he knew himself already proscribed, and he knew that the secret condemnation had extended to egmont also. he was anxious that his friend should prefer the privations of exile, with the chance of becoming the champion of a struggling country, to the wretched fate towards which his blind confidence was leading him. even then it seemed possible that the brave soldier, who had been recently defiling his sword in the cause of tyranny, might be come mindful of his brighter and earlier fame. had egmont been as true to his native land as, until "the long divorce of steel fell on him," he was faithful to philip, he might yet have earned brighter laurels than those gained at st. quentin and gravelines. was he doomed to fall, he might find a glorious death upon freedom's battle-field, in place of that darker departure then so near him, which the prophetic language of orange depicted, but which he was too sanguine to fear. he spoke with confidence of the royal clemency. "alas, egmont," answered the prince, "the king's clemency, of which you boast, will destroy you. would that i might be deceived, but i foresee too clearly that you are to be the bridge which the spaniards will destroy so soon as they have passed over it to invade our country." with these last, solemn words he concluded his appeal to awaken the count from his fatal security. then, as if persuaded that he was looking upon his friend for the last time, william of orange threw his arms around egmont, and held him for a moment in a close embrace. tears fell from the eyes of both at this parting moment--and then the brief scene of simple and lofty pathos terminated--egmont and orange separated from each other, never to meet again on earth. a few days afterwards, orange addressed a letter to philip once more resigning all his offices, and announcing his intention of departing from the netherlands for germany. he added, that he should be always ready to place himself and his property at the king's orders in every thing which he believed conducive to the true service of his majesty. the prince had already received a remarkable warning from old landgrave philip of hesse, who had not forgotten the insidious manner in which his own memorable captivity had been brought about by the arts of granvelle and of alva. "let them not smear your mouths with honey," said the landgrave. "if the three seigniors, of whom the duchess margaret has had so much to say, are invited to court by alva, under pretext of friendly consultation, let them be wary, and think twice ere they accept. i know the duke of alva and the spaniards, and how they dealt with me." the prince, before he departed, took a final leave of horn and egmont, by letters, which, as if aware of the monumental character they were to assume for posterity, he drew up in latin. he desired, now that he was turning his back upon the country, that those two nobles who had refused to imitate, and had advised against his course, should remember that, he was acting deliberately, conscientiously, and in pursuance of a long- settled plan. to count horn he declared himself unable to connive longer at the sins daily committed against the country and his own conscience. he assured him that the government had been accustoming the country to panniers, in order that it might now accept patiently the saddle and bridle. for himself, he said, his back was not strong enough for the weight already imposed upon it, and he preferred to endure any calamity which might happen to him in exile, rather than be compelled by those whom they had all condemned to acquiesce in the object so long and steadily pursued. he reminded egmont, who had been urging him by letter to remain, that his resolution had been deliberately taken, and long since communicated to his friends. he could not, in conscience, take the oath required; nor would he, now that all eyes were turned upon him, remain in the land, the only recusant. he preferred to encounter all that could happen, rather than attempt to please others by the sacrifice of liberty, of his fatherland, of his own conscience. "i hope, therefore," said he to egmont in conclusion, "that you, after weighing my reasons, will not disapprove my departure. the rest i leave to god, who will dispose of all as may most conduce to the glory of his name. for yourself, i pray you to believe that you have no more sincere friend than i am. my love for you has struck such deep root into my heart, that it can be lessened by no distance of time or place, and i pray you in return to maintain the same feelings towards me which you have always cherished." the prince had left antwerp upon the th april, and had written these letters from breda, upon the th of the same month. upon the d, he took his departure for dillenburg, the ancestral seat of his family in germany, by the way of grave and cleves. it was not to be supposed that this parting message would influence egmont's decision with regard to his own movements, when his determination had not been shaken at his memorable interview with the prince. the count's fate was sealed. had he not been praised by noircarmes; had he not earned the hypocritical commendations of duchess margaret; nay more, had he not just received a most affectionate letter of, thanks and approbation from the king of spain himself? this letter, one of the most striking monuments of philip's cold-blooded perfidy, was dated the th of march. "i am pleased, my cousin," wrote the monarch to egmont, "that you have taken the new oath, not that i considered it at all necessary so far as regards yourself, but for the example which you have thus given to others, and which i hope they will all follow. i have received not less pleasure in hearing of the excellent manner in which you are doing your duty, the assistance you are rendering, and the offers which you are making to my sister, for which i thank you, and request you to continue in the same course." the words were written by the royal hand which had already signed the death-warrant of the man to whom they were addressed. alva, who came provided with full powers to carry out the great scheme resolved upon, unrestrained by provincial laws or by the statutes of the golden fleece, had left madrid to embark for carthagena, at the very moment when egmont was reading the royal letter. "the spanish honey," to use once more old landgrave philip's homely metaphor, had done its work, and the unfortunate victim was already entrapped. count horn remained in gloomy silence in his lair at weert, awaiting the hunters of men, already on their way. it seemed inconceivable that he, too, who knew himself suspected and disliked, should have thus blinded himself to his position. it will be seen, however, that the same perfidy was to be employed to ensnare him which proved so successful with egmont. as for the prince himself, he did not move too soon. not long after his arrival in germany, vandenesse, the king's private secretary, but orange's secret agent, wrote him word that he had read letters from the king to alva in which the duke was instructed to "arrest the prince as soon as he could lay hands upon him, and not to let his trial last more than twenty-four hours." brederode had remained at viane, and afterwards at amsterdam, since the ill-starred expedition of tholouse, which he had organized, but at which he had not assisted. he had given much annoyance to the magistracy of amsterdam, and to all respectable persons, calvinist or catholic. he made much mischief, but excited no hopes in the minds of reformers. he was ever surrounded by a host of pot companions, swaggering nobles disguised as sailors, bankrupt tradesmen, fugitives and outlaws of every description, excellent people to drink the beggars' health and to bawl the beggars' songs, but quite unfit for any serious enterprise. people of substance were wary of him, for they had no confidence in his capacity, and were afraid of his frequent demands for contributions to the patriotic cause. he spent his time in the pleasure gardens, shooting at the mark with arquebuss or crossbow, drinking with his comrades, and shrieking "vivent les gueux." the regent, determined to dislodge him, had sent secretary la torre to him in march, with instructions that if brederode refused to leave amsterdam, the magistracy were to call for assistance upon count meghem, who had a regiment at utrecht. this clause made it impossible for la torre to exhibit his instructions to brederode. upon his refusal, that personage, although he knew the secretary as well as he knew his own father, coolly informed him that he knew nothing about him; that he did not consider him as respectable a person as he pretended to be; that he did not believe a word of his having any commission from the duchess, and that he should therefore take no notice whatever of his demands. la torre answered meekly, that he was not so presumptuous, nor so destitute of sense as to put himself into comparison with a, gentleman of count brederode's quality, but that as he had served as secretary to the privy council for twenty-three years, he had thought that he might be believed upon his word. hereupon la tome drew up a formal protest, and brederode drew up another. la torre made a proces verbal of their interview, while brederode stormed like a madman, and abused the duchess for a capricious and unreasonable tyrant. he ended by imprisoning la torre for a day or two, and seizing his papers. by a singular coincidence, these events took place on the th, th, and th of march, the very days of the great antwerp tumult. the manner in which the prince of orange had been dealing with forty or fifty thousand armed men, anxious to cut each other's throats, while brederode was thus occupied in browbeating a pragmatical but decent old secretary, illustrated the difference in calibre of the two men. this was the count's last exploit. he remained at amsterdam some weeks longer, but the events which succeeded changed the hector into a faithful vassal. before the th of april, he wrote to egmont, begging his intercession with margaret of parma, and offering "carte blanche" as to terms, if he might only be allowed to make his peace with government. it was, however, somewhat late in the day for the "great beggar" to make his submission. no terms were accorded him, but he was allowed by the duchess to enjoy his revenues provisionally, subject to the king's pleasure. upon the th april, he entertained a select circle of friends at his hotel in amsterdam, and then embarked at midnight for embden. a numerous procession of his adherents escorted him to the ship, bearing lighted torches, and singing bacchanalian songs. he died within a year afterwards, of disappointment and hard drinking, at castle hardenberg, in germany, after all his fretting and fury, and notwithstanding his vehement protestations to die a poor soldier at the feet of louis nassau. that "good chevalier and good christian," as his brother affectionately called him, was in germany, girding himself for the manly work which providence had destined him to perform. the life of brederode, who had engaged in the early struggle, perhaps from the frivolous expectation of hearing himself called count of holland, as his ancestors had been, had contributed nothing to the cause of freedom, nor did his death occasion regret. his disorderly band of followers dispersed in every direction upon the departure of their chief. a vessel in which batenburg, galaina, and other nobles, with their men-at-arms, were escaping towards a german port, was carried into harlingen, while those gentlemen, overpowered by sleep and wassail, were unaware of their danger, and delivered over to count meghem, by the treachery of their pilot. the soldiers, were immediately hanged. the noblemen were reserved to grace the first great scaffold which alva was to erect upon the horse-market in brussels. the confederacy was entirely broken to pieces. of the chieftains to whom the people had been accustomed to look for support and encouragement, some had rallied to the government, some were in exile, some were in prison. montigny, closely watched in spain, was virtually a captive, pining for the young bride to whom he had been wedded amid such brilliant festivities but a few months before his departure, and for the child which was never to look upon its father's face. his colleague, marquis berghen, more fortunate, was already dead. the excellent viglius seized the opportunity to put in a good word for noircarmes, who had been grinding tournay in the dust, and butchering the inhabitants of valenciennes. "we have heard of berghen's death," wrote the president to his faithful joachim. "the lord of noircarmes, who has been his substitute in the governorship of hainault, has given a specimen of what he can do. although i have no private intimacy with that nobleman, i can not help embracing him with all my benevolence. therefore, oh my hopper, pray do your best to have him appointed governor." with the departure of orange, a total eclipse seemed to come over the netherlands. the country was absolutely helpless, the popular heart cold with apprehension. all persons at all implicated in the late troubles, or suspected of heresy, fled from their homes. fugitive soldiers were hunted into rivers, cut to pieces in the fields, hanged, burned, or drowned, like dogs, without quarter, and without remorse. the most industrious and valuable part of the population left the land in droves. the tide swept outwards with such rapidity that the netherlands seemed fast becoming the desolate waste which they had been before the christian era. throughout the country, those reformers who were unable to effect their escape betook themselves to their old lurking-places. the new religion was banished from all the cities, every conventicle was broken up by armed men, the preachers and leading members were hanged, their disciples beaten with rods, reduced to beggary, or imprisoned, even if they sometimes escaped the scaffold. an incredible number, however, were executed for religious causes. hardly a village so small, says the antwerp chronicler,--[meteren]--but that it could furnish one, two, or three hundred victims to the executioner. the new churches were levelled to the ground, and out of their timbers gallows were constructed. it was thought an ingenious pleasantry to hang the reformers upon the beams under which they had hoped to worship god. the property of the fugitives was confiscated. the beggars in name became beggars in reality. many who felt obliged to remain, and who loved their possessions better than their creed, were suddenly converted into the most zealous of catholics. persons who had for years not gone to mass, never omitted now their daily and nightly visits to the churches. persons who had never spoken to an ecclesiastic but with contumely, now could not eat their dinners without one at their table. many who were suspected of having participated in calvinistic rites, were foremost and loudest in putting down and denouncing all forms and shows of the reformation. the country was as completely "pacified," to use the conqueror's expression, as gaul had been by caesar. the, regent issued a fresh edict upon the th may, to refresh the memories of those who might have forgotten previous statutes, which were, however, not calculated to make men oblivious. by this new proclamation, all ministers and teachers were sentenced to the gallows. all persons who had suffered their houses to be used for religious purposes were sentenced to the gallows. all parents or masters whose children or servants had attended such meetings were sentenced to the gallows, while the children and servants were only to be beaten with rods. all people who sang hymns at the burial of their relations were sentenced to the gallows. parents who allowed their newly-born children to be baptized by other hands than those of the catholic priest were sentenced to the gallows. the same punishment was denounced against the persons who should christen the child or act as its sponsors. schoolmasters who should teach any error or false doctrine were likewise to be punished with death. those who infringed the statutes against the buying and selling of religious books and songs were to receive the same doom; after the first offence. all sneers or insults against priests and ecclesiastics were also made capital crimes. vagabonds, fugitives; apostates, runaway monks, were ordered forthwith to depart from every city on pain of death. in all cases confiscation of the whole property of the criminal was added to the hanging. this edict, says a contemporary historian, increased the fear of those professing the new religion to such an extent that they left the country "in great heaps." it became necessary, therefore, to issue a subsequent proclamation forbidding all persons, whether foreigners or natives, to leave the land or to send away their property, and prohibiting all shipmasters, wagoners, and other agents of travel, from assisting in the flight of such fugitives, all upon pain of death. yet will it be credited that the edict of th may, the provisions of which have just been sketched, actually excited the wrath of philip on account of their clemency? he wrote to the duchess, expressing the pain and dissatisfaction which he felt, that an edict so indecent, so illegal, so contrary to the christian religion, should have been published. nothing, he said, could offend or distress him more deeply, than any outrage whatever, even the slightest one, offered to god and to his roman catholic church. he therefore commanded his sister instantly to revoke the edict. one might almost imagine from reading the king's letter that philip was at last appalled at the horrors committed in his name. alas, he was only indignant that heretics had been suffered to hang who ought to have been burned, and that a few narrow and almost impossible loopholes had been left through which those who had offended alight effect their escape. and thus, while the country is paralyzed with present and expected woe, the swiftly advancing trumpets of the spanish army resound from beyond the alps. the curtain is falling upon the prelude to the great tragedy which the prophetic lips of orange had foretold. when it is again lifted, scenes of disaster and of bloodshed, battles, sieges, executions, deeds of unfaltering but valiant tyranny, of superhuman and successful resistance, of heroic self-sacrifice, fanatical courage and insane cruelty, both in the cause of the wrong and the right, will be revealed in awful succession--a spectacle of human energy, human suffering, and human strength to suffer, such as has not often been displayed upon the stage of the world's events. etext editor's bookmarks: god save the king! it was the last time having conjugated his paradigm conscientiously indignant that heretics had been suffered to hang insane cruelty, both in the cause of the wrong and the right sick and wounded wretches were burned over slow fires slender stock of platitudes the time for reasoning had passed who loved their possessions better than their creed this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley volume , book ., [chapter viii.] secret policy of the government--berghen and montigny in spain-- debates at segovia--correspondence of the duchess with philip-- procrastination and dissimulation of the king--secret communication to the pope--effect in the provinces of the king's letters to the government--secret instructions to the duchess--desponding statements of margaret--her misrepresentations concerning orange, egmont, and others--wrath and duplicity of philip--egmont's exertions in flanders--orange returns to antwerp--his tolerant spirit--agreement of d september--horn at tournay--excavations in the cathedral--almost universal attendance at the preaching-- building of temples commenced--difficult position of horn--preaching in the clothiers' hall--horn recalled--noircarmes at tournay-- friendly correspondence of margaret with orange, egmont, horn, and hoogstraaten--her secret defamation of these persons. egmont in flanders, orange at antwerp, horn at tournay; hoogstraaten at mechlin, were exerting themselves to suppress insurrection and to avert ruin. what, meanwhile, was the policy of the government? the secret course pursued both at brussels and at madrid may be condensed into the usual formula--dissimulation, procrastination, and again dissimulation. it is at this point necessary to take a rapid survey of the open and the secret proceedings of the king and his representatives from the moment at which berghen and montigny arrived in madrid. those ill-fated gentlemen had been received with apparent cordiality, and admitted to frequent, but unmeaning, interviews with his majesty. the current upon which they were embarked was deep and treacherous, but it was smooth and very slow. they assured the king that his letters, ordering the rigorous execution of the inquisition and edicts, had engendered all the evils under which the provinces were laboring. they told him that spaniards and tools of spaniards had attempted to govern the country, to the exclusion of native citizens and nobles, but that it would soon be found that netherlanders were not to be trodden upon like the abject inhabitants of milan, naples, and sicily. such words as these struck with an unaccustomed sound upon the royal ear, but the envoys, who were both catholic and loyal, had no idea, in thus expressing their opinions, according to their sense of duty, and in obedience to the king's desire, upon the causes of the discontent, that they were committing an act of high treason. when the news of the public preaching reached spain, there were almost daily consultations at the grove of segovia. the eminent personages who composed the royal council were the duke of alva, the count de feria, don antonio de toledo, don juan manrique de lara, ruy gomez, quixada, councillor tisnacq, recently appointed president of the state council, and councillor hopper. six spaniards and two netherlanders, one of whom, too, a man of dull intellect and thoroughly subservient character, to deal with the local affairs of the netherlands in a time of intense excitement! the instructions of the envoys had been to represent the necessity of according three great points--abolition of the inquisition, moderation of the edicts, according to the draft prepared in brussels, and an ample pardon for past transactions. there was much debate upon all these propositions. philip said little, but he listened attentively to the long discourses in council, and he took an incredible quantity of notes. it was the general opinion that this last demand on the part of the netherlanders was the fourth link in the chain of treason. the first had been the cabal by which granvelle had been expelled; the second, the mission of egmont, the main object of which had been to procure a modification of the state council, in order to bring that body under the control of a few haughty and rebellious nobles; the third had been the presentation of the insolent and seditious request; and now, to crown the whole, came a proposition embodying the three points--abolition of the inquisition, revocation of the edicts, and a pardon to criminals, for whom death was the only sufficient punishment. with regard to these three points, it was, after much wrangling, decided to grant them under certain restrictions. to abolish the inquisition would be to remove the only instrument by which the church had been accustomed to regulate the consciences and the doctrines of its subjects. it would be equivalent to a concession of religious freedom, at least to individuals within their own domiciles, than which no concession could be more pernicious. nevertheless, it might be advisable to permit the temporary cessation of the papal inquisition, now that the episcopal inquisition had been so much enlarged and strengthened in the netherlands, on the condition that this branch of the institution should be maintained in energetic condition. with regard to the moderation, it was thought better to defer that matter till, the proposed visit of his majesty to the provinces. if, however, the regent should think it absolutely necessary to make a change, she must cause a new draft to be made, as that which had been sent was not found admissible. touching the pardon general, it would be necessary to make many conditions and restrictions before it could be granted. provided these were sufficiently minute to exclude all persons whom it might be found desirable to chastise, the amnesty was possible. otherwise it was quite out of the question. meantime, margaret of parma had been urging her brother to come to a decision, painting the distracted condition of the country in the liveliest colors, and insisting, although perfectly aware of philip's private sentiments, upon a favorable decision as to the three points demanded by the envoys. especially she urged her incapacity to resist any rebellion, and demanded succor of men and money in case the "moderation" were not accepted by his majesty. it was the last day of july before the king wrote at all, to communicate his decisions upon the crisis which had occurred in the first week of april. the disorder for which he had finally prepared a prescription had, before his letter arrived, already passed through its subsequent stages of the field-preaching and the image-breaking. of course these fresh symptoms would require much consultation, pondering, and note- taking before they could be dealt with. in the mean time they would be considered as not yet having happened. this was the masterly procrastination of the sovereign, when his provinces were in a blaze. his masterly dissimulation was employed in the direction suggested by his councillors. philip never originated a thought, nor laid down a plan, but he was ever true to the falsehood of his nature, and was indefatigable in following out the suggestions of others. no greater mistake can be made than to ascribe talent to this plodding and pedantic monarch. the man's intellect was contemptible, but malignity and duplicity, almost superhuman; have effectually lifted his character out of the regions of the common-place. he wrote accordingly to say that the pardon, under certain conditions, might be granted, and that the papal inquisition might cease--the bishops now being present in such numbers, "to take care of their flocks," and the episcopal inquisition being, therefore established upon so secure a basis. he added, that if a moderation of the edicts were still desired, a new project might be sent to madrid, as the one brought by berghen and montigny was not satisfactory. in arranging this wonderful scheme for composing the tumults of the country, which had grown out of a determined rebellion to the inquisition in any form, he followed not only the advice, but adopted the exact language of his councillors. certainly, here was not much encouragement for patriotic hearts in the netherlands. a pardon, so restricted that none were likely to be forgiven save those who had done no wrong; an episcopal inquisition stimulated to renewed exertions, on the ground that the papal functionaries were to be discharged; and a promise that, although the proposed moderation of the edicts seemed too mild for the monarch's acceptance, yet at some future period another project would be matured for settling the matter to universal satisfaction--such were the propositions of the crown. nevertheless, philip thought he had gone too far, even in administering this meagre amount of mercy, and that he had been too frank in employing so slender a deception, as in the scheme thus sketched. he therefore summoned a notary, before whom, in presence of the duke of alva, the licentiate menchaca and dr. velasco, he declared that, although he had just authorized margaret of parma, by force of circumstances, to grant pardon to all those who had been compromised in the late disturbances of the netherlands, yet as he had not done this spontaneously nor freely, he did not consider himself bound by the authorization, but that, on the contrary, he reserved his right to punish all the guilty, and particularly those who had been the authors and encouragers of the sedition. so much for the pardon promised in his official correspondence. with regard to the concessions, which he supposed himself to have made in the matter of the inquisition and the edicts, he saved his conscience by another process. revoking with his right hand all which his left had been doing, he had no sooner despatched his letters to the duchess regent than he sent off another to his envoy at rome. in this despatch he instructed requesens to inform the pope as to the recent royal decisions upon the three points, and to state that there had not been time to consult his holiness beforehand. nevertheless, continued philip "the prudent," it was perhaps better thus, since the abolition could have no force, unless the pope, by whom the institution had been established, consented to its suspension. this matter, however, was to be kept a profound secret. so much for the inquisition matter. the papal institution, notwithstanding the official letters, was to exist, unless the pope chose to destroy it; and his holiness, as we have seen, had sent the archbishop of sorrento, a few weeks before, to brussels, for the purpose of concerting secret measures for strengthening the "holy office" in the provinces. with regard to the proposed moderation of the edicts, philip informed pius the fifth, through requesens, that the project sent by the duchess not having been approved, orders had been transmitted for a new draft, in which all the articles providing for the severe punishment of heretics were to be retained, while alterations, to be agreed upon by the state and privy councils, and the knights of the fleece, were to be adopted-- certainly in no sense of clemency. on the contrary, the king assured his holiness, that if the severity of chastisement should be mitigated the least in the world by the new articles, they would in no case receive the royal approbation. philip further implored the pope "not to be scandalized" with regard to the proposed pardon, as it would be by no means extended to offenders against religion. all this was to be kept entirely secret. the king added, that rather than permit the least prejudice to the ancient religion, he would sacrifice all his states, and lose a hundred lives if he had so many; for he would never consent to be the sovereign of heretics. he said he would arrange the troubles of the netherlands, without violence, if possible, because forcible measures would cause the entire destruction of the country. nevertheless they should be employed, if his purpose could be accomplished in no other way. in that case the king would himself be the executor of his own design, without allowing the peril which he should incur, nor the ruin of the provinces, nor that of his other realms, to prevent him from doing all which a christian prince was bound to do, to maintain the catholic religion and the authority of the holy see, as well as to testify his personal regard for the reigning pontiff, whom he so much loved and esteemed. here was plain speaking. here were all the coming horrors distinctly foreshadowed. here was the truth told to the only being with whom philip ever was sincere. yet even on this occasion, he permitted himself a falsehood by which his holiness was not deceived. philip had no intention of going to the netherlands in person, and the pope knew that he had none. "i feel it in my bones," said granvelle, mournfully, "that nobody in rome believes in his majesty's journey to the provinces." from that time forward, however, the king began to promise this visit, which was held out as a panacea for every ill, and made to serve as an excuse for constant delay. it may well be supposed that if philip's secret policy had been thoroughly understood in the netherlands, the outbreak would have come sooner. on the receipt, however, of the public despatches from madrid, the administration in brussels made great efforts to represent their tenor as highly satisfactory. the papal inquisition was to be abolished, a pardon was to be granted, a new moderation was to be arranged at some indefinite period; what more would men have? yet without seeing the face of the cards, the people suspected the real truth, and orange was convinced of it. viglius wrote that if the king did not make his intended visit soon, he would come too late, and that every week more harm was done by procrastination than could be repaired by months of labor and perhaps by torrents of blood. what the precise process was, through which philip was to cure all disorders by his simple presence, the president did not explain. as for the measures propounded by the king after so long a delay, they were of course worse than useless; for events had been marching while he had been musing. the course suggested was, according to viglius, but "a plaster for a wound, but a drag-chain for the wheel." he urged that the convocation of the states-general was the only remedy for the perils in which the country was involved; unless the king should come in person. he however expressed the hope that by general consultation some means would be devised by which, if not a good, at least a less desperate aspect would be given to public affairs, "so that the commonwealth, if fall it must, might at least fall upon its feet like a cat, and break its legs rather than its neck." notwithstanding this highly figurative view of the subject; and notwithstanding the urgent representations of duchess margaret to her brother, that nobles and people were all clamoring about the necessity of convening the states general, philip was true to his instincts on this as on the other questions. he knew very well that the states-general of the netherlands and spanish despotism were incompatible ideas, and he recoiled from the idea of the assembly with infinite aversion. at the same time a little wholesome deception could do no harm. he wrote to the duchess, therefore, that he was determined never to allow the states- general to be convened. he forbade her to consent to the step under any circumstances, but ordered her to keep his prohibition a profound secret. he wished, he said, the people to think that it was only for the moment that the convocation was forbidden, and that the duchess was expecting to receive the necessary permission at another time. it was his desire, he distinctly stated, that the people should not despair of obtaining the assembly, but he was resolved never to consent to the step, for he knew very well what was meant by a meeting of the states-general. certainly after so ingenuous but secret a declaration from the disciple of macchiavelli, margaret might well consider the arguments to be used afterward by herself and others, in favor of the ardently desired measure, as quite superfluous. such then was the policy secretly resolved upon by philip; even before he heard of the startling events which were afterwards to break upon him. he would maintain the inquisition and the edicts; he would exterminate the heretics, even if he lost all his realms and his own life in the cause; he would never hear of the national representatives coming together. what then were likely to be his emotions when he should be told of twenty thousand armed heretics assembling at one spot, and fifteen thousand at another, in almost every town in every province, to practice their blasphemous rites; when he should be told of the whirlwind which had swept all the ecclesiastical accumulations of ages out of existence; when he should read margaret's despairing letters, in which she acknowledged that she had at last committed an act unworthy of god, of her king, and of herself, in permitting liberty of worship to the renegades from the ancient church! the account given by the duchess was in truth very dismal. she said that grief consumed her soul and crimson suffused her cheeks while she related the recent transactions. she took god to witness that she had resisted long, that she had past many sleepless nights, that she had been wasted with fever and grief. after this penitential preface she confessed that, being a prisoner and almost besieged in her palace, sick in body and soul, she had promised pardon and security to the confederates, with liberty of holding assemblies to heretics in places where the practice had already obtained. these concessions had been made valid until the king by and with the consent of the states-general, should definitely arrange the matter. she stated, however, that she had given her consent to these two demands, not in the royal name, but in her own. the king was not bound by her promise, and she expreesed the hope that he would have no regard to any such obligation. she further implored her brother to come forth as soon as possibe to avenge the injuries inflicted upon the ancient church, adding, that if deprived of that consolation, she should incontinently depart this life. that hope alone would prevent her death. this was certainly strong language. she was also very explicit in her representations of the influence which had been used by certain personages to prevent the exercise of any authority upon her own part. "wherefore," said margaret, "i eat my heart; and shall never have peace till the arrival of your majesty." there was no doubt who those personages were who, as it was pretended, had thus held the duchess in bondage, and compelled her to grant these infamous concessions. in her secret italian letters, she furnished the king with a tissue of most extravagant and improbable falsehoods, supplied to her mainly by noircarmes and mansfeld, as to the course pursued at this momentous crisis by orange, egmont, horn, and hoogstraaten. they had all, she said, declared against god and against religion.--horn, at least, was for killing all the priests and monks in the country, if full satisfaction were not given to the demands of the heretics. egmont had declared openly for the beggars, and was levying troops in germany. orange had the firm intention of making himself master of the whole country, and of dividing it among the other seigniors and himself. the prince had said that if she took refuge in mons, as she had proposed, they would instantly convoke the states-general, and take all necessary measures. egmont had held the same language, saying that he would march at the head of forty thousand men to besiege her in that city. all these seigniors, however, had avowed their determination to prevent her flight, to assemble the estates, and to drag her by force before the assembly, in order to compel her consent to every measure which might be deemed expedient. under all these circumstances, she had been obliged to defer her retreat, and to make the concessions which had overwhelmed her with disgrace. with such infamous calumnies, utterly disproved by every fact in the case, and unsupported by a tittle of evidence, save the hearsay reports of a man like noircarmes, did this "woman, nourished at rome, in whom no one could put confidence," dig the graves of men who were doing their best to serve her. philip's rage at first hearing of the image-breaking has been indicated. he was ill of an intermittent fever at the wood of segovia when the news arrived, and it may well be supposed that his wrath at these proceedings was not likely to assuage his malady. nevertheless, after the first burst of indignation, he found relief in his usual deception. while slowly maturing the most tremendous vengeance which anointed monarch ever deliberately wreaked upon his people, he wrote to say, that it was "his intention to treat his vassals and subjects in the provinces like a good and clement prince, not to ruin them nor to put them into servitude, but to exercise all humanity, sweetness, and grace, avoiding all harshness." such were the avowed intentions of the sovereign towards his people at the moment when the terrible alva, who was to be the exponent of all this "humanity, sweetness, and grace," was already beginning the preparations for his famous invasion of the netherlands. the essence of the compact agreed to upon the d august between the confederates and the regent, was that the preaching of the reformed religion should be tolerated in places where it had previously to that date been established. upon this basis egmont, horn, orange, hoogstraaten, and others, were directed once more to attempt the pacification of the different provinces. egmont departed for his government of flanders, and from that moment vanished all his pretensions, which at best had been, slender enough, to the character of a national chieftain. during the whole of the year his course had been changeful. he had felt the influence of orange; he had generous instincts; he had much vanity; he had the pride of high rank; which did not easily brook the domination of strangers, in a land which he considered himself and his compeers entitled by their birth to rule. at this juncture, however, particularly when in the company of noircarmes, berlaymont, and viglius, he expressed, notwithstanding their calumnious misstatements, the deepest detestation of the heretics. he was a fervent catholic, and he regarded the image-breaking as an unpardon able crime. "we must take up arms," said he, "sooner or later, to bring these reformers to reason, or they will end by laying down the law for us." on the other hand, his anger would be often appeased by the grave but gracious remonstrances of orange. during a part of the summer, the reformers had been so strong in flanders that upon a single day sixty thousand armed men had been assembled at the different field-preachings within that province. "all they needed was a jacquemart, or a philip van artevelde," says a catholic, contemporary, "but they would have scorned to march under the banner of a brewer; having dared to raise their eyes for a chief, to the most illustrious warrior of his ages." no doubt, had egmont ever listened to these aspirations, he might have taken the field against the government with an invincible force, seized the capital, imprisoned the regent, and mastered the whole country, which was entirely defenceless, before philip would have had time to write more than ten despatches upon the subject. these hopes of the reformers, if hopes they could be called, were now destined to be most bitterly disappointed. egmont entered flanders, not as a chief of rebels--not as a wise pacificator, but as an unscrupulous partisan of government, disposed to take summary vengeance on all suspected persons who should fall in his way. he ordered numerous executions of image-breakers and of other heretics. the whole province was in a state of alarm; for, although he had not been furnished by the regent with a strong body of troops, yet the name of the conqueror at saint quentin and gravelines was worth many regiments. his severity was excessive. his sanguinary exertions were ably seconded also by his secretary bakkerzeel, a man who exercised the greatest influence over his chief, and who was now fiercely atoning for having signed the compromise by persecuting those whom that league had been formed to protect. "amid all the perplexities of the duchess regent," says a walloon historian, "this virtuous princess was consoled by the exploits of bakkerzeel, gentleman in count egmont's service. on one occasion he hanged twenty heretics, including a minister, at a single heat." such achievements as these by the hands or the orders of the distinguished general who had been most absurdly held up as a possible protector of the civil and religious liberties of the country, created profound sensation. flanders and artois were filled with the wives and children of suspected i thousands who had fled the country to escape the wrath of egmont. the cries and piteous lamentations of these unfortunate creatures were heard on every side. count louis was earnestly implored to intercede for the persecuted reformers. "you who have been so nobly gifted by heaven, you who have good will and singular bounty written upon your face," said utenhove to louis, "have the power to save these poor victims from the throats of the ravenous wolves." the count responded to the appeal, and strove to soften the severity of egmont, without, however, producing any very signal effect. flanders was soon pacified, nor was that important province permitted to enjoy the benefits of the agreement which had been extorted, from the duchess. the preachings were forbidden, and the ministers and congregations arrested and chastised, even in places where the custom had been established previously to the d august. certainly such vigorous exertions upon the part both of master and man did not savor of treason to philip, and hardly seemed to indicate the final doom of egmont and bakkerzeel. the course of orange at antwerp was consistent with his whole career. he honestly came to arrange a pacification, but he knew that this end could be gained only by loyally maintaining the accord which had been signed between the confederates and the regent. he came back to the city on the th august, and found order partially re-established. the burghers having at last become thoroughly alarmed, and the fury of the image- breakers entirely appeased, it had been comparatively easy to restore tranquillity. the tranquillity, however, rather restored itself, and when the calm had succeeded to the tempest, the placid heads of the burgomasters once, more emerged from the waves. three image-breakers, who had been taken in the act, were hanged by order of the magistrates upon the th of august. the presence of orange gave them courage to achieve these executions which he could not prevent, as the fifth article of the accord enjoined the chastisement of the rioters. the magistrates chose that the "chastisement" on this occasion should be exemplary, and it was not in the power of orange to interfere with the regular government of the city when acting according to its laws. the deed was not his, however, and he hastened, in order to obviate the necessity of further violence, to prepare articles of agreement, upon the basis of margaret's concessions. public preaching, according to the reformed religion, had already taken place within the city. upon the d, possession had been taken of at least three churches. the senate had deputed pensionary wesenbeck to expostulate with the ministers, for the magistrates were at that moment not able to command. taffin, the walloon preacher, had been tractable, and had agreed to postpone his exercises. he furthermore had accompanied the pensionary to the cathedral, in order to persuade herman modet that it would be better for him likewise to defer his intended ministrations. they had found that eloquent enthusiast already in the great church, burning with impatience to ascend upon the ruins, and quite unable to resist the temptation of setting a flemish psalm and preaching a flemish sermon within the walls which had for so many centuries been vocal only to the roman tongue and the roman ritual. all that he would concede to the entreaties of his colleague and of the magistrate, was that his sermon should be short. in this, however, he had overrated his powers of retention, for the sermon not only became a long one, but he had preached another upon the afternoon of the same day. the city of antwerp, therefore, was clearly within the seventh clause of the treaty of the th august, for preaching had taken place in the cathedral, previously to the signing of that accord. upon the d september, therefore, after many protracted interview with the heads of the reformed religion, the prince drew up sixteen articles of agreement between them, the magistrates and the government, which were duly signed and exchanged. they were conceived in the true spirit of statesmanship, and could the rulers of the land have elevated themselves to the mental height of william de nassau, had philip been able of comprehending such a mind, the prince, who alone possessed the power in those distracted times of governing the wills of all men, would have enabled the monarch to transmit that beautiful cluster of provinces, without the lose of a single jewel, to the inheritors of his crown. if the prince were playing a game, he played it honorably. to have conceived the thought of religious toleration in an age of universal dogmatism; to have labored to produce mutual respect among conflicting opinions, at a period when many dissenters were as bigoted as the orthodox, and when most reformers fiercely proclaimed not liberty for every christian doctrine, but only a new creed in place of all the rest, --to have admitted the possibility of several roads, to heaven, when zealots of all creeds would shut up all pathways but their own; if such sentiments and purposes were sins, they would have been ill-exchanged for the best virtues of the age. yet, no doubt, this was his crying offence in the opinion of many contemporaries. he was now becoming apostate from the ancient church, but he had long thought that emperors, kings, and popes had taken altogether too much care of men's souls in times past, and had sent too many of them prematurely to their great account. he was equally indisposed to grant full-powers for the same purpose to calvinists, lutherans, or anabaptists. "he censured the severity of our theologians," said a catholic contemporary, accumulating all the religious offences of the prince in a single paragraph, "because they keep strictly the constitutions of the church without conceding a single point to their adversaries; he blamed the calvinists as seditious and unruly people, yet nevertheless had a horror for the imperial edicts which condemned them to death; he said it was a cruel thing to take a man's life for sustaining an erroneous opinion; in short, he fantasied in his imagination a kind of religion, half catholic, half reformed, in order to content all persons; a system which would have been adopted could he have had his way." this picture, drawn by one of his most brilliant and bitter enemies, excites our admiration while intended to inspire aversion. the articles of agreement at antwerp thus promulgated assigned three churches to the different sects of reformers, stipulated that no attempt should be made by catholics or protestants to disturb the religious worship of each other, and provided that neither by mutual taunts in their sermons, nor by singing street ballads, together with improper allusions and overt acts of hostility, should the good-fellowship which ought to reign between brethren and fellow-citizens, even although entertaining different opinions as to religious rites and doctrines, be for the future interrupted. this was the basis upon which the very brief religious peace, broken almost as soon as established, was concluded by william of orange, not only at antwerp, but at utrecht, amsterdam, and other principal cities within his government. the prince, however, notwithstanding his unwearied exertions, had slender hopes of a peaceful result. he felt that the last step taken by the reformation had been off a precipice. he liked not such rapid progress. he knew that the king would never forgive the image-breaking. he felt that he would never recognize the accord of the th august. sir thomas gresham, who, as the representative of the protestant queen of england in the great commercial metropolis of europe, was fully conversant with the turn things were taking, was already advising some other place for the sale of english commodities. he gave notice to his government that commerce would have no security at antwerp "in those brabbling times." he was on confidential terms with the prince, who invited him to dine upon the th september, and caused pensionary wesenbeck, who was also present, to read aloud the agreement which was that day to be proclaimed at the town-house. orange expressed himself, however, very doubtfully as to the future prospects of the provinces, and as to the probable temper of the king. "in all his talke," says gresham, "the prince aside unto me, 'i know this will nothing contente the king!'" while egmont had been, thus busied in flanders, and orange at antwerp, count horn had been doing his best in the important city of tournay. the admiral was not especially gifted with intellect, nor with the power of managing men, but he went there with an honest purpose of seeing the accord executed, intending, if it should prove practicable, rather to favor the government than the reformers. at the same time, for the purpose of giving satisfaction to the members of "the religion," and of manifesting his sincere desire for a pacification, he accepted lodgings which had been prepared for him at the house of a calvinist merchant in the city, rather, than, take up his quarters with fierce old governor moulbais, in the citadel. this gave much offence to the catholics; and inspired the reformers, with the hope of having their preaching inside the town. to this privilege they were entitled, for the practice had already been established there, previously to the th october. nevertheless, at first he was disposed to limit them, in accordance with the wishes of the duchess, to extra-mural exercises. upon his arrival, by a somewhat ominous conjuncture, he had supped with some of the leading citizens in the hall of the "gehenna" or torture room, certainly not a locality calculated to inspire a healthy appetite. on the following sunday he had been entertained with a great banquet, at which all the principal burghers were present, held in a house on the market-place. the festivities had been interrupted by a quarrel, which had been taking place in the cathedral. beneath the vaults of that edifice, tradition said that a vast treasure was hidden, and the canons had been known to boast that this buried wealth would be sufficient to rebuild their temple more magnificently than ever, in case of its total destruction. the admiral had accordingly placed a strong guard in the church as soon as he arrived, and commenced very extensive excavations in search of this imaginary mine. the regent informed her brother that the count was prosecuting this work with the view of appropriating whatever might be found to his own benefit. as she knew that he was a ruined man, there seemed no more satisfactory mode of accounting for these proceedings. horn had, however, expressly stated to her that every penny which should come into his possession from that or any other source would carefully be restored to the rightful owners. nothing of consequence was ever found to justify the golden legends of the monks, but in the mean time the money-diggers gave great offence. the canons, naturally alarmed for the safety of their fabulous treasure, had forced the guard, by surreptitiously obtaining the countersign from a certain official of the town. a quarrel ensued which ended in the appearance of this personage, together with the commander of the military force on guard in the cathedral, before the banqueting company. the count, in the rough way habitual with him, gave the culprit a sound rebuke for his intermeddling, and threatened, in case the offence were repeated, to have him instantly bound, gagged, and forwarded to brussels for further punishment. the matter thus satisfactorily adjusted, the banquet proceeded, the merchants present being all delighted at seeing the said official, who was exceedingly, unpopular, "so well huffed by the count." the excavations were continued for along time, until there seemed danger of destroying the foundation of the church, but only a few bits of money were discovered, with some other articles of small value. horn had taken his apartments in the city in order to be at hand to suppress any tumults, and to inspire confidence in the people. he had come to a city where five sixths of the inhabitants--were of the reformed religion, and he did not, therefore, think it judicious to attempt violently the suppression of their worship. upon his arrival he had issued a proclamation, ordering that all property which might have been pillaged from the religious houses should be instantly restored to the magistracy, under penalty that all who disobeyed the command should "be forthwith strangled at the gibbet." nothing was brought back, however, for the simple reason that nothing had been stolen. there was, therefore, no one to be strangled. the next step was to publish the accord of th august, and to signify the intention of the admiral to enforce its observance. the preachings were as enthusiastically attended as ever, while the storm which had been raging among the images had in the mean time been entirely allayed. congregations of fifteen thousand were still going to hear ambrose wille in the suburbs, but they were very tranquil in their demeanor. it was arranged between the admiral and the leaders of the reformed consistories, that three places, to be selected by horn, should be assigned for their places of worship. at these spots, which were outside the walls, permission was given the reformers to build meeting-houses. to this arrangement the duchess formally gave her consent. nicholas taffin; councillor, in the name of the reformers, made "a brave and elegant harangue" before the magistrates, representing that, as on the most moderate computation, three quarters of the population were dissenters, as the regent had ordered the construction of the new temples, and as the catholics retained possession of all the churches in the city, it was no more than fair that the community should bear the expense of the new buildings. it was indignantly replied, however, that catholics could not be expected to pay for the maintenance of heresy, particularly when they had just been so much exasperated by the image- breaking councillor taffin took nothing, therefore by his "brave and elegant harangue," saving a small vote of forty livres. the building was, however, immediately commenced. many nobles and rich citizens contributed to the work; some making donations in money; others giving quantities of oaks, poplars, elms, and other timber trees, to be used in the construction. the foundation of the first temple outside the ports de cocquerel was immediately laid. vast heaps of broken images and other ornaments of the desecrated churches were most unwisely used for this purpose, and the catholics were exceedingly enraged at beholding those male and female saints, who had for centuries been placed in such "reverend and elevated positions," fallen so low as to be the foundation- stones of temples whose builders denounced all those holy things as idols. as the autumn began to wane, the people were clamorous for permission to have their preaching inside the city. the new buildings could not be finished before the winter; but in the mean time the camp-meetings were becoming, in the stormy seasons fast approaching, a very inconvenient mode of worship. on the other hand, the duchess was furious at the proposition, and commanded horn on no account to consent that the interior of tournay should be profaned by these heretical rites. it was in vain that the admiral represented the justice of the claim, as these exercises had taken place in several of the city churches previously to the accord of the th of august. that agreement had been made by the duchess only to be broken. she had already received money and the permission to make levies, and was fast assuming a tone very different from the abject demeanor which had characterized her in august. count horn had been used even as egmont, orange and hoogstraaten had been employed, in order that their personal influence with the reformers might be turned to account. the tools and the work accomplished by them were to be thrown away at the most convenient opportunity. the admiral was placed in a most intolerable position. an honest, common-place, sullen kind of man, he had come to a city full of heretics, to enforce concessions just made by the government to heresy. he soon found himself watched, paltered with, suspected by the administration at brussels. governor moulbais in the citadel, who was nominally under his authority, refused obedience to his orders, was evidently receiving secret instructions from the regent, and was determined to cannonade the city into submission at a very early day. horn required him to pledge himself that no fresh troops should enter the castle. moulbais swore he would make no such promise to a living soul. the admiral stormed with his usual violence, expressed his regret that his brother montigny had so bad a lieutenant in the citadel, but could make no impression upon the determined veteran, who knew, better than horn, the game which was preparing. small reinforcements were daily arriving at the castle; the soldiers of the garrison had been heard to boast "that they would soon carve and eat the townsmen's flesh on their dressers," and all the good effect from the admiral's proclamation on arriving, had completely vanished. horn complained bitterly of the situation in which he was placed. he knew himself the mark of incessant and calumnious misrepresentation both at brussels and madrid. he had been doing his best, at a momentous crisis, to serve the government without violating its engagements, but he declared himself to be neither theologian nor jurist, and incapable, while suspected and unassisted, of performing a task which the most learned doctors of the council would find impracticable. he would rather, he bitterly exclaimed, endure a siege in any fortress by the turks, than be placed in such a position. he was doing all that he was capable of doing, yet whatever he did was wrong. there was a great difference, he said, between being in a place and talking about it at a distance. in the middle of october he was recalled by the duchess, whose letters had been uniformly so ambiguous that he confessed he was quite unable to divine their meaning. before he left the city, he committed his most unpardonable crime. urged by the leaders of the reformed congregations to permit their exercises in the clothiers' hall until their temples should be finished, the count accorded his consent provisionally, and subject to revocation by the regent, to whom the arrangement was immediately to be communicated. horn departed, and the reformers took instant possession of the hall. it was found in a very dirty and disorderly condition, encumbered with benches, scaffoldings, stakes, gibbets, and all the machinery used for public executions upon the market-place. a vast body of men went to work with a will; scrubbing, cleaning, whitewashing, and removing all the foul lumber of the hall; singing in chorus, as they did so, the hymns of clement marot. by dinner-time the place was ready. the pulpit and benches for the congregation had taken the place of the gibbet timber. it is difficult to comprehend that such work as this was a deadly crime. nevertheless, horn, who was himself a sincere catholic, had committed the most mortal of all his offences against philip and against god, by having countenanced so flagitious a transaction. the admiral went to brussels. secretary de la torre, a very second-rate personage, was despatched to tournay to convey the orders of the regent. governor moulbais, now in charge of affairs both civil and military, was to prepare all things for the garrison, which was soon to be despatched under noircarmes. the duchess had now arms in her hands, and her language was bold. la torre advised the reformers to be wise "while the rod was yet green and growing, lest it should be gathered for their backs; for it was unbecoming is subjects to make bargains with their king." there was hardly any decent pretext used in violating the accord of the th august, so soon as the government was strong enough to break it. it was always said that the preachings suppressed, had not been established previously to that arrangement; but the preachings had in reality obtained almost every where, and were now universally abolished. the ridiculous quibble was also used that, in the preachings other religious exercises were not included, whereas it was notorious that they had never been separated. it is, however, a gratuitous task, to unravel the deceptions of tyranny when it hardly deigns to disguise itself. the dissimulations which have resisted the influence of centuries are more worthy of serious investigation, and of these the epoch offers us a sufficient supply. at the close of the year, the city of tournay was completely subjugated and the reformed religion suppressed. upon the nd day of january, , the seignior de noircarmes arrived before the gates at the head of eleven companies, with orders from duchess margaret to strengthen the garrison and disarm the citizens. he gave the magistrates exactly one hour and a half to decide whether they would submit without a murmur. he expressed an intention of maintaining the accord of th august; a ridiculous affectation under the circumstances, as the event proved. the notables were summoned, submission agreed upon, and within the prescribed time the magistrates came before noircarmes, with an unconditional acceptance of his terms. that truculent personage told them, in reply, that they had done wisely, for if they had delayed receiving the garrison a minute longer, he would have instantly burned the city to ashes and put every one of the inhabitants to the sword. he had been fully authorized to do so, and subsequent events were to show, upon more than one dreadful occasion, how capable noircarmes would have been of fulfilling this menace. the soldiers, who had made a forced march all night, and who had been firmly persuaded that the city would refuse the terms demanded, were excessively disappointed at being obliged to forego the sack and pillage upon which they had reckoned. eight or nine hundred rascally peasants, too, who had followed in the skirts of the regiments, each provided with a great empty bag, which they expected to fill with booty which they might purchase of the soldiers, or steal in the midst of the expected carnage and rapine, shared the discontent of the soldiery, by whom they were now driven ignominiously out of the town. the citizens were immediately disarmed. all the fine weapons which they had been obliged to purchase at their own expense, when they had been arranged by the magistrates under eight banners, for defence of the city against tumult and invasion, were taken from them; the most beautiful cutlasses, carbines, poniards, and pistols, being divided by noircarmes among his officers. thus tournay was tranquillized. during the whole of these proceedings in flanders, and at antwerp, tournay, and mechlin, the conduct of the duchess had been marked with more than her usual treachery. she had been disavowing acts which the men upon whom she relied in her utmost need had been doing by her authority; she had been affecting to praise their conduct, while she was secretly misrepresenting their actions and maligning their motives, and she had been straining every nerve to make foreign levies, while attempting to amuse the confederates and sectaries with an affectation of clemency. when orange complained that she had been censuring his proceedings at antwerp, and holding language unfavorable to his character, she protested that she thoroughly approved his arrangements--excepting only the two points of the intramural preachings and the permission to heretics of other exercises than sermons--and that if she were displeased with him he might be sure that she would rather tell him so than speak ill of him behind his back. the prince, who had been compelled by necessity, and fully authorized by the terms of the "accord", to grant those two points which were the vital matter in his arrangements, answered very calmly, that he was not so frivolous as to believe in her having used language to his discredit had he not been quite certain of the fact, as he would soon prove by evidence. orange was not the man to be deceived as to the position in which he stood, nor as to the character of those with whom he dealt. margaret wrote, however, in the same vein concerning him to hoogstmaten, affirming that nothing could be further from her intention than to characterize the proceedings of "her cousin, the prince of orange, as contrary to the service of his majesty; knowing, as she did, how constant had been his affection, and how diligent his actions, in the cause of god and the king." she also sent councillor d'assonleville on a special mission to the prince, instructing that smooth personage to inform her said cousin of orange that he was and always had been "loved and cherished by his majesty, and that for herself she had ever loved him like a brother or a child." she wrote to horn, approving of his conduct in the main, although in obscure terms, and expressing great confidence in his zeal, loyalty, and good intentions. she accorded the same praise to hoogstraaten, while as to egmont she was perpetually reproaching him for the suspicions which he seemed obstinately to entertain as to her disposition and that of philip, in regard to his conduct and character. it has already been partly seen what were her private sentiments and secret representations as to the career of the distinguished personages thus encouraged and commended. her pictures were painted in daily darkening colors. she told her brother that orange, egmont, and horn were about to place themselves at the head of the confederates, who were to take up arms and had been levying troops; that the lutheran religion was to be forcibly established, that the whole power of the government was to be placed in the triumvirate thus created by those seigniors, and that philip was in reality to be excluded entirely from those provinces which were his ancient patrimony. all this information she had obtained from mansfeld, at whom the nobles were constantly sneering as at a faithful valet who would never receive his wages. she also informed the king that the scheme for dividing the country was already arranged: that augustus of saxony was to have friesland and overyssel; count brederode, holland; the dukes of cleves and lorraine, gueldres; the king of france, flanders, artois, and hainault, of which territories egmont was to be perpetual stadholder; the prince of orange, brabant; and so on indefinitely. a general massacre of all the catholics had been arranged by orange, horn, and egmont, to commence as soon as the king should put his foot on shipboard to come to the country. this last remarkable fact margaret reported to philip, upon the respectable authority of noircarmes. she apologized for having employed the service of these nobles, on the ground of necessity. their proceedings in flanders, at antwerp, tournay, mechlin, had been highly reprehensible, and she had been obliged to disavow them in the most important particulars. as for egmont, she had most unwillingly entrusted forces to his hands for the purpose of putting down the flemish sectaries. she had been afraid to show a want of confidence in his character, but at the same time she believed that all soldiers under egmont's orders would be so many enemies to the king. notwithstanding his protestations of fidelity to the ancient religion and to his majesty, she feared that he was busied with some great plot against god and the king. when we remember the ruthless manner in which the unfortunate count had actually been raging against the sectaries, and the sanguinary proofs which he had been giving of his fidelity to "god and the king," it seems almost incredible that margaret could have written down all these monstrous assertions. the duchess gave, moreover, repeated warnings to her brother, that the nobles were in the habit of obtaining possession of all the correspondence between madrid and brussels; and that they spent a vast deal of money in order to read her own and philip's most private letters. she warned him therefore, to be upon his guard, for she believed that almost all their despatches were read. such being the cases and the tenor of those documents being what we have seen it to be, her complaints as to the incredulity of those seigniors to her affectionate protestations, seem quite wonderful. chapter ix., part ., position of orange--the interview at dendermonde--the supposititious letters of alava--views of egmont--isolation of orange--conduct of egmont and of horn--confederacy, of the nobles dissolved--weak behavior of prominent personages----watchfulness of orange-- convocation of states general demanded--pamphlet of orange--city of valenciennes refuses a garrison--influence of la grange and de bray --city, declared in a state of siege--invested by noircarmes-- movements to relieve the place--calvinists defeated at lannoy and at waterlots--elation of the government--the siege pressed more closely--cruelties practised upon the country people--courage of the inhabitants--remonstrance to the knights of the fleece--conduct of brederode--orange at amsterdam--new oath demanded by government-- orange refuses--he offers his resignation of all offices--meeting at breda--new "request" of brederode--he creates disturbances and levies troops in antwerp--conduct of hoogstraaten--plans of brederode--supposed connivance of orange--alarm at brussels-- tholouse at ostrawell--brederode in holland--de beauvoir defeats tholouse--excitement at antwerp--determined conduct of orange--three days' tumult at antwerp suppressed by the wisdom and courage of orange. it is necessary to allude to certain important events contemporaneous with those recorded in the last chapter, that the reader may thoroughly understand the position of the leading personages in this great drama at the close of the year . the prince of orange had, as we have seen, bean exerting all his energies faithfully to accomplish the pacification of the commercial metropolis, upon the basis assented to beforehand by the duchess. he had established a temporary religious peace, by which alone at that crisis the gathering tempest could be averted; but he had permitted the law to take its course upon certain rioters, who had been regularly condemned by courts of justice. he had worked day and night--notwithstanding immense obstacles, calumnious misstatements, and conflicting opinions--to restore order out of chaos; he had freely imperilled his own life--dashing into a tumultuous mob on one occasion, wounding several with the halberd which he snatched from one of his guard, and dispersing almost with his single arm a dangerous and threatening insurrection--and he had remained in antwerp, at the pressing solicitations of the magistracy, who represented that the lives of not a single ecclesiastic would be safe as soon as his back was turned, and that all the merchants would forthwith depart from the city. it was nevertheless necessary that he should make a personal visit to his government of holland, where similar disorders had been prevailing, and where men of all ranks and parties were clamoring for their stadholder. notwithstanding all his exertions however, he was thoroughly aware of the position in which he stood towards the government. the sugared phrases of margaret, the deliberate commendation of the "benign and debonair" philip, produced no effect upon this statesman, who was accustomed to look through and through men's actions to the core of their hearts. in the hearts of philip and margaret he already saw treachery and revenge indelibly imprinted. he had been especially indignant at the insult which the duchess regent had put upon him, by sending duke eric of brunswick with an armed force into holland in order to protect gouda, woerden, and other places within the prince's own government. he was thoroughly conversant with the general tone in which the other seigniors and himself were described to their sovereign. he, was already convinced that the country was to be conquered by foreign mercenaries, and that his own life, with these of many other nobles, was to be sacrificed. the moment had arrived in which he was justified in looking about him for means of defence, both for himself and his country, if the king should be so insane as to carry out the purposes which the prince suspected. the time was fast approaching in which a statesman placed upon such an elevation before the world as that which he occupied, would be obliged to choose his part for life. to be the unscrupulous tool of tyranny, a rebel, or an exile, was his necessary fate. to a man so prone to read the future, the moment for his choice seemed already arrived. moreover, he thought it doubtful, and events were most signally to justify his doubts, whether he could be accepted as the instrument of despotism, even were he inclined to prostitute himself to such service. at this point, therefore, undoubtedly began the treasonable thoughts of william the silent, if it be treason to attempt the protection of ancient and chartered liberties against a foreign oppressor. he despatched a private envoy to egmont, representing the grave suspicions manifested by the duchess in sending duke eric into holland, and proposing that means should be taken into consideration for obviating the dangers with which the country was menaced. catholics as well as protestants, he intimated, were to be crushed in one universal conquest as soon as philip had completed the formidable preparations which he was making for invading the provinces. for himself, he said, he would not remain in the land to witness the utter desolation of the people, nor to fall an unresisting victim to the vengeance which he foresaw. if, however, he might rely upon the co-operation of egmont and horn, he was willing, with the advice of the states-general, to risk preparations against the armed invasion of spaniards by which the country was to be reduced to slavery. it was incumbent, however, upon men placed as they were, "not to let the grass grow under their feet;" and the moment for action was fast approaching. this was the scheme which orange was willing to attempt. to make use of his own influence and that of his friends, to interpose between a sovereign insane with bigotry, and a people in a state of religious frenzy, to resist brutal violence if need should be by force, and to compel the sovereign to respect the charters which he had sworn to maintain, and which were far more ancient than his sovereignty; so much of treason did william of orange already contemplate, for in no other way could he be loyal to his country and his own honor. nothing came of this secret embassy, for egmont's heart and fate were already fixed. before orange departed, however; for the north, where his presence in the dutch provinces was now imperatively required, a memorable interview took place at dendermonde between orange, horn, egmont, hoogstraaten, and count louis. the nature of this conference was probably similar to that of the secret mission from orange to egmont just recorded. it was not a long consultation. the gentlemen met at eleven o'clock, and conversed until dinner was ready, which was between twelve and one in the afternoon. they discussed the contents of a letter recently received by horn from his brother montigny at segovia, giving a lively picture of philip's fury at the recent events in the netherlands, and expressing the baron's own astonishment and indignation that it had been impossible for the seigniors to prevent such outrages as the public preaching, the image-breaking and the accord. they had also some conversation concerning the dissatisfaction manifested by the duchess at the proceedings of count horn at tournay, and they read a very remarkable letter which had been furnished them, as having been written by the spanish envoy in paris, don francis of alava, to margaret of parma. this letter was forged. at least the regent, in her italian correspondence, asserted it to be fictitious, and in those secret letters to philip she usually told the truth. the astuteness of william of orange had in this instance been deceived. the striking fidelity, however, with which the present and future policy of the government was sketched, the accuracy with which many unborn events were foreshadowed, together with the minute touches which gave an air of genuineness to the fictitious despatch, might well deceive even so sagacious an observer as the prince. the letters alluded to the deep and long-settled hostility of philip to orange, horn, and egmont, as to a fact entirely within the writer's knowledge, and that of his correspondent, but urged upon the duchess the assumption of an extraordinary degree of apparent cordiality in her intercourse with them. it was the king's intention to use them and to destroy them, said the writer, and it was the regent's duty to second the design. "the tumults and troubles have not been without their secret concurrence," said the supposititious alava, "and your highness may rest assured that they will be the first upon whom his majesty will seize, not to confer benefits, but to chastise them as they deserve. your highness, however, should show no symptom of displeasure, but should constantly maintain in their minds the idea that his majesty considers them as the most faithful of his servants. while they are persuaded of this, they can be more easily used, but when the time comes, they will be treated in another manner. your highness may rest assured that his majesty is not less inclined than your highness that they should receive the punishment which they merit." the duchess was furthermore recommended "to deal with the three seigniors according to the example of the spanish governments in its intercourse with the envoys, bergen and montigny, who are met with a smiling face, but who are closely watched, and who will never be permitted to leave spain alive." the remainder of the letter alludes to supposed engagements between france and spain for the extirpation of heresy, from which allusion to the generally accepted but mistaken notion as to the bayonne conference, a decided proof seems to be furnished that the letter was not genuine. great complaints, however, are made, as to the conduct of the queen regent, who is described as "a certain lady well known to her highness, and as a person without faith, friendship, or truth; the most consummate hypocrite in the world." after giving instances of the duplicity manifested by catherine de medici, the writer continues: "she sends her little black dwarf to me upon frequent errands, in order that by means of this spy she may worm out my secrets. i am, however, upon my guard, and flatter myself that i learn more from him than she from me. she shall never be able to boast of having deceived a spaniard." an extract or two from this very celebrated document seemed indispensable, because of the great importance attached to it, both at the dendermonde conference, and at the trials of egmont and horn. the contemporary writers of holland had no doubt of its genuineness, and what is more remarkable, strada, the historiographer of the farnese family, after quoting margaret's denial of the authenticity of the letter, coolly observes: "whether this were only an invention of the conspirators, or actually a despatch from alava, i shall not decide. it is certain, however, that the duchess declared it to be false." certainly, as we read the epistles, and observe how profoundly the writer seems to have sounded the deep guile of the spanish cabinet, and how distinctly events, then far in the future, are indicated, we are tempted to exclaim: "aut alava, aut diabolus;" either the envoy wrote the despatch, or orange. who else could look into the future, and into philip's heart so unerringly? as the charge has never been made, so far as we are aware, against the prince, it is superfluous to discuss the amount of immorality which should belong to such a deception. a tendency to employ stratagem in his warfare against spain was, no doubt, a blemish upon his--high character. before he is condemned, however, in the court of conscience, the ineffable wiles of the policy with which he had to combat must be thoroughly scanned, as well as the pure and lofty purpose for which his life's long battle was fought. there was, doubtless, some conversation at dendermonde on the propriety or possibility of forcible resistance to a spanish army, with which it seemed probable that philip was about to invade the provinces, and take the lives of the leading nobles. count louis was in favor of making provision in germany for the accomplishment of this purpose. it is also highly probable that the prince may have encouraged the proposition. in the sense of his former communication to egmont, he may have reasoned on the necessity of making levies to sustain the decisions of the states- general against violence. there is, however, no proof of any such fact. egmont, at any rate, opposed the scheme, on the ground that "it was wrong to entertain any such ill opinion of so good a king as philip, that he had never done any thing unjust towards his subjects, and that if any one was in fear, he had better leave the country." egmont, moreover; doubted the authenticity of the letters from alava, but agreed to carry them to brussels, and to lay them before the regent. that lady, when she saw them, warmly assured the count that they were inventions. the conference broke up after it had lasted an hour and a half. the nobles then went to dinner, at which other persons appear to have been present, and the celebrated dendermonde meeting was brought to a close. after the repast was finished, each of the five nobles mounted his horse, and departed on his separate way. from this time forth the position of, these leading seigniors became more sharply defined. orange was left in almost complete isolation. without the assistance of egmont, any effective resistance to the impending invasion from spain seemed out of the question. the count, however, had taken his irrevocable and fatal resolution. after various oscillations during the stormy period which had elapsed, his mind, notwithstanding all the disturbing causes by which it had hitherto been partially influenced, now pointed steadily to the point of loyalty. the guidance of that pole star was to lead him to utter shipwreck. the unfortunate noble, entrenched against all fear of philip by the brazen wall of an easy conscience; saw no fault in his past at which he should grow pale with apprehension. moreover, he was sanguine by nature, a catholic in religion, a royalist from habit and conviction. henceforth he was determined that his services to the crown should more than counterbalance any idle speeches or insolent demonstrations of which he might have been previously guilty. horn pursued a different course, but one which separated him also from the prince, while it led to the same fate which egmont was blindly pursuing.--the admiral had committed no act of treason. on the contrary, he had been doing his best, under most difficult circumstances, to avert rebellion and save the interests of a most ungrateful sovereign. he was now disposed to wrap himself in his virtue, to retreat from a court life, for which he had never felt a vocation, and to resign all connection with a government by which he felt himself very badly, treated. moody, wrathful, disappointed, ruined, and calumniated, he would no longer keep terms with king or duchess. he had griefs of long standing against the whole of the royal family. he had never forgiven the emperor for refusing him, when young, the appointment of chamberlain. he had served philip long and faithfully, but he had never received a stiver of salary or "merced," notwithstanding all his work as state councillor, as admiral, as superintendent in spain; while his younger brother had long been in receipt of nine or ten thousand florins yearly. he had spent four hundred thousand florins in the king's service; his estates were mortgaged to their full value; he had been obliged to sell, his family plate. he had done his best in tourney to serve the duchess, and he had averted the "sicilian vespers," which had been imminent at his arrival. he had saved the catholics from a general massacre, yet he heard nevertheless from montigny, that all his actions were distorted in spain, and his motives blackened. his heart no longer inclined him to continue in philip's service, even were he furnished with the means of doing so. he had instructed his secretary, alonzo de la loo, whom he had despatched many months previously to madrid, that he was no longer to press his master's claims for a "merced," but to signify that he abandoned all demands and resigned all posts. he could turn hermit for the rest of his days, as well as the emperor charles. if he had little, he could live upon little. it was in this sense that he spoke to margaret of parma, to assonleville, to all around him. it was precisely in this strain and temper that he wrote to philip, indignantly defending his course at tourney, protesting against the tortuous conduct of the duchess, and bluntly declaring that he would treat no longer with ladies upon matters which concerned a man's honor. thus, smarting under a sense of gross injustice, the admiral expressed himself in terms which philip was not likely to forgive. he had undertaken the pacification of tournay, because it was montigny's government, and he had promised his services whenever they should be requisite. horn was a loyal and affectionate brother, and it is pathetic to find him congratulating montigny on being, after all, better off in spain than in the netherlands. neither loyalty nor the sincere catholicism for which montigny at this period commended horn in his private letters, could save the two brothers from the doom which was now fast approaching. thus horn, blind as egmont--not being aware that a single step beyond implicit obedience had created an impassable gulf between philip and himself--resolved to meet his destiny in sullen retirement. not an entirely disinterested man, perhaps, but an honest one, as the world went, mediocre in mind, but brave, generous, and direct of purpose, goaded by the shafts of calumny, hunted down by the whole pack which fawned upon power as it grew more powerful, he now retreated to his "desert," as he called his ruined home at weert, where he stood at bay, growling defiance at the regent, at philip, at all the world. thus were the two prominent personages upon whose co-operation orange had hitherto endeavored to rely, entirely separated from him. the confederacy of nobles, too, was dissolved, having accomplished little, notwithstanding all its noisy demonstrations, and having lost all credit with the people by the formal cessation of the compromise in consequence of the accord of august. as a body, they had justified the sarcasm of hubert languet, that "the confederated nobles had ruined their country by their folly and incapacity." they had profaned a holy cause by indecent orgies, compromised it by seditious demonstrations, abandoned it when most in need of assistance. bakkerzeel had distinguished himself by hanging sectaries in flanders. "golden fleece" de hammes, after creating great scandal in and about antwerp, since the accord, had ended by accepting an artillery commission in the emperor's army, together with three hundred crowns for convoy from duchess margaret. culemburg was serving the cause of religious freedom by defacing the churches within his ancestral domains, pulling down statues, dining in chapels and giving the holy wafer to his parrot. nothing could be more stupid than these acts of irreverence, by which catholics were offended and honest patriots disgusted. nothing could be more opposed to the sentiments of orange, whose first principle was abstinence by all denominations of christians from mutual insults. at the same time, it is somewhat revolting to observe the indignation with which such offences were regarded by men of the most abandoned character. thus, armenteros, whose name was synonymous with government swindling, who had been rolling up money year after year, by peculations, auctioneering of high posts in church and state, bribes, and all kinds of picking and stealing, could not contain his horror as he referred to wafers eaten by parrots, or "toasted on forks" by renegade priests; and poured out his emotions on the subject into the faithful bosom of antonio perez, the man with whose debaucheries, political villanies, and deliberate murders all europe was to ring. no doubt there were many individuals in the confederacy for whom it was reserved to render honorable service in the national cause. the names of louis nassau, mamix of st. aldegonde, bernard de merode, were to be written in golden letters in their country's rolls; but at this moment they were impatient, inconsiderate, out of the control of orange. louis was anxious for the king to come from spain with his army, and for "the bear dance to begin." brederode, noisy, bawling, and absurd as ever, was bringing ridicule upon the national cause by his buffoonery, and endangering the whole people by his inadequate yet rebellious exertions. what course was the prince of orange to adopt? he could find no one to comprehend his views. he felt certain at the close of the year that the purpose of the government was fixed. he made no secret of his determination never to lend himself as an instrument for the contemplated subjugation of the people. he had repeatedly resigned all his offices. he was now determined that the resignation once for all should be accepted. if he used dissimulation, it was because philip's deception permitted no man to be frank. if the sovereign constantly disavowed all hostile purposes against his people, and manifested extreme affection for the men whom he had already doomed to the scaffold, how could the prince openly denounce him? it was his duty to save his country and his friends from impending ruin. he preserved, therefore, an attitude of watchfulness. philip, in the depth of his cabinet, was under a constant inspection by the sleepless prince. the sovereign assured his sister that her apprehensions about their correspondence was groundless. he always locked up his papers, and took the key with him. nevertheless, the key was taken out of his pocket and the papers read. orange was accustomed to observe, that men of leisure might occupy themselves with philosophical pursuits and with the secrets of nature, but that it was his business to study the hearts of kings. he knew the man and the woman with whom he had to deal. we have seen enough of the policy secretly pursued by philip and margaret to appreciate the accuracy with which the prince, groping as it were in the dark, had judged the whole situation. had his friends taken his warnings, they might have lived to render services against tyranny. had he imitated their example of false loyalty, there would have been one additional victim, more illustrious than all the rest, and a whole country hopelessly enslaved. it is by keeping these considerations in view, that we can explain his connection with such a man as brederode. the enterprises of that noble, of tholouse, and others, and the resistance of valenciennes, could hardly have been prevented even by the opposition of the prince. but why should he take the field against men who, however rashly or ineffectually, were endeavoring to oppose tyranny, when he knew himself already proscribed and doomed by the tyrant? such loyalty he left to egmont. till late in the autumn, he had still believed in the possibility of convoking the states-general, and of making preparations in germany to enforce their decrees. the confederates and sectaries had boasted that they could easily raise an army of sixty thousand men within the provinces,--that twelve hundred thousand florins monthly would be furnished by the rich merchants of antwerp, and that it was ridiculous to suppose that the german mercenaries enrolled by the duchess in saxony, hesse, and other protestant countries, would ever render serious assistance against the adherents of the reformed religion. without placing much confidence in such exaggerated statements, the prince might well be justified in believing himself strong enough, if backed by the confederacy, by egmont, and by his own boundless influence, both at antwerp and in his own government, to sustain the constituted authorities of the nation even against a spanish army, and to interpose with legitimate and irresistible strength between the insane tyrant and the country which he was preparing to crush. it was the opinion of the best informed catholics that, if egmont should declare for the confederacy, he could take the field with sixty thousand men, and make himself master of the whole country at a blow. in conjunction with orange, the moral and physical force would have been invincible. it was therefore not orange alone, but the catholics and protestants alike, the whole population of the country, and the duchess regent herself, who desired the convocation of the estates. notwithstanding philip's deliberate but secret determination never to assemble that body, although the hope was ever to be held out that they should be convened, margaret had been most importunate that her brother should permit the measure. "there was less danger," she felt herself compelled to say, "in assembling than in not assembling the states; it was better to preserve the catholic religion for a part of the country, than to lose it altogether." "the more it was delayed," she said, "the more ruinous and desperate became the public affairs. if the measure were postponed much longer, all flanders, half brabant, the whole of holland, zeland, gueldrea, tournay, lille, mechlin, would be lost forever, without a chance of ever restoring the ancient religion." the country, in short, was "without faith, king, or law," and nothing worse could be apprehended from any deliberation of the states-general. these being the opinions of the duchess, and according to her statement those of nearly all the good catholics in the country, it could hardly seem astonishing or treasonable that the prince should also be in favor of the measure. as the duchess grew stronger, however, and as the people, aghast at the fate of tournay and valenciennes, began to lose courage, she saw less reason for assembling the states. orange, on the other hand, completely deserted by egmont and horn, and having little confidence in the characters of the ex-confederates, remained comparatively quiescent but watchful. at the close of the year, an important pamphlet from his hand was circulated, in which his views as to the necessity of allowing some degree of religious freedom were urged upon the royal government with his usual sagacity of thought, moderation of language, and modesty in tone. the man who had held the most important civil and military offices in the country almost from boyhood, and who was looked up to by friend and foe as the most important personage in the three millions of its inhabitants, apologized for his "presumption" in coming forward publicly with his advice. "i would not," he said, "in matters of such importance, affect to be wiser or to make greater pretensions than my age or experience warrants, yet seeing affairs in such perplexity, i will rather incur the risk of being charged with forwardness than neglect that which i consider my duty." this, then, was the attitude of the principal personages in the netherlands, and the situation of affairs at the end of the eventful year , the last year of peace which the men then living or their children were to know. the government, weak at the commencement, was strong at the close. the confederacy was broken and scattered. the request, the beggar banquets, the public preaching, the image-breaking, the accord of august, had been followed by reaction. tournay had accepted its garrison. egmont, completely obedient to the crown, was compelling all the cities of flanders and artois to receive soldiers sufficient to maintain implicit obedience, and to extinguish all heretical demonstrations, so that the regent was at comparative leisure to effect the reduction of valenciennes. this ancient city, in the province of hainault, and on the frontier of france, had been founded by the emperor valentinian, from whom it had derived its name. originally established by him as a city of refuge, it had received the privilege of affording an asylum to debtors, to outlaws, and even to murderers. this ancient right had been continued, under certain modifications, even till the period with which we are now occupied. never, however, according to the government, had the right of asylum, even in the wildest times, been so abused by the city before. what were debtors, robbers, murderers, compared to heretics? yet these worst enemies of their race swarmed in the rebellious city, practising even now the foulest rites of calvin, and obeying those most pestilential of all preachers, guido de bray, and peregrine de la grange. the place was the hot-bed of heresy and sedition, and it seemed to be agreed, as by common accord, that the last struggle for what was called the new religion, should take place beneath its walls. pleasantly situated in a fertile valley, provided with very strong fortifications and very deep moats, valenciennes, with the scheld flowing through its centre, and furnishing the means of laying the circumjacent meadows under water, was considered in those days almost impregnable. the city was summoned, almost at the same time as tournay, to accept a garrison. this demand of government was met by a peremptory refusal. noircarmes, towards the middle of december, ordered the magistrates to send a deputation to confer with him at conde. pensionary outreman accordingly repaired to that neighboring city, accompanied by some of his colleagues. this committee was not unfavorable to the demands of government. the magistracies of the cities, generally, were far from rebellious; but in the case of valenciennes the real power at that moment was with the calvinist consistory, and the ministers. the deputies, after their return from conde, summoned the leading members of the reformed religion, together with the preachers. it was urged that it was their duty forthwith to use their influence in favor of the demand made by the government upon the city. "may i grow mute as a fish!" answered de la grange, stoutly, "may the tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, before i persuade my people to accept a garrison of cruel mercenaries, by whom their rights of conscience are to be trampled upon!" councillor outreman reasoned with the fiery minister, that if he and his colleague were afraid of their own lives, ample provision should be made with government for their departure under safe conduct. la grange replied that he had no fears for himself, that the lord would protect those who preached and those who believed in his holy word, but that he would not forgive them should they now bend their necks to his enemies. it was soon very obvious that no arrangement could be made. the magistrates could exert no authority, the preachers were all-powerful; and the citizens, said a catholic inhabitant of valenciennes, "allowed themselves to be led by their ministers like oxen." upon the th december, , a proclamation was accordingly issued by the duchess regent, declaring the city in a state of siege, and all its inhabitants rebels. the crimes for which this penalty was denounced, were elaborately set forth in the edict. preaching according to the reformed religion had been permitted in two or three churches, the sacrament according to the calvinistic manner had been publicly administered, together with a renunciation by the communicants of their adhesion to the catholic church, and now a rebellious refusal to receive the garrison sent to them by the duchess had been added to the list of their iniquities. for offences like these the regent deemed it her duty to forbid all inhabitants of any city, village, or province of the netherlands holding communication with valenciennes, buying or selling with its inhabitants, or furnishing them with provisions; on pain of being considered accomplices in their rebellion, and as such of being executed with the halter. the city was now invested by noircarmes with all the troops which could be spared. the confederates gave promises of assistance to the beleaguered citizens, orange privately encouraged them to holdout in their legitimate refusal. brederode and others busied themselves with hostile demonstrations which were destined to remain barren; but in the mean time the inhabitants had nothing to rely upon save their own stout hearts and arms. at first, the siege was sustained with a light heart. frequent sallies were made, smart skirmishes were ventured, in which the huguenots, on the testimony of a most bitter catholic contemporary, conducted themselves with the bravery of veteran troops, and as if they had done nothing all their lives but fight; forays were made upon the monasteries of the neighborhood for the purpose of procuring supplies, and the broken statues of the dismantled churches were used to build a bridge across an arm of the river, which was called in derision the bridge of idols. noircarmes and the six officers under him, who were thought to be conducting their operations with languor, were christened the seven sleepers. gigantic spectacles, three feet in circumference, were planted derisively upon the ramparts, in order that the artillery, which it was said that the papists of arras were sending, might be seen, as soon as it should arrive. councillor outreman, who had left the city before the siege, came into it again, on commission from noircarmes. he was received with contempt, his proposals on behalf of the government were answered with outcries of fury; he was pelted with stones, and was very glad to make his escape alive. the pulpits thundered with the valiant deeds of joshua, judas maccabeus, and other bible heroes. the miracles wrought in their behalf served to encourage the enthusiasm of the people, while the movements making at various points in the neighborhood encouraged a hope of a general rising throughout the country. those hopes were destined to disappointment. there were large assemblages made, to be sure, at two points. nearly three thousand sectaries had been collected at lannoy under pierre comaille, who, having been a locksmith and afterwards a calvinist preacher, was now disposed to try his fortune as a general. his band was, however, disorderly. rustics armed with pitchforks, young students and old soldiers out of employment, furnished with rusty matchlocks, pikes and halberds, composed his force. a company similar in character, and already amounting to some twelve hundred in number, was collecting at waterlots. it was hoped that an imposing array would soon be assembled, and that the two bands. making a junction, would then march to the relief of valenciennes. it was boasted that in a very short time, thirty thousand men would be in the field. there was even a fear of some such result felt by the catholics. etext editor's bookmarks: , the last year of peace dissenters were as bigoted as the orthodox if he had little, he could live upon little incur the risk of being charged with forwardness than neglect not to let the grass grow under their feet this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] motley's history of the netherlands, pg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley - [chapter v.] quarrel between alva and queen elizabeth of england--spanish funds seized by the english government--non-intercourse between england and the netherlands--stringent measures against heresy--continued persecution--individual cases--present of hat and sword to alva from the pope--determination of the governor--general to establish a system of arbitrary taxation in the provinces--assembly of estates at brussels--alva's decrees laid before them--the hundredth, tenth, and fifth pence--opposition of viglius to the project--estates of various provinces give a reluctant consent--determined resistance of utrecht--the city and province cited before the blood council-- sentence of confiscation and disfranchisement against both--appeal to the king--difficulty of collecting the new tax--commutation for two years--projects for a pardon-general--growing disfavour of the duke--his desire to resign his post--secret hostility between the governor and viglius--altered sentiments of the president--opinions expressed by granvelle--the pardon pompously proclaimed by the duke at antwerp--character of the amnesty--dissatisfaction of the people with the act--complaints of alva to the king--fortunes and fate of baron montigny in spain--his confinement at segovia--his attempt to escape--its failure--his mock trial--his wife's appeal to philip-- his condemnation--his secret assassination determined upon--its details, as carefully prescribed and superintended by the king-- terrible inundation throughout the netherlands--immense destruction of life and property in friesland--lowestein castle taken by de ruyter, by stratagem--recapture of the place by the spaniards-- desperate resistance and death of de ruyter. it was very soon after the duke's return to brussels that a quarrel between himself and the queen of england took place. it happened thus. certain vessels, bearing roving commissions from the prince of conde, had chased into the ports of england some merchantmen coming from spain with supplies in specie for the spanish army in the netherlands. the trading ships remained in harbor, not daring to leave for their destination, while the privateers remained in a neighbouring port ready to pounce upon them should they put to sea. the commanders of the merchant fleet complained to the spanish ambassador in london. the envoy laid the case before the queen. the queen promised redress, and, almost as soon as the promise had been made, seized upon all the specie in the vessels, amounting to about eight hundred thousand dollars--[ exchange rate]-- and appropriated the whole to her own benefit. the pretext for this proceeding was twofold. in the first place, she assured the ambassador that she had taken the money into her possession in order that it might be kept safe for her royal brother of spain. in the second place, she affirmed that the money did not belong to the spanish government at all, but that it was the property of certain genoese merchants, from whom, as she had a right to do, she had borrowed it for a short period. both these positions could hardly be correct, but either furnished an excellent reason for appropriating the funds to her own use. the duke of alva being very much in want of money, was furious when informed of the circumstance. he immediately despatched councillor d'assonleville with other commissioners on a special embassy to the queen of england. his envoys were refused an audience, and the duke was taxed with presumption in venturing, as if be had been a sovereign, to send a legation to a crowned head. no satisfaction was given to alva, but a secret commissioner was despatched to spain to discuss the subject there. the wrath of alva was not appeased by this contemptuous treatment. chagrined at the loss of his funds, and stung to the quick by a rebuke which his arrogance had merited, he resorted to a high-handed measure. he issued a proclamation commanding the personal arrest of every englishman within the territory of the netherlands, and the seizure of every article of property which could be found belonging to individuals of that nation. the queen retaliated by measures of the same severity against netherlanders in england. the duke followed up his blow by a proclamation (of march st, ), in which the grievance was detailed, and strict non-intercourse with england enjoined. while the queen and the viceroy were thus exchanging blows, the real sufferers were, of course, the unfortunate netherlanders. between the upper and nether millstones of elizabeth's rapacity and alva's arrogance, the poor remains of flemish prosperity were well nigh crushed out of existence. proclamations and commissions followed hard upon each other, but it was not till april , that the matter was definitely arranged. before that day arrived, the commerce of the netherlands had suffered, at the lowest computation, a dead loss of two million florins, not a stiver of which was ever reimbursed to the sufferers by the spanish government. meantime, neither in the complacency of his triumph over william of orange, nor in the torrent of his wrath against the english queen, did the duke for a moment lose sight of the chief end of his existence in the netherlands. the gibbet and the stake were loaded with their daily victims. the records of the period are foul with the perpetually renewed barbarities exercised against the new religion. to the magistrates of the different cities were issued fresh instructions, by which all municipal officers were to be guided in the discharge of their great duty. they were especially enjoined by the duke to take heed that catholic midwives, and none other, should be provided for every parish, duly sworn to give notice within twenty-four hours of every birth which occurred, in order that the curate might instantly proceed to baptism. they were also ordered to appoint certain spies who should keep watch at every administration of the sacraments, whether public or private, whether at the altar or at death-beds, and who should report for exemplary punishment (that is to say, death by fire) all persons who made derisive or irreverential gestures, or who did not pay suitable honor to the said sacraments. furthermore, in order that not even death itself should cheat the tyrant of his prey, the same spies were to keep watch at the couch of the dying, and to give immediate notice to government of all persons who should dare to depart this life without previously receiving extreme unction and the holy wafer. the estates of such culprits, it was ordained, should be confiscated, and their bodies dragged to the public place of execution. an affecting case occurred in the north of holland, early in this year, which, for its peculiarity, deserves brief mention. a poor anabaptist, guilty of no crime but his fellowship with a persecuted sect, had been condemned to death. he had made his escape, closely pursued by an officer of justice, across a frozen lake. it was late in the winter, and the ice had become unsound. it trembled and cracked beneath his footsteps, but he reached the shore in safety. the officer was not so fortunate. the ice gave way beneath him, and he sank into the lake, uttering a cry for succor. there were none to hear him, except the fugitive whom he had been hunting. dirk willemzoon, for so was the anabaptist called, instinctively obeying the dictates of a generous nature, returned, crossed the quaking and dangerous ice, at the peril of his life, extended his hand to his enemy, and saved him from certain death. unfortunately for human nature, it cannot be added that the generosity, of, the action was met by a corresponding heroism. the officer was desirous, it is true, of avoiding the responsibility of sacrificing the preserver of his life, but the burgomaster of asperen sternly reminded him to remember his oath. he accordingly arrested the fugitive, who, on the th of may following, was burned to death under the most lingering tortures. almost at the same time four clergymen, the eldest seventy years of age, were executed at the hague, after an imprisonment of three years. all were of blameless lives, having committed no crime save that of having favored the reformation. as they were men of some local eminence, it was determined that they should be executed with solemnity. they were condemned to the flames, and as they were of the ecclesiastical profession, it was necessary before execution that their personal sanctity should be removed. accordingly, on the th may, attired in the gorgeous robes of high mass, they were brought before the bishop of bois le duc. the prelate; with a pair of scissors, cut a lock of hair from each of their heads. he then scraped their crowns and the tips of their fingers with a little silver knife very gently, and without inflicting the least injury. the mystic oil of consecration was thus supposed to be sufficiently removed. the prelate then proceeded to disrobe the victims, saying to each one as he did so, "eximo tibi vestem justitiae, quem volens abjecisti;" to which the oldest pastor, arent dirkzoon, stoutly replied, "imo vestem injustitiae." the bishop having thus completed the solemn farce of desecration, delivered the prisoners to the blood council, begging that they might be handled very gently. three days afterwards they were all executed at the stake, having, however, received the indulgence of being strangled before being thrown into the flames. it was precisely at this moment, while the agents of the duke's government were thus zealously enforcing his decrees, that a special messenger arrived from the pope, bringing as a present to alva a jewelled hat and sword. it was a gift rarely conferred by the church, and never save upon the highest dignitaries, or upon those who had merited her most signal rewards by the most shining exploits in her defence. the duke was requested, in the autograph letter from his holiness which accompanied the presents, "to remember, when he put the hat upon his head, that he was guarded with it as with a helmet of righteousness, and with the shield of god's help, indicating the heavenly crown which was ready for all princes who support the holy church and the roman catholic faith." the motto on the sword ran as follows, "accipe sanctum gladium, menus a deo in quo dejicies adversarios populi mei israel." the viceroy of philip, thus stimulated to persevere in his master's precepts by the vicegerent of christ, was not likely to swerve from his path, nor to flinch from his work. it was beyond the power of man's ingenuity to add any fresh features of horror to the religious persecution under which the provinces were groaning, but a new attack could be made upon the poor remains of their wealth. the duke had been dissatisfied with the results of his financial arrangements. the confiscation of banished and murdered heretics had not proved the inexhaustible mine he had boasted. the stream of gold which was to flow perennially into the spanish coffers, soon ceased to flow at all. this was inevitable. confiscations must, of necessity, offer but a precarious supply to any treasury. it was only the frenzy of an alva which could imagine it possible to derive a permanent revenue from such a source. it was, however, not to be expected that this man, whose tyranny amounted to insanity, could comprehend the intimate connection between the interests of a people and those of its rulers, and he was determined to exhibit; by still more fierce and ludicrous experiments, how easily a great soldier may become a very paltry financier. he had already informed his royal master that, after a very short time, remittances would no longer be necessary from spain to support the expenses of the array and government in the netherlands. he promised, on the contrary, that at least two millions yearly should be furnished by the provinces, over and above the cost of their administration, to enrich the treasury at home. another peru had already been discovered by his ingenuity, and one which was not dependent for its golden fertility on the continuance of that heresy which it was his mission to extirpate. his boast had been much ridiculed in madrid, where he had more enemies than friends, and he was consequently the more eager to convert it into reality. nettled by the laughter with which all his schemes of political economy had been received at home, he was determined to show that his creative statesmanship was no less worthy of homage than his indisputable genius for destruction. his scheme was nothing more than the substitution of an arbitrary system of taxation by the crown, for the legal and constitutional right of the provinces to tax themselves. it was not a very original thought, but it was certainly a bold one. for although a country so prostrate might suffer the imposition of any fresh amount of tyranny, yet it was doubtful whether she had sufficient strength remaining to bear the weight after it had been imposed. it was certain, moreover, that the new system would create a more general outcry than any which had been elicited even by the religious persecution. there were many inhabitants who were earnest and sincere catholics, and who therefore considered themselves safe from the hangman's hands, while there were none who could hope to escape the gripe of the new tax-gatherers. yet the governor was not the man to be daunted by the probable unpopularity of the measure. courage he possessed in more than mortal proportion. he seemed to have set himself to the task of ascertaining the exact capacity of the country for wretchedness. he was resolved accurately to gauge its width and its depth; to know how much of physical and moral misery might be accumulated within its limits, before it should be full to overflowing. every man, woman, and child in the country had been solemnly condemned to death; and arbitrary executions, in pursuance of that sentence, had been daily taking place. millions of property had been confiscated; while the most fortunate and industrious, as well as the bravest of the netherlanders, were wandering penniless in distant lands. still the blows, however recklessly distributed, had not struck every head. the inhabitants had been decimated, not annihilated, and the productive energy of the country, which for centuries had possessed so much vitality, was even yet not totally extinct. in the wreck of their social happiness, in the utter overthrow of their political freedom, they had still preserved the shadow, at least, of one great bulwark against despotism. the king could impose no tax. the "joyeuse entree" of brabant, as well as the constitutions of flanders, holland, utrecht, and all the other provinces, expressly prescribed the manner in which the requisite funds for government should be raised. the sovereign or his stadholder was to appear before the estates in person, and make his request for money. it was for the estates, after consultation with their constituents, to decide whether or not this petition (bede) should be granted, and should a single branch decline compliance, the monarch was to wait with patience for a more favorable moment. such had been the regular practice in the netherlands, nor had the reigning houses often had occasion to accuse the estates of parsimony. it was, however, not wonderful that the duke of alva should be impatient at the continued existence of this provincial privilege. a country of condemned criminals, a nation whose universal neck might at any moment be laid upon the block without ceremony, seemed hardly fit to hold the purse-strings, and to dispense alms to its monarch. the viceroy was impatient at this arrogant vestige of constitutional liberty. moreover, although he had taken from the netherlanders nearly all the attributes of freemen, he was unwilling that they should enjoy the principal privilege of slaves, that of being fed and guarded at their master's expense. he had therefore summoned a general assembly of the provincial estates in brussels, and on the th of march, , had caused the following decrees to be laid before them. a tax of the hundredth penny, or one per cent., was laid upon all property, real and personal, to be collected instantly. this impost, however, was not perpetual, but only to be paid once, unless, of course, it should suit the same arbitrary power by which it was assessed to require it a second time. a tax of the twentieth penny; or five per cent., was laid upon every transfer of real estate. this imposition was perpetual. thirdly, a tag of the tenth penny, or ten per cent., was assessed upon every article of merchandise or personal-property, to be paid as often as it should be sold. this tax was likewise to be perpetual. the consternation in the assembly when these enormous propositions were heard, can be easily imagined. people may differ about religious dogmas. in the most bigoted persecutions there will always be many who, from conscientious although misguided motives, heartily espouse the cause of the bigot. moreover, although resistance to tyranny in matters of faith, is always the most ardent of struggles, and is supported by the most sublime principle in our nature, yet all men are not of the sterner stuff of which martyrs are fashioned. in questions relating to the world above; many may be seduced from their convictions by interest, or forced into apostasy by violence. human nature is often malleable or fusible, where religious interests are concerned, but in affairs material and financial opposition to tyranny is apt to be unanimous. the interests of commerce and manufacture, when brought into conflict with those of religion, had often proved victorious in the netherlands. this new measure, however--this arbitrary and most prodigious system of taxation, struck home to every fireside. no individual, however adroit or time-serving, could parry the blow by which all were crushed. it was most unanswerably maintained in the assembly, that this tenth and twentieth penny would utterly destroy the trade and the manufactures of the country. the hundredth penny, or the one per cent. assessment on all property throughout the land, although a severe subsidy, might be borne with for once. to pay, however, a twentieth part of the full value of a house to the government as often as the house was sold, was a most intolerable imposition. a house might be sold twenty times in a year, and in the course, therefore, of the year be confiscated in its whole value. it amounted either to a prohibition of all transfers of real estate, or to an eventual surrender of its price. as to the tenth penny upon articles of merchandise, to be paid by the vendor at every sale, the scheme was monstrous. all trade and manufactures must, of necessity, expire, at the very first attempt to put it in execution. the same article might be sold ten times in a week, and might therefore pay one hundred per cent. weekly. an article, moreover, was frequently compounded of ten, different articles, each of which might pay one hundred per cent., and therefore the manufactured article, if ten times transferred, one thousand per cent. weekly. quick transfers and unfettered movements being the nerves and muscles of commerce, it was impossible for it long to survive the paralysis of such a tax. the impost could never be collected, and would only produce an entire prostration of industry. it could by no possibility enrich the government. the king could not derive wealth from the ruin of his subjects; yet to establish such a system was the stern and absurd determination of the governor-general. the infantine simplicity of the effort seemed incredible. the ignorance was as sublime as the tyranny. the most lucid arguments and the most earnest remonstrances were all in vain. too opaque to be illumined by a flood of light, too hard to be melted by a nation's tears, the viceroy held calmly to his purpose. to the keen and vivid representations of viglius, who repeatedly exhibited all that was oppressive and all that was impossible in the tax, he answered simply that it was nothing more nor less than the spanish "alcabala," and that he derived , ducats yearly from its imposition in his own city of alva. viglius was upon this occasion in opposition to the duke. it is but justice to state that the learned jurisconsult manfully and repeatedly confronted the wrath of his superior in many a furious discussion in council upon the subject. he had never essayed to snatch one brand from the burning out of the vast holocaust of religious persecution, but he was roused at last by the threatened destruction of all the material interests of the land. he confronted the tyrant with courage, sustained perhaps by the knowledge that the proposed plan was not the king's, but the governor's. he knew that it was openly ridiculed in madrid, and that philip, although he would probably never denounce it in terms, was certainly not eager for its execution. the president enlarged upon the difference which existed between the condition of a sparsely-peopled country of herdsmen and laborers in spain, and the densely-thronged and bustling cities of the netherlands. if the duke collected , ducats yearly from the alcabala in alva, he could only offer him his congratulations, but could not help assuring him that the tax would prove an impossibility in the provinces. to his argument, that the impost would fall with severity not upon the highest nor the lowest classes of society, neither upon the great nobility and clergy nor on the rustic population, but on the merchants and manufacturers, it was answered by the president that it was not desirable to rob saint peter's altar in order to build one to saint paul. it might have been simpler to suggest that the consumer would pay the tax, supposing it were ever paid at all, but the axiom was not so familiar three centuries ago as now. meantime, the report of the deputies to the assembly on their return to their constituents had created the most intense excitement and alarm. petition after petition, report after report, poured in upon the government. there was a cry of despair, and almost of defiance, which had not been elicited by former agonies. to induce, however, a more favorable disposition on the part of the duke, the hundredth penny, once for all, was conceded by the estates. the tenth and twentieth occasioned--severe and protracted struggles, until the various assemblies of the patrimonial provinces, one after another, exhausted, frightened, and hoping that no serious effort would be made to collect the tax, consented, under certain restrictions, to its imposition.--the principal conditions were a protest against the legality of the proceeding, and the provision that the consent of no province should be valid until that of all had been obtained. holland, too, was induced to give in its adhesion, although the city of amsterdam long withheld its consent; but the city and province of utrecht were inexorable. they offered a handsome sum in commutation, increasing the sum first proposed from , to , florins, but they resolutely refused to be saddled with this permanent tax. their stout resistance was destined to cost them dear. in the course of a few months alva, finding them still resolute in their refusal, quartered the regiment of lombardy upon them, and employed other coercive measures to bring them to reason. the rude, insolent, unpaid and therefore insubordinate soldiery were billeted in every house in the city, so that the insults which the population were made to suffer by the intrusion of these ruffians at their firesides would soon, it was thought, compel the assent of the province to the tax. it was not so, however. the city and the province remained stanch in their opposition. accordingly, at the close of the year ( th. december, ) the estates were summoned to appear within fourteen days before the blood council. at the appointed time the procureur-general was ready with an act of accusation, accompanied, as was usually the case, with a simultaneous sentence of condemnation. the indictment revived and recapitulated all previous offences committed in the city and the province, particularly during the troubles of , and at the epoch of the treaty with duchess margaret. the inhabitants and the magistrates, both in their individual and public capacities, were condemned for heresy, rebellion, and misprision. the city and province were accordingly pronounced guilty of high treason, were deprived of all their charters, laws, privileges, freedoms, and customs, and were declared to have forfeited all their property, real and personal, together with all tolls, rents, excises, and imposts, the whole being confiscated to the benefit of his majesty. the immediate execution of the sentence was, however, suspended, to allow the estates opportunity to reply. an enormous mass of pleadings, replies, replications, rejoinders, and apostilles was the result, which few eyes were destined to read, and least of all those to whom they were nominally addressed. they were of benefit to none save in the shape of fees which they engendered to the gentlemen of the robe. it was six months, however, before the case was closed. as there was no blood to be shed, a summary process was not considered necessary. at last, on the th july, the voluminous pile of documents was placed before vargas. it was the first time he had laid eyes upon them, and they were, moreover, written in a language of which he did not understand a word. such, however, was his capacity for affairs, that a glance only at the outside of the case enabled him to form his decision. within half an hour afterwards, booted and spurred, he was saying mass in the church of saint gudule, on his way to pronounce sentence at antwerp. that judgment was rendered the same day, and confirmed the preceding act of condemnation. vargas went to his task as cheerfully as if it had been murder. the act of outlawry and beggary was fulminated against the city and province, and a handsome amount of misery for others, and of plunder for himself, was the result of his promptness. many thousand citizens were ruined, many millions of property confiscated. thus was utrecht deprived of all its ancient liberties, as a punishment for having dared to maintain them. the clergy, too, of the province, having invoked the bull "in coena domini," by which clerical property was declared exempt from taxation, had excited the wrath of the duke. to wield so slight a bulrush against the man who had just been girded with the consecrated and jewelled sword of the pope, was indeed but a feeble attempt at defence. alva treated the coena domini with contempt, but he imprisoned the printer who had dared to-republish it at this juncture. finding, moreover, that it had been put in press by the orders of no less a person than secretary la torre, he threw that officer also into prison, besides suspending him from his functions for a year. the estates of the province and the magistracy of the city appealed to his majesty from the decision of the duke. the case did not directly concern the interests of religion, for although the heretical troubles of furnished the nominal motives of the condemnation, the resistance to the tenth and twentieth penny was the real crime for which they were suffering. the king, therefore, although far from clement, was not extremely rigorous. he refused the object of the appeal, but he did not put the envoys to death by whom it was brought to madrid. this would have certainly been the case in matters strictly religious, or even had the commissioners arrived two years before, but even philip believed, perhaps, that for the moment almost enough innocent blood had been shed. at any rate he suffered the legates from utrecht to return, not with their petition, granted, but at least with their heads upon their shoulders. early in the following year, the provinces still remaining under martial law, all the utrecht charters were taken into the possession of government, and deposited in the castle of vredenberg. it was not till after the departure of alva, that they were restored; according to royal command, by the new governor, requesens. by the middle of the year , alva wrote to the king, with great cheerfulness of tone, announcing that the estates of the provinces had all consented to the tax. he congratulated his majesty upon the fact that this income might thenceforth be enjoyed in perpetuity, and that it would bring at least two millions yearly into his coffers, over and above the expenses of government. the hundredth penny, as he calculated, would amount to at least five millions. he was, however, very premature in his triumph, for the estates were not long in withdrawing a concession which had either been wrung from them by violence or filched from them by misrepresentation. taking the ground that the assent of all had been stipulated before that of any one should be esteemed valid, every province now refused to enforce or to permit the collection of the tenth or the twentieth penny within their limits. dire were the threatenings and the wrath of the viceroy, painfully protracted the renewed negotiations with the estates. at last, a compromise was effected, and the final struggle postponed. late in the summer it was agreed that the provinces should pay two millions yearly for the two following years, the term to expire in the month of august, . till that period, therefore, there was comparative repose upon the subject. the question of a general pardon had been agitated for more than a year, both in brussels and madrid. viglius, who knew his countrymen better than the viceroy knew them, had written frequently to his friend hopper, on the propriety of at once proclaiming an amnesty. there had also been many conferences between himself and the duke of alva, and he had furnished more than one draught for the proposed measure. the president knew full well that the point had been reached beyond which the force of tyranny could go no further. all additional pressure, he felt sure, could only produce reaction, the effect of which might be to drive the spaniards from the netherlands. there might then be another game to play. the heads of those who had so assiduously served the government throughout its terrible career might, in their turn, be brought to the block, and their estates be made to enrich the treasury. moreover, there were symptoms that alva's favor was on the wane. the king had not been remarkably struck with the merits of the new financial measures, and had expressed much, anxiety lest the trade of the country should suffer. the duke was known to be desirous of his recal. his health was broken, he felt that he was bitterly detested throughout the country, and he was certain that his enemies at madrid were fast undermining his credit. he seemed also to have a dim suspicion that his mission was accomplished in the netherlands; that as much blood had been shed at present as the land could easily absorb. he wrote urgently and even piteously to philip, on the subject of his return. "were your majesty only pleased to take me from this country," he said, "i should esteem it as great a favor as if your majesty had given me life." he swore "by the soul of the duchess," that he "would rather be cut into little pieces" than retire from his post were his presence necessary, but he expressed the opinion that through his exertions affairs had been placed in such train that they were sure to roll on smoothly to the end of time. "at present, and for the future," he wrote, "your majesty is and will be more strictly obeyed than any of your predecessors;" adding, with insane self-complacency, "and all this has been accomplished without violence." he also assured his majesty as to the prosperous condition of financial affairs. his tax was to work wonders. he had conversed with capitalists who had offered him four millions yearly for the tenth penny, but he had refused, because he estimated the product at a much higher figure. the hundredth penny could not be rated lower than five millions. it was obvious, therefore, that instead of remitting funds to the provinces, his majesty would, for the future, derive from them a steady and enormous income. moreover, he assured the king that there was at present no one to inspire anxiety from within or without. the only great noble of note in the country was the duke of aerschot, who was devoted to his majesty, and who, moreover, "amounted to very little," as the king well knew. as for the prince of orange, he would have business enough in keeping out of the clutches of his creditors. they had nothing to fear from germany. england would do nothing as long as germany was quiet; and france was sunk too low to be feared at all. such being the sentiments of the duke, the king was already considering the propriety of appointing his successor. all this was known to the president. he felt instinctively that more clemency was to be expected from that successor, whoever he might be; and he was satisfied, therefore, that he would at least not be injuring his own position by inclining at this late hour to the side of mercy. his opposition to the tenth and twentieth penny had already established a breach between himself and the viceroy, but he felt secretly comforted by the reflection that the king was probably on the same side with himself. alva still spoke of him, to be sure, both in public and private, with approbation; taking occasion to commend him frequently, in his private letters, as a servant upright and zealous, as a living register, without whose universal knowledge of things and persons he should hardly know which way to turn. the president, however, was growing weary of his own sycophancy. he begged his friend joachim to take his part, if his excellency should write unfavorably about his conduct to the king. he seemed to have changed his views of the man concerning whose "prudence and gentleness" he could once turn so many fine periods. he even expressed some anxiety lest doubts should begin to be entertained as to the perfect clemency of the king's character. "here is so much confiscation and bloodshed going on," said he, "that some taint of cruelty or avarice may chance to bespatter the robe of his majesty." he also confessed that he had occasionally read in history of greater benignity than was now exercised against the poor netherlanders. had the learned frisian arrived at these humane conclusions at a somewhat earlier day, it might perhaps have been better for himself and for his fatherland. had he served his country as faithfully as he had served time, and philip, and alva, his lands would not have been so broad, nor his dignities so numerous, but he would not have been obliged, in his old age; to exclaim, with whimsical petulance, that "the faithful servant is always a perpetual ass." it was now certain that an act of amnesty was in contemplation by the king. viglius had furnished several plans, which, however, had been so much disfigured by the numerous exceptions suggested by alva, that the president could scarce recognize his work. granvelle, too, had frequently urged the pardon on the attention of philip. the cardinal was too astute not to perceive that the time had arrived when a continued severity could only defeat its own work. he felt that the country could not be rendered more abject, the spirit of patriotism more apparently extinct. a show of clemency, which would now cost nothing, and would mean nothing, might be more effective than this profuse and wanton bloodshed. he saw plainly that the brutality of alva had already overshot the mark. too politic, however, openly to reprove so powerful a functionary, he continued to speak of him and of his administration to philip in terms of exalted eulogy. he was a "sage seignior," a prudent governor, one on whom his majesty could entirely repose. he was a man of long experience, trained all his life to affairs, and perfectly capable of giving a good account of everything to which he turned his hands. he admitted, however, to other correspondents, that the administration of the sage seignior, on whom his majesty could so implicitly rely, had at last "brought that provinces into a deplorable condition." four different forms of pardon had been sent from madrid, toward the close of . from these four the duke was to select one, and carefully to destroy the other three. it was not, however, till july of the following year that the choice was made, and the viceroy in readiness to announce the pardon. on the th of that month a great festival was held at antwerp, for the purpose of solemnly proclaiming the long expected amnesty. in the morning, the duke, accompanied by a brilliant staff, and by a long procession of clergy in their gorgeous robes, paraded through the streets of the commercial capital, to offer up prayers and hear mass in the cathedral. the bishop of arras then began a sermon upon the blessings of mercy, with a running commentary upon the royal clemency about to be exhibited. in the very outset, however, of his discourse, he was seized with convulsions, which required his removal from the pulpit; an incident which was not considered of felicitous augury. in the afternoon, the duke with his suite appeared upon the square in front of the town house. here a large scaffolding or theatre had been erected. the platform and the steps which led to it were covered with scarlet cloth. a throne, covered with cloth of gold, was arranged in the most elevated position for the duke. on the steps immediately below him were placed two of the most beautiful women in antwerp, clad in allegorical garments to represent righteousness and peace. the staircase and platform were lined with officers, the square was beset with troops, and filled to its utmost verge with an expectant crowd of citizens. toward the close of a summer's afternoon, the duke wearing the famous hat and sword of the pope, took his seat on the throne with all the airs of royalty. after a few preliminary ceremonies, a civil functionary, standing between two heralds; then recited the long-expected act of grace. his reading, however, was so indistinct, that few save the soldiers in the immediate vicinity of the platform could hear a word of the document. this effect was, perhaps, intentional. certainly but little enthusiasm could be expected from the crowd, had the text of the amnesty been heard. it consisted of three parts--a recitation of the wrongs committed, a statement of the terms of pardon, and a long list of exceptions. all the sins of omission and commission, the heresy, the public preaching, the image-breaking, the compromise, the confederacy, the rebellion, were painted in lively colors. pardon, however, was offered to all those who had not rendered themselves liable to positive impeachment, in case they should make their peace with the church before the expiration of two months, and by confession and repentance obtain their absolution. the exceptions, however, occupied the greater part of the document. when the general act of condemnation had been fulminated by which all netherlanders were sentenced to death, the exceptions had been very few, and all the individuals mentioned by name. in the act of pardon, the exceptions comprehended so many classes of inhabitants, that it was impossible for any individual to escape a place in, some one of the categories, whenever it should please the government to take his life. expressly excluded from the benefit of the act were all ministers, teachers, dogmatizers, and all who had favored and harbored such dogmatizers and preachers; all those in the least degree implicated in the image-breaking; all who had ever been individually suspected of heresy or schism; all who had ever signed or favored the compromise or the petition to the regent; all those who had taken up arms, contributed money, distributed tracts; all those in any manner chargeable with misprision, or who had failed to denounce those guilty of heresy. all persons, however, who were included in any of these classes of exceptions might report themselves within six months, when, upon confession of their crime, they might hope for a favorable consideration of their case. such, in brief, and stripped of its verbiage, was this amnesty for which the netherlands had so long been hoping. by its provisions, not a man or woman was pardoned who had ever committed a fault. the innocent alone were forgiven. even they were not sure of mercy, unless they should obtain full absolution from the pope. more certainly than ever would the accustomed rigor be dealt to all who had committed any of those positive acts for which so many had already lost their heads. the clause by which a possibility of pardon was hinted to such criminals, provided they would confess and surrender, was justly regarded as a trap. no one was deceived by it. no man, after the experience of the last three years; would voluntarily thrust his head into the lion's mouth, in order to fix it more firmly upon his shoulders. no man who had effected his escape was likely to play informer against himself, in hope of obtaining a pardon from which all but the most sincere and zealous catholics were in reality excepted. the murmur and discontent were universal, therefore, as soon as the terms of the act became known. alva wrote to the king, to be sure, "that the people were entirely satisfied, save only the demagogues, who could tolerate no single exception from the amnesty; but he could neither deceive his sovereign nor himself by such statements." certainly, philip was totally disappointed in the effect which he had anticipated from the measure. he had thought "it would stop the mouths of many people." on the contrary, every mouth in the netherlands became vociferous to denounce the hypocrisy by which a new act of condemnation had been promulgated under the name of a pardon. viglius, who had drawn up an instrument of much ampler clemency, was far from satisfied with the measure which had been adopted. "certainly," he wrote to his confidant, "a more benignant measure was to be expected from so merciful a prince. after four years have past, to reserve for punishment and for execution all those who during the tumult did not, through weakness of mind, render as much service to government as brave men might have offered, is altogether unexampled." alva could not long affect to believe in the people's satisfaction. he soon wrote to the king, acknowledging that the impression produced by the pardon was far from favorable. he attributed much evil effect to the severe censure which was openly pronounced upon the act by members of the government, both in spain and the netherlands. he complained that hopper had written to viglius, that "the most severe of the four forms of pardon transmitted had been selected;" the fact being, that the most lenient one had been adopted. if this were so, whose imagination is powerful enough to portray the three which had been burned, and which, although more severe than the fierce document promulgated, were still entitled acts of pardon? the duke spoke bitterly of the manner in which influential persons in madrid had openly abominated the cruel form of amnesty which had been decreed. his authority in the netherlands was already sufficiently weakened, he said, and such censure upon his actions from head-quarters did not tend to improve it. "in truth," he added, almost pathetically, "it is not wonderful that the whole nation should be ill- disposed towards me, for i certainly have done nothing to make them love me. at the same time, such language transmitted from madrid does not increase their tenderness." in short, viewed as a measure by which government, without disarming itself of its terrible powers, was to pacify the popular mind, the amnesty was a failure. viewed as a net, by which fresh victims should be enticed to entangle themselves, who had already made their way into the distant atmosphere of liberty, it was equally unsuccessful. a few very obscure individuals made their appearance to claim the benefit of the act, before the six months had expired. with these it was thought expedient to deal gently; but no one was deceived by such clemency. as the common people expressed themselves, the net was not spread on that occasion for finches. the wits of the netherlands, seeking relief from their wretched condition in a still more wretched quibble, transposed two letters of the word pardona, and re-baptized the new measure pandora. the conceit was not without meaning. the amnesty, descending from supernal regions, had been ushered into the presence of mortals as a messenger laden with heavenly gifts. the casket, when opened, had diffused curses instead of blessings. there, however, the classical analogy ended, for it would have puzzled all the pedants of louvain to discover hope lurking, under any disguise, within the clauses of the pardon. very soon after the promulgation of this celebrated act, the new bride of philip, anne of austria, passed through the netherlands, on her way to madrid. during her brief stay in brussels, she granted an interview to the dowager countess of horn. that unhappy lady, having seen her eldest son, the head of her illustrious house, so recently perish on the scaffold, wished to make a last effort in behalf of the remaining one, then closely confined in the prison of segovia. the archduchess solemnly promised that his release should be the first boon which she would request of her royal bridegroom, and the bereaved countess retired almost with a hope. a short digression must here be allowed, to narrate the remaining fortunes of that son, the ill-starred seigneur de montigny. his mission to madrid in company of the marquis berghen has been related in a previous volume. the last and most melancholy scene in the life of his fellow envoy has been described in a recent chapter. after that ominous event, montigny became most anxious to effect his retreat from spain. he had been separated more than a year from his few months' bride. he was not imprisoned, but he felt himself under the most rigid although secret inspection. it was utterly impossible for him to obtain leave to return, or to take his departure without permission. on one occasion, having left the city accidentally for a ride on horseback to an adjoining village, he found himself surrounded by an unexpected escort of forty troopers. still, however, the king retained a smiling mien. to montigny's repeated and urgent requests for dismissal, philip graciously urged his desire for a continuance of his visit. he was requested to remain in order to accompany his sovereign upon that journey to the netherlands which would not be much longer delayed. in his impatience anything seemed preferable to the state of suspense in which he was made to linger. he eagerly offered, if he were accused or suspected of crime, to surrender himself to imprisonment if he only could be brought to trial. soon after alva's arrival in the netherlands, the first part of this offer was accepted. no sooner were the arrests of egmont and horn known in madrid, than montigny was deprived of his liberty, and closely confined in the alcazar of segovia. here he remained imprisoned for eight or nine months in a high tower, with no attendant save a young page, arthur de munter, who had accompanied him from the netherlands. eight men-at-arms were expressly employed to watch over him and to prevent his escape. one day towards the middle of july, , a band of pilgrims, some of them in flemish attire, went through the streets of segovia. they were chanting, as was customary on such occasions, a low, monotonous song, in which montigny, who happened to be listening, suddenly recognized the language of his fatherland. his surprise was still greater when, upon paying closer attention, he distinguished the terrible meaning of the song. the pretended pilgrims, having no other means of communication with the prisoner, were singing for his information the tragic fates of his brother, count horn, and of his friend, count egmont. mingled with the strain were warnings of his own approaching doom; if he were not able to effect his escape before it should be too late. thus by this friendly masquerade did montigny learn the fate of his brother, which otherwise, in that land of terrible secrecy, might have been concealed from him for ever. the hint as to his own preservation was not lost upon him; and he at once set about a plan of escape. he succeeded in gaining over to his interests one of the eight soldiers by whom he was guarded, and he was thus enabled to communicate with many of his own adherents without the prison walls. his major-domo had previously been permitted to furnish his master's table with provisions dressed by his own cook. a correspondence was now carried on by means of letters concealed within the loaves of bread sent daily to the prisoner. in the same way files were provided for sawing through his window-bars. a very delicate ladder of ropes, by which he was to effect his escape into the court below, was also transmitted. the plan had been completely arranged. a certain pole employed in the enterprise was to be at hernani, with horses in readiness to convey them to san sebastian. there a sloop had been engaged, and was waiting their arrival. montigny, accordingly, in a letter enclosed within a loaf of bread--the last, as he hoped, which he should break in prison--was instructed, after cutting off his beard and otherwise disguising his person, to execute his plan and join his confederates at hernani. unfortunately, the major-domo of montigny was in love. upon the eve of departure from spain, his farewell interview with his mistress was so much protracted that the care of sending the bread was left to another. the substitute managed so unskilfully that the loaf was brought to the commandant of the castle, and not to the prisoner. the commandant broke the bread, discovered the letter, and became master of the whole plot. all persons engaged in the enterprise were immediately condemned to death, and the spanish soldier executed without delay. the others being considered, on account of their loyalty to their master as deserving a commutation of punishment, were sent to the galleys. the major-domo, whose ill-timed gallantry had thus cost montigny his liberty, received two hundred lashes in addition. all, however, were eventually released from imprisonment. the unfortunate gentleman was now kept in still closer confinement in his lonely tower. as all his adherents had been disposed of, he could no longer entertain a hope of escape. in the autumn of this year ( ) it was thought expedient by alva to bring his case formally before the blood council. montigny had committed no crime, but he was one of that band of popular, nobles whose deaths had been long decreed. letters were accordingly sent to spain, empowering certain functionaries there to institute that preliminary examination, which, as usual, was to be the only trial vouchsafed. a long list of interrogatories was addressed to him on february th, , in his prison at segovia. a week afterwards, he was again visited by the alcalde, who read over to him the answers which he had made on the first occasion, and required him to confirm them. he was then directed to send his procuration to certain persons in the netherlands, whom he might wish to appear in his behalf. montigny complied by sending several names, with a clause of substitution. all the persons thus appointed, however, declined to act, unless they could be furnished with a copy of the procuration, and with a statement of the articles of accusation. this was positively refused by the blood council. seeing no possibility of rendering service to their friend by performing any part in this mockery of justice, they refused to accept the procuration. they could not defend a case when not only the testimony, but even the charges against the accused were kept secret. an individual was accordingly appointed by government to appear in the prisoner's behalf. thus the forms of justice were observed, and montigny, a close prisoner in the tower of segovia, was put upon trial for his life in brussels. certainly nothing could exceed the irony of such a process. the advocate had never seen his client, thousands of miles away, and was allowed to hold no communication with him by letter. the proceedings were instituted by a summons, addressed by the duke of alva to madame de montigny in brussels. that unhappy lady could only appeal to the king. "convinced," she said, "that her husband was innocent of the charges brought against him, she threw herself, overwhelmed and consumed by tears and misery, at his majesty's feet. she begged the king to remember the past services of montigny, her own youth, and that she had enjoyed his company but four months. by all these considerations, and by the passion of jesus christ, she adjured the monarch to pardon any faults which her husband might have committed." the reader can easily judge how much effect such a tender appeal was like to have upon the heart of philip. from that rock; thus feebly smitten, there flowed no fountain of mercy. it was not more certain that montigny's answers to the interrogatories addressed to him had created a triumphant vindication of his course, than that such vindication would be utterly powerless to save his life. the charges preferred against him were similar to those which had brought egmont and horn to the block, and it certainly created no ground of hope for him, that he could prove himself even more innocent of suspicious conduct than they had done. on the th march, , accordingly, the duke of alva pronounced sentence against him. the sentence declared that his head should be cut off, and afterwards exposed to public view upon the head of a pike. upon the th march, , the duke addressed a requisitory letter to the alcaldes, corregidors, and other judges of castile, empowering them to carry the sentence into execution. on the arrival of this requisition there was a serious debate before the king in council. it seemed to be the general opinion that there had been almost severity enough in the netherlands for the present. the spectacle of the public execution of another distinguished personage, it was thought, might now prove more irritating than salutary. the king was of this opinion himself. it certainly did not occur to him or to his advisers that this consideration should lead them to spare the life of an innocent man. the doubts entertained as to the expediency of a fresh murder were not allowed to benefit the prisoner, who, besides being a loyal subject and a communicant of the ancient church, was also clothed in the white robes of an envoy, claiming not only justice but hospitality, as the deputy of philip's sister, margaret of parma. these considerations probably never occurred to the mind of his majesty. in view, however, of the peculiar circumstances of the case, it was unanimously agreed that there should be no more blood publicly shed. most of the councillors were in favor of slow poison. montigny's meat and drink, they said, should be daily drugged, so that he might die by little and little. philip, however, terminated these disquisitions by deciding that the ends of justice would not thus be sufficiently answered. the prisoner, he had resolved, should be regularly executed, but the deed should be secret, and it should be publicly announced that he had died of a fever. this point having been settled; the king now set about the arrangement of his plan with all that close attention to detail which marked his character. the patient industry which, had god given him a human heart and a love of right, might have made him a useful monarch, he now devoted to a scheme of midnight murder with a tranquil sense of enjoyment which seems almost incredible. there is no exaggeration in calling the deed a murder, for it certainly was not sanctioned by any law, divine or human, nor justified or excused by any of the circumstances which are supposed to palliate homicide. nor, when the elaborate and superfluous luxury of arrangements made by philip for the accomplishment of his design is considered, can it be doubted that he found a positive pleasure in his task. it would almost seem that he had become jealous of alva's achievements in the work of slaughter. he appeared willing to prove to those immediately about him, that however capable might be the viceroy of conducting public executions on a grand and terrifying scale, there was yet a certain delicacy of finish never attained by alva in such business, and which was all his majesty's own. the king was resolved to make the assassination of montigny a masterpiece. on the th august, , he accordingly directed don eugenio de peralta, concierge of the fortress of simancas, to repair to segovia, and thence to remove the seigneur montigny to simancas. here he was to be strictly immured; yet was to be allowed at times to walk in the corridor adjoining his chamber. on the th october following, the licentiate don alonzo de avellano, alcalde of valladolid, was furnished with an order addressed by the king to don eugenio de peralta, requiring him to place the prisoner in the hands of the said licentiate, who was charged with the execution of alva's sentence. this functionary had, moreover, been provided with a minute letter of instructions, which had been drawn up according to the king's directions, on the st october. in these royal instructions, it was stated that, although the sentence was for a public execution, yet the king had decided in favor of a private one within the walls of the fortress. it was to be managed so that no one should suspect that montigny had been executed, but so that, on the contrary, it should be universally said and believed that he had died a natural death. very few persons, all sworn and threatened into secrecy, were therefore to be employed. don alonzo was to start immediately for valladolid; which was within two short leagues of simancas. at that place he would communicate with don eugenio, and arrange the mode, day, and hour of execution. he would leave valladolid on the evening before a holiday, late in the afternoon, so as to arrive a little after dark at simancas. he would take with him a confidential notary, an executioner, and as few servants as possible. immediately upon his entrance to the fortress, he was to communicate the sentence of death to montigny, in presence of don eugenio and of one or two other persons. he would then console him, in which task he would be assisted by don eugenio. he would afterwards leave him with the religious person who would be appointed for that purpose. that night and the whole of the following day, which would be a festival, till after midnight, would be allotted to montigny, that he might have time to confess, to receive the sacraments, to convert himself to god, and to repent. between one and two o'clock in the morning the execution was to take place, in presence of the ecclesiastic, of don eugenio de peralta, of the notary, and of one or two other persons, who would be needed by the executioner. the ecclesiastic was to be a wise and prudent person, and to be informed how little confidence montigny inspired in the article of faith. if the prisoner should wish to make a will, it could not be permitted. as all his property had been confiscated, he could dispose of nothing. should he, however, desire to make a memorial of the debts which he would wish paid; he was to be allowed that liberty. it was, however, to be stipulated that he was to make no allusion, in any memorial or letter which he might write, to the execution which was about to take place. he was to use the language of a man seriously ill, and who feels himself at the point of death. by this infernal ingenuity it was proposed to make the victim an accomplice in the plot, and to place a false exculpation of his assassins in his dying lips. the execution having been fulfilled, and the death having been announced with the dissimulation prescribed, the burial was to take place in the church of saint saviour, in simancas. a moderate degree of pomp, such as befitted a person of montigny's quality, was to be allowed, and a decent tomb erected. a grand mass was also to be celebrated, with a respectable number, "say seven hundred," of lesser masses. as the servants of the defunct were few in number, continued the frugal king, they might be provided each with a suit of mourning. having thus personally arranged all the details of this secret work, from the reading of the sentence to the burial of the prisoner; having settled not only the mode of his departure from life, but of his passage through purgatory, the king despatched the agent on his mission. the royal program was faithfully enacted. don alonzo arrived at valladolid; and made his arrangements with don eugenio. it was agreed that a paper, prepared by royal authority, and brought by don alonzo from madrid, should be thrown into the corridor of montigny's prison. this paper, written in latin, ran as follows: "in the night, as i understand, there will be no chance for your escape. in the daytime there will be many; for you are then in charge of a single gouty guardian, no match in strength or speed for so vigorous a man as you. make your escape from the th to the th of october, at any hour you can, and take the road contiguous to the castle gate through which you entered. you will find robert and john, who will be ready with horses, and with everything necessary. may god favor your undertaking.--r. d. m." the letter, thus designedly thrown into the corridor by one confederate, was soon afterwards picked up by the other, who immediately taxed montigny with an attempt to escape. notwithstanding the vehement protestations of innocence naturally made by the prisoner, his pretended project was made the pretext for a still closer imprisonment in the "bishop's tower." a letter, written at madrid, by philip's orders, had been brought by don alonzo to simancas, narrating by anticipation these circumstances, precisely as they had now occurred. it moreover stated that montigny, in consequence of his close confinement, had fallen grievously ill, and that he would receive all the attention compatible with his safe keeping. this letter, according to previous orders, was now signed by don eugenio de peralta, dated th october, ; and publicly despatched to philip. it was thus formally established that montigny was seriously ill. a physician, thoroughly instructed and sworn to secrecy, was now ostentatiously admitted to the tower, bringing with him a vast quantity of drugs. he duly circulated among the townspeople, on his return, his opinion that the illustrious prisoner was afflicted with a disorder from which it was almost impossible that he should recover. thus, thanks to philip's masterly precautions, not a person in madrid or simancas was ignorant that montigny was dying of a fever, with the single exception of the patient himself. on saturday, the th of october, at nightfall, don alonzo de avellano, accompanied by the prescribed individuals, including fray hernando del, castillo, an ecclesiastic of high reputation, made their appearance at the prison of simancas. at ten in the evening the announcement of the sentence was made to montigny. he was visibly agitated at the sudden intelligence, for it was entirely unexpected by him. he had, on the contrary, hoped much from the intercession of, the queen, whose arrival he had already learned. he soon recovered himself, however, and requested to be left alone with the ecclesiastic. all the night and the following day were passed in holy offices. he conducted himself with great moderation, courage, and tranquillity. he protested his entire innocence of any complicity with the prince of orange, or of any disloyal designs or sentiments at any period of his life. he drew up a memorial, expressing his strong attachment to every point of the catholic faith, from which he had never for an instant swerved. his whole demeanor was noble, submissive, and christian. "in every essential," said fray hernando, "he conducted himself so well that we who remain may bear him envy." he wrote a paper of instructions concerning his faithful and bereaved dependents. he placed his signet ring, attached to a small gold chain, in the hands of the ecclesiastic, to be by him transmitted to his wife. another ring, set with turquois, he sent to his mother-in-law, the princess espinoy, from whom he had received it. about an hour after midnight, on the morning, therefore, of the th of october, fray hernando gave notice that the prisoner was ready to die. the alcalde don alonzo then entered, accompanied by the executioner and the notary. the sentence of alva was now again recited, the alcalde adding that the king, "out of his clemency and benignity," had substituted a secret for a public execution. montigny admitted that the judgment would be just and the punishment lenient, if it were conceded that the charges against him were true. his enemies, however, while he had been thus immured, had possessed the power to accuse him as they listed. he ceased to speak, and the executioner then came forward and strangled him. the alcalde, the notary, and the executioner then immediately started for valladolid, so that no person next morning knew that they had been that night at simancas, nor could guess the dark deed which they had then and there accomplished. the terrible, secret they were forbidden, on pain of death, to reveal. montigny, immediately after his death, was clothed in the habit of saint francis, in order to conceal the marks of strangulation. in the course of the day the body was deposited, according to the king's previous orders, in the church of saint saviour. don eugenio de peralta, who superintended the interment, uncovered the face of the defunct to prove his identity, which was instantly recognised by many sorrowing servants. the next morning the second letter, prepared by philip long before, and brought by don alonzo de avellano to simancas, received the date of th october, , together with the signature of don eugenio de peralta, keeper of simancas fortress, and was then publicly despatched to the king. it stated that, notwithstanding the care given to the seigneur de montigny in his severe illness by the physicians who had attended him, he had continued to grow worse and worse until the previous morning between three and four o'clock, when he had expired. the fray hernando del castillo, who had accidentally happened to be at simancas, had performed the holy offices, at the request of the deceased, who had died in so catholic a frame of mind, that great hopes might be entertained of his salvation. although he possessed no property, yet his burial had been conducted very respectably. on the rd of november, , these two letters, ostensibly written by don eugenio de peralta, were transmitted by philip to the duke of alva. they were to serve as evidence of the statement which the governor- general was now instructed to make, that the seigneur de montigny had died a natural death in the fortress of simancas. by the same courier, the king likewise forwarded a secret memoir, containing the exact history of the dark transaction, from which memoir the foregoing account has been prepared. at the same time the duke was instructed publicly to exhibit the lying letters of don eugenio de peralta, as containing an authentic statement of the affair. the king observed, moreover, in his letter, that there was not a person in spain who doubted that montigny had died of a fever. he added that if the sentiments of the deceased nobleman had been at all in conformity with his external manifestations, according to the accounts received of his last moments, it was to be hoped that god would have mercy upon his soul. the secretary who copied the letter, took the liberty of adding, however, to this paragraph the suggestion, that "if montigny were really a heretic, the devil, who always assists his children in such moments, would hardly have failed him in his dying hour." philip, displeased with this flippancy, caused the passage to be erased. he even gave vent to his royal indignation in a marginal note, to the effect that we should always express favorable judgments concerning the dead--a pious sentiment always dearer to writing masters than to historians. it seemed never to have occurred however to this remarkable moralist, that it was quite as reprehensible to strangle an innocent man as to speak ill of him after his decease. thus perished baron montigny, four years after his arrival in madrid as duchess margaret's ambassador, and three years after the death of his fellow-envoy marquis berghen. no apology is necessary for so detailed an account of this dark and secret tragedy. the great transactions of a reign are sometimes paltry things; great battles and great treaties, after vast consumption of life and of breath, often leave the world where they found it. the events which occupy many of the statelier pages of history, and which have most lived in the mouths of men, frequently contain but commonplace lessons of philosophy. it is perhaps otherwise when, by the resuscitation of secret documents, over which the dust of three centuries has gathered, we are enabled to study the internal working of a system of perfect tyranny. liberal institutions, republican or constitutional governments, move in the daylight; we see their mode of operation, feel the jar of their wheels, and are often needlessly alarmed at their apparent tendencies. the reverse of the picture is not always so easily attainable. when, therefore, we find a careful portrait of a consummate tyrant, painted by his own hand, it is worth our while to pause for a moment, that we may carefully peruse the lineaments. certainly, we shall afterwards not love liberty the less. towards the end of the year , still another and a terrible misfortune descended upon the netherlands. it was now the hand of god which smote the unhappy country, already so tortured by the cruelty of war. an inundation, more tremendous than any which had yet been recorded in those annals so prolific in such catastrophes, now swept the whole coast from flanders to friesland. not the memorable deluge of the thirteenth century, out of which the zuyder zee was born; not that in which the waters of the dollart had closed for ever over the villages and churches of groningen; not one of those perpetually recurring floods by which the inhabitants of the netherlands, year after year, were recalled to an anxious remembrance of the watery chaos out of which their fatherland had been created, and into which it was in daily danger of resolving itself again, had excited so much terror and caused so much destruction. a continued and violent gale from the north-west had long been sweeping the atlantic waters into the north sea, and had now piled them upon the fragile coasts of the provinces. the dykes, tasked beyond their strength, burst in every direction. the cities of flanders, to a considerable distance inland, were suddenly invaded by the waters of the ocean. the whole narrow peninsula of north holland was in imminent danger of being swept away for ever. between amsterdam and meyden, the great diemer dyke was broken through in twelve places. the hand-bos, a bulwark formed of oaken piles, fastened with metal clamps, moored with iron anchors, and secured by gravel and granite, was snapped to pieces like packthread. the "sleeper," a dyke thus called, because it was usually left in repose by the elements, except in great emergencies, alone held firm, and prevented the consummation of the catastrophe. still the ocean poured in upon the land with terrible fury. dort, rotterdam, and many other cities were, for a time, almost submerged. along the coast, fishing vessels, and even ships of larger size, were floated up into the country, where they entangled themselves in groves and orchards, or beat to pieces the roofs and walls of houses. the destruction of life and of property was enormous throughout the maritime provinces, but in friesland the desolation was complete. there nearly all the dykes and sluices were dashed to fragments; the country, far and- wide, converted into an angry sea. the steeples and towers of inland cities became islands of the ocean. thousands of human beings were swept out of existence in a few hours. whole districts of territory, with all their villages, farms, and churches, were rent from their places, borne along by the force of the waves, sometimes to be lodged in another part of the country, sometimes to be entirely engulfed. multitudes of men, women, children, of horses, oxen, sheep, and every domestic animal, were struggling in the waves in every direction. every boat, and every article which could serve as a boat, were eagerly seized upon. every house was inundated; even the grave-yards gave up their dead. the living infant in his cradle, and the long-buried corpse in his coffin, floated side by side. the ancient flood seemed about to be renewed. everywhere, upon the top of trees, upon the steeples of churches, human beings were clustered, praying to god for mercy, and to their fellow-men for assistance. as the storm at last was subsiding, boats began to ply in every direction, saving those who were still struggling in the water, picking fugitives from roofs and tree-tops, and collecting the bodies of those already drowned. colonel robles, seigneur de billy, formerly much hated for his spanish or portuguese blood, made himself very active in this humane work. by his exertions, and those of the troops belonging to groningen, many lives were rescued, and gratitude replaced the ancient animosity. it was estimated that at least twenty thousand persons were destroyed in the province of friesland alone. throughout the netherlands, one hundred thousand persons perished. the damage alone to property, the number of animals engulfed in the sea, were almost incalculable. these events took place on the st and nd november, . the former happened to be the day of all saints, and the spaniards maintained loudly that the vengeance of heaven had descended upon the abode of heretics. the netherlanders looked upon the catastrophe as ominous of still more terrible misfortunes in store for them. they seemed doomed to destruction by god and man. an overwhelming tyranny had long been chafing against their constitutional bulwarks, only to sweep over them at last; and now the resistless ocean, impatient of man's feeble barriers, had at last risen to reclaim his prey. nature, as if disposed to put to the blush the feeble cruelty of man, had thus wrought more havoc in a few hours, than bigotry, however active, could effect in many years. nearly at the close of this year ( ) an incident occurred, illustrating the ferocious courage so often engendered in civil contests. on the western verge of the isle of bommel, stood the castle of lowestein. the island is not in the sea. it is the narrow but important territory which is enclosed between the meuse and the waal. the castle, placed in a slender hook, at the junction of the two rivers, commanded the two cities of gorcum and dorcum, and the whole navigation of the waters. one evening, towards the end of december, four monks, wearing the cowls and robes of mendicant grey friars, demanded hospitality at the castle gate. they were at once ushered into the presence of the commandant, a brother of president tisnacq. he was standing by the fire, conversing with his wife. the foremost monk approaching him, asked whether the castle held for the duke of alva or the prince of orange. the castellian replied that he recognized no prince save philip, king of spain. thereupon the monk, who was no other than herman de ruyter, a drover by trade, and a warm partisan of orange, plucked a pistol from beneath his robe, and shot the commandant through the head. the others, taking advantage of the sudden panic, overcame all the resistance offered by the feeble garrison, and made themselves masters of the place. in the course of the next day they introduced into the castle four or five and twenty men, with which force they diligently set themselves to fortify the place, and secure themselves in its possession. a larger reinforcement which they had reckoned upon, was detained by the floods and frosts, which, for the moment, had made the roads and fivers alike impracticable. don roderigo de toledo, governor of bois le duc, immediately despatched a certain captain perea, at the head of two hundred soldiers, who were joined on the way by a miscellaneous force of volunteers, to recover the fortress as soon as possible. the castle, bathed on its outward walls by the waal and meuse, and having two redoubts, defended by a double interior foss, would have been difficult to take by assaults had the number of the besieged been at all adequate to its defence. as matters stood, however, the spaniards, by battering a breach in the wall with their cannon on the first day, and then escalading the inner works with remarkable gallantry upon the second, found themselves masters of the place within eight and forty hours of their first appearance before its gates. most of the defenders were either slain or captured alive. de ruyter alone had betaken himself to an inner hall of the castle, where he stood at bay upon the threshold. many spaniards, one after another, as they attempted to kill or to secure him, fell before his sword, which he wielded with the strength of a giant. at last, overpowered by numbers, and weakened by the loss of blood, he retreated slowly into the hall, followed by many of his antagonists. here, by an unexpected movement, he applied a match to a train of powder, which he had previously laid along the floor of the apartment. the explosion was instantaneous. the tower, where the contest was taking place, sprang into the air, and de ruyter with his enemies shared a common doom. a part of the mangled remains of this heroic but ferocious patriot were afterwards dug from the ruins of the tower, and with impotent malice nailed upon the gallows at bois le duc. of his surviving companions, some were beheaded, some were broken on the wheel, some were hung and quartered--all were executed. etext editor's bookmarks: constitutional governments, move in the daylight consumer would pay the tax, supposing it were ever paid at all financial opposition to tyranny is apt to be unanimous great battles often leave the world where they found it great transactions of a reign are sometimes paltry things the faithful servant is always a perpetual ass motley's history of the netherlands the rise of the dutch republic, volume iii. by john lothrop motley chapter iii. - latter days of the blood council--informal and insincere negotiations for peace--characteristics of the negotiators and of their diplomatic correspondence--dr. junius--secret conferences between dr. leoninus and orange--steadfastness of the prince-- changes in the internal government of the northern provinces-- generosity and increasing power of the municipalities--incipient jealousy in regard to orange rebuked--his offer of resignation refused by the estates--his elevation to almost unlimited power-- renewed mediation of maximilian--views and positions of the parties --advice of orange--opening of negotiations at breda--propositions and counter-propositions--adroitness of the plenipotentiaries on both sides--insincere diplomacy and unsatisfactory results--union of holland and zealand under the prince of orange--act defining his powers--charlotte de bourbon--character, fortunes, and fate of anna of saxony--marriage of orange with mademoiselle de bourbon-- indignation thereby excited--horrible tortures inflicted upon papists by sonoy in north holland--oudewater and schoonoven taken by hierges--the isles of zealand--a submarine expedition projected-- details of the adventure--its entire success--death of chiappin vitelli--deliberations in holland and zealand concerning the renunciation of philip's authority--declaration at delft--doubts as to which of the great powers the sovereignty should be offered-- secret international relations--mission to england--unsatisfactory negotiations with elizabeth--position of the grand commander--siege of zieriekzee--generosity of count john--desperate project of the prince--death and character of requesens. the council of troubles, or, as it will be for ever denominated in history, the council of blood, still existed, although the grand commander, upon his arrival in the netherlands, had advised his sovereign to consent to the immediate abolition of so odious an institution. philip accepting the advice of his governor and his cabinet, had accordingly authorized him by a letter of the th of march, , to take that step if he continued to believe it advisable. requesens had made use of this permission to extort money from the obedient portion of the provinces. an assembly of deputies was held at brussels on the th of june, , and there was a tedious interchange of protocols, reports, and remonstrances. the estates, not satisfied with the extinction of a tribunal which had at last worn itself out by its own violence, and had become inactive through lack of victims, insisted on greater concessions. they demanded the departure of the spanish troops, the establishment of a council of netherlanders in spain for netherland affairs, the restoration to offices in the provinces of natives and natives only; for these drawers of documents thought it possible, at that epoch, to recover by pedantry what their brethren of holland and zealand were maintaining with the sword. it was not the moment for historical disquisition, citations from solomon, nor chopping of logic; yet with such lucubrations were reams of paper filled, and days and weeks occupied. the result was what might have been expected. the grand commander obtained but little money; the estates obtained none of their demands; and the blood council remained, as it were, suspended in mid-air. it continued to transact business at intervals during the administration of requesens, and at last, after nine years of existence, was destroyed by the violent imprisonment of the council of state at brussels. this event, however, belongs to a subsequent page of this history. noircarmes had argued, from the tenor of saint aldegonde's letters, that the prince would be ready to accept his pardon upon almost any terms. noircarmes was now dead, but saint aldegonde still remained in prison, very anxious for his release, and as well disposed as ever to render services in any secret negotiation. it will be recollected that, at the capitulation of middelburg, it had been distinctly stipulated by the prince that colonel mondragon should at once effect the liberation of saint aldegonde, with certain other prisoners, or himself return into confinement. he had done neither the one nor the other. the patriots still languished in prison, some of them being subjected to exceedingly harsh treatment, but mondragon, although repeatedly summoned as an officer and a gentleman, by the prince, to return to captivity, had been forbidden by the grand commander to redeem his pledge. saint aldegonde was now released from prison upon parole, and despatched on a secret mission to the prince and estates. as before, he was instructed that two points were to be left untouched--the authority of the king and the question of religion. nothing could be more preposterous than to commence a negotiation from which the two important points were thus carefully eliminated. the king's authority and the question of religion covered the whole ground upon which the spaniards and the hollanders had been battling for six years, and were destined to battle for three-quarters of a century longer. yet, although other affairs might be discussed, those two points were to be reserved for the more conclusive arbitration of gunpowder. the result of negotiations upon such a basis was easily to be foreseen. breath, time, and paper were profusely wasted and nothing gained. the prince assured his friend, as he had done secret agents previously sent to him, that he was himself ready to leave the land, if by so doing he could confer upon it the blessing of peace; but that all hopes of reaching a reasonable conclusion from the premises established was futile. the envoy treated also with the estates, and received from them in return an elaborate report, which was addressed immediately to the king. the style of this paper was bold and blunt, its substance bitter and indigestible. it informed philip what he had heard often enough before, that the spaniards must go and the exiles come back, the inquisition be abolished and the ancient privileges restored, the roman catholic religion renounce its supremacy, and the reformed religion receive permission to exist unmolested, before he could call himself master of that little hook of sand in the north sea. with this paper, which was entrusted to saint aldegonde, by him to be delivered to the grand commander, who was, after reading it, to forward it to its destination, the negotiator returned to his prison. thence he did not emerge again till the course of events released him, upon the th of october, . this report was far from agreeable to the governor, and it became the object of a fresh correspondence between his confidential agent, champagny, and the learned and astute junius de jonge, representative of the prince of orange and governor of yeere. the communication of de jonge consisted of a brief note and a long discourse. the note was sharp and stinging, the discourse elaborate and somewhat pedantic. unnecessarily historical and unmercifully extended, it was yet bold, bitter, and eloquent: the presence of foreigners was proved to have been, from the beginning of philip's reign, the curse of the country. doctor sonnius, with his batch of bishops, had sowed the seed of the first disorder. a prince, ruling in the netherlands, had no right to turn a deaf ear to the petitions of his subjects. if he did so, the hollanders would tell him, as the old woman had told the emperor adrian, that the potentate who had no time to attend to the interests of his subjects, had not leisure enough to be a sovereign. while holland refused to bow its neck to the inquisition, the king of spain dreaded the thunder and lightning of the pope. the hollanders would, with pleasure, emancipate philip from his own thraldom, but it was absurd that he, who was himself a slave to another potentate, should affect unlimited control over a free people. it was philip's councillors, not the hollanders, who were his real enemies; for it was they who held him in the subjection by which his power was neutralized and his crown degraded. it may be supposed that many long pages, conceived in this spirit and expressed with great vigor, would hardly smooth the way for the more official negotiations which were soon to take place, yet doctor junius fairly and faithfully represented the sentiment of his nation. towards the close of the year, doctor elbertus leoninus, professor of louvain, together with hugo bonte, ex-pensionary of middelburg, was commissioned by the grand commander to treat secretly with the prince. he was, however, not found very tractable when the commissioners opened the subject of his own pardon and reconciliation with the king, and he absolutely refused to treat at all except with the cooperation of the estates. he, moreover, objected to the use of the word "pardon" on the ground that he had never done anything requiring his majesty's forgiveness. if adversity should visit him, he cared but little for it; he had lived long enough, he said, and should die with some glory, regretting the disorders and oppressions which had taken place, but conscious that it had not been in his power to remedy them. when reminded by the commissioners of the king's power, he replied that he knew his majesty to be very mighty, but that there was a king more powerful still--even god the creator, who, as he humbly hoped, was upon his side. at a subsequent interview with hugo bonte, the prince declared it almost impossible for himself or the estates to hold any formal communication with the spanish government, as such communications were not safe. no trust could be reposed either in safe conducts or hostages. faith had been too often broken by the administration. the promise made by the duchess of parma to the nobles, and afterwards violated, the recent treachery of mondragon, the return of three exchanged prisoners from the hague, who died next day of poison administered before their release, the frequent attempts upon his own life--all such constantly recurring crimes made it doubtful, in the opinion of the prince, whether it would be possible to find commissioners to treat with his majesty's government. all would fear assassination, afterwards to be disavowed by the king and pardoned by the pope. after much conversation in this vein, the prince gave the spanish agents warning that he might eventually be obliged to seek the protection of some foreign power for the provinces. in this connection he made use of the memorable metaphor, so often repeated afterwards, that "the country was a beautiful damsel, who certainly did not lack suitors able and willing to accept her and defend her against the world." as to the matter of religion, he said he was willing to leave it to be settled by the estates-general; but doubted whether anything short of entire liberty of worship would ever satisfy the people. subsequently there were held other conferences, between the prince and doctor leoninus, with a similar result, all attempts proving fruitless to induce him to abandon his position upon the subject of religion, or to accept a pardon on any terms save the departure of the foreign troops, the assembling of the estates-general, and entire freedom of religion. even if he were willing to concede the religious question himself, he observed that it was idle to hope either from the estates or people a hand's-breadth of concession upon that point. leoninus was subsequently admitted to a secret conference with the estates of holland, where his representations were firmly met by the same arguments as those already used by the prince. these proceedings on the part of saint aldegonde, champagny, junius, and elbertus leoninus extended through the whole summer and autumn of , and were not terminated until january of the following year. changes fast becoming necessary in the internal government of the provinces, were also undertaken during this year. hitherto the prince had exercised his power under the convenient fiction of the king's authority, systematically conducting the rebellion in the name of his majesty, and as his majesty's stadholder. by this process an immense power was lodged in his hands; nothing less, indeed, than the supreme executive and legislative functions of the land; while since the revolt had become, as it were, perpetual, ample but anomalous functions had been additionally thrust upon him by the estates and by the general voice of the people. the two provinces, even while deprived of harlem and amsterdam, now raised two hundred and ten thousand florins monthly, whereas alva had never been able to extract from holland more than two hundred and seventy-one thousand florins yearly. they paid all rather than pay a tenth. in consequence of this liberality, the cities insensibly acquired a greater influence in the government. the coming contest between the centrifugal aristocratic principle, represented by these corporations, and the central popular authority of the stadholder, was already foreshadowed, but at first the estates were in perfect harmony with the prince. they even urged upon him more power than he desired, and declined functions which he wished them to exercise. on the th of september, , it had been formally proposed by the general council to confer a regular and unlimited dictatorship upon him, but in the course of a year from that time, the cities had begun to feel their increasing importance. moreover, while growing more ambitious, they became less liberal. the prince, dissatisfied with the conduct of the cities, brought the whole subject before an assembly of the estates of holland on the th october, . he stated the inconveniences produced by the anomalous condition of the government. he complained that the common people had often fallen into the error that the money raised for public purposes had been levied for his benefit only, and that they had, therefore, been less willing to contribute to the taxes. as the only remedy for these evils, he tendered his resignation of all the powers with which he was clothed, so that the estates might then take the government, which they could exercise without conflict or control. for himself, he had never desired power, except as a means of being useful to his country, and he did not offer his resignation from unwillingness to stand by the cause, but from a hearty desire to save it from disputes among its friends. he was ready, now as ever, to shed the last drop of his blood to maintain the freedom of the land. this straightforward language produced an instantaneous effect. the estates knew that they were dealing with a man whose life was governed by lofty principles, and they felt that they were in danger of losing him through their own selfishness and low ambition. they were embarrassed, for they did not like to, relinquish the authority which they had begun to relish, nor to accept the resignation of a man who was indispensable. they felt that to give up william of orange at that time was to accept the spanish yoke for ever. at an assembly held at delft on the th of november, , they accordingly requested him "to continue in his blessed government, with the council established near him," and for this end, they formally offered to him, "under the name of governor or regent," absolute power, authority, and sovereign command. in particular, they conferred on him the entire control of all the ships of war, hitherto reserved to the different cities, together with the right to dispose of all prizes and all monies raised for the support of fleets. they gave him also unlimited power over the domains; they agreed that all magistracies, militia bands, guilds, and communities, should make solemn oath to contribute taxes and to receive garrisons, exactly as the prince, with his council, should ordain; but they made it a condition that the estates should be convened and consulted upon requests, impositions, and upon all changes in the governing body. it was also stipulated that the judges of the supreme court and of the exchequer, with other high officers, should be appointed by and with the consent of the estates. the prince expressed himself willing to accept the government upon these terms. he, however, demanded an allowance of forty-five thousand florins monthly for the army expenses and other current outlays. here, however, the estates refused their consent. in a mercantile spirit, unworthy the occasion and the man with whom they were dealing, they endeavoured to chaffer where they should have been only too willing to comply, and they attempted to reduce the reasonable demand of the prince to thirty thousand florins. the prince, who had poured out his own wealth so lavishly in the cause--who, together with his brothers, particularly the generous john of nassau, had contributed all which they could raise by mortgage, sales of jewellery and furniture, and by extensive loans, subjecting themselves to constant embarrassment, and almost to penury, felt himself outraged by the paltriness of this conduct. he expressed his indignation, and denounced the niggardliness of the estates in the strongest language, and declared that he would rather leave the country for ever, with the maintenance of his own honor, than accept the government upon such disgraceful terms. the estates, disturbed by his vehemence, and struck with its justice, instantly, and without further deliberation, consented to his demand. they granted the forty-five thousand florins monthly, and the prince assumed the government, thus remodelled. during the autumn and early winter of the year , the emperor maximilian had been actively exerting himself to bring about a pacification of the netherlands. he was certainly sincere, for an excellent reason. "the emperor maintains," said saint goard, french ambassador at madrid, "that if peace is not made with the beggars, the empire will depart from the house of austria, and that such is the determination of the electors." on the other hand, if philip were not weary of the war, at any rate his means for carrying it on were diminishing daily. requesens could raise no money in the netherlands; his secretary wrote to spain, that the exchequer was at its last gasp, and the cabinet of madrid was at its wits' end, and almost incapable of raising ways and means. the peace party was obtaining the upper hand; the fierce policy of alva regarded with increasing disfavor. "the people here," wrote saint goard from madrid, "are completely desperate, whatever pains they take to put a good face on the matter. they desire most earnestly to treat, without losing their character." it seemed, nevertheless, impossible for philip to bend his neck. the hope of wearing the imperial crown had alone made his bigotry feasible. to less potent influences it was adamant; and even now, with an impoverished exchequer, and, after seven years of unsuccessful warfare, his purpose was not less rigid than at first. "the hollanders demand liberty of conscience," said saint goard, "to which the king will never consent, or i am much mistaken." as for orange, he was sincerely in favor of peace--but not a dishonorable peace, in which should be renounced all the objects of the war. he was far from sanguine on the subject, for he read the signs of the times and the character of philip too accurately to believe much more in the success of the present than in that of the past efforts of maximilian. he was pleased that his brother-in-law, count schwartzburg, had been selected as the emperor's agent in the affair, but expressed his doubts whether much good would come of the proposed negotiations. remembering the many traps which in times past had been set by philip and his father, he feared that the present transaction might likewise prove a snare. "we have not forgotten the words i 'ewig' and 'einig' in the treaty with landgrave philip," he wrote; "at the same time we beg to assure his imperial majesty that we desire nothing more than a good peace, tending to the glory of god, the service of the king of spain, and the prosperity of his subjects." this was his language to his brother, in a letter which was meant to be shown to the emperor. in another, written on the same day, he explained himself with more clearness, and stated his distrust with more energy. there were no papists left, except a few ecclesiastics, he said; so much had the number of the reformers been augmented, through the singular grace of god. it was out of the question to suppose, therefore, that a measure, dooming all who were not catholics to exile, could be entertained. none would change their religion, and none would consent, voluntarily, to abandon for ever their homes, friends, and property. "such a peace," he said, "would be poor and pitiable indeed." these, then, were the sentiments of the party now about to negotiate. the mediator was anxious for a settlement, because the interests of the imperial house required it. the king of spain was desirous of peace, but was unwilling to concede a hair. the prince of orange was equally anxious to terminate the war, but was determined not to abandon the objects for which it had been undertaken. a favorable result, therefore, seemed hardly possible. a whole people claimed the liberty to stay at home and practice the protestant religion, while their king asserted the right to banish them for ever, or to burn them if they remained. the parties seemed too far apart to be brought together by the most elastic compromise. the prince addressed an earnest appeal to the assembly of holland, then in session at dort, reminding them that, although peace was desirable, it might be more dangerous than war, and entreating them, therefore, to conclude no treaty which should be inconsistent with the privileges of the country and their duty to god. it was now resolved that all the votes of the assembly should consist of five: one for the nobles and large cities of holland, one for the estates of zealand, one for the small cities of holland, one for the cities bommel and buren, and the fifth for william of orange. the prince thus effectually held in his hands three votes: his own, that of the small cities, which through his means only had been admitted to the assembly, and thirdly, that of buren, the capital of his son's earldom. he thus exercised a controlling influence over the coming deliberations. the ten commissioners, who were appointed by the estates for the peace negotiations, were all his friends. among them were saint aldegonde, paul buis, charles boisot, and doctor junius. the plenipotentiaries of the spanish government were leoninus, the seigneur de rassinghem, cornelius suis, and arnold sasbout. the proceedings were opened at breda upon the rd of march, . the royal commissioners took the initiative, requesting to be informed what complaints the estates had to make, and offering to remove, if possible, all grievances which they might be suffering. the states' commissioners replied that they desired nothing, in the first place, but an answer to the petition which they had already presented to the king. this was the paper placed in the hands of saint aldegonde during the informal negotiations of the preceding year. an answer was accordingly given, but couched in such vague and general language as to be quite without meaning. the estates then demanded a categorical reply to the two principal demands in the petition, namely, the departure of the foreign troops and the assembling of the states-general. they, were asked what they understood by foreigners and by the assembly of states-general. they replied that by foreigners they meant those who were not natives, and particularly the spaniards. by the estates-general they meant the same body before which, in , charles had resigned his sovereignty to philip. the royal commissioners made an extremely unsatisfactory answer, concluding with a request that all cities, fortresses, and castles, then in the power of the estates, together with all their artillery and vessels of war, should be delivered to the king. the roman catholic worship, it was also distinctly stated, was to be re-established at once exclusively throughout the netherlands; those of the reformed religion receiving permission, for that time only, to convert their property into cash within a certain time, and to depart the country. orange and the estates made answer on the st march. it could not be called hard, they said, to require the withdrawal of the spanish troops, for this had been granted in , for less imperious reasons. the estates had, indeed, themselves made use of foreigners, but those foreigners had never been allowed to participate in the government. with regard to the assembly of the states-general, that body had always enjoyed the right of advising with the sovereign on the condition of the country, and on general measures of government. now it was only thought necessary to summon them, in order that they might give their consent to the king's "requests." touching the delivery of cities and citadels, artillery and ships, the proposition was, pronounced to resemble that made by the wolves to the sheep, in the fable--that the dogs should be delivered up, as a preliminary to a lasting peace. it was unreasonable to request the hollanders to abandon their religion or their country. the reproach of heresy was unjust, for they still held to the catholic apostolic church, wishing only to purify, it of its abuses. moreover, it was certainly more cruel to expel a whole population than to dismiss three or four thousand spaniards who for seven long years had been eating their fill at the expense of the provinces. it would be impossible for the exiles to dispose of their property, for all would, by the proposed measure, be sellers, while there would be no purchasers. the royal plenipotentiaries, making answer to this communication upon the st of april, signified a willingness that the spanish soldiers should depart, if the states would consent to disband their own foreign troops. they were likewise in favor of assembling the states-general, but could not permit any change in the religion of the country. his majesty had sworn to maintain the true worship at the moment of assuming the sovereignty. the dissenters might, however, be allowed a period of six months in which to leave the land, and eight or ten years for the sale of their property. after the heretics had all departed, his majesty did not doubt that trade and manufactures would flourish again, along with the old religion. as for the spanish inquisition, there was not, and there never had been, any intention of establishing it in the netherlands. no doubt there was something specious in this paper. it appeared to contain considerable concessions. the prince and estates had claimed the departure of the spaniards. it was now promised that they should depart. they had demanded the assembling of the states-general. it was now promised that they should assemble. they had denounced the inquisition. it was now averred that the spanish inquisition was not to be established. nevertheless, the commissioners of the prince were not deceived by such artifices. there was no parity between the cases of the spanish soldiery and of the troops in service of the estates. to assemble the estates-general was idle, if they were to be forbidden the settlement of the great question at issue. with regard to the spanish inquisition, it mattered little whether the slaughter-house were called spanish or flemish, or simply the blood-council. it was, however, necessary for the states' commissioners to consider their reply very carefully; for the royal plenipotentiaries had placed themselves upon specious grounds. it was not enough to feel that the king's government was paltering with them; it was likewise necessary for the states' agents to impress this fact upon the people. there was a pause in the deliberations. meantime, count schwartzburg, reluctantly accepting the conviction that the religious question was an insurmountable obstacle to a peace, left the provinces for germany. the last propositions of the government plenipotentiaries had been discussed in the councils of the various cities, so that the reply of the prince, and estates was delayed until the st of june. they admitted, in this communication, that the offer to restore ancient privileges had an agreeable sound; but regretted that if the whole population were to be banished, there would be but few to derive advantage from the restoration. if the king would put an end to religious persecution, he would find as much loyalty in the provinces as his forefathers had found. it was out of the question, they said, for the states to disarm and to deliver up their strong places, before the spanish soldiery had retired, and before peace had been established. it was their wish to leave the question of religion, together with all other disputed matters, to the decision of the assembly. were it possible, in the meantime, to devise any effectual method for restraining hostilities, it would gladly be embraced. on the th of july, the royal commissioners inquired what guarantee the states would be willing to give, that the decision of the general assembly, whatever it might be, should be obeyed. the demand was answered by another, in which the king's agents were questioned as to their own guarantees. hereupon it was stated that his majesty would give his word and sign manual, together with the word and signature of the emperor into the bargain. in exchange for these promises, the prince and estates were expected to give their own oaths and seals, together with a number of hostages. over and above this, they were requested to deliver up the cities of brill and enkhuizen, flushing and arnemuyde. the disparity of such guarantees was ridiculous. the royal word, even when strengthened by the imperial promise, and confirmed by the autographs of philip and maximilian, was not so solid a security, in the opinion of netherlanders, as to outweigh four cities in holland and zealand, with all their population and wealth. to give collateral pledges and hostages upon one side, while the king offered none, was to assign a superiority to the royal word, over that of the prince and the estates which there was no disposition to recognize. moreover, it was very cogently urged that to give up the cities was to give as security for the contract, some of the principal contracting parties. this closed the negotiations. the provincial plenipotentiaries took their leave by a paper dated th july, , which recapitulated the main incidents of the conference. they expressed their deep regret that his majesty should insist so firmly on the banishment of the reformers, for it was unjust to reserve the provinces to the sole use of a small number of catholics. they lamented that the proposition which had been made, to refer the religious question to the estates, had neither been loyally accepted, nor candidly refused. they inferred, therefore, that the object of the royal government had, been to amuse the states, while tine was thus gained for reducing the country into a slavery more abject than any which had yet existed. on the other hand, the royal commissioners as solemnly averred that the whole responsibility for the failure of the negotiations belonged to the estates. it was the general opinion in the insurgent provinces that the government had been insincere from the beginning, and had neither expected nor desired to conclude a peace. it is probable, however, that philip was sincere; so far as it could be called sincerity to be willing to conclude a peace, if the provinces would abandon the main objects of the war. with his impoverished exchequer, and ruin threatening his whole empire, if this mortal combat should be continued many years longer, he could have no motive for further bloodshed, provided all heretics should consent to abandon the country. as usual, however, he left his agents in the dark as to his real intentions. even requesens was as much in doubt as to the king's secret purposes as margaret of parma had ever been in former times. [compare the remarks of groen v. prinst., archives, etc., v - ; bor, viii. , ; meteren, v. ; hoofd, g. .--count john of nassau was distrustful and disdainful from the beginning. against his brother's loyalty and the straightforward intentions of the estates, he felt that the whole force of the macchiavelli system of policy would be brought to bear with great effect. he felt that the object of the king's party was to temporize, to confuse, and to deceive. he did not believe them capable of conceding the real object in dispute, but he feared lest they might obscure the judgment of the plain and well meaning people with whom they had to deal. alluding to the constant attempts made to poison himself and his brother, he likens the pretended negotiations to venetian drugs, by which eyesight, hearing, feeling, and intellect were destroyed. under this pernicious influence, the luckless people would not perceive the fire burning around them, but would shrink at a rustling leaf. not comprehending then the tendency of their own acts, they would "lay bare their own backs to the rod, and bring faggots for their own funeral pile."-archives, etc., v. - .] moreover, the grand commander and the government had, after all, made a great mistake in their diplomacy. the estates of brabant, although strongly desirous that the spanish troops should be withdrawn, were equally stanch for the maintenance of the catholic religion, and many of the southern provinces entertained the same sentiments. had the governor, therefore, taken the states' commissioners at their word, and left the decision of the religious question to the general assembly, he might perhaps have found the vote in his favor. in this case, it is certain that the prince of orange and his party would have been placed in a very awkward position. the internal government of the insurgent provinces had remained upon the footing which we have seen established in the autumn of , but in the course of this summer ( ), however, the foundation was laid for the union of holland and zealand, under the authority of orange. the selfish principle of municipal aristocracy, which had tended to keep asunder these various groups of cities, was now repressed by the energy of the prince and the strong determination of the people. in april, , certain articles of union between holland and zealand were proposed, and six commissioners appointed to draw up an ordinance for the government of the two provinces. this ordinance was accepted in general assembly of both. it was in twenty articles. it declared that, during the war the prince as sovereign, should have absolute power in all matters concerning the defence of the country. he was to appoint military officers, high and low, establish and remove garrisons, punish offenders against the laws of war. he was to regulate the expenditure of all money voted by the estates. he was to maintain the law, in the king's name, as count of holland, and to appoint all judicial officers upon nominations by the estates. he was, at the usual times, to appoint and renew the magistracies of the cities, according to their constitutions. he was to protect the exercise of the evangelical reformed religion, and to suppress the exercise of the roman religion, without permitting, however, that search should be made into the creed of any person. a deliberative and executive council, by which the jealousy of the corporations had intended to hamper his government, did not come into more than nominal existence. the articles of union having been agreed upon, the prince, desiring an unfettered expression of the national will, wished the ordinance to be laid before the people in their primary assemblies. the estates, however, were opposed to this democratic proceeding. they represented that it had been customary to consult; after the city magistracies, only the captains of companies and the deans of guilds on matters of government. the prince, yielding the point, the captains of companies and deans of guilds accordingly alone united with the aristocratic boards in ratifying the instrument by which his authority over the two united provinces was established. on the th of june this first union was solemnized. upon the th of july, the prince formally accepted the government. he, however, made an essential change in a very important clause of the ordinance. in place of the words, the "roman religion," he insisted that the words, "religion at variance with the gospel," should be substituted in the article by which he was enjoined to prohibit the exercise of such religion. this alteration rebuked the bigotry which had already grown out of the successful resistance to bigotry, and left the door open for a general religious toleration. early in this year the prince had despatched saint aldegonde on a private mission to the elector palatine. during some of his visits to that potentate he had seen at heidelberg the princess charlotte of bourbon. that lady was daughter of the due de montpensier, the most ardent of the catholic princes of france, and the one who at the conferences of bayonne had been most indignant at the queen dowager's hesitation to unite heartily with the schemes of alva and philip for the extermination of the huguenots. his daughter, a woman of beauty, intelligence, and virtue, forced before the canonical age to take the religious vows, had been placed in the convent of joliarrs, of which she had become abbess. always secretly inclined to the reformed religion, she had fled secretly from her cloister, in the year of horrors , and had found refuge at the court of the elector palatine, after which step her father refused to receive her letters, to contribute a farthing to her support, or even to acknowledge her claims upon him by a single line or message of affection. under these circumstances the outcast princess, who had arrived at the years of maturity, might be considered her own mistress, and she was neither morally nor legally bound, when her hand was sought in marriage by the great champion of the reformation, to ask the consent of a parent who loathed her religion and denied her existence. the legality of the divorce from anne of saxony had been settled by a full expression of the ecclesiastical authority which she most respected; the facts upon which the divorce had been founded having been proved beyond peradventure. [acte de, cinq ministres du st. evangile par lequel ils declarent le mariage du prince d'orange etre legitime.--archives, etc., v. - .] nothing, in truth, could well be more unfortunate in its results than the famous saxon marriage, the arrangements for which had occasioned so much pondering to philip, and so much diplomatic correspondence on the part of high personages in germany, the netherlands, and spain. certainly, it was of but little consequence to what church the unhappy princess belonged, and they must be lightly versed in history or in human nature who can imagine these nuptials to have exercised any effect upon the religious or political sentiments of orange. the princess was of a stormy, ill-regulated nature; almost a lunatic from the beginning. the dislike which succeeded to her fantastic fondness for the prince, as well as her general eccentricity, had soon become the talk of all the court at brussels. she would pass week after week without emerging from her chamber, keeping the shutters closed and candles burning, day and night. she quarrelled violently, with countess egmont for precedence, so that the ludicrous contentions of the two ladies in antechambers and doorways were the theme and the amusement of society. her insolence, not only in private but in public, towards her husband became intolerable: "i could not do otherwise than bear it with sadness and patience," said the prince, with great magnanimity, "hoping that with age would come improvement." nevertheless, upon one occasion, at a supper party, she had used such language in the presence of count horn and many other nobles, "that all wondered that he could endure the abusive terms which she applied to him." when the clouds gathered about him, when he had become an exile and a wanderer, her reproaches and her violence increased. the sacrifice of their wealth, the mortgages and sales which he effected of his estates, plate, jewels, and furniture, to raise money for the struggling country, excited her bitter resentment. she separated herself from him by degrees, and at last abandoned him altogether. her temper became violent to ferocity. she beat her servants with her hands and with clubs; she threatened the lives of herself, of her attendants, of count john of nassau, with knives and daggers, and indulged in habitual profanity and blasphemy, uttering frightful curses upon all around. her original tendency to intemperance had so much increased, that she was often unable to stand on her feet. a bottle of wine, holding more than a quart, in the morning, and another in the evening, together with a pound of sugar, was her usual allowance. she addressed letters to alva complaining that her husband had impoverished himself "in his good-for-nothing beggar war," and begging the duke to furnish her with a little ready money and with the means of arriving at the possession of her dower. an illicit connexion with a certain john rubens, an exiled magistrate of antwerp, and father of the celebrated painter, completed the list of her delinquencies, and justified the marriage of the prince with charlotte de bourbon. it was therefore determined by the elector of saxony and the landgrave william to remove her from the custody of the nassaus. this took place with infinite difficulty, at the close of the year . already, in ; augustus had proposed to the landgrave that she should be kept in solitary confinement, and that a minister should preach to her daily through the grated aperture by which her, food was to be admitted. the landgrave remonstrated at so inhuman a proposition, which was, however, carried into effect. the wretched princess, now completely a lunatic, was imprisoned in the electoral palace, in a chamber where the windows were walled up and a small grating let into the upper part of the door. through this wicket came her food, as well as the words of the holy man appointed to preach daily for her edification. two years long, she endured this terrible punishment, and died mad, on the th of december, . on the following day, she was buried in the electoral tomb at meissen; a pompous procession of "school children, clergy, magistrates, nobility, and citizens" conducting her to that rest of which she could no longer be deprived by the cruelty of man nor her own violent temperament. [it can certainly be considered no violation of the sanctity of archives to make these slender allusions to a tale, the main features of which have already been published, not only by mm. groan v. prinsterer and bakhuyzen, in holland, but by the saxon professor bottiger, in germany. it is impossible to understand the character and career of orange, and his relations with germany, without a complete view of the saxon marriage. the extracts from the "geomantic letters" of elector augustus, however, given in bottiger (hist. taschenb. , p. - ), with their furious attacks upon the prince and upon charlotte of bourbon, seem to us too obscene to be admitted, even in a note to these pages, and in a foreign language.] so far, therefore, as the character of mademoiselle de bourbon and the legitimacy of her future offspring were concerned, she received ample guarantees. for the rest, the prince, in a simple letter, informed her that he was already past his prime, having reached his forty-second year, and that his fortune was encumbered not only with settlements for his, children by previous marriages, but by debts contracted in the cause of his oppressed country. a convention of doctors and bishops of france; summoned by the duc de montpensier, afterwards confirmed the opinion that the conventual vows of the princess charlotte had been conformable neither to the laws of france nor to the canons of the trent council. she was conducted to brill by saint aldegonde, where she was received by her bridegroom, to whom she was united on the th of june. the wedding festival was held at dort with much revelry and holiday making, "but without dancing." in this connexion, no doubt the prince consulted his inclination only. eminently domestic in his habits, he required the relief of companionship at home to the exhausting affairs which made up his life abroad. for years he had never enjoyed social converse, except at long intervals, with man or woman; it was natural, therefore, that he should contract this marriage. it was equally natural that he should make many enemies by so impolitic a match. the elector palatine, who was in place of guardian to the bride, decidedly disapproved, although he was suspected of favoring the alliance. the landgrave of hesse for a time was furious; the elector of saxony absolutely delirious with rage. the diet of the empire was to be held within a few weeks at frankfort, where it was very certain that the outraged and influential elector would make his appearance, overflowing with anger, and determined to revenge upon the cause of the netherland reformation the injury which he had personally received. even the wise, considerate, affectionate brother, john of nassau, considered the marriage an act of madness. he did what he could, by argument and entreaty, to dissuade the prince from its completion; although he afterwards voluntarily confessed that the princess charlotte had been deeply calumniated, and was an inestimable treasure to his brother. the french government made use of the circumstance to justify itself in a still further alienation from the cause of the prince than it had hitherto manifested, but this was rather pretence than reality. it was not in the nature of things, however, that the saxon and hessian indignation could be easily allayed. the landgrave was extremely violent. "truly, i cannot imagine," he wrote to the elector of saxony, "quo consilio that wiseacre of an aldegonde, and whosoever else has been aiding and abetting, have undertaken this affair. nam si pietatem respicias, it is to be feared that, considering she is a frenchwoman, a nun, and moreover a fugitive nun, about whose chastity there has been considerable question, the prince has got out of the frying-pan into the fire. si formam it is not to be supposed that it was her beauty which charmed him, since, without doubt, he must be rather frightened than delighted, when he looks upon her. si spem prolis, the prince has certainly only too many heirs already, and ought to wish that he had neither wife nor children. si amicitiam, it is not to be supposed, while her father expresses himself in such threatening language with regard to her, that there will be much cordiality of friendship on his part. let them look to it, then, lest it fare with them no better than with the admiral, at his paris wedding; for those gentlemen can hardly forgive such injuries, sine mercurio et arsenico sublimato." the elector of saxony was frantic with choler, and almost ludicrous in the vehemence of its expression. count john was unceasing in his exhortations to his brother to respect the sensitiveness of these important personages, and to remember how much good and how much evil it was in their power to compass, with regard to himself and to the great cause of the protestant religion. he reminded him, too, that the divorce had not been, and would not be considered impregnable as to form, and that much discomfort and detriment was likely to grow out of the whole proceeding, for himself and his family. the prince, however, was immovable in his resolution, and from the whole tone of his correspondence and deportment it was obvious that his marriage was one rather of inclination than of policy. "i can assure you, my brother," he wrote to count john, "that my character has always tended to this--to care neither for words nor menaces in any matter where i can act with a clear conscience, and without doing injury to my neighbour. truly, if i had paid regard to the threats of princes, i should never have embarked in so many dangerous affairs, contrary to the will of the king, my master, in times past, and even to the advice of many of my relatives and friends." the evil consequences which had been foreseen were not slow to manifest themselves. there was much discussion of the prince's marriage at the diet of frankfort, and there was even a proposition, formally to declare the calvinists excluded in germany from the benefits of the peace of passau. the archduke rudolph was soon afterwards elected king of the romans and of bohemia, although hitherto, according to the policy of the prince of orange, and in the expectation of benefit to the cause of the reformation in germany and the netherlands, there has been a strong disposition to hold out hopes to henry the third, and to excite the fears of maximilian. while these important affairs, public and private, had been occurring in the south of holland and in germany, a very nefarious transaction had disgraced the cause of the patriot party in the northern quarter. diedrich sonoy, governor of that portion of holland, a man of great bravery but of extreme ferocity of character, had discovered an extensive conspiracy among certain of the inhabitants, in aid of an approaching spanish invasion. bands of land-loupers had been employed, according to the intimation which he had received or affected to have received, to set fire to villages and towns in every direction, to set up beacons, and to conduct a series of signals by which the expeditions about to be organized were to be furthered in their objects. the governor, determined to show that the duke of alva could not be more prompt nor more terrible than himself, improvised, of his own authority, a tribunal in imitation of the infamous blood-council. fortunately for the character of the country, sonoy was not a hollander, nor was the jurisdiction of this newly established court allowed to extend beyond very narrow limits. eight vagabonds were, however, arrested and doomed to tortures the most horrible, in order to extort from them confessions implicating persons of higher position in the land than themselves. seven, after a few turns of the pulley and the screw, confessed all which they were expected to confess, and accused all whom they were requested to accuse. the eighth was firmer, and refused to testify to the guilt of certain respectable householders, whose names he had, perhaps, never heard, and against whom there was no shadow of evidence. he was, however, reduced by three hours and a half of sharp torture to confess, entirely according to their orders, so that accusations and evidence were thus obtained against certain influential gentlemen of the province, whose only crime was a secret adherence to the catholic faith. the eight wretches who had been induced by promises of unconditional pardon upon one hand, and by savage torture on the other, to bear this false witness, were condemned to be burned alive, and on their way to the stake, they all retracted the statements which had only been extorted from them by the rack. nevertheless, the individuals who had been thus designated, were arrested. charged with plotting a general conflagration of the villages and farmhouses, in conjunction with an invasion by hierges and other papist generals, they indignantly protested their innocence; but two of them, a certain kopp corneliszoon, and his son, nanning koppezoon, were selected to undergo the most cruel torture which had yet been practised in the netherlands. sonoy, to his eternal shame, was disposed to prove that human ingenuity to inflict human misery had not been exhausted in the chambers of the blood council, for it was to be shown that reformers were capable of giving a lesson even to inquisitors in this diabolical science. kopp, a man advanced in years, was tortured during a whole day. on the following morning he was again brought to the rack, but the old man was too weak to endure all the agony which his tormentors had provided for him. hardly had he been placed upon the bed of torture than he calmly expired, to the great indignation of the tribunal. "the devil has broken his neck and carried him off to hell," cried they ferociously. "nevertheless, that shall not prevent him from being hung and quartered." this decree of impotent vengeance was accordingly executed. the son of kopp, however, nanning koppezoon, was a man in the full vigor of his years. he bore with perfect fortitude a series of incredible tortures, after which, with his body singed from head to heel, and his feet almost entirely flayed, he was left for six weeks to crawl about his dungeon on his knees. he was then brought back to the torture-room, and again stretched upon the rack, while a large earthen vessel, made for the purpose, was placed, inverted, upon his naked body. a number of rats were introduced under this cover, and hot coals were heaped upon the vessel, till the rats, rendered furious by the heat, gnawed into the very bowels of the victim, in their agony to escape. [bor (viii. ) conscientiously furnishes diagrams of the machinery by aid of which this devilish cruelty was inflicted. the rats were sent by the governor himself.--vide letter of the commissioners to sonoy, apud bor, viii. , . the whole letter is a wonderful monument of barbarity. the incredible tortures to which the poor creatures had been subjected are detailed in a business-like manner, as though the transactions were quite regular and laudable, the commissioners conclude with pious wishes for the governor's welfare: "noble, wise, virtuous, and very discreet sir," they say, "we have wished to apprise you of the foregoing, and we now pray that god almighty may spare you in a happy, healthy and long-continued government"--it will be seen, however, that the wise, virtuous, and very discreet governor, who thus caused his fellow- citizens bowels to be gnawed by rats, was not allowed to remain much longer in his "happy and healthy government"] the holes thus torn in his bleeding flesh were filled with red-hot coals. he was afterwards subjected to other tortures too foul to relate; nor was it till he had endured all this agony, with a fortitude which seemed supernatural, that he was at last discovered to be human. scorched; bitten, dislocated in every joint, sleepless, starving, perishing with thirst, he was at last crushed into a false confession, by a promise of absolute forgiveness. he admitted everything which was brought to his charge, confessing a catalogue of contemplated burnings and beacon firings of which he had never dreamed, and avowing himself in league with other desperate papists, still more dangerous than himself. notwithstanding the promises of pardon, nanning was then condemned to death. the sentence ordained that his heart should be torn from his living bosom, and thrown in his face, after which his head was to be taken off and exposed on the church steeple of his native village. his body was then to be cut in four, and a quarter fastened upon different towers of the city of alkmaar, for it was that city, recently so famous for its heroic resistance to the spanish army, which was now sullied by all this cold-blooded atrocity. when led to execution, the victim recanted indignantly the confessions forced from him by weakness of body, and exonerated the persons whom he had falsely accused. a certain clergyman, named jurian epeszoon, endeavored by loud praying to drown his voice, that the people might not rise with indignation, and the dying prisoner with his last breath solemnly summoned this unworthy pastor of christ jo meet him within three days before the judgment-seat of god. it is a remarkable and authentic fact, that the clergyman thus summoned, went home pensively from the place of execution, sickened immediately and died upon the appointed day. notwithstanding this solemn recantation, the persons accused were arrested, and in their turn subjected to torture, but the affair now reached the ears of orange. his peremptory orders, with the universal excitement produced in the neighbourhood, at last checked the course of the outrage, and the accused persons were remanded to prison, where they remained till liberated by the pacification of ghent. after their release they commenced legal proceedings against sonoy, with a view of establishing their own innocence, and of bringing the inhuman functionary to justice. the process languished, however, and was finally abandoned, for the powerful governor had rendered such eminent service in the cause of liberty, that it was thought unwise to push him to extremity. it is no impeachment upon the character of the prince that these horrible crimes were not prevented. it was impossible for him to be omnipresent. neither is it just to consider the tortures and death thus inflicted upon innocent men an indelible stain upon the cause of liberty. they were the crimes of an individual who had been useful, but who, like the count de la marck, had now contaminated his hand with the blood of the guiltless. the new tribunal never took root, and was abolished as soon as its initiatory horrors were known. on the th of july, oudewater, entirely unprepared for such an event, was besieged by hierges, but the garrison and the population, although weak, were brave. the town resisted eighteen days, and on the th of august was carried by assault, after which the usual horrors were fully practised, after which the garrison was put to the sword, and the townspeople fared little better. men, women, and children were murdered in cold blood, or obliged to purchase their lives by heavy ransoms, while matrons and maids were sold by auction to the soldiers at two or three dollars each. almost every house in the city was burned to the ground, and these horrible but very customary scenes having been enacted, the army of hierges took its way to schoonhoven. that city, not defending itself, secured tolerable terms of capitulation, and surrendered on the th of august. the grand commander had not yet given up the hope of naval assistance from spain, notwithstanding the abrupt termination to the last expedition which had been organized. it was, however, necessary that a foothold should be recovered upon the seaboard, before a descent from without could be met with proper co-operation from the land forces withal; and he was most anxious, therefore, to effect the reconquest of some portion of zealand. the island of tholen was still spanish, and had been so since the memorable expedition of mondragon to south beveland. from this interior portion of the archipelago the governor now determined to attempt an expedition against the outer and more important territory. the three principal islands were tholen; duiveland, and sehouwen. tholen was the first which detached itself from the continent. neat, and separated from it by a bay two leagues in width, was duiveland, or the isle of doves. beyond, and parted by a narrower frith, was schouwen, fronting directly upon the ocean, fortified by its strong capital city; zieriekzee, and containing other villages of inferior consequence. requesens had been long revolving in his mind the means of possessing himself of this important, island. he had caused to be constructed, a numerous armada of boats and light vessels of various dimensions, and he now came to tholew to organize the expedition. his prospects were at first not flattering, for the gulfs and estuaries swarmed with zealand vessels, manned by crews celebrated for their skill and audacity. traitors, however, from zealand itself now came forward to teach the spanish commander how to strike at the heart of their own country. these refugees explained to requesens that a narrow flat extended under the sea from philipsland, a small and uninhabited islet situate close to tholen, as far as the shore of duiveland. upon this submerged tongue of land the water, during ebb-tide, was sufficiently shallow to be waded, and it would therefore be possible for a determined band, under cover of the night, to make the perilous passage. once arrived at duiveland, they could more easily cross the intervening creek to schouwen, which was not so deep and only half as wide, so that a force thus, sent through these dangerous shallows, might take possession of duiveland and lay siege to zierickzee, in the very teeth of the zealand fleet, which would be unable to sail near enough to intercept their passage. the commander determined that the enterprise should be attempted. it was not a novelty, because mondragon, as we have seen, had already most brilliantly conducted a very similar expedition. the present was, however, a much more daring scheme. the other exploit, although sufficiently hazardous, and entirely, successful, had been a victory gained over the sea alone. it had been a surprise, and had been effected without any opposition from human enemies. here, however, they were to deal, not only with the ocean and darkness, but with a watchful and determined foe. the zealanders were aware that the enterprise was in contemplation, and their vessels lay about the contiguous waters in considerable force. nevertheless, the determination of the grand commander was hailed with enthusiasm by his troops. having satisfied himself by personal experiment that the enterprise was possible, and that therefore his brave soldiers could accomplish it, he decided that the glory of the achievement should be fairly shared, as before, among the different nations which served the king. after completing his preparations, requesens came to tholen, at which rendezvous were assembled three thousand infantry, partly spaniards, partly germans, partly walloons. besides these, a picked corps of two hundred sappers and miners was to accompany the expedition, in order that no time might be lost in fortifying themselves as soon as they had seized possession of schouwen. four hundred mounted troopers were, moreover, stationed in the town of tholen, while the little fleet, which had been prepared at antwerp; lay near that city ready to co-operate with the land force as soon as they, should complete their enterprise. the grand commander now divided the whole force into two parts: one half was to remain in the boats, under the command of mondragon; the other half, accompanied by the two hundred pioneers, were to wade through the sea from philipsland to duiveland and schouwen. each soldier of this detachment was provided with a pair of shoes, two pounds of powder, and rations for three days in a canvas bag suspended at his neck. the leader of this expedition was don osorio d'ulloa, an officer distinguished for his experience and bravery. on the night selected for the enterprise, that of the th september, the moon was a day old in its fourth quarter, and rose a little before twelve. it was low water at between four and five in the morning. the grand commander, at the appointed hour of midnight, crossed to philipsland, and stood on the shore to watch the setting forth of the little army. he addressed a short harangue to them, in which he skillfully struck the chords of spanish chivalry, and the national love of glory, and was answered with loud and enthusiastic cheers. don osorio d'ulloa then stripped and plunged into the sea immediately after the guides. he was followed by the spaniards, after whom came the germans and then the walloons. the two hundred sappers and miners came next, and don gabriel peralta, with his spanish company; brought up the rear. it was a wild night. incessant lightning, alternately revealed and obscured the progress of the midnight march through the black waters, as the anxious commander watched the expedition from the shore, but the soldiers were quickly swallowed up in the gloom. as they advanced cautiously, two by two, the daring adventurers found themselves soon nearly up to their necks in the waves, while so narrow was the submerged bank along which they were marching, that a misstep to the right or left was fatal. luckless individuals repeatedly sank to rise no more. meantime, as the sickly light, of the waning moon came forth at intervals through the stormy clouds the soldiers could plainly perceive the files of zealand vessels through which they were to march, and which were anchored as close to the flat as the water would allow. some had recklessly stranded themselves, in their eagerness to interrupt the passage, of the troops, and the artillery played unceasingly from the larger vessels. discharges of musketry came continually from all, but the fitful lightning rendered the aim difficult and the fire comparatively harmless while the spaniards were, moreover, protected, as to a large part of their bodies, by the water in which they were immersed. at times; they halted for breath, or to engage in fierce skirmishes with their nearest assailants. standing breast-high in the waves, and surrounded at intervals by total darkness, they were yet able to pour an occasional well-directed volley into the hostile ranks. the zealanders, however, did, not assail them with fire-arms alone. they transfixed some with their fatal harpoons; they dragged others from the path with boathooks; they beat out the brains of others with heavy flails. many were the mortal duels thus fought in the darkness, and, as it were, in the bottom of the sea; many were the deeds of audacity which no eye was to mark save those by whom they were achieved. still, in spite of all impediments and losses, the spaniards steadily advanced. if other arms proved less available, they were attached by the fierce taunts and invectives of their often invisible foes who reviled them as water-dogs, fetching and carrying for a master who despised them; as mercenaries who coined their blood for gold, and were employed by tyrants for the basest uses. if stung by these mocking voices, they turned in the darkness to chastise their unseen tormentors, they were certain to be trampled upon by their comrades, and to be pushed from their narrow pathway into the depths of the sea. thus many perished. the night wore on, and the adventurers still fought it out manfully, but very slowly, the main body of spaniards, germans, and walloons, soon after daylight, reaching the opposite shore, having sustained considerable losses, but in perfect order. the pioneers were not so fortunate. the tide rose over them before they could effect their passage, and swept nearly every one away. the rearguard, under peralta, not surprised, like the pioneers, in the middle of their passage, by the rising tide, but prevented, before it was too late; from advancing far beyond the shore from which they had departed were fortunately enabled to retrace their steps. don osorio, at the head of the successful adventurers, now effected his landing upon duiveland. reposing themselves but for an instant after this unparalleled march through the water, of more than six hours, they took a slight refreshment, prayed to the virgin mary and to saint james, and then prepared to meet their new enemies on land. ten companies of french, scotch, and english auxiliaries lay in duiveland, under the command of charles van boisot. strange to relate, by an inexplicable accident, or by treason, that general was slain by his own soldiers, at the moment when the royal troops landed. the panic created by this event became intense, as the enemy rose suddenly, as it were, out of the depths of the ocean to attack them. they magnified the numbers of their assailants, and fled terror-stricken in every direction. same swam to the zealand vessels which lay in the neighbourhood; others took refuge in the forts which had been constructed on the island; but these were soon carried by the spaniards, and the conquest of duiveland was effected. the enterprise was not yet completed, but the remainder was less difficult and not nearly so hazardous, for the creek which separated duiveland from schouwen was much narrower than the estuary which they had just traversed. it was less than a league in width, but so encumbered by rushes and briers that, although difficult to wade, it was not navigable for vessels of any kind. this part of the expedition was accomplished with equal resolution, so that, after a few hours' delay, the soldiers stood upon the much-coveted island of schouwen. five companies of states' troops, placed to oppose their landing, fled in the most cowardly manner at the first discharge of the spanish muskets, and took refuge in the city of zierickzee, which was soon afterwards beleaguered. the troops has been disembarked upon duiveland from the armada, which had made its way to the scene of action, after having received, by signal, information that the expedition through the water had been successful. brouwershaven, on the northern side of schouwen, was immediately reduced, but bommenede resisted till the th of october, when it was at last carried by assault, and delivered over to fire and sword. of the whole population and garrison not twenty were left alive. siege was then laid to zierickzee, and colonel mondragon was left in charge of the operations. requesens himself came to schouwen to give directions concerning this important enterprise. chiapin vitelli also came thither in the middle of the winter, and was so much injured by a fall from his litter, while making the tour of the island, that he died on shipboard during his return to antwerp. this officer had gained his laurels upon more than one occasion, his conduct in the important action near mons, in which the huguenot force under genlis was defeated, having been particularly creditable. he was of a distinguished umbrian family, and had passed his life in camps, few of the generals who had accompanied alva to the netherlands being better known or more odious to the inhabitants. he was equally distinguished for his courage, his cruelty, and his corpulence. the last characteristic was so remarkable that he was almost monstrous in his personal appearance. his protuberant stomach was always supported in a bandage suspended from his neck, yet in spite of this enormous impediment, he was personally active on the battle-field, and performed more service, not only as a commander but as a subaltern, than many a younger and lighter man. the siege of zierickzee was protracted till the following june, the city holding out with firmness. want of funds caused the operations to be, conducted with languor, but the same cause prevented the prince from accomplishing its relief. thus the expedition from philipsland, the most brilliant military exploit of the whole war, was attended with important results. the communication between walcheren and the rest of zealand was interrupted; the province cut in two; a foothold on the ocean; for a brief interval at least, acquired by spain. the prince was inexpressibly chagrined by these circumstances, and felt that the moment had arrived when all honorable means were to be employed to obtain foreign assistance. the hollanders and zealanders had fought the battles of freedom alone hitherto, and had fought them well, but poverty was fast rendering them incapable of sustaining much longer the unequal conflict. offers of men, whose wages the states were to furnish, were refused; as worse than fruitless. henry of navarre, who perhaps deemed it possible to acquire the sovereignty of the provinces by so barren a benefit, was willing to send two or three thousand men, but not at his own expense. the proposition was respectfully declined. the prince and his little country, were all alone. "even if we should not only see ourselves deserted by all the world, but also all the world against us," he said, "we should not cease to defend ourselves even to the last man. knowing the justice of our cause, we repose, entirely in the mercy of god." he determined, however, once more to have recourse to the powerful of the earth, being disposed to test the truth of his celebrated observation, that "there would be no lack of suitors for the bride that he had to bestow." it was necessary, in short, to look the great question of formally renouncing philip directly in the face. hitherto the fiction of allegiance had been preserved, and, even by the enemies of the prince, it, was admitted: that it had been retained with no disloyal intent. the time however, had come when it was necessary to throw off allegiance, provided another could be found strong enough and frank enough to accept the authority which philip had forfeited. the question was, naturally, between france and england; unless the provinces could effect their re-admission into the body of the germanic empire. already in june the prince had laid the proposition formally before the states, "whether they should not negotiate with the empire on the subject of their admission, with maintenance of their own constitutions," but it was understood that this plan was not to be carried out, if the protection of the empire could be obtained under easier conditions. nothing came of the proposition at that time. the nobles and the deputies of south holland now voted, in the beginning of the ensuing month, "that it was their duty to abandon the king, as a tyrant who sought to oppress and destroy his subjects; and that it behooved them to seek another protector." this was while the breda negotiations were still pending, but when their inevitable result was very visible. there was still a reluctance at taking the last and decisive step in the rebellion, so that the semblance of loyalty was still retained; that ancient scabbard, in which the sword might yet one day be sheathed. the proposition was not adopted at the diet. a committee of nine was merely appointed to deliberate with the prince upon the "means of obtaining foreign assistance, without accepting foreign authority, or severing their connexion with his majesty." the estates were, however, summoned a few months later, by the prince, to deliberate on this important matter at rotterdam. on the st of october he then formally proposed, either to make terms with their enemy, and that the sooner the better, or else, once for all, to separate entirely from the king of spain, and to change their sovereign, in order, with the assistance and under protection of another christian potentate, to maintain the provinces against their enemies. orange, moreover, expressed the opinion that upon so important a subject it was decidedly incumbent upon them all to take the sense of the city governments. the members for the various municipalities acquiesced in the propriety of this suggestion, and resolved to consult their constituents, while the deputies of the nobility also desired to consult with their whole body. after an adjournment of a few days, the diet again assembled at delft, and it was then unanimously resolved by the nobles and the cities, "that they would forsake the king and seek foreign assistance; referring the choice to the prince, who, in regard to the government, was to take the opinion of the estates." thus, the great step was taken, by which two little provinces declared themselves independent of their ancient master. that declaration, although taken in the midst of doubt and darkness, was not destined to be cancelled, and the germ of a new and powerful commonwealth was planted. so little, however, did these republican fathers foresee their coming republic, that the resolution to renounce one king was combined with a proposition to ask for the authority of another. it was not imagined that those two slender columns, which were all that had yet been raised of the future stately peristyle, would be strong enough to stand alone. the question now arose, to what foreign power application should be made. but little hope was to be entertained from germany, a state which existed only in name, and france was still in a condition of religious and intestine discord. the attitude of revolt maintained by the duc d'alencon seemed to make it difficult and dangerous to enter into negotiations with a country where the civil wars had assumed so complicated a character, that loyal and useful alliance could hardly be made with any party. the queen of england, on the other hand; dreaded the wrath of philip, by which her perpetual dangers from the side of scotland would be aggravated, while she feared equally the extension of french authority in the netherlands, by which increase her neighbour would acquire an overshadowing power. she was also ashamed openly to abandon the provinces to their fate, for her realm was supposed to be a bulwark of the protestant religion. afraid to affront philip, afraid to refuse the suit of the netherlands, afraid to concede as aggrandizement to france, what course was open to the english queen. that which, politically and personally, she loved the best--a course of barren coquetry. this the prince of orange foresaw; and although not disposed to leave a stone unturned in his efforts to find assistance for his country, he on the whole rather inclined for france. he, however, better than any man, knew how little cause there was for sanguine expectation from either source. it was determined, in the name of his highness and the estates, first to send a mission to england, but there had already been negotiations this year of an unpleasant character with that power. at the request of the spanish envoy, the foremost netherland rebels, in number about fifty, including by name the prince of orange, the counts of berg and culemburg, with saint aldegonde, boisot, junius, and others, had been formally forbidden by queen elizabeth to enter her realm. the prince had, in consequence, sent aldegonde and junius on a secret mission to france, and the queen; jealous and anxious, had thereupon sent daniel rogers secretly to the prince. at the same tine she had sent an envoy to the grand commander, counselling, conciliatory measures; and promising to send a special mission to spain with the offer of her mediation, but it was suspected by those most in the confidence of the spanish government at brussels, that there was a great deal of deception in these proceedings. a truce for six months having now been established between the duc d'alencon and his brother, it was supposed, that an alliance between france and england, and perhaps between alencon and elizabeth, was on the carpet, and that a kingdom of the netherlands was to be the wedding present of the bride to her husband. these fantasies derived additional color from the fact that, while the queen was expressing the most amicable intentions towards spain, and the greatest jealousy of france, the english residents at antwerp and other cities of the netherlands, had received private instructions to sell out their property as fast as possible, and to retire from the country. on the whole, there was little prospect either of a final answer, or of substantial assistance from the queen. the envoys to england were advocate buis and doctor francis maalzon, nominated by the estates, and saint aldegonde, chief of the mission, appointed by the prince. they arrived in england at christmas-tide. having represented to the queen the result of the breda negotiations, they stated that the prince and the estates, in despair of a secure peace, had addressed themselves to her as an upright protector of the faith, and as a princess descended from the blood of holland. this allusion to the intermarriage of edward iii. of england with philippa, daughter of count william iii. of hainault and holland, would not, it was hoped, be in vain. they furthermore offered to her majesty, in case she were willing powerfully to assist the states, the sovereignty over holland and zealand, under certain conditions. the queen listened graciously to the envoys, and appointed commissioners to treat with them on the subject. meantime, requesens sent champagny to england, to counteract the effect of this embassy of the estates, and to beg the queen to give no heed to the prayers of the rebels, to enter into no negotiations with them, and to expel them at once from her kingdom. the queen gravely assured champagny "that the envoys were no rebels, but faithful subjects of his majesty." there was certainly some effrontery in such a statement, considering the solemn offer which had just been made by the envoys. if to renounce allegiance to philip and to propose the sovereignty to elizabeth did not constitute rebellion, it would be difficult to define or to discover rebellion anywhere. the statement was as honest, however, as the diplomatic grimace with which champagny had reminded elizabeth of the ancient and unbroken friendship which had always, existed between herself and his catholic majesty. the attempt of philip to procure her dethronement and assassination but a few years before was, no doubt, thought too trifling a circumstance to have for a moment interrupted those harmonious relations. nothing came of the negotiations on either side. the queen coquetted, as was her custom. she could not accept the offer of the estates; she could not say them nay. she would not offend philip; she would not abandon the provinces; she would therefore negotiate--thus there was an infinite deal of diplomatic nothing spun and unravelled, but the result was both to abandon the provinces and to offend philip. in the first answer given by her commissioners to the states' envoys, it was declared, "that her majesty considered it too expensive to assume the protection of both provinces." she was willing to protect them in name, but she should confer the advantage exclusively on walcheren in reality. the defence of holland must be maintained at the expense of the prince and the estates. this was certainly not munificent, and the envoys insisted upon more ample and liberal terms. the queen declined, however, committing herself beyond this niggardly and inadmissible offer. the states were not willing to exchange the sovereignty over their country for so paltry a concession. the queen declared herself indisposed to go further, at least before consulting parliament. the commissioners waited for the assembling of parliament. she then refused to lay the matter before that body, and forbade the hollanders taking any steps for that purpose. it was evident that she was disposed to trifle with the provinces, and had no idea of encountering the open hostility of philip. the envoys accordingly begged for their passports. these were granted in april, , with the assurance on the part of her majesty that "she would think more of the offer made to her after she had done all in her power to bring about an arrangement between the provinces and philip." after the result of the negotiations of breda, it is difficult to imagine what method she was likely to devise for accomplishing such a purpose. the king was not more disposed than during the preceding summer to grant liberty of religion, nor were the hollanders more ready than they had been before to renounce either their faith or their fatherland. the envoys, on parting, made a strenuous effort to negotiate a loan, but the frugal queen considered the proposition quite inadmissible. she granted them liberty to purchase arms and ammunition, and to levy a few soldiers with their own money, and this was accordingly done to a limited extent. as it was not difficult to hire soldiers or to buy gunpowder anywhere, in that warlike age, provided the money were ready, the states had hardly reason to consider themselves under deep obligation for this concession. yet this was the whole result of the embassy. plenty of fine words had, been bestowed, which might or might not have meaning, according to the turns taken by coming events. besides these cheap and empty civilities, they received permission to defend holland at their own expense; with the privilege, of surrendering its sovereignty, if they liked, to queen elizabeth-and this was all. on the th of april, the envoys returned to their country, and laid before the estates the meagre result of their negotiations. very soon afterwards, upon an informal suggestion from henry iii. and the queen mother, that a more favorable result might be expected, if the same applications were made to the duc d'alencon which had been received in so unsatisfactory a manner by elizabeth, commissioners were appointed to france. it proved impossible, however, at that juncture, to proceed with the negotiations, in consequence of the troubles occasioned by the attitude of the duke. the provinces were still, even as they had been from the beginning, entirely alone. requesens was more than ever straitened for funds, wringing, with increasing difficulty, a slender subsidy, from time to time, out of the reluctant estates of brabant, flanders, and the other obedient provinces. while he was still at duiveland, the estates-general sent him a long remonstrance against the misconduct of the soldiery, in answer to his demand for supplies. "oh, these estates! these estates!" cried the grand commander, on receiving such vehement reproaches instead of his money; "may the lord deliver me from these estates!" meantime, the important siege of zierickzee continued, and it was evident that the city must fall. there was no money at the disposal of the prince. count john, who was seriously embarrassed by reason of the great obligations in money which he, with the rest of his family, had incurred on behalf of the estates, had recently made application to the prince for his influence towards procuring him relief. he had forwarded an account of the great advances made by himself and his brethren in money, plate, furniture, and endorsements of various kinds, for which a partial reimbursement was almost indispensable to save him from serious difficulties. the prince, however, unable to procure him any assistance, had been obliged him once more to entreat him to display the generosity and the self-denial which the country had never found wanting at his hands or at those of his kindred. the appeal had not been, in vain, but the count was obviously not in a condition to effect anything more at that moment to relieve the financial distress of the states. the exchequer was crippled. [the contributions of holland and zealand for war expenses amounted to one hundred and fifty thousand florins monthly. the pay of a captain was eighty florins monthly; that of a lieutenant, forty; that of a corporal, fifteen; that of a drummer, fifer, or minister, twelve; that of a common soldier, seven and a half. a captain had also one hundred and fifty florins each month to distribute among the most meritorious of his company. each soldier was likewise furnished with food; bedding, fire, light, and washing.--renom de france ms, vol. ii. c. ,] holland and zealand were cut in twain by the occupation of schouwen and the approaching fall of its capital. germany, england, france; all refused to stretch out their hands to save the heroic but exhaustless little provinces. it was at this moment that a desperate but sublime resolution took possession of the prince's mind. there seemed but one way left to exclude the spaniards for ever from holland and zealand, and to rescue the inhabitants from impending ruin. the prince had long brooded over the scheme, and the hour seemed to have struck for its fulfilment. his project was to collect all the vessels, of every description, which could be obtained throughout the netherlands. the whole population of the two provinces, men, women, and children, together with all the moveable property of the country, were then to be embarked on board this numerous fleet, and to seek a new home beyond the seas. the windmills were then to be burned, the dykes pierced, the sluices opened in every direction, and the country restored for ever to the ocean, from which it had sprung. it is difficult to say whether the resolution, if providence had permitted its fulfilment, would have been, on the whole, better or worse for humanity and civilization. the ships which would have borne the heroic prince and his fortunes might have taken the direction of the newly-discovered western hemisphere. a religious colony, planted by a commercial and liberty-loving race, in a virgin soil, and directed by patrician but self-denying hands, might have preceded, by half a century, the colony which a kindred race, impelled by similar motives, and under somewhat similar circumstances and conditions, was destined to plant upon the stern shores of new england. had they directed their course to the warm and fragrant islands of the east, an independent christian commonwealth might have arisen among those prolific regions, superior in importance to any subsequent colony of holland, cramped from its birth by absolute subjection to a far distant metropolis. the unexpected death of requesens suddenly dispelled these schemes. the siege of zierickzee had occupied much of the governor's attention, but he had recently written to his sovereign, that its reduction was now certain. he had added an urgent request for money, with a sufficient supply of which he assured philip that he should be able to bring the war to an immediate conclusion. while waiting for these supplies, he had, contrary to all law or reason, made an unsuccessful attempt to conquer the post of embden, in germany. a mutiny had at about the same time, broken out among his troops in harlem, and he had furnished the citizens with arms to defend themselves, giving free permission to use them against the insurgent troops. by this means the mutiny had been quelled, but a dangerous precedent established. anxiety concerning this rebellion is supposed to have hastened the grand commander's death. a violent fever seized him on the st, and terminated his existence on the th of march, in the fifty-first year of his life. it is not necessary to review elaborately his career, the chief incidents of which have been sufficiently described. requesens was a man of high position by birth and office, but a thoroughly commonplace personage. his talents either for war or for civil employments were not above mediocrity. his friends disputed whether he were greater in the field or in the council, but it is certain that he was great in neither. his bigotry was equal to that of alva, but it was impossible to rival the duke in cruelty. moreover, the condition of the country, after seven years of torture under his predecessor, made it difficult for him, at the time of his arrival, to imitate the severity which had made the name of alva infamous. the blood council had been retained throughout his administration, but its occupation was gone, for want of food for its ferocity. the obedient provinces had been purged of protestants; while crippled, too, by confiscation, they offered no field for further extortion. from holland and zealand, whence catholicism had been nearly excluded, the king of spain was nearly excluded also. the blood council which, if set up in that country, would have executed every living creature of its population, could only gaze from a distance at those who would have been its victims. requesens had been previously distinguished in two fields of action: the granada massacres and the carnage of lepanto. upon both occasions he had been the military tutor of don john of austria, by whom he was soon to be succeeded in the government of the netherlands. to the imperial bastard had been assigned the pre-eminence, but it was thought that the grand commander had been entitled to a more than equal share of the glory. we have seen how much additional reputation was acquired by requesens in the provinces. the expedition against duiveland and schouwen, was, on the whole, the most brilliant feat of arms during the war, and its success reflects an undying lustre on the hardihood and discipline of the spanish, german, and walloon soldiery. as an act of individual audacity in a bad cause, it has rarely been equalled. it can hardly be said, however, that the grand commander was entitled to any large measure of praise for the success of the expedition. the plan was laid by zealand traitors. it was carried into execution by the devotion of the spanish, walloon, and german troops; while requesens was only a spectator of the transaction. his sudden death arrested, for a moment, the ebb-tide in the affairs of the netherlands, which was fast leaving the country bare and desolate, and was followed by a train of unforeseen transactions, which it is now our duty to describe. etext editor's bookmarks: as the old woman had told the emperor adrian beautiful damsel, who certainly did not lack suitors breath, time, and paper were profusely wasted and nothing gained care neither for words nor menaces in any matter distinguished for his courage, his cruelty, and his corpulence he had never enjoyed social converse, except at long intervals human ingenuity to inflict human misery peace was desirable, it might be more dangerous than war proposition made by the wolves to the sheep, in the fable rebuked the bigotry which had already grown reformers were capable of giving a lesson even to inquisitors result was both to abandon the provinces and to offend philip suppress the exercise of the roman religion the more conclusive arbitration of gunpowder motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, volume . the rise of the dutch republic by john lothop motley chapter iv. assumption of affairs by the state council at brussels--hesitation at madrid--joachim hopper--mal-administration--vigilance of orange-- the provinces drawn more closely together--inequality of the conflict--physical condition of holland--new act of union between holland and zealand--authority of the prince defined and enlarged-- provincial polity characterized--generous sentiments of the prince-- his tolerant spirit--letters from the king--attitude of the great powers towards the netherlands--correspondence and policy of elizabeth--secret negotiations with france and alencon--confused and menacing aspect of germany--responsible, and laborious position of orange--attempt to relieve zierickzee--death of admiral boisot-- capitulation of the city upon honourable terms--mutiny of the spanish troops in schouwen--general causes of discontent--alarming increase of the mutiny--the rebel regiments enter brabant--fruitless attempts to pacify them--they take possession of alost--edicts, denouncing them, from the state council--intense excitement in brussels and antwerp--letters from philip brought by marquis havre-- the king's continued procrastination--ruinous royal confirmation of the authority assumed by the state council--united and general resistance to foreign military oppression--the german troops and the antwerp garrison, under avila, join the revolt--letter of verdugo-- a crisis approaching--jerome de roda in the citadel--the mutiny universal. the death of requesens, notwithstanding his four days' illness, occurred so suddenly, that he had not had time to appoint his successor. had he exercised this privilege, which his patent conferred upon him, it was supposed that he would have nominated count mansfeld to exercise the functions of governor-general, until the king should otherwise ordain. in the absence of any definite arrangement, the council of state, according to a right which that body claimed from custom, assumed the reins of government. of the old board, there were none left but the duke of aerschot, count berlaymont, and viglins. to these were soon added, however, by royal diploma, the spaniard, jerome de roda, and the netherlanders, assonleville, baron rassenghiem and arnold sasbout. thus, all the members, save one, of what had now become the executive body, were natives of the country. roda was accordingly looked askance upon by his colleagues. he was regarded by viglius as a man who desired to repeat the part which had been played by juan vargas in the blood council, while the other members, although stanch catholics, were all of them well-disposed to vindicate the claim of netherland nobles to a share in the government of the netherlands. for a time, therefore, the transfer of authority seemed to have been smoothly accomplished. the council of state conducted the administration of the country. peter ernest mansfeld was entrusted with the supreme military command, including the government of brussels; and the spanish commanders; although dissatisfied that any but a spaniard should be thus honored, were for a time quiescent. when the news reached madrid, philip was extremely disconcerted. the death of requesens excited his indignation. he was angry with him, not for dying, but for dying at so very inconvenient a moment. he had not yet fully decided either upon his successor, or upon the policy to be enforced by his successor. there were several candidates for the vacant post; there was a variety of opinions in the cabinet as to the course of conduct to be adopted. in the impossibility of instantly making up his mind upon this unexpected emergency, philip fell, as it were, into a long reverie, than which nothing could be more inopportune. with a country in a state of revolution and exasperation, the trance, which now seemed to come over the government, was like to be followed by deadly effects. the stationary policy, which the death of requesens had occasioned, was allowed to prolong itself indefinitely, and almost for the first time in his life, joachim hopper was really consulted about the affairs of that department over which he imagined himself, and was generally supposed by others, to preside at madrid. the creature of viglius, having all the subserviency, with none of the acuteness of his patron, he had been long employed as chief of the netherland bureau, while kept in profound ignorance of the affairs which were transacted in his office. he was a privy councillor, whose counsels were never heeded, a confidential servant in whom the king reposed confidence, only on the ground that no man could reveal secrets which he did not know. this deportment of the king's showed that he had accurately measured the man, for hopper was hardly competent for the place of a chief clerk. he was unable to write clearly in any language, because incapable of a fully developed thought upon any subject. it may be supposed that nothing but an abortive policy, therefore, would be produced upon the occasion thus suddenly offered. "'tis a devout man, that poor master hopper," said granvelle, "but rather fitted for platonic researches than for affairs of state." it was a proof of this incompetency, that now, when really called upon for advice in an emergency, he should recommend a continuance of the interim. certainly nothing worse could be devised. granvelle recommended a reappointment of the duchess margaret. others suggested duke eric of brunswick, or an archduke of the austrian house; although the opinion held by most of the influential councillors was in favor of don john of austria. in the interests of philip and his despotism, nothing, at any rate, could be more fatal than delay. in the condition of affairs which then existed, the worst or feeblest governor would have been better than none at all. to leave a vacancy was to play directly into the hands of orange, for it was impossible that so skilful an adversary should not at once perceive the fault, and profit by it to the utmost. it was strange that philip did not see the danger of inactivity at such a crisis. assuredly, indolence was never his vice, but on this occasion indecision did the work of indolence. unwittingly, the despot was assisting the efforts of the liberator. viglius saw the position of matters with his customary keenness, and wondered at the blindness of hopper and philip. at the last gasp of a life, which neither learning nor the accumulation of worldly prizes and worldly pelf could redeem from intrinsic baseness, the sagacious but not venerable old man saw that a chasm was daily widening; in which the religion and the despotism which he loved might soon be hopelessly swallowed. "the prince of orange and his beggars do not sleep," he cried, almost in anguish; "nor will they be quiet till they have made use of this interregnum to do us some immense grievance." certainly the prince of orange did not sleep upon this nor any other great occasion of his life. in his own vigorous language, used to stimulate his friends in various parts of the country, he seized the swift occasion by the forelock. he opened a fresh correspondence with many leading gentlemen in brussels and other places in the netherlands; persons of influence, who now, for the first time, showed a disposition to side with their country against its tyrants. hitherto the land had been divided into two very unequal portions. holland and zealand were devoted to the prince; their whole population, with hardly an individual exception, converted to the reformed religion. the other fifteen provinces were, on the whole, loyal to the king; while the old religion had, of late years, taken root so rapidly again, that perhaps a moiety of their population might be considered as catholic. at the same time, the reign of terror under alva, the paler, but not less distinct tyranny of requesens, and the intolerable excesses of the foreign soldiery, by which the government of foreigners was supported, had at last maddened all the inhabitants of the seventeen provinces. notwithstanding, therefore, the fatal difference of religious opinion, they were all drawn into closer relations with each other; to regain their ancient privileges, and to expel the detested foreigners from the soil, being objects common to all. the provinces were united in one great hatred and one great hope. the hollanders and zealanders, under their heroic leader, had well nigh accomplished both tasks, so far as those little provinces were concerned. never had a contest, however, seemed more hopeless at its commencement. cast a glance at the map. look at holland--not the republic, with its sister provinces beyond the zuyder zee--but holland only, with the zealand archipelago. look at that narrow tongue of half-submerged earth. who could suppose that upon that slender sand-bank, one hundred and twenty miles in length, and varying in breadth from four miles to forty, one man, backed by the population of a handful of cities, could do battle nine years long with the master of two worlds, the "dominator of asia, africa, and america"--the despot of the fairest realms of europe--and conquer him at last. nor was william even entirely master of that narrow shoal where clung the survivors of a great national shipwreck. north and south holland were cut in two by the loss of harlem, while the enemy was in possession of the natural capital of the little country, amsterdam. the prince affirmed that the cause had suffered more from the disloyalty of amsterdam than from all the efforts of the enemy. moreover, the country was in a most desolate condition. it was almost literally a sinking ship. the destruction of the bulwarks against the ocean had been so extensive, in consequence of the voluntary inundations which have been described in previous pages, and by reason of the general neglect which more vital occupations had necessitated, that an enormous outlay, both of labor and money, was now indispensable to save the physical existence of the country. the labor and the money, notwithstanding the crippled and impoverished condition of the nation, were, however, freely contributed; a wonderful example of energy and patient heroism was again exhibited. the dykes which had been swept away in every direction were renewed at a vast expense. moreover, the country, in the course of recent events, had become almost swept bare of its cattle, and it was necessary to pass a law forbidding, for a considerable period, the slaughter of any animals, "oxen, cows, calves, sheep, or poultry." it was, unfortunately, not possible to provide by law against that extermination of the human population which had been decreed by philip and the pope. such was the physical and moral condition of the provinces of holland and zealand. the political constitution of both assumed, at this epoch, a somewhat altered aspect. the union between the two states; effected in june, , required improvement. the administration of justice, the conflicts of laws, and more particularly the levying of monies and troops in equitable proportions, had not been adjusted with perfect smoothness. the estates of the two provinces, assembled in congress at delft, concluded, therefore, a new act of union, which was duly signed upon the th of april, . those estates, consisting of the knights and nobles of holland, with the deputies from the cities and countships of holland and zealand, had been duly summoned by the prince of orange. they as fairly included all the political capacities, and furnished as copious a representation of the national will, as could be expected, for it is apparent upon every page of his history, that the prince, upon all occasions, chose to refer his policy to the approval and confirmation of as large a portion of the people as any man in those days considered capable or desirous of exercising political functions. the new, union consisted of eighteen articles. it was established that deputies from all the estates should meet, when summoned by the prince of orange or otherwise, on penalty of fine, and at the risk of measures binding upon them being passed by the rest of the congress. freshly arising causes of litigation were to be referred to the prince. free intercourse and traffic through the united provinces was guaranteed. the confederates were mutually to assist each other in preventing all injustice, wrong, or violence, even towards an enemy. the authority of law and the pure administration of justice were mutually promised by the contracting states. the common expenses were to be apportioned among the different provinces, "as if they were all included in the republic of a single city." nine commissioners, appointed by the prince on nomination by the estates, were to sit permanently, as his advisers, and as assessors and collectors of the taxes. the tenure of the union was from six months to six months, with six weeks notice. the framers of this compact having thus defined the general outlines of the confederacy, declared that the government, thus constituted, should be placed under a single head. they accordingly conferred supreme authority on the prince, defining his powers in eighteen articles. he was declared chief commander by land and sea. he was to appoint all officers, from generals to subalterns, and to pay them at his discretion. the whole protection of the land was devolved upon him. he was to send garrisons or troops into every city and village at his pleasure, without advice or consent of the estates, magistrates of the cities, or any other persons whatsoever. he was, in behalf of the king as count of holland and zealand, to cause justice to be administered by the supreme court. in the same capacity he was to provide for vacancies in all political and judicial offices of importance, choosing, with the advice of the estates, one officer for each vacant post out of three candidates nominated to him by that body. he was to appoint and renew, at the usual times, the magistracies in the cities, according to the ancient constitutions. he was to make changes in those boards, if necessary, at unusual times, with consent of the majority of those representing the great council and corpus of the said cities. he was to uphold the authority and pre-eminence of all civil functionaries, and to prevent governors and military officers from taking any cognizance of political or judicial affairs. with regard to religion, he was to maintain the practice of the reformed evangelical religion, and to cause to surcease the exercise of all other religions contrary to the gospel. he was, however, not to permit that inquisition should be made into any man's belief or conscience, or that any man by cause thereof should suffer trouble, injury, or hindrance. the league thus concluded was a confederation between a group of virtually independent little republics. each municipality, was, as it were, a little sovereign, sending envoys to a congress to vote and to sign as plenipotentiaries. the vote of each city was, therefore, indivisible, and it mattered little, practically, whether there were one deputy or several. the nobles represented not only their own order, but were supposed to act also in behalf of the rural population. on the whole, there was a tolerably fair representation of the whole nation. the people were well and worthily represented in the government of each city, and therefore equally so in the assembly of the estates. it was not till later that the corporations, by the extinction of the popular element, and by the usurpation of the right of self-election, were thoroughly stiffened into fictitious personages which never died, and which were never thoroughly alive. at this epoch the provincial liberties, so far as they could maintain themselves against spanish despotism, were practical and substantial. the government was a representative one, in which all those who had the inclination possessed, in one mode or another, a voice. although the various members of the confederacy were locally and practically republics or self-governed little commonwealths, the general government which they, established was, in form, monarchical. the powers conferred upon orange constituted him a sovereign ad interim, for while the authority of the spanish monarch remained suspended, the prince was invested, not only with the whole executive and appointing power, but even with a very large share in the legislative functions of the state. the whole system was rather practical than theoretical, without any accurate distribution of political powers. in living, energetic communities, where the blood of the body politic circulates swiftly, there is an inevitable tendency of the different organs to sympathize and commingle more closely than a priori philosophy would allow. it is usually more desirable than practicable to keep the executive, legislative, and judicial departments entirely independent of each other. certainly, the prince of orange did not at that moment indulge in speculations concerning the nature and origin of government. the congress of delft had just clothed him with almost regal authority. in his hands were the powers of war and peace, joint control of the magistracies and courts of justice, absolute supremacy over the army and the fleets. it is true that these attributes had been conferred upon him ad interim, but it depended only upon himself to make the sovereignty personal and permanent. he was so thoroughly absorbed in his work, however, that he did not even see the diadem which he put aside. it was small matter to him whether they called him stadholder or guardian, prince or king. he was the father of his country and its defender. the people, from highest to lowest, called him "father william," and the title was enough for him. the question with him was not what men should call him, but how he should best accomplish his task. so little was he inspired by the sentiment of self-elevation, that he was anxiously seeking for a fitting person--strong, wise, and willing enough--to exercise the sovereignty which was thrust upon himself, but which he desired to exchange against an increased power to be actively useful to his country. to expel the foreign oppressor; to strangle the inquisition; to maintain the ancient liberties of the nation; here was labor enough for his own hands. the vulgar thought of carving a throne out of the misfortunes of his country seems not to have entered his mind. upon one point, however, the prince had been peremptory. he would have no persecution of the opposite creed. he was requested to suppress the catholic religion, in terms. as we have seen, he caused the expression to be exchanged for the words, "religion at variance with the gospel." he resolutely stood out against all meddling with men's consciences, or inquiring into their thoughts. while smiting the spanish inquisition into the dust, he would have no calvinist inquisition set up in its place. earnestly a convert to the reformed religion, but hating and denouncing only what was corrupt in the ancient church, he would not force men, with fire and sword, to travel to heaven upon his own road. thought should be toll-free. neither monk nor minister should burn, drown, or hang his fellow-creatures, when argument or expostulation failed to redeem them from error. it was no small virtue, in that age, to rise to such a height. we know what calvinists, zwinglians, lutherans, have done in the netherlands, in germany, in switzerland, and almost a century later in new england. it is, therefore, with increased veneration that we regard this large and truly catholic mind. his tolerance proceeded from no indifference. no man can read his private writings, or form a thorough acquaintance with his interior life, without recognizing him as a deeply religious man. he had faith unfaltering in god. he had also faith in man and love for his brethren. it was no wonder that in that age of religious bigotry he should have been assaulted on both sides. while the pope excommunicated him as a heretic, and the king set a price upon his head as a rebel, the fanatics of the new religion denounced him as a godless man. peter dathenus, the unfrocked monk of poperingen, shrieked out in his pulpit that the "prince of orange cared nothing either for god or for religion." the death of requesens had offered the first opening through which the watchful prince could hope to inflict a wound in the vital part of spanish authority in the netherlands. the languor of philip and the procrastinating counsel of the dull hopper unexpectedly widened the opening. on the th of march letters were written by his majesty to the states-general, to the provincial estates, and to the courts of justice, instructing them that, until further orders, they were all to obey the council of state. the king was confident that all would do their utmost to assist that body in securing the holy catholic faith and the implicit obedience of the country to its sovereign. he would, in the meantime, occupy himself with the selection of a new governor-general, who should be of his family and blood. this uncertain and perilous condition of things was watched with painful interest in neighbouring countries. the fate of all nations was more or less involved in the development of the great religious contest now waging in the netherlands. england and france watched each other's movements in the direction of the provinces with intense jealousy. the protestant queen was the natural ally of the struggling reformers, but her despotic sentiments were averse to the fostering of rebellion against the lord's anointed. the thrifty queen looked with alarm at the prospect of large subsidies which would undoubtedly be demanded of her. the jealous queen could as ill brook the presence of the french in the netherlands as that of the spaniards whom they were to expel. she therefore embarrassed, as usual, the operations of the prince by a course of stale political coquetry. she wrote to him, on the th of march, soon after the news of the grand commander's death, saying that she could not yet accept the offer which had been made to her, to take the provinces of holland and zealand under her safe keeping, to assume, as countess, the sovereignty over them, and to protect the inhabitants against the alleged tyranny of the king of spain. she was unwilling to do so until she had made every effort to reconcile them with that sovereign. before the death of requesens she had been intending to send him an envoy, proposing a truce, for the purpose of negotiation. this purpose she still retained. she should send commissioners to the council of state and to the new governor, when he should arrive. she should also send a special envoy to the king of spain. she doubted not that the king would take her advice, when he heard her speak in such straightforward language. in the meantime, she hoped that they would negotiate with no other powers. this was not very satisfactory. the queen rejected the offers to herself, but begged that they might, by no means, be made to her rivals. the expressed intention of softening the heart of philip by the use of straightforward language seemed but a sorry sarcasm. it was hardly worth while to wait long for so improbable a result. thus much for england at that juncture. not inimical, certainly; but over-cautious, ungenerous, teasing, and perplexing, was the policy of the maiden queen. with regard to france, events there seemed to favor the hopes of orange. on the th of may, the "peace of monsieur," the treaty by which so ample but so short-lived a triumph was achieved by the huguenots, was signed at paris. everything was conceded, but nothing was secured. rights of worship, rights of office, political and civil, religious enfranchisement, were recovered, but not guaranteed. it seemed scarcely possible that the king could be in earnest then, even if a medicean valois could ever be otherwise than treacherous. it was almost, certain, therefore, that a reaction would take place; but it is easier for us, three centuries after the event, to mark the precise moment of reaction, than it was for the most far-seeing contemporary to foretell how soon it would occur. in the meantime, it was the prince's cue to make use of this sunshine while it lasted. already, so soon as the union of th of april had been concluded between holland and zealand, he had forced the estates to open negotiations with france. the provinces, although desirous to confer sovereignty upon him, were indisposed to renounce their old allegiance to their king in order to place it at the disposal of a foreigner. nevertheless, a resolution, at the reiterated demands of orange, was passed by the estates, to proceed to the change of master, and, for that, purpose, to treat with the king of france, his brother, or any other foreign potentate, who would receive these provinces of holland and zealand under his government and protection. negotiations were accordingly opened with the duke-of-anjou, the dilettante leader of the huguenots at that remarkable juncture. it was a pity that no better champion could be looked for among the anointed of the earth than the false, fickle, foolish alencon, whose career, everywhere contemptible, was nowhere so flagitious as in the netherlands. by the fourteenth article of the peace of paris, the prince was reinstated and secured in his principality of orange; and his other possessions in france. the best feeling; for the time being, was manifested between the french court and the reformation. thus much for england and france. as for germany, the prospects of the netherlands were not flattering. the reforming spirit had grown languid, from various causes. the self-seeking motives of many protestant princes had disgusted the nobles. was that the object of the bloody wars of religion, that a few potentates should be enabled to enrich themselves by confiscating the broad lands and accumulated treasures of the church? had the creed of luther been embraced only for such unworthy ends? these suspicions chilled the ardor of thousands, particularly among the greater ones of the land. moreover, the discord among the reformers themselves waxed daily, and became more and more mischievous. neither the people nor their leaders could learn that, not a new doctrine, but a wise toleration for all christian doctrines was wanted. of new doctrines there was no lack. lutherans, calvinists, flaccianists, majorists, adiaphorists, brantianists, ubiquitists, swarmed and contended pell-mell. in this there would have been small harm, if the reformers had known what reformation meant. but they could not invent or imagine toleration. all claimed the privilege of persecuting. there were sagacious and honest men among the great ones of the country, but they were but few. wise william of hesse strove hard to effect a concordia among the jarring sects; count john of nassau, though a passionate calvinist, did no less; while the elector of saxony, on the other hand, raging and roaring like a bull of bashan, was for sacrificing the interest of millions on the altar of his personal spite. cursed was his tribe if he forgave the prince. he had done what he could at the diet of ratisbon to exclude all calvinists from a participation in the religious peace of germany, and he redoubled his efforts to prevent the extension of any benefits to the calvinists of the netherlands. these determinations had remained constant and intense. on the whole, the political appearance of germany was as menacing as that of france seemed for a time favorable to the schemes of orange. the quarrels of the princes, and the daily widening schism between lutherans and calvinists, seemed to bode little good to the cause of religious freedom. the potentates were perplexed and at variance, the nobles lukewarm and discontented. among the people, although subdivided into hostile factions, there was more life. here, at least, were heartiness of love and hate, enthusiastic conviction, earnestness and agitation. "the true religion," wrote count john, "is spreading daily among the common men. among the powerful, who think themselves highly learned, and who sit in roses, it grows, alas, little. here and there a nicodemus or two may be found, but things will hardly go better here than in france or the netherlands." thus, then, stood affairs in the neighbouring countries. the prospect was black in germany, more encouraging in france, dubious, or worse, in england. more work, more anxiety, more desperate struggles than ever, devolved upon the prince. secretary brunynck wrote that his illustrious chief was tolerably well in health, but so loaded with affairs, sorrows, and travails, that, from morning till night, he had scarcely leisure to breathe. besides his multitudinous correspondence with the public bodies, whose labors he habitually directed; with the various estates of the provinces, which he was gradually moulding into an organised and general resistance to the spanish power; with public envoys and with secret agents to foreign cabinets, all of whom received their instructions from him alone; with individuals of eminence and influence, whom he was eloquently urging to abandon their hostile position to their fatherland; and to assist him in the great work which he was doing; besides these numerous avocations, he was actively and anxiously engaged during the spring of , with the attempt to relieve the city of zierickzee. that important place, the capital of schouwen, and the key to half zealand, had remained closely invested since the memorable expedition to duiveland. the prince had passed much of his time in the neighbourhood, during the month of may, in order to attend personally to the contemplated relief, and to correspond daily with the beleaguered garrison. at last, on the th of may, a vigorous effort was made to throw in succor by sea. the brave admiral boisot, hero of the memorable relief of leyden, had charge of the expedition. mondragon had surrounded the shallow harbor with hulks and chains, and with a loose submerged dyke of piles and rubbish. against this obstacle boisot drove his ship, the 'red lion,' with his customary audacity, but did not succeed in cutting it through. his vessel, the largest of the feet, became entangled: he was, at the same time, attacked from a distance by the besiegers. the tide ebbed and left his ship aground, while the other vessels had been beaten back by the enemy. night approached; and there was no possibility of accomplishing the enterprise. his ship was hopelessly stranded. with the morning's sun his captivity was certain. rather than fall into the hands of his enemy, he sprang into the sea; followed by three hundred of his companions, some of whom were fortunate enough to effect their escape. the gallant admiral swam a long time, sustained by a broken spar. night and darkness came on before assistance could be rendered, and he perished. thus died louis boisot, one of the most enterprising of the early champions of netherland freedom--one of the bravest precursors of that race of heroes, the commanders of the holland navy. the prince deplored his loss deeply, as that of a "valiant gentleman, and one well affectioned to the common cause." his brother, charles boisot, as will be remembered, had perished by treachery at the first landing of the spanish troops; after their perilous passage from duiveland.--thus both the brethren had laid down their lives for their country, in this its outer barrier, and in the hour of its utmost need. the fall of the beleaguered town could no longer be deferred. the spaniards were, at last, to receive the prize of that romantic valor which had led them across the bottom of the sea to attack the city. nearly nine months had, however, elapsed since that achievement; and the grand commander, by whose orders it had been undertaken, had been four months in his grave. he was permitted to see neither the long-delayed success which crowded the enterprise, nor the procession of disasters and crimes which were to mark it as a most fatal success. on the st of june, , zierickzee, instructed by the prince of orange to accept honorable terms, if offered, agreed to surrender. mondragon, whose soldiers were in a state of suffering, and ready to break out in mutiny, was but too happy to grant an honorable capitulation. the garrison were allowed to go out with their arms and personal baggage. the citizens were permitted to retain or resume their privileges and charters, on payment of two hundred thousand guldens. of, sacking and burning there was, on this occasion, fortunately, no question; but the first half of the commutation money was to be paid in cash. there was but little money in the impoverished little town, but mint-masters were appointed by the magistrates to take their seats at once an in the hotel de ville. the citizens brought their spoons and silver dishes; one after another, which were melted and coined into dollars and half-dollars, until the payment was satisfactorily adjusted. thus fell zierickzee, to the deep regret of the prince. "had we received the least succor in the world from any side," he wrote; "the poor city should never have fallen. i could get nothing from france or england, with all my efforts. nevertheless, we do not lose courage, but hope that, although abandoned by all the world, the lord god will extend his right hand over us." the enemies were not destined to go farther. from their own hand now came the blow which was to expel them from the soil which they had so long polluted. no sooner was zierickzee captured than a mutiny broke forth among several companies of spaniards and walloons, belonging, to the army in schouwen. a large number of the most influential officers had gone to brussels, to make arrangements, if possible; for the payment of the troops. in their absence there was more scope for the arguments of the leading mutineers; arguments assuredly, not entirely destitute of justice or logical precision. if ever laborers were worthy of their hire, certainly it was the spanish soldiery. had they not done the work of demons for nine years long? could philip or alva have found in the wide world men to execute their decrees with more unhesitating docility, with more sympathizing eagerness? what obstacle had ever given them pause in their career of duty? what element had they not braved? had not they fought within the bowels of the earth, beneath the depths of the sea, within blazing cities, and upon fields of ice? where was the work which had been too dark and bloody for their performance? had they not slaughtered unarmed human beings by townfuls, at the word of command? had they not eaten the flesh, and drank the hearts' blood of their enemies? had they not stained the house of god with wholesale massacre? what altar and what hearthstone had they not profaned? what fatigue, what danger, what crime, had ever checked them for a moment? and for all this obedience, labor, and bloodshed, were they not even to be paid such wages as the commonest clown, who only tore the earth at home, received? did philip believe that a few thousand spaniards were to execute his sentence of death against three millions of netherlanders, and be cheated of their pay at last? it was in vain that arguments and expostulations were addressed to soldiers who were suffering from want, and maddened by injustice. they determined to take their cause into their own hand, as they had often done before. by the th of july, the mutiny was general on the isle of schouwen. promises were freely offered, both of pay and pardon; appeals were made to their old sense of honor and loyalty; but they had had enough of promises, of honor, and of work. what they wanted now were shoes and jerkins, bread and meat, and money. money they would have, and that at once. the king of spain was their debtor. the netherlands belonged to the king of spain. they would therefore levy on the netherlands for payment of their debt. certainly this was a logical deduction. they knew by experience that this process had heretofore excited more indignation in the minds of the netherland people than in that of their master. moreover, at this juncture, they cared little for their sovereign's displeasure, and not at all for that of the netherlanders. by the middle of july, then, the mutineers, now entirely beyond control, held their officers imprisoned within their quarters at zierickzee. they even surrounded the house of mondtagon, who had so often led them to victory, calling upon him with threats and taunts to furnish them with money. the veteran, roused to fury by their insubordination and their taunts, sprang from his house into the midst of the throng. baring his breast before them, he fiercely invited and dared their utmost violence. of his life-blood, he told them bitterly, he was no niggard, and it was at their disposal. his wealth, had he possessed any, would have been equally theirs. shamed into temporary respect, but not turned from their purpose by the choler of their chief, they left him to himself. soon afterwards, having swept schouwen island bare of every thing which could be consumed, the mutineers swarmed out of zealand into brabant, devouring as they went. it was their purpose to hover for a time in the neighbourhood of the capital, and either to force the council of state to pay them their long arrears, or else to seize and sack the richest city upon which they could lay their hands. the compact, disciplined mass, rolled hither and thither, with uncertainty of purpose, but with the same military precision of movement which had always characterized these remarkable mutinies. it gathered strength daily. the citizens of brussels contemplated with dismay the eccentric and threatening apparition. they knew that rapine, murder, and all the worst evils which man can inflict on his brethren were pent within it, and would soon descend. yet, even with all their past experience, did they not foresee the depth of woe which was really impending. the mutineers had discarded such of their officers as they could not compel to obedience, and had, as usual, chosen their eletto. many straggling companies joined them as they swept to and fro. they came to herenthals, where they were met by count mansfeld, who was deputed by the council of state to treat with them, to appeal to them; to pardon them, to offer, them everything but money. it may be supposed that the success of the commander-in-chief was no better than that of mondragon and his subalterns. they laughed him to scorn when he reminded them how their conduct was tarnishing the glory which they had acquired by nine years of heroism. they answered with their former cynicism, that glory could be put neither into pocket nor stomach. they had no use for it; they had more than enough of it. give them money, or give them a city, these were their last terms. sorrowfully and bodingly mansfeld withdrew to consult again with the state council. the mutineers then made a demonstration upon mechlin, but that city having fortunately strengthened its garrison, was allowed to escape. they then hovered for a time outside the walls of brussels. at grimsberg, where they paused for a short period, they held a parley with captain montesdocca, whom they received with fair words and specious pretences. he returned to brussels with the favourable tidings, and the mutineers swarmed off to assche. thither montesdoeca was again despatched, with the expectation that he would be able to bring them to terms, but they drove him off with jeers and threats, finding that he brought neither money nor the mortgage of a populous city. the next day, after a feint or two in a different direction, they made a sudden swoop upon alost, in flanders. here they had at last made their choice, and the town was carried by storm. all the inhabitants who opposed them were butchered, and the mutiny, at last established in a capital, was able to treat with the state council upon equal terms. they were now between two and three thousand strong, disciplined, veteran troops, posted in a strong and wealthy city. one hundred parishes belonged to the jurisdiction of alost, all of which were immediately laid under contribution. the excitement was now intense in brussels. anxiety and alarm had given place to rage, and the whole population rose in arms to defend the capital, which was felt to be in imminent danger. this spontaneous courage of the burghers prevented the catastrophe, which was reserved for a sister city. meantime, the indignation and horror excited by the mutiny were so universal that the council of state could not withstand the pressure. even the women and children demanded daily in the streets that the rebel soldiers should be declared outlaws. on the th of july, accordingly, the king of spain was made to pronounce, his spaniards traitors and murderers. all men were enjoined to slay one or all of them, wherever they should be found; to refuse them bread, water, and fire, and to assemble at sound of bell; in every city; whenever the magistrates should order an assault upon them. a still more stringent edict was issued on the nd of august; and so eagerly had these degrees been expected, that they were published throughout flanders and brabant almost as soon as issued. hitherto the leading officers of the spanish army had kept aloof from the insurgents, and frowned upon their proceedings. the spanish member of the state council, jerome de roda, had joined without opposition in the edict. as, however, the mutiny gathered strength on the outside, the indignation waxed daily within the capital. the citizens of brussels, one and all, stood to their arms. not a man could enter or leave without their permission. the spaniards who were in the town, whether soldiers or merchants, were regarded with suspicion and abhorrence. the leading spanish officers, romero, montesdocca, verdugo, and others, who had attempted to quell the mutiny, had been driven off with threats and curses, their soldiers defying them and brandishing their swords in their very faces. on the other hand, they were looked upon with ill-will by the netherlanders. the most prominent spanish personages in brussels were kept in a state of half-imprisonment. romero, roda, verdugo, were believed to favor at heart the cause of their rebellious troops, and the burghers of brabant had come to consider all the king's army in a state of rebellion. believing the state council powerless to protect them from the impending storm, they regarded that body with little respect, keeping it, as it were, in durance, while the spaniards were afraid to walk the streets of brussels for fear of being murdered. a retainer of rods, who had ventured to defend the character and conduct of his master before a number of excited citizens, was slain on the spot. in antwerp, champagny, brother of granvelle, and governor of the city, was disposed to cultivate friendly relations with the prince of orange. champagny hated the spaniards, and the hatred seemed to establish enough of sympathy between himself and the liberal party to authorize confidence in him. the prince dealt with him, but regarded him warily. fifteen companies of german troops, under colonel altaemst, were suspected of a strong inclination to join the mutiny. they were withdrawn from antwerp, and in their room came count uberstein, with his regiment, who swore to admit no suspicious person inside the gates, and in all things to obey the orders of champagny. in the citadel, however, matters were very threatening. sancho d'avila, the governor, although he had not openly joined the revolt, treated the edict of outlawry against the rebellious soldiery with derision. he refused to publish a decree which he proclaimed infamous, and which had been extorted, in his opinion, from an impotent and trembling council. even champagny had not desired or dared to publish the edict within the city. the reasons alleged were his fears of irritating and alarming the foreign merchants, whose position was so critical and friendship so important at that moment. on the other hand, it was loudly and joyfully published in most other towns of flanders and brabant. in brussels there were two parties, one holding the decree too audacious for his majesty to pardon; the other clamoring for its instantaneous fulfilment. by far the larger and more influential portion of the population favored the measure, and wished the sentence of outlawry and extermination to be extended at once against all spaniards and other foreigners in the service of the king. it seemed imprudent to wait until all the regiments had formally accepted the mutiny, and concentrated themselves into a single body. at this juncture, on the last day of july, the marquis off havre, brother to the duke of aerschot, arrived out of spain. he was charged by the king with conciliatory but unmeaning phrases to the estates. the occasion was not a happy one. there never was a time when direct and vigorous action had been more necessary. it was probably the king's desire then, as much as it ever had been his desire at all, to make up the quarrel with his provinces. he had been wearied with the policy which alva had enforced, and for which he endeavoured at that period to make the duke appear responsible. the barren clemency which the grand commander had been instructed to affect, had deceived but few persons, and had produced but small results. the king was, perhaps, really inclined at this juncture to exercise clemency--that is to say he was willing to pardon his people for having contended for their rights, provided they were now willing to resign them for ever. so the catholic religion and his own authority, were exclusively and inviolably secured, he was willing to receive his disobedient provinces into favor. to accomplish this end, however, he had still no more fortunate conception than to take the advice of hopper. a soothing procrastination was the anodyne selected for the bitter pangs of the body politic--a vague expression of royal benignity the styptic to be applied to its mortal wounds. an interval of hesitation was to bridge over the chasm between the provinces and their distant metropolis. "the marquis of havre has been sent," said the king, "that he may expressly witness to you of our good intentions, and of our desire, with the grace of god, to bring about a pacification." alas, it was well known whence those pavements of good intentions had been taken, and whither they would lead. they were not the material for a substantial road to reconciliation. "his majesty," said the marquis; on delivering his report to the state council, "has long been pondering over all things necessary to the peace of the land. his majesty, like a very gracious and bountiful prince, has ever been disposed, in times past, to treat these, his subjects, by the best and sweetest means." there being, however, room for an opinion that so bountiful a prince might have discovered sweeter means, by all this pondering, than to burn and gibbet his subjects by thousands, it was thought proper to insinuate that his orders had been hitherto misunderstood. alva and requesens had been unfaithful agents, who did not know their business, but it was to be set right in future. "as the good-will and meaning of his majesty has, by no means been followed," continued the envoy, "his majesty has determined to send councillor hopper, keeper of the privy seal, and myself, hitherwards, to execute the resolutions of his majesty." two such personages as poor, plodding, confused; time-serving hopper, and flighty, talkative havre, whom even requesens despised, and whom don john, while shortly afterwards recommending him for a state councillor, characterized, to philip as "a very great scoundrel;" would hardly be able, even if royally empowered, to undo the work of two preceding administrations. moreover, councillor hopper, on further thoughts, was not despatched at all to the netherlands. the provinces were, however, assured by the king's letters to the brabant estates, to the state council, and other, public bodies, as well as by the report of the marquis, that efficacious remedies were preparing in madrid. the people were only too wait patiently till they should arrive. the public had heard before of these nostrums, made up by the royal prescriptions in spain; and were not likely to accept them as a panacea for their present complicated disorders. never, in truth, had conventional commonplace been applied more unseasonably. here was a general military mutiny flaming in the very centre of the land. here had the intense hatred of race, which for years had been gnawing at the heart of the country, at last broken out into most malignant manifestation. here was nearly the whole native population of every province, from grand seigneur to plebeian, from catholic prelate to anabaptist artisan, exasperated alike by the excesses of six thousand foreign brigands, and united by a common hatred, into a band of brethren. here was a state council too feeble to exercise the authority which it had arrogated, trembling between the wrath of its sovereign, the menacing cries of the brussels burghers, and the wild threats of the rebellious army; and held virtually, captive in the capital which it was supposed to govern. certainly, the confirmation of the council in its authority, for an indefinite, even if for a brief period, was a most unlucky step at this juncture. there were two parties in the provinces, but one was far the most powerful upon the great point of the spanish soldiery. a vast majority were in favor of a declaration of outlawry against the whole army, and it was thought desirable to improve the opportunity by getting rid of them altogether. if the people could rise en masse, now that the royal government was in abeyance, and, as it were, in the nation's hands, the incubus might be cast off for ever. if any of the spanish officers had been sincere in their efforts to arrest the mutiny, the sincerity was not believed. if any of the foreign regiments of the king appeared to hesitate at joining the alost crew, the hesitation was felt to be temporary. meantime, the important german regiments of fugger, fronsberger, and polwiller, with their colonels and other officers, had openly joined the rebellion, while there was no doubt of the sentiments of sancho d'avila and the troops under his command. thus there were two great rallying-places for the sedition, and the most important fortress of the country, the key which unlocked the richest city in the world, was in the hands of the mutineers. the commercial capital of europe, filled to the brim with accumulated treasures, and with the merchandize of every clime; lay at the feet of this desperate band of brigands. the horrible result was but too soon to be made manifest. meantime, in brussels, the few spaniards trembled for their lives. the few officers shut up there were in imminent danger. "as the devil does not cease to do his work," wrote colonel verdugo, "he has put it into the heads of the brabanters to rebel, taking for a pretext the mutiny of the spaniards. the brussels men have handled their weapons so well against those who were placed there to protect them, that they have begun to kill the spaniards, threatening likewise the council of state. such is their insolence, that they care no more for these great lords than for so many varlets." the writer, who had taken refuge, together with jerome de roda and other spaniards, or "hispaniolized" persons, in antwerp citadel, proceeded to sketch the preparations which were going on in brussels, and the counter measures which were making progress in antwerp. "the states," he wrote, "are enrolling troops, saying 'tis to put down the mutiny; but i assure you 'tis to attack the army indiscriminately. to prevent such a villainous undertaking, troops of all nations are assembling here, in order to march straight upon brussels, there to enforce everything which my lords of the state council shall ordain." events were obviously hastening to a crisis--an explosion, before long, was inevitable. "i wish i had my horses here," continued the colonel, "and must beg you to send them. i see a black cloud hanging over our heads. i fear that the brabantines will play the beasts so much, that they will have all the soldiery at their throats." jerome de roda had been fortunate enough to make his escape out of brussels, and now claimed to be sole governor of the netherlands, as the only remaining representative of the state council. his colleagues were in durance at the capital. their authority was derided. although not yet actually imprisoned, they were in reality bound hand and foot, and compelled to take their orders either from the brabant estates or from the burghers of brussels. it was not an illogical proceeding, therefore, that roda, under the shadow of the antwerp citadel, should set up his own person as all that remained of the outraged majesty of spain. till the new governor, don juan, should arrive, whose appointment the king had already communicated to the government, and who might be expected in the netherlands before the close of the autumn, the solitary councillor claimed to embody the whole council. he caused a new seal to be struck--a proceeding very unreasonably charged as forgery by the provincials--and forthwith began to thunder forth proclamations and counter-proclamations in the king's name and under the royal seal. it is difficult to see any technical crime or mistake in such a course. as a spaniard, and a representative of his majesty, he could hardly be expected to take any other view of his duty. at any rate, being called upon to choose between rebellious netherlanders and mutinous spaniards, he was not long in making up his mind. by the beginning of september the mutiny was general. all the spanish army, from general to pioneer, were united. the most important german troops had taken side with them. sancho d'avila held the citadel of antwerp, vowing vengeance, and holding open communication with the soldiers at alost. the council of state remonstrated with him for his disloyalty. he replied by referring to his long years of service, and by reproving them for affecting an authority which their imprisonment rendered ridiculous. the spaniards were securely established. the various citadels which had been built by charles and philip to curb the country now effectually did their work. with the castles of antwerp, valenciennes, ghent, utrecht, culemburg, viane, alost, in the hands of six thousand veteran spaniards, the country seemed chained in every limb. the foreigner's foot was on its neck. brussels was almost the only considerable town out of holland and zealand which was even temporarily safe. the important city of maestricht was held by a spanish garrison, while other capital towns and stations were in the power of the walloon and german mutineers. the depredations committed in the villages, the open country, and the cities were incessant--the spaniards treating every netherlander as their foe. gentleman and peasant, protestant and catholic, priest and layman, all were plundered, maltreated, outraged. the indignation became daily more general and more intense. there were frequent skirmishes between the soldiery and promiscuous bands of peasants, citizens, and students; conflicts in which the spaniards were invariably victorious. what could such half-armed and wholly untrained partisans effect against the bravest and most experienced troops in the whole world? such results only increased the general exasperation, while they impressed upon the whole people the necessity of some great and general effort to throw off the incubus. chapter v. - religious and political sympathies and antipathies in the seventeen provinces--unanimous hatred for the foreign soldiery--use made by the prince of the mutiny--his correspondence--necessity of union enforced--a congress from nearly all the provinces meets at ghent-- skirmishes between the foreign troops and partisan bands--slaughter at tisnacq--suspicions entertained of the state-council--arrest of the state-council--siege of ghent citadel--assistance sent by orange--maestricht lost and regained--wealthy and perilous condition of antwerp--preparations of the mutineers under the secret superintendence of avila--stupidity of oberstein--duplicity of don sancho--reinforcements of walloons under havre, egmont, and others, sent to for the expected assault of antwerp--governor champagny's preparations the mutineers--insubordination, incapacity, and negligence of all but him--concentration of all the mutineers from different points, in the citadel--the attack--the panic--the flight --the massacre--the fire--the sack--and other details of the "spanish fury"--statistics of murder and robbery--letter of orange to the states-general--surrender of ghent citadel--conclusion of the "ghent pacification"--the treaty characterized--forms of ratification--fall of zierickzee and recovery of zealand. meantime, the prince of orange sat at middelburg, watching the storm. the position of holland and zealand with regard to the other fifteen provinces was distinctly characterized. upon certain points there was an absolute sympathy, while upon others there was a grave and almost fatal difference. it was the task of the prince to deepen the sympathy, to extinguish the difference. in holland and zealand, there was a warm and nearly universal adhesion to the reformed religion, a passionate attachment to the ancient political liberties. the prince, although an earnest calvinist himself, did all in his power to check the growing spirit of intolerance toward the old religion, omitted no opportunity of strengthening the attachment which the people justly felt for their liberal institutions. on the other hand, in most of the other provinces, the catholic religion had been regaining its ascendency. even in , the estates assembled at brussels declared to requesens "that they would rather die the death than see any change in their religion." that feeling had rather increased than diminished. although there was a strong party attached to the new faith, there was perhaps a larger, certainly a more influential body, which regarded the ancient church with absolute fidelity. owing partly to the persecution which had, in the course of years, banished so many thousands of families from the soil, partly to the coercion, which was more stringent in the immediate presence of the crown's representative, partly to the stronger infusion of the celtic element, which from the earliest ages had always been so keenly alive to the more sensuous and splendid manifestations of the devotional principle--owing to those and many other causes, the old religion, despite of all the outrages which had been committed in its name, still numbered a host of zealous adherents in the fifteen provinces. attempts against its sanctity were regarded with jealous eyes. it was believed, and with reason, that there was a disposition on the part of the reformers to destroy it root and branch. it was suspected that the same enginery of persecution would be employed in its extirpation, should the opposite party gain the supremacy, which the papists had so long employed against the converts to the new religion. as to political convictions, the fifteen provinces differed much less from their two sisters. there was a strong attachment to their old constitutions; a general inclination to make use of the present crisis to effect their restoration. at the same time, it had not come to be the general conviction, as in holland and zealand, that the maintenance of those liberties was incompatible with the continuance of philip's authority. there was, moreover, a strong aristocratic faction which was by no means disposed to take a liberal view of government in general, and regarded with apprehension the simultaneous advance of heretical notions both in church and, state. still there were, on the whole, the elements of a controlling constitutional party throughout the fifteen provinces the great bond of sympathy, however, between all the seventeen was their common hatred to the foreign soldiery. upon this deeply imbedded, immovable fulcrum of an ancient national hatred, the sudden mutiny of the whole spanish army served as a lever of incalculable power. the prince seized it as from the hand of god. thus armed, he proposed to himself the task of upturning the mass of oppression under which the old liberties of the country had so long been crushed. to effect this object, adroitness was as requisite as courage. expulsion of the foreign soldiery, union of the seventeen provinces, a representative constitution, according to the old charters, by the states-general, under an hereditary chief, a large religious toleration, suppression of all inquisition into men's consciences--these were the great objects to which the prince now devoted himself with renewed energy. to bring about a general organization and a general union, much delicacy of handling was necessary. the sentiment of extreme catholicism and monarchism was not to be suddenly scared into opposition. the prince, therefore, in all his addresses and documents was careful to disclaim any intention of disturbing the established religion, or of making any rash political changes. "let no man think," said he, to the authorities of brabant, "that, against the will of the estates, we desire to bring about any change in religion. let no one suspect us capable of prejudicing the rights of any man. we have long since taken up arms to maintain a legal and constitutional freedom, founded upon law. god forbid that we should now attempt to introduce novelties, by which the face of liberty should be defiled." in a brief and very spirited letter to count lalain, a catholic and a loyalist, but a friend of his country and fervent hater of foreign oppression, he thus appealed to his sense of chivalry and justice: "although the honorable house from which you spring," he said, "and the virtue and courage of your ancestors have always impressed me with the conviction that you would follow in their footsteps, yet am i glad to have received proofs that my anticipations were correct. i cannot help, therefore, entreating you to maintain the same high heart, and to accomplish that which you have so worthily begun. be not deluded by false masks, mumming faces, and borrowed titles, which people assume for their own profit, persuading others that the king's service consists in the destruction of his subjects." while thus careful to offend no man's religious convictions, to startle no man's loyalty, he made skillful use of the general indignation felt at, the atrocities of the mutinous army. this chord he struck boldly, powerfully, passionately, for he felt sure of the depth and strength of its vibrations. in his address to the estates of gelderland, he used vigorous language, inflaming and directing to a practical purpose the just wrath which was felt in that, as in every other province. "i write to warn you," he said, "to seize this present opportunity. shake from your necks the yoke of the godless spanish tyranny, join yourselves at once to the lovers of the fatherland, to the defenders of freedom. according to the example of your own ancestors and ours, redeem for the country its ancient laws, traditions, and privileges. permit no longer, to your shame and ours, a band of spanish landloupers and other foreigners, together with three or four self-seeking enemies of their own land, to keep their feet upon our necks. let them no longer, in the very wantonness of tyranny, drive us about like a herd of cattle--like a gang of well-tamed slaves." thus, day after day, in almost countless addresses to public bodies and private individuals, he made use of the crisis to pile fresh fuel upon the flames. at the same time, while thus fanning the general indignation, he had the adroitness to point out that the people had already committed themselves. he represented to them that the edict, by which they had denounced his majesty's veterans as outlaws, and had devoted them to the indiscriminate destruction which such brigands deserved, was likely to prove an unpardonable crime in the eyes of majesty. in short, they had entered the torrent. if they would avoid being dashed over the precipice, they must struggle manfully with the mad waves of civil war into which they had plunged. "i beg you, with all affection," he said to the states of brabant, "to consider the danger in which you have placed yourselves. you have to deal with the proudest and most overbearing race in the world. for these qualities they are hated by all other nations. they are even hateful to themselves. 'tis a race which seeks to domineer wheresoever it comes. it particularly declares its intention to crush and to tyrannize you, my masters, and all the land. they have conquered you already, as they boast, for the crime of lese-majesty has placed you at their mercy. i tell you that your last act, by which you have declared this army to be rebels, is decisive. you have armed and excited the whole people against them, even to the peasants and the peasants' children, and the insults and injuries thus received, however richly deserved and dearly avenged, are all set down to your account. therefore, 'tis necessary for you to decide now, whether to be utterly ruined, yourselves and your children, or to continue firmly the work which you have begun boldly, and rather to die a hundred thousand deaths than to make a treaty with them, which can only end in your ruin. be assured that the measure dealt to you will be ignominy as well as destruction. let not your leaders expect the honorable scaffolds of counts egmont and horn. the whipping-post and then the gibbet will be their certain fate." having by this and similar language, upon various occasions, sought to impress upon his countrymen the gravity of the position, he led them to seek the remedy in audacity and in union. he familiarized them with his theory, that the legal, historical government of the provinces belonged to the states-general, to a congress of nobles, clergy, and commons, appointed from each of the seventeen provinces. he maintained, with reason, that the government of the netherlands was a representative constitutional government, under the hereditary authority of the king. to recover this constitution, to lift up these down-trodden rights, he set before them most vividly the necessity of union, "'tis impossible," he said, "that a chariot should move evenly having its wheels unequally proportioned; and so must a confederation be broken to pieces, if there be not an equal obligation on all to tend to a common purpose." union, close, fraternal, such as became provinces of a common origin and with similar laws, could alone save them from their fate. union against a common tyrant to save a common fatherland. union; by which differences of opinion should be tolerated, in order that a million of hearts should beat for a common purpose, a million hands work out, invincibly, a common salvation. "'tis hardly necessary," he said "to use many words in recommendation of union. disunion has been the cause of all our woes. there is no remedy, no hope, save in the bonds of friendship. let all particular disagreements be left to the decision of the states-general, in order that with one heart and one will we may seek the disenthralment of the fatherland from the tyranny of strangers." the first step to a thorough union among all the provinces was the arrangement of a closer connection between the now isolated states of holland and zealand on the one side, and their fifteen sisters on the other. the prince professed the readiness of those states which he might be said to represent in his single person, to draw as closely as possible the bonds of fellowship. it was almost superfluous for him to promise his own ready co-operation. "nothing remains to us," said he, "but to discard all jealousy and distrust. let us, with a firm resolution and a common accord, liberate these lands from the stranger. hand to hand let us accomplish a just and general peace. as for myself, i present to you, with very, good affection, my person and all which i possess, assuring you that i shall regard all my labors and pains in times which are past, well bestowed, if god now grant me grace to see the desired end. that this end will be reached, if you hold fast your resolution and take to heart the means which god presents to you, i feel to be absolutely certain." such were the tenor and the motives of the documents which he scattered--broadcast at this crisis. they were addressed to the estates of nearly every province. those bodies were urgently implored to appoint deputies to a general congress, at which a close and formal union between holland and zealand with the other provinces might be effected. that important measure secured, a general effort might, at the same time, be made to expel the spaniard from the soil. this done, the remaining matters could be disposed of by the assembly of the estates-general. his eloquence and energy were not without effect. in the course of the autumn, deputies were appointed from the greater number of the provinces, to confer with the representatives of holland and zealand, in a general congress. the place appointed for the deliberations was the city of ghent. here, by the middle of october, a large number of delegates were already assembled. events were rapidly rolling together from every quarter, and accumulating to a crisis. a congress--a rebellious congress, as the king might deem it--was assembling at ghent; the spanish army, proscribed, lawless, and terrible, was strengthening itself daily for some dark and mysterious achievement; don john of austria, the king's natural brother, was expected from spain to assume the government, which the state council was too timid to wield and too loyal to resign, while, meantime, the whole population of the netherlands, with hardly an exception, was disposed to see the great question of the foreign soldiery settled, before the chaos then existing should be superseded by a more definite authority. everywhere, men of all ranks and occupations--the artisan in the city, the peasant in the fields--were deserting their daily occupations to furbish helmets, handle muskets, and learn the trade of war. skirmishes, sometimes severe and bloody, were of almost daily occurrence. in these the spaniards were invariably successful, for whatever may be said of their cruelty and licentiousness, it cannot be disputed that their prowess was worthy of their renown. romantic valor, unflinching fortitude, consummate skill, characterized them always. what could half-armed artisans achieve in the open plain against such accomplished foes? at tisnacq, between louvain and tirlemont, a battle was attempted by a large miscellaneous mass of students, peasantry, and burghers, led by country squires. it soon changed to a carnage, in which the victims were all on one side. a small number of veterans, headed by vargas, mendoza, tassis, and other chivalrous commanders, routed the undisciplined thousands at a single charge. the rude militia threw away their arms, and fled panic-struck in all directions, at the first sight of their terrible foe. two spaniards lost their lives and two thousand netherlanders. it was natural that these consummate warriors should despise such easily slaughtered victims. a single stroke of the iron flail, and the chaff was scattered to the four winds; a single sweep of the disciplined scythe, and countless acres were in an instant mown. nevertheless, although beaten constantly, the netherlanders were not conquered. holland and zealand had read the foe a lesson which he had not forgotten, and although on the open fields, and against the less vigorous population of the more central provinces, his triumphs had been easier, yet it was obvious that the spirit of resistance to foreign oppression was growing daily stronger, notwithstanding daily defeats. meantime, while these desultory but deadly combats were in daily progress, the council of state was looked upon with suspicion by the mass of the population. that body, in which resided provisionally the powers of government, was believed to be desirous of establishing relations with the mutinous army. it was suspected of insidiously provoking the excesses which it seemed to denounce. it was supposed to be secretly intriguing with those whom its own edicts had outlawed. its sympathies were considered, spanish. it was openly boasted by the spanish army that, before long, they would descend from their fastnesses upon brussels, and give the city to the sword. a shuddering sense of coming evil pervaded the population, but no man could say where the blow would first be struck. it was natural that the capital should be thought exposed to imminent danger. at the same time, while every man who had hands was disposed to bear arms to defend the city, the council seemed paralyzed. the capital was insufficiently garrisoned, yet troops were not enrolling for its protection. the state councillors obviously omitted to provide for defence, and it was supposed that they were secretly assisting the attack. it was thought important, therefore, to disarm, or, at least, to control this body which was impotent for protection, and seemed powerful only for mischief. it was possible to make it as contemptible as it was believed to be malicious. an unexpected stroke was therefore suddenly levelled against the council in full session. on the th of september, the seigneur de heze, a young gentleman of a bold, but unstable character, then entertaining close but secret relations with the prince of orange, appeared before the doors of the palace. he was attended by about five hundred troops, under the immediate command of the seigneur de glimes, bailiff of walloon brabant. he demanded admittance, in the name of the brabant estates, to the presence of the state council, and was refused. the doors were closed and bolted. without further ceremony the soldiers produced iron bars brought with them for the purpose, forced all the gates from the hinges, entered the hall of session, and at a word from their commander, laid hands upon the councillors, and made every one prisoner. the duke of aerschot, president of the council, who was then in close alliance with the prince, was not present at the meeting, but lay forewarned, at home, confined to his couch by a sickness assumed for the occasion. viglius, who rarely participated in the deliberations of the board, being already afflicted with the chronic malady under which he was ere long to succumb, also escaped the fate of his fellow-senators. the others were carried into confinement. berlaymont and mansfeld were imprisoned in the brood-huys, where the last mortal hours of egmont and horn had been passed. others were kept strictly guarded in their own houses. after a few weeks, most of them were liberated. councillor del rio was, however, retained in confinement, and sent to holland, where he was subjected to a severe examination by the prince of orange, touching his past career, particularly concerning the doings of the famous blood council. the others were set free, and even permitted to resume their functions, but their dignity was gone, their authority annihilated. thenceforth the states of brabant and the community of brussels were to govern for an interval, for it was in their name that the daring blow against the council had been struck. all individuals and bodies, however, although not displeased with the result, clamorously disclaimed responsibility for the deed. men were appalled at the audacity of the transaction, and dreaded the vengeance of the king: the abbot van perch, one of the secret instigators of the act, actually died of anxiety for its possible consequences. there was a mystery concerning the affair. they in whose name it had been accomplished, denied having given any authority to the perpetrators. men asked each other what unseen agency had been at work, what secret spring had been adroitly touched. there is but little doubt, however, that the veiled but skilful hand which directed the blow, was the same which had so long been guiding the destiny of the netherlands. it had been settled that the congress was to hold its sessions in ghent, although the citadel commanding that city was held by the spaniards. the garrison was not very strong, and mondragon, its commander, was absent in zealand, but the wife of the veteran ably supplied his place, and stimulated the slender body of troops to hold out with heroism, under the orders of his lieutenant, avilos maldonado. the mutineers, after having accomplished their victory at tisnacq, had been earnestly solicited to come to the relief of this citadel. they had refused and returned to alost. meantime, the siege was warmly pressed by the states. there being, however, a deficiency of troops, application for assistance was formally made to the prince of orange. count reulx, governor of flanders; commissioned the seigneur d'haussy, brother of count bossu, who, to obtain the liberation of that long-imprisoned and distinguished nobleman, was about visiting the prince in zealand, to make a request for an auxiliary force. it was, however, stipulated that care should be taken lest any prejudice should be done to the roman catholic religion or the authority of the king. the prince readily acceded to the request, and agreed to comply with the conditions under which only it could be accepted. he promised to send twenty-eight companies. in his letter announcing this arrangement, he gave notice that his troops would receive strict orders to do no injury to person or property, catholic or protestant, ecclesiastic or lay, and to offer no obstruction to the roman religion or the royal dignity. he added, however, that it was not to be taken amiss, if his soldiers were permitted to exercise their own religious rites, and to sing their protestant hymns within their own quarters. he moreover, as security for the expense and trouble, demanded the city of sluys. the first detachment of troops, under command of colonel vander tympel, was, however, hardly on its way, before an alarm was felt among the catholic party at this practical alliance with the rebel prince. an envoy, named ottingen, was despatched to zealand, bearing a letter from the estates of hainault, brabant, and flanders, countermanding the request for troops, and remonstrating categorically upon the subject of religion and loyalty. orange deemed such tergiversation paltry, but controlled his anger. he answered the letter in liberal terms, for he was determined that by no fault of his should the great cause be endangered. he reassured the estates as to the probable behaviour of his troops. moreover, they had been already admitted into the city, while the correspondence was proceeding. the matter of the psalm-singing was finally arranged to the satisfaction of both parties, and it was agreed that niewport, instead of sluys, should be given to the prince as security. the siege of the citadel was now pressed vigorously, and the deliberations of the congress were opened under the incessant roar of cannon. while the attack was thus earnestly maintained upon the important castle of ghent, a courageous effort was made by the citizens of maestricht to wrest their city from the hands of the spaniards. the german garrison having been gained by the burghers, the combined force rose upon the spanish troops, and drove them from the city, montesdocca, the commander, was arrested and imprisoned, but the triumph was only temporary. don francis d'ayala, montesdocca's lieutenant, made a stand, with a few companies, in wieck, a village on the opposite side of the meuse, and connected with the city by a massive bridge of stone. from this point he sent information to other commanders in the neighbourhood. don ferdinand de toledo soon arrived with several hundred troops from dalem. the spaniards, eager to wipe out the disgrace to their arms, loudly demanded to be led back to the city. the head of the bridge, however, over which they must pass, was defended by a strong battery, and the citizens were seen clustering in great numbers to defend their firesides against a foe whom they had once expelled. to advance across the bridge seemed certain destruction to the little force. even spanish bravery recoiled at so desperate an undertaking, but unscrupulous ferocity supplied an expedient where courage was at fault. there were few fighting men present among the population of wieck, but there were many females. each soldier was commanded to seize a woman, and, placing her before his own body, to advance across the bridge. the column, thus bucklered, to the shame of spanish chivalry, by female bosoms, moved in good order toward the battery. the soldiers leveled their muskets with steady aim over the shoulders or under the arms of the women whom they thus held before them. on the other hand, the citizens dared not discharge their cannon at their own townswomen, among whose numbers many recognized mothers, sisters, or wives. the battery was soon taken, while at the same time alonzj vargas, who had effected his entrance from the land side by burning down the brussels gate, now entered the city at the head of a band of cavalry. maestricht was recovered, and an indiscriminate slaughter instantly avenged its temporary loss. the plundering, stabbing, drowning, burning, ravishing; were so dreadful that, in the words of a cotemporary historian, "the burghers who had escaped the fight had reason to think themselves less fortunate than those who had died with arms in their hands." this was the lot of maestricht on the th of october. it was instinctively felt to be the precursor of fresh disasters. vague, incoherent, but widely disseminated rumors had long pointed to antwerp and its dangerous situation. the spaniards, foiled in their views upon brussels, had recently avowed an intention of avenging themselves in the commercial capital. they had waited long enough, and accumulated strength enough. such a trifling city as alost could no longer content their cupidity, but in antwerp there was gold enough for the gathering. there was reason for the fears of the inhabitants, for the greedy longing of their enemy. probably no city in christendom could at that day vie with antwerp in wealth and splendor. its merchants lived in regal pomp and luxury. in its numerous, massive warehouses were the treasures of every clime. still serving as the main entrepot of the world's traffic, the brabantine capital was the centre of that commercial system which was soon to be superseded by a larger international life. in the midst of the miseries which had so long been raining upon the netherlands, the stately and egotistical city seemed to have taken stronger root and to flourish more freshly than ever. it was not wonderful that its palaces and its magazines, glittering with splendor and bursting with treasure, should arouse the avidity of a reckless and famishing soldiery. had not a handful of warriors of their own race rifled the golden indies? had not their fathers, few in number, strong in courage and discipline, revelled in the plunder of a new world? here were the indies in a single city. here were gold and silver, pearls and diamonds, ready and portable; the precious fruit dropping, ripened, from the bough. was it to be tolerated that base, pacific burghers should monopolize the treasure by which a band of heroes might be enriched? a sense of coming evil diffused itself through the atmosphere. the air seemed lurid with the impending storm, for the situation was one of peculiar horror. the wealthiest city in christendom lay at the mercy of the strongest fastness in the world; a castle which had been built to curb, not to protect, the town. it was now inhabited by a band of brigands, outlawed by government, strong in discipline, furious from penury, reckless by habit, desperate in circumstance--a crew which feared not god, nor man, nor devil. the palpitating quarry lay expecting hourly the swoop of its trained and pitiless enemy, for the rebellious soldiers were now in a thorough state of discipline. sancho d'avila, castellan of the citadel, was recognized as the chief of the whole mutiny, the army and the mutiny being now one. the band, entrenched at alost, were upon the best possible understanding with their brethren in the citadel, and accepted without hesitation the arrangements of their superior. on the aide of the scheld, opposite antwerp, a fortification had been thrown up by don sancho's orders, and held by julian romero. lier, breda, as well as alost, were likewise ready to throw their reinforcements into the citadel at a moment's warning. at the signal of their chief, the united bands might sweep from their impregnable castle with a single impulse. the city cried aloud for help, for it had become obvious that an attack might be hourly expected. meantime an attempt, made by don sancho d'avila to tamper with the german troops stationed within the walls, was more than partially, successful. the forces were commanded by colonel van ende and count oberatein. van ende, a crafty traitor to his country, desired no better than to join the mutiny on so promising an occasion, and his soldiers, shared his sentiments. oberatein, a brave, but blundering german, was drawn into the net of treachery by the adroitness of the spaniard and the effrontery of his comrade. on the night of the th of october, half-bewildered and half-drunk, he signed a treaty with sancho d'avilat and the three colonels--fugger, frondsberger, and polwiller. by this unlucky document, which was of course subscribed also by van ende, it was agreed that the antwerp burghers should be forthwith disarmed; that their weapons should be sent into the citadel; that oberstein should hold the city at the disposition of sancho d'avila; that he should refuse admittance to all troops which might be sent into the city, excepting by command of don sancho, and that he should decline compliance with any orders which he might receive from individuals calling themselves the council of state, the states-general, or the estates of brabant. this treaty was signed, moreover; by don jeronimo de rods, then established in the citadel, and claiming to represent exclusively his majesty's government. hardly had this arrangement been concluded than the count saw the trap into which he had fallen. without intending to do so, he had laid the city at the mercy of its foe, but the only remedy which suggested itself to his mind was an internal resolution not to keep his promises. the burghers were suffered to retain their arms, while, on the other hand, don sancho lost no time in despatching messages to alost, to lier, to breda, and even to maestricht, that as large a force as possible might be assembled for the purpose of breaking immediately the treaty of peace which he had just concluded. never was a solemn document, regarded with such perfectly bad faith by all its signers as the accord, of the th of october. three days afterwards, a large force of walloons and germans was despatched from brussels to the assistance of antwerp. the command of these troops was entrusted to the marquis of havre, whose brother, the duke of aerschot; had been recently appointed chief superintendent of military affairs by the deputies assembled at ghent. the miscellaneous duties comprehended under this rather vague denomination did not permit the duke to take charge of the expedition in person, and his younger brother, a still more incompetent and unsubstantial character, was accordingly appointed to the post. a number of young men, of high rank but of lamentably low capacity, were associated with him. foremost among them was philip, count of egmont, a youth who had inherited few of his celebrated father's qualities, save personal courage and a love of personal display. in character and general talents he was beneath mediocrity. beside these were the reckless but unstable de heze, who had executed the coup; d'etat against the state council, de berselen, de capres, d'oyngies, and others, all vaguely desirous of achieving distinction in those turbulent times, but few of them having any political or religious convictions, and none of them possessing experience or influence enough, to render them useful--at the impending crisis. on friday morning, the nd of november, the troops appeared under the walls of antwerp. they consisted of twenty-three companies of infantry and fourteen of cavalry, amounting to five thousand foot and twelve hundred horse. they were nearly all walloons, soldiers who had already seen much active service, but unfortunately of a race warlike and fiery indeed, but upon whose steadiness not much more dependence could be placed at that day than in the age of civilis. champagny, brother of granvelle, was governor of the city. he was a sincere catholic, but a still more sincere hater of the spaniards. he saw in the mutiny a means of accomplishing their expulsion, and had already offered to the prince of orange his eager co-operation towards this result. in other matters there could be but small sympathy between william the silent and the cardinal's brother; but a common hatred united them, for a time at least, in a common purpose. when the troops first made their appearance before the walls, champagny was unwilling to grant them admittance. the addle-brained oberstein had confessed to him the enormous blunder which he had committed in his midnight treaty, and at the same time ingenuously confessed his intention of sending it to the winds. the enemy had extorted from his dulness or his drunkenness a promise, which his mature and sober reason could not consider binding. it is needless to say that champagny rebuked him for signing, and applauded him for breaking the treaty. at the same time its ill effects were already seen in the dissensions which existed among the german troops. where all had been tampered with, and where the commanders had set the example of infidelity, it would have been strange if all had held firm. on the whole, however, oberstein thought he could answer for his own troops: upon van ende's division, although the crafty colonel dissembled his real intentions; very little reliance was placed. thus there was distraction within the walls. among those whom the burghers had been told to consider their defenders, there were probably many who were ready to join with their mortal foes at a moment's warning. under these circumstances, champagny hesitated about admitting these fresh troops from brussels. he feared lest the germans, who knew themselves doubted, might consider themselves doomed. he trembled, lest an irrepressible outbreak should occur within the walls, rendering the immediate destruction of the city by the spaniards from without inevitable. moreover, he thought it more desirable that this auxiliary force should be disposed at different points outside, in order to intercept the passage of the numerous bodies of spaniards and other mutineers, who from various quarters would soon be on their way to the citadel. havre, however, was so peremptory, and the burghers were so importunate, that champagny was obliged to recede from his opposition before twenty-four hours had elapsed. unwilling to take the responsibility of a farther refusal, he admitted the troops through the burgherhout gate, on saturday, the rd of november, at ten o'clock in the morning. the marquis of havre, as commander-in-chief, called a council of war. it assembled at count oberstein's quarters, and consulted at first concerning a bundle of intercepted letters which havre had brought with him. these constituted a correspondence between sancho d'avila with the heads of the mutiny at alost, and many other places. the letters were all dated subsequently to don sancho's treaty with oberstein, and contained arrangements for an immediate concentration of the whole available spanish force at the citadel. the treachery was so manifest, that oberstein felt all self-reproach for his own breach of faith to be superfluous. it was however evident that the attack was to be immediately expected. what was to be done? all the officers counselled the immediate erection of a bulwark on the side of the city exposed to the castle, but there were no miners nor engineers. champagny, however, recommended a skilful and experienced engineer to superintend; the work in the city; and pledged himself that burghers enough would volunteer as miners. in less than an hour, ten or twelve thousand persons, including multitudes of women of all ranks, were at work upon the lines marked out by the engineer. a ditch and breast-work extending from the gate of the beguins to the street of the abbey saint michael, were soon in rapid progress. meantime, the newly arrived troops, with military insolence, claimed the privilege of quartering themselves in the best houses which they could find. they already began to, insult and annoy the citizens whom they had been sent to defend; nor were they destined to atone, by their subsequent conduct in the face of the enemy, for the brutality with which they treated their friends. champagny, however; was ill-disposed to brook their licentiousness. they had been sent to protect the city and the homes of antwerp from invasion. they were not to establish themselves, at every fireside on their first arrival. there was work enough for them out of doors, and they were to do that work at once. he ordered them to prepare for a bivouac in, the streets, and flew from house to house, sword in hand; driving forth the intruders at imminent peril of his life. meantime, a number of italian and spanish merchants fled from the city, and took refuge in the castle. the walloon soldiers were for immediately plundering their houses, as if plunder had been the object for which they had been sent to antwerp. it was several hours before champagny, with all his energy, was able to quell these disturbances. in the course of the day, oberstein received a letter from don sandra d'avila, calling solemnly upon him to fulfil his treaty of the th of october. the german colonels from the citadel had, on the previous afternoon, held a personal interview with oberstein beneath the walls, which had nearly ended in blows, and they had been obliged to save themselves by flight from the anger of the count's soldiers, enraged at the deceit by which their leader had been so nearly entrapped. this summons of ridiculous solemnity to keep a treaty which had already been torn to shreds by both parties, oberstein answered with defiance and contempt. the reply was an immediate cannonade from the batteries of the citadel; which made the position of those erecting the ramparts excessively dangerous. the wall was strengthened with bales of merchandise, casks of earth, upturned wagons, and similar bulky objects, hastily piled together. in, some places it was sixteen feet high; in others less than six. night fell before the fortification was nearly completed. unfortunately it was bright moonlight. the cannon from the fortress continued to play upon the half-finished works. the walloons, and at last the citizens, feared to lift their heads above their frail rampart. the senators, whom champagny had deputed to superintend the progress of the enterprise, finding the men so indisposed, deserted their posts. they promised themselves that, in the darkest hour of the following night, the work should be thoroughly completed. alas! all hours of the coming night were destined to be dark enough, but in them was to be done no manner of work for defence. on champagny alone seemed devolved an the labor and all the responsibility. he did his duty well, but he was but one man. alone, with a heart full of anxiety, he wandered up and down all the night. with his own hands, assisted only by a few citizens and his own servants, he planted all the cannon with which they were provided, in the "fencing court," at a point where the battery might tell upon the castle. unfortunately, the troops from brussels had brought no artillery with them, and the means of defence against the strongest fortress in europe were meagre indeed. the rampart had been left very weak at many vital points. a single upturned wagon was placed across the entrance to the important street of the beguins. this negligence was to cost the city dear. at daybreak, there was a council held in oberstein's quarters. nearly all champagny's directions had been neglected. he had desired that strong detachments should be posted during the night at various places of security on the outskirts of the town, for the troops which were expected to arrive in small bodies at the citadel from various parts, might have thus been cut off before reaching their destination. not even scouts had been stationed in sufficient numbers to obtain information of what was occurring outside. a thick mist hung over the city that eventful morning. through its almost impenetrable veil, bodies of men had been seen moving into the castle, and the tramp of cavalry had been distinctly heard, and the troops of romero, vargas, oliveira, and valdez had already arrived from lier, breda, maestricht, and from the forts on the scheld. the whole available force in the city was mustered without delay. havre had claimed for his post the defence of the lines opposite the citadel, the place of responsibility and honor. here the whole body of walloons were stationed, together with a few companies of germans. the ramparts, as stated, were far from impregnable, but it was hoped that this living rampart of six thousand men, standing on their own soil, and in front of the firesides and altars of their own countrymen; would prove a sufficient bulwark even against spanish fury. unhappily, the living barrier proved more frail than the feeble breastwork which the hands of burghers and women had constructed. six thousand men were disposed along the side of the city opposite the fortress. the bulk of the german troops was stationed at different points on the more central streets and squares. the cavalry was posted on the opposite side of the city, along the horse-market, and fronting the "new-town." the stars were still in the sky when champagny got on horseback and rode through the streets, calling on the burghers to arm and assemble at different points. the principal places of rendezvous were the cattlemarket and the exchange. he rode along the lines of the walloon regiments, conversing with the officers, egmont, de heze, and others, and encouraging the men, and went again to the fencing court, where he pointed the cannon with his own hand, and ordered their first discharge at the fortress. thence he rode to the end of the beguin street, where he dismounted and walked out upon the edge of the esplanade which stretched between the city and the castle. on this battle-ground a combat was even then occurring between a band of burghers and a reconnoitring party from the citadel. champagny saw with satisfaction that the antwerpers were victorious. they were skirmishing well with their disciplined foe, whom they at last beat back to the citadel. his experienced eye saw, however, that the retreat was only the signal for a general onslaught, which was soon to follow; and he returned into the city to give the last directions. at ten o'clock, a moving wood was descried, approaching the citadel from the south-west. the whole body of the mutineers from alost, wearing green branches in their helmets--had arrived under command of their eletto, navarrete. nearly three thousand in number, they rushed into the castle, having accomplished their march of twenty-four miles since three o'clock in the morning. they were received with open arms. sancho d'avila ordered food and refreshments to be laid before them, but they refused everything but a draught of wine. they would dine in paradise, they said, or sup in antwerp. finding his allies in such spirit, don sancho would not balk their humor. since early morning, his own veterans had been eagerly awaiting his signal, "straining upon the start." the troops of romero, vargas, valdez, were no less impatient. at about an hour before noon, nearly every living man in the citadel was mustered for the attack, hardly men enough being left behind to guard the gates. five thousand veteran foot soldiers, besides six hundred cavalry, armed to the teeth, sallied from the portals of alva's citadel. in the counterscarp they fell upon their knees, to invoke, according to custom, the blessing of god upon the devil's work, which they were about to commit. the bletto bore a standard, one side of which was emblazoned with the crucified saviour, and the other with the virgin mary. the image of him who said, "love-your enemies," and the gentle face of the madonna, were to smile from heaven upon deeds which might cause a shudder in the depths of hell. their brief orisons concluded, they swept forward to the city. three thousand spaniards, under their eletto, were to enter by the street of saint michael; the germans, and the remainder of the spanish foot, commanded by romero, through that of saint george. champagny saw them coming, and spoke a last word of encouragement to the walloons. the next moment the compact mass struck the barrier, as the thunderbolt descends from the cloud. there was scarcely a struggle. the walloons, not waiting to look their enemy in the face, abandoned the posts which whey had themselves claimed. the spaniards crashed through the bulwark, as though it had been a wall of glass. the eletto was first to mount the rampart; the next instant he was shot dead, while his followers, undismayed, sprang over his body, and poured into the streets. the fatal gap, due to timidity and carelessness, let in the destructive tide. champagny, seeing that the enemies had all crossed the barrier; leaped over a garden wall, passed through a house into a narrow lane, and thence to the nearest station of the german troops. hastily collecting a small force, he led them in person to the rescue. the germans fought well, died well, but they could not reanimate the courage of the walloons, and all were now in full retreat, pursued by the ferocious spaniards. in vain champagny stormed among them; in vain he strove to rally their broken ranks. with his own hand he seized a banner from a retreating ensign, and called upon the nearest soldiers to make's stand against the foe. it was to bid the flying clouds pause before the tempest. torn, broken, aimless, the scattered troops whirled through the streets before the pursuing wrath. champagny, not yet despairing, galloped hither and thither, calling upon the burghers everywhere to rise in defence of their homes, nor did he call in vain. they came forth from every place of rendezvous, from every alley, from every house. they fought as men fight to defend their hearths and altars, but what could individual devotion avail, against the compact, disciplined, resistless mass of their foes? the order of defence was broken, there was no system, no concert, no rallying point, no authority. so soon as it was known that the spaniards had crossed the rampart, that its six thousand defenders were in full retreat, it was inevitable that a panic should seize the city. their entrance once effected, the spanish force had separated; according to previous arrangement, into two divisions, one half charging up the long street of saint michael, the other forcing its way through the street of saint joris. "santiago, santiago! espana, espana! a sangre, a carne, a fuego, a sacco!" saint james, spain, blood, flesh, fire, sack!!--such were the hideous cries which rang through every quarter of the city, as the savage horde advanced. van ende, with his german troops, had been stationed by the marquis of havre to defend the saint joris gate, but no sooner, did the spaniards under vargas present themselves, than he deserted to them instantly with his whole force. united with the spanish cavalry, these traitorous defenders of antwerp dashed in pursuit of those who had only been fainthearted. thus the burghers saw themselves attacked by many of their friends, deserted by more. whom were they to trust? nevertheless, oberstein's germans were brave and faithful, resisting to the last, and dying every man in his harness. the tide of battle flowed hither and thither, through every street and narrow lane. it poured along the magnificent place de meer, where there was an obstinate contest. in front of the famous exchange, where in peaceful hours, five thousand merchants met daily, to arrange the commercial affairs of christendom, there was a determined rally, a savage slaughter. the citizens and faithful germans, in this broader space, made a stand against their pursuers. the tesselated marble pavement, the graceful, cloister-like arcades ran red with blood. the ill-armed burghers faced their enemies clad in complete panoply, but they could only die for their homes. the massacre at this point was enormous, the resistance at last overcome. meantime, the spanish cavalry had cleft its way through the city. on the side farthest removed from the castle; along the horse-market, opposite the new-town, the states dragoons and the light horse of beveren had been posted, and the flying masses of pursuers and pursued swept at last through this outer circle. champagny was already there. he essayed, as his last hope, to rally the cavalry for a final stand, but the effort was fruitless. already seized by the panic, they had attempted to rush from the city through the gate of eeker. it was locked; they then turned and fled towards the red-gate, where they were met face to face by don pedro tassis, who charged upon them with his dragoons. retreat seemed hopeless. a horseman in complete armor, with lance in rest, was seen to leap from the parapet of the outer wall into the moat below, whence, still on horseback, he escaped with life. few were so fortunate. the confused mob of fugitives and conquerors, spaniards, walloons, germans, burghers, struggling, shouting, striking, cursing, dying, swayed hither and thither like a stormy sea. along the spacious horse-market, the fugitives fled toward towards the quays. many fell beneath the swords of the spaniards, numbers were trodden to death by the hoofs of horses, still greater multitudes were hunted into the scheld. champagny, who had thought it possible, even at the last moment, to make a stand in the newtown, and to fortify the palace of the hansa, saw himself deserted. with great daring and presence of mind, he effected his escape to the fleet of the prince of orange in the river. the marquis of havre, of whom no deeds of valor on that eventful day have been recorded, was equally successful. the unlucky oberstein, attempting to leap into a boat, missed his footing, and oppressed by the weight of his armor, was drowned. meantime, while the short november day was fast declining, the combat still raged in the interior of the city. various currents of conflict, forcing their separate way through many streets, had at last mingled in the grande place. around this irregular, not very spacious square, stood the gorgeous hotel de ville, and the tall, many storied, fantastically gabled, richly decorated palaces of the guilds, here a long struggle took place. it was terminated for a time by the cavalry of vargas, who, arriving through the streets of saint joris, accompanied by the traitor van ende, charged decisively into the melee. the masses were broken, but multitudes of armed men found refuge in the buildings, and every house became a fortress. from, every window and balcony a hot fire was poured into the square, as, pent in a corner, the burghers stood at last at bay. it was difficult to carry the houses by storm, but they were soon set on fire. a large number of sutlers and other varlets had accompanied the spaniards from the citadel, bringing torches and kindling materials for the express purpose of firing the town. with great dexterity, these means were now applied, and in a brief interval, the city-hall, and other edifices on the square were in flames. the conflagration spread with rapidity, house after house, street after street, taking fire. nearly a thousand buildings, in the most splendid and wealthy quarter of the city, were soon in a blaze, and multitudes of human beings were burned with them. in the city-hall many were consumed, while others, leaped from the windows to renew the combat below. the many tortuous, streets which led down a slight descent from the rear of the town house to the quays were all one vast conflagration. on the other side, the magnificent cathedral, separated from the grande place by a single row of buildings, was lighted up, but not attacked by the flames. the tall spire cast its gigantic shadow across the last desperate conflict. in the street called the canal au sucre, immediately behind the town-house, there was a fierce struggle, a horrible massacre. a crowd of burghers; grave magistrates, and such of the german soldiers as remained alive, still confronted the ferocious spaniards. there amid the flaming desolation, goswyn verreyck, the heroic margrave of the city, fought with the energy of hatred and despair. the burgomaster, van der meere, lay dead at his feet; senators, soldiers, citizens, fell fast around him, and he sank at last upon a heap of slain. with him effectual resistance ended. the remaining combatants were butchered, or were slowly forced downward to perish in the scheld. women, children, old men, were killed in countless numbers, and still, through all this havoc, directly over the heads of the struggling throng, suspended in mid-air above the din and smoke of the conflict, there sounded, every half-quarter of every hour, as if in gentle mockery, from the belfry of the cathedral, the tender and melodious chimes. never was there a more monstrous massacre, even in the blood-stained history of the netherlands. it was estimated that, in the course of this and the two following days, not less than eight thousand human beings were murdered. the spaniards seemed to cast off even the vizard of humanity. hell seemed emptied of its fiends. night fell upon the scene before the soldiers were masters of the city; but worse horrors began after the contest was ended. this army of brigands had come thither with a definite, practical purpose, for it was not blood-thirst, nor lust, nor revenge, which had impelled them, but it was avarice, greediness for gold. for gold they had waded through all this blood and fire. never had men more simplicity of purpose, more directness in its execution. they had conquered their india at last; its golden mines lay all before them, and every sword should open a shaft. riot and rape might be deferred; even murder, though congenial to their taste, was only subsidiary to their business. they had come to take possession of the city's wealth, and they set themselves faithfully to accomplish their task. for gold, infants were dashed out of existence in their mothers' arms; for gold, parents were tortured in their children's presence; for gold, brides were scourged to death before their husbands' eyes. wherever, treasure was suspected, every expedient which ingenuity; sharpened by greediness, could suggest, was employed to-extort it from its possessors. the fire, spreading more extensively and more rapidly than had been desired through the wealthiest quarter of the city, had unfortunately devoured a vast amount of property. six millions, at least, had thus been swallowed; a destruction by which no one had profited. there was, however, much left. the strong boxes of the merchants, the gold, silver, and precious jewelry, the velvets, satins, brocades, laces, and similar well concentrated and portable plunder, were rapidly appropriated. so far the course was plain and easy, but in private houses it was more difficult. the cash, plate, and other valuables of individuals were not so easily discovered. torture was, therefore; at once employed to discover the hidden treasures. after all had been, given, if the sum seemed too little, the proprietors were brutally punished for their poverty or their supposed dissimulation. a gentlewoman, named fabry, with her aged mother and other females of the family, had taken refuge in the cellar of her mansion. as the day was drawing to a close, a band of plunderers entered, who, after ransacking the house, descended to the cellarage. finding the door barred, they forced it open with gunpowder. the mother, who was nearest the entrance, fell dead on the threshold. stepping across her mangled body, the brigands sprang upon her daughter, loudly demanding the property which they believed to be concealed. they likewise insisted on being informed where the master of the house had taken refuge. protestations of ignorance as to hidden treasure, or the whereabouts of her husband, who, for aught she knew, was lying dead in the streets, were of no avail. to make her more communicative, they hanged her on a beam in the cellar, and after a few moments cut her down before life was extinct. still receiving no satisfactory reply, where a satisfactory reply was impossible, they hanged her again. again, after another brief interval they gave her a second release, and a fresh interrogatory. this barbarity they repeated several times, till they were satisfied that there was nothing to be gained by it, while, on, the other hand, they were losing much valuable time. hoping to be more successful elsewhere, they left her hanging for the last time, and trooped off to fresher fields. strange to relate, the person thus horribly tortured, survived. a servant in her family, married to a spanish soldier, providentially entered the house in time to rescue her perishing mistress. she was restored to existence, but never to reason. her brain was hopelessly crazed, and she passed the remainder of her life wandering about her house, or feebly digging in her garden for the buried treasure which she had been thus fiercely solicited to reveal. a wedding-feast was rudely interrupted. two young persons, neighbours of opulent families, had been long betrothed, and the marriage day had been fixed for sunday, the fatal th of november. the guests were assembled, the ceremony concluded, the nuptial banquet in progress, when the horrible outcries in the streets proclaimed that the spaniards had broken loose. hour after hour of trembling expectation succeeded. at last, a thundering at the gate proclaimed the arrival of a band of brigands. preceded by their captain, a large number of soldiers forced their way into the house, ransacking every chamber, no opposition being offered by the family and friends, too few and powerless to cope with this band of well-armed ruffians. plate chests, wardrobes, desks, caskets of jewelry, were freely offered, eagerly accepted, but not found sufficient, and to make the luckless wretches furnish more than they possessed, the usual brutalities were employed. the soldiers began by striking the bridegroom dead. the bride fell shrieking into her mother's arms, whence she was torn by the murderers, who immediately put the mother to death, and an indiscriminate massacre then followed the fruitless attempt to obtain by threats and torture treasure which did not exist. the bride, who was of remarkable beauty, was carried off to the citadel. maddened by this last outrage, the father, who was the only man of the party left alive, rushed upon the spaniards. wresting a sword from one of the crew, the old man dealt with it so fiercely, that he stretched more than one enemy dead at his feet, but it is needless to add that he was soon despatched. meantime, while the party were concluding the plunder of the mansion, the bride was left in a lonely apartment of the fortress. without wasting time in fruitless lamentation, she resolved to quit the life which a few hours had made so desolate. she had almost succeeded in hanging herself with a massive gold chain which she wore, when her captor entered the apartment. inflamed, not with lust, but with avarice, excited not by her charms, but by her jewelry; he rescued her from her perilous position. he then took possession of her chain and the other trinkets with which her wedding-dress was adorned, and caused her; to be entirely stripped of her clothing. she was then scourged with rods till her beautiful body was bathed in blood, and at last alone, naked, nearly mad, was sent back into the city. here the forlorn creature wandered up and down through the blazing streets, among the heaps of dead and dying, till she was at last put out of her misery by a gang of soldiers. such are a few isolated instances, accidentally preserved in their details, of the general horrors inflicted on this occasion. others innumerable have sunk into oblivion. on the morning of the th of november, antwerp presented a ghastly sight. the magnificent marble town-house, celebrated as a "world's wonder," even in that age and country, in which so much splendour was lavished on municipal palaces, stood a blackened ruin--all but the walls destroyed, while its archives, accounts, and other valuable contents, had perished. the more splendid portion of the city had been consumed; at least five hundred palaces, mostly of marble or hammered stone, being a smouldering mass of destruction. the dead bodies of those fallen in the massacre were on every side, in greatest profusion around the place de meer, among the gothic pillars of the exchange, and in the streets near the town-house. the german soldiers lay in their armor, some with their heads burned from their bodies, some with legs and arms consumed by the flames through which they had fought. the margrave goswyn verreyck, the burgomaster van der meere, the magistrates lancelot van urselen, nicholas van boekholt, and other leading citizens, lay among piles of less distinguished slain. they remained unburied until the overseers of the poor, on whom the living had then more importunate claims than the dead, were compelled by roda to bury them out of the pauper fund. the murderers were too thrifty to be at funeral charges for their victims. the ceremony was not hastily performed, for the number of corpses had not been completed. two days longer the havoc lasted in the city. of all the crimes which men can commit, whether from deliberate calculation or in the frenzy of passion, hardly one was omitted, for riot, gaming, rape, which had been postponed to the more stringent claims of robbery and murder, were now rapidly added to the sum of atrocities. history has recorded the account indelibly on her brazen tablets; it can be adjusted only at the judgment-seat above. of all the deeds of darkness yet compassed in the netherlands, this was the worst. it was called the spanish fury, by which dread name it has been known for ages. the city, which had been a world of wealth and splendor, was changed to a charnel-house, and from that hour its commercial prosperity was blasted. other causes had silently girdled the yet green and flourishing tree, but the spanish fury was the fire which consumed it to ashes. three thousand dead bodies were discovered in the streets, as many more were estimated to have perished in the scheld, and nearly an equal number were burned or destroyed in other ways. eight thousand persons undoubtedly were put to death. six millions of property were destroyed by the fire, and at least as much more was obtained by the spaniards. in this enormous robbery no class of people was respected. foreign merchants, living under the express sanction and protection of the spanish monarch, were plundered with as little reserve as flemings. ecclesiastics of the roman church were compelled to disgorge their wealth as freely as calvinists. the rich were made to contribute all their abundance, and the poor what could be wrung from their poverty. neither paupers nor criminals were safe. captain caspar ortis made a brilliant speculation by taking possession of the stein, or city prison, whence he ransomed all the inmates who could find means to pay for their liberty. robbers, murderers, even anabaptists, were thus again let loose. rarely has so small a band obtained in three days' robbery so large an amount of wealth. four or five millions divided among five thousand soldiers made up for long arrearages, and the spaniards had reason to congratulate themselves upon having thus taken the duty of payment into their own hands. it is true that the wages of iniquity were somewhat unequally distributed, somewhat foolishly squandered. a private trooper was known to lose ten thousand crowns in one day in a gambling transaction at the bourse, for the soldiers, being thus handsomely in funds, became desirous of aping the despised and plundered merchants, and resorted daily to the exchange, like men accustomed to affairs. the dearly purchased gold was thus lightly squandered by many, while others, more prudent, melted their portion into sword-hilts, into scabbards, even into whole suits of armor, darkened, by precaution, to appear made entirely of iron. the brocades, laces, and jewelry of antwerp merchants were converted into coats of mail for their destroyers. the goldsmiths, however, thus obtained an opportunity to outwit their plunderers, and mingled in the golden armor which they were forced to furnish much more alloy than their employers knew. a portion of the captured booty was thus surreptitiously redeemed. in this spanish fury many more were massacred in antwerp than in the saint bartholomew at paris. almost as many living human beings were dashed out of existence now as there had been statues destroyed in the memorable image-breaking of antwerp, ten years before, an event which had sent such a thrill of horror through the heart of catholic christendom. yet the netherlanders and the protestants of europe may be forgiven, if they regarded this massacre of their brethren with as much execration as had been bestowed upon that fury against stocks and stones. at least, the image-breakers, had been actuated by an idea, and their hands were polluted neither with blood nor rapine. perhaps the spaniards had been. governed equally by religious fanaticism.--might not they believe they were meriting well of their mother church while they were thus disencumbering infidels of their wealth and earth of its infidels? had not the pope and his cardinals gone to church in solemn procession, to render thanks unto god for the massacre of paris? had not cannon thundered and beacons blazed to commemorate that auspicious event? why should not the antwerp executioners claim equal commendation? even if in their delirium they had confounded friend with foe, catholic with calvinist, and church property with lay, could they not point to an equal number of dead bodies, and to an incredibly superior amount of plunder? marvellously few spaniards were slain in these eventful days. two hundred killed is the largest number stated. the discrepancy seems monstrous, but it is hardly more than often existed between the losses inflicted and sustained by the spaniards in such combats. their prowess was equal to their ferocity, and this was enough to make them seem endowed with preterhuman powers. when it is remembered, also, that the burghers were insufficiently armed, that many of their defenders turned against them, that many thousands fled in the first moments of the encounter--and when the effect of a sudden and awful panic is duly considered, the discrepancy between the number of killed on the two sides will not seem so astonishing. a few officers of distinction were taken, alive and carried to the castle. among these were the seigneur de capres and young count egmont. the councillor jerome de roda was lounging on a chair in an open gallery when these two gentlemen were brought before him, and capres was base enough to make a low obeisance to the man who claimed to represent the whole government of his majesty. the worthy successor of vargas replied to his captive's greeting by a "kick in his stomach," adding, with a brutality which his prototype might have envied, "ah puto tradidor,--whoreson traitor, let me have no salutations from such as you." young egmont, who had been captured, fighting bravely at the head of coward troops, by julian romero, who nine years before had stood on his father's scaffold, regarded this brutal scene with haughty indignation. this behaviour had more effect upon roda than the suppleness of capres. "i am sorry for your misfortune, count," said the councillor, without however rising from his chair; "such is the lot of those who take arms against their king." this was the unfortunate commencement of philip egmont's career, which was destined to be inglorious, vacillating, base, and on more than one occasion unlucky. a shiver ran through the country as the news of the horrible crime was spread, but it was a shiver of indignation, not of fear. already the negotiations at ghent between the representatives of the prince and of holland and zealand with the deputies of the other provinces were in a favorable train, and the effect of this event upon their counsels was rather quickening than appalling. a letter from jerome de roda to the king was intercepted, giving an account of the transaction. in that document the senator gave the warmest praise to sancho d'avila, julian romero, alonzo de vargas, francis verdugo, as well as to the german colonels fugger, frondsberger, polwiller, and others who had most exerted themselves in the massacre. "i wish your majesty much good of this victory," concluded the councillor, "'tis a very great one, and the damage to the city is enormous." this cynical view was not calculated to produce a soothing effect on the exasperated minds of the people. on the other hand, the estates of brabant addressed an eloquent appeal to the states-general, reciting their wrongs, and urging immediate action. "'tis notorious," said the remonstrants, "that antwerp was but yesterday the first and principal ornament of all europe; the refuge of all the nations of the world; the source and supply of countless treasure; the nurse of all arts and industry; the protectress of the roman catholic religion; the guardian of science and virtue; and, above all these preeminences; more than faithful and obedient to her sovereign prince and lord. the city is now changed to a gloomy cavern, filled with robbers and murderers, enemies of god, the king, and all good subjects." they then proceeded to recite the story of the massacre, whereof the memory shall be abominable so long as the world stands, and concluded with an urgent appeal for redress. they particularly suggested that an edict should forthwith be passed, forbidding the alienation of property and the exportation of goods in any form from antwerp, together with concession of the right to the proprietors of reclaiming their stolen property summarily, whenever and wheresoever it might be found. in accordance with these instructions, an edict was passed, but somewhat tardily, in the hope of relieving some few of the evil consequences by which the antwerp fury had been attended. at about the same time the prince of orange addressed a remarkable letter to the states-general then assembled at ghent, urging them to hasten the conclusion of the treaty. the news of the massacre, which furnished an additional and most vivid illustration of the truth of his letter, had not then reached him at middelburg, but the earnestness of his views, taken in connexion with this last dark deed, exerted a powerful and indelible effect. the letter was a masterpiece, because it was necessary, in his position, to inflame without alarming; to stimulate the feelings which were in unison, without shocking those which, if aroused, might prove discordant. without; therefore, alluding in terms to the religious question, he dwelt upon the necessity of union, firmness, and wariness. if so much had been done by holland and zealand, how much more might be hoped when all the provinces were united? "the principal flower of the spanish army has fallen," he said, "without having been able to conquer one of those provinces from those whom they call, in mockery, poor beggars; yet what is that handful of cities compared to all the provinces which might join us in the quarrel?" he warned the states of the necessity of showing a strong and united front; the king having been ever led to consider the movement in the netherlands a mere conspiracy of individuals. "the king told me himself; in ," said orange, "that if the estates had no pillars to lean upon, they would not talk so loud." it was, therefore, "necessary to show that prelates, abbots, monks, seigniors, gentlemen, burghers, and peasants, the whole people in short, now cried with one voice, and desired with one will. to such a demonstration the king would not dare oppose himself. by thus preserving a firm and united front, sinking all minor differences, they would, moreover, inspire their friends and foreign princes with confidence. the princes of germany, the lords and gentlemen of france, the queen of england, although sympathizing with the misfortunes of the netherlanders, had been unable effectually to help them, so long as their disunion prevented them from helping themselves; so long as even their appeal to arms seemed merely a levy of bucklers, an emotion of the populace, which, like a wave of the sea, rises and sinks again as soon as risen." while thus exciting to union and firmness, he also took great pains to instil the necessity of wariness. they were dealing with an artful foe. intercepted letters had already proved that the old dissimulation was still to be employed; that while don john of austria was on his way, the netherlanders were to be lulled into confidence by glozing speeches. roda was provided by the king with a secret programme of instructions for the new governor's guidance and don sancho d'avila, for his countenance to the mutineers of alost, had been applauded to the echo in spain. was not this applause a frequent indication of the policy to be adopted by don john, and a thousand times more significative one than the unmeaning phrases of barren benignity with which public documents might be crammed? "the old tricks are again brought into service," said the prince; "therefore 'tis necessary to ascertain your veritable friends, to tear off the painted masks from those who, under pretence-of not daring to displease the king, are seeking to swim between two waters. 'tis necessary to have a touchstone; to sign a declaration in such wise that you may know whom to trust, and whom to suspect." the massacre at antwerp and the eloquence of the prince produced a most quickening effect upon the congress at ghent. their deliberations had proceeded with decorum and earnestness, in the midst of the cannonading against the citadel, and the fortress fell on the same day which saw the conclusion of the treaty. this important instrument, by which the sacrifices and exertions of the prince were, for a brief season, at least, rewarded, contained twenty-five articles. the prince of orange, with the estates of holland and zealand, on the one side, and the provinces signing, or thereafter to sign the treaty, on the other, agreed that there should be a mutual forgiving and forgetting, as regarded the past. they vowed a close and faithful friendship for the future. they plighted a mutual promise to expel the spaniards from the netherlands without delay. as soon as this great deed should be done, there was to be a convocation of the states-general, on the basis of that assembly before which the abdication of the emperor had taken place. by this congress, the affairs of religion in holland and zealand should be regulated, as well as the surrender of fortresses and other places belonging to his majesty. there was to be full liberty of communication and traffic between the citizens of the one side and the other. it should not be legal, however, for those of holland and zealand to attempt anything outside their own territory against the roman catholic religion, nor for cause hereof to injure or irritate any one, by deed or word. all the placards and edicts on the subject of heresy, together with the criminal ordinances made by the duke of alva, were suspended, until the states-general should otherwise ordain. the prince was to remain lieutenant, admiral, and general for his majesty in holland, zealand, and the associated places, till otherwise provided by the states-general; after the departure of the spaniards. the cities and places included in the prince's commission, but not yet acknowledging his authority, should receive satisfaction from him, as to the point of religion and other matters, before subscribing to the union. all prisoners, and particularly the comte de bossu, should be released without ransom. all estates and other property not already alienated should be restored, all confiscations since being declared null and void. the countess palatine, widow of brederode, and count de buren, son of the prince of orange, were expressly named in this provision. prelates and ecclesiastical persons; having property in holland and zealand, should be reinstated, if possible; but in case of alienation, which was likely to be generally the case; there should be reasonable compensation. it was to be decided by the states-general whether the provinces should discharge the debts incurred by the prince of orange in his two campaigns. provinces and cities should not have the benefit of this union until they had signed the treaty, but they should be permitted to sign it when they chose. this memorable document was subscribed at ghent, on the th of november, by saint aldegonde, with eight other commissioners appointed by the prince of orange and the estates of holland on the one side, and by elbertus leoninus and other deputies appointed by brabant, flanders, artois, hainault, valenciennes, lille, douay, orchies, namur, tournay, utrecht, and mechlin on the other side. the arrangement was a masterpiece of diplomacy on the part of the prince, for it was as effectual a provision for the safety of the reformed religion as could be expected under the circumstances. it was much, considering the change which had been wrought of late years in the fifteen provinces, that they should consent to any treaty with their two heretic sisters. it was much more that the pacification should recognize the new religion as the established creed of holland and zealand, while at the same time the infamous edicts of charles were formally abolished. in the fifteen catholic provinces, there was to be no prohibition of private reformed worship, and it might be naturally expected that with time and the arrival of the banished religionists, a firmer stand would be taken in favor of the reformation. meantime, the new religion was formally established in two provinces, and tolerated, in secret, in the other fifteen; the inquisition was for ever abolished, and the whole strength of the nation enlisted to expel the foreign soldiery from the soil. this was the work of william the silent, and the great prince thus saw the labor of years crowned with, at least, a momentary success. his satisfaction was very great when it was announced to him, many days before the exchange of the signatures, that the treaty had been concluded. he was desirous that the pacification should be referred for approval, not to the municipal magistrates only, but to the people itself. in all great emergencies, the man who, in his whole character, least resembled a demagogue, either of antiquity or of modern times, was eager for a fresh expression of the popular will. on this occasion, however, the demand for approbation was superfluous. the whole country thought with his thoughts, and spoke with his words, and the pacification, as soon as published, was received with a shout of joy. proclaimed in the marketplace of every city and village, it was ratified, not by votes, but by hymns of thanksgiving, by triumphal music, by thundering of cannon, and by the blaze of beacons, throughout the netherlands. another event added to the satisfaction of the hour. the country so recently, and by deeds of such remarkable audacity, conquered by the spaniards in the north, was recovered almost simultaneously with the conclusion of the ghent treaty. it was a natural consequence of the great mutiny. the troops having entirely deserted mondragon, it became necessary for that officer to abandon zierickzee, the city which had been won with so much valor. in the beginning of november, the capital, and with it the whole island of schouwen, together with the rest of zealand, excepting tholen, was recovered by count hohenlo, lieutenant-general of the prince of orange, and acting according to his instructions. thus, on this particular point of time, many great events had been crowded. at the very same moment zealand had been redeemed, antwerp ruined, and the league of all the netherlands against the spaniards concluded. it now became known that another and most important event had occurred at the same instant. on the day before the antwerp massacre, four days before the publication of the ghent treaty, a foreign cavalier, attended by a moorish slave and by six men-at-arms, rode into the streets of luxemburg. the cavalier was don ottavio gonzaga, brother of the prince of melfi. the moorish slave was don john of austria, the son of the emperor, the conqueror of granada, the hero of lepanto. the new governor-general had traversed spain and france in disguise with great celerity, and in the romantic manner which belonged to his character. he stood at last on the threshold of the netherlands, but with all his speed he had arrived a few days too late. etext editor's bookmarks: a common hatred united them, for a time at least a most fatal success all claimed the privilege of persecuting blessing of god upon the devil's work daily widening schism between lutherans and calvinists dying at so very inconvenient a moment eight thousand human beings were murdered everything was conceded, but nothing was secured fanatics of the new religion denounced him as a godless man glory could be put neither into pocket nor stomach he would have no calvinist inquisition set up in its place he would have no persecution of the opposite creed in character and general talents he was beneath mediocrity indecision did the work of indolence insinuate that his orders had been hitherto misunderstood king set a price upon his head as a rebel no man could reveal secrets which he did not know of high rank but of lamentably low capacity pope excommunicated him as a heretic preventing wrong, or violence, even towards an enemy they could not invent or imagine toleration uunmeaning phrases of barren benignity motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley part v. don john of austria. chapter i. - birth and parentage of don john--barbara blomberg--early education and recognition by philip--brilliant military career--campaign against the moors--battle of lepanto--extravagant ambition--secret and rapid journey of the new governor to the netherlands--contrast between don john and william of orange--secret instructions of philip and private purposes of the governor--cautious policy and correspondence of the prince--preliminary, negotiations with don john at luxemburg characterized--union of brussels--resumption of negotiations with the governor at huy--the discussions analyzed and characterized--influence of the new emperor rudolph ii. and of his envoys--treaty of marche en famine, or the perpetual edict, signed-- remarks upon that transaction--views and efforts of orange in opposition to the treaty--his letter, in name of holland and zealand, to the states-general--anxiety of the royal government to gain over the prince--secret mission of leoninus--his instructions from don john--fruitless attempts to corrupt the prince--secret correspondence between don john and orange--don john at louvain--his efforts to ingratiate himself with the netherlanders--his incipient popularity--departure of the spanish troops--duke of aerschot appointed governor of antwerp citadel--his insincere character. don john of austria was now in his thirty-second year, having been born in ratisbon on the th of february, . his father was charles the fifth, emperor of germany, king of spain, dominator of asia, africa, and america; his mother was barbara blomberg, washerwoman of ratisbon. introduced to the emperor, originally, that she might alleviate his melancholy by her singing, she soon exhausted all that was harmonious in her nature, for never was a more uncomfortable, unmanageable personage than barbara in her after life. married to one pyramus kegell, who was made a military commissary in the netherlands, she was left a widow in the beginning of alva's administration. placed under the especial superintendence of the duke, she became the torment of that warrior's life. the terrible governor, who could almost crush the heart out of a nation of three millions, was unable to curb this single termagant. philip had expressly forbidden her to marry again, but alva informed him that she was surrounded by suitors. philip had insisted that she should go into a convent, but alva, who, with great difficulty, had established her quietly in ghent, assured his master that she would break loose again at the bare suggestion of a convent. philip wished her to go to spain, sending her word that don john was mortified by the life his mother was leading, but she informed the governor that she would be cut to pieces before she would go to spain. she had no objection to see her son, but she knew too well how women were treated in that country. the duke complained most pathetically to his majesty of the life they all led with the ex-mistress of the emperor. never, he frequently observed, had woman so terrible a head. she was obstinate, reckless, abominably extravagant. she had been provided in ghent with a handsome establishment: "with a duenna, six other women, a major domo, two pages, one chaplain, an almoner, and four men-servants," and this seemed a sufficiently liberal scheme of life for the widow of a commissary. moreover, a very ample allowance had been made for the education of her only legitimate son, conrad, the other having perished by an accident on the day of his father's death. while don john of austria was, gathering laurels in granada, his half-brother, pyramus junior, had been ingloriously drowned in a cistern at ghent. barbara's expenses were exorbitant; her way of life scandalous. to send her money, said alva, was to throw it into the sea. in two days she would have spent in dissipation and feasting any sums which the king might choose to supply. the duke, who feared nothing else in the world, stood in mortal awe of the widow kegell. "a terrible animal, indeed, is an unbridled woman," wrote secretary gayas, from madrid, at the close of alva's administration for, notwithstanding every effort to entice, to intimidate, and to kidnap her from the netherlands, there she remained, through all vicissitudes, even till the arrival of don john. by his persuasions or commands she was, at last, induced to accept an exile for the remainder of her days, in spain, but revenged herself by asserting. that he was quite mistaken: in supposing himself the emperor's child; a point, certainly, upon which her, authority might be thought conclusive. thus there was a double mystery about don john. he might be the issue of august parentage on one side; he was; possibly, sprung of most ignoble blood. base-born at best, he was not sure whether to look for the author of his being in the halls of the caesara or the booths of ratisbon mechanics. [cabrera, xii. . an absurd rumor had existed that barbara blomberg had only been employed to personate don john's mother. she died at an estate called arronjo de molinos, four leagues from madrid, some years after the death of don john.] whatever might be the heart of the mystery, it is certain that it was allowed to enwrap all the early life of don john. the emperor, who certainly never doubted his responsibility for the infant's existence, had him conveyed instantly to spain, where he was delivered to louis quixada, of the imperial household, by whom he was brought up in great retirement at villa-garcia. magdalen ulloa, wife of quixada, watched over his infancy with maternal and magnanimous care, for her husband's extreme solicitude for the infant's welfare had convinced her that he was its father. on one occasion, when their house was in flames, quixada rescued the infant before he saved his wife, "although magdalen knew herself to be dearer to him than the apple of his eye." from that time forth she altered her opinion, and believed the mysterious child to be of lofty origin. the boy grew up full of beauty, grace, and agility, the leader of all his companions in every hardy sport. through the country round there were none who could throw the javelin, break a lance, or ride at the ring like little juan quixada. in taming unmanageable horses he was celebrated for his audacity and skill. these accomplishments, however, were likely to prove of but slender advantage in the ecclesiastical profession, to which he had been destined by his imperial father. the death of charles occurred before clerical studies had been commenced, and philip, to whom the secret had been confided at the close of the emperor's life, prolonged the delay thus interposed. juan had already reached his fourteenth year, when one day his supposed father quixada invited him to ride towards valladolid to see the royal hunt. two horses stood at the door--a splendidly caparisoned charger and a common hackney. the boy naturally mounted the humbler steed, and they set forth for the mountains of toro, but on hearing the bugles of the approaching huntsmen, quixada suddenly halted, and bade his youthful companion exchange horses with himself. when this had been done, he seized the hand of the wondering boy and kissing it respectfully, exclaimed, "your highness will be informed as to the meaning of my conduct by his majesty, who is even now approaching." they had proceeded but a short distance before they encountered the royal hunting party, when both quixada and young juan dismounted, and bent the knee to their monarch. philip, commanding the boy to rise, asked him if he knew his father's name. juan replied, with a sigh, that he had at that moment lost the only father whom he had known, for quixada had just disowned him. "you have the same father as myself," cried the king; "the emperor charles was the august parent of us both." then tenderly embracing him, he commanded him to remount his horse, and all returned together to valladolid, philip observing with a sentimentality that seems highly apocryphal, that he had never brought home such precious game from any hunt before. this theatrical recognition of imperial descent was one among the many romantic incidents of don john's picturesque career, for his life was never destined to know the commonplace. he now commenced his education, in company with his two nephews, the duchess margaret's son, and don carlos, prince-royal of spain. they were all of the same age, but the superiority of don john was soon recognized. it was not difficult to surpass the limping, malicious, carlos, either in physical graces or intellectual accomplishments; but the graceful; urbane, and chivalrous alexander, destined afterwards to such wide celebrity, was a more formidable rival, yet even the professed panegyrist of the farnese family, exalts the son of barbara blomberg over the grandson of margaret van geest. still destined for the clerical profession, don john, at the age of eighteen, to avoid compliance with philip's commands, made his escape to barcelona. it was his intention to join the maltese expedition. recalled peremptorily by philip, he was for a short time in disgrace; but afterwards made his peace with the monarch by denouncing some of the mischievous schemes of don carlos. between the prince-royal and the imperial bastard, there had always been a deep animosity, the infante having on one occasion saluted him with the most vigorous and offensive appellation which his illegitimate birth could suggest. "base-born or not," returned don john, "at any rate i had a better father than yours." the words were probably reported to philip and doubtless rankled in his breast, but nothing appeared on the surface, and the youth rose rapidly in favor. in his twenty-third year, he was appointed to the command of the famous campaign against the insurgent moors of granada. here he reaped his first laurels, and acquired great military celebrity. it is difficult to be dazzled by such glory. he commenced his operations by the expulsion of nearly all the moorish inhabitants of granada, bed-ridden men, women, and children, together, and the cruelty inflicted, the sufferings patiently endured in that memorable deportation, were enormous. but few of the many thousand exiles survived the horrid march, those who were so unfortunate as to do so being sold into slavery by their captors. still a few moors held out in their mountain fastnesses, and two years long the rebellion of this handful made head against the power of spain. had their envoys to the porte succeeded in their negotiation, the throne of philip might have trembled; but selim hated the republic of venice as much as he loved the wine of cyprus. while the moors were gasping out their last breath in granada and ronda, the turks had wrested the island of venus from the grasp of the haughty republic fainagosta had fallen; thousands of venetians had been butchered with a ferocity which even christians could not have surpassed; the famous general bragadino had been flayed; stuffed, and sent hanging on the yard-arm of a frigate; to constantinople, as a present to the commander of the faithful; and the mortgage of catherine cornaro, to the exclusion of her husband's bastards, had been thus definitely cancelled. with such practical enjoyments, selim was indifferent to the splendid but shadowy vision of the occidental caliphate--yet the revolt of the moors was only terminated, after the departure of don john, by the duke of arcos. the war which the sultan had avoided in the west, came to seek him in the east. to lift the crucifix against the crescent, at the head of the powerful but quarrelsome alliance between venice, spain, and rome, don john arrived at naples. he brought with him more than a hundred ships and twenty-three thousand men, as the spanish contingent:--three months long the hostile fleets had been cruising in the same waters without an encounter; three more were wasted in barren manoeuvres. neither mussulman nor christian had much inclination for the conflict, the turk fearing the consequences of a defeat, by which gains already secured might be forfeited; the allies being appalled at the possibility of their own triumph. nevertheless, the ottomans manoeuvred themselves at last into the gulf of lepanto, the christians manoeuvred themselves towards its mouth as the foe was coming forth again. the conflict thus rendered inevitable, both turk and christian became equally eager for the fray, equally confident of, victory. six hundred vessels of war met face to face. rarely in history had so gorgeous a scene of martial array been witnessed. an october sun gilded the thousand beauties of an ionian landscape. athens and corinth were behind the combatants, the mountains of alexander's macedon rose in the distance; the rock of sappho and the heights of actium, were before their eyes. since the day when the world had been lost and won beneath that famous promontory, no such combat as the one now approaching had been fought upon the waves. the chivalrous young commander despatched energetic messages to his fellow chieftains, and now that it was no longer possible to elude the encounter, the martial ardor of the allies was kindled. the venetian high-admiral replied with words of enthusiasm. colonna, lieutenant of the league, answered his chief in the language of st. peter; "though i die, yet will i not deny thee." the fleet was arranged in three divisions. the ottomans, not drawn up in crescent form, as usual, had the same triple disposition. barbarigo and the other venetians commanded on the left, john andrew doria on the right, while don john himself and colonna were in the centre, crucifix in hand, the high-admiral rowed from ship to ship exhorting generals and soldiers to show themselves worthy of a cause which he had persuaded himself was holy. fired by his eloquence and by the sight of the enemy, his hearers answered with eager shouts, while don john returned to his ship; knelt upon the quarter-deck, and offered a prayer. he then ordered the trumpets to sound the assault, commanded his sailing-master to lay him alongside the turkish admiral, and the battle began. the venetians, who were first attacked, destroyed ship after ship of their assailants after a close and obstinate contest, but barliarigo fell dead ere the sunset, with an arrow through his brain. meantime the action, immediately after the first onset, had become general. from noon till evening the battle raged, with a carnage rarely recorded in history. don john's own ship lay yard-arm and yard-arm with the turkish admiral, and exposed to the fire of seven large vessels besides. it was a day when personal, audacity, not skilful tactics, was demanded, and the imperial bastard showed the metal he was made of. the turkish admiral's ship was destroyed, his head exposed from don john's deck upon a pike, and the trophy became the signal for a general panic and a complete victory. by sunset the battle had been won. of nearly three hundred turkish galleys, but fifty made their escape. from twenty-five to thirty thousand turks were slain, and perhaps ten thousand christians. the galley-slaves on both sides fought well, and the only beneficial result of the victory was the liberation of several thousand christian captives. it is true that their liberty was purchased with the lives of a nearly equal number of christian soldiers, and by the reduction to slavery of almost as many thousand mussulmen, duly distributed among the christian victors. many causes--contributed to this splendid triumph. the turkish ships, inferior in number, were also worse manned than those of their adversaries; and their men were worse armed. every bullet of the christians told on muslin turbans and embroidered tunics, while the arrows of the moslems fell harmless on the casques and corslets of their foes. the turks, too, had committed the fatal error of fighting upon a lee shore. having no sea room, and being repelled in their first onset, many galleys were driven upon the rocks, to be destroyed with all their crews. [cabrera says that thirty thousand turks were slain, ten thousand made prisoners, ten thousand christians killed, and fifteen thousand christian prisoners liberated, ix. . de thou's estimate is twenty-five thousand turks killed, three thousand prisoners, and ten thousand christians killed, vi. . brantome states the number of turks killed at thirty thousand, without counting those who were drowned or who died afterwards of their wounds; six thousand prisoners, twelve thousand christian prisoners liberated, and ten thousand christians killed. hoofd, vi. , gives the figures at twenty-five thousand turks and ten thousand christians slain. bor, v. , makes a minute estimate, on the authority of pietro contareno, stating the number of christians killed at seven thousand six hundred and fifty, that of turks at twenty-five thousand one hundred and fifty, turkish prisoners at three thousand eight hundred and forty-six, and christians liberated at twelve thousand; giving the number of turkish ships destroyed at eighty, captured fifty. according to the "relation cierta y verdadera," (which was drawn up a few days after the action,) the number of turks slain was thirty thousand and upwards, besides many prisoners, that of christians killed was seven thousand, of christian slaves liberated twelve thousand, of ottoman ships taken or destroyed two hundred and thirty. documentos ineditos, iii. . philip sent an express order, forbidding the ransoming of even the captive officers. the turkish slaves were divided among the victors in the proportion of one-half to philip and one-half to the pope and venice. the other booty was distributed on the same principle. out of the pope's share don john received, as a present, one hundred and seventy-four slaves (documentos ineditos, iii. ). alexander of parma received thirty slaves; requesens thirty. to each general of infantry was assigned six slaves; to each colonel four; to each ship's captain one. the number of "slaves in chains" (esclavos de cadena) allotted to philip was thirty-six hundred (documentoa ineditos, ). seven thousand two hundred turkish slaves, therefore, at least, were divided among christians. this number of wretches, who were not fortunate enough to die with their twenty- five thousand comrades, must be set off against the twelve thousand christian slaves liberated, in the general settlement of the account with humanity.] but whatever the cause of the victory, its consequence was to spread the name and fame of don john of austria throughout the world. alva wrote, with enthusiasm, to congratulate him; pronouncing the victory the most brilliant one ever achieved by christians, and don john the greatest general since the death of julius caesar. at the same time, with a sarcastic fling at the erection of the escorial, he advised philip to improve this new success in some more practical way than by building a house for the lord and a sepulchre for the dead. "if," said the duke, "the conquests of spain be extended in consequence of this triumph, then, indeed, will the cherubim and seraphim sing glory to god." a courier, despatched post haste to spain, bore the glorious news, together with the sacred, standard of the prophet, the holy of holies, inscribed with the name of allah twenty-eight thousand nine hundred times, always kept in mecca during peace, and never since the conquest of constantinople lost in battle before. the king was at vespers in the escorial. entering the sacred precincts, breathless, travel-stained, excited, the messenger found philip impassible as marble to the wondrous news. not a muscle of the royal visage was moved, not a syllable escaped the royal lips, save a brief order to the clergy to continue the interrupted vespers. when the service had been methodically concluded, the king made known the intelligence and requested a te deum. the youthful commander-in-chief obtained more than his full mead of glory. no doubt he had fought with brilliant courage, yet in so close and murderous a conflict, the valor of no single individual could decide the day, and the result was due to the combined determination of all. had don john remained at naples, the issue might have easily been the same. barbarigo, who sealed the victory with his blood; colonna, who celebrated a solemn triumph on his return to rome; parma, doria, giustiniani, venieri, might each as well have claimed a monopoly of the glory, had not the pope, at philip's entreaty, conferred the baton of command upon don john. the meagre result of the contest is as notorious as the victory. while constantinople was quivering with apprehension, the rival generals were already wrangling with animosity. had the christian fleet advanced, every soul would have fled from the capital, but providence had ordained otherwise, and don john sailed westwardly with his ships. he made a descent on the barbary coast, captured tunis, destroyed biserta, and brought king amidas and his two sons prisoners to italy. ordered by philip to dismantle the fortifications of tunis, he replied by repairing them thoroughly, and by placing a strong garrison within the citadel. intoxicated with his glory, the young adventurer already demanded a crown, and the pope was disposed to proclaim him king of tunis, for the queen of the lybian seas was to be the capital of his empire, the new carthage which he already dreamed. philip thought it time to interfere, for he felt that his own crown might be insecure, with such a restless and ambitious spirit indulging in possible and impossible chimeras. he removed john de soto, who had been don john's chief councillor and emissary to the pope, and substituted in his place the celebrated and ill-starred escovedo. the new secretary, however, entered as heartily but secretly into all these romantic schemes. disappointed of the empire which he had contemplated on the edge of the african desert, the champion of the cross turned to the cold islands of the northern seas. there sighed, in captivity, the beauteous mary of scotland, victim of the heretic elizabeth. his susceptibility to the charms of beauty--a characteristic as celebrated as his courage--was excited, his chivalry aroused. what holier triumph for the conqueror of the saracens than the subjugation of these northern infidels? he would dethrone the proud elizabeth; he would liberate and espouse the queen of scots, and together they would reign over, the two united realms. all that the pope could do with bulls and blessings, letters of excommunication, and patents of investiture, he did with his whole heart. don john was at liberty to be king of england and scotland as soon as he liked; all that was left to do was to conquer the kingdoms. meantime, while these schemes were flitting through his brain, and were yet kept comparatively secret by the pope, escovedo, and himself, the news reached him in italy that he had been appointed governor-general of the netherlands. nothing could be more opportune. in the provinces were ten thousand veteran spaniards, ripe for adventure, hardened by years of warfare, greedy for gold, audacious almost beyond humanity, the very instruments for his scheme. the times were critical in the netherlands, it was true; yet he would soon pacify those paltry troubles, and then sweep forward to his prize. yet events were rushing forward with such feverish rapidity, that he might be too late for his adventure. many days were lost in the necessary journey from italy into spain to receive the final instructions of the king. the news from the provinces, grew more and more threatening. with the impetuosity and romance of his temperament, he selected his confidential friend ottavio gonzaga, six men-at-arms, and an adroit and well-experienced swiss courier who knew every road of france. it was no light adventure for the catholic governor-general of the netherlands to traverse the kingdom at that particular juncture. staining his bright locks and fair face to the complexion of a moor, he started on his journey, attired as the servant of gonzaga. arriving at paris, after a rapid journey, he descended at a hostelry opposite the residence of the spanish ambassador, don diego de cuniga. after nightfall he had a secret interview with that functionary, and learning, among other matters, that there was to be a great ball that night at the louvre, he determined to go thither in disguise. there, notwithstanding his hurry, he had time to see and to become desperately enamored of "that wonder of beauty," the fair and frail margaret of valois, queen of navarre. her subsequent visit to her young adorer at namur, to be recorded in a future page of this history, was destined to mark the last turning point in his picturesque career. on his way to the netherlands he held a rapid interview with the duke of guise, to arrange his schemes for the liberation and espousal of that noble's kinswoman, the scottish queen; and on the rd of november he arrived at luxemburg. there stood the young conqueror of lepanto, his brain full of schemes, his heart full of hopes, on the threshhold of the netherlands, at the entrance to what he believed the most brilliant chapter of his life--schemes, hopes, and visions--doomed speedily to fade before the cold reality with which he was to be confronted. throwing off his disguise after reaching luxemburg, the youthful paladin stood confessed. his appearance was as romantic as his origin and his exploits. every contemporary chronicler, french, spanish, italian, flemish, roman, have dwelt upon his personal beauty and the singular fascination of his manner. symmetrical features, blue eyes of great vivacity, and a profusion of bright curling hair, were combined with a person not much above middle height; but perfectly well proportioned. owing to a natural peculiarity of his head, the hair fell backward from the temples, and he had acquired the habit of pushing it from his brows. the custom became a fashion among the host of courtiers, who were but too happy to glass themselves in so brilliant a mirror. as charles the fifth, on his journey to italy to assume the iron crown, had caused his hair to be clipped close, as a remedy for the headaches with which, at that momentous epoch, he was tormented, bringing thereby close shaven polls into extreme fashion; so a mass of hair pushed backward from the temples, in the style to which the name of john of austria was appropriated, became the prevailing mode wherever the favorite son of the emperor appeared. such was the last crusader whom the annals of chivalry were to know; the man who had humbled the crescent as it had not been humbled since the days of the tancreds, the baldwins, the plantagenets--yet, after all, what was this brilliant adventurer when weighed against the tranquil christian champion whom he was to meet face to face? the contrast was striking between the real and the romantic hero. don john had pursued and achieved glory through victories with which the world was ringing; william was slowly compassing a country's emancipation through a series of defeats. he moulded a commonwealth and united hearts with as much contempt for danger as don john had exhibited in scenes of slave driving and carnage. amid fields of blood, and through web's of tortuous intrigue, the brave and subtle son of the emperor pursued only his own objects. tawdry schemes of personal ambition, conquests for his own benefit, impossible crowns for his own wearing, were the motives which impelled, him, and the prizes which he sought. his existence was feverish, fitful, and passionate. "tranquil amid the raging billows," according to his favorite device, the father of his country waved aside the diadem which for him had neither charms nor meaning. their characters were as contrasted as their persons. the curled-darling of chivalry seemed a youth at thirty-one. spare of figure, plain in apparel, benignant, but haggard of countenance, with temples bared by anxiety as much as by his helmet, earnest, almost devout in manner, in his own words, "calvus et calvinists," william of orange was an old man at forty-three. perhaps there was as much good faith on the part of don john, when he arrived in luxemburg, as could be expected of a man coming directly from the cabinet of philip. the king had secretly instructed him to conciliate the provinces, but to concede nothing, for the governor was only a new incarnation of the insane paradox that benignity and the system of charles the fifth were one. he was directed to restore the government, to its state during the imperial epoch. seventeen provinces, in two of which the population were all dissenters, in all of which the principle of mutual toleration had just been accepted by catholics and protestants, were now to be brought back to the condition according to which all protestants were beheaded, burned, or buried alive. so that the inquisition, the absolute authority of the monarch, and the exclusive worship of the roman church were preserved intact, the king professed himself desirous of "extinguishing the fires of rebellion, and of saving the people from the last desperation." with these slight exceptions, philip was willing to be very benignant. "more than this," said he, "cannot and ought not be conceded." to these brief but pregnant instructions was added a morsel of advice, personal in its nature, but very characteristic of the writer. don john was recommended to take great care of his soul, and also to be very cautious in the management of his amours. thus counselled and secretly directed, the new captain-general had been dismissed to the unhappy netherlands. the position, however, was necessarily false. the man who was renowned for martial exploits, and notoriously devoured by ambition, could hardly inspire deep confidence in the pacific dispositions of the government. the crusader of granada and lepanto, the champion of the ancient church, was not likely to please the rugged zealanders who had let themselves be hacked to pieces rather than say one paternoster, and who had worn crescents in their caps at leyden, to prove their deeper hostility to the pope than to the turk. the imperial bastard would derive but alight consideration from his paternal blood, in a country where illegitimate birth was more unfavorably regarded than in most other countries, and where a brabantine edict, recently issued in name of the king; deprived all political or civil functionaries not born in wedlock; of their offices. yet he had received instructions, at his departure, to bring about a pacification, if possible, always maintaining, however, the absolute authority of the crown and the exclusive exercise of the catholic religion. how the two great points of his instructions were to be made entirely palatable, was left to time and chance. there was a vague notion that with the new governor's fame, fascinating manners, and imperial parentage, he might accomplish a result which neither fraud nor force--not the arts of granvelle, nor the atrocity of alva, nor the licentiousness of a buccaneering soldiery had been able to effect. as for don john himself, he came with no definite plans for the netherlanders, but with very daring projects of his own, and to pursue these misty visions was his main business on arriving in the provinces. in the meantime he was disposed to settle the netherland difficulty in some showy, off-hand fashion, which should cost him but little trouble, and occasion no detriment to the cause of papacy or absolutism. unfortunately for these rapid arrangements, william of orange was in zealand, and the pacification had just been signed at ghent. it was, naturally, with very little satisfaction that the prince beheld the arrival of don john. his sagacious combinations would henceforth be impeded, if not wholly frustrated. this he foresaw. he knew that there could be no intention of making any arrangement in which holland and zealand could be included. he was confident that any recognition of the reformed religion was as much out of the question now as ever. he doubted not that there were many catholic magnates, wavering politicians, aspirants for royal favor, who would soon be ready to desert the cause which had so recently been made a general cause, and who would soon be undermining the work of their own hands. the pacification of ghent would never be maintained in letter and spirit by the vicegerent of philip; for however its sense might be commented upon or perverted, the treaty, while it recognized catholicism as the state religion, conceded, to a certain extent, liberty of conscience. an immense stride had been taken, by abolishing the edicts, and prohibiting persecution. if that step were now retraced, the new religion was doomed, and the liberties of holland and zealand destroyed. "if they make an arrangement with don john, it will be for us of the religion to run," wrote the prince to his brother, "for their intention is to suffer no person of that faith to have a fixed domicile in the netherlands." it was, therefore, with a calm determination to counteract and crush the policy of the youthful governor that william the silent awaited his antagonist. were don john admitted to confidence, the peace of holland and zealand was gone. therefore it was necessary to combat him both openly and secretly--by loud remonstrance and by invisible stratagem. what chance had the impetuous and impatient young hero in such an encounter with the foremost statesman of the age? he had arrived, with all the self-confidence of a conqueror; he did not know that he was to be played upon like a pipe--to be caught in meshes spread by his own hands--to struggle blindly--to rage impotently--to die ingloriously. the prince had lost no time in admonishing the states-general as to the course which should now be pursued. he was of opinion that, upon their conduct at this crisis depended the future destinies of the netherlands. "if we understand how to make proper use of the new governor's arrival," said he, "it may prove very advantageous to us; if not, it will be the commencement of our total ruin." the spirit of all his communications was to infuse the distrust which he honestly felt, and which he certainly took no pains to disguise; to impress upon his countrymen the importance of improving the present emergency by the enlargement, instead of the threatened contraction of their liberties, and to enforce with all his energy the necessity of a firm union. he assured the estates that don john had been sent, in this simple manner, to the country, because the king and cabinet had begun to despair of carrying their point by force. at the same time he warned them that force would doubtless be replaced by fraud. he expressed his conviction that so soon as don john should attain the ascendency which he had been sent to secure, the gentleness which now smiled upon the surface would give place to the deadlier purposes which lurked below. he went so far as distinctly to recommend the seizure of don john's person. by so doing, much bloodshed might be saved; for such was the king's respect for the emperor's son that their demands would be granted rather than that his liberty should be permanently endangered. in a very striking and elaborate letter which he addressed from middelburg to the estates-general, he insisted on the expediency of seizing the present opportunity in order to secure and to expand their liberties, and urged them to assert broadly the principle that the true historical polity of the netherlands was a representative, constitutional government, don john, on arriving at luxemburg, had demanded hostages for his own security, a measure which could not but strike the calmest spectator as an infraction of all provincial rights. "he asks you to disarm," continued william of orange; "he invites you to furnish hostages, but the time has been when the lord of the land came unarmed and uncovered, before the estates-general, and swore to support the constitutions before his own sovereignty could be recognized." he reiterated his suspicions as to the honest intentions of the government, and sought, as forcibly as possible, to infuse an equal distrust into the minds of those he addressed. "antwerp," said he, "once the powerful and blooming, now the most forlorn and desolate city of christendom, suffered because she dared to exclude the king's troops. you may be sure that you are all to have a place at the same banquet. we may forget the past, but princes never forget, when the means of vengeance are placed within their hands. nature teaches them to arrive at their end by fraud, when violence will not avail them. like little children, they whistle to the birds they would catch. promises and pretences they will furnish in plenty." he urged them on no account to begin any negotiation with the governor, except on the basis of the immediate departure of the soldiery. "make no agreement with him; unless the spanish and other foreign troops have been sent away beforehand; beware, meantime, of disbanding your own, for that were to put the knife into his hands to cut your own throats withal." he then proceeded to sketch the out lines of a negotiation, such as he could recommend. the plan was certainly sufficiently bold, and it could hardly cause astonishment, if it were not immediately accepted by don john; as the basis of an arrangement. "remember this is not play", said the prince, "and that you have to choose between the two, either total ruin or manly self-defence. don john must command the immediate departure of the spaniards. all our privileges must be revised, and an oath to maintain them required. new councils of state and finance must be appointed by the estates. the general assembly ought to have power to come together twice or thrice yearly, and, indeed, as often as they choose. the states-general must administer and regulate all affairs. the citadels must be demolished everywhere. no troops ought to be enlisted, nor garrisons established, without the consent of the estates." in all the documents, whether public memorials or private letters, which came at this period from the hand of the prince, he assumed, as a matter of course, that in any arrangement with the new governor the pacification of ghent was to be maintained. this, too, was the determination of almost every man in the country. don john, soon after his arrival at luxemburg, had despatched messengers to the states-general, informing them of his arrival. it was not before the close of the month of november that the negotiations seriously began. provost fonck, on the part of the governor, then informed them of don john's intention to enter namur, attended by fifty mounted troopers. permission, however, was resolutely refused, and the burghers of namur were forbidden to render oaths of fidelity until the governor should have complied with the preliminary demands of the estates. to enunciate these demands categorically, a deputation of the estates-general came to luxemburg. these gentlemen were received with courtesy by don john, but their own demeanour was not conciliatory. a dislike to the spanish government; a disloyalty to the monarch with whose brother and representative they were dealing, pierced through all their language. on the other hand, the ardent temper of don john was never slow to take offence. one of the deputies proposed to the governor, with great coolness, that he should assume the government in his own name, and renounce the authority of philip. were he willing to do so, the patriotic gentleman pledged himself that the provinces would at once acknowledge him as sovereign, and sustain his government. don john, enraged at the insult to his own loyalty which the proposition implied, drew his dagger and rushed towards the offender. the deputy would, probably, have paid for his audacity with his life had there not been by-standers enough to prevent the catastrophe. this scene was an unsatisfactory prelude to the opening negotiations. on the th of december the deputies presented to the governor at luxemburg a paper, containing their demands, drawn up in eight articles, and their concessions in ten. the states insisted on the immediate removal of the troops, with the understanding that they were never to return, but without prohibition of their departure by sea; they demanded the immediate release of all prisoners; they insisted on the maintenance of the ghent treaty, there being nothing therein which did not tend to the furtherance of the catholic religion; they claimed an act of amnesty; they required the convocation of the states-general, on the basis of that assembly before which took place the abdication of charles the fifth; they demanded an oath, on the part of don john, to maintain all the charters and customs of the country. should these conditions be complied: with, the deputies consented on the part of the estates, that he should be acknowledged as governor, and that the catholic religion and the authority of his majesty should be maintained. they agreed that all foreign leagues should be renounced, their own foreign soldiery disbanded, and a guard of honor, native netherlanders, such as his majesty was contented with at his "blythe entrance," provided. a truce of fifteen days, for negotiations, was furthermore proposed. don john made answers to these propositions by adding a brief comment, as apostille, upon each of the eighteen articles, in succession. he would send away the troops, but, at the same time, the states must disband their own. he declined engaging himself not to recal his foreign soldiery, should necessity require their service. with regard to the ghent pacification, he professed himself ready for a general peace negotiation, on condition that the supremacy of the catholic church and the authority of his majesty were properly secured. he would settle upon some act of amnesty after due consultation with the state council. he was willing that the states should be convoked in general assembly, provided sufficient security were given him that nothing should be there transacted prejudicial to the catholic religion and the king's sovereignty. as for their privileges, he would govern as had been done in the time of his imperial father. he expressed his satisfaction with most of the promises offered by the estates, particularly with their expression in favor of the church and of his majesty's authority; the two all-important points to secure which he had come thither unattended, at the peril of his life, but he received their offer of a body-guard, by which his hirelings were to be superseded, with very little gratitude. he was on the point, he said, of advancing as far as marche en famine, and should take with him as strong a guard as he considered necessary, and composed of such troops as he had at hand. nothing decisive came of this first interview. the parties had taken the measures of their mutual claims, and after a few days, fencing with apostilles, replies, and rejoinders, they separated, their acrimony rather inflamed than appeased. the departure of the troops and the ghent treaty were the vital points in the negotiation. the estates had originally been content that the troops should go by sea. their suspicions were, however, excited by the pertinacity with which don john held to this mode of removal. although they did not suspect the mysterious invasion of england, a project which was the real reason why the governor objected to their departure by land, yet they soon became aware--that he had been secretly tampering with the troops at every point. the effect of these secret negotiations with the leading officers of the army was a general expression of their unwillingness, on account of the lateness of the season, the difficult and dangerous condition of the roads and mountain-passes, the plague in italy, and other pretexts, to undertake so long a journey by land. on the other hand, the states, seeing the anxiety and the duplicity of don john upon this particular point, came to the resolution to thwart him at all hazards, and insisted on the land journey. too long a time, too much money, too many ships would be necessary, they said, to forward so large a force by sea, and in the meantime it would be necessary to permit them to live for another indefinite period at the charge of the estates. with regard to the ghent pacification, the estates, in the course of december, procured: an express opinion from the eleven professors of theology, and doctors utriusque juris of louvain, that the treaty contained nothing which conflicted with the supremacy of the catholic religion. the various bishops, deacons, abbots, and pastors of the netherlands made a similar decision. an elaborate paper, drawn, up by the state-council, at the request of the states-general, declared that there was nothing in the pacification derogatory to the supreme authority of his majesty. thus fortified; with opinions which, it must be confessed, were rather dogmatically than argumentatively drawn up, and which it would have been difficult very logically to, defend, the states looked forward confidently to the eventual acceptance by don john of the terms proposed. in the meantime, while there was still an indefinite pause in the negotiations, a remarkable measure came to aid the efficacy of the ghent pacification. early in january, , the celebrated "union of brussels" was formed. this important agreement was originally signed by eight leading personages, the abbot of saint gertrude, the counts lalain and bossu, and the seigneur de champagny being among the number. its tenor was to engage its signers to compass the immediate expulsion of the spaniards and the execution of the ghent pacification, to maintain the catholic religion and the king's authority, and to defend the fatherland and all its constitutions. its motive was to generalize the position assumed by the ghent treaty. the new act was to be signed, not by a few special deputies alone, like a diplomatic convention, but by all the leading individuals of all the provinces, in order to exhibit to don john such an array of united strength that he would find himself forced to submit to the demands of the estates. the tenor, motive, and effect were all as had been proposed and foreseen. the agreement to expel the spaniards, under the catholic and loyal manifestations indicated, passed from hand to hand through all the provinces. it soon received the signature and support of all the respectability, wealth, and intelligence of the whole country. nobles, ecclesiastics, citizens, hastened to give to it their adhesion. the states-general had sent it, by solemn resolution, to every province, in order that every man might be forced to range himself either upon the side of the fatherland or of despotism. two copies of the signatures procured in each province were ordered, of which one was to be deposited in its archives, and the other forwarded to brussels. in a short time, every province, with the single exception of luxemburg, had loaded the document with signatures. this was a great step in advance. the ghent pacification, which was in the nature of a treaty between the prince and the estates of holland and zealand on the one side, and a certain number of provinces on the other, had only been signed by the envoys of the contracting parties. though received with deserved and universal acclamation, it had not the authority of a popular document. this, however, was the character studiously impressed upon the "brussels union." the people, subdivided according to the various grades of their social hierarchy, had been solemnly summoned to council, and had deliberately recorded their conviction. no restraint had been put upon their freedom of action, and there was hardly a difference of opinion as to the necessity of the measure. a rapid revolution in friesland, groningen, and the dependencies, had recently restored that important country to the national party. the portuguese de billy had been deprived of his authority as king's stadholder, and count hoogstraaten's brother, baron de ville, afterwards as count renneberg infamous for his, treason to the cause of liberty, had been appointed by the estates in his room. in all this district the "union of brussels" was eagerly signed by men of every degree. holland and zealand, no less than the catholic provinces of the south willingly accepted the compromise which was thus laid down, and which was thought to be not only an additional security for the past, not only a pillar more for the maintenance of the ghent pacification, but also a sure precursor of a closer union in the future. the union of brussels became, in fact, the stepping-stone to the "union of utrecht," itself the foundation-stone of a republic destined to endure more than two centuries. on the other hand, this early union held the seed, of its own destruction within itself. it was not surprising, however, that a strong declaration in favor of the catholic religion should be contained in a document intended for circulation through all the provinces. the object was to unite as large a force, and to make as striking a demonstration before the eyes of the governor general as was practicable under the circumstances. the immediate purpose was answered, temporary union was formed, but it was impossible that a permanent crystallization should take place where so strong a dissolvent as the catholic clause had been admitted. in the sequel, therefore, the union fell asunder precisely at this fatal flaw. the next union was that which definitely separated the provinces into protestant, and catholic, into self-governing republics, and the dependencies of a distant despotism. the immediate effect, however, of the "brussels union" was to rally all lovers of the fatherland and haters of a foreign tyranny upon one vital point--the expulsion of the stranger from the land. the foot of the spanish soldier should no longer profane their soil. all men were forced to pronounce themselves boldly and unequivocally, in order that the patriots might stand shoulder to shoulder, and the traitors be held up to infamy. this measure was in strict accordance with the advice given more than once by the prince of orange, and was almost in literal fulfilment of the compromise, which he had sketched before the arrival of don john. the deliberations were soon resumed with the new governor, the scene being shifted from luxemburg to huy. hither came a fresh deputation from the states-general--many signers of the brussels union among them--and were received by don john with stately courtesy: they had, however, come, determined to carry matters with a high and firm hand, being no longer disposed to brook his imperious demeanour, nor to tolerate his dilatory policy. it is not surprising, therefore, that the courtesy soon changed to bitterness, and that attack and recrimination usurped the place of the dignified but empty formalities which had characterized the interviews at luxemburg. the envoys, particularly sweveghem and champagny, made no concealment of their sentiments towards the spanish soldiery and the spanish nation, and used a freedom of tone and language which the petulant soldier had not been accustomed to hear. he complained, at the outset, that the netherlanders seemed new-born--that instead of bending the knee, they seemed disposed to grasp the sceptre. insolence had taken the place of pliancy, and the former slave now applied the chain and whip to his master. with such exacerbation of temper at the commencement of negotiations, their progress was of necessity stormy and slow. the envoys now addressed three concise questions to the governor. was he satisfied that the ghent pacification contained nothing conflicting with the roman religion and the king's authority? if so, was he willing to approve that treaty in all its articles? was he ready to dismiss his troops at once, and by land, the sea voyage being liable to too many objections? don john answered these three questions--which, in reality, were but three forms of a single question--upon the same day, the th of january. his reply was as complex as the demand had been simple. it consisted of a proposal in six articles, and a requisition in twenty-one, making in all twenty-seven articles. substantially he proposed to dismiss the foreign troops--to effect a general pacification of the netherlands--to govern on the basis of the administration in his imperial father's reign--to arrange affairs in and with regard to the assembly-general as the king should judge to be fitting--to forgive and forget past offences--and to release all prisoners. on the other hand he required the estates to pay the troops before their departure, and to provide ships enough to transport them, as the spaniards did not choose to go by land, and as the deputies, at luxemburg had consented to their removal by sea. furthermore, he demanded that the states should dismiss their own troops. he required ecclesiastical authority to prove the ghent pacification not prejudicial to the catholic religion; legal authority that it was not detrimental to his majesty's supremacy; and an oath from the states-general to uphold both points inviolably, and to provide for their maintenance in holland and zealand. he claimed the right to employ about his person soldiers and civil functionaries of any nation he might choose, and he exacted from the states a promise to prevent the prince of orange from removing his son, count van buren, forcibly or fraudulently, from his domicile in spain. the deputies were naturally indignant at this elaborate trifling. they had, in reality, asked him but one question, and that a simple one--would he maintain the treaty of ghent? here were twenty-seven articles in reply, and yet no answer to that question. they sat up all night, preparing a violent protocol, by which the governor's claims were to be utterly demolished. early in the morning, they waited upon his highness, presented the document, and at the same time asked him plainly, by word of mouth, did he or did he not intend to uphold the treaty. thus pressed into a corner in presence of the deputies, the members of the state council who were in attendance from brussels, and the envoys whom the emperor had recently sent to assist at these deliberations, the governor answered, no. he would not and could not maintain the treaty, because the spanish troops were in that instrument denounced as rebels, because he would not consent to the release of count van buren--and on account of various other reasons not then specified. hereupon ensued a fierce debate, and all day long the altercation lasted, without a result being reached. at ten o'clock in the evening, the deputies having previously retired for a brief interval, returned with a protest that they were not to be held responsible for the termination of the proceedings, and that they washed their hands of the bloodshed which might follow the rupture. upon reading this document; don john fell into a blazing passion. he vehemently denounced the deputies as traitors. he swore that men who came to him thus prepared with ready-made protests in their pockets, were rebels from the commencement, and had never intended any agreement with him. his language and gestures expressed unbounded fury. he was weary of their ways, he said. they had better look to themselves, for the king would never leave their rebellion unpunished. he was ready to draw the sword at once--not his own, but his majesty's, and they might be sure that the war which they were thus provoking, should be the fiercest ever, waged. more abusive language in this strain was uttered, but it was not heard with lamb-like submission. the day had gone by when the deputies of the states-general were wont to quail before the wrath of vicarious royalty. the fiery words of don john were not oil to troubled water, but a match to a mine. the passions of the deputies exploded in their turn, and from hot words they had nearly come to hard blows. one of the deputies replied with so much boldness and vehemence that the governor, seizing a heavy silver bell which stood on the table, was about to hurl it at the offender's head, when an energetic and providential interference on the part of the imperial envoys, prevented the unseemly catastrophe. the day thus unprofitably spent, had now come to its close, and the deputies left the presence of don john with tempers as inflamed as his own. they were, therefore, somewhat surprised at being awakened in their beds, after midnight, by a certain father trigoso, who came to them with a conciliatory message from the governor. while they were still rubbing their eyes with sleep and astonishment, the duke of aerschot, the bishop of liege, and several councillors of state, entered the room. these personages brought the news that don john had at last consented to maintain the pacification of ghent, as would appear by a note written in his own hand, which was then delivered. the billet was eagerly read, but unfortunately did not fulfil the anticipations which had been excited. "i agree," said don john, "to approve the peace made between the states and the prince of orange, on condition that nothing therein may seem detrimental to the authority of his majesty and the supremacy of the catholic religion, and also with reservation of the points mentioned in my last communication." men who had gone to bed in a high state of indignation were not likely to wake in much better humour, when suddenly aroused in their first nap, to listen to such a message as this. it seemed only one piece of trifling the more. the deputies had offered satisfactory opinions of divines and jurisconsults, as to the two points specified which concerned the ghent treaty. it was natural, therefore, that this vague condition concerning them, the determination of which was for the governor's breast alone, should be instantly rejected, and that the envoys should return to their disturbed slumbers with an increase of ill-humour. on the morrow, as the envoys, booted and spurred, were upon the point of departure for brussels, another communication was brought to them from don john. this time, the language of the governor seemed more to the purpose. "i agree," said he, "to maintain the peace concluded between the states and the prince of orange, on condition of receiving from the ecclesiastical authorities, and from the university of louvain, satisfactory assurance that the said treaty contains nothing derogatory to the catholic religion--and similar assurance from the state council, the bishop of liege, and the imperial envoys, that the treaty is in no wise prejudicial to the authority of his majesty." here seemed, at last, something definite. these conditions could be complied with. they had, in fact, been already complied with. the assurances required as to the two points had already been procured, as the deputies and as don john well knew. the pacification of ghent was, therefore, virtually admitted. the deputies waited upon the governor accordingly, and the conversation was amicable. they vainly endeavoured, however, to obtain his consent to the departure of the troops by land--the only point then left in dispute. don john, still clinging to his secret scheme, with which the sea voyage of the troops was so closely connected, refused to concede. he reproached the envoys, on the contrary, with their importunity in making a fresh demand, just as he had conceded the ghent treaty, upon his entire responsibility and without instructions. mentally resolving that this point should still be wrung from the governor, but not suspecting his secret motives for resisting it so strenuously, the deputies took an amicable farewell of the governor, promising a favorable report upon the proceedings, so soon as they should arrive in brussels. don john, having conceded so much, was soon obliged to concede the whole. the emperor rudolph had lately succeeded his father, maximilian. the deceased potentate, whose sentiments on the great subject of religious toleration were so much in harmony with those entertained by the prince of orange, had, on the whole, notwithstanding the ties of relationship and considerations of policy, uniformly befriended the netherlands, so far as words and protestations could go, at the court of philip. active co-operation; practical assistance, he had certainly not rendered. he had unquestionably been too much inclined to accomplish the impossibility of assisting the states without offending the king--an effort which, in the homely language of hans jenitz; was "like wishing his skin washed without being wet." he had even interposed many obstacles to the free action of the prince, as has been seen in the course of this history, but nevertheless, the cause of the netherlands, of religion, and of humanity had much to lose by his death. his eldest son and successor, rudolph the second, was an ardent catholic, whose relations with a proscribed prince and a reformed population could hardly remain long in a satisfactory state. the new emperor had, however, received the secret envoys of orange with bounty, and was really desirous of accomplishing the pacification of the provinces. his envoys had assisted at all the recent deliberations between the estates and don john, and their vivid remonstrances removed, at this juncture, the last objection on the part of the governor-general. with a secret sigh, he deferred the darling and mysterious hope which had lighted him to the netherlands, and consented to the departure of the troops by land. all obstacles having been thus removed, the memorable treaty called the perpetual edict was signed at marche en famine on the th, and at brussels on the th of february, . this document, issued in the name of the king, contained nineteen articles. it approved and ratified the peace of ghent, in consideration that the prelates and clergy, with the doctors 'utriusque juris' of louvain, had decided that nothing in that treaty conflicted either with the supremacy of the catholic church or the authority of the king, but, on the contrary, that it advanced the interests of both. it promised that the soldiery should depart "freely, frankly, and without delay; by land, never to return except in case of foreign war"--the spaniards to set forth within forty days, the germans and others so soon as arrangements had been made by the states-general for their payment. it settled that all prisoners, on both sides, should be released, excepting the count van buren, who was to be set free so soon as the states-general having been convoked, the prince of orange should have fulfilled the resolutions to be passed by that assembly. it promised the maintenance of all the privileges, charters, and constitutions of the netherlands. it required of the states all oath to maintain the catholic religion. it recorded their agreement to disband their troops. it settled that don john should be received as governor-general, immediately upon the departure of the spaniards, italians, and burgundians from the provinces. these were the main provisions of this famous treaty, which was confirmed a few weeks afterwards by philip, in a letter addressed to the states of brabant, and by an edict issued at madrid. it will be seen that everything required by the envoys of the states, at the commencement of their negotiations, had been conceded by don john. they had claimed the departure of the troops, either by land or sea. he had resisted the demand a long time, but had at last consented to despatch them by sea. their departure by land had then been insisted upon. this again he had most reluctantly conceded. the ratification of the ghent treaty, he had peremptorily refused. he had come to the provinces, at the instant of its conclusion, and had, of course, no instructions on the subject. nevertheless, slowly receding, he had agreed, under certain reservations, to accept the treaty. those reservations relating to the great points of catholic and royal supremacy, he insisted upon subjecting to his own judgment alone. again he was overruled. most unwillingly he agreed to accept, instead of his own conscientious conviction, the dogmas of the state council and of the louvain doctors. not seeing very clearly how a treaty which abolished the edicts of charles the fifth and the ordinances of alva--which removed the religious question in holland and zealand from the king's jurisdiction to that of the states-general--which had caused persecution to surcease--had established toleration--and which moreover, had confirmed the arch rebel and heretic of all the netherlands in the government of the two rebellious and heretic provinces, as stadholder for the king--not seeing very clearly how such a treaty was "advantageous rather than prejudicial to royal absolutism and an exclusive catholicism," he naturally hesitated at first. the governor had thus disconcerted the prince of orange, not by the firmness of his resistance, but by the amplitude of his concessions. the combinations of william the silent were, for an instant, deranged. had the prince expected such liberality, he would have placed his demands upon a higher basis, for it is not probable that he contemplated or desired a pacification. the duke of aerschot and the bishop of liege in vain essayed to prevail upon his deputies at marche en famine, to sign the agreement of the th january, upon which was founded the perpetual edict. they refused to do so without consulting the prince and the estates. meantime, the other commissioners forced the affair rapidly forward. the states sent a deputation to the prince to ask his opinion, and signed the agreement before it was possible to receive his reply. this was to treat him with little courtesy, if not absolutely with bad faith. the prince was disappointed and indignant. in truth, as appeared from all his language and letters, he had no confidence in don john. he believed him a consummate hypocrite, and as deadly a foe to the netherlands as the duke of alva, or philip himself. he had carefully studied twenty-five intercepted letters from the king, the governor, jerome de roda, and others, placed recently in his hands by the duke of aerschot, and had found much to confirm previous and induce fresh suspicion. only a few days previously to the signature of the treaty, he had also intercepted other letters from influential personages, alonzo de vargas and others, disclosing extensive designs to obtain possession of the strong places in the country, and then to reduce the land to absolute subjection. he had assured the estates, therefore, that the deliberate intention of the government, throughout the whole negotiation, was to deceive, whatever might be the public language of don john and his agents. he implored them, therefore, to, have "pity upon the poor country," and to save the people from falling into the trap which was laid for them. from first to last, he had expressed a deep and wise distrust, and justified it by ample proofs. he was, with reason, irritated, therefore, at the haste with which the states had concluded the agreement with don john--at the celerity with which, as he afterwards expressed it, "they had rushed upon the boar-spear of that sanguinary heart." he believed that everything had been signed and sworn by the governor, with the mental reservation that such agreements were valid only until he should repent having made them. he doubted the good faith and the stability of the grand seigniors. he had never felt confidence in the professions of the time-serving aerschot, nor did he trust even the brave champagny, notwithstanding his services at the sack of antwerp. he was especially indignant that provision had been made, not for demolishing but for restoring to his majesty those hateful citadels, nests of tyranny, by which the flourishing cities of the land were kept in perpetual anxiety. whether in the hands of king, nobles, or magistrates, they were equally odious to him, and he had long since determined that they should be razed to the ground. in short, he believed that the estates had thrust their heads into the lion's mouth, and he foresaw the most gloomy consequences from the treaty which had just been concluded. he believed, to use his own language, "that the only difference between don john and alva or requesens was, that he was younger and more foolish than his predecessors, less capable of concealing his venom, more impatient, to dip his hands in blood." in the pacification of ghent, the prince had achieved the prize of his life-long labors. he had banded a mass of provinces by the ties of a common history, language, and customs, into a league against a foreign tyranny. he had grappled holland and zealand to their sister provinces by a common love for their ancient liberties, by a common hatred to a spanish soldiery. he had exorcised the evil demon of religious bigotry by which the body politic had been possessed so many years; for the ghent treaty, largely interpreted, opened the door to universal toleration. in the perpetual edict the prince saw his work undone. holland and zealand were again cut adrift from the other fifteen provinces, and war would soon be let loose upon that devoted little territory. the article stipulating the maintenance of the ghent treaty he regarded as idle wind; the solemn saws of the state council and the quiddities from louvain being likely to prove but slender bulwarks against the returning tide of tyranny. either it was tacitly intended to tolerate the reformed religion, or to hunt it down. to argue that the ghent treaty, loyally interpreted, strengthened ecclesiastical or royal despotism, was to contend that a maniac was more dangerous in fetters than when armed with a sword; it was to be blind to the difference between a private conventicle and a public scaffold. the perpetual edict, while affecting to sustain the treaty, would necessarily destroy it at a blow, while during the brief interval of repose, tyranny would have renewed its youth like the eagles. was it possible, then, for william of orange to sustain the perpetual edict, the compromise with don john? ten thousand ghosts from the lake of harlem, from the famine and plague-stricken streets of leyden, from the smoking ruins of antwerp, rose to warn him against such a composition with a despotism as subtle as it was remorseless. it was, therefore, not the policy of william of orange, suspecting, as he did, don john, abhorring philip, doubting the netherland nobles, confiding only in the mass of the citizens, to give his support to the perpetual edict. he was not the more satisfied because the states had concluded the arrangement without his sanction, and against his express, advice. he refused to publish or recognize the treaty in holland and zealand. a few weeks before, he had privately laid before the states of holland and zealand a series of questions, in order to test their temper, asking them, in particular, whether they were prepared to undertake a new and sanguinary war for the sake of their religion, even although their other privileges should be recognised by the new government, and a long and earnest debate had ensued, of a satisfactory nature, although no positive resolution was passed upon the subject. as soon as the perpetual edict had been signed, the states-general had sent to the prince, requesting his opinion and demanding his sanction. orange, in the name of holland and zealand, instantly returned an elaborate answer, taking grave exceptions to the whole tenor of the edict. he complained that the constitution of the land was violated, because the ancient privilege of the states-general to assemble at their pleasure, had been invaded, and because the laws of every province were set at nought by the continued imprisonment of count van buren, who had committed no crime, and whose detention proved that no man, whatever might be promised, could expect security for life or liberty. the ratification of the ghent treaty, it was insisted, was in no wise distinct and categorical, but was made dependent on a crowd of deceitful subterfuges. he inveighed bitterly against the stipulation in the edict, that the states should pay the wages of the soldiers, whom they had just proclaimed to be knaves and rebels, and at whose hands they had suffered such monstrous injuries. he denounced the cowardice which could permit this band of hirelings to retire with so much jewelry, merchandize, and plate, the result of their robberies. he expressed, however, in the name of the two provinces, a willingness to sign the edict, provided the states-general would agree solemnly beforehand, in case the departure of the spaniards did not take place within the stipulated tune, to abstain from all recognition of, or communication with, don john, and themselves to accomplish the removal of the troops by force of arms. such was the first and solemn manifesto made by the prince in reply to the perpetual edict; the states of holland and zealand uniting heart and hand in all that he thought, wrote, and said. his private sentiments were in strict accordance with the opinions thus publicly recorded. "whatever appearance don john may assume to the contrary," wrote the prince to his brother, "'tis by no means his intention to maintain the pacification, and less still to cause the spaniards to depart, with whom he keeps up the most strict correspondence possible." on the other hand, the governor was most anxious to conciliate the prince. he was most earnest to win the friendship of the man without whom every attempt to recover holland and zealand, and to re-establish royal and ecclesiastical tyranny, he knew to be hopeless. "this is the pilot," wrote don john to philip, "who guides the bark. he alone can destroy or save it. the greatest obstacles would be removed if he could be gained." he had proposed, and philip had approved the proposition, that the count van buren should be clothed with his father's dignities, on condition that the prince should himself retire into germany. it was soon evident, however, that such a proposition would meet with little favor, the office of father of his country and protector of her liberties not being transferable. while at louvain, whither he had gone after the publication of the perpetual edict, don john had conferred with the duke of aerschot, and they had decided that it would be well to send doctor leoninus on a private mission to the prince. previously to his departure on this errand, the learned envoy had therefore a full conversation with the governor. he was charged to represent to the prince the dangers to which don john had exposed himself in coming from spain to effect the pacification of the netherlands. leoninus was instructed to give assurance that the treaty just concluded should be maintained, that the spaniards should depart, that all other promises should be inviolably kept, and that the governor would take up arms against all who should oppose the fulfilment of his engagements. he was to represent that don john, in proof of his own fidelity, had placed himself in the power of the states. he was to intimate to the prince that an opportunity was now offered him to do the crown a service, in recompence for which he would obtain, not only pardon for his faults, but the favor of the monarch, and all the honors which could be desired; that by so doing he would assure the future prosperity of his family; that don john would be his good friend, and, as such; would do more for him than he could imagine. the envoy was also to impress upon the prince, that if he persisted in his opposition every man's hand would be against him, and the ruin of his house inevitable. he was to protest that don john came but to forgive and to forget, to restore the ancient government and the ancient prosperity, so that, if it was for those objects the prince had taken up arms, it was now his duty to lay them down, and to do his utmost to maintain peace and the catholic religion. finally, the envoy was to intimate that if he chose to write to don john, he might be sure to receive a satisfactory answer. in these pacific instructions and friendly expressions, don john was sincere. "the name of your majesty," said he, plainly, in giving an account of this mission to the king, "is as much abhorred and despised in the netherlands as that of the prince of orange is loved and feared. i am negotiating with him, and giving him every security, for i see that the establishment of peace, as well as the maintenance of the catholic religion, and the obedience to your majesty, depend now upon him. things have reached that pass that 'tis necessary to make a virtue of necessity. if he lend an ear to my proposals, it will be only upon very advantageous conditions, but to these it will be necessary to submit, rather than to lose everything." don john was in earnest; unfortunately he was not aware that the prince was in earnest also. the crusader, who had sunk thirty thousand paynims at a blow, and who was dreaming of the queen of scotland and the throne of england, had not room in his mind to entertain the image of a patriot. royal favors, family prosperity, dignities, offices, orders, advantageous conditions, these were the baits with which the governor angled for william of orange. he did not comprehend that attachment to a half-drowned land and to a despised religion, could possibly stand in the way of those advantageous conditions and that brilliant future. he did not imagine that the rebel, once assured not only of pardon but of advancement, could hesitate to refuse the royal hand thus amicably offered. don john had not accurately measured his great antagonist. the results of the successive missions which he despatched to the prince were destined to enlighten him. in the course of the first conversation between leoninus and the prince at middelburg, the envoy urged that don john had entered the netherlands without troops, that he had placed himself in the power of the duke of aerschot, that he had since come to louvain without any security but the promise of the citizens and of the students; and that all these things proved the sincerity of his intentions. he entreated the prince not to let slip so favorable an opportunity for placing his house above the reach of every unfavorable chance, spoke to him of marius, sylla, julius caesar, and other promoters of civil wars, and on retiring for the day, begged him to think gravely on what he had thus suggested, and to pray that god might inspire him with good resolutions. next day, william informed the envoy that, having prayed to god for assistance, he was more than ever convinced of his obligation to lay the whole matter before the states, whose servant he was. he added, that he could not forget the deaths of egmont and horn, nor the manner in which the promise made to the confederate nobles by the duchess of parma, had been visited, nor the conduct of the french monarch towards admiral coligny. he spoke of information which he had received from all quarters, from spain, france, and italy, that there was a determination to make war upon him and upon the states of holland and zealand. he added that they were taking their measures in consequence, and that they were well aware that a papal nuncio had arrived in the netherlands, to intrigue against them. in the evening, the prince complained that the estates had been so precipitate in concluding their arrangement with don john. he mentioned several articles in the treaty which were calculated to excite distrust; dwelling particularly on the engagement entered into by the estates to maintain the catholic religion. this article he declared to be in direct contravention to the ghent treaty, by which this point was left to the decision of a future assembly of the estates-general. leoninus essayed, as well as he could, to dispute these positions. in their last interview, the prince persisted in his intention of laying the whole matter before the states of holland and zealand. not to do so, he said, would be to expose himself to ruin on one side, and on the other, to the indignation of those who might suspect him of betraying them. the envoy begged to be informed if any hope could be entertained of a future arrangement. orange replied that he had no expectation of any, but advised doctor leoninus to be present at dort when the estates should assemble. notwithstanding the unfavorable result, of this mission, don john did not even yet despair of bending the stubborn character of the prince. he hoped that, if a personal interview between them could be arranged, he should be able to remove many causes of suspicion from the mind of his adversary. "in such times as these," wrote the governor to philip, "we can make no election, nor do i see any remedy to preserve the state from destruction, save to gain over this man, who has so much influence with the nation." the prince had, in truth, the whole game in his hands. there was scarcely a living creature in holland and zealand who was not willing to be bound by his decision in every emergency. throughout the rest of the provinces, the mass of the people looked up to him with absolute confidence, the clergy and the prominent nobles respecting and fearing him, even while they secretly attempted to thwart his designs. possessing dictatorial power in two provinces, vast influences in the other fifteen, nothing could be easier for him than to betray his country. the time was singularly propitious. the revengeful king was almost on his knees to the denounced rebel. everything was proffered: pardon, advancement, power. an indefinite vista was opened. "you cannot imagine," said don john, "how much it will be within my ability to do for you." the governor was extremely anxious to purchase the only enemy whom philip feared. the prince had nothing personally to gain by a continuance of the contest. the ban, outlawry, degradation, pecuniary ruin, assassination, martyrdom--these were the only guerdons he could anticipate. he had much to lose: but yesterday loaded with dignities, surrounded by pomp and luxury, with many children to inherit his worldly gear, could he not recover all; and more than all, to-day? what service had he to render in exchange? a mere nothing. he had but to abandon the convictions of a lifetime, and to betray a million or two of hearts which trusted him. as to the promises made by the governor to rule the country with gentleness, the prince could not do otherwise than commend the intention, even while distrusting the fulfilment. in his reply to the two letters of don john, he thanked his highness, with what seemed a grave irony, for the benign courtesy and signal honor which he had manifested to him, by inviting him so humanely and so carefully to a tranquil life, wherein, according to his highness, consisted the perfection of felicity in this mortal existence, and by promising him so liberally favor and grace. he stated, however, with earnestness, that the promises in regard to the pacification of the poor netherland people were much more important. he had ever expected, he said, beyond all comparison, the welfare and security of the public before his own; "having always placed his particular interests under his foot, even as he was still resolved to do, as long as life should endure." thus did william of orange receive the private advances made by the government towards himself. meantime, don john of austria came to louvain. until the preliminary conditions of the perpetual edict had been fulfilled, and the spanish troops sent out of the country, he was not to be received as governor-general, but it seemed unbecoming for him to remain longer upon the threshold of the provinces. he therefore advanced into the heart of the country, trusting himself without troops to the loyalty of the people, and manifesting a show of chivalrous confidence which he was far from feeling. he was soon surrounded by courtiers, time-servers, noble office-seekers. they who had kept themselves invisible, so long as the issue of a perplexed negotiation seemed doubtful, now became obsequious and inevitable as his shadow. one grand seignior wanted a regiment, another a government, a third a chamberlain's key; all wanted titles, ribbons, offices, livery, wages. don john distributed favors and promises with vast liberality. the object with which philip had sent him to the netherlands, that he might conciliate the hearts of its inhabitants by the personal graces which he had inherited from his imperial father, seemed in a fair way of accomplishment, for it was not only the venal applause of titled sycophants that he strove to merit, but he mingled gaily and familiarly with all classes of citizens. everywhere his handsome face and charming manner produced their natural effect. he dined and supped with the magistrates in the town-house, honored general banquets of the burghers with his presence, and was affable and dignified, witty, fascinating, and commanding, by turns. at louvain, the five military guilds held a solemn festival. the usual invitations were sent to the other societies, and to all the martial brotherhoods, the country round. gay and gaudy processions, sumptuous banquets, military sports, rapidly succeeded each other. upon the day of the great trial of skill; all the high functionaries of the land were, according to custom, invited, and the governor was graciously pleased to honor the solemnity with his presence. great was the joy of the multitude when don john, complying with the habit of imperial and princely personages in former days, enrolled himself, cross-bow in hand, among the competitors. greater still was the enthusiasm, when the conqueror of lepanto brought down the bird, and was proclaimed king of the year, amid the tumultuous hilarity of the crowd. according to custom, the captains of the guild suspended a golden popinjay around the neck of his highness, and placing themselves in procession, followed him to the great church. thence, after the customary religious exercises, the multitude proceeded to the banquet, where the health of the new king of the cross-bowmen was pledged in deep potations. long and loud was the merriment of this initiatory festival, to which many feasts succeeded during those brief but halcyon days, for the good-natured netherlanders already believed in the blessed advent of peace. they did not dream that the war, which had been consuming the marrow of their commonwealth for ten flaming years, was but in its infancy, and that neither they nor their children were destined to see its close. for the moment, however, all was hilarity at louvain. the governor, by his engaging deportment, awoke many reminiscences of the once popular emperor. he expressed unbounded affection for the commonwealth, and perfect confidence in the loyalty of the inhabitants. he promised to maintain their liberties, and to restore their prosperity. moreover, he had just hit the popinjay with a skill which his imperial father might have envied, and presided at burgher banquets with a grace which charles could have hardly matched. his personal graces, for the moment, took the rank of virtues. "such were the beauty and vivacity of his eyes," says his privy councillor, tassis, "that with a single glance he made all hearts his own," yet, nevertheless, the predestined victim secretly felt himself the object of a marksman who had no time for painted popinjays, but who rarely missed his aim. "the whole country is at the devotion of the prince, and nearly every one of its inhabitants;" such was his secret language to his royal brother, at the very moment of the exuberant manifestations which preceded his own entrance to brussels. while the governor still tarried at louvain, his secretary, escovedo, was busily engaged in arranging the departure of the spaniards, for, notwithstanding his original reluctance and the suspicions of orange, don john loyally intended to keep his promise. he even advanced twenty-seven thousand florins towards the expense of their removal, but to raise the whole amount required for transportation and arrears, was a difficult matter. the estates were slow in providing the one hundred and fifty thousand florins which they had stipulated to furnish. the king's credit, moreover, was at a very low, ebb. his previous bonds had not been duly honored, and there had even been instances of royal repudiation, which by no means lightened the task of the financier, in effecting the new loans required. escovedo was very blunt in his language upon this topic, and both don john and himself urged punctuality in all future payments. they entreated that the bills drawn in philip's name upon lombardy bankers, and discounted at a heavy rate of interest, by the fuggers of antwerp, might be duly provided for at maturity. "i earnestly beg," said escovedo, "that your majesty will see to the payment of these bills, at all events;" adding, with amusing simplicity, "this will be a means of recovering your majesty's credit, and as for my own; i don't care to lose it, small though it be." don john was even more solicitous. "for the love of god, sire," he wrote, "do not be delinquent now. you must reflect upon the necessity of recovering your credit. if this receives now the final blow, all will desert your majesty, and the soldiers too will be driven to desperation." by dint of great diligence on the part of escovedo, and through the confidence reposed in his character, the necessary funds were raised in the course of a few weeks. there was, however, a difficulty among the officers, as to the right of commanding the army on the homeward march. don alonzo de vargas, as chief of the cavalry, was appointed to the post by the governor, but valdez, romero, and other veterans, indignantly refused to serve under one whom they declared their inferior officer. there was much altercation and heartburning, and an attempt was made to compromise the matter by the appointment of count mansfeld to the chief command. this was, however, only adding fuel to the flames. all were dissatisfied with the superiority accorded to a foreigner, and alonzo de vargas, especially offended, addressed most insolent language to the governor. nevertheless, the arrangement was maintained, and the troops finally took their departure from the country, in the latter days of april. a vast concourse of citizens witnessed their departure, and could hardly believe their eyes, as they saw this incubus at last rolling off, by which the land had so many years been crushed. their joy, although extravagant, was, however, limited by the reflection that ten thousand germans still remained in the provinces, attached to the royal service, and that there was even yet a possibility that the departure of the spaniards was a feint. in truth, escovedo, although seconding the orders of don john, to procure the removal of these troops, did not scruple to express his regret to the king, and his doubts as to the result. he had been ever in hopes that an excuse might be found in the condition of affairs in france, to justify the retention of the forces near that frontier. he assured the king that he felt very doubtful as to what turn matters might take, after the soldiers were gone, seeing the great unruliness which even their presence had been insufficient completely to check. he had hoped that they might be retained in the neighbourhood, ready to seize the islands at the first opportunity. "for my part," he wrote, "i care nothing for the occupation of places within the interior, but the islands must be secured. to do this," he continued, with a deceitful allusion to the secret projects of don john, "is, in my opinion, more difficult than to effect the scheme upon england. if the one were accomplished, the other would be easily enough managed, and would require but moderate means. let not your majesty suppose that i say this as favoring the plan of don john, for this i put entirely behind me." notwithstanding these suspicions on the part of the people, this reluctance on the part of then government, the troops readily took up their line of march, and never paused till they reached lombardy. don john wrote repeatedly to the king, warmly urging the claims of these veterans, and of their distinguished officers, romero, avila, valdez, montesdocca, verdugo, mondragon, and others, to his bountiful consideration. they had departed in very ill humour, not having received any recompense for their long and arduous services. certainly, if unflinching endurance, desperate valor, and congenial cruelty, could atone in the monarch's eyes for the mutiny, which had at last compelled their withdrawal, then were these laborers worthy of their hire. don john had pacified them by assurances that they should receive adequate rewards on their arrival in lombardy, and had urged the full satisfaction of their claims and his promises in the strongest language. although don alonzo de vargas had abused him "with-flying colors," as he expressed himself, yet he hastened to intercede for him with the king in the most affectionate terms. "his impatience has not surprised me," said the governor, "although i regret that he has been offended, far i love and esteem him much. he has served many years with great distinction, and i can certify that his character for purity and religion is something extraordinary." the first scene in the withdrawal of the troops had been the evacuation of the citadel of antwerp, and it had been decided that the command of this most important fortress should be conferred upon the duke of aerschot. his claims as commander-in-chief, under the authority of the state council, and as chief of the catholic nobility, could hardly be passed over, yet he was a man whom neither party trusted. he was too visibly governed by interested motives. arrogant where he felt secure of his own, or doubtful as to another's position, he could be supple and cringing when the relations changed. he refused an interview with william of orange before consulting with don john, and solicited one afterwards when he found that every effort was to be made to conciliate the prince. he was insolent to the governor-general himself in february, and respectful in march. he usurped the first place in the church, before don john had been acknowledged governor, and was the first to go forth to welcome him after the matter had been arranged. he made a scene of virtuous indignation in the state council, because he was accused of place-hunting, but was diligent to secure an office of the highest dignity which the governor could bestow. whatever may have been his merits, it is certain that he inspired confidence neither in the adherents of the king nor of the prince; while he by turns professed the warmest regard both to the one party and the other. spaniards and patriots, protestants and catholics, suspected the man at the same moment, and ever attributed to his conduct a meaning which was the reverse of the apparent. such is often the judgment passed upon those who fish in troubled waters only to fill their own nets. the duke, however, was appointed governor of the citadel. sancho d'avila, the former constable, refused, with castillian haughtiness, to surrender the place to his successor, but appointed his lieutenant, martin d'oyo, to perform that ceremony. escovedo, standing upon the drawbridge with aerschot, administered the oath: "i, philip, duke of aerschot," said the new constable, "solemnly swear to hold this castle for the king, and for no others." to which escovedo added, "god help you, with all his angels, if you keep your oath; if not, may the devil carry you away, body and soul." the few bystanders cried amen; and with this hasty ceremony, the keys were delivered, the prisoners, egmont, capres, goignies, and others, liberated, and the spaniards ordered to march forth. etext editor's bookmarks: a terrible animal, indeed, is an unbridled woman agreements were valid only until he should repent all protestants were beheaded, burned, or buried alive arrive at their end by fraud, when violence will not avail them attachment to a half-drowned land and to a despised religion barbara blomberg, washerwoman of ratisbon believed in the blessed advent of peace compassing a country's emancipation through a series of defeats don john of austria don john was at liberty to be king of england and scotland ferocity which even christians could not have surpassed happy to glass themselves in so brilliant a mirror his personal graces, for the moment, took the rank of virtues necessary to make a virtue of necessity one-half to philip and one-half to the pope and venice (slaves) quite mistaken: in supposing himself the emperor's child sentimentality that seems highly apocryphal she knew too well how women were treated in that country those who fish in troubled waters only to fill their own nets worn crescents in their caps at leyden motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley chapter ii. triumphal entrance of don john into brussels--reverse of the picture --analysis of the secret correspondence of don john and escovedo with antonio perez--plots against the governor's liberty--his desponding language and gloomy anticipations--recommendation of severe measures--position and principles of orange and his family-- his private views on the question of peace and war--his toleration to catholics and anabaptists censured by his friends--death of viglius--new mission from the governor to orange--details of the gertruydenberg conferences--nature and results of these negotiations--papers exchanged between the envoys and orange--peter panis executed for heresy--three parties in the netherlands-- dissimulation of don john--his dread of capture. as already narrated, the soldiery had retired definitely from the country at the end of april, after which don john made his triumphal entrance into brussels on the st of may. it was long since so festive a may-day had gladdened the hearts of brabant. so much holiday magnificence had not been seen in the netherlands for years. a solemn procession of burghers, preceded by six thousand troops, and garnished by the free companies of archers and musketeers, in their picturesque costumes, escorted the young prince along the streets of the capital. don john was on horseback, wrapped in a long green cloak, riding between the bishop of liege and the papal nuncio. he passed beneath countless triumphal arches. banners waved before him, on which the battle of lepanto, and other striking scenes in his life, were emblazoned. minstrels sang verses, poets recited odes, rhetoric clubs enacted fantastic dramas in his honor, as he rode along. young virgins crowned him with laurels. fair women innumerable were clustered at every window, roof, and balcony, their bright robes floating like summer clouds above him. "softly from those lovely clouds," says a gallant chronicler, "descended the gentle rain of flowers." garlands were strewed before his feet, laurelled victory sat upon his brow. the same conventional enthusiasm and decoration which had characterized the holiday marches of a thousand conventional heroes were successfully produced. the proceedings began with the church, and ended with the banquet, the day was propitious, the populace pleased, and after a brilliant festival, don john of austria saw himself governor-general of the provinces. three days afterwards, the customary oaths, to be kept with the customary conscientiousness, were rendered at the town house, and for a brief moment all seemed smiling and serene. there was a reverse to the picture. in truth, no language can describe the hatred which don john entertained for the netherlands and all the inhabitants. he had come to the country only as a stepping-stone to the english throne, and he never spoke, in his private letters, of the provinces or the people but in terms of abhorrence. he was in a "babylon of disgust," in a "hell," surrounded by "drunkards," "wineskins," "scoundrels," and the like. from the moment of his arrival he had strained every nerve to retain the spanish troops, and to send them away by sea when it should be no longer feasible to keep them. escovedo shared in the sentiments and entered fully into the schemes of his chief. the plot, the secret enterprise, was the great cause of the advent of don john in the uncongenial clime of flanders. it had been, therefore, highly important, in his estimation, to set, as soon as possible, about the accomplishment of this important business. he accordingly entered into correspondence with antonio perez, the king's most confidential secretary of state at that period. that the governor was plotting no treason is sufficiently obvious from the context of his letters: at the same time, with the expansiveness of his character, when he was dealing with one whom he deemed has close and trusty friend, he occasionally made use of expressions which might be made to seem equivocal. this was still more the case with poor escovedo. devoted to his master, and depending most implicitly upon the honor of perez, he indulged in language which might be tortured into a still more suspicious shape when the devilish arts of perez and the universal distrust of philip were tending steadily to that end. for perez--on the whole, the boldest, deepest, and most unscrupulous villain in that pit of duplicity, the spanish court--was engaged at that moment with philip, in a plot to draw from don john and escovedo, by means of this correspondence, the proofs of a treason which the king and minister both desired to find. the letters from spain were written with this view--those from flanders were interpreted to that end. every confidential letter received by perez was immediately laid by him before the king, every letter which the artful demon wrote was filled with hints as to the danger of the king's learning the existence of the correspondence, and with promises of profound secrecy upon his own part, and was then immediately placed in philip's hands, to receive his comments and criticisms, before being copied and despatched to the netherlands. the minister was playing a bold, murderous, and treacherous game, and played it in a masterly manner. escovedo was lured to his destruction, don john was made to fret his heart away, and philip--more deceived than all--was betrayed in what he considered his affections, and made the mere tool of a man as false as himself and infinitely more accomplished. almost immediately after the arrival of don john in the netherlands; he had begun to express the greatest impatience for escovedo, who had not been able to accompany his master upon his journey, but without whose assistance the governor could accomplish none of his undertakings. "being a man, not an angel, i cannot do all which i have to do," said he to perez, "without a single person in whom i can confide." he protested that he could do no more than he was then doing. he went to bed at twelve and rose at seven, without having an hour in the day in which to take his food regularly; in consequence of all which he had already had three fevers. he was plunged into a world of distrust. every man suspected him, and he had himself no confidence in a single individual throughout that whole babylon of disgusts. he observed to perez that he was at liberty to show his letters to the king, or to read them in the council, as he meant always to speak the truth in whatever he should write. he was sure that perez would do all for the best; and there is something touching in these expressions of an honest purpose towards philip, and of generous confidence in perez, while the two were thus artfully attempting to inveigle him into damaging revelations. the netherlanders certainly had small cause to love or trust their new governor, who very sincerely detested and suspected them, but philip had little reason to complain of his brother. "tell me if my letters are read in council, and what his majesty says about them," he wrote; "and, above all, send money. i am driven to desperation at finding myself sold to this people, utterly unprovided as i am, and knowing the slow manner in which all affairs are conducted in spain." he informed the king that there was but one man in the netherlands, and that he was called the prince of orange. to him everything was communicated, with him everything was negotiated, opinions expressed by him were implicitly followed. the governor vividly described the misgivings with which he had placed himself in the power of the states by going to louvain, and the reluctance with which he had consented to send away the troops. after this concession, he complained that the insolence of the states had increased. "they think that they can do and undo what they like, now that i am at their mercy," he wrote to philip. "nevertheless, i do what you command without regarding that i am sold, and that i am in great danger of losing, my liberty, a loss which i dread more than anything in the world, for i wish to remain justified before god and men." he expressed, however, no hopes as to the result. disrespect and rudeness could be pushed no further than it had already gone, while the prince of orange, the actual governor of the country, considered his own preservation dependent upon maintaining things as they then were. don john, therefore, advised the king steadily to make preparations for "a rude and terrible war," which was not to be avoided, save by a miracle, and which ought not--to find him in this unprepared state. he protested that it was impossible to exaggerate the boldness which the people felt at seeing him thus defenseless. "they say publicly," he continued, "that your majesty is not to be feared, not being capable of carrying on a war, and having consumed and exhausted every resource. one of the greatest injuries ever inflicted upon us was by marquis havre, who, after his return from spain, went about publishing everywhere the poverty of the royal exchequer. this has emboldened them to rise, for they believe that, whatever the disposition, there is no strength to chastise them. they see a proof of the correctness of their reasoning in the absence of new levies, and in the heavy arrearages due to the old troops." he protested that he desired, at least, to be equal to the enemy, without asking, as others had usually done, for double the amount of the hostile force. he gave a glance at the foreign complications of the netherlands, telling philip that the estates were intriguing both with france and england. the english envoy had expressed much uneasiness at the possible departure of the spanish troops from the netherlands by sea, coupling it with a probable attempt to liberate the queen of scots. don john, who had come to the provinces for no other purpose, and whose soul had been full of that romantic scheme, of course stoutly denied and ridiculed the idea. "such notions," he had said to the envoy, "were subjects for laughter. if the troops were removed from the country, it was to strengthen his majesty's force in the levant." mr. rogers, much comforted, had expressed the warm friendship which elizabeth entertained both for his majesty and his majesty's representative; protestations which could hardly seem very sincere, after the series of attempts at the queen's life, undertaken so recently by his majesty and his majesty's former representative. nevertheless, don john had responded with great cordiality, had begged for elizabeth's portrait, and had expressed the intention, if affairs went as he hoped, to go privately to england for the purpose of kissing her royal hand. don john further informed the king, upon the envoy's authority, that elizabeth had refused assistance to the estates, saying, if she stirred it would be to render aid to philip, especially if france should meddle in the matter. as to france, the governor advised philip to hold out hopes to alencon of espousing the infanta, but by no means ever to fulfil such a promise, as the duke, "besides being the shield of heretics, was unscrupulously addicted to infamous vices." a month later, escovedo described the downfall of don john's hopes and his own in dismal language.--"you are aware," he wrote to perez, "that a throne--a chair with a canopy--is our intention and our appetite, and all the rest is good for nothing. having failed in our scheme, we are desperate and like madmen. all is now weariness and death." having expressed himself in such desponding accents, he continued, a few days afterwards, in the same lugubrious vein, "i am ready to hang myself," said he, "and i would have done it already, if it were not for keeping myself as executioner for those who have done us so much harm. ah, senor antonio perez!" he added, "what terrible pertinacity have those devils shown in making us give up our plot. it seems as though hell were opened and had sent forth heaps of demons to oppose our schemes." after these vigorous ejaculations he proceeded to inform his friend that the english envoy and the estates, governed by the prince of orange, in whose power were the much-coveted ships, had prevented the departure of the troops by sea. "these devils complain of the expense," said he; "but we would willingly swallow the cost if we could only get the ships." he then described don john as so cast down by his disappointment as to be fit for nothing, and most desirous of quitting the netherlands as soon as possible. he had no disposition to govern these wineskins. any one who ruled in the provinces was obliged to do exactly what they ordered him to do. such rule was not to the taste of don john. without any comparison, a woman would answer the purpose better than any man, and escovedo accordingly suggested the empress dowager, or madame de parma, or even madame de lorraine. he further recommended that the spanish troops, thus forced to leave the netherlands by land, should be employed against the heretics in france. this would be a salve for the disgrace of removing them. "it would be read in history," continued the secretary, "that the troops went to france in order to render assistance in a great religious necessity; while, at the same time, they will be on hand to chastise these drunkards, if necessary. to have the troops in france is almost as well as to keep them here." he begged to be forgiven if he spoke incoherently. 't was no wonder that he should do so, for his reason had been disordered by the blow which had been received. as for don john, he was dying to leave the country, and although the force was small for so great a general, yet it would be well for him to lead these troops to france in person. "it would sound well in history," said poor escovedo, who always thought of posterity, without ever dreaming that his own private letters would be destined, after three centuries, to comment and earnest investigation; "it would sound well in history, that don john went to restore, the french kingdom and to extirpate heretics, with six thousand foot and two thousand horse. 'tis a better employment, too, than to govern such vile creatures as these." if, however, all their plans should fail, the secretary suggested to his friend antonio, that he must see and make courtiers of them. he suggested that a strong administration might be formed in spain, with don john, the marquis de los velez, and the duke of sesa. "with such chiefs, and with anthony and john--[viz., john of escovedo and antony perez.]--for acolytes," he was of opinion that much good work might be done, and that don john might become "the staff for his majesty's old age." he implored perez, in the most urgent language, to procure philip's consent that his brother should leave the provinces. "otherwise," said he, "we shall see the destruction of the friend whom we so much love! he will become seriously ill, and if so, good night to him! his body is too delicate." escovedo protested that he would rather die himself. "in the catastrophe of don john's death," he continued, "adieu the court, adieu the world!" he would incontinently bury himself among the mountains of san sebastian, "preferring to dwell among wild animals than among courtiers." escovedo, accordingly, not urged by the most disinterested motives certainly, but with as warm a friendship for his master as princes usually inspire, proceeded to urge upon perez the necessity of, aiding the man who was able to help them. the first step was to get him out of the netherlands. that was his constant thought, by day and night. as it would hardly be desirable for him to go alone, it seemed proper that escovedo should, upon some pretext, be first sent to spain. such a pretext would be easily found, because, as don john had accepted the government, "it would be necessary for him to do all which the rascals bade him." after these minute statements, the secretary warned his correspondent of the necessity of secrecy, adding that he especially feared "all the court ladies, great and small, but that he in everything confided entirely in perez." nearly at the same time, don john wrote to perez in a similar tone. "ah, senor antonio," he exclaimed, "how certain is my disgrace and my misfortune. ruined is our enterprise, after so much labor and such skilful management." he was to have commenced the work with the very spanish soldiers who were now to be sent off by land, and he had nothing for it but to let them go, or to come to an open rupture with the states. "the last, his conscience, his duty, and the time, alike forbade." he was therefore obliged to submit to the ruin of his plans, and "could think of nothing save to turn hermit, a condition in which a man's labors, being spiritual, might not be entirely in vain." he was so overwhelmed by the blow, he said, that he was constantly thinking of an anchorite's life. that which he had been leading had become intolerable. he was not fitted for the people of the netherlands, nor they for him. rather than stay longer than was necessary in order to appoint his successor, there was no resolution he might not take, even to leaving everything and coming upon them when they least expected him, although he were to receive a bloody punishment in consequence. he, too, suggested the empress, who had all the qualities which he lacked himself, or madame de parma, or madame de lorraine, as each of them was more fit to govern the provinces than he pretended to be. "the people," said he, plainly, "are beginning to abhor me, and i abhor them already." he entreated perez to get him out of the country by fair means or foul, "per fas aut per nefas." his friends ought to procure his liberation, if they wished to save him from the sin of disobedience, and even of infamy. he expressed the most unbounded confidence in the honor of his correspondent, adding that if nothing else could procure his release, the letter might be shown to the king. in general, the governor was always willing that perez should make what changes he thought advisable in the letters for his majesty, altering or softening whatever seemed crude or harsh, provided always the main point--that of procuring his recal--were steadily kept in view, in this, said the governor, vehemently, my life, my honor, and my soul are all at stake; for as to the two first, i shall forfeit them both certainly, and, in my desperate condition, i shall run great risk of losing the last. on the other hand, perez was profuse in his professions of friendship both to don john and to escovedo; dilating in all his letters upon the difficulty of approaching the king upon the subject of his brother's recal, but giving occasional information that an incidental hint had been ventured which might not remain without effect. all these letters, were, however, laid before philip, for his approval, before being despatched, and the whole subject thoroughly and perpetually discussed between them, about which perez pretended that he hardly dared breathe a syllable to his majesty. he had done what he could, he said, while reading, piece by piece, to the king, during a fit of the gout, the official despatches from the netherlands, to insinuate such of the arguments used by the governor and escovedo as might seem admissible, but it was soon obvious that no impression could be made upon the royal mind. perez did not urge the matter, therefore, "because," said he, "if the king should suspect that we had any other object than his interests, we should all be lost." every effort should be made by don john and all his friends to secure his majesty's entire confidence, since by that course more progress would be made in their secret plans, than by proceedings concerning which the governor wrote "with such fury and anxiety of heart." perez warned his correspondent, therefore, most solemnly, against the danger of "striking the blow without hitting the mark," and tried to persuade him that his best interests required him to protract his residence in the provinces for a longer period. he informed don john that his disappointment as to the english scheme had met with the warmest sympathy of the king, who had wished his brother success. "i have sold to him, at as high a price as i could," said perez, "the magnanimity with which your highness had sacrificed, on that occasion, a private object to his service." the minister held the same language, when writing, in a still more intimate and expansive style, to escovedo. "we must avoid, by a thousand--leagues, the possibility of the king's thinking us influenced by private motives," he observed; "for we know the king and the delicacy of these matters. the only way to gain the good-will of the man is carefully to accommodate ourselves to his tastes, and to have the appearance of being occupied solely with his interests." the letter, like all the rest, being submitted to "the man" in question before being sent, was underlined by him at this paragraph and furnished with the following annotation: "but you must enlarge upon the passage which i have marked--say more, even if you are obliged to copy the letter, in order that we may see the nature of the reply." in another letter to escovedo, perez enlarged upon the impropriety, the impossibility of don john's leaving the netherlands at that time. the king was so resolute upon that point, he said, that 'twas out of the question to suggest the matter. "we should, by so doing, only lose all credit with him in other things. you know what a terrible man he is; if he should once suspect us of having a private end in view, we should entirely miss our mark." especially the secretary was made acquainted with the enormous error which would be committed by don john in leaving his post. perez "had ventured into the water" upon the subject, he said, by praising the governor warmly to his majesty. the king had responded by a hearty eulogium, adding that the greatest comfort in having such a brother was, that he might be where his majesty could not be. therefore, it was out of the question for don john to leave the provinces. the greatest tact was necessary, urged perez, in dealing with the king. if he should once "suspect that we have a private purpose, we are lost, and no demosthenes or cicero would be able to influence him afterwards." perez begged that his ardent attachment to don john might be represented in the strongest colors to that high personage, who was to be assured that every effort would be made to place him at the head of affairs in spain, according to the suggestion of escovedo. "it would never do, however," he continued, "to let our man see that we desire it, for then we should never succeed. the only way to conquer him is to make him believe that things are going on as he wishes, not as his highness may desire, and that we have none of us any will but the king's." upon this passage the "terrible man" made a brief annotation: "this paragraph does admirably," he said, adding, with characteristic tautology, "and what you say in it is also excellent." "therefore," continued the minister, "god forbid, master escovedo, that you should come hither now; for we should all be lost. in the english matter, i assure you that his majesty was extremely anxious that the plan should succeed, either through the pope, or otherwise. that puts me in mind," added perez, "to say, body of god! senor escovedo! how the devil came you to send that courier to rome about the english plot without giving me warning?" he then proceeded to state that the papal nuncio in spain had been much troubled in mind upon the subject, and had sent for him. "i went," said perez, "and after he, had closed the door, and looked through the keyhole to see that there were no listeners, he informed me that he had received intelligence from the pope as to the demands made by don john upon his holiness for bulls, briefs, and money to assist him in his english scheme, and that eighty thousand ducats had already been sent to him in consequence." perez added that the nuncio was very anxious to know how the affair should best be communicated to the king, without prejudice to his highness. he had given him the requisite advice, he continued, and had himself subsequently told the king that, no doubt, letters had been written by don john to his majesty, communicating these negotiations at rome, but that probably the despatches had been forgotten. thus, giving himself the appearance of having smoothed the matter with the king, perez concluded with a practical suggestion of much importance--the necessity, namely, of procuring the assassination of the prince of orange as soon as possible. "let it never be absent from your mind," said he, "that a good occasion must be found for finishing orange, since, besides the service which will thus be rendered to our master, and to the states, it will be worth something to ourselves." no apology is necessary for laying a somewhat extensive analysis of this secret correspondence before the reader. if there be any value in the examples of history, certainly few chronicles can furnish a more instructive moral. here are a despotic king and his confidential minister laying their heads together in one cabinet; the viceroy of the most important provinces of the realm, with his secretary, deeply conferring in another, not as to the manner of advancing the great interests, moral or material, of the people over whom god has permitted them to rule, but as to the best means of arranging conspiracies against the throne and life of a neighboring sovereign, with the connivance and subsidies of the pope. in this scheme, and in this only, the high conspirators are agreed. in every other respect, mutual suspicion and profound deceit characterize the scene. the governor is filled with inexpressible loathing for the whole nation of "drunkards and wineskins" who are at the very moment strewing flowers in his path, and deafening his ears with shouts of welcome; the king, while expressing unbounded confidence in the viceroy, is doing his utmost, through the agency of the subtlest intriguer in the world, to inveigle him into confessions of treasonable schemes, and the minister is filling reams of paper with protestations of affection for the governor and secretary, with sneers at the character of the king, and with instructions as to the best method of deceiving him, and then laying the despatches before his majesty for correction and enlargement. to complete the picture, the monarch and his minister are seen urging the necessity of murdering the foremost man of the age upon the very dupe who, within a twelvemonth, was himself to be assassinated by the self-same pair; while the arch-plotter who controls the strings of all these complicated projects is equally false to king, governor, and secretary, and is engaging all the others in these blind and tortuous paths, for the accomplishment of his own secret and most ignoble aims. in reply to the letters of perez, don john constantly expressed the satisfaction and comfort which he derived from them in the midst of his annoyances. "he was very disconsolate," he said, "to be in that hell, and to be obliged to remain in it," now that the english plot had fallen to the ground, but he would nevertheless take patience, and wait for a more favorable conjuncture. escovedo expressed the opinion, however, notwithstanding all the suggestions of perez, that the presence of don john in the provinces had become entirely superfluous. "an old woman with her distaff," suggested the secretary, "would be more appropriate; for there would be nothing to do, if the states had their way, save to sign everything which they should command." if there should be war, his highness would, of course, not abandon his post; even if permitted to do so; but otherwise, nothing could be gained by a prolonged residence. as to the scheme of assassinating the prince of orange, escovedo prayed perez to believe him incapable of negligence on the subject. "you know that the finishing of orange is very near my heart," wrote the poor dupe to the man by whom he was himself so soon to be finished. "you may believe that i have never forgotten it, and never will forget it, until it be done. much, and very much artifice is, however, necessary to accomplish this object. a proper person to undertake a task fraught with such well-known danger, is hard to find. nevertheless, i will not withdraw my attention from the subject till such a person be procured, and the deed be done." a month later, escovedo wrote that he was about to visit spain. he complained that he required rest in his old age, but that perez could judge how much rest he could get in such a condition of affairs. he was, unfortunately, not aware, when he wrote, how soon his correspondent was to give him a long repose. he said, too, that the pleasure of visiting his home was counterbalanced by the necessity of travelling back to the netherlands; but he did not know that perez was to spare him that trouble, and to send him forth upon a much longer journey. the governor-general, had, in truth, not inspired the popular party or its leader with confidence, nor did he place the least reliance upon them. while at louvain, he had complained that a conspiracy had been formed against his life and liberty. two french gentlemen, bonnivet and bellangreville, had been arrested on suspicion of a conspiracy to secure his person, and to carry him off a prisoner to rochelle. nothing came of the examination which followed; the prisoners were released, and an apology was sent by the states-general to the duke of alencon, as well for the indignity which had been offered to two of his servants, as for the suspicion which had been cast upon himself, don john, however, was not satisfied. he persisted in asserting the existence of the conspiracy, and made no secret of his belief that the prince of orange was acquainted with the arrangement. as may be supposed, nothing was discovered in the course of the investigation to implicate that astute politician. the prince had indeed secretly recommended that the governor should be taken into custody on his first arrival, not for the purpose of assassination or personal injury, but in order to extort better terms from philip, through the affection or respect which he might be supposed to entertain for his brother. it will be remembered that unsuccessful attempts had also been made to capture the duke of alva and the commander requesens. such achievements comported with the spirit of the age, and although it is doubtful whether any well-concerted plot existed against the liberty of the governor, it is certain that he entertained no doubt on the subject himself. in addition to these real or suspected designs, there was an ever-present consciousness in the mind of don john that the enthusiasm which greeted his presence was hollow, that no real attachment was felt for his person, that his fate was leading him into a false position, that the hearts of the people were fixed upon another, and that they were never to be won by himself. instinctively he seemed to feel a multitude of invisible threads twining into a snare around him, and the courageous heart and the bounding strength became uneasily conscious of the act in which they were to be held captive till life should be wasted quite away. the universal affection for the rebel prince, and the hopeless abandonment of the people to that deadliest of sins, the liberty of conscience, were alike unquestionable. "they mean to remain free, sire," wrote escovedo to philip, "and to live as they please. to that end they would be willing that the turk should come to be master of the country. by the road which they are travelling, however, it will be the prince of orange--which comes to quite the same thing." at the same time, however, it was hoped that something might be made of this liberty of conscience. all were not equally sunk in the horrible superstition, and those who were yet faithful to church and king might be set against their besotted brethren. liberty of conscience might thus be turned to account. while two great parties were "by the ears, and pulling out each other's hair, all might perhaps be reduced together." his majesty was warned, nevertheless, to expect the worst, and to believe that the country could only be cared with fire and blood. the position of the governor was painful and perplexing. "don john," said escovedo, "is thirty years old. i promise your majesty nothing, save that if he finds himself without requisite assistance, he will take himself off when your majesty is least thinking of such a thing." nothing could be more melancholy than the tone of the governor's letters. he believed himself disliked, even in the midst of affectionate demonstrations. he felt compelled to use moderate counsels, although he considered moderation of no avail. he was chained to his post, even though the post could, in his opinion, be more advantageously filled by another. he would still endeavour to gain the affections of the people, although he believed them hopelessly alienated. if patience would cure the malady of the country, he professed himself capable of applying the remedy, although the medicine had so far done but little good, and although he had no very strong hopes as to its future effects. "thus far, however," said he, "i am but as one crying in the wilderness." he took occasion to impress upon his majesty, in very strong language, the necessity of money. secret agents, spies, and spies upon spies, were more necessary than ever, and were very expensive portions of government machinery. never was money more wanted. nothing could be more important than, to attend faithfully to the financial suggestions of escovedo, and don john, therefore, urged his majesty, again and again, not to dishonor their drafts. "money is the gruel," said he, "with which we must cure this sick man;" and he therefore prayed all those who wished well to his efforts, to see that his majesty did not fail him in this important matter. notwithstanding, however, the vigor of his efforts, and the earnestness of his intentions, he gave but little hope to his majesty of any valuable fruit from the pacification just concluded. he saw the prince of orange strengthening himself, "with great fury," in holland and zealand; he knew that the prince was backed by the queen of england, who, notwithstanding her promises to philip and himself, had offered her support to the rebels in case the proposed terms of peace were rejected in holland, and he felt that "nearly the whole people was at the devotion of the prince." don john felt more and more convinced, too, that a conspiracy was on foot against his liberty. there were so many of the one party, and so few of the other, that if he were once fairly "trussed," he affirmed that not a man among the faithful would dare to budge an inch. he therefore informed his majesty that he was secretly meditating a retreat to some place of security; judging very properly that, if he were still his own master, he should be able to exert more influence over those who were still well disposed, than if he should suffer himself to be taken captive. a suppressed conviction that he could effect nothing, except with his sword, pierced through all his more prudent reflections. he maintained that, after all, there was no remedy for the body but to cut off the diseased parts at once, and he therefore begged his majesty for the means of performing the operation handsomely. the general expressions which he had previously used in favor of broths and mild treatment hardly tallied with the severe amputation thus recommended. there was, in truth, a constant struggle going on between the fierceness of his inclinations and the shackles which had been imposed upon him. he already felt entirely out of place, and although he scorned to fly from his post so long as it seemed the post of danger, he was most anxious that the king should grant him his dismissal, so soon as his presence should no longer be imperiously required. he was sure that the people would never believe in his majesty's forgiveness until the man concerning whom they entertained so much suspicion should be removed; for they saw in him only the "thunderbolt of his majesty's wrath." orange and england confirmed their suspicions, and sustained their malice. should he be compelled, against his will, to remain, he gave warning that he might do something which would be matter of astonishment to everybody. meantime, the man in whose hands really lay the question of war and peace, sat at middelburg, watching the deep current of events as it slowly flowed towards the precipice. the whole population of holland and zealand hung on his words. in approaching the realms of william the silent, don john felt that he had entered a charmed, circle, where the talisman of his own illustrious name lost its power, where his valor was paralyzed, and his sword rusted irrevocably in its sheath. "the people here," he wrote, "are bewitched by the prince of orange. they love him, they fear him, and wish to have him for their master. they inform him of everything, and take no resolution without consulting him." while william was thus directing and animating the whole nation with his spirit, his immediate friends became more and more anxious concerning the perils to which he was exposed. his mother, who had already seen her youngest-born, henry, her adolphus, her chivalrous louis, laid in their bloody graves for the cause of conscience, was most solicitous for the welfare of her "heart's-beloved lord and son," the prince of orange. nevertheless, the high-spirited old dame was even more alarmed at the possibility of a peace in which that religious liberty for which so much dear blood had been, poured forth should be inadequately secured. "my heart longs for certain tidings from my lord," she wrote to william, "for methinks the peace now in prospect will prove but an oppression for soul and conscience. i trust my heart's dearly-beloved lord and son will be supported by divine grace to do nothing against god and his own soul's salvation. 'tis better to lose the temporal than the eternal." thus wrote the mother of william, and we can feel the sympathetic thrill which such tender and lofty words awoke in his breast. his son, the ill-starred philip, now for ten years long a compulsory sojourner in spain, was not yet weaned from his affection for his noble parent, but sent messages of affection to him whenever occasion offered, while a less commendable proof of his filial affection he had lately afforded, at the expense of the luckless captain of his spanish guard. that officer having dared in his presence to speak disrespectfully of his father, was suddenly seized about the waist by the enraged young count, hurled out of the window, and killed stone-dead upon the spot. after this exhibition of his natural feelings, the spanish government thought it necessary to take more subtle means to tame so turbulent a spirit. unfortunately they proved successful. count john of nassau, too, was sorely pressed for money. six hundred thousand florins; at least, had been advanced by himself and brothers to aid the cause of netherland freedom. louis and himself had, unhesitatingly and immediately, turned into that sacred fund the hundred thousand crowns which the king of france had presented them for their personal use, for it was not the prince of orange alone who had consecrated his wealth and his life to the cause, but the members of his family, less immediately interested in the country, had thus furnished what may well be called an enormous subsidy, and one most disproportioned to their means. not only had they given all the cash which they could command by mortgaging their lands and rents, their plate and furniture, but, in the words of count john himself, "they had taken the chains and jewels from the necks of their wives, their children, and their mother, and had hawked them about, as if they had themselves been traders and hucksters." and yet, even now, while stooping under this prodigious debt, count john asked not for present repayment. he only wrote to the prince to signify his extreme embarrassment, and to request some obligation or recognition from the cities of holland and zealand, whence hitherto no expression of gratitude or acknowledgment had proceeded. the prince consoled and assured, as best he could, his mother, son, wife, and brother, even at the same moment that he comforted his people. he also received at this time a second and more solemn embassy from don john. no sooner had the governor exchanged oaths at brussels, and been acknowledged as the representative of his majesty, than he hastened to make another effort to conciliate the prince. don john saw before him only a grand seignior of lofty birth and boundless influence, who had placed himself towards the crown in a false position, from which he might even yet be rescued; for to sacrifice the whims of a reforming and transitory religious fanaticism, which had spun itself for a moment about so clear a brain, would, he thought, prove but a trifling task for so experienced a politician as the prince. william of orange, on the other hand, looked upon his young antagonist as the most brilliant impersonation which had yet been seen of the foul spirit of persecution. it will be necessary to follow, somewhat more in detail than is usually desirable, the interchange of conversations, letters, and protocols, out of which the brief but important administration of don john was composed; for it was exactly in such manifestations that the great fight was really proceeding. don john meant peace, wise william meant war, for he knew that no other issue was possible. peace, in reality, was war in its worst shape. peace would unchain every priestly tongue, and unsheath every knightly sword in the fifteen provinces against little holland and zealand. he had been able to bind all the provinces together by the hastily forged chain of the ghent treaty, and had done what he could to strengthen that union by the principle of mutual religious respect. by the arrival of don john that work had been deranged. it had, however, been impossible for the prince thoroughly to infuse his own ideas on the subject of toleration into the hearts of his nearest associates. he could not hope to inspire his deadly enemies with a deeper sympathy. was he not himself the mark of obloquy among the reformers, because of his leniency to catholics? nay more, was not his intimate councillor, the accomplished saint aldegonde, in despair because the prince refused to exclude the anabaptists of holland from the rights of citizenship? at the very moment when william was straining every nerve to unite warring sects, and to persuade men's hearts into a system by which their consciences were to be laid open to god alone--at the moment when it was most necessary for the very existence of the fatherland that catholic and protestant should mingle their social and political relations, it was indeed a bitter disappointment for him to see wise statesmen of his own creed unable to rise to the idea of toleration. "the affair of the anabaptists," wrote saint aldegonde, "has been renewed. the prince objects to exclude them from citizenship. he answered me sharply, that their yea was equal to our oath, and that we should not press this matter, unless we were willing to confess that it was just for the papists to compel us to a divine service which was against our conscience." it seems hardly credible that this sentence, containing so sublime a tribute to the character of the prince, should have been indited as a bitter censure, and that, too, by an enlightened and accomplished protestant. "in short," continued saint aldegonde, with increasing vexation, "i don't see how we can accomplish our wish in this matter. the prince has uttered reproaches to me that our clergy are striving to obtain a mastery over consciences. he praised lately the saying of a monk who was not long ago here, that our pot had not gone to the fire as often as that of our antagonists, but that when the time came it would be black enough. in short, the prince fears that after a few centuries the clerical tyranny on both sides will stand in this respect on the same footing." early in the month of may, doctor leoninus and caspar schetz, seigneur de grobbendonck, had been sent on a mission from the states-general to the prince of orange. while their negotiations were still pending, four special envoys from don john arrived at middelburg. to this commission was informally adjoined leoninus, who had succeeded to the general position of viglius. viglius was dead. since the memorable arrest of the state council, he had not appeared on the scene of public affairs. the house-arrest, to which he had been compelled by a revolutionary committee, had been indefinitely prolonged by a higher power, and after a protracted illness he had noiselessly disappeared from the stage of life. there had been few more learned doctors of both laws than he. there had been few more adroit politicians, considered from his point of view. his punning device was "vita mortalium vigilia," and he acted accordingly, but with a narrow interpretation. his life had indeed been a vigil, but it must be confessed that the vigils had been for viglius. [bor, x. . meteren, vi. .--another motto of his was, "en groot jurist een booser christ;" that is to say, a good lawyer is a bad christian.--unfortunately his own character did not give the lie satisfactorily to the device.] the weatherbeaten palinurus, as he loved to call himself, had conducted his own argosy so warily that he had saved his whole cargo; and perished in port at last, while others, not sailing by his compass, were still tossed by the tempest. the agents of don john were the duke of aerschot, the seigneur de hierges, seigneur de willerval, and doctor meetkercke, accompanied by doctor andrew gaill, one of the imperial commissioners. the two envoys from the states-general, leoninus and schetz, being present at gertruydenberg were added to the deputation. an important conference took place, the details of which have been somewhat minutely preserved. the prince of orange, accompanied by saint aldegonde and four other councillors, encountered the seven champions from brussels in a long debate, which was more like a passage of arms or a trial of skill than a friendly colloquy with a pacific result in prospect; for it must be remembered that the prince of orange did not mean peace. he had devised the pacification of ghent as a union of the other provinces with holland and zealand, against philip. he did not intend that it should be converted into a union of the other provinces with philip, against holland and zealand. meetkercke was the first to speak. he said that the governor had despatched them to the prince, to express his good intentions, to represent the fidelity with which his promises had thus far been executed, and to entreat the prince, together with the provinces of holland and zealand, to unite with their sister provinces in common allegiance to his majesty. his highness also proposed to advise with them concerning the proper method of convoking the states-general. as soon as meetkercke had finished his observations, the prince demanded that the points and articles should be communicated to him in writing. now this was precisely what the envoys preferred to omit. it was easier, and far more agreeable to expatiate in a general field of controversy,--than to remain tethered to distinct points. it was particularly in these confused conferences, where neither party was entirely sincere, that the volatile word was thought preferable to the permanent letter. already so many watery lines had been traced, in the course of these fluctuating negotiations, that a few additional records would be if necessary, as rapidly effaced as the rest. the commissioners, after whispering in each other's, ears for a few minutes, refused to put down anything in writing. protocols, they said, only engendered confusion. "no, no," said the prince, in reply, "we will have nothing except in black and white. otherwise things will be said on both sides, which will afterwards be interpreted in different ways. nay, it will be denied that some important points have been discussed at all. we know that by experience. witness the solemn treaty of ghent, which ye have tried to make fruitless, under pretence that some points, arranged by word of mouth, and not stated particularly in writing, had been intended in a different sense from the obvious one. governments given by royal commission, for example; what point could be clearer? nevertheless, ye have hunted up glosses and cavils to obscure the intention of the contracting parties. ye have denied my authority over utrecht, because not mentioned expressly in the treaty of ghent." "but," said one of the envoys, interrupting at this point, "neither the council of state nor the court of mechlin consider utrecht as belonging to your excellency's government." "neither the council of state," replied the prince, "nor the court of mechlin have anything to do with the matter. 'tis in my commission, and all the world knows it." he added that instead of affairs being thrown into confusion by being reduced to writing, he was of opinion, on the contrary, that it was by that means alone they could be made perfectly clear. leoninus replied, good naturedly, that there should be no difficulty upon that score, and that writings should be exchanged. in the meantime, however, he expressed the hope that the prince would honor them with some preliminary information as to the points in which he felt aggrieved, as well as to the pledges which he and the states were inclined to demand. "and what reason have we to hope," cried the prince, "that your pledges, if made; will be redeemed? that which was promised so solemnly at ghent, and ratified by don john and his majesty, has not been fulfilled." "of what particular point do you complain?" asked schetz. "wherein has the pacification been violated?" hereupon the prince launched forth upon a flowing stream of invective. he spoke to them of his son detained in distant captivity--of his own property at breda withheld--of a thousand confiscated estates--of garrisons of german mercenaries--of ancient constitutions annihilated--of the infamous edicts nominally suspended, but actually in full vigor. he complained bitterly that the citadels, those nests and dens of tyranny, were not yet demolished. "ye accuse me of distrust," he cried; "but while the castles of antwerp, ghent, namur, and so many more are standing, 'tis yourselves who show how utterly ye are without confidence in any permanent and peaceful arrangement." "and what," asked a deputy, smoothly, "is the point which touches you most nearly? what is it that your excellency most desires? by what means will it be possible for the government fully to give you contentment?" "i wish," he answered, simply, "the full execution of the ghent pacification. if you regard the general welfare of the land, it is well, and i thank you. if not, 'tis idle to make propositions, for i regard my country's profit, not my own." afterwards, the prince simply repeated his demand that the ghent treaty should be executed; adding, that after the states-general should have been assembled, it would be time to propose the necessary articles for mutual security. hereupon doctor leoninus observed that the assembly of the states-general could hardly be without danger. he alluded to the vast number of persons who would thus be convoked, to the great discrepancy of humors which would thus be manifested. many men would be present neither discreet nor experienced. he therefore somewhat coolly suggested that it might be better to obviate the necessity of holding any general assembly at all. an amicable conference, for the sake of settling doubtful questions, would render the convocation superfluous, and save the country from the dangers by which the step would be attended. the doctor concluded by referring to the recent assemblies of france, the only result of which had been fresh dissensions. it thus appeared that the proposition on the part of don john meant something very different from its apparent signification. to advise with the prince as to the proper method of assembling the estates really meant, to advise with him as to the best means of preventing any such assembly. here, certainly, was a good reason for the preference expressed by the deputies, in favor of amicable discussions over formal protocols. it might not be so easy in a written document to make the assembly, and the prevention of the assembly, appear exactly the same thing. the prince replied that there was a wide difference between the condition of france and of the netherlands. here, was one will and one intention. there, were many factions, many partialities, many family intrigues. since it had been agreed by the ghent treaty that certain points should be provisionally maintained and others settled by a speedy convocation of the states-general, the plainest course was to maintain the provisional points, and to summon the states-general at once. this certainly was concise and logical. it is doubtful, however, whether he were really as anxious for the assembly-general as he appeared to be. both parties were fencing at each other, without any real intention of carrying their points, for neither wished the convocation, while both affected an eagerness for that event. the conversation proceeded. "at least," said an envoy, "you can tell beforehand in what you are aggrieved, and what you have to propose." "we are aggrieved in nothing, and we have nothing to propose," answered the prince, "so long as you maintain the pacification. we demand no other pledge, and are willing to refer everything afterwards to the assembly." "but," asked schetz, "what security do you offer us that you will yourselves maintain the pacification?" "we are not bound to give assurances," answered the prince. "the pacification is itself an assurance. 'tis a provisional arrangement, to be maintained by both parties, until after the decision of the assembly. the pacification must therefore be maintained or disavowed. choose between the two. only, if you mean still to acknowledge it, you must keep its articles. this we mean to do, and if up to the present time you have any complaint to make of our conduct, as we trust you have not, we are ready to give you satisfaction." "in short," said an envoy, "you mean, after we shall have placed in your hands the government of utrecht, amsterdam: and other places, to deny us any pledges on your part to maintain the pacification." "but," replied the prince, "if we are already accomplishing the pacification, what more do you wish?" "in this fashion," cried the others, "after having got all that you ask, and having thus fortified yourselves more than you were ever fortified before, you will make war upon us." "war?" cried the prince, "what are you afraid of? we are but a handful of people; a worm compared to the king of spain. moreover, ye are fifteen provinces to two. what have you to fear?" "ah," said meetkercke, "we have seen what you could do, when you were masters of the sea. don't make yourselves out quite so little." "but," said the prince, "the pacification of ghent provides for all this. your deputies were perfectly satisfied with the guarantees it furnished. as to making war upon you, 'tis a thing without foundation or appearance of probability. had you believed then that you had anything to fear, you world not have forgotten to demand pledges enough. on the contrary, you saw how roundly we were dealing with you then, honestly disgarnishing the country, even before the peace had been concluded. for ourselves, although we felt the right to demand guarantees, we would not do it, for we were treating with you on terms of confidence. we declared expressly that had we been dealing with the king, we should have exacted stricter pledges. as to demanding them of us at the moment, 'tis nonsense. we have neither the means of assailing you, nor do we deem it expedient to do so." "to say the truth," replied schetz, "we are really confident that you will not make war upon us. on the other hand, however, we see you spreading your religion daily, instead of keeping it confined within your provinces. what assurance do you give us that, after all your demand shall have been accorded, you will make no innovation in religion." "the assurance which we give you," answered the prince, "is that we will really accomplish the pacification." "but," persisted schetz, "do you fairly, promise to submit to all which the states-general shall ordain, as well on this point of religious exercise in holland and zealand, as on all the others?" this was a home thrust. the prince parried it for a while. in his secret thoughts he had no expectation or desire that the states-general, summoned in a solemn manner by the governor-general, on the basis of the memorable assembly before which was enacted the grand ceremony of the imperial abdication, would ever hold their session, and although he did not anticipate the prohibition by such assembly, should it take place, of the reformed worship in holland and zealand, he did not intend to submit to it, even should it be made. "i cannot tell," said he, accordingly, in reply to the last question, "for ye have yourselves already broken and violated the pacification; having made an accord with don john without our consent, and having already received him as governor." "so that you don't mean," replied schetz, "to accept the decision of the states?" "i don't say that," returned the prince, continuing to parry; "it is possible that we might accept it; it is possible that we might not. we are no longer in our entire rights, as we were at the time of our first submission at ghent." "but we will make you whole," said schetz. "that you cannot do," replied the prince, "for you have broken the pacification all to pieces. we have nothing, therefore, to expect from the states, but to be condemned off-hand. "you don't mean, then," repeated schetz, "to submit to the estates touching the exercise of religion?" "no, we do not!" replied the prince, driven into a corner at last, and striking out in his turn. "we certainly do not. to tell you the truth, we see that you intend our extirpation, and we don't mean to be extirpated." "ho!" said the duke of aerschot, "there is nobody who wishes that." "indeed, but you do," said the prince. "we have submitted ourselves to you in good faith, and you now would compel us and all the world to maintain exclusively the catholic religion. this cannot be done except by extirpating us." a long, learned, vehement discussion upon abstract points, between saint aldegonde, leoninus, and doctor gaill, then ensued, during which the prince, who had satisfied himself as to the result of the conference, retired from the apartment. he afterwards had a private convention with schetz and leoninus, in which he reproached them with their inclination to reduce their fatherland to slavery. he also took occasion to remark to hiergea, that it was a duty to content the people; that whatever might be accomplished for them was durable, whereas the will of kings was perishing. he told the duke of aerschot that if utrecht were not restored, he would take it by force. he warned the duke that to trust the king was to risk his head. he, at least, would never repose confidence in him, having been deceived too often. the king cherished the maxim, 'hereticis non est servanda fides;' as for himself he was 'calbo y calbanista,' and meant to die so. the formal interchange of documents soon afterwards took place. the conversation thus held between the different parties shows, however, the exact position of, affairs. there was no change in the intentions of either; reformers or royalists. philip and his representatives still contended for two points, and claimed the praise of moderation that their demands were so few in number. they were willing to concede everything, save the unlimited authority of the king and the exclusive maintenance of the catholic religion. the prince of orange, on his side, claimed two points also--the ancient constitutions of the country and religious freedom. it was obvious enough that the contest was, the same in reality, as it had ever been. no approximation had been made towards reconciling absolutism with national liberty, persecution with toleration. the pacification of ghent had been a step in advance. that treaty opened the door to civil and religious liberty, but it was an agreement among the provinces, not a compact between the people and the monarch. by the casuists of brussels and the licentiates of louvain, it had, to be sure, been dogmatically pronounced orthodox, and had been confirmed by royal edict. to believe, however, that his catholic majesty had faith in the dogmas propounded, was as absurd as to believe in the dogmas themselves. if the ghent pacification really had made no breach in royal and roman infallibility, then the efforts of orange and the exultation of the reformers had indeed been idle. the envoys accordingly, in obedience to their instructions, made a formal statement to the prince of orange and the states of holland and zealand, on the part of don john. they alluded to the departure of the spaniards, as if that alone had fulfilled every duty and authorized every claim. they therefore demanded the immediate publication in holland and zealand of the perpetual edict. they insisted on the immediate discontinuance of all hostile attempts to reduce amsterdam to the jurisdiction of orange; required the prince to abandon his pretensions to utrecht, and denounced the efforts making by him and his partisans to diffuse their heretical doctrines through the other provinces. they observed, in conclusion, that the general question of religion was not to be handled, because reserved for the consideration of the states-general, according to the treaty of ghent. the reply, delivered on the following day by the prince of orange and the deputies, maintained that the perpetual edict was widely different from the pacification of ghent, which it affected to uphold; that the promises to abstain from all violation of the ancient constitutions had not been kept; that the german troops had not been dismissed, that the property of the prince in the netherlands and burgundy had not been restored, that his son was detained in captivity, that the government of utrecht was withheld from him, that the charters and constitution of the country, instead of being extended, had been contracted, and that the governor had claimed the right to convoke the states-general at his pleasure, in violation of the ancient right to assemble at their own. the document further complained that the adherents of the reformed religion were not allowed to frequent the different provinces in freedom, according to the stipulations of ghent; that don john, notwithstanding all these short-comings, had been acknowledged as governor-general, without the consent of the prince; that he was surrounded with a train of spaniards italians, and other foreigners--gonzaga, escovedo, and the like--as well as by renegade netherlanders like tassis, by whom he was unduly influenced against the country and the people, and by whom a "back door was held constantly open" to the admission of evils innumerable. finally, it was asserted that, by means of this last act of union, a new form of inquisition had been introduced, and one which was much more cruel than the old system; inasmuch as the spanish inquisition did not take information against men: except upon suspicion, whereas, by the new process, all the world would be examined as to their conscience and religion, under pretence of maintaining the union. such was the result of this second mission to the prince of orange on the part of the governor-general. don john never sent another. the swords were now fairly measured between the antagonists, and the scabbard was soon to be thrown away. a few weeks afterwards, the governor wrote to philip that there was nothing in the world which william of orange so much abhorred as his majesty; adding, with castillian exaggeration, that if the prince could drink the king's blood he would do so with great pleasure. don john, being thus seated in the saddle, had a moment's leisure to look around him. it was but a moment, for he had small confidence in the aspect of affairs, but one of his first acts after assuming the government afforded a proof of the interpretation which he had adopted of the ghent pacification. an edict was issued, addressed to all bishops, "heretic-masters," and provincial councils, commanding the strict enforcement of the canons of trent, and other ecclesiastical decrees. these authorities were summoned instantly to take increased heed, of the flocks under their charge, "and to protect them from the ravening wolves which were seeking to devour them." the measure bore instant fruit. a wretched tailor of mechlin, peter penis by name, an honest man, but a heretic, was arrested upon the charge of having preached or exhorted at a meeting in that city. he confessed that he had been present at the meeting, but denied that he had preached. he was then required to denounce the others who had been present, and the men who had actually officiated. he refused, and was condemned to death. the prince of orange, while the process was pending, wrote an earnest letter to the council of mechlin, imploring them not now to rekindle the fires of religious persecution. his appeal was in vain. the poor tailor was beheaded at mechlin on the th of june, the conqueror of lepanto being present at the execution, and adding dignity to the scene. thus, at the moment when william of orange was protecting the anabaptists of middelburg in their rights of citizenship, even while they refused its obligations, the son of the emperor was dipping his hands in the blood of a poor wretch who had done no harm but to listen to a prayer without denouncing the preacher. the most intimate friends of the prince were offended with his liberality. the imperial shade of don john's father might have risen to approve the son who had so dutifully revived his bloody edicts and his ruthless policy. three parties were now fairly in existence: the nobles, who hated the spaniards, but who were disposed to hold themselves aloof from the people; the adherents of don john, commonly called "johanists;" and the partisans of the prince of orange--for william the silent had always felt the necessity of leaning for support on something more substantial than the court party, a reed shaken by the wind, and failing always when most relied upon. his efforts were constant to elevate the middle class, to build up a strong third party which should unite much of the substantial wealth and intelligence of the land, drawing constantly from the people, and deriving strength from national enthusiasm--a party which should include nearly all the political capacity of the country; and his efforts were successful. no doubt the governor and his secretary were right when they said the people of the netherlands were inclined to brook the turk as easily as the spaniard for their master, and that their hearts were in reality devoted to the prince of orange. as to the grandees, they were mostly of those who "sought to swim between two waters," according to the prince's expression. there were but few unswerving supporters of the spanish rule, like the berlaymont and the tassis families. the rest veered daily with the veering wind. aerschot, the great chief of the catholic party, was but a cringing courtier, false and fawning both to don john and the prince. he sought to play a leading part in a great epoch; he only distinguished himself by courting and betraying all parties, and being thrown away by all. his son and brother were hardly more respectable. the prince knew how little dependence could be placed on such allies, even although they had signed and sworn the ghent pacification. he was also aware how little it was the intention of the governor to be bound by that famous treaty. the spanish troops had been, indeed, disbanded, but there were still, between ten and fifteen thousand german mercenaries in the service of the king; these were stationed in different important places, and held firm possession of the citadels. the great keys of the country were still in the hands of the spaniards. aerschot, indeed, governed the castle of antwerp, in room of sancho d'avila, but how much more friendly would aerschot be than avila, when interest prompted him to sustain don john against the prince? meanwhile; the estates, according to their contract, were straining every nerve to raise the requisite sum for the payment of the german troops. equitable offers were made, by which the soldiers were to receive a certain proportion of the arrears due to them in merchandize, and the remainder in cash. the arrangement was rejected, at the secret instance of don john. while the governor affected an ingenuous desire to aid the estates in their efforts to free themselves from the remaining portion of this incumbrance, he was secretly tampering with the leading german officers, in order to prevent their acceptance of any offered terms. he persuaded these military chiefs that a conspiracy existed, by which they were not only to be deprived of their wages but of their lives. he warned them to heed no promises, to accept no terms. convincing them that he, and he only, was their friend, he arranged secret plans by which they should assist him in taking the fortresses of the country into still more secure possession, for he was not more inclined to trust to the aerschots and the havres than was the prince himself. the governor lived in considerable danger, and in still greater dread of capture, if not of assassination. his imagination, excited by endless tales of ambush and half-discovered conspiracies, saw armed soldiers behind every bush; a pitfall in every street. had not the redoubtable alva been nearly made a captive? did not louis of nassau nearly entrap the grand commander? no doubt the prince of orange was desirous of accomplishing a feat by which he would be placed in regard to philip on the vantage ground which the king had obtained by his seizure of count van buren, nor did don john need for warnings coming from sources far from obscure. in may, the viscount de gand had forced his way to his bedside in the dead of night; and wakening him from his sleep, had assured him, with great solemnity, that his life was not worth a pin's purchase if he remained in brussels. he was aware, he said, of a conspiracy by which both his liberty and his life were endangered, and assured him that in immediate flight lay his only safety. the governor fled to mechlin, where the same warnings were soon afterwards renewed, for the solemn sacrifice of peter panis, the poor preaching tailor of that city, had not been enough to strike terror to the hearts of all the netherlanders. one day, toward the end of june, the duke of aerschot, riding out with don john, gave him a circumstantial account of plots, old and new, whose existence he had discovered or invented, and he showed a copy of a secret letter, written by the prince of orange to the estates, recommending the forcible seizure of his highness. it is true that the duke was, at that period and for long after, upon terms of the most "fraternal friendship" with the prince, and was in the habit of signing himself "his very affectionate brother and cordial friend to serve him," yet this did not prevent him from accomplishing what he deemed his duty, in secretly denouncing his plans, it is also true that he, at the same time, gave the prince private information concerning the government, and sent him intercepted letters from his enemies, thus easing his conscience on both sides, and trimming his sails to every wind which might blow. the duke now, however, reminded his highness of the contumely with which he had been treated at brussels, of the insolent threats with which the citizens had pursued his servants and secretaries even to the very door of his palace. he assured him that the same feeling existed at mechlin, and that neither himself nor family were much safer there than in the capital, a plot being fully organized for securing his person. the conspirators, he said, were openly supported by a large political party who called themselves anti-johanists, and who clothed themselves in symbolic costume, as had been done by the disaffected in the days of cardinal granvelle. he assured the governor that nearly all the members of the states-general were implicated in these schemes. "and what becomes, then, of their promises?" asked don john. "that for their promises!" cried the duke, snapping his fingers; "no man in the land feels bound by engagements now." the governor demanded the object of the states in thus seeking to deprive him of his liberty. the duke informed him that it was to hold him in captivity until they had compelled him to sign every paper which they chose to lay before him. such things had been done in the netherlands in former days, the duke observed, as he proceeded to narrate how a predecessor of his highness and a prince of the land, after having been compelled to sign innumerable documents, had been, in conclusion, tossed out of the windows of his own palace, with all his retinue, to perish upon the pikes of an insurgent mob below. the governor protested that it did not become the son of charles the fifth and the representative of his catholic majesty to hear such intimations a second time. after his return, he brooded over what had been said to him for a few days, and he then broke up his establishment at mechlin, selling off his superfluous furniture and even the wine in his cellars. thus showing that his absence, both from brussels and mechlin, was to be a prolonged one, he took advantage of an unforeseen occurrence again to remove his residence. etext editor's bookmarks: a good lawyer is a bad christian claimed the praise of moderation that their demands were so few confused conferences, where neither party was entirely sincere customary oaths, to be kept with the customary conscientiousness deadliest of sins, the liberty of conscience i regard my country's profit, not my own made no breach in royal and roman infallibility neither wished the convocation, while both affected an eagerness our pot had not gone to the fire as often peace, in reality, was war in its worst shape those who "sought to swim between two waters" volatile word was thought preferable to the permanent letter motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley chapter iii. the city of namur--margaret of valois--her intrigues in hainault in favour of alencon--her reception by don john at namur--festivities in her, honor--seizure of namur citadel by don john--plan for seizing that of antwerp--letter of the estates to philip, sent by escovedo--fortunes and fate of escovedo in madrid--repairing of dykes--the prince's visit to holland--his letter to the estates-- general on the subject of namur citadel--his visit to utrecht-- correspondence and commissioners between don john and the estates-- acrimonious and passionate character of these colloquies--attempt of treslong upon antwerp citadel frustrated by de bourse--fortunate panic of the german mercenaries--antwerp evacuated by the foreign troops--renewed correspondence--audacity of the governor's demands-- letters of escovedo and others intercepted--private schemes of don john not understood by the estates--his letter to the empress dowager--more correspondence with the estates--painful and false position of the governor--demolition, in part, of antwerp citadel, and of other fortresses by the patriots statue of alva--letter of estates-general to the king. there were few cities of the netherlands more picturesque in situation, more trimly built, and more opulent of aspect than the little city of namur. seated at the confluence of the sombre with the meuse, and throwing over each river a bridge of solid but graceful structure, it lay in the lap of a most fruitful valley. abroad crescent-shaped plain, fringed by the rapid meuse, and enclosed by gently rolling hills cultivated to their crests, or by abrupt precipices of limestone crowned with verdure, was divided by numerous hedgerows, and dotted all over with corn-fields, vineyards, and flower gardens. many eyes have gazed with delight upon that well-known and most lovely valley, and many torrents of blood have mingled with those glancing waters since that long buried and most sanguinary age which forms our theme; and still placid as ever is the valley, brightly as ever flows the stream. even now, as in that vanished, but never-forgotten time, nestles the little city in the angle of the two rivers; still directly over its head seems to hang in mid-air the massive and frowning fortress, like the gigantic helmet-in the fiction, as if ready to crush the pigmy town below. it was this famous citadel, crowning an abrupt precipice five hundred feet above the river's bed, and placed near the frontier of france, which made the city so important, and which had now attracted don john's attention in this hour of his perplexity. the unexpected visit of a celebrated personage, furnished him with the pretext which he desired. the beautiful margaret of valois, queen of navarre, was proceeding to the baths of spa, to drink the waters. her health was as perfect as her beauty, but she was flying from a husband whom she hated, to advance the interest of a brother whom she loved with a more than sisterly fondness--for the worthless duke of alencon was one of the many competitors for the netherland government; the correspondence between himself and his brother with orange and his agents being still continued. the hollow truce with the huguenots in france had, however, been again succeeded by war. henry of valois had already commenced operations in gascony against henry of navarre, whom he hated, almost as cordially as margaret herself could do, and the duke of alencon was besieging issoire. meantime, the beautiful queen came to mingle he golden thread of her feminine intrigues with the dark woof of the netherland destinies. few spirits have been more subtle, few faces so fatal as hers. true child of the medicean mother, worthy sister of charles, henry; and francis--princes for ever infamous in the annals of france--she possessed more beauty and wit than mary of scotland, more learning and accomplishments than elizabeth of england. in the blaze of her beauty, according to the inflated language of her most determined worshiper, the wings of all rivals were melted. heaven required to be raised higher and earth made wider, before a full sweep could be given to her own majestic flight. we are further informed that she was a minerva for eloquence, that she composed matchless poems which she sang most exquisitely to the sound of her lute, and that her familiar letters were so full of genius, that "poor cicero" was but a fool to her in the same branch of composition. the world has shuddered for ages at the dark tragedy of her nuptials. was it strange that hatred, incest, murder, should follow in the train of a wedding thus hideously solemnized? don john, as in his moorish disguise he had looked upon her perfections, had felt in danger of becoming really the slave he personated--"her beauty is more divine than human," he had cried, "but fitter to destroy men's souls than to bless them;" and now the enchantress was on her way to his dominions. her road led through namur to liege, and gallantry required that he should meet her as she passed. attended by a select band of gentlemen and a few horsemen of his body-guard, the governor came to namur. meantime the queen crossed the frontier, and was courteously received at cambray. the bishop-of the loyal house of berlaymont--was a stanch supporter of the king, and although a fleming, was spanish to the core. on him the cajolery of the beautiful queen was first essayed, but was found powerless. the prelate gave her a magnificent ball, but resisted her blandishments. he retired with the appearance of the confections, but the governor of the citadel, the seigneur d'inchy remained, with whom margaret was more successful. she found him a cordial hater of spain, a favorer of france, and very impatient under the authority of the bishop. he obtained permission to accompany the royal visitor a few stages of her journey, and returned to cambray, her willing slave; holding the castle in future, neither for king nor bishop, but for margaret's brother, alencon, alone. at mons she was received with great state by the count lalain, who was governor of hainault, while his countess governed him. a week of festivities graced the advent of the queen, during which period the hearts of both lalain and his wife were completely subjugated. they agreed that flanders had been too long separated from the parental france to which it of right belonged. the count was a stanch catholic, but he hated spain. he was a relative of egmont, and anxious to avenge his death, but he was no lover of the people, and was jealous of orange. moreover, his wife had become entirely fascinated by the designing. queen. so warm a friendship had sprung up between the two fair ladies as to make it indispensable that flanders and hainault should be annexed to france. the count promised to hold his whole government at the service of alencon, and recommended that an attempt should be made to gain over the incorruptible governor of cambray. margaret did not inform him that she had already turned that functionary round her finger, but she urged lalain and his wife to seduce him from his allegiance, if possible. the count, with a retinue of mounted men, then accompanied her on her way towards namur, but turned as the distant tramp of don john's cavalcade was heard approaching, for it was not desirable for lalain, at that moment, to find himself face to face with the governor. don john stood a moment awaiting the arrival of the queen. he did not dream of her political intrigues, nor see in the fair form approaching him one mortal enemy the more. margaret travelled in a splendid litter with gilt pillars, lined with scarlet velvet, and entirely enclosed in glass, which was followed by those of the princess de la roche sur yon, and of madame de tournon. after these came ten ladies of honor on horseback, and six chariots filled with female domestics. these, with the guards and other attendants, made up the retinue. on meeting the queen's litter, don john sprang from his horse and presented his greetings. the queen returned his salutation, in the french fashion, by offering her cheek to his embrace, extending the same favor to the duke of aerschot and the marquis of havre. the cavaliers then remounted and escorted the queen to namur, don john riding by the side of the litter and conversing with her all the way. it was late in the evening when the procession arrived in the city. the streets had, however, been brilliantly illuminated; houses and shops, though it was near midnight, being in a blaze of light. don john believing that no attentions could be so acceptable at that hour as to provide for the repose of his guest, conducted the queen at once to the lodgings prepared for her. margaret was astonished at the magnificence of the apartments into which she was ushered. a spacious and stately hall, most gorgeously furnished, opened into a series of chambers and cabinets, worthy, in their appointments, of a royal palace. the tent and bed coverings prepared for the queen were exquisitely embroidered in needlework with scenes representing the battle of lepanto. the great hall was hung with gorgeous tapestry of satin and velvet, ornamented with columns of raised silver work, and with many figures in antique costume, of the same massive embroidery. the rest of the furniture was also of satin, velvet, cloth of gold, and brocade. the queen was dazzled with so much magnificence, and one of the courtiers could not help expressing astonishment at the splendor of the apartments and decorations, which, as he observed to the duke of aerschot; seemed more appropriate to the palace of a powerful monarch than to the apartments of a young bachelor prince. the duke replied by explaining that the expensive embroidery which they saw was the result, not of extravagance, but of valor and generosity. after the battle of lepanto, don john had restored the two sons, who had been taken prisoners, of a powerful turkish bashaw. the father; in gratitude had sent this magnificent tapestry as a present to the conqueror, and don john had received it, at milan; in which city, celebrated for the taste of its upholsterers; it had been arranged for furniture. the next morning a grand mass with military music was performed, followed by a sumptuous banquet in the grand hall. don john and the queen sat at a table three feet apart from the rest, and ottavio gonzaga served them wine upon his knees. after the banquet came, as usual; the ball, the festivities continuing till late in the night, and don john scarcely quitting his fair guest for a moment. the next afternoon, a festival had been arranged upon an island in the river. the company embarked upon the meuse, in a fleet of gaily-scarfed; and painted vessels, many of which were filled with musicians. margaret reclined in her gilded barge, under a richly embroidered canopy. a fairer and falser queen than "egypt," had bewitched the famous youth who had triumphed not, lost the world, beneath the heights of actium. the revellers landed on the island, where the banquet was already spread within a spacious bower of ivy, and beneath umbrageous elms. the dance upon the sward was protracted to a late hour, and the summer stars had been long in the sky when the company returned to their barges. don john, more than ever enthralled by the bride of st. bartholomew, knew not that her sole purpose in visiting his dominion had been to corrupt his servants and to undermine his authority. his own purpose, however, had been less to pay court to the queen than to make, use of her presence to cover his own designs. that purpose he proceeded instantly to execute. the queen next morning pursued her voyage by the river to liege, and scarcely had she floated out of his sight than he sprang upon his horse and, accompanied by a few trusty attendants, galloped out of the gate and across the bridge which led to the citadel. he had already despatched the loyal berlaymont, with his four equally loyal sons, the seigneurs de meghen, floyon, hierges, and haultepenne to that fortress. these gentlemen had informed the castellan that the governor was about to ride forth hunting, and that it would be proper to offer him the hospitalities of the castle as he passed on his way. a considerable number of armed men had been concealed in the woods and thickets of the neighbourhood. the seigneur de froymont, suspecting nothing, acceded to the propriety of the suggestion made by the berlaymonts. meantime, with a blast of his horn, don john appeared at the castle gate. he entered the fortress with the castellan, while one of the gentlemen watched outside, as the ambushed soldiers came toiling up the precipice. when all was ready the gentleman returned to the hall, and made a signal to don john, as he sat at breakfast with the constable. the governor sprang from the table and drew his sword; berlaymont and his four sons drew their pistols, while at the same instant, the soldiers entered. don john, exclaiming that this was the first day of his government, commanded the castellan to surrender. de froymont, taken by surprise, and hardly understanding this very melo-dramatic attack upon a citadel by its own lawful governor, made not much difficulty in complying. he was then turned out of doors, along with his garrison, mostly feeble old men and invalids. the newly arrived soldiers took their places, at command of the governor, and the stronghold of namur was his own. there was little doubt that the representative of philip had a perfect right to possess himself of any fortress within his government; there could be as little that the sudden stratagem by which he had thus made himself master of this citadel would prove offensive to the estates, while it could hardly be agreeable to the king; and yet it is not certain that he could have accomplished his purpose in any other way. moreover, the achievement was one of a projected series by which he meant to re-vindicate his dwindling authority. he was weary of playing the hypocrite, and convinced that he and his monarch were both abhorred by the netherlanders. peace was impossible--war was forbidden him. reduced almost to a nullity by the prince of orange, it was time for him to make a stand, and in this impregnable fastness his position at least was a good one. many months before, the prince of orange had expressed his anxious desire that this most important town and citadel should be secured-for the estates. "you know," he had written to bossu in december, "the evil and the dismay which the loss of the city and fortress of namur would occasion to us. let me beseech you that all possible care be taken to preserve them." nevertheless, their preservation had been entrusted to a feeble-minded old constable, at the head of a handful of cripples. we know how intense had been the solicitude of the prince, not only to secure but to destroy these citadels, "nests of tyranny," which had been built by despots to crush, not protect, the towns at their feet. these precautions had been neglected, and the consequences were displaying themselves, for the castle of namur was not the only one of which don john felt himself secure. although the duke of aerschot seemed so very much his humble servant, the governor did not trust him, and wished to see the citadel of antwerp in more unquestionable keeping. he had therefore withdrawn, not only the duke, but his son, the prince of chimay, commander of the castle in his father's absence, from that important post, and insisted upon their accompanying him to namur. so gallant a courtier as aerschot could hardly refuse to pay his homage to so illustrious a princess as margaret of valois, while during the absence of the duke and prince the keys of antwerp-citadel had been, at the command of don john, placed in the keeping of the seigneur de treslong, an unscrupulous and devoted royalist. the celebrated colonel van ende, whose participation, at the head of his german cavalry, in the terrible sack of that city, which he had been ordered to defend, has been narrated, was commanded to return to antwerp. he was to present himself openly to the city authorities, but he was secretly directed by the governor-general to act in co-operation with the colonels fugger, frondsberger, and polwiller, who commanded the forces already stationed in the city. these distinguished officers had been all summer in secret correspondence with don john, for they were the instruments with which he meant by a bold stroke to recover his almost lost authority. while he had seemed to be seconding the efforts of the states-general to pay off and disband these mercenaries, nothing had in reality been farther from his thoughts; and the time had now come when his secret plans were to be executed, according to the agreement between himself and the german colonels. he wrote to them, accordingly, to delay no longer the accomplishment of the deed--that deed being the seizure of antwerp citadel, as he had already successfully mastered that of namur. the duke of aerschot, his brother, and son, were in his power, and could do nothing to prevent the co-operation of the colonels in the city with treslong in the castle; so that the governor would thus be enabled, laying his head tranquilly upon "the pillow of the antwerp citadel," according to the reproachful expression subsequently used by the estates, to await the progress of events. the current of his adventurous career was not, however, destined to run thus smoothly. it is true that the estates had not yet entirely lost their confidence in his character; but the seizure of namur, and the attempt upon antwerp, together with the contents of the intercepted letters written by himself and escovedo to philip, to perez, to the empress, to the colonels frondsberger and fugger, were soon destined to open their eyes. in the meantime, almost exactly at the moment when don john was executing his enterprise against namur, escovedo had taken an affectionate farewell of the estates at brussels for it had been thought necessary, as already intimated, both for the apparent interests and the secret projects of don john; that the secretary should make a visit to spain. at the command of the governor-general he had offered to take charge of any communication for his majesty which the estates might be disposed to entrust to him, and they had accordingly addressed a long epistle to the king, in which they gave ample expression to their indignation and their woe. they remonstrated with the king concerning the continued presence of the german mercenaries, whose knives were ever at their throats, whose plunder and insolence impoverished and tortured the people. they reminded him of the vast sums which the provinces had contributed in times past to the support of government, and they begged assistance from his bounty now. they recalled to his vision the melancholy spectacle of antwerp, but lately the "nurse of europe, the fairest flower in his royal garland, the foremost and noblest city of the earth, now quite desolate and forlorn," and with additional instructions to escovedo, that he should not fail, in his verbal communications, to represent the evil consequences of the course hitherto pursued by his majesty's governors in the netherlands, they dismissed him with good wishes, and with "crowns for convoy" in his purse to the amount of a revenue of two thousand yearly. his secret correspondence was intercepted and made known a few weeks after his departure for that terrible spain whence so few travellers returned. for a moment we follow him thither. with a single word in anticipation, concerning the causes and the consummation of this celebrated murder, which was delayed till the following year, the unfortunate escovedo may be dismissed from these pages. it has been seen how artfully antonio perez, secretary of state, paramour of princess eboli, and ruling councillor at that day of philip, had fostered in the king's mind the most extravagant suspicions as to the schemes of don john, and of his confidential secretary. he had represented it as their fixed and secret intention, after don john should be finally established on the throne of england, to attack philip himself in spain, and to deprive him of his crown, escovedo being represented as the prime instigator and controller of this astounding plot, which lunatics only could have engendered, and which probably never had existence. no proof of the wild design was offered. the language which escovedo was accused by perez of having held previously to his departure for flanders--that it was the intention of don john and himself to fortify the rock of mogio, with which, and with the command of the city of santander, they could make themselves masters of spain after having obtained possession of england,--is too absurd to have been uttered by a man of escovedo's capacity. certainly, had perez been provided with the least scrap of writing from the hands of don john or escovedo which could be tortured into evidence upon this point, it would have been forthcoming, and would have rendered such fictitious hearsay superfluous. perez in connivance with philip, had been systematically conducting his correspondence with don john and escovedo, in order to elicit some evidence of the imputed scheme. "'t was the only way," said perez to philip, "to make them unbare their bosoms to the sword."--"i am quite of the same opinion," replied philip to perez, "for, according to my theology, you would do your duty neither to god nor the world, unless you did as you are doing." yet the excellent pair of conspirators at madrid could wring no damning proofs from the lips of the supposititious conspirators in flanders, save that don john, after escovedo's arrival in madrid, wrote, impatiently and frequently, to demand that he should be sent back, together with the money which he had gone to spain to procure. "money, more money, and escovedo," wrote the governor, and philip was quite willing to accept this most natural exclamation as evidence of his brother's designs against his crown. out of these shreds and patches--the plot against england, the pope's bull, the desire expressed by don john to march into france as a simple adventurer, with a few thousand men at his back--perez, according to his own statement, drew up a protocol, afterwards formally approved by philip, which concluded with the necessity of taking escovedo's life, instantly but privately, and by poison. the marquis de los velos, to whom the memorial was submitted for his advice, averred that if the death-bed wafer were in his own lips, he should vote for the death of the culprit. philip had already jumped to the same conclusion; perez joyfully undertook the business, having received carte blanche from the king, and thus the unfortunate secretary was doomed. immediately after the arrival of escovedo in madrid, he addressed a letter to the king. philip filed it away among other despatches, with this annotation: "the 'avant courier' has arrived--it is necessary to make great haste, and to despatch him before he murders us." the king, having been thus artfully inflamed against his brother and his unfortunate secretary, became clamorous for the blood of escovedo. at the same time, that personage, soon after his return to spain, was shocked by the discovery of the amour of perez with the princess eboli. he considered it his duty, both towards the deceased prince and the living king, to protest against this perfidy. he threatened to denounce to the king, who seemed the only person about the court ignorant of the affair, this double treason of his mistress and his minister. perez and anna of eboli, furious at escovedo's insolence, and anxious lest he should execute his menace determined to disembarrass themselves of so meddlesome a person. philip's rage against don john was accordingly turned to account, and perez received the king's secret orders to procure escovedo's assassination. thus an imaginary conspiracy of don john against, the crown of philip was the pretext, the fears and rage of eboli and her paramour were the substantial reason, for the crime now projected. the details of the murder were arranged and executed by perez, but it must be confessed in justice to philip, with much inferior nicety to that of his, own performances in the same field. many persons were privy to the plot. there was much blundering, there was great public scandal in madrid, and no one ever had a reasonable doubt as to the instigators and the actual perpetrators of the crime. two attempts to poison escovedo were made by perez, at his own table, through the agency of antonio enriquez, a confidential servant or page. both were unsuccessful. a third was equally so, but suspicions were aroused. a female slave in the household of escovedo, was in consequence arrested, and immediately hanged in the public square, for a pretended attempt to murder her master. a few days afterwards (on the st of march, ) the deed was accomplished at nightfall in the streets of madrid, by six conspirators. they consisted of the majordomo of perez, a page in his household, the page's brother from the country, an ex-scullion from the royal kitchens, juan rubio by name, who had been the unsuccessful agent in the poisoning scheme, together with two professional bravos, hired for the occasion. it was insausti, one of this last-mentioned couple, who despatched escovedo with a single stab, the others aiding and abetting, or keeping watch in the neighbourhood. the murderers effected their escape, and made their report to perez, who for the sake of appearances, was upon a visit in the country. suspicion soon tracked the real culprits, who were above the reach of justice; nor, as to the motives which had prompted the murders, were many ignorant, save only the murderer himself. philip had ordered the assassination; but he was profoundly deceived as to the causes of its accomplishment. he was the dupe of a subtler villain than himself, and thought himself sacrificing a conspirator against his crown, while he had really only crushed a poor creature who had been but too solicitous for what he thought his master's honor. the assassins were, of course, protected from prosecution, and duly recompensed. miguel bosque, the country boy, received one hundred crowns in gold, paid by a clerk of perez. mesa, one of the bravos, was rewarded with a gold chain, fifty doubloons of eight, and a silver cup, besides receiving from the fair hand of princess eboli herself a certificate as under-steward upon her estates. the second bravo, insausti, who had done the deed, the page enriquez, and the scullion, were all appointed ensigns in his majesty's army, with twenty gold crowns of annual pension besides. their commissions were signed by philip on the th of april, . such were the wages of murder at that day in spain; gold chains, silver cups, doubloons, annuities, and commissions in the army! the reward of fidelity, as in poor escovedo's case, was oftener the stiletto. was it astonishing that murder was more common than fidelity? with the subsequent career of antonio perez--his famous process, his banishment, his intrigues, his innuendos, his long exile, and his miserable death, this history has no concern. we return from our brief digression. before narrating the issue of the plot against antwerp citadel, it is necessary to recur for a moment to the prince of orange. in the deeds and the written words of that one man are comprised nearly all the history of the reformation in the netherlands--nearly the whole progress of the infant republic. the rest, during this period, is made up of the plottings and counter-plottings, the mutual wranglings and recriminations of don john and the estates. in the brief breathing-space now afforded them, the inhabitants of holland and zealand had been employing themselves in the extensive repairs of their vast system of dykes. these barriers, which protected their country against the ocean, but which their own hands had destroyed to preserve themselves against tyranny, were now thoroughly reconstructed, at a great expense, the prince everywhere encouraging the people with his presence, directing them by his experience, inspiring them with his energy. the task accomplished was stupendous and worthy, says a contemporary, of eternal memory. at the popular request, the prince afterwards made a tour through the little provinces, honoring every city with a brief visit. the spontaneous homage which went up to him from every heart was pathetic and simple. there were no triumphal arches, no martial music, no banners, no theatrical pageantry nothing but the choral anthem from thousands of grateful hearts. "father william has come! father william has come!" cried men, women, and children to each other, when the news of his arrival in town or village was announced. he was a patriarch visiting his children, not a conqueror, nor a vulgar potentate displaying himself to his admirers. happy were they who heard his voice, happier they who touched his hands, for his words were full of tenderness, his hand was offered to all. there were none so humble as to be forbidden to approach him, none so ignorant as not to know his deeds. all knew that to combat in their cause he had descended from princely station, from luxurious ease, to the position of a proscribed and almost beggared outlaw. for them he had impoverished himself and his family, mortgaged his estates, stripped himself of jewels, furniture, almost of food and raiment. through his exertions the spaniards had been banished from their little territory, the inquisition crushed within their borders, nearly all the sister provinces but yesterday banded into a common cause. he found time, notwithstanding congratulating crowds who thronged his footsteps, to direct the labors of the states-general, who still looked more than ever to his guidance, as their relations with don john became more complicated and unsatisfactory. in a letter addressed to them, on the th of june from harlem, he warned them most eloquently to hold to the ghent pacification as to their anchor in the storm. he assured them, if it was, torn from them, that their destruction was inevitable. he reminded them that hitherto they had got but the shadow, not the substance of the treaty; that they had been robbed of that which was to have been its chief fruit--union among themselves. he and his brothers, with their labor, their wealth, and their blood, had laid down the bridge over which the country had stepped to the pacification of ghent. it was for the nation to maintain what had been so painfully won; yet he proclaimed to them that the government were not acting in good faith, that secret, preparations were making to annihilate the authority of the states; to restore the edicts, to put strangers into high places, and to set up again the scaffold and the whole machinery of persecution. in consequence of the seizure of namur castle, and the accusations made by don john against orange, in order to justify that act, the prince had already despatched taffin and saint aldegonde to the states-general with a commission to declare his sentiments upon the subject. he addressed, moreover, to the same body a letter full of sincere and simple eloquence. "the seigneur don john," said he, "has accused me of violating the peace, and of countenancing attempts against his life, and in endeavouring to persuade you into joining him in a declaration of war against me and against holland and zealand; but i pray you, most affectionately, to remember our mutual and solemn obligations to maintain the treaty of ghent." he entreated the states, therefore, to beware of the artifices employed to seduce them from the only path which led to the tranquillity of their common country, and her true splendor and prosperity. "i believe there is not one of you," he continued, "who can doubt me, if he will weigh carefully all my actions, and consider closely the course which i am pursuing and have always pursued. let all these be confronted with the conduct of don john, and any man will perceive that all my views of happiness, both for my country and myself, imply a peaceable enjoyment of the union, joined with the legitimate restoration of our liberties, to which all good patriots aspire, and towards which all my designs have ever tended. as all the grandeur of don john, on the contrary, consists in war, as there is nothing which he so much abhors as repose, as he has given ample proof of these inclinations in all his designs and enterprises, both before and after the treaty of marche en famine, both within the country and beyond its borders, as it is most manifest that his purpose is, and ever has been, to embroil us with our neighbours of england and scotland in new dissensions, as it must be evident to every one of you that his pretended accusations against me are but colors and shadows to embellish and to shroud his own desire for war, his appetite for vengeance, and his hatred not only to me but to yourselves, and as his determination is, in the words of escovedo, to chastise some of us by means of the rest, and to excite the jealousy of one portion of the country against the other--therefore, gentlemen, do i most affectionately exhort you to found your decision, as to these matters, not upon words but upon actions. examine carefully my conduct in the points concerning which the charges are made; listen attentively to what my envoys will communicate to you in my behalf; and then, having compared it with all the proceedings of seigneur don john, you will be able to form a resolution worthy the rank which you occupy, and befitting your obligations to the whole people, of whom you have been chosen chiefs and protectors, by god and by men. put away all considerations which might obscure your clear eye-sight; maintain with magnanimity, and like men, the safety of yourselves, your wives, your children, your estates, your liberties; see that this poor people, whose eyes are fixed upon you, does not perish; preserve them from the greediness of those who would grow great at your expense; guard them from the yoke of miserable servitude; let not all our posterity lament that, by our pusillanimity, they have lost the liberties which our ancestors had conquered for them, and bequeathed to them as well as to us, and that they have been subjugated by the proud tyranny of strangers. "trusting," said the prince, in conclusion, "that you will accord faith and attention to my envoys, i will only add an expression of my sincere determination to employ myself incessantly in your service, and for the welfare of the whole people, without sparing any means in my power, nor my life itself." the vigilant prince was indeed not slow to take advantage of the governor's false move. while in reality intending peace, if it were possible, don john had thrown down the gauntlet; while affecting to deal openly and manfully, like a warrior and an emperor's son, he had involved himself in petty stratagems and transparent intrigues, by all which he had gained nothing but the character of a plotter, whose word could not be trusted. saint aldegonde expressed the hope that the seizure of namur castle would open the eyes of the people, and certainly the prince did his best to sharpen their vision. while in north holland, william of orange received an urgent invitation from the magistracy and community of utrecht to visit that city. his authority, belonging to him under his ancient commission, had not yet been recognized over that province, but there was no doubt that the contemplated convention of "satisfaction" was soon to be; arranged, for his friends there were numerous and influential. his princess, charlotte de bourbon, who accompanied him on his tour, trembled at the danger to which her husband would expose himself by venturing thus boldly into a territory which might be full of his enemies, but the prince determined to trust the loyalty of a province which he hoped would be soon his own. with anxious forebodings, the princess followed her husband to the ancient episcopal city. as they entered its gates, where an immense concourse was waiting to receive him, a shot passed through the carriage window, and struck the prince upon the breast. the affrighted lady threw her arms about his neck; shrieking that they were betrayed, but the prince, perceiving that the supposed shot was but a wad from one of the cannon, which were still roaring their welcome to him, soon succeeded in calming her fears. the carriage passed lowly through the streets, attended by the vociferous greetings of the multitude; for the whole population had come forth to do him honor. women and children clustered upon every roof and balcony, but a painful incident again marred the tranquillity of the occasion. an apothecary's child, a little girl of ten years, leaning eagerly from a lofty balcony, lost her balance and fell to the ground, directly before the horses of the prince's carriage. she was killed stone dead by the fall. the procession stopped; the prince alighted, lifted the little corpse in his arms, and delivered it, with gentle words and looks of consolation, to the unhappy parents. the day seemed marked with evil omens, which were fortunately destined to prove fallacious. the citizens of utrecht became more than ever inclined to accept the dominion of the prince, whom they honored and whom they already regarded as their natural chief. they entertained him with banquets and festivities during his brief visit, and it was certain before he took his departure that the treaty of "satisfaction" would not be long delayed. it was drawn up, accordingly, in the autumn of the same year, upon the basis of that accepted by harlem and amsterdam--a basis wide enough to support both religions, with a nominal supremacy to the ancient church. meantime, much fruitless correspondence had taken place between don john and the states envoys; despatched by the two parties to each other, had indulged in bitterness and recrimination. as soon as the governor, had taken: possession of namur castle, he had sent the seigneur, de rassinghem to the states-general. that gentleman carried with him copies of two anonymous letters, received by don john upon the th and st of july, , in which a conspiracy against his life and liberty was revealed. it was believed by the governor that count lalain, who had secretly invited him to a conference, had laid an ambush for him. it was known that the country was full of disbanded soldiers, and the governor asserted confidently that numbers of desperadoes were lying in wait for him in every village alehouse of hainault and flanders. he called on the states to ferret out these conspirators, and to inflict condign punishment upon their more guilty chiefs; he required that the soldiers, as well as the citizens, should be disarmed at brussels and throughout brabant, and he justified his seizure of namur, upon the general ground that his life was no longer safe, except in a fortress. in reply to the letter of the governor, which was dated the th of july, the states despatched marolles, archdeacon of ypres, and the seigneur de bresse, to namur, with a special mission to enter into the whole subject of these grievances. these gentlemen, professing the utmost devotion to the cause of his majesty's authority and the catholic religion, expressed doubts as to the existence of the supposed conspiracy. they demanded that don john should denounce the culprits, if any such were known, in order that proper chastisement might be instantly inflicted. the conversation which ensued was certainly unsatisfactory. the governor used lofty and somewhat threatening language, assuring marolles that he was at that moment in possession, not only of namur but of antwerp citadel; and the deputies accordingly departed, having accomplished very little by their journey. their backs were scarcely turned, when don john, on his part, immediately appointed another commission, consisting of rassinghem and grobbendonck, to travel from namur to brussels. these envoys carried a long letter of grievances, enclosing a short list of demands. the letter reiterated his complaints about conspiracies, and his protestations of sincerity. it was full of censure upon the prince of orange; stigmatized his intrigues to obtain possession of amsterdam without a proper "satisfaction," and of utrecht, to which he had no claim at all. it maintained that the hollanders and zealanders were bent upon utterly exterminating the catholic religion, and that they avowed publicly their intention to refuse obedience to the assembly-general, should it decree the maintenance of the ancient worship only. his chief demands were that the states should send him a list of persons qualified to be members of the general assembly, that he might see whether there were not individuals among them whom he might choose to reject. he further required that, if the prince of orange did not instantly fulfil the treaty of ghent, the states should cease to hold any communication with him. he also summoned the states to provide him forthwith with a suitable body-guard. to these demands and complaints, the estates replied by a string of resolutions. they made their usual protestations of attachment to his majesty and the catholic faith, and they granted willingly a foot-guard of three hundred archers. they, however, stoutly denied the governor's right to make eliminations in their lists of deputies, because, from time immemorial, these representatives had been chosen by the clergy, nobles, cities, and boroughs. the names might change daily, nor were there any suspicious ones among them, but it was a matter with which the governor had no concern. they promised that every effort should be made to bring about the execution of the treaty by the prince of orange. they begged don john; however, to abandon the citadel of namur, and gave him to understand that his secret practices had been discovered, a large packet of letters having recently been intercepted in the neighbourhood of bourdeaux, and sent to the prince of orange. among them were some of the despatches of don john and escovedo, to his majesty and to antonio perez, to which allusion has already been made. count bossu, de bresse, and meetkercke were the envoys deputed to convey these resolutions to namur. they had a long and bitter conversation with don john, who complained, more furiously than ever of the conspiracies against his person, and of the intrigues of orange. he insisted that this arch-traitor had been sowing the seed of his damnable doctrines broadcast through the netherlands; that the earth was groaning with a daily ripening harvest of rebellion and heresy. it was time, he cried, for the states to abandon the prince, and rally round their king. patience had been exhausted. he had himself done all, and more than could have been demanded. he had faithfully executed the ghent pacification, but his conduct had neither elicited gratitude nor inspired confidence. the deputies replied, that to the due execution of the ghent treaty it was necessary that he should disband the german troops, assemble the states-general, and carry out their resolutions. until these things, now undone, had been accomplished, he had no right to plead his faithful fulfilment of the pacification. after much conversation--in which the same grievances were repeated, the same statements produced and contradicted, the same demands urged and evaded, and the same menaces exchanged as upon former occasions--the deputies returned to brussels. immediately after their departure, don john learned the result of his project upon antwerp castle. it will be remembered that he had withdrawn aerschot, under pretext of requiring his company on the visit to queen margaret, and that he had substituted treslong, an unscrupulous partisan of his own, in the government of the citadel. the temporary commander soon found, however, that he had undertaken more than he could perform. the troops under van ende were refused admittance into the town, although permission to quarter them there had been requested by the governor-general. the 'authorities had been assured that the troops were necessary for the protection of their city, but the magistrates had learned, but too recently, the nature of the protection which van ende, with his mercenaries, would afford. a detachment of states troops under de yers, champagny's nephew, encountered the regiment of van ende, and put it to flight with considerable loss. at the same time, an officer in the garrison of the citadel itself, captain de bours, undertook secretly to carry the fortress for the estates. his operations were secret and rapid. the seigneur de liedekerke had succeeded champagny in the government of the city. this appointment had been brought about by the agency of the greffier martini, a warm partisan of orange. the new governor was known to be very much the prince's friend, and believed to be at heart a convert to the reformed religion. with martini and liedekerke, de bours arranged his plot. he was supplied with a large sum of money, readily furnished in secret by the leading mercantile houses of the city. these funds were successfully invested in gaining over the garrison, only one company holding firm for treslong. the rest, as that officer himself informed don john, were ready at any moment "to take him by the throat." on the st of august, the day firmed upon in concert with the governor and greffier, he was, in fact, taken by the throat. there was but a brief combat, the issue of which became accidentally doubtful in the city. the white-plumed hat of de bours had been struck from his head in the struggle, and had fallen into the foss. floating out into the river, it had been recognized by the scouts sent out by the personages most interested, and the information was quickly brought to liedekerke, who was lying concealed in the house of martini, awaiting the result. their dismay was great, but martini, having more confidence than the governor, sallied forth to learn the whole truth. scarcely had he got into the streets than he heard a welcome cry, "the beggars have the castle! the beggars have the castle!" shouted a hundred voices. he soon met a lieutenant coming straight from the fortress, who related to him the whole affair. learning that de bours was completely victorious, and that treslong was a prisoner, martini hastened with the important intelligence to his own home, where liedekerke lay concealed. that functionary now repaired to the citadel, whither the magistrates, the leading citizens, and the chief merchants were instantly summoned. the castle was carried, but the city was already trembling with apprehension lest the german mercenaries quartered within its walls, should rise with indignation or panic, and repeat the horrid tragedy of the antwerp fury. in truth, there seemed danger of such a catastrophe. the secret correspondence of don john with the colonels was already discovered, and it was seen how warmly he had impressed upon the men with whom he had been tampering, "that the die was cast," and that all their art was necessary to make it turn up successfully. the castle was carried, but what would become of the city? a brief and eager consultation terminated in an immediate offer of three hundred thousand crowns by the leading merchants. this money was to be employed in amicably satisfying, if possible, the german soldiers, who had meanwhile actually come to arms, and were assembled in the place de meer. feeling unsafe; however, in this locality, their colonels had led them into the new town. here, having barricaded themselves with gun-carriages, bales, and boxes, they awaited, instead of initiating, the events which the day might bring forth. a deputation soon arrived with a white flag from the castle, and commissioners were appointed by the commanding officers of the soldiery. the offer was made to pay over the arrears of their wages, at least to a very large amount, on condition that the troops should forthwith and for ever evacuate the city. one hundred and fifty thousand crowns were offered on the nail. the merchants stood on the bridge leading from the old town-to the new, in full sight of the soldiers. they held in their hands their purses, filled with the glittering gold. the soldiers were frantic with the opportunity, and swore that they would have their officers' lives, if the tempting and unexpected offer should be declined. nevertheless, the commissioners went to and fro, ever finding something to alter or arrange. in truth, the merchants had agreed to furnish; if necessary, three hundred thousand browns; but the thrifty negotiators were disposed, if diplomacy could do it, to save the moiety of that sum. day began to sink, ere the bargain was completed, when suddenly sails were descried in the distance, and presently a large fleet of war vessels, with, banner and pennon flying before a favoring breeze; came sailing up the scheld. it was a squadron of the prince's ships, under command of admiral haultain. he had been sent against tholen, but, having received secret intelligence, had, with happy audacity, seized the opportunity of striking a blow in the cause which he had served so faithfully. a shot or two fired from the vessels among the barricades had a quickening effect. a sudden and astounding panic seized the soldiers. "the beggars are coming! the beggars are coming!" they yelled in dismay; for the deeds of the ocean-beggars had not become less appalling since the memorable siege of leyden. the merchants still stood on the bridge with their purses in their hand. the envoys from the castle still waved their white flags. it was too late. the horror inspired by the wild zealanders overpowered the hope of wages, extinguished all confidence in the friendship of the citizens. the mercenaries, yielding to a violent paroxysm of fear, fled hither and thither, panting, doubling, skulking, like wolves before the hounds. their flight was ludicrous. without staying to accept the money which the merchants were actually offering, without packing up their own property, in many cases even throwing away their arms, they fled, helter skelter, some plunging into the scheid, some skimming along the dykes, some rushing across the open fields. a portion of them under colonel fugger, afterwards shut themselves up in bergen op zoom, where they were at once besieged by champagny, and were soon glad to compromise the matter by surrendering their colonel and laying down their arms. the remainder retreated to breda, where they held out for two months, and were at length overcome by a neat stratagem of orange. a captain, being known to be in the employment of don john, was arrested on his way to breda. carefully sewed up in his waistband was found a letter, of a finger's breadth, written in cipher, and sealed with the governor-general's seal. colonel frondsberger, commanding in breda, was in this missive earnestly solicited to hold out two months longer, within which time a certain relief was promised. in place of this letter, deciphered with much difficulty, a new one was substituted, which the celebrated printer, william sylvius, of antwerp, prepared with great adroitness, adding the signature and seal of don john. in this counterfeit epistle; the colonel was directed to do the best he could for himself, by reason that don john was himself besieged, and unable to render him assistance. the same captain who had brought the real letter was bribed to deliver the counterfeit. this task he faithfully performed, spreading the fictitious intelligence besides, with such ardor through the town, that the troops rose upon their leader, and surrendered him with the city and their own arms, into the custody of the estates. such was the result of the attempt by don john to secure the citadel--of antwerp. not only was the fortress carried for the estates, but the city itself, for the first time in twelve years, was relieved from a foreign soldiery. the rage and disappointment of the governor-general were excessive. he had boasted to marolles a day too soon. the prize which he thought already in his grasp had slipped through his fingers, while an interminable list of demands which he dreamed not of, and which were likely to make him bankrupt, were brought to his door. to the states, not himself, the triumph seemed for the moment decreed. the "dice" had taken a run against him, notwithstanding his pains in loading and throwing. nevertheless, he did not yet despair of revenge. "these rebels," he wrote to the empress-dowager, his sister, "think that fortune is all smiles for them now, and that all is ruin for me. the wretches are growing proud enough, and forget that their chastisement, some fine morning, will yet arrive." on the th of august he addressed another long letter to the estates. this document was accompanied, as usual, by certain demands, drawn up categorically in twenty-three articles. the estates considered his terms hard and strange, for in their opinion it was themselves, not the governor, who were masters of the situation. nevertheless, he seemed inclined to treat as if he had gained, not missed, the citadel of antwerp; as if the troops with whom he had tampered were mustered in the field, not shut up in distant towns, and already at the mercy of the states party. the governor demanded that all the forces of the country should be placed under his own immediate control; that count bossu, or some other person nominated by himself, should be appointed to the government of friesland; that the people of brabant and flanders should set themselves instantly to hunting, catching, and chastising all vagrant heretics and preachers. he required, in particular, that saint aldegonde and theron, those most mischievous rebels, should be prohibited from setting their foot in any city of the netherlands. he insisted that the community of brussels should lay down their arms, and resume their ordinary handicrafts. he demanded that the prince of orange should be made to execute the ghent treaty; to suppress the exercise of the reformed religion in harlem, schoonhoven, and other places; to withdraw his armed vessels from their threatening stations, and to restore nieuport, unjustly detained by him. should the prince persist in his obstinacy, don john summoned them to take arms against him, and to support their lawful governor. he, moreover, required the immediate restitution of antwerp citadel, and the release of treslong from prison. although, regarded from the spanish point of view, such demands might seem reasonable, it was also natural that their audacity should astonish the estates. that the man who had violated so openly the ghent treaty should rebuke the prince for his default--that the man who had tampered with the german mercenaries until they were on the point of making another antwerp fury, should now claim the command over them and all other troops--that the man who had attempted to gain antwerp citadel by a base stratagem should now coolly demand its restoration, seemed to them the perfection of insolence. the baffled conspirator boldly claimed the prize which was to have rewarded a successful perfidy. at the very moment when the escovedo letters and the correspondence with the german colonels had been laid before their eyes, it was a little too much that the double-dealing bastard of the double-dealing emperor should read them a lecture upon sincerity. it was certain that the perplexed, and outwitted warrior had placed himself at last in a very false position. the prince of orange, with his usual adroitness, made the most of his adversary's false moves. don john had only succeeded in digging a pitfall for himself. his stratagems against namur and antwerp had produced him no fruit, saving the character, which his antagonist now fully succeeded in establishing for him, of an unscrupulous and artful schemer. this reputation was enhanced by the discovery of the intercepted letters, and by the ingenuity and eagerness with which they were turned to account against him by the prince, by saint aldegonde, and all the anti-catholic party. the true key to his reluctance against despatching the troops by land, the states had not obtained. they did not dream of his romantic designs upon england, and were therefore excusable in attributing a still deeper perfidy to his arrangements. even had he been sent to the netherlands in the full possession of his faculties, he would have been no match in political combinations for his powerful antagonists. hoodwinked and fettered, suspected by his master, baffled, bewildered, irritated by his adversary, what could he do but plunge from one difficulty to another and oscillate between extravagant menace, and desponding concession, until his hopes and life were wasted quite away. his instructions came from philip through perez, and that most profound dissembler, as we have seen, systematically deceived the governor, with the view of eliciting treasonable matters, philip wishing, if possible, to obtain proofs of don john's secret designs against his own crown. thus every letter from spain was filled with false information and with lying persuasions. no doubt the governor considered himself entitled to wear a crown, and meant to win it, if not in africa, then in england, or wherever fate might look propitiously upon him. he was of the stuff of which crusaders and dynasty founders had been made, at a somewhat earlier epoch. who could have conquered the holy sepulchre, or wrested a crown from its lawful wearer, whether in italy, muscovy, the orient, or in the british ultima thule, more bravely than this imperial bastard, this valiant and romantic adventurer? unfortunately, he came a few centuries too late. the days when dynasties were founded, and european thrones appropriated by a few foreign freebooters, had passed, and had not yet returned. he had come to the netherlands desirous of smoothing over difficulties and of making a peaceful termination to that rebellion a steppingstone to his english throne. he was doomed to a profound disappointment, a broken heart, and a premature grave, instead of the glittering baubles which he pursued. already he found himself bitterly deceived in his hopes. the obstinate netherlanders would not love him, notwithstanding the good wishes he had manifested. they would not even love the king of spain, notwithstanding the blessings which his majesty was declared to have heaped upon them. on the contrary, they persisted in wasting their perverse affections upon the pestilent prince of orange. that heretic was leading them to destruction, for he was showing them the road to liberty, and nothing, in the eyes of the governor, could be more pitiable than to behold an innocent people setting forth upon such a journey. "in truth," said he, bitterly, in his memorable letter to his sister the empress, "they are willing to recognize neither god nor king. they pretend to liberty in all things: so that 'tis a great pity to see how they are going on; to see the impudence and disrespect with which they repay his majesty for the favors which he has shown them, and me for the labors, indignities, and dangers which i have undergone for their sakes." nothing, indeed, in the governor's opinion, could surpass the insolence of the netherlanders, save their ingratitude. that was the serpent's tooth which was ever wounding the clement king and his indignant brother. it seemed so bitter to meet with thanklessness, after seven years of alva and three of requesens; after the labors of the blood council, the massacres of naarden, zutphen, and harlem, the siege of leyden, and the fury of antwerp. "little profit there has been," said the governor to his sister, "or is like to be from all the good which we have done to these bad people. in short, they love and obey in all things the most perverse and heretic tyrant and rebel in the whole world, which is this damned prince of orange, while, on the contrary, without fear of god or shame before men, they abhor and dishonor the name and commandments of their natural sovereign." therefore, with a doubting spirit, and almost with a broken heart, had the warrior shut himself up in namur castle, to await the progress of events, and to escape from the snares of his enemies. "god knows how much i desire to avoid extremities," said he, "but i know not what to do with men who show themselves so obstinately rebellious." thus pathetically don john bewailed his fate. the nation had turned from god, from philip, from himself; yet he still sat in his castle, determined to save them from destruction and his own hands from bloodshed, if such an issue were yet possible. nor was he entirely deserted, for among the faithless a few were faithful still. although the people were in open revolt, there was still a handful of nobles resolved to do their duty towards their god and king. "this little band," said the governor, "has accompanied me hither, like gentlemen and chevaliers of honor." brave berlaymont and his four sons were loyal to the last, but others of this limited number of gentlemen and chevaliers of honor were already deserting him. as soon as the result of the enterprise against antwerp citadel was known, and the storm was gathering most darkly over the royal cause, aerschot and havre were first to spread their wings and flutter away in search of a more congenial atmosphere. in september, the duke was again as he had always professed himself to be, with some important interval of exception--"the affectionate brother and cordial friend of the prince of orange." the letter addressed by don john to the states upon the th of august, had not yet been answered. feeling, soon afterwards, more sensible of his position, and perhaps less inflamed with indignation; he addressed another communication to them, upon the th of the same month. in this epistle he expressed an extreme desire for peace, and a hearty desire to be relieved, if possible, from his most painful situation. he protested, before god and man, that his intentions were most honest, and that he abhorred war more than anything else in the world. he averred that, if his person was as odious to them as it seemed, he was only too ready to leave the land, as soon as the king should appoint his successor. he reminded them that the question of peace or war lay not with himself, but with them; and that the world would denounce as guilty those with whom rested the responsibility. he concluded with an observation which, in its humility, seemed sufficiently ironical, that if they had quite finished the perusal of the despatches from madrid to his address, which they had intercepted, he should be thankful for an opportunity of reading them himself. he expressed a hope, therefore, that they would be forwarded to namur. this letter was answered at considerable length, upon the second day. the states made their customary protestations of attachment to his majesty, their fidelity to the catholic church, their determination to maintain both the ghent treaty and the perpetual edict. they denied all responsibility for the present disastrous condition of the relations between themselves and government, having disbanded nearly all their own troops, while the governor had been strengthening his forces up to the period of his retreat into namur. he protested, indeed, friendship and a sincere desire for peace, but the intercepted letters of escovedo and his own had revealed to them the evil counsels to which he had been listening, and the intrigues which he had been conducting. they left it to his conscience whether they could reasonably believe, after the perusal of these documents, that it was his intention to maintain the ghent treaty, or any treaty; and whether they were not justified in their resort to the natural right of self-defence. don john was already fully aware of the desperate error which he had committed. in seizing namur and attempting antwerp, he had thrown down the gauntlet. wishing peace, he had, in a panic of rage and anxiety; declared and enacted war. the bridge was broken behind him, the ships burned, a gulf opened, a return to peace rendered almost impossible. yet it is painful to observe the almost passionate longings which at times seemed to possess him for accommodating the quarrel, together with his absolute incapacity to appreciate his position. the prince was triumphant; the governor in a trap. moreover, it was a trap which he had not only entered voluntarily, but which he had set himself; he had played into the prince's hands, and was frantic to see his adversary tranquilly winning the game. it was almost melancholy to observe the gradation of his tone from haughty indignation to dismal concession. in an elaborate letter which he addressed "to the particular states, bishops, councillors, and cities of the netherlands," he protested as to the innocence of his intentions, and complained bitterly of the calumnies circulated to his discredit by the prince of orange. he denied any intention of recalling the troops which he had dismissed, except in case of absolute necessity: he affirmed that his majesty sincerely desired peace. he averred that the country was either against the king, against the catholic religion, against himself, or against all three together. he bitterly asked what further concessions were required. had he not done all he had ever promised? had he not discharged the spaniards, placed the castles in the hands of natives, restored the privileges, submitted to insults and indecencies? yet, in spite of all which had passed, he declared his readiness to resign, if another prince or princess of the blood more acceptable to them could be appointed. the letter to the states was followed by a proposition for a cessation of hostilities, and for the appointment of a commission to devise means for faithfully executing the ghent treaty. this proposition was renewed, a few days later, together with an offer for an exchange of hostages. it was not difficult for the estates to answer the letters of the governor. indeed, there was but little lack of argument on either side throughout this unhappy controversy. it is dismal to contemplate the interminable exchange of protocols, declarations, demands, apostilles, replications and rejoinders, which made up the substance of don john's administration. never was chivalrous crusader so out of place. it was not a soldier that was then required for philip's exigency, but a scribe. instead of the famous sword of lepanto, the "barbarous pen" of hopperus had been much more suitable for the work required. scribbling joachim in a war-galley, yard-arm and yard-arm with the turkish capitan pacha, could have hardly felt less at ease than did the brilliant warrior thus condemned to scrawl and dissemble. while marching from concession to concession, he found the states conceiving daily more distrust, and making daily deeper encroachments. moreover, his deeds up to the time when he seemed desirous to retrace his steps had certainly been, at the least, equivocal. therefore, it was natural for the estates, in reply to the questions in his letter, to observe that he had indeed dismissed the spaniards, but that he had tampered with and retained the germans; that he had indeed placed the citadels in the hands of natives, but that he had tried his best to wrest them away again; that he had indeed professed anxiety for peace, but that his intercepted letters proved his preparations for war. already there were rumors of spanish troops returning in small detachments out of france. already the governor was known to be enrolling fresh mercenaries to supply the place of those whom he had unsuccessfully endeavoured to gain to his standard. as early as the th of july, in fact, the marquis d'ayamonte in milan, and don juan de idiaquez in genoa, had received letters from don john of austria, stating that, as the provinces had proved false to their engagements, he would no longer be held by his own, and intimating his desire that the veteran troops which had but so recently been dismissed from flanders, should forthwith return. soon afterwards, alexander farnese, prince of parma, received instructions from the king to superintend these movements, and to carry the aid of his own already distinguished military genius to his uncle in the netherlands. on the other hand, the states felt their strength daily more sensibly. guided, as usual, by orange, they had already assumed a tone in their correspondence which must have seemed often disloyal, and sometimes positively insulting, to the governor. they even answered his hints of resignation in favor of some other prince of the blood, by expressing their hopes that his successor, if a member of the royal house at all, would at least be a legitimate one. this was a severe thrust at the haughty chieftain, whose imperial airs rarely betrayed any consciousness of barbara blomberg and the bend sinister on his shield. he was made to understand, through the medium of brabantine bluntness, that more importance was attached to the marriage, ceremony in the netherlands than he seemed to imagine. the categorical demands made by the estates seemed even more indigestible than such collateral affronts; for they had now formally affirmed the views of orange as to the constitutional government of the provinces. in their letter of th august, they expressed their willingness, notwithstanding the past delinquencies of the governor, to yield him their confidence again; but at the same time; they enumerated conditions which, with his education and views, could hardly seem to him admissible. they required him to disband all the soldiers in his service, to send the germans instantly out of the country, to dismiss every foreigner from office, whether civil or military, and to renounce his secret league with the duke of guise. they insisted that he should thenceforth govern only with the advice and consent of the state council, that he should execute that which should by a majority of votes be ordained there, that neither measures nor despatches should be binding or authentic unless drawn up at that board. these certainly were views of administration which, even if consonant with a sound historical view of the netherland constitutions, hardly tallied with his monarch's instructions, his own opinions, or the practice under alva and requesens, but the country was still in a state of revolution, and the party of the prince was gaining the upper hand. it was the determination of that great statesman, according to that which he considered the legitimate practice of the government, to restore the administration to the state council, which executive body ought of right to be appointed by the states-general. in the states-general, as in the states-particular, a constant care was to be taken towards strengthening the most popular element, the "community" of each city, the aggregate, that is to say, of its guild-representatives and its admitted burghers. this was, in the opinion of the prince, the true theory of the government--republican in all but form--under the hereditary protection, not the despotic authority, of a family, whose rights were now nearly forfeited. it was a great step in advance that these views should come to be thus formally announced, not in holland and zealand only, but by the deputies of the states-general, although such a doctrine, to the proud stomach of don john, seemed sufficiently repulsive. not less so was the cool intimation with which the paper concluded, that if he should execute his threat of resigning, the country would bear his loss with fortitude, coupled as was that statement with a declaration that, until his successor should be appointed, the state council would consider itself charged ad interim with the government. in the meantime, the governor was requested not to calumniate the estates to foreign governments, as he had so recently done in his intercepted letter to the empress-dowager. upon receiving this letter, "don john," says a faithful old chronicler, "found that the cranes had invited the frog to dinner." in truth, the illustrious soldier was never very successful in his efforts, for which his enemies gave him credit, to piece out the skin of the lion with that of the fox. he now felt himself exposed and outwitted, while he did not feel conscious of any very dark design. he answered the letter of the states by a long communication, dated from namur castle, th of august. in style, he was comparatively temperate, but the justification which he attempted of his past conduct was not very happy. he noticed the three different points which formed the leading articles of the accusation brought against him, the matter, namely, of the intercepted letters, of the intrigues with the german colonels, and the seizure of namur. he did not deny the authorship of the letters, but contented himself with a reference to their date, as if its priority to his installation as governor furnished a sufficient palliation of the bad faith which the letters revealed. as to the despatches of escovedo, he denied responsibility for any statements or opinions which they might contain. as the secretary, however, was known to be his most confidential friend, this attempt to shuffle off his own complicity was held to be both lame and unhandsome. as for the correspondence with the colonels, his defence was hardly more successful, and rested upon a general recrimination upon the prince of orange. as that personage was agitating and turbulent, it was not possible, the governor urged, that he should himself remain quiet. it was out of his power to execute the treaty and the edict, in the face of a notorious omission on the part of his adversary to enforce the one or to publish the other. it comported neither with his dignity nor his safety to lay down his weapons while the prince and his adherents were arming. he should have placed himself "in a very foolish position," had he allowed himself unarmed to be dictated to by the armed. in defence of himself on the third point, the seizure of namur castle, he recounted the various circumstances with which the reader is already acquainted. he laid particular stress upon the dramatic manner in which the vicomte de gand had drawn his curtains at the dead of night; he narrated at great length the ominous warning which he had likewise received from the duke of aerschot in brussels, and concluded with a circumstantial account of the ambush which he believed to have been laid for him by count de lalain. the letter concluded with a hope for an arrangement of difficulties, not yet admitted by the governor to be insurmountable, and with a request for a formal conference, accompanied by an exchange of hostages. while this correspondence was proceeding between namur and brussels, an event was occurring in antwerp which gave much satisfaction to orange. the spanish fury, and the recent unsuccessful attempt of don john to master the famous citadel, had determined the authorities to take the counsel which the prince had so often given in vain, and the fortress of antwerp was at length razed to the ground, on the side towards the city.--it would be more correct to say that it was not the authorities, but the city itself which rose at last and threw off the saddle by which it had so long been galled. more than ten thousand persons were constantly at work, morning, noon, and night, until the demolition was accomplished. grave magistrates, great nobles, fair ladies, citizens and their wives, beggars and their children, all wrought together pell-mell. all were anxious to have a hand in destroying the nest where so many murders had been hatched, whence so much desolation had flown. the task was not a long one for workmen so much in earnest, and the fortress was soon laid low in the quarter where it could be injurious to the inhabitants. as the work proceeded, the old statue of alva was discovered in a forgotten crypt, where it had lain since it had been thrown down by the order of requesens. amid the destruction of the fortress, the gigantic phantom of its founder seemed to start suddenly from the gloom, but the apparition added fresh fuel to the rage of the people. the image of the execrated governor was fastened upon with as much fierceness as if the bronze effigy could feel their blows, or comprehend their wrath. it was brought forth from its dark hiding-place into the daylight. thousands of hands were ready to drag it through the streets for universal inspection and outrage. a thousand sledge-hammers were ready to dash it to pieces, with a slight portion, at least, of the satisfaction with which those who wielded them would have dealt the same blows upon the head of the tyrant himself. it was soon reduced to a shapeless mass. small portions were carried away and preserved for generations in families as heirlooms of hatred. the bulk was melted again and reconverted, by a most natural metamorphosis, into the cannon from which it had originally sprung. the razing of the antwerp citadel set an example which was followed in other places; the castle of ghent, in particular, being immediately levelled, amid demonstrations of universal enthusiasm. meantime, the correspondence between don john and the estates at brussels dragged its slow length along, while at the same time, two elaborate letters were addressed to the king, on the th of august and the th of september, by the estates-general of the netherlands. these documents, which were long and able, gave a vigorous representation of past evils and of the present complication of disorders under which the commonwealth was laboring. they asked, as usual, for a royal remedy; and expressed their doubts whether there could be any sincere reconciliation so long as the present governor, whose duplicity and insolence they represented in a very strong light, should remain in office. should his majesty, however, prefer to continue don john in the government, they signified their willingness, in consideration of his natural good qualities, to make the best of the matter. should, however, the estrangement between themselves and the governor seem irremediable, they begged that another and a legitimate prince of the blood might be appointed in his place. etext editor's bookmarks: country would bear his loss with fortitude its humility, seemed sufficiently ironical not upon words but upon actions perfection of insolence was it astonishing that murder was more common than fidelity? motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley chapter iv. orange invited to visit brussels--his correspondence upon the subject with the estates--general--triumphant journey of the prince to the capital----stop put by him to the negotiations with don john --new and stringent demands made upon the governor--his indignation --open rupture--intrigue of netherland grandees with archduke matthias--policy of orange--attitude of queen elizabeth--flight of matthias from vienna--anxiety of elizabeth--adroitness of the prince--the office of reward--election of orange to that dignity-- his complaints against the great nobles--aerschot governor of flanders--a storm brewing in ghent--ryhove and imbize--blood- councillor hessels--arrogance of the aristocratic party in flanders --ryhove's secret interview with orange--outbreak at ghent--arrest of aerschot, hessels, and others of the reactionary party--the duke liberated at demand of orange--the prince's visit to ghent-- rhetorical demonstrations--the new brussels union characterized-- treaty with england--articles by which matthias is nominally constituted governor-general--his inauguration at brussels-- brilliant and fantastic ceremonies--letter of don john to the emperor--his anger with england--an army collecting--arrival of alexander farnese--injudicious distribution of offices in the states' army--the states' army fall back upon gemblours, followed by don john--tremendous overthrow of the patriots--wonderful disparity in the respective losses of the two armies. while these matters were in progress, an important movement was made by the estates-general. the prince of orange was formally and urgently invited to come to brussels to aid them with his counsel and presence. the condemned traitor had not set foot in the capital for eleven years. we have narrated the circumstance of his departure, while the advancing trumpets of alva's army were almost heard in the distance. his memorable and warning interview with egmont has been described. since that period, although his spirit had always been manifesting itself in the capital like an actual presence; although he had been the magnet towards which the states throughout all their oscillations had involuntarily vibrated, yet he had been ever invisible. he had been summoned by the blood council to stand his trial, and had been condemned to death by default. he answered the summons by a defiance, and the condemnation by two campaigns, unsuccessful in appearance, but which had in reality prostrated the authority of the sovereign. since that period, the representative of royalty had sued the condemned traitor for forgiveness. the haughty brother of philip had almost gone upon his knees, that the prince might name his terms, and accept the proffered hand of majesty. the prince had refused, not from contumely, but from distrust. he had spurned the supplications, as he had defied the proscription of the king. there could be no friendship between the destroyer and the protector of a people. had the prince desired only the reversal of his death-sentence, and the infinite aggrandizement of his family, we have seen how completely he had held these issues in his power. never had it been more easy, plausible, tempting, for a proscribed patriot to turn his back upon an almost sinking cause. we have seen how his brave and subtle batavian prototype, civilis, dealt with the representative of roman despotism. the possible or impossible netherland republic of the first century of our era had been reluctantly abandoned, but the modern civilis had justly more confidence in his people. and now again the scene was changed. the son of the emperor, the king's brother, was virtually beleaguered; the proscribed rebel had arrived at victory through a long series of defeats. the nation everywhere acknowledged him master, and was in undisguised revolt against the anointed sovereign. the great nobles, who hated philip on the one hand, and the reformed religion on the other, were obliged, in obedience to the dictates of a people with whom they had little sympathy, to accept the ascendency of the calvinist prince, of whom they were profoundly jealous. even the fleeting and incapable aerschot was obliged to simulate adhesion; even the brave champagny, cordial hater of spaniards, but most devotedly catholic, "the chiefest man of wysedome and stomach at that tyme in brussels," so envoy wilson wrote to burghley, had become "brabantized," as his brother granvelle expressed himself, and was one of the commissioners to invite the great rebel to brussels. the other envoys were the abbot of saint gertrude, dr. leoninus, and the seigneur de liesvelt. these gentlemen, on arriving at gertruydenberg, presented a brief but very important memorial to the prince. in that document they informed him that the states-general, knowing how efficacious would be his presence, by reason of his singular prudence, experience, and love for the welfare and repose of the country, had unanimously united in a supplication that he would incontinently transport himself to the city of brussels, there to advise with them concerning the necessities of the land; but, as the principal calumny employed by their adversaries was that all the provinces and leading personages intended to change both sovereign and religion, at the instigation of his excellency, it was desirable to disprove such fictions. they therefore very earnestly requested the prince to make some contrary demonstration, by which it might be manifest to all that his excellency, together with the estates of holland and zealand, intended faithfully to keep what they had promised. they prayed, therefore, that the prince, permitting the exercise of the roman catholic religion in the places which had recently accepted his authority, would also allow its exercise in holland and zealand. they begged, further, that he would promise by a new and authentic act, that the provinces of holland and zealand, would not suffer the said exercise to be impugned, or any new worship to be introduced, in the other provinces of the netherlands. this letter might almost be regarded as a trap, set by the catholic nobles. certainly the ghent pacification forbade the reformed religion in form, and as certainly, winked at its exercise in fact. the proof was, that the new worship was spreading everywhere, that the exiles for conscience' sake were returning in swarms, and that the synod of the reformed churches, lately held at dort, had been, publicly attended by the ministers and deacons of numerous dissenting churches established in many different, places throughout all the provinces. the pressure of the edicts, the horror of the inquisition being removed, the down-trodden religion had sprung from the earth more freshly than ever. the prince was not likely to fall into the trap, if a trap had really been intended. he answered the envoys loyally, but with distinct reservations. he did not even accept the invitation, save on condition that his visit to brussels should be expressly authorized by holland and zealand. notwithstanding his desire once more to behold his dear country, and to enjoy the good company of his best friends and brothers, he felt it his duty to communicate beforehand with the states of those two provinces, between which, and himself there had been such close and reciprocal obligations, such long-tried and faithful affection. he therefore begged to refer the question to the assembly of the said provinces about to be held at gouda, where, in point of fact, the permission for his journey was, not without considerable difficulty, a few days afterwards obtained. with regard to the more difficult requests addressed to him in the memorial, he professed generally his intention to execute the treaty of ghent. he observed, however, that the point of permitting the exercise of the roman catholic religion in holland and zealand regarded principally the estates of these provinces, which had contracted for no innovation in this matter, at least till the assembling of the states-general. he therefore suggested that he neither could, nor ought to, permit any innovation, without the knowledge and consent of those estates. as to promising by authentic act, that neither he nor the two provinces would suffer the exercise of the catholic religion to be in any wise impugned in the rest of the netherlands, the prince expressed himself content to promise that, according to the said ghent pacification, they would suffer no attempt to be made against the public repose or against the catholic worship. he added that, as he had no intention of usurping any superiority over the states-general assembled at brussels, he was content to leave the settlement of this point to their free-will and wisdom, engaging himself neither to offer nor permit any hindrance to their operations. with this answer the deputies are said to have been well pleased. if they were so, it must be confessed that they were thankful for small favors. they had asked to have the catholic religion introduced into holland and zealand. the prince had simply referred them to the estates of these provinces. they had asked him to guarantee that the exercise of the reformed religion should not be "procured" in the rest of the country. he had merely promised that the catholic worship should not be prevented. the difference between the terms of the request and the reply was sufficiently wide. the consent to his journey was with difficulty accorded by the estates of holland and zealand, and his wife, with many tears and anxious forebodings, beheld him depart for a capital where the heads of his brave and powerful friends had fallen, and where still lurked so many of his deadly foes. during his absence, prayers were offered daily for his safety in all the churches of holland and zealand, by command of the estates. he arrived at antwerp on the th of september, and was received with extraordinary enthusiasm. the prince, who had gone forth alone, without even a bodyguard, had the whole population of the great city for his buckler. here he spent five days, observing, with many a sigh, the melancholy changes which had taken place in the long interval of his absence. the recent traces of the horrible "fury," the blackened walls of the hotel de ville, the prostrate ruins of the marble streets, which he had known as the most imposing in europe, could be hardly atoned for in his eyes even by the more grateful spectacle of the dismantled fortress. on the rd of september he was attended by a vast concourse of citizens to the new canal which led to brussels, where three barges were in waiting for himself and suite. in one a banquet was spread; in the second, adorned with emblematic devices and draped with the banners of the seventeen provinces, he was to perform the brief journey; while the third had been filled by the inevitable rhetoric societies, with all the wonders of their dramatic and plastic ingenuity. rarely had such a complication of vices and virtues, of crushed dragons, victorious archangels, broken fetters, and resurgent nationalities, been seen before, within the limits of a single canal boat. the affection was, however, sincere, and the spirit noble, even though the taste which presided at these remonstrations may have been somewhat pedantic. the prince was met several miles before the gates of brussels by a procession of nearly half the inhabitants of the city, and thus escorted, he entered the capital in the afternoon of the rd of september. it was the proudest day of his life. the representatives of all the provinces, supported by the most undeniable fervor of the united netherland people, greeted "father william." perplexed, discordant, hating, fearing, doubting, they could believe nothing, respect nothing, love nothing, save the "tranquil" prince. his presence at that moment in brussels was the triumph of the people and of religious toleration. he meant to make use of the crisis to extend and to secure popular rights, and to establish the supremacy of the states-general under the nominal sovereignty of some prince, who was yet to be selected, while the executive body was to be a state-council, appointed by the states-general. so far as appears, he had not decided as to the future protector, but he had resolved that it should be neither himself nor philip of spain. the outlaw came to brussels prepared at last to trample out a sovereignty which had worked its own forfeiture. so far as he had made any election within his breast, his choice inclined to the miserable duke of anjou; a prince whom he never came to know as posterity has known him, but whom he at least learned to despise. thus far the worthless and paltry intriguer still wore the heroic mask, deceiving even such far seeing politicians as saint aldegonde and the prince. william's first act was to put a stop to the negotiations already on foot with don john. he intended that they should lead to war, because peace was impossible, except a peace for which civil and religious liberty would be bartered, for it was idle, in his opinion, to expect the maintenance by the spanish governor of the ghent pacification, whatever promises might be extorted from his fears. a deputation, in the name of the states, had already been sent with fresh propositions to don john, at namur. the envoys were caspar schetz and the bishop of bruges. they had nearly come to an amicable convention with the governor, the terms of which had been sent to the states-general for approval, at the very moment of the prince's arrival in brussels. orange, with great promptness, prevented the ratification of these terms, which the estates had in reality already voted to accept. new articles were added to those which had originally been laid before don john. it was now stipulated that the ghent treaty and the perpetual edict should be maintained. the governor was required forthwith to abandon namur castle, and to dismiss the german troops. he was to give up the other citadels and strong places, and to disband all the soldiers in his service. he was to command the governors of every province to prohibit the entrance of all foreign levies. he was forthwith to release captives, restore confiscated property, and reinstate officers who had been removed; leaving the details of such restorations to the council of mechlin and the other provincial tribunals. he was to engage that the count van buren should be set free within two months. he was himself, while waiting for the appointment of his successor, to take up his residence in luxemburg, and while there, he was to be governed entirely by the decision of the state council, expressed by a majority of its members. furthermore, and as not the least stinging of these sharp requisitions, the queen of england--she who had been the secret ally of orange, and whose crown the governor had secretly meant to appropriate--was to be included in the treaty. it could hardly excite surprise that don john, receiving these insolent propositions at the very moment in which he heard of the triumphant entrance into brussels of the prince, should be filled with rage and mortification. never was champion of the cross thus braved by infidels before. the ghent treaty, according to the orange interpretation, that is to say, heresy made legitimate, was to be the law of the land. his majesty was to surrender--colors and cannon--to his revolted subjects. the royal authority was to be superseded by that of a state council, appointed by the states-general, at the dictation of the prince. the governor-general himself, brother of his catholic majesty, was to sit quietly with folded arms in luxemburg, while the arch-heretic and rebel reigned supreme in brussels. it was too much to expect that the choleric soldier would be content with what he could not help regarding as a dishonorable capitulation. the arrangement seemed to him about as reasonable as it would have been to invite sultan selim to the escorial, and to send philip to reside at bayonne. he could not but regard the whole proposition as an insolent declaration of war. he was right. it was a declaration of war; as much so as if proclaimed by trump of herald. how could don john refuse the wager of battle thus haughtily proffered? smooth schetz, lord of grobbendonck, and his episcopal colleague, in vain attempted to calm the governor's wrath, which now flamed forth, in defiance of all considerations. they endeavored, without success, to palliate the presence of orange, and the circumstances of his reception, for it was not probable that their eloquence would bring the governor to look at the subject with their eyes. three days were agreed upon for the suspension of hostilities, and don john was highly indignant that the estates would grant no longer a truce. the refusal was, however, reasonable enough on their part, for they were aware that veteran spaniards and italians were constantly returning to him, and that he was daily strengthening his position. the envoys returned to brussels, to give an account of the governor's rage, which they could not declare to be unnatural, and to assist in preparations for the war, which was now deemed inevitable. don john, leaving a strong garrison in the citadel of namur, from which place he, despatched a final communication to the estates-general, dated the nd of october, retired to luxemburg. in this letter, without exactly uttering defiance, he unequivocally accepted the hostilities which had been pressed upon him, and answered their hollow professions of attachment to the catholic religion and his majesty's authority, by denouncing their obvious intentions to trample upon both. he gave them, in short, to understand that he perceived their intentions, and meant them to comprehend his own. thus the quarrel was brought to an issue, and don john saw with grim complacency, that the pen was at last to be superseded by the sword. a remarkable pamphlet was now published, in seven different languages, latin, french, flemish, german, italian, spanish; and english, containing a succinct account of the proceedings between the governor and the estates, together with copies of the intercepted letters of don john and escovedo to the king, to perez, to the german colonels, and to the empress. this work, composed and published by order of the estates-general, was transmitted with an accompanying address to every potentate in christendom. it was soon afterwards followed by a counter-statement, prepared by order of don john, and containing his account of the same matters, with his recriminations against the conduct of the estates. another important movement had, meanwhile, been made by the third party in this complicated game. the catholic nobles, jealous of the growing influence of orange, and indignant at the expanding power of the people, had opened secret negotiations with the archduke matthias, then a mild, easy-tempered youth of twenty, brother of the reigning emperor, rudolph. after the matter had been discussed some time in secret, it was resolved, towards the end of september, to send a messenger to vienna, privately inviting the young prince to brussels, but much to the surprise of these nobles, it was discovered that some fifteen or sixteen of the grandees of the land, among them aerschot, havre, champagny, de ville, lalain, de heze, and others, had already taken the initiative in the matter. on the th of august, the seigneur de maalsteede had set forth, by their appointment, for vienna. there is no doubt that this step originated in jealousy felt towards orange, but at the same time it is certain that several of the leaders in the enterprise were still his friends. some, like champagny, and de heze, were honestly so; others, like aerschot, havrd, and de ville, always traitors in heart to the national cause, loyal to nothing but their own advancement, were still apparently upon the best terms with him. moreover, it is certain that he had been made aware of the scheme, at least, before the arrival of the archduke in the netherlands, for the marquis havre, on his way to england, as special envoy from the estates, had a conference with him at gertruydenberg. this was in the middle of september, and before his departure for brussels. naturally, the proposition seemed, at first, anything but agreeable; but the marquis represented himself afterwards as having at last induced the prince to look upon it with more favorable eyes. nevertheless, the step had been taken before the consultation was held; nor was it the first time that the advice, of orange had been asked concerning the adoption of a measure after the measure had been adopted. whatever may have been his original sentiments upon the subject; however, he was always less apt to complain of irrevocable events than quick to reconcile them with his own combinations, and it was soon to be discovered that the new stumbling-block which his opponents had placed in his path, could be converted into an additional stepping-stone towards his goal. meanwhile, the secret invitation to the archduke was regarded by the people and by foreign spectators as a plot devised by his enemies. davison, envoy from queen elizabeth, was then in brussels, and informed his royal mistress, whose sentiments and sympathies were unequivocally in favor of orange, of the intrigues against the prince. the efforts of england were naturally to counteract the schemes of all who interfered with his policy, the queen especially, with her customary sagacity, foreseeing the probable inclination of the catholic nobles towards the protectorate of alencon. she did not feel certain as to the precise plans of orange, and there was no course better adapted to draw her from barren coquetry into positive engagements; than to arouse her jealousy of the french influence in the provinces. at this moment, she manifested the warmest friendship for the prince. costly presents were transmitted by her to his wife; among others, an ornament, of which a sculptured lizard formed a part. the princess, in a graceful letter to her husband, desiring that her acknowledgments should be presented to her english majesty, accepted the present as significative. "tis the fabled virtue of the lizard (she said) to awaken sleepers whom a serpent is about to sting. you are the lizard, and the netherlands the sleepers,--pray heaven they may escape the serpent's bite." the prince was well aware, therefore, of the plots which were weaving against him. he had small faith in the great nobles, whom he trusted "as he would adders fanged," and relied only upon the communities, upon the mass of burghers. they deserved his confidence, and watched over his safety with jealous care. on one occasion, when he was engaged at the state council till a late hour, the citizens conceived so much alarm, that a large number of them spontaneously armed themselves, and repaired to the palace. the prince, informed of the circumstance, threw open a window and addressed them, thanking them for their friendship and assuring them of his safety. they were not satisfied, however, to leave him alone, but remained under arms below till the session was terminated, when they escorted him with affectionate respect to his own hotel. the secret envoy arrived in vienna, and excited the ambition of the youthful matthias. it must be confessed that the offer could hardly be a very tempting one, and it excites our surprise that the archduke should have thought the adventure worth the seeking. a most anomalous position in the netherlands was offered to him by a slender and irresponsible faction of netherlanders. there was a triple prospect before him: that of a hopeless intrigue against the first politician in europe, a mortal combat with the most renowned conqueror of the age, a deadly feud with the most powerful and revengeful monarch in the world. into this threefold enterprise he was about to plunge without any adequate resources, for the archduke possessed no experience, power, or wealth. he brought, therefore, no strength to a cause which was itself feeble. he could hope for no protection, nor inspire any confidence. nevertheless, he had courage, pliability, and a turn for political adventure. visions of the discomfited philip conferring the hand of his daughter, with the netherlands as her dowry, upon the enterprising youth who, at this juncture, should succeed in overturning the spanish authority in that country, were conjured up by those who originated the plot, and he was weak enough to consider such absurdities plausible, and to set forth at once to take possession of this castle in the air. on the evening of october rd, , he retired to rest at eight o'clock feigning extreme drowsiness. after waiting till his brother, maximilian, who slept in another bed in the same chamber, was asleep, he slipped from his couch and from the room in his night apparel, without even putting on his slippers. he was soon after provided by the companions of his flight with the disguise of a servant, arrayed in which, with his face blackened, he made his escape by midnight from vienna, but it is doubtful whether rudolph were as ignorant as he affected to be of the scheme. [it was the opinion of languet that the emperor affected ignorance of the plot at its commencement, that he afterwards affected an original connivance, and that he was equally disingenuous in both pretences.] the archduke arrived at cologne, attended only by two gentlemen and a few servants. the governor was beside himself with fury; the queen of england was indignant; the prince only, against whom the measure was mainly directed, preserved his usual tranquillity. secretary walsingham, as soon as the news reached england, sent for meetkercke, colleague of marquis havre in the mission from the estates. he informed that functionary of the great perplexity and excitement which, according to information received from the english resident, davison, were then prevailing in brussels, on account of the approach of the archduke. some, he said, were for receiving him at one place, some at another; others were in favor of forbidding his entrance altogether. things had been sufficiently complicated before, without this additional cause of confusion. don john was strengthening himself daily, through the secret agency of the duke of guise and his party. his warlike genius was well known, as well as the experience of the soldiers who were fast rallying under his banner. on the other hand, the duke of alencon had come to la fere, and was also raising troops, while to oppose this crowd of rival enemies, to deal with this host of impending disasters, there was but one man in the netherlands. on the prince of orange alone could the distracted states rely. to his prudence and valor only could the queen look with hopeful eyes. the secretary proceeded to inform the envoy, therefore, that her majesty would feel herself compelled to withdraw all succor from the states if the prince of orange were deprived of his leadership; for it was upon that leadership only that she had relied for obtaining a successful result. she was quite indisposed to encounter indefinite risk with an impossibility of profit. meetkercke replied to the secretary by observing, that the great nobles of the land had been unanimous in desiring a new governor-general at this juncture. they had thought matthias, with a strong council of state, composed of native netherlanders, to control him, likely to prove a serviceable candidate for the post. they had reason to believe that, after he should be received, the emperor would be reconciled to the measure, and that by his intercession the king of spain would be likewise induced to acquiesce. he alluded, moreover, to the conference between the marquis of havre and orange at gertruydenberg, and quoted the opinion of the prince that it would be unwise, after the invitation had been given, to insult the archduke and his whole imperial house, by beating him with indignity upon his arrival. it was inevitable, said the envoy, that differences of opinion should exist in large assemblies, but according to information which he had recently received from marquis havre, then in brussels, affairs had already become smooth again. at the conclusion of the conference, walsingham repeated emphatically that the only condition upon which the queen would continue her succor to the netherlands was, that the prince should be forthwith appointed lieutenant-general for the archduke. the immediate result of this movement was, that matthias was received at antwerp by orange at the head of two thousand cavalry, and attended by a vast concourse of inhabitants. had the prince chosen a contrary course, the archduke might have been compelled to return, somewhat ridiculously, to vienna; but, at the same time, the anger of the emperor and of all germany would have been aroused against orange and the cause he served. had the prince, on the contrary, abandoned the field himself, and returned to holland, he would have left the game in the hands of his adversaries. ever since he had made what his brother john called that "dangerous gallows journey" to brussels, his influence had been culminating daily, and the jealousy of the great nobles rising as rapidly. had he now allowed himself to be driven from his post, he would have exactly fulfilled their object. by remaining, he counteracted their schemes. by taking matthias wholly into his own possession, he obtained one piece the more in the great game which he was playing against his antagonist in the escorial. by making adroit use of events as they arose, he made the very waves which were to sink him, carry his great cause triumphantly onward. the first result of the invitation to matthias was the election of orange as ruward of brabant. this office was one of great historical dignity, but somewhat anomalous in its functions. the province of brabant, having no special governor, was usually considered under the immediate superintendence of the governor-general. as the capital of brabant was the residence of that functionary, no inconvenience from this course had been felt since the accession of the house of burgundy. at present, however, the condition of affairs was so peculiar--the seat of government being empty without having been permanently vacated--that a special opportunity was offered for conferring both honor and power on the prince. a ruward was not exactly dictator, although his authority was universal. he was not exactly protector, nor governor, nor stadholder. his functions were unlimited as to time--therefore superior to those of an ancient dictator; they were commonly conferred on the natural heir to the sovereignty--therefore more lofty than those of ordinary stadholders. the individuals who had previously held the office in the netherlands had usually reigned afterwards in their own right. duke albert, of the bavarian line; for example, had been ruward of hainault and holland, for thirty years, during the insanity of his brother, and on the death of duke william had succeeded to his title. philip of burgundy had declared himself ruward of brabant in , and had shortly afterwards deprived jacqueline of all her titles and appropriated them to himself. in the one case the regent, in the second case the usurper, had become reigning prince. thus the movement of the jealous nobles against the prince had for its first effect his immediate appointment to an office whose chief characteristic was, that it conducted to sovereignty. the election was accomplished thus. the "members," or estates of brussels, together with the deans, guilds, and other of the principal citizens of antwerp, addressed a request to the states of brabant, that william of orange should be appointed ruward, and after long deliberation the measure was carried. the unsolicited honor was then solemnly offered to him. he refused, and was only, after repeated and urgent entreaties, induced to accept the office. the matter was then referred to the states-general, who confirmed the dignity, after some demur, and with the condition that it might be superseded by the appointment of a governor-general. he was finally confirmed as ruward on the d of october, to the boundless satisfaction of the people, who celebrated the event by a solemn holiday in antwerp, brussels, and other cities. his friends, inspired by the intrigues of his enemies, had thus elevated the prince to almost unlimited power; while a strong expression in favor of his government had been elicited from the most important ally of the netherlands-england. it soon rested with himself only to assume the government of flanders, having been elected stadholder, not once only, but many times, by the four estates of that important province, and having as constantly refused the dignity. with holland and zealand devoted to him, brabant and flanders formally under his government, the netherland capital lavishing testimonials of affection upon him, and the mass of the people almost worshipping him, it would not have been difficult for the prince to play a game as selfish as it had hitherto been close and skilful. he might have proved to the grand seigniors that their suspicions were just, by assuming a crown which they had been intriguing to push from his brows. certainly the nobles deserved their defeat. they had done their best to circumvent orange, in all ways and at all times. they had paid their court to power when it was most powerful, and had sought to swim on the popular tide when it was rising. he avenged himself upon their perfidy only by serving his country more faithfully than ever, but it was natural that he should be indignant at the conduct of these gentlemen, "children of good houses," (in his own words,) "issue of worthy, sires," whose fathers, at least, he had ever loved and honored. "they serve the duke of alva and the grand commander like varlets," he cried; "they make war upon me to the knife. afterwards they treat with me, they reconcile themselves with me, they are sworn foes of the spaniard. don john arrives, and they follow him; they intrigue for my ruin. don john fails in his enterprise upon antwerp citadel; they quit him incontinently and call upon me. no sooner do i come than, against their oath and without previous communication with the states or myself, they call upon the archduke matthias. are the waves of the sea more inconstant--is euripus more uncertain than the counsels of such men?" while these events were occurring at brussels and antwerp, a scene of a different nature was enacting at ghent. the duke of aerschot had recently been appointed to the government of flanders by the state council, but the choice was exceedingly distasteful to a large number of the inhabitants. although, since the defeat of don john's party in antwerp, aerschot had again become "the affectionate brother" of orange, yet he was known to be the head of the cabal which had brought matthias from vienna. flanders, moreover, swarmed with converts to the reformed religion, and the duke's strict romanism was well known. the people, therefore, who hated the pope and adored the prince, were furious at the appointment of the new governor, but by dint of profuse promises regarding the instant restoration of privileges and charters which had long lain dormant, the friends of aerschot succeeded in preparing the way for his installation. on the th of october, attended by twenty-three companies of infantry and three hundred horse, he came to ghent. that famous place was still one of the most powerful and turbulent towns in europe. although diminished in importance since the commercial decline which had been the inevitable result of philip's bloody government, it, was still swarming with a vigorous and dangerous population and it had not forgotten the days when the iron tongue of roland could call eighty thousand fighting men to the city banner. even now, twenty thousand were secretly pledged to rise at the bidding of certain chieftains resident among them; noble by birth, warmly attached to the reformed religion, and devoted to orange. these gentlemen were perfectly conscious that a reaction was to be attempted in favor of don john and of catholicism, through the agency of the newly-appointed governor of flanders. aerschot was trusted or respected by neither party. the only difference in the estimates formed of him was, that some considered him a deep and dangerous traitor; others that he was rather foolish than malicious, and more likely to ruin a good cause than to advance the interests of a bad one. the leaders of the popular party at ghent believed him dangerous. they felt certain that it was the deeply laid design of the catholic nobles foiled as they had been in the objects with which they had brought matthias from vienna, and enraged as they were that the only result of that movement had been to establish the power of orange upon a firmer basis--to set up an opposing influence in ghent. flanders, in the possession of the catholics, was to weigh up brabant, with its recent tendencies to toleration. aerschot was to counteract the schemes of orange. matthias was to be withdrawn from the influence of the great heretic, and be yet compelled to play the part set down for him by those who had placed him upon the stage. a large portion, no doubt, of the schemes here suggested, was in agitation, but the actors were hardly equal to the drama which they were attempting. the intrigue was, however, to be frustrated at once by the hand of orange, acting as it often did from beneath a cloud. of all the chieftains possessing influence with the inhabitants of ghent, two young nobles, named ryhove and imbize, were the most conspicuous. both were of ancient descent and broken fortunes, both were passionately attached to the prince, both were inspired with an intense hatred for all that was catholic or spanish. they had travelled further on the reforming path than many had done in that day, and might even be called democratic in their notions. their heads were filled with visions of greece and rome; the praise of republics was ever on their lips; and they avowed to their intimate associates that it was already feasible to compose a commonwealth like that of the swiss cantons out of the seventeen netherlands. they were regarded as dreamers by some, as desperadoes by others. few had confidence in their capacity or their purity; but orange, who knew mankind, recognized in them useful instruments for any hazardous enterprise. they delighted in stratagems and sudden feats of arms. audacious and cruel by temperament, they were ever most happy in becoming a portion of the desolation which popular tumults engender. there were several excited meetings of the four estates of flanders immediately after the arrival of the duke of aerschot in ghent. his coming had been preceded by extensive promises, but it soon became obvious that their fulfilment was to be indefinitely deferred. there was a stormy session on the th of october, many of the clergy and nobility being present, and comparatively few members of the third estate. very violent speeches were made, and threats openly uttered, that the privileges, about which so much noise had been heard, would be rather curtailed than enlarged under the new administration. at the same session, the commission of aerschot was formally presented by champagny and sweveghem, deputed by the state council for that purpose. champagny was in a somewhat anomalous position. there was much doubt in men's minds concerning him. he had seemed lately the friend of orange, but he was certainly the brother of granvelle. his splendid but fruitless services during the antwerp fury had not been forgotten, but he was known to be a determined catholic. he was a hater of spaniards, but no lover of popular liberty. the nature of his sentiments towards orange was perhaps unjustly suspected. at any rate, two or three days after the events which now occupy our attention, he wrote him a private letter, in which he assured him of his attachment. in reference to the complaints, of the prince, that he had not been seconded as he ought to have been, he said, moreover, that he could solemnly swear never to have seen a single individual who did not hold the prince in admiration, and who was not affectionately devoted to him, not only, by public profession, but by private sentiment. there was little doubt entertained as to the opinions held by the rest of the aristocratic party, then commencing their manoeuvres in ghent. their sentiments were uttered with sufficient distinctness in this remarkable session. hessels, the old blood councillor, was then resident in ghent; where he discharged high governmental functions. it was he, as it will be remembered, who habitually fell asleep at that horrible council board, and could only start from his naps to-shout "ad patibulum," while the other murderers had found their work less narcotic. a letter from hessels to count de reux, late royal governor of flanders, was at the present juncture intercepted. perhaps it was invented, but genuine or fictitious, it was circulated extensively among the popular leaders, and had the effect of proving madame de hessels a true prophet. it precipitated the revolution in flanders, and soon afterwards cost the councillor his life. "we have already brought many notable magistrates of flanders over to the aide of his highness don john," wrote hessels. "we hope, after the duke of aerschot is governor; that we shall fully carry out the intentions of his majesty and the plans of his highness. we shall also know how to circumvent the scandalous heretic with all his adherents and followers." certainly, if this letter were true, it was high time for the friends of the "scandalous heretic" to look about them. if it were a forgery, which is highly probable, it was ingeniously imagined, and did the work of truth. the revolutionary party, being in a small minority in the assembly, were advised by their leaders to bow before the storm. they did so, and the bluster of the reactionary party grew louder as they marked the apparent discomfiture of their foes. they openly asserted that the men who were clamoring for privileges should obtain nothing but halters. the buried charters should never be resuscitated; but the spirit of the dead emperor, who had once put a rope around the necks of the insolent ghenters, still lived in that of his son. there was no lack of denunciation. don john and the duke of aerschot would soon bring the turbulent burghers to their senses, and there would then be an end to this renewed clamor about musty parchments. much indignation was secretly excited in the assembly by such menaces. without doors the subterranean flames spread rapidly, but no tumult occurred that night. before the session was over, ryhove left the city, pretending a visit to tournay. no sooner had he left the gates, however, than he turned his horse's head in the opposite direction, and rode off post haste to antwerp. there he had a conference with william of orange, and painted in lively colors the alarming position of affairs. "and what do you mean to do in the matter?" asked the prince, rather drily. ryhove was somewhat disconcerted. he had expected a violent explosion; well as he knew the tranquil personage whom he was addressing. "i know no better counsel," he replied, at length, "than to take the duke, with his bishops, councillors, lords, and the whole nest of them, by the throat, and thrust them all out together." "rather a desperate undertaking, however?" said the prince; carelessly, but interrogatively. "i know no other remedy," answered ryhove; "i would rather make the attempt, relying upon god alone, and die like a man if needful, than live in eternal slavery. like an ancient roman," continued the young republican noble, in somewhat bombastic vein, "i am ready to wager my life, where my fatherland's welfare is at stake." "bold words!" said the prince, looking gravely at ryhove; "but upon what force do you rely for your undertaking?" "if i can obtain no assistance from your excellency," was the reply, "i shall throw myself on the mass of the citizens. i can arouse them in the name of their ancient liberties, which must be redeemed now or never." the prince, believing probably that the scheme, if scheme there were, was but a wild one, felt little inclination to compromise himself with the young conspirator. he told him he could do nothing at present, and saying that he must at least sleep upon the matter, dismissed him for the night. next morning, at daybreak, ryhove was again closeted with him. the prince asked his sanguine partisan if he were still determined to carry out his project, with no more definite support than he had indicated? ryhove assured him, in reply, that he meant to do so; or to die in the attempt. the prince shrugged his shoulders, and soon afterwards seemed to fall into a reverie. ryhove continued talking, but it was soon obvious that his highness was not listening; and he therefore took his leave somewhat abruptly. hardly had he left the house, however, when the prince despatched saint aldegonde in search of him. that gentleman, proceeding to his hotel, walked straight into the apartment of ryhove, and commenced a conversation with a person whom he found there, but to his surprise he soon discovered, experienced politician though he was, that he had made an egregious blunder. he had opened a dangerous secret to an entire stranger, and ryhove coming into the apartment a few minutes afterwards, was naturally surprised to find the prince's chief councillor in close conversation about the plot with van rooyen, the burgomaster of denremonde. the flemish noble, however, always prompt in emergencies, drew his rapier, and assured the astonished burgomaster that he would either have his life on the instant, or his oath never to reveal a syllable of what he had heard. that functionary, who had neither desired the young noble's confidence, nor contemplated the honor of being run through the body as a consequence of receiving it, was somewhat aghast at the rapid manner in which these gentlemen transacted business. he willingly gave the required pledge, and was permitted to depart. the effect of the conference between saint aldegonde and ryhove was to convince the young partisan that the prince would neither openly countenance his project, nor be extremely vexed should it prove successful. in short, while, as in the case of the arrest of the state council, the subordinates were left to appear the principals in the transactions, the persons most intimate with william of orange were allowed to form satisfactory opinions as to his wishes, and to serve as instruments to his ends. "vive qui vince!" cried saint-aldegonde, encouragingly, to ryhove, shaking hands with him at parting. the conspirator immediately mounted, and rode off towards ghent. during his absence there had been much turbulence, but no decided outbreak, in that city. imbize had accosted the duke of aerschot in the street, and demanded when and how he intended to proclaim the restoration of the ancient charters. the haughty duke had endeavoured to shake off his importunate questioner, while imbize persisted, with increasing audacity, till aerschot lost his temper at last: "charters, charters!" he cried in a rage; "you shall learn soon, ye that are thus howling for charters, that we have still the old means of making you dumb, with a rope on your throats. i tell you this--were you ever so much hounded on by the prince of orange." the violence of the new governor excited the wrath of imbize. he broke from him abruptly, and rushed to a rendezvous of his confederates, every man of whom was ready for a desperate venture. groups of excited people were seen vociferating in different places. a drum was heard to rattle from time to time. nevertheless, the rising tumult seemed to subside again after a season, owing partly to the exertions of the magistrates, partly to the absence of ryhove. at four in the afternoon that gentleman entered the town, and riding directly to the head-quarters of the conspiracy, was incensed to hear that the work, which had begun so bravely, had been allowed to cool. "tis a time," he cried, "for vigilance. if we sleep now, we shall be dead in our beds before morning. better to fan the fire which has begun to blaze in the people's heart. better to gather the fruit while it is ripe. let us go forward, each with his followers, and i pledge myself to lead the way. let us scuttle the old ship of slavery; let us hunt the spanish inquisition, once for all, to the hell from whence it came!" "there spoke the voice of a man!" cried the flemish captain, mieghem, one of the chief conspirators; "lead on, ryhove, i swear to follow you as far as our legs will carry us." thus encouraged, ryhove, rushed about the city, calling upon the people everywhere to rise. they rose almost to a man. arming and mustering at different points, according to previous arrangements, a vast number assembled by toll of bell, after nightfall, on the public square, whence, under command of ryhove, they swept to the residence of aerschot at saint bavon. the guards, seeing the fierce mob approaching, brandishing spears and waving, torches, had scarce time to close the gates; as the people loudly demanded entrance and the delivery to them of the governor. both claims were refused. "let us burn the birds in their nests," cried ryhove, without hesitation. pitch, light wood, and other combustibles, were brought at his command, and in a few moments the palace would have been in flames, had not aerschot, seeing that the insurgents were in earnest, capitulated. as soon as the gates were open, the foremost of the mob rushed upon him, and would have torn him limb from limb, had not ryhove resolutely interfered, and twice protected the life of the governor, at the peril of his own. the duke was then made a prisoner, and, under a strong guard, was conveyed, still in his night-gown, and bare-footed, to the mansion of ryhove. all the other leading members of the catholic party were captured, the arrests proceeding till a late hour in the night. rassinghem, sweveghem, fisch, de la porta, and other prominent members of the flemish estates or council, were secured, but champagny was allowed to make his escape. the bishops of bruges and ypres were less fortunate. blood-councillor hessels, whose letter--genuine or counterfeited--had been so instrumental in hastening this outbreak, was most carefully guarded, and to him and to senator fisch the personal consequences of that night's work were to be very tragic. thus audaciously, successfully, and hitherto without bloodshed, was the anti-catholic revolution commenced in flanders. the event was the first of a long and most signal series. the deed was done. the provisional government was established, at the head of which was placed ryhove, to whom oaths of allegiance were rendered, subject to the future arrangements of the states-general and orange: on the th of november, the nobles, notables, and community of ghent published an address, in which they elaborately defended the revolution which had been effected and the arrests which had taken place; while the catholic party, with aerschot at its head, was declared to be secretly in league with don john to bring back the spanish troops, to overthrow the prince of orange, to deprive him of the protectorate of brabant, to set at nought the ghent treaty, and to suppress the reformed religion. the effect of this sudden rising of the popular party was prodigious throughout the netherlands. at the same time, the audacity of such extreme proceedings could hardly be countenanced by any considerable party in the states-general. champagny wrote to the prince of orange that, even if the letter of hessels were genuine, it proved nothing against aerschot, and he urged the necessity of suppressing such scene of licence immediately, through the influence of those who could command the passions of the mob. otherwise, he affirmed that all legitimate forms of justice would disappear, and that it would be easy to set the bloodhounds upon any game whatever. saint aldegonde wrote to the prince, that it would be a great point, but a very difficult one, to justify the ghent transaction; for there was little doubt that the hessels letter was a forgery. it was therefore as well, no doubt, that the prince had not decidedly committed himself to ryhove's plot; and thus deprived himself of the right to interfere afterwards, according to what seemed the claims of justice and sound policy. he now sent arend van dorp to ghent, to remonstrate with the leaders of the insurrection upon the violence of their measures, and to demand the liberation of the prisoners--a request which was only complied with in the case of aerschot. that nobleman was liberated on the th of november, under the condition that he would solemnly pledge himself to forget and forgive the treatment which he had received, but the other prisoners were retained in custody for a much longer period. a few weeks afterwards, the prince of orange visited ghent, at the earnest request of the four estates of flanders, and it was hoped that his presence would contribute to the restoration of tranquillity. this visit was naturally honored by a brilliant display of "rhetorical" spectacles and tableaux vivants; for nothing could exceed the passion of the netherlanders of that century for apologues and charades. in allegory they found an ever-present comforter in their deepest afflictions. the prince was escorted from the town-gate to the jacob's church amid a blaze of tar-barrels and torches, although it was mid-day, where a splendid exhibition had been arranged by that sovereign guild of rhetoric, "jesus with the balsam flower." the drama was called judas maccabaeus, in compliment to the prince. in the centre of the stage stood the hebrew patriot, in full armor, symbolizing the illustrious guest doing battle for his country. he was attended by the three estates of the country, ingeniously personified by a single individual, who wore the velvet bonnet of a noble, the cassock of a priest, end the breeches of a burgher. groups of allegorical personages were drawn up on the right and left;--courage, patriotism, freedom, mercy, diligence, and other estimable qualities upon one side, were balanced by murder, rapine, treason, and the rest of the sisterhood of crime on the other. the inquisition was represented as a lean and hungry hag. the "ghent pacification" was dressed in cramoisy satin, and wore a city on her head for a turban; while; tied to her apron-strings were catholicism and protestantism, bound in a loving embrace by a chain of seventeen links, which she was forging upon an anvil. under the anvil was an individual in complete harness, engaged in eating his heart; this was discord. in front of the scene stood history and rhetoric, attired as "triumphant maidens, in white garments," each with a laurel crown and a burning torch. these personages, after holding a rhymed dialogue between themselves, filled with wonderful conceits and quibbles, addressed the prince of orange and maccabaeus, one after the other, in a great quantity of very detestable verses. after much changing of scenes and groups, and an enormous quantity of flemish-woven poetry, the "ghent peace" came forward, leading a lion in one hand, and holding a heart of pure gold in the other. the heart, upon which was inscribed sinceritas, was then presented to the real prince, as he sat "reposing after the spectacle," and perhaps slightly yawning, the gift being accompanied by another tremendous discharge of complimentary verses. after this, william of orange was permitted to proceed towards the lodgings provided for him, but the magistrates and notables met him upon the threshold, and the pensionary made him a long oration. even after the prince was fairly housed, he had not escaped the fangs of allegory; for, while he sat at supper refreshing his exhausted frame after so much personification and metaphor, a symbolical personage, attired to represent the town corporation made his appearance, and poured upon him a long and particularly dull heroic poem. fortunately, this episode closed the labors of the day. on the th of december, , the states-general formally declared that don john was no longer stadholder, governor, nor captain-general, but an infractor of the peace which he had sworn to maintain, and an enemy of the fatherland. all natives of the country who should show him favor or assistance were declared rebels and traitors; and by a separate edict, issued the same day, it was ordained that an inventory of the estates of such persons should forthwith be taken. thus the war, which had for a brief period been suspended during the angry, tortuous, and hopeless negotiations which succeeded the arrival of don john, was once more to be let loose. to this point had tended all the policy of orange-faithful as ever to the proverb with which he had broken off the breda conferences, "that war was preferable to a doubtful peace." even, however, as his policy had pointed to a war as the necessary forerunner of a solid peace with spain, so had his efforts already advanced the cause of internal religious concord within the provinces themselves. on the th of december, a new act of union was signed at brussels, by which those of the roman church and those who had retired from that communion bound themselves to respect and to protect each other with mutual guarantees against all enemies whatsoever. here was a step beyond the ghent pacification, and in the same direction. the first treaty tacitly introduced toleration by suppressing the right of persecution, but the new union placed the reformed religion on a level with the old. this was the result of the prince's efforts; and, in truth, there was no lack of eagerness among these professors of a faith which had been so long under ban, to take advantage of his presence. out of dark alleys, remote thickets, subterranean conventicles, where the dissenters had so long been trembling for their lives, the oppressed now came forth into the light of day. they indulged openly in those forms of worship which persecution had affected to regard with as much holy horror as the badahuennan or hercynian mysteries of celtic ages could inspire, and they worshipped boldly the common god of catholic and puritan, in the words most consonant to their tastes, without dreading the gibbet as an inevitable result of their audacity. in truth, the time had arrived for bringing the northern and southern, the celtic and german, the protestant and catholic, hearts together, or else for acquiescing in their perpetual divorce. if the sentiment of nationality, the cause of a common fatherland, could now overcome the attachment to a particular form of worship--if a common danger and a common destiny could now teach the great lesson of mutual toleration, it might yet be possible to create a united netherland, and defy for ever the power of spain. since the union of brussels, of january, , the internal cancer of religious discord had again begun to corrode the body politic. the pacification of ghent had found the door open to religious toleration. it had not opened, but had left it open. the union of brussels had closed the door again. contrary to the hopes of the prince of orange and of the patriots who followed in his track, the sanction given to the roman religion had animated the catholics to fresh arrogance and fresh persecution. in the course of a few months, the only fruits of the new union, from which so much had been hoped, were to be seen in imprisonments, confiscations, banishments, executions. the perpetual edict, by which the fifteen provinces had united in acknowledging don john while the protestant stronghold of holland and zealand had been placed in a state of isolation by the wise distrust of orange, had widened the breach between catholics and protestants. the subsequent conduct of don john had confirmed the suspicions and demonstrated the sagacity of the prince. the seizure of namur and the open hostility avowed by the governor once more forced the provinces together. the suppressed flames of nationality burst forth again. catholic and protestant, fleming and hollander, instinctively approached each other, and felt the necessity of standing once more shoulder to shoulder in defence of their common rights. the prince of orange was called for by the unanimous cry of the whole country. he came to brussels. his first step, as already narrated, was to break off negotiations which had been already ratified by the votes of the states-general. the measure was reconsidered, under pretence of adding certain amendments. those amendments were the unconditional articles of surrender proposed for don john's signature on the th of september--articles which could only elicit words of defiance from his lips. thus far the prince's object was accomplished. a treacherous peace, which would have ensured destruction, was averted, but a new obstacle to the development of his broad and energetic schemes arose in the intrigue which brought the archduke from vienna. the cabals of orange's secret enemies were again thwarted with the same adroitness to which his avowed antagonists were forced to succumb. matthias was made the exponent of the new policy, the standard-bearer of the new union which the prince now succeeded in establishing; for his next step was immediately to impress upon the provinces which had thus united in casting down the gauntlet to a common enemy the necessity of uniting in a permanent league. one province was already lost by the fall of namur. the bonds of a permanent union for the other sixteen could be constructed of but one material--religious toleration, and for a moment, the genius of orange, always so far beyond his age, succeeded in raising the mass of his countrymen to the elevation upon which he had so long stood alone. the "new or nearer union of brussels" was signed on the th of december, eleven months after the formation of the first union. this was the third and, unfortunately, the last confederation of all the netherlands. the original records have been lost, but it is known that the measure was accepted unanimously in the estates-general as soon as presented. the leading catholic nobles were with the army, but a deputation, sent to the camp, returned with their signatures and hearty approval; with the signatures and approval of such determined catholics as the lalains, meluns, egmont, and la motte. if such men could unite for the sake of the fatherland in an act of religious toleration, what lofty hopes for the future was not the prince justified in forming; for it was the prince alone who accomplished this victory of reason over passion. as a monument, not only of his genius, but of the elevated aspirations of a whole people in an age of intolerance, the "closer union of brussels" deserves especial place in the history of human progress. unfortunately, it was destined to a brief existence. the battle of gemblours was its death-blow, and before the end of a month, the union thus hopefully constructed was shattered for ever. the netherland people was never united again. by the union of utrecht, seven states subsequently rescued their existence, and lived to construct a powerful republic. the rest were destined to remain for centuries in the condition of provinces to a distant metropolis, to be shifted about as make-weights in political balances, and only in our own age to come into the honorable rank of independent constitutional states. the prince had, moreover, strengthened himself for the coming struggle by an alliance with england. the thrifty but politic queen, fearing the result of the secret practices of alencon--whom orange, as she suspected, still kept in reserve to be played off, in case of need, against matthias and don john--had at last consented to a treaty of alliance and subsidy. on the th of january, , the marquis havre, envoy from the estates, concluded an arrangement in london, by which the queen was to lend them her credit--in other words, to endorse their obligations, to the amount of one hundred thousand pounds sterling. the money was to be raised wherever the states might be able to negotiate the bills, and her liability was to cease within a year. she was likewise to be collaterally secured by pledges from certain cities in the netherlands. this amount was certainly not colossal, while the conditions were sufficiently parsimonious. at the same time a beginning was made, and the principle of subsidy was established. the queen, furthermore, agreed to send five thousand infantry and one thousand cavalry to the provinces, under the command of an officer of high rank, who was to have a seat and vote in the netherland council of state. these troops were to be paid by the provinces, but furnished by the queen. the estates were to form no treaty without her knowledge, nor undertake any movement of importance without her consent. in case she should be herself attacked by any foreign power, the provinces were to assist her to the same extent as the amount of aid now afforded to themselves; and in case of a naval war, with a fleet of at least forty ships. it had already been arranged that the appointment of the prince of orange as lieutenant-general for matthias was a 'sine qua non' in any treaty of assistance with england. soon after the conclusion of this convention, sir thomas wilkes was despatched on a special mission to spain, and mr. leyton sent to confer privately with don john. it was not probable, however, that the diplomatic skill of either would make this new arrangement palatable to philip or his governor. within a few days after their signature of this important treaty, the prince had, at length, wholly succeeded in conquering the conflicting passions in the states-general, and in reconciling them, to a certain extent, with each other. the closer union had been accepted, and now thirty articles, which had been prepared under his superintendence, and had already on the th of december been accepted by matthias, were established as the fundamental terms, according to which the archduke was to be received as governor-general. no power whatever was accorded to the young man, who had come so far with eager and ambitious views. as the prince had neither solicited nor desired a visit which had, on the contrary, been the result of hostile machinations, the archduke could hardly complain that the power accorded him was but shadowy, and that his presence was rendered superfluous. it was not surprising that the common people gave him the name of greffier, or registering clerk to the prince; for his functions were almost limited to the signing of acts which were countersigned by orange. according to the stipulations of the queen of england, and the views of the whole popular party, the prince remained ruward of brabant, notwithstanding the appointment of a nominal governor-general, by whom his own duties were to be superseded. the articles which were laid down as the basis upon which the archduke was to be accepted; composed an ample representative constitution, by which all the legislative and many of the executive powers of government were bestowed upon the states-general or upon the council by them to be elected. to avoid remaining in the condition of a people thus left without a head, the states declared themselves willing to accept matthias as governor-general, on condition of the king's subsequent approbation, and upon the general basis of the ghent treaty. the archduke, moreover, was to take an oath of allegiance to the king and to the states-general at the same time. he was to govern the land by the advice of a state council, the members of which were to be appointed by the states-general, and were "to be native netherlanders, true patriots; and neither ambitious nor greedy." in all matters discussed before the state council, a majority of votes was to decide. the governor-general, with his council of state, should conclude nothing concerning the common affairs of the nation--such as requests, loans, treaties of peace or declarations of war, alliances or confederacies with foreign nations--without the consent of the states-general. he was to issue no edict or ordinance, and introduce no law, without the consent of the same body duly assembled, and representing each individual province. a majority of the members was declared necessary to a quorum of the council. all acts and despatches were to be drawn up by a member of the board. the states-general were to assemble when, where, and as often as, and remain in session as long as, they might think it expedient. at the request of any individual province, concerning matters about which a convention of the generality was customary, the other states should be bound to assemble without waiting for directions from the governor-general. the estates of each particular province were to assemble at their pleasure. the governor and council, with advice of the states-general, were to appoint all the principal military officers. troops were to be enrolled and garrisons established by and with the consent of the states. governors of provinces were to be appointed by the governor-general, with advice of his council, and with the consent of the estates of the province interested. all military affairs were to be conducted during war by the governor, with advice of his council, while the estates were to have absolute control over the levying and expenditure of the common funds of the country. it is sufficiently plain from this brief summary, that the powers thus conferred upon matthias alone, were absolutely null, while those which he might exercise in conjunction with the state council, were not much more extensive. the actual force of the government--legislative, executive, and, administrative--was lodged in the general assembly, while no authority was left to the king, except the nominal right to approve these revolutionary proceedings, according to the statement in the preamble. such a reservation in favor of his majesty seemed a superfluous sarcasm. it was furthermore resolved that the prince of orange should be appointed lieutenant-general for matthias, and be continued in his office of ruward. this constitution, drawn up under the superintendence of the prince, had been already accepted by matthias, while still at antwerp, and upon the th of january, , the ceremony of his inauguration took place. it was the third triumphal procession which brussels had witnessed within nine months. it was also the most brilliant of all; for the burghers, as if to make amends to the archduke for the actual nullity to which he had been reduced, seemed resolved to raise him to the seventh heaven of allegory. by the rhetorical guilds he was regarded as the most brilliant constellation of virtues which had yet shone above the flemish horizon. a brilliant cavalcade, headed by orange, accompanied by count john of nassau, the prince de chimay and other notables, met him at vilvoorde, and escorted him to the city gate. on an open field, outside the town, count bossu had arranged a review of troops, concluding with a sham-fight, which, in the words of a classical contemporary, seemed as "bloody a rencontre as that between duke miltiades of athens and king darius upon the plains of attics." the procession entered the louvain gate, through a splendid triumphal arch, filled with a band of invisible musicians. "i believe that orpheus had never played so melodiously on his harp," says the same authority, "nor apollo on his lyre, nor pan on his lute, as the city waits then performed." on entering the gates, matthias was at once delivered over to the hands of mythology, the burghers and rhetoricians taking possession of their illustrious captive, and being determined to outdo themselves in demonstrations of welcome. the representatives of the "nine nations" of brussels met him in the ritter-street, followed by a gorgeous retinue. although it was mid-day, all bore flaming torches. although it was january, the streets were strewed with flowers. the houses were festooned with garlands, and hung with brilliant silks and velvets. the streets were thronged with spectators, and encumbered with triumphal arches. on the grande place always the central scene in brussels, whether for comedies, or tournaments, or executions, the principal dramatic effects had been accumulated. the splendid front of the hotel de ville was wreathed with scarfs and banners; its windows and balconies, as well as those of the picturesque houses which formed the square, were crowded with gaily-dressed women. upon the area of the place, twenty-four theatres had been erected, where a aeries of magnificent living pictures were represented by the most beautiful young females that could be found in the city. all were attired in brocades, embroideries, and cloth of gold. the subjects of the tableaux vivants were, of course, most classic, for the netherlanders were nothing, if not allegorical; yet, as spectacles, provided by burghers and artisans for the amusement of their fellow-citizens, they certainly proved a considerable culture in the people who could thus be amused. all the groups were artistically arranged. upon one theatre stood juno with her peacock, presenting matthias with the city of brussels, which she held, beautifully modelled, in her hand. upon another, cybele gave him the keys, reason handed him a bridle, hebe a basket of flowers, wisdom a looking-glass and two law books, diligence a pair of spurs; while constancy, magnanimity, prudence, and other virtues, furnished him with a helmet; corslet, spear, and shield. upon other theatres, bellona presented him with several men-at-arms, tied in a bundle; fame gave him her trumpet, and glory her crown. upon one stage quintus curtius, on horseback, was seen plunging into the yawning abyss; upon six others scipio africanus was exhibited, as he appeared in the most picturesque moments of his career. the beardless archduke had never achieved anything, save his nocturnal escape from vienna in his night-gown; but the honest flemings chose to regard him as a re-incarnation of those two eminent romans. carried away by their own learning, they already looked upon him as a myth; and such indeed he was destined to remain throughout his netherland career. after surveying all these wonders, matthias was led up the hill again to the ducal palace, where, after hearing speeches and odes till he was exhausted, he was at last allowed to eat his supper and go to bed. meantime the citizens feasted in the streets. bonfires were blazing everywhere, at which the people roasted "geese, pigs, capons, partridges, and chickens," while upon all sides were the merriest piping and dancing. of a sudden, a fiery dragon was seen flying through the air. it poised for a while over the heads of the revelling crowd in the grande place, and then burst with a prodigious explosion, sending forth rockets and other fireworks in every direction. this exhibition, then a new one, so frightened the people, that they all took to their heels, "as if a thousand soldiers had assaulted them," tumbling over each other in great confusion, and so dispersing to their homes. the next day matthias took the oaths as governor-general, to support the new constitution, while the prince of orange was sworn in as lieutenant-general and governor of brabant. upon the next a splendid banquet was given them in the grand ball of the hotel de ville, by the states-general, and when the cloth was removed, rhetoric made her last and most ingenious demonstration, through the famous guild of "mary with the flower garland." two individuals--the one attired as a respectable burgher; the other as a clerical personage in gown and bands-made their appearance upon a stage, opposite the seats of their highnesses, and pronounced a long dialogue in rhyme. one of the speakers rejoiced in the appellation of the "desiring heart," the other was called "common comfort." common sense might have been more to the purpose, but appeared to have no part in the play. desiring heart, being of an inquisitive disposition, propounded a series of puzzling questions, mythological in their nature, which seemed like classical conundrums, having reference, mainly, to the proceedings of venus, neptune, juno, and other divinities. they appeared to have little to do with matthias or the matter in hand, but common comfort knew better. that clerical personage, accordingly, in a handsome allowance of rhymes, informed his despairing colleague that everything would end well; that jupiter, diana, venus, and the rest of them would all do their duty, and that belgica would be relieved from all her woes, at the advent of a certain individual. whereupon cried desiring heart, oh common comfort who is he? his name, and of what family? to which comfort responded by mentioning the archduke, in a poetical and highly-complimentary strain, with handsome allusions to the inevitable quintus curtius and scipio africanus. the concluding words of the speech were not spoken, but were taken as the cue for a splendid charade; the long-suffering scipio again making his appearance, in company with alexander and hannibal; the group typifying the future government of matthias. after each of these, heroic individuals had spouted a hundred lines or so, the play was terminated, and rhetoric took her departure. the company had remained at table during this long representation, and now the dessert was served, consisting of a "richly triumphant banquet of confectionary, marmalade, and all kinds of genteelnesses in sugar." meanwhile, don john sat chafing and almost frenzied with rage at namur. certainly he had reasons enough for losing his temper. never since the days of maximilian had king's brother been so bearded by rebels. the cross was humbled in the dust, the royal authority openly derided, his majesty's representative locked up in a fortress, while "the accursed prince of orange" reigned supreme in brussels, with an imperial archduke for his private secretary. the governor addressed a long, private, and most bitter letter to the emperor, for the purpose of setting himself right in the opinion of that potentate, and of giving him certain hints as to what was expected of the imperial court by philip and himself. he expressed confidence that the imperial commissioners would have some effect in bringing about the pacification of the netherlands, and protested his own strong desire for such a result, provided always that the two great points of the catholic religion and his majesty's authority were preserved intact. "in the hope that those articles would be maintained," said he, "i have emptied cities and important places of their garrisons, when i might easily have kept the soldiers, and with the soldiers the places, against all the world, instead of consigning them to the care of men who at this hour have arms in their hand against their natural prince." he declared vehemently that in all his conduct, since his arrival in the provinces, he had been governed exclusively by the interests of philip, an object which he should steadily pursue to the end. he urged, too, that the emperor, being of the same house as philip, and therefore more obliged than all others to sustain his quarrel, would do well to espouse his cause with all the warmth possible. "the forgetfulness by vassals," said don john, "of the obedience due to their sovereign is so dangerous, that all princes and potentates, even those at the moment exempt from trouble; should assist in preparing the remedy, in order that their subjects also may not take it into their heads to do the like, liberty being a contagious disease, which goes on infecting one neighbour after another, if the cure be not promptly applied." it was, he averred, a desperate state of things for monarchs, when subjects having obtained such concessions as the netherlanders had obtained, nevertheless loved him and obeyed him so little. they showed, but too clearly, that the causes alleged by them had been but pretexts, in order to effect designs, long ago conceived, to overthrow the ancient constitution of the country, and to live thenceforward in unbridled liberty. so many indecent acts had been committed prejudicial to religion and to his majesty's grandeur, that the governor avowed his, determination to have no farther communication with the provinces without fresh commands to that effect. he begged the emperor to pay no heed to what the states said, but to observe what they did. he assured him that nothing could be more senseless than the reports that philip and his governor-general in the netherlands were negotiating with france, for the purpose of alienating the provinces from the austrian crown. philip, being chief of the family, and sovereign of the netherlands, could not commit the absurdity of giving away his own property to other people, nor would don john choose to be an instrument in so foolish a transaction. the governor entreated the emperor, therefore, to consider such fables as the invention of malcontents and traitors, of whom there were no lack at his court, and to remember that nothing was more necessary for the preservation of the greatness of his family than to cultivate the best relations with all its members. "therefore," said he, with an absurd affectation of candor, "although i make no doubt whatever that the expedition hitherwards of the archduke matthias has been made with the best intentions; nevertheless, many are of opinion that it would have been better altogether omitted. if the archduke," he continued, with hardly dissembled irony, "be desirous of taking charge of his majesty's affairs, it would be preferable to employ himself in the customary manner. your majesty would do a laudable action by recalling him from this place, according to your majesty's promise to me to that effect." in conclusion, don john complained that difficulties had been placed in his way for making levies of troops in the empire, while every facility had been afforded to the rebels. he therefore urgently insisted that so unnatural and unjust a condition of affairs should be remedied. don john was not sorry in his heart that the crisis was at last come. his chain was broken. his wrath exploded in his first interview with leyton, the english envoy, whom queen elizabeth had despatched to calm, if possible, his inevitable anger at her recent treaty with the states. he knew nothing of england, he said, nor of france, nor of the emperor. his catholic majesty had commissioned him now to make war upon these rebellious provinces. he would do it with all his heart. as for the emperor, he would unchain the turks upon him for his perfidy. as for the burghers of brussels, they would soon feel his vengeance. it was very obvious that these were not idle threats. war had again broken loose throughout these doomed provinces. a small but well-appointed army had been rapidly collecting under the banner of don john at luxemburg, peter ernest mansfeld had brought many well-trained troops from france, and prince alexander of parma had arrived with several choice and veteran regiments of italy and spain. the old schoolfellow, playmate and comrade of don john, was shocked-on his arrival, to witness the attenuated frame and care-worn features of his uncle. the son of charles the fifth, the hero of lepanto, seemed even to have lost the air of majesty which was so natural to him, for petty insults, perpetual crosses, seemed to have left their squalid traces upon his features. nevertheless, the crusader was alive again, at the notes of warlike preparations which now resounded throughout the land. on the th of january he issued a proclamation, couched in three languages--french, german, and flemish. he declared in this document that he had not come to enslave the provinces, but to protect them. at the same time he meant to re-establish his majesty's authority, and the down-trod religion of rome. he summoned all citizens and all soldiers throughout the provinces to join his banners, offering them pardon for their past offences, and protection against heretics and rebels. this declaration was the natural consequence of the exchange of defiances which had already taken place, and it was evident also that the angry manifesto was soon to be followed up by vigorous blows. the army of don john already numbered more than twenty thousand well-seasoned and disciplined veterans. he was himself the most illustrious chieftain in europe. he was surrounded by lieutenants cf the most brilliant reputation. alexander of parma, who had fought with distinction at lepanto, was already recognised as possessing that signal military genius which was soon to stamp him as the first soldier of his age, while mansfeld, mondragon, mendoza, and other distinguished officers, who had already won so much fame in the netherlands, had now returned to the scene of their former achievements. on the other hand, the military affairs of the states were in confusion. troops in nearly equal numbers to those of the royal army had been assembled, but the chief offices had been bestowed, by a mistaken policy, upon the great nobles. already the jealousy of orange, entertained by their whole order was painfully apparent. notwithstanding the signal popularity which had made his appointment as lieutenant-general inevitable it was not easy for him always to vindicate his authority over captious and rival magnates. he had every wish to conciliate the affections of men whom he could not in his heart respect, and he went as far in gratifying their ambition as comported with his own dignity; perhaps farther than was consistent with the national interests. he was still willing to trust lalain, of whose good affection to the country he felt sure. re had even been desirous of declining the office of lieutenant-general, in order to avoid giving that nobleman the least occasion to think "that he would do him, or any other gentleman of the army, prejudice in any single matter in the world." this magnanimity had, not been repaid with corresponding confidence. we have already seen that lalain had been secretly in the interest of anjou ever since his wife and himself had lost their hearts to margaret of navarre; yet the count was chief commander of the infantry in the states' army then assembled. robert melun, vicomte de gand, was commander of the cavalry, but he had recently been private envoy from don john to the english queen. both these gentlemen, together with pardieu de la motte, general of the artillery, were voluntarily absent from the forces, under pretext of celebrating the wedding of the seigneur de bersel with the niece and heiress of the unfortunate marquis of bergen. the ghost of that ill-starred noble might almost have seemed to rise at the nuptial banquet of his heiress, to warn the traitors of the signal and bloody massacre which their treachery was soon to occasion. philip egmont, eldest son of the famous lamoral, was with the army, as was the seigneur de heze, hero of the state council's arrest, and the unstable havre. but little was to be hoped from such leaders. indeed, the affairs of the states continued to be in as perplexed a condition as that which honest john of nassau had described some weeks before. "there were very few patriots," he had said, "but plenty of priests, with no lack of inexperienced lads--some looking for distinction, and others for pelf." the two armies had been mustered in the latter days of january. the pope had issued a bull for the benefit of don john, precisely similar to those formerly employed in the crusades against the saracens. authority was given him to levy contributions upon ecclesiastical property, while full absolution, at the hour of death, for all crimes committed during a whole lifetime, was proclaimed to those who should now join the standard of the cross. there was at least no concealment. the crescent-wearing zealanders had been taken at their word, and the whole nation of netherlanders were formally banned as unbelievers. the forces of don john were mustered at marche in luxemburg; those of the states in a plain within a few miles of namur. both armies were nearly equal in number, amounting to nearly twenty thousand each, including a force of two thousand cavalry on each side. it had been the original intention of the patriots to attack don john in namur. having learned, however, that he purposed marching forth himself to offer battle, they decided to fall back upon gemblours, which was nine miles distant from that city. on the last day of january, they accordingly broke up their camp at saint martius, before dawn, and marched towards gemblours. the chief commander was de goignies, an old soldier of charles the fifth, who had also fought at saint quintin. the states' army was disposed in three divisions. the van consisted of the infantry regiments of de heze and montigny, flanked by a protective body of light horse. the centre, composed of the walloon and german regiments, with a few companies of french, and thirteen companies of scotch and english under colonel balfour, was commanded by two most distinguished officers, bossu and champagny. the rear, which, of course, was the post of responsibility and honor, comprised all the heavy cavalry, and was commanded by philip egmont and lumey de la marck. the marquis havre and the general-in-chief, goignies, rode to and fro, as the army proceeded, each attended by his staff. the troops of don john broke up from before namur with the earliest dawn, and marched in pursuit of the retiring foe. in front was nearly the whole of the cavalry-carabineers, lancers, and heavy dragoons. the centre, arranged in two squares, consisted chiefly of spanish infantry, with a lesser number of germans. in the rear came the walloons, marching also in a square, and protecting the baggage and ammunition. charles mansfeld had been left behind with a reserved force, stationed on the meuse; ottavio gonzaga commanded in front, ernest mansfeld brought up the rear; while in the centre rode don john himself, attended by the prince of parma. over his head streamed the crucifix-emblazoned banner, with its memorable inscription--in hoc signo vici turcos, in hoc haereticos vincam. small detachments of cavalry had been sent forward; under olivera and acosta, to scour the roads and forests, and to disturb all ambuscades which might have been prepared. from some stragglers captured by these officers, the plans of the retreating generals were learned. the winter's day was not far advanced, when the rearward columns of the states' army were descried in the distance. don john, making a selection of some six hundred cavalry, all picked men, with a thousand infantry, divided the whole into two bodies, which he placed under command of gonzaga and the famous old christopher mondragon. these officers received orders to hang on the rear of the enemy, to harass him, and to do him all possible damage consistent with the possibility of avoiding a general engagement, until the main army under parma and don john should arrive. the orders were at first strictly obeyed. as the skirmishing grew hotter, however, goazaga observed that a spirited cavalry officer, named perotti, had already advanced, with a handful of men, much further within the reach of the hostile forces than was deemed expedient. he sent hastily to recal the too eager chieftain. the order, delivered in a tone more peremptory than agreeable, was flatly disobeyed. "tell ottavio gonzaga," said perotti, "that i never yet turned my back on the enemy, nor shall i now begin. moreover, were i ever so much inclined to do so, retreat is impossible." the retiring army was then proceeding along the borders of a deep ravine, filled with mire and water, and as broad and more dangerous than a river. in the midst of the skirmishing, alexander of parma rode up to reconnoitre. he saw at once that the columns of the enemy were marching unsteadily to avoid being precipitated into this creek. he observed the waving of their spears, the general confusion of their ranks, and was quick to take advantage of the fortunate moment. pointing out to the officers about him the opportunity thus offered of attacking the retiring army unawares in flank, he assembled, with great rapidity, the foremost companies of cavalry already detached from the main body. mounting a fresh and powerful horse, which camillo monte held in readiness for him, he signified his intention of dashing through the dangerous ravine, and dealing a stroke where it was least expected, "tell don john of austria," he cried to an officer whom he sent back to the commander-in-chief, "that alexander of parma has plunged into the abyss, to perish there, or to come-forth again victorious." the sudden thought was executed with lightning-like celerity. in an instant the bold rider was already struggling through the dangerous swamp; in another, his powerful charger had carried him across. halting for a few minutes, lance in rest, till his troops had also forced their passage, gained the level ground unperceived, and sufficiently breathed their horses, he drew up his little force in a compact column. then, with a few words of encouragement, he launched them at the foe. the violent and entirely unexpected shock was even more successful than the prince had anticipated. the hostile cavalry reeled and fell into hopeless confusion, egmont in vain striving to rally them to resistance. that name had lost its magic. goignies also attempted, without success, to restore order among the panic-struck ranks. the sudden conception of parma, executed as suddenly and in so brilliant a manner, had been decisive. assaulted in flank and rear at the same moment, and already in temporary confusion, the cavalry of the enemy turned their backs and fled. the centre of the states' army thus left exposed, was now warmly attacked by parma. it had, moreover, been already thrown into disorder by the retreat of its own horse, as they charged through them in rapid and disgraceful panic. the whole army bloke to pieces at once, and so great was the trepidation, that the conquered troops had hardly courage to run away. they were utterly incapable of combat. not a blow was struck by the fugitives. hardly a man in the spanish ranks was wounded; while, in the course of an hour and a half, the whole force of the enemy was exterminated. it is impossible to state with accuracy the exact numbers slain. some accounts spoke of ten thousand killed, or captive, with absolutely no loss on the royal side. moreover, this slaughter was effected, not by the army under don john, but by so small a fragment of it, that some historians have even set down the whole number of royalists engaged at the commencement of the action, at six hundred, increased afterwards to twelve hundred. by this calculation, each spaniard engaged must have killed ten enemies with his own hand; and that within an hour and a half's space! other historians more wisely omit the exact statistics of the massacre, and allow that a very few--ten or eleven, at most--were slain within the spanish ranks. this, however, is the utmost that is claimed by even the netherland historians, and it is, at any rate, certain that the whole states' army was annihilated. rarely had a more brilliant exploit been performed by a handful of cavalry. to the distinguished alexander of parma, who improvised so striking and complete a victory out of a fortuitous circumstance, belonged the whole credit of the day, for his quick eye detected a passing weakness of the enemy, and turned it to terrible account with the promptness which comes from genius alone. a whole army was overthrown. everything belonging to the enemy fell into the hands of the spaniards. thirty-four standards, many field-pieces, much camp equipage, and ammunition, besides some seven or eight thousand dead bodies, and six hundred living prisoners, were the spoils of that winter's day. of the captives, some were soon afterwards hurled off the bridge at namur, and drowned like dogs in the meuse, while the rest were all hanged, none escaping with life. don john's clemency was not superior to that of his sanguinary predecessors. and so another proof was added--if proofs were still necessary of spanish prowess. the netherlanders may be pardoned if their foes seemed to them supernatural, and almost invulnerable. how else could these enormous successes be accounted for? how else could thousands fall before the spanish swords, while hardly a single spanish corpse told of effectual resistance? at jemmingen, alva had lost seven soldiers, and slain seven thousand; in the antwerp fury, two hundred spaniards, at most, had fallen, while eight thousand burghers and states' troops had been butchered; and now at gemblours, six, seven, eight, ten--heaven knew how many--thousand had been exterminated, and hardly a single spaniard had been slain! undoubtedly, the first reason for this result was the superiority of the spanish soldiers. they were the boldest, the best disciplined, the most experienced in the world. their audacity, promptness, and ferocity made them almost invincible. in this particular action, at least half the army of don john was composed of spanish or spanish-italian veterans. moreover, they were commanded by the most renowned captains of the age--by don john himself, and alexander of parma, sustained by such veterans as mondragon, the hero of the memorable submarine expeditions; mendoza, the accomplished cavalry officer, diplomatist, and historian; and mansfeld, of whom don john had himself written to the king that his majesty had not another officer of such account in all the netherlands. such officers as these, besides gonzaga, camillo monte, mucio pagano, at the head of such troops as fought that day under the banner of the cross, might go far in accounting for this last and most tremendous victory of the inquisition. on the other hand, although bossu and champagny were with the states' army, yet their hearts were hardly with the cause. both had long been loyal, and had earned many laurels against the rebels, while champagny was still devoutly a papist, and wavered painfully between his hatred to heresy and to spain. egmont and de heze were raw, unpractised lads, in whom genius did not come to supply the place of experience. the commander, de goignies, was a veteran, but a veteran who had never gained much glory, and the chiefs of the cavalry, infantry, and artillery, were absent at the brussels wedding. the news of this additional massacre inflicted upon a nation, for which berghen and montigny had laid down their lives, was the nuptial benediction for berghen's heiress; for it was to the chief wedding guests upon, that occasion that the disaster was justly attributed. the rank and file of the states' army were mainly mercenaries, with whom the hope of plunder was the prevailing motive; the chief commanders were absent; while those officers who were with the troops were neither heartily friendly to their own flag nor sufficiently experienced to make it respected. etext editor's bookmarks: absurd affectation of candor always less apt to complain of irrevocable events imagined, and did the work of truth judas maccabaeus neither ambitious nor greedy superfluous sarcasm motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley chapter v. towns taken by don john--wrath excited against the aristocratic party by the recent defeat--attempts upon amsterdam--"satisfaction" of amsterdam and its effects--de selles sent with royal letters from spain--terms offered by philip--proclamation of don john-- correspondence between de selles and the states-general--between the king and the governor-general--new forces raised by the states--st. aldegonde at the diet--municipal revolution in amsterdam--the prince's letter on the subject of the anabaptists of middelburg-- the two armies inactive--de la none--action at rijnemants--john casimir--perverse politics of queen elizabeth--alencon in the netherlands--portrait of the duke--orange's position in regard to him--avowed and supposed policy of the french court--anger of elizabeth--terms arranged between alencon and the estates--renewed negotiations with don john--severe terms offered him--interview of the english envoys with the governor--despondency of don john-- orange's attempts to enforce a religious peace--his isolation in sentiment--the malcontent party--count john governor of gelderland --proposed form of religious peace--proclamation to that effect by orange, in antwerp--a petition in favor of the roman church presented by champagny and other catholic nobles to the states-- general--consequent commotion in brussels--champagny and others imprisoned--indolence and poverty of the two armies--illness and melancholy of don john--his letters to doria, to mendoza, and to the king--death of don john--suspicions of poison--pompous burial-- removal of his body to spain--concluding remarks upon his character. don john having thus vindicated his own military fame and the amazing superiority of the spanish arms, followed up his victory by the rapid reduction of many towns of second-rate importance louvain, judoigne, tirlemont, aerschot, bauvignes, sichem, nivelle, roeux, soignies, binch, beaumont, walcourt, tviaubeuge, and chimay, either submitted to their conqueror, or were taken after short sieges. the usual atrocities were inflicted upon the unfortunate inhabitants of towns where resistance was attempted. the commandant of sichem was hanged out of his own window, along with several chief burghers and officers, while the garrison was put to the sword, and the bodies cast into the denver. the only crime committed by these unfortunates was to have ventured a blow or two in behalf of the firesides which they were employed to protect. in brussels, on the other hand, there was less consternation excited by these events than boundless rage against the aristocratic party, for the defeat of gemblours was attributed, with justice, to the intrigues and the incapacity of the catholic magnates. it was with difficulty that orange, going about by night from house to house, from street to street, succeeded in calming the indignation of the people, and in preventing them from sweeping in a mass to the residence of the leading nobles, in order to inflict summary vengeance on the traitors. all looked to the prince as their only saviour, not a thought nor a word being wasted upon matthias. not a voice was raised in the assembly to vindicate the secret proceedings of the catholic party, nor to oppose the measures which the prince might suggest. the terrible disaster had taught the necessity of union. all parties heartily joined in the necessary steps to place the capital in a state of complete defence, and to assemble forthwith new troops to take the place of the army just annihilated. the victor gained nothing by his victory, in comparison with the profit acquired by the states through their common misfortune. nor were all the towns which had recently fallen into the hands of don john at all comparable in importance to the city of amsterdam, which now, by a most timely arrangement, furnished a rich compensation to the national party for the disaster of gemblours. since the conclusion of the ghent pacification, it had been the most earnest wish of the prince, and of holland and zealand, to recover possession of this most important city. the wish was naturally shared by every true patriot in the states-general. it had, however, been extremely difficult to arrange the terms of the "satisfaction." every fresh attempt at an amicable compromise was wrecked upon the obstinate bigotry of the leading civic authorities. they would make no agreement to accept the authority of orange, except, as saint aldegonde expressed himself; upon terms which would enable them "to govern their governor." the influence of the monks, who were resident in large numbers within the city, and of the magistrates, who were all stanch catholics, had been hitherto sufficient to outweigh the efforts made by the large masses of the reformed religionists composing the bulk of the population. it was, however, impossible to allow amsterdam to remain in this isolated and hostile attitude to the rest of holland. the prince, having promised to use no coercion, and loyally adhering to his pledge, had only with extreme difficulty restrained the violence of the hollanders and zealanders, who were determined, by fair means or foul, to restore the capital city to its natural place within his stadholderate. he had been obliged, on various occasions, particularly on the st of october of the preceding year, to address a most decided and peremptory letter to the estates of holland and zealand, forbidding the employment of hostile measures against amsterdam. his commands had been reluctantly, partially, and only temporarily obeyed. the states desisted from their scheme of reducing the city by famine, but they did not the less encourage the secret and unofficial expeditions which were daily set on foot to accomplish the annexation by a sudden enterprise. late in november, a desperate attempt had been made by colonel helling, in conjunction with governor sonoy, to carry the city by surprise. the force which the adventurer collected for the purpose was inadequate, and his plans were unskilfully arranged. he was himself slain in the streets, at the very commencement of the action; whereupon, in the quaint language of the contemporary chronicler, "the hearts of his soldiers sank in their shoes," and they evacuated the city with much greater rapidity than they had entered it. the prince was indignant at these violent measures, which retarded rather than advanced the desired consummation. at the same time it was an evil of immense magnitude--this anomalous condition of his capital. ceaseless schemes were concerted by the municipal and clerical conspirators within its walls, and various attempts were known, at different times, to have been contemplated by don john, to inflict a home-thrust upon the provinces of holland and zealand at the most vulnerable and vital point. the "satisfaction" accepted by utrecht, in the autumn of , had, however, paved the way for the recovery of amsterdam; so that upon february the th, , certain deputies from utrecht succeeded at last in arranging terms, which were accepted by the sister city. the basis of the treaty was, as usual, the nominal supremacy of the catholic religion, with toleration for the reformed worship. the necessary effect would be, as in harlem, utrecht, and other places, to establish the new religion upon an entire equality with the old. it was arranged that no congregations were to be disturbed in their religious exercises in the places respectively assigned to them. those of the reformed faith were to celebrate their worship without the walls. they were, however, to enjoy the right of burying their dead within these precincts, and it is singular how much importance was attached at that day to a custom, at which the common sentiment and the common sense of modern times revolt. "to bury our dead within our own cities is a right hardly to be denied to a dog," said the prince of orange; and accordingly this right was amply secured by the new satisfaction of amsterdam. it was, however, stipulated that the funerals should be modest, and attended by no more than twenty-four persons at once. the treaty was hailed with boundless joy in holland and zealand, while countless benedictions were invoked upon the "blessed peace-makers," as the utrecht deputies walked through the streets of amsterdam. there is no doubt that the triumph thus achieved by the national party far counterbalanced the governor-general's victory at gemblours. meantime, the seigneur de selles, brother of the deceased noircarmes, had arrived from spain. he was the special bearer of a letter from the king to the states-general, written in reply to their communications of the th of august and th of september of the previous year. the tone of the royal despatch was very affectionate, the substance such as entirely to justify the whole policy of orange. it was obvious that the penetrating and steadfast statesman had been correct in refusing to be moved to the right or the left by the specious language of philip's former letters, or by the apparent frankness of don john. no doubt the governor had been sincere in his desire for peace, but the prince knew very well his incapacity to confer that blessing. the prince knew--what no man else appeared fully to comprehend at that epoch--that the mortal combat between the inquisition and the reformation was already fully engaged. the great battle between divine reason and right divine, on which the interests of unborn generations were hanging, was to be fought out, before the eyes of all christendom, on the plain of the netherlands. orange was willing to lay down his arms if he could receive security for the reformed worship. he had no desire to exterminate the ancient religion, but he meant also to protect the new against extermination. such security, he felt, would never be granted, and he had therefore resolutely refused to hearken to don john, for he was sure that peace with him was impossible. the letters now produced by de selles confirmed his positions completely. the king said not a word concerning the appointment of a new governor-general, but boldly insisted upon the necessity of maintaining the two cardinal points--his royal supremacy, and the catholic religion upon the basis adopted by his father, the emperor charles the fifth. this was the whole substance of his communication: the supremacy of royalty and of papacy as in the time of charles the fifth. these cabalistic words were repeated twice in the brief letter to the estates. they were repeated five times in the instructions furnished by his majesty to de selles. the letter and the instructions indeed contained nothing else. two simples were offered for the cure of the body politic, racked by the fever and convulsion of ten horrible years--two simples which the patient could hardly be so unreasonable as to reject--unlimited despotism and religious persecution. the whole matter lay in a nut-shell, but it was a nut-shell which enclosed the flaming edicts of charles the fifth, with their scaffolds, gibbets, racks, and funeral piles. the prince and the states-general spurned such pacific overtures, and preferred rather to gird themselves for the combat. that there might be no mistake about the matter, don john, immediately after receiving the letter, issued a proclamation to enforce the king's command. he mentioned it as an acknowledged fact that the states-general had long ago sworn the maintenance of the two points of royal and catholic supremacy, according to the practice under the emperor charles. the states instantly published an indignant rejoinder, affirming the indisputable truth, that they had sworn to the maintenance of the ghent pacification, and proclaiming the assertion of don john an infamous falsehood. it was an outrage upon common sense, they said, that the ghent treaty could be tortured into sanctioning the placards and the inquisition, evils which that sacred instrument had been expressly intended to crush. a letter was then formally addressed to his majesty, in the name of the archduke matthias--and of the estates, demanding the recal of don john and the maintenance of the ghent pacification. de seller, in reply, sent a brief, deprecatory paper, enclosing a note from don john, which the envoy acknowledged might seem somewhat harsh in its expressions. the letter contained, indeed, a sufficiently fierce and peremptory summons to the states to obey the king's commands with regard to the system of charles the fifth, according to their previous agreement, together with a violent declaration of the governor's displeasure that they had dared to solicit the aid of foreign princes. on the th of february came a proposition from de seller that the prince, of orange should place himself in the hands of don john, while the prince of parma, alone and without arms, would come before the assembly, to negotiate with them upon these matters. the reply returned by the states-general to this absurd suggestion expressed their regret that the son of the duchess margaret should have taken part with the enemy of the netherlanders, complained of the bull by which the pope had invited war against them as if they had been saracens, repeated their most unanswerable argument--that the ghent pacification had established a system directly the reverse of that which existed under charles the fifth--and affirmed their resolution never more to submit to spanish armies, executioners, edicts, or inquisitions, and never more to return to the principles of the emperor and of alva. to this diplomatic correspondence succeeded a war of words and of pamphlets, some of them very inflammatory and very eloquent. meantime, the preparations for active hostilities were proceeding daily. the prince of orange, through his envoys in england, had arranged for subsidies in the coming campaign, and for troops which were to be led to the netherlands, under duke casimir of the palatinate. he sent commissioners through the provinces to raise the respective contributions agreed upon, besides an extraordinary quota of four hundred thousand guilders monthly. he also negotiated a loan of a hundred and twenty thousand guilders from the citizens of antwerp. many new taxes were imposed by his direction, both upon income and upon consumption. by his advice, however, and with the consent of the states-general, the provinces of holland and zealand held no community of burthens with the other provinces, but of their own free will contributed more than the sums for which they would have been assessed. mr. leyton, who was about to return from his unsuccessful mission from elizabeth to don john, was requested by the states-general to convey to her majesty a faithful report of the recent correspondence, and especially of the language held by the governor-general. he was also urged to use his influence with the queen, to the end that her promises of assistance might be speedily fulfilled. troops were rapidly enrolled, and again, by the same honest but mistaken policy, the chief offices were conferred upon the great nobles--aerschot, champagny, bossu, egmont, lalain, the viscount of ghent, baron de ville, and many others, most of whom were to desert the cause in the hour of its need. on the other hand, don john was proceeding with his military preparations upon an extensive scale. the king had recently furnished him with one million nine hundred thousand dollars, and had promised to provide him with two hundred thousand more, monthly. with these funds his majesty estimated that an army of thirty thousand foot, sixteen thousand cavalry, and thirty pieces of artillery, could be levied and kept on foot. if more remittances should prove to be necessary, it was promised that they should be forthcoming. this was the result of many earnest remonstrances made by the governor concerning the dilatory policy of the king. wearied with being constantly ordered "to blow hot and cold with the same, breath," he had insisted that his majesty should select the hot or the cold, and furnish him with the means of enforcing the choice. for himself, don john assured his brother that the hottest measures were most to his taste, and most suitable to the occasion. fire and sword could alone save the royal authority, for all the provinces had "abandoned themselves, body and soul, to the greatest heretic and tyrant that prince ever had for vassal." unceasing had been the complaints and entreaties of the captain-general, called forth by the apathy or irresolution of philip. it was--only by assuring him that the netherlands actually belonged to orange, that the monarch could be aroused. "his they are; and none other's," said the governor, dolefully. the king had accordingly sent back de billy, don john's envoy; with decided injunctions to use force and energy to put down the revolt at once, and with an intimation that funds might be henceforth more regularly depended upon, as the indian fleets were expected in july. philip also advised his brother to employ a portion of his money in purchasing the governors and principal persons who controlled the cities and other strong places belonging to the states. meantime, don john thundered forth a manifesto which had been recently prepared in madrid, by which the estates, both general and particular, were ordered forthwith to separate, and forbidden to assemble again, except by especial licence. all commissions, civil or military, granted by states' authority, were moreover annulled, together with a general prohibition of any act of obedience to such functionaries, and of contribution to any imposts which might be levied by their authority. such thunders were now comparatively harmless, for the states had taken their course, and were busily engaged, both at home and abroad, in arming for the conflict. saint aldegonde was deputed to attend the imperial diet, then in session at worms, where he delivered an oration, which was very celebrated in its day as a composition, but, which can hardly be said to have produced much practical effect. the current was setting hard in germany against the reformed religion and against the netherland cause, the augsburg confessionists showing hardly more sympathy with dutch calvinists than with spanish papists. envoys from don john also attended the diet, and requested saint aldegonde to furnish them with a copy of his oration. this he declined to do. while in germany, saint aldegonde was informed by john casimir that duke charles of sweden, had been solicited to furnish certain ships of war for a contemplated operation against amsterdam. the duke had himself given information of this plot to the prince palatine. it was therefore natural that saint aldegonde should forthwith despatch the intelligence to his friends in the netherlands, warning them of the dangers still to be apprehended from the machinations of the catholic agents and functionaries in amsterdam; for although the reformation had made rapid progress in that important city since the conclusion of the satisfaction, yet the magistracy remained catholic. william bardez, son of a former high-sheriff, a warm partisan of orange and of the "religion," had already determined to overthrow that magistracy and to expel the friars who infested the city. the recent information despatched by saint aldegonde confirmed him in his purpose. there had been much wrangling between the popish functionaries and those of the reformed religion concerning the constitution of the burgher guard. the calvinists could feel no security for their own lives, or the repose of the commonwealth of holland, unless they were themselves allowed a full participation in the government of those important bands. they were, moreover, dissatisfied with the assignment which had been made of the churchyards to the members of their communion. these causes of discord had maintained a general irritation among the body of the inhabitants, and were now used as pretexts by bardez for his design. he knew the city to be ripe for the overthrow of the magistracy, and he had arranged with governor sonoy to be furnished with a sufficient number of well-tried soldiers, who were to be concealed in the houses of the confederates. a large number of citizens were also ready to appear at his bidding with arms in their hands. on the th of may, he wrote to sonoy, begging him to hold himself in readiness, as all was prepared within the city. at the same time, he requested the governor to send him forthwith a "morion and a buckler of proof;" for, he intended to see the matter fairly through. sonoy answered encouragingly, and sent him the armor, as directed. on the th of may, bardez, with four confederates, went to the council-room, to remonstrate with the senate concerning the grievances which had been so often discussed. at about mid-day, one of the confederates, upon leaving the council-room, stepped out for a moment upon the balcony, which looked towards the public square. standing there for a moment, he gravely removed his hat, and then as gravely replaced it upon his head. this was a preconcerted signal. at the next instant a sailor was seen to rush across the square, waving a flag in both hands. "all ye who love the prince of orange, take heart and follow me!" he shouted. in a moment the square was alive. soldiers and armed citizens suddenly sprang forth, as if from the bowels of the earth. bardez led a strong force directly into the council-chamber, and arrested every one of the astonished magistrates. at the same time, his confederates had scoured the town and taken every friar in the city into custody. monks and senators were then marched solemnly down towards the quay, where a vessel was in readiness to receive them. "to the gallows with them--to the gallows with them!" shouted the populace, as they passed along. "to the gibbet, whither they have brought many a good fellow before his time!" such were the openly, expressed desires of their fellow-citizens, as these dignitaries and holy men proceeded to what they believed their doom. although treated respectfully by those who guarded them, they were filled with trepidation, for they believed the execrations of the populace the harbingers of their fate. as they entered the vessel, they felt convinced that a watery death had been substituted for the gibbet. poor old heinrich dirckzoon, ex-burgomaster, pathetically rejected a couple of clean shirts which his careful wife had sent him by the hands of the housemaid. "take them away; take them home again," said the rueful burgomaster; "i shall never need clean shirts again in this world." he entertained no doubt that it was the intention of his captors to scuttle the vessel as soon as they had put a little out to sea, and so to leave them to their fate. no such tragic end was contemplated, however, and, in fact, never was a complete municipal revolution accomplished in so good-natured and jocose a manner. the catholic magistrates and friars escaped with their fright. they were simply turned out of town, and forbidden, for their lives, ever to come back again. after the vessel had proceeded a little distance from the city, they were all landed high and dry upon a dyke, and so left unharmed within the open country. a new board of magistrates, of which stout william bardez was one, was soon appointed; the train-bands were reorganized, and the churches thrown open to the reformed worship--to the exclusion, at first, of the catholics. this was certainly contrary to the ghent treaty, and to the recent satisfaction; it was also highly repugnant to the opinions of orange. after a short time, accordingly, the catholics were again allowed access to the churches, but the tables had now been turned for ever in the capital of holland, and the reformation was an established fact throughout that little province. similar events occurring upon the following day at harlem, accompanied with some bloodshed--for which, however, the perpetrator was punished with death--opened the great church of that city to the reformed congregations, and closed them for a time to the catholics. thus, the cause of the new religion was triumphant in holland and zealand, while it was advancing with rapid strides through the other provinces. public preaching was of daily occurrence everywhere. on a single sunday; fifteen different ministers of the reformed religion preached in different places in antwerp. "do you think this can be put down?" said orange to the remonstrating burgomaster of that city. "'tis for you to repress it," said the functionary, "i grant your highness full power to do so." "and do you think," replied the prince, "that i can do at this late moment, what the duke of alva was unable to accomplish in the very plenitude of his power?" at the same time, the prince of orange was more than ever disposed to rebuke his own church for practising persecution in her turn. again he lifted his commanding voice in behalf of the anabaptists of middelburg. he reminded the magistrates of that city that these peaceful burghers were always perfectly willing to bear their part in all the common burthens, that their word was as good as their oath, and that as to the matter of military service, although their principles forbade them to bear arms, they had ever been ready to provide and pay for substitutes. "we declare to you therefore," said he, "that you have no right to trouble yourselves with any man's conscience, so long as nothing is done to cause private harm or public scandal. we therefore expressly ordain that you desist from molesting these baptists, from offering hindrance to their handicraft and daily trade, by which they can earn bread for their wives and children, and that you permit them henceforth to open their shops and to do their work, according to the custom of former days. beware, therefore, of disobedience and of resistance to the ordinance which we now establish." meantime, the armies on both sides had been assembled, and had been moving towards each other. don john was at the head of nearly thirty thousand troops, including a large proportion of spanish and italian veterans. the states' army hardly numbered eighteen thousand foot and two thousand cavalry, under the famous francois de la none, surnamed bras de fer, who had been recently appointed marechal de camp, and, under count bossu, commander-in-chief. the muster-place of the provincial forces was in the plains between herenthals and lier. at this point they expected to be reinforced by duke casimir, who had been, since the early part of the summer, in the country of zutfen, but who was still remaining there inglorious and inactive, until he could be furnished with the requisite advance-money to his troops. don john was determined if possible, to defeat the states army, before duke casimir, with his twelve thousand germans, should effect his juncture with bossu. the governor therefore crossed the demer, near aerschot, towards the end of july, and offered battle, day after day, to the enemy. a series of indecisive skirmishes was the result, in the last of which, near rijnemants, on the first day of august, the royalists were worsted and obliged to retire, after a desultory action of nearly eight hours, leaving a thousand dead upon the field. their offer of "double or quits," the following morning was steadily refused by bossu, who, secure within his intrenchments, was not to be induced at that moment to encounter the chances of a general engagement. for this he was severely blamed by the more violent of the national party. his patriotism, which was of such recent origin, was vehemently suspected; and his death, which occurred not long afterwards, was supposed to have alone prevented his deserting the states to fight again under spanish colours. these suspicions were probably unjust. bossu's truth of character had been as universally recognized as was his signal bravery. if he refused upon this occasion a general battle, those who reflected upon the usual results to the patriot banner of such engagements, might confess, perhaps, that one disaster the more had been avoided. don john, finding it impossible to accomplish his purpose, and to achieve another gemblours victory, fell back again to the neighbourhood of namur. the states' forces remained waiting for the long-promised succor of john casimir. it was the th of august, however, before the duke led his twelve thousand men to the neighbourhood of mechlin, where bossu was encamped. this young prince possessed neither the ability nor the generosity which were requisite for the heroic part which he was ambitious to perform in the netherland drama. he was inspired by a vague idea of personal aggrandizement, although he professed at the same time the utmost deference to william of orange. he expressed the hope that he and the prince "should be but two heads under one hat;" but he would have done well to ask himself whether his own contribution to this partnership of brains would very much enrich the silent statesman. orange himself regarded him with respectful contempt, and considered his interference with netherland matters but as an additional element of mischief. the duke's right hand man, however, peter peutterich, the "equestrian doctor"--as sir philip sydney called him--equally skilful with the sword as with the pen, had succeeded, while on a mission to england, in acquiring the queen's favor for his master. to casimir, therefore, had been entrusted the command of the levies, and the principal expenditure of the subsidies which she had placed at the disposition of the states. upon casimir she relied, as a counterweight to the duke of alencon, who, as she knew, had already entered the provinces at the secret solicitation of a large faction among the nobles. she had as much confidence as ever in orange, but she imagined herself to be strengthening his cause by providing him with such a lieutenant. casimir's immediate friends had but little respect for his abilities. his father-in-law, augustus of saxony, did not approve his expedition. the landgrave william, to whom he wrote for counsel, answered, in his quaint manner, that it was always difficult for one friend to advise another in three matters--to wit, in taking a wife, going to sea, and going to war; but that, nevertheless, despite the ancient proverb, he would assume the responsibility of warning casimir not to plunge into what he was pleased to call the "'confusum chaos' of netherland politics." the duke felt no inclination, however, to take the advice which he had solicited. he had been stung by the sarcasm which alva had once uttered, that the german potentates carried plenty of lions, dragons, eagles, and griffins on their shields; but that these ferocious animals were not given to biting or scratching. he was therefore disposed, once for all, to show that the teeth and claws of german princes could still be dangerous. unfortunately, he was destined to add a fresh element of confusion to the chaos, and to furnish rather a proof than a refutation of the correctness of alva's gibe. this was the hero who was now thrust, head and shoulders as it were, into the entangled affairs of the netherlanders, and it was elizabeth of england, more than ever alarmed at the schemes of alencon, who had pushed forward this protestant champion, notwithstanding the disinclination of orange. the queen was right in her uneasiness respecting the french prince. the catholic nobles, relying upon the strong feeling still rife throughout the walloon country against the reformed religion, and inflamed more than ever by their repugnance to orange, whose genius threw them so completely into the shade, had already drawn closer to the duke. the same influences were at work to introduce alencon, which had formerly been employed to bring matthias from vienna. now that the archduke, who was to have been the rival, had become the dependent of william, they turned their attention to the son of catherine de medici, orange himself having always kept the duke in reserve, as an instrument to overcome the political coquetry of elizabeth. that great princess never manifested less greatness than in her earlier and most tormenting connexion with the netherlands. having allured them for years with bright but changeful face, she still looked coldly down upon the desolate sea where they were drifting she had promised much; her performance had been nothing. her jealousy of french influence had at length been turned to account; a subsidy and a levy extorted from her fears. her ministers and prominent advisers were one and all in favor of an open and generous support to the provinces. walsingham, burleigh, knollys, davidson, sidney, leicester, fleetwood, wilson, all desired that she should frankly espouse their cause. a bold policy they believed to be the only prudent one in this case; yet the queen considered it sagacious to despatch envoys both to philip and to don john, as if after what they knew of her secret practices, such missions could effect any useful purpose. better, therefore, in the opinion of the honest and intrepid statesmen of england, to throw down the gauntlet at once in the cause of the oppressed than to shuffle and palter until the dreaded rival should cross the frontier. a french netherlands they considered even mere dangerous than a spanish, and elizabeth partook of their sentiments, although incapable of their promptness. with the perverseness which was the chief blot upon her character, she was pleased that the duke should be still a dangler for her hand, even while she was intriguing against his political hopes. she listened with undisguised rapture to his proposal of love, while she was secretly thwarting the plans of his ambition. meanwhile, alencon had arrived at mons, and we have seen already the feminine adroitness with which his sister of navarre had prepared his entrance. not in vain had she cajoled the commandant of cambray citadel; not idly had she led captive the hearts of lalain and his countess, thus securing the important province of hainault for the duke. don john might, indeed, gnash his teeth with rage, as he marked the result of all the feasting and flattery, the piping and dancing at namur. francis duke of alencon, and since the accession of his brother henry to the french throne--duke of anjou was, upon the whole, the most despicable personage who had ever entered the netherlands. his previous career at home had, been so flagrantly false that he had forfeited the esteem of every honest man in europe, catholic or lutheran, huguenot or malcontent. the world has long known his character. history will always retain him as an example, to show mankind the amount of mischief which may be perpetrated by a prince, ferocious without courage, ambitious without talent, and bigoted without opinions. incapable of religious convictions himself, he had alternately aspired to be a commander of catholic and of huguenot zealots, and he had acquired nothing by his vacillating course, save the entire contempt of all parties and of both religions. scared from the aide of navarre and conde by the menacing attitude of the "league," fearing to forfeit the succession to the throne, unless he made his peace with the court, he had recently resumed his place among the catholic commanders. nothing was easier for him than to return shamelessly to a party which he had shamelessly deserted, save perhaps to betray it again, should his interest prompt him to do so, on the morrow. since the peace of , it had been evident that the protestants could not count upon his friendship, and he had soon afterwards been placed at the head of the army which was besieging the huguenots of issoire. he sought to atone for having commanded the troops of the new religion by the barbarity with which he now persecuted its votaries. when issoire fell into his hands, the luckless city was spared none of the misery which can be inflicted by a brutal and frenzied soldiery. its men were butchered, its females outraged; its property plundered with a thoroughness which rivalled the netherland practice of alva, or frederic toledo, or julian romero. the town was sacked and burned to ashes by furious catholics, under the command of francis alencon,--almost at the very moment when his fair sister, margaret, was preparing the way in the netherlands for the fresh treason--which he already meditated to the catholic cause. the treaty of bergerac, signed in the autumn of , again restored a semblance of repose to france, and again afforded an opportunity for alencon to change his politics, and what he called his religion. reeking with the blood of the protestants of issoire, he was now at leisure to renew his dalliance with the queen of protestant england, and to resume his correspondence with the great-chieftain of the reformation in the netherlands. it is perhaps an impeachment upon the perspicacity of orange, that he could tolerate this mischievous and worthless "son of france," even for the grave reasons which influenced him. nevertheless, it must be remembered that he only intended to keep him in reserve, for the purpose of irritating the jealousy and quickening the friendship of the english queen. those who see anything tortuous in such politics must beware of judging the intriguing age of philip and catherine de' medici by the higher standard of later, and possibly more candid times. it would have been puerile for a man of william the silent's resources, to allow himself to be outwitted by the intrigues of all the courts and cabinets in europe. moreover, it must be remembered that, if he alone could guide himself and his country through the perplexing labyrinth in which they were involved; it was because he held in his hand the clue of an honest purpose. his position in regard to the duke of alencon, had now become sufficiently complicated, for the tiger that he had led in a chain had been secretly unloosed by those who meant mischief. in the autumn of the previous year, the aristocratic and catholic party in the states-general had opened their communications with a prince, by whom they hoped to be indemnified for their previous defeat. the ill effects of elizabeth's coquetry too plainly manifested themselves at last, and alencon had now a foothold in the netherlands. precipitated by the intrigues of the party which had always been either openly or secretly hostile to orange, his advent could no longer be delayed. it only remained for the prince to make himself his master, as he had already subdued each previous rival. this he accomplished with his customary adroitness. it was soon obvious, even to so dull and so base a nature as that of the duke, that it was his best policy to continue to cultivate so powerful a friendship. it cost him little to crouch, but events were fatally, to prove at a later day, that there are natures too malignant to be trusted or to be tamed. for the present, however, alencon professed the most friendly sentiments towards the prince. solicited by so ardent and considerable a faction, the duke was no longer to be withheld from trying the venture, and if, he could not effect his entrance by fair means, was determined to do so by force.--he would obtrude his assistance, if it were declined. he would do his best to dismember the provinces, if only a portion of them would accept his proffered friendship. under these circumstances, as the prince could no longer exclude him from the country, it became necessary to accept his friendship, and to hold him in control. the duke had formally offered his assistance to the states-general, directly after the defeat of gemblours, and early in july had made his appearance in mons. hence he despatched his envoys, des pruneaux and rochefort, to deal with the states-general and with orange, while he treated matthias with contempt, and declared that he had no intention to negotiate with him. the archduke burst into tears when informed of this slight; and feebly expressed a wish that succor might be found in germany which would render this french alliance unnecessary. it was not the first nor the last mortification which the future emperor was to undergo. the prince was addressed with distinguished consideration; des pruneaux protesting that he desired but three things--the glory of his master, the glory of god, and the glory of william of orange. the french king was naturally supposed to be privy to his brother's schemes, for it was thought ridiculous to suggest that henry's own troops could be led by his own brother, on this foreign expedition, without his connivance. at the same time, private letters, written by him at this epoch, expressed disapprobation of the schemes of alencon, and jealousy of his aggrandizement. it was, perhaps, difficult to decide as to the precise views of a monarch who was too weak to form opinions for himself, and too false to maintain those with which he had been furnished by others. with the medicean mother it was different, and it was she who was believed to be at the bottom of the intrigue. there was even a vague idea that the spanish sovereign himself might be privy to the plot, and that a possible marriage between alencon and the infanta might be on the cards. in truth, however, philip felt himself outraged by the whole proceedings. he resolutely refused to accept the excuses proffered by the french court, or to doubt the complicity of the queen dowager, who, it was well known, governed all her sons. she had, to be sure, thought proper to read the envoys of the states-general a lecture upon the impropriety of subjects opposing the commands of their lawful prince, but such artifices were thought too transparent to deceive. granvelle scouted the idea of her being ignorant of anjou's scheme, or opposed to its success. as for william of hesse, while he bewailed more than ever the luckless plunge into "confusum chaos" which casimir had taken, he unhesitatingly expressed his conviction that the invasion of alencon was a master-piece of catherine. the whole responsibility of the transaction he divided, in truth, between the dowager and the comet, which just then hung over the world, filling the soul of the excellent landgrave with dismal apprehension. the queen of england was highly incensed by the actual occurrence of the invasion which she had so long dreaded. she was loud in her denunciations of the danger and dishonor which would be the result to the provinces of this french alliance. she threatened not only to withdraw herself from their cause, but even to take arms against a commonwealth which had dared to accept alencon for its master. she had originally agreed to furnish one hundred thousand pounds by way of loan. this assistance had been afterwards commuted into a levy of three thousand foot and-two thousand horse, to be added to the forces of john casimir, and to be placed under his command. it had been stipulated; also, that the palatine should have the rank and pay of an english general-in-chief, and be considered as the queen's lieutenant. the money had been furnished and the troops enrolled. so much had been already bestowed, and could not be recalled, but it was not probable that, in her present humor, the queen would be induced to add to her favors. the prince, obliged by the necessity of the case, had prescribed the terms and the title under which alencon should be accepted. upon the th of august the duke's envoy concluded a convention in twenty-three articles; which were afterwards subscribed by the duke himself, at mons, upon the twentieth of the same month. the substance of this arrangement was that alencon should lend his assistance to the provinces against the intolerable tyranny of the spaniards and the unjustifiable military invasion of don john. he was, moreover, to bring into the field ten thousand foot and two thousand horse for three months. after the expiration of this term, his forces might be reduced to three thousand foot and five hundred horse. the states were to confer upon him the title of "defender of the liberty of the netherlands against the tyranny of the spaniards and their adherents." he was to undertake no hostilities against queen elizabeth. the states were to aid him, whenever it should become necessary, with the same amount of force with which he now assisted them. he was to submit himself contentedly to the civil government of the country, in everything regarding its internal polity. he was to make no special contracts or treaties with any cities or provinces of the netherlands. should the states-general accept another prince as sovereign, the duke was to be preferred to all others, upon conditions afterwards to be arranged. all cities which might be conquered within the territory of the united provinces were to belong to the states. such places not in that territory, as should voluntarily surrender, were to be apportioned, by equal division, between the duke and the states. the duke was to bring no foreign troops but french into the provinces. the month of august was reserved, during which the states were, if possible, to make a composition with don john. these articles were certainly drawn up with skill. a high-sounding but barren title, which gratified the duke's vanity and signified nothing, had been conferred upon him, while at the same time he was forbidden to make conquests or contracts, and was obliged to submit himself to the civil government of the country: in short, he was to obey the prince of orange in all things--and so here was another plot of the prince's enemies neutralized. thus, for the present at least, had the position of anjou been defined. as the month of august, during which it was agreed that negotiations with the governor-general should remain open, had already half expired, certain articles, drawn up by the states-general, were at once laid before don john. lord cobham and sir francis walsingham were then in the netherlands, having been sent by elizabeth for the purpose of effecting a pacification of the estates with the governor, if possible. they had also explained--so far as an explanation was possible--the assistance which the english government had rendered to the rebels, upon the ground that the french invasion could be prevented in no other way. this somewhat lame apology had been passed over in silence rather than accepted by don john. in the same interview the envoys made an equally unsuccessful effort to induce the acceptance by the governor of the terms offered by the states. a further proposition, on their part, for an "interim," upon the plan attempted by charles the fifth in germany, previously to the peace of passau, met with no more favor than it merited, for certainly that name--which became so odious in germany that cats and dogs were called "interim" by the common people, in derision--was hardly a potent word to conjure with, at that moment, in the netherlands. they then expressed their intention of retiring to england, much grieved at the result of their mission. the governor replied that they might do as they liked, but that he, at least, had done all in his power to bring about a peace, and that the king had been equally pacific in his intentions. he then asked the envoys what they themselves thought of the terms proposed. "indeed, they are too hard, your highness," answered walsingham, "but 'tis only by pure menace that we have extorted them from the states, unfavorable though they, seem." "then you may tell them," replied the governor, "to keep their offers to themselves. such terms will go but little way in any negotiation with me." the envoys shrugged their shoulders. "what is your own opinion on the whole affair?" resumed don john. "perhaps your advice may yet help me to a better conclusion." the envoys continued silent and pensive. "we can only answer," said walsingham, at length, "by imitating the physician, who would prescribe no medicine until he was quite sure that the patient was ready to swallow it. 'tis no use wasting counsel or drugs." the reply was not satisfactory, but the envoys had convinced themselves that the sword was the only surgical instrument likely to find favor at that juncture. don john referred, in vague terms, to his peaceable inclinations, but protested that there was no treating with so unbridled a people as the netherlanders. the ambassadors soon afterwards took their leave. after this conference, which was on the th of august, , walsingham and cobham addressed a letter to the states-general, deploring the disingenuous and procrastinating conduct of the governor, and begging that the failure to effect a pacification might not be imputed to them. they then returned to england. the imperial envoy, count schwartzburg, at whose urgent solicitation this renewed attempt at a composition had been made, was most desirous that the governor should accept the articles. they formed, indeed, the basis of a liberal, constitutional, representative government, in which the spanish monarch was to retain only a strictly limited sovereignty. the proposed convention required don john, with all his troops and adherents, forthwith to leave the land after giving up all strongholds and cities in his possession. it provided that the archduke matthias should remain as governor general, under the conditions according to which he had been originally accepted. it left the question of religious worship to the decision of the states-general. it provided for the release of all prisoners, the return of all exiles, the restoration of all confiscated property. it stipulated that upon the death or departure of matthias, his majesty was not to appoint a governor-general without the consent of the states-general. when count schwartzburg waited upon the governor with these astonishing propositions--which walsingham might well call somewhat hard--he found him less disposed to explode with wrath than he had been in previous conferences. already the spirit of the impetuous young soldier was broken, both by the ill health which was rapidly undermining his constitution and by the helpless condition in which he had been left while contending with the great rebellion. he had soldiers, but no money to pay them withal; he had no means of upholding that supremacy of crown and church which he was so vigorously instructed to maintain; and he was heartily wearied of fulminating edicts which he had no power to enforce. he had repeatedly solicited his recal, and was growing daily more impatient that his dismissal did not arrive. moreover, the horrible news of escovedo's assassination had sickened him to the soul. the deed had flashed a sudden light into the abyss of dark duplicity in which his own fate was suspended. his most intimate and confidential friend had been murdered by royal command, while he was himself abandoned by philip, exposed to insult, left destitute of defence. no money was forthcoming, in spite of constant importunities and perpetual promises. plenty of words were sent him; he complained, as if he possessed the art of extracting gold from them, or as if war could be carried on with words alone. being in so desponding a mood, he declined entering into any controversy with regard to the new propositions, which, however, he characterized as most iniquitous. he stated merely that his majesty had determined to refer the netherland matters to the arbitration of the emperor; that the duke de terra nova would soon be empowered to treat upon the subject at the imperial court; and that, in the meantime, he was himself most anxiously awaiting his recal. a synod of the reformed churches had been held, during the month of june, at dort. there they had laid down a platform of their principles of church government in one hundred and one articles. in the same month, the leading members of the reformed church had drawn up an ably reasoned address to matthias and the council of state on the subject of a general peace of religion for the provinces. william of orange did his utmost to improve the opportunity. he sketched a system of provisional toleration, which he caused to be signed by the archduke matthias, and which, at least for a season, was to establish religious freedom. the brave; tranquil, solitary man still held his track across the raging waves, shedding as much light as one clear human soul could dispense; yet the dim lantern, so far in advance, was swallowed in the mist, ere those who sailed in his wake could shape their course by his example. no man understood him. not even his nearest friends comprehended his views, nor saw that he strove to establish not freedom for calvinism, but freedom for conscience. saint aldegonde complained that the prince would not persecute the anabaptists, peter dathenus denounced him as an atheist, while even count john; the only one left of his valiant and generous brothers, opposed the religious peace--except where the advantage was on the side of the new religion. where the catholics had been effectually put down, as in holland and zealand, honest john saw so reason for allowing them to lift themselves up again. in the popish provinces, on the other hand, he was for a religious peace. in this bigoted spirit he was followed by too many of the reforming mass, while, on their part, the walloons were already banding themselves together in the more southern provinces, under the name of malcontents. stigmatized by the calvinists as "paternoster jacks," they were daily drawing closer their alliance with alencon; and weakening the bands which united them with their protestant brethren. count john had at length become a permanent functionary in the netherlands. urgently solicited by the leaders and the great multitude of the reformers, he had long been unwilling to abandon his home, and to neglect the private affairs which his devotion to the netherland cause had thrown into great confusion. the landgrave, too, whose advice he had asked, had strongly urged him not to "dip his fingers into the olla podrida." the future of the provinces was, in his opinion, so big with disaster, that the past, with all its horrors; under alva and requesens, had only furnished the "preludia" of that which was to ensue. for these desperate views his main reason, as usual, was the comet; that mischievous luminary still continuing to cast a lurid glare across the landgrave's path. notwithstanding these direful warnings from a prince of the reformation, notwithstanding the "olla podrida" and the "comet," count john had nevertheless accepted the office of governor of gelderland, to which he had been elected by the estates of that province on the th of march. that important bulwark of holland, zealand, and utrecht on the one side, and of groningen and friesland on the other--the main buttress, in short, of the nascent republic, was now in hands which would defend it to the last. as soon as the discussion came up in the states-general on the subject of the dort petitions, orange requested that every member who had formed his opinions should express them fully and frankly. all wished, however, to be guided and governed by the sentiments of the prince. not a man spoke, save to demand their leader's views, and to express adhesion in advance to the course which his wisdom might suggest. the result was a projected convention, a draft for a religious peace, which, if definitely established, would have healed many wounds and averted much calamity. it was not, however, destined to be accepted at that time by the states of the different provinces where it was brought up for discussion; and several changes were made, both of form and substance, before the system was adopted at all. meantime, for the important city of antwerp, where religious broils were again on the point of breaking out, the prince preferred a provisional arrangement, which he forthwith carried into execution. a proclamation, in the name of the archduke matthias and of the state council, assigned five special places in the city where the members of the "pretended reformed religion" should have liberty to exercise their religious worship, with preaching, singing, and the sacraments. the churchyards of the parochial churches were to be opened for the burial of their dead, but the funerals were to be unaccompanied with exhortation, or any public demonstration which might excite disturbance. the adherents of one religion were forbidden to disturb, to insult, or in any way to interfere with the solemnities of the other. all were to abstain from mutual jeerings--by pictures, ballads, books, or otherwise--and from all injuries to ecclesiastical property. every man, of whatever religion, was to be permitted entrance to the churches of either religion, and when there, all were to conform to the regulations of the church with modesty and respect. those of the new religion were to take oaths of obedience to the authorities, and to abstain from meddling with the secular administration of affairs. preachers of both religions were forbidden to preach out of doors, or to make use of language tending to sedition. all were to bind themselves to assist the magistrates in quelling riots, and in sustaining the civil government. this example of religious peace, together with the active correspondence thus occasioned with the different state assemblies, excited the jealousy of the catholic leaders and of the walloon population. champagny, who despite his admirable qualities and brilliant services, was still unable to place himself on the same platform of toleration with orange, now undertook a decided movement against the policy of the prince. catholic to the core, he drew up a petition, remonstrating most vigorously against the draft for a religions peace, then in circulation through the provinces. to this petition he procured many signatures among the more ardent catholic nobles. de heze, de glimes, and others of the same stamp, were willing enough to follow the lead of so distinguished a chieftain. the remonstrance was addressed to the archduke, the prince of orange, the state council, and the states-general, and called upon them all to abide by their solemn promises to permit no schism in the ancient church. should the exercise of the new religion be allowed, the petitioners insisted that the godless licentiousness of the netherlands would excite the contempt of all peoples and potentates. they suggested, in conclusion, that all the principal cities of france--and in particular the city of paris--had kept themselves clear of the exercise of the new religion, and that repose and prosperity had been the result. this petition was carried with considerable solemnity by champagny, attended by many of his confederates, to the hotel-de ville, and presented to the magistracy of brussels. these functionaries were requested to deliver it forthwith to the archduke and council. the magistrates demurred. a discussion ensued, which grew warmer and warmer as it proceeded. the younger nobles permitted themselves abusive language, which the civic dignitaries would not brook. the session was dissolved, and the magistrates, still followed by the petitioners, came forth into the street. the confederates, more inflamed than ever, continued to vociferate and to threaten. a crowd soon collected in the square. the citizens were naturally curious to know why their senators were thus browbeaten and insulted by a party of insolent young catholic nobles. the old politician at their head, who, in spite of many services, was not considered a friend to the nation, inspired them with distrust. being informed of the presentation of the petition, the multitude loudly demanded that the document should be read. this was immediately done. the general drift of the remonstrance was anything but acceptable, but the allusion to paris, at the close, excited a tempest of indignation. "paris! paris! saint bartholomew! saint bartholomew! are we to have paris weddings in brussels also?" howled the mob, as is often the case, extracting but a single idea, and that a wrong one; from the public lecture which had just been made. "are we to have a paris massacre, a paris blood-bath here in the netherland capital? god forbid! god forbid! away with the conspirators! down with the papists!" it was easily represented to the inflamed imaginations of the populace that a brussels saint bartholomew had been organized, and that champagny, who stood there before them, was its originator and manager. the ungrateful netherlanders forgot the heroism with which the old soldier had arranged the defence of antwerp against the "spanish fury" but two years before. they heard only the instigations of his enemies; they remembered only that he was the hated granvelle's brother; they believed only that there was a plot by which, in some utterly incomprehensible manner, they were all to be immediately engaged in cutting each others throats and throwing each other out of the windows, as had been done half a dozen years before in paris. such was the mischievous intention ascribed to a petition, which champagny and his friends had as much right to offer--however narrow and mistaken their opinions might now be considered--as had the synod of dort to present their remonstrances. never was a more malignant or more stupid perversion of a simple and not very alarming phrase. no allusion had been made to saint bartholomew, but all its horrors were supposed to be concealed in the sentence which referred to paris. the nobles were arrested on the spot and hurried to prison, with the exception of champagny, who made his escape at first, and lay concealed for several days. he was, however, finally ferreted out of his hiding-place and carried off to ghent. there he was thrown into strict confinement, being treated in all respects as the accomplice of aerschot and the other nobles who had been arrested in the time of ryhove's revolution. certainly, this conduct towards a brave and generous gentleman was ill calculated to increase general sympathy for the cause, or to merit the approbation of orange. there was, however, a strong prejudice against champagny. his brother granvelle had never been forgotten by the netherlanders, and, was still regarded as their most untiring foe, while champagny was supposed to be in close league with the cardinal. in these views the people were entirely wrong. while these events were taking place in brussels and antwerp, the two armies of the states and of don john were indolently watching each other. the sinews of war had been cut upon both sides. both parties were cramped by the most abject poverty. the troops under bossu and casimir, in the camp sear mechlin, were already discontented, for want of pay. the one hundred thousand pounds of elizabeth had already been spent, and it was not probable that the offended queen would soon furnish another subsidy. the states could with difficulty extort anything like the assessed quotas from the different provinces. the duke of alencon was still at mons, from which place he had issued a violent proclamation of war against don john--a manifesto which had, however, not been followed up by very vigorous demonstrations. don john himself was in his fortified camp at bouge, within a league of namur, but the here was consuming with mental and with bodily fever. he was, as it were, besieged. he was left entirely without funds, while his royal brother obstinately refused compliance with his earnest demands to be recalled, and coldly neglected his importunities for pecuniary assistance. compelled to carry on a war against an armed rebellion with such gold only as could be extracted from loyal swords; stung to the heart by the suspicion of which he felt himself the object at home, and by the hatred with which he was regarded in the provinces; outraged in his inmost feelings by the murder of escovedo; foiled, outwitted, reduced to a political nullity by the masterly tactics of the "odious heretic of heretics" to whom he had originally offered his patronage and the royal forgiveness, the high-spirited soldier was an object to excite the tenderness even of religious and political opponents. wearied with the turmoil of camps without battle and of cabinets without counsel, he sighed for repose, even if it could be found only in a cloister or the grave. "i rejoice to see by your letter," he wrote, pathetically, to john andrew doria, at genoa, "that your life is flowing on with such calmness, while the world around me is so tumultuously agitated. i consider you most fortunate that you are passing the remainder of your days for god and yourself; that you are not forced to put yourself perpetually in the scales of the world's events, nor to venture yourself daily on its hazardous games." he proceeded to inform his friend of his own painful situation, surrounded by innumerable enemies, without means of holding out more than three months, and cut off from all assistance by a government which could not see that if the present chance were lost all was lost. he declared it impossible for him to fight in the position to which he was reduced, pressed as he was within half a mile of the point which he had always considered as his last refuge. he stated also that the french were strengthening themselves in hainault, under alencon, and that the king of france was in readiness to break in through burgundy, should his brother obtain a firm foothold in the provinces. "i have besought his majesty over and over again," he continued, "to send to me his orders; if they come they shall be executed, unless they arrive too late. they have cut of our hands and we have now nothing for it but to stretch forth our heads also to the axe. i grieve to trouble you with my sorrows, but i trust to your sympathy as a man and a friend. i hope that you will remember me in your prayers, for you can put your trust where, in former days, i never could place my own." the dying crusader wrote another letter, in the same mournful strain, to another intimate friend, don pedro mendoza, spanish envoy in genoa. it was dated upon the same day from his camp near namur, and repeated the statement that the king of france was ready to invade the netherlands, so soon as alencon should prepare an opening. "his majesty," continued don john, "is resolved upon nothing; at least, i am kept in ignorance of his intentions. our life is doled out to us here by moments. i cry aloud, but it profits me little. matters will soon be disposed, through our negligence, exactly as the devil would best wish them. it is plain that we are left here to pine away till our last breath. god direct us all as he may see fit; in his hands are all things." four days later he wrote to the king, stating that he was confined to his chamber with a fever, by which he was already as much reduced as if he had been ill for a month. "i assure your majesty," said he "that the work here is enough to destroy any constitution and any life." he reminded philip how often he had been warned by him as to the insidious practices of the french. those prophecies had now become facts. the french had entered the country, while some of the inhabitants were frightened, others disaffected. don john declared himself in a dilemma. with his small force, hardly enough to make head against the enemy immediately in front, and to protect the places which required guarding, 'twas impossible for him to leave his position to attack the enemy in burgundy. if he remained stationary, the communications were cut off through which his money and supplies reached him. "thus i remain," said he, "perplexed and confused, desiring, more than life, some decision on your majesty's part, for which i have implored so many times." he urged the king most vehemently to send him instructions as to the course to be pursued, adding that it wounded him to the soul to find them so long delayed. he begged to be informed whether he was to attack the enemy in burgundy, whether he should await where he then was the succor of his majesty, or whether he was to fight, and if so with which of his enemies: in fine, what he was to do; because, losing or winning, he meant to conform to his majesty's will. he felt deeply pained, he said, at being disgraced and abandoned by the king, having served him, both as a brother, and a man, with love and faith and heartiness. "our lives," said he, "are at stake upon this game, and all we wish is to lose them honorably." he begged the king to send a special envoy to france, with remonstrances on the subject of alencon, and another to the pope to ask for the duke's excommunication. he protested that he would give his blood rather than occasion so much annoyance to the king, but that he felt it his duty to tell the naked truth. the pest was ravaging his little army. twelve hundred were now in hospital, besides those nursed in private houses, and he had no means or money to remedy the evil. moreover, the enemy, seeing that they were not opposed in the open field, had cut off the passage into liege by the meuse, and had advanced to nivelles and chimay for the sake of communications with france, by the same river. ten days after these pathetic passages had been written, the writer was dead. since the assassination of escovedo, a consuming melancholy had settled upon his spirits, and a burning fever came, in the month of september, to destroy his physical strength. the house where he lay was a hovel, the only chamber of which had been long used as a pigeon-house. this wretched garret was cleansed, as well as it could be of its filth, and hung with tapestry emblazoned with armorial bearings. in that dovecot the hero of lepanto was destined to expire. during the last few, days of his illness, he was delirious. tossing upon his uneasy couch, he again arranged in imagination, the combinations of great battles, again shouted his orders to rushing squadrons, and listened with brightening eye to the trumpet of victory. reason returned, however, before the hour of death, and permitted him, the opportunity to make the dispositions rendered necessary by his condition. he appointed his nephew, alexander of parma, who had been watching assiduously over his deathbed, to succeed him, provisionally, in the command of the army and in his other dignities, received the last sacraments with composure, and tranquilly breathed his last upon the first day of october, the month which, since the battle of lepanto, he had always considered a festive and a fortunate one. it was inevitable that suspicion of poison should be at once excited by his decease. those suspicions have been never set at rest, and never proved. two englishmen, ratcliff and gray by name, had been arrested and executed on a charge of having been employed by secretary walsingham to assassinate the governor. the charge was doubtless an infamous falsehood; but had philip, who was suspected of being the real criminal, really compassed the death of his brother, it was none the less probable that an innocent victim or two would be executed, to save appearances. now that time has unveiled to us many mysteries, now that we have learned from philip's own lips and those of his accomplices the exact manner in which montigny and escovedo were put to death, the world will hardly be very charitable with regard to other imputations. it was vehemently suspected that don john had been murdered by the command of philip; but no such fact was ever proved. the body, when opened that it might be embalmed, was supposed to offer evidence of poison. the heart was dry, the other internal organs were likewise so desiccated as to crumble when touched, and the general color of the interior was of a blackish brown, as if it had been singed. various persona were mentioned as the probable criminals; various motives assigned for the commission of the deed. nevertheless, it must be admitted that there were causes, which were undisputed, for his death, sufficient to render a search for the more mysterious ones comparatively superfluous. a disorder called the pest was raging in his camp, and had carried off a thousand of his soldiers within a few days, while his mental sufferings had been acute enough to turn his heart to ashes. disappointed, tormented by friend and foe, suspected, insulted, broken spirited, it was not strange that he should prove an easy victim to a pestilent disorder before which many stronger men were daily falling. on the third day after his decease, the funeral rites were celebrated. a dispute between the spaniards, germans, and netherlanders in the army arose, each claiming precedence in the ceremony, on account of superior national propinquity to the illustrious deceased. all were, in truth, equally near to him, for different reasons, and it was arranged that all should share equally in the obsequies. the corpse disembowelled and embalmed, was laid upon a couch of state. the hero was clad in complete armor; his swords helmet, and steel gauntlets lying at his feet, a coronet, blazing with precious stones, upon his head, the jewelled chain and insignia of the golden fleece about his neck, and perfumed gloves upon his hands. thus royally and martially arrayed, he was placed upon his bier and borne forth from the house where he had died, by the gentlemen of his bedchamber. from them he was received by the colonels of the regiments stationed next his own quarters. these chiefs, followed by their troops with inverted arms and mined drums, escorted the body to the next station, where it was received by the commanding officers of other national regiments, to be again transmitted to those of the third. thus by soldiers of the three nations, it was successively conducted to the gates of namur, where it was received by the civic authorities. the pall-bearers, old peter ernest mansfeld, ottavio gonzaga, the marquis de villa franca, and the count de reux, then bore it to the church, where it was deposited until the royal orders should be received from spain. the heart of the hero was permanently buried beneath the pavement of the little church, and a monumental inscription, prepared by alexander farnese, still indicates the spot where that lion heart returned to dust. it had been don john's dying request to philip that his remains might be buried in the escorial by the side of his imperial father, and the prayer being granted, the royal order in due time arrived for the transportation of the corpse to spain. permission had been asked and given for the passage of a small number of spanish troops through france. the thrifty king had, however, made no allusion to the fact that those soldiers were to bear with them the mortal remains of lepanto's hero, for he was disposed to save the expense which a public transportation of the body and the exchange of pompous courtesies with the authorities of every town upon the long journey would occasion. the corpse was accordingly divided into three parts, and packed in three separate bags; and thus the different portions, to save weight, being suspended at the saddle-bows of different troopers, the body of the conqueror was conveyed to its distant resting-place. "expende hannibalem: quot libras in duce summo invenies?".......... thus irreverently, almost blasphemously, the disjointed relics of the great warrior were hurried through france; france, which the romantic saracen slave had traversed but two short years before, filled with high hopes, and pursuing extravagant visions. it has been recorded by classic historians, that the different fragments, after their arrival in spain, were re-united, and fastened together with wire; that the body was then stuffed, attired in magnificent habiliments, placed upon its feet, and supported by a martial staff, and that thus prepared for a royal interview, the mortal remains of don john were presented to his most catholic majesty. philip is said to have manifested emotion at sight of the hideous spectre--for hideous and spectral, despite of jewels, balsams, and brocades, must have been that unburied corpse, aping life in attitude and vestment, but standing there only to assert its privilege of descending into the tomb. the claim was granted, and don john of austria at last found repose by the side of his imperial father. a sufficient estimate of his character has been apparent in the course of the narrative. dying before he had quite completed his thirty-third year, he excites pity and admiration almost as much as censure. his military career was a blaze of glory. commanding in the moorish wars at twenty-three, and in the turkish campaigns at twenty-six, he had achieved a matchless renown before he had emerged from early youth; but his sun was destined to go down at noon. he found neither splendor nor power in the netherlands, where he was deserted by his king and crushed by the superior genius of the prince of orange. although he vindicated his martial skill at gemblours, the victory was fruitless. it was but the solitary sprig of the tiger from his jungle, and after that striking conflict his life was ended in darkness and obscurity. possessing military genius of a high order, with extraordinary personal bravery, he was the last of the paladins and the crusaders. his accomplishments were also considerable, and he spoke italian, german, french, and spanish with fluency. his beauty was remarkable; his personal fascinations acknowledged by either sex; but as a commander of men, excepting upon the battle-field, he possessed little genius. his ambition was the ambition of a knight-errant, an adventurer, a norman pirate; it was a personal and tawdry ambition. vague and contradictory dreams of crowns, of royal marriages, of extemporized dynasties, floated ever before him; but he was himself always the hero of his own romance. he sought a throne in africa or in britain; he dreamed of espousing mary of scotland at the expense of elizabeth, and was even thought to aspire secretly to the hand of the great english queen herself. thus, crusader and bigot as he was, he was willing to be reconciled with heresy, if heresy could furnish him with a throne. it is superfluous to state that he was no match, by mental endowments, for william of orange; but even had he been so, the moral standard by which each measured himself placed the conqueror far below the father of a people. it must be admitted that don john is entitled to but small credit for his political achievements in the netherlands. he was incapable of perceiving that the great contest between the reformation and the inquisition could never be amicably arranged in those provinces, and that the character of william of orange was neither to be softened by royal smiles, nor perverted by appeals to sordid interests. it would have been perhaps impossible for him, with his education and temperament, to have embraced what seems to us the right cause, but it ought, at least, to have been in his power to read the character of his antagonist, and to estimate his own position with something like accuracy. he may be forgiven that he did not succeed in reconciling hostile parties, when his only plan to accomplish such a purpose was the extermination of the most considerable faction; but although it was not to be expected that he would look on the provinces with the eyes of william the silent, he might have comprehended that the netherland chieftain was neither to be purchased nor cajoled. the only system by which the two religions could live together in peace had been discovered by the prince; but toleration, in the eyes of catholics, and of many protestants, was still thought the deadliest heresy of all. etext editor's bookmarks: difficult for one friend to advise another in three matters establish not freedom for calvinism, but freedom for conscience taxes upon income and upon consumption toleration thought the deadliest heresy of all motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley part vi. alexander of parma, - . chapter i. birth, education, marriage, and youthful character of alexander farnese--his private adventures--exploits at lepanto and at gemblours--he succeeds to the government--personal appearance and characteristics--aspect of affairs--internal dissensions--anjou at mons--john casimir's intrigues at ghent--anjou disbands his soldiers--the netherlands ravaged by various foreign troops--anarchy and confusion in ghent--imbize and ryhove--fate of hessels and visch--new pacification drawn up by orange--representations of queen elizabeth--remonstrance of brussels riots and image-breaking in ghent--displeasure of orange--his presence implored at ghent, where he establishes a religious peace--painful situation of john casimir --sharp rebukes of elizabeth--he takes his departure--his troops apply to farnese, who allows them to leave the country--anjou's departure and manifesto--elizabeth's letters to the states-general with regard to him--complimentary addresses by the estates to the duke--death of bossu--calumnies against orange--venality of the malcontent grandees--la motte's treason--intrigues of the prior of renty--saint aldegonde at arras--the prior of st. vaast's exertions --opposition of the clergy in the walloon provinces to the taxation of the general government--triangular contest--municipal revolution in arras led by gosson and others--counter-revolution--rapid trials and executions--"reconciliation" of the malcontent chieftains-- secret treaty of mount st. eloi: mischief made by the prior of renty--his accusations against the reconciled lords--vengeance taken upon him--counter movement by the liberal party--union of utrecht-- the act analyzed and characterized. a fifth governor now stood in the place which had been successively vacated by margaret of parma, by alva, by the grand commander, and by don john of austria. of all the eminent personages to whom philip had confided the reins of that most difficult and dangerous administration, the man who was now to rule was by far the ablest and the best fitted for his post. if there were living charioteer skilful enough to guide the wheels of state, whirling now more dizzily than ever through "confusum chaos," alexander farnese was the charioteer to guide--his hand the only one which could control. he was now in his thirty-third year--his uncle don john, his cousin don carlos, and himself, having all been born within a few months of each other. his father was ottavio farnese, the faithful lieutenant of charles the fifth, and grandson of pope paul the third; his mother was margaret of parma, first regent of the netherlands after the departure of philip from the provinces. he was one of the twins by which the reunion of margaret and her youthful husband had been blessed, and the only one that survived. his great-grandfather, paul, whose secular name of alexander he had received, had placed his hand upon the new-born infant's head, and prophesied that he would grow up to become a mighty warrior. the boy, from his earliest years, seemed destined to verify the prediction. though apt enough at his studies, he turned with impatience from his literary tutors to military exercises and the hardiest sports. the din of arms surrounded his cradle. the trophies of ottavio, returning victorious from beyond the alps, had dazzled the eyes of his infancy, and when but six years of age he had witnessed the siege of his native parma, and its vigorous defence by his martial father. when philip was in the netherlands--in the years immediately succeeding the abdication of the emperor--he had received the boy from his parents as a hostage for their friendship. although but eleven years of age, alexander had begged earnestly to be allowed to serve as a volunteer on the memorable day of saint quentin, and had wept bitterly when the amazed monarch refused his request.--his education had been, completed at alcala, and at madrid, under the immediate supervision of his royal uncle, and in the companionship of the infante carlos and the brilliant don john. the imperial bastard was alone able to surpass, or even to equal the italian prince in all martial and manly pursuits. both were equally devoted to the chase and to the tournay; both longed impatiently for the period when the irksome routine of monkish pedantry, and the fictitious combats which formed their main recreation, should be exchanged for the substantial delights of war. at the age of twenty he had been affianced to maria of portugal; daughter of prince edward, granddaughter of king emanuel, and his nuptials with that peerless princess were; as we have seen, celebrated soon afterwards with much pomp in brussels. sons and daughters were born to him in due time, during his subsequent residence in parma. here, however, the fiery and impatient spirit of the future illustrious commander was doomed for a time to fret under restraint, and to corrode in distasteful repose. his father, still in the vigor of his years, governing the family duchies of parma and piacenza, alexander had no occupation in the brief period of peace which then existed. the martial spirit, pining for a wide and lofty sphere of action, in which alone its energies could be fitly exercised, now sought delight in the pursuits of the duellist and gladiator. nightly did the hereditary prince of the land perambulate the streets of his capital, disguised, well armed, alone, or with a single confidential attendant. every chance passenger of martial aspect whom he encountered in the midnight streets was forced to stand and measure swords with an unknown, almost unseen but most redoubtable foe, and many were the single combats which he thus enjoyed, so long as his incognito was preserved. especially, it was his wont to seek and defy every gentleman whose skill or bravery had ever been commended in his hearing: at last, upon one occasion it was his fortune to encounter a certain count torelli, whose reputation as a swordsman and duellist was well established in parma. the blades were joined, and the fierce combat had already been engaged in the darkness, when the torch of an accidental passenger gashed full in the face of alexander. torelli, recognising thus suddenly his antagonist, dropped his sword and implored forgiveness, for the wily italian was too keen not to perceive that even if the death of neither combatant should be the result of the fray, his own position was, in every event, a false one. victory would ensure him the hatred, defeat the contempt of his future sovereign. the unsatisfactory issue and subsequent notoriety of this encounter put a termination to these midnight joys of alexander, and for a season he felt obliged to assume more pacific habits, and to solace himself with the society of that "phoenix of portugal," who had so long sat brooding on his domestic hearth. at last the holy league was formed, the new and last crusade proclaimed, his uncle and bosom friend appointed to the command of the united troops of rome, spain, and venice. he could no longer be restrained. disdaining the pleadings of his mother and of his spouse, he extorted permission from philip, and flew to the seat of war in the levant. don john received him with open arms, just before the famous action of lepanto, and gave him an excellent position in the very front of the battle, with the command of several genoese galleys. alexander's exploits on that eventful day seemed those of a fabulous hero of romance. he laid his galley alongside of the treasure-ship of the turkish fleet, a vessel, on account of its importance, doubly manned and armed. impatient that the crescent was not lowered, after a few broadsides, he sprang on board the enemy alone, waving an immense two-handed sword--his usual weapon--and mowing a passage right and left through the hostile ranks for the warriors who tardily followed the footsteps of their vehement chief. mustapha bey, the treasurer and commander of the ship, fell before his sword, besides many others, whom he hardly saw or counted. the galley was soon his own, as well as another, which came to the rescue of the treasure-ship only to share its defeat. the booty which alexander's crew secured was prodigious, individual soldiers obtaining two and three thousand ducats each. don john received his nephew after the battle with commendations, not, however, unmingled with censure. the successful result alone had justified such insane and desperate conduct, for had he been slain or overcome, said the commander-in-chief, there would have been few to applaud his temerity. alexander gaily replied by assuring his uncle that he had felt sustained by a more than mortal confidence, the prayers which his saintly wife was incessantly offering in his behalf since he went to the wars being a sufficient support and shield in even greater danger than he had yet confronted. this was alexander's first campaign, nor was he permitted to reap any more glory for a few succeeding years. at last, philip was disposed to send both his mother and himself to the netherlands; removing don john from the rack where he had been enduring such slow torture. granvelle's intercession proved fruitless with the duchess, but alexander was all eagerness to go where blows were passing current, and he gladly led the reinforcements which were sent to don john at the close of the year . he had reached luxemburg, on the th of december of that year, in time, as we have seen, to participate, and, in fact, to take the lead in the signal victory of gemblours. he had been struck with the fatal change which disappointment and anxiety had wrought upon the beautiful and haughty features of his illustrious kinsman. he had since closed his eyes in the camp, and erected a marble tablet over his heart in the little church. he now governed in his stead. his personal appearance corresponded with his character. he had the head of a gladiator, round; compact, combative, with something alert and snake-like in its movements. the black, closely-shorn hair was erect and bristling. the forehead was lofty and narrow. the features were, handsome, the nose regularly aquiline, the eyes well opened, dark piercing, but with something dangerous and sinister in their expression. there was an habitual look askance; as of a man seeking to parry or inflict a mortal blow--the look of a swordsman and professional fighter. the lower part of the face was swallowed in a bushy beard; the mouth and chin being quite invisible. he was of middle stature, well formed, and graceful in person, princely in demeanor, sumptuous and stately in apparel. his high ruff of point lace, his badge of the golden fleece, his gold-inlaid milan armor, marked him at once as one of high degree. on the field of battle he possessed the rare gift of inspiring his soldiers with his own impetuous and chivalrous courage. he ever led the way upon the most dangerous and desperate ventures, and, like his uncle and his imperial grandfather, well knew how to reward the devotion of his readiest followers with a poniard, a feather, a riband, a jewel, taken with his own hands from his own attire. his military, abilities--now for the first time to be largely called into employment--were unquestionably superior to those of don john; whose name had been surrounded with such splendor by the world-renowned battle of lepanto. moreover, he possessed far greater power for governing men, whether in camp or cabinet. less attractive and fascinating, he was more commanding than his kinsman. decorous and self-poised, he was only passionate before the enemy, but he rarely permitted a disrespectful look or word to escape condign and deliberate chastisement. he was no schemer or dreamer. he was no knight errant. he would not have crossed seas and mountains to rescue a captive queen, nor have sought to place her crown on his own head as a reward for his heroism. he had a single and concentrated kind of character. he knew precisely the work which philip required, and felt himself to be precisely the workman that had so long been wanted. cool, incisive, fearless, artful, he united the unscrupulous audacity of a condottiere with the wily patience of a jesuit. he could coil unperceived through unsuspected paths, could strike suddenly, sting mortally. he came prepared, not only to smite the netherlanders in the open field, but to cope with them in tortuous policy; to outwatch and outweary them in the game to which his impatient predecessor had fallen a baked victim. he possessed the art and the patience--as time was to prove--not only to undermine their most impregnable cities, but to delve below the intrigues of their most accomplished politicians. to circumvent at once both their negotiators and their men-at-arms was his appointed task. had it not been for the courage, the vigilance, and the superior intellect of a single antagonist, the whole of the netherlands would have shared the fate which was reserved for the more southern portion. had the life of william of orange been prolonged, perhaps the evil genius of the netherlands might have still been exorcised throughout the whole extent of the country. as for religion, alexander farnese was, of course, strictly catholic, regarding all seceders from romanism as mere heathen dogs. not that he practically troubled himself much with sacred matters--for, during the life-time of his wife, he had cavalierly thrown the whole burden of his personal salvation upon her saintly shoulders. she had now flown to higher spheres, but alexander was, perhaps, willing to rely upon her continued intercessions in his behalf. the life of a bravo in time of peace--the deliberate project in war to exterminate whole cities full of innocent people, who had different notions on the subject of image-worship and ecclesiastical ceremonies from those entertained at rome, did not seem to him at all incompatible with the precepts of jesus. hanging, drowning, burning and butchering heretics were the legitimate deductions of his theology. he was no casuist nor pretender to holiness: but in those days every man was devout, and alexander looked with honest horror upon the impiety of the heretics, whom he persecuted and massacred. he attended mass regularly--in the winter mornings by torch-light--and would as soon have foregone his daily tennis as his religious exercises. romanism was the creed of his caste. it was the religion of princes and gentlemen of high degree. as for lutheranism, zwinglism, calvinism, and similar systems, they were but the fantastic rites of weavers, brewers, and the like--an ignoble herd whose presumption in entitling themselves christian, while rejecting the pope; called for their instant extermination. his personal habits were extremely temperate. he was accustomed to say that he ate only to support life; and he rarely finished a dinner without having risen three or four times from table to attend to some public business which, in his opinion, ought not to be deferred. his previous connections in the netherlands were of use to him, and he knew how to turn them to immediate account. the great nobles, who had been uniformly actuated by jealousy of the prince of orange, who had been baffled in their intrigue with matthias, whose half-blown designs upon anjou had already been nipped in the bud, were now peculiarly in a position to listen to the wily tongue of alexander farnese. the montignys, the la mottes, the meluns, the egmonts, the aerschots, the havres, foiled and doubly foiled in all their small intrigues and their base ambition, were ready to sacrifice their country to the man they hated, and to the ancient religion which they thought that they loved. the malcontents ravaging the land of hainault and threatening ghent, the "paternoster jacks" who were only waiting for a favorable opportunity and a good bargain to make their peace with spain, were the very instruments which parma most desired to use at this opening stage of his career. the position of affairs was far more favorable for him than it had been for don john when he first succeeded to power. on the whole, there seemed a bright prospect of success. it seemed quite possible that it would be in parma's power to reduce, at last, this chronic rebellion, and to reestablish the absolute supremacy of church and king. the pledges of the ghent treaty had been broken, while in the unions of brussels which had succeeded, the fatal religious cause had turned the instrument of peace into a sword. the "religion-peace" which had been proclaimed at antwerp had hardly found favor anywhere. as the provinces, for an instant, had seemingly got the better of their foe, they turned madly upon each other, and the fires of religious discord, which had been extinguished by the common exertions of a whole race trembling for the destruction of their fatherland, were now re-lighted with a thousand brands plucked from the sacred domestic hearth. fathers and children, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, were beginning to wrangle, and were prepared to persecute. catholic and protestant, during the momentary relief from pressure, forgot their voluntary and most blessed pacification, to renew their internecine feuds. the banished reformers, who had swarmed back in droves at the tidings of peace and good-will to all men, found themselves bitterly disappointed. they were exposed in the walloon provinces to the persecutions of the malcontents, in the frisian regions to the still powerful coercion of the royal stadholders. persecution begat counter-persecution. the city of ghent became the centre of a system of insurrection, by which all the laws of god and man were outraged under the pretence of establishing a larger liberty in civil and religious matters. it was at ghent that the opening scenes, in parma's administration took place. of the high-born suitors for the netherland bride, two were still watching each other with jealous eyes. anjou was at mons, which city he had secretly but unsuccessfully attempted to master for, his, own purposes. john casimir was at ghent, fomenting an insurrection which he had neither skill to guide, nor intelligence to comprehend. there was a talk of making him count of flanders,--and his paltry ambition was dazzled by the glittering prize. anjou, who meant to be count of flanders himself, as well as duke or count of all the other netherlands, was highly indignant at this report, which he chose to consider true. he wrote to the estates to express his indignation. he wrote to ghent to offer his mediation between the burghers and the malcontents. casimir wanted money for his troops. he obtained a liberal supply, but he wanted more. meantime, the mercenaries were expatiating on their own account throughout the southern provinces; eating up every green leaf, robbing and pillaging, where robbery and pillage had gone so often that hardly anything was left for rapine. thus dealt the soldiers in the open country, while their master at ghent was plunging into the complicated intrigues spread over that unfortunate city by the most mischievous demagogues that ever polluted a sacred cause. well had cardinal granvelle, his enemy, william of hesse, his friend and kinsman, understood the character of john casimir. robbery and pillage were his achievements, to make chaos more confounded was his destiny. anjou--disgusted with the temporary favor accorded to a rival whom he affected to despise--disbanded his troops in dudgeon, and prepared to retire to france. several thousand of these mercenaries took service immediately with the malcontents under montigny, thus swelling the ranks of the deadliest foes to that land over which anjou had assumed the title of protector. the states' army, meanwhile, had been rapidly dissolving. there were hardly men enough left to make a demonstration in the field, or properly to garrison the more important towns. the unhappy provinces, torn by civil and religious dissensions, were overrun by hordes of unpaid soldiers of all nations, creeds, and tongues-spaniards, italians, burgundians, walloons, germans, scotch and english; some who came to attack and others to protect, but who all achieved nothing and agreed in nothing save to maltreat and to outrage the defenceless peasantry and denizens of the smaller towns. the contemporary chronicles are full of harrowing domestic tragedies, in which the actors are always the insolent foreign soldiery and their desperate victims. ghent energetic, opulent, powerful, passionate, unruly ghent--was now the focus of discord, the centre from whence radiated not the light and warmth of reasonable and intelligent liberty, but the bale-fires of murderous licence and savage anarchy. the second city of the netherlands, one of the wealthiest and most powerful cities of christendom, it had been its fate so often to overstep the bounds of reason and moderation in its devotion to freedom, so often to incur ignominious chastisement from power which its own excesses had made more powerful, that its name was already becoming a bye-word. it now, most fatally and for ever, was to misunderstand its true position. the prince of orange, the great architect of his country's fortunes, would have made it the keystone of the arch which he was laboring to construct. had he been allowed to perfect his plan, the structure might have endured for ages, a perpetual bulwark against, tyranny and wrong. the temporary and slender frame by which the great artist had supported his arch while still unfinished, was plucked away by rude and ribald hands; the keystone plunged into the abyss, to be lost for ever, and the great work of orange remained a fragment from its commencement. the acts of demagogues, the conservative disgust at licence, the jealousy of rival nobles, the venality of military leaders, threw daily fresh stumbling-blocks in his heroic path. it was not six months after the advent of farnese to power, before that bold and subtle chieftain had seized the double-edged sword of religious dissension as firmly as he had grasped his celebrated brand when he boarded the galley of muatapha bey, and the netherlands were cut in twain, to be re-united nevermore. the separate treaty of the walloon provinces was soon destined to separate the celtic and romanesque elements from the batavian and frisian portion of a nationality, which; thoroughly fused in all its parts, would have formed as admirable a compound of fire and endurance as history has ever seen. meantime, the grass was growing and the cattle were grazing in the streets of ghent, where once the tramp of workmen going to and from their labor was like the movement of a mighty army. the great majority of the burghers were of the reformed religion, and disposed to make effectual resistance to the malcontents, led by the disaffected nobles. the city, considering itself the natural head of all the southern country, was indignant that the walloon provinces should dare to reassert that supremacy of romanism which had been so effectually suppressed, and to admit the possibility of friendly relations with a sovereign who had been virtually disowned. there were two parties, however, in ghent. both were led by men of abandoned and dangerous character. imbize, the worse of the two demagogues, was inconstant, cruel, cowardly, and treacherous, but possessed of eloquence and a talent for intrigue. ryhove was a bolder ruffian--wrathful, bitter, and unscrupulous. imbize was at the time opposed to orange, disliking his moderation, and trembling at his firmness. ryhove considered himself the friend of the prince. we have seen that he had consulted him previously to his memorable attack upon aerschot, in the autumn of the preceding year, and we know the result of that conference. the prince, with the slight dissimulation which belonged less to his character than to his theory of politics, and which was perhaps not to be avoided, in that age of intrigue, by any man who would govern his fellow-men, whether for good or evil, had winked at a project which he would not openly approve. he was not thoroughly acquainted, however, with the desperate character of the man, for he would have scorned an instrument so thoroughly base as ryhove subsequently proved. the violence of that personage on the occasion of the arrest of aerschot and his colleagues was mildness compared with the deed with which he now disgraced the cause of freedom. he had been ordered out from ghent to oppose a force of malcontents which was gathering in the neighbourhood of courtray; but he swore that he would not leave the gates so long as two of the gentlemen whom he had arrested on the twenty-eighth of the previous october, and who yet remained in captivity, were still alive. these two prisoners were ex-procurator visch and blood-councillor hessels. hessels, it seemed, had avowed undying hostility to ryhove for the injury sustained at his hands, and he had sworn, "by his grey beard," that the ruffian should yet hang for the outrage. ryhove, not feeling very safe in the position of affairs which then existed, and knowing that he could neither trust imbize, who had formerly been his friend, nor the imprisoned nobles, who had ever been his implacable enemies, was resolved to make himself safe in one quarter at least, before he set forth against the malcontents. accordingly, hessels and visch, as they sat together in their prison, at chess, upon the th of october, , were suddenly summoned to leave the house, and to enter a carriage which stood at the door. a force of armed men brought the order, and were sufficiently strong to enforce it. the prisoners obeyed, and the coach soon rolled slowly through the streets, left the courtray gate, and proceeded a short distance along the road towards that city. after a few minutes a halt was made. ryhove then made his appearance at the carriage-window, and announced to the astonished prisoners that, they were forthwith to be hanged upon a tree which stood by the road-side. he proceeded to taunt the aged hessels with his threat against himself, and with his vow "by his grey beard." "such grey beard shalt thou never live thyself to wear, ruffian," cried hessels, stoutly-furious rather than terrified at the suddenness of his doom. "there thou liest, false traitor!" roared ryhove in reply; and to prove the falsehood, he straightway tore out a handful of the old man's beard, and fastened it upon his own cap like a plume. his action was imitated by several of his companions, who cut for themselves locks from the same grey beard, and decorated themselves as their leader had done. this preliminary ceremony having been concluded, the two aged prisoners were forthwith hanged on a tree, without-the least pretence of trial or even sentence. such was the end of the famous councillor who had been wont to shout "ad patibulum" in his sleep. it was cruel that the fair face of civil liberty showing itself after years of total eclipse, should be insulted by such bloody deeds on the part of her votaries. it was sad that the crimes of men like imbize and ryhove should have cost more to the cause of religious and political freedom than the lives of twenty thousand such ruffians were worth. but for the influence of demagogues like these, counteracting the lofty efforts and pure life of orange, the separation might never have occurred between the two portions of the netherlands. the prince had not power enough, however, nor the nascent commonwealth sufficient consistency, to repress the disorganizing tendency of a fanatical romanism on the one side, and a retaliatory and cruel ochlocracy on the other. such events, with the hatred growing daily more intense between the walloons and the ghenters, made it highly important that some kind of an accord should be concluded, if possible. in the country, the malcontents, under pretence of protecting the catholic clergy, were daily abusing and plundering the people, while in ghent the clergy were maltreated, the cloisters pillaged, under the pretence of maintaining liberty. in this emergency the eyes of all honest men turned naturally to orange. deputies went to and fro between antwerp and ghent, three points were laid down by the prince as indispensable to any arrangement--firstly, that the catholic clergy should be allowed the free use of their property; secondly, that they should not be disturbed in the exercise of their religion; thirdly, that the gentlemen kept in prison since the memorable twenty-eighth of october should be released. if these points should be granted, the archduke matthias, the states-general, and the prince of orange would agree to drive off the walloon soldiery, and to defend ghent against all injury. the two first points were granted, upon condition that sufficient guarantees should be established for the safety of the reformed religion. the third was rejected, but it was agreed that the prisoners, champagny, sweveghem, and the rest--who, after the horrid fate of hessels and visch, might be supposed to be sufficiently anxious as to their own doom--should have legal trial, and be defended in the meantime from outrage. on the rd of november, , a formal act of acceptance of these terms was signed at antwerp. at the same time, there was murmuring at ghent, the extravagant portion of the liberal party averring that they had no intention of establishing the "religious peace" when they agreed not to molest the catholics. on the th of november, the prince of orange sent messengers to ghent in the name of the archduke and the states-general, summoning the authorities to a faithful execution of the act of acceptance. upon the same day the english envoy, davidson, made an energetic representation to the same magistrates, declaring that the conduct of the ghenters was exciting regret throughout the world, and affording a proof that it was their object to protract, not suppress, the civil war which had so long been raging. such proceedings, he observed, created doubts whether they were willing to obey any law or any magistracy. as, however, it might be supposed that the presence of john casimir in ghent at that juncture was authorized by queen elizabeth--inasmuch as it was known that he had received a subsidy from her--the envoy took occasion to declare that her majesty entirely disavowed his proceedings. he observed further that, in the opinion of her majesty, it was still possible to maintain peace by conforming to the counsels of the prince of orange and of the states-general. this, however, could be done only by establishing the three points which he had laid down. her majesty likewise warned the ghenters that their conduct would soon compel her to abandon the country's cause altogether, and, in conclusion, she requested, with characteristic thriftiness, to be immediately furnished with a city bond for forty-five thousand pounds sterling. two days afterwards, envoys arrived from brussels to remonstrate, in their turn, with the sister city, and to save her, if possible, from the madness which had seized upon her. they recalled to the memory of the magistrates the frequent and wise counsels of the prince of orange. he had declared that he knew of no means to avert the impending desolation of the fatherland save union of all the provinces and obedience to the general government. his own reputation, and the honor of his house, he felt now to be at stake; for, by reason of the offices which he now held, he had been ceaselessly calumniated as the author of all the crimes which had been committed at ghent. against these calumnies he had avowed his intention of publishing his defence. after thus citing the opinion of the prince, the envoys implored the magistrates to accept the religious peace which he had proposed, and to liberate the prisoners as he had demanded. for their own part, they declared that the inhabitants of brussels would never desert him; for, next to god, there was no one who understood their cause so entirely, or who could point out the remedy so intelligently. thus reasoned the envoys from the states-general and from brussels, but even while they were reasoning, a fresh tumult occurred at ghent. the people had been inflamed by demagogues, and by the insane howlings of peter dathenus, the unfrocked monk of poperingen, who had been the servant and minister both of the pope and of orange, and who now hated each with equal fervor. the populace, under these influences, rose in its wrath upon the catholics, smote all their images into fragments, destroyed all their altar pictures, robbed them of much valuable property, and turned all the papists themselves out of the city. the riot was so furious that it seemed, says a chronicler, as if all the inhabitants had gone raving mad. the drums beat the alarm, the magistrates went forth to expostulate, but no commands were heeded till the work of destruction had been accomplished, when the tumult expired at last by its own limitation. affairs seemed more threatening than ever. nothing more excited the indignation of the prince of orange than such senseless iconomachy. in fact, he had at one time procured an enactment by the ghent authorities, making it a crime punishable with death. he was of luther's opinion, that idol-worship was to be eradicated from the heart, and that then the idols in the churches would fall of themselves. he felt too with landgrave william, that "the destruction of such worthless idols was ever avenged by torrents of good human blood." therefore it may be well supposed that this fresh act of senseless violence, in the very teeth of his remonstrances, in the very presence of his envoys, met with his stern disapprobation. he was on the point of publishing his defence against the calumnies which his toleration had drawn upon him from both catholic and calvinist. he was deeply revolving the question, whether it were not better to turn his back at once upon a country which seemed so incapable of comprehending his high purposes, or seconding his virtuous efforts. from both projects he was dissuaded; and although bitterly wronged by both friend and foe, although, feeling that even in his own holland, there were whispers against his purity, since his favorable inclinations towards anjou had become the general topic, yet he still preserved his majestic tranquillity, and smiled at the arrows which fell harmless at his feet. "i admire his wisdom, daily more and more," cried hubert languet; "i see those who profess themselves his friends causing him more annoyance than his foes; while, nevertheless, he ever remains true to himself, is driven by no tempests from his equanimity, nor provoked by repeated injuries to immoderate action." the prince had that year been chosen unanimously by the four "members" of flanders to be governor of that province, but had again declined the office. the inhabitants, notwithstanding the furious transactions at ghent, professed attachment to his person, and respect for his authority. he was implored to go to the city. his presence, and that alone, would restore the burghers to their reason, but the task was not a grateful one. it was also not unattended with danger; although this was a consideration which never influenced him, from the commencement of his career to its close. imbize and his crew were capable of resorting to any extremity or any ambush; to destroy the man whom they feared and hated. the presence of john casimir was an additional complication; for orange, while he despised the man, was unwilling to offend his friends. moreover, casimir had professed a willingness to assist the cause, and to, defer to the better judgment of the prince: he had brought an army into the field, with which, however, he had accomplished nothing except a thorough pillaging of the peasantry, while, at the same time, he was loud in his demands upon the states to pay his soldiers' wages. the soldiers of the different armies who now overran the country, indeed, vied with each other in extravagant insolence. "their outrages are most execrable," wrote marquis havre; "they demand the most exquisite food, and drink champagne and burgundy by the bucketfull." nevertheless, on the th of december, the prince came to ghent. he held constant and anxious conferences with the magistrates. he was closeted daily with john casimir, whose vanity and extravagance of temper he managed with his usual skill. he even dined with imbue, and thus, by smoothing difficulties and reconciling angry passions, he succeeded at last in obtaining the consent of all to a religious peace, which was published on the th of december, . it contained the same provisions as those of the project prepared and proposed during the previous summer throughout the netherlands. exercise of both religions was established; mutual insults and irritations--whether by word, book, picture, song, or gesture--were prohibited, under severe penalties, while all persons were sworn to protect the common tranquillity by blood, purse, and life. the catholics, by virtue of this accord, re-entered into possession of their churches and cloisters, but nothing could be obtained in favor of the imprisoned gentlemen. the walloons and malcontents were now summoned to lay down their arms; but, as might be supposed, they expressed dissatisfaction with the religious peace, proclaiming it hostile to the ghent treaty and the brussels union. in short, nothing would satisfy them but total suppression of the reformed religion; as nothing would content imbize and his faction but the absolute extermination of romanism. a strong man might well seem powerless in the midst of such obstinate and worthless fanatics. the arrival of the prince in ghent was, on the whole, a relief to john casimir. as usual, this addle-brained individual had plunged headlong into difficulties, out of which he was unable to extricate himself. he knew not what to do, or which way to turn. he had tampered with imbue and his crew, but he had found that they were not the men for a person of his quality to deal with. he had brought a large army into the field, and had not a stiver in his coffers. he felt bitterly the truth of the landgrave's warning--"that 'twas better to have thirty thousand devils at one's back than thirty thousand german troopers, with no money to give them;" it being possible to pay the devils with the sign of the cross, while the soldiers could be discharged only with money or hard knocks. queen elizabeth, too, under whose patronage he had made this most inglorious campaign, was incessant in her reproofs, and importunate in her demands for reimbursement. she wrote to him personally, upbraiding him with his high pretensions and his shortcomings. his visit to ghent, so entirely unjustified and mischievous; his failure to effect that junction of his army with the states' force under bossu, by which the royal army was to have been surprised and annihilated; his having given reason to the common people to suspect her majesty and the prince of orange of collusion with his designs, and of a disposition to seek their private advantage and not the general good of the whole netherlands; the imminent danger, which he had aggravated, that the walloon provinces, actuated by such suspicions, would fall away from the "generality" and seek a private accord with parma; these and similar sins of omission and commission were sharply and shrewishly set forth in the queen's epistle. 'twas not for such marauding and intriguing work that she had appointed him her lieutenant, and furnished him with troops and subsidies. she begged him forthwith to amend his ways, for the sake of his name and fame, which were sufficiently soiled in the places where his soldiers had been plundering the country which they came to protect. the queen sent daniel rogers with instructions of similar import to the states-general, repeatedly and expressly disavowing casimir's proceedings and censuring his character. she also warmly insisted on her bonds. in short, never was unlucky prince more soundly berated by his superiors, more thoroughly disgraced by his followers. in this contemptible situation had casimir placed himself by his rash ambition to prove before the world that german princes could bite and scratch like griffins and tigers as well as carry them in their shields. from this position orange partly rescued him. he made his peace with the states-general. he smoothed matters with the extravagant reformers, and he even extorted from the authorities of ghent the forty-five thousand pounds bond, on which elizabeth had insisted with such obduracy. casimir repaid these favors of the prince in the coin with which narrow minds and jealous tempers are apt to discharge such obligations--ingratitude. the friendship which he openly manifested at first grew almost immediately cool. soon afterwards he left ghent and departed for germany, leaving behind him a long and tedious remonstrance, addressed to the states-general, in which document he narrated the history of his exploits, and endeavored to vindicate the purity of his character. he concluded this very tedious and superfluous manifesto by observing that--for reasons which he thought proper to give at considerable length--he felt himself "neither too useful nor too agreeable to the provinces." as he had been informed, he said, that the states-general had requested the queen of england to procure his departure, he had resolved, in order to spare her and them inconvenience, to return of his own accord, "leaving the issue of the war in the high and mighty hand of god." the estates answered this remonstrance with words of unlimited courtesy; expressing themselves "obliged to all eternity" for his services, and holding out vague hopes that the monies which he demanded on behalf of his troops should ere long be forthcoming. casimir having already answered queen elizabeth's reproachful letter by throwing the blame of his apparent misconduct upon the states-general, and having promised soon to appear before her majesty in person, tarried accordingly but a brief season in germany, and then repaired to england. here he was feasted, flattered, caressed, and invested with the order of the garter. pleased with royal blandishments, and highly enjoying the splendid hospitalities of england he quite forgot the "thirty thousand devils" whom he had left running loose in the netherlands, while these wild soldiers, on their part, being absolutely in a starving condition--for there was little left for booty in a land which had been so often plundered--now had the effrontery to apply to the prince of parma for payment of their wages. alexander farnese laughed heartily at the proposition, which he considered an excellent jest. it seemed in truth, a jest, although but a sorry one. parma replied to the messenger of maurice of saxony who had made the proposition, that the germans must be mad to ask him for money, instead of offering to pay him, a heavy sum for permission to leave the country. nevertheless, he was willing to be so far indulgent as to furnish them with passports, provided they departed from the netherlands instantly. should they interpose the least delay, he would set upon them without further preface, and he gave them notice, with the arrogance becoming a spanish general; that the courier was already waiting to report to spain the number of them left alive after the encounter. thus deserted by their chief, and hectored by the enemy, the mercenaries, who had little stomach for fight without wages, accepted the passports proffered by parma. they revenged themselves for the harsh treatment which they had received from casimir and from the states-general, by singing, everywhere as they retreated, a doggerel ballad--half flemish, half german--in which their wrongs were expressed with uncouth vigor. casimir received the news of the departure of his ragged soldiery on the very day which witnessed his investment with the garter by the fair hands of elizabeth herself. a few days afterwards he left england, accompanied by an escort of lords and gentlemen, especially appointed for that purpose by the queen. he landed in flushing, where he was received with distinguished hospitality, by order of the prince of orange, and on the th of february, , he passed through utrecht. here he conversed freely at his lodgings in the "german house" on the subject of his vagabond troops, whose final adventures and departure seemed to afford him considerable amusement; and he, moreover, diverted his company by singing, after supper, a few verses of the ballad already mentioned. o, have you been in brabant, fighting for the states? o, have you brought back anything except your broken pates? o, i have been in brabant, myself and all my mates. we'll go no more to brabant, unless our brains were addle, we're coming home on foot, we went there in the saddle; for there's neither gold nor glory got, in fighting for the states. the duke of anjou, meantime, after disbanding his troops, had lingered for a while near the frontier. upon taking his final departure, he sent his resident minister, des pruneaux, with a long communication to the states-general, complaining that they had not published their contract with himself, nor fulfilled its conditions. he excused, as well as he could, the awkward fact that his disbanded troops had taken refuge with the walloons, and he affected to place his own departure upon the ground of urgent political business in france, to arrange which his royal brother had required his immediate attendance. he furthermore most hypocritically expressed a desire for a speedy reconciliation of the provinces with their sovereign, and a resolution that--although for their sake he had made himself a foe to his catholic majesty--he would still interpose no obstacle to so desirable a result. to such shallow discourse the states answered with infinite urbanity, for it was the determination of orange not to make enemies, at that juncture, of france and england in the same breath. they had foes enough already, and it seemed obvious at that moment, to all persons most observant of the course of affairs, that a matrimonial alliance was soon to unite the two crowns. the probability of anjou's marriage with elizabeth was, in truth, a leading motive with orange for his close alliance with the duke. the political structure, according to which he had selected the french prince as protector of the netherlands, was sagaciously planned; but unfortunately its foundation was the shifting sandbank of female and royal coquetry. those who judge only by the result, will be quick to censure a policy which might have had very different issue. they who place themselves in the period anterior to anjou's visit to england, will admit that it was hardly human not to be deceived by the apolitical aspects of that moment. the queen, moreover, took pains to upbraid the states-general, by letter, with their disrespect and ingratitude towards the duke of anjou--behaviour with which he had been "justly scandalized." for her own part, she assured them of her extreme displeasure at learning that such a course of conduct had been held with a view to her especial contentment--"as if the person of monsieur, son of france, brother of the king, were disagreeable to her, or as if she wished him ill;" whereas, on the contrary, they would best satisfy her wishes by showing him all the courtesy to which his high degree and his eminent services entitled him. the estates, even before receiving this letter, had, however, acted in its spirit. they had addressed elaborate apologies and unlimited professions to the duke. they thanked him heartily for his achievements, expressed unbounded regret at his departure, with sincere hopes for his speedy return, and promised "eternal remembrance" of his heroic virtues. they assured him, moreover, that should the first of the following march arrive without bringing with it an honorable peace with his catholic majesty, they should then feel themselves compelled to declare that the king had forfeited his right to the sovereignty of these provinces. in this case they concluded that, as the inhabitants would be then absolved from their allegiance to the spanish monarch, it would then be in their power to treat with his highness of anjou concerning the sovereignty, according to the contract already existing. these assurances were ample, but the states, knowing the vanity of the man, offered other inducements, some of which seemed sufficiently puerile. they promised that "his statue, in copper, should be placed in the public squares of antwerp and brussels, for the eternal admiration of posterity," and that a "crown of olive-leaves should be presented to him every year." the duke--not inexorable to such courteous solicitations--was willing to achieve both immortality and power by continuing his friendly relations with the states, and he answered accordingly in the most courteous terms. the result of this interchange of civilities it will be soon our duty to narrate. at the close of the year the count of bossu died, much to the regret of the prince of orange, whose party--since his release from prison by virtue of the ghent treaty--he had warmly espoused. "we are in the deepest distress in the world," wrote the prince to his brother, three days before the count's death, "for the dangerous malady of m. de bossu. certainly, the country has much to lose in his death, but i hope that god will not so much afflict us." yet the calumniators of the day did not scruple to circulate, nor the royalist chroniclers to perpetuate, the most senseless and infamous fables on the subject of this nobleman's death. he died of poison, they said, administered to him "in oysters," by command of the prince of orange, who had likewise made a point of standing over him on his death-bed, for the express purpose of sneering at the catholic ceremonies by which his dying agonies were solaced. such were the tales which grave historians have recorded concerning the death of maximilian of bossu, who owed so much to the prince. the command of the states' army, a yearly pension of five thousand florins, granted at the especial request of orange but a few months before, and the profound words of regret in the private letter jest cited, are a sufficient answer to such slanders. the personal courage and profound military science of parma were invaluable to the royal cause; but his subtle, unscrupulous, and subterranean combinations of policy were even more fruitful at this period. no man ever understood the art of bribery more thoroughly or practised it more skillfully. he bought a politician, or a general, or a grandee, or a regiment of infantry, usually at the cheapest price at which those articles could be purchased, and always with the utmost delicacy with which such traffic could be conducted. men conveyed themselves to government for a definite price--fixed accurately in florins and groats, in places and pensions--while a decent gossamer of conventional phraseology was ever allowed to float over the nakedness of unblushing treason. men high in station, illustrious by ancestry, brilliant in valor, huckstered themselves, and swindled a confiding country for as ignoble motives as ever led counterfeiters or bravoes to the gallows, but they were dealt with in public as if actuated only by the loftiest principles. behind their ancient shields, ostentatiously emblazoned with fidelity to church and king, they thrust forth their itching palms with the mendicity which would be hardly credible, were it not attested by the monuments more perennial than brass, of their own letters and recorded conversations. already, before the accession of parma to power, the true way to dissever the provinces had been indicated by the famous treason of the seigneur de la motte. this nobleman commanded a regiment in the service of the states-general, and was governor of gravelines. on promise of forgiveness for all past disloyalty, of being continued in the same military posts under philip which he then held for the patriots, and of a "merced" large enough to satisfy his most avaricious dreams, he went over to the royal government. the negotiation was conducted by alonzo curiel, financial agent of the king, and was not very nicely handled. the paymaster, looking at the affair purely as a money transaction--which in truth it was--had been disposed to drive rather too hard a bargain. he offered only fifty thousand crowns for la motte and his friend baron montigny, and assured his government that those gentlemen, with the soldiers under their command, were very dear at the price. la motte higgled very hard for more, and talked pathetically of his services and his wounds--for he had been a most distinguished and courageous campaigner--but alonzo was implacable. moreover, one robert bien-aime, prior of renty, was present at all the conferences. this ecclesiastic was a busy intriguer, but not very adroit. he was disposed to make himself useful to government, for he had set his heart upon putting the mitre of saint omer upon his head, and he had accordingly composed a very ingenious libel upon the prince of orange, in which production, "although the prior did not pretend to be apelles or lysippus," he hoped that the governor-general would recognize a portrait colored to the life. this accomplished artist was, however, not so successful as he was picturesque and industrious. he was inordinately vain of his services, thinking himself, said alonzo, splenetically, worthy to be carried in a procession like a little saint, and as he had a busy brain, but an unruly tongue, it will be seen that he possessed a remarkable faculty of making himself unpleasant. this was not the way to earn his bishopric. la motte, through the candid communications of the prior, found himself the subject of mockery in parma's camp and cabinet, where treachery to one's country and party was not, it seemed, regarded as one of the loftier virtues, however convenient it might be at the moment to the royal cause. the prior intimated especially that ottavio gonzaga had indulged in many sarcastic remarks at la motte's expense. the brave but venal warrior, highly incensed at thus learning the manner in which his conduct was estimated by men of such high rank in the royal service, was near breaking off the bargain. he was eventually secured, however, by still larger offers--don john allowing him three hundred florins a month, presenting him with the two best horses in his stable, and sending him an open form, which he was to fill out in the most stringent language which he could devise, binding the government to the payment of an ample and entirely satisfactory "merced." thus la motte's bargain was completed a crime which, if it had only entailed the loss of the troops under his command, and the possession of gravelines, would have been of no great historic importance. it was, however, the first blow of a vast and carefully sharpened treason, by which the country was soon to be cut in twain for ever--the first in a series of bargains by which the noblest names of the netherlands were to be contaminated with bribery and fraud. while the negotiations with la notte were in progress, the government of the states-general at brussels had sent saint aldegonde to arras. the states of artois, then assembled in that city, had made much difficulty in acceding to an assessment of seven thousand florins laid upon them by the central authority. the occasion was skillfully made use of by the agents of the royal party to weaken the allegiance of the province, and of its sister walloon provinces, to the patriot cause. saint aldegonde made his speech before the assembly, taking the ground boldly, that the war was made for liberty of conscience and of fatherland, and that all were bound, whether catholic or protestant, to contribute to the sacred fund. the vote passed, but it was provided that a moiety of the assessment should be paid by the ecclesiastical branch, and the stipulation excited a tremendous uproar. the clerical bench regarded the tax as both a robbery and an affront. "we came nearly to knife-playing," said the most distinguished priest in the assembly, "and if we had done so, the ecclesiastics would not have been the first to cry enough." they all withdrew in a rage, and held a private consultation upon "these exorbitant and more than turkish demands." john sarrasin, prior of saint yaast, the keenest, boldest, and most indefatigable of the royal partisans of that epoch, made them an artful harangue. this man--a better politician than the other prior--was playing for a mitre too, and could use his cards better. he was soon to become the most invaluable agent in the great treason preparing. no one could, be more delicate, noiseless, or unscrupulous, and he was soon recognized both by governor-general and king as the individual above all others to whom the re-establishment of the royal authority over the walloon provinces was owing. with the shoes of swiftness on his feet, the coat of darkness on his back, and the wishing purse in his hand, he sped silently and invisibly from one great malcontent chieftain to another, buying up centurions, and captains, and common soldiers; circumventing orangists, ghent democrats, anjou partisans; weaving a thousand intrigues, ventilating a hundred hostile mines, and passing unharmed through the most serious dangers and the most formidable obstacles. eloquent, too, at a pinch, he always understood his audience, and upon this occasion unsheathed the most incisive, if not the most brilliant weapon which could be used in the debate. it was most expensive to be patriotic, he said, while silver was to be saved, and gold to be earned by being loyal. they ought to keep their money to defend themselves, not give it to the prince of orange, who would only put it into his private pocket on pretence of public necessities. the ruward would soon be slinking back to his lair, he observed, and leave them all in the fangs of their enemies. meantime, it was better to rush into the embrace of a bountiful king, who was still holding forth his arms to them. they were approaching a precipice, said the prior; they were entering a labyrinth; and not only was the "sempiternal loss of body and soul impending over them, but their property was to be taken also, and the cat to be thrown against their legs." by this sudden descent into a very common proverbial expression, sarrasin meant to intimate that they were getting themselves into a difficult position, in which they were sure to reap both danger and responsibility. the harangue had much effect upon his hearers, who were now more than ever determined to rebel against the government which they had so recently accepted, preferring, in the words of the prior, "to be maltreated by their prince, rather than to be barbarously tyrannized over by a heretic." so much anger had been excited in celestial minds by a demand of thirty-five hundred florins. saint aldegonde was entertained in the evening at a great banquet, followed by a theological controversy, in which john sarrasin complained that "he had been attacked upon his own dunghill." next day the distinguished patriot departed on a canvassing tour among the principal cities; the indefatigable monk employing the interval of his absence in aggravating the hostility of the artesian orders to the pecuniary demands of the general government. he was assisted in his task by a peremptory order which came down from brussels, ordering, in the name of matthias, a levy upon the ecclesiastical property, "rings, jewels, and reliquaries," unless the clerical contribution should be forthcoming. the rage of the bench was now intense, and by the time of saint aldegonde's return a general opposition had been organized. the envoy met with a chilling reception; there were no banquets anymore--no discussions of any kind. to his demands for money, "he got a fine nihil," said saint vaast; and as for polemics, the only conclusive argument for the country would be, as he was informed on the same authority, the "finishing of orange and of his minister along with him." more than once had the prior intimated to government--as so many had done before him--that to "despatch orange, author of all the troubles," was the best preliminary to any political arrangement. from philip and his governor-general, down to the humblest partisan, this conviction had been daily strengthening. the knife or bullet of an assassin was the one thing needful to put an end to this incarnated rebellion. thus matters grew worse and worse in artois. the prior, busier than ever in his schemes, was one day arrested along with other royal emissaries, kept fifteen days "in a stinking cellar, where the scullion washed the dishes," and then sent to antwerp to be examined by the states-general. he behaved with great firmness, although he had good reason to tremble for his neck. interrogated by leoninus on the part of the central government, he boldly avowed that these pecuniary demands upon the walloon estates, and particularly upon their ecclesiastical branches, would never be tolerated. "in alva's time," said sarrasin, "men were flayed, but not shorn." those who were more attached to their skin than their fleece might have thought the practice in the good old times of the duke still more objectionable. such was not the opinion of the prior and the rest of his order. after an unsatisfactory examination and a brief duresse, the busy ecclesiastic was released; and as his secret labors had not been detected, he resumed them after his return more ardently than ever. a triangular intrigue was now fairly established in the walloon country. the duke of alencon's head-quarters were at mons; the rallying-point of the royalist faction was with la motte at gravelines; while the ostensible leader of the states' party, viscount ghent, was governor of artois, and supposed to be supreme in arras. la motte was provided by government with a large fund of secret-service money, and was instructed to be very liberal in his bribes to men of distinction; having a tender regard, however, to the excessive demands of this nature now daily made upon the royal purse. the "little count," as the prior called lalain, together with his brother, baron montigny, were considered highly desirable acquisitions for government, if they could be gained. it was thought, however, that they had the "fleur-de-lys imprinted too deeply upon their hearts," for the effect produced upon lalain, governor of hainault, by margaret of valois, had not yet been effaced. his brother also had been disposed to favor the french prince, but his mind was more open to conviction. a few private conferences with la motte, and a course of ecclesiastical tuition from the prior--whose golden opinions had irresistible resonance--soon wrought a change in the malcontent chieftain's mind. other leading seigniors were secretly dealt with in the same manner. lalain, heze, havre, capres, egmont, and even the viscount of ghent, all seriously inclined their ears to the charmer, and looked longingly and lovingly as the wily prior rolled in his tangles before them--"to mischief swift." few had yet declared themselves; but of the grandees who commanded large bodies of troops, and whose influence with their order was paramount, none were safe for the patriot cause throughout the walloon country. the nobles and ecclesiastics were ready to join hands in support of church and king, but in the city of arras, the capital of the whole country, there was a strong orange and liberal party. gosson, a man of great wealth, one of the most distinguished advocates in the netherlands, and possessing the gift of popular eloquence to a remarkable degree, was the leader of this burgess faction. in the earlier days of parma's administration, just as a thorough union of the walloon provinces in favor of the royal government had nearly been formed, these orangists of arras risked a daring stroke. inflamed by the harangues of gosson, and supported by five hundred foot soldiers and fifty troopers under one captain ambrose, they rose against the city magistracy, whose sentiments were unequivocally for parma, and thrust them all into prison. they then constituted a new board of fifteen, some catholics and some protestants, but all patriots, of whom gosson was chief. the stroke took the town by surprise; and was for a moment successful. meantime, they depended upon assistance from brussels. the royal and ecclesiastical party was, however, not so easily defeated, and an old soldier, named bourgeois, loudly denounced captain ambrose, the general of the revolutionary movement, as a vile coward, and affirmed that with thirty good men-at-arms he would undertake to pound the whole rebel army to powder-- "a pack of scarecrows," he said, "who were not worth as many owls for military purposes." three days after the imprisonment of the magistracy, a strong catholic rally was made in their behalf in the fishmarket, the ubiquitous prior of saint vaast flitting about among the malcontents, blithe and busy as usual when storms were brewing. matthew doucet, of the revolutionary faction--a man both martial and pacific in his pursuits, being eminent both as a gingerbread baker and a swordplayer--swore he would have the little monk's life if he had to take him from the very horns of the altar; but the prior had braved sharper threats than these. moreover, the grand altar would have been the last place to look fox him on that occasion. while gosson was making a tremendous speech in favor of conscience and fatherland at the hotel de ville, practical john sarrasin, purse in hand, had challenged the rebel general, ambrose to private combat. in half an hour, that warrior was routed, and fled from the field at the head of his scarecrows, for there was no resisting the power before which the montignys and the la mottes had succumbed. eloquent gosson was left to his fate. having the catholic magistracy in durance, and with nobody to guard them, he felt, as was well observed by an ill-natured contemporary, like a man holding a wolf by the ears, equally afraid to let go or to retain his grasp. his dilemma was soon terminated. while he was deliberating with his colleagues--mordacq, an old campaigner, crugeot, bertoul, and others--whether to stand or, fly, the drums and trumpets of the advancing royalists were heard. in another instant the hotel de ville was swarming with men-at-arms, headed by bourgeois, the veteran who had expressed so alighting an opinion as to the prowess of captain ambrose. the tables were turned, the miniature revolution was at an end, the counter-revolution effected. gosson and his confederates escaped out of a back door, but were soon afterwards arrested. next morning, baron capres, the great malcontent seignior, who was stationed with his regiment in the neighbourhood, and who had long been secretly coquetting with the prior and parma, marched into the city at the head of a strong detachment, and straightway proceeded to erect a very tall gibbet in front of the hotel de ville. this looked practical in the eyes of the liberated and reinstated magistrates, and gosson, crugeot, and the rest were summoned at once before them. the advocate thought, perhaps, with a sigh, that his judges, so recently his prisoners, might have been the fruit for another gallowstree, had he planted it when the ground was his own; but taking heart of grace, he encouraged his colleagues--now his fellow-culprits. crugeot, undismayed, made his appearance before the tribunal, arrayed in a corslet of proof, with a golden hilted sword, a scarf embroidered with pearls and gold, and a hat bravely plumaged with white, blue, and, orange feathers--the colors of william the silent--of all which finery he was stripped, however, as soon as he entered the court. the process was rapid. a summons from brussels was expected every hour from the general government, ordering the cases to be brought before the federal tribunal; and as the walloon provinces were not yet ready for open revolt, the order would be an inconvenient one. hence the necessity for haste. the superior court of artois, to which an appeal from the magistrates lay, immediately held a session in another chamber of the hotel de ville while the lower court was trying the prisoners, and bertoul, crugeot, mordacq, with several others, were condemned in a few hours to the gibbet. they were invited to appeal, if they chose, to the council of artois, but hearing that the court was sitting next door, so that there was no chance of a rescue in the streets, they declared themselves satisfied with the sentence. gosson had not been tried, his case being reserved for the morrow. meantime, the short autumnal day had drawn to a close. a wild, stormy, rainy night then set in, but still the royalist party--citizens and soldiers intermingled--all armed to the teeth, and uttering fierce cries, while the whole scene was fitfully illuminated with the glare of flambeaux and blazing tar-barrels, kept watch in the open square around the city hall. a series of terrible rembrandt-like nightpieces succeeded--grim, fantastic, and gory. bertoul, an old man, who for years had so surely felt himself predestined to his present doom that he had kept a gibbet in his own house to accustom himself to the sight of the machine, was led forth the first, and hanged at ten in the evening. he was a good man, of perfectly blameless life, a sincere catholic, but a warm partisan of orange. valentine de mordacq, an old soldier, came from the hotel de ville to the gallows at midnight. as he stood on the ladder, amid the flaming torches, he broke forth into furious execrations, wagging his long white beard to and fro, making hideous grimaces, and cursing the hard fate which, after many dangers on the battle-field and in beleaguered cities, had left him to such a death. the cord strangled his curses. crugeot was executed at three in the morning, having obtained a few hours' respite in order to make his preparations, which he accordingly occupied himself in doing as tranquilly as if he had been setting forth upon an agreeable journey. he looked like a phantom, according to eye-witnesses, as he stood under the gibbet, making a most pious and, catholic address to the crowd. the whole of the following day was devoted to the trial of gosson. he was condemned at nightfall, and heard by appeal before the superior court directly afterwards. at midnight, of the th of october, , he was condemned to lose his head, the execution to take place without delay. the city guards and the infantry under capres still bivouacked upon the square; the howling storm still continued, but the glare of fagots and torches made the place as light as day. the ancient advocate, with haggard eyes and features distorted by wrath, walking between the sheriff and a franciscan monk, advanced through the long lane of halberdiers, in the grand hall of the town house, and thence emerged upon the scaffold erected before the door. he shook his fists with rage at the released magistrates, so lately his prisoners, exclaiming that to his misplaced mercy it was owing that his head, instead of their own, was to be placed upon the block. he bitterly reproached the citizens for their cowardice in shrinking from dealing a blow for their fatherland, and in behalf of one who had so faithfully served them. the clerk of the court then read the sentence amid a silence so profound that every syllable he uttered, and, every sigh and ejaculation of the victim were distinctly heard in the most remote corner of the square. gosson then, exclaiming that he was murdered without cause, knelt upon the scaffold. his head fell while an angry imprecation was still upon his lips. several other persons of lesser note were hanged daring the week-among others, matthew doucet, the truculent man of gingerbread, whose rage had been so judiciously but so unsuccessfully directed against the prior of saint vaast. captain ambrose, too, did not live long to enjoy the price of his treachery. he was arrested very soon afterwards by the states' government in antwerp, put to the torture, hanged and quartered. in troublous times like those, when honest men found it difficult to keep their heads upon their shoulders, rogues were apt to meet their deserts, unless they had the advantage of lofty lineage and elevated position. "ille crucem sceleris pretium tulit, hic diadema." this municipal revolution and counter-revolution, obscure though they seem, were in reality of very grave importance. this was the last blow struck for freedom in the walloon country. the failure of the movement made that scission of the netherlands certain, which has endured till our days, for the influence of the ecclesiastics in the states of artois and hainault, together with the military power of the malcontent grandees, whom parma and john sarrasin had purchased, could no longer be resisted. the liberty of the celtic provinces was sold, and a few high-born traitors received the price. before the end of the year ( ) montigny had signified to the duke of alencon that a prince who avowed himself too poor to pay for soldiers was no master for him. the baron, therefore, came, to an understanding with la motte and sarrasin, acting for alexander farnese, and received the command of the infantry in the walloon provinces, a merced of four thousand crowns a year, together with as large a slice of la motte's hundred thousand florins for himself and soldiers, as that officer could be induced to part with. baron capres, whom sarrasin--being especially enjoined to purchase him--had, in his own language, "sweated blood and water" to secure, at last agreed to reconcile himself with the king's party upon condition of receiving the government-general of artois, together with the particular government of hesdin--very lucrative offices, which the viscount of ghent then held by commission of the states-general. that politic personage, however, whose disinclination to desert the liberty party which had clothed him with such high functions, was apparently so marked that the prior had caused an ambush to be laid both for him and the marquis havre, in-order to obtain bodily possession of two such powerful enemies, now, at the last moment, displayed his true colors. he consented to reconcile himself also, on condition of receiving the royal appointment to the same government which he then held from the patriot authorities, together with the title of marquis de richebourg, the command of all the cavalry in the royalist provinces, and certain rewards in money besides. by holding himself at a high mark, and keeping at a distance, he had obtained his price. capres, for whom philip, at parma's suggestion, had sent the commission as governor of artois and of hesdin, was obliged to renounce those offices, notwithstanding his earlier "reconciliation," and the "blood and water" of john sarrasin. ghent was not even contented with these guerdons, but insisted upon the command of all the cavalry, including the band of ordnance which, with handsome salary, had been assigned to lalain as a part of the wages for his treason, while the "little count"--fiery as his small and belligerent cousin whose exploits have been recorded in the earlier pages of this history--boldly taxed parma and the king with cheating him out of his promised reward, in order to please a noble whose services had been less valuable than those of the lalain family. having thus obtained the lion's share, due, as he thought, to his well known courage and military talents, as well as to the powerful family influence, which he wielded--his brother, the prince of espinoy, hereditary seneschal of hainault, having likewise rallied to the king's party--ghent jocosely intimated to parma his intention of helping himself to the two best horses in the prince's stables in exchange for those lost at gemblours, in which disastrous action he had commanded the cavalry for the states. he also sent two terriers to farnese, hoping that they would "prove more useful than beautiful." the prince might have thought, perhaps, as much of the viscount's treason. john sarrasin, the all-accomplished prior, as the reward of his exertions, received from philip the abbey of saint vaast, the richest and most powerful ecclesiastical establishment in the netherlands. at a subsequent period his grateful sovereign created him archbishop of cambray. thus the "troubles of arras"--as they were called--terminated. gosson the respected, wealthy, eloquent, and virtuous advocate; together with his colleagues--all catholics, but at the same time patriots and liberals--died the death of felons for their unfortunate attempt to save their fatherland from an ecclesiastical and venal conspiracy; while the actors in the plot, having all performed well their parts, received their full meed of prizes and applause. the private treaty by which the walloon provinces of artois, hainault, lille, douay, and orchies, united themselves in a separate league was signed upon the th of january, ; but the final arrangements for the reconciliation of the malcontent nobles and their soldiers were not completed until april th, upon which day a secret paper was signed at mount saint eloi. the secret current of the intrigue had not, however, flowed on with perfect smoothness until this placid termination. on the contrary, here had been much bickering, heart-burning, and mutual suspicions and recriminations. there had been violent wranglings among the claimants of the royal rewards. lalain and capres were not the only malcontents who had cause to complain of being cheated of the promised largess. montigny, in whose favor parma had distinctly commanded la motte to be liberal of the king's secret-service money, furiously charged the governor of gravelines with having received a large supply of gold from spain, and of "locking the rascal counters from his friends," so that parma was obliged to quiet the baron, and many other barons in the same predicament, out of his own purse. all complained bitterly, too, that the king, whose promises had been so profuse to the nobles while the reconciliation was pending, turned a deaf ear to their petitions and left their letters unanswered; after the deed was accomplished. the unlucky prior of renty, whose disclosures to la motte concerning the spanish sarcasms upon his venality, had so nearly caused the preliminary negotiation with that seignior to fail, was the cause of still further mischief through the interception of alonzo curiel's private letters. such revelations of corruption, and of contempt on the part of the corrupters, were eagerly turned to account by the states' government. a special messenger was despatched to montigny with the intercepted correspondence, accompanied by an earnest prayer that he would not contaminate his sword and his noble name by subserviency to men who despised even while they purchased traitors. that noble, both confounded and exasperated, was for a moment inclined to listen to the voice of honor and patriotism, but reflection and solitude induced him to pocket up his wrongs and his "merced" together. the states-general also sent the correspondence to the walloon provincial authorities, with an eloquent address, begging them to study well the pitiful part which la motte had enacted in the private comedy then performing, and to behold as in a mirror their own position, if they did not recede ere it was too late. the only important effect produced by the discovery was upon the prior of renty himself. ottavio gonzaga, the intimate friend of don john, and now high in the confidence of parma, wrote to la motte, indignantly denying the truth of bien aime's tattle, and affirming that not a word had ever been uttered by himself or by any gentleman in his presence to the disparagement of the governor of gravelines. he added that if the prior had worn another coat, and were of quality equal to his own, he would have made him eat his words or a few inches of steel. in the same vehement terms he addressed a letter to bien aime himself. very soon afterwards, notwithstanding his coat and his quality, that unfortunate ecclesiastic found himself beset one dark night by two soldiers, who left him, severely wounded and bleeding nearly to death upon the high road, but escaping with life, he wrote to parma, recounting his wrongs and the "sword-thrust in his left thigh," and made a demand for a merced. the prior recovered from this difficulty only to fall into another, by publishing what he called an apologue, in which he charged that the reconciled nobles were equally false to the royal and to the rebel government, and that, although "the fatted calf had been killed for them, after they had so long been feeding with perverse heretical pigs," they were, in truth, as mutinous as ever, being bent upon establishing an oligarchy in the netherlands, and dividing the territory among themselves, to the exclusion of the sovereign. this naturally excited the wrath of the viscount and others. the seigneur d'auberlieu, in a letter written in what the writer himself called the "gross style of a gendarme," charged the prior with maligning honorable lords and--in the favorite colloquial phrase of the day--with attempting "to throw the cat against their legs." the real crime of the meddling priest, however, was to have let that troublesome animal out of the bag. he was accordingly waylaid again, and thrown into prison by count lalain. while in durance he published an abject apology for his apologue, explaining that his allusions to "returned prodigals," "heretic swine," and to "sodom and gomorrah," had been entirely misconstrued. he was, however, retained in custody until parma ordered his release on the ground that the punishment had been already sufficient for the offence. he then requested to be appointed bishop of saint omer, that see being vacant. parma advised the king by no means to grant the request--the prior being neither endowed with the proper age nor discretion for such a dignity--but to bestow some lesser reward, in money or otherwise, upon the discomfited ecclesiastic, who had rendered so many services and incurred so many dangers. the states-general and the whole national party regarded, with prophetic dismay, the approaching dismemberment of their common country. they sent deputation on deputation to the walloon states, to warn them of their danger, and to avert, if possible, the fatal measure. meantime, as by the already accomplished movement, the "generality" was fast disappearing, and was indeed but the shadow of its former self, it seemed necessary to make a vigorous effort to restore something like unity to the struggling country. the ghent pacification had been their outer wall, ample enough and strong enough to enclose and to protect all the provinces. treachery and religious fanaticism had undermined the bulwark almost as soon as reared. the whole beleaguered country was in danger of becoming utterly exposed to a foe who grew daily more threatening. as in besieged cities, a sudden breastwork is thrown up internally, when the outward defences are crumbling--so the energy of orange had been silently preparing the union of utrecht, as a temporary defence until the foe should be beaten back, and there should be time to decide on their future course of action. during the whole month of december, an active correspondence had been carried on by the prince and his brother john with various agents in gelderland, friesland, and groningen, as well as with influential personages in the more central provinces and cities. gelderland, the natural bulwark to holland and zealand, commanding the four great rivers of the country, had been fortunately placed under the government of the trusty john of nassau, that province being warmly in favor of a closer union with its sister provinces, and particularly with those more nearly allied to itself in religion and in language. already, in december ( ), count john, in behalf of his brother, had laid before the states of holland and zealand, assembled at gorcum, the project of a new union with "gelderland, ghent, friesland, utrecht, overyssel, and groningen." the proposition had been favorably entertained, and commissioners had been appointed to confer with other commissioners at utrecht, whenever they should be summoned by count john. the prince, with the silence and caution which belonged to his whole policy, chose not to be the ostensible mover in the plan himself. he did not choose to startle unnecessarily the archduke matthias--the cipher who had been placed by his side, whose sudden subtraction would occasion more loss than his presence had conferred benefit. he did not choose to be cried out upon as infringing the ghent pacification, although the whole world knew that treaty to be hopelessly annulled. for these and many other weighty motives, he proposed that the new union should be the apparent work of other hands, and only offered to him and to the country, when nearly completed. january, the deputies of gelderland and zutfelt, with count john, stadholder of these provinces, at their head, met with the deputies of holland, zealand, and the provinces between the ems and the lauwers, early in january, , and on the rd of that month, without waiting longer for the deputies of the other provinces, they agreed provisionally upon a treaty of union which was published afterwards on the th, from the town house of utrecht. this memorable document--which is ever regarded as the foundation of the netherland republic--contained twenty-six articles. the preamble stated the object of the union. it was to strengthen, not to forsake the ghent pacification, already nearly annihilated by the force of foreign soldiery. for this purpose, and in order more conveniently to defend themselves against their foes, the deputies of gelderland, zutfen, holland, zealand, utrecht, and the frisian provinces, thought it desirable to form a still closer union. the contracting provinces agreed to remain eternally united, as if they were but one province. at the same time, it was understood that each was to retain its particular privileges, liberties, laudable and traditionary customs, and other laws. the cities, corporations, and inhabitants of every province were to be guaranteed as to their ancient constitutions. disputes concerning these various statutes and customs were to be decided by the usual tribunals, by "good men," or by amicable compromise. the provinces, by virtue of the union, were to defend each other "with life, goods, and blood," against all force brought against them in the king's name or behalf. they were also to defend each other against all foreign or domestic potentates, provinces, or cities, provided such defence were controlled by the "generality" of the union. for the expense occasioned by the protection of the provinces, certain imposts and excises were to be equally assessed and collected. no truce or peace was to be concluded, no war commenced, no impost established affecting the "generality," but by unanimous advice and consent of the provinces. upon other matters the majority was to decide; the votes being taken in the manner then customary in the assembly of states-general. in case of difficulty in coming to a unanimous vote when required, the matter was to be referred to the stadholders then in office. in case cf their inability to agree, they were to appoint arbitrators, by whose decision the parties were to be governed. none of the united provinces, or of their cities or corporations, were to make treaties with other potentates or states, without consent of their confederates. if neighbouring princes, provinces, or cities, wished to enter into this confederacy, they were to be received by the unanimous consent of the united provinces. a common currency was to be established for the confederacy. in the matter of divine worship, holland and zealand were to conduct themselves as they should think proper. the other provinces of the union, however, were either to conform to the religious peace already laid down by archduke matthias and his council, or to make such other arrangements as each province should for itself consider appropriate for the maintenance of its internal tranquillity--provided always that every individual should remain free in his religion, and that no man should be molested or questioned on the subject of divine worship, as had been already established by the ghent pacification. as a certain dispute arose concerning the meaning of this important clause, an additional paragraph was inserted a few days afterwards. in this it was stated that there was no intention of excluding from the confederacy any province or city which was wholly catholic, or in which the number of the reformed was not sufficiently large to entitle them, by the religious peace, to public worship. on the contrary, the intention was to admit them, provided they obeyed the articles of union, and conducted themselves as good patriots; it being intended that no province or city should interfere with another in the matter of divine service. disputes between two provinces were to be decided by the others, or--in case the generality were concerned--by the provisions of the ninth article. the confederates were to assemble at utrecht whenever summoned by those commissioned for that purpose. a majority of votes was to decide on matters then brought before them, even in case of the absence of some members of the confederacy, who might, however, send written proxies. additions or amendments to these articles could only be made by unanimous consent. the articles were to be signed by the stadholders, magistrates, and principal officers of each province and city, and by all the train-bands, fraternities, and sodalities which might exist in the cities or villages of the union. such were the simple provisions of that instrument which became the foundation of the powerful commonwealth of the united netherlands. on the day when it was concluded, there were present deputies from five provinces only. count john of nassau signed first, as stadholder of gelderland and zutfen. his signature was followed by those of four deputies from that double province; and the envoys of holland, zealand, utrecht and the frisian provinces, then signed the document. the prince himself, although in reality the principal director of the movement, delayed appending his signature until may the rd, . herein he was actuated by the reasons already stated, and by the hope which he still entertained that a wider union might be established, with matthias for its nominal chief. his enemies, as usual, attributed this patriotic delay to baser motives. they accused him of a desire to assume the governor-generalship himself, to the exclusion of the archduke--an insinuation which the states of holland took occasion formally to denounce as a calumny. for those who have studied the character and history of the man, a defence against such slander is superfluous. matthias was but the shadow, orange the substance. the archduke had been accepted only to obviate the evil effects of a political intrigue, and with the express condition that the prince should be his lieutenant-general in name, his master in fact. directly after his departure in the following year, the prince's authority, which nominally departed also, was re-established in his own person, and by express act of the states-general. the union of utrecht was the foundation-stone of the netherland republic; but the framers of the confederacy did not intend the establishment of a republic, or of an independent commonwealth of any kind. they had not forsworn the spanish monarch. it was not yet their intention to forswear him. certainly the act of union contained no allusion to such an important step. on the contrary, in the brief preamble they expressly stated their intention to strengthen the ghent pacification, and the ghent pacification acknowledged obedience to the king. they intended no political innovation of any kind. they expressly accepted matters as they were. all statutes, charters, and privileges of provinces, cities, or corporations were to remain untouched. they intended to form neither an independent state nor an independent federal system. no doubt the formal renunciation of allegiance, which was to follow within two years, was contemplated by many as a future probability; but it could not be foreseen with certainty. the simple act of union was not regarded as the constitution of a commonwealth. its object was a single one--defence against a foreign oppressor. the contracting parties bound themselves together to spend all their treasure and all their blood in expelling the foreign soldiery from their soil. to accomplish this purpose, they carefully abstained from intermeddling with internal politics and with religion. every man was to worship god according to the dictates of his conscience. every combination of citizens, from the provincial states down to the humblest rhetoric club, was to retain its ancient constitution. the establishment of a republic, which lasted two centuries, which threw a girdle of rich dependencies entirely round the globe, and which attained so remarkable a height of commercial prosperity and political influence, was the result of the utrecht union; but, it was not a premeditated result. a state, single towards the rest of the world, a unit in its external relations, while permitting internally a variety of sovereignties and institutions--in many respects the prototype of our own much more extensive and powerful union--was destined to spring from the act thus signed by the envoys of five provinces. those envoys were acting, however, under the pressure of extreme necessity, and for what was believed an evanescent purpose. the future confederacy was not to resemble the system of the german empire, for it was to acknowledge no single head. it was to differ from the achaian league, in the far inferior amount of power which it permitted to its general assembly, and in the consequently greater proportion of sovereign attributes which were retained by the individual states. it was, on the other hand, to furnish a closer and more intimate bond than that of the swiss confederacy, which was only a union for defence and external purposes, of cantons otherwise independent. it was, finally, to differ from the american federal commonwealth in the great feature that it was to be merely a confederacy of sovereignties, not a representative republic. its foundation was a compact, not a constitution. the contracting parties were states and corporations, who considered themselves as representing small nationalities 'dejure et de facto', and as succeeding to the supreme power at the very instant in which allegiance to the spanish monarch was renounced. the general assembly was a collection of diplomatic envoys, bound by instructions from independent states. the voting was not by heads, but by states. the deputies were not representatives of the people, but of the states; for the people of the united states of the netherlands never assembled--as did the people of the united states of america two centuries later--to lay down a constitution, by which they granted a generous amount of power to the union, while they reserved enough of sovereign attributes to secure that local self-government which is the life-blood of liberty. the union of utrecht; narrowed as it was to the nether portion of that country which, as a whole, might have formed a commonwealth so much more powerful, was in origin a proof of this lamentable want of patriotism. could the jealousy of great nobles, the rancour of religious differences, the catholic bigotry of the walloon population, on the one side, contending with the democratic insanity of the ghent populace on the other, have been restrained within bounds by the moderate counsels of william of orange, it would have been possible to unite seventeen provinces instead of seven, and to save many long and blighting years of civil war. the utrecht union was, however, of inestimable value. it was time for some step to be taken, if anarchy were not to reign until the inquisition and absolutism were restored. already, out of chaos and night, the coming republic was assuming substance and form. the union, if it created nothing else, at least constructed a league against a foreign foe whose armed masses were pouring faster and faster into the territory of the provinces. farther than this it did not propose to go. it maintained what it found. it guaranteed religious liberty, and accepted the civil and political constitutions already in existence. meantime, the defects of those constitutions, although visible and sensible, had not grown to the large proportions which they were destined to attain. thus by the union of utrecht on the one hand, and the fast approaching reconciliation of the walloon provinces on the other, the work of decomposition and of construction went land in hand. etext editor's bookmarks: are apt to discharge such obligations--(by) ingratitude like a man holding a wolf by the ears local self-government which is the life-blood of liberty no man ever understood the art of bribery more thoroughly not so successful as he was picturesque plundering the country which they came to protect presumption in entitling themselves christian protect the common tranquillity by blood, purse, and life republic, which lasted two centuries throw the cat against their legs worship god according to the dictates of his conscience motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley chapter ii. parma's feint upon antwerp--he invests maestricht--deputation and letters from the states-general, from brussels, and from parma, to the walloon provinces--active negotiations by orange and by farnese --walloon envoys in parma's camp before maestricht--festivities--the treaty of reconciliation--rejoicings of the royalist party--comedy enacted at the paris theatres--religious tumults in antwerp, utrecht, and other cities--religious peace enforced by orange-- philip egmont's unsuccessful attempt upon brussels--siege of maestricht--failure at the tongres gate--mining and countermining-- partial destruction of the tongres ravelin--simultaneous attack upon the tongres and bolls-le-duo gates--the spaniards repulsed with great loss--gradual encroachments of the besiegers--bloody contests --the town taken--horrible massacre--triumphal entrance and solemn thanksgiving--calumnious attacks upon orange--renewed troubles in ghent--imbue and dathenus--the presence of the prince solicited-- coup d'etat of imbue--order restored, and imbue expelled by orange the political movements in both directions were to be hastened by the military operations of the opening season. on the night of the nd of march, , the prince of parma made a demonstration against antwerp. a body of three thousand scotch and english, lying at borgerhout, was rapidly driven in, and a warm skirmish ensued, directly under the walls of the city. the prince of orange, with the archduke matthias, being in antwerp at the time, remained on the fortifications; superintending the action, and parma was obliged to retire after an hour or two of sharp fighting, with a loss of four hundred men. this demonstration was, however, only a feint. his real design was upon maestricht; before which important city he appeared in great force, ten days afterwards, when he was least expected. well fortified, surrounded by a broad and deep moat; built upon both sides of the meuse, upon the right bank of which river, however, the portion of the town was so inconsiderable that it was merely called the village of wyk, this key to the german gate of the netherlands was, unfortunately, in brave but feeble hands. the garrison was hardly one thousand strong; the trained bands of burghers amounted to twelve hundred more; while between three and four thousand peasants; who had taken refuge within the city walls, did excellent service as sappers and miners. parma, on the other hand, had appeared before the walls with twenty thousand men; to which number he received constant reinforcements. the bishop of liege, too, had sent him four thousand pioneers--a most important service; for mining and countermining was to decide the fate of maestricht. early in january the royalists had surprised the strong chateau of carpen, in the neighbourhood of the city, upon which occasion the garrison were all hanged by moonlight on the trees in the orchard. the commandant shared their fate; and it is a curious fact that he had, precisely a year previously, hanged the royalist captain, blomaert, on the same spot, who, with the rope around his neck, had foretold a like doom to his destroyer. the prince of orange, feeling the danger of maestricht, lost no time in warning the states to the necessary measures, imploring them "not to fall asleep in the shade of a peace negotiation," while meantime parma threw two bridges over the meuse, above and below the city, and then invested the place so closely that all communication was absolutely suspended. letters could pass to and fro only at extreme peril to the messengers, and all possibility of reinforcing the city at the moment was cut off. while this eventful siege was proceeding, the negotiations with the walloons were ripening. the siege and the conferences went hand in hand. besides the secret arrangements already described for the separation of the walloon provinces, there had been much earnest and eloquent remonstrance on the part of the states-general and of orange--many solemn embassies and public appeals. as usual, the pacification of ghent was the two-sided shield which hung between the parties to cover or to justify the blows which each dealt at the other. there is no doubt as to the real opinion entertained concerning that famous treaty by the royal party. "through the peace of ghent," said saint vaast, "all our woes have been brought upon us." la motte informed parma that it was necessary to pretend a respect for the pacification, however, on account of its popularity, but that it was well understood by the leaders of the walloon movement, that the intention was to restore the system of charles the fifth. parma signified his consent to make use of that treaty as a basis, "provided always it were interpreted healthily, and not dislocated by cavillations and sinister interpolations, as had been done by the prince of orange." the malcontent generals of the walloon troops were inexpressibly anxious lest the cause of religion should be endangered; but the arguments by which parma convinced those military casuists as to the compatibility of the ghent peace with sound doctrine have already been exhibited. the influence of the reconciled nobles was brought to bear with fatal effect upon the states of artois, hainault, and of a portion of french flanders. the gallic element in their blood, and an intense attachment to the roman ceremonial, which distinguished the walloon population from their batavian brethren, were used successfully by the wily parma to destroy the unity of the revolted netherlands. moreover, the king offered good terms. the monarch, feeling safe on the religious point, was willing to make liberal promises upon the political questions. in truth, the great grievance of which the walloons complained was the insolence and intolerable outrages of the foreign soldiers. this, they said, had alone made them malcontent. it was; therefore, obviously the cue of parma to promise the immediate departure of the troops. this could be done the more easily, as he had no intention of keeping the promise. meantime the efforts of orange, and of the states-general, where his influence was still paramount, were unceasing to counteract the policy of parma. a deputation was appointed by the generality to visit the estates of the walloon provinces. another was sent by the authorities of brussels. the marquis of havre, with several colleagues on behalf of the states-general, waited upon the viscount of ghent, by whom they were received with extreme insolence. he glared upon them, without moving, as they were admitted to his presence; "looking like a dead man, from whom the soul had entirely departed." recovering afterwards from this stony trance of indignation, he demanded a sight of their instructions. this they courteously refused, as they were accredited not to him, but to the states of artois. at this he fell into a violent passion, and threatened them with signal chastisement for daring to come thither with so treasonable a purpose. in short, according to their own expression; he treated them "as if they had been rogues and vagabonds." the marquis of havre, high-born though he was, had been sufficiently used to such conduct. the man who had successively served and betrayed every party, who had been the obsequious friend and the avowed enemy of don john within the same fortnight, and who had been able to swallow and inwardly digest many an insult from that fiery warrior, was even fain to brook the insolence of robert melun. the papers which the deputation had brought were finally laid before the states of artois, and received replies as prompt and bitter as the addresses were earnest and eloquent. the walloons, when summoned to hold to that aegis of national unity, the ghent peace, replied that it was not they, but the heretic portion of the states-general, who were for dashing it to the ground. the ghent treaty was never intended to impair the supremacy of the catholic religion, said those provinces, which were already on the point of separating for ever from the rest. the ghent treaty was intended expressly to destroy the inquisition and the placards, answered the national-party. moreover, the "very marrow of that treaty" was the-departure of the foreign soldiers, who were even then overrunning the land. the walloons answered that alexander had expressly conceded the withdrawal of the troops. "believe not the fluting and the piping of the crafty foe," urged the patriots. "promises are made profusely enough--but only to lure you to perdition. your enemies allow you to slake your hunger and thirst with this idle hope of the troops' departure, but you are still in fetters, although the chain be of spanish pinchbeck, which you mistake for gold." "'tis not we," cried the walloons, "who wish to separate from the generality; 'tis the generality which separates from us. we had rather die the death than not maintain the union. in the very same breath, however, they boasted of the excellent terms which the monarch was offering, and of their strong inclination to accept them." "kings, struggling to recover a lost authority, always promise golden mountains and every sort of miracles," replied the patriots; but the warning was uttered in vain. meantime the deputation from the city of brussels arrived on the th of march at mons, in hainault, where they were received with great courtesy by count de lalain, governor of the province. the enthusiasm with which he had espoused the cause of queen margaret and her brother anjou had cooled, but the count received the brussels envoys with a kindness in marked contrast with the brutality of melun. he made many fine speeches--protesting his attachment to, the union, for which he was ready to shed the last drop of his blood--entertained the deputies at dinner, proposed toasts to the prosperity of the united provinces, and dismissed his guests at last with many flowery professions. after dancing attendance for a few days, however, upon the estates of the walloon provinces, both sets of deputies were warned to take their instant departure as mischief-makers and rebels. they returned, accordingly, to brussels, bringing the written answers which the estates had vouchsafed to send. the states-general, too, inspired by william of orange, addressed a solemn appeal to their sister provinces, thus about to abjure the bonds of relationship for ever. it seemed right, once for all, to grapple with the ghent pacification for the last time, and to strike a final blow in defence of that large statesmanlike interpretation, which alone could make the treaty live. this was done eloquently and logically. the walloons were reminded that at the epoch of the ghent peace the number of reformers outside of holland and zealand was supposed small. now the new religion had spread its roots through the whole land, and innumerable multitudes desired its exercise. if holland and zealand chose to reestablish the catholic worship within their borders, they could manifestly do so without violating the treaty of ghent. why then was it not competent to other provinces, with equal allegiance to the treaty, to sanction the reformed religion within their limits? parma, on his part, publicly invited the states-general, by letter, to sustain the ghent treaty by accepting the terms offered to the walloons, and by restoring the system of the emperor charles, of very lofty memory. to this superfluous invitation the states-general replied, on the th of march, that it had been the system of the emperor charles; of lofty memory, to maintain the supremacy of catholicism and of majesty in the netherlands by burning netherlanders--a custom which the states, with common accord, had thought it desirable to do away with. in various fervently-written appeals by orange, by the states-general, and by other bodies, the wavering provinces were warned against seduction. they were reminded that the prince of parma was using this minor negotiation "as a second string to his bow;" that nothing could be more puerile than to suppose the spaniards capable, after securing maestricht, of sending away their troops thus "deserting the bride in the midst of the honeymoon." they expressed astonishment at being invited to abandon the great and general treaty which had been made upon the theatre of the whole world by the intervention of the principal princes of christendom, in order to partake in underhand negotiation with the commissioners of parma-men, "who, it would not be denied, were felons and traitors." they warned their brethren not to embark on the enemy's ships in the dark, for that, while chaffering as to the price of the voyage, they would find that the false pilots had hoisted sail and borne them away in the night. in vain would they then seek to reach the shore again. the example of la motte and others, "bird-limed with spanish gold," should be salutary for all-men who were now driven forward with a whip, laughed to scorn by their new masters, and forced to drink the bitter draught of humiliation along with the sweet poison of bribery. they were warned to study well the intercepted letters of curiel, in order fully to fathom the deep designs and secret contempt of the enemy. such having been the result of the negotiations between the states-general and the walloon provinces, a strong deputation now went forth from those provinces, towards the end of april, to hold a final colloquy with parma, then already busied with the investment of maestricht. they were met upon the road with great ceremony, and escorted into the presence of farnese with drum, trumpet, and flaunting banners. he received them with stately affability, in a magnificently decorated pavilion, carelessly inviting them to a repast, which he called an afternoon's lunch, but which proved a most sumptuous and splendidly appointed entertainment. this "trifling foolish banquet" finished, the deputies were escorted, with great military parade, to the lodgings which had been provided for them in a neighbouring village. during the period of their visit, all the chief officers of the army and the household were directed to entertain the walloons with showy festivals, dinners, suppers, dances, and carousals of all kinds. at one of the most brilliant of these revels--a magnificent ball, to which all the matrons and maids of the whole country round had been bidden--the prince of parma himself unexpectedly made his appearance. he gently rebuked the entertainers for indulging in such splendid hospitality without, at least, permitting him to partake of it. charmingly affable to the ladies assembled in the ball-room, courteous, but slightly reserved, towards the walloon envoys, he excited the admiration of all by the splendid decorum of his manners. as he moved through the halls, modulating his steps in grave cadence to the music, the dignity and grace of his deportment seemed truly majestic; but when he actually danced a measure himself the enthusiasm was at its height. they should, indeed, be rustics, cried the walloon envoys in a breath, not to give the hand of fellowship at once to a prince so condescending and amiable. the exclamation seemed to embody the general wish, and to foreshadow a speedy conclusion. very soon afterwards a preliminary accord was signed between the king's government and the walloon provinces. the provisions on his majesty's part were sufficiently liberal. the religious question furnishing no obstacle, it was comparatively easy for philip to appear benignant. it was stipulated that the provincial privileges should be respected; that a member of the king's own family, legitimately born, should always be governor-general, and that the foreign troops should be immediately withdrawn. the official exchange and ratification of this treaty were delayed till the th of the following september, but the news that, the reconciliation had been definitely settled soon spread through the country. the catholics were elated, the patriots dismayed. orange-the "prince of darkness," as the walloons of the day were fond of calling him--still unwilling to despair, reluctant to accept this dismemberment, which he foresaw was to be a perpetual one, of his beloved country, addressed the most passionate and solemn adjurations to the walloon provinces, and to their military chieftains. he offered all his children as hostages for his good faith in keeping sacredly any covenant which his catholic countrymen might be willing to close with him. it was in vain. the step was irretrievably taken; religious bigotry, patrician jealousy, and wholesale bribery, had severed the netherlands in twain for ever. the friends of romanism, the enemies of civil and religious liberty, exulted from one end of christendom to the other, and it was recognized that parma had, indeed, achieved a victory which although bloodless, was as important to the cause of absolutism as any which even his sword was likely to achieve. the joy of the catholic party in paris manifested itself in a variety of ways. at the principal theatre an uncouth pantomime was exhibited, in which his catholic majesty was introduced upon the stage, leading by a halter a sleek cow, typifying the netherlands. the animal by a sudden effort, broke the cord, and capered wildly about. alexander of parma hastened to fasten the fragments together, while sundry personages, representing the states-general, seized her by the horns, some leaping upon her back, others calling upon the bystanders to assist in holding the restive beast. the emperor, the king of france, and the queen of england--which last personage was observed now to smile upon one party, now to affect deep sympathy with the other--remained stationary; but the duke of alencon rushed upon the stage, and caught the cow by the tail. the prince of orange and hans casimir then appeared with a bucket, and set themselves busily to milk her, when alexander again seized the halter. the cow gave a plunge, upset the pail, prostrated casimir with one kick and orange with another, and then followed parma with docility as he led her back to philip. this seems not very "admirable fooling," but it was highly relished by the polite parisians of the sixteenth century, and has been thought worthy of record by classical historians. the walloon accord was an auspicious prelude, in the eyes of the friends of absolutism, to the negotiations which were opened in the month of may, at cologne. before sketching, as rapidly as possible, those celebrated but barren conferences, it is necessary, for the sake of unity in the narrative, to cast a glance at certain synchronical events in different parts of the netherlands. the success attained by the catholic party in the walloon negotiations had caused a corresponding bitterness in the hearts of the reformers throughout the country. as usual, bitterness had begot bitterness; intolerance engendered intolerance. on the th of may, , as the catholics of antwerp were celebrating the ommegang--the same festival which had been the exciting cause of the memorable tumults of the year sixty-five--the irritation of the populace could not be repressed. the mob rose in its wrath to put down these demonstrations--which, taken in connection with recent events, seemed ill-timed and insolent--of a religion whose votaries then formed but a small minority of the antwerp citizens. there was a great tumult. two persons were killed. the archduke matthias, who was himself in the cathedral of notre dame assisting at the ceremony, was in danger of his life. the well known cry of "paapen uit" (out with the papists) resounded through the streets, and the priests and monks were all hustled out of town amid a tempest of execrations. orange did his utmost to quell the mutiny, nor were his efforts fruitless--for the uproar, although seditious and disgraceful, was hardly sanguinary. next day the prince summoned the magistracy, the monday council, the guild officers, with all the chief municipal functionaries, and expressed his indignation in decided terms. he protested that if such tumults, originating in that very spirit of intolerance which he most deplored, could not be repressed for the future, he was determined to resign his offices, and no longer to affect authority in a city where his counsels were derided. the magistrates, alarmed at his threats, and sympathizing with his anger, implored him not to desert them, protesting that if he should resign his offices, they would instantly lay down their own. an ordinance was then drawn up and immediately, proclaimed at the town house, permitting the catholics to re-enter the city, and to enjoy the privileges of religious worship. at the same time, it was announced that a new draft of a religious peace would be forthwith issued for the adoption of every city. a similar tumult, arising from the same cause, at utrecht, was attended with the like result. on the other hand, the city of brussels was astonished by a feeble and unsuccessful attempts at treason, made by a youth who bore an illustrious name. philip, count of egmont, eldest son of the unfortunate lamoral, had command of a regiment in the service of the states. he had, besides, a small body of cavalry in immediate attendance upon his person. he had for some time felt inclined--like the lalains, meluns, la mottes, and others to reconcile himself with the crown, and he wisely thought that the terms accorded to him would be more liberal if he could bring the capital of brabant with him as a peace offering to his majesty. his residence was in brussels. his regiment was stationed outside the gates, but in the immediate neighbourhood of the city. on the morning of the th of june he despatched his troopers--as had been frequently his custom--on various errands into the country. on their return, after having summoned the regiment, they easily mastered and butchered the guard at the gate through which they had re-entered, supplying their place with men from their own ranks. the egmont regiment then came marching through the gate in good order--count philip at their head--and proceeded to station themselves upon the grande place in the centre of the city. all this was at dawn of day. the burghers, who looked forth from their houses, were astounded and perplexed by this movement at so unwonted an hour, and hastened to seize their weapons. egmont sent a detachment to take possession of the palace. he was too late. colonel van der tympel, commandant of the city, had been beforehand with him, had got his troops under arms, and now secured the rebellious detachment. meantime, the alarm had spread. armed burghers came from every house, and barricades were hastily thrown up across every one of the narrow streets leading to the square. every issue was closed. not a man of egmont's adherents--if he indeed had adherents among the townsmen--dared to show his face. the young traitor and his whole regiment, drawn up on the grande place, were completely entrapped. he had not taken brussels, but assuredly brussels had taken him. all day long he was kept in his self-elected prison and pillory, bursting with rage and shame. his soldiers, who were without meat or drink, became insolent and uproarious, and he was doomed also to hear the bitter and well-merited taunts of the towns-people. a thousand stinging gibes, suggested by his name and the locality, were mercilessly launched upon him. he was asked if he came thither to seek his father's head. he was reminded that the morrow was the anniversary of that father's murder upon that very spot--by those with whom the son would now make his treasonable peace. he was bidden to tear up but a few stones from the pavement beneath his feet, that the hero's blood might cry out against him from the very ground. tears of shame and fury sprang from the young man's eyes as he listened to these biting sarcasms, but the night closed upon that memorable square, and still the count was a prisoner. eleven years before, the summer stars had looked down upon a more dense array of armed men within that place. the preparations for the pompous and dramatic execution, which on the morrow was to startle all europe, had been carried out in the midst of a hushed and overawed population; and now, on the very anniversary of the midnight in which that scaffold had risen, should not the grand spectre of the victim have started from the grave to chide his traitorous son? thus for a whole day and night was the baffled conspirator compelled to remain in the ignominious position which he had selected for himself. on the morning of the th of june he was permitted to depart, by a somewhat inexplicable indulgence, together with all his followers. he rode out of the gate at early dawn, contemptible and crest-fallen, at the head of his regiment of traitors, and shortly afterwards--pillaging and levying black mail as he went--made his way to montigny's quarters. it might have seemed natural, after such an exhibition, that philip egmont should accept his character of renegade, and confess his intention of reconciling himself with the murderers of his father. on the contrary, he addressed a letter to the magistracy of brussels, denying with vehemence "any intention of joining the party of the pernicious spaniards," warmly protesting his zeal and affection for the states, and denouncing the "perverse inventors of these calumnies against him as the worst enemies of the poor afflicted country." the magistrates replied by expressing their inability to comprehend how the count, who had suffered villainous wrongs from the spaniards, such as he could never sufficiently deplore or avenge, should ever be willing to enslave himself, to those tyrants. nevertheless, exactly at the moment of this correspondence, egmont was in close negotiation with spain, having fifteen days before the date of his letter to the brussels senate, conveyed to parma his resolution to "embrace the cause of his majesty and the ancient religion"--an intention which he vaunted himself to have proved "by cutting the throats of three companies of states' soldiers at nivelle, grandmont, and ninove." parma had already written to communicate the intelligence to the king, and to beg encouragement for the count. in september, the monarch wrote a letter to egmont, full of gratitude and promises, to which the count replied by expressing lively gratification that his majesty was pleased with his little services, by avowing profound attachment to church and king, and by asking eagerly for money, together with the government of alost. he soon became singularly importunate for rewards and promotion, demanding, among other posts, the command of the "band of ordnance," which had been his father's. parma, in reply, was prodigal of promises, reminding the young noble "that he was serving a sovereign who well knew how to reward the distinguished exploits of his subjects." such was the language of philip the second and his governor to the son of the headless hero of saint quentin; such was the fawning obsequiousness with which egmont could kiss that royal hand reeking with his father's blood. meanwhile the siege of maestricht had been advancing with steady precision. to military minds of that epoch--perhaps of later ages--this achievement of parma seemed a masterpiece of art. the city commanded the upper meuse, and was the gate into germany. it contained thirty-four thousand inhabitants. an army, numbering almost as many souls, was brought against it; and the number of deaths by which its capture was at last effected, was probably equal to that of a moiety of the population. to the technical mind, the siege no doubt seemed a beautiful creation of human intelligence. to the honest student of history, to the lover of human progress, such a manifestation of intellect seems a sufficiently sad exhibition. given, a city with strong walls and towers, a slender garrison and a devoted population on one side; a consummate chieftain on the other, with an army of veterans at his back, no interruption to fear, and a long season to work in; it would not seem to an unsophisticated mind a very lofty exploit for the soldier to carry the city at the end of four months' hard labor. the investment of maestricht was commenced upon the th of march, . in the city, besides the population, there were two thousand peasants, both men and women, a garrison of one thousand soldiers; and a trained burgher guard; numbering about twelve hundred. the name of the military commandant was melchior. sebastian tappin, a lorraine officer of much experience and bravery, was next in command, and was, in truth, the principal director of the operations. he had been despatched thither by the prince of orange, to serve under la none, who was to have commanded in maestricht, but had been unable to enter the city. feeling that the siege was to be a close one, and knowing how much depended upon the issue, sebastian lost no time in making every needful preparation for coming events. the walls were strengthened everywhere; shafts were sunk, preparatory to the countermining operations which were soon to become necessary; the moat was deepened and cleared, and the forts near the gates were put in thorough repair. on the other hand, alexander had encircled the city, and had thrown two bridges, well fortified, across the river. there were six gates to the town, each provided with ravelins, and there was a doubt in what direction the first attack should be made. opinions wavered between the gate of bois-le-duc, next the river, and that of tongres on the south-western side, but it was finally decided to attempt the gate of tongres. over against that point the platforms were accordingly constructed, and after a heavy cannonade from forty-six great guns continued for several days, it was thought, by the th of march, that an impression had been made upon the city. a portion of the brick curtain had crumbled, but through the breach was seen a massive terreplein, well moated, which, after six thousand shots already delivered on the outer wall--still remained uninjured. it was recognized that the gate of tongres was not the most assailable, but rather the strongest portion of the defences, and alexander therefore determined to shift his batteries to the gate of bois-le-duc. at the same time, the attempt upon that of tongres was to be varied, but not abandoned. four thousand miners, who had passed half their lives in burrowing for coal in that anthracite region, had been furnished by the bishop of liege, and this force was now set to their subterranean work. a mine having been opened at a distance, the besiegers slowly worked their way towards the tongres gate, while at the same time the more ostensible operations were in the opposite direction. the besieged had their miners also, for the peasants in the city had been used to work with mattock and pickaxe. the women, too, enrolled themselves into companies, chose their officers--or "mine-mistresses," as they were called--and did good service daily in the caverns of the earth. thus a whole army of gnomes were noiselessly at work to destroy and defend the beleaguered city. the mine advanced towards the gate; the besieged delved deeper, and intersected it with a transverse excavation, and the contending forces met daily, in deadly encounter, within these sepulchral gangways. many stratagems were, mutually employed. the citizens secretly constructed a dam across the spanish mine, and then deluged their foe with hogsheads of boiling water. hundreds were thus scalded to death. they heaped branches and light fagots in the hostile mine, set fire to the pile, and blew thick volumes of smoke along the passage with organ-bellows brought from the churches for the purpose. many were thus suffocated. the discomfited besiegers abandoned the mine where they had met with such able countermining, and sunk another shaft, at midnight, in secret, at a long distance from the tongres gate. still towards that point, however, they burrowed in the darkness; guiding themselves to their destination with magnet, plumbline and level, as the mariner crosses the trackless ocean with compass and chart. they worked their way, unobstructed, till they arrived at their subterranean port, directly beneath the doomed ravelin. here they constructed a spacious chamber, supporting it with columns, and making all their architectural arrangements with as much precision and elegance as if their object had been purely esthetic. coffers full of powder, to an enormous amount, were then placed in every direction across the floor, the train was laid, and parma informed that all was ready. alexander, having already arrayed the troops destined for the assault, then proceeded in person to the mouth of the shaft, and gave orders to spring the mine. the explosion was prodigious; a part of the tower fell with the concussion, and the moat was choked with heaps of rubbish. the assailants sprang across the passage thus afforded, and mastered the ruined portion of the fort. they were met in the breach, however, by the unflinching defenders of the city, and, after a fierce combat of some hours, were obliged to retire; remaining masters, however, of the moat, and of the ruined portion of the ravelin. this was upon the rd of april. five days afterwards, a general assault was ordered. a new mine having been already constructed towards the tongres ravelin, and a faithful cannonade having been kept up for a fortnight against the bois-le-duc gate, it was thought advisable to attack at both points at once. on the th of april, accordingly, after uniting in prayer, and listening to a speech from alexander farnese, the great mass of the spanish army advanced to the breach. the moat had been rendered practicable in many places by the heaps of rubbish with which it had been encumbered, and by the fagots and earth with which it had been filled by the besiegers. the action at the bois-le-duc gate was exceedingly warm. the tried veterans of spain, italy, and burgundy, were met face to face by the burghers of maestricht, together with their wives and children. all were armed to the teeth, and fought with what seemed superhuman valor. the women, fierce as tigresses defending their young, swarmed to the walls, and fought in the foremost rank. they threw pails of boiling water on the besiegers, they hurled firebrands in their faces; they quoited blazing pitch-hoops with, unerring dexterity about their necks. the rustics too, armed with their ponderous flails, worked as cheerfully at this bloody harvesting as if thrashing their corn at home. heartily did they winnow the ranks of the royalists who came to butcher them, and thick and fast fell the invaders, fighting bravely, but baffled by these novel weapons used by peasant and woman, coming to the aid of the sword; spear, and musket of trained soldiery. more than a thousand had fallen at the bois-le-duc gate, and still fresh besiegers mounted the breach, only to be beaten back, or to add to the mangled heap of the slain. at the tongres gate, meanwhile, the assault had fared no better. a herald had been despatched thither in hot haste, to shout at the top of his lungs, "santiago! santiago! the lombards have the gate of bois-le-duc!" while the same stratagem was employed to persuade the invaders on the other side of the town that their comrades had forced the gate of tongres. the soldiers, animated by this fiction, and advancing with fury against the famous ravelin; which had been but partly destroyed, were received with a broadside from the great guns of the unshattered portion, and by a rattling discharge of musketry from the walls. they wavered a little. at the same instant the new mine--which was to have been sprung between the ravelin and the gate, but which had been secretly countermined by the townspeople, exploded with a horrible concussion, at a moment least expected by the besiegers. five hundred royalists were blown into the air. ortiz, a spanish captain of engineers, who had been inspecting the excavations, was thrown up bodily from the subterranean depth. he fell back again instantly into the same cavern, and was buried by the returning shower of earth which had spouted from the mine. forty-five years afterwards, in digging for the foundations of a new wall, his skeleton was found. clad in complete armor, the helmet and cuirass still sound, with his gold chain around his neck, and his mattock and pickaxe at his feet, the soldier lay unmutilated, seeming almost capable of resuming his part in the same war which--even after his half century's sleep--was still ravaging the land. five hundred of the spaniards, perished by the explosion, but none of the defenders were injured, for they, had been prepared. recovering from the momentary panic, the besiegers again rushed to the attack. the battle raged. six hundred and seventy officers, commissioned or non-commissioned, had already fallen, more than half mortally wounded. four thousand royalists, horribly mutilated, lay on the ground. it was time that the day's work should be finished, for maastricht was not to be carried upon that occasion. the best and bravest of the surviving officers besought parma to put an end to the carnage by recalling the troops; but the gladiator heart of the commander was heated, not softened, by the savage spectacle. "go back to the breach," he cried, "and tell the soldiers that alexander is coming to lead them into the city in triumph, or to perish with his comrades." he rushed forward with the fury which had marked him when he boarded mustapha's galley at lepanto; but all the generals who were near him threw themselves upon his path, and implored him to desist from such insensate rashness. their expostulations would have probably been in vain, had not his confidential friend, serbelloni, interposed with something like paternal authority, reminding him of the strict commands contained in his majesty's recent letters, that the governor-general, to whom so much was entrusted, should refrain, on pain of the royal displeasure, from exposing his life like a common fighter. alexander reluctantly gave the signal of recal at last, and accepted the defeat. for the future he determined to rely more upon the sapper and miner, and less upon the superiority of veterans to townsmen and rustics in open fight. sure to carry the city at last, according to line and rule, determined to pass the whole summer beneath the walls, rather than abandon his purpose, he calmly proceeded to complete his circumvallations. a chain of eleven forts upon the left, and five upon the right side of the meuse, the whole connected by a continuous wall, afforded him perfect security against interruptions, and allowed him to continue the siege at leisure. his numerous army was well housed and amply supplied, and he had built a strong and populous city in order to destroy another. relief was impossible. but a few thousand men were now required to defend farnese's improvised town, while the bulk of his army could be marched at any moment against an advancing foe. a force of seven thousand, painfully collected by the prince of orange, moved towards the place, under command of hohenlo and john of nassau, but struck with wonder at what they saw, the leaders recognized the hopelessness of attempting relief. maestricht was surrounded by a second maestricht. the efforts of orange were now necessarily directed towards obtaining, if possible, a truce of a few weeks from the negotiators at cologne. parma was too crafty, however, to allow terranova to consent, and as the duke disclaimed any power over the direct question of peace and war, the siege proceeded. the gates of bois-le-duc and tongres having thus far resisted the force brought against them, the scene was changed to the gate of brussels. this adjoined that of tongres, was farthest from the river, and faced westwardly towards the open country. here the besieged had constructed an additional ravelin, which they had christened, in derision, "parma," and against which the batteries of parma were now brought to bear. alexander erected a platform of great extent and strength directly opposite the new work, and after a severe and constant cannonade from this elevation, followed by a bloody action, the "parma" fort was carried. one thousand, at least, of the defenders fell, as, forced gradually from one defence to another, they saw the triple walls of their ravelin crumble successively before their eyes. the tower was absolutely annihilated before they abandoned its ruins, and retired within their last defences. alexander being now master of the fosa and the defences of the brussels gate, drew up a large force on both aides of that portal, along the margin of the moat, and began mining beneath the inner wall of the city. meantime, the garrison had been reduced to four hundred soldiers, nearly all of whom were wounded: wearied and driven to despair, these soldiers were willing to treat. the townspeople, however, answered the proposition with a shout of fury, and protested that they would destroy the garrison with their own hands if such an insinuation were repeated. sebastian tappin, too, encouraged them with the hope of speedy relief, and held out to them the wretched consequences of trusting to the mercy of their foes. the garrison took heart again, while that of the burghers and their wives had, never faltered. their main hope now was in a fortification which they had been constructing inside the brussels gate--a demilune of considerable strength. behind it was a breastwork of turf and masonry, to serve as a last bulwark when every other defence should be forced. the whole had been surrounded by a foss thirty feet in depth, and the besiegers, as they mounted upon the breaches which they had at last effected in the outer curtain, near the brussels gate, saw for the first time this new fortification. the general condition of the defences, and the disposition of the inhabitants, had been revealed to alexander by a deserter from the town. against this last fortress the last efforts of the foe were now directed. alexander ordered a bridge to be thrown across the city moat. as it was sixty feet wide and as many deep, and lay directly beneath the guns of the new demilune, the enterprise was sufficiently hazardous. alexander led the way in person, with a mallet in one hand and a mattockin the other. two men fell dead instantly, one on his right hand and his left, while he calmly commenced, in his own person, the driving of the first piles for the bridge. his soldiers fell fast around him. count berlaymont was shot dead, many officers of distinction were killed or wounded, but no soldier dared recoil while their chieftain wrought amid the bullets like a common pioneer. alexander, unharmed, as by a miracle, never left the spot till the bridge had been constructed, and till ten great guns had been carried across it, and pointed against the demilune. the battery was opened, the mines previously excavated were sprung, a part of the demilune was blown into the air, and the assailants sprang into the breach. again a furious hand-to-hand conflict succeeded; again, after an obstinate resistance, the townspeople were forced to yield. slowly abandoning the shattered fort, they retired behind the breastwork in its rear--their innermost and last defence. to this barrier they clung as to a spar in shipwreck, and here at last they stood at bay, prepared dearly to sell their lives. the breastwork, being still strong, was not attempted upon that day. the assailants were recalled, and in the mean time a herald was sent by parma, highly applauding the courage of the defenders, and begging them to surrender at discretion. they answered the messenger with words of haughty defiance, and, rushing in a mass to the breastwork, began with spade, pickax, and trowel, to add to its strength. here all the able-bodied men of the town took up their permanent position, and here they ate, drank, and slept upon their posts, while their food was brought to them by the women and children. a little letter, "written in a fine neat handwriting," now mysteriously arrived in the city, encouraging them in the name of the archduke and the prince of orange, and assuring them of relief within fourteen days. a brief animation was thus produced, attended by a corresponding languor upon the part of the besiegers, for alexander had been lying ill with a fever since the day when the demilune had been carried. from his sick bed he rebuked his officers severely that a temporary breastwork, huddled together by boors and burghers in the midst of a siege, should prove an insurmountable obstacle to men who had carried everything before them. the morrow was the festival of saint peter and saint paul, and it was meet that so sacred a day should be hallowed by a christian and apostolic victory. saint peter would be there with, his keys to open the gate; saint paul would lead them to battle with his invincible sword. orders were given accordingly, and the assault was assigned for the following morning. meantime, the guards were strengthened and commanded to be more than usually watchful. the injunction had a remarkable effect. at the dead of night, a soldier of the watch was going his rounds on the outside of the breastwork, listening, if perchance he might catch, as was not unusual, a portion of the conversation among the beleaguered burghers within. prying about on every side, he at last discovered a chink in the wall, the result, doubtless, of the last cannonade, and hitherto overlooked. he enlarged the gap with his fingers, and finally made an opening wide enough to admit his person. he crept boldly through, and looked around in the clear starlight. the sentinels were all slumbering at their posts. he advanced stealthily in the dusky streets. not a watchman was going his rounds. soldiers, burghers, children, women, exhausted by incessant fatigue, were all asleep. not a footfall was heard; not a whisper broke the silence; it seemed a city of the dead. the soldier crept back through the crevice, and hastened to apprise his superiors of his adventure. alexander, forthwith instructed as to the condition of the city, at once ordered the assault, and the last wall was suddenly stormed before the morning broke. the soldiers forced their way through the breach or sprang over the breastwork, and surprised at last--in its sleep--the city which had so long and vigorously defended itself. the burghers, startled from their slumber, bewildered, unprepared, found themselves engaged in unequal conflict with alert and savage foes. the battle, as usual when netherland towns were surprised by philip's soldiers, soon changed to a massacre. the townspeople rushed hither and thither, but there was neither escape, nor means of resisting an enemy who now poured into the town by thousands upon thousands. an indiscriminate slaughter succeeded: women, old men, and children, had all been combatants; and all, therefore, had incurred the vengeance of the conquerors. a cry of agony arose which was distinctly heard at the distance of a league. mothers took their infants in their arms, and threw themselves by hundreds into the meuse--and against women the blood-thirst of the assailants was especially directed. females who had fought daily in the trenches, who had delved in mines and mustered on the battlements, had unsexed themselves in the opinion of those whose comrades they had helped to destroy. it was nothing that they had laid aside the weakness of women in order to defend all that was holy and dear to them on earth. it was sufficient that many a spanish, burgundian, or italian mercenary had died by their hands. women were pursued from house to house, and hurled from roof and window. they were hunted into the river; they were torn limb from limb in the streets. men and children fared no better; but the heart sickens at the oft-repeated tale. horrors, alas, were commonplaces in the netherlands. cruelty too monstrous for description, too vast to be believed by a mind not familiar with the outrages practised by the soldiers of spain and italy upon their heretic fellow-creatures, were now committed afresh in the streets of maestricht. on the first day four thousand men and women were slaughtered. the massacre lasted two days longer; nor would it be an exaggerated estimate, if we assume that the amount of victims upon the two last days was equal to half the number sacrificed on the first. it was said that not four hundred citizens were left alive after the termination of the siege. these soon wandered away, their places being supplied by a rabble rout of walloon sutlers and vagabonds. maestricht was depopulated as well as captured. the booty obtained after the massacre was very large, for the city had been very thriving, its cloth manufacture extensive and important. sebastian tappin, the heroic defender of the place, had been shot through the shoulder at the taking of the parma ravelin, and had been afterwards severely injured at the capture of the demilune. at the fall of the city he was mortally wounded, and carried a prisoner to the hostile camp, only to expire. the governor, swartsenberg, also lost his life. alexander, on the contrary, was raised from his sick bed with the joyful tidings of victory, and as soon as he could be moved, made his appearance in the city. seated in a splendid chair of state, borne aloft on the shoulders of his veterans, with a golden canopy above his head to protect him from the summer's sun, attended by the officers of his staff, who were decked by his special command in, their gayest trappings, escorted by his body-guard, followed by his "plumed troops," to the number of twenty thousand, surrounded by all the vanities of war, the hero made his stately entrance into the town. his way led through deserted streets of shattered houses. the pavement ran red with blood. headless corpses, mangled limbs--an obscene mass of wretchedness and corruption, were spread on every side, and tainted the summer air. through the thriving city which, in the course of four months alexander had converted into a slaughter-house and a solitude, the pompous procession took its course to the church of saint servais. here humble thanks were offered to the god of love, and to jesus of nazareth, for this new victory. especially was gratitude expressed to the apostles paul and peter; upon whose festival, and by whose sword and key the crowning mercy had been accomplished,--and by whose special agency eight thousand heretics now lay unburied in the streets. these acts of piety performed, the triumphal procession returned to the camp, where, soon afterwards, the joyful news of alexander farnese's entire convalescence was proclaimed. the prince of orange, as usual, was blamed for the tragical termination to this long drama. all that one man could do, he had done to awaken his countrymen to the importance of the siege. he had repeatedly brought the subject solemnly before the assembly, and implored for maestricht, almost upon his knees. lukewarm and parsimonious, the states had responded to his eloquent appeals with wrangling addressee and insufficient votes. with a special subsidy obtained in april and may, he had organized the slight attempt at relief, which was all which he had been empowered to make, but which proved entirely unsuccessful. now that the massacre to be averted was accomplished, men were loud in reproof, who had been silent, and passive while there was yet time to speak and to work. it was the prince, they said, who had delivered so many thousands of his fellow-countrymen to, butchery. to save himself, they insinuated he was now plotting to deliver the land into the power of the treacherous frenchman, and he alone, they asserted, was the insuperable obstacle to an honorable peace with spain. a letter, brought by an unknown messenger, was laid before the states' assembly, in full session, and sent to the clerk's table, to be read aloud. after the first few sentences, that functionary faltered in his recital. several members also peremptorily ordered him to stop; for the letter proved to be a violent and calumnious libel upon orange, together with a strong appeal in favor of the peace propositions then under debate at cologne. the prince alone, of all the assembly, preserving his tranquillity, ordered the document to be brought to him, and forthwith read it aloud himself, from beginning to end. afterwards, he took occasion to express his mind concerning the ceaseless calumnies of which he was the mark. he especially alluded to the oft-repeated accusation that he was the only obstacle to peace, and repeated that he was ready at that moment to leave the land, and to close his lips for ever, if by so doing he could benefit his country, and restore her to honorable repose. the outcry, with the protestations of attachment and confidence which at once broke from the assembly, convinced him, however, that he was deeply rooted in the hearts of all patriotic netherlanders, and that it was beyond the power of slanderers to loosen his hold upon their affection. meantime, his efforts had again and again been demanded to restore order in that abode of anarchy, the city of ghent. after his visit during the previous winter, and the consequent departure of john casimir to the palatinate, the pacific arrangements made by the prince had for a short time held good. early in march, however, that master of misrule, john van imbize, had once more excited the populace to sedition. again the property of catholics, clerical and lay, was plundered; again the persons of catholics, of every degree, were maltreated. the magistrates, with first senator imbize at their head, rather encouraged than rebuked the disorder; but orange, as soon as he received official intelligence of the event, hastened to address them in the words of earnest warning and wisdom. he allowed that the inhabitants of the province had reason to be discontented with the presence and the misconduct of the walloon soldiery. he granted that violence and the menaces of a foreign tyranny made it difficult for honest burghers to gain a livelihood. at the same time he expressed astonishment that reasonable men should seek a remedy for such evils in tumults which would necessarily bring utter destruction upon the land. "it was," he observed, "as if a patient should from impatience, tear the bandages from his wounds, and, like a maniac, instead of allowing himself to be cured, plunge a dagger into his own heart." these exhortations exerted a wholesome effect for a moment, but matters soon went from bad to worse. imbize, fearing the influence of the prince, indulged in open-mouthed abuse of a man whose character he was unable even to comprehend, he accused him of intriguing with france for his own benefit, of being a papist in disguise, of desiring to establish what he called a "religious peace," merely to restore roman idolatry. in all these insane ravings, the demagogue was most ably seconded by the ex-monk. incessant and unlicensed were the invectives hurled by peter dathenus from his pulpit upon william the silent's head. he denounced him--as he had often done before--as an atheist in heart; as a man who changed his religion as easily as his garments; as a man who knew no god but state expediency, which was the idol of his worship; a mere politician who would tear his shirt from his back and throw it in the fire, if he thought it were tainted with religion. such witless but vehement denunciation from a preacher who was both popular and comparatively sincere, could, not but affect the imagination of the weaker portion of his, healers. the faction of imbize became triumphant. ryhove--the ruffian whose hands were stained with the recent blood of visch and hessels--rather did damage than service to the cause of order. he opposed himself to the demagogue who was prating daily of greece, rome, and geneva, while his clerical associate was denouncing william of orange, but he opposed himself in vain. an attempt to secure the person of imbize failed, but by the influence of ryhove, however, a messenger was despatched to antwerp in the name of a considerable portion of the community of ghent. the counsel and the presence of the man to whom all hearts in every part of the netherlands instinctively turned in the hour of need, were once more invoked. the prince again addressed them in language which none but he could employ with such effect. he told them that his life, passed in service and sacrifice, ought to witness sufficiently for his fidelity. nevertheless, he thought it necessary--in view of the calumnies which were circulated--to repeat once more his sentiment that no treaty of peace, war, or alliance, ought to be negotiated, save with the consent of the people. his course in holland and zealand had proved, he said, his willingness always to consult the wishes of his countrymen. as for the matter of religion it was almost incredible that there should be any who doubted the zeal which he bore the religion for which he had suffered so much. "i desire," he continued, fervently, "that men should compare that which has been done by my accusers during ten years past with that which i have done. in that which touches the true advancement of religion, i will yield to no man. they who so boldly accuse me have no liberty of speech, save that which has been acquired for them by the blood of my kindred, by my labors, and my excessive expenditures. to me they owe it that they dare speak at all." this letter, (which was dated on the th of july, ) contained an assurance that the writer was about to visit ghent. on the following day, imbize executed a coup d'etat. having a body of near two thousand soldiers at his disposal, he suddenly secured the persons of all the magistrates and other notable individuals not friendly to his policy, and then, in violation of all law, set up a new board of eighteen irresponsible functionaries, according to a list prepared by himself alone. this was his way of enforcing the democratic liberty of greece, rome, and geneva, which was so near to his heart. a proclamation, in fourteen articles, was forthwith issued, justifying this arbitrary proceeding. it was declared that the object of the somewhat irregular measure "was to prevent the establishment of the religious peace, which was merely a method of replanting uprooted papistry and the extirpated tyranny of spain." although the arrangement's had not been made in strict accordance with formal usage and ceremony, yet they were defended upon the ground that it had been impossible, by other means, to maintain their ancient liberties and their religious freedom. at the same time a pamphlet, already prepared for the occasion by dathenus, was extensively circulated. in this production the arbitrary revolution effected by a demagogue was defended with effrontery, while the character, of orange, was loaded with customary abuse. to prevent the traitor from coming to ghent, and establishing what he called his religious peace, these irregular measures, it was urged, had been wisely taken. such were the efforts of john imbize--such the calumnies of peter dathenus--in order to counteract the patriotic endeavors of the prince; but neither the ruffianism of john nor the libels of peter were destined upon this occasion to be successful. william the silent treated the slanders of the scolding monk with dignified contempt. "having been informed," said he to the magistrates of ghent, "that master peter dathenns has been denouncing me as a man without religion or fidelity, and full of ambition, with other propositions hardly becoming his cloth; i do not think it worth while to answer more at this time than that i willingly refer myself to the judgment of all who know me." the prince came to ghent, great as had been the efforts of imbize and his partisans to prevent his coming. his presence was like magic. the demagogue and his whole flock vanished like unclean birds at the first rays of the sun. imbize dared not look the father of his country in the face. orange rebuked the populace in the strong and indignant language that public and private virtue, energy, and a high purpose enabled such a leader of the people to use. he at once set aside the board of eighteen--the grecian-roman-genevese establishment of imbize--and remained in the city until the regular election, in conformity with the privileges, had taken place. imbize, who had shrunk at his approach, was meantime discovered by his own companions. he had stolen forth secretly on the night before the prince's arrival, and was found cowering in the cabin of a vessel, half dead with fear, by an ale-house keeper who had been his warm partisan. "no skulking," cried the honest friend; seizing the tribune of the people by the shoulder; "no sailing away in the night-time. you have got us all into this bog, and must come back, and abide the issue with your supporters." in this collapsed state was the windy demagogue, who had filled half flanders with his sound and fury, conveyed before the patriot prince. he met with grave and bitter rebukes, but felt sufficiently relieved when allowed to depart unharmed. judging of his probable doom by the usual practice of himself and his fellows in similar cases, he had anticipated nothing short of the gibbet. that punishment, however, was to be inflicted at a later period, by other hands, and not until he had added treason to his country and a shameless recantation of all his violent professions in favor of civil and religious liberty to the list of his crimes. on the present occasion he was permitted to go free. in company with his clerical companion, peter dathenus, he fled to the abode of his excellent friend, john casimir, who received both with open arms, and allowed them each a pension. order being thus again restored in ghent by the exertions of the prince, when no other human hand could have dispelled the anarchy which seemed to reign supreme, william the silent, having accepted the government of flanders, which had again and again been urged upon him, now returned to antwerp. chapter iii. the cologne conferences--intentions of the parties--preliminary attempt by government to purchase the prince of orange--offer and rejection of various articles among the plenipotentiaries--departure of the imperial commissionere--ultimatum of the states compared with that of the royal government--barren negotiations terminated-- treason of de bours, governor of mechlin--liberal theories concerning the nature of government--abjuration of philip imminent-- self-denial of orange--attitude of germany--of england--marriage negotiations between elizabeth and anjou--orange favors the election of the duke as sovereign--address and speeches of the prince-- parsimony and interprovincial jealousy rebuked----secret correspondence of count renneberg with the royal government-- his treason at groningen. since the beginning of may, the cologne negotiations had been dragging their slow length along. few persons believed that any good was likely to result from these stately and ponderous conferences; yet men were so weary of war, so desirous that a termination might be put to the atrophy under which the country was languishing, that many an eager glance was turned towards the place where the august assembly was holding its protracted session. certainly, if wisdom were to be found in mitred heads--if the power to heal angry passions and to settle the conflicting claims of prerogative and conscience were to be looked for among men of lofty station, then the cologne conferences ought to have made the rough places smooth and the crooked paths straight throughout all christendom. there was the archbishop of rossano, afterwards pope urban vii, as plenipotentiary from rome; there was charles of aragon, duke of terranova, supported by five councillors, as ambassador from his catholic majesty; there were the duke of aerschot, the abbot of saint gertrude, the abbot of marolles, doctor bucho aytta, caspar schetz, lord of grobbendonck, that learned frisian, aggeus van albada, with seven other wise men, as envoys from the states-general: there were their serene highnesses the elector and archbishops of cologne and treves, with the bishop of wurtzburg. there was also a numerous embassy from his imperial majesty, with count otto de schwartzenburg at its head. here then were holiness, serenity, dignity, law, and learning in abundance. here was a pope 'in posse', with archbishops, princes, dukes, jurisconsults, and doctors of divinity 'in esse', sufficient to remodel a world, if worlds were to be remodelled by such instruments. if protocols, replications, annotations, apostilles, could heal a bleeding country, here were the physicians to furnish those drugs in unlimited profusion. if reams of paper, scrawled over with barbarous technicalities, could smother and bury a quarrel which had its origin in the mutual antagonism of human elements, here were the men to scribble unflinchingly, till the reams were piled to a pyramid. if the same idea presented in many aspects could acquire additional life, here were the word-mongers who, could clothe one shivering thought in a hundred thousand garments, till it attained all the majesty which decoration could impart. in truth, the envoys came from spain, rome, and vienna, provided with but two ideas. was it not a diplomatic masterpiece, that from this frugal store they could contrive to eke out seven mortal months of negotiation? two ideas--the supremacy of his majesty's prerogative, the exclusive exercise of the roman catholic religion--these were the be-all and the end-all of their commission. upon these two strings they were to harp, at least till the walls of maestricht had fallen. the envoys did their duty well; they were sent to enact a solemn comedy, and in the most stately manner did they walk through their several parts. not that the king was belligerent; on, the contrary, he was heartily weary of the war. prerogative was weary--romanism was weary--conscience was weary--the spirit of freedom was weary but the prince of orange was not weary. blood and treasure had been pouring forth so profusely during twelve flaming years, that all but that one tranquil spirit were beginning to flag. at the same time, neither party had more disposition to concede than stomach to fight. certainly the royal party had no inclination to yield. the king had granted easy terms to the walloons, because upon the one great point of religion there was, no dispute, and upon the others there was no intention of keeping faith. with regard to the present negotiation, it was desirable to gain a little time. it was thought probable that the religious difference, judiciously managed at this juncture, might be used to effect a permanent severance of the provinces so lately banded together in a common union. "to, divide them," wrote tassis, in a very confidential letter, "no better method can be found than to amuse them with this peace negotiation. some are ready for a pacification from their desire of repose, some from their fear of war, some from the differences which exist among themselves, and which it is especially important to keep alive." above all things, it was desirable to maintain the religious distraction till maestricht had been taken. that siege was the key to the whole situation. if the separate walloon accord could be quietly made in a corner, while parma was battering that stronghold on the meuse, and while decorous negotiation was smoothly holding its course on the rhine, much disorganization, it was hoped, would be handsomely accomplished before the end of the year. "as for a suspension of arms," wrote alexander to terranova, on the st of may, "the longer 'tis deferred the better. with regard to maestricht, everything depends upon it that we possess, or desire to possess. truly, if the prince of orange can relieve the city he will do it. if he does so, neither will this expedition of ours, nor any other expedition, be brought to a good end. as soon as men are aware that our affairs are looking badly, they will come again to a true union, and all will join together, in hope to accomplish their boasts." therefore, it was natural that the peace-wrights of cologne should industriously ply their task. it is not desirable to disturb much of that learned dust, after its three centuries' repose. a rapid sketch of the course of the proceedings, with an indication of the spirit which animated the contending parties, will be all that is necessary. they came and they separated with precisely opposite views. "the desires of terranova and of the estates," says the royalist, tassis, "were diametrically contrary, to each other. the king wished that the exercise of the roman catholic religion should be exclusively established, and the absolute prerogative preserved in its integrity." on the other hand, the provinces desired their charters and a religious' peace. in these perpetual lines and curves ran the asymptotical negotiation from beginning to end--and so it might have run for two centuries, without hope of coincidence. neither party was yet vanquished. the freshly united provinces were no readier now than before to admit that the holy office formed part of their national institutions. the despotic faction was not prepared to renounce that establishment. foiled, but not disheartened, sat the inquisition, like a beldame, upon the border, impotently threatening the land whence she had been for ever excluded; while industrious as the parcae, distaff in hand, sat, in cologne, the inexorable three--spain, the empire, and rome--grimly, spinning and severing the web of mortal destinies. the first step in the proceedings had been a secret one. if by any means the prince of orange could be detached from his party--if by bribery, however enormous, he could be induced--to abandon a tottering cause, and depart for the land of his birth--he was distinctly but indirectly given to understand that he had but to name his terms. we have seen the issue of similar propositions made by don john of austria. probably there was no man living who would care to make distinct application of this dishonorable nature to the father of his country. the aerschots, the meluns, the lalains, and a swarm of other nobles, had their price, and were easily transferable from one to another, but it was not easy to make a direct offer to william of orange. they knew--as he said shortly afterwards in his famous apology--that "neither for property nor for life, neither for wife nor for children, would he mix in his cup a single drop of treason." nevertheless, he was distinctly given to understand that "there was nothing he could demand for himself personally that would not be granted." all his confiscated property, restoration of his imprisoned son, liberty of worship for himself, payment of all his debts, reimbursement of all his past expenses, and anything else which he could desire, were all placed within his reach. if he chose to retire into another land, his son might be placed in possession of all his cities, estates, and dignities, and himself indemnified in germany; with a million of money over and above as a gratuity. the imperial envoy, count schwartzenburg, pledged his personal honor and reputation that every promise which might be made to the prince should be most sacredly fulfilled. it was all in vain. the indirect applications of the imperial commissioners made to his servants and his nearest relations were entirely unsuccessful. the prince was not to be drawn into a negotiation in his own name or for his own benefit. if the estates were satisfied, he was satisfied. he wanted no conditions but theirs; "nor would he directly, or indirectly," he said, "separate himself from the cause on which hung all his evil or felicity." he knew that it was the object of the enemy to deprive the country of its head, and no inducements were sufficient to make him a party to the plot. at the same time, he was unwilling to be an obstacle, in his own person, to the conclusion of an honorable peace. he would resign his offices which he held at the solicitation of the whole country, if thus a negotiation were likely to be more successful. "the prince of parma and the disunited provinces," said he to the states-general, "affect to consider this war as one waged against me and in my name--as if the question alone concerned the name and person of the general. if it be so, i beg you to consider whether it is not because i have been ever faithful to the land. nevertheless, if i am an obstacle, i am ready to remove it. if you, therefore, in order to deprive the enemy of every right to inculpate us, think proper to choose another head and conductor of your affairs, i promise you to serve and to be obedient to him with all my heart. thus shall we leave the enemy no standing-place to work dissensions among us." such was his language to friend and foe, and here, at least, was one man in history whom kings were not rich enough to purchase. on the th of may, the states' envoys at cologne presented fourteen articles, demanding freedom of religion and the ancient political charters. religion, they said, was to be referred; not to man, but to god. to him the king was subject as well as the people. both king and people--"and by people was meant every individual in the land"--were bound to serve god according to their conscience. the imperial envoys found such language extremely reprehensible, and promptly refused, as umpires, to entertain the fourteen articles. others drawn up by terranova and colleagues, embodying the claims of the royal and roman party, were then solemnly presented, and as promptly rejected. then the imperial umpires came forward with two bundles of proposisitions--approved beforehand by the spanish plenipotentiaries. in the political bundle; obedience due to the king was insisted upon, "as in the time of the emperor charles." the religious category declared that "the roman religion--all others excluded--should thenceforth be exercised in all the provinces." both these categories were considered more objectionable by the states' envoys than the terms of terranova, and astonishment was expressed that "mention should again be made of the edicts--as if blood enough had not been shed already in the cause of religion." the netherland envoys likewise gave the imperial commissioners distinctly to understand that--in case peace were not soon made--"the states would forthwith declare the king fallen from his sovereignty;" would for ever dispense the people from their oaths of allegiance to him, and would probably accept the duke of anjou in his place. the states-general, to which body the imperial propositions had been sent, also rejected the articles in a logical and historical argument of unmerciful length. an appeal secretly made by the imperial and spanish commissioners, from the states' envoys to the states themselves, and even to the people of the various provinces, had excited the anger of the plenipotentiaries. they complained loudly of this violation of all diplomatic etiquette, and the answer of the states-general, fully confirming the views of their ambassadors, did not diminish their wrath. on the th of november, , the states' envoys were invited into the council chamber of the imperial commissioners, to hear the last solemn commonplaces of those departing, functionaries. seven months long they had been waiting in vain, they said, for the states' envoys to accede to moderate demands. patience was now exhausted. moreover, their mediatory views had been the subject of bitter lampooning throughout the country, while the authorities of many cities had publicly declared that all the inhabitants would rather, die the death than accept such terms. the peace-makers, accordingly, with endless protestations as to, their own purity, wisdom, and benevolence, left the whole "in the hands of god and the parties concerned." the reply to this elaborate farewell was curt and somewhat crusty. "had they known," said the states' envoys, "that their transparencies and worthinesses had no better intention, and the duke of terranova no ampler commission, the whole matter might have been despatched, not in six months, but in six days." thus ended the conferences, and the imperial commissioners departed. nevertheless, schwartzenburg remained yet a little time at cologne, while five of the states' envoys also protracted their stay, in order to make their private peace with the king. it is hardly necessary to observe that the chief of these penitents was the duke of aerschot. the ultimatum of the states was deposited by the departing envoys with schwartzenburg, and a comparison of its terms with those offered by the imperial mediators, as the best which could be obtained from spain, shows the hopelessness of the pretended negotiation. departure of the foreign troops, restitution of all confiscated property, unequivocal recognition of the ghent treaty and the perpetual edict, appointment to office of none but natives, oaths of allegiance to the king and the states-general, exercise of the reformed religion and of the confession of augsburg in all places where it was then publicly practised: such were the main demands of the patriot party. in the secret instructions furnished by the states to their envoys, they were told to urge upon his majesty the absolute necessity, if he wished to retain the provinces, of winking at the exercise of the reformed and the augsburg creeds. "the new religion had taken too deep root," it was urged, "ever to be torn forth, save with the destruction of the whole country." thus, after seven dreary months of negotiation, after protocols and memoranda in ten thousand folia, the august diplomatists had travelled round to the points from which they had severally started. on the one side, unlimited prerogative and exclusive catholicism; on the other, constitutional liberty, with freedom of conscience for catholic and protestant alike: these were the claims which each party announced at the commencement, and to which they held with equal firmness at the close of the conferences. the congress had been expensive. though not much had been accomplished for the political or religious advancement of mankind, there had been much excellent eating and drinking at cologne during the seven months. those drouthy deliberations had needed moistening. the bishop of wurtzburg had consumed "eighty hogsheads of rhenish wine and twenty great casks of beer." the expense of the states' envoys were twenty-four thousand guldens. the archbishop of cologne had expended forty thousand thalers. the deliberations were, on the whole, excessively detrimental to the cause of the provinces, "and a great personage" wrote to the states-general, that the king had been influenced by no motive save to cause dissension. this was an exaggeration, for his majesty would have been well pleased to receive the whole of the country on the same terms which had been accepted by the walloons. meantime, those southern provinces had made their separate treaty, and the netherlands were permanently dissevered. maestricht had fallen. disunion and dismay had taken possession of the country. during the course of the year other severe misfortunes had happened to the states. treachery, even among the men who had done good service to the cause of freedom, was daily showing her hateful visage. not only the great chieftains who had led the malcontent walloon party, with the fickle aerschot and the wavering havre besides, had made their separate reconciliation with parma, but the epidemic treason had mastered such bold partisans as the seigneur de bours, the man whose services in rescuing the citadel of antwerp had been so courageous and valuable. he was governor of mechlin; count renneberg was governor of friesland. both were trusted implicitly by orange and by the estates; both were on the eve of repaying the confidence reposed in them by the most venal treason. it was already known that parma had tampered with de bours; but renneberg was still unsuspected. "the prince," wrote count john, "is deserted by all the noblemen; save the stadholder of friesland and myself, and has no man else in whom he can repose confidence." the brothers were doomed to be rudely awakened from the repose with regard to renneberg, but previously the treason of a less important functionary was to cause a considerable but less lasting injury to the national party. in mechlin was a carmelite friar, of audacious character and great eloquence; a man who, "with his sweet, poisonous tongue, could ever persuade the people to do his bidding." this dangerous monk, peter lupus, or peter wolf, by name, had formed the design of restoring mechlin to the prince of parma, and of obtaining the bishopric of namur as the reward of his services. to this end he had obtained a complete mastery over the intellect of the bold but unprincipled de bours. a correspondence was immediately opened between parma and the governor, and troops were secretly admitted into the city. the prince of orange, in the name of the archduke and the estates, in vain endeavoured to recal the infatuated governor to his duty. in vain he conjured him, by letter after letter, to be true to his own bright fame so nobly earned. an old friend of de bours, and like himself a catholic, was also employed to remonstrate with him. this gentleman, de fromont by name, wrote him many letters; but de bours expressed his surprise that fromont, whom he had always considered a good catholic and a virtuous gentleman, should wish to force him into a connection with the prince of orange and his heretic supporters. he protested that his mind was quite made up, and that he had been guaranteed by parma not only the post which he now held, but even still farther advancement. de fromont reminded him, in reply, of the frequent revolutions of fortune's wheel, and warned him that the advancement of which he boasted would probably be an entire degradation. he bitterly recalled to the remembrance of the new zealot for romanism his former earnest efforts to establish calvinism. he reproached him, too, with having melted up the silver images of the mechlin churches, including even the renowned shrine of saint rombout, which the prince of orange had always respected. "i don't say how much you took of that plunder for your own share," continued the indignant de fromont, "for the very children cry it in your ears as you walk the streets. 'tis known that if god himself had been changed into gold you would have put him in your pocket." this was plain language, but as just as it was plain. the famous shrine of saint rombout--valued at seventy thousand guldens, of silver gilt, and enriched with precious stones--had been held sacred alike by the fanatical iconoclasts and the greedy spaniards who had successively held the city. it had now been melted up, and appropriated by peter lupin; the carmelite, and de bours, the catholic convert, whose mouths were full of devotion to the ancient church and of horror for heresy. the efforts of orange and of the states were unavailing. de bours surrendered the city, and fled to parma, who received him with cordiality, gave him five thousand florins--the price promised for his treason, besides a regiment of infantry--but expressed surprise that he should have reached the camp alive. his subsequent career was short, and he met his death two years afterwards, in the trenches before tournay. the archiepiscopal city was thus transferred to the royal party, but the gallant van der tympel, governor of brussels, retook it by surprise within six months of its acquisition by parma, and once more restored it to the jurisdiction of the states. peter lupus, the carmelite, armed to the teeth, and fighting fiercely at the head of the royalists, was slain in the street, and thus forfeited his chance for the mitre of namur. during the weary progress of the cologne negotiations, the prince had not been idle, and should this august and slow-moving congress be unsuccessful in restoring peace, the provinces were pledged to an act of abjuration. they would then be entirely without a head. the idea of a nominal republic was broached by none. the contest had not been one of theory, but of facts; for the war had not been for revolution, but for conservation, so far as political rights were concerned. in religion, the provinces had advanced from one step to another, till they now claimed the largest liberty--freedom of conscience--for all. religion, they held, was god's affair, not man's, in which neither people nor king had power over each other, but in which both were subject to god alone. in politics it was different. hereditary sovereignty was acknowledged as a fact, but at the same time, the spirit of freedom was already learning its appropriate language. it already claimed boldly the natural right of mankind to be governed according to the laws of reason and of divine justice. if a prince were a shepherd, it was at least lawful to deprive him of his crook when he butchered the flock which he had been appointed to protect. "what reason is there," said the states-general, "why the provinces should suffer themselves to be continually oppressed by their sovereign, with robbings, burnings, stranglings, and murderings? why, being thus oppressed, should they still give their sovereign--exactly as if he were well conducting himself--the honor and title of lord of the land?" on the other hand, if hereditary rule were an established fact, so also were ancient charters. to maintain, not to overthrow, the political compact, was the purpose of the states. "je maintiendrai" was the motto of orange's escutcheon. that a compact existed between prince and people, and that the sovereign held office only on condition of doing his duty, were startling truths which men were beginning, not to whisper to each other in secret, but to proclaim in the market-place. "'tis well known to all," said the famous declaration of independence, two years afterwards, "that if a prince is appointed by god over the land, 'tis to protect them from harm, even as a shepherd to the guardianship of his flock. the subjects are not appointed by god for the behoof of the prince, but the prince for his subjects, without whom he is no prince. should he violate the laws, he is to be forsaken by his meanest subject, and to be recognized no longer as prince." william of orange always recognized these truths, but his scheme of government contemplated a permanent chief, and as it was becoming obvious that the spanish sovereign would soon be abjured, it was necessary to fix upon a substitute. "as to governing these provinces in the form of a republic," said he, speaking for the states-general, "those who know the condition, privileges, and ordinances of the country, can easily understand that 'tis hardly possible to dispense with a head or superintendent." at the same time, he plainly intimated that this "head or superintendent" was to be, not a monarch--a one-ruler--but merely the hereditary chief magistrate of a free commonwealth. where was this hereditary chief magistrate to be found? his own claims he absolutely withdrew. the office was within his grasp, and he might easily have constituted himself sovereign of all the netherlands. perhaps it would have been better at that time had he advanced his claims and accepted the sovereignty which philip had forfeited. as he did not believe in the possibility of a republic, he might honestly have taken into his own hands the sceptre which he considered indispensable. his self-abnegation was, however, absolute. not only did he decline sovereignty, but he repeatedly avowed his readiness to, lay down all the offices which he held, if a more useful substitute could be found. "let no man think," said he, in a remarkable speech to the states-general, "that my good-will is in any degree changed or diminished. i agree to obey--as the least of the lords or gentlemen of the land could do--whatever person it may, please you to select. you have but to command my services wheresoever they are most wanted; to guard a province or a single city, or in any capacity in which i may be found most useful. i promise to do my duty, with all my strength and skill, as god and my conscience are witnesses that i have done it hitherto." the negotiations pointed to a speedy abjuration of philip; the republic was contemplated by none; the prince of orange absolutely refused to stretch forth his own hand; who then was to receive the sceptre which was so soon to be bestowed? a german prince--had been tried--in a somewhat abnormal position--but had certainly manifested small capacity for aiding the provinces. nothing could well be more insignificant than the figure of matthias; and, moreover, his imperial brother was anything but favorably disposed. it was necessary to manage rudolph. to treat the archduke with indignity, now that he had been partly established in the netherlands, would be to incur the emperor's enmity. his friendship, however, could hardly be secured by any advancement bestowed upon his brother; for rudolph's services against prerogative and the pope were in no case to be expected. nor was there much hope from the protestant princes of germany. the day had passed for generous sympathy with those engaged in the great struggle which martin luther had commenced. the present generation of german protestants were more inclined to put down the calvinistic schism at home than to save it from oppression abroad. men were more disposed to wrangle over the thrice-gnawed bones of ecclesiastical casuistry, than to assist their brethren in the field. "i know not," said gaultherus, "whether the calamity of the netherlands, or the more than bestial stupidity of the germans, be most deplorable. to the insane contests on theological abstractions we owe it that many are ready to breathe blood and slaughter against their own brethren. the hatred of the lutherans has reached that point that they can rather tolerate papists than ourselves." in england, there was much sympathy for the provinces and there--although the form of government was still arbitrary--the instincts for civil and religious freedom, which have ever characterized the anglo-saxon race, were not to be repressed. upon many a battle-field for liberty in the netherlands, "men whose limbs were made in england" were found contending for the right. the blood and treasure of englishmen flowed freely in the cause of their relatives by religion and race, but these were the efforts of individuals. hitherto but little assistance had been rendered by the english queen, who had, on the contrary, almost distracted the provinces by her fast-and-loose policy, both towards them and towards anjou. the political rivalry between that prince and herself in the netherlands had, however, now given place to the memorable love-passage from which important results were expected, and it was thought certain that elizabeth would view with satisfaction any dignity conferred upon her lover. orange had a right to form this opinion. at the same time, it is well known that the chief councillors of elizabeth--while they were all in favor of assisting the provinces--looked with anything but satisfaction upon the anjou marriage. "the duke," wrote davidson to walsingham in july, , "seeks, forsooth, under a pretext of marriage with her highness, the rather to espouse the low countries--the chief ground and object of his pretended love, howsoever it be disguised." the envoy believed both elizabeth and the provinces in danger of taking unto themselves a very bad master. "is there any means," he added, "so apt to sound the very bottom of our estate, and to hinder and breake the neck of all such good purpose as the necessity of the tyme shall set abroch?" the provinces of holland and zealand, notwithstanding the love they bore to william of orange, could never be persuaded by his arguments into favoring anjou. indeed, it was rather on account of the love they bore the prince--whom they were determined to have for their sovereign--that they refused to listen to any persuasion in favor of his rival, although coming from his own lips. the states-general, in a report to the states of holland, drawn up under the superintendence of the prince, brought forward all the usual arguments for accepting the french duke, in case the abjuration should take place. they urged the contract with anjou (of august th, ), the great expenses he had already incurred in their behalf; the danger of offending him; the possibility that in such case he would ally himself with spain; the prospect that, in consequence of such a result, there would be three enemies in the field against them--the walloons, the spaniards, and the french, all whose forces would eventually be turned upon holland and zealand alone. it was represented that the selection of anjou would, on the other hand, secure the friendship of france--an alliance which would inspire both the emperor and the spanish monarch with fear; for they could not contemplate without jealousy a possible incorporation of the provinces with that kingdom. moreover, the geographical situation of france made its friendship inexpressibly desirable. the states of holland and zealand were, therefore, earnestly invited to send deputies to an assembly of the states-general, in order to conclude measures touching the declaration of independence to be made against the king, and concerning the election of the duke of anjou. the official communications by speech or writing of orange to the different corporations and assemblies, were at this period of enormous extent. he was moved to frequent anger by the parsimony, the inter-provincial jealousy, the dull perception of the different estates, and he often expressed his wrath in unequivocal language. he dealt roundly with all public bodies. his eloquence was distinguished by a bold, uncompromising, truth-telling spirit, whether the words might prove palatable or bitter to his audience. his language rebuked his hearers more frequently than it caressed them, for he felt it impossible, at all times, to consult both the humors and the high interests of the people, and he had no hesitation, as guardian of popular liberty, in denouncing the popular vices by which it was endangered. by both great parties, he complained, his shortcomings were all noted, the good which he had accomplished passed over in silence. [letter to the states-general, august, , apud bor, xiv. , sqq. this was the opinion frequently expressed by languet: "cherish the friendship of the prince, i beseech you," he writes to sir philip sydney, "for there is no man like him in all christendom. nevertheless, his is the lot of all men of prudence--to be censured by all parties. the people complain that he despises them; the nobility declare that it is their order which he hates; and this is as sensible as if you were to tell me that you were the son of a clown."] he solemnly protested that he desired, out of his whole heart, the advancement of that religion which he publicly professed, and with god's blessing, hoped to profess to the end of his life, but nevertheless, he reminded the states that he had sworn, upon taking office as lieutenant-general, to keep "all the subjects of the land equally under his protection," and that he had kept his oath. he rebuked the parsimony which placed the accepted chief of the provinces in a sordid and contemptible position. "the archduke has been compelled," said he, in august, to the states-general, "to break up housekeeping, for want of means. how shameful and disreputable for the country, if he should be compelled, for very poverty, to leave the land!" he offered to lay down all the power with which he had himself been clothed, but insisted, if he were to continue in office, upon being provided with, larger means of being useful. "'twas impossible," he said, "for him to serve longer on the same footing as heretofore; finding himself without power or authority, without means, without troops, without money, without obedience." he reminded the states-general that the enemy--under pretext of peace negotiations--were ever circulating calumnious statements to the effect that he was personally the only obstacle to peace. the real object of these hopeless conferences was to sow dissension through the land, to set burgher against burgher, house against house. as in italy, guelphs and ghibellines--as in florence, the neri and bianchi--as in holland, the hooks and cabbeljaws had, by their unfortunate quarrels, armed fellow countrymen and families against each other--so also, nothing was so powerful as religious difference to set friend against friend, father against son, husband against wife. he warned the states against the peace propositions of the enemy. spain had no intention to concede, but was resolved to extirpate. for himself; he had certainly everything to lose by continued war. his magnificent estates were withheld, and--added he with simplicity--there is no man who does not desire to enjoy his own. the liberation of his son, too, from his foreign captivity, was, after the glory of god and the welfare of the fatherland, the dearest object of his heart. moreover, he was himself approaching the decline of life. twelve years he had spent in perpetual anxiety and labor for the cause. as he approached old age, he had sufficient reason to desire repose. nevertheless, considering the great multitude of people who were leaning upon him, he should account himself disgraced if, for the sake of his own private advantage, he were to recommend a peace which was not perfectly secure. as regarded his own personal interests, he could easily place himself beyond danger--yet it would be otherwise with the people. the existence of the religion which, through the mercy of god he professed, would be sacrificed, and countless multitudes of innocent men would, by his act, be thrown bodily into the hands of the blood-thirsty inquisitors who, in times past, had murdered so many persons, and so utterly desolated the land. in regard to the ceaseless insinuations against his character which men uttered "over their tables and in the streets," he observed philosophically, that "mankind were naturally inclined to calumny, particularly against those who exercised government over them. his life was the best answer to those slanders. being overwhelmed with debt, he should doubtless do better in a personal point of view to accept the excellent and profitable offers which were daily made to him by the enemy." he might be justified in such a course, when it was remembered how many had deserted him and forsworn their religion. nevertheless, he had ever refused, and should ever refuse to listen to offers by which only his own personal interests were secured. as to the defence of the country, he had thus far done all in his power, with the small resources placed at his command. he was urged by the "nearer-united states" to retain the poet of lieutenant-general. he was ready to consent. he was, however, not willing to hold office a moment, unless he had power to compel cities to accept garrisons, to enforce the collection of needful supplies throughout the provinces, and in general to do everything which he judged necessary for the best interests of the country. three councils were now established--one to be in attendance upon the archduke and the prince of orange, the two others to reside respectively in flanders and in utrecht. they were to be appointed by matthias and the prince, upon a double nomination from the estates of the united provinces. their decisions were to be made according to a majority of votes,--and there was to be no secret cabinet behind and above their deliberations. it was long, however, before these councils were put into working order. the fatal jealousy of the provincial authorities, the small ambition of local magistrates, interposed daily obstacles to the vigorous march of the generality. never was jealousy more mischievous, never circumspection more misapplied. it was not a land nor a crisis in which there was peril of centralization: local municipal government was in truth the only force left. there was no possibility of its being merged in a central authority which did not exist. the country was without a centre. there was small chance of apoplexy where there was no head. the danger lay in the mutual repulsiveness of these atoms of sovereignty--in the centrifugal tendencies which were fast resolving a nebulous commonwealth into chaos. disunion and dissension would soon bring about a more fatal centralization--that of absorption in a distant despotism. at the end of november, , orange made another remarkable speech in the states-general at antwerp. he handled the usual topics with his customary vigor, and with that grace and warmth of delivery which always made his eloquence so persuasive and impressive. he spoke of the countless calumnies against himself, the chaffering niggardliness of the provinces, the slender result produced by his repeated warnings. he told them bluntly the great cause of all their troubles. it was the absence of a broad patriotism; it was the narrow power grudged rather than given to the deputies who sat in the general assembly. they were mere envoys, tied by instructions. they were powerless to act, except after tedious reference to the will of their masters, the provincial boards. the deputies of the union came thither, he said, as advocates of their provinces or their cities, not as councillors of a commonwealth--and sought to further those narrow interests, even at the risk of destruction to their sister states. the contributions, he complained, were assessed unequally, and expended selfishly. upon this occasion, as upon all occasions, he again challenged inquiry into the purity of his government, demanded chastisement, if any act of mal-administration on his part could be found, and repeated his anxious desire either to be relieved from his functions, or to be furnished with the means of discharging them with efficiency. on the th of december, , he again made a powerful speech in the states-general. upon the th of january , following, he made an elaborate address upon the state of the country, urging the necessity of raising instantly a considerable army of good and experienced soldiers. he fixed the indispensable number of such a force at twelve thousand foot, four thousand horse, and at least twelve hundred pioneers. "weigh well the matters," said he, in conclusion; "which i have thus urged, and which are of the most extreme necessity. men in their utmost need are daily coming to me for refuge, as if i held power over all things in my hand." at the same time he complained that by reason of the dilatoriness of the states, he was prevented from alleviating misery when he knew the remedy to be within reach. "i beg you, however, my masters," he continued, "to believe that this address of mine is no simple discourse. 'tis a faithful presentment of matters which, if not reformed, will cause the speedy and absolute ruin of the land. whatever betide, however, i pray you to hold yourselves assured, that with god's help, i am determined to live with you or to die with you." early in the year , the prince was doomed to a bitter disappointment, and the provinces to a severe loss, in the treason of count renneberg, governor of friesland. this young noble was of the great lalain family. he was a younger brother of: anthony, count of hoogstraaten--the unwavering friend of orange. he had been brought up in the family of his cousin, the count de lalain, governor of hainault, and had inherited the title of renneberg from an uncle, who was a dignitary of the church. for more than a year there had been suspicions of his fidelity. he was supposed to have been tampered with by the duke of terranova, on the first arrival of that functionary in the netherlands. nevertheless, the prince of orange was unwilling to listen to the whispers against him. being himself the mark of calumny, and having a tender remembrance of the elder brother, he persisted in reposing confidence in a man who was in reality unworthy of his friendship. george lalain, therefore, remained stadholder of friesland and drenthe, and in possession of the capital city, groningen. the rumors concerning him proved correct. in november, , he entered into a formal treaty with terranova, by which he was to receive--as the price of "the virtuous resolution which he contemplated"--the sum of ten thousand crowns in hand, a further sum of ten thousand crowns within three months, and a yearly pension of ten thousand florins. moreover, his barony of ville was to be erected into a marquisate, and he was to receive the order of the golden fleece at the first vacancy. he was likewise to be continued in the same offices under the king which he now held from the estates. the bill of sale, by which he agreed with a certain quislain le bailly to transfer himself to spain, fixed these terms with the technical scrupulousness of any other mercantile transaction. renneberg sold himself as one would sell a yoke of oxen, and his motives were no whit nobler than the cynical contract would indicate. "see you not," said he in a private letter to a friend, "that this whole work is brewed by the nassaus for the sake of their own greatness, and that they are everywhere provided with the very best crumbs. they are to be stadholders of the principal provinces; we are to content ourselves with overyssel and drente. therefore i have thought it best to make my peace with the king, from whom more benefits are to be got." jealousy and selfishness; then, were the motives of his "virtuous resolution." he had another, perhaps a nobler incentive. he was in love with the countess meghen, widow of lancelot berlaymont, and it was privately stipulated that the influence of his majesty's government should be employed to bring about his marriage with the lady. the treaty, however, which renneberg had made with quislain le bailly was not immediately carried out. early in february, , his sister and evil genius, cornelia lalain, wife of baron monceau, made him a visit at groningen. she implored him not to give over his soul to perdition by oppressing the holy church. she also appealed to his family pride, which should keep him, she said, from the contamination of companionship with "base-born weavers and furriers." she was of opinion that to contaminate his high-born fingers with base bribes were a lower degradation. the pension, the crowns in hand, the marquisate, the collar of the golden fleece, were all held before his eyes again. he was persuaded, moreover, that the fair hand of the wealthy widow would be the crowning prize of his treason, but in this he was destined to disappointment. the countess was reserved for a more brilliant and a more bitter fate. she was to espouse a man of higher rank, but more worthless character, also a traitor to the cause of freedom, to which she was herself devoted, and who was even accused of attempting her life in her old age, in order to supply her place with a younger rival. the artful eloquence of cornelia de lalain did its work, and renneberg entered into correspondence with parma. it is singular with how much indulgence his conduct and character were regarded both before and subsequently to his treason. there was something attractive about the man. in an age when many german and netherland nobles were given to drunkenness and debauchery, and were distinguished rather for coarseness of manner and brutality of intellect than for refinement or learning, count renneberg, on the contrary, was an elegant and accomplished gentleman--the sydney of his country in all but loyalty of character. he was a classical scholar, a votary of music and poetry, a graceful troubadour, and a valiant knight. he was "sweet and lovely of conversation," generous and bountiful by nature. with so many good gifts, it was a thousand pities that the gift of truth had been denied him. never did treason look more amiable, but it was treason of the blackest die. he was treacherous, in the hour of her utmost need, to the country which had trusted him. he was treacherous to the great man who had leaned upon his truth, when all others had abandoned him. he was treacherous from the most sordid of motives jealousy of his friend and love of place and pelf; but his subsequent remorse and his early death have cast a veil over the blackness of his crime. while cornelia de lalain was in groningen, orange was in holland. intercepted letters left no doubt of the plot, and it was agreed that the prince, then on his way to amsterdam, should summon the count to an interview. renneberg's trouble at the proximity of orange could not be suppressed. he felt that he could never look his friend in the face again. his plans were not ripe; it was desirable to dissemble for a season longer; but how could he meet that tranquil eye which "looked quite through the deeds of men?" it was obvious to renneberg that his deed was to be done forthwith, if he would escape discomfiture. the prince would soon be in groningen, and his presence would dispel the plots which had been secretly constructed. on the evening of march the rd, , the count entertained a large number of the most distinguished families of the place at a ball and banquet. at the supper-table, hildebrand, chief burgomaster of the city, bluntly interrogated his host concerning the calumnious reports which were in circulation, expressing the hope that there was no truth in these inventions of his enemies. thus summoned, renneberg, seizing the hands of hildebrand in both his own, exclaimed, "oh; my father! you whom i esteem as my father, can you suspect me of such guilt? i pray you, trust me, and fear me not!" with this he restored the burgomaster and all the other guests to confidence. the feast and dance proceeded, while renneberg was quietly arranging his plot. during the night all the leading patriots were taken out of their beds, and carried to prison, notice being at the same time given to the secret adherents of renneberg. before dawn, a numerous mob of boatmen and vagrants, well armed, appeared upon the public square. they bore torches and standards, and amazed the quiet little city with their shouts. the place was formally taken into possession, cannon were planted in front of the town house to command the principal streets, and barricades erected at various important points. just at daylight, renneberg himself, in complete armor, rode into the square, and it was observed that he looked ghastly as a corpse. he was followed by thirty troopers, armed like himself, from head to foot. "stand by me now," he cried to the assembled throng; "fail me not at this moment, for now i am for the first time your stadholder." while he was speaking, a few citizens of the highest class forced their way through the throng and addressed the mob in tones of authority. they were evidently magisterial persons endeavoring to quell the riot. as they advanced, one of renneberg's men-at-arms discharged his carabine at the foremost gentleman, who was no other than burgomaster hildebrand. he fell dead at the feet of the stadholder--of the man who had clasped his hands a few hours before, called him father, and implored him to entertain no suspicions of his honor. the death of this distinguished gentleman created a panic, during which renneberg addressed his adherents, and stimulated them to atone by their future zeal in the king's service for their former delinquency. a few days afterwards the city was formally reunited to the royal government; but the count's measures had been precipitated to such an extent, that he was unable to carry the province with him, as he had hoped. on the contrary, although he had secured the city, he had secured nothing else. he was immediately beleaguered by the states' force in the province under the command of barthold entes, hohenlo, and philip louis nassau, and it was necessary to send for immediate assistance from parma. the prince of orange, being thus bitterly disappointed by the treachery of his friend, and foiled in his attempt to avert the immediate consequences, continued his interrupted journey to amsterdam. here he was received with unbounded enthusiasm. etext editor's bookmarks: all the majesty which decoration could impart amuse them with this peace negotiation conflicting claims of prerogative and conscience it is not desirable to disturb much of that learned dust logical and historical argument of unmerciful length mankind were naturally inclined to calumny men were loud in reproof, who had been silent more easily, as he had no intention of keeping the promise not to fall asleep in the shade of a peace negotiation nothing was so powerful as religious difference on the first day four thousand men and women were slaughtered power grudged rather than given to the deputies the disunited provinces there is no man who does not desire to enjoy his own to hear the last solemn commonplaces word-mongers who, could clothe one shivering thought motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley chapter iv. captivity of la noue--cruel propositions of philip--siege of groningen--death of barthold enter--his character--hohenlo commands in the north--his incompetence--he is defeated on hardenberg heath-- petty operations--isolation of orange--dissatisfaction and departure of count john--remonstrance of archduke matthias--embassy to anjou-- holland and zealand offer the sovereignty to orange--conquest of portugal--granvelle proposes the ban against the prince--it is published--the document analyzed--the apology of orange analyzed and characterized--siege of steenwyk by renneberg--forgeries--siege relieved--death of renneberg--institution of the "land-council"-- duchess of parma sent to the netherlands--anger of alexander-- prohibition of catholic worship in antwerp, utrecht, and elsewhere-- declaration of independence by the united provinces--negotiations with anjou--the sovereignty of holland and zealand provisionally accepted by orange--tripartition of the netherlands--power of the prince described--act of abjuration analyzed--philosophy of netherland politics.--views of the government compact--acquiescence by the people in the action of the estates--departure of archduke matthias. the war continued in a languid and desultory manner in different parts of the country. at an action near ingelmunster, the brave and accomplished de la noue was made prisoner. this was a severe loss to the states, a cruel blow to orange, for he was not only one of the most experienced soldiers, but one of the most accomplished writers of his age. his pen was as celebrated as his sword. in exchange for the illustrious frenchman the states in vain offered count egmont, who had been made prisoner a few weeks before, and de belles, who was captured shortly afterwards. parma answered contemptuously, that he would not give a lion for two sheep. even champagny was offered in addition, but without success. parma had written to philip, immediately upon the capture, that, were it not for egmont, seller, and others, then in the power of oranges he should order the execution of la noue. under the circumstances, however, he had begged to be in formed as to his majesty's pleasure, and in the meantime had placed the prisoner in the castle of limburg, under charge of de billy. [strada, d. , iii. , . parma is said to have hinted to philip that de billy would willingly undertake, the private assassination of la noue.--popeliniere, hist. des pays bas; - .] his majesty, of course, never signified his pleasure, and the illustrious soldier remained for five years in a loathsome dungeon more befitting a condemned malefactor than a prisoner of war. it was in the donjon keep of the castle, lighted only by an aperture in the roof, and was therefore exposed to the rain and all inclemencies of the sky, while rats, toads, and other vermin housed in the miry floor. here this distinguished personage, francis with the iron arm, whom all frenchmen, catholic or huguenot, admired far his genius, bravery, and purity of character, passed five years of close confinement. the government was most anxious to take his life, but the captivity of egmont and others prevented the accomplishment of their wishes. during this long period, the wife and numerous friends of la noue were unwearied in, their efforts to effect his ransom or exchange, but none of the prisoners in the hands of the patriots were considered a fair equivalent. the hideous proposition was even made by philip the second to la noue, that he should receive his liberty if he would permit his eyes to be put out, as a preliminary condition. the fact is attested by several letters written by la noue to his wife. the prisoner, wearied, shattered in health, and sighing for air and liberty, was disposed and even anxious to accept the infamous offer, and discussed the matter philosophically in his letters. that lady, however, horror-struck at the suggestion, implored him to reject the condition, which he accordingly consented to do. at last, in june, , he was exchanged, on extremely rigorous terms, for egmont. during his captivity in this vile dungeon, he composed not only his famous political and military discourses, but several other works, among the rest; annotations upon plutarch and upon the histories of guicciardini. the siege of groningen proceeded, and parma ordered some forces under martin schenck to advance to its relief. on the other hand, the meagre states' forces under sonoy, hohenlo, entes, and count john of nassau's young son, william louis, had not yet made much impression upon the city. there was little military skill to atone for the feebleness of the assailing army, although there was plenty of rude valor. barthold entes, a man of desperate character, was impatient at the dilatoriness of the proceedings. after having been in disgrace with the states, since the downfall of his friend and patron, the count de la marck, he had recently succeeded to a regiment in place of colonel ysselstein, "dismissed for a homicide or two." on the th of may, he had been dining at rolda, in company with hohenlo and the young count of nassau. returning to the trenches in a state of wild intoxication, he accosted a knot of superior officers, informing them that they were but boys, and that he would show them how to carry the faubourg of groningen on the instant. he was answered that the faubourg, being walled and moated, could be taken only by escalade or battery. laughing loudly, he rushed forward toward the counterscarp, waving his sword, and brandishing on his left arm the cover of a butter firkin, which he had taken instead of his buckler. he had advanced, however, but a step, when a bullet from the faubourg pierced his brain, and he fell dead without a word. so perished one of the wild founders of the netherland commonwealth--one of the little band of reckless adventurers who had captured the town of brill in , and thus laid the foundation stone of a great republic, which was to dictate its laws to the empire of charles the fifth. he was in some sort a type. his character was emblematical of the worst side of the liberating movement. desperate, lawless, ferocious--a robber on land, a pirate by sea--he had rendered great service in the cause of his fatherland, and had done it much disgrace. by the evil deeds of men like himself, the fair face of liberty had been profaned at its first appearance. born of a respectable family, he had been noted, when a student in this very groningen where he had now found his grave, for the youthful profligacy of his character. after dissipating his partrimony, he had taken to the sea, the legalized piracy of the mortal struggle with spain offering a welcome refuge to spendthrifts like himself. in common with many a banished noble of ancient birth and broken fortunes, the riotous student became a successful corsair, and it is probable that his prizes were made as well among the friends as the enemies of his country. he amassed in a short time one hundred thousand crowns--no contemptible fortune in those days. he assisted la marck in the memorable attack upon brill, but behaved badly and took to flight when mondragon made his memorable expedition to relieve tergoes. he had subsequently been imprisoned, with la marck for insubordination, and during his confinement had dissipated a large part of his fortune. in , after the violation of the ghent treaty, he had returned to, his piratical pursuits, and having prospered again as rapidly as he had done during his former cruises, had been glad to exchange the ocean for more honorable service on shore. the result was the tragic yet almost ludicrous termination which we have narrated. he left a handsome property, the result of his various piracies, or, according to the usual euphemism, prizes. he often expressed regret at the number of traders whom he had cast into the sea, complaining, in particular, of one victim whom he had thrown overboard, who would never sink, but who for years long ever floated in his wake, and stared him in the face whenever he looked over his vessel's side. a gambler, a profligate, a pirate, he had yet rendered service to the cause of freedom, and his name--sullying the purer and nobler ones of other founders of the commonwealth--"is enrolled in the capitol." count philip hohenlo, upon whom now, devolved the entire responsibility of the groningen siege and of the friesland operations, was only a few degrees superior to this northern corsair. a noble of high degree, nearly connected with the nassau family, sprung of the best blood in germany, handsome and dignified in appearance, he was, in reality only a debauchee and a drunkard. personal bravery was his main qualification for a general; a virtue which he shared with many of his meanest soldiers. he had never learned the art of war, nor had he the least ambition to acquire it. devoted to his pleasures, he depraved those under his command, and injured the cause for which he was contending. nothing but defeat and disgrace were expected by the purer patriots from such guidance. "the benediction of god," wrote albada, "cannot be hoped for under this chieftain, who by life and manners is fitter to drive swine than to govern pious and honorable men." the event justified the prophecy. after a few trifling operations before groningen, hohenlo was summoned to the neighbourhood of coewerden, by the reported arrival of martin schenck, at the head of a considerable force. on the th of june, the count marched all night and a part of the follow morning, in search of the enemy. he came up with them upon hardenberg heath, in a broiling summer forenoon. his men were jaded by the forced march, overcame with the heat, tormented with thirst, and unable to procure even a drop of water. the royalists were fresh so that the result of the contest was easily to be foreseen. hohenlo's army was annihilated in an hour's time, the whole population fled out of coewerden, the siege of groningen was raised; renneberg was set free to resume his operations on a larger scale, and the fate of all the north-eastern provinces was once more swinging in the wind. the boors of drenthe and friesland rose again. they had already mustered in the field at an earlier season of the year, in considerable force. calling themselves "the desperates," and bearing on their standard an eggshell with the yolk running out--to indicate that, having lost the meat they were yet ready to fight for the shell--they had swept through the open country, pillaging and burning. hohenlo had defeated them in two enchanters, slain a large number of their forces, and reduced them for a time to tranquillity. his late overthrow once more set them loose. renneberg, always apt to be over-elated in prosperity, as he was unduly dejected in adversity, now assumed all the airs of a conqueror. he had hardly eight thousand men under his orders, but his strength lay in the weakness of his adversaries. a small war now succeeded, with small generals, small armies, small campaigns, small sieges. for the time, the prince of orange was even obliged to content himself with such a general as hohenlo. as usual, he was almost alone. "donec eris felix," said he, emphatically-- "multos numerabis amicos, tempera cum erunt nubila, nullus erit," and he was this summer doomed to a still harder deprivation by the final departure of his brother john from the netherlands. the count had been wearied out by petty miseries. his stadholderate of gelderland had overwhelmed him with annoyance, for throughout the north-eastern provinces there was neither system nor subordination. the magistrates could exercise no authority over an army which they did not pay, or a people whom they did not protect. there were endless quarrels between the various boards of municipal and provincial government--particularly concerning contributions and expenditures. [when the extraordinary generosity of the count himself; and the altogether unexampled sacrifices of the prince are taken into account, it may well be supposed that the patience of the brothers would be sorely tried by the parsimony of the states. it appears by a document laid before the states-general in the winter of - , that the count had himself advanced to orange , florins in the cause. the total of money spent by the prince himself for the sake of netherland liberty was , , . these vast sums had been raised in various ways and from various personages. his estates were deeply hypothecated, and his creditors so troublesome, that, in his own language, he was unable to attend properly to public affairs, so frequent and so threatening were the applications made upon him for payment. day by day he felt the necessity advancing more closely upon him of placing himself personally in the hands of his creditors and making over his estates to their mercy until the uttermost farthing should be paid. in his two campaigns against alva ( and ) he had spent , , florins. he owed the elector palatine , florins, the landgrave , , count john , , and other sums to other individuals.] during this wrangling, the country was exposed to the forces of parma, to the private efforts of the malcontents, to the unpaid soldiery of the states, to the armed and rebellious peasantry. little heed was paid to the admonitions of count john, who was of a hotter temper than was the tranquil prince. the stadholder gave way to fits of passion at the meanness and the insolence to which he was constantly exposed. he readily recognized his infirmity, and confessed himself unable to accommodate his irascibility to the "humores" of the inhabitants. there was often sufficient cause for his petulance. never had praetor of a province a more penurious civil list. "the baker has given notice," wrote count john, in november, "that he will supply no more bread after to-morrow, unless he is paid." the states would furnish no money to pay the bill. it was no better with the butcher. "the cook has often no meat to roast," said the count, in the same letter, "so that we are often obliged to go supperless to bed." his lodgings were a half-roofed, half-finished, unfurnished barrack, where the stadholder passed his winter days and evenings in a small, dark, freezing-cold chamber, often without fire-wood. such circumstances were certainly not calculated to excite envy. when in addition to such wretched parsimony, it is remembered that the count was perpetually worried by the quarrels of the provincial authorities with each other and with himself, he may be forgiven for becoming thoroughly exhausted at last. he was growing "grey and grizzled" with perpetual perplexity. he had been fed with annoyance, as if--to use his own homely expression--"he had eaten it with a spoon." having already loaded himself with a debt of six hundred thousand florins, which he had spent in the states' service, and having struggled manfully against the petty tortures of his situation, he cannot be severely censured for relinquishing his post. the affairs of his own countship were in great confusion. his children--boys and girls--were many, and needed their fathers' guidance, while the eldest, william louis, was already in arms for the-netherlands, following the instincts of his race. distinguished for a rash valor, which had already gained the rebuke of his father and the applause of his comrades, he had commenced his long and glorious career by receiving a severe wound at coewerden, which caused him to halt for life. leaving so worthy a representative, the count was more justified in his departure. his wife, too, had died in his absence, and household affairs required his attention. it must be confessed, however, that if the memory of his deceased spouse had its claims, the selection of her successor was still more prominent among his anxieties. the worthy gentleman had been supernaturally directed as to his second choice, ere that choice seemed necessary, for before the news of his wife's death had reached him, the count dreamed that he was already united in second nuptials to the fair cunigunda, daughter of the deceased elector palatine--a vision which was repeated many times. on the morrow he learned, to his amazement, that he was a widower, and entertained no doubt that he had been specially directed towards the princess seen in his slumbers, whom he had never seen in life. his friends were in favor of his marrying the electress dowager, rather than her daughter, whose years numbered less than half his own. the honest count, however, "after ripe consideration," decidedly preferred the maid to the widow. "i confess," he said, with much gravity, "that the marriage with the old electress, in respect of her god-fearing disposition, her piety, her virtue, and the like, would be much more advisable. moreover, as she hath borne her cross, and knows how to deal with gentlemen, so much the better would it be for me. nevertheless, inasmuch as she has already had two husbands, is of a tolerable age, and is taller of stature than myself, my inclination is less towards her than towards her daughter." for these various considerations, count john, notwithstanding the remonstrances of his brother, definitely laid down his government of gelderland, and quitted the netherlands about midsummer. enough had not been done, in the opinion of the prince, so long as aught remained to do, and he could not bear that his brother should desert the country in the hour of its darkness, or doubt the almighty when his hand was veiled in clouds. "one must do one's best," said he, "and believe that when such misfortunes happen, god desires to prove us. if he sees that we do not lose our courage, he will assuredly help us. had we thought otherwise, we should never have pierced the dykes on a memorable occasion, for it was an uncertain thing and a great sorrow for the poor people; yet did god bless the undertaking. he will bless us still, for his arm hath not been shortened." on the nd of july, , the archduke matthias, being fully aware of the general tendency of affairs, summoned a meeting of the generality in antwerp. he did not make his appearance before the assembly, but requested that a deputation might wait upon him at his lodgings, and to this committee he unfolded his griefs. he expressed his hope that the states were not--in violation of the laws of god and man--about to throw themselves into the arms of a foreign prince. he reminded them of their duty to the holy catholic religion to the illustrious house of austria, while he also pathetically called their attention to the necessities of his own household, and hoped that they would, at least, provide for the arrears due to his domestics. the states-general replied with courtesy as to the personal claims of the archduke. for the rest, they took higher grounds, and the coming declaration of independence already pierced through the studied decorum of their language. they defended their negotiation with anjou on the ground of necessity, averring that the king of spain had proved inexorable to all intercession, while, through the intrigues of their bitterest enemies, they had been entirely forsaken by the empire. soon afterwards, a special legation, with saint aldegonde at its head, was despatched to france to consult with the duke of anjou, and settled terms of agreement with him by the treaty of plessis les tours (on the th of september, ), afterwards definitely ratified by the convention of bordeaux, signed on the rd of the following january. the states of holland and zealand, however, kept entirely aloof from this transaction, being from the beginning opposed to the choice of anjou. from the first to the last, they would have no master but orange, and to him, therefore, this year they formally offered the sovereignty of their provinces; but they offered it in vain. the conquest of portugal had effected a diversion in the affairs of the netherlands. it was but a transitory one. the provinces found the hopes which they had built upon the necessity of spain for large supplies in the peninsula--to their own consequent relief--soon changed into fears, for the rapid success of alva in portugal gave his master additional power to oppress the heretics of the north. henry, the cardinal king, had died in , after succeeding to the youthful adventurer, don sebastian, slain during his chivalrous african campaign ( th of august, ). the contest for the succession which opened upon the death of the aged monarch was brief, and in fifty-eight days, the bastard antonio, philip's only formidable competitor, had been utterly defeated and driven forth to lurk, like 'a hunted wild beast, among rugged mountain caverns, with a price of a hundred thousand crowns upon his head. in the course of the succeeding year, philip received homage at lisbon as king of portugal. from the moment of this conquest, he was more disposed, and more at leisure than ever, to vent his wrath against the netherlands, and against the man whom he considered the incarnation of their revolt. cardinal granvelle had ever whispered in the king's ear the expediency of taking off the prince by assassination. it has been seen how subtly distilled, and how patiently hoarded, was this priest's venom against individuals, until the time arrived when he could administer the poison with effect. his hatred of orange was intense and of ancient date. he was of opinion, too, that the prince might be scared from the post of duty, even if the assassin's hand were not able to reach his heart. he was in favor of publicly setting a price upon his head-thinking that if the attention of all the murderers in the world were thus directed towards the illustrious victim, the prince would tremble at the dangers which surrounded him. "a sum of money would be well employed in this way," said the cardinal, "and, as the prince of orange is a vile coward, fear alone will throw him into confusion." again, a few months later, renewing the subject, he observed, "'twould be well to offer a reward of thirty or forty thousand crowns to any one who will deliver the prince, dead or alive; since from very fear of it--as he is pusillanimous--it would not be unlikely that he should die of his own accord." it was insulting even to philip's intelligence to insinuate that the prince would shrink before danger, or die of fear. had orange ever been inclined to bombast, he might have answered the churchman's calumny, as caesar the soothsayer's warning:-- "-----------------danger knows full well that caesar is more dangerous than he--" and in truth, philip had long trembled on his throne before the genius of the man who had foiled spain's boldest generals and wiliest statesmen. the king, accepting the priest's advice, resolved to fulminate a ban against the prince, and to set a price upon his head. "it will be well," wrote philip to parma, "to offer thirty thousand crowns or so to any one who will deliver him dead or alive. thus the country may be rid of a man so pernicious; or at any rate he will be held in perpetual fear, and therefore prevented from executing leisurely his designs." in accordance with these suggestions and these hopes, the famous ban was accordingly drawn up, and dated on the th of march, . it was, however, not formally published in the netherlands until the month of june of the same year. this edict will remain the most lasting monument to the memory of cardinal granvelle. it will be read when all his other state-papers and epistles--able as they incontestably are--shall have passed into oblivion. no panegyric of friend, no palliating magnanimity of foe, can roll away this rock of infamy from his tomb. it was by cardinal granvelle and by philip that a price was set upon the head of the foremost man of his age, as if he had been a savage beast, and that admission into the ranks of spain's haughty nobility was made the additional bribe to tempt the assassin. the ban consisted of a preliminary narrative to justify the penalty with which it was concluded. it referred to the favors conferred by philip and his father upon the prince; to his-signal ingratitude and dissimulation. it accused him of originating the request, the image-breaking, and the public preaching. it censured his marriage with an abbess--even during the lifetime of his wife; alluded to his campaigns against alva, to his rebellion in holland, and to the horrible massacres committed by spaniards in that province--the necessary consequences of his treason. it accused him of introducing liberty of conscience, of procuring his own appointment as ruward, of violating the ghent treaty, of foiling the efforts of don john, and of frustrating the counsels of the cologne commissioners by his perpetual distrust. it charged him with a newly-organized conspiracy, in the erection of the utrecht union; and for these and similar crimes--set forth, with involutions, slow, spiral, and cautious as the head and front of the indictment was direct and deadly--it denounced the chastisement due to the "wretched hypocrite" who had committed such offences. "for these causes," concluded the ban, "we declare him traitor and miscreant, enemy of ourselves and of the country. as such we banish him perpetually from all our realms, forbidding all our subjects, of whatever quality, to communicate with him openly or privately--to administer to him victuals, drink, fire, or other necessaries. we allow all to injure him in property or life. we expose the said william nassau, as an enemy of the human-race--giving his property to all who may; seize it. and if anyone of our subjects or any stranger should be found sufficiently generous of heart to rid us of this pest, delivering him to us, alive or dead, or taking his life, we will cause to be furnished to him immediately after the deed shall have been done, the sum of twenty-five thousand crowns; in gold. if he have committed any crime, however heinous, we promise to pardon him; and if he be not already noble, we will ennoble him for his valor." such was the celebrated ban against the prince of orange. it was answered before the end of the year by the memorable "apology of the prince of orange" one of the moat startling documents in history. no defiance was ever thundered forth in the face of a despot in more terrible tones. it had become sufficiently manifest to the royal party that the prince was not to be purchased by "millions of money," or by unlimited family advancement--not to be cajoled by flattery or offers of illustrious friendship. it had been decided, therefore, to terrify him into retreat, or to remove him by murder. the government had been thoroughly convinced that the only way to finish the revolt, was to "finish orange," according to the ancient advice of antonio perez. the mask was thrown off. it had been decided to forbid the prince bread, water, fire, and shelter; to give his wealth to the fisc, his heart to the assassin, his soul, as it was hoped, to the father of evil. the rupture being thus complete, it was right that the "wretched hypocrite" should answer ban with ban, royal denunciation with sublime scorn. he had ill-deserved, however, the title of hypocrite, he said. when the friend of government, he had warned them that by their complicated and perpetual persecutions they were twisting the rope of their own ruin. was that hypocrisy? since becoming their enemy, there had likewise been little hypocrisy found in him--unless it were hypocrisy to make open war upon government, to take their cities, to expel their armies from the country. the proscribed rebel, towering to a moral and even social superiority over the man who affected to be his master by right divine, swept down upon his antagonist with crushing effect. he repudiated the idea of a king in the netherlands. the word might be legitimate in castillo, or naples, or the indies, but the provinces knew no such title. philip had inherited in those countries only the power of duke or count--a power closely limited by constitutions more ancient than his birthright. orange was no rebel then--philip no legitimate monarch. even were the prince rebellious, it was no more than philip's ancestor, albert of austria, had been towards his anointed sovereign, emperor adolphus of nassau, ancestor of william. the ties of allegiance and conventional authority being, severed, it had become idle for the king to affect superiority of lineage to the man whose family had occupied illustrious stations when the habsburgs were obscure squires in switzerland, and had ruled as sovereign in the netherlands before that overshadowing house had ever been named. but whatever the hereditary claims of philip in the country, he had forfeited them by the violation of his oaths, by his tyrannical suppression of the charters of the land; while by his personal crimes he had lost all pretension to sit in judgment upon his fellow man. was a people not justified in rising against authority when all their laws had been trodden under foot, "not once only, but a million of times?"--and was william of orange, lawful husband of the virtuous charlotte de bourbon, to be denounced for moral delinquency by a lascivious, incestuous, adulterous, and murderous king? with horrible distinctness he laid before the monarch all the crimes of which he believed him guilty, and having thus told philip to his beard, "thus diddest thou," he had a withering word for the priest who stood at his back. "tell me," he cried, "by whose command cardinal granvelle administered poison to the emperor maximilian? i know what the emperor told me, and how much fear he felt afterwards for the king and for all spaniards." he ridiculed the effrontery of men like philip and granvelle; in charging "distrust" upon others, when it was the very atmosphere of their own existence. he proclaimed that sentiment to be the only salvation for the country. he reminded philip of the words which his namesake of macedon--a schoolboy in tyranny, compared to himself--had heard from the lips of demosthenes--that the strongest fortress of a free people against a tyrant was distrust. that sentiment, worthy of eternal memory, the prince declared that he had taken from the "divine philippic," to engrave upon the heart, of the nation, and he prayed god that he might be more readily believed than the great orator had been by his people. he treated with scorn the price set upon his head, ridiculing this project to terrify him, for its want of novelty, and asking the monarch if he supposed the rebel ignorant of the various bargains which had frequently been made before with cutthroats and poisoners to take away his life. "i am in the hand of god," said william of orange; "my worldly goods and my life have been long since dedicated to his service. he will dispose of them as seems best for his glory and my salvation." on the contrary, however, if it could be demonstrated, or even hoped, that his absence would benefit the cause of the country, he proclaimed himself ready to go into exile. "would to god," said he, in conclusion, "that my perpetual banishment, or even my death, could bring you a true deliverance from so many calamities. oh, how consoling would be such banishment--how sweet such a death! for why have i exposed my property? was it that i might enrich myself? why have i lost my brothers? was it that i might find new; ones? why have i left my son so long a prisoner? can you give me another? why have i put my life so often in, danger? what reward, can i hope after my long services, and the almost total wreck, of my earthly fortunes, if not the prize, of having acquired, perhaps at the expense of my life, your liberty?--if then, my masters, if you judge that my absence or my death can serve you, behold me ready to obey. command me--send me to the ends of the earth--i will obey. here is my head, over which no prince, no monarch, has power but yourselves. dispose of it for your good, for the preservation of your republic, but if you judge that the moderate amount of experience and industry which is in me, if you judge that the remainder of my property and of my life can yet be of service to you, i dedicate them afresh to you and to the country." his motto--most appropriate to his life and character--"je maintiendrai," was the concluding phrase of the document. his arms and signature were also formally appended, and the apology, translated into most modern languages, was sent, to nearly every potentate in christendom. it had been previously, on the th of december, , read before the assembly of the united states at delft, and approved as cordially as the ban was indignantly denounced. during the remainder of the year , and the half of the following year, the seat of hostilities was mainly in the northeast-parma, while waiting the arrival of fresh troops, being inactive. the operations, like the armies and the generals, were petty. hohenlo was opposed to renneberg. after a few insignificant victories, the latter laid siege to steenwyk, a city in itself of no great importance, but the key to the province of drenthe. the garrison consisted of six hundred soldiers, and half as many trained burghers. renneberg, having six thousand foot and twelve hundred horse, summoned the place to surrender, but was answered with defiance. captain cornput, who had escaped from groningen, after unsuccessfully warning the citizens of renneberg's meditated treason, commanded in steenwyk, and his courage and cheerfulness sustained the population of the city during a close winter siege. tumultuous mobs in the streets demanding that the place should be given over ere it was too late, he denounced to their faces as "flocks of gabbling geese," unworthy the attention of brave men. to a butcher who, with the instinct of his craft, begged to be informed what the population were to eat when the meat was all gone, he coolly observed, "we will eat you, villain, first of all, when the time comes; so go home and rest assured that you, at least, are not to die of starvation." with such rough but cheerful admonitions did the honest soldier, at the head of his little handful, sustain the courage of the beleaguered city. meantime renneberg pressed it hard. he bombarded it with red-hot balls, a new invention introduced five years before by stephen bathor, king of poland, at the siege of dantzig. many houses were consumed, but still cornput and the citizens held firm. as the winter advanced, and the succor which had been promised still remained in the distance, renneberg began to pelt the city with sarcasms, which, it was hoped, might prove more effective than the red-hot balls. he sent a herald to know if the citizens had eaten all their horses yet; a question which was answered by an ostentatious display of sixty starving hacks--all that could be mustered-upon the heights. he sent them on another occasion, a short letter, which ran as follows: "most honorable, most steadfast,--as, during the present frost, you have but little exercise in the trenches--as you cannot pass your time in twirling your finger-rings, seeing that they have all been sold to pay your soldiers' wages--as you have nothing to rub your teeth upon, nor to scour your stomachs withal, and as, nevertheless, you require something if only to occupy your minds, i send you the enclosed letter, in hope it may yield amusement.--january , ." the enclosure was a letter from the prince of orange to the duke of anjou, which, as it was pretended, had been intercepted. it was a clumsy forgery, but it answered the purpose of more skilful counterfeiting, at a period when political and religious enmity obscured men's judgment. "as to the point of religion," the prince was made to observe, for example, to his illustrious correspondent, "that is all plain and clear. no sovereign who hopes to come to any great advancement ought to consider religion, or hold it in regard. your highness, by means of the garrisons, and fortresses, will be easily master of the principal cities in flanders and brabant, even if the citizens were opposed to you. afterwards you will compel them without difficulty to any religion which may seem most conducive to the interests of your highness." odious and cynical as was the whole tone of the letter, it was extensively circulated. there were always natures base and brutal enough to accept the calumny and to make it current among kindred souls. it may be doubted whether renneberg attached faith to the document; but it was natural that he should take a malicious satisfaction in spreading this libel against the man whose perpetual scorn he had so recently earned. nothing was more common than such forgeries, and at that very moment a letter, executed with equal grossness, was passing from hand to hand, which purported to be from the count himself to parma. history has less interest in contradicting the calumnies against a man like renneberg. the fictitious epistle of orange, however, was so often republished, and the copies so carefully distributed, that the prince had thought it important to add an express repudiation of its authorship, by way of appendix to his famous apology. he took the occasion to say, that if a particle of proof could be brought that he had written the letter, or any letter resembling it, he would forthwith leave the netherlands, never to show his face there again. notwithstanding this well known denial, however, renneberg thought it facetious to send the letter into steenvayk, where it produced but small effect upon the minds' of the burghers. meantime, they had received intimation that succor was on its way. hollow balls containing letters were shot into the town, bringing the welcome intelligence that the english colonel, john norris, with six thousand states' troops, would soon make his appearance for their relief, and the brave cornput added his cheerful exhortations to heighten the satisfaction thus produced. a day or two afterwards, three quails were caught in the public square, and the commandant improved the circumstance by many quaint homilies. the number three, he observed, was typical of the holy trinity, which had thus come symbolically to their relief. the lord had sustained the fainting israelites with quails. the number three indicated three weeks, within which time the promised succor was sure to arrive. accordingly, upon the nd of february, , at the expiration of the third week, norris succeeded in victualling the town, the merry and steadfast cornput was established as a true prophet, and count renneberg abandoned the siege in despair. the subsequent career of that unhappy nobleman was brief. on the th of july his troops were signally defeated by sonny--and norris, the fugitive royalists retreating into groningen at the very moment when their general, who had been prevented by illness from commanding them, was receiving the last sacraments. remorse, shame, and disappointment had literally brought renneberg to his grave. "his treason," says a contemporary, "was a nail in his coffin, and on his deathbed he bitterly bemoaned his crime. 'groningen! groningen!' would that i had never seen thy walls!" he cried repeatedly in his last hours. he refused to see his sister, whose insidious counsels had combined with his own evil passions to make him a traitor; and he died on the rd of july, , repentant and submissive. his heart, after his decease, was found "shrivelled to the dimensions of a walnut," a circumstance attributed to poison by some, to remorse by others. his regrets; his early death, and his many attractive qualities, combined to: save his character from universal denunciation, and his name, although indelibly stained by treason, was ever mentioned with pity rather than with rancor. great changes, destined to be perpetual, were steadily preparing in the internal condition of the provinces. a preliminary measure of an important character had been taken early this year by the assembly of the united provinces held in the month of january at delft. this was the establishment of a general executive council. the constitution of the board was arranged on the th of the month, and was embraced in eighteen articles. the number of councillors was fixed at thirty, all to be native netherlanders; a certain proportion to be appointed from each province by its estates. the advice and consent of this body as to treaties with foreign powers were to be indispensable, but they were not to interfere with the rights and duties of the states-general, nor to interpose any obstacle to the arrangements with the duke of anjou. while this additional machine for the self-government of the provinces was in the course of creation; the spanish monarch, on the other hand, had made another effort to recover the authority which he felt slipping from his grasp. philip was in portugal, preparing for his coronation in, that, new kingdom--an event to be nearly contemporaneous with his deposition from the netherland sovereignty, so solemnly conferred upon him a quarter of a century before in brussels; but although thus distant, he was confident that he could more wisely govern the netherlands than the inhabitants could do, and unwilling as ever to confide in the abilities of those to whom he had delegated his authority. provided; as he unquestionably was at that moment, with a more energetic representative than any who had before exercised the functions of royal governor in the provinces, he was still disposed to harass, to doubt, and to interfere. with the additional cares of the portuguese conquest upon his hands, he felt as irresistibly impelled as ever to superintend the minute details of provincial administration. to do this was impossible. it was, however, not impossible, by attempting to do it, to produce much mischief. "it gives me pain," wrote granvelle, "to see his majesty working as before--choosing to understand everything and to do everything. by this course, as i have often said before, he really accomplishes much less." the king had, moreover, recently committed the profound error of sending the duchess margaret of parma to the netherlands again. he had the fatuity to believe her memory so tenderly cherished in the provinces as to ensure a burst of loyalty at her reappearance, while the irritation which he thus created in the breast of her son he affected to disregard. the event was what might have been foreseen. the netherlanders were very moderately excited by the arrival of their former regent, but the prince of parma was furious. his mother actually arrived at namur in the month of august, , to assume the civil administration of the provinces,--and he was himself, according to the king's request, to continue in the command of the army. any one who had known human nature at all, would have recognized that alexander farnese was not the man to be put into leading strings. a sovereign who was possessed of any administrative sagacity, would have seen the absurdity of taking the reins of government at that crisis from the hands of a most determined and energetic man, to confide them to the keeping of a woman. a king who was willing to reflect upon the consequences of his own acts, must have foreseen the scandal likely to result from an open quarrel for precedence between such a mother and son. margaret of parma was instantly informed, however, by alexander, that a divided authority like that proposed was entirely out of the question. both offered to resign; but alexander was unflinching in his determination to retain all the power or none. the duchess, as docile to her son after her arrival as she had been to the king on undertaking the journey, and feeling herself unequal to the task imposed upon her, implored philip's permission to withdraw, almost as soon as she had reached her destination. granvelle's opinion was likewise opposed to this interference with the administration of alexander, and the king at last suffered himself to be overruled. by the end of the year , letters arrived confirming the prince of parma in his government, but requesting the duchess of parma to remain, privately in the netherlands. she accordingly continued to reside there under an assumed name until the autumn of , when she was at last permitted to return to italy. during the summer of , the same spirit of persecution which had inspired the catholics to inflict such infinite misery upon those of the reformed faith in the netherlands, began to manifest itself in overt acts against the papists by those who had at last obtained political. ascendency over them. edicts were published in antwerp, in utrecht, and in different cities of holland, suspending the exercise of the roman worship. these statutes were certainly a long way removed in horror from those memorable placards which sentenced the reformers by thousands to the axe; the cord, and the stake, but it was still melancholy to see the persecuted becoming persecutors in their turn. they were excited to these stringent measures by the noisy zeal of certain dominican monks in brussels, whose extravagant discourses were daily inflaming the passions of the catholics to a dangerous degree. the authorities of the city accordingly thought it necessary to suspend, by proclamation, the public exercise of the ancient religion, assigning, as their principal reason for this prohibition, the shocking jugglery by which simple-minded persons were constantly deceived. they alluded particularly to the practice of working miracles by means of relics, pieces of the holy cross, bones of saints, and the perspiration of statues. they charged that bits of lath were daily exhibited as fragments of the cross; that the bones of dogs and monkeys were held up for adoration as those of saints; and that oil was poured habitually into holes drilled in the heads of statues, that the populace might believe in their miraculous sweating. for these reasons, and to avoid the tumult and possible bloodshed to which the disgust excited by such charlatanry might give rise, the roman catholic worship was suspended until the country should be restored to greater tranquillity. similar causes led to similar proclamations in other cities. the prince of orange lamented the intolerant spirit thus showing itself among those who had been its martyrs, but it was not possible at that moment to keep it absolutely under control. a most important change was now to take place in his condition, a most vital measure was to be consummated by the provinces. the step, which could never be retraced was, after long hesitation, finally taken upon the th of july, , upon which day the united provinces, assembled at the hague, solemnly declared their independence of philip, and renounced their allegiance for ever. this act was accomplished with the deliberation due to its gravity. at the same time it left the country in a very divided condition. this was inevitable. the prince had done all that one man could do to hold the netherlands together and unite them perpetually into one body politic, and perhaps, if he had been inspired by a keener personal ambition, this task might have been accomplished.--the seventeen provinces might have accepted his dominion, but they would agree to that of no other sovereign. providence had not decreed that the country, after its long agony, should give birth to a single and perfect commonwealth. the walloon provinces had already fallen off from the cause, notwithstanding the entreaties of the prince. the other netherlands, after long and tedious negotiation with anjou, had at last consented to his supremacy, but from this arrangement holland and zealand held themselves aloof. by a somewhat anomalous proceeding, they sent deputies along with those of the other provinces, to the conferences with the duke, but it was expressly understood that they would never accept him as sovereign. they were willing to contract with him and with their sister provinces--over which he was soon to exercise authority--a firm and perpetual league, but as to their own chief, their hearts were fixed. the prince of orange should be their lord and master, and none other. it lay only in his self-denying character that he had not been clothed with this dignity long before. he had, however, persisted in the hope that all the provinces might be brought to acknowledge the duke of anjou as their sovereign, under conditions which constituted a free commonwealth with an hereditary chief, and in this hope he had constantly refused concession to the wishes of the northern provinces. he in reality exercised sovereign power over nearly the whole population, of the netherlands. already in , at the assembly held in april, the states of holland had formally requested him to assume the full sovereignty over them, with the title of count of holland and zealand forfeited by philip. he had not consented, and the proceedings had been kept comparatively secret. as the negotiations with anjou advanced, and as the corresponding abjuration of philip was more decisively indicated, the consent of the prince to this request was more warmly urged. as it was evident that the provinces thus bent upon placing him at their head, could by no possibility be induced to accept the sovereignty of anjou--as, moreover; the act of renunciation of philip could no longer be deferred, the prince of orange reluctantly and provisionally accepted the supreme power over holland and zealand. this arrangement was finally accomplished upon the th of july, , and the act of abjuration took place two days afterwards. the offer of the sovereignty over the other united provinces had been accepted by anjou six months before. thus, the netherlands were divided into three portions--the reconciled provinces, the united provinces under anjou, and the northern provinces under orange; the last division forming the germ, already nearly developed, of the coming republic. the constitution, or catalogue of conditions, by which the sovereignty accorded to anjou was reduced to such narrow limits as to be little more than a nominal authority, while the power remained in the hands of the representative body of the provinces, will be described, somewhat later, together with the inauguration of the duke. for the present it is necessary that the reader should fully understand the relative position of the prince and of the northern provinces. the memorable act of renunciation--the netherland declaration of independence--will then be briefly explained. on the th of march, , a resolution passed the assembly of holland and zealand never to make peace or enter into any negotiations with the king of spain on the basis of his sovereignty. the same resolution provided that his name--hitherto used in all public acts--should be for ever discarded, that his seal should be broken, and that the name and seal of the prince of orange should be substituted in all commissions and public documents. at almost the same time the states of utrecht passed a similar resolution. these offers were, however, not accepted, and the affair was preserved profoundly secret. on the th of july, , "the knights, nobles, and cities of holland and zealand," again, in an urgent and solemn manner, requested the prince to accept the "entire authority as sovereign and chief of the land, as long as the war should continue." this limitation as to time was inserted most reluctantly by the states, and because it was perfectly well understood that without it the prince would not accept the sovereignty at all. the act by which this dignity was offered, conferred full power to command all forces by land and sea, to appoint all military officers, and to conduct all warlike operations, without the control or advice of any person whatsoever. it authorized him, with consent of the states, to appoint all financial and judicial officers, created him the supreme executive chief, and fountain of justice and pardon, and directed him "to maintain the exercise only of the reformed evangelical religion, without, however, permitting that inquiries should be made into any man's belief or conscience, or that any injury or hindrance should be offered to any man on account of his religion." the sovereignty thus pressingly offered, and thus limited as to time, was finally accepted by william of orange, according to a formal act dated at the hague, th of july, , but it will be perceived that no powers were conferred by this new instrument beyond those already exercised by the prince. it was, as it were, a formal continuance of the functions which he had exercised since as the king's stadholder, according to his old commission of , although a vast, difference existed in reality. the king's name was now discarded and his sovereignty disowned, while the proscribed rebel stood in his place, exercising supreme functions, not vicariously, but in his own name. the limitation as to time was, moreover, soon afterwards secretly, and without the knowledge of orange, cancelled by the states. they were determined that the prince should be their sovereign--if they could make him so--for the term of his life. the offer having thus been made and accepted upon the th of july, oaths of allegiance and fidelity were exchanged between the prince and the estates upon the th of the same month. in these solemnities, the states, as representing the provinces, declared that because the king of spain, contrary to his oath as count of holland and zealand, had not only not protected these provinces, but had sought with all his might to reduce them to eternal slavery, it had been found necessary to forsake him. they therefore proclaimed every inhabitant absolved from allegiance, while at the same time, in the name of the population, they swore fidelity to the prince of orange, as representing the supreme authority. two days afterwards, upon the th of july, , the memorable declaration of independence was issued by the deputies of the united provinces, then solemnly assembled at the hague. it was called the act of abjuration. it deposed philip from his sovereignty, but was not the proclamation of a new form of government, for the united provinces were not ready to dispense with an hereditary chief. unluckily, they had already provided themselves with a very bad one to succeed philip in the dominion over most of their territory, while the northern provinces were fortunate enough and wise enough to take the father of the country for their supreme magistrate. the document by which the provinces renounced their allegiance was not the most felicitous of their state papers. it was too prolix and technical. its style had more of the formal phraseology of legal documents than befitted this great appeal to the whole world and to all time. nevertheless, this is but matter of taste. the netherlanders were so eminently a law-abiding people, that, like the american patriots of the eighteenth century, they on most occasions preferred punctilious precision to florid declamation. they chose to conduct their revolt according to law. at the same time, while thus decently wrapping herself in conventional garments, the spirit of liberty revealed none the less her majestic proportions. at the very outset of the abjuration, these fathers of the republic laid down wholesome truths, which at that time seemed startling blasphemies in the ears of christendom. "all mankind know," said the preamble, "that a prince is appointed by god to cherish his subjects, even as a shepherd to guard his sheep. when, therefore, the prince--does not fulfil his duty as protector; when he oppresses his subjects, destroys their ancient liberties, and treats them as slaves, he is to be considered, not a prince, but a tyrant. as such, the estates of the land may lawfully and reasonably depose him, and elect another in his room." having enunciated these maxims, the estates proceeded to apply them to their own case, and certainly never was an ampler justification for renouncing a prince since princes were first instituted. the states ran through the history of the past quarter of a century, patiently accumulating a load of charges against the monarch, a tithe of which would have furnished cause for his dethronement. without passion or exaggeration, they told the world their wrongs. the picture was not highly colored. on the contrary, it was rather a feeble than a striking portrait of the monstrous iniquity which had so long been established over them. nevertheless, they went through the narrative conscientiously and earnestly. they spoke of the king's early determination to govern the netherlands, not by natives but by spaniards; to treat them not as constitutional countries, but as conquered provinces; to regard the inhabitants not as liege subjects, but as enemies; above all, to supersede their ancient liberty by the spanish inquisition, and they alluded to the first great step in this scheme--the creation of the new bishoprics, each with its staff of inquisitors. they noticed the memorable petition, the mission of berghen and montigny, their imprisonment and taking off, in violation of all national law, even that which had ever been held sacred by the most cruel and tyrannical princes. they sketched the history of alva's administration; his entrapping the most eminent nobles by false promises, and delivering them to the executioner; his countless sentences of death, outlawry, and confiscation; his erection of citadels to curb, his imposition of the tenth and twentieth penny to exhaust the land; his blood council and its achievements; and the immeasurable, woe produced by hanging, burning, banishing, and plundering, during his seven years of residence. they adverted to the grand commander, as having been sent, not to improve the condition of the country, but to pursue the same course of tyranny by more concealed ways. they spoke of the horrible mutiny which broke forth at his death; of the antwerp fury; of the express approbation rendered to that great outrage by the king, who had not only praised the crime, but promised to recompense the criminals. they alluded to don john of austria and his duplicity; to his pretended confirmation of the ghent treaty; to his attempts to divide the country against itself; to the escovedo policy; to the intrigues with the german regiments. they touched upon the cologne negotiations, and the fruitless attempt of the patriots upon that occasion to procure freedom of religion, while the object of the royalists was only to distract and divide the nation. finally, they commented with sorrow and despair upon that last and crowning measure of tyranny--the ban against the prince of orange. they calmly observed, after this recital, that they were sufficiently justified in forsaking a sovereign who for more than twenty years had forsaken them. obeying the law of nature--desirous of maintaining the rights, charters, and liberties of their fatherland--determined to escape from slavery to spaniards--and making known their decision to the world, they declared the king of spain deposed from his sovereignty, and proclaimed that they should recognize thenceforth neither his title nor jurisdiction. three days afterwards, on the th of july, the assembly adopted a formula, by which all persons were to be required to signify their abjuration. such were the forms by which the united provinces threw off their allegiance to spain, and ipso facto established a republic, which was to flourish for two centuries. this result, however, was not exactly foreseen by the congress which deposed philip. the fathers of the commonwealth did not baptize it by the name of republic. they did not contemplate a change in their form of government. they had neither an aristocracy nor a democracy in their thoughts. like the actors in our own great national drama, these netherland patriots were struggling to sustain, not to overthrow; unlike them, they claimed no theoretical freedom for humanity--promulgated no doctrine of popular sovereignty: they insisted merely on the fulfilment of actual contracts, signed sealed, and sworn to by many successive sovereigns. acting, upon the principle that government should be for the benefit of the governed, and in conformity to the dictates of reason and justice, they examined the facts by those divine lights, and discovered cause to discard their ruler. they did not object to being ruled. they were satisfied with their historical institutions, and preferred the mixture of hereditary sovereignty with popular representation, to which they were accustomed. they did not devise an a priori constitution. philip having violated the law of reason and the statutes of the land, was deposed, and a new chief magistrate was to be elected in his stead. this was popular sovereignty in fact, but not in words. the deposition and election could be legally justified only by the inherent right of the people to depose and to elect; yet the provinces, in their declaration of independence, spoke of the divine right of kings, even while dethroning, by popular right, their own king! so also, in the instructions given by the states to their envoys charged to justify the abjuration before the imperial diet held at augsburg, twelve months later, the highest ground was claimed for the popular right to elect or depose the sovereign, while at the same time, kings were spoken of as "appointed by god." it is true that they were described, in the same clause, as "chosen by the people"--which was, perhaps, as exact a concurrence in the maxim of vox populi, vox dei, as the boldest democrat of the day could demand. in truth, a more democratic course would have defeated its own ends. the murderous and mischievous pranks of imbize, ryhove, and such demagogues, at ghent and elsewhere, with their wild theories of what they called grecian, roman, and helvetian republicanism, had inflicted damage enough on the cause of freedom, and had paved the road for the return of royal despotism. the senators assembled at the hague gave more moderate instructions to their delegates at augsburg. they were to place the king's tenure upon contract--not an implied one, but a contract as literal as the lease of a farm. the house of austria, they were to maintain, had come into the possession of the seventeen netherlands upon certain express conditions, and with the understanding that its possession was to cease with the first condition broken. it was a question of law and fact, not of royal or popular right. they were to take the ground, not only that the contract had been violated, but that the foundation of perpetual justice upon which it rested; had likewise been undermined. it was time to vindicate both written charters and general principles. "god has given absolute power to no mortal man," said saint aldegonde, "to do his own will against all laws and all reason." "the contracts which the king has broken are no pedantic fantasies," said the estates, "but laws planted by nature in the universal heart of mankind, and expressly acquiesced in by prince and people." all men, at least, who speak the english tongue, will accept the conclusion of the provinces, that when laws which protected the citizen against arbitrary imprisonment and guaranteed him a trial in his own province--which forbade the appointment of foreigners to high office--which secured the property of the citizen from taxation, except by the representative body--which forbade intermeddling on the part of the sovereign with the conscience of the subject in religious matters--when such laws had been subverted by blood tribunals, where drowsy judges sentenced thousands to stake and scaffold without a hearing by excommunication, confiscation, banishment-by hanging, beheading, burning, to such enormous extent and with such terrible monotony that the executioner's sword came to be looked upon as the only symbol of justice--then surely it might be said, without exaggeration, that the complaints of the netherlanders were "no pedantic fantasies," and that the king had ceased to perform his functions as dispenser of god's justice. the netherlanders dealt with facts. they possessed a body of laws, monuments of their national progress, by which as good a share of individual liberty was secured to the citizen as was then enjoyed in any country of the world. their institutions admitted of great improvement, no doubt; but it was natural that a people so circumstanced should be unwilling to exchange their condition for the vassalage of "moors or indians." at the same time it may be doubted whether the instinct for political freedom only would have sustained them in the long contest, and whether the bonds which united them to the spanish crown would have been broken, had it not been for the stronger passion for religious liberty, by which so large a portion of the people was animated. boldly as the united states of the netherlands laid down their political maxima, the quarrel might perhaps have been healed if the religious question had admitted of a peaceable solution. philip's bigotry amounting to frenzy, and the netherlanders of "the religion" being willing, in their own words, "to die the death" rather than abandon the reformed faith, there was upon this point no longer room for hope. in the act of abjuration, however, it was thought necessary to give offence to no class of the inhabitants, but to lay down such principles only as enlightened catholics would not oppose. all parties abhorred the inquisition, and hatred to that institution is ever prominent among the causes assigned for the deposition of the monarch. "under pretence of maintaining the roman religion," said the estates, "the king has sought by evil means to bring into operation the whole strength of the placards and of the inquisition--the first and true cause of all our miseries." without making any assault upon the roman catholic faith, the authors of the great act by which philip was for ever expelled from the netherlands showed plainly enough that religious persecution had driven them at last to extremity. at the same time, they were willing--for the sake of conciliating all classes of their countrymen--to bring the political causes of discontent into the foreground, and to use discreet language upon the religious question. such, then, being the spirit which prompted the provinces upon this great occasion, it may be asked who were the men who signed a document of such importance? in whose-name and by what authority did they act against the sovereign? the signers of the declaration of independence acted in the name and by the authority of the netherlands people. the estates were the constitutional representatives of that people. the statesmen of that day discovering, upon cold analysis of facts, that philip's sovereignty was, legally forfeited; formally proclaimed that forfeiture. then inquiring what had become of the sovereignty, they found it not in the mass of the people, but in the representative body, which actually personated the people. the estates of the different provinces--consisting of the knights, nobles, and burgesses of each--sent, accordingly, their deputies to the general assembly at the hague; and by this congress the decree of abjuration was issued. it did, not occur to any one to summon the people in their primary assemblies, nor would the people of that day, have comprehended the objects of such a summons. they were accustomed to the action of the estates, and those bodies represented as large a number of political capacities as could be expected of assemblies chosen then upon general principles. the hour had not arrived for more profound analysis of the social compact. philip was accordingly deposed justly, legally formally justly, because it had become necessary to abjur a monarch who was determined not only to oppress; but to exterminate his people; legally, because he had habitually violated the constitutions which he had sworn to support; formally, because the act was done in the name of the people, by the body historically representing the people. what, then, was the condition of the nation, after this great step had been taken? it stood, as it were, with its sovereignty in its hand, dividing it into two portions, and offering it, thus separated, to two distinct individuals. the sovereignty of holland and zealand had been reluctantly accepted by orange. the sovereignty of the united provinces had been offered to anjou, but the terms of agreement with that duke had not yet been ratified. the movement was therefore triple, consisting of an abjuration and of two separate elections of hereditary chiefs; these two elections being accomplished in the same manner, by the representative bodies respectively of the united provinces, and of holland and zealand. neither the abjuration nor the elections were acted upon beforehand by the communities, the train-bands, or the guilds of the cities--all represented, in fact, by the magistrates and councils of each; nor by the peasantry of the open country--all supposed to be represented by the knights and nobles. all classes of individuals, however; arranged in various political or military combinations, gave their acquiescence afterwards, together with their oaths of allegiance. the people approved the important steps taken by their representatives. without a direct intention on the part of the people or its leaders to establish a republic, the republic established itself. providence did not permit the whole country, so full of wealth intelligence, healthy political action--so stocked with powerful cities and an energetic population, to be combined into one free and prosperous commonwealth. the factious ambition of a few grandees, the cynical venality of many nobles, the frenzy of the ghent democracy, the spirit of religious intolerance, the consummate military and political genius of alexander farnese, the exaggerated self-abnegation and the tragic fate of orange, all united to dissever this group of flourishing and kindred provinces. the want of personal ambition on the part of william the silent inflicted perhaps a serious damage upon his country. he believed a single chief requisite for the united states; he might have been, but always refused to become that chief; and yet he has been held up for centuries by many writers as a conspirator and a self-seeking intriguer. "it seems to me," said he, with equal pathos and truth, upon one occasion, "that i was born in this bad planet that all which i do might be misinterpreted." the people worshipped him, and there was many an occasion when his election would have been carried with enthusiasm. "these provinces," said john of nassau, "are coming very unwillingly into the arrangement with the duke of alencon, the majority feel much more inclined to elect the prince, who is daily, and without intermission, implored to give his consent. his grace, however, will in no wise agree to this; not because he fears the consequences, such as loss of property or increased danger, for therein he is plunged as deeply as he ever could be;--on the contrary, if he considered only the interests of his race and the grandeur of his house, he could expect nothing but increase of honor, gold, and gear, with all other prosperity. he refuses only on this account that it may not be thought that, instead of religious freedom for the country, he has been seeking a kingdom for himself and his own private advancement. moreover, he believes that the connexion with france will be of more benefit to the country and to christianity than if a peace should be made with spain, or than if he should himself accept the sovereignty, as he is desired to do." the unfortunate negotiations with anjou, to which no man was more opposed than count john, proceeded therefore. in the meantime, the sovereignty over the united provinces was provisionally held by the national council, and, at the urgent solicitation of the states-general, by the prince. the archduke matthias, whose functions were most unceremoniously brought to an end by the transactions which we have been recording, took his leave of the states, and departed in the month of october. brought to the country a beardless boy, by the intrigues of a faction who wished to use him as a tool against william of orange, he had quietly submitted, on the contrary, to serve as the instrument of that great statesman. his personality during his residence was null, and he had to expiate, by many a petty mortification, by many a bitter tear, the boyish ambition which brought him to the netherlands. he had certainly had ample leisure to repent the haste with which he had got out of his warm bed in vienna to take his bootless journey to brussels. nevertheless, in a country where so much baseness, cruelty, and treachery was habitually practised by men of high position, as was the case in the netherlands; it is something in favor of matthias that he had not been base, or cruel, or treacherous. the states voted him, on his departure, a pension of fifty thousand guldens annually, which was probably not paid with exemplary regularity. chapter v. policy of electing anjou as sovereign--commode et incommode--views of orange--opinions at the french court,--anjou relieves cambray-- parma besieges tourney--brave defence by the princess of espinoy-- honorable capitulation--anjou's courtship in england--the duke's arrival in the netherlands--portrait of anjou--festivities in flushing--inauguration at antwerp--the conditions or articles subscribed to by the duke--attempt upon the life of orange--the assassin's papers--confession of venero--gaspar anastro--his escape --execution of venero and zimmermann--precarious condition of the prince--his recovery--death of the princess--premature letters of parma--further negotiations with orange as to the sovereignty of holland and zealand--character of the revised constitution-- comparison of the positions of the prince before and after his acceptance of the countship. thus it was arranged that, for the--present, at least, the prince should exercise sovereignty over holland and zealand; although he had himself used his utmost exertions to induce those provinces to join the rest of the united netherlands in the proposed election of anjou. this, however, they sternly refused to do. there was also a great disinclination felt by many in the other states to this hazardous offer of their allegiance, and it was the personal influence of orange that eventually carried the measure through. looking at the position of affairs and at the character of anjou, as they appear to us now, it seems difficult to account for the prince's policy. it is so natural to judge only by the result, that we are ready to censure statesmen for consequences which beforehand might seem utterly incredible, and for reading falsely human characters whose entire development only a late posterity has had full opportunity to appreciate. still, one would think that anjou had been sufficiently known to inspire distrust. there was but little, too, in the aspect of the french court to encourage hopes of valuable assistance from that quarter. it was urged, not without reason, that the french were as likely to become as dangerous as the spaniards; that they would prove nearer and more troublesome masters; that france intended the incorporation of the netherlands into her own kingdom; that the provinces would therefore be dispersed for ever from the german empire; and that it was as well to hold to the tyrant under whom they had been born, as to give themselves voluntarily to another of their own making. in short, it was maintained, in homely language, that "france and spain were both under one coverlid." it might have been added that only extreme misery could make the provinces take either bedfellow. moreover, it was asserted, with reason, that anjou would be a very expensive master, for his luxurious and extravagant habits were notorious--that he was a man in whom no confidence could be placed, and one who would grasp at arbitrary power by any means which might present themselves. above all, it was urged that he was not of the true religion, that he hated the professors of that faith in his heart, and that it was extremely unwise for men whose dearest interests were their religious ones, to elect a sovereign of opposite creed to their own. to these plausible views the prince of orange and those who acted with him, had, however; sufficient answers. the netherlands had waited long enough for assistance from other quarters. germany would not lift a finger in the cause; on the contrary, the whole of germany, whether protestant or catholic, was either openly or covertly hostile. it was madness to wait till assistance came to them from unseen sources. it was time for them to assist themselves, and to take the best they could get; for when men were starving they could not afford to be dainty. they might be bound, hand and foot, they might be overwhelmed a thousand times before they would receive succor from germany, or from any land but france. under the circumstances in which they found themselves, hope delayed was but a cold and meagre consolation. "to speak plainly," said orange, "asking us to wait is very much as if you should keep a man three days without any food in the expectation of a magnificent banquet, should persuade him to refuse bread, and at the end of three days should tell him that the banquet was not ready, but that a still better one was in preparation. would it not be better, then, that the poor man, to avoid starvation, should wait no longer, but accept bread wherever he might find it? such is our case at present." it was in this vein that he ever wrote and spoke: the netherlands were to rely upon their own exertions, and to procure the best alliance, together with the most efficient protection possible. they were not strong enough to cope singlehanded with their powerful tyrant, but they were strong enough if they used the instruments which heaven offered. it was not trusting but tempting providence to wait supinely, instead of grasping boldly at the means of rescue within reach. it became the character of brave men to act, not to expect. "otherwise," said the prince, "we may climb to the top of trees, like the anabaptists of munster, and expect god's assistance to drop from the clouds." it is only by listening to these arguments so often repeated, that we can comprehend the policy of orange at thin period. "god has said that he would furnish the ravens with food, and the lions with their prey," said he; "but the birds and the lions do not, therefore, sit in their nests and their lairs waiting for their food to descend from heaven, but they seek it where it is to be found." so also, at a later day, when events seemed to have justified the distrust so, generally felt in anjou, the prince; nevertheless, held similar language. "i do not," said he, calumniate those who tell us to put our trust in god. that is my opinion also. but it is trusting god to use the means which he places in our hands, and to ask that his blessings may come upon them. there was a feeling entertained by the more sanguine that the french king would heartily assist the netherlands, after his brother should be fairly installed. he had expressly written to that effect, assuring anjou that he would help him with all his strength, and would enter into close alliance with those netherlands which should accept him as prince and sovereign. in another and more private letter to the duke, the king promised to assist his brother, "even to his last shirt." there is no doubt that it was the policy of the statesmen of france to assist the netherlands, while the "mignons" of the worthless king were of a contrary opinion. many of them were secret partizans of spain; and found it more agreeable to receive the secret pay of philip than to assist his revolted provinces. they found it easy to excite the jealousy of the monarch against his brother--a passion which proved more effective than the more lofty ambition of annexing the low countries, according to the secret promptings of many french politicians. as for the queen mother, she was fierce in her determination to see fulfilled in this way the famous prediction of nostradamus. three of her sons had successively worn the crown of france. that she might be "the mother of four kings," without laying a third child in the tomb, she was greedy for this proffered sovereignty to her youngest and favorite son. this well-known desire of catherine de medici was duly insisted upon by the advocates of the election; for her influence, it was urged, would bring the whole power of france to support the netherlands. at any rate, france could not be worse--could hardly be so bad--as their present tyranny. "better the government of the gaul, though suspect and dangerous," said everard reyd, "than the truculent dominion of the spaniard. even thus will the partridge fly to the hand of man, to escape the talons of the hawk." as for the individual character of anjou, proper means would be taken, urged the advocates of his sovereignty, to keep him in check, for it was intended so closely to limit the power conferred upon him, that it would be only supreme in name. the netherlands were to be, in reality, a republic, of which anjou was to be a kind of italian or frisian podesta. "the duke is not to act according to his pleasure," said one of the negotiators, in a private letter to count john; "we shall take care to provide a good muzzle for him." how conscientiously the "muzzle" was prepared, will appear from the articles by which the states soon afterwards accepted the new sovereign. how basely he contrived to slip the muzzle--in what cruel and cowardly fashion he bathed his fangs in the blood of the flock committed to him, will also but too soon appear. as for the religious objection to anjou, on which more stress was laid than upon any other, the answer was equally ready. orange professed himself "not theologian enough" to go into the subtleties brought forward. as it was intended to establish most firmly a religious peace, with entire tolerance for all creeds, he did not think it absolutely essential to require a prince of the reformed faith. it was bigotry to dictate to the sovereign, when full liberty in religious matters was claimed for the subject. orange was known to be a zealous professor of the reformed worship himself; but he did not therefore reject political assistance, even though offered by a not very enthusiastic member of the ancient church. "if the priest and the levite pass us by when we are fallen among thieves," said he, with much aptness and some bitterness, "shall we reject the aid proffered by the samaritan, because he is of a different faith from the worthy fathers who have left us to perish?" in short, it was observed with perfect truth that philip had been removed, not because he was a catholic, but because he was a tyrant; not because his faith was different from that of his subjects, but because he was resolved to exterminate all men whose religion differed from his own. it was not, therefore, inconsistent to choose another catholic for a sovereign, if proper guarantees could be obtained that he would protect and not oppress the reformed churches. "if the duke have the same designs as the king," said saint aldegonde, "it would be a great piece of folly to change one tyrant and persecutor for another. if, on the contrary, instead of oppressing our liberties, he will maintain them, and in place of extirpating the disciples of the true religion, he will protect them, then are all the reasons of our opponents without vigor." by midsummer the duke of anjou made his appearance in the western part of the netherlands. the prince of parma had recently come before cambray with the intention of reducing that important city. on the arrival of anjou, however, at the head of five thousand cavalry--nearly all of them gentlemen of high degree, serving as volunteers--and of twelve thousand infantry, alexander raised the siege precipitately, and retired towards tournay. anjou victualled the city, strengthened the garrison, and then, as his cavalry had only enlisted for a summer's amusement, and could no longer be held together, he disbanded his forces. the bulk of the infantry took service for the states under the prince of espinoy, governor of tournay. the duke himself, finding that, notwithstanding the treaty of plessis les tours and the present showy demonstration upon his part, the states were not yet prepared to render him formal allegiance, and being, moreover, in the heyday of what was universally considered his prosperous courtship of queen elizabeth, soon afterwards took his departure for england. parma; being thus relieved of his interference, soon afterwards laid siege to the important city of tournay. the prince of espinoy was absent with the army in the north, but the princess commanded in his absence. she fulfilled her duty in a manner worthy of the house from which she sprang, for the blood of count horn was in her veins. the daughter of mary, de montmorency, the admiral's sister, answered the summons of parma to surrender at discretion with defiance. the garrison was encouraged by her steadfastness. the princess appeared daily among her troops, superintending the defences, and personally directing the officers. during one of the assaults, she is said, but perhaps erroneously; to have been wounded in the arm, notwithstanding which she refused to retire. the siege lasted two months. meantime, it became impossible for orange and the estates, notwithstanding their efforts, to raise a sufficient force to drive parma from his entrenchments. the city was becoming gradually and surely undermined from without, while at the same time the insidious art of a dominican friar, father gery by name, had been as surely sapping the fidelity of the garrison from within. an open revolt of the catholic population being on the point of taking place, it became impossible any longer to hold the city. those of the reformed faith insisted that the place should be surrendered; and the princess, being thus deserted by all parties, made an honorable capitulation with parma. she herself, with all her garrison, was allowed to retire with personal property, and with all the honors of war, while the sack of the city was commuted for one hundred thousand crowns, levied upon the inhabitants: the princess, on leaving the gates, was received with such a shout of applause from the royal army that she seemed less like a defeated commander than a conqueror. upon the th november, parma accordingly entered the place which he had been besieging since the st of october. by the end of the autumn, the prince of orange, more than ever dissatisfied with the anarchical condition of affairs, and with the obstinate jealousy and parsimony of the different provinces, again summoned the country in the most earnest language to provide for the general defence, and to take measures for the inauguration of anjou. he painted in sombre colors the prospect which lay before them, if nothing was done to arrest the progress of the internal disorders and of the external foe, whose forces were steadily augmenting: had the provinces followed his advice, instead of quarreling among themselves, they would have had a powerful army on foot to second the efforts of anjou, and subsequently to save tournay. they had remained supine and stolid, even while the cannonading against these beautiful cities was in their very ears. no man seemed to think himself interested in public affair, save when his own province or village was directly attacked. the general interests of the commonwealth were forgotten, in local jealousy. had it been otherwise, the enemy would have long since been driven over the meuse. "when money," continued the prince, "is asked for to carry on the war, men answer as if they were talking with the dead emperor. to say, however, that they will pay no more, is as much as to declare that they will give up their land and their religion both. i say this, not because i have any desire to put my hands into the common purse. you well know that i have never touched the public money, but it is important that you should feel that there is no war in the country except the one which concerns you all." the states, thus shamed and stimulated, set themselves in earnest to obey the mandates of the prince, and sent a special mission to england, to arrange with the duke of anjou for his formal installation as sovereign. saint aldegonde and other commissioners were already there. it was the memorable epoch in the anjou wooing, when the rings were exchanged between elizabeth and the duke, and when the world thought that the nuptials were on the point of being celebrated. saint aldegonde wrote to the prince of orange on the nd of november, that the marriage had been finally settled upon that day. throughout the netherlands, the auspicious tidings were greeted with bonfires, illuminations, and cannonading, and the measures for hailing the prince, thus highly favored by so great a queen, as sovereign master of the provinces, were pushed forward with great energy. nevertheless, the marriage ended in smoke. there were plenty of tournays, pageants, and banquets; a profusion of nuptial festivities, in short, where nothing was omitted but the nuptials. by the end of january, , the duke was no nearer the goal than upon his arrival three months before. acceding, therefore, to the wishes of the netherland envoys, he prepared for a visit to their country, where the ceremony of his joyful entrance as duke of brabant and sovereign of the other provinces was to take place. no open rupture with elizabeth occurred. on the contrary, the queen accompanied the duke, with a numerous and stately retinue, as far as canterbury, and sent a most brilliant train of her greatest nobles and gentlemen to escort him to the netherlands, communicating at the same time, by special letter, her wishes to the estates-general, that he should be treated with as much honor "as if he were her second self." on the th of february, fifteen large vessels cast anchor at flushing. the duke of anjou, attended by the earl of leicester, the lords hunsdon, willoughby, sheffield, howard, sir philip sidney, and many other personages of high rank and reputation, landed from this fleet. he was greeted on his arrival by the prince of orange, who, with the prince of espinoy and a large deputation of the states-general, had been for some days waiting to welcome him. the man whom the netherlands had chosen for their new master stood on the shores of zealand. francis hercules, son of france, duke of alencon and anjou, was at that time just twenty-eight years of age; yet not even his flatterers, or his "minions," of whom he had as regular a train as his royal brother, could claim for him the external graces of youth or of princely dignity. he was below the middle height, puny and ill-shaped. his hair and eyes were brown, his face was seamed with the small-pox, his skin covered with blotches, his nose so swollen and distorted that it seemed to be double. this prominent feature did not escape the sarcasms of his countrymen, who, among other gibes, were wont to observe that the man who always wore two faces, might be expected to have two noses also. it was thought that his revolting appearance was the principal reason for the rupture of the english marriage, and it was in vain that his supporters maintained that if he could forgive her age, she might, in return, excuse his ugliness. it seemed that there was a point of hideousness beyond which even royal princes could not descend with impunity, and the only wonder seemed that elizabeth, with the handsome robert dudley ever at her feet, could even tolerate the addresses of francis valois. his intellect was by no means contemptible. he was not without a certain quickness of apprehension and vivacity of expression which passed current, among his admirers for wit and wisdom. even the experienced. saint aldegonde was deceived in his character, and described him after an hour and half's interview, as a prince overflowing with bounty, intelligence, and sincerity. that such men as saint aldegonde and the prince of orange should be at fault in their judgment, is evidence not so much of their want of discernment, as of the difference between the general reputation of the duke at that period, and that which has been eventually established for him in history. moreover, subsequent events were to exhibit the utter baseness of his character more signally than it had been displayed during his previous career, however vacillating. no more ignoble yet more dangerous creature had yet been loosed upon the devoted soil of the netherlands. not one of the personages who had hitherto figured in the long drama of the revolt had enacted so sorry a part. ambitious but trivial, enterprising but cowardly, an intriguer and a dupe, without religious convictions or political principles, save that he was willing to accept any creed or any system which might advance his own schemes, he was the most unfit protector for a people who, whether wrong or right; were at least in earnest, and who were accustomed to regard truth as one of the virtues. he was certainly not deficient in self-esteem. with a figure which was insignificant, and a countenance which was repulsive, he had hoped to efface the impression made upon elizabeth's imagination by the handsomest man in europe. with a commonplace capacity, and with a narrow political education, he intended to circumvent the most profound statesman of his age. and there, upon the pier at flushing, he stood between them both; between the magnificent leicester, whom he had thought to outshine, and the silent prince of orange, whom he was determined to outwit. posterity has long been aware how far he succeeded in the one and the other attempt. the duke's arrival was greeted with the roar of artillery, the ringing of bells, and the acclamations of a large concourse of the inhabitants; suitable speeches were made by the magistrates of the town, the deputies of zealand, and other functionaries, and a stately banquet was provided, so remarkable "for its sugar-work and other delicacies, as to entirely astonish the french and english lords who partook thereof." the duke visited middelburg, where he was received with great state, and to the authorities of which he expressed his gratification at finding two such stately cities situate so close to each other on one little island. on the th of february, he set sail for antwerp. a fleet of fifty-four vessels, covered with flags and streamers, conveyed him and his retinue, together with the large deputation which had welcomed him at flushing, to the great commercial metropolis. he stepped on shore at kiel within a bowshot of the city--for, like other dukes of brabant, he was not to enter antwerp until he had taken the oaths to respect the constitution--and the ceremony of inauguration was to take place outside the walls. a large platform had been erected for this purpose, commanding a view of the stately city, with its bristling fortifications and shady groves. a throne, covered with velvet and gold, was prepared, and here the duke took his seat, surrounded by a brilliant throng, including many of the most distinguished personages in europe. it was a bright winter's morning. the gaily bannered fleet lay conspicuous in the river, while an enormous concourse of people were thronging from all sides to greet the new sovereign. twenty thousand burgher troops, in bright uniforms, surrounded the platform, upon the tapestried floor of which stood the magistrates of antwerp, the leading members of the brabant estates, with the prince of orange at their head, together with many other great functionaries. the magnificence everywhere displayed, and especially the splendid costumes of the military companies, excited the profound astonishment of the french, who exclaimed that every soldier seemed a captain, and who regarded with vexation their own inferior equipments. andrew hesaels, 'doctor utriusque juris', delivered a salutatory oration, in which, among other flights of eloquence, he expressed the hope of the provinces that the duke, with the beams of his greatness, wisdom, and magnanimity, would dissipate all the mists, fogs, and other exhalations which were pernicious to their national prosperity, and that he would bring back the sunlight of their ancient glory. anjou answered these compliments with equal courtesy, and had much to say of his willingness to shed every drop of his blood in defence of the brabant liberties; but it might have damped the enthusiasm of the moment could the curtain of the not very distant future have been lifted. the audience, listening to these promises, might have seen that it was not so much his blood as theirs which he was disposed to shed, and less, too, in defence than in violation of those same liberties which he was swearing to protect. orator hessels then read aloud the articles of the joyous entry, in the flemish language, and the duke was asked if he required any explanations of that celebrated constitution. he replied that he had thoroughly studied its provisions, with the assistance of the prince of orange, during his voyage from flushing, and was quite prepared to swear to maintain them. the oaths, according to the antique custom, were then administered. afterwards, the ducal hat and the velvet mantle, lined with ermine, were brought, the prince of orange assisting his highness to assume this historical costume of the brabant dukes, and saying to him, as he fastened the button at the throat, "i must secure this robe so firmly, my lord, that no man may ever tear it from your shoulders." thus arrayed in his garment of sovereignty, anjou was compelled to listen to another oration from, the pensionary of antwerp, john van der werken. he then exchanged oaths with the magistrates of the city, and received the keys, which he returned for safe-keeping to the burgomaster. meanwhile the trumpets sounded, largess of gold and silver coins was scattered among the people, and the heralds cried aloud, "long live the duke of brabant." a procession was then formed to escort the new duke to his commercial capital. a stately and striking procession it was. the hanseatic merchants in ancient german attires the english merchants in long velvet cassocks, the heralds is their quaint costume, the long train of civic militia with full, bands of music, the chief functionaries of city and province in their black mantles and gold chains, all marching under emblematical standards or time-honored blazons, followed each other in dignified order. then came the duke himself on a white barbary horse, caparisoned with cloth of gold. he was surrounded with english, french, and netherland grandees, many of them of world-wide reputation. there was the stately leicester; sir philip sidney, the mirror of chivalry; the gaunt and imposing form of william the silent; his son; count maurice of nassau, destined to be the first captain of his age, then a handsome, dark-eyed lad of fifteen; the dauphin of auvergne; the marechal de biron and his sons; the prince of espinoy; the lords sheffield; willoughby, howard; hunsdon, and many others of high degree and distinguished reputation. the ancient guilds of the crossbow-men; and archers of brabant, splendidly accoutred; formed the bodyguard of the duke, while his french cavaliers, the life-guardsmen of the prince of orange, and the troops of they line; followed in great numbers, their glittering uniforms all, gaily intermingled, "like the flowers de luce upon a royal mantle!" the procession, thus gorgeous and gay, was terminated by, a dismal group of three hundred malefactors, marching in fetters, and imploring pardon of the duke, a boon which was to be granted at evening. great torches, although it was high noon were burning along the road, at intervals of four or five feet, in a continuous line reaching from the platform at kiel to the portal of saint joris, through which the entrance to the city was to be made. inside the gate a stupendous allegory was awaiting the approach of the new sovereign. a huge gilded car, crowded with those emblematical and highly bedizened personages so dear to the netherlanders, obstructed the advance of the procession. all the virtues seemed to have come out for an airing in one chariot, and were now waiting to offer their homage to francis hercules valois. religion in "red satin," holding the gospel in her hand, was supported by justice, "in orange velvet," armed with blade and beam. prudence and fortitude embraced each other near a column enwreathed by serpents "with their tails in their ears to typify deafness to flattery," while patriotism as a pelican, and patience as a brooding hen, looked benignantly upon the scene. this greeting duly acknowledged, the procession advanced into the city. the streets were lined with troops and with citizens; the balconies were filled with fair women; "the very gables," says an enthusiastic contemporary, "seemed to laugh with ladies' eyes." the market-place was filled with waxen torches and with blazing tar barrels, while in its centre stood the giant antigonus--founder of the city thirteen hundred years before the christian era--the fabulous personage who was accustomed to throw the right hands of all smuggling merchants into the scheld. this colossal individual, attired in a "surcoat of sky-blue," and holding a banner emblazoned with the arms of spain, turned its head as the duke entered the square, saluted the new sovereign, and then dropping the spanish scutcheon upon the ground, raised aloft another bearing the arms of anjou. and thus, amid exuberant outpouring of confidence, another lord and master had made his triumphal entrance into the netherlands. alas how often had this sanguine people greeted with similar acclamations the advent of their betrayers and their tyrants! how soon were they to discover that the man whom they were thus receiving with the warmest enthusiasm was the most treacherous tyrant of all. it was nightfall before the procession at last reached the palace of saint michael, which had been fitted up for the temporary reception of the duke. the next day was devoted to speech-making; various deputations waiting upon the new duke of brabant with congratulatory addresses. the grand pensionary delivered a pompous oration upon a platform hung with sky-blue silk, and carpeted with cloth of gold. a committee of the german and french reformed churches made a long harangue, in which they expressed the hope that the lord would make the duke "as valiant as david, as wise as solomon, and as pious as hezekiah." a roman catholic deputation informed his highness that for eight months the members of the ancient church had been forbidden all religious exercises, saving baptism, marriage, visitation of the sick, and burials. a promise was therefore made that this prohibition, which had been the result of the disturbances recorded in a preceding chapter, should be immediately modified, and on the th of march, accordingly, it was arranged, by command of the magistrates, that all catholics should have permission to attend public worship, according to the ancient ceremonial, in the church of saint michael, which had been originally designated for the use of the new duke of brabant. it was, however, stipulated that all who desired to partake of this privilege should take the oath of abjuration beforehand, and go to the church without arms. here then had been oaths enough, orations enough, compliments enough, to make any agreement steadfast, so far as windy suspirations could furnish a solid foundation for the social compact. bells, trumpets, and the brazen throats of men and of cannons had made a sufficient din, torches and tar-barrels had made a sufficient glare, to confirm--so far as noise and blazing pitch could confirm--the decorous proceedings of church and town-house, but time was soon to show the value of such demonstrations. meantime, the "muzzle" had been fastened with solemnity and accepted with docility. the terms of the treaty concluded at plessis lea tours and bordeaux were made public. the duke had subscribed to twenty-seven articles; which made as stringent and sensible a constitutional compact as could be desired by any netherland patriot. these articles, taken in connection with the ancient charters which they expressly upheld, left to the new sovereign no vestige of arbitrary power. he was merely the hereditary president of a representative republic. he was to be duke, count, margrave, or seignior of the different provinces on the same terms which his predecessors had accepted. he was to transmit the dignities to his children. if there were more than one child, the provinces were to select one of the number for their sovereign. he was to maintain all the ancient privileges, charters, statutes, and customs, and to forfeit his sovereignty at the first violation. he was to assemble the states-general at least once a year. he was always to reside in the netherlands. he was to permit none but natives to hold office. his right of appointment to all important posts was limited to a selection from three candidates, to be proposed by the estates of the province concerned, at each vacancy. he was to maintain "the religion" and the religious peace in the same state in which they then were, or as should afterwards be ordained by the estates of each province, without making any innovation on his own part. holland and zealand were to remain as they were, both in the matter of religion and otherwise. his highness was not to permit that any one should be examined or molested in his house, or otherwise, in the matter or under pretext of religion. he was to procure the assistance of the king of france for the netherlands. he was to maintain a perfect and a perpetual league, offensive and defensive, between that kingdom and the provinces; without; however, permitting any incorporation of territory. he was to carry on the war against spain with his own means and those furnished by his royal brother, in addition to a yearly, contribution by the estates of two million four hundred thousand guldens. he was to dismiss all troops at command of the states-general. he was to make no treaty with spain without their consent. it would be superfluous to point out the great difference between the notions entertained upon international law in the sixteenth century and in our own. a state of nominal peace existed between spain, france and england; yet here was the brother of the french monarch, at the head of french troops, and attended by the grandees of england solemnly accepting the sovereignty over the revolted provinces of spain. it is also curious to observe that the constitutional compact, by which the new sovereign of the netherlands was admitted to the government, would have been repudiated as revolutionary and republican by the monarchs of france or england, if an attempt had been made to apply it to their own realms, for the ancient charters--which in reality constituted a republican form of government--had all been re-established by the agreement with anjou. the first-fruits of the ban now began to display themselves. sunday, th of march, , was the birthday of the duke of anjou, and a great festival had been arranged, accordingly, for the evening, at the palace of saint michael, the prince of orange as well as all the great french lords being of course invited. the prince dined, as usual, at his house in the neighbourhood of the citadel, in company with the counts hohenlo and laval, and the two distinguished french commissioners, bonnivet and des pruneaux. young maurice of nassau, and two nephews of the prince, sons of his brother john, were also present at table. during dinner the conversation was animated, many stories being related of the cruelties which had been practised by the spaniards in the provinces. on rising from the table, orange led the way from the dining room to his own apartments, showing the noblemen in his company as he passed along, a piece of tapestry upon which some spanish soldiers were represented. at this moment, as he stood upon the threshold of the ante-chamber, a youth of small stature, vulgar mien, and pale dark complexion, appeared from among the servants and offered him a petition. he took the paper, and as he did so, the stranger suddenly drew a pistol and discharged it at the head of the prince. the ball entered the neck under the right ear, passed through the roof of the mouth, and came out under the left jaw-bone, carrying with it two teeth. the pistol had been held so near, that the hair and beard of the prince were set on fire by the discharge. he remained standing, but blinded, stunned, and for a moment entirely ignorant of what had occurred. as he afterwards observed, he thought perhaps that a part of the house had suddenly fallen. finding very soon that his hair and beard were burning, he comprehended what had occurred; and called out quickly, "do not kill him--i forgive him my death!" and turning to the french noblemen present, he added, "alas! what a faithful servant does his highness lose in me!" these were his first words, spoken when, as all believed, he had been mortally wounded. the message of mercy came, however, too late; for two of the gentlemen present, by an irresistible impulse, had run the assassin through with their rapiers. the halberdiers rushed upon him immediately after wards, so that he fell pierced in thirty-two vital places. the prince, supported by his friends, walked to his chamber, where he was put to bed, while the surgeons examined and bandaged the wound. it was most dangerous in appearance, but a very strange circumstance gave more hope than could otherwise have been entertained. the flame from the pistol had been so close that it had actually cauterized the wound inflicted by the ball. but for this, it was supposed that the flow of blood from the veins which had been shot through would have proved fatal before the wound could be dressed. the prince, after the first shock, had recovered full possession of his senses, and believing himself to be dying, he expressed the most unaffected sympathy for the condition in which the duke of anjou would be placed by his death. "alas, poor prince!" he cried frequently; "alas, what troubles will now beset thee!" the surgeons enjoined and implored his silence, as speaking might cause the wound to prove immediately fatal. he complied, but wrote incessantly. as long as his heart could beat, it was impossible for him not to be occupied with his country. lion petit, a trusty captain of the city guard, forced his way to the chamber, it being, absolutely necessary, said the honest burgher, for him to see with his own eyes that the prince was living, and report the fact to the townspeople otherwise, so great was the excitement, it was impossible to say what might be the result. it was in fact believed that the prince was already dead, and it was whispered that he had been assassinated by the order of anjou. this horrible suspicion was flying through the city, and producing a fierce exasperation, as men talked of the murder of coligny, of saint bartholomew, of the murderous propensities of the valois race. had the attempt taken place in the evening, at the birth-night banquet of anjou, a horrible massacre would have been the inevitable issue. as it happened, however, circumstances soon, occurred to remove, the suspicion from the french, and to indicate the origin of the crime. meantime, captain petit was urged by the prince, in writing, to go forth instantly with the news that he yet survived, but to implore the people, in case god should call him to himself, to hold him in kind remembrance, to make no tumult, and to serve the duke obediently and faithfully. meantime, the youthful maurice of nassau was giving proof of that cool determination which already marked his character. it was natural that a boy of fifteen should be somewhat agitated at seeing such a father shot through the head before his eyes. his situation was rendered doubly grave by the suspicions which were instantly engendered as to the probable origin of the attempt. it was already whispered in the hall that the gentlemen who had been so officious in slaying the assassin, were his accomplices, who--upon the principle that dead men would tell no tales--were disposed, now that the deed was done, to preclude inconvenient revelations as to their own share in the crime. maurice, notwithstanding these causes for perturbation, and despite his grief at his father's probable death, remained steadily by the body of the murderer. he was determined, if possible, to unravel the plot, and he waited to possess himself of all papers and other articles which might be found upon the person of the deceased. a scrupulous search was at once made by the attendants, and everything placed in the young count's own hands. this done, maurice expressed a doubt lest some of the villain's accomplices might attempt to take the articles from him, whereupon a faithful old servant of his father came forward, who with an emphatic expression of the importance of securing such important documents, took his young master under his cloak, and led him to a retired apartment of the house. here, after a rapid examination, it was found that the papers were all in spanish, written by spaniards to spaniards, so that it was obvious that the conspiracy, if one there were, was not a french conspiracy. the servant, therefore, advised maurice to go to his father, while he would himself instantly descend to the hall with this important intelligence. count hohenlo had, from the instant of the murder, ordered the doors to be fastened, and had permitted no one to enter or to leave the apartment without his permission. the information now brought by the servant as to the character of the papers caused great relief to the minds of all; for, till that moment, suspicion had even lighted upon men who were the firm friends of the prince. saint aldegonde, who had meantime arrived, now proceeded, in company of the other gentlemen, to examine the papers and other articles taken from the assassin. the pistol with which he had done the deed was lying upon the floor; a naked poniard, which he would probably have used also, had his thumb not been blown off by the discharge of the pistol, was found in his trunk hose. in his pockets were an agnus dei, a taper of green wax, two bits of hareskin, two dried toads--which were supposed to be sorcerer's charms--a crucifix, a jesuit catechism, a prayer-book, a pocket-book containing two spanish bills of exchange--one for two thousand, and one for eight hundred and seventy-seven crowns--and a set of writing tablets. these last were covered with vows and pious invocations, in reference to the murderous affair which the writer had in hand. he had addressed fervent prayers to the "virgin mary, to the angel gabriel, to the saviour, and to the saviour's son as if," says the antwerp chronicler, with simplicity, "the lord jesus had a son"--that they might all use their intercession with the almighty towards the certain and safe accomplishment of the contemplated deed. should he come off successful and unharmed, he solemnly vowed to fast a week on bread and water. furthermore, he promised to christ a "new coat of costly pattern;" to the mother of god, at guadalupe, a new gown; to our lady of montserrat, a crown, a gown, and a lamp; and so on through along list of similar presents thus contemplated for various shrines. the poor fanatical fool had been taught by deeper villains than himself that his pistol was to rid the world of a tyrant, and to open his own pathway to heaven, if his career should be cut short on earth. to prevent so undesirable a catastrophe to himself, however, his most natural conception had been to bribe the whole heavenly host, from the virgin mary downwards, for he had been taught that absolution for murder was to be bought and sold like other merchandise. he had also been persuaded that, after accomplishing the deed, he would become invisible. saint aldegonde hastened to lay the result of this examination before the duke of anjou. information was likewise instantly conveyed to the magistrates at the town house, and these measures were successful in restoring confidence throughout the city as to the intentions of the new government. anjou immediately convened the state council, issued a summons for an early meeting of the states-general, and published a proclamation that all persons having information to give concerning the crime which had just been committed, should come instantly forward, upon pain of death. the body of the assassin was forthwith exposed upon the public square, and was soon recognized as that of one juan jaureguy, a servant in the employ of gaspar d'anastro, a spanish merchant of antwerp. the letters and bills of exchange had also, on nearer examination at the town house, implicated anastro in the affair. his house was immediately searched, but the merchant had taken his departure, upon the previous tuesday, under pretext of pressing affairs at calais. his cashier, venero, and a dominican friar, named antony zimmermann, both inmates of his family, were, however, arrested upon suspicion. on the following day the watch stationed at the gate carried the foreign post-bags, as soon as they arrived, to the magistracy, when letters were found from anastro to venero, which made the affair quite plain. after they had been thoroughly studied, they were shown to venero, who, seeing himself thus completely ruined, asked for pen and ink, and wrote a full confession. it appeared that the crime was purely a commercial speculation on the part of anastro. that merchant, being on the verge of bankruptcy, had entered with philip into a mutual contract, which the king had signed with his hand and sealed with his seal, and according to which anastro, within a certain period, was to take the life of william of orange, and for so doing was to receive eighty thousand ducats, and the cross of santiago. to be a knight companion of spain's proudest order of chivalry was the guerdon, over and above the eighty thousand pieces of silver, which spain's monarch promised the murderer, if he should succeed. as for anastro himself, he was too frugal and too wary to risk his own life, or to lose much of the premium. with, tears streaming down his cheeks, he painted to his faithful cashier the picture which his master would present, when men should point at him and say, "behold yon bankrupt!" protesting, therefore, that he would murder orange and secure the reward, or perish in the attempt. saying this, he again shed many tears. venero, seeing his master thus disconsolate, wept bitterly likewise; and begged him not to risk his own precious life. after this pathetic commingling of their grief, the merchant and his book-keeper became more composed, and it was at last concerted between them that john jaureguy should be entrusted with the job. anastro had intended--as he said in a letter afterwards intercepted--"to accomplish the deed with his own hand; but, as god had probably reserved him for other things, and particularly to be of service to his very affectionate friends, he had thought best to entrust the execution of the design to his servant." the price paid by the master to the man, for the work, seems to have been but two thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven crowns. the cowardly and crafty principal escaped. he had gone post haste to dunkirk, pretending that the sudden death of his agent in calais required his immediate presence in that city. governor sweveseel, of dunkirk, sent an orderly to get a passport for him from la motte, commanding at gravelingen. anastro being on tenter-hooks lest the news should arrive that the projected murder had been consummated before he had crossed the border, testified extravagant joy on the arrival of the passport, and gave the messenger who brought it thirty pistoles. such conduct naturally excited a vague suspicion in the mind of the governor, but the merchant's character was good, and he had brought pressing letters from admiral treslong. sweveseel did not dare to arrest him without cause, and he neither knew that any crime had been committed; nor that the man before him was the criminal. two hours after the traveller's departure, the news arrived of the deed, together with orders to arrest anastro, but it was too late. the merchant had found refuge within the lines of parma. meanwhile, the prince lay in a most critical condition. believing that his end was fast approaching; he dictated letters to the states-general, entreating them to continue in their obedience to the duke, than whom he affirmed that he knew no better prince for the government of the provinces. these letters were despatched by saint aldegonde to the assembly, from which body a deputation, in obedience to the wishes of orange, was sent to anjou, with expressions of condolence and fidelity. on wednesday a solemn fast was held, according to proclamation, in antwerp, all work and all amusements being prohibited, and special prayers commanded in all the churches for the recovery of the prince. "never, within men's memory," says an account published at the moment, in antwerp, "had such crowds been seen in the churches, nor so many tears been shed." the process against venero and zimmermann was rapidly carried through, for both had made a full confession of their share in the crime. the prince had enjoined from his sick bed, however, that the case should be conducted with strict regard to justice, and, when the execution could no longer be deferred, he had sent a written request, by the hands of saint aldegonde, that they should be put to death in the least painful manner. the request was complied with, but there can be no doubt that the criminals, had it not been made, would have expiated their offence by the most lingering tortures. owing to the intercession of the man who was to have been their victim, they were strangled, before being quartered, upon a scaffold erected in the market-place, opposite the town house. this execution took place on wednesday, the th of march. the prince, meanwhile, was thought to be mending, and thanksgivings began to be mingled with the prayers offered almost every hour in the churches; but for eighteen days he lay in a most precarious state. his wife hardly left his bedside, and his sister, catharine countess of schwartzburg, was indefatigable in her attentions. the duke of anjou visited him daily, and expressed the most filial anxiety for his recovery, but the hopes, which had been gradually growing stronger, were on the th of april exchanged for the deepest apprehensions. upon that day the cicatrix by which the flow of blood from the neck had been prevented, almost from the first infliction of the wound, fell off. the veins poured forth a vast quantity of blood; it seemed impossible to check the haemorrhage, and all hope appeared to vanish. the prince resigned himself to his fate, and bade his children "good night for ever," saying calmly, "it is now all over with me." it was difficult, without suffocating the patient, to fasten a bandage tightly enough to staunch the wound, but leonardo botalli, of asti, body physician of anjou, was nevertheless fortunate enough to devise a simple mechanical expedient, which proved successful. by his advice; a succession of attendants, relieving each other day and night, prevented the flow of blood by keeping the orifice of the wound slightly but firmly compressed with the thumb. after a period of anxious expectation, the wound again closed; and by the end of the month the prince was convalescent. on the nd of may he went to offer thanksgiving in the great cathedral, amid the joyful sobs of a vast and most earnest throng. the prince, was saved, but unhappily the murderer had yet found an illustrious victim. the princess of orange; charlotte de bourbon--the devoted wife who for seven years, had so faithfully shared his joys and sorrows--lay already on her death-bed. exhausted by anxiety, long watching; and the alternations of hope and fear during the first eighteen days, she had been prostrated by despair at the renewed haemorrhage. a violent fever seized her, under which she sank on the th of may, three days after the solemn thanksgiving for her husband's recovery. the prince, who loved her tenderly, was in great danger of relapse upon the sad event, which, although not sudden, had not been anticipated. she was laid in her grave on the th of may, amid the lamentations of the whole country, for her virtues were universally known and cherished. she was a woman of rare intelligence, accomplishment, and gentleness of disposition; whose only offence had been to break, by her marriage, the church vows to which she had been forced in her childhood, but which had been pronounced illegal by competent authority, both ecclesiastical and lay. for this, and for the contrast which her virtues afforded to the vices of her predecessor, she was the mark of calumny and insult. these attacks, however, had cast no shadow upon the serenity of her married life, and so long as she lived she was the trusted companion and consoler of her husband. "his highness," wrote count john in , "is in excellent health, and, in spite of adversity, incredible labor, perplexity, and dangers, is in such good spirits that, it makes me happy to witness it. no doubt a chief reason is the consolation he derives from the pious and highly-intelligent wife whom, the lord has given him--a woman who ever conforms to his wishes, and is inexpressibly dear to him." the princess left six daughters--louisa juliana, elizabeth, catharina belgica, flandrina, charlotta brabantica, and emilia secunda. parma received the first intelligence of the attempt from the mouth of anastro himself, who assured him that the deed had been entirely successful, and claimed the promised reward. alexander, in consequence, addressed circular letters to the authorities of antwerp, brussels, bruges, and other cities, calling upon them, now that they had been relieved of their tyrant and their betrayer, to return again to the path of their duty and to the ever open arms of their lawful monarch. these letters were premature. on the other hand, the states of holland and zealand remained in permanent session, awaiting with extreme anxiety the result of the prince's wound. "with the death of his excellency, if god should please to take him to himself," said the magistracy of leyden, "in the death of the prince we all foresee our own death." it was, in truth, an anxious moment, and the revulsion of feeling consequent on his recovery was proportionately intense. in consequence of the excitement produced by this event, it was no longer possible for the prince to decline accepting the countship of holland and zealand, which he had refused absolutely two years before, and which he had again rejected, except for a limited period, in the year . it was well understood, as appears by the treaty with anjou, and afterwards formally arranged, "that the duke was never, to claim sovereignty over holland and zealand," and the offer of the sovereign countship of holland was again made to the prince of orange in most urgent terms. it will be recollected that he had accepted the sovereignty on the th of july, , only for the term of the war. in a letter, dated bruges, th of august, , he accepted the dignity without limitation. this offer and acceptance, however, constituted but the preliminaries, for it was further necessary that the letters of "renversal" should be drawn up, that they should be formally delivered, and that a new constitution should be laid down, and confirmed by mutual oaths. after these steps had been taken, the ceremonious inauguration or rendering of homage was to be celebrated. all these measures were duly arranged, except the last. the installation of the new count of holland was prevented by his death, and the northern provinces remained a republic, not only in fact but in name. in political matters; the basis of the new constitution was the "great privilege" of the lady mary, the magna charta of the country. that memorable monument in the history of the netherlands and of municipal progress had, been overthrown by mary's son, with the forced acquiescence of the states, and it was therefore stipulated by the new article, that even such laws and privileges as had fallen into disuse should be revived. it was furthermore provided that the little state should be a free countship, and should thus silently sever its connexion with the empire. with regard to the position of the prince, as hereditary chief of the little commonwealth, his actual power was rather diminished than increased by his new dignity. what was his position at the moment? he was sovereign during the war, on the general basis of the authority originally bestowed upon him by the king's commission of stadholder. in , his majesty had been abjured and the stadholder had become sovereign. he held in his hands the supreme power, legislative, judicial, executive. the counts of holland--and philip as their successor--were the great fountains of that triple stream. concessions and exceptions had become so extensive; no doubt, that the provincial charters constituted a vast body of "liberties" by which the whole country was reasonably well supplied. at the same time, all the power not expressly granted away remained in the breast of the count. if ambition, then, had been william's ruling principle, he had exchanged substance for shadow, for the new state now constituted was a free commonwealth--a republic in all but name. by the new constitution he ceased to be the source of governmental life, or to derive his own authority from above by right divine. the sacred oil which had flowed from charles the simple's beard was dried up. orange's sovereignty was from the estates; as legal representatives of the people; and, instead of exercising all the powers not otherwise granted away, he was content with those especially conferred upon him. he could neither declare war nor conclude peace without the co-operation of the representative body. the appointing power was scrupulously limited. judges, magistrates, governors, sheriffs, provincial and municipal officers, were to be nominated by the local authorities or by the estates, on the triple principle. from these triple nominations he had only the right of selection by advice and consent of his council. he was expressly enjoined to see that the law was carried to every man's door, without any distinction of persons; to submit himself to its behests, to watch against all impedimenta to the even flow of justice, to prevent false imprisonments, and to secure trials for every accused person by the local tribunals. this was certainly little in accordance with the arbitrary practice of the past quarter of a century. with respect to the great principle of taxation, stricter bonds even were provided than those which already existed. not only the right of taxation remained with the states, but the count was to see that, except for war purposes, every impost was levied by a unanimous vote. he was expressly forbidden to tamper with the currency. as executive head, save in his capacity as commander-in-chief by land or sea, the new sovereign was, in short, strictly limited by self-imposed laws. it had rested with him to dictate or to accept a constitution. he had in his memorable letter of august, , from bruges, laid down generally the articles prepared at plessia and bourdeaux, for anjou-together with all applicable provisions of the joyous entry of brabant--as the outlines of the constitution for the little commonwealth then forming in the north. to these provisions he was willing to add any others which, after ripe deliberation, might be thought beneficial to the country. thus limited were his executive functions. as to his judicial authority it had ceased to exist. the count of holland was now the guardian of the laws, but the judges were to administer them. he held the sword of justice to protect and to execute, while the scales were left in the hands which had learned to weigh and to measure. as to the count's legislative authority, it had become coordinate with, if not subordinate to, that of the representative body. he was strictly prohibited from interfering with the right of the separate or the general states to assemble as often as they should think proper; and he was also forbidden to summon them outside their own territory. this was one immense step in the progress of representative liberty, and the next was equally important. it was now formally stipulated that the estates were to deliberate upon all measures which "concerned justice and polity," and that no change was to be made--that is to say, no new law was to pass without their consent as well as that of the council. thus, the principle was established of two legislative chambers, with the right, but not the exclusive right, of initiation on the part of government, and in the sixteenth century one would hardly look for broader views of civil liberty and representative government. the foundation of a free commonwealth was thus securely laid, which had william lived, would have been a representative monarchy, but which his death converted into a federal republic. it was necessary for the sake of unity to give a connected outline of these proceedings with regard to the sovereignty of orange. the formal inauguration, only remained, and this, as will be seen, was for ever interrupted. etext editor's bookmarks: character of brave men to act, not to expect colonel ysselstein, "dismissed for a homicide or two" god has given absolute power to no mortal man hope delayed was but a cold and meagre consolation natural to judge only by the result no authority over an army which they did not pay unduly dejected in adversity motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic by john lothrop motley chapter vi. parma recalls the foreign troops--siege of oudenarde--coolness of alexander--capture of the city and of nineve--inauguration of anjou at ghent--attempt upon his life and that of orange--lamoral egmont's implication in the plot--parma's unsuccessful attack upon ghent-- secret plans of anjou--dunkirk, ostend, and other towns surprised by his adherents--failure at bruges--suspicions at antwerp--duplicity of anjou--the "french fury"--details of that transaction-- discomfiture and disgrace of the duke--his subsequent effrontery-- his letters to the magistracy of antwerp, to, the estates, and to orange--extensive correspondence between anjou and the french court with orange and the estates--difficult position of the prince--his policy--remarkable letter to the states-general--provisional arrangement with anjou--marriage of the archbishop of cologne-- marriage of orange with louisa de coligny--movements in holland, brabant, flanders, and other provinces, to induce the prince to accept sovereignty over the whole country--his steady refusal-- treason of van den berg in gueldres--intrigues of prince chimay and imbize in flanders--counter efforts of orange and the patriot party --fate of imbize--reconciliation of bruges--death of anjou during the course of the year , the military operations on both sides had been languid and desultory, the prince of parma, not having a large force at his command, being comparatively inactive. in consequence, however, of the treaty concluded between the united states and anjou, parma had persuaded the walloon provinces that it had now become absolutely necessary for them to permit the entrance of fresh italian and spanish troops. this, then, was the end of the famous provision against foreign soldiery in the walloon treaty of reconciliation. the abbot of saint vaast was immediately despatched on a special mission to spain, and the troops, by midsummer, had already begun to pour, into the netherlands. in the meantime, farnese, while awaiting these reinforcements, had not been idle, but had been quietly picking up several important cities. early in the spring he had laid siege to oudenarde, a place of considerable importance upon the scheld, and celebrated as the birthplace of his grandmother, margaret van geest. the burghers were obstinate; the defence was protracted; the sorties were bold; the skirmishes frequent and sanguinary: alexander commanded personally in the trenches, encouraging his men by his example, and often working with the mattock, or handling a spear in the assault, like a private pioneer or soldier. towards the end of the siege, he scarcely ever left the scene of operation, and he took his meals near the outer defences, that he might lose no opportunity of superintending the labors of his troops. one day his dinner was laid for himself and staff in the open air, close to the entrenchment. he was himself engaged in planting a battery against a weak point in the city wall, and would on no account withdraw for all instant. the tablecloth was stretched over a number of drum-heads, placed close together, and several, nobles of distinction--aremberg, montigny, richebourg, la motte, and others, were his guests at dinner. hardly had the repast commenced, when a ball came flying over the table, taking off the head of a young walloon officer who was sitting near parma, and, who was earnestly requesting a foremost place in the morrow's assault. a portion of his skull struck out the eye of another gentleman present. a second ball from the town fortifications, equally well directed, destroyed two more of the guests as they sat at the banquet--one a german captain, the other the judge-advocate-general. the blood and brains of these unfortunate individuals were strewn over the festive board, and the others all started to their feet, having little appetite left for their dinner. alexander alone remained in his seat, manifesting no discomposure. quietly ordering the attendants to remove the dead bodies, and to bring a clean tablecloth, he insisted that his guests should resume their places at the banquet which had been interrupted in such ghastly fashion. he stated with very determined aspect that he could not allow the heretic burghers of oudenarde the triumph of frightening him from his dinner, or from the post of danger. the other gentlemen could, of course, do no less than imitate the impassibility of their chief, and the repast was accordingly concluded without further interruption. not long afterwards, the city, close pressed by so determined a commander, accepted terms, which were more favorable by reason of the respect which alexander chose to render to his mother's birthplace. the pillage was commuted for thirty thousand, crowns, and on the th of july the place was surrendered to parma almost under the very eyes of anjou, who was making a demonstration of relieving the siege. ninove, a citadel then belonging to the egmont family, was next reduced. here, too, the defence was more obstinate than could have been expected from the importance of the place, and as the autumn advanced, parma's troops were nearly starved in their trenches, from the insufficient supplies furnished them. they had eaten no meat but horseflesh for weeks, and even that was gone. the cavalry horses were all consumed, and even the chargers of the officers were not respected. an aid-de-camp of parma fastened his steed one day at the door of the prince's tent, while he entered to receive his commander's instructions. when he came out again, a few minutes afterwards, he found nothing but the saddle and bridle hanging where he had fastened the horse. remonstrance was useless, for the animal had already been cut into quarters, and the only satisfaction offered to the aid-de-camp was in the shape of a steak. the famine was long familiarly known as the "ninove starvation," but notwithstanding this obstacle, the place was eventually surrendered. an attempt upon lochum, an important city, in gelderland, was unsuccessful, the place being relieved by the duke of anjou's forces, and parma's troops forced to abandon the siege. at steenwyk, the royal arms were more successful, colonel tassis, conducted by a treacherous frisian peasant, having surprised the city which had so, long and so manfully sustained itself against renneberg during the preceding winter. with this event the active operations under parma closed for the year. by the end of the autumn, however, he had the satisfaction of numbering, under his command, full sixty thousand well-appointed and disciplined troops, including the large reinforcements recently despatched: from spain and italy. the monthly expense of this army-half of which was required for garrison duty, leaving only the other moiety for field operations--was estimated at six hundred and fifty thousand florins. the forces under anjou and the united provinces were also largely increased, so that the marrow of the land was again in fair way of being thoroughly exhausted by its defenders and its foes. the incidents of anjou's administration, meantime, during the year , had been few and of no great importance. after the pompous and elaborate "homage-making" at antwerp, he had, in the month of july, been formally accepted, by writing, as duke of guelders and lord of friesland. in the same month he had been ceremoniously, inaugurated at bruges as count of flanders--an occasion upon which the prince of orange had been present. in that ancient and stately city there had been, accordingly, much marching about under triumphal arches, much cannonading and haranguing, much symbol work of suns dispelling fogs, with other cheerful emblems, much decoration of ducal shoulders with velvet robes lined with weasel skin, much blazing of tar-barrels and torches. in the midst of this event, an attempt was made upon the lives both of orange and anjou. an italian, named basa, and a spaniard, called salseda, were detected in a scheme to administer poison to both princes, and when arrested, confessed that they had been hired by the prince of parma to compass this double assassination. basa destroyed himself in prison. his body was, however, gibbeted, with an inscription that he had attempted, at the instigation of parma, to take the lives of orange and anjou. salseda, less fortunate, was sent to paris, where he was found guilty, and executed by being torn to pieces by four horses. sad to relate, lamoral egmont, younger son and namesake of the great general, was intimate with salseda, and implicated in this base design. his mother, on her death-bed, had especially recommended the youth to the kindly care of orange. the prince had ever recognized the claim, manifesting uniform tenderness for the son of his ill-started friend; and now the youthful lamoral--as if the name of egmont had not been sufficiently contaminated by the elder brother's treason at brussels--had become the comrade of hired conspirators against his guardian's life. the affair was hushed up, but the story was current and generally believed that egmont had himself undertaken to destroy the prince at his own table by means of poison which he kept concealed in a ring. saint aldegonde was to have been taken off in the same way, and a hollow ring filled with poison was said to have been found in egmont's lodgings. the young noble was imprisoned; his guilt was far from doubtful; but the powerful intercessions of orange himself, combined with egmont's near relationship to the french queen saved his life, and he was permitted, after a brief captivity, to take his departure for france. the duke of anjou, a month later, was received with equal pomp, in the city of ghent. here the ceremonies were interrupted in another manner. the prince of parma, at the head of a few regiments of walloons, making an attack on a body of troops by which anjou had been escorted into flanders, the troops retreated in good order, and without much loss, under the walls of ghent, where a long and sharp action took place, much to the disadvantage of parma, the prince, of orange and the duke; of anjou were on the city walls during the whole skirmish giving orders and superintending the movements of their troops, and at nightfall parma was forced, to retire, leaving a large number of dead behind him. the th day of december, in this year was celebrated according to the new ordinance of gregory the thirteenth--as christmas. it was the occasion of more than usual merry-making among the catholics of antwerp, who had procured, during the preceding summer, a renewed right of public worship from anjou and the estates. many nobles of high rank came from france, to pay their homage to the new duke of brabant. they secretly expressed their disgust, however, at the close constitutional bonds in which they found their own future sovereign imprisoned by the provinces. they thought it far beneath the dignity of the "son of france" to play the secondary part of titular duke of brabant, count of flanders, lord of friesland, and the like, while the whole power of government was lodged with the states. they whispered that it was time to take measures for the incorporation of the netherlands into france, and they persuaded the false and fickle anjou that there would never be any hope of his royal brother's assistance, except upon the understanding that the blood and treasure of frenchmen were to be spent to increase the power, not of upstart and independent provinces, but of the french crown. they struck the basest chords of the duke's base nature by awakening his jealousy of orange. his whole soul vibrated to the appeal. he already hated the man by whose superior intellect he was overawed, and by whose pure character he was shamed. he stoutly but secretly swore that he would assert his own rights; and that he would no longer serve as a shadow, a statue, a zero, a matthias. it is needless to add, that neither in his own judgment nor in that of his mignons, were the constitutional articles which he had recently sworn to support, or the solemn treaty which he had signed and sealed at bordeaux, to furnish any obstacles to his seizure of unlimited power, whenever the design could be cleverly accomplished. he rested not, day or night, in the elaboration of his plan. early in january, , he sent one night for several of his intimate associates, to consult with him after he had retired to bed. he complained of the insolence of the states, of the importunity of the council which they had forced upon him, of the insufficient sums which they furnished both for him and his troops, of the daily insults offered to the catholic religion. he protested that he should consider himself disgraced in the eyes of all christendom, should he longer consent to occupy his present ignoble position. but two ways were open to him, he observed; either to retire altogether from the nether lands, or to maintain his authority with the strong hand, as became a prince. the first course would cover him with disgrace. it was therefore necessary for him to adopt the other. he then unfolded his plan to his confidential friends, la fougere, de fazy, palette, the sons of marechal biron, and others. upon the same day, if possible, he was determined to take possession, with his own troops, of the principal cities in flanders. dunkirk, dixmuyde, denremonde, bruges, ghent, vilvoorde, alost, and other important places, were to be simultaneously invaded, under pretext of quieting tumults artfully created and encouraged between the burghers and the garrisons, while antwerp was reserved for his own especial enterprise. that important capital he would carry by surprise at the same moment in which the other cities were to be secured by his lieutenants. the plot was pronounced an excellent one by the friends around his bed--all of them eager for catholic supremacy, for the establishment of the right divine on the part of france to the netherlands, and for their share in the sacking of so many wealthy cities at once. these worthless mignons applauded their weak master to the echo; whereupon the duke leaped from his bed, and kneeling on the floor in his night-gown, raised his eyes and his clasped hands to heaven, and piously invoked the blessing of the almighty upon the project which he had thus announced. he added the solemn assurance that; if favored with success in his undertaking, he would abstain in future from all unchastity, and forego the irregular habits by which his youth had been stained. having thus bribed the deity, and received the encouragement of his flatterers, the duke got into bed again. his next care was to remove the seigneur du plessis, whom he had observed to be often in colloquy with the prince of orange, his suspicious and guilty imagination finding nothing but mischief to himself in the conjunction of two such natures. he therefore dismissed du plessis, under pretext of a special mission to his sister, margaret of navarre; but in reality, that he might rid himself of the presence of an intelligent and honorable countryman. on the a th january, , the day fixed for the execution of the plot, the french commandant of dunkirk, captain chamois, skillfully took advantage of a slight quarrel between the citizens and the garrison, to secure that important frontier town. the same means were employed simultaneously, with similar results, at ostend, dixmuyde, denremonde, alost, and vilvoorde, but there was a fatal delay at one important city. la fougere, who had been with chamois at dunkirk, was arrested on his way to bruges by some patriotic citizens who had got wind of what had just been occurring in the other cities, so that when palette, the provost of anjou, and colonel la rebours, at the head of fifteen hundred french troops, appeared before the gates, entrance was flatly refused. de grijse, burgomaster of bruges, encouraged his fellow townsmen by words and stout action, to resist the nefarious project then on foot against religious liberty and free government, in favor of a new foreign tyranny. he spoke to men who could sympathize with, and second his courageous resolution, and the delay of twenty-four hours, during which the burghers had time to take the alarm, saved the city. the whole population was on the alert, and the baffled frenchmen were forced to retire from the gates, to avoid being torn to pieces by the citizens whom they had intended to surprise. at antwerp, meanwhile, the duke of anjou had been rapidly maturing his plan, under pretext of a contemplated enterprise against the city of endhoven, having concentrated what he esteemed a sufficient number of french troops at borgerhout, a village close to the walls of antwerp. on the th of january, suspicion was aroused in the city. a man in a mask entered the main guard-house in the night, mysteriously gave warning that a great crime was in contemplation, and vanished before he could be arrested. his accent proved him to be a frenchman. strange rumors flew about the streets. a vague uneasiness pervaded the whole population as to the intention of their new master, but nothing was definitely known, for of course there was entire ignorance of the events which were just occurring in other cities. the colonels and captains of the burgher guard came to consult the prince of orange. he avowed the most entire confidence in the duke of anjou, but, at the same time; recommended that the chains should be drawn, the lanterns hung out, and the drawbridge raised an hour earlier than usual, and that other precautions; customary in the expectation of an attack, should be duly taken. he likewise sent the burgomaster of the interior, dr. alostanus, to the duke of anjou, in order to communicate the suspicions created in the minds of the city authorities by the recent movements of troops. anjou, thus addressed, protested in the most solemn manner that nothing was farther from his thoughts than any secret enterprise against antwerp. he was willing, according to the figure of speech which he had always ready upon every emergency, "to shed every drop of his blood in her defence." he swore that he would signally punish all those who had dared to invent such calumnies against himself and his faithful frenchmen, declaring earnestly, at the same time, that the troops had only been assembled in the regular course of their duty. as the duke was so loud and so fervent; as he, moreover, made no objections to the precautionary measures which had been taken; as the burgomaster thought, moreover, that the public attention thus aroused would render all evil designs futile, even if any had been entertained; it was thought that the city might sleep in security for that night at least. on the following, morning, as vague suspicions were still entertained by many influential persons, a deputation of magistrates and militia officers waited upon the duke, the prince of orange--although himself still feeling a confidence which seems now almost inexplicable--consenting to accompany them. the duke was more vehement than ever in his protestations of loyalty to his recent oaths, as well as of deep affection for the netherlands--for brabant in particular, and for antwerp most of all, and he made use of all his vivacity to persuade the prince, the burgomasters, and the colonels, that they had deeply wronged him by such unjust suspicions. his assertions were accepted as sincere, and the deputation withdrew, anjou having first solemnly promised--at the suggestion of orange--not to leave the city during the whole day, in order that unnecessary suspicion might be prevented. this pledge the duke proceeded to violate almost as soon as made. orange returned with confidence to his own house, which was close to the citadel, and therefore far removed from the proposed point of attack, but he had hardly arrived there when he received a visit from the duke's private secretary, quinsay, who invited him to accompany his highness on a visit to the camp. orange declined the request, and sent an earnest prayer to the duke not to leave the city that morning. the duke dined as usual at noon. while at dinner he received a letter; was observed to turn pale on reading it, and to conceal it hastily in a muff which he wore on his left arm. the repast finished, the duke ordered his horse. the animal was restive, and so, strenuously resisted being mounted that, although it was his usual charger; it was exchanged for another. this second horse started in such a flurry that the duke lost his cloak, and almost his seat. he maintained his self-possession, however, and placing himself at the head of his bodyguard and some troopers, numbering in all three hundred mounted men, rode out of the palace-yard towards the kipdorp gate. this portal opened on the road towards borgerhout, where his troops were stationed, and at the present day bears the name of that village: it is on the side of the city farthest removed from and exactly opposite the river. the town was very quiet, the streets almost deserted; for it was one o'clock, the universal dinner-hour, and all suspicion had been disarmed by the energetic protestations of the duke. the guard at the gate looked listlessly upon the cavalcade as it approached, but as soon as anjou had crossed the first drawbridge, he rose in his stirrups and waved his hand. "there is your city, my lads," said he to the troopers behind him; "go and take possession of it!" at the same time he set spurs to his horse, and galloped off towards the camp at borgerhout. instantly afterwards; a gentleman of his suite, count bochepot, affected to have broken his leg through the plunging of his horse, a circumstance by which he had been violently pressed, against the wall as he entered the gate. kaiser, the commanding officer at the guard-house, stepped kindly forward to render him assistance, and his reward was a desperate thrust from the frenchman's rapier. as he wore a steel cuirass, he fortunately escaped with a slight wound. the expression, "broken leg," was the watch-word, for at one and the same instant, the troopers and guardsmen of anjou set upon the burgher watch at the gate, and butchered every man. a sufficient force was left to protect the entrance thus easily mastered, while the rest of the frenchmen entered the town at full gallop, shrieking "ville gaignee, ville gaignee! vive la messe! vive le due d'anjou!" they were followed by their comrades from the camp outside, who now poured into the town at the preconcerted signal, at least six hundred cavalry and three thousand musketeers, all perfectly appointed, entering antwerp at once. from the kipdorp gate two main arteries--the streets called the kipdorp and the meer--led quite through the heart of the city, towards the townhouse and the river beyond. along these great thoroughfares the french soldiers advanced at a rapid pace; the cavalry clattering furiously in the van, shouting "ville gaignee, ville gaignee! vive la messe, vive la messe! tue, tue, tue!" the burghers coming to door and window to look for the cause of all this disturbance, were saluted with volleys of musketry. they were for a moment astonished, but not appalled, for at first they believed it to be merely an accidental tumult. observing, however, that the soldiers, meeting with but little effective resistance, were dispersing into dwellings and warehouses, particularly into the shops of the goldsmiths and lapidaries, the citizens remembered the dark suspicions which had been so rife, and many recalled to mind that distinguished french officers had during the last few days been carefully examining the treasures of the jewellers, under pretext of purchasing, but, as it now appeared, with intent to rob intelligently. the burghers, taking this rapid view of their position, flew instantly to arms. chains and barricades were stretched across the streets; the trumpets sounded through the city; the municipal guards swarmed to the rescue. an effective rally was made, as usual, at the bourse, whither a large detachment of the invaders had forced their way. inhabitants of all classes and conditions, noble and simple, catholic and protestant, gave each other the hand, and swore to die at each other's side in defence of the city against the treacherous strangers. the gathering was rapid and enthusiastic. gentlemen came with lance and cuirass, burghers with musket and bandoleer, artisans with axe, mallet, and other implements of their trade. a bold baker, standing by his oven-stark naked, according to the custom of bakers at that day--rushed to the street as the sound of the tumult reached his ear. with his heavy bread shovel, which he still held in his hand, he dealt a french cavalry, officer, just riding and screaming by, such a hearty blow that he fell dead from his horse. the baker seized the officer's sword, sprang all unattired as he was, upon his steed, and careered furiously through the streets, encouraging his countrymen everywhere to the attack, and dealing dismay through the ranks of the enemy. his services in that eventful hour were so signal that he was publicly thanked afterwards by the magistrates for his services, and rewarded with a pension of three hundred florins for life. the invaders had been forced from the bourse, while another portion of them had penetrated as far as the market-place. the resistance which they encountered became every instant more formidable, and fervacques, a leading french officer, who was captured on the occasion, acknowledged that no regular troops could have fought more bravely than did these stalwart burghers. women and children mounted to roof and window, whence they hurled, not only tiles and chimney pots, but tables, ponderous chairs, and other bulky articles, upon the heads of the assailants, while such citizens as had used all their bullets, loaded their pieces with the silver buttons from their doublets, or twisted gold and silver coins with their teeth into ammunition. with a population so resolute, the four thousand invaders, however audacious, soon found themselves swallowed up. the city had closed over them like water, and within an hour nearly a third of their whole number had been slain. very few of the burghers had perished, and fresh numbers were constantly advancing to the attack. the frenchmen, blinded, staggering, beaten, attempted to retreat. many threw themselves from the fortifications into the moat. the rest of the survivors struggled through the streets--falling in large numbers at every step-towards the point at which they had so lately entered the city. here at the kipdorp gate was a ghastly spectacle, the slain being piled up in the narrow passage full ten feet high, while some of the heap, not quite dead, were striving to extricate a hand or foot, and others feebly thrust forth their heads to gain a mouthful of air. from the outside, some of anjou's officers were attempting to climb over this mass of bodies in order to enter the city; from the interior, the baffled and fugitive remnant of their comrades were attempting to force their passage through the same horrible barrier; while many dropped at, every instant upon the heap of slain, under the blows of the unrelenting burghers. on the other hand, count rochepot himself, to whom the principal command of the enterprise had been entrusted by anjou, stood directly in the path of his fugitive soldiers, not only bitterly upbraiding them with their cowardice, but actually slaying ten or twelve of them with his own hands, as the most effectual mode of preventing their retreat. hardly an hour had elapsed from the time when the duke of anjou first rode out of the kipdorp gate, before nearly the whole of the force which he had sent to accomplish his base design was either dead or captive. two hundred and fifty nobles of high rank and illustrious name were killed; recognized at once as they lay in the streets by their magnificent costume. a larger number of the gallant chivalry of france had been sacrificed--as anjou confessed--in this treacherous and most shameful enterprise, than had often fallen upon noble and honorable fields. nearly two thousand of the rank and file had perished, and the rest were prisoners. it was at first asserted that exactly fifteen hundred and eighty-three frenchmen had fallen, but this was only because this number happened to be the date of the year, to which the lovers of marvellous coincidences struggled very hard to make the returns of the dead correspond. less than one hundred burghers lost their lives. anjou, as he looked on at a distance, was bitterly reproached for his treason by several of the high-minded gentlemen about his person, to whom he had not dared to confide his plot. the duke of montpensier protested vehemently that he washed his hands of the whole transaction, whatever might be the issue. he was responsible for the honor of an illustrious house, which should never be stained, he said, if he could prevent it, with such foul deeds. the same language was held by laval, by rochefoucauld, and by the marechal de biron, the last gentleman, whose two sons were engaged in the vile enterprise, bitterly cursing the duke to his face, as he rode through the gate after revealing his secret undertaking. meanwhile, anjou, in addition to the punishment of hearing these reproaches from men of honor, was the victim of a rapid and violent fluctuation of feeling. hope, fear, triumph, doubt, remorse, alternately swayed him. as he saw the fugitives leaping from the walls, he shouted exultingly, without accurately discerning what manner of men they were, that the city was his, that four thousand of his brave soldiers were there, and were hurling the burghers from the battlements. on being made afterwards aware of his error, he was proportionably depressed; and when it was obvious at last that the result of the enterprise was an absolute and disgraceful failure, together with a complete exposure of his treachery, he fairly mounted his horse, and fled conscience-stricken from the scene. the attack had been so unexpected, in consequence of the credence that had been rendered by orange and the magistracy to the solemn protestations of the duke, that it had been naturally out of any one's power to prevent the catastrophe. the prince was lodged in apart of the town remote from the original scene of action, and it does not appear that information had reached him that anything unusual was occurring, until the affair was approaching its termination. then there was little for him to do. he hastened, however, to the scene, and mounting the ramparts, persuaded the citizens to cease cannonading the discomfited and retiring foe. he felt the full gravity of the situation, and the necessity of diminishing the rancor of the inhabitants against their treacherous allies, if such a result were yet possible. the burghers had done their duty, and it certainly would have been neither in his power nor his inclination to protect the french marauders from expulsion and castigation. such was the termination of the french fury, and it seems sufficiently strange that it should have been so much less disastrous to antwerp than was the spanish fury of , to which men could still scarcely allude without a shudder. one would have thought the french more likely to prove successful in their enterprise than the spaniards in theirs. the spaniards were enemies against whom the city had long been on its guard. the french were friends in whose sincerity a somewhat shaken confidence had just been restored. when the spanish attack was made, a large force of defenders was drawn up in battle array behind freshly strengthened fortifications. when the french entered at leisure through a scarcely guarded gate, the whole population and garrison of the town were quietly eating their dinners. the numbers of the invading forces on the two occasions did not materially differ; but at the time of the french fury there was not a large force of regular troops under veteran generals to resist the attack. perhaps this was the main reason for the result, which seems at first almost inexplicable. for protection against the spanish invasion, the burghers relied on mercenaries, some of whom proved treacherous, while the rest became panic-struck. on the present occasion the burghers relied on themselves. moreover, the french committed the great error of despising their enemy. recollecting the ease with which the spaniards had ravished the city, they believed that they had nothing to do but to enter and take possession. instead of repressing their greediness, as the spaniards had done, until they had overcome resistance, they dispersed almost immediately into by-streets, and entered warehouses to search for plunder. they seemed actuated by a fear that they should not have time to rifle the city before additional troops should be sent by anjou to share in the spoil. they were less used to the sacking of netherland cities than were the spaniards, whom long practice had made perfect in the art of methodically butchering a population at first, before attention should be diverted to plundering, and supplementary outrages. at any rate, whatever the causes, it is certain that the panic, which upon such occasions generally decides the fate of the day, seized upon the invaders and not upon the invaded, almost from the very first. as soon as the marauders faltered in their purpose and wished to retreat, it was all over with them. returning was worse than advance, and it was the almost inevitable result that hardly a man escaped death or capture. the duke retreated the same day in the direction of denremonde, and on his way met with another misfortune, by which an additional number of his troops lost their lives. a dyke was cut by the mechlin citizens to impede his march, and the swollen waters of the dill, liberated and flowing across the country which he was to traverse, produced such an inundation, that at least a thousand of his followers were drowned. as soon as he had established himself in a camp near berghem, he opened a correspondence with the prince of orange, and with the authorities of antwerp. his language was marked by wonderful effrontery. he found himself and soldiers suffering for want of food; he remembered that he had left much plate and valuable furniture in antwerp; and he was therefore desirous that the citizens, whom he had so basely outraged, should at once send him supplies and restore his property. he also reclaimed the prisoners who still remained in the city, and to obtain all this he applied to the man whom he had bitterly deceived, and whose life would have been sacrificed by the duke, had the enterprise succeeded. it had been his intention to sack the city, to re-establish exclusively the roman catholic worship, to trample upon the constitution which he had so recently sworn to maintain, to deprive orange, by force, of the renversal by which the duke recognized the prince as sovereign of holland; zealand; and utrecht, yet notwithstanding that his treason had-been enacted in broad daylight, and in a most deliberate manner, he had the audacity to ascribe the recent tragic occurrences to chance. he had the farther originality to speak of himself as an aggrieved person, who had rendered great services to the netherlands, and who had only met with ingratitude in return. his envoys, messieurs landmater and escolieres, despatched on the very day of the french fury to the burgomasters and senate of antwerp, were instructed to remind those magistrates that the duke had repeatedly exposed his life in the cause of the netherlands. the affronts, they were to add, which he had received, and the approaching ruin of the country, which he foresaw, had so altered his excellent nature, as to engender the present calamity, which he infinitely regretted. nevertheless, the senate was to be assured that his affection for the commonwealth was still so strong, as to induce a desire on his part to be informed what course was now to be pursued with, regard to him. information upon that important point was therefore to be requested, while at the same time the liberation of the prisoners at antwerp, and the restoration of the duke's furniture and papers, were to be urgently demanded. letters of similar, import were also despatched by the duke to the states of the union, while to the prince of orange; his application was brief but brazen. "you know well,--my cousin," said he "the just and frequent causes of offence which this people has given me. the insults which i, this morning experienced cut me so deeply to the heart that they are the only reasons of the misfortune which has happened today. nevertheless, to those who desire my friendship i shall show equal friendship and affection. herein i shall follow the counsel you have uniformly given me, since i know it comes from one who has always loved me. therefore i beg that you will kindly bring it to pass, that i may obtain some decision, and that no injury may be inflicted upon my people. otherwise the land shall pay for it dearly." to these appeals, neither the prince nor the authorities of antwerp answered immediately in their own names. a general consultation was, however, immediately held with the estates-general, and an answer forthwith despatched to the duke by the hands of his envoys. it was agreed to liberate the prisoners, to restore the furniture, and to send a special deputation for the purpose of making further arrangements with the duke by word of mouth, and for this deputation his highness was requested to furnish a safe conduct. anjou was overjoyed when he received this amicable communication. relieved for a time from his fears as to the result of his crime, he already assumed a higher ground. he not only spoke to the states in a paternal tone, which was sufficiently ludicrous, but he had actually the coolness to assure them of his forgiveness. "he felt hurt," he said, "that they should deem a safe conduct necessary for the deputation which they proposed to send. if they thought that he had reason on account of the past, to feel offended, he begged them to believe that he had forgotten it all, and that he had buried the past in its ashes, even as if it had never been." he furthermore begged them--and this seemed the greatest insult of all--"in future to trust to his word, and to believe that if any thing should be attempted to their disadvantage, he would be the very first to offer himself for their protection." it will be observed that in his first letters the duke had not affected to deny his agency in the outrage--an agency so flagrant that all subterfuge seemed superfluous. he in fact avowed that the attempt had been made by his command, but sought to palliate the crime on the ground that it had been the result of the ill-treatment which he had experienced from the states. "the affronts which i have received," said he, both to the magistrates of antwerp and to orange, "have engendered the present calamity." so also, in a letter written at the same time to his brother, henry the third, he observed that "the indignities which were put upon him, and the manifest intention of the states to make a matthias of him, had been the cause of the catastrophe." he now, however, ventured a step farther. presuming upon the indulgence which he had already experienced; and bravely assuming the tone of injured innocence, he ascribed the enterprise partly to accident, and partly to the insubordination of his troops. this was the ground which he adopted in his interviews with the states' commissioners. so also, in a letter addressed to van der tympel, commandant of brussels, in which he begged for supplies for his troops, he described the recent invasion of antwerp as entirely unexpected by himself, and beyond his control. he had been intending, he said, to leave the city and to join his army. a tumult had accidentally arisen between his soldiers and the guard at the gate. other troops rushing in from without, had joined in the affray, so that to, his great sorrow, an extensive disorder had arisen. he manifested the same christian inclination to forgive, however, which he had before exhibited. he observed that "good men would never grow cold in his regard, or find his affection diminished." he assured van der tympel, in particular, of his ancient goodwill, as he knew him to be a lover of the common weal. in his original communications he had been both cringing and threatening but, at least, he had not denied truths which were plain as daylight. his new position considerably damaged his cause. this forgiving spirit on the part of the malefactor was a little more than the states could bear, disposed as they felt, from policy, to be indulgent, and to smooth over the crime as gently as possible. the negotiations were interrupted, and the authorities of antwerp published a brief and spirited defence of their own conduct. they denied that any affront or want of respect on their part could have provoked the outrage of which the duke had been guilty. they severely handled his self-contradiction, in ascribing originally the recent attempt to his just vengeance for past injuries, and in afterwards imputing it to accident or sudden mutiny, while they cited the simultaneous attempts at bruges, denremonde, alost, digmuyde, newport, ostend, vilvoorde, and dunkirk, as a series of damning proofs of a deliberate design. the publication of such plain facts did not advance the negotiations when resumed. high and harsh words were interchanged between his highness and the commissioners, anjou complaining, as usual, of affronts and indignities, but when pushed home for particulars, taking refuge in equivocation. "he did not wish," he said, "to re-open wounds which had been partially healed." he also affected benignity, and wishing to forgive and to forget, he offered some articles as the basis of a fresh agreement. of these it is sufficient to state that they were entirely different from the terms of the bordeaux treaty, and that they were rejected as quite inadmissible. he wrote again to the prince of orange, invoking his influence to bring about an arrangement. the prince, justly indignant at the recent treachery and the present insolence of the man whom he had so profoundly trusted, but feeling certain that the welfare of the country depended at present upon avoiding, if possible, a political catastrophe, answered the duke in plain, firm, mournful, and appropriate language. he had ever manifested to his highness, he said, the most uniform and sincere friendship. he had, therefore, the right to tell him that affairs were now so changed that his greatness and glory had departed. those men in the netherlands, who, but yesterday, had been willing to die at the feet of his highness, were now so exasperated that they avowedly preferred an open enemy to a treacherous protector. he had hoped, he said, that after what had happened in so many cities at the same moment, his highness would have been pleased to give the deputies a different and a more becoming answer. he had hoped for some response which might lead to an arrangement. he, however, stated frankly, that the articles transmitted by his highness were so unreasonable that no man in the land would dare open his mouth to recommend them. his highness, by this proceeding, had much deepened the distrust. he warned the duke accordingly, that he was not taking the right course to reinstate himself in a position of honor and glory, and he begged him, therefore, to adopt more appropriate means. such a step was now demanded of him, not only by the country, but by all christendom. this moderate but heartfelt appeal to the better nature of the duke, if he had a better nature, met with no immediate response. while matters were in this condition, a special envoy arrived out of france, despatched by the king and queen-mother, on the first reception of the recent intelligence from antwerp. m. de mirambeau, the ambassador, whose son had been killed in the fury, brought letters of credence to the states of the union and to the prince of orange. he delivered also a short confidential note, written in her own hand, from catherine de medici to the prince, to the following effect: "my cousin,--the king, my son, and myself, send you monsieur de mirambeau, to prove to you that we do not believe--for we esteem you an honorable man--that you would manifest ingratitude to my son, and to those who have followed him for the welfare of your country. we feel that you have too much affection for one who has the support of so powerful a prince as the king of france, as to play him so base a trick. until i learn the truth, i shall not renounce the good hope which i have always indulged--that you would never have invited my son to your country, without intending to serve him faithfully. as long as you do this, you may ever reckon on the support of all who belong to him. "your good cousin, "catherine." it would have been very difficult to extract much information or much comfort from this wily epistle. the menace was sufficiently plain, the promise disagreeably vague. moreover, a letter from the same catherine de medici, had been recently found in a casket at the duke's lodgings in antwerp. in that communication, she had distinctly advised her son to re-establish the roman catholic religion, assuring him that by so doing, he would be enabled to marry the infanta of spain. nevertheless, the prince, convinced that it was his duty to bridge over the deep and fatal chasm which had opened between the french prince and the provinces, if an honorable reconciliation were possible, did not attach an undue importance either to the stimulating or to the upbraiding portion of the communication from catherine. he was most anxious to avert the chaos which he saw returning. he knew that while the tempers of rudolph, of the english queen, and of the protestant princes of germany, and the internal condition of the netherlands remained the same, it were madness to provoke the government of france, and thus gain an additional enemy, while losing their only friend. he did not renounce the hope of forming all the netherlands--excepting of course the walloon provinces already reconciled to philip--into one independent commonwealth, freed for ever from spanish tyranny. a dynasty from a foreign house he was willing to accept, but only on condition that the new royal line should become naturalized in the netherlands, should, conform itself to the strict constitutional compact established, and should employ only natives in the administration of netherland affairs. notwithstanding, therefore, the recent treachery of anjou, he was willing to treat with him upon the ancient basis. the dilemma was a very desperate one, for whatever might be his course, it was impossible that it should escape censure. even at this day, it is difficult to decide what might have been the result of openly braving the french government, and expelling anjou. the prince of parma--subtle, vigilant, prompt with word and blow--was waiting most anxiously to take advantage of every false step of his adversary. the provinces had been already summoned in most eloquent language, to take warning by the recent fate of antwerp, and to learn by the manifestation just made by anjou, of his real intentions; that their only salvation lay in a return to the king's arms. anjou himself, as devoid of shame as of honor, was secretly holding interviews with parma's agents, acosta and flaminio carnero, at the very moment when he was alternately expressing to the states his resentment that they dared to doubt his truth, or magnanimously extending to them his pardon for their suspicions. he was writing letters full of injured innocence to orange and to the states, while secretly cavilling over the terms of the treaty by which he was to sell himself to spain. scruples as to enacting so base a part did not trouble the "son of france." he did not hesitate at playing this doubly and trebly false game with the provinces, but he was anxious to drive the best possible bargain for himself with parma. he, offered to restore dunkirk, dixmuyde, and the other cities which he had so recently filched from the states, and to enter into a strict alliance with philip; but he claimed that certain netherland cities on the french frontier, should be made over to him in exchange. he required; likewise; ample protection for his retreat from a country which was likely to be sufficiently exasperated. parma and his agents smiled, of course, at such exorbitant terms. nevertheless, it was necessary to deal cautiously with a man who, although but a poor baffled rogue to-day, might to-morrow be seated on the throne of france. while they were all secretly haggling over the terms of the bargain, the prince of orange discovered the intrigue. it convinced him of the necessity of closing with a man whose baseness was so profound, but whose position made his enmity, on the whole, more dangerous than his friendship. anjou, backed by so astute and unscrupulous a politician as parma, was not to be trifled with. the feeling of doubt and anxiety was spreading daily through the country: many men, hitherto firm, were already wavering, while at the same time the prince had no confidence in the power of any of the states, save those of holland and utrecht; to maintain a resolute attitude of defiance, if not assisted from without. he therefore endeavored to repair the breach, if possible, and thus save the union. mirambeau, in his conferences with the estates, suggested, on his part, all that words could effect. he expressed the hope that the estates would use their discretion "in compounding some sweet and friendly medicine" for the present disorder; and that they would not judge the duke too harshly for a fault which he assured them did not come from his natural disposition. he warned them that the enemy would be quick to take advantage of the present occasion to bring about, if possible, their destruction, and he added that he was commissioned to wait upon the duke of anjou, in order to assure him that, however alienated he might then be from the netherlands, his majesty was determined to effect an entire reconciliation. the envoy conferred also with the prince of orange, and urged him most earnestly to use his efforts to heal the rupture. the prince, inspired by the sentiments already indicated, spoke with perfect sincerity. his highness, he said, had never known a more faithful and zealous friend than himself, he had begun to lose his own credit with the people by reason of the earnestness with which he had ever advocated the duke's cause, and he could not flatter himself that his recommendation would now be of any advantage to his highness. it would be more injurious than his silence. nevertheless, he was willing to make use of all the influence which was left to him for the purpose of bringing about a reconciliation, provided that the duke were acting in good faith. if his highness were now sincerely desirous of conforming to the original treaty, and willing to atone for the faults committed by him on the same day in so many cities--offences which could not be excused upon the ground of any affronts which he might have received from the citizens of antwerp--it might even now be possible to find a remedy for the past. he very bluntly told the envoy, however, that the frivolous excuses offered by the duke caused more bitterness than if he had openly acknowledged his fault. it were better, he said, to express contrition, than to excuse himself by laying blame on those to whom no blame belonged, but who, on the contrary, had ever shown themselves faithful servants of his highness. the estates of the union, being in great perplexity as to their proper course, now applied formally, as they always did in times of danger and doubt, to the prince, for a public expression of his views. somewhat reluctantly, he complied with their wishes in one of the most admirable of his state papers. he told the states-that he felt some hesitation in expressing his views. the blame of the general ill success was always laid upon his shoulders; as if the chances of war could be controlled even by a great potentate with ample means at his disposal. as for himself, with so little actual power that he could never have a single city provided with what he thought a sufficient garrison, it could not be expected that he could command fortune. his advice, he said, was always asked, but ever judged good or evil according to the result, as if the issue were in any hands but god's. it did not seem advisable for a man of his condition and years, who had so often felt the barb of calumny's tongue, to place his honor, again in the judgment scale of mankind, particularly as he was likely to incur fresh censure for another man's crime. nevertheless, he was willing, for the love he bore the land, once more to encounter this danger. he then rapidly reviewed the circumstances which had led to the election of anjou, and reminded the estates that they had employed sufficient time to deliberate concerning that transaction. he recalled to their remembrance his frequent assurances of support and sympathy if they would provide any other means of self-protection than the treaty with the french prince. he thought it, therefore, unjust, now that calamity had sprung from the measure, to ascribe the blame entirely to him, even had the injury been greater than the one actually sustained. he was far from palliating the crime, or from denying that the duke's rights under the treaty of bordeaux had been utterly forfeited. he was now asked what was to be done. of three courses, he said, one must be taken: they must make their peace with the king, or consent to a reconciliation with anjou, or use all the strength which god had given them to resist, single-handed, the enemy. with regard to the first point, he resumed the argument as to the hopelessness of a satisfactory arrangement with the monarch of spain. the recent reconciliation of the walloon provinces and its shameful infraction by parma in the immediate recal of large masses of spanish and italian troops, showed too plainly the value of all solemn stipulations with his catholic majesty. moreover, the time was unpropitious. it was idle to look, after what had recently occurred, for even fair promises. it was madness then to incur the enmity of two such powers at once. the french could do the netherlands more harm as enemies than the spaniards. the spaniards would be more dangerous as friends, for in cases of a treaty with philip the inquisition would be established in the place of a religious peace. for these reasons the prince declared himself entirely opposed to any negotiations with the crown of spain. as to the second point, he admitted that anjou had gained little honor by his recent course; and that it would be a mistake on their part to stumble a second time over the same stone. he foresaw, nevertheless, that the duke--irritated as he was by the loss of so many of his nobles, and by the downfall of all his hopes in the netherlands--would be likely to inflict great injuries upon their cause. two powerful nations like france and spain would be too much to have on their hands at once. how much danger, too, would be incurred by braving at once the open wrath of the french king, and, the secret displeasure of the english queen. she had warmly recommended the duke of anjou. she had said--that honors to him were rendered to herself; and she was now entirely opposed to their keeping the present quarrel alive. if france became their enemy, the road was at once opened through that kingdom for spain. the estates were to ponder well whether they possessed the means to carry on such a double war without assistance. they were likewise to remember how many cities still remained in the hands of anjou, and their possible fate if the duke were pushed to extremity. the third point was then handled with vigor. he reminded the states of the perpetual difficulty of raising armies, of collecting money to pay for troops, of inducing cities to accept proper garrisons, of establishing a council which could make itself respected. he alluded briefly and bitterly to the perpetual quarrels of the states among themselves; to their mutual jealousy; to their obstinate parsimony; to their jealousy of the general government; to their apathy and inertness before impending ruin. he would not calumniate those, he said, who counselled trust in god. that was his sentiment also: to attempt great affairs, however, and, through avarice, to-withhold sufficient means, was not trusting, but tempting god.--on the contrary, it was trusting god to use the means which he offered to their hands. with regard, then, to the three points, he rejected the first. reconciliation with the king of spain was impossible. for his own part, he would much prefer the third course. he had always been in favor of their maintaining independence by their own means and the assistance of the almighty. he was obliged, however, in sadness; to confess that the narrow feeling of individual state rights, the general tendency to disunion, and the constant wrangling, had made this course a hopeless one. there remained, therefore, only the second, and they must effect an honorable reconciliation with anjou. whatever might be their decision, however, it was meet that it should be a speedy one. not an hour was to be lost. many fair churches of god, in anjou's power, were trembling on the issue, and religious and political liberty was more at stake than ever. in conclusion, the prince again expressed his determination, whatever might be their decision, to devote the rest of his days to the services of his country. the result of these representations by the prince--of frequent letters from queen elizabeth, urging a reconciliation--and of the professions made by the duke and the french envoys, was a provisional arrangement, signed on the th and th of march. according to the terms of this accord, the duke was to receive thirty thousand florins for his troops, and to surrender the cities still in his power. the french prisoners were to be liberated, the duke's property at antwerp was to be restored, and the duke himself was to await at dunkirk the arrival of plenipotentiaries to treat with him as to a new and perpetual arrangement. the negotiations, however, were languid. the quarrel was healed on the surface, but confidence so recently and violently uprooted was slow to revive. on the th of june, the duke of anjou left dunkirk for paris, never to return to the netherlands, but he exchanged on his departure affectionate letters with the prince and the estates. m. des pruneaux remained as his representative, and it was understood that the arrangements for re-installing him as soon as possible in the sovereignty which he had so basely forfeited, were to be pushed forward with earnestness. in the spring of the same year, gerard truchses, archbishop of cologne, who had lost his see for the love of agnes mansfeld, whom he had espoused in defiance of the pope; took refuge with the prince of orange at delft. a civil war in germany broke forth, the protestant princes undertaking to support the archbishop, in opposition to ernest of bavaria, who had been appointed in his place. the palatine, john casimir, thought it necessary to mount and ride as usual. making his appearance at the head of a hastily collected force, and prepared for another plunge into chaos, he suddenly heard, however, of his elder brother's death at heidelberg. leaving his men, as was his habit, to shift for themselves, and baron truchses, the archbishop's brother, to fall into the hands of the enemy, he disappeared from the scene with great rapidity, in order that his own interests in the palatinate and in the guardianship of the young palatines might not suffer by his absence. at this time, too, on the th of april, the prince of orange was married, for the fourth time, to louisa, widow of the seigneur de teligny, and daughter of the illustrious coligny. in the course of the summer, the states of holland and zealand, always bitterly opposed to the connection with anjou, and more than ever dissatisfied with the resumption of negotiations since the antwerp catastrophe, sent a committee to the prince in order to persuade him to set his face against the whole proceedings. they delivered at the same time a formal remonstrance, in writing ( th of august, ), in which they explained how odious the arrangement with the duke had ever been to them. they expressed the opinion that even the wisest might be sometimes mistaken, and that the prince had been bitterly deceived by anjou and by the french court. they besought him to rely upon the assistance of the almighty, and upon the exertions of the nation, and they again hinted at the propriety of his accepting that supreme sovereignty over all the united provinces which would be so gladly conferred, while, for their own parts, they voluntarily offered largely to increase the sums annually contributed to the common defence. very soon afterwards, in august, , the states of the united provinces assembled at middelburg formally offered the general government--which under the circumstances was the general sovereignty--to the prince, warmly urging his acceptance of the dignity. he manifested, however, the same reluctance which he had always expressed, demanding that the project should beforehand be laid before the councils of all the large cities, and before the estates of certain provinces which had not been represented at the middelburg diet. he also made use of the occasion to urge the necessity of providing more generously for the army expenses and other general disbursements. as to ambitious views, he was a stranger to them, and his language at this moment was as patriotic and self-denying as at any previous period. he expressed his thanks to the estates for this renewed proof of their confidence in his character, and this additional approbation of his course,--a sentiment which he was always ready "as a good patriot to justify by his most faithful service." he reminded them, however, that he was no great monarch, having in his own hands the means to help and the power to liberate them; and that even were he in possession of all which god had once given him, he should be far from strong enough to resist, single-handed, their powerful enemy. all that was left to him, he said, was an "honest and moderate experience in affairs." with this he was ever ready to serve them to the utmost; but they knew very well that the means to make that experience available were to be drawn from the country itself. with modest simplicity, he observed that he had been at work fifteen or sixteen years, doing his best, with the grace of god, to secure the freedom of the fatherland and to resist tyranny of conscience; that he alone--assisted by his brothers and some friends and relatives--had borne the whole burthen in the beginning, and that he had afterwards been helped by the states of holland and zealand, so that he could not but render thanks to god for his great mercy in thus granting his blessing to so humble an instrument, and thus restoring so many beautiful provinces to their ancient freedom and to the true religion. the prince protested that this result was already a sufficient reward for his labors--a great consolation in his sufferings. he had hoped, he said, that the estates, "taking into consideration his long-continued labors, would have been willing to excuse him from a new load of cares, and would have granted him some little rest in his already advanced age;" that they would have selected "some other person more fitted for the labor, whom he would himself faithfully promise to assist to the best of his abilities, rendering him willing obedience proportionate to the authority conferred upon him." like all other attempts to induce the acceptance, by the prince, of supreme authority, this effort proved ineffectual, from the obstinate unwillingness of his hand to receive the proffered sceptre. in connection with this movement, and at about the same epoch, jacob swerius, member of the brabant council, with other deputies, waited upon orange, and formally tendered him the sovereign dukedom of brabant, forfeited and vacant by the late crime of anjou. the prince, however, resolutely refused to accept the dignity, assuring the committee that he had not the means to afford the country as much protection as they had a right to expect from their sovereign. he added that "he would never give the king of spain the right-to say that the prince of orange had been actuated by no other motives in his career than the hope of self-aggrandizement, and the desire to deprive his majesty of the provinces in order to appropriate them to himself." accordingly, firmly refusing to heed the overtures of the united states, and of holland in particular, he continued to further the re-establishment of anjou--a measure in which, as he deliberately believed, lay the only chance of union and in dependence. the prince of parma, meantime, had not been idle. he had been unable to induce the provinces to listen to his wiles, and to rush to the embrace of the monarch whose arms he described as ever open to the repentant. he had, however, been busily occupied in the course of the summer in taking up many of the towns which the treason of anjou had laid open to his attacks. eindhoven, diest, dunkirk, newport, and other places, were successively surrendered to royalist generals. on the nd of september, , the city of zutfen, too, was surprised by colonel tassis, on the fall of which most important place, the treason of orange's brother-in-law, count van den berg, governor of gueldres, was revealed. his fidelity had been long suspected, particularly by count john of nassau, but always earnestly vouched for by his wife and by his sons. on the capture of zutfen, however, a document was found and made public, by which van den berg bound himself to deliver the principal cities of gueldres and zutfen, beginning with zutfen itself, into the hands of parma, on condition of receiving the pardon and friendship of the king. not much better could have been expected of van den berg. his pusillanimous retreat from his post in alva's time will be recollected; and it is certain that the prince had never placed implicit confidence in his character. nevertheless, it was the fate of this great man to be often deceived by the friends whom he trusted, although never to be outwitted by his enemies. van den berg was arrested, on the th of november, carried to the hague, examined and imprisoned for a time in delftshaven. after a time he was, however, liberated, when he instantly, with all his sons, took service under the king. while treason was thus favoring the royal arms in the north, the same powerful element, to which so much of the netherland misfortunes had always been owing was busy in flanders. towards the end of the year , the prince of chimay, eldest son of the duke of aerschot, had been elected governor of that province. this noble was as unstable in character, as vain, as unscrupulous, and as ambitious as his father and uncle. he had been originally desirous of espousing the eldest daughter of the prince of orange, afterwards the countess of hohenlo, but the duchess of aerschot was too strict a catholic to consent to the marriage, and her son was afterwards united to the countess of meghem, widow of lan celot berlaymont. as affairs seemed going on prosperously for the states in the beginning, of this year, the prince of chimay had affected a strong inclination for the reformed religion, and as governor of bruges, he had appointed many members of that church to important offices, to the exclusion of catholics. by so decided a course, he acquired the confidence of the patriot party and at the end of the year he became governor of flanders. no sooner was he installed in this post, than he opened a private correspondence with parma, for it was his intention to make his peace with the king, and to purchase pardon and advancement by the brilliant service which he now undertook, of restoring this important province to the royal authority. in the arrangement of his plans he was assisted by champagny, who, as will be recollected, had long been a prisoner in ghent, but whose confinement was not so strict as to prevent frequent intercourse with his friends without. champagny was indeed believed to be the life of the whole intrigue. the plot was, however, forwarded by imbize, the roaring demagogue whose republicanism could never reconcile itself with what he esteemed the aristocratic policy of orange, and whose stern puritanism could be satisfied with nothing short of a general extermination of catholics. this man, after having been allowed to depart, infamous and contemptible, from the city which he had endangered, now ventured after five years, to return, and to engage in fresh schemes which were even more criminal than his previous enterprises. the uncompromising foe to romanism, the advocate of grecian and genevan democracy, now allied himself with champagny and with chimay, to effect a surrender of flanders to philip and to the inquisition. he succeeded in getting himself elected chief senator in ghent, and forthwith began to use all his influence to further the secret plot. the joint efforts and intrigues of parma, champagny, chimay, and imbize, were near being successful. early, in the spring of a formal resolution was passed by the government of ghent, to open negotiations with parma. hostages were accordingly exchanged, and a truce of three weeks was agreed upon, during which an animated correspondence was maintained between the authorities of ghent and the prince of chimay on the one side, and the united states-general, the magistracy of antwerp, the states of brabant, and other important bodies on the other. the friends of the union and of liberty used all their eloquence to arrest the city of ghent in its course, and to save the province of flanders from accepting the proposed arrangement with parma. the people of ghent were reminded that the chief promoter of this new negotiation was champagny, a man who owed a deep debt of hatred to their city, for the long, and as he believed, the unjust confinement which he had endured within its walls. moreover, he was the brother of granvelle, source of all their woes. to take counsel with champagny, was to come within reach of a deadly foe, for "he who confesses himself to a wolf," said the burgomasters of antwerp, "will get wolf's absolution." the flemings were warned by all their correspondents that it was puerile to hope for faith in philip; a monarch whose first principle was, that promises to heretics were void. they were entreated to pay no heed to the "sweet singing of the royalists," who just then affected to disapprove of the practice adopted by the spanish inquisition, that they might more surely separate them from their friends. "imitate not," said the magistrates of brussels, "the foolish sheep who made with the wolves a treaty of perpetual amity, from which the faithful dogs were to be excluded." it was affirmed--and the truth was certainly beyond peradventure--that religious liberty was dead at the moment when the treaty with parma should be signed. "to look for political privilege or evangelical liberty," said the antwerp authorities, "in any arrangement with the spaniards, is to look for light in darkness, for fire in water." "philip is himself the slave of the inquisition," said the states-general, "and has but one great purpose in life--to cherish the institution everywhere, and particularly in the netherlands. before margaret of parma's time, one hundred thousand netherlanders had been burned or strangled, and alva had spent seven years in butchering and torturing many thousands more." the magistrates of brussells used similar expressions. "the king of spain," said they to their brethren of ghent, "is fastened to the inquisition. yea, he is so much in its power, that even if he desired, he is unable to maintain his promises." the prince of orange too, was indefatigable in public and private efforts to counteract the machinations of parma and the spanish party in ghent. he saw with horror the progress which the political decomposition of that most important commonwealth was making, for he considered the city the keystone to the union of the provinces, for he felt with a prophetic instinct that its loss would entail that of all the southern provinces, and make a united and independent netherland state impossible. already in the summer of , he addressed a letter full of wisdom and of warning to the authorities of ghent, a letter in which he set fully before them the iniquity and stupidity of their proceedings, while at the same time he expressed himself with so much dexterity and caution as to avoid giving offence, by accusations which he made, as it were, hypothetically, when, in truth, they were real ones. these remonstrances were not fruitless, and the authorities and citizens of ghent once more paused ere they stepped from the precipice. while they were thus wavering, the whole negotiation with parma was abruptly brought to a close by a new incident, the demagogue imbize having been discovered in a secret attempt to obtain possession of the city of denremonde, and deliver it to parma. the old acquaintance, ally, and enemy of imbize, the seigneur de ryhove, was commandant of the city, and information was privately conveyed to him of the design, before there had been time for its accomplishment. ryhove, being thoroughly on his guard, arrested his old comrade, who was shortly afterwards brought to trial, and executed at ghent. john van imbize had returned to the city from which the contemptuous mercy of orange had permitted him formerly to depart, only to expiate fresh turbulence and fresh treason by a felon's death. meanwhile the citizens: of ghent; thus warned by word and deed, passed an earnest resolution to have no more intercourse with parma, but to abide faithfully by the union. their example was followed by the other flemish cities, excepting, unfortunately, bruges, for that important town, being entirely in the power of chimay, was now surrendered by him to the royal government. on the th of may, , baron montigny, on the part of parma, signed an accord with the prince of chimay, by which the city was restored to his majesty, and by which all inhabitants not willing to abide by the roman catholic religion were permitted to leave the land. the prince was received with favor by parma, on conclusion of the transaction, and subsequently met with advancement from the king, while the princess, who had embraced the reformed religion, retired to holland. the only other city of importance gained on this occasion by the government was ypres, which had been long besieged, and was, soon afterwards forced to yield. the new bishop, on taking possession, resorted to instant measures for cleansing a place which had been so long in the hands of the infidels, and as the first step in this purification, the bodies of many heretics who had been buried for years were taken from their graves, and publicly hanged in their coffins. all living adherents to the reformed religion were instantly expelled from the place. ghent and the rest of flanders were, for the time, saved from the power of spain, the inhabitants being confirmed in their resolution of sustaining their union with the other provinces by the news from france. early in the spring the negotiations between anjou and the states-general had been earnestly renewed, and junius, mouillerie, and asseliers, had been despatched on a special mission to france, for the purpose of arranging a treaty with the duke. on the th of april, , they arrived in delft, on their return, bringing warm letters from the french court, full of promises to assist the netherlands; and it was understood that a constitution, upon the basis of the original arrangement of bordeaux, would be accepted by the duke. these arrangements were, however, for ever terminated by the death of anjou, who had been ill during the whole course of the negotiations. on the th of june, , he expired at chateau thierry, in great torture, sweating blood from every pore, and under circumstances which, as usual, suggested strong suspicions of poison. chapter vii. various attempts upon the life of orange--delft--mansion of the prince described--francis guion or balthazar girard--his antecedents--his correspondence and interviews with parma and with d'assonleville--his employment in france--his return to delft and interview with orange--the crime--the confession--the punishment-- the consequences--concluding remarks. it has been seen that the ban against the prince of orange had not been hitherto without fruits, for although unsuccessful, the efforts to take his life and earn the promised guerdon had been incessant. the attempt of jaureguy, at antwerp, of salseda and baza at bruges, have been related, and in march, , moreover, one pietro dordogno was executed in antwerp for endeavoring to assassinate the prince. before his death, he confessed that he had come from spain solely for the purpose, and that he had conferred with la motte, governor of gravelines, as to the best means of accomplishing his design. in april, , hans hanzoon, a merchant of flushing, had been executed for attempting to destroy the prince by means of gunpowder, concealed under his house in that city, and under his seat in the church. he confessed that he had deliberately formed the intention of performing the deed, and that he had discussed the details of the enterprise with the spanish ambassador in paris. at about the same time, one le goth, a captive french officer, had been applied to by the marquis de richebourg, on the part of alexander of parma, to attempt the murder of the prince. le goth had consented, saying that nothing could be more easily done; and that he would undertake to poison him in a dish of eels, of which he knew him to be particularly fond. the frenchman was liberated with this understanding; but being very much the friend of orange, straightway told him the whole story, and remained ever afterwards a faithful servant of the states. it is to be presumed that he excused the treachery to which he owed his escape from prison on the ground that faith was no more to be kept with murderers than with heretics. thus within two years there had been five distinct attempts to assassinate the prince, all of them, with the privity of the spanish government. a sixth was soon to follow. in the summer of , william of orange was residing at delft, where his wife, louisa de coligny, had given birth, in the preceding winter, to a son, afterwards the celebrated stadholder, frederic henry. the child had received these names from his two godfathers, the kings of denmark and of navarre, and his baptism had been celebrated with much rejoicing on the th of june, in the place of his birth. it was a quiet, cheerful, yet somewhat drowsy little city, that ancient burgh of delft. the placid canals by which it was intersected in every direction were all planted with whispering, umbrageous rows of limes and poplars, and along these watery highways the traffic of the place glided so noiselessly that the town seemed the abode of silence and tranquillity. the streets were clean and airy, the houses well built, the whole aspect of the place thriving. one of the principal thoroughfares was called the old delftstreet. it was shaded on both sides by lime trees, which in that midsummer season covered the surface of the canal which flowed between them with their light and fragrant blossoms. on one side of this street was the "old kirk," a plain, antique structure of brick, with lancet windows, and with a tall, slender tower, which inclined, at a very considerable angle, towards a house upon the other side of the canal. that house was the mansion of william the silent. it stood directly opposite the church, being separated by a spacious courtyard from the street, while the stables and other offices in the rear extended to the city wall. a narrow lane, opening out of delft-street, ran along the side of the house and court, in the direction of the ramparts. the house was a plain, two-storied edifice of brick, with red-tiled roof, and had formerly been a cloister dedicated to saint agatha, the last prior of which had been hanged by the furious lumey de la merck. the news of anjou's death had been brought to delft by a special messenger from the french court. on sunday morning, the th of july, , the prince of orange, having read the despatches before leaving his bed, caused the man who had brought them to be summoned, that he might give some particular details by word of mouth concerning the last illness of the duke. the courier was accordingly admitted to the prince's bed-chamber, and proved to be one francis guion, as he called himself. this man had, early in the spring, claimed and received the protection of orange, on the ground of being the son of a protestant at besancon, who had suffered death for--his religion, and of his own ardent attachment to the reformed faith. a pious, psalm-singing, thoroughly calvinistic youth he seemed to be having a bible or a hymn-book under his arm whenever he walked the street, and most exemplary in his attendance at sermon and lecture. for, the rest, a singularly unobtrusive personage, twenty-seven years of age, low of stature, meagre, mean-visaged, muddy complexioned, and altogether a man of no account--quite insignificant in the eyes of all who looked upon him. if there were one opinion in which the few who had taken the trouble to think of the puny, somewhat shambling stranger from burgundy at all coincided, it was that he was inoffensive but quite incapable of any important business. he seemed well educated, claimed to be of respectable parentage and had considerable facility of speech, when any person could be found who thought it worth while to listen to him; but on the whole he attracted little attention. nevertheless, this insignificant frame locked up a desperate and daring character; this mild and inoffensive nature had gone pregnant seven years with a terrible crime, whose birth could not much longer be retarded. francis guion, the calvinist, son of a martyred calvinist, was in reality balthazar gerard, a fanatical catholic, whose father and mother were still living at villefans in burgundy. before reaching man's estate, he had formed the design of murdering the prince of orange, "who, so long as he lived, seemed like to remain a rebel against the catholic king, and to make every effort to disturb the repose of the roman catholic apostolic religion." when but twenty years of age, he had struck his dagger with all his might into a door, exclaiming, as he did so, "would that the blow had been in the heart of orange!" for this he was rebuked by a bystander, who told him it was not for him to kill princes, and that it was not desirable to destroy so good a captain as the prince, who, after all, might one day reconcile himself with the king. as soon as the ban against orange was published, balthazar, more anxious than ever to execute his long-cherished design, left dole and came to luxemburg. here he learned that the deed had already been done by john jaureguy. he received this intelligence at first with a sensation of relief, was glad to be excused from putting himself in danger, and believing the prince dead, took service as clerk with one john duprel, secretary to count mansfeld, governor of luxemburg. ere long, the ill success of jaureguy's attempt becoming known, the "inveterate determination" of gerard aroused itself more fiercely than ever. he accordingly took models of mansfeld's official seals in wax, in order that he might make use of them as an acceptable offering to the orange party, whose confidence he meant to gain. various circumstances detained him, however. a sum of money was stolen, and he was forced to stay till it was found, for fear of being arrested as the thief. then his cousin and employer fell sick, and gerard was obliged to wait for his recovery. at last, in march, , "the weather, as he said, appearing to be fine," balthazar left luxemburg and came to treves. while there, he confided his scheme to the regent of the jesuit college--a "red-haired man" whose name has not been preserved. that dignitary expressed high approbation of the plan, gave gerard his blessing, and promised him that, if his life should be sacrificed in achieving his purpose, he should be enrolled among the martyrs. another jesuit, however, in the same college, with whom he likewise communicated, held very different language, making great efforts to turn the young man from his design, on the ground of the inconveniences which might arise from the forging of mansfeld's seals--adding, that neither he nor any of the jesuits liked to meddle with such affairs, but advising that the whole matter should be laid before the prince of parma. it does not appear that this personage, "an excellent man and a learned," attempted to dissuade the young man from his project by arguments, drawn from any supposed criminality in the assassination itself, or from any danger, temporal or eternal, to which the perpetrator might expose himself. not influenced, as it appears, except on one point, by the advice of this second ghostly confessor, balthazar came to tournay, and held council with a third--the celebrated franciscan, father gery--by whom he was much comforted and strengthened in his determination. his next step was to lay the project before parma, as the "excellent and learned" jesuit at treves had advised. this he did by a letter, drawn up with much care, and which he evidently thought well of as a composition. one copy of this letter he deposited with the guardian of the franciscan convent at tournay; the other he presented with his own hand to the prince of parma. "the vassal," said he, "ought always to prefer justice and the will of the king to his own life." that being the case, he expressed his astonishment that no man had yet been found to execute the sentence against william of nassau, "except the gentle biscayan, since defunct." to accomplish the task, balthazar observed, very judiciously, that it was necessary to have access, to the person of the prince--wherein consisted the difficulty. those who had that advantage, he continued, were therefore bound to extirpate the pest at once, without obliging his majesty to send to rome for a chevalier, because not one of them was willing to precipitate himself into the venomous gulf, which by its contagion infected and killed the souls and bodies, of all poor abused subjects, exposed to its influence. gerard avowed himself to have been so long goaded and stimulated by these considerations--so extremely nettled with displeasure and bitterness at seeing the obstinate wretch still escaping his just judgment--as to have formed the design of baiting a trap for the fox, hoping thus to gain access to him, and to take him unawares. he added--without explaining the nature of the trap and the bait--that he deemed it his duty to lay the subject before the most serene prince of parma, protesting at the same time that he did not contemplate the exploit for the sake of the reward mentioned in the sentence, and that he preferred trusting in that regard to the immense liberality of his majesty. parma had long been looking for a good man to murder orange, feeling--as philip, granvelle, and all former governors of the netherlands had felt--that this was the only means of saving the royal authority in any part of the provinces. many unsatisfactory assassins had presented themselves from time to time, and alexander had paid money in hand to various individuals--italians, spaniards, lorrainers; scotchmen, englishmen, who had generally spent the sums received without attempting the job. others were supposed to be still engaged in the enterprise; and at that moment there were four persons--each unknown to the others, and of different nations--in the city of delft, seeking to compass the death of william the silent. shag-eared, military, hirsute ruffians--ex-captains of free companies and such marauders--were daily offering their services; there was no lack of them, and they had done but little. how should parma, seeing this obscures undersized, thin-bearded, runaway clerk before him, expect pith and energy from him? he thought him quite unfit for an enterprise of moment, and declared as much to his secret councillors and to the king. he soon dismissed him, after receiving his letters; and it may be supposed that the bombastic style of that epistle would not efface the unfavorable impression produced by balthazar's exterior. the representations of haultepenne and others induced him so far to modify his views as to send his confidential councillor, d'assonleville, to the stranger, in order to learn the details of the scheme. assonleville had accordingly an interview with gerard, in which he requested the young man to draw up a statement of his plan in writing, ani this was done upon the th of april, . in this letter gerard explained his plan of introducing himself to the notice of orange, at delft, as the son of an executed calvinist; as himself warmly, though secretly, devoted to the reformed faith, and as desirous, therefore, of placing himself in the prince's service, in order to avoid the insolence of the papists. having gained the confidence of those about the prince, he would suggest to them the great use which might be made of mansfeld's signet in forging passports for spies and other persons whom it might be desirous to send into the territory of the royalists. "with these or similar feints and frivolities," continued gerard, "he should soon obtain access to the person of the said nassau," repeating his protestation that nothing had moved him to his enterprise "save the good zeal which he bore to the faith and true religion guarded by the holy mother church catholic, apostolic, and roman, and to the service of his majesty." he begged pardon for having purloined the impressions of the seals--a turpitude which he would never have committed, but would sooner have suffered a thousand deaths, except for the great end in view. he particularly wished forgiveness for that crime before going to his task, "in order that he might confess, and receive the holy communion at the coming easter, without scruples of conscience." he likewise begged the prince of parma to obtain for him absolution from his holiness for this crime of pilfering--the more so "as he was about to keep company for some time with heretics and atheists, and in some sort to conform himself to their customs." from the general tone of the letters of gerard, he might be set down at once as a simple, religious fanatic, who felt sure that, in executing the command of philip publicly issued to all the murderers of europe, he was meriting well of god and his king. there is no doubt that he was an exalted enthusiast, but not purely an enthusiast. the man's character offers more than one point of interest, as a psychological phenomenon. he had convinced himself that the work which he had in hand was eminently meritorious, and he was utterly without fear of consequences. he was, however, by no means so disinterested as he chose to represent himself in letters which, as he instinctively felt, were to be of perennial interest. on the contrary, in his interviews with assonleville, he urged that he was a poor fellow, and that he had undertaken this enterprise in order to acquire property--to make himself rich--and that he depended upon the prince of parma's influence in obtaining the reward promised by the ban to the individual who should put orange to death. this second letter decided parma so far that he authorized assonleville to encourage the young man in his attempt, and to promise that the reward should be given to him in case of success, and to his heirs in the event of his death. assonleville, in the second interview, accordingly made known these assurances in the strongest manner to gerard, warning him, at the same time, on no account; if arrested, to inculpate the prince of parma. the councillor, while thus exhorting the stranger, according to alexander's commands, confined himself, however, to generalities, refusing even to advance fifty crowns, which balthazar had begged from the governor-general in order to provide for the necessary expenses of his project. parma had made similar advances too often to men who had promised to assassinate the prince and had then done little, and he was resolute in his refusal to this new adventurer, of whom he expected absolutely nothing. gerard, notwithstanding this rebuff, was not disheartened. "i will provide myself out of my own purse," said he to assonleville, "and within six weeks you will hear of me."--"go forth, my son," said assonleville, paternally, upon this spirited reply, "and if you succeed in your enterprise, the king will fulfil all his promises, and you will gain an immortal name beside." the "inveterate deliberation," thus thoroughly matured, gerard now proceeded to carry into effect. he came to delft; obtained a hearing of millers, the clergyman and intimate friend of orange, showed him the mansfeld seals, and was, somewhat against his will, sent to france, to exhibit them to marechal biron, who, it was thought, was soon to be appointed governor of cambray. through orange's recommendation, the burgundian was received into the suite of noel de caron, seigneur de schoneval, then setting forth on a special mission to the duke of anjou. while in france, gerard could rest neither by day nor night, so tormented was he by the desire of accomplishing his project, and at length he obtained permission, upon the death of the duke, to carry this important intelligence to the prince of orange. the despatches having been entrusted to him, he travelled posthaste to delft, and, to his astonishment, the letters had hardly been delivered before he was summoned in person to the chamber of the prince. here was an opportunity such as he had never dared to hope for. the arch-enemy to the church and to the human race, whose death, would confer upon his destroyer wealth and nobility in this world, besides a crown of glory in the next, lay unarmed, alone, in bed, before the man who had thirsted seven long years for his blood. balthazar could scarcely control his emotions sufficiently to answer the questions which the prince addressed to him concerning the death of anjou, but orange, deeply engaged with the despatches, and with the reflections which their deeply-important contents suggested, did not observe the countenance of the humble calvinist exile, who had been recently recommended to his patronage by millers. gerard, had, moreover, made no preparation for an interview so entirely unexpected, had come unarmed, and had formed no plan for escape. he was obliged to forego his prey when most within his reach, and after communicating all the information which the prince required, he was dismissed from the chamber. it was sunday morning, and the bells were tolling for church. upon leaving the house he loitered about the courtyard, furtively examining the premises, so that a sergeant of halberdiers asked him why he was waiting there. balthazar meekly replied that he was desirous of attending divine worship in the church opposite, but added, pointing to, his shabby and travel-stained attire, that, without at least a new pair of shoes and stockings, he was unfit to join the congregation. insignificant as ever, the small, pious, dusty stranger excited no suspicion in the mind of the good-natured sergeant. he forthwith spoke of the wants of gerard to an officer, by whom they were communicated to orange himself, and the prince instantly ordered a sum of money to be given him. thus balthazar obtained from william's charity what parma's thrift had denied--a fund for carrying out his purpose. next morning, with the money thus procured he purchased a pair of pistols, or small carabines, from a soldier, chaffering long about the price because the vender could not supply a particular kind of chopped bullets or slugs which he desired. before the sunset of the following day that soldier had stabbed himself to the heart, and died despairing, on hearing for what purpose the pistols had been bought. on tuesday, the th of july, , at about half-past twelve, the prince, with his wife on his arm, and followed by the ladies and gentlemen of his family, was going to the dining-room. william the silent was dressed upon that day, according to his usual custom, in very plain fashion. he wore a wide-leaved, loosely-shaped hat of dark felt; with a silken cord round the crown-such as had been worn by the beggars in the early days of the revolt. a high ruff encircled his neck, from which also depended one of the beggar's medals, with the motto, "fideles au roy jusqu'a la besace," while a loose surcoat of grey frieze cloth, over a tawny leather doublet, with wide, slashed underclothes completed his costume. gerard presented himself at the doorway, and demanded a passport. the princess, struck with the pale and agitated countenance of the man, anxiously questioned her husband concerning the stranger. the prince carelessly observed that "it was merely a person who came for a passport," ordering, at the same time, a secretary forthwith to prepare one. the princess, still not relieved, observed in an under-tone that "she had never seen so villainous a countenance." orange, however, not at all impressed with the appearance of gerard, conducted himself at table with his usual cheerfulness, conversing much with the burgomaster of leewarden, the only guest present at the family dinner, concerning the political and religious aspects of friesland. at two o'clock the company rose from table. the prince led the way, intending to pass to his private apartments above. the dining-room, which was on the ground floor, opened into a little square vestibule, which communicated, through an arched passageway, with the main entrance into the court-yard. this vestibule was also directly at the foot of the wooden staircase leading to the next floor, and was scarcely six feet in width. upon its left side, as one approached the stairway, was an obscure arch, sunk deep in the wall, and completely in the shadow of the door. behind this arch a portal opened to the narrow lane at the side of the house. the stairs themselves were completely lighted by a large window, half way up the flight. the prince came from the dining-room, and began leisurely to ascend. he had only reached the second stair, when a man emerged from the sunken arch, and, standing within a foot or two of him, discharged a pistol full at his heart. three balls entered his body, one of which, passing quite through him, struck with violence against the wall beyond. the prince exclaimed in french, as he felt the wound, "o my god; have mercy upon my soul! o my god, have mercy upon this poor people." these were the last words he ever spoke, save that when his sister, catherine of schwartzburg, immediately afterwards asked him if he commended his soul to jesus christ, he faintly answered, "yes." his master of the horse, jacob van maldere, had caught him in his arms as the fatal shot was fired. the prince was then placed on the stairs for an instant, when he immediately began to swoon. he was afterwards laid upon a couch in the dining-room, where in a few minutes, he breathed his last in the arms of his wife and sister. the murderer succeeded in making his escape through the side door, and sped swiftly up the narrow lane. he had almost reached the ramparts, from which he intended to spring into the moat, when he stumbled over a heap of rubbish. as he rose, he was seized by several pages and halberdiers, who had pursued him from the house. he had dropped his pistols upon the spot where he had committed the crime, and upon his person were found a couple, of bladders, provided with apiece of pipe with which he had intended to assist himself across the moat, beyond which a horse was waiting for him. he made no effort to deny his identity, but boldly avowed himself and his deed. he was brought back to the house, where he immediately underwent a preliminary examination before the city magistrates. he was afterwards subjected to excruciating tortures; for the fury against the wretch who had destroyed the father of the country was uncontrollable, and william the silent was no longer alive to intercede--as he had often done before--in behalf of those who assailed his life. the organization of balthazar gerard would furnish a subject of profound study, both for the physiologist and the metaphysician. neither wholly a fanatic, nor entirely a ruffian, he combined the most dangerous elements of both characters. in his puny body and mean exterior were enclosed considerable mental powers and accomplishments, a daring ambition, and a courage almost superhuman. yet those qualities led him only to form upon the threshold of life a deliberate determination to achieve greatness by the assassin's trade. the rewards held out by the ban, combining with his religious bigotry and his passion for distinction, fixed all his energies with patient concentration upon the one great purpose for which he seemed to have been born, and after seven years' preparation, he had at last fulfilled his design. upon being interrogated by the magistrates, he manifested neither despair nor contrition, but rather a quiet exultation. "like david," he said, "he had slain goliath of gath." when falsely informed that his victim was not dead, he showed no credulity or disappointment. he had discharged three poisoned balls into the prince's stomach, and he knew that death must have already ensued. he expressed regret, however, that the resistance of the halberdiers had prevented him from using his second pistol, and avowed that if he were a thousand leagues away he would return in order to do the deed again, if possible. he deliberately wrote a detailed confession of his crime, and of the motives and manner of its commission, taking care, however, not to implicate parma in the transaction. after sustaining day after day the most horrible tortures, he subsequently related his interviews with assonleville and with the president of the jesuit college at treves adding that he had been influenced in his work by the assurance of obtaining the rewards promised by the ban. during the intervals of repose from the rack he conversed with ease, and even eloquence, answering all questions addressed to him with apparent sincerity. his constancy in suffering so astounded his judges that they believed him supported by witchcraft. "ecce homo!" he exclaimed, from time to time, with insane blasphemy, as he raised his blood-streaming head from the bench. in order to destroy the charm which seemed to render him insensible to pain, they sent for the shirt of a hospital patient, supposed to be a sorcerer. when clothed in this garment, however, balthazar was none the less superior to the arts of the tormentors, enduring all their inflictions, according to an eye-witness, "without once exclaiming, ah me!" and avowing that he would repeat his enterprise, if possible, were he to die a thousand deaths in consequence. some of those present refused to believe that he was a man at all. others asked him how long since he had sold himself to the devil? to which he replied, mildly, that he had no acquaintance whatever with the devil. he thanked the judges politely for the food which he received in prison, and promised to recompense them for the favor. upon being asked how that was possible, he replied; that he would serve as their advocate in paradise. the sentence pronounced against the assassin was execrable--a crime against the memory of the great man whom it professed to avenge. it was decreed that the right hand of gerard should be burned off with a red-hot iron, that his flesh should be torn from his bones with pincers in six different places, that he should be quartered and disembowelled alive, that his heart should be torn from his bosom and flung in his face, and that, finally, his head should be taken off. not even his horrible crime, with its endless consequences, nor the natural frenzy of indignation which it had excited, could justify this savage decree, to rebuke which the murdered hero might have almost risen from the sleep of death. the sentence was literally executed on the th of july, the criminal supporting its horrors with the same astonishing fortitude. so calm were his nerves, crippled and half roasted as he was ere he mounted the scaffold, that when one of the executioners was slightly injured in the ear by the flying from the handle of the hammer with which he was breaking the fatal pistol in pieces, as the first step in the execution--a circumstance which produced a general laugh in the crowd--a smile was observed upon balthazar's face in sympathy with the general hilarity. his lips were seen to move up to the moment when his heart was thrown in his face--"then," said a looker-on, "he gave up the ghost." the reward promised by philip to the man who should murder orange was paid to the heirs of gerard. parma informed his sovereign that the "poor man" had been executed, but that his father and mother were still living; to whom he recommended the payment of that "merced" which "the laudable and generous deed had so well deserved." this was accordingly done, and the excellent parents, ennobled and enriched by the crime of their son, received instead of the twenty-five thousand crowns promised in the ban, the three seignories of lievremont, hostal, and dampmartin in the franche comte, and took their place at once among the landed aristocracy. thus the bounty of the prince had furnished the weapon by which his life was destroyed, and his estates supplied the fund out of which the assassin's family received the price of blood. at a later day, when the unfortunate eldest son of orange returned from spain after twenty-seven years' absence, a changeling and a spaniard, the restoration of those very estates was offered to him by philip the second, provided he would continue to pay a fixed proportion of their rents to the family of his father's murderer. the education which philip william had received, under the king's auspices, had however, not entirely destroyed all his human feelings, and he rejected the proposal with scorn. the estates remained with the gerard family, and the patents of nobility which they had received were used to justify their exemption from certain taxes, until the union of franche comte, with france, when a french governor tore the documents in pieces and trampled them under foot. william of orange, at the period of his death, was aged fifty-one years and sixteen days. he left twelve children. by his first wife, anne of egmont, he had one son, philip, and one daughter, mary, afterwards married to count hohenlo. by his second wife, anna of saxony; he had one son, the celebrated maurice of nassau, and two daughters, anna, married afterwards to her cousin, count william louis, and emilie, who espoused the pretender of portugal, prince emanuel. by charlotte of bourbon, his third wife, he had six daughters; and by his fourth, louisa de coligny, one son, frederic william, afterwards stadholder of the republic in her most palmy days. the prince was entombed on the rd of august, at delft, amid the tears of a whole nation. never was a more extensive, unaffected, and legitimate sorrow felt at the death of any human being. the life and labors of orange had established the emancipated common-wealth upon a secure foundation, but his death rendered the union of all the netherlands into one republic hopeless. the efforts of the malcontent nobles, the religious discord, the consummate ability, both political and military, of parma, all combined with the lamentable loss of william the silent to separate for ever the southern and catholic provinces from the northern confederacy. so long as the prince remained alive, he was the father of the whole country; the netherlands--saving only the two walloon provinces--constituting a whole. notwithstanding the spirit of faction and the blight of the long civil war, there was at least one country; or the hope of a country, one strong heart, one guiding head, for the patriotic party throughout the land. philip and granvelle were right in their estimate of the advantage to be derived from the prince's death, in believing that an assassin's hand could achieve more than all the wiles which spanish or italian statesmanship could teach, or all the armies which spain or italy could muster. the pistol of the insignificant gerard destroyed the possibility of a united netherland state, while during the life of william there was union in the policy, unity in the history of the country. in the following year, antwerp, hitherto the centre around which all the national interests and historical events group themselves, fell before the scientific efforts of parma. the city which had so long been the freest, as well as the most opulent, capital in europe, sank for ever to the position of a provincial town. with its fall, combined with other circumstances, which it is not necessary to narrate in anticipation, the final separation of the netherlands was completed. on the other hand, at the death of orange, whose formal inauguration as sovereign count had not yet taken place, the states of holland and zealand reassumed the sovereignty. the commonwealth which william had liberated for ever from spanish tyranny continued to exist as a great and flourishing republic during more than two centuries, under the successive stadholderates of his sons and descendants. his life gave existence to an independent country--his death defined its limits. had he lived twenty years longer, it is probable that the seven provinces would have been seventeen; and that the spanish title would have been for ever extinguished both in nether germany and celtic gaul. although there was to be the length of two human generations more of warfare ere spain acknowledged the new government, yet before the termination of that period the united states had become the first naval power and one of the most considerable commonwealths in the world; while the civil and religious liberty, the political independence of the land, together with the total expulsion of the ancient foreign tyranny from the soil, had been achieved ere the eyes of william were closed. the republic existed, in fact, from the moment of the abjuration in . the most important features of the polity which thus assumed a prominent organization have been already indicated. there was no revolution, no radical change. the ancient rugged tree of netherland liberty--with its moss-grown trunk, gnarled branches, and deep-reaching roots--which had been slowly growing for ages, was still full of sap, and was to deposit for centuries longer its annual rings of consolidated and concentric strength. though lopped of some luxuriant boughs, it was sound at the core, and destined for a still larger life than even in the healthiest moments of its mediveval existence. the history of the rise of the netherland republic has been at the same time the biography of william the silent. this, while it gives unity to the narrative, renders an elaborate description of his character superfluous. that life was a noble christian epic; inspired with one great purpose from its commencement to its close; the stream flowing ever from one fountain with expanding fulness, but retaining all its original pity. a few general observations are all which are necessary by way of conclusion. in person, orange was above the middle height, perfectly well made and sinewy, but rather spare than stout. his eyes, hair, beard, and complexion were brown. his head was small, symmetrically-shaped, combining the alertness and compactness characteristic of the soldier; with the capacious brow furrowed prematurely with the horizontal lines of thought, denoting the statesman and the sage. his physical appearance was, therefore, in harmony, with his organization, which was of antique model. of his moral qualities, the most prominent was his piety. he was more than anything else a religious man. from his trust in god, he ever derived support and consolation in the darkest hours. implicitly relying upon almighty wisdom and goodness, he looked danger in the face with a constant smile, and endured incessant labors and trials with a serenity which seemed more than human. while, however, his soul was full of piety, it was tolerant of error. sincerely and deliberately himself a convert to the reformed church, he was ready to extend freedom of worship to catholics on the one hand, and to anabaptists on the other, for no man ever felt more keenly than he, that the reformer who becomes in his turn a bigot is doubly odious. his firmness was allied to his piety. his constancy in bearing the whole weight of struggle as unequal as men have ever undertaken, was the theme of admiration even to his enemies. the rock in the ocean, "tranquil amid raging billows," was the favorite emblem by which his friends expressed, their sense of his firmness. from the time when, as a hostage in france, he first discovered the plan of philip to plant the inquisition in the netherlands, up to the last moment of his life, he never faltered in his determination to resist that iniquitous scheme. this resistance was the labor of his life. to exclude the inquisition; to maintain the ancient liberties of his country, was the task which he appointed to himself when a youth of three-and-twenty. never speaking a word concerning a heavenly mission, never deluding himself or others with the usual phraseology of enthusiasts, he accomplished the task, through danger, amid toils, and with sacrifices such as few men have ever been able to make on their country's altar; for the disinterested benevolence of the man was as prominent as his fortitude. a prince of high rank, and, with royal revenues, he stripped himself of station, wealth, almost at times of the common necessaries of life, and became, in his country's cause, nearly a beggar as well as an outlaw. nor was he forced into his career by an accidental impulse from which there was no recovery. retreat was ever open to him. not only pardon but advancement was urged upon him again and again. officially and privately, directly and circuitously, his confiscated estates, together with indefinite and boundless favors in addition, were offered to him on every great occasion. on the arrival of don john, at the breda negotiations, at the cologne conferences, we have seen how calmly these offers were waved aside, as if their rejection was so simple that it hardly required many words for its signification, yet he had mortgaged his estates so deeply that his heirs hesitated at accepting their inheritance, for fear it should involve them in debt. ten years after his death, the account between his executors and his brother john amounted to one million four hundred thousand florins--due to the count, secured by various pledges of real and personal property; and it was finally settled upon this basis. he was besides largely indebted to every one of his powerful relatives, so that the payment of the incumbrances upon his estate very nearly justified the fears of his children. while on the one hand, therefore, he poured out these enormous sums like water, and firmly refused a hearing to the tempting offers of the royal government, upon the other hand he proved the disinterested nature of his services by declining, year after year, the sovereignty over the provinces; and by only accepting, in the last days of his life, when refusal had become almost impossible, the limited, constitutional supremacy over that portion of them which now makes the realm of his descendants. he lived and died, not for himself, but for his country: "god pity this poor people!" were his dying words. his intellectual faculties were various and of the highest order. he had the exact, practical, and combining qualities which make the great commander, and his friends claimed that, in military genius, he was second to no captain in europe. this was, no doubt, an exaggeration of partial attachment, but it is certain that the emperor charles had an exalted opinion of his capacity for the field. his fortification of philippeville and charlemont, in the face of the enemy his passage of the meuse in alva's sight--his unfortunate but well-ordered campaign against that general--his sublime plan of relief, projected and successfully directed at last from his sick bed, for the besieged city of leyden--will always remain monuments of his practical military skill. of the soldier's great virtues--constancy in disaster, devotion to duty, hopefulness in defeat--no man ever possessed a larger share. he arrived, through a series of reverses, at a perfect victory. he planted a free commonwealth under the very battery of the inquisition, in defiance of the most powerful empire existing. he was therefore a conqueror in the loftiest sense, for he conquered liberty and a national existence for a whole people. the contest was long, and he fell in the struggle, but the victory was to the dead hero, not to the living monarch. it is to be remembered, too, that he always wrought with inferior instruments. his troops were usually mercenaries, who were but too apt to mutiny upon the eve of battle, while he was opposed by the most formidable veterans of europe, commanded successively by the first captains of the age. that, with no lieutenant of eminent valor or experience, save only his brother louis, and with none at all after that chieftain's death, william of orange should succeed in baffling the efforts of alva, requesens, don john of austria, and alexander farnese--men whose names are among the most brilliant in the military annals of the world--is in itself, sufficient evidence of his warlike ability. at the period of his death he had reduced the number of obedient provinces to two; only artois and hainault acknowledging philip, while the other fifteen were in open revolt, the greater part having solemnly forsworn their sovereign. the supremacy of his political genius was entirely beyond question. he was the first statesman of the age. the quickness of his perception was only equalled by the caution which enabled him to mature the results of his observations. his knowledge of human nature was profound. he governed the passions and sentiments of a great nation as if they had been but the keys and chords of one vast instrument; and his hand rarely failed to evoke harmony even out of the wildest storms. the turbulent city of ghent, which could obey no other master, which even the haughty emperor could only crush without controlling, was ever responsive to the master-hand of orange. his presence scared away imbize and his bat-like crew, confounded the schemes of john casimir, frustrated the wiles of prince chimay, and while he lived, ghent was what it ought always to have remained, the bulwark, as it had been the cradle, of popular liberty. after his death it became its tomb. ghent, saved thrice by the policy, the eloquence, the self-sacrifices of orange, fell within three months of his murder into the hands of parma. the loss of this most important city, followed in the next year by the downfall of antwerp, sealed the fate of the southern netherlands. had the prince lived, how different might have been the country's fate! if seven provinces could dilate, in so brief a space, into the powerful commonwealth which the republic soon became, what might not have been achieved by the united seventeen; a confederacy which would have united the adamantine vigor of the batavian and frisian races with the subtler, more delicate, and more graceful national elements in which the genius of the frank, the roman, and the romanized celt were so intimately blended. as long as the father of the country lived, such a union was possible. his power of managing men was so unquestionable, that there was always a hope, even in the darkest hour, for men felt implicit reliance, as well on his intellectual resources as on his integrity. this power of dealing with his fellow-men he manifested in the various ways in which it has been usually exhibited by statesmen. he possessed a ready eloquence--sometimes impassioned, oftener argumentative, always rational. his influence over his audience was unexampled in the annals of that country or age; yet he never condescended to flatter the people. he never followed the nation, but always led her in the path of duty and of honor, and was much more prone to rebuke the vices than to pander to the passions of his hearers. he never failed to administer ample chastisement to parsimony, to jealousy, to insubordination, to intolerance, to infidelity, wherever it was due, nor feared to confront the states or the people in their most angry hours, and to tell them the truth to their faces. this commanding position he alone could stand upon, for his countrymen knew the generosity which had sacrificed his all for them, the self-denial which had eluded rather than sought political advancement, whether from king or people, and the untiring devotion which had consecrated a whole life to toil and danger in the cause of their emancipation. while, therefore, he was ever ready to rebuke, and always too honest to flatter, he at the same time possessed the eloquence which could convince or persuade. he knew how to reach both the mind and the heart of his hearers. his orations, whether extemporaneous or prepared--his written messages to the states-general, to the provincial authorities, to the municipal bodies--his private correspondence with men of all ranks, from emperors and kings down to secretaries, and even children--all show an easy flow of language, a fulness of thought, a power of expression rare in that age, a fund of historical allusion, a considerable power of imagination, a warmth of sentiment, a breadth of view, a directness of purpose--a range of qualities, in short, which would in themselves have stamped him as one of the master-minds of his century, had there been no other monument to his memory than the remains of his spoken or written eloquence. the bulk of his performances in this department was prodigious. not even philip was more industrious in the cabinet. not even granvelle held a more facile pen. he wrote and spoke equally well in french german, or flemish; and he possessed, besides; spanish, italian, latin. the weight of his correspondence alone would have almost sufficed for the common industry of a lifetime, and although many volumes of his speeches and, letters have been published, there remain in the various archives of the netherlands and germany many documents from his hand which will probably never see the light. if the capacity for unremitted intellectual labor in an honorable cause be the measure of human greatness, few minds could be compared to the "large composition" of this man. the efforts made to destroy the netherlands by the most laborious and painstaking of tyrants were counteracted by the industry of the most indefatigable of patriots. thus his eloquence, oral or written, gave him almost boundless power over his countrymen. he possessed, also, a rare perception of human character, together with an iron memory which never lost a face, a place, or an event, once seen or known. he read the minds even the faces of men, like printed books. no man could overreach him, excepting only those to whom he gave his heart. he might be mistaken where he had confided, never where he had been distrustful or indifferent. he was deceived by renneberg, by his brother-in-law van den berg, by the duke of anjou. had it been possible for his brother louis or his brother john to have proved false, he might have been deceived by them. he was never outwitted by philip, or granvelle, or don john, or alexander of parma. anna of saxony was false to him; and entered into correspondence with the royal governors and with the king of spain; charlotte of bourbon or louisa de coligny might have done the same had it been possible for their natures also to descend to such depths of guile. as for the aerschots, the havres, the chimays, he was never influenced either by their blandishments or their plots. he was willing to use them when their interest made them friendly, or to crush them when their intrigues against his policy rendered them dangerous. the adroitness with which he converted their schemes in behalf of matthias, of don john, of anjou, into so many additional weapons for his own cause, can never be too often studied. it is instructive to observe the wiles of the macchiavelian school employed by a master of the craft, to frustrate, not to advance, a knavish purpose. this character, in a great measure, marked his whole policy. he was profoundly skilled in the subtleties of italian statesmanship, which he had learned as a youth at the imperial court, and which he employed in his manhood in the service, not of tyranny, but of liberty. he fought the inquisition with its own weapons. he dealt with philip on his own ground. he excavated the earth beneath the king's feet by a more subtle process than that practised by the most fraudulent monarch that ever governed the spanish empire, and philip, chain-mailed as he was in complicated wiles, was pierced to the quick by a keener policy than his own. ten years long the king placed daily his most secret letters in hands which regularly transmitted copies of the correspondence to the prince of orange, together with a key to the ciphers and every other illustration which might be required. thus the secrets of the king were always as well known to orange as to himself; and the prince being as prompt as philip was hesitating, the schemes could often be frustrated before their execution had been commenced. the crime of the unfortunate clerk, john de castillo, was discovered in the autumn of the year , and he was torn to pieces by four horses. perhaps his treason to the monarch whose bread he was eating, while he received a regular salary from the king's most determined foe, deserved even this horrible punishment, but casuists must determine how much guilt attaches to the prince for his share in the transaction. this history is not the eulogy of orange, although, in discussing his character, it is difficult to avoid the monotony of panegyric. judged by a severe moral standard, it cannot be called virtuous or honorable to suborn treachery or any other crime, even to accomplish a lofty purpose; yet the universal practice of mankind in all ages has tolerated the artifices of war, and no people has ever engaged in a holier or more mortal contest than did the netherlands in their great struggle with spain. orange possessed the rare quality of caution, a characteristic by which he was distinguished from his youth. at fifteen he was the confidential counsellor, as at twenty-one he became the general-in-chief, to the most politic, as well as the most warlike potentate of his age, and if he at times indulged in wiles which modern statesmanship, even while it practises, condemns, he ever held in his hand the clue of an honorable purpose to guide him through the tortuous labyrinth. it is difficult to find any other characteristic deserving of grave censure, but his enemies have adopted a simpler process. they have been able to find few flaws in his nature, and therefore have denounced it in gross. it is not that his character was here and there defective, but that the eternal jewel was false. the patriotism was counterfeit; the self-abnegation and the generosity were counterfeit. he was governed only by ambition--by a desire of personal advancement. they never attempted to deny his talents, his industry, his vast sacrifices of wealth and station; but they ridiculed the idea that he could have been inspired by any but unworthy motives. god alone knows the heart of man. he alone can unweave the tangled skein of human motives, and detect the hidden springs of human action, but as far as can be judged by a careful observation of undisputed facts, and by a diligent collation of public and private documents, it would seem that no man--not even washington--has ever been inspired by a purer patriotism. at any rate, the charge of ambition and self-seeking can only be answered by a reference to the whole picture which these volumes have attempted to portray. the words, the deeds of the man are there. as much as possible, his inmost soul is revealed in his confidential letters, and he who looks in a right spirit will hardly fail to find what he desires. whether originally of a timid temperament or not, he was certainly possessed of perfect courage at last. in siege and battle--in the deadly air of pestilential cities--in the long exhaustion of mind and body which comes from unduly protracted labor and anxiety--amid the countless conspiracies of assassins--he was daily exposed to death in every shape. within two years, five different attempts against his life had been discovered. rank and fortune were offered to any malefactor who would compass the murder. he had already been shot through the head, and almost mortally wounded. under such circumstances even a brave man might have seen a pitfall at every step, a dagger in every hand, and poison in every cup. on the contrary, he was ever cheerful, and hardly took more precaution than usual. "god in his mercy," said he, with unaffected simplicity, "will maintain my innocence and my honor during my life and in future ages. as to my fortune and my life, i have dedicated both, long since, to his service. he will do therewith what pleases him for his glory and my salvation." thus his suspicions were not even excited by the ominous face of gerard, when he first presented himself at the dining-room door. the prince laughed off his wife's prophetic apprehension at the sight of his murderer, and was as cheerful as usual to the last. he possessed, too, that which to the heathen philosopher seemed the greatest good--the sound mind in the sound body. his physical frame was after death found so perfect that a long life might have been in store for him, notwithstanding all which he had endured. the desperate illness of , the frightful gunshot wound inflicted by jaureguy in , had left no traces. the physicians pronounced that his body presented an aspect of perfect health. his temperament was cheerful. at table, the pleasures of which, in moderation, were his only relaxation, he was always animated and merry, and this jocoseness was partly natural, partly intentional. in the darkest hours of his country's trial, he affected a serenity which he was far from feeling, so that his apparent gaiety at momentous epochs was even censured by dullards, who could not comprehend its philosophy, nor applaud the flippancy of william the silent. he went through life bearing the load of a people's sorrows upon his shoulders with a smiling face. their name was the last word upon his lips, save the simple affirmative, with which the soldier who had been battling for the right all his lifetime, commended his soul in dying "to his great captain, christ." the people were grateful and affectionate, for they trusted the character of their "father william," and not all the clouds which calumny could collect ever dimmed to their eyes the radiance of that lofty mind to which they were accustomed, in their darkest calamities, to look for light. as long as he lived, he was the guiding-star of a whole brave nation, and when he died the little children cried in the streets. etext editor's bookmarks: bribed the deity forgiving spirit on the part of the malefactor great error of despising their enemy mistake to stumble a second time over the same stone modern statesmanship, even while it practises, condemns preferred an open enemy to a treacherous protector reformer who becomes in his turn a bigot is doubly odious unremitted intellectual labor in an honorable cause usual phraseology of enthusiasts writing letters full of injured innocence etext editor's bookmarks, rise of the dutch republic, - a terrible animal, indeed, is an unbridled woman a good lawyer is a bad christian a most fatal success a common hatred united them, for a time at least absurd affectation of candor agreements were valid only until he should repent all the majesty which decoration could impart all protestants were beheaded, burned, or buried alive all claimed the privilege of persecuting always less apt to complain of irrevocable events amuse them with this peace negotiation are apt to discharge such obligations--(by) ingratitude arrive at their end by fraud, when violence will not avail them as the old woman had told the emperor adrian attachment to a half-drowned land and to a despised religion barbara blomberg, washerwoman of ratisbon beautiful damsel, who certainly did not lack suitors believed in the blessed advent of peace blessing of god upon the devil's work breath, time, and paper were profusely wasted and nothing gained bribed the deity care neither for words nor menaces in any matter character of brave men to act, not to expect claimed the praise of moderation that their demands were so few colonel ysselstein, "dismissed for a homicide or two" compassing a country's emancipation through a series of defeats conflicting claims of prerogative and conscience confused conferences, where neither party was entirely sincere country would bear his loss with fortitude customary oaths, to be kept with the customary conscientiousness daily widening schism between lutherans and calvinists deadliest of sins, the liberty of conscience difficult for one friend to advise another in three matters distinguished for his courage, his cruelty, and his corpulence don john of austria don john was at liberty to be king of england and scotland dying at so very inconvenient a moment eight thousand human beings were murdered establish not freedom for calvinism, but freedom for conscience everything was conceded, but nothing was secured fanatics of the new religion denounced him as a godless man ferocity which even christians could not have surpassed forgiving spirit on the part of the malefactor glory could be put neither into pocket nor stomach god has given absolute power to no mortal man great error of despising their enemy happy to glass themselves in so brilliant a mirror he had never enjoyed social converse, except at long intervals he would have no calvinist inquisition set up in its place he would have no persecution of the opposite creed his personal graces, for the moment, took the rank of virtues hope delayed was but a cold and meagre consolation human ingenuity to inflict human misery i regard my country's profit, not my own imagined, and did the work of truth in character and general talents he was beneath mediocrity indecision did the work of indolence insinuate that his orders had been hitherto misunderstood it is not desirable to disturb much of that learned dust its humility, seemed sufficiently ironical judas maccabaeus king set a price upon his head as a rebel like a man holding a wolf by the ears local self-government which is the life-blood of liberty logical and historical argument of unmerciful length made no breach in royal and roman infallibility mankind were naturally inclined to calumny men were loud in reproof, who had been silent mistake to stumble a second time over the same stone modern statesmanship, even while it practises, condemns more easily, as he had no intention of keeping the promise natural to judge only by the result necessary to make a virtue of necessity neither wished the convocation, while both affected an eagerness neither ambitious nor greedy no man ever understood the art of bribery more thoroughly no authority over an army which they did not pay no man could reveal secrets which he did not know not so successful as he was picturesque not upon words but upon actions not to fall asleep in the shade of a peace negotiation nothing was so powerful as religious difference of high rank but of lamentably low capacity on the first day four thousand men and women were slaughtered one-half to philip and one-half to the pope and venice (slaves) our pot had not gone to the fire as often peace was desirable, it might be more dangerous than war peace, in reality, was war in its worst shape perfection of insolence plundering the country which they came to protect pope excommunicated him as a heretic power grudged rather than given to the deputies preferred an open enemy to a treacherous protector presumption in entitling themselves christian preventing wrong, or violence, even towards an enemy proposition made by the wolves to the sheep, in the fable protect the common tranquillity by blood, purse, and life quite mistaken: in supposing himself the emperor's child rebuked the bigotry which had already grown reformer who becomes in his turn a bigot is doubly odious reformers were capable of giving a lesson even to inquisitors republic, which lasted two centuries result was both to abandon the provinces and to offend philip sentimentality that seems highly apocryphal she knew too well how women were treated in that country superfluous sarcasm suppress the exercise of the roman religion taxes upon income and upon consumption the disunited provinces the more conclusive arbitration of gunpowder there is no man who does not desire to enjoy his own they could not invent or imagine toleration those who "sought to swim between two waters" those who fish in troubled waters only to fill their own nets throw the cat against their legs to hear the last solemn commonplaces toleration thought the deadliest heresy of all unduly dejected in adversity unremitted intellectual labor in an honorable cause usual phraseology of enthusiasts uunmeaning phrases of barren benignity volatile word was thought preferable to the permanent letter was it astonishing that murder was more common than fidelity? word-mongers who, could clothe one shivering thought worn crescents in their caps at leyden worship god according to the dictates of his conscience writing letters full of injured innocence etext editor's bookmarks the dutch republic, - , complete: , the last year of peace a country disinherited by nature of its rights a pleasantry called voluntary contributions or benevolences a good lawyer is a bad christian a terrible animal, indeed, is an unbridled woman a common hatred united them, for a time at least a most fatal success absolution for incest was afforded at thirty-six livres absurd affectation of candor achieved the greatness to which they had not been born advancing age diminished his tendency to other carnal pleasures advised his majesty to bestow an annual bribe upon lord burleigh affecting to discredit them age when toleration was a vice agreements were valid only until he should repent all offices were sold to the highest bidder all denounced the image-breaking all his disciples and converts are to be punished with death all the majesty which decoration could impart all reading of the scriptures (forbidden) all protestants were beheaded, burned, or buried alive all claimed the privilege of persecuting altercation between luther and erasmus, upon predestination always less apt to complain of irrevocable events amuse them with this peace negotiation an hereditary papacy, a perpetual pope-emperor an inspiring and delightful recreation (auto-da-fe) an age when to think was a crime angle with their dissimulation as with a hook announced his approaching marriage with the virgin mary annual harvest of iniquity by which his revenue was increased anxiety to do nothing wrong, the senators did nothing at all are apt to discharge such obligations--(by) ingratitude arrested on suspicion, tortured till confession arrive at their end by fraud, when violence will not avail them as ready as papists, with age, fagot, and excommunication as the old woman had told the emperor adrian attachment to a half-drowned land and to a despised religion attacking the authority of the pope attempting to swim in two waters barbara blomberg, washerwoman of ratisbon batavian legion was the imperial body guard beating the netherlanders into christianity beautiful damsel, who certainly did not lack suitors before morning they had sacked thirty churches beggars of the sea, as these privateersmen designated themselves believed in the blessed advent of peace bigotry which was the prevailing characteristic of the age bishop is a consecrated pirate blessing of god upon the devil's work bold reformer had only a new dogma in place of the old ones breath, time, and paper were profusely wasted and nothing gained brethren, parents, and children, having wives in common bribed the deity burned alive if they objected to transubstantiation burned, strangled, beheaded, or buried alive ( , ) business of an officer to fight, of a general to conquer care neither for words nor menaces in any matter character of brave men to act, not to expect charles the fifth autocrat of half the world claimed the praise of moderation that their demands were so few colonel ysselstein, "dismissed for a homicide or two" compassing a country's emancipation through a series of defeats conde and coligny condemning all heretics to death conflicting claims of prerogative and conscience confused conferences, where neither party was entirely sincere consign to the flames all prisoners whatever (papal letter) constitutional governments, move in the daylight consumer would pay the tax, supposing it were ever paid at all country would bear his loss with fortitude courage of despair inflamed the french craft meaning, simply, strength crescents in their caps: rather turkish than popish criminal whose guilt had been established by the hot iron criminals buying paradise for money cruelties exercised upon monks and papists crusades made great improvement in the condition of the serfs customary oaths, to be kept with the customary conscientiousness daily widening schism between lutherans and calvinists deadliest of sins, the liberty of conscience decrees for burning, strangling, and burying alive deeply criminal in the eyes of all religious parties democratic instincts of the ancient german savages denies the utility of prayers for the dead despot by birth and inclination (charles v.) difference between liberties and liberty difficult for one friend to advise another in three matters dispute between luther and zwingli concerning the real presence dissenters were as bigoted as the orthodox dissimulation and delay distinguished for his courage, his cruelty, and his corpulence divine right don john of austria don john was at liberty to be king of england and scotland drank of the water in which, he had washed dying at so very inconvenient a moment eight thousand human beings were murdered endure every hardship but hunger english puritans enormous wealth (of the church) which engendered the hatred enriched generation after generation by wealthy penitence enthusiasm could not supply the place of experience envying those whose sufferings had already been terminated erasmus encourages the bold friar erasmus of rotterdam establish not freedom for calvinism, but freedom for conscience even for the rape of god's mother, if that were possible ever-swarming nurseries of mercenary warriors everything was conceded, but nothing was secured excited with the appearance of a gem of true philosophy executions of huss and jerome of prague fable of divine right is invented to sanction the system fanatics of the new religion denounced him as a godless man felix mants, the anabaptist, is drowned at zurich ferocity which even christians could not have surpassed few, even prelates were very dutiful to the pope fiction of apostolic authority to bind and loose fifty thousand persons in the provinces (put to death) financial opposition to tyranny is apt to be unanimous fishermen and river raftsmen become ocean adventurers for myself i am unworthy of the honor (of martyrdom) for faithful service, evil recompense for women to lament, for men to remember forbids all private assemblies for devotion force clerical--the power of clerks forgiving spirit on the part of the malefactor furious fanaticism furnished, in addition, with a force of two thousand prostitutes gallant and ill-fated lamoral egmont gaul derided the roman soldiers as a band of pigmies german finds himself sober--he believes himself ill glory could be put neither into pocket nor stomach god has given absolute power to no mortal man god save the king! it was the last time govern under the appearance of obeying great privilege, the magna charta of holland great transactions of a reign are sometimes paltry things great science of political equilibrium great error of despising their enemy great battles often leave the world where they found it guarantees of forgiveness for every imaginable sin habeas corpus hair and beard unshorn, according to ancient batavian custom halcyon days of ban, book and candle hanged for having eaten meat-soup upon friday happy to glass themselves in so brilliant a mirror having conjugated his paradigm conscientiously he did his best to be friends with all the world he came as a conqueror not as a mediator he would have no persecution of the opposite creed he would have no calvinist inquisition set up in its place he had never enjoyed social converse, except at long intervals he knew men, especially he knew their weaknesses he had omitted to execute heretics heresy was a plant of early growth in the netherlands his imagination may have assisted his memory in the task his personal graces, for the moment, took the rank of virtues history shows how feeble are barriers of paper holland, england, and america, are all links of one chain holy office condemned all the inhabitants of the netherlands hope delayed was but a cold and meagre consolation hope deferred, suddenly changing to despair human ingenuity to inflict human misery i would carry the wood to burn my own son withal i regard my country's profit, not my own if he had little, he could live upon little imagined, and did the work of truth in holland, the clergy had neither influence nor seats in character and general talents he was beneath mediocrity incur the risk of being charged with forwardness than neglect indecision did the work of indolence indignant that heretics had been suffered to hang informer, in case of conviction, should be entitled to one half inquisition was not a fit subject for a compromise inquisition of the netherlands is much more pitiless insane cruelty, both in the cause of the wrong and the right insinuate that his orders had been hitherto misunderstood insinuating suspicions when unable to furnish evidence invented such christian formulas as these (a curse) inventing long speeches for historical characters it is not desirable to disturb much of that learned dust its humility, seemed sufficiently ironical judas maccabaeus july st, two augustine monks were burned at brussels king set a price upon his head as a rebel king of zion to be pinched to death with red-hot tongs labored under the disadvantage of never having existed learn to tremble as little at priestcraft as at swordcraft leave not a single man alive in the city, and to burn every house let us fool these poor creatures to their heart's content licences accorded by the crown to carry slaves to america like a man holding a wolf by the ears little grievances would sometimes inflame more than vast local self-government which is the life-blood of liberty logical and historical argument of unmerciful length long succession of so many illustrious obscure look through the cloud of dissimulation luther's axiom, that thoughts are toll-free lutheran princes of germany, detested the doctrines of geneva made no breach in royal and roman infallibility made to swing to and fro over a slow fire maintaining the attitude of an injured but forgiving christian man had only natural wrongs (no natural rights) mankind were naturally inclined to calumny many greedy priests, of lower rank, had turned shop-keepers meantime the second civil war in france had broken out men were loud in reproof, who had been silent mistake to stumble a second time over the same stone modern statesmanship, even while it practises, condemns monasteries, burned their invaluable libraries more accustomed to do well than to speak well more easily, as he had no intention of keeping the promise natural to judge only by the result necessary to make a virtue of necessity neither wished the convocation, while both affected an eagerness neither ambitious nor greedy no qualities whatever but birth and audacity to recommend him no man could reveal secrets which he did not know no law but the law of the longest purse no calumny was too senseless to be invented no one can testify but a householder no man ever understood the art of bribery more thoroughly no authority over an army which they did not pay not strong enough to sustain many more such victories not to fall asleep in the shade of a peace negotiation not for a new doctrine, but for liberty of conscience not to let the grass grow under their feet not so successful as he was picturesque not upon words but upon actions not of the stuff of which martyrs are made (erasmus) nothing was so powerful as religious difference notre dame at antwerp nowhere was the persecution of heretics more relentless obstinate, of both sexes, to be burned of high rank but of lamentably low capacity often much tyranny in democracy oldenbarneveld; afterwards so illustrious on the first day four thousand men and women were slaughtered one-half to philip and one-half to the pope and venice (slaves) one golden grain of wit into a sheet of infinite platitude only kept alive by milk, which he drank from a woman's breast only healthy existence of the french was in a state of war orator was, however, delighted with his own performance others go to battle, says the historian, these go to war our pot had not gone to the fire as often panegyrists of royal houses in the sixteenth century pardon for crimes already committed, or about to be committed pardon for murder, if not by poison, was cheaper pathetic dying words of anne boleyn paying their passage through, purgatory peace, in reality, was war in its worst shape peace was desirable, it might be more dangerous than war perfection of insolence perpetually dropping small innuendos like pebbles persons who discussed religious matters were to be put to death petty passion for contemptible details philip, who did not often say a great deal in a few words planted the inquisition in the netherlands plundering the country which they came to protect poisoning, for example, was absolved for eleven ducats pope and emperor maintain both positions with equal logic pope excommunicated him as a heretic power to read and write helped the clergy to much wealth power grudged rather than given to the deputies preferred an open enemy to a treacherous protector premature zeal was prejudicial to the cause presumption in entitling themselves christian preventing wrong, or violence, even towards an enemy procrastination was always his first refuge promises which he knew to be binding only upon the weak proposition made by the wolves to the sheep, in the fable protect the common tranquillity by blood, purse, and life provided not one huguenot be left alive in france purchased absolution for crime and smoothed a pathway to heaven put all those to the torture out of whom anything can be got questioning nothing, doubting nothing, fearing nothing quite mistaken: in supposing himself the emperor's child rashness alternating with hesitation readiness to strike and bleed at any moment in her cause rearing gorgeous temples where paupers are to kneel rebuked the bigotry which had already grown reformer who becomes in his turn a bigot is doubly odious reformers were capable of giving a lesson even to inquisitors repentant females to be buried alive repentant males to be executed with the sword republic, which lasted two centuries result was both to abandon the provinces and to offend philip revocable benefices or feuds ruinous honors saint bartholomew's day sale of absolutions was the source of large fortunes to the priests same conjury over ignorant baron and cowardly hind scaffold was the sole refuge from the rack scepticism, which delights in reversing the judgment of centuries schism which existed in the general reformed church science of reigning was the science of lying scoffing at the ceremonies and sacraments of the church secret drowning was substituted for public burning sent them word by carrier pigeons sentimentality that seems highly apocryphal seven spaniards were killed, and seven thousand rebels sharpened the punishment for reading the scriptures in private she knew too well how women were treated in that country sick and wounded wretches were burned over slow fires slavery was both voluntary and compulsory slender stock of platitudes so much responsibility and so little power soldier of the cross was free upon his return sometimes successful, even although founded upon sincerity sonnets of petrarch sovereignty was heaven-born, anointed of god spendthrift of time, he was an economist of blood st. bartholomew was to sleep for seven years longer st. peter's dome rising a little nearer to the clouds storm by which all these treasures were destroyed (in days) superfluous sarcasm suppress the exercise of the roman religion tanchelyn taxation upon sin taxes upon income and upon consumption ten thousand two hundred and twenty individuals were burned that vile and mischievous animal called the people the noblest and richest temple of the netherlands was a wreck the gaul was singularly unchaste the vivifying becomes afterwards the dissolving principle the bad duke of burgundy, philip surnamed "the good," the greatest crime, however, was to be rich the more conclusive arbitration of gunpowder the disunited provinces the faithful servant is always a perpetual ass the time for reasoning had passed the perpetual reproductions of history the egg had been laid by erasmus, hatched by luther the illness was a convenient one the calf is fat and must be killed the tragedy of don carlos there is no man who does not desire to enjoy his own these human victims, chained and burning at the stake they could not invent or imagine toleration they had at last burned one more preacher alive those who "sought to swim between two waters" those who fish in troubled waters only to fill their own nets thousands of burned heretics had not made a single convert three hundred fighting women throw the cat against their legs thus hand-werpen, hand-throwing, became antwerp time and myself are two to think it capable of error, is the most devilish heresy of all to hear the last solemn commonplaces to prefer poverty to the wealth attendant upon trade toleration thought the deadliest heresy of all torquemada's administration (of the inquisition) tranquillity of despotism to the turbulence of freedom two witnesses sent him to the stake, one witness to the rack tyrannical spirit of calvinism tyranny, ever young and ever old, constantly reproducing herself understood the art of managing men, particularly his superiors unduly dejected in adversity unremitted intellectual labor in an honorable cause upon one day twenty-eight master cooks were dismissed usual phraseology of enthusiasts uunmeaning phrases of barren benignity villagers, or villeins volatile word was thought preferable to the permanent letter was it astonishing that murder was more common than fidelity? we believe our mothers to have been honest women we are beginning to be vexed wealth was an unpardonable sin weep oftener for her children than is the usual lot of mothers when the abbot has dice in his pocket, the convent will play who loved their possessions better than their creed william of nassau, prince of orange wiser simply to satisfy himself wonder equally at human capacity to inflict and to endure misery word-mongers who, could clothe one shivering thought worn crescents in their caps at leyden worship god according to the dictates of his conscience would not help to burn fifty or sixty thousand netherlanders writing letters full of injured innocence this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic, - by john lothrop motley chapter iv. captivity of la noue--cruel propositions of philip--siege of groningen--death of barthold enter--his character--hohenlo commands in the north--his incompetence--he is defeated on hardenberg heath-- petty operations--isolation of orange--dissatisfaction and departure of count john--remonstrance of archduke matthias--embassy to anjou-- holland and zealand offer the sovereignty to orange--conquest of portugal--granvelle proposes the ban against the prince--it is published--the document analyzed--the apology of orange analyzed and characterized--siege of steenwyk by renneberg--forgeries--siege relieved--death of renneberg--institution of the "land-council"-- duchess of parma sent to the netherlands--anger of alexander-- prohibition of catholic worship in antwerp, utrecht, and elsewhere-- declaration of independence by the united provinces--negotiations with anjou--the sovereignty of holland and zealand provisionally accepted by orange--tripartition of the netherlands--power of the prince described--act of abjuration analyzed--philosophy of netherland politics.--views of the government compact--acquiescence by the people in the action of the estates--departure of archduke matthias. the war continued in a languid and desultory manner in different parts of the country. at an action near ingelmunster, the brave and accomplished de la noue was made prisoner. this was a severe loss to the states, a cruel blow to orange, for he was not only one of the most experienced soldiers, but one of the most accomplished writers of his age. his pen was as celebrated as his sword. in exchange for the illustrious frenchman the states in vain offered count egmont, who had been made prisoner a few weeks before, and de belles, who was captured shortly afterwards. parma answered contemptuously, that he would not give a lion for two sheep. even champagny was offered in addition, but without success. parma had written to philip, immediately upon the capture, that, were it not for egmont, seller, and others, then in the power of oranges he should order the execution of la noue. under the circumstances, however, he had begged to be in formed as to his majesty's pleasure, and in the meantime had placed the prisoner in the castle of limburg, under charge of de billy. [strada, d. , iii. , . parma is said to have hinted to philip that de billy would willingly undertake, the private assassination of la noue.--popeliniere, hist. des pays bas; - .] his majesty, of course, never signified his pleasure, and the illustrious soldier remained for five years in a loathsome dungeon more befitting a condemned malefactor than a prisoner of war. it was in the donjon keep of the castle, lighted only by an aperture in the roof, and was therefore exposed to the rain and all inclemencies of the sky, while rats, toads, and other vermin housed in the miry floor. here this distinguished personage, francis with the iron arm, whom all frenchmen, catholic or huguenot, admired far his genius, bravery, and purity of character, passed five years of close confinement. the government was most anxious to take his life, but the captivity of egmont and others prevented the accomplishment of their wishes. during this long period, the wife and numerous friends of la noue were unwearied in, their efforts to effect his ransom or exchange, but none of the prisoners in the hands of the patriots were considered a fair equivalent. the hideous proposition was even made by philip the second to la noue, that he should receive his liberty if he would permit his eyes to be put out, as a preliminary condition. the fact is attested by several letters written by la noue to his wife. the prisoner, wearied, shattered in health, and sighing for air and liberty, was disposed and even anxious to accept the infamous offer, and discussed the matter philosophically in his letters. that lady, however, horror-struck at the suggestion, implored him to reject the condition, which he accordingly consented to do. at last, in june, , he was exchanged, on extremely rigorous terms, for egmont. during his captivity in this vile dungeon, he composed not only his famous political and military discourses, but several other works, among the rest; annotations upon plutarch and upon the histories of guicciardini. the siege of groningen proceeded, and parma ordered some forces under martin schenck to advance to its relief. on the other hand, the meagre states' forces under sonoy, hohenlo, entes, and count john of nassau's young son, william louis, had not yet made much impression upon the city. there was little military skill to atone for the feebleness of the assailing army, although there was plenty of rude valor. barthold entes, a man of desperate character, was impatient at the dilatoriness of the proceedings. after having been in disgrace with the states, since the downfall of his friend and patron, the count de la marck, he had recently succeeded to a regiment in place of colonel ysselstein, "dismissed for a homicide or two." on the th of may, he had been dining at rolda, in company with hohenlo and the young count of nassau. returning to the trenches in a state of wild intoxication, he accosted a knot of superior officers, informing them that they were but boys, and that he would show them how to carry the faubourg of groningen on the instant. he was answered that the faubourg, being walled and moated, could be taken only by escalade or battery. laughing loudly, he rushed forward toward the counterscarp, waving his sword, and brandishing on his left arm the cover of a butter firkin, which he had taken instead of his buckler. he had advanced, however, but a step, when a bullet from the faubourg pierced his brain, and he fell dead without a word. so perished one of the wild founders of the netherland commonwealth--one of the little band of reckless adventurers who had captured the town of brill in , and thus laid the foundation stone of a great republic, which was to dictate its laws to the empire of charles the fifth. he was in some sort a type. his character was emblematical of the worst side of the liberating movement. desperate, lawless, ferocious--a robber on land, a pirate by sea--he had rendered great service in the cause of his fatherland, and had done it much disgrace. by the evil deeds of men like himself, the fair face of liberty had been profaned at its first appearance. born of a respectable family, he had been noted, when a student in this very groningen where he had now found his grave, for the youthful profligacy of his character. after dissipating his partrimony, he had taken to the sea, the legalized piracy of the mortal struggle with spain offering a welcome refuge to spendthrifts like himself. in common with many a banished noble of ancient birth and broken fortunes, the riotous student became a successful corsair, and it is probable that his prizes were made as well among the friends as the enemies of his country. he amassed in a short time one hundred thousand crowns--no contemptible fortune in those days. he assisted la marck in the memorable attack upon brill, but behaved badly and took to flight when mondragon made his memorable expedition to relieve tergoes. he had subsequently been imprisoned, with la marck for insubordination, and during his confinement had dissipated a large part of his fortune. in , after the violation of the ghent treaty, he had returned to, his piratical pursuits, and having prospered again as rapidly as he had done during his former cruises, had been glad to exchange the ocean for more honorable service on shore. the result was the tragic yet almost ludicrous termination which we have narrated. he left a handsome property, the result of his various piracies, or, according to the usual euphemism, prizes. he often expressed regret at the number of traders whom he had cast into the sea, complaining, in particular, of one victim whom he had thrown overboard, who would never sink, but who for years long ever floated in his wake, and stared him in the face whenever he looked over his vessel's side. a gambler, a profligate, a pirate, he had yet rendered service to the cause of freedom, and his name--sullying the purer and nobler ones of other founders of the commonwealth--"is enrolled in the capitol." count philip hohenlo, upon whom now, devolved the, entire responsibility of the groningen siege and of the friesland operations, was only a few degrees superior to this northern corsair. a noble of high degree, nearly connected with the nassau family, sprung of the best blood in germany, handsome and dignified in appearance, he was, in reality only a debauchee and a drunkard. personal bravery was his main qualification for a general; a virtue which he shared with many of his meanest soldiers. he had never learned the art of war, nor had he the least ambition to acquire it. devoted to his pleasures, he depraved those under his command, and injured the cause for which he was contending. nothing but defeat and disgrace were expected by the purer patriots from such guidance. "the benediction of god," wrote albada, "cannot be hoped for under this chieftain, who by life and manners is fitter to drive swine than to govern pious and honorable men." the event justified the prophecy. after a few trifling operations before groningen, hohenlo was summoned to the neighbourhood of coewerden, by the reported arrival of martin schenck, at the head of a considerable force. on the th of june, the count marched all night and a part of the follow morning, in search of the enemy. he came up with them upon hardenberg heath, in a broiling summer forenoon. his men were jaded by the forced march, overcame with the heat, tormented with thirst, and unable to procure even a drop of water. the royalists were fresh so that the result of the contest was easily to be foreseen. hohenlo's army was annihilated in an hour's time, the whole population fled out of coewerden, the siege of groningen was raised; renneberg was set free to resume his operations on a larger scale, and the fate of all the north- eastern provinces was once more swinging in the wind. the boors of drenthe and friesland rose again. they had already mustered in the field at an earlier season of the year, in considerable force. calling themselves "the desperates," and bearing on their standard an eggshell with the yolk running out--to indicate that, having lost the meat they were yet ready to fight for the shell--they had swept through the open country, pillaging and burning. hohenlo had defeated them in two enchanters, slain a large number of their forces, and reduced them for a time to tranquillity. his late overthrow once more set them loose. renneberg, always apt to be over-elated in prosperity, as he was unduly dejected in adversity, now assumed all the airs of a conqueror. he had hardly eight thousand men under his orders, but his strength lay in the weakness of his adversaries. a small war now succeeded, with small generals, small armies, small campaigns, small sieges. for the time, the prince of orange was even obliged to content himself with such a general as hohenlo. as usual, he was almost alone. "donec eris felix," said he, emphatically-- "multos numerabis amicos, tempera cum erunt nubila, nullus erit," and he was this summer doomed to a still harder deprivation by the final departure of his brother john from the netherlands. the count had been wearied out by petty miseries. his stadholderate of gelderland had overwhelmed him with annoyance, for throughout the north- eastern provinces there was neither system nor subordination. the magistrates could exercise no authority over an army which they did not pay, or a people whom they did not protect. there were endless quarrels between the various boards of municipal and provincial government-- particularly concerning contributions and expenditures. [when the extraordinary generosity of the count himself; and the altogether unexampled sacrifices of the prince are taken into account, it may well be supposed that the patience of the brothers would be sorely tried by the parsimony of the states. it appears by a document laid before the states-general in the winter of - , that the count had himself advanced to orange , florins in the cause. the total of money spent by the prince himself for the sake of netherland liberty was , , . these vast sums had been raised in various ways and from various personages. his estates were deeply hypothecated, and his creditors so troublesome, that, in his own language, he was unable to attend properly to public affairs, so frequent and so threatening were the applications made upon him for payment. day by day he felt the necessity advancing more closely upon him of placing himself personally in the hands of his creditors and making over his estates to their mercy until the uttermost farthing should be paid. in his two campaigns against alva ( and ) he had spent , , florins. he owed the elector palatine , florins, the landgrave , , count john , , and other sums to other individuals.] during this wrangling, the country was exposed to the forces of parma, to the private efforts of the malcontents, to the unpaid soldiery of the states, to the armed and rebellious peasantry. little heed was paid to the admonitions of count john, who was of a hotter temper than was the tranquil prince. the stadholder gave way to fits of passion at the meanness and the insolence to which he was constantly exposed. he readily recognized his infirmity, and confessed himself unable to accommodate his irascibility to the "humores" of the inhabitants. there was often sufficient cause for his petulance. never had praetor of a province a more penurious civil list. "the baker has given notice," wrote count john, in november, "that he will supply no more bread after to-morrow, unless he is paid." the states would furnish no money to pay the, bill. it was no better with the butcher. "the cook has often no meat to roast," said the count, in the same letter, "so that we are often obliged to go supperless to bed." his lodgings were a half-roofed, half- finished, unfurnished barrack, where the stadholder passed his winter days and evenings in a small, dark, freezing-cold chamber, often without fire-wood. such circumstances were certainly not calculated to excite envy. when in addition to such wretched parsimony, it is remembered that the count was perpetually worried by the quarrels of the provincial authorities with each other and with himself, he may be forgiven for becoming thoroughly exhausted at last. he was growing "grey and grizzled" with perpetual perplexity. he had been fed with annoyance, as if--to use his own homely expression--"he had eaten it with a spoon." having already loaded himself with a debt of six hundred thousand florins, which he had spent in the states' service, and having struggled manfully against the petty tortures of his situation, he cannot be severely censured for relinquishing his post. the affairs of his own countship were in great confusion. his children--boys and girls--were many, and needed their fathers' guidance, while the eldest, william louis, was already in arms for the-netherlands, following the instincts of his race. distinguished for a rash valor, which had already gained the rebuke of his father and the applause of his comrades, he had commenced his long and glorious career by receiving a severe wound at coewerden, which caused him to halt for life. leaving so worthy a representative, the count was more justified in his departure. his wife, too, had died in his absence, and household affairs required his attention. it must be confessed, however, that if the memory of his deceased spouse had its claims, the selection of her successor was still more prominent among his anxieties. the worthy gentleman had been supernaturally directed as to his second choice, ere that choice seemed necessary, for before the news of his wife's death had reached him, the count dreamed that he was already united in second nuptials to the fair cunigunda, daughter of the deceased elector palatine--a vision which was repeated many times. on the morrow he learned, to his amazement, that he was a widower, and entertained no doubt that he had been specially directed towards the princess seen in his slumbers, whom he had never seen in life. his friends were in favor of his marrying the electress dowager, rather than her daughter, whose years numbered less than half his own. the honest count, however, "after ripe consideration," decidedly preferred the maid to the widow. "i confess," he said, with much gravity, "that the marriage with the old electress, in respect of her god-fearing disposition, her piety, her virtue, and the like, would be much more advisable. moreover, as she hath borne her cross, and knows how to deal with gentlemen, so much the better would it be for me. nevertheless, inasmuch as she has already had two husbands, is of a tolerable age, and is taller of stature than myself, my inclination is less towards her than towards her daughter." for these various considerations, count john, notwithstanding the remonstrances of his brother, definitely laid down his government of gelderland, and quitted the netherlands about midsummer. enough had not been done, in the opinion of the prince, so long as aught remained to do, and he could not bear that his brother should desert the country in the hour of its darkness, or doubt the almighty when his hand was veiled in clouds. "one must do one's best," said he, "and believe that when such misfortunes happen, god desires to prove us. if he sees that we do not lose our courage, he will assuredly help us. had we thought otherwise, we should never have pierced the dykes on a memorable occasion, for it was an uncertain thing and a great sorrow for the poor people; yet did god bless the undertaking. he will bless us still, for his arm hath not been shortened." on the nd of july, , the archduke matthias, being fully aware of the general tendency of affairs, summoned a meeting of the generality in antwerp. he did not make his appearance before the assembly, but requested that a deputation might wait upon him at his lodgings, and to this committee he unfolded his griefs. he expressed his hope that the states were not--in violation of the laws of god and man--about to throw themselves into the arms of a foreign prince. he reminded them of their duty to the holy catholic religion to the illustrious house of austria, while he also pathetically called their attention to the necessities of his own household, and hoped that they would, at least, provide for the arrears due to his domestics. the states-general replied with courtesy as to the personal claims of the archduke. for the rest, they took higher grounds, and the coming declaration of independence already pierced through the studied decorum of their language. they defended their negotiation with anjou on the ground of necessity, averring that the king of spain had proved inexorable to all intercession, while, through the intrigues of their bitterest enemies, they had been entirely forsaken by the empire. soon afterwards, a special legation, with saint aldegonde at its head, was despatched to france to consult with the duke of anjou, and settled terms of agreement with him by the treaty of plessis les tours (on the th of september, ), afterwards definitely ratified by the convention of bordeaux, signed on the rd of the following january. the states of holland and zealand, however, kept entirely aloof from this transaction, being from the beginning opposed to the choice of anjou. from the first to the last, they would have no master but orange, and to him, therefore, this year they formally offered the sovereignty of their provinces; but they offered it in vain. the conquest of portugal had effected a diversion in the affairs of the netherlands. it was but a transitory one. the provinces found the hopes which they had built upon the necessity of spain for large supplies in the peninsula--to their own consequent relief--soon changed into fears, for the rapid success of alva in portugal gave his master additional power to oppress the heretics of the north. henry, the cardinal king, had died in , after succeeding to the youthful adventurer, don sebastian, slain during his chivalrous african campaign ( th of august, ). the contest for the succession which opened upon the death of the aged monarch was brief, and in fifty-eight days, the bastard antonio, philip's only formidable competitor, had been utterly defeated and driven forth to lurk, like 'a hunted wild beast, among rugged mountain caverns, with a price of a hundred thousand crowns upon his head. in the course of the succeeding year, philip received homage at lisbon as king of portugal. from the moment of this conquest, he was more disposed, and more at leisure than ever, to vent his wrath against the netherlands, and against the man whom he considered the incarnation of their revolt. cardinal granvelle had ever whispered in the king's ear the expediency of taking off the prince by assassination. it has been seen how subtly distilled, and how patiently hoarded, was this priest's venom against individuals, until the time arrived when he could administer the poison with effect. his hatred of orange was intense and of ancient date. he was of opinion, too, that the prince might be scared from the post of duty, even if the assassin's hand were not able to reach his heart. he was in favor of publicly setting a price upon his head-thinking that if the attention of all the murderers in the world were thus directed towards the illustrious victim, the prince would tremble at the dangers which surrounded him. "a sum of money would be well employed in this way," said the cardinal, "and, as the prince of orange is a vile coward, fear alone will throw him into confusion." again, a few months later, renewing the subject, he observed, "'twould be well to offer a reward of thirty or forty thousand crowns to any one who will deliver the prince, dead or alive; since from very fear of it--as he is pusillanimous--it would not be unlikely that he should die of his own accord." it was insulting even to philip's intelligence to insinuate that the prince would shrink before danger, or die of fear. had orange ever been inclined to bombast, he might have answered the churchman's calumny, as caesar the soothsayer's warning:-- "-----------------danger knows full well that caesar is more dangerous than he--" and in truth, philip had long trembled on his throne before the genius of the man who had foiled spain's boldest generals and wiliest statesmen. the king, accepting the priest's advice, resolved to fulminate a ban against the prince, and to set a price upon his head. "it will be well," wrote philip to parma, "to offer thirty thousand crowns or so to any one who will deliver him dead or alive. thus the country may be rid of a man so pernicious; or at any rate he will be held in perpetual fear, and therefore prevented from executing leisurely his designs." in accordance with these suggestions and these hopes, the famous ban was accordingly drawn up, and dated on the th of march, . it was, however, not formally published in the netherlands until the month of june of the same year. this edict will remain the most lasting monument to the memory of cardinal granvelle. it will be read when all his other state-papers and epistles--able as they incontestably are--shall have passed into oblivion. no panegyric of friend, no palliating magnanimity of foe, can roll away this rock of infamy from his tomb. it was by cardinal granvelle and by philip that a price was set upon the head of the foremost man of his age, as if he had been a savage beast, and that admission into the ranks of spain's haughty nobility was made the additional bribe to tempt the assassin. the ban consisted of a preliminary narrative to justify the penalty with which it was concluded. it referred to the favors conferred by philip and his father upon the prince; to his-signal ingratitude and dissimulation. it accused him of originating the request, the image- breaking, and the public preaching. it censured his marriage with an abbess--even during the lifetime of his wife; alluded to his campaigns against alva, to his rebellion in holland, and to the horrible massacres committed by spaniards in that province--the necessary consequences of his treason. it accused him of introducing liberty of conscience, of procuring his own appointment as ruward, of violating the ghent treaty, of foiling the, efforts of don john, and of frustrating the counsels of the cologne commissioners by his perpetual distrust. it charged him with a newly-organized conspiracy, in the erection of the utrecht union; and for these and similar crimes--set forth, with involutions, slow, spiral, and cautious as the head and front of the indictment was direct and deadly--it denounced the chastisement due to the "wretched hypocrite" who had committed such offences. "for these causes," concluded the ban, "we declare him traitor and miscreant, enemy of ourselves and of the country. as such we banish him perpetually from all our realms, forbidding all our subjects, of whatever quality, to communicate with him openly or privately--to administer to him victuals, drink, fire, or other necessaries. we allow all to injure him in property or life. we expose the, said william nassau, as an enemy of the human-race--giving his property to all who may; seize it. and if anyone of our subjects or any stranger should be found sufficiently generous of heart to rid us of this pest, delivering him to us, alive or dead, or taking his life, we will cause to be furnished to him immediately after the deed shall have been done, the sum of twenty-five thousand crowns; in gold. if he have committed any crime, however heinous, we promise to pardon him; and if he be not already noble, we will ennoble him for his valor." such was the celebrated ban against the prince of orange. it was answered before the end of the year by the memorable "apology of the prince of orange" one of the moat startling documents in history. no defiance was ever thundered forth in the face of a despot in more terrible tones. it had become sufficiently manifest to the royal party that the prince was not to be purchased by "millions of money," or by unlimited family advancement--not to be cajoled by flattery or offers of illustrious friendship. it had been decided, therefore, to terrify him into retreat, or to remove him by murder. the government had been thoroughly convinced that the only way to finish the revolt, was to "finish orange," according to the ancient advice of antonio perez. the mask was thrown off. it had been decided to forbid the prince bread, water, fire, and shelter; to give his wealth to the fisc, his heart to the assassin, his soul, as it was hoped, to the father of evil. the rupture being thus complete, it was right that the "wretched hypocrite" should answer ban with ban, royal denunciation with sublime scorn. he had ill-deserved, however, the title of hypocrite, he said. when the friend of government, he had warned them that by their complicated and perpetual persecutions they were twisting the rope of their own ruin. was that hypocrisy? since becoming their enemy, there had likewise been little hypocrisy found in him--unless it were hypocrisy to make open war upon government, to take their cities, to expel their armies from the country. the proscribed rebel, towering to a moral and even social superiority over the man who affected to be his master by right divine, swept down upon his antagonist with crushing effect. he repudiated the idea of a king in the netherlands. the word might be legitimate in castillo, or naples, or the indies, but the provinces knew no such title. philip had inherited in those countries only the power of duke or count--a power closely limited by constitutions more ancient than his birthright. orange was no rebel then--philip no legitimate monarch. even were the prince rebellious, it was no more than philip's ancestor, albert of austria, had been towards his anointed sovereign, emperor adolphus of nassau, ancestor of william. the ties of allegiance and conventional authority being, severed, it had become idle for the king to affect superiority of lineage to the man whose family had occupied illustrious stations when the habsburgs were obscure squires in switzerland, and had ruled as sovereign in the netherlands before that overshadowing house had ever been named. but whatever the hereditary claims of philip in the country, he had forfeited them by the violation of his oaths, by his tyrannical suppression of the charters of the land; while by his personal crimes he had lost all pretension to sit in judgment upon his fellow man. was a people not justified in rising against authority when all their laws had been trodden under foot, "not once only, but a million of times?"--and was william of orange, lawful husband of the virtuous charlotte de bourbon, to be denounced for moral delinquency by a lascivious, incestuous, adulterous, and murderous king? with horrible distinctness he laid before the monarch all the crimes of which he believed him guilty, and having thus told philip to his beard, "thus diddest thou," he had a withering word for the priest who stood at his back. "tell me," he cried, "by whose command cardinal granvelle administered poison to the emperor maximilian? i know what the emperor told me, and how much fear he felt afterwards for the king and for all spaniards." he ridiculed the effrontery of men like philip and granvelle; in charging "distrust" upon others, when it was the very atmosphere of their own existence. he proclaimed that sentiment to be the only salvation for the country. he reminded philip of the words which his namesake of macedon-- a schoolboy in tyranny, compared to himself--had heard from the lips of demosthenes--that the strongest fortress of a free people against a tyrant was distrust. that sentiment, worthy of eternal memory, the prince declared that he had taken from the "divine philippic," to engrave upon the heart, of the nation, and he prayed god that he might be more readily believed than the great orator had been by his people. he treated with scorn the price set upon his head, ridiculing this project to terrify him, for its want of novelty, and asking the monarch if he supposed the rebel ignorant of the various bargains which had frequently been made before with cutthroats and poisoners to take away his life. "i am in the hand of god," said william of orange; "my worldly goods and my life have been long since dedicated to his service. he will dispose of them as seems best for his glory and my salvation." on the contrary, however, if it could be demonstrated, or even hoped, that his absence would benefit the cause of the country, he proclaimed himself ready to go into exile. would to god," said he, in conclusion, that my perpetual banishment, or even my death, could bring you a true deliverance from so many calamities. oh, how consoling would be such banishment--how sweet such a death! for why have i exposed my property? was it that i might enrich myself? why have i lost my brothers? was it that i might find new; ones? why have i left my son so long a prisoner? can you give me another? why have i put my life so often in, danger? what reward, can i hope after my long services, and the almost total wreck, of my earthly fortunes, if not the prize, of having acquired, perhaps at the expense of my life, your liberty?--if then, my masters, if you judge that my absence or my death can serve you, behold me ready to obey. command me --send me to the ends of the earth--i will obey. here is my head, over which no prince, no monarch, has power but yourselves. dispose of it for your good, for the preservation of your republic, but if you judge that the moderate amount of experience and industry which is in me, if you judge that the remainder of my property and of my life can yet be of service to you, i dedicate them afresh to you and to the country." his motto--most appropriate to his life and character--"je maintiendrai," was the concluding phrase of the document. his arms and signature were also formally appended, and the apology, translated into most modern languages, was sent, to nearly every potentate in christendom. it had been previously, on the th of december, , read before the assembly of the united states at delft, and approved as cordially as the ban was indignantly denounced. during the remainder of the year , and the half of the following year, the seat of hostilities was mainly in the northeast-parma, while waiting the arrival of fresh troops, being inactive. the operations, like the armies and the generals, were petty. hohenlo was opposed to renneberg. after a few insignificant victories, the latter laid siege to steenwyk, a city in itself of no great importance, but the key to the province of drenthe. the garrison consisted of six hundred soldiers, and half as many trained burghers. renneberg, having six thousand foot and twelve hundred horse, summoned the place to surrender, but was answered with defiance. captain cornput, who had escaped from groningen, after unsuccessfully warning the citizens of renneberg's meditated treason, commanded in steenwyk, and his courage and cheerfulness sustained the population of the city during a close winter siege. tumultuous mobs in the streets demanding that the place should be given over ere it was too late, he denounced to their faces as "flocks of gabbling geese," unworthy the attention of brave men. to a butcher who, with the instinct of his craft, begged to be informed what the population were to eat when the meat was all gone, he coolly observed, "we will eat you, villain, first of all, when the time comes; so go home and rest assured that you, at least, are not to die of starvation." with such rough but cheerful admonitions did the honest soldier, at the head of his little handful, sustain the courage of the beleaguered city. meantime renneberg pressed it hard. he bombarded it with red-hot balls, a new invention introduced five years before by stephen bathor, king of poland, at the siege of dantzig. many houses were consumed, but still cornput and the citizens held firm. as the winter advanced, and the succor which had been promised still remained in the distance, renneberg began to pelt the city with sarcasms, which, it was hoped, might prove more effective than the red-hot balls. he sent a herald to know if the citizens had eaten all their horses yet; a question which was answered by an ostentatious display of sixty starving hacks--all that could be mustered-upon the heights. he sent them on another occasion, a short letter, which ran as follows: "most honorable, most steadfast,--as, during the present frost, you have but little exercise in the trenches--as you cannot pass your time in twirling your finger-rings, seeing that they have all been sold to pay your soldiers' wages--as you have nothing to rub your teeth upon, nor to scour your stomachs withal, and as, nevertheless, you require something if only to occupy your minds, i send you the enclosed letter, in hope it may yield amusement.--january , ." the enclosure was a letter from the prince of orange to the duke of anjou, which, as it was pretended, had been intercepted. it was a clumsy forgery, but it answered the purpose of more skilful counterfeiting, at a period when political and religious enmity obscured men's judgment. "as to the point of religion," the prince was made to observe, for example, to his illustrious correspondent, "that is all plain and clear. no sovereign who hopes to come to any great advancement ought to consider religion, or hold it in regard. your highness, by means of the garrisons, and fortresses, will be easily master of the principal cities in flanders and brabant, even if the citizens were opposed to you. afterwards you will compel them without difficulty to any religion which may seem most conducive to the interests of your highness." odious and cynical as was the whole tone of the letter, it was extensively circulated. there were always natures base and brutal enough to accept the calumny and to make it current among kindred souls. it may be doubted whether renneberg attached faith to the document; but it was natural that he should take a malicious satisfaction in spreading this libel against the man whose perpetual scorn he had so recently earned. nothing was more common than such forgeries, and at that very moment a letter, executed with equal grossness, was passing from hand to hand, which purported to be from the count himself to parma. history has less interest in contradicting the calumnies against a man like renneberg. the fictitious epistle of orange, however, was so often republished, and the copies so carefully distributed, that the prince had thought it important to add an express repudiation of its authorship, by way of appendix to his famous apology. he took the occasion to say, that if a particle of proof could be brought that he had written the letter, or any letter resembling it, he would forthwith leave the netherlands, never to show his face there again. notwithstanding this well known denial, however, renneberg thought it facetious to send the letter into steenvayk, where it produced but small effect upon the minds' of the burghers. meantime, they had received intimation that succor was on its way. hollow balls containing letters were shot into the town, bringing the welcome intelligence that the english colonel, john norris, with six thousand states' troops, would soon make his appearance for their relief, and the brave cornput added his cheerful exhortations to heighten the satisfaction thus produced. a day or two afterwards, three quails were caught in the public square, and the commandant improved the circumstance by many quaint homilies. the number three, he observed, was typical of the holy trinity, which had thus come symbolically to their relief. the lord had sustained the fainting israelites with quails. the number three indicated three weeks, within which time the promised succor was sure to arrive. accordingly, upon the nd of february, , at the expiration of the third week, norris succeeded in victualling the town, the merry and steadfast cornput was established as a true prophet, and count renneberg abandoned the siege in despair. the subsequent career of that unhappy nobleman was brief. on the th of july his troops were signally defeated by sonny--and norris, the fugitive royalists retreating into groningen at the very moment when their general, who had been prevented by illness from commanding them, was receiving the last sacraments. remorse, shame, and disappointment had literally brought renneberg to his grave. "his treason," says a contemporary, "was a nail in his coffin, and on his deathbed he bitterly bemoaned his crime. 'groningen! groningen!' would that i had never seen thy walls!" he cried repeatedly in his last hours. he refused to see his sister, whose insidious counsels had combined with his own evil passions to make him a traitor; and he died on the rd of july, , repentant and submissive. his heart, after his decease, was found "shrivelled to the dimensions of a walnut," a circumstance attributed to poison by some, to remorse by others. his regrets; his early death, and his many attractive qualities, combined to: save his character from universal denunciation, and his name, although indelibly stained by treason, was ever mentioned with pity rather than with rancor. great changes, destined to be perpetual, were steadily preparing in the internal condition of the provinces. a preliminary measure of an important character had been taken early this year by the assembly of the united provinces held in the month of january at delft. this was the establishment of a general executive council. the constitution of the board was arranged on the th of the month, and was embraced in eighteen articles. the number of councillors was fixed at thirty, all to be native netherlanders; a certain proportion to be appointed from each province by its estates. the advice and consent of this body as to treaties with foreign powers were to be indispensable, but they were not to interfere with the rights and duties of the states-general, nor to interpose any obstacle to the arrangements with the duke of anjou. while this additional machine for the self-government of the provinces was in the course of creation; the spanish monarch, on the other hand, had made another effort to recover the authority which he felt slipping from his grasp. philip was in portugal, preparing for his coronation in, that, new kingdom--an event to be nearly contemporaneous with his deposition from the netherland sovereignty, so solemnly conferred upon him a quarter of a century before in brussels; but although thus distant, he was confident that he could more wisely govern the netherlands than the inhabitants could do, and unwilling as ever to confide in the abilities of those to whom he had delegated his authority. provided; as he unquestionably was at that moment, with a more energetic representative than any who had before exercised the functions of royal governor in the provinces, he was still disposed to harass, to doubt, and to interfere. with the additional cares of the portuguese conquest upon his hands, he felt as irresistibly impelled as ever to superintend the minute details of provincial administration. to do this was impossible. it was, however, not impossible, by attempting to do it, to produce much mischief. "it gives me pain," wrote granvelle, "to see his majesty working as before--choosing to understand everything and to do everything. by this course, as i have often said before, he really accomplishes much less." the king had, moreover, recently committed the profound error of sending the duchess margaret of parma to the netherlands again. he had the fatuity to believe her memory so tenderly cherished in the provinces as to ensure a burst of loyalty at her reappearance, while the irritation which he thus created in the breast of her son he affected to disregard. the event was what might have been foreseen. the netherlanders were very moderately excited by the arrival of their former regent, but the prince of parma was furious. his mother actually arrived at namur in the month of august, , to assume the civil administration of the provinces,--and he was himself, according to the king's request, to continue in the command of the army. any one who had known human nature at all, would have recognized that alexander farnese was not the man to be put into leading strings. a sovereign who was possessed of any administrative sagacity, would have seen the absurdity of taking the reins of government at that crisis from the hands of a most determined and energetic man, to confide them to the keeping of a woman. a king who was willing to reflect upon the consequences of his own acts, must have foreseen the scandal likely to result from an open quarrel for precedence between such a mother and son. margaret of parma was instantly informed, however, by alexander, that a divided authority like that proposed was entirely out of the question. both offered to resign; but alexander was unflinching in his determination to retain all the power or none. the duchess, as docile to her son after her arrival as she had been to the king on undertaking the journey, and feeling herself unequal to the task imposed upon her, implored philip's permission to withdraw, almost as soon as she had reached her destination. granvelle's opinion was likewise opposed to this interference with the administration of alexander, and the king at last suffered himself to be overruled. by the end of the year , letters arrived confirming the prince of parma in his government, but requesting the duchess of parma to remain, privately in the netherlands. she accordingly continued to reside there under an assumed name until the autumn of , when she was at last permitted to return to italy. during the summer of , the same spirit of persecution which had inspired the catholics to inflict such infinite misery upon those of the reformed faith in the netherlands, began to manifest itself in overt acts against the papists by those who had at last obtained political. ascendency over them. edicts were published in antwerp, in utrecht, and in different cities of holland, suspending the exercise of the roman worship. these statutes were certainly a long way removed in horror from those memorable placards which sentenced the reformers by thousands to the axe; the cord, and the stake, but it was still melancholy to see the persecuted becoming persecutors in their turn. they were excited to these stringent measures by the noisy zeal of certain dominican monks in brussels, whose extravagant discourses were daily inflaming the passions of the catholics to a dangerous degree. the authorities of the city accordingly thought it necessary to suspend, by proclamation, the public exercise of the ancient religion, assigning, as their principal reason for this prohibition, the shocking jugglery by which simple-minded persons were constantly deceived. they alluded particularly to the practice of working miracles by means of relics, pieces of the holy cross, bones of saints, and the perspiration of statues. they charged that bits of lath were daily exhibited as fragments of the cross; that the bones of dogs and monkeys were held up for adoration as those of saints; and that oil was poured habitually into holes drilled in the heads of statues, that the populace might believe in their miraculous sweating. for these reasons, and to avoid the tumult and possible bloodshed to which the disgust excited by such charlatanry might give rise, the roman catholic worship was suspended until the country should be restored to greater tranquillity. similar causes led to similar proclamations in other cities. the prince of orange lamented the intolerant spirit thus showing itself among those who had been its martyrs, but it was not possible at that moment to keep it absolutely under control. a most important change was now to take place in his condition, a most vital measure was to be consummated by the provinces. the step, which could never be retraced was, after long hesitation, finally taken upon the th of july, , upon which day the united provinces, assembled at the hague, solemnly declared their independence of philip, and renounced their allegiance for ever. this act was accomplished with the deliberation due to its gravity. at the same time it left the country in a very divided condition. this was inevitable. the prince had done all that one man could do to hold the netherlands together and unite them perpetually into one body politic, and perhaps, if he had been inspired by a keener personal ambition, this task might have been accomplished.--the seventeen provinces might have accepted his dominion, but they would agree to that of no other sovereign. providence had not decreed that the country, after its long agony, should give birth to a single and perfect commonwealth. the walloon provinces had already fallen off from the cause, notwithstanding the entreaties of the prince. the other netherlands, after long and tedious negotiation with anjou, had at last consented to his supremacy, but from this arrangement holland and zealand held themselves aloof. by a somewhat anomalous proceeding, they sent deputies along with those of the other provinces, to the conferences with the duke, but it was expressly understood that they would never accept him as sovereign. they were willing to contract with him and with their sister provinces-- over which he was soon to exercise authority--a firm and perpetual league, but as to their own chief, their hearts were fixed. the prince of orange should be their lord and master, and none other. it lay only in his self-denying character that he had not been clothed with this dignity long before. he had, however, persisted in the hope that all the provinces might be brought to acknowledge the duke of anjou as their sovereign, under conditions which constituted a free commonwealth with an hereditary chief, and in this hope he had constantly refused concession to the wishes of the northern provinces. he in reality exercised sovereign power over nearly the whole population, of the netherlands. already in , at the assembly held in april, the states of holland had formally requested him to assume the full sovereignty over them, with the title of count of holland and zealand forfeited by philip. he had not consented, and the proceedings had been kept comparatively secret. as the negotiations with anjou advanced, and as the corresponding abjuration of philip was more decisively indicated, the consent of the prince to this request was more warmly urged. as it was evident that the provinces thus bent upon placing him at their head, could by no possibility be induced to accept the sovereignty of anjou--as, moreover; the act of renunciation of philip could no longer be deferred, the prince of orange reluctantly and provisionally accepted the supreme power over holland and zealand. this arrangement was finally accomplished upon the th of july, , and the act of abjuration took place two days afterwards. the offer of the sovereignty over the other united provinces had been accepted by anjou six months before. thus, the netherlands were divided into three portions--the reconciled provinces, the united provinces under anjou, and the northern provinces under orange; the last division forming the germ, already nearly developed, of the coming republic. the constitution, or catalogue of conditions, by which the sovereignty accorded to anjou was reduced to such narrow limits as to be little more than a nominal authority, while the power remained in the hands of the representative body of the provinces, will be described, somewhat later, together with the inauguration of the duke. for the present it is necessary that the reader should fully understand the relative position of the prince and of the northern provinces. the memorable act of renunciation--the netherland declaration of independence--will then be briefly explained. on the th of march, , a resolution passed the assembly of holland and zealand never to make peace or enter into any negotiations with the king of spain on the basis of his sovereignty. the same resolution provided that his name--hitherto used in all public acts--should be for ever discarded, that his seal should be broken, and that the name and seal of the prince of orange should be substituted in all commissions and public documents. at almost the same time the states of utrecht passed a similar resolution. these offers were, however, not accepted, and the affair was preserved profoundly secret. on the th of july, , "the knights, nobles, and cities of holland and zealand," again, in an urgent and solemn manner, requested the prince to accept the "entire authority as sovereign and chief of the land, as long as the war should continue." this limitation as to time was inserted most reluctantly by the states, and because it was perfectly well understood that without it the prince would not accept the sovereignty at all. the act by which this dignity was offered, conferred full power to command all forces by land and sea, to appoint all military officers, and to conduct all warlike operations, without the control or advice of any person whatsoever. it authorized him, with consent of the states, to appoint all financial and judicial officers, created him the supreme executive chief, and fountain of justice and pardon, and directed him "to maintain the exercise only of the reformed evangelical religion, without, however, permitting that inquiries should be made into any man's belief or conscience, or that any injury or hindrance should be offered to any man on account of his religion." the sovereignty thus pressingly offered, and thus limited as to time, was finally accepted by william of orange, according to a formal act dated at the hague, th of july, , but it will be perceived that no powers were conferred by this new instrument beyond those already exercised by the prince. it was, as it were, a formal continuance of the functions which he had exercised since as the king's stadholder, according to his old commission of , although a vast, difference existed in reality. the king's name was now discarded and his sovereignty disowned, while the proscribed rebel stood in his place, exercising supreme functions, not vicariously, but in his own name. the limitation as to time was, moreover, soon afterwards secretly, and without the knowledge of orange, cancelled by the states. they were determined that the prince should be their sovereign--if they could make him so--for the term of his life. the offer having thus been made and accepted upon the th of july, oaths of allegiance and fidelity were exchanged between the prince and the estates upon the th of the same month. in these solemnities, the states, as representing the provinces, declared that because the king of spain, contrary to his oath as count of holland and zealand, had not only not protected these provinces, but had sought with all his might to reduce them to eternal slavery, it had been found necessary to forsake him. they therefore proclaimed every inhabitant absolved from allegiance, while at the same time, in the name of the population, they swore fidelity to the prince of orange, as representing the supreme authority. two days afterwards, upon the th of july, , the memorable declaration of independence was issued by the deputies of the united provinces, then solemnly assembled at the hague. it was called the act of abjuration. it deposed philip from his sovereignty, but was not the proclamation of a new form of government, for the united provinces were not ready to dispense with an hereditary chief. unluckily, they had already provided themselves with a very bad one to succeed philip in the dominion over most of their territory, while the northern provinces were fortunate enough and wise enough to take the father of the country for their supreme magistrate. the document by which the provinces renounced their allegiance was not the most felicitous of their state papers. it was too prolix and technical. its style had more of the formal phraseology of legal documents than befitted this great appeal to the whole world and to all time. nevertheless, this is but matter of taste. the netherlanders were so eminently a law-abiding people, that, like the american patriots of the eighteenth century, they on most occasions preferred punctilious precision to florid declamation. they chose to conduct their revolt according to law. at the same time, while thus decently wrapping herself in conventional garments, the spirit of liberty revealed none the less her majestic proportions. at the very outset of the abjuration, these fathers of the republic laid down wholesome truths, which at that time seemed startling blasphemies in the ears of christendom. "all mankind know," said the preamble, "that a prince is appointed by god to cherish his subjects, even as a shepherd to guard his sheep. when, therefore, the prince--does not fulfil his duty as protector; when he oppresses his subjects, destroys their ancient liberties, and treats them as slaves, he is to be considered, not a prince, but a tyrant. as such, the estates of the land may lawfully and reasonably depose him, and elect another in his room." having enunciated these maxims, the estates proceeded to apply them to their own case, and certainly never was an ampler justification for renouncing a prince since princes were first instituted. the states ran through the history of the past quarter of a century, patiently accumulating a load of charges against the monarch, a tithe of which would have furnished cause for his dethronement. without passion or exaggeration, they told the world their wrongs. the picture was not highly colored. on the contrary, it was rather a feeble than a striking portrait of the monstrous iniquity which had so long been established over them. nevertheless, they went through the narrative conscientiously and earnestly. they spoke of the king's early determination to govern the netherlands, not by natives but by spaniards; to treat them not as constitutional countries, but as conquered provinces; to regard the inhabitants not as liege subjects, but as enemies; above all, to supersede their ancient liberty by the spanish inquisition, and they alluded to the first great step in this scheme--the creation of the new bishoprics, each with its staff of inquisitors. they noticed the memorable petition, the mission of berghen and montigny, their imprisonment and taking off, in violation of all national law, even that which had ever been held sacred by the most cruel and tyrannical princes. they sketched the history of alva's administration; his entrapping the most eminent nobles by false promises, and delivering them to the executioner; his countless sentences of death, outlawry, and confiscation; his erection of citadels to curb, his imposition of the tenth and twentieth penny to exhaust the land; his blood council and its achievements; and the immeasurable, woe produced by hanging, burning, banishing, and plundering, during his seven years of residence. they adverted to the grand commander, as having been sent, not to improve the condition of the country, but to pursue the same course of tyranny by more concealed ways. they spoke of the horrible mutiny which broke forth at his death; of the antwerp fury; of the express approbation rendered to that great outrage by the king, who had not only praised the crime, but promised to recompense the criminals. they alluded to don john of austria and his duplicity; to his pretended confirmation of the ghent treaty; to his attempts to divide the country against itself; to the escovedo policy; to the intrigues with the german regiments. they touched upon the cologne negotiations, and the fruitless attempt of the patriots upon that occasion to procure freedom of religion, while the object of the royalists was only to distract and divide the nation. finally, they commented with sorrow and despair upon that last and crowning measure of tyranny--the ban against the prince of orange. they calmly observed, after this recital, that they were sufficiently justified in forsaking a sovereign who for more than twenty years had forsaken them. obeying the law of nature--desirous of maintaining the rights, charters, and liberties of their fatherland--determined to escape from slavery to spaniards--and making known their decision to the world, they declared the king of spain deposed from his sovereignty, and proclaimed that they should recognize thenceforth neither his title nor jurisdiction. three days afterwards, on the th of july, the assembly adopted a formula, by which all persons were to be required to signify their abjuration. such were the forms by which the united provinces threw off their allegiance to spain, and ipso facto established a republic, which was to flourish for two centuries. this result, however, was not exactly foreseen by the congress which deposed philip. the fathers of the commonwealth did not baptize it by the name of republic. they did not contemplate a change in their form of government. they had neither an aristocracy nor a democracy in their thoughts. like the actors in our own great national drama, these netherland patriots were struggling to sustain, not to overthrow; unlike them, they claimed no theoretical freedom for humanity--promulgated no doctrine of popular sovereignty: they insisted merely on the fulfilment of actual contracts, signed sealed, and sworn to by many successive sovereigns. acting, upon the principle that government should be for the benefit of the governed, and in conformity to the dictates of reason and justice, they examined the facts by those divine lights, and discovered cause to discard their ruler. they did not object to being ruled. they were satisfied with their historical institutions, and preferred the mixture of hereditary sovereignty with popular representation, to which they were accustomed. they did not devise an a priori constitution. philip having violated the law of reason and the statutes of the land, was deposed, and a new chief magistrate was to be elected in his stead. this was popular sovereignty in fact, but not in words. the deposition and election could be legally justified only by the inherent right of the people to depose and to elect; yet the provinces, in their declaration of independence, spoke of the divine right of kings, even while dethroning, by popular right, their own king! so also, in the instructions given by the states to their envoys charged to justify the abjuration before the imperial diet held at augsburg, twelve months later, the highest ground was claimed for the popular right to elect or depose the sovereign, while at the same time, kings were spoken of as "appointed by god." it is true that they were described, in the same clause, as "chosen by the people"--which was, perhaps, as exact a concurrence in the maxim of vox populi, vox dei, as the boldest democrat of the day could demand. in truth, a more democratic course would have defeated its own ends. the murderous and mischievous pranks of imbize, ryhove, and such demagogues, at ghent and elsewhere, with their wild theories of what they called grecian, roman, and helvetian republicanism, had inflicted damage enough on the cause of freedom, and had paved the road for the return of royal despotism. the senators assembled at the hague gave more moderate instructions to their delegates at augsburg. they were to place the king's tenure upon contract--not an implied one, but a contract as literal as the lease of a farm. the house of austria, they were to maintain, had come into the possession of the seventeen netherlands upon certain express conditions, and with the understanding that its possession was to cease with the first condition broken. it was a question of law and fact, not of royal or popular right. they were to take the ground, not only that the contract had been violated, but that the foundation of perpetual justice upon which it rested; had likewise been undermined. it was time to vindicate both written charters and general principles. "god has given absolute power to no mortal man," said saint aldegonde, "to do his own will against all laws and all reason." "the contracts which the king has broken are no pedantic fantasies," said the estates, "but laws planted by nature in the universal heart of mankind, and expressly acquiesced in by prince and people." all men, at least, who speak the english tongue, will accept the conclusion of the provinces, that when laws which protected the citizen against arbitrary imprisonment and guaranteed him a trial in his own province--which forbade the appointment of foreigners to high office --which secured the property of the citizen from taxation, except by the representative body--which forbade intermeddling on the part of the sovereign with the conscience of the subject in religious matters--when such laws had been subverted by blood tribunals, where drowsy judges sentenced thousands to stake and scaffold without a hearing by excommunication, confiscation, banishment-by hanging, beheading, burning, to such enormous extent and with such terrible monotony that the executioner's sword came to be looked upon as the only symbol of justice --then surely it might be said, without exaggeration, that the complaints of the netherlanders were "no pedantic fantasies," and that the king had ceased to perform his functions as dispenser of god's justice. the netherlanders dealt with facts. they possessed a body of laws, monuments of their national progress, by which as good a share of individual liberty was secured to the citizen as was then enjoyed in any country of the world. their institutions admitted of great improvement, no doubt; but it was natural that a people so circumstanced should be unwilling to exchange their condition for the vassalage of "moors or indians." at the same time it may be doubted whether the instinct for political freedom only would have sustained them in the long contest, and whether the bonds which united them to the spanish crown would have been broken, had it not been for the stronger passion for religious liberty, by which so large a portion of the people was animated. boldly as the united states of the netherlands laid down their political maxima, the quarrel might perhaps have been healed if the religious question had admitted of a peaceable solution. philip's bigotry amounting to frenzy, and the netherlanders of "the religion" being willing, in their own words, "to die the death" rather than abandon the reformed faith, there was upon this point no longer room for hope. in the act of abjuration, however, it was thought necessary to give offence to no class of the inhabitants, but to lay down such principles only as enlightened catholics would not oppose. all parties abhorred the inquisition, and hatred to that institution is ever prominent among the causes assigned for the deposition of the monarch. "under pretence of maintaining the roman religion," said the estates, "the king has sought by evil means to bring into operation the whole strength of the placards and of the inquisition --the first and true cause of all our miseries." without making any assault upon the roman catholic faith, the authors of the great act by which philip was for ever expelled from the netherlands showed plainly enough that religious persecution had driven them at last to extremity. at the same time, they were willing--for the sake of conciliating all classes of their countrymen--to bring the political causes of discontent into the foreground, and to use discreet language upon the religious question. such, then, being the spirit which prompted the provinces upon this great occasion, it may be asked who were the men who signed a document of such importance? in whose-name and by what authority did they act against the sovereign? the signers of the declaration of independence acted in the name and by the authority of the netherlands people. the estates were the constitutional representatives of that people. the statesmen of that day discovering, upon cold analysis of facts, that philip's sovereignty was, legally forfeited; formally proclaimed that forfeiture. then inquiring what had become of the sovereignty, they found it not in the mass of the people, but in the representative body, which actually personated the people. the estates of the different provinces-- consisting of the knights, nobles, and burgesses of each--sent, accordingly, their deputies to the general assembly at the hague; and by this congress the decree of abjuration was issued. it did, not occur to any one to summon the people in their primary assemblies, nor would the people of that day, have comprehended the objects of such a summons. they were accustomed to the action of the estates, and those bodies represented as large a number of political capacities as could be expected of assemblies chosen then upon general principles. the hour had not arrived for more profound analysis of the social compact. philip was accordingly deposed justly, legally formally justly, because it had become necessary to abjur a monarch who was determined not only to oppress; but to exterminate his people; legally, because he had habitually violated the constitutions which he had sworn to support; formally, because the act was done in the name of the people, by the body historically representing the people. what, then, was the condition of the nation, after this great step had been taken? it stood, as it were, with its sovereignty in its hand, dividing it into two portions, and offering it, thus separated, to two distinct individuals. the sovereignty of holland and zealand had been reluctantly accepted by orange. the sovereignty of the united provinces had been offered to anjou, but the terms of agreement with that duke had not yet been ratified. the movement was therefore triple, consisting of an abjuration and of two separate elections of hereditary chiefs; these two elections being accomplished in the same manner, by the representative bodies respectively of the united provinces, and of holland and zealand. neither the abjuration nor the elections were acted upon beforehand by the communities, the train-bands, or the guilds of the cities--all represented, in fact, by the magistrates and councils of each; nor by the peasantry of the open country--all supposed to be represented by the knights and nobles. all classes of individuals, however; arranged in various political or military combinations, gave their acquiescence afterwards, together with their oaths of allegiance. the people approved the important steps taken by their representatives. without a direct intention on the part of the people or its leaders to establish a republic, the republic established itself. providence did not permit the whole country, so full of wealth intelligence, healthy political action--so stocked with powerful cities and an energetic population, to be combined into one free and prosperous commonwealth. the factious ambition of a few grandees, the cynical venality of many nobles, the frenzy of the ghent democracy, the spirit of religious intolerance, the consummate military and political genius of alexander farnese, the exaggerated self-abnegation and the tragic fate of orange, all united to dissever this group of flourishing and kindred provinces. the want of personal ambition on the part of william the silent inflicted perhaps a serious damage upon his country. he believed a single chief requisite for the united states; he might have been, but always refused to become that chief; and yet he has been held up for centuries by many writers as a conspirator and a self-seeking intriguer. "it seems to me," said he, with equal pathos and truth, upon one occasion, "that i was born in this bad planet that all which i do might be misinterpreted." the people worshipped him, and there was many an occasion when his election would have been carried with enthusiasm. "these provinces," said john of nassau, "are coming very unwillingly into the arrangement with the duke of alencon, the majority feel much more inclined to elect the prince, who is daily, and without intermission, implored to give his consent. his grace, however, will in no wise agree to this; not because he fears the consequences, such as loss of property or increased danger, for therein he is plunged as deeply as he ever could be;--on the contrary, if he considered only the interests of his race and the grandeur of his house, he could expect nothing but increase of honor, gold, and gear, with all other prosperity. he refuses only on this account that it may not be thought that, instead of religious freedom for the country, he has been seeking a kingdom for himself and his own private advancement. moreover, he believes that the connexion with france will be of more benefit to the country and to christianity than if a peace should be made with spain, or than if he should himself accept the sovereignty, as he is desired to do." the unfortunate negotiations with anjou, to which no man was more opposed than count john, proceeded therefore. in the meantime, the sovereignty over the united provinces was provisionally held by the national council, and, at the urgent solicitation of the states-general, by the prince. the archduke matthias, whose functions were most unceremoniously brought to an end by the transactions which we have been recording, took his leave of the states, and departed in the month of october. brought to the country a beardless boy, by the intrigues of a faction who wished to use him as a tool against william of orange, he had quietly submitted, on the contrary, to serve as the instrument of that great statesman. his personality during his residence was null, and he had to expiate, by many a petty mortification, by many a bitter tear, the boyish ambition which brought him to the netherlands. he had certainly had ample leisure to repent the haste with which he had got out of his warm bed in vienna to take his bootless journey to brussels. nevertheless, in a country where so much baseness, cruelty, and treachery was habitually practised by men of high position, as was the case in the netherlands; it is something in favor of matthias that he had not been base, or cruel, or treacherous. the states voted him, on his departure, a pension of fifty thousand guldens annually, which was probably not paid with exemplary regularity. chapter v. policy of electing anjou as sovereign--commode et incommode--views of orange--opinions at the french court,--anjou relieves cambray-- parma besieges tourney--brave defence by the princess of espinoy-- honorable capitulation--anjou's courtship in england--the duke's arrival in the netherlands--portrait of anjou--festivities in flushing--inauguration at antwerp--the conditions or articles subscribed to by the duke--attempt upon the life of orange--the assassin's papers--confession of venero--gaspar anastro--his escape --execution of venero and zimmermann--precarious condition of the prince--his recovery--death of the princess--premature letters of parma--further negotiations with orange as to the sovereignty of holland and zealand--character of the revised constitution-- comparison of the positions of the prince before and after his acceptance of the countship. thus it was arranged that, for the--present, at least, the prince should exercise sovereignty over holland and zealand; although he had himself used his utmost exertions to induce those provinces to join the rest of the united netherlands in the proposed election of anjou. this, however, they sternly refused to do. there was also a great disinclination felt by many in the other states to this hazardous offer of their allegiance, and it was the personal influence of orange that eventually carried the measure through. looking at the position of affairs and at the character of anjou, as they appear to us now, it seems difficult to account for the prince's policy. it is so natural to judge only by the result, that we are ready to censure statesmen for consequences which beforehand might seem utterly incredible, and for reading falsely human characters whose entire development only a late posterity has had full opportunity to appreciate. still, one would think that anjou had been sufficiently known to inspire distrust. there was but little, too, in the aspect of the french court to encourage hopes of valuable assistance from that quarter. it was urged, not without reason, that the french were as likely to become as dangerous as the spaniards; that they would prove nearer and more troublesome masters; that france intended the incorporation of the netherlands into her own kingdom; that the provinces would therefore be dispersed for ever from the german empire; and that it was as well to hold to the tyrant under whom they had been born, as to give themselves voluntarily to another of their own making. in short, it was maintained, in homely language, that "france and spain were both under one coverlid." it might have been added that only extreme misery could make the provinces take either bedfellow. moreover, it was asserted, with reason, that anjou would be a very expensive master, for his luxurious and extravagant habits were notorious--that he was a man in whom no confidence could be placed, and one who would grasp at arbitrary power by any means which might present themselves. above all, it was urged that he was not of the true religion, that he hated the professors of that faith in his heart, and that it was extremely unwise for men whose dearest interests were their religious ones, to elect a sovereign of opposite creed to their own. to these plausible views the prince of orange and those who acted with him, had, however; sufficient answers. the netherlands had waited long enough for assistance from other quarters. germany would not lift a finger in the cause; on the contrary, the whole of germany, whether protestant or catholic, was either openly or covertly hostile. it was madness to wait till assistance came to them from unseen sources. it was time for them to assist themselves, and to take the best they could get; for when men were starving they could not afford to be dainty. they might be bound, hand and foot, they might be overwhelmed a thousand times before they would receive succor from germany, or from any land but france. under the circumstances in which they found themselves, hope delayed was but a cold and meagre consolation. "to speak plainly," said orange, "asking us to wait is very much as if you should keep a man three days without any food in the expectation of a magnificent banquet, should persuade him to refuse bread, and at the end of three days should tell him that the banquet was not ready, but that a still better one was in preparation. would it not be better, then, that the poor man, to avoid starvation, should wait no longer, but accept bread wherever he might find it? such is our case at present." it was in this vein that he ever wrote and spoke: the netherlands were to rely upon their own exertions, and to procure the best alliance, together with the most efficient protection possible. they were not strong enough to cope singlehanded with their powerful tyrant, but they were strong enough if they used the instruments which heaven offered. it was not trusting but tempting providence to wait supinely, instead of grasping boldly at the means of rescue within reach. it became the character of brave men to act, not to expect. "otherwise," said the prince, "we may climb to the top of trees, like the anabaptists of munster, and expect god's assistance to drop from the clouds." it is only by listening to these arguments so often repeated, that we can comprehend the policy of orange at thin period. "god has said that he would furnish the ravens with food, and the lions with their prey," said he; "but the birds and the lions do not, therefore, sit in their nests and their lairs waiting for their food to descend from heaven, but they seek it where it is to be found." so also, at a later day, when events seemed to have justified the distrust so, generally felt in anjou, the prince; nevertheless, held similar language. "i do not," said he, calumniate those who tell us to put our trust in god. that is my opinion also. but it is trusting god to use the means which he places in our hands, and to ask that his blessings may come upon them. there was a feeling entertained by the more sanguine that the french king would heartily assist the netherlands, after his brother should be fairly installed. he had expressly written to that effect, assuring anjou that he would help him with all his strength, and would enter into close alliance with those netherlands which should accept him as prince and sovereign. in another and more private letter to the duke, the king promised to assist his brother, "even to his last shirt." there is no doubt that it was the policy of the statesmen of france to assist the netherlands, while the "mignons" of the worthless king were of a contrary opinion. many of them were secret partizans of spain; and found it more agreeable to receive the secret pay of philip than to assist his revolted provinces. they found it easy to excite the jealousy of the monarch against his brother--a passion which proved more effective than the more lofty ambition of annexing the low countries, according to the secret promptings of many french politicians. as for the queen mother, she was fierce in her determination to see fulfilled in this way the famous prediction of nostradamus. three of her sons had successively worn the crown of france. that she might be "the mother of four kings," without laying a third child in the tomb, she was greedy for this proffered sovereignty to her youngest and favorite son. this well-known desire of catherine de medici was duly insisted upon by the advocates of the election; for her influence, it was urged, would bring the whole power of france to support the netherlands. at any rate, france could not be worse--could hardly be so bad--as their present tyranny. "better the government of the gaul, though suspect and dangerous," said everard reyd, "than the truculent dominion of the spaniard. even thus will the partridge fly to the hand of man, to escape the talons of the hawk." as for the individual character of anjou, proper means would be taken, urged the advocates of his sovereignty, to keep him in check, for it was intended so closely to limit the power conferred upon him, that it would be only supreme in name. the netherlands were to be, in reality, a republic, of which anjou was to be a kind of italian or frisian podesta. "the duke is not to act according to his pleasure," said one of the negotiators, in a private letter to count john; "we shall take care to provide a good muzzle for him." how conscientiously the "muzzle" was prepared, will appear from the articles by which the states soon afterwards accepted the new sovereign. how basely he contrived to slip the muzzle--in what cruel and cowardly fashion he bathed his fangs in the blood of the flock committed to him, will also but too soon appear. as for the religious objection to anjou, on which more stress was laid than upon any other, the answer was equally ready. orange professed himself "not theologian enough" to go into the subtleties brought forward. as it was intended to establish most firmly a religious peace, with entire tolerance for all creeds, he did not think it absolutely essential to require a prince of the reformed faith. it was bigotry to dictate to the sovereign, when full liberty in religious matters was claimed for the subject. orange was known to be a zealous professor of the reformed worship himself; but he did not therefore reject political assistance, even though offered by a not very enthusiastic member of the ancient church. "if the priest and the levite pass us by when we are fallen among thieves," said he, with much aptness and some bitterness, "shall we reject the aid proffered by the samaritan, because he is of a different faith from the worthy fathers who have left us to perish?" in short, it was observed with perfect truth that philip had been removed, not because he was a catholic, but because he was a tyrant; not because his faith was different from that of his subjects, but because he was resolved to exterminate all men whose religion differed from his own. it was not, therefore, inconsistent to choose another catholic for a sovereign, if proper guarantees could be obtained that he would protect and not oppress the reformed churches. "if the duke have the same designs as the king," said saint aldegonde, "it would be a great piece of folly to change one tyrant and persecutor for another. if, on the contrary, instead of oppressing our liberties, he will maintain them, and in place of extirpating the disciples of the true religion, he will protect them, then are all the reasons of our opponents without vigor." by midsummer the duke of anjou made his appearance in the western part of the netherlands. the prince of parma had recently come before cambray with the intention of reducing that important city. on the arrival of anjou, however, at the head of five thousand cavalry--nearly all of them gentlemen of high degree, serving as volunteers--and of twelve thousand infantry, alexander raised the siege precipitately, and retired towards tournay. anjou victualled the city, strengthened the garrison, and then, as his cavalry had only enlisted for a summer's amusement, and could no longer be held together, he disbanded his forces. the bulk of the infantry took service for the states under the prince of espinoy, governor of tournay. the duke himself, finding that, notwithstanding the treaty of plessis les tours and the present showy demonstration upon his part, the states were not yet prepared to render him formal allegiance, and being, moreover, in the heyday of what was universally considered his prosperous courtship of queen elizabeth, soon afterwards took his departure for england. parma; being thus relieved of his interference, soon afterwards laid siege to the important city of tournay. the prince of espinoy was absent with the army in the north, but the princess commanded in his absence. she fulfilled her duty in a manner worthy of the house from which she sprang, for the blood of count horn was in her veins. the daughter of mary, de montmorency, the admiral's sister, answered the summons of parma to surrender at discretion with defiance. the garrison was encouraged by her steadfastness. the princess appeared daily among her troops, superintending the defences, and personally directing the officers. during one of the assaults, she is said, but perhaps erroneously; to have been wounded in the arm, notwithstanding which she refused to retire. the siege lasted two months. meantime, it became impossible for orange and the estates, notwithstanding their efforts, to raise a sufficient force to drive parma from his entrenchments. the city was becoming gradually and surely undermined from without, while at the same time the insidious art of a dominican friar, father gery by name, had been as surely sapping the fidelity of the garrison from within. an open revolt of the catholic population being on the point of taking place, it became impossible any longer to hold the city. those of the reformed faith insisted that the place should be surrendered; and the princess, being thus deserted by all parties, made an honorable capitulation with parma. she herself, with all her garrison, was allowed to retire with personal property, and with all the honors of war, while the sack of the city was commuted for one hundred thousand crowns, levied upon the inhabitants: the princess, on leaving the gates, was received with such a shout of applause from the royal army that she seemed less like a defeated commander than a conqueror. upon the th november, parma accordingly entered the place which he had been besieging since the st of october. by the end of the autumn, the prince of orange, more than ever dissatisfied with the anarchical condition of affairs, and with the obstinate jealousy and parsimony of the different provinces, again summoned the country in the most earnest language to provide for the general defence, and to take measures for the inauguration of anjou. he painted in sombre colors the prospect which lay before them, if nothing was done to arrest the progress of the internal disorders and of the external foe, whose forces were steadily augmenting: had the provinces followed his advice, instead of quarreling among themselves, they would have had a powerful army on foot to second the efforts of anjou, and subsequently to save tournay. they had remained supine and stolid, even while the cannonading against these beautiful cities was in their very ears. no man seemed to think himself interested in public affair, save when his own province or village was directly attacked. the general interests of the commonwealth were forgotten, in local jealousy. had it been otherwise, the enemy would have long since been driven over the meuse. "when money," continued the prince, "is asked for to carry on the war, men answer as if they were talking with the dead emperor. to say, however, that they will pay no more, is as much as to declare that they will give up their land and their religion both. i say this, not because i have any desire to put my hands into the common purse. you well know that i have never touched the public money, but it is important that you should feel that there is no war in the country except the one which concerns you all." the states, thus shamed and stimulated, set themselves in earnest to obey the mandates of the prince, and sent a special mission to england, to arrange with the duke of anjou for his formal installation as sovereign. saint aldegonde and other commissioners were already there. it was the memorable epoch in the anjou wooing, when the rings were exchanged between elizabeth and the duke, and when the world thought that the nuptials were on the point of being celebrated. saint aldegonde wrote to the prince of orange on the nd of november, that the marriage had been finally settled upon that day. throughout the netherlands, the auspicious tidings were greeted with bonfires, illuminations, and cannonading, and the measures for hailing the prince, thus highly favored by so great a queen, as sovereign master of the provinces, were pushed forward with great energy. nevertheless, the marriage ended in smoke. there were plenty of tournays, pageants, and banquets; a profusion of nuptial festivities, in short, where nothing was omitted but the nuptials. by the end of january, , the duke was no nearer the goal than upon his arrival three months before. acceding, therefore, to the wishes of the netherland envoys, he prepared for a visit to their country, where the ceremony of his joyful entrance as duke of brabant and sovereign of the other provinces was to take place. no open rupture with elizabeth occurred. on the contrary, the queen accompanied the duke, with a numerous and stately retinue, as far as canterbury, and sent a most brilliant train of her greatest nobles and gentlemen to escort him to the netherlands, communicating at the same time, by special letter, her wishes to the estates-general, that he should be treated with as much honor "as if he were her second self." on the th of february, fifteen large vessels cast anchor at flushing. the duke of anjou, attended by the earl of leicester, the lords hunsdon, willoughby, sheffield, howard, sir philip sidney, and many other personages of high rank and reputation, landed from this fleet. he was greeted on his arrival by the prince of orange, who, with the prince of espinoy and a large deputation of the states-general, had been for some days waiting to welcome him. the man whom the netherlands had chosen for their new master stood on the shores of zealand. francis hercules, son of france, duke of alencon and anjou, was at that time just twenty-eight years of age; yet not even his flatterers, or his "minions," of whom he had as regular a train as his royal brother, could claim for him the external graces of youth or of princely dignity. he was below the middle height, puny and ill-shaped. his hair and eyes were brown, his face was seamed with the small-pox, his skin covered with blotches, his nose so swollen and distorted that it seemed to be double. this prominent feature did not escape the sarcasms of his countrymen, who, among other gibes, were wont to observe that the man who always wore two faces, might be expected to have two noses also. it was thought that his revolting appearance was the principal reason for the rupture of the english marriage, and it was in vain that his supporters maintained that if he could forgive her age, she might, in return, excuse his ugliness. it seemed that there was a point of hideousness beyond which even royal princes could not descend with impunity, and the only wonder seemed that elizabeth, with the handsome robert dudley ever at her feet, could even tolerate the addresses of francis valois. his intellect was by no means contemptible. he was not without a certain quickness of apprehension and vivacity of expression which passed current, among his admirers for wit and wisdom. even the experienced. saint aldegonde was deceived in his character, and described him after an hour and half's interview, as a prince overflowing with bounty, intelligence, and sincerity. that such men as saint aldegonde and the prince of orange should be at fault in their judgment, is evidence not so much of their want of discernment, as of the difference between the general reputation of the duke at that period, and that which has been eventually established for him in history. moreover, subsequent events were to exhibit the utter baseness of his character more signally than it had been displayed during his previous career, however vacillating. no more ignoble yet more dangerous creature had yet been loosed upon the devoted soil of the netherlands. not one of the personages who had hitherto figured in the long drama of the revolt had enacted so sorry a part. ambitious but trivial, enterprising but cowardly, an intriguer and a dupe, without religious convictions or political principles, save that he was willing to accept any creed or any system which might advance his own schemes, he was the most unfit protector for a people who, whether wrong or right; were at least in earnest, and who were accustomed to regard truth as one of the virtues. he was certainly not deficient in self-esteem. with a figure which was insignificant, and a countenance which was repulsive, he had hoped to efface the impression made upon elizabeth's imagination by the handsomest man in europe. with a commonplace capacity, and with a narrow political education, he intended to circumvent the most profound statesman of his age. and there, upon the pier at flushing, he stood between them both; between the magnificent leicester, whom he had thought to outshine, and the silent prince of orange, whom he was determined to outwit. posterity has long been aware how far he succeeded in the one and the other attempt. the duke's arrival was greeted with the roar of artillery, the ringing of bells, and the acclamations of a large concourse of the inhabitants; suitable speeches were made by the magistrates of the town, the deputies of zealand, and other functionaries, and a stately banquet was provided, so remarkable "for its sugar-work and other delicacies, as to entirely astonish the french and english lords who partook thereof." the duke visited middelburg, where he was received with great state, and to the authorities of which he expressed his gratification at finding two such stately cities situate so close to each other on one little island. on the th of february, he set sail for antwerp. a fleet of fifty-four vessels, covered with flags and streamers, conveyed him and his retinue, together with the large deputation which had welcomed him at flushing, to the great commercial metropolis. he stepped on shore at kiel within a bowshot of the city--for, like other dukes of brabant, he was not to enter antwerp until he had taken the oaths to respect the constitution-- and the ceremony of inauguration was to take place outside the walls. a large platform had been erected for this purpose, commanding a view of the stately city, with its bristling fortifications and shady groves. a throne, covered with velvet and gold, was prepared, and here the duke took his seat, surrounded by a brilliant throng, including many of the most distinguished personages in europe. it was a bright winter's morning. the gaily bannered fleet lay conspicuous in the river, while an enormous concourse of people were thronging from all sides to greet the new sovereign. twenty thousand burgher troops, in bright uniforms, surrounded the platform, upon the tapestried floor of which stood the magistrates of antwerp, the leading members of the brabant estates, with the prince of orange at their head, together with many other great functionaries. the magnificence everywhere displayed, and especially the splendid costumes of the military companies, excited the profound astonishment of the french, who exclaimed that every soldier seemed a captain, and who regarded with vexation their own inferior equipments. andrew hesaels, 'doctor utriusque juris', delivered a salutatory oration, in which, among other flights of eloquence, he expressed the hope of the provinces that the duke, with the beams of his greatness, wisdom, and magnanimity, would disipate all the mists, fogs, and other exhalations which were pernicious to their national prosperity, and that he would bring back the sunlight of their ancient glory. anjou answered these compliments with equal courtesy, and had much to say of his willingness to shed every drop of his blood in defence of the brabant liberties; but it might have damped the enthusiasm of the moment could the curtain of the not very distant future have been lifted. the audience, listening to these promises, might have seen that it was not so much his blood as theirs which he was disposed to shed, and less, too, in defence than in violation of those same liberties which he was swearing to protect. orator hessels then read aloud the articles of the joyous entry, in the flemish language, and the duke was asked if he required any explanations of that celebrated constitution. he replied that he had thoroughly studied its provisions, with the assistance of the prince of orange, during his voyage from flushing, and was quite prepared to swear to maintain them. the oaths, according to the antique custom, were then administered. afterwards, the ducal hat and the velvet mantle, lined with ermine, were brought, the prince of orange assisting his highness to assume this historical costume of the brabant dukes, and saying to him, as he fastened the button at the throat, "i must secure this robe so firmly, my lord, that no man may ever tear it from your shoulders." thus arrayed in his garment of sovereignty, anjou was compelled to listen to another oration from, the pensionary of antwerp, john van der werken. he then exchanged oaths with the magistrates of the city, and received the keys, which he returned for safe-keeping to the burgomaster. meanwhile the trumpets sounded, largess of gold and silver coins was scattered among the people, and the heralds cried aloud, "long live the duke of brabant." a procession was then formed to escort the new duke to his commercial capital. a stately and striking procession it was. the hanseatic merchants in ancient german attires the english merchants in long velvet cassocks, the heralds is their quaint costume, the long train of civic militia with full, bands of music, the chief functionaries of city and province in their black mantles and gold chains, all marching under emblematical standards or time-honored blazons, followed each other in dignified order. then came the duke himself on a white barbary horse, caparisoned with cloth of gold. he was surrounded with english, french, and netherland grandees, many of them of world-wide reputation. there was the stately leicester; sir philip sidney, the mirror of chivalry; the gaunt and imposing form of william the silent; his son; count maurice of nassau, destined to be the first captain of his age, then a handsome, dark-eyed lad of fifteen; the dauphin of auvergne; the marechal de biron and his sons; the prince of espinoy; the lords sheffield; willoughby, howard; hunsdon, and many others of high degree and distinguished reputation. the ancient guilds of the crossbow-men; and archers of brabant, splendidly accoutred; formed the bodyguard of the duke, while his french cavaliers, the life-guardsmen of the prince of orange, and the troops of they line; followed in great numbers, their glittering uniforms all, gaily intermingled, "like the flowers de luce upon a royal mantle!" the procession, thus gorgeous and gay, was terminated by, a dismal group of three hundred malefactors, marching in fetters, and imploring pardon of the duke, a boon which was to be granted at evening. great torches, although it was high noon were burning along the road, at intervals of four or five feet, in a continuous line reaching from the platform at kiel to the portal of saint joris, through which the entrance to the city was to be made. inside the gate a stupendous allegory was awaiting the approach of the new sovereign. a huge gilded car, crowded with those emblematical and highly bedizened personages so dear to the netherlanders, obstructed the advance of the procession. all the virtues seemed to have come out for an airing in one chariot, and were now waiting to offer their homage to francis hercules valois. religion in "red satin," holding the gospel in her hand, was supported by justice, "in orange velvet," armed with blade and beam. prudence and fortitude embraced each other near a column enwreathed by serpents "with their tails in their ears to typify deafness to flattery," while patriotism as a pelican, and patience as a brooding hen, looked benignantly upon the scene. this greeting duly acknowledged, the procession advanced into the city. the streets were lined with troops and with citizens; the balconies were filled with fair women; "the very gables," says an enthusiastic contemporary, "seemed to laugh with ladies' eyes." the market-place was filled with waxen torches and with blazing tar barrels, while in its centre stood the giant antigonus-- founder of the city thirteen hundred years before the christian era--the fabulous personage who was accustomed to throw the right hands of all smuggling merchants into the scheld. this colossal individual, attired in a "surcoat of sky-blue," and holding a banner emblazoned with the arms of spain, turned its head as the duke entered the square, saluted the new sovereign, and then dropping the spanish scutcheon upon the ground, raised aloft another bearing the arms of anjou. and thus, amid exuberant outpouring of confidence, another lord and master had made his triumphal entrance into the netherlands. alas how often had this sanguine people greeted with similar acclamations the advent of their betrayers and their tyrants! how soon were they to discover that the man whom they were thus receiving with the warmest enthusiasm was the most treacherous tyrant of all. it was nightfall before the procession at last reached the palace of saint michael, which had been fitted up for the temporary reception of the duke. the next day was devoted to speech-making; various deputations waiting upon the new duke of brabant with congratulatory addresses. the grand pensionary delivered a pompous oration upon a platform hung with sky-blue silk, and carpeted with cloth of gold. a committee of the german and french reformed churches made a long harangue, in which they expressed the hope that the lord would make the duke "as valiant as david, as wise as solomon, and as pious as hezekiah." a roman catholic deputation informed his highness that for eight months the members of the ancient church had been forbidden all religious exercises, saving baptism, marriage, visitation of the sick, and burials. a promise was therefore made that this prohibition, which had been the result of the disturbances recorded in a preceding chapter, should be immediately modified, and on the th of march, accordingly, it was arranged, by command of the magistrates, that all catholics should have permission to attend public worship, according to the ancient ceremonial, in the church of saint michael, which had been originally designated for the use of the new duke of brabant. it was, however, stipulated that all who desired to partake of this privilege should take the oath of abjuration beforehand, and go to the church without arms. here then had been oaths enough, orations enough, compliments enough, to make any agreement steadfast, so far as windy suspirations could furnish a solid foundation for the social compact. bells, trumpets, and the brazen throats of men and of cannons had made a sufficient din, torches and tar-barrels had made a sufficient glare, to confirm--so far as noise and blazing pitch could confirm--the decorous proceedings of church and town-house, but time was soon to show the value of such demonstrations. meantime, the "muzzle" had been fastened with solemnity and accepted with docility. the terms of the treaty concluded at plessis lea tours and bordeaux were made public. the duke had subscribed to twenty-seven articles; which made as stringent and sensible a constitutional compact as could be desired by any netherland patriot. these articles, taken in connection with the ancient charters which they expressly upheld, left to the new sovereign no vestige of arbitrary power. he was merely the hereditary president of a representative republic. he was to be duke, count, margrave, or seignior of the different provinces on the same terms which his predecessors had accepted. he was to transmit the dignities to his children. if there were more than one child, the provinces were to select one of the number for their sovereign. he was to maintain all the ancient privileges, charters, statutes, and customs, and to forfeit his sovereignty at the first violation. he was to assemble the states- general at least once a year. he was always to reside in the netherlands. he was to permit none but natives to hold office. his right of appointment to all important posts was limited to a selection from three candidates, to be proposed by the estates of the province concerned, at each vacancy. he was to maintain "the religion" and the religious peace in the same state in which they then were, or as should afterwards be ordained by the estates of each province, without making any innovation on his own part. holland and zealand were to remain as they were, both in the matter of religion and otherwise. his highness was not to permit that any one should be examined or molested in his house, or otherwise, in the matter or under pretext of religion. he was to procure the assistance of the king of france for the netherlands. he was to maintain a perfect and a perpetual league, offensive and defensive, between that kingdom and the provinces; without; however, permitting any incorporation of territory. he was to carry on the war against spain with his own means and those furnished by his royal brother, in addition to a yearly, contribution by the estates of two million four hundred thousand guldens. he was to dismiss all troops at command of the states-general. he was to make no treaty with spain without their consent. it would be superfluous to point out the great difference between the notions entertained upon international law in the sixteenth century and in our own. a state of nominal peace existed between spain, france and england; yet here was the brother of the french monarch, at the head of french troops, and attended by the grandees of england solemnly accepting the sovereignty over the revolted provinces of spain. it is also curious to observe that the constitutional compact, by which the new sovereign of the netherlands was admitted to the government, would have been repudiated as revolutionary and republican by the monarchs of france or england, if an attempt had been made to apply it to their own realms, for the ancient charters--which in reality constituted a republican form of government--had all been re-established by the agreement with anjou. the first-fruits of the ban now began to display themselves. sunday, th of march, , was the birthday of the duke of anjou, and a great festival had been arranged, accordingly, for the evening, at the palace of saint michael, the prince of orange as well as all the great french lords being of course invited. the prince dined, as usual, at his house in the neighbourhood of the citadel, in company with the counts hohenlo and laval, and the two distinguished french commissioners, bonnivet and des pruneaux. young maurice of nassau, and two nephews of the prince, sons of his brother john, were also present at table. during dinner the conversation was animated, many stories being related of the cruelties which had been practised by the spaniards in the provinces. on rising from the table, orange led the way from the dining room to his own apartments, showing the noblemen in his company as he passed along, a piece of tapestry upon which some spanish soldiers were represented. at this moment, as he stood upon the threshold of the ante-chamber, a youth of small stature, vulgar mien, and pale dark complexion, appeared from among the servants and offered him a petition. he took the paper, and as he did so, the stranger suddenly drew a pistol and discharged it at the head of the prince. the ball entered the neck under the right ear, passed through the roof of the mouth, and came out under the left jaw-bone, carrying with it two teeth. the pistol had been held so near, that the hair and beard of the prince were set on fire by the discharge. he remained standing, but blinded, stunned, and for a moment entirely ignorant of what had occurred. as he afterwards observed, he thought perhaps that a part of the house had suddenly fallen. finding very soon that his hair and beard were burning, he comprehended what had occurred; and called out quickly, "do not kill him--i forgive him my death!" and turning to the french noblemen present, he added, "alas! what a faithful servant does his highness lose in me!" these were his first words, spoken when, as all believed, he had been mortally wounded. the, message of mercy came, however, too late; for two of the gentlemen present, by an irresistible impulse, had run the assassin through with their rapiers. the halberdiers rushed upon him immediately after wards, so that he fell pierced in thirty-two vital places. the prince, supported by his friends, walked to his chamber, where he was put to bed, while the surgeons examined and bandaged the wound. it was most dangerous in appearance, but a very strange circumstance gave more hope than could otherwise have been entertained. the flame from the pistol had been so close that it had actually cauterized the wound inflicted by the ball. but for this, it was supposed that the flow of blood from the veins which had been shot through would have proved fatal before the wound could be dressed. the prince, after the first shock, had recovered full possession of his senses, and believing himself to be dying, he expressed the most unaffected sympathy for the condition in which the duke of anjou would be placed by his death. "alas, poor prince!" he cried frequently; "alas, what troubles will now beset thee!" the surgeons enjoined and implored his silence, as speaking might cause the wound to prove immediately fatal. he complied, but wrote incessantly. as long as his heart could beat, it was impossible for him not to be occupied with his country. lion petit, a trusty captain of the city guard, forced his way to the chamber, it being, absolutely necessary, said the honest burgher, for him to see with his own eyes that the prince was living, and report the fact to the townspeople otherwise, so great was the excitement, it was impossible to say what might be the result. it was in fact believed that the prince was already dead, and it was whispered that he had been assassinated by the order of anjou. this horrible suspicion was flying through the city, and producing a fierce exasperation, as men talked of the murder of coligny, of saint bartholomew, of the murderous propensities of the valois race. had the attempt taken place in the evening, at the birth-night banquet of anjou, a horrible massacre would have been the inevitable issue. as it happened, however, circumstances soon, occurred to remove, the suspicion from the french, and to indicate the origin of the crime. meantime, captain petit was urged by the prince, in writing, to go forth instantly with the news that he yet survived, but to implore the people, in case god should call him to himself, to hold him in kind remembrance, to make no tumult, and to serve the duke obediently and faithfully. meantime, the youthful maurice of nassau was giving proof of that cool determination which already marked his character. it was natural that a boy of fifteen should be somewhat agitated at seeing such a father shot through the head before his eyes. his situation was rendered doubly grave by the suspicions which were instantly engendered as to the probable origin of the attempt. it was already whispered in the hall that the gentlemen who had been so officious in slaying the assassin, were his accomplices, who--upon the principle that dead men would tell no tales--were disposed, now that the deed was done, to preclude inconvenient revelations as to their own share in the crime. maurice, notwithstanding these causes for perturbation, and despite his grief at his father's probable death, remained steadily by the body of the murderer. he was determined, if possible, to unravel the plot, and he waited to possess himself of all papers and other articles which might be found upon the person of the deceased. a scrupulous search was at once made by the attendants, and everything placed in the young count's own hands. this done, maurice expressed a doubt lest some of the villain's accomplices might attempt to take the articles from him, whereupon a faithful old servant of his father came forward, who with an emphatic expression of the importance of securing such important documents, took his young master under his cloak, and led him to a retired apartment of the house. here, after a rapid examination, it was found that the papers were all in spanish, written by spaniards to spaniards, so that it was obvious that the conspiracy, if one there were, was not a french conspiracy. the servant, therefore, advised maurice to go to his father, while he would himself instantly descend to the hall with this important intelligence. count hohenlo had, from the instant of the murder, ordered the doors to be fastened, and had permitted no one to enter or to leave the apartment without his permission. the information now brought by the servant as to the character of the papers caused great relief to the minds of all; for, till that moment, suspicion had even lighted upon men who were the firm friends of the prince. saint aldegonde, who had meantime arrived, now proceeded, in company of the other gentlemen, to examine the papers and other articles taken from the assassin. the pistol with which he had done the deed was lying upon the floor; a naked poniard, which he would probably have used also, had his thumb not been blown off by the discharge of the pistol, was found in his trunk hose. in his pockets were an agnus dei, a taper of green wax, two bits of hareskin, two dried toads--which were supposed to be sorcerer's charms--a, crucifix, a jesuit catechism, a prayer-book, a pocket-book containing two spanish bills of exchange--one for two thousand, and one for eight hundred and seventy-seven crowns--and a set of writing tablets. these last were covered with vows and pious invocations, in reference to the murderous affair which the writer had in hand. he had addressed fervent prayers to the virgin mary, to the angel gabriel, to the saviour, and to the saviour's son" as if, "says the antwerp chronicler, with simplicity, "the lord jesus had a son"--that they might all use their intercession with the almighty towards the certain and safe accomplishment of the contemplated deed. should he come off successful and unharmed, he solemnly vowed to fast a week on bread and water. furthermore, he promised to christ a "new coat of costly pattern;" to the mother of god, at guadalupe, a new gown; to our lady of montserrat, a crown, a gown, and a lamp; and so on through along list of similar presents thus contemplated for various shrines. the poor fanatical fool had been taught by deeper villains than himself that his pistol was to rid the world of a tyrant, and to open his own pathway to heaven, if his career should be cut short on earth. to prevent so undesirable a catastrophe to himself, however, his most natural conception had been to bribe the whole heavenly host, from the virgin mary downwards, for he had been taught that absolution for murder was to be bought and sold like other merchandise. he had also been persuaded that, after accomplishing the deed, he would become invisible. saint aldegonde hastened to lay the result of this examination before the duke of anjou. information was likewise instantly conveyed to the magistrates at the town house, and these measures were successful in restoring confidence throughout the city as to the intentions of the new government. anjou immediately convened the state council, issued a summons for an early meeting of the states-general, and published a proclamation that all persons having information to give concerning the crime which had just been committed, should come instantly forward, upon pain of death. the body of the assassin was forthwith exposed upon the public square, and was soon recognized as that of one juan jaureguy, a servant in the employ of gaspar d'anastro, a spanish merchant of antwerp. the letters and bills of exchange had also, on nearer examination at the town house, implicated anastro in the affair. his house was immediately searched, but the merchant had taken his departure, upon the previous tuesday, under pretext of pressing affairs at calais. his cashier, venero, and a dominican friar, named antony zimmermann, both inmates of his family, were, however, arrested upon suspicion. on the following day the watch stationed at the gate carried the foreign post-bags, as soon as they arrived, to the magistracy, when letters were found from anastro to venero, which made the affair quite plain. after they had been thoroughly studied, they were shown to venero, who, seeing himself thus completely ruined, asked for pen and ink, and wrote a full confession. it appeared that the crime was purely a commercial speculation on the part of anastro. that merchant, being on the verge of bankruptcy, had entered with philip into a mutual contract, which the king had signed with his hand and sealed with his seal, and according to which anastro, within a certain period, was to take the life of william of orange, and for so doing was to receive eighty thousand ducats, and the cross of santiago. to be a knight companion of spain's proudest order of chivalry was the guerdon, over and above the eighty thousand pieces of silver, which spain's monarch promised the murderer, if he should succeed. as for anastro himself, he was too frugal and too wary to risk his own life, or to lose much of the premium. with, tears streaming down his cheeks, he painted to his faithful cashier the picture which his master would present, when men should point at him and say, "behold yon bankrupt!" protesting, therefore, that he would murder orange and secure the reward, or perish in the attempt. saying this, he again shed many tears. venero, seeing his master thus disconsolate, wept bitterly likewise; and begged him not to risk his own precious life. after this pathetic commingling of their grief, the merchant and his book-keeper became more composed, and it was at last concerted between them that john jaureguy should be entrusted with the job. anastro had intended--as he said in a letter afterwards intercepted--"to accomplish the deed with his own hand; but, as god had probably reserved him for other things, and particularly to be of service to his very affectionate friends, he had thought best to entrust the execution of the design to his servant." the price paid by the master to the man, for the work, seems to have been but two thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven crowns. the cowardly and crafty principal escaped. he had gone post haste to dunkirk, pretending that the sudden death of his agent in calais required his immediate presence in that city. governor sweveseel, of dunkirk, sent an orderly to get a passport for him from la motte, commanding at gravelingen. anastro being on tenter-hooks lest the news should arrive that the projected murder had been consummated before he had crossed the border, testified extravagant joy on the arrival of the passport, and gave the messenger who brought it thirty pistoles. such conduct naturally excited a vague suspicion in the mind of the governor, but the merchant's character was good, and he had brought pressing letters from admiral treslong. sweveseel did not dare to arrest him without cause, and he neither knew that any crime had been committed; nor that the man before him was the criminal. two hours after the traveller's departure, the news arrived of the deed, together with orders to arrest anastro, but it was too late. the merchant had found refuge within the lines of parma. meanwhile, the prince lay in a most critical condition. believing that his end was fast approaching; he dictated letters to the states-general, entreating them to continue in their obedience to the duke, than whom he affirmed that he knew no better prince for the government of the provinces. these letters were despatched by saint aldegonde to the assembly, from which body a deputation, in obedience to the wishes of orange, was sent to anjou, with expressions of condolence and fidelity. on wednesday a solemn fast was held, according to proclamation, in antwerp, all work and all amusements being prohibited, and special prayers commanded in all the churches for the recovery of the prince. "never, within men's memory," says an account published at the moment, in antwerp, "had such crowds been seen in the churches, nor so many tears been shed." the process against venero and zimmermann was rapidly carried through, for both had made a full confession of their share in the crime. the prince had enjoined from his sick bed, however, that the case should be conducted with strict regard to justice, and, when the execution could no longer be deferred, he had sent a written request, by the hands of saint aldegonde, that they should be put to death in the least painful manner. the request was complied with, but there can be no doubt that the criminals, had it not been made, would have expiated their offence by the most lingering tortures. owing to the intercession of the man who was to have been their victim, they were strangled, before being quartered, upon a scaffold erected in the market-place, opposite the town house. this execution took place on wednesday, the th of march. the prince, meanwhile, was thought to be mending, and thanksgivings began to be mingled with the prayers offered almost every hour in the churches; but for eighteen days he lay in a most precarious state. his wife hardly left his bedside, and his sister, catharine countess of schwartzburg, was indefatigable in her attentions. the duke of anjou visited him daily, and expressed the most filial anxiety for his recovery, but the hopes, which had been gradually growing stronger, were on the th of april exchanged for the deepest apprehensions. upon that day the cicatrix by which the flow of blood from the neck had been prevented, almost from the first infliction of the wound, fell off. the veins poured forth a vast quantity of blood; it seemed impossible to check the haemorrhage, and all hope appeared to vanish. the prince resigned himself to his fate, and bade his children "good night for ever," saying calmly, "it is now all over with me." it was difficult, without suffocating the patient, to fasten a bandage tightly enough to staunch the wound, but leonardo botalli, of asti, body physician of anjou, was nevertheless fortunate enough to devise a simple mechanical expedient, which proved successful. by his advice; a succession of attendants, relieving each other day and night, prevented the flow of blood by keeping the orifice of the wound slightly but firmly compressed with the thumb. after a period of anxious expectation, the wound again closed; and by the end of the month the prince was convalescent. on the nd of may he went to offer thanksgiving in the great cathedral, amid the joyful sobs of a vast and most earnest throng. the prince, was saved, but unhappily the murderer had yet found an illustrious victim. the princess of orange; charlotte de bourbon--the devoted wife who for seven years, had so faithfully shared his joys and sorrows--lay already on her death-bed. exhausted by anxiety, long watching; and the alternations of hope and fear during the first eighteen days, she had been prostrated by despair at the renewed haemorrhage. a violent fever seized her, under which she sank on the th of may, three days after the solemn thanksgiving for her husband's recovery. the prince, who loved her tenderly, was in great danger of relapse upon the sad event, which, although not sudden, had not been anticipated. she was laid in her grave on the th of may, amid the lamentations of the whole country, for her virtues were universally known and cherished. she was a woman of rare intelligence, accomplishment, and gentleness of disposition; whose only offence had been to break, by her marriage, the church vows to which she had been forced in her childhood, but which had been pronounced illegal by competent authority, both ecclesiastical and lay. for this, and for the contrast which her virtues afforded to the vices of her predecessor, she was the mark of calumny and insult. these attacks, however, had cast no shadow upon the serenity of her married life, and so long as she lived she was the trusted companion and consoler of her husband. "his highness," wrote count john in , "is in excellent health, and, in spite of adversity, incredible labor, perplexity, and dangers, is in such good spirits that, it makes me happy to witness it. no doubt a chief reason is the consolation he derives from the pious and highly-intelligent wife whom, the lord has given him --a woman who ever conforms to his wishes, and is inexpressibly dear to him." the princess left six daughters--louisa juliana, elizabeth, catharina belgica, flandrina, charlotta brabantica, and emilia secunda. parma received the first intelligence of the attempt from the mouth of anastro himself, who assured him that the deed had been entirely successful, and claimed the promised reward. alexander, in consequence, addressed circular letters to the authorities of antwerp, brussels, bruges, and other cities, calling upon them, now that they had been relieved of their tyrant and their betrayer, to return again to the path of their duty and to the ever open arms of their lawful monarch. these letters were premature. on the other hand, the states of holland and zealand remained in permanent session, awaiting with extreme anxiety the result of the prince's wound. "with the death of his excellency, if god should please to take him to himself," said the magistracy of leyden, "in the death of the prince we all foresee our own death." it was, in truth, an anxious moment, and the revulsion of feeling consequent on his recovery was proportionately intense. in consequence of the excitement produced by this event, it was no longer possible for the prince to decline accepting the countship of holland and zealand, which he had refused absolutely two years before, and which he had again rejected, except for a limited period, in the year . it was well understood, as appears by the treaty with anjou, and afterwards formally arranged, "that the duke was never, to claim sovereignty over holland and zealand," and the offer of the sovereign countship of holland was again made to the prince of orange in most urgent terms. it will be recollected that he had accepted the sovereignty on the th of july, , only for the term of the war. in a letter, dated bruges, th of august, , he accepted the dignity without limitation. this offer and acceptance, however, constituted but the preliminaries, for it was further necessary that the letters of "renversal" should be drawn up, that they should be formally delivered, and that a new constitution should be laid down, and confirmed by mutual oaths. after these steps had been taken, the ceremonious inauguration or rendering of homage was to be celebrated. all these measures were duly arranged, except the last. the installation of the new count of holland was prevented by his death, and the northern provinces remained a republic, not only in fact but in name. in political matters; the basis of the new constitution was the "great privilege" of the lady mary, the magna charta of the country. that memorable monument in the history of the netherlands and of municipal progress had, been overthrown by mary's son, with the forced acquiescence of the states, and it was therefore stipulated by the new article, that even such laws and privileges as had fallen into disuse should be revived. it was furthermore provided that the little state should be a free countship, and should thus silently sever its connexion with the empire. with regard to the position of the prince, as hereditary chief of the little commonwealth, his actual power was rather diminished than increased by his new dignity. what was his position at the moment? he was sovereign during the war, on the general basis of the authority originally bestowed upon him by the king's commission of stadholder. in , his majesty had been abjured and the stadholder had become sovereign. he held in his hands the supreme power, legislative, judicial, executive. the counts of holland--and philip as their successor--were the great fountains of that triple stream. concessions and exceptions had become so extensive; no doubt, that the provincial charters constituted a vast body of "liberties" by which the whole country was reasonably well supplied. at the same time, all the power not expressly granted away remained in the breast of the count. if ambition, then, had been william's ruling principle, he had exchanged substance for shadow, for the new state now constituted was a free commonwealth--a republic in all but name. by the new constitution he ceased to be the source of governmental life, or to derive his own authority from above by right divine. the sacred oil which had flowed from charles the simple's beard was dried up. orange's sovereignty was from the estates; as legal representatives of the people; and, instead of exercising all the powers not otherwise granted away, he was content with those especially conferred upon him. he could neither declare war nor conclude peace without the co-operation of the representative body. the appointing power was scrupulously limited. judges, magistrates, governors, sheriffs, provincial and municipal officers, were to be nominated by the local authorities or by the estates, on the triple principle. from these triple nominations he had only the right of selection by advice and consent of his council. he was expressly enjoined to see that the law was carried to every man's door, without any distinction of persons; to submit himself to its behests, to watch against all impedimenta to the even flow of justice, to prevent false imprisonments, and to secure trials for every accused person by the local tribunals. this was certainly little in accordance with the arbitrary practice of the past quarter of a century. with respect to the great principle of taxation, stricter bonds even were provided than those which already existed. not only the right of taxation remained with the states, but the count was to see that, except for war purposes, every impost was levied by a unanimous vote. he was expressly forbidden to tamper with the currency. as executive head, save in his capacity as commander-in-chief by land or sea, the new sovereign was, in short, strictly limited by self-imposed laws. it had rested with him to dictate or to accept a constitution. he had in his memorable letter of august, , from bruges, laid down generally the articles prepared at plessia and bourdeaux, for anjou-together with all applicable provisions of the joyous entry of brabant--as the outlines of the constitution for the little commonwealth then forming in the north. to these provisions he was willing to add any others which, after ripe deliberation, might be thought beneficial to the country. thus limited were his executive functions. as to his judicial authority it had ceased to exist. the count of holland was now the guardian of the laws, but the judges were to administer them. he held the sword of justice to protect and to execute, while the scales were left in the hands which had learned to weigh and to measure. as to the count's legislative authority, it had become coordinate with, if not subordinate to, that of the representative body. he was strictly prohibited from interfering with the right of the separate or the general states to assemble as often as they should think proper; and he was also forbidden to summon them outside their own territory. this was one immense step in the progress of representative liberty, and the next was equally important. it was now formally stipulated that the estates were to deliberate upon all measures which "concerned justice and polity," and that no change was to be made--that is to say, no new law was to pass without their consent as well as that of the council. thus, the principle was established of two legislative chambers, with the right, but not the exclusive right, of initiation on the part of government, and in the sixteenth century one would hardly look for broader views of civil liberty and representative government. the foundation of a free commonwealth was thus securely laid, which had william lived, would have been a representative monarchy, but which his death converted into a federal republic. it was necessary for the sake of unity to give a connected outline of these proceedings with regard to the sovereignty of orange. the formal inauguration, only remained, and this, as will be seen, was for ever interrupted. etext editor's bookmarks: character of brave men to act, not to expect colonel ysselstein, "dismissed for a homicide or two" god has given absolute power to no mortal man hope delayed was but a cold and meagre consolation natural to judge only by the result no authority over an army which they did not pay unduly dejected in adversity this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic, - by john lothrop motley chapter vi. parma recals the foreign troops--siege of oudenarde--coolness of alexander--capture of the city and of nineve--inauguration of anjou at ghent--attempt upon his life and that of orange--lamoral egmont's implication in the plot--parma's unsuccessful attack upon ghent-- secret plans of anjou--dunkirk, ostend, and other towns surprised by his adherents--failure at bruges--suspicions at antwerp--duplicity of anjou--the "french fury"--details of that transaction-- discomfiture and disgrace of the duke--his subsequent effrontery-- his letters to the magistracy of antwerp, to, the estates, and to orange--extensive correspondence between anjou and the, french court with orange and the estates--difficult position of the prince--his policy--remarkable letter to the states-general--provisional arrangement with anjou--marriage of the archbishop of cologne-- marriage of orange with louisa de coligny--movements in holland, brabant, flanders, and other provinces, to induce the prince to accept sovereignty over the whole country--his steady refusal-- treason of van den berg in gueldres--intrigues of prince chimay and imbize in flanders--counter efforts of orange and the patriot party --fate of imbize--reconciliation of bruges--death of anjou during the course of the year , the military operations on both sides had been languid and desultory, the prince of parma, not having a large force at his command, being comparatively inactive. in consequence, however, of the treaty concluded between the united states and anjou, parma had persuaded the walloon provinces that it had now become absolutely necessary for them to permit the entrance of fresh italian and spanish troops. this, then, was the end of the famous provision against foreign soldiery in the walloon treaty of reconciliation. the abbot of saint vaast was immediately despatched on a special mission to spain, and the troops, by midsummer, had already begun to pour, into the netherlands. in the meantime, farnese, while awaiting these reinforcements, had not been idle, but had been quietly picking up several important cities. early in the spring he had laid siege to oudenarde, a place of considerable importance upon the scheld, and celebrated as the birthplace of his grandmother, margaret van geest. the burghers were obstinate; the defence was protracted; the sorties were bold; the skirmishes frequent and sanguinary: alexander commanded personally in the trenches, encouraging his men by his example, and often working with the mattock, or handling a spear in the assault, like a private pioneer or soldier. towards the end of the siege, he scarcely ever left the scene of operation, and he took his meals near the outer defences, that he might lose no opportunity of superintending the labors of his troops. one day his dinner was laid for himself and staff in the open air, close to the entrenchment. he was himself engaged in planting a battery against a weak point in the city wall, and would on no account withdraw for all instant. the tablecloth was stretched over a number of drum-heads, placed close together, and several, nobles of distinction--aremberg, montigny, richebourg, la motte, and others, were his guests at dinner. hardly had the repast commenced, when a ball came flying over the table, taking off the head of a, young walloon officer who was sitting near parma, and, who was earnestly requesting a foremost place in the. morrow's assault. a portion of his skull struck out the eye of another gentleman present. a second ball from the town fortifications, equally well directed, destroyed two more of the guests as they sat at the banquet--one a german captain, the other the judge-advocate-general. the blood and brains of these unfortunate individuals were strewn over the festive board, and the others all started to their feet, having little appetite left for their dinner. alexander alone remained in his seat, manifesting no discomposure. quietly ordering the attendants to remove the dead bodies, and to bring a clean tablecloth, he insisted that his guests should resume their places at the banquet which had been interrupted in such ghastly fashion. he stated with very determined aspect that he could not allow the heretic burghers of oudenarde the triumph of frightening him from his dinner, or from the post of danger. the other gentlemen could, of course, do no less than imitate the impassibility of their chief, and the repast was accordingly concluded without further interruption. not long afterwards, the city, close pressed by so determined a commander, accepted terms, which were more favorable by reason of the respect which alexander chose to render to his mother's birthplace. the pillage was commuted for thirty thousand, crowns, and on the th of july the place was surrendered to parma almost under the very eyes of anjou, who was making a demonstration of relieving the siege. ninove, a citadel then belonging to the egmont family, was next reduced. here, too, the defence was more obstinate than could have been expected from the importance of the place, and as the autumn advanced, parma's troops were nearly starved in their trenches, from the insufficient supplies furnished them. they had eaten no meat but horseflesh for weeks, and even that was gone. the cavalry horses were all consumed, and even the chargers of the officers were not respected. an aid-de-camp of parma fastened his steed one day at the door of the prince's tent, while he entered to receive his commander's instructions. when he came out again, a few minutes afterwards, he found nothing but the saddle and bridle hanging where he had fastened the horse. remonstrance was useless, for the animal had already been cut into quarters, and the only satisfaction offered to the aid-de-camp was in the shape of a steak. the famine was long familiarly known as the "ninove starvation," but notwithstanding this obstacle, the place was eventually surrendered. an attempt upon lochum, an important city, in gelderland, was unsuccessful, the place being relieved by the duke of anjou's forces, and parma's troops forced to abandon the siege. at steenwyk, the royal arms were more successful, colonel tassis, conducted by a treacherous frisian peasant, having surprised the city which had so, long and so manfully sustained itself against renneberg during the preceding winter. with this event the active operations under parma closed for the year. by the end of the autumn, however, he had the satisfaction of numbering, under his command, full sixty thousand well-appointed and disciplined troops, including the large reinforcements recently despatched: from spain and italy. the monthly expense of this army-half of which was required for garrison duty, leaving only the other moiety for field operations--was estimated at six hundred and fifty thousand florins. the forces under anjou and the united provinces were also largely increased, so that the marrow of the land was again in fair way of being thoroughly exhausted by its defenders and its foes. the incidents of anjou's administration, meantime, during the year , had been few and of no great importance. after the pompous and elaborate "homage-making" at antwerp, he had, in the month of july, been formally accepted, by writing, as duke of guelders and lord of friesland. in the same month he had been ceremoniously, inaugurated at bruges as count of flanders--an occasion upon which the prince of orange had been present. in that ancient and stately city there had been, accordingly, much marching about under triumphal arches, much cannonading and haranguing, much symbol work of suns dispelling fogs, with other cheerful emblems, much decoration of ducal shoulders with velvet robes lined with weasel skin, much blazing of tar-barrels and torches. in the midst of this event, an attempt was made upon the lives both of orange and anjou. an italian, named basa, and a spaniard, called salseda, were detected in a scheme to administer poison to both princes, and when arrested, confessed that they had been hired by the prince of parma to compass this double assassination. basa destroyed himself in prison. his body was, however, gibbeted, with an inscription that he had attempted, at the instigation of parma, to take the lives of orange and anjou. salseda, less fortunate, was sent to paris, where he was found guilty, and executed. by being torn to pieces by four horses. sad to relate, lamoral egmont, younger son and namesake of the great general, was intimate with salseda, and implicated in this base design. his mother, on her death-bed, had especially recommended the youth to the kindly care of orange. the prince had ever recognized the claim, manifesting uniform tenderness for the son of his ill-started friend; and now the youthful lamoral--as if the name of egmont had not been sufficiently contaminated by the elder brother's treason at brussels--had become the comrade of hired conspirators against his guardian's life. the affair was hushed up, but the story was current and generally believed that egmont had himself undertaken to destroy the prince at his own table by means of poison which he kept concealed in a ring. saint aldegonde was to have been taken off in the same way, and a hollow ring filled with poison was said to have been found in egmont's lodgings. the young noble was imprisoned; his guilt was far from doubtful; but the powerful intercessions of orange himself, combined with egmont's near relationship to the french queen saved his life, and he was permitted, after a brief captivity, to take his departure for france. the duke of anjou, a month later, was received with equal pomp, in the city of ghent. here the ceremonies were interrupted in another manner. the prince of parma, at the head of a few regiments of walloons, making an attack on a body of troops by which anjou had been escorted into flanders, the troops retreated in good order, and without much loss, under the walls of ghent, where a long and sharp action took place, much to the disadvantage of parma, the prince, of orange and the duke; of anjou were on the city walls during the whole skirmish giving orders and superintending the movements of their troops, and at nightfall parma was forced, to retire, leaving a large number of dead behind him. the th day of december, in this year was celebrated according to the new ordinance of gregory the thirteenth--as christmas. it was the occasion of more than usual merry-making among the catholics of antwerp, who had procured, during the preceding summer, a renewed right of public worship from anjou and the estates. many nobles of high rank came from france, to pay their homage to the new duke of brabant. they secretly expressed their disgust, however, at the close constitutional bonds in which they found their own future sovereign imprisoned by the provinces. they thought it far beneath the dignity of the "son of france" to play the secondary part of titular duke of brabant, count of flanders, lord of friesland, and the like, while the whole power of government was lodged with the states. they whispered that it was time to take measures for the incorporation of the netherlands into france, and they persuaded the false and fickle anjou that there would never be any hope of his royal brother's assistance, except upon the understanding that the blood and treasure of frenchmen were to be spent to increase the power, not of upstart and independent provinces, but of the french crown. they struck the basest chords of the duke's base nature by awakening his jealousy of orange. his whole soul vibrated to the appeal. he already hated the man by whose superior intellect he was overawed, and by whose pure character he was shamed. he stoutly but secretly swore that he would assert his own rights; and that he would no longer serve as a shadow, a statue, a zero, a matthias. it is needless to add, that neither in his own judgment nor in that of his mignons, were the constitutional articles which he had recently sworn to support, or the solemn treaty which he had signed and sealed at bordeaux, to furnish any obstacles to his seizure of unlimited power, whenever the design could be cleverly accomplished. he rested not, day or night, in the elaboration of his plan. early in january, , he sent one night for several of his intimate associates, to consult with him after he had retired to bed. he complained of the insolence of the states, of the importunity of the council which they had forced upon him, of the insufficient sums which they furnished both for him and his troops, of the daily insults offered to the catholic religion. he protested that he should consider himself disgraced in the eyes of all christendom, should he longer consent to occupy his present ignoble position. but two ways were open to him, he observed; either to retire altogether from the nether lands, or to maintain his authority with the strong hand, as became a prince. the first course would cover him with disgrace. it was therefore necessary for him to adopt the other. he then unfolded his plan to his confidential friends, la fougere, de fazy, palette, the sons of marechal biron, and others. upon the same day, if possible, he was determined to take possession, with his own troops, of the principal cities in flanders. dunkirk, dixmuyde, denremonde, bruges, ghent, vilvoorde, alost, and other important places, were to be simultaneously invaded, under pretext of quieting tumults artfully created and encouraged between the burghers and the garrisons, while antwerp was reserved for his own especial enterprise. that important capital he would carry by surprise at the same moment in which the other cities were to be secured by his lieutenants. the plot was pronounced an excellent one by the friends around his bed-- all of them eager for catholic supremacy, for the establishment of the right divine on the part of france to the netherlands, and for their share in the sacking of so many wealthy cities at once. these worthless mignons applauded their weak master to the echo; whereupon the duke leaped from his bed, and kneeling on the floor in his night-gown, raised his eyes and his clasped hands to heaven, and piously invoked the blessing of the almighty upon the project which he had thus announced. he added the solemn assurance that; if favored with success in his undertaking, he would abstain in future from all unchastity, and forego the irregular habits by which his youth had been stained. having thus bribed the deity, and received the encouragement of his flatterers, the duke got into bed again. his next care was to remove the seigneur du plessis, whom he had observed to be often in colloquy with the prince of orange, his suspicious and guilty imagination finding nothing but mischief to himself in the conjunction of two such natures. he therefore dismissed du plessis, under pretext of a special mission to his sister, margaret of navarre; but in reality, that he might rid himself of the presence of an intelligent and honorable countryman. on the a th january, , the day fixed for the execution of the plot, the french commandant of dunkirk, captain chamois, skillfully took advantage of a slight quarrel between the citizens and the garrison, to secure that important frontier town. the same means were employed simultaneously, with similar results, at ostend, dixmuyde, denremonde, alost, and vilvoorde, but there was a fatal delay at one important city. la fougere, who had been with chamois at dunkirk, was arrested on his way to bruges by some patriotic citizens who had got wind of what had just been occurring in the other cities, so that when palette, the provost of anjou, and colonel la rebours, at the head of fifteen hundred french troops, appeared before the gates, entrance was flatly refused. de grijse, burgomaster of bruges, encouraged his fellow townsmen by words and stout action, to resist the nefarious project then on foot against religious liberty and free government, in favor of a new foreign tyranny. he spoke to men who could sympathize with, and second his courageous resolution, and the delay of twenty-four hours, during which the burghers had time to take the alarm, saved the city. the whole population was on the alert, and the baffled frenchmen were forced to retire from the gates, to avoid being torn to pieces by the citizens whom they had intended to surprise. at antwerp, meanwhile, the duke of anjou had been rapidly maturing his plan, under pretext of a contemplated enterprise against the city of endhoven, having concentrated what he esteemed a sufficient number of french troops at borgerhout, a village close to the walls of antwerp. on the th of january, suspicion was aroused in the city. a man in a mask entered the main guard-house in the night, mysteriously gave warning that a great crime was in contemplation, and vanished before he could be arrested. his accent proved him to be a frenchman. strange rumors flew about the streets. a vague uneasiness pervaded the whole population as to the intention of their new master, but nothing was definitely known, for of course there was entire ignorance of the events which were just occurring in other cities. the colonels and captains of the burgher guard came to consult the prince of orange. he avowed the most entire confidence in the duke of anjou, but, at the same time; recommended that the chains should be drawn, the lanterns hung out, and the drawbridge raised an hour earlier than usual, and that other precautions; customary in the expectation of an attack, should be duly taken. he likewise sent the burgomaster of the interior, dr. alostanus, to the duke of anjou, in order to communicate the suspicions created in the minds of the city authorities by the recent movements of troops. anjou, thus addressed, protested in the most solemn manner that nothing was farther from his thoughts than any secret enterprise against antwerp. he was willing, according to the figure of speech which he had always ready upon every emergency, "to shed every drop of his blood in her defence." he swore that he would signally punish all those who had dared to invent such calumnies against himself and his faithful frenchmen, declaring earnestly, at the same time, that the troops had only been assembled in the regular course of their duty. as the duke was so loud and so fervent; as he, moreover, made no objections to the precautionary measures which had been taken; as the burgomaster thought, moreover, that the public attention thus aroused would render all evil designs futile, even if any had been entertained; it was thought that the city might sleep in security for that night at least. on the following, morning, as vague suspicions were still entertained by many influential persons, a deputation of magistrates and militia officers waited upon the duke, the prince of orange--although himself still feeling a confidence which seems now almost inexplicable-- consenting to accompany them. the duke was more vehement than ever in his protestations of loyalty to his recent oaths, as well as of deep affection for the netherlands--for brabant in particular, and for antwerp most of all, and he made use of all his vivacity to persuade the prince, the burgomasters, and the colonels, that they had deeply wronged him by such unjust suspicions. his assertions were accepted as sincere, and the deputation withdrew, anjou having first solemnly promised--at the suggestion of orange--not to leave the city during the whole day, in order that unnecessary suspicion might be prevented. this pledge the duke proceeded to violate almost as soon as made. orange returned with confidence to his own house, which was close to the citadel, and therefore far removed from the proposed point of attack, but he had hardly arrived there when he received a visit from the duke's private secretary, quinsay, who invited him to accompany his highness on a visit to the camp. orange declined the request, and sent an earnest prayer to the duke not to leave the city that morning. the duke dined as usual at noon. while at dinner he received a letter; was observed to turn pale on reading it, and to conceal it hastily in a muff which he wore on his left arm. the repast finished, the duke ordered his horse. the animal was restive, and so, strenuously resisted being mounted that, although it was his usual charger; it was exchanged for another. this second horse started in such a flurry that the duke lost his cloak, and almost his seat. he maintained his self-possession, however, and placing himself at the head of his bodyguard and some troopers, numbering in all three hundred mounted men, rode out of the palace-yard towards the kipdorp gate. this portal opened on the road towards borgerhout, where his troops were stationed, and at the present day bears the name of that village: it is on the side of the city farthest removed from and exactly opposite the river. the town was very quiet, the streets almost deserted; for it was one o'clock, the universal dinner-hour, and all suspicion had been disarmed by the energetic protestations of the duke. the guard at the gate looked listlessly upon the cavalcade as it approached, but as soon as anjou had crossed the first drawbridge, he rose in his stirrups and waved his hand. "there is your city, my lads," said he to the troopers behind him; "go and take possession of it!" at the same time he set spurs to his horse, and galloped off towards the camp at borgerhout. instantly afterwards; a gentleman of his suite, count bochepot, affected to have broken his leg through the plunging of his horse, a circumstance by which he had been violently pressed, against the wall as he entered the gate. kaiser, the commanding officer at the guard-house, stepped kindly forward to render him assistance, and his reward was a desperate thrust from the frenchman's rapier. as he wore a steel cuirass, he fortunately escaped with a slight wound. the expression, "broken leg," was the watch-word, for at one and the same instant, the troopers and guardsmen of anjou set upon the burgher watch at the gate, and butchered every man. a sufficient force was left to protect the entrance thus easily mastered, while the rest of the frenchmen entered the town at full gallop, shrieking "ville gaignee, ville gaignee! vive la messe! vive le due d'anjou!" they were followed by their comrades from the camp outside, who now poured into the town at the preconcerted signal, at least six hundred cavalry and three thousand musketeers, all perfectly appointed, entering antwerp at once. from the kipdorp gate two main arteries--the streets called the kipdorp and the meer--led quite through the heart of the city, towards the townhouse and the river beyond. along these great thoroughfares the french soldiers advanced at a rapid pace; the cavalry clattering furiously in the van, shouting "ville gaignee, ville gaignee! vive la messe, vive la messe! tue, tue, tue!" the burghers coming to door and window to look for the cause of all this disturbance, were saluted with volleys of musketry. they were for a moment astonished, but not appalled, for at first they believed it to be merely an accidental tumult. observing, however, that the soldiers, meeting with but little effective resistance, were dispersing into dwellings and warehouses, particularly into the shops of the goldsmiths and lapidaries, the citizens remembered the dark suspicions which had been so rife, and many recalled to mind that distinguished french officers had during, the last few days been carefully examining the treasures of the jewellers, under pretext of purchasing, but, as it now appeared, with intent to rob intelligently. the burghers, taking this rapid view of their position, flew instantly to arms. chains and barricades were stretched across the streets; the trumpets sounded through the city; the municipal guards swarmed to the rescue. an effective rally was made, as usual, at the bourse, whither a large detachment of the invaders had forced their way. inhabitants of all classes and conditions, noble and simple, catholic and protestant, gave each other the hand, and swore to die at each other's side in defence of the city against the treacherous strangers. the gathering was rapid and enthusiastic. gentlemen came with lance and cuirass, burghers with musket and bandoleer, artisans with axe, mallet, and other implements of their trade. a bold baker, standing by his oven-stark naked, according to the custom of bakers at that day--rushed to the street as the sound of the tumult reached his ear. with his heavy bread shovel, which he still held in his hand, he dealt a french cavalry, officer, just riding and screaming by, such a hearty blow that he fell dead from his horse. the baker seized the officer's sword, sprang all unattired as he was, upon his steed, and careered furiously through the streets, encouraging his countrymen everywhere to the attack, and dealing dismay through the ranks of the enemy. his services in that eventful hour were so signal that he was publicly thanked afterwards by the magistrates for his services, and rewarded with a pension of three hundred florins for life. the invaders had been forced from the bourse, while another portion of them had penetrated as far as the market-place. the resistance which they encountered became every instant more formidable, and fervacques, a leading french officer, who was captured on the occasion, acknowledged that no regular troops could have fought more bravely than did these stalwart burghers. women and children mounted to roof and window, whence they hurled, not only tiles and chimney pots, but tables, ponderous chairs, and other bulky articles, upon the heads of the assailants, while such citizens as had used all their bullets, loaded their pieces with the silver buttons from their doublets, or twisted gold and silver coins with their teeth into ammunition. with a population so resolute, the four thousand invaders, however audacious, soon found themselves swallowed up. the city had closed over them like water, and within an hour nearly a third of their whole number had been slain. very few of the burghers had perished, and fresh numbers were constantly advancing to the attack. the frenchmen, blinded, staggering, beaten, attempted to retreat. many threw themselves from the fortifications into the moat. the rest of the survivors struggled through the streets--falling in large numbers at every step-towards the point at which they had so lately entered the city. here at the kipdorp gate was a ghastly spectacle, the slain being piled up in the narrow passage full ten feet high, while some of the heap, not quite dead, were striving to extricate a hand or foot, and others feebly thrust forth their heads to gain a mouthful of air. from the outside, some of anjou's officers were attempting to climb over this mass of bodies in order to enter the city; from the interior, the baffled and fugitive remnant of their comrades were attempting to force their passage through the same horrible barrier; while many dropped at, every instant upon the heap of slain, under the blows of the unrelenting burghers. on the other hand, count rochepot himself, to whom the principal command of the enterprise had been entrusted by anjou, stood directly in the path of his fugitive soldiers, not only bitterly upbraiding them with their cowardice, but actually slaying ten or twelve of them with his own hands, as the most effectual mode of preventing their retreat. hardly an hour had elapsed from the time when the duke of anjou first rode out of the kipdorp gate, before nearly the whole of the force which he had sent to accomplish his base design was either dead or captive. two hundred and fifty nobles of high rank and illustrious name were killed; recognized at once as they lay in the streets by their magnificent costume. a larger number of the gallant chivalry of france had been sacrificed--as anjou confessed--in this treacherous and most shameful enterprise, than had often fallen upon noble and honorable fields. nearly two thousand of the rank and file had perished, and the rest were prisoners. it was at first asserted that exactly fifteen hundred and eighty-three frenchmen had fallen, but this was only because this number happened to be the date of the year, to which the lovers of marvellous coincidences struggled very hard to make the returns of the dead correspond. less than one hundred burghers lost their lives. anjou, as he looked on at a distance, was bitterly reproached for his treason by several of the high-minded gentlemen about his person, to whom he had not dared to confide his plot. the duke of montpensier protested vehemently that he washed his hands of the whole transaction, whatever might be the issue. he was responsible for the honor of an illustrious house, which should never be stained, he said, if he could prevent it, with such foul deeds. the same language was held by laval, by rochefoucauld, and by the marechal de biron, the last gentleman, whose two sons were engaged in the vile enterprise, bitterly cursing the duke to his face, as he rode through the gate after revealing his secret undertaking. meanwhile, anjou, in addition to the punishment of hearing these reproaches from men of honor, was the victim of a rapid and violent fluctuation of feeling. hope, fear, triumph, doubt, remorse, alternately swayed him. as he saw the fugitives leaping from the walls, he shouted exultingly, without accurately discerning what manner of men they were, that the city was his, that four thousand of his brave soldiers were there, and were hurling the burghers from the battlements. on being made afterwards aware of his error, he was proportionably depressed; and when it was obvious at last that the result of the enterprise was an absolute and disgraceful failure, together with a complete exposure of his treachery, he fairly mounted his horse, and fled conscience-stricken from the scene. the attack had been so unexpected, in consequence of the credence that had been rendered by orange and the magistracy to the solemn protestations of the duke, that it had been naturally out of any one's power to prevent the catastrophe. the prince was lodged in apart of the town remote from the original scene of action, and it does not appear that information had reached him that anything unusual was occurring, until the affair was approaching its termination. then there was little for him to do. he hastened, however, to the scene, and mounting the ramparts, persuaded the citizens to cease cannonading the discomfited and retiring foe. he felt the full gravity of the situation, and the necessity of diminishing the rancor of the inhabitants against their treacherous allies, if such a result were yet possible. the burghers had done their duty, and it certainly would have been neither in his power nor his inclination to protect the french marauders from expulsion and castigation. such was the termination of the french fury, and it seems sufficiently strange that it should have been so much less disastrous to antwerp than was the spanish fury of , to which men could still scarcely allude without a shudder. one would have thought the french more likely to prove successful in their enterprise than the spaniards in theirs. the spaniards were enemies against whom the city had long been on its guard. the french were friends in whose sincerity a somewhat shaken confidence had just been restored. when the spanish attack was made, a large force of defenders was drawn up in battle array behind freshly strengthened fortifications. when the french entered at leisure through a scarcely guarded gate, the whole population and garrison of the town were quietly eating their dinners. the numbers of the invading forces on the two occasions did not materially differ; but at the time of the french fury there was not a large force of regular troops under veteran generals to resist the attack. perhaps this was the main reason for the result, which seems at first almost inexplicable. for protection against the spanish invasion, the burghers relied on mercenaries, some of whom proved treacherous, while the rest became panic-struck. on the present occasion the burghers relied on themselves. moreover, the french committed the great error of despising their enemy. recollecting the ease with which the spaniards had ravished the city, they believed that they had nothing to do but to enter and take possession. instead of repressing their greediness, as the spaniards had done, until they had overcome resistance, they dispersed almost immediately into by-streets, and entered warehouses to search for plunder. they seemed actuated by a fear that they should not have time to rifle the city before additional troops should be sent by anjou to share in the spoil. they were less used to the sacking of netherland cities than were the spaniards, whom long practice had made perfect in the art of methodically butchering a population at first, before attention should be diverted to plundering, and supplementary outrages. at any rate, whatever the causes, it is certain that the panic, which upon such occasions generally decides the fate of the day, seized upon the invaders and not upon the invaded, almost from the very first. as soon as the marauders faltered in their purpose and wished to retreat, it was all over with them. returning was worse than advance, and it was the almost inevitable result that hardly a man escaped death or capture. the duke retreated the same day in the direction of denremonde, and on his way met with another misfortune, by which an additional number of his troops lost their lives. a dyke was cut by the mechlin citizens to impede his march, and the swollen waters of the dill, liberated and flowing across the country which he was to traverse, produced such an inundation, that at least a thousand of his followers were drowned. as soon as he had established himself in a camp near berghem, he opened a correspondence with the prince of orange, and with the authorities of antwerp. his language was marked by wonderful effrontery. he found himself and soldiers suffering for want of food; he remembered that he had left much plate and valuable furniture in antwerp; and he was therefore desirous that the citizens, whom he had so basely outraged, should at once send him supplies and restore his property. he also reclaimed the prisoners who still remained in the city, and to obtain all this he applied to the man whom he had bitterly deceived, and whose life would have been sacrificed by the duke, had the enterprise succeeded. it had been his intention to sack the city, to re-establish exclusively the roman catholic worship, to trample upon the constitution which he had so recently sworn to maintain, to deprive orange, by force, of the renversal by which the duke recognized the prince as sovereign of holland; zealand; and utrecht, yet notwithstanding that his treason had- been enacted in broad daylight, and in a most deliberate manner, he had the audacity to ascribe the recent tragic occurrences to chance. he had the farther originality to speak of himself as an aggrieved person, who had rendered great services to the netherlands, and who had only met with ingratitude in return. his envoys, messieurs landmater and escolieres, despatched on the very day of the french fury to the burgomasters and senate of antwerp, were instructed to remind those magistrates that the duke had repeatedly exposed his life in the cause of the netherlands. the affronts, they were to add, which he had received, and the approaching ruin of the country, which he foresaw, had so altered his excellent nature, as to engender the present calamity, which he infinitely regretted. nevertheless, the senate was to be assured that his affection for the commonwealth was still so strong, as to induce a desire on his part to be informed what course was now to be pursued with, regard to him. information upon that important point was therefore to be requested, while at the same time the liberation of the prisoners at antwerp, and the restaration of the duke's furniture and papers, were to be urgently demanded. letters of similar, import were also despatched by the duke to the states of the union, while to the prince of orange; his application was brief but brazen. "you know well,--my cousin," said he "the just and frequent causes of offence which this people has given me. the insults which i, this morning experienced cut me so deeply to the heart that they are the only reasons of the misfortune which has happened today. nevertheless, to those who desire my friendship i shall show equal friendship and affection. herein i shall follow the counsel you have uniformly given me, since i know it comes from one who has always loved me. therefore i beg that you will kindly bring it to pass, that i may obtain some decision, and that no injury may be inflicted upon my people. otherwise the land shall pay for it dearly." to these appeals, neither the prince nor the authorities of antwerp answered immediately in their own names. a general consultation was, however, immediately held with the estates-general, and an answer forthwith despatched to the duke by the hands of his envoys. it was agreed to liberate the prisoners, to restore the furniture, and to send a special deputation for the purpose of making further arrangements with the duke by word of mouth, and for this deputation his highness was requested to furnish a safe conduct. anjou was overjoyed when he received this amicable communication. relieved for a time from his fears as to the result of his crime, he already assumed a higher ground. he not only spoke to the states in a paternal tone, which was sufficiently ludicrous, but he had actually the coolness to assure them of his forgiveness. "he felt hurt," he said, "that they should deem a safe conduct necessary for the deputation which they proposed to send. if they thought that he had reason on account of the past, to feel offended, he begged them to believe that he had forgotten it all, and that he had buried the past in its ashes, even as if it had never been." he furthermore begged them--and this seemed the greatest insult of all--"in future to trust to his word, and to believe that if any thing should be attempted to their disadvantage, he would be the very first to offer himself for their protection." it will be observed that in his first letters the duke had not affected to deny his agency in the outrage--an agency so flagrant that all subterfuge seemed superfluous. he in fact avowed that the attempt had been made by his command, but sought to palliate the crime on the ground that it had been the result of the ill-treatment which he had experienced from the states. "the affronts which i have received," said he, both to the magistrates of antwerp and to orange, "have engendered the present calamity." so also, in a letter written at the same time to his brother, henry the third, he observed that "the indignities which were put upon him, and the manifest intention of the states to make a matthias of him, had been the cause of the catastrophe." he now, however, ventured a step farther. presuming upon the indulgence which he had already experienced; and bravely assuming the tone of injured innocence, he ascribed the enterprise partly to accident, and partly to the insubordination of his troops. this was the ground which he adopted in his interviews with the states' commissioners. so also, in a letter addressed to van der tympel, commandant of brussels, in which he begged for supplies for his troops, he described the recent invasion of antwerp as entirely unexpected by himself, and beyond his control. he had been intending, he said, to leave the city and to join his army. a tumult had accidentally arisen between his soldiers and the guard at the gate. other troops rushing in from without, had joined in the affray, so that to, his great sorrow, an extensive disorder had arisen. he manifested the same christian inclination to forgive, however, which he had before exhibited. he observed that "good men would never grow cold in his regard, or find his affection diminished." he assured van der tympel, in particular, of his ancient goodwill, as he knew him to be a lover of the common weal. in his original communications he had been both cringing and threatening but, at least, he had not denied truths which were plain as daylight. his new position considerably damaged his cause. this forgiving spirit on the part of the malefactor was a little more than the states could bear, disposed as they felt, from policy, to be indulgent, and to smooth over the crime as gently as possible. the negotiations were interrupted, and the authorities of antwerp published a brief and spirited defence of their own conduct. they denied that any affront or want of respect on their part could have provoked the outrage of which the duke had been guilty. they severely handled his self-contradiction, in ascribing originally the recent attempt to his just vengeance for past injuries, and in afterwards imputing it to accident or sudden mutiny, while they cited the simultaneous attempts at bruges, denremonde, alost, digmuyde, newport, ostend, vilvoorde, and dunkirk, as a series of damning proofs of a deliberate design. the publication of such plain facts did not advance the negotiations when resumed. high and harsh words were interchanged between his highness and the commissioners, anjou complaining, as usual, of affronts and indignities, but when pushed home for particulars, taking refuge in equivocation. "he did not wish," he said, "to re-open wounds which had been partially healed." he also affected benignity, and wishing to forgive and to forget, he offered some articles as the basis of a fresh agreement. of these it is sufficient to state that they were entirely different from the terms of the bordeaux treaty, and that they were rejected as quite inadmissible. he wrote again to the prince of orange, invoking his influence to bring about an arrangement. the prince, justly indignant at the recent treachery and the present insolence of the man whom he had so profoundly trusted, but feeling certain that the welfare of the country depended at present upon avoiding, if possible, a political catastrophe, answered the duke in plain, firm, mournful, and appropriate language. he had ever manifested to his highness, he said, the most uniform and sincere friendship. he had, therefore, the right to tell him that affairs were now so changed that his greatness and glory had departed. those men in the netherlands, who, but yesterday, had been willing to die at the feet of his highness, were now so exasperated that they avowedly preferred an open enemy to a treacherous protector. he had hoped, he said, that after what had happened in so many cities at the same moment, his highness would have been pleased to give the deputies a different and a more becoming answer. he had hoped for some response which might lead to an arrangement. he, however, stated frankly, that the articles transmitted by his highness were so unreasonable that no man in the land would dare open his mouth to recommend them. his highness, by this proceeding, had much deepened the distrust. he warned the duke accordingly, that he was not taking the right course to reinstate himself in a position of honor and glory, and he begged him, therefore, to adopt more appropriate means. such a step was now demanded of him, not only by the country, but by all christendom. this moderate but heartfelt appeal to the better nature of the duke, if he had a better nature, met with no immediate response. while matters were in this condition, a special envoy arrived out of france, despatched by the king and queen-mother, on the first reception of the recent intelligence from antwerp. m. de mirambeau, the ambassador, whose son had been killed in the fury, brought letters of credence to the states of the; union and to the prince of orange. he delivered also a short confidential note, written in her own hand, from catherine de medici to the prince, to the following effect: "my cousin,--the king, my son, and myself, send you monsieur de mirambeau, to prove to you that we do not believe--for we esteem you an honorable man--that you would manifest ingratitude to my son, and to those who have followed him for the welfare of your country. we feel that you have too much affection for one who has the support of so powerful a prince as the king of france, as to play him so base a trick. until i learn the truth, i shall not renounce the good hope which i have always indulged--that you would never have invited my son to your country, without intending to serve him faithfully. as long as you do this, you may ever reckon on the support of all who belong to him. "your good cousin, "catherine." it would have been very difficult to extract much information or much comfort from this wily epistle. the menace was sufficiently plain, the promise disagreeably vague. moreover, a letter from the same catherine de medici, had been recently found in a casket at the duke's lodgings in antwerp. in that communication, she had distinctly advised her son to re-establish the roman catholic religion, assuring him that by so doing, he would be enabled to marry the infanta of spain. nevertheless, the prince, convinced that it was his duty to bridge over the deep and fatal chasm which had opened between the french prince and the provinces, if an honorable reconciliation were possible, did not attach an undue importance either to the stimulating or to the upbraiding portion of the communication from catherine. he was most anxious to avert the chaos which he saw returning. he knew that while the tempers of rudolph, of the english queen, and of the protestant princes of germany, and the internal condition of the netherlands remained the same, it were madness to provoke the government of france, and thus gain an additional enemy, while losing their only friend. he did not renounce the hope of forming all the netherlands--excepting of course the walloon provinces already reconciled to philip--into one independent commonwealth, freed for ever from spanish tyranny. a dynasty from a foreign house he was willing to accept, but only on condition that the new royal line should become naturalized in the netherlands, should, conform itself to the strict constitutional compact established, and should employ only natives in the administration of netherland affairs. notwithstanding, therefore, the recent treachery of anjou, he was willing to treat with him upon the ancient basis. the dilemma was a very desperate one, for whatever might be his course, it was impossible that it should escape censure. even at this day, it is difficult to decide what might have been the result of openly braving the french government, and expelling anjou. the prince of parma--subtle, vigilant, prompt with word and blow--was waiting most anxiously to take advantage of every false step of his adversary. the provinces had been already summoned in most eloquent language, to take warning by the recent fate of antwerp, and to learn by the manifestation just made by anjou, of his real intentions; that their only salvation lay in a return to the king's arms. anjou himself, as devoid of shame as of honor, was secretly holding interviews with parma's agents, acosta and flaminio carnero, at the very moment when he was alternately expressing to the states his resentment that they dared to doubt his truth, or magnanimously extending to them his pardon for their suspicions. he was writing letters full of injured innocence to orange and to the states, while secretly cavilling over the terms of the treaty by which he was to sell himself to spain. scruples as to enacting so base a part did not trouble the "son of france." he did not hesitate at playing this doubly and trebly false game with the provinces, but he was anxious to drive the best possible bargain for himself with parma. he, offered to restore dunkirk, dixmuyde, and the other cities which be had so recently filched from the states, and to enter into a strict alliance with philip; but he claimed that certain netherland cities on the french frontier, should be made over to him in exchange. he required; likewise; ample protection for his retreat from a country which was likely to be sufficiently exasperated. parma and his agents smiled, of course, at such exorbitant terms. nevertheless, it was necessary to deal cautiously with a man who, although but a poor baffled rogue to-day, might to-morrow be seated on the throne of france. while they were all secretly haggling over the terms of the bargain, the prince of orange discovered the intrigue. it convinced him of the necessity of closing with a man whose baseness was so profound, but whose position made his enmity, on the whole, more dangerous than his friendship. anjou, backed by so astute and unscrupulous a politician as parma, was not to be trifled with. the feeling of doubt and anxiety was spreading daily through the country: many men, hitherto firm, were already wavering, while at the same time the prince had no confidence in the power of any of the states, save those of holland and utrecht; to maintain a resolute attitude of defiance, if not assisted from without. he therefore endeavored to repair the breach, if possible, and thus save the union. mirambeau, in his conferences with the estates, suggested, on his part, all that words could effect. he expressed the hope that the estates would use their discretion "in compounding some sweet and friendly medicine" for the present disorder; and that they would not judge the duke too harshly for a fault which he assured them did not come from his natural disposition. he warned them that the enemy would be quick to take advantage of the present occasion to bring about, if possible, their destruction, and he added that he was commissioned to wait upon the duke of anjou, in order to assure him that, however alienated he might then be from the netherlands, his majesty was determined to effect an entire reconciliation. the envoy conferred also with the prince of orange, and urged him most earnestly to use his efforts to heal the rupture. the prince, inspired by the sentiments already indicated, spoke with perfect sincerity. his highness, he said, had never known a more faithful and zealous friend than himself, he had begun to lose his own credit with the people by reason of the earnestness with which he had ever advocated the duke's cause, and he could not flatter himself that his recommendation would now be of any advantage to his highness. it would be more injurious than his silence. nevertheless, he was willing to make use of all the influence which was left to him for the purpose of bringing about a reconciliation, provided that the duke were acting in good faith. if his highness were now sincerely desirous of conforming to the original treaty, and willing to atone for the faults committed by him on the same day in so many cities--offences which could not be excused upon the ground of any affronts which he might have received from the citizens of antwerp-- it might even now be possible to find a remedy for the past. he very bluntly told the envoy, however, that the frivolous excuses offered by the duke caused more bitterness than if he had openly acknowledged his fault. it were better, he said, to express contrition, than to excuse himself by laying blame on those to whom no blame belonged, but who, on the contrary, had ever shown themselves faithful servants of his highness. the estates of the union, being in great perplexity as to their proper course, now applied formally, as they always did in times of danger and doubt, to the prince, for a public expression of his views. somewhat reluctantly, he complied with their wishes in one of the most admirable of his state papers. he told the states-that he felt some hesitation in expressing his views. the blame of the general ill success was always laid upon his shoulders; as if the chances of war could be controlled even by a great potentate with ample means at his disposal. as for himself, with so little actual power that he could never have a single city provided with what he thought a sufficient garrison, it could not be expected that he could command fortune. his advice, he said, was always asked, but ever judged good or evil according to the result, as if the issue were in any hands but god's. it did not seem advisable for a man of his condition and years, who had so often felt the barb of calumny's tongue, to place his honor, again in the judgment scale of mankind, particularly as he was likely to incur fresh censure for another man's crime. nevertheless, he was willing, for the love he bore the land, once more to encounter this danger. he then rapidly reviewed the circumstances which had led to the election of anjou, and reminded the estates that they had employed sufficient time to deliberate concerning that transaction. he recalled to their remembrance his frequent assurances of support and sympathy if they would provide any other means of self-protection than the treaty with the french prince. he thought it, therefore, unjust, now that calamity had sprung from the measure, to ascribe the blame entirely to him, even had the injury been greater than the one actually sustained. he was far from palliating the crime, or from denying that the duke's rights under the treaty of bordeaux had been utterly forfeited. he was now asked what was to be done. of three courses, be said, one must be taken: they must make their peace with the king, or consent to a reconciliation with anjou, or use all the strength which god had given them to resist, single-handed, the enemy. with regard to the first point, he resumed the argument as to the hopelessness of a satisfactory arrangement with the monarch of spain. the recent reconciliation of the walloon provinces and its shameful infraction by parma in the immediate recal of large masses of spanish and italian troops, showed too plainly the value of all solemn stipulations with his catholic majesty. moreover, the time was unpropitious. it was idle to look, after what had recently occurred, for even fair promises. it was madness then to incur the enmity of two such powers at once. the french could do the netherlands more harm as enemies than the spaniards. the spaniards would be more dangerous as friends, for in cases of a treaty with philip the inquisition would be established in the place of a religious peace. for these reasons the prince declared himself entirely opposed to any negotiations with the crown of spain. as to the second point, he admitted that anjou had gained little honor by his recent course; and that it would be a mistake on their part to stumble a second time over the same stone. he foresaw, nevertheless, that the duke--irritated as he was by the loss of so many of his nobles, and by the downfall of all his hopes in the netherlands--would be likely to inflict great injuries upon their cause. two powerful nations like france and spain would be too much to have on their hands at once. how much danger, too, would be incurred by braving at once the open wrath of the french king, and, the secret displeasure of the english queen. she had warmly recommended the duke of anjou. she had said--that honors to him were rendered to herself; and she was now entirely opposed to their keeping the present quarrel alive. if france became their enemy, the road was at once opened through that kingdom for spain. the estates were to ponder well whether they possessed the means to carry on such a double war without assistance. they were likewise to remember how many cities still remained in the hands of anjou, and their possible fate if the duke were pushed to extremity. the third point was then handled with vigor. he reminded the states of the perpetual difficulty of raising armies, of collecting money to pay for troops, of inducing cities to accept proper garrisons, of establishing a council which could make itself respected. he alluded briefly and bitterly to the perpetual quarrels of the states among themselves; to their mutual jealousy; to their obstinate parsimony; to their jealousy of the general government; to their apathy and inertness before impending ruin. he would not calumniate those, he said, who counselled trust in god. that was his sentiment also: to attempt great affairs, however, and, through avarice, to-withhold sufficient means, was not trusting, but tempting god.--on the contrary, it was trusting god to use the means which he offered to their hands. with regard, then, to the three points, he rejected the first. reconciliation with the king of spain was impossible. for his own part, he would much prefer the third course. he had always been in favor of their maintaining independence by their own means and the assistance of the almighty. he was obliged, however, in sadness; to confess that the narrow feeling of individual state rights, the general tendency to disunion, and the constant wrangling, had made this course a hopeless one. there remained, therefore, only the second, and they must effect an honorable reconciliation with anjou. whatever might be their decision, however, it was meet that it should be a speedy one. not an hour was to be lost. many fair churches of god, in anjou's power, were trembling on the issue, and religious and political liberty was more at stake than ever. in conclusion, the prince again expressed his determination, whatever might be their decision, to devote the rest of his days to the services of his country. the result of these representations by the prince--of frequent letters from queen elizabeth, urging a reconciliation--and of the professions made by the duke and the french envoys, was a provisional arrangement, signed on the th and th of march. according to the terms of this accord, the duke was to receive thirty thousand florins for his troops, and to surrender the cities still in his power. the french prisoners were to be liberated, the duke's property at antwerp was to be restored, and the duke himself was to await at dunkirk the arrival of plenipotentiaries to treat with him as to a new and perpetual arrangement. the negotiations, however, were languid. the quarrel was healed on the surface, but confidence so recently and violently uprooted was slow to revive. on the th of june, the duke of anjou left dunkirk for paris, never to return to the netherlands, but he exchanged on his departure affectionate letters with the prince and the estates. m. des pruneaux remained as his representative, and it was understood that the arrangements for re-installing him as soon as possible in the sovereignty which he had so basely forfeited, were to be pushed forward with earnestness. in the spring of the same year, gerard truchses, archbishop of cologne, who had lost his see for the love of agnes mansfeld, whom he had espoused in defiance of the pope; took refuge with the prince of orange at delft. a civil war in germany broke forth, the protestant princes undertaking to support the archbishop, in opposition to ernest of bavaria, who had been appointed in his place. the palatine, john casimir, thought it necessary to mount and ride as usual. making his appearance at the head of a hastily collected force, and prepared for another plunge into chaos, he suddenly heard, however, of his elder brother's death at heidelberg. leaving his men, as was his habit, to shift for themselves, and baron truchses, the archbishop's brother, to fall into the hands of the enemy, he disappeared from the scene with great rapidity, in order that his own interests in the palatinate and in the guardianship of the young palatines might not suffer by his absence. at this time, too, on the th of april, the prince of orange was married, for the fourth time, to louisa, widow of the seigneur de teligny, and daughter of the illustrious coligny. in the course of the summer, the states of holland and zealand, always bitterly opposed to the connection with anjou, and more than ever dissatisfied with the resumption of negotiations since the antwerp catastrophe, sent a committee to the prince in order to persuade him to set his face against the whole proceedings. they delivered at the same time a formal remonstrance, in writing ( th of august, ), in which they explained how odious the arrangement with the duke had ever been to them. they expressed the opinion that even the wisest might be sometimes mistaken, and that the prince had been bitterly deceived by anjou and by the french court. they besought him to rely upon the assistance of the almighty, and upon the exertions of the nation, and they again hinted at the propriety of his accepting that supreme sovereignty over all the united provinces which would be so gladly conferred, while, for their own parts, they voluntarily offered largely to increase the sums annually contributed to the common defence. very soon afterwards, in august, , the states of the united provinces assembled at middelburg formally offered the general government--which under the circumstances was the general sovereignty--to the prince, warmly urging his acceptance of the dignity. he manifested, however, the same reluctance which he had always expressed, demanding that the project should beforehand be laid before the councils of all the large cities, and before the estates of certain provinces which had not been represented at the middelburg diet. he also made use of the occasion to urge the necessity of providing more generously for the army expenses and other general disbursements. as to ambitious views, he was a stranger to them, and his language at this moment was as patriotic and self-denying as at any previous period. he expressed his thanks to the estates for this renewed proof of their confidence in his character, and this additional approbation of his course,--a sentiment which he was always ready "as a good patriot to justify by his most faithful service." he reminded them, however, that he was no great monarch, having in his own hands the means to help and the power to liberate them; and that even were he in possession of all which god had once given him, he should be far from strong enough to resist, single-handed, their powerful enemy. all that was left to him, he said, was an "honest and moderate experience in affairs." with this he was ever ready to serve them to the utmost; but they knew very well that the means to make that experience available were to be drawn from the country itself. with modest simplicity, he observed that he had been at work fifteen or sixteen years, doing his best, with the grace of god, to secure the freedom of the fatherland and to resist tyranny of conscience; that he alone--assisted by his brothers and some friends and relatives--had borne the whole burthen in the beginning, and that he had afterwards been helped by the states of holland and zealand, so that he could not but render thanks to god for his great mercy in thus granting his blessing to so humble an instrument, and thus restoring so many beautiful provinces to their ancient freedom and to the true religion. the prince protested that this result was already a sufficient reward for his labors--a great consolation in his sufferings. he had hoped, he said, that the estates, "taking into consideration his long-continued labors, would have been willing to excuse him from a new load of cares, and would have granted him some little rest in his already advanced age;" that they would have selected "some other person more fitted for the labor, whom he would himself faithfully promise to assist to the best of his abilities, rendering him willing obedience proportionate to the authority conferred upon him." like all other attempts to induce the acceptance, by the prince, of supreme authority, this effort proved ineffectual, from the obstinate unwillingness of his hand to receive the proffered sceptre. in connection with this movement, and at about the same epoch, jacob swerius, member of the brabant council, with other deputies, waited upon orange, and formally tendered him the sovereign dukedom of brabant, forfeited and vacant by the late crime of anjou. the prince, however, resolutely refused to accept the dignity, assuring the committee that he had not the means to afford the country as much protection as they had a right to expect from their sovereign. he added that "he would never give the king of spain the right-to say that the prince of orange had been actuated by no other motives in his career than the hope of self- aggrandizement, and the desire to deprive his majesty of the provinces in order to appropriate them to himself." accordingly, firmly refusing to heed the overtures of the united states, and of holland in particular, he continued to further the re- establishment of anjou--a measure in which, as he deliberately believed, lay the only chance of union and in dependence. the prince of parma, meantime, had not been idle. he had been unable to induce the provinces to listen to his wiles, and to rush to the embrace of the monarch whose arms he described as ever open to the repentant. he had, however, been busily occupied in the course of the summer in taking up many of the towns which the treason of anjou had laid open to his attacks. eindhoven, diest, dunkirk, newport, and other places, were successively surrendered to royalist generals. on the nd of september, , the city of zutfen, too, was surprised by colonel tassis, on the fall of which most important place, the treason of orange's brother-in-law, count van den berg, governor of gueldres, was revealed. his fidelity had been long suspected, particularly by count john of nassau, but always earnestly vouched for by his wife and by his sons. on the capture of zutfen, however, a document was found and made public, by which van den berg bound himself to deliver the principal cities of gueldres and zutfen, beginning with zutfen itself, into the hands of parma, on condition of receiving the pardon and friendship of the king. not much better could have been expected of van den berg. his pusillanimous retreat from his post in alva's time will be recollected; and it is certain that the prince had never placed implicit confidence in his character. nevertheless, it was the fate of this great man to be often deceived by the friends whom he trusted, although never to be outwitted by his enemies. van den berg was arrested, on the th of november, carried to the hague, examined and imprisoned for a time in delftshaven. after a time he was, however, liberated, when he instantly, with all his sons, took service under the king. while treason was thus favoring the royal arms in the north, the same powerful element, to which so much of the netherland misfortunes had always been owing was busy in flanders. towards the end of the year , the prince of chimay, eldest son of the duke of aerschot, had been elected governor of that province. this noble was as unstable in character, as vain, as unscrupulous, and as ambitious as his father and uncle. he had been originally desirous of espousing the eldest daughter of the prince of orange, afterwards the countess of hohenlo, but the duchess of aerschot was too strict a catholic to consent to the marriage, and her son was afterwards united to the countess of meghem, widow of lan celot berlaymont. as affairs seemed going on prosperously for the states in the beginning, of this year, the prince of chimay had affected a strong inclination for the reformed religion, and as governor of bruges, he had appointed many members of that church to important offices, to the exclusion of catholics. by so decided a course, he acquired the confidence of the patriot party and at the end of the year he became governor of flanders. no sooner was he installed in this post, than he opened a private correspondence with parma, for it was his intention to make his peace with the king, and to purchase pardon and advancement by the brilliant service which he now undertook, of restoring this important province to the royal authority. in the arrangement of his plans he was assisted by champagny, who, as will be recollected, had long been a prisoner in ghent, but whose confinement was not so strict as to prevent frequent intercourse with his friends without. champagny was indeed believed to be the life of the whole intrigue. the plot was, however, forwarded by imbize, the roaring demagogue whose republicanism could never reconcile itself with what he esteemed the aristocratic policy of orange, and whose stern puritanism could be satisfied with nothing short of a general extermination of catholics. this man, after having been allowed to depart, infamous and contemptible, from the city which he had endangered, now ventured after five years, to return, and to engage in fresh schemes which were even more criminal than his previous enterprises. the uncompromising foe to romanism, the advocate of grecian and genevan democracy, now allied himself with champagny and with chimay, to effect a surrender of flanders to philip and to the inquisition. he succeeded in getting himself elected chief senator in ghent, and forthwith began to use all his influence to further the secret plot. the joint efforts and intrigues of parma, champagny, chimay, and imbize, were near being successful. early, in the spring of a formal resolution was passed by the government of ghent, to open negotiations with parma. hostages were accordingly exchanged, and a truce of three weeks was agreed upon, during which an animated correspondence was maintained between the authorities of ghent and the prince of chimay on the one side, and the united states-general, the magistracy of antwerp, the states of brabant, and other important bodies on the other. the friends of the union and of liberty used all their eloquence to arrest the city of ghent in its course, and to save the province of flanders from accepting the proposed arrangement with parma. the people of ghent were reminded that the chief promoter of this new negotiation was champagny, a man who owed a deep debt of hatred to their city, for the long, and as he believed, the unjust confinement which he had endured within its walls. moreover, he was the brother of granvelle, source of all their woes. to take counsel with champagny, was to come within reach of a deadly foe, for "he who confesses himself to a wolf," said the burgomasters of antwerp, "will get wolf's absolution." the flemings were warned by all their correspondents that it was puerile to hope for faith in philip; a monarch whose first principle was, that promises to heretics were void. they were entreated to pay no heed to the "sweet singing of the royalists," who just then affected to disapprove of the practice adopted by the spanish inquisition, that they might more surely separate them from their friends. "imitate not," said the magistrates of brussels, "the foolish sheep who made with the wolves a treaty of perpetual amity, from which the faithful dogs were to be excluded." it was affirmed--and the truth was certainly beyond peradventure--that religious liberty was dead at the moment when the treaty with parma should be signed. "to look for political privilege or evangelical liberty," said the antwerp authorities, "in any arrangement with the spaniards, is to look for light in darkness, for fire in water." "philip is himself the slave of the inquisition," said the states-general, "and has but one great purpose in life--to cherish the institution everywhere, and particularly in the netherlands. before margaret of parma's time, one hundred thousand netherlanders had been burned or strangled, and alva had spent seven years in butchering and torturing many thousands more." the magistrates of brussells used similar expressions. "the king of spain," said they to their brethren of ghent, "is fastened to the inquisition. yea, he is so much in its power, that even if he desired, he is unable to maintain his promises." the prince of orange too, was indefatigable in public and private efforts to counteract the machinations of parma and the spanish party in ghent. he saw with horror the progress which the political decomposition of that most important commonwealth was making, for he considered the city the keystone to the union of the provinces, for he felt with a prophetic instinct that its loss would entail that of all the southern provinces, and make a united and independent netherland state impossible. already in the summer of , he addressed a letter full of wisdom and of warning to the authorities of ghent, a letter in which he set fully before them the iniquity and stupidity of their proceedings, while at the same time he expressed himself with so much dexterity and caution as to avoid giving offence, by accusations which he made, as it were, hypothetically, when, in truth, they were real ones. these remonstrances were not fruitless, and the authorities and citizens of ghent once more paused ere they stepped from the precipice. while they were thus wavering, the whole negotiation with parma was abruptly brought to a close by a new incident, the demagogue imbize having been discovered in a secret attempt to obtain possession of the city of denremonde, and deliver it to parma. the old acquaintance, ally, and enemy of imbize, the seigneur de ryhove, was commandant of the city, and information was privately conveyed to him of the design, before there had been time for its accomplishment. ryhove, being thoroughly on his guard, arrested his old comrade, who was shortly afterwards brought to trial, and executed at ghent. john van imbize had returned to the city from which the contemptuous mercy of orange had permitted him formerly to depart, only to expiate fresh turbulence and fresh treason by a felon's death. meanwhile the citizens: of ghent; thus warned by word and deed, passed an earnest resolution to have no more intercourse with parma, but to abide faithfully by the union. their example was followed by the other flemish cities, excepting, unfortunately, bruges, for that important town, being entirely in the power of chimay, was now surrendered by him to the royal government. on the th of may, , baron montigny, on the part of parma, signed an accord with the prince of chimay, by which the city was restored to his majesty, and by which all inhabitants not willing to abide by the roman catholic religion were permitted to leave the land. the prince was received with favor by parma, on conclusion of the transaction, and subsequently met with advancement from the king, while the princess, who had embraced the reformed religion, retired to holland. the only other city of importance gained on this occasion by the government was ypres, which had been long besieged, and was, soon afterwards forced to yield. the new bishop, on taking possession, resorted to instant measures for cleansing a place which had been so long in the hands of the infidels, and as the first step in this purification, the bodies of many heretics who had been buried for years were taken from their graves, and publicly hanged in their coffins. all living adherents to the reformed religion were instantly expelled from the place. ghent and the rest of flanders were, for the time, saved from the power of spain, the inhabitants being confirmed in their resolution of sustaining their union with the other provinces by the news from france. early in the spring the negotiations between anjou and the states-general had been earnestly renewed, and junius, mouillerie, and. asseliers, had been despatched on a special mission to france, for the purpose of arranging a treaty with the duke. on the th of april, , they arrived in delft, on their return, bringing warm letters from the french court, full of promises to assist the netherlands; and it was understood that a constitution, upon the basis of the original arrangement of bordeaux, would be accepted by the duke. these arrangements were, however, for ever terminated by the death of anjou, who had been ill during the whole course of the negotiations. on the th of june, , he expired at chateau thierry, in great torture, sweating blood from every pore, and under circumstances which, as usual, suggested strong suspicions of poison. chapter vii. various attempts upon the life of orange--delft--mansion of the prince described--francis guion or balthazar girard--his antecedents--his correspondence and interviews with parma and with d'assonleville--his employment in france--his return to delft and interview with orange--the crime--the confession--the punishment-- the consequences--concluding remarks. it has been seen that the ban against the prince of orange had not been hitherto without fruits, for although unsuccessful, the efforts to take his life and earn the promised guerdon had been incessant. the attempt of jaureguy, at antwerp, of salseda and baza at bruges, have been related, and in march, , moreover, one pietro dordogno was executed in antwerp for endeavoring to assassinate the prince. before his death, he confessed that he had come from spain solely for the purpose, and that he had conferred with la motte, governor of gravelines, as to the best means of accomplishing his design. in april, , hans hanzoon, a merchant of flushing, had been executed for attempting to destroy the prince by means of gunpowder, concealed under his house in that city, and under his seat in the church. he confessed that he had deliberately formed the intention of performing the deed, and that he had discussed the details of the enterprise with the spanish ambassador in paris. at about the same time, one le goth, a captive french officer, had been applied to by the marquis de richebourg, on the part of alexander of parma, to attempt the murder of the prince. le goth had consented, saying that nothing could be more easily done; and that he would undertake to poison him in a dish of eels, of which he knew him to be particularly fond. the frenchman was liberated with this understanding; but being very much the friend of orange, straightway told him the whole story, and remained ever afterwards a faithful servant of the states. it is to be presumed that he excused the treachery to which he owed his escape from prison on the ground that faith was no more to be kept with murderers than with heretics. thus within two years there had been five distinct attempts to assassinate the prince, all of them, with the privity of the spanish government. a sixth was soon to follow. in the summer of , william of orange was residing at delft, where his wife, louisa de coligny, had given birth, in the preceding winter, to a son, afterwards the celebrated stadholder, frederic henry. the child had received these names from his two godfathers, the kings of denmark and of navarre, and his baptism had been celebrated with much rejoicing on the th of june, in the place of his birth. it was a quiet, cheerful, yet somewhat drowsy little city, that ancient burgh of delft. the placid canals by which it was intersected in every direction were all planted with whispering, umbrageous rows of limes and poplars, and along these watery highways the traffic of the place glided so noiselessly that the town seemed the abode of silence and tranquillity. the streets were clean and airy, the houses well built, the whole aspect of the place thriving. one of the principal thoroughfares was called the old delftstreet. it was shaded on both sides by lime trees, which in that midsummer season covered the surface of the canal which flowed between them with their light and fragrant blossoms. on one side of this street was the "old kirk," a plain, antique structure of brick, with lancet windows, and with a tall, slender tower, which inclined, at a very considerable angle, towards a house upon the other side of the canal. that house was the mansion of william the silent. it stood directly opposite the church, being separated by a spacious courtyard from the street, while the stables and other offices in the rear extended to the city wall. a narrow lane, opening out of delft-street, ran along the side of the house and court, in the direction of the ramparts. the house was a plain, two- storied edifice of brick, with red-tiled roof, and had formerly been a cloister dedicated to saint agatha, the last prior of which had been hanged by the furious lumey de la merck. the news of anjou's death had been brought to delft by a special messenger from the french court. on sunday morning, the th of july, , the prince of orange, having read the despatches before leaving his bed, caused the man who had brought them to be summoned, that he might give some particular details by word of mouth concerning the last illness of the duke. the courier was accordingly admitted to the prince's bed- chamber, and proved to be one francis guion, as he called himself. this man had, early in the spring, claimed and received the protection of orange, on the ground of being the son of a protestant at besancon, who had suffered death for--his religion, and of his own ardent attachment to the reformed faith. a pious, psalm-singing, thoroughly calvinistic youth he seemed to be having a bible or a hymn-book under his arm whenever he walked the street, and most exemplary in his attendance at sermon and lecture. for, the rest, a singularly unobtrusive personage, twenty-seven years of age, low of stature, meagre, mean-visaged, muddy complexioned, and altogether a man of no account--quite insignificant in the eyes of all who looked upon him. if there were one opinion in which the few who had taken the trouble to think of the puny, somewhat shambling stranger from burgundy at all coincided, it was that he was inoffensive but quite incapable of any important business. he seemed well educated, claimed to be of respectable parentage and had considerable facility of speech, when any person could be found who thought it worth while to listen to him; but on the whole he attracted little attention. nevertheless, this insignificant frame locked up a desperate and daring character; this mild and inoffensive nature had gone pregnant seven years with a terrible crime, whose birth could not much longer be retarded. francis guion, the calvinist, son of a martyred calvinist, was in reality balthazar gerard, a fanatical catholic, whose father and mother were still living at villefans in burgundy. before reaching man's estate, he had formed the design of murdering the prince of orange, "who, so long as he lived, seemed like to remain a rebel against the catholic king, and to make every effort to disturb the repose of the roman catholic apostolic religion." when but twenty years of age, he had struck his dagger with all his might into a door, exclaiming, as he did so, "would that the blow had been in the heart of orange!" for this he was rebuked by a bystander, who told him it was not for him to kill princes, and that it was not desirable to destroy so good a captain as the prince, who, after all, might one day reconcile himself with the king. as soon as the ban against orange was published, balthazar, more anxious than ever to execute his long-cherished design, left dole and came to luxemburg. here he learned that the deed had already been done by john jaureguy. he received this intelligence at first with a sensation of relief, was glad to be excused from putting himself in danger, and believing the prince dead, took service as clerk with one john duprel, secretary to count mansfeld, governor of luxemburg. ere long, the ill success of jaureguy's attempt becoming known, the "inveterate determination" of gerard aroused itself more fiercely than ever. he accordingly took models of mansfeld's official seals in wax, in order that he might make use of them as an acceptable offering to the orange party, whose confidence he meant to gain. various circumstances detained him, however. a sum of money was stolen, and he was forced to stay till it was found, for fear of being arrested as the thief. then his cousin and employer fell sick, and gerard was obliged to wait for his recovery. at last, in march, , "the weather, as he said, appearing to be fine," balthazar left luxemburg and came to treves. while there, he confided his scheme to the regent of the jesuit college--a "red-haired man" whose name has not been preserved. that dignitary expressed high approbation of the plan, gave gerard his blessing, and promised him that, if his life should be sacrificed in achieving his purpose, he should be enrolled among the martyrs. another jesuit, however, in the same college, with whom he likewise communicated, held very different language, making great efforts to turn the young man from his design, on the ground of the inconveniences which might arise from the forging of mansfeld's seals--adding, that neither he nor any of the jesuits liked to meddle with such affairs, but advising that the whole matter should be laid before the prince of parma. it does not appear that this personage, "an excellent man and a learned," attempted to dissuade the young man from his project by arguments, drawn from any supposed criminality in the assassination itself, or from any danger, temporal or eternal, to which the perpetrator might expose himself. not influenced, as it appears, except on one point, by the advice of this second ghostly confessor, balthazar came to tournay, and held council with a third--the celebrated franciscan, father gery--by whom he was much comforted and strengthened in his determination. his next step was to lay the project before parma, as the "excellent and learned" jesuit at treves had advised. this he did by a letter, drawn up with much care, and which he evidently thought well of as a composition. one copy of this letter he deposited with the guardian of the franciscan convent at tournay; the other he presented with his own hand to the prince of parma. "the vassal," said he, "ought always to prefer justice and the will of the king to his own life." that being the case, he expressed his astonishment that no man had yet been found to execute the sentence against william of nassau, "except the gentle biscayan, since defunct." to accomplish the task, balthazar observed, very judiciously, that it was necessary to have access, to the person of the prince--wherein consisted the difficulty. those who had that advantage, he continued, were therefore bound to extirpate the pest at once, without obliging his majesty to send to rome for a chevalier, because not one of them was willing to precipitate himself into the venomous gulf, which by its contagion infected and killed the souls and bodies, of all poor abused subjects, exposed to its influence. gerard avowed himself to have been so long goaded and stimulated by these considerations--so extremely nettled with displeasure and bitterness at seeing the obstinate wretch still escaping his just judgment--as to have formed the design of baiting a trap for the fox, hoping thus to gain access to him, and to take him unawares. he added--without explaining the nature of the trap and the bait--that he deemed it his duty to lay the subject before the most serene prince of parma, protesting at the same time that he did not contemplate the exploit for the sake of the reward mentioned in the sentence, and that he preferred trusting in that regard to the immense liberality of his majesty. parma had long been looking for a good man to murder orange, feeling--as philip, granvelle, and all former governors of the netherlands had felt-- that this was the only means of saving the royal authority in any part of the provinces. many unsatisfactory assassins had presented themselves from time to time, and alexander had paid money in hand to various individuals--italians, spaniards, lorrainers; scotchmen, englishmen, who had generally spent the sums received without attempting the job. others were supposed to be still engaged in the enterprise; and at that moment there were four persons--each unknown to the others, and of different nations--in the city of delft, seeking to compass the death of william the silent. shag-eared, military, hirsute ruffians--ex-captains of free companies and such marauders--were daily offering their services; there was no lack of them, and they had done but little. how should parma, seeing this obscures undersized, thin-bearded, runaway clerk before him, expect pith and energy from him? he thought him quite unfit for an enterprise of moment, and declared as much to his secret councillors and to the king. he soon dismissed him, after receiving his letters; and it may be supposed that the bombastic style of that epistle would not efface the unfavorable impression produced by balthazar's exterior. the representations of haultepenne and others induced him so far to modify his views as to send his confidential councillor, d'assonleville, to the stranger, in order to learn the details of the scheme. assonleville had accordingly an interview with gerard, in which he requested the young man to draw up a statement of his plan in writing, ani this was done upon the th of april, . in this letter gerard explained his plan of introducing himself to the notice of orange, at delft, as the son of an executed calvinist; as himself warmly, though secretly, devoted to the reformed faith, and as desirous, therefore, of placing himself in the prince's service, in order to avoid the insolence of the papists. having gained the confidence of those about the prince, he would suggest to them the great use which might be made of mansfeld's signet in forging passports for spies and other persons whom it might be desirous to send into the territory of the royalists. "with these or similar feints and frivolities," continued gerard, "he should soon obtain access to the person of the said nassau," repeating his protestation that nothing had moved him to his enterprise "save the good zeal which he bore to the faith and true religion guarded by the holy mother church catholic, apostolic, and roman, and to the service of his majesty." he begged pardon for having purloined the impressions of the seals--a turpitude which he would never have committed, but would sooner have suffered a thousand deaths, except for the great end in view. he particularly wished forgiveness for that crime before going to his task, "in order that he might confess, and receive the holy communion at the coming easter, without scruples of conscience." he likewise begged the prince of parma to obtain for him absolution from his holiness for this crime of pilfering--the more so "as he was about to keep company for some time with heretics and atheists, and in some sort to conform himself to their customs." from the general tone of the letters of gerard, he might be set down at once as a simple, religious fanatic, who felt sure that, in executing the command of philip publicly issued to all the murderers of europe, he was meriting well of god and his king. there is no doubt that he was an exalted enthusiast, but not purely an enthusiast. the man's character offers more than one point of interest, as a psychological phenomenon. he had convinced himself that the work which he had in hand was eminently meritorious, and he was utterly without fear of consequences. he was, however, by no means so disinterested as he chose to represent himself in letters which, as he instinctively felt, were to be of perennial interest. on the contrary, in his interviews with assonleville, he urged that he was a poor fellow, and that he had undertaken this enterprise in order to acquire property--to make himself rich--and that he depended upon the prince of parma's influence in obtaining the reward promised by the ban to the individual who should put orange to death. this second letter decided parma so far that he authorized assonleville to encourage the young man in his attempt, and to promise that the reward should be given to him in case of success, and to his heirs in the event of his death. assonleville, in the second interview, accordingly made known these assurances in the strongest manner to gerard, warning him, at the same time, on no account; if arrested, to inculpate the prince of parma. the councillor, while thus exhorting the stranger, according to alexander's commands, confined himself, however, to generalities, refusing even to advance fifty crowns, which balthazar had begged from the governor-general in order to provide for the necessary expenses of his project. parma had made similar advances too often to men who had promised to assassinate the prince and had then done little, and he was resolute in his refusal to this new adventurer, of whom he expected absolutely nothing. gerard, notwithstanding this rebuff, was not disheartened. "i will provide myself out of my own purse," said he to assonleville, "and within six weeks you will hear of me."--"go forth, my son," said assonleville, paternally, upon this spirited reply, "and if you succeed in your enterprise, the king will fulfil all his promises, and you will gain an immortal name beside." the "inveterate deliberation," thus thoroughly matured, gerard now proceeded to carry into effect. he came to delft; obtained a hearing of millers, the clergyman and intimate friend of orange, showed him the mansfeld seals, and was, somewhat against his will, sent to france, to exhibit them to marechal biron, who, it was thought, was soon to be appointed governor of cambray. through orange's recommendation, the burgundian was received into the suite of noel de caron, seigneur de schoneval, then setting forth on a special mission to the duke of anjou. while in france, gerard could rest neither by day nor night, so tormented was he by the desire of accomplishing his project, and at length he obtained permission, upon the death of the duke, to carry this important intelligence to the prince of orange. the despatches having been entrusted to him, he travelled posthaste to delft, and, to his astonishment, the letters had hardly been delivered before he was summoned in person to the chamber of the prince. here was an opportunity such as he had never dared to hope for. the arch-enemy to the church and to the human race, whose death, would confer upon his destroyer wealth and nobility in this world, besides a crown of glory in the next, lay unarmed, alone, in bed, before the man who had thirsted seven long years for his blood. balthazar could scarcely control his emotions sufficiently to answer the questions which the prince addressed to him concerning the death of anjou, but orange, deeply engaged with the despatches, and with the reflections which their deeply-important contents suggested, did not observe the countenance of the humble calvinist exile, who had been recently recommended to his patronage by millers. gerard, had, moreover, made no preparation for an interview so entirely unexpected, had come unarmed, and had formed no plan for escape. he was obliged to forego his prey when most within his reach, and after communicating all the information which the prince required, he was dismissed from the chamber. it was sunday morning, and the bells were tolling for church. upon leaving the house he loitered about the courtyard, furtively examining the premises, so that a sergeant of halberdiers asked him why he was waiting there. balthazar meekly replied that he was desirous of attending divine worship in the church opposite, but added, pointing to, his shabby and travel-stained attire, that, without at least a new pair of shoes and stockings, he was unfit to join the congregation. insignificant as ever, the small, pious, dusty stranger excited no suspicion in the mind of the good-natured sergeant. he forthwith spoke of the wants of gerard to an officer, by whom they were communicated to orange himself, and the prince instantly ordered a sum of money to be given him. thus balthazar obtained from william's charity what parma's thrift had denied--a fund for carrying out his purpose. next morning, with the money thus procured he purchased a pair of pistols, or small carabines, from a soldier, chaffering long about the price because the vender could not supply a particular kind of chopped bullets or slugs which he desired. before the sunset of the following day that soldier had stabbed himself to the heart, and died despairing, on hearing for what purpose the pistols had been bought. on tuesday, the th of july, , at about half-past twelve, the prince, with his wife on his arm, and followed by the ladies and gentlemen of his family, was going to the dining-room. william the silent was dressed upon that day, according to his usual custom, in very plain fashion. he wore a wide-leaved, loosely-shaped hat of dark felt; with a silken cord round the crown-such as had been worn by the beggars in the early days of the revolt. a high ruff encircled his neck, from which also depended one of the beggar's medals, with the motto, "fideles au roy jusqu'a la besace," while a loose surcoat of grey frieze cloth, over a tawny leather doublet, with wide, slashed underclothes completed his costume. gerard presented himself at the doorway, and demanded a passport. the princess, struck with the pale and agitated countenance of the man, anxiously questioned her husband concerning the stranger. the prince carelessly observed that "it was merely a person who came for a passport," ordering, at the same time, a secretary forthwith to prepare one. the princess, still not relieved, observed in an under-tone that "she had never seen so villainous a countenance." orange, however, not at all impressed with the appearance of gerard, conducted himself at table with his usual cheerfulness, conversing much with the burgomaster of leewarden, the only guest present at the family dinner, concerning the political and religious aspects of friesland. at two o'clock the company rose from table. the prince led the way, intending to pass to his private apartments above. the dining-room, which was on the ground floor, opened into a little square vestibule, which communicated, through an arched passageway, with the main entrance into the court-yard. this vestibule was also directly at the foot of the wooden staircase leading to the next floor, and was scarcely six feet in width. upon its left side, as one approached the stairway, was an, obscure arch, sunk deep in the wall, and completely in the shadow of the door. behind this arch a portal opened to the narrow lane at the side of the house. the stairs themselves were completely lighted by a large window, half way up the flight. the prince came from the dining-room, and began leisurely to ascend. he had only reached the second stair, when a man emerged from the sunken arch, and, standing within a foot or two of him, discharged a pistol full at his heart. three balls entered his body, one of which, passing quite through him, struck with violence against the wall beyond. the prince exclaimed in french, as he felt the wound, "o my god; have mercy upon my soul! o my god, have mercy upon this poor people." these were the last words he ever spoke, save that when his sister, catherine of schwartzburg, immediately afterwards asked him if he commended his soul to jesus christ, he faintly answered, "yes." his master of the horse, jacob van maldere, had caught him in his arms as the fatal shot was fired. the prince was then placed on the stairs for an instant, when he immediately began to swoon. he was afterwards laid upon a couch in the dining-room, where in a few minutes, he breathed his last in the arms of his wife and sister. the murderer succeeded in making his escape through the side door, and sped swiftly up the narrow lane. he had almost reached the ramparts, from which he intended to spring into the moat, when he stumbled over a heap of rubbish. as he rose, he was seized by several pages and halberdiers, who had pursued him from the house. he had dropped his pistols upon the spot where he had committed the crime, and upon his person were found a couple, of bladders, provided with apiece of pipe with which he had intended to assist himself across the moat, beyond which a horse was waiting for him. he made no effort to deny his identity, but boldly avowed himself and his deed. he was brought back to the house, where he immediately underwent a preliminary examination before the city magistrates. he was afterwards subjected to excruciating tortures; for the fury against the wretch who had destroyed the father of the country was uncontrollable, and william the silent was no longer alive to intercede--as he had often done before--in behalf of those who assailed his life. the organization of balthazar gerard would furnish a subject of profound study, both for the physiologist and the metaphysician. neither wholly a fanatic, nor entirely a ruffian, he combined the most dangerous elements of both characters. in his puny body and mean exterior were enclosed considerable mental powers and accomplishments, a daring ambition, and a courage almost superhuman. yet those qualities led him only to form upon the threshold of life a deliberate determination to achieve greatness by the assassin's trade. the rewards held out by the ban, combining with his religious bigotry and his passion for distinction, fixed all his energies with patient concentration upon the one great purpose for which he seemed to have been born, and after seven years' preparation, he had at last fulfilled his design. upon being interrogated by the magistrates, he manifested neither despair nor contrition, but rather a quiet exultation." like david," he said, "he had slain goliath of gath." when falsely informed that his victim was not dead, he showed no credulity or disappointment. he had discharged three poisoned balls into the prince's stomach, and he knew that death must have already ensued. he expressed regret, however, that the resistance of the halberdiers had prevented him from using his second pistol, and avowed that if he were a thousand leagues away he would return in order to do the deed again, if possible. he deliberately wrote a detailed confession of his crime, and of the motives and manner of its commission, taking care, however, not to implicate parma in the transaction. after sustaining day after day the most horrible tortures, he subsequently related his interviews with assonleville and with the president of the jesuit college at treves adding that he had been influenced in his work by the assurance of obtaining the rewards promised by the ban. during the intervals of repose from the rack he conversed with ease, and even eloquence, answering all questions addressed to him with apparent sincerity. his constancy in suffering so astounded his judges that they believed him supported by witchcraft. "ecce homo!" he exclaimed, from time to time, with insane blasphemy, as he raised his blood-streaming head from the bench. in order to destroy the charm which seemed to render him insensible to pain, they sent for the shirt of a hospital patient, supposed to be a sorcerer. when clothed in this garment, however, balthazar was none the less superior to the arts of the tormentors, enduring all their inflictions, according to an eye-witness, "without once exclaiming, ah me!" and avowing that he would repeat his enterprise, if possible, were he to die a thousand deaths in consequence. some of those present refused to believe that he was a man at all. others asked him how long since he had sold himself to the devil? to which he replied, mildly, that he had no acquaintance whatever with the devil. he thanked the judges politely for the food which he received in prison, and promised to recompense them for the favor. upon being asked how that was possible, he replied; that he would serve as their advocate in paradise. the sentence pronounced against the assassin was execrable--a crime against the memory of the great man whom it professed to avenge. it was decreed that the right hand of gerard should be burned off with a red-hot iron, that his flesh should be torn from his bones with pincers in six different places, that he should be quartered and disembowelled alive, that his heart should be torn from his bosom and flung in his face, and that, finally, his head should be taken off. not even his horrible crime, with its endless consequences, nor the natural frenzy of indignation which it had excited, could justify this savage decree, to rebuke which the murdered hero might have almost risen from the sleep of death. the sentence was literally executed on the th of july, the criminal supporting its horrors with the same astonishing fortitude. so calm were his nerves, crippled and half roasted as he was ere he mounted the scaffold, that when one of the executioners was slightly injured in the ear by the flying from the handle of the hammer with which he was breaking the fatal pistol in pieces, as the first step in the execution --a circumstance which produced a general laugh in the crowd--a smile was observed upon balthazar's face in sympathy with the general hilarity. his lips were seen to move up to the moment when his heart was thrown in his face--"then," said a looker-on, "he gave up the ghost." the reward promised by philip to the man who should murder orange was paid to the heirs of gerard. parma informed his sovereign that the "poor man" had been executed, but that his father and mother were still living; to whom he recommended the payment of that "merced" which "the laudable and generous deed had so well deserved." this was accordingly done, and the excellent parents, ennobled and enriched by the crime of their son, received instead of the twenty-five thousand crowns promised in the ban, the three seignories of lievremont, hostal, and dampmartin in the franche comte, and took their place at once among the landed aristocracy. thus the bounty of the prince had furnished the weapon by which his life was destroyed, and his estates supplied the fund out of which the assassin's family received the price of blood. at a later day, when the unfortunate eldest son of orange returned from spain after twenty-seven years' absence, a changeling and a spaniard, the restoration of those very estates was offered to him by philip the second, provided he would continue to pay a fixed proportion of their rents to the family of his father's murderer. the education which philip william had received, under the king's auspices, had however, not entirely destroyed all his human feelings, and he rejected the proposal with scorn. the estates remained with the gerard family, and the patents of nobility which they had received were used to justify their exemption from certain taxes, until the union of franche comte, with france, when a french governor tore the documents in pieces and trampled them under foot. william of orange, at the period of his death, was aged fifty-one years and sixteen days. he left twelve children. by his first wife, anne of egmont, he had one son, philip, and one daughter, mary, afterwards married to count hohenlo. by his second wife, anna of saxony; he had one son, the celebrated maurice of nassau, and two daughters, anna, married afterwards to her cousin, count william louis, and emilie, who espoused the pretender of portugal, prince emanuel. by charlotte of bourbon, his third wife, he had six daughters; and by his fourth, louisa de coligny, one son, frederic william, afterwards stadholder of the republic in her most palmy days. the prince was entombed on the rd of august, at delft, amid the tears of a whole nation. never was a more extensive, unaffected, and legitimate sorrow felt at the death of any human being. the life and labors of orange had established the emancipated common- wealth upon a secure foundation, but his death rendered the union of all the netherlands into one republic hopeless. the efforts of the malcontent nobles, the religious discord, the consummate ability, both political and military, of parma, all combined with the lamentable loss of william the silent to separate for ever the southern and catholic provinces from the northern confederacy. so long as the prince remained alive, he was the father of the whole country; the netherlands--saving only the two walloon provinces--constituting a whole. notwithstanding the spirit of faction and the blight of the long civil war, there was at least one country; or the hope of a country, one strong heart, one guiding head, for the patriotic party throughout the land. philip and granvelle were right in their estimate of the advantage to be derived from the prince's death, in believing that an assassin's hand could achieve more than all the wiles which spanish or italian statesmanship could teach, or all the armies which spain or italy could muster. the pistol of the insignificant gerard destroyed the possibility of a united netherland state, while during the life of william there was union in the policy, unity in the history of the country. in the following year, antwerp, hitherto the centre around which all the national interests and historical events group themselves, fell before the scientific efforts of parma. the city which had so long been the freest, as well as the most opulent, capital in europe, sank for ever to the position of a provincial town. with its fall, combined with other circumstances, which it is not necessary to narrate in anticipation, the final separation of the netherlands was completed. on the other hand, at the death of orange, whose formal inauguration as sovereign count had not yet taken place, the states of holland and zealand reassumed the sovereignty. the commonwealth which william had liberated for ever from spanish tyranny continued to exist as a great and flourishing republic during, more than two centuries, under the successive stadholderates of his sons and descendants. his life gave existence to an independent country--his death defined its limits. had he lived twenty years longer, it is probable that the seven provinces would have been seventeen; and that the spanish title would have been for ever extinguished both in nether germany and celtic gaul. although there was to be the length of two human generations more of warfare ere spain acknowledged the new government, yet before the termination of that period the united states had become the first naval power and one of the most considerable commonwealths in the world; while the civil and religious liberty, the political independence of the land, together with the total expulsion of the ancient foreign tyranny from the soil, had been achieved ere the eyes of william were closed. the republic existed, in fact, from the moment of the abjuration in . the most important features of the polity which thus assumed a prominent organization have been already indicated. there was no revolution, no radical change. the ancient rugged tree of netherland liberty--with its moss-grown trunk, gnarled branches, and deep-reaching roots--which had been slowly growing for ages, was still full of sap, and was to deposit for centuries longer its annual rings of consolidated and concentric strength. though lopped of some luxuriant boughs, it was sound at the core, and destined for a still larger life than even in the healthiest moments of its mediveval existence. the history of the rise of the netherland republic has been at the same time the biography of william the silent. this, while it gives unity to the narrative, renders an elaborate description of his character superfluous. that life was a noble christian epic; inspired with one great purpose from its commencement to its close; the stream flowing ever from one fountain with expanding fulness, but retaining all its original pity. a few general observations are all which are necessary by way of conclusion. in person, orange was above the middle height, perfectly well made and sinewy, but rather spare than stout. his eyes, hair, beard, and complexion were brown. his head was small, symmetrically-shaped, combining the alertness and compactness characteristic of the soldier; with the capacious brow furrowed prematurely with the horizontal lines of thought, denoting the statesman and the sage. his physical appearance was, therefore, in harmony, with his organization, which was of antique model. of his moral qualities, the most prominent was his piety. he was more than anything else a religious man. from his trust in god, he ever derived support and consolation in the darkest hours. implicitly relying upon almighty wisdom and goodness, he looked danger in the face with a constant smile, and endured incessant labors and trials with a serenity which seemed more than human. while, however, his soul was full of piety, it was tolerant of error. sincerely and deliberately himself a convert to the reformed church, he was ready to extend freedom of worship to catholics on the one hand, and to anabaptists on the other, for no man ever felt more keenly than he, that the reformer who becomes in his turn a bigot is doubly odious. his firmness was allied to his piety. his constancy in bearing the whole weight of struggle as unequal as men have ever undertaken, was the theme of admiration even to his enemies. the rock in the ocean, "tranquil amid raging billows," was the favorite emblem by which his friends expressed, their sense of his firmness. from the time when, as a hostage in france, he first discovered the plan of philip to plant the inquisition in the netherlands, up to the last moment of his life, he never faltered in his determination to resist that iniquitous scheme. this resistance was the labor of his life. to exclude the inquisition; to maintain the ancient liberties. of his country, was the task which he appointed to himself when a youth of three-and-twenty. never speaking a word concerning a heavenly mission, never deluding himself or others with the usual phraseology of enthusiasts, he accomplished the task, through danger, amid toils, and with sacrifices such as few men have ever been able to make on their country's altar; for the disinterested benevolence of the man was as prominent as his fortitude. a prince of high rank, and, with royal revenues, he stripped himself of station, wealth, almost at times of the common necessaries of life, and became, in his country's cause, nearly a beggar as well as an outlaw. nor was he forced into his career by an accidental impulse from which there was no recovery. retreat was ever open to him. not only pardon but advancement was urged upon him again and again. officially and privately, directly and circuitously, his confiscated estates, together with indefinite and boundless favors in addition, were offered to him on every great occasion. on the arrival of don john, at the breda negotiations, at the cologne conferences, we have seen how calmly these offers were waved aside, as if their rejection was so simple that it hardly required many words for its signification, yet he had mortgaged his estates so deeply that his heirs hesitated at accepting their inheritance, for fear it should involve them in debt. ten years after his death, the account between his executors and his brother john amounted to one million four hundred thousand florins--due to the count, secured by various pledges of real and personal property; and it was finally settled upon this basis. he was besides largely indebted to every one of his powerful relatives, so that the payment of the incumbrances upon his estate very nearly justified the fears of his children. while on the one hand, therefore, he poured out these enormous sums like water, and firmly refused a hearing to the tempting offers of the royal government, upon the other hand he proved the disinterested nature of his services by declining, year after year, the sovereignty over the provinces; and by only accepting, in the last days of his life, when refusal had become almost impossible, the limited, constitutional supremacy over that portion of them which now makes the realm of his descendants. he lived and died, not for himself, but for his country: "god pity this poor people!" were his dying words. his intellectual faculties were various and of the highest order. he had the exact, practical, and combining qualities which make the great commander, and his friends claimed that, in military genius, he was second to no captain in europe. this was, no doubt, an exaggeration of partial attachment, but it is certain that the emperor charles had an exalted opinion of his capacity for the field. his fortification of philippeville and charlemont, in the face of the enemy his passage of the meuse in alva's sight--his unfortunate but well-ordered campaign against that general--his sublime plan of relief, projected and successfully directed at last from his sick bed, for the besieged city of leyden-- will always remain monuments of his practical military skill. of the soldier's great virtues--constancy in disaster, devotion to duty, hopefulness in defeat--no man ever possessed a larger share. he arrived, through a series of reverses, at a perfect victory. he planted a free commonwealth under the very battery of the inquisition, in defiance of the most powerful empire existing. he was therefore a conqueror in the loftiest sense, for he conquered liberty and a national existence for a whole people. the contest was long, and he fell in the struggle, but the victory was to the dead hero, not to the living monarch. it is to be remembered, too, that he always wrought with inferior instruments. his troops were usually mercenaries, who were but too apt to mutiny upon the eve of battle, while he was opposed by the most formidable veterans of europe, commanded successively by the first captains of the age. that, with no lieutenant of eminent valor or experience, save only his brother louis, and with none at all after that chieftain's death, william of orange should succeed in baffling the efforts of alva, requesens, don john of austria, and alexander farnese--men whose names are among the most brilliant in the military annals of the world--is in itself, sufficient evidence of his warlike ability. at the period of his death he had reduced the number of obedient provinces to two; only artois and hainault acknowledging philip, while the other fifteen were in open revolt, the greater part having solemnly forsworn their sovereign. the supremacy of his political genius was entirely beyond question. he was the first statesman of the age. the quickness of his perception was only equalled by the caution which enabled him to mature the results of his observations. his knowledge of human nature was profound. he governed the passions and sentiments of a great nation as if they had been but the keys and chords of one vast instrument; and his hand rarely failed to evoke harmony even out of the wildest storms. the turbulent city of ghent, which could obey no other master, which even the haughty emperor could only crush without controlling, was ever responsive to the master-hand of orange. his presence scared away imbize and his bat-like crew, confounded the schemes of john casimir, frustrated the wiles of prince chimay, and while he lived, ghent was what it ought always to have remained, the bulwark, as it had been the cradle, of popular liberty. after his death it became its tomb. ghent, saved thrice by the policy, the eloquence, the self-sacrifices of orange, fell within three months of his murder into the hands of parma. the loss of this most important city, followed in the next year by the downfall of antwerp, sealed the fate of the southern netherlands. had the prince lived, how different might have been the country's fate! if seven provinces could dilate, in so brief a space, into the powerful commonwealth which the republic soon became, what might not have been achieved by the united seventeen; a confederacy which would have united the adamantine vigor of the batavian and frisian races with the subtler, more delicate, and more graceful national elements in which the genius of the frank, the roman, and the romanized celt were so intimately blended. as long as the father of the country lived, such a union was possible. his power of managing men was so unquestionable, that there was always a hope, even in the darkest hour, for men felt implicit reliance, as well on his intellectual resources as on his integrity. this power of dealing with his fellow-men he manifested in the various ways in which it has been usually exhibited by statesmen. he possessed a ready eloquence--sometimes impassioned, oftener argumentative, always rational. his influence over his audience was unexampled in the annals of that country or age; yet he never condescended to flatter the people. he never followed the nation, but always led her in the path of duty and of honor, and was much more prone to rebuke the vices than to pander to the passions of his hearers. he never failed to administer ample chastisement to parsimony, to jealousy, to insubordination, to intolerance, to infidelity, wherever it was due, nor feared to confront the states or the people in their most angry hours, and to tell them the truth to their faces. this commanding position he alone could stand upon, for his countrymen knew the generosity which had sacrificed his all for them, the self-denial which had eluded rather than sought political advancement, whether from king or people, and the untiring devotion which had consecrated a whole life to toil and danger in the cause of their emancipation. while, therefore, he was ever ready to rebuke, and always too honest to flatter, he at the same time possessed the eloquence which could convince or persuade. he knew how to reach both the mind and the heart of his hearers. his orations, whether extemporaneous or prepared--his written messages to the states-general, to the provincial authorities, to the municipal bodies--his private correspondence with men of all ranks, from emperors and kings down to secretaries, and even children--all show an easy flow of language, a fulness of thought, a power of expression rare in that age, a fund of historical allusion, a considerable power of imagination, a warmth of sentiment, a breadth of view, a directness of purpose--a range of qualities, in short, which would in themselves have stamped him as one of the master-minds of his century, had there been no other monument to his memory than the remains of his spoken or written eloquence. the bulk of his performances in this department was prodigious. not even philip was more industrious in the cabinet. not even granvelle held a more facile pen. he wrote and spoke equally well in french german, or flemish; and he possessed, besides; spanish, italian, latin. the weight of his correspondence alone would have almost sufficed for the common industry of a lifetime, and although many volumes of his speeches and, letters have been published, there remain in the various archives of the netherlands and germany many documents from his hand which will probably never see the light. if the capacity for unremitted intellectual labor in an honorable cause be the measure of human greatness, few minds could be compared to the "large composition" of this man. the efforts made to destroy the netherlands by the most laborious and painstaking of tyrants were counteracted by the industry of the most indefatigable of patriots. thus his eloquence, oral or written, gave him almost boundless power over his countrymen. he possessed, also, a rare perception of human character, together with an iron memory which never lost a face, a place, or an event, once seen or known. he read the minds even the faces of men, like printed books. no man could overreach him, excepting only those to whom he gave his heart. he might be mistaken where he had confided, never where he had been distrustful or indifferent. he was deceived by renneberg, by his brother-in-law van den berg, by the duke of anjou. had it been possible for his brother louis or his brother john to have proved false, he might have been deceived by them. he was never outwitted by philip, or granvelle, or don john, or alexander of parma. anna of saxony was false to him; and entered into correspondence with the royal governors and with the king of spain; charlotte of bourbon or louisa de coligny might have done the same had it been possible for their natures also to descend to such depths of guile. as for the aerschots, the havres, the chimays, he was never influenced either by their blandishments or their plots. he was willing to use them when their interest made them friendly, or to crush them when their intrigues against his policy rendered them dangerous. the adroitness with which he converted their schemes in behalf of matthias, of don john, of anjou, into so many additional weapons for his own cause, can never be too often studied. it is instructive to observe the wiles of the macchiavelian school employed by a master of the craft, to frustrate, not to advance, a knavish purpose. this character, in a great measure, marked his whole policy. he was profoundly skilled in the subtleties of italian statesmanship, which he had learned as a youth at the imperial court, and which he employed in his manhood in the service, not of tyranny, but of liberty. he fought the inquisition with its own weapons. he dealt with philip on his own ground. he excavated the earth beneath the king's feet by a more subtle process than that practised by the most fraudulent monarch that ever governed the spanish empire, and philip, chain-mailed as he was in complicated wiles, was pierced to the quick by a keener policy than his own. ten years long the king placed daily his most secret letters in hands which regularly transmitted copies of the correspondence to the prince of orange, together with a key to the ciphers and every other illustration which might be required. thus the secrets of the king were always as well known to orange as to himself; and the prince being as prompt as philip was hesitating, the schemes could often be frustrated before their execution had been commenced. the crime of the unfortunate clerk, john de castillo, was discovered in the autumn of the year , and he was torn to pieces by four horses. perhaps his treason to the monarch whose bread he was eating, while he received a regular salary from the king's most determined foe, deserved even this horrible punishment, but casuists must determine how much guilt attaches to the prince for his share in the transaction. this history is not the eulogy of orange, although, in discussing his character, it is difficult to avoid the monotony of panegyric. judged by a severe moral standard, it cannot be called virtuous or honorable to suborn treachery or any other crime, even to accomplish a lofty purpose; yet the universal practice of mankind in all ages has tolerated the artifices of war, and no people has ever engaged in a holier or more mortal contest than did the netherlands in their great struggle with spain. orange possessed the rare quality of caution, a characteristic by which he was distinguished from his youth. at fifteen he was the confidential counsellor, as at twenty-one he became the general-in-chief, to the most politic, as well as the most warlike potentate of his age, and if he at times indulged in wiles which modern statesmanship, even while it practises, condemns, he ever held in his hand the clue of an honorable purpose to guide him through the tortuous labyrinth. it is difficult to find any other characteristic deserving of grave censure, but his enemies have adopted a simpler process. they have been able to find few flaws in his nature, and therefore have denounced it in gross. it is not that his character was here and there defective, but that the eternal jewel was false. the patriotism was counterfeit; the self-abnegation and the generosity were counterfeit. he was governed only by ambition--by a desire of personal advancement. they never attempted to deny his talents, his industry, his vast sacrifices of wealth and station; but they ridiculed the idea that he could have been inspired by any but unworthy motives. god alone knows the heart of man. he alone can unweave the tangled skein of human motives, and detect the hidden springs of human action, but as far as can be judged by a careful observation of undisputed facts, and by a diligent collation of public and private documents, it would seem that no man--not even washington-- has ever been inspired by a purer patriotism. at any rate, the charge of ambition and self-seeking can only be answered by a reference to the whole picture which these volumes have attempted to portray. the words, the deeds of the man are there. as much as possible, his inmost soul is revealed in his confidential letters, and he who looks in a right spirit will hardly fail to find what he desires. whether originally of a timid temperament or not, he was certainly possessed of perfect courage at last. in siege and battle--in the deadly air of pestilential cities--in the long exhaustion of mind and body which comes from unduly protracted labor and anxiety--amid the countless conspiracies of assassins--he was daily exposed to death in every shape. within two years, five different attempts against his life had been discovered. rank and fortune were offered to any malefactor who would compass the murder. he had already been shot through the head, and almost mortally wounded. under such circumstances even a brave man might have seen a pitfall at every step, a dagger in every hand, and poison in every cup. on the contrary, he was ever cheerful, and hardly took more precaution than usual. "god in his mercy," said he, with unaffected simplicity, "will maintain my innocence and my honor during my life and in future ages. as to my fortune and my life, i have dedicated both, long since, to his service. he will do therewith what pleases him for his glory and my salvation." thus his suspicions were not even excited by the ominous face of gerard, when he first presented himself at the dining-room door. the prince laughed off his wife's prophetic apprehension at the sight of his murderer, and was as cheerful as usual to the last. he possessed, too, that which to the heathen philosopher seemed the greatest good--the sound mind in the sound body. his physical frame was after death found so perfect that a long life might have been in store for him, notwithstanding all which he had endured. the desperate illness of , the frightful gunshot wound inflicted by jaureguy in , had left no traces. the physicians pronounced that his body presented an aspect of perfect health. his temperament was cheerful. at table, the pleasures of which, in moderation, were his only relaxation, he was always animated and merry, and this jocoseness was partly natural, partly intentional. in the darkest hours of his country's trial, he affected a serenity which he was far from feeling, so that his apparent gaiety at momentous epochs was even censured by dullards, who could not comprehend its philosophy, nor applaud the flippancy of william the silent. he went through life bearing the load of a people's sorrows upon his shoulders with a smiling face. their name was the last word upon his lips, save the simple affirmative, with which the soldier who had been battling for the right all his lifetime, commended his soul in dying "to his great captain, christ." the people were grateful and affectionate, for they trusted the character of their "father william," and not all the clouds which calumny could collect ever dimmed to their eyes the radiance of that lofty mind to which they were accustomed, in their darkest calamities, to look for light. as long as he lived, he was the guiding-star of a whole brave nation, and when he died the little children cried in the streets. etext editor's bookmarks: bribed the deity forgiving spirit on the part of the malefactor great error of despising their enemy mistake to stumble a second time over the same stone modern statesmanship, even while it practises, condemns preferred an open enemy to a treacherous protector reformer who becomes in his turn a bigot is doubly odious unremitted intellectual labor in an honorable cause usual phraseology of enthusiasts writing letters full of injured innocence this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic, by john lothrop motley part vi. alexander of parma - . chapter i. birth, education, marriage, and youthful character of alexander farnese--his private adventures--exploits at lepanto and at gemblours--he succeeds to the government--personal appearance and characteristics--aspect of affairs--internal dissensions--anjou at mons--john casimir's intrigues at ghent--anjou disbands his soldiers--the netherlands ravaged by various foreign troops--anarchy and confusion in ghent--imbize and ryhove--fate of hessels and visch--new pacification drawn up by orange--representations of queen elizabeth--remonstrance of brussels riots and image-breaking in ghent--displeasure of orange--his presence implored at ghent, where he establishes a religious peace--painful situation of john casimir --sharp rebukes of elizabeth--he takes his departure--his troops apply to farnese, who allows them to leave the country--anjou's departure and manifesto--elizabeth's letters to the states-general with regard to him--complimentary addresses by the estates to the duke--death of bossu--calumnies against orange--venality of the malcontent grandees--la motte's treason--intrigues of the prior of renty--saint aldegonde at arras--the prior of st. vaast's exertions --opposition of the clergy in the walloon provinces to the taxation of the general government--triangular contest--municipal revolution in arras led by gosson and others--counter-revolution--rapid trials and executions--"reconciliation" of the malcontent chieftains-- secret treaty of mount st. eloi: mischief made by the prior of renty--his accusations against the reconciled lords--vengeance taken upon him--counter movement by the liberal party--union of utrecht-- the act analyzed and characterized. a fifth governor now stood in the place which had been successively vacated by margaret of parma, by alva, by the grand commander, and by don john of austria. of all the eminent personages to whom philip had confided the reins of that most difficult and dangerous administration, the man who was now to rule was by far the ablest and the best fitted for his post. if there were living charioteer skilful enough to guide the wheels of state, whirling now more dizzily than ever through "confusum chaos," alexander farnese was the charioteer to guide--his hand the only one which could control. he was now in his thirty-third year--his uncle don john, his cousin don carlos, and himself, having all been born within a few months of each other. his father was ottavio farnese, the faithful lieutenant of charles the fifth, and grandson of pope paul the third; his mother was margaret of parma, first regent of the netherlands after the departure of philip from the provinces. he was one of the twins by which the reunion of margaret and her youthful husband had been blessed, and the only one that survived. his great-grandfather, paul, whose secular name of alexander he had received, had placed his hand upon the new-born infant's head, and prophesied that he would grow up to become a mighty warrior. the boy, from his earliest years, seemed destined to verify the prediction. though apt enough at his studies, he turned with impatience from his literary tutors to military exercises and the hardiest sports. the din of arms surrounded his cradle. the trophies of ottavio, returning victorious from beyond the alps, had dazzled the eyes of his infancy, and when but six years of age he had witnessed the siege of his native parma, and its vigorous defence by his martial father. when philip was in the netherlands--in the years immediately succeeding the abdication of the emperor--he had received the boy from his parents as a hostage for their friendship. although but eleven years of age, alexander had begged earnestly to be allowed to serve as a volunteer on the memorable day of saint quentin, and had wept bitterly when the amazed monarch refused his request.--his education had been, completed at alcala, and at madrid, under the immediate supervision of his royal uncle, and in the companionship of the infante carlos and the brilliant don john. the imperial bastard was alone able to surpass, or even to equal the italian prince in all martial and manly pursuits. both were equally devoted to the chase and to the tournay; both longed impatiently for the period when the irksome routine of monkish pedantry, and the fictitious combats which formed their main recreation, should be exchanged for the substantial delights of war. at the age of twenty he had been affianced to maria of portugal; daughter of prince edward, granddaughter of king emanuel, and his nuptials with that peerless princess were; as we have seen, celebrated soon afterwards with much pomp in brussels. sons and daughters were born to him in due time, during his subsequent residence in parma. here, however, the fiery and impatient spirit of the future illustrious commander was doomed for a time to fret under restraint, and to corrode in distasteful repose. his father, still in the vigor of his years, governing the family duchies of parma and piacenza, alexander had no occupation in the brief period of peace which then existed. the martial spirit, pining for a wide and lofty sphere of action, in which alone its energies could be fitly exercised, now sought delight in the pursuits of the duellist and gladiator. nightly did the hereditary prince of the land perambulate the streets of his capital, disguised, well armed, alone, or with a single confidential attendant. every chance passenger of martial aspect whom he encountered in the midnight streets was forced to stand and measure swords with an unknown, almost unseen but most redoubtable foe, and many were the single combats which he thus enjoyed, so long as his incognito was preserved. especially, it was his wont to seek and defy every gentleman whose skill or bravery had ever been commended in his hearing: at last, upon one occasion it was his fortune to encounter a certain count torelli, whose reputation as a swordsman and duellist was well established in parma. the blades were joined, and the fierce combat had already been engaged in the darkness, when the torch of an accidental passenger gashed full in the face of alexander. torelli, recognising thus suddenly his antagonist, dropped his sword and implored forgiveness, for the wily italian was too keen not to perceive that even if the death of neither combatant should be the result of the fray, his own position was, in every event, a false one. victory would ensure him the hatred, defeat the contempt of his future sovereign. the unsatisfactory issue and subsequent notoriety of this encounter put a termination to these midnight joys of alexander, and for a season he felt obliged to assume more pacific habits, and to solace himself with the society of that "phoenix of portugal," who had so long sat brooding on his domestic hearth. at last the holy league was formed, the new and last crusade proclaimed, his uncle and bosom friend appointed to the command of the united troops of rome, spain, and venice. he could no longer be restrained. disdaining the pleadings of his mother and of his spouse, he extorted permission from philip, and flew to the seat of war in the levant. don john received him with open arms, just before the famous action of lepanto, and gave him an, excellent position in the very front of the battle, with the command of several genoese galleys. alexander's exploits on that eventful day seemed those of a fabulous hero of romance. he laid his galley alongside of the treasure-ship of the turkish fleet, a vessel, on account of its importance, doubly manned and armed. impatient that the crescent was not lowered, after a few broadsides, he sprang on board the enemy alone, waving an immense two-handed sword--his usual weapon--and mowing a passage right and left through the hostile ranks for the warriors who tardily followed the footsteps of their vehement chief. mustapha bey, the treasurer and commander of the ship, fell before his sword, besides many others, whom he hardly saw or counted. the galley was soon his own, as well as another, which came to the rescue of the treasure-ship only to share its defeat. the booty which alexander's crew secured was prodigious, individual soldiers obtaining two and three thousand ducats each. don john received his nephew after the battle with commendations, not, however, unmingled with censure. the successful result alone had justified such insane and desperate conduct, for had he been slain or overcome, said the commander-in-chief, there would have been few to applaud his temerity. alexander gaily replied by assuring his uncle that he had felt sustained by a more than mortal confidence, the prayers which his saintly wife was incessantly offering in his behalf since he went to the wars being a sufficient support and shield in even greater danger than he had yet confronted. this was alexander's first campaign, nor was he permitted to reap any more glory for a few succeeding years. at last, philip was disposed to send both his mother and himself to the netherlands; removing don john from the rack where he had been enduring such slow torture. granvelle's intercession proved fruitless with the duchess, but alexander was all eagerness to go where blows were passing current, and he gladly led the reinforcements which were sent to don john at the close of the year . he had reached luxemburg, on the th of december of that year, in time, as we have seen, to participate, and, in fact, to take the lead in the signal victory of gemblours. he had been struck with the fatal change which disappointment and anxiety had wrought upon the beautiful and haughty features of his illustrious kinsman. he had since closed his eyes in the camp, and erected a marble tablet over his heart in the little church. he now governed in his stead. his personal appearance corresponded with his character. he had the head of a gladiator, round; compact, combative, with something alert and snake-like in its movements. the black, closely-shorn hair was erect and bristling. the forehead was lofty and narrow. the features were, handsome, the nose regularly aquiline, the eyes well opened, dark piercing, but with something dangerous and sinister in their expression. there was an habitual look askance; as of a man seeking to parry or inflict a mortal blow--the look of a swordsman and professional fighter. the lower part of the face was swallowed in a bushy beard; the mouth and chin being quite invisible. he was of middle stature, well formed, and graceful in person, princely in demeanor, sumptuous and stately in apparel. his high ruff of point lace, his badge of the golden fleece, his gold-inlaid milan armor, marked him at once as one of high degree. on the field of battle he possessed the rare gift of inspiring his soldiers with his own impetuous and chivalrous courage. he ever led the way upon the most dangerous and desperate ventures, and, like his uncle and his imperial grandfather, well knew how to reward the devotion of his readiest followers with a poniard, a feather, a riband, a jewel, taken with his own hands from his own attire. his military, abilities--now for the first time to be largely called into employment--were unquestionably superior to those of don john; whose name had been surrounded with such splendor by the world-renowned battle of lepanto. moreover, he possessed far greater power for governing men, whether in camp or cabinet. less attractive and fascinating, he was more commanding than his kinsman. decorous and self-poised, he was only passionate before the enemy, but he rarely permitted a disrespectful look or word to escape condign and deliberate chastisement. he was no schemer or dreamer. he was no knight errant. he would not have crossed seas and mountains to rescue a captive queen, nor have sought to place her crown on his own head as a reward for his heroism. he had a single and concentrated kind of character. he knew precisely the work which philip required, and felt himself to be precisely the workman that had so long been wanted. cool, incisive, fearless, artful, he united the unscrupulous audacity of a condottiere with the wily patience of a jesuit. he could coil unperceived through unsuspected paths, could strike suddenly, sting mortally. he came prepared, not only to smite the netherlanders in the open field, but to cope with them in tortuous policy; to outwatch and outweary them in the game to which his impatient predecessor had fallen a baked victim. he possessed the art and the patience--as time was to prove--not only to undermine their most impregnable cities, but to delve below the intrigues of their most accomplished politicians. to circumvent at once both their negotiators and their men-at-arms was his appointed task. had it not been for the courage, the vigilance, and the superior intellect of a single antagonist, the whole of the netherlands would have shared the fate which was reserved for the more southern portion. had the life of william of orange been prolonged, perhaps the evil genius of the netherlands might have still been exorcised throughout the whole extent of the country. as for religion, alexander farnese was, of course, strictly catholic, regarding all seceders from romanism as mere heathen dogs. not that he practically troubled himself much with sacred matters--for, during the life-time of his wife, he had cavalierly thrown the whole burden of his personal salvation upon her saintly shoulders. she had now flown to higher spheres, but alexander was, perhaps, willing to rely upon her continued intercessions in his behalf. the life of a bravo in time of peace--the deliberate project in war to exterminate whole cities full of innocent people, who had different notions on the subject of image- worship and ecclesiastical ceremonies from those entertained at rome, did not seem to him at all incompatible with the precepts of jesus. hanging, drowning, burning and butchering heretics were the legitimate deductions of his theology. he was no casuist nor pretender to holiness: but in those days every man was devout, and alexander looked with honest horror upon the impiety of the heretics, whom he persecuted and massacred. he attended mass regularly--in the winter mornings by torch-light--and would as soon have foregone his daily tennis as his religious exercises. romanism was the creed of his caste. it was the religion of princes and gentlemen of high degree. as for lutheranism, zwinglism, calvinism, and similar systems, they were but the fantastic rites of weavers, brewers, and the like--an ignoble herd whose presumption in entitling themselves christian, while rejecting the pope; called for their instant extermination. his personal habits were extremely temperate. he was accustomed to say that he ate only to support life; and he rarely finished a dinner without having risen three or four times from table to attend to some public business which, in his opinion, ought not to be deferred. his previous connections in the netherlands were of use to him, and he knew how to turn them to immediate account. the great nobles, who had been uniformly actuated by jealousy of the prince of orange, who had been baffled in their intrigue with matthias, whose half-blown designs upon anjou had already been nipped in the bud, were now peculiarly in a position to listen to the wily tongue of alexander farnese. the montignys, the la mottes, the meluns, the egmonts, the aerschots, the havres, foiled and doubly foiled in all their small intrigues and their base ambition, were ready to sacrifice their country to the man they hated, and to the ancient religion which they thought that they loved. the malcontents ravaging the land of hainault and threatening ghent, the "paternoster jacks" who were only waiting for a favorable opportunity and a good bargain to make their peace with spain, were the very instruments which parma most desired to use at this opening stage of his career. the position of affairs was far more favorable for him than it had been for don john when he first succeeded to power. on the whole, there seemed a bright prospect of success. it seemed quite possible that it would be in parma's power to reduce, at last, this chronic rebellion, and to reestablish the absolute supremacy of church and king. the pledges of the ghent treaty had been broken, while in the unions of brussels which had succeeded, the fatal religious cause had turned the instrument of peace into a sword. the "religion-peace" which had been proclaimed at antwerp had hardly found favor anywhere. as the provinces, for an instant, had seemingly got the better of their foe, they turned madly upon each other, and the fires of religious discord, which had been extinguished by the common exertions of a whole race trembling for the destruction of their fatherland, were now re-lighted with a thousand brands plucked from the sacred domestic hearth. fathers and children, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, were beginning to wrangle, and were prepared to persecute. catholic and protestant, during the momentary relief from pressure, forgot their voluntary and most blessed pacification, to renew their internecine feuds. the banished reformers, who had swarmed back in droves at the tidings of peace and good-will to all men, found themselves bitterly disappointed. they were exposed in the walloon provinces to the persecutions of the malcontents, in the frisian regions to the still powerful coercion of the royal stadholders. persecution begat counter-persecution. the city of ghent became the centre of a system of insurrection, by which all the laws of god and man were outraged under the pretence of establishing a larger liberty in civil and religious matters. it was at ghent that the opening scenes, in parma's administration took place. of the high-born suitors for the netherland bride, two were still watching each other with jealous eyes. anjou was at mons, which city he had secretly but unsuccessfully attempted to master for, his, own purposes. john casimir was at ghent, fomenting an insurrection which he had neither skill to guide, nor intelligence to comprehend. there was a talk of making him count of flanders,--and his paltry ambition was dazzled by the glittering prize. anjou, who meant to be count of flanders himself, as well as duke or count of all the other netherlands, was highly indignant at this report, which he chose to consider true. he wrote to the estates to express his indignation. he wrote to ghent to offer his mediation between the burghers and the malcontents. casimir wanted money for his troops. he obtained a liberal supply, but he wanted more. meantime, the mercenaries were expatiating on their own account throughout the southern provinces; eating up every green leaf, robbing and pillaging, where robbery and pillage had gone so often that hardly anything was left for rapine. thus dealt the soldiers in the open country, while their master at ghent was plunging into the complicated intrigues spread over that unfortunate city by the most mischievous demagogues that ever polluted a sacred cause. well had cardinal granvelle, his enemy, william of hesse, his friend and kinsman, understood the character of john casimir. robbery and pillage were his achievements, to make chaos more confounded was his destiny. anjou--disgusted with the temporary favor accorded to a rival whom he affected to despise--disbanded his troops in dudgeon, and prepared to retire to france. several thousand of these mercenaries took service immediately with the malcontents under montigny, thus swelling the ranks of the deadliest foes to that land over which anjou had assumed the title of protector. the states' army, meanwhile, had been rapidly dissolving. there were hardly men enough left to make a demonstration in the field, or properly to garrison the more important towns. the unhappy provinces, torn by civil and religious dissensions, were overrun by hordes of unpaid soldiers of all nations, creeds, and tongues-spaniards, italians, burgundians, walloons, germans, scotch and english; some who came to attack and others to protect, but who all achieved nothing and agreed in nothing save to maltreat and to outrage the defenceless peasantry and denizens of the smaller towns. the contemporary chronicles are full of harrowing domestic tragedies, in which the actors are always the insolent foreign soldiery and their desperate victims. ghent energetic, opulent, powerful, passionate, unruly ghent--was now the focus of discord, the centre from whence radiated not the light and warmth of reasonable and intelligent liberty, but the bale-fires of murderous licence and savage anarchy. the second city of the netherlands, one of the wealthiest and most powerful cities of christendom, it had been its fate so often to overstep the bounds of reason and moderation in its devotion to freedom, so often to incur ignominious chastisement from power which its own excesses had made more powerful, that its name was already becoming a bye-word. it now, most fatally and for ever, was to misunderstand its true position. the prince of orange, the great architect of his country's fortunes, would have made it the keystone of the arch which he was laboring to construct. had he been allowed to perfect his plan, the structure might have endured for ages, a perpetual bulwark against, tyranny and wrong. the temporary and slender frame by which the great artist had supported his arch while still unfinished, was plucked away by rude and ribald hands; the keystone plunged into the abyss, to be lost for ever, and the great work of orange remained a fragment from its commencement. the acts of demagogues, the conservative disgust at licence, the jealousy of rival nobles, the venality of military leaders, threw daily fresh stumbling-blocks in his heroic path. it was not six months after the advent of farnese to power, before that bold and subtle chieftain had seized the double-edged sword of religious dissension as firmly as he had grasped his celebrated brand when he boarded the galley of muatapha bey, and the netherlands were cut in twain, to be re-united nevermore. the separate treaty of the walloon provinces was soon destined to separate the celtic and romanesque elements from the batavian and frisian portion of a nationality, which; thoroughly fused in all its parts, would have formed as admirable a compound of fire and endurance as history has ever seen. meantime, the grass was growing and the cattle were grazing in the streets of ghent, where once the tramp of workmen going to and from their labor was like the movement of a mighty army. the great majority of the burghers were of the reformed religion, and disposed to make effectual resistance to the malcontents, led by the disaffected nobles. the city, considering itself the natural head of all the southern country, was indignant that the walloon provinces should dare to reassert that supremacy of romanism which had been so effectually suppressed, and to admit the possibility of friendly relations with a sovereign who had been virtually disowned. there were two parties, however, in ghent. both were led by men of abandoned and dangerous character. imbize, the worse of the two demagogues, was inconstant, cruel, cowardly, and treacherous, but possessed of eloquence and a talent for intrigue. ryhove was a bolder ruffian--wrathful, bitter, and unscrupulous. imbize was at the time opposed to orange, disliking his moderation, and trembling at his firmness. ryhove considered himself the friend of the prince. we have seen that he had consulted him previously to his memorable attack upon aerschot, in the autumn of the preceding year, and we know the result of that conference. the prince, with the slight dissimulation which belonged less to his character than to his theory of politics, and which was perhaps not to be avoided, in that age of intrigue, by any man who would govern his fellow- men, whether for good or evil, had winked at a project which he would not openly approve. he was not thoroughly acquainted, however, with the desperate character of the man, for he would have scorned an instrument so thoroughly base as ryhove subsequently proved. the violence of that personage on the occasion of the arrest of aerschot and his colleagues was mildness compared with the deed with which he now disgraced the cause of freedom. he had been ordered out from ghent to oppose a force of malcontents which was gathering in the neighbourhood of courtray; but he swore that he would not leave the gates so long as two of the gentlemen whom he had arrested on the twenty-eighth of the previous october, and who yet remained in captivity, were still alive. these two prisoners were ex-procurator visch and blood-councillor hessels. hessels, it seemed, had avowed undying hostility to ryhove for the injury sustained at his hands, and he had sworn, "by his grey beard," that the ruffian should yet hang for the outrage. ryhove, not feeling very safe in the position of affairs which then existed, and knowing that he could neither trust imbize, who had formerly been his friend, nor the imprisoned nobles, who had ever been his implacable enemies, was resolved to make himself safe in one quarter at least, before he set forth against the malcontents. accordingly, hessels and visch, as they sat together in their prison, at chess, upon the th of october, , were suddenly summoned to leave the house, and to enter a carriage which stood at the door. a force of armed men brought the order, and were sufficiently strong to enforce it. the prisoners obeyed, and the coach soon rolled slowly through the streets, left the courtray gate, and proceeded a short distance along the road towards that city. after a few minutes a halt was made. ryhove then made his appearance at the carriage-window, and announced to the astonished prisoners that, they were forthwith to be hanged upon a tree which stood by the road-side. he proceeded to taunt the aged hessels with his threat against himself, and with his vow "by his grey beard." "such grey beard shalt thou never live thyself to wear, ruffian," cried hessels, stoutly-furious rather than terrified at the suddenness of his doom. "there thou liest, false traitor!" roared ryhove in reply; and to prove the falsehood, he straightway tore out a handful of the old man's beard, and fastened it upon his own cap like a plume. his action was imitated by several of his companions, who cut for themselves locks from the same grey beard, and decorated themselves as their leader had done. this preliminary ceremony having been concluded, the two aged prisoners were forthwith hanged on a tree, without-the least pretence of trial or even sentence. such was the end of the famous councillor who had been wont to shout "ad patibulum" in his sleep. it was cruel that the fair face of civil liberty showing itself after years of total eclipse, should be insulted by such bloody deeds on the part of her votaries. it was sad that the crimes of men like imbize and ryhove should have cost more to the cause of religious and political freedom than the lives of twenty thousand such ruffians were worth. but for the influence of demagogues like these, counteracting the lofty efforts and pure life of orange, the separation might never have occurred between the two portions of the netherlands. the prince had not power enough, however, nor the nascent commonwealth sufficient consistency, to repress the disorganizing tendency of a fanatical romanism on the one side, and a retaliatory and cruel ochlocracy on the other. such events, with the hatred growing daily more intense between the walloons and the ghenters, made it highly important that some kind of an accord should be concluded, if possible. in the country, the malcontents, under pretence of protecting the catholic clergy, were daily abusing and plundering the people, while in ghent the clergy were maltreated, the cloisters pillaged, under the pretence of maintaining liberty. in this emergency the eyes of all honest men turned naturally to orange. deputies went to and fro between antwerp and ghent, three points were laid down by the prince as indispensable to any arrangement--firstly, that the catholic clergy should be allowed the free use of their property; secondly, that they should not be disturbed in the exercise of their religion; thirdly, that the gentlemen kept in prison since the memorable twenty-eighth of october should be released. if these points should be granted, the archduke matthias, the states-general, and the prince of orange would agree to drive off the walloon soldiery, and to defend ghent against all injury. the two first points were granted, upon condition that sufficient guarantees should be established for the safety of the reformed religion. the third was rejected, but it was agreed that the prisoners, champagny, sweveghem, and the rest--who, after the horrid fate of hessels and visch, might be supposed to be sufficiently anxious as to their own doom--should have legal trial, and be defended in the meantime from outrage. on the rd of november, , a formal act of acceptance of these terms was signed at antwerp. at the same time, there was murmuring at ghent, the extravagant portion of the liberal party averring that they had no intention of establishing the "religious peace" when they agreed not to molest the catholics. on the th of november, the prince of orange sent messengers to ghent in the name of the archduke and the states-general, summoning the authorities to a faithful execution of the act of acceptance. upon the same day the english envoy, davidson, made an energetic representation to the same magistrates, declaring that the conduct of the ghenters was exciting regret throughout the world, and affording a proof that it was their object to protract, not suppress, the civil war which had so long been raging. such proceedings, he observed, created doubts whether they were willing to obey any law or any magistracy. as, however, it might be supposed that the presence of john casimir in ghent at that juncture was authorized by queen elizabeth-- inasmuch as it was known that he had received a subsidy from her--the envoy took occasion to declare that her majesty entirely disavowed his proceedings. he observed further that, in the opinion of her majesty, it was still possible to maintain peace by conforming to the counsels of the prince of orange and of the states-general. this, however, could be done only by establishing the three points which he had laid down. her majesty likewise warned the ghenters that their conduct would soon compel her to abandon the country's cause altogether, and, in conclusion, she requested, with characteristic thriftiness, to be immediately furnished with a city bond for forty-five thousand pounds sterling. two days afterwards, envoys arrived from brussels to remonstrate, in their turn, with the sister city, and to save her, if possible, from the madness which had seized upon her. they recalled to the memory of the magistrates the frequent and wise counsels of the prince of orange. he had declared that he knew of no means to avert the impending desolation of the fatherland save union of all the provinces and obedience to the general government. his own reputation, and the honor of his house, he felt now to be at stake; for, by reason of the offices which he now held, he had been ceaselessly calumniated as the author of all the crimes which had been committed at ghent. against these calumnies he had avowed his intention of publishing his defence. after thus citing the opinion of the prince, the envoys implored the magistrates to accept the religious peace which he had proposed, and to liberate the prisoners as he had demanded. for their own part, they declared that the inhabitants of brussels would never desert him; for, next to god, there was no one who understood their cause so entirely, or who could point out the remedy so intelligently. thus reasoned the envoys from the states-general and from brussels, but even while they were reasoning, a fresh tumult occurred at ghent. the people had been inflamed by demagogues, and by the insane howlings of peter dathenus, the unfrocked monk of poperingen, who had been the servant and minister both of the pope and of orange, and who now hated each with equal fervor. the populace, under these influences, rose in its wrath upon the catholics, smote all their images into fragments, destroyed all their altar pictures, robbed them of much valuable property, and turned all the papists themselves out of the city. the riot was so furious that it seemed, says a chronicler, as if all the inhabitants had gone raving mad. the drums beat the alarm, the magistrates went forth to expostulate, but no commands were heeded till the work of destruction had been accomplished, when the tumult expired at last by its own limitation. affairs seemed more threatening than ever. nothing more excited the indignation of the prince of orange than such senseless iconomachy. in fact, he had at one time procured an enactment by the ghent authorities, making it a crime punishable with death. he was of luther's opinion, that idol-worship was to be eradicated from the heart, and that then the idols in the churches would fall of themselves. he felt too with landgrave william, that "the destruction of such worthless idols was ever avenged by torrents of good human blood." therefore it may be well supposed that this fresh act of senseless violence, in the very teeth of his remonstrances, in the very presence of his envoys, met with his stern disapprobation. he was on the point of publishing his defence against the calumnies which his toleration had drawn upon him from both catholic and calvinist. he was deeply revolving the question, whether it were not better to turn his back at once upon a country which seemed so incapable of comprehending his high purposes, or seconding his virtuous efforts. from both projects he was dissuaded; and although bitterly wronged by both friend and foe, although, feeling that even in his own holland, there were whispers against his purity, since his favorable inclinations towards anjou had become the general topic, yet he still preserved his majestic tranquillity, and smiled at the arrows which fell harmless at his feet. "i admire his wisdom, daily more and more," cried hubert languet; "i see those who profess themselves his friends causing him more annoyance than his foes; while, nevertheless, he ever remains true to himself, is driven by no tempests from his equanimity, nor provoked by repeated injuries to immoderate action." the prince had that year been chosen unanimously by the four "members" of flanders to be governor of that province, but had again declined the office. the inhabitants, notwithstanding the furious transactions at ghent, professed attachment to his person, and respect for his authority. he was implored to go to the city. his presence, and that alone, would restore the burghers to their reason, but the task was not a grateful one. it was also not unattended with danger; although this was a consideration which never influenced him, from the commencement of his career to its close. imbize and his crew were capable of resorting to any extremity or any ambush; to destroy the man whom they feared and hated. the presence of john casimir was an additional complication; for orange, while he despised the man, was unwilling to offend his friends. moreover, casimir had professed a willingness to assist the cause, and to, defer to the better judgment of the prince: he had brought an army into the field, with which, however, he had accomplished nothing except a thorough pillaging of the peasantry, while, at the same time, he was loud in his demands upon the states to pay his soldiers' wages. the soldiers of the different armies who now overran the country, indeed, vied with each other in extravagant insolence. "their outrages are most execrable," wrote marquis havre; "they demand the most exquisite food, and drink champagne and burgundy by the bucketfull." nevertheless, on the th of december, the prince came to ghent. he held constant and anxious conferences with the magistrates. he was closeted daily with john casimir, whose vanity and extravagance of temper he managed with his usual skill. he even dined with imbue, and thus, by smoothing difficulties and reconciling angry passions, he succeeded at last in obtaining the consent of all to a religious peace, which was published on the th of december, . it contained the same provisions as those of the project prepared and proposed during the previous summer throughout the netherlands. exercise of both religions was established; mutual insults and irritations--whether by word, book, picture, song, or gesture--were prohibited, under severe penalties, while all persons were sworn to protect the common tranquillity by blood, purse, and life. the catholics, by virtue of this accord, re-entered into possession of their churches and cloisters, but nothing could be obtained in favor of the imprisoned gentlemen. the walloons and malcontents were now summoned to lay down their arms; but, as might be supposed, they expressed dissatisfaction with the religious peace, proclaiming it hostile to the ghent treaty and the brussels union. in short, nothing would satisfy them but total suppression of the reformed religion; as nothing would content imbize and his faction but the absolute extermination of romanism. a strong man might well seem powerless in the midst of such obstinate and worthless fanatics. the arrival of the prince in ghent was, on the whole, a relief to john casimir. as usual, this addle-brained individual had plunged headlong into difficulties, out of which he was unable to extricate himself. he knew not what to do, or which way to turn. he had tampered with imbue and his crew, but he had found that they were not the men for a person of his quality to deal with. he had brought a large army into the field, and had not a stiver in his coffers. he felt bitterly the truth of the landgrave's warning--"that 'twas better to have thirty thousand devils at one's back than thirty thousand german troopers, with no money to give them;" it being possible to pay the devils with the sign of the cross, while the soldiers could be discharged only with money or hard knocks. queen elizabeth, too, under whose patronage he had made this most inglorious campaign, was incessant in her reproofs, and importunate in her demands for reimbursement. she wrote to him personally, upbraiding him with his high pretensions and his shortcomings. his visit to ghent, so entirely unjustified and mischievous; his failure to effect that junction of his army with the states' force under bossu, by which the royal army was to have been surprised and annihilated; his having given reason to the common people to suspect her majesty and the prince of orange of collusion with his designs, and of a disposition to seek their private advantage and not the general good of the whole netherlands; the imminent danger, which he had aggravated, that the walloon provinces, actuated by such suspicions, would fall away from the "generality" and seek a private accord with parma; these and similar sins of omission and commission were sharply and shrewishly set forth in the queen's epistle. 'twas not for such marauding and intriguing work that she had appointed him her lieutenant, and furnished him with troops and subsidies. she begged him forthwith to amend his ways, for the sake of his name and fame, which were sufficiently soiled in the places where his soldiers had been plundering the country which they came to protect. the queen sent daniel rogers with instructions of similar import to the states-general, repeatedly and expressly disavowing casimir's proceedings and censuring his character. she also warmly insisted on her bonds. in short, never was unlucky prince more soundly berated by his superiors, more thoroughly disgraced by his followers. in this contemptible situation had casimir placed himself by his rash ambition to prove before the world that german princes could bite and scratch like griffins and tigers as well as carry them in their shields. from this position orange partly rescued him. he made his peace with the states-general. he smoothed matters with the extravagant reformers, and he even extorted from the authorities of ghent the forty-five thousand pounds bond, on which elizabeth had insisted with such obduracy. casimir repaid these favors of the prince in the coin with which narrow minds and jealous tempers are apt to discharge such obligations--ingratitude. the friendship which he openly manifested at first grew almost immediately cool. soon afterwards he left ghent and departed for germany, leaving behind him a long and tedious remonstrance, addressed to the states- general, in which document he narrated the history of his exploits, and endeavored to vindicate the purity of his character. he concluded this very tedious and superfluous manifesto by observing that--for reasons which he thought proper to give at considerable length--he felt himself "neither too useful nor too agreeable to the provinces." as he had been informed, he said, that the states-general had requested the queen of england to procure his departure, he had resolved, in order to spare her and them inconvenience, to return of his own accord, "leaving the issue of the war in the high and mighty hand of god." the estates answered this remonstrance with words of unlimited courtesy; expressing themselves "obliged to all eternity" for his services, and holding out vague hopes that the monies which he demanded on behalf of his troops should ere long be forthcoming. casimir having already answered queen elizabeth's reproachful letter by throwing the blame of his apparent misconduct upon the states-general, and having promised soon to appear before her majesty in person, tarried accordingly but a brief season in germany, and then repaired to england. here he was feasted, flattered, caressed, and invested with the order of the garter. pleased with royal blandishments, and highly enjoying the splendid hospitalities of england he quite forgot the "thirty thousand devils" whom he had left running loose in the netherlands, while these wild soldiers, on their part, being absolutely in a starving condition --for there was little left for booty in a land which had been so often plundered--now had the effrontery to apply to the prince of parma for payment of their wages. alexander farnese laughed heartily at the proposition, which he considered an excellent jest. it seemed in truth, a jest, although but a sorry one. parma replied to the messenger of maurice of saxony who had made the proposition, that the germans must be mad to ask him for money, instead of offering to pay him, a heavy sum for permission to leave the country. nevertheless, he was willing to be so far indulgent as to furnish them with passports, provided they departed from the netherlands instantly. should they interpose the least delay, he would set upon them without further preface, and he gave them notice, with the arrogance becoming a spanish general; that the courier was already waiting to report to spain the number of them left alive after the encounter. thus deserted by their chief, and hectored by the enemy, the mercenaries, who had little stomach for fight without wages, accepted the passports proffered by parma. they revenged themselves for the harsh treatment which they had received from casimir and from the states- general, by singing, everywhere as they retreated, a doggerel ballad --half flemish, half german--in which their wrongs were expressed with uncouth vigor. casimir received the news of the departure of his ragged soldiery on the very day which witnessed his investment with the garter by the fair hands of elizabeth herself. a few days afterwards he left england, accompanied by an escort of lords and gentlemen, especially appointed for that purpose by the queen. he landed in flushing, where he was received with distinguished hospitality, by order of the prince of orange, and on the th of february, , he passed through utrecht. here he conversed freely at his lodgings in the "german house" on the subject of his vagabond troops, whose final adventures and departure seemed to afford him considerable amusement; and he, moreover, diverted his company by singing, after supper, a few verses of the ballad already mentioned. o, have you been in brabant, fighting for the states? o, have you brought back anything except your broken pates? o, i have been in brabant, myself and all my mates. we'll go no more to brabant, unless our brains were addle, we're coming home on foot, we went there in the saddle; for there's neither gold nor glory got, in fighting for the states. the duke of anjou, meantime, after disbanding his troops, had lingered for a while near the frontier. upon taking his final departure, he sent his resident minister, des pruneaux, with a long communication to the states-general, complaining that they had not published their contract with himself, nor fulfilled its conditions. he excused, as well as he could, the awkward fact that his disbanded troops had taken refuge with the walloons, and he affected to place his own departure upon the ground of urgent political business in france, to arrange which his royal brother had required his immediate attendance. he furthermore most hypocritically expressed a desire for a speedy reconciliation of the provinces with their sovereign, and a resolution that--although for their sake he had made himself a foe to his catholic majesty--he would still interpose no obstacle to so desirable a result. to such shallow discourse the states answered with infinite urbanity, for it was the determination of orange not to make enemies, at that juncture, of france and england in the same breath. they had foes enough already, and it seemed obvious at that moment, to all persons most observant of the course of affairs, that a matrimonial alliance was soon to unite the two crowns. the probability of anjou's marriage with elizabeth was, in truth, a leading motive with orange for his close alliance with the duke. the political structure, according to which he had selected the french prince as protector of the netherlands, was sagaciously planned; but unfortunately its foundation was the shifting sandbank of female and royal coquetry. those who judge only by the result, will be quick to censure a policy which might have had very different issue. they who place themselves in the period anterior to anjou's visit to england, will admit that it was hardly human not to be deceived by the apolitical aspects of that moment. the queen, moreover, took pains to upbraid the states-general, by letter, with their disrespect and ingratitude towards the duke of anjou--behaviour with which he had been "justly scandalized." for her own part, she assured them of her extreme displeasure at learning that such a course of conduct had been held with a view to her especial contentment--"as if the person of monsieur, son of france, brother of the king, were disagreeable to her, or as if she wished him ill;" whereas, on the contrary, they would best satisfy her wishes by showing him all the courtesy to which his high degree and his eminent services entitled him. the estates, even before receiving this letter, had, however, acted in its spirit. they had addressed elaborate apologies and unlimited professions to the duke. they thanked him heartily for his achievements, expressed unbounded regret at his departure, with sincere hopes for his speedy return, and promised "eternal remembrance" of his heroic virtues. they assured him, moreover, that should the first of the following march arrive without bringing with it an honorable peace with his catholic majesty, they should then feel themselves compelled to declare that the king had forfeited his right to the sovereignty of these provinces. in this case they concluded that, as the inhabitants would be then absolved from their allegiance to the spanish monarch, it would then be in their power to treat with his highness of anjou concerning the sovereignty, according to the contract already existing. these assurances were ample, but the states, knowing the vanity of the man, offered other inducements, some of which seemed sufficiently puerile. they promised that "his statue, in copper, should be placed in the public squares of antwerp and brussels, for the eternal admiration of posterity," and that a "crown of olive-leaves should be presented to him every year." the duke--not inexorable to such courteous solicitations-- was willing to achieve both immortality and power by continuing his friendly relations with the states, and he answered accordingly in the most courteous terms. the result of this interchange of civilities it will be soon our duty to narrate. at the close of the year the count of bossu died, much to the regret of the prince of orange, whose party--since his release from prison by virtue of the ghent treaty--he had warmly espoused. "we are in the deepest distress in the world," wrote the prince to his brother, three days before the count's death, "for the dangerous malady of m. de bossu. certainly, the country has much to lose in his death, but i hope that god will not so much afflict us." yet the calumniators of the day did not scruple to circulate, nor the royalist chroniclers to perpetuate, the most senseless and infamous fables on the subject of this nobleman's death. he died of poison, they said, administered to him "in oysters," by command of the prince of orange, who had likewise made a point of standing over him on his death-bed, for the express purpose of sneering at the catholic ceremonies by which his dying agonies were solaced. such were the tales which grave historians have recorded concerning the death of maximilian of bossu, who owed so much to the prince. the command of the states' army, a yearly pension of five thousand florins, granted at the especial request of orange but a few months before, and the profound words of regret in the private letter jest cited, are a sufficient answer to such slanders. the personal courage and profound military science of parma were invaluable to the royal cause; but his subtle, unscrupulous, and subterranean combinations of policy were even more fruitful at this period. no man ever understood the art of bribery more thoroughly or practised it more skillfully. he bought a politician, or a general, or a grandee, or a regiment of infantry, usually at the cheapest price at which those articles could be purchased, and always with the utmost delicacy with which such traffic could be conducted. men conveyed themselves to government for a definite price--fixed accurately in florins and groats, in places and pensions--while a decent gossamer of conventional phraseology was ever allowed to float over the nakedness of unblushing treason. men high in station, illustrious by ancestry, brilliant in valor, huckstered themselves, and swindled a confiding country for as ignoble motives as ever led counterfeiters or bravoes to the gallows, but they were dealt with in public as if actuated only by the loftiest principles. behind their ancient shields, ostentatiously emblazoned with fidelity to church and king, they thrust forth their itching palms with the mendicity which would be hardly credible, were it not attested by the monuments more perennial than brass, of their own letters and recorded conversations. already, before the accession of parma to power, the true way to dissever the provinces had been indicated by the famous treason of the seigneur de la motte. this nobleman commanded a regiment in the service of the states-general, and was governor of gravelines. on promise of forgiveness for all past disloyalty, of being continued in the same military posts under philip which he then held for the patriots, and of a "merced" large enough to satisfy his most avaricious dreams, he went over to the royal government. the negotiation was conducted by alonzo curiel, financial agent of the king, and was not very nicely handled. the paymaster, looking at the affair purely as a money transaction--which in truth it was--had been disposed to drive rather too hard a bargain. he offered only fifty thousand crowns for la motte and his friend baron montigny, and assured his government that those gentlemen, with the soldiers under their command, were very dear at the price. la motte higgled very hard for more, and talked pathetically of his services and his wounds--for he had been a most distinguished and courageous campaigner--but alonzo was implacable. moreover, one robert bien-aime, prior of renty, was present at all the conferences. this ecclesiastic was a busy intriguer, but not very adroit. he was disposed to make himself useful to government, for he had set his heart upon putting the mitre of saint omer upon his head, and he had accordingly composed a very ingenious libel upon the prince of orange, in which production, "although the prior did not pretend to be apelles or lysippus," he hoped that the governor-general would recognize a portrait colored to the life. this accomplished artist was, however, not so successful as he was picturesque and industrious. he was inordinately vain of his services, thinking himself, said alonzo, splenetically, worthy to be carried in a procession like a little saint, and as he had a busy brain, but an unruly tongue, it will be seen that he possessed a remarkable faculty of making himself unpleasant. this was not the way to earn his bishopric. la motte, through the candid communications of the prior, found himself the subject of mockery in parma's camp and cabinet, where treachery to one's country and party was not, it seemed, regarded as one of the loftier virtues, however convenient it might be at the moment to the royal cause. the prior intimated especially that ottavio gonzaga had indulged in many sarcastic remarks at la motte's expense. the brave but venal warrior, highly incensed at thus learning the manner in which his conduct was estimated by men of such high rank in the royal service, was near breaking off the bargain. he was eventually secured, however, by still larger offers--don john allowing him three hundred florins a month, presenting him with the two best horses in his stable, and sending him an open form, which he was to fill out in the most stringent language which he could devise, binding the government to the payment of an ample and entirely satisfactory "merced." thus la motte's bargain was completed a crime which, if it had only entailed the loss of the troops under his command, and the possession of gravelines, would have been of no great historic importance. it was, however, the first blow of a vast and carefully sharpened treason, by which the country was soon to be cut in twain for ever--the first in a series of bargains by which the noblest names of the netherlands were to be contaminated with bribery and fraud. while the negotiations with la notte were in progress, the government of the states-general at brussels had sent saint aldegonde to arras. the states of artois, then assembled in that city, had made much difficulty in acceding to an assessment of seven thousand florins laid upon them by the central authority. the occasion was skillfully made use of by the agents of the royal party to weaken the allegiance of the province, and of its sister walloon provinces, to the patriot cause. saint aldegonde made his speech before the assembly, taking the ground boldly, that the war was made for liberty of conscience and of fatherland, and that all were bound, whether catholic or protestant, to contribute to the sacred fund. the vote passed, but it was provided that a moiety of the assessment should be paid by the ecclesiastical branch, and the stipulation excited a tremendous uproar. the clerical bench regarded the tax as both a robbery and an affront. "we came nearly to knife- playing," said the most distinguished priest in the assembly, "and if we had done so, the ecclesiastics would not have been the first to cry enough." they all withdrew in a rage, and held a private consultation upon "these exorbitant and more than turkish demands." john sarrasin, prior of saint yaast, the keenest, boldest, and most indefatigable of the royal partisans of that epoch, made them an artful harangue. this man --a better politician than the other prior--was playing for a mitre too, and could use his cards better. he was soon to become the most invaluable agent in the great treason preparing. no one could, be more delicate, noiseless, or unscrupulous, and he was soon recognized both by governor-general and king as the individual above all others to whom the re-establishment of the royal authority over the walloon provinces was owing. with the shoes of swiftness on his feet, the coat of darkness on his back, and the wishing purse in his hand, he sped silently and invisibly from one great malcontent chieftain to another, buying up centurions, and captains, and common soldiers; circumventing orangists, ghent democrats, anjou partisans; weaving a thousand intrigues, ventilating a hundred hostile mines, and passing unharmed through the most serious dangers and the most formidable obstacles. eloquent, too, at a pinch, he always understood his audience, and upon this occasion unsheathed the most incisive, if not the most brilliant weapon which could be used in the debate. it was most expensive to be patriotic, he said, while silver was to be saved, and gold to be earned by being loyal. they ought to keep their money to defend themselves, not give it to the prince of orange, who would only put it into his private pocket on pretence of public necessities. the ruward would soon be slinking back to his lair, he observed, and leave them all in the fangs of their enemies. meantime, it was better to rush into the embrace of a bountiful king, who was still holding forth his arms to them. they were approaching a precipice, said the prior; they were entering a labyrinth; and not only was the "sempiternal loss of body and soul impending over them, but their property was to be taken also, and the cat to be thrown against their legs." by this sudden descent into a very common proverbial expression, sarrasin meant to intimate that they were getting themselves into a difficult position, in which they were sure to reap both danger and responsibility. the harangue had much effect upon his hearers, who were now more than ever determined to rebel against the government which they had so recently accepted, preferring, in the words of the prior, "to be maltreated by their prince, rather than to be barbarously tyrannized over by a heretic." so much anger had been excited in celestial minds by a demand of thirty-five hundred florins. saint aldegonde was entertained in the evening at a great banquet, followed by a theological controversy, in which john sarrasin complained that "he had been attacked upon his own dunghill." next day the distinguished patriot departed on a canvassing tour among the principal cities; the indefatigable monk employing the interval of his absence in aggravating the hostility of the artesian orders to the pecuniary demands of the general government. he was assisted in his task by a peremptory order which came down from brussels, ordering, in the name of matthias, a levy upon the ecclesiastical property, "rings, jewels, and reliquaries," unless the clerical contribution should be forthcoming. the rage of the bench was now intense, and by the time of saint aldegonde's return a general opposition had been organized. the envoy met with a chilling reception; there were no banquets anymore--no discussions of any kind. to his demands for money, "he got a fine nihil," said saint vaast; and as for polemics, the only conclusive argument for the country would be, as he was informed on the same authority, the "finishing of orange and of his minister along with him." more than once had the prior intimated to government--as so many had done before him--that to "despatch orange, author of all the troubles," was the best preliminary to any political arrangement. from philip and his governor-general, down to the humblest partisan, this conviction had been daily strengthening. the knife or bullet of an assassin was the one thing needful to put an end to this incarnated rebellion. thus matters grew worse and worse in artois. the prior, busier than ever in his schemes, was one day arrested along with other royal emissaries, kept fifteen days "in a stinking cellar, where the scullion washed the dishes," and then sent to antwerp to be examined by the states-general. he behaved with great firmness, although he had good reason to tremble for his neck. interrogated by leoninus on the part of the central government, he boldly avowed that these pecuniary demands upon the walloon estates, and particularly upon their ecclesiastical branches, would never be tolerated. "in alva's time," said sarrasin, "men were flayed, but not shorn." those who were more attached to their skin than their fleece might have thought the practice in the good old times of the duke still more objectionable. such was not the opinion of the prior and the rest of his order. after an unsatisfactory examination and a brief duresse, the busy ecclesiastic was released; and as his secret labors had not been detected, he resumed them after his return more ardently than ever. a triangular intrigue was now fairly established in the walloon country. the duke of alencon's head-quarters were at mons; the rallying-point of the royalist faction was with la motte at gravelines; while the ostensible leader of the states' party, viscount ghent, was governor of artois, and supposed to be supreme in arras. la motte was provided by government with a large fund of secret-service money, and was instructed to be very liberal in his bribes to men of distinction; having a tender regard, however, to the excessive demands of this nature now daily made upon the royal purse. the "little count," as the prior called lalain, together with his brother, baron montigny, were considered highly desirable acquisitions for government, if they could be gained. it was thought, however, that they had the "fleur-de-lys imprinted too deeply upon their hearts," for the effect produced upon lalain, governor of hainault, by margaret of valois, had not yet been effaced. his brother also had been disposed to favor the french prince, but his mind was more open to conviction. a few private conferences with la motte, and a course of ecclesiastical tuition from the prior--whose golden opinions had irresistible resonance--soon wrought a change in the malcontent chieftain's mind. other leading seigniors were secretly dealt with in the same manner. lalain, heze, havre, capres, egmont, and even the viscount of ghent, all seriously inclined their ears to the charmer, and looked longingly and lovingly as the wily prior rolled in his tangles before them--"to mischief swift." few had yet declared themselves; but of the grandees who commanded large bodies of troops, and whose influence with their order was paramount, none were safe for the patriot cause throughout the walloon country. the nobles and ecclesiastics were ready to join hands in support of church and king, but in the city of arras, the capital of the whole country, there was a strong orange and liberal party. gosson, a man of great wealth, one of the most distinguished advocates in the netherlands, and possessing the gift of popular eloquence to a remarkable degree, was the leader of this burgess faction. in the earlier days of parma's administration, just as a thorough union of the walloon provinces in favor of the royal government had nearly been formed, these orangists of arras risked a daring stroke. inflamed by the harangues of gosson, and supported by five hundred foot soldiers and fifty troopers under one captain ambrose, they rose against the city magistracy, whose sentiments were unequivocally for parma, and thrust them all into prison. they then constituted a new board of fifteen, some catholics and some protestants, but all patriots, of whom gosson was chief. the stroke took the town by surprise; and was for a moment successful. meantime, they depended upon assistance from brussels. the royal and ecclesiastical party was, however, not so easily defeated, and an old soldier, named bourgeois, loudly denounced captain ambrose, the general of the revolutionary movement, as a vile coward, and affirmed that with thirty good men-at- arms he would undertake to pound the whole rebel army to powder--" a pack of scarecrows," he said, "who were not worth as many owls for military purposes." three days after the imprisonment of the magistracy, a strong catholic rally was made in their behalf in the fishmarket, the ubiquitous prior of saint vaast flitting about among the malcontents, blithe and busy as usual when storms were brewing. matthew doucet, of the revolutionary faction--a man both martial and pacific in his pursuits, being eminent both as a gingerbread baker and a swordplayer--swore he would have the little monk's life if he had to take him from the very horns of the altar; but the prior had braved sharper threats than these. moreover, the grand altar would have been the last place to look fox him on that occasion. while gosson was making a tremendous speech in favor of conscience and fatherland at the hotel de ville, practical john sarrasin, purse in hand, had challenged the rebel general, ambrose to private combat. in half an hour, that warrior was routed, and fled from the field at the head of his scarecrows, for there was no resisting the power before which the montignys and the la mottes had succumbed. eloquent gosson was left to his fate. having the catholic magistracy in durance, and with nobody to guard them, he felt, as was well observed by an ill- natured contemporary, like a man holding a wolf by the ears, equally afraid to let go or to retain his grasp. his dilemma was soon terminated. while he was deliberating with his colleagues--mordacq, an old campaigner, crugeot, bertoul, and others-- whether to stand or, fly, the drums and trumpets of the advancing royalists were heard. in another instant the hotel de ville was swarming with men-at-arms, headed by bourgeois, the veteran who had expressed so alighting an opinion as to the prowess of captain ambrose. the tables were turned, the miniature revolution was at an end, the counter- revolution effected. gosson and his confederates escaped out of a back door, but were soon afterwards arrested. next morning, baron capres, the great malcontent seignior, who was stationed with his regiment in the neighbourhood, and who had long been secretly coquetting with the prior and parma, marched into the city at the head of a strong detachment, and straightway proceeded to erect a very tall gibbet in front of the hotel de ville. this looked practical in the eyes of the liberated and reinstated magistrates, and gosson, crugeot, and the rest were summoned at once before them. the advocate thought, perhaps, with a sigh, that his judges, so recently his prisoners, might have been the fruit for another gallowstree, had he planted it when the ground was his own; but taking heart of grace, he encouraged his colleagues--now his fellow- culprits. crugeot, undismayed, made his appearance before the tribunal, arrayed in a corslet of proof, with a golden hilted sword, a scarf embroidered with pearls and gold, and a hat bravely plumaged with white, blue, and, orange feathers--the colors of william the silent--of all which finery he was stripped, however, as soon as he entered the court. the process was rapid. a summons from brussels was expected every hour from the general government, ordering the cases to be brought before the federal tribunal; and as the walloon provinces were not yet ready for open revolt, the order would be an inconvenient one. hence the necessity for haste. the superior court of artois, to which an appeal from the magistrates lay, immediately held a session in another chamber of the hotel de ville while the lower court was trying the prisoners, and bertoul, crugeot, mordacq, with several others, were condemned in a few hours to the gibbet. they were invited to appeal, if they chose, to the council of artois, but hearing that the court was sitting next door, so that there was no chance of a rescue in the streets, they declared themselves satisfied with the sentence. gosson had not been tried, his case being reserved for the morrow. meantime, the short autumnal day had drawn to a close. a wild, stormy, rainy night then set in, but still the royalist party--citizens and soldiers intermingled--all armed to the teeth, and uttering fierce cries, while the whole scene was fitfully illuminated with the glare of flambeaux and blazing tar-barrels, kept watch in the open square around the city hall. a series of terrible rembrandt-like nightpieces succeeded--grim, fantastic, and gory. bertoul, an old man, who for years had so surely felt himself predestined to his present doom that he had kept a gibbet in his own house to accustom himself to the sight of the machine, was led forth the first, and hanged at ten in the evening. he was a good man, of perfectly blameless life, a sincere catholic, but a warm partisan of orange. valentine de mordacq, an old soldier, came from the hotel de ville to the gallows at midnight. as he stood on the ladder, amid the flaming torches, he broke forth into furious execrations, wagging his long white beard to and fro, making hideous grimaces, and cursing the hard fate which, after many dangers on the battle-field and in beleaguered cities, had left him to such a death. the cord strangled his curses. crugeot was executed at three in the morning, having obtained a few hours' respite in order to make his preparations, which he accordingly occupied himself in doing as tranquilly as if he had been setting forth upon an agreeable journey. he looked like a phantom, according to eye-witnesses, as he stood under the gibbet, making a most pious and, catholic address to the crowd. the whole of the following day was devoted to the trial of gosson. he was condemned at nightfall, and heard by appeal before the superior court directly afterwards. at midnight, of the th of october, , he was condemned to lose his head, the execution to take place without delay. the city guards and the infantry under capres still bivouacked upon the square; the howling storm still continued, but the glare of fagots and torches made the place as light as day. the ancient advocate, with haggard eyes and features distorted by wrath, walking between the sheriff and a franciscan monk, advanced through the long lane of halberdiers, in the grand hall of the town house, and thence emerged upon the scaffold erected before the door. he shook his fists with rage at the released magistrates, so lately his prisoners, exclaiming that to his misplaced mercy it was owing that his head, instead of their own, was to be placed upon the block. he bitterly reproached the citizens for their cowardice in shrinking from dealing a blow for their fatherland, and in behalf of one who had so faithfully served them. the clerk of the court then read the sentence amid a silence so profound that every syllable he uttered, and, every sigh and ejaculation of the victim were distinctly heard in the most remote corner of the square. gosson then, exclaiming that he was murdered without cause, knelt upon the scaffold. his head fell while an angry imprecation was still upon his lips. several other persons of lesser note were hanged daring the week-among others, matthew doucet, the truculent man of gingerbread, whose rage had been so judiciously but so unsuccessfully directed against the prior of saint vaast. captain ambrose, too, did not live long to enjoy the price of his treachery. he was arrested very soon afterwards by the states' government in antwerp, put to the torture, hanged and quartered. in troublous times like those, when honest men found it difficult to keep their heads upon their shoulders, rogues were apt to meet their deserts, unless they had the advantage of lofty lineage and elevated position. "ille crucem sceleris pretium tulit, hic diadema." this municipal revolution and counter-revolution, obscure though they seem, were in reality of very grave importance. this was the last blow struck for freedom in the walloon country. the failure of the movement made that scission of the netherlands certain, which has endured till our days, for the influence of the ecclesiastics in the states of artois and hainault, together with the military power of the malcontent grandees, whom parma and john sarrasin had purchased, could no longer be resisted. the liberty of the celtic provinces was sold, and a few high-born traitors received the price. before the end of the year ( ) montigny had signified to the duke of alencon that a prince who avowed himself too poor to pay for soldiers was no master for him. the baron, therefore, came, to an understanding with la motte and sarrasin, acting for alexander farnese, and received the command of the infantry in the walloon provinces, a merced of four thousand crowns a year, together with as large a slice of la motte's hundred thousand florins for himself and soldiers, as that officer could be induced to part with. baron capres, whom sarrasin--being especially enjoined to purchase him-- had, in his own language, "sweated blood and water" to secure, at last agreed to reconcile himself with the king's party upon condition of receiving the government-general of artois, together with the particular government of hesdin--very lucrative offices, which the viscount of ghent then held by commission of the states-general. that politic personage, however, whose disinclination to desert the liberty party which had clothed him with such high functions, was apparently so marked that the prior had caused an ambush to be laid both for him and the marquis havre, in-order to obtain bodily possession of two such powerful enemies, now, at the last moment, displayed his true colors. he consented to reconcile himself also, on condition of receiving the royal appointment to the same government which he then held from the patriot authorities, together with the title of marquis de richebourg, the command of all the cavalry in the royalist provinces, and certain rewards in money besides. by holding himself at a high mark, and keeping at a distance, he had obtained his price. capres, for whom philip, at parma's suggestion, had sent the commission as governor of artois and of hesdin, was obliged to renounce those offices, notwithstanding his earlier "reconciliation," and the "blood and water" of john sarrasin. ghent was not even contented with these guerdons, but insisted upon the command of all the cavalry, including the band of ordnance which, with handsome salary, had been assigned to lalain as a part of the wages for his treason, while the "little count"--fiery as his small and belligerent cousin whose exploits have been recorded in the earlier pages of this history--boldly taxed parma and the king with cheating him out of his promised reward, in order to please a noble whose services had been less valuable than those of the lalain family. having thus obtained the lion's share, due, as he thought, to his well known courage and military talents, as well as to the powerful family influence, which he wielded--his brother, the prince of espinoy, hereditary seneschal of hainault, having likewise rallied to the king's party--ghent jocosely intimated to parma his intention of helping himself to the two best horses in the prince's stables in exchange for those lost at gemblours, in which disastrous action he had commanded the cavalry for the states. he also sent two terriers to farnese, hoping that they would "prove more useful than beautiful." the prince might have thought, perhaps, as much of the viscount's treason. john sarrasin, the all-accomplished prior, as the reward of his exertions, received from philip the abbey of saint vaast, the richest and most powerful ecclesiastical establishment in the netherlands. at a subsequent period his grateful sovereign created him archbishop of cambray. thus the "troubles of arras"--as they were called--terminated. gosson the respected, wealthy, eloquent, and virtuous advocate; together with his colleagues--all catholics, but at the same time patriots and liberals--died the death of felons for their unfortunate attempt to save their fatherland from an ecclesiastical and venal conspiracy; while the actors in the plot, having all performed well their parts, received their full meed of prizes and applause. the private treaty by which the walloon provinces of artois, hainault, lille, douay, and orchies, united themselves in a separate league was signed upon the th of january, ; but the final arrangements for the reconciliation of the malcontent nobles and their soldiers were not completed until april th, upon which day a secret paper was signed at mount saint eloi. the secret current of the intrigue had not, however, flowed on with perfect smoothness until this placid termination. on the contrary, here had been much bickering, heart-burning, and mutual suspicions and recriminations. there had been violent wranglings among the claimants of the royal rewards. lalain and capres were not the only malcontents who had cause to complain of being cheated of the promised largess. montigny, in whose favor parma had distinctly commanded la motte to be liberal of the king's secret-service money, furiously charged the governor of gravelines with having received a large supply of gold from spain, and of "locking the rascal counters from his friends," so that parma was obliged to quiet the baron, and many other barons in the same predicament, out of his own purse. all complained bitterly, too, that the king, whose promises had been so profuse to the nobles while the reconciliation was pending, turned a deaf ear to their petitions and left their letters unanswered; after the deed was accomplished. the unlucky prior of renty, whose disclosures to la motte concerning the spanish sarcasms upon his venality, had so nearly caused the preliminary negotiation with that seignior to fail, was the cause of still further mischief through the interception of alonzo curiel's private letters. such revelations of corruption, and of contempt on the part of the corrupters, were eagerly turned to account by the states' government. a special messenger was despatched to montigny with the intercepted correspondence, accompanied by an earnest prayer that he would not contaminate his sword and his noble name by subserviency to men who despised even while they purchased traitors. that noble, both confounded and exasperated, was for a moment inclined to listen to the voice of honor and patriotism, but reflection and solitude induced him to pocket up his wrongs and his "merced" together. the states-general also sent the correspondence to the walloon provincial authorities, with an eloquent address, begging them to study well the pitiful part which la motte had enacted in the private comedy then performing, and to behold as in a mirror their own position, if they did not recede ere it was too late. the only important effect produced by the discovery was upon the prior of renty himself. ottavio gonzaga, the intimate friend of don john, and now high in the confidence of parma, wrote to la motte, indignantly denying the truth of bien aime's tattle, and affirming that not a word had ever been uttered by himself or by any gentleman in his presence to the disparagement of the governor of gravelines. he added that if the prior had worn another coat, and were of quality equal to his own, he would have made him eat his words or a few inches of steel. in the same vehement terms he addressed a letter to bien aime himself. very soon afterwards, notwithstanding his coat and his quality, that unfortunate ecclesiastic found himself beset one dark night by two soldiers, who left him, severely wounded and bleeding nearly to death upon the high road, but escaping with life, he wrote to parma, recounting his wrongs and the "sword-thrust in his left thigh," and made a demand for a merced. the prior recovered from this difficulty only to fall into another, by publishing what he called an apologue, in which he charged that the reconciled nobles were equally false to the royal and to the rebel government, and that, although "the fatted calf had been killed for them, after they had so long been feeding with perverse heretical pigs," they were, in truth, as mutinous as ever, being bent upon establishing an oligarchy in the netherlands, and dividing the territory among themselves, to the exclusion of the sovereign. this naturally excited the wrath of the viscount and others. the seigneur d'auberlieu, in a letter written in what the writer himself called the "gross style of a gendarme," charged the prior with maligning honorable lords and--in the favorite colloquial phrase of the day--with attempting "to throw the cat against their legs." the real crime of the meddling priest, however, was to have let that troublesome animal out of the bag. he was accordingly waylaid again, and thrown into prison by count lalain. while in durance he published an abject apology for his apologue, explaining that his allusions to "returned prodigals," "heretic swine," and to "sodom and gomorrah," had been entirely misconstrued. he was, however, retained in custody until parma ordered his release on the ground that the punishment had been already sufficient for the offence. he then requested to be appointed bishop of saint omer, that see being vacant. parma advised the king by no means to grant the request--the prior being neither endowed with the proper age nor discretion for such a dignity--but to bestow some lesser reward, in money or otherwise, upon the discomfited ecclesiastic, who had rendered so many services and incurred so many dangers. the states-general and the whole national party regarded, with prophetic dismay, the approaching dismemberment of their common country. they sent deputation on deputation to the walloon states, to warn them of their danger, and to avert, if possible, the fatal measure. meantime, as by the already accomplished movement, the "generality" was fast disappearing, and was indeed but the shadow of its former self, it seemed necessary to make a vigorous effort to restore something like unity to the struggling country. the ghent pacification had been their outer wall, ample enough and strong enough to enclose and to protect all the provinces. treachery and religious fanaticism had undermined the bulwark almost as soon as reared. the whole beleaguered country was in danger of becoming utterly exposed to a foe who grew daily more threatening. as in besieged cities, a sudden breastwork is thrown up internally, when the outward defences are crumbling--so the energy of orange had been silently preparing the union of utrecht, as a temporary defence until the foe should be beaten back, and there should be time to decide on their future course of action. during the whole month of december, an active correspondence had been carried on by the prince and his brother john with various agents in gelderland, friesland, and groningen, as well as with influential personages in the more central provinces and cities. gelderland, the natural bulwark to holland and zealand, commanding the four great rivers of the country, had been fortunately placed under the government of the trusty john of nassau, that province being warmly in favor of a closer union with its sister provinces, and particularly with those more nearly allied to itself in religion and in language. already, in december ( ), count john, in behalf of his brother, had laid before the states of holland and zealand, assembled at gorcum, the project of a new union with "gelderland, ghent, friesland, utrecht, overyssel, and groningen." the proposition had been favorably entertained, and commissioners had been appointed to confer with other commissioners at utrecht, whenever they should be summoned by count john. the prince, with the silence and caution which belonged to his whole policy, chose not to be the ostensible mover in the plan himself. he did not choose to startle unnecessarily the archduke matthias--the cipher who had been placed by his side, whose sudden subtraction would occasion more loss than his presence had conferred benefit. he did not choose to be cried out upon as infringing the ghent pacification, although the whole world knew that treaty to be hopelessly annulled. for these and many other weighty motives, he proposed that the new union should be the apparent work of other hands, and only offered to him and to the country, when nearly completed. january, the deputies of gelderland and zutfelt, with count john, stadholder of these provinces, at their head, met with the deputies of holland, zealand, and the provinces between the ems and the lauwers, early in january, , and on the rd of that month, without waiting longer for the deputies of the other provinces, they agreed provisionally upon a treaty of union which was published afterwards on the th, from the town house of utrecht. this memorable document--which is ever regarded as the foundation of the netherland republic--contained twenty-six articles. the preamble stated the object of the union. it was to strengthen, not to forsake the ghent pacification, already nearly annihilated by the force of foreign soldiery. for this purpose, and in order more conveniently to defend themselves against their foes, the deputies of gelderland, zutfen, holland, zealand, utrecht, and the frisian provinces, thought it desirable to form a still closer union. the contracting provinces agreed to remain eternally united, as if they were but one province. at the same time, it was understood that each was to retain its particular privileges, liberties, laudable and traditionary customs, and other laws. the cities, corporations, and inhabitants of every province were to be guaranteed as to their ancient constitutions. disputes concerning these various statutes and customs were to be decided by the usual tribunals, by "good men," or by amicable compromise. the provinces, by virtue of the union, were to defend each other "with life, goods, and blood," against all force brought against them in the king's name or behalf. they were also to defend each other against all foreign or domestic potentates, provinces, or cities, provided such defence were controlled by the "generality" of the union. for the expense occasioned by the protection of the provinces, certain imposts and excises were to be equally assessed and collected. no truce or peace was to be concluded, no war commenced, no impost established affecting the "generality," but by unanimous advice and consent of the provinces. upon other matters the majority was to decide; the votes being taken in the manner then customary in the assembly of states-general. in case of difficulty in coming to a unanimous vote when required, the matter was to be referred to the stadholders then in office. in case cf their inability to agree, they were to appoint arbitrators, by whose decision the parties were to be governed. none of the united provinces, or of their cities or corporations, were to make treaties with other potentates or states, without consent of their confederates. if neighbouring princes, provinces, or cities, wished to enter into this confederacy, they were to be received by the unanimous consent of the united provinces. a common currency was to be established for the confederacy. in the matter of divine worship, holland and zealand were to conduct themselves as they should think proper. the other provinces of the union, however, were either to conform to the religious peace already laid down by archduke matthias and his council, or to make such other arrangements as each province should for itself consider appropriate for the maintenance of its internal tranquillity--provided always that every individual should remain free in his religion, and that no man should be molested or questioned on the subject of divine worship, as had been already established by the ghent pacification. as a certain dispute arose concerning the meaning of this important clause, an additional paragraph was inserted a few days afterwards. in this it was stated that there was no intention of excluding from the confederacy any province or city which was wholly catholic, or in which the number of the reformed was not sufficiently large to entitle them, by the religious peace, to public worship. on the contrary, the intention was to admit them, provided they obeyed the articles of union, and conducted themselves as good patriots; it being intended that no province or city should interfere with another in the matter of divine service. disputes between two provinces were to be decided by the others, or--in case the generality were concerned--by the provisions of the ninth article. the confederates were to assemble at utrecht whenever summoned by those commissioned for that purpose. a majority of votes was to decide on matters then brought before them, even in case of the absence of some members of the confederacy, who might, however, send written proxies. additions or amendments to these articles could only be made by unanimous consent. the articles were to be signed by the stadholders, magistrates, and principal officers of each province and city, and by all the train- bands, fraternities, and sodalities which might exist in the cities or villages of the union. such were the simple provisions of that instrument which became the foundation of the powerful commonwealth of the united netherlands. on the day when it was concluded, there were present deputies from five provinces only. count john of nassau signed first, as stadholder of gelderland and zutfen. his signature was followed by those of four deputies from that double province; and the envoys of holland, zealand, utrecht and the frisian provinces, then signed the document. the prince himself, although in reality the principal director of the movement, delayed appending his signature until may the rd, . herein he was actuated by the reasons already stated, and by the hope which he still entertained that a wider union might be established, with matthias for its nominal chief. his enemies, as usual, attributed this patriotic delay to baser motives. they accused him of a desire to assume the governor-generalship himself, to the exclusion of the archduke-- an insinuation which the states of holland took occasion formally to denounce as a calumny. for those who have studied the character and history of the man, a defence against such slander is superfluous. matthias was but the shadow, orange the substance. the archduke had been accepted only to obviate the evil effects of a political intrigue, and with the express condition that the prince should be his lieutenant- general in name, his master in fact. directly after his departure in the following year, the prince's authority, which nominally departed also, was re-established in his own person, and by express act of the states- general. the union of utrecht was the foundation-stone of the netherland republic; but the framers of the confederacy did not intend the establishment of a republic, or of an independent commonwealth of any kind. they had not forsworn the spanish monarch. it was not yet their intention to forswear him. certainly the act of union contained no allusion to such an important step. on the contrary, in the brief preamble they expressly stated their intention to strengthen the ghent pacification, and the ghent pacification acknowledged obedience to the king. they intended no political innovation of any kind. they expressly accepted matters as they were. all statutes, charters, and privileges of provinces, cities, or corporations were to remain untouched. they intended to form neither an independent state nor an independent federal system. no doubt the formal renunciation of allegiance, which was to follow within two years, was contemplated by many as a future probability; but it could not be foreseen with certainty. the simple act of union was not regarded as the constitution of a commonwealth. its object was a single one--defence against a foreign oppressor. the contracting parties bound themselves together to spend all their treasure and all their blood in expelling the foreign soldiery from their soil. to accomplish this purpose, they carefully abstained from intermeddling with internal politics and with religion. every man was to worship god according to the dictates of his conscience. every combination of citizens, from the provincial states down to the humblest rhetoric club, was to retain its ancient constitution. the establishment of a republic, which lasted two centuries, which threw a girdle of rich dependencies entirely round the globe, and which attained so remarkable a height of commercial prosperity and political influence, was the result of the utrecht union; but, it was not a premeditated result. a state, single towards the rest of the world, a unit in its external relations, while permitting internally a variety of sovereignties and institutions-- in many respects the prototype of our own much more extensive and powerful union--was destined to spring from the act thus signed by the envoys of five provinces. those envoys were acting, however, under the pressure of extreme necessity, and for what was believed an evanescent purpose. the future confederacy was not to resemble the system of the german empire, for it was to acknowledge no single head. it was to differ from the achaian league, in the far inferior amount of power which it permitted to its general assembly, and in the consequently greater proportion of sovereign attributes which were retained by the individual states. it was, on the other hand, to furnish a closer and more intimate bond than that of the swiss confederacy, which was only a union for defence and external purposes, of cantons otherwise independent. it was, finally, to differ from the american federal commonwealth in the great feature that it was to be merely a confederacy of sovereignties, not a representative republic. its foundation was a compact, not a constitution. the contracting parties were states and corporations, who considered themselves as representing small nationalities 'dejure et de facto', and as succeeding to the supreme power at the very instant in which allegiance to the spanish monarch was renounced. the general assembly was a collection of diplomatic envoys, bound by instructions from independent states. the voting was not by heads, but by states. the deputies were not representatives of the people, but of the states; for the people of the united states of the netherlands never assembled-- as did the people of the united states of america two centuries later--to lay down a constitution, by which they granted a generous amount of power to the union, while they reserved enough of sovereign attributes to secure that local self-government which is the life-blood of liberty. the union of utrecht; narrowed as it was to the nether portion of that country which, as a whole, might have formed a commonwealth so much more powerful, was in origin a proof of this lamentable want of patriotism. could the jealousy of great nobles, the rancour of religious differences, the catholic bigotry of the walloon population, on the one side, contending with the democratic insanity of the ghent populace on the other, have been restrained within bounds by the moderate counsels of william of orange, it would have been possible to unite seventeen provinces instead of seven, and to save many long and blighting years of civil war. the utrecht union was, however, of inestimable value. it was time for some step to be taken, if anarchy were not to reign until the inquisition and absolutism were restored. already, out of chaos and night, the coming republic was assuming substance and form. the union, if it created nothing else, at least constructed a league against a foreign foe whose armed masses were pouring faster and faster into the territory of the provinces. farther than this it did not propose to go. it maintained what it found. it guaranteed religious liberty, and accepted the civil and political constitutions already in existence. meantime, the defects of those constitutions, although visible and sensible, had not grown to the large proportions which they were destined to attain. thus by the union of utrecht on the one hand, and the fast approaching reconciliation of the walloon provinces on the other, the work of decomposition and of construction went land in hand. etext editor's bookmarks: are apt to discharge such obligations--(by) ingratitude like a man holding a wolf by the ears local self-government which is the life-blood of liberty no man ever understood the art of bribery more thoroughly not so successful as he was picturesque plundering the country which they came to protect presumption in entitling themselves christian protect the common tranquillity by blood, purse, and life republic, which lasted two centuries throw the cat against their legs worship god according to the dictates of his conscience this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic, - by john lothrop motley chapter ii. parma's feint upon antwerp--he invests maestricht--deputation and letters from the states-general, from brussels, and from parma, to the walloon provinces--active negotiations by orange and by farnese --walloon envoys in parma's camp before maestricht--festivities--the treaty of reconciliation--rejoicings of the royalist party--comedy enacted at the paris theatres--religious tumults in antwerp, utrecht, and other cities--religious peace enforced by orange-- philip egmont's unsuccessful attempt upon brussels--siege of maestricht--failure at the tongres gate--mining and countermining-- partial destruction of the tongres ravelin--simultaneous attack upon the tongres and bolls-le-duo gates--the spaniards repulsed with great loss--gradual encroachments of the besiegers--bloody contests --the town taken--horrible massacre--triumphal entrance and solemn thanksgiving--calumnious attacks upon orange--renewed troubles in ghent--imbue and dathenus--the presence of the prince solicited-- coup d'etat of imbue--order restored, and imbue expelled by orange the political movements in both directions were to be hastened by the military operations of the opening season. on the night of the nd of march, , the prince of parma made a demonstration against antwerp. a body of three thousand scotch and english, lying at borgerhout, was rapidly driven in, and a warm skirmish ensued, directly under the walls of the city. the prince of orange, with the archduke matthias, being in antwerp at the time, remained on the fortifications; superintending the action, and parma was obliged to retire after an hour or two of sharp fighting, with a loss of four hundred men. this demonstration was, however, only a feint. his real design was upon maestricht; before which important city he appeared in great force, ten days afterwards, when he was least expected. well fortified, surrounded by a broad and deep moat; built upon both sides of the meuse, upon the right bank of which river, however, the portion of the town was so inconsiderable that it was merely called the village of wyk, this key to the german gate of the netherlands was, unfortunately, in brave but feeble hands. the garrison was hardly one thousand strong; the trained bands of burghers amounted to twelve hundred more; while between three and four thousand peasants; who had taken refuge within the city walls, did excellent service as sappers and miners. parma, on the other hand, had appeared before the walls with twenty thousand men; to which number he received constant reinforcements. the bishop of liege, too, had sent him four thousand pioneers--a most important service; for mining and countermining was to decide the fate of maestricht. early in january the royalists had surprised the strong chateau of carpen, in the neighbourhood of the city, upon which occasion the garrison were all hanged by moonlight on the trees in the orchard. the commandant shared their fate; and it is a curious fact that he had, precisely a year previously, hanged the royalist captain, blomaert, on the same spot, who, with the rope around his neck, had foretold a like doom to his destroyer. the prince of orange, feeling the danger of maestricht, lost no time in warning the states to the necessary measures, imploring them "not to fall asleep in the shade of a peace negotiation," while meantime parma threw two bridges over the meuse, above and below the city, and then invested the place so closely that all communication was absolutely suspended. letters could pass to and fro only at extreme peril to the messengers, and all possibility of reinforcing the city at the moment was cut off. while this eventful siege was proceeding, the negotiations with the walloons were ripening. the siege and the conferences went hand in hand. besides the secret arrangements already described for the separation of the walloon provinces, there had been much earnest and eloquent remonstrance on the part of the states-general and of orange--many solemn embassies and public appeals. as usual, the pacification of ghent was the two-sided shield which hung between the parties to cover or to justify the blows which each dealt at the other. there is no doubt as to the real opinion entertained concerning that famous treaty by the royal party. "through the peace of ghent," said saint vaast, "all our woes have been brought upon us." la motte informed parma that it was necessary to pretend a respect for the pacification, however, on account of its popularity, but that it was well understood by the leaders of the walloon movement, that the intention was to restore the system of charles the fifth. parma signified his consent to make use of that treaty as a basis, "provided always it were interpreted healthily, and not dislocated by cavillations and sinister interpolations, as had been done by the prince of orange." the malcontent generals of the walloon troops were inexpressibly anxious lest the cause of religion should be endangered; but the arguments by which parma convinced those military casuists as to the compatibility of the ghent peace with sound doctrine have already been exhibited. the influence of the reconciled nobles was brought to bear with fatal effect upon the states of artois, hainault, and of a portion of french flanders. the gallic element in their blood, and an intense attachment to the roman ceremonial, which distinguished the walloon population from their batavian brethren, were used successfully by the wily parma to destroy the unity of the revolted netherlands. moreover, the king offered good terms. the monarch, feeling safe on the religious point, was willing to make liberal promises upon the political questions. in truth, the great grievance of which the walloons complained was the insolence and intolerable outrages of the foreign soldiers. this, they said, had alone made them malcontent. it was; therefore, obviously the cue of parma to promise the immediate departure of the troops. this could be done the more easily, as he had no intention of keeping the promise. meantime the efforts of orange, and of the states-general, where his influence was still paramount, were unceasing to counteract the policy of parma. a deputation was appointed by the generality to visit the estates of the walloon provinces. another was sent by the authorities of brussels. the marquis of havre, with several colleagues on behalf of the states-general, waited upon the viscount of ghent, by whom they were received with extreme insolence. he glared upon them, without moving, as they were admitted to his presence; "looking like a dead man, from whom the soul had entirely departed." recovering afterwards from this stony trance of indignation, he demanded a sight of their instructions. this they courteously refused, as they were accredited not to him, but to the states of artois. at this he fell into a violent passion, and threatened them with signal chastisement for daring to come thither with so treasonable a purpose. in short, according to their own expression; he treated them "as if they had been rogues and vagabonds." the marquis of havre, high-born though he was, had been sufficiently used to such conduct. the man who had successively served and betrayed every party, who had been the obsequious friend and the avowed enemy of don john within the same fortnight, and who had been able to swallow and inwardly digest many an insult from that fiery warrior, was even fain to brook the insolence of robert melun. the papers which the deputation had brought were finally laid before the states of artois, and received replies as prompt and bitter as the addresses were earnest and eloquent. the walloons, when summoned to hold to that aegis of national unity, the ghent peace, replied that it was not they, but the heretic portion of the states-general, who were for dashing it to the ground. the ghent treaty was never intended to impair the supremacy of the catholic religion, said those provinces, which were already on the point of separating for ever from the rest. the ghent treaty was intended expressly to destroy the inquisition and the placards, answered the national-party. moreover, the "very marrow of that treaty" was the-departure of the foreign soldiers, who were even then overrunning the land. the walloons answered that alexander had expressly conceded the withdrawal of the troops. "believe not the fluting and the piping of the crafty foe," urged the patriots. "promises are made profusely enough--but only to lure you to perdition. your enemies allow you to slake your hunger and thirst with this idle hope of the troops' departure, but you are still in fetters, although the chain be of spanish pinchbeck, which you mistake for gold." "'tis not we," cried the walloons, "who wish to separate from the generality; 'tis the generality which separates from us. we had rather die the death than not maintain the union. in the very same breath, however, they boasted of the excellent terms which the monarch was offering, and of their strong inclination to accept them." "kings, struggling to recover a lost authority, always promise golden mountains and every sort of miracles," replied the patriots; but the warning was uttered in vain. meantime the deputation from the city of brussels arrived on the th of march at mons, in hainault, where they were received with great courtesy by count de lalain, governor of the province. the enthusiasm with which he had espoused the cause of queen margaret and her brother anjou had cooled, but the count received the brussels envoys with a kindness in marked contrast with the brutality of melun. he made many fine speeches --protesting his attachment to, the union, for which he was ready to shed the last drop of his blood--entertained the deputies at dinner, proposed toasts to the prosperity of the united provinces, and dismissed his guests at last with many flowery professions. after dancing attendance for a few days, however, upon the estates of the walloon provinces, both sets of deputies were warned to take their instant departure as mischief- makers and rebels. they returned, accordingly, to brussels, bringing the written answers which the estates had vouchsafed to send. the states-general, too, inspired by william of orange, addressed a solemn appeal to their sister provinces, thus about to abjure the bonds of relationship for ever. it seemed right, once for all, to grapple with the ghent pacification for the last time, and to strike a final blow in defence of that large statesmanlike interpretation, which alone could make the treaty live. this was done eloquently and logically. the walloons were reminded that at the epoch of the ghent peace the number of reformers outside of holland and zealand was supposed small. now the new religion had spread its roots through the whole land, and innumerable multitudes desired its exercise. if holland and zealand chose to reestablish the catholic worship within their borders, they could manifestly do so without violating the treaty of ghent. why then was it not competent to other provinces, with equal allegiance to the treaty, to sanction the reformed religion within their limits? parma, on his part, publicly invited the states-general, by letter, to sustain the ghent treaty by accepting the terms offered to the walloons, and by restoring the system of the emperor charles, of very lofty memory. to this superfluous invitation the states-general replied, on the th of march, that it had been the system of the emperor charles; of lofty memory, to maintain the supremacy of catholicism and of majesty in the netherlands by burning netherlanders--a custom which the states, with common accord, had thought it desirable to do away with. in various fervently-written appeals by orange, by the states-general, and by other bodies, the wavering provinces were warned against seduction. they were reminded that the prince of parma was using this minor negotiation "as a second string to his bow;" that nothing could be more puerile than to suppose the spaniards capable, after securing maestricht, of sending away their troops thus "deserting the bride in the midst of the honeymoon." they expressed astonishment at being invited to abandon the great and general treaty which had been made upon the theatre of the whole world by the intervention of the principal princes of christendom, in order to partake in underhand negotiation with the commissioners of parma-men, "who, it would not be denied, were felons and traitors." they warned their brethren not to embark on the enemy's ships in the dark, for that, while chaffering as to the price of the voyage, they would find that the false pilots had hoisted sail and borne them away in the night. in vain would they then seek to reach the shore again. the example of la motte and others, "bird-limed with spanish gold," should be salutary for all-men who were now driven forward with a whip, laughed to scorn by their new masters, and forced to drink the bitter draught of humiliation along with the sweet poison of bribery. they were warned to study well the intercepted letters of curiel, in order fully to fathom the deep designs and secret contempt of the enemy. such having been the result of the negotiations between the states- general and the walloon provinces, a strong deputation now went forth from those provinces, towards the end of april, to hold a final colloquy with parma, then already busied with the investment of maestricht. they were met upon the road with great ceremony, and escorted into the presence of farnese with drum, trumpet, and flaunting banners. he received them with stately affability, in a magnificently decorated pavilion, carelessly inviting them to a repast, which he called an afternoon's lunch, but which proved a most sumptuous and splendidly appointed entertainment. this "trifling foolish banquet" finished, the deputies were escorted, with great military parade, to the lodgings which had been provided for them in a neighbouring village. during the period of their visit, all the chief officers of the army and the household were directed to entertain the walloons with showy festivals, dinners, suppers, dances, and carousals of all kinds. at one of the most brilliant of these revels--a magnificent ball, to which all the matrons and maids of the whole country round had been bidden--the prince of parma himself unexpectedly made his appearance. he gently rebuked the entertainers for indulging in such splendid hospitality without, at least, permitting him to partake of it. charmingly affable to the ladies assembled in the ball-room, courteous, but slightly reserved, towards the walloon envoys, he excited the admiration of all by the splendid decorum of his manners. as he moved through the halls, modulating his steps in grave cadence to the music, the dignity and grace of his deportment seemed truly majestic; but when he actually danced a measure himself the enthusiasm was at its height. they should, indeed, be rustics, cried the walloon envoys in a breath, not to give the hand of fellowship at once to a prince so condescending and amiable. the exclamation seemed to embody the general wish, and to foreshadow a speedy conclusion. very soon afterwards a preliminary accord was signed between the king's government and the walloon provinces. the provisions on his majesty's part were sufficiently liberal. the religious question furnishing no obstacle, it was comparatively easy for philip to appear benignant. it was stipulated that the provincial privileges should be respected; that a member of the king's own family, legitimately born, should always be governor-general, and that the foreign troops should be immediately withdrawn. the official exchange and ratification of this treaty were delayed till the th of the following september, but the news that, the reconciliation had been definitely settled soon spread through the country. the catholics were elated, the patriots dismayed. orange-the "prince of darkness," as the walloons of the day were fond of calling him--still unwilling to despair, reluctant to accept this dismemberment, which he foresaw was to be a perpetual one, of his beloved country, addressed the most passionate and solemn adjurations to the walloon provinces, and to their military chieftains. he offered all his children as hostages for his good faith in keeping sacredly any covenant which his catholic countrymen might be willing to close with him. it was in vain. the step was irretrievably taken; religious bigotry, patrician jealousy, and wholesale bribery, had severed the netherlands in twain for ever. the friends of romanism, the enemies of civil and religious liberty, exulted from one end of christendom to the other, and it was recognized that parma had, indeed, achieved a victory which although bloodless, was as important to the cause of absolutism as any which even his sword was likely to achieve. the joy of the catholic party in paris manifested itself in a variety of ways. at the principal theatre an uncouth pantomime was exhibited, in which his catholic majesty was introduced upon the stage, leading by a halter a sleek cow, typifying the netherlands. the animal by a sudden effort, broke the cord, and capered wildly about. alexander of parma hastened to fasten the fragments together, while sundry personages, representing the states-general, seized her by the horns, some leaping upon her back, others calling upon the bystanders to assist in holding the restive beast. the emperor, the king of france, and the queen of england--which last personage was observed now to smile upon one party, now to affect deep sympathy with the other--remained stationary; but the duke of alencon rushed upon the stage, and caught the cow by the tail. the prince of orange and hans casimir then appeared with a bucket, and set themselves busily to milk her, when alexander again seized the halter. the cow gave a plunge, upset the pail, prostrated casimir with one kick and orange with another, and then followed parma with docility as be led her back to philip. this seems not very "admirable fooling," but it was highly relished by the polite parisians of the sixteenth century, and has been thought worthy of record by classical historians. the walloon accord was an auspicious prelude, in the eyes of the friends of absolutism, to the negotiations which were opened in the month of may, at cologne. before sketching, as rapidly as possible, those celebrated but barren conferences, it is necessary, for the sake of unity in the narrative, to cast a glance at certain synchronical events in different parts of the netherlands. the success attained by the catholic party in the walloon negotiations had caused a corresponding bitterness in the hearts of the reformers throughout the country. as usual, bitterness had begot bitterness; intolerance engendered intolerance. on the th of may, , as the catholics of antwerp were celebrating the ommegang--the same festival which had been the exciting cause of the memorable tumults of the year sixty-five--the irritation of the populace could not be repressed. the mob rose in its wrath to put down these demonstrations--which, taken in connection with recent events, seemed ill-timed and insolent--of a religion whose votaries then formed but a small minority of the antwerp citizens. there was a great tumult. two persons were killed. the archduke matthias, who was himself in the cathedral of notre dame assisting at the ceremony, was in danger of his life. the well known cry of "paapen uit" (out with the papists) resounded through the streets, and the priests and monks were all hustled out of town amid a tempest of execrations. orange did his utmost to quell the mutiny, nor were his efforts fruitless--for the uproar, although seditious and disgraceful, was hardly sanguinary. next day the prince summoned the magistracy, the monday council, the guild officers, with all the chief municipal functionaries, and expressed his indignation in decided terms. he protested that if such tumults, originating in that very spirit of intolerance which he most deplored, could not be repressed for the future, he was determined to resign his offices, and no longer to affect authority in a city where his counsels were derided. the magistrates, alarmed at his threats, and sympathizing with his anger, implored him not to desert them, protesting that if he should resign his offices, they would instantly lay down their, own. an ordinance was then drawn up and immediately, proclaimed at the town house, permitting the catholics to re-enter the city, and to enjoy the privileges of religious worship. at the same time, it was announced that a new draft of a religious peace would be forthwith issued for the adoption of every city. a similar tumult, arising from the same cause, at utrecht, was attended with the like result. on the other hand, the city of brussels was astonished by a feeble and unsuccessful attempts at treason, made by a youth who bore an illustrious name. philip, count of egmont, eldest son of the unfortunate lamoral, had command of a regiment in the service of the states. he had, besides, a small body of cavalry in immediate attendance upon his person. he had for some time felt inclined--like the lalains, meluns, la mottes, and others to reconcile himself with the crown, and he wisely thought that the terms accorded to him would be more liberal if he could bring the capital of brabant with him as a peace offering to his majesty. his residence was in brussels. his regiment was stationed outside the gates, but in the immediate neighbourhood of the city. on the morning of the th of june he despatched his troopers-- as had been frequently his custom--on various errands into the country. on their return, after having summoned the regiment, they easily mastered and butchered the guard at the gate through which they had re-entered, supplying their place with men from their own ranks. the egmont regiment then came marching through the gate in good order--count philip at their head--and proceeded to station themselves upon the grande place in the centre of the city. all this was at dawn of day. the burghers, who looked forth from their houses, were astounded and perplexed by this movement at so unwonted an hour, and hastened to seize their weapons. egmont sent a detachment to take possession of the palace. he was too late. colonel van der tympel, commandant of the city, had been beforehand with him, had got his troops under arms, and now secured the rebellious detachment. meantime, the alarm had spread. armed burghers came from every house, and barricades were hastily thrown up across every one of the narrow streets leading to the square. every issue was closed. not a man of egmont's adherents--if he indeed had adherents among the townsmen --dared to show his face. the young traitor and his whole regiment, drawn up on the grande place, were completely entrapped. he had not taken brussels, but assuredly brussels had taken him. all day long he was kept in his self-elected prison and pillory, bursting with rage and shame. his soldiers, who were without meat or drink, became insolent and uproarious, and he was doomed also to hear the bitter and well-merited taunts of the towns-people. a thousand stinging gibes, suggested by his name and the locality, were mercilessly launched upon him. he was asked if he came thither to seek his father's head. he was reminded that the morrow was the anniversary of that father's murder upon that very spot-- by those with whom the son would now make his treasonable peace. he was bidden to tear up but a few stones from the pavement beneath his feet, that the hero's blood might cry out against him from the very ground. tears of shame and fury sprang from the young man's eyes as he listened to these biting sarcasms, but the night closed upon that memorable square, and still the count was a prisoner. eleven years before, the summer stars had looked down upon a more dense array of armed men within that place. the preparations for the pompous and dramatic execution, which on the morrow was to startle all europe, had been carried out in the midst of a hushed and overawed population; and now, on the very anniversary of the midnight in which that scaffold had risen, should not the grand spectre of the victim have started from the grave to chide his traitorous son? thus for a whole day and night was the baffled conspirator compelled to remain in the ignominious position which he had selected for himself. on the morning of the th of june he was permitted to depart, by a somewhat inexplicable indulgence, together with all his followers. he rode out of the gate at early dawn, contemptible and crest-fallen, at the head of his regiment of traitors, and shortly afterwards--pillaging and levying black mail as he went--made his way to montigny's quarters. it might have seemed natural, after such an exhibition, that philip egmont should accept his character of renegade, and confess his intention of reconciling himself with the murderers of his father. on the contrary, he addressed a letter to the magistracy of brussels, denying with vehemence "any intention of joining the party of the pernicious spaniards," warmly protesting his zeal and affection for the states, and denouncing the "perverse inventors of these calumnies against him as the worst enemies of the poor afflicted country." the magistrates replied by expressing their inability to comprehend how the count, who had suffered villainous wrongs from the spaniards, such as he could never sufficiently deplore or avenge, should ever be willing to enslave himself, to those tyrants. nevertheless, exactly at the moment of this correspondence, egmont was in close negotiation with spain, having fifteen days before the date of his letter to the brussels senate, conveyed to parma his resolution to "embrace the cause of his majesty and the ancient religion"--an intention which he vaunted himself to have proved "by cutting the throats of three companies of states' soldiers at nivelle, grandmont, and ninove." parma had already written to communicate the intelligence to the king, and to beg encouragement for the count. in september, the monarch wrote a letter to egmont, full of gratitude and promises, to which the count replied by expressing lively gratification that his majesty was pleased with his little services, by avowing profound attachment to church and king, and by asking eagerly for money, together with the government of alost. he soon became singularly importunate for rewards and promotion, demanding, among other posts, the command of the "band of ordnance," which had been his father's. parma, in reply, was prodigal of promises, reminding the young noble "that he was serving a sovereign who well knew how to reward the distinguished exploits of his subjects." such was the language of philip the second and his governor to the son of the headless hero of saint quentin; such was the fawning obsequiousness with which egmont could kiss that royal hand reeking with his father's blood. meanwhile the siege of maestricht had been advancing with steady precision. to military minds of that epoch--perhaps of later ages--this achievement of parma seemed a masterpiece of art. the city commanded the upper meuse, and was the gate into germany. it contained thirty-four thousand inhabitants. an army, numbering almost as many souls, was brought against it; and the number of deaths by which its capture was at last effected, was probably equal to that of a moiety of the population. to the technical mind, the siege no doubt seemed a beautiful creation of human intelligence. to the honest student of history, to the lover of human progress, such a manifestation of intellect seems a sufficiently sad exhibition. given, a city with strong walls and towers, a slender garrison and a devoted population on one side; a consummate chieftain on the other, with an army of veterans at his back, no interruption to fear, and a long season to work in; it would not seem to an unsophisticated mind a very lofty exploit for the soldier to carry the city at the end of four months' hard labor. the investment of maestricht was commenced upon the th of march, . in the city, besides the population, there were two thousand peasants, both men and women, a garrison of one thousand soldiers; and a trained burgher guard; numbering about twelve hundred. the name of the military commandant was melchior. sebastian tappin, a lorraine officer of much experience and bravery, was next in command, and was, in truth, the principal director of the operations. he had been despatched thither by the prince of orange, to serve under la none, who was to have commanded in maestricht, but had been unable to enter the city. feeling that the siege was to be a close one, and knowing how much depended upon the issue, sebastian lost no time in making every needful preparation for coming events. the walls were strengthened everywhere; shafts were sunk, preparatory to the countermining operations which were soon to become necessary; the moat was deepened and cleared, and the forts near the gates were put in thorough repair. on the other hand, alexander had encircled the city, and had thrown two bridges, well fortified, across the river. there were six gates to the town, each provided with ravelins, and there was a doubt in what direction the first attack should be made. opinions wavered between the gate of bois-le-duc, next the river, and that of tongres on the south-western side, but it was finally decided to attempt the gate of tongres. over against that point the platforms were accordingly constructed, and after a heavy cannonade from forty-six great guns continued for several days, it was thought, by the th of march, that an impression had been made upon the city. a portion of the brick curtain had crumbled, but through the breach was seen a massive terreplein, well moated, which, after six thousand shots already delivered on the outer wall--still remained uninjured. it was recognized that the gate of tongres was not the most assailable, but rather the strongest portion of the defences, and alexander therefore determined to shift his batteries to the gate of bois-le-duc. at the same time, the attempt upon that of tongres was to be varied, but not abandoned. four thousand miners, who had passed half their lives in burrowing for coal in that anthracite region, had been furnished by the bishop of liege, and this force was now set to their subterranean work. a mine having been opened at a distance, the besiegers slowly worked their way towards the tongres gate, while at the same time the more ostensible operations were in the opposite direction. the besieged had their miners also, for the peasants in the city had been used to work with mattock and pickaxe. the women, too, enrolled themselves into companies, chose their officers--or "mine-mistresses," as they were called--and did good service daily in the caverns of the earth. thus a whole army of gnomes were noiselessly at work to destroy and defend the beleaguered city. the mine advanced towards the gate; the besieged delved deeper, and intersected it with a transverse excavation, and the contending forces met daily, in deadly encounter, within these sepulchral gangways. many stratagems were, mutually employed. the citizens secretly constructed a dam across the spanish mine, and then deluged their foe with hogsheads of boiling water. hundreds were thus scalded to death. they heaped branches and light fagots in the hostile mine, set fire to the pile, and blew thick volumes of smoke along the passage with organ-bellows brought from the churches for the purpose. many were thus suffocated. the discomfited besiegers abandoned the mine where they had met with such able countermining, and sunk another shaft, at midnight, in secret, at a long distance from the tongres gate. still towards that point, however, they burrowed in the darkness; guiding themselves to their destination with magnet, plumbline and level, as the mariner crosses the trackless ocean with compass and chart. they worked their way, unobstructed, till they arrived at their subterranean port, directly beneath the doomed ravelin. here they constructed a spacious chamber, supporting it with columns, and making all their architectural arrangements with as much precision and elegance as if their object had been purely esthetic. coffers full of powder, to an enormous amount, were then placed in every direction across the floor, the train was laid, and parma informed that all was ready. alexander, having already arrayed the troops destined for the assault, then proceeded in person to the mouth of the shaft, and gave orders to spring the mine. the explosion was prodigious; a part of the tower fell with the concussion, and the moat was choked with heaps of rubbish. the assailants sprang across the passage thus afforded, and mastered the ruined portion of the fort. they were met in the breach, however, by the unflinching defenders of the city, and, after a fierce combat of some hours, were obliged to retire; remaining masters, however, of the moat, and of the ruined portion of the ravelin. this was upon the rd of april. five days afterwards, a general assault was ordered. a new mine having been already constructed towards the tongres ravelin, and a faithful cannonade having been kept up for a fortnight against the bois-le-duc gate, it was thought advisable to attack at both points at once. on the th of april, accordingly, after uniting in prayer, and listening to a speech from alexander farnese, the great mass of the spanish army advanced to the breach. the moat had been rendered practicable in many places by the heaps of rubbish with which it had been encumbered, and by the fagots and earth with which it had been filled by the besiegers. the action at the bois-le-duc gate was exceedingly warm. the tried veterans of spain, italy, and burgundy, were met face to face by the burghers of maestricht, together with their wives and children. all were armed to the teeth, and fought with what seemed superhuman valor. the women, fierce as tigresses defending their young, swarmed to the walls, and fought in the foremost rank. they threw pails of boiling water on the besiegers, they hurled firebrands in their faces; they quoited blazing pitch-hoops with, unerring dexterity about their necks. the rustics too, armed with their ponderous flails, worked as cheerfully at this bloody harvesting as if thrashing their corn at home. heartily did they winnow the ranks of the royalists who came to butcher them, and thick and fast fell the invaders, fighting bravely, but baffled by these novel weapons used by peasant and woman, coming to the aid of the sword; spear, and musket of trained soldiery. more than a thousand had fallen at the bois- le-duc gate, and still fresh besiegers mounted the breach, only to be beaten back, or to add to the mangled heap of the slain. at the tongres gate, meanwhile, the assault had fared no better. a herald had been despatched thither in hot haste, to shout at the top of his lungs, "santiago! santiago! the lombards have the gate of bois-le-duc!" while the same stratagem was employed to persuade the invaders on the other side of the town that their comrades had forced the gate of tongres. the soldiers, animated by this fiction, and advancing with fury against the famous ravelin; which had been but partly destroyed, were received with a broadside from the great guns of the unshattered portion, and by a rattling discharge of musketry from the walls. they wavered a little. at the same instant the new mine--which was to have been sprung between the ravelin and the gate, but which had been secretly countermined by the townspeople, exploded with a horrible concussion, at a moment least expected by the besiegers. five hundred royalists were blown into the air. ortiz, a spanish captain of engineers, who had been inspecting the excavations, was thrown up bodily from the subterranean depth. he fell back again instantly into the same cavern, and was buried by the returning shower of earth which had spouted from the mine. forty- five years afterwards, in digging for the foundations of a new wall, his skeleton was found. clad in complete armor, the helmet and cuirass still sound, with his gold chain around his neck, and his mattock and pickaxe at his feet, the soldier lay unmutilated, seeming almost capable of resuming his part in the same war which--even after his half century's sleep--was still ravaging the land. five hundred of the spaniards, perished by the explosion, but none of the defenders were injured, for they, had been prepared. recovering from the momentary panic, the besiegers again rushed to the attack. the battle raged. six hundred and seventy officers, commissioned or non- commissioned, had already fallen, more than half mortally wounded. four thousand royalists, horribly mutilated, lay on the ground. it was time that the day's work should be finished, for maastricht was not to be carried upon that occasion. the best and bravest of the surviving officers besought parma to put an end to the carnage by recalling the troops; but the gladiator heart of the commander was heated, not softened, by the savage spectacle. "go back to the breach," he cried, "and tell the soldiers that alexander is coming to lead them into the city in triumph, or to perish with his comrades." he rushed forward with the fury which had marked him when he boarded mustapha's galley at lepanto; but all the generals who were near him threw themselves upon his path, and implored him to desist from such insensate rashness. their expostulations would have probably been in vain, had not his confidential friend, serbelloni, interposed with something like paternal authority, reminding him of the strict commands contained in his majesty's recent letters, that the governor-general, to whom so much was entrusted, should refrain, on pain of the royal displeasure, from exposing his life like a common fighter. alexander reluctantly gave the signal of recal at last, and accepted the defeat. for the future he determined to rely more upon the sapper and miner, and less upon the superiority of veterans to townsmen and rustics in open fight. sure to carry the city at last, according to line and rule, determined to pass the whole summer beneath the walls, rather than abandon his purpose, he calmly proceeded to complete his circumvallations. a chain of eleven forts upon the left, and five upon the right side of the meuse, the whole connected by a continuous wall, afforded him perfect security against interruptions, and allowed him to continue the siege at leisure. his numerous army was well housed and amply supplied, and he had built a strong and populous city in order to destroy another. relief was impossible. but a few thousand men were now required to defend farnese's improvised town, while the bulk of his army could be marched at any moment against an advancing foe. a force of seven thousand, painfully collected by the prince of orange, moved towards the place, under command of hohenlo and john of nassau, but struck with wonder at what they saw, the leaders recognized the hopelessness of attempting relief. maestricht was surrounded by a second maestricht. the efforts of orange were now necessarily directed towards obtaining, if possible, a truce of a few weeks from the negotiators at cologne. parma was too crafty, however, to allow terranova to consent, and as the duke disclaimed any power over the direct question of peace and war, the siege proceeded. the gates of bois-le-duc and tongres having thus far resisted the force brought against them, the scene was changed to the gate of brussels. this adjoined that of tongres, was farthest from the river, and faced westwardly towards the open country. here the besieged had constructed an additional ravelin, which they had christened, in derision, "parma," and against which the batteries of parma were now brought to bear. alexander erected a platform of great extent and strength directly opposite the new work, and after a severe and constant cannonade from this elevation, followed by a bloody action, the "parma" fort was carried. one thousand, at least, of the defenders fell, as, forced gradually from one defence to another, they saw the triple walls of their ravelin crumble successively before their eyes. the tower was absolutely annihilated before they abandoned its ruins, and retired within their last defences. alexander being now master of the fosa and the defences of the brussels gate, drew up a large force on both aides of that portal, along the margin of the moat, and began mining beneath the inner wall of the city. meantime, the garrison had been reduced to four hundred soldiers, nearly all of whom were wounded: wearied and driven to despair, these soldiers were willing to treat. the townspeople, however, answered the proposition with a shout of fury, and protested that they would destroy the garrison with their own hands if such an insinuation were repeated. sebastian tappin, too, encouraged them with the hope of speedy relief, and held out to them the wretched consequences of trusting to the mercy of their foes. the garrison took heart again, while that of the burghers and their wives had, never faltered. their main hope now was in a fortification which they had been constructing inside the brussels gate --a demilune of considerable strength. behind it was a breastwork of turf and masonry, to serve as a last bulwark when every other defence should be forced. the whole had been surrounded by a foss thirty feet in depth, and the besiegers, as they mounted upon the breaches which they had at last effected in the outer curtain, near the brussels gate, saw for the first time this new fortification. the general condition of the defences, and the disposition of the inhabitants, had been revealed to alexander by a deserter from the town. against this last fortress the last efforts of the foe were now directed. alexander ordered a bridge to be thrown across the city moat. as it was sixty feet wide and as many deep, and lay directly beneath the guns of the new demilune, the enterprise was sufficiently hazardous. alexander led the way in person, with a mallet in one hand and a mattockin the other. two men fell dead instantly, one on his right hand and his left, while he calmly commenced, in his own person, the driving of the first piles for the bridge. his soldiers fell fast around him. count berlaymont was shot dead, many officers of distinction were killed or wounded, but no soldier dared recoil while their chieftain wrought amid the bullets like a common pioneer. alexander, unharmed, as by a miracle, never left the spot till the bridge had been constructed, and till ten great guns had been carried across it, and pointed against the demilune. the battery was opened, the mines previously excavated were sprung, a part of the demilune was blown into the air, and the assailants sprang into the breach. again a furious hand-to-hand conflict succeeded; again, after an obstinate resistance, the townspeople were forced to yield. slowly abandoning the shattered fort, they retired behind the breastwork in its rear--their innermost and last defence. to this barrier they clung as to a spar in shipwreck, and here at last they stood at bay, prepared dearly to sell their lives. the breastwork, being still strong, was not attempted upon that day. the assailants were recalled, and in the mean time a herald was sent by parma, highly applauding the courage of the defenders, and begging them to surrender at discretion. they answered the messenger with words of haughty defiance, and, rushing in a mass to the breastwork, began with spade, pickax, and trowel, to add to its strength. here all the able- bodied men of the town took up their permanent position, and here they ate, drank, and slept upon their posts, while their food was brought to them by the women and children. a little letter, "written in a fine neat handwriting," now mysteriously arrived in the city, encouraging them in the name of the archduke and the prince of orange, and assuring them of relief within fourteen days. a brief animation was thus produced, attended by a corresponding languor upon the part of the besiegers, for alexander had been lying ill with a fever since the day when the demilune had been carried. from his sick bed he rebuked his officers severely that a temporary breastwork, huddled together by boors and burghers in the midst of a siege, should prove an insurmountable obstacle to men who had carried everything before them. the morrow was the festival of saint peter and saint paul, and it was meet that so sacred a day should be hallowed by a christian and apostolic victory. saint peter would be there with, his keys to open the gate; saint paul would lead them to battle with his invincible sword. orders were given accordingly, and the assault was assigned for the following morning. meantime, the guards were strengthened and commanded to be more than usually watchful. the injunction had a remarkable effect. at the dead of night, a soldier of the watch was going his rounds on the outside of the breastwork, listening, if perchance he might catch, as was not unusual, a portion of the conversation among the beleaguered burghers within. prying about on every side, he at last discovered a chink in the wall, the result, doubtless, of the last cannonade, and hitherto overlooked. he enlarged the gap with his fingers, and finally made an opening wide enough to admit his person. he crept boldly through, and looked around in the clear starlight. the sentinels were all slumbering at their posts. he advanced stealthily in the dusky streets. not a watchman was going his rounds. soldiers, burghers, children, women, exhausted by incessant fatigue, were all asleep. not a footfall was heard; not a whisper broke the silence; it seemed a city of the dead. the soldier crept back through the crevice, and hastened to apprise his superiors of his adventure. alexander, forthwith instructed as to the condition of the city, at once ordered the assault, and the last wall was suddenly stormed before the morning broke. the soldiers forced their way through the breach or sprang over the breastwork, and surprised at last--in its sleep--the city which had so long and vigorously defended itself. the burghers, startled from their slumber, bewildered, unprepared, found themselves engaged in unequal conflict with alert and savage foes. the battle, as usual when netherland towns were surprised by philip's soldiers, soon changed to a massacre. the townspeople rushed hither and thither, but there was neither escape, nor means of resisting an enemy who now poured into the town by thousands upon thousands. an indiscriminate slaughter succeeded: women, old men, and children, had all been combatants; and all, therefore, had incurred the vengeance of the conquerors. a cry of agony arose which was distinctly heard at the distance of a league. mothers took their infants in their arms, and threw themselves by hundreds into the meuse--and against women the blood-thirst of the assailants was especially directed. females who had fought daily in the trenches, who had delved in mines and mustered on the battlements, had unsexed themselves in the opinion of those whose comrades they had helped to destroy. it was nothing that they had laid aside the weakness of women in order to defend all that was holy and dear to them on earth. it was sufficient that many a spanish, burgundian, or italian mercenary had died by their hands. women were pursued from house to house, and hurled from roof and window. they were hunted into the river; they were torn limb from limb in the streets. men and children fared no better; but the heart sickens at the oft-repeated tale. horrors, alas, were commonplaces in the netherlands. cruelty too monstrous for description, too vast to be believed by a mind not familiar with the outrages practised by the soldiers of spain and italy upon their heretic fellow-creatures, were now committed afresh in the streets of maestricht. on the first day four thousand men and women were slaughtered. the massacre lasted two days longer; nor would it be an exaggerated estimate, if we assume that the amount of victims upon the two last days was equal to half the number sacrificed on the first. it was said that not four hundred citizens were left alive after the termination of the siege. these soon wandered away, their places being supplied by a rabble rout of walloon sutlers and vagabonds. maestricht was depopulated as well as captured. the booty obtained after the massacre was very large, for the city had been very thriving, its cloth manufacture extensive and important. sebastian tappin, the heroic defender of the place, had been shot through the shoulder at the taking of the parma ravelin, and had been afterwards severely injured at the capture of the demilune. at the fall of the city he was mortally wounded, and carried a prisoner to the hostile camp, only to expire. the governor, swartsenberg, also lost his life. alexander, on the contrary, was raised from his sick bed with the joyful tidings of victory, and as soon as he could be moved, made his appearance in the city. seated in a splendid chair of state, borne aloft on the shoulders of his veterans, with a golden canopy above his head to protect him from the summer's sun, attended by the officers of his staff, who were decked by his special command in, their gayest trappings, escorted by his body-guard, followed by his "plumed troops," to the number of twenty thousand, surrounded by all the vanities of war, the hero made his stately entrance into the town. his way led through deserted streets of shattered houses. the pavement ran red with blood. headless corpses, mangled limbs--an obscene mass of wretchedness and corruption, were spread on every side, and tainted the summer air. through the thriving city which, in the course of four months alexander had converted into a slaughter-house and a solitude, the pompous procession took its course to the church of saint servais. here humble thanks were offered to the. god of love, and to jesus of nazareth, for this new victory. especially was gratitude expressed to the apostles paul and peter; upon whose festival, and by whose sword and key the crowning mercy had been accomplished,--and by whose special agency eight thousand heretics now lay unburied in the streets. these acts of piety performed, the triumphal procession returned to the camp, where, soon afterwards, the joyful news of alexander farnese's entire convalescence was proclaimed. the prince of orange, as usual, was blamed for the tragical termination to this long drama. all that one man could do, he had done to awaken his countrymen to the importance of the siege. he had repeatedly brought the subject solemnly before the assembly, and implored for maestricht, almost upon his knees. lukewarm and parsimonious, the states had responded to his eloquent appeals with wrangling addressee and insufficient votes. with a special subsidy obtained in april and may, he had organized the slight attempt at relief, which was all which he had been empowered to make, but which proved entirely unsuccessful. now that the massacre to be averted was accomplished, men were loud in reproof, who had been silent, and passive while there was yet time to speak and to work. it was the prince, they said, who had delivered so many thousands of his fellow-countrymen to, butchery. to save himself, they insinuated he was now plotting to deliver the land into the power of the treacherous frenchman, and he alone, they asserted, was the insuperable obstacle to an honorable peace with spain. a letter, brought by an unknown messenger, was laid before the states' assembly, in full session, and sent to the clerk's table, to be read aloud. after the first few sentences, that functionary faltered in his recital. several members also peremptorily ordered him to stop; for the letter proved to be a violent and calumnious libel upon orange, together with a strong appeal in favor of the peace propositions then under debate at cologne. the prince alone, of all the assembly, preserving his tranquillity, ordered the document to be brought to him, and forthwith read it aloud himself, from beginning to end. afterwards, he took occasion to express his mind concerning the ceaseless calumnies of which he was the mark. he especially alluded to the oft-repeated accusation that he was the only obstacle to peace, and repeated that he was ready at that moment to leave the land, and to close his lips for ever, if by so doing he could benefit his country, and restore her to honorable repose. the outcry, with the protestations of attachment and confidence which at once broke from the assembly, convinced him, however, that he was deeply rooted in the hearts of all patriotic netherlanders, and that it was beyond the power of slanderers to loosen his hold upon their affection. meantime, his efforts had again and again been demanded to restore order in that abode of anarchy, the city of ghent. after his visit during the previous winter, and the consequent departure of john casimir to the palatinate, the pacific arrangements made by the prince had for a short time held good. early in march, however, that master of misrule, john van imbize, had once more excited the populace to sedition. again the property of catholics, clerical and lay, was plundered; again the persons of catholics, of every degree, were maltreated. the magistrates, with first senator imbize at their head, rather encouraged than rebuked the disorder; but orange, as soon as he received official intelligence of the event, hastened to address them in the words of earnest warning and wisdom. he allowed that the inhabitants of the province had reason to be discontented with the presence and the misconduct of the walloon soldiery. he granted that violence and the menaces of a foreign tyranny made it difficult for honest burghers to gain a livelihood. at the same time he expressed astonishment that reasonable men should seek a remedy for such evils in tumults which would necessarily bring utter destruction upon the land. "it was," he observed, "as if a patient should from impatience, tear the bandages from his wounds, and, like a maniac, instead of allowing himself to be cured, plunge a dagger into his own heart." these exhortations exerted a wholesome effect for a moment, but matters soon went from bad to worse. imbize, fearing the influence of the prince, indulged in open-mouthed abuse of a man whose character he was unable even to comprehend, he accused him of intriguing with france for his own benefit, of being a papist in disguise, of desiring to establish what he called a "religious peace," merely to restore roman idolatry. in all these insane ravings, the demagogue was most ably seconded by the ex-monk. incessant and unlicensed were the invectives hurled by peter dathenus from his pulpit upon william the silent's head. he denounced him--as he had often done before--as an atheist in heart; as a man who changed his religion as easily as his garments; as a man who knew no god but state expediency, which was the idol of his worship; a mere politician who would tear his shirt from his back and throw it in the fire, if he thought it were tainted with religion. such witless but vehement denunciation from a preacher who was both popular and comparatively sincere, could, not but affect the imagination of the weaker portion of his, healers. the faction of imbize became triumphant. ryhove--the ruffian whose hands were stained with the recent blood of visch and hessels--rather did damage than service to the cause of order. he opposed himself to the demagogue who was prating daily of greece, rome, and geneva, while his clerical associate was denouncing william of orange, but he opposed himself in vain. an attempt to secure the person of imbize failed, but by the influence of ryhove, however, a messenger was despatched to antwerp in the name of a considerable portion of the community of ghent. the counsel and the presence of the man to whom all hearts in every part of the netherlands instinctively turned in the hour of need, were once more invoked. the prince again addressed them in language which none but he could employ with such effect. he told them that his life, passed in service and sacrifice, ought to witness sufficiently for his fidelity. nevertheless, he thought it necessary--in view of the calumnies which were circulated--to repeat once more his sentiment that no treaty of peace, war, or alliance, ought to be negotiated, save with the consent of the people. his course in holland and zealand had proved, he said, his willingness always to consult the wishes of his countrymen. as for the matter of religion it was almost incredible that there should be any who doubted the zeal which he bore the religion for which he had suffered so much. "i desire," he continued, fervently, "that men should compare that which has been done by my accusers during ten years past with that which i have done. in that which touches the true advancement of religion, i will yield to no man. they who so boldly accuse me have no liberty of speech, save that which has been acquired for them by the blood of my kindred, by my labors, and my excessive expenditures. to me they owe it that they dare speak at all." this letter, (which was dated on the th of july, ) contained an assurance that the writer was about to visit ghent. on the following day, imbize executed a coup d'etat. having a body of near two thousand soldiers at his disposal, he suddenly secured the persons of all the magistrates and other notable individuals not friendly to his policy, and then, in violation of all law, set up a new board of eighteen irresponsible functionaries, according to a list prepared by himself alone. this was his way of enforcing the democratic liberty of greece, rome, and geneva, which was so near to his heart. a proclamation, in fourteen articles, was forthwith issued, justifying this arbitrary proceeding. it was declared that the object of the somewhat irregular measure "was to prevent the establishment of the religious peace, which was merely a method of replanting uprooted papistry and the extirpated tyranny of spain." although the arrangement's had not been made in strict accordance with formal usage and ceremony, yet they were defended upon the ground that it had been impossible, by other means, to maintain their ancient liberties and their religious freedom. at the same time a pamphlet, already prepared for the occasion by dathenus, was extensively circulated. in this production the arbitrary revolution effected by a demagogue was defended with effrontery, while the character, of orange, was loaded with customary abuse. to prevent the traitor from coming to ghent, and establishing what he called his religious peace, these irregular measures, it was urged, had been wisely taken. such were the efforts of john imbize--such the calumnies of peter dathenus--in order to counteract the patriotic endeavors of the prince; but neither the ruffianism of john nor the libels of peter were destined upon this occasion to be successful. william the silent treated the slanders of the scolding monk with dignified contempt. "having been informed," said he to the magistrates of ghent, "that master peter dathenns has been denouncing me as a man without religion or fidelity, and full of ambition, with other propositions hardly becoming his cloth; i do not think it worth while to answer more at this time than that i willingly refer myself to the judgment of all who know me." the prince came to ghent, great as had been the efforts of imbize and his partisans to prevent his coming. his presence was like magic. the demagogue and his whole flock vanished like unclean birds at the first rays of the sun. imbize dared not look the father of his country in the face. orange rebuked the populace in the strong and indignant language that public and private virtue, energy, and a high purpose enabled such a leader of the people to use. he at once set aside the board of eighteen --the grecian-roman-genevese establishment of imbize--and remained in the city until the regular election, in conformity with the privileges, had taken place. imbize, who had shrunk at his approach, was meantime discovered by his own companions. he had stolen forth secretly on the night before the prince's arrival, and was found cowering in the cabin of a vessel, half dead with fear, by an ale-house keeper who had been his warm partisan. "no skulking," cried the honest friend; seizing the tribune of the people by the shoulder;" no sailing away in the night- time. you have got us all into this bog, and must come back, and abide the issue with your supporters." in this collapsed state was the windy demagogue, who had filled half flanders with his sound and fury, conveyed before the patriot prince. he met with grave and bitter rebukes, but felt sufficiently relieved when allowed to depart unharmed. judging of his probable doom by the usual practice of himself and his fellows in similar cases, he had anticipated nothing short of the gibbet. that punishment, however, was to be inflicted at a later period, by other hands, and not until he had added treason to his country and a shameless recantation of all his violent professions in favor of civil and religious liberty to the list of his crimes. on the present occasion he was permitted to go free. in company with his clerical companion, peter dathenus, he fled to the abode of his excellent friend, john casimir, who received both with open arms, and allowed them each a pension. order being thus again restored in ghent by the exertions of the prince, when no other human hand could have dispelled the anarchy which seemed to reign supreme, william the silent, having accepted the government of flanders, which had again and again been urged upon him, now returned to antwerp. chapter iii. the cologne conferences--intentions of the parties--preliminary attempt by government to purchase the prince of orange--offer and rejection of various articles among the plenipotentiaries--departure of the imperial commissionere--ultimatum of the states compared with that of the royal government--barren negotiations terminated-- treason of de bours, governor of mechlin--liberal theories concerning the nature of government--abjuration of philip imminent-- self-denial of orange--attitude of germany--of england--marriage negotiations between elizabeth and anjou--orange favors the election of the duke as sovereign--address and speeches of the prince-- parsimony and interprovincial jealousy rebuked----secret correspondence of count renneberg with the royal government-- his treason at groningen. since the beginning of may, the cologne negotiations had been dragging their slow length along. few persons believed that any good was likely to result from these stately and ponderous conferences; yet men were so weary of war, so desirous that a termination might be put to the atrophy under which the country was languishing, that many an eager glance was turned towards the place where the august assembly was holding its protracted session. certainly, if wisdom were to be found in mitred heads--if the power to heal angry passions and to settle the conflicting claims of prerogative and conscience were to be looked for among men of lofty station, then the cologne conferences ought to have made the rough places smooth and the crooked paths straight throughout all christendom. there was the archbishop of rossano, afterwards pope urban vii, as plenipotentiary from rome; there was charles of aragon, duke of terranova, supported by five councillors, as ambassador from his catholic majesty; there were the duke of aerschot, the abbot of saint gertrude, the abbot of marolles, doctor bucho aytta, caspar schetz, lord of grobbendonck, that learned frisian, aggeus van albada, with seven other wise men, as envoys from the states-general: there were their serene highnesses the elector and archbishops of cologne and treves, with the bishop of wurtzburg. there was also a numerous embassy from his imperial majesty, with count otto de schwartzenburg at its head. here then were holiness, serenity, dignity, law, and learning in abundance. here was a pope 'in posse', with archbishops, princes, dukes, jurisconsults, and doctors of divinity 'in esse', sufficient to remodel a world, if worlds were to be remodelled by such instruments. if protocols, replications, annotations, apostilles, could heal a bleeding country, here were the physicians to furnish those drugs in unlimited profusion. if reams of paper, scrawled over with barbarous technicalities, could smother and bury a quarrel which had its origin in the mutual antagonism of human elements, here were the men to scribble unflinchingly, till the reams were piled to a pyramid. if the same idea presented in many aspects could acquire additional life, here were the word-mongers who, could clothe one shivering thought in a hundred thousand garments, till it attained all the majesty which decoration could impart. in truth, the envoys came from spain, rome, and vienna, provided with but two ideas. was it not a diplomatic masterpiece, that from this frugal store they could contrive to eke out seven mortal months of negotiation? two ideas--the supremacy of his majesty's prerogative, the exclusive exercise of the roman catholic religion--these were the be- all and the end-all of their commission. upon these two strings they were to harp, at least till the walls of maestricht had fallen. the envoys did their duty well; they were sent to enact a solemn comedy, and in the most stately manner did they walk through their several parts. not that the king was belligerent; on, the contrary, he was heartily weary of the war. prerogative was weary--romanism was weary--conscience was weary--the spirit of freedom was weary but the prince of orange was not weary. blood and treasure had been pouring forth so profusely during twelve flaming years, that all but that one tranquil spirit were beginning to flag. at the same time, neither party had more disposition to concede than stomach to fight. certainly the royal party had no inclination to yield. the king had granted easy terms to the walloons, because upon the one great point of religion there was, no dispute, and upon the others there was no intention of keeping faith. with regard to the present negotiation, it was desirable to gain a little time. it was thought probable that the religious difference, judiciously managed at this juncture, might be used to effect a permanent severance of the provinces so lately banded together in a common union. "to, divide them," wrote tassis, in a very confidential letter, "no better method can be found than to amuse them with this peace negotiation. some are ready for a pacification from their desire of repose, some from their fear of war, some from the differences which exist among themselves, and which it is especially important to keep alive." above all things, it was desirable to maintain the religious distraction till maestricht had been taken. that siege was the key to the whole situation. if the separate walloon accord could be quietly made in a corner, while parma was battering that stronghold on the meuse, and while decorous negotiation was smoothly holding its course on the rhine, much disorganization, it was hoped, would be handsomely accomplished before the end of the year. "as for a suspension of arms," wrote alexander to terranova, on the st of may, "the longer 'tis deferred the better. with regard to maestricht, everything depends upon it that we possess, or desire to possess. truly, if the prince of orange can relieve the city he will do it. if he does so, neither will this expedition of ours, nor any other expedition, be brought to a good end. as soon as men are aware that our affairs are looking badly, they will come again to a true union, and all will join together, in hope to accomplish their boasts." therefore, it was natural that the peace-wrights of cologne should industriously ply their task. it is not desirable to disturb much of that learned dust, after its three centuries' repose. a rapid sketch of the course of the proceedings, with an indication of the spirit which animated the contending parties, will be all that is necessary. they came and they separated with precisely opposite views. "the desires of terranova and of the estates," says the royalist, tassis, "were diametrically contrary, to each other. the king wished that the exercise of the roman catholic religion should be exclusively established, and the absolute prerogative preserved in its integrity." on the other hand, the provinces desired their charters and a religious' peace. in these perpetual lines and curves ran the asymptotical negotiation from beginning to end--and so it might have run for two centuries, without hope of coincidence. neither party was yet vanquished. the freshly united provinces were no readier now than before to admit that the holy office formed part of their national institutions. the despotic faction was not prepared to renounce that establishment. foiled, but not disheartened, sat the inquisition, like a beldame, upon the border, impotently threatening the land whence she had been for ever excluded; while industrious as the parcae, distaff in hand, sat, in cologne, the inexorable three--spain, the empire, and rome-- grimly, spinning and severing the web of mortal destinies. the first step in the proceedings had been a secret one. if by any means the prince of orange could be detached from his party--if by bribery, however enormous, he could be induced--to abandon a tottering cause, and depart for the land of his birth--he was distinctly but indirectly given to understand that he had but to name his terms. we have seen the issue of similar propositions made by don john of austria. probably there was no man living who would care to make distinct application of this dishonorable nature to the father of his country. the aerschots, the meluns, the lalains, and a swarm of other nobles, had their price, and were easily transferable from one to another, but it was not easy to make a direct offer to william of orange. they knew--as he said shortly afterwards in his famous apology--that "neither for property nor for life, neither for wife nor for children, would he mix in his cup a single drop of treason." nevertheless, he was distinctly given to understand that "there was nothing he could demand for himself personally that would not be granted." all his confiscated property, restoration of his imprisoned son, liberty of worship for himself, payment of all his debts, reimbursement of all his past expenses, and anything else which he could desire, were all placed within his reach. if he chose to retire into another land, his son might be placed in possession of all his cities, estates, and dignities, and himself indemnified in germany; with a million of money over and above as a gratuity. the imperial envoy, count schwartzenburg, pledged his personal honor and reputation that every promise which might be made to the prince should be most sacredly fulfilled. it was all in vain. the indirect applications of the imperial commissioners made to his servants and his nearest relations were entirely unsuccessful. the prince was not to be drawn into a negotiation in his own name or for his own benefit. if the estates were satisfied, he was satisfied. he wanted no conditions but theirs; "nor would he directly, or indirectly," he said, "separate himself from the cause on which hung all his evil or felicity." he knew that it was the object of the enemy to deprive the country of its head, and no inducements were sufficient to make him a party to the plot. at the same time, he was unwilling to be an obstacle, in his own person, to the conclusion of an honorable peace. he would resign his offices which he held at the solicitation of the whole country, if thus a negotiation were likely to be more successful. "the prince of parma and the disunited provinces," said he to the states-general, "affect to consider this war as one waged against me and in my name--as if the question alone concerned the name and person of the general. if it be so, i beg you to consider whether it is not because i have been ever faithful to the land. nevertheless, if i am an obstacle, i am ready to remove it. if you, therefore, in order to deprive the enemy of every right to inculpate us, think proper to choose another head and conductor of your affairs, i promise you to serve and to be obedient to him with all my heart. thus shall we leave the enemy no standing-place to work dissensions among us." such was his language to friend and foe, and here, at least, was one man in history whom kings were not rich enough to purchase. on the th of may, the states' envoys at cologne presented fourteen articles, demanding freedom of religion and the ancient political charters. religion, they said, was to be referred; not to man, but to god. to him the king was subject as well as the people. both king and people--"and by people was meant every individual in the land"--were bound to serve god according to their conscience. the imperial envoys found such language extremely reprehensible, and promptly refused, as umpires, to entertain the fourteen articles. others drawn up by terranova and colleagues, embodying the claims of the royal and roman party, were then solemnly presented, and as promptly rejected. then the imperial umpires came forward with two bundles of proposisitions--approved beforehand by the spanish plenipotentiaries. in the political bundle; obedience due to the king was insisted upon, "as in the time of the emperor charles." the religious category declared that "the roman religion--all others excluded--should thenceforth be exercised in all the provinces." both these categories were considered more objectionable by the states' envoys than the terms of terranova, and astonishment was expressed that "mention should again be made of the edicts--as if blood enough had not been shed already in the cause of religion." the netherland envoys likewise gave the imperial commissioners distinctly to understand that--in case peace were not soon made--"the states would forthwith declare the king fallen from his sovereignty;" would for ever dispense the people from their oaths of allegiance to him, and would probably accept the duke of anjou in his place. the states-general, to which body the imperial propositions had been sent, also rejected the articles in a logical and historical argument of unmerciful length. an appeal secretly made by the imperial and spanish commissioners, from the states' envoys to the states themselves, and even to the people of the various provinces, had excited the anger of the plenipotentiaries. they complained loudly of this violation of all diplomatic etiquette, and the answer of the states-general, fully confirming the views of their ambassadors, did not diminish their wrath. on the th of november, , the states' envoys were invited into the council chamber of the imperial commissioners, to hear the last solemn commonplaces of those departing, functionaries. seven months long they had been waiting in vain, they said, for the states' envoys to accede to moderate demands. patience was now exhausted. moreover, their mediatory views had been the subject of bitter lampooning throughout the country, while the authorities of many cities had publicly declared that all the inhabitants would rather, die the death than accept such terms. the peace-makers, accordingly, with endless protestations as to, their own purity, wisdom, and benevolence, left the whole "in the hands of god and the parties concerned." the reply to this elaborate farewell was curt and somewhat crusty. "had they known," said the states' envoys, "that their transparencies and worthinesses had no better intention, and the duke of terranova no ampler commission, the whole matter might have been despatched, not in six months, but in six days." thus ended the conferences, and the imperial commissioners departed. nevertheless, schwartzenburg remained yet a little time at cologne, while five of the states' envoys also protracted their stay, in order to make their private peace with the king. it is hardly necessary to observe that the chief of these penitents was the duke of aerschot. the ultimatum of the states was deposited by the departing envoys with schwartzenburg, and a comparison of its terms with those offered by the imperial mediators, as the best which could be obtained from spain, shows the hopelessness of the pretended negotiation. departure of the foreign troops, restitution of all confiscated property, unequivocal recognition of the ghent treaty and the perpetual edict, appointment to office of none but natives, oaths of allegiance to the king and the states-general, exercise of the reformed religion and of the confession of augsburg in all places where it was then publicly practised: such were the main demands of the patriot party. in the secret instructions furnished by the states to their envoys, they were told to urge upon his majesty the absolute necessity, if he wished to retain the provinces, of winking at the exercise of the reformed and the augsburg creeds. "the new religion had taken too deep root," it was urged, "ever to be torn forth, save with the destruction of the whole country." thus, after seven dreary months of negotiation, after protocols and memoranda in ten thousand folia, the august diplomatists had travelled round to the points from which they had severally started. on the one side, unlimited prerogative and exclusive catholicism; on the other, constitutional liberty, with freedom of conscience for catholic and protestant alike: these were the claims which each party announced at the commencement, and to which they held with equal firmness at the close of the conferences. the congress had been expensive. though not much had been accomplished for the political or religious advancement of mankind, there had been much excellent eating and drinking at cologne during the seven months. those drouthy deliberations had needed moistening. the bishop of wurtzburg had consumed "eighty hogsheads of rhenish wine and twenty great casks of beer." the expense of the states' envoys were twenty-four thousand guldens. the archbishop of cologne had expended forty thousand thalers. the deliberations were, on the whole, excessively detrimental to the cause of the provinces, "and a great personage" wrote to the states-general, that the king had been influenced by no motive save to cause dissension. this was an exaggeration, for his majesty would have been well pleased to receive the whole of the country on the same terms which had been accepted by the walloons. meantime, those southern provinces had made their separate treaty, and the netherlands were permanently dissevered. maestricht had fallen. disunion and dismay had taken possession of the country. during the course of the year other severe misfortunes had happened to the states. treachery, even among the men who had done good service to the cause of freedom, was daily showing her hateful visage. not only the great chieftains who had led the malcontent walloon party, with the fickle aerschot and the wavering havre besides, had made their separate reconciliation with parma, but the epidemic treason had mastered such bold partisans as the seigneur de bours, the man whose services in rescuing the citadel of antwerp had been so courageous and valuable. he was governor of mechlin; count renneberg was governor of friesland. both were trusted implicitly by orange and by the estates; both were on the eve of repaying the confidence reposed in them by the most venal treason. it was already known that parma had tampered with de bours; but renneberg was still unsuspected. "the prince," wrote count john, "is deserted by all the noblemen; save the stadholder of friesland and myself, and has no man else in whom he can repose confidence." the brothers were doomed to be rudely awakened from the repose with regard to renneberg, but previously the treason of a less important functionary was to cause a considerable but less lasting injury to the national party. in mechlin was a carmelite friar, of audacious character and great eloquence; a man who, "with his sweet, poisonous tongue, could ever persuade the people to do his bidding." this dangerous monk, peter lupus, or peter wolf, by name, had formed the design of restoring mechlin to the prince of parma, and of obtaining the bishopric of namur as the reward of his services. to this end he had obtained a complete mastery over the intellect of the bold but unprincipled de bours. a correspondence was immediately opened between parma and the governor, and troops were secretly admitted into the city. the prince of orange, in the name of the archduke and the estates, in vain endeavoured to recal the infatuated governor to his duty. in vain he conjured him, by letter after letter, to be true to his own bright fame so nobly earned. an old friend of de bours, and like himself a catholic, was also employed to remonstrate with him. this gentleman, de fromont by name, wrote him many letters; but de bours expressed his surprise that fromont, whom he had always considered a good catholic and a virtuous gentleman, should wish to force him into a connection with the prince of orange and his heretic supporters. he protested that his mind was quite made up, and that he had been guaranteed by parma not only the post which he now held, but even still farther advancement. de fromont reminded him, in reply, of the frequent revolutions of fortune's wheel, and warned him that the advancement of which he boasted would probably be an entire degradation. he bitterly recalled to the remembrance of the new zealot for romanism his former earnest efforts to establish calvinism. he reproached him, too, with having melted up the silver images of the mechlin churches, including even the renowned shrine of saint rombout, which the prince of orange had always respected. "i don't say how much you took of that plunder for your own share," continued the indignant de fromont, "for the very children cry it in your ears as you walk the streets. 'tis known that if god himself had been changed into gold you would have put him in your pocket." this was plain language, but as just as it was plain. the famous shrine of saint rombout--valued at seventy thousand guldens, of silver gilt, and enriched with precious stones--had been held sacred alike by the fanatical iconoclasts and the greedy spaniards who had successively held the city. it had now been melted up, and appropriated by peter lupin; the carmelite, and de bours, the catholic convert, whose mouths were full of devotion to the ancient church and of horror for heresy. the efforts of orange and of the states were unavailing. de bours surrendered the city, and fled to parma, who received him with cordiality, gave him five thousand florins--the price promised for his treason, besides a regiment of infantry--but expressed surprise that he should have reached the camp alive. his subsequent career was short, and he met his death two years afterwards, in the trenches before tournay. the archiepiscopal city was thus transferred to the royal party, but the gallant van der tympel, governor of brussels, retook it by surprise within six months of its acquisition by parma, and once more restored it to the jurisdiction of the states. peter lupus, the carmelite, armed to the teeth, and fighting fiercely at the head of the royalists, was slain in the street, and thus forfeited his chance for the mitre of namur. during the weary progress of the cologne negotiations, the prince had not been idle, and should this august and slow-moving congress be unsuccessful in restoring peace, the provinces were pledged to an act of abjuration. they would then be entirely without a head. the idea of a nominal republic was broached by none. the contest had not been one of theory, but of facts; for the war had not been for revolution, but for conservation, so far as political rights were concerned. in religion, the provinces had advanced from one step to another, till they now claimed the largest liberty--freedom of conscience--for all. religion, they held, was god's affair, not man's, in which neither people nor king had power over each other, but in which both were subject to god alone. in politics it was different. hereditary sovereignty was acknowledged as a fact, but at the same time, the spirit of freedom was already learning its appropriate language. it already claimed boldly the natural right of mankind to be governed according to the laws of reason and of divine justice. if a prince were a shepherd, it was at least lawful to deprive him of his crook when he butchered the flock which he had been appointed to protect. "what reason is there," said the states-general, "why the provinces should suffer themselves to be continually oppressed by their sovereign, with robbings, burnings, stranglings, and murderings? why, being thus oppressed, should they still give their sovereign--exactly as if he were well conducting himself--the honor and title of lord of the land?" on the other hand, if hereditary rule were an established fact, so also were ancient charters. to maintain, not to overthrow, the political compact, was the purpose of the states. "je maintiendrai" was the motto of orange's escutcheon. that a compact existed between prince and people, and that the sovereign held office only on condition of doing his duty, were startling truths which men were beginning, not to whisper to each other in secret, but to proclaim in the market-place. "'tis well known to all," said the famous declaration of independence, two years afterwards, "that if a prince is appointed by god over the land, 'tis to protect them from harm, even as a shepherd to the guardianship of his flock. the subjects are not appointed by god for the behoof of the prince, but the prince for his subjects, without whom he is no prince. should he violate the laws, he is to be forsaken by his meanest subject, and to be recognized no longer as prince." william of orange always recognized these truths, but his scheme of government contemplated a permanent chief, and as it was becoming obvious that the spanish sovereign would soon be abjured, it was necessary to fix upon a substitute. "as to governing these provinces in the form of a republic," said he, speaking for the states-general, "those who know the condition, privileges, and ordinances of the country, can easily understand that 'tis hardly possible to dispense with a head or superintendent." at the same time, he plainly intimated that this "head or superintendent" was to be, not a monarch--a one-ruler--but merely the hereditary chief magistrate of a free commonwealth. where was this hereditary chief magistrate to be found? his own claims he absolutely withdrew. the office was within his grasp, and he might easily have constituted himself sovereign of all the netherlands. perhaps it would have been better at that time had he advanced his claims and accepted the sovereignty which philip had forfeited. as he did not believe in the possibility of a republic, he might honestly have taken into his own hands the sceptre which he considered indispensable. his self-abnegation was, however, absolute. not only did he decline sovereignty, but he repeatedly avowed his readiness to, lay down all the offices which he held, if a more useful substitute could be found. "let no man think," said he, in a remarkable speech to the states-general," that my good-will is in any degree changed or diminished. i agree to obey--as the least of the lords or gentlemen of the land could do-- whatever person it may, please you to select. you have but to command my services wheresoever they are most wanted; to guard a province or a single city, or in any capacity in which i may be found most useful. i promise to do my duty, with all my strength and skill, as god and my conscience are witnesses that i have done it hitherto." the negotiations pointed to a speedy abjuration of philip; the republic was contemplated by none; the prince of orange absolutely refused to stretch forth his own hand; who then was to receive the sceptre which was so soon to be bestowed? a german prince--had been tried--in a somewhat abnormal position--but had certainly manifested small capacity for aiding the provinces. nothing could well be more insignificant than the figure of matthias; and, moreover, his imperial brother was anything but favorably disposed. it was necessary to manage rudolph. to treat the archduke with indignity, now that he had been partly established in the netherlands, would be to incur the emperor's enmity. his friendship, however, could hardly be secured by any advancement bestowed upon his brother; for rudolph's services against prerogative and the pope were in no case to be expected. nor was there much hope from the protestant princes of germany. the day had passed for generous sympathy with those engaged in the great struggle which martin luther had commenced. the present generation of german protestants were more inclined to put down the calvinistic schism at home than to save it from oppression abroad. men were more disposed to wrangle over the thrice-gnawed bones of ecclesiastical casuistry, than to assist their brethren in the field. "i know not," said gaultherus, "whether the calamity of the netherlands, or the more than bestial stupidity of the germans, be most deplorable. to the insane contests on theological abstractions we owe it that many are ready to breathe blood and slaughter against their own brethren. the hatred of the lutherans has reached that point that they can rather tolerate papists than ourselves." in england, there was much sympathy for the provinces and there--although the form of government was still arbitrary--the instincts for civil and religious freedom, which have ever characterized the anglo-saxon race, were not to be repressed. upon many a battle-field for liberty in the netherlands, "men whose limbs were made in england" were found contending for the right. the blood and treasure of englishmen flowed freely in the cause of their relatives by religion and race, but these were the efforts of individuals. hitherto but little assistance had been rendered by the english queen, who had, on the contrary, almost distracted the provinces by her fast-and-loose policy, both towards them and towards anjou. the political rivalry between that prince and herself in the netherlands had, however, now given place to the memorable love-passage from which important results were expected, and it was thought certain that elizabeth would view with satisfaction any dignity conferred upon her lover. orange had a right to form this opinion. at the same time, it is well known that the chief councillors of elizabeth--while they were all in favor of assisting the provinces--looked with anything but satisfaction upon the anjou marriage. "the duke," wrote davidson to walsingham in july, , "seeks, forsooth, under a pretext of marriage with her highness, the rather to espouse the low countries--the chief ground and object of his pretended love, howsoever it be disguised." the envoy believed both elizabeth and the provinces in danger of taking unto themselves a very bad master. "is there any means," he added, "so apt to sound the very bottom of our estate, and to hinder and breake the neck of all such good purpose as the necessity of the tyme shall set abroch?" the provinces of holland and zealand, notwithstanding the love they bore to william of orange, could never be persuaded by his arguments into favoring anjou. indeed, it was rather on account of the love they bore the prince--whom they were determined to have for their sovereign--that they refused to listen to any persuasion in favor of his rival, although coming from his own lips. the states-general, in a report to the states of holland, drawn up under the superintendence of the prince, brought forward all the usual arguments for accepting the french duke, in case the abjuration should take place. they urged the contract with anjou (of august th, ), the great expenses he had already incurred in their behalf; the danger of offending him; the possibility that in such case he would ally himself with spain; the prospect that, in consequence of such a result, there would be three enemies in the field against them-- the walloons, the spaniards, and the french, all whose forces would eventually be turned upon holland and zealand alone. it was represented that the selection of anjou would, on the other hand, secure the friendship of france--an alliance which would inspire both the emperor and the spanish monarch with fear; for they could not contemplate without jealousy a possible incorporation of the provinces with that kingdom. moreover, the geographical situation of france made its friendship inexpressibly desirable. the states of holland and zealand were, therefore, earnestly invited to send deputies to an assembly of the states-general, in order to conclude measures touching the declaration of independence to be made against the king, and concerning the election of the duke of anjou. the official communications by speech or writing of orange to the different corporations and assemblies, were at this period of enormous extent. he was moved to frequent anger by the parsimony, the inter- provincial jealousy, the dull perception of the different estates, and he often expressed his wrath in unequivocal language. he dealt roundly with all public bodies. his eloquence was distinguished by a bold, uncompromising, truth-telling spirit, whether the words might prove palatable or bitter to his audience. his language rebuked his hearers more frequently than it caressed them, for he felt it impossible, at all times, to consult both the humors and the high interests of the people, and he had no hesitation, as guardian of popular liberty, in denouncing the popular vices by which it was endangered. by both great parties, he complained, his shortcomings were all noted, the good which he had accomplished passed over in silence. [letter to the states-general, august, , apud bor, xiv. , sqq. this was the opinion frequently expressed by languet: "cherish the friendship of the prince, i beseech you," he writes to sir philip sydney, "for there is no man like him in all christendom. nevertheless, his is the lot of all men of prudence--to be censured by all parties. the people complain that he despises them; the nobility declare that it is their order which he hates; and this is as sensible as if you were to tell me that you were the son of a clown."] he solemnly protested that he desired, out of his whole heart, the advancement of that religion which he publicly professed, and with god's blessing, hoped to profess to the end of his life, but nevertheless, he reminded the states that he had sworn, upon taking office as lieutenant- general, to keep "all the subjects of the land equally under his protection," and that he had kept his oath. he rebuked the parsimony which placed the accepted chief of the provinces in a sordid and contemptible position. "the archduke has been compelled," said he, in august, to the states-general, "to break up housekeeping, for want of means. how shameful and disreputable for the country, if he should be compelled, for very poverty, to leave the land!" he offered to lay down all the power with which he had himself been clothed, but insisted, if he were to continue in office, upon being provided with, larger means of being useful. "'twas impossible," he said, "for him to serve longer on the same footing as heretofore; finding himself without power or authority, without means, without troops, without money, without obedience." he reminded the states-general that the enemy--under pretext of peace negotiations--were ever circulating calumnious statements to the effect that he was personally the only obstacle to peace. the real object of these hopeless conferences was to sow dissension through the land, to set burgher against burgher, house against house. as in italy, guelphs and ghibellines--as in florence, the neri and bianchi--as in holland, the hooks and cabbeljaws had, by their unfortunate quarrels, armed fellow countrymen and families against each other--so also, nothing was so powerful as religious difference to set friend against friend, father against son, husband against wife. he warned the states against the peace propositions of the enemy. spain had no intention to concede, but was resolved to extirpate. for himself; he had certainly everything to lose by continued war. his magnificent estates were withheld, and--added he with simplicity--there is no man who does not desire to enjoy his own. the liberation of his son, too, from his foreign captivity, was, after the glory of god and the welfare of the fatherland, the dearest object of his heart. moreover, he was himself approaching the decline of life. twelve years he had spent in perpetual anxiety and labor for the cause. as he approached old age, he had sufficient reason to desire repose. nevertheless, considering the great multitude of people who were leaning upon him, he should account himself disgraced if, for the sake of his own private advantage, he were to recommend a peace which was not perfectly secure. as regarded his own personal interests, he could easily place himself beyond danger--yet it would be otherwise with the people. the existence of the religion which, through the mercy of god he professed, would be sacrificed, and countless multitudes of innocent men would, by his act, be thrown bodily into the hands of the blood-thirsty inquisitors who, in times past, had murdered so many persons, and so utterly desolated the land. in regard to the ceaseless insinuations against his character which men uttered "over their tables and in the streets," he observed philosophically, that "mankind were naturally inclined to calumny, particularly against those who exercised government over them. his life was the best answer to those slanders. being overwhelmed with debt, he should doubtless do better in a personal point of view to accept the excellent and profitable offers which were daily made to him by the enemy." he might be justified in such a course, when it was remembered how many had deserted him and forsworn their religion. nevertheless, he had ever refused, and should ever refuse to listen to offers by which only his own personal interests were secured. as to the defence of the country, he had thus far done all in his power, with the small resources placed at his command. he was urged by the "nearer-united states" to retain the poet of lieutenant- general. he was ready to consent. he was, however, not willing to hold office a moment, unless he had power to compel cities to accept garrisons, to enforce the collection of needful supplies throughout the provinces, and in general to do everything which he judged necessary for the best interests of the country. three councils were now established--one to be in attendance upon the archduke and the prince of orange, the two others to reside respectively in flanders and in utrecht. they were to be appointed by matthias and the prince, upon a double nomination from the estates of the united provinces. their decisions were to be made according to a majority of votes,--and there was to be no secret cabinet behind and above their deliberations. it was long, however, before these councils were put into working order. the fatal jealousy of the provincial authorities, the, small ambition of local magistrates, interposed daily obstacles to the vigorous march of the generality. never was jealousy more mischievous, never circumspection more misapplied. it was not a land nor a crisis in which there was peril of centralization: local municipal government was in truth the only force left. there was no possibility of its being merged in a central authority which did not exist. the country was without a centre. there was small chance of apoplexy where there was no head. the danger lay in the mutual repulsiveness of these atoms of sovereignty--in the centrifugal tendencies which were fast resolving a nebulous commonwealth into chaos. disunion and dissension would soon bring about a more fatal centralization--that of absorption in a distant despotism. at the end of november, , orange made another remarkable speech in the states-general at antwerp. he handled the usual topics with his customary vigor, and with that grace and warmth of delivery which always made his eloquence so persuasive and impressive. he spoke of the countless calumnies against himself, the chaffering niggardliness of the provinces, the slender result produced by his repeated warnings. he told them bluntly the great cause of all their troubles. it was the absence of a broad patriotism; it was the narrow power grudged rather than given to the deputies who sat in the general assembly. they were mere envoys, tied by instructions. they were powerless to act, except after tedious reference to the will of their masters, the provincial boards. the deputies of the union came thither, he said, as advocates of their provinces or their cities, not as councillors of a commonwealth--and sought to further those narrow interests, even at the risk of destruction to their sister states. the contributions, he complained, were assessed unequally, and expended selfishly. upon this occasion, as upon all occasions, he again challenged inquiry into the purity of his government, demanded chastisement, if any act of mal-administration on his part could be found, and repeated his anxious desire either to be relieved from his functions, or to be furnished with the means of discharging them with efficiency. on the th of december, , he again made a powerful speech in the states-general. upon the th of january , following, he made an elaborate address upon the state of the country, urging the necessity of raising instantly a considerable army of good and experienced soldiers. he fixed the indispensable number of such a force at twelve thousand foot, four thousand horse, and at least twelve hundred pioneers. "weigh well the matters," said he, in conclusion; "which i have thus urged, and which are of the most extreme necessity. men in their utmost need are daily coming to me for refuge, as if i held power over all things in my hand." at the same time he complained that by reason of the dilatoriness of the states, he was prevented from alleviating misery when he knew the remedy to be within reach. "i beg you, however, my masters," he continued, "to believe that this address of mine is no simple discourse. 'tis a faithful presentment of matters which, if not reformed, will cause the speedy and absolute ruin of the land. whatever betide, however, i pray you to hold yourselves assured, that with god's help, i am determined to live with you or to die with you." early in the year , the prince was doomed to a bitter disappointment, and the provinces to a severe loss, in the treason of count renneberg, governor of friesland. this young noble was of the great lalain family. he was a younger brother of: anthony, count of hoogstraaten--the unwavering friend of orange. he had been brought up in the family of his cousin, the count de lalain, governor of hainault, and had inherited the title of renneberg from an uncle, who was a dignitary of the church. for more than a year there had been suspicions of his fidelity. he was supposed to have been tampered with by the duke of terranova, on the first arrival of that functionary in the netherlands. nevertheless, the prince of orange was unwilling to listen to the whispers against him. being himself the mark of calumny, and having a tender remembrance of the elder brother, he persisted in reposing confidence in a man who was in reality unworthy of his friendship. george lalain, therefore, remained stadholder of friesland and drenthe, and in possession of the capital city, groningen. the rumors concerning him proved correct. in november, , he entered into a formal treaty with terranova, by which he was to receive--as the price of "the virtuous resolution which he contemplated"--the sum of ten thousand crowns in hand, a further sum of ten thousand crowns within three months, and a yearly pension of ten thousand florins. moreover, his barony of ville was to be erected into a marquisate, and he was to receive the order of the golden fleece at the first vacancy. he was likewise to be continued in the same offices under the king which he now held from the estates. the bill of sale, by which he agreed with a certain quislain le bailly to transfer himself to spain, fixed these terms with the technical scrupulousness of any other mercantile transaction. renneberg sold himself as one would sell a yoke of oxen, and his motives were no whit nobler than the cynical contract would indicate. "see you not," said he in a private letter to a friend, "that this whole work is brewed by the nassaus for the sake of their own greatness, and that they are everywhere provided with the very best crumbs. they are to be stadholders of the principal provinces; we are to content ourselves with overyssel and drente. therefore i have thought it best to make my peace with the king, from whom more benefits are to be got." jealousy and selfishness; then, were the motives of his "virtuous resolution." he had another, perhaps a nobler incentive. he was in love with the countess meghen, widow of lancelot berlaymont, and it was privately stipulated that the influence of his majesty's government should be employed to bring about his marriage with the lady. the treaty, however, which renneberg had made with quislain le bailly was not immediately carried out. early in february, , his sister and evil genius, cornelia lalain, wife of baron monceau, made him a visit at groningen. she implored him not to give over his soul to perdition by oppressing the holy church. she also appealed to his family pride, which should keep him, she said, from the contamination of companionship with "base-born weavers and furriers." she was of opinion that to contaminate his high-born fingers with base bribes were a lower degradation. the pension, the crowns in hand, the marquisate, the collar of the golden fleece, were all held before his eyes again. he was persuaded, moreover, that the fair hand of the wealthy widow would be the crowning prize of his treason, but in this he was destined to disappointment. the countess was reserved for a more brilliant and a more bitter fate. she was to espouse a man of higher rank, but more worthless character, also a traitor to the cause of freedom, to which she was herself devoted, and who was even accused of attempting her life in her old age, in order to supply her place with a younger rival. the artful eloquence of cornelia de lalain did its work, and renneberg entered into correspondence with parma. it is singular with how much indulgence his conduct and character were regarded both before and subsequently to his treason. there was something attractive about the man. in an age when many german and netherland nobles were given to drunkenness and debauchery, and were distinguished rather for coarseness of manner and brutality of intellect than for refinement or learning, count renneberg, on the contrary, was an elegant and accomplished gentleman--the sydney of his country in all but loyalty of character. he was a classical scholar, a votary of music and poetry, a graceful troubadour, and a valiant knight. he was "sweet and lovely of conversation," generous and bountiful by nature. with so many good gifts, it was a thousand pities that the gift of truth had been denied him. never did treason look more amiable, but it was treason of the blackest die. he was treacherous, in the hour of her utmost need, to the country which had trusted him. he was treacherous to the great man who had leaned upon his truth, when all others had abandoned him. he was treacherous from the most sordid of motives jealousy of his friend and love of place and pelf; but his subsequent remorse and his early death have cast a veil over the blackness of his crime. while cornelia de lalain was in groningen, orange was in holland. intercepted letters left no doubt of the plot, and it was agreed that the prince, then on his way to amsterdam, should summon the count to an interview. renneberg's trouble at the proximity of orange could not be suppressed. he felt that he could never look his friend in the face again. his plans were not ripe; it was desirable to dissemble for a season longer; but how could he meet that tranquil eye which "looked quite through the deeds of men?" it was obvious to renneberg that his deed was to be done forthwith, if he would escape discomfiture. the prince would soon be in groningen, and his presence would dispel the plots which had been secretly constructed. on the evening of march the rd, , the count entertained a large number of the most distinguished families of the place at a ball and banquet. at the supper-table, hildebrand, chief burgomaster of the city, bluntly interrogated his host concerning the calumnious reports which were in circulation, expressing the hope that there was no truth in these inventions of his enemies. thus summoned, renneberg, seizing the hands of hildebrand in both his own, exclaimed, "oh; my father! you whom i esteem as my father, can you suspect me of such guilt? i pray you, trust me, and fear me not!" with this he restored the burgomaster and all the other guests to confidence. the feast and dance proceeded, while renneberg was quietly arranging his plot. during the night all the leading patriots were taken out of their beds, and carried to prison, notice being at the same time given to the secret adherents of renneberg. before dawn, a numerous mob of boatmen and vagrants, well armed, appeared upon the public square. they bore torches and standards, and amazed the quiet little city with their shouts. the place was formally taken into possession, cannon were planted in front of the town house to command the principal streets, and barricades erected at various important points. just at daylight, renneberg himself, in complete armor, rode into the square, and it was observed that he looked ghastly as a corpse. he was followed by thirty troopers, armed like himself, from head to foot. "stand by me now," he cried to the assembled throng; "fail me not at this moment, for now i am for the first time your stadholder." while he was speaking, a few citizens of the highest class forced their way through the throng and addressed the mob in tones of authority. they were evidently magisterial persons endeavoring to quell the riot. as they advanced, one of renneberg's men-at-arms discharged his carabine at the foremost gentleman, who was no other than burgomaster hildebrand. he fell dead at the feet of the stadholder--of the man who had clasped his hands a few hours before, called him father, and implored him to entertain no suspicions of his honor. the death of this distinguished gentleman created a panic, during which renneberg addressed his adherents, and stimulated them to atone by their future zeal in the king's service for their former delinquency. a few days afterwards the city was formally reunited to the royal government; but the count's measures had been precipitated to such an extent, that he was unable to carry the province with him, as he had hoped. on the contrary, although he had secured the city, he had secured nothing else. he was immediately beleaguered by the states' force in the province under the command of barthold entes, hohenlo, and philip louis nassau, and it was necessary to send for immediate assistance from parma. the prince of orange, being thus bitterly disappointed. by the treachery of his friend, and foiled in his attempt to avert the immediate consequences, continued his interrupted journey to amsterdam. here he was received with unbounded enthusiasm. etext editor's bookmarks: all the majesty which decoration could impart amuse them with this peace negotiation conflicting claims of prerogative and conscience it is not desirable to disturb much of that learned dust logical and historical argument of unmerciful length mankind were naturally inclined to calumny men were loud in reproof, who had been silent more easily, as he had no intention of keeping the promise not to fall asleep in the shade of a peace negotiation nothing was so powerful as religious difference on the first day four thousand men and women were slaughtered power grudged rather than given to the deputies the disunited provinces there is no man who does not desire to enjoy his own to hear the last solemn commonplaces word-mongers who, could clothe one shivering thought this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic, - by john lothrop motley chapter iv. orange invited to visit brussels--his correspondence upon the subject with the estates--general--triumphant journey of the prince to the capital----stop put by him to the negotiations with don john --new and stringent demands made upon the governor--his indignation --open rupture--intrigue of netherland grandees with archduke matthias--policy of orange--attitude of queen elizabeth--flight of matthias from vienna--anxiety of elizabeth--adroitness of the prince--the office of reward--election of orange to that dignity-- his complaints against the great nobles--aerschot governor of flanders--a storm brewing in ghent--ryhove and imbize--blood- councillor hessels--arrogance of the aristocratic party in flanders --ryhove's secret interview with orange--outbreak at ghent--arrest of aerschot, hessels, and others of the reactionary party--the duke liberated at demand of orange--the prince's visit to ghent-- rhetorical demonstrations--the new brussels union characterized-- treaty with england--articles by which matthias is nominally constituted governor-general--his inauguration at brussels-- brilliant and fantastic ceremonies--letter of don john to the emperor--his anger with england--an army collecting--arrival of alexander farnese--injudicious distribution of offices in the states' army--the states' army fall back upon gemblours, followed by don john--tremendous overthrow of the patriots--wonderful disparity in the respective losses of the two armies. while these matters were in progress, an important movement was made by the estates-general. the prince of orange was formally and urgently invited to come to brussels to aid them with his counsel and presence. the condemned traitor had not set foot in the capital for eleven years. we have narrated the circumstance of his departure, while the advancing trumpets of alva's army were almost heard in the distance. his memorable and warning interview with egmont has been described. since that period, although his spirit had always been manifesting itself in the capital like an actual presence; although he had been the magnet towards which the states throughout all their, oscillations had involuntarily vibrated, yet he had been ever invisible. he had been summoned by the blood council to stand his trial, and had been condemned to death by default. he answered the summons by a defiance, and the condemnation by two campaigns, unsuccessful in appearance, but which had in reality prostrated the authority of the sovereign. since that period, the representative of royalty had sued the condemned traitor for forgiveness. the haughty brother of philip had almost gone upon his knees, that the prince might name his terms, and accept the proffered hand of majesty. the prince had refused, not from contumely, but from distrust. he had spurned the supplications, as he had defied the proscription of the king. there could be no friendship between the destroyer and the protector of a people. had the prince desired only the reversal of his death-sentence, and the infinite aggrandizement of his family, we have seen how completely he had held these issues in his power. never had it been more easy, plausible, tempting, for a proscribed patriot to turn his back upon an almost sinking cause. we have seen how his brave and subtle batavian prototype, civilis, dealt with the representative of roman despotism. the possible or impossible netherland republic of the first century of our era had been reluctantly abandoned, but the modern civilis had justly more confidence in his people. and now again the scene was changed. the son of the emperor, the king's brother, was virtually beleaguered; the proscribed rebel had arrived at victory through a long series of defeats. the nation everywhere acknowledged him master, and was in undisguised revolt against the anointed sovereign. the great nobles, who hated philip on the one hand, and the reformed religion on the other, were obliged, in obedience to the dictates of a people with whom they had little sympathy, to accept the ascendency of the calvinist prince, of whom they were profoundly jealous. even the fleeting and incapable aerschot was obliged to simulate adhesion; even the brave champagny, cordial hater of spaniards, but most devotedly catholic, "the chiefest man of wysedome and stomach at that tyme in brussels," so envoy wilson wrote to burghley, had become "brabantized," as his brother granvelle expressed himself, and was one of the commissioners to invite the great rebel to brussels. the other envoys were the abbot of saint gertrude, dr. leoninus, and the seigneur de liesvelt. these gentlemen, on arriving at gertruydenberg, presented a brief but very important memorial to the prince. in that document they informed him that the states-general, knowing how efficacious would be his presence, by reason of his singular prudence, experience, and love for the welfare and repose of the country, had unanimously united in a supplication that he would incontinently transport himself to the city of brussels, there to advise with them concerning the necessities of the land; but, as the principal calumny employed by their adversaries was that all the provinces and leading personages intended to change both sovereign and religion, at the instigation of his excellency, it was desirable to disprove such fictions. they therefore very earnestly requested the prince to make some contrary demonstration, by which it might be manifest to all that his excellency, together with the estates of holland and zealand, intended faithfully to keep what they had promised. they prayed, therefore, that the prince, permitting the exercise of the roman catholic religion in the places which had recently accepted his authority, would also allow its exercise in holland and zealand. they begged, further, that ho would promise by a new and authentic act, that the provinces of holland and zealand, would not suffer the said exercise to be impugned, or any new worship to be introduced, in the other provinces of the netherlands. this letter might almost be regarded as a trap, set by the catholic nobles. certainly the ghent pacification forbade the reformed religion in form, and as certainly, winked at its exercise in fact. the proof was, that the new worship was spreading everywhere, that the exiles for conscience' sake were returning in swarms, and that the synod of the reformed churches, lately held at dort, had been, publicly attended by the ministers and deacons of numerous dissenting churches established in many different, places throughout all the provinces. the pressure of the edicts, the horror of the inquisition being removed, the down-trodden religion had sprung from the earth more freshly than ever. the prince was not likely to fall into the trap, if a trap had really been intended. he answered the envoys loyally, but with distinct reservations. he did not even accept the invitation, save on condition that his visit to brussels should be expressly authorized by holland and zealand. notwithstanding his desire once more to behold his dear country, and to enjoy the good company of his best friends and brothers, he felt it his duty to communicate beforehand with the states of those two provinces, between which, and himself there had been such close and reciprocal obligations, such long-tried and faithful affection. he therefore begged to refer the question to the assembly of the said provinces about to be held at gouda, where, in point of fact, the permission for his journey was, not without considerable difficulty, a few days afterwards obtained. with regard to the more difficult requests addressed to him in the memorial, he professed generally his intention to execute the treaty of ghent. he observed, however, that the point of permitting the exercise of the roman catholic religion in holland and zealand regarded principally the estates of these provinces, which had contracted for no innovation in this matter, at least till the assembling of the states -general. he therefore suggested that he neither could, nor ought to, permit any innovation, without the knowledge and consent of those estates. as to promising by authentic act, that neither he nor the two provinces would suffer the exercise of the catholic religion to be in any wise impugned in the rest of the netherlands, the prince expressed himself content to promise that, according to the said ghent pacification, they would suffer no attempt to be made against the public repose or against the catholic worship. he added that, as he had no intention of usurping any superiority over the states-general assembled at brussels, he was content to leave the settlement of this point to their free-will and wisdom, engaging himself neither to offer nor permit any hindrance to their operations. with this answer the deputies are said to have been well pleased. if they were so, it must be confessed that they were thankful for small favors. they had asked to have the catholic religion introduced into holland and zealand. the prince had simply referred them to the estates of these provinces. they had asked him to guarantee that the exercise of the reformed religion should not be "procured" in the rest of the country. he had merely promised that the catholic worship should not be prevented. the difference between the terms of the request and the reply was sufficiently wide. the consent to his journey was with difficulty accorded by the estates of holland and zealand, and his wife, with many tears and anxious forebodings, beheld him depart for a capital where the heads of his brave and powerful friends had fallen, and where still lurked so many of his deadly foes. during his absence, prayers were offered daily for his safety in all the churches of holland and zealand, by command of the estates. he arrived at antwerp on the th of september, and was received with extraordinary enthusiasm. the prince, who had gone forth alone, without even a bodyguard, had the whole population of the great city for his buckler. here he spent five days, observing, with many a sigh, the melancholy changes which had taken place in the long interval of his absence. the recent traces of the horrible "fury," the blackened walls of the hotel de ville, the prostrate ruins of the marble streets, which he had known as the most imposing in europe, could be hardly atoned for in his eyes even by the more grateful spectacle of the dismantled fortress. on the rd of september he was attended by a vast concourse of citizens to the new canal which led to brussels, where three barges were in waiting for himself and suite. in one a banquet was spread; in the second, adorned with emblematic devices and draped with the banners of the seventeen provinces, he was to perform the brief journey; while the third had been filled by the inevitable rhetoric societies, with all the wonders of their dramatic and plastic ingenuity. rarely had such a complication of vices and virtues, of crushed dragons, victorious archangels, broken fetters, and resurgent nationalities, been seen before, within the limits of a single canal boat. the affection was, however, sincere, and the spirit noble, even though the taste which presided at these remonstrations may have been somewhat pedantic. the prince was met several miles before the gates of brussels by a procession of nearly half the inhabitants of the city, and thus escorted, he entered the capital in the afternoon of the rd of september. it was the proudest day of his life. the representatives of all the provinces, supported by the most undeniable fervor of the united netherland people, greeted "father william." perplexed, discordant, hating, fearing, doubting, they could believe nothing, respect nothing, love nothing, save the "tranquil" prince. his presence at that moment in brussels was the triumph of the people and of religious toleration. he meant to make use of the crisis to extend and to secure popular rights, and to establish the supremacy of the states-general under the nominal sovereignty of some prince, who was yet to be selected, while the executive body was to be a state-council, appointed by the states-general. so far as appears, he had not decided as to the future protector, but he had resolved that it should be neither himself nor philip of spain. the outlaw came to brussels prepared at last to trample out a sovereignty which had worked its own forfeiture. so far as he had made any election within his breast, his choice inclined to the miserable duke of anjou; a prince whom he never came to know as posterity has known him, but whom he at least learned to despise. thus far the worthless and paltry intriguer still wore the heroic mask, deceiving even such far seeing politicians as saint aldegonde and the prince. william's first act was to put a stop to the negotiations already on foot with don john. he intended that they should lead to war, because peace was impossible, except a peace for which civil and religious liberty would be bartered, for it was idle, in his opinion, to expect the maintenance by the spanish governor of the ghent pacification, whatever promises might be extorted from his fears. a deputation, in the name of the states, had already been sent with fresh propositions to don john, at namur. the envoys were caspar schetz and the bishop of bruges. they had nearly come to an amicable convention with the governor, the terms of which had been sent to the states-general for approval, at the very moment of the prince's arrival in brussels. orange, with great promptness, prevented the ratification of these terms, which the estates had in reality already voted to accept. new articles were added to those which had originally been laid before don john. it was now stipulated that the ghent treaty and the perpetual edict should be maintained. the governor was required forthwith to abandon namur castle, and to dismiss the german troops. he was to give up the other citadels and strong places, and to disband all the soldiers in his service. he was to command the governors of every province to prohibit the entrance of all foreign levies. he was forthwith to release captives, restore confiscated property, and reinstate officers who had been removed; leaving the details of such restorations to the council of mechlin and the other provincial tribunals. he was to engage that the count van buren should be set free within two months. he was himself, while waiting for the appointment of his successor, to take up his residence in luxemburg, and while there, he was to be governed entirely by the decision of the state council, expressed by a majority of its members. furthermore, and as not the least stinging of these sharp requisitions, the queen of england--she who had been the secret ally of orange, and whose crown the governor had secretly meant to appropriate--was to be included in the treaty. it could hardly excite surprise that don john, receiving these insolent propositions at the very moment in which he heard of the triumphant entrance into brussels of the prince, should be filled with rage and mortification. never was champion of the cross thus braved by infidels before. the ghent treaty, according to the orange interpretation, that is to say, heresy made legitimate, was to be the law of the land. his majesty was to surrender--colors and cannon--to his revolted subjects. the royal authority was to be superseded by that of a state council, appointed by the states-general, at the dictation of the prince. the governor-general himself, brother of his catholic majesty, was to sit quietly with folded arms in luxemburg, while the arch-heretic and rebel reigned supreme in brussels. it was too much to expect that the choleric soldier would be content with what he could not help regarding as a dishonorable capitulation. the arrangement seemed to him about as reasonable as it would have been to invite sultan selim to the escorial, and to send philip to reside at bayonne. he could not but regard the whole proposition as an insolent declaration of war. he was right. it was a declaration of war; as much so as if proclaimed by trump of herald. how could don john refuse the wager of battle thus haughtily proffered? smooth schetz, lord of grobbendonck, and his episcopal colleague, in vain attempted to calm the governor's wrath, which now flamed forth, in defiance of all considerations. they endeavored, without success, to palliate the presence of orange, and the circumstances of his reception, for it was not probable that their eloquence would bring the governor to look at the subject with their eyes. three days were agreed upon for the suspension of hostilities, and don john was highly indignant that the estates would grant no longer a truce. the refusal was, however, reasonable enough on their part, for they were aware that veteran spaniards and italians were constantly returning to him, and that he was daily strengthening his position. the envoys returned to brussels, to give an account of the governor's rage, which they could not declare to be unnatural, and to assist in preparations for the war, which was now deemed inevitable. don john, leaving a strong garrison in the citadel of namur, from which place he, despatched a final communication to the estates-general, dated the nd of october, retired to luxemburg. in this letter, without exactly uttering defiance, he unequivocally accepted the hostilities which had been pressed upon him, and answered their hollow professions of attachment to the catholic religion and his majesty's authority, by denouncing their obvious intentions to trample upon both. he gave them, in short, to understand that he perceived their intentions, and meant them to comprehend his own. thus the quarrel was brought to an issue, and don john saw with grim complacency, that the pen was at last to be superseded by the sword. a remarkable pamphlet was now published, in seven different languages, latin, french, flemish, german, italian, spanish; and english, containing a succinct account of the proceedings between the governor and the estates, together with copies of the intercepted letters of don john and escovedo to the king, to perez, to the german colonels, and to the empress. this work, composed and published by order of the estates- general, was transmitted with an accompanying address to every potentate in christendom. it was soon afterwards followed by a counter-statement, prepared by order of don john, and containing his account of the same matters, with his recriminations against the conduct of the estates. another important movement had, meanwhile, been made by the third party in this complicated game. the catholic nobles, jealous of the growing influence of orange, and indignant at the expanding power of the people, had opened secret negotiations with the archduke matthias, then a mild, easy-tempered youth of twenty, brother of the reigning emperor, rudolph. after the matter had been discussed some time in secret, it was resolved, towards the end of september, to send a messenger to vienna, privately inviting the young prince to brussels, but much to the surprise of these nobles, it was discovered that some fifteen or sixteen of the grandees of the land, among them aerschot, havre, champagny, de ville, lalain, de heze, and others, had already taken .the initiative in the matter. on the th of august, the seigneur de maalsteede had set forth, by their appointment, for vienna. there is no doubt that this step originated in jealousy felt towards orange, but at the same time it is certain that several of the leaders in the enterprise were still his friends. some, like champagny, and de heze, were honestly so; others, like aerschot, havrd, and de ville, always traitors in heart to the national cause, loyal to nothing but their own advancement, were still apparently upon the best terms with him. moreover, it is certain that he had been made aware of the scheme, at least, before the arrival of the archduke in the netherlands, for the marquis havre, on his way to england, as special envoy from the estates, had a conference with him at gertruydenberg. this was in the middle of september, and before his departure for brussels. naturally, the proposition seemed, at first, anything but agreeable; but the marquis represented himself afterwards as having at last induced the prince to look upon it with more favorable eyes. nevertheless, the step had been taken before the consultation was held; nor was it the first time that the advice, of orange had been asked concerning the adoption of a measure after the measure had been adopted. whatever may have been his original sentiments upon the subject; however, he was always less apt to complain of irrevocable events than quick to reconcile them with his own combinations, and it was soon to be discovered that the new stumbling-block which his opponents had placed in his path, could be converted into an additional stepping-stone towards his goal. meanwhile, the secret invitation to the archduke was regarded by the people and by foreign spectators as a plot devised by his enemies. davison, envoy from queen elizabeth, was then in brussels, and informed his royal mistress, whose sentiments and sympathies were unequivocally in favor of orange, of the intrigues against the prince. the efforts of england were naturally to counteract the schemes of all who interfered with his policy, the queen especially, with her customary sagacity, foreseeing the probable inclination of the catholic nobles towards the protectorate of alencon. she did not feel certain as to the precise plans of orange, and there was no course better adapted to draw her from barren coquetry into positive engagements; than to arouse her jealousy of the french influence in the provinces. at this moment, she manifested the warmest friendship for the prince. costly presents were transmitted by her to his wife; among others, an ornament, of which a sculptured lizard formed a part. the princess, in a graceful letter to her husband, desiring that her acknowledgments should be presented to her english majesty, accepted the present as significative. "tis the fabled virtue of the lizard (she said) to awaken sleepers whom a serpent is about to sting. you are the lizard, and the netherlands the sleepers,--pray heaven they may escape the serpent's bite." the prince was well aware, therefore, of the plots which were weaving against him. he had small faith in the great nobles, whom he trusted "as he would adders fanged," and relied only upon the communities, upon the mass of burghers. they deserved his confidence, and watched over his safety with jealous care. on one occasion, when he was engaged at the state council till a late hour, the citizens conceived so much alarm, that a large number of them spontaneously armed themselves, and repaired to the palace. the prince, informed of the circumstance, threw open a window and addressed them, thanking them for their friendship and assuring them of his safety. they were not satisfied, however, to leave him alone, but remained under arms below till the session was terminated, when they escorted him with affectionate respect to his own hotel. the secret envoy arrived in vienna, and excited the ambition of the youthful matthias. it must be confessed that the offer could hardly be a very tempting one, and it excites our surprise that the archduke should have thought the adventure worth the seeking. a most anomalous position in the netherlands was offered to him by a slender and irresponsible faction of netherlanders. there was a triple prospect before him: that of a hopeless intrigue against the first politician in europe, a mortal combat with the most renowned conqueror of the age, a deadly feud with the most powerful and revengeful monarch in the world. into this threefold enterprise he was about to plunge without any adequate resources, for the archduke possessed no experience, power, or wealth. he brought, therefore, no strength to a cause which was itself feeble. he could hope for no protection, nor inspire any confidence. nevertheless, he had courage, pliability, and a turn for political adventure. visions of the discomfited philip conferring the hand of his daughter, with the netherlands as her dowry, upon the enterprising youth who, at this juncture, should succeed in overturning the spanish authority in that country, were conjured up by those who originated the plot, and he was weak enough to consider such absurdities plausible, and to set forth at once to take possession of this castle in the air. on the evening of october rd, , he retired to rest at eight o'clock feigning extreme drowsiness. after waiting till his brother, maximilian, who slept in another bed in the same chamber, was asleep, he slipped from his couch and from the room in his night apparel, without even putting on his slippers. he was soon after provided by the companions of his flight with the disguise of a servant, arrayed in which, with his face blackened, he made his escape by midnight from vienna, but it is doubtful whether rudolph were as ignorant as he affected to be of the scheme. [it was the opinion of languet that the emperor affected ignorance of the plot at its commencement, that he afterwards affected an original connivance, and that he was equally disingenuous in both pretences.] the archduke arrived at cologne, attended only by two gentlemen and a few servants. the governor was beside himself with fury; the queen of england was indignant; the prince only, against whom the measure was mainly directed, preserved his usual tranquillity. secretary walsingham, as soon as the news reached england, sent for meetkercke, colleague of marquis havre in the mission from the estates. he informed that functionary of the great perplexity and excitement which, according to information received from the english resident, davison, were then prevailing in brussels, on account of the approach of the archduke. some, he said, were for receiving him at one place, some at another; others were in favor of forbidding his entrance altogether. things had been sufficiently complicated before, without this additional cause of confusion. don john was strengthening himself daily, through the secret agency of the duke of guise and his party. his warlike genius was well known, as well as the experience of the soldiers who were fast rallying under his banner. on the other hand, the duke of alencon had come to la fere, and was also raising troops, while to oppose this crowd of rival enemies, to deal with this host of impending disasters, there was but one man in the netherlands. on the prince of orange alone could the distracted states rely. to his prudence and valor only could the queen look with hopeful eyes. the secretary proceeded to inform the envoy, therefore, that her majesty would feel herself compelled to withdraw all succor from the states if the prince of orange were deprived of his leadership; for it was upon that leadership only that she had relied for obtaining a successful result. she was quite indisposed to encounter indefinite risk with an impossibility of profit. meetkercke replied to the secretary by observing, that the great nobles of the land had been unanimous in desiring a new governor-general at this juncture. they had thought matthias, with a strong council of state, composed of native netherlanders, to control him, likely to prove a serviceable candidate for the post. they had reason to believe that, after he should be received, the emperor would be reconciled to the measure, and that by his intercession the king of spain would be likewise induced to acquiesce. he alluded, moreover, to the conference between the marquis of havre and orange at gertruydenberg, and quoted the opinion of the prince that it would be unwise, after the invitation had been given, to insult the archduke and his whole imperial house, by beating him with indignity upon his arrival. it was inevitable, said the envoy, that differences of opinion should exist in large assemblies, but according to information which he had recently received from marquis havre, then in brussels, affairs had already become smooth again. at the conclusion of the conference, walsingham repeated emphatically that the only condition upon which the queen would continue her succor to the netherlands was, that the prince should be forthwith appointed lieutenant-general for the archduke. the immediate result of this movement was, that matthias was received at antwerp by orange at the head of two thousand cavalry, and attended by a vast concourse of inhabitants. had the prince chosen a contrary course, the archduke might have been compelled to return, somewhat ridiculously, to vienna; but, at the same time, the anger of the emperor and of all germany would have been aroused against orange and the cause he served. had the prince, on the contrary, abandoned the field himself, and returned to holland, he would have left the game in the hands of his adversaries. ever since he had made what his brother john called that "dangerous gallows journey" to brussels, his influence had been culminating daily, and the jealousy of the great nobles rising as rapidly. had he now allowed himself to be driven from his post, he would have exactly fulfilled their object. by remaining, he counteracted their schemes. by taking matthias wholly into his own possession, he obtained one piece the more in the great game which he was playing against his antagonist in the escorial. by making adroit use of events as they arose, he made the very waves which were to sink him, carry his great cause triumphantly onward. the first result of the invitation to matthias was the election of orange as ruward of brabant. this office was one of great historical dignity, but somewhat anomalous in its functions. the province of brabant, having no special governor, was usually considered under the immediate superintendence of the governor-general. as the capital of brabant was the residence of that functionary, no inconvenience from this course had been felt since the accession of the house of burgundy. at present, however, the condition of affairs was so peculiar--the seat of government being empty without having been permanently vacated--that a special opportunity vas offered for conferring both honor and power on the prince. a ruward was not exactly dictator, although his authority was universal. he was not exactly protector, nor governor, nor stadholder. his functions were unlimited as to time--therefore superior to those of an ancient dictator; they were commonly conferred on the natural heir to the sovereignty--therefore more lofty than those of ordinary stadholders. the individuals who had previously held the office in the netherlands had usually reigned afterwards in their own right. duke albert, of the bavarian line; for example, had been ruward of hainault and holland, for thirty years, during the insanity of his brother, and on the death of duke william had succeeded to his title. philip of burgundy had declared himself ruward of brabant in , and had shortly afterwards deprived jacqueline of all her titles and appropriated them to himself. in the one case the regent, in the second case the usurper, had become reigning prince. thus the movement of the jealous nobles against the prince had for its first effect his immediate appointment to an office whose chief characteristic was, that it conducted to sovereignty. the election was accomplished thus. the "members," or estates of brussels, together with the deans, guilds, and other of the principal citizens of antwerp, addressed a request to the states of brabant, that william of orange should be appointed ruward, and after long deliberation the measure was carried. the unsolicited honor was then solemnly offered to him. he refused, and was only, after repeated and urgent entreaties, induced to accept the office. the matter was then referred to the states-general, who confirmed the dignity, after some demur, and with the condition that it might be superseded by the appointment of a governor- general. he was finally confirmed as ruward on the d of october, to the boundless satisfaction of the people, who celebrated the event by a solemn holiday in antwerp, brussels, and other cities. his friends, inspired by the intrigues of his enemies, had thus elevated the prince to almost unlimited power; while a strong expression in favor of his government had been elicited from the most important ally of the netherlands-england. it soon rested with himself only to assume the government of flanders, having been elected stadholder, not once only, but many times, by the four estates of that important province, and having as constantly refused the dignity. with holland and zealand devoted to him, brabant and flanders formally under his government, the netherland capital lavishing testimonials of affection upon him, and the mass of the people almost worshipping him, it would not have been difficult for the prince to play a game as selfish as it had hitherto been close and skilful. he might have proved to the grand seigniors that their suspicions were just, by assuming a crown which they had been intriguing to push from his brows. certainly the nobles deserved their defeat. they had done their best to circumvent orange, in all ways and at all times. they had paid their court to power when it was most powerful, and had sought to swim on the popular tide when it was rising. he avenged himself upon their perfidy only by serving his country more faithfully than ever, but it was natural that he should be indignant at the conduct of these gentlemen, "children of good houses," (in his own words,) "issue of worthy, sires," whose fathers, at least, he had ever loved and honored. "they serve the duke of alva and the grand commander like varlets," he cried; "they make war upon me to the knife. afterwards they treat with me, they reconcile themselves with me, they are sworn foes of the spaniard. don john arrives, and they follow him; they intrigue for my ruin. don john fails in his enterprise upon antwerp citadel; they quit him incontinently and call upon me. no sooner do i come than, against their oath and without previous communication with the states or myself, they call upon the archduke matthias. are the waves of the sea more inconstant--is euripus more uncertain than the counsels of such men?" while these events were occurring at brussels and antwerp, a scene of a different nature was enacting at ghent. the duke of aerschot had recently been appointed to the government of flanders by the state council, but the choice was exceedingly distasteful to a large number of the inhabitants. although, since the defeat of don john's party in antwerp, aerschot had again become "the affectionate brother" of orange, yet he was known to be the head of the cabal which had brought matthias from vienna. flanders, moreover, swarmed with converts to the reformed religion, and the duke's strict romanism was well known. the people, therefore, who hated the pope and adored the prince, were furious at the appointment of the new governor, but by dint of profuse promises regarding the instant restoration of privileges and charters which had long lain dormant, the friends of aerschot succeeded in preparing the way for his installation. on the th of october, attended by twenty-three companies of infantry and three hundred horse, he came to ghent. that famous place was still one of the most powerful and turbulent towns in europe. although diminished in importance since the commercial decline which had been the inevitable result of philip's bloody government, it, was still swarming with a vigorous and dangerous population and it had not forgotten the days when the iron tongue of roland could call eighty thousand fighting men to the city banner. even now, twenty thousand were secretly pledged to rise at the bidding of certain chieftains resident among them; noble by birth, warmly attached to the reformed religion, and devoted to orange. these gentlemen were perfectly conscious that a reaction was to be attempted in favor of don john and of catholicism, through the agency of the newly-appointed governor of flanders. aerschot was trusted or respected by neither party. the only difference in the estimates formed of him was, that some considered him a deep and dangerous traitor; others that he was rather foolish than malicious, and more likely to ruin a good cause than to advance the interests of a bad one. the leaders of the popular party at ghent believed him dangerous. they felt certain that it was the deeply laid design of the catholic nobles foiled as they had been in the objects with which they had brought matthias from vienna, and enraged as they were that the only result of that movement had been to establish the power of orange upon a firmer basis--to set up an opposing influence in ghent. flanders, in the possession of the catholics, was to weigh up brabant, with its recent tendencies to toleration. aerschot was to counteract the schemes of orange. matthias was to be withdrawn from the influence of the great heretic, and be yet compelled to play the part set down for him by those who had placed him upon the stage. a large portion, no doubt, of the schemes here suggested, was in agitation, but the actors were hardly equal to the drama which they were attempting. the intrigue was, however, to be frustrated at once by the hand of orange, acting as it often did from beneath a cloud. of all the chieftains possessing influence with the inhabitants of ghent, two young nobles, named ryhove and imbize, were the most conspicuous. both were of ancient descent and broken fortunes, both were passionately attached to the prince, both were inspired with an intense hatred for all that was catholic or spanish. they had travelled further on the reforming path than many had done in that day, and might even be called democratic in their notions. their heads were filled with visions of greece and rome; the praise of republics was ever on their lips; and they avowed to their intimate associates that it was already feasible to compose a commonwealth like that of the swiss cantons out of the seventeen netherlands. they were regarded as dreamers by some, as desperadoes by others. few had confidence in their capacity or their purity; but orange, who knew mankind, recognized in them useful instruments for any hazardous enterprise. they delighted in stratagems and sudden feats of arms. audacious and cruel by temperament, they were ever most happy in becoming a portion of the desolation which popular tumults engender. there were several excited meetings of the four estates of flanders immediately after the arrival of the duke of aerschot in ghent. his coming had been preceded by extensive promises, but it soon became obvious that their fulfilment was to be indefinitely deferred. there was a stormy session on the th of october, many of the clergy and nobility being present, and comparatively few members of the third estate. very violent speeches were made, and threats openly uttered, that the privileges, about which so much noise had been heard, would be rather curtailed than enlarged under the new administration. at the same session, the commission of aerschot was formally presented by champagny and sweveghem, deputed by the state council for that purpose. champagny was in a somewhat anomalous position. there was much doubt in men's minds concerning him. he had seemed lately the friend of orange, but he was certainly the brother of granvelle. his splendid but fruitless services during the antwerp fury had not been forgotten, but he was known to be a determined catholic. he was a hater of spaniards, but no lover of popular liberty. the nature of his sentiments towards orange was perhaps unjustly suspected. at any rate, two or three days after the events which now occupy our attention, he wrote him a private letter, in which he assured him of his attachment. in reference to the complaints, of the prince, that he had not been seconded as he ought to have been, he said, moreover, that he could solemnly swear never to have seen a single individual who did not hold the prince in admiration, and who was not affectionately devoted to him, not only, by public profession, but by private sentiment. there was little doubt entertained as to the opinions held by the rest of the aristocratic party, then commencing their manoeuvres in ghent. their sentiments were uttered with sufficient distinctness in this remarkable session. hessels, the old blood councillor, was then resident in ghent; where he discharged high governmental functions. it was he, as it will be remembered, who habitually fell asleep at that horrible council board, and could only start from his naps to-shout "ad patibulum," while the other murderers had found their work less narcotic. a letter from hessels to count de reux, late royal governor of flanders, was at the present juncture intercepted. perhaps it was invented, but genuine or fictitious, it was circulated extensively among the popular leaders, and had the effect of proving madame de hessels a true prophet. it precipitated the revolution in flanders, and soon afterwards cost the councillor his life. "we have already brought many notable magistrates of flanders over to the aide of his highness don john," wrote hessels. "we hope, after the duke of aerschot is governor; that we shall fully carry out the intentions of his majesty and the plans of his highness. we shall also know how to circumvent the scandalous heretic with all his adherents and followers." certainly, if this letter were true, it was high time for the friends of the "scandalous heretic" to look about them. if it were a forgery, which is highly probable, it was ingeniously imagined, and did the work of truth. the revolutionary party, being in a small minority in the assembly, were advised by their leaders to bow before the storm. they did so, and the bluster of the reactionary party grew louder as they marked the apparent discomfiture of their foes. they openly asserted that the men who were clamoring for privileges should obtain nothing but halters. the buried charters should never be resuscitated; but the spirit of the dead emperor, who had once put a rope around the necks of the insolent ghenters, still lived in that of his son. there was no lack of denunciation. don john and the duke of aerschot would soon bring the turbulent burghers to their senses, and there would then be an end to this renewed clamor about musty parchments. much indignation was secretly excited in the assembly by such menaces. without doors the subterranean flames spread rapidly, but no tumult occurred that night. before the session was over, ryhove left the city, pretending a visit to tournay. no sooner had he left the gates, however, than he turned his horse's head in the opposite direction, and rode off post haste to antwerp. there he had a conference with william of orange, and painted in lively colors the alarming position of affairs. "and what do you mean to do in the matter?" asked the prince, rather drily. ryhove was somewhat disconcerted. he had expected a violent explosion; well as he knew the tranquil personage whom he was addressing. "i know no better counsel," he replied, at length, "than to take the duke, with his bishops, councillors, lords, and the whole nest of them, by the throat, and thrust them all out together." "rather a desperate undertaking, however?" said the prince; carelessly, but interrogatively. "i know no other remedy," answered ryhove; "i would rather make the attempt, relying upon god alone, and die like a man if needful, than live in eternal slavery. like an ancient roman," continued the young republican noble, in somewhat bombastic vein, "i am ready to wager my life, where my fatherland's welfare is at stake." "bold words!" said the prince, looking gravely at ryhove; "but upon what force do you rely for your undertaking?" "if i can obtain no assistance from your excellency," was the reply, "i shall throw myself on the mass of the citizens. i can arouse them in the name of their ancient liberties, which must be redeemed now or never." the prince, believing probably that the scheme, if scheme there were, was but a wild one, felt little inclination to compromise himself with the young conspirator. he told him he could do nothing at present, and saying that he must at least sleep upon the matter, dismissed him for the night. next morning, at daybreak, ryhove was again closeted with him. the prince asked his sanguine partisan if he were still determined to carry out his project, with no more definite support than he had indicated? ryhove assured him, in reply, that he meant to do so; or to die in the attempt. the prince shrugged his shoulders, and soon afterwards seemed to fall into a reverie. ryhove continued talking, but it was soon obvious that his highness was not listening; and he therefore took his leave somewhat abruptly. hardly had he left the house, however, when the prince despatched saint aldegonde in search of him. that gentleman, proceeding to his hotel, walked straight into the apartment of ryhove, and commenced a conversation with a person whom he found there, but to his surprise he soon discovered, experienced politician though he was, that he had made an egregious blunder. he had opened a dangerous secret to an entire stranger, and ryhove coming into the apartment a few minutes afterwards, was naturally surprised to find the prince's chief councillor in close conversation about the plot with van rooyen, the burgomaster of denremonde. the flemish noble, however, always prompt in emergencies, drew his rapier, and assured the astonished burgomaster that he would either have his life on the instant, or his oath never to reveal a syllable of what he had heard. that functionary, who had neither desired the young noble's confidence, nor contemplated the honor of being run through the body as a consequence of receiving it, was somewhat aghast at the rapid manner in which these gentlemen transacted business. he willingly gave the required pledge, and was permitted to depart. the effect of the conference between saint aldegonde and ryhove was to convince the young partisan that the prince would neither openly countenance his project, nor be extremely vexed should it prove successful. in short, while, as in the case of the arrest of the state council, the subordinates were left to appear the principals in the transactions, the persons most intimate with william of orange were allowed to form satisfactory opinions as to his wishes, and to serve as instruments to his ends. "vive qui vince!" cried saint-aldegonde, encouragingly, to ryhove, shaking hands with him at parting. the conspirator immediately mounted, and rode off towards ghent. during his absence there had been much turbulence, but no decided outbreak, in that city. imbize had accosted the duke of aerschot in the street, and demanded when and how he intended to proclaim the restoration of the ancient charters. the haughty duke had endeavoured to shake off his importunate questioner, while imbize persisted, with increasing audacity, till aerschot lost his temper at last: "charters, charters!" he cried in a rage; "you shall learn soon, ye that are thus howling for charters, that we have still the old means of making you dumb, with a rope on your throats. i tell you this--were you ever so much hounded on by the prince of orange." the violence of the new governor excited the wrath of imbize. he broke from him abruptly, and rushed to a rendezvous of his confederates, every man of whom was ready for a desperate venture. groups of excited people were seen vociferating in different places. a drum was heard to rattle from time to time. nevertheless, the rising tumult seemed to subside again after a season, owing partly to the exertions of the magistrates, partly to the absence of ryhove. at four in the afternoon that gentleman entered the town, and riding directly to the head-quarters of the conspiracy, was incensed to hear that the work, which had begun so bravely, had been allowed to cool. "tis a time," he cried, "for vigilance. if we sleep now, we shall be dead in our beds before morning. better to fan the fire which has begun to blaze in the people's heart. better to gather the fruit while it is ripe. let us go forward, each with his followers, and i pledge myself to lead the way. let us scuttle the old ship of slavery; let us hunt the spanish inquisition, once for all, to the hell from whence it came!" "there spoke the voice of a man!" cried the flemish captain, mieghem, one of the chief conspirators; "lead on, ryhove, i swear to follow you as far as our legs will carry us." thus encouraged, ryhove, rushed about the city, calling upon the people everywhere to rise. they rose almost to a man. arming and mustering at different points, according to previous arrangements, a vast number assembled by toll of bell, after nightfall, on the public square, whence, under command of ryhove, they swept to the residence of aerschot at saint bavon. the guards, seeing the fierce mob approaching, brandishing spears and waving, torches, had scarce time to close the gates; as the people loudly demanded entrance and the delivery to them of the governor. both claims were refused. "let us burn the birds in their nests," cried ryhove, without hesitation. pitch, light wood, and other combustibles, were brought at his command, and in a few moments the palace would have been in flames, had not aerschot, seeing that the insurgents were in earnest, capitulated. as soon as the gates were open, the foremost of the mob rushed upon him, and would have torn him limb from limb, had not ryhove resolutely interfered, and twice protected the life of the governor, at the peril of his own. the duke was then made a prisoner, and, under a strong guard, was conveyed, still in his night-gown, and bare-footed, to the mansion of ryhove. all the other leading members of the catholic party were captured, the arrests proceeding till a late hour in the night. rassinghem, sweveghem, fisch, de la porta, and other prominent members of the flemish estates or council, were secured, but champagny was allowed to make his escape. the bishops of bruges and ypres were less fortunate. blood-councillor hessels, whose letter--genuine or counterfeited--had been so instrumental in hastening this outbreak, was most carefully guarded, and to him and to senator fisch the personal consequences of that night's work were to be very tragic. thus audaciously, successfully, and hitherto without bloodshed, was the anti-catholic revolution commenced in flanders. the event was the first of a long and most signal series. the deed was done. the provisional government was established, at the head of which was placed ryhove, to whom oaths of allegiance were rendered, subject to the future arrangements of the states-general and orange: on the th of november, the nobles, notables, and community of ghent published an address, in which they elaborately defended the revolution which had been effected and the arrests which had taken place; while the catholic party, with aerschot at its head, was declared to be secretly in league with don john to bring back the spanish troops, to overthrow the prince of orange, to deprive him of the protectorate of brabant, to set at nought the ghent treaty, and to suppress the reformed religion. the effect of this sudden rising of the popular party was prodigious throughout the netherlands. at the same time, the audacity of such extreme proceedings could hardly be countenanced by any considerable party in the states-general. champagny wrote to the prince of orange that, even if the letter of hessels were genuine, it proved nothing against aerschot, and he urged the necessity of suppressing such scene of licence immediately, through the influence of those who could command the passions of the mob. otherwise, he affirmed that all legitimate forms of justice would disappear, and that it would be easy to set the bloodhounds upon any game whatever. saint aldegonde wrote to the prince, that it would be a great point, but a very difficult one, to justify the ghent transaction; for there was little doubt that the hessels letter was a forgery. it was therefore as well, no doubt, that the prince had not decidedly committed himself to ryhove's plot; and thus deprived himself of the right to interfere afterwards, according to what seemed the claims of justice and sound policy. he now sent arend van dorp to ghent, to remonstrate with the leaders of the insurrection upon the violence of their measures, and to demand the liberation of the prisoners--a request which was only complied with in the case of aerschot. that nobleman was liberated on the th of november, under the condition that he would solemnly pledge himself to forget and forgive the treatment which he had received, but the other prisoners were retained in custody for a much longer period. a few weeks afterwards, the prince of orange visited ghent, at the earnest request of the four estates of flanders, and it was hoped that his presence would contribute to the restoration of tranquillity. this visit was naturally honored by a brilliant display of "rhetorical" spectacles and tableaux vivants; for nothing could exceed the passion of the netherlanders of that century for apologues and charades. in allegory they found an ever-present comforter in their deepest afflictions. the prince was escorted from the town-gate to the jacob's church amid a blaze of tar-barrels and torches, although it was mid-day, where a splendid exhibition had been arranged by that sovereign guild of rhetoric, "jesus with the balsam flower." the drama was called judas maccabaeus, in compliment to the prince. in the centre of the stage stood the hebrew patriot, in full armor, symbolizing the illustrious guest doing battle for his country. he was attended by the three estates of the country, ingeniously personified by a single individual, who wore the velvet bonnet of a noble, the cassock of a priest, end the breeches of a burgher. groups of allegorical personages were drawn up on the right and left;--courage, patriotism, freedom, mercy, diligence, and other estimable qualities upon one side, were balanced by murder, rapine, treason, and the rest of the sisterhood of crime on the other. the inquisition was represented as a lean and hungry hag. the "ghent pacification" was dressed in cramoisy satin, and wore a city on her head for a turban; while; tied to her apron-strings were catholicism and protestantism, bound in a loving embrace by a chain of seventeen links, which she was forging upon an anvil. under the anvil was an individual in complete harness, engaged in eating his heart; this was discord. in front of the scene stood history and rhetoric, attired as "triumphant maidens, in white garments," each with a laurel crown and a burning torch. these personages, after holding a rhymed dialogue between themselves, filled with wonderful conceits and quibbles, addressed the prince of orange and maccabaeus, one after the other, in a great quantity of very detestable verses. after much changing of scenes and groups, and an enormous quantity of flemish-woven poetry, the "ghent peace" came forward, leading a lion in one hand, and holding a heart of pure gold in the other. the heart, upon which was inscribed sinceritas, was then presented to the real prince, as he sat "reposing after the spectacle," and perhaps slightly yawning, the gift being accompanied by another tremendous discharge of complimentary verses. after this, william of orange was permitted to proceed towards the lodgings provided for him, but the magistrates and notables met him upon the threshold, and the pensionary made him a long oration. even after the prince was fairly housed, he had not escaped the fangs of allegory; for, while he sat at supper refreshing his exhausted frame after so much personification and metaphor, a symbolical personage, attired to represent the town corporation made his appearance, and poured upon him a long and particularly dull heroic poem. fortunately, this episode closed the labors of the day. on the th of december, , the states-general formally declared that don john was no longer stadholder, governor, nor captain-general, but an infractor of the peace which he had sworn to maintain, and an enemy of the fatherland. all natives of the country who should show him favor or assistance were declared rebels and traitors; and by a separate edict, issued the same day, it was ordained that an inventory of the estates of such persons should forthwith be taken. thus the war, which had for a brief period been suspended during the angry, tortuous, and hopeless negotiations which succeeded the arrival of don john, was once more to be let loose. to this point had tended all the policy of orange-faithful as ever to the proverb with which he had broken off the breda conferences, "that war was preferable to a doubtful peace." even, however, as his policy had pointed to a war as the necessary forerunner of a solid peace with spain, so had his efforts already advanced the cause of internal religious concord within the provinces themselves. on the th of december, a new act of union was signed at brussels, by which those of the roman church and those who had retired from that communion bound themselves to respect and to protect each other with mutual guarantees against all enemies whatsoever. here was a step beyond the ghent pacification, and in the same direction. the first treaty tacitly introduced toleration by suppressing the right of persecution, but the new union placed the reformed religion on a level with the old. this was the result of the prince's efforts; and, in truth, there was no lack of eagerness among these professors of a faith which had been so long under ban, to take advantage of his presence. out of dark alleys, remote thickets, subterranean conventicles, where the dissenters had so long been trembling for their lives, the oppressed now came forth into the light of day. they indulged openly in those forms of worship which persecution had affected to regard with as much holy horror as the badahuennan or hercynian mysteries of celtic ages could inspire, and they worshipped boldly the common god of catholic and puritan, in the words most consonant to their tastes, without dreading the gibbet as an inevitable result of their audacity. in truth, the time had arrived for bringing the northern and southern, the celtic and german, the protestant and catholic, hearts together, or else for acquiescing in their perpetual divorce. if the sentiment of nationality, the cause of a common fatherland, could now overcome the attachment to a particular form of worship--if a common danger and a common destiny could now teach the great lesson of mutual toleration, it might yet be possible to create a united netherland, and defy for ever the power of spain. since the union of brussels, of january, , the internal cancer of religious discord had again begun to corrode the body politic. the pacification of ghent had found the door open to religious toleration. it had not opened, but had left it open. the union of brussels had closed the door again. contrary to the hopes of the prince of orange and of the patriots who followed in his track, the sanction given to the roman religion had animated the catholics to fresh arrogance and fresh persecution. in the course of a few months, the only fruits of the new union, from which so much had been hoped, were to be seen in imprisonments, confiscations, banishments, executions. the perpetual edict, by which the fifteen provinces had united in acknowledging don john while the protestant stronghold of holland and zealand had been placed in a state of isolation by the wise distrust of orange, had widened the breach between catholics and protestants. the subsequent conduct of don john had confirmed the suspicions and demonstrated the sagacity of the prince. the seizure of namur and the open hostility avowed by the governor once more forced the provinces together. the suppressed flames of nationality burst forth again. catholic and protestant, fleming and hollander, instinctively approached each other, and felt the necessity of standing once more shoulder to shoulder in defence of their common rights. the prince of orange was called for by the unanimous cry of the whole country. he came to brussels. his first step, as already narrated, was to break off negotiations which had been already ratified by the votes of the states-general. the measure was reconsidered, under pretence of adding certain amendments. those amendments were the unconditional articles of surrender proposed for don john's signature on the th of september--articles which could only elicit words of defiance from his lips. thus far the prince's object was accomplished. a treacherous peace, which would have ensured destruction, was averted, but a new obstacle to the development of his broad and energetic schemes arose in the intrigue which brought the archduke from vienna. the cabals of orange's secret enemies were again thwarted with the same adroitness to which his avowed antagonists were forced to succumb. matthias was made the exponent of the new policy, the standard-bearer of the new union which the prince now succeeded in establishing; for his next step was immediately to impress upon the provinces which had thus united in casting down the gauntlet to a common enemy the necessity of uniting in a permanent league. one province was already lost by the fall of namur. the bonds of a permanent union for the other sixteen could be constructed of but one material-- religious toleration, and for a moment, the genius of orange, always so far beyond his age, succeeded in raising the mass of his countrymen to the elevation upon which he had so long stood alone. the "new or nearer union of brussels" was signed on the th of december, eleven months after the formation of the first union. this was the third and, unfortunately, the last confederation of all the netherlands. the original records have been lost, but it is known that the measure was accepted unanimously in the estates-general as soon as presented. the leading catholic nobles were with the army, but a deputation, sent to the camp, returned with their signatures and hearty approval; with the signatures and approval of such determined catholics as the lalains, meluns, egmont, and la motte. if such men could unite for the sake of the fatherland in an act of religious toleration, what lofty hopes for the future was not the prince justified in forming; for it was the prince alone who accomplished this victory of reason over passion. as a monument, not only of his genius, but of the elevated aspirations of a whole people in an age of intolerance, the "closer union of brussels" deserves especial place in the history of human progress. unfortunately, it was destined to a brief existence. the battle of gemblours was its death-blow, and before the end of a month, the union thus hopefully constructed was shattered for ever. the netherland people was never united again. by the union of utrecht, seven states subsequently rescued their existence, and lived to construct a powerful republic. the rest were destined to remain for centuries in the condition of provinces to a distant metropolis, to be shifted about as make-weights in political balances, and only in our own age to come into the honorable rank of independent constitutional states. the prince had, moreover, strengthened himself for the coming struggle by an alliance with england. the thrifty but politic queen, fearing the result of the secret practices of alencon--whom orange, as she suspected, still kept in reserve to be played off, in case of need, against matthias and don john--had at last consented to a treaty of alliance and subsidy. on the th of january, , the marquis havre, envoy from the estates, concluded an arrangement in london, by which the queen was to lend them her credit--in other words, to endorse their obligations, to the amount of one hundred thousand pounds sterling. the money was to be raised wherever the states might be able to negotiate the bills, and her liability was to cease within a year. she was likewise to be collaterally secured by pledges from certain cities in the netherlands. this amount was certainly not colossal, while the conditions were sufficiently parsimonious. at the same time a beginning was made, and the principle of subsidy was established. the queen, furthermore, agreed to send five thousand infantry and one thousand cavalry to the provinces, under the command of an officer of high rank, who was to have a seat and vote in the netherland council of state. these troops were to be paid by the provinces, but furnished by the queen. the estates were to form no treaty without her knowledge, nor undertake any movement of importance without her consent. in case she should be herself attacked by any foreign power, the provinces were to assist her to the same extent as the amount of aid now afforded to themselves; and in case of a naval war, with a fleet of at least forty ships. it had already been arranged that the appointment of the prince of orange as lieutenant-general for matthias was a 'sine qua non' in any treaty of assistance with england. soon after the conclusion of this convention, sir thomas wilkes was despatched on a special mission to spain, and mr. leyton sent to confer privately with don john. it was not probable, however, that the diplomatic skill of either would make this new arrangement palatable to philip or his governor. within a few days after their signature of this important treaty, the prince had, at length, wholly succeeded in conquering the conflicting passions in the states-general, and in reconciling them, to a certain extent, with each other. the closer union had been accepted, and now thirty articles, which had been prepared under his superintendence, and had already on the th of december been accepted by matthias, were established as the fundamental terms, according to which the archduke was to be received as governor-general. no power whatever was accorded to the young man, who had come so far with eager and ambitious views. as the prince had neither solicited nor desired a visit which had, on the contrary, been the result of hostile machinations, the archduke could hardly complain that the power accorded him was but shadowy, and that his presence was rendered superfluous. it was not surprising that the common people gave him the name of greffier, or registering clerk to the prince; for his functions were almost limited to the signing of acts which were countersigned by orange. according to the stipulations of the queen of england, and the views of the whole popular party, the prince remained ruward of brabant, notwithstanding the appointment of a nominal governor- general, by whom his own duties were to be superseded. the articles which were laid down as the basis upon which the archduke was to be accepted; composed an ample representative constitution, by which all the legislative and many of the executive powers of government were bestowed upon the states-general or upon the council by them to be elected. to avoid remaining in the condition of a people thus left without a head, the states declared themselves willing to accept matthias as governor-general, on condition of the king's subsequent approbation, and upon the general basis of the ghent treaty. the archduke, moreover, was to take an oath of allegiance to the king and to the states-general at the same time. he was to govern the land by the advice of a state council, the members of which were to be appointed by the states-general, and were "to be native netherlanders, true patriots; and neither ambitious nor greedy." in all matters discussed before the state council, a majority of votes was to decide. the governor-general, with his council of state, should conclude nothing concerning the common affairs of the nation--such as requests, loans, treaties of peace or declarations of war, alliances or confederacies with foreign nations-- without the consent of the states-general. he was to issue no edict or ordinance, and introduce no law, without the consent of the same body duly assembled, and representing each individual province. a majority of the members was declared necessary to a quorum of the council. all acts and despatches were to be drawn up by a member of the board. the states- general were to assemble when, where, and as often as, and remain in session as long as, they might think it expedient. at the request of any individual province, concerning matters about which a convention of the generality was customary, the other states should be bound to assemble without waiting for directions from the governor-general. the estates of each particular province were to assemble at their pleasure. the governor and council, with advice of the states-general, were to appoint all the principal military officers. troops were to be enrolled and garrisons established by and with the consent of the states. governors of provinces were to be appointed by the governor-general, with advice of his council, and with the consent of the estates of the province interested. all military affairs were to be conducted during war by the governor, with advice of his council, while the estates were to have absolute control over the levying and expenditure of the common funds of the country. it is sufficiently plain from this brief summary, that the powers thus conferred upon matthias alone, were absolutely null, while those which he might exercise in conjunction with the state council, were not much more extensive. the actual force of the government--legislative, executive, and, administrative--was lodged in the general assembly, while no authority was left to the king, except the nominal right to approve these revolutionary proceedings, according to the statement in the preamble. such a reservation in favor of his majesty seemed a superfluous sarcasm. it was furthermore resolved that the prince of orange should be appointed lieutenant-general for matthias, and be continued in his office of ruward. this constitution, drawn up under the superintendence of the prince, had been already accepted by matthias, while still at antwerp, and upon the th of january, , the ceremony of his inauguration took place. it was the third triumphal procession which brussels had witnessed within nine months. it was also the most brilliant of all; for the burghers, as if to make amends to the archduke for the actual nullity to which he had been reduced, seemed resolved to raise him to the seventh heaven of allegory. by the rhetorical guilds he was regarded as the most brilliant constellation of virtues which had yet shone above the flemish horizon. a brilliant cavalcade, headed by orange, accompanied by count john of nassau, the prince de chimay and other notables, met him at vilvoorde, and escorted him to the city gate. on an open field, outside the town, count bossu had arranged a review of troops, concluding with a sham- fight, which, in the words of a classical contemporary, seemed as "bloody a rencontre as that between duke miltiades of athens and king darius upon the plains of attics." the procession entered the louvain gate, through a splendid triumphal arch, filled with a band of invisible musicians. "i believe that orpheus had never played so melodiously on his harp," says the same authority, "nor apollo on his lyre, nor pan on his lute, as the city waits then performed." on entering the gates, matthias was at once delivered over to the hands of mythology, the burghers and rhetoricians taking possession of their illustrious captive, and being determined to outdo themselves in demonstrations of welcome. the representatives of the "nine nations" of brussels met him in the ritter- street, followed by a gorgeous retinue. although it was mid-day, all bore flaming torches. although it was january, the streets were strewed with flowers. the houses were festooned with garlands, and hung with brilliant silks and velvets. the streets were thronged with spectators, and encumbered with triumphal arches. on the grande place always the central scene in brussels, whether for comedies, or tournaments, or executions, the principal dramatic effects had been accumulated. the splendid front of the hotel de ville was wreathed with scarfs and banners; its windows and balconies, as well as those of the picturesque houses which formed the square, were crowded with gaily-dressed women. upon the area of the place, twenty-four theatres had been erected, where a aeries of magnificent living pictures were represented by the most beautiful young females that could be found in the city. all were attired in brocades, embroideries, and cloth of gold. the subjects of the tableaux vivants were, of course, most classic, for the netherlanders were nothing, if not allegorical; yet, as spectacles, provided by burghers and artisans for the amusement of their fellow-citizens, they certainly proved a considerable culture in the people who could thus be amused. all the groups were artistically arranged. upon one theatre stood juno with her peacock, presenting matthias with the city of brussels, which she held, beautifully modelled, in her hand. upon another, cybele gave him the keys, reason handed him a bridle, hebe a basket of flowers, wisdom a looking-glass and two law books, diligence a pair of spurs; while constancy, magnanimity, prudence, and other virtues, furnished him with a helmet; corslet, spear, and shield. upon other theatres, bellona presented him with several men-at-arms, tied in a bundle; fame gave him her trumpet, and glory her crown. upon one stage quintus curtius, on horseback, was seen plunging into the yawning abyss; upon six others scipio africanus was exhibited, as he appeared in the most picturesque moments of his career. the beardless archduke had never achieved anything, save his nocturnal escape from vienna in his night- gown; but the honest flemings chose to regard him as a re-incarnation of those two eminent romans. carried away by their own learning, they already looked upon him as a myth; and such indeed he was destined to remain throughout his netherland career. after surveying all these wonders, matthias was led up the hill again to the ducal palace, where, after hearing speeches and odes till he was exhausted, he was at last allowed to eat his supper and go to bed. meantime the citizens feasted in the streets. bonfires were blazing everywhere, at which the people roasted "geese, pigs, capons, partridges, and chickens," while upon all sides were the merriest piping and dancing. of a sudden, a fiery dragon was seen flying through the air. it poised for a while over the heads of the revelling crowd in the grande place, and then burst with a prodigious explosion, sending forth rockets and other fireworks in every direction. this exhibition, then a new one, so frightened the people, that they all took to their heels, "as if a thousand soldiers had assaulted them," tumbling over each other in great confusion, and so dispersing to their homes. the next day matthias took the oaths as governor-general, to support the new constitution, while the prince of orange was sworn in as lieutenant- general and governor of brabant. upon the next a splendid banquet was given them in the grand ball of the hotel de ville, by the states- general, and when the cloth was removed, rhetoric made her last and most ingenious demonstration, through the famous guild of "mary with the flower garland." two individuals--the one attired as a respectable burgher; the other as a clerical personage in gown and bands-made their appearance upon a stage, opposite the seats of their highnesses, and pronounced a long dialogue in rhyme. one of the speakers rejoiced in the appellation of the "desiring heart," the other was called "common comfort." common sense might have been more to the purpose, but appeared to have no part in the play. desiring heart, being of an inquisitive disposition, propounded a series of puzzling questions, mythological in their nature, which seemed like classical conundrums, having reference, mainly, to the proceedings of venus, neptune, juno, and other divinities. they appeared to have little to do with matthias or the matter in hand, but common comfort knew better. that clerical personage, accordingly, in a handsome allowance of rhymes, informed his despairing colleague that everything would end well; that jupiter, diana, venus, and the rest of them would all do their duty, and that belgica would be relieved from all her woes, at the advent of a certain individual. whereupon cried desiring heart, oh common comfort who is he? his name, and of what family? to which comfort responded by mentioning the archduke, in a poetical and highly-complimentary strain, with handsome allusions to the inevitable quintus curtius and scipio africanus. the concluding words of the speech were not spoken, but were taken as the cue for a splendid charade; the long-suffering scipio again making his appearance, in company with alexander and hannibal; the group typifying the future government of matthias. after each of these, heroic individuals had spouted a hundred lines or so, the play was terminated, and rhetoric took her departure. the company had remained at table during this long representation, and now the dessert was served, consisting of a "richly triumphant banquet of confectionary, marmalade, and all kinds of genteelnesses in sugar." meanwhile, don john sat chafing and almost frenzied with rage at namur. certainly he had reasons enough for losing his temper. never since the days of maximilian had king's brother been so bearded by rebels. the cross was humbled in the dust, the royal authority openly derided, his majesty's representative locked up in a fortress, while "the accursed prince of orange" reigned supreme in brussels, with an imperial archduke for his private secretary. the governor addressed a long, private, and most bitter letter to the emperor, for the purpose of setting himself right in the opinion of that potentate, and of giving him certain hints as to what was expected of the imperial court by philip and himself. he expressed confidence that the imperial commissioners would have some effect in bringing about the pacification of the netherlands, and protested his own strong desire for such a result, provided always that the two great points of the catholic religion and his majesty's authority were preserved intact. "in the hope that those articles would be maintained," said he, "i have emptied cities and important places of their garrisons, when i might easily have kept the soldiers, and with the soldiers the places, against all the world, instead of consigning them to the care of men who at this hour have arms in their hand against their natural prince." he declared vehemently that in all his conduct, since his arrival in the provinces, he had been governed exclusively by the interests of philip, an object which he should steadily pursue to the end. he urged, too, that the emperor, being of the same house as philip, and therefore more obliged than all others to sustain his quarrel, would do well to espouse his cause with all the warmth possible. "the forgetfulness by vassals," said don john, "of the obedience due to their sovereign is so dangerous, that all princes and potentates, even those at the moment exempt from trouble; should assist in preparing the remedy, in order that their subjects also may not take it into their heads to do the like, liberty being a contagious disease, which goes on infecting one neighbour after another, if the cure be not promptly applied." it was, he averred, a desperate state of things for monarchs, when subjects having obtained such concessions as the netherlanders had obtained, nevertheless loved him and obeyed him so little. they showed, but too clearly, that the causes alleged by them had been but pretexts, in order to effect designs, long ago conceived, to overthrow the ancient constitution of the country, and to live thenceforward in unbridled liberty. so many indecent acts had been committed prejudicial to religion and to his majesty's grandeur, that the governor avowed his, determination to have no farther communication with the provinces without fresh commands to that effect. he begged the emperor to pay no heed to what the states said, but to observe what they did. he assured him that nothing could be more senseless than the reports that philip and his governor-general in the netherlands were negotiating with france, for the purpose of alienating the provinces from the austrian crown. philip, being chief of the family, and sovereign of the netherlands, could not commit the absurdity of giving away his own property to other people, nor would don john choose to be an instrument in so foolish a transaction. the governor entreated the emperor, therefore, to consider such fables as the invention of malcontents and traitors, of whom there were no lack at his court, and to remember that nothing was more necessary for the preservation of the greatness of his family than to cultivate the best relations with all its members. "therefore," said he, with an absurd affectation of candor, "although i make no doubt whatever that the expedition hitherwards of the archduke matthias has been made with the best intentions; nevertheless, many are of opinion that it would have been better altogether omitted. if the archduke," he continued, with hardly dissembled irony, "be desirous of taking charge of his majesty's affairs, it would be preferable to employ himself in the customary manner. your majesty would do a laudable action by recalling him from this place, according to your majesty's promise to me to that effect." in conclusion, don john complained that difficulties had been placed in his way for making levies of troops in the empire, while every facility had been afforded to the rebels. he therefore urgently insisted that so unnatural and unjust a condition of affairs should be remedied. don john was not sorry in his heart that the crisis was at last come. his chain was broken. his wrath exploded in his first interview with leyton, the english envoy, whom queen elizabeth had despatched to calm, if possible, his inevitable anger at her recent treaty with the states. he knew nothing of england, he said, nor of france, nor of the emperor. his catholic majesty had commissioned him now to make war upon these rebellious provinces. he would do it with all his heart. as for the emperor, he would unchain the turks upon him for his perfidy. as for the burghers of brussels, they would soon feel his vengeance. it was very obvious that these were not idle threats. war had again broken loose throughout these doomed provinces. a small but well- appointed army had been rapidly collecting under the banner of don john at luxemburg, peter ernest mansfeld had brought many well-trained troops from france, and prince alexander of parma had arrived with several choice and veteran regiments of italy and spain. the old schoolfellow, playmate and comrade of don john, was shocked-on his arrival, to witness the attenuated frame and care-worn features of his uncle. the son of charles the fifth, the hero of lepanto, seemed even to have lost the air of majesty which was so natural to him, for petty insults, perpetual crosses, seemed to have left their squalid traces upon his features. nevertheless, the crusader was alive again, at the notes of warlike preparations which now resounded throughout the land. on the th of january he issued a proclamation, couched in three languages--french, german, and flemish. he declared in this document that he had not come to enslave the provinces, but to protect them. at the same time he meant to re-establish his majesty's authority, and the down-trod religion of rome. he summoned all citizens and all soldiers throughout the provinces to join his banners, offering them pardon for their past offences, and protection against heretics and rebels. this declaration was the natural consequence of the exchange of defiances which had already taken place, and it was evident also that the angry manifesto was soon to be followed up by vigorous blows. the army of don john already numbered more than twenty thousand well-seasoned and disciplined veterans. he was himself the most illustrious chieftain in europe. he was surrounded by lieutenants cf the most brilliant reputation. alexander of parma, who had fought with distinction at lepanto, was already recognised as possessing that signal military genius which was soon to stamp him as the first soldier of his age, while mansfeld, mondragon, mendoza, and other distinguished officers, who had already won so much fame in the netherlands, had now returned to the scene of their former achievements. on the other hand, the military affairs of the states were in confusion. troops in nearly equal numbers to those of the royal army had been assembled, but the chief offices had been bestowed, by a mistaken policy, upon the great nobles. already the jealousy of orange, entertained by their whole order was painfully apparent. notwithstanding the signal popularity which had made his appointment as lieutenant-general inevitable it was not easy for him always to vindicate his authority over captious and rival magnates. he had every wish to conciliate the affections of men whom he could not in his heart respect, and he went as far in gratifying their ambition as comported with his own dignity; perhaps farther than was consistent with the national interests. he was still willing to trust lalain, of whose good affection to the country he felt sure. re had even been desirous of declining the office of lieutenant-general, in order to avoid giving that nobleman the least occasion to think "that he would do him, or any other gentleman of the army, prejudice in any single matter in the world." this magnanimity had, not been repaid with corresponding confidence. we have already seen that lalain had been secretly in the interest of anjou ever since his wife and himself had lost their hearts to margaret of navarre; yet the count was chief commander of the infantry in the states' army then assembled. robert melun, vicomte de gand, was commander of the cavalry, but he had recently been private envoy from don john to the english queen. both these gentlemen, together with pardieu de la motte, general of the artillery, were voluntarily absent from the forces, under pretext of celebrating the wedding of the seigneur de bersel with the niece and heiress of the unfortunate marquis of bergen. the ghost of that ill- starred noble might almost have seemed to rise at the nuptial banquet of his heiress, to warn the traitors of the signal and bloody massacre which their treachery was soon to occasion. philip egmont, eldest son of the famous lamoral, was with the army, as was the seigneur de heze, hero of the state council's arrest, and the unstable havre. but little was to be hoped from such leaders. indeed, the affairs of the states continued to be in as perplexed a condition as that which honest john of nassau had described some weeks before. "there were very few patriots," he had said, "but plenty of priests, with no lack of inexperienced lads--some looking for distinction, and others for pelf." the two armies had been mustered in the latter days of january. the pope had issued a bull for the benefit of don john, precisely similar to those formerly employed in the crusades against the saracens. authority was given him to levy contributions upon ecclesiastical property, while full absolution, at the hour of death, for all crimes committed during a whole lifetime, was proclaimed to those who should now join the standard of the cross. there was at least no concealment. the crescent-wearing zealanders had been taken at their word, and the whole nation of netherlanders were formally banned as unbelievers. the forces of don john were mustered at marche in luxemburg; those of the states in a plain within a few miles of namur. both armies were nearly equal in number, amounting to nearly twenty thousand each, including a force of two thousand cavalry on each side. it had been the original intention of the patriots to attack don john in namur. having learned, however, that he purposed marching forth himself to offer battle, they decided to fall back upon gemblours, which was nine miles distant from that city. on the last day of january, they accordingly broke up their camp at saint martius, before dawn, and marched towards gemblours. the chief commander was de goignies, an old soldier of charles the fifth, who had also fought at saint quintin. the states' army was disposed in three divisions. the van consisted of the infantry regiments of de heze and montigny, flanked by a protective body of light horse. the centre, composed of the walloon and german regiments, with a few companies of french, and thirteen companies of scotch and english under colonel balfour, was commanded by two most distinguished officers, bossu and champagny. the rear, which, of course, was the post of responsibility and honor, comprised all the heavy cavalry, and was commanded by philip egmont and lumey de la marck. the marquis havre and the general-in-chief, goignies, rode to and fro, as the army proceeded, each attended by his staff. the troops of don john broke up from before namur with the earliest dawn, and marched in pursuit of the retiring foe. in front was nearly the whole of the cavalry-carabineers, lancers, and heavy dragoons. the centre, arranged in two squares, consisted chiefly of spanish infantry, with a lesser number of germans. in the rear came the walloons, marching also in a square, and protecting the baggage and ammunition. charles mansfeld had been left behind with a reserved force, stationed on the meuse; ottavio gonzaga commanded in front, ernest mansfeld brought up the rear; while in the centre rode don john himself, attended by the prince of parma. over his head streamed the crucifix-emblazoned banner, with its memorable inscription--in hoc signo vici turcos, in hoc haereticos vincam. small detachments of cavalry had been sent forward; under olivera and acosta, to scour the roads and forests, and to disturb all ambuscades which might have been prepared. from some stragglers captured by these officers, the plans of the retreating generals were learned. the winter's day was not far advanced, when the rearward columns of the states' army were descried in the distance. don john, making a selection of some six hundred cavalry, all picked men, with a thousand infantry, divided the whole into two bodies, which he placed under command of gonzaga and the famous old christopher mondragon. these officers received orders to hang on the rear of the enemy, to harass him, and to do him all possible damage consistent with the possibility of avoiding a general engagement, until the main army under parma and don john should arrive. the orders were at first strictly obeyed. as the skirmishing grew hotter, however, goazaga observed that a spirited cavalry officer, named perotti, had already advanced, with a handful of men, much further within the reach of the hostile forces than was deemed expedient. he sent hastily to recal the too eager chieftain. the order, delivered in a tone more peremptory than agreeable, was flatly disobeyed. "tell ottavio gonzaga," said perotti, "that i never yet turned my back on the enemy, nor shall i now begin. moreover, were i ever so much inclined to do so, retreat is impossible." the retiring army was then proceeding along the borders of a deep ravine, filled with mire and water, and as broad and more dangerous than a river. in the midst of the skirmishing, alexander of parma rode up to reconnoitre. he saw at once that the columns of the enemy were marching unsteadily to avoid being precipitated into this creek. he observed the waving of their spears, the general confusion of their ranks, and was quick to take advantage of the fortunate moment. pointing out to the officers about him the opportunity thus offered of attacking the retiring army unawares in flank, he assembled, with great rapidity, the foremost companies of cavalry already detached from the main body. mounting a fresh and powerful horse, which camillo monte held in readiness for him, he signified his intention of dashing through the dangerous ravine, and dealing a stroke where it was least expected, "tell don john of austria," he cried to an officer whom he sent back to the commander-in-chief, "that alexander of parma has plunged into the abyss, to perish there, or to come-forth again victorious." the sudden thought was executed with lightning-like celerity. in an instant the bold rider was already struggling through the dangerous swamp; in another, his powerful charger had carried him across. halting for a few minutes, lance in rest, till his troops had also forced their passage, gained the level ground unperceived, and sufficiently breathed their horses, he drew up his little force in a compact column. then, with a few words of encouragement, he launched them at the foe. the violent and entirely unexpected shock was even more successful than the prince had anticipated. the hostile cavalry reeled and fell into hopeless confusion, egmont in vain striving to rally them to resistance. that name had lost its magic. goignies also attempted, without success, to restore order among the panic-struck ranks. the sudden conception of parma, executed as suddenly and in so brilliant a manner, had been decisive. assaulted in flank and rear at the same moment, and already in temporary confusion, the cavalry of the enemy turned their backs and fled. the centre of the states' army thus left exposed, was now warmly attacked by parma. it had, moreover, been already thrown into disorder by the retreat of its own horse, as they charged through them in rapid and disgraceful panic. the whole army bloke to pieces at once, and so great was the trepidation, that the conquered troops had hardly courage to run away. they were utterly incapable of combat. not a blow was struck by the fugitives. hardly a man in the spanish ranks was wounded; while, in the course of an hour and a half, the whole force of the enemy was exterminated. it is impossible to state with accuracy the exact numbers slain. some accounts spoke of ten thousand killed, or captive, with absolutely no loss on the royal side. moreover, this slaughter was effected, not by the army under don john, but by so small a fragment of it, that some historians have even set down the whole number of royalists engaged at the commencement of the action, at six hundred, increased afterwards to twelve hundred. by this calculation, each spaniard engaged must have killed ten enemies with his own hand; and that within an hour and a half's space! other historians more wisely omit the exact statistics of the massacre, and allow that a very few--ten or eleven, at most--were slain within the spanish ranks. this, however, is the utmost that is claimed by even the netherland historians, and it is, at any rate, certain that the whole states' army was annihilated. rarely had a more brilliant exploit been performed by a handful of cavalry. to the distinguished alexander of parma, who improvised so striking and complete a victory out of a fortuitous circumstance, belonged the whole credit of the day, for his quick eye detected a passing weakness of the enemy, and turned it to terrible account with the promptness which comes from genius alone. a whole army was overthrown. everything belonging to the enemy fell into the hands of the spaniards. thirty-four standards, many field-pieces, much camp equipage, and ammunition, besides some seven or eight thousand dead bodies, and six hundred living prisoners, were the spoils of that winter's day. of the captives, some were soon afterwards hurled off the bridge at namur, and drowned like dogs in the meuse, while the rest were all hanged, none escaping with life. don john's clemency was not superior to that of his sanguinary predecessors. and so another proof was added--if proofs were still necessary of spanish prowess. the netherlanders may be pardoned if their foes seemed to them supernatural, and almost invulnerable. how else could these enormous successes be accounted for? how else could thousands fall before the spanish swords, while hardly a single spanish corpse told of effectual resistance? at jemmingen, alva had lost seven soldiers, and slain seven thousand; in the antwerp fury, two hundred spaniards, at most, had fallen, while eight thousand burghers and states' troops had been butchered; and now at gemblours, six, seven, eight, ten--heaven knew how many--thousand had been exterminated, and hardly a single spaniard had been slain! undoubtedly, the first reason for this result was the superiority of the spanish soldiers. they were the boldest, the best disciplined, the most experienced in the world. their audacity, promptness, and ferocity made them almost invincible. in this particular action, at least half the army of don john was composed of spanish or spanish-italian veterans. moreover, they were commanded by the most renowned captains of the age--by don john himself, and alexander of parma, sustained by such veterans as mondragon, the hero of the memorable submarine expeditions; mendoza, the accomplished cavalry officer, diplomatist, and historian; and mansfeld, of whom don john had himself written to the king that his majesty had not another officer of such account in all the netherlands. such officers as these, besides gonzaga, camillo monte, mucio pagano, at the head of such troops as fought that day under the banner of the cross, might go far in accounting for this last and most tremendous victory of the inquisition. on the other hand, although bossu and champagny were with the states' army, yet their hearts were hardly with the cause. both had long been loyal, and had earned many laurels against the rebels, while champagny was still devoutly a papist, and wavered painfully between his hatred to heresy and to spain. egmont and de heze were raw, unpractised lads, in whom genius did not come to supply the place of experience. the commander, de goignies, was a veteran, but a veteran who had never gained much glory, and the chiefs of the cavalry, infantry, and artillery, were absent at the brussels wedding. the news of this additional massacre inflicted upon a nation, for which berghen and montigny had laid down their lives, was the nuptial benediction for berghen's heiress; for it was to the chief wedding guests upon, that occasion that the disaster was justly attributed. the rank and file of the states' army were mainly mercenaries, with whom the hope of plunder was the prevailing motive; the chief commanders were absent; while those officers who were with the troops were neither heartily friendly to their own flag nor sufficiently experienced to make it respected. etext editor's bookmarks: absurd affectation of candor always less apt to complain of irrevocable events imagined, and did the work of truth judas maccabaeus neither ambitious nor greedy superfluous sarcasm this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic, by john lothrop motley chapter iii. the city of namur--margaret of valois--her intrigues in hainault in favour of alencon--her reception by don john at namur--festivities in her, honor--seizure of namur citadel by don john--plan for seizing that of antwerp--letter of the estates to philip, sent by escovedo--fortunes and fate of escovedo in madrid--repairing of dykes--the prince's visit to holland--his letter to the estates-- general on the subject of namur citadel--his visit to utrecht-- correspondence and commissioners between don john and the estates-- acrimonious and passionate character of these colloquies--attempt of treslong upon antwerp citadel frustrated by de bourse--fortunate panic of the german mercenaries--antwerp evacuated by the foreign troops--renewed correspondence--audacity of the governor's demands-- letters of escovedo and others intercepted--private schemes of don john not understood by the estates--his letter to the empress dowager--more correspondence with the estates--painful and false position of the governor--demolition, in part, of antwerp citadel, and of other fortresses by the patriots statue of alva--letter of estates-general to the king. there were few cities of the netherlands more picturesque in situation, more trimly built, and more opulent of aspect than the little city of namur. seated at the confluence of the sombre with the meuse, and throwing over each river a bridge of solid but graceful structure, it lay in the lap of a most fruitful valley. abroad crescent-shaped plain, fringed by the rapid meuse, and enclosed by gently rolling hills cultivated to their crests, or by abrupt precipices of limestone crowned with verdure, was divided by numerous hedgerows, and dotted all over with corn-fields, vineyards, and flower gardens. many eyes have gazed with delight upon that well-known and most lovely valley, and many torrents of blood have mingled with those glancing waters since that long buried and most sanguinary age which forms our theme; and still placid as ever is the valley, brightly as ever flows the stream. even now, as in that vanished, but never-forgotten time, nestles the little city in the angle of the two rivers; still directly over its head seems to hang in mid-air the massive and frowning fortress, like the gigantic helmet-in the fiction, as if ready to crush the pigmy town below. it was this famous citadel, crowning an abrupt precipice five hundred feet above the river's bed, and placed near the frontier of france, which made the city so important, and which had now attracted don john's attention in this hour of his perplexity. the unexpected visit of a celebrated personage, furnished him with the pretext which he desired. the beautiful margaret of valois, queen of navarre, was proceeding to the baths of spa, to drink the waters. her health was as perfect as her beauty, but she was flying from a husband whom she hated, to advance the interest of a brother whom she loved with a more than sisterly fondness-- for the worthless duke of alencon was one of the many competitors for the netherland government; the correspondence between himself and his brother with orange and his agents being still continued. the hollow truce with the huguenots in france had, however, been again succeeded by war. henry of valois had already commenced operations in gascony against henry of navarre, whom he hated, almost as cordially as margaret herself could do, and the duke of alencon was besieging issoire. meantime, the beautiful queen came to mingle he golden thread of her feminine intrigues with the dark woof of the netherland destinies. few spirits have been more subtle, few faces so fatal as hers. true child of the medicean mother, worthy sister of charles, henry; and francis--princes for ever infamous in the annals of france--she possessed more beauty and wit than mary of scotland, more learning and accomplishments than elizabeth of england. in the blaze of her beauty, according to the inflated language of her most determined worshiper, the wings of all rivals were melted. heaven required to be raised higher and earth made wider, before a full sweep could be given to her own majestic flight. we are further informed that she was a minerva for eloquence, that she composed matchless poems which she sang most exquisitely to the sound of her lute, and that her familiar letters were so full of genius, that "poor cicero" was but a fool to her in the same branch of composition. the world has shuddered for ages at the dark tragedy of her nuptials. was it strange that hatred, incest, murder, should follow in the train of a wedding thus hideously solemnized? don john, as in his moorish disguise he had looked upon her perfections, had felt in danger of becoming really the slave he personated--"her beauty is more divine than human," he had cried, "but fitter to destroy men's souls than to bless them;" and now the enchantress was on her way to his dominions. her road led through namur to liege, and gallantry required that he should meet her as she passed. attended by a select band of gentlemen and a few horsemen of his body-guard, the governor came to namur. meantime the queen crossed the frontier, and was courteously received at cambray. the bishop-of the loyal house of berlaymont--was a stanch supporter of the king, and although a fleming, was spanish to the core. on him the cajolery of the beautiful queen was first essayed, but was found powerless. the prelate gave her a magnificent ball, but resisted her blandishments. he retired with the appearance of the confections, but the governor of the citadel, the seigneur d'inchy remained, with whom margaret was more successful. she found him a cordial hater of spain, a favorer of france, and very impatient under the authority of the bishop. he obtained permission to accompany the royal visitor a few stages of her journey, and returned to cambray, her willing slave; holding the castle in future, neither for king nor bishop, but for margaret's brother, alencon, alone. at mons she was received with great state by the count lalain, who was governor of hainault, while his countess governed him. a week of festivities graced the advent of the queen, during which period the hearts of both lalain and his wife were completely subjugated. they agreed that flanders had been too long separated from the parental france to which it of right belonged. the count was a stanch catholic, but he hated spain. he was a relative of egmont, and anxious to avenge his death, but he was no lover of the people, and was jealous of orange. moreover, his wife had become entirely fascinated by the designing. queen. so warm a friendship had sprung up between the two fair ladies as to make it indispensable that flanders and hainault should be annexed to france. the count promised to hold his whole government at the service of alencon, and recommended that an attempt should be made to gain over the incorruptible governor of cambray. margaret did not inform him that she had already turned that functionary round her finger, but she urged lalain and his wife to seduce him from his allegiance, if possible. the count, with a retinue of mounted men, then accompanied her on her way towards namur, but turned as the distant tramp of don john's cavalcade was heard approaching, for it was not desirable for lalain, at that moment, to find himself face to face with the governor. don john stood a moment awaiting the arrival of the queen. he did not dream of her political intrigues, nor see in the fair form approaching him one mortal enemy the more. margaret travelled in a splendid litter with gilt pillars, lined with scarlet velvet, and entirely enclosed in glass, which was followed by those of the princess de la roche sur yon, and of madame de tournon. after these came ten ladies of honor on horseback, and six chariots filled with female domestics. these, with the guards and other attendants, made up the retinue. on meeting the queen's litter, don john sprang from his horse and presented his greetings. the queen returned his salutation, in the french fashion, by offering her cheek to his embrace, extending the same favor to the duke of aerschot and the marquis of havre. the cavaliers then remounted and escorted the queen to namur, don john riding by the side of the litter and conversing with her all the way. it was late in the evening when the procession arrived in the city. the streets had, however, been brilliantly illuminated; houses and shops, though it was near midnight, being in a blaze of light. don john believing that no attentions could be so acceptable at that hour as to provide for the repose of his guest, conducted the queen at once to the lodgings prepared for her. margaret was astonished at the magnificence of the apartments into which she was ushered. a spacious and stately hall, most gorgeously furnished, opened into a series of chambers and cabinets, worthy, in their appointments, of a royal palace. the tent and bed coverings prepared for the queen were exquisitely embroidered in needlework with scenes representing the battle of lepanto. the great hall was hung with gorgeous tapestry of satin and velvet, ornamented with columns of raised silver work, and with many figures in antique costume, of the same massive embroidery. the rest of the furniture was also of satin, velvet, cloth of gold, and brocade. the queen was dazzled with so much magnificence, and one of the courtiers could not help expressing astonishment at the splendor of the apartments and decorations, which, as he observed to the duke of aerschot; seemed more appropriate to the palace of a powerful monarch than to the apartments of a young bachelor prince. the duke replied by explaining that the expensive embroidery which they saw was the result, not of extravagance, but of valor and generosity. after the battle of lepanto, don john had restored the two sons, who had been taken prisoners, of a powerful turkish bashaw. the father; in gratitude had sent this magnificent tapestry as a present to the conqueror, and don john had received it, at milan; in which city, celebrated for the taste of its upholsterers; it had been arranged for furniture. the next morning a grand mass with military music was performed, followed by a sumptuous banquet in the grand hall. don john and the queen sat at a table three feet apart from the rest, and ottavio gonzaga served them wine upon his knees. after the banquet came, as usual; the ball, the festivities continuing till late in the night, and don john scarcely quitting his fair guest for a moment. the next afternoon, a festival had been arranged upon an island in the river. the company embarked upon the meuse, in a fleet of gaily-scarfed; and painted vessels, many of which were filled with musicians. margaret reclined in her gilded barge, under a richly embroidered canopy. a fairer and falser queen than "egypt," had bewitched the famous youth who had triumphed not, lost the world, beneath the heights of actium. the revellers landed on the island, where the banquet was already spread within a spacious bower of ivy, and beneath umbrageous elms. the dance upon the sward was protracted to a late hour, and the summer stars had been long in the sky when the company returned to their barges. don john, more than ever enthralled by the bride of st. bartholomew, knew not that her sole purpose in visiting his dominion had been to corrupt his servants and to undermine his authority. his own purpose, however, had been less to pay court to the queen than to make, use of her presence to cover his own designs. that purpose he proceeded instantly to execute. the queen next morning pursued her voyage by the river to liege, and scarcely had she floated out of his sight than he sprang upon his horse and, accompanied by a few trusty attendants, galloped out of the gate and across the bridge which led to the citadel. he had already despatched the loyal berlaymont, with his four equally loyal sons, the seigneurs de meghen, floyon, hierges, and haultepenne to that fortress. these gentlemen had informed the castellan that the governor was about to ride forth hunting, and that it would be proper to offer him the hospitalities of the castle as he passed on his way. a considerable number of armed men had been concealed in the woods and thickets of the neighbourhood. the seigneur de froymont, suspecting nothing, acceded to the propriety of the suggestion made by the berlaymonts. meantime, with a blast of his horn, don john appeared at the castle gate. he entered the fortress with the castellan, while one of the gentlemen watched outside, as the ambushed soldiers came toiling up the precipice. when all was ready the gentleman returned to the hall, and made a signal to don john, as he sat at breakfast with the constable. the governor sprang from the table and drew his sword; berlaymont and his four sons drew their pistols, while at the same instant, the soldiers entered. don john, exclaiming that this was the first day of his government, commanded the castellan to surrender. de froymont, taken by surprise, and hardly understanding this very melo-dramatic attack upon a citadel by its own lawful governor, made not much difficulty in complying. he was then turned out of doors, along with his garrison, mostly feeble old men and invalids. the newly arrived soldiers took their places, at command of the governor, and the stronghold of namur was his own. there was little doubt that the representative of philip had a perfect right to possess himself of any fortress within his government; there could be as little that the sudden stratagem by which he had thus made himself master of this citadel would prove offensive to the estates, while it could hardly be agreeable to the king; and yet it is not certain that he could have accomplished his purpose in any other way. moreover, the achievement was one of a projected series by which he meant to re-vindicate his dwindling authority. he was weary of playing the hypocrite, and convinced that he and his monarch were both abhorred by the netherlanders. peace was impossible--war was forbidden him. reduced almost to a nullity by the prince of orange, it was time for him to make a stand, and in this impregnable fastness his position at least was a good one. many months before, the prince of orange had expressed his anxious desire that this most important town and citadel should be secured-for the estates. "you know," he had written to bossu in december, "the evil and the dismay which the loss of the city and fortress of namur would occasion to us. let me beseech you that all possible care be taken to preserve them." nevertheless, their preservation had been entrusted to a feeble-minded old constable, at the head of a handful of cripples. we know how intense had been the solicitude of the prince, not only to secure but to destroy these citadels, "nests of tyranny," which had been built by despots to crush, not protect, the towns at their feet. these precautions had been neglected, and the consequences were displaying themselves, for the castle of namur was not the only one of which don john felt himself secure. although the duke of aerschot seemed so very much his humble servant, the governor did not trust him, and wished to see the citadel of antwerp in more unquestionable keeping. he had therefore withdrawn, not only the duke, but his son, the prince of chimay, commander of the castle in his father's absence, from that important post, and insisted upon their accompanying him to namur. so gallant a courtier as aerschot could hardly refuse to pay his homage to so illustrious a princess as margaret of valois, while during the absence of the duke and prince the keys of antwerp-citadel had been, at the command of don john, placed in the keeping of the seigneur de treslong, an unscrupulous and devoted royalist. the celebrated colonel van ende, whose participation, at the head of his german cavalry, in the terrible sack of that city, which he had been ordered to defend, has been narrated, was commanded to return to antwerp. he was to present himself openly to the city authorities, but he was secretly directed by the governor-general to act in co-operation with the colonels fugger, frondsberger, and polwiller, who commanded the forces already stationed in the city. these distinguished officers had been all summer in secret correspondence with don john, for they were the instruments with which he meant by a bold stroke to recover his almost lost authority. while he had seemed to be seconding the efforts of the states-general to pay off and disband these mercenaries, nothing had in reality been farther from his thoughts; and the time had now come when his secret plans were to be executed, according to the agreement between himself and the german colonels. he wrote to them, accordingly, to delay no longer the accomplishment of the deed--that deed being the seizure of antwerp citadel, as he had already successfully mastered that of namur. the duke of aerschot, his brother, and son, were in his power, and could do nothing to prevent the co-operation of the colonels in the city with treslong in the castle; so that the governor would thus be enabled, laying his head tranquilly upon "the pillow of the antwerp citadel," according to the reproachful expression subsequently used by the estates, to await the progress of events. the current of his adventurous career was not, however, destined to run thus smoothly. it is true that the estates had not yet entirely lost their confidence in his character; but the seizure of namur, and the attempt upon antwerp, together with the contents of the intercepted letters written by himself and escovedo to philip, to perez, to the empress, to the colonels frondsberger and fugger, were soon destined to open their eyes. in the meantime, almost exactly at the moment when don john was executing his enterprise against namur, escovedo had taken an affectionate farewell of the estates at brussels for it had been thought necessary, as already intimated, both for the apparent interests and the secret projects of don john; that the secretary should make a visit to spain. at the command of the governor-general he had offered to take charge of any communication for his majesty which the estates might be disposed to entrust to him, and they had accordingly addressed a long epistle to the king, in which they gave ample expression to their indignation and their woe. they remonstrated with the king concerning the continued presence of the german mercenaries, whose knives were ever at their throats, whose plunder and insolence impoverished and tortured the people. they reminded him of the vast sums which the provinces had contributed in times past to the support of government, and they begged assistance from his bounty now. they recalled to his vision the melancholy spectacle of antwerp, but lately the "nurse of europe, the fairest flower in his royal garland, the foremost and noblest city of the earth, now quite desolate and forlorn," and with additional instructions to escovedo, that he should not fail, in his verbal communications, to represent the evil consequences of the course hitherto pursued by his majesty's governors in the netherlands, they dismissed him with good wishes, and with "crowns for convoy" in his purse to the amount of a revenue of two thousand yearly. his secret correspondence was intercepted and made known a few weeks after his departure for that terrible spain whence so few travellers returned. for a moment we follow him thither. with a single word in anticipation, concerning the causes and the consummation of this celebrated murder, which was delayed till the following year, the unfortunate escovedo may be dismissed from these pages. it has been seen how artfully antonio perez, secretary of state, paramour of princess eboli, and ruling councillor at that day of philip, had fostered in the king's mind the most extravagant suspicions as to the schemes of don john, and of his confidential secretary. he had represented it as their fixed and secret intention, after don john should be finally established on the throne of england, to attack philip himself in spain, and to deprive him of his crown, escovedo being represented as the prime instigator and controller of this astounding plot, which lunatics only could have engendered, and which probably never had existence. no proof of the wild design was offered. the language which escovedo was accused by perez of having held previously to his departure for flanders --that it was the intention of don john and himself to fortify the rock of mogio, with which, and with the command of the city of santander, they could make themselves masters of spain after having obtained possession of england,--is too absurd to have been uttered by a man of escovedo's capacity. certainly, had perez been provided with the least scrap of writing from the hands of don john or escovedo which could be tortured into evidence upon this point, it would have been forthcoming, and would have rendered such fictitious hearsay superfluous. perez in connivance with philip, had been systematically conducting his correspondence with don john and escovedo, in order to elicit some evidence of the imputed scheme. "'t was the only way," said perez to philip, "to make them unbare their bosoms to the sword."--"i am quite of the same opinion," replied philip to perez, "for, according to my theology, you would do your duty neither to god nor the world, unless you did as you are doing." yet the excellent pair of conspirators at madrid could wring no damning proofs from the lips of the supposititious conspirators in flanders, save that don john, after escovedo's arrival in madrid, wrote, impatiently and frequently, to demand that he should be sent back, together with the money which he had gone to spain to procure. "money, more money, and escovedo," wrote the governor, and philip was quite willing to accept this most natural exclamation as evidence of his brother's designs against his crown. out of these shreds and patches--the plot against england, the pope's bull, the desire expressed by don john to march into france as a simple adventurer, with a few thousand men at his back-- perez, according to his own statement, drew up a protocol, afterwards formally approved by philip, which concluded with the necessity of taking escovedo's life, instantly but privately, and by poison. the marquis de los velos, to whom the memorial was submitted for his advice, averred that if the death-bed wafer were in his own lips, he should vote for the death of the culprit. philip had already jumped to the same conclusion; perez joyfully undertook the business, having received carte blanche from the king, and thus the unfortunate secretary was doomed. immediately after the arrival of escovedo in madrid, he addressed a letter to the king. philip filed it away among other despatches, with this annotation: "the 'avant courier' has arrived--it is necessary to make great haste, and to despatch him before he murders us." the king, having been thus artfully inflamed against his brother and his unfortunate secretary, became clamorous for the blood of escovedo. at the same time, that personage, soon after his return to spain, was shocked by the discovery of the amour of perez with the princess eboli. he considered it his duty, both towards the deceased prince and the living king, to protest against this perfidy. he threatened to denounce to the king, who seemed the only person about the court ignorant of the affair, this double treason of his mistress and his minister. perez and anna of eboli, furious at escovedo's insolence, and anxious lest he should execute his menace determined to disembarrass themselves of so meddlesome a person. philip's rage against don john was accordingly turned to account, and perez received the king's secret orders to procure escovedo's assassination. thus an imaginary conspiracy of don john against, the crown of philip was the pretext, the fears and rage of eboli and her paramour were the substantial reason, for the crime now projected. the details of the murder were arranged and executed by perez, but it must be confessed in justice to philip, with much inferior nicety to that of his, own performances in the same field. many persons were privy to the plot. there was much blundering, there was great public scandal in madrid, and no one ever had a reasonable doubt as to the instigators and the actual perpetrators of the crime. two attempts to poison escovedo were made by perez, at his own table, through the agency of antonio enriquez, a confidential servant or page. both were unsuccessful. a third was equally so, but suspicions were aroused. a female slave in the household of escovedo, was in consequence arrested, and immediately hanged in the public square, for a pretended attempt to murder her master. a few days afterwards (on the st of march, ) the deed was accomplished at nightfall in the streets of madrid, by six conspirators. they consisted of the majordomo of perez, a page in his household, the page's brother from the country, an ex-scullion from the royal kitchens, juan rubio by name, who had been the unsuccessful agent in the poisoning scheme, together with two professional bravos, hired for the occasion. it was insausti, one of this last-mentioned couple, who despatched escovedo with a single stab, the others aiding and abetting, or keeping watch in the neighbourhood. the murderers effected their escape, and made their report to perez, who for the sake of appearances, was upon a visit in the country. suspicion soon tracked the real culprits, who were above the reach of justice; nor, as to the motives which had prompted the murders, were many ignorant, save only the murderer himself. philip had ordered the, assassination; but he was profoundly deceived as to the causes of its accomplishment. he was the dupe of a subtler villain than himself, and thought himself sacrificing a conspirator against his crown, while he had really only crushed a poor creature who had been but too solicitous for what he thought his master's honor. the assassins were, of course, protected from prosecution, and duly recompensed. miguel bosque, the country boy, received one hundred crowns in gold, paid by a clerk of perez. mesa, one of the bravos, was rewarded with a gold chain, fifty doubloons of eight, and a silver cup, besides receiving from the fair hand of princess eboli herself a certificate as under-steward upon her estates. the second bravo, insausti, who had done the deed, the page enriquez, and the scullion, were all appointed ensigns in his majesty's army, with twenty gold crowns of annual pension besides. their commissions were signed by philip on the th of april, . such were the wages of murder at that day in spain; gold chains, silver cups, doubloons, annuities, and commissions in the army! the reward of fidelity, as in poor escovedo's case, was oftener the stiletto. was it astonishing that murder was more common than fidelity? with the subsequent career of antonio perez--his famous process, his banishment, his intrigues, his innuendos, his long exile, and his miserable death, this history has no concern. we return from our brief digression. before narrating the issue of the plot against antwerp citadel, it is necessary to recur for a moment to the prince of orange. in the deeds and the written words of that one man are comprised nearly all the history of the reformation in the netherlands--nearly the whole progress of the infant republic. the rest, during this period, is made up of the plottings and counter-plottings, the mutual wranglings and recriminations of don john and the estates. in the brief breathing-space now afforded them, the inhabitants of holland and zealand had been employing themselves in the extensive repairs of their vast system of dykes. these barriers, which protected their country against the ocean, but which their own hands had destroyed to preserve themselves against tyranny, were now thoroughly reconstructed, at a great expense, the prince everywhere encouraging the people with his presence, directing them by his experience, inspiring them with his energy. the task accomplished was stupendous and worthy, says a contemporary, of eternal memory. at the popular request, the prince afterwards made a tour through the little provinces, honoring every city with a brief visit. the spontaneous homage which went up to him from every heart was pathetic and simple. there were no triumphal arches, no martial music, no banners, no theatrical pageantry nothing but the choral anthem from thousands of grateful hearts. "father william has come! father william has come!" cried men, women, and children to each other, when the news of his arrival in town or village was announced. he was a patriarch visiting his children, not a conqueror, nor a vulgar potentate displaying himself to his admirers. happy were they who heard his voice, happier they who touched his hands, for his words were full of tenderness, his hand was offered to all. there were none so humble as to be forbidden to approach him, none so ignorant as not to know his deeds. all knew that to combat in their cause he had descended from princely station, from luxurious ease, to the position of a proscribed and almost beggared outlaw. for them he had impoverished himself and his family, mortgaged his estates, stripped himself of jewels, furniture, almost of food and raiment. through his exertions the spaniards had been banished from their little territory, the inquisition crushed within their borders, nearly all the sister provinces but yesterday banded into a common cause. he found time, notwithstanding congratulating crowds who thronged his footsteps, to direct the labors of the states-general, who still looked more than ever to his guidance, as their relations with don john became more complicated and unsatisfactory. in a letter addressed to them, on the th of june from harlem, he warned them most eloquently to hold to the ghent pacification as to their anchor in the storm. he assured them, if it was, torn from them, that their destruction was inevitable. he reminded them that hitherto they had got but the shadow, not the substance of the treaty; that they had been robbed of that which was to have been its chief fruit--union among themselves. he and his brothers, with their labor, their wealth, and their blood, had laid down the bridge over which the country had stepped to the pacification of ghent. it was for the nation to maintain what had been so painfully won; yet he proclaimed to them that the government were not acting in good faith, that secret, preparations were making to annihilate the authority of the states; to restore the edicts, to put strangers into high places, and to set up again the scaffold and the whole machinery of persecution. in consequence of the seizure of namur castle, and the accusations made by don john against orange, in order to justify that act, the prince had already despatched taffin and saint aldegonde to the states-general with a commission to declare his sentiments upon the subject. he addressed, moreover, to the same body a letter full of sincere and simple eloquence. "the seigneur don john," said he, has accused me of violating the peace, and of countenancing attempts against his life, and in endeavouring to persuade you into joining him in a declaration of war against me and against holland and zealand; but i pray you, most affectionately, to remember our mutual and solemn obligations to maintain the treaty of ghent." he entreated the states, therefore, to beware of the artifices employed to seduce them from the only path which led to the tranquillity of their common country, and her true splendor and prosperity. "i believe there is not one of you," he continued, "who can doubt me, if he will weigh carefully all my actions, and consider closely the course which i am pursuing and have always pursued. let all these be confronted with the conduct of don john, and any man will perceive that all my views of happiness, both for my country and myself, imply a peaceable enjoyment of the union, joined with the legitimate restoration of our liberties, to which all good patriots aspire, and towards which all my designs have ever tended. as all the grandeur of don john, on the contrary, consists in war, as there is nothing which he so much abhors as repose, as he has given ample proof of these inclinations in all his designs and enterprises, both before and after the treaty of marche en famine, both within the country and beyond its borders, as it is most manifest that his purpose is, and ever has been, to embroil us with our neighbours of england and scotland in new dissensions, as it must be evident to every one of you that his pretended accusations against me are but colors and shadows to embellish and to shroud his own desire for war, his appetite for vengeance, and his hatred not only to me but to yourselves, and as his determination is, in the words of escovedo, to chastise some of us by means of the rest, and to excite the jealousy of one portion of the country against the other--therefore, gentlemen, do i most affectionately exhort you to found your decision, as to these matters, not upon words but upon actions. examine carefully my conduct in the points concerning which the charges are made; listen attentively to what my envoys will communicate to you in my behalf; and then, having compared it with all the proceedings of seigneur don john, you will be able to form a resolution worthy the rank which you occupy, and befitting your obligations to the whole people, of whom you have been chosen chiefs and protectors, by god and by men. put away all considerations which might obscure your clear eye-sight; maintain with magnanimity, and like men, the safety of yourselves, your wives, your children, your estates, your liberties; see that this poor people, whose eyes are fixed upon you, does not perish; preserve them from the greediness of those who would grow great at your expense; guard them from the yoke of miserable servitude; let not all our posterity lament that, by our pusillanimity, they have lost the liberties which our ancestors had conquered for them, and bequeathed to them as well as to us, and that they have been subjugated by the proud tyranny of strangers. "trusting," said the prince, in conclusion, "that you will accord faith and attention to my envoys, i will only add an expression of my sincere determination to employ myself incessantly in your service, and for the welfare of the whole people, without sparing any means in my power, nor my life itself." the vigilant prince was indeed not slow to take advantage of the governor's false move. while in reality intending peace, if it were possible, don john had thrown down the gauntlet; while affecting to deal openly and manfully, like a warrior and an emperor's son, he had involved himself in petty stratagems and transparent intrigues, by all which he had gained nothing but the character of a plotter, whose word could not be trusted. saint aldegonde expressed the hope that the seizure of namur castle would open the eyes of the people, and certainly the prince did his best to sharpen their vision. while in north holland, william of orange received an urgent invitation from the magistracy and community of utrecht to visit that city. his authority, belonging to him under his ancient commission, had not yet been recognized over that province, but there was no doubt that the contemplated convention of "satisfaction" was soon to be; arranged, for his friends there were numerous and influential. his princess, charlotte de bourbon, who accompanied him on his tour, trembled at the danger to which her husband would expose himself by venturing thus boldly into a territory which might be full of his enemies, but the prince determined to trust the loyalty of a province which he hoped would be soon his own. with anxious forebodings, the princess followed her husband to the ancient episcopal city. as they entered its gates, where an immense concourse was waiting to receive him, a shot passed through the carriage window, and struck the prince upon the breast. the affrighted lady threw her arms about his neck; shrieking that they were betrayed, but the prince, perceiving that the supposed shot was but a wad from one of the cannon, which were still roaring their welcome to him, soon succeeded in calming her fears. the carriage passed lowly through the streets, attended by the vociferous greetings of the multitude; for the whole population had come forth to do him honor. women and children clustered upon every roof and balcony, but a painful incident again marred the tranquillity of the occasion. an apothecary's child, a little girl of ten years, leaning eagerly from a lofty balcony, lost her balance and fell to the ground, directly before the horses of the prince's carriage. she was killed stone dead by the fall. the procession stopped; the prince alighted, lifted the little corpse in his arms, and delivered it, with gentle words and looks of consolation, to the unhappy parents. the day seemed marked with evil omens, which were fortunately destined to prove fallacious. the citizens of utrecht became more than ever inclined to accept the dominion of the prince, whom they honored and whom they already regarded as their natural chief. they entertained him with banquets and festivities during his brief visit, and it was certain before he took his departure that the treaty of "satisfaction" would not be long delayed. it was drawn up, accordingly, in the autumn of the same year, upon the basis of that accepted by harlem and amsterdam--a basis wide enough to support both religions, with a nominal supremacy to the ancient church. meantime, much fruitless correspondence had taken place between don john and the states envoys; despatched by the two parties to each other, had indulged in bitterness and recrimination. as soon as the governor, had taken: possession of namur castle, he had sent the seigneur, de rassinghem to the states-general. that gentleman carried with him copies of two anonymous letters, received by don john upon the th and st of july, , in which a conspiracy against his life and liberty was revealed. it was believed by the governor that count lalain, who had secretly invited him to a conference, had laid an ambush for him. it was known that the country was full of disbanded soldiers, and the governor asserted confidently that numbers of desperadoes were lying in wait for him in every village alehouse of hainault and flanders. he called on the states to ferret out these conspirators, and to inflict condign punishment upon their more guilty chiefs; he required that the soldiers, as well as the citizens, should be disarmed at brussels and throughout brabant, and he justified his seizure of namur, upon the general ground that his life was no longer safe, except in a fortress. in reply to the letter of the governor, which was dated the th of july, the states despatched marolles, archdeacon of ypres, and the seigneur de bresse, to namur, with a special mission to enter into the whole subject of these grievances. these gentlemen, professing the utmost devotion to the cause of his majesty's authority and the catholic religion, expressed doubts as to the existence of the supposed conspiracy. they demanded that don john should denounce the culprits, if any such were known, in order that proper chastisement might be instantly inflicted. the conversation which ensued was certainly unsatisfactory. the governor used lofty and somewhat threatening language, assuring marolles that he was at that moment in possession, not only of namur but of antwerp citadel; and the deputies accordingly departed, having accomplished very little by their journey. their backs were scarcely turned, when don john, on his part, immediately appointed another commission, consisting of rassinghem and grobbendonck, to travel from namur to brussels. these envoys carried a long letter of grievances, enclosing a short list of demands. the letter reiterated his complaints about conspiracies, and his protestations of sincerity. it was full of censure upon the prince of orange; stigmatized his intrigues to obtain possession of amsterdam without a proper "satisfaction," and of utrecht, to which he had no claim at all. it maintained that the hollanders and zealanders were bent upon utterly exterminating the catholic religion, and that they avowed publicly their intention to refuse obedience to the assembly-general, should it decree the maintenance of the ancient worship only. his chief demands were that the states should send him a list of persons qualified to be members of the general assembly, that he might see whether there were not individuals among them whom he might choose to reject. he further required that, if the prince of orange did not instantly fulfil the treaty of ghent, the states should cease to hold any communication with him. he also summoned the states to provide him forthwith with a suitable body-guard. to these demands and complaints, the estates replied by a string of resolutions. they made their usual protestations of attachment to his majesty and the catholic faith, and they granted willingly a foot-guard of three hundred archers. they, however, stoutly denied the governor's right to make eliminations in their lists of deputies, because, from time immemorial, these representatives had been chosen by the clergy, nobles, cities, and boroughs. the names might change daily, nor were there any suspicious ones among them, but it was a matter with which the governor had no concern. they promised that every effort should be made to bring about the execution of the treaty by the prince of orange. they begged don john; however, to abandon the citadel of namur, and gave him to understand that his secret practices had been discovered, a large packet of letters having recently been intercepted in the neighbourhood of bourdeaux, and sent to the prince of orange. among them were some of the despatches of don john and escovedo, to his majesty and to antonio perez, to which allusion has already been made. count bossu, de bresse, and meetkercke were the envoys deputed to convey these resolutions to namur. they had a long and bitter conversation with don john, who complained, more furiously than ever of the conspiracies against his person, and of the intrigues of orange. he insisted that this arch-traitor had been sowing the seed of his damnable doctrines broadcast through the netherlands; that the earth was groaning with a daily ripening harvest of rebellion and heresy. it was time, he cried, for the states to abandon the prince, and rally round their king. patience had been exhausted. he had himself done all, and more than could have been demanded. he had faithfully executed the ghent pacification, but his conduct had neither elicited gratitude nor inspired confidence. the deputies replied, that to the due execution of the ghent treaty it was necessary that he should disband the german troops, assemble the states-general, and carry out their resolutions. until these things, now undone, had been accomplished, he had no right to plead his faithful fulfilment of the pacification. after much conversation--in which the same grievances were repeated, the same statements produced and contradicted, the same demands urged and evaded, and the same menaces exchanged as upon former occasions--the deputies returned to brussels. immediately after their departure, don john learned the result of his project upon antwerp castle. it will be remembered that he had withdrawn aerschot, under pretext of requiring his company on the visit to queen margaret, and that he had substituted treslong, an unscrupulous partisan of his own, in the government of the citadel. the temporary commander soon found, however, that he had undertaken more than he could perform. the troops under van ende were refused admittance into the town, although permission to quarter them there had been requested by the governor- general. the 'authorities had been assured that the troops were necessary for the protection of their city, but the magistrates had learned, but too recently, the nature of the protection which van ende, with his mercenaries, would afford. a detachment of states troops under de yers, champagny's nephew, encountered the regiment of van ende, and put it to flight with considerable loss. at the same time, an officer in the garrison of the citadel itself, captain de bours, undertook secretly to carry the fortress for the estates. his operations were secret and rapid. the seigneur de liedekerke had succeeded champagny in the government of the city. this appointment had been brought about by the agency of the greffier martini, a warm partisan of orange. the new governor was known to be very much the prince's friend, and believed to be at heart a convert to the reformed religion. with martini and liedekerke, de bours arranged his plot. he was supplied with a large sum of money, readily furnished in secret by the leading mercantile houses of the city. these funds were successfully invested in gaining over the garrison, only one company holding firm for treslong. the rest, as that officer himself informed don john, were ready at any moment "to take him by the throat." on the st of august, the day firmed upon in concert with the governor and greffier, he was, in fact, taken by the throat. there was but a brief combat, the issue of which became accidentally doubtful in the city. the white-plumed hat of de bours had been struck from his head in the struggle, and had fallen into the foss. floating out into the river, it had been recognized by the scouts sent out by the personages most interested, and the information was quickly brought to liedekerke, who was lying concealed in the house of martini, awaiting the result. their dismay was great, but martini, having more confidence than the governor, sallied forth to learn the whole truth. scarcely had he got into the streets than he heard a welcome cry, "the beggars have the castle! the beggars have the castle!" shouted a hundred voices. he soon met a lieutenant coming straight from the fortress, who related to him the whole affair. learning that de bours was completely victorious, and that treslong was a prisoner, martini hastened with the important intelligence to his own home, where liedekerke lay concealed. that functionary now repaired to the citadel, whither the magistrates, the leading citizens, and the chief merchants were instantly summoned. the castle was carried, but the city was already trembling with apprehension lest the german mercenaries quartered within its walls, should rise with indignation or panic, and repeat the horrid tragedy of the antwerp fury. in truth, there seemed danger of such a catastrophe. the secret correspondence of don john with the colonels was already discovered, and it was seen how warmly he had impressed upon the men with whom he had been tampering, "that the die was cast," and that all their art was necessary to make it turn up successfully. the castle was carried, but what would become of the city? a brief and eager consultation terminated in an immediate offer of three hundred thousand crowns by the leading merchants. this money was to be employed in amicably satisfying, if possible, the german soldiers, who had meanwhile actually come to arms, and were assembled in the place de meer. feeling unsafe; however, in this locality, their colonels had led them into the new town. here, having barricaded themselves with gun-carriages, bales, and boxes, they awaited, instead of initiating, the events which the day might bring forth. a deputation soon arrived with a white flag from the castle, and commissioners were appointed by the commanding officers of the soldiery. the offer was made to pay over the arrears of their wages, at least to a very large amount, on condition that the troops should forthwith and for ever evacuate the city. one hundred and fifty thousand crowns were offered on the nail. the merchants stood on the bridge leading from the old town-to the new, in full sight of the soldiers. they held in their hands their purses, filled with the glittering gold. the soldiers were frantic with the opportunity, and swore that they would have their officers' lives, if the tempting and unexpected offer should be declined. nevertheless, the commissioners went to and fro, ever finding something to alter or arrange. in truth, the merchants had agreed to furnish; if necessary, three hundred thousand browns; but the thrifty negotiators were disposed, if diplomacy could do it, to save the moiety of that sum. day began to sink, ere the bargain was completed, when suddenly sails were descried in the distance, and presently a large fleet of war vessels, with, banner and pennon flying before a favoring breeze; came sailing up the scheld. it was a squadron of the prince's ships, under command of admiral haultain. he had been sent against tholen, but, having received secret intelligence, had, with happy audacity, seized the opportunity of striking a blow in the cause which he had served so faithfully. a shot or two fired from the vessels among the barricades had a quickening effect. a sudden and astounding panic seized the soldiers. "the beggars are coming! the beggars are coming!" they yelled in dismay; for the deeds of the ocean-beggars had not become less appalling since the memorable siege of leyden. the merchants still stood on the bridge with their purses in their hand. the envoys from the castle still waved their white flags. it was too late. the horror inspired by the wild zealanders overpowered the hope of wages, extinguished all confidence in the friendship of the citizens. the mercenaries, yielding to a violent paroxysm of fear, fled hither and thither, panting, doubling, skulking, like wolves before the hounds. their flight was ludicrous. without staying to accept the money which the merchants were actually offering, without packing up their own property, in many cases even throwing away their arms, they fled, helter skelter, some plunging into the scheid, some skimming along the dykes, some rushing across the open fields. a portion of them under colonel fugger, afterwards shut themselves up in bergen op zoom, where they were at once besieged by champagny, and were soon glad to compromise the matter by surrendering their colonel and laying down their arms. the remainder retreated to breda, where they held out for two months, and were at length overcome by a neat stratagem of orange. a captain, being known to be in the employment of don john, was arrested on his way to breda. carefully sewed up in his waistband was found a letter, of a finger's breadth, written in cipher, and sealed with the governor-general's seal. colonel frondsberger, commanding in breda, was in this missive earnestly solicited to hold out two months longer, within which time a certain relief was promised. in place of this letter, deciphered with much difficulty, a new one was substituted, which the celebrated printer, william sylvius, of antwerp, prepared with great adroitness, adding the signature and seal of don john. in this counterfeit epistle; the colonel was directed to do the best he could for himself, by reason that don john was himself besieged, and unable to render him assistance. the same captain who had brought the real letter was bribed to deliver the counterfeit. this task he faithfully performed, spreading the fictitious intelligence besides, with such ardor through the town, that the troops rose upon their leader, and surrendered him with the city and their own arms, into the custody of the estates. such was the result of the attempt by don john to secure the citadel--of antwerp. not only was the fortress carried for the estates, but the city itself, for the first time in twelve years, was relieved from a foreign soldiery. the rage and disappointment of the governor-general were excessive. he had boasted to marolles a day too soon. the prize which he thought already in his grasp had slipped through his fingers, while an interminable list of demands which he dreamed not of, and which were likely to make him bankrupt, were brought to his door. to the states, not himself, the triumph seemed for the moment decreed. the "dice" had taken a run against him, notwithstanding his pains in loading and throwing. nevertheless, he did not yet despair of revenge. "these rebels," he wrote to the empress-dowager, his sister, "think that fortune is all smiles for them now, and that all is ruin for me. the wretches are growing proud enough, and forget that their chastisement, some fine morning, will yet arrive." on the th of august he addressed another long letter to the estates. this document was accompanied, as usual, by certain demands, drawn up categorically in twenty-three articles. the estates considered his terms hard and strange, for in their opinion it was themselves, not the governor, who were masters of the situation. nevertheless, he seemed inclined to treat as if he had gained, not missed, the citadel of antwerp; as if the troops with whom he had tampered were mustered in the field, not shut up in distant towns, and already at the mercy of the states party. the governor demanded that all the forces of the country should be placed under his own immediate control; that count bossu, or some other person nominated by himself, should be appointed to the government of friesland; that the people of brabant and flanders should set themselves instantly to hunting, catching, and chastising all vagrant heretics and preachers. he required, in particular, that saint aldegonde and theron, those most mischievous rebels, should be prohibited from setting their foot in any city of the netherlands. he insisted that the community of brussels should lay down their arms, and resume their ordinary handicrafts. he demanded that the prince of orange should be made to execute the ghent treaty; to suppress the exercise of the reformed religion in harlem, schoonhoven, and other places; to withdraw his armed vessels from their threatening stations, and to restore nieuport, unjustly detained by him. should the prince persist in his obstinacy, don john summoned them to take arms against him, and to support their lawful governor. he, moreover, required the immediate restitution of antwerp citadel, and the release of treslong from prison. although, regarded from the spanish point of view, such demands might seem reasonable, it was also natural that their audacity should astonish the estates. that the man who had violated so openly the ghent treaty should rebuke the prince for his default--that the man who had tampered with the german mercenaries until they were on the point of making another antwerp fury, should now claim the command over them and all other troops--that the man who had attempted to gain antwerp citadel by a base stratagem should now coolly demand its restoration, seemed to them the perfection of insolence. the baffled conspirator boldly claimed the prize which was to have rewarded a successful perfidy. at the very moment when the escovedo letters and the correspondence with the german colonels had been laid before their eyes, it was a little too much that the double-dealing bastard of the double-dealing emperor should read them a lecture upon sincerity. it was certain that the perplexed, and outwitted warrior had placed himself at last in a very false position. the prince of orange, with his usual adroitness, made the most of his adversary's false moves. don john had only succeeded in digging a pitfall for himself. his stratagems against namur and antwerp had produced him no fruit, saving the character, which his antagonist now fully succeeded in establishing for him, of an unscrupulous and artful schemer. this reputation was enhanced by the discovery of the intercepted letters, and by the ingenuity and eagerness with which they were turned to account against him by the prince, by saint aldegonde, and all the anti-catholic party. the true key to his reluctance against despatching the troops by land, the states had not obtained. they did not dream of his romantic designs upon england, and were therefore excusable in attributing a still deeper perfidy to his arrangements. even had he been sent to the netherlands in the full possession of his faculties, he would have been no match in political combinations for his powerful antagonists. hoodwinked and fettered, suspected by his master, baffled, bewildered, irritated by his adversary, what could he do but plunge from one difficulty to another and oscillate between extravagant menace, and desponding concession, until his hopes and life were wasted quite away. his instructions came from philip through perez, and that most profound dissembler, as we have seen, systematically deceived the governor, with the view of eliciting treasonable matters, philip wishing, if possible, to obtain proofs of don john's secret designs against his own crown. thus every letter from spain was filled with false information and with lying persuasions. no doubt the governor considered himself entitled to wear a crown, and meant to win it, if not in africa, then in england, or wherever fate might look propitiously upon him. he was of the stuff of which crusaders and dynasty founders had been made, at a somewhat earlier epoch. who could have conquered the holy sepulchre, or wrested a crown from its lawful wearer, whether in italy, muscovy, the orient, or in the british ultima thule, more bravely than this imperial bastard, this valiant and romantic adventurer? unfortunately, he came a few centuries too late. the days when dynasties were founded, and european thrones appropriated by a few foreign freebooters, had passed, and had not yet returned. he had come to the netherlands desirous of smoothing over difficulties and of making a peaceful termination to that rebellion a steppingstone to his english throne. he was doomed to a profound disappointment, a broken heart, and a premature grave, instead of the glittering baubles which he pursued. already he found himself bitterly deceived in his hopes. the obstinate netherlanders would not love him, notwithstanding the good wishes he had manifested. they would not even love the king of spain, notwithstanding the blessings which his majesty was declared to have heaped upon them. on the contrary, they persisted in wasting their perverse affections upon the pestilent prince of orange. that heretic was leading them to destruction, for he was showing them the road to liberty, and nothing, in the eyes of the governor, could be more pitiable than to behold an innocent people setting forth upon such a journey. "in truth," said he, bitterly, in his memorable letter to his sister the empress, "they are willing to recognize neither god nor king. they pretend to liberty in all things: so that 'tis a great pity to see how they are going on; to see the impudence and disrespect with which they repay his majesty for the favors which he has shown them, and me for the labors, indignities, and dangers which i have undergone for their sakes." nothing, indeed, in the governor's opinion, could surpass the insolence of the netherlanders, save their ingratitude. that was the serpent's tooth which was ever wounding the clement king and his indignant brother. it seemed so bitter to meet with thanklessness, after seven years of alva and three of requesens; after the labors of the blood council, the massacres of naarden, zutphen, and harlem, the siege of leyden, and the fury of antwerp. "little profit there has been," said the governor to his sister, "or is like to be from all the good which we have done to these bad people. in short, they love and obey in all things the most perverse and heretic tyrant and rebel in the whole world, which is this damned prince of orange, while, on the contrary, without fear of god or shame before men, they abhor and dishonor the name and commandments of their natural sovereign." therefore, with a doubting spirit, and almost with a broken heart, had the warrior shut himself up in namur castle, to await the progress of events, and to escape from the snares of his enemies. "god knows how much i desire to avoid extremities," said he, "but i know not what to do with men who show themselves so obstinately rebellious." thus pathetically don john bewailed his fate. the nation had turned from god, from philip, from himself; yet he still sat in his castle, determined to save them from destruction and his own hands from bloodshed, if such an issue were yet possible. nor was he entirely deserted, for among the faithless a few were faithful still. although the people were in open revolt, there was still a handful of nobles resolved to do their duty towards their god and king. "this little band," said the governor, "has accompanied me hither, like gentlemen and chevaliers of honor." brave berlaymont and his four sons were loyal to the last, but others of this limited number of gentlemen and chevaliers of honor were already deserting him. as soon as the result of the enterprise against antwerp citadel was known, and the storm was gathering most darkly over the royal cause, aerschot and havre were first to spread their wings and flutter away in search of a more congenial atmosphere. in september, the duke was again as he had always professed himself to be, with some important interval of exception--"the affectionate brother and cordial friend of the prince of orange." the letter addressed by don john to the states upon the th of august, had not yet been answered. feeling, soon afterwards, more sensible of his position, and perhaps less inflamed with indignation; he addressed another communication to them, upon the th of the same month. in this epistle he expressed an extreme desire for peace, and a hearty desire to be relieved, if possible, from his most painful situation. he protested, before god and man, that his intentions were most honest, and that he abhorred war more than anything else in the world. he averred that, if his person was as odious to them as it seemed, he was only too ready to leave the land, as soon as the king should appoint his successor. he reminded them that the question of peace or war lay not with himself, but with them; and that the world would denounce as guilty those with whom rested the responsibility. he concluded with an observation which, in its humility, seemed sufficiently ironical, that if they had quite finished the perusal of the despatches from madrid to his address, which they had intercepted, he should be thankful for an opportunity of reading them himself. he expressed a hope, therefore, that they would be forwarded to namur. this letter was answered at considerable length, upon the second day. the states made their customary protestations of attachment to his majesty, their fidelity to the catholic church, their determination to maintain both the ghent treaty and the perpetual edict. they denied all responsibility for the present disastrous condition of the relations between themselves and government, having disbanded nearly all their own troops, while the governor had been strengthening his forces up to the period of his retreat into namur. he protested, indeed, friendship and a sincere desire for peace, but the intercepted letters of escovedo and his own had revealed to them the evil counsels to which he had been listening, and the intrigues which he had been conducting. they left it to his conscience whether they could reasonably believe, after the perusal of these documents, that it was his intention to maintain the ghent treaty, or any treaty; and whether they were not justified in their resort to the natural right of self-defence. don john was already fully aware of the desperate error which he had committed. in seizing namur and attempting antwerp, he had thrown down the gauntlet. wishing peace, he had, in a panic of rage and anxiety; declared and enacted war. the bridge was broken behind him, the ships burned, a gulf opened, a return to peace rendered almost impossible. yet it is painful to observe the almost passionate longings which at times seemed to possess him for accommodating the quarrel, together with his absolute incapacity to appreciate his position. the prince was triumphant; the governor in a trap. moreover, it was a trap which he had not only entered voluntarily, but which he had set himself; he had played into the prince's hands, and was frantic to see his adversary tranquilly winning the game. it was almost melancholy to observe the gradation of his tone from haughty indignation to dismal concession. in an elaborate letter which he addressed "to the particular states, bishops, councillors, and cities of the netherlands," he protested as to the innocence of his intentions, and complained bitterly of the calumnies circulated to his discredit by the prince of orange. he denied any intention of recalling the troops which he had dismissed, except in case of absolute necessity: he affirmed that his majesty sincerely desired peace. he averred that the country was either against the king, against the catholic religion, against himself, or against all three together. he bitterly asked what further concessions were required. had he not done all he had ever promised? had he not discharged the spaniards, placed the castles in the hands of natives, restored the privileges, submitted to insults and indecencies? yet, in spite of all which had passed, he declared his readiness to resign, if another prince or princess of the blood more acceptable to them could be appointed. the letter to the states was followed by a proposition for a cessation of hostilities, and for the appointment of a commission to devise means for faithfully executing the ghent treaty. this proposition was renewed, a few days later, together with an offer for an exchange of hostages. it was not difficult for the estates to answer the letters of the governor. indeed, there was but little lack of argument on either side throughout this unhappy controversy. it is dismal to contemplate the interminable exchange of protocols, declarations, demands, apostilles, replications and rejoinders, which made up the substance of don john's administration. never was chivalrous crusader so out of place. it was not a soldier that was then required for philip's exigency, but a scribe. instead of the famous sword of lepanto, the "barbarous pen" of hopperus had been much more suitable for the work required. scribbling joachim in a war-galley, yard-arm and yard-arm with the turkish capitan pacha, could have hardly felt less at ease than did the brilliant warrior thus condemned to scrawl and dissemble. while marching from concession to concession, he found the states conceiving daily more distrust, and making daily deeper encroachments. moreover, his deeds up to the time when he seemed desirous to retrace his steps had certainly been, at the least, equivocal. therefore, it was natural for the estates, in reply to the questions in his letter, to observe that he had indeed dismissed the spaniards, but that he had tampered with and retained the germans; that he had indeed placed the citadels in the hands of natives, but that he had tried his best to wrest them away again; that he had indeed professed anxiety for peace, but that his intercepted letters proved his preparations for war. already there were rumors of spanish troops returning in small detachments out of france. already the governor was known to be enrolling fresh mercenaries to supply the place of those whom he had unsuccessfully endeavoured to gain to his standard. as early as the th of july, in fact, the marquis d'ayamonte in milan, and don juan de idiaquez in genoa, had received letters from don john of austria, stating that, as the provinces had proved false to their engagements, he would no longer be held by his own, and intimating his desire that the veteran troops which had but so recently been dismissed from flanders, should forthwith return. soon afterwards, alexander farnese, prince of parma, received instructions from the king to superintend these movements, and to carry the aid of his own already distinguished military genius to his uncle in the netherlands. on the other hand, the states felt their strength daily more sensibly. guided, as usual, by orange, they had already assumed a tone in their correspondence which must have seemed often disloyal, and sometimes positively insulting, to the governor. they even answered his hints of resignation in favor of some other prince of the blood, by expressing their hopes that his successor, if a member of the royal house at all, would at least be a legitimate one. this was a severe thrust at the haughty chieftain, whose imperial airs rarely betrayed any consciousness of barbara blomberg and the bend sinister on his shield. he was made to understand, through the medium of brabantine bluntness, that more importance was attached to the marriage, ceremony in the netherlands than he seemed to imagine. the categorical demands made by the estates seemed even more indigestible than such collateral affronts; for they had now formally affirmed the views of orange as to the constitutional government of the provinces. in their letter of th august, they expressed their willingness, notwithstanding the past delinquencies of the governor, to yield him their, confidence again; but at the same time; they enumerated conditions which, with his education and views, could hardly seem to him admissible. they required him to disband all the soldiers in his service, to send the germans instantly out of the country, to dismiss every foreigner from office, whether civil or military, and to renounce his secret league with the duke of guise. they insisted that he should thenceforth govern only with the advice and consent of the state council, that he should execute that which should by a majority of votes be ordained there, that neither measures nor despatches should be binding or authentic unless drawn up at that board. these certainly were views of administration which, even if consonant with a sound historical view of the netherland constitutions, hardly tallied with his monarch's instructions, his own opinions, or the practice under alva and requesens, but the country was still in a state of revolution, and the party of the prince was gaining the upper hand. it was the determination of that great statesman, according to that which he considered the legitimate practice of the government, to restore the administration to the state council, which executive body ought of right to be appointed by the states-general. in the states-general, as in the states-particular, a constant care was to be taken towards strengthening the most popular element, the "community" of each city, the aggregate, that is to say, of its guild-representatives and its admitted burghers. this was, in the opinion of the prince, the true theory of the government--republican in all but form--under the hereditary protection, not the despotic authority, of a family, whose rights were now nearly forfeited. it was a great step in advance that these views should come to be thus formally announced, not in holland and zealand only, but by the deputies of the states-general, although such a doctrine, to the proud stomach of don john, seemed sufficiently repulsive. not less so was the cool intimation with which the paper concluded, that if he should execute his threat of resigning, the country would bear his loss with fortitude, coupled as was that statement with a declaration that, until his successor should be appointed, the state council would consider itself charged ad interim with the government. in the meantime, the governor was requested not to calumniate the estates to foreign governments, as he had so recently done in his intercepted letter to the empress-dowager. upon receiving this letter, "don john," says a faithful old chronicler, "found that the cranes had invited the frog to dinner." in truth, the illustrious soldier was never very successful in his efforts, for which his enemies gave him credit, to piece out the skin of the lion with that of the fox. he now felt himself exposed and outwitted, while he did not feel conscious of any very dark design. he answered the letter of the states by a long communication, dated from namur castle, th of august. in style, he was comparatively temperate, but the justification which he attempted of his past conduct was not very happy. he noticed the three different points which formed the leading articles of the accusation brought against him, the matter, namely, of the intercepted letters, of the intrigues with the german colonels, and the seizure of namur. he did not deny the authorship of the letters, but contented himself with a reference to their date, as if its priority to his installation as governor furnished a sufficient palliation of the bad faith which the letters revealed. as to the despatches of escovedo, he denied responsibility for any statements or opinions which they might contain. as the secretary, however, was known to be his most confidential friend, this attempt to shuffle off his own complicity was held to be both lame and unhandsome. as for the correspondence with the colonels, his defence was hardly more successful, and rested upon a general recrimination upon the prince of orange. as that personage was agitating and turbulent, it was not possible, the governor urged, that he should himself remain quiet. it was out of his power to execute the treaty and the edict, in the face of a notorious omission on the part of his adversary to enforce the one or to publish the other. it comported neither with his dignity nor his safety to lay down his weapons while the prince and his adherents were arming. he should have placed himself "in a very foolish position," had he allowed himself unarmed to be dictated to by the armed. in defence of himself on the third point, the seizure of namur castle, he recounted the various circumstances with which the reader is already acquainted. he laid particular stress upon the dramatic manner in which the vicomte de gand had drawn his curtains at the dead of night; he narrated at great length the ominous warning which he had likewise received from the duke of aerschot in brussels, and concluded with a circumstantial account of the ambush which he believed to have been laid for him by count de lalain. the letter concluded with a hope for an arrangement of difficulties, not yet admitted by the governor to be insurmountable, and with a request for a formal conference, accompanied by an exchange of hostages. while this correspondence was proceeding between namur and brussels, an event was occurring in antwerp which gave much satisfaction to orange. the spanish fury, and the recent unsuccessful attempt of don john to master the famous citadel, had determined the authorities to take the counsel which the prince had so often given in vain, and the fortress of antwerp was at length razed to the ground, on the side towards the city.--it would be more correct to say that it was not the authorities, but the city itself which rose at last and threw off the saddle by which it had so long been galled. more than ten thousand persons were constantly at work, morning, noon, and night, until the demolition was accomplished. grave magistrates, great nobles, fair ladies, citizens and their wives, beggars and their children, all wrought together pell-mell. all were anxious to have a hand in destroying the nest where so many murders had been hatched, whence so much desolation had flown. the task was not a long one for workmen so much in earnest, and the fortress was soon laid low in the quarter where it could be injurious to the inhabitants. as the work proceeded, the old statue of alva was discovered in a forgotten crypt, where it had lain since it had been thrown down by the order of requesens. amid the destruction of the fortress, the gigantic phantom of its founder seemed to start suddenly from the gloom, but the apparition added fresh fuel to the rage of the people. the image of the execrated governor was fastened upon with as much fierceness as if the bronze effigy could feel their blows, or comprehend their wrath. it was brought forth from its dark hiding-place into the daylight. thousands of hands were ready to drag it through the streets for universal inspection and outrage. a thousand sledge-hammers were ready to dash it to pieces, with a slight portion, at least, of the satisfaction with which those who wielded them would have dealt the same blows upon the head of the tyrant himself. it was soon reduced to a shapeless mass. small portions were carried away and preserved for generations in families as heirlooms of hatred. the bulk was melted again and reconverted, by a most natural metamorphosis, into the cannon from which it had originally sprung. the razing of the antwerp citadel set an example which was followed in other places; the castle of ghent, in particular, being immediately levelled, amid demonstrations of universal enthusiasm. meantime, the correspondence between don john and the estates at brussels dragged its slow length along, while at the same time, two elaborate letters were addressed to the king, on the th of august and the th of september, by the estates-general of the netherlands. these documents, which were long and able, gave a vigorous representation of past evils and of the present complication of disorders under which the commonwealth was laboring. they asked, as usual, for a royal remedy; and expressed their doubts whether there could be any sincere reconciliation so long as the present governor, whose duplicity and insolence they represented in a very strong light, should remain in office. should his majesty, however, prefer to continue don john in the government, they signified their willingness, in consideration of his natural good qualities, to make the best of the matter. should, however, the estrangement between themselves and the governor seem irremediable, they begged that another and a legitimate prince of the blood might be appointed in his place. etext editor's bookmarks: country would bear his loss with fortitude its humility, seemed sufficiently ironical not upon words but upon actions perfection of insolence was it astonishing that murder was more common than fidelity? this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic, by john lothrop motley [chapter ii.] triumphal entrance of don john into brussels--reverse of the picture --analysis of the secret correspondence of don john and escovedo with antonio perez--plots against the governor's liberty--his desponding language and gloomy anticipations--recommendation of severe measures--position and principles of orange and his family-- his private views on the question of peace and war--his toleration to catholics and anabaptists censured by his friends--death of viglius--new mission from the governor to orange--details of the gertruydenberg conferences--nature and results of these negotiations--papers exchanged between the envoys and orange--peter panis executed for heresy--three parties in the netherlands-- dissimulation of don john--his dread of capture. as already narrated, the soldiery had retired definitely from the country at the end of april, after which don john made his triumphal entrance into brussels on the st of may. it was long since so festive a may-day had gladdened the hearts of brabant. so much holiday magnificence had not been seen in the netherlands for years. a solemn procession of burghers, preceded by six thousand troops, and garnished by the free companies of archers and musketeers, in their picturesque costumes, escorted the young prince along the streets of the capital. don john was on horseback, wrapped in a long green cloak, riding between the bishop of liege and the papal nuncio. he passed beneath countless triumphal arches. banners waved before him, on which the battle of lepanto, and other striking scenes in his life, were emblazoned. minstrels sang verses, poets recited odes, rhetoric clubs enacted fantastic dramas in his honor, as he rode along. young virgins crowned him with laurels. fair women innumerable were clustered at every window, roof, and balcony, their bright robes floating like summer clouds above him. "softly from those lovely clouds," says a gallant chronicler, "descended the gentle rain of flowers." garlands were strewed before his feet, laurelled victory sat upon his brow. the same conventional enthusiasm and decoration which had characterized the holiday marches of a thousand conventional heroes were successfully produced. the proceedings began with the church, and ended with the banquet, the day was propitious, the populace pleased, and after a brilliant festival, don john of austria saw himself governor-general of the provinces. three days afterwards, the customary oaths, to be kept with the customary conscientiousness, were rendered at the town house, and for a brief moment all seemed smiling and serene. there was a reverse to the picture. in truth, no language can describe the hatred which don john entertained for the netherlands and all the inhabitants. he had come to the country only as a stepping-stone to the english throne, and he never spoke, in his private letters, of the provinces or the people but in terms of abhorrence. he was in a "babylon of disgust," in a "hell," surrounded by "drunkards," "wineskins," "scoundrels," and the like. from the moment of his arrival he had strained every nerve to retain the spanish troops, and to send them away by sea when it should be no longer feasible to keep them. escovedo shared in the sentiments and entered fully into the schemes of his chief. the plot, the secret enterprise, was the great cause of the advent of don john in the uncongenial clime of flanders. it had been, therefore, highly important, in his estimation, to set, as soon as possible, about the accomplishment of this important business. he accordingly entered into correspondence with antonio perez, the king's most confidential secretary of state at that period. that the governor was plotting no treason is sufficiently obvious from the context of his letters: at the same time, with the expansiveness of his character, when he was dealing with one whom he deemed has close and trusty friend, he occasionally made use of expressions which might be made to seem equivocal. this was still more the case with poor escovedo. devoted to his master, and depending most implicitly upon the honor of perez, he indulged in language which might be tortured into a still more suspicious shape when the devilish arts of perez and the universal distrust of philip were tending steadily to that end. for perez--on the whole, the boldest, deepest, and most unscrupulous villain in that pit of duplicity, the spanish court--was engaged at that moment with philip, in a plot to draw from don john and escovedo, by means of this correspondence, the proofs of a treason which the king and minister both desired to find. the letters from spain were written with this view--those from flanders were interpreted to that end. every confidential letter received by perez was immediately laid by him before the king, every letter which the artful demon wrote was filled with hints as to the danger of the king's learning the existence of the correspondence, and with promises of profound secrecy upon his own part, and was then immediately placed in philip's hands, to receive his comments and criticisms, before being copied and despatched to the netherlands. the minister was playing a bold, murderous, and treacherous game, and played it in a masterly manner. escovedo was lured to his destruction, don john was made to fret his heart away, and philip--more deceived than all--was betrayed in what he considered his affections, and made the mere tool of a man as false as himself and infinitely more accomplished. almost immediately after the arrival of don john in the netherlands; he had begun to express the greatest impatience for escovedo, who had not been able to accompany his master upon his journey, but without whose assistance the governor could accomplish none of his undertakings. "being a man, not an angel, i cannot do all which i have to do," said he to perez, "without a single person in whom i can confide." he protested that he could do no more than he was then doing. he went to bed at twelve and rose at seven, without having an hour in the day in which to take his food regularly; in consequence of all which he had already had three fevers. he was plunged into a world of distrust. every man suspected him, and he had himself no confidence in a single individual throughout that whole babylon of disgusts. he observed to perez that he was at liberty to show his letters to the king, or to read them in the council, as he meant always to speak the truth in whatever he should write. he was sure that perez would do all for the best; and there is something touching in these expressions of an honest purpose towards philip, and of generous confidence in perez, while the two were thus artfully attempting to inveigle him into damaging revelations. the netherlanders certainly had small cause to love or trust their new governor, who very sincerely detested and suspected them, but philip had little reason to complain of his brother. "tell me if my letters are read in council, and what his majesty says about them," he wrote; "and, above all, send money. i am driven to desperation at finding myself sold to this people, utterly unprovided as i am, and knowing the slow manner in which all affairs are conducted in spain." he informed the king that there was but one man in the netherlands, and that he was called the prince of orange. to him everything was communicated, with him everything was negotiated, opinions expressed by him were implicitly followed. the governor vividly described the misgivings with which he had placed himself in the power of the states by going to louvain, and the reluctance with which he had consented to send away the troops. after this concession, he complained that the insolence of the states had increased. "they think that they can do and undo what they like, now that i am at their mercy," he wrote to philip. "nevertheless, i do what you command without regarding that i am sold, and that i am in great danger of losing, my liberty, a loss which i dread more than anything in the world, for i wish to remain justified before god and men." he expressed, however, no hopes as to the result. disrespect and rudeness could be pushed no further than it had already gone, while the prince of orange, the actual governor of the country, considered his own preservation dependent upon maintaining things as they then were. don john, therefore, advised the king steadily to make preparations for "a rude and terrible war," which was not to be avoided, save by a miracle, and which ought not--to find him in this unprepared state. he protested that it was impossible to exaggerate the boldness which the people felt at seeing him thus defenseless. "they say publicly," he continued, "that your majesty is not to be feared, not being capable of carrying on a war, and having consumed and exhausted every resource. one of the greatest injuries ever inflicted upon us was by marquis havre, who, after his return from spain, went about publishing everywhere the poverty of the royal exchequer. this has emboldened them to rise, for they believe that, whatever the disposition, there is no strength to chastise them. they see a proof of the correctness of their reasoning in the absence of new levies, and in the heavy arrearages due to the old troops." he protested that he desired, at least, to be equal to the enemy, without asking, as others had usually done, for double the amount of the hostile force. he gave a glance at the foreign complications of the netherlands, telling philip that the estates were intriguing both with france and england. the english envoy had expressed much uneasiness at the possible departure of the spanish troops from the netherlands by sea, coupling it with a probable attempt to liberate the queen of scots. don john, who had come to the provinces for no other purpose, and whose soul had been full of that romantic scheme, of course stoutly denied and ridiculed the idea. "such notions," he had said to the envoy, "were subjects for laughter. if the troops were removed from the country, it was to strengthen his majesty's force in the levant." mr. rogers, much comforted, had expressed the warm friendship which elizabeth entertained both for his majesty and his majesty's representative; protestations which could hardly seem very sincere, after the series of attempts at the queen's life, undertaken so recently by his majesty and his majesty's former representative. nevertheless, don john had responded with great cordiality, had begged for elizabeth's portrait, and had expressed the intention, if affairs went as he hoped, to go privately to england for the purpose of kissing her royal hand. don john further informed the king, upon the envoy's authority, that elizabeth had refused assistance to the estates, saying, if she stirred it would be to render aid to philip, especially if france should meddle in the matter. as to france, the governor advised philip to hold out hopes to alencon of espousing the infanta, but by no means ever to fulfil such a promise, as the duke, "besides being the shield of heretics, was unscrupulously addicted to infamous vices." a month later, escovedo described the downfall of don john's hopes and his own in dismal language.--"you are aware," he wrote to perez, "that a throne--a chair with a canopy--is our intention and our appetite, and all the rest is good for nothing. having failed in our scheme, we are desperate and like madmen. all is now weariness and death." having expressed himself in such desponding accents, he continued, a few days afterwards, in the same lugubrious vein, "i am ready to hang myself," said he, "and i would have done it already, if it were not for keeping myself as executioner for those who have done us so much harm. ah, senor antonio perez!" he added, "what terrible pertinacity have those devils shown in making us give up our plot. it seems as though hell were opened and had sent forth heaps of demons to oppose our schemes." after these vigorous ejaculations he proceeded to inform his friend that the english envoy and the estates, governed by the prince of orange, in whose power were the much-coveted ships, had prevented the departure of the troops by sea. "these devils complain of the expense," said he; "but we would willingly swallow the cost if we could only get the ships." he then described don john as so cast down by his disappointment as to be fit for nothing, and most desirous of quitting the netherlands as soon as possible. he had no disposition to govern these wineskins. any one who ruled in the provinces was obliged to do exactly what they ordered him to do. such rule was not to the taste of don john. without any comparison, a woman would answer the purpose better than any man, and escovedo accordingly suggested the empress dowager, or madame de parma, or even madame de lorraine. he further recommended that the spanish troops, thus forced to leave the netherlands by land, should be employed against the heretics in france. this would be a salve for the disgrace of removing them. "it would be read in history," continued the secretary, "that the troops went to france in order to render assistance in a great religious necessity; while, at the same time, they will be on hand to chastise these drunkards, if necessary. to have the troops in france is almost as well as to keep them here." he begged to be forgiven if he spoke incoherently. 't was no wonder that he should do so, for his reason had been disordered by the blow which had been received. as for don john, he was dying to leave the country, and although the force was small for so great a general, yet it would be well for him to lead these troops to france in person. "it would sound well in history," said poor escovedo, who always thought of posterity, without ever dreaming that his own private letters would be destined, after three centuries, to comment and earnest investigation; "it would sound well in history, that don john went to restore, the french kingdom and to extirpate heretics, with six thousand foot and two thousand horse. 'tis a better employment, too, than to govern such vile creatures as these." if, however, all their plans should fail, the secretary suggested to his friend antonio, that he must see and make courtiers of them. he suggested that a strong administration might be formed in spain, with don john, the marquis de los velez, and the duke of sesa. "with such chiefs, and with anthony and john--[viz., john of escovedo and antony perez.]-- for acolytes," he was of opinion that much good work might be done, and that don john might become "the staff for his majesty's old age." he implored perez, in the most urgent language, to procure philip's consent that his brother should leave the provinces. "otherwise," said he, "we shall see the destruction of the friend whom we so much love! he will become seriously ill, and if so, good night to him! his body is too delicate." escovedo protested that he would rather die himself. "in the catastrophe of don john's death," he continued, "adieu the court, adieu the world!" he would incontinently bury himself among the mountains of san sebastian, "preferring to dwell among wild animals than among courtiers." escovedo, accordingly, not urged by the most disinterested motives certainly, but with as warm a friendship for his master as princes usually inspire, proceeded to urge upon perez the necessity of, aiding the man who was able to help them. the first step was to get him out of the netherlands. that was his constant thought, by day and night. as it would hardly be desirable for him to go alone, it seemed proper that escovedo should, upon some pretext, be first sent to spain. such a pretext would be easily found, because, as don john had accepted the government, "it would be necessary for him to do all which the rascals bade him." after these minute statements, the secretary warned his correspondent of the necessity of secrecy, adding that he especially feared "all the court ladies, great and small, but that he in everything confided entirely in perez." nearly at the same time, don john wrote to perez in a similar tone. "ah, senor antonio," he exclaimed, "how certain is my disgrace and my misfortune. ruined is our enterprise, after so much labor and such skilful management." he was to have commenced the work with the very spanish soldiers who were now to be sent off by land, and he had nothing for it but to let them go, or to come to an open rupture with the states. "the last, his conscience, his duty, and the time, alike forbade." he was therefore obliged to submit to the ruin of his plans, and "could think of nothing save to turn hermit, a condition in which a man's labors, being spiritual, might not be entirely in vain." he was so overwhelmed by the blow, he said, that he was constantly thinking of an anchorite's life. that which he had been leading had become intolerable. he was not fitted for the people of the netherlands, nor they for him. rather than stay longer than was necessary in order to appoint his successor, there was no resolution he might not take, even to leaving everything and coming upon them when they least expected him, although he were to receive a bloody punishment in consequence. he, too, suggested the empress, who had all the qualities which he lacked himself, or madame de parma, or madame de lorraine, as each of them was more fit to govern the provinces than he pretended to be. "the people," said he, plainly, "are beginning to abhor me, and i abhor them already." he entreated perez to get him out of the country by fair means or foul, "per fas aut per nefas." his friends ought to procure his liberation, if they wished to save him from the sin of disobedience, and even of infamy. he expressed the most unbounded confidence in the honor of his correspondent, adding that if nothing else could procure his release, the letter might be shown to the king. in general, the governor was always willing that perez should make what changes he thought advisable in the letters for his majesty, altering or softening whatever seemed crude or harsh, provided always the main point--that of procuring his recal--were steadily kept in view, in this, said the governor, vehemently, my life, my honor, and my soul are all at stake; for as to the two first, i shall forfeit them both certainly, and, in my desperate condition, i shall run great risk of losing the last. on the other hand, perez was profuse in his professions of friendship both to don john and to escovedo; dilating in all his letters upon the difficulty of approaching the king upon the subject of his brother's recal, but giving occasional information that an incidental hint had been ventured which might not remain without effect. all these letters, were, however, laid before philip, for his approval, before being despatched, and the whole subject thoroughly and perpetually discussed between them, about which perez pretended that he hardly dared breathe a syllable to his majesty. he had done what he could, he said, while reading, piece by piece, to the king, during a fit of the gout, the official despatches from the netherlands, to insinuate such of the arguments used by the governor and escovedo as might seem admissible, but it was soon obvious that no impression could be made upon the royal mind. perez did not urge the matter, therefore, "because," said he, "if the king should suspect that we had any other object than his interests, we should all be lost." every effort should be made by don john and all his friends to secure his majesty's entire confidence, since by that course more progress would be made in their secret plans, than by proceedings concerning which the governor wrote "with such fury and anxiety of heart." perez warned his correspondent, therefore, most solemnly, against the danger of "striking the blow without hitting the mark," and tried to persuade him that his best interests required him to protract his residence in the provinces for a longer period. he informed don john that his disappointment as to the english scheme had met with the warmest sympathy of the king, who had wished his brother success. "i have sold to him, at as high a price as i could," said perez, "the magnanimity with which your highness had sacrificed, on that occasion, a private object to his service." the minister held the same language, when writing, in a still more intimate and expansive style, to escovedo. "we must avoid, by a thousand--leagues, the possibility of the king's thinking us influenced by private motives," he observed; "for we know the king and the delicacy of these matters. the only way to gain the good-will of the man is carefully to accommodate ourselves to his tastes, and to have the appearance of being occupied solely with his interests." the letter, like all the rest, being submitted to "the man" in question before being sent, was underlined by him at this paragraph and furnished with the following annotation: "but you must enlarge upon the passage which i have marked--say more, even if you are obliged to copy the letter, in order that we may see the nature of the reply." in another letter to escovedo, perez enlarged upon the impropriety, the impossibility of don john's leaving the netherlands at that time. the king was so resolute upon that point, he said, that 'twas out of the question to suggest the matter. "we should, by so doing, only lose all credit with him in other things. you know what a terrible man he is; if he should once suspect us of having a private end in view, we should entirely miss our mark." especially the secretary was made acquainted with the enormous error which would be committed by don john in leaving his post. perez "had ventured into the water" upon the subject, he said, by praising the governor warmly to his majesty. the king had responded by a hearty eulogium, adding that the greatest comfort in having such a brother was, that he might be where his majesty could not be. therefore, it was out of the question for don john to leave the provinces. the greatest tact was necessary, urged perez, in dealing with the king. if he should once "suspect that we have a private purpose, we are lost, and no demosthenes or cicero would be able to influence him afterwards." perez begged that his ardent attachment to don john might be represented in the strongest colors to that high personage, who was to be assured that every effort would be made to place him at the head of affairs in spain, according to the suggestion of escovedo. "it would never do, however," he continued, "to let our man see that we desire it, for then we should never succeed. the only way to conquer him is to make him believe that things are going on as he wishes, not as his highness may desire, and that we have none of us any will but the king's." upon this passage the "terrible man" made a brief annotation:" this paragraph does admirably," he said, adding, with characteristic tautology, "and what you say in it is also excellent." therefore," continued the minister, "god forbid, master escovedo, that you should come hither now; for we should all be lost. in the english matter, i assure you that his majesty was extremely anxious that the plan should succeed, either through the pope, or otherwise. that puts me in mind," added perez, "to say, body of god! senor escovedo! how the devil came you to send that courier to rome about the english plot without giving me warning?" he then proceeded to state that the papal nuncio in spain had been much troubled in mind upon the subject, and had sent for him. "i went," said perez, "and after he, had closed the door, and looked through the keyhole to see that there were no listeners, he informed me that he had received intelligence from the pope as to the demands made by don john upon his holiness for bulls, briefs, and money to assist him in his english scheme, and that eighty thousand ducats had already been sent to him in consequence." perez added that the nuncio was very anxious to know how the affair should best be communicated to the king, without prejudice to his highness. he had given him the requisite advice, he continued, and had himself subsequently told the king that, no doubt, letters had been written by don john to his majesty, communicating these negotiations at rome, but that probably the despatches had been forgotten. thus, giving himself the appearance of having smoothed the matter with the king, perez concluded with a practical suggestion of much importance--the necessity, namely, of procuring the assassination of the prince of orange as soon as possible. "let it never be absent from your mind," said he, "that a good occasion must be found for finishing orange, since, besides the service which will thus be rendered to our master, and to the states, it will be worth something to ourselves. no apology is necessary for laying a somewhat extensive analysis of this secret correspondence before the reader. if there be any value in the examples of history, certainly few chronicles can furnish a more instructive moral. here are a despotic king and his confidential minister laying their heads together in one cabinet; the viceroy of the most important provinces of the realm, with his secretary, deeply conferring in another, not as to the manner of advancing the great interests, moral or material, of the people over whom god has permitted them to rule, but as to the best means of arranging conspiracies against the throne and life of a neighboring sovereign, with the connivance and subsidies of the pope. in this scheme, and in this only, the high conspirators are agreed. in every other respect, mutual suspicion and profound deceit characterize the scene. the governor is filled with inexpressible loathing for the whole nation of "drunkards and wineskins" who are at the very moment strewing flowers in his path, and deafening his ears with shouts of welcome; the king, while expressing unbounded confidence in the viceroy, is doing his utmost, through the agency of the subtlest intriguer in the world, to inveigle him into confessions of treasonable schemes, and the minister is filling reams of paper with protestations of affection for the governor and secretary, with sneers at the character of the king, and with instructions as to the best method of deceiving him, and then laying the despatches before his majesty for correction and enlargement. to complete the picture, the monarch and his minister are seen urging the necessity of murdering the foremost man of the age upon the very dupe who, within a twelvemonth, was himself to be assassinated by the self-same pair; while the arch-plotter who controls the strings of all these complicated projects is equally false to king, governor, and secretary, and is engaging all the others in these blind and tortuous paths, for the accomplishment of his own secret and most ignoble aims. in reply to the letters of perez, don john constantly expressed the satisfaction and comfort which he derived from them in the midst of his annoyances. "he was very disconsolate," he said, "to be in that hell, and to be obliged to remain in it," now that the english plot had fallen to the ground, but he would nevertheless take patience, and wait for a more favorable conjuncture. escovedo expressed the opinion, however, notwithstanding all the suggestions of perez, that the presence of don john in the provinces had become entirely superfluous. "an old woman with her distaff," suggested the secretary, "would be more appropriate; for there would be nothing to do, if the states had their way, save to sign everything which they should command. "if there should be war, his highness would, of course, not abandon his post; even if permitted to do so; but otherwise, nothing could be gained by a prolonged residence. as to the scheme of assassinating the prince of orange, escovedo prayed perez to believe him incapable of negligence on the subject. "you know that the finishing of orange is very near my heart," wrote the poor dupe to the man by whom he was himself so soon to be finished. "you may believe that i have never forgotten it, and never will forget it, until it be done. much, and very much artifice is, however, necessary to accomplish this object. a proper person to undertake a task fraught with such well-known danger, is hard to find. nevertheless, i will not withdraw my attention from the subject till such a person be procured, and the deed be done." a month later, escovedo wrote that he was about to visit spain. he complained that he required rest in his old age, but that perez could judge how much rest he could get in such a condition of affairs. he was, unfortunately, not aware, when he wrote, how soon his correspondent was to give him a long repose. he said, too, that the pleasure of visiting his home was counterbalanced by the necessity of travelling back to the netherlands; but he did not know that perez was to spare him that trouble, and to send him forth upon a much longer journey. the governor-general, had, in truth, not inspired the popular party or its leader with confidence, nor did he place the least reliance upon them. while at louvain, he had complained that a conspiracy had been formed against his life and liberty. two french gentlemen, bonnivet and bellangreville, had been arrested on suspicion of a conspiracy to secure his person, and to carry him off a prisoner to rochelle. nothing came of the examination which followed; the prisoners were released, and an apology was sent by the states-general to the duke of alencon, as well for the indignity which had been offered to two of his servants, as for the suspicion which had been cast upon himself, don john, however, was not satisfied. he persisted in asserting the existence of the conspiracy, and made no secret of his belief that the prince of orange was acquainted with the arrangement. as may be supposed, nothing was discovered in the course of the investigation to implicate that astute politician. the prince had indeed secretly recommended that the governor should be taken into custody on his first arrival, not for the purpose of assassination or personal injury, but in order to extort better terms from philip, through the affection or respect which he might be supposed to entertain for his brother. it will be remembered that unsuccessful attempts had also been made to capture the duke of alva and the commander requesens. such achievements comported with the spirit of the age, and although it is doubtful whether any well-concerted plot existed against the liberty of the governor, it is certain that he entertained no doubt on the subject himself. in addition to these real or suspected designs, there was an ever-present consciousness in the mind of don john that the enthusiasm which greeted his presence was hollow, that no real attachment was felt for his person, that his fate was leading him into a false position, that the hearts of the people were fixed upon another, and that they were never to be won by himself. instinctively he seemed to feel a multitude of invisible threads twining into a snare around him, and the courageous heart and the bounding strength became uneasily conscious of the act in which they were to be held captive till life should be wasted quite away. the universal affection for the rebel prince, and the hopeless abandonment of the people to that deadliest of sins, the liberty of conscience, were alike unquestionable. "they mean to remain free, sire," wrote escovedo to philip, "and to live as they please. to that end they would be willing that the turk should come to be master of the country. by the road which they are travelling, however, it will be the prince of orange--which comes to quite the same thing." at the same time, however, it was hoped that something might be made of this liberty of conscience. all were not equally sunk in the horrible superstition, and those who were yet faithful to church and king might be set against their besotted brethren. liberty of conscience might thus be turned to account. while two great parties were "by the ears, and pulling out each other's hair, all might perhaps be reduced together." his majesty was warned, nevertheless, to expect the worst, and to believe that the country could only be cared with fire and blood. the position of the governor was painful and perplexing. "don john," said escovedo, "is thirty years old. i promise your majesty nothing, save that if he finds himself without requisite assistance, he will take himself off when your majesty is least thinking of such a thing." nothing could be more melancholy than the tone of the governor's letters. he believed himself disliked, even in the midst of affectionate demonstrations. he felt compelled to use moderate counsels, although he considered moderation of no avail. he was chained to his post, even though the post could, in his opinion, be more advantageously filled by another. he would still endeavour to gain the affections of the people, although he believed them hopelessly alienated. if patience would cure the malady of the country, he professed himself capable of applying the remedy, although the medicine had so far done but little good, and although he had no very strong hopes as to its future effects. "thus far, however," said he, "i am but as one crying in the wilderness." he took occasion to impress upon his majesty, in very strong language, the necessity of money. secret agents, spies, and spies upon spies, were more necessary than ever, and were very expensive portions of government machinery. never was money more wanted. nothing could be more important than, to attend faithfully to the financial suggestions of escovedo, and don john, therefore, urged his majesty, again and again, not to dishonor their drafts. "money is the gruel," said he, "with which we must cure this sick man;" and he therefore prayed all those who wished well to his efforts, to see that his majesty did not fail him in this important matter. notwithstanding, however, the vigor of his efforts, and the earnestness of his intentions, he gave but little hope to his majesty of any valuable fruit from the pacification just concluded. he saw the prince of orange strengthening himself, "with great fury," in holland and zealand; he knew that the prince was backed by the queen of england, who, notwithstanding her promises to philip and himself, had offered her support to the rebels in case the proposed terms of peace were rejected in holland, and he felt that "nearly the whole people was at the devotion of the prince." don john felt more and more convinced, too, that a conspiracy was on foot against his liberty. there were so many of the one party, and so few of the other, that if he were once fairly "trussed," he affirmed that not a man among the faithful would dare to budge an inch. he therefore informed his majesty that he was secretly meditating a retreat to some place of security; judging very properly that, if he were still his own master, he should be able to exert more influence over those who were still well disposed, than if he should suffer himself to be taken captive. a suppressed conviction that he could effect nothing, except with his sword, pierced through all his more prudent reflections. he maintained that, after all, there was no remedy for the body but to cut off the diseased parts at once, and he therefore begged his majesty for the means of performing the operation handsomely. the general expressions which he had previously used in favor of broths and mild treatment hardly tallied with the severe amputation thus recommended. there was, in truth, a constant struggle going on between the fierceness of his inclinations and the shackles which had been imposed upon him. he already felt entirely out of place, and although he scorned to fly from his post so long as it seemed the post of danger, he was most anxious that the king should grant him his dismissal, so soon as his presence should no longer be imperiously required. he was sure that the people would never believe in his majesty's forgiveness until the man concerning whom they entertained so much suspicion should be removed; for they saw in him only the "thunderbolt of his majesty's wrath." orange and england confirmed their suspicions, and sustained their malice. should he be compelled, against his will, to remain, he gave warning that he might do something which would be matter of astonishment to everybody. meantime, the man in whose hands really lay the question of war and peace, sat at middelburg, watching the deep current of events as it slowly flowed towards the precipice. the whole population of holland and zealand hung on his words. in approaching the realms of william the silent, don john felt that he had entered a charmed, circle, where the talisman of his own illustrious name lost its power, where his valor was paralyzed, and his sword rusted irrevocably in its sheath. "the people here," he wrote, "are bewitched by the prince of orange. they love him, they fear him, and wish to have him for their master. they inform him of everything, and take no resolution without consulting him." while william was thus directing and animating the whole nation with his spirit, his immediate friends became more and more anxious concerning the perils to which he was exposed. his mother, who had already seen her youngest-born, henry, her adolphus, her chivalrous louis, laid in their bloody graves for the cause of conscience, was most solicitous for the welfare of her "heart's-beloved lord and son," the prince of orange. nevertheless, the high-spirited old dame was even more alarmed at the possibility of a peace in which that religious liberty for which so much dear blood had been, poured forth should be inadequately secured. "my heart longs for certain tidings from my lord," she wrote to william, "for methinks the peace now in prospect will prove but an oppression for soul and conscience. i trust my heart's dearly-beloved lord and son will be supported by divine grace to do nothing against god and his own soul's salvation. 'tis better to lose the temporal than the eternal." thus wrote the mother of william, and we can feel the sympathetic thrill which such tender and lofty words awoke in his breast. his son, the ill- starred philip, now for ten years long a compulsory sojourner in spain, was not yet weaned from his affection for his noble parent, but sent messages of affection to him whenever occasion offered, while a less commendable proof of his filial affection he had lately afforded, at the expense of the luckless captain of his spanish guard. that officer having dared in his presence to speak disrespectfully of his father, was suddenly seized about the waist by the enraged young count, hurled out of the window, and killed stone-dead upon the spot. after this exhibition of his natural feelings, the spanish government thought it necessary to take more subtle means to tame so turbulent a spirit. unfortunately they proved successful. count john of nassau, too, was sorely pressed for money. six hundred thousand florins; at least, had been advanced by himself and brothers to aid the cause of netherland freedom. louis and himself had, unhesitatingly and immediately, turned into that sacred fund the hundred thousand crowns which the king of france had presented them for their personal use, for it was not the prince of orange alone who had consecrated his wealth and his life to the cause, but the members of his family, less immediately interested in the country, had thus furnished what may well be called an enormous subsidy, and one most disproportioned to their means. not only had they given all the cash which they could command by mortgaging their lands and rents, their plate and furniture, but, in the words of count john himself, "they had taken the chains and jewels from the necks of their wives, their children, and their mother, and had hawked them about, as if they had themselves been traders and hucksters." and yet, even now, while stooping under this prodigious debt, count john asked not for present repayment. he only wrote to the prince to signify his extreme embarrassment, and to request some obligation or recognition from the cities of holland and zealand, whence hitherto no expression of gratitude or acknowledgment had proceeded. the prince consoled and assured, as best he could, his mother, son, wife, and brother, even at the same moment that he comforted his people. he also received at this time a second and more solemn embassy from don john. no sooner had the governor exchanged oaths at brussels, and been acknowledged as the representative of his majesty, than he hastened to make another effort to conciliate the prince. don john saw before him only a grand seignior of lofty birth and boundless influence, who had placed himself towards the crown in a false position, from which he might even yet be rescued; for to sacrifice the whims of a reforming and transitory religious fanaticism, which had spun itself for a moment about so clear a brain, would, he thought, prove but a trifling task for so experienced a politician as the prince. william of orange, on the other hand, looked upon his young antagonist as the most brilliant impersonation which had yet been seen of the foul spirit of persecution. it will be necessary to follow, somewhat more in detail than is usually desirable, the interchange of conversations, letters, and protocols, out of which the brief but important administration of don john was composed; for it was exactly in such manifestations that the great fight was really proceeding. don john meant peace, wise william meant war, for he knew that no other issue was possible. peace, in reality, was war in its worst shape. peace would unchain every priestly tongue, and unsheath every knightly sword in the fifteen provinces against little holland and zealand. he had been able to bind all the provinces together by the hastily forged chain of the ghent treaty, and had done what he could to strengthen that union by the principle of mutual religious respect. by the arrival of don john that work had been deranged. it had, however, been impossible for the prince thoroughly to infuse his own ideas on the subject of toleration into the hearts of his nearest associates. he could not hope to inspire his deadly enemies with a deeper sympathy. was he not himself the mark of obloquy among the reformers, because of his leniency to catholics? nay more, was not his intimate councillor, the accomplished saint aldegonde, in despair because the prince refused to exclude the anabaptists of holland from the rights of citizenship? at the very moment when william was straining every nerve to unite warring sects, and to persuade men's hearts into a system by which their consciences were to be laid open to god alone--at the moment when it was most necessary for the very existence of the fatherland that catholic and protestant should mingle their social and political relations, it was indeed a bitter disappointment for him to see wise statesmen of his own creed unable to rise to the idea of toleration. "the affair of the anabaptists," wrote saint aldegonde, "has been renewed. the prince objects to exclude them from citizenship. he answered me sharply, that their yea was equal to our oath, and that we should not press this matter, unless we were willing to confess that it was just for the papists to compel us to a divine service which was against our conscience." it seems hardly credible that this sentence, containing so sublime a tribute to the character of the prince, should have been indited as a bitter censure, and that, too, by an enlightened and accomplished protestant. "in short," continued saint aldegonde, with increasing vexation, "i don't see how we can accomplish our wish in this matter. the prince has uttered reproaches to me that our clergy are striving to obtain a mastery over consciences. he praised lately the saying of a monk who was not long ago here, that our pot had not gone to the fire as often as that of our antagonists, but that when the time came it would be black enough. in short, the prince fears that after a few centuries the clerical tyranny on both sides will stand in this respect on the same footing." early in the month of may, doctor leoninus and caspar schetz, seigneur de grobbendonck, had been sent on a mission from the states-general to the prince of orange. while their negotiations were still pending, four special envoys from don john arrived at middelburg. to this commission was informally adjoined leoninus, who had succeeded to the general position of viglius. viglius was dead. since the memorable arrest of the state council, he had not appeared on the scene of public affairs. the house-arrest, to which he had been compelled by a revolutionary committee, had been indefinitely prolonged by a higher power, and after a protracted illness he had noiselessly disappeared from the stage of life. there had been few more learned doctors of both laws than he. there had been few more adroit politicians, considered from his point of view. his punning device was "vita mortalium vigilia," and he acted accordingly, but with a narrow interpretation. his life had indeed been a vigil, but it must be confessed that the vigils had been for viglius. [bor, x. . meteren, vi. .--another motto of his was, "en groot jurist een booser christ;" that is to say, a good lawyer is a bad christian.--unfortunately his own character did not give the lie satisfactorily to the device.] the weatherbeaten palinurus, as he loved to call himself, had conducted his own argosy so warily that he had saved his whole cargo; and perished in port at last, while others, not sailing by his compass, were still tossed by the tempest. the agents of don john were the duke of aerschot, the seigneur de hierges, seigneur de willerval, and doctor meetkercke, accompanied by doctor andrew gaill, one of the imperial commissioners. the two envoys from the states-general, leoninus and schetz, being present at gertruydenberg were added to the deputation. an important conference took place, the details of which have been somewhat minutely preserved. the prince of orange, accompanied by saint aldegonde and four other councillors, encountered the seven champions from brussels in a long debate, which was more like a passage of arms or a trial of skill than a friendly colloquy with a pacific result in prospect; for it must be remembered that the prince of orange did not mean peace. he had devised the pacification of ghent as a union of the other provinces with holland and zealand, against philip. he did not intend that it should be converted into a union of the other provinces with philip, against holland and zealand. meetkercke was the first to speak. he said that the governor had despatched them to the prince, to express his good intentions, to represent the fidelity with which his promises had thus far been executed, and to entreat the prince, together with the provinces of holland and zealand, to unite with their sister provinces in common allegiance to his majesty. his highness also proposed to advise with them concerning the proper method of convoking the states-general. as soon as meetkercke had finished his observations, the prince demanded that the points and articles should be communicated to him in writing. now this was precisely what the envoys preferred to omit. it was easier, and far more agreeable to expatiate in a general field of controversy,-- than to remain tethered to distinct points. it was particularly in these confused conferences, where neither party was entirely sincere, that the volatile word was thought preferable to the permanent letter. already so many watery lines had been traced, in the course of these fluctuating negotiations, that a few additional records would be if necessary, as rapidly effaced as the rest. the commissioners, after whispering in each other's, ears for a few minutes, refused to put down anything in writing. protocols, they said, only engendered confusion. "no, no," said the .prince, in reply, "we will have nothing except in black and white. otherwise things will be said on both sides, which will afterwards be interpreted in different ways. nay, it will be denied that some important points have been discussed at all. we know that by experience. witness the solemn treaty of ghent, which ye have tried to make fruitless, under pretence that some points, arranged by word of mouth, and not stated particularly in writing, had been intended in a different sense from the obvious one. governments given by royal commission, for example; what point could be clearer? nevertheless, ye have hunted up glosses and cavils to obscure the intention of the contracting parties. ye have denied my authority over utrecht, because not mentioned expressly in the treaty of ghent." "but," said one of the envoys, interrupting at this point, "neither the council of state nor the court of mechlin consider utrecht as belonging to your excellency's government." "neither the council of state," replied the prince, "nor the court of mechlin have anything to do with the matter. 'tis in my commission, and all the world knows it." he added that instead of affairs being thrown into confusion by being reduced to writing, he was of opinion, on the contrary, that it was by that means alone they could be made perfectly clear. leoninus replied, good naturedly, that there should be no difficulty upon that score, and that writings should be exchanged. in the meantime, however, he expressed the hope that the prince would honor them with some preliminary information as to the points in which he felt aggrieved, as well as to the pledges which he and the states were inclined to demand. "and what reason have we to hope," cried the prince, "that your pledges, if made; will be redeemed? that which was promised so solemnly at ghent, and ratified by don john and his majesty, has not been fulfilled." "of what particular point do you complain?" asked schetz. "wherein has the pacification been violated?" hereupon the prince launched forth upon a flowing stream of invective. he spoke to them of his son detained in distant captivity--of his own property at breda withheld--of a thousand confiscated estates--of garrisons of german mercenaries--of ancient constitutions annihilated-- of the infamous edicts nominally suspended, but actually in full vigor. he complained bitterly that the citadels, those nests and dens of tyranny, were not yet demolished. "ye accuse me of distrust," he cried; "but while the castles of antwerp, ghent, namur, and so many more are standing, 'tis yourselves who show how utterly ye are without confidence in any permanent and peaceful arrangement." "and what," asked a deputy, smoothly, "is the point which touches you most nearly? what is it that your excellency most desires? by what means will it be possible for the government fully to give you contentment?" "i wish," he answered, simply, "the full execution of the ghent pacification. if you regard the general welfare of the land, it is well, and i thank you. if not, 'tis idle to make propositions, for i regard my country's profit, not my own." afterwards, the prince simply repeated his demand that the ghent treaty should be executed; adding, that after the states-general should have been assembled, it would be time to propose the necessary articles for mutual security. hereupon doctor leoninus observed that the assembly of the states-general could hardly be without danger. he alluded to the vast number of persons who would thus be convoked, to the great discrepancy of humors which would thus be manifested. many men would be present neither discreet nor experienced. he therefore somewhat coolly suggested that it might be better to obviate the necessity of holding any general assembly at all. an amicable conference, for the sake of settling doubtful questions, would render the convocation superfluous, and save the country from the dangers by which the step would be attended. the doctor concluded by referring to the recent assemblies of france, the only result of which had been fresh dissensions. it thus appeared that the proposition on the part of don john meant something very different from its apparent signification. to advise with the prince as to the proper method of assembling the estates really meant, to advise with him as to the best means of preventing any such assembly. here, certainly, was a good reason for the preference expressed by the deputies, in favor of amicable discussions over formal protocols. it might not be so easy in a written document to make the assembly, and the prevention of the assembly, appear exactly the same thing. the prince replied that there was a wide difference between the condition of france and of the netherlands. here, was one will and one intention. there, were many factions, many partialities, many family intrigues. since it had been agreed by the ghent treaty that certain points should be provisionally maintained and others settled by a speedy convocation of the states-general, the plainest course was to maintain the provisional points, and to summon the states-general at once. this certainly was concise and logical. it is doubtful, however, whether he were really as anxious for the assembly-general as he appeared to be. both parties were fencing at each other, without any real intention of carrying their points, for neither wished the convocation, while both affected an eagerness for that event. the conversation proceeded. "at least," said an envoy, "you can tell beforehand in what you are aggrieved, and what you have to propose." "we are aggrieved in nothing, and we have nothing to propose," answered the prince, "so long as you maintain the pacification. we demand no other pledge, and are willing to refer everything afterwards to the assembly." "but," asked schetz, "what security do you offer us that you will yourselves maintain the pacification?" "we are not bound to give assurances," answered the prince. "the pacification is itself an assurance. 'tis a provisional arrangement, to be maintained by both parties, until after the decision of the assembly. the pacification must therefore be maintained or disavowed. choose between the two. only, if you mean still to acknowledge it, you must keep its articles. this we mean to do, and if up to the present time you have any complaint to make of our conduct, as we trust you have not, we are ready to give you satisfaction." "in short," said an envoy, "you mean, after we shall have placed in your hands the government of utrecht, amsterdam: and other places, to deny us any pledges on your part to maintain the pacification." "but," replied the prince, "if we are already accomplishing the pacification, what more do you wish?" "in this fashion," cried the others, "after having got all that you ask, and having thus fortified yourselves more than you were ever fortified before, you will make war upon us." "war?" cried the prince, "what are you afraid of? we are but a handful of people; a worm compared to the king of spain. moreover, ye are fifteen provinces to two. what have you to fear?" "ah," said meetkercke, "we have seen what you could do, when you were masters of the sea. don't make yourselves out quite so little." "but," said the prince, "the pacification of ghent provides for all this. your deputies were perfectly satisfied with the guarantees it furnished. as to making war upon you, 'tis a thing without foundation or appearance of probability. had you believed then that you had anything to fear, you world not have forgotten to demand pledges enough. on the contrary, you saw how roundly we were dealing with you then, honestly disgarnishing the country, even before the peace had been concluded. for ourselves, although we felt the right to demand guarantees, we would not do it, for we were treating with you on terms of confidence. we declared expressly that had we been dealing with the king, we should have exacted stricter pledges. as to demanding them of us at the moment, 'tis nonsense. we have neither the means of assailing you, nor do we deem it expedient to do so." "to say the truth," replied schetz, "we are really confident that you will not make war upon us. on the other hand, however, we see you spreading your religion daily, instead of keeping it confined within your provinces. what assurance do you give us that, after all your demand shall have been accorded, you will make no innovation in religion." "the assurance which we give you," answered the prince, "is that we will really accomplish the pacification." "but," persisted schetz," do you fairly, promise to submit to all which the states-general shall ordain, as well on this point of religious exercise in holland and zealand, as on all the others?" this was a home thrust. the prince parried it for a while. in his secret thoughts he had no expectation or desire that the states-general, summoned in a solemn manner by the governor-general, on the basis of the memorable assembly before which was enacted the grand ceremony of the imperial abdication, would ever hold their session, and although he did not anticipate the prohibition by such assembly, should it take place, of the reformed worship in holland and zealand, he did not intend to submit to it, even should it be made. "i cannot tell," said he, accordingly, in reply to the last question, "for ye have yourselves already broken and violated the pacification; having made an accord with don john without our consent, and having already received him as governor." "so that you don't mean," replied schetz, "to accept the decision of the states?" "i don't say that," returned the prince, continuing to parry; "it is possible that we might accept it; it is possible that we might not. we are no longer in our entire rights, as we were at the time of our first submission at ghent." "but we will make you whole," said schetz. "that you cannot do," replied the prince, "for you have broken the pacification all to pieces. we have nothing, therefore, to expect from the states, but to be condemned off-hand. "you don't mean, then," repeated schetz, "to submit to the estates touching the exercise of religion?" "no, we do not!" replied the prince, driven into a corner at last, and striking out in his turn. "we certainly do not. to tell you the truth, we see that you intend our extirpation, and we don't mean to be extirpated." "ho!" said the duke of aerschot, "there is nobody who wishes that." "indeed, but you do," said the prince. "we have submitted ourselves to you in good faith, and you now would compel us and all the world to maintain exclusively the catholic religion. this cannot be done except by extirpating us." a long, learned, vehement discussion upon abstract points, between saint aldegonde, leoninus, and doctor gaill, then ensued, during which the prince, who had satisfied himself as to the result of the conference, retired from the apartment. he afterwards had a private convention with schetz and leoninus, in which he reproached them with their inclination to reduce their fatherland to slavery. he also took occasion to remark to hiergea, that it was a duty to content the people; that whatever might be accomplished for them was durable, whereas the will of kings was perishing. he told the duke of aerschot that if utrecht were not restored, he would take it by force. he warned the duke that to trust the king was to risk his head. he, at least, would never repose confidence in him, having been deceived too often. the king cherished the maxim, 'hereticis non est servanda fides;' as for himself he was 'calbo y calbanista,' and meant to die so. the formal interchange of documents soon afterwards took place. the conversation thus held between the different parties shows, however, the exact position of, affairs. there was no change in the intentions of either; reformers or royalists. philip and his representatives still contended for two points, and claimed the praise of moderation that their demands were so few in number. they were willing to concede everything, save the unlimited authority of the king and the exclusive maintenance of the catholic religion. the prince of orange, on his side, claimed two points also--the ancient constitutions of the country and religious freedom. it was obvious enough that the contest was, the same in reality, as it had ever been. no approximation had been made towards reconciling absolutism with national liberty, persecution with toleration. the pacification of ghent had been a step in advance. that treaty opened the door to civil and religious liberty, but it was an agreement among the provinces, not a compact between the people and the monarch. by the casuists of brussels and the licentiates of louvain, it had, to be sure, been dogmatically pronounced orthodox, and had been confirmed by royal edict. to believe, however, that his catholic majesty had faith in the dogmas propounded, was as absurd as to believe in the dogmas themselves. if the ghent pacification really had made no breach in royal and roman infallibility, then the efforts of orange and the exultation of the reformers had indeed been idle. the envoys accordingly, in obedience to their instructions, made a formal statement to the prince of orange and the states of holland and zealand, on the part of don john. they alluded to the departure of the spaniards, as if that alone had fulfilled every duty and authorized every claim. they therefore demanded the immediate publication in holland and zealand of the perpetual edict. they insisted on the immediate discontinuance of all hostile attempts to reduce amsterdam to the jurisdiction of orange; required the prince to abandon his pretensions to utrecht, and denounced the efforts making by him and his partisans to diffuse their heretical doctrines through the other provinces. they observed, in conclusion, that the general question of religion was not to be handled, because reserved for the consideration of the states-general, according to the treaty of ghent. the reply, delivered on the following day by the prince of orange and the deputies, maintained that the perpetual edict was widely different from the pacification of ghent, which it affected to uphold; that the promises to abstain from all violation of the ancient constitutions had not been kept; that the german troops had not been dismissed, that the property of the prince in the netherlands and burgundy had not been restored, that his son was detained in captivity, that the government of utrecht was withheld from him, that the charters and constitution of the country, instead of being extended, had been contracted, and that the governor had claimed the right to convoke the states-general at his pleasure, in violation of the ancient right to assemble at their own. the document further complained that the adherents of the reformed religion were not allowed to frequent the different provinces in freedom, according to the stipulations of ghent; that don john, notwithstanding all these short- comings, had been acknowledged as governor-general, without the consent of the prince; that he was surrounded with a train of spaniards italians, and other foreigners--gonzaga, escovedo, and the like--as well as by renegade netherlanders like tassis, by whom he was unduly influenced against the country and the people, and by whom a "back door was held constantly open" to the admission of evils innumerable. finally, it was asserted that, by means of this last act of union, a new form of inquisition had been introduced, and one which was much more cruel than the old system; inasmuch as the spanish inquisition did not take information against men: except upon suspicion, whereas, by the new process, all the world would be examined as to their conscience and religion, under pretence of maintaining the union. such was the result of this second mission to the prince of orange on the part of the governor-general. don john never sent another. the swords were now fairly measured between the antagonists, and the scabbard was soon to be thrown away. a few weeks afterwards, the governor wrote to philip that there was nothing in the world which william of orange so much abhorred as his majesty; adding, with castillian exaggeration, that if the prince could drink the king's blood he would do so with great pleasure. don john, being thus seated in the saddle, had a moment's leisure to look around him. it was but a moment, for he had small confidence in the aspect of affairs, but one of his first acts after assuming the government afforded a proof of the interpretation which he had adopted of the ghent pacification. an edict was issued, addressed to all bishops, "heretic-masters," and provincial councils, commanding the strict enforcement of the canons of trent, and other ecclesiastical decrees. these authorities were summoned instantly to take increased heed, of the flocks under their charge, "and to protect them from the ravening wolves which were seeking to devour them." the measure bore instant fruit. a wretched tailor of mechlin, peter penis by name, an honest man, but a heretic, was arrested upon the charge of having preached or exhorted at a meeting in that city. he confessed that he had been present at the meeting, but denied that he had preached. he was then required to denounce the others who had been present, and the men who had actually officiated. he refused, and was condemned to death. the prince of orange, while the process was pending, wrote an earnest letter to the council of mechlin, imploring them not now to rekindle the fires of religious persecution. his appeal was in vain. the poor tailor was beheaded at mechlin on the th of june, the conqueror of lepanto being present at the execution, and adding dignity to the scene. thus, at the moment when william of orange was protecting the anabaptists of middelburg in their rights of citizenship, even while they refused its obligations, the son of the emperor was dipping his hands in the blood of a poor wretch who had done no harm but to listen to a prayer without denouncing the preacher. the most intimate friends of the prince were offended with his liberality. the imperial shade of don john's father might have risen to approve the son who had so dutifully revived his bloody edicts and his ruthless policy. three parties were now fairly in existence: the nobles, who hated the spaniards, but who were disposed to hold themselves aloof from the people; the adherents of don john, commonly called "johanists;" and the partisans of the prince of orange--for william the silent had always felt the necessity of leaning for support on something more substantial than the court party, a reed shaken by the wind, and failing always when most relied upon. his efforts were constant to elevate the middle class, to build up a strong third party which should unite much of the substantial wealth and intelligence of the land, drawing constantly from the people, and deriving strength from national enthusiasm--a party which should include nearly all the political capacity of the country; and his efforts were successful. no doubt the governor and his secretary were right when they said the people of the netherlands were inclined to brook the turk as easily as the spaniard for their master, and that their hearts were in reality devoted to the prince of orange. as to the grandees, they were mostly of those who "sought to swim between two waters," according to the prince's expression. there were but few unswerving supporters of the spanish rule, like the berlaymont and the tassis families. the rest veered daily with the veering wind. aerschot, the great chief of the catholic party, was but a cringing courtier, false and fawning both to don john and the prince. he sought to play a leading part in a great epoch; he only distinguished himself by courting and betraying all parties, and being thrown away by all. his son and brother were hardly more respectable. the prince knew how little dependence could be placed on such allies, even although they had signed and sworn the ghent pacification. he was also aware how little it was the intention of the governor to be bound by that famous treaty. the spanish troops had been, indeed, disbanded, but there were still, between ten and fifteen thousand german mercenaries in the service of the king; these were stationed in different important places, and held firm possession of the citadels. the great keys of the country were still in the hands of the spaniards. aerschot, indeed, governed the castle of antwerp, in room of sancho d'avila, but how much more friendly would aerschot be than avila, when interest prompted him to sustain don john against the prince? meanwhile; the estates, according to their contract, were straining every nerve to raise the requisite sum for the payment of the german troops. equitable offers were made, by which the soldiers were to receive a certain proportion of the arrears due to them in merchandize, and the remainder in cash. the arrangement was rejected, at the secret instance of don john. while the governor affected an ingenuous desire to aid the estates in their efforts to free themselves from the remaining portion of this incumbrance, he was secretly tampering with the leading german officers, in order to prevent their acceptance of any offered terms. he persuaded these military chiefs that a conspiracy existed, by which they were not only to be deprived of their wages but of their lives. he warned them to heed no promises, to accept no terms. convincing them that he, and he only, was their friend, he arranged secret plans by which they should assist him in taking the fortresses of the country into still more secure possession, for he was not more inclined to trust to the aerschots and the havres than was the prince himself. the governor lived in considerable danger, and in still greater dread of capture, if not of assassination. his imagination, excited by endless tales of ambush and half-discovered conspiracies, saw armed soldiers behind every bush; a pitfall in every street. had not the redoubtable alva been nearly made a captive? did not louis of nassau nearly entrap the grand commander? no doubt the prince of orange was desirous of accomplishing a feat by which he would be placed in regard to philip on the vantage ground which the king had obtained by his seizure of count van buren, nor did don john need for warnings coming from sources far from obscure. in may, the viscount de gand had forced his way to his bedside in the dead of night; and wakening him from his sleep, had assured him, with great solemnity, that his life was not worth a pin's purchase if he remained in brussels. he was aware, he said, of a conspiracy by which both his liberty and his life were endangered, and assured him that in immediate flight lay his only safety. the governor fled to mechlin, where the same warnings were soon afterwards renewed, for the solemn sacrifice of peter panis, the poor preaching tailor of that city, had not been enough to strike terror to the hearts of all the netherlanders. one day, toward the end of june, the duke of aerschot, riding out with don john, gave him a circumstantial account of plots, old and new, whose existence he had discovered or invented, and he showed a copy of a secret letter, written by the prince of orange to the estates, recommending the forcible seizure of his highness. it is true that the duke was, at that period and for long after, upon terms of the most "fraternal friendship" with the prince, and was in the habit of signing himself "his very affectionate brother and cordial friend to serve him," yet this did not prevent him from accomplishing what he deemed his duty, in secretly denouncing his plans, it is also true that he, at the same time, gave the prince private information concerning the government, and sent him intercepted letters from his enemies, thus easing his conscience on both sides, and trimming his sails to every wind which might blow. the duke now, however, reminded his highness of the contumely with which he had been treated at brussels, of the insolent threats with which the citizens had pursued his servants and secretaries even to the very door of his palace. he assured him that the same feeling existed at mechlin, and that neither himself nor family were much safer there than in the capital, a plot being fully organized for securing his person. the conspirators, he said, were openly supported by a large political party who called themselves anti- johanists, and who clothed themselves in symbolic costume, as had been done by the disaffected in the days of cardinal granvelle. he assured the governor that nearly all the members of the states-general were implicated in these schemes. "and what becomes, then, of their promises?" asked don john. "that for their promises!" cried the duke, snapping his fingers; "no man in the land feels bound by engagements now." the governor demanded the object of the states in thus seeking to deprive him of his liberty. the duke informed him that it was to hold him in captivity until they had compelled him to sign every paper which they chose to lay before him. such things had been done in the netherlands in former days, the duke observed, as he proceeded to narrate how a predecessor of his highness and a prince of the land, after having been compelled to sign innumerable documents, had been, in conclusion, tossed out of the windows of his own palace, with all his retinue, to perish upon the pikes of an insurgent mob below. the governor protested that it did not become the son of charles the fifth and the representative of his catholic majesty to hear such intimations a second time. after his return, he brooded over what had been said to him for a few days, and he then broke up his establishment at mechlin, selling off his superfluous furniture and even the wine in his cellars. thus showing that his absence, both from brussels and mechlin, was to be a prolonged one, he took advantage of an unforeseen occurrence again to remove his residence. etext editor's bookmarks: a good lawyer is a bad christian claimed the praise of moderation that their demands were so few confused conferences, where neither party was entirely sincere customary oaths, to be kept with the customary conscientiousness deadliest of sins, the liberty of conscience i regard my country's profit, not my own made no breach in royal and roman infallibility neither wished the convocation, while both affected an eagerness our pot had not gone to the fire as often peace, in reality, was war in its worst shape those who "sought to swim between two waters" volatile word was thought preferable to the permanent letter this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. the rise of the dutch republic, by john lothrop motley chapter v. towns taken by don john--wrath excited against the aristocratic party by the recent defeat--attempts upon amsterdam--"satisfaction" of amsterdam and its effects--de selles sent with royal letters from spain--terms offered by philip--proclamation of don john-- correspondence between de selles and the states-general--between the king and the governor-general--new forces raised by the states--st. aldegonde at the diet--municipal revolution in amsterdam--the prince's letter on the subject of the anabaptists of middelburg-- the two armies inactive--de la none--action at rijnemants--john casimir--perverse politics of queen elizabeth--alencon in the netherlands--portrait of the duke--orange's position in regard to him--avowed and supposed policy of the french court--anger of elizabeth--terms arranged between alencon and the estates--renewed negotiations with don john--severe terms offered him--interview of the english envoys with the governor--despondency of don john-- orange's attempts to enforce a religious peace--his isolation in sentiment--the malcontent party--count john governor of gelderland --proposed form of religious peace--proclamation to that effect by orange, in antwerp--a petition in favor of the roman church presented by champagny and other catholic nobles to the states-- general--consequent commotion in brussels--champagny and others imprisoned--indolence and poverty of the two armies--illness and melancholy of don john--his letters to doria, to mendoza, and to the king--death of don john--suspicions of poison--pompous burial-- removal of his body to spain--concluding remarks upon his character. don john having thus vindicated his own military fame and the amazing superiority of the spanish arms, followed up his victory by the rapid reduction of many towns of second-rate importance louvain, judoigne, tirlemont, aerschot, bauvignes, sichem, nivelle, roeux, soignies, binch, beaumont, walcourt, tviaubeuge, and chimay, either submitted to their conqueror, or were taken after short sieges. the usual atrocities were inflicted upon the unfortunate inhabitants of towns where resistance was attempted. the commandant of sichem was hanged out of his own window, along with several chief burghers and officers, while the garrison was put to the sword, and the bodies cast into the denver. the only crime committed by these unfortunates was to have ventured a blow or two in behalf of the firesides which they were employed to protect. in brussels, on the other hand, there was less consternation excited by these events than boundless rage against the aristocratic party, for the defeat of gemblours was attributed, with justice, to the intrigues and the incapacity of the catholic magnates. it was with difficulty that orange, going about by night from house to house, from street to street, succeeded in calming the indignation of the people, and in preventing them from sweeping in a mass to the residence of the leading nobles, in order to inflict summary vengeance on the traitors. all looked to the prince as their only saviour, not a thought nor a word being wasted upon matthias. not a voice was raised in the assembly to vindicate the secret proceedings of the catholic party, nor to oppose the measures which the prince might suggest. the terrible disaster had taught the necessity of union. all parties heartily joined in the necessary steps to place the capital in a state of complete defence, and to assemble forthwith new troops to take the place of the army just annihilated. the victor gained nothing by his victory, in comparison with the profit acquired by the states through their common misfortune. nor were all the towns which had recently fallen into the hands of don john at all comparable in importance to the city of amsterdam, which now, by a most timely arrangement, furnished a rich compensation to the national party for the disaster of gemblours. since the conclusion of the ghent pacification, it had been the most earnest wish of the prince, and of holland and zealand, to recover possession of this most important city. the wish was naturally shared by every true patriot in the states-general. it had, however, been extremely difficult to arrange the terms of the "satisfaction." every fresh attempt at an amicable compromise was wrecked upon the obstinate bigotry of the leading civic authorities. they would make no agreement to accept the authority of orange, except, as saint aldegonde expressed himself; upon terms which would enable them "to govern their governor." the influence of the monks, who were resident in large numbers within the city, and of the magistrates, who were all stanch catholics, had been hitherto sufficient to outweigh the efforts made by the large masses of the reformed religionists composing the bulk of the population. it was, however, impossible to allow amsterdam to remain in this isolated and hostile attitude to the rest of holland. the prince, having promised to use no coercion, and loyally adhering to his pledge, had only with extreme difficulty restrained the violence of the hollanders and zealanders, who were determined, by fair means or foul, to restore the capital city to its natural place within his stadholderate. he had been obliged, on various occasions, particularly on the st of october of the preceding year, to address a most decided and peremptory letter to the estates of holland and zealand, forbidding the employment of hostile measures against amsterdam. his commands had been reluctantly, partially, and only temporarily obeyed. the states desisted from their scheme of reducing the city by famine, but they did not the less encourage the secret and unofficial expeditions which were daily set on foot to accomplish the annexation by a sudden enterprise. late in november, a desperate attempt had been made by colonel helling, in conjunction with governor sonoy, to carry the city by surprise. the force which the adventurer collected for the purpose was inadequate, and his plans were unskilfully arranged. he was himself slain in the streets, at the very commencement of the action; whereupon, in the quaint language of the contemporary chronicler, "the hearts of his soldiers sank in their shoes," and they evacuated the city with much greater rapidity than they had entered it. the prince was indignant at these violent measures, which retarded rather than advanced the desired consummation. at the same time it was an evil of immense magnitude--this anomalous condition of his capital. ceaseless schemes were concerted by the municipal and clerical conspirators within its walls, and various attempts were known, at different times, to have been contemplated by don john, to inflict a home-thrust upon the provinces of holland and zealand at the most vulnerable and vital point. the "satisfaction" accepted by utrecht, in the autumn of , had, however, paved the way for the recovery of amsterdam; so that upon february the th, , certain deputies from utrecht succeeded at last in arranging terms, which were accepted by the sister city. the basis of the treaty was, as usual, the nominal supremacy of the catholic religion, with toleration for the reformed worship. the necessary effect would be, as in harlem, utrecht, and other places, to establish the new religion upon an entire equality with the old. it was arranged that no congregations were to be disturbed in their religious exercises in the places respectively assigned to them. those of the reformed faith were to celebrate their worship without the walls. they were, however, to enjoy the right of burying their dead within these precincts, and it is singular how much importance was attached at that day to a custom, at which the common sentiment and the common sense of modern times revolt. "to bury our dead within our own cities is a right hardly to be denied to a dog," said the prince of orange; and accordingly this right was amply secured by the new satisfaction of amsterdam. it was, however, stipulated that the funerals should be modest, and attended by no more than twenty-four persons at once. the treaty was hailed with boundless joy in holland and zealand, while countless benedictions were invoked upon the "blessed peace- makers," as the utrecht deputies walked through the streets of amsterdam. there is no doubt that the triumph thus achieved by the national party far counterbalanced the governor-general's victory at gemblours. meantime, the seigneur de selles, brother of the deceased noircarmes, had arrived from spain. he was the special bearer of a letter from the king to the states-general, written in reply to their communications of the th of august and th of september of the previous year. the tone of the royal despatch was very affectionate, the substance such as entirely to justify the whole policy of orange. it was obvious that the penetrating and steadfast statesman had been correct in refusing to be moved to the right or the left by the specious language of philip's former letters, or by the apparent frankness of don john. no doubt the governor had been sincere in his desire for peace, but the prince knew very well his incapacity to confer that blessing. the prince knew--what no man else appeared fully to comprehend at that epoch--that the mortal combat between the inquisition and the reformation was already fully engaged. the great battle between divine reason and right divine, on which the interests of unborn generations were hanging, was to be fought out, before the eyes of all christendom, on the plain of the netherlands. orange was willing to lay down his arms if he could receive security for the reformed worship. he had no desire to exterminate the ancient religion, but he meant also to protect the new against extermination. such security, he felt, would never be granted, and he had therefore resolutely refused to hearken to don john, for he was sure that peace with him was impossible. the letters now produced by de selles confirmed his positions completely. the king said not a word concerning the appointment of a new governor-general, but boldly insisted upon the necessity of maintaining the two cardinal points--his royal supremacy, and the catholic religion upon the basis adopted by his father, the emperor charles the fifth. this was the whole substance of his communication: the supremacy of royalty and of papacy as in the time of charles the fifth. these cabalistic words were repeated twice in the brief letter to the estates. they were repeated five times in the instructions furnished by his majesty to de selles. the letter and the instructions indeed contained nothing else. two simples were offered for the cure of the body politic, racked by the fever and convulsion of ten horrible years--two simples which the patient could hardly be so unreasonable as to reject--unlimited despotism and religious persecution. the whole matter lay in a nut- shell, but it was a nut-shell which enclosed the flaming edicts of charles the fifth, with their scaffolds, gibbets, racks, and funeral piles. the prince and the states-general spurned such pacific overtures, and preferred rather to gird themselves for the combat. that there might be no mistake about the matter, don john, immediately after receiving the letter, issued a proclamation to enforce the king's command. he mentioned it as an acknowledged fact that the states-general had long ago sworn the maintenance of the two points of royal and catholic supremacy, according to the practice under the emperor charles. the states instantly published an indignant rejoinder, affirming the indisputable truth, that they had sworn to the maintenance of the ghent pacification, and proclaiming the assertion of don john an infamous falsehood. it was an outrage upon common sense, they said, that the ghent treaty could be tortured into sanctioning the placards and the inquisition, evils which that sacred instrument had been expressly intended to crush. a letter was then formally addressed to his majesty, in the name of the archduke matthias--and of the estates, demanding the recal of don john and the, maintenance of the ghent pacification. de seller, in reply, sent a brief, deprecatory paper, enclosing a note from don john, which the envoy acknowledged might seem somewhat harsh in its expressions. the letter contained, indeed, a sufficiently fierce and peremptory summons to the states to obey the king's commands with regard to the system of charles the fifth, according to their previous agreement, together with a violent declaration of the governor's displeasure that they had dared to solicit the aid of foreign princes. on the th of february came a proposition from de seller that the prince, of orange should place himself in the hands of don john, while the prince of parma, alone and without arms, would come before the assembly, to negotiate with them upon these matters. the reply returned by the states-general to this absurd suggestion expressed their regret that the son of the duchess margaret should have taken part with the enemy of the netherlanders, complained of the bull by which the pope had invited war against them as if they had been saracens, repeated their most unanswerable argument--that the ghent pacification had established a system directly the reverse of that which existed under charles the fifth--and affirmed their resolution never more to submit to spanish armies, executioners, edicts, or inquisitions, and never more to return to the principles of the emperor and of alva. to this diplomatic correspondence succeeded a war of words and of pamphlets, some of them very inflammatory and very eloquent. meantime, the preparations for active hostilities were proceeding daily. the prince of orange, through his envoys in england, had arranged for subsidies in the coming campaign, and for troops which were to be led to the netherlands, under duke casimir of the palatinate. he sent commissioners through the provinces to raise the respective contributions agreed upon, besides an extraordinary quota of four hundred thousand guilders monthly. he also negotiated a loan of a hundred and twenty thousand guilders from the citizens of antwerp. many new taxes were imposed by his direction, both upon income and upon consumption. by his advice, however, and with the consent of the states-general, the provinces of holland and zealand held no community of burthens with the other provinces, but of their own free will contributed more than the sums for which they would have been assessed. mr. leyton, who was about to return from his unsuccessful mission from elizabeth to don john, was requested by the states-general to convey to her majesty a faithful report of the recent correspondence, and especially of the language held by the governor-general. he was also urged to use his influence with the queen, to the end that her promises of assistance might be speedily fulfilled. troops were rapidly enrolled, and again, by the same honest but mistaken policy, the chief offices were conferred upon the great nobles--aerschot, champagny, bossu, egmont, lalain, the viscount of ghent, baron de ville, and many others, most of whom were to desert the cause in the hour of its need. on the other hand, don john was proceeding with his military preparations upon an extensive scale. the king had recently furnished him with one million nine hundred thousand dollars, and had promised to provide him with two hundred thousand more, monthly. with these funds his majesty estimated that an army of thirty thousand foot, sixteen thousand cavalry, and thirty pieces of artillery, could be levied and kept on foot. if more remittances should prove to be necessary, it was promised that they should be forthcoming. this was the result of many earnest remonstrances made by the governor concerning the dilatory policy of the king. wearied with being constantly ordered "to blow hot and cold with the same, breath," he had insisted that his majesty should select the hot or the cold, and furnish him with the means of enforcing the choice. for himself, don john assured his brother that the hottest measures were most to his taste, and most suitable to the occasion. fire and sword could alone save the royal authority, for all the provinces had "abandoned themselves, body and soul, to the greatest heretic and tyrant that prince ever had for vassal." unceasing had been the complaints and entreaties of the captain-general, called forth by the apathy or irresolution of philip. it was--only by assuring him that the netherlands actually belonged to orange, that the monarch could be aroused. "his they are; and none other's," said the governor, dolefully. the king had accordingly sent back de billy, don john's envoy; with decided injunctions to use force and energy to put down the revolt at once, and with an intimation that funds might be henceforth more regularly depended upon, as the indian fleets were expected in july. philip also advised his brother to employ a portion of his money in purchasing the governors and principal persons who controlled the cities and other strong places belonging to the states. meantime, don john thundered forth a manifesto which had been recently prepared in madrid, by which the estates, both general and particular, were ordered forthwith to separate, and forbidden to assemble again, except by especial licence. all commissions, civil or military, granted by states' authority, were moreover annulled, together with a general prohibition of any act of obedience to such functionaries, and of contribution to any imposts which might be levied by their authority. such thunders were now comparatively harmless, for the states had taken their course, and were busily engaged, both at home and abroad, in arming for the conflict. saint aldegonde was deputed to attend the imperial diet, then in session at worms, where he delivered an oration, which was very celebrated in its day as a composition, but, which can hardly be said to have produced much practical effect. the current was setting hard in germany against the reformed religion and against the netherland cause, the augsburg confessionists showing hardly more sympathy with dutch calvinists than with spanish papists. envoys from don john also attended the diet, and requested saint aldegonde to furnish them with a copy of his oration. this he declined to do. while in germany, saint aldegonde was informed by john casimir that duke charles of sweden, had been solicited to furnish certain ships of war for a contemplated operation against amsterdam. the duke had himself given information of this plot to the prince palatine. it was therefore natural that saint aldegonde should forthwith despatch the intelligence to his friends in the netherlands, warning them of the dangers still to be apprehended from the machinations of the catholic agents and functionaries in amsterdam; for although the reformation had made rapid progress in that important city since the conclusion of the satisfaction, yet the magistracy remained catholic. william bardez, son of a former high-sheriff, a warm partisan of orange and of the "religion," had already determined to overthrow that magistracy and to expel the friars who infested the city. the recent information despatched by saint aldegonde confirmed him in his purpose. there had been much wrangling between the popish functionaries and those of the reformed religion concerning the constitution of the burgher guard. the calvinists could feel no security for their own lives, or the repose of the commonwealth of holland, unless they were themselves allowed a full participation in the government of those important bands. they were, moreover, dissatisfied with the assignment which had been made of the churchyards to the members of their communion. these causes of discord had maintained a general irritation among the body of the inhabitants, and were now used as pretexts by bardez for his design. he knew the city to be ripe for the overthrow of the magistracy, and he had arranged with governor sonoy to be furnished with a sufficient number of well-tried soldiers, who were to be concealed in the houses of the confederates. a large number of citizens were also ready to appear at his bidding with arms in their hands. on the th of may, he wrote to sonoy, begging him to hold himself in readiness, as all was prepared within the city. at the same time, he requested the governor to send him forthwith a "morion and a buckler of proof;" for, he intended to see the matter fairly through. sonoy answered encouragingly, and sent him the armor, as directed. on the th of may, bardez, with four confederates, went to the council-room, to remonstrate with the senate concerning the grievances which had been so often discussed. at about mid-day, one of the confederates, upon leaving the council-room, stepped out for a moment upon the balcony, which looked towards the public square. standing there for a moment, he gravely removed his hat, and then as gravely replaced it upon his head. this was a preconcerted signal. at the next instant a sailor was seen to rush across the square, waving a flag in both hands. "all ye who love the prince of orange, take heart and follow me!" he shouted. in a moment the square was alive. soldiers and armed citizens suddenly sprang forth, as if from the bowels of the earth. bardez led a strong force directly into the council-chamber, and arrested every one of the astonished magistrates. at the same time, his confederates had scoured the town and taken every friar in the city into custody. monks and senators were then marched solemnly down towards the quay, where a vessel was in readiness to receive them. "to the gallows with them--to the gallows with them!" shouted the populace, as they passed along. "to the gibbet, whither they have brought many a good fellow before his time!" such were the openly, expressed desires of their fellow-citizens, as these dignitaries and holy men proceeded to what they believed their doom. although treated respectfully by those who guarded them, they were filled with trepidation, for they believed the execrations of the populace the harbingers of their fate. as they entered the vessel, they felt convinced that a watery death had been substituted for the gibbet. poor old heinrich dirckzoon, ex-burgomaster, pathetically rejected a couple of clean shirts which his careful wife had sent him by the hands of the housemaid. "take them away; take them home again," said the rueful burgomaster; "i shall never need clean shirts again in this world." he entertained no doubt that it was the intention of his captors to scuttle the vessel as soon as they had put a little out to sea, and so to leave them to their fate. no such tragic end was contemplated, however, and, in fact, never was a complete municipal revolution accomplished in so good-natured and jocose a manner. the catholic magistrates and friars escaped with their fright. they were simply turned out of town, and forbidden, for their lives, ever to come back again. after the vessel had proceeded a little distance from the city, they were all landed high and dry upon a dyke, and so left unharmed within the open country. a new board of magistrates, of which stout william bardez was one, was soon appointed; the train-bands were reorganized, and the churches thrown open to the reformed worship--to the exclusion, at first, of the catholics. this was certainly contrary to the ghent treaty, and to the recent satisfaction; it was also highly repugnant to the opinions of orange. after a short time, accordingly, the catholics were again allowed access to the churches, but the tables had now been turned for ever in the capital of holland, and the reformation was an established fact throughout that little province. similar events occurring upon the following day at harlem, accompanied with some bloodshed--for which, however, the perpetrator was punished with death--opened the great church of that city to the reformed congregations, and closed them for a time to the catholics. thus, the cause of the new religion was triumphant in holland and zealand, while it was advancing with rapid strides through the other provinces. public preaching was of daily occurrence everywhere. on a single sunday; fifteen different ministers of the reformed religion preached in different places in antwerp. "do you think this can be put down?" said orange to the remonstrating burgomaster of that city. "'tis for you to repress it," said the functionary, "i grant your highness full power to do so." "and do you think," replied the prince, "that i can do at this late moment, what the duke of alva was unable to accomplish in the very plenitude of his power?" at the same time, the prince of orange was more than ever disposed to rebuke his own church for practising persecution in her turn. again he lifted his commanding voice in behalf of the anabaptists of middelburg. he reminded the magistrates of that city that these peaceful burghers were always perfectly willing to bear their part in all the common burthens, that their word was as good as their oath, and that as to the matter of military service, although their principles forbade them to bear arms, they had ever been ready to provide and pay for substitutes. "we declare to you therefore," said he, "that you have no right to trouble yourselves with any man's conscience, so long as nothing is done to cause private harm or public scandal. we therefore expressly ordain that you desist from molesting these baptists, from offering hindrance to their handicraft and daily trade, by which they can earn bread for their wives and children, and that you permit them henceforth to open their shops and to do their work, according to the custom of former days. beware, therefore, of disobedience and of resistance to the ordinance which we now establish." meantime, the armies on both sides had been assembled, and had been moving towards each other. don john was at the head of nearly thirty thousand troops, including a large proportion of spanish and italian veterans. the states' army hardly numbered eighteen thousand foot and two thousand cavalry, under the famous francois de la none, surnamed bras de fer, who had been recently appointed marechal de camp, and, under count bossu, commander-in-chief. the muster-place of the provincial forces was in the plains between herenthals and lier. at this point they expected to be reinforced by duke casimir, who had been, since the early part of the summer, in the country of zutfen, but who was still remaining there inglorious and inactive, until he could be furnished with the requisite advance-money to his troops. don john was determined if possible, to defeat the states army, before duke casimir, with his twelve thousand germans, should effect his juncture with bossu. the governor therefore crossed the demer, near aerschot, towards the end of july, and offered battle, day after day, to the enemy. a series of indecisive skirmishes was the result, in the last of which, near rijnemants, on the first day of august, the royalists were worsted and obliged to retire, after a desultory action of nearly eight hours, leaving a thousand dead. upon the field. their offer of "double or quits," the following morning was steadily refused by bossu, who, secure within his intrenchments, was not to be induced at that moment to encounter the chances of a general engagement. for this he was severely blamed by the more violent of the national party. his patriotism, which was of such recent origin, was vehemently suspected; and his death, which occurred not long afterwards, was supposed to have alone prevented his deserting the states to fight again under spanish colours. these suspicions were probably unjust. bossu's truth of character had been as universally recognized as was his signal bravery. if he refused upon this occasion a general battle, those who reflected upon the usual results to the patriot banner of such engagements, might confess, perhaps, that one disaster the more had been avoided. don john, finding it impossible to accomplish his purpose, and to achieve another gemblours victory, fell back again to the neighbourhood of namur. the states' forces remained waiting for the long-promised succor of john casimir. it was the th of august, however, before the duke led his twelve thousand men to the neighbourhood of mechlin, where bossu was encamped. this young prince possessed neither the ability nor the generosity which were requisite for the heroic part which he was ambitious to perform in the netherland drama. he was inspired by a vague idea of personal aggrandizement, although he professed at the same time the utmost deference to william of orange. he expressed the hope that he and the prince "should be but two heads under one hat;" but he would have done well to ask himself whether his own contribution to this partnership of brains would very much enrich the silent statesman. orange himself regarded him with respectful contempt, and considered his interference with netherland matters but as an additional element of mischief. the duke's right hand man, however, peter peutterich, the "equestrian doctor"--as sir philip sydney called him--equally skilful with the sword as with the pen, had succeeded, while on a mission to england, in acquiring the queen's favor for his master. to casimir, therefore, had been entrusted the command of the levies, and the principal expenditure of the subsidies which she had placed at the disposition of the states. upon casimir she relied, as a counterweight to the duke of alencon, who, as she knew, had already entered the provinces at the secret solicitation of a large faction among the nobles. she had as much confidence as ever in orange, but she imagined herself to be strengthening his cause by providing him with such a lieutenant. casimir's immediate friends had but little respect for his abilities. his father-in-law, augustus of saxony, did not approve his expedition. the landgrave william, to whom he wrote for counsel, answered, in his quaint manner, that it was always difficult for one friend to advise another in three matters--to wit, in taking a wife, going to sea, and going to war; but that, nevertheless, despite the ancient proverb, he would assume the responsibility of warning casimir not to plunge into what he was pleased to call the "'confusum chaos' of netherland politics." the duke felt no inclination, however, to take the advice which he had solicited. he had been stung by the sarcasm which alva had once uttered, that the german potentates carried plenty of lions, dragons, eagles, and griffins on their shields; but that these ferocious animals were not given to biting or scratching. he was therefore disposed, once for all, to show that the teeth and claws of german princes could still be dangerous. unfortunately, he was destined to add a fresh element of confusion to the chaos, and to furnish rather a proof than a refutation of the correctness of alva's gibe. this was the hero who was now thrust, head and shoulders as it were, into the entangled affairs of the netherlanders, and it was elizabeth of england, more than ever alarmed at the schemes of alencon, who had pushed forward this protestant champion, notwithstanding the disinclination of orange. the queen was right in her uneasiness respecting the french prince. the catholic nobles, relying upon the strong feeling still rife throughout the walloon country against the reformed religion, and inflamed more than ever by their repugnance to orange, whose genius threw them so completely into the shade, had already drawn closer to the duke. the same influences were at work to introduce alencon, which had formerly been employed to bring matthias from vienna. now that the archduke, who was to have been the rival, had become the dependent of william, they turned their attention to the son of catherine de medici, orange himself having always kept the duke in reserve, as an instrument to overcome the political coquetry of elizabeth. that great princess never manifested less greatness than in her earlier and most tormenting connexion with the netherlands. having allured them for years with bright but changeful face, she still looked coldly down upon the desolate sea where they were drifting she had promised much; her performance had been nothing. her jealousy of french influence had at length been turned to account; a subsidy and a levy extorted from her fears. her ministers and prominent advisers were one and all in favor of an open and generous support to the provinces. walsingham, burleigh, knollys, davidson, sidney, leicester, fleetwood, wilson, all desired that she should frankly espouse their cause. a bold policy they believed to be the only prudent one in this case; yet the queen considered it sagacious to despatch envoys both to philip and to don john, as if after what they knew of her secret practices, such missions could effect any useful purpose. better, therefore, in the opinion of the honest and intrepid statesmen of england, to throw down the gauntlet at once in the cause of the oppressed than to shuffle and palter until the dreaded rival should cross the frontier. a french netherlands they considered even mere dangerous than a spanish, and elizabeth partook of their sentiments, although incapable of their promptness. with the perverseness which was the chief blot upon her character, she was pleased that the duke should be still a dangler for her hand, even while she was intriguing against his political hopes. she listened with undisguised rapture to his proposal of love, while she was secretly thwarting the plans of his ambition. meanwhile, alencon had arrived at mons, and we have seen already the feminine adroitness with which his sister of navarre had prepared his entrance. not in vain had she cajoled the commandant of cambray citadel; not idly had she led captive the hearts of lalain and his countess, thus securing the important province of hainault for the duke. don john might, indeed, gnash his teeth with rage, as he marked the result of all the feasting and flattery, the piping and dancing at namur. francis duke of alencon, and since the accession of his brother henry to the french throne--duke of anjou was, upon the whole, the most despicable personage who had ever entered the netherlands. his previous career at home had, been so flagrantly false that he had forfeited the esteem of every honest man in europe, catholic or lutheran, huguenot or malcontent. the world has long known his character. history will always retain him as an example, to show mankind the amount of mischief which may be perpetrated by a prince, ferocious without courage, ambitious without talent, and bigoted without opinions. incapable of religious convictions himself, he had alternately aspired to be a commander of catholic and of huguenot zealots, and he had acquired nothing by his vacillating course, save the entire contempt of all parties and of both religions. scared from the aide of navarre and conde by the menacing attitude of the "league," fearing to forfeit the succession to the throne, unless he made his peace with the court, he had recently resumed his place among the catholic commanders. nothing was easier for him than to return shamelessly to a party which he had shamelessly deserted, save perhaps to betray it again, should his interest prompt him to do so, on the morrow. since the peace of , it had been evident that the protestants could not count upon his friendship, and he had soon afterwards been placed at the head of the army which was besieging the huguenots of issoire. he sought to atone for having commanded the troops of the new religion by the barbarity with which he now persecuted its votaries. when issoire fell into his hands, the luckless city was spared none of the misery which can be inflicted by a brutal and frenzied soldiery. its men were butchered, its females outraged; its property plundered with a thoroughness which rivalled the netherland practice of alva, or frederic toledo, or julian romero. the town was sacked and burned to ashes by furious catholics, under the command of francis alencon,--almost at the very moment when his fair sister, margaret, was preparing the way in the netherlands for the fresh treason--which he already meditated to the catholic cause. the treaty of bergerac, signed in the autumn of , again restored a semblance of repose to france, and again afforded an opportunity for alencon to change his politics, and what he called his religion. reeking with the blood of the protestants of issoire, he was now at leisure to renew his dalliance with the queen of protestant england, and to resume his correspondence with the great-chieftain of the reformation in the netherlands. it is perhaps an impeachment upon the perspicacity of orange, that he could tolerate this mischievous and worthless "son of france," even for the grave reasons which influenced him. nevertheless, it must be remembered that he only intended to keep him in reserve, for the purpose of irritating the jealousy and quickening the friendship of the english queen. those who see anything tortuous in such politics must beware of judging the intriguing age of philip and catherine de' medici by the higher standard of later, and possibly more candid times. it would have been puerile for a man of william the silent's resources, to allow himself to be outwitted by the intrigues of all the courts and cabinets in europe. moreover, it must be remembered that, if he alone could guide himself and his country through the perplexing labyrinth in which they were involved; it was because he held in his hand the clue of an honest purpose. his position in regard to the duke of alencon, had now become sufficiently complicated, for the tiger that he had led in a chain had been secretly unloosed by those who meant mischief. in the autumn of the previous year, the aristocratic and catholic party in the states-general had opened their communications with a prince, by whom they hoped to be indemnified for their previous defeat. the ill effects of elizabeth's coquetry too plainly manifested themselves at last, and alencon had now a foothold in the netherlands. precipitated by the intrigues of the party which had always been either openly or secretly hostile to orange, his advent could no longer be delayed. it only remained for the prince to make himself his master, as he had already subdued each previous rival. this he accomplished with his customary adroitness. it was soon obvious, even to so dull and so base a nature as that of the duke, that it was his best policy to continue to cultivate so powerful a friendship. it cost him little to crouch, but events were fatally, to prove at a later day, that there are natures too malignant to be trusted or to be tamed. for the present, however, alencon professed the most friendly sentiments towards the prince. solicited by so ardent and considerable a faction, the duke was no longer to be withheld from trying the venture, and if, he could not effect his entrance by fair means, was determined to do so by force.--he would obtrude his assistance, if it were declined. he would do his best to dismember the provinces, if only a portion of them would accept his proffered friendship. under these circumstances, as the prince could no longer exclude him from the country, it became necessary to accept his friendship, and to hold him in control. the duke had formally offered his assistance to the states-general, directly after the defeat of gemblours, and early in july had made his appearance in mons. hence he despatched his envoys, des pruneaux and rochefort, to deal with the states-general and with orange, while he treated matthias with contempt, and declared that he had no intention to negotiate with him. the archduke burst into tears when informed of this slight; and feebly expressed a wish that succor might be found in germany which would render this french alliance unnecessary. it was not the first nor the last mortification which the future emperor was to undergo. the prince was addressed with distinguished consideration; des pruneaux protesting that he desired but three things--the glory of his master, the glory of god, and the glory of william of orange. the french king was naturally supposed to be privy to his brother's schemes, for it was thought ridiculous to suggest that henry's own troops could be led by his own brother, on this foreign expedition, without his connivance. at the same time, private letters, written by him at this epoch, expressed disapprobation of the schemes of alencon, and jealousy of his aggrandizement. it was, perhaps, difficult to decide as to the precise views of a monarch who was too weak to form opinions for himself, and too false to maintain those with which he had been furnished by others. with the medicean mother it was different, and it was she who was believed to be at the bottom of the intrigue. there was even a vague idea that the spanish sovereign himself might be privy to the plot, and that a possible marriage between alencon and the infanta might be on the cards. in truth, however, philip felt himself outraged by the whole proceedings. he resolutely refused to accept the excuses proffered by the french court, or to doubt the complicity of the queen dowager, who, it was well known, governed all her sons. she had, to be sure, thought proper to read the envoys of the states-general a lecture upon the impropriety of subjects opposing the commands of their lawful prince, but such artifices were thought too transparent to deceive. granvelle scouted the idea of her being ignorant of anjou's scheme, or opposed to its success. as for william of hesse, while he bewailed more than ever the luckless plunge into "confusum chaos" which casimir had taken, he unhesitatingly expressed his conviction that the invasion of alencon was a master-piece of catherine. the whole responsibility of the transaction he divided, in truth, between the dowager and the comet, which just then hung over the world, filling the soul of the excellent landgrave with dismal apprehension. the queen of england was highly incensed by the actual occurrence of the invasion which she had so long dreaded. she was loud in her denunciations of the danger and dishonor which would be the result to the provinces of this french alliance. she threatened not only to withdraw herself from their cause, but even to take arms against a commonwealth which had dared to accept alencon for its master. she had originally agreed to furnish one hundred thousand pounds by way of loan. this assistance had been afterwards commuted into a levy of three thousand foot and-two thousand horse, to be added to the forces of john casimir, and to be placed under his command. it had been stipulated; also, that the palatine should have the rank and pay of an english general-in-chief, and be considered as the queen's lieutenant. the money had been furnished and the troops enrolled. so much had been already bestowed, and could not be recalled, but it was not probable that, in her present humor, the queen would be induced to add to her favors. the prince, obliged by the necessity of the case, had prescribed the terms and the title under which alencon should be accepted. upon the th of august the duke's envoy concluded a convention in twenty-three articles; which were afterwards subscribed by the duke himself, at mons, upon the twentieth of the same month. the substance of this arrangement was that alencon should lend his assistance to the provinces against the intolerable tyranny of the spaniards and the unjustifiable military invasion of don john. he was, moreover, to bring into the field ten thousand foot and two thousand horse for three months. after the expiration of this term, his forces might be reduced to three thousand foot and five hundred horse. the states were to confer upon him the title of "defender of the liberty of the netherlands against the tyranny of the spaniards and their adherents." he was to undertake no hostilities against queen elizabeth. the states were to aid him, whenever it should become necessary, with the same amount of force with which he now assisted them. he was to submit himself contentedly to the civil government of the country, in everything regarding its internal polity. he was to make no special contracts or treaties with any cities or provinces of the netherlands. should the states-general accept another prince as sovereign, the duke was to be preferred to all others, upon conditions afterwards to be arranged. all cities which might be conquered within the territory of the united provinces were to belong to the states. such places not in that territory, as should voluntarily surrender, were to be apportioned, by equal division, between the duke and the states. the duke was to bring no foreign troops but french into the provinces. the month of august was reserved, during which the states were, if possible, to make a composition with don john. these articles were certainly drawn up with skill. a high-sounding but barren title, which gratified the duke's vanity and signified nothing, had been conferred upon him, while at the same time he was forbidden to make conquests or contracts, and was obliged to submit himself to the civil government of the country: in short, he was to obey the prince of orange in all things--and so here was another plot of the prince's enemies neutralized. thus, for the present at least, had the position of anjou been defined. as the month of august, during which it was agreed that negotiations with the governor-general should remain open, had already half expired, certain articles, drawn up by the states-general, were at once laid before don john. lord cobham and sir francis walsingham were then in the netherlands, having been sent by elizabeth for the purpose of effecting a pacification of the estates with the governor, if possible. they had also explained--so far as an explanation was possible--the assistance which the english government had rendered to the rebels, upon the ground that the french invasion could be prevented in no other way. this somewhat lame apology had been passed over in silence rather than accepted by don john. in the same interview the envoys made an equally unsuccessful effort to induce the acceptance by the governor of the terms offered by the states. a further proposition, on their part, for an "interim," upon the plan attempted by charles the fifth in germany, previously to the peace of passau, met with no more favor than it merited, for certainly that name--which became so odious in germany that cats and dogs were called "interim" by the common people, in derision-- was hardly a potent word to conjure with, at that moment, in the netherlands. they then expressed their intention of retiring to england, much grieved at the result of their mission. the governor replied that they might do as they liked, but that he, at least, had done all in his power to bring about a peace, and that the king had been equally pacific in his intentions. he then asked the envoys what they themselves thought of the terms proposed. "indeed, they are too hard, your highness," answered walsingham, "but 'tis only by pure menace that we have extorted them from the states, unfavorable though they, seem." "then you may tell them," replied the governor, "to keep their offers to themselves. such terms will go but little way in any negotiation with me." the envoys shrugged their shoulders. "what is your own opinion on the whole affair?" resumed don john. "perhaps your advice may yet help me to a better conclusion." the envoys continued silent and pensive. "we can only answer," said walsingham, at length, "by imitating the physician, who would prescribe no medicine until he was quite sure that the patient was ready to swallow it. 'tis no use wasting counsel or drugs." the reply was not satisfactory, but the envoys had convinced themselves that the sword was the only surgical instrument likely to find favor at that juncture. don john referred, in vague terms, to his peaceable inclinations, but protested that there was no treating with so unbridled a people as the netherlanders. the ambassadors soon afterwards took their leave. after this conference, which was on the th of august, , walsingham and cobham addressed a letter to the states-general, deploring the disingenuous and procrastinating conduct of the governor, and begging that the failure to effect a pacification might not be imputed to them. they then returned to england. the imperial envoy, count schwartzburg, at whose urgent solicitation this renewed attempt at a composition had been made, was most desirous that the governor should accept the articles. they formed, indeed, the basis of a liberal, constitutional, representative government, in which the spanish monarch was to retain only a strictly limited sovereignty. the proposed convention required don john, with all his troops and adherents, forthwith to leave the land after giving up all strongholds and cities in his possession. it provided that the archduke matthias should remain as governor general, under the conditions according to which he had been originally accepted. it left the question of religious worship to the decision of the states-general. it provided for the release of all prisoners, the return of all exiles, the restoration of all confiscated property. it stipulated that upon the death or departure of matthias, his majesty was not to appoint a governor-general without the consent of the states-general. when count schwartzburg waited upon the governor with these astonishing propositions--which walsingham might well call somewhat hard--he found him less disposed to explode with wrath than he had been in previous conferences. already the spirit of the impetuous young soldier was broken, both by the ill health which was rapidly undermining his constitution and by the helpless condition in which he had been left while contending with the great rebellion. he had soldiers, but no money to pay them withal; he had no means of upholding that supremacy of crown and church which he was so vigorously instructed to maintain; and he was heartily wearied of fulminating edicts which he had no power to enforce. he had repeatedly solicited his recal, and was growing daily more impatient that his dismissal did not arrive. moreover, the horrible news of escovedo's assassination had sickened him to the soul. the deed had flashed a sudden light into the abyss of dark duplicity in which his own fate was suspended. his most intimate and confidential friend had been murdered by royal command, while he was himself abandoned by philip, exposed to insult, left destitute of defence. no money was forthcoming, in spite of constant importunities and perpetual promises. plenty of words were sent him; he complained, as if he possessed the art of extracting gold from them, or as if war could be carried on with words alone. being in so desponding a mood, he declined entering into any controversy with regard to the new propositions, which, however, he characterized as most iniquitous. he stated merely that his majesty had determined to refer the netherland matters to the arbitration of the emperor; that the duke de terra nova would soon be empowered to treat upon the subject at the imperial court; and that, in the meantime, he was himself most anxiously awaiting his recal. a synod of the reformed churches had been held, during the month of june, at dort. there they had laid down a platform of their principles of church government in one hundred and one articles. in the same month, the leading members of the reformed church had drawn up an ably reasoned address to matthias and the council of state on the subject of a general peace of religion for the provinces. william of orange did his utmost to improve the opportunity. he sketched a system of provisional toleration, which he caused to be signed by the archduke matthias, and which, at least for a season, was to establish religious freedom. the brave; tranquil, solitary man still held his track across the raging waves, shedding as much light as one clear human soul could dispense; yet the dim lantern, so far in advance, was swallowed in the mist, ere those who sailed in his wake could shape their course by his example. no man understood him. not even his nearest friends comprehended his views, nor saw that he strove to establish not freedom for calvinism, but freedom for conscience. saint aldegonde complained that the prince would not persecute the anabaptists, peter dathenus denounced him as an atheist, while even count john; the only one left of his valiant and generous brothers, opposed the religious peace--except where the advantage was on the side of the new religion. where the catholics had been effectually put down, as in holland and zealand, honest john saw so reason for allowing them to lift themselves up again. in the popish provinces, on the other hand, he was for a religious peace. in this bigoted spirit he was followed by too many of the reforming mass, while, on their part, the walloons were already banding themselves together in the more southern provinces, under the name of malcontents. stigmatized by the calvinists as "paternoster jacks," they were daily drawing closer their alliance with alencon; and weakening the bands which united them with their protestant brethren. count john had at length become a permanent functionary in the netherlands. urgently solicited by the leaders and the great multitude of the reformers, he had long been unwilling to abandon his home, and to neglect the private affairs which his devotion to the netherland cause had thrown into great confusion. the landgrave, too, whose advice he had asked, had strongly urged him not to "dip his fingers into the olla podrida." the future of the provinces was, in his opinion, so big with disaster, that the past, with all its horrors; under alva and requesens, had only furnished the "preludia" of that which was to ensue. for these desperate views his main reason, as usual, was the comet; that mischievous luminary still continuing to cast a lurid glare across the landgrave's path. notwithstanding these direful warnings from a prince of the reformation, notwithstanding the "olla podrida" and the "comet," count john had nevertheless accepted the office of governor of gelderland, to which he had been elected by the estates of that province on the th of march. that important bulwark of holland, zealand, and utrecht on the one side, and of groningen and friesland on the other--the main buttress, in short, of the nascent republic, was now in hands which would defend it to the last. as soon as the discussion came up in the states-general on the subject of the dort petitions, orange requested that every member who had formed his opinions should express them fully and frankly. all wished, however, to be guided and governed by the sentiments of the prince. not a man spoke, save to demand their leader's views, and to express adhesion in advance to the course which his wisdom might suggest. the result was a projected convention, a draft for a religious peace, which, if definitely established, would have healed many wounds and averted much calamity. it was not, however, destined to be accepted at that time by the states of the different provinces where it was brought up for discussion; and several changes were made, both of form and substance, before the system was adopted at all. meantime, for the important city of antwerp, where religious broils were again on the point of breaking out, the prince preferred a provisional arrangement, which he forthwith carried into execution. a proclamation, in the name of the archduke matthias and of the state council, assigned five special places in the city where the members of the "pretended reformed religion" should have liberty to exercise their religious worship, with preaching, singing, and the sacraments. the churchyards of the parochial churches were to be opened for the burial of their dead, but the funerals were to be unaccompanied with exhortation, or any public demonstration which might excite disturbance. the adherents of one religion were forbidden to disturb, to insult, or in any way to interfere with the: solemnities of the other. all were to abstain from mutual jeerings--by pictures, ballads, books, or otherwise--and from all injuries to ecclesiastical property. every man, of whatever religion, was to be permitted entrance to the churches of either religion, and when there, all were to conform to the regulations of the church with modesty and respect. those of the new religion were to take oaths of obedience to the authorities, and to abstain from meddling with the secular administration of affairs. preachers of both religions were forbidden to preach out of doors, or to make use of language tending to sedition. all were to bind themselves to assist the magistrates in quelling riots, and in sustaining the civil government. this example of religious peace, together with the active correspondence thus occasioned with the different state assemblies, excited the jealousy of the catholic leaders and of the walloon population. champagny, who despite his admirable qualities and brilliant services, was still unable to place himself on the same platform of toleration with orange, now undertook a decided movement against the policy of the prince. catholic to the core, he drew up a petition, remonstrating most vigorously against the draft for a religions peace, then in circulation through the provinces. to this petition he procured many signatures among the more ardent catholic nobles. de heze, de glimes, and others of the same stamp, were willing enough to follow the lead of so distinguished a chieftain. the remonstrance was addressed to the archduke, the prince of orange, the state council, and the states-general, and called upon them all to abide by their solemn promises to permit no schism in the ancient church. should the exercise of the new religion be allowed, the petitioners insisted that the godless licentiousness of the netherlands would excite the contempt of all peoples and potentates. they suggested, in conclusion, that all the principal cities of france--and in particular the city of paris--had kept themselves clear of the exercise of the new religion, and that repose and prosperity had been the result. this petition was carried with considerable solemnity by champagny, attended by many of his confederates, to the hotel-de ville, and presented to the magistracy of brussels. these functionaries were requested to deliver it forthwith to the archduke and council. the magistrates demurred. a discussion ensued, which grew warmer and warmer as it proceeded. the younger nobles permitted themselves abusive language, which the civic dignitaries would not brook. the session was dissolved, and the magistrates, still followed by the petitioners, came forth into the street. the confederates, more inflamed than ever, continued to vociferate and to threaten. a crowd soon collected in the square. the citizens were naturally curious to know why their senators were thus browbeaten and insulted by a party of insolent young catholic nobles. the old politician at their head, who, in spite of many services, was not considered a friend to the nation, inspired them with distrust. being informed of the presentation of the petition, the multitude loudly demanded that the document should be read. this was immediately done. the general drift of the remonstrance was anything but acceptable, but the allusion to paris, at the close, excited a tempest of indignation. "paris! paris! saint bartholomew! saint bartholomew! are we to have paris weddings in brussels also?" howled the mob, as is often the case, extracting but a single idea, and that a wrong one; from the public lecture which had just been made. "are we to have a paris massacre, a paris blood-bath here in the netherland capital? god forbid! god forbid! away with the conspirators! down with the papists!" it was easily represented to the inflamed imaginations of the populace that a brussels saint bartholomew had been organized, and that champagny, who stood there before them, was its originator and manager. the ungrateful netherlanders forgot the heroism with which the old soldier had arranged the defence of antwerp against the "spanish fury" but two years before. they heard only the instigations of his enemies; they remembered only that he was the hated granvelle's brother; they believed only that there was a plot by which, in some utterly incomprehensible manner, they were all to be immediately engaged in cutting each others throats and throwing each other out of the windows, as had been done half a dozen years before in paris. such was the mischievous intention ascribed to a petition, which champagny and his friends had as much right to offer--however narrow and mistaken their, opinions might now be considered--as had the, synod of dort to present their remonstrances. never was a more malignant or more stupid perversion of a simple and not very alarming phrase. no allusion had been made to saint bartholomew, but all its horrors were supposed to be concealed in the sentence which referred to paris. the nobles were arrested on the spot and hurried to prison, with the exception of champagny, who made his escape at first, and lay concealed for several days. he was, however, finally ferreted out of his hiding-place and carried off to ghent. there he was thrown into strict confinement, being treated in all respects as the accomplice of aerschot and the other nobles who had been arrested in the time of ryhove's revolution. certainly, this conduct towards a brave and generous gentleman was ill calculated to increase general sympathy for the cause, or to merit the approbation of orange. there was, however, a strong prejudice against champagny. his brother granvelle had never been forgotten by the netherlanders, and, was still regarded as their most untiring foe, while champagny was supposed to be in close league with the cardinal. in these views the people were entirely wrong. while these events were taking place in brussels and antwerp, the two armies of the states and of don john were indolently watching each other. the sinews of war had been cut upon both sides. both parties were cramped by the most abject poverty. the troops under bossu and casimir, in the camp sear mechlin, were already discontented, for want of pay. the one hundred thousand pounds of elizabeth had already been spent, and it was not probable that the offended queen would soon furnish another subsidy. the states could with difficulty extort anything like the assessed quotas from the different provinces. the duke of alencon was still at mons, from which place he had issued a violent proclamation of war against don john--a manifesto which had, however, not been followed up by very vigorous demonstrations. don john himself was in his fortified camp at bouge, within a league of namur, but the here was consuming with mental and with bodily fever. he was, as it were, besieged. he was left entirely without funds, while his royal brother obstinately refused compliance with his earnest demands to be recalled, and coldly neglected his importunities for pecuniary assistance. compelled to carry on a war against an armed rebellion with such gold only as could be extracted from loyal swords; stung to the heart by the suspicion of which he felt himself the object at home, and by the hatred with which he was regarded in the provinces; outraged in his inmost feelings by the murder of escovedo; foiled, outwitted, reduced to a political nullity by the masterly tactics of the "odious heretic of heretics" to whom he had originally offered his patronage and the royal forgiveness, the high-spirited soldier was an object to excite the tenderness even of religious and political opponents. wearied with the turmoil of camps without battle and of cabinets without counsel, he sighed for repose, even if it could be found only in a cloister or the grave. "i rejoice to see by your letter," he wrote, pathetically, to john andrew doria, at genoa, "that your life is flowing on with such calmness, while the world around me is so tumultuously agitated. i consider you most fortunate that you are passing the remainder of your days for god and yourself; that you are not forced to put yourself perpetually in the scales of the world's events, nor to venture yourself daily on its hazardous games." he proceeded to inform his friend of his own painful situation, surrounded by innumerable enemies, without means of holding out more than three months, and cut off from all assistance by a government which could not see that if the present chance were lost all was lost. he declared it impossible for him to fight in the position to which he was reduced, pressed as he was within half a mile of the point which he had always considered as his last refuge. he stated also that the french were strengthening themselves in hainault, under alencon, and that the king of france was in readiness to break in through burgundy, should his brother obtain a firm foothold in the provinces. "i have besought his majesty over and over again," he continued, "to send to me his orders; if they come they shall be executed, unless they arrive too late. they have cut of our hands and we have now nothing for it but to stretch forth our heads also to the axe. i grieve to trouble you with my sorrows, but i trust to your sympathy as a man and a friend. i hope that you will remember me in your prayers, for you can put your trust where, in former days, i never could place my own." the dying crusader wrote another letter, in the same mournful strain, to another intimate friend, don pedro mendoza, spanish envoy in genoa. it was dated upon the same day from his camp near namur, and repeated the statement that the king of france was ready to invade the netherlands, so soon as alencon should prepare an opening. "his majesty," continued don john, "is resolved upon nothing; at least, i am kept in ignorance of his intentions. our life is doled out to us here by moments. i cry aloud, but it profits me little. matters will soon be disposed, through our negligence, exactly as the devil would best wish them. it is plain that we are left here to pine away till our last breath. god direct us all as he may see fit; in his hands are all things." four days later he wrote to the king, stating that he was confined to his chamber with a fever, by which he was already as much reduced as if he had been ill for a month. "i assure your majesty," said he "that the work here is enough to destroy any constitution and any life." he reminded philip how often he had been warned by him as to the insidious practices of the french. those prophecies had now become facts. the french had entered the country, while some of the inhabitants were frightened, others disaffected. don john declared himself in a dilemma. with his small force, hardly enough to make head against the enemy immediately in front, and to protect the places which required guarding, 'twas impossible for him to leave his position to attack the enemy in burgundy. if he remained stationary, the communications were cut off through which his money and supplies reached him. "thus i remain," said he, "perplexed and confused, desiring, more than life, some decision on your majesty's part, for which i have implored so many times." he urged the king most vehemently to send him instructions as to the course to be pursued, adding that it wounded him to the soul to find them so long delayed. he begged to be informed whether he was to attack the enemy in burgundy, whether he should await where he then was the succor of his majesty, or whether he was to fight, and if so with which of his enemies: in fine, what he was to do; because, losing or winning, he meant to conform to his majesty's will. he felt deeply pained, he said, at being disgraced and abandoned by the king, having served him, both as a brother, and a man, with love and faith and heartiness. "our lives," said he, "are at stake upon this game, and all we wish is to lose them honorably." he begged the king to send a special envoy to france, with remonstrances on the subject of alencon, and another to the pope to ask for the duke's excommunication. he protested that he would give his blood rather than occasion so much annoyance to the king, but that he felt it his duty to tell the naked truth. the pest was ravaging his little army. twelve hundred were now in hospital, besides those nursed in private houses, and he had no means or money to remedy the evil. moreover, the enemy, seeing that they were not opposed in the open field, had cut off the passage into liege by the meuse, and had advanced to nivelles and chimay for the sake of communications with france, by the same river. ten days after these pathetic passages had been written, the writer was dead. since the assassination of escovedo, a consuming melancholy had settled upon his spirits, and a burning fever came, in the month of september, to destroy his physical strength. the house where he lay was a hovel, the only chamber of which had been long used as a pigeon-house. this wretched garret was cleansed, as well as it could be of its filth, and hung with tapestry emblazoned with armorial bearings. in that dovecot the hero of lepanto was destined to expire. during the last few, days of his illness, he was delirious. tossing upon his uneasy couch, he again arranged in imagination, the combinations of great battles, again shouted his orders to rushing squadrons, and listened with brightening eye to the trumpet of victory. reason returned, however, before the hour of death, and permitted him, the opportunity to make the dispositions rendered necessary by his condition. he appointed his nephew, alexander of parma, who had been watching assiduously over his deathbed, to succeed him, provisionally, in the command of the army and in his other dignities, received the last sacraments with composure, and tranquilly breathed his last upon the first day of october, the month which, since the battle of lepanto, he had always considered a festive and a fortunate one. it was inevitable that suspicion of poison should be at once excited by his decease. those suspicions have been never set at rest, and never proved. two englishmen, ratcliff and gray by name, had been arrested and executed on a charge of having been employed by secretary walsingham to assassinate the governor. the charge was doubtless an infamous falsehood; but had philip, who was suspected of being the real criminal, really compassed the death of his brother, it was none the less probable that an innocent victim or two would be executed, to save appearances. now that time has unveiled to us many mysteries, now that we have learned from philip's own lips and those of his accomplices the exact manner in which montigny and escovedo were put to death, the world will hardly be very charitable with regard to other imputations. it was vehemently suspected that don john had been murdered by the command of philip; but no such fact was ever proved. the body, when opened that it might be embalmed, was supposed to offer evidence of poison. the heart was dry, the other internal organs were likewise so desiccated as to crumble when touched, and the general color of the interior was of a blackish brown, as if it had been singed. various persona were mentioned as the probable criminals; various motives assigned for the commission of the deed. nevertheless, it must be admitted that there were causes, which were undisputed, for his death, sufficient to render a search for the more mysterious ones comparatively superfluous. a disorder called the pest was raging in his camp, and had carried off a thousand of his soldiers within a few days, while his mental sufferings had been acute enough to turn his heart to ashes. disappointed, tormented by friend and foe, suspected, insulted, broken spirited, it was not strange that he should prove an easy victim to a pestilent disorder before which many stronger men were daily falling. on the third day after his decease, the funeral rites were celebrated. a dispute between the spaniards, germans, and netherlanders in the army arose, each claiming precedence in the ceremony, on account of superior national propinquity to the illustrious deceased. all were, in truth, equally near to him, for different reasons, and it was arranged that all should share equally in the obsequies. the corpse disembowelled and embalmed, was laid upon a couch of state. the hero was clad in complete armor; his swords helmet, and steel gauntlets lying at his feet, a coronet, blazing with precious stones, upon his head, the jewelled chain and insignia of the golden fleece about his neck, and perfumed gloves upon his hands. thus royally and martially arrayed, he was placed upon his bier and borne forth from the house where he had died, by the gentlemen of his bedchamber. from them he was received by the colonels of the regiments stationed next his own quarters. these chiefs, followed by their troops with inverted arms and mined drums, escorted the body to the next station, where it was received by the commanding officers of other national regiments, to be again transmitted to those of the third. thus by soldiers of the three nations, it was successively conducted to the gates of namur, where it was received by the civic authorities. the pall-bearers, old peter ernest mansfeld, ottavio gonzaga, the marquis de villa franca, and the count de reux, then bore it to the church, where it was deposited until the royal orders should be received from spain. the heart of the hero was permanently buried beneath the pavement of the little church, and a monumental inscription, prepared by alexander farnese, still indicates the spot where that lion heart returned to dust. it had been don john's dying request to philip that his remains might be buried in the escorial by the side of his imperial father, and the prayer being granted, the royal order in due time arrived for the transportation of the corpse to spain. permission had been asked and given for the passage of a small number of spanish troops through france. the thrifty king had, however, made no allusion to the fact that those soldiers were to bear with them the mortal remains of lepanto's hero, for he was disposed to save the expense which a public transportation of the body and the exchange of pompous courtesies with the authorities of every town upon the long journey would occasion. the corpse was accordingly divided into three parts, and packed in three separate bags; and thus the different portions, to save weight, being suspended at the saddle-bows of different troopers, the body of the conqueror was conveyed to its distant resting-place. "expende hannibalem: quot libras in duce summo invenies?". . . . . . . . . . thus irreverently, almost blasphemously, the disjointed relics of the great warrior were hurried through france; france, which the romantic saracen slave had traversed but two short years before, filled with high hopes, and pursuing extravagant visions. it has been recorded by classic historians, that the different fragments, after their arrival in spain, were re-united, and fastened together with wire; that the body was then stuffed, attired in magnificent habiliments, placed upon its feet, and supported by a martial staff, and that thus prepared for a royal interview, the mortal remains of don john were presented to his most catholic majesty. philip is said to have manifested emotion at sight of the hideous spectre--for hideous and spectral, despite of jewels, balsams, and brocades, must have been that unburied corpse, aping life in attitude and vestment, but standing there only to assert its privilege of descending into the tomb. the claim was granted, and don john of austria at last found repose by the side of his imperial father. a sufficient estimate of his character has been apparent in the course of the narrative. dying before he had quite completed his thirty-third year, he excites pity and admiration almost as much as censure. his military career was a blaze of glory. commanding in the moorish wars at twenty-three, and in the turkish campaigns at twenty-six, he had achieved a matchless renown before he had emerged from early youth; but his sun was destined to go down at noon. he found neither splendor nor power in the netherlands, where he was deserted by his king and crushed by the superior genius of the prince of orange. although he vindicated his martial skill at gemblours, the victory was fruitless. it was but the solitary sprig of the tiger from his jungle, and after that striking conflict his life was ended in darkness and obscurity. possessing military genius of a high order, with extraordinary personal bravery, he was the last of the paladins and the crusaders. his accomplishments were also considerable, and he spoke italian, german, french, and spanish with fluency. his beauty was remarkable; his personal fascinations acknowledged by either sex; but as a commander of men, excepting upon the battle-field, he possessed little genius. his ambition was the ambition of a knight-errant, an adventurer, a norman pirate; it was a personal and tawdry ambition. vague and contradictory dreams of crowns, of royal marriages, of extemporized dynasties, floated ever before him; but he was himself always the hero of his own romance. he sought a throne in africa or in britain; he dreamed of espousing mary of scotland at the expense of elizabeth, and was even thought to aspire secretly to the hand of the great english queen herself. thus, crusader and bigot as he was, he was willing to be reconciled with heresy, if heresy could furnish him with a throne. it is superfluous to state that he was no match, by mental endowments, for william of orange; but even had he been so, the moral standard by which each measured himself placed the conqueror far below the father of a people. it must be admitted that don john is entitled to but small credit for his political achievements in the netherlands. he was incapable of perceiving that the great contest between the reformation and the inquisition could never be amicably arranged in those provinces, and that the character of william of orange was neither to be softened by royal smiles, nor perverted by appeals to sordid interests. it would have been perhaps impossible for him, with his education and temperament, to have embraced what seems to us the right cause, but it ought, at least, to have been in his power to read the character of his antagonist, and to estimate his own position with something like accuracy. he may be forgiven that he did not succeed in reconciling hostile parties, when his only plan to accomplish such a purpose was the extermination of the most considerable faction; but although it was not to be expected that he would look on the provinces with the eyes of william the silent, he might have comprehended that the netherland chieftain was neither to be purchased nor cajoled. the only system by which the two religions could live together in peace had been discovered by the prince; but toleration, in the eyes of catholics, and of many protestants, was still thought the deadliest heresy of all. etext editor's bookmarks: difficult for one friend to advise another in three matters establish not freedom for calvinism, but freedom for conscience taxes upon income and upon consumption toleration thought the deadliest heresy of all this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, chapter xvii. secret treaty between queen and parma--excitement and alarm in the states--religious persecution in england--queen's sincerity toward spain--language and letters of parma--negotiations of de loo-- english commissioners appointed--parma's affectionate letter to the queen--philip at his writing-table--his plots with parma against england--parma's secret letters to the king--philip's letters to parma wonderful duplicity of philip--his sanguine views as to england--he is reluctant to hear of the obstacles--and imagines parma in england--but alexander's difficulties are great--he denounces philip's wild schemes--walsingham aware of the spanish plot--which the states well understand--leicester's great unpopularity--the queen warned against treating--leicester's schemes against barneveld--leicestrian conspiracy at leyden--the plot to seize the city discovered--three ringleaders sentenced to death-- civil war in france--victory gained by navarre, and one by guise-- queen recalls leicester--who retires on ill terms with the states-- queen warned as to spanish designs--result's of leicester's administration. the course of elizabeth towards the provinces, in the matter of the peace, was certainly not ingenuous, but it was not absolutely deceitful. she concealed and denied the negotiations, when the netherland statesmen were perfectly aware of their existence, if not of their tenour; but she was not prepared, as they suspected, to sacrifice their liberties and their religion, as the price of her own reconciliation with spain. her attitude towards the states was imperious, over-bearing, and abusive. she had allowed the earl of leicester to return, she said, because of her love for the poor and oppressed people, but in many of her official and in all her private communications, she denounced the men who governed that people as ungrateful wretches and impudent liars! these were the corrosives and vinegar which she thought suitable for the case; and the earl was never weary in depicting the same statesmen as seditious, pestilent, self-seeking, mischief-making traitors. these secret, informal negotiations, had been carried on during most of the year . it was the "comptroller's peace;", as walsingham contemptuously designated the attempted treaty; for it will be recollected that sir james croft, a personage of very mediocre abilities, had always been more busy than any other english politician in these transactions. he acted; however, on the inspiration of burghley, who drew his own from the fountainhead. but it was in vain for the queen to affect concealment. the states knew everything which was passing, before leicester knew. his own secret instructions reached the netherlands before he did. his secretary, junius, was thrown into prison, and his master's letter taken from him, before there had been any time to act upon its treacherous suggestions. when the earl wrote letters with, his own hand to his sovereign, of so secret a nature that he did not even retain a single copy for himself, for fear of discovery, he found, to his infinite disgust, that the states were at once provided with an authentic transcript of every line that he had written. it was therefore useless, almost puerile, to deny facts which were quite as much within the knowledge of the netherlanders as of himself. the worst consequence of the concealment was, that a deeper treachery was thought possible than actually existed. "the fellow they call barneveld," as leicester was in the habit of designating one of the first statesmen in europe, was perhaps justified, knowing what he did, in suspecting more. being furnished with a list of commissioners, already secretly agreed upon between the english and spanish governments, to treat for peace, while at the same time the earl was beating his breast, and flatly denying that there was any intention of treating with parma at all, it was not unnatural that he should imagine a still wider and deeper scheme than really existed, against the best interests of his country. he may have expressed, in private conversation, some suspicions of this nature, but there is direct evidence that he never stated in public anything which was not afterwards proved to be matter of fact, or of legitimate inference from the secret document which had come into his hands. the queen exhausted herself in opprobious language against those who dared to impute to her a design to obtain possession of the cities and strong places of the netherlands, in order to secure a position in which to compel the provinces into obedience to her policy. she urged, with much logic, that as she had refused the sovereignty of the whole country when offered to her, she was not likely to form surreptitious schemes to make herself mistress of a portion of it. on the other hand, it was very obvious, that to accept the sovereignty of philip's rebellious provinces, was to declare war upon philip; whereas, had she been pacifically inclined towards that sovereign, and treacherously disposed towards the netherlands, it would be a decided advantage to her to have those strong places in her power. but the suspicions as to her good faith were exaggerated. as to the intentions of leicester, the states were justified in their almost unlimited distrust. it is very certain that both in , and again, at this very moment, when elizabeth was most vehement in denouncing such aspersions on her government, he had unequivocally declared to her his intention of getting possession, if possible, of several cities, and of the whole island of walcheren, which, together with the cautionary towns already in his power, would enable the queen to make good terms for herself with spain, "if the worst came to the, worst." it will also soon be shown that he did his best to carry these schemes into execution. there is no evidence, however, and no probability, that he had received the royal commands to perpetrate such a crime. the states believed also, that in those secret negotiations with parma the queen was disposed to sacrifice the religious interests of the netherlands. in this they were mistaken. but they had reason for their mistake, because the negotiator de loo, had expressly said, that, in her overtures to farnese, she had abandoned that point altogether. if this had been so, it would have simply been a consent on the part of elizabeth, that the catholic religion and the inquisition should be re-established in the provinces, to the exclusion of every other form of worship or polity. in truth, however, the position taken by her majesty on the subject was as fair as could be reasonably expected. certainly she was no advocate for religious liberty. she chose that her own subjects should be protestants, because she had chosen to be a protestant herself, and because it was an incident of her supremacy, to dictate uniformity of creed to all beneath her sceptre. no more than her father, who sent to the stake or gallows heretics to transubstantiation as well as believers in the pope, had elizabeth the faintest idea of religious freedom. heretics to the english church were persecuted, fined, imprisoned, mutilated, and murdered, by sword, rope, and fire. in some respects, the practice towards those who dissented from elizabeth was more immoral and illogical, even if less cruel, than that to which those were subjected who rebelled against sixtus. the act of uniformity required papists to assist at the protestant worship, but wealthy papists could obtain immunity by an enormous fine. the roman excuse to destroy bodies in order to save souls, could scarcely be alleged by a church which might be bribed into connivance at heresy, and which derived a revenue from the very nonconformity for which humbler victims were sent to the gallows. it would, however, be unjust in the extreme to overlook the enormous difference in the amount of persecution, exercised respectively by the protestant and the roman church. it is probable that not many more than two hundred catholics were executed as such, in elizabeth's reign, and this was ten score too many. but what was this against eight hundred heretics burned, hanged, and drowned, in one easter week by alva, against the eighteen thousand two hundred went to stake and scaffold, as he boasted during his administration, against the vast numbers of protestants, whether they be counted by tens or by hundreds of thousands, who perished by the edicts of charles v., in the netherlands, or in the single saint bartholomew massacre in france? moreover, it should never be forgotten--from undue anxiety for impartiality--that most of the catholics who were executed in england, suffered as conspirators rather than as heretics. no foreign potentate, claiming to be vicegerent of christ, had denounced philip as a bastard and, usurper, or had, by means of a blasphemous fiction, which then was a terrible reality, severed the bonds of allegiance by which his subjects were held, cut him off from all communion with his fellow-creatures, and promised temporal rewards and a crown of glory in heaven to those who should succeed in depriving him of throne and life. yet this was the position of elizabeth. it was war to the knife between her and rome, declared by rome itself; nor was there any doubt whatever that the seminary priests --seedlings transplanted from foreign nurseries, which were as watered gardens for the growth of treason--were a perpetually organized band of conspirators and assassins, with whom it was hardly an act of excessive barbarity to deal in somewhat summary fashion. doubtless it would have been a more lofty policy, and a far more intelligent one, to extend towards the catholics of england, who as a body were loyal to their country, an ample toleration. but it could scarcely be expected that elizabeth tudor, as imperious and absolute by temperament as her father had ever been, would be capable of embodying that great principle. when, in the preliminaries to the negotiations of , therefore, it was urged on the part of spain, that the queen was demanding a concession of religious liberty from philip to the netherlanders which she refused to english heretics, and that he only claimed the same right of dictating a creed to his subjects which she exercised in regard to her own, lord burghley replied that the statement was correct. the queen permitted-- it was true--no man to profess any religion but the one which she professed. at the same time it was declared to be unjust, that those persons in the netherlands who had been for years in the habit of practising protestant rites, should be suddenly compelled, without instruction, to abandon that form of worship. it was well known that many would rather die than submit to such oppression, and it was affirmed that the exercise of this cruelty would be resisted by her to the uttermost. there was no hint of the propriety--on any logical basis-- of leaving the question of creed as a matter between man and his maker, with which any dictation on the part of crown or state was an act of odious tyranny. there was not even a suggestion that the protestant doctrines were true, and the catholic doctrines false. the matter was merely taken up on the 'uti possidetis' principle, that they who had acquired the fact of protestant worship had a right to retain it, and could not justly be deprived of it, except by instruction and persuasion. it was also affirmed that it was not the english practice to inquire into men's consciences. it would have been difficult, however, to make that very clear to philip's comprehension, because, if men, women, and children, were scourged with rods, imprisoned and hanged, if they refused to conform publicly to a ceremony at which their consciences revolted- unless they had money enough to purchase non-conformity--it seemed to be the practice to inquire very effectively into their consciences. but if there was a certain degree of disingenuousness on the part of elizabeth towards the states, her attitude towards parma was one of perfect sincerity. a perusal of the secret correspondence leaves no doubt whatever on that point. she was seriously and fervently desirous of peace with spain. on the part of farnese and his master, there was the most unscrupulous mendacity, while the confiding simplicity and truthfulness of the queen in these negotiations was almost pathetic. especially she declared her trust in the loyal and upright character of parma, in which she was sure of never being disappointed. it is only doing justice to alexander to say that he was as much deceived by her frankness as she by his falsehood. it never entered his head that a royal personage and the trusted counsellors of a great kingdom could be telling the truth in a secret international transaction, and he justified the industry with which his master and himself piled fiction upon fiction, by their utter disbelief in every word which came to them from england. the private negotiations had been commenced, or rather had been renewed, very early in february of this year. during the whole critical period which preceded and followed the execution of mary, in the course of which the language of elizabeth towards the states had been so shrewish, there had been the gentlest diplomatic cooing between farnese and herself. it was--dear cousin, you know how truly i confide in your sincerity, how anxious i am that this most desirable peace should be arranged; and it was--sacred majesty, you know how much joy i feel in your desire for the repose of the world, and for a solid peace between your highness and the king my master; how much i delight in concord--how incapable i am by ambiguous words of spinning out these transactions, or of deceiving your majesty, and what a hatred i feel for steel, fire, and blood.' four or five months rolled on, during which leicester had been wasting time in england, farnese wasting none before sluys, and the states doing their best to counteract the schemes both of their enemy and of their ally. de loo made a visit, in july, to the camp of the duke of parma, and received the warmest assurances of his pacific dispositions. "i am much pained," said alexander, "with this procrastination. i am so full of sincerity myself, that it seems to me a very strange matter, this hostile descent by drake upon the coasts of spain. the result of such courses will be, that the king will end by being exasperated, and i shall be touched in my honour--so great is the hopes i have held out of being able to secure a peace. i have ever been and i still am most anxious for concord, from the affection i bear to her sacred majesty. i have been obliged, much against my will, to take the field again. i could wish now that our negotiations might terminate before the arrival of my fresh troops, namely, spaniards and italians, which, with walloons, germans, and lorrainers, will give me an effective total of , soldiers. of this i give you my word as a gentleman. go, then, andrew de loo," continued the duke, "write to her sacred majesty, that i desire to make peace; and to serve her faithfully; and that i shall not change my mind, even in case of any great success, for i like to proceed rather by the ways of love than of rigour and effusion of bleed." "i can assure you, oh, most serene duke," replied andrew, "that the most serene queen is in the very same dispositions with yourself." "excellent well then," said the duke, "we shall come to an agreement at once, and the sooner the deputies on both sides are appointed the better." a feeble proposition was then made, on the part of the peace-loving andrew, that the hostile operations against sluy's should be at once terminated. but this did not seem so clear to the most serene duke. he had gone to great expense in that business; and he had not built bridges, erected forts, and dug mines, only to abandon them for a few fine words, fine words were plenty, but they raised no sieges. meantime these pacific and gentle murmurings from farnese's camp had lulled the queen into forgetfulness of roger williams and arnold groenevelt and their men, fighting day and night in trench and mine during that critical midsummer. the wily tongue of the duke had been more effective than his batteries in obtaining the much-coveted city. the queen obstinately held back her men and money, confident of effecting a treaty, whether sluys fell or not. was it strange that the states should be distrustful of her intentions, and, in their turn, become neglectful of their duty? and thus summer wore into autumn, sluys fell, the states and their governor-general were at daggers-drawn, the netherlanders were full of distrust with regard to england, alexander hinted doubts as to the queen's sincerity; the secret negotiations, though fertile in suspicions, jealousies, delays, and such foul weeds, had produced no wholesome fruit, and the excellent de loo became very much depressed. at last a letter from burghley relieved his drooping spirits. from the most disturbed and melancholy man in the world, he protested, he had now become merry and quiet. he straightway went off to the duke of parma, with the letter in his pocket, and translated it to him by candlelight, as he was careful to state, as an important point in his narrative. and farnese was fuller of fine phrases than ever. "there is no cause whatever," said he, in a most loving manner, "to doubt my sincerity. yet the lord-treasurer intimates that the most serene queen is disposed so to do. but if i had not the very best intentions, and desires for peace, i should never have made the first overtures. if i did not wish a pacific solution, what in the world forced me to do what i have done? on the contrary, it is i that have reason to suspect the other parties with their long delays, by which they have made me lose the best part of the summer." he then commented on the strong expressions in the english letters, as to the continuance of her majesty in her pious resolutions; observed that he was thoroughly advised of the disputes between the earl of leicester and the states; and added that it was very important for the time indicated by the queen. "whatever is to be done," said he, in conclusion, "let it be done quickly;" and with that he said he would go and eat a bit of supper. "and may i communicate lord burghley's letter to any one else?" asked de loo. "yes, yes, to the seigneur de champagny, and to my secretary cosimo," answered his highness. so the merchant negotiator proceeded at once to the mansion of champagny, in company with the secretary cosimo. there was a long conference, in which de loo was informed of many things which he thoroughly believed, and faithfully transmitted to the court of elizabeth. alexander had done his best, they said, to delay the arrival of his fresh troops. he had withdrawn from the field, on various pretexts, hoping, day after day, that the english commissioners would arrive, and that a firm and perpetual peace would succeed to the miseries of war. but as time wore away, and there came no commissioners, the duke had come to the painful conclusion that he had been trifled with. his forces would now be sent into holland to find something to eat; and this would ensure the total destruction of all that territory. he had also written to command all the officers of the coming troops to hasten their march, in order that he might avoid incurring still deeper censure. he was much ashamed, in truth, to have been wheedled into passing the whole fine season in idleness. he had been sacrificing himself for her sacred majesty, and to, serve her best interests; and now he found himself the object of her mirth. those who ought to be well informed had assured him that the queen was only waiting to see how the king of navarre was getting on with the auxiliary force just, going to him from germany, that she had no intention whatever to make peace, and that, before long, he might expect all these german mercenaries upon his shoulders in the netherlands. nevertheless he was prepared to receive them with , good infantry, a splendid cavalry force, and plenty of money.' all this and more did the credulous andrew greedily devour; and he lost no time in communicating the important intelligence to her majesty and the lord-treasurer. he implored her, he said, upon his bare knees, prostrate on the ground, and from the most profound and veritable centre of his heart and with all his soul and all his strength, to believe in the truth of the matters thus confided to him. he would pledge his immortal soul, which was of more value to him--as he correctly observed --than even the crown of spain, that the king, the duke, and his counsellors, were most sincerely desirous of peace, and actuated by the most loving and benevolent motives. alexander farnese was "the antidote to the duke of alva," kindly sent by heaven, 'ut contraria contrariis curenter,' and if the entire security of the sacred queen were not now obtained, together with a perfect reintegration of love between her majesty and the king of spain, and with the assured tranquillity and perpetual prosperity of the netherlands, it would be the fault of england; not of spain. and no doubt the merchant believed all that was told him, and--what was worse--that he fully impressed his own convictions upon her majesty and lord burghley, to say nothing of the comptroller, who, poor man, had great facility in believing anything that came from the court of the most catholic king: yet it is painful to reflect, that in all these communications of alexander and his agents, there was not one single word of truth.--it was all false from beginning to end, as to the countermanding of the troops,--as to the pacific intentions of the king and duke, and as to the proposed campaign in friesland, in case of rupture; and all the rest. but this will be conclusively proved a little later. meantime the conference had been most amicable and satisfactory. and when business was over, champagny--not a whit the worse for the severe jilting which he had so recently sustained from the widow de bours, now mrs. aristotle patton--invited de loo and secretary cosimo to supper. and the three made a night of it, sitting up late, and draining such huge bumpers to the health of the queen of england, that--as the excellent andrew subsequently informed lord burghley--his head ached most bravely next morning. and so, amid the din of hostile preparation not only in cadiz and lisbon, but in ghent and sluys and antwerp, the import of which it seemed difficult to mistake, the comedy of, negotiation was still rehearsing, and the principal actors were already familiar with their respective parts. there were the earl of derby, knight of the garter, and my lord cobham; and puzzling james croft, and other englishmen, actually believing that the farce was a solemn reality. there was alexander of parma thoroughly aware of the contrary. there was andrew de loo, more talkative, more credulous, more busy than ever, and more fully impressed with the importance of his mission, and there was the white-bearded lord-treasurer turning complicated paragraphs; shaking his head and waving his wand across the water, as if, by such expedients, the storm about to burst over england could, be dispersed. the commissioners should come, if only the duke of parma would declare on his word of honour, that these hostile preparations with which all christendom was ringing; were not intended against england; or if that really were the case--if he would request his master to abandon all such schemes, and if philip in consequence would promise on the honour of a prince, to make no hostile attempts against that country. there would really seem an almost arcadian simplicity in such demands, coming from so practised a statesman as the lord-treasurer, and from a woman of such brilliant intellect as elizabeth unquestionably possessed. but we read the history of , not only by the light of subsequent events, but by the almost microscopic revelations of sentiments and motives, which a full perusal of the secret documents in those ancient cabinets afford. at that moment it was not ignorance nor dulness which was leading england towards the pitfall so artfully dug by spain. there was trust in the plighted word of a chivalrous soldier like alexander farnese, of a most religious and anointed monarch like philip ii. english frankness, playing cards upon the table, was no match for italian and spanish legerdemain, a system according to which, to defraud the antagonist by every kind of falsehood and trickery was the legitimate end of diplomacy and statesmanship. it was well known that there were great preparations in spain, portugal, and the obedient netherlands, by land and sea. but sir robert sidney was persuaded that the expedition was intended for africa; even the pope was completely mystified--to the intense delight of philip--and burghley, enlightened by the sagacious de loo, was convinced, that even in case of a rupture, the whole strength of the spanish arms was to be exerted in reducing friesland and overyssel. but walsingham was never deceived; for he had learned from demosthenes a lesson with which william the silent, in his famous apology, had made the world familiar, that the only citadel against a tyrant and a conqueror was distrust. alexander, much grieved that doubts should still be felt as to his sincerity, renewed the most exuberant expressions of that sentiment, together with gentle complaints against the dilatoriness which had proceeded from the doubt. her majesty had long been aware, he said, of his anxiety to bring about a perfect reconciliation; but he had waited, month after month, for her commissioners, and had waited in vain. his hopes had been dashed to the ground. the affair had been indefinitely spun out, and he could not resist the conviction that her majesty had changed her mind. nevertheless, as andrew de loo was again proceeding to england, the duke seized the opportunity once more to kiss her hand, and--although he had well nigh resolved to think no more on the subject--to renew his declarations, that, if the much-coveted peace were not concluded, the blame could not be imputed to him, and that he should stand guiltless before god and the world. he had done, and was still ready to do, all which became a christian and a man desirous of the public welfare and tranquillity. when burghley read these fine phrases, he was much impressed; and they were pronounced at the english court to be "very princely and christianly." an elaborate comment too was drawn up by the comptroller on every line of the letter. "these be very good words," said the comptroller. but the queen was even more pleased with the last proof of the duke's sincerity, than even burghley and croft had been. disregarding all the warnings of walsingham, she renewed her expressions of boundless confidence in the wily italian. "we do assure you," wrote the lords, "and so you shall do well to avow it to the duke upon our honours, that her majesty saith she thinketh both their minds to accord upon one good and christian meaning, though their ministers may perchance sound upon a discord." and she repeated her resolution to send over her commissioners, so soon as the duke had satisfied her as to the hostile preparations. we have now seen the good faith of the english queen towards the spanish government. we have seen her boundless trust in the sincerity of farnese and his master. we have heard the exuberant professions of an honest intention to bring about a firm and lasting peace, which fell from the lips of farnese and of his confidential agents. it is now necessary to glide for a moment into the secret cabinet of philip, in order to satisfy ourselves as to the value of all those professions. the attention of the reader is solicited to these investigations, because the year was a most critical period in the history of english, dutch, and european liberty. the coming year had been long spoken of in prophecy, as the year of doom, perhaps of the destruction of the world, but it was in , the year of expectation and preparation, that the materials were slowly combining out of which that year's history was to be formed. and there sat the patient letter-writer in his cabinet, busy with his schemes. his grey head was whitening fast. he was sixty years of age. his frame was slight, his figure stooping, his digestion very weak, his manner more glacial and sepulchral than ever; but if there were a hard- working man in europe, that man was philip ii. and there he sat at his table, scrawling his apostilles. the fine innumerable threads which stretched across the surface of christendom, and covered it as with a net, all converged in that silent cheerless cell. france was kept in a state of perpetual civil war; the netherlands had been converted into a shambles; ireland was maintained in a state of chronic rebellion; scotland was torn with internal feuds, regularly organized and paid for by philip; and its young monarch--"that lying king of scots," as leicester called him--was kept in a leash ready to be slipped upon england, when his master should give the word; and england herself was palpitating with the daily expectation of seeing a disciplined horde of brigands let loose upon her shores; and all this misery, past, present, and future, was almost wholly due to the exertions of that grey-haired letter-writer at his peaceful library-table. at the very beginning of the year the king of denmark had made an offer to philip of mediation. the letter, entrusted to a young count de rantzan, had been intercepted by the states--the envoy not having availed himself, in time, of his diplomatic capacity, and having in consequence been treated, for a moment, like a prisoner of war. the states had immediately addressed earnest letters of protest to queen elizabeth, declaring that nothing which the enemy could do in war was half so horrible to them as the mere mention of peace. life, honour, religion, liberty, their all, were at stake, they said, and would go down in one universal shipwreck, if peace should be concluded; and they implored her majesty to avert the proposed intercession of the danish king. wilkes wrote to walsingham denouncing that monarch and his ministers as stipendiaries of spain, while, on the other hand, the duke of parma, after courteously thanking the king for his offer of mediation, described him to philip as such a dogged heretic, that no good was to be derived from him, except by meeting his fraudulent offers with an equally fraudulent response. there will be nothing lost, said alexander, by affecting to listen to his proposals, and meantime your majesty must proceed with the preparations against england. this was in the first week of the year . in february, and almost on the very day when parma was writing those affectionate letters to elizabeth, breathing nothing but peace, he was carefully conning philip's directions in regard to the all-important business of the invasion. he was informed by his master, that one hundred vessels, forty of them of largest size, were quite ready, together with , spanish infantry, including of the old legion, and that there were volunteers more than enough. philip had also taken note, he said, of alexander's advice as to choosing the season when the crops in england had just been got in, as the harvest of so fertile a country would easily support an invading force; but he advised nevertheless that the army should be thoroughly victualled at starting. finding that alexander did not quite approve of the irish part of the plan, he would reconsider the point, and think more of the isle of wight; but perhaps still some other place might be discovered, a descent upon which might inspire that enemy with still greater terror and confusion. it would be difficult for him, he said, to grant the men asked for by the scotch malcontents, without seriously weakening his armada; but there must be no positive refusal, for a concerted action with the scotch lords and their adherents was indispensable. the secret, said the king, had been profoundly kept, and neither in spain nor in rome had anything been allowed to transpire. alexander was warned therefore to do his best to maintain the mystery, for the enemy was trying very hard to penetrate their actions and their thoughts. and certainly alexander did his best. he replied to his master, by transmitting copies of the letters he had been writing with his own hand to the queen, and of the, pacific messages he had sent her through champagny. and de loo. she is just now somewhat confused, said he, and those of her counsellors who desire peace, are more eager, than ever for negotiation. she is very much afflicted with the loss of deventer, and is quarrelling with the french ambassador about the new conspiracy for her assassination. the opportunity is a good one, and if she writes an answer to my letter, said alexander, we can keep the negotiation, alive, while, if she does not, 'twill be a proof that she has contracted leagues with other parties. but, in any event, the duke fervently implored philip not to pause in his preparations for the great enterprise which he had conceived in his royal breast. so urgent for the invasion was the peace-loving general. he alluded also to the supposition that the quarrel between her majesty and the french envoy was a mere fetch, and only one of the results of bellievre's mission. whether that diplomatist had been sent to censure, or in reality to approve, in the name of his master, of the scottish queen's execution, alexander would leave to be discussed by don bernardino de mendoza, the spanish ambassador in paris; but he was of opinion that the anger of the queen with france was a fiction, and her supposed league with france and germany against spain a fact. upon this point, as it appears from secretary walsingham's lamentations, the astute farnese was mistaken. in truth he was frequently, led into error to the english policy the same serpentine movement and venomous purpose which characterized his own; and we have already seen; that elizabeth was ready, on the contrary, to quarrel with the states, with france, with all the world, if she could only secure the good-will of philip. the french-matter, indissolubly connected in that monarch's schemes, with his designs upon england and holland, was causing alexander much anxiety. he foresaw great difficulty in maintaining that, indispensable civil war in france, and thought that a peace might, some fine day, be declared between henry iii. and the huguenots, when least expected. in consequence, the duke of guise was becoming very importunate for philip's subsidies. "mucio comes begging to me," said parma, "with the very greatest earnestness, and utters nothing but lamentations and cries of misery. he asked for , of the , ducats promised him. i gave them. soon afterwards he writes, with just as much anxiety, for , more. these i did not give; firstly, because i had them not," (which would seem a sufficient reason) "and secondly, because i wished to protract matters as much as possible. he is constantly reminding me of your majesty's promise of , ducats, in case he comes to a rupture with the king of france, and i always assure him that your majesty will keep all promises." philip, on his part, through the months of spring, continued to assure his generalissimo of his steady preparations--by sea and land. he had ordered mendoza to pay the scotch lords the sum demanded by them, but not till after they had done the deed as agreed upon; and as to the men, he felt obliged, he said, to defer that matter for the moment; and to leave the decision upon it to the duke. farnese kept his sovereign minutely informed of the negociations carried on through champagny and de loo, and expressed his constant opinion that the queen was influenced by motives as hypocritical as his own. she was only seeking, he said, to deceive, to defraud, to put him to sleep, by those feigned negotiations, while, she was making her combinations with france and germany, for the ruin of spain. there was no virtue to be expected from her, except she was compelled thereto by pure necessity. the english, he said, were hated and abhorred by the natives of holland and zeeland, and it behoved philip to seize so favourable an opportunity for urging on his great plan with all the speed in the world. it might be that the queen, seeing these mighty preparations, even although not suspecting that she herself was to be invaded, would tremble for her safety, if the netherlands should be crushed. but if she succeeded in deceiving spain, and putting philip and parma to sleep, she might well boast of having made fools of them all. the negotiations for peace and the preparations for the invasion should go simultaneously forward therefore, and the money would, in consequence, come more sparingly to the provinces from the english coffers, and the disputes between england and the states would be multiplied. the duke also begged to be informed whether any terms could be laid down, upon which the king really would conclude peace; in order that he might make no mistake for want of instructions or requisite powers. the condition of france was becoming more alarming every day, he said. in other words, there was an ever-growing chance of peace for that distracted country. the queen of england was cementing a strong league between herself, the french king, and the huguenots; and matters were looking very serious. the impending peace in france would never do, and philip should prevent it in time, by giving mucio his money. unless the french are entangled and at war among themselves, it is quite clear, said alexander, that we can never think of carrying out our great scheme of invading england. the king thoroughly concurred in all that was said and done by his faithful governor and general. he had no intention of concluding a peace on any terms whatever, and therefore could name no conditions; but he quite approved of a continuance of the negotiations. the english, he was convinced, were utterly false on their part, and the king of denmark's proposition to-mediate was part and parcel of the same general fiction. he was quite sensible of the necessity of giving mucio the money to prevent a pacification in france, and would send letters of exchange on agostino spinola for the , ducats. meantime farnese was to go on steadily with his preparations for the invasion. the secretary-of-state, don juan de idiaquez, also wrote most earnestly on the great subject to the duke. "it is not to be exaggerated", he said, "how set his majesty is in the all-important business. if you wish to manifest towards him the most flattering obedience on earth, and to oblige him as much as you could wish, give him this great satisfaction this year. since you have money, prepare everything out there, conquer all difficulties, and do the deed so soon as the forces of spain and italy arrive, according to the plan laid down by your excellency last year. make use of the negotiations for peace for this one purpose, and no more, and do the business like the man you are. attribute the liberty of this advice to my desire to serve you more than any other, to my knowledge of how much you will thereby gratify his majesty, and to my fear of his resentment towards you, in the contrary case." and, on the same day, in order that there might be no doubt of the royal sentiments, philip expressed himself at length on the whole subject. the dealings of farnese with the english, and his feeding them with hopes of peace, would have given him more satisfaction, he observed, if it had caused their preparations to slacken; but, on the contrary, their boldness had increased. they had perpetrated the inhuman murder of the queen of scots, and moreover, not content with their piracies at sea and in the indies, they had dared to invade the ports of spain, as would appear in the narrative transmitted to farnese of the late events at cadiz. and although that damage was small, said philip; there resulted a very great obligation to take them 'seriously in hand.' he declined sending fill powers for treating; but in order to make use of the same arts employed by the english, he preferred that alexander should not undeceive them, but desired him to express, as out of his own head; to the negotiators, his astonishment that while they were holding such language they should commit such actions. even their want of prudence in thus provoking the king; when their strength was compared to his, should be spoken of by farnese as--wonderful, and he was to express the opinion that his majesty would think him much wanting in circumspection, should he go on negotiating while they were playing such tricks. "you must show yourself very sensitive, about this event," continued philip, "and you must give them to understand that i am quite as angry as you. you must try to draw from them some offer of satisfaction--however false it will be in reality--such as a proposal to recall the fleet, or an, assertion that the deeds of drake in cadiz were without the knowledge and contrary to the will of the queen, and that she very much regrets them, or something of that sort." it has already been shown that farnese was very successful in eliciting from the queen, through the mouth of lord' burghley, as ample a disavowal and repudiation of sir francis drake as the king could possibly desire. whether it would have the desired effect--of allaying the wrath of philip; might have been better foretold, could the letter, with which we are now occupied, have been laid upon the greenwich council-board. "when you have got, such a disavowal," continued his majesty, "you are to act as if entirely taken in and imposed upon by them, and, pretending to believe everything they tell you, you must renew the negotiations, proceed to name commissioners, and propose a meeting upon neutral territory. as for powers; say that you, as my governor-general, will entrust them to your deputies, in regard to the netherlands. for all other matters, say that you have had full powers for many months, but that you cannot exhibit them until conditions worthy of my acceptance have been offered.--say this only for the sake of appearance. this is the true way to take them in, and so the peace-commissioners may meet. but to you only do i declare that my intention is that this shall never lead to any result, whatever conditions maybe offered by them. on the contrary, all this is done--just as they do--to deceive them, and to cool them in their preparations for defence, by inducing them to believe that such preparations will be unnecessary. you are well aware that the reverse of all this is the truth, and that on our part there is to be no slackness, but the greatest diligence in our efforts for the invasion of england, for which we have already made the most abundant provision in men, ships, and money, of which you are well aware." is it strange that the queen of england was deceived? is it matter of surprise, censure, or shame, that no english statesman was astute enough or base enough to contend with such diplomacy, which seemed inspired only by the very father of lies? "although we thus enter into negotiations," continued the king--unveiling himself, with a solemn indecency, not agreeable to contemplate--"without any intention of concluding them, you can always get out of them with great honour, by taking umbrage about the point of religion and about some other of the outrageous propositions which they are like to propose, and of which there are plenty, in the letters of andrew de loo. your commissioners must be instructed; to refer all important matters to your personal decision. the english will be asking for damages for money, spent in assisting my rebels; your commissioners will contend that damages are rather due to me. thus, and in other ways, time will be agent. your own envoys are not to know the secret any more than the english themselves. i tell it to you only. thus you will proceed with the negotiations, now, yielding on one point, and now insisting on another, but directing all to the same object--to gain time while proceeding with the preparation for the invasion, according to the plan already agreed upon." certainly the most catholic king seemed, in this remarkable letter to have outdone himself; and farnese--that sincere farnese, in whose loyal, truth-telling, chivalrous character, the queen and her counsellors placed such implicit reliance--could thenceforward no longer be embarrassed as to the course he was to adopt. to lie daily, through, thick, and thin, and with every variety of circumstance and detail which; a genius fertile in fiction could suggest, such was the simple rule prescribed by his sovereign. and the rule was implicitly obeyed, and the english sovereign thoroughly deceived. the secret confided only, to the faithful breast of alexander was religiously kept. even the pope was outwitted. his holiness proposed to, philip the invasion of england, and offered a million to further the plan. he was most desirous to be informed if the project was, resolved upon, and, if so, when it was to be accomplished. the king took the pope's million, but refused the desired information. he answered evasively. he had a very good will to invade the country, he said, but there were great difficulties in the way. after a time, the pope again tried to pry into the matter, and again offered the million which philip had only accepted for the time when it might be wanted; giving him at the same time, to understand that it was not necessary at that time, because there were then great impediments. "thus he is pledged to give me the subsidy, and i am not pledged for the time," said philip, "and i keep my secret, which is the most important of all." yet after all, farnese did not see his way clear towards the consummation of the plan. his army had wofully dwindled, and before he could seriously set about ulterior matters, it would be necessary to take the city of sluys. this was to prove--as already seen--a most arduous enterprise. he complained to philip' of his inadequate supplies both in men and money. the project conceived in the royal breast was worth spending millions for, he said, and although by zeal and devotion he could accomplish something, yet after all he was no more than a man, and without the necessary means the scheme could not succeed. but philip, on the contrary, was in the highest possible spirits. he had collected more money, he declared than had ever been seen before in the world. he had two million ducats in reserve, besides the pope's million; the french were in a most excellent state of division, and the invasion should be made this year without fail. the fleet would arrive in the english channel by the end of the summer; which would be exactly in conformity with alexander's ideas. the invasion was to be threefold: from scotland, under the scotch earls and their followers, with the money and troops furnished by philip; from the netherlands, under parma; and by the great spanish armada itself, upon the isle of wight. alexander must recommend himself to god, in whose cause he was acting, and then do his duty; which lay very plain before him. if he ever wished to give his sovereign satisfaction in his life; he was to do the deed that year, whatever might betide. never could there be so fortunate a conjunction of circumstances again. france was in a state of revolution, the german levies were weak, the turk was fully occupied in persia, an enormous mass of money, over and above the pope's million, had been got together, and although the season was somewhat advanced, it was certain that the duke would conquer all impediments, and be the instrument by which his royal master might render to god that service which he was so anxious to perform. enthusiastic, though gouty, philip grasped the pen in order to scrawl a few words with his own royal hand. "this business is of such importance," he said, "and it is so necessary that it should not be delayed, that i cannot refrain from urging it upon you as much as i can. i should do it even more amply; if this hand would allow me, which has been crippled with gout these several days, and my feet as well, and although it is unattended with pain, yet it is an impediment to writing." struggling thus against his own difficulties, and triumphantly, accomplishing a whole paragraph with disabled hand, it was natural that the king should expect alexander, then deep in the siege of sluy's, to vanquish all his obstacles as successfully; and to effect the conquest of england so soon as the harvests of that kingdom should be garnered. sluy's was surrendered at last, and the great enterprise seemed opening from hour to hour. during the months of autumn; upon the very days when those loving messages, mixed with gentle reproaches, were sent by alexander to elizabeth, and almost at the self-same hours in which honest andrew de loo was getting such head-aches by drinking the queen's health with cosimo, and champagny, the duke and philip were interchanging detailed information as to the progress of the invasion. the king calculated that by the middle of september alexander would have , men in the netherlands ready for embarcation.--marquis santa cruz was announced as nearly ready to, sail for the english channel with , more, among whom were to be , seasoned spanish infantry. the marquis was then to extend the hand to parma, and protect that passage to england which the duke was at once to effect. the danger might be great for so large a fleet to navigate the seas at so late a season of the year; but philip was sure that god, whose cause it was, would be pleased to give good weather. the duke was to send, with infinite precautions of secrecy, information which the marquis would expect off ushant, and be quite ready to act so soon as santa cruz should arrive. most earnestly and anxiously did the king deprecate any, thought of deferring the expedition to another year. if delayed, the obstacles of the following summer--a peace in france, a peace between the turk and persia, and other contingencies--would cause the whole project to fail, and philip declared, with much iteration, that money; reputation, honour, his own character and that of farnese, and god's service, were all at stake. he was impatient at suggestions of difficulties occasionally, ventured by the duke, who was reminded that he had been appointed chief of the great enterprise by the spontaneous choice of his master, and that all his plans had been minutely followed. "you are the author of the whole scheme," said philip, "and if it, is all to vanish into space, what kind of a figure shall we cut the coming year?" again and again he referred to the immense sum collected--such as never before had been seen since the world was made-- , , ducats with , , in reserve, of which he was authorized to draw for , in advance, to say nothing of the pope's million. but alexander, while straining every nerve to obey his master's wishes about the invasion, and to blind the english by the fictitious negotiations, was not so sanguine as his sovereign. in truth, there was something puerile in the eagerness which philip manifested. he had made up his mind that england was to be conquered that autumn, and had endeavoured--as well as he could--to comprehend, the plans which his illustrious general had laid down for accomplishing that purpose. of, course; to any man of average intellect, or, in truth, to any man outside a madhouse; it would seem an essential part of the conquest that the armada should arrive. yet--wonderful to relate-philip, in his impatience, absolutely suggested that the duke might take possession of england without waiting for santa cruz and his armada. as the autumn had been wearing away, and there had been unavoidable delays about the shipping in spanish ports, the king thought it best not to defer matters till, the winter. "you are, doubtless, ready," he said to farnese. "if you think you can make the passage to england before the fleet from spain arrives, go at once. you maybe sure that it will come ere long to support, you. but if, you prefer, to wait, wait. the dangers of winter, to the fleet and to your own person are to be regretted; but god, whose cause it is; will protect you." it was, easy to sit quite out of harm's way, and to make such excellent, arrangements for smooth weather in the wintry channel, and for the. conquest of a maritime and martial kingdom by a few flat bottoms. philip had little difficulty on that score, but the affairs of france were not quite to his mind. the battle of coutras, and the entrance of the german and swiss mercenaries into that country, were somewhat perplexing. either those auxiliaries of the huguenots would be defeated, or they would be victorious, or both parties would come to an agreement. in the first event, the duke, after sending a little assistance to mucio, was to effect his passage to england at once. in the second case, those troops, even though successful, would doubtless be so much disorganized that it might be still safe for farnese to go on. in the third contingency--that of an accord--it would be necessary for him to wait till the foreign troops had disbanded and left france. he was to maintain all his forces in perfect readiness, on pretext of the threatening aspect of french matters and, so soon as the swiss and germane were dispersed, he was to proceed to business without delay. the fleet would be ready in spain in all november, but as sea-affairs were so doubtful, particularly in winter, and as the armada could not reach the channel till mid-winter; the duke was not to wait for its arrival. "whenever you see a favourable opportunity," said philip, "you must take care not to lose it, even if the fleet has not made its appearance. for you may be sure that it will soon come to give you assistance, in one way or another." farnese had also been strictly enjoined to deal gently with the english, after the conquest, so that they would have cause to love their new master. his troops were not to forget discipline after victory. there was to be no pillage or rapine. the catholics were to be handsomely rewarded and all the inhabitants were to be treated with so much indulgence that, instead of abhorring parma and his soldiers, they would conceive a strong affection for them all, as the source of so many benefits. again the duke was warmly commended for the skill with which he had handled the peace negotiation. it was quite right to appoint commissioners, but it was never for an instant to be forgotten that the sole object of treating was to take the english unawares. "and therefore do you guide them to this end," said the king with pious unction, "which is what you owe to god, in whose service i have engaged in this enterprise, and to whom i have dedicated the whole." the king of france, too--that unfortunate henry iii., against whose throne and life philip maintained in constant pay an organized band of conspirators--was affectionately adjured, through the spanish envoy in paris, mendoza,--to reflect upon the advantages to france of a catholic king and kingdom of england, in place of the heretics now in power. but philip, growing more and more sanguine, as those visions of fresh crowns and conquered kingdoms rose before him in his solitary cell, had even persuaded himself that the deed was already done. in the early days of december, he expressed a doubt whether his th november letter had reached the duke, who by that time was probably in england. one would have thought the king addressing a tourist just starting on a little pleasure-excursion. and this was precisely the moment when alexander had been writing those affectionate phrases to the queen which had been considered by the counsellors at greenwich so "princely and christianly," and which croft had pronounced such "very good words." if there had been no hostile, fleet to prevent, it was to be hoped, said philip, that, in the name of god, the passage had been made. "once landed there," continued the king, "i am persuaded that you will give me a good account of yourself, and, with the help of our lord, that you will do that service which i desire to render to him, and that he will guide our cause, which is his own, and of such great importance to his church." a part of the fleet would soon after arrive and bring six thousand spaniards, the pope's million, and other good things, which might prove useful to parma, presupposing that they would find him established on the enemy's territory. this conviction that the enterprise had been already accomplished grew stronger in the king's breast every day. he was only a little disturbed lest farnese should have misunderstood that th november letter. philip--as his wont was--had gone into so many petty and puzzling details, and had laid down rules of action suitable for various contingencies, so easy to put comfortably upon paper, but which might become perplexing in action, that it was no wonder he should be a little anxious. the third contingency suggested by him had really occurred. there had been a composition between the foreign mercenaries and the french king. nevertheless they had also been once or twice defeated, and this was contingency number two. now which of the events would the duke consider as having really occurred. it was to be hoped that he would have not seen cause for delay, for in truth number three was not exactly the contingency which existed. france was still in a very satisfactory state of discord and rebellion. the civil war was by no means over. there was small fear of peace that winter. give mucio his pittance with frugal hand, and that dangerous personage would ensure tranquillity for philip's project, and misery for henry iii. and his subjects for an indefinite period longer. the king thought it improbable that farnese could have made any mistake. he expressed therefore a little anxiety at having received no intelligence from him, but had great confidence that, with the aid of the lord and of with his own courage he had accomplished the great exploit. philip had only, recommended delay in event of a general peace in france--huguenots, royalists, leaguers, and all. this had not happened. "therefore, i trust," said the king; "that you-- perceiving that this is not contingency number three which was to justify a pause--will have already executed the enterprise, and fulfilled my desire. i am confident that the deed is done, and that god has blessed it, and i am now expecting the news from hour to hour." but alexander had not yet arrived in england. the preliminaries for the conquest caused him more perplexity than the whole enterprise occasioned to philip. he was very short of funds. the five millions were not to be touched, except for the expenses of the invasion. but as england was to be subjugated, in order that rebellious holland might be recovered, it was hardly reasonable to go away leaving such inadequate forces in the netherlands as to ensure not only independence to the new republic, but to hold out temptation for revolt to the obedient provinces. yet this was the dilemma in which the duke was placed. so much money had been set aside for the grand project that there was scarcely anything for the regular military business. the customary supplies had not been sent. parma had leave to draw for six hundred thousand ducats, and he was able to get that draft discounted on the antwerp exchange by consenting to receive five hundred thousand, or sacrificing sixteen per cent. of the sum. a good number of transports, and scows had been collected, but there had been a deficiency of money for their proper equipment, as the five millions had been very slow in coming, and were still upon the road. the whole enterprise was on the point of being sacrificed, according to farnese, for want of funds. the time for doing the deed had arrived, and he declared himself incapacitated by poverty. he expressed his disgust and resentment in language more energetic than courtly; and protested that he was not to blame. "i always thought," said he bitterly, "that your majesty would provide all that was necessary even in superfluity, and not limit me beneath the ordinary. i did not suppose, when it was most important to have ready money, that i should be kept short, and not allowed to draw certain sums by anticipation, which i should have done had you not forbidden." this was, through life, a striking characteristic of philip. enormous schemes were laid out with utterly inadequate provision for their accomplishment, and a confident expectation entertained that wild, visions were; in some indefinite way, to be converted into substantial realities, without fatigue or personal exertion on his part, and with a very trifling outlay of ready money. meantime the faithful farnese did his best. he was indefatigable night and day in getting his boats together and providing his munitions of war. he dug a canal from sas de gand--which was one of his principal depots-- all the way to sluys, because the water-communication between those two points was entirely in the hands of the hollanders and zeelanders. the rebel cruisers swarmed in the scheldt, from, flushing almost to antwerp, so that it was quite impossible for parma's forces to venture forth at all; and it also seemed hopeless to hazard putting to sea from sluys. at the same, time he had appointed his, commissioners to treat with the english envoys already named by the queen. there had been much delay in the arrival of those deputies, on account of the noise raised by barneveld and his followers; but burghley was now sanguine that the exposure of what he called the advocate's seditious, false, and perverse proceedings, would enable leicester to procure the consent of the states to a universal peace. and thus, with these parallel schemes of invasion and negotiation, spring; summer, and autumn, had worn away. santa cruz was still with his fleet in lisbon, cadiz, and the azores; and parma was in brussels, when philip fondly imagined him established in greenwich palace. when made aware of his master's preposterous expectations, alexander would have been perhaps amused, had he not been half beside himself with indignation. such folly seemed incredible. there was not the slightest appearance of a possibility of making a passage without the protection of the spanish fleet, he observed. his vessels were mere transport-boats, without the least power of resisting an enemy. the hollanders and zeelanders, with one hundred and forty cruisers, had shut him up in all directions. he could neither get out from antwerp nor from sluys. there were large english ships, too, cruising in the channel, and they were getting ready in the netherlands and in england "most furiously." the delays had been so great, that their secret had been poorly kept, and the enemy was on his guard. if santa cruz had come, alexander declared that he should have already been in england. when he did come he should still be prepared to make the passage; but to talk of such an attempt without the armada was senseless, and he denounced the madness of that proposition to his majesty in vehement and unmeasured terms. his army, by sickness and other causes, had been reduced to one-half the number considered necessary for the invasion, and the rebels had established regular squadrons in the scheldt, in the very teeth of the forts, at lillo, liefkenshoek, saftingen, and other points close to antwerp. there were so many of these war-vessels, and all in such excellent order, that they were a most notable embarrassment to him, he observed, and his own flotilla would run great risk of being utterly destroyed. alexander had been personally superintending matters at sluys, ghent, and antwerp, and had strengthened with artillery the canal which he had constructed between sas and sluys. meantime his fresh troops had been slowly arriving, but much sickness prevailed among them. the italians were dying fast, almost all the spaniards were in hospital, and the others were so crippled and worn out that it was most pitiable to behold them; yet it was absolutely necessary that those who were in health should accompany him to england, since otherwise his spanish force would be altogether too weak to do the service expected. he had got together a good number of transports. not counting his antwerp fleet--which could not stir from port, as he bitterly complained, nor be of any use, on account of the rebel blockade--he had between dunkerk and newport seventy-four vessels of various kinds fit for sea-service, one hundred and fifty flat-bottoms (pleytas), and seventy riverhoys, all which were to be assembled at sluys, whence they would--so soon as santa cruz should make his appearance--set forth for england. this force of transports he pronounced sufficient, when properly protected by the spanish armada, to carry himself and his troops across the channel. if, therefore, the matter did not become publicly known, and if the weather proved favourable, it was probable that his majesty's desire would soon be fulfilled according to the plan proposed. the companies of light horse and of arquebusmen, with which he meant to make his entrance into london, had been clothed, armed, and mounted, he said, in a manner delightful to contemplate, and those soldiers at least might be trusted--if they could only effect their passage--to do good service, and make matters quite secure. but craftily as the king and duke had been dealing, it had been found impossible to keep such vast preparations entirely secret. walsingham was in full possession of their plans down to the most minute details. the misfortune was that he was unable to persuade his sovereign, lord burghley, and others of the peace-party, as to the accuracy of his information. not only was he thoroughly instructed in regard to the number of men, vessels, horses, mules, saddles, spurs, lances, barrels of beer and tons of biscuit, and other particulars of the contemplated invasion, but he had even received curious intelligence as to the gorgeous equipment of those very troops, with which the duke was just secretly announcing to the king his intention of making his triumphal entrance into the english capital. sir francis knew how many thousand yards of cramoisy velvet, how many hundredweight of gold and silver embroidery, how much satin and feathers, and what quantity of pearls and diamonds; farnese had been providing himself withal. he knew the tailors, jewellers, silversmiths, and haberdashers, with whom the great alexander--as he now began to be called--had been dealing; ["there is provided for lights a great number of torches, and so tempered that no water can put them out. a great number of little mills for grinding corn, great store of biscuit baked and oxen salted, great number of saddles and boots also there is made pair of velvet shoes-red, crimson velvet, and in every cloister throughout the country great quantity of roses made of silk, white and red, which are to be badges for divers of his gentlemen. by reason of these roses it is expected he is going for england. there is sold to the prince by john angel, pergaman, ten hundred-weight of velvet, gold and silver to embroider his apparel withal. the covering to his mules is most gorgeously embroidered with gold and silver, which carry his baggage. there is also sold to him by the italian merchants at least pieces of velvet to apparel him and his train. every captain has received a gift from the prince to make himself brave, and for captain corralini, an italian, who hath one cornet of horse, i have seen with my eyes a saddle with the trappings of his horse, his coat and rapier and dagger, which cost , french crowns. (!!) all their lances are painted of divers colours, blue and white, green and white, and most part blood-red-- so there is as great preparation for a triumph as for war. a great number of english priests come to antwerp from all places. the commandment is given to all the churches to read the litany daily for the prosperity of the prince in his enterprise." john giles to walsingham, dec. .(s. p. office ms.) the same letter conveyed also very detailed information concerning the naval preparations by the duke, besides accurate intelligence in regard to the progress of the armada in cadiz and lisbon. sir william russet wrote also from flushing concerning these preparations in much the same strain; but it is worthy of note that he considered farnese to be rather intending a movement against france. "the prince of parma," he said, "is making great preparations for war, and with all expedition means to march a great army, and for a triumph, the coats and costly, apparel for his own body doth exceed for embroidery, and beset with jewels; for all the embroiderers and diamond-cutters work both night and day, such haste is made. five hundred velvet coats of one sort for lances, and a great number of brave new coats made for horsemen; , men are ready, and gather in brabant and flanders. it is said that there shall be in two days , to do some great exploit in these parts, and , to march with the prince into france, and for certain it is not known what way or how they shall march, but all are ready at an hour's warning -- , saddles, lances. , pairs of boots, , barrels of beer, biscuit sufficient for a camp of , men, &c. the prince hath received a marvellous costly garland or crown from the pope, and is chosen chief of the holy league..."] but when he spoke at the council-board, it was to ears wilfully deaf. nor was much concealed from the argus-eyed politicians in the republic. the states were more and more intractable. they knew nearly all the truth with regard to the intercourse between the queen's government and farnese, and they suspected more than the truth. the list of english commissioners privately agreed upon between burghley and de loo was known to barneveld, maurice, and hohenlo, before it came to the ears of leicester. in june, buckhurst had been censured by elizabeth for opening the peace matter to members of the states, according to her bidding, and in july leicester was rebuked for exactly the opposite delinquency. she was very angry that he had delayed the communication of her policy so long, but she expressed her anger only when that policy had proved so transparent as to make concealment hopeless. leicester, as well as buckhurst, knew that it was idle to talk to the netherlanders of peace, because of their profound distrust in every word that came from spanish or italian lips; but leicester, less frank than buckhurst, preferred to flatter his sovereign, rather than to tell her unwelcome truths. more fortunate than buckhurst, he was rewarded for his flattery by boundless affection, and promotion to the very highest post in england when the hour of england's greatest peril had arrived, while the truth-telling counsellor was consigned to imprisonment and disgrace. when the queen complained sharply that the states were mocking her, and that she was touched in honour at the prospect of not keeping her plighted word to farnese, the earl assured her that the netherlanders were fast changing their views; that although the very name of peace had till then been odious and loathsome, yet now, as coming from her majesty, they would accept it with thankful hearts. the states, or the leading members of that assembly, factious fellows, pestilent and seditious knaves, were doing their utmost, and were singing sirens' songs' to enchant and delude the people, but they were fast losing their influence--so warmly did the country desire to conform to her majesty's pleasure. he expatiated, however, upon the difficulties in his path. the knowledge possessed by the pestilent fellows as to the actual position of affairs, was very mischievous. it was honey to maurice and hohenlo, he said, that the queen's secret practices with farnese had thus been discovered. nothing could be more marked than the jollity with which the ringleaders hailed these preparations for peace- making, for they now felt certain that the government of their country had been fixed securely in their own hands. they were canonized, said the earl, for their hostility to peace. should not this conviction, on the part of men who had so many means of feeling the popular pulse, have given the queen's government pause? to serve his sovereign in truth, leicester might have admitted a possibility at least of honesty on the part of men who were so ready to offer up their lives for their country. for in a very few weeks ho was obliged to confess that the people were no longer so well disposed to acquiesce in her majesty's policy. the great majority, both of the states and the people, were in favour, he agreed, of continuing the war. the inhabitants of the little province of holland alone, he said, had avowed their determination to maintain their rights--even if obliged to fight single-handed--and to shed the last drop in their veins, rather than to submit again to spanish tyranny. this seemed a heroic resolution, worthy the sympathy of a brave englishman, but the earl's only comment upon it was, that it proved the ringleaders "either to be traitors or else the most blindest asses in the world." he never scrupled, on repeated occasions, to insinuate that barneveld, hohenlo, buys, roorda, sainte aldegonde, and the nassaus, had organized a plot to sell their country to spain. of this there was not the faintest evidence, but it was the only way in which he chose to account for their persistent opposition to the peace-negotiations, and to their reluctance to confer absolute power on himself. "'tis a crabbed, sullen, proud kind of people," said he, "and bent on establishing a popular government,"--a purpose which seemed somewhat inconsistent with the plot for selling their country to spain, which he charged in the same breath on the same persons. early in august, by the queen's command, he had sent a formal communication respecting the private negotiations to the states, but he could tell them no secret. the names of the commissioners, and even the supposed articles of a treaty already concluded, were flying from town to town, from mouth to mouth, so that the earl pronounced it impossible for one, not on the spot, to imagine the excitement which existed. he had sent a state-counsellor, one bardesius, to the hague, to open the matter; but that personage had only ventured to whisper a word to one or two members of the states, and was assured that the proposition, if made, would raise such a tumult of fury, that he might fear for his life. so poor bardesius came back to leicester, fell on his knees, and implored him; at least to pause in these fatal proceedings. after an interval, he sent two eminent statesmen, valk and menin, to lay the subject before the assembly. they did so, and it was met by fierce denunciation. on their return, the earl, finding that so much violence had been excited, pretended that they had misunderstood his meaning, and that he had never meant to propose peace-negotiations. but valk and menin were too old politicians to be caught in such a trap, and they produced a brief, drawn up in italian--the foreign language best understood by the earl--with his own corrections and interlineations, so that he was forced to admit that there had been no misconception. leicester at last could no longer doubt that he was universally odious in the provinces. hohenlo, barneveld, and the rest, who had "championed the country against the peace," were carrying all before them. they had persuaded the people, that the "queen was but a tickle stay for them," and had inflated young maurice with vast ideas of his importance, telling him that he was "a natural patriot, the image of his noble father, whose memory was yet great among them, as good reason, dying in their cause, as be had done." the country was bent on a popular government, and on maintaining the war. there was no possibility, he confessed, that they would ever confer the authority on him which they had formerly bestowed. the queen had promised, when he left england the second time, that his absence should be for but three months, and he now most anxiously claimed permission to depart. above all things, he deprecated being employed as a peace-commissioner. he was, of all men, the most unfit for such a post. at the same time he implored the statesmen at home to be wary in selecting the wisest persons for that arduous duty, in order that the peace might be made for queen elizabeth, as well as for king philip. he strongly recommended, for that duty, beale, the councillor, who with killigrew had replaced the hated wilkes and the pacific bartholomew clerk. "mr. beale, brother-in-law to walsingham, is in my books a prince," said the earl. "he was drowned in england, but most useful in the netherlands. without him i am naked." and at last the governor told the queen what buckhurst and walsingham had been perpetually telling her, that the duke of parma meant mischief; and he sent the same information as to hundreds of boats preparing, with six thousand shirts for camisados, pairs of wading boots, and saddles, stirrups, and spurs, enough for a choice band of men. a shrewd troop, said the earl, of the first soldiers in christendom, to be landed some fine morning in england. and he too had heard of the jewelled suits of cramoisy velvet, and all the rest of the finery with which the triumphant alexander was intending to astonish london. "get horses enough, and muskets enough in england," exclaimed leicester, "and then our people will not be beaten, i warrant you, if well led." and now, the governor--who, in order to soothe his sovereign and comply with her vehement wishes, had so long misrepresented the state of public feeling--not only confessed that papists and protestants, gentle and simple, the states and the people, throughout the republic, were all opposed to any negotiation with the enemy, but lifted up his own voice, and in earnest language expressed his opinion of the queen's infatuation. "oh, my lord, what a treaty is this for peace," said he to burghley, "that we must treat, altogether disarmed and weakened, and the king having made his forces stronger than ever he had known in these parts, besides what is coming out, of spain, and yet we will presume of good conditions. it grieveth me to the heart. but i fear you will all smart for it, and i pray god her majesty feel it not, if it be his blessed will. she meaneth well and sincerely to have peace, but god knows that this is not the way. well, god almighty defend us and the realm, and especially her majesty. but look for a sharp war, or a miserable peace, to undo others and ourselves after." walsingham, too, was determined not to act as a commissioner. if his failing health did not serve as an excuse, he should be obliged to refuse, he said, and so forfeit her majesty's favour, rather than be instrumental in bringing about her ruin, and that of his country. never for an instant had the secretary of state faltered in his opposition to the timid policy of burghley. again and again he had detected the intrigues of the lord-treasurer and sir james croft, and ridiculed the "comptroller's peace." and especially did walsingham bewail the implicit confidence which the queen placed in the sugary words of alexander, and the fatal parsimony which caused her to neglect defending herself against scotland; for he was as well informed as was farnese himself of philip's arrangements with the scotch lords, and of the subsidies in men and money by which their invasion of england was to be made part of the great scheme. "no one thing," sighed walsingham, "doth more prognosticate an alteration of this estate, than that a prince of her majesty's judgment should neglect, in respect of a little charges, the stopping of so dangerous a gap . . . . . the manner of our cold and careless proceeding here, in this time of peril, maketh me to take no comfort of my recovery of health, for that i see, unless it shall please god in mercy and miraculously to preserve us, we cannot long stand." leicester, finding himself unable to counteract the policy of barneveld and his party, by expostulation or argument, conceived a very dangerous and criminal project before he left the country. the facts are somewhat veiled in mystery; but he was suspected, on weighty evidence, of a design to kidnap both maurice and barneveld, and carry them off to england. of this intention, which was foiled at any rate, before it could be carried into execution, there is perhaps not conclusive proof, but it has already been shown, from a deciphered letter, that the queen had once given buckhurst and wilkes peremptory orders to seize the person of hohenlo, and it is quite possible that similar orders may have been received at a later moment with regard to the young count and the advocate. at any rate, it is certain that late in the autumn, some friends of barneveld entered his bedroom, at the hague, in the dead of night, and informed him that a plot was on foot to lay violent hands upon him, and that an armed force was already on its way to execute this purpose of leicester, before the dawn of day. the advocate, without loss of time, took his departure for delft, a step which was followed, shortly afterwards, by maurice. nor was this the only daring--stroke which the earl had meditated. during the progress of the secret negotiations with parma, he had not neglected those still more secret schemes to which he had occasionally made allusion. he had determined, if possible, to obtain possession of the most important cities in holland and zeeland. it was very plain to him, that he could no longer hope, by fair means, for the great authority once conferred upon him by the free will of the states. it was his purpose, therefore, by force and stratagem to recover his lost power. we have heard the violent terms in which both the queen and the earl denounced the men who accused the english government of any such intention. it had been formally denied by the states-general that barneveld had ever used the language in that assembly with which he had been charged. he had only revealed to them the exact purport of the letter to junius, and of the queen's secret instructions to leicester. whatever he may have said in private conversation, and whatever deductions he may have made among his intimate friends, from the admitted facts in the case, could hardly be made matters of record. it does not appear that he, or the statesmen who acted with him, considered the earl capable of a deliberate design to sell the cities, thus to be acquired, to spain, as the price of peace for england. certainly elizabeth would have scorned such a crime, and was justly indignant at rumours prevalent to that effect; but the wrath of the queen and of her favourite were, perhaps, somewhat simulated, in order to cover their real mortification at the discovery of designs on the part of the earl which could not be denied. not only had they been at last compelled to confess these negotiations, which for several months had been concealed and stubbornly denied, but the still graver plots of the earl to regain his much-coveted authority had been, in a startling manner, revealed. the leaders of the states-general had a right to suspect the english earl of a design to reenact the part of the duke of anjou, and were justified in taking stringent measures to prevent a calamity, which, as they believed, was impending over their little commonwealth. the high-handed dealings of leicester in the city of utrecht have been already described. the most respectable and influential burghers of the place had been imprisoned and banished, the municipal government wrested from the hands to which it legitimately belonged, and confided to adventurers, who wore the cloak of calvinism to conceal their designs, and a successful effort had been made, in the name of democracy, to eradicate from one ancient province the liberty on which it prided itself. in the course of the autumn, an attempt was made to play the same game at amsterdam. a plot was discovered, before it was fairly matured, to seize the magistrates of that important city, to gain possession of the arsenals, and to place the government in the hands of well-known leicestrians. a list of fourteen influential citizens, drawn up in the writing of burgrave, the earl's confidential secretary, was found, all of whom, it was asserted, had been doomed to the scaffold. the plot to secure amsterdam had failed, but, in north holland, medenblik was held firmly for leicester, by diedrich sonoy, in the very teeth of the states. the important city of enkhuyzen, too, was very near being secured for the earl, but a still more significant movement was made at leyden. that heroic city, ever since the famous siege of , in which the spaniard had been so signally foiled, had distinguished itself by great liberality of sentiment in religious matters. the burghers were inspired by a love of country, and a hatred of oppression, both civil and, ecclesiastical; and papists and protestants, who had fought side by side against the common foe, were not disposed to tear each other to pieces, now that he had been excluded from their gates. meanwhile, however, refugee flemings and brabantines had sought an asylum in the city, and being, as usual, of the strictest sect of the calvinists were shocked at the latitudinarianism which prevailed. to the honour of the city--as it seems to us now--but, to their horror, it was even found that one or two papists had seats in the magistracy. more than all this, there was a school in the town kept by a catholic, and adrian van der werff himself--the renowned burgomaster, who had sustained the city during the dreadful leaguer of , and who had told the famishing burghers that they might eat him if they liked, but that they should never surrender to the spaniards while he remained alive--even adrian van der werff had sent his son to this very school? to the clamour made by the refugees against this spirit of toleration, one of the favourite preachers in the town, of arminian tendencies, had declared in the pulpit, that he would as lieve see the spanish as the calvinistic inquisition established over his country; using an expression, in regard to the church of geneva, more energetic than decorous. it was from leyden that the chief opposition came to a synod, by which a great attempt was to be made towards subjecting the new commonwealth to a masked theocracy; a scheme which the states of holland had resisted with might and main. the calvinistic party, waxing stronger in leyden, although still in a minority, at last resolved upon a strong effort to place the city in the hands of that great representative of calvinism, the earl of leicester. jacques volmar, a deacon of the church, cosmo de pescarengis, a genoese captain of much experience in the service of the republic, adolphus de meetkerke, former president of flanders, who had been, by the states, deprived of the seat in the great council to which the earl had appointed him; doctor saravia, professor of theology in the university, with other deacons, preachers, and captains, went at different times from leyden to utrecht, and had secret interviews with leicester. a plan was at last agreed upon, according to which, about the middle of october, a revolution should be effected in leyden. captain nicholas de maulde, who had recently so much distinguished himself in the defence of sluys, was stationed with two companies of states' troops in the city. he had been much disgusted--not without reason--at the culpable negligence through which the courageous efforts of the sluys garrison had been set at nought, and the place sacrificed, when it might so easily have been relieved; and he ascribed the whole of the guilt to maurice, hohenlo, and the states, although it could hardly be denied that at least an equal portion belonged to leicester and his party. the young captain listened, therefore, to a scheme propounded to him by colonel cosine, and deacon volmar, in the name of leicester. he agreed, on a certain day, to muster his company, to leave the city by the delft gate--as if by command of superior authority--to effect a junction with captain heraugiere, another of the distinguished malcontent defenders of sluys, who was stationed, with his command, at delft, and then to re-enter leyden, take possession of the town-hall, arrest all the magistrates, together with adrian van der werff, ex-burgomaster, and proclaim lord leicester, in the name of queen elizabeth, legitimate master of the city. a list of burghers, who were to be executed, was likewise agreed upon, at a final meeting of the conspirators in a hostelry, which bore the ominous name of 'the thunderbolt.' a desire had been signified by leicester, in the preliminary interviews at utrecht, that all bloodshed, if possible, should be spared, but it was certainly an extravagant expectation, considering the, temper, the political convictions, and the known courage of the leyden burghers, that the city would submit, without a struggle, to this invasion of all their rights. it could hardly be doubted that the streets would run red with blood, as those of antwerp had done, when a similar attempt, on the part of anjou, had been foiled. unfortunately for the scheme, a day or two before the great stroke was to be hazarded, cosmo de pescarengis had been accidentally arrested for debt. a subordinate accomplice, taking alarm, had then gone before the magistrate and revealed the plot. volmar and de maulde fled at once, but were soon arrested in the neighbourhood. president de meetkerke, professor saravia, the preacher van der wauw, and others most compromised, effected their escape. the matter was instantly laid before the states of holland by the magistracy of leyden, and seemed of the gravest moment. in the beginning of the year, the fatal treason of york and stanley had implanted a deep suspicion of leicester in the hearts of almost all the netherlanders, which could not be eradicated. the painful rumours concerning the secret negotiations with spain, and the design falsely attributed to the english queen, of selling the chief cities of the republic to philip as the price of peace, and of reimbursement for expenses incurred by her, increased the general excitement to fever. it was felt by the leaders of the states that as mortal a combat lay before them with the earl of leicester, as with the king of spain, and that it was necessary to strike a severe blow, in order to vindicate their imperilled authority. a commission was appointed by the high court of holland, acting in conjunction with the states of the provinces, to try the offenders. among the commissioners were adrian van der werff, john van der does, who had been military commandant of leyden during the siege, barneveld, and other distinguished personages, over whom count maurice presided. the accused were subjected to an impartial trial. without torture, they confessed their guilt. it is true, however, that cosmo was placed within sight of the rack. he avowed that his object had been to place the city under the authority of leicester, and to effect this purpose, if possible, without bloodshed. he declared that the attempt was to be made with the full knowledge and approbation of the earl, who had promised him the command of a regiment of twelve companies, as a recompense for his services, if they proved successful. leicester, said cosmo, had also pledged himself, in case the men, thus executing his plans, should be discovered and endangered, to protect and rescue them, even at the sacrifice of all his fortune, and of the office he held. when asked if he had any written statement from his excellency to that effect, cosmo replied, no, nothing but his princely word which he had voluntarily given. volmar made a similar confession. he, too, declared that he had acted throughout the affair by express command of the earl of leicester. being asked if he had any written evidence of the fact, he, likewise, replied in the negative. "then his excellency will unquestionably deny your assertion," said the judges. "alas, then am i a dead man," replied volmar, and the unfortunate deacon never spoke truer words. captain de maulde also confessed his crime. he did not pretend, however, to have had any personal communication with leicester, but said that the affair had been confided to him by colonel cosmo, on the express authority of the earl, and that he had believed himself to be acting in obedience to his excellency's commands. on the th october, after a thorough investigation, followed by a full confession on the part of the culprits, the three were sentenced to death. the decree was surely a most severe one. they had been guilty of no actual crime, and only in case of high treason could an intention to commit a crime be considered, by the laws of the state, an offence punishable with death. but it was exactly because it was important to make the crime high treason that the prisoners were condemned. the offence was considered as a crime not against leyden, but as an attempt to levy war upon a city which was a member of the states of holland and of the united states. if the states were sovereign, then this was a lesion of their sovereignty. moreover, the offence had been aggravated by the employment of united states' troops against the commonwealth of the united states itself. to cut off the heads of these prisoners was a sharp practical answer to the claims of sovereignty by leicester, as representing the people, and a terrible warning to all who might, in future; be disposed to revive the theories of deventer and burgrave. in the case of de maulde the punishment seemed especially severe. his fate excited universal sympathy, and great efforts were made to obtain his pardon. he was a universal favourite; he was young; he was very handsome; his manners were attractive; he belonged to an ancient and honourable race. his father, the seigneur de mansart, had done great services in the war of independence, had been an intimate friend of the great prince of orange, and had even advanced large sums of money to assist his noble efforts to liberate the country. two brothers of the young captain had fallen in the service of the republic. he, too, had distinguished himself at ostend, and his gallantry during the recent siege of sluys had been in every mouth, and had excited the warm applause of so good a judge of soldiership as the veteran roger williams. the scars of the wounds received in the desperate conflicts of that siege were fresh upon his breast. he had not intended to commit treason, but, convinced by the sophistry of older soldiers than himself, as well as by learned deacons and theologians, he had imagined himself doing his duty, while obeying the earl of leicester. if there were ever a time for mercy, this seemed one, and young maurice of nassau might have remembered, that even in the case of the assassins who had attempted the life of his father, that great-hearted man had lifted up his voice--which seemed his dying one--in favour of those who had sought his life. but they authorities were inexorable. there was no hope of a mitigation of punishment, but a last effort was made, under favour of a singular ancient custom, to save the life of de maulde. a young lady of noble family in leyden--uytenbroek by name--claimed the right of rescuing the condemned malefactor, from the axe, by appearing upon the scaffold, and offering to take him for her husband. intelligence was brought to the prisoner in his dungeon, that the young, lady had made the proposition, and he was told to be of good cheer: but he refused to be comforted. he was slightly acquainted with the gentle- woman, he observed; and doubted much whether her request would be granted. moreover if contemporary chronicle can be trusted he even expressed a preference for the scaffold, as the milder fate of the two. the lady, however, not being aware of those uncomplimentary sentiments, made her proposal to the magistrates, but was dismissed with harsh rebukes. she had need be ashamed, they said; of her willingness to take a condemned traitor for her husband. it was urged, in her behalf, that even in the cruel alva's time, the ancient custom had been respected, and that victims had been saved from the executioners, on a demand in marriage made even by women of abandoned character. but all was of no avail. the prisoners were executed on the th october, the same day on which the sentence had been pronounced. the heads of volmar and cosmo were exposed on one of the turrets of the city. that of maulde was interred with his body. the earl was indignant when he heard of the event. as there had been no written proof of his complicity in the conspiracy, the judges had thought it improper to mention his name in the sentences. he, of course, denied any knowledge of the plot, and its proof rested therefore only on the assertion of the prisoners themselves, which, however, was circumstantial, voluntary, and generally believed! france, during the whole of this year of expectation, was ploughed throughout its whole surface by perpetual civil war. the fatal edict of june, , had drowned the unhappy land in blood. foreign armies, called in by the various contending factions, ravaged its-fair territory, butchered its peasantry, and changed its fertile plains to a wilderness. the unhappy creature who wore the crown of charlemagne and of hugh capet, was but the tool in the hands of the most profligate and designing of his own subjects, and of foreigners. slowly and surely the net, spread by the hands of his own mother, of his own prime minister, of the duke of guise, all obeying the command and receiving the stipend of philip, seemed closing over him. he was without friends, without power to know his friends, if he had them. in his hatred to the reformation, he had allowed himself to be made the enemy of the only man who could be his friend, or the friend of france. allied with his mortal foe, whose armies were strengthened by contingents from parma's forces, and paid for by spanish gold, he was forced to a mock triumph over the foreign mercenaries who came to save his crown, and to submit to the defeat of the flower of his chivalry, by the only man who could rescue france from ruin, and whom france could look up to with respect. for, on the th october, henry of navarre had at last gained a victory. after twenty-seven years of perpetual defeat, during which they had been growing stronger and stronger, the protestants had met the picked troops of henry iii., under the due de joyeuse, near the burgh of contras. his cousins conde and soissons each commanded a wing in the army of the warnese. "you are both of my family," said henry, before the engagement, "and the lord so help me, but i will show you that i am the eldest born." and during that bloody day the white plume was ever tossing where the battle, was fiercest. "i choose to show myself. they shall see the bearnese," was his reply to those who implored him to have a care for his personal safety. and at last, when the day was done, the victory gained, and more french nobles lay dead on the field, as catharine de' medici bitterly declared, than had fallen in a battle for twenty years; when two thousand of the king's best troops had been slain, and when the bodies of joyeuse and his brother had been laid out in the very room where the conqueror's supper, after the battle, was served, but where he refused, with a shudder, to eat, he was still as eager as before--had the wretched valois been possessed of a spark of manhood, or of intelligence--to shield him and his kingdom from the common enemy.' for it could hardly be doubtful, even to henry iii., at that moment, that philip ii. and his jackal, the duke of guise, were pursuing him to the death, and that, in his breathless doublings to escape, he had been forced to turn upon his natural protector. and now joyeuse was defeated and slain. had it been my brother's son," exclaimed cardinal de bourbon, weeping and wailing, "how much better it would have been." it was not easy to slay the champion of french protestantism; yet, to one less buoyant, the game, even after the brilliant but fruitless victory of contras, might have seemed desperate. beggared and outcast, with literally scarce a shirt to his back, without money to pay a corporal's guard, how was he to maintain an army? but 'mucio' was more successful than joyeuse had been, and the german and swiss mercenaries who had come across the border to assist the bearnese, were adroitly handled by philip's great stipendiary. henry of valois, whose troops had just been defeated at contras, was now compelled to participate in a more fatal series of triumphs. for alas, the victim had tied himself to the apron-string of "madam league," and was paraded by her, in triumph, before the eyes of his own subjects and of the world. the passage of the loire by the auxiliaries was resisted; a series of petty victories was gained by guise, and, at last, after it was obvious that the leaders of the legions had been corrupted with spanish ducats, henry allowed them to depart, rather than give the balafre opportunity for still farther successes. then came the triumph in paris--hosannahs in the churches, huzzas in the public places--not for the king, but for guise. paris, more madly in love with her champion than ever, prostrated herself at his feet. for him paeans as to a deliverer. without him the ark would have fallen into the hands of the philistines. for the valois, shouts of scorn from the populace, thunders from the pulpit, anathemas from monk and priest, elaborate invectives from all the pedants of the sorbonne, distant mutterings of excommunication from rome--not the toothless beldame of modern days, but the avenging divinity of priest-rid monarchs. such were the results of the edicts of june. spain and the pope had trampled upon france, and the populace in her capital clapped their hands and jumped for joy. "miserable country miserable king," sighed an illustrious patriot, "whom his own countrymen wish rather to survive, than to die to defend him! let the name of huguenot and of papist be never heard of more. let us think only of the counter-league. is france to be saved by opening all its gates to spain? is france to be turned out of france, to make a lodging for the lorrainer and the spaniard?" pregnant questions, which could not yet be answered, for the end was not yet. france was to become still more and more a wilderness. and well did that same brave and thoughtful lover, of his: country declare, that he who should suddenly awake from a sleep of twenty-five years, and revisit that once beautiful land, would deem himself transplanted to a barbarous island of cannibals.--[duplessis mornay, 'mem.' iv. - .] it had now become quite obvious that the game of leicester was played out. his career--as it has now been fully exhibited--could have but one termination. he had made himself thoroughly odious to the nation whom he came to govern. he had lost for ever the authority once spontaneously bestowed; and he had attempted in vain, both by fair means and foul, to recover that power. there was nothing left him but retreat. of this he was thoroughly convinced. he was anxious to be gone, the republic most desirous to be rid of him, her majesty impatient to have her favourite back again. the indulgent queen, seeing nothing to blame in his conduct, while her indignation, at the attitude maintained by the provinces was boundless, permitted him, accordingly, to return; and in her letter to the states, announcing this decision, she took a fresh opportunity of emptying her wrath upon their heads. she told them, that, notwithstanding her frequent messages to them, signifying her evil contentment with their unthankfulness for her exceeding great benefits, and with their gross violations of their contract with herself and with leicester, whom they had, of their own accord, made absolute governor without her instigation; she had never received any good answer to move, her to commit their sins to oblivion, nor had she remarked, any amendment in their conduct. on the contrary, she complained: that they daily increased their offences, most notoriously in the sight of--the world and in so many points that she lacked words to express them in one letter. she however thought it worth while to allude to some of their transgressions. she, declared that their sinister, or rather barbarous interpretation of her conduct had been notorious in perverting and falsifying her princely and christian intentions; when she imparted to them the overtures that had been made to her for a treaty of peace for herself and for them with the king of spain. yet although she had required their allowance, before she would give her assent, she had been grieved that the world should see what impudent untruths had been forged upon her, not only by their. sufferance; but by their special permission for her christian good meaning towards them. she denounced the statements as to her having concluded a treaty, not only without their knowledge; but with the sacrifice of their liberty and religion, as utterly false, either for anything done in act, or intended in thought, by her. she complained that upon this most false ground had been heaped a number of like untruths and malicious slanders against her cousin leicester, who had hazarded his life, spend his substance, left his native country, absented himself from her, and lost his time, only for their service. it had been falsely stated among them, she said, that the earl had come over the last time, knowing that peace had been secretly concluded. it was false that he had intended to surprise divers of their towns, and deliver them to the king of spain. all such untruths contained matter so improbable, that it was most, strange that any person; having any sense, could imagine them correct. having thus slightly animadverted upon their wilfulness, unthankfulness, and bad government, and having, in very plain english, given them the lie, eight distinct and separate times upon a single page, she proceeded to inform them that she had recalled her cousin leicester, having great cause to use his services in england, and not seeing how, by his tarrying there, he could either profit them or herself. nevertheless she protested herself not void of compassion for their estate, and for the pitiful condition of the great multitude of kind and godly people, subject to the miseries which, by the states government, were like to fall upon them, unless god should specially interpose; and she had therefore determined, for the time, to continue her subsidies, according to the covenant between them. if, meantime, she should conclude a peace with spain, she promised to them the same care for their country as for her own. accordingly the earl, after despatching an equally ill-tempered letter to the states, in which he alluded, at unmerciful length, to all the old grievances, blamed them for the loss of sluys, for which place he protested that they had manifested no more interest than if it had been san domingo in hispaniola, took his departure for flushing. after remaining there, in a very moody frame of mind, for several days, expecting that the states would, at least, send a committee to wait upon him and receive his farewells, he took leave of them by letter. "god send me shortly a wind to blow me from them all," he exclaimed--a prayer which was soon granted--and before the end of the year he was safely landed in england. "these legs of mine," said he, clapping his hands upon them as he sat in his chamber at margate, "shall never go again into holland. let the states get others to serve their mercenary turn, for me they shall not have." upon giving up the government, he caused a medal to be struck in his own honour. the device was a flock of sheep watched by an english mastiff. two mottoes--"non gregem aed ingratos," and "invitus desero"--expressed his opinion of dutch ingratitude and his own fidelity. the hollanders, on their part, struck several medals to commemorate the same event, some of which were not destitute of invention. upon one of them, for instance, was represented an ape smothering her young ones to death in her embrace, with the device, "libertas ne its chara ut simiae catuli;" while upon the reverse was a man avoiding smoke and falling into the fire, with the inscription, "fugiens fumum, incidit in ignem." leicester found the usual sunshine at greenwich. all the efforts of norris, wilkes, and buckhurst, had been insufficient to raise even a doubt in elizabeth's mind as to the wisdom and integrity by which his administration of the provinces had been characterised from beginning to end. those who had appealed from his hatred to the justice of their sovereign, had met with disgrace and chastisement. but for the great earl; the queen's favour was a rock of adamant. at a private interview he threw himself at her feet, and with tears and sobs implored her not to receive him in disgrace whom she had sent forth in honour. his blandishments prevailed, as they had always done. instead, therefore, of appearing before the council, kneeling, to answer such inquiries as ought surely to have been instituted, he took his seat boldly among his colleagues, replying haughtily to all murmurs by a reference to her majesty's secret instructions. the unhappy english soldiers, who had gone forth under his banner in midsummer, had been returning, as they best might, in winter, starving, half-naked wretches, to beg a morsel of bread at the gates of greenwich palace, and to be driven away as vagabonds, with threats of the stock. this was not the fault of the earl, for he had fed them with his own generous hand in the netherlands, week after week, when no money for their necessities could be obtained from the paymasters. two thousand pounds had been sent by elizabeth to her soldiers when sixty-four thousand pounds arrearage were due, and no language could exaggerate the misery to which these outcasts, according to eye-witnesses of their own nation, were reduced. lord willoughby was appointed to the command, of what remained of these unfortunate troops, upon--the earl's departure. the sovereignty of the netherlands remained undisputed with the states. leicester resigned his, commission by an instrument dated / december, which, however, never reached the netherlands till april of the following year. from that time forth the government of the republic maintained the same forms which the assembly had claimed for it in the long controversy with the governor- general, and which have been sufficiently described. meantime the negotiations for a treaty, no longer secret, continued. the queen; infatuated as ever, still believed in the sincerity of farnese, while that astute personage and his master were steadily maturing their schemes. a matrimonial alliance was secretly projected between the king of scots and philip's daughter, the infants isabella, with the consent of the pope and the whole college of cardinals; and james, by the whole force of the holy league, was to be placed upon the throne of elizabeth. in the case of his death, without issue, philip was to succeed quietly to the crowns of england, scotland, and ireland. nothing could be simpler or more rational, and accordingly these arrangements were the table-talk at rome, and met with general approbation. communications to this effect; coming straight from the colonna palace, were thought sufficiently circumstantial to be transmitted to the english government. maurice of nassau wrote with his own hand to walsingham, professing a warm attachment to the cause in which holland and england were united, and perfect personal devotion to the english queen. his language, was not that of a youth, who, according to leicester's repeated insinuations, was leagued with the most distinguished soldiers and statesmen of the netherlands to sell their country to spain. but elizabeth was not to be convinced. she thought it extremely probable that the provinces would be invaded, and doubtless felt some anxiety for england. it was unfortunate that the possession of sluys had given alexander such a point of vantage; and there was moreover, a fear that he might take possession of ostend. she had, therefore, already recommended that her own troops should be removed from that city, that its walls should be razed; its marine bulwarks destroyed, and that the ocean. should be let in to swallow the devoted city forever--the inhabitants having been previously allowed to take their departure. for it was assumed by her majesty that to attempt resistance would be idle, and that ostend could never stand a siege. the advice was not taken; and before the end of her reign elizabeth was destined to see this indefensible city--only fit, in her judgment, to be abandoned to the waves--become memorable; throughout all time, for the longest; and, in many respects, the most remarkable siege which modern history has recorded, the famous leaguer, in which the first european captains of the coming age were to take their lessons, year after year, in the school of the great dutch soldier, who was now but a "solemn, sly youth," just turned of twenty. the only military achievement which characterized the close of the year, to the great satisfaction of the provinces and the annoyance of parma, was the surprise of the city of bonn. the indefatigable martin schenk-- in fulfilment of his great contract with the states-general, by which the war on the rhine had been farmed out to him on such profitable terms:-- had led his mercenaries against this important town. he had found one of its gates somewhat insecurely guarded, placed a mortar under it at night, and occupied a neighbouring pig-stye with a number of his men, who by chasing, maltreating, and slaughtering the swine, had raised an unearthly din, sufficient to drown the martial operations at the gate. in brief, the place was easily mastered, and taken possession of by martin, in the name of the deposed elector, gebhard truchsess--the first stroke of good fortune which had for a long time befallen that melancholy prelate. the administration of leicester has been so minutely pictured, that it would be superfluous to indulge in many concluding reflections. his acts and words have been made to speak for themselves. his career in the country has been described with much detail, because the period was a great epoch of transition. the republic of the netherlands, during those years, acquired consistency and permanent form. it seemed possible, on the earl's first advent, that the provinces might become part and parcel of the english realm. whether such a consummation would have been desirable or not, is a fruitless enquiry. but it is certain that the selection of such a man as leicester made that result impossible. doubtless there were many errors committed by all parties. the queen was supposed by the netherlands to be secretly desirous of accepting the sovereignty of the provinces, provided she were made sure, by the earl's experience, that they were competent to protect themselves. but this suspicion was unfounded. the result of every investigation showed the country so full of resources, of wealth, and of military and naval capabilities, that, united with england, it would have been a source of great revenue and power, not a burthen and an expense. yet, when convinced of such facts, by the statistics which were liberally laid before her by her confidential agents, she never manifested, either in public or private, any intention of accepting the sovereignty. this being her avowed determination, it was an error on the part of the states, before becoming thoroughly acquainted with the man's character, to confer upon leicester the almost boundless authority which they granted on, his first arrival. it was a still graver mistake, on the part of elizabeth, to give way to such explosions of fury, both against the governor and the states, when informed of the offer and acceptance of that authority. the earl, elevated by the adulation of others, and by his own vanity, into an almost sovereign attitude, saw himself chastised before the world, like an aspiring lackey, by her in whose favour he had felt most secure. he found, himself, in an instant, humbled and ridiculous. between himself and the queen it was, something of a lovers' quarrel, and he soon found balsam in the hand that smote him. but though reinstated in authority, he was never again the object of reverence in the land he was attempting to rule. as he came to know the netherlanders better, he recognized the great capacity which their statesmen concealed under a plain and sometimes a plebeian exterior, and the splendid grandee hated, where at first he had only despised. the netherlanders, too, who had been used to look up almost with worship to a plain man of kindly manners, in felt hat and bargeman's woollen jacket, whom they called "father william," did not appreciate, as they ought, the magnificence of the stranger who had been sent to govern them. the earl was handsome, quick-witted, brave; but he was, neither wise in council nor capable in the field. he was intolerably arrogant, passionate, and revengeful. he hated easily, and he hated for life. it was soon obvious that no cordiality of feeling or of action could exist between him and the plain, stubborn hollanders. he had the fatal characteristic of loving only the persons who flattered him. with much perception of character, sense of humour, and appreciation of intellect, he recognized the power of the leading men in the nation, and sought to gain them. so long as he hoped success, he was loud in their praises. they were all wise, substantial, well-languaged, big fellows, such as were not to be found in england or anywhere else. when they refused to be made his tools, they became tinkers, boors, devils, and atheists. he covered them with curses and devoted them to the gibbet. he began by warmly commending buys and barneveld, hohenlo and maurice, and endowing them with every virtue. before he left the country he had accused them of every crime, and would cheerfully, if he could, have taken the life of every one of them. and it was quite the same with nearly every englishman who served with or under him. wilkes and buckhurst, however much the objects of his previous esteem; so soon as they ventured to censure or even to criticise his proceedings, were at once devoted to perdition. yet, after minute examination of the record, public and private, neither wilkes nor buckhurst can be found guilty of treachery or animosity towards him, but are proved to have been governed, in all their conduct, by a strong sense of duty to their sovereign, the netherlands, and leicester himself. to sir john norris, it must be allowed, that he was never fickle, for he had always entertained for that distinguished general an honest, unswerving, and infinite hatred, which was not susceptible of increase or diminution by any act or word. pelham, too, whose days were numbered, and who was dying bankrupt and broken-hearted, at the close of the, earl's administration, had always been regarded by him with tenderness and affection. but pelham had never thwarted him, had exposed his life for him, and was always proud of being his faithful, unquestioning, humble adherent. with perhaps this single exception, leicester found himself at the end of his second term in the provinces, without a single friend and with few respectable partisans. subordinate mischievous intriguers like deventer, junius, and otheman, were his chief advisers and the instruments of his schemes. with such qualifications it was hardly possible--even if the current of affairs had been flowing smoothly--that he should prove a successful governor of the new republic. but when the numerous errors and adventitious circumstances are considered--for some of which he was responsible, while of others he was the victim--it must be esteemed fortunate that no great catastrophe occurred. his immoderate elevation; his sudden degradation, his controversy in regard to the sovereignty, his abrupt departure for england, his protracted absence, his mistimed return, the secret instructions for his second administration, the obstinate parsimony and persistent ill-temper of the queen--who, from the beginning to the end of the earl's government, never addressed a kindly word to the netherlanders, but was ever censuring and brow beating them in public state-papers and private epistles--the treason of york and stanley, above all, the disastrous and concealed negotiations with parma, and the desperate attempts upon amsterdam and leyden--all placed him in a most unfortunate position from first to last. but he was not competent for his post under any circumstances. he was not the statesman to deal in policy with buys, barneveld, ortel, sainte aldegonde; nor the soldier to measure himself against alexander farnese. his administration was a failure; and although he repeatedly hazarded his life, and poured out his wealth in their behalf with an almost unequalled liberality, he could never gain the hearts of the netherlanders. english valour, english intelligence, english truthfulness, english generosity, were endearing england more and more to holland. the statesmen of both countries were brought into closest union, and learned to appreciate and to respect each other, while they recognized that the fate of their respective commonwealths was indissolubly united. but it was to the efforts of walsingham, drake, raleigh, wilkes, buckburst, norris, willoughby, williams, vere, russell, and the brave men who fought under their banners or their counsels, on every battle-field, and in every beleaguered town in the netherlands, and to the universal spirit and sagacity of the english nation, in this grand crisis of its fate, that these fortunate results were owing; not to the earl of leicester, nor--during the term of his administration--to queen elizabeth herself. in brief, the proper sphere of this remarkable personage, and the one in which he passed the greater portion of his existence, was that of a magnificent court favourite, the spoiled darling, from youth to his death-bed, of the great english queen; whether to the advantage or not of his country and the true interests of his sovereign, there can hardly be at this day any difference of opinion. etext editor's bookmarks: act of uniformity required papists to assist as lieve see the spanish as the calvinistic inquisition elizabeth (had not) the faintest idea of religious freedom god, whose cause it was, would be pleased to give good weather heretics to the english church were persecuted look for a sharp war, or a miserable peace loving only the persons who flattered him not many more than two hundred catholics were executed only citadel against a tyrant and a conqueror was distrust stake or gallows (for) heretics to transubstantiation states were justified in their almost unlimited distrust undue anxiety for impartiality wealthy papists could obtain immunity by an enormous fine history of the united netherlands volume ii. from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley chapter ix. military plans in the netherlands--the elector and electorate of cologne--martin schenk--his career before serving the states-- franeker university founded--parma attempts grave--battle on the meuse--success and vainglory of leicester--st. george's day triumphantly kept at utrecht--parma not so much appalled as it was thought--he besieges and reduces grave--and is master of the meuse-- leicester's rage at the surrender of grave--his revenge--parma on the rhine--he besieges aid assaults neusz--horrible fate of the garrison and city--which leicester was unable to relieve--asel surprised by maurice and sidney--the zeeland regiment given to sidney--condition of the irish and english troops--leicester takes the field--he reduces doesburg--he lays siege to zutphen--which parma prepares to relieve--the english intercept the convoy--battle of warnsfeld--sir philip sidney wounded--results of the encounter-- death of sidney at arnheim--gallantry of edward stanley. five great rivers hold the netherland territory in their coils. three are but slightly separated--the yssel, waal, and ancient rhine, while the scheldt and, meuse are spread more widely asunder. along each of these streams were various fortified cities, the possession of which, in those days, when modern fortification was in its infancy, implied the control of the surrounding country. the lower part of all the rivers, where they mingled with the sea and became wide estuaries, belonged to the republic, for the coasts and the ocean were in the hands of the hollanders and english. above, the various strong places were alternately in the hands of the spaniards and of the patriots. thus antwerp, with the other scheldt cities, had fallen into parma's power, but flushing, which controlled them all, was held by philip sidney for the queen and states. on the meuse, maastricht and roermond were spanish, but yenloo, grave, meghem, and other towns, held for the commonwealth. on the waal, the town of nymegen had, through the dexterity of martin schenk, been recently transferred to the royalists, while the rest of that river's course was true to the republic. the rhine, strictly so called, from its entrance into netherland, belonged to the rebels. upon its elder branch, the yssel, zutphen was in parma's hands, while, a little below, deventer had been recently and adroitly saved by leicester and count meurs from falling into the same dangerous grasp. thus the triple rhine, after it had crossed the german frontier, belonged mainly, although not exclusively, to the states. but on the edge of the batavian territory, the ancient river, just before dividing itself into its three branches, flowed through a debatable country which was even more desolate and forlorn, if possible, than the land of the obedient provinces. this unfortunate district was the archi-episcopal electorate of cologne. the city of cologne itself, neusz, and rheinberg, on the river, werll and other places in westphalia and the whole country around, were endangered, invaded, ravaged, and the inhabitants plundered, murdered, and subjected to every imaginable outrage, by rival bands of highwaymen, enlisted in the support of the two rival bishops--beggars, outcasts, but high-born and learned churchmen both--who disputed the electorate. at the commencement of the year a portion of the bishopric was still in the control of the deposed protestant elector gebhard truchsess, assisted of course by the english and the states. the city of cologne was held by the catholic elector, ernest of bavaria, bishop of liege; but neusz and rheinberg were in the hands of the dutch republic. the military operations of the year were, accordingly, along the meuse, where the main object of parma was to wrest grave from the netherlands; along the waal, where, on the other hand, the patriots wished to recover nymegen; on the yssel, where they desired to obtain the possession of zutphen; and in the cologne electorate, where the spaniards meant, if possible, to transfer neusz and rheinberg from truchsess to elector ernest. to clear the course of these streams, and especially to set free that debatable portion of the river-territory which hemmed him in from neutral germany, and cut off the supplies from his starving troops, was the immediate design of alexander farnese. nothing could be more desolate than the condition of the electorate. ever since gebhard truchsess had renounced the communion of the catholic church for the love of agnes mansfeld, and so gained a wife and lost his principality, he had been a dependant upon the impoverished nassaus, or a supplicant for alms to the thrifty elizabeth. the queen was frequently implored by leicester, without much effect, to send the ex-elector a few hundred pounds to keep him from starving, as "he had not one groat to live upon," and, a little later, he was employed as a go-between, and almost a spy, by the earl, in his quarrels with the patrician party rapidly forming against him in the states. at godesberg--the romantic ruins of which stronghold the traveller still regards with interest, placed as it is in the midst of that enchanting region where drachenfels looks down on the crumbling tower of roland and the convent of nonnenwerth--the unfortunate gebhard had sustained a conclusive defeat. a small, melancholy man, accomplished, religious, learned, "very poor but very wise," comely, but of mean stature, altogether an unlucky and forlorn individual, he was not, after all, in very much inferior plight to that in which his rival, the bavarian bishop, had found himself. prince ernest, archbishop of liege and cologne, a hangeron of his brother, who sought to shake him off, and a stipendiary of philip, who was a worse paymaster than elizabeth, had a sorry life of it, notwithstanding his nominal possession of the see. he was forced to go, disguised and in secret, to the prince of parma at brussels, to ask for assistance, and to mention, with lacrymose vehemence, that both his brother and himself had determined to renounce the episcopate, unless the forces of the spanish king could be employed to recover the cities on the rhine. if neusz and rheinberg were not wrested from the rebels; cologne itself would soon be gone. ernest represented most eloquently to alexander, that if the protestant archbishop were reinstated in the ancient see, it would be a most perilous result for the ancient church throughout all northern europe. parma kept the wandering prelate for a few days in his palace in brussels, and then dismissed him, disguised and on foot, in the dusk of the evening, through the park-gate. he encouraged him with hopes of assistance, he represented to his sovereign the importance of preserving the rhenish territory to bishop ernest and to catholicism, but hinted that the declared intention of the bavarian to resign the dignity, was probably a trick, because the archi-episcopate was no such very bad thing after all. the archi-episcopate might be no very bad thing, but it was a most uncomfortable place of residence, at the moment, for prince or peasant. overrun by hordes of brigands, and crushed almost out of existence by that most deadly of all systems of taxations, the 'brandschatzung,' it was fast becoming a mere den of thieves. the 'brandschatzung' had no name in english, but it was the well-known impost, levied by roving commanders, and even by respectable generals of all nations. a hamlet, cluster of farm-houses, country district, or wealthy city, in order to escape being burned and ravaged, as the penalty of having fallen into a conqueror's hands, paid a heavy sum of ready money on the nail at command of the conqueror. the free companions of the sixteenth century drove a lucrative business in this particular branch of industry; and when to this was added the more direct profits derived from actual plunder, sack, and ransoming, it was natural that a large fortune was often the result to the thrifty and persevering commander of free lances. of all the professors of this comprehensive art, the terrible martin schenk was preeminent; and he was now ravaging the cologne territory, having recently passed again to the service of the states. immediately connected with the chief military events of the period which now occupies us, he was also the very archetype of the marauders whose existence was characteristic of the epoch. born in of an ancient and noble family of gelderland, martin schenk had inherited no property but a sword. serving for a brief term as page to the seigneur of ysselstein, he joined, while yet a youth, the banner of william of orange, at the head of two men-at-arms. the humble knight-errant, with his brace of squires, was received with courtesy by the prince and the estates, but he soon quarrelled with his patrons. there was a castle of blyenbeek, belonging to his cousin, which he chose to consider his rightful property, because he was of the same race, and because it was a convenient and productive estate and residence, the courts had different views of public law, and supported the ousted cousin. martin shut himself up in the castle, and having recently committed a rather discreditable homicide, which still further increased his unpopularity with the patriots, he made overtures to parma. alexander was glad to enlist so bold a soldier on his side, and assisted schenk in his besieged stronghold. for years afterwards, his services under the king's banner were most brilliant, and he rose to the highest military command, while his coffers, meantime, were rapidly filling with the results of his robberies and 'brandschatzungs.' "'tis a most courageous fellow," said parma, "but rather a desperate highwayman than a valiant soldier." martin's couple of lances had expanded into a corps of free companions, the most truculent, the most obedient, the most rapacious in christendom. never were freebooters more formidable to the world at large, or more docile to their chief, than were the followers of general schenk. never was a more finished captain of highwaymen. he was a man who was never sober, yet who never smiled. his habitual intoxication seemed only to increase both his audacity and his taciturnity, without disturbing his reason. he was incapable of fear, of fatigue, of remorse. he could remain for days and nights without dismounting-eating, drinking, and sleeping in the saddle; so that to this terrible centaur his horse seemed actually a part of himself. his soldiers followed him about like hounds, and were treated by him like hounds. he habitually scourged them, often took with his own hand the lives of such as displeased him, and had been known to cause individuals of them to jump from the top of church steeples at his command; yet the pack were ever stanch to his orders, for they knew that he always led them where the game was plenty. while serving under parma he had twice most brilliantly defeated hohenlo. at the battle of hardenberg heath he had completely outgeneralled that distinguished chieftain, slaying fifteen hundred of his soldiers at the expense of only fifty or sixty of his own. by this triumph he had preserved the important city of groningen for philip, during an additional quarter of a century, and had been received in that city with rapture. several startling years of victory and rapine he had thus run through as a royalist partisan. he became the terror and the scourge of his native gelderland, and he was covered with wounds received in the king's service. he had been twice captured and held for ransom. twice he had effected his escape. he had recently gained the city of nymegen. he was the most formidable, the most unscrupulous, the most audacious netherlander that wore philip's colours; but he had received small public reward for his services, and the wealth which he earned on the high-road did not suffice for his ambition. he had been deeply disgusted, when, at the death of count renneberg, verdugo, a former stable-boy of mansfeld, a spaniard who had risen from the humblest rank to be a colonel and general, had been made governor of friesland. he had smothered his resentment for a time however, but had sworn within himself to desert at the most favourable opportunity. at last, after he had brilliantly saved the city of breda from falling into the hands of the patriots, he was more enraged than he had ever been before, when haultepenne, of the house of berlapmont, was made governor of that place in his stead. on the th of may, , at an hour after midnight, he had a secret interview with count meurs, stadholder for the states of gelderland, and agreed to transfer his mercenary allegiance to the republic. he made good terms. he was to be lieutenant-governor of gelderland, and he was to have rank as marshal of the camp in the states' army, with a salary of twelve hundred and fifty guilders a month. he agreed to resign his famous castle of blyenbeek, but was to be reimbursed with estates in holland and zeeland, of the annual value of four thousand florins. after this treaty, martin and his free lances served the states faithfully, and became sworn foes to parma and the king. he gave and took no quarter, and his men, if captured, "paid their ransom with their heads." he ceased to be the scourge of gelderland, but he became the terror of the electorate. early in , accompanied by herman kloet, the young and daring dutch commandant of neusz, he had swept down into the westphalian country, at the head of five hundred foot and five hundred horse. on the th of march he captured the city of werll by a neat stratagem. the citizens, hemmed in on all sides by marauders, were in want of many necessaries of life, among other things, of salt. martin had, from time to time, sent some of his soldiers into the place, disguised as boors from the neighbourhood, and carrying bags of that article. a pacific trading intercourse had thus been established between the burghers within and the banditti without the gates. agreeable relations were formed within the walls, and a party of townsmen had agreed to cooperate with the followers of schenk. one morning a train of waggons laden with soldiers neatly covered with salt, made their appearance at the gate. at the same time a fire broke out most opportunely within the town. the citizens busily employed themselves in extinguishing the flames. the salted soldiers, after passing through the gateway, sprang from the waggons, and mastered the watch. the town was. carried at a blow. some of the inhabitants were massacred as a warning to the rest; others were taken prisoners and held for ransom; a few, more fortunate, made their escape to the citadel. that fortress was stormed in vain, but the city was thoroughly sacked. every house was rifled of its contents. meantime haultepenne collected a force of nearly four thousand men, boors, citizens, and soldiers, and came to besiege schenk in the town, while, at the same time, attacks were made upon him from the castle. it was impossible for him to hold the city, but he had completely robbed it of every thing valuable. accordingly he loaded a train of waggons with his booty, took with him thirty of the magistrates as hostages, with other wealthy citizens, and marching in good order against haultepenne, completely routed him, killing a number variously estimated at from five hundred to two thousand, and effected his retreat, desperately wounded in the thigh, but triumphant, and laden with the spoils to venlo on the meuse, of which city he was governor. "surely this is a noble fellow, a worthy fellow," exclaimed leicester, who was filled with admiration at the bold marauder's progress, and vowed that he was "the only soldier in truth that they had, for he was never idle, and had succeeded hitherto very happily." and thus, at every point of the doomed territory of the little commonwealth, the natural atmosphere in which the inhabitants existed was one of blood and rapine. yet during the very slight lull, which was interposed in the winter of - to the eternal clang of arms in friesland, the estates of that province, to their lasting honour, founded the university of franeker. a dozen years before, the famous institution at leyden had been established, as a reward to the burghers for their heroic defence of the city. and now this new proof was given of the love of netherlanders, even in the midst of their misery and their warfare, for the more humane arts. the new college was well endowed from ancient churchlands, and not only was the education made nearly gratuitous, while handsome salaries were provided for the professors, but provision was made by which the poorer scholars could be fed and boarded at a very moderate expense. there was a table provided at an annual cost to the student of but fifty florins, and a second and third table at the very low price of forty and thirty florins respectively. thus the sum to be paid by the poorer class of scholars for a year's maintenance was less than three pounds sterling a year [ exchange rate d.w.]. the voice with which this infant seminary of the muses first made itself heard above the din of war was but feeble, but the institution was destined to thrive, and to endow the world, for many successive generations, with the golden fruits of science and genius. early in the spring, the war was seriously taken in hand by farnese. it has already been seen that the republic had been almost entirely driven out of flanders and brabant. the estates, however, still held grave, megem, batenburg, and venlo upon the meuse. that river formed, as it were, a perfect circle of protection for the whole province of brabant, and farnese determined to make himself master of this great natural moat. afterwards, he meant to possess himself of the rhine, flowing in a parallel course, about twenty-five miles further to the east. in order to gain and hold the meuse, the first step was to reduce the city of grave. that town, upon the left or brabant bank, was strongly fortified on its land-side, where it was surrounded by low and fertile pastures, while, upon the other, it depended upon its natural toss, the river. it was, according to lord north and the earl of leicester, the "strongest town in all the low countries, though but a little one." baron hemart, a young gueldrian noble, of small experience in military affairs, commanded in the city, his garrison being eight hundred soldiers, and about one thousand burgher guard. as early as january, farnese had ordered count mansfeld to lay siege to the place. five forts had accordingly been constructed, above and below the town, upon the left bank of the river, while a bridge of boats thrown across the stream led to a fortified camp on the opposite side. mansfeld, mondragon, bobadil, aquila, and other distinguished veterans in philip's service, were engaged in the enterprise. a few unimportant skirmishes between schenk and the spaniards had taken place, but the city was already hard pressed, and, by the series of forts which environed it, was cut off from its supplies. it was highly important, therefore, that grave should be relieved, with the least possible delay. early in easter week, a force of three thousand men, under hohenlo and sir john norris, was accordingly despatched by leicester, with orders, at every hazard, to throw reinforcements and provisions into the place. they took possession, at once, of a stone sconce, called the mill-fort, which was guarded by fifty men, mostly boors of the country. these were nearly all hanged for "using malicious words," and for "railing against queen elizabeth," and--a sufficient number of men being left to maintain the fort--the whole relieving force marched with great difficulty--for the river was rapidly rising, and flooding the country--along the right bank of the meuse, taking possession of batenburg and ravenstein castles, as they went. a force of four or five hundred englishmen was then pushed forward to a point almost exactly opposite grave, and within an english mile of the head of the bridge constructed by the spaniards. here, in the night of easter tuesday, they rapidly formed an entrenched camp, upon the dyke along the river, and, although molested by some armed vessels, succeeded in establishing themselves in a most important position. on the morning of easter wednesday, april , mansfeld, perceiving that the enemy had thus stolen a march upon him, ordered one thousand picked troops, all spaniards, under aquila, casco and other veterans, to assault this advanced post. a reserve of two thousand was placed in readiness to support the attack. the spaniards slowly crossed the bridge, which was swaying very dangerously with the current, and then charged the entrenched camp at a run. a quarrel between the different regiments as to the right of precedence precipitated the attack, before the reserve, consisting of some picked companies of mondragon's veterans, had been able to arrive. coming in breathless and fatigued, the first assailants were readily repulsed in their first onset. aquila then opportunely made his appearance, and the attack was renewed with great vigour: the defenders of the camp yielded at the third charge and fled in dismay, while the spaniards, leaping the barriers, scattered hither and thither in the ardour of pursuit. the routed englishmen fled swiftly along the oozy dyke, in hopes of joining the main body of the relieving party, who were expected to advance, with the dawn, from their position six miles farther down the river. two miles long the chace lasted, and it seemed probable that the fugitives would be overtaken and destroyed, when, at last, from behind a line of mounds which stretched towards batenburg and had masked their approach, appeared count hohenlo and sir john norris, at the head of twenty-five hundred englishmen and hollanders. this force, advanced as rapidly as the slippery ground and the fatigue of a two hours' march would permit to the rescue of their friends, while the retreating english rallied, turned upon their pursuers, and drove them back over the path along which they had just been charging in the full career of victory. the fortune of the day was changed, and in a few minutes hohenlo and norris would have crossed the river and entered grave, when the spanish companies of bobadil and other commanders were seen marching along the quaking bridge. three thousand men on each side now met at push of pike on the bank of the meuse. the rain-was pouring in torrents, the wind was blowing a gale, the stream was rapidly rising, and threatening to overwhelm its shores. by a tacit and mutual consent, both armies paused for a few moments in full view of each other. after this brief interval they closed again, breast to breast, in sharp and steady conflict. the ground, slippery with rain and with blood, which was soon flowing almost as fast as the rain, afforded an unsteady footing to the combatants. they staggered like drunken men, fell upon their knees, or upon their backs, and still, kneeling or rolling prostrate, maintained the deadly conflict. for the space of an hour and a half the fierce encounter of human passion outmastered the fury of the elements. norris and hohenlo fought at the head of their columns, like paladins of old. the englishman was wounded in the mouth and breast, the count was seen to gallop past one thousand musketeers and caliver-men of the enemy, and to escape unscathed. but as the strength of the soldiers exhausted itself, the violence of the tempest increased. the floods of rain and the blasts of the hurricane at last terminated the affray. the spaniards, fairly conquered, were compelled to a retreat, lest the rapidly rising river should sweep away the frail and trembling bridge, over which they had passed to their unsuccessful assault. the english and netherlanders remained masters of the field. the rising flood, too, which was fast converting the meadows into a lake, was as useful to the conquerors as it was damaging to the spaniards. in the course of the few following days, a large number of boats was despatched before the very eyes of parma, from batenburg into grave; hohenlo, who had "most desperately adventured his person" throughout the whole affair, entering the town himself. a force of five hundred men, together with provisions enough to last a year, was thrown into the city, and the course of the meuse was, apparently, secured to the republic. in this important action about one hundred and fifty dutch and english were killed, and probably four hundred spaniards, including several distinguished officers. the earl of leicester was incredibly elated so soon as the success of this enterprise was known. "oh that her majesty knew," he cried, "how easy a match now she hath with the king of spain, and what millions of afflicted people she hath relieved in these, countries. this summer, this summer, i say, would make an end to her immortal glory." he was no friend to his countryman, the gallant sir john norris--whom, however, he could not help applauding on this occasion,--but he was in raptures with hohenlo. next to god, he assured the queen's government that the victory was owing to the count. "he is both a valiant man and a wise man, and the painfullest that ever i knew," he said; adding--as a secret--that "five hundred englishmen of the best flemish training had flatly and shamefully run away," when the fight had been renewed by hohenlo and norris. he recommended that her majesty should, send her picture to the count, worth two hundred pounds, which he would value at more than one thousand pounds in money, and he added that "for her sake the count had greatly left his drinking." as for the prince of parma, leicester looked upon him as conclusively beaten. he spoke of him as "marvellously appalled" by this overthrow of his forces; but he assured the government that if the prince's "choler should press him to seek revenge," he should soon be driven out of the country. the earl would follow him "at an inch," and effectually frustrate all his undertakings. "if the spaniard have such a may as he has had an april," said lord north, "it will put water in his wine." meantime, as st. george's day was approaching, and as the earl was fond of banquets and ceremonies, it was thought desirable to hold a great triumphal feast at utrecht. his journey to that city from the hague was a triumphal procession. in all the towns through which he passed he was entertained with military display, pompous harangues, interludes, dumb shows, and allegories. at amsterdam--a city which he compared to venice for situation and splendour, and where one thousand ships were constantly lying--he was received with "sundry great whales and other fishes of hugeness," that gambolled about his vessel, and convoyed him to the shore. these monsters of the deep presented him to the burgomaster and magistrates who were awaiting him on the quay. the burgomaster made him a latin oration, to which dr. bartholomew clerk responded, and then the earl was ushered to the grand square, upon which, in his honour, a magnificent living picture was exhibited, in which he figured as moses, at the head of the israelites, smiting the philistines hip and thigh. after much mighty banqueting in amsterdam, as in the other cities, the governor-general came to utrecht. through the streets of this antique and most picturesque city flows the palsied current of the rhine, and every barge and bridge were decorated with the flowers of spring. upon this spot, where, eight centuries before the anglo-saxon, willebrod had first astonished the wild frisians with the pacific doctrines of jesus, and had been stoned to death as his reward, stood now a more arrogant representative of english piety. the balconies were crowded with fair women, and decorated with scarves and banners. from the earl's residence--the ancient palace of the knights of rhodes--to the cathedral, the way was lined with a double row of burgher guards, wearing red roses on their arms, and apparelled in the splendid uniforms for which the netherlanders were celebrated. trumpeters in scarlet and silver, barons, knights, and great officers, in cloth of gold and silks of all colours; the young earl of essex, whose career was to be so romantic, and whose fate so tragic; those two ominous personages, the deposed little archbishop-elector of cologne, with his melancholy face, and the unlucky don antonio, pretender of portugal, for whom, dead or alive, thirty thousand crowns and a dukedom were perpetually offered by philip ii.; young maurice of nassau, the future controller of european destinies; great counsellors of state, gentlemen, guardsmen, and portcullis-herald, with the coat of arms of elizabeth, rode in solemn procession along. then great leicester himself, "most princelike in the robes of his order," guarded by a troop of burghers, and by his own fifty halberd-men in scarlet cloaks trimmed with white and purple velvet, pranced gorgeously by. the ancient cathedral, built on the spot where saint willebrod had once ministered, with its light, tapering, brick tower, three hundred and sixty feet in height, its exquisitely mullioned windows, and its elegantly foliaged columns, soon received the glittering throng. hence, after due religious ceremonies, and an english sermon from master knewstubs, leicester's chaplain, was a solemn march back again to the palace, where a stupendous banquet was already laid in the great hall. on the dais at the upper end of the table, blazing with plate and crystal, stood the royal chair, with the queen's plate and knife and fork before it, exactly as if she had been present, while leicester's trencher and stool were set respectfully quite at the edge of the board. in the neighbourhood of this post of honour sat count maurice, the elector, the pretender, and many illustrious english personages, with the fair agnes mansfeld, princess chimay, the daughters of william the silent, and other dames of high degree. before the covers were removed, came limping up to the dais grim-visaged martin schenk, freshly wounded, but triumphant, from the sack of werll, and black john norris, scarcely cured of the spearwounds in his face and breast received at the relief of grave. the sword of knighthood was laid upon the shoulder of each hero, by the earl of leicester, as her majesty's vicegerent; and then the ushers marshalled the mighty feast. meats in the shape of lions, tigers, dragons, and leopards, flanked by peacocks, swans, pheasants, and turkeys "in their natural feathers as in their greatest pride," disappeared, course after course, sonorous metal blowing meanwhile the most triumphant airs. after the banquet came dancing, vaulting, tumbling; together with the "forces of hercules, which gave great delight to the strangers," after which the company separated until evensong. then again, "great was the feast," says the chronicler,--a mighty supper following hard upon the gigantic dinner. after this there was tilting at the barriers, the young earl of essex and other knights bearing themselves more chivalrously than would seem to comport with so much eating and drinking. then, horrible to relate, came another "most sumptuous banquet of sugar-meates for the men-at-arms and the ladies," after which, it being now midnight, the lord of leicester bade the whole company good rest, and the men-at-arms and ladies took their leave. but while all this chivalrous banqueting and holiday-making was in hand, the prince of parma was in reality not quite so much "appalled" by the relief of grave as his antagonist had imagined. the earl, flushed with the success of hohenlo, already believed himself master of the country, and assured his government, that, if he should be reasonably well supplied, he would have antwerp back again and bruges besides before mid june. never, said he, was "the prince of parma so dejected nor so melancholy since he came into these countries, nor so far out of courage." and it is quite true that alexander had reason to be discouraged. he had but eight or nine thousand men, and no money to pay even this little force. the soldiers were perishing daily, and nearly all the survivors were described by their chief, as sick or maimed. the famine in the obedient provinces was universal, the whole population was desperate with hunger; and the merchants, frightened by drake's successes, and appalled by the ruin all around them, drew their purse-strings inexorably. "i know not to what saint to devote myself," said alexander. he had been compelled, by the movement before grave, to withdraw haultepenne from the projected enterprise against neusz, and he was quite aware of the cheerful view which leicester was inclined to take of their relative positions. "the english think they are going to do great things," said he; "and consider themselves masters of the field." nevertheless, on the th may, the dejected melancholy man had left brussels, and joined his little army, consisting of three thousand spaniards and five thousand of all other nations. his veterans, though unpaid; ragged, and half-starved were in raptures to, have their idolized commander among them again, and vowed that under his guidance there was nothing which they could not accomplish. the king's honour, his own, that of the army, all were pledged to take the city. on the success of, that enterprise, he said, depended all his past conquests, and every hope for the future. leicester and the english, whom he called the head and body of the rebel forces, were equally pledged to relieve the place, and were bent upon meeting him in the field. the earl had taken some forts in the batavia--betuwe; or "good meadow," which he pronounced as fertile and about as large as herefordshire,--and was now threatening nymegen, a city which had been gained for philip by the last effort of schenk, on the royalist side. he was now observing alexander's demonstrations against grave; but, after the recent success in victualling that place, he felt a just confidence in its security. on the st may the trenches were commenced, and on the th june the batteries were opened. the work went rapidly forward when farnese was in the field. "the prince of parma doth batter it like a prince," said lord north, admiring the enemy with the enthusiasm of an honest soldier: on the th of june, as alexander rode through the camp to reconnoitre, previous to an attack. a well-directed cannon ball carried away the hinder half, of his horse. the prince fell to the ground, and, for a moment, dismay was in the spanish ranks. at the next instant, though somewhat bruised, he was on his feet again, and, having found the breach sufficiently promising, he determined on the assault. as a preliminary measure, he wished to occupy a tower which had been battered nearly to ruins, situate near the river. captain de solis was ordered, with sixty veterans, to take possession of this tower, and to "have a look at the countenance of the enemy, without amusing himself with anything else." the tower was soon secured, but solis, in disobedience to his written instructions led his men against the ravelin, which was still in a state of perfect defence. a musket-ball soon stretched him dead beneath the wall, and his followers, still attempting to enter the impracticable breach, were repelled by a shower of stones and blazing pitch-hoops. hot sand; too, poured from sieves and baskets, insinuated itself within the armour of the spaniards, and occasioned such exquisite suffering, that many threw themselves into the river to allay the pain. emerging refreshed, but confused, they attempted in vain to renew the onset. several of the little band were slain, the assault was quite unsuccessful, and the trumpet sounded a recal. so completely discomfited were the spaniards by this repulse, and so thoroughly at their ease were the besieged, that a soldier let himself down from the ramparts of the town for the sake of plundering the body of captain solis, who was richly dressed, and, having accomplished this feat, was quietly helped back again by his comrades from above. to the surprise of the besiegers, however, on the very next morning came a request from the governor of the city, baron hemart, to negotiate for a surrender. alexander was, naturally, but too glad to grant easy terms, and upon the th of june the garrison left the town with colours displayed and drums beating, and the prince of parma marched into it, at the head of his troops. he found a year's provision there for six thousand men, while, at the same time, the walls had suffered so little, that he must have been obliged to wait long for a practicable breach. "there was no good reason even for women to have surrendered the place," exclaimed leicester, when he heard the news. and the earl had cause to be enraged at such a result. he had received a letter only the day before, signed by hemart himself and by all the officers in grave, asserting their determination and ability to hold the place for a good five months, or for an indefinite period, and until they should be relieved. and indeed all the officers, with three exceptions, had protested against the base surrender. but at the bottom of the catastrophe--of the disastrous loss of the city and the utter ruin of young hemart--was a woman. the governor was governed by his mistress, a lady of good family in the place, but of spanish inclinations, and she, for some mysterious reasons, had persuaded him thus voluntarily to capitulate. parma lost no time, however, in exulting over his success. upon the same day the towns of megen and batenburg surrendered to him, and immediately afterwards siege was laid to venlo, a town of importance, lying thirty miles farther up the meuse. the wife and family of martin schenk were in the city, together with two hundred horses, and from forty to one hundred thousand crowns in money, plate; and furniture belonging to him. that bold partisan, accompanied by the mad welshman, roger williams, at the head of one hundred and thirty english lances and thirty of schenk's men, made a wild nocturnal attempt to cut their way through the besieging force, and penetrate to the city. they passed through the enemy's lines, killed all the corps-de-garde, and many spanish troopers--the terrible martin's own hand being most effective in this midnight slaughter--and reached the very door of parma's tent, where they killed his secretary and many of his guards. it was even reported; and generally believed, that farnese himself had been in imminent danger, that schenk had fired his pistol at him unsuccessfully, and had then struck him on the head with its butt-end, and that the prince had only saved his life by leaping from his horse, and scrambling through a ditch. but these seem to have been fables. the alarm at last became general, the dawn of a summer's day was fast approaching; the drums beat to arms, and the bold marauders were obliged to effect their retreat, as they best might, hotly pursued by near two thousand men. having slain many of, the spanish army, and lost nearly half their own number, they at last obtained shelter in wachtendonk. soon afterwards the place capitulated without waiting for a battery, upon moderate terms. schenk's wife was sent away ( june ) courteously with her family, in a coach and four, and with as much "apparel" as might be carried with her. his property was confiscated, for "no fair wars could be made with him." thus, within a few weeks after taking the field, the "dejected, melancholy" man, who was so "out of courage," and the soldiers who were so "marvellously beginning to run away"--according to the earl of leicester--had swept their enemy from every town on the meuse. that river was now, throughout its whole course, in the power of the spaniards. the province of brabant became thoroughly guarded again by its foes, and the enemy's road was opened into the northern provinces. leicester, meantime, had not distinguished himself. it must be confessed that he had been sadly out-generalled. the man who had talked of following the enemy inch by inch, and who had pledged himself not only to protect grave, and any other place that might be attacked, but even to recover antwerp and bruges within a few weeks, had wasted the time in very desultory operations. after the st. george feasting, knewstub sermons, and forces of hercules, were all finished, the earl had taken the field with five thousand foot and fifteen hundred horse. his intention was to clear the yssel; by getting possession of doesburg and zutphen, but, hearing of parma's demonstrations upon grave, he abandoned the contemplated siege of those cities, and came to arnheim. he then crossed the rhine into the isle of batavia, and thence, after taking a few sconces of inferior importance--while schenk, meanwhile, was building on the island of gravenweert, at the bifurcation of the rhine and waal, the sconce so celebrated a century later as 'schenk's fort' (schenkenschans)---he was preparing to pass the waal in order to attack farnese, when he heard to his astonishment, of the surrender of grave. he could therefore--to his chagrin--no longer save that important city, but he could, at least, cut off the head of the culprit. leicester was in bommel when he heard of baron hemart's faint-heartedness or treachery, and his wrath was extravagant in proportion to the exultation with which his previous success had inspired him. he breathed nothing but revenge against the coward and the traitor, who had delivered up the town in "such lewd and beastly sort." "i will never depart hence," he said, "till by the goodness of god i be satisfied someway of this villain's treachery." there could be little doubt that hemart deserved punishment. there could be as little that leicester would mete it out to him in ample measure. "the lewd villain who gave up grave," said he, "and the captains as deep in fault as himself, shall all suffer together." hemart came boldly to meet him. "the honest man came to me at bommel," said leicester, and he assured the government that it was in the hope of persuading the magistrates of that and other towns to imitate his own treachery. but the magistrates straightway delivered the culprit to the governor-general, who immediately placed him under arrest. a court-martial was summoned, th of june, at utrecht, consisting of hohenlo, essex, and other distinguished officers. they found that the conduct of the prisoner merited death, but left it to the earl to decide whether various extenuating circumstances did not justify a pardon. hohenlo and norris exerted themselves to procure a mitigation of the young man's sentence, and they excited thereby the governor's deep indignation. norris, according to leicester, was in love with the culprit's aunt, and was therefore especially desirous of saving his life. moreover, much use was made of the discredit which had been thrown by the queen on the earl's authority, and it was openly maintained, that, being no longer governor-general, he had no authority to order execution upon a netherland officer. the favourable circumstances urged in the case, were, that hemart was a young man, without experience in military matters, and that he had been overcome by the supplications and outcries of the women, panic-struck after the first assault. there were no direct proofs of treachery, or even of personal cowardice. he begged hard for a pardon, not on account of his life, but for the sake of his reputation. he earnestly implored permission to serve under the queen of england, as a private soldier, without pay, on land or sea, for as many years as she should specify, and to be selected for the most dangerous employments, in order that, before he died, he might wipe out the disgrace, which, through his fault, in an hour of weakness, had come upon an ancient and honourable house. much interest was made for him--his family connection being powerful--and a general impression prevailing that he had erred through folly rather than deep guilt. but leicester beating himself upon the breast--as he was wont when excited--swore that there should be no pardon for such a traitor. the states of holland and zeeland, likewise, were decidedly in favour of a severe example. hemart was accordingly led to the scaffold on the th june. he spoke to the people with great calmness, and, in two languages, french and flemish, declared that he was guiltless of treachery, but that the terror and tears of the women, in an hour of panic, had made a coward of him. he was beheaded, standing. the two captains, du ban and koeboekum, who had also been condemned, suffered with him. a third captain, likewise convicted, was, "for very just cause,", pardoned by leicester. the earl persisted in believing that hemart had surrendered the city as part of a deliberate plan, and affirmed that in such a time, when men had come to think no more of giving up a town than of abandoning a house, it was highly necessary to afford an example to traitors and satisfaction to the people. and the people were thoroughly satisfied, according to the governor, and only expressed their regret that three or four members of the states-general could not have their heads cut off as well, being as arrant knaves as henlart; "and so i think they be," added leicester. parma having thus made himself master of the meuse, lost no time in making a demonstration upon the parallel course of the rhine, thirty miles farther east. schenk, kloet; and other partisans, kept that portion of the archi-episcopate and of westphalia in a state of perpetual commotion. early in the preceding year, count de meurs had, by a fortunate stratagem, captured the town of neusz for the deposed elector, and herman kloet, a young and most determined geldrian soldier, now commanded in the place. the elector ernest had made a visit in disguise to the camp of parma, and had represented the necessity of recovering the city. it had become the stronghold of heretics, rebels, and banditti. the rhine was in their hands, and with it the perpetual power of disturbing the loyal netherlands. it was as much the interest of his catholic majesty as that of the archbishop that neusz should be restored to its lawful owner. parma had felt the force of this reasoning, and had early in the year sent haultepenne to invest the city. he had been obliged to recal that commander during the siege of grave. the place being reduced, alexander, before the grass could grow beneath his feet advanced to the rhine in person. early in july he appeared before the walls of neusz with eight thousand foot and two thousand horse. the garrison under kloet numbered scarcely more than sixteen hundred effective soldiers, all netherlanders and germans, none being english. the city is twenty-miles below cologne. it was so well fortified that a century before it had stood a year's siege from the famous charles the bold, who, after all, had been obliged to retire. it had also resisted the strenuous efforts of charles the fifth; and was now stronger than it ever had been. it was thoroughly well provisioned, so that it was safe enough "if those within it," said leicester, "be men." the earl expressed the opinion, however, that "those fellows were not good to defend towns, unless the besiegers were obliged to swim to the attack." the issue was to show whether the sarcasm were just or not. meantime the town was considered by the governor-general to be secure, "unless towns were to be had for the asking." neusz is not immediately upon the rhine, but that river, which sweeps away in a north-easterly direction from the walls, throws out an arm which completely encircles the town. a part of the place, cut into an island by the erpt, was strengthened by two redoubts. this island was abandoned, as being too weak to hold, and the spaniards took possession of it immediately. there were various preliminary and sanguinary sorties and skirmishes, during which the spaniards after having been once driven from the island, again occupied that position. archbishop ernest came into the camp, and, before proceeding to a cannonade, parma offered to the city certain terms of capitulation, which were approved by that prelate. kloet replied to this proposal, that he was wedded to the town and to his honour, which were as one. these he was incapable of sacrificing, but his life he was ready to lay down. there was, through some misapprehension, a delay in reporting this answer to farnese. meantime that general became impatient, and advanced to the battery of the italian regiment. pretending to be a plenipotentiary from the commander-in-chief, he expostulated in a loud voice at the slowness of their counsels. hardly had he begun to speak, when a shower of balls rattled about him. his own soldiers were terrified at his danger, and a cry arose in the town that "holofernese"--as the flemings and germans were accustomed to nickname farnese--was dead. strange to relate, he was quite unharmed, and walked back to his tent with dignified slowness and a very frowning face. it was said that this breach of truce had been begun by the spaniards, who had fired first, and had been immediately answered by the town. this was hotly denied, and parma sent colonel tasais with a flag of truce to the commander, to rebuke and to desire an explanation of this dishonourable conduct. the answer given, or imagined, was that commander kloet had been sound asleep, but that he now much regretted this untoward accident. the explanation was received with derision, for it seemed hardly probable that so young and energetic a soldier would take the opportunity to refresh himself with slumber at a moment when a treaty for the capitulation of a city under his charge was under discussion. this terminated the negotiation. a few days afterwards, the feast of st james was celebrated in the spanish camp, with bonfires and other demonstrations of hilarity. the townsmen are said to have desecrated the same holiday by roasting alive in the market-place two unfortunate soldiers, who had been captured in a sortie a few days before; besides burning the body of the holy saint quirinus, with other holy relics. the detestable deed was to be most horribly avenged. a steady cannonade from forty-five great guns was kept up from a.m. of july until the dawn of the following day; the cannoneers--being all provided with milk and vinegar to cool the pieces. at daybreak the assault was ordered. eight separate attacks were made with the usual impetuosity of spaniards, and were steadily repulsed. at the ninth, the outer wall was carried, and the spaniards shouting "santiago" poured over it, bearing back all resistance. an italian knight of the sepulchre, cesar guidiccioni by name, and a spanish ensign, one alphonao de mesa, with his colours in one hand and a ladder in the other, each claimed the honour of having first mounted the breach. both being deemed equally worthy of reward, parma, after the city had been won, took from his own cap a sprig of jewels and a golden wheat-ear ornamented with a gem, which he had himself worn in place of a plume, and thus presented each with a brilliant token of his regard. the wall was then strengthened against the inner line of fortification, and all night long a desperate conflict was maintained in the dark upon the narrow space between the two barriers. before daylight kloet, who then, as always, had led his men in the moat desperate adventures, was carried into the town, wounded in five places, and with his leg almost severed at the thigh. "'tis the bravest man," said the enthusiastic lord north, "that was ever heard of in the world."--"he is but a boy," said alexander farnese, "but a commander of extraordinary capacity and valour." early in the morning, when this mishap was known, an officer was sent to the camp of the besiegers to treat. the soldiers received him with furious laughter, and denied him access to the general. "commander kloet had waked from his nap at a wrong time," they said, "and the prince of parma was now sound asleep, in his turn." there was no possibility of commencing a negotiation. the spaniards, heated by the conflict, maddened by opposition, and inspired by the desire to sack a wealthy city, overpowered all resistance. "my little soldiers were not to be restrained," said farnese, and so compelling a reluctant consent on the part of the commander-in-chief to an assault, the italian and spanish legions poured into the town at two opposite gates; which were no longer strong enough to withstand the enemy. the two streams met in the heart of the place, and swept every living thing in their path out of existence. the garrison was butchered to a man, and subsequently many of the inhabitants--men, women, and children-also, although the women; to the honour of alexander, had been at first secured from harm in some of the churches, where they had been ordered to take refuge. the first blast of indignation was against the commandant of the place. alexander, who had admired, his courage, was not unfavourably disposed towards him, but archbishop ernest vehemently, demanded his immediate death, as a personal favour to himself. as the churchman was nominally sovereign of the city although in reality a beggarly dependant on philip's alms, farnese felt bound to comply. the manner in which it was at first supposed that the bishop's christian request had; been complied, with, sent a shudder through every-heart in the netherlands. "they took kloet, wounded as he was," said lord north, "and first strangled, him, then smeared him with pitch, and burnt him with gunpowder; thus, with their holiness, they, made a tragical end of an heroical service. it is wondered that the prince would suffer so great an outrage to be done to so noble a soldier, who did but his duty." but this was an error. a jesuit priest was sent to the house of the commandant, for a humane effort was thought necessary in order to save the soul of the man whose life was forfeited for the crime of defending his city. the culprit was found lying in bed. his wife, a woman of remarkable beauty, with her sister, was in attendance upon him. the spectacle of those two fair women, nursing a wounded soldier fallen upon the field of honour, might have softened devils with sympathy. but the jesuit was closely followed by a band of soldiers, who, notwithstanding the supplications of the women, and the demand of kloet to be indulged with a soldier's death, tied a rope round the commandant's necks dragged him from his bed, and hanged him from his own window. the calvinist clergyman, fosserus of oppenheim, the deacons of the congregation, two military officers, and--said parma--"forty other rascals," were murdered in the same way at the same time. the bodies remained at the window till they were devoured by the flames, which soon consumed the house. for a vast conflagration, caused none knew whether by accident, by the despair of the inhabitants; by the previous, arrangements of the commandant, by the latest-arrived bands of the besiegers enraged that the italians and spaniards had been beforehand with them in the spoils, or--as farnese more maturely believed--by the special agency of the almighty, offended with the burning of saint quirinus,--now came to complete the horror of the scene. three-quarters of the town were at once in a blaze. the churches, where the affrighted women had been cowering during the sack and slaughter, were soon on fire, and now, amid the crash of falling houses and the uproar of the drunken soldiery, those unhappy victims were seen flitting along the flaming streets; seeking refuge against the fury of the elements in the more horrible cruelty of man. the fire lasted all day and night, and not one stone would have been left upon another, had not the body of a second saint, saved on a former occasion from the heretics by the piety of a citizen, been fortunately deposited in his house. at this point the conflagration was stayed--for the flames refused to consume these holy relics--but almost the whole of the town was destroyed, while at least four thousand people, citizens and soldiers, had perished by sword or fire. three hundred survivors of the garrison took refuge in a tower. its base was surrounded, and, after brief parley, they descended as prisoners. the prince and haultepenne attempted in vain to protect them against the fury of the soldiers, and every man of them was instantly put to death. the next day, alexander gave orders that the wife and sister of the commandant should be protected--for they had escaped, as if by miracle, from all the horrors of that day and night--and sent, under escort, to their friends! neusz had nearly ceased to exist, for according to contemporaneous accounts, but eight houses had escaped destruction. and the reflection was most painful to leicester and to every generous englishman or netherlander in the country, that this important city and its heroic defenders might have been preserved, but for want of harmony and want of money. twice had the earl got together a force of four thousand men for the relief of the place, and twice had he been obliged to disband them again for the lack of funds to set them in the field. he had pawned his plate and other valuables, exhausted his credit, and had nothing for it but to wait for the queen's tardy remittances, and to wrangle with the states; for the leaders of that body were unwilling to accord large supplies to a man who had become personally suspected by them, and was the representative of a deeply-suspected government. meanwhile, one-third at least of the money which really found its way from time to time out of england, was filched from the "poor starved wretches," as leicester called his soldiers, by the dishonesty of norris, uncle of sir john and army-treasurer. this man was growing so rich on his peculations, on his commissions, and on his profits from paying the troops in a depreciated coin, that leicester declared the whole revenue of his own landed estates in england to be less than that functionary's annual income. thus it was difficult to say whether the "ragged rogues" of elizabeth or the maimed and neglected soldiers of philip were in the more pitiable plight. the only consolation in the recent reduction of neusz was to be found in the fact that parma had only gained a position, for the town had ceased to exist; and in the fiction that he had paid for his triumph by the loss of six thousand soldiers, killed and wounded. in reality not more than five hundred of farnese's army lost their lives, and although the town, excepting some churches, had certainly been destroyed; yet the prince was now master of the rhine as far as cologne, and of the meuse as far as grave. the famine which pressed so sorely upon him, might now be relieved, and his military communications with germany be considered secure. the conqueror now turned his attention to rheinberg, twenty-five miles farther down the river. sir philip sidney had not been well satisfied by the comparative idleness in which, from these various circumstances; he had been compelled to remain. early in the spring he had been desirous of making an attack upon flanders by capturing the town of steenberg. the faithful roger williams had strongly seconded the proposal. "we wish to show your excellency," said he to leicester, "that we are not sound asleep." the welshman was not likely to be accused of somnolence, but on this occasion sidney and himself had been overruled. at a later moment, and during the siege of neusz, sir philip had the satisfaction of making a successful foray into flanders. the expedition had been planned by prince maurice of nassau, and was his. earliest military achievement. he proposed carrying by surprise, the city of axel, a well-built, strongly-fortified town on the south-western edge of the great scheldt estuary, and very important from its position. its acquisition would make the hold of the patriots and the english upon sluys and ostend more secure, and give them many opportunities of annoying the enemy in flanders. early in july, maurice wrote to the earl of leicester, communicating the particulars of his scheme, but begging that the affair might be "very secretly handled," and kept from every one but sidney. leicester accordingly sent his nephew to maurice that they might consult together upon the enterprise, and make sure "that there was no ill intent, there being so much treachery in the world." sidney found no treachery in young maurice, but only, a noble and intelligent love of adventure, and the two arranged their plans in harmony. leicester, then, in order to deceive the enemy, came to bergen-op-zoom, with five hundred men, where he remained two days, not sleeping a wink, as he averred, during the whole time. in the night of tuesday, th of july, the five hundred english soldiers were despatched by water, under charge of lord willoughby, "who," said the earl, "would needs go with them." young hatton, too, son of sir christopher, also volunteered on the service, "as his first nursling." sidney had, five hundred of his own zeeland regiment in readiness, and the rendezvous was upon the broad waters of the scheldt, opposite flushing. the plan was neatly carried out, and the united flotilla, in a dark, calm, midsummer's night, rowed across the smooth estuary and landed at ter neuse, about a league from axel. here they were joined by maurice with some netherland companies, and the united troops, between two and three thousand strong, marched at once to the place proposed. before two in the morning they had reached axel, but found the moat very deep. forty soldiers immediately plunged in, however, carrying their ladders with them, swam across, scaled the rampart, killed, the guard, whom they found asleep in their beds, and opened the gates for their comrades. the whole force then marched in, the dutch companies under colonel pyion being first, lord willoughby's men being second, and sir philip with his zeelanders bringing up the rear. the garrison, between five and six hundred in number, though surprised, resisted gallantly, and were all put to the sword. of the invaders, not a single man lost his life. sidney most generously rewarded from his own purse the adventurous soldiers who had swum the moat; and it was to his care and intelligence that the success of prince maurice's scheme was generally attributed. the achievement was hailed with great satisfaction, and it somewhat raised the drooping spirits of the patriots after their severe losses at grave and venlo. "this victory hath happened in good time," wrote thomas cecil to his father, "and hath made us somewhat to lift up our heads." a garrison of eight hundred, under colonel pyron, was left in axel, and the dykes around were then pierced. upwards of two millions' worth of property in grass, cattle, corn, was thus immediately destroyed in the territory of the obedient netherlands. after an unsuccessful attempt to surprise gravelines, the governor of which place, the veteran la motte, was not so easily taken napping; sir philip having gained much reputation by this conquest of axel, then joined the main body of the army, under leicester, at arnheim. yet, after all, sir philip had not grown in favour with her majesty during his service in the low countries. he had also been disappointed in the government of zeeland, to which post his uncle had destined him. the cause of leicester's ambition had been frustrated by the policy of barneveld and buys, in pursuance of which count or prince maurice--as he was now purposely designated, in order that his rank might surpass that of the earl--had become stadholder and captain general both of holland and zeeland. the earl had given his nephew, however, the colonelcy of the zeeland regiment, vacant by the death of admiral haultain on the kowenstyn dyke. this promotion had excited much anger among the high officers in the netherlands who, at the instigation of count hohenlo, had presented a remonstrance upon the subject to the governor-general. it had always been the custom, they said, with the late prince of orange, to confer promotion according to seniority, without regard to social rank, and they were therefore unwilling that a young foreigner, who had just entered the service; should thus be advanced over the heads of veterans who had been campaigning there so many weary years. at the same time the gentlemen who signed the paper protested to sir philip, in another letter, "with all the same hands," that they had no personal feeling towards him, but, on the contrary, that they wished him all honour. young maurice himself had always manifested the most friendly feelings toward sidney, although influenced in his action by the statesmen who were already organizing a powerful opposition to leicester. "count maurice showed himself constantly, kind in the matter of the regiment," said sir philip, "but mr. paul buss has so many busses in his head, such as you shall find he will be to god and man about one pitch. happy is the communication of them that join in the fear of god." hohenlo, too, or hollock, as he was called by the french and english, was much governed by buys and olden-barneveld. reckless and daring, but loose of life and uncertain of purpose, he was most dangerous, unless under safe guidance. roger williams--who vowed that but for the love he bore to sidney and leicester, he would not remain ten days in the netherlands--was much disgusted by hohenlo's conduct in regard to the zeeland regiment. "'tis a mutinous request of hollock," said he, "that strangers should not command netherlanders. he and his alemaynes are farther born from zeeland than sir philip is. either you must make hollock assured to you, or you must disgrace him. if he will not be yours, i will show you means to disinherit him of all his commands at small danger. what service doth he, count solms, count overatein, with their almaynes, but spend treasure and consume great contributions?" it was, very natural that the chivalrous sidney, who had come to the netherlands to win glory in the field, should be desirous of posts that would bring danger and distinction with them. he was not there merely that he might govern flushing, important as it was, particularly as the garrison was, according to his statement, about as able to maintain the town, "as the tower was to answer for london." he disapproved of his wife's inclination to join him in holland, for he was likely--so he wrote to her father, walsingham--"to run such a course as would not be fit for any of the feminine gender." he had been, however; grieved to the heart, by the spectacle which was perpetually exhibited of the queen's parsimony, and of the consequent suffering of the soldiers. twelve or fifteen thousand englishmen were serving in the netherlands--more than two thirds of them in her majesty's immediate employment. no troops had ever fought better, or more honourably maintained the ancient glory of england. but rarely had more ragged and wretched warriors been seen than they, after a few months' campaigning. the irish kernes--some fifteen hundred of whom were among the auxiliaries--were better off, for they habitually dispensed with clothing; an apron from waist to knee being the only protection of these wild kelts, who fought with the valour, and nearly, in the costume of homeric heroes. fearing nothing, needing nothing, sparing nothing, they stalked about the fens of zeeland upon their long stilts, or leaped across running rivers, scaling ramparts, robbing the highways, burning, butchering, and maltreating the villages and their inhabitants, with as little regard for the laws of christian warfare as for those of civilized costume. other soldiers, more sophisticated as to apparel, were less at their ease. the generous sidney spent all his means, and loaded himself with debt, in order to relieve the necessities of the poor soldiers. he protested that if the queen would not pay her troops, she would lose her troops, but that no living man should say the fault was in him. "what relief i can do them i will," he wrote to his father-in-law; "i will spare no danger, if occasion serves. i am sure that no creature shall lay injustice to my charge." very soon it was discovered that the starving troops had to contend not only with the queen's niggardliness but with the dishonesty of her agents. treasurer norris was constantly accused by leicester and sidney of gross peculation. five per cent., according to sir philip, was lost to the zeeland soldiers in every payment, "and god knows," he said, "they want no such hindrance, being scarce able to keep life with their entire pay. truly it is but poor increase to her majesty, considering what loss it is to the miserable soldier." discipline and endurance were sure to be sacrificed, in the end, to such short-sighted economy. "when soldiers," said sidney, "grow to despair, and give up towns, then it is too late to buy with hundred thousands what might have been saved with a trifle." this plain dealing, on the part of sidney, was anything but agreeable to the queen, who was far from feeling regret that his high-soaring expectations had been somewhat blighted in the provinces. he often expressed his mortification that her majesty was disposed to interpret everything to, his disadvantage. "i understand," said he, "that i am called ambitious, and very proud at home, but certainly, if they knew my heart, they would not altogether so judge me." elizabeth had taken part with hohenlo against sir philip in the matter of the zeeland regiment, and in this perhaps she was not entirely to be blamed. but she inveighed needlessly against his ambitious seeking of the office, and--as walsingham observed--"she was very apt, upon every light occasion, to find fault with him." it is probable that his complaints against the army treasurer, and his manful defence of the "miserable soldiers," more than counterbalanced, in the queen's estimation, his chivalry in the field. nevertheless he had now the satisfaction of having gained an important city in flanders; and on subsequently joining the army under his uncle, he indulged the hope of earning still greater distinction. martin schenk had meanwhile been successfully defending rheinberg, for several weeks, against parma's forces. it was necessary, however, that leicester, notwithstanding the impoverished condition of his troops, should make some diversion, while his formidable antagonist was thus carrying all before him. he assembled, accordingly, in the month of august, all the troops that could be brought into the field, and reviewed them, with much ceremony, in the neighbourhood of arnheim. his army--barely numbered seven thousand foot and two thousand horse, but he gave out, very extensively, that he had fourteen thousand under his command, and he was moreover expecting a force of three thousand reiters, and as many pikemen recently levied in germany. lord essex was general of the cavalry, sir william pelham--a distinguished soldier, who had recently arrived out of england, after the most urgent solicitations to the queen, for that end, by leicester--was lord-marshal of the camp, and sir john norris was colonel-general of the infantry. after the parade, two sermons were preached upon the hillside to the soldiers, and then there was a council of war: it was decided--notwithstanding the earl's announcement of his intentions to attack parma in person--that the condition of the army did not warrant such an enterprise. it was thought better to lay siege to zutphen. this step, if successful, would place in the power of the republic and her ally a city of great importance and strength. in every event the attempt would probably compel farnese to raise the siege of berg. leicester, accordingly, with "his brave troop of able and likely men"--five thousand of the infantry being english--advanced as far as doesburg. this city, seated at the confluence of the ancient canal of drusus and the yssel, five miles above zutphen, it was necessary, as a preliminary measure, to secure. it was not a very strong place, being rather slightly walled with brick, and with a foss drawing not more than three feet of water. by the th august it had been completely invested. on the same night, at ten o'clock, sir william pelham, came to the earl to tell him "what beastly pioneers the dutchmen were." leicester accordingly determined, notwithstanding the lord-marshal's entreaties, to proceed to the trenches in person. there being but faint light, the two lost their way, and soon found themselves nearly, at the gate of the town. here, while groping about in the dark; and trying to effect their retreat, they were saluted with a shot, which struck sir william in the stomach. for an instant; thinking himself mortally injured, he expressed his satisfaction that he had been, between the commander-in-chief and the blow, and made other "comfortable and resolute speeches." very fortunately, however, it proved that the marshal was not seriously hurt, and, after a few days, he was about his work as usual, although obliged--as the earl of leicester expressed it--"to carry a bullet in his belly as long as he should live." roger williams, too, that valiant adventurer--"but no, more valiant than wise, and worth his weight in gold," according to the appreciative leicester--was shot through the arm. for the dare-devil welshman, much to the earl's regret, persisted in running up and down the trenches "with a great plume of feathers in his gilt morion," and in otherwise making a very conspicuous mark of himself "within pointblank of a caliver." notwithstanding these mishaps, however, the siege went successfully forward. upon the nd september the earl began to batter, and after a brisk cannonade, from dawn till two in the afternoon, he had considerably damaged the wall in two places. one of the breaches was eighty feet wide, the other half as large, but the besieged had stuffed them full of beds, tubs, logs of wood, boards, and "such like trash," by means whereof the ascent was not so easy as it seemed. the soldiers were excessively eager for the assault. sir john norris came to leicester to receive his orders as to the command of the attacking party. the earl referred the matter to him. "there is no man," answered sir john, "fitter for that purpose than myself; for i am colonel-general of the infantry." but leicester, not willing to indulge so unreasonable a proposal, replied that he would reserve him for service of less hazard and greater importance. norris being, as usual, "satis prodigus magnae animae," was out of humour at the refusal, and ascribed it to the earl's persistent hostility to him and his family. it was then arranged that the assault upon the principal breach should be led by younger officers, to be supported by sir john and other veterans. the other breach was assigned to the dutch and scotch-black norris scowling at them the while with jealous eyes; fearing that they might get the start of the english party, and be first to enter the town. a party of noble volunteers clustered about sir john-lord burgh, sir thomas cecil, sir philip sidney, and his brother robert among the rest--most impatient for the signal. the race was obviously to be a sharp one. the governor-general forbade these violent demonstrations, but lord burgh, "in a most vehement passion, waived the countermand," and his insubordination was very generally imitated. before the signal was given, however, leicester sent a trumpet to summon the town to surrender, and could with difficulty restrain his soldiers till the answer should be returned. to the universal disappointment, the garrison agreed to surrender. norris himself then stepped forward to the breach, and cried aloud the terms, lest the returning herald, who had been sent back by leicester, should offer too favourable a capitulation. it was arranged that the soldiers should retire without arms, with white wands in their hands--the officers remaining prisoners--and that the burghers, their lives, and property, should be at leicester's disposal. the earl gave most peremptory orders that persons and goods should be respected, but his commands were disobeyed. sir william stanley's men committed frightful disorders, and thoroughly, rifled the town. "and because," said norris, "i found fault herewith, sir william began to quarrel with me, hath braved me extremely, refuseth to take any direction from me, and although i have sought for redress, yet it is proceeded in so coldly, that he taketh encouragement rather to increase the quarrel than to leave it." notwithstanding therefore the decree of leicester, the expostulations and anger of norris, and the energetic efforts of lord essex and other generals, who went about smiting the marauders on the head, the soldiers sacked the city, and committed various disorders, in spite of the capitulation. doesburg having been thus reduced, the earl now proceeded toward the more important city which he had determined to besiege. zutphen, or south-fen, an antique town of wealth and elegance, was the capital of the old landgraves of zutphen. it is situate on the right bank of the yssel, that branch of the rhine which flows between gelderland and overyssel into the zuyder-zee. the ancient river, broad, deep, and languid, glides through a plain of almost boundless extent, till it loses itself in the flat and misty horizon. on the other side of the stream, in the district called the veluwe, or bad meadow, were three sconces, one of them of remarkable strength. an island between the city and the shore was likewise well fortified. on the landward side the town was protected by a wall and moat sufficiently strong in those infant days of artillery. near the hospital-gate, on the east, was an external fortress guarding the road to warnsfeld. this was a small village, with a solitary slender church-spire, shooting up above a cluster of neat one-storied houses. it was about an english mile from zutphen, in the midst of a wide, low, somewhat fenny plain, which, in winter, became so completely a lake, that peasants were not unfrequently drowned in attempting to pass from the city to the village. in summer, the vague expanse of country was fertile and cheerful of aspect. long rows of poplars marking the straight highways, clumps of pollard willows scattered around the little meres, snug farm-houses, with kitchen-gardens and brilliant flower-patches dotting the level plain, verdant pastures sweeping off into seemingly infinite distance, where the innumerable cattle seemed to swarm like insects, wind-mills swinging their arms in all directions, like protective giants, to save the country from inundation, the lagging sail of market-boats shining through rows of orchard trees--all gave to the environs of zutphen a tranquil and domestic charm. deventer and kampen, the two other places on the river, were in the hands of the states. it was, therefore, desirable for the english and the patriots, by gaining possession of zutphen, to obtain control of the yssel; driven, as they had been, from the meuse and rhine. sir john norris, by leicester's direction, took possession of a small rising-ground, called 'gibbet dill' on the land-side; where he established a fortified camp, and proceeded to invest the city. with him were count lewis william of nassau, and sir philip sidney, while the earl himself, crossing the yssel on a bridge of boats which he had constructed, reserved for himself the reduction of the forts upon the veluwe side. farnese, meantime, was not idle; and leicester's calculations proved correct. so soon as the prince was informed of this important demonstration of the enemy he broke up--after brief debate with his officers--his camp before rheinberg, and came to wesel. at this place he built a bridge over the rhine, and fortified it with two block-houses. these he placed under command of claude berlot, who was ordered to watch strictly all communication up the river with the city of rheinberg, which he thus kept in a partially beleaguered state. alexander then advanced rapidly by way of groll and burik, both which places he took possession of, to the neighbourhood of zutphen. he was determined, at every hazard, to relieve that important city; and although, after leaving necessary detachments on the way; he had but five thousand men under his command, besides fifteen hundred under verdugo--making sixty-five hundred in all--he had decided that the necessity of the case, and his own honour; required him to seek the enemy, and to leave, as he said, the issue with the god of battles, whose cause it was. tassis, lieutenant-governor of gelderland, was ordered into the city with two cornets of horse and six hundred foot. as large a number, had already been stationed there. verdugo, who had been awaiting the arrival of the prince at borkelo, a dozen miles from zutphen, with four hundred foot and two hundred horse, now likewise entered the city. on the night of th august alexander himself entered zutphen for the purpose of encouraging the garrison by promise of-relief, and of ascertaining the position of the enemy by personal observation. his presence as it always did, inspired the soldiers with enthusiasm, so that they could with difficulty be restrained from rushing forth to assault the besiegers. in regard to the enemy he found that gibbet hill was still occupied by sir john norris, "the best soldier, in his opinion, that they had," who had entrenched himself very strongly, and was supposed to have thirty-five hundred men under his command. his position seemed quite impregnable. the rest of the english were on the other side of the river, and alexander observed, with satisfaction, that they had abandoned a small redoubt, near the leper-house, outside the loor-gate, through which the reinforcements must enter the city. the prince determined to profit by this mistake, and to seize the opportunity thus afforded of sending those much needed supplies. during the night the enemy were found to be throwing up works "most furiously," and skirmishing parties were sent out of the town to annoy them. in the darkness nothing of consequence was effected, but a scotch officer was captured, who informed the spanish commander that the enemy was fifteen thousand strong--a number which was nearly double that of leicester's actual force. in the morning alexander returned to his camp at borkelo--leaving tassis in command of the veluwe forts, and verdugo in the city itself--and he at once made rapid work in collecting victuals. he had soon wheat and other supplies in readiness, sufficient to feed four thousand mouths for three months, and these he determined to send into the city immediately, and at every hazard. the great convoy which was now to be despatched required great care and a powerful escort. twenty-five hundred musketeers and pikemen, of whom one thousand were spaniards, and six hundred cavalry, epirotes; spaniards, and italians, under hannibal gonzaga, george crescia, bentivoglio, sesa, and others, were accordingly detailed for this expedition. the marquis del vasto, to whom was entrusted the chief command, was ordered to march from borkelo at midnight on wednesday, october (st. nov.) [n.s.]. it was calculated that he would reach a certain hillock not far from warnsfeld by dawn of day. here he was to pause, and send forward an officer towards the town, communicating his arrival, and requesting the cooperation of verdugo, who was to make a sortie with one thousand men, according to alexander's previous arrangements. the plan was successfully carried out. the marquis arrived by daybreak at the spot indicated, and despatched captain de vega who contrived to send intelligence of the fact. a trooper, whom parma had himself sent to verdugo with earlier information of the movement, had been captured on the way. leicester had therefore been apprized, at an early moment, of the prince's intentions, but he was not aware that the convoy would be accompanied by so strong a force as had really been detailed. he had accordingly ordered sir john norris, who commanded on the outside of the town near the road which the spaniards must traverse, to place an ambuscade in his way. sir john, always ready for adventurous enterprises, took a body of two hundred cavalry, all picked men, and ordered sir william stanley, with three hundred pikemen, to follow. a much stronger force of infantry was held in reserve and readiness, but it was not thought that it would be required. the ambuscade was successfully placed, before the dawn of thursday morning, in the neighbourhood of warnsfeld church. on the other hand, the earl of leicester himself, anxious as to the result, came across the river just at daybreak. he was accompanied by the chief gentlemen in his camp, who could never be restrained when blows were passing current. the business that morning was a commonplace and practical though an important, one--to "impeach" a convoy of wheat and barley, butter, cheese, and beef--but the names of those noble and knightly volunteers, familiar throughout christendom, sound like the roll-call for some chivalrous tournament. there were essex and audley, stanley, pelham, russell, both the sidneys, all the norrises, men whose valour had been. proved on many a hard-fought battle-field. there, too, was the famous hero of british ballad whose name was so often to ring on the plains of the netherlands-- "the brave lord willoughby, of courage fierce and fell, who would not give one inch of way for all the devils in hell." twenty such volunteers as these sat on horseback that morning around the stately earl of leicester. it seemed an incredible extravagance to send a handful of such heroes against an army. but the english commander-in-chief had been listening to the insidious tongue of roland york--that bold, plausible, unscrupulous partisan, already twice a renegade, of whom more was ere long to be heard in the netherlands and england. of the man's courage there could be no doubt, and he was about to fight that morning in the front rank at the head of his company. but he had, for some mysterious reason, been bent upon persuading the earl that the spaniards were no match for englishmen at a hand-to-hand contest. when they could ride freely up and down, he said, and use their lances as they liked, they were formidable. but the english were stronger men, better riders, better mounted, and better armed. the spaniards hated helmets and proof armour, while the english trooper, in casque, cuirass, and greaves, was a living fortress impregnable to spanish or italian light horsemen. and leicester seemed almost convinced by his reasoning. it was five o'clock of a chill autumn morning. it was time for day to break, but the fog was so thick that a man at the distance of five yards was quite invisible. the creaking of waggon-wheels and the measured tramp of soldiers soon became faintly audible however to sir john norris and his five hundred as they sat there in the mist. presently came galloping forward in hot haste those nobles and gentlemen, with their esquires, fifty men in all--sidney, willoughby, and the rest--whom leicester had no longer been able to restrain from taking part in the adventure. a force of infantry, the amount of which cannot be satisfactorily ascertained, had been ordered by the earl to cross the bridge at a later moment. sidney's cornet of horse was then in deventer, to which place it had been sent in order to assist in quelling an anticipated revolt, so that he came, like most of his companions, as a private volunteer and knight-errant. the arrival of the expected convoy was soon more distinctly heard, but no scouts or outposts had been stationed to give timely notice, of the enemy's movements. suddenly the fog, which had shrouded the scene so closely, rolled away like a curtain, and in the full light of an october morning the englishmen found themselves face to face with a compact body of more than three thousand men. the marquis del vasto rode at the head of the forces surrounded by a band of mounted arquebus men. the cavalry, under the famous epirote chief george crescia, hannibal gonzaga, bentivoglio, sesa, conti, and other distinguished commanders, followed; the columns of pikemen and musketeers lined the hedge-rows on both sides the causeway; while between them the long train of waggons came slowly along under their protection. the whole force had got in motion after having sent notice of their arrival to verdugo, who, with one or two thousand men, was expected to sally forth almost immediately from the city-gate. there was but brief time for deliberation. notwithstanding the tremendous odds there was no thought of retreat. black norris called to sir william stanley, with whom he had been at variance so lately at doesburg. "there hath been ill-blood between us," he said. "let us be friends together this day, and die side by side, if need be, in her majesty's cause." "if you see me not serve my prince with faithful courage now," replied stanley, "account, me for ever a coward. living or dying i will stand err lie by you in friendship." as they were speaking these words the young earl of essex, general of the horse, cried to his, handful of troopers: "follow me, good fellows, for the honour of england and of england's queen!" as he spoke he dashed, lance in rest, upon the enemy's cavalry, overthrew the foremost man, horse and rider, shivered his own spear to splinters, and then, swinging his cartel-axe, rode merrily forward. his whole little troop, compact, as an arrow-head, flew with an irresistible shock against the opposing columns, pierced clean through them, and scattered them in all directions. at the very first charge one hundred english horsemen drove the spanish and albanian cavalry back upon the musketeers and pikemen. wheeling with rapidity, they retired before a volley of musket-shot, by which many horses and a few riders were killed; and then formed again to renew the attack. sir philip sidney, an coming to the field, having met sir william pelham, the veteran lord marshal, lightly armed, had with chivalrous extravagance thrown off his own cuishes, and now rode to the battle with no armour but his cuirass. at the second charge his horse was shot under him, but, mounting another, he was seen everywhere, in the thick of the fight, behaving himself with a gallantry which extorted admiration even from the enemy. for the battle was a series of personal encounters in which high officers were doing the work of private, soldiers. lord north, who had been lying "bed-rid" with a musket-shot in the leg, had got himself put on horseback, and with "one boot on and one boot off," bore himself, "most lustily" through the whole affair. "i desire that her majesty may know;" he said, "that i live but to, serve her. a better barony than i have could not hire the lord north to live, on meaner terms." sir william russell laid about him with his curtel-axe to such purpose that the spaniards pronounced him a devil and not a man. "wherever," said an eye-witness, "he saw five or six of the enemy together; thither would he, and with his hard knocks soon separated their friendship." lord willoughby encountered george crescia, general of the famed albanian cavalry, unhorsed him at the first shock, and rolled him into the ditch. "i yield me thy prisoner," called out the epirote in french, "for thou art a 'preux chevalier;'" while willoughby, trusting to his captive's word, galloped onward, and with him the rest of the little troop, till they seemed swallowed up by the superior numbers of the enemy. his horse was shot under him, his basses were torn from his legs, and he was nearly taken a prisoner, but fought his way back with incredible strength and good fortune. sir william stanley's horse had seven bullets in him, but bore his rider unhurt to the end of the battle. leicester declared sir william and "old reads" to be "worth their weight in pearl." hannibal gonzaga, leader of the spanish cavalry, fell mortally wounded a the marquis del vasto, commander of the expedition, nearly met the same fate. an englishman was just cleaving his head with a battle-axe, when a spaniard transfixed the soldier with his pike. the most obstinate struggle took place about the train of waggons. the teamsters had fled in the beginning of the action, but the english and spanish soldiers, struggling with the horses, and pulling them forward and backward, tried in vain to get exclusive possession of the convoy which was the cause of the action. the carts at last forced their way slowly nearer and nearer to the town, while the combat still went on, warm as ever, between the hostile squadrons. the action, lasted an hour and a half, and again and again the spanish horsemen wavered and broke before the handful of english, and fell back upon their musketeers. sir philip sidney, in the last charge, rode quite through the enemy's ranks till he came upon their entrenchments, when a musket-ball from the camp struck him upon the thigh, three inches above the knee. although desperately wounded in a part which should have been protected by the cuishes which he had thrown aside, he was not inclined to leave the field; but his own horse had been shot under him at the-beginning of the action, and the one upon which he was now mounted became too restive for him, thus crippled, to control. he turned reluctantly away, and rode a mile and a half back to the entrenchments, suffering extreme pain, for his leg was dreadfully shattered. as he past along the edge of the battle-field his attendants brought him a bottle of water to quench his raging thirst. at, that moment a wounded english soldier, "who had eaten his last at the same feast," looked up wistfully, in his face, when sidney instantly handed him the flask, exclaiming, "thy necessity is even greater than mine." he then pledged his dying comrade in a draught, and was soon afterwards met by his uncle. "oh, philip," cried leicester, in despair, "i am truly grieved to see thee in this plight." but sidney comforted him with manful words, and assured him that death was sweet in the cause of his queen and country. sir william russell, too, all blood-stained from the fight, threw his arms around his friend, wept like a child, and kissing his hand, exclaimed, "oh! noble sir philip, never did man attain hurt so honourably or serve so valiantly as you." sir william pelham declared "that sidney's noble courage in the face of our enemies had won him a name of continuing honour." the wounded gentleman was borne back to the camp, and thence in a barge to arnheim. the fight was over. sir john norris bade lord leicester "be merry, for," said he, "you have had the honourablest day. a handful of men has driven the enemy three times to retreat." but, in truth, it was now time for the english to retire in their turn. their reserve never arrived. the whole force engaged against the thirty-five hundred spaniards had never exceeded two hundred and fifty horse and three hundred foot, and of this number the chief work had beer done by the fifty or sixty volunteers and their followers. the heroism which had been displayed was fruitless, except as a proof--and so leicester wrote to the palatine john casimir--"that spaniards were not invincible." two thousand men now sallied from the loor gate under verdugo and tassis, to join the force under vasto, and the english were forced to retreat. the whole convoy was then carried into the city, and the spaniards remained masters of the field. thirteen troopers and twenty-two foot soldiers; upon the english side, were killed. the enemy lost perhaps two hundred men. they were thrice turned from their position, and thrice routed, but they succeeded at last in their attempt to carry their convoy into zutphen. upon that day, and the succeeding ones, the town was completely victualled. very little, therefore, save honour, was gained by the display of english valour against overwhelming numbers; five hundred against, near, four thousand. never in the whole course of the war had there been such fighting, for the troops upon both sides were picked men and veterans. for a long time afterwards it was the custom of spaniards and netherlanders, in characterising a hardly-contested action, to call it as warm as the fight at zutphen. "i think i may call it," said leicester, "the most notable encounter that hath been in our age, and it will remain to our posterity famous." nevertheless it is probable that the encounter would have been forgotten by posterity but for the melancholy close upon that field to sidney's bright career. and perhaps the queen of england had as much reason to blush for the incompetency of her general and favourite as to be proud. of the heroism displayed by her officers and soldiers. "there were too many indeed at this skirmish of the better sort," said leicester; "only a two hundred and fifty horse, and most of them the best of this camp, and unawares to me. i was offended when i knew it, but could not fetch them back; but since they all so well escaped (save my dear nephew), i would not for ten thousand pounds but they had been there, since they have all won that honour they have. your lordship never heard of such desperate charges as they gave upon the enemies in the face of their muskets." he described sidney's wound as "very dangerous, the bone being broken in pieces;" but said that the surgeons were in good hope. "i pray god to save his life," said the earl, "and i care not how lame he be." sir philip was carried to arnheim, where the best surgeons were immediately in attendance upon him. he submitted to their examination and the pain which they inflicted, with great cheerfulness, although himself persuaded that his wound was mortal. for many days the result was doubtful, and messages were sent day by day to england that he was convalescent--intelligence which was hailed by the queen and people as a matter not of private but of public rejoicing. he soon began to fail, however. count hohenlo was badly wounded a few days later before the great fort of zutphen. a musket-ball entered his mouth; and passed through his cheek, carrying off a jewel which hung in his ear. notwithstanding his own critical condition, however, hohenlo sent his surgeon, adrian van den spiegel, a man of great skill, to wait upon sir philip, but adrian soon felt that the case was hopeless. meantime fever and gangrene attacked the count himself; and those in attendance upon him, fearing for his life, sent for his surgeon. leicester refused to allow adrian to depart, and hohenlo very generously acquiescing in the decree, but, also requiring the surgeon's personal care, caused himself to be transported in a litter to arnheim. sidney was first to recognise the symptoms of mortification, which made a fatal result inevitable. his demeanour during his sickness and upon his death-bed was as beautiful as his life. he discoursed with his friends concerning the immortality of the soul, comparing the doctrines of plato and of other ancient philosophers, whose writings were so familiar to him, with the revelations of scripture and with the dictates of natural religion. he made his will with minute and elaborate provisions, leaving bequests, remembrances, and rings, to all his friends. then he indulged himself with music, and listened particularly to a strange song which he had himself composed during his illness, and which he had entitled 'la cuisse rompue.' he took leave of the friends around him with perfect calmness; saying to his brother robert, "love my memory. cherish my friends. above all, govern your will and affections by the will and word of your creator; in me beholding the end of this world with all her vanities." and thus this gentle and heroic spirit took its flight. parma, after thoroughly victualling zutphen, turned his attention to the german levies which leicester was expecting under the care of count meurs. "if the enemy is reinforced by these six thousand fresh troops," said alexander; "it will make him master of the field." and well he might hold this opinion, for, in the meagre state of both the spanish and the liberating armies, the addition of three thousand fresh reiters and as many infantry would be enough to turn the scale. the duke of parma--for, since the recent death of his father, farnese had succeeded to his title--determined in person to seek the german troops, and to destroy them if possible. but they never gave him the chance. their muster-place was bremen, but when they heard that the terrible 'holofernese' was in pursuit of them, and that the commencement of their service would be a pitched battle with his spaniards and italians, they broke up and scattered about the country. soon afterwards the duke tried another method of effectually dispersing them, in case they still retained a wish to fulfil their engagement with leicester. he sent a messenger to treat with them, and in consequence two of their rittmeisters; paid him a visit. he offered to give them higher pay, and "ready money in place of tricks and promises." the mercenary heroes listened very favourably to his proposals, although they had already received--besides the tricks and promises--at least one hundred thousand florins out of the states' treasury. after proceeding thus far in the negotiation, however, parma concluded, as the season was so far advanced, that it was sufficient to have dispersed them, and to have deprived the english and patriots of their services. so he gave the two majors a gold chain a-piece, and they went their way thoroughly satisfied. "i have got them away from the enemy for this year," said alexander; "and this i hold to be one of the best services that has been rendered for many a long day to your majesty." during the period which intervened between the action at warnsfeld and the death of sidney, the siege-operations before zutphen had been continued. the city, strongly garrisoned and well supplied with provisions, as it had been by parma's care, remained impregnable; but the sconces beyond the river and upon the island fell into leicester's hands. the great fortress which commanded the veluwe, and which was strong enough to have resisted count hohenlo on a former, occasion for nearly a whole year, was the scene of much hard fighting. it was gained at last by the signal valour of edward stanley, lieutenant to sir william. that officer, at the commencement of an assault upon a not very practicable breach, sprang at the long pike of a spanish soldier, who was endeavoring to thrust him from the wall, and seized it with both hands. the spaniard struggled to maintain his hold of the weapon, stanley to wrest it from his grasp. a dozen other soldiers broke their pikes upon his cuirass or shot at him with their muskets. conspicuous by his dress, being all in yellow but his corslet, he was in full sight of leicester and of fire thousand men. the earth was so shifty and sandy that the soldiers who were to follow him were not able to climb the wall. still stanley grasped his adversary's pike, but, suddenly changing his plan, he allowed the spaniard to lift him from the ground. then, assisting himself with his feet against the wall, he, much to the astonishment of the spectators, scrambled quite over the parapet, and dashed sword in hand among the defenders of the fort. had he been endowed with a hundred lives it seemed impossible for him to escape death. but his followers, stimulated by his example, made ladders for themselves of each others' shoulders, clambered at last with great exertion over the broken wall, overpowered the garrison, and made themselves masters of the sconce. leicester, transported with enthusiasm for this noble deed of daring, knighted edward stanley upon the spot, besides presenting him next day with forty pounds in gold and an annuity of one hundred marks, sterling for life. "since i was born, i did never see any man behave himself as he did," said the earl. "i shall never forget it, if i live a thousand year, and he shall have a part of my living for it as long as i live." the occupation of these forts terminated the military operations of the year, for the rainy season, precursor of the winter, had now set in. leicester, leaving sir william stanley, with twelve hundred english and irish horse, in command of deventer; sir john burrowes, with one thousand men, in doesburg; and sir robert yorke, with one thousand more, in the great sconce before zutphen; took his departure for the hague. zutphen seemed so surrounded as to authorize the governor to expect ere long its capitulation. nevertheless, the results of the campaign had not been encouraging. the states had lost ground, having been driven from the meuse and rhine, while they had with difficulty maintained themselves on the flemish coast and upon the yssel. it is now necessary to glance at the internal politics of the republic during the period of leicester's administration and to explain the position in which he found himself at the close of the year. etext editor's bookmarks: and thus this gentle and heroic spirit took its flight five great rivers hold the netherland territory in their coils high officers were doing the work of private, soldiers i did never see any man behave himself as he did there is no man fitter for that purpose than myself chapter x. should elizabeth accept the sovereignty?--the effects of her anger-- quarrels between the earl and the staten--the earl's three counsellors--leicester's finance--chamber--discontent of the mercantile classes--paul buys and the opposition--been insight of paul buys--truchsess becomes a spy upon him--intrigues of buys with denmark--his imprisonment--the earl's unpopularity--his quarrels with the states--and with the norrises--his counsellors wilkes and clerke--letter from the queen to leicester--a supper party at hohenlo's--a drunken quarrel--hohenlo's assault upon edward norris-- ill effects of the riot. the brief period of sunshine had been swiftly followed by storms. the governor absolute had, from the outset, been placed in a false position. before he came to the netherlands the queen had refused the sovereignty. perhaps it was wise in her to decline so magnificent an offer; yet certainly her acceptance would have been perfectly honourable. the constituted authorities of the provinces formally made the proposition. there is no doubt whatever that the whole population ardently desired to become her subjects. so far as the netherlands were concerned, then, she would have been fully justified in extending her sceptre over a free people, who, under no compulsion and without any, diplomatic chicane, had selected her for their hereditary chief. so far as regarded england, the annexation to that country of a continental cluster of states, inhabited by a race closely allied to it by blood, religion, and the instinct for political freedom, seemed, on the whole, desirable. in a financial point of view, england would certainly lose nothing by the union. the resources of the provinces were at leant equal to her own. we have seen the astonishment which the wealth and strength of the netherlands excited in their english visitors. they were amazed by the evidences of commercial and manufacturing prosperity, by the spectacle of luxury and advanced culture, which met them on every side. had the queen--as it had been generally supposed--desired to learn whether the provinces were able and willing to pay the expenses of their own defence before she should definitely decide on, their offer of sovereignty, she was soon thoroughly enlightened upon the subject. her confidential agents all--held one language. if she would only, accept the sovereignty, the amount which the provinces would pay was in a manner boundless. she was assured that the revenue of her own hereditary realm was much inferior to that of the possessions thus offered to her sway. in regard to constitutional polity, the condition of the netherlands was at least, as satisfactory as that of england. the great amount of civil freedom enjoyed by those countries--although perhaps an objection--in the eyes of elizabeth tudor--should certainly have been a recommendation to her liberty-loving subjects. the question of defence had been satisfactorily answered. the provinces, if an integral part of the english empire, could protect themselves, and would become an additional element of strength--not a troublesome encumbrance. the difference of language was far, less than that which already existed between the english and their irish fellow-subjects, while it was counterbalanced by sympathy, instead of being aggravated by mutual hostility in the matter of religion. with regard to the great question of abstract sovereignty, it was certainly impolitic for an absolute monarch to recognize the right of a nation to repudiate its natural allegiance. but elizabeth had already countenanced that step by assisting the rebellion against philip. to allow the rebels to transfer their obedience from the king of spain to herself was only another step in the same direction. the queen, should she annex the provinces, would certainly be accused by the world of ambition; but the ambition was a noble one, if, by thus consenting to the urgent solicitations of a free people, she extended the region of civil and religious liberty, and raised up a permanent bulwark against sacerdotal and royal absolutism. a war between herself and spain was inevitable if she accepted the sovereignty, but peace had been already rendered impossible by the treaty of alliance. it is true that the queen imagined the possibility of combining her engagements towards the states with a conciliatory attitude towards their ancient master, but it was here that she committed the gravest error. the negotiations of parma and his sovereign with the english court were a masterpiece of deceit on the part of spain. we have shown, by the secret correspondence, and we shall in the sequel make it still clearer, that philip only intended to amuse his antagonists; that he had already prepared his plan for the conquest of england, down to the minutest details; that the idea of tolerating religious liberty had never entered his mind; and that his fixed purpose was not only thoroughly to chastise the dutch rebels, but to deprive the heretic queen who had fostered their rebellion both of throne and life. so far as regarded the spanish king, then, the quarrel between him and elizabeth was already mortal; while in a religious, moral, political, and financial point of view, it would be difficult to show that it was wrong, or imprudent for england to accept the sovereignty over his ancient subjects. the cause of human, freedom seemed likely to gain by the step, for the states did not consider themselves strong enough to maintain the independent republic which had already risen. it might be a question whether, on the whole, elizabeth made a mistake in declining the sovereignty. she was certainly wrong, however, in wishing the lieutenant-general of her six thousand auxiliary troops to be clothed, as such, with vice-regal powers. the states-general, in a moment of enthusiasm, appointed him governor absolute, and placed in his hands, not only the command of the forces, but the entire control of their revenues, imposts, and customs, together with the appointment of civil and military officers. such an amount of power could only be delegated by the sovereign. elizabeth had refused the sovereignty: it then rested with the states. they only, therefore, were competent to confer the power which elizabeth wished her favourite to exercise simply as her lieutenant-general. her wrathful and vituperative language damaged her cause and that of the netherlands more severely than can now be accurately estimated. the earl was placed at once in a false, a humiliating, almost a ridiculous position. the authority which the states had thus a second time offered to england was a second time and most scornfully thrust back upon them. elizabeth was indignant that "her own man" should clothe himself in the supreme attributes which she had refused. the states were forced by the violence of the queen to take the authority into their own hands again, and leicester was looked upon as a disgraced man. then came the neglect with which the earl was treated by her majesty and her ill-timed parsimony towards the cause. no letters to him in four months, no remittances for the english troops, not a penny of salary for him. the whole expense of the war was thrown for the time upon their hands, and the english soldiers seemed only a few thousand starving, naked, dying vagrants, an incumbrance instead of an aid. the states, in their turn, drew the purse-strings. the two hundred thousand florins monthly were paid. the four hundred thousand florins which had been voted as an additional supply were for a time held back, as leicester expressly stated, because of the discredit which had been thrown upon him from home. [strangely enough, elizabeth was under the impression that the extra grant of , florins (l , ) for four months was four hundred thousand pounds sterling. "the rest that was granted by the states, as extraordinary to levy an army, which was , florins, not pounds, as i hear your majesty taketh it. it is forty thousand pounds, and to be paid in march, april, may, and june last," &c. leicester to the queen, oct. . (s. p. office ms.)] the military operations were crippled for want of funds, but more fatal than everything else were the secret negotiations for peace. subordinate individuals, like grafigni and de loo, went up and down, bringing presents out of england for alexander farnese, and bragging that parma and themselves could have peace whenever they liked to make it, and affirming that leicester's opinions were of no account whatever. elizabeth's coldness to the earl and to the netherlands was affirmed to be the prince of parma's sheet-anchor; while meantime a house was ostentatiously prepared in brussels by their direction for the reception of an english ambassador, who was every moment expected to arrive. under such circumstances it was in, vain for the governor-general to protest that the accounts of secret negotiations were false, and quite natural that the states should lose their confidence in the queen. an unfriendly and suspicious attitude towards her representative was a necessary result, and the demonstrations against the common enemy became still more languid. but for these underhand dealings, grave, venlo, and neusz, might have been saved, and the current 'of the meuse and rhine have remained in the hands of the patriots. the earl was industrious, generous, and desirous of playing well his part. his personal courage was undoubted, and, in the opinion of his admirers--themselves, some of them, men of large military experience--his ability as a commander was of a high order. the valour displayed by the english nobles and gentlemen who accompanied him was magnificent, worthy the descendants of the victors at crecy, poitiers, and agincourt; and the good behaviour of their followers--with a few rare exceptions--had been equally signal. but now the army was dwindling to a ghastly array of scarecrows, and the recruits, as they came from england, were appalled by the spectacle presented by their predecessors. "our old ragged rogues here have so discouraged our new men," said leicester; "as i protest to you they look like dead men." out of eleven hundred freshly-arrived englishmen, five hundred ran away in two days. some were caught and hanged, and all seemed to prefer hanging to remaining in the service, while the earl declared that he would be hanged as well rather than again undertake such a charge without being assured payment for his troops beforehand! the valour of sidney and essex, willoughby and pelham, roger williams and martin schenk, was set at nought by such untoward circumstances. had not philip also left his army to starve and alexander farnese to work miracles, it would have fared still worse with holland and england, and with the cause of civil and religious liberty in the year . the states having resumed, as much as possible; their former authority, were on very unsatisfactory terms with the governor-general. before long, it was impossible for the twenty or thirty individuals called the states to be in the same town with the man whom, at the commencement of the year, they had greeted so warmly. the hatred between the leicester faction and the municipalities became intense, for the foundation of the two great parties which were long to divide the netherland commonwealth was already laid. the mercantile patrician interest, embodied in the states of holland and zeeland and inclined to a large toleration in the matter of religion, which afterwards took the form of arminianism, was opposed by a strict calvinist party, which desired to subject the political commonwealth to the reformed church; which nevertheless indulged in very democratic views of the social compact; and which was controlled by a few refugees from flanders and brabant, who had succeeded in obtaining the confidence of leicester. thus the earl was the nominal head of the calvinist democratic party; while young maurice of nassau; stadholder of holland and zeeland, and guided by barneveld, buys, and other leading statesmen of these provinces; was in an attitude precisely the reverse of the one which he was destined at a later and equally memorable epoch to assume. the chiefs of the faction which had now succeeded in gaining the confidence of leicester were reingault, burgrave, and deventer, all refugees. the laws of holland and of the other united states were very strict on the subject of citizenship, and no one but a native was competent to hold office in each province. doubtless, such regulations were narrow-spirited; but to fly in the face of them was the act of a despot, and this is what leicester did. reingault was a fleming. he was a bankrupt merchant, who had been taken into the protection of lamoral egmont, and by that nobleman recommended to granvelle for an office under the cardinal's government. the refusal of this favour was one of the original causes of egmont's hostility to granvelle. reingault subsequently entered the service of the cardinal, however, and rewarded the kindness of his former benefactor by great exertions in finding, or inventing, evidence to justify the execution of that unfortunate nobleman. he was afterwards much employed by the duke of alva and by the grand commander requesens; but after the pacification of ghent he had been completely thrown out of service. he had recently, in a subordinate capacity, accompanied the legations of the states to france and to england, and had now contrived to ingratiate himself with the earl of leicester. he affected great zeal for the calvinistic religion--an exhibition which, in the old servant of granvelle and alva, was far from edifying--and would employ no man or maid-servant in his household until their religious principles had been thoroughly examined by one or two clergymen. in brief, he was one of those, who, according to a homely flemish proverb, are wont to hang their piety on the bell-rope; but, with the exception of this brief interlude in his career, he lived and died a papist. gerard proninck, called deventer, was a respectable inhabitant of bois-le-duc, who had left that city after it had again become subject to the authority of spain. he was of decent life and conversation, but a restless and ambitious demagogue. as a brabantine, he was unfit for office; and yet, through leicester's influence and the intrigues of the democratic party, he obtained the appointment of burgomaster in the city of utrecht. the states-general, however, always refused to allow him to appear at their sessions as representative of that city. daniel de burgrave was a flemish mechanic, who, by the exertion of much energy and talent, had risen to the poet of procureur-general of flanders. after the conquest of the principal portion of that province by parma, he had made himself useful to the english governor-general in various ways, and particularly as a linguist. he spoke english--a tongue with which few netherlanders of that day were familiar--and as the earl knew no other, except (very imperfectly) italian, he found his services in speaking and writing a variety of languages very convenient. he was the governor's private secretary, and, of course, had no entrance to the council of state, but he was accused of frequently thrusting himself into their hall of sessions, where, under pretence of arranging the earl's table, or portfolio, or papers, he was much addicted to whispering into his master's ear, listening to conversation,--to eaves-dropping; in short, and general intrusiveness. "a most faithful, honest servant is burgrave," said leicester; "a substantial, wise man. 'tis as sufficient a man as ever i met withal of any nation; very well learned, exceeding wise, and sincere in religion. i cannot commend the man too much. he is the only comfort i have had of any of this nation." these three personages were the leaders of the leicester faction. they had much, influence with all the refugees from flanders, brabant, and the walloon provinces. in utrecht, especially, where the earl mainly resided, their intrigues were very successful. deventer was appointed, as already stated, to the important post of burgomaster; many, of the influential citizens were banished, without cause or, trial; the upper branch of the municipal government, consisting of the clerical delegates of the colleges, was in an arbitrary manner abolished; and, finally, the absolute sovereignty of, the province, without condition, was offered to the queen, of england. leicester was now determined to carry out one of the great objects which the queen had in view when she sent him to the netherlands. she desired thoroughly to ascertain the financial resources of the provinces, and their capacity to defend themselves. it was supposed by the states, and hoped by the earl and by a majority of the netherland people, that she would, in case the results were satisfactory, accept, after all, the sovereignty. she certainly was not to be blamed that she wished to make this most important investigation, but it was her own fault that any new machinery had been rendered necessary. the whole control of the finances had, in the beginning of the year, been placed in the earl's hands, and it was only by her violently depriving him of his credit and of the confidence of the country that he had not retained it. he now established a finance-chamber, under the chief control of reingault, who promised him mountains of money, and who was to be chief treasurer. paul buys was appointed by leicester to fill a subordinate position in the new council. he spurned the offer with great indignation, saying that reingault was not fit to be his clerk, and that he was not likely himself, therefore, to accept a humble post under the administration of such an individual. this scornful refusal filled to the full the hatred of leicester against the ex-advocate of holland. the mercantile interest at once took the alarm, because it was supposed that the finance-chamber, was intended to crush the merchants. early in april an act had been passed by the state-council, prohibiting commerce with the spanish possessions. the embargo was intended to injure the obedient provinces and their sovereign, but it was shown that its effect would be to blast the commerce of holland. it forbade the exportation from the republic not only of all provisions and munitions of war, but of all goods and merchandize whatever, to spain, portugal, the spanish netherlands, or any other of philip's territories, either in dutch or neutral vessel. it would certainly seem, at first sight, that such an act was reasonable, although the result would really be, not to deprive the enemy of supplies, but to throw the whole baltic trade into the hands of the bremen, hamburg, and "osterling" merchants. leicester expected to derive a considerable revenue by granting passports and licenses to such neutral traders, but the edict became so unpopular that it was never thoroughly enforced, and was before long rescinded. the odium of the measure was thrown upon the governor-general, yet he had in truth opposed it in the state-council, and was influential in procuring its repeal. another important act had been directed against the mercantile interest, and excited much general discontent. the netherlands wished the staple of the english cloth manufacture to be removed from emden--the petty, sovereign of which place was the humble servant of spain--to amsterdam or delft. the desire was certainly, natural, and the dutch merchants sent a committee to confer with leicester. he was much impressed with their views, and with the sagacity of their chairman, one mylward, "a wise fellow and well languaged, an ancient man and very, religious," as the earl pronounced him to be. notwithstanding the wisdom however, of this well-languaged fellow, the queen, for some strange reason, could not be induced to change the staple from emden, although it was shown that the public revenue of the netherlands would gain twenty thousand pounds a year by the measure. "all holland will cry out for it," said leicester; "but i had rather they cried than that england should weep." thus the mercantile community, and especially the patrician families of holland and zeeland, all engaged in trade, became more and more hostile to the governor-general and to his financial trio, who were soon almost as unpopular as the famous consults of cardinal granvelle had been. it was the custom of the states to consider the men who surrounded the earl as needy and unprincipled renegades and adventurers. it was the policy of his advisers to represent the merchants and the states--which mainly consisted of, or were controlled by merchants--as a body of corrupt, selfish, greedy money-getters. the calumnies put in circulation against the states by reingault and his associates grew at last so outrageous, and the prejudice created in the mind of leicester and his immediate english adherents so intense, that it was rendered necessary for the states, of holland and zeeland to write to their agent ortell in london, that he might forestall the effect of these perpetual misrepresentations on her majesty's government. leicester, on the other hand, under the inspiration; of his artful advisers, was vehement in his entreaties that ortell should be sent away from england. the ablest and busiest of the opposition-party, the "nimblest head" in the states-general was the ex-advocate of holland; paul buys. this man was then the foremost statesman in, the netherlands. he had been the firmest friend to the english alliance; he had resigned his office when the states were-offering the sovereignty to france, and had been on the point of taking service in denmark. he had afterwards been prominent in the legation which offered the sovereignty to elizabeth, and, for a long time, had been the most firm, earnest, and eloquent advocate of the english policy. leicester had originally courted him, caressed him, especially recommended him to the queen's favour, given him money--as he said, "two hundred pounds sterling thick at a time"--and openly pronounced him to be "in ability above all men." "no man hath ever sought a man," he said, "as i have sought p. b." the period of their friendship was, however, very brief. before many weeks had passed there was no vituperative epithet that leicester was not in the daily habit of bestowing upon paul. the earl's vocabulary of abuse was not a limited one, but he exhausted it on the head of the advocate. he lacked at last words and breath to utter what was like him. he pronounced his former friend "a very dangerous man, altogether hated of the people and the states;"--"a lewd sinner, nursled in revolutions; a most covetous, bribing fellow, caring for nothing but to bear the sway and grow rich;"--"a man who had played many parts, both lewd and audacious;"--"a very knave, a traitor to his country;"--"the most ungrateful wretch alive, a hater of the queen and of all the english; a most unthankful man to her majesty; a practiser to make himself rich and great, and nobody else;"--"among all villains the greatest;"--"a bolsterer of all papists and ill men, a dissembler, a devil, an atheist," a "most naughty man, and a most notorious drunkard in the worst degree." where the earl hated, his hatred was apt to be deadly, and he was determined, if possible, to have the life of the detested paul. "you shall see i will do well enough with him, and that shortly," he said. "i will course him as he was not so this twenty year. i will warrant him hanged and one or two of his fellows, but you must not tell your shirt of this yet;" and when he was congratulating the government on his having at length procured the execution of captain hemart, the surrenderer of grave, he added, pithily, "and you shall hear that mr. p. b. shall follow." yet the earl's real griefs against buys may be easily summed up. the lewd sinner, nursled in revolutions, had detected the secret policy of the queen's government, and was therefore perpetually denouncing the intrigues going on with spain. he complained that her majesty was tired of having engaged in the netherland enterprise; he declared that she would be glad to get fairly out of it; that her reluctance to spend a farthing more in the cause than she was obliged to do was hourly increasing upon her; that she was deceiving and misleading the states-general; and that she was hankering after a peace. he said that the earl had a secret intention to possess himself of certain towns in holland, in which case the whole question of peace and war would be in the hands of the queen, who would also have it thus in her power to reimburse herself at once for all expenses that she had incurred. it would be difficult to show that there was anything very calumnious in these charges, which, no doubt, paul was in the habit of making. as to the economical tendencies of her majesty, sufficient evidence has been given already from leicester's private letters. "rather than spend one hundred pounds," said walsingham, "she can be content to be deceived of five thousand." that she had been concealing from the staten, from walsingham, from leicester, during the whole summer, her secret negotiations with spain, has also been made apparent. that she was disgusted with the enterprise in which she had embarked, walsingham, burghley, hatton, and all the other statesmen of england, most abundantly testified. whether leicester had really an intention to possess himself of certain cities in holland--a charge made by paul buys, and denounced as especially slanderous by the earl--may better appear from his own private statements. "this i will do," he wrote to the queen, "and i hope not to fail of it, to get into my hands three or four most principal places in north holland; which will be such a strength and assurance for your majesty, as you shall see you shall both rule these men and make war or peace as you list, always provided--whatsoever you hear, or is--part not with the brill; and having these places in your hands, whatsoever should chance to these countries, your majesty, i will warrant sure enough to make what peace you will in an hour, and to have your debts and charges readily answered." at a somewhat later moment it will be seen what came of these secret designs. for the present, leicester was very angry with paul for daring to suspect him of such treachery. the earl complained, too, that the influence of buys with hohenlo and young maurice of nassau was most pernicious. hohenlo had formerly stood high in leicester's opinion. he was a "plain, faithful soldier, a most valiant gentleman," and he was still more important, because about to marry mary of nassau; eldest slaughter, of william the silent, and coheiress with philip william, to the buren property. but he had been tampered with by the intriguing paul buys, and had then wished to resign his office under leicester. being pressed for reasons, he had "grown solemn," and withdrawn himself almost entirely. maurice; with his "solemn, sly wit," also gave the earl much trouble, saying little; but thinking much, and listening to the insidious paul. he "stood much on making or marring," so leicester thought, "as he met with good counsel." he had formerly been on intimate terms with the governor-general, who affected to call him his son; but he had subsequently kept aloof, and in three months had not come near him. the earl thought that money might do much, and was anxious for sir francis drake to come home from the indies with millions of gold, that the queen might make both hohenlo and maurice a handsome present before it should be too late. meantime he did what he could with elector truchsess to lure them back again. that forlorn little prelate was now poorer and more wretched than ever. he was becoming paralytic, though young, and his heart was broken through want. leicester, always generous as the sun, gave him money, four thousand florins at a time, and was most earnest that the queen should put him on her pension list. "his wisdom, his behaviour, his languages, his person," said the earl, "all would like her well. he is in great melancholy for his town of neusz, and for his poverty, having a very noble mind. if, he be lost, her majesty had better lose a hundred thousand pounds." the melancholy truchsess now became a spy and a go-between. he insinuated himself into the confidence of paul buys, wormed his secrets from him, and then communicated them to hohenlo and to leicester; "but he did it very wisely," said the earl, "so that he was not mistrusted." the governor always affected, in order to screen the elector from suspicion, to obtain his information from persons in utrecht; and he had indeed many spies in that city; who diligently reported paul's table-talk. nevertheless, that "noble gentleman, the elector," said leicester, "hath dealt most deeply with him, to seek out the bottom." as the ex-advocate of holland was very communicative in his cups, and very bitter against the governor-general, there was soon such a fund of information collected on the subject by various eaves-droppers, that leicester was in hopes of very soon hanging mr. paul buys, as we have already seen. the burthen of the charges against the culprit was his statement that the provinces would be gone if her majesty did not declare herself, vigorously and generously, in their favour; but, as this was the perpetual cry of leicester himself, there seemed hardly hanging matter in that. that noble gentleman, the elector, however, had nearly saved the hangman his trouble, having so dealt with hohenlo as to "bring him into as good a mind as ever he was;" and the first fruits of this good mind were, that the honest count--a man of prompt dealings--walked straight to paul's house in order to kill him on the spot. something fortunately prevented the execution of this plan; but for a time at least the energetic count continued to be "governed greatly" by the ex-archbishop, and "did impart wholly unto him his most secret heart." thus the "deep wise truxy," as leicester called him, continued to earn golden opinions, and followed up his conversion of hohenlo by undertaking to "bring maurice into tune again also," and the young prince was soon on better terms with his "affectionate father" than he had ever been before. paul buys was not so easily put down, however, nor the two magnates so thoroughly gained over. before the end of the season maurice stood in his old position, the nominal head of the holland or patrician party, chief of the opposition to leicester, while hohenlo had become more bitter than ever against the earl. the quarrel between himself and edward norris, to which allusion will soon be made, tended to increase the dissatisfaction, although he singularly misunderstood leicester's sentiments throughout the whole affair. hohenlo recovered of his wound before zutphen; but, on his recovery, was more malcontent than ever. the earl was obliged at last to confess that "he was a very dangerous man, inconstant, envious; and hateful to all our nation, and a very traitor to the cause. there is no dealing to win him," he added, "i have sought it to my cost. his best friends tell me he is not to be trusted." meantime that lewd sinner, the indefatigable paul, was plotting desperately--so leicester said and believed--to transfer the sovereignty of the provinces to the king of denmark. buys, who was privately of opinion that the states required an absolute head, "though it were but an onion's head," and that they would thankfully continue under leicester as governor absolute if elizabeth would accept the sovereignty, had made up his mind that the queen would never take that step. he was therefore disposed to offer the crown to the king of denmark, and was believed to have brought maurice--who was to espouse that king's daughter--to the same way of thinking. young count rantzan, son of a distinguished danish statesman, made a visit to the netherlands in order to confer with buys. paul was also anxious to be appointed envoy to denmark, ostensibly to arrange for the two thousand cavalry, which the king had long before promised for the assistance of the provinces, but in reality, to examine the details of this new project; and leicester represented to the queen very earnestly how powerful the danish monarch would become, thus rendered master of the narrow seas, and how formidable to england. in the midst of these plottings, real or supposed, a party of armed men, one fine summer's morning, suddenly entered paul's bedroom as he lay asleep at the house of the burgomaster, seized his papers, and threw him: into prison in the wine-cellar of the town-house. "oh my papers, oh my papers!" cried the unfortunate politician, according to leicester's statement, "the queen of england will for ever hate me." the earl disavowed all, participation in the arrest; but he was not believed. he declared himself not sorry that the measure had been taken, and promised that he would not "be hasty to release him," not doubting that "he would be found faulty enough." leicester maintained that there was stuff enough discovered to cost paul his head; but he never lost his head, nor was anything treasonable or criminal ever found against him. the intrigue with denmark--never proved--and commenced, if undertaken at all, in utter despair of elizabeth's accepting the sovereignty, was the gravest charge. he remained, however, six months in prison, and at the beginning of was released, without trial or accusation, at the request of the english queen. the states could hardly be blamed for their opposition to the earl's administration, for he had thrown himself completely into the arms of a faction, whose object was to vilipend and traduce them, and it was now difficult for him to recover the functions of which the queen had deprived him. "the government they had given from themselves to me stuck in their stomachs always," he said. thus on the one side, the states were, "growing more stately than ever," and were-always "jumbling underhand," while the aristocratic earl, on, his part, was resolute not to be put down by "churls and tinkers." he was sure that the people were with him, and that, "having always been governed by some prince, they, never did nor could consent to be ruled by bakers, brewers, and hired advocates. i know they hate them," said this high-born tribune of the people. he was much disgusted with the many-headed chimaera, the monstrous republic, with which he found himself in such unceasing conflict, and was disposed to take a manful stand. "i have been fain of late," he said, "to set the better leg foremost, to handle some of my masters somewhat plainly; for they thought i would droop; and whatsoever becomes of me, you shall hear i will keep my reputation, or die for it." but one great accusation, made against the churls and tinkers, and bakers and hired advocates, and mr. paul buys at their head, was that they were liberal towards the papists. they were willing that catholics should remain in the country and exercise the rights of citizens, provided they, conducted themselves like good citizens. for this toleration--a lesson which statesmen like buys and barneveld had learned in the school of william the silent--the opposition-party were denounced as bolsterers of papists, and papists themselves at heart, and "worshippers of idolatrous idols." from words, too, the government of leicester passed to acts. seventy papists were banished from the city of utrecht at the time of the arrest of buys. the queen had constantly enforced upon leicester the importance of dealing justly with the catholics in the netherlands, on the ground that they might be as good patriots and were as much interested in the welfare of their country as were the protestants; and he was especially enjoined "not to meddle in matters of religion." this wholesome advice it would have been quite impossible for the earl, under the guidance of reingault, burgrave, and stephen perret, to carry out. he protested that he should have liked to treat papists and calvinists "with indifference," but that it had proved impossible; that the catholics were perpetually plotting with the spanish faction, and that no towns were safe except those in which papists had been excluded from office. "they love the pope above all," he said, "and the prince of parma hath continual intelligence with them." nor was it catholics alone who gave the governor trouble. he was likewise very busy in putting down other denominations that differed from the calvinists. "your majesty will not believe," he said, "the number of sects that are in most towns; especially anabaptists, families of love, georgians; and i know not what. the godly and good ministers were molested by them in many places, and ready to give over; and even such diversities grew among magistrates in towns, being caused by some sedition-sowers here." it is however, satisfactory to reflect that the anabaptists and families of love, although discouraged and frowned upon, were not burned alive, buried alive, drowned in dungeons, and roasted at slow fires, as had been the case with them and with every other species of protestants, by thousands and tens of thousands, so long as charles v. and philip ii. had ruled the territory of that commonwealth. humanity had acquired something by the war which the netherlanders had been waging for twenty years, and no man or woman was ever put to death for religious causes after the establishment of the republic. with his hands thus full of business, it was difficult for the earl to obey the queen's command not to meddle in religious matters; for he was not of the stature of william the silent, and could not comprehend that the great lesson taught by the sixteenth century was that men were not to meddle with men in matters of religion. but besides his especial nightmare--mr. paul buys--the governor-general had a whole set of incubi in the norris family. probably no two persons ever detested each other more cordially than did leicester and sir john norris. sir john had been commander of the forces in the netherlands before leicester's arrival, and was unquestionably a man of larger experience than the earl. he had, however, as walsingham complained, acquired by his services in "countries where neither discipline military nor religion carried any sway," a very rude and licentious kind of government. "would to god," said the secretary, "that, with his value and courage, he carried the mind and reputation of a religious soldier." but that was past praying for. sir john was proud, untractable, turbulent, very difficult to manage. he hated leicester, and was furious with sir william pelham, whom leicester had made marshal of the camp. he complained, not unjustly, that from the first place in the army, which he had occupied in the netherlands, he had been reduced to the fifth. the governor-general--who chose to call sir john the son of his ancient enemy, the earl of sussex--often denounced him in good set terms. "his brother edward is as ill as he," he said, "but john is right the late earl of sussex' son; he will so dissemble and crouch, and so cunningly carry his doings, as no man living would imagine that there were half the malice or vindictive mind that plainly his words prove to be." leicester accused him of constant insubordination, insolence, and malice, complained of being traduced by him everywhere in the netherlands and in england, and declared that he was followed about by "a pack of lewd audacious fellows," whom the earl vowed he would hang, one and all, before he had done with them. he swore openly, in presence of all his camp, that he would hang sir john likewise; so that both the brothers, who had never been afraid of anything since they had been born into the world, affected to be in danger of their lives. the norrises were on bad terms with many officers--with sir william pelham of course, with "old reade," lord north, roger williams, hohenlo, essex, and other nobles--but with sir philip sidney, the gentle and chivalrous, they were friends. sir john had quarrelled in former times--according to leicester--with hohenlo and even with the "good and brave" la none, of the iron arm; "for his pride," said the earl, "was the spirit of the devil." the governor complained every day of his malignity, and vowed that he "neither regarded the cause of god, nor of his prince, nor country." he consorted chiefly with sir thomas cecil, governor of brill, son of lord burghley, and therefore no friend to leicester; but the earl protested that "master thomas should bear small rule," so long as he was himself governor-general. "now i have pelham and stanley, we shall do well enough," he said, "though my young master would countenance him. i will be master while i remain here, will they, nill they." edward norris, brother of sir john, gave the governor almost as much trouble as he; but the treasurer norris, uncle to them both, was, if possible, more odious to him than all. he was--if half leicester's accusations are to be believed--a most infamous peculator. one-third of the money sent by the queen for the soldiers stuck in his fingers. he paid them their wretched four-pence a-day in depreciated coin, so that for their "naughty money they could get but naughty ware." never was such "fleecing of poor soldiers," said leicester. on the other hand, sir john maintained that his uncle's accounts were always ready for examination, and earnestly begged the home-government not to condemn that functionary without a hearing. for himself, he complained that he was uniformly kept in the background, left in ignorance of important enterprises, and sent on difficult duty with inadequate forces. it was believed that leicester's course was inspired by envy, lest any military triumph that might be gained should redound to the glory of sir john, one of the first commanders of the age, rather than to that of the governor-general. he was perpetually thwarted, crossed, calumniated, subjected to coarse and indecent insults, even from such brave men as lord north and roger williams, and in the very presence of the commander-in-chief, so that his talents were of no avail, and he was most anxious to be gone from the country. thus with the tremendous opposition formed to his government in the states-general, the incessant bickerings with the norrises, the peculations of the treasurer, the secret negotiations with spain, and the impossibility of obtaining money from home for himself or for his starving little army, the earl was in anything but a comfortable position. he was severely censured in england; but he doubted, with much reason, whether there were many who would take his office, and spend twenty thousand pounds sterling out of their own pockets, as he had done. the earl was generous and brave as man could be, full of wit, quick of apprehension; but inordinately vain, arrogant, and withal easily led by designing persons. he stood up manfully for the cause in which he was embarked, and was most strenuous in his demands for money. "personally he cared," he said, "not sixpence for his post; but would give five thousand sixpences, and six thousand shillings beside, to be rid of it;" but it was contrary to his dignity to "stand bucking with the states" for his salary. "is it reason," he asked, "that i, being sent from so great a prince as our sovereign is, must come to strangers to beg my entertainment: if they are to pay me, why is there no remembrance made of it by her majesty's letters, or some of the lords?" the earl and those around him perpetually and vehemently urged upon the queen to reconsider her decision, and accept the sovereignty of the provinces at once. there was no other remedy for the distracted state of the country--no other safeguard for england. the netherland people anxiously, eagerly desired it. her majesty was adored by all the inhabitants, who would gladly hang the fellows called the states. lord north was of this opinion--so was cavendish. leicester had always held it. "sure i am," he said, "there is but one way for our safety, and that is, that her majesty may take that upon her which i fear she will not." thomas wilkes, who now made his appearance on the scene, held the same language. this distinguished civilian had been sent by the queen, early in august, to look into the state of netherland affairs. leicester having expressly urged the importance of selecting as wise a politician as could be found--because the best man in england would hardly be found a match for the dullards and drunkards, as it was the fashion there to call the dutch statesmen--had selected wilkes. after fulfilling this important special mission, he was immediately afterwards to return to the netherlands as english member of the state-council, at forty shillings a-day, in the place of "little hal killigrew," whom leicester pronounced a "quicker and stouter fellow" than he had at first taken him for, although he had always thought well of him. the other english counsellor, dr. bartholomew clerk, was to remain, and the earl declared that he too, whom he had formerly undervalued, and thought to have "little stuff in him," was now "increasing greatly in understanding." but notwithstanding this intellectual progress, poor bartholomew, who was no beginner, was most anxious to retire. he was a man of peace, a professor, a doctor of laws, fonder of the learned leisure and the trim gardens of england than of the scenes which now surrounded him. "i beseech your good lordship to consider," he dismally observed to burghley, "what a hard case it is for a man that these fifteen years hath had vitam sedentariam, unworthily in a place judicial, always in his long robe, and who, twenty-four years since, was a public reader in the university (and therefore cannot be young), to come now among guns and drums, tumbling up and down, day and night, over waters and banks, dykes and ditches, upon every occasion that falleth out; hearing many insolences with silence, bearing many hard measures with patience--a course most different from my nature, and most unmeet for him that hath ever professed learning." wilkes was of sterner stuff. always ready to follow the camp and to face the guns and drums with equanimity, and endowed beside with keen political insight, he was more competent than most men to unravel the confused skein of netherland politics. he soon found that the queen's secret negotiations with spain, and the general distrust of her intentions in regard to the provinces, were like to have fatal consequences. both he and leicester painted the anxiety of the netherland people as to the intention of her majesty in vivid colours. the queen could not make up her mind--in the very midst of the greenwich secret conferences, already described--to accept the netherland sovereignty. "she gathereth from your letter," wrote walsingham, "that the only salve for this sore is to make herself proprietary of the country, and to put in such an army as may be able to make head to the enemy. these two things being so contrary to her majesty's disposition--the one, for that it breedeth a doubt of a perpetual war, the other, for that it requireth an increase of charges--do marvellously distract her, and make her repent that ever she entered into the action." upon the great subject of the sovereignty, therefore, she was unable to adopt the resolution so much desired by leicester and by the people of the provinces; but she answered the earl's communications concerning maurice and hohenlo, sir john norris and the treasurer, in characteristic but affectionate language. and thus she wrote: "rob, i am afraid you will suppose, by my wandering writings, that a midsummer's moon hath taken large possession of my brains this month; but you must needs take things as they come in my head, though order be left behind me. when i remember your request to have a discreet and honest man that may carry my mind, and see how all goes there, i have chosen this bearer (thomas wilkes), whom you know and have made good trial of. i have fraught him full of my conceipts of those country matters, and imparted what way i mind to take and what is fit for you to use. i am sure you can credit him, and so i will be short with these few notes. first, that count maurice and count hollock (hohenlo) find themselves trusted of you, esteemed of me, and to be carefully regarded, if ever peace should happen, and of that assure them on my word, that yet never deceived any. and for norris and other captains that voluntarily, without commandment, have many years ventured their lives and won our nation honour and themselves fame, let them not be discouraged by any means, neither by new-come men nor by old trained soldiers elsewhere. if there be fault in using of soldiers, or making of profit by them, let them hear of it without open shame, and doubt not i will well chasten them therefore. it frets me not a little that the poor soldiers that hourly venture life should want their due, that well deserve rather reward; and look, in whom the fault may truly be proved, let them smart therefore. and if the treasurer be found untrue or negligent, according to desert he shall be used. but you know my old wont, that love not to discharge from office without desert. god forbid! i pray you let this bearer know what may be learned herein, and for the treasure i have joined sir thomas shirley to see all this money discharged in due sort, where it needeth and behoveth. "now will i end, that do imagine i talk still with you, and therefore loathly say farewell one hundred thousand times; though ever i pray god bless you from all harm, and save you from all foes. with my million and legion of thanks for all your pains and cares, "as you know ever the same, "e. r. "p. s. let wilkes see that he is acceptable to you. if anything there be that w. shall desire answer of be such as you would have but me to know, write it to myself. you know i can keep both others' counsel and mine own. mistrust not that anything you would have kept shall be disclosed by me, for although this bearer ask many things, yet you may answer him such as you shall think meet, and write to me the rest." thus, not even her favourite leicester's misrepresentations could make the queen forget her ancient friendship for "her own crow;" but meantime the relations between that "bunch of brethren," black norris and the rest, and pelham, hollock, and other high officers in leicester's army, had grown worse than ever. one august evening there was a supper-party at count hollock's quarters in gertruydenberg. a military foray into brabant had just taken place, under the lead of the count, and of the lord marshal, sir william pelham. the marshal had requested lord willoughby, with his troop of horse and five hundred foot, to join in the enterprise, but, as usual, particular pains had been taken that sir john norris should know nothing of the affair. pelham and hollock--who was "greatly in love with mr. pelham"--had invited several other gentlemen high in leicester's confidence to accompany the expedition; and, among the rest, sir philip sidney, telling him that he "should see some good service." sidney came accordingly, in great haste, from flushing, bringing along with him edward norris--that hot-headed young man, who, according to leicester, "greatly governed his elder brother"--but they arrived at gertruydenberg too late. the foray was over, and the party--"having burned a village, and killed some boors"--were on their return. sidney, not perhaps much regretting the loss of his share in this rather inglorious shooting party, went down to the water-side, accompanied by captain norris, to meet hollock and the other commanders. as the count stepped on shore he scowled ominously, and looked very much out of temper. "what has come to hollock?" whispered captain patton, a scotchman, to sidney. "has he a quarrel with any of the party? look at his face! he means mischief to somebody." but sidney was equally amazed at the sudden change in the german general's countenance, and as unable to explain it. soon afterwards, the whole party, hollock, lewis william of nassau, lord carew, lord essex, lord willoughby, both the sidneys, roger williams, pelham, edward norris, and the rest, went to the count's lodgings, where they supped, and afterwards set themselves seriously to drinking. norris soon perceived that he was no welcome guest; for he was not--like sidney--a stranger to the deep animosity which had long existed between sir john norris and sir william pelham and his friends. the carouse was a tremendous one, as usually was the case where hollock was the amphitryon, and, as the potations grew deeper, an intention became evident on the part of some of the company to behave unhandsomely to norris. for a time the young captain ostentatiously restrained himself, very much after the fashion of those meek individuals who lay their swords on the tavern-table, with "god grant i may have no need of thee!" the custom was then prevalent at banquets for the revellers to pledge each other in rotation, each draining a great cup, and exacting the same feat from his neighbour, who then emptied his goblet as a challenge to his next comrade. the lord marshal took a beaker, and called out to edward norris. "i drink to the health of my lord norris, and of my lady; your mother." so saying, he emptied his glass. the young man did not accept the pledge. "your lordship knows," he said somewhat sullenly, "that i am not wont to drink deep. mr. sidney there can tell you that, for my health's sake, i have drank no wine these eight days. if your lordship desires the pleasure of seeing me drunk, i am not of the same mind. i pray you at least to take a smaller glass." sir william insisted on the pledge. norris then, in no very good humour, emptied his cup to the earl of essex. essex responded by draining a goblet to count hollock. "a norris's father," said the young earl; as he pledged the count, who was already very drunk, and looking blacker than ever. "an 'orse's father--an 'orse's father!" growled' hollock; "i never drink to horses, nor to their fathers either:" and with this wonderful witticism he declined the pledge. essex explained that the toast was lord norris, father of the captain; but the count refused to understand, and held fiercely, and with damnable iteration, to his jest. the earl repeated his explanation several times with no better success. norris meanwhile sat swelling with wrath, but said nothing. again the lord marshal took the same great glass, and emptied it to the young captain. norris, not knowing exactly what course to take, placed the glass at the side of his plate, and glared grimly at sir william. pelham was furious. reaching over the table, he shoved the glass towards norris with an angry gesture. "take your glass, captain norris," he cried; "and if you have a mind to jest, seek other companions. i am not to be trifled with; therefore, i say, pledge me at once." "your lordship shall not force me to drink more wine than i list," returned the other. "it is your pleasure to take advantage of your military rank. were we both at home, you would be glad to be my companion." norris was hard beset, and although his language was studiously moderate, it was not surprising that his manner should be somewhat insolent. the veteran lord marshal, on the other hand, had distinguished himself on many battle-fields, but his deportment at this banqueting-table was not much to his credit. he paused a moment, and norris, too, held his peace, thinking that his enemy would desist. it was but for a moment. "captain norris," cried pelham, "i bid you pledge me without more ado. neither you nor your best friends shall use me as you list. i am better born than you and your brother, the colonel-general, and the whole of you." "i warn you to say nothing disrespectful against my brother," replied the captain. "as for yourself, i know how to respect your age and superior rank." "drink, drink, drink!" roared the old marshal. "i tell you i am better born than the best of you. i have advanced you all too, and you know it; therefore drink to me." sir william was as logical as men in their cups are prone to be. "indeed, you have behaved well to my brother thomas," answered norris, suddenly becoming very courteous, "and for this i have ever loved your lordship, and would, do you any service." "well, then," said the marshal, becoming tender in his turn, "forget what hath past this night, and do as you would have done before." "very well said, indeed!" cried sir philip sidney, trying to help the natter into the smoother channel towards which it was tending. norris, seeing that the eyes of the whole company were upon them; took the glass accordingly, and rose to his feet. "my lord marshal," he said, "you have done me more wrong this night than you can easily make satisfaction for. but i am unwilling that any trouble or offence should grow through me. therefore once more i pledge you." he raised the cup to his lips. at that instant hollock, to whom nothing had been said, and who had spoken no word since his happy remark about the horse's father, suddenly indulged in a more practical jest; and seizing the heavy gilt cover of a silver vase, hurled it at the head of norris. it struck him full on the forehead, cutting him to the bone. the captain, stunned for a moment, fell back in his chair, with the blood running down his eyes and face. the count, always a man of few words, but prompt in action, now drew his dagger, and strode forward, with the intention of despatching him upon the spot. sir philip sidney threw his arms around hollock, however, and, with the assistance of others in the company, succeeded in dragging him from the room. the affair was over in a few seconds. norris, coming back to consciousness, sat for a moment as one amazed, rubbing the blood out of his eyes; then rose from the table to seek his adversary; but he was gone. soon afterwards he went to his lodgings. the next morning he was advised to leave the town as speedily as possible; for as it was under the government of hollock, and filled with his soldiers, he was warned that his life would not be safe there an hour. accordingly he went to his boat, accompanied only by his man and his page, and so departed with his broken head, breathing vengeance against hollock, pelham, leicester, and the whole crew, by whom he had been thus abused. the next evening there was another tremendous carouse at the count's, and, says the reporter of the preceding scene, "they were all on such good terms, that not one of the company had falling band or ruff left about his neck. all were clean torn away, and yet there was no blood drawn." edward norris--so soon as might be afterwards--sent a cartel to the count, demanding mortal combat with sword and dagger. sir philip sidney bore the message. sir john norris, of course warmly and violently espoused the cause of his brother, and was naturally more incensed against the lord marshal than ever, for sir william pelham was considered the cause of the whole affray. "even if the quarrel is to be excused by drink," said an eye-witness, "'tis but a slender defence for my lord to excuse himself by his cups; and often drink doth bewray men's humours and unmask their malice. certainly the count hollock thought to have done a pleasure to the company in killing him." nothing could be more ill-timed than this quarrel, or more vexatious to leicester. the count--although considering himself excessively injured at being challenged by a simple captain and an untitled gentleman, whom he had attempted to murder--consented to waive his privilege, and grant the meeting. leicester interposed, however, to delay, and, if possible, to patch up the affair. they were on the eve of active military operations, and it was most vexatious for the commander-in-chief to see, as he said, "the quarrel with the enemy changed to private revenge among ourselves." the intended duel did not take place; for various influential personages succeeded in deferring the meeting. then came the battle of zutphen. sidney fell, and hollock was dangerously wounded in the attack which was soon afterwards made upon the fort. he was still pressed to afford the promised satisfaction, however, and agreed to do so whenever he should rise from his bed. strange to say, the count considered leicester, throughout the whole business, to have taken part against him. yet there is no doubt whatever that the earl--who detested the norrises, and was fonder of pelham than of any man living--uniformly narrated the story most unjustly, to the discredit of the young captain. he considered him extremely troublesome, represented him as always quarrelling with some one--with colonel morgan, roger williams, old reade, and all the rest--while the lord marshal, on the contrary, was depicted as the mildest of men. "this i must say," he observed, "that all present, except my two nephews (the sidneys), who are not here yet, declare the greatest fault to be in edward norris, and that he did most arrogantly use the marshal." it is plain, however, that the old marshal, under the influence of wine, was at least quite as much to blame as the young captain; and sir philip sidney sufficiently showed his sense of the matter by being the bearer of edward norris's cartel. after sidney's death, sir john norris, in his letter of condolence to walsingham for the death of his illustrious son-in-law, expressed the deeper regret at his loss because sir philip's opinion had been that the norrises were wronged. hollock had conducted himself like a lunatic, but this he was apt to do whether in his cups or not. he was always for killing some one or another on the slightest provocation, and, while the dog-star of was raging, it was not his fault if he had not already despatched both edward norris and the objectionable "mr. p. b." for these energetic demonstrations against leicester's enemies he considered himself entitled to the earl's eternal gratitude, and was deeply disgusted at his apparent coldness. the governor was driven almost to despair by these quarrels. his colonel-general, his lord marshal, his lieutenant-general, were all at daggers drawn. "would god i were rid of this place!" he exclaimed. "what man living would go to the field and have his officers divided almost into mortal quarrel? one blow but by any of their lackeys brings us altogether by the ears." it was clear that there was not room enough on the netherland soil for the earl of leicester and the brothers norris. the queen, while apparently siding with the earl, intimated to sir john that she did not disapprove his conduct, that she should probably recall him to england, and that she should send him back to the provinces after the earl had left that country. such had been the position of the governor-general towards the queen, towards the states-general, and towards his own countrymen, during the year . etext editor's bookmarks: are wont to hang their piety on the bell-rope arminianism as logical as men in their cups are prone to be tolerating religious liberty had never entered his mind chapter xi. drake in the netherlands--good results of his visit--the babington conspiracy--leicester decides to visit england--exchange of parting compliments. late in the autumn of the same year an englishman arrived in the netherlands, bearer of despatches from the queen. he had been entrusted by her majesty with a special mission to the states-general, and he had soon an interview with that assembly at the hague. he was a small man, apparently forty-five years of age, of a fair but somewhat weather-stained complexion, with light-brown, closely-curling hair, an expansive forehead, a clear blue eye, rather commonplace features, a thin, brown, pointed beard, and a slight moustache. though low of stature, he was broad-chested, with well-knit limbs. his hands, which were small and nervous, were brown and callous with the marks of toil. there was something in his brow and glance not to be mistaken, and which men willingly call master; yet he did not seem, to have sprung of the born magnates of the earth. he wore a heavy gold chain about his neck, and it might be observed that upon the light full sleeves of his slashed doublet the image of a small ship on a terrestrial globe was curiously and many times embroidered. it was not the first time that he had visited the netherlands. thirty years before the man had been apprentice on board a small lugger, which traded between the english coast and the ports of zeeland. emerging in early boyhood from his parental mansion--an old boat, turned bottom upwards on a sandy down he had naturally taken to the sea, and his master, dying childless not long afterwards, bequeathed to him the lugger. but in time his spirit, too much confined by coasting in the narrow seas, had taken a bolder flight. he had risked his hard-earned savings in a voyage with the old slave-trader, john hawkins--whose exertions, in what was then considered an honourable and useful vocation, had been rewarded by queen elizabeth with her special favour, and with a coat of arms, the crest whereof was a negro's head, proper, chained--but the lad's first and last enterprise in this field was unfortunate. captured by spaniards, and only escaping with life, he determined to revenge himself on the whole spanish nation; and this was considered a most legitimate proceeding according to the "sea divinity" in which he, had been schooled. his subsequent expeditions against the spanish possessions in the west indies were eminently successful, and soon the name of francis drake rang through the world, and startled philip in the depths of his escorial. the first englishman, and the second of any nation, he then ploughed his memorable "furrow round the earth," carrying amazement and, destruction to the spaniards as he sailed, and after three years brought to the queen treasure enough, as it was asserted, to maintain a war with the spanish king for seven years, and to pay himself and companions, and the merchant-adventurers who had participated in his enterprise, forty-seven pounds sterling for every pound invested in the voyage. the speculation had been a fortunate one both, for himself and for the kingdom. the terrible sea-king was one of the great types of the sixteenth century. the self-helping private adventurer, in his little vessel the 'golden hind,' one hundred tons burthen, had waged successful war against a mighty empire, and had shown england how to humble philip. when he again set foot on his native soil he was followed by admiring crowds, and became the favourite hero of romance and ballad; for it was not the ignoble pursuit of gold alone, through toil and peril, which had endeared his name to the nation. the popular instinct recognized that the true means had been found at last for rescuing england and protestantism from the overshadowing empire of spain. the queen visited him in his 'golden hind,' and gave him the honour of knighthood. the treaty between the united netherlands and england had been followed by an embargo upon english vessels, persons, and property, in the ports of spain; and after five years of unwonted repose, the privateersman again set forth with twenty-five small vessels--of which five or six only were armed--under his command, conjoined with that of general carlisle. this time the voyage was undertaken with full permission and assistance of the queen who, however, intended to disavow him, if she should find such a step convenient. this was the expedition in which philip sidney had desired to take part. the queen watched its result with intense anxiety, for the fate of her netherland adventure was thought to be hanging on the issue. "upon drake's voyage, in very truth, dependeth the life and death of the cause, according to man's judgment," said walsingham. the issue was encouraging, even, if the voyage--as a mercantile speculation--proved not so brilliant as the previous enterprises of sir francis had been. he returned in the midsummer of , having captured and brandschatzed st. domingo and carthagena; and burned st. augustine. "a fearful man to the king of spain is sir francis drake," said lord burghley. nevertheless, the queen and the lord-treasurer--as we have shown by the secret conferences at greenwich--had, notwithstanding these successes, expressed a more earnest desire for peace than ever. a simple, sea-faring englishman, with half-a-dozen miserable little vessels, had carried terror, into the spanish possessions all over the earth: but even then the great queen had not learned to rely on the valour of her volunteers against her most formidable enemy. drake was, however, bent on another enterprise. the preparations for philip's great fleet had been going steadily forward in lisbon, cadiz, and other ports of spain and portugal, and, despite assurances to the contrary, there was a growing belief that england was to be invaded. to destroy those ships before the monarch's face, would be, indeed, to "singe his beard." but whose arm was daring enough for such a stroke? whose but that of the devonshire skipper who had already accomplished so much? and so sir francis, "a man true to his word, merciful to those under him, and hating nothing so much as idleness," had come to the netherlands to talk over his project with the states-general, and with the dutch merchants and sea-captains. his visit was not unfruitful. as a body the assembly did nothing; but they recommended that in every maritime city of holland and zeeland one or two ships should be got ready, to participate in all the future enterprises of sir francis and his comrades. the martial spirit of volunteer sailors, and the keen instinct of mercantile speculation, were relied upon--exactly as in england--to furnish men, ships, and money, for these daring and profitable adventures. the foundation of a still more intimate connection between england and holland was laid, and thenceforth dutchmen and englishmen fought side by side, on land and sea, wherever a blow was to be struck in the cause of human freedom against despotic spain. the famous babington conspiracy, discovered by walsingham's "travail and cost," had come to convince the queen and her counsellors--if further proof were not superfluous--that her throne and life were both incompatible with philip's deep designs, and that to keep that monarch out of the netherlands, was as vital to her as to keep him out of england. "she is forced by this discovery to countenance the cause by all outward means she may," said walsingham, "for it appeareth unto her most plain, that unless she had entered into the action, she had been utterly undone, and that if she do not prosecute the same she cannot continue." the secretary had sent leicester information at an early day of the great secret, begging his friend to "make the letter a heretic after he had read the same," and expressing the opinion that "the matter, if well handled, would break the neck of all dangerous practices during her majesty's reign." the tragedy of mary stuart--a sad but inevitable portion of the vast drama in which the emancipation of england and holland, and, through them, of half christendom, was accomplished--approached its catastrophe; and leicester could not restrain his anxiety for her immediate execution. he reminded walsingham that the great seal had been put upon a warrant for her execution for a less crime seventeen years before, on the occasion of the northumberland and westmorland rebellion. "for who can warrant these villains from her," he said, "if that person live, or shall live any time? god forbid! and be you all stout and resolute in this speedy execution, or be condemned of all the world for ever. it is most. certain, if you will have your majesty safe, it must be done, for justice doth crave it beside policy." his own personal safety was deeply compromised. "your lordship and i," wrote burghley, "were very great motes in the traitors' eyes; for your lordship there and i here should first, about one time, have been killed. of your lordship they thought rather of poisoning than slaying. after us two gone, they purposed her majesty's death." but on this great affair of state the earl was not swayed by such personal considerations. he honestly thought--as did all the statesmen who governed england--that english liberty, the very existence of the english commonwealth, was impossible so long as mary stuart lived. under these circumstances he was not impatient, for a time at least, to leave the netherlands. his administration had not been very successful. he had been led away by his own vanity, and by the flattery of artful demagogues, but the immense obstacles with which he had to contend in the queen's wavering policy, and in the rivalry of both english and dutch politicians have been amply exhibited. that he had been generous, courageous, and zealous, could not be denied; and, on the whole, he had accomplished as much in the field as could have been expected of him with such meagre forces, and so barren an exchequer. it must be confessed, however, that his leaving the netherlands at that moment was a most unfortunate step, both for his own reputation and for the security of the provinces. party-spirit was running high, and a political revolution was much to be dreaded in so grave a position of affairs, both in england and holland. the arrangements--and particularly the secret arrangements which he made at his departure--were the most fatal measures of all; but these will be described in the following chapter. on the st october; the earl announced to the state-council his intention of returning to england, stating, as the cause of this sudden determination, that he had been summoned to attend the parliament then sitting in westminster. wilkes, who was of course present, having now succeeded killigrew as one of the two english members, observed that "the states and council used but slender entreaty to his excellency for his stay and countenance there among them, whereat his excellency and we that were of the council for her majesty did not a little marvel." some weeks later, however, upon the st november, leicester summoned barneveld, and five other of the states general, to discuss the necessary measures for his departure, when those gentlemen remonstrated very earnestly upon the step, pleading the danger and confusion of affairs which must necessarily ensue. the earl declared that he was not retiring from the country because he was offended, although he had many causes for offence: and he then alluded to the navigation act, to the establishment council, and spoke of the finance of burgrave and reingault, for his employment of which individuals so much obloquy had been heaped upon his, head. burgrave he pronounced, as usual, a substantial, wise, faithful, religious personage, entitled to fullest confidence; while reingault--who had been thrown into prison by the states on charges of fraud, peculation, and sedition--he declared to be a great financier, who had promised, on penalty of his head, to bring "great sums into the treasury for carrying on the war, without any burthen to the community." had he been able to do this, he had certainly claim to be considered the greatest of financiers; but the promised "mountains of gold" were never discovered, and reingault was now awaiting his trial. the deputies replied that the concessions upon the navigation act had satisfied the country, but that reingault was a known instrument of the spaniards, and burgrave a mischief-making demagogue, who consorted with malignants, and sent slanderous reports concerning the states and the country to her majesty. they had in consequence felt obliged to write private despatches to envoy ortel in england, not because they suspected the earl, but in order to counteract the calumnies of his chief advisers. they had urged the agent to bring the imprisonment of paul buys before her majesty, but for that transaction leicester boldly disclaimed all responsibility. it was agreed between the earl and the deputies that, during his absence, the whole government, civil and military, should devolve upon the state-council, and that sir john norris should remain in command of the english forces. two days afterwards leicester, who knew very well that a legation was about to proceed to england, without any previous concurrence on his part, summoned a committee of the states-general, together with barneveld, into the state-council. counsellor wilkes on his behalf then made a speech, in which he observed that more ample communications on the part of the states were to be expected. they had in previous colloquies touched upon comparatively unimportant matters, but he now begged to be informed why these commissioners were proceeding to england, and what was the nature of their instructions. why did not they formally offer the sovereignty of the provinces to the queen without conditions? that step had already been taken by utrecht. the deputies conferred apart for a little while, and then replied that the proposition made by utrecht was notoriously factious, illegal, and altogether futile. without the sanction of all the united states, of what value was the declaration of utrecht? moreover the charter of that province had been recklessly violated, its government overthrown, and its leading citizens banished. the action of the province under such circumstances was not deserving of comment; but should it appear that her majesty was desirous of assuming the sovereignty of the provinces upon reasonable conditions, the states of holland and of zeeland would not be found backward in the business. leicester proposed that prince maurice of nassau should go with him to england, as nominal chief of the embassy, and some of the deputies favoured the suggestion. it was however, vigorously and successfully opposed by barneveld, who urged that to leave the country without a head in such a dangerous position of affairs, would be an act of madness. leicester was much annoyed when informed of this decision. he was suspected of a design, during his absence, of converting maurice entirely to his own way of thinking. if unsuccessful, it was believed by the advocate and by many others that the earl would cause the young prince to be detained in england as long as philip william, his brother, had been kept in spain. he observed peevishly that he knew how it had all been brought about. words, of course, and handsome compliments were exchanged between the governor and the states-general on his departure. he protested that he had never pursued any private ends during his administration, but had ever sought to promote the good of the country and the glory of the queen, and that he had spent three hundred thousand florins of his own money in the brief period of his residence there. the advocate, on part of the states, assured him that they were all aware that in the friendship of england lay their only chance of salvation, but that united action was the sole means by which that salvation could be effected, and the one which had enabled the late prince of orange to maintain a contest unequalled by anything recorded in history. there was also much disquisition on the subject of finance--the advocate observing that the states now raised as much in a month as the provinces in the time of the emperor used to levy in a year--and expressed the hope that the queen would increase her contingent to ten thousand foot, and two thousand horse. he repudiated, in the name of the states-general and his own, the possibility of peace-negotiations; deprecated any allusion to the subject as fatal to their religion, their liberty, their very existence, and equally disastrous to england and to protestantism, and implored the earl, therefore, to use all his influence in opposition to any pacific overtures to or from spain. on the th november, acts were drawn up and signed by the earl, according to which the supreme government of the united netherlands was formally committed to the state-council during his absence. decrees were to be pronounced in the name of his excellency, and countersigned by maurice of nassau. on the following day, leicester, being somewhat indisposed, requested a deputation of the states-general to wait upon him in his own house. this was done, and a formal and affectionate farewell was then read to him by his secretary, mr. atye. it was responded to in complimentary fashion by advocate barneveld, who again took occasion at this parting interview to impress upon the governor the utter impossibility, in his own opinion and that of the other deputies, of reconciling the provinces with spain. leicester received from the states--as a magnificent parting present--a silver gilt vase "as tall as a man," and then departed for flushing to take shipping for england. chapter xii. ill-timed interregnum in the provinces--firmness of the english and dutch people--factions during leicester's government--democratic theories of the leicestriana--suspicions as to the earl's designs-- extreme views of the calvinists--political ambition of the church-- antagonism of the church and states--the states inclined to tolerance--desolation of the obedient provinces--pauperism and famine--prosperity of the republic--the year of expectation. it was not unnatural that the queen should desire the presence of her favourite at that momentous epoch, when the dread question, "aut fer aut feri," had at last demanded its definite solution. it was inevitable, too, that leicester should feel great anxiety to be upon the spot where the great tragedy, so full of fate to all christendom, and in which his own fortunes were so closely involved, was to be enacted. but it was most cruel to the netherlands--whose well-being was nearly as important to elizabeth as that of her own realm--to plunge them into anarchy at such a moment. yet this was the necessary result of the sudden retirement of leicester. he did not resign his government. he did not bind himself to return. the question of sovereignty was still unsettled, for it was still hoped by a large and influential party, that the english queen would accept the proposed annexation. it was yet doubtful, whether, during the period of abeyance, the states-general or the states-provincial, each within their separate sphere, were entitled to supreme authority. meantime, as if here were not already sufficient elements of dissension and doubt, came a sudden and indefinite interregnum, a provisional, an abnormal, and an impotent government. to the state-council was deputed the executive authority. but the state-council was a creature of the states-general, acting in concert with the governor-general, and having no actual life of its own. it was a board of consultation, not of decision, for it could neither enact its own decrees nor interpose a veto upon the decrees of the governor. certainly the selection of leicester to fill so important a post had not been a very fortunate one; and the enthusiasm which had greeted him, "as if he had been a messiah," on his arrival, had very rapidly dwindled away, as his personal character became known. the leading politicians of the country had already been aware of the error which they had committed in clothing with almost sovereign powers the delegate of one who had refused the sovereignty. they, were too adroit to neglect the opportunity, which her majesty's anger offered them, of repairing what they considered their blunder. when at last the quarrel, which looked so much like a lovers' quarrel, between elizabeth and 'sweet robin,' had been appeased to the satisfaction of robin, his royal mistress became more angry with the states for circumscribing than she had before been for their exaggeration of his authority. hence the implacable hatred of leicester to paul buys and barneveld. those two statesmen, for eloquence, learning, readiness, administrative faculty, surpassed by few who have ever wielded the destinies of free commonwealths, were fully equal to the task thrown upon their hands by the progress of events. that task was no slight one, for it was to the leading statesmen of holland and england, sustained by the indomitable resistance to despotism almost universal in the english and dutch nations, that the liberty of europe was entrusted at that, momentous epoch. whether united under one crown, as the netherlands ardently desired, or closely allied for aggression and defence, the two peoples were bound indissolubly together. the clouds were rolling up from the fatal south, blacker and more portentous than ever; the artificial equilibrium of forces, by which the fate of france was kept in suspense, was obviously growing every day more uncertain; but the prolonged and awful interval before the tempest should burst over the lands of freedom and protestantism, gave at least time for the prudent to prepare. the armada was growing every day in the ports of spain and portugal, and walsingham doubted, as little as did buys or barneveld, toward what shores that invasion was to be directed. england was to be conquered in order that the rebellious netherlands might be reduced; and 'mucio' was to be let slip upon the unhappy henry iii. so soon as it was thought probable that the bearnese and the valois had sufficiently exhausted each other. philip was to reign in paris, amsterdam, london, and edinburgh, without stirring from the escorial. an excellent programme, had there not been some english gentlemen, some subtle secretaries of state, some devonshire skippers, some dutch advocates and merchants, some zeeland fly-boatsmen, and six million men, women, and children, on the two sides of the north sea, who had the power of expressing their thoughts rather bluntly than otherwise, in different dialects of old anglo-saxon speech. certainly it would be unjust and ungracious to disparage the heroism of the great queen when the hour of danger really came, nor would it be legitimate for us, who can scan that momentous year of expectation, , by the light of subsequent events and of secret contemporaneous record, to censure or even sharply to criticise the royal hankering for peace, when peace had really become impossible. but as we shall have occasion to examine rather closely the secrets of the spanish, french, english, and dutch councils, during this epoch, we are likely to find, perhaps, that at least as great a debt is due to the english and dutch people, in mass, for the preservation of european liberty at that disastrous epoch as to any sovereign, general, or statesman. for it was in the great waters of the sixteenth century that the nations whose eyes were open, discovered the fountain of perpetual youth, while others, who were blind, passed rapidly onward to decrepitude. england was, in many respects, a despotism so far as regarded governmental forms; and no doubt the catholics were treated with greater rigour than could be justified even by the perpetual and most dangerous machinations of the seminary priests and their instigators against the throne and life of elizabeth. the word liberty was never musical in tudor ears, yet englishmen had blunt tongues and sharp weapons which rarely rusted for want of use. in the presence of a parliament, and the absence of a standing army, a people accustomed to read the bible in the vernacular, to handle great questions of religion and government freely, and to bear arms at will, was most formidable to despotism. there was an advance on the olden time. a francis drake, a john hawkins, a roger williams, might have been sold, under the plantagenets, like an ox or an ass. a 'female villain' in the reign of henry iii. could have been purchased for eighteen shillings--hardly the price of a fatted pig, and not one-third the value of an ambling palfrey--and a male villain, such an one as could in elizabeth's reign circumnavigate the globe in his own ship, or take imperial field-marshals by the beard, was worth but two or three pounds sterling in the market. here was progress in three centuries, for the villains were now become admirals and generals in england and holland, and constituted the main stay of these two little commonwealths, while the commanders who governed the 'invincible' fleets and armies of omnipotent spain, were all cousins of emperors, or grandees of bluest blood. perhaps the system of the reformation would not prove the least effective in the impending crisis. it was most important, then, that these two nations should be united in council, and should stand shoulder to shoulder as their great enemy advanced. but this was precisely what had been rendered almost impossible by the course of events during leicester's year of administration, and by his sudden but not final retirement at its close. the two great national parties which had gradually been forming, had remained in a fluid state during the presence of the governor-general. during his absence they gradually hardened into the forms which they were destined to retain for centuries. in the history of civil liberty, these incessant contests, these oral and written disquisitions, these sharp concussions of opinion, and the still harder blows, which, unfortunately, were dealt on a few occasions by the combatants upon each other, make the year a memorable one. the great questions of the origin of government, the balance of dynastic forces, the distribution of powers, were dealt with by the ablest heads, both dutch and english, that could be employed in the service of the kingdom and republic. it was a war of protocols, arguments, orations, rejoinders, apostilles, and pamphlets; very wholesome for the cause of free institutions and the intellectual progress of mankind. the reader may perhaps be surprised to see with how much vigour and boldness the grave questions which underlie all polity, were handled so many years before the days of russell and sidney, of montesquieu and locke, franklin, jefferson, rousseau, and voltaire; and he may be even more astonished to find exceedingly democratic doctrines propounded, if not believed in, by trained statesmen of the elizabethan school. he will be also apt to wonder that a more fitting time could not be found for such philosophical debate than the epoch at which both the kingdom and the republic were called upon to strain every sinew against the most formidable and aggressive despotism that the world had known since the fall of the roman empire. the great dividing-line between the two parties, that of leicester and that of holland, which controlled the action of the states-general, was the question of sovereignty. after the declaration of independence and the repudiation of philip, to whom did the sovereignty belong? to the people, said the leicestrians. to the states-general and the states-provincial, as legitimate representatives of the people, said the holland party. without looking for the moment more closely into this question, which we shall soon find ably discussed by the most acute reasoners of the time, it is only important at present to make a preliminary reflection. the earl of leicester, of all men is the world, would seem to have been precluded by his own action, and by the action of his queen, from taking ground against the states. it was the states who, by solemn embassy, had offered the sovereignty to elizabeth. she had not accepted the offer, but she had deliberated on the subject, and certainly she had never expressed a doubt whether or not the offer had been legally made. by the states, too, that governor-generalship had been conferred upon the earl, which had been so thankfully and eagerly accepted. it was strange, then, that he should deny the existence of the power whence his own authority was derived. if the states were not sovereigns of the netherlands, he certainly was nothing. he was but general of a few thousand english troops. the leicester party, then, proclaimed extreme democratic principles as to the origin of government and the sovereignty of the people. they sought to strengthen and to make almost absolute the executive authority of their chief, on the ground that such was the popular will; and they denounced with great acrimony the insolence of the upstart members of the states, half a dozen traders, hired advocates, churls, tinkers, and the like--as leicester was fond of designating the men who opposed him--in assuming these airs of sovereignty. this might, perhaps, be philosophical doctrine, had its supporters not forgotten that there had never been any pretence at an expression of the national will, except through the mouths of the states. the states-general and the states-provincial, without any usurpation, but as a matter of fact and of great political convenience, had, during fifteen years, exercised the authority which had fallen from philip's hands. the people hitherto had acquiesced in their action, and certainly there had not yet been any call for a popular convention, or any other device to ascertain the popular will. it was also difficult to imagine what was the exact entity of this abstraction called the "people" by men who expressed such extreme contempt for "merchants, advocates, town-orators, churls, tinkers, and base mechanic men, born not to command but to obey." who were the people when the educated classes and the working classes were thus carefully eliminated? hardly the simple peasantry--the boors--who tilled the soil. at that day the agricultural labourers less than all others dreamed of popular sovereignty, and more than all others submitted to the mild authority of the states. according to the theory of the netherland constitutions, they were supposed--and they had themselves not yet discovered the fallacies to which such doctrines could lead--to be represented by the nobles and country-squires who maintained in the states of each province the general farming interests of the republic. moreover, the number of agricultural peasants was comparatively small. the lower classes were rather accustomed to plough the sea than the land, and their harvests were reaped from that element, which to hollanders and zeelanders was less capricious than the solid earth. almost every inhabitant of those sea-born territories was, in one sense or another, a mariner; for every highway was a canal; the soil was percolated by rivers and estuaries, pools and meres; the fisheries were the nurseries in which still more daring navigators rapidly learned their trade, and every child took naturally to the ocean as to its legitimate home. the "people," therefore, thus enthroned by the leicestrians over all the inhabitants of the country, appeared to many eyes rather a misty abstraction, and its claim of absolute sovereignty a doctrine almost as fantastic as that of the divine right of kings. the netherlanders were, on the whole, a law-abiding people, preferring to conduct even a revolution according to precedent, very much attached to ancient usages and traditions, valuing the liberties, as they called them, which they had wrested from what had been superior force, with their own right hands, preferring facts to theories, and feeling competent to deal with tyrants in the concrete rather than to annihilate tyranny in the abstract by a bold and generalizing phraseology. moreover the opponents of the leicester party complained that the principal use to which this newly discovered "people" had been applied, was to confer its absolute sovereignty unconditionally upon one man. the people was to be sovereign in order that it might immediately abdicate in favour of the earl. utrecht, the capital of the leicestrians, had already been deprived of its constitution. the magistracy was, according to law, changed every year. a list of candidates was furnished by the retiring board, an equal number of names was added by the governor of the province, and from the catalogue thus composed the governor with his council selected the new magistrates for the year. but de villiers, the governor of the province, had been made a prisoner by the enemy in the last campaign; count moeurs had been appointed provisional stadholder by the states; and, during his temporary absence on public affairs, the leicestrians had seized upon the government, excluded all the ancient magistrates, banished many leading citizens from the town, and installed an entirely new board, with gerard proninck, called deventer, for chief burgomaster, who was a brabantine refugee just arrived in the province, and not eligible to office until after ten years' residence. it was not unnatural that the netherlanders, who remembered the scenes of bloodshed and disorder produced by the memorable attempt of the duke of anjou to obtain possession of antwerp and other cities, should be suspicious of leicester. anjou, too, had been called to the provinces by the voluntary action of the states. he too had been hailed as a messiah and a deliverer. in him too had unlimited confidence been reposed, and he had repaid their affection and their gratitude by a desperate attempt to obtain the control of their chief cities by the armed hand, and thus to constitute himself absolute sovereign of the netherlands. the inhabitants had, after a bloody contest, averted the intended massacre and the impending tyranny; but it was not astonishing that--so very, few years having elapsed since those tragical events--they should be inclined to scan severely the actions of the man who had already obtained by unconstitutional means the mastery of a most important city, and was supposed to harbour designs upon all the cities. no, doubt it was a most illiberal and unwise policy for the inhabitants of the independent states to exclude from office the wanderers, for conscience' sake, from the obedient provinces. they should have been welcomed heart and hand by those who were their brethren in religion and in the love of freedom. moreover, it was notorious that hohenlo, lieutenant-general under maurice of nassau, was a german, and that by the treaty with england, two foreigners sat in the state council, while the army swarmed with english, irish, end german officers in high command. nevertheless, violently to subvert the constitution of a province, and to place in posts of high responsibility men who were ineligible--some whose characters were suspicious, and some who were known to be dangerous, and to banish large numbers of respectable burghers--was the act of a despot. besides their democratic doctrines, the leicestrians proclaimed and encouraged an exclusive and rigid calvinism. it would certainly be unjust and futile to detract from the vast debt which the republic owed to the geneva church. the reformation had entered the netherlands by the walloon gate. the earliest and most eloquent preachers, the most impassioned converts, the sublimest martyrs, had lived, preached, fought, suffered, and died with the precepts of calvin in their hearts. the fire which had consumed the last vestige of royal and sacerdotal despotism throughout the independent republic, had been lighted by the hands of calvinists. throughout the blood-stained soil of france, too, the men who were fighting the same great battle as were the netherlanders against philip ii. and the inquisition, the valiant cavaliers of dauphiny and provence, knelt on the ground, before the battle, smote their iron breasts with their mailed hands, uttered a calvinistic prayer, sang a psalm of marot, and then charged upon guise, or upon joyeuse, under the white plume of the bearnese. and it was on the calvinist weavers and clothiers of rochelle that the great prince relied in the hour of danger as much as on his mountain chivalry. in england too, the seeds of liberty, wrapped up in calvinism and hoarded through many trying years, were at last destined to float over land and sea, and to bear large harvests of temperate freedom for great commonwealths, which were still unborn. nevertheless there was a growing aversion in many parts of the states for the rigid and intolerant spirit of the reformed religion. there were many men in holland who had already imbibed the true lesson--the only, one worth learning of the reformation--liberty of thought; but toleration in the eyes of the extreme calvinistic party was as great a vice as it could be in the estimation of papists. to a favoured few of other habits of thought, it had come to be regarded as a virtue; but the day was still far distant when men were to scorn the very word toleration as an insult to the dignity of man; as if for any human being or set of human beings, in caste, class, synod, or church, the right could even in imagination be conceded of controlling the consciences of their fellow-creatures. but it was progress for the sixteenth century that there were individuals, and prominent individuals, who dared to proclaim liberty of conscience for all. william of orange was a calvinist, sincere and rigid, but he denounced all oppression of religion, and opened wide the doors of the commonwealth to papists, lutherans, and anabaptists alike. the earl of leicester was a calvinist, most rigid in tenet, most edifying of conversation, the acknowledged head of the puritan party of england, but he was intolerant and was influenced only by the most intolerant of his sect. certainly it would have required great magnanimity upon his part to assume a friendly demeanour towards the papists. it is easier for us, in more favoured ages, to rise to the heights of philosophical abstraction, than for a man, placed as was leicester, in the front rank of a mighty battle, in which the triumph of either religion seemed to require the bodily annihilation of all its adversaries. he believed that the success of a catholic conspiracy against the life of elizabeth or of a spanish invasion of england, would raise mary to the throne and consign himself to the scaffold. he believed that the subjugation of the independent netherlands would place the spaniards instantly in england, and he frequently received information, true or false, of popish plots that were ever hatching in various parts of the provinces against the english queen. it was not surprising, therefore, although it was unwise, that he should incline his ear most seriously to those who counselled severe measures not only against papists, but against those who were not persecutors of papists, and that he should allow himself to be guided by adventurers, who wore the mask of religion only that they might plunder the exchequer and rob upon the highway. under the administration of this extreme party, therefore, the papists were maltreated, disfranchised, banished, and plundered. the distribution of the heavy war-taxes, more than two-thirds of which were raised in holland only, was confided to foreigners, and regulated mainly at utrecht, where not one-tenth part of the same revenue was collected. this naturally excited the wrath of the merchants and manufacturers of holland and the other provinces, who liked not that these hard-earned and lavishly-paid subsidies should be meddled with by any but the cleanest hands. the clergy, too, arrogated a direct influence in political affairs. their demonstrations were opposed by the anti-leicestrians, who cared not to see a geneva theocracy in the place of the vanished papacy. they had as little reverence in secular affairs for calvinistic deacons as for the college of cardinals, and would as soon accept the infallibility of sixtus v. as that of herman modet. the reformed clergy who had dispossessed and confiscated the property of the ancient ecclesiastics who once held a constitutional place in the estates of utrecht--although many of those individuals were now married and had embraced the reformed religion who had demolished, and sold at public auction, for , florins, the time-honoured cathedral where the earliest christians of the netherlands had worshipped, and st. willibrod had ministered, were roundly rebuked, on more than one occasion, by the blunt matters beyond their sphere. the party of the states-general, as opposed to the leicester party, was guided by the statesmen of holland. at a somewhat later period was formed the states-right party, which claimed sovereignty for each province, and by necessary consequence the hegemony throughout the confederacy, for holland. at present the doctrine maintained was that the sovereignty forfeited by philip had naturally devolved upon the states-general. the statesmen of this party repudiated the calumny that it had therefore lapsed into the hands of half a dozen mechanics and men of low degree. the states of each province were, they maintained, composed of nobles and country-gentlemen, as representing the agricultural interest, and of deputies from the 'vroedschappen,' or municipal governments, of every city and smallest town. such men as adrian van der werff, the heroic burgomaster of leyden during its famous siege, john van der does, statesman, orator, soldier, poet, adolphus meetkerke, judge, financier, politician, carl roorda, noel de carom diplomatist of most signal ability, floris thin, paul buys, and olden-barneveld, with many others, who would have done honour to the legislative assemblies and national councils in any country or any age, were constantly returned as members of the different vroedschaps in the commonwealth. so far from its being true then that half a dozen ignorant mechanics had usurped the sovereignty of the provinces, after the abjuration of the spanish king, it may be asserted in general terms, that of the eight hundred thousand inhabitants of holland at least eight hundred persons were always engaged in the administration of public affairs, that these individuals were perpetually exchanged for others, and that those whose names became most prominent in the politics of the day were remarkable for thorough education, high talents, and eloquence with tongue and pen. it was acknowledged by the leading statesmen of england and france, on repeated occasions throughout the sixteenth century, that the diplomatists and statesmen of the netherlands were even more than a match for any politicians who were destined to encounter them, and the profound respect which leicester expressed for these solid statesmen, these "substantial, wise, well-languaged" men, these "big fellows," so soon as he came in contact with them, and before he began to hate them for outwitting him, has already appeared. they were generally men of the people, born without any of the accidents of fortune; but, the leaders had studied in the common schools, and later in the noble universities of a land where to be learned and eloquent was fast becoming almost as great an honour as to be wealthy or high born. the executive, the legislative, and the judiciary departments were more carefully and scientifically separated than could perhaps have been expected in that age. the lesser municipal courts, in which city-senators presided, were subordinate to the supreme court of holland, whose officers were appointed by the stadholders and council; the supplies were in the hands of the states-provincial, and the supreme administrative authority was confided to a stadholder appointed by the states. the states-general were constituted of similar materials to those of which the states-provincial were constructed, and the same individuals were generally prominent in both. they were deputies appointed by the provincial estates, were in truth rather more like diplomatic envoys than senators, were generally bound very strictly by instructions, and were often obliged, by the jealousy springing from the states-right principle, to refer to their constituents, on questions when the times demanded a sudden decision, and when the necessary delay was inconvenient and dangerous. in religious matters, the states-party, to their honour, already leaned to a wide toleration. not only catholics were not burned, but they were not banished, and very large numbers remained in the territory, and were quite undisturbed in religious matters, within their own doors. there were even men employed in public affairs who were suspected of papistical tendencies, although their hostility, to spain and their attachment to their native land could not fairly be disputed. the leaders of the states-party had a rooted aversion to any political influence on the part of the clergy of any denomination whatever. disposed to be lenient to all forms of worship, they were disinclined to an established church, but still more opposed to allowing church-influence in secular affairs. as a matter of course, political men with such bold views in religious matters were bitterly assailed by their rigid opponents. barneveld, with his "nil scire tutissima fides," was denounced as a disguised catholic or an infidel, and as for paul buys, he was a "bolsterer of papists, an atheist, a devil," as it has long since been made manifest. nevertheless these men believed that they understood the spirit of their country and of the age. in encouragement to an expanding commerce, the elevation and education of the masses, the toleration of all creeds, and a wide distribution of political functions and rights, they looked for the salvation of their nascent republic from destruction, and the maintenance of the true interests of the people. they were still loyal to queen elizabeth, and desirous that she should accept the sovereignty of the provinces. but they were determined that the sovereignty should be a constitutional one, founded upon and limited by the time-honoured laws and traditions of their commonwealth; for they recognised the value of a free republic with an hereditary chief, however anomalous it might in theory appear. they knew that in utrecht the leicestrian party were about to offer the queen the sovereignty of their province, without conditions, but they were determined that neither queen elizabeth nor any other monarch should ever reign in the netherlands, except under conditions to be very accurately defined and well secured. thus, contrasted, then, were the two great parties in the netherlands, at the conclusion of leicester's first year of administration. it may easily be understood that it was not an auspicious moment to leave the country without a chief. the strength of the states-party lay in holland, zeeland, friesland. the main stay of the democratic or leicester faction was in the city of utrecht, but the earl had many partizans in gelderland, friesland, and in overyssel, the capital of which province, the wealthy and thriving deventer, second only in the republic to amsterdam for commercial and political importance, had been but recently secured for the provinces by the vigorous measures of sir william pelham. the condition of the republic and of the spanish provinces was, at that moment, most signally contrasted. if the effects of despotism and of liberty could ever be exhibited at a single glance, it was certainly only necessary to look for a moment at the picture of the obedient and of the rebel netherlands. since the fall of antwerp, the desolation of brabant, flanders, and of the walloon territories had become complete. the king had recovered the great commercial capital, but its commerce was gone. the scheldt, which, till recently, had been the chief mercantile river in the world, had become as barren as if its fountains had suddenly dried up. it was as if it no longer flowed to the ocean, for its mouth was controlled by flushing. thus antwerp was imprisoned and paralyzed. its docks and basins, where ships had once been counted, were empty, grass was growing in its streets, its industrious population had vanished, and the jesuits had returned in swarms. and the same spectacle was presented by ghent, bruges, valenciennes, tournay, and those other fair cities, which had once been types of vigorous industry and tumultuous life. the sea-coast was in the hands of two rising commercial powers, the great and free commonwealths of the future. those powers were acting in concert, and commanding the traffic of the world, while the obedient provinces were excluded from all foreign intercourse and all markets, as the result of their obedience. commerce, manufactures, agriculture; were dying lingering deaths. the thrifty farms, orchards, and gardens, which had been a proverb and wonder of industry were becoming wildernesses. the demand for their produce by the opulent and thriving cities, which had been the workshops of the world, was gone. foraging bands of spanish and italian mercenaries had succeeded to the famous tramp of the artizans and mechanics, which had often been likened to an army, but these new customers were less profitable to the gardeners and farmers. the clothiers, the fullers, the tapestry-workers, the weavers, the cutlers, had all wandered away, and the cities of holland, friesland, and of england, were growing skilful and rich by the lessons and the industry of the exiles to whom they afforded a home. there were villages and small towns in the spanish netherlands that had been literally depopulated. large districts of country had gone to waste, and cane-brakes and squalid morasses usurped the place of yellow harvest-fields. the fog, the wild boar, and the wolf, infested the abandoned homes of the peasantry; children could not walk in safety in the neighbourhood even of the larger cities; wolves littered their young in the deserted farm-houses; two hundred persons, in the winter of - , were devoured by wild beasts in the outskirts of ghent. such of the remaining labourers and artizans as had not been converted into soldiers, found their most profitable employment as brigands, so that the portion of the population spared by war and emigration was assisting the enemy in preying upon their native country. brandschatzung, burglary, highway-robbery, and murder, had become the chief branches of industry among the working classes. nobles and wealthy burghers had been changed to paupers and mendicants. many a family of ancient lineage, and once of large possessions, could be seen begging their bread, at the dusk of evening, in the streets of great cities, where they had once exercised luxurious hospitality; and they often begged in vain. for while such was the forlorn aspect of the country--and the portrait, faithfully sketched from many contemporary pictures, has not been exaggerated in any of its dark details--a great famine smote the land with its additional scourge. the whole population, soldiers and brigands, spaniards and flemings, beggars and workmen, were in danger of perishing together. where the want of employment had been so great as to cause a rapid depopulation, where the demand for labour had almost entirely ceased, it was a necessary result, that during the process, prices should be low, even in the presence of foreign soldiery, and despite the inflamed' profits, which such capitalists as remained required, by way not only of profit but insurance, in such troublous times. accordingly, for the last year or two, the price of rye at antwerp and brussels had been one florin for the veertel (three bushels) of one hundred and twenty pounds; that of wheat, about one-third of a florin more. five pounds of rye, therefore, were worth, one penny sterling, reckoning, as was then usual, two shillings to the florin. a pound weight of wheat was worth about one farthing. yet this was forty-one years after the discovery of the mines of potosi (a.d. ), and full sixteen years after the epoch; from which is dated that rapid fall in the value of silver, which in the course of seventy years, caused the average price of corn and of all other commodities, to be tripled or even quadrupled. at that very moment the average cost of wheat in england was sixty-four shillings the quarter, or about seven and sixpence sterling the bushel, and in the markets of holland, which in truth regulated all others, the same prices prevailed. a bushel of wheat in england was equal therefore to eight bushels in brussels. thus the silver mines, which were the spanish king's property, had produced their effect everywhere more signally than within the obedient provinces. the south american specie found its way to philip's coffers, thence to the paymasters of his troops in flanders, and thence to the commercial centres of holland and england. those countries, first to feel and obey the favourable expanding impulse of the age, were moving surely and steadily on before it to greatness. prices were rising with unexampled rapidity, the precious metals were comparatively a drug, a world-wide commerce, such as had never been dreamed of, had become an every-day concern, the arts and sciences and a most generous culture in famous schools and universities, which had been founded in the midst of tumult and bloodshed, characterized the republic, and the golden age of english poetry, which was to make the elizabethan era famous through all time, had already begun. in the spanish netherlands the newly-found treasure served to pay the only labourers required in a subjugated and almost deserted country, the pikemen of spain and italy, and the reiters of germany. prices could not sustain themselves in the face of depopulation. where there was no security for property, no home-market, no foreign intercourse, industrial pursuits had become almost impossible. the small demand for labour had caused it, as it were, to disappear, altogether. all men had become beggars, brigands, or soldiers. a temporary reaction followed. there were no producers. suddenly it was discovered that no corn had been planted, and that there was no harvest. a famine was the inevitable result. prices then rose with most frightful rapidity. the veertel of rye, which in the previous year had been worth one florin at brussels and antwerp, rose in the winter of - to twenty, twenty-two, and even twenty-four florins; and wheat advanced from one and one-third florin to thirty-two florins the veertel. other articles were proportionally increased in market-value; but it is worthy of remark that mutton was quoted in the midst of the famine at nine stuyvers (a little more than ninepence sterling) the pound, and beef at fivepence, while a single cod-fish sold for twenty-two florins. thus wheat was worth sixpence sterling the pound weight (reckoning the veertel of one hundred and twenty pounds at thirty florins), which was a penny more than the price of a pound of beef; while an ordinary fish was equal in value to one hundred and six pounds of beef. no better evidence could be given that the obedient provinces were relapsing into barbarism, than that the only agricultural industry then practised was to allow what flocks and herds were remaining to graze at will over the ruined farms and gardens, and that their fishermen were excluded from the sea. the evil cured itself, however, and, before the expiration of another year, prices were again at their previous level. the land was sufficiently cultivated to furnish the necessaries of life for a diminishing population, and the supply of labour was more than enough, for the languishing demand. wheat was again at tenpence the bushel, and other commodities valued in like proportion, and far below the market-prices in holland and england. on the other, hand, the prosperity of the republic was rapidly increasing. notwithstanding the war, which had beer raging for a terrible quarter of a century without any interruption, population was increasing, property rapidly advancing in value, labour in active demand. famine was impossible to a state which commanded the ocean. no corn grew in holland and zeeland, but their ports were the granary of the world. the fisheries were a mine of wealth almost equal to the famous potosi, with which the commercial world was then ringing. their commerce with the baltic nations was enormous. in one month eight hundred vessels left their havens for the eastern ports alone. there was also no doubt whatever--and the circumstance was a source of constant complaint and of frequent ineffective legislation--that the rebellious provinces were driving a most profitable trade with spain and the spanish possessions, in spite of their revolutionary war. the mines of peru and mexico were as fertile for the hollanders and zeelanders as for the spaniards themselves. the war paid for the war, one hundred large frigates were constantly cruising along the coasts to protect the fast-growing traffic, and an army of twenty thousand foot soldiers and two thousand cavalry were maintained on land. there were more ships and sailors at that moment in holland and zeeland than in the whole kingdom of england. while the sea-ports were thus rapidly increasing in importance, the towns in the interior were advancing as steadily. the woollen manufacture, the tapestry, the embroideries of gelderland, and friesland, and overyssel, were becoming as famous as had been those of tournay, ypres, brussels, and valenciennes. the emigration from the obedient provinces and from other countries was very great. it was difficult to obtain lodgings in the principal cities; new houses, new streets, new towns, were rising every day. the single province of holland furnished regularly, for war-expenses alone, two millions of florins (two hundred thousand pounds) a year, besides frequent extraordinary grants for the same purpose, yet the burthen imposed upon the vigorous young commonwealth seemed only to make it the more elastic. "the coming generations may see," says a contemporary historian, "the fortifications erected at that epoch in the cities, the costly and magnificent havens, the docks, the great extension of the cities; for truly the war had become a great benediction to the inhabitants." such a prosperous commonwealth as this was not a prize to be lightly thrown away. there is no doubt whatever that a large majority of the inhabitants, and of the states by whom the people were represented, ardently and affectionately desired to be annexed to the english crown. leicester had become unpopular, but elizabeth was adored, and there was nothing unreasonable in the desire entertained by the provinces of retaining their ancient constitutions, and of transferring their allegiance to the english queen. but the english queen could not resolve to take the step. although the great tragedy which was swiftly approaching its inevitable catastrophe, the execution of the scottish queen, was to make peace with philip impossible--even if it were imaginable before--elizabeth, during the year , was earnestly bent on peace. this will be made manifest in subsequent pages, by an examination of the secret correspondence of the court. her most sagacious statesmen disapproved her course, opposed it, and were often overruled, although never convinced; for her imperious will would have its way. the states-general loathed the very name of peace with spain. the people loathed it. all knew that peace with spain meant the exchange of a thriving prosperous commonwealth, with freedom of religion, constitutional liberty, and self-government, for provincial subjection to the inquisition and to despotism: to dream of any concession from philip on the religious point was ridiculous. there was a mirror ever held up before their eyes by the obedient provinces, in which they might see their own image, should, they too return to obedience. and there was never a pretence, on the part of any honest adviser of queen elizabeth in the netherlands, whether englishman or hollander, that the idea of peace-negotiation could be tolerated for a moment by states or people. yet the sum of the queen's policy, for the year , may be summed up in one word--peace; peace for the provinces, peace for herself, with their implacable enemy. in france, during the same year of expectation, we shall see the long prologue to the tragic and memorable slowly enacting; the same triangular contest between the three henrys and their partizans still proceeding. we shall see the misguided and wretched valois lamenting over his victories, and rejoicing over his defeats; forced into hollow alliance with his deadly enemy; arrayed in arms against his only protector and the true champion of the realm; and struggling vainly in the toils of his own mother and his own secretary of state, leagued with his most powerful foes. we shall see 'mucio,' with one 'hand extended in mock friendship toward the king, and with the other thrust backward to grasp the purse of , crowns held forth to aid his fellow-conspirator's dark designs against their common victim; and the bearnese, ever with lance in rest, victorious over the wrong antagonist, foiled of the fruits of victory, proclaiming himself the english queen's devoted knight, but railing at her parsimony; always in the saddle, always triumphant, always a beggar, always in love, always cheerful, and always confident to outwit the guises and philip, parma and the pope. and in spain we shall have occasion to look over the king's shoulder, as he sits at his study-table, in his most sacred retirement; and we shall find his policy for the year summed up in two words--invasion of england. sincerely and ardently as elizabeth meant peace with philip, just so sincerely did philip intend war with england, and the dethronement and destruction of the queen. to this great design all others were now subservient, and it was mainly on account of this determination that there was sufficient leisure in the republic for the leicestrians and the states-general to fight out so thoroughly their party-contests. etext editor's bookmarks: acknowledged head of the puritan party of england (leicester) geneva theocracy in the place of the vanished papacy hankering for peace, when peace had really become impossible hating nothing so much as idleness mirror ever held up before their eyes by the obedient provinces rigid and intolerant spirit of the reformed religion scorn the very word toleration as an insult the word liberty was never musical in tudor ears chapter xiii. barneveld's influence in the provinces--unpopularity of leicester intrigues--of his servants--gossip of his secretary-- its mischievous effects--the quarrel of norris and hollock-- the earl's participation in the affair--his increased animosity to norris--seizure of deventer--stanley appointed its governor--york and stanley--leicester's secret instructions--wilkes remonstrates with stanley--stanley's insolence and equivocation--painful rumours as to him and york--duplicity of york--stanley's banquet at deventer--he surrenders the city to tassis--terms of the bargain-- feeble defence of stanley's conduct--subsequent fate of stanley and york--betrayal of gelder to parma--these treasons cast odium on the english--miserable plight of the english troops--honesty and energy of wilkes--indignant discussion in the assembly. the government had not been laid down by leicester on his departure. it had been provisionally delegated, as already mentioned to the state-council. in this body-consisting of eighteen persons--originally appointed by the earl, on nomination by the states, several members were friendly to the governor, and others were violently opposed to him. the staten of holland, by whom the action of the states-general was mainly controlled, were influenced in their action by buys and barneveld. young maurice of nassau, nineteen years of age, was stadholder of holland and zeeland. a florid complexioned, fair-haired young man, of sanguine-bilious temperament; reserved, quiet, reflective, singularly self-possessed; meriting at that time, more than his father had ever done, the appellation of the taciturn; discreet, sober, studious. "count maurice saith but little, but i cannot tell what he thinketh," wrote leicester's eaves-dropper-in-chiefs. mathematics, fortification, the science of war--these were his daily pursuits. "the sapling was to become the tree," and meantime the youth was preparing for the great destiny which he felt, lay before him. to ponder over the works and the daring conceptions of stevinus, to build up and to batter the wooden blocks of mimic citadels; to arrange in countless combinations, great armies of pewter soldiers; these were the occupations of his leisure-hours. yet he was hardly suspected of bearing within him the germs of the great military commander. "small desire hath count maurice to follow the wars," said one who fancied himself an acute observer at exactly this epoch. "and whereas it might be supposed that in respect to his birth and place, he would affect the chief military command in these countries, it is found by experience had of his humour, that there is no chance of his entering into competition with the others." a modest young man, who could bide his time--but who, meanwhile, under the guidance of his elders, was doing his best, both in field and cabinet, to learn the great lessons of the age--he had already enjoyed much solid practical instruction, under such a desperate fighter as hohenlo, and under so profound a statesman as barneveld. for at this epoch olden-barneveld was the preceptor, almost the political patron of maurice, and maurice, the official head of the holland party, was the declared opponent of the democratic-calvinist organization. it is not necessary, at this early moment, to foreshadow the changes which time was to bring. meantime it would be seen, perhaps ere long, whether or no, it would be his humour to follow the wars. as to his prudent and dignified deportment there was little doubt. "count maurice behaveth himself very discreetly all this while," wrote one, who did not love him, to leicester, who loved him less: "he cometh every day to the council, keeping no company with count hollock, nor with any of them all, and never drinks himself full with any of them, as they do every day among themselves." certainly the most profitable intercourse that maurice could enjoy with hohenlo was upon the battle-field. in winter-quarters, that hard-fighting, hard-drinking, and most turbulent chieftain, was not the best mentor for a youth whose destiny pointed him out as the leader of a free commonwealth. after the campaigns were over--if they ever could be over--the count and other nobles from the same country were too apt to indulge in those mighty potations, which were rather characteristic of their nation and the age. "since your excellency's departure," wrote leicester's secretary, "there hath been among the dutch counts nothing but dancing and drinking, to the grief of all this people; which foresee that there can come no good of it. specially count hollock, who hath been drunk almost a fortnight together." leicester had rendered himself unpopular with the states-general, and with all the leading politicians and generals; yet, at that moment, he had deeply mortgaged his english estates in order to raise funds to expend in the netherland cause. thirty thousand pounds sterling--according to his own statement--he was already out of pocket, and, unless the queen would advance him the means to redeem his property; his broad lands were to be brought to the hammer. but it was the queen, not the states-general, who owed the money; for the earl had advanced these sums as a portion of the royal contingent. five hundred and sixty thousand pounds sterling had been the cost of one year's war during the english governor's administration; and of this sum one hundred and forty thousand had been paid by england. there was a portion of the sum, over and above their monthly levies; for which the states had contracted a debt, and they were extremely desirous to obtain, at that moment, an additional loan of fifty thousand pounds from elizabeth; a favour which--elizabeth was very firmly determined not to grant. it was this terror at the expense into which the netherland war was plunging her, which made the english sovereign so desirous for peace, and filled the anxious mind of walsingham with the most painful forebodings. leicester, in spite of his good qualities--such as they were--had not that most necessary gift for a man in his position, the art of making friends. no man made so many enemies. he was an excellent hater, and few men have been more cordially hated in return. he was imperious, insolent, hot-tempered. he could brook no equal. he had also the fatal defect of enjoying the flattery, of his inferiors in station. adroit intriguers burned incense to him as a god, and employed him as their tool. and now he had mortally offended hohenlo, and buys, and barneveld, while he hated sir john norris with a most passionate hatred. wilkes, the english representative, was already a special object of his aversion. the unvarnished statements made by the stiff counsellor, of the expense of the past year's administration, and the various errors committed, had inspired leicester with such ferocious resentment, that the friends of wilkes trembled for his life. ["it is generally bruited here," wrote henry smith to his brother- in-law wilkes, "of a most heavy displeasure conceived by my lord of leicester against you, and it is said to be so great as that he hath protested to be revenged of you; and to procure you the more enemies, it is said he hath revealed to my lord treasurer, and secretary davison some injurious speeches (which i cannot report) you should have used of them to him at your last being with him. furthermore some of the said lord's secretaries have reported here that it were good for you never to return hither, or, if their lord be appointed to go over again, it will be too hot for you to tarry there. these things thus coming to the ears of your friends have stricken a great fear and grief into the minds of such as love you, lest the wonderful force and authority of this man being bent against you, should do you hurt, while there is none to answer for you." smith to wilkes, jan. . (s. p. office ms.)] cordiality between the governor-general and count maurice had become impossible. as for willoughby and sir william pelham, they were both friendly to him, but willoughby was a magnificent cavalry officer, who detested politics, and cared little for the netherlands, except as the best battle-field in europe, and the old marshal of the camp--the only man that leicester ever loved--was growing feeble in health, was broken down by debt, and hardly possessed, or wished for, any general influence. besides deventer of utrecht, then, on whom, the earl chiefly relied during his, absence, there were none to support him cordially, except two or three members of the state-council. "madame de brederode hath sent unto you a kind of rose," said his intelligencer, "which you have asked for, and beseeches you to command anything she has in her garden, or whatsoever. m. meetkerke, m. brederode, and mr. dorius, wish your return with all, their hearts. for the rest i cannot tell, and will not swear. but mr. barneveld is not your very great friend, whereof i can write no more at this time." this certainly was a small proportion out of a council of eighteen, when all the leading politicians of the country were in avowed hostility to the governor. and thus the earl was, at this most important crisis, to depend upon the subtle and dangerous deventer, and upon two inferior personages, the "fellow junius" and a non-descript, whom hohenlo characterized as a "long lean englishman, with a little black beard." this meagre individual however seems to have been of somewhat doubtful nationality. he called himself otheman, claimed to be a frenchman, had lived much in england, wrote with great fluency and spirit, both in french and english, but was said, in reality, to be named robert dale. it was not the best policy for the representative of the english queen to trust to such counsellors at a moment when the elements of strife between holland and england were actively at work; and when the safety, almost the existence, of the two commonwealths depended upon their acting cordially in concert. "overyssel, utrecht, friesland, and gelderland, have agreed to renew the offer of sovereignty to her majesty," said leicester. "i shall be able to make a better report of their love and good inclination than i can of holland." it was thought very desirable by the english government that this great demonstration should be made once more, whatever might be the ultimate decision of her majesty upon so momentous a measure. it seemed proper that a solemn embassy should once more proceed to england in order to confer with elizabeth; but there was much delay in regard to the step, and much indignation, in consequence, on the part of the earl. the opposition came, of course, from the barneveld party. "they are in no great haste to offer the sovereignty," said wilkes. "first some towns of holland made bones thereat, and now they say that zeeland is not resolved." the nature and the causes of the opposition offered by barneveld and the states of holland have been sufficiently explained. buys, maddened by his long and unjustifiable imprisonment, had just been released by the express desire of hohenlo; and that unruly chieftain, who guided the german and dutch magnates; such as moeurs and overstein, and who even much influenced maurice and his cousin count lewis william, was himself governed by barneveld. it would have been far from impossible for leicester, even then, to conciliate the whole party. it was highly desirable that he should do so, for not one of the provinces where he boasted his strength was quite secure for england. count moeurs, a potent and wealthy noble, was governor of utrecht and gelderland, and he had already begun to favour the party in holland which claimed for that province a legal jurisdiction over the whole ancient episcopate. under these circumstances common prudence would have suggested that as good an understanding as possible might be kept up with the dutch and german counts, and that the breach might not be rendered quite irreparable. yet, as if there had not been administrative blunders enough committed in one year, the unlucky lean englishman, with the black beard, who was the earl's chief representative, contrived--almost before his master's back was turned--to draw upon himself the wrath of all the fine ladies in holland. that this should be the direful spring of unutterable disasters, social and political, was easy to foretell. just before the governor's departure otheman came to pay his farewell respects, and receive his last commands. he found leicester seated at chess with sir francis drake. "i do leave you here, my poor otheman," said the earl, "but so soon as i leave you i know very well that nobody will give you a good look." "your excellency was a true prophet," wrote the secretary a few weeks later, "for, my good lord, i have been in as great danger of my life as ever man was. i have been hunted at delft from house to house, and then besieged in my lodgings four or five hours, as though i had been the greatest thief, murderer, and traitor in the land." and why was the unfortunate otheman thus hunted to his lair? because he had chosen to indulge in 'scandalum magnatum,' and had thereby excited the frenzy of all the great nobles whom it was most important for the english party to conciliate. there had been gossip about the princess of chimay and one calvaert, who lived in her house, much against the advice of all her best friends. one day she complained bitterly to master otheman of the spiteful ways of the world. "i protest," said she, "that i am the unhappiest lady upon earth to have my name thus called in question." so said otheman, in order to comfort her: "your highness is aware that such things are said of all. i am sure i hear every day plenty of speeches about lords and ladies, queens and princesses. you have little cause to trouble yourself for such matters, being known to live honestly, and like a good christian lady. your highness is not the only lady spoken of." the princess listened with attention. "think of the stories about the queen of england and my lord of leicester!" said otheman, with infinite tact. "no person is exempted from the tongues of evil, speakers; but virtuous and godly men do put all such foolish matter under their feet. then there is the countess of hoeurs, how much evil talk does one hear about her!" the princess seemed still more interested and even excited; and the adroit otheman having thus, as he imagined, very successfully smoothed away her anger, went off to have a little more harmless gossip about the princess and the countess, with madame de meetkerke, who had sent leicester the rose from her garden. but, no sooner, had he gone, than away went her highness to madame de moeurs, "a marvellous wise and well-spoken gentlewoman and a grave," and informed her and the count, with some trifling exaggeration, that the vile englishman, secretary to the odious leicester, had just been there, abusing and calumniating the countess in most lewd and abominable fashion. he had also, she protested, used "very evil speeches of all the ladies in the country." for her own part the princess avowed her determination to have him instantly murdered. count moeurs was quite of the same mind, and desired nothing better than to be one of his executioners. accordingly, the next sunday, when the babbling secretary had gone down to delft to hear the french sermon, a select party, consisting of moeurs, lewis william of nassau, count overstein, and others, set forth for that city, laid violent hands on the culprit, and brought him bodily before princess chimay. there, being called upon to explain his innuendos, he fell into much trepidation, and gave the names of several english captains, whom he supposed to be at that time in england. "for if i had denied the whole matter," said he, "they would have given me the lie, and used me according to their evil mind." upon this they relented, and released their prisoner, but, the next day they made another attack upon him, hunted him from house to house, through the whole city of delft, and at last drove him to earth in his own lodgings, where they kept him besieged several hours. through the intercession of wilkes and the authority of the council of state, to which body he succeeded in conveying information of his dangerous predicament, he was, in his own language, "miraculously preserved," although remaining still in daily danger of his life. "i pray god keep me hereafter from the anger of a woman," he exclaimed, "quia non est ira supra iram mulieris." he was immediately examined before the council, and succeeded in clearing and justifying himself to the satisfaction of his friends. his part was afterwards taken by the councillors, by all the preachers and godly men, and by the university of leyden. but it was well understood that the blow and the affront had been levelled at the english governor and the english nation. "all your friends do see," said otheman, "that this disgrace is not meant so much to me as to your excellency; the dutch earls having used such speeches unto me, and against all law, custom, and reason, used such violence to me, that your excellency shall wonder to hear of it." now the princess chimay, besides being of honourable character, was a sincere and exemplary member of the calvinist church, and well inclined to the leicestrians. she was daughter of count meghem, one of the earliest victims of philip ii., in the long tragedy of netherland independence, and widow of lancelot berlaymont. count moeurs was governor of utrecht, and by no means, up to that time, a thorough supporter of the holland party; but thenceforward he went off most abruptly from the party of england, became hand and glove with hohenlo, accepted the influence of barneveld, and did his best to wrest the city of utrecht from english authority. such was the effect of the secretary's harmless gossip. "i thought count moeurs and his wife better friends to your excellency than i do see them to be," said otheman afterwards. "but he doth now disgrace the english nation many ways in his speeches--saying that they are no soldiers, that they do no good to this country, and that these englishmen that are at arnheim have an intent to sell and betray the town to the enemy." but the disgraceful squabble between hohenlo and edward norris had been more unlucky for leicester than any other incident during the year, for its result was to turn the hatred of both parties against himself. yet the earl of all men, was originally least to blame for the transaction. it has been seen that sir philip sidney had borne norris's cartel to hohenlo, very soon after the outrage had been committed. the count had promised satisfaction, but meantime was desperately wounded in the attack on fort zutphen. leicester afterwards did his best to keep edward norris employed in distant places, for he was quite aware that hohenlo, as lieutenant-general and count of the empire, would consider himself aggrieved at being called to the field by a simple english captain, however deeply he might have injured him. the governor accordingly induced the queen to recall the young man to england, and invited him--much as he disliked his whole race--to accompany him on his departure for that country. the captain then consulted with his brother sir john, regarding the pending dispute with hohenlo. his brother advised that the count should be summoned to keep his promise, but that lord leicester's permission should previously be requested. a week before the governor's departure, accordingly, edward norris presented himself one morning in the dining-room, and, finding the earl reclining on a window-seat, observed to him that "he desired his lordship's favour towards the discharging of his reputation." "the count hollock is now well," he proceeded, "and is fasting and banqueting in his lodgings, although he does not come abroad." "and what way will you take?" inquired leicester, "considering that he keeps his house." "'twill be best, i thought," answered norris, "to write unto him, to perform his promise he made me to answer me in the field." "to whom did he make that promise?" asked the earl. "to sir philip sidney," answered the captain. "to my nephew sidney," said leicester, musingly; "very well; do as you think best, and i will do for you what i can." and the governor then added many kind expressions concerning the interest he felt in the young man's reputation. passing to other matters, morris then spoke of the great charges he had recently been put to by reason of having exchanged out of the states' service in order to accept a commission from his lordship to levy a company of horse. this levy had cost him and his friends three hundred pounds, for which he had not been able to "get one groat." "i beseech your lordship to stand good for me," said he; "considering the meanest captain in all the country hath as good entertainment as i." "i can do but little for you before my departure," said leicester; "but at my return i will advise to do more." after this amicable conversation morris thanked his lordship, took his leave, and straightway wrote his letter to count hollock. that personage, in his answer, expressed astonishment that norris should summon him, in his "weakness and indisposition;" but agreed to give him the desired meeting; with sword and dagger, so soon as he should be sufficiently recovered. morris, in reply, acknowledged his courteous promise, and hoped that he might be speedily restored to health. the state-council, sitting at the hague, took up the matter at once however, and requested immediate information of the earl. he accordingly sent for norris and his brother sir john, who waited upon him in his bed-chamber, and were requested to set down in writing the reasons which had moved them in the matter. this statement was accordingly furnished, together with a copy of the correspondence. the earl took the papers, and promised to allow most honourably of it in the council. such is the exact narrative, word for word, as given by sir john and edward norris, in a solemn memorial to the lords of her majesty's privy council, as well as to the state-council of the united provinces. a very few days afterwards leicester departed for england, taking edward norris with him. count hohenlo was furious at the indignity, notwithstanding the polite language in which he had accepted the challenge. "'t was a matter punishable with death," he said, "in all kingdoms and countries, for a simple captain to send such a summons to a man of his station, without consent of the supreme authority. it was plain," he added, "that the english governor-general had connived at the affront," for norris had been living in his family and dining at his table. nay, more, lord leicester had made him a knight at flushing just before their voyage to england. there seems no good reason to doubt the general veracity of the brothers norris, although, for the express purpose of screening leicester, sir john represented at the time to hohenlo and others that the earl had not been privy to the transaction. it is very certain, however, that so soon as the general indignation of hohenlo and his partizans began to be directed against leicester, he at once denied, in passionate and abusive language, having had any knowledge whatever of norris's intentions. he protested that he learned, for the first time, of the cartel from information furnished to the council of state. the quarrel between hohenlo and norris was afterwards amicably arranged by lord buckhurst, during his embassy to the states, at the express desire of the queen. hohenlo and sir john norris became very good friends, while the enmity between them and leicester grew more deadly every day. the earl was frantic with rage whenever he spoke of the transaction, and denounced sir john norris as "a fool, liar, and coward" on all occasions, besides overwhelming his brother, buckhurst, wilkes, and every other person who took their part, with a torrent of abuse; and it is well known that the earl was a master of billingsgate. "hollock says that i did procure edward norris to send him his cartel," observed leicester on one occasion, "wherein i protest before the lord, i was as ignorant as any man in england. his brother john can tell whether i did not send for him to have committed him for it; but that, in very truth, upon the perusing of it" (after it had been sent), "it was very reasonably written, and i did consider also the great wrong offered him by the count, and so forbore it. i was so careful for the count's safety after the brawl between him and norris, that i charged sir john, if any harm came to the count's person by any of his or under him, that he should answer it. therefore, i take the story to be bred in the bosom of some much like a thief or villain, whatsoever he were." and all this was doubtless true so far as regarded the earl's original exertions to prevent the consequences of the quarrel, but did not touch the point of the second correspondence preceded by the conversation in the dining-room, eight days before the voyage to england. the affair, in itself of slight importance, would not merit so much comment at this late day had it not been for its endless consequences. the ferocity with which the earl came to regard every prominent german, hollander, and englishman, engaged in the service of the states, sprang very much from the complications of this vulgar brawl. norris, hohenlo, wilkes, buckhurst, were all denounced to the queen as calumniators, traitors, and villains; and it may easily be understood how grave and extensive must have been the effects of such vituperation upon the mind of elizabeth, who, until the last day of his life, doubtless entertained for the earl the deepest affection of which her nature was susceptible. hohenlo, with count maurice, were the acknowledged chiefs of the anti-english party, and the possibility of cordial cooperation between the countries may be judged of by the entanglement which had thus occurred. leicester had always hated sir john norris, but he knew that the mother had still much favour with the queen, and he was therefore the more vehement in his denunciations of the son the more difficulty he found in entirely destroying his character, and the keener jealousy he felt that any other tongue but his should influence her majesty. "the story of john norris about the cartel is, by the lord god, most false," he exclaimed; "i do beseech you not to see me so dealt withal, but that especially her majesty may understand these untruths, who perhaps, by the mother's fair speeches and the son's smooth words, may take some other conceit of my doings than i deserve." he was most resolute to stamp the character of falsehood upon both the brothers, for he was more malignant towards sir john than towards any man in the world, not even excepting wilkes. to the queen, to the lords of the privy council, to walsingham, to burghley, he poured forth endless quantities of venom, enough to destroy the characters of a hundred honest men. "the declaration of the two norrises for the cartel is most false, as i am a christian," he said to walsingham. "i have a dozen witnesses, as good and some better than they, who will testify that they were present when i misliked the writing of the letter before ever i saw it. and by the allegiance i owe to her majesty, i never knew of the letter, nor gave consent to it, nor heard of it till it was complained of from count hollock. but, as they are false in this, so you will find j. n. as false in his other answers; so that he would be ashamed, but that his old conceit hath made him past shame, i fear. his companions in ireland, as in these countries, report that sir john norris would often say that he was but an ass and a fool, who, if a lie would serve his turn, would spare it. i remember i have heard that the earl of sussex would say so; and indeed this gentleman doth imitate him in divers things." but a very grave disaster to holland and england was soon the fruit of the hatred borne by leicester to sir john norris. immediately after the battle of zutphen and the investment of that town by the english and netherlanders, great pains were taken to secure the city of deventer. this was, after amsterdam and antwerp, the most important mercantile place in all the provinces. it was a large prosperous commercial and manufacturing capital, a member of the hanseatic league, and the great centre of the internal trade of the netherlands with the baltic nations. there was a strong catholic party in the town, and the magistracy were disposed to side with parma. it was notorious that provisions and munitions were supplied from thence to the beleaguered zutphen; and leicester despatched sir william pelham, accordingly, to bring the inhabitants to reason. the stout marshal made short work of it. taking sir william stanley and the greater part of his regiment with him, he caused them, day by day, to steal into the town, in small parties of ten and fifteen. no objection was made to this proceeding on the part of the city government. then stanley himself arrived in the morning, and the marshal in the evening, of the th of october. pelham ordered the magistrates to present themselves forthwith at his lodgings, and told them, with grim courtesy, that the earl of leicester excused himself from making them a visit, not being able, for grief at the death of sir philip sidney, to come so soon near the scene of his disaster. his excellency had therefore sent him to require the town to receive an english garrison. "so make up your minds, and delay not," said pelham; "for i have many important affairs on my hands, and must send word to his excellency at once. to-morrow morning, at eight o'clock, i shall expect your answer." next day, the magistrates were all assembled in the townhouse before six. stanley had filled the great square with his troops, but he found that the burghers-five thousand of whom constituted the municipal militia--had chained the streets and locked the gates. at seven o'clock pelham proceeded, to the town-house, and, followed by his train, made his appearance before the magisterial board. then there was a knocking at the door, and sir william stanley entered, having left a strong guard of soldiers at the entrance to the hall. "i am come for an answer," said the lord marshal; "tell me straight." the magistrates hesitated, whispered, and presently one of them slipped away. "there's one of you gone," cried the marshal. "fetch him straight back; or, by the living god, before whom i stand, there is not one of you shall leave this place with life." so the burgomasters sent for the culprit, who returned. "now, tell me," said pelham, "why you have, this night, chained your streets and kept such strong watch while your friends and defenders were in the town? do you think we came over here to spend our lives and our goods, and to leave all we have, to be thus used and thus betrayed by you? nay, you shall find us trusty to our friends, but as politic as yourselves. now, then; set your hands to this document," he proceeded, as he gave them a new list of magistrates, all selected from stanch protestants. "give over your government to the men here nominated, straight; dally not!" the burgomasters signed the paper. "now," said pelham, "let one of you go to the watch, discharge the guard, bid them unarm, and go home to their lodgings." a magistrate departed on the errand. "now fetch me the keys of the gate," said pelham, "and that straightway, or, before god, you shall die." the keys were brought, and handed to the peremptory old marshal. the old board of magistrates were then clapped into prison, the new ones installed, and deventer was gained for the english and protestant party. there could be no doubt that a city so important and thus fortunately secured was worthy to be well guarded. there could be no doubt either that it would be well to conciliate the rich and influential papists in the place, who, although attached to the ancient religion, were not necessarily disloyal to the republic; but there could be as little that, under the circumstances of this sudden municipal revolution, it would be important to place a garrison of protestant soldiers there, under the command of a protestant officer of known fidelity. to the astonishment of the whole commonwealth, the earl appointed sir william stanley to be governor of the town, and stationed in it a garrison of twelve hundred wild irishmen. sir william was a cadet of one of the noblest english houses. he was the bravest of the brave. his gallantry at the famous zutphen fight had attracted admiration, where nearly all had performed wondrous exploits, but he was known to be an ardent papist and a soldier of fortune, who had fought on various sides, and had even borne arms in the netherlands under the ferocious alva. was it strange that there should be murmurs at the appointment of so dangerous a chief to guard a wavering city which had so recently been secured? the irish kernes--and they are described by all contemporaries, english and flemish, in the same language--were accounted as the wildest and fiercest of barbarians. there was something grotesque, yet appalling, in the pictures painted of these rude, almost naked; brigands, who ate raw flesh, spoke no intelligible language, and ranged about the country, burning, slaying, plundering, a terror to the peasantry and a source of constant embarrassment to the more orderly troops in the service of the republic. "it seemed," said one who had seen them, "that they belonged not to christendom, but to brazil." moreover, they were all papists, and, however much one might be disposed to censure that great curse of the age, religious intolerance--which was almost as flagrant in the councils of queen elizabeth as in those of philip--it was certainly a most fatal policy to place such a garrison, at that critical juncture, in the newly-acquired city. yet leicester, who had banished papists from utrecht without cause and without trial, now placed most notorious catholics in deventer. zutphen, which was still besieged by the english and the patriots, was much crippled by the loss of the great fort, the capture of which, mainly through the brilliant valour of stanley's brother edward, has already been related. the possession of deventer and of this fort gave the control of the whole north-eastern territory to the patriots; but, as if it were not enough to place deventer in the hands of sir william stanley, leicester thought proper to confide the government of the fort to roland york. not a worse choice could be made in the whole army. york was an adventurer of the most audacious and dissolute character. he was a londoner by birth, one of those "ruing blades" inveighed against by the governor-general on his first taking command of the forces. a man of desperate courage, a gambler, a professional duellist, a bravo, famous in his time among the "common hacksters and swaggerers" as the first to introduce the custom of foining, or thrusting with the rapier in single combats--whereas before his day it had been customary among the english to fight with sword and shield, and held unmanly to strike below the girdle--he had perpetually changed sides, in the netherland wars, with the shameless disregard to principle which characterized all his actions. he had been lieutenant to the infamous john van imbyze, and had been concerned with him in the notorious attempt to surrender dendermonde and ghent to the enemy, which had cost that traitor his head. york had been thrown into prison at brussels, but there had been some delay about his execution, and the conquest of the city by parma saved him from the gibbet. he had then taken service under the spanish commander-in-chief, and had distinguished himself, as usual, by deeds of extraordinary valour, having sprung on board the burning volcano-ship at the siege of antwerp. subsequently returning to england, he had, on leicester's appointment, obtained the command of a company in the english contingent, and had been conspicuous on the field of warnsveld; for the courage which he always displayed under any standard was only equalled by the audacity with which he was ever ready to desert from it. did it seem credible that the fort of zutphen should be placed in the hands of roland york? remonstrances were made by the states-general at once. with regard to stanley, leicester maintained that he was, in his opinion, the fittest man to take charge of the whole english army, during his absence in england. in answer to a petition made by the states against the appointment of york, "in respect to his perfidious dealings before," the earl replied that he would answer for his fidelity as for his own brother; adding peremptorily--"do you trust me? then trust york." but, besides his other qualifications for high command, stanley possessed an inestimable one in leicester's eyes. he was, or at least had been, an enemy of sir john norris. to be this made a papist pardonable. it was even better than to be a puritan. but the earl did more than to appoint the traitor york and the papist stanley to these important posts. on the very day of his departure, and immediately after his final quarrel with sir john about the hohenlo cartel, which had renewed all the ancient venom, he signed a secret paper, by which he especially forbade the council of state to interfere with or set aside any appointments to the government of towns or forts, or to revoke any military or naval commissions, without his consent. now supreme executive authority had been delegated to the state-council by the governor-general during his absence. command in chief over all the english forces, whether in the queen's pay or the state's pay, had been conferred upon norris, while command over the dutch and german troops belonged to hohenlo; but, by virtue of the earl's secret paper, stanley and york were now made independent of all authority. the evil consequences natural to such a step were not slow in displaying themselves. stanley at once manifested great insolence towards norris. that distinguished general was placed in a most painful position. a post of immense responsibility was confided to him. the honour of england's queen and of england's soldiers was entrusted to his keeping; at a moment full of danger, and in a country where every hour might bring forth some terrible change; yet he knew himself the mark at which the most powerful man in england was directing all his malice, and that the queen, who was wax in her great favourite's hands, was even then receiving the most fatal impressions as to his character and conduct. "well i know," said he to burghley, "that the root of the former malice borne me is not withered, but that i must look for like fruits therefrom as before;" and he implored the lord-treasurer, that when his honour and reputation should be called in question, he might be allowed to return to england and clear himself. "for myself," said he, "i have not yet received any commission, although i have attended his lordship of leicester to his ship. it is promised to be sent me, and in the meantime i understand that my lord hath granted separate commissions to sir william stanley and roland york, exempting them from obeying of me. if this be true, 'tis only done to nourish factions, and to interrupt any better course in our doings than before hath been." he earnestly requested to be furnished with a commission directly from her majesty. "the enemy is reinforcing," he added. "we are very weak, our troops are unpaid these three months, and we are grown odious, to our friends." honest councillor wilkes, who did his best to conciliate all parties, and to do his duty to england and holland, to leicester and to norris, had the strongest sympathy with sir john. "truly, besides the value, wisdom, and many other good parts that are in him," he said, "i have noted wonderful patience and modesty in the man, in bearing many apparent injuries done unto him, which i have known to be countenanced and nourished, contrary to all reason, to disgrace him. please therefore continue your honourable opinion of him in his absence, whatsoever may be maliciously reported to his disadvantage, for i dare avouch, of my own poor skill, that her majesty hath not a second subject of his place and quality able to serve in those countries as he . . . . i doubt not god will move her majesty, in despite of the devil, to respect him as he deserves." sir john disclaimed any personal jealousy in regard to stanley's appointment, but, within a week or two of the earl's departure, he already felt strong anxiety as to its probable results. "if it prove no hindrance to the service," he said, "it shall nothing trouble me. i desire that my doings may show what i am; neither will i seek, by indirect means to calumniate him or any other, but will let them show themselves." early in december he informed the lord-treasurer that stanley's own men were boasting that their master acknowledged no superior authority to his own, and that he had said as much himself to the magistracy of deventer. the burghers had already complained, through the constituted guardians of their liberties, of his insolence and rapacity, and of the turbulence of his troops, and had appealed to sir john; but the colonel-general's remonstrances had been received by sir william with contumely and abuse, and by daunt that he had even a greater commission than any he had yet shown. "three sheep, an ox, and a whole hog," were required weekly of the peasants for his table, in a time of great scarcity, and it was impossible to satisfy the rapacious appetites of the irish kernes. the paymaster-general of the english forces was daily appealed to by stanley for funds--an application which was certainly not unreasonable, as her majesty's troops had not received any payment for three months--but there "was not a denier in the treasury," and he was therefore implored to wait. at last the states-general sent him a month's pay for himself and all his troops, although, as he was in the queen's service, no claim could justly be made upon them. wilkes, also, as english member of the state council, faithfully conveyed to the governor-general in england the complaints which came up to all the authorities of the republic, against sir william stanley's conduct in deventer. he had seized the keys of the gates, he kept possession of the towers and fortifications, he had meddled with the civil government, he had infringed all their privileges. yet this was the board of magistrates, expressly set up by leicester, with the armed hand, by the agency of marshal pelham and this very colonel stanley--a board of calvinist magistrates placed but a few weeks before in power to control a city of catholic tendencies. and here was a papist commander displaying leicester's commission in their faces, and making it a warrant for dealing with the town as if it were under martial law, and as if he were an officer of the duke of parma. it might easily be judged whether such conduct were likely to win the hearts of netherlanders to leicester and to england. "albeit, for my own part," said wilkes, "i do hold sir william stanley to be a wise and a discreet gent., yet when i consider that the magistracy is such as was established by your lordship, and of the religion, and well affected to her majesty, and that i see how heavily the matter is conceived of here by the states and council, i do fear that all is not well. the very bruit of this doth begin to draw hatred upon our nation. were it not that i doubt some dangerous issue of this matter, and that i might be justly charged with negligence, if i should not advertise you beforehand, i would, have forborne to mention this dissension, for the states are about to write to your lordship and to her majesty for reformation in this matter." he added that he had already written earnestly to sir william, "hoping to persuade him to carry a mild hand over the people." thus wrote councillor wilkes, as in duty bound, to lord leicester, so early as the th december, and the warning voice of norris had made itself heard in england quite as soon. certainly the governor-general, having, upon his own responsibility; and prompted, it would seem, by passion more than reason, made this dangerous appointment, was fortunate in receiving timely and frequent notice of its probable results. and the conscientious wilkes wrote most earnestly, as he said he had done, to the turbulent stanley. "good sir william," said he, "the magistrates and burgesses of deventer complain to this council, that you have by violence wrested from them the keys of one of their gates, that you assemble your garrison in arms to terrify them, that you have seized one of their forts, that the irish soldiers do commit many extortions and exactions upon the inhabitants, that you have imprisoned their burgesses, and do many things against their laws and privileges, so that it is feared the best affected, of the inhabitants towards her majesty will forsake the town. whether any of these things be true, yourself doth best know, but i do assure you that the apprehension thereof here doth make us and our government hateful. for mine own part, i have always known you for a gentleman of value, wisdom; and judgment, and therefore should hardly believe any such thing. . . . . i earnestly require you to take heed of consequences, and to be careful of the honour of her majesty and the reputation of our nation. you will consider that the gaining possession of the town grew by them that are now in office, who being of the religion, and well affected to his excellency's government, wrought his entry into the same . . . . i know that lord leicester is sworn to maintain all the inhabitants of the provinces in their ancient privileges and customs. i know further that your commission carreeth no authority to warrant you to intermeddle any further than with the government of the soldiers and guard of the town. well, you may, in your own conceipt, confer some words to authorize you in some larger sort, but, believe me, sir, they will not warrant you sufficiently to deal any further than i have said, for i have perused a copy of your commission for that purpose. i know the name itself of a governor of a town is odious to this people, and hath been ever since the remembrance of the spanish government, and if we, by any lack of foresight, should give the like occasion, we should make ourselves as odious as they are; which god forbid. "you are to consider that we are not come into these countries for their defence only, but for the defence of her majesty and our own native country, knowing that the preservation of both dependeth altogether upon the preserving of these. wherefore i do eftsoons intreat and require you to forbear to intermeddle any further. if there shall follow any dangerous effect of your proceedings, after this my friendly advice, i shall be heartily sorry for your sake, but i shall be able to testify to her majesty that i have done my duty in admonishing you." thus spake the stiff councillor, earnestly and well, in behalf of england's honour and the good name of england's queen. but the brave soldier, whose feet were fast sliding into the paths of destruction, replied, in a tone of indignant innocence, more likely to aggravate than to allay suspicion. "finding," said stanley, "that you already threaten, i have gone so far as to scan the terms of my commission, which i doubt not to execute, according to his excellency's meaning and mine honour. first, i assure you that i have maintained justice, and that severely; else hardly would the soldiers have been contented with bread and bare cheese." he acknowledged possessing himself of the keys of the town, but defended it on the ground of necessity; and of the character of the people, "who thrust out the spaniards and almaynes, and afterwards never would obey the prince and states." "i would be," he said, "the sorriest man that lives, if by my negligence the place should be lost. therefore i thought good to seize the great tower and ports. if i meant evil, i needed no keys, for here is force enough." with much effrontery, he then affected to rely for evidence of his courteous and equitable conduct towards the citizens, upon the very magistrates who had been petitioning the states-general, the state-council, and the english queen, against his violence: "for my courtesy and humanity," he said, "i refer me unto the magistrates themselves. but i think they sent rhetoricians, who could, allege of little grief, and speak pitiful, and truly i find your ears have been as pitiful in so timorously condemning me. i assure you that her majesty hath not a better servant than i nor a more faithful in these parts. this i will prove with my flesh and blood. although i know there be divers flying reports spread by my enemies, which are come to my ears, i doubt not my virtue and truth will prove them calumniators and men of little. so, good mr. wilkes, i pray you, consider gravely, give ear discreetly, and advertise into england soundly. for me, i have been and am your friend, and glad to hear any admonition from one so wise as yourself." he then alluded ironically to the "good favour and money" with which he had been so contented of late, that if mr. wilkes would discharge him of his promise to lord leicester, he would take his leave with all his heart. captain, officers, and soldiers, had been living on half a pound of cheese a day. for himself, he had received but one hundred and twenty pounds in five months, and was living at three pounds by the day. "this my wealth will not long hold out," he observed, "but yet i will never fail of my promise to his excellency, whatsoever i endure. it is for her majesty's service and for the love i bear to him." he bitterly complained of the unwillingness of the country-people to furnish vivers, waggons, and other necessaries, for the fort before zutphen. "had it not been," he said, "for the travail extraordinary of myself, and patience of my brother, yorke, that fort would have been in danger. but, according to his desire and forethought, i furnished that place with cavalry and infantry; for i know the troops there be marvellous weak." in reply, wilkes stated that the complaints had been made "by no rhetorician," but by letter from the magistrates themselves (on whom he relied so confidently) to the state-council. the councillor added, rather tartly, that since his honest words of defence and of warning, had been "taken in so scoffing a manner," sir william might be sure of not being troubled with any more of his letters. but, a day or two before thus addressing him, he had already enclosed to leicester very important letters addressed by the council of gelderland to count moeurs, stadholder of the province, and by him forwarded to the state-council. for there were now very grave rumours concerning the fidelity of "that patient and foreseeing brother york," whom stanley had been so generously strengthening in fort zutphen. the lieutenant of york, a certain mr. zouch, had been seen within the city of zutphen, in close conference with colonel tassis, spanish governor of the place. moreover there had been a very frequent exchange of courtesies--by which the horrors of war seemed to be much mitigated--between york on the outside and tassis within. the english commander sent baskets of venison, wild fowl, and other game, which were rare in the market of a besieged town. the spanish governor responded with baskets of excellent wine and barrels of beer. a very pleasant state of feeling, perhaps, to contemplate--as an advance in civilization over the not very distant days of the haarlem and leyden sieges, when barrels of prisoners' heads, cut off, a dozen or two at a time, were the social amenities usually exchanged between spaniards and dutchmen--but somewhat suspicious to those who had grown grey in this horrible warfare. the irish kernes too, were allowed to come to mass within the city, and were received there with as much fraternity by, the catholic soldiers of tassis as the want of any common dialect would allow--a proceeding which seemed better perhaps for the salvation of their souls, than--for the advancement of the siege. the state-council had written concerning these rumours to roland york, but the patient man had replied in a manner which wilkes characterized as "unfit to have been given to such as were the executors of the earl of leicester's authority." the councillor implored the governor-general accordingly to send some speedy direction in this matter, as well to roland york as to sir william stanley; for he explicitly and earnestly warned him, that those personages would pay no heed to the remonstrances of the state-council. thus again and again was leicester--on whose head rested, by his own deliberate act, the whole responsibility--forewarned that some great mischief was impending. there was time enough even then--for it was but the th december--to place full powers in the hands of the state-council, of norris, or of hohenlo, and secretly and swiftly to secure the suspected persons, and avert the danger. leicester did nothing. how could he acknowledge his error? how could he manifest confidence in the detested norris? how appeal to the violent and deeply incensed hohenlo? three weeks more rolled by, and the much-enduring roland york was still in confidential correspondence with leicester and walsingham, although his social intercourse with the spanish governor of zutphen continued to be upon the most liberal and agreeable footing. he was not quite satisfied with the general, aspect of the queen's cause in the netherlands, and wrote to the secretary of state in a tone of despondency, and mild expostulation. walsingham would have been less edified by these communications, had he been aware that york, upon first entering leicester's service, had immediately opened a correspondence with the duke of parma, and had secretly given him to understand that his object was to serve the cause of spain. this was indeed the fact, as the duke informed the king, "but then he is such a scatter-brained, reckless dare-devil," said parma, "that i hardly expected much of him." thus the astute sir francis had been outwitted, by the adventurous roland, who was perhaps destined also to surpass the anticipations of the spanish commander-in-chief. meantime york informed his english patrons, on the th january, that matters were not proceeding so smoothly in the political world as he could wish. he had found "many cross and indirect proceedings," and so, according to lord leicester's desire, he sent him a "discourse" on the subject, which he begged sir francis to "peruse, add to, or take away from," and then to inclose to the earl. he hoped he should be forgiven if the style of the production was not quite satisfactory; for, said he, "the place where i am doth too much torment my memory, to call every point to my remembrance." it must, in truth, have been somewhat a hard task upon his memory, to keep freshly in mind every detail of the parallel correspondence which he was carrying on with the spanish and with the english government. even a cool head like roland's might be forgiven for being occasionally puzzled. "so if there be anything hard to be understood," he observed to walsingham, "advertise me, and i will make it plainer." nothing could be more ingenuous. he confessed, however, to being out of pocket. "please your honour," said he, "i have taken great pains to make a bad place something, and it has cost me all the money i had, and here i can receive nothing but discontentment. i dare not write you all lest you should think it impossible," he added--and it is quite probable that even walsingham would have been astonished, had roland written all. the game playing by york and stanley was not one to which english gentlemen were much addicted. "i trust the bearer, edward stanley; a discreet, brave gentleman," he said, "with details." and the remark proves that the gallant youth who had captured this very fort zutphen in, so brilliant a manner was not privy to the designs of his brother and of york; for the object of the "discourse" was to deceive the english government. "i humbly beseech that you will send for me home," concluded roland, "for true as i humbled my mind to please her majesty, your honour, and the dead, now am i content to humble myself lower to please myself, for now, since his, excellency's departure, there is no form of proceeding neither honourably nor honestly." three other weeks passed over, weeks of anxiety and dread throughout the republic. suspicion grew darker than ever, not only as to york and stanley, but as to all the english commanders, as to the whole english nation. an anjou plot, a general massacre, was expected by many, yet there were no definite grounds for such dark anticipations. in vain had painstaking, truth-telling wilkes summoned stanley to his duty, and called on leicester, time after time, to interfere. in vain did sir john norris, sir john conway, the members of the state-council, and all others who should have had authority, do their utmost to avert a catastrophe. their hands were all tied by the fatal letter of the th november. most anxiously did all implore the earl of leicester to return. never was a more dangerous moment than this for a country to be left to its fate. scarcely ever in history was there a more striking exemplification of the need of a man--of an individual--who should embody the powers and wishes, and concentrate in one brain and arm, the whole energy, of a commonwealth. but there was no such man, for the republic had lost its chief when orange died. there was much wisdom and patriotism now. olden-barneveld was competent, and so was buys, to direct the councils of the republic, and there were few better soldiers than norris and hohenlo to lead her armies against spain. but the supreme authority had been confided to leicester. he had not perhaps proved himself extraordinarily qualified for his post, but he was the governor-in-chief, and his departure, without resigning his powers, left the commonwealth headless, at a moment when singleness of action was vitally important. at last, very late in january, one hugh overing, a haberdasher from ludgate hill, was caught at rotterdam, on his way to ireland, with a bundle of letters from sir william stanley, and was sent, as a suspicious character, to the state-council at the hague. on the same day, another englishman, a small youth, "well-favoured," rejoicing in a "very little red beard, and in very ragged clothes," unknown by name; but ascertained to be in the service of roland york and to have been the bearer of letters to brussels, also passed through rotterdam. by connivance of the innkeeper, one joyce, also an englishman, he succeeded in making his escape. the information contained in the letters thus intercepted was important, but it came too late, even if then the state-council could have acted without giving mortal offence to elizabeth and to leicester. on the evening of th january (n. s.), sir william stanley entertained the magistrates of deventer at a splendid banquet. there was free conversation at table concerning the idle suspicions which had been rife in the provinces as to his good intentions and the censures which had been cast upon him for the repressive measures which he had thought necessary to adopt for the security of the city. he took that occasion to assure his guests that the queen of england had not a more loyal subject than himself, nor the netherlands a more devoted friend. the company expressed themselves fully restored to confidence in his character and purposes, and the burgomasters, having exchanged pledges of faith and friendship with the commandant in flowing goblets, went home comfortably to bed, highly pleased with their noble entertainer and with themselves. very late that same night, stanley placed three hundred of his wild irish in the noorenberg tower, a large white structure which commanded the zutphen gate, and sent bodies of chosen troops to surprise all the burgher-guards at their respective stations. strong pickets of cavalry were also placed in all the principal thoroughfares of the city. at three o'clock in the following morning he told his officers that he was about to leave deventer for a few hours, in order to bring in some reinforcements for which he had sent, as he had felt much anxiety for some time past as to the disposition of the burghers. his officers, honest englishmen, suspecting no evil and having confidence in their chief, saw nothing strange in this proceeding, and sir william rode deliberately out of zutphen. after he had been absent an hour or two, the clatter of hoofs and the tramp of infantry was heard without, and presently the commandant returned, followed by a thousand musketeers and three or four hundred troopers. it was still pitch dark; but, dimly lighted by torches, small detachments of the fresh troops picked their way through the black narrow streets, while the main body poured at once upon the brink, or great square. here, quietly and swiftly, they were marshalled into order, the cavalry, pikemen, and musketeers, lining all sides of the place, and a chosen band--among whom stood sir william stanley, on foot, and an officer of high rank on horseback--occupying the central space immediately in front of the town-house. the drums then beat, and proclamation went forth through the city that all burghers, without any distinction--municipal guards and all--were to repair forthwith to the city-hall, and deposit their arms. as the inhabitants arose from their slumbers, and sallied forth into the streets to inquire the cause of the disturbance, they soon discovered that they had, in some mysterious manner, been entrapped. wild irishmen, with uncouth garb, threatening gesture, and unintelligible jargon, stood gibbering at every corner, instead of the comfortable flemish faces of the familiar burgher-guard. the chief burgomaster, sleeping heavily after sir william's hospitable banquet, aroused himself at last, and sent a militia-captain to inquire the cause of the unseasonable drum-beat and monstrous proclamation. day was breaking as the trusty captain made his way to the scene of action. the wan light of a cold, drizzly january morning showed him the wide, stately square--with its leafless lime-trees and its tall many storied, gable-ended houses rising dim and spectral through the mist-filled to overflowing with troops, whose uniforms and banners resembled nothing that he remembered in dutch and english regiments. fires were lighted at various corners, kettles were boiling, and camp-followers and sutlers were crouching over them, half perished with cold--for it had been raining dismally all night--while burghers, with wives and children, startled from their dreams by the sudden reveillee, stood gaping about, with perplexed faces and despairing gestures. as he approached the town-house--one of those magnificent, many-towered, highly-decorated, municipal palaces of the netherlands--he found troops all around it; troops guarding the main entrance, troops on the great external staircase leading to the front balcony, and officers, in yellow jerkin and black bandoleer, grouped in the balcony itself. the flemish captain stood bewildered, when suddenly the familiar form of stanley detached itself from the central group and advanced towards him. taking him by the hand with much urbanity, sir william led the militia-man through two or three ranks of soldiers, and presented him to the strange officer on horseback. "colonel tassis," said he, "i recommend to you a very particular friend of mine. let me bespeak your best offices in his behalf." "ah god!" cried the honest burgher, "tassis! tassis! then are we indeed most miserably betrayed." even the spanish colonel who was of flemish origin, was affected by the despair of the netherlander. "let those look to the matter of treachery whom it concerns," said he; "my business here is to serve the king, my master." "render unto caesar the things which are caesar's, and unto god the things which are god's," said stanley, with piety. the burgher-captain was then assured that no harm was intended to the city, but that it now belonged to his most catholic majesty of spain--colonel stanley, to whom its custody had been entrusted, having freely and deliberately restored it to its lawful owner. he was then bid to go and fetch the burgomasters and magistrates. presently they appeared--a dismal group, weeping and woe-begone--the same board of strict calvinists forcibly placed in office but three months before by leicester, through the agency of this very stanley, who had so summarily ejected their popish predecessors, and who only the night before had so handsomely feasted themselves. they came forward, the tears running down their cheeks, crying indeed so piteously that even stanley began to weep bitterly himself. "i have not done this," he sobbed, "for power or pelf. not the hope of reward, but the love of god hath moved me." presently some of the ex-magistrates made their appearance, and a party of leading citizens went into a private house with tassis and stanley to hear statements and explanations--as if any satisfactory ones were possible. sir william, still in a melancholy tone, began to make a speech, through an interpreter, and again to protest that he had not been influenced by love of lucre. but as he stammered and grew incoherent as he approached the point, tassis suddenly interrupted the conference. "let us look after our soldiers," said he, "for they have been marching in the foul weather half the night." so the spanish troops, who had been, standing patiently to be rained upon after their long march, until the burghers had all deposited their arms in the city-hall, were now billeted on the townspeople. tassis gave peremptory orders that no injury should be offered to persons or property on pain of death; and, by way of wholesome example, hung several hibernians the same day who had been detected in plundering the inhabitants. the citizens were, as usual in such cases, offered the choice between embracing the catholic religion or going into exile, a certain interval being allowed them to wind up their affairs. they were also required to furnish stanley and his regiment full pay for the whole period of their service since coming to the provinces, and to tassis three months' wages for his spaniards in advance. stanley offered his troops the privilege of remaining with him in the service of spain, or of taking their departure unmolested. the irish troops were quite willing to continue under their old chieftain, particularly as it was intimated to them that there was an immediate prospect of a brisk campaign in their native island against the tyrant elizabeth, under the liberating banners of philip. and certainly, in an age where religion constituted country, these fervent catholics could scarcely be censured for taking arms against the sovereign who persecuted their religion and themselves. these honest barbarians had broken no oath, violated no trust, had never pretended sympathy with freedom; or affection for their queen. they had fought fiercely under the chief who led them into battle--they had robbed and plundered voraciously as opportunity served, and had been occasionally hanged for their exploits; but deventer and fort zutphen had not been confided to their keeping; and it was a pleasant thought to them, that approaching invasion of ireland. "i will ruin the whole country from holland to friesland," said stanley to captain newton, "and then i will play such a game in ireland as the queen has never seen the like all the days of her life." newton had already been solicited by roland york to take service under parma, and had indignantly declined. sir edmund carey and his men, four hundred in all, refused, to a man, to take part in the monstrous treason, and were allowed to leave the city. this was the case with all the english officers. stanley and york were the only gentlemen who on this occasion sullied the honour of england. captain henchman, who had been taken prisoner in a skirmish a few days before the surrender of deventer, was now brought to that city, and earnestly entreated by tassis and by stanley to seize this opportunity of entering the service of spain. "you shall have great advancement and preferment," said tassis. "his catholic majesty has got ready very many ships for ireland, and sir william stanley is to be general of the expedition." "and you shall choose your own preferment," said stanley, "for i know you to be a brave man." "i would rather," replied henchman, "serve my prince in loyalty as a beggar, than to be known and reported a rich traitor, with breach of conscience." "continue so," replied stanley, unabashed; "for this is the very principle of my own enlargement: for, before, i served the devil, and now i am serving god." the offers and the arguments of the spaniard and the renegade were powerless with the blunt captain, and notwithstanding "divers other traitorous alledgements by sir william for his most vile facts," as henchman expressed it, that officer remained in poverty and captivity until such time as he could be exchanged. stanley subsequently attempted in various ways to defend his character. he had a commission from leicester, he said, to serve whom he chose--as if the governor-general had contemplated his serving philip ii. with that commission; he had a passport to go whither he liked--as if his passport entitled him to take the city of deventer along with him; he owed no allegiance to the states; he was discharged from his promise to the earl; he was his own master; he wanted neither money nor preferment; he had been compelled by his conscience and his duty to god to restore the city to its lawful master, and so on, and so on. but whether he owed the states allegiance or not, it is certain that he had accepted their money to relieve himself and his troops eight days before his treason. that leicester had discharged him from his promises to such an extent as to justify his surrendering a town committed to his honour for safe keeping, certainly deserved no answer; that his duty to conscience required him to restore the city argued a somewhat tardy awakening of that monitor in the breast of the man who three months before had wrested the place with the armed hand from men suspected of catholic inclinations; that his first motive however was not the mere love of money, was doubtless true. attachment to his religion, a desire to atone for his sins against it, the insidious temptings of his evil spirit, york, who was the chief organizer of the conspiracy, and the prospect of gratifying a wild and wicked ambition--these were the springs that moved him. sums--varying from l , to a pension of pistolets a year--were mentioned, as the stipulated price of his treason, by norris, wilkes, conway, and others; but the duke of parma, in narrating the whole affair in a private letter to the king, explicitly stated that he had found stanley "singularly disinterested." "the colonel was only actuated by religious motives," he said, "asking for no reward, except that he might serve in his majesty's army thenceforth--and this is worthy to be noted." at the same time it appears from this correspondence, that the duke, recommended, and that the king bestowed, a "merced," which stanley did not refuse; and it was very well known that to no persons in, the world was philip apt to be so generous as to men of high rank, flemish, walloon, or english, who deserted the cause of his rebellious subjects to serve under his own banners. yet, strange to relate, almost at the very moment that stanley was communicating his fatal act of treason, in order that he might open a high career for his ambition, a most brilliant destiny was about to dawn upon him. the queen had it in contemplation, in recompense for his distinguished services, and by advice of leicester, to bestow great honors and titles upon him, and to appoint him viceroy of ireland--of that very country which he was now proposing, as an enemy to his sovereign and as the purchased tool of a foreign despot, to invade. stanley's subsequent fate was obscure. a price of florins was put by the states upon his head and upon that of york. he went to spain, and afterwards returned to the provinces. he was even reported to have become, through the judgment of god, a lunatic, although the tale wanted confirmation; and it is certain that at the close of the year he had mustered his regiment under farnese, prepared to join the duke in the great invasion of england. roland york, who was used to such practices, cheerfully consummated his crime on the same day that witnessed the surrender of deventer. he rode up to the gates of that city on the morning of the th january, inquired quietly whether tassis was master of the place, and then galloped furiously back the ten miles to his fort. entering, he called his soldiers together, bade them tear in pieces the colours of england, and follow him into the city of zutphen. two companies of states' troops offered resistance, and attempted to hold the place; but they were overpowered by the english and irish, assisted by a force of spaniards, who, by a concerted movement, made their appearance from the town. he received a handsome reward, having far surpassed the duke of parma's expectations, when he made his original offer of service. he died very suddenly, after a great banquet at deventer, in the course of the sane year, not having succeeded in making his escape into spain to live at ease on his stipend. it was supposed that he was poisoned; but the charge in those days was a common one, and nobody cared to investigate the subject. his body was subsequently exhumed when deventer came into the hands of the patriots--and with impotent and contemptible malice hanged upon a gibbet. this was the end of roland york. parma was highly gratified, as may be imagined, at such successful results. "thus fort zutphen," said he, "about which there have been so many fisticuffs, and deventer--which was the real object of the last campaign, and which has cost the english so much blood and money, and is the safety of groningen and of all those provinces--is now your majesty's. moreover, the effect of this treason must be to sow great distrust between the english and the rebels, who will henceforth never know in whom they can confide." parma was very right in this conjuncture. moreover, there was just then a fearful run against the states. the castle of wauw, within a league of bergen-op-zoom, which had been entrusted to one le marchand, a frenchman in the service of the republic, was delivered by him to parma for , florins. "'tis a very important post," said the duke, "and the money was well laid out." the loss of the city of gelder, capital of the province of the same name, took place in the summer. this town belonged to the jurisdiction of martin schenk, and was, his chief place of deposit for the large and miscellaneous property acquired by him during his desultory, but most profitable, freebooting career. the famous partisan was then absent, engaged in a lucrative job in the way of his profession. he had made a contract--in a very-business-like way--with the states, to defend the city of rheinberg and all the country, round against the duke of parma, pledging himself to keep on foot for that purpose an army of foot and horse. for this extensive and important operation, he was to receive , florins a month from the general exchequer; and in addition he was to be allowed the brandschatz--the black-mail, that is to say--of the whole country-side, and the taxation upon all vessels going up and down the river before rheinberg; an ad valorem duty, in short, upon all river-merchandise, assessed and collected in summary fashion. a tariff thus enforced was not likely to be a mild one; and although the states considered that they had got a "good penny-worth" by the job, it was no easy thing to get the better, in a bargain, of the vigilant martin, who was as thrifty a speculator as he was a desperate fighter. a more accomplished highwayman, artistically and enthusiastically devoted to his pursuit, never lived. nobody did his work more thoroughly--nobody got himself better paid for his work--and thomas wilkes, that excellent man of business, thought the states not likely to make much by their contract. nevertheless, it was a comfort to know that the work would not be neglected. schenk was accordingly absent, jobbing the rheinberg siege, and in his place one aristotle patton, a scotch colonel in the states' service, was commandant of gelders. now the thrifty scot had an eye to business, too, and was no more troubled with qualms of conscience than rowland york himself. moreover, he knew himself to be in great danger of losing his place, for leicester was no friend to him, and intended to supersede him. patton had also a decided grudge against schenk, for that truculent personage had recently administered to him a drubbing, which no doubt he had richly deserved. accordingly, when; the duke of parma made a secret offer to him of , florins if he would quietly surrender the city entrusted to him, the colonel jumped at so excellent an opportunity of circumventing leicester, feeding his grudge against martin, and making a handsome fortune for himself. he knew his trade too well, however, to accept the offer too eagerly, and bargained awhile for better terms, and to such good purpose, that it was agreed he should have not only the , florins, but all the horses, arms, plate, furniture, and other moveables in the city belonging to schenk, that he could lay his hands upon. here were revenge and solid damages for the unforgotten assault and battery--for schenk's property alone made no inconsiderable fortune--and accordingly the city, towards midsummer, was surrendered to the seigneur d'haultepenne. moreover, the excellent patton had another and a loftier motive. he was in love. he had also a rival. the lady of his thoughts was the widow of pontus de noyelle, seigneur de bours, who had once saved the citadel of antwerp, and afterwards sold that city and himself. his rival was no other than the great seigneur de champagny, brother of cardinal granvelle, eminent as soldier, diplomatist, and financier, but now growing old, not in affluent circumstances, and much troubled with the gout. madame de bours had, however, accepted his hand, and had fixed the day for the wedding, when the scotchman, thus suddenly enriched, renewed a previously unsuccessful suit. the widow then, partially keeping her promise, actually celebrated her nuptials on the appointed evening; but, to the surprise of the provinces, she became not the 'haulte et puissante dame de champagny,' but mrs. aristotle patton. for this last treason neither leicester nor the english were responsible. patton was not only a scot, but a follower of hohenlo, as leicester loudly protested. le merchant was a frenchman. but deventer and zutphen were places of vital importance, and stanley an englishman of highest consideration, one who had been deemed worthy of the command in chief in leicester's absence. moreover, a cornet in the service of the earl's nephew, sir robert sidney, had been seen at zutphen in conference with tassis; and the horrible suspicion went abroad that even the illustrious name of sidney was to be polluted also. this fear was fortunately false, although the cornet was unquestionably a traitor, with whom the enemy had been tampering; but the mere thought that sir robert sidney could betray the trust reposed in him was almost enough to make the still unburied corpse of his brother arise from the dead. parma was right when he said that all confidence of the netherlanders in the englishmen would now be gone, and that the provinces would begin to doubt their best friends. no fresh treasons followed, but they were expected every day. an organized plot to betray the country was believed in, and a howl of execration swept through the land. the noble deeds of sidney and willoughby, and norris and pelham, and roger williams, the honest and valuable services of wilkes, the generosity and courage of leicester, were for a season forgotten. the english were denounced in every city and village of the netherlands as traitors and miscreants. respectable english merchants went from hostelry to hostelry, and from town to town, and were refused a lodging for love or money. the nation was put under ban. a most melancholy change from the beginning of the year, when the very men who were now loudest in denunciation and fiercest in hate, had been the warmest friends of elizabeth, of england, and of leicester. at hohenlo's table the opinion was loudly expressed, even in the presence of sir roger williams, that it was highly improbable, if a man like stanley, of such high rank in the kingdom of england, of such great connections and large means, could commit such a treason, that he could do so without the knowledge and consent of her majesty. barneveld, in council of state, declared that leicester, by his restrictive letter of th november, had intended to carry the authority over the republic into england, in order to dispose of everything at his pleasure, in conjunction with the english cabinet-council, and that the country had never been so cheated by the french as it had now been by the english, and that their government had become insupportable. councillor carl roorda maintained at the table of elector truchsess that the country had fallen 'de tyrannide in tyrrannidem;' and--if they had spurned the oppression of the spaniards and the french--that it was now time to, rebel against the english. barneveld and buys loudly declared that the provinces were able to protect themselves without foreign assistance, and that it was very injurious to impress a contrary opinion upon the public mind. the whole college of the states-general came before the state-council, and demanded the name of the man to whom the earl's restrictive letter had been delivered--that document by which the governor had dared surreptitiously to annul the authority which publicly he had delegated to that body, and thus to deprive it of the power of preventing anticipated crimes. after much colloquy the name of brackel was given, and, had not the culprit fortunately been absent, his life might have, been in danger, for rarely had grave statesmen been so thoroughly infuriated. no language can exaggerate the consequences of this wretched treason. unfortunately, too; the abject condition to which the english troops had been reduced by the niggardliness of their sovereign was an additional cause of danger. leicester was gone, and since her favourite was no longer in the netherlands, the queen seemed to forget that there was a single englishman upon that fatal soil. in five months not one penny had been sent to her troops. while the earl had been there one hundred and forty thousand pounds had been sent in seven or eight months. after his departure not five thousand pounds were sent in one half year. the english soldiers, who had fought so well in every flemish battle-field of freedom, had become--such as were left of them--mere famishing half naked vagabonds and marauders. brave soldiers had been changed by their sovereign into brigands, and now the universal odium which suddenly attached itself to the english name converted them into outcasts. forlorn and crippled creatures swarmed about the provinces, but were forbidden to come through the towns, and so wandered about, robbing hen-roosts and pillaging the peasantry. many deserted to the enemy. many begged their way to england, and even to the very gates of the palace, and exhibited their wounds and their misery before the eyes of that good queen bess who claimed to be the mother of her subjects,--and begged for bread in vain. the english cavalry, dwindled now to a body of five hundred, starving and mutinous, made a foray into holland, rather as highwaymen than soldiers. count maurice commanded their instant departure, and hohenlo swore that if the order were not instantly obeyed, he would put himself at the head of his troops and cut every man of them to pieces. a most painful and humiliating condition for brave men who had been fighting the battles of their queen and of the republic, to behold themselves--through the parsimony of the one and the infuriated sentiment of the other--compelled to starve, to rob, or to be massacred by those whom they had left their homes to defend. at last, honest wilkes, ever watchful of his duty, succeeded in borrowing eight hundred pounds sterling for two months, by "pawning his own carcase" as he expressed himself. this gave the troopers about thirty shillings a man, with which relief they became, for a time, contented and well disposed. is this picture exaggerated? is it drawn by pencils hostile to the english nation or the english queen? it is her own generals and confidential counsellors who have told a story in all its painful details, which has hardly found a place in other chronicles. the parsimony of the great queen must ever remain a blemish on her character, and it was never more painfully exhibited than towards her brave soldiers in flanders in the year . thomas wilkes, a man of truth, and a man of accounts, had informed elizabeth that the expenses of one year's war, since leicester had been governor-general, had amounted to exactly five hundred and seventy-nine thousand three hundred and sixty pounds and nineteen shillings, of which sum one hundred and forty-six thousand three hundred and eighty-six pounds and eleven shillings had been spent by her majesty, and the balance had been paid, or was partly owing by the states. these were not agreeable figures, but the figures of honest accountants rarely flatter, and wilkes was not one of those financiers who have the wish or the gift to make things pleasant. he had transmitted the accounts just as they had been delivered, certified by the treasurers of the states and by the english paymasters, and the queen was appalled at the sum-totals. she could never proceed with such a war as that, she said, and she declined a loan of sixty thousand pounds which the states requested, besides stoutly refusing to advance her darling robin a penny to pay off the mortgages upon two-thirds of his estates, on which the equity of redemption was fast expiring, or to give him the slightest help in furnishing him forth anew for the wars. yet not one of her statesmen doubted that these netherland battles were english battles, almost as much as if the fighting-ground had been the isle of wight or the coast of kent, the charts of which the statesmen and generals of spain were daily conning. wilkes, too, while defending leicester stoutly behind his back, doing his best, to explain his short-comings, lauding his courage and generosity, and advocating his beloved theory of popular sovereignty with much ingenuity and eloquence, had told him the truth to his face. although assuring him that if he came back soon, he might rule the states "as a schoolmaster doth his boys," he did not fail to set before him the disastrous effects of his sudden departure and of his protracted absence; he had painted in darkest colours the results of the deventer treason, he had unveiled the cabals against his authority, he had repeatedly and vehemently implored his return; he had, informed the queen, that notwithstanding some errors of, administration, he was much the fittest man to represent her in the netherlands, and, that he could accomplish, by reason of his experience, more in three months than any other man could do in a year. he bad done his best to reconcile the feuds which existed between him and important personages in the netherlands, he had been the author of the complimentary letters sent to him in the name of the states-general--to the great satisfaction of the queen--but he had not given up his friendship with sir john norris, because he said "the virtues of the man made him as worthy of love as any one living, and because the more he knew him, the more he had cause to affect and to admire him." this was the unpardonable offence, and for this, and for having told the truth about the accounts, leicester denounced wilkes to the queen as a traitor and a hypocrite, and threatened repeatedly to take his life. he had even the meanness to prejudice burghley against him--by insinuating to the lord-treasurer that he too had been maligned by wilkes--and thus most effectually damaged the character of the plain-spoken councillor with the queen and many of her advisers; notwithstanding that he plaintively besought her to "allow him to reiterate his sorry song, as doth the cuckoo, that she would please not condemn her poor servant unheard." immediate action was taken on the deventer treason, and on the general relations between the states-general and the english government. barneveld immediately drew up a severe letter to the earl of leicester. on the nd february wilkes came by chance into the assembly of the states-general, with the rest of the councillors, and found barneveld just demanding the public reading of that document. the letter was read. wilkes then rose and made a few remarks. "the letter seems rather sharp upon his excellency," he observed. "there is not a word in it," answered barneveld curtly, "that is not perfectly true;" and with this he cut the matter short, and made a long speech upon other matters which were then before the assembly. wilkes, very anxious as to the effect of the letter, both upon public feeling in england and upon his own position as english councillor, waited immediately upon count maurice, president van der myle, and upon villiers the clergyman, and implored their interposition to prevent the transmission of the epistle. they promised to make an effort to delay its despatch or to mitigate its tone. a fortnight afterwards, however, wilkes learned with dismay, that the document (the leading passages of which will be given hereafter) had been sent to its destination. meantime, a consultation of civilians and of the family council of count maurice was held, and it was determined that the count should assume the title of prince more formally than he had hitherto done, in order that the actual head of the nassaus might be superior in rank to leicester or to any man who could be sent from england. maurice was also appointed by the states, provisionally, governor-general, with hohenlo for his lieutenant-general. that formidable personage, now fully restored to health, made himself very busy in securing towns and garrisons for the party of holland, and in cashiering all functionaries suspected of english tendencies. especially he became most intimate with count moeurs, stadholder of utrecht--the hatred of which individual and his wife towards leicester and the english nation; springing originally from the unfortunate babble of otheman, had grown more intense than ever,--"banquetting and feasting" with him all day long, and concocting a scheme; by which, for certain considerations, the province of utrecht was to be annexed to holland under the perpetual stadholderate of prince maurice. etext editor's bookmarks: defect of enjoying the flattery, of his inferiors in station the sapling was to become the tree chapter xiv. leicester in england--trial of the queen of scots--fearful perplexity at the english court--infatuation and obstinacy of the queen--netherland envoys in england--queen's bitter invective against them--amazement of the envoys--they consult with her chief councillors--remarks of burghley and davison--fourth of february letter from the states--its severe language towards leicester-- painful position of the envoys at court--queen's parsimony towards leicester. the scene shifts, for a brief interval, to england. leicester had reached the court late in november. those "blessed beams," under whose shade he was wont to find so much "refreshment and nutrition," had again fallen with full radiance upon him. "never since i was born," said he, "did i receive a more gracious welcome."--[leicester to 'wilkes, dec. . (s. p. office ms)]--alas, there was not so much benignity for the starving english soldiers, nor for the provinces, which were fast growing desperate; but although their cause was so intimately connected with the "great cause," which then occupied elizabeth, almost to the exclusion of other matter, it was, perhaps, not wonderful, although unfortunate, that for a time the netherlands should be neglected. the "daughter of debate" had at last brought herself, it was supposed, within the letter of the law, and now began those odious scenes of hypocrisy on the part of elizabeth, that frightful comedy--more melancholy even than the solemn tragedy which it preceded and followed--which must ever remain the darkest passage in the history of the queen. it is unnecessary, in these pages, to make more than a passing allusion to the condemnation and death of the queen of scots. who doubts her participation in the babington conspiracy? who doubts that she was the centre of one endless conspiracy by spain and rome against the throne and life of elizabeth? who doubts that her long imprisonment in england was a violation of all law, all justice, all humanity? who doubts that the fineing, whipping, torturing, hanging, embowelling of men, women, and children, guilty of no other crime than adhesion to the catholic faith, had assisted the pope and philip, and their band of english, scotch, and irish conspirators, to shake elizabeth's throne and endanger her life? who doubts that; had the english sovereign been capable of conceiving the great thought of religious toleration, her reign would have been more glorious than, it was, the cause of protestantism and freedom more triumphant, the name of elizabeth tudor dearer to human hearts? who doubts that there were many enlightened and noble spirits among her protestant subjects who lifted up their voices, over and over again, in parliament and out of it, to denounce that wicked persecution exercised upon their innocent catholic brethren, which was fast converting loyal englishmen, against their will, into traitors and conspirators? yet who doubts that it would have required, at exactly that moment, and in the midst of that crisis; more elevation of soul than could fairly be predicated of any individual, for elizabeth in to pardon mary, or to relax in the severity of her legislation towards english papists? yet, although a display of sublime virtue, such as the world has rarely seen, was not to be expected, it was reasonable to look for honest and royal dealing, from a great sovereign, brought at last face to face with a great event. the "great cause" demanded, a great, straightforward blow. it was obvious, however, that it would be difficult, in the midst of the tragedy and the comedy, for the netherland business to come fairly before her majesty. "touching the low country causes," said leicester; "very little is done yet, by reason of the continued business we have had about the queen of scots' matters. all the speech i have had with her majesty hitherto touching those causes hath been but private."--[leicester to wilkes, des . (s. p. office ms.)]--walsingham, longing for retirement, not only on account of his infinite grief for the death of sir philip sidney, "which hath been the cause;" he said, "that i have ever since betaken myself into solitariness, and withdrawn; from public affairs," but also by reason of the perverseness an difficulty manifested in the gravest affairs by the sovereign he so faithfully served, sent information, that, notwithstanding the arrival of some of the states' deputies, leicester was persuading her majesty to proceed first in the great cause. "certain principal persons, chosen as committees," he said, "of both houses are sent as humble suitors, to her majesty to desire that she would be pleased to give order for the execution of the scottish queen. her majesty made answer that she was loath to proceed in so violent a course against the said queen; as the taking away of her life, and therefore prayed them to think of some other way which might be for her own and their safety. they replied, no other way but her execution. her majesty, though she yielded no answer to this their latter reply, is contented to give order that the proclamation be published, and so also it is hoped that she, will be moved by this, their earnest instance to proceed to the thorough ending of the cause." and so the cause went slowly on to its thorough ending. and when "no other way" could be thought of but to take mary's life, and when "no other way of taking that life could be devised," at elizabeth's suggestion, except by public execution, when none of the gentlemen "of the association," nor paulet, nor drury--how skilfully soever their "pulses had been felt" by elizabeth's command--would commit assassination to serve a queen who was capable of punishing them afterwards for the murder, the great cause came to its inevitable conclusion, and mary stuart was executed by command of elizabeth tudor. the world may continue to differ as to the necessity of the execution but it has long since pronounced a unanimous verdict as to the respective display of royal dignity by the two queens upon that great occasion. during this interval the netherland matter, almost as vital to england as the execution of mary, was comparatively neglected. it was not absolutely in abeyance, but the condition of the queen's mind coloured every state-affair with its tragic hues. elizabeth, harassed, anxious, dreaming dreams, and enacting a horrible masquerade, was in the worst possible temper to be approached by the envoys. she was furious with the netherlanders for having maltreated her favourite. she was still more furious because their war was costing so much money. her disposition became so uncertain, her temper so ungovernable, as to drive her counsellors to their wit's ends. burghley confessed himself "weary of his miserable life," and protested "that the only desire he had in the world was to be delivered from the ungrateful burthen of service, which her majesty laid upon him so very heavily." walsingham wished himself "well established in basle." the queen set them all together by the ears. she wrangled spitefully over the sum-totals from the netherlands; she worried leicester, she scolded burghley for defending leicester, and leicester abused burghley for taking part against him. the lord-treasurer, overcome with "grief which pierced both his body and his heart," battled his way--as best he could--through the throng of dangers which beset the path of england in that great crisis. it was most obvious to every statesman in the realm that this was not the time--when the gauntlet had been thrown full in the face of philip and sixtus and all catholicism, by the condemnation of mary--to leave the netherland cause "at random," and these outer bulwarks of her own kingdom insufficiently protected. "your majesty will hear," wrote parma to philip, "of the disastrous, lamentable, and pitiful end of the poor queen of scots. although for her it will be immortal glory, and she will be placed among the number of the many martyrs whose blood has been shed in the kingdom of england, and be crowned in heaven with a diadem more precious than the one she wore on earth, nevertheless one cannot repress one's natural emotions. i believe firmly that this cruel deed will be the concluding crime of the many which that englishwoman has committed, and that our lord will be pleased that she shall at last receive the chastisement which she has these many long years deserved, and which has been reserved till now, for her greater ruin and confusion."--[parma to philip il, march. . (arch. de simancas, ms.)]--and with this, the duke proceeded to discuss the all important and rapidly-preparing invasion of england. farnese was not the man to be deceived by the affected reluctance of elizabeth before mary's scaffold, although he was soon to show that he was himself a master in the science of grimace. for elizabeth--more than ever disposed to be friends with spain and rome, now that war to the knife was made inevitable--was wistfully regarding that trap of negotiation, against which all her best friends were endeavouring to warn her. she was more ill-natured than ever to the provinces, she turned her back upon the warnese, she affronted henry iii. by affecting to believe in the fable of his envoy's complicity in the stafford conspiracy against her life. "i pray god to open her eyes," said walsingham, "to see the evident peril of the course she now holdeth . . . . if it had pleased her to have followed the advice given her touching the french ambassador, our ships had been released . . . . but she has taken a very strange course by writing a very sharp letter unto the french king, which i fear will cause him to give ear to those of the league, and make himself a party with them, seeing so little regard had to him here. your lordship may see that our courage doth greatly increase, for that we make no difficulty to fall out with all the world . . . . i never saw her worse affected to the poor king of navarre, and yet doth she seek in no sort to yield contentment to the french king. if to offend all the world;" repeated the secretary bitterly, "be it good cause of government, then can we not do amiss . . . . i never found her less disposed to take a course of prevention of the approaching mischiefs toward this realm than at this present. and to be plain with you, there is none here that hath either credit or courage to deal effectually with her in any of her great causes." thus distracted by doubts and dangers, at war with her best friends, with herself, and with all-the world, was elizabeth during the dark days and months which, preceded and followed the execution of the scottish queen. if the great fight was at last to be fought triumphantly through, it was obvious that england was to depend upon englishmen of all ranks and classes, upon her prudent and far-seeing statesmen, upon her nobles and her adventurers, on her anglo-saxon and anglo-norman blood ever mounting against, oppression, on howard and essex, drake and williams, norris, and willoughby, upon high-born magnates, plebeian captains, london merchants, upon yeomen whose limbs were made in england, and upon hollanders and zeelanders whose fearless mariners were to swarm to the protection of her coasts, quite as much in that year of anxious expectation as upon the great queen herself. unquestionable as were her mental capacity and her more than woman's courage, when fairly, brought face, to face with the danger, it was fortunately not on one man or woman's brain and arm that england's salvation depended in that crisis of her fate. as to the provinces, no one ventured to speak very boldly in their defence. "when i lay before her the peril," said walsingham, "she scorneth at it. the hope of a peace with spain has put her into a most dangerous security." nor would any man now assume responsibility. the fate of davison--of the man who had already in so detestable a manner been made the scape-goat for leicester's sins in the netherlands, and who had now been so barbarously sacrificed by the queen for faithfully obeying her orders in regard to the death-warrant, had sickened all courtiers and counsellors for the time. "the late severe, dealing used by her highness towards mr. secretary davison," said walsingham to wilkes, "maketh us very circumspect and careful not to proceed in anything but wherein we receive direction from herself, and therefore you must not find it strange if we now be more sparing than heretofore hath been accustomed." such being the portentous state of the political atmosphere, and such the stormy condition of the royal mind, it may be supposed that the interviews of the netherland envoys with her majesty during this period were not likely to be genial. exactly at the most gloomy moment--thirteen days before the execution of mary--they came first into elizabeth's presence at greenwich. the envoys were five in number, all of them experienced and able statesmen--zuylen van nyvelt, joos de menyn, nicasius de silla, jacob valck, and vitus van kammings. the queen was in the privy council-chamber, attended by the admiral of england, lord thomas howard, lord hunsdon, great-chamberlain, sir christopher hatton, vice-chamberlain, secretary davison, and many other persons of distinction. the letters of credence were duly presented, but it was obvious from the beginning of the interview that the queen was ill-disposed toward the deputies, and had not only been misinformed as to matters of fact, but as to the state of feeling of the netherlanders and of the states-general towards herself. menyu, however, who was an orator by profession--being pensionary of dort--made, in the name of his colleagues, a brief but pregnant speech, to which the queen listened attentively, although, with frequent indications of anger and impatience. he commenced by observing that the united provinces still entertained the hope that her majesty would conclude, upon further thoughts, to accept the sovereignty over them, with reasonable conditions; but the most important passages of his address were those relating to the cost of the war. "besides our stipulated contributions," said the pensionary, "of , florins the month, we have furnished , as an extraordinary grant; making for the year , , florins, and this over and above the particular and special expenditures of the provinces, and other sums for military purposes. we confess, madam, that the succour of your majesty is a truly royal one, and that there have been few princes in history who have given such assistance to their neighbours unjustly oppressed. it is certain that by means of that help, joined with the forces of the united provinces, the earl of leicester has been able to arrest the course of the duke of parma's victories and to counteract his designs. nevertheless, it appears, madam, that these forces have not been sufficient to drive the enemy out of the country. we are obliged, for regular garrison work and defence of cities, to keep; up an army of at least , foot and horse. of this number your majesty pays foot and horse, and we are now commissioned, madam, humbly to request an increase of your regular succour during the war to , foot and horse. we also implore the loan of l , sterling, in order to assist us in maintaining for the coming season a sufficient force in the field." such, in brief, was the oration of pensionary menyn, delivered in the french language. he had scarcely concluded, when the queen--evidently in a great passion--rose to her feet, and without any hesitation, replied in a strain of vehement eloquence in the same tongue. "now i am not deceived, gentlemen," she said, "and that which i have been fearing has occurred. our common adage, which we have in england, is a very good one. when one fears that an evil is coming, the sooner it arrives the better. here is a quarter of a year that i have been expecting you, and certainly for the great benefit i have conferred on you, you have exhibited a great ingratitude, and i consider myself very ill treated by you. 'tis very strange that you should begin by soliciting still greater succour without rendering me any satisfaction for your past actions, which have been so extraordinary, that i swear by the living god i think it impossible to find peoples or states more ungrateful or ill-advised than yourselves. "i have sent you this year fifteen, sixteen, aye seventeen or eighteen thousand men. you have left them without payment, you have let some of them die of hunger, driven others to such desperation that they have deserted to the enemy. is it not mortifying for the english nation and a great shame for you that englishmen should say that they have found more courtesy from spaniards than from netherlanders? truly, i tell you frankly that i will never endure such indignities. rather will i act according to my will, and you may do exactly, as you think best. "if i chose, i could do something very good without you, although some persons are so fond of saying that it was quite necessary for the queen of england to do what she does for her own protection. no, no! disabuse yourselves of that impression. these are but false persuasions. believe boldly that i can play an excellent game without your assistance, and a better one than i ever did with it! nevertheless, i do not choose to do that, nor do i wish you so much harm. but likewise do i not choose that you should hold such language to me. it is true that i should not wish the spaniard so near me if he should be my enemy. but why should i not live in peace, if we were to be friends to each other? at the commencement of my reign we lived honourably together, the king of spain and i, and he even asked me to, marry him, and, after that, we lived a long time very peacefully, without any attempt having been made against my life. if we both choose, we can continue so to do. "on the other hand, i sent you the earl of leicester, as lieutenant of my forces, and my intention was that he should have exact knowledge of your finances and contributions. but, on the contrary, he has never known anything about them, and you have handled them in your own manner and amongst yourselves. you have given him the title of governor, in order, under this name, to cast all your evils on his head. that title he accepted against my will, by doing which he ran the risk of losing his life, and his estates, and the grace and favour of his princess, which was more important to him than all. but he did it in order to maintain your tottering state. and what authority, i pray you, have you given him? a shadowy authority, a purely imaginary one. this is but mockery. he is, at any rate, a gentleman, a man of honour and of counsel. you had no right to treat him thus. if i had accepted the title which you wished to give me, by the living god, i would not have suffered you so to treat me. "but you are so badly advised that when there is a man of worth who discovers your tricks you wish him ill, and make an outcry against him; and yet some of you, in order to save your money, and others in the hope of bribes, have been favouring the spaniard, and doing very wicked work. no, believe me that god will punish those who for so great a benefit wish to return me so much evil. believe, boldly too, that the king of spain will never trust men who have abandoned the party to which they belonged, and from which they have received so many benefits, and will never believe a word of what they promise him. yet, in order to cover up their filth, they spread the story that the queen of england is thinking of treating for peace without their knowledge. no, i would rather be dead than that any one should have occasion to say that i had not kept my promise. but princes must listen to both sides, and that can be done without breach of faith. for they transact business in a certain way, and with a princely intelligence, such as private persons cannot imitate. "you are states, to be sure, but private individuals in regard to princes. certainly, i would never choose to do anything without your knowledge, and i would never allow the authority which you have among yourselves, nor your privileges, nor your statutes, to be infringed. nor will i allow you to be perturbed in your consciences. what then would you more of me? you have issued a proclamation in your country that no one is to talk of peace. very well, very good. but permit princes likewise to do as they shall think best for the security of their state, provided it does you no injury. among us princes we are not wont to make such long orations as you do, but you ought to be content with the few words that we bestow upon you, and make yourself quiet thereby. "if i ever do anything for you again, i choose to be treated more honourably. i shall therefore appoint some personages of my council to communicate with you. and in the first place i choose to hear and see for myself what has taken place already, and have satisfaction about that, before i make any reply to what you have said to me as to greater assistance. and so i will leave you to-day, without troubling you further." with this her majesty swept from the apartment, leaving the deputies somewhat astounded at the fierce but adroit manner in which the tables had for a moment been turned upon them. it was certainly a most unexpected blow, this charge of the states having left the english soldiers--whose numbers the queen had so suddenly multiplied by three--unpaid and unfed. those englishmen who, as individuals, had entered the states' service, had been--like all the other troops regularly paid. this distinctly appeared from the statements of her own counsellors and generals. on the other hand, the queen's contingent, now dwindled to about half their original number, had been notoriously unpaid for nearly six months. this has already been made sufficiently clear from the private letters of most responsible persons. that these soldiers were starving, deserting; and pillaging, was, alas! too true; but the envoys of the states hardly expected to be censured by her majesty, because she had neglected to pay her own troops. it was one of the points concerning which they had been especially enjoined to complain, that the english cavalry, converted into highwaymen by want of pay, had been plundering the peasantry, and we have seen that thomas wilkes had "pawned his carcase" to provide for their temporary relief. with regard to the insinuation that prominent personages in the country had been tampered with by the enemy, the envoys were equally astonished by such an attack. the great deventer treason had not yet been heard of in england for it had occurred only a week before this first interview--but something of the kind was already feared; for the slippery dealings of york and stanley with tassis and parma, had long been causing painful anxiety, and had formed the subject of repeated remonstrances on the part of the 'states' to leicester and to the queen. the deputies were hardly, prepared therefore to defend their own people against dealing privately with the king of spain. the only man suspected of such practices was leicester's own favourite and financier, jacques ringault, whom the earl had persisted in employing against the angry remonstrances of the states, who believed him to be a spanish spy; and the man was now in prison, and threatened with capital punishment. to suppose that buys or barneveld, roorda, meetkerk, or any other leading statesman in the netherlands, was contemplating a private arrangement with philip ii., was as ludicrous a conception as to imagine walsingham a pensioner of the pope, or cecil in league with the duke of guise. the end and aim of the states' party was war. in war they not only saw the safety of the reformed religion, but the only means of maintaining the commercial prosperity of the commonwealth. the whole correspondence of the times shows that no politician in the country dreamed of peace, either by public or secret negotiation. on the other hand--as will be made still clearer than ever--the queen was longing for peace, and was treating for peace at that moment through private agents, quite without the knowledge of the states, and in spite of her indignant disavowals in her speech to the envoys. yet if elizabeth could have had the privilege of entering--as we are about to do--into the private cabinet of that excellent king of spain, with whom, she had once been such good friends, who had even sought her hand in marriage, and with whom she saw no reason whatever why she should not live at peace, she might have modified her expressions an this subject. certainly, if she could have looked through the piles of papers--as we intend to do--which lay upon that library-table, far beyond the seas and mountains, she would have perceived some objections to the scheme of living at peace with that diligent letter-writer. perhaps, had she known how the subtle farnese was about to express himself concerning the fast-approaching execution of mary, and the as inevitably impending destruction of "that englishwoman" through the schemes of his master and himself, she would have paid less heed to the sentiments couched in most exquisite italian which alexander was at the same time whispering in her ear, and would have taken less offence at the blunt language of the states-general. nevertheless, for the present, elizabeth would give no better answer than the hot-tempered one which had already somewhat discomfited the deputies. two days afterwards, the five envoys had an interview with several members of her majesty's council, in the private apartment of the lord-treasurer in greenwich palace. burghley, being indisposed, was lying upon his bed. leicester, admiral lord howard, lord hunsden, sir christopher hatton, lord buckhurst, and secretary davison, were present, and the lord-treasurer proposed that the conversation should be in latin, that being the common language most familiar to them all. then, turning over the leaves of the report, a copy of which lay on his bed, he asked the envoys, whether, in case her majesty had not sent over the assistance which she had done under the earl of leicester, their country would not have been utterly ruined. "to all appearance, yes," replied menyn. "but," continued burghley, still running through the pages of the document, and here and there demanding an explanation of an obscure passage or two, "you are now proposing to her majesty to send , foot and horse, and to lend l , . this is altogether monstrous and excessive. nobody will ever dare even to speak to her majesty on the subject. when you first came in , you asked for , men, but you were fully authorized to accept . no doubt that is the case now." "on that occasion," answered menyn, "our main purpose was to induce her majesty to accept the sovereignty, or at least the perpetual protection of our country. failing in that we broached the third point, and not being able to get , soldiers we compounded for , the agreement being subject to ratification by our principals. we gave ample security in shape of the mortgaged cities. but experience has shown us that these forces and this succour are insufficient. we have therefore been sent to beg her majesty to make up the contingent to the amount originally requested." "but we are obliged to increase the garrisons in the cautionary towns," said one of the english councillors, "as men in a city like flushing are very little." "pardon me," replied valck, "the burghers are not enemies but friends to her majesty and to the english nation. they are her dutiful subjects like all the inhabitants of the netherlands." "it is quite true," said burghley, after having made some critical remarks upon the military system of the provinces, "and a very common adage, 'quod tunc tua res agitur, paries cum proximus ardet,' but, nevertheless, this war principally concerns you. therefore you are bound to do your utmost to meet its expenses in your own country, quite as much as a man who means to build a house is expected to provide the stone and timber himself. but the states have not done their best. they have not at the appointed time come forward with their extraordinary contributions for the last campaign. how many men," he asked, "are required for garrisons in all the fortresses and cities, and for the field?" "but," interposed lord hunsden, "not half so many men are needed in the garrisons; for the burghers ought to be able to defend their own cities. moreover it is probable that your ordinary contributions might be continued and doubled and even tripled." "and on the whole," observed the lord admiral, "don't you think that the putting an army in the field might be dispensed with for this year? her majesty at present must get together and equip a fleet of war vessels against the king of spain, which will be an excessively large pennyworth, besides the assistance which she gives her neighbours." "yes, indeed," said secretary davison, "it would be difficult to exaggerate the enormous expense which her majesty must encounter this year for defending and liberating her own kingdoms against the king of spain. that monarch is making great naval preparations, and is treating all englishmen in the most hostile manner. we are on the brink of declared war with spain, with the french king, who is arresting all english persons and property within his kingdom, and with scotland, all which countries are understood to have made a league together on account of the queen of scotland, whom it will be absolutely necessary to put to death in order to preserve the life of her majesty, and are about to make war upon england. this matter then will cost us, the current year, at least eight hundred thousand pounds sterling. nevertheless her majesty is sure to assist you so far as her means allow; and i, for my part, will do my best to keep her majesty well disposed to your cause, even as i have ever done, as you well know." thus spoke poor davison, but a few days before the fatal th of february, little dreaming that the day for his influencing the disposition of her majesty would soon be gone, and that he was himself to be crushed for ever by the blow which was about to destroy the captive queen. the political combinations resulting from the tragedy were not to be exactly as he foretold, but there is little doubt that in him the netherlands, and leicester, and the queen of england, were to lose an honest, diligent, and faithful friend. "well, gentlemen," said the lord-treasurer, after a few more questions concerning the financial abilities of the states had been asked and answered, "it is getting late into the evening, and time for you all to get back to london. let me request you, as soon as may be, to draw up some articles in writing, to which we will respond immediately." menyn then, in the name of the deputies, expressed thanks for the urbanity shown them in the conference, and spoke of the deep regret with which they had perceived, by her majesty's answer two days before, that she was so highly offended with them and with the states-general. he then, notwithstanding burghley's previous hint as to the lateness of the hour, took up the queen's answer, point by point, contradicted all its statements, appealing frequently to lord leicester for confirmation of what he advanced, and concluded by begging the councillors to defend the cause of the netherlands to her majesty, burghley requested them to make an excuse or reply to the queen in writing, and send it to him to present. thus the conference terminated, and the envoys returned to london. they were fully convinced by the result of, these interviews, as they told their constituents, that her majesty, by false statements and reports of persons either grossly ignorant or not having the good of the commonwealth before their eyes, had been very incorrectly informed as to the condition of the provinces, and of the great efforts made by the states-general to defend their country against the enemy: it was obvious, they said, that their measures had been exaggerated in order to deceive the queen and her council. and thus statements and counter-statements, protocols and apostilles, were glibly exchanged; the heap of diplomatic rubbish was rising higher and higher, and the councillors and envoys, pleased with their work, were growing more and more amicable, when the court was suddenly startled by the news of the deventer and zutphen treason. the intelligence was accompanied by the famous th of february letter, which descended, like a bombshell, in the midst of the decorous council-chamber. such language had rarely been addressed to the earl of leicester, and; through him; to the imperious sovereign herself, as the homely truths with which barneveld, speaking with the voice of the states-general, now smote the delinquent governor. "my lord," said he, "it is notorious; and needs no illustration whatever, with what true confidence and unfeigned affection we received your excellency in our land; the states-general, the states-provincial, the magistrates, and the communities of the chief cities in the united provinces, all uniting to do honour to her serene majesty of england and to yourself, and to confer upon you the government-general over us. and although we should willingly have placed some limitations upon the authority thus bestowed on you; in, order that by such a course your own honour and the good and constitutional condition of the country might be alike preserved, yet finding your excellency not satisfied with those limitations, we postponed every objection, and conformed ourselves to your pleasure. yet; before coming to that decision, we had well considered that by doing so we might be opening a door to many ambitious, avaricious, and pernicious persons, both of these countries and from other nations, who might seize the occasion to advance their own private profits, to the detriment of the country and the dishonour of your excellency. "and, in truth, such persons have done their work so efficiently as to inspire you with distrust against the most faithful and capable men in the provinces, against the estates general and provincial, magistrates, and private persons, knowing very well that they could never arrive at their own ends so long as you were guided by the constitutional authorities of the country. and precisely upon the distrust; thus created as a foundation, they raised a back-stairs council, by means of which they were able to further their ambitious, avaricious, and seditious practices, notwithstanding the good advice and remonstrances of the council of state, and the states general and provincial." he proceeded to handle the subjects of the english rose-noble; put in circulation by leicester's finance or back-stairs council at two florins above its value, to the manifest detriment of the provinces, to the detestable embargo which had prevented them from using the means bestowed upon them by god himself to defend their country, to the squandering and embezzlement of the large sums contributed by the province; and entrusted to the earl's administration; to the starving condition of the soldiers; maltreated by government, and thus compelled to prey upon the inhabitants--so that troops in the states' service had never been so abused during the whole war, although the states had never before voted such large contributions nor paid them so promptly--to the placing in posts of high honour and trust men of notoriously bad character and even spanish spies; to the taking away the public authority from those to whom it legitimately belonged, and conferring it on incompetent and unqualified persons; to the illegal banishment of respectable citizens, to the violation of time-honoured laws and privileges, to the shameful attempts to repudiate the ancient authority of the states, and to usurp a control over the communities and nobles by them represented, and to the perpetual efforts to foster dissension, disunion, and rebellion among the inhabitants. having thus drawn up a heavy bill of indictment, nominally against the earl's illegal counsellors, but in reality against the earl himself, he proceeded to deal with the most important matter of all. "the principal cities and fortresses in the country have been placed in hands of men suspected by the states on legitimate grounds, men who had been convicted of treason against these provinces, and who continued to be suspected, notwithstanding that your excellency had pledged your own honour for their fidelity. finally, by means of these scoundrels, it was brought to pass, that the council of state having been invested by your excellency with supreme authority during your absence--a secret document, was brought to light after your departure, by which the most substantial matters, and those most vital to the defence of the country, were withdrawn from the disposition of that council. and now, alas, we see the effects of these practices! "sir william stanley, by you appointed governor of deventer, and rowland york, governor of fort zutphen, have refused, by virtue of that secret document, to acknowledge any authority in this country. and notwithstanding that since your departure they and their soldiers have been supported at our expense, and had just received a full month's pay from the states, they have traitorously and villainously delivered the city and the fortress to the enemy, with a declaration made by stanley that he did the deed to ease his conscience, and to render to the king of spain the city which of right was belonging to him. and this is a crime so dishonourable, scandalous, ruinous, and treasonable, as that, during this, whole war, we have never seen the like. and we are now, in daily fear lest the english commanders in bergen-op-zoom, ostend, and other cities, should commit the same crime. and although we fully suspected the designs of stanley and york, yet your excellency's secret document had deprived us of the power to act. "we doubt not that her majesty and your excellency will think this strange language. but we can assure you, that we too think it strange and grievous that those places should have been confided to such men, against our repeated remonstrances, and that, moreover, this very stanley should have been recommended by your excellency for general of all the forces. and although we had many just and grave reasons for opposing your administration--even as our ancestors were often wont to rise against the sovereigns of the country--we have, nevertheless, patiently suffered for a long time, in order not to diminish your authority, which we deemed so important to our welfare, and in the hope that you would at last be moved by the perilous condition of the commonwealth, and awake to the artifices of your advisers. "but at last-feeling that the existence of the state can no longer be preserved without proper authority, and that the whole community is full of emotion and distrust, on account of these great treasons--we, the states-general, as well as the states-provincial, have felt constrained to establish such a government as we deem meet for the emergency. and of this we think proper to apprize your excellency." he then expressed the conviction that all these evil deeds had been accomplished against the intentions of the earl and the english government, and requested his excellency so to deal with her majesty that the contingent of horse and foot hitherto accorded by her "might be maintained in good order, and in better pay." here, then, was substantial choleric phraseology, as good plain speaking as her majesty had just been employing, and with quite as sufficient cause. here was no pleasant diplomatic fencing, but straightforward vigorous thrusts. it was no wonder that poor wilkes should have thought the letter "too sharp," when he heard it read in the assembly, and that he should have done his best to prevent it from being despatched. he would have thought it sharper could he have seen how the pride of her majesty and of leicester was wounded by it to the quick. her list of grievances against the states seem to vanish into air. who had been tampering with the spaniards now? had that "shadowy and imaginary authority" granted to leicester not proved substantial enough? was it the states-general, the state-council, or was it the "absolute governor"--who had carried off the supreme control of the commonwealth in his pocket--that was responsible for the ruin effected by englishmen who had scorned all "authority" but his own? the states, in another blunt letter to the queen herself, declared the loss of deventer to be more disastrous to them than even the fall of antwerp had been; for the republic had now been split asunder, and its most ancient and vital portions almost cut away. nevertheless they were not "dazzled nor despairing," they said, but more determined than ever to maintain their liberties, and bid defiance to the spanish tyrant. and again they demanded of, rather than implored; her majesty to be true to her engagements with them. the interviews which followed were more tempestuous than ever. "i had intended that my lord of leicester should return to you," she said to the envoys. "but that shall never be. he has been treated with gross ingratitude, he has served the provinces with ability, he has consumed his own property there, he has risked his life, he has lost his near kinsman, sir philip sidney, whose life i should be glad to purchase with many millions, and, in place of all reward, he receives these venomous letters, of which a copy has been sent to his sovereign to blacken him with her." she had been advising him to return, she added, but she was now resolved that he should "never set foot in the provinces again." here the earl, who, was present, exclaimed--beating himself on the breast--"a tali officio libera nos, domine!" but the states, undaunted by these explosions of wrath, replied that it had ever been their custom, when their laws and liberties were invaded, to speak their mind boldly to kings and governors, and to procure redress of their grievances, as became free men. during that whole spring the queen was at daggers drawn with all her leading counsellors, mainly in regard to that great question of questions--the relations of england with the netherlands and spain. walsingham--who felt it madness to dream of peace, and who believed it the soundest policy to deal with parma and his veterans upon the soil of flanders, with the forces of the republic for allies, rather than to await his arrival in london--was driven almost to frenzy by what he deemed the queen's perverseness. "our sharp words continue," said the secretary, "which doth greatly disquiet her majesty, and discomfort her poor servants that attend her. the lord-treasurer remaineth still in disgrace, and, behind my back, her majesty giveth out very hard speeches of myself, which i the rather credit, for that i find, in dealing with her, i am nothing gracious; and if her majesty could be otherwise served, i know i should not be used . . . . . her majesty doth wholly lend herself to devise some further means to disgrace her poor council, in respect whereof she neglecteth all other causes . . . . the discord between her majesty and her council hindereth the necessary consultations that were to be destined for the preventing of the manifold perils that hang over this realm. . . . sir christopher hatton hath dealt very plainly and dutifully with her, which hath been accepted in so evil part as he is resolved to retire for a time. i assure you i find every man weary of attendance here. . . . i would to god i could find as good resolution in her majesty to proceed in a princely course in relieving the united provinces, as i find an honorable disposition in your lordship to employ yourself in their service." the lord-treasurer was much puzzled, very wretched, but philosophically resigned. "why her majesty useth me thus strangely, i know not," he observed. "to some she saith that she meant not i should have gone from the court; to some she saith, she may not admit me, nor give me contentment. i shall dispose myself to enjoy god's favour, and shall do nothing to deserve her disfavour. and if i be suffered to be a stranger to her affairs, i shall have a quieter life." leicester, after the first burst of his anger was over, was willing to return to the provinces. he protested that he had a greater affection for the netherland people--not for the governing powers--even than he felt for the people of england.--"there is nothing sticks in my stomach," he said, "but the good-will of that poor afflicted people, for whom, i take god to record, i could be content to lose any limb i have to do them good." but he was crippled with debt, and the queen resolutely refused to lend him a few thousand pounds, without which he could not stir. walsingham in vain did battle with her parsimony, representing how urgently and vividly the necessity of his return had been depicted by all her ministers in both countries, and how much it imported to her own safety and service. but she was obdurate. "she would rather," he said bitterly to leicester, "hazard the increase of confusion there--which may put the whole country in peril--than supply your want. the like course she holdeth in the rest of her causes, which maketh me to wish myself from the helm." at last she agreed to advance him ten thousand pounds, but on so severe conditions, that the earl declared himself heart-broken again, and protested that he would neither accept the money, nor ever set foot in the netherlands. "let norris stay there," he said in a fury; "he will do admirably, no doubt. only let it not be supposed that i can be there also. not for one hundred thousand pounds would i be in that country with him." meantime it was agreed that lord buckhurst should be sent forth on what wilkes termed a mission of expostulation, and a very ill-timed one. this new envoy was to inquire into the causes of the discontent, and to do his best to remove them: as if any man in england or in holland doubted as to the causes, or as to the best means of removing them; or as if it were not absolutely certain that delay was the very worst specific that could be adopted--delay--which the netherland statesmen, as well as the queen's wisest counsellors, most deprecated, which alexander and philip most desired, and by indulging in which her majesty was most directly playing into her adversary's hand. elizabeth was preparing to put cards upon the table against an antagonist whose game was close, whose honesty was always to be suspected, and who was a consummate master in what was then considered diplomatic sleight of hand. so lord buckhurst was to go forth to expostulate at the hague, while transports were loading in cadiz and lisbon, reiters levying in germany, pikemen and musketeers in spain and italy, for a purpose concerning which walsingham and barneveld had for a long time felt little doubt. meantime lord leicester went to bath to drink the waters, and after he had drunk the waters, the queen, ever anxious for his health, was resolved that he should not lose the benefit of those salubrious draughts by travelling too soon, or by plunging anew into the fountains of bitterness which flowed perennially in the netherlands. chapter xv. buckhurst sent to the netherlands--alarming state of affairs on his arrival--his efforts to conciliate--democratic theories of wilkes-- sophistry of the argument--dispute between wilkes and barneveld-- religious tolerance by the states--their constitutional theory-- deventer's bad counsels to leicester--their pernicious effect--real and supposed plots against hohenlo--mutual suspicion and distrust-- buckhurst seeks to restore good feeling--the queen angry and vindictive--she censures buckhurst's course--leicester's wrath at hohenlo's charges of a plot by the earl to murder him--buckhurst's eloquent appeals to the queen--her perplexing and contradictory orders--despair of wilkes--leicester announces his return--his instructions--letter to junius--barneveld denounces him in the states. we return to the netherlands. if ever proof were afforded of the influence of individual character on the destiny of nations and of the world, it certainly was seen in the year . we have lifted the curtain of the secret council-chamber at greenwich. we have seen all elizabeth's advisers anxious to arouse her from her fatal credulity, from her almost as fatal parsimony. we have seen leicester anxious to return, despite all fancied indignities, walsingham eager to expedite the enterprise, and the queen remaining obdurate, while month after month of precious time was melting away. in the netherlands, meantime, discord and confusion had been increasing every day; and the first great cause of such a dangerous condition of affairs was the absence of the governor. to this all parties agreed. the leicestrians, the anti-leicestriana, the holland party, the utrecht party, the english counsellors, the english generals, in private letter, in solemn act, all warned the queen against the lamentable effects resulting from leicester's inopportune departure and prolonged absence. on the first outbreak of indignation after the deventer affair, prince maurice was placed at the head of the general government, with the violent hohenlo as his lieutenant. the greatest exertions were made by these two nobles and by barneveld, who guided the whole policy of the party, to secure as many cities as possible to their cause. magistrates and commandants of garrisons in many towns willingly gave in their adhesion to the new government; others refused; especially diedrich sonoy, an officer of distinction, who was governor of enkhuyzen, and influential throughout north holland, and who remained a stanch partisan of leicester. utrecht, the stronghold of the leicestrians, was wavering and much torn by faction; hohenlo and moeurs had "banquetted and feasted" to such good purpose that they had gained over half the captains of the burgher-guard, and, aided by the branch of nobles, were making a good fight against the leicester magistracy and the clerical force, enriched by the plunder of the old catholic livings, who denounced as papistical and hispaniolized all who favoured the party of maurice and barneveld. by the end of march the envoys returned from london, and in their company came lord buckhurst, as special ambassador from the queen. thomas sackville, lord buckhurst--afterwards earl of dorset and lord-treasurer--was then fifty-one years of age. a man of large culture-poet, dramatist, diplomatist-bred to the bar; afterwards elevated to the peerage; endowed with high character and strong intellect; ready with tongue and pen; handsome of person, and with a fascinating address, he was as fit a person to send on a mission of expostulation as any man to be found in england. but the author of the 'induction to the mirror for magistrates' and of 'gorboduc,' had come to the netherlands on a forlorn hope. to expostulate in favour of peace with a people who knew that their existence depended on war, to reconcile those to delay who felt that delay was death, and to, heal animosities between men who were enemies from their cradles to their graves, was a difficult mission. but the chief ostensible object of buckhurst was to smooth the way for leicester, and, if possible, to persuade the netherlanders as to the good inclinations of the english government. this was no easy task, for they knew that their envoys had been dismissed, without even a promise of subsidy. they had asked for twelve thousand soldiers and sixty thousand pounds, and had received a volley of abuse. over and over again, through many months, the queen fell into a paroxysm of rage when even an allusion was made to the loan of fifty or sixty thousand pounds; and even had she promised the money, it would have given but little satisfaction. as count moeurs observed, he would rather see one english rose-noble than a hundred royal promises. so the hollanders and zeelanders--not fearing leicester's influence within their little morsel of a territory--were concentrating their means of resistance upon their own soil, intending to resist spain, and, if necessary, england, in their last ditch, and with the last drop of their blood. while such was the condition of affairs, lord buckhurst landed at flushing--four months after the departure of leicester--on the th march, having been tossing three days and nights at sea in a great storm, "miserably sick and in great danger of drowning." sir william russell, governor of flushing, informed him of the progress making by prince maurice in virtue of his new authority. he told him that the zeeland regiment, vacant by sidney's death, and which the queen wished bestowed upon russell himself, had been given to count solms; a circumstance which was very sure to exite her majesty's ire; but that the greater number, and those of the better sort; disliked the alteration of government, and relied entirely upon the queen. sainte aldegonde visited him at middelburgh, and in a "long discourse" expressed the most friendly sentiments towards england, with free offers of personal service. "nevertheless," said buckhurst, cautiously, "i mean to trust the effect, not his words, and so i hope he will not much deceive me. his opinion is that the earl of leicester's absence hath chiefly caused this change, and that without his return it will hardly be restored again, but that upon his arrival all these clouds will prove but a summershower." as a matter of course the new ambassador lifted up his voice, immediately after setting foot on shore, in favour of the starving soldiers of his queen. "'tis a most lamentable thing," said he, "to hear the complaints of soldiers and captains for want of pay." . . . . whole companies made their way into his presence, literally crying aloud for bread. "for jesus' sake," wrote buckhurst, "hasten to send relief with all speed, and let such victuallers be appointed as have a conscience not to make themselves rich with the famine of poor soldiers. if her majesty send not money, and that with speed, for their payment, i am afraid to think what mischief and miseries are like to follow." then the ambassador proceeded to the hague, holding interviews with influential personages in private, and with the states-general in public. such was the charm of his manner, and so firm the conviction of sincerity and good-will which he inspired, that in the course of a fortnight there was already a sensible change in the aspect of affairs. the enemy, who, at the time of their arrival, had been making bonfires and holding triumphal processions for joy of the great breach between holland and england, and had been "hoping to swallow them all up, while there were so few left who knew how to act," were already manifesting disappointment. in a solemn meeting of the states-general with the state-council, buckhurst addressed the assembly upon the general subject of her majesty's goodness to the netherlands. he spoke of the gracious assistance rendered by her, notwithstanding her many special charges for the common cause, and of the mighty enmities which she had incurred for their sake. he sharply censured the hollanders for their cruelty to men who had shed their blood in their cause, but who were now driven forth from their towns; and left to starve on the highways, and hated for their nation's sake; as if the whole english name deserved to be soiled "for the treachery of two miscreants." he spoke strongly of their demeanour towards the earl of leicester, and of the wrongs they had done him, and told them, that, if they were not ready to atone to her majesty for such injuries, they were not to wonder if their deputies received no better answer at her hands. "she who embraced your cause," he said, "when other mighty princes forsook you, will still stand fast unto you, yea, and increase her goodness, if her present state may suffer it." after being addressed in this manner the council of state made what counsellor clerk called a "very honest, modest, and wise answer;" but the states-general, not being able "so easily to discharge that which had so long boiled within them," deferred their reply until the following day. they then brought forward a deliberate rejoinder, in which they expressed themselves devoted to her majesty, and, on the whole, well disposed to the earl. as to the th february letter, it had been written "in amaritudine cordis," upon hearing the treasons of york and stanley, and in accordance with "their custom and liberty used towards all princes, whereby they had long preserved their estate," and in the conviction that the real culprits for all the sins of his excellency's government were certain "lewd persons who sought to seduce his lordship, and to cause him to hate the states." buckhurst did not think it well to reply, at that moment, on the ground that there had been already crimination and recrimination more than enough, and that "a little bitterness more had rather caused them to determine dangerously than solve for the best." they then held council together--the envoys and the state-general, as to the amount of troops absolutely necessary--casting up the matter "as pinchingly as possibly might be." and the result was, that , foot and horse for garrison work, and an army of , foot, horse, and pioneers, for a campaign of five or six months, were pronounced indispensable. this would require all their l , sterling a-year, regular contribution, her majesty's contingent of l , , and an extra sum of l , sterling. of this sum the states requested her majesty should furnish two-thirds, while they agreed to furnish the other third, which would make in all l , for the queen, and l , for the states. as it was understood that the english subsidies were only a loan, secured by mortgage of the cautionary towns, this did not seem very unreasonable, when the intimate blending of england's welfare with that of the provinces was considered. thus it will be observed that lord buckhurst--while doing his best to conciliate personal feuds and heart-burnings--had done full justice to the merits of leicester, and had placed in strongest light the favours conferred by her majesty. he then proceeded to utrecht, where he was received with many demonstrations of respect, "with solemn speeches" from magistrates and burgher-captains, with military processions, and with great banquets, which were, however, conducted with decorum, and at which even count moeurs excited universal astonishment by his sobriety. it was difficult, however, for matters to go very smoothly, except upon the surface. what could be more disastrous than for a little commonwealth--a mere handful of people, like these netherlanders, engaged in mortal combat with the most powerful monarch in the world, and with the first general of the age, within a league of their borders--thus to be deprived of all organized government at a most critical moment, and to be left to wrangle with their allies and among themselves, as to the form of polity to be adopted, while waiting the pleasure of a capricious and despotic woman? and the very foundation of the authority by which the spanish yoke had been abjured, the sovereignty offered to elizabeth, and the government-general conferred on leicester, was fiercely assailed by the confidential agents of elizabeth herself. the dispute went into the very depths of the social contract. already wilkes, standing up stoutly for the democratic views of the governor, who was so foully to requite him, had assured the english government that the "people were ready to cut the throats" of the staten-general at any convenient moment. the sovereign people, not the deputies, were alone to be heeded, he said, and although he never informed the world by what process he had learned the deliberate opinion of that sovereign, as there had been no assembly excepting those of the states-general and states-provincial--he was none the less fully satisfied that the people were all with leicester, and bitterly opposed to the states. "for the sovereignty, or supreme authority," said he, through failure of a legitimate prince, belongs to the people, and not to you, gentlemen, who are only servants, ministers, and deputies of the people. you have your commissions or instructions surrounded by limitations--which conditions are so widely different from the power of sovereignty, as the might of the subject is in regard to his prince, or of a servant in, respect to his master. for sovereignty is not limited either as to power or as to time. still less do you represent the sovereignty; for the people, in giving the general and absolute government to the earl of leicester, have conferred upon him at once the exercise of justice, the administration of polity, of naval affairs, of war, and of all the other points of sovereignty. of these a governor-general is however only the depositary or guardian, until such time as it may please the prince or people to revoke the trust; there being no other in this state who can do this; seeing that it was the people, through the instrumentality of your offices--through you as its servants--conferred on his excellency, this power, authority, and government. according to the common rule law, therefore, 'quo jure quid statuitur, eodem jure tolli debet.' you having been fully empowered by the provinces and cities, or, to speak more correctly, by your masters and superiors, to confer the government on his excellency, it follows that you require a like power in order to take it away either in whole or in part. if then you had no commission to curtail his authority, or even that of the state-council, and thus to tread upon and usurp his power as governor general and absolute, there follows of two things one: either you did not well understand what you were doing, nor duly consider how far that power reached, or--much more probably--you have fallen into the sin of disobedience, considering how solemnly you swore allegiance to him. thus subtly and ably did wilkes defend the authority of the man who had deserted his post at a most critical moment, and had compelled the states, by his dereliction, to take the government into their own hands. for, after all, the whole argument of the english counsellor rested upon a quibble. the people were absolutely sovereign, he said, and had lent that sovereignty to leicester. how had they made that loan? through the machinery of the states-general. so long then as the earl retained the absolute sovereignty, the states were not even representatives of the sovereign people. the sovereign people was merged into one english earl. the english earl had retired--indefinitely--to england. was the sovereign people to wait for months, or years, before it regained its existence? and if not, how was it to reassert its vitality? how but through the agency of the states-general, who--according to wilkes himself--had been fully empowered by the provinces and cities to confer the government on the earl? the people then, after all, were the provinces and cities. and the states-general were at that moment as much qualified to represent those provinces and cities as they ever had been, and they claimed no more. wilkes, nor any other of the leicester party, ever hinted at a general assembly of the people. universal suffrage was not dreamed of at that day. by the people, he meant, if he meant anything, only that very small fraction of the inhabitants of a country, who, according to the english system, in the reign of elizabeth, constituted its commons. he chose, rather from personal and political motives than philosophical ones, to draw a distinction between the people and the states, but it is quite obvious, from the tone of his private communications, that by the 'states' he meant the individuals who happened, for the time-being, to be the deputies of the states of each province. but it was almost an affectation to accuse those individuals of calling or considering themselves 'sovereigns;' for it was very well known that they sat as envoys, rather than as members of a congress, and were perpetually obliged to recur to their constituents, the states of each province, for instructions. it was idle, because buys and barneveld, and roorda, and other leaders, exercised the influence due to their talents, patriotism, and experience, to stigmatize them as usurpers of sovereignty, and to hound the rabble upon them as tyrants and mischief-makers. yet to take this course pleased the earl of leicester, who saw no hope for the liberty of the people, unless absolute and unconditional authority over the people, in war, naval affairs, justice, and policy, were placed in his hands. this was the view sustained by the clergy of the reformed church, because they found it convenient, through such a theory, and by leicester's power, to banish papists, exercise intolerance in matters of religion, sequestrate for their own private uses the property of the catholic church, and obtain for their own a political power which was repugnant to the more liberal ideas of the barneveld party. the states of holland--inspired as it were by the memory of that great martyr to religious and political liberty, william the silent--maintained freedom of conscience. the leicester party advocated a different theory on the religious question. they were also determined to omit no effort to make the states odious. "seeing their violent courses," said wilkes to leicester, "i have not been negligent, as well by solicitations to the ministers, as by my letters to such as have continued constant in affection to your lordship, to have the people informed of the ungrateful and dangerous proceedings of the states. they have therein travailed with so good effect, as the people are now wonderfully well disposed, and have delivered everywhere in speeches, that if, by the overthwart dealings of the states, her majesty shall be drawn to stay her succours and goodness to them, and that thereby your lordship be also discouraged to return, they will cut their throats." who the "people" exactly were, that had been so wonderfully well disposed to throat-cutting by the ministers of the gospel, did not distinctly appear. it was certain, however, that they were the special friends of leicester, great orators, very pious, and the sovereigns of the country. so much could not be gainsaid. "your lordship would wonder," continued the councillor, "to see the people--who so lately, by the practice of the said states and the accident of deventer, were notably alienated--so returned to their former devotion towards her majesty, your lordship, and our nation." wilkes was able moreover to gratify the absent governor-general with the intelligence--of somewhat questionable authenticity however--that the states were very "much terrified with these threats of the people." but barneveld came down to the council to inquire what member of that body it was who had accused the states of violating the earl's authority. "whoever he is," said the advocate, "let him deliver his mind frankly, and he shall be answered." the man did not seem much terrified by the throat-cutting orations. "it is true," replied wilkes, perceiving himself to be the person intended, "that you have very injuriously, in many of your proceedings, derogated from and trodden the authority of his lordship and of this council under your feet." and then he went into particulars, and discussed, 'more suo,' the constitutional question, in which various leicestrian counsellors seconded him. but barneveld grimly maintained that the states were the sovereigns, and that it was therefore unfit that the governor, who drew his authority from them, should call them to account for their doings. "it was as if the governors in the time of charles v.," said the advocate, "should have taxed that emperor for any action of his done in the government." in brief, the rugged barneveld, with threatening voice, and lion port, seemed to impersonate the staten, and to hold reclaimed sovereignty in his grasp. it seemed difficult to tear it from him again. "i did what i could," said wilkes, "to beat them from this humour of their sovereignty, showing that upon that error they had grounded the rest of their wilful absurdities." next night, he drew up sixteen articles, showing the disorders of the states, their breach of oaths, and violations of the earl's authority; and with that commenced a series of papers interchanged by the two parties, in which the topics of the origin of government and the principles of religious freedom were handled with much ability on both sides, but at unmerciful length. on the religious question, the states-general, led by barneveld and by francis franck, expressed themselves manfully, on various occasions, during the mission of buckhurst. "the nobles and cities constituting the states," they said, "have been denounced to lord leicester as enemies of religion, by the self-seeking mischief-makers who surround him. why? because they had refused the demand of certain preachers to call a general synod, in defiance of the states-general, and to introduce a set of ordinances, with a system of discipline, according to their arbitrary will. this the late prince of orange and the states-general had always thought detrimental both to religion and polity. they respected the difference in religious opinions, and leaving all churches in their freedom, they chose to compel no man's conscience--a course which all statesmen, knowing the diversity of human opinions, had considered necessary in order to maintain fraternal harmony." such words shine through the prevailing darkness of the religious atmosphere at that epoch, like characters of light. they are beacons in the upward path of mankind. never before, had so bold and wise a tribute to the genius of the reformation been paid by an organized community. individuals walking in advance of their age had enunciated such truths, and their voices had seemed to die away, but, at last, a little, struggling, half-developed commonwealth had proclaimed the rights of conscience for all mankind--for papists and calvinists, jews and anabaptists--because "having a respect for differences in religious opinions, and leaving all churches in their freedom, they chose to compel no man's conscience." on the constitutional question, the states commenced by an astounding absurdity. "these mischief-makers, moreover," said they, "have not been ashamed to dispute, and to cause the earl of leicester to dispute, the lawful constitution of the provinces; a matter which has not been disputed for eight hundred years." this was indeed to claim a respectable age for their republic. eight hundred years took them back to the days of charlemagne, in whose time it would have been somewhat difficult to detect a germ of their states-general and states-provincial. that the constitutional government--consisting of nobles and of the vroedschaps of chartered cities--should have been in existence four hundred and seventeen years before the first charter had ever been granted to a city, was a very loose style of argument. thomas wilkes, in reply; might as well have traced the english parliament to hengist and horsa. "for eight hundred years;" they said, "holland had been governed by counts and countesses, on whom the nobles and cities, as representing the states, had legally conferred sovereignty." now the first incorporated city of holland and zeeland that ever existed was middelburg, which received its charter from count william i. of holland and countess joan of flanders; in the year . the first count that had any legal recognized authority was dirk the first to whom charles the simple presented the territory of holland, by letters-patent, in . yet the states-general, in a solemn and eloquent document, gravely dated their own existence from the year , and claimed the regular possession and habitual delegation of sovereignty from that epoch down! after this fabulous preamble, they proceeded to handle the matter of fact with logical precision. it was absurd, they said, that mr. wilkes and lord leicester should affect to confound the persons who appeared in the assembly with the states themselves; as if those individuals claimed or exercised sovereignty. any man who had observed what had been passing during the last fifteen years, knew very well that the supreme authority did not belong to the thirty or forty individuals who came to the meetings . . . . the nobles, by reason of their ancient dignity and splendid possessions, took counsel together over state matters, and then, appearing at the assembly, deliberated with the deputies of the cities. the cities had mainly one form of government--a college of counsellors; or wise men, , , , or in number, of the most respectable out of the whole community. they were chosen for life, and vacancies were supplied by the colleges themselves out of the mass of citizens. these colleges alone governed the city, and that which had been ordained by them was to be obeyed by all the inhabitants--a system against which there had never been any rebellion. the colleges again, united with those of the nobles, represented the whole state, the whole body of the population; and no form of government could be imagined, they said, that could resolve, with a more thorough knowledge of the necessities of the country, or that could execute its resolves with more unity of purpose and decisive authority. to bring the colleges into an assembly could only be done by means of deputies. these deputies, chosen by their colleges, and properly instructed, were sent to the place of meeting. during the war they had always been commissioned to resolve in common on matters regarding the liberty of the land. these deputies, thus assembled, represented, by commission, the states; but they are not, in their own persons, the states; and no one of them had any such pretension. "the people of this country," said the states, "have an aversion to all ambition; and in these disastrous times, wherein nothing but trouble and odium is to be gathered by public employment, these commissions are accounted 'munera necessaria'. . . . this form of government has, by god's favour, protected holland and zeeland, during this war, against a powerful foe, without lose of territory, without any popular outbreak, without military mutiny, because all business has been transacted with open doors; and because the very smallest towns are all represented, and vote in the assembly." in brief, the constitution of the united provinces was a matter of fact. it was there in good working order, and had, for a generation of mankind, and throughout a tremendous war, done good service. judged by the principles of reason and justice, it was in the main a wholesome constitution, securing the independence and welfare of the state, and the liberty and property of the individual, as well certainly as did any polity then existing in the world. it seemed more hopeful to abide by it yet a little longer than to adopt the throat-cutting system by the people, recommended by wilkes and leicester as an improvement on the old constitution. this was the view of lord buckhurst. he felt that threats of throat-cutting were not the best means of smoothing and conciliating, and he had come over to smooth and conciliate. "to spend the time," said he, "in private brabbles and piques between the states and lord leicester, when we ought to prepare an army against the enemy, and to repair the shaken and torn state, is not a good course for her majesty's service." letters were continually circulating from hand to hand among the antagonists of the holland party, written out of england by leicester, exciting the ill-will of the populace against the organized government. "by such means to bring the states into hatred," said buckhurst, "and to stir up the people against them; tends to great damage and miserable end. this his lordship doth full little consider, being the very way to dissolve all government, and so to bring all into confusion, and open the door for the enemy. but oh, how lamentable a thing it is, and how doth my lord of leicester abuse her majesty, making her authority the means to uphold and justify, and under her name to defend and maintain, all his intolerable errors. i thank god that neither his might nor his malice shall deter me from laying open all those things which my conscience knoweth, and which appertaineth to be done for the good of this cause and of her majesty's service. herein, though i were sure to lose my life, yet will i not offend neither the one nor the other, knowing very well that i must die; and to die in her majesty's faithful service, and with a good conscience, is far more happy than the miserable life that i am in. if leicester do in this sort stir up the people against the states to follow his revenge against them, and if the queen do yield no better aid, and the minds of count maurice and hohenlo remain thus in fear and hatred of him, what good end or service can be hoped for here?"--[buckhurst to walsingham, th june, . (brit. mus. galba, d. i. p. , ms.)] buckhurst was a man of unimpeached integrity and gentle manners. he had come over with the best intentions towards the governor-general, and it has been seen that he boldly defended him in, his first interviews with the states. but as the intrigues and underhand plottings of the earl's agents were revealed to him, he felt more and more convinced that there was a deep laid scheme to destroy the government, and to constitute a virtual and absolute sovereignty for leicester. it was not wonderful that the states were standing vigorously on the defensive. the subtle deventer, leicester's evil genius, did not cease to poison the mind of the governor, during his protracted absence, against all persons who offered impediments to the cherished schemes of his master and himself. "your excellency knows very well," he said, "that the state of this country is democratic, since, by failure of a prince, the sovereign disposition of affairs has returned to the people. that same people is everywhere so incredibly affectionate towards you that the delay in your return drives them to extreme despair. any one who would know the real truth has but to remember the fine fear the states-general were in when the news of your displeasure about the th february letter became known." had it not been for the efforts of lord buckhurst in calming the popular rage, deventer assured the earl that the writers of the letter would "have scarcely saved their skins;" and that they had always continued in great danger. he vehemently urged upon leicester, the necessity of his immediate return--not so much for reasons drawn from the distracted state of the country, thus left to a provisional government and torn by faction--but because of the facility with which he might at once seize upon arbitrary power. he gratified his master by depicting in lively colours the abject condition into which barneveld, maurice, hohenlo, and similar cowards, would be thrown by his sudden return. "if," said he, "the states' members and the counts, every one of them, are so desperately afraid of the people, even while your excellency is afar off, in what trepidation will they be when you are here! god, reason, the affection of the sovereign people, are on your side. there needs, in a little commonwealth like ours, but a wink of the eye, the slightest indication of dissatisfaction on your part, to take away all their valour from men who are only brave where swords are too short. a magnanimous prince like yourself should seek at once the place where such plots are hatching, and you would see the fury of the rebels change at once to cowardice. there is more than one man here in the netherlands that brags of what he will do against the greatest and most highly endowed prince in england, because he thinks he shall never see him again, who, at the very first news of your return, my lord, would think only of packing his portmanteau, greasing his boots, or, at the very least, of sneaking back into his hole." but the sturdy democrat was quite sure that his excellency, that most magnanimous prince of england would not desert his faithful followers--thereby giving those "filthy rascals," his opponents, a triumph, and "doing so great an injury to the sovereign people, who were ready to get rid of them all at a single blow, if his excellency would but say the word." he then implored the magnanimous prince to imitate the example of moses, joshua, david, and that of all great emperors and captains, hebrew, greek, and roman, to come at once to the scene of action, and to smite his enemies hip and thigh. he also informed his excellency, that if the delay should last much longer, he would lose all chance of regaining power, because the sovereign people had quite made up their mind to return to the dominion of spain within three months, if they could not induce his excellency to rule over them. in that way at least, if in no other, they could circumvent those filthy rascals whom they so much abhorred, and frustrate the designs of maurice, hohenlo, and sir john norris, who were represented as occupying the position of the triumvirs after the death of julius caesar. to place its neck under the yoke of philip ii. and the inquisition, after having so handsomely got rid of both, did not seem a sublime manifestation of sovereignty on the part of the people, and even deventer had some misgivings as to the propriety of such a result. "what then will become of our beautiful churches?" he cried, "what will princes say, what will the world in general say, what will historians say, about the honour of the english nation?" as to the first question, it is probable that the prospect of the reformed churches would not have been cheerful, had the inquisition been re-established in holland and utrecht, three months after that date. as to the second, the world and history were likely to reply, that the honour of the english nation was fortunately not entirely, entrusted at that epoch to the "magnanimous prince" of leicester, and his democratic, counsellor-in-chief, burgomaster deventer. these are but samples of the ravings which sounded incessantly in the ears of the governor-general. was it strange that a man, so thirsty for power, so gluttonous of flattery, should be influenced by such passionate appeals? addressed in strains of fulsome adulation, convinced that arbitrary power was within his reach, and assured that he had but to wink his eye to see his enemies scattered before him, he became impatient of all restraint; and determined, on his return, to crush the states into insignificance. thus, while buckhurst had been doing his best as a mediator to prepare the path for his return, leicester himself end his partisans had been secretly exerting themselves to make his arrival the signal for discord; perhaps of civil war. the calm, then, immediately succeeding the mission of buckhurst was a deceitful one, but it seemed very promising. the best feelings were avowed and perhaps entertained. the states professed great devotion to her majesty and friendly regard for the governor. they distinctly declared that the arrangements by which maurice and hohenlo had been placed in their new positions were purely provisional ones, subject to modifications on the arrival of the earl. "all things are reduced to a quiet calm," said buckhurst, "ready to receive my lord of leicester and his authority, whenever he cometh." the quarrel of hohenlo with sir edward norris had been, by the exertions of buckhurst, amicably arranged: the count became an intimate friend of sir john, "to the gladding of all such as wished well to, the country;" but he nourished a deadly hatred to the earl. he ran up and down like a madman whenever his return was mentioned. "if the queen be willing to take the sovereignty," he cried out at his own dinner-table to a large company, "and is ready to proceed roundly in this action, i will serve her to the last drop of my blood; but if she embrace it in no other sort than hitherto she hath done, and if leicester is to return, then am i as good a man as leicester, and will never be commanded by him. i mean to continue on my frontier, where all who love me can come and find me." he declared to several persons that he had detected a plot on the part of leicester to have him assassinated; and the assertion seemed so important, that villiers came to councillor clerk to confer with him on the subject. the worthy bartholomew, who had again, most reluctantly, left his quiet chambers in the temple to come again among the guns and drums, which his soul abhorred, was appalled by such a charge. it was best to keep it a secret, he said, at least till the matter could be thoroughly investigated. villiers was of the same opinion, and accordingly the councillor, in the excess of his caution, confided the secret only--to whom? to mr. atye, leicester's private secretary. atye, of course, instantly told his master--his master in a frenzy of rage, told the queen, and her majesty, in a paroxysm of royal indignation at this new insult to her favourite, sent furious letters to her envoys, to the states-general, to everybody in the netherlands--so that the assertion of hohenlo became the subject of endless recrimination. leicester became very violent, and denounced the statement as an impudent falsehood, devised wilfully in order to cast odium upon him and to prevent his return. unquestionably there was nothing in the story but table-talk; but the count would have been still more ferocious towards leicester than he was, had he known what was actually happening at that very moment. while buckhurst was at utrecht, listening to the "solemn-speeches" of the militia-captains and exchanging friendly expressions at stately banquets with moeurs, he suddenly received a letter in cipher from her majesty. not having the key, he sent to wilkes at the hague. wilkes was very ill; but the despatch was marked pressing and immediate, so he got out of bed and made the journey to utrecht. the letter, on being deciphered, proved to be an order from the queen to decoy hohenlo into some safe town, on pretence of consultation and then to throw him into prison, on the ground that he had been tampering with the enemy, and was about to betray the republic to philip. the commotion which would have been excited by any attempt to enforce this order, could be easily imagined by those familiar with hohenlo and with the powerful party in the netherlands of which he was one of the chiefs. wilkes stood aghast as he deciphered the letter. buckhurst felt the impossibility of obeying the royal will. both knew the cause, and both foresaw the consequences of the proposed step. wilkes had heard some rumours of intrigues between parma's agents at deventer and hohenlo, and had confided them to walsingham, hoping that the secretary would keep the matter in his own breast, at least till further advice. he was appalled at the sudden action proposed on a mere rumour, which both buckhurst and himself had begun to consider an idle one. he protested, therefore, to walsingham that to comply with her majesty's command would not only be nearly impossible, but would, if successful, hazard the ruin of the republic. wilkes was also very anxious lest the earl of leicester should hear of the matter. he was already the object of hatred to that powerful personage, and thought him capable of accomplishing his destruction in any mode. but if leicester could wreak his vengeance upon his enemy wilkes by the hand of his other deadly enemy hohenlo, the councillor felt that this kind of revenge would have a double sweetness for him. the queen knows what i have been saying, thought wilkes, and therefore leicester knows it; and if leicester knows it, he will take care that hohenlo shall hear of it too, and then wo be unto me. "your honour knoweth," he said to walsingham, "that her majesty can hold no secrets, and if she do impart it to leicester, then am i sped." nothing came of it however, and the relations of wilkes and buckhurst with hohenlo continued to be friendly. it was a lesson to wilkes to be more cautious even with the cautious walsingham. "we had but bare suspicions," said buckhurst, "nothing fit, god knoweth, to come to such a reckoning. wilkes saith he meant it but for a premonition to you there; but i think it will henceforth be a premonition to himself--there being but bare presumptions, and yet shrewd presumptions." here then were deventer and leicester plotting to overthrow the government of the states; the states and hohenlo arming against leicester; the extreme democratic party threatening to go over to the spaniards within three months; the earl accused of attempting the life of hohenlo; hohenlo offering to shed the last drop of his blood for queen elizabeth; queen elizabeth giving orders to throw hohenlo into prison as a traitor; councillor wilkes trembling for his life at the hands both of leicester and hohenlo; and buckhurst doing his best to conciliate all parties, and imploring her majesty in vain to send over money to help on the war, and to save her soldiers from starving. for the queen continued to refuse the loan of fifty thousand pounds which the provinces solicited, and in hope of which the states had just agreed to an extra contribution of a million florins (l , ), a larger sum than had been levied by a single vote since the commencement of the war. it must be remembered, too, that the whole expense of the war fell upon holland and zeeland. the province of utrecht, where there was so strong a disposition to confer absolute authority upon leicester, and to destroy the power of the states-general contributed absolutely nothing. since the loss of deventer, nothing could be raised in the provinces of utrecht, gelderland or overyssel; the spaniards levying black mail upon the whole territory, and impoverishing the inhabitants till they became almost a nullity. was it strange then that the states of holland and zeeland, thus bearing nearly the whole; burden of the war, should be dissatisfied with the hatred felt toward them by their sister provinces so generously protected by them? was it unnatural that barneveld, and maurice, and hohenlo, should be disposed to bridle the despotic inclinations of leicester, thus fostered by those who existed, as it were, at their expense? but the queen refused the l , , although holland and zeeland had voted the l , . "no reason that breedeth charges," sighed walsingham, "can in any sort be digested." it was not for want of vehement entreaty on the part of the secretary of state and of buckhurst that the loan was denied. at least she was entreated to send over money for her troops, who for six months past were unpaid. "keeping the money in your coffers," said buckhurst, "doth yield no interest to you, and--which is above all earthly, respects--it shall be the means of preserving the lives of many of your faithful subjects which otherwise must needs, daily perish. their miseries, through want of meat and money, i do protest to god so much moves, my soul with commiseration of that which is past, and makes my heart tremble to think of the like to come again, that i humbly beseech your majesty, for jesus christ sake, to have compassion on their lamentable estate past, and send some money to prevent the like hereafter." these were moving words,--but the money did not come--charges could not be digested. "the eternal god," cried buckhurst, "incline your heart to grant the petition of the states for the loan of the l , , and that speedily, for the dangerous terms of the state here and the mighty and forward preparation of the enemy admit no minute of delay; so that even to grant it slowly is to deny it utterly." he then drew a vivid picture of the capacity of the netherlands to assist the endangered realm of england, if delay were not suffered to destroy both commonwealths, by placing the provinces in an enemy's hand. "their many and notable good havens," he said, "the great number of ships and mariners, their impregnable towns, if they were in the hands of a potent prince that would defend them, and, lastly, the state of this shore; so near and opposite unto the land and coast of england--lo, the sight of all this, daily in mine eye, conjoined with the deep, enrooted malice of that your so mighty enemy who seeketh to regain them; these things entering continually into the meditations of my heart--so much do they import the safety of yourself and your estate--do enforce me, in the abundance of my love and duty to your majesty, most earnestly to speak, write, and weep unto you, lest when the occasion yet offered shall be gone by, this blessed means of your defence, by god's provident goodness thus put into your hand, will then be utterly lost, lo; never, never more to be recovered again." it was a noble, wise, and eloquent appeal, but it was muttered in vain. was not leicester--his soul filled with petty schemes of reigning in utrecht, and destroying the constitutional government of the provinces--in full possession of the royal ear? and was not the same ear lent, at most critical moment, to the insidious alexander farnese, with his whispers of peace, which were potent enough to drown all the preparations for the invincible armada? six months had rolled away since leicester had left the netherlands; six months long, the provinces, left in a condition which might have become anarchy, had been saved by the wise government of the states-general; six months long the english soldiers had remained unpaid by their sovereign; and now for six weeks the honest, eloquent, intrepid, but gentle buckhurst had done his best to conciliate all parties, and to mould the netherlanders into an impregnable bulwark for the realm of england. but his efforts were treated with scorn by the queen. she was still maddened by a sense of the injuries done by the states to leicester. she was indignant that her envoy should have accepted such lame apologies for the th of february letter; that he should have received no better atonement for their insolent infringements of the earl's orders during his absence; that he should have excused their contemptuous proceedings and that, in short, he should have been willing to conciliate and forgive when he should have stormed and railed. "you conceived, it seemeth," said her majesty, "that a more sharper manner of proceeding would have exasperated matters to the prejudice of the service, and therefore you did think it more fit to wash the wounds rather with water than vinegar, wherein we would rather have wished, on the other side, that you had better considered that festering wounds had more need of corrosives than lenitives. your own judgment ought to have taught that such a alight and mild kind of dealing with a people so ingrate and void of consideration as the said estates have showed themselves toward us, is the ready way to increase their contempt." the envoy might be forgiven for believing that at any rate there would be no lack of corrosives or vinegar, so long as the royal tongue or pen could do their office, as the unfortunate deputies had found to their cost in their late interviews at greenwich, and as her own envoys in the netherlands were perpetually finding now. the queen was especially indignant that the estates should defend the tone of their letters to the earl on the ground that he had written a piquant epistle to them. "but you can manifestly see their untruths in naming it a piquant letter," said elizabeth, "for it has no sour or sharp word therein, nor any clause or reprehension, but is full of gravity and gentle admonition. it deserved a thankful answer, and so you may maintain it to them to their reproof." the states doubtless thought that the loss of deventer and, with it, the almost ruinous condition of three out of the seven provinces, might excuse on their part a little piquancy of phraseology, nor was it easy for them to express gratitude to the governor for his grave and gentle admonitions, after he had, by his secret document of th november, rendered himself fully responsible for the disaster they deplored. she expressed unbounded indignation with hohenlo, who, as she was well aware, continued to cherish a deadly hatred for leicester. especially she was exasperated, and with reason, by the assertion the count had made concerning the governor's murderous designs upon him. "'tis a matter," said the queen, "so foul and dishonourable that doth not only touch greatly the credit of the earl, but also our own honour, to have one who hath been nourished and brought up by us, and of whom we have made show to the world to have extraordinarily favoured above any other of our own subjects, and used his service in those countries in a place of that reputation he held there, stand charged with so horrible and unworthy a crime. and therefore our pleasure is, even as you tender the continuance of our favour towards you, that you seek, by all the means you may, examining the count hollock, or any other party in this matter, to discover and to sift out how this malicious imputation hath been wrought; for we have reason to think that it hath grown out of some cunning device to stay the earl's coming, and to discourage him from the continuance of his service in those countries." and there the queen was undoubtedly in the right. hohenlo was resolved, if possible, to make the earl's government of the netherlands impossible. there was nothing in the story however; and all that by the most diligent "sifting" could ever be discovered, and all that the count could be prevailed upon to confess, was an opinion expressed by him that if he had gone with leicester to england, it might perhaps have fared ill with him. but men were given to loose talk in those countries. there was great freedom of tongue and pen; and as the earl, whether with justice or not, had always been suspected of strong tendencies to assassination, it was not very wonderful that so reckless an individual as hohenlo should promulgate opinions on such subjects, without much reserve. "the number of crimes that have been imputed to me," said leicester, "would be incomplete, had this calumny not been added to all preceding ones." it is possible that assassination, especially poisoning, may have been a more common-place affair in those days than our own. at any rate, it is certain that accusations of such crimes were of ordinary occurrence. men were apt to die suddenly if they had mortal enemies, and people would gossip. at the very same moment, leicester was deliberately accused not only of murderous intentions towards hohenlo, but towards thomas wilkes and count lewis william of nassau likewise. a trumpeter, arrested in friesland, had just confessed that he had been employed by the spanish governor of that province, colonel verdugo, to murder count lewis, and that four other persons had been entrusted with the same commission. the count wrote to verdugo, and received in reply an indignant denial of the charge. "had i heard of such a project," said the spaniard, "i would, on the contrary, have given you warning. and i give you one now." he then stated, as a fact known to him on unquestionable authority, that the earl of leicester had assassins at that moment in his employ to take the life of count lewis, adding that as for the trumpeter, who had just been hanged for the crime suborned by the writer, he was a most notorious lunatic. in reply, lewis, while he ridiculed this plea of insanity set up for a culprit who had confessed his crime succinctly and voluntarily, expressed great contempt for the counter-charge against leicester. "his excellency," said the sturdy little count, "is a virtuous gentleman, the most pious and god-fearing i have ever known. i am very sure that he could never treat his enemies in the manner stated, much less his friends. as for yourself, may god give me grace, in requital of your knavish trick, to make such a war upon you as becomes an upright soldier and a man of honour." thus there was at least one man--and a most important, one--in the opposition--party who thoroughly believed in the honour of the governor-general. the queen then proceeded to lecture lord buckhurst very severely for having tolerated an instant the states' proposition to her for a loan of l , . "the enemy," she observed, "is quite unable to attempt the siege of any town." buckhurst was, however, instructed, in case the states' million should prove insufficient to enable the army to make head against the enemy, and in the event of "any alteration of the good-will of the people towards her, caused by her not yielding, in this their necessity, some convenient support," to let them then understand, "as of himself, that if they would be satisfied with a loan of ten or fifteen thousand pounds, he, would do his best endeavour to draw her majesty to yield unto the furnishing of such a sum, with assured hope to obtaining the same at her hands." truly walsingham was right in saying that charges of any kind were difficult of digestion: yet, even at that moment, elizabeth had no more attached subjects in england than sere the burghers of the netherlands; who were as anxious ever to annex their territory to her realms. 'thus, having expressed an affection for leicester which no one doubted, having once more thoroughly brow-beaten the states, and having soundly lectured buckhurst--as a requital for his successful efforts to bring about a more wholesome condition of affairs--she gave the envoy a parting stab, with this postscript;--"there is small disproportion," she said "twist a fool who useth not wit because he hath it not, and him that useth it not when it should avail him." leicester, too, was very violent in his attacks upon buckhurst. the envoy had succeeded in reconciling hohenlo with the brothers norris, and had persuaded sir john to offer the hand of friendship to leicester, provided it were sure of being accepted. yet in this desire to conciliate, the earl found renewed cause for violence. "i would have had more regard of my lord of buckhurst," he said, "if the case had been between him and norris, but i must regard my own reputation the more that i see others would impair it. you have deserved little thanks of me, if i must deal plainly, who do equal me after this sort with him, whose best place is colonel under me, and once my servant, and preferred by me to all honourable place he had." and thus were enterprises of great moment, intimately affecting the safety of holland, of england, of all protestantism, to be suspended between triumph and ruin, in order that the spleen of one individual--one queen's favourite--might be indulged. the contempt of an insolent grandee for a distinguished commander--himself the son, of a baron, with a mother the dear friend of her sovereign--was to endanger the existence of great commonwealths. can the influence of the individual, for good or bad, upon the destinies of the race be doubted, when the characters and conduct of elizabeth and leicester, burghley and walsingham, philip and parma, are closely scrutinized and broadly traced throughout the wide range of their effects? "and i must now, in your lordship's sight," continued leicester, "be made a counsellor with this companion, who never yet to this day hath done so much as take knowledge of my mislike of him; no, not to say this much, which i think would well become his better, that he was sorry, to hear i had mislike to him, that he desired my suspension till he might either speak with me, or be charged from me, and if then he were not able to satisfy me, he would acknowledge his fault, and make me any honest satisfaction. this manner of dealing would have been no disparagement to his better. and even so i must think that your lordship doth me wrong, knowing what you do, to make so little difference between john norris, my man not long since, and now but my colonel under me, as though we were equals. and i cannot but more than marvel at this your proceeding, when i remember your promises of friendship, and your opinions resolutely set down . . . . you were so determined before you went hence, but must have become wonderfully enamoured of those men's unknown virtues in a few days of acquaintance, from the alteration that is grown by their own commendations of themselves. you know very well that all the world should not make me serve with john norris. your sudden change from mislike to liking has, by consequence, presently cast disgrace upon me. but all is not gold that glitters, nor every shadow a perfect representation . . . . you knew he should not serve with me, but either you thought me a very inconstant man, or else a very simple soul, resolving with you as i did, for you to take the course you have done." he felt, however, quite strong in her majesty's favour. he knew himself her favourite, beyond all chance or change, and was sure, so long as either lived, to thrust his enemies, by her aid, into outer darkness. woe to buckhurst, and norris, and wilkes, and all others who consorted with his enemies. let them flee from the wrath to come! and truly they were only too anxious to do so, for they knew that leicester's hatred was poisonous. "he is not so facile to forget as ready to revenge," said poor wilkes, with neat alliteration. "my very heavy and mighty adversary will disgrace and undo me. "it sufficeth," continued leicester, "that her majesty both find my dealings well enough, and so, i trust will graciously use me. as for the reconciliations and love-days you have made there, truly i have liked well of it; for you did sow me your disposition therein before, and i allowed of it, and i had received letters both from count maurice and hohenlo of their humility and kindness, but now in your last letters you say they have uttered the cause of their mislike towards me, which you forbear to write of, looking so speedily for my return." but the earl knew well enough what the secret was, for had it not been specially confided by the judicious bartholomew to atye, who had incontinently told his master? "this pretense that i should kill hohenlo," cried leicester, "is a matter properly foisted in to bring me to choler. i will not suffer it to rest, thus. its authors shall be duly and severely punished. and albeit i see well enough the plot of this wicked device, yet shall it not work the effect the devisers have done it for. no, my lord, he is a villain and a false lying knave whosoever he be, and of what, nation soever that hath forged this device. count hohenlo doth know i never gave him cause to fear me so much. there were ways and means offered me to have quitted him of the country if i had so liked. this new monstrous villany which is now found out i do hate and detest, as i would look for the right judgment of god to fall upon myself, if i had but once imagined it. all this makes good proof of wilkes's good dealing with me, that hath heard of so vile and villainous a reproach of me, and never gave me knowledge. but i trust your lordship shall receive her majesty's order for this, as for a matter that toucheth herself in honour, and me her poor servant and minister, as dearly as any matter can do; and i will so take it and use it to the uttermost." we have seen how anxiously buckhurst had striven to do his duty upon a most difficult mission. was it unnatural that so fine a nature as his should be disheartened, at reaping nothing but sneers and contumely from the haughty sovereign he served, and from the insolent favourite who controlled her councils? "i beseech your lordship," he said to burghley, "keep one ear for me, and do not hastily condemn me before you hear mine answer. for if i ever did or shall do any acceptable service to her majesty, it was in, the stay and appeasing of these countries, ever ready at my coming to have cast off all good respect towards us, and to have entered even into some desperate cause. in the meantime i am hardly thought of by her majesty, and in her opinion condemned before mine answer be understood. therefore i beseech you to help me to return, and not thus to lose her majesty's favour for my good desert, wasting here my mind, body, my wits, wealth, and all; with continual toils, taxes, and troubles, more than i am able to endure." but besides his instructions to smooth and expostulate, in which he had succeeded so well, and had been requited so ill; buckhurst had received a still more difficult commission. he had been ordered to broach the subject of peace, as delicately as possible, but without delay; first sounding the leading politicians, inducing them to listen to the queen's suggestions on the subject, persuading them that they ought to be satisfied with the principles of the pacification of ghent, and that it was hopeless for the provinces to continue the war with their mighty adversary any longer. most reluctantly had buckhurst fulfilled his sovereign's commands in this disastrous course. to talk to the hollanders of the ghent pacification seemed puerile. that memorable treaty, ten years before, had been one of the great landmarks of progress, one of the great achievements of william the silent. by its provisions, public exercise of the reformed religion had been secured for the two provinces of holland and zeeland, and it had been agreed that the secret practice of those rites should be elsewhere winked at, until such time as the states-general, under the auspices of philip ii., should otherwise ordain. but was it conceivable that now, after philip's authority had been solemnly abjured, and the reformed worship had become the public, dominant religion, throughout all the provinces,--the whole republic should return to the spanish dominion, and to such toleration as might be sanctioned by an assembly professing loyalty to the most catholic king? buckhurst had repeatedly warned the queen, in fervid and eloquent language, as to the intentions of spain. "there was never peace well made," he observed, "without a mighty war preceding, and always, the sword in hand is the best pen to write the conditions of peace." "if ever prince had cause," he continued, "to think himself beset with doubt and danger, you, sacred queen, have most just cause not only to think it, but even certainly to believe it. the pope doth daily plot nothing else but how he may bring to pass your utter overthrow; the french king hath already sent you threatenings of revenge, and though for that pretended cause i think little will ensue, yet he is blind that seeth not the mortal dislike that boileth deep in his heart for other respects against you. the scottish king, not only in regard of his future hope, but also by reason of some over conceit in his heart, may be thought a dangerous neighbour to you. the king of spain armeth and extendeth all his power to ruin both you and your estate. and if the indian gold have corrupted also the king of denmark, and made him likewise spanish, as i marvellously fear; why will not your majesty, beholding the flames of your enemies on every side kindling around, unlock all your coffers and convert your treasure for the advancing of worthy men, and for the arming of ships and men-of-war that may defend you, since princes' treasures serve only to that end, and, lie they never so fast or so full in their chests, can no ways so defend them? "the eternal god, in whose hands the hearts of kings do rest, dispose and guide your sacred majesty to do that which may be most according to his blessed will, and best for you, as i trust he will, even for his mercy's sake, both toward your majesty and the whole realm of england, whose desolation is thus sought and compassed." was this the language of a mischievous intriguer, who was sacrificing the true interest of his country, and whose proceedings were justly earning for him rebuke and disgrace at the hands of his sovereign? or was it rather the noble advice of an upright statesman, a lover of his country, a faithful servant of his queen, who had looked through the atmosphere of falsehood in which he was doing his work, and who had detected, with rare sagacity, the secret purposes of those who were then misruling the world? buckhurst had no choice, however, but to obey. his private efforts were of course fruitless, but he announced to her majesty that it was his intention very shortly to bring the matter--according to her wish--before the assembly. but elizabeth, seeing that her counsel had been unwise and her action premature, turned upon her envoy, as she was apt to do, and rebuked him for his obedience, so soon as obedience had proved inconvenient to herself. "having perused your letters," she said, "by which you at large debate unto us what you have done in the matter of peace . . . . we find it strange that you should proceed further. and although we had given you full and ample direction to proceed to a public dealing in that cause, yet our own discretion, seeing the difficulties and dangers that you yourself saw in the propounding of the matter, ought to have led you to delay till further command from us." her majesty then instructed her envoy, in case he had not yet "propounded the matter in the state-house to the general assembly," to pause entirely until he heard her further pleasure. she concluded, as usual, with a characteristic postcript in her own hand. "oh weigh deeplier this matter," she said, "than, with so shallow a judgment, to spill the cause, impair my honour, and shame yourself, with all your wit, that once was supposed better than to lose a bargain for the handling." certainly the sphinx could have propounded no more puzzling riddles than those which elizabeth thus suggested to buckhurst. to make war without an army, to support an army without pay, to frame the hearts of a whole people to peace who were unanimous for war, and this without saying a word either in private or public; to dispose the netherlanders favourably to herself and to leicester, by refusing them men and money, brow-beating them for asking for it, and subjecting them to a course of perpetual insults, which she called "corrosives," to do all this and more seemed difficult. if not to do it, were to spill the cause and to lose the bargain, it was more than probable that they would be spilt and lost. but the ambassador was no oedipus--although a man of delicate perceptions and brilliant intellect--and he turned imploringly to a wise counsellor for aid against the tormentor who chose to be so stony-faced and enigmatical. "touching the matter of peace," said he to walsingham, "i have written somewhat to her majesty in cipher, so as i am sure you will be called for to decipher it. if you did know how infinitely her majesty did at my departure and before--for in this matter of peace she hath specially used me this good while--command me, pray me, and persuade me to further and hasten the same with all the speed possible that might be, and how, on the other side, i have continually been the man and the mean that have most plainly dehorted her from such post-haste, and that she should never make good peace without a puissant army in the field, you would then say that i had now cause to fear her displeasure for being too slow, and not too forward. and as for all the reasons which in my last letters are set down, her majesty hath debated them with me many times." and thus midsummer was fast approaching, the commonwealth was without a regular government, leicester remained in england nursing his wrath and preparing his schemes, the queen was at greenwich, corresponding with alexander farnese, and sending riddles to buckhurst, when the enemy--who, according to her majesty, was "quite unable to attempt the siege of any town" suddenly appeared in force in flanders, and invested sluy's. this most important seaport, both for the destiny of the republic and of england at that critical moment, was insufficiently defended. it was quite time to put an army in the field, with a governor-general to command it. on the th june there was a meeting of the state-council at the hague. count maurice, hohenlo, and moeurs were present, besides several members of the states-general. two propositions were before the council. the first was that it was absolutely necessary to the safety of the republic, now that the enemy had taken the field, and the important city of sluy's was besieged, for prince maurice to be appointed captain-general, until such time as the earl of leicester or some other should be sent by her majesty. the second was to confer upon the state-council the supreme government in civil affairs, for the same period, and to repeal all limitations and restrictions upon the powers of the council made secretly by the earl. chancellor leoninus, "that grave, wise old man," moved the propositions. the deputies of the states were requested to withdraw. the vote of each councillor was demanded. buckhurst, who, as the queen's representative--together with wilkes and john norris--had a seat in the council, refused to vote. "it was a matter," he discreetly observed with which "he had not been instructed by her majesty to intermeddle." norris and wilkes also begged to be excused from voting, and, although earnestly urged to do so by the whole council, persisted in their refusal. both measures were then carried. no sooner was the vote taken, than an english courier entered the council-chamber, with pressing despatches from lord leicester. the letters were at once read. the earl announced his speedy arrival, and summoned both the states-general and the council to meet him at dort, where his lodgings were already taken. all were surprised, but none more than buckhurst, wilkes, and norris; for no intimation of this sudden resolution had been received by them, nor any answer given to various propositions, considered by her majesty as indispensable preliminaries to the governor's visit. the council adjourned till after dinner, and buckhurst held conference meantime with various counsellors and deputies. on the reassembling of the board, it was urged by barneveld, in the name of the states, that the election of prince maurice should still hold good. "although by these letters," said he, "it would seem that her majesty had resolved upon the speedy return of his excellency, yet, inasmuch as the counsels and resolutions of princes are often subject to change upon new occasion, it does not seem fit that our late purpose concerning prince maurice should receive any interruption." accordingly, after brief debate, both resolutions, voted in the morning, were confirmed in the afternoon. "so now," said wilkes, "maurice is general of all the forces, 'et quid sequetur nescimus.'" but whatever else was to follow, it was very certain that wilkes would not stay. his great enemy had sworn his destruction, and would now take his choice, whether to do him to death himself, or to throw him into the clutch of the ferocious hohenlo. "as for my own particular," said the counsellor, "the word is go, whosoever cometh or cometh not," and he announced to walsingham his intention of departing without permission, should he not immediately receive it from england. "i shall stay to be dandled with no love-days nor leave-takings," he observed. but leicester had delayed his coming too long. the country felt that it-had been trifled with by his: absence--at so critical a period--of seven months. it was known too that the queen was secretly treating with the enemy, and that buckhurst had been privately sounding leading personages upon that subject, by her orders. this had caused a deep, suppressed indignation. over and over again had the english government been warned as to the danger of delay. "your length in resolving;" wilkes had said, "whatsoever your secret purposes may be--will put us to new plunges before long." the mission of buckhurst was believed to be "but a stale, having some other intent than was expressed." and at last, the new plunge had been fairly taken. it seemed now impossible for leicester to regain the absolute authority, which he coveted; and which he had for a brief season possessed. the states-general, under able leaders, had become used to a government which had been forced upon them, and which they had wielded with success. holland and zeeland, paying the whole expense of the war, were not likely to endure again the absolute sovereignty of a foreigner, guided by a back stairs council of reckless politicians--most of whom were unprincipled, and some of whom had been proved to be felons--and established, at utrecht, which contributed nothing to the general purse. if leicester were really-coming, it seemed certain that he would be held to acknowledge the ancient constitution, and to respect the sovereignty of the states-general. it was resolved that he should be well bridled. the sensations of barneveld and his party may therefore be imagined, when a private letter of leicester, to his secretary "the fellow named junius," as hohenlo called him--having been intercepted at this moment, gave them an opportunity of studying the earl's secret thoughts. the earl informed his correspondent that he was on the point of starting for the netherlands. he ordered him therefore to proceed at once to reassure those whom he knew well disposed as to the good intentions of her majesty and of the governor-general. and if, on the part of lord buckhurst or others, it should be intimated that the queen was resolved to treat for peace with the king of spain; and wished to have the opinion of the netherlanders on that subject, he was to say boldly that lord buckhurst never had any such charge, and that her majesty had not been treating at all. she had only been attempting to sound the king's intentions towards the netherlands, in case of any accord. having received no satisfactory assurance on the subject, her majesty was determined to proceed with the defence of these countries. this appeared by the expedition of drake against spain, and by the return of the earl, with a good cumber of soldiers paid by her majesty, over and above her ordinary subsidy. "you are also;" said the earl, "to tell those who have the care of the people" (the ministers of the reformed church and others), "that i am returning, in the confidence that they will, in future, cause all past difficulties to cease, and that they will yield to me a legitimate authority, such as befits for administering the sovereignty of the provinces, without my being obliged to endure all the oppositions and counter-minings of the states, as in times past. the states must content themselves with retaining the power which they claim to have exercised under the governors of the emperor and the king--without attempting anything farther during my government--since i desire to do nothing of importance without the advice of the council, which will be composed legitimately of persons of the country. you will also tell them that her majesty commands me to return unless i can obtain from the states the authority which is necessary, in order not to be governor in appearance only and on paper. and i wish that those who are good may be apprized of all this, in order that nothing may happen to their prejudice and ruin, and contrary to their wishes." there were two very obvious comments to be made upon this document. firstly, the states--de jure, as they claimed, and de facto most unquestionably--were in the position of the emperor and king. they were the sovereigns. the earl wished them to content themselves with the power which they exercised under the emperor's governors. this was like requesting the emperor, when in the netherlands, to consider himself subject to his own governor. the second obvious reflection was that the earl, in limiting his authority by a state-council, expected, no doubt, to appoint that body himself--as he had done before--and to allow the members only the right of talking, and of voting,--without the power of enforcing their decisions. in short, it was very plain that leicester meant to be more absolute than ever. as to the flat contradiction given to buckhurst's proceedings in the matter of peace, that statement could scarcely deceive any one who had seen her majesty's letters and instructions to her envoy. it was also a singularly deceitful course to be adopted by leicester towards buckhurst and towards the netherlands, because his own private instructions, drawn up at the same moment, expressly enjoined him to do exactly what buckhurst had been doing. he was most strictly and earnestly commanded to deal privately with all such persons as bad influence with the "common sort of people," in order that they should use their influence with those common people in favour of peace, bringing vividly before them the excessive burthens of the war, their inability to cope with so potent a prince as philip, and the necessity the queen was under of discontinuing her contributions to their support. he was to make the same representations to the states, and he was further most explicitly to inform all concerned, that, in case they were unmoved by these suggestions, her majesty had quite made up her mind to accept the handsome offers of peace held out by the king of spain, and to leave them to their fate. it seemed scarcely possible that the letter to junius and the instructions for the earl should have been dated the same week, and should have emanated from the same mind; but such was the fact. he was likewise privately to assure maurice and hohenlo--in order to remove their anticipated opposition to the peace--that such care should be taken in providing for them, as that "they should have no just cause to dislike thereof, but to rest satisfied withal." with regard to the nature of his authority, he was instructed to claim a kind of dictatorship in everything regarding the command of the forces, and the distribution of the public treasure. all offices were to be at his disposal. every florin contributed by the states was to be placed in his hands, and spent according to his single will. he was also to have plenary power to prevent the trade in victuals with the enemy by death and confiscation. if opposition to any of these proposals were made by the states-general, he was to appeal to the states of each province; to the towns and communities, and in case it should prove impossible for him "to be furnished with the desired authority," he was then instructed to say that it was "her majesty's meaning to leave them to their own counsel and defence, and to withdraw the support that she had yielded to them: seeing plainly that the continuance of the confused government now reigning among them could not but work their ruin." both these papers came into barneveld's hands, through the agency of ortel, the states' envoy in england, before the arrival of the earl in the netherlands. of course they soon became the topics of excited conversation and of alarm in every part of the country. buckhurst, touched to the quick by the reflection upon those--proceedings of his which had been so explicitly enjoined upon him, and so reluctantly undertaken--appealed earnestly to her majesty. he reminded her, as delicately as possible, that her honour, as well as his own, was at stake by leicester's insolent disavowals of her authorized ambassador. he besought her to remember "what even her own royal hand had written to the duke of parma;" and how much his honour was interested "by the disavowing of his dealings about the peace begun by her majesty's commandment." he adjured her with much eloquence to think upon the consequences of stirring up the common and unstable multitude against their rulers; upon the pernicious effects of allowing the clergy to inflame the passions of the people against the government. "under the name of such as have charge over the people," said buckhurst, "are understood the ministers and chaplains of the churches in every town, by the means of whom it, seems that his lordship tendeth his whole purpose to attain to his desire of the administration of the sovereignty." he assured the queen that this scheme of leicester to seize virtually upon that sovereignty, would be a disastrous one. "the states are resolved," said he, "since your majesty doth refuse the sovereignty, to lay it upon no creature else, as a thing contrary to their oath and allegiance to their country." he reminded her also that the states had been dissatisfied with the earl's former administration, believing that he had exceeded his commission, and that they were determined therefore to limit his authority at his return. "your sacred majesty may consider," he said, "what effect all this may work among the common and ignorant people, by intimating that, unless they shall procure him the administration of such a sovereignty as he requireth, their ruin may ensue." buckhurst also informed her that he had despatched councillor wilkes to england, in order that he might give more ample information on all these affairs by word of mouth than could well be written. it need hardly be stated that barneveld came down to the states'-house with these papers in his hand, and thundered against the delinquent and intriguing governor till the general indignation rose to an alarming height. false statements of course were made to leicester as to the substance of the advocate's discourse. he was said to have charged upon the english government an intention to seize forcibly upon their cities, and to transfer them to spain on payment of the sums due to the queen from the states, and to have declared that he had found all this treason in the secret instructions of the earl. but barneveld had read the instructions, to which the attention of the reader has just been called, and had strictly stated the truth which was damaging enough, without need of exaggeration. etext editor's bookmarks: all business has been transacted with open doors beacons in the upward path of mankind been already crimination and recrimination more than enough casting up the matter "as pinchingly as possibly might be" disposed to throat-cutting by the ministers of the gospel during this, whole war, we have never seen the like even to grant it slowly is to deny it utterly evil is coming, the sooner it arrives the better fool who useth not wit because he hath it not guilty of no other crime than adhesion to the catholic faith individuals walking in advance of their age never peace well made, he observed, without a mighty war rebuked him for his obedience respect for differences in religious opinions sacrificed by the queen for faithfully obeying her orders succeeded so well, and had been requited so ill sword in hand is the best pen to write the conditions of peace their existence depended on war they chose to compel no man's conscience torturing, hanging, embowelling of men, women, and children universal suffrage was not dreamed of at that day waiting the pleasure of a capricious and despotic woman who the "people" exactly were chapter xvi. situation of sluys--its dutch and english garrison--williams writes from sluys to the queen--jealousy between the earl and states-- schemes to relieve sluys--which are feeble and unsuccessful--the town capitulates--parma enters--leicester enraged--the queen angry with the anti-leicestrians--norris, wilkes, and buckhurst punished-- drake sails for spain--his exploits at cadiz and lisbon--he is rebuked by elizabeth. when dante had passed through the third circle of the inferno--a desert of red-hot sand, in which lay a multitude of victims of divine wrath, additionally tortured by an ever-descending storm of fiery flakes--he was led by virgil out of this burning wilderness along a narrow causeway. this path was protected, he said, against the showers of flame, by the lines of vapour which rose eternally from a boiling brook. even by such shadowy bulwarks, added the poet, do the flemings between kadzand and bruges protect their land against the ever-threatening sea. it was precisely among these slender dykes between kadzand and bruges that alexander farnese had now planted all the troops that he could muster in the field. it was his determination to conquer the city of sluys; for the possession of that important sea-port was necessary for him as a basis for the invasion of england, which now occupied all the thoughts of his sovereign and himself. exactly opposite the city was the island of kadzand, once a fair and fertile territory, with a city and many flourishing villages upon its surface, but at that epoch diminished to a small dreary sand-bank by the encroachments of the ocean. a stream of inland water, rising a few leagues to the south of sluys, divided itself into many branches just before reaching the city, converted the surrounding territory into a miniature archipelago--the islands of which were shifting treacherous sand-banks at low water, and submerged ones at flood--and then widening and deepening into a considerable estuary, opened for the city a capacious harbour, and an excellent although intricate passage to the sea. the city, which was well built and thriving, was so hidden in its labyrinth of canals and streamlets, that it seemed almost as difficult a matter to find sluys as to conquer it. it afforded safe harbour for five hundred large vessels; and its possession, therefore, was extremely important for parma. besides these natural defences, the place was also protected by fortifications; which were as well constructed as the best of that period. there was a strong rampire and many towers. there was also a detached citadel of great strength, looking towards the sea, and there was a ravelin, called st. anne's, looking in the direction of bruges. a mere riband of dry land in that quarter was all of solid earth to be found in the environs of sluys. the city itself stood upon firm soil, but that soil had been hollowed into a vast system of subterranean magazines, not for warlike purposes, but for cellars, as sluys had been from a remote period the great entrepot of foreign wines in the netherlands. while the eternal disputes between leicester and the states were going on both in holland and in england, while the secret negotiations between alexander farnese and queen slowly proceeding at brussels and greenwich, the duke, notwithstanding the destitute condition of his troops, and the famine which prevailed throughout the obedient provinces, had succeeded in bringing a little army of five thousand foot, and something less than one thousand horse, into the field. a portion of this force he placed under the command of the veteran la motte. that distinguished campaigner had assured the commander-in-chief that the reduction of the city would be an easy achievement. alexander soon declared that the enterprise was the most difficult one that he had ever undertaken. yet, two years before, he had carried to its triumphant conclusion the famous siege of antwerp. he stationed his own division upon the isle of kadzand, and strengthened his camp by additionally fortifying those shadowy bulwarks, by which the island, since the age of dante, had entrenched itself against the assaults of ocean. on the other hand, la motte, by the orders of his chief, had succeeded, after a sharp struggle, in carrying the fort of st. anne. a still more important step was the surprising of blankenburg, a small fortified place on the coast, about midway between ostend and sluys, by which the sea-communications with the former city for the relief of the beleaguered town were interrupted. parma's demonstrations against sluys had commenced in the early days of june. the commandant of the place was arnold de groenevelt, a dutch noble of ancient lineage and approved valour. his force was, however, very meagre, hardly numbering more than eight hundred, all netherlanders, but counting among its officers several most distinguished personages-nicholas de maulde, adolphus de meetkerke and his younger brother, captain heraugiere, and other well-known partisans. on the threatening of danger the commandant had made application to sir william russell, the worthy successor of sir philip sidney in the government of flushing. he had received from him, in consequence, a reinforcement of eight hundred english soldiers, under several eminent chieftains, foremost among whom were the famous welshman roger williams, captain huntley, baskerville, sir francis vere, ferdinando gorges, and captain hart. this combined force, however, was but a slender one; there being but sixteen hundred men to protect two miles and a half of rampart, besides the forts and ravelins. but, such as it was, no time was lost in vain regrets. the sorties against the besiegers were incessant and brilliant. on one occasion sir francis vere--conspicuous in the throng, in his red mantilla, and supported only by one hundred englishmen and dutchmen, under captain baskerville--held at bay eight companies of the famous spanish legion called the terzo veijo, at push of pike, took many prisoners, and forced the spaniards from the position in which they were entrenching themselves. on the other hand, farnese declared that he had never in his life witnessed anything so unflinching as the courage of his troops; employed as they were in digging trenches where the soil was neither land nor water, exposed to inundation by the suddenly-opened sluices, to a plunging fire from the forts, and to perpetual hand-to-hand combats with an active and fearless foe, and yet pumping away in the coffer-dams-which they had invented by way of obtaining a standing-ground for their operations--as steadily and sedately as if engaged in purely pacific employments. the besieged here inspired by a courage equally remarkable. the regular garrison was small enough, but the burghers were courageous, and even the women organized themselves into a band of pioneers. this corps of amazons, led by two female captains, rejoicing in the names of 'may in the heart' and 'catherine the rose,' actually constructed an important redoubt between the citadel and the rampart, which received, in compliment to its builders, the appellation of 'fort venus.' the demands of the beleaguered garrison, however, upon the states and upon leicester were most pressing. captain hart swam thrice out of the city with letters to the states, to the governor-general, and to queen elizabeth; and the same perilous feat was performed several times by a netherland officer. the besieged meant to sell their lives dearly, but it was obviously impossible for them, with so slender a force, to resist a very long time. "our ground is great and our men not so many," wrote roger williams to his sovereign, "but we trust in god and our valour to defend it. . . . we mean, with god's help, to make their downs red and black, and to let out every acre of our ground for a thousand of their lives, besides our own." the welshman was no braggart, and had proved often enough that he was more given to performances than promises. "we doubt not your majesty will succour us," he said, "for our honest mind and plain dealing toward your royal person and dear country;" adding, as a bit of timely advice, "royal majesty, believe not over much your peacemakers. had they their mind, they will not only undo your friend's abroad, but, in the end, your royal estate." certainly it was from no want of wholesome warning from wise statesmen and blunt soldiers that the queen was venturing into that labyrinth of negotiation which might prove so treacherous. never had been so inopportune a moment for that princess to listen to the voice of him who was charming her so wisely, while he was at the same moment battering the place, which was to be the basis of his operations against her realm. her delay in sending forth leicester, with at least a moderate contingent, to the rescue, was most pernicious. the states--ignorant of the queen's exact relations with spain, and exaggerating her disingenuousness into absolute perfidy became on their own part exceedingly to blame. there is no doubt whatever that both hollanders and english men were playing into the hands of parma as adroitly as if he had actually directed their movements. deep were the denunciations of leicester and his partisans by the states' party, and incessant the complaints of the english and dutch troops shut up in sluys against the inactivity or treachery of maurice and hohenlo. "if count maurice and his base brother, the admiral (justinus de nassau), be too young to govern, must holland and zeeland lose their countries and towns to make them expert men of war?" asked roger williams.' a pregnant question certainly, but the answer was, that by suspicion and jealousy, rather than by youth and inexperience, the arms were paralyzed which should have saved the garrison. "if these base fellows (the states) will make count hollock their instrument," continued the welshman; "to cover and maintain their folly and lewd dealing, is it necessary for her royal majesty to suffer it? these are too great matters to be rehearsed by me; but because i am in the town, and do resolve to, sign with my blood my duty in serving my sovereign and country, i trust her majesty will pardon me." certainly the gallant adventurer on whom devolved at least half the work of directing the defence of the city, had a right to express his opinions. had he known the whole truth, however, those opinions would have been modified. and he wrote amid the smoke and turmoil of daily and nightly battle. "yesterday was the fifth sally we made," he observed: "since i followed the wars i never saw valianter captains, nor willinger soldiers. at eleven o'clock the enemy entered the ditch of our fort, with trenches upon wheels, artillery-proof. we sallied out, recovered their trenches, slew the governor of dam, two spanish captains, with a number of others, repulsed them into their artillery, kept the ditch until yesternight, and will recover it, with god's help, this night, or else pay dearly for it. . . . i care not what may become of me in this world, so that her majesty's honour,--with the rest of honourable good friends, will think me an honest man." no one ever doubted the simple-hearted welshman's honesty, any more than his valour; but he confided in the candour of others who were somewhat more sophisticated than himself. when he warned her, royal majesty against the peace-makers, it was impossible for him to know that the great peace-maker was elizabeth herself. after the expiration of a month the work had become most fatiguing. the enemy's trenches had been advanced close to the ramparts, and desperate conflicts were of daily occurrence. the spanish mines, too, had been pushed forward towards the extensive wine-caverns below the city, and the danger of a vast explosion or of a general assault from beneath their very feet, seemed to the inhabitants imminent. eight days long, with scarcely an intermission, amid those sepulchral vaults, dimly-lighted with torches, dutchmen, englishmen, spaniards, italians, fought hand to hand, with pike, pistol, and dagger, within the bowels of the earth. meantime the operations of the states were not commendable. the ineradicable jealousy between the leicestrians and the barneveldians had done its work. there was no hearty effort for the relief of sluys. there were suspicions that, if saved, the town would only be taken possession of by the earl of leicester, as an additional vantage-point for coercing the country into subjection to his arbitrary authority. perhaps it would be transferred to philip by elizabeth as part of the price for peace. there was a growing feeling in holland and zeeland that as those provinces bore all the expense of the war, it was an imperative necessity that they should limit their operations to the defence of their own soil. the suspicions as to the policy of the english government were sapping the very foundations of the alliance, and there was small disposition on the part of the hollanders, therefore, to protect what remained of flanders, and thus to strengthen the hands of her whom they were beginning to look upon as an enemy. maurice and hohenlo made, however, a foray into brabant, by way of diversion to the siege of sluys, and thus compelled farnese to detach a considerable force under haultepenne into that country, and thereby to weaken himself. the expedition of maurice was not unsuccessful. there was some sharp skirmishing between hohenlo and haultepenne, in which the latter, one of the most valuable and distinguished generals on the royal side, was defeated and slain; the fort of engel, near bois-le-duc, was taken, and that important city itself endangered; but, on the other hand, the contingent on which leicester relied from the states to assist in relieving sluys was not forthcoming. for, meantime, the governor-general had at last been sent back by his sovereign to the post which he had so long abandoned. leaving leicester house on the th july (n. s.), he had come on board the fleet two days afterwards at margate. he was bringing with him to the netherlands three thousand fresh infantry, and thirty thousand pounds, of which sum fifteen thousand pounds had been at last wrung from elizabeth as an extra loan, in place of the sixty thousand pounds which the states had requested. as he sailed past ostend and towards flushing, the earl was witness to the constant cannonading between the besieged city and the camp of farnese, and saw that the work could hardly be more serious; for in one short day more shots were fired than had ever been known before in a single day in all parma's experience. arriving at flushing, the governor-general was well received by the inhabitants; but the mischief, which had been set a-foot six months before, had done its work. the political intrigues, disputes, and the conflicting party-organizations, have already been set in great detail before the reader, in order that their effect might now be thoroughly understood without--explanation. the governor-general came to flushing at a most critical moment. the fate of all the spanish netherlands, of sluys, and with it the whole of philip and parma's great project, were, in farnese's own language, hanging by a thread. it would have been possible--had the transactions of the past six months, so far as regarded holland and england, been the reverse of what they had been--to save the city; and, by a cordial and united effort, for the two countries to deal the spanish power such a blow, that summer, as would have paralyzed it for a long time to come, and have placed both commonwealths in comparative security. instead of all this, general distrust and mutual jealousy prevailed. leicester had, previously to his departure from england, summoned the states to meet him at dort upon his arrival. not a soul appeared. such of the state-councillors as were his creatures came to him, and count maurice made a visit of ceremony. discussions about a plan for relieving the siege became mere scenes of bickering and confusion. the officers within sluys were desirous that a fleet should force its way into the harbour, while, at the same time, the english army, strengthened by the contingent which leicester had demanded from the states, should advance against the duke of parma by land. it was, in truth, the only way to succour the place. the scheme was quite practicable. leicester recommended it, the hollanders seemed to favour it, commandant groenevelt and roger williams urged it. "i do assure you," wrote the honest welshman to leicester, "if you will come afore this town, with as many galliots and as many flat-bottomed boats as can cause two men-of-war to enter, they cannot stop their passage, if, your mariners will do a quarter of their duty, as i saw them do divers times. before, they make their entrance, we will come with our boats, and fight with the greatest part, and show them there is no such great danger. were it not for my wounded arm, i would be, in your first boat to enter. notwithstanding, i and other englishmen will approach their boats in such sort, that we will force them to give their saker of artillery upon us. if, your excellency will give ear unto those false lewd fellows (the captain meant the states-general), you shall lose great opportunity. within ten or twelve days the enemy will make his bridge from kadzand unto st. anne, and force you to hazard battle before you succour this town. let my lord willoughby and sir william russell land at terhoven, right against kadzand, with , and entrench hard by the waterside, where their boats can carry them victual and munition. they may approach by trenches without engaging any dangerous fight . . . . we dare not show the estate of this town more than we have done by captain herte. we must fight this night within our rampart in the fort. you may sure the world here are no hamerts, but valiant captains and valiant soldiers, such as, with god's help, had rather be buried in the place than be disgraced in any point that belongs to such a number of men-of-war." but in vain did the governor of the place, stout arnold froenevelt, assisted by the rough and direct eloquence of roger williams, urge upon the earl of leicester and the states-general the necessity and the practicability of the plan proposed. the fleet never entered the harbour. there was no william of orange to save antwerp and sluys, as leyden had once been saved, and his son was not old enough to unravel the web of intrigue by which he was surrounded, or to direct the whole energies of the commonwealth towards an all-important end. leicester had lost all influence, all authority, nor were his military abilities equal to the occasion, even if he had been cordially obeyed. ten days longer the perpetual battles on the ramparts and within the mines continued, the plans conveyed by the bold swimmer, captain hart, for saving the place were still unattempted, and the city was tottering to its fall. "had captain hart's words taken place," wrote williams, bitterly, "we had been succoured, or, if my letters had prevailed, our pain had been, no peril: all wars are best executed in sight of the enemy . . . . the last night of june ( th july, n. s.) the enemy entered the ditches of our fort in three several places, continuing in fight in mine and on rampart for the space of eight nights. the ninth; he battered us furiously, made a breach of five score paces suitable for horse and man. that day be attempted us in all, places with a general, assault for the space of almost five hours." the citadel was now lost. it had been gallantly defended; and it was thenceforth necessary to hold the town itself, in the very teeth of an overwhelming force. "we were forced to quit the fort," said-sir roger, "leaving nothing behind us but bare earth. but here we do remain resolutely to be buried, rather than to be dishonoured in the least point." it was still possible for the fleet to succour the city. "i do assure you," said-williams, "that your captains and mariners do not their duty unless they enter with no great loss; but you must consider that no wars may be made without danger. what you mean to do, we beseech you to do with expedition, and persuade yourself that we will die valiant, honest-men. your excellency will do well to thank the old president de meetkerk far the honesty and valour of his son." count maurice and his natural brother, the admiral, now undertook the succour by sea; but, according to the leicestrians, they continued dilatory and incompetent. at any rate, it is certain that they did nothing. at last, parma had completed the bridge; whose construction, was so much dreaded: the haven was now enclosed by a strong wooden structure, resting an boats, on a plan similar to that of the famous bridge with which he had two years before bridled the scheldt, and sluys was thus completely shut in from the sea. fire-ships were now constructed, by order of leicester--feeble imitations: of the floating volcanoes of gianihelli--and it was agreed that they should be sent against the bridge with the first flood-tide. the propitious moment never seemed to arrive, however, and, meantime, the citizens of flushing, of their own accord, declared that they would themselves equip and conduct a fleet into the harbour of sluys. but the nassaus are said to have expressed great disgust that low-born burghers should presume to meddle with so important an enterprise, which of right belonged to their family. thus, in the midst of these altercations and contradictory schemes; the month of july wore away, and the city was reduced to its last gasp. for the cannonading had thoroughly done its work. eighteen days long the burghers and what remained of the garrison had lived upon the ramparts, never leaving their posts, but eating, sleeping, and fighting day and night. of the sixteen hundred dutch and english but seven hundred remained. at last a swimming messenger was sent out by the besieged with despatches for the states, to the purport that the city could hold out no longer. a breach in the wall had been effected wide enough to admit a hundred men abreast. sluys had, in truth, already fallen, and it was hopeless any longer to conceal the fact. if not relieved within a day or two, the garrison would be obliged to surrender; but they distinctly stated, that they had all pledged themselves, soldiers and burghers, men, women, and all, unless the most honourable terms were granted, to set fire to the city in a hundred places, and then sally, in mass, from the gates, determined to fight their way through, or be slain in the attempt. the messenger who carried these despatches was drowned, but the letters were saved, and fell into parma's hands. at the same moment, leicester was making, at last, an effort to raise the siege. he brought three or four thousand men from flushing, and landed them at ostend; thence he marched to blanckenburg. he supposed that if he could secure that little port, and thus cut the duke completely off from the sea, he should force the spanish commander to raise (or at least suspend) the siege in order to give him battle. meantime, an opportunity would be afforded for maurice and hohenlo to force an entrance into the harbour of sluys, in this conjecture he was quite correct; but unfortunately he did not thoroughly carry out his own scheme. if the earl had established himself at blanckenburg, it would have been necessary for parma--as he himself subsequently declared-to raise the siege. leicester carried the outposts of the place successfully; but, so soon as farnese was aware of this demonstration, he detached a few companies with orders to skirmish with the enemy until the commander-in-chief, with as large a force as he could spare, should come in person to his support. to the unexpected gratification of farnese, however, no sooner did the advancing spaniards come in sight, than the earl, supposing himself invaded by the whole of the duke's army, under their famous general, and not feeling himself strong enough for such an encounter, retired, with great precipitation, to his boats, re-embarked his troops with the utmost celerity, and set sail for ostend. the next night had been fixed for sending forth the fireships against the bridge, and for the entrance of the fleet into the harbour. one fire-ship floated a little way towards the bridge and exploded ingloriously. leicester rowed in his barge about the fleet, superintending the soundings and markings of the channel, and hastening the preparations; but, as the decisive moment approached, the pilots who had promised to conduct the expedition came aboard his pinnace and positively refused to have aught to do with the enterprise, which they now declared an impossibility. the earl was furious with the pilots, with maurice, with hohenlo, with admiral de nassau, with the states, with all the world. he stormed and raged and beat his breast, but all in vain. his ferocity would have been more useful the day before, in face of the spaniards, than now, against the zeeland mariners: but the invasion by the fleet alone, unsupported by a successful land-operation, was pronounced impracticable, and very soon the relieving fleet was seen by the distressed garrison sailing away from the neighbourhood, and it soon disappeared beneath the horizon. their fate was sealed. they entered into treaty with parma, who, secretly instructed, as has been seen, of their desperate intentions, in case any but the most honourable conditions were offered, granted those conditions. the garrison were allowed to go out with colours displayed, lighted matches, bullet in mouth, and with bag and baggage. such burghers as chose to conform to the government of spain and the church of rome; were permitted to remain. those who preferred to depart were allowed reasonable time to make their necessary arrangements. "we have hurt and slain very near eight hundred," said sir roger williams. "we had not powder to fight two hours. there was a breach of almost four hundred paces, another of three score, another of fifty, saltable for horse and men. we had lain continually eighteen nights all on the breaches. he gave us honourable composition. had the state of england lain on it, our lives could not defend the place, three hours, for half the rampires were his, neither had we any pioneers but ourselves. we were sold by their negligence who are now angry with us." on the th august parma entered the city. roger williams with his gilt morion rather battered, and his great plume of feathers much bedraggled-was a witness to the victor's entrance. alexander saluted respectfully an officer so well known to him by reputation, and with some complimentary remarks urged him to enter the spanish service, and to take the field against the turks. "my sword," replied the doughty welshman, "belongs to her royal majesty, queen elizabeth, above and before all the world. when her highness has no farther use for it, it is at the service of the king of navarre." considering himself sufficiently answered, the duke then requested sir roger to point out captain baskerville--very conspicuous by a greater plume of feathers than even that of the welshman himself--and embraced that officer; when presented to him, before all his staff. "there serves no prince in europe a braver man than this englishman," cried alexander, who well knew how to appreciate high military qualities, whether in his own army or in that of his foes. the garrison then retired, sluy's became spanish, and a capacious harbour, just opposite the english coast, was in parma's hands. sir roger williams was despatched by leicester to bear the melancholy tidings to his government, and the queen was requested to cherish the honest welshman, and at least to set him on horseback; for he was of himself not rich enough to buy even a saddle. it is painful to say that the captain did not succeed in getting the horse. the earl was furious in his invectives against hohenlo, against maurice, against the states, uniformly ascribing the loss of sluy's to negligence and faction. as for sir john norris, he protested that his misdeeds in regard to this business would, in king henry viii.'s time, have "cost him his pate." the loss of sluys was the beginning and foreshadowed the inevitable end of leicester's second administration. the inaction of the states was one of the causes of its loss. distrust of leicester was the cause of the inaction. sir william russell, lord willoughby, sir william pelham, and other english officers, united in statements exonerating the earl from all blame for the great failure to relieve the place. at the same time, it could hardly be maintained that his expedition to blanckenburg and his precipitate retreat on the first appearance of the enemy were proofs of consummate generalship. he took no blame to himself for the disaster; but he and his partisans were very liberal in their denunciations of the hollanders, and leicester was even ungrateful enough to censure roger williams, whose life had been passed, as it were, at push of pike with the spaniards, and who was one of his own most devoted adherents. the queen was much exasperated when informed of the fall of the city. she severely denounced the netherlanders, and even went so far as to express dissatisfaction with the great leicester himself. meantime, farnese was well satisfied with his triumph, for he had been informed that "all england was about to charge upon him," in order to relieve the place. all england, however, had been but feebly represented by three thousand raw recruits with a paltry sum of l , to help pay a long bill of arrears. wilkes and norris had taken their departure from the netherlands before the termination of the siege, and immediately after the return of leicester. they did not think it expedient to wait upon the governor before leaving the country, for they had very good reason to believe that such an opportunity of personal vengeance would be turned to account by the earl. wilkes had already avowed his intention of making his escape without being dandled with leave-takings, and no doubt he was right. the earl was indignant when he found that they had given him the slip, and denounced them with fresh acrimony to the queen, imploring her to wreak full measure of wrath upon their heads; and he well knew that his entreaties would meet with the royal attention. buckhurst had a parting interview with the governor-general, at which killigrew and beale, the new english counsellors who had replaced wilkes and clerk, were present. the conversation was marked by insolence on the part of leicester, and by much bitterness on that of buckhurst. the parting envoy refused to lay before the earl a full statement of the grievances between the states-general and the governor, on the ground that leicester had no right to be judge in his own cause. the matter, he said, should be laid before the queen in council, and by her august decision he was willing to abide. on every other subject he was ready to give any information in his power. the interview lasted a whole forenoon and afternoon. buckhurst, according to his own statement, answered, freely all questions put to him by leicester and his counsellors; while, if the report of those personages is to be trusted, he passionately refused to make any satisfactory communication. under the circumstances, however, it may well be believed that no satisfactory communication was possible. on arriving in england, sir john norris was forbidden to come into her majesty's presence, wilkes was thrown into the fleet prison, and buckhurst was confined in his own country house. norris had done absolutely nothing, which, even by implication, could be construed into a dereliction of duty; but it was sufficient that he was hated by leicester, who had not scrupled, over and over again, to denounce this first general of england as a fool, a coward, a knave, and a liar. as for wilkes, his only crime was a most conscientious discharge of his duty, in the course of which he had found cause to modify his abstract opinions in regard to the origin of sovereignty, and had come reluctantly to the conviction that leicester's unpopularity had made perhaps another governor-general desirable. but this admission had only been made privately and with extreme caution; while, on the other hand, he had constantly defended the absent earl, with all the eloquence at his command. but the hatred cf leicester was sufficient to consign this able and painstaking public servant to a prison; and thus was a man of worth, honour, and talent, who had been placed in a position of grave responsibility and immense fatigue, and who had done his duty like an upright, straight-forward englishman, sacrificed to the wrath of a favourite. "surely, mr. secretary," said the earl, "there was never a falser creature, a more seditious wretch, than wilkes. he is a villain, a devil, without faith or religion." as for buckhurst himself, it is unnecessary to say a word in his defence. the story of his mission has been completely detailed from the most authentic and secret documents, and there is not a single line written to the queen, to her ministers, to the states, to any public body or to any private friend, in england or elsewhere, that does not reflect honour on his name. with sagacity, without passion, with unaffected sincerity, he had unravelled the complicated web of netherland politics, and, with clear vision, had penetrated the designs of the mighty enemy whom england and holland had to encounter in mortal combat. he had pointed out the errors of the earl's administration--he had fearlessly, earnestly, but respectfully deplored the misplaced parsimony of the queen--he had warned her against the delusions which had taken possession of her keen intellect--he had done--his best to place the governor-general upon good terms with the states and with his sovereign; but it had been impossible for him to further his schemes for the acquisition of a virtual sovereignty over the netherlands, or to extinguish the suspicions of the states that the queen was secretly negotiating with the spaniard, when he knew those suspicions to be just. for deeds, such as these, the able and high-minded ambassador, the accomplished statesman and poet, was forbidden to approach his sovereign's presence, and was ignominiously imprisoned in his own house until the death of leicester. after that event, buckhurst emerged from confinement, received the order of the garter and the earldom of dorset, and on the death of burghley succeeded that statesman in the office of lord-treasurer. such was the substantial recognition of the merits of a man who was now disgraced for the conscientious discharge of the most important functions that had yet been confided to him. it would be a thankless and superfluous task to give the details of the renewed attempt, during a few months, made by leicester to govern the provinces. his second administration consisted mainly of the same altercations with the states, on the subject of sovereignty, the same mutual recriminations and wranglings, that had characterized the period of his former rule. he rarely met the states in person, and almost never resided at the hague, holding his court at middleburg, dort, or utrecht, as his humour led him. the one great feature of the autumn of was the private negotiation between elizabeth and the duke of parma. before taking a glance at the nature of those secrets, however, it is necessary to make a passing allusion to an event which might have seemed likely to render all pacific communications with spain, whether secret or open, superfluous. for while so much time had been lost in england and holland, by misunderstandings and jealousies, there was one englishman who had not been losing time. in the winter and early spring of , the devonshire skipper had organized that expedition which he had come to the netherlands, the preceding autumn, to discuss. he meant to aim a blow at the very heart of that project which philip was shrouding with so much mystery, and which elizabeth was attempting to counteract by so much diplomacy. on the nd april, francis drake sailed from plymouth with four ships belonging to the queen, and with twenty-four furnished by the merchants of london, and other private individuals. it was a bold buccaneering expedition--combining chivalrous enterprise with the chance of enormous profit--which was most suited to the character of english adventurers at that expanding epoch. for it was by england, not by elizabeth, that the quarrel with spain was felt to be a mortal one. it was england, not its sovereign, that was instinctively arming, at all points, to grapple with the great enemy of european liberty. it was the spirit of self-help, of self-reliance, which was prompting the english nation to take the great work of the age into its own hands. the mercantile instinct of the nation was flattered with the prospect of gain, the martial quality of its patrician and of its plebeian blood was eager to confront danger, the great protestant mutiny. against a decrepit superstition in combination with an aggressive tyranny, all impelled the best energies of the english people against spain, as the embodiment of all which was odious and menacing to them, and with which they felt that the life and death struggle could not long be deferred. and of these various tendencies, there were no more fitting representatives than drake and frobisher, hawkins and essex, cavendish and grenfell, and the other privateersmen of the sixteenth century. the same greed for danger, for gold, and for power, which, seven centuries before, had sent the norman race forth to conquer all christendom, was now sending its anglo-saxon and anglo-norman kindred to take possession of the old world and the new. "the wind commands me away," said drake on the nd april, ; "our ship is under sail. god grant that we may so live in his fear, that the enemy may have cause to say that god doth fight for her majesty abroad as well as at home." but he felt that he was not without enemies behind him, for the strong influence brought to bear against the bold policy which walsingham favoured, was no secret to drake. "if we deserve ill," said he, "let us be punished. if we discharge our duty, in doing our best, it is a hard measure to be reported ill by those who will either keep their fingers out of the fire; or who too well affect that alteration in our government which i hope in god they shall never live to see." in latitude deg. he spoke two zeeland ships, homeward bound, and obtained information of great warlike stores accumulating in cadiz and lisbon. his mind was instantly made up. fortunately, the pinnace which the queen despatched with orders to stay his hand in the very act of smiting her great adversary, did not sail fast enough to overtake the swift corsair and his fleet. sir francis had too promptly obeyed the wind, when it "commanded him away," to receive the royal countermand. on the th april, the english ships entered the harbour of cadiz, and destroyed ten thousand tons of shipping, with their contents, in the very face of a dozen great galleys, which the nimble english vessels soon drove under their forts for shelter. two nights and a day, sir francis, that "hater of idleness," was steadily doing his work; unloading, rifling, scuttling, sinking, and burning those transportships which contained a portion of the preparations painfully made by philip for his great enterprise. pipe-staves and spikes, horse-shoes and saddles, timber and cutlasses, wine, oil, figs, raisins, biscuits, and flour, a miscellaneous mass of ingredients long brewing for the trouble of england, were emptied into the harbour, and before the second night, the blaze of a hundred and fifty burning vessels played merrily upon the grim walls of philip's fortresses. some of these ships were of the largest size then known. there was one belonging to marquis santa cruz of tons, there was a biscayan of , there were several others of , , and of nearly equal dimensions. thence sailing for lisbon, sir francis, captured and destroyed a hundred vessels more, appropriating what was portable of the cargoes, and annihilating the rest. at lisbon, marquis santa cruz, lord high admiral of spain and generalissimo of the invasion, looked on, mortified and amazed, but offering no combat, while the plymouth privateersman swept the harbour of the great monarch of the world. after thoroughly accomplishing his work, drake sent a message to santa cruz, proposing to exchange his prisoners for such englishmen as might then be confined in spain. but the marquis denied all prisoners. thereupon sir francis decided to sell his captives to the moors, and to appropriate the proceeds of the sale towards the purchase of english slaves put of the same bondage. such was the fortune of war in the sixteenth century. having dealt these great blows, drake set sail again from lisbon, and, twenty leagues from st. michaels, fell in with one of those famous spanish east indiamen, called carracks, then the great wonder of the seas. this vessel, san felipe by name, with a cargo of extraordinary value, was easily captured, and sir francis now determined to return. he had done a good piece of work in a few weeks, but he was by no means of opinion that he had materially crippled the enemy. on the contrary, he gave the government warning as to the enormous power and vast preparations of spain. "there would be forty thousand men under way ere long," he said, "well equipped and provisioned;" and he stated, as the result of personal observation, that england could not be too energetic in, its measures of resistance. he had done something with his little fleet, but he was no braggart, and had no disposition to underrate the enemy's power. "god make us all thankful again and again," he observed, "that we have, although it be little, made a beginning upon the coast of spain." and modestly as he spoke of what he had accomplished, so with quiet self-reliance did he allude to the probable consequences. it was certain, he intimated, that the enemy would soon seek revenge with all his strength, and "with all the devices and traps he could devise." this was a matter which could not be doubted. "but," said sir francis, "i thank them much that they have staid so long, and when they come they shall be but the sons of mortal men." perhaps the most precious result of the expedition, was the lesson which the englishmen had thus learned in handling the great galleys of spain. it might soon stand them in stead. the little war-vessels which had come from plymouth, had sailed round and round these vast unwieldy hulks, and had fairly driven them off the field, with very slight damage to themselves. sir francis had already taught the mariners of england, even if he had done nothing else by this famous cadiz expedition, that an armada, of spain might not be so invincible as men imagined. yet when the conqueror returned from his great foray, he received no laurels. his sovereign met him, not with smiles, but with frowns and cold rebukes. he had done his duty, and helped to save her endangered throne, but elizabeth was now the dear friend of alexander farnese, and in amicable correspondence with his royal master. this "little" beginning on the coast of spain might not seem to his catholic majesty a matter to be thankful for, nor be likely to further a pacification, and so elizabeth hastened to disavow her plymouth captain.' ["true it is, and i avow it on my faith, her majesty did send a ship expressly before he went to cadiz with a message by letters charging sir francis drake not to show any act of hostility, which messenger by contrary winds could never come to the place where he was, but was constrained to come home, and hearing of sir f. drake's actions, her majesty commanded the party that returned to have been punished, but that he acquitted himself by the oaths of himself and all his company. and so unwitting yea unwilling to her majesty those actions were committed by sir f. drake, for the which her majesty is as yet greatly offended with him." burghley to andreas de loo, july, . flanders correspondence.' (s. p. office ms.)] etext editor's bookmarks: the blaze of a hundred and fifty burning vessels we were sold by their negligence who are now angry with us chapter xvii. secret treaty between queen and parma--excitement and alarm in the states--religious persecution in england--queen's sincerity toward spain--language and letters of parma--negotiations of de loo-- english commissioners appointed--parma's affectionate letter to the queen--philip at his writing-table--his plots with parma against england--parma's secret letters to the king--philip's letters to parma wonderful duplicity of philip--his sanguine views as to england--he is reluctant to hear of the obstacles--and imagines parma in england--but alexander's difficulties are great--he denounces philip's wild schemes--walsingham aware of the spanish plot--which the states well understand--leicester's great unpopularity--the queen warned against treating--leicester's schemes against barneveld--leicestrian conspiracy at leyden--the plot to seize the city discovered--three ringleaders sentenced to death-- civil war in france--victory gained by navarre, and one by guise-- queen recalls leicester--who retires on ill terms with the states-- queen warned as to spanish designs--result's of leicester's administration. the course of elizabeth towards the provinces, in the matter of the peace, was certainly not ingenuous, but it was not absolutely deceitful. she concealed and denied the negotiations, when the netherland statesmen were perfectly aware of their existence, if not of their tenour; but she was not prepared, as they suspected, to sacrifice their liberties and their religion, as the price of her own reconciliation with spain. her attitude towards the states was imperious, over-bearing, and abusive. she had allowed the earl of leicester to return, she said, because of her love for the poor and oppressed people, but in many of her official and in all her private communications, she denounced the men who governed that people as ungrateful wretches and impudent liars! these were the corrosives and vinegar which she thought suitable for the case; and the earl was never weary in depicting the same statesmen as seditious, pestilent, self-seeking, mischief-making traitors. these secret, informal negotiations, had been carried on during most of the year . it was the "comptroller's peace;", as walsingham contemptuously designated the attempted treaty; for it will be recollected that sir james croft, a personage of very mediocre abilities, had always been more busy than any other english politician in these transactions. he acted; however, on the inspiration of burghley, who drew his own from the fountainhead. but it was in vain for the queen to affect concealment. the states knew everything which was passing, before leicester knew. his own secret instructions reached the netherlands before he did. his secretary, junius, was thrown into prison, and his master's letter taken from him, before there had been any time to act upon its treacherous suggestions. when the earl wrote letters with, his own hand to his sovereign, of so secret a nature that he did not even retain a single copy for himself, for fear of discovery, he found, to his infinite disgust, that the states were at once provided with an authentic transcript of every line that he had written. it was therefore useless, almost puerile, to deny facts which were quite as much within the knowledge of the netherlanders as of himself. the worst consequence of the concealment was, that a deeper treachery was thought possible than actually existed. "the fellow they call barneveld," as leicester was in the habit of designating one of the first statesmen in europe, was perhaps justified, knowing what he did, in suspecting more. being furnished with a list of commissioners, already secretly agreed upon between the english and spanish governments, to treat for peace, while at the same time the earl was beating his breast, and flatly denying that there was any intention of treating with parma at all, it was not unnatural that he should imagine a still wider and deeper scheme than really existed, against the best interests of his country. he may have expressed, in private conversation, some suspicions of this nature, but there is direct evidence that he never stated in public anything which was not afterwards proved to be matter of fact, or of legitimate inference from the secret document which had come into his hands. the queen exhausted herself in opprobious language against those who dared to impute to her a design to obtain possession of the cities and strong places of the netherlands, in order to secure a position in which to compel the provinces into obedience to her policy. she urged, with much logic, that as she had refused the sovereignty of the whole country when offered to her, she was not likely to form surreptitious schemes to make herself mistress of a portion of it. on the other hand, it was very obvious, that to accept the sovereignty of philip's rebellious provinces, was to declare war upon philip; whereas, had she been pacifically inclined towards that sovereign, and treacherously disposed towards the netherlands, it would be a decided advantage to her to have those strong places in her power. but the suspicions as to her good faith were exaggerated. as to the intentions of leicester, the states were justified in their almost unlimited distrust. it is very certain that both in , and again, at this very moment, when elizabeth was most vehement in denouncing such aspersions on her government, he had unequivocally declared to her his intention of getting possession, if possible, of several cities, and of the whole island of walcheren, which, together with the cautionary towns already in his power, would enable the queen to make good terms for herself with spain, "if the worst came to the worst." it will also soon be shown that he did his best to carry these schemes into execution. there is no evidence, however, and no probability, that he had received the royal commands to perpetrate such a crime. the states believed also, that in those secret negotiations with parma the queen was disposed to sacrifice the religious interests of the netherlands. in this they were mistaken. but they had reason for their mistake, because the negotiator de loo, had expressly said, that, in her overtures to farnese, she had abandoned that point altogether. if this had been so, it would have simply been a consent on the part of elizabeth, that the catholic religion and the inquisition should be re-established in the provinces, to the exclusion of every other form of worship or polity. in truth, however, the position taken by her majesty on the subject was as fair as could be reasonably expected. certainly she was no advocate for religious liberty. she chose that her own subjects should be protestants, because she had chosen to be a protestant herself, and because it was an incident of her supremacy, to dictate uniformity of creed to all beneath her sceptre. no more than her father, who sent to the stake or gallows heretics to transubstantiation as well as believers in the pope, had elizabeth the faintest idea of religious freedom. heretics to the english church were persecuted, fined, imprisoned, mutilated, and murdered, by sword, rope, and fire. in some respects, the practice towards those who dissented from elizabeth was more immoral and illogical, even if less cruel, than that to which those were subjected who rebelled against sixtus. the act of uniformity required papists to assist at the protestant worship, but wealthy papists could obtain immunity by an enormous fine. the roman excuse to destroy bodies in order to save souls, could scarcely be alleged by a church which might be bribed into connivance at heresy, and which derived a revenue from the very nonconformity for which humbler victims were sent to the gallows. it would, however, be unjust in the extreme to overlook the enormous difference in the amount of persecution, exercised respectively by the protestant and the roman church. it is probable that not many more than two hundred catholics were executed as such, in elizabeth's reign, and this was ten score too many. but what was this against eight hundred heretics burned, hanged, and drowned, in one easter week by alva, against the eighteen thousand two hundred went to stake and scaffold, as he boasted during his administration, against the vast numbers of protestants, whether they be counted by tens or by hundreds of thousands, who perished by the edicts of charles v., in the netherlands, or in the single saint bartholomew massacre in france? moreover, it should never be forgotten--from undue anxiety for impartiality--that most of the catholics who were executed in england, suffered as conspirators rather than as heretics. no foreign potentate, claiming to be vicegerent of christ, had denounced philip as a bastard and, usurper, or had, by means of a blasphemous fiction, which then was a terrible reality, severed the bonds of allegiance by which his subjects were held, cut him off from all communion with his fellow-creatures, and promised temporal rewards and a crown of glory in heaven to those who should succeed in depriving him of throne and life. yet this was the position of elizabeth. it was war to the knife between her and rome, declared by rome itself; nor was there any doubt whatever that the seminary priests--seedlings transplanted from foreign nurseries, which were as watered gardens for the growth of treason--were a perpetually organized band of conspirators and assassins, with whom it was hardly an act of excessive barbarity to deal in somewhat summary fashion. doubtless it would have been a more lofty policy, and a far more intelligent one, to extend towards the catholics of england, who as a body were loyal to their country, an ample toleration. but it could scarcely be expected that elizabeth tudor, as imperious and absolute by temperament as her father had ever been, would be capable of embodying that great principle. when, in the preliminaries to the negotiations of , therefore, it was urged on the part of spain, that the queen was demanding a concession of religious liberty from philip to the netherlanders which she refused to english heretics, and that he only claimed the same right of dictating a creed to his subjects which she exercised in regard to her own, lord burghley replied that the statement was correct. the queen permitted--it was true--no man to profess any religion but the one which she professed. at the same time it was declared to be unjust, that those persons in the netherlands who had been for years in the habit of practising protestant rites, should be suddenly compelled, without instruction, to abandon that form of worship. it was well known that many would rather die than submit to such oppression, and it was affirmed that the exercise of this cruelty would be resisted by her to the uttermost. there was no hint of the propriety--on any logical basis--of leaving the question of creed as a matter between man and his maker, with which any dictation on the part of crown or state was an act of odious tyranny. there was not even a suggestion that the protestant doctrines were true, and the catholic doctrines false. the matter was merely taken up on the 'uti possidetis' principle, that they who had acquired the fact of protestant worship had a right to retain it, and could not justly be deprived of it, except by instruction and persuasion. it was also affirmed that it was not the english practice to inquire into men's consciences. it would have been difficult, however, to make that very clear to philip's comprehension, because, if men, women, and children, were scourged with rods, imprisoned and hanged, if they refused to conform publicly to a ceremony at which their consciences revolted-unless they had money enough to purchase non-conformity--it seemed to be the practice to inquire very effectively into their consciences. but if there was a certain degree of disingenuousness on the part of elizabeth towards the states, her attitude towards parma was one of perfect sincerity. a perusal of the secret correspondence leaves no doubt whatever on that point. she was seriously and fervently desirous of peace with spain. on the part of farnese and his master, there was the most unscrupulous mendacity, while the confiding simplicity and truthfulness of the queen in these negotiations was almost pathetic. especially she declared her trust in the loyal and upright character of parma, in which she was sure of never being disappointed. it is only doing justice to alexander to say that he was as much deceived by her frankness as she by his falsehood. it never entered his head that a royal personage and the trusted counsellors of a great kingdom could be telling the truth in a secret international transaction, and he justified the industry with which his master and himself piled fiction upon fiction, by their utter disbelief in every word which came to them from england. the private negotiations had been commenced, or rather had been renewed, very early in february of this year. during the whole critical period which preceded and followed the execution of mary, in the course of which the language of elizabeth towards the states had been so shrewish, there had been the gentlest diplomatic cooing between farnese and herself. it was--dear cousin, you know how truly i confide in your sincerity, how anxious i am that this most desirable peace should be arranged; and it was--sacred majesty, you know how much joy i feel in your desire for the repose of the world, and for a solid peace between your highness and the king my master; how much i delight in concord--how incapable i am by ambiguous words of spinning out these transactions, or of deceiving your majesty, and what a hatred i feel for steel, fire, and blood.' four or five months rolled on, during which leicester had been wasting time in england, farnese wasting none before sluys, and the states doing their best to counteract the schemes both of their enemy and of their ally. de loo made a visit, in july, to the camp of the duke of parma, and received the warmest assurances of his pacific dispositions. "i am much pained," said alexander, "with this procrastination. i am so full of sincerity myself, that it seems to me a very strange matter, this hostile descent by drake upon the coasts of spain. the result of such courses will be, that the king will end by being exasperated, and i shall be touched in my honour--so great is the hopes i have held out of being able to secure a peace. i have ever been and i still am most anxious for concord, from the affection i bear to her sacred majesty. i have been obliged, much against my will, to take the field again. i could wish now that our negotiations might terminate before the arrival of my fresh troops, namely, spaniards and italians, which, with walloons, germans, and lorrainers, will give me an effective total of , soldiers. of this i give you my word as a gentleman. go, then, andrew de loo," continued the duke, "write to her sacred majesty, that i desire to make peace; and to serve her faithfully; and that i shall not change my mind, even in case of any great success, for i like to proceed rather by the ways of love than of rigour and effusion of bleed." "i can assure you, oh, most serene duke," replied andrew, "that the most serene queen is in the very same dispositions with yourself." "excellent well then," said the duke, "we shall come to an agreement at once, and the sooner the deputies on both sides are appointed the better." a feeble proposition was then made, on the part of the peace-loving andrew, that the hostile operations against sluy's should be at once terminated. but this did not seem so clear to the most serene duke. he had gone to great expense in that business; and he had not built bridges, erected forts, and dug mines, only to abandon them for a few fine words, fine words were plenty, but they raised no sieges. meantime these pacific and gentle murmurings from farnese's camp had lulled the queen into forgetfulness of roger williams and arnold groenevelt and their men, fighting day and night in trench and mine during that critical midsummer. the wily tongue of the duke had been more effective than his batteries in obtaining the much-coveted city. the queen obstinately held back her men and money, confident of effecting a treaty, whether sluys fell or not. was it strange that the states should be distrustful of her intentions, and, in their turn, become neglectful of their duty? and thus summer wore into autumn, sluys fell, the states and their governor-general were at daggers-drawn, the netherlanders were full of distrust with regard to england, alexander hinted doubts as to the queen's sincerity; the secret negotiations, though fertile in suspicions, jealousies, delays, and such foul weeds, had produced no wholesome fruit, and the excellent de loo became very much depressed. at last a letter from burghley relieved his drooping spirits. from the most disturbed and melancholy man in the world, he protested, he had now become merry and quiet. he straightway went off to the duke of parma, with the letter in his pocket, and translated it to him by candlelight, as he was careful to state, as an important point in his narrative. and farnese was fuller of fine phrases than ever. "there is no cause whatever," said he, in a most loving manner, "to doubt my sincerity. yet the lord-treasurer intimates that the most serene queen is disposed so to do. but if i had not the very best intentions, and desires for peace, i should never have made the first overtures. if i did not wish a pacific solution, what in the world forced me to do what i have done? on the contrary, it is i that have reason to suspect the other parties with their long delays, by which they have made me lose the best part of the summer." he then commented on the strong expressions in the english letters, as to the continuance of her majesty in her pious resolutions; observed that he was thoroughly advised of the disputes between the earl of leicester and the states; and added that it was very important for the time indicated by the queen. "whatever is to be done," said he, in conclusion, "let it be done quickly;" and with that he said he would go and eat a bit of supper. "and may i communicate lord burghley's letter to any one else?" asked de loo. "yes, yes, to the seigneur de champagny, and to my secretary cosimo," answered his highness. so the merchant negotiator proceeded at once to the mansion of champagny, in company with the secretary cosimo. there was a long conference, in which de loo was informed of many things which he thoroughly believed, and faithfully transmitted to the court of elizabeth. alexander had done his best, they said, to delay the arrival of his fresh troops. he had withdrawn from the field, on various pretexts, hoping, day after day, that the english commissioners would arrive, and that a firm and perpetual peace would succeed to the miseries of war. but as time wore away, and there came no commissioners, the duke had come to the painful conclusion that he had been trifled with. his forces would now be sent into holland to find something to eat; and this would ensure the total destruction of all that territory. he had also written to command all the officers of the coming troops to hasten their march, in order that he might avoid incurring still deeper censure. he was much ashamed, in truth, to have been wheedled into passing the whole fine season in idleness. he had been sacrificing himself for her sacred majesty, and to, serve her best interests; and now he found himself the object of her mirth. those who ought to be well informed had assured him that the queen was only waiting to see how the king of navarre was getting on with the auxiliary force just, going to him from germany, that she had no intention whatever to make peace, and that, before long, he might expect all these german mercenaries upon his shoulders in the netherlands. nevertheless he was prepared to receive them with , good infantry, a splendid cavalry force, and plenty of money.' all this and more did the credulous andrew greedily devour; and he lost no time in communicating the important intelligence to her majesty and the lord-treasurer. he implored her, he said, upon his bare knees, prostrate on the ground, and from the most profound and veritable centre of his heart and with all his soul and all his strength, to believe in the truth of the matters thus confided to him. he would pledge his immortal soul, which was of more value to him--as he correctly observed--than even the crown of spain, that the king, the duke, and his counsellors, were most sincerely desirous of peace, and actuated by the most loving and benevolent motives. alexander farnese was "the antidote to the duke of alva," kindly sent by heaven, 'ut contraria contrariis curenter,' and if the entire security of the sacred queen were not now obtained, together with a perfect reintegration of love between her majesty and the king of spain, and with the assured tranquillity and perpetual prosperity of the netherlands, it would be the fault of england; not of spain. and no doubt the merchant believed all that was told him, and--what was worse--that he fully impressed his own convictions upon her majesty and lord burghley, to say nothing of the comptroller, who, poor man, had great facility in believing anything that came from the court of the most catholic king: yet it is painful to reflect, that in all these communications of alexander and his agents, there was not one single word of truth.--it was all false from beginning to end, as to the countermanding of the troops,--as to the pacific intentions of the king and duke, and as to the proposed campaign in friesland, in case of rupture; and all the rest. but this will be conclusively proved a little later. meantime the conference had been most amicable and satisfactory. and when business was over, champagny--not a whit the worse for the severe jilting which he had so recently sustained from the widow de bours, now mrs. aristotle patton--invited de loo and secretary cosimo to supper. and the three made a night of it, sitting up late, and draining such huge bumpers to the health of the queen of england, that--as the excellent andrew subsequently informed lord burghley--his head ached most bravely next morning. and so, amid the din of hostile preparation not only in cadiz and lisbon, but in ghent and sluys and antwerp, the import of which it seemed difficult to mistake, the comedy of, negotiation was still rehearsing, and the principal actors were already familiar with their respective parts. there were the earl of derby, knight of the garter, and my lord cobham; and puzzling james croft, and other englishmen, actually believing that the farce was a solemn reality. there was alexander of parma thoroughly aware of the contrary. there was andrew de loo, more talkative, more credulous, more busy than ever, and more fully impressed with the importance of his mission, and there was the white-bearded lord-treasurer turning complicated paragraphs; shaking his head and waving his wand across the water, as if, by such expedients, the storm about to burst over england could, be dispersed. the commissioners should come, if only the duke of parma would declare on his word of honour, that these hostile preparations with which all christendom was ringing; were not intended against england; or if that really were the case--if he would request his master to abandon all such schemes, and if philip in consequence would promise on the honour of a prince, to make no hostile attempts against that country. there would really seem an almost arcadian simplicity in such demands, coming from so practised a statesman as the lord-treasurer, and from a woman of such brilliant intellect as elizabeth unquestionably possessed. but we read the history of , not only by the light of subsequent events, but by the almost microscopic revelations of sentiments and motives, which a full perusal of the secret documents in those ancient cabinets afford. at that moment it was not ignorance nor dulness which was leading england towards the pitfall so artfully dug by spain. there was trust in the plighted word of a chivalrous soldier like alexander farnese, of a most religious and anointed monarch like philip ii. english frankness, playing cards upon the table, was no match for italian and spanish legerdemain, a system according to which, to defraud the antagonist by every kind of falsehood and trickery was the legitimate end of diplomacy and statesmanship. it was well known that there were great preparations in spain, portugal, and the obedient netherlands, by land and sea. but sir robert sidney was persuaded that the expedition was intended for africa; even the pope was completely mystified--to the intense delight of philip--and burghley, enlightened by the sagacious de loo, was convinced, that even in case of a rupture, the whole strength of the spanish arms was to be exerted in reducing friesland and overyssel. but walsingham was never deceived; for he had learned from demosthenes a lesson with which william the silent, in his famous apology, had made the world familiar, that the only citadel against a tyrant and a conqueror was distrust. alexander, much grieved that doubts should still be felt as to his sincerity, renewed the most exuberant expressions of that sentiment, together with gentle complaints against the dilatoriness which had proceeded from the doubt. her majesty had long been aware, he said, of his anxiety to bring about a perfect reconciliation; but he had waited, month after month, for her commissioners, and had waited in vain. his hopes had been dashed to the ground. the affair had been indefinitely spun out, and he could not resist the conviction that her majesty had changed her mind. nevertheless, as andrew de loo was again proceeding to england, the duke seized the opportunity once more to kiss her hand, and--although he had well nigh resolved to think no more on the subject--to renew his declarations, that, if the much-coveted peace were not concluded, the blame could not be imputed to him, and that he should stand guiltless before god and the world. he had done, and was still ready to do, all which became a christian and a man desirous of the public welfare and tranquillity. when burghley read these fine phrases, he was much impressed; and they were pronounced at the english court to be "very princely and christianly." an elaborate comment too was drawn up by the comptroller on every line of the letter. "these be very good words," said the comptroller. but the queen was even more pleased with the last proof of the duke's sincerity, than even burghley and croft had been. disregarding all the warnings of walsingham, she renewed her expressions of boundless confidence in the wily italian. "we do assure you," wrote the lords, "and so you shall do well to avow it to the duke upon our honours, that her majesty saith she thinketh both their minds to accord upon one good and christian meaning, though their ministers may perchance sound upon a discord." and she repeated her resolution to send over her commissioners, so soon as the duke had satisfied her as to the hostile preparations. we have now seen the good faith of the english queen towards the spanish government. we have seen her boundless trust in the sincerity of farnese and his master. we have heard the exuberant professions of an honest intention to bring about a firm and lasting peace, which fell from the lips of farnese and of his confidential agents. it is now necessary to glide for a moment into the secret cabinet of philip, in order to satisfy ourselves as to the value of all those professions. the attention of the reader is solicited to these investigations, because the year was a most critical period in the history of english, dutch, and european liberty. the coming year had been long spoken of in prophecy, as the year of doom, perhaps of the destruction of the world, but it was in , the year of expectation and preparation, that the materials were slowly combining out of which that year's history was to be formed. and there sat the patient letter-writer in his cabinet, busy with his schemes. his grey head was whitening fast. he was sixty years of age. his frame was slight, his figure stooping, his digestion very weak, his manner more glacial and sepulchral than ever; but if there were a hard-working man in europe, that man was philip ii. and there he sat at his table, scrawling his apostilles. the fine innumerable threads which stretched across the surface of christendom, and covered it as with a net, all converged in that silent cheerless cell. france was kept in a state of perpetual civil war; the netherlands had been converted into a shambles; ireland was maintained in a state of chronic rebellion; scotland was torn with internal feuds, regularly organized and paid for by philip; and its young monarch--"that lying king of scots," as leicester called him--was kept in a leash ready to be slipped upon england, when his master should give the word; and england herself was palpitating with the daily expectation of seeing a disciplined horde of brigands let loose upon her shores; and all this misery, past, present, and future, was almost wholly due to the exertions of that grey-haired letter-writer at his peaceful library-table. at the very beginning of the year the king of denmark had made an offer to philip of mediation. the letter, entrusted to a young count de rantzan, had been intercepted by the states--the envoy not having availed himself, in time, of his diplomatic capacity, and having in consequence been treated, for a moment, like a prisoner of war. the states had immediately addressed earnest letters of protest to queen elizabeth, declaring that nothing which the enemy could do in war was half so horrible to them as the mere mention of peace. life, honour, religion, liberty, their all, were at stake, they said, and would go down in one universal shipwreck, if peace should be concluded; and they implored her majesty to avert the proposed intercession of the danish king. wilkes wrote to walsingham denouncing that monarch and his ministers as stipendiaries of spain, while, on the other hand, the duke of parma, after courteously thanking the king for his offer of mediation, described him to philip as such a dogged heretic, that no good was to be derived from him, except by meeting his fraudulent offers with an equally fraudulent response. there will be nothing lost, said alexander, by affecting to listen to his proposals, and meantime your majesty must proceed with the preparations against england. this was in the first week of the year . in february, and almost on the very day when parma was writing those affectionate letters to elizabeth, breathing nothing but peace, he was carefully conning philip's directions in regard to the all-important business of the invasion. he was informed by his master, that one hundred vessels, forty of them of largest size, were quite ready, together with , spanish infantry, including of the old legion, and that there were volunteers more than enough. philip had also taken note, he said, of alexander's advice as to choosing the season when the crops in england had just been got in, as the harvest of so fertile a country would easily support an invading force; but he advised nevertheless that the army should be thoroughly victualled at starting. finding that alexander did not quite approve of the irish part of the plan, he would reconsider the point, and think more of the isle of wight; but perhaps still some other place might be discovered, a descent upon which might inspire that enemy with still greater terror and confusion. it would be difficult for him, he said, to grant the men asked for by the scotch malcontents, without seriously weakening his armada; but there must be no positive refusal, for a concerted action with the scotch lords and their adherents was indispensable. the secret, said the king, had been profoundly kept, and neither in spain nor in rome had anything been allowed to transpire. alexander was warned therefore to do his best to maintain the mystery, for the enemy was trying very hard to penetrate their actions and their thoughts. and certainly alexander did his best. he replied to his master, by transmitting copies of the letters he had been writing with his own hand to the queen, and of the pacific messages he had sent her through champagny and de loo. she is just now somewhat confused, said he, and those of her counsellors who desire peace, are more eager, than ever for negotiation. she is very much afflicted with the loss of deventer, and is quarrelling with the french ambassador about the new conspiracy for her assassination. the opportunity is a good one, and if she writes an answer to my letter, said alexander, we can keep the negotiation, alive, while, if she does not, 'twill be a proof that she has contracted leagues with other parties. but, in any event, the duke fervently implored philip not to pause in his preparations for the great enterprise which he had conceived in his royal breast. so urgent for the invasion was the peace-loving general. he alluded also to the supposition that the quarrel between her majesty and the french envoy was a mere fetch, and only one of the results of bellievre's mission. whether that diplomatist had been sent to censure, or in reality to approve, in the name of his master, of the scottish queen's execution, alexander would leave to be discussed by don bernardino de mendoza, the spanish ambassador in paris; but he was of opinion that the anger of the queen with france was a fiction, and her supposed league with france and germany against spain a fact. upon this point, as it appears from secretary walsingham's lamentations, the astute farnese was mistaken. in truth he was frequently, led into error to the english policy the same serpentine movement and venomous purpose which characterized his own; and we have already seen; that elizabeth was ready, on the contrary, to quarrel with the states, with france, with all the world, if she could only secure the good-will of philip. the french-matter, indissolubly connected in that monarch's schemes, with his designs upon england and holland, was causing alexander much anxiety. he foresaw great difficulty in maintaining that, indispensable civil war in france, and thought that a peace might, some fine day, be declared between henry iii. and the huguenots, when least expected. in consequence, the duke of guise was becoming very importunate for philip's subsidies. "mucio comes begging to me," said parma, "with the very greatest earnestness, and utters nothing but lamentations and cries of misery. he asked for , of the , ducats promised him. i gave them. soon afterwards he writes, with just as much anxiety, for , more. these i did not give; firstly, because i had them not," (which would seem a sufficient reason) "and secondly, because i wished to protract matters as much as possible. he is constantly reminding me of your majesty's promise of , ducats, in case he comes to a rupture with the king of france, and i always assure him that your majesty will keep all promises." philip, on his part, through the months of spring, continued to assure his generalissimo of his steady preparations--by sea and land. he had ordered mendoza to pay the scotch lords the sum demanded by them, but not till after they had done the deed as agreed upon; and as to the men, he felt obliged, he said, to defer that matter for the moment; and to leave the decision upon it to the duke. farnese kept his sovereign minutely informed of the negociations carried on through champagny and de loo, and expressed his constant opinion that the queen was influenced by motives as hypocritical as his own. she was only seeking, he said, to deceive, to defraud, to put him to sleep, by those feigned negotiations, while, she was making her combinations with france and germany, for the ruin of spain. there was no virtue to be expected from her, except she was compelled thereto by pure necessity. the english, he said, were hated and abhorred by the natives of holland and zeeland, and it behoved philip to seize so favourable an opportunity for urging on his great plan with all the speed in the world. it might be that the queen, seeing these mighty preparations, even although not suspecting that she herself was to be invaded, would tremble for her safety, if the netherlands should be crushed. but if she succeeded in deceiving spain, and putting philip and parma to sleep, she might well boast of having made fools of them all. the negotiations for peace and the preparations for the invasion should go simultaneously forward therefore, and the money would, in consequence, come more sparingly to the provinces from the english coffers, and the disputes between england and the states would be multiplied. the duke also begged to be informed whether any terms could be laid down, upon which the king really would conclude peace; in order that he might make no mistake for want of instructions or requisite powers. the condition of france was becoming more alarming every day, he said. in other words, there was an ever-growing chance of peace for that distracted country. the queen of england was cementing a strong league between herself, the french king, and the huguenots; and matters were looking very serious. the impending peace in france would never do, and philip should prevent it in time, by giving mucio his money. unless the french are entangled and at war among themselves, it is quite clear, said alexander, that we can never think of carrying out our great scheme of invading england. the king thoroughly concurred in all that was said and done by his faithful governor and general. he had no intention of concluding a peace on any terms whatever, and therefore could name no conditions; but he quite approved of a continuance of the negotiations. the english, he was convinced, were utterly false on their part, and the king of denmark's proposition to-mediate was part and parcel of the same general fiction. he was quite sensible of the necessity of giving mucio the money to prevent a pacification in france, and would send letters of exchange on agostino spinola for the , ducats. meantime farnese was to go on steadily with his preparations for the invasion. the secretary-of-state, don juan de idiaquez, also wrote most earnestly on the great subject to the duke. "it is not to be exaggerated", he said, "how set his majesty is in the all-important business. if you wish to manifest towards him the most flattering obedience on earth, and to oblige him as much as you could wish, give him this great satisfaction this year. since you have money, prepare everything out there, conquer all difficulties, and do the deed so soon as the forces of spain and italy arrive, according to the plan laid down by your excellency last year. make use of the negotiations for peace for this one purpose, and no more, and do the business like the man you are. attribute the liberty of this advice to my desire to serve you more than any other, to my knowledge of how much you will thereby gratify his majesty, and to my fear of his resentment towards you, in the contrary case." and, on the same day, in order that there might be no doubt of the royal sentiments, philip expressed himself at length on the whole subject. the dealings of farnese with the english, and his feeding them with hopes of peace, would have given him more satisfaction, he observed, if it had caused their preparations to slacken; but, on the contrary, their boldness had increased. they had perpetrated the inhuman murder of the queen of scots, and moreover, not content with their piracies at sea and in the indies, they had dared to invade the ports of spain, as would appear in the narrative transmitted to farnese of the late events at cadiz. and although that damage was small, said philip; there resulted a very great obligation to take them 'seriously in hand.' he declined sending fill powers for treating; but in order to make use of the same arts employed by the english, he preferred that alexander should not undeceive them, but desired him to express, as out of his own head; to the negotiators, his astonishment that while they were holding such language they should commit such actions. even their want of prudence in thus provoking the king; when their strength was compared to his, should be spoken of by farnese as--wonderful, and he was to express the opinion that his majesty would think him much wanting in circumspection, should he go on negotiating while they were playing such tricks. "you must show yourself very sensitive, about this event," continued philip, "and you must give them to understand that i am quite as angry as you. you must try to draw from them some offer of satisfaction--however false it will be in reality--such as a proposal to recall the fleet, or an assertion that the deeds of drake in cadiz were without the knowledge and contrary to the will of the queen, and that she very much regrets them, or something of that sort." it has already been shown that farnese was very successful in eliciting from the queen, through the mouth of lord' burghley, as ample a disavowal and repudiation of sir francis drake as the king could possibly desire. whether it would have the desired effect--of allaying the wrath of philip; might have been better foretold, could the letter, with which we are now occupied, have been laid upon the greenwich council-board. "when you have got, such a disavowal," continued his majesty, "you are to act as if entirely taken in and imposed upon by them, and, pretending to believe everything they tell you, you must renew the negotiations, proceed to name commissioners, and propose a meeting upon neutral territory. as for powers; say that you, as my governor-general, will entrust them to your deputies, in regard to the netherlands. for all other matters, say that you have had full powers for many months, but that you cannot exhibit them until conditions worthy of my acceptance have been offered.--say this only for the sake of appearance. this is the true way to take them in, and so the peace-commissioners may meet. but to you only do i declare that my intention is that this shall never lead to any result, whatever conditions maybe offered by them. on the contrary, all this is done--just as they do--to deceive them, and to cool them in their preparations for defence, by inducing them to believe that such preparations will be unnecessary. you are well aware that the reverse of all this is the truth, and that on our part there is to be no slackness, but the greatest diligence in our efforts for the invasion of england, for which we have already made the most abundant provision in men, ships, and money, of which you are well aware." is it strange that the queen of england was deceived? is it matter of surprise, censure, or shame, that no english statesman was astute enough or base enough to contend with such diplomacy, which seemed inspired only by the very father of lies? "although we thus enter into negotiations," continued the king--unveiling himself, with a solemn indecency, not agreeable to contemplate--"without any intention of concluding them, you can always get out of them with great honour, by taking umbrage about the point of religion and about some other of the outrageous propositions which they are like to propose, and of which there are plenty, in the letters of andrew de loo. your commissioners must be instructed; to refer all important matters to your personal decision. the english will be asking for damages for money, spent in assisting my rebels; your commissioners will contend that damages are rather due to me. thus, and in other ways, time will be agent. your own envoys are not to know the secret any more than the english themselves. i tell it to you only. thus you will proceed with the negotiations, now, yielding on one point, and now insisting on another, but directing all to the same object--to gain time while proceeding with the preparation for the invasion, according to the plan already agreed upon." certainly the most catholic king seemed, in this remarkable letter to have outdone himself; and farnese--that sincere farnese, in whose loyal, truth-telling, chivalrous character, the queen and her counsellors placed such implicit reliance--could thenceforward no longer be embarrassed as to the course he was to adopt. to lie daily, through, thick, and thin, and with every variety of circumstance and detail which; a genius fertile in fiction could suggest, such was the simple rule prescribed by his sovereign. and the rule was implicitly obeyed, and the english sovereign thoroughly deceived. the secret confided only, to the faithful breast of alexander was religiously kept. even the pope was outwitted. his holiness proposed to, philip the invasion of england, and offered a million to further the plan. he was most desirous to be informed if the project was, resolved upon, and, if so, when it was to be accomplished. the king took the pope's million, but refused the desired information. he answered evasively. he had a very good will to invade the country, he said, but there were great difficulties in the way. after a time, the pope again tried to pry into the matter, and again offered the million which philip had only accepted for the time when it might be wanted; giving him at the same time, to understand that it was not necessary at that time, because there were then great impediments. "thus he is pledged to give me the subsidy, and i am not pledged for the time," said philip, "and i keep my secret, which is the most important of all." yet after all, farnese did not see his way clear towards the consummation of the plan. his army had wofully dwindled, and before he could seriously set about ulterior matters, it would be necessary to take the city of sluys. this was to prove--as already seen--a most arduous enterprise. he complained to philip' of his inadequate supplies both in men and money. the project conceived in the royal breast was worth spending millions for, he said, and although by zeal and devotion he could accomplish something, yet after all he was no more than a man, and without the necessary means the scheme could not succeed. but philip, on the contrary, was in the highest possible spirits. he had collected more money, he declared than had ever been seen before in the world. he had two million ducats in reserve, besides the pope's million; the french were in a most excellent state of division, and the invasion should be made this year without fail. the fleet would arrive in the english channel by the end of the summer; which would be exactly in conformity with alexander's ideas. the invasion was to be threefold: from scotland, under the scotch earls and their followers, with the money and troops furnished by philip; from the netherlands, under parma; and by the great spanish armada itself, upon the isle of wight. alexander must recommend himself to god, in whose cause he was acting, and then do his duty; which lay very plain before him. if he ever wished to give his sovereign satisfaction in his life; he was to do the deed that year, whatever might betide. never could there be so fortunate a conjunction of circumstances again. france was in a state of revolution, the german levies were weak, the turk was fully occupied in persia, an enormous mass of money, over and above the pope's million, had been got together, and although the season was somewhat advanced, it was certain that the duke would conquer all impediments, and be the instrument by which his royal master might render to god that service which he was so anxious to perform. enthusiastic, though gouty, philip grasped the pen in order to scrawl a few words with his own royal hand. "this business is of such importance," he said, "and it is so necessary that it should not be delayed, that i cannot refrain from urging it upon you as much as i can. i should do it even more amply; if this hand would allow me, which has been crippled with gout these several days, and my feet as well, and although it is unattended with pain, yet it is an impediment to writing." struggling thus against his own difficulties, and triumphantly, accomplishing a whole paragraph with disabled hand, it was natural that the king should expect alexander, then deep in the siege of sluy's, to vanquish all his obstacles as successfully; and to effect the conquest of england so soon as the harvests of that kingdom should be garnered. sluy's was surrendered at last, and the great enterprise seemed opening from hour to hour. during the months of autumn; upon the very days when those loving messages, mixed with gentle reproaches, were sent by alexander to elizabeth, and almost at the self-same hours in which honest andrew de loo was getting such head-aches by drinking the queen's health with cosimo, and champagny, the duke and philip were interchanging detailed information as to the progress of the invasion. the king calculated that by the middle of september alexander would have , men in the netherlands ready for embarcation.--marquis santa cruz was announced as nearly ready to, sail for the english channel with , more, among whom were to be , seasoned spanish infantry. the marquis was then to extend the hand to parma, and protect that passage to england which the duke was at once to effect. the danger might be great for so large a fleet to navigate the seas at so late a season of the year; but philip was sure that god, whose cause it was, would be pleased to give good weather. the duke was to send, with infinite precautions of secrecy, information which the marquis would expect off ushant, and be quite ready to act so soon as santa cruz should arrive. most earnestly and anxiously did the king deprecate any, thought of deferring the expedition to another year. if delayed, the obstacles of the following summer--a peace in france, a peace between the turk and persia, and other contingencies--would cause the whole project to fail, and philip declared, with much iteration, that money; reputation, honour, his own character and that of farnese, and god's service, were all at stake. he was impatient at suggestions of difficulties occasionally, ventured by the duke, who was reminded that he had been appointed chief of the great enterprise by the spontaneous choice of his master, and that all his plans had been minutely followed. "you are the author of the whole scheme," said philip, "and if it, is all to vanish into space, what kind of a figure shall we cut the coming year?" again and again he referred to the immense sum collected--such as never before had been seen since the world was made-- , , ducats with , , in reserve, of which he was authorized to draw for , in advance, to say nothing of the pope's million. but alexander, while straining every nerve to obey his master's wishes about the invasion, and to blind the english by the fictitious negotiations, was not so sanguine as his sovereign. in truth, there was something puerile in the eagerness which philip manifested. he had made up his mind that england was to be conquered that autumn, and had endeavoured--as well as he could--to comprehend, the plans which his illustrious general had laid down for accomplishing that purpose. of, course; to any man of average intellect, or, in truth, to any man outside a madhouse; it would seem an essential part of the conquest that the armada should arrive. yet--wonderful to relate-philip, in his impatience, absolutely suggested that the duke might take possession of england without waiting for santa cruz and his armada. as the autumn had been wearing away, and there had been unavoidable delays about the shipping in spanish ports, the king thought it best not to defer matters till, the winter. "you are, doubtless, ready," he said to farnese. "if you think you can make the passage to england before the fleet from spain arrives, go at once. you maybe sure that it will come ere long to support, you. but if, you prefer, to wait, wait. the dangers of winter, to the fleet and to your own person are to be regretted; but god, whose cause it is; will protect you." it was, easy to sit quite out of harm's way, and to make such excellent, arrangements for smooth weather in the wintry channel, and for the conquest of a maritime and martial kingdom by a few flat bottoms. philip had little difficulty on that score, but the affairs of france were not quite to his mind. the battle of coutras, and the entrance of the german and swiss mercenaries into that country, were somewhat perplexing. either those auxiliaries of the huguenots would be defeated, or they would be victorious, or both parties would come to an agreement. in the first event, the duke, after sending a little assistance to mucio, was to effect his passage to england at once. in the second case, those troops, even though successful, would doubtless be so much disorganized that it might be still safe for farnese to go on. in the third contingency--that of an accord--it would be necessary for him to wait till the foreign troops had disbanded and left france. he was to maintain all his forces in perfect readiness, on pretext of the threatening aspect of french matters and, so soon as the swiss and germane were dispersed, he was to proceed to business without delay. the fleet would be ready in spain in all november, but as sea-affairs were so doubtful, particularly in winter, and as the armada could not reach the channel till mid-winter; the duke was not to wait for its arrival. "whenever you see a favourable opportunity," said philip, "you must take care not to lose it, even if the fleet has not made its appearance. for you may be sure that it will soon come to give you assistance, in one way or another." farnese had also been strictly enjoined to deal gently with the english, after the conquest, so that they would have cause to love their new master. his troops were not to forget discipline after victory. there was to be no pillage or rapine. the catholics were to be handsomely rewarded and all the inhabitants were to be treated with so much indulgence that, instead of abhorring parma and his soldiers, they would conceive a strong affection for them all, as the source of so many benefits. again the duke was warmly commended for the skill with which he had handled the peace negotiation. it was quite right to appoint commissioners, but it was never for an instant to be forgotten that the sole object of treating was to take the english unawares. "and therefore do you guide them to this end," said the king with pious unction, "which is what you owe to god, in whose service i have engaged in this enterprise, and to whom i have dedicated the whole." the king of france, too--that unfortunate henry iii., against whose throne and life philip maintained in constant pay an organized band of conspirators--was affectionately adjured, through the spanish envoy in paris, mendoza,--to reflect upon the advantages to france of a catholic king and kingdom of england, in place of the heretics now in power. but philip, growing more and more sanguine, as those visions of fresh crowns and conquered kingdoms rose before him in his solitary cell, had even persuaded himself that the deed was already done. in the early days of december, he expressed a doubt whether his th november letter had reached the duke, who by that time was probably in england. one would have thought the king addressing a tourist just starting on a little pleasure-excursion. and this was precisely the moment when alexander had been writing those affectionate phrases to the queen which had been considered by the counsellors at greenwich so "princely and christianly," and which croft had pronounced such "very good words." if there had been no hostile, fleet to prevent, it was to be hoped, said philip, that, in the name of god, the passage had been made. "once landed there," continued the king, "i am persuaded that you will give me a good account of yourself, and, with the help of our lord, that you will do that service which i desire to render to him, and that he will guide our cause, which is his own, and of such great importance to his church." a part of the fleet would soon after arrive and bring six thousand spaniards, the pope's million, and other good things, which might prove useful to parma, presupposing that they would find him established on the enemy's territory. this conviction that the enterprise had been already accomplished grew stronger in the king's breast every day. he was only a little disturbed lest farnese should have misunderstood that th november letter. philip--as his wont was--had gone into so many petty and puzzling details, and had laid down rules of action suitable for various contingencies, so easy to put comfortably upon paper, but which might become perplexing in action, that it was no wonder he should be a little anxious. the third contingency suggested by him had really occurred. there had been a composition between the foreign mercenaries and the french king. nevertheless they had also been once or twice defeated, and this was contingency number two. now which of the events would the duke consider as having really occurred. it was to be hoped that he would have not seen cause for delay, for in truth number three was not exactly the contingency which existed. france was still in a very satisfactory state of discord and rebellion. the civil war was by no means over. there was small fear of peace that winter. give mucio his pittance with frugal hand, and that dangerous personage would ensure tranquillity for philip's project, and misery for henry iii. and his subjects for an indefinite period longer. the king thought it improbable that farnese could have made any mistake. he expressed therefore a little anxiety at having received no intelligence from him, but had great confidence that, with the aid of the lord and of with his own courage he had accomplished the great exploit. philip had only, recommended delay in event of a general peace in france--huguenots, royalists, leaguers, and all. this had not happened. "therefore, i trust," said the king; "that you--perceiving that this is not contingency number three which was to justify a pause--will have already executed the enterprise, and fulfilled my desire. i am confident that the deed is done, and that god has blessed it, and i am now expecting the news from hour to hour." but alexander had not yet arrived in england. the preliminaries for the conquest caused him more perplexity than the whole enterprise occasioned to philip. he was very short of funds. the five millions were not to be touched, except for the expenses of the invasion. but as england was to be subjugated, in order that rebellious holland might be recovered, it was hardly reasonable to go away leaving such inadequate forces in the netherlands as to ensure not only independence to the new republic, but to hold out temptation for revolt to the obedient provinces. yet this was the dilemma in which the duke was placed. so much money had been set aside for the grand project that there was scarcely anything for the regular military business. the customary supplies had not been sent. parma had leave to draw for six hundred thousand ducats, and he was able to get that draft discounted on the antwerp exchange by consenting to receive five hundred thousand, or sacrificing sixteen per cent. of the sum. a good number of transports, and scows had been collected, but there had been a deficiency of money for their proper equipment, as the five millions had been very slow in coming, and were still upon the road. the whole enterprise was on the point of being sacrificed, according to farnese, for want of funds. the time for doing the deed had arrived, and he declared himself incapacitated by poverty. he expressed his disgust and resentment in language more energetic than courtly; and protested that he was not to blame. "i always thought," said he bitterly, "that your majesty would provide all that was necessary even in superfluity, and not limit me beneath the ordinary. i did not suppose, when it was most important to have ready money, that i should be kept short, and not allowed to draw certain sums by anticipation, which i should have done had you not forbidden." this was, through life, a striking characteristic of philip. enormous schemes were laid out with utterly inadequate provision for their accomplishment, and a confident expectation entertained that wild, visions were; in some indefinite way, to be converted into substantial realities, without fatigue or personal exertion on his part, and with a very trifling outlay of ready money. meantime the faithful farnese did his best. he was indefatigable night and day in getting his boats together and providing his munitions of war. he dug a canal from sas de gand--which was one of his principal depots--all the way to sluys, because the water-communication between those two points was entirely in the hands of the hollanders and zeelanders. the rebel cruisers swarmed in the scheldt, from, flushing almost to antwerp, so that it was quite impossible for parma's forces to venture forth at all; and it also seemed hopeless to hazard putting to sea from sluys. at the same, time he had appointed his, commissioners to treat with the english envoys already named by the queen. there had been much delay in the arrival of those deputies, on account of the noise raised by barneveld and his followers; but burghley was now sanguine that the exposure of what he called the advocate's seditious, false, and perverse proceedings, would enable leicester to procure the consent of the states to a universal peace. and thus, with these parallel schemes of invasion and negotiation, spring; summer, and autumn, had worn away. santa cruz was still with his fleet in lisbon, cadiz, and the azores; and parma was in brussels, when philip fondly imagined him established in greenwich palace. when made aware of his master's preposterous expectations, alexander would have been perhaps amused, had he not been half beside himself with indignation. such folly seemed incredible. there was not the slightest appearance of a possibility of making a passage without the protection of the spanish fleet, he observed. his vessels were mere transport-boats, without the least power of resisting an enemy. the hollanders and zeelanders, with one hundred and forty cruisers, had shut him up in all directions. he could neither get out from antwerp nor from sluys. there were large english ships, too, cruising in the channel, and they were getting ready in the netherlands and in england "most furiously." the delays had been so great, that their secret had been poorly kept, and the enemy was on his guard. if santa cruz had come, alexander declared that he should have already been in england. when he did come he should still be prepared to make the passage; but to talk of such an attempt without the armada was senseless, and he denounced the madness of that proposition to his majesty in vehement and unmeasured terms. his army, by sickness and other causes, had been reduced to one-half the number considered necessary for the invasion, and the rebels had established regular squadrons in the scheldt, in the very teeth of the forts, at lillo, liefkenshoek, saftingen, and other points close to antwerp. there were so many of these war-vessels, and all in such excellent order, that they were a most notable embarrassment to him, he observed, and his own flotilla would run great risk of being utterly destroyed. alexander had been personally superintending matters at sluys, ghent, and antwerp, and had strengthened with artillery the canal which he had constructed between sas and sluys. meantime his fresh troops had been slowly arriving, but much sickness prevailed among them. the italians were dying fast, almost all the spaniards were in hospital, and the others were so crippled and worn out that it was most pitiable to behold them; yet it was absolutely necessary that those who were in health should accompany him to england, since otherwise his spanish force would be altogether too weak to do the service expected. he had got together a good number of transports. not counting his antwerp fleet--which could not stir from port, as he bitterly complained, nor be of any use, on account of the rebel blockade--he had between dunkerk and newport seventy-four vessels of various kinds fit for sea-service, one hundred and fifty flat-bottoms (pleytas), and seventy riverhoys, all which were to be assembled at sluys, whence they would--so soon as santa cruz should make his appearance--set forth for england. this force of transports he pronounced sufficient, when properly protected by the spanish armada, to carry himself and his troops across the channel. if, therefore, the matter did not become publicly known, and if the weather proved favourable, it was probable that his majesty's desire would soon be fulfilled according to the plan proposed. the companies of light horse and of arquebusmen, with which he meant to make his entrance into london, had been clothed, armed, and mounted, he said, in a manner delightful to contemplate, and those soldiers at least might be trusted--if they could only effect their passage--to do good service, and make matters quite secure. but craftily as the king and duke had been dealing, it had been found impossible to keep such vast preparations entirely secret. walsingham was in full possession of their plans down to the most minute details. the misfortune was that he was unable to persuade his sovereign, lord burghley, and others of the peace-party, as to the accuracy of his information. not only was he thoroughly instructed in regard to the number of men, vessels, horses, mules, saddles, spurs, lances, barrels of beer and tons of biscuit, and other particulars of the contemplated invasion, but he had even received curious intelligence as to the gorgeous equipment of those very troops, with which the duke was just secretly announcing to the king his intention of making his triumphal entrance into the english capital. sir francis knew how many thousand yards of cramoisy velvet, how many hundredweight of gold and silver embroidery, how much satin and feathers, and what quantity of pearls and diamonds; farnese had been providing himself withal. he knew the tailors, jewellers, silversmiths, and haberdashers, with whom the great alexander--as he now began to be called--had been dealing; but when he spoke at the council-board, it was to ears wilfully deaf. ["there is provided for lights a great number of torches, and so tempered that no water can put them out. a great number of little mills for grinding corn, great store of biscuit baked and oxen salted, great number of saddles and boots also there is made pair of velvet shoes-red, crimson velvet, and in every cloister throughout the country great quantity of roses made of silk, white and red, which are to be badges for divers of his gentlemen. by reason of these roses it is expected he is going for england. there is sold to the prince by john angel, pergaman, ten hundred-weight of velvet, gold and silver to embroider his apparel withal. the covering to his mules is most gorgeously embroidered with gold and silver, which carry his baggage. there is also sold to him by the italian merchants at least pieces of velvet to apparel him and his train. every captain has received a gift from the prince to make himself brave, and for captain corralini, an italian, who hath one cornet of horse, i have seen with my eyes a saddle with the trappings of his horse, his coat and rapier and dagger, which cost , french crowns. (!!) all their lances are painted of divers colours, blue and white, green and white, and most part blood-red-- so there is as great preparation for a triumph as for war. a great number of english priests come to antwerp from all places. the commandment is given to all the churches to read the litany daily for the prosperity of the prince in his enterprise." john giles to walsingham, dec. .(s. p. office ms.) the same letter conveyed also very detailed information concerning the naval preparations by the duke, besides accurate intelligence in regard to the progress of the armada in cadiz and lisbon. sir william russet wrote also from flushing concerning these preparations in much the same strain; but it is worthy of note that he considered farnese to be rather intending a movement against france. "the prince of parma," he said, "is making great preparations for war, and with all expedition means to march a great army, and for a triumph, the coats and costly, apparel for his own body doth exceed for embroidery, and beset with jewels; for all the embroiderers and diamond-cutters work both night and day, such haste is made. five hundred velvet coats of one sort for lances, and a great number of brave new coats made for horsemen; , men are ready, and gather in brabant and flanders. it is said that there shall be in two days , to do some great exploit in these parts, and , to march with the prince into france, and for certain it is not known what way or how they shall march, but all are ready at an hour's warning -- , saddles, lances. , pairs of boots, , barrels of beer, biscuit sufficient for a camp of , men, &c. the prince hath received a marvellous costly garland or crown from the pope, and is chosen chief of the holy league..."] nor was much concealed from the argus-eyed politicians in the republic. the states were more and more intractable. they knew nearly all the truth with regard to the intercourse between the queen's government and farnese, and they suspected more than the truth. the list of english commissioners privately agreed upon between burghley and de loo was known to barneveld, maurice, and hohenlo, before it came to the ears of leicester. in june, buckhurst had been censured by elizabeth for opening the peace matter to members of the states, according to her bidding, and in july leicester was rebuked for exactly the opposite delinquency. she was very angry that he had delayed the communication of her policy so long, but she expressed her anger only when that policy had proved so transparent as to make concealment hopeless. leicester, as well as buckhurst, knew that it was idle to talk to the netherlanders of peace, because of their profound distrust in every word that came from spanish or italian lips; but leicester, less frank than buckhurst, preferred to flatter his sovereign, rather than to tell her unwelcome truths. more fortunate than buckhurst, he was rewarded for his flattery by boundless affection, and promotion to the very highest post in england when the hour of england's greatest peril had arrived, while the truth-telling counsellor was consigned to imprisonment and disgrace. when the queen complained sharply that the states were mocking her, and that she was touched in honour at the prospect of not keeping her plighted word to farnese, the earl assured her that the netherlanders were fast changing their views; that although the very name of peace had till then been odious and loathsome, yet now, as coming from her majesty, they would accept it with thankful hearts. the states, or the leading members of that assembly, factious fellows, pestilent and seditious knaves, were doing their utmost, and were singing sirens' songs' to enchant and delude the people, but they were fast losing their influence--so warmly did the country desire to conform to her majesty's pleasure. he expatiated, however, upon the difficulties in his path. the knowledge possessed by the pestilent fellows as to the actual position of affairs, was very mischievous. it was honey to maurice and hohenlo, he said, that the queen's secret practices with farnese had thus been discovered. nothing could be more marked than the jollity with which the ringleaders hailed these preparations for peace-making, for they now felt certain that the government of their country had been fixed securely in their own hands. they were canonized, said the earl, for their hostility to peace. should not this conviction, on the part of men who had so many means of feeling the popular pulse, have given the queen's government pause? to serve his sovereign in truth, leicester might have admitted a possibility at least of honesty on the part of men who were so ready to offer up their lives for their country. for in a very few weeks he was obliged to confess that the people were no longer so well disposed to acquiesce in her majesty's policy. the great majority, both of the states and the people, were in favour, he agreed, of continuing the war. the inhabitants of the little province of holland alone, he said, had avowed their determination to maintain their rights--even if obliged to fight single-handed--and to shed the last drop in their veins, rather than to submit again to spanish tyranny. this seemed a heroic resolution, worthy the sympathy of a brave englishman, but the earl's only comment upon it was, that it proved the ringleaders "either to be traitors or else the most blindest asses in the world." he never scrupled, on repeated occasions, to insinuate that barneveld, hohenlo, buys, roorda, sainte aldegonde, and the nassaus, had organized a plot to sell their country to spain. of this there was not the faintest evidence, but it was the only way in which he chose to account for their persistent opposition to the peace-negotiations, and to their reluctance to confer absolute power on himself. "'tis a crabbed, sullen, proud kind of people," said he, "and bent on establishing a popular government,"--a purpose which seemed somewhat inconsistent with the plot for selling their country to spain, which he charged in the same breath on the same persons. early in august, by the queen's command, he had sent a formal communication respecting the private negotiations to the states, but he could tell them no secret. the names of the commissioners, and even the supposed articles of a treaty already concluded, were flying from town to town, from mouth to mouth, so that the earl pronounced it impossible for one, not on the spot, to imagine the excitement which existed. he had sent a state-counsellor, one bardesius, to the hague, to open the matter; but that personage had only ventured to whisper a word to one or two members of the states, and was assured that the proposition, if made, would raise such a tumult of fury, that he might fear for his life. so poor bardesius came back to leicester, fell on his knees, and implored him; at least to pause in these fatal proceedings. after an interval, he sent two eminent statesmen, valk and menin, to lay the subject before the assembly. they did so, and it was met by fierce denunciation. on their return, the earl, finding that so much violence had been excited, pretended that they had misunderstood his meaning, and that he had never meant to propose peace-negotiations. but valk and menin were too old politicians to be caught in such a trap, and they produced a brief, drawn up in italian--the foreign language best understood by the earl--with his own corrections and interlineations, so that he was forced to admit that there had been no misconception. leicester at last could no longer doubt that he was universally odious in the provinces. hohenlo, barneveld, and the rest, who had "championed the country against the peace," were carrying all before them. they had persuaded the people, that the "queen was but a tickle stay for them," and had inflated young maurice with vast ideas of his importance, telling him that he was "a natural patriot, the image of his noble father, whose memory was yet great among them, as good reason, dying in their cause, as he had done." the country was bent on a popular government, and on maintaining the war. there was no possibility, he confessed, that they would ever confer the authority on him which they had formerly bestowed. the queen had promised, when he left england the second time, that his absence should be for but three months, and he now most anxiously claimed permission to depart. above all things, he deprecated being employed as a peace-commissioner. he was, of all men, the most unfit for such a post. at the same time he implored the statesmen at home to be wary in selecting the wisest persons for that arduous duty, in order that the peace might be made for queen elizabeth, as well as for king philip. he strongly recommended, for that duty, beale, the councillor, who with killigrew had replaced the hated wilkes and the pacific bartholomew clerk. "mr. beale, brother-in-law to walsingham, is in my books a prince," said the earl. "he was drowned in england, but most useful in the netherlands. without him i am naked." and at last the governor told the queen what buckhurst and walsingham had been perpetually telling her, that the duke of parma meant mischief; and he sent the same information as to hundreds of boats preparing, with six thousand shirts for camisados, pairs of wading boots, and saddles, stirrups, and spurs, enough for a choice band of men. a shrewd troop, said the earl, of the first soldiers in christendom, to be landed some fine morning in england. and he too had heard of the jewelled suits of cramoisy velvet, and all the rest of the finery with which the triumphant alexander was intending to astonish london. "get horses enough, and muskets enough in england," exclaimed leicester, "and then our people will not be beaten, i warrant you, if well led." and now, the governor--who, in order to soothe his sovereign and comply with her vehement wishes, had so long misrepresented the state of public feeling--not only confessed that papists and protestants, gentle and simple, the states and the people, throughout the republic, were all opposed to any negotiation with the enemy, but lifted up his own voice, and in earnest language expressed his opinion of the queen's infatuation. "oh, my lord, what a treaty is this for peace," said he to burghley, "that we must treat, altogether disarmed and weakened, and the king having made his forces stronger than ever he had known in these parts, besides what is coming out, of spain, and yet we will presume of good conditions. it grieveth me to the heart. but i fear you will all smart for it, and i pray god her majesty feel it not, if it be his blessed will. she meaneth well and sincerely to have peace, but god knows that this is not the way. well, god almighty defend us and the realm, and especially her majesty. but look for a sharp war, or a miserable peace, to undo others and ourselves after." walsingham, too, was determined not to act as a commissioner. if his failing health did not serve as an excuse, he should be obliged to refuse, he said, and so forfeit her majesty's favour, rather than be instrumental in bringing about her ruin, and that of his country. never for an instant had the secretary of state faltered in his opposition to the timid policy of burghley. again and again he had detected the intrigues of the lord-treasurer and sir james croft, and ridiculed the "comptroller's peace." and especially did walsingham bewail the implicit confidence which the queen placed in the sugary words of alexander, and the fatal parsimony which caused her to neglect defending herself against scotland; for he was as well informed as was farnese himself of philip's arrangements with the scotch lords, and of the subsidies in men and money by which their invasion of england was to be made part of the great scheme. "no one thing," sighed walsingham, "doth more prognosticate an alteration of this estate, than that a prince of her majesty's judgment should neglect, in respect of a little charges, the stopping of so dangerous a gap. . . . the manner of our cold and careless proceeding here, in this time of peril, maketh me to take no comfort of my recovery of health, for that i see, unless it shall please god in mercy and miraculously to preserve us, we cannot long stand." leicester, finding himself unable to counteract the policy of barneveld and his party, by expostulation or argument, conceived a very dangerous and criminal project before he left the country. the facts are somewhat veiled in mystery; but he was suspected, on weighty evidence, of a design to kidnap both maurice and barneveld, and carry them off to england. of this intention, which was foiled at any rate, before it could be carried into execution, there is perhaps not conclusive proof, but it has already been shown, from a deciphered letter, that the queen had once given buckhurst and wilkes peremptory orders to seize the person of hohenlo, and it is quite possible that similar orders may have been received at a later moment with regard to the young count and the advocate. at any rate, it is certain that late in the autumn, some friends of barneveld entered his bedroom, at the hague, in the dead of night, and informed him that a plot was on foot to lay violent hands upon him, and that an armed force was already on its way to execute this purpose of leicester, before the dawn of day. the advocate, without loss of time, took his departure for delft, a step which was followed, shortly afterwards, by maurice. nor was this the only daring--stroke which the earl had meditated. during the progress of the secret negotiations with parma, he had not neglected those still more secret schemes to which he had occasionally made allusion. he had determined, if possible, to obtain possession of the most important cities in holland and zeeland. it was very plain to him, that he could no longer hope, by fair means, for the great authority once conferred upon him by the free will of the states. it was his purpose, therefore, by force and stratagem to recover his lost power. we have heard the violent terms in which both the queen and the earl denounced the men who accused the english government of any such intention. it had been formally denied by the states-general that barneveld had ever used the language in that assembly with which he had been charged. he had only revealed to them the exact purport of the letter to junius, and of the queen's secret instructions to leicester. whatever he may have said in private conversation, and whatever deductions he may have made among his intimate friends, from the admitted facts in the case, could hardly be made matters of record. it does not appear that he, or the statesmen who acted with him, considered the earl capable of a deliberate design to sell the cities, thus to be acquired, to spain, as the price of peace for england. certainly elizabeth would have scorned such a crime, and was justly indignant at rumours prevalent to that effect; but the wrath of the queen and of her favourite were, perhaps, somewhat simulated, in order to cover their real mortification at the discovery of designs on the part of the earl which could not be denied. not only had they been at last compelled to confess these negotiations, which for several months had been concealed and stubbornly denied, but the still graver plots of the earl to regain his much-coveted authority had been, in a startling manner, revealed. the leaders of the states-general had a right to suspect the english earl of a design to reenact the part of the duke of anjou, and were justified in taking stringent measures to prevent a calamity, which, as they believed, was impending over their little commonwealth. the high-handed dealings of leicester in the city of utrecht have been already described. the most respectable and influential burghers of the place had been imprisoned and banished, the municipal government wrested from the hands to which it legitimately belonged, and confided to adventurers, who wore the cloak of calvinism to conceal their designs, and a successful effort had been made, in the name of democracy, to eradicate from one ancient province the liberty on which it prided itself. in the course of the autumn, an attempt was made to play the same game at amsterdam. a plot was discovered, before it was fairly matured, to seize the magistrates of that important city, to gain possession of the arsenals, and to place the government in the hands of well-known leicestrians. a list of fourteen influential citizens, drawn up in the writing of burgrave, the earl's confidential secretary, was found, all of whom, it was asserted, had been doomed to the scaffold. the plot to secure amsterdam had failed, but, in north holland, medenblik was held firmly for leicester, by diedrich sonoy, in the very teeth of the states. the important city of enkhuyzen, too, was very near being secured for the earl, but a still more significant movement was made at leyden. that heroic city, ever since the famous siege of , in which the spaniard had been so signally foiled, had distinguished itself by great liberality of sentiment in religious matters. the burghers were inspired by a love of country, and a hatred of oppression, both civil and, ecclesiastical; and papists and protestants, who had fought side by side against the common foe, were not disposed to tear each other to pieces, now that he had been excluded from their gates. meanwhile, however, refugee flemings and brabantines had sought an asylum in the city, and being, as usual, of the strictest sect of the calvinists were shocked at the latitudinarianism which prevailed. to the honour of the city--as it seems to us now--but, to their horror, it was even found that one or two papists had seats in the magistracy. more than all this, there was a school in the town kept by a catholic, and adrian van der werff himself--the renowned burgomaster, who had sustained the city during the dreadful leaguer of , and who had told the famishing burghers that they might eat him if they liked, but that they should never surrender to the spaniards while he remained alive--even adrian van der werff had sent his son to this very school? to the clamour made by the refugees against this spirit of toleration, one of the favourite preachers in the town, of arminian tendencies, had declared in the pulpit, that he would as lieve see the spanish as the calvinistic inquisition established over his country; using an expression, in regard to the church of geneva, more energetic than decorous. it was from leyden that the chief opposition came to a synod, by which a great attempt was to be made towards subjecting the new commonwealth to a masked theocracy; a scheme which the states of holland had resisted with might and main. the calvinistic party, waxing stronger in leyden, although still in a minority, at last resolved upon a strong effort to place the city in the hands of that great representative of calvinism, the earl of leicester. jacques volmar, a deacon of the church, cosmo de pescarengis, a genoese captain of much experience in the service of the republic, adolphus de meetkerke, former president of flanders, who had been, by the states, deprived of the seat in the great council to which the earl had appointed him; doctor saravia, professor of theology in the university, with other deacons, preachers, and captains, went at different times from leyden to utrecht, and had secret interviews with leicester. a plan was at last agreed upon, according to which, about the middle of october, a revolution should be effected in leyden. captain nicholas de maulde, who had recently so much distinguished himself in the defence of sluys, was stationed with two companies of states' troops in the city. he had been much disgusted--not without reason--at the culpable negligence through which the courageous efforts of the sluys garrison had been set at nought, and the place sacrificed, when it might so easily have been relieved; and he ascribed the whole of the guilt to maurice, hohenlo, and the states, although it could hardly be denied that at least an equal portion belonged to leicester and his party. the young captain listened, therefore, to a scheme propounded to him by colonel cosine, and deacon volmar, in the name of leicester. he agreed, on a certain day, to muster his company, to leave the city by the delft gate--as if by command of superior authority--to effect a junction with captain heraugiere, another of the distinguished malcontent defenders of sluys, who was stationed, with his command, at delft, and then to re-enter leyden, take possession of the town-hall, arrest all the magistrates, together with adrian van der werff, ex-burgomaster, and proclaim lord leicester, in the name of queen elizabeth, legitimate master of the city. a list of burghers, who were to be executed, was likewise agreed upon, at a final meeting of the conspirators in a hostelry, which bore the ominous name of 'the thunderbolt.' a desire had been signified by leicester, in the preliminary interviews at utrecht, that all bloodshed, if possible, should be spared, but it was certainly an extravagant expectation, considering the temper, the political convictions, and the known courage of the leyden burghers, that the city would submit, without a struggle, to this invasion of all their rights. it could hardly be doubted that the streets would run red with blood, as those of antwerp had done, when a similar attempt, on the part of anjou, had been foiled. unfortunately for the scheme, a day or two before the great stroke was to be hazarded, cosmo de pescarengis had been accidentally arrested for debt. a subordinate accomplice, taking alarm, had then gone before the magistrate and revealed the plot. volmar and de maulde fled at once, but were soon arrested in the neighbourhood. president de meetkerke, professor saravia, the preacher van der wauw, and others most compromised, effected their escape. the matter was instantly laid before the states of holland by the magistracy of leyden, and seemed of the gravest moment. in the beginning of the year, the fatal treason of york and stanley had implanted a deep suspicion of leicester in the hearts of almost all the netherlanders, which could not be eradicated. the painful rumours concerning the secret negotiations with spain, and the design falsely attributed to the english queen, of selling the chief cities of the republic to philip as the price of peace, and of reimbursement for expenses incurred by her, increased the general excitement to fever. it was felt by the leaders of the states that as mortal a combat lay before them with the earl of leicester, as with the king of spain, and that it was necessary to strike a severe blow, in order to vindicate their imperilled authority. a commission was appointed by the high court of holland, acting in conjunction with the states of the provinces, to try the offenders. among the commissioners were adrian van der werff, john van der does, who had been military commandant of leyden during the siege, barneveld, and other distinguished personages, over whom count maurice presided. the accused were subjected to an impartial trial. without torture, they confessed their guilt. it is true, however, that cosmo was placed within sight of the rack. he avowed that his object had been to place the city under the authority of leicester, and to effect this purpose, if possible, without bloodshed. he declared that the attempt was to be made with the full knowledge and approbation of the earl, who had promised him the command of a regiment of twelve companies, as a recompense for his services, if they proved successful. leicester, said cosmo, had also pledged himself, in case the men, thus executing his plans, should be discovered and endangered, to protect and rescue them, even at the sacrifice of all his fortune, and of the office he held. when asked if he had any written statement from his excellency to that effect, cosmo replied, no, nothing but his princely word which he had voluntarily given. volmar made a similar confession. he, too, declared that he had acted throughout the affair by express command of the earl of leicester. being asked if he had any written evidence of the fact, he, likewise, replied in the negative. "then his excellency will unquestionably deny your assertion," said the judges. "alas, then am i a dead man," replied volmar, and the unfortunate deacon never spoke truer words. captain de maulde also confessed his crime. he did not pretend, however, to have had any personal communication with leicester, but said that the affair had been confided to him by colonel cosmo, on the express authority of the earl, and that he had believed himself to be acting in obedience to his excellency's commands. on the th october, after a thorough investigation, followed by a full confession on the part of the culprits, the three were sentenced to death. the decree was surely a most severe one. they had been guilty of no actual crime, and only in case of high treason could an intention to commit a crime be considered, by the laws of the state, an offence punishable with death. but it was exactly because it was important to make the crime high treason that the prisoners were condemned. the offence was considered as a crime not against leyden, but as an attempt to levy war upon a city which was a member of the states of holland and of the united states. if the states were sovereign, then this was a lesion of their sovereignty. moreover, the offence had been aggravated by the employment of united states' troops against the commonwealth of the united states itself. to cut off the heads of these prisoners was a sharp practical answer to the claims of sovereignty by leicester, as representing the people, and a terrible warning to all who might, in future; be disposed to revive the theories of deventer and burgrave. in the case of de maulde the punishment seemed especially severe. his fate excited universal sympathy, and great efforts were made to obtain his pardon. he was a universal favourite; he was young; he was very handsome; his manners were attractive; he belonged to an ancient and honourable race. his father, the seigneur de mansart, had done great services in the war of independence, had been an intimate friend of the great prince of orange, and had even advanced large sums of money to assist his noble efforts to liberate the country. two brothers of the young captain had fallen in the service of the republic. he, too, had distinguished himself at ostend, and his gallantry during the recent siege of sluys had been in every mouth, and had excited the warm applause of so good a judge of soldiership as the veteran roger williams. the scars of the wounds received in the desperate conflicts of that siege were fresh upon his breast. he had not intended to commit treason, but, convinced by the sophistry of older soldiers than himself, as well as by learned deacons and theologians, he had imagined himself doing his duty, while obeying the earl of leicester. if there were ever a time for mercy, this seemed one, and young maurice of nassau might have remembered, that even in the case of the assassins who had attempted the life of his father, that great-hearted man had lifted up his voice--which seemed his dying one--in favour of those who had sought his life. but they authorities were inexorable. there was no hope of a mitigation of punishment, but a last effort was made, under favour of a singular ancient custom, to save the life of de maulde. a young lady of noble family in leyden--uytenbroek by name--claimed the right of rescuing the condemned malefactor, from the axe, by appearing upon the scaffold, and offering to take him for her husband. intelligence was brought to the prisoner in his dungeon, that the young, lady had made the proposition, and he was told to be of good cheer: but he refused to be comforted. he was slightly acquainted with the gentle-woman, he observed; and doubted much whether her request would be granted. moreover if contemporary chronicle can be trusted he even expressed a preference for the scaffold, as the milder fate of the two. the lady, however, not being aware of those uncomplimentary sentiments, made her proposal to the magistrates, but was dismissed with harsh rebukes. she had need be ashamed, they said; of her willingness to take a condemned traitor for her husband. it was urged, in her behalf, that even in the cruel alva's time, the ancient custom had been respected, and that victims had been saved from the executioners, on a demand in marriage made even by women of abandoned character. but all was of no avail. the prisoners were executed on the th october, the same day on which the sentence had been pronounced. the heads of volmar and cosmo were exposed on one of the turrets of the city. that of maulde was interred with his body. the earl was indignant when he heard of the event. as there had been no written proof of his complicity in the conspiracy, the judges had thought it improper to mention his name in the sentences. he, of course, denied any knowledge of the plot, and its proof rested therefore only on the assertion of the prisoners themselves, which, however, was circumstantial, voluntary, and generally believed! france, during the whole of this year of expectation, was ploughed throughout its whole surface by perpetual civil war. the fatal edict of june, , had drowned the unhappy land in blood. foreign armies, called in by the various contending factions, ravaged its-fair territory, butchered its peasantry, and changed its fertile plains to a wilderness. the unhappy creature who wore the crown of charlemagne and of hugh capet, was but the tool in the hands of the most profligate and designing of his own subjects, and of foreigners. slowly and surely the net, spread by the hands of his own mother, of his own prime minister, of the duke of guise, all obeying the command and receiving the stipend of philip, seemed closing over him. he was without friends, without power to know his friends, if he had them. in his hatred to the reformation, he had allowed himself to be made the enemy of the only man who could be his friend, or the friend of france. allied with his mortal foe, whose armies were strengthened by contingents from parma's forces, and paid for by spanish gold, he was forced to a mock triumph over the foreign mercenaries who came to save his crown, and to submit to the defeat of the flower of his chivalry, by the only man who could rescue france from ruin, and whom france could look up to with respect. for, on the th october, henry of navarre had at last gained a victory. after twenty-seven years of perpetual defeat, during which they had been growing stronger and stronger, the protestants had met the picked troops of henry iii., under the due de joyeuse, near the burgh of contras. his cousins conde and soissons each commanded a wing in the army of the warnese. "you are both of my family," said henry, before the engagement, "and the lord so help me, but i will show you that i am the eldest born." and during that bloody day the white plume was ever tossing where the battle, was fiercest. "i choose to show myself. they shall see the bearnese," was his reply to those who implored him to have a care for his personal safety. and at last, when the day was done, the victory gained, and more french nobles lay dead on the field, as catharine de' medici bitterly declared, than had fallen in a battle for twenty years; when two thousand of the king's best troops had been slain, and when the bodies of joyeuse and his brother had been laid out in the very room where the conqueror's supper, after the battle, was served, but where he refused, with a shudder, to eat, he was still as eager as before--had the wretched valois been possessed of a spark of manhood, or of intelligence--to shield him and his kingdom from the common enemy.' for it could hardly be doubtful, even to henry iii., at that moment, that philip ii. and his jackal, the duke of guise, were pursuing him to the death, and that, in his breathless doublings to escape, he had been forced to turn upon his natural protector. and now joyeuse was defeated and slain. "had it been my brother's son," exclaimed cardinal de bourbon, weeping and wailing, "how much better it would have been." it was not easy to slay the champion of french protestantism; yet, to one less buoyant, the game, even after the brilliant but fruitless victory of contras, might have seemed desperate. beggared and outcast, with literally scarce a shirt to his back, without money to pay a corporal's guard, how was he to maintain an army? but 'mucio' was more successful than joyeuse had been, and the german and swiss mercenaries who had come across the border to assist the bearnese, were adroitly handled by philip's great stipendiary. henry of valois, whose troops had just been defeated at contras, was now compelled to participate in a more fatal series of triumphs. for alas, the victim had tied himself to the apron-string of "madam league," and was paraded by her, in triumph, before the eyes of his own subjects and of the world. the passage of the loire by the auxiliaries was resisted; a series of petty victories was gained by guise, and, at last, after it was obvious that the leaders of the legions had been corrupted with spanish ducats, henry allowed them to depart, rather than give the balafre opportunity for still farther successes. then came the triumph in paris--hosannahs in the churches, huzzas in the public places--not for the king, but for guise. paris, more madly in love with her champion than ever, prostrated herself at his feet. for him paeans as to a deliverer. without him the ark would have fallen into the hands of the philistines. for the valois, shouts of scorn from the populace, thunders from the pulpit, anathemas from monk and priest, elaborate invectives from all the pedants of the sorbonne, distant mutterings of excommunication from rome--not the toothless beldame of modern days, but the avenging divinity of priest-rid monarchs. such were the results of the edicts of june. spain and the pope had trampled upon france, and the populace in her capital clapped their hands and jumped for joy. "miserable country miserable king," sighed an illustrious patriot, "whom his own countrymen wish rather to survive, than to die to defend him! let the name of huguenot and of papist be never heard of more. let us think only of the counter-league. is france to be saved by opening all its gates to spain? is france to be turned out of france, to make a lodging for the lorrainer and the spaniard?" pregnant questions, which could not yet be answered, for the end was not yet. france was to become still more and more a wilderness. and well did that same brave and thoughtful lover, of his: country declare, that he who should suddenly awake from a sleep of twenty-five years, and revisit that once beautiful land, would deem himself transplanted to a barbarous island of cannibals.--[duplessis mornay, 'mem.' iv. - .] it had now become quite obvious that the game of leicester was played out. his career--as it has now been fully exhibited--could have but one termination. he had made himself thoroughly odious to the nation whom he came to govern. he had lost for ever the authority once spontaneously bestowed; and he had attempted in vain, both by fair means and foul, to recover that power. there was nothing left him but retreat. of this he was thoroughly convinced. he was anxious to be gone, the republic most desirous to be rid of him, her majesty impatient to have her favourite back again. the indulgent queen, seeing nothing to blame in his conduct, while her indignation, at the attitude maintained by the provinces was boundless, permitted him, accordingly, to return; and in her letter to the states, announcing this decision, she took a fresh opportunity of emptying her wrath upon their heads. she told them, that, notwithstanding her frequent messages to them, signifying her evil contentment with their unthankfulness for her exceeding great benefits, and with their gross violations of their contract with herself and with leicester, whom they had, of their own accord, made absolute governor without her instigation; she had never received any good answer to move, her to commit their sins to oblivion, nor had she remarked, any amendment in their conduct. on the contrary, she complained: that they daily increased their offences, most notoriously in the sight of--the world and in so many points that she lacked words to express them in one letter. she however thought it worth while to allude to some of their transgressions. she, declared that their sinister, or rather barbarous interpretation of her conduct had been notorious in perverting and falsifying her princely and christian intentions; when she imparted to them the overtures that had been made to her for a treaty of peace for herself and for them with the king of spain. yet although she had required their allowance, before she would give her assent, she had been grieved that the world should see what impudent untruths had been forged upon her, not only by their sufferance; but by their special permission for her christian good meaning towards them. she denounced the statements as to her having concluded a treaty, not only without their knowledge; but with the sacrifice of their liberty and religion, as utterly false, either for anything done in act, or intended in thought, by her. she complained that upon this most false ground had been heaped a number of like untruths and malicious slanders against her cousin leicester, who had hazarded his life, spend his substance, left his native country, absented himself from her, and lost his time, only for their service. it had been falsely stated among them, she said, that the earl had come over the last time, knowing that peace had been secretly concluded. it was false that he had intended to surprise divers of their towns, and deliver them to the king of spain. all such untruths contained matter so improbable, that it was most, strange that any person; having any sense, could imagine them correct. having thus slightly animadverted upon their wilfulness, unthankfulness, and bad government, and having, in very plain english, given them the lie, eight distinct and separate times upon a single page, she proceeded to inform them that she had recalled her cousin leicester, having great cause to use his services in england, and not seeing how, by his tarrying there, he could either profit them or herself. nevertheless she protested herself not void of compassion for their estate, and for the pitiful condition of the great multitude of kind and godly people, subject to the miseries which, by the states government, were like to fall upon them, unless god should specially interpose; and she had therefore determined, for the time, to continue her subsidies, according to the covenant between them. if, meantime, she should conclude a peace with spain, she promised to them the same care for their country as for her own. accordingly the earl, after despatching an equally ill-tempered letter to the states, in which he alluded, at unmerciful length, to all the old grievances, blamed them for the loss of sluys, for which place he protested that they had manifested no more interest than if it had been san domingo in hispaniola, took his departure for flushing. after remaining there, in a very moody frame of mind, for several days, expecting that the states would, at least, send a committee to wait upon him and receive his farewells, he took leave of them by letter. "god send me shortly a wind to blow me from them all," he exclaimed--a prayer which was soon granted--and before the end of the year he was safely landed in england. "these legs of mine," said he, clapping his hands upon them as he sat in his chamber at margate, "shall never go again into holland. let the states get others to serve their mercenary turn, for me they shall not have." upon giving up the government, he caused a medal to be struck in his own honour. the device was a flock of sheep watched by an english mastiff. two mottoes--"non gregem aed ingratos," and "invitus desero"--expressed his opinion of dutch ingratitude and his own fidelity. the hollanders, on their part, struck several medals to commemorate the same event, some of which were not destitute of invention. upon one of them, for instance, was represented an ape smothering her young ones to death in her embrace, with the device, "libertas ne its chara ut simiae catuli;" while upon the reverse was a man avoiding smoke and falling into the fire, with the inscription, "fugiens fumum, incidit in ignem." leicester found the usual sunshine at greenwich. all the efforts of norris, wilkes, and buckhurst, had been insufficient to raise even a doubt in elizabeth's mind as to the wisdom and integrity by which his administration of the provinces had been characterised from beginning to end. those who had appealed from his hatred to the justice of their sovereign, had met with disgrace and chastisement. but for the great earl; the queen's favour was a rock of adamant. at a private interview he threw himself at her feet, and with tears and sobs implored her not to receive him in disgrace whom she had sent forth in honour. his blandishments prevailed, as they had always done. instead, therefore, of appearing before the council, kneeling, to answer such inquiries as ought surely to have been instituted, he took his seat boldly among his colleagues, replying haughtily to all murmurs by a reference to her majesty's secret instructions. the unhappy english soldiers, who had gone forth under his banner in midsummer, had been returning, as they best might, in winter, starving, half-naked wretches, to beg a morsel of bread at the gates of greenwich palace, and to be driven away as vagabonds, with threats of the stock. this was not the fault of the earl, for he had fed them with his own generous hand in the netherlands, week after week, when no money for their necessities could be obtained from the paymasters. two thousand pounds had been sent by elizabeth to her soldiers when sixty-four thousand pounds arrearage were due, and no language could exaggerate the misery to which these outcasts, according to eye-witnesses of their own nation, were reduced. lord willoughby was appointed to the command, of what remained of these unfortunate troops, upon--the earl's departure. the sovereignty of the netherlands remained undisputed with the states. leicester resigned his, commission by an instrument dated / december, which, however, never reached the netherlands till april of the following year. from that time forth the government of the republic maintained the same forms which the assembly had claimed for it in the long controversy with the governor-general, and which have been sufficiently described. meantime the negotiations for a treaty, no longer secret, continued. the queen; infatuated as ever, still believed in the sincerity of farnese, while that astute personage and his master were steadily maturing their schemes. a matrimonial alliance was secretly projected between the king of scots and philip's daughter, the infants isabella, with the consent of the pope and the whole college of cardinals; and james, by the whole force of the holy league, was to be placed upon the throne of elizabeth. in the case of his death, without issue, philip was to succeed quietly to the crowns of england, scotland, and ireland. nothing could be simpler or more rational, and accordingly these arrangements were the table-talk at rome, and met with general approbation. communications to this effect; coming straight from the colonna palace, were thought sufficiently circumstantial to be transmitted to the english government. maurice of nassau wrote with his own hand to walsingham, professing a warm attachment to the cause in which holland and england were united, and perfect personal devotion to the english queen. his language, was not that of a youth, who, according to leicester's repeated insinuations, was leagued with the most distinguished soldiers and statesmen of the netherlands to sell their country to spain. but elizabeth was not to be convinced. she thought it extremely probable that the provinces would be invaded, and doubtless felt some anxiety for england. it was unfortunate that the possession of sluys had given alexander such a point of vantage; and there was moreover, a fear that he might take possession of ostend. she had, therefore, already recommended that her own troops should be removed from that city, that its walls should be razed; its marine bulwarks destroyed, and that the ocean. should be let in to swallow the devoted city forever--the inhabitants having been previously allowed to take their departure. for it was assumed by her majesty that to attempt resistance would be idle, and that ostend could never stand a siege. the advice was not taken; and before the end of her reign elizabeth was destined to see this indefensible city--only fit, in her judgment, to be abandoned to the waves--become memorable; throughout all time, for the longest; and, in many respects, the most remarkable siege which modern history has recorded, the famous leaguer, in which the first european captains of the coming age were to take their lessons, year after year, in the school of the great dutch soldier, who was now but a "solemn, sly youth," just turned of twenty. the only military achievement which characterized the close of the year, to the great satisfaction of the provinces and the annoyance of parma, was the surprise of the city of bonn. the indefatigable martin schenk--in fulfilment of his great contract with the states-general, by which the war on the rhine had been farmed out to him on such profitable terms:--had led his mercenaries against this important town. he had found one of its gates somewhat insecurely guarded, placed a mortar under it at night, and occupied a neighbouring pig-stye with a number of his men, who by chasing, maltreating, and slaughtering the swine, had raised an unearthly din, sufficient to drown the martial operations at the gate. in brief, the place was easily mastered, and taken possession of by martin, in the name of the deposed elector, gebhard truchsess--the first stroke of good fortune which had for a long time befallen that melancholy prelate. the administration of leicester has been so minutely pictured, that it would be superfluous to indulge in many concluding reflections. his acts and words have been made to speak for themselves. his career in the country has been described with much detail, because the period was a great epoch of transition. the republic of the netherlands, during those years, acquired consistency and permanent form. it seemed possible, on the earl's first advent, that the provinces might become part and parcel of the english realm. whether such a consummation would have been desirable or not, is a fruitless enquiry. but it is certain that the selection of such a man as leicester made that result impossible. doubtless there were many errors committed by all parties. the queen was supposed by the netherlands to be secretly desirous of accepting the sovereignty of the provinces, provided she were made sure, by the earl's experience, that they were competent to protect themselves. but this suspicion was unfounded. the result of every investigation showed the country so full of resources, of wealth, and of military and naval capabilities, that, united with england, it would have been a source of great revenue and power, not a burthen and an expense. yet, when convinced of such facts, by the statistics which were liberally laid before her by her confidential agents, she never manifested, either in public or private, any intention of accepting the sovereignty. this being her avowed determination, it was an error on the part of the states, before becoming thoroughly acquainted with the man's character, to confer upon leicester the almost boundless authority which they granted on, his first arrival. it was a still graver mistake, on the part of elizabeth, to give way to such explosions of fury, both against the governor and the states, when informed of the offer and acceptance of that authority. the earl, elevated by the adulation of others, and by his own vanity, into an almost sovereign attitude, saw himself chastised before the world, like an aspiring lackey, by her in whose favour he had felt most secure. he found, himself, in an instant, humbled and ridiculous. between himself and the queen it was, something of a lovers' quarrel, and he soon found balsam in the hand that smote him. but though reinstated in authority, he was never again the object of reverence in the land he was attempting to rule. as he came to know the netherlanders better, he recognized the great capacity which their statesmen concealed under a plain and sometimes a plebeian exterior, and the splendid grandee hated, where at first he had only despised. the netherlanders, too, who had been used to look up almost with worship to a plain man of kindly manners, in felt hat and bargeman's woollen jacket, whom they called "father william," did not appreciate, as they ought, the magnificence of the stranger who had been sent to govern them. the earl was handsome, quick-witted, brave; but he was, neither wise in council nor capable in the field. he was intolerably arrogant, passionate, and revengeful. he hated easily, and he hated for life. it was soon obvious that no cordiality of feeling or of action could exist between him and the plain, stubborn hollanders. he had the fatal characteristic of loving only the persons who flattered him. with much perception of character, sense of humour, and appreciation of intellect, he recognized the power of the leading men in the nation, and sought to gain them. so long as he hoped success, he was loud in their praises. they were all wise, substantial, well-languaged, big fellows, such as were not to be found in england or anywhere else. when they refused to be made his tools, they became tinkers, boors, devils, and atheists. he covered them with curses and devoted them to the gibbet. he began by warmly commending buys and barneveld, hohenlo and maurice, and endowing them with every virtue. before he left the country he had accused them of every crime, and would cheerfully, if he could, have taken the life of every one of them. and it was quite the same with nearly every englishman who served with or under him. wilkes and buckhurst, however much the objects of his previous esteem; so soon as they ventured to censure or even to criticise his proceedings, were at once devoted to perdition. yet, after minute examination of the record, public and private, neither wilkes nor buckhurst can be found guilty of treachery or animosity towards him, but are proved to have been governed, in all their conduct, by a strong sense of duty to their sovereign, the netherlands, and leicester himself. to sir john norris, it must be allowed, that he was never fickle, for he had always entertained for that distinguished general an honest, unswerving, and infinite hatred, which was not susceptible of increase or diminution by any act or word. pelham, too, whose days were numbered, and who was dying bankrupt and broken-hearted, at the close of the earl's administration, had always been regarded by him with tenderness and affection. but pelham had never thwarted him, had exposed his life for him, and was always proud of being his faithful, unquestioning, humble adherent. with perhaps this single exception, leicester found himself at the end of his second term in the provinces, without a single friend and with few respectable partisans. subordinate mischievous intriguers like deventer, junius, and otheman, were his chief advisers and the instruments of his schemes. with such qualifications it was hardly possible--even if the current of affairs had been flowing smoothly--that he should prove a successful governor of the new republic. but when the numerous errors and adventitious circumstances are considered--for some of which he was responsible, while of others he was the victim--it must be esteemed fortunate that no great catastrophe occurred. his immoderate elevation; his sudden degradation, his controversy in regard to the sovereignty, his abrupt departure for england, his protracted absence, his mistimed return, the secret instructions for his second administration, the obstinate parsimony and persistent ill-temper of the queen--who, from the beginning to the end of the earl's government, never addressed a kindly word to the netherlanders, but was ever censuring and brow beating them in public state-papers and private epistles--the treason of york and stanley, above all, the disastrous and concealed negotiations with parma, and the desperate attempts upon amsterdam and leyden--all placed him in a most unfortunate position from first to last. but he was not competent for his post under any circumstances. he was not the statesman to deal in policy with buys, barneveld, ortel, sainte aldegonde; nor the soldier to measure himself against alexander farnese. his administration was a failure; and although he repeatedly hazarded his life, and poured out his wealth in their behalf with an almost unequalled liberality, he could never gain the hearts of the netherlanders. english valour, english intelligence, english truthfulness, english generosity, were endearing england more and more to holland. the statesmen of both countries were brought into closest union, and learned to appreciate and to respect each other, while they recognized that the fate of their respective commonwealths was indissolubly united. but it was to the efforts of walsingham, drake, raleigh, wilkes, buckburst, norris, willoughby, williams, vere, russell, and the brave men who fought under their banners or their counsels, on every battle-field, and in every beleaguered town in the netherlands, and to the universal spirit and sagacity of the english nation, in this grand crisis of its fate, that these fortunate results were owing; not to the earl of leicester, nor--during the term of his administration--to queen elizabeth herself. in brief, the proper sphere of this remarkable personage, and the one in which he passed the greater portion of his existence, was that of a magnificent court favourite, the spoiled darling, from youth to his death-bed, of the great english queen; whether to the advantage or not of his country and the true interests of his sovereign, there can hardly be at this day any difference of opinion. etext editor's bookmarks: act of uniformity required papists to assist as lieve see the spanish as the calvinistic inquisition elizabeth (had not) the faintest idea of religious freedom god, whose cause it was, would be pleased to give good weather heretics to the english church were persecuted look for a sharp war, or a miserable peace loving only the persons who flattered him not many more than two hundred catholics were executed only citadel against a tyrant and a conqueror was distrust stake or gallows (for) heretics to transubstantiation states were justified in their almost unlimited distrust undue anxiety for impartiality wealthy papists could obtain immunity by an enormous fine chapter xviii. , part . prophecies as to the year --distracted condition of the dutch republic--willoughby reluctantly takes command--english commissioners come to ostend--secretary gamier and robert cecil-- cecil accompanies dale to ghent--and finds the desolation complete-- interview of dale and cecil with parma--his fervent expressions in favour of peace--cecil makes a tour in flanders--and sees much that is remarkable--interviews of dr. rogers with parma--wonderful harangues of the envoy--extraordinary amenity of alexander--with which rogers is much touched--the queen not pleased with her envoy-- credulity of the english commissioners--ceremonious meeting of all the envoys--consummate art in wasting time--long disputes about commissions--the spanish commissions meant to deceive--disputes about cessation of arms--spanish duplicity and procrastination-- pedantry and credulity of dr. dale--the papal bull and dr. allen's pamphlet--dale sent to ask explanations--parma denies all knowledge of either--croft believes to the last in alexander. the year had at last arrived--that fatal year concerning which the german astrologers--more than a century before had prognosticated such dire events. as the epoch approached it was firmly believed by many that the end of the world was at hand, while the least superstitious could not doubt that great calamities were impending over the nations. portents observed during the winter and in various parts of europe came to increase the prevailing panic. it rained blood in sweden, monstrous births occurred in france, and at weimar it was gravely reported by eminent chroniclers that the sun had appeared at mid-day holding a drawn sword in his mouth--a warlike portent whose meaning could not be mistaken. but, in truth, it needed no miracles nor prophecies to enforce the conviction that a long procession of disasters was steadily advancing. with france rent asunder by internal convulsions, with its imbecile king not even capable of commanding a petty faction among his own subjects, with spain the dark cause of unnumbered evils, holding italy in its grasp, firmly allied with the pope, already having reduced and nearly absorbed france, and now, after long and patient preparation, about to hurl the concentrated vengeance and hatred of long years upon the little kingdom of england, and its only ally--the just organized commonwealth of the netherlands--it would have been strange indeed if the dullest intellect had not dreamed of tragical events. it was not encouraging that there should be distraction in the counsels of the two states so immediately threatened; that the queen of england should be at variance with her wisest and most faithful statesmen as to their course of action, and that deadly quarrels should exist between the leading men of the dutch republic and the english governor, who had assumed the responsibility of directing its energies against the common enemy. the blackest night that ever descended upon the netherlands--more disappointing because succeeding a period of comparative prosperity and triumph--was the winter of - , when leicester had terminated his career by his abrupt departure for england, after his second brief attempt at administration. for it was exactly at this moment of anxious expectation, when dangers were rolling up from the south till not a ray of light or hope could pierce the universal darkness, that the little commonwealth was left without a chief. the english earl departed, shaking the dust from his feet; but he did not resign. the supreme authority--so far as he could claim it--was again transferred,--with his person, to england. the consequences were immediate and disastrous. all the leicestrians refused to obey the states-general. utrecht, the stronghold of that party, announced its unequivocal intention to annex itself, without any conditions whatever, to the english crown, while, in holland, young maurice was solemnly installed stadholder, and captain-general of the provinces, under the guidance of hohenlo and barneveld. but his authority was openly defied in many important cities within his jurisdiction by military chieftains who had taken the oaths of allegiance to leicester as governor, and who refused to renounce fidelity to the man who had deserted their country, but who had not resigned his authority. of these mutineers the most eminent was diedrich sonoy, governor of north holland, a soldier of much experience, sagacity, and courage, who had rendered great services to the cause of liberty and protestantism, and had defaced it by acts of barbarity which had made his name infamous. against this refractory chieftain it was necessary for hohenlo and maurice to lead an armed force, and to besiege him in his stronghold--the important city of medenblik--which he resolutely held for leicester, although leicester had definitely departed, and which he closed against maurice, although maurice was the only representative of order and authority within the distracted commonwealth. and thus civil war had broken out in the little scarcely-organized republic, as if there were not dangers and bloodshed enough impending over it from abroad. and the civil war was the necessary consequence of the earl's departure. the english forces--reduced as they were by sickness, famine, and abject poverty--were but a remnant of the brave and well-seasoned bands which had faced the spaniards with success on so many battle-fields. the general who now assumed chief command over them--by direction of leicester, subsequently confirmed by the queen--was lord willoughby. a daring, splendid dragoon, an honest, chivalrous, and devoted servant of his queen, a conscientious adherent of leicester, and a firm believer in his capacity and character, he was, however, not a man of sufficient experience or subtlety to perform the various tasks imposed upon him by the necessities of such a situation. quick-witted, even brilliant in intellect, and the bravest of the brave on the battle-field, he was neither a sagacious administrator nor a successful commander. and he honestly confessed his deficiencies, and disliked the post to which he had been elevated. he scorned baseness, intrigue, and petty quarrels, and he was impatient of control. testy, choleric, and quarrelsome, with a high sense of honour, and a keen perception of insult, very modest and very proud, he was not likely to feed with wholesome appetite upon the unsavoury annoyances which were the daily bread of a chief commander in the netherlands. "i ambitiously affect not high titles, but round dealing," he said; "desiring rather to be a private lance with indifferent reputation, than a colonel-general spotted or defamed with wants." he was not the politician to be matched against the unscrupulous and all-accomplished farnese; and indeed no man better than willoughby could illustrate the enormous disadvantage under which englishmen laboured at that epoch in their dealings with italians and spaniards. the profuse indulgence in falsehood which characterized southern statesmanship, was more than a match for english love of truth. english soldiers and negotiators went naked into a contest with enemies armed in a panoply of lies. it was an unequal match, as we have already seen, and as we are soon more clearly to see. how was an english soldier who valued his knightly word--how were english diplomatists--among whom one of the most famous--then a lad of twenty, secretary to lord essex in the netherlands--had poetically avowed that "simple truth was highest skill,"--to deal with the thronging spanish deceits sent northward by the great father of lies who sat in the escorial? "it were an ill lesson," said willoughby, "to teach soldiers the dissimulations of such as follow princes' courts, in italy. for my own part, it is my only end to be loyal and dutiful to my sovereign, and plain to all others that i honour. i see the finest reynard loses his best coat as well as the poorest sheep." he was also a strong leicestrian, and had imbibed much of the earl's resentment against the leading politicians of the states. willoughby was sorely in need of council. that shrewd and honest welshman--roger williams--was, for the moment, absent. another of the same race and character commanded in bergen-op-zoom, but was not more gifted with administrative talent than the general himself. "sir thomas morgan is a very sufficient, gallant gentleman," said willoughby, "and in truth a very old soldier; but we both have need of one that can both give and keep counsel better than ourselves. for action he is undoubtedly very able, if there were no other means to conquer but only to give blows." in brief, the new commander of the english forces in the netherlands was little satisfied with the states, with the enemy, or with himself; and was inclined to take but a dismal view of the disjointed commonwealth, which required so incompetent a person as he professed himself to be to set it right. "'tis a shame to show my wants," he said, "but too great a fault of duty that the queen's reputation be frustrate. what is my slender experience! what an honourable person do i succeed! what an encumbered popular state is left! what withered sinews, which it passes my cunning to restore! what an enemy in head greater than heretofore! and wherewithal should i sustain this burthen? for the wars i am fitter to obey than to command. for the state, i am a man prejudicated in their opinion, and not the better liked of them that have earnestly followed the general, and, being one that wants both opinion and experience with them i have to deal, and means to win more or to maintain that which is left, what good may be looked for?" the supreme authority--by the retirement of leicester--was once more the subject of dispute. as on his first departure, so also on this his second and final one, he had left a commission to the state-council to act as an executive body during his absence. but, although he--nominally still retained his office, in reality no man believed in his return; and the states-general were ill inclined to brook a species of guardianship over them, with which they believed themselves mature enough to dispense. moreover the state-council, composed mainly of leicestrians, would expire, by limitation of its commission, early in february of that year. the dispute for power would necessarily terminate, therefore, in favour of the states-general. meantime--while this internal revolution was taking place in the polity of the commonwealth-the gravest disturbances were its natural consequence. there were mutinies in the garrisons of heusden, of gertruydenberg, of medenblik, as alarming, and threatening to become as chronic in their character, as those extensive military rebellions which often rendered the spanish troops powerless at the most critical epochs. the cause of these mutinies was uniformly, want of pay, the pretext, the oath to the earl of leicester, which was declared incompatible with the allegiance claimed by maurice in the name of the states-general. the mutiny of gertruydenberg was destined to be protracted; that of medenblik, dividing, as it did, the little territory of holland in its very heart, it was most important at once to suppress. sonoy, however--who was so stanch a leicestrian, that his spanish contemporaries uniformly believed him to be an englishman--held out for a long time, as will be seen, against the threats and even the armed demonstrations of maurice and the states. meantime the english sovereign, persisting in her delusion, and despite the solemn warnings of her own wisest counsellors; and the passionate remonstrances of the states-general of the netherlands, sent her peace-commissioners to the duke of parma. the earl of derby, lord cobham, sir james croft, valentine dale, doctor of laws, and former ambassador at vienna, and dr. rogers, envoys on the part of the queen, arrived in the netherlands in february. the commissioners appointed on the part of farnese were count aremberg, champagny, richardot, jacob maas, and secretary garnier. if history has ever furnished a lesson, how an unscrupulous tyrant, who has determined upon enlarging his own territories at the expense of his neighbours, upon oppressing human freedom wherever it dared to manifest itself, with fine phrases of religion and order for ever in his mouth, on deceiving his friends and enemies alike, as to his nefarious and almost incredible designs, by means of perpetual and colossal falsehoods; and if such lessons deserve to be pondered, as a source of instruction and guidance for every age, then certainly the secret story of the negotiations by which the wise queen of england was beguiled, and her kingdom brought to the verge of ruin, in the spring of , is worthy of serious attention. the english commissioners arrived at ostend. with them came robert cecil, youngest son of lord-treasurer burghley, then twenty-five years of age.--he had no official capacity, but was sent by his father, that he might improve his diplomatic talents, and obtain some information as to the condition of the netherlands. a slight, crooked, hump-backed young gentleman, dwarfish in stature, but with a face not irregular in feature, and thoughtful and subtle in expression, with reddish hair, a thin tawny beard, and large, pathetic, greenish-coloured eyes, with a mind and manners already trained to courts and cabinets, and with a disposition almost ingenuous, as compared to the massive dissimulation with which it was to be contrasted, and with what was, in aftertimes, to constitute a portion of his own character, cecil, young as he was, could not be considered the least important of the envoys. the queen, who loved proper men, called him "her pigmy;" and "although," he observed with whimsical courtliness, "i may not find fault with the sporting name she gives me, yet seem i only not to mislike it, because she gives it." the strongest man among them was valentine dale, who had much shrewdness, experience, and legal learning, but who valued himself, above all things, upon his latinity. it was a consolation to him, while his adversaries were breaking priscian's head as fast as the duke, their master, was breaking his oaths, that his own syntax was as clear as his conscience. the feeblest commissioner was james-a-croft, who had already exhibited himself with very anile characteristics, and whose subsequent manifestations were to seem like dotage. doctor rogers, learned in the law, as he unquestionably was, had less skill in reading human character, or in deciphering the physiognomy of a farnese, while lord derby, every inch a grandee, with lord cobham to assist him, was not the man to cope with the astute richardot, the profound and experienced champagny, or that most voluble and most rhetorical of doctors of law, jacob maas of antwerp. the commissioners, on their arrival, were welcomed by secretary garnier, who had been sent to ostend to greet them. an adroit, pleasing, courteous gentleman, thirty-six years of age, small, handsome, and attired not quite as a soldier, nor exactly as one of the long robe, wearing a cloak furred to the knee, a cassock of black velvet, with plain gold buttons, and a gold chain about his neck, the secretary delivered handsomely the duke of parma's congratulations, recommended great expedition in the negotiations, and was then invited by the earl of derby to dine with the commissioners. he was accompanied by a servant in plain livery, who--so soon as his master had made his bow to the english envoys--had set forth for a stroll through the town. the modest-looking valet, however, was a distinguished engineer in disguise, who had been sent by alexander for the especial purpose of examining the fortifications of ostend--that town being a point much coveted, and liable to immediate attack by the spanish commander. meanwhile secretary gamier made himself very agreeable, showing wit, experience, and good education; and, after dinner, was accompanied to his lodgings by dr. rogers and other gentlemen, with whom--especially with cecil--he held much conversation. knowing that this young gentleman "wanted not an honourable father," the secretary was very desirous that he should take this opportunity to make a tour through the provinces, examine the cities, and especially "note the miserable ruins of the poor country and people." he would then feelingly perceive how much they had to answer for, whose mad rebellion against their sovereign lord and master had caused so great an effusion of blood, and the wide desolation of such goodly towns and territories. cecil probably entertained a suspicion that the sovereign lord and master, who had been employed, twenty years long, in butchering his subjects and in ravaging their territory to feed his executioners and soldiers, might almost be justified in treating human beings as beasts and reptiles, if they had not at last rebelled. he simply and diplomatically answered, however, that he could not but concur with the secretary in lamenting the misery of the provinces and people so utterly despoiled and ruined, but, as it might be matter of dispute; "from what head this fountain of calamity was both fed and derived, he would not enter further therein, it being a matter much too high for his capacity." he expressed also the hope that the king's heart might sympathize with that of her majesty, in earnest compassion for all this suffering, and in determination to compound their differences. on the following day there was some conversation with gamier, on preliminary and formal matters, followed in the evening by a dinner at lord cobham's lodgings--a banquet which the forlorn condition of the country scarcely permitted to be luxurious. "we rather pray here for satiety," said cecil, "than ever think of variety." it was hoped by the englishmen that the secretary would take his departure after dinner; for the governor of ostend, sir john conway, had an uneasy sensation, during his visit, that the unsatisfactory condition of the defences would attract his attention, and that a sudden attack by farnese might be the result. sir john was not aware however, of the minute and scientific observations then making at the very moment when mr. garnier was entertaining the commissioners with his witty and instructive conversation--by the unobtrusive menial who had accompanied the secretary to ostend. in order that those observations might be as thorough as possible, rather than with any view to ostensible business, the envoy of parma now declared that--on account of the unfavourable state of the tide--he had resolved to pass another night at ostend. "we could have spared his company," said cecil, "but their lordships considered it convenient that he should be used well." so mr. comptroller croft gave the affable secretary a dinner-invitation for the following day. here certainly was a masterly commencement on the part of the spanish diplomatists. there was not one stroke of business during the visit of the secretary. he had been sent simply to convey a formal greeting, and to take the names of the english commissioners--a matter which could have been done in an hour as well as in a week. but it must be remembered, that, at that very moment, the duke was daily expecting intelligence of the sailing of the armada, and that philip, on his part, supposed the duke already in england, at the head of his army. under these circumstances, therefore--when the whole object of the negotiation, so far as parma and his master were, concerned, was to amuse and to gain time--it was already ingenious in garnier to have consumed several days in doing nothing; and to have obtained plans and descriptions of ostend into the bargain. garnier--when his departure could no longer, on any pretext, be deferred--took his leave, once more warmly urging robert cecil to make a little tour in the obedient netherlands, and to satisfy himself, by personal observation, of their miserable condition. as dr. dale purposed making a preliminary visit to the duke of parma at ghent, it was determined accordingly that he should be accompanied by cecil. that young gentleman had already been much impressed by the forlorn aspect of the country about ostend--for, although the town was itself in possession of the english, it was in the midst of the enemy's territory. since the fall of sluys the spaniards were masters of all flanders, save this one much-coveted point. and although the queen had been disposed to abandon that city, and to suffer the ocean to overwhelm it, rather than that she should be at charges to defend it, yet its possession was of vital consequence to the english-dutch cause, as time was ultimately to show. meanwhile the position was already a very important one, for--according to the predatory system of warfare of the day--it was an excellent starting-point for those marauding expeditions against persons and property, in which neither the dutch nor english were less skilled than the flemings or spaniards. "the land all about here," said cecil, "is so devastated, that where the open country was wont to be covered with kine and sheep, it is now fuller of wild boars and wolves; whereof many come so nigh the town that the sentinels--three of whom watch every night upon a sand-hill outside the gates--have had them in a dark night upon them ere they were aware." but the garrison of ostend was quite as dangerous to the peasants and the country squires of flanders, as were the wolves or wild boars; and many a pacific individual of retired habits, and with a remnant of property worth a ransom, was doomed to see himself whisked from his seclusion by conway's troopers, and made a compulsory guest at the city. prisoners were brought in from a distance of sixty miles; and there was one old gentlemen, "well-languaged," who "confessed merrily to cecil, that when the soldiers fetched him out of his own mansion-house, sitting safe in his study, he was as little in fear of the garrison of ostend as he was of the turk or the devil." [and doctor rogers held very similar language: "the most dolorous and heavy sights in this voyage to ghent, by me weighed," he said; "seeing the countries which, heretofore; by traffic of merchants, as much as any other i have seen flourish, now partly drowned, and, except certain great cities, wholly burned, ruined, and desolate, possessed i say, with wolves, wild boars, and foxes--a great, testimony of the wrath of god," &c. &c. dr. rogers to the queen,- april, . (s. p. office ms.)] three days after the departure of garnier, dr. dale and his attendants started upon their expedition from ostend to ghent--an hour's journey or so in these modern times.--the english envoys, in the sixteenth century, found it a more formidable undertaking. they were many hours traversing the four miles to oudenburg, their first halting-place; for the waters were out, there having been a great breach of the sea-dyke of ostend, a disaster threatening destruction to town and country. at oudenburg, a "small and wretched hole," as garnier had described it to be, there was, however, a garrison of three thousand spanish soldiers, under the marquis de renti. from these a convoy of fifty troopers was appointed to protect the english travellers to bruges. here they arrived at three o'clock, were met outside the gates by the famous general la motte, and by him escorted to their lodgings in the "english house," and afterwards handsomely entertained at supper in his own quarters. the general's wife; madame de la motte, was, according to cecil, "a fair gentlewoman of discreet and modest behaviour, and yet not unwilling sometimes to hear herself speak;" so that in her society, and in that of her sister--"a nun of the order of the mounts, but who, like the rest of the sisterhood, wore an ordinary dress in the evening, and might leave the convent if asked in marriage"--the supper passed off very agreeably. in the evening cecil found that his father had formerly occupied the same bedroom of the english hotel in which he was then lodged; for he found that lord burghley had scrawled his name in the chimney-corner--a fact which was highly gratifying to the son. the next morning, at seven o'clock, the travellers set forth for ghent. the journey was a miserable one. it was as cold and gloomy weather as even a flemish month of march could furnish. a drizzling rain was falling all day long, the lanes were foul and miry, the frequent thickets which overhung their path were swarming with the freebooters of zeeland, who were "ever at hand," says cecil, "to have picked our purses, but that they descried our convoy, and so saved themselves in the woods." sitting on horseback ten hours without alighting, under such circumstances as these, was not luxurious for a fragile little gentleman like queen elizabeth's "pigmy;" especially as dr. dale and himself had only half a red herring between them for luncheon, and supped afterwards upon an orange. the envoy protested that when they could get a couple of eggs a piece, while travelling in flanders, "they thought they fared like princes." nevertheless cecil and himself fought it out manfully, and when they reached ghent, at five in the evening, they were met by their acquaintance garnier, and escorted to their lodgings. here they were waited upon by president richardot, "a tall gentleman," on behalf of the duke of parma, and then left to their much-needed repose. nothing could be more forlorn than the country of the obedient netherlands, through which their day's journey had led them. desolation had been the reward of obedience. "the misery of the inhabitants," said cecil, "is incredible, both without the town, where all things are wasted, houses spoiled, and grounds unlaboured, and also, even in these great cities, where they are for the most part poor beggars even in the fairest houses." and all this human wretchedness was the elaborate work of one man--one dull, heartless bigot, living, far away, a life of laborious ease and solemn sensuality; and, in reality, almost as much removed from these fellow-creatures of his, whom he called his subjects, as if he had been the inhabitant of another planet. has history many more instructive warnings against the horrors of arbitrary government--against the folly of mankind in ever tolerating the rule of a single irresponsible individual, than the lesson furnished by the life-work of that crowned criminal, philip the second? the longing for peace on the part of these unfortunate obedient flemings was intense. incessant cries for peace reached the ears of the envoys on every side. alas, it would have been better for these peace-wishers, had they stood side by side with their brethren, the noble hollanders and zeelanders, when they had been wresting, if not peace, yet independence and liberty, from philip, with their own right hands. now the obedient flemings were but fuel for the vast flame which the monarch was kindling for the destruction of christendom--if all christendom were not willing to accept his absolute dominion. the burgomasters of ghent--of ghent, once the powerful, the industrious, the opulent, the free, of all cities in the world now the most abject and forlorn--came in the morning to wait upon elizabeth's envoy, and to present him, according to ancient custom, with some flasks of wine. they came with tears streaming down their cheeks, earnestly expressing the desire of their hearts for peace, and their joy that at least it had now "begun to be thought on." "it is quite true," replied dr. dale, "that her excellent majesty the queen--filled with compassion for your condition, and having been informed that the duke of parma is desirous of peace--has vouchsafed to make this overture. if it take not the desired effect, let not the blame rest upon her, but upon her adversaries." to these words the magistrates all said amen, and invoked blessings on her majesty. and most certainly, elizabeth was sincerely desirous of peace; even at greater sacrifices than the duke could well have imagined; but there was something almost diabolic in the cold dissimulation by which her honest compassion was mocked, and the tears of a whole people in its agony made the laughingstock of a despot and his tools. on saturday morning, richardot and garnier waited upon the envoy to escort him to the presence of the duke. cecil, who accompanied him, was not much impressed with the grandeur of alexander's lodgings; and made unfavourable and rather unreasonable comparisons between them and the splendour of elizabeth's court. they passed through an ante-chamber into a dining-room, thence into an inner chamber, and next into the duke's room. in the ante-chamber stood sir william stanley, the deventer traitor, conversing with one mockett, an englishman, long resident in flanders. stanley was meanly dressed, in the spanish fashion, and as young cecil, passing through the chamber, looked him in the face, he abruptly turned from him, and pulled his hat over his eyes. "'twas well he did so," said that young gentleman, "for his taking it off would hardly have cost me mine." cecil was informed that stanley was to have a commandery of malta, and was in good favour with the duke, who was, however, quite weary of his mutinous and disorderly irish regiment. in the bed-chamber, farnese--accompanied by the marquis del guasto, the marquis of renty, the prince of aremberg, president richardot, and secretary cosimo--received the envoy and his companion. "small and mean was the furniture of the chamber," said cecil; "and although they attribute this to his love of privacy, yet it is a sign that peace is the mother of all honour and state, as may best be perceived by the court of england, which her majesty's royal presence doth so adorn, as that it exceedeth this as far as the sun surpasseth in light the other stars of the firmament." here was a compliment to the queen and her upholsterers drawn in by the ears. certainly, if the first and best fruit of the much-longed-for peace were only to improve the furniture of royal and ducal apartments, it might be as well perhaps for the war to go on, while the queen continued to outshine all the stars in the firmament. but the budding courtier and statesman knew that a personal compliment to elizabeth could never be amiss or ill-timed. the envoy delivered the greetings of her majesty to the duke, and was heard with great attention. alexander attempted a reply in french, which was very imperfect, and, apologizing, exchanged that tongue for italian. he alluded with great fervour to the "honourable opinion concerning his sincerity and word," expressed to him by her majesty, through the mouth of her envoy. "and indeed," said he, "i have always had especial care of keeping my word. my body and service are at the commandment of the king, my lord and master, but my honour is my own, and her majesty may be assured that i shall always have especial regard of my word to so great and famous a queen as her majesty." the visit was one of preliminaries and of ceremony. nevertheless farnese found opportunity to impress the envoy and his companions with his sincerity of heart. he conversed much with cecil, making particular and personal inquiries, and with appearance of deep interest, in regard to queen elizabeth. "there is not a prince in the world--" he said, "reserving all question between her majesty and my royal master--to whom i desire more to do service. so much have i heard of her perfections, that i wish earnestly that things might so fall out, as that it might be my fortune to look upon her face before my return to my own country. yet i desire to behold her, not as a servant to him who is not able still to maintain war, or as one that feared any harm that might befall him; for in such matters my account was made long ago, to endure all which god may send. but, in truth, i am weary to behold the miserable estate of this people, fallen upon them through their own folly, and methinks that he who should do the best offices of peace would perform a 'pium et sanctissimum opus.' right glad am i that the queen is not behind me in zeal for peace." he then complimented cecil in regard to his father, whom he understood to be the principal mover in these negotiations. the young man expressed his thanks, and especially for the good affection which the duke had manifested to the queen and in the blessed cause of peace. he was well aware that her majesty esteemed him a prince of great honour and virtue, and that for this good work, thus auspiciously begun, no man could possibly doubt that her majesty, like himself, was most zealously affected to bring all things to a perfect peace. the matters discussed in this first interview were only in regard to the place to be appointed for the coming conferences, and the exchange of powers. the queen's commissioners had expected to treat at ostend. alexander, on the contrary, was unable to listen to such a suggestion, as it would be utter dereliction of his master's dignity to send envoys to a city of his own, now in hostile occupation by her majesty's forces. the place of conference, therefore, would be matter of future consideration. in respect to the exchange of powers, alexander expressed the hope that no man would doubt as to the production on his commissioners' part of ample authority both from himself and from the king. yet it will be remembered, that, at this moment, the duke had not only no powers from the king, but that philip had most expressly refused to send a commission, and that he fully expected the negotiation to be superseded by the invasion, before the production of the powers should become indispensable. and when farnese was speaking thus fervently in favour of peace, and parading his word and his honour, the letters lay in his cabinet in that very room, in which philip expressed his conviction that his general was already in london, that the whole realm of england was already at the mercy of a spanish soldiery, and that the queen, upon whose perfection alexander had so long yearned to gaze, was a discrowned captive, entirely in her great enemy's power. thus ended the preliminary interview. on the following monday, th march, dr. dale and his attendants made the best of their way back to ostend, while young cecil, with a safe conduct from champagny, set forth on a little tour in flanders. the journey from ghent to antwerp was easy, and he was agreeably surprised by the apparent prosperity of the country. at intervals of every few miles; he was refreshed with the spectacle of a gibbet well garnished with dangling freebooters; and rejoiced, therefore, in comparative security. for it seemed that the energetic bailiff of waasland had levied a contribution upon the proprietors of the country, to be expended mainly in hanging brigands; and so well had the funds been applied, that no predatory bands could make their appearance but they were instantly pursued by soldiers, and hanged forthwith, without judge or trial. cecil counted twelve such places of execution on his road between ghent and antwerp. on his journey he fell in with an italian merchant,--lanfranchi by name, of a great commercial house in antwerp, in the days when antwerp had commerce, and by him, on his arrival the same evening in that town, he was made an honoured guest, both for his father's sake and his queen's. "'tis the pleasantest city that ever i saw," said cecil, "for situation and building; but utterly left and abandoned now by those rich merchants that were wont to frequent the place." his host was much interested in the peace-negotiations, and indeed, through his relations with champagny and andreas de loo, had been one of the instruments by which it had been commenced. he inveighed bitterly against the spanish captains and soldiers, to whose rapacity and ferocity he mainly ascribed the continuance of the war;--and he was especially incensed with stanley and other--english renegades, who were thought fiercer haters of england than were the spaniards themselves: even in the desolate and abject condition of antwerp and its neighbourhood, at that moment, the quick eye of cecil detected the latent signs of a possible splendour. should peace be restored, the territory once more be tilled, and the foreign merchants attracted thither again, he believed that the governor of the obedient netherlands might live there in more magnificence than the king of spain himself, exhausted as were his revenues by the enormous expense of this protracted war: eight hundred thousand dollars monthly; so lanfranchi informed cecil, were the costs of the forces on the footing then established. this, however, was probably an exaggeration, for the royal account books showed a less formidable sum, although a sufficiently large one to appal a less obstinate bigot than philip. but what to him were the ruin of the netherlands; the impoverishment of spain, and the downfall of her ancient grandeur compared to the glory of establishing the inquisition in england and holland? while at dinner in lanfranchi's house; cecil was witness to another characteristic of the times, and one which afforded proof of even more formidable freebooters abroad than those for whom the bailiff of waasland had erected his gibbets. a canal-boat had left antwerp for brussels that morning, and in the vicinity of the latter city had been set upon by a detachment from the english garrison of bergen-op-zoom, and captured, with twelve prisoners and a freight of , florins in money. "this struck the company at the dinner-table all in a dump;" said cecil. and well it might; for the property mainly belonged to themselves, and they forthwith did their best to have the marauders waylaid on their return. but cecil, notwithstanding his gratitude for the hospitality of lanfranchi, sent word next day to the garrison of bergen of the designs against them, and on his arrival at the place had the satisfaction of being informed by lord willoughby that the party had got safe home with their plunder. "and, well worthy they are of it," said young robert, "considering how far they go for it." the traveller, on, leaving antwerp, proceeded down the river to bergen-op-zoom, where he was hospitably entertained by that doughty old soldier sir william reade, and met lord willoughby, whom he accompanied to brielle on a visit to the deposed elector truchsess, then living in that neighbourhood. cecil--who was not passion's slave--had small sympathy with the man who could lose a sovereignty for the sake of agnes mansfeld. "'tis a very goodly gentleman," said he, "well fashioned, and of good speech, for which i must rather praise him than for loving a wife better than so great a fortune as he lost by her occasion." at brielle he was handsomely entertained by the magistrates, who had agreeable recollections of his brother thomas, late governor of that city. thence he proceeded by way of delft--which, like all english travellers, he described as "the finest built town that ever he saw"--to the hague, and thence to fushing, and so back by sea to ostend.--he had made the most of his three weeks' tour, had seen many important towns both in the republic and in the obedient netherlands, and had conversed with many "tall gentlemen," as he expressed himself, among the english commanders, having been especially impressed by the heroes of sluys, baskerville and that "proper gentleman francis vere." he was also presented by lord willoughby to maurice of nassau, and was perhaps not very benignantly received by the young prince. at that particular moment, when leicester's deferred resignation, the rebellion of sonoy in north holland, founded on a fictitious allegiance to the late governor-general, the perverse determination of the queen to treat for peace against the advice of all the leading statesmen of the netherlands, and the sharp rebukes perpetually administered by her, in consequence, to the young stadholder and all his supporters, had not tended to produce the most tender feelings upon their part towards the english government, it was not surprising that the handsome soldier should look askance at the crooked little courtier, whom even the great queen smiled at while she petted him. cecil was very angry with maurice. "in my life i never saw worse behaviour," he said, "except it were in one lately come from school. there is neither outward appearance in him of any noble mind nor inward virtue." although cecil had consumed nearly the whole month of march in his tour, he had been more profitably employed than were the royal commissioners during the same period at ostend. never did statesmen know better how not to do that which they were ostensibly occupied in doing than alexander farnese and his agents, champagny, richardot, jacob maas, and gamier. the first pretext by which much time was cleverly consumed was the dispute as to the place of meeting. doctor dale had already expressed his desire for ostend as the place of colloquy. "'tis a very slow old gentleman, this doctor dale," said alexander; "he was here in the time of madam my mother, and has also been ambassador at vienna. i have received him and his attendants with great courtesy, and held out great hopes of peace. we had conversations about the place of meeting. he wishes ostend: i object. the first conference will probably be at some point between that place and newport." the next opportunity for discussion and delay was afforded by the question of powers. and it must be ever borne in mind that alexander was daily expecting the arrival of the invading fleets and armies of spain, and was holding himself in readiness to place himself at their head for the conquest of england. this was, of course, so strenuously denied by himself and those under his influence, that queen elizabeth implicitly. believed him, burghley was lost in doubt, and even the astute walsingham began to distrust his own senses. so much strength does a falsehood acquire in determined and skilful hands. "as to the commissions, it will be absolutely necessary for, your majesty to send them," wrote alexander at the moment when he was receiving the english envoy at ghent, "for unless the armada arrive soon--it will be indispensable for me, to have them, in order to keep the negotiation alive. of course they will never broach the principal matters without exhibition of powers. richardot is aware of the secret which your majesty confided to me, namely, that the negotiations are only intended to deceive the queen and to gain time for the fleet; but the powers must be sent in order that we may be able to produce them; although your secret intentions will be obeyed." the duke commented, however, on the extreme difficulty of carrying out the plan, as originally proposed. "the conquest of england would have been difficult," he said, "even although the country had been taken by surprise. now they are strong and armed; we are comparatively weak. the danger and the doubt are great; and the english deputies, i think, are really desirous of peace. nevertheless i am at your majesty's disposition--life and all--and probably, before the answer arrives to this letter, the fleet will have arrived, and i shall have undertaken the passage to england." after three weeks had thus adroitly been frittered away, the english commissioners became somewhat impatient, and despatched doctor rogers to the duke at ghent. this was extremely obliging upon their part, for if valentine dale were a "slow old gentleman," he was keen, caustic, and rapid, as compared to john rogers. a formalist and a pedant, a man of red tape and routine, full of precedents and declamatory commonplaces which he mistook for eloquence, honest as daylight and tedious as a king, he was just the time-consumer for alexander's purpose. the wily italian listened with profound attention to the wise saws in which the excellent diplomatist revelled, and his fine eyes often filled with tears at the doctor's rhetoric. three interviews--each three mortal hours long--did the two indulge in at ghent, and never, was high-commissioner better satisfied with himself than was john rogers upon those occasions. he carried every point; he convinced, he softened, he captivated the great duke; he turned the great duke round his finger. the great duke smiled, or wept, or fell into his arms, by turns. alexander's military exploits had rung through the world, his genius for diplomacy and statesmanship had never been disputed; but his talents as a light comedian were, in these interviews, for the first time fully revealed. on the th march the learned doctor made his first bow and performed his first flourish of compliments at ghent. "i assure your majesty," said he, "his highness followed my compliments of entertainment with so much honour, as that--his highness or i, speaking of the queen of england--he never did less than uncover his head; not covering the same, unless i was covered also." and after these salutations had at last been got through with, thus spake the doctor of laws to the duke of parma:-- "almighty god, the light of lights, be pleased to enlighten the understanding of your alteza, and to direct the same to his glory, to the uniting of both their majesties and the finishing of these most bloody wars, whereby these countries, being in the highest degree of misery desolate, lie as it were prostrate before the wrathful presence of the most mighty god, most lamentably beseeching his divine majesty to withdraw his scourge of war from them, and to move the hearts of princes to restore them unto peace, whereby they might attain unto their ancient flower and dignity. into the hands of your alteza are now the lives of many thousands, the destruction of cities, towns, and countries, which to put to the fortune of war how perilous it were, i pray consider. think ye, ye see the mothers left alive tendering their offspring in your presence, 'nam matribus detestata bells,'" continued the orator. "think also of others of all sexes, ages, and conditions, on their knees before your alteza, most humbly praying and crying most dolorously to spare their lives, and save their property from the ensanguined scourge of the insane soldiers," and so on, and so on. now philip ii. was slow in resolving, slower in action. the ponderous three-deckers of biscay were notoriously the dullest sailers ever known, nor were the fettered slaves who rowed the great galleys of portugal or of andalusia very brisk in their movements; and yet the king might have found time to marshal his ideas and his squadrons, and the armada had leisure to circumnavigate the globe and invade england afterwards, if a succession of john rogerses could have entertained his highness with compliments while the preparations were making. but alexander--at the very outset of the doctor's eloquence--found it difficult to suppress his feelings. "i can assure your majesty," said rogers, "that his eyes--he has a very large eye--were moistened. sometimes they were thrown upward to heaven, sometimes they were fixed full upon me, sometimes they were cast downward, well declaring how his heart was affected." honest john even thought it necessary to mitigate the effect of his rhetoric, and to assure his highness that it was, after all, only he doctor rogers, and not the minister plenipotentiary of the queen's most serene majesty, who was exciting all this emotion. "at this part of my speech," said he, "i prayed his highness not to be troubled, for that the same only proceeded from doctor rogers, who, it might please him to know, was so much moved with the pitiful case of these countries, as also that which of war was sure to ensue, that i wished, if my body were full of rivers of blood, the same to be poured forth to satisfy any that were blood-thirsty, so there might an assured peace follow." his highness, at any rate, manifesting no wish to drink of such sanguinary streams--even had the doctor's body contained them--rogers became calmer. he then descended from rhetoric to jurisprudence and casuistry, and argued at intolerable length the propriety of commencing the conferences at ostend, and of exhibiting mutually the commissions. it is quite unnecessary to follow him as closely as did farnese. when he had finished the first part of his oration, however, and was "addressing himself to the second point," alexander at last interrupted the torrent of his eloquence. "he said that my divisions and subdivisions," wrote the doctor, "were perfectly in his remembrance, and that he would first answer the first point, and afterwards give audience to the second, and answer the same accordingly." accordingly alexander put on his hat, and begged the envoy also to be covered. then, "with great gravity, as one inwardly much moved," the duke took up his part in the dialogue. "signor ruggieri," said he, "you have propounded unto me speeches of two sorts: the one proceeds from doctor ruggieri, the other from the lord ambassador of the most serene queen of england. touching the first, i do give you my hearty thanks for your godly speeches, assuring you that though, by reason i have always followed the wars, i cannot be ignorant of the calamities by you alleged, yet you have so truly represented the same before mine eyes as to effectuate in me at this instant, not only the confirmation of mine own disposition to have peace, but also an assurance that this treaty shall take good and speedy end, seeing that it hath pleased god to raise up such a good instrument as you are." "many are the causes," continued the duke, "which, besides my disposition, move me to peace. my father and mother are dead; my son is a young prince; my house has truly need of my presence. i am not ignorant how ticklish a thing is the fortune of war, which--how victorious soever i have been--may in one moment not only deface the same, but also deprive me of my life. the king, my master, is now, stricken in years, his children are young, his dominions in trouble. his desire is to live, and to leave his posterity in quietness. the glory of god, the honor of both their majesties, and the good of these countries, with the stay of the effusion of christian blood, and divers other like reasons, force him to peace." thus spoke alexander, like an honest christian gentleman, avowing the most equitable and pacific dispositions on the part of his master and himself. yet at that moment he knew that the armada was about to sail, that his own nights and days were passed in active preparations for war, and that no earthly power could move philip by one hair's-breadth from his purpose to conquer england that summer. it would be superfluous to follow the duke or the doctor through their long dialogue on the place of conference, and the commissions. alexander considered it "infamy" on his name if he should send envoys to a place of his master's held by the enemy. he was also of opinion that it was unheard of to exhibit commissions previous to a preliminary colloquy. both propositions were strenuously contested by rogers. in regard to the second point in particular, he showed triumphantly, by citations from the "polonians, prussians, and lithuanians," that commissions ought to be previously exhibited. but it was not probable that even the doctor's learning and logic would persuade alexander to produce his commission; because, unfortunately, he had no commission to produce. a comfortable argument on the subject, however, would, none the less, consume time. three hours of this work brought them, exhausted and hungry; to the hour of noon and of dinner alexander, with profuse and smiling thanks for the envoy's plain dealing and eloquence, assured him that there would have been peace long ago "had doctor rogers always been the instrument," and regretted that he was himself not learned enough to deal creditably with him. he would, however, send richardot to bear him company at table, and chop logic with him afterwards. next day, at the same, hour, the duke and doctor had another encounter. so soon as the envoy made his appearance, he found himself "embraced most cheerfully and familiarly by his alteza," who, then entering at once into business, asked as to the doctor's second point. the doctor answered with great alacrity. "certain expressions have been reported to her majesty," said he, "as coming both from your highness and from richardot, hinting at a possible attempt by the king of spain's forces against the queen. her majesty, gathering that you are going about belike to terrify her, commands me to inform you very clearly and very expressly that she does not deal so weakly in her government, nor so improvidently, but that she is provided for anything that might be attempted against her by the king, and as able to offend him as he her majesty." alexander--with a sad countenance, as much offended, his eyes declaring miscontentment--asked who had made such a report. "upon the honour of a gentleman," said he, "whoever has said this has much abused me, and evil acquitted himself. they who know me best are aware that it is not my manner to let any word pass my lips that might offend any prince." then, speaking most solemnly, he added, "i declare really and truly (which two words he said in spanish), that i know not of any intention of the king of spain against her majesty or her realm." at that moment the earth did not open--year of portents though it was--and the doctor, "singularly rejoicing" at this authentic information from the highest source, proceeded cheerfully with the conversation. "i hold myself," he exclaimed, "the man most satisfied in the world, because i may now write to her majesty that i have heard your highness upon your honour use these words." "upon my honour, it is true," repeated the duke; "for so honourably do i think of her majesty, as that, after the king, my master, i would honour and serve her before any prince in christendom." he added many earnest asseverations of similar import. "i do not deny, however," continued alexander, "that i have heard of certain ships having been armed by the king against that draak"--he pronounced the "a" in drake's name very broadly, or "doric"--"who has committed so many outrages; but i repeat that i have never heard of any design against her majesty or against england." the duke then manifested much anxiety to know by whom he had been so misrepresented. "there has been no one with me but dr. dale," said, he, "and i marvel that he should thus wantonly have injured me." "dr. dale," replied ropers, "is a man of honour, of good years, learned, and well experienced; but perhaps he unfortunately misapprehended some of your alteza's words, and thought himself bound by his allegiance strictly to report them to her majesty." "i grieve that i should be misrepresented and injured," answered farnese, "in a manner so important to my honour. nevertheless, knowing the virtues with which her majesty is endued, i assure myself that the protestations i am now making will entirely satisfy her." he then expressed the fervent hope that the holy work of negotiation now commencing would result in a renewal of the ancient friendship between the houses of burgundy and of england, asserting that "there had never been so favourable a time as the present." under former governments of the netherlands there had been many mistakes and misunderstandings. "the duke of alva," said he, "has learned by this time, before the judgment-seat of god, how he discharged his functions, succeeding as he did my mother, the duchess of parma who left the provinces in so flourishing a condition. of this, however, i will say no more, because of a feud between the houses of farnese and of alva. as for requesens, he was a good fellow, but didn't understand his business. don john of austria again, whose soul i doubt not is in heaven, was young and poor, and disappointed in all his designs; but god has never offered so great a hope of assured peace as might now be accomplished by her majesty." finding the duke in so fervent and favourable a state of mind, the envoy renewed his demand that at least the first meeting of the commissioners might be held at ostend. "her majesty finds herself so touched in honour upon this point, that if it be not conceded--as i doubt not it will be, seeing the singular forwardness of your highness"--said the artful doctor with a smile, "we are no less than commanded to return to her majesty's presence." "i sent richardot to you yesterday," said alexander; "did he not content you?" "your highness, no," replied ropers. "moreover her majesty sent me to your alteza, and not to richardot. and the matter is of such importance that i pray you to add to all your graces and favours heaped upon me, this one of sending your commissioners to ostend." his highness could hold out no longer; but suddenly catching the doctor in his arms, and hugging him "in most honourable and amiable manner," he cried-- "be contented, be cheerful; my lord ambassador. you shall be satisfied upon this point also." "and never did envoy depart;" cried the lord ambassador, when he could get his breath, "more bound to you; and more resolute to speak honour of your highness than i do." "to-morrow we will ride together towards bruges;" said the duke, in conclusion. "till then farewell." upon, this he again heartily embraced the envoy, and the friends parted for the day. next morning; th march, the duke, who was on his way to bruges and sluys to look after his gun-boats, and, other naval, and military preparations, set forth on horseback, accompanied by the marquis del vasto, and, for part of the way, by rogers. they conversed on the general topics of the approaching negotiations; the duke, expressing the opinion that the treaty of peace would be made short work with; for it only needed to renew the old ones between the houses of england and burgundy. as for the hollanders and zeelanders, and their accomplices, he thought there would be no cause of stay on their account; and in regard to the cautionary towns he felt sure that her majesty had never had any intention of appropriating them to herself, and would willingly surrender them to the king. rogers thought it a good opportunity to put in a word for the dutchmen; who certainly, would not have thanked him for his assistance at that moment. "not, to give offence to your highness," he said, "if the hollanders and zeelanders, with their confederates, like to come into this treaty, surely your highness would not object?" alexander, who had been riding along quietly during this conversation; with his right, hand, on, his hip, now threw out his arm energetically: "let them come into it; let them treat, let them conclude," he exclaimed, "in the name of almighty god! i have always been well disposed to peace, and am now more so than ever. i could even, with the loss of my life, be content to have peace made at this time." nothing more, worthy of commemoration, occurred during this concluding interview; and the envoy took his leave at bruges, and returned to ostend. i have furnished the reader with a minute account of these conversations, drawn entirely, from the original records; not so much because the interviews were in themselves of vital importance; but because they afford a living and breathing example--better than a thousand homilies--of the easy victory which diplomatic or royal mendacity may always obtain over innocence and credulity. certainly never was envoy more thoroughly beguiled than the excellent john upon this occasion. wiser than a serpent, as he imagined himself to be, more harmless than a dove; as alexander found him, he could not, sufficiently congratulate himself upon the triumphs of his eloquence and his adroitness; and despatched most glowing accounts of his proceedings to the queen. his ardour was somewhat damped, however, at receiving a message from her majesty in reply, which was anything but benignant. his eloquence was not commended; and even his preamble, with its touching allusion to the live mothers tendering their offspring--the passage: which had brought the tears into the large eyes of alexander--was coldly and cruelly censured. "her majesty can in no sort like such speeches"--so ran the return-despatch--"in which she is made to beg for peace. the king of spain standeth in as great need of peace as her self; and she doth greatly mislike the preamble of dr. rogers in his address to the duke at ghent, finding it, in very truth quite fond and vain. i am commanded by a particular letter to let him understand how much her majesty is offended with him." alexander, on his part, informed his royal master of these interviews, in which there had been so much effusion of sentiment, in very brief fashion. "dr. rogers, one of the queen's commissioners, has been here," he said, "urging me with all his might to let all your majesty's deputies go, if only for one hour, to ostend. i refused, saying, i would rather they should go to england than into a city of your majesty held by english troops. i told him it ought to be satisfactory that i had offered the queen, as a lady, her choice of any place in the provinces, or on neutral ground. rogers expressed regret for all the bloodshed and other consequences if the negotiations should fall through for so trifling a cause; the more so as in return for this little compliment to the queen she would not only restore to your majesty everything that she holds in the netherlands, but would assist you to recover the part which remains obstinate. to quiet him and to consume time, i have promised that president richardot shall go and try to satisfy them. thus two or three weeks more will be wasted. but at last the time will come for exhibiting the powers. they are very anxious to see mine; and when at last they find i have none, i fear that they will break off the negotiations." could the queen have been informed of this voluntary offer on the part of her envoy to give up the cautionary towns, and to assist in reducing the rebellion, she might have used stronger language of rebuke. it is quite possible, however, that farnese--not so attentively following the doctor's eloquence as he had appeared to do-had somewhat inaccurately reported the conversations, which, after all, he knew to be of no consequence whatever, except as time-consumers. for elizabeth, desirous of peace as she was, and trusting to farnese's sincerity as she was disposed to do, was more sensitive than ever as to her dignity. "we charge you all," she wrote with her own hand to the commissioners, "that no word he overslipt by them, that may, touch our honour and greatness, that be not answered with good sharp words. i am a king that will be ever known not to fear any but god." it would have been better, however, had the queen more thoroughly understood that the day for scolding had quite gone by, and that something sharper than the sharpest words would soon be wanted to protect england and herself from impending doom. for there was something almost gigantic in the frivolities with which weeks and months of such precious time were now squandered. plenary powers--"commission bastantissima"--from his sovereign had been announced by alexander as in his possession; although the reader has seen that he had no such powers at all. the mission of rogers had quieted the envoys at ostend for a time, and they waited quietly for the visit of richardot to ostend, into which the promised meeting of all the spanish commissioners in that city had dwindled. meantime there was an exchange of the most friendly amenities between the english and their mortal enemies. hardly a day passed that la motte, or renty, or aremberg, did not send lord derby, or cobham, or robert cecil, a hare, or a pheasant, or a cast of hawks, and they in return sent barrel upon barrel of ostend oysters, five or six hundred at a time. the englishmen, too; had it in their power to gratify alexander himself with english greyhounds, for which he had a special liking. "you would wonder," wrote cecil to his father, "how fond he is of english dogs." there was also much good preaching among other occupations, at ostend. "my lord of derby's two chaplains," said cecil, "have seasoned this town better with sermons than it had been before for a year's apace." but all this did not expedite the negotiations, nor did the duke manifest so much anxiety for colloquies as for greyhounds. so, in an unlucky hour for himself, another "fond and vain" old gentleman--james croft, the comptroller who had already figured, not much to his credit, in the secret negotiations between the brussels and english courts--betook himself, unauthorized and alone; to the duke at bruges. here he had an interview very similar in character to that in which john rogers had been indulged, declared to farnese that the queen was most anxious for peace, and invited him to send a secret envoy to england, who would instantly have ocular demonstration of the fact. croft returned as triumphantly as the excellent doctor had done; averring that there was no doubt as to the immediate conclusion of a treaty. his grounds of belief were very similar to those upon which rogers had founded his faith. "tis a weak old man of seventy," said parma, "with very little sagacity. i am inclined to think that his colleagues are taking him in, that they may the better deceive us. i will see that they do nothing of the kind." but the movement was purely one of the comptroller's own inspiration; for sir james had a singular facility for getting himself into trouble, and for making confusion. already, when he had been scarcely a day in ostend, he had insulted the governor of the place, sir john conway, had given him the lie in the hearing of many of his own soldiers, had gone about telling all the world that he had express authority from her majesty to send him home in disgrace, and that the queen had called him a fool, and quite unfit for his post. and as if this had not been mischief-making enough, in addition to the absurd de loo and bodman negotiations of the previous year, in which he had been the principal actor, he had crowned his absurdities by this secret and officious visit to ghent. the queen, naturally very indignant at this conduct, reprehended him severely, and ordered him back to england. the comptroller was wretched. he expressed his readiness to obey her commands, but nevertheless implored his dread sovereign to take merciful consideration of the manifold misfortunes, ruin, and utter undoing, which thereby should fall upon him and his unfortunate family. all this he protested he would "nothing esteem if it tended to her majesty's pleasure or service," but seeing it should effectuate nothing but to bring the aged carcase of her poor vassal to present decay, he implored compassion upon his hoary hairs, and promised to repair the error of his former proceedings. he avowed that he would not have ventured to disobey for a moment her orders to return, but "that his aged and feeble limbs did not retain sufficient force, without present death, to comply with her commandment." and with that he took to his bed, and remained there until the queen was graciously pleased to grant him her pardon. at last, early in may--instead of the visit of richardot--there was a preliminary meeting of all the commissioners in tents on the sands; within a cannon-shot of ostend, and between that place and newport. it was a showy and ceremonious interview, in which no business was transacted. the commissioners of philip were attended by a body of one hundred and fifty light horse, and by three hundred private gentlemen in magnificent costume. la motte also came from newport with one thousand walloon cavalry while the english commissioners, on their part were escorted from ostend by an imposing array of english and dutch troops.' as the territory was spanish; the dignity of the king was supposed to be preserved, and alexander, who had promised dr. rogers that the first interview should take place within ostend itself, thought it necessary to apologize to his sovereign for so nearly keeping his word as to send the envoys within cannon-shot of the town. "the english commissioners," said he, "begged with so much submission for this concession, that i thought it as well to grant it." the spanish envoys were despatched by the duke of parma, well provided with full powers for himself, which were not desired by the english government, but unfurnished with a commission from philip, which had been pronounced indispensable. there was, therefore, much prancing of cavalry, flourishing of trumpets, and eating of oysters; at the first conference, but not one stroke of business. as the english envoys had now been three whole months in ostend, and as this was the first occasion on which they had been brought face to face with the spanish commissioners, it must be confessed that the tactics of farnese had been masterly. had the haste in the dock-yards of lisbon and cadiz been at all equal to the magnificent procrastination in the council-chambers of bruges and ghent, medina sidonia might already have been in the thames. but although little ostensible business was performed, there was one man who had always an eye to his work. the same servant in plain livery, who had accompanied secretary garnier, on his first visit to the english commissioners at ostend, had now come thither again, accompanied by a fellow-lackey. while the complimentary dinner, offered in the name of the absent farnese to the queen's representatives, was going forward, the two menials strayed off together to the downs, for the purpose of rabbit-shooting. the one of them was the same engineer who had already, on the former occasion, taken a complete survey of the fortifications of ostend; the other was no less a personage than the duke of parma himself. the pair now made a thorough examination of the town and its neighbourhood, and, having finished their reconnoitring, made the best of their way back to bruges. as it was then one of alexander's favourite objects to reduce the city of ostend, at the earliest possible moment, it must be allowed that this preliminary conference was not so barren to himself as it was to the commissioners. philip, when informed of this manoeuvre, was naturally gratified at such masterly duplicity, while he gently rebuked his nephew for exposing his valuable life; and certainly it would have been an inglorious termination to the duke's splendid career; had he been hanged as a spy within the trenches of ostend. with the other details of this first diplomatic colloquy philip was delighted. "i see you understand me thoroughly," he said. "keep the negotiation alive till my armada appears, and then carry out my determination, and replant the catholic religion on the soil of england." the queen was not in such high spirits. she was losing her temper very fast, as she became more and more convinced that she had been trifled with. no powers had been yet exhibited, no permanent place of conference fixed upon, and the cessation of arms demanded by her commissioners for england, spain, and all the netherlands, was absolutely refused. she desired her commissioners to inform the duke of parma that it greatly touched his honour--as both before their coming and afterwards, he had assured her that he had 'comision bastantissima' from his sovereign--to clear himself at once from the imputation of insincerity. "let not the duke think," she wrote with her own hand, "that we would so long time endure these many frivolous and unkindly dealings, but that we desire all the world to know our desire of a kingly peace, and that we will endure no more the like, nor any, but will return you from your charge." accordingly--by her majesty's special command--dr. dale made another visit to bruges, to discover, once for all, whether there was a commission from philip or not; and, if so, to see it with his own eyes. on the th may he had an interview with the duke. after thanking his highness for the honourable and stately manner in which the conferences had been, inaugurated near ostend, dale laid very plainly before him her majesty's complaints of the tergiversations and equivocations concerning the commission, which had now lasted three months long. in answer, alexander made a complimentary harangue; confining himself entirely to the first part of the envoy's address, and assuring him in redundant phraseology, that he should hold himself very guilty before the world, if he had not surrounded the first colloquy between the plenipotentiaries of two such mighty princes, with as much pomp as the circumstances of time and place would allow. after this superfluous rhetoric had been poured forth, he calmly dismissed the topic which dr. dale had come all the way from. ostend to discuss, by carelessly observing that president richardot would confer with him on the subject of the commission. "but," said the envoy, "tis no matter of conference or dispute. i desire simply to see the commission." "richardot and champagny shall deal with you in the afternoon," repeated alexander; and with this reply, the doctor was fair to be contented. dale then alluded to the point of cessation of arms. "although," said he, "the queen might justly require that the cessation should be general for all the king's dominion, yet in order not to stand on precise points, she is content that it should extend no further than to the towns of flushing; brief, ostend, and bergen-op-zoom." "to this he said nothing," wrote the envoy, "and so i went no further." in the afternoon dale had conference with champagny and richardot. as usual, champagny was bound hand and foot by the gout, but was as quick-witted and disputatious as ever. again dale made an earnest harangue, proving satisfactorily--as if any proof were necessary on such a point--that a commission from philip ought to be produced, and that a commission had been promised, over and over again. after a pause, both the representatives of parma began to wrangle with the envoy in very insolent fashion. "richardot is always their mouth-piece," said dale, "only champagny choppeth in at every word, and would do so likewise in ours if we would suffer it." "we shall never have done with these impertinent demands," said the president. "you ought to be satisfied with the duke's promise of ratification contained in his commission. we confess what you say concerning the former requisitions and promises to be true, but when will you have done? have we not showed it to mr. croft, one of your own colleagues? and if we show it you now, another may come to-morrow, and so we shall never have an end." "the delays come from yourselves," roundly replied the englishman, "for you refuse to do what in reason and law you are bound to do. and the more demands the more 'mora aut potius culpa' in you. you, of all men, have least cause to hold such language, who so confidently and even disdainfully answered our demand for the commission, in mr. cecil's presence, and promised to show a perfect one at the very first meeting. as for mr. comptroller croft, he came hither without the command of her majesty and without the knowledge of his colleagues." richardot then began to insinuate that, as croft had come without authority, so--for aught they could tell--might dale also. but champagny here interrupted, protested that the president was going too far, and begged him to show the commission without further argument. upon this richardot pulled out the commission from under his gown, and placed it in dr. dale's hands! it was dated th april, , signed and sealed by the king, and written in french, and was to the effect, that as there had been differences between her majesty and himself; as her majesty had sent ambassadors into the netherlands, as the duke of parma had entered into treaty with her majesty, therefore the king authorised the duke to appoint commissioners to treat, conclude, and determine all controversies and misunderstandings, confirmed any such appointments already made, and promised to ratify all that might be done by them in the premises.' dr. dale expressed his satisfaction with the tenor of this document, and begged to be furnished with a copy of it, but his was peremptorily refused. there was then a long conversation--ending, as usual, in nothing--on the two other points, the place for the conferences, namely, and the cessation of arms. nest morning dale, in taking leave of the duke of parma, expressed the gratification which he felt, and which her majesty was sure to feel at the production of the commission. it was now proved, said the envoy, that the king was as earnestly in favour of peace as the duke was himself. dale then returned, well satisfied, to ostend. in truth the commission had arrived just in time. "had i not received it soon enough to produce it then," said alexander, "the queen would have broken off the negotiations. so i ordered richardot, who is quite aware of your majesty's secret intentions, from which we shall not swerve one jot, to show it privately to croft, and afterwards to dr. dale, but without allowing a copy of it to be taken." "you have done very well," replied philip, "but that commission is, on no account, to be used, except for show. you know my mind thoroughly." thus three months had been consumed, and at last one indispensable preliminary to any negotiation had, in appearance, been performed. full powers on both sides had been exhibited. when the queen of england gave the earl of derby and his colleagues commission to treat with the king's envoys, and pledged herself beforehand to, ratify all their proceedings, she meant to perform the promise to which she had affixed her royal name and seal. she could not know that the spanish monarch was deliberately putting his name to a lie, and chuckling in secret over the credulity of his english sister, who was willing to take his word and his bond. of a certainty the english were no match for southern diplomacy. but elizabeth was now more impatient than ever that the other two preliminaries should be settled, the place of conferences, and the armistice. "be plain with the duke," she wrote to her envoys, "that we have tolerated so many weeks in tarrying a commission, that i will never endure more delays. let him know he deals with a prince who prizes her honour more than her life: make yourselves such as stand of your reputations." sharp words, but not sharp enough to prevent a further delay of a month; for it was not till the th june that the commissioners at last came together at bourbourg, that "miserable little hole," on the coast between ostend and newport, against which gamier had warned them. and now there was ample opportunity to wrangle at full length on the next preliminary, the cessation of arms. it would be superfluous to follow the altercations step by step--for negotiations there were none--and it is only for the sake of exhibiting at full length the infamy of diplomacy, when diplomacy is unaccompanied by honesty, that we are hanging up this series of pictures at all. those bloodless encounters between credulity and vanity upon one side, and gigantic fraud on the other, near those very sands of newport, and in sight of the northern ocean, where, before long, the most terrible battles, both by land and sea, which the age had yet witnessed, were to occur, are quite as full of instruction and moral as the most sanguinary combats ever waged. at last the commissioners exchanged copies of their respective powers. after four months of waiting and wrangling, so much had been achieved--a show of commissions and a selection of the place for conference. and now began the long debate about the cessation of arms. the english claimed an armistice for the whole dominion of philip and elizabeth respectively, during the term of negotiation, and for twenty days after. the spanish would grant only a temporary truce, terminable at six days' notice, and that only for the four cautionary towns of holland held by the queen. thus philip would be free to invade england at his leisure out of the obedient netherlands or spain. this was inadmissible, of course, but a week was spent at the outset in reducing the terms to writing; and when the duke's propositions were at last produced in the french tongue, they were refused by the queen's commissioners, who required that the documents should be in latin. great was the triumph of dr. dale, when, after another interval, he found their latin full of barbarisms and blunders, at which a school-boy would have blushed. the king's commissioners, however, while halting in their syntax, had kept steadily to their point. "you promised a general cessation of aims at our coming," said dale, at a conference on the / june, "and now ye have lingered five times twenty days, and nothing done at all. the world may see the delays come of you and not of us, and that ye are not so desirous of peace as ye pretend." "but as far your invasion of england," stoutly observed the earl of derby, "ye shall find it hot coming thither. england was never so ready in any former age,--neither by sea nor by land; but we would show your unreasonableness in proposing a cessation of arms by which ye would bind her majesty to forbear touching all the low countries, and yet leave yourselves at liberty to invade england." while they were thus disputing, secretary gamier rushed into the room, looking very much frightened, and announced that lord henry seymour's fleet of thirty-two ships of war was riding off gravelines, and that he had sent two men on shore who were now waiting in the ante-chamber. the men being accordingly admitted, handed letters to the english commissioners from lord henry, in which he begged to be informed in what terms they were standing, and whether they needed his assistance or countenance in the cause in which they were engaged. the envoys found his presence very "comfortable," as it showed the spanish commissioners that her majesty was so well provided as to make a cessation of arms less necessary to her than it was to the king. they therefore sent their thanks to the lord admiral, begging him to cruise for a time off dunkirk and its neighbourhood, that both their enemies and their friends might have a sight of the english ships. great was the panic all along the coast at this unexpected demonstration. the king's commissioners got into their coaches, and drove down to the coast to look at the fleet, and--so soon as they appeared--were received with such a thundering cannonade an hour long, by way of salute, as to convince them, in the opinion of the english envoys, that the queen had no cause to be afraid of any enemies afloat or ashore. but these noisy arguments were not much more effective than the interchange of diplomatic broadsides which they had for a moment superseded. the day had gone by for blank cartridges and empty protocols. nevertheless lord henry's harmless thunder was answered, the next day, by a "quintuplication" in worse latin than ever, presented to dr. dale and his colleagues by richardot and champagny, on the subject of the armistice. and then there was a return quintuplication, in choice latin, by the classic dale, and then there was a colloquy on the quintuplication, and everything that had been charged, and truly charged, by the english; was now denied by the king's commissioners; and champagny--more gouty and more irascible than ever--"chopped in" at every word spoken by king's envoys or queen's, contradicted everybody, repudiated everything said or done by andrew de loo, or any of the other secret negotiators during the past year, declared that there never had been a general cessation of arms promised, and that, at any rate, times were now changed, and such an armistice was inadmissible! then the english answered with equal impatience, and reproached the king's representatives with duplicity and want of faith, and censured them for their unseemly language, and begged to inform champagny and richardot that they had not then to deal with such persons as they might formerly have been in the habit of treating withal, but with a "great prince who did justify the honour of her actions," and they confuted the positions now assumed by their opponents with official documents and former statements from those very opponents' lips. and then, after all this diplomatic and rhetorical splutter, the high commissioners recovered their temper and grew more polite, and the king's "envoys excused themselves in a mild, merry manner," for the rudeness of their speeches, and the queen's envoys accepted their apologies with majestic urbanity, and so they separated for the day in a more friendly manner than they had done the day before.' "you see to what a scholar's shift we have been driven for want of resolution," said valentine dale. "if we should linger here until there should be broken heads, in what case we should be god knoweth. for i can trust champagny and richardot no farther than i can see them." and so the whole month of june passed by; the english commissioners "leaving no stone unturned to get a quiet cessation of arms in general terms," and being constantly foiled; yet perpetually kept in hope that the point would soon be carried. at the same time the signs of the approaching invasion seemed to thicken. "in my opinion," said dale, "as phormio spake in matters of wars, it were very requisite that my lord harry should be always on this coast, for they will steal out from hence as closely as they can, either to join with the spanish navy or to land, and they may be very easily scattered, by god's grace." and, with the honest pride of a protocol-maker, he added, "our postulates do trouble the king's commissioners very much, and do bring them to despair." the excellent doctor had not even yet discovered that the king's commissioners were delighted with his postulates; and that to have kept them postulating thus five months in succession, while naval and military preparations were slowly bringing forth a great event--which was soon to strike them with as much amazement as if the moon had fallen out of heaven--was one of the most decisive triumphs ever achieved by spanish diplomacy. but the doctor thought that his logic had driven the king of spain to despair. at the same time he was not insensible to the merits of another and more peremptory style of rhetoric,--"i pray you," said he to walsingham, "let us hear some arguments from my lord harry out of her majesty's navy now and then. i think they will do more good than any bolt that we can shoot here. if they be met with at their going out, there is no possibility for them to make any resistance, having so few men that can abide the sea; for the rest, as you know, must be sea-sick at first." but the envoys were completely puzzled. even at the beginning of july, sir james croft was quite convinced of the innocence of the king and the duke; but croft was in his dotage. as for dale, he occasionally opened his eyes, and his ears, but more commonly kept them well closed to the significance of passing events; and consoled himself with his protocols and his classics, and the purity of his own latin. "'tis a very wise saying of terence," said he, "omnibus nobis ut res dant sese; ita magni aut humiles sumus.' when the king's commissioners hear of the king's navy from spain, they are in such jollity that they talk loud. . . . in the mean time--as the wife of bath sath in chaucer by her husband, we owe them not a word. if we should die tomorrow; i hope her majesty will find by our writings that the honour of the cause, in the opinion of the world, must be with her majesty; and that her commissioners are, neither of such imperfection in their reasons, or so barbarous in language, as they who fail not, almost in every line, of some barbarism not to be borne in a grammar-school, although in subtleness and impudent affirming of untruths and denying of truths, her commissioners are not in any respect to match with champagny and richardot, who are doctors in that faculty." it might perhaps prove a matter of indifference to elizabeth and to england, when the queen should be a state-prisoner in spain and the inquisition quietly established in her kingdom, whether the world should admit or not, in case of his decease, the superiority of dr. dale's logic and latin to those of his antagonists. and even if mankind conceded the best of the argument to the english diplomatists, that diplomacy might seem worthless which could be blind to the colossal falsehoods growing daily before its eyes. had the commissioners been able to read the secret correspondence between parma and his master--as we have had the opportunity of doing--they would certainly not have left their homes in february, to be made fools of until july; but would, on their knees, have implored their royal mistress to awake from her fatal delusion before it should be too late. even without that advantage, it seems incredible that they should have been unable to pierce through the atmosphere of duplicity which surrounded them, and to obtain one clear glimpse of the destruction so, steadily advancing upon england. for the famous bull of sixtus v. had now been fulminated. elizabeth had bean again denounced as a bastard and usurper, and her kingdom had been solemnly conferred upon philip, with title of defender of the christian, faith, to have and to hold as tributary and feudatory of rome. the so-called queen had usurped the crown contrary to the ancient treaties between the apostolic stool and the kingdom of england, which country, on its reconciliation with the head of the church after the death of st. thomas of canterbury, had recognised the necessity of the pope's consent in the succession to its throne; she had deserved chastisement for the terrible tortures inflicted by her upon english catholics and god's own saints; and it was declared an act of virtue, to be repaid with plenary indulgence and forgiveness of all sins, to lay violent hands on the usurper, and deliver her into the hands of the catholic party. and of the holy league against the usurper, philip was appointed the head, and alexander of parma chief commander. this document was published in large numbers in antwerp in the english tongue. the pamphlet of dr. allen, just named cardinal, was also translated in the same city, under the direction of the duke of parma, in-order to be distributed throughout england, on the arrival in that kingdom of the catholic troops. the well-known 'admonition to the nobility and people of england and ireland' accused the queen of every crime and vice which can pollute humanity; and was filled with foul details unfit for the public eye in these more decent days. so soon as the intelligence of these publications reached england, the queen ordered her commissioners at bourbourg to take instant cognizance of them, and to obtain a categorical explanation on the subject from alexander himself: as if an explanation were possible, as if the designs of sixtus, philip, and alexander, could any longer be doubted, and as if the duke were more likely now than before to make a succinct statement of them for the benefit of her majesty. "having discovered," wrote elizabeth on the th july (n.s.), "that this treaty of peace is entertained only to abuse us, and being many ways given to understand that the preparations which have so long been making, and which now are consummated, both in spain and the low countries, are purposely to be employed against us and our country; finding that, for the furtherance of these exploits, there is ready to be published a vile, slanderous, and blasphemous book, containing as many lies as lines, entitled, 'an admonition,' &c., and contrived by a lewd born-subject of ours, now become an arrant traitor, named dr. allen, lately made, a cardinal at rome; as also a bull of the pope, whereof we send you a copy, both very lately brought into those low countries, the one whereof is already printed at antwerp, in a great multitude; in the english tongue, and the other ordered to be printed, only to stir up our subjects, contrary to the laws of god and their allegiance, to join with such foreign purposes as are prepared against us and our realm, to come out of those low countries and out of spain; and as it appears by the said bull that the duke of parma is expressly named and chosen by the pope and the king of spain to be principal executioner of these intended enterprises, we cannot think it honourable for us to continue longer the treaty of peace with them that, under colour of treaty, arm themselves with all the power they can to a bloody war." accordingly the queen commanded dr. dale, as one of the commissioners, to proceed forthwith to the duke, in order to obtain explanations as to his contemplated conquest of her realm, and as to his share in the publication of the bull and pamphlet, and to "require him, as he would be accounted a prince of honour, to let her plainly understand what she might think thereof." the envoy was to assure him that the queen would trust implicitly to his statement, to adjure him to declare the truth, and, in case he avowed the publications and the belligerent intentions suspected, to demand instant safe-conduct to england for her commissioners, who would, of course, instantly leave the netherlands. on the other hand, if the duke disavowed those infamous documents, he was to be requested to punish the printers, and have the books burned by the hangman? dr. dale, although suffering from cholic, was obliged to set forth, at once upon what he felt would be a bootless journey. at his return--which was upon the nd of july (n.s.)the shrewd old gentleman had nearly arrived at the opinion that her majesty might as well break off the negotiations. he had a "comfortless voyage and a ticklish message;" found all along the road signs of an approaching enterprise, difficult to be mistaken; reported , veteran spaniards, to which force stanley's regiment was united; italians, germans, all with pikes, corselets, and slash swords complete; besides , walloons. the transports for the cavalry at gravelingen he did not see, nor was he much impressed with what he heard as to the magnitude of the naval preparations at newport. he was informed that the duke was about making a foot-pilgrimage from brussels to our lady of halle, to implore victory for his banners, and had daily evidence of the soldier's expectation to invade and to "devour england." all this had not tended to cure him of the low spirits with which he began the journey. nevertheless, although he was unable--as will be seen--to report an entirely satisfactory answer from farnese to the queen upon the momentous questions entrusted to him, he, at least, thought of a choice passage in 'the aeneid,' so very apt to the circumstances, as almost to console him for the "pangs of his cholic" and the terrors of the approaching invasion. "i have written two or three verses out of virgil for the queen to read," said he, "which i pray your lordship to present unto her. god grant her to weigh them. if your lordship do read the whole discourse of virgil in that place, it will make your heart melt. observe the report of the ambassadors that were sent to diomedes to make war against the trojans, for the old hatred that he, being a grecian, did bear unto them; and note the answer of diomedes dissuading them from entering into war with the trojans, the perplexity of the king, the miseries of the country, the reasons of drances that spake against them which would have war, the violent persuasions of turnus to war; and note, i pray you; one word, 'nec te ullius violentia frangat.' what a lecture could i make with mr. cecil upon that passage in virgil!" the most important point for the reader to remark is the date of this letter. it was received in the very last days of the month of july. let him observe--as he will soon have occasion to do--the events which were occurring on land and sea, exactly at the moment when this classic despatch reached its destination, and judge whether the hearts of the queen and lord burghley would be then quite at leisure to melt at the sorrows of the trojan war. perhaps the doings of drake and howard, medina sidonia, and ricalde, would be pressing as much on their attention as the eloquence of diomede or the wrath of turnus. yet it may be doubted whether the reports of these grecian envoys might not in truth, be almost as much to the purpose as the despatches of the diplomatic pedant, with his virgil and his cholic, into whose hands grave matters of peace and war were entrusted in what seemed the day of england's doom. "what a lecture i could make with mr. cecil on the subject!--" an english ambassador, at the court of philip ii.'s viceroy, could indulge himself in imaginary prelections on the aeneid, in the last days of july, of the year of our lord ! the doctor, however--to do him justice--had put the questions categorically, to his highness as he had been instructed to do. he went to bruges so mysteriously; that no living man, that side the sea, save lord derby and lord cobham, knew the cause of his journey. poor-puzzling james croft, in particular, was moved almost to tears, by being kept out of the secret. on the / july dale had audience of the duke at bruges. after a few commonplaces, he was invited by the duke to state what special purpose had brought him to bruges. "there is a book printed at antwerp," said dale, "and set forth by a fugitive from england, who calleth himself a cardinal." upon this the duke began diligently to listen. "this book," resumed dale, "is an admonition to the nobility and people of england and ireland touching the execution of the sentence of the pope against the queen which the king catholic hath entrusted to your highness as chief of the enterprise. there is also a bull of the pope declaring my sovereign mistress illegitimate and an usurper, with other matters too odious for any prince or gentleman to name or hear. in this bull the pope saith that he hath dealt with the most catholic king to employ all the means in his power to the deprivation and deposition of my sovereign, and doth charge her subjects to assist the army appointed by the king catholic for that purpose, under the conduct of your highness. therefore her majesty would be satisfied from your highness in that point, and will take satisfaction of none other; not doubting but that as you are a prince of word and credit; you will deal plainly with her majesty. whatsoever it may be, her majesty will not take it amiss against your highness, so she may only be informed by you of the truth. wherefore i do require you to satisfy the queen." "i am glad," replied the duke, "that her majesty and her commissioners do take in good part my good-will towards them. i am especially touched by the good opinion her majesty hath of my sincerity, which i should be glad always to maintain. as to the book to which you refer, i have never read it, nor seen it, nor do i take heed of it. it may well be that her majesty, whom it concerneth, should take notice of it; but, for my part, i have nought to do with it, nor can i prevent men from writing or printing at their pleasure. i am at the commandment of my master only." as alexander made no reference to the pope's bull, dr. dale observed, that if a war had been, of purpose, undertaken at the instance of the pope, all this negotiation had been in vain, and her majesty would be obliged to withdraw her commissioners, not doubting that they would receive safe-conduct as occasion should require. "yea, god forbid else," replied alexander; "and further, i know nothing of any bull of the pope, nor do i care for any, nor do i undertake anything for him. but as for any misunderstanding (mal entendu) between my master and her majesty, i must, as a soldier, act at the command of my sovereign. for my part, i have always had such respect for her majesty, being so noble a queen, as that i would never hearken to anything that might be reproachful to her. after my master, i would do most to serve your queen, and i hope she will take my word for her satisfaction on that point. and for avoiding of bloodshed and the burning of houses and such other calamities as do follow the wars, i have been a petitioner to my sovereign that all things might be ended quietly by a peace. that is a thing, however," added the duke; "which you have more cause to desire than we; for if the king my master, should lose a battle, he would be able to recover it well enough, without harm to himself, being far enough off in spain, while, if the battle be lost on your side, you may lose kingdom and all." "by god's sufferance," rejoined the doctor, "her majesty is not without means to defend her crown, that hath descended to her from so long a succession of ancestors. moreover your highness knows very well that one battle cannot conquer a kingdom in another country." "well," said the duke, "that is in god's hand." "so it is," said the doctor. "but make an end of it," continued alexander quietly, "and if you have anything to put into writing; you will do me a pleasure by sending it to me." dr. valentine dale was not the man to resist the temptation to make a protocol, and promised one for the next day. "i am charged only to give your highness satisfaction," he said, "as to her majesty's sincere intentions, which have already been published to the world in english, french, and italian, in the hope that you may also satisfy the queen upon this other point. i am but one of her commissioners, and could not deal without my colleagues. i crave leave to depart to-morrow morning, and with safe-convoy, as i had in coming." after the envoy had taken leave, the duke summoned andrea de loo, and related to him the conversation which had taken place. he then, in the presence of that personage, again declared--upon his honour and with very constant affirmations, that he had never seen nor heard of the book--the 'admonition' by cardinal allen--and that he knew nothing of any bull, and had no regard to it.' the plausible andrew accompanied the doctor to his lodgings, protesting all the way of his own and his master's sincerity, and of their unequivocal intentions to conclude a peace. the next day the doctor, by agreement, brought a most able protocol of demands in the name of all the commissioners of her majesty; which able protocol the duke did not at that moment read, which he assuredly never read subsequently, and which no human soul ever read afterwards. let the dust lie upon it, and upon all the vast heaps of protocols raised mountains high during the spring and summer of . "dr. dale has been with me two or three, times," said parma, in giving his account of these interviews to philip. "i don't know why he came, but i think he wished to make it appear, by coming to bruges, that the rupture, when it occurs, was caused by us, not by the english. he has been complaining of cardinal allen's book, and i told him that i didn't understand a word of english, and knew nothing whatever of the matter." it has been already seen that the duke had declared, on his word of honour, that he had never heard of the famous pamphlet. yet at that very moment letters were lying in his cabinet, received more than a fortnight before from philip, in which that monarch thanked alexander for having had the cardinal's book translated at antwerp! certainly few english diplomatists could be a match for a highness so liberal of his word of honour. but even dr. dale had at last convinced himself--even although the duke knew nothing of bull or pamphlet--that mischief was brewing against england. the sagacious man, having seen large bodies of spaniards and walloons making such demonstrations of eagerness to be led against his country, and "professing it as openly as if they were going to a fair or market," while even alexander himself could "no more hide it than did henry viii. when he went to boulogne," could not help suspecting something amiss. his colleague, however, comptroller croft, was more judicious, for he valued himself on taking a sound, temperate, and conciliatory view of affairs. he was not the man to offend a magnanimous neighbour--who meant nothing unfriendly by regarding his manoeuvres with superfluous suspicion. so this envoy wrote to lord burghley on the nd august (n.s.)--let the reader mark the date--that, "although a great doubt had been conceived as to the king's sincerity, . . . . yet that discretion and experience induced him--the envoy--to think, that besides the reverent opinion to be had of princes' oaths, and the general incommodity which will come by the contrary, god had so balanced princes' powers in that age, as they rather desire to assure themselves at home, than with danger to invade their neighbours." perhaps the mariners of england--at that very instant exchanging broadsides off the coast of devon and dorset with the spanish armada, and doing their best to protect their native land from the most horrible calamity which had ever impended over it--had arrived at a less reverent opinion of princes' oaths; and it was well for england in that supreme hour that there were such men as howard and drake, and winter and frobisher, and a whole people with hearts of oak to defend her, while bungling diplomatists and credulous dotards were doing their best to imperil her existence. etext editor's bookmarks: bungling diplomatists and credulous dotards fitter to obey than to command full of precedents and declamatory commonplaces i am a king that will be ever known not to fear any but god infamy of diplomacy, when diplomacy is unaccompanied by honesty mendacity may always obtain over innocence and credulity never did statesmen know better how not to do pray here for satiety, (said cecil) than ever think of variety simple truth was highest skill strength does a falsehood acquire in determined and skilful hand that crowned criminal, philip the second chapter xviii. , part . dangerous discord in north holland--leicester's resignation arrives --enmity of willoughby and maurice--willoughby's dark picture of affairs--hatred between states and leicestrians--maurice's answer to the queen's charges--end of sonoy's rebellion--philip foments the civil war in france--league's threats and plots against henry--mucio arrives in paris--he is received with enthusiasm--the king flies, and spain triumphs in paris--states expostulate with the queen-- english statesmen still deceived--deputies from netherland churches --hold conference with the queen--and present long memorials--more conversations with the queen--national spirit of england and holland--dissatisfaction with queen's course--bitter complaints of lord howard--want of preparation in army and navy--sanguine statements of leicester--activity of parma--the painful suspense continues. but it is necessary-in order to obtain a complete picture of that famous year , and to understand the cause from which such great events were springing--to cast a glance at the internal politics of the states most involved in philip's meshes. certainly, if there had ever been a time when the new commonwealth of the netherlands should be both united in itself and on thoroughly friendly terms with england, it was exactly that epoch of which we are treating. there could be no reasonable doubt that the designs of spain against england were hostile, and against holland revengeful. it was at least possible that philip meant to undertake the conquest of england, and to undertake it as a stepping-stone to the conquest of holland. both the kingdom and the republic should have been alert, armed, full of suspicion towards the common foe, full of confidence in each other. what decisive blows might have been struck against parma in the netherlands, when his troops were starving, sickly, and mutinous, if the hollanders and englishmen had been united under one chieftain, and thoroughly convinced of the impossibility of peace! could the english and dutch statesmen of that day have read all the secrets of their great enemy's heart, as it is our privilege at this hour to do, they would have known that in sudden and deadly strokes lay their best chance of salvation. but, without that advantage, there were men whose sagacity told them that it was the hour for deeds and not for dreams. for to leicester and walsingham, as well as to paul buys and barneveld, peace with spain seemed an idle vision. it was unfortunate that they were overruled by queen elizabeth and burghley, who still clung to that delusion; it was still more disastrous that the intrigues of leicester had done so much to paralyze the republic; it was almost fatal that his departure, without laying down his authority, had given the signal for civil war. during the winter, spring, and summer of , while the duke--in the face of mighty obstacles--was slowly proceeding with his preparations in flanders, to co-operate with the armaments from spain, it would have been possible by a combined movement to destroy his whole plan, to liberate all the netherlands, and to avert, by one great effort, the ruin impending over england. instead of such vigorous action, it was thought wiser to send commissioners, to make protocols, to ask for armistices, to give profusely to the enemy that which he was most in need of--time. meanwhile the hollanders and english could quarrel comfortably among themselves, and the little republic, for want of a legal head, could come as near as possible to its dissolution. young maurice--deep thinker for his years and peremptory in action--was not the man to see his great father's life-work annihilated before his eyes, so long as he had an arm and brain of his own. he accepted his position at the head of the government of holland and zeeland, and as chief of the war-party. the council of state, mainly composed of leicester's creatures, whose commissions would soon expire by their own limitation, could offer but a feeble resistance to such determined individuals as maurice, buys, and barneveld. the party made rapid progress. on the other hand, the english leicestrians did their best to foment discord in the provinces. sonoy was sustained in his rebellion in north holland, not only by the earl's partizans, but by elizabeth herself. her rebukes to maurice, when maurice was pursuing the only course which seemed to him consistent with honour and sound policy, were sharper than a sword. well might duplessis mornay observe, that the commonwealth had been rather strangled than embraced by the english queen. sonoy, in the name of leicester, took arms against maurice and the states; maurice marched against him; and lord willoughby, commander-in-chief of the english forces, was anxious to march against maurice. it was a spectacle to make angels weep, that of englishmen and hollanders preparing to cut each other's throats, at the moment when philip and parma were bending all their energies to crush england and holland at once. indeed, the interregnum between the departure of leicester and his abdication was diligently employed by his more reckless partizans to defeat and destroy the authority of the states. by prolonging the interval, it was hoped that no government would be possible except the arbitrary rule of the earl, or of a successor with similar views: for a republic--a free commonwealth--was thought an absurdity. to entrust supreme power to advocates; merchants, and mechanics, seemed as hopeless as it was vulgar. willoughby; much devoted to leicester and much detesting barneveld, had small scruple in fanning the flames of discord. there was open mutiny against the states by the garrison of gertruydenberg, and willoughby's brother-in-law, captain wingfield, commanded in gertruydenberg. there were rebellious demonstrations in naarden, and willoughby went to naarden. the garrison was troublesome, but most of the magistrates were firm. so willoughby supped with the burgomasters, and found that paul buys had been setting the people against queen elizabeth, leicester, and the whole english nation, making them all odious. colonel dorp said openly that it was a shame for the country to refuse their own natural-born count for strangers. he swore that he would sing his song whose bread he had eaten. a "fat militia captain" of the place, one soyssons, on the other hand, privately informed willoughby that maurice and barneveld were treating underhand with spain. willoughby was inclined to believe the calumny, but feared that his corpulent friend would lose his head for reporting it. meantime the english commander did his best to strengthen the english party in their rebellion against the states. "but how if they make war upon us?" asked the leicestrians. "it is very likely," replied willoughby, "that if they use violence you will have her majesty's assistance, and then you who continue constant to the end will be rewarded accordingly. moreover, who would not rather be a horse-keeper to her majesty, than a captain to barneveld or buys?" when at last the resignation of leicester--presented to the states by killegrew on the st march--seemed to promise comparative repose to the republic, the vexation of the leicestrians was intense. their efforts to effect a dissolution of the government had been rendered unsuccessful, when success seemed within their grasp. "albeit what is once executed cannot be prevented," said captain champernoun; "yet 'tis thought certain that if the resignation of lord leicester's commission had been deferred yet some little time; the whole country and towns would have so revolted and mutinied against the government and authority of the states, as that they should have had no more credit given them by the people than pleased her majesty. most part of the people could see--in consequence of the troubles, discontent, mutiny of garrisons, and the like, that it was most necessary for the good success of their affairs that the power of the states should be abolished, and the whole government of his excellency erected. as these matters were busily working into the likelihood of some good effect, came the resignation of his excellency's commission and authority, which so dashed the proceedings of it, as that all people and commanders well affected unto her majesty and my lord of leicester are utterly discouraged. the states, with their adherents, before they had any lord's resignations were much perplexed what course to take, but now begin to hoist their heads." the excellent leicestrian entertained hopes, however; that mutiny and intrigue might still carry the day. he had seen the fat militiaman of naarden and other captains, and, hoped much mischief from their schemes. "the chief mutineers of gertruydenberg," he said, "maybe wrought to send unto 'the states, that if they do not procure them some english governor, they will compound with the enemy, whereon the states shall be driven to request her majesty to accept the place, themselves entertaining the garrison. i know certain captains discontented with the states for arrears of pay, who will contrive to get into naarden with their companies, with the states consent, who, once entered, will keep the place for their satisfaction, pay their soldiers out of the contributions of the country; and yet secretly hold the place at her majesty's command." this is not an agreeable picture; yet it is but one out of many examples of the intrigues by which leicester and his party were doing their best to destroy the commonwealth of the netherlands at a moment when its existence was most important to that of england. to foment mutiny in order to subvert the authority of maurice, was not a friendly or honourable course of action either towards holland or england; and it was to play into the hands of philip as adroitly as his own stipendiaries could have done. with mischief-makers like champernoun in every city, and with such diplomatists at ostend as croft and ropers and valentine dale, was it wonderful that the king and the duke of parma found time to mature their plans for the destruction of both countries? lord willoughby, too, was extremely dissatisfied with his own position. he received no commission from the queen for several months. when it at last reached him, it seemed inadequate, and he became more sullen than ever. he declared that he would rather serve the queen as a private soldier, at his own expense--"lean as his purse was"--than accept the limited authority conferred on him. he preferred to show his devotion "in a beggarly state, than in a formal show." he considered it beneath her majesty's dignity that he should act in the field under the states, but his instructions forbade his acceptance of any office from that body but that of general in their service. he was very discontented, and more anxious than ever to be rid of his functions. without being extremely ambitious, he was impatient of control. he desired not "a larger-shaped coat," but one that fitted him better. "i wish to shape my garment homely, after my cloth," he said, "that the better of my parish may not be misled by my sumptuousness. i would live quietly, without great noise, my poor roof low and near the ground, not subject to be overblown with unlooked-for storms, while the sun seems most shining." being the deadly enemy of the states and their leaders, it was a matter of course that he should be bitter against maurice. that young prince, bold, enterprising, and determined, as he was, did not ostensibly meddle with political affairs more than became his years; but he accepted the counsels of the able statesmen in whom his father had trusted. riding, hunting, and hawking, seemed to be his chief delight at the hague, in the intervals of military occupations. he rarely made his appearance in the state-council during the winter, and referred public matters to the states-general, to the states of holland, to barneveld, buys, and hohenlo. superficial observers like george gilpin regarded him as a cipher; others, like robert cecil, thought him an unmannerly schoolboy; but willoughby, although considering him insolent and conceited, could not deny his ability. the peace partisans among the burghers--a very small faction--were furious against him, for they knew that maurice of nassau represented war. they accused of deep designs against the liberties of their country the youth who was ever ready to risk his life in their defence. a burgomaster from friesland, who had come across the zuyder zee to intrigue against the states' party, was full of spleen at being obliged to dance attendance for a long time at the hague. he complained that count maurice, green of years, and seconded by greener counsellors, was meditating the dissolution of the state-council, the appointment of a new board from his own creatures, the overthrow of all other authority, and the assumption of the sovereignty of holland and zeeland, with absolute power. "and when this is done;" said the rueful burgomaster, "he and his turbulent fellows may make what terms they like with spain, to the disadvantage of the queen and of us poor wretches." but there was nothing farther from the thoughts of the turbulent fellows than any negotiations with spain. maurice was ambitious enough, perhaps, but his ambition ran in no such direction. willoughby knew better; and thought that by humouring the petulant young man it might be possible to manage him. "maurice is young," he said, "hot-headed; coveting honour. if we do but look at him through our fingers, without much words, but with providence enough, baiting his hook a little to his appetite, there is no doubt but he might be caught and kept in a fish-pool; while in his imagination he may judge it a sea. if not, 'tis likely he will make us fish in troubled waters." maurice was hardly the fish for a mill-pond even at that epoch, and it might one day be seen whether or not he could float in the great ocean of events. meanwhile, he swam his course without superfluous gambols or spoutings. the commander of her majesty's forces was not satisfied with the states, nor their generals, nor their politicians. "affairs are going 'a malo in pejus,'" he said. "they embrace their liberty as apes their young. to this end are counts hollock and maurice set upon the stage to entertain the popular sort. her majesty and my lord of leicester are not forgotten. the counts are in holland, especially hollock, for the other is but the cipher. and yet i can assure you maurice hath wit and spirit too much for his time." as the troubles of the interregnum increased willoughby was more dissatisfied than ever with the miserable condition of the provinces, but chose to ascribe it to the machinations of the states' party, rather than to the ambiguous conduct of leicester. "these evils," he said, "are especially, derived from the childish ambition of the young count maurice, from the covetous and furious counsels of the proud hollanders, now chief of the states-general, and, if with pardon it may be said, from our slackness and coldness to entertain our friends. the provident and wiser sort--weighing what a slender ground the appetite of a young man is, unfurnished with the sinews of war to manage so great a cause--for a good space after my lord of leicester's departure, gave him far looking on, to see him play has part on the stage." willoughby's spleen caused him to mix his metaphors more recklessly than strict taste would warrant, but his violent expressions painted the relative situation of parties more vividly than could be done by a calm disquisition. maurice thus playing his part upon the stage--as the general proceeded to observe--"was a skittish horse, becoming by little and little assured of what he had feared, and perceiving the harmlessness thereof; while his companions, finding no safety of neutrality in so great practices, and no overturning nor barricado to stop his rash wilded chariot, followed without fear; and when some of the first had passed the bog; the rest, as the fashion is, never started after. the variable democracy; embracing novelty, began to applaud their prosperity; the base and lewdest sorts of men, to whom there is nothing more agreeable than change of estates, is a better monture to degrees than their merit, took present hold thereof. hereby paul buys, barneveld, and divers others, who were before mantled with a tolerable affection, though seasoned with a poisoned intention, caught the occasion, and made themselves the beelzebubs of all these mischiefs, and, for want of better angels, spared not to let fly our golden-winged ones in the name of guilders, to prepare the hearts and hands that hold money more dearer than honesty, of which sort, the country troubles and the spanish practices having suckled up many, they found enough to serve their purpose. as the breach is safely saltable where no defence is made, so they, finding no head, but those scattered arms that were disavowed, drew the sword with peter, and gave pardon with the pope, as you shall plainly perceive by the proceedings at horn. thus their force; fair words, or corruption, prevailing everywhere, it grew to this conclusion--that the worst were encouraged with their good success, and the best sort assured of no fortune or favour." out of all this hubbub of stage-actors, skittish horses, rash wilded chariots, bogs, beelzebubs, and golden-winged angels, one truth was distinctly audible; that beelzebub, in the shape of barneveld, had been getting the upper hand in the netherlands, and that the lecestrians were at a disadvantage. in truth those partisans were becoming extremely impatient. finding themselves deserted by their great protector, they naturally turned their eyes towards spain, and were now threatening to sell themselves to philip. the earl, at his departure, had given them privately much encouragement. but month after month had passed by while they were waiting in vain for comfort. at last the "best"--that is to say, the unhappy leicestrians--came to willoughby, asking his advice in their "declining and desperate cause." "well nigh a month longer," said that general, "i nourished them with compliments, and assured them that my lord of leicester would take care of them." the diet was not fattening. so they began to grumble more loudly than ever, and complained with great bitterness of the miserable condition in which they had been left by the earl, and expressed their fears lest the queen likewise meant to abandon them. they protested that their poverty, their powerful foes, and their slow friends, would compel them either to make their peace with the states' party, or "compound with the enemy." it would have seemed that real patriots, under such circumstances, would hardly hesitate in their choice, and would sooner accept the dominion of "beelzebub," or even paul buys, than that of philip ii. but the leicestrians of utrecht and friesland--patriots as they were--hated holland worse than they hated the inquisition. willoughby encouraged them in that hatred. he assured him of her majesty's affection for them, complained of the factious proceedings of the states, and alluded to the unfavourable state of the weather, as a reason why--near four months long--they had not received the comfort out of england which they had a right to expect. he assured them that neither the queen nor leicester would conclude this honourable action, wherein much had been hazarded, "so rawly and tragically" as they seemed to fear, and warned them, that "if they did join with holland, it would neither ease nor help them, but draw them into a more dishonourable loss of their liberties; and that, after having wound them in, the hollanders would make their own peace with the enemy." it seemed somewhat unfair-while the queen's government was straining every nerve to obtain a peace from philip, and while the hollanders were obstinately deaf to any propositions for treating--that willoughby should accuse them of secret intentions to negotiate. but it must be confessed that faction has rarely worn a more mischievous aspect than was presented by the politics of holland and england in the winter and spring of . young maurice was placed in a very painful position. he liked not to be "strangled in the great queen's embrace;" but he felt most keenly the necessity of her friendship, and the importance to both countries of a close alliance. it was impossible for him, however, to tolerate the rebellion of sonoy, although sonoy was encouraged by elizabeth, or to fly in the face of barneveld, although barneveld was detested by leicester. so with much firmness and courtesy, notwithstanding the extravagant pictures painted by willoughby, he suppressed mutiny in holland, while avowing the most chivalrous attachment to the sovereign of england. her majesty expressed her surprise and her discontent, that, notwithstanding his expressions of devotion to herself, he should thus deal with sonoy, whose only crime was an equal devotion. "if you do not behave with more moderation in future," she said, "you may believe that we are not a princess of so little courage as not to know how to lend a helping hand to those who are unjustly oppressed. we should be sorry if we had cause to be disgusted with your actions, and if we were compelled to make you a stranger to the ancient good affection which we bore to your late father, and have continued towards yourself." but maurice maintained a dignified attitude, worthy of his great father's name. he was not the man to crouch like leicester, when he could no longer refresh himself in the "shadow of the queen's golden beams," important as he knew her friendship to be to himself and his country. so he defended himself in a manly letter to the privy council against the censures of elizabeth. he avowed his displeasure, that, within his own jurisdiction, sonoy should give a special oath of obedience to leicester; a thing never done before in the country, and entirely illegal. it would not even be tolerated in england, he said, if a private gentleman should receive a military appointment in warwickshire or norfolk without the knowledge of the lord-lieutenant of the shire. he had treated the contumacious sonoy with mildness during a long period, but without effect. he had abstained from violence towards him, out of reverence to the queen, under whose sacred name he sheltered himself. sonoy had not desisted, but had established himself in organized rebellion at medenblik, declaring that he would drown the whole country, and levy black-mail upon its whole property, if he were not paid one hundred thousand crowns. he had declared that he would crush holland like a glass beneath his feet. having nothing but religion in his mouth, and protecting himself with the queen's name, he had been exciting all the cities of north holland to rebellion, and bringing the poor people to destruction. he had been offered money enough to satisfy the most avaricious soldier in the world, but he stood out for six years' full pay for his soldiers, a demand with which it was impossible to comply. it was necessary to prevent him from inundating the land and destroying the estates of the country gentlemen and the peasants. "this gentlemen," said maurice, "is the plain truth; nor do i believe that you will sustain against me a man who was under such vast obligations to my late father, and who requites his debt by daring to speak of myself as a rascal; or that you will countenance his rebellion against a country to which he brought only, his cloak and sword, and, whence he has filched one hundred thousand crowns. you will not, i am sure, permit a simple captain, by his insubordination to cause such mischief, and to set on fire this and other provinces. "if, by your advice," continued the count; "the queen should appoint fitting' personages to office here--men who know what honour is; born of illustrious and noble-race, or who by their great virtue have been elevated to the honours of the kingdom--to them i will render an account of my actions. and it shall appear that i have more ability and more desire to do my duty, to her majesty than those who render her lip-service only, and only make use of her sacred name to fill their purses, while i and, mine have been ever ready to employ our lives, and what remains of our fortunes, in the cause of god, her majesty, and our country." certainly no man had a better right: to speak with consciousness of the worth of race than the son of william the silent, the nephew of lewis, adolphus, and henry of nassau, who had all laid down their lives for the liberty of their country. but elizabeth continued to threaten the states-general, through the mouth of willoughby, with the loss of her protection, if they should continue thus to requite her favours with ingratitude and insubordination: and maurice once more respectfully but firmly replied that sonoy's rebellion could not and would not be tolerated; appealing boldly to her sense of justice, which was the noblest attribute of kings. at last the queen informed willoughby, that--as the cause of sonoy's course seemed to be his oath of obedience to leicester, whose resignation of office had not yet been received in the netherlands--she had now ordered councillor killigrew to communicate the fact of that resignation. she also wrote to sonoy, requiring him to obey the states and count maurice, and to accept a fresh commission from them, or at least to surrender medenblik, and to fulfil all their orders with zeal and docility. this act of abdication by leicester, which had been received on the nd of january by the english envoy, herbert, at the moment of his departure from the netherlands, had been carried back by him to england, on the ground that its communication to the states at that moment would cause him inconveniently to postpone his journey. it never officially reached the states-general until the st of march, so that this most dangerous crisis was protracted nearly five months long--certainly without necessity or excuse--and whether through design, malice, wantonness, or incomprehensible carelessness, it is difficult to say. so soon as the news reached sonoy, that contumacious chieftain found his position untenable, and he allowed the states' troops to take possession of medenblik, and with it the important territory of north holland. maurice now saw himself undisputed governor. sonoy was in the course of the summer deprived of all office, and betook himself to england. here he was kindly received by the queen, who bestowed upon him a ruined tower, and a swamp among the fens of lincolnshire. he brought over some of his countrymen, well-skilled in such operations, set himself to draining and dyking, and hoped to find himself at home and comfortable in his ruined tower. but unfortunately, as neither he nor his wife, notwithstanding their english proclivities, could speak a word of the language; they found their social enjoyments very limited. moreover, as his work-people were equally without the power of making their wants understood, the dyking operations made but little progress. so the unlucky colonel soon abandoned his swamp, and retired to east friesland, where he lived a morose and melancholy life on a pension of one thousand florins, granted him by the states of holland, until the year , when he lost his mind, fell into the fire, and thus perished. and thus; in the netherlands, through hollow negotiations between enemies and ill-timed bickerings among friends, the path of philip and parma had been made comparatively smooth during the spring and early summer of . what was the aspect of affairs in germany and france? the adroit capture of bonn by martin schenk had given much trouble. parma was obliged to detach a strong force; under prince chimay, to attempt the recovery of that important place, which--so long as it remained in the power of the states--rendered the whole electorate insecure and a source of danger to the spanish party. farnese endeavoured in vain to win back the famous partizan by most liberal offers, for he felt bitterly the mistake he had made in alienating so formidable a freebooter. but the truculent martin remained obdurate and irascible. philip, much offended that the news of his decease had proved false, ordered rather than requested the emperor rudolph to have a care that nothing was done in germany to interfere with the great design upon england. the king gave warning that he would suffer no disturbance from that quarter, but certainly the lethargic condition of germany rendered such threats superfluous. there were riders enough, and musketeers enough, to be sold to the highest bidder. german food for powder was offered largely in the market to any foreign consumer, for the trade in their subjects', lives was ever a prolific source of revenue to the petty sovereigns--numerous as the days of the year--who owned germany and the germans. the mercenaries who had so recently been, making their inglorious campaign in france had been excluded from that country at the close of , and furious were the denunciations of the pulpits and the populace of paris that the foreign brigands who had been devastating the soil of france, and attempting to oppose the decrees of the holy father of rome, should; have made their escape so easily. rabid lincestre and other priests and monks foamed with rage, as they execrated and anathematized the devil-worshipper henry of valois, in all the churches of that monarch's capital. the spanish ducats were flying about, more profusely than ever, among the butchers and porters, and fishwomen, of the great city; and madam league paraded herself in the day-light with still increasing insolence. there was scarcely a pretence at recognition of any authority, save that of philip and sixtus. france had become a wilderness--an uncultivated, barbarous province of spain. mucio--guise had been secretly to rome, had held interviews with the pope and cardinals, and had come back with a sword presented by his holiness, its hilt adorned with jewels, and its blade engraved with tongues of fire. and with this flaming sword the avenging messenger of the holy father was to smite the wicked, and to drive them into outer darkness. and there had been fresh conferences among the chiefs of the sacred league within the lorraine territory, and it was resolved to require of the valois an immediate extermination of heresy and heretics throughout the kingdom, the publication of the council of trent, and the formal establishment of the holy inquisition in every province of france. thus, while doing his spanish master's bidding, the great lieutenant of the league might, if he was adroit enough, to outwit philip, ultimately carve out a throne for himself. yet philip felt occasional pangs of uneasiness lest there should, after all, be peace in france, and lest his schemes against holland and england might be interfered with from that quarter. even farnese, nearer the scene, could, not feel completely secure that a sudden reconciliation among contending factions might not give rise to a dangerous inroad across the flemish border. so guise was plied more vigourously than ever by the duke with advice and encouragement, and assisted with such walloon carabineers as could be spared, while large subsidies and larger promises came from philip, whose prudent policy was never to pay excessive sums, until the work contracted for was done. "mucio must do the job long since agreed upon," said philip to farnese, "and you and mendoza must see that he prevents the king of france from troubling me in my enterprize against england." if the unlucky henry iii. had retained one spark of intelligence, he would have seen that his only chance of rescue lay in the arm of the bearnese, and in an honest alliance with england. yet so strong was his love for the monks, who were daily raving against him, that he was willing to commit any baseness, in order to win back their affection. he was ready to exterminate heresy and to establish the inquisition, but he was incapable of taking energetic measures of any kind, even when throne and life were in imminent peril. moreover, he clung to epernon and the 'politiques,' in whose swords he alone found protection, and he knew that epernon and the 'politiques' were the objects of horror to paris and to the league. at the same time he looked imploringly towards england and towards the great huguenot chieftain, elizabeth's knight-errant. he had a secret interview with sir edward stafford, in the garden of the bernardino convent, and importuned that envoy to implore the queen to break off her negotiations with philip, and even dared to offer the english ambassador a large reward, if such a result could be obtained. stafford was also earnestly, requested to beseech the queen's influence with henry of navarre, that he should convert himself to catholicism, and thus destroy the league. on the other hand, the magniloquent mendoza, who was fond of describing himself as "so violent and terrible to the french that they wished to be rid of him," had--as usual--been frightening the poor king, who, after a futile attempt at dignity, had shrunk before the blusterings of the ambassador. "this king," said don bernardino, "thought that he could impose, upon me and silence me, by talking loud, but as i didn't talk softly to him, he has undeceived himself . . . . i have had another interview with him, and found him softer than silk, and he made me many caresses, and after i went out, he said that i was a very skilful minister." it was the purpose of the league to obtain possession of the king's person, and, if necessary, to dispose of the 'politiques' by a general massacre, such as sixteen years before had been so successful in the case of coligny and the huguenots. so the populace--more rabid than ever--were impatient that their adored balafre should come to paris and begin the holy work. he came as far as gonesse to do the job he had promised to philip, but having heard that henry had reinforced himself with four thousand swiss from the garrison of lagny, he fell back to soissons. the king sent him a most abject message, imploring him not to expose his sovereign to so much danger, by setting his foot at that moment in the capital. the balafre hesitated, but the populace raved and roared for its darling. the queen-mother urged her unhappy son to yield his consent, and the montpensier--fatal sister of guise, with the famous scissors ever at her girdle--insisted that her brother had as good a right as any man to come to the city. meantime the great chief of the 'politiques,' the hated and insolent epernon, had been appointed governor of normandy, and henry had accompanied his beloved minion a part of the way towards rouen. a plot contrived by the montpensier to waylay the monarch on his return, and to take him into the safe-keeping of the league, miscarried, for the king reentered the city before the scheme was ripe. on the other hand, nicholas poulain, bought for twenty thousand crowns by the 'politiques,' gave the king and his advisers-full information of all these intrigues, and, standing in henry's cabinet, offered, at peril of his life, if he might be confronted with the conspirators--the leaders of the league within the city--to prove the truth of the charges which he had made. for the whole city was now thoroughly organized. the number of its districts had been reduced from sixteen to five, the better to bring it under the control of the league; and, while it could not be denied that mucio, had, been doing his master's work very thoroughly, yet it was still in the power of the king--through the treachery of poulain--to strike a blow for life and freedom, before he was quite, taken in the trap. but he stood helpless, paralyzed, gazing in dreamy stupor--like one fascinated at the destruction awaiting him. at last, one memorable may morning, a traveller alighted outside the gate of saint martin, and proceeded on foot through the streets of paris. he was wrapped in a large cloak, which he held carefully over his face. when he had got as far as the street of saint denis, a young gentleman among the passers by, a good leaguer, accosted the stranger, and with coarse pleasantry, plucked the cloak from his face, and the hat from his head. looking at the handsome, swarthy features, marked with a deep scar, and the dark, dangerous eyes which were then revealed, the practical jester at once recognized in the simple traveller the terrible balafre, and kissed the hem of his garments with submissive rapture. shouts of "vive guise" rent the air from all the bystanders, as the duke, no longer affecting concealment, proceeded with a slow and stately step toward the residence of catharine de' medici.' that queen of compromises and of magic had been holding many a conference with the leaders of both parties; had been increasing her son's stupefaction by her enigmatical counsels; had been anxiously consulting her talisman of goat's and human blood, mixed with metals melted under the influence of the star of her nativity, and had been daily visiting the wizard ruggieri, in whose magic circle--peopled with a thousand fantastic heads--she had held high converse with the world of spirits, and derived much sound advice as to the true course of action to be pursued between her son and philip, and between the politicians and the league. but, in spite of these various sources of instruction, catharine--was somewhat perplexed, now that decisive action seemed necessary--a dethronement and a new massacre impending, and judicious compromise difficult. so after a hurried conversation with mucio, who insisted on an interview with the king, she set forth for the louvre, the duke lounging calmly by the aide of her, sedan chair, on foot, receiving the homage of the populace, as men, women, and children together, they swarmed around him as he walked, kissing his garments, and rending the air with their shouts. for that wolfish mob of paris, which had once lapped the blood of ten thousand huguenots in a single night, and was again rabid with thirst, was most docile and fawning to the great balafre. it grovelled before him, it hung upon his look, it licked his hand, and, at the lifting of his finger, or the glance of his eye, would have sprung at the throat of king or queen-mother, minister, or minion, and devoured them all before his eyes. it was longing for the sign, for, much as paris adored and was besotted with guise and the league, even more, if possible, did it hate those godless politicians, who had grown fat on extortions from the poor, and who had converted their substance into the daily bread of luxury. nevertheless the city was full of armed men, swiss and german mercenaries, and burgher guards, sworn to fidelity to the throne. the place might have been swept clean, at that moment, of rebels who were not yet armed or fortified in their positions. the lord had delivered guise into henry's hands. "oh, the madman!"--cried sixtus v., when he heard that the duke had gone to paris, "thus to put himself into the clutches of the king whom he had so deeply offended!" and, "oh, the wretched coward, the imbecile?" he added, when he heard how the king had dealt with his great enemy. for the monarch was in his cabinet that may morning, irresolutely awaiting the announced visit of the duke. by his aide stood alphonse corse, attached as a mastiff to his master, and fearing not guise nor leaguer, man nor devil. "sire, is the duke of guise your friend or enemy?" said alphonse. the king answered by an expressive shrug. "say the word, sire," continued alphonse, "and i pledge myself to bring his head this instant, and lay it at your feet." and he would have done it. even at the side of catharine's sedan chair, and in the very teeth of the worshipping mob, the corsican would have had the balafre's life, even though he laid down his own. but henry--irresolute and fascinated--said it was not yet time for such a blow. soon afterward; the duke was announced. the chief of the league and the last of the valois met, face to face; but not for the last time. the interview--was coldly respectful on the part of mucio, anxious and embarrassed on that of the king. when the visit, which was merely one of ceremony, was over, the duke departed as he came, receiving the renewed homage of the populace as he walked to his hotel. that night precautions were taken. all the guards were doubled around the palace and through the streets. the hotel de ville and the place de la greve were made secure, and the whole city was filled with troops. but the place maubert was left unguarded, and a rabble rout--all night long--was collecting in that distant spot. four companies of burgher-guards went over to the league at three o'clock in the morning. the rest stood firm in the cemetery of the innocents, awaiting the orders of the king. at day-break on the th the town was still quiet. there was an awful pause of expectation. the shops remained closed all the morning, the royal troops were drawn up in battle-array, upon the greve and around the hotel de ville, but they stood motionless as statues, until the populace began taunting them with cowardice, and then laughing them to scorn. for their sovereign lord and master still sat paralyzed in his palace. the mob had been surging through all the streets and lanes, until, as by a single impulse, chains were stretched across the streets, and barricades thrown up in all the principal thoroughfares. about noon the duke of guise, who had been sitting quietly in his hotel, with a very few armed followers, came out into the street of the hotel montmorency, and walked calmly up and down, arm-in-aim with the archbishop of lyons, between a double hedge-row of spectators and admirers, three or four ranks thick. he was dressed in a white slashed doublet and hose, and wore a very large hat. shouts of triumph resounded from a thousand brazen throats, as he moved calmly about, receiving, at every instant, expresses from the great gathering in the place maubert. "enough, too much, my good friends," he said, taking off the great hat--("i don't know whether he was laughing in it," observed one who was looking on that day)--"enough of 'long live guise!' cry 'long live the king!'" there was no response, as might be expected, and the people shouted more hoarsely than ever for madam league and the balafre. the duke's face was full of gaiety; there was not a shadow of anxiety upon it in that perilous and eventful moment. he saw that the day was his own. for now, the people, ripe, ready; mustered, armed, barricaded; awaited but a signal to assault the king's mercenaries, before rushing to the palace: on every house-top missiles were provided to hurl upon their heads. there seemed no escape for henry or his germans from impending doom, when guise, thoroughly triumphant, vouchsafed them their lives. "you must give me these soldiers as a present, my friends," said he to the populace. and so the armed swiss, french, and german troopers and infantry, submitted to be led out of paris, following with docility the aide-de-camp of guise, captain st. paul, who walked quietly before them, with his sword in its scabbard, and directing their movements with a cane. sixty of them were slain by the mob, who could not, even at the command of their beloved chieftain, quite forego their expected banquet. but this was all the blood shed on the memorable day of barricades, when another bartholomew massacre had been, expected. meantime; while guise was making his promenade through the city, exchanging embraces with the rabble; and listening to the coarse congratulations and obscene jests of the porters and fishwomen, the poor king sat crying all day long in the louvre. the queen-mother was with him, reproaching him bitterly with his irresolution and want of confidences in her, and scolding him for his tears. but the unlucky henry only wept the more as he cowered in a corner. "these are idle tears," said catherine. "this is no time for crying. and for myself, though women weep so easily; i feel my heart too deeply wrung for tears. if they came to my eyes they would be tears of blood." next day the last valois walked-out, of the louvre; as if for a promenade in, the tuileries, and proceeded straightway to the stalls, where his horse stood saddled. du halde, his equerry, buckled his master's spurs on upside down. "no; matter;" said henry; "i am not riding to see my mistress. i have a longer journey before me." and so, followed by a rabble rout of courtiers, without boots or cloaks; and mounted on, sorry hacks--the king-of france rode forth from his capital post-haste, and turning as he left the gates, hurled back impotent imprecations upon paris and its mob. thenceforth, for a long interval, there: was no king in that country. mucio had done his work, and earned his wages, and philip ii. reigned in paris. the commands of the league were now complied with. heretics were doomed to extermination. the edict of th july, , was published with the most exclusive and stringent provisions that the most bitter romanist could imagine, and, as a fair beginning; two young girls, daughters of jacques forcade, once 'procureur au parlement,' were burned in paris, for the crime, of protestantism. the duke of guise was named generalissimo of the kingdom ( th august, ). henry gave in his submission to the council of trent, the edicts, the inquisition, and the rest of the league's infernal machinery, and was formally reconciled to guise, with how much sincerity time was soon to show. [the king bound himself by oath to extirpate heresy, to remove all persons suspected of that crime from office, and never to lay down arms so long as a single, heretic remained. by secret articles,'two armies against the huguenots were agreed upon, one under the duke of mayenne, the other under some general to be appointed by the grog. the council of trent was forthwith to be proclaimed, and by a refinement of malice the league stipulated that all officers appointed in paris by the duke of guise on the day after the barricades should resign their powers, and be immediately re-appointed by the king himself (dethou, x. . , pp. - .)] meantime philip, for whom and at whose expense all this work had been done by he hands of the faithful mucio, was constantly assuring his royal brother of france, through envoy longlee, at madrid, of his most affectionate friendship, and utterly repudiating all knowledge of these troublesome and dangerous plots. yet they had been especially organized--as we have seen--by himself and the balafre, in order that france might be kept a prey to civil war, and thus rendered incapable of offering any obstruction to his great enterprise against england. any complicity of mendoza, the spanish ambassador in paris, or, of the duke of parma, who were important agents in all these proceedings, with the duke of guise, was strenuously--and circumstantially--denied; and the balafre, on the day of the barricades, sent brissac to elizabeth's envoy, sir edward stafford, to assure him as to his personal safety; and as to the deep affection with which england and its queen were regarded by himself and all his friends. stafford had also been advised to accept a guard for his house of embassy. his reply was noble. "i represent the majesty of england," he said, "and can take no safeguard from a subject of the sovereign to whom i am accredited." to the threat of being invaded, and to the advice to close his gates, he answered, "do you see these two doors? now, then, if i am attacked, i am determined to defend myself to the last drop of my blood, to serve as an example to the universe of the law of nations, violated in my person. do not imagine that i shall follow your advice. the gates of an ambassador shall be open to all the world." brissac returned with this answer to guise, who saw that it was hopeless to attempt making a display in the eyes of queen elizabeth, but gave private orders that the ambassador should not be molested. such were the consequences of the day of the barricades--and thus the path of philip was cleared of all obstructions on, the part of france. his mucio was now, generalissimo. henry was virtually deposed. henry of navarre, poor and good-humoured as ever, was scarcely so formidable at that moment as he might one day become. when the news of the day of barricades was brought at night to that cheerful monarch, he started from his couch. "ha," he exclaimed with a laugh, "but they havn't yet caught the bearnese!" and it might be long before the league would catch the bearnese; but, meantime, he could render slight assistance to queen elizabeth. in england there had been much fruitless negotiation between the government of that country and the commissioners from the states-general. there was perpetual altercation on the subject of utrecht, leyden, sonoy, and the other causes of contention; the queen--as usual--being imperious and choleric, and the envoys, in her opinion, very insolent. but the principal topic of discussion was the peace-negotiations, which the states-general, both at home and through their delegation in england, had been doing their best to prevent; steadily refusing her majesty's demand that commissioners, on their part, should be appointed to participate in the conferences at ostend. elizabeth promised that there should be as strict regard paid to the interests of holland as to those of england, in case of a pacification, and that she would never forget her duty to them, to herself, and to the world, as the protectress of the reformed religion. the deputies, on the other hand, warned her that peace with spain was impossible; that the intention of the spanish court was to deceive her, while preparing her destruction and theirs; that it was hopeless to attempt the concession of any freedom of conscience from philip ii.; and that any stipulations which might be made upon that, or any other subject, by the spanish commissioners, would be tossed to the wind. in reply to the queen's loud complaints that the states had been trifling with her, and undutiful to her, and that they had kept her waiting seven months long for an answer to her summons to participate in the negotiations, they replied, that up to the th october of the previous year, although there had been flying rumours of an intention on the part of her majesty's government to open those communications with the enemy, it had, "nevertheless been earnestly and expressly, and with high words and oaths, denied that there was any truth in those rumours." since that time the states had not once only, but many times, in private letters, in public documents, and in conversations with lord leicester and other eminent personages, deprecated any communications whatever with spain, asserting uniformly their conviction that such proceedings would bring ruin on their country, and imploring her majesty not to give ear to any propositions whatever. and not only were the envoys, regularly appointed by the states-general, most active in england, in their attempts to prevent the negotiations, but delegates from the netherland churches were also sent to the queen, to reason with her on the subject, and to utter solemn warnings that the cause of the reformed religion would be lost for ever, in case of a treaty on her part with spain. when these clerical envoys reached england the queen was already beginning to wake from her delusion; although her commissioners were still--as we have seen--hard at work, pouring sand through their sieves at ostend, and although the steady protestations, of the duke of parma, and the industrious circulation of falsehoods by spanish emissaries, had even caused her wisest statesmen, for a time, to participate in that delusion. for it is not so great an impeachment on the sagacity of the great queen of england, as it would now appear to those who judge by the light of subsequent facts, that she still doubted whether the armaments, notoriously preparing in spain and flanders, were intended against herself; and that even if such were the case--she still believed in the possibility of averting the danger by negotiation. so late as the beginning of may, even the far-seeing and anxious walsingham could say, that in england "they were doing nothing but honouring st. george, of whom the spanish armada seemed to be afraid. we hear," he added, "that they will not be ready to set forward before the midst of may, but i trust that it will be may come twelve months. the king of spain is too old and too sickly to fall to conquer kingdoms. if he be well counselled, his best course will be to settle his own kingdoms in his own hands." and even much later, in the middle of july--when the mask was hardly, maintained--even then there was no certainty as to the movements of the armada; and walsingham believed, just ten days before the famous fleet was to appear off plymouth, that it had dispersed and returned to spain, never to re-appear. as to parma's intentions, they were thought to lie rather in the direction: of ostend than of england; and elizabeth; on the th july, was more anxious for that city than for her own kingdom. "mr. ned, i am persuaded," she wrote to morris, "that if a spanish fleet break, the prince of parma's enterprise for england will fall to the ground, and then are you to look to ostend. haste your works." all through the spring and early summer, stafford, in paris, was kept in a state of much perplexity as to the designs of spain--so contradictory were the stories circulated--and so bewildering the actions of men known to be hostile to england. in, the last days of april he intimated it as a common opinion in paris, that these naval preparations of philip were an elaborate farce; "that the great elephant would bring forth but a mouse--that the great processions, prayers, and pardons, at rome, for the prosperous success of the armada against england; would be of no effect; that the king of spain was laughing in his sleeve at the pope, that he could make such a fool of him; and that such an enterprise was a thing the king never durst think of in deed, but only in show to feed the world." thus, although furnished with minute details as to these, armaments, and as to the exact designs of spain against his country, by the ostentatious statements of the spanish ambassador in paris himself, the english, envoy was still inclined to believe that these statements were a figment, expressly intended to deceive. yet he was aware that lord westmoreland, lord paget, sir charles paget, morgan, and other english refugees, were constantly meeting with mendoza, that they were told to get themselves in readiness, and to go down--as well appointed as might be--to the duke of parma; that they had been "sending for their tailor to make them apparel, and to put themselves in equipage;" that, in particular, westmoreland had been assured of being restored by philip to his native country in better condition than before. the catholic and spanish party in paris were however much dissatisfied with the news from scotland, and were getting more and more afraid that king james would object to the spaniards getting a foot-hold in his country, and that "the scots would soon be playing them a scottish trick." stafford was plunged still more inextricably into doubt by the accounts from longlee in madrid. the diplomatist, who had been completely convinced by philip as to his innocence of any participation in the criminal enterprise of guise against henry iii., was now almost staggered by the unscrupulous mendacity of that monarch with regard to any supposed designs against england. although the armada was to be ready by the th may, longlee was of opinion--notwithstanding many bold announcements of an attack upon elizabeth--that the real object of the expedition was america. there had recently been discovered, it was said, "a new country, more rich in gold and silver than any yet found, but so full of stout people that they could not master them." to reduce these stout people beyond the atlantic, therefore, and to get possession of new gold mines, was the real object at which philip was driving, and longlee and stafford were both very doubtful whether it were worth the queen's while to exhaust her finances in order to protect herself against an imaginary invasion. even so late as the middle of july, six to one was offered on the paris exchange that the spanish fleet would never be seen in the english seas, and those that offered the bets were known to be well-wishers to the spanish party. thus sharp diplomatists and statesmen like longlee, stafford, and walsingham, were beginning to lose their fear of the great bugbear by which england had so long been haunted. it was, therefore no deep stain on the queen's sagacity that she, too, was willing to place credence in the plighted honour of alexander farnese, the great prince who prided himself on his sincerity, and who, next to the king his master, adored the virgin queen of england. the deputies of the netherland churches had come, with the permission of count maurice and of the states general; but they represented more strongly than any other envoys could do, the english and the monarchical party. they were instructed especially to implore the queen to accept the sovereignty of their country; to assure her that the restoration of philip--who had been a wolf instead of a shepherd to his flock--was an impossibility, that he had been solemnly and for ever deposed, that under her sceptre only could the provinces ever recover their ancient prosperity; that ancient and modern history alike made it manifest that a free republic could never maintain itself, but that it must, of necessity, run its course through sedition, bloodshed, and anarchy, until liberty was at last crushed by an absolute despotism; that equality of condition, the basis of democratic institutions, could never be made firm; and that a fortunate exception, like that of switzerland, whose historical and political circumstances were peculiar, could never serve as a model to the netherlands, accustomed as those provinces had ever been to a monarchical form of government; and that the antagonism of aristocratic and democratic elements in the states had already produced discord, and was threatening destruction to the whole country. to avert such dangers the splendour of royal authority was necessary, according to the venerable commands of holy writ; and therefore the netherland churches acknowledged themselves the foster-children of england, and begged that in political matters also the inhabitants of the provinces might be accepted as the subjects of her majesty. they also implored the queen to break off these accursed negotiations with spain, and to provide that henceforth in the netherlands the reformed religion might be freely exercised, to the exclusion of any other. thus it was very evident that these clerical envoys, although they were sent by permission of the states, did not come as the representatives of the dominant party. for that 'beelzebub,' barneveld, had different notions from theirs as to the possibility of a republic, and as to the propriety of tolerating other forms of worship than his own. but it was for such pernicious doctrines, on religious matters in particular, that he was called beelzebub, pope john, a papist in disguise, and an atheist; and denounced, as leading young maurice and the whole country to destruction. on the basis of these instructions, the deputies drew up a memorial of pitiless length, filled with astounding parallels between their own position and that of the hebrews, assyrians, and other distinguished nations of antiquity. they brought it to walsingham on the th july, , and the much enduring man heard it read from beginning to end. he expressed his approbation of its sentiments, but said it was too long. it must be put on one sheet of paper, he said, if her majesty was expected to read it. "moreover," said the secretary of state, "although your arguments are full of piety, and your examples from holy writ very apt, i must tell you the plain truth. great princes are not always so zealous in religious matters as they might be. political transactions move them more deeply, and they depend too much on worldly things. however there is no longer much danger, for our envoys will return from flanders in a few days." "but," asked a deputy, "if the spanish fleet does not succeed in its enterprise, will the peace-negotiations be renewed?" "by no means," said walsingham; "the queen can never do that, consistently with her honour. they have scattered infamous libels against her--so scandalous, that you would be astounded should you read them. arguments drawn from honour are more valid with princes than any other." he alluded to the point in their memorial touching the free exercise of the reformed religion in the provinces. "'tis well and piously said," he observed; "but princes and great lords are not always very earnest in such matters. i think that her majesty's envoys will not press for the free exercise of the religion so very much; not more than for two or three years. by that time--should our negotiations succeed--the foreign troops will have evacuated the netherlands on condition that the states-general shall settle the religious question." "but," said daniel de dieu, one of the deputies, "the majority of the states is popish." "be it so," replied sir francis; "nevertheless they will sooner permit the exercise of the reformed religion than take up arms and begin the war anew." he then alluded to the proposition of the deputies to exclude all religious worship but that of the reformed church--all false religion--as they expressed themselves. "her majesty," said he, "is well disposed to permit some exercise of their religion to the papists. so far as regards my own feelings, if we were now in the beginning, of the reformation, and the papacy were still entire, i should willingly concede such exercise; but now that the papacy has been overthrown, i think it would not be safe to give such permission. when we were disputing, at the time of the pacification of ghent, whether the popish religion should be partially permitted, the prince of orange was of the affirmative opinion; but i, who was then at antwerp, entertained the contrary conviction." "but," said one of the deputies--pleased to find that walsingham was more of their way of thinking on religious toleration than the great prince of orange had been, or than maurice and barneveld then were--"but her majesty will, we hope, follow the advice of her good and faithful counsellors." "to tell you the truth," answered sir francis, "great princes are not always inspired with a sincere and upright zeal;"--it was the third time he had made this observation"--although, so far as regards the maintenance of the religion in the netherlands, that is a matter of necessity. of that there is no fear, since otherwise all the pious would depart, and none would remain but papists, and, what is more, enemies of england. therefore the queen is aware that the religion must be maintained." he then advised the deputies to hand in the memorial to her majesty, without any long speeches, for which there was then no time or opportunity; and it was subsequently arranged that they should be presented to the queen as she would be mounting her horse at st. james's to ride to richmond. accordingly on the th july, as her majesty came forth at the gate, with a throng of nobles and ladies--some about to accompany her and some bidding her adieu--the deputies fell on their knees before her. notwithstanding the advice of walsingham, daniel de dieu was bent upon an oration. "oh illustrious queen!" he began, "the churches of the united netherlands----" he had got no further, when the queen, interrupting, exclaimed, "oh! i beg you--at another time--i cannot now listen to a speech. let me see the memorial." daniel de dieu then humbly presented that document, which her majesty graciously received, and then, getting on horseback, rode off to richmond.' the memorial was in the nature of an exhortation to sustain the religion, and to keep clear of all negotiations with idolaters and unbelievers; and the memorialists supported themselves by copious references to deuteronomy, proverbs, isaiah, timothy, and psalms, relying mainly on the case of jehosaphat, who came to disgrace and disaster through his treaty with the idolatrous king ahab. with regard to any composition with spain, they observed, in homely language, that a burnt cat fears the fire; and they assured the queen that, by following their advice, she would gain a glorious and immortal name, like those of david, ezekiel, josiah, and others, whose fragrant memory, even as precious incense from the apothecary's, endureth to the end of the world. it was not surprising that elizabeth, getting on horseback on the th july, , with her head full of tilbury fort and medina sidonia, should have as little relish for the affairs of ahab and jehosophat, as for those melting speeches of diomede and of turnus, to which dr. valentine dale on his part was at that moment invoking her attention. on the th july, the deputies were informed by leicester that her majesty would grant them an interview, july , and that they must come into his quarter of the palace and await her arrival. between six and seven in the evening she came into the throne-room, and the deputies again fell on their knees before her. she then seated herself--the deputies remaining on their knees on her right side and the earl of leicester standing at her left--and proceeded to make many remarks touching her earnestness in the pending negotiations to provide for their religious freedom. it seemed that she must have received a hint from walsingham on the subject. "i shall provide," she said, "for the maintenance of the reformed worship." de dieu--"the enemy will never concede it." the queen.--"i think differently." de dieu.--"there is no place within his dominions where he has permitted the exercise of the pure religion. he has never done so." the queen.--"he conceded it in the pacification of ghent." de dieu.--"but he did not keep his agreement. don john had concluded with the states, but said he was not held to his promise, in case he should repent; and the king wrote afterwards to our states, and said that he was no longer bound to his pledge." the queen.--"that is quite another thing." de dieu.--"he has very often broken his faith." the queen.--"he shall no longer be allowed to do so. if he does not keep his word, that is my affair, not yours. it is my business to find the remedy. men would say, see in what a desolation the queen of england has brought this poor people. as to the freedom of worship, i should have proposed three or four years' interval--leaving it afterwards to the decision of the states." de dieu.--"but the majority of the states is popish." the queen.--"i mean the states-general, not the states of any particular province." de dieu.--"the greater part of the states-general is popish." the queen.--"i mean the three estates--the clergy, the nobles, and the cities." the queen--as the deputies observed--here fell into an error. she thought that prelates of the reformed church, as in england, had seats in the states-general. daniel de dieu explained that they had no such position. the queen.--"then how were you sent hither?" de dieu.--"we came with the consent of count maurice of nassau." the queen.--"and of the states?" de dieu.--"we came with their knowledge." the queen.--"are you sent only from holland and zeeland? is there no envoy from utrecht and the other provinces?" helmichius.--"we two," pointing to his colleague sossingius, "are from utrecht." the queen.--"what? is this young man also a minister?" she meant helmichius, who had a very little beard, and looked young. sossingius.--"he is not so young as he looks." the queen.--"youths are sometimes as able as old men." de dieu.--"i have heard our brother preach in france more than fourteen years ago." the queen.--"he must have begun young. how old were you when you first became a preacher?" helmichius.--"twenty-three or twenty-four years of age." the queen.--"it was with us, at first, considered a scandal that a man so young as that should be admitted to the pulpit. our antagonists reproached us with it in a book called 'scandale de l'angleterre,' saying that we had none but school-boys for ministers. i understand that you pray for me as warmly as if i were your sovereign princess. i think i have done as much for the religion as if i were your queen." helmichius.--"we are far from thinking otherwise. we acknowledge willingly your majesty's benefits to our churches." the queen.--"it would else be ingratitude on your part." helmichius.--"but the king of spain will never keep any promise about the religion." the queen.--"he will never come so far: he does nothing but make a noise on all sides. item, i don't think he has much confidence in himself." de dieu.--"your majesty has many enemies. the lord hath hitherto supported you, and we pray that he may continue to uphold your majesty." the queen.--"i have indeed many enemies; but i make no great account of them. is there anything else you seek?" de dieu.--"there is a special point: it concerns our, or rather your majesty's, city of flushing. we hope that russelius--(so he called sir william russell)--may be continued in its government, although he wishes his discharge." "aha!" said the queen, laughing and rising from her seat, "i shall not answer you; i shall call some one else to answer you." she then summoned russell's sister, lady warwick. "if you could speak french," said the queen to that gentlewoman, "i should bid you reply to these gentlemen, who beg that your brother may remain in flushing, so very agreeable has he made himself to them." the queen was pleased to hear this good opinion of sir william, and this request that he might continue to be governor of flushing, because he had uniformly supported the leicester party, and was at that moment in high quarrel with count maurice and the leading members of the states. as the deputies took their leave, they requested an answer to their memorial, which was graciously promised. three days afterwards, walsingham gave them a written answer to their memorial--conceived in the same sense as had been the expressions of her majesty and her counsellors. support to the netherlands and stipulations for the free exercise of their religion were promised; but it was impossible for these deputies of the churches to obtain a guarantee from england that the popish religion should be excluded from the provinces, in case of a successful issue to the queen's negotiation with spain. and thus during all those eventful days-the last weeks of july and the first weeks of august--the clerical deputation remained in england, indulging in voluminous protocols and lengthened conversations with the queen and the principal members of her government. it is astonishing, in that breathless interval of history, that so much time could be found for quill-driving and oratory. nevertheless, both in holland and england, there had been other work than protocolling. one throb of patriotism moved the breast of both nations. a longing to grapple, once for all, with the great enemy of civil and religious liberty inspired both. in holland, the states-general and all the men to whom the people looked for guidance, had been long deprecating the peace-negotiations. extraordinary supplies--more than had ever been granted before--were voted for the expenses of the campaign; and maurice of nassau, fitly embodying the warlike tendencies of his country and race, had been most importunate with queen elizabeth that she would accept his services and his advice. armed vessels of every size, from the gun-boat to the galleon of tons--then the most imposing ship in those waters--swarmed in all the estuaries and rivers, and along the dutch and flemish coast, bidding defiance to parma and his armaments; and offers of a large contingent from the fleets of jooat de moor and justinua de nassau, to serve under seymour and howard, were freely made to the states-general. it was decided early in july, by the board of admiralty, presided over by prince maurice, that the largest square-rigged vessels of holland and zeeland should cruise between england and the flemish coast, outside the banks; that a squadron of lesser ships should be stationed within the banks; and that a fleet of sloops and fly-boats should hover close in shore, about flushing and rammekens. all the war-vessels of the little republic were thus fully employed. but, besides this arrangement, maurice was empowered to lay an embargo--under what penalty he chose and during his pleasure--on all square-rigged vessels over tons, in order that there might be an additional supply in case of need. ninety ships of war under warmond, admiral, and van der does, vice-admiral of holland; and justinus de nassau, admiral, and joost de moor, vice-admiral of zeeland; together with fifty merchant-vessels of the best and strongest, equipped and armed for active service, composed a formidable fleet. the states-general, a month before, had sent twenty-five or thirty good ships, under admiral rosendael, to join lord henry seymour, then cruising between dover and calais. a tempest, drove them back, and their absence from lord henry's fleet being misinterpreted by the english, the states were censured for ingratitude and want of good faith. but the injustice of the accusation was soon made manifest, for these vessels, reinforcing the great dutch fleet outside the banks, did better service than they could have done; in the straits. a squadron of strong well-armed vessels, having on board, in addition to their regular equipment, a picked force of twelve hundred musketeers, long accustomed to this peculiar kind of naval warfare, with crews of, grim zeelanders, who had faced alva, and valdez in their day, now kept close watch over farnese, determined that he should never thrust his face out of any haven or nook on the coast so long as they should be in existence to prevent him. and in england the protracted diplomacy at ostend, ill-timed though it was, had not paralyzed the arm or chilled the heart of the nation. when the great queen, arousing herself from the delusion in which the falsehoods of farnese and of philip had lulled her, should once more. represent--as no man or woman better than elizabeth tudor could represent--the defiance of england to foreign insolence; the resolve of a whole people to die rather than yield; there was a thrill of joy through the national heart. when the enforced restraint was at last taken off, there was one bound towards the enemy. few more magnificent spectacles have been seen in history than the enthusiasm which pervaded the country as the great danger, so long deferred, was felt at last to be closely approaching. the little nation of four millions, the merry england of the sixteenth century, went forward to the death-grapple with its gigantic antagonist as cheerfully as to a long-expected holiday. spain was a vast empire, overshadowing the world; england, in comparison, but a province; yet nothing could surpass the steadiness with which the conflict was awaited. for, during all the months of suspense; the soldiers and sailors, and many statesman of england, had deprecated, even as the hollanders had been doing, the dangerous delays of ostend. elizabeth was not embodying the national instinct, when she talked of peace; and shrank penuriously from the expenses of war. there was much disappointment, even indignation, at the slothfulness with which the preparations for defence went on, during the period when there was yet time to make them. it was feared with justice that england, utterly unfortified as were its cities, and defended only by its little navy without, and by untaught enthusiasm within, might; after all, prove an easier conquest than holland and zeeland, every town, in whose territory bristled with fortifications. if the english ships--well-trained and swift sailors as they were--were unprovided with spare and cordage, beef and biscuit, powder and shot, and the militia-men, however enthusiastic, were neither drilled nor armed, was it so very certain, after all, that successful resistance would be made to the great armada, and to the veteran pikemen and musketeers of farnese, seasoned on a hundred, battlefields, and equipped as for a tournament? there was generous confidence and chivalrous loyalty on the part of elizabeth's naval and military commanders; but there had been deep regret and disappointment at her course. hawkins was anxious, all through the winter and spring, to cruise with a small squadron off the coast of spain. with a dozen vessels he undertook to "distress anything that went through the seas." the cost of such a squadron, with eighteen hundred men, to be relieved every four months, he estimated at two thousand seven hundred pounds sterling the month, or a shilling a day for each man; and it would be a very unlucky month, he said, in which they did not make captures to three times that amount; for they would see nothing that would not be presently their own. "we might have peace, but not with god," said the pious old slave-trader; "but rather than serve baal, let us die a thousand deaths. let us have open war with these jesuits, and every man will contribute, fight, devise, or do, for the liberty of our country." and it was open war with the jesuits for which those stouthearted sailors longed. all were afraid of secret mischief. the diplomatists--who were known to be flitting about france, flanders, scotland, and england--were birds of ill omen. king james was beset by a thousand bribes and expostulations to avenge his mother's death; and although that mother had murdered his father, and done her best to disinherit himself, yet it was feared that spanish ducats might induce him to be true to his mother's revenge, and false to the reformed religion. nothing of good was hoped for from france. "for my part," said lord admiral howard, "i have made of the french king, the scottish king, and the king of spain, a trinity that i mean never to trust to be saved by, and i would that others were of my opinion." the noble sailor, on whom so much responsibility rested, yet who was so trammelled and thwarted by the timid and parsimonious policy of elizabeth and of burghley, chafed and shook his chains like a captive. "since england was england," he exclaimed, "there was never such a stratagem and mask to deceive her as this treaty of peace. i pray god that we do not curse for this a long grey beard with a white head witless, that will make all the world think us heartless. you know whom i mean." and it certainly was not difficult to understand the allusion to the pondering lord-treasurer. "'opus est aliquo daedalo,' to direct us out of the maze," said that much puzzled statesman; but he hardly seemed to be making himself wings with which to lift england and himself out of the labyrinth. the ships were good ships, but there was intolerable delay in getting a sufficient number of them as ready for action as was the spirit of their commanders. "our ships do show like gallants here," said winter; "it would do a man's heart good to behold them. would to god the prince of parma were on the seas with all his forces, and we in sight of them. you should hear that we would make his enterprise very unpleasant to him." and howard, too, was delighted not only with his own little flag-ship the ark-royal--"the odd ship of the world for all conditions,"--but with all of his fleet that could be mustered. although wonders were reported, by every arrival from the south, of the coming armada, the lord-admiral was not appalled. he was perhaps rather imprudent in the defiance he flung to the enemy. "let me have the four great ships and twenty hoys, with but twenty men a-piece, and each with but two iron pieces, and her majesty shall have a good account of the spanish forces; and i will make the king wish his galleys home again. few as we are, if his forces be not hundreds, we will make good sport with them." but those four great ships of her majesty, so much longed for by howard, were not forthcoming. he complained that the queen was "keeping them to protect chatham church withal, when they should be serving their turn abroad." the spanish fleet was already reported as numbering from sail, with , men,' to or ships, and , soldiers and mariners; and yet drake was not ready with his squadron. "the fault is not in him," said howard, "but i pray god her majesty do not repent her slack dealing. we must all lie together, for we shall be stirred very shortly with heave ho! i fear ere long her majesty will be sorry she hath believed some so much as she hath done." howard had got to sea, and was cruising all the stormy month of march in the channel with his little unprepared squadron; expecting at any moment--such was the profound darkness which, enveloped the world at that day--that the sails of the armada might appear in the offing. he made a visit to the dutch coast, and was delighted with the enthusiasm with which he was received. five thousand people a day came on board his ships, full of congratulation and delight; and he informed the queen that she was not more assured of the isle of sheppey than of walcheren. nevertheless time wore on, and both the army and navy of england were quite unprepared, and the queen was more reluctant than ever to incur the expense necessary to the defence of her kingdom. at least one of those galleys, which, as howard bitterly complained, seemed destined to defend chatham church, was importunately demanded; but it was already easter-day ( th april), and she was demanded in vain. "lord! when should she serve," said the admiral, "if not at such a time as this? either she is fit now to serve, or fit for the fire. i hope never in my time to see so great a cause for her to be used. i dare say her majesty will look that men should fight for her, and i know they will at this time. the king of spain doth not keep any ship at home, either of his own or any other, that he can get for money. well, well, i must pray heartily for peace," said howard with increasing spleen, "for i see the support of an honourable, war will never appear. sparing and war have no affinity together." in truth elizabeth's most faithful subjects were appalled at the ruin which she seemed by her mistaken policy to be rendering inevitable. "i am sorry," said the admiral, "that her majesty is so careless of this most dangerous time. i fear me much, and with grief i think it, that she relieth on a hope that will deceive her, and greatly endanger her, and then it will not be her money nor her jewels that will help; for as they will do good in time, so they will help nothing for the redeeming of time." the preparations on shore were even more dilatory than those on the sea. we have seen that the duke of parma, once landed, expected to march directly upon london; and it was notorious that there were no fortresses to oppose a march of the first general in europe and his veterans upon that unprotected and wealthy metropolis. an army had been enrolled--a force of , foot, and , cavalry; but it was an army on paper merely. even of the , , only , were set down as trained; and it is certain that the training had been of the most meagre and unsatisfactory description. leicester was to be commander-in-chief; but we have already seen that nobleman measuring himself, not much to his advantage, with alexander farnese, in the isle of bommel, on the sands of blankenburg, and at the gates of sluys. his army was to consist of , infantry, and horse; yet at midsummer it had not reached half that number. lord chamberlain hunsdon was to protect the queen's person with another army of , ; but this force, was purely an imaginary one; and the lord-lieutenant of each county was to do his best with the militia. but men were perpetually escaping out of the general service, in order to make themselves retainers for private noblemen, and be kept at their expense. "you shall hardly believe," said leicester, "how many new liveries be gotten within these six weeks, and no man fears the penalty. it would be better that every nobleman did as lord dacres, than to take away from the principal service such as are set down to serve." of enthusiasm and courage, then, there was enough, while of drill and discipline, of powder and shot, there was a deficiency. no braver or more competent soldier could be found than sir edward stanley--the man whom we have seen in his yellow jerkin, helping himself into fort zutphen with the spanish soldier's pike--and yet sir edward stanley gave but a sorry account of the choicest soldiers of chester and lancashire, whom he had been sent to inspect. "i find them not," he said, "according to your expectation, nor mine own liking. they were appointed two years past to have been trained six days by the year or more, at the discretion of the muster-master, but, as yet, they have not been trained one day, so that they have benefited nothing, nor yet know their leaders. there is now promise of amendment, which, i doubt, will be very slow, in respect to my lord derby's absence." my lord derby was at that moment, and for many months afterwards, assisting valentine dale in his classical prolusions on the sands of bourbourg. he had better have been mustering the trainbands of lancashire. there was a general indisposition in the rural districts to expend money and time in military business, until the necessity should become imperative. professional soldiers complained bitterly of the canker of a long peace. "for our long quietness, which it hath pleased god to send us," said stanley, "they think their money very ill bestowed which they expend on armour or weapon, for that they be in hope they shall never have occasion to use it, so they may pass muster, as they have done heretofore. i want greatly powder, for there is little or none at all." the day was fast approaching when all the power in england would be too little for the demand. but matters had not very much mended even at midsummer. it is true that leicester, who was apt to be sanguine-particularly in matters under his immediate control--spoke of the handful of recruits assembled at his camp in essex, as "soldiers of a year's experience, rather than a month's camping;" but in this opinion he differed from many competent authorities, and was somewhat in contradiction to himself. nevertheless he was glad that the queen had determined to visit him, and encourage his soldiers. "i have received in secret," he said, "those news that please me, that your majesty doth intend to behold the poor and bare company that lie here in the field, most willingly to serve you, yea, most ready to die for you. you shall, dear lady, behold as goodly, loyal, and as able men as any prince christian can show you, and yet but a handful of your own, in comparison of the rest you have. what comfort not only these shall receive who shall be the happiest to behold yourself i cannot express; but assuredly it will give no small comfort to the rest, that shall be overshined with the beams of so gracious and princely a party, for what your royal majesty shall do to these will be accepted as done to all. good sweet queen, alter not your purpose, if god give you health. it will be your pain for the time, but your pleasure to behold such people. and surely the place must content you, being as fair a soil and as goodly a prospect as may be seen or found, as this extreme weather hath made trial, which doth us little annoyance, it is so firm and dry a ground. your usher also liketh your lodging--a proper, secret, cleanly house. your camp is a little mile off, and your person will be as sure as at st. james's, for my life." but notwithstanding this cheerful view of the position expressed by the commander-in-chief, the month of july had passed, and the early days of august had already arrived; and yet the camp was not formed, nor anything more than that mere handful of troops mustered about tilbury, to defend the road from dover to london. the army at tilbury never, exceeded sixteen or seventeen thousand men. the whole royal navy-numbering about thirty-four vessels in all--of different sizes, ranging from and tons to , had at last been got ready for sea. its aggregate tonnage was , ; not half so much as at the present moment--in the case of one marvellous merchant-steamer--floats upon a single keel. these vessels carried. guns and men. but the navy was reinforced by the patriotism and liberality of english merchants and private gentlemen. the city of london having been requested to furnish ships of war and men, asked two days for deliberation, and then gave ships and , men of which number were seamen. other cities, particularly plymouth, came forward with proportionate liberality, and private individuals, nobles, merchants, and men of humblest rank, were enthusiastic in volunteering into the naval service, to risk property and life in defence of the country. by midsummer there had been a total force of vessels manned, and partially equipped, with an aggregate of , tons, and , seamen. of this fleet a very large number were mere coasters of less than tons each; scarcely ten ships were above , and but one above tons--the triumph, captain frobisher, of tons, guns, and sailors. lord howard of effingham, lord high-admiral of england, distinguished for his martial character, public spirit, and admirable temper, rather than for experience or skill as a seaman, took command of the whole fleet, in his "little odd ship for all conditions," the ark-royal, of tons, sailors, and guns. next in rank was vice-admiral drake, in the revenge, of tons, men and guns. lord henry seymour, in the rainbow, of precisely the same size and strength, commanded the inner squadron, which cruised in the neighbourhood of the french and flemish coast. the hollanders and zeelanders had undertaken to blockade the duke of parma still more closely, and pledged themselves that he should never venture to show himself upon the open sea at all. the mouth of the scheldt, and the dangerous shallows off the coast of newport and dunkirk, swarmed with their determined and well-seasoned craft, from the flybooter or filibuster of the rivers, to the larger armed vessels, built to confront every danger, and to deal with any adversary. farnese, on his part, within that well-guarded territory, had, for months long, scarcely slackened in his preparations, day or night. whole forests had been felled in the land of waas to furnish him with transports and gun-boats, and with such rapidity, that--according to his enthusiastic historiographer--each tree seemed by magic to metamorphose itself into a vessel at the word of command. shipbuilders, pilots, and seamen, were brought from the baltic, from hamburgh, from genoa. the whole surface of the obedient netherlands, whence wholesome industry had long been banished, was now the scene of a prodigious baleful activity. portable bridges for fording the rivers of england, stockades for entrenchments, rafts and oars, were provided in vast numbers, and alexander dug canals and widened natural streams to facilitate his operations. these wretched provinces, crippled, impoverished, languishing for peace, were forced to contribute out of their poverty, and to find strength even in their exhaustion, to furnish the machinery for destroying their own countrymen, and for hurling to perdition their most healthful neighbour. and this approaching destruction of england--now generally believed in--was like the sound of a trumpet throughout catholic europe. scions of royal houses, grandees of azure blood, the bastard of philip ii., the bastard of savoy, the bastard of medici, the margrave of burghaut, the archduke charles, nephew of the emperor, the princes of ascoli and of melfi, the prince of morocco, and others of illustrious name, with many a noble english traitor, like paget, and westmoreland, and stanley, all hurried to the camp of farnese, as to some famous tournament, in which it was a disgrace to chivalry if their names were not enrolled. the roads were trampled with levies of fresh troops from spain, naples, corsica, the states of the church, the milanese, germany, burgundy. blas capizucca was sent in person to conduct reinforcements from the north of italy. the famous terzio of naples, under carlos pinelo, arrived strong--the most splendid regiment ever known in the history of war. every man had an engraved corslet and musket-barrel, and there were many who wore gilded armour, while their waving plumes and festive caparisons made them look like holiday-makers, rather than real campaigners, in the eyes of the inhabitants of the various cities through which their road led them to flanders. by the end of april the duke of parma saw himself at the head of , men, at a monthly expense of , crowns or dollars. yet so rapid was the progress of disease--incident to northern climates--among those southern soldiers, that we shall find the number woefully diminished before they were likely to set foot upon the english shore. thus great preparations, simultaneously with pompous negotiations, had been going forward month after month, in england, holland, flanders. nevertheless, winter, spring, two-thirds of summer, had passed away, and on the th july, , there remained the same sickening uncertainty, which was the atmosphere in which the nations had existed for a twelvemonth. howard had cruised for a few weeks between england and spain, without any results, and, on his return, had found it necessary to implore her majesty, as late as july, to "trust no more to judas' kisses, but to her sword, not her enemy's word." etext editor's bookmarks: a burnt cat fears the fire a free commonwealth--was thought an absurdity baiting his hook a little to his appetite canker of a long peace englishmen and hollanders preparing to cut each other's throats faction has rarely worn a more mischievous aspect hard at work, pouring sand through their sieves she relieth on a hope that will deceive her sparing and war have no affinity together the worst were encouraged with their good success trust her sword, not her enemy's word chapter xix. , part . philip second in his cabinet--his system of work and deception--his vast but vague schemes of conquest--the armada sails--description of the fleet--the junction with parma unprovided for--the gale off finisterre--exploits of david gwynn--first engagements in the english channel--considerable losses of the spaniards--general engagement near portland--superior seamanship of the english it is now time to look in upon the elderly letter-writer in the escorial, and see how he was playing his part in the drama. his counsellors were very few. his chief advisers were rather like private secretaries than cabinet ministers; for philip had been withdrawing more and more into seclusion and mystery as the webwork of his schemes multiplied and widened. he liked to do his work, assisted by a very few confidential servants. the prince of eboli, the famous ruy gomez, was dead. so was cardinal granvelle. so were erasso and delgado. his midnight council--junta de noche--for thus, from its original hour of assembling, and the all of secrecy in which it was enwrapped, it was habitually called--was a triumvirate. don juan de idiaquez was chief secretary of state and of war; the count de chinchon was minister for the household, for italian affairs, and for the kingdom of aragon; don cristoval de moura, the monarch's chief favourite, was at the head of the finance department, and administered the affairs of portugal and castile! the president of the council of italy, after granvelle's death, was quiroga, cardinal of toledo, and inquisitor-general. enormously long letters, in the king's: name, were prepared chiefly by the two secretaries, idiaquez and moura. in their hands was the vast correspondence with mendoza and parma, and olivarez at rome, and with mucio; in which all the stratagems for the subjugation of protestant europe were slowly and artistically contrived. of the great conspiracy against human liberty, of which the pope and philip were the double head, this midnight triumvirate was the chief executive committee. these innumerable despatches, signed by philip, were not the emanations of his own mind. the king had a fixed purpose to subdue protestantism and to conquer the world; but the plans for carrying the purpose into effect were developed by subtler and more comprehensive minds than his own. it was enough for him to ponder wearily over schemes which he was supposed to dictate, and to give himself the appearance of supervising what he scarcely comprehended. and his work of supervision was often confined to pettiest details. the handwriting of spain and italy at that day was beautiful, and in our modern eyes seems neither antiquated nor ungraceful. but philip's scrawl was like that of 'a' clown just admitted to a writing-school, and the whole margin of a fairly penned despatch perhaps fifty pages long; laid before him for comment and signature by idiaquez or moura, would be sometimes covered with a few awkward sentences, which it was almost impossible to read, and which, when deciphered, were apt to reveal suggestions of astounding triviality. thus a most important despatch--in which the king, with his own hand, was supposed to be conveying secret intelligence to mendoza concerning the armada, together with minute directions for the regulation of guise's conduct at the memorable epoch of the barricades--contained but a single comment from the monarch's own pen. "the armada has been in lisbon about a month--quassi un mes"--wrote the secretary. "there is but one s in quasi," said philip. again, a despatch of mendoza to the king contained the intelligence that queen elizabeth was, at the date of the letter, residing at st. james's. philip, who had no objection to display his knowledge of english affairs--as became the man who had already been almost sovereign of england, and meant to be entirely so--supplied a piece of information in an apostille to this despatch. "st. james is a house of recreation," he said, "which was once a monastery. there is a park between it, and the palace which is called huytal; but why it is called huytal, i am sure i don't know." his researches in the english language had not enabled him to recognize the adjective and substantive out of which the abstruse compound white-hall (huyt-al), was formed. on another occasion, a letter from england containing important intelligence concerning the number of soldiers enrolled in that country to resist the spanish invasion, the quantity of gunpowder and various munitions collected, with other details of like nature, furnished besides a bit of information of less vital interest. "in the windows of the queen's presence-chamber they have discovered a great quantity of lice, all clustered together," said the writer. such a minute piece of statistics could not escape the microscopic eye of philip. so, disregarding the soldiers and the gunpowder, he commented only on this last-mentioned clause of the letter; and he did it cautiously too, as a king surnamed the prudent should:-- "but perhaps they were fleas," wrote philip. such examples--and many more might be given--sufficiently indicate the nature of the man on whom such enormous responsibilities rested, and who had been, by the adulation of his fellow-creatures, elevated into a god. and we may cast a glance upon him as he sits in his cabinet-buried among those piles of despatches--and receiving methodically, at stated hours, idiaquez, or moura, or chincon, to settle the affairs of so many millions of the human race; and we may watch exactly the progress of that scheme, concerning which so many contradictory rumours were circulating in europe. in the month of april a walsingham could doubt, even in august an ingenuous comptroller could disbelieve, the reality of the great project, and the pope himself, even while pledging himself to assistance, had been systematically deceived. he had supposed the whole scheme rendered futile by the exploit of drake at cadiz, and had declared that "the queen of england's distaff was worth more than philip's sword, that the king was a poor creature, that he would never be able to come to a resolution, and that even if he should do so, it would be too late;" and he had subsequently been doing his best, through his nuncio in france, to persuade the queen to embrace the catholic religion, and thus save herself from the impending danger. henry iii. had even been urged by the pope to send a special ambassador to her for this purpose--as if the persuasions of the wretched valois were likely to be effective with elizabeth tudor--and burghley had, by means of spies in rome, who pretended to be catholics, given out intimations that the queen was seriously contemplating such a step. thus the pope, notwithstanding cardinal allan, the famous million, and the bull, was thought by mendoza to be growing lukewarm in the spanish cause, and to be urging upon the "englishwoman" the propriety of converting herself, even at the late hour of may, . but philip, for years, had been maturing his scheme, while reposing entire confidence--beyond his own cabinet doors--upon none but alexander farnese; and the duke--alone of all men--was perfectly certain that the invasion would, this year, be attempted. the captain-general of the expedition was the marquis of santa cruz, a man of considerable naval experience, and of constant good fortune, who, in thirty years, had never sustained a defeat. he had however shown no desire to risk one when drake had offered him the memorable challenge in the year , and perhaps his reputation of the invincible captain had been obtained by the same adroitness on previous occasions. he was no friend to alexander farnese, and was much disgusted when informed of the share allotted to the duke in the great undertaking. a course of reproach and perpetual reprimand was the treatment to which he was, in consequence, subjected, which was not more conducive to the advancement of the expedition than it was to the health of the captain-general. early in january the cardinal archduke was sent to lisbon to lecture him, with instructions to turn a deaf ear to all his remonstrances, to deal with him peremptorily, to forbid his writing letters on the subject to his majesty, and to order him to accept his post or to decline it without conditions, in which latter contingency he was to be informed that his successor was already decided upon. this was not the most eligible way perhaps for bringing the captain-general into a cheerful mood; particularly as he was expected to be ready in january to sail to the flemish coast. nevertheless the marquis expressed a hope to accomplish his sovereign's wishes; and great had been the bustle in all the dockyards of naples, sicily, and spain; particularly in the provinces of guipuzcoa, biscay, and andalusia, and in the four great cities of the coast. war-ships of all dimensions, tenders, transports, soldiers, sailors, sutlers, munitions of war, provisions, were all rapidly concentrating in lisbon as the great place of rendezvous; and philip confidently believed, and as confidently informed the duke of parma, that he, might be expecting the armada at any time after the end of january. perhaps in the history of mankind there has never been a vast project of conquest conceived and matured in so protracted and yet so desultory a manner, as was this famous spanish invasion. there was something almost puerile in the whims rather than schemes of philip for carrying out his purpose. it was probable that some resistance would be offered, at least by the navy of england, to the subjugation of that country, and the king had enjoyed an opportunity, the preceding summer, of seeing the way in which english sailors did their work. he had also appeared to understand the necessity of covering the passage of farnese from the flemish ports into the thames, by means of the great spanish fleet from lisbon. nevertheless he never seemed to be aware that farnese could not invade england quite by himself, and was perpetually expecting to hear that he had done so. "holland and zeeland," wrote alexander to philip, "have been arming with their accustomed promptness; england has made great preparations. i have done my best to make the impossible possible; but your letter told me to wait for santa cruz, and to expect him very shortly. if, on the contrary, you had told me to make the passage without him, i would have made the attempt, although we had every one of us perished. four ships of war could sink every one of my boats. nevertheless i beg to be informed of your majesty's final order. if i am seriously expected to make the passage without santa cruz, i am ready to do it, although i should go all alone in a cock-boat." but santa cruz at least was not destined to assist in the conquest of england; for, worn out with fatigue and vexation, goaded by the reproaches and insults of philip, santa cruz was dead. he was replaced in the chief command of the fleet by the duke of medina sidonia, a grandee of vast wealth, but with little capacity and less experience. to the iron marquis it was said that a golden duke had succeeded; but the duke of gold did not find it easier to accomplish impossibilities than his predecessor had done. day after day, throughout the months of winter and spring, the king had been writing that the fleet was just on the point of sailing, and as frequently he had been renewing to alexander farnese the intimation that perhaps, after all, he might find an opportunity of crossing to england, without waiting for its arrival. and alexander, with the same regularity, had been informing his master that the troops in the netherlands had been daily dwindling from sickness and other causes, till at last, instead of the , effective infantry, with which it had been originally intended to make the enterprise, he had not more than , in the month of april. the spaniards, whom he was to receive from the fleet of medina sidonia, would therefore be the very mainspring of his army. after leaving no more soldiers in the netherlands than were absolutely necessary for the defence of the obedient provinces against the rebels, he could only take with him to england , men, even after the reinforcements from medina. "when we talked of taking england by surprise," said alexander, "we never thought of less than , . now that she is alert and ready for us, and that it is certain we must fight by sea and by land, , would be few." he almost ridiculed the king's suggestion that a feint might be made by way of besieging some few places in holland or zeeland. the whole matter in hand, he said, had become as public as possible, and the only efficient blind was the peace-negotiation; for many believed, as the english deputies were now treating at ostend, that peace would follow. at last, on the th, th, and th may, , the fleet, which had been waiting at lisbon more than a month for favourable weather, set sail from that port, after having been duly blessed by the cardinal archduke albert, viceroy of portugal. there were rather more than one hundred and thirty ships in all, divided into ten squadrons. there was the squadron of portugal, consisting of ten galleons, and commanded by the captain-general, medina sidonia. in the squadron of castile were fourteen ships of various sizes, under general diego flores de valdez. this officer was one of the most experienced naval officers in the spanish service, and was subsequently ordered, in consequence, to sail with the generalissimo in his flag-ship. in the squadron of andalusia were ten galleons and other vessels, under general pedro de valdez. in the squadron of biscay were ten galleons and lesser ships, under general juan martinet de recalde, upper admiral of the fleet. in the squadron of guipuzcoa were ten galleons, under general miguel de oquendo. in the squadron of italy were ten ships, under general martin de bertendona. in the squadron of urcas, or store-ships, were twenty-three sail, under general juan gomez de medina. the squadron of tenders, caravels, and other vessels, numbered twenty-two sail, under general antonio hurtado de mendoza. the squadron of four galeasses was commanded by don hugo de moncada. the squadron of four galeras, or galleys, was in charge of captain diego de medrado. next in command to medina sidonia was don alonzo de leyva, captain-general of the light horse of milan. don francisco de bobadilla was marshal-general of the camp. don diego de pimentel was marshal of the camp to the famous terzio or legion of sicily. the total tonnage of the fleet was , : the number of guns was . of spanish troops there were , on board: there were sailors and galley-slaves. besides these, there was a force of noble volunteers, belonging to the most illustrious houses of spain, with their attendants amounting to nearly in all. there was also don martin alaccon, administrator and vicar-general of the holy inquisition, at the head of some monks of the mendicant orders, priests and familiars. the grand total of those embarked was about , . the daily expense of the fleet was estimated by don diego de pimentel at , ducats a-day, and the daily cost of the combined naval and military force under farnese and medina sidonia was stated at , ducats. the size of the ships ranged from tons to . the galleons, of which there were about sixty, were huge round-stemmed clumsy vessels, with bulwarks three or four feet thick, and built up at stem and stern, like castles. the galeasses of which there were four--were a third larger than the ordinary galley, and were rowed each by three hundred galley-slaves. they consisted of an enormous towering fortress at the stern; a castellated structure almost equally massive in front, with seats for the rowers amidships. at stem and stern and between each of the slaves' benches were heavy cannon. these galeasses were floating edifices, very wonderful to contemplate. they were gorgeously decorated. there were splendid state-apartments, cabins, chapels, and pulpits in each, and they were amply provided with awnings, cushions, streamers, standards, gilded saints, and bands of music. to take part in an ostentatious pageant, nothing could be better devised. to fulfil the great objects of a war-vessel--to sail and to fight--they were the worst machines ever launched upon the ocean. the four galleys were similar to the galeasses in every respect except that of size, in which they were by one-third inferior. all the ships of the fleet--galeasses, galleys, galleons, and hulks--were so encumbered with top-hamper, so overweighted in proportion to their draught of water, that they could bear but little canvas, even with smooth seas and light and favourable winds. in violent tempests, therefore, they seemed likely to suffer. to the eyes of the th century these vessels seemed enormous. a ship of tons was then a monster rarely seen, and a fleet, numbering from to sail, with an aggregate tonnage of , , seemed sufficient to conquer the world, and to justify the arrogant title, by which it had baptized itself, of the invincible. such was the machinery which philip had at last set afloat, for the purpose of dethroning elizabeth and establishing the inquisition in england. one hundred and forty ships, eleven thousand spanish veterans, as many more recruits, partly spanish, partly portuguese, grandees, as many galley-slaves, and three hundred barefooted friars and inquisitors. the plan was simple. medina sidonia was to proceed straight from lisbon to calais roads: there he was to wait: for the duke of parma, who was to come forth from newport, sluys, and dunkerk, bringing with him his , veterans, and to assume the chief command of the whole expedition. they were then to cross the channel to dover, land the army of parma, reinforced with spaniards from the fleet, and with these , men alexander was to march at once upon london. medina sidonia was to seize and fortify the isle of wight, guard the entrance of the harbours against any interference from the dutch and english fleets, and--so soon as the conquest of england had been effected--he was to proceed to ireland. it had been the wish of sir william stanley that ireland should be subjugated first, as a basis of operations against england; but this had been overruled. the intrigues of mendoza and farnese, too, with the catholic nobles of scotland, had proved, after all, unsuccessful. king james had yielded to superior offers of money and advancement held out to him by elizabeth, and was now, in alexander's words, a confirmed heretic. there was no course left, therefore, but to conquer england at once. a strange omission had however been made in the plan from first to last. the commander of the whole expedition was the duke of parma: on his head was the whole responsibility. not a gun was to be fired--if it could be avoided--until he had come forth with his veterans to make his junction with the invincible armada off calais. yet there was no arrangement whatever to enable him to come forth--not the slightest provision to effect that junction. it would almost seem that the letter-writer of the escorial had been quite ignorant of the existence of the dutch fleets off dunkerk, newport, and flushing, although he had certainly received information enough of this formidable obstacle to his plan. "most joyful i shall be," said farnese--writing on one of the days when he had seemed most convinced by valentine dale's arguments, and driven to despair by his postulates--"to see myself with these soldiers on english ground, where, with god's help, i hope to accomplish your majesty's demands." he was much troubled however to find doubts entertained at the last moment as to his spaniards; and certainly it hardly needed an argument to prove that the invasion of england with but , soldiers was a somewhat hazardous scheme. yet the pilot moresini had brought him letters from medina sidonia, in which the duke expressed hesitation about parting with these veterans; unless the english fleet should have been previously destroyed, and had also again expressed his hope that parma would be punctual to the rendezvous. alexander immediately combated these views in letters to medina and to the king. he avowed that he would not depart one tittle from the plan originally laid down. the men, and more if possible, were to be furnished him, and the spanish armada was to protect his own flotilla, and to keep the channel clear of enemies. no other scheme was possible, he said, for it was clear that his collection of small flat-bottomed river-boats and hoys could not even make the passage, except in smooth weather. they could not contend with a storm, much less with the enemy's ships, which would destroy them utterly in case of a meeting, without his being able to avail himself of his soldiers--who would be so closely packed as to be hardly moveable--or of any human help. the preposterous notion that he should come out with his flotilla to make a junction with medina off calais, was over and over again denounced by alexander with vehemence and bitterness, and most boding expressions were used by him as to the probable result, were such a delusion persisted in. every possible precaution therefore but one had been taken. the king of france--almost at the same instant in which guise had been receiving his latest instructions from the escorial for dethroning and destroying that monarch--had been assured by philip of his inalienable affection; had been informed of the object of this great naval expedition--which was not by any means, as mendoza had stated to henry, an enterprise against france or england, but only a determined attempt to clear the sea, once for all, of these english pirates who had done so much damage for years past on the high seas--and had been requested, in case any spanish ship should be driven by stress of weather into french ports, to afford them that comfort and protection to which the vessels of so close and friendly an ally were entitled. thus there was bread, beef, and powder enough--there were monks and priests enough--standards, galley-slaves, and inquisitors enough; but there were no light vessels in the armada, and no heavy vessels in parma's fleet. medina could not go to farnese, nor could farnese come to medina. the junction was likely to be difficult, and yet it had never once entered the heads of philip or his counsellors to provide for that difficulty. the king never seemed to imagine that farnese, with , or , soldiers in the netherlands, a fleet of transports, and power to dispose of very large funds for one great purpose, could be kept in prison by a fleet of dutch skippers and corsairs. with as much sluggishness as might have been expected from their clumsy architecture, the ships of the armada consumed nearly three weeks in sailing from lisbon to the neighbourhood of cape finisterre. here they were overtaken by a tempest, and were scattered hither and thither, almost at the mercy of the winds and waves; for those unwieldy hulks were ill adapted to a tempest in the bay of biscay. there were those in the armada, however, to whom the storm was a blessing. david gwynn, a welsh mariner, had sat in the spanish hulks a wretched galley-slave--as prisoner of war for more than eleven years, hoping, year after year, for a chance of escape from bondage. he sat now among the rowers of the great galley, the trasana, one of the humblest instruments by which the subjugation of his native land to spain and rome was to be effected. very naturally, among the ships which suffered most in the gale were the four huge unwieldy galleys--a squadron of four under don diego de medrado--with their enormous turrets at stem and stern, and their low and open waists. the chapels, pulpits, and gilded madonnas proved of little avail in a hurricane. the diana, largest of the four, went down with all hands; the princess was labouring severely in the trough of the sea, and the trasana was likewise in imminent danger. so the master of this galley asked the welsh slave, who had far more experience and seamanship than he possessed himself, if it were possible to save the vessel. gwynn saw an opportunity for which he had been waiting eleven years. he was ready to improve it. he pointed out to the captain the hopelessness of attempting to overtake the armada. they should go down, he said, as the diana had already done, and as the princess was like at any moment to do, unless they took in every rag of sail, and did their best with their oars to gain the nearest port. but in order that the rowers might exert themselves to the utmost, it was necessary that the soldiers, who were a useless incumbrance on deck, should go below. thus only could the ship be properly handled. the captain, anxious to save his ship and his life, consented. most of the soldiers were sent beneath the hatches: a few were ordered to sit on the benches among the slaves. now there had been a secret understanding for many days among these unfortunate men, nor were they wholly without weapons. they had been accustomed to make toothpicks and other trifling articles for sale out of broken sword-blades and other refuse bits of steel. there was not a man among them who had not thus provided himself with a secret stiletto. at first gwynn occupied himself with arrangements for weathering the gale. so soon however as the ship had been made comparatively easy, he looked around him, suddenly threw down his cap, and raised his hand to the rigging. it was a preconcerted signal. the next instant he stabbed the captain to the heart, while each one of the galley-slaves killed the soldier nearest him; then, rushing below, they surprised and overpowered the rest of the troops, and put them all to death. coming again upon deck, david gwynn descried the fourth galley of the squadron, called the royal, commanded by commodore medrado in person, bearing down upon them, before the wind. it was obvious that the vasana was already an object of suspicion. "comrades," said gwynn, "god has given us liberty, and by our courage we must prove ourselves worthy of the boon." as he spoke there came a broadside from the galley royal which killed nine of his crew. david, nothing daunted; laid his ship close alongside of the royal, with such a shock that the timbers quivered again. then at the head of his liberated slaves, now thoroughly armed, he dashed on board the galley, and, after a furious conflict, in which he was assisted by the slaves of the royal, succeeded in mastering the vessel, and putting all the spanish soldiers to death. this done, the combined rowers, welcoming gwynn as their deliverer from an abject slavery which seemed their lot for life, willingly accepted his orders. the gale had meantime abated, and the two galleys, well conducted by the experienced and intrepid welshman, made their way to the coast of france, and landed at bayonne on the st, dividing among them the property found on board the two galleys. thence, by land, the fugitives, four hundred and sixty-six in number--frenchmen, spaniards, englishmen, turks, and moors, made their way to rochelle. gwynn had an interview with henry of navarre, and received from that chivalrous king a handsome present. afterwards he found his way to england, and was well commended by the queen. the rest of the liberated slaves dispersed in various directions. this was the first adventure of the invincible armada. of the squadron of galleys, one was already sunk in the sea, and two of the others had been conquered by their own slaves. the fourth rode out the gale with difficulty, and joined the rest of the fleet, which ultimately re-assembled at coruna; the ships having, in distress, put in at first at vivera, ribadeo, gijon, and other northern ports of spain. at the groyne--as the english of that day were accustomed to call coruna--they remained a month, repairing damages and recruiting; and on the nd of july (n.s.) the armada set sail: six days later, the spaniards took soundings, thirty leagues from the scilly islands, and on--friday, the th of july, off the lizard, they had the first glimpse of the land of promise presented them by sixtus v., of which they had at last come to take possession. [the dates in the narrative will be always given according to the new style, then already adopted by spain, holland, and france, although not by england. the dates thus given are, of course, ten days later than they appear in contemporary english records.] on the same day and night the blaze and smoke of ten thousand beacon-fires from the land's end to margate, and from the isle of wight to cumberland, gave warning to every englishman that the enemy was at last upon them. almost at that very instant intelligence had been brought from the court to the lord-admiral at plymouth, that the armada, dispersed and shattered by the gales of june, was not likely to make its appearance that year; and orders had consequently been given to disarm the four largest ships, and send them into dock. even walsingham, as already stated, had participated in this strange delusion. before howard had time to act upon this ill-timed suggestion--even had he been disposed to do so--he received authentic intelligence that the great fleet was off the lizard. neither he nor francis drake were the men to lose time in such an emergency, and before that friday, night was spent, sixty of the best english ships had been warped out of plymouth harbour. on saturday, th july, the wind was very light at southwest, with a mist and drizzling rain, but by three in the afternoon the two fleets could descry and count each other through the haze. by nine o'clock, st july, about two miles from looe, on the cornish coast, the fleets had their first meeting. there were sail of the spaniards, of which ninety were large ships, and sixty-seven of the english. it was a solemn moment. the long-expected armada presented a pompous, almost a theatrical appearance. the ships seemed arranged for a pageant, in honour of a victory already won. disposed in form of a crescent, the horns of which were seven miles asunder, those gilded, towered, floating castles, with their gaudy standards and their martial music, moved slowly along the channel, with an air of indolent pomp. their captain-general, the golden duke, stood in his private shot-proof fortress, on the--deck of his great galleon the saint martin, surrounded by generals of infantry, and colonels of cavalry, who knew as little as he did himself of naval matters. the english vessels, on the other hand--with a few exceptions, light, swift, and easily handled--could sail round and round those unwieldy galleons, hulks, and galleys rowed by fettered slave-gangs. the superior seamanship of free englishmen, commanded by such experienced captains as drake, frobisher, and hawkins--from infancy at home on blue water--was manifest in the very, first encounter. they obtained the weather-gage at once, and cannonaded the enemy at intervals with considerable effect, easily escaping at will out of range of the sluggish armada, which was incapable of bearing sail in pursuit, although provided with an armament which could sink all its enemies at close quarters. "we had some small fight with them that sunday afternoon," said hawkins. medina sidonia hoisted the royal standard at the fore, and the whole fleet did its utmost, which was little, to offer general battle. it was in vain. the english, following at the heels of the enemy, refused all such invitations, and attacked only the rear-guard of the armada, where recalde commanded. that admiral, steadily maintaining his post, faced his nimble antagonists, who continued to teaze, to maltreat, and to elude him, while the rest of the fleet proceeded slowly up the channel closely, followed by the enemy. and thus the running fight continued along the coast, in full view of plymouth, whence boats with reinforcements and volunteers were perpetually arriving to the english ships, until the battle had drifted quite out of reach of the town. already in this first "small fight" the spaniards had learned a lesson, and might even entertain a doubt of their invincibility. but before the sun set there were more serious disasters. much powder and shot had been expended by the spaniards to very little purpose, and so a master-gunner on board admiral oquendo's flag-ship was reprimanded for careless ball-practice. the gunner, who was a fleming, enraged with his captain, laid a train to the powder-magazine, fired it, and threw himself into the sea. two decks blew up. the into the clouds, carrying with it the paymaster-general of the fleet, a large portion of treasure, and nearly two hundred men.' the ship was a wreck, but it was possible to save the rest of the crew. so medina sidonia sent light vessels to remove them, and wore with his flag-ship, to defend oquendo, who had already been fastened upon by his english pursuers. but the spaniards, not being so light in hand as their enemies, involved themselves in much embarrassment by this manoeuvre; and there was much falling foul of each other, entanglement of rigging, and carrying away of yards. oquendo's men, however, were ultimately saved, and taken to other ships. meantime don pedro de valdez, commander of the andalusian squadron, having got his galleon into collision with two or three spanish ships successively, had at last carried away his fore-mast close to the deck, and the wreck had fallen against his main-mast. he lay crippled and helpless, the armada was slowly deserting him, night was coming on, the sea was running high, and the english, ever hovering near, were ready to grapple with him. in vain did don pedro fire signals of distress. the captain-general, even as though the unlucky galleon had not been connected with the catholic fleet--calmly fired a gun to collect his scattered ships, and abandoned valdez to his fate. "he left me comfortless in sight of the whole fleet," said poor pedro, "and greater inhumanity and unthankfulness i think was never heard of among men." yet the spaniard comported himself most gallantly. frobisher, in the largest ship of the english fleet, the triumph, of tons, and hawkins in the victory, of , cannonaded him at a distance, but, night coming on, he was able to resist; and it was not till the following morning that he surrendered to the revenge. drake then received the gallant prisoner on board his flagship--much to the disgust and indignation of frobisher and hawkins, thus disappointed of their prize and ransom-money--treated him with much courtesy, and gave his word of honour that he and his men should be treated fairly like good prisoners of war. this pledge was redeemed, for it was not the english, as it was the spanish custom, to convert captives into slaves, but only to hold them for ransom. valdez responded to drake's politeness by kissing his hand, embracing him, and overpowering him with magnificent compliments. he was then sent on board the lord-admiral, who received him with similar urbanity, and expressed his regret that so distinguished a personage should have been so coolly deserted by the duke of medina. don pedro then returned to the revenge, where, as the guest of drake, he was a witness to all subsequent events up to the th of august, on which day he was sent to london with some other officers, sir francis claiming his ransom as his lawful due. here certainly was no very triumphant beginning for the invincible armada. on the very first day of their being in presence of the english fleet--then but sixty-seven in number, and vastly their inferior in size and weight of metal--they had lost the flag ships of the guipuzcoan and of the andalusian squadrons, with a general-admiral, officers and, men, and some , ducats of treasure. they had been out-manoeuvred, out-sailed, and thoroughly maltreated by their antagonists, and they had been unable to inflict a single blow in return. thus the "small fight" had been a cheerful one for the opponents of the inquisition, and the english were proportionably encouraged. on monday, st of august, medina sidonia placed the rear-guard-consisting of the galeasses, the galleons st. matthew, st. luke, st. james, and the florence and other ships, forty-three in all--under command of don antonio de leyva. he was instructed to entertain the enemy--so constantly hanging on the rear--to accept every chance of battle, and to come to close quarters whenever it should be possible. the spaniards felt confident of sinking every ship in the english navy, if they could but once come to grappling; but it was growing more obvious every hour that the giving or withholding battle was entirely in the hands of their foes. meantime--while the rear was thus protected by leyva's division--the vanguard and main body of the armada, led by the captain-general, would steadily pursue its way, according to the royal instructions, until it arrived at its appointed meeting-place with the duke of parma. moreover, the duke of medina--dissatisfied with the want of discipline and of good seamanship hitherto displayed in his fleet--now took occasion to send a serjeant-major, with written sailing directions, on board each ship in the armada, with express orders to hang every captain, without appeal or consultation, who should leave the position assigned him; and the hangmen were sent with the sergeant-majors to ensure immediate attention to these arrangements. juan gil was at the name time sent off in a sloop to the duke of parma, to carry the news of the movements of the armada, to request information as to the exact spot and moment of the junction, and to beg for pilots acquainted with the french and flemish coasts. "in case of the slightest gale in the world," said medina, "i don't know how or where to shelter such large ships as ours." disposed in this manner; the spaniards sailed leisurely along the english coast with light westerly breezes, watched closely by the queen's fleet, which hovered at a moderate distance to windward, without offering, that day, any obstruction to their course. by five o'clock on tuesday morning, nd of august, the armada lay between portland bill and st. albans' head, when the wind shifted to the north-east, and gave the spaniards the weather-gage. the english did their beat to get to windward, but the duke, standing close into the land with the whole armada, maintained his advantage. the english then went about, making a tack seaward, and were soon afterwards assaulted by the spaniards. a long and spirited action ensued. howard in his little ark-royal--"the odd ship of the world for all conditions"--was engaged at different times with bertendona, of the italian squadron, with alonzo de leyva in the batta, and with other large vessels. he was hard pressed for a time, but was gallantly supported by the nonpareil, captain tanner; and after a long and confused combat, in which the st. mark, the st. luke, the st. matthew, the st. philip, the st. john, the st. james, the st. john baptist, the st. martin, and many other great galleons, with saintly and apostolic names, fought pellmell with the lion, the bear, the bull, the tiger, the dreadnought, the revenge, the victory, the triumph, and other of the more profanely-baptized english ships, the spaniards were again baffled in all their attempts to close with, and to board, their ever-attacking, ever-flying adversaries. the cannonading was incessant. "we had a sharp and a long fight," said hawkins. boat-loads of men and munitions were perpetually arriving to the english, and many, high-born volunteers--like cumberland, oxford, northumberland, raleigh, brooke, dudley, willoughby, noel, william hatton, thomas cecil, and others--could no longer restrain their impatience, as the roar of battle sounded along the coasts of dorset, but flocked merrily on board the ships of drake,--hawkins, howard, and frobisher, or came in small vessels which they had chartered for themselves, in order to have their share in the delights of the long-expected struggle. the action, irregular, desultory, but lively, continued nearly all day, and until the english had fired away most of their powder and shot. the spaniards, too, notwithstanding their years of preparation, were already sort of light metal, and medina sidonia had been daily sending to parma for a supply of four, six, and ten pound balls. so much lead and gunpowder had never before been wasted in a single day; for there was no great damage inflicted on either side. the artillery-practice was certainly not much to the credit of either nation. "if her majesty's ships had been manned with a full supply of good gunners," said honest william thomas, an old artilleryman, "it would have been the woefullest time ever the spaniard took in hand, and the most noble victory ever heard of would have been her majesty's. but our sins were the cause that so much powder and shot were spent, so long time in fight, and in comparison so little harm done. it were greatly to be wished that her majesty were no longer deceived in this way." yet the english, at any rate, had succeeded in displaying their seamanship, if not their gunnery, to advantage. in vain the unwieldly hulks and galleons had attempted to grapple with their light-winged foes, who pelted them, braved them, damaged their sails and gearing; and then danced lightly off into the distance; until at last, as night fell, the wind came out from the west again, and the english regained and kept the weather-gage. the queen's fleet, now divided into four squadrons, under howard, drake, hawkins, and frobisher, amounted to near one hundred sail, exclusive of lord henry seymour's division, which was cruising in the straits of dover. but few of all this number were ships of war however, and the merchant vessels; although zealous and active enough, were not thought very effective. "if you had seen the simple service done by the merchants and coast ships," said winter, "you would have said we had been little holpen by them, otherwise than that they did make a show." all night the spaniards, holding their course towards calais, after the long but indecisive conflict had terminated, were closely pursued by their wary antagonists. on wednesday, rd of august, there was some slight cannonading, with but slender results; and on thursday, the th, both fleets were off dunnose, on the isle of wight. the great hulk santana and a galleon of portugal having been somewhat damaged the previous day, were lagging behind the rest of the armada, and were vigorously attacked by the triumph, and a few other vessels. don antonio de leyva, with some of the galeasses and large galleons, came to the rescue, and frobisher, although in much peril, maintained an unequal conflict, within close range, with great spirit. seeing his danger, the lord admiral in the ark-royal, accompanied by the golden lion; the white bear, the elizabeth, the victory, and the leicester, bore boldly down into the very midst of the spanish fleet, and laid himself within three or four hundred yards of medina's flag ship, the st. martin, while his comrades were at equally close quarters with vice-admiral recalde and the galleons of oquendo, mexia, and almanza. it was the hottest conflict which had yet taken place. here at last was thorough english work. the two, great fleets, which were there to subjugate and to defend the realm of elizabeth, were nearly yard-arm and yard-arm together--all england on the lee. broadside after broadside of great guns, volley after volley of arquebusry from maintop and rigging, were warmly exchanged, and much damage was inflicted on the spaniards, whose gigantic ships, were so easy a mark to aim at, while from their turreted heights they themselves fired for the most part harmlessly over the heads of their adversaries. the leaders of the armada, however, were encouraged, for they expected at last to come to even closer quarters, and there were some among the english who were mad enough to wish to board. but so soon as frobisher, who was the hero of the day, had extricated himself from his difficulty, the lord-admiral--having no intention of risking the existence of his fleet, and with it perhaps of the english crown, upon the hazard of a single battle, and having been himself somewhat damaged in the fight--gave the signal for retreat, and caused the ark-royal to be towed out of action. thus the spaniards were frustrated of their hopes, and the english; having inflicted much. punishment at comparatively small loss to themselves, again stood off to windward; and the armada continued its indolent course along the cliffs of freshwater and blackgang. on friday; th august, the english, having received men and munitions from shore, pursued their antagonists at a moderate distance; and the lord-admiral; profiting by the pause--for, it was almost a flat calm--sent for martin frobisher, john hawkins, roger townsend, lord thomas howard, son of the duke of norfolk, and lord edmund sheffield; and on the deck of the royal ark conferred the honour of knighthood on each for his gallantry in the action of the previous day. medina sidonia, on his part, was again despatching messenger after messenger to the duke of parma, asking for small shot, pilots, and forty fly-boats, with which to pursue the teasing english clippers. the catholic armada, he said, being so large and heavy, was quite in the power of its adversaries, who could assault, retreat, fight, or leave off fighting, while he had nothing for it but to proceed, as expeditiously as might be; to his rendezvous in calais roads. etext editor's bookmarks: inquisitors enough; but there were no light vessels in the armada chapter xix. , part . both fleets off calais--a night of anxiety--project of howard and winter--impatience of the spaniards--fire-ships sent against the armada--a great galeasse disabled--attacked and captured by english boats--general engagement of both fleets--loss of several spanish ships--armada flies, followed by the english--english insufficiently provided--are obliged to relinquish the chase--a great storm disperses the armada--great energy of parma made fruitless by philip's dulness--england readier at sea than on shore--the lieutenant--general's complaints--his quarrels with norris and williams--harsh statements as to the english troops--want of organization in england--royal parsimony and delay--quarrels of english admirals--england's narrow escape from great peril--various rumours as to the armada's fate--philip for a long time in doubt--he believes himself victorious--is tranquil when undeceived. and in calais roads the great fleet--sailing slowly all next day in company with the english, without a shot being fired on either side--at last dropped anchor on saturday afternoon, august th. here then the invincible armada had arrived at its appointed resting-place. here the great junction--of medina sidonia with the duke of parma was to be effected; and now at last the curtain was to rise upon the last act of the great drama so slowly and elaborately prepared. that saturday afternoon, lord henry seymour and his squadron of sixteen lay between dungeness and folkestone; waiting the approach of the two fleets. he spoke several-coasting vessels coming from the west; but they could give him no information--strange to say--either of the spaniards or, of his own countrymen,--seymour; having hardly three days' provision in his fleet, thought that there might be time to take in supplies; and so bore into the downs. hardly had he been there half an hour; when a pinnace arrived from the lord-admiral; with orders for lord henry's squadron to hold itself in readiness. there was no longer time for victualling, and very soon afterwards the order was given to make sail and bear for the french coast. the wind was however so light; that the whole day was spent before seymour with his ships could cross the channel. at last, towards seven in the evening; he saw the great spanish armada, drawn up in a half-moon, and riding at anchor--the ships very near each other--a little to the eastward of calais, and very near the shore. the english, under howard drake, frobisher, and hawkins, were slowly following, and--so soon as lord henry, arriving from the opposite shore; had made his junction with them--the whole combined fleet dropped anchor likewise very near calais, and within one mile and a half of the spaniards. that invincible force had at last almost reached its destination. it was now to receive the cooperation of the great farnese, at the head of an army of veterans, disciplined on a hundred battle-fields, confident from countless victories, and arrayed, as they had been with ostentatious splendour, to follow the most brilliant general in christendom on his triumphal march into the capital of england. the long-threatened invasion was no longer an idle figment of politicians, maliciously spread abroad to poison men's minds as to the intentions of a long-enduring but magnanimous, and on the whole friendly sovereign. the mask had been at last thrown down, and the mild accents of philip's diplomatists and their english dupes, interchanging protocols so decorously month after month on the sands of bourbourg, had been drowned by the peremptory voice of english and spanish artillery, suddenly breaking in upon their placid conferences. it had now become supererogatory to ask for alexander's word of honour whether he had, ever heard of cardinal allan's pamphlet, or whether his master contemplated hostilities against queen elizabeth. never, since england was england, had such a sight been seen as now revealed itself in those narrow straits between dover and calais. along that long, low, sandy shore, and quite within the range of the calais fortifications, one hundred and thirty spanish ships--the greater number of them the largest and most heavily armed in the world lay face to face, and scarcely out of cannon-shot, with one hundred and fifty english sloops and frigates, the strongest and swiftest that the island could furnish, and commanded by men whose exploits had rung through the world. farther along the coast, invisible, but known to be performing a post perilous and vital service, was a squadron of dutch vessels of all sizes, lining both the inner and outer edges of the sandbanks off the flemish coasts, and swarming in all the estuaries and inlets of that intricate and dangerous cruising-ground between dunkerk and walcheren. those fleets of holland and zeeland, numbering some one hundred and fifty galleons, sloops, and fly-boats, under warmond, nassau, van der does, de moor, and rosendael, lay patiently blockading every possible egress from newport, or gravelines; or sluys, or flushing, or dunkerk, and longing to grapple with the duke of parma, so soon as his fleet of gunboats and hoys, packed with his spanish and italian veterans, should venture to set forth upon the sea for their long-prepared exploit. it was a pompous spectacle, that midsummer night, upon those narrow seas. the moon, which was at the full, was rising calmly upon a scene of anxious expectation. would she not be looking, by the morrow's night, upon a subjugated england, a re-enslaved holland--upon the downfall of civil and religious liberty? those ships of spain, which lay there with their banners waving in the moonlight, discharging salvoes of anticipated triumph and filling the air with strains of insolent music; would they not, by daybreak, be moving straight to their purpose, bearing the conquerors of the world to the scene of their cherished hopes? that english fleet, too, which rode there at anchor, so anxiously on the watch--would that swarm of, nimble, lightly-handled, but slender vessels,--which had held their own hitherto in hurried and desultory skirmishes--be able to cope with their great antagonist now that the moment had arrived for the death grapple? would not howard, drake, frobisher, seymour, winter, and hawkins, be swept out of the straits at last, yielding an open passage to medina, oquendo, recalde, and farnese? would those hollanders and zeelanders, cruising so vigilantly among their treacherous shallows, dare to maintain their post, now that the terrible 'holofernese,' with his invincible legions, was resolved to come forth? so soon as he had cast anchor, howard despatched a pinnace to the vanguard, with a message to winter to come on board the flag-ship. when sir william reached the ark, it was already nine in the evening. he was anxiously consulted by the lord-admiral as to the course now to be taken. hitherto the english had been teasing and perplexing an enemy, on the retreat, as it were, by the nature of his instructions. although anxious to give battle, the spaniard was forbidden to descend upon the coast until after his junction with parma. so the english had played a comparatively easy game, hanging upon their enemy's skirts, maltreating him as they doubled about him, cannonading him from a distance, and slipping out of his reach at their pleasure. but he was now to be met face to face, and the fate of the two free commonwealths of the world was upon the issue of the struggle, which could no longer be deferred. winter, standing side by aide with the lord-admiral on the deck of the little ark-royal, gazed for the first time on those enormous galleons and galleys with which his companion, was already sufficiently familiar. "considering their hugeness," said he, "twill not be possible to remove them but by a device." then remembering, in a lucky moment, something that he had heard four years before of the fire ships sent by the antwerpers against parma's bridge--the inventor of which, the italian gianibelli, was at that very moment constructing fortifications on the thames to assist the english against his old enemy farnese--winter suggested that some stratagem of the same kind should be attempted against the invincible armada. there was no time nor opportunity to prepare such submarine volcanoes as had been employed on that memorable occasion; but burning ships at least might be sent among the fleet. some damage would doubtless be thus inflicted by the fire, and perhaps a panic, suggested by the memories of antwerp and by the knowledge that the famous mantuan wizard was then a resident of england, would be still more effective. in winter's opinion, the armada might at least be compelled to slip its cables, and be thrown into some confusion if the project were fairly carried out. howard approved of the device, and determined to hold, next morning, a council of war for arranging the details of its execution. while the two sat in the cabin, conversing thus earnestly, there had well nigh been a serious misfortune. the ship, white bear, of tons burthen, and three others of the english fleet, all tangled together, came drifting with the tide against the ark. there were many yards carried away; much tackle spoiled, and for a time there was great danger; in the opinion of winter, that some of the very best ships in the fleet would be crippled and quite destroyed on the eve of a general engagement. by alacrity and good handling, however, the ships were separated, and the ill-consequences of an accident--such as had already proved fatal to several spanish vessels--were fortunately averted. next day, sunday, th august, the two great fleets were still lying but a mile and a half apart, calmly gazing at each other, and rising and falling at their anchors as idly as if some vast summer regatta were the only purpose of that great assemblage of shipping. nothing as yet was heard of farnese. thus far, at least, the hollanders had held him at bay, and there was still breathing-time before the catastrophe. so howard hung out his signal for council early in the morning, and very soon after drake and hawkins, seymour, winter, and the rest, were gravely consulting in his cabin. it was decided that winter's suggestion should be acted upon, and sir henry palmer was immediately despatched in a pinnace to dover, to bring off a number of old vessels fit to be fired, together with a supply of light wood, tar, rosin, sulphur, and other combustibles, most adapted to the purpose.' but as time wore away, it became obviously impossible for palmer to return that night, and it was determined to make the most of what could be collected in the fleet itself. otherwise it was to be feared that the opportunity might be for ever lost. parma, crushing all opposition, might suddenly appear at any moment upon the channel; and the whole spanish armada, placing itself between him and his enemies, would engage the english and dutch fleets, and cover his passage to dover. it would then be too late to think of the burning ships. on the other hand, upon the decks of the armada, there was an impatience that night which increased every hour. the governor of calais; m. de gourdon, had sent his nephew on board the flag-ship of medina sidonia, with courteous salutations, professions of friendship, and bountiful refreshments. there was no fear--now that mucio was for the time in the ascendency--that the schemes of philip would be interfered with by france. the governor, had, however, sent serious warning of--the dangerous position in which the armada had placed itself. he was quite right. calais roads were no safe anchorage for huge vessels like those of spain and portugal; for the tides and cross-currents to which they were exposed were most treacherous. it was calm enough at the moment, but a westerly gale might, in a few hours, drive the whole fleet hopelessly among the sand-banks of the dangerous flemish coast. moreover, the duke, although tolerably well furnished with charts and pilots for the english coast, was comparatively unprovided against the dangers which might beset him off dunkerk, newport, and flushing. he had sent messengers, day after day, to farnese, begging for assistance of various kinds, but, above all, imploring his instant presence on the field of action. it was the time and, place for alexander to assume the chief command. the armada was ready to make front against the english fleet on the left, while on the right, the duke, thus protected, might proceed across the channel and take possession of england. and the impatience of the soldiers and sailors on board the fleet was equal to that of their commanders. there was london almost before their eyes--a huge mass of treasure, richer and more accessible than those mines beyond the atlantic which had so often rewarded spanish chivalry with fabulous wealth. and there were men in those galleons who remembered the sack of antwerp, eleven years before--men who could tell, from personal experience, how helpless was a great commercial city, when once in the clutch of disciplined brigands--men who, in that dread 'fury of antwerp,' had enriched themselves in an hour with the accumulations of a merchant's life-time, and who had slain fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, brides and bridegrooms, before each others' eyes, until the number of inhabitants butchered in the blazing streets rose to many thousands; and the plunder from palaces and warehouses was counted by millions; before the sun had set on the 'great fury.' those spaniards, and italians, and walloons, were now thirsting for more gold, for more blood; and as the capital of england was even more wealthy and far more defenceless than the commercial metropolis of the netherlands had been, so it was resolved that the london 'fury' should be more thorough and more productive than the 'fury' of antwerp, at the memory--of which the world still shuddered. and these professional soldiers had been taught to consider the english as a pacific, delicate, effeminate race, dependent on good living, without experience of war, quickly fatigued and discouraged, and even more easily to be plundered and butchered than were the excellent burghers of antwerp. and so these southern conquerors looked down from their great galleons and galeasses upon the english vessels. more than three quarters of them were merchantmen. there was no comparison whatever between the relative strength of the fleets. in number they were about equal being each from one hundred and thirty to one hundred and fifty strong--but the spaniards had twice the tonnage of the english, four times the artillery, and nearly three times the number of men. where was farnese? most impatiently the golden duke paced the deck of the saint martin. most eagerly were thousands of eyes strained towards the eastern horizon to catch the first glimpse of parma's flotilla. but the day wore on to its close, and still the same inexplicable and mysterious silence prevailed. there was utter solitude on the waters in the direction of gravelines and dunkerk--not a sail upon the sea in the quarter where bustle and activity had been most expected. the mystery was profound, for it had never entered the head of any man in the armada that alexander could not come out when he chose. and now to impatience succeeded suspicion and indignation; and there were curses upon sluggishness and upon treachery. for in the horrible atmosphere of duplicity, in which all spaniards and italians of that epoch lived, every man: suspected his brother, and already medina sidonia suspected farnese of playing him false. there were whispers of collusion between the duke and the english commissioners at bourbourg. there were hints that alexander was playing his own game, that he meant to divide the sovereignty of the netherlands with the heretic elizabeth, to desert his great trust, and to effect, if possible, the destruction of his master's armada, and the downfall of his master's sovereignty in the north. men told each other, too, of a vague rumour, concerning which alexander might have received information, and in which many believed, that medina sidonia was the bearer of secret orders to throw farnese into bondage, so soon as he should appear, to send him a disgraced captive back to spain for punishment, and to place the baton of command in the hand of the duke of pastrana, philip's bastard by the eboli. thus, in the absence of alexander, all was suspense and suspicion. it seemed possible that disaster instead of triumph was in store for them through the treachery of the commander-in-chief. four and twenty hours and more, they had been lying in that dangerous roadstead, and although the weather had been calm and the sea tranquil, there seemed something brooding in the atmosphere. as the twilight deepened, the moon became totally obscured, dark cloud-masses spread over the heavens, the sea grew black, distant thunder rolled, and the sob of an approaching tempest became distinctly audible. such indications of a westerly gale, were not encouraging to those cumbrous vessels, with the treacherous quicksands of flanders under their lee. at an hour past midnight, it was so dark that it was difficult for the most practiced eye to pierce far into the gloom. but a faint drip of oars now struck the ears of the spaniards as they watched from the decks. a few moments afterwards the sea became, suddenly luminous, and six flaming vessels appeared at a slight distance, bearing steadily down upon them before the wind and tide. there were men in the armada who had been at the siege of antwerp only three years before. they remembered with horror the devil-ships of gianibelli, those floating volcanoes, which had seemed to rend earth and ocean, whose explosion had laid so many thousands of soldiers dead at a blow, and which had shattered the bridge and floating forts of farnese, as though they had been toys of glass. they knew, too, that the famous engineer was at that moment in england. in a moment one of those horrible panics, which spread with such contagious rapidity among large bodies of men, seized upon the spaniards. there was a yell throughout the fleet--"the fire-ships of antwerp, the fire-ships of antwerp!" and in an instant every cable was cut, and frantic attempts were made by each galleon and galeasse to escape what seemed imminent destruction. the confusion was beyond description. four or five of the largest ships became entangled with each other. two others were set on fire by the flaming--vessels, and were consumed. medina sidonia, who had been warned, even, before his departure from spain, that some such artifice would probably be attempted, and who had even, early that morning, sent out a party of sailors in a pinnace to search for indications of the scheme, was not surprised or dismayed. he gave orders--as well as might be that every ship, after the danger should be passed, was to return to its post, and, await his further orders. but it was useless, in that moment of unreasonable panic to issue commands. the despised mantuan, who had met with so many rebuffs at philip's court, and who--owing to official incredulity had been but partially successful in his magnificent enterprise at antwerp, had now; by the mere terror of his name, inflicted more damage on philip's armada than had hitherto been accomplished by howard and drake, hawkins and frobisher, combined. so long as night and darkness lasted, the confusion and uproar continued. when the monday morning dawned, several of the spanish vessels lay disabled, while the rest of the fleet was seen at a distance of two leagues from calais, driving towards the flemish coast. the threatened gale had not yet begun to blow, but there were fresh squalls from the w.s.w., which, to such awkward sailers as the spanish vessels; were difficult to contend with. on the other hand, the english fleet were all astir; and ready to pursue the spaniards, now rapidly drifting into the north sea. in the immediate neighbourhood of calais, the flagship of the squadron of galeasses, commanded by don hugo de moncada, was discovered using her foresail and oars, and endeavouring to enter the harbour. she had been damaged by collision with the st. john of sicily and other ships, during the night's panic, and had her rudder quite torn away. she was the largest and most splendid vessel in the armada--the show-ship of the fleet,--"the very glory and stay of the spanish navy," and during the previous two days she had been visited and admired by great numbers of frenchmen from the shore. lord admiral howard bore dawn upon her at once, but as she was already in shallow water, and was rowing steadily towards the town, he saw that the ark could not follow with safety. so he sent his long-boat to cut her out, manned with fifty or sixty volunteers, most of them "as valiant in courage as gentle in birth"--as a partaker in the adventure declared. the margaret and joan of london, also following in pursuit, ran herself aground, but the master despatched his pinnace with a body of musketeers, to aid in the capture of the galeasse. that huge vessel failed to enter the harbour, and stuck fast upon the bar. there was much dismay on board, but don hugo prepared resolutely to defend himself. the quays of calais and the line of the french shore were lined with thousands of eager spectators, as the two boats-rowing steadily toward a galeasse, which carried forty brass pieces of artillery, and was manned with three hundred soldiers and four hundred and fifty slaves--seemed rushing upon their own destruction. of these daring englishmen, patricians and plebeians together, in two open pinnaces, there were not more than one hundred in number, all told. they soon laid themselves close to the capitana, far below her lofty sides, and called on don hugo to surrender. the answer was, a smile of derision from the haughty spaniard, as he looked down upon them from what seemed an inaccessible height. then one wilton, coxswain of the delight; of winter's squadron, clambered up to the enemy's deck and fell dead the same instant. then the english volunteers opened a volley upon the spaniards; "they seemed safely ensconced in their ships," said bold dick tomson, of the margaret and joan, "while we in our open pinnaces, and far under them, had nothing to shroud and cover us." moreover the numbers were, seven hundred and fifty to one hundred. but, the spaniards, still quite disconcerted by the events of the preceding night, seemed under a spell. otherwise it would have been an easy matter for the great galeasse to annihilate such puny antagonists in a very short space of time. the english pelted the spaniards quite cheerfully, however, with arquebus shot, whenever they showed themselves above the bulwarks, picked off a considerable number, and sustained a rather severe loss themselves, lieutenant preston of the ark-royal, among others, being dangerously wounded. "we had a pretty skirmish for half-an-hour," said tomson. at last don hugo de moncada, furious at the inefficiency of his men, and leading them forward in person, fell back on his deck with a bullet through both eyes. the panic was instantaneous, for, meantime, several other english boats--some with eight, ten; or twelve men on board--were seen pulling--towards the galeasse; while the dismayed soldiers at once leaped overboard on the land side, and attempted to escape by swimming and wading to the shore. some of them succeeded, but the greater number were drowned. the few who remained--not more, than twenty in all--hoisted two handkerchiefs upon two rapiers as a signal of truce. the english, accepting it as a signal of defeat; scrambled with great difficulty up the lofty sides of the capitana, and, for an hour and a half, occupied themselves most agreeably in plundering the ship and in liberating the slaves. it was their intention, with the flood-tide, to get the vessel off, as she was but slightly damaged, and of very great value. but a serious obstacle arose to this arrangement. for presently a boat came along-side, with young m. de gourdon and another french captain, and hailed the galeasse. there was nobody on board who could speak french but richard tomson. so richard returned the hail, and asked their business. they said they came from the governor. "and what is the--governor's pleasure?" asked tomson, when they had come up the side. "the governor has stood and beheld your fight, and rejoiced in your victory," was the reply; "and he says that for your prowess and manhood you well deserve the pillage of the galeasse. he requires and commands you, however, not to attempt carrying off either the ship or its ordnance; for she lies a-ground under the battery of his castle, and within his jurisdiction, and does of right appertain to him." this seemed hard upon the hundred volunteers, who, in their two open boats, had so manfully carried a ship of tons, guns, and men; but richard answered diplomatically. "we thank m. de gourdon," said he, "for granting the pillage to mariners and soldiers who had fought for it, and we acknowledge that without his good-will we cannot carry away anything we have got, for the ship lies on ground directly under his batteries and bulwarks. concerning the ship and ordnance, we pray that he would send a pinnace to my lord admiral howard, who is here in person hard by, from whom he will have an honourable and friendly answer, which we shall all-obey." with this--the french officers, being apparently content, were about to depart, and it is not impossible that the soft answer might have obtained the galeasse and the ordnance, notwithstanding the arrangement which philip ii. had made with his excellent friend henry iii. for aid and comfort to spanish vessels in french ports. unluckily, however, the inclination for plunder being rife that morning, some of the englishmen hustled their french visitors, plundered them of their rings and jewels, as if they had been enemies, and then permitted them to depart. they rowed off to the shore, vowing vengeance, and within a few minutes after their return the battery of the fort was opened upon the english, and they were compelled to make their escape as they could with the plunder already secured, leaving the galeasse in the possession of m. de gourdon. this adventure being terminated, and the pinnaces having returned to the fleet, the lord-admiral, who had been lying off and on, now bore away with all his force in pursuit of the spaniards. the invincible armada, already sorely crippled, was standing n.n.e. directly before a fresh topsail-breeze from the s.s.w. the english came up with them soon after nine o'clock a.m. off gravelines, and found them sailing in a half-moon, the admiral and vice-admiral in the centre, and the flanks protected by the three remaining galeasses and by the great galleons of portugal. seeing the enemy approaching, medina sidonia ordered his whole fleet to luff to the wind, and prepare for action. the wind shifting a few points, was now at w.n.w., so that the english had both the weather-gage and the tide in their favour. a general combat began at about ten, and it was soon obvious to the spaniards that their adversaries were intending warm work. sir francis drake in the revenge, followed by, frobisher in the triumph, hawkins in the victory, and some smaller vessels, made the first attack upon the spanish flagships. lord henry in the rainbow, sir henry palmer in the antelope, and others, engaged with three of the largest galleons of the armada, while sir william winter in the vanguard, supported by most of his squadron, charged the starboard wing. the portion of the fleet thus assaulted fell back into the main body. four of the ships ran foul of each other, and winter, driving into their centre, found himself within musket-shot of many of their most formidable' ships. "i tell you, on the credit of a poor gentleman," he said, "that there were five hundred discharges of demi-cannon, culverin, and demi-culverin, from the vanguard; and when i was farthest off in firing my pieces, i was not out of shot of their harquebus, and most time within speech, one of another." the battle lasted six hours long, hot and furious; for now there was no excuse for retreat on the part of the spaniards, but, on the contrary, it was the intention of the captain-general to return to his station off calais, if it were within his power. nevertheless the english still partially maintained the tactics which had proved so successful, and resolutely refused the fierce attempts of the spaniards to lay themselves along-side. keeping within musket-range, the well-disciplined english mariners poured broadside after broadside against the towering ships of the armada, which afforded so easy a mark; while the spaniards, on their part, found it impossible, while wasting incredible quantities of powder and shot, to inflict any severe damage on their enemies. throughout the action, not an english ship was destroyed, and not a hundred men were killed. on the other hand, all the best ships of the spaniards were riddled through and through, and with masts and yards shattered, sails and rigging torn to shreds, and a north-went wind still drifting them towards the fatal sand-batiks of holland, they, laboured heavily in a chopping sea, firing wildly, and receiving tremendous punishment at the hands of howard drake, seymour, winter, and their followers. not even master-gunner thomas could complain that day of "blind exercise" on the part of the english, with "little harm done" to the enemy. there was scarcely a ship in the armada that did not suffer severely; for nearly all were engaged in that memorable action off the sands of gravelines. the captain-general himself, admiral recalde, alonzo de leyva, oquendo, diego flores de valdez, bertendona, don francisco de toledo, don diego de pimentel, telles enriquez, alonzo de luzon, garibay, with most of the great galleons and galeasses, were in the thickest of the fight, and one after the other each of those huge ships was disabled. three sank before the fight was over, many others were soon drifting helpless wrecks towards a hostile shore, and, before five o'clock, in the afternoon, at least sixteen of their best ships had been sacrificed, and from four to five thousand soldiers killed. ["god hath mightily preserved her majesty's forces with the least losses that ever hath been heard of, being within the compass of so great volleys of shot, both small and great. i verily believe there is not threescore men lost of her majesty's forces." captain j. fenner to walsingham, / aug. . (s. p. office ms.)] nearly all the largest vessels of the armada, therefore, having, been disabled or damaged--according to a spanish eye-witness--and all their small shot exhausted, medina sidonia reluctantly gave orders to retreat. the captain-general was a bad sailor; but he was, a chivalrous spaniard of ancient gothic blood, and he felt deep mortification at the plight of his invincible fleet, together with undisguised: resentment against alexander farnese, through whose treachery and incapacity, he considered. the great catholic cause to have been, so foully sacrificed. crippled, maltreated, and diminished in number, as were his ships; he would have still faced, the enemy, but the winds and currents were fast driving him on, a lee-shore, and the pilots, one and all, assured him that it would be inevitable destruction to remain. after a slight and very ineffectual attempt to rescue don diego de pimentel in the st. matthew--who refused to leave his disabled ship--and don francisco de toledo; whose great galleon, the st. philip, was fast driving, a helpless wreck, towards zeeland, the armada bore away n.n.e. into the open sea, leaving those, who could not follow, to their fate. the st. matthew, in a sinking condition, hailed a dutch fisherman, who was offered a gold chain to pilot her into newport. but the fisherman, being a patriot; steered her close to the holland fleet, where she was immediately assaulted by admiral van der does, to whom, after a two hours' bloody fight, she struck her flag. don diego, marshal of the camp to the famous legion of sicily, brother, of the marquis of tavera, nephew of the viceroy of sicily, uncle to the viceroy of naples, and numbering as many titles, dignities; and high affinities as could be expected of a grandee of the first class, was taken, with his officers, to the hague. "i was the means," said captain borlase, "that the best sort were saved, and the rest were cast overboard and slain at our entry. he, fought with us two hours; and hurt divers of our men, but at, last yielded." john van der does, his captor; presented the banner; of the saint matthew to the great church of leyden, where--such was its prodigious length--it hung; from floor to ceiling without being entirely unrolled; and there hung, from generation to generation; a worthy companion to the spanish flags which had been left behind when valdez abandoned the siege of that heroic city fifteen years before. the galleon st. philip, one of the four largest ships in the armada, dismasted and foundering; drifted towards newport, where camp-marshal don francisco de toledo hoped in, vain for succour. la motte made a feeble attempt at rescue, but some vessels from the holland fleet, being much more active, seized the unfortunate galleon, and carried her into flushing. the captors found forty-eight brass cannon and other things of value on board, but there were some casks of ribadavia wine which was more fatal to her enemies than those pieces of artillery had proved. for while the rebels were refreshing themselves, after the fatigues of the capture, with large draughts of that famous vintage, the st. philip, which had been bored through and through with english shot, and had been rapidly filling with water, gave a sudden lurch, and went down in a moment, carrying with her to the bottom three hundred of those convivial hollanders. a large biscay galleon, too, of recalde's squadron, much disabled in action, and now, like many others, unable to follow the armada, was summoned by captain cross of the hope, guns, to surrender. although foundering, she resisted, and refused to strike her flag. one of her officers attempted to haul down her colours, and was run through the body by the captain, who, in his turn, was struck dead by a brother of the officer thus slain. in the midst of this quarrel the ship went down with all her crew. six hours and more, from ten till nearly five, the fight had lasted--a most cruel battle, as the spaniard declared. there were men in the armada who had served in the action of lepanto, and who declared that famous encounter to have been far surpassed in severity and spirit by this fight off gravelines. "surely every man in our fleet did well," said winter, "and the slaughter the enemy received was great." nor would the spaniards have escaped even worse punishment, had not, most unfortunately, the penurious policy of the queen's government rendered her ships useless at last, even in this supreme moment. they never ceased cannonading the discomfited enemy until the ammunition was exhausted. "when the cartridges were all spent," said winter, "and the munitions in some vessels gone altogether, we ceased fighting, but followed the enemy, who still kept away." and the enemy--although still numerous, and seeming strong enough, if properly handled, to destroy the whole english fleet--fled before them. there remained more than fifty spanish vessels, above six hundred tons in size, besides sixty hulks and other vessels of less account; while in the whole english navy were but thirteen ships of or above that burthen. "their force is wonderful great and strong," said howard, "but we pluck their feathers by little and little." for medina sidonia had now satisfied himself that he should never succeed in boarding those hard-fighting and swift-sailing craft, while, meantime, the horrible panic of sunday night and the succession of fights throughout the following day, had completely disorganized his followers. crippled, riddled, shorn, but still numerous, and by no means entirely vanquished, the armada was flying with a gentle breeze before an enemy who, to save his existence; could not have fired a broadside. "though our powder and shot was well nigh spent," said the lord-admiral, "we put on a brag countenance and gave them chase, as though we had wanted nothing." and the brag countenance was successful, for that "one day's service had much appalled the enemy" as drake observed; and still the spaniards fled with a freshening gale all through the monday night. "a thing greatly to be regarded," said fenner, of the nonpariel, "is that that the almighty had stricken them with a wonderful fear. i have hardly, seen any of their companies succoured of the extremities which befell them after their fights, but they have been left, at utter ruin, while they bear as much sail as ever they possibly can." on tuesday morning, th august, the english ships were off the isle of walcheren, at a safe distance from the shore. "the wind is hanging westerly," said richard tomson, of the margaret and joan, "and we drive our enemies apace, much marvelling in what port they will direct themselves. those that are left alive are so weak and heartless that they could be well content to lose all charges and to be at home, both rich and poor." "in my conscience," said sir william winter, "i think the duke would give his dukedom to be in spain again." the english ships, one-hundred and four in number, being that morning half-a-league to windward, the duke gave orders for the whole armada to lay to and, await their approach. but the english had no disposition to engage, for at, that moment the instantaneous destruction of their enemies seemed inevitable. ill-managed, panic-struck, staggering before their foes, the spanish fleet was now close upon the fatal sands of zeeland. already there were but six and a-half fathoms of water, rapidly shoaling under their keels, and the pilots told medina that all were irretrievably lost, for the freshening north-welter was driving them steadily upon the banks. the english, easily escaping the danger, hauled their wind, and paused to see the ruin of the proud armada accomplished before their eyes. nothing but a change of wind at the instant could save them from perdition. there was a breathless shudder of suspense, and then there came the change. just as the foremost ships were about to ground on the ooster zand, the wind suddenly veered to the south-west, and the spanish ships quickly squaring their sails to the new impulse, stood out once more into the open sea. all that day the galleons and galeasses, under all the canvas which they dared to spread, continued their flight before the south-westerly breeze, and still the lord-admiral, maintaining the brag countenance, followed, at an easy distance, the retreating foe. at p. m., howard fired a signal gun, and ran up a flag of council. winter could not go, for he had been wounded in action, but seymour and drake, hawkins, frobisher, and the rest were present, and it was decided that lord henry should return, accompanied by winter and the rest of the inner, squadron, to guard the thames mouth against any attempt of the duke of parma, while the lord admiral and the rest of the navy should continue the pursuit of the armada. very wroth was lord henry at being deprived of his share in the chase. "the lord-admiral was altogether desirous to have me strengthen him," said he, "and having done so to the utmost of my good-will and the venture of my life, and to the distressing of the spaniards, which was thoroughly done on the monday last, i now find his lordship jealous and loath to take part of the honour which is to come. so he has used his authority to command me to look to our english coast, threatened by the duke of parma. i pray god my lord admiral do not find the lack of the rainbow and her companions, for i protest before god i vowed i would be as near or nearer with my little ship to encounter our enemies as any of the greatest ships in both armies." there was no insubordination, however, and seymour's squadron; at twilight of tuesday evening, august th--according to orders, so that the enemy might not see their departure--bore away for margate. but although winter and seymour were much disappointed at their enforced return, there was less enthusiasm among the sailors of the fleet. pursuing the spaniards without powder or fire, and without beef and bread to eat, was not thought amusing by the english crews. howard had not three days' supply of food in his lockers, and seymour and his squadron had not food for one day. accordingly, when seymour and winter took their departure, "they had much ado," so winter said; "with the staying of many ships that would have returned with them, besides their own company." had the spaniards; instead of being panic-struck, but turned on their pursuers, what might have been the result of a conflict with starving and unarmed men? howard, drake, and frobisher, with the rest of the fleet, followed the armada through the north sea from tuesday night ( th august) till friday (the th), and still, the strong southwester swept the spaniards before them, uncertain whether to seek refuge, food, water, and room to repair damages, in the realms of the treacherous king of scots, or on the iron-bound coasts of norway. medina sidonia had however quite abandoned his intention of returning to england, and was only anxious for a safe return: to spain. so much did he dread that northern passage; unpiloted, around the grim hebrides, that he would probably have surrendered, had the english overtaken him and once more offered battle. he was on the point of hanging out a white flag as they approached him for the last time--but yielded to the expostulations of the ecclesiastics on board the saint martin, who thought, no doubt, that they had more to fear from england than from the sea, should they be carried captive to that country, and who persuaded him that it would be a sin and a disgrace to surrender before they had been once more attacked. on the other hand, the devonshire skipper, vice-admiral drake, now thoroughly in his element, could not restrain his hilarity, as he saw the invincible armada of the man whose beard he had so often singed, rolling through the german ocean, in full flight from the country which was to have been made, that week, a spanish province. unprovided as were his ships, he was for risking another battle, and it is quite possible that the brag countenance might have proved even more successful than howard thought. "we have the army of spain before us," wrote drake, from the revenge, "and hope with the grace of god to wrestle a pull with him. there never was any thing pleased me better than seeing the enemy flying with a southerly wind to the northward. god grant you have a good eye to the duke of parma, for with the grace of god, if we live, i doubt not so to handle the matter with the duke of sidonia as he shall wish himself at st. mary's port among his orange trees." but howard decided to wrestle no further pull. having followed the spaniards till friday, th of august, as far as the latitude of d. ' the lord admiral called a council. it was then decided, in order to save english lives and ships, to put into the firth of forth for water and provisions, leaving two "pinnaces to dog, the fleet until it should be past the isles of scotland." but the next day, as the wind shifted to the north-west, another council decided to take advantage of the change, and bear away for the north foreland, in order to obtain a supply of powder, shot, and provisions. up to this period, the weather, though occasionally threatening, had been moderate. during the week which succeeded the eventful night off. calais, neither the 'armada nor the english ships had been much impeded in their manoeuvres by storms of heavy seas. but on the following sunday, th of august, there was a change. the wind shifted again to the south-west, and, during the whole of that day and the monday, blew a tremendous gale. "'twas a more violent storm," said howard, "than was ever seen before at this time of the year." the retreating english fleet was, scattered, many ships were in peril, "among the ill-favoured sands off norfolk," but within four or five days all arrived safely in margate roads. far different was the fate of the spaniards. over their invincible armada, last seen by the departing english midway between the coasts of scotland and denmark, the blackness of night seemed suddenly to descend. a mystery hung for a long time over their fate. damaged, leaking, without pilots, without a competent commander, the great fleet entered that furious storm, and was whirled along the iron crags of norway and between the savage rocks of faroe and the hebrides. in those regions of tempest the insulted north wreaked its full vengeance on the insolent spaniards. disaster after disaster marked their perilous track; gale after gale swept them hither and thither, tossing them on sandbanks or shattering them against granite cliffs. the coasts of norway, scotland, ireland, were strewn with the wrecks of that pompous fleet, which claimed the dominion of the seas with the bones of those invincible legions which were to have sacked london and made england a spanish vice-royalty. through the remainder of the month of august there, was a succession of storms. on the nd september a fierce southwester drove admiral oquendo in his galleon, together with one of the great galeasses, two large venetian ships, the ratty and the balauzara, and thirty-six other vessels, upon the irish coast, where nearly every soul on board perished, while the few who escaped to the shore--notwithstanding their religious affinity with the inhabitants--were either butchered in cold blood, or sent coupled in halters from village to village, in order to be shipped to england. a few ships were driven on the english coast; others went ashore near rochelle. of the four galeasses and four galleys, one of each returned to spain. of the ninety-one great galleons and hulks, fifty-eight were lost and thirty-three returned. of the tenders and zabras, seventeen were lost. and eighteen returned. of one hundred and, thirty-four vessels, which sailed from corona in july, but fifty-three, great and small, made their escape to spain, and these were so damaged as to be, utterly worthless. the invincible armada had not only been vanquished but annihilated. of the , men who sailed in the fleet; it is probable that not more than , ever saw their native land again. most of the leaders of the expedition lost their lives. medina sidonia reached santander in october, and, as philip for a moment believed, "with the greater part of the armada," although the king soon discovered his mistake. recalde, diego flores de valdez, oquendo, maldonado, bobadilla, manriquez, either perished at sea, or died of exhaustion immediately after their return. pedro de valdez, vasco de silva, alonzo de sayas, piemontel, toledo, with many other nobles, were prisoners in england and holland. there was hardly a distinguished family in spain not placed in mourning, so that, to relieve the universal gloom, an edict was published, forbidding the wearing of mourning at all. on the other hand, a merchant of lisbon, not yet reconciled to the spanish conquest of his country, permitted himself some tokens of hilarity at the defeat of the armada, and was immediately hanged by express command of philip. thus--as men said--one could neither cry nor laugh within the spanish dominions. this was the result of the invasion, so many years preparing, and at an expense almost incalculable. in the year alone, the cost of philip's armaments for the subjugation of england could not have been less than six millions of ducats, and there was at least as large a sum on board the armada itself, although the pope refused to pay his promised million. and with all this outlay, and with the sacrifice of so many thousand lives, nothing had been accomplished, and spain, in a moment, instead of seeming terrible to all the world, had become ridiculous. "beaten and shuffled together from the lizard to calais, from calais driven with squibs from their anchors, and chased out of sight of england about scotland and ireland," as the devonshire skipper expressed himself, it must be confessed that the spaniards presented a sorry sight. "their invincible and dreadful navy," said drake, "with all its great and terrible ostentation, did not in all their sailing about england so much as sink or take one ship, bark, pinnace, or cock-boat of ours, or even burn so much as one sheep-tote on this land." meanwhile farnese sat chafing under the unjust reproaches heaped upon him, as if he, and not his master, had been responsible for the gigantic blunders of the invasion. "as for the prince of parma," said drake, "i take him to be as a bear robbed of her whelps." the admiral was quite right. alexander was beside himself with rage. day after day, he had been repeating to medina sidonia and to philip that his flotilla and transports could scarcely live in any but the smoothest sea, while the supposition that they could serve a warlike purpose he pronounced absolutely ludicrous. he had always counselled the seizing of a place like flushing, as a basis of operations against england, but had been overruled; and he had at least reckoned upon the invincible armada to clear the way for him, before he should be expected to take the sea. with prodigious energy and at great expense he had constructed or improved internal water-communications from ghent to sluy's, newport, and dunkerk. he had, thus transported all his hoys, barges, and munitions for the invasion, from all points of the obedient netherlands to the sea-coast, without coming within reach of the hollanders and zeelanders, who were keeping close watch on the outside. but those hollanders and zeelanders, guarding every outlet to the ocean, occupying every hole and cranny of the coast, laughed the invaders of england to scorn, braving them, jeering them, daring them to come forth, while the walloons and spaniards shrank before such amphibious assailants, to whom a combat on the water was as natural as upon dry land. alexander, upon one occasion, transported with rage, selected a band of one thousand musketeers, partly spanish, partly irish, and ordered an assault upon those insolent boatmen. with his own hand--so it was related--he struck dead more than one of his own officers who remonstrated against these commands; and then the attack was made by his thousand musketeers upon the hollanders, and every man of the thousand was slain. he had been reproached for not being ready, for not having embarked his men; but he had been ready for a month, and his men could be embarked in a single day. "but it was impossible," he said, "to keep them long packed up on board vessels, so small that there was no room to turn about in the people would sicken, would rot, would die." so soon as he had received information of the arrival of the fleet before calais--which was on the th august--he had proceeded the same night to newport and embarked , men, and before dawn he was at dunkerk, where the troops stationed in that port were as rapidly placed on board the transports. sir william stanley, with his irish kernes, were among the first shipped for the enterprise. two-days long these regiments lay heaped together, like sacks of corn, in the boats--as one of their officers described it--and they lay cheerfully hoping that the dutch fleet would be swept out of the sea by the invincible armada, and patiently expecting the signal for setting sail to england. then came the prince of ascoli, who had gone ashore from the spanish fleet at calais, accompanied by serjeant-major gallinato and other messengers from medina sidonia, bringing the news of the fire-ships and the dispersion and flight of the armada. "god knows," said alexander, "the distress in which this event has plunged me, at the very moment when i expected to be sending your majesty my congratulations on the success of the great undertaking. but these are the works of the lord, who can recompense your majesty by giving you many victories, and the fulfilment of your majesty's desires, when he thinks the proper time arrived. meantime let him be praised for all, and let your majesty take great care of your health, which is the most important thing of all." evidently the lord did not think the proper time yet arrived for fulfilling his majesty's desires for the subjugation of england, and meanwhile the king might find what comfort he could in pious commonplaces and in attention to his health. but it is very certain that, of all the high parties concerned, alexander farnese was the least reprehensible for the over-throw of philips hopes. no man could have been more judicious--as it has been sufficiently made evident in the course of this narrative--in arranging all the details of the great enterprise, in pointing out all the obstacles, in providing for all emergencies. no man could have been more minutely faithful to his master, more treacherous to all the world beside. energetic, inventive, patient, courageous; and stupendously false, he had covered flanders with canals and bridges, had constructed flotillas, and equipped a splendid army, as thoroughly as he had puzzled comptroller croft. and not only had that diplomatist and his wiser colleagues been hoodwinked, but elizabeth and burghley, and, for a moment, even walsingham, were in the dark, while henry iii. had been his passive victim, and the magnificent balafre a blind instrument in his hands. nothing could equal alexander's fidelity, but his perfidy. nothing could surpass his ability to command but his obedience. and it is very possible that had philip followed his nephew's large designs, instead of imposing upon him his own most puerile schemes; the result far england, holland, and, all christendom might have been very different from the actual one. the blunder against which farnese had in vain warned his master, was the stolid ignorance in which the king and all his counsellors chose to remain of the holland and zeeland fleet. for them warmond and nassau, and van der does and joost de moor; did not exist, and it was precisely these gallant sailors, with their intrepid crews, who held the key to the whole situation. to the queen's glorious naval-commanders, to the dauntless mariners of england, with their well-handled vessels; their admirable seamanship, their tact and their courage, belonged the joys of the contest, the triumph, and the glorious pursuit; but to the patient hollanders and zeelanders, who, with their hundred vessels held farneae, the chief of the great enterprise, at bay, a close prisoner with his whole army in his own ports, daring him to the issue, and ready--to the last plank of their fleet and to the last drop of their blood--to confront both him and the duke of medina sidona, an equal share of honour is due. the safety of the two free commonwealths of the world in that terrible contest was achieved by the people and the mariners of the two states combined. great was the enthusiasm certainly of the english people as the volunteers marched through london to the place of rendezvous, and tremendous were the cheers when the brave queen rode on horseback along the lines of tilbury. glowing pictures are revealed to us of merry little england, arising in its strength, and dancing forth to encounter the spaniards, as if to a great holiday. "it was a pleasant sight," says that enthusiastic merchant-tailor john stowe, "to behold the cheerful countenances, courageous words, and gestures, of the soldiers, as they marched to tilbury, dancing, leaping wherever they came, as joyful at the news of the foe's approach as if lusty giants were to run a race. and bellona-like did the queen infuse a second spirit of loyalty, love, and resolution, into every soldier of her army, who, ravished with their sovereign's sight, prayed heartily that the spaniards might land quickly, and when they heard they were fled, began to lament." but if the spaniards had not fled, if there had been no english navy in the channel, no squibs at calais, no dutchmen off dunkerk, there might have been a different picture to paint. no man who has, studied the history of those times, can doubt the universal and enthusiastic determination of the english nation to repel the invaders. catholics and protestants felt alike on the great subject. philip did not flatter, himself with assistance from any english papists, save exiles and renegades like westmoreland, paget, throgmorton, morgan, stanley, and the rest. the bulk of the catholics, who may have constituted half the population of england, although malcontent, were not rebellious; and notwithstanding the precautionary measures taken by government against them, elizabeth proudly acknowledged their loyalty. but loyalty, courage, and enthusiasm, might not have sufficed to supply the want of numbers and discipline. according to the generally accepted statement of contemporary chroniclers, there were some , men under arms: , along the southern coast, , under leicester, and , under lord chamberlain hunsdon, for the special defence of the queen's person. but it would have been very difficult, in the moment of danger, to bring anything like these numbers into the field. a drilled and disciplined army--whether of regulars or of militia-men--had no existence whatever. if the merchant vessels, which had been joined to the royal fleet, were thought by old naval commanders to be only good to make a show, the volunteers on land were likely to be even less effective than the marine militia, so much more accustomed than they to hard work. magnificent was the spirit of the great feudal lords as they rallied round their queen. the earl of pembroke offered to serve at the head of three hundred horse and five hundred footmen, armed at his own cost, and all ready to "hazard the blood of their hearts" in defence of her person. "accept hereof most excellent sovereign," said the earl, "from a person desirous to live no longer than he may see your highness enjoy your blessed estate, maugre the beards of all confederated leaguers." the earl of shrewsbury, too, was ready to serve at the head of his retainers, to the last drop of his blood. "though i be old," he said, "yet shall your quarrel make me young again. though lame in body, yet lusty in heart to lend your greatest enemy one blow, and to stand near your defence, every way wherein your highness shall employ me." but there was perhaps too much of this feudal spirit. the lieutenant-general complained bitterly that there was a most mischievous tendency among all the militia-men to escape from the queen's colours, in order to enrol themselves as retainers to the great lords. this spirit was not favourable to efficient organization of a national army. even, had the commander-in-chief been a man, of genius and experience it would have been difficult for him, under such circumstances, to resist a splendid army, once landed, and led by alexander farnese, but even leicester's most determined flatterers hardly ventured to compare him in-military ability with that first general of his age. the best soldier in england was un-questionably sir john norris, and sir john was now marshal of the camp to leicester. the ancient quarrel between the two had been smoothed over, and--as might be expected--the earl hated norris more bitterly than before, and was perpetually vituperating him, as he had often done in the netherlands. roger william, too, was entrusted with the important duties of master of the horse, under the lieutenant-general, and leicester continued to bear the grudge towards that honest welshman, which had begun in holland. these were not promising conditions in a camp, when an invading army was every day expected; nor was the completeness or readiness of the forces sufficient to render harmless the quarrels of the commanders. the armada had arrived in calais roads on saturday afternoon; the th august. if it had been joined on that day, or the next--as philip and medina sidonia fully expected--by the duke of parma's flotilla, the invasion would have been made at once. if a spanish army had ever landed in england at all, that event would have occurred on the th august. the weather was not unfavourable; the sea was smooth, and the circumstances under which the catastrophe of the great drama was that night accomplished, were a profound mystery to every soul in england. for aught that leicester, or burghley, or queen elizabeth, knew at the time, the army of farnese might, on monday, have been marching upon london. now, on that monday morning, the army of lord hunsdon was not assembled at all, and leicester with but four thousand men, under his command, was just commencing his camp at tilbury. the "bellona-like" appearance of the queen on her white palfrey,--with truncheon in hand, addressing her troops, in that magnificent burst of eloquence which has so often been repeated, was not till eleven days afterwards; not till the great armada, shattered and tempest-tossed, had been, a week long, dashing itself against the cliffs of norway and the faroes, on, its forlorn retreat to spain. leicester, courageous, self-confident, and sanguine as ever; could not restrain his indignation at the parsimony with which his own impatient spirit had to contend. "be you assured," said he, on the rd august, when the armada was off the isle of wight, "if the spanish fleet arrive safely in the narrow seas, the duke of parma will join presently with all his forces, and lose no time in invading this realm. therefore i beseech you, my good lords, let no man, by hope or other abuse; prevent your speedy providing defence against, this mighty enemy now knocking at our gate." for even at this supreme moment doubts were entertained at court as to the intentions of the spaniards: next day he informed walsingham that his four thousand men had arrived. "they be as forward men and willing to meet the enemy as i ever saw," said he. he could not say as much in, praise of the commissariat: "some want the captains showed," he observed, "for these men arrived without one meal of victuals so that on their-arrival, they had not one barrel of beer nor loaf of bread--enough after twenty miles' march to have discouraged them, and brought them to mutiny. i see many causes to increase my former opinion of the dilatory wants you shall find upon all sudden hurley burleys. in no former time was ever so great a cause, and albeit her majesty hath appointed an army to resist her enemies if they land, yet how hard a matter it will be to gather men together, i find it now. if it will be five days to gather these countrymen, judge what it will be to look in short space for those that dwell forty, fifty, sixty miles off." he had immense difficulty in feeding even this slender force. "i made proclamation," said he, "two days ago, in all market towns, that victuallers should come to the camp and receive money for their provisions, but there is not one victualler come in to this hour. i have sent to all the justices of peace about it from place to place. i speak it that timely consideration be had of these things, and that they be not deferred till the worst come. let her majesty not defer the time, upon any supposed hope, to assemble a convenient force of horse and foot about her. her majesty cannot be strong enough too soon, and if her navy had not been strong and abroad as it is, what care had herself and her whole realm been in by this time! and what care she will be in if her forces be not only assembled, but an army presently dressed to withstand the mighty enemy that is to approach her gates." "god doth know, i speak it not to bring her to charges. i would she had less cause to spend than ever she had, and her coffers fuller than ever they were; but i will prefer her life and safety, and the defence of the realm, before all sparing of charges in the present danger." thus, on the th august, no army had been assembled--not even the body-guard of the queen--and leicester, with four thousand men, unprovided with a barrel of beer or a loaf of bread, was about commencing his entrenched camp at tilbury. on the th august the armada was in calais roads, expecting alexander farnese to lead his troops upon london! norris and williams, on the news of medina sidonia's approach, had rushed to dover, much to the indignation of leicester, just as the earl was beginning his entrenchments at tilbury. "i assure you i am angry with sir john norris and sir roger williams," he said. "i am here cook, caterer, and huntsman. i am left with no one to supply sir john's place as marshal, but, for a day or two, am willing to work the harder myself. i ordered them both to return this day early, which they faithfully promised. yet, on arriving this morning, i hear nothing of either, and have nobody to marshal the camp either for horse or foot. this manner of dealing doth much mislike me in them both. i am ill-used. 'tis now four o'clock, but here's not one of them. if they come not this night, i assure you i will not receive them into office, nor bear such loose careless dealing at their hands. if you saw how weakly i am assisted you would be sorry to think that we here, should be the front against the enemy that is so mighty, if he should land here. and seeing her majesty hath appointed me her lieutenant-general, i look that respect be used towards me, such as is due to my place." thus the ancient grudge--between leicester and the earl of sussex's son was ever breaking forth, and was not likely to prove beneficial at this eventful season. next day the welshman arrived, and sir john promised to come back in the evening. sir roger brought word from the coast that lord henry seymour's fleet was in want both of men and powder. "good lord!" exclaimed leicester, "how is this come to pass, that both he and, my lord-admiral are so weakened of men. i hear they be running away. i beseech you, assemble your forces, and play not away this kingdom by delays. hasten our horsemen hither and footmen: . . . . if the spanish fleet come to the narrow seas the prince of parma will play another part than is looked for." as the armada approached calais, leicester was informed that the soldiers at dover began to leave the coast. it seemed that they were dissatisfied with the penuriousness of the government. "our soldiers do break away at dover, or are not pleased. i assure you, without wages, the people will not tarry, and contributions go hard with them. surely i find that her majesty must needs deal liberally, and be at charges to entertain her subjects that have chargeably, and liberally used, themselves to serve her." the lieutenant-general even thought it might be necessary for him to proceed to dover in person, in order to remonstrate with these discontented troops; for it was possible that those ill-paid, undisciplined, and very meagre forces, would find much difficulty in opposing alexander's march, to london, if he should once succeed in landing. leicester had a very indifferent opinion too of the train-bands of the metropolis. "for your londoners," he said, "i see their service will be little, except they have their own captains, and having them, i look for none at all by them, when we shall meet the enemy." this was not complimentary, certainly, to the training of the famous artillery garden, and furnished a still stronger motive for defending the road over which the capital was to be approached. but there was much jealousy, both among citizens and nobles, of any authority entrusted to professional soldiers. "i know what burghers be, well enough," said the earl, "as brave and well-entertained as ever the londoners were. if they should go forth from the city they should have good leaders. you know the imperfections of the time, how few-leaders you have, and the gentlemen of the counties are very loth to have any captains placed with them. so that the beating out of our best captains is like to be cause of great danger." sir john smith, a soldier of experience, employed to drill and organize some of the levies, expressed still more disparaging opinions than those of leicester concerning the probable efficiency in the field of these english armies. the earl was very angry with the knight, however, and considered, him incompetent, insolent, and ridiculous. sir john seemed, indeed, more disposed to keep himself out of harm's way, than to render service to the queen by leading awkward recruits against alexander farnese. he thought it better to nurse himself. "you would laugh to see how sir john smith has dealt since my coming," said leicester. "he came to me, and told me that his disease so grew upon him as he must needs go to the baths. i told him i would not be against his health, but he saw what the time was, and what pains he had taken with his countrymen, and that i had provided a good place for him. next day he came again, saying little to my offer then, and seemed desirous, for his health, to be gone. i told him what place i did appoint, which was a regiment of a great part of his countrymen. he said his health was dear to him, and he desired to take leave of me, which i yielded unto. yesterday, being our muster-day, he came again to me to dinner; but such foolish and vain-glorious paradoxes he burst withal, without any cause offered, as made all that knew anything smile and answer little, but in sort rather to satisfy men present than to argue with him." and the knight went that day to review leicester's choice troops--the four thousand men of essex--but was not much more deeply impressed with their proficiency than he had been with that of his own regiment. he became very censorious. "after the muster," said the lieutenant-general, "he entered again into such strange cries for ordering of men, and for the fight with the weapon, as made me think he was not well. god forbid he should have charge of men that knoweth so little, as i dare pronounce that he doth." yet the critical knight was a professional--campaigner, whose opinions were entitled to respect; and the more so, it would seem, because they did not materially vary from those which leicester himself was in the habit of expressing. and these interior scenes of discord, tumult, parsimony, want of organization, and unsatisfactory mustering of troops, were occurring on the very saturday and sunday when the armada lay in sight of dover cliffs, and when the approach of the spaniards on the dover road might at any moment be expected. leicester's jealous and overbearing temper itself was also proving a formidable obstacle to a wholesome system of defence. he was already displeased with the amount of authority entrusted to lord hunsdon, disposed to think his own rights invaded; and desirous that the lord chamberlain should accept office under himself. he wished saving clauses as to his own authority inserted in hunsdon's patent. "either it must be so, or i shall have wrong," said he, "if he absolutely command where my patent doth give me power. you may easily conceive what absurd dealings are likely to fall out, if you allow two absolute commanders." looking at these pictures of commander-in-chief, officers, and rank and file--as painted by themselves--we feel an inexpressible satisfaction that in this great crisis of england's destiny, there were such men as howard, drake, frobisher, hawkins, seymour, winter, fenner, and their gallant brethren, cruising that week in the channel, and that nassau and warmond; de moor and van der does, were blockading the flemish coast. there was but little preparation to resist the enemy once landed. there were no fortresses, no regular army, no population trained to any weapon. there were patriotism, loyalty, courage, and enthusiasm, in abundance; but the commander-in-chief was a queen's favourite, odious to the people, with very moderate abilities, and eternally quarrelling with officers more competent than himself; and all the arrangements were so hopelessly behind-hand, that although great disasters might have been avenged, they could scarcely have been avoided. remembering that the invincible armada was lying in calais roads on the th of august, hoping to cross to dover the next morning, let us ponder the words addressed on that very day to queen elizabeth by the lieutenant-general of england. "my most dear and gracious lady," said the earl, "it is most true that those enemies that approach your kingdom and person are your undeserved foes, and being so, and hating you for a righteous cause, there is the less fear to be had of their malice or their forces; for there is a most just god that beholdeth the innocence of that heart. the cause you are assailed for is his and his church's, and he never failed any that faithfully do put their chief trust in his goodness. he hath, to comfort you withal, given you great and mighty means to defend yourself, which means i doubt not but your majesty will timely and princely use them, and your good god that ruleth all will assist you and bless you with victory." he then proceeded to give his opinion on two points concerning which the queen had just consulted him--the propriety of assembling her army, and her desire to place herself at the head of it in person. on the first point one would have thought discussion superfluous on the th of august. "for your army, it is more than time it were gathered and about you," said leicester, "or so near you as you may have the use of it at a few hours' warning. the reason is that your mighty enemies are at hand, and if god suffers them to pass by your fleet, you are sure they will attempt their purpose of landing with all expedition. and albeit your navy be very strong, but, as we have always heard, the other is not only far greater, but their forces of men much beyond yours. no doubt if the prince of parma come forth, their forces by sea shall not only be greatly, augmented, but his power to land shall the easier take effect whensoever he shall attempt it. therefore it is most requisite that your majesty at all events have as great a force every way as you can devise; for there is no dalliance at such a time, nor with such an enemy. you shall otherwise hazard your own honour, besides your person and country, and must offend your gracious god that gave you these forces and power, though you will not use them when you should." it seems strange enough that such phrases should be necessary when the enemy was knocking at the gate; but it is only too, true that the land-forces were never organized until the hour, of danger had, most fortunately and unexpectedly, passed by. suggestions at this late moment were now given for the defence of the throne, the capital, the kingdom, and the life of the great queen, which would not have seemed premature had they been made six months before, but which, when offered in august, excite unbounded amazement. alexander would have had time to, march from dover to duxham before these directions, now leisurely stated with all the air of novelty, could be carried into effect. "now for the placing of your army," says the lieutenant-general on the memorable saturday, th of august, "no doubt but i think about london the meetest, and i suppose that others will be of the same mind. and your majesty should forthwith give the charge thereof to some special nobleman about you, and likewise place all your chief officers that every man may know what he shall do, and gather as many good horse above all things as you can, and the oldest, best, and assuredest captains to lead; for therein will consist the greatest hope of good success under god. and so soon as your army is assembled, let them by and by be exercised, every man to know his weapon, and that there be all other things prepared in readiness, for your army, as if they should march upon a day's warning, especially carriages, and a commissary of victuals, and a master of ordnance." certainly, with alexander of parma on his way to london, at the head of his italian pikemen, his spanish musketeers, his famous veteran legion--"that nursing mother of great soldiers"--it was indeed more than time that every man should know what he should do, that an army of englishmen should be-assembled, and that every man should know his weapon. "by and by" was easily said, and yet, on the th of august it was by and by that an army, not yet mustered, not yet officered, not yet provided with a general, a commissary of victuals, or a master of ordinance, was to be exercised, "every man to know his weapon." english courage might ultimately triumph over, the mistakes of those who governed the country, and over those disciplined brigands by whom it was to be invaded. but meantime every man of those invaders had already learned on a hundred battle-fields to know his weapon. it was a magnificent determination on the part of elizabeth to place herself at the head of her troops; and the enthusiasm which her attitude inspired, when she had at last emancipated herself from the delusions of diplomacy and the seductions of thrift, was some recompense at least for the perils caused by her procrastination. but leicester could not approve of this hazardous though heroic resolution. the danger passed away. the invincible armada was driven out of the channel by the courage; the splendid seamanship, and the enthusiasm of english sailors and volunteers. the duke of parma was kept a close prisoner by the fleets of holland and zeeland; and the great storm of the th and th of august at last completed the overthrow of the spaniards. it was, however, supposed for a long time that they would come back, for the disasters which had befallen them in the north were but tardily known in england. the sailors, by whom england had been thus defended in her utmost need, were dying by hundreds, and even thousands, of ship-fever, in the latter days of august. men sickened one day, and died the next, so that it seemed probable that the ten thousand sailors by whom the english ships of war were manned, would have almost wholly disappeared, at a moment when their services might be imperatively required. nor had there been the least precaution taken for cherishing and saving these brave defenders of their country. they rotted in their ships, or died in the streets of the naval ports, because there were no hospitals to receive them. "'tis a most pitiful sight," said the lord-admiral, "to see here at margate how the men, having no place where they can be received, die in, the streets. i am driven of force myself to come on land to see them bestowed in some lodgings; and the best i can get is barns and such outhouses, and the relief is small that i can provide for them here. it would grieve any man's heart to see men that have served so valiantly die so miserably." the survivors, too, were greatly discontented; for, after having been eight months at sea, and enduring great privations, they could not get their wages. "finding it to come thus scantily," said howard, "it breeds a marvellous alteration among them." but more dangerous than the pestilence or the discontent was the misunderstanding which existed at the moment between the leading admirals of the english fleet. not only was seymour angry with howard, but hawkins and frobisher were at daggers drawn with drake; and sir martin--if contemporary, affidavits can be trusted--did not scruple to heap the most virulent abuse upon sir francis, calling him, in language better fitted for the forecastle than the quarter-deck, a thief and a coward, for appropriating the ransom for don pedro valdez in which both frobisher and hawkins claimed at least an equal share with himself. and anxious enough was the lord-admiral with his sailors perishing by pestilence, with many of his ships so weakly manned that as lord henry seymour declared there were not mariners enough to weigh the anchors, and with the great naval heroes, on whose efforts the safety of the realm depended, wrangling like fisherwomen among themselves, when rumours came, as they did almost daily, of the return of the spanish armada, and of new demonstrations on the part of farnese. he was naturally unwilling that the fruits of english valour on the seas should now be sacrificed by the false economy of the government. he felt that, after all that had been endured and accomplished, the queen and her counsellors were still capable of leaving england at the mercy of a renewed attempt, "i know not what you think at the court," said he; "but i think, and so do all here, that there cannot be too great forces maintained for the next five or six weeks. god knoweth whether the spanish fleet will not, after refreshing themselves in norway; denmark, and the orkneys, return. i think they dare not go back to sprain with this, dishonour, to their king and overthrow of the pope's credit. sir, sure bind, sure find. a kingdom is a grand wager. security is dangerous; and, if god had not been our best friend; we should have found it so." [howard to walsingham, aug. / . (s. p. office ms.)] ["some haply may say that winter cometh on apace," said drake, "but my poor opinion is that i dare not advise her majesty to hazard a kingdom with the saving of a little charge." (drake to walsingham, aug. / .)] nothing could be more replete, with sound common sense than this simple advice, given as it was in utter ignorance of the fate of the armada; after it had been lost sight of by the english vessels off the firth of forth, and of the cold refreshment which: it had found in norway and the orkneys. but, burghley had a store of pithy apophthegms, for which--he knew he could always find sympathy in the queen's breast, and with which he could answer these demands of admirals and generals. "to spend in time convenient is wisdom;" he observed--"to continue charges without needful cause bringeth, repentance;"--"to hold on charges without knowledge of the certainty thereof and of means how to support them, is lack of wisdom;" and so on. yet the spanish fleet might have returned into the channel for ought the lord-treasurer on the nd august knew--or the dutch fleet might have relaxed, in its vigilant watching of farnese's movements. it might have then seemed a most plentiful lack of wisdom to allow english sailors to die of plague in the streets for want of hospitals; and to grow mutinous for default of pay. to have saved under such circumstances would, perhaps have brought repentance. the invasion of england by spain had been most portentous. that the danger was at last averted is to be ascribed to the enthusiasm of the english, nation--both patricians and plebeians--to the heroism of the little english fleet, to the spirit of the naval commanders and volunteers, to the stanch, and effective support of the hollanders; and to the hand of god shattering the armada at last; but very little credit can be conscientiously awarded to the diplomatic or the military efforts of the queen's government. miracles alone, in the opinion of roger williams, had saved england on this occasion from perdition. towards the end of august, admiral de nassau paid a visit to dover with forty ships, "well appointed and furnished." he dined and conferred with seymour, palmer, and other officers--winter being still laid up with his wound--and expressed the opinion that medina sidonia would hardly return to the channel, after the banquet he had received from her majesty's navy between calais and gravelines. he also gave the information that the states had sent fifty dutch vessels in pursuit of the spaniards, and had compelled all the herring-fishermen for the time to serve in the ships of war, although the prosperity of the country depended on that industry. "i find the man very wise, subtle, and cunning," said seymour of the dutch admiral, "and therefore do i trust him." nassau represented the duke of parma as evidently discouraged, as having already disembarked his troops, and as very little disposed to hazard any further enterprise against england. "i have left twenty-five kromstevens," said he, "to prevent his egress from sluys, and i am immediately returning thither myself. the tide will not allow his vessels at present to leave dunkerk, and i shall not fail--before the next full moon--to place myself before that place, to prevent their coming out, or to have a brush with them if they venture to put to sea." but after the scenes on which the last full moon had looked down in those waters, there could be no further pretence on the part of farnese to issue from sluys and dunkerk, and england and holland were thenceforth saved from all naval enterprises on the part of spain. meantime, the same uncertainty which prevailed in england as to the condition and the intentions of the armada was still more remarkable elsewhere. there was a systematic deception practised not only upon other governments; but upon the king of spain as well. philip, as he sat at his writing-desk, was regarding himself as the monarch of england, long after his armada had been hopelessly dispersed. in paris, rumours were circulated during the first ten days of august that england was vanquished, and that the queen was already on her way to rome as a prisoner, where she was to make expiation, barefoot, before his holiness. mendoza, now more magnificent than ever--stalked into notre dame with his drawn sword in his hand, crying out with a loud voice, "victory, victory!" and on the th of august ordered bonfires to be made before his house; but afterwards thought better of that scheme. he had been deceived by a variety of reports sent to him day after day by agents on the coast; and the king of france--better informed by stafford, but not unwilling thus to feed his spite against the insolent ambassador--affected to believe his fables. he even confirmed them by intelligence, which he pretended to have himself received from other sources, of the landing of the spaniards in england without opposition, and of the entire subjugation of that country without the striking of a blow. hereupon, on the night of august th, the envoy--"like a wise man," as stafford observed--sent off four couriers, one after another, with the great news to spain, that his master's heart might be rejoiced, and caused a pamphlet on the subject to be printed and distributed over paris! "i will not waste a large sheet of paper to express the joy which we must all feel," he wrote to idiaquez, "at this good news. god be praised for all, who gives us small chastisements to make us better, and then, like a merciful father, sends us infinite rewards." and in the same strain he wrote; day after day, to moura and idiaquez, and to philip himself. stafford, on his side, was anxious to be informed by his government of the exact truth, whatever it were, in order that these figments of mendoza might be contradicted. "that which cometh from me," he said, "will be believed; for i have not been used to tell lies, and in very truth i have not the face to do it." and the news of the calais squibs, of the fight off gravelines, and the retreat of the armada towards the north; could not be very long concealed. so soon, therefore, as authentic intelligence reached, the english envoy of those events--which was not however for nearly ten days after their--occurrence--stafford in his turn wrote a pamphlet, in answer to that of mendoza, and decidedly the more successful one of the two. it cost him but five crowns, he said, to print 'four hundred copies of it; but those in whose name it was published got one hundred crowns by its sale. the english ambassador was unwilling to be known as the author--although "desirous of touching up the impudence of the spaniard"--but the king had no doubt of its origin. poor henry, still smarting under the insults of mendoza and 'mucio,--was delighted with this blow to philip's presumption; was loud in his praises of queen elizabeth's valour, prudence, and marvellous fortune, and declared that what she had just done could be compared to the greatest: exploits of the most illustrious men in history. "so soon as ever he saw the pamphlet," said stafford; "he offered to lay a wager it was my doing; and laughed at it heartily." and there were malicious pages about the french; court; who also found much amusement in writing to the ambassador, begging his interest with the duke of parma that they might obtain from that conqueror some odd-refuse town or so in: england, such as york, canterbury, london, or the like--till the luckless don bernardino was ashamed to show his face. a letter, from farnese, however, of th august, apprized philip before the end of august of the calais disasters and caused him great uneasiness, without driving him to despair. "at the very moment," wrote the king to medina sidonia; "when i was expecting news of the effect hoped for from my armada, i have learned the retreat from before calais, to which it was compelled by the weather; [!] and i have received a very great shock which keeps, me in anxiety not to be exaggerated. nevertheless i hope in our lord that he will have provided a remedy; and that if it was possible for you to return upon the enemy to come back to the appointed posts and to watch an opportunity for the great stroke; you will have done as the case required; and so i am expecting with solicitude, to hear what has happened, and please god it may be that which is so suitable for his service." his spanish children the sacking of london, and the butchering of the english nation-rewards and befits similar to those which they bad formerly enjoyed in the netherlands. and in the same strain, melancholy yet hopeful, were other letters despatched on that day to the duke of parma. "the satisfaction caused by your advices on the th august of the arrival of the armada near calais, and of your preparations to embark your troops, was changed into a sentiment which you can imagine, by your letter of the th. the anxiety thus occasioned it would be impossible to exaggerate, although the cause being such as it is--there is no ground for distrust. perhaps the armada, keeping together, has returned upon the enemy, and given a good account of itself, with the help of the lord. so i still promise myself that you will have performed your part in the enterprise in such wise as that the service intended to the lord may have been executed, and repairs made to the reputation of all; which has been so much compromised." and the king's drooping spirits were revived by fresh accounts which reached him in september, by way of france. he now learned that the armada had taken captive four dutch men-of-war and many english ships; that, after the spaniards had been followed from calais roads by the enemy's fleet, there had been an action, which the english had attempted in vain to avoid; off newcastle; that medina sidonia had charged upon them so vigorously, as to sink twenty of their ships, and to capture twenty-six others, good and sound; that the others, to escape perdition, had fled, after suffering great damage, and had then gone to pieces, all hands perishing; that the armada had taken a port in scotland, where it was very comfortably established; that the flag-ship of lord-admiral howard, of drake; and of that "distinguished mariner hawkins," had all been sunk in action, and that no soul had been saved except drake, who had escaped in a cock-boat. "this is good news," added the writer; "and it is most certain." the king pondered seriously over these conflicting accounts, and remained very much in the dark. half, the month of september went by, and he had heard nothing--official since the news of the calais catastrophe. it may be easily understood that medina sidonia, while flying round the orkneys had not much opportunity for despatching couriers to spain, and as farnese had not written since the th august, philip was quite at a loss whether to consider himself triumphant or defeated. from the reports by way of calais, dunkerk, and rouen, he supposed that the armada, had inflicted much damage on the enemy. he suggested accordingly, on the rd september, to the duke of parma, that he might now make the passage to england, while the english fleet, if anything was left of it was repairing its damages. "'twill be easy enough to conquer the country," said philip, "so soon as you set foot on the soil. then perhaps our armada can come back and station itself in the thames to support you." nothing could be simpler. nevertheless the king felt a pang of doubt lest affairs, after all, might not be going on so swimmingly; so he dipped his pen in the inkstand again, and observed with much pathos, "but if this hope must be given up, you must take the isle of walcheren: something must be done to console me." and on the th september he was still no wiser. "this business of the armada leaves me no repose," he said; "i can think of nothing else. i don't content myself with what i have written, but write again and again, although in great want of light. i hear that the armada has sunk and captured many english ships, and is refitting in a scotch pert. if this is in the territory, of lord huntley, i hope he will stir up the catholics of that country." and so, in letter after letter, philip clung to the delusion that alexander could yet, cross to england, and that the armada might sail up the thames. the duke was directed to make immediate arrangements to that effect with medina sidonia, at the very moment when that tempest-tossed grandee was painfully-creeping back towards the bay of biscay, with what remained of his invincible fleet. sanguine and pertinacious, the king refused to believe in, the downfall of his long-cherished scheme; and even when the light was at last dawning upon him, he was like a child, crying for a fresh toy, when the one which had long amused him had been broken. if the armada were really very much damaged, it was easy enough, he thought, for the duke of parma to make him a new one, while the old, one was repairing. "in case the armada is too much shattered to come out," said philip, "and winter compels it to stay in that port, you must cause another armada to be constructed at emden and the adjacent towns, at my expense, and, with the two together, you will certainly be able to conquer england." and he wrote to medina sidonia in similar terms. that naval commander was instructed to enter the thames at once, if strong enough. if not, he was to winter in the scotch port which he was supposed to have captured. meantime farnese would build a new fleet at emden, and in the spring the two dukes would proceed to accomplish the great purpose. but at last the arrival of medina sidonia at santander dispelled these visions, and now the king appeared in another attitude. a messenger, coming post-haste from the captain-general, arrived in the early days of october at the escorial. entering the palace he found idiaquez and moura pacing up and down the corridor, before the door of philip's cabinet, and was immediately interrogated by those counsellors, most anxious, of course, to receive authentic intelligence at last as to the fate, of the armada. the entire overthrow of the great project was now, for the first time, fully revealed in spain; the fabulous victories over the english, and the annihilation of howard and all his ships, were dispersed in air. broken, ruined, forlorn, the invincible armada--so far as it still existed--had reached a spanish port. great was the consternation of idiaquez and moura, as they listened to the tale, and very desirous was each of the two secretaries that the other should, discharge the unwelcome duty of communicating the fatal intelligence to the king. at last moura consented to undertake the task, and entering the cabinet, he found philip seated at his desk. of course he was writing letters. being informed of the arrival of a messenger from the north, he laid down his pen, and inquired the news. the secretary replied that the accounts, concerning the armada were by no means so favourable as, could be wished. the courier was then introduced, and made his dismal report. the king did not change countenance. "great thanks," he observed, "do i render to almighty god, by whose generous hand i am gifted with such power, that i could easily, if i chose, place another fleet upon the seas. nor is it of very great importance that a running stream should be sometimes intercepted, so long as the fountain from which it flows remains inexhaustible." so saying he resumed his pen, and serenely proceeded with his letters. christopher moura stared with unaffected amazement at his sovereign, thus tranquil while a shattered world was falling on his head, and then retired to confer with his colleague. "and how did his majesty receive the blow?" asked idiaquez. "his majesty thinks nothing of the blow," answered moura, "nor do i, consequently, make more of this great calamity than does his majesty." so the king--as fortune flew away from him, wrapped himself in his virtue; and his counsellors, imitating their sovereign, arrayed themselves in the same garment. thus draped, they were all prepared to bide the pelting of the storm which was only beating figuratively on their heads, while it had been dashing the king's mighty galleons on the rocks, and drowning by thousands the wretched victims of his ambition. soon afterwards, when the particulars of the great disaster were thoroughly known, philip ordered a letter to be addressed in his name to all the bishops of spain, ordering a solemn thanksgiving to the almighty for the safety of that portion of the invincible armada which it had pleased him to preserve. and thus, with the sound of mourning throughout spain--for there was scarce a household of which some beloved member had not perished in the great catastrophe--and with the peals of merry bells over all england and holland, and with a solemn 'te deum' resounding in every church, the curtain fell upon the great tragedy of the armada. etext editor's bookmarks: forbidding the wearing of mourning at all hardly a distinguished family in spain not placed in mourning invincible armada had not only been vanquished but annihilated nothing could equal alexander's fidelity, but his perfidy one could neither cry nor laugh within the spanish dominions security is dangerous sixteen of their best ships had been sacrificed sure bind, sure find chapter xx. - alexander besieges bergen-op-zoom--pallavicini's attempt to seduce parma--alexander's fury--he is forced to raise the siege, of bergen --gertruydenberg betrayed to parma--indignation of the states-- exploits, of schenk--his attack on nymegen--he is defeated and drowned--english-dutch expedition to spain--its meagre results-- death of guise and of the queen--mother--combinations after the murder of henry iii.--tandem fit surculus arbor. the fever of the past two years was followed by comparative languor. the deadly crisis was past, the freedom of europe was saved, holland and england breathed again; but tension now gave place to exhaustion. the events in the remainder of the year , with those of --although important in themselves--were the immediate results of that history which has been so minutely detailed in these volumes, and can be indicated in a very few pages. the duke of parma, melancholy, disappointed, angry stung to the soul by calumnies as stupid as they were venomous, and already afflicted with a painful and lingering disease, which his friends attributed to poison administered by command of the master whom he had so faithfully served--determined, if possible, to afford the consolation which that master was so plaintively demanding at his hands. so alexander led the splendid army which had been packed in, and unpacked from, the flat boats of newport and dunkerk, against bergen-op-zoom, and besieged that city in form. once of great commercial importance, although somewhat fallen away from its original prosperity, bergen was well situate on a little stream which connected it with the tide-waters of the scheldt, and was the only place in brabant, except willemstad, still remaining to the states. opposite lay the isle of tholen from which it was easily to be supplied and reinforced. the vosmeer, a branch of the scheldt, separated the island from the main, and there was a path along the bed of that estuary, which, at dead low-water, was practicable for wading. alexander, accordingly, sent a party of eight hundred pikemen, under montigny, marquis of renty, and ottavio mansfeld, supported on the dyke by three thousand musketeers, across; the dangerous ford, at ebb-tide, in order to seize this important island. it was an adventure similar to those, which, in the days of the grand commander, and under the guidance of mondragon; had been on two occasions so brilliantly successful. but the isle of tholen was now defended by count solms and a garrison of fierce amphibious zeelanders--of those determined bands which had just been holding farnese and his fleet in prison, and daring him to the issue--and the invading party, after fortunately accomplishing their night journey along the bottom of the vosmeer, were unable to effect a landing, were driven with considerable loss into the waves again, and compelled to find their way back as best they could, along their dangerous path, and with a rapidly rising tide. it was a blind and desperate venture, and the vosmeer soon swallowed four hundred of the spaniards. the rest, half-drowned or smothered, succeeded in reaching the shore--the chiefs of the expedition, renty and mansfeld, having been with difficulty rescued by their followers, when nearly sinking in the tide. the duke continued the siege, but the place was well defended by an english and dutch garrison, to the number of five thousand, and commanded by colonel morgan, that bold and much experienced welshman, so well known in the netherland wars. willoughby and maurice of nassau, and olden-barneveld were, at different times, within the walls; for the duke had been unable to invest the place so closely as to prevent all communications from without; and, while maurice was present, there were almost daily sorties from the town, with many a spirited skirmish, to give pleasure to the martial young prince. the english, officers, vere and baskerville, and two netherland colonels, the brothers bax, most distinguished themselves on these occasions. the siege was not going on with the good fortune which had usually attended the spanish leaguer of dutch cities, while, on the th september, a personal incident came to increase alexander's dissatisfaction and melancholy. on that day the duke was sitting in his tent, brooding, as he was apt to do, over the unjust accusations which had been heaped upon him in regard to the failure of the armada, when a stranger was announced. his name, he said, was giacomo morone, and he was the bearer of a letter from sir horace pallavicini, a genoese gentleman long established in london; and known to be on confidential terms with the english government. alexander took the letter, and glancing at the bottom of the last page, saw that it was not signed. "how dare you bring me a dispatch without a signature?" he exclaimed. the messenger, who was himself a genoese, assured the duke that the letter was most certainly written by pallavicini--who had himself placed it, sealed, in his hands--and that he had supposed it signed, although he had of course, not seen the inside. alexander began to read the note, which was not a very long one, and his brow instantly darkened. he read a line or two more, when, with an exclamation of fury, he drew his dagger, and, seizing the astonished genoese by the throat, was about to strike him dead. suddenly mastering his rage, however, by a strong effort, and remembering that the man might be a useful witness; he flung morone from him. "if i had pallavicini here," he said, "i would treat, him as i have just refrained from using you. and if i had any suspicion that you were aware of the contents of this letter, i would send you this instant to be hanged." the unlucky despatch-bearer protested his innocence of all complicity with pallavicini, and his ignorance of the tenor of the communication by which the duke's wrath had been so much excited. he was then searched and cross-examined most carefully by richardot and other counsellors, and his innocence being made apparent-he was ultimately discharged. the letter of pallavicini was simply an attempt to sound farnese as to his sentiments in regard to a secret scheme, which could afterwards be arranged in form, and according, to which he was to assume the sovereignty of the netherlands himself, to the exclusion of his king, to guarantee to england the possession of the cautionary towns, until her advances to the states should be refunded, and to receive the support and perpetual alliance of the queen in his new and rebellious position. here was additional evidence, if any were wanting, of the universal belief in his disloyalty; and alexander, faithful, if man ever were to his master--was cut to the heart, and irritated almost to madness, by such insolent propositions. there is neither proof nor probability that the queen's government was implicated in this intrigue of pallavicini, who appears to have been inspired by the ambition of achieving a bit of machiavellian policy, quite on his own account. nothing came of the proposition, and the duke; having transmitted to the king a minute narrative of, the affair, together with indignant protestations of the fidelity, which all the world seemed determined to dispute, received most affectionate replies from that monarch, breathing nothing but unbounded confidence in his nephew's innocence and devotion. such assurances from any other man in the world might have disarmed suspicion, but alexander knew his master too well to repose upon his word, and remembered too bitterly the last hours of don john of austria --whose dying pillow he had soothed, and whose death had been hastened, as he knew, either by actual poison or by the hardly less fatal venom of slander--to regain tranquillity as to his own position. the king was desirous that pallavicini should be invited over to flanders, in order that alexander, under pretence of listening to his propositions, might draw from the genoese all the particulars of his scheme, and then, at leisure, inflict the punishment which he had deserved. but insuperable obstacles presented themselves, nor was alexander desirous of affording still further pretexts for his slanderers. very soon after this incident--most important as showing the real situation of various parties, although without any immediate result--alexander received a visit in his tent from another stranger. this time the visitor was an englishman, one lieutenant grimstone, and the object of his interview with the duke was not political, but had, a direct reference to the siege of bergen. he was accompanied by a countryman of his own, redhead by name, a camp-suttler by profession. the two represented themselves as deserters from the besieged city, and offered, for a handsome reward, to conduct a force of spaniards, by a secret path, into one of the gates. the duke questioned them narrowly, and being satisfied with their intelligence and coolness, caused them to take an oath on the evangelists, that they were not playing him false. he then selected a band of one hundred musketeers, partly spaniards, partly walloons--to be followed at a distance by a much, more considerable force; two thousand in number, under sancho de leyva: and the marquis of renti--and appointed the following night for an enterprise against the city, under the guidance of grimstone. it was a wild autumnal night, moonless, pitch-dark, with a storm of wind and rain. the waters were out--for the dykes had been cut in all 'directions by the defenders of the city--and, with exception of some elevated points occupied by parma's forces, the whole country was overflowed. before the party set forth on their daring expedition, the two englishmen were tightly bound with cords, and led, each by two soldiers, instructed to put them to instant death if their conduct should give cause for suspicion. but both grimstone and redhead preserved a cheerful countenance, and inspired a strong confidence in their honest intention to betray their countrymen. and thus the band of bold adventurers plunged at once into the darkness, and soon found themselves contending with the tempest, and wading breast high in the black waters of the scheldt. after a long and perilous struggle, they at length reached the appointed gate, the external portcullis was raised and the fifteen foremost of the band rushed into the town. at the next moment, lord willoughby, who had been privy to the whole scheme, cut with his own hand the cords which, held the portcullis, and entrapped the leaders of the expedition, who were all, at once put to the sword, while their followers were thundering at the gate. the lieutenant and suttler who had thus overreached that great master of dissimulation; alexander farnese; were at the same time unbound by their comrades, and rescued from the fate intended for them. notwithstanding the probability--when the portcullis fell--that the whole party, had been deceived by an artifice of war the adventurers, who had come so far, refused to abandon the enterprise, and continued an impatient battery upon the gate. at last it was swung wide open, and a furious onslaught was made by the garrison upon the spaniards. there was--a fierce brief struggle, and then the assailants were utterly routed. some were killed under the walls, while the rest were hunted into the waves. nearly every one of the expedition (a thousand in number) perished. it had now become obvious to the duke that his siege must be raised. the days were gone when the walls of dutch towns seemed to melt before the first scornful glance of the spanish invader; and when a summons meant a surrender, and a surrender a massacre. now, strong in the feeling of independence, and supported by the courage and endurance of their english allies, the hollanders had learned to humble the pride of spain as it had never been humbled before. the hero of a hundred battle-fields, the inventive and brilliant conqueror of antwerp, seemed in the deplorable issue of the english invasion to have lost all his genius, all his fortune. a cloud had fallen upon his fame, and he now saw himself; at the head of the best army in europe, compelled to retire, defeated and humiliated, from the walls of bergen. winter was coming on apace; the country was flooded; the storms in that-bleak region and inclement season were incessant; and he was obliged to retreat before his army should be drowned. on the night of - november he set fire to his camp; and took his departure. by daybreak he was descried in full retreat, and was hotly pursued by the english and dutch from the city, who drove the great alexander and his legions before them in ignominious flight. lord willoughby, in full view of the retiring enemy, indulged the allied forces with a chivalrous spectacle. calling a halt, after it had become obviously useless, with their small force of cavalry; to follow any longer, through a flooded country, an enemy who had abandoned his design, he solemnly conferred the honour of knighthood, in the name of queen elizabeth, on the officers who had most distinguished themselves during the siege, francis vere, baskerville, powell, parker, knowles, and on the two netherland brothers, paul and marcellus bax. the duke of parma then went into winter quarters in brabant, and, before the spring, that obedient province had been eaten as bare as flanders had already been by the friendly spaniards. an excellent understanding between england and holland had been the result of their united and splendid exertions against the invincible armada. late in the year sir john norris had been sent by the queen to offer her congratulations and earnest thanks to the states for their valuable assistance in preserving her throne, and to solicit their cooperation in some new designs against the common foe. unfortunately, however, the epoch of good feeling was but of brief duration. bitterness and dissension seemed the inevitable conditions of the english-dutch alliance. it will be, remembered, that, on the departure of leicester, several cities had refused to acknowledge the authority of count maurice and the states; and that civil war in the scarcely-born commonwealth had been the result. medenblik, naarden, and the other contumacious cities, had however been reduced to obedience after the reception of the earl's resignation, but the important city of gertruydenberg had remained in a chronic state of mutiny. this rebellion had been partially appeased during the year by the efforts of willoughby, who had strengthened, the garrison by reinforcements of english troops under command of his brother-in-law, sir john wingfield. early in however, the whole garrison became rebellious, disarmed and maltreated the burghers, and demanded immediate payment of the heavy arrearages still due to the troops. willoughby, who--much disgusted with his career in the netherlands--was about leaving for england, complaining that the states had not only left him without remuneration for his services, but had not repaid his own advances, nor even given him a complimentary dinner, tried in vain to pacify them. a rumour became very current, moreover, that the garrison had opened negotiations with alexander farnese, and accordingly maurice of nassau--of whose patrimonial property the city of gertruydenberg made a considerable proportion, to the amount of eight thousand pounds sterling a years--after summoning the garrison, in his own name and that of the states, to surrender, laid siege to the place in form. it would have been cheaper, no doubt, to pay the demands of the garrison in full, and allow them to depart. but maurice considered his honour at stake. his letters of summons, in which he spoke of the rebellious commandant and his garrison as self-seeking foreigners and mercenaries, were taken in very ill part. wingfield resented the statement in very insolent language, and offered to prove its falsehood with his sword against any man and in any place whatever. willoughby wrote to his brother-in-law, from flushing, when about to embark, disapproving of his conduct and of his language; and to maurice, deprecating hostile measures against a city under the protection of queen elizabeth. at any rate, he claimed that sir john wingfield and his wife, the countess of kent, with their newly-born child, should be allowed to depart from the place. but wingfield expressed great scorn at any suggestion of retreat, and vowed that he would rather surrender the city to the spaniards than tolerate the presumption of maurice and the states. the young prince accordingly, opened his batteries, but before an entrance could be effected into the town, was obliged to retire at the approach of count mansfield with a much superior force. gertruydenberg was now surrendered to the spaniards in accordance with a secret negotiation which had been proceeding all the spring, and had been brought to a conclusion at last. the garrison received twelve months' pay in full and a gratuity of five months in addition, and the city was then reduced into obedience to spain and rome on the terms which had been usual during the government of farnese. the loss of this city was most severe to the republic, for the enemy had thus gained an entrance into the very heart of holland. it was a more important acquisition to alexander than even bergen-op-zoom would have been, and it was a bitter reflection that to the treachery of netherlanders and of their english allies this great disaster was owing. all the wrath aroused a year before by the famous treason of york and stanley, and which had been successfully extinguished, now flamed forth afresh. the states published a placard denouncing the men who had thus betrayed the cause of freedom, and surrendered the city of gertruydenberg to the spaniards, as perjured traitors whom it was made lawful to hang, whenever or wherever caught, without trial or sentence, and offering fifty florins a-head for every private soldier and one hundred florins for any officer of the garrison. a list of these englishmen and netherlanders, so far as known, was appended to the placard, and the catalogue was headed by the name of sir john wingfield. thus the consequences of the fatal event were even more deplorable than the loss of the city itself. the fury of olden-barneveld at the treason was excessive, and the great advocate governed the policy of the republic, at this period, almost like a dictator. the states, easily acknowledging the sway of the imperious orator, became bitter--and wrathful with the english, side by side with whom they had lately been so cordially standing. willoughby, on his part, now at the english court, was furious with the states, and persuaded the leading counsellors of the queen as well as her majesty herself, to adopt his view of the transaction. wingfield, it was asserted, was quite innocent in the matter; he was entirely ignorant of the french language, and therefore was unable to read a word of the letters addressed to him by maurice and the replies which had been signed by himself. whether this strange excuse ought to be accepted or not, it is quite certain that he was no traitor like york and stanley, and no friend to spain; for he had stipulated for himself the right to return to england, and had neither received nor desired any reward. he hated maurice and he hated the states, but he asserted that he had been held in durance, that the garrison was mutinous, and that he was no more responsible for the loss of the city than sir francis vere had been, who had also been present, and whose name had been subsequently withdrawn, in honourable fashion from the list of traitors, by authority of the states. his position--so far as he was personally concerned--seemed defensible, and the queen was thoroughly convinced of his innocence. willoughby complained that the republic was utterly in the hands of barneveld, that no man ventured to lift his voice or his eyes in presence of the terrible advocate who ruled every netherlander with a rod of iron, and that his violent and threatening language to wingfield and himself at the dinner-table in bergen-op-zoom on the subject of the mutiny (when one hundred of the gertruydenberg garrison were within sound of his voice) had been the chief cause of the rebellion. inspired by these remonstrances, the queen once more emptied the vials of her wrath upon the united netherlands. the criminations and recriminations seemed endless, and it was most fortunate that spain had been weakened, that alexander, a prey to melancholy and to lingering disease, had gone to the baths of spa to recruit his shattered health, and that his attention and the schemes of philip for the year and the following period were to be directed towards france. otherwise the commonwealth could hardly have escaped still more severe disasters than those already experienced in this unfortunate condition of its affairs, and this almost hopeless misunderstanding with its most important and vigorous friend. while these events had been occurring in the heart of the republic, martin schenk, that restless freebooter, had been pursuing a bustling and most lucrative career on its outskirts. all the episcopate of cologne--that debatable land of the two rival paupers, bavarian ernest and gebhard truchsess--trembled before him. mothers scared their children into quiet with the terrible name of schenk, and farmers and land-younkers throughout the electorate and the land of berg, cleves, and juliers, paid their black-mail, as if it were a constitutional impost, to escape the levying process of the redoubtable partisan. but martin was no longer seconded, as he should have been, by the states, to whom he had been ever faithful since he forsook the banner of spain for their own; and he had even gone to england and complained to the queen of the short-comings of those who owed him so much. his ingenious and daring exploit--the capture of bonn--has already been narrated, but the states had neglected the proper precautions to secure that important city. it had consequently, after a six months' siege, been surrendered to the spaniards under prince chimay, on the th of september; while, in december following, the city of wachtendonk, between the rhine and meuse, had fallen into mansfeld's hands. rheinberg, the only city of the episcopate which remained to the deposed truchsess, was soon afterwards invested by the troops of parma, and schenk in vain summoned the states-general to take proper measures for its defence. but with the enemy now eating his way towards the heart of holland, and with so many dangers threatening them on every side, it was thought imprudent to go so far away to seek the enemy. so gebhard retired in despair into germany, and martin did what he could to protect rheinberg, and to fill his own coffers at the expense of the whole country side. he had built a fort, which then and long afterwards bore his name-schenken schans, or schenk's sconce--at that important point where the rhine, opening its two arms to enclose the "good meadow" island of batavia, becomes on the left the waal, while on the right it retains its ancient name; and here, on the outermost edge of the republic, and looking straight from his fastness into the fruitful fields of munster, westphalia, and the electorate, the industrious martin devoted himself with advantage to his favourite pursuits. on the th of august, on the heath of lippe, he had attacked a body of spanish musketeers, more than a thousand strong, who were protecting a convoy of provisions, treasure, and furniture, sent by farnese to verdugo, royal governor of friesland. schenk, without the loss of a single man, had put the greater part of these spaniards and walloons to the sword, and routed the rest. the leader of the expedition, colonel aristotle patton, who had once played him so foul a trick in the surrender of gelder, had soon taken to flight, when he found his ancient enemy upon him, and, dashing into the lippe, had succeeded, by the strength and speed of his horse, in gaining the opposite bank, and effecting his escape. had he waited many minutes longer it is probable that the treacherous aristotle would have passed a comfortless half-hour with his former comrade. treasure to the amount of seven thousand crowns in gold, five hundred horses, with jewels, plate, and other articles of value, were the fruit of this adventure, and schenk returned with his followers, highly delighted, to schenkenschans, and sent the captured spanish colours to her majesty of england as a token. a few miles below his fortress was nymegen, and towards that ancient and wealthy city schenk had often cast longing eyes. it still held for the king, although on the very confines of batavia; but while acknowledging the supremacy of philip, it claimed the privileges of the empire. from earliest times it had held its head very high among imperial towns, had been one of the three chief residences of the emperor. charlemagne, and still paid the annual tribute of a glove full of pepper to the german empire. on the evening of the th of august, , there was a wedding feast in one of the splendid mansions of the stately city. the festivities were prolonged until deep in the midsummer's night, and harp and viol were still inspiring the feet of the dancers, when on a sudden, in the midst of the holiday-groups, appeared the grim visage of martin schenk, the man who never smiled. clad in no wedding-garment, but in armour of proof, with morion on head, and sword in hand, the great freebooter strode heavily through the ball-room, followed by a party of those terrible musketeers who never gave or asked for quarter, while the affrighted revellers fluttered away before them. taking advantage of a dark night, he had just dropped down the river from his castle, with five-and-twenty barges, had landed with his most trusted soldiers in the foremost vessels, had battered down the gate of st. anthony, and surprised and slain the guard. without waiting for the rest of his boats, he had then stolen with his comrades through the silent streets, and torn away the lattice-work, and other slight defences on the rear of the house which they had now entered, and through which they intended to possess themselves of the market-place. martin had long since selected this mansion as a proper position for his enterprise, but he had not been bidden to the wedding, and was somewhat disconcerted when he found himself on the festive scene which he had so grimly interrupted. some of the merry-makers escaped from the house, and proceeded to alarm the town; while schenk hastily fortified his position; and took possession of the square. but the burghers and garrison were soon on foot, and he was driven back into the house. three times he recovered the square by main strength of his own arm, seconded by the handful of men whom he had brought with him, and three times he was beaten back by overwhelming numbers into the wedding mansion. the arrival of the greater part of his followers, with whose assistance he could easily have mastered the city in the first moments of surprise, was mysteriously delayed. he could not account for their prolonged, absence, and was meanwhile supported only by those who had arrived with him in the foremost barges. the truth--of which he was ignorant--was, that the remainder of the flotilla, borne along by the strong and deep current of the waal, then in a state of freshet, had shot past the landing-place, and had ever since been vainly struggling against wind and tide to force their way back to the necessary point. meantime schenk and his followers fought desperately in the market-place, and desperately in the house which he had seized. but a whole garrison, and a town full of citizens in arms proved too much for him, and he was now hotly besieged in the mansion, and at last driven forth into the streets. by this time day was dawning, the whole population, soldiers and burghers, men, women, and children, were thronging about the little band of marauders, and assailing them with every weapon and every missile to be found. schenk fought with his usual ferocity, but at last the musketeers, in spite of his indignant commands, began rapidly to retreat towards the quay. in vain martin stormed and cursed, in vain with his own hand he struck more than one of his soldiers dead. he was swept along with the panic-stricken band, and when, shouting and gnashing his teeth with frenzy, he reached the quay at last, he saw at a glance why his great enterprise had failed. the few empty barges of his own party were moored at the steps; the rest were half a mile off, contending hopelessly against the swollen and rapid waal. schenk, desperately wounded, was left almost alone upon the wharf, for his routed followers had plunged helter skelter into the boats, several of which, overladen in the panic, sank at once, leaving the soldiers to drown or struggle with the waves. the game was lost. nothing was left the freebooter but retreat. reluctantly turning his back on his enemies, now in full cry close behind him, schenk sprang into the last remaining boat just pushing from the quay. already overladen, it foundered with his additional weight, and martin schenk, encumbered with his heavy armour, sank at once to the bottom of the waal. some of the fugitives succeeded in swimming down the stream, and were picked up by their comrades in the barges below the town, and so made their escape. many were drowned with their captain. a few days afterwards, the inhabitants of nymegen fished up the body of the famous partisan. he was easily recognized by his armour, and by his truculent face, still wearing the scowl with which he had last rebuked his followers. his head was taken off at once, and placed on one of the turrets of the town, and his body, divided in four, was made to adorn other portions of the battlements; so that the burghers were enabled to feast their eyes on the remnants of the man at whose name the whole country had so often trembled. this was the end of sir martin schenk of niddegem, knight, colonel, and brigand; save that ultimately his dissevered limbs were packed in a chest, and kept in a church tower, until maurice of nassau, in course of time becoming master of nymegen, honoured the valiant and on the whole faithful freebooter with a christian and military burial. a few months later (october, ) another man who had been playing an important part in the netherlands' drama lost his life. count moeurs and niewenaar, stadholder of utrecht, gelderland, and overysael, while inspecting some newly-invented fireworks, was suddenly killed by their accidental ignition and explosion. his death left vacant three great stadholderates, which before long were to be conferred upon a youth whose power henceforth was rapidly to grow greater. the misunderstanding between holland and england continuing, olden-barneveld, aerssens, and buys, refusing to see that they had done wrong in denouncing the dutch and english traitors who had sold gertruydenberg to the enemy, and the queen and her counsellors persisting in their anger at so insolent a proceeding, it may easily be supposed that there was no great heartiness in the joint expedition against spain, which had been projected in the autumn of , and was accomplished in the spring and summer of . nor was this well-known enterprise fruitful of any remarkable result. it had been decided to carry the war into spain itself, and don antonio, prior of crato, bastard of portugal, and pretender to its crown, had persuaded himself and the english government that his name would be potent to conjure with in that kingdom, hardly yet content with the spanish yoke. supported by a determined force of english and dutch adventurers, he boasted that he should excite a revolution by the magic of his presence, and cause philip's throne to tremble, in return for the audacious enterprise of that monarch against england. if a foray were to be made into spain, no general and no admiral could be found in the world so competent to the adventure as sir john norris and sir francis drake. they were accompanied, too, by sir edward norris, and another of those 'chickens of mars,' henry norris; by the indomitable and ubiquitous welshman, roger williams, and by the young earl of essex, whom the queen in vain commanded to remain at home, and who, somewhat to the annoyance of the leaders of the expedition, concealed himself from her majesty's pursuit, and at last embarked in a vessel which he had equipped, in order not to be cheated of his share in the hazard and the booty. "if i speed well," said the spendthrift but valiant youth; "i will adventure to be rich; if not, i will never live, to see the end of my poverty." but no great riches were to be gathered in the expedition. with some fourteen thousand men, and one hundred and sixty vessels--of which six were the queen's ships of war, including the famous revenge and the dreadnought, and the rest armed merchantmen, english, and forty hollanders--and with a contingent of fifteen hundred dutchmen under nicolas van meetkerke and van laen, the adventurers set sail from plymouth on the th of april, . they landed at coruna--at which place they certainly could not expect to create a portuguese revolution, which was the first object of the expedition--destroyed some shipping in the harbour, captured and sacked the lower town, and were repulsed in the upper; marched with six thousand men to burgos, crossed the bridge at push of pike, and routed ten thousand spaniards under andrada and altamira--edward norris receiving a desperate blow on the head at the passage' of the bridge, and being rescued from death by his brother john--took sail for the south after this action, in which they had killed a thousand spaniards, and had lost but two men of their own; were joined off cape finisterre by essex; landed a force at peniche, the castle of which place surrendered to them, and acknowledged the authority of don antonio; and thence marched with the main body of the troops, under sir john norris, forty-eight miles to lisbon, while drake, with the fleet, was to sail up the tagus. nothing like a revolution had been effected in portugal. no one seemed to care for the pretender, or even to be aware that he had ever existed, except the governor of peniche castle, a few ragged and bare-footed peasants, who, once upon the road, shouted "viva don antonio," and one old gentleman by the way side, who brought him a plate of plums. his hopes of a crown faded rapidly, and when the army reached lisbon it had dwindled to not much more than four thousand effective men--the rest being dead of dysentery, or on the sick-list from imprudence in eating and drinking--while they found that they had made an unfortunate omission in their machinery for assailing the capital, having not a single fieldpiece in the whole army. moreover, as drake was prevented by bad weather and head-winds from sailing up the tagus, it seemed a difficult matter to carry the city. a few cannon, and the co-operation of the fleet, were hardly to be dispensed with on such an occasion. nevertheless it would perhaps have proved an easier task than it appeared--for so great was the panic within the place that a large number of the inhabitants had fled, the cardinal viceroy archduke albert had but a very insufficient guard, and there were many gentlemen of high station who were anxious to further the entrance of the english, and who were afterwards hanged or garotted for their hostile sentiments to the spanish government. while the leaders were deliberating what course to take, they were informed that count fuentes and henriquez de guzman, with six thousand men, lay at a distance of two miles from lisbon, and that they had been proclaiming by sound of trumpet that the english had been signally defeated before lisbon, and that they were in full retreat. fired at this bravado, norris sent a trumpet to fuentes and guzman, with a letter signed and sealed, giving them the lie in plainest terms, appointing the next day for a meeting of the two forces, and assuring them that when the next encounter should take place, it should be seen whether a spaniard or an englishman would be first to fly; while essex, on his part, sent a note, defying either or both those boastful generals to single combat. next day the english army took the field, but the spaniards retired before them; and nothing came of this exchange of cartels, save a threat on the part of fuentes to hang the trumpeter who had brought the messages. from the execution of this menace he refrained, however, on being assured that the deed would be avenged by the death of the spanish prisoner of highest rank then in english hands, and thus the trumpeter escaped. soon afterwards the fleet set sail from the tagus, landed, and burned vigo on their way homeward, and returned to plymouth about the middle of july. of the thirteen thousand came home six thousand, the rest having perished of dysentery and other disorders. they had braved and insulted spain, humbled her generals, defied her power, burned some defenceless villages, frightened the peasantry, set fire to some shipping, destroyed wine, oil, and other merchandize, and had divided among the survivors of the expedition, after landing in england, five shillings a head prize-money; but they had not effected a revolution in portugal. don antonio had been offered nothing by his faithful subjects but a dish of plums--so that he retired into obscurity from that time forward--and all this was scarcely a magnificent result for the death of six or seven thousand good english and dutch soldiers, and the outlay of considerable treasure. as a free-booting foray--and it was nothing else--it could hardly be thought successful; although it was a splendid triumph compared with the result of the long and loudly heralded invincible armada. in france, great events during the remainder of and the following year, and which are well known even to the most superficial student of history, had much changed the aspect of european affairs. it was fortunate for the two commonwealths of holland and england, engaged in the great struggle for civil and religious liberty, and national independence, that the attention of philip became more and more absorbed-as time wore on--with the affairs of france. it seemed necessary for him firmly to establish his dominion in that country before attempting once more the conquest of england, or the recovery of the netherlands. for france had been brought more nearly to anarchy and utter decomposition than ever. henry iii., after his fatal forgiveness of the deadly offence of guise, felt day by day more keenly that he had transferred his sceptre--such as it was--to that dangerous intriguer. bitterly did the king regret having refused the prompt offer of alphonse corse on the day of the barricades; for now, so long as the new generalissimo should live, the luckless henry felt himself a superfluity in his own realm. the halcyon days were for ever past, when, protected by the swords of joyeuse and of epernon, the monarch of france could pass his life playing at cup and ball, or snipping images out of pasteboard, or teaching his parrots-to talk, or his lap-dogs to dance. his royal occupations were gone, and murder now became a necessary preliminary to any future tranquillity or enjoyment. discrowned as he felt himself already, he knew that life or liberty was only held by him now at the will of guise. the assassination of the duke in december was the necessary result of the barricades in may; and accordingly that assassination was arranged with an artistic precision of which the world had hardly suspected the valois to be capable, and which philip himself might have envied. the story of the murders of blois--the destruction of guise and his brother the cardinal, and the subsequent imprisonment of the archbishop of lyons, the cardinal bourbon, and the prince de joinville, now, through the death of his father, become the young duke of guise--all these events are too familiar in the realms of history, song, romance, and painting, to require more than this slight allusion here. never had an assassination been more technically successful; yet its results were not commensurate with the monarch's hopes. the deed which he had thought premature in may was already too late in december. his mother denounced his cruelty now, as she had, six months before, execrated his cowardice. and the old queen, seeing that her game was played out--that the cards had all gone against her--that her son was doomed, and her own influence dissolved in air, felt that there was nothing left for her but to die. in a week she was dead, and men spoke no more of catharine de' medici, and thought no more of her than if--in the words of a splenetic contemporary--"she had been a dead she-goat." paris howled with rage when it learned the murders of blois, and the sixteen quarters became more furious than ever against the valois. some wild talk there was of democracy and republicanism after the manner of switzerland, and of dividing france into cantons--and there was an earnest desire on the part of every grandee, every general, every soldier of fortune, to carve out a portion of french territory with his sword, and to appropriate it for himself and his heirs. disintegration was making rapid progress, and the epoch of the last valois seemed mare dark and barbarous than the times of the degenerate carlovingians had been. the letter-writer of the escorial, who had earnestly warned his faithful mucio, week after week, that dangers were impending over him, and that "some trick would be played upon him," should he venture into the royal presence, now acquiesced in his assassination, and placidly busied himself with fresh combinations and newer tools. baked, hunted, scorned by all beside, the luckless henry now threw himself into the arms of the bearnese--the man who could and would have protected him long before, had the king been capable of understanding their relative positions and his own true interests. could the valois have conceived the thought of religious toleration, his throne even then might have been safe. but he preferred playing the game of the priests and bigots, who execrated his name and were bent upon his destruction. at last, at plessis les tours, the bearnese, in his shabby old chamois jacket and his well-dinted cuirass took the silken henry in his arms, and the two--the hero and the fribble--swearing eternal friendship, proceeded to besiege paris. a few weeks later, the dagger of jacques clement put an end for ever to, the line of valois. luckless henry iii. slept with his forefathers, and henry of bourbon and navarre proclaimed himself king of france. catharine and her four sons had all past away at last, and it would be a daring and a dexterous schemer who should now tear the crown, for which he had so long and so patiently waited, from the iron grasp of the bearnese. philip had a more difficult game than ever to play in france. it would be hard for him to make valid the claims of the infanta and any husband he might select for her to the crown of her grandfather henry ii. it seemed simple enough for him, while waiting the course of events, to set up a royal effigy before the world in the shape of an effete old cardinal bourbon, to pour oil upon its head and to baptize it charles x.; but meantime the other bourbon was no effigy, and he called himself henry iv. it was easy enough for paris, and madam league, and philip the prudent, to cry wo upon the heretic; but the cheerful leader of the huguenots was a philosopher, who in the days of st. bartholomew had become orthodox to save his life, and who was already "instructing himself" anew in order to secure his crown. philip was used to deal with fanatics, and had often been opposed by a religious bigotry as fierce as his own; but he might perhaps be baffled by a good-humoured free-thinker, who was to teach him a lesson in political theology of which he had never dreamed. the leaguers were not long in doubt as to the meaning of "instruction," and they were thoroughly persuaded that--so soon as henry iv. should reconcile himself with rome--their game was likely to become desperate. nevertheless prudent philip sat in his elbow-chairs writing his apostilles, improving himself and his secretaries in orthography, but chiefly confining his attention to the affairs of france. the departed mucio's brother mayenne was installed as chief stipendiary of spain and lieutenant-general for the league in france, until philip should determine within himself in what form to assume the sovereignty of that kingdom. it might be questionable however whether that corpulent duke, who spent more time in eating than henry iv. did in sleeping, and was longer in reading a letter than henry in winning a battle, were likely to prove a very dangerous rival even with all spain at his back--to the lively bearnese. but time would necessarily be consumed before the end was reached, and time and philip were two. henry of navarre and france was ready to open his ears to instruction; but even he had declared, several years before, that "a religion was not to be changed like a shirt." so while the fresh garment was airing for him at rome, and while he was leisurely stripping off the old, he might perhaps be taken at a disadvantage. fanaticism on both sides, during this process of instruction, might be roused. the huguenots on their part might denounce the treason of their great chief, and the papists, on theirs, howl at the hypocrisy of the pretended conversion. but henry iv. had philosophically prepared himself for the denunciations of the protestants, while determined to protect them against the persecutions of the romanism to which he meant to give his adhesion. while accepting the title of renegade, together with an undisputed crown, he was not the man to rekindle those fires of religious bigotry which it was his task to quench, now that they had lighted his way to the throne. the demands of his catholic supporters for the exclusion from the kingdom of all religions but their own, were steadily refused. and thus the events of and indicated that the great game of despotism against freedom would be played, in the coming years, upon the soil of france. already elizabeth had furnished the new king with l , in gold--a larger sum; as he observed, than he had ever seen before in his life, and the states of the netherlands had provided him with as much more. willoughby too, and tough roger williams, and baskerville, and umpton, and vere, with english pikemen at their back, had already made a brief but spirited campaign in france; and the duke of parma, after recruiting his health; so, far as it was possible; at spa, was preparing himself to measure swords with that great captain of huguenots; who now assumed the crown of his ancestors, upon the same ground. it seemed probable that for the coming years england would be safe from spanish invasion, and that holland would have a better opportunity than it had ever enjoyed before of securing its liberty and perfecting its political organization. while parma, philip; and mayenne were fighting the bearnese for the crown of france, there might be a fairer field for the new commonwealth of the united netherlands. and thus many of the personages who have figured in these volumes have already passed away. leicester had died just after the defeat of the armada, and the thrifty queen, while dropping a tear upon the grave of 'sweet robin,' had sold his goods at auction to defray his debts to herself; and moeurs, and martin schenk, and 'mucio,' and henry iii., and catharine de' medici, were all dead. but philip the prudent remained, and elizabeth of england, and henry of france and navarre, and john of olden-barneveld; and there was still another personage, a very young man still, but a deep-thinking, hard-working student, fagging steadily at mathematics and deep in the works of stevinus, who, before long, might play a conspicuous part in the world's great drama. but, previously to , maurice of nassau seemed comparatively insignificant, and he could be spoken of by courtiers as a cipher, and as an unmannerly boy just let loose from school. etext editor's bookmarks: i will never live, to see the end of my poverty religion was not to be changed like a shirt tension now gave place to exhaustion etext editor's bookmarks, entire - united netherlands: a burnt cat fears the fire a free commonwealth--was thought an absurdity act of uniformity required papists to assist all business has been transacted with open doors and thus this gentle and heroic spirit took its flight are wont to hang their piety on the bell-rope arminianism as lieve see the spanish as the calvinistic inquisition as logical as men in their cups are prone to be baiting his hook a little to his appetite beacons in the upward path of mankind been already crimination and recrimination more than enough bungling diplomatists and credulous dotards canker of a long peace casting up the matter "as pinchingly as possibly might be" defect of enjoying the flattery, of his inferiors in station disposed to throat-cutting by the ministers of the gospel during this, whole war, we have never seen the like elizabeth (had not) the faintest idea of religious freedom englishmen and hollanders preparing to cut each other's throats even to grant it slowly is to deny it utterly evil is coming, the sooner it arrives the better faction has rarely worn a more mischievous aspect fitter to obey than to command five great rivers hold the netherland territory in their coils fool who useth not wit because he hath it not forbidding the wearing of mourning at all full of precedents and declamatory commonplaces god, whose cause it was, would be pleased to give good weather guilty of no other crime than adhesion to the catholic faith hard at work, pouring sand through their sieves hardly a distinguished family in spain not placed in mourning heretics to the english church were persecuted high officers were doing the work of private, soldiers i did never see any man behave himself as he did i am a king that will be ever known not to fear any but god i will never live, to see the end of my poverty individuals walking in advance of their age infamy of diplomacy, when diplomacy is unaccompanied by honesty inquisitors enough; but there were no light vessels in the armada invincible armada had not only been vanquished but annihilated look for a sharp war, or a miserable peace loving only the persons who flattered him mendacity may always obtain over innocence and credulity never peace well made, he observed, without a mighty war never did statesmen know better how not to do not many more than two hundred catholics were executed nothing could equal alexander's fidelity, but his perfidy one could neither cry nor laugh within the spanish dominions only citadel against a tyrant and a conqueror was distrust pray here for satiety, (said cecil) than ever think of variety rebuked him for his obedience religion was not to be changed like a shirt respect for differences in religious opinions sacrificed by the queen for faithfully obeying her orders security is dangerous she relieth on a hope that will deceive her simple truth was highest skill sixteen of their best ships had been sacrificed sparing and war have no affinity together stake or gallows (for) heretics to transubstantiation states were justified in their almost unlimited distrust strength does a falsehood acquire in determined and skilful hand succeeded so well, and had been requited so ill sure bind, sure find sword in hand is the best pen to write the conditions of peace tension now gave place to exhaustion that crowned criminal, philip the second the worst were encouraged with their good success the blaze of a hundred and fifty burning vessels the sapling was to become the tree their existence depended on war there is no man fitter for that purpose than myself they chose to compel no man's conscience tolerating religious liberty had never entered his mind torturing, hanging, embowelling of men, women, and children trust her sword, not her enemy's word undue anxiety for impartiality universal suffrage was not dreamed of at that day waiting the pleasure of a capricious and despotic woman we were sold by their negligence who are now angry with us wealthy papists could obtain immunity by an enormous fine who the "people" exactly were this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, chapter xviii. part . prophecies as to the year --distracted condition of the dutch republic--willoughby reluctantly takes command--english commissioners come to ostend--secretary gamier and robert cecil-- cecil accompanies dale to ghent--and finds the desolation complete-- interview of dale and cecil with parma--his fervent expressions in favour of peace--cecil makes a tour in flanders--and sees much that is remarkable--interviews of dr. rogers with parma--wonderful harangues of the envoy--extraordinary amenity of alexander--with which rogers is much touched--the queen not pleased with her envoy-- credulity of the english commissioners--ceremonious meeting of all the envoys--consummate art in wasting time--long disputes about commissions--the spanish commissions meant to deceive--disputes about cessation of arms--spanish duplicity and procrastination-- pedantry and credulity of dr. dale--the papal bull and dr. allen's pamphlet--dale sent to ask explanations--parma denies all knowledge of either--croft believes to the last in alexander. the year had at last arrived--that fatal year concerning which the german astrologers--more than a century before had prognosticated such dire events. as the epoch approached it was firmly believed by many that the end of the world was at hand, while the least superstitious could not doubt that great calamities were impending over the nations. portents observed during the winter and in various parts of europe came to increase the prevailing panic. it rained blood in sweden, monstrous births occurred in france, and at weimar it was gravely reported by eminent chroniclers that the sun had appeared at mid-day holding a drawn sword in his mouth--a warlike portent whose meaning could not be mistaken. but, in truth, it needed no miracles nor prophecies to enforce the conviction that a long procession of disasters was steadily advancing. with france rent asunder by internal convulsions, with its imbecile king not even capable of commanding a petty faction among his own subjects, with spain the dark cause of unnumbered evils, holding italy in its grasp, firmly allied with the pope, already having reduced and nearly absorbed france, and now, after long and patient preparation, about to hurl the concentrated vengeance and hatred of long years upon the little kingdom of england, and its only ally--the just organized commonwealth of the netherlands--it would have been strange indeed if the dullest intellect had not dreamed of tragical events. it was not encouraging that there should be distraction in the counsels of the two states so immediately threatened; that the queen of england should be at variance with her wisest and most faithful statesmen as to their course of action, and that deadly quarrels should exist between the leading men of the dutch republic and the english governor, who had assumed the responsibility of directing its energies against the common enemy. the blackest night that ever descended upon the netherlands--more disappointing because succeeding a period of comparative prosperity and triumph--was the winter of - , when leicester had terminated his career by his abrupt departure for england, after his second brief attempt at administration. for it was exactly at this moment of anxious expectation, when dangers were rolling up from the south till not a ray of light or hope could pierce the universal darkness, that the little commonwealth was left without a chief. the english earl departed, shaking the dust from his feet; but he did not resign. the supreme authority--so far as he could claim it--was again transferred,--with his person, to england. the consequences were immediate and disastrous. all the leicestrians refused to obey the states-general. utrecht, the stronghold of that party, announced its unequivocal intention to annex itself, without any conditions whatever, to the english crown, while, in holland, young maurice was solemnly installed stadholder, and captain-general of the provinces, under the guidance of hohenlo and barneveld. but his authority was openly defied in many important cities within his jurisdiction by military chieftains who had taken the oaths of allegiance to leicester as governor, and who refused to renounce fidelity to the man who had deserted their country, but who had not resigned his authority. of these mutineers the most eminent was diedrich sonoy, governor of north holland, a soldier of much experience, sagacity, and courage, who had rendered great services to the cause of liberty and protestantism, and had defaced it by acts of barbarity which had made his name infamous. against this refractory chieftain it was necessary for hohenlo and maurice to lead an armed force, and to besiege him in his stronghold-- the important city of medenblik--which he resolutely held for leicester, although leicester had definitely departed, and which he closed against maurice, although maurice was the only representative of order and authority within the distracted commonwealth. and thus civil war had broken out in the little scarcely-organized republic, as if there were not dangers and bloodshed enough impending over it from abroad. and the civil war was the necessary consequence of the earl's departure. the english forces--reduced as they were by sickness, famine, and abject poverty--were but a remnant of the brave and well-seasoned bands which had faced the spaniards with success on so many battle-fields. the general who now assumed chief command over them--by direction of leicester, subsequently confirmed by the queen--was lord willoughby. a daring, splendid dragoon, an honest, chivalrous, and devoted servant of his queen, a conscientious adherent of leicester, and a firm believer in his capacity and character, he was, however, not a man of sufficient experience or subtlety to perform the various tasks imposed upon him by the necessities of such a situation. quick-witted, even brilliant in intellect, and the bravest of the brave on the battle-field, he was neither a sagacious administrator nor a successful commander. and he honestly confessed his deficiencies, and disliked the post to which he had been elevated. he scorned baseness, intrigue, and petty quarrels, and he was impatient of control. testy, choleric, and quarrelsome, with a high sense of honour, and a keen perception of insult, very modest and very proud, he was not likely to feed with wholesome appetite upon the unsavoury annoyances which were the daily bread of a chief commander in the netherlands. "i ambitiously affect not high titles, but round dealing," he said; "desiring rather to be a private lance with indifferent reputation, than a colonel-general spotted or defamed with wants." he was not the politician to be matched against the unscrupulous and all-accomplished farnese; and indeed no man better than willoughby could illustrate the enormous disadvantage under which englishmen laboured at that epoch in their dealings with italians and spaniards. the profuse indulgence in falsehood which characterized southern statesmanship, was more than a match for english love of truth. english soldiers and negotiators went naked into a contest with enemies armed in a panoply of lies. it was an unequal match, as we have already seen, and as we are soon more clearly to see. how was an english soldier who valued his knightly word--how were english diplomatists--among whom one of the most famous--then a lad of twenty, secretary to lord essex in the netherlands--had poetically avowed that "simple truth was highest skill," --to deal with the thronging spanish deceits sent northward by the great father of lies who sat in the escorial? "it were an ill lesson," said willoughby, "to teach soldiers the, dissimulations of such as follow princes' courts, in italy. for my own part, it is my only end to be loyal and dutiful to my sovereign, and plain to all others that i honour. i see the finest reynard loses his best coat as well as the poorest sheep." he was also a strong leicestrian, and had imbibed much of the earl's resentment against the leading politicians of the states. willoughby was sorely in need of council. that shrewd and honest welshman--roger williams--was, for the moment, absent. another of the same race and character commanded in bergen-op-zoom, but was not more gifted with administrative talent than the general himself. "sir thomas morgan is a very sufficient, gallant gentleman," said willoughby, "and in truth a very old soldier; but we both have need of one that can both give and keep counsel better than ourselves. for action he is undoubtedly very able, if there were no other means to conquer but only to give blows." in brief, the new commander of the english forces in the netherlands was little satisfied with the states, with the enemy, or with himself; and was inclined to take but a dismal view of the disjointed commonwealth, which required so incompetent a person as he professed himself to be to set it right. "'tis a shame to show my wants," he said, "but too great a fault of duty that the queen's reputation be frustrate. what is my slender experience! what an honourable person do i succeed! what an encumbered popular state is left! what withered sinews, which it passes my cunning to restore! what an enemy in head greater than heretofore! and wherewithal should i sustain this burthen? for the wars i am fitter to obey than to command. for the state, i am a man prejudicated in their opinion, and not the better liked of them that have earnestly followed the general, and, being one that wants both opinion and experience with them i have to deal, and means to win more or to maintain that which is left, what good may be looked for?" the supreme authority--by the retirement of leicester--was once more the subject of dispute. as on his first departure, so also on this his second and final one, he had left a commission to the state-council to act as an executive body during his absence. but, although he--nominally still retained his office, in reality no man believed in his return; and the states-general were ill inclined to brook a species of guardianship over them, with which they believed themselves mature enough to dispense. moreover the state-council, composed mainly of leicestrians, would expire, by limitation of its commission, early in february of that year. the dispute for power would necessarily terminate, therefore, in favour of the states-general. meantime--while this internal revolution was taking place in the polity of the commonwealth-the gravest disturbances were its natural consequence. there were mutinies in the garrisons of heusden, of gertruydenberg, of medenblik, as alarming, and threatening to become as chronic in their character, as those extensive military rebellions which often rendered the spanish troops powerless at the most critical epochs. the cause of these mutinies was uniformly, want of pay, the pretext, the oath to the earl of leicester, which was declared incompatible with the allegiance claimed by maurice in the name of the states-general. the mutiny of gertruydenberg was destined to be protracted; that of medenblik, dividing, as it did, the little territory of holland in its very heart, it was most important at once to suppress. sonoy, however-- who was so stanch a leicestrian, that his spanish contemporaries uniformly believed him to be an englishman--held out for a long time, as will be seen, against the threats and even the armed demonstrations of maurice and the states. meantime the english sovereign, persisting in her delusion, and despite the solemn warnings of her own wisest counsellors; and the passionate remonstrances of the states-general of the netherlands, sent her peace- commissioners to the duke of parma. the earl of derby, lord cobham, sir james croft, valentine dale, doctor of laws, and former ambassador at vienna, and dr. rogers, envoys on the part of the queen, arrived in the netherlands in february. the commissioners appointed on the part of farnese were count aremberg, champagny, richardot, jacob maas, and secretary garnier. if history has ever furnished a lesson, how an unscrupulous tyrant, who has determined upon enlarging his own territories at the expense of his neighbours, upon oppressing human freedom wherever it dared to manifest itself, with fine phrases of religion and order for ever in his mouth, on deceiving his friends and enemies alike, as to his nefarious and almost incredible designs, by means of perpetual and colossal falsehoods; and if such lessons deserve to be pondered, as a source of instruction and guidance for every age, then certainly the secret story of the negotiations by which the wise queen of england was beguiled, and her kingdom brought to the verge of ruin, in the spring of , is worthy of serious attention. the english commissioners arrived at ostend. with them came robert cecil, youngest son of lord-treasurer burghley, then twenty-five years of age.--he had no official capacity, but was sent by his father, that he might improve his diplomatic talents, and obtain some information as to the condition of the netherlands. a slight, crooked, hump-backed young gentleman, dwarfish in stature, but with a face not irregular in feature, and thoughtful and subtle in expression, with reddish hair, a thin tawny beard, and large, pathetic, greenish-coloured eyes, with a mind and manners already trained to courts and cabinets, and with a disposition almost ingenuous, as compared to the massive dissimulation with which it was to be contrasted, and with what was, in aftertimes, to constitute a portion of his own character, cecil, young as he was, could not be considered the least important of the envoys. the queen, who loved proper men, called him "her pigmy;" and "although," he observed with whimsical courtliness, "i may not find fault with the sporting name she gives me, yet seem i only not to mislike it, because she gives it." the strongest man among them was valentine dale, who had much shrewdness, experience, and legal learning, but who valued himself, above all things, upon his latinity. it was a consolation to him, while his adversaries were breaking priscian's head as fast as the duke, their master, was breaking his oaths, that his own syntax was as clear as his conscience. the feeblest commissioner was james-a-croft, who had already exhibited himself with very anile characteristics, and whose subsequent manifestations were to seem like dotage. doctor rogers, learned in the law, as he unquestionably was, had less skill in reading human character, or in deciphering the physiognomy of a farnese, while lord derby, every inch a grandee, with lord cobham to assist him, was not the man to cope with the astute richardot, the profound and experienced champagny, or that most voluble and most rhetorical of doctors of law, jacob maas of antwerp. the commissioners, on their arrival, were welcomed by secretary garnier, who had been sent to ostend to greet them. an adroit, pleasing, courteous gentleman, thirty-six years of age, small, handsome, and attired not quite as a soldier, nor exactly as one of the long robe, wearing a cloak furred to the knee, a cassock of black velvet, with plain gold buttons, and a gold chain about his neck, the secretary delivered handsomely the duke of parma's congratulations, recommended great expedition in the negotiations, and was then invited by the earl of derby to dine with the commissioners. he was accompanied by a servant in plain livery, who--so soon as his master had made his bow to the english envoys--had set forth for a stroll through the town. the modest-looking valet, however, was a distinguished engineer in disguise, who had been sent by alexander for the especial purpose of examining the fortifications of ostend--that town being a point much coveted, and liable to immediate attack by the spanish commander. meanwhile secretary gamier made himself very agreeable, showing wit, experience, and good education; and, after dinner, was accompanied to his lodgings by dr. rogers and other gentlemen, with whom--especially with cecil--he held much conversation. knowing that this young gentleman "wanted not an honourable father," the secretary was very desirous that he should take this opportunity to make a tour through the provinces, examine the cities, and especially "note the miserable ruins of the poor country and people." he would then feelingly perceive how much they had to answer for, whose mad rebellion against their sovereign lord and master had caused so great an effusion of blood, and the wide desolation of such goodly towns and territories. cecil probably entertained a suspicion that the sovereign lord and master, who had been employed, twenty years long, in butchering his subjects and in ravaging their territory to feed his executioners and soldiers, might almost be justified in treating human beings as beasts and reptiles, if they had not at last rebelled. he simply and diplomatically answered, however, that he could not but concur with the secretary in lamenting the misery of the provinces and people so utterly despoiled and ruined, but, as it might be matter of dispute; "from what head this fountain of calamity was both fed and derived, he would not enter further therein, it being a matter much too high for his capacity." he expressed also the hope that the king's heart might sympathize with that of her majesty, in earnest compassion for all this suffering, and in determination to compound their differences. on the following day there was some conversation with gamier, on preliminary and formal matters, followed in the evening by a dinner at lord cobham's lodgings--a banquet which the forlorn condition of the country scarcely permitted to be luxurious. "we rather pray here for satiety," said cecil, "than ever think of variety." it was hoped by the englishmen that the secretary would take his departure after dinner; for the governor of ostend, sir john conway, had an uneasy sensation, during his visit, that the unsatisfactory condition of the defences would attract his attention, and that a sudden attack by farnese might be the result. sir john was not aware however, of the minute and scientific observations then making at the very moment when mr. garnier was entertaining the commissioners with his witty and instructive conversation--by the unobtrusive menial who had accompanied the secretary to ostend. in order that those observations might be as thorough as possible, rather than with any view to ostensible business, the envoy of parma now declared that--on account of the unfavourable state of the tide--he had resolved to pass another night at ostend. "we could have spared his company," said cecil, "but their lordships considered it convenient that he should be used well." so mr. comptroller croft gave the affable secretary a dinner-invitation for the following day. here certainly was a masterly commencement on the part of the spanish diplomatists. there was not one stroke of business during the visit of the secretary. he had been sent simply to convey a formal greeting, and to take the names of the english commissioners--a matter which could have been done in an hour as well as in a week. but it must be remembered, that, at that very moment, the duke was daily expecting intelligence of the sailing of the armada, and that philip, on his part, supposed the duke already in england, at the head of his army. under these circumstances, therefore--when the whole object of the negotiation, so far as parma and his master were, concerned, was to amuse and to gain time--it was already ingenious in garnier to have consumed several days in doing nothing; and to have obtained plans and descriptions of ostend into the bargain. garnier--when his departure could no longer, on any pretext, be deferred --took his leave, once more warmly urging robert cecil to make a little tour in the obedient netherlands, and to satisfy himself, by personal observation, of their miserable condition. as dr. dale purposed making a preliminary visit to the duke of parma at ghent, it was determined accordingly that he should be accompanied by cecil. that young gentleman had already been much impressed by the forlorn aspect of the country about ostend--for, although the town was itself in possession of the english, it was in the midst of the enemy's territory. since the fall of sluys the spaniards were masters of all flanders, save this one much-coveted point. and although the queen had been disposed to abandon that city, and to suffer the ocean to overwhelm it, rather than that she should be at charges to defend it, yet its possession was of vital consequence to the english-dutch cause, as time was ultimately to show. meanwhile the position was already a very important one, for-- according to the predatory system of warfare of the day--it was an excellent starting-point for those marauding expeditions against persons and property, in which neither the dutch nor english were less skilled than the flemings or spaniards. "the land all about here," said cecil, "is so devastated, that where the open country was wont to be covered with kine and sheep, it is now fuller of wild boars and wolves; whereof many come so nigh the town that the sentinels--three of whom watch every night upon a sand-hill outside the gates--have had them in a dark night upon them ere they were aware." but the garrison of ostend was quite as dangerous to the peasants and the country squires of flanders, as were the wolves or wild boars; and many a pacific individual of retired habits, and with a remnant of property worth a ransom, was doomed to see himself whisked from his seclusion by conway's troopers, and made a compulsory guest at the city. prisoners were brought in from a distance of sixty miles; and there was one old gentlemen, "well-languaged," who "confessed merrily to cecil, that when the soldiers fetched him out of his own mansion-house, sitting safe in his study, he was as little in fear of the garrison of ostend as he was of the turk or the devil." [and doctor rogers held very similar language: "the most dolorous and heavy sights in this voyage to ghent, by me weighed," he said; "seeing the countries which, heretofore; by traffic of merchants, as much as any other i have seen flourish, now partly drowned, and, except certain great cities, wholly burned, ruined, and desolate, possessed i say, with wolves, wild boars, and foxes--a great, testimony of the wrath of god," &c. &c. dr. rogers to the queen,- april, . (s. p. office ms.)] three days after the departure of garnier, dr. dale and his attendants started upon their expedition from ostend to ghent--an hour's journey or so in these modern times.--the english envoys, in the sixteenth century, found it a more formidable undertaking. they were many hours traversing the four miles to oudenburg, their first halting-place; for the waters were out, there having been a great breach of the sea-dyke of ostend, a disaster threatening destruction to town and country. at oudenburg, a "small and wretched hole," as garnier had described it to be, there was, however, a garrison of three thousand spanish soldiers, under the marquis de renti. from these a convoy of fifty troopers was appointed to protect the english travellers to bruges. here they arrived at three o'clock, were met outside the gates by the famous general la motte, and by him escorted to their lodgings in the "english house," and afterwards handsomely entertained at supper in his own quarters. the general's wife; madame de la motte, was, according to cecil, "a fair gentlewoman of discreet and modest behaviour, and yet not unwilling sometimes to hear herself speak;" so that in her society, and in that of her sister--"a nun of the order of the mounts, but who, like the rest of the sisterhood, wore an ordinary dress in the evening, and might leave the convent if asked in marriage"--the supper passed off very agreeably. in the evening cecil found that his father had formerly occupied the same bedroom of the english hotel in which he was then lodged; for he found that lord burghley had scrawled his name in the chimney-corner--a fact which was highly gratifying to the son. the next morning, at seven o'clock, the travellers set forth for ghent. the journey was a miserable one. it was as cold and gloomy weather as even a flemish month of march could furnish. a drizzling rain was falling all day long, the lanes were foul and miry, the frequent thickets which overhung their path were swarming with the freebooters of zeeland, who were "ever at hand," says cecil, "to have picked our purses, but that they descried our convoy, and so saved themselves in the woods." sitting on horseback ten hours without alighting, under such circumstances as these, was not luxurious for a fragile little gentleman like queen elizabeth's "pigmy;" especially as dr. dale and himself had only half a red herring between them for luncheon, and supped afterwards upon an orange. the envoy protested that when they could get a couple of eggs a piece, while travelling in flanders, "they thought they fared like princes." nevertheless cecil and himself fought it out manfully, and when they reached ghent, at five in the evening, they were met by their acquaintance garnier, and escorted to their lodgings. here they were waited upon by president richardot, "a tall gentleman," on behalf of the duke of parma, and then left to their much-needed repose. nothing could be more forlorn than the country of the obedient netherlands, through which their day's journey had led them. desolation had been the reward of obedience. "the misery of the inhabitants," said cecil, "is incredible, both without the town, where all things are wasted, houses spoiled, and grounds unlaboured, and also, even in these great cities, where they are for the most part poor beggars even in the fairest houses." and all this human wretchedness was the elaborate work of one man--one dull, heartless bigot, living, far away, a life of laborious ease and solemn sensuality; and, in reality, almost as much removed from these fellow-creatures of his, whom he called his subjects, as if he had been the inhabitant of another planet. has history many more instructive warnings against the horrors of arbitrary government--against the folly of mankind in ever tolerating the rule of a single irresponsible individual, than the lesson furnished by the life-work of that crowned criminal, philip the second? the longing for peace on the part of these unfortunate obedient flemings was intense. incessant cries for peace reached the ears of the envoys on every side. alas, it would have been better for these peace-wishers, had they stood side by side with their brethren, the noble hollanders and zeelanders, when they had been wresting, if not peace, yet independence and liberty, from philip, with their own right hands. now the obedient flemings were but fuel for the vast flame which the monarch was kindling for the destruction of christendom--if all christendom were not willing to accept his absolute dominion. the burgomasters of ghent--of ghent, once the powerful, the industrious, the opulent, the free, of all cities in the world now the most abject and forlorn--came in the morning to wait upon elizabeth's envoy, and to present him, according to ancient custom, with some flasks of wine. they came with tears streaming down their cheeks, earnestly expressing the desire of their hearts for peace, and their joy that at least it had now "begun to be thought on." "it is quite true," replied dr. dale, "that her excellent majesty the queen--filled with compassion for your condition, and having been informed that the duke of parma is desirous of peace--has vouchsafed to make this overture. if it take not the desired effect, let not the blame rest upon her, but upon her adversaries." to these words the magistrates all said amen, and invoked blessings on her majesty. and most certainly, elizabeth was sincerely desirous of peace; even at greater sacrifices than the duke could well have imagined; but there was something almost diabolic in the cold dissimulation by which her honest compassion was mocked, and the tears of a whole people in its agony made the laughingstock of a despot and his tools. on saturday morning, richardot and garnier waited upon the envoy to escort him to the presence of the duke. cecil, who accompanied him, was not much impressed with the grandeur of alexander's lodgings; and made unfavourable and rather unreasonable comparisons between them and the splendour of elizabeth's court. they passed through an ante-chamber into a dining-room, thence into an inner chamber, and next into the duke's room. in the ante-chamber stood sir william stanley, the deventer traitor, conversing with one mockett, an englishman, long resident in flanders. stanley was meanly dressed, in the spanish fashion, and as young cecil, passing through the chamber, looked him in the face, he abruptly turned from him, and pulled his hat over his eyes. "'twas well he did so," said that young gentleman, "for his taking it off would hardly have cost me mine." cecil was informed that stanley was to have a commandery of malta, and was in good favour with the duke, who was, however, quite weary of his mutinous and disorderly irish regiment. in the bed-chamber, farnese--accompanied by the marquis del guasto, the marquis of renty, the prince of aremberg, president richardot, and secretary cosimo--received the envoy and his companion. "small and mean was the furniture of the chamber," said cecil; "and although they attribute this to his love of privacy, yet it is a sign that peace is the mother of all honour and state, as may best be perceived by the court of england, which her majesty's royal presence doth so adorn, as that it exceedeth this as far as the sun surpasseth in light the other stars of the firmament." here was a compliment to the queen and her upholsterers drawn in by the ears. certainly, if the first and best fruit of the much-longed-for peace were only to improve the furniture of royal and ducal apartments, it might be as well perhaps for the war to go on, while the queen continued to outshine all the stars in the firmament. but the budding courtier and statesman knew that a personal compliment to elizabeth could never be amiss or ill-timed. the envoy delivered the greetings of her majesty to the duke, and was heard with great attention. alexander attempted a reply in french, which was very imperfect, and, apologizing, exchanged that tongue for italian. he alluded with great fervour to the "honourable opinion concerning his sincerity and word," expressed to him by her majesty, through the mouth of her envoy. "and indeed," said he, "i have always had especial care of keeping my word. my body and service are at the commandment of the king, my lord and master, but my honour is my own, and her majesty may be assured that i shall always have especial regard of my word to so great and famous a queen as her majesty." the visit was one of preliminaries and of ceremony. nevertheless farnese found opportunity to impress the envoy and his companions with his sincerity of heart. he conversed much with cecil, making particular and personal inquiries, and with appearance of deep interest, in regard to queen elizabeth. "there is not a prince in the world--" he said, "reserving all question between her majesty and my royal master--to whom i desire more to do service. so much have i heard of her perfections, that i wish earnestly that things might so fall out, as that it might be my fortune to look upon her face before my return to my own country. yet i desire to behold her, not as a servant to him who is not able still to maintain war, or as one that feared any harm that might befall him; for in such matters my account was made long ago, to endure all which god may send. but, in truth, i am weary to behold the miserable estate of this people, fallen upon them through their own folly, and methinks that he who should do the best offices of peace would perform a 'pium et sanctissimum opus.' right glad am i that the queen is not behind me in zeal for peace." he then complimented cecil in regard to his father, whom he understood to be the principal mover in these negotiations. the young man expressed his thanks, and especially for the good affection which the duke had manifested to the queen and in the blessed cause of peace. he was well aware that her majesty esteemed him a prince of great honour and virtue, and that for this good work, thus auspiciously begun, no man could possibly doubt that her majesty, like himself, was most zealously affected to bring all things to a perfect peace. the matters discussed in this first interview were only in regard to the place to be appointed for the coming conferences, and the exchange of powers. the queen's commissioners had expected to treat at ostend. alexander, on the contrary, was unable to listen to such a suggestion, as it would be utter dereliction of his master's dignity to send envoys to a city of his own, now in hostile occupation by her majesty's forces. the place of conference, therefore, would be matter of future consideration. in respect to the exchange of powers, alexander expressed the hope that no man would doubt as to the production on his commissioners' part of ample authority both from himself and from the king. yet it will be remembered, that, at this moment, the duke had not only no powers from the king, but that philip had most expressly refused to send a commission, and that he fully expected the negotiation to be superseded by the invasion, before the production of the powers should become indispensable. and when farnese was speaking thus fervently in favour of peace, and parading his word and his honour, the letters lay in his cabinet in that very room, in which philip expressed his conviction that his general was already in london, that the whole realm of england was already at the mercy of a spanish soldiery, and that the queen, upon whose perfection alexander had so long yearned to gaze, was a discrowned captive, entirely in her great enemy's power. thus ended the preliminary interview. on the following monday, th march, dr. dale and his attendants made the best of their way back to ostend, while young cecil, with a safe conduct from champagny, set forth on a little tour in flanders. the journey from ghent to antwerp was easy, and he was agreeably surprised by the apparent prosperity of the country. at intervals of every few miles; he was refreshed with the spectacle of a gibbet well garnished with dangling freebooters; and rejoiced, therefore, in comparative security. for it seemed that the energetic bailiff of waasland had levied a contribution upon the proprietors of the country, to be expended mainly in hanging brigands; and so well had the funds been applied, that no predatory bands could make their appearance but they were instantly pursued by soldiers, and hanged forthwith, without judge or trial. cecil counted twelve such places of execution on his road between ghent and antwerp. on his journey he fell in with an italian merchant,--lanfranchi by name, of a great commercial house in antwerp, in the days when antwerp had commerce, and by him, on his arrival the same evening in that town, he was made an honoured guest, both for his father's sake and his queen's. "'tis the pleasantest city that ever i saw," said cecil, "for situation and building; but utterly left and abandoned now by those rich merchants that were wont to frequent the place." his host was much interested in the peace-negotiations, and indeed, through his relations with champagny and andreas de loo, had been one of the instruments by which it had been commenced. he inveighed bitterly against the spanish captains and soldiers, to whose rapacity and ferocity he mainly ascribed the continuance of the war;--and he was especially incensed with stanley and other--english renegades, who were thought fiercer haters of england than were the spaniards themselves: even in the desolate and abject condition of antwerp and its neighbourhood, at that moment, the quick eye of cecil detected the latent signs of a possible splendour. should peace be restored, the territory once more be tilled, and the foreign merchants attracted thither again, he believed that the governor of the obedient netherlands might live there in more magnificence than the king of spain himself, exhausted as were his revenues by the enormous expense of this protracted war: eight hundred thousand dollars monthly; so lanfranchi informed cecil, were the costs of the forces on the footing then established. this, however, was probably an exaggeration, for the royal account books showed a less formidable sum, although a sufficiently large one to appal a less obstinate bigot than philip. but what to him were the, ruin of the netherlands; the impoverishment of spain, and the downfall of her ancient grandeur compared to the glory of establishing the inquisition in england and holland? while at dinner in lanfranchi's house; cecil was witness to another characteristic of the times, and one which afforded proof of even more formidable freebooters abroad than those for whom the bailiff of waasland had erected his gibbets. a canal-boat had left antwerp for brussels that morning, and in the vicinity of the latter city had been set upon by a detachment from the english garrison of bergen-op-zoom, and captured, with twelve prisoners and a freight of , florins in money. "this struck the company at the dinner-table all in a dump;" said cecil. and well it might; for the property mainly belonged to themselves, and they forthwith did their best to have the marauders waylaid on their return. but cecil, notwithstanding his gratitude for the hospitality of lanfranchi, sent word next day to the garrison of bergen of the designs against them, and on his arrival at the place had the satisfaction of being informed by lord willoughby that the party had got safe home with their plunder. "and, well worthy they are of it," said young robert, "considering how far they go for it." the traveller, on, leaving antwerp, proceeded down the river to bergen- op-zoom, where he was hospitably entertained by that doughty old soldier sir william reade, and met lord willoughby, whom he accompanied to brielle on a visit to the deposed elector truchsess, then living in that neighbourhood. cecil--who was not passion's slave--had small sympathy with the man who could lose a sovereignty for the sake of agnes mansfeld. "'tis a very goodly gentleman," said he, "well fashioned, and of good speech, for which i must rather praise him than for loving a wife better than so great a fortune as he lost by her occasion." at brielle he was handsomely entertained by the magistrates, who had agreeable recollections of his brother thomas, late governor of that city. thence he proceeded by way of delft--which, like all english travellers, he described as "the finest built town that ever he saw"--to the hague, and thence to fushing, and so back by sea to ostend.--he had made the most of his three weeks' tour, had seen many important towns both in the republic and in the obedient netherlands, and had conversed with many "tall gentlemen," as he expressed himself, among the english commanders, having been especially impressed by the heroes of sluys, baskerville and that "proper gentleman francis vere." he was also presented by lord willoughby to maurice of nassau, and was perhaps not very benignantly received by the young prince. at that particular moment, when leicester's deferred resignation, the rebellion of sonoy in north holland, founded on a fictitious allegiance to the late governor-general, the perverse determination of the queen to treat for peace against the advice of all the leading statesmen of the netherlands, and the sharp rebukes perpetually administered by her, in consequence, to the young stadholder and all his supporters, had not tended to produce the most tender feelings upon their part towards the english government, it was not surprising that the handsome soldier should look askance at the crooked little courtier, whom even the great queen smiled at while she petted him. cecil was very angry with maurice. "in my life i never saw worse behaviour," he said, "except it were in one lately come from school. there is neither outward appearance in him of any noble mind nor inward virtue." although cecil had consumed nearly the whole month of march in his tour, he had been more profitably employed than were the royal commissioners during the same period at ostend. never did statesmen know better how not to do that which they were ostensibly occupied in doing than alexander farnese and his agents, champagny, richardot, jacob maas, and gamier. the first pretext by which much time was cleverly consumed was the dispute as to the place of meeting. doctor dale had already expressed his desire for ostend as the place of colloquy. "'tis a very slow old gentleman, this doctor dale," said alexander; "he was here in the time of madam my mother, and has also been ambassador at vienna. i have received him and his attendants with great courtesy, and held out great hopes of peace. we had conversations about the place of meeting. he wishes ostend: i object. the first conference will probably be at some point between that place and newport." the next opportunity for discussion and delay was afforded by the question of powers. and it must be ever borne in mind that alexander was daily expecting the arrival of the invading fleets and armies of spain, and was holding himself in readiness to place himself at their head for the conquest of england. this was, of course, so strenuously denied by himself and those under his influence, that queen elizabeth implicitly. believed him, burghley was lost in doubt, and even the astute walsingham began to distrust his own senses. so much strength does a falsehood acquire in determined and skilful hands. "as to the commissions, it will be absolutely necessary for, your majesty to send them," wrote alexander at the moment when he was receiving the english envoy at ghent, "for unless the armada arrive soon--it will be indispensable for me, to have them, in order to keep the negotiation alive. of course they will never broach the principal matters without exhibition of powers. richardot is aware of the secret which your majesty confided to me, namely, that the negotiations are only intended to deceive the queen and to gain time for the fleet; but the powers must be sent in order that we may be able to produce them; although your secret intentions will be obeyed." the duke commented, however, on the extreme difficulty of carrying out the plan, as originally proposed. "the conquest of england would have been difficult," he said, "even although the country had been taken by surprise. now they are strong and armed; we are comparatively weak. the danger and the doubt are great; and the english deputies, i think, are really desirous of peace. nevertheless i am at your majesty's disposition--life and all--and probably, before the answer arrives to this letter, the fleet will have arrived, and i shall have undertaken the passage to england." after three weeks had thus adroitly been frittered away, the english commissioners became somewhat impatient, and despatched doctor rogers to the duke at ghent. this was extremely obliging upon their part, for if valentine dale were a "slow old gentleman," he was keen, caustic, and rapid, as compared to john rogers. a formalist and a pedant, a man of red tape and routine, full of precedents and declamatory commonplaces which he mistook for eloquence, honest as daylight and tedious as a king, he was just the time-consumer for alexander's purpose. the wily italian listened with profound attention to the wise saws in which the excellent diplomatist revelled, and his fine eyes often filled with tears at the doctor's rhetoric. three interviews--each three mortal hours long--did the two indulge in at ghent, and never, was high-commissioner better satisfied with himself than was john rogers upon those occasions. he carried every point; he convinced, he softened, he captivated the great duke; he turned the great duke round his finger. the great duke smiled, or wept, or fell into his arms, by turns. alexander's military exploits had rung through the world, his genius for diplomacy and statesmanship had never been disputed; but his talents as a light comedian were, in these interviews, for the first time fully revealed. on the th march the learned doctor made his first bow and performed his first flourish of compliments at ghent. "i assure your majesty," said he, "his highness followed my compliments of entertainment with so much honour, as that--his highness or i, speaking of the queen of england--he never did less than uncover his head; not covering the same, unless i was covered also." and after these salutations had at last been got through with, thus spake the doctor of laws to the duke of parma:-- "almighty god, the light of lights, be pleased to enlighten the understanding of your alteza, and to direct the same to his glory, to the uniting of both their majesties and the finishing of these most bloody wars, whereby these countries, being in the highest degree of misery desolate, lie as it were prostrate before the wrathful presence of the most mighty god, most lamentably beseeching his divine majesty to withdraw his scourge of war from them, and to move the hearts of princes to restore them unto peace, whereby they might attain unto their ancient flower and dignity. into the hands of your alteza are now the lives of many thousands, the destruction of cities, towns, and countries, which to put to the fortune of war how perilous it were, i pray consider. think ye, ye see the mothers left alive tendering their offspring in your presence, 'nam matribus detestata bells,'" continued the orator. "think also of others of all sexes, ages, and conditions, on their knees before your alteza, most humbly praying and crying most dolorously to spare their lives, and save their property from the ensanguined scourge of the insane soldiers," and so on, and so on. now philip ii. was slow in resolving, slower in action. the ponderous three-deckers of biscay were notoriously the dullest sailers ever known, nor were the fettered slaves who rowed the great galleys of portugal or of andalusia very brisk in their movements; and yet the king might have found time to marshal his ideas and his squadrons, and the armada had leisure to circumnavigate the globe and invade england afterwards, if a succession of john rogerses could have entertained his highness with compliments while the preparations were making. but alexander--at the very outset of the doctor's eloquence--found it difficult to suppress his feelings. "i can assure your majesty," said rogers, "that his eyes--he has a very large eye--were moistened. sometimes they were thrown upward to heaven, sometimes they were fixed full upon me, sometimes they were cast downward, well declaring how his heart was affected." honest john even thought it necessary to mitigate the effect of his rhetoric, and to assure his highness that it was, after all, only he doctor rogers, and not the minister plenipotentiary of the queen's most serene majesty, who was exciting all this emotion. "at this part of my speech," said he, "i prayed his highness not to be troubled, for that the same only proceeded from doctor rogers, who, it might please him to know, was so much moved with the pitiful case of these countries, as also that which of war was sure to ensue, that i wished, if my body were full of rivers of blood, the same to be poured forth to satisfy any that were blood-thirsty, so there might an assured peace follow." his highness, at any rate, manifesting no wish to drink of such sanguinary streams--even had the doctor's body contained them--rogers became calmer. he then descended from rhetoric to jurisprudence and casuistry, and argued at intolerable length the propriety of commencing the conferences at ostend, and of exhibiting mutually the commissions. it is quite unnecessary to follow him as closely as did farnese. when he had finished the first part of his oration, however, and was "addressing himself to the second point," alexander at last interrupted the torrent of his eloquence. "he said that my divisions and subdivisions," wrote the doctor, "were perfectly in his remembrance, and that he would first answer the first point, and afterwards give audience to the second, and answer the same accordingly." accordingly alexander put on his hat, and begged the envoy also to be covered. then, "with great gravity, as one inwardly much moved," the duke took up his part in the dialogue. "signor ruggieri," said he, "you have propounded unto me speeches of two sorts: the one proceeds from doctor ruggieri, the other from the lord ambassador of the most serene queen of england. touching the first, i do give you my hearty thanks for your godly speeches, assuring you that though, by reason i have always followed the wars, i cannot be ignorant of the calamities by you alleged, yet you have so truly represented the same before mine eyes as to effectuate in me at this instant, not only the confirmation of mine own disposition to have peace, but also an assurance that this treaty shall take good and speedy end, seeing that it hath pleased god to raise up such a good instrument as you are." "many are the causes," continued the duke, "which, besides my disposition, move me to peace. my father and mother are dead; my son is a young prince; my house has truly need of my presence. i am not ignorant how ticklish a thing is the fortune of war, which--how victorious soever i have been--may in one moment not only deface the same, but also deprive me of my life. the king, my master, is now, stricken in years, his children are young, his dominions in trouble. his desire is to live, and to leave his posterity in quietness. the glory of god, the honor of both their majesties, and the good of these countries, with the stay of the effusion of christian blood, and divers other like reasons, force him to peace." thus spoke alexander, like an honest christian gentleman, avowing the most equitable and pacific dispositions on the part of his master and himself. yet at that moment he knew that the armada was about to sail, that his own nights and days were passed in active preparations for war, and that no earthly power could move philip by one hair's-breadth from his purpose to conquer england that summer. it would be superfluous to follow the duke or the doctor through their long dialogue on the place of conference, and the commissions. alexander considered it "infamy" on his name if he should send envoys to a place of his master's held by the enemy. he was also of opinion that it was unheard of to exhibit commissions previous to a preliminary colloquy. both propositions were strenuously contested by rogers. in regard to the second point in particular, he showed triumphantly, by citations from the "polonians, prussians, and lithuanians," that commissions ought to be previously exhibited. but it was not probable that even the doctor's learning and logic would persuade alexander to produce his commission; because, unfortunately, he had no commission to produce. a comfortable argument on the subject, however, would, none the less, consume time. three hours of this work brought them, exhausted and hungry; to the hour of noon and of dinner alexander, with profuse and smiling thanks for the envoy's plain dealing and eloquence, assured him that there would have been peace long ago "had doctor rogers always been the instrument," and regretted that he was himself not learned enough to deal creditably with him. he would, however, send richardot to bear him company at table, and chop logic with him afterwards. next day, at the same, hour, the duke and doctor had another encounter. so soon as the envoy made his appearance, he found himself "embraced most cheerfully and familiarly by his alteza," who, then entering at once into business, asked as to the doctor's second point. the doctor answered with great alacrity. "certain expressions have been reported to her majesty," said he, "as coming both from your highness and from richardot, hinting at a possible attempt by the king of spain's forces against the queen. her majesty, gathering that you are going about belike to terrify her, commands me to inform you very clearly and very expressly that she does not deal so weakly in her government, nor so improvidently, but that she is provided for anything that might be attempted against her by the king, and as able to offend him as he her majesty." alexander--with a sad countenance, as much offended, his eyes declaring miscontentment--asked who had made such a report. "upon the honour of a gentleman," said he, "whoever has said this has much abused me, and evil acquitted himself. they who know me best are aware that it is not my manner to let any word pass my lips that might offend any prince." then, speaking most solemnly, he added, "i declare really and truly (which two words he said in spanish), that i know not of any intention of the king of spain against her majesty or her realm." at that moment the earth did not open--year of portents though it was-- and the doctor, "singularly rejoicing" at this authentic information from the highest source, proceeded cheerfully with the conversation. "i hold myself," he exclaimed, "the man most satisfied in the world, because i may now write to her majesty that i have heard your highness upon your honour use these words." "upon my honour, it is true," repeated the duke; "for so honourably do i think of her majesty, as that, after the king, my master, i would honour and serve her before any prince in christendom." he added many earnest asseverations of similar import. "i do not deny, however," continued alexander, "that i have heard of certain ships having been armed by the king against that draak"--he pronounced the "a" in drake's name very broadly, or doric" who has committed so many outrages; but i repeat that i have never heard of any design against her majesty or against england." the duke then manifested much anxiety to know by whom he had been so misrepresented. "there has been no one with me but dr. dale," said, he, "and i marvel that he should thus wantonly have injured me." "dr. dale," replied ropers, "is a man of honour, of good years, learned, and well experienced; but perhaps he unfortunately misapprehended some of your alteza's words, and thought himself bound by his allegiance strictly to report them to her majesty." "i grieve that i should be misrepresented and injured," answered farnese, "in a manner so important to my honour. nevertheless, knowing the virtues with which her majesty is endued, i assure myself that the protestations i am now making will entirely satisfy her." he then expressed the fervent hope that the holy work of negotiation now commencing would result in a renewal of the ancient friendship between the houses of burgundy and of england, asserting that "there had never been so favourable a time as the present." under former governments of the netherlands there had been many mistakes and misunderstandings. "the duke of alva," said he, "has learned by this time, before the judgment-seat of god, how he discharged his functions, succeeding as he did my mother, the duchess of parma who left the provinces in so flourishing a condition. of this, however, i will say no more, because of a feud between the houses of farnese and of alva. as for requesens, he was a good fellow, but didn't understand his business. don john of austria again, whose soul i doubt not is in heaven, was young and poor, and disappointed in all his designs; but god has never offered so great a hope of assured peace as might now be accomplished by her majesty." finding the duke in so fervent and favourable a state of mind, the envoy renewed his demand that at least the first meeting of the commissioners might be held at ostend. "her majesty finds herself so touched in honour upon this point, that if it be not conceded--as i doubt not it will be, seeing the singular forwardness of your highness"--said the artful doctor with a smile, "we are no less than commanded to return to her majesty's presence." "i sent richardot to you yesterday," said alexander; "did he not content you?" "your highness, no," replied ropers. "moreover her majesty sent me to your alteza, and not to richardot. and the matter is of such importance that i pray you to add to all your graces and favours heaped upon me, this one of sending your commissioners to ostend." his highness could hold out no longer; but suddenly catching the doctor in his arms, and hugging him "in most honourable and amiable manner," he cried-- "be contented, be cheerful; my lord ambassador. you shall be satisfied upon this point also." "and never did envoy depart;" cried the lord ambassador, when he could get his breath, "more bound to you; and more resolute to speak honour of your highness than i do." "to-morrow we will ride together towards bruges;" said the duke, in conclusion. "till then farewell." upon, this he again heartily embraced the envoy, and the friends parted for the day. next morning; th march, the duke, who was on his way to bruges and sluys to look after his gun-boats, and, other naval, and military preparations, set forth on horseback, accompanied by the marquis del vasto, and, for part of the way, by rogers. they conversed on the general topics of the approaching negotiations; the duke, expressing the opinion that the treaty of peace would be made short work with; for it only needed to renew the old ones between the houses of england and burgundy. as for the hollanders and zeelanders, and their accomplices, he thought there would be no cause of stay on their account; and in regard to the cautionary towns he felt sure that her majesty had never had any intention of appropriating them to herself, and would willingly surrender them to the king. rogers thought it a good opportunity to put in a word for the dutchmen; who certainly, would not have thanked him for his assistance at that moment. "not, to give offence to your highness," he said, "if the hollanders and zeelanders, with their confederates, like to come into this treaty, surely your highness would not object?" alexander, who had been riding along quietly during this conversation; with his right, hand, on, his hip, now threw out his arm energetically: "let them come into it; let them treat, let them conclude," he exclaimed, "in the name of almighty god! i have always been well disposed to peace, and am now more so than ever. i could even, with the loss of my life, be content to have peace made at this time." nothing more, worthy of commemoration, occurred during this concluding interview; and the envoy took his leave at bruges, and returned to ostend. i have furnished the reader with a minute account of these conversations, drawn entirely, from the original records; not so much because the interviews were in themselves of vital importance; but because they afford a living and breathing example--better than a thousand homilies-- of the easy victory which diplomatic or royal mendacity may always obtain over innocence and credulity. certainly never was envoy more thoroughly beguiled than the excellent john upon this occasion. wiser than a serpent, as he imagined himself to be, more harmless than a dove; as alexander found him, he could not, sufficiently congratulate himself upon the triumphs of his eloquence and his adroitness; and despatched most glowing accounts of his proceedings to the queen. his ardour was somewhat damped, however, at receiving a message from her majesty in reply, which was anything but benignant. his eloquence was not commended; and even his preamble, with its touching allusion to the live mothers tendering their offspring--the passage: which had brought the tears into the large eyes of alexander--was coldly and cruelly censured. "her majesty can in no sort like such speeches"--so ran the return- despatch--" in which she is made to beg for peace. the king of spain standeth in as great need of peace as her self; and she doth greatly mislike the preamble of dr. rogers in his address to the duke at ghent, finding it, in very truth quite fond and vain. i am commanded by a particular letter to let him understand how much her majesty is offended with him." alexander, on his part, informed his royal master of these interviews, in which there had been so much effusion of sentiment, in very brief fashion. "dr. rogers, one of the queen's commissioners, has been here," he said, "urging me with all his might to let all your majesty's deputies go, if only for one hour, to ostend. i refused, saying, i would rather they should go to england than into a city of your majesty held by english troops. i told him it ought to be satisfactory that i had offered the queen, as a lady, her choice of any place in the provinces, or on neutral ground. rogers expressed regret for all the, bloodshed and other consequences if the negotiations should fall through for so trifling a cause; the more so as in return for this little compliment to the queen she would not only restore to your majesty everything that she holds in the netherlands, but would assist you to recover the part which remains obstinate. to quiet him and to consume time, i have promised that president richardot shall go and try to satisfy them. thus two or three weeks more will be wasted. but at last the time will come for exhibiting the powers. they are very anxious to see mine; and when at last they find i have none, i fear that they will break off the negotiations." could the queen have been informed of this voluntary offer on the part of her envoy to give up the cautionary towns, and to assist in reducing the rebellion, she might have used stronger language of rebuke. it is quite possible, however, that farnese--not so attentively following the doctor's eloquence as he had appeared to do-had somewhat inaccurately reported the conversations, which, after all, he knew to be of no consequence whatever, except as time-consumers. for elizabeth, desirous of peace as she was, and trusting to farnese's sincerity as she was disposed to do, was more sensitive than ever as to her dignity. "we charge you all," she wrote with her own hand to the commissioners, "that no word he overslipt by them, that may, touch our honour and greatness, that be not answered with good sharp words. i am a king that will be ever known not to fear any but god." it would have been better, however, had the queen more thoroughly understood that the day for scolding had quite gone by, and that something sharper than the sharpest words would soon be wanted to protect england and herself from impending doom. for there was something almost gigantic in the frivolities with which weeks and months of such precious time were now squandered. plenary powers--"commission bastantissima"-- from his sovereign had been announced by alexander as in his possession; although the reader has seen that he had no such powers at all. the mission of rogers had quieted the envoys at ostend for a time, and they waited quietly for the visit of richardot to ostend, into which the promised meeting of all the spanish commissioners in that city had dwindled. meantime there was an exchange of the most friendly amenities between the english and their mortal enemies. hardly a day passed that la motte, or renty, or aremberg, did not send lord derby, or cobham, or robert cecil, a hare, or a pheasant, or a cast of hawks, and they in return sent barrel upon barrel of ostend oysters, five or six hundred at a time. the englishmen, too; had it in their power to gratify alexander himself with english greyhounds, for which he had a special liking. "you would wonder," wrote cecil to his father, "how fond he is of english dogs." there was also much good preaching among other occupations, at ostend. "my lord of derby's two chaplains," said cecil, "have seasoned this town better with sermons than it had been before for a year's apace." but all this did not expedite the negotiations, nor did the duke manifest so much anxiety for colloquies as for greyhounds. so, in an unlucky hour for himself, another "fond and vain" old gentleman--james croft, the comptroller who had already figured, not much to his credit, in the secret negotiations between the brussels and english courts-- betook himself, unauthorized and alone; to the duke at bruges. here he had an interview very similar in character to that in which john rogers had been indulged, declared to farnese that the queen was most anxious for peace, and invited him to send a secret envoy to england, who would instantly have ocular demonstration of the fact. croft returned as triumphantly as the excellent doctor had done; averring that there was no doubt as to the immediate conclusion of a treaty. his grounds of belief were very similar to those upon which rogers had founded his faith. "tis a weak old man of seventy," said parma, "with very little sagacity. i am inclined to think that his colleagues are taking him in, that they may the better deceive us. i will see that they do nothing of the kind." but the movement was purely one of the comptroller's own inspiration; for sir james had a singular facility for getting himself into trouble, and for making confusion. already, when he had been scarcely a day in ostend, he had insulted the governor of the place, sir john conway, had given him the lie in the hearing of many of his own soldiers, had gone about telling all the world that he had express authority from her majesty to send him home in disgrace, and that the queen had called him a fool, and quite unfit for his post. and as if this had not been mischief-making enough, in addition to the absurd de loo and bodman negotiations of the previous year, in which he had been the principal actor, he had crowned his absurdities by this secret and officious visit to ghent. the queen, naturally very indignant at this conduct, reprehended him severely, and ordered him back to england. the comptroller was wretched. he expressed his readiness to obey her commands, but nevertheless implored his dread sovereign to take merciful consideration of the manifold misfortunes, ruin, and utter undoing, which thereby should fall upon him and his unfortunate family. all this he protested he would "nothing esteem if it tended to her majesty's pleasure or service," but seeing it should effectuate nothing but to bring the aged carcase of her poor vassal to present decay, he implored compassion upon his hoary hairs, and promised to repair the error of his former proceedings. he avowed that he would not have ventured to disobey for a moment her orders to return, but "that his aged and feeble limbs did not retain sufficient force, without present death, to comply with her commandment." and with that he took to his bed, and remained there until the queen was graciously pleased to grant him her pardon. at last, early in may--instead of the visit of richardot--there was a preliminary meeting of all the commissioners in tents on the sands; within a cannon-shot of ostend, and between that place and newport. it was a showy and ceremonious interview, in which no business was transacted. the commissioners of philip were attended by a body of one hundred and fifty light horse, and by three hundred private gentlemen in magnificent costume. la motte also came from newport with one thousand walloon cavalry while the english commissioners, on their part were escorted from ostend by an imposing array of english and dutch troops.' as the territory was spanish; the dignity of the king was supposed to be preserved, and alexander, who had promised dr. rogers that the first interview should take place within ostend itself, thought it necessary to apologize to his sovereign for so nearly keeping his word as to send the envoys within cannon-shot of the town. "the english commissioners," said he, "begged with so much submission for this concession, that i thought it as well to grant it." the spanish envoys were despatched by the duke of parma, well provided with full powers for himself, which were not desired by the english government, but unfurnished with a commission from philip, which had been pronounced indispensable. there was, therefore, much prancing of cavalry, flourishing of trumpets, and eating of oysters; at the first conference, but not one stroke of business. as the english envoys had now been three whole months in ostend, and as this was the first occasion on which they had been brought face to face with the spanish commissioners, it must be confessed that the tactics of farnese had been masterly. had the haste in the dock-yards of lisbon and cadiz been at all equal to the magnificent procrastination in the council-chambers of bruges and ghent, medina sidonia might already have been in the thames. but although little ostensible business was performed, there was one man who had always an eye to his work. the same servant in plain livery, who had accompanied secretary garnier, on his first visit to the english commissioners at ostend, had now come thither again, accompanied by a fellow-lackey. while the complimentary dinner, offered in the name of the absent farnese to the queen's representatives, was going forward, the two menials strayed off together to the downs, for the purpose of rabbit- shooting. the one of them was the same engineer who had already, on the former occasion, taken a complete survey of the fortifications of ostend; the other was no less a personage than the duke of parma himself. the pair now made a thorough examination of the town and its neighbourhood, and, having finished their reconnoitring, made the best of their way back to bruges. as it was then one of alexander's favourite objects to reduce the city of ostend, at the earliest possible moment, it must be allowed that this preliminary conference was not so barren to himself as it was to the commissioners. philip, when informed of this manoeuvre, was naturally gratified at such masterly duplicity, while he gently rebuked his nephew for exposing his valuable life; and certainly it would have been an inglorious termination to the duke's splendid career; had he been hanged as a spy within the trenches of ostend. with the other details of this first diplomatic colloquy philip was delighted. "i see you understand me thoroughly," he said. "keep the negotiation alive till my armada appears, and then carry out my determination, and replant the catholic religion on the soil of england." the queen was not in such high spirits. she was losing her temper very fast, as she became more and more convinced that she had been trifled with. no powers had been yet exhibited, no permanent place of conference fixed upon, and the cessation of arms demanded by her commissioners for england, spain, and all the netherlands, was absolutely refused. she desired her commissioners to inform the duke of parma that it greatly touched his honour--as both before their coming and afterwards, he had assured her that he had 'comision bastantissima' from his sovereign--to clear himself at once from the imputation of insincerity. "let not the duke think," she wrote with her own hand, "that we would so long time endure these many frivolous and unkindly dealings, but that we desire all the world to know our desire of a kingly peace, and that we will endure no more the like, nor any, but will return you from your charge." accordingly--by her majesty's special command--dr. dale made another visit to bruges, to discover, once for all, whether there was a commission from philip or not; and, if so, to see it with his own eyes. on the th may he had an interview with the duke. after thanking his highness for the honourable and stately manner in which the conferences had been, inaugurated near ostend, dale laid very plainly before him her majesty's complaints of the tergiversations and equivocations concerning the commission, which had now lasted three months long. in answer, alexander made a complimentary harangue; confining himself entirely to the first part of the envoy's address, and assuring him in redundant phraseology, that he should hold himself very guilty before the world, if he had not surrounded the first colloquy between the plenipotentiaries of two such mighty princes, with as much pomp as the circumstances of time and place would allow. after this superfluous rhetoric had been poured forth, he calmly dismissed the topic which dr. dale had come all the way from. ostend to discuss, by carelessly observing that president richardot would confer with him on the subject of the commission. "but," said the envoy, "tis no matter of conference or dispute. i desire simply to see the commission." "richardot and champagny shall deal with you in the afternoon," repeated alexander; and with this reply, the doctor was fair to be contented. dale then alluded to the point of cessation of arms. "although," said he, "the queen might justly require that the cessation should be general for all the king's dominion, yet in order not to stand on precise points, she is content that it should extend no further than to the towns of flushing; brief, ostend, and bergen-op-zoom." "to this he said nothing," wrote the envoy, "and so i went no further." in the afternoon dale had conference with champagny and richardot. as usual, champagny was bound hand and foot by the gout, but was as quick- witted and disputatious as ever. again dale made an earnest harangue, proving satisfactorily--as if any proof were necessary on such a point-- that a commission from philip ought to be produced, and that a commission had been promised, over and over again. after a pause, both the representatives of parma began to wrangle with the envoy in very insolent fashion. "richardot is always their mouth- piece," said dale, "only champagny choppeth in at every word, and would do so likewise in ours if we would suffer it." "we shall never have done with these impertinent demands," said the president. "you ought to be satisfied with the duke's promise of ratification contained in his commission. we confess what you say concerning the former requisitions and promises to be true, but when will you have done? have we not showed it to mr. croft, one of your own colleagues? and if we show it you now, another may come to-morrow, and so we shall never have an end." "the delays come from yourselves," roundly replied the englishman, "for you refuse to do what in reason and law you are bound to do. and the more demands the more 'mora aut potius culpa' in you. you, of all men, have least cause to hold such language, who so confidently and even disdainfully answered our demand for the commission, in mr. cecil's presence, and promised to show a perfect one at the very first meeting. as for mr. comptroller croft, he came hither without the command of her majesty and without the knowledge of his colleagues." richardot then began to insinuate that, as croft had come without authority, so--for aught they could tell--might dale also. but champagny here interrupted, protested that the president was going too far, and begged him to show the commission without further argument. upon this richardot pulled out the commission from under his gown, and placed it in dr. dale's hands! it was dated th april, , signed and sealed by the king, and written in french, and was to the effect, that as there had been differences between her majesty and himself; as her majesty had sent ambassadors into the netherlands, as the duke of parma had entered into treaty with her majesty, therefore the king authorised the duke to appoint commissioners to treat, conclude, and determine all controversies and misunderstandings, confirmed any such appointments already made, and promised to ratify all that might be done by them in the premises.' dr. dale expressed his satisfaction with the tenor of this document, and begged to be furnished with a copy of it, but his was peremptorily refused. there was then a long conversation--ending, as usual, in nothing--on the two other points, the place for the conferences, namely, and the cessation of arms. nest morning dale, in taking leave of the duke of parma, expressed the gratification which he felt, and which her majesty was sure to feel at the production of the commission. it was now proved, said the envoy, that the king was as earnestly in favour of peace as the duke was himself. dale then returned, well satisfied, to ostend. in truth the commission had arrived just in time. "had i not received it soon enough to produce it then," said alexander, "the queen would have broken off the negotiations. so i ordered richardot, who is quite aware of your majesty's secret intentions, from which we shall not swerve one jot, to show it privately to croft, and afterwards to dr. dale, but without allowing a copy of it to be taken." "you have done very well," replied philip, "but that commission is, on no account, to be used, except for show. you know my mind thoroughly." thus three months had been consumed, and at last one indispensable preliminary to any negotiation had, in appearance, been performed. full powers on both sides had been exhibited. when the queen of england gave the earl of derby and his colleagues commission to treat with the king's envoys, and pledged herself beforehand to, ratify all their proceedings, she meant to perform the promise to which she had affixed her royal name and seal. she could not know that the spanish monarch was deliberately putting his name to a lie, and chuckling in secret over the credulity of his english sister, who was willing to take his word and his bond. of a certainty the english were no match for southern diplomacy. but elizabeth was now more impatient than ever that the other two preliminaries should be settled, the place of conferences, and the armistice. "be plain with the duke," she wrote to her envoys, "that we have tolerated so many weeks in tarrying a commission, that i will never endure more delays. let him know he deals with a prince who prizes her honour more than her life: make yourselves such as stand of your reputations." sharp words, but not sharp enough to prevent a further delay of a month; for it was not till the th june that the commissioners at last came together at bourbourg, that "miserable little hole," on the coast between ostend and newport, against which gamier had warned them. and now there was ample opportunity to wrangle at full length on the next preliminary, the cessation of arms. it would be superfluous to follow the altercations step by step--for negotiations there were none--and it is only for the sake of exhibiting at full length the infamy of diplomacy, when diplomacy is unaccompanied by honesty, that we are hanging up this series of pictures at all. those bloodless encounters between credulity and vanity upon one side, and gigantic fraud on the other, near those very sands of newport, and in sight of the northern ocean, where, before long, the most terrible battles, both by land and sea, which the age had yet witnessed, were to occur, are quite as full of instruction and moral as the most sanguinary combats ever waged. at last the commissioners exchanged copies of their respective powers. after four months of waiting and wrangling, so much had been achieved-- a show of commissions and a selection of the place for conference. and now began the long debate about the cessation of arms. the english claimed an armistice for the whole dominion of philip and elizabeth respectively, during the term of negotiation, and for twenty days after. the spanish would grant only a temporary truce, terminable at six days' notice, and that only for the four cautionary towns of holland held by the queen. thus philip would be free to invade england at his leisure out of the obedient netherlands or spain. this was inadmissible, of course, but a week was spent at the outset in reducing the terms to writing; and when the duke's propositions were at last produced in the french tongue, they were refused by the queen's commissioners, who required that the documents should be in latin. great was the triumph of dr. dale, when, after another interval, he found their latin full of barbarisms and blunders, at which a school-boy would have blushed. the king's commissioners, however, while halting in their syntax, had kept steadily to their point. "you promised a general cessation of aims at our coming," said dale, at a conference on the / june, "and now ye have lingered five times twenty days, and nothing done at all. the world may see the delays come of you and not of us, and that ye are not so desirous of peace as ye pretend." "but as far your invasion of england," stoutly observed the earl of derby, "ye shall find it hot coming thither. england was never so ready in any former age,--neither by sea nor by land; but we would show your unreasonableness in proposing a cessation of arms by which ye would bind her majesty to forbear touching all the low countries, and yet leave yourselves at liberty to invade england." while they were thus disputing, secretary gamier rushed into the room, looking very much frightened, and announced that lord henry seymour's fleet of thirty-two ships of war was riding off gravelines, and that he had sent two men on shore who were now waiting in the ante-chamber. the men being accordingly admitted, handed letters to the english commissioners from lord henry, in which be begged to be informed in what terms they were standing, and whether they needed his assistance or countenance in the cause in which they were engaged. the envoys found his presence very "comfortable," as it showed the spanish commissioners that her majesty was so well provided as to make a cessation of arms less necessary to her than it was to the king. they therefore sent their thanks to the lord admiral, begging him to cruise for a time off dunkirk and its neighbourhood, that both their enemies and their friends might have a sight of the english ships. great was the panic all along the coast at this unexpected demonstration. the king's commissioners got into their coaches, and drove down to the coast to look at the fleet, and--so soon as they appeared--were received with such a thundering cannonade an hour long, by way of salute, as to convince them, in the opinion of the english envoys, that the queen had no cause to be afraid of any enemies afloat or ashore. but these noisy arguments were not much more effective than the interchange of diplomatic broadsides which they had for a moment superseded. the day had gone by for blank cartridges and empty protocols. nevertheless lord henry's harmless thunder was answered, the next day, by a "quintuplication" in worse latin than ever, presented to dr. dale and his colleagues by richardot and champagny, on the subject of the armistice. and then there was a return quintuplication, in choice latin, by the classic dale, and then there was a colloquy on the quintuplication, and everything that had been charged, and truly charged, by the english; was now denied by the king's commissioners; and champagny--more gouty and more irascible than ever--"chopped in" at every word spoken by king's envoys or queen's, contradicted everybody, repudiated everything said or done by andrew de loo, or any of the other secret negotiators during the past year, declared that there never had been a general cessation of arms promised, and that, at any rate, times were now changed, and such an armistice was inadmissible! then the english answered with equal impatience, and reproached the king's representatives with duplicity and want of faith, and censured them for their unseemly language, and begged to inform champagny and richardot that they had not then to deal with such persons as they might formerly have been in the habit of treating withal, but with a "great prince who did justify the honour of her actions," and they confuted the positions now assumed by their opponents with official documents and former statements from those very opponents' lips. and then, after all this diplomatic and rhetorical splutter, the high commissioners recovered their temper and grew more polite, and the king's "envoys excused themselves in a mild, merry manner," for the rudeness of their speeches, and the queen's envoys accepted their apologies with majestic urbanity, and so they separated for the day in a more friendly manner than they had done the day before.' "you see to what a scholar's shift we have been driven for want of resolution," said valentine dale. "if we should linger here until there should be broken heads, in what case we should be god knoweth. for i can trust champagny and richardot no farther than i can see them." and so the whole month of june passed by; the english commissioners "leaving no stone unturned to get a quiet cessation of arms in general terms," and being constantly foiled; yet perpetually kept in hope that the point would soon be carried. at the same time the signs of the approaching invasion seemed to thicken. "in my opinion," said dale, "as phormio spake in matters of wars, it were very requisite that my lord harry should be always on this coast, for they will steal out from hence as closely as they can, either to join with the spanish navy or to land, and they may be very easily scattered, by god's grace." and, with the honest pride of a protocol-maker, he added, "our postulates do trouble the king's commissioners very much, and do bring them to despair." the excellent doctor had not even yet discovered that the king's commissioners were delighted with his postulates; and that to have kept them postulating thus five months in succession, while naval and military preparations were slowly bringing forth a great event--which was soon to strike them with as much amazement as if the moon had fallen out of heaven--was one of the most decisive triumphs ever achieved by spanish diplomacy. but the doctor thought that his logic had driven the king of spain to despair. at the same time he was not insensible to the merits of another and more peremptory style of rhetoric,--"i pray you," said he to walsingham, "let us hear some arguments from my lord harry out of her majesty's navy now and then. i think they will do more good than any bolt that we can shoot here. if they be met with at their going out, there is no possibility for them to make any resistance, having so few men that can abide the sea; for the rest, as you know, must be sea-sick at first." but the envoys were completely puzzled. even at the beginning of july, sir james croft was quite convinced of the innocence of the king and the duke; but croft was in his dotage. as for dale, he occasionally opened his eyes, and his ears, but more commonly kept them well closed to the significance of passing events; and consoled himself with his protocols and his classics, and the purity of his own latin. "'tis a very wise saying of terence," said he, "omnibus nobis ut res dant sese; ita magni aut humiles sumus.' when the king's commissioners hear of the king's navy from spain, they are in such jollity that they talk loud . . . . . in the mean time--as the wife of bath sath in chaucer by her husband, we owe them not a word. if we should die tomorrow; i hope her majesty will find by our writings that the honour of the cause, in the opinion of the world, must be with her majesty; and that her commissioners are, neither of such imperfection in their reasons, or so barbarous in language, as they who fail not, almost in every line, of some barbarism not to be borne in a grammar-school, although in subtleness and impudent affirming of untruths and denying of truths, her commissioners are not in any respect to match with champagny and richardot, who are doctors in that faculty." it might perhaps prove a matter of indifference to elizabeth and to england, when the queen should be a state-prisoner in spain and the inquisition quietly established in her kingdom, whether the world should admit or not, in case of his decease, the superiority of dr. dale's logic and latin to those of his antagonists. and even if mankind conceded the best of the argument to the english diplomatists, that diplomacy might seem worthless which could be blind to the colossal falsehoods growing daily before its eyes. had the commissioners been able to read the secret correspondence between parma and his master--as we have had the opportunity of doing--they would certainly not have left their homes in february, to be made fools of until july; but would, on their knees, have implored their royal mistress to awake from her fatal delusion before it should be too late. even without that advantage, it seems incredible that they should have been unable to pierce through the atmosphere of duplicity which surrounded them, and to obtain one clear glimpse of the destruction so, steadily advancing upon england. for the famous bull of sixtus v. had now been fulminated. elizabeth had bean again denounced as a bastard and usurper, and her kingdom had been solemnly conferred upon philip, with title of defender of the christian, faith, to have and to hold as tributary and feudatory of rome. the so- called queen had usurped the crown contrary to the ancient treaties between the apostolic stool and the kingdom of england, which country, on its reconciliation with the head of the church after the death of st. thomas of canterbury, had recognised the necessity of the pope's. consent in the succession to its throne; she had deserved chastisement for the terrible tortures inflicted by her upon english catholics and god's own saints; and it was declared an act of virtue, to be repaid with plenary indulgence and forgiveness of all sins, to lay violent hands on the usurper, and deliver her into the hands of the catholic party. and of the holy league against the usurper, philip was appointed the head, and alexander of parma chief commander. this document was published in large numbers in antwerp in the english tongue. the pamphlet of dr. allen, just named cardinal, was also translated in the same city, under the direction of the duke of parma, in-order to be distributed throughout england, on the arrival in that kingdom of the catholic troops. the well-known 'admonition to the nobility and people of england and ireland' accused the queen of every crime and vice which can pollute humanity; and was filled with foul details unfit for the public eye in these more decent days. so soon as the intelligence of these publications reached england, the queen ordered her commissioners at bourbourg to take instant cognizance of them, and to obtain a categorical explanation on the subject from alexander himself: as if an explanation were possible, as if the designs of sixtus, philip, and alexander, could any longer be doubted, and as if the duke were more likely now than before to make a succinct statement of them for the benefit of her majesty. "having discovered," wrote elizabeth on the th july (n.s.), "that this treaty of peace is entertained only to abuse us, and being many ways given to understand that the preparations which have so long been making, and which now are consummated, both in spain and the low countries, are purposely to be employed against us and our country; finding that, for the furtherance of these exploits, there is ready to be published a vile, slanderous, and blasphemous book, containing as many lies as lines, entitled, 'an admonition,' &c., and contrived by a lewd born-subject of ours, now become an arrant traitor, named dr. allen, lately made, a cardinal at rome; as also a bull of the pope, whereof we send you a copy, both very lately brought into those low countries, the one whereof is already printed at antwerp, in a great multitude; in the english tongue, and the other ordered to be printed, only to stir up our subjects, contrary to the laws of god and their allegiance, to join with such foreign purposes as are prepared against us and our realm, to come out of those low countries and out of spain; and as it appears by the said bull that the duke of parma is expressly named and chosen by the pope and the king of spain to be principal executioner of these intended enterprises, we cannot think it honourable for us to continue longer the treaty of peace with them that, under colour of treaty, arm themselves with all the power they can to a bloody war." accordingly the queen commanded dr. dale, as one of the commissioners, to proceed forthwith to the duke, in order to obtain explanations as to his contemplated conquest of her realm, and as to his share in the publication of the bull and pamphlet, and to "require him, as he would be accounted a prince of honour, to let her plainly understand what she might think thereof." the envoy was to assure him that the queen would trust implicitly to his statement, to adjure him to declare the truth, and, in case he avowed the publications and the belligerent intentions suspected, to demand instant safe-conduct to england for her commissioners, who would, of course, instantly leave the netherlands. on the other hand, if the duke disavowed those infamous documents, he was to be requested to punish the printers, and have the books burned by the hangman? dr. dale, although suffering from cholic, was obliged to set forth, at once upon what he felt would be a bootless journey. at his return-- which was upon the nd of july (n.s.)the shrewd old gentleman had nearly arrived at the opinion that her majesty might as well break off the negotiations. he had a "comfortless voyage and a ticklish message;" found all along the road signs of an approaching enterprise, difficult to be mistaken; reported , veteran spaniards, to which force stanley's regiment was united; italians, germans, all with pikes, corselets, and slash swords complete; besides , walloons. the transports for the cavalry at gravelingen he did not see, nor was he much impressed with what he heard as to the magnitude of the naval preparations at newport. he was informed that the duke was about making a foot-pilgrimage from brussels to our lady of halle, to implore victory for his banners, and had daily evidence of the soldier's expectation to invade and to "devour england." all this had not tended to cure him of the low spirits with which he began the journey. nevertheless, although he was unable--as will be seen--to report an entirely satisfactory answer from farnese to the queen upon the momentous questions entrusted to him, he, at least, thought of a choice passage in 'the aeneid,' so very apt to the circumstances, as almost to console him for the "pangs of his cholic" and the terrors of the approaching invasion. "i have written two or three verses out of virgil for the queen to read," said he, "which i pray your lordship to present unto her. god grant her to weigh them. if your lordship do read the whole discourse of virgil in that place, it will make your heart melt. observe the report of the ambassadors that were sent to diomedes to make war against the trojans, for the old hatred that he, being a grecian, did bear unto them; and note the answer of diomedes dissuading them from entering into war with the trojans, the perplexity of the king, the miseries of the country, the reasons of drances that spake against them which would have war, the violent persuasions of turnus to war; and note, i pray you; one word, 'nec te ullius violentia frangat.' what a lecture could i make with mr. cecil upon that passage in virgil!" the most important point for the reader to remark is the date of this letter. it was received in the very last days of the month of july. let him observe--as he will soon have occasion to do--the events which were occurring on land and sea, exactly at the moment when this classic despatch reached its destination, and judge whether the hearts of the queen and lord burghley would be then quite at leisure to melt at the sorrows of the trojan war. perhaps the doings of drake and howard, medina sidonia, and ricalde, would be pressing as much on their attention as the eloquence of diomede or the wrath of turnus. yet it may be doubted whether the reports of these grecian envoys might not in truth, be almost as much to the purpose as the despatches of the diplomatic pedant, with his virgil and his cholic, into whose hands grave matters of peace and war were entrusted in what seemed the day of england's doom. "what a lecture i could make with mr. cecil on the subject!--"an english ambassador, at the court of philip ii.'s viceroy, could indulge himself in imaginary prelections on the aeneid, in the last days of july, of the year of our lord ! the doctor, however--to do him justice--had put the questions categorically, to his highness as he had been instructed to do. he went to bruges so mysteriously; that no living man, that side the sea, save lord derby and lord cobham, knew the cause of his journey. poor-puzzling james croft, in particular, was moved almost to tears, by being kept out of the secret. on the / july dale had audience of the duke at bruges. after a few commonplaces, he was invited by the duke to state what special purpose had brought him to bruges. "there is a book printed at antwerp," said dale, "and set forth by a fugitive from england, who calleth himself a cardinal." upon this the duke began diligently to listen. "this book," resumed dale, "is an admonition to the nobility and people of england and ireland touching the execution of the sentence of the pope against the queen which the king catholic hath entrusted to your highness as chief of the enterprise. there is also a bull of the pope declaring my sovereign mistress illegitimate and an usurper, with other matters too odious for any prince or gentleman to name or hear. in this bull the pope saith that he hath dealt with the most catholic king to employ all the means in his power to the deprivation and deposition of my sovereign, and doth charge her subjects to assist the army appointed by the king catholic for that purpose, under the conduct of your highness. therefore her majesty would be satisfied from your highness in that point, and will take satisfaction of none other; not doubting but that as you are a prince of word and credit; you will deal plainly with her majesty. whatsoever it may be, her majesty will not take it amiss against your highness, so she may only be informed by you of the truth. wherefore i do require you to satisfy the queen." "i am glad," replied the duke, "that her majesty and her commissioners do take in good part my good-will towards them. i am especially touched by the good opinion her majesty hath of my sincerity, which i should be glad always to maintain. as to the book to which you refer, i have never read it, nor seen it, nor do i take heed of it. it may well be that her majesty, whom it concerneth, should take notice of it; but, for my part, i have nought to do with it, nor can i prevent men from writing or printing at their pleasure. i am at the commandment of my master only." as alexander made no reference to the pope's bull, dr. dale observed, that if a war had been, of purpose, undertaken at the instance of the pope, all this negotiation had been in vain, and her majesty would be obliged to withdraw her commissioners, not doubting that they would receive safe-conduct as occasion should require. "yea, god forbid else," replied alexander; "and further, i know nothing of any bull of the pope, nor do i care for any, nor do i undertake anything for him. but as for any misunderstanding (mal entendu) between my master and her majesty, i must, as a soldier, act at the command of my sovereign. for my part, i have always had such respect for her majesty, being so noble a queen, as that i would never hearken to anything that might be reproachful to her. after my master, i would do most to serve your queen, and i hope she will take my word for her satisfaction on that point. and for avoiding of bloodshed and the burning of houses and such other calamities as do follow the wars, i have been a petitioner to my sovereign that all things might be ended quietly by a peace. that is a thing, however," added the duke; "which you have more cause to desire than we; for if the king my master, should lose a battle, he would be able to recover it well enough, without harm to himself, being far enough off in spain, while, if the battle be lost on your side, you may lose kingdom and all." "by god's sufferance," rejoined the doctor, "her majesty is not without means to defend her crown, that hath descended to her from so long a succession of ancestors. moreover your highness knows very well that one battle cannot conquer a kingdom in another country." "well," said the duke, "that is in god's hand." "so it is," said the doctor. "but make an end of it," continued alexander quietly, "and if you have anything to put into writing; you will do me a pleasure by sending it to me." dr. valentine dale was not the man to resist the temptation to make a protocol, and promised one for the next day. "i am charged only to give your highness satisfaction," he said, "as to her majesty's sincere intentions, which have already been published to the world in english, french, and italian, in the hope that you may also satisfy the queen upon this other point. i am but one of her commissioners, and could not deal without my colleagues. i crave leave to depart to-morrow morning, and with safe-convoy, as i had in coming." after the envoy had taken leave, the duke summoned andrea de loo, and related to him the conversation which had taken place. he then, in the presence of that personage, again declared--upon his honour and with very constant affirmations, that he had never seen nor heard of the book--the 'admonition' by cardinal allen--and that he knew nothing of any bull, and had no regard to it.' the plausible andrew accompanied the doctor to his lodgings, protesting all the way of his own and his master's sincerity, and of their unequivocal intentions to conclude a peace. the next day the doctor, by agreement, brought a most able protocol of demands in the name of all the commissioners of her majesty; which able protocol the duke did not at that moment read, which he assuredly never read subsequently, and which no human soul ever read afterwards. let the dust lie upon it, and upon all the vast heaps of protocols raised mountains high during the spring and summer of . "dr. dale has been with me two or three, times," said parma, in giving his account of these interviews to philip. "i don't know why he came, but i think he wished to make it appear, by coming to bruges, that the rupture, when it occurs, was caused by us, not by the english. he has been complaining of cardinal allen's book, and i told him that i didn't understand a word of english, and knew nothing whatever of the matter." it has been already seen that the duke had declared, on his word of honour, that he had never heard of the famous pamphlet. yet at that very moment letters were lying in his cabinet, received more than a fortnight before from philip, in which that monarch thanked alexander for having had the cardinal's book translated at antwerp! certainly few english diplomatists could be a match for a highness so liberal of his word of honour. but even dr. dale had at last convinced himself--even although the duke knew nothing of bull or pamphlet--that mischief was brewing against england. the sagacious man, having seen large bodies of spaniards and walloons making such demonstrations of eagerness to be led against his country, and "professing it as openly as if they were going to a fair or market," while even alexander himself could "no more hide it than did henry viii. when he went to boulogne," could not help suspecting something amiss. his colleague, however, comptroller croft, was more judicious, for he valued himself on taking a sound, temperate, and conciliatory view of affairs. he was not the man to offend a magnanimous neighbour--who meant nothing unfriendly by regarding his manoeuvres with superfluous suspicion. so this envoy wrote to lord burghley on the nd august (n.s.)--let the reader mark the date--that, "although a great doubt had been conceived as to the king's sincerity, . . . . yet that discretion and experience induced him--the envoy--to think, that besides the reverent opinion to be had of princes' oaths, and the general incommodity which will come by the contrary, god had so balanced princes' powers in that age, as they rather desire to assure themselves at home, than with danger to invade their neighbours." perhaps the mariners of england--at that very instant exchanging broadsides off the coast of devon and dorset with the spanish armada, and doing their best to protect their native land from the most horrible calamity which had ever impended over it--had arrived at a less reverent opinion of princes' oaths; and it was well for england in that supreme hour that there were such men as howard and drake, and winter and frobisher, and a whole people with hearts of oak to defend her, while bungling diplomatists and credulous dotards were doing their best to imperil her existence. etext editor's bookmarks: bungling diplomatists and credulous dotards fitter to obey than to command full of precedents and declamatory commonplaces i am a king that will be ever known not to fear any but god infamy of diplomacy, when diplomacy is unaccompanied by honesty mendacity may always obtain over innocence and credulity never did statesmen know better how not to do pray here for satiety, (said cecil) than ever think of variety simple truth was highest skill strength does a falsehood acquire in determined and skilful hand that crowned criminal, philip the second this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, both fleets off calais--a night of anxiety--project of howard and winter--impatience of the spaniards--fire-ships sent against the armada--a great galeasse disabled--attacked and captured by english boats--general engagement of both fleets--loss of several spanish ships--armada flies, followed by the english--english insufficiently provided--are obliged to relinquish the chase--a great storm disperses the armada--great energy of parma made fruitless by philip's dulness--england readier at sea than on shore--the lieutenant--general's complaints--his quarrels with norris and williams--harsh statements as to the english troops--want of organization in england--royal parsimony and delay--quarrels of english admirals--england's narrow escape from great peril--various rumours as to the armada's fate--philip for a long time in doubt--he believes himself victorious--is tranquil when undeceived. chapter xix. part . and in calais roads the great fleet--sailing slowly all next day in company with the english, without a shot being fired on either side--at last dropped anchor on saturday afternoon, august th. here then the invincible armada had arrived at its appointed resting- place. here the great junction--of medina sidonia with the duke of parma was to be effected; and now at last the curtain was to rise upon the last act of the great drama so slowly and elaborately prepared. that saturday afternoon, lord henry seymour and his squadron of sixteen lay between dungeness and folkestone; waiting the approach of the two fleets. he spoke several-coasting vessels coming from the west; but they could give him no information--strange to say--either of the spaniards or, of his own countrymen,--seymour; having hardly three days' provision in his fleet, thought that there might be time to take in supplies; and so bore into the downs. hardly had he been there half an hour; when a pinnace arrived from the lord-admiral; with orders for lord henry's squadron to hold itself in readiness. there was no longer time for victualling, and very soon afterwards the order was given to make sail and bear for the french coast. the wind was however so light; that the whole day was spent before seymour with his ships could cross the channel. at last, towards seven in the evening; he saw the great spanish armada, drawn up in a half-moon, and riding at anchor--the ships very near each other--a little to the eastward of calais, and very near the shore. the english, under howard drake, frobisher, and hawkins, were slowly following, and--so soon as lord henry, arriving from the opposite shore; had made his junction with them--the whole combined fleet dropped anchor likewise very near calais, and within one mile and a half of the spaniards. that invincible force had at last almost reached its destination. it was now to receive the cooperation of the great farnese, at the head of an army of veterans, disciplined on a hundred battle- fields, confident from countless victories, and arrayed, as they had been with ostentatious splendour, to follow the most brilliant general in christendom on his triumphal march into the capital of england. the long-threatened invasion was no longer an idle figment of politicians, maliciously spread abroad to poison men's minds as to the intentions of a long-enduring but magnanimous, and on the whole friendly sovereign. the mask had been at last thrown down, and the mild accents of philip's diplomatists and their english dupes, interchanging protocols so decorously month after month on the sands of bourbourg, had been drowned by the peremptory voice of english and spanish artillery, suddenly breaking in upon their placid conferences. it had now become supererogatory to ask for alexander's word of honour whether he had, ever heard of cardinal allan's pamphlet, or whether his master contemplated hostilities against queen elizabeth. never, since england was england, had such a sight been seen as now revealed itself in those narrow straits between dover and calais. along that long, low, sandy shore, and quite within the range of the calais fortifications, one hundred and thirty spanish ships--the greater number of them the largest and most heavily armed in the world lay face to face, and scarcely out of cannon-shot, with one hundred and fifty english sloops and frigates, the strongest and swiftest that the island could furnish, and commanded by men whose exploits had rung through the world. farther along the coast, invisible, but known to be performing a post perilous and vital service, was a squadron of dutch vessels of all sizes, lining both the inner and outer edges of the sandbanks off the flemish coasts, and swarming in all the estuaries and inlets of that intricate and dangerous cruising-ground between dunkerk and walcheren. those fleets of holland and zeeland, numbering some one hundred and fifty galleons, sloops, and fly-boats, under warmond, nassau, van der does, de moor, and rosendael, lay patiently blockading every possible egress from newport, or gravelines; or sluys, or flushing, or dunkerk, and longing to grapple with the duke of parma, so soon as his fleet of gunboats and hoys, packed with his spanish and italian veterans, should venture to set forth upon the sea for their long-prepared exploit. it was a pompous spectacle, that midsummer night, upon those narrow seas. the moon, which was at the full, was rising calmly upon a scene of anxious expectation. would she not be looking, by the morrow's night, upon a subjugated england, a re-enslaved holland--upon the downfall of civil and religious liberty? those ships of spain, which lay there with their banners waving in the moonlight, discharging salvoes of anticipated triumph and filling the air with strains of insolent music; would they not, by daybreak, be moving straight to their purpose, bearing the conquerors of the world to the scene of their cherished hopes? that english fleet, too, which rode there at anchor, so anxiously on the watch--would that swarm of, nimble, lightly-handled, but slender vessels,--which had held their own hitherto in hurried and desultory skirmishes--be able to cope with their great antagonist now that the moment had arrived for the death grapple? would not howard, drake, frobisher, seymour, winter, and hawkins, be swept out of the straits at last, yielding an open passage to medina, oquendo, recalde, and farnese? would those hollanders and zeelanders, cruising so vigilantly among their treacherous shallows, dare to maintain their post, now that the terrible 'holofernese,' with his invincible legions, was resolved to come forth? so soon as he had cast anchor, howard despatched a pinnace to the vanguard, with a message to winter to come on board the flag-ship. when sir william reached the ark, it was already nine in the evening. he was anxiously consulted by the lord-admiral as to the course now to be taken. hitherto the english had been teasing and perplexing an enemy, on the retreat, as it were, by the nature of his instructions. although anxious to give battle, the spaniard was forbidden to descend upon the coast until after his junction with parma. so the english had played a comparatively easy game, hanging upon their enemy's skirts, maltreating him as they doubled about him, cannonading him from a distance, and slipping out of his reach at their pleasure. but he was now to be met face to face, and the fate of the two free commonwealths of the world was upon the issue of the struggle, which could no longer be deferred. winter, standing side by aide with the lord-admiral on the deck of the little ark-royal, gazed for the first time on those enormous galleons and galleys with which his companion, was already sufficiently familiar. "considering their hugeness," said he, "twill not be possible to remove them but by a device." then remembering, in a lucky moment, something that he had heard four years before of the fire ships sent by the antwerpers against parma's bridge--the inventor of which, the italian gianibelli, was at that very moment constructing fortifications on the thames to assist the english against his old enemy farnese--winter suggested that some stratagem of the same kind should be attempted against the invincible armada. there was no time nor opportunity to prepare such submarine volcanoes as had been employed on that memorable occasion; but burning ships at least might be sent among the fleet. some damage would doubtless be thus inflicted by the fire, and perhaps a panic, suggested by the memories of antwerp and by the knowledge that the famous mantuan wizard was then a resident of england, would be still more effective. in winter's opinion, the armada might at least be compelled to slip its cables, and be thrown into some confusion if the project were fairly carried out. howard approved of the device, and determined to hold, next morning, a council of war for arranging the details of its execution. while the two sat in the cabin, conversing thus earnestly, there had well nigh been a serious misfortune. the ship, white bear, of tons burthen, and three others of the english fleet, all tangled together, came drifting with the tide against the ark. there were many yards carried away; much tackle spoiled, and for a time there was great danger; in the opinion of winter, that some of the very best ships in the fleet would be crippled and quite destroyed on the eve of a general engagement. by alacrity and good handling, however, the ships were separated, and the ill-consequences of an accident--such as had already proved fatal to several spanish vessels--were fortunately averted. next day, sunday, th august, the two great fleets were still lying but a mile and a half apart, calmly gazing at each other, and rising and falling at their anchors as idly as if some vast summer regatta were the only purpose of that great assemblage of shipping. nothing as yet was heard of farnese. thus far, at least, the hollanders had held him at bay, and there was still breathing-time before the catastrophe. so howard hung out his signal for council early in the morning, and very soon after drake and hawkins, seymour, winter, and the rest, were gravely consulting in his cabin. it was decided that winter's suggestion should be acted upon, and sir henry palmer was immediately despatched in a pinnace to dover, to bring off a number of old vessels fit to be fired, together with a supply of light wood, tar, rosin, sulphur, and other combustibles, most adapted to the purpose.' but as time wore away, it became obviously impossible for palmer to return that night, and it was determined to make the most of what could be collected in the fleet itself. otherwise it was to be feared that the opportunity might be for ever lost. parma, crushing all opposition, might suddenly appear at any moment upon the channel; and the whole spanish armada, placing itself between him and his enemies, would engage the english and dutch fleets, and cover his passage to dover. it would then be too late to think of the burning ships. on the other hand, upon the decks of the armada, there was an impatience that night which increased every hour. the governor of calais; m. de gourdon, had sent his nephew on board the flag-ship of medina sidonia, with courteous salutations, professions of friendship, and bountiful refreshments. there was no fear--now that mucio was for the time in the ascendency--that the schemes of philip would be interfered with by france. the governor, had, however, sent serious warning of--the dangerous position in which the armada had placed itself. he was quite right. calais roads were no safe anchorage for huge vessels like those of spain and portugal; for the tides and cross-currents to which they were exposed were most treacherous. it was calm enough at the moment, but a westerly gale might, in a few hours, drive the whole fleet hopelessly among the sand-banks of the dangerous flemish coast. moreover, the duke, although tolerably well furnished with charts and pilots for the english coast, was comparatively unprovided against the dangers which might beset him off dunkerk, newport, and flushing. he had sent messengers, day after day, to farnese, begging for assistance of various kinds, but, above all, imploring his instant presence on the field of action. it was the time and, place for alexander to assume the chief command. the armada was ready to make front against the english fleet on the left, while on the right, the duke, thus protected, might proceed across the channel and take possession of england. and the impatience of the soldiers and sailors on board the fleet was equal to that of their commanders. there was london almost before their eyes--a huge mass of treasure, richer and more accessible than those mines beyond the atlantic which had so often rewarded spanish chivalry with fabulous wealth. and there were men in those galleons who remembered the sack of antwerp, eleven years before--men who could tell, from personal experience, how helpless was a great commercial city, when once in the clutch of disciplined brigands--men who, in that dread 'fury of antwerp,' had enriched themselves in an hour with the accumulations of a merchant's life-time, and who had slain fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, brides and bridegrooms, before each others' eyes, until the number of inhabitants butchered in the blazing streets rose to many thousands; and the plunder from palaces and warehouses was counted by millions; before the sun had set on the 'great fury.' those spaniards, and italians, and walloons, were now thirsting for more gold, for more blood; and as the capital of england was even more wealthy and far more defenceless than the commercial metropolis of the netherlands had been, so it was resolved that the london 'fury' should be more thorough and more productive than the 'fury' of antwerp, at the memory--of which the world still shuddered. and these professional soldiers had been taught to consider the english as a pacific, delicate, effeminate race, dependent on good living, without experience of war, quickly fatigued and discouraged, and even more easily to be plundered and butchered than were the excellent burghers of antwerp. and so these southern conquerors looked down from their great galleons and galeasses upon the english vessels. more than three quarters of them were merchantmen. there was no comparison whatever between the relative strength of the fleets. in number they were about equal being each from one hundred and thirty to one hundred and fifty strong--but the spaniards had twice the tonnage of the english, four times the artillery, and nearly three times the number of men. where was farnese? most impatiently the golden duke paced the deck of the saint martin. most eagerly were thousands of eyes strained towards the eastern horizon to catch the first glimpse of parma's flotilla. but the day wore on to its close, and still the same inexplicable and mysterious silence prevailed. there was utter solitude on the waters in the direction of gravelines and dunkerk--not a sail upon the sea in the quarter where bustle and activity had been most expected. the mystery was profound, for it had never entered the head of any man in the armada that alexander could not come out when he chose. and now to impatience succeeded suspicion and indignation; and there were curses upon sluggishness and upon treachery. for in the horrible atmosphere of duplicity, in which all spaniards and italians of that epoch lived, every man: suspected his brother, and already medina sidonia suspected farnese of playing him false. there were whispers of collusion between the duke and the english commissioners at bourbourg. there were hints that alexander was playing his own game, that he meant to divide the sovereignty of the netherlands with the heretic elizabeth, to desert his great trust, and to effect, if possible, the destruction of his master's armada, and the downfall of his master's sovereignty in the north. men told each other, too, of a vague rumour, concerning which alexander might have received information, and in which many believed, that medina sidonia was the bearer of secret orders to throw farnese into bondage, so soon as he should appear, to send him a disgraced captive back to spain for punishment, and to place the baton of command in the hand of the duke of pastrana, philip's bastard by the eboli. thus, in the absence of alexander, all was suspense and suspicion. it seemed possible that disaster instead of triumph was in store for them through the treachery of the commander-in-chief. four and twenty hours and more, they had been lying in that dangerous roadstead, and although the weather had been calm and the sea tranquil, there seemed something brooding in the atmosphere. as the twilight deepened, the moon became totally obscured, dark cloud- masses spread over the heavens, the sea grew black, distant thunder rolled, and the sob of an approaching tempest became distinctly audible. such indications of a westerly gale, were not encouraging to those cumbrous vessels, with the treacherous quicksands of flanders under their lee. at an hour past midnight, it was so dark that it was difficult for the most practiced eye to pierce far into the gloom. but a faint drip of oars now struck the ears of the spaniards as they watched from the decks. a few moments afterwards the sea became, suddenly luminous, and six flaming vessels appeared at a slight distance, bearing steadily down upon them before the wind and tide. there were men in the armada who had been at the siege of antwerp only three years before. they remembered with horror the devil-ships of gianibelli, those floating volcanoes, which had seemed to rend earth and ocean, whose explosion had laid so many thousands of soldiers dead at a blow, and which had shattered the bridge and floating forts of farnese, as though they had been toys of glass. they knew, too, that the famous engineer was at that moment in england. in a moment one of those horrible panics, which spread with such contagious rapidity among large bodies of men, seized upon the spaniards. there was a yell throughout the fleet--"the fire-ships of antwerp, the fire-ships of antwerp!" and in an instant every cable was cut, and frantic attempts were made by each galleon and galeasse to escape what seemed imminent destruction. the confusion was beyond description. four or five of the largest ships became entangled with each other. two others were set on fire by the flaming--vessels, and were consumed. medina sidonia, who had been warned, even, before his departure from spain, that some such artifice would probably be attempted, and who had even, early that morning, sent out a party of sailors in a pinnace to search for indications of the scheme, was not surprised or dismayed. he gave orders--as well as might be that every ship, after the danger should be passed, was to return to its post, and, await his further orders. but it was useless, in that moment of unreasonable panic to issue commands. the despised mantuan, who had met with so many rebuffs at philip's court, and who--owing to official incredulity had been but partially successful in his magnificent enterprise at antwerp, had now; by the mere terror of his name, inflicted more damage on philip's armada than had hitherto been accomplished by howard and drake, hawkins and frobisher, combined. so long as night and darkness lasted, the confusion and uproar continued. when the monday morning dawned, several of the spanish vessels lay disabled, while the rest of the fleet was seen at a distance of two leagues from calais, driving towards the flemish coast. the threatened gale had not yet begun to blow, but there were fresh squalls from the w.s.w., which, to such awkward sailers as the spanish vessels; were difficult to contend with. on the other hand, the english fleet were all astir; and ready to pursue the spaniards, now rapidly drifting into the north sea. in the immediate neighbourhood of calais, the flagship of the squadron of galeasses, commanded by don hugo de moncada, was discovered using her foresail and oars, and endeavouring to enter the harbour. she had been damaged by collision with the st. john of sicily and other ships, during the night's panic, and had her rudder quite torn away. she was the largest and most splendid vessel in the armada--the show-ship of the fleet,--"the very glory and stay of the spanish navy," and during the previous two days she had been visited and admired by great numbers of frenchmen from the shore. lord admiral howard bore dawn upon her at once, but as she was already in shallow water, and was rowing steadily towards the town, he saw that the ark could not follow with safety. so he sent his long-boat to cut her out, manned with fifty or sixty volunteers, most of them "as valiant in courage as gentle in birth"--as a partaker in the adventure declared. the margaret and joan of london, also following in pursuit, ran herself aground, but the master despatched his pinnace with a body of musketeers, to aid in the capture of the galeasse. that huge vessel failed to enter the harbour, and stuck fast upon the bar. there was much dismay on board, but don hugo prepared resolutely to defend himself. the quays of calais and the line of the french shore were lined with thousands of eager spectators, as the two boats-rowing steadily toward a galeasse, which carried forty brass pieces of artillery, and was manned with three hundred soldiers and four hundred and fifty slaves--seemed rushing upon their own destruction. of these daring englishmen, patricians and plebeians together, in two open pinnaces, there were not more than one hundred in number, all told. they soon laid themselves close to the capitana, far below her lofty sides, and called on don hugo to surrender. the answer was, a smile of derision from the haughty spaniard, as he looked down upon them from what seemed an inaccessible height. then one wilton, coxswain of the delight; of winter's squadron, clambered up to the enemy's deck and fell dead the same instant. then the english volunteers opened a volley upon the spaniards; "they seemed safely ensconced in their ships," said bold dick tomson, of the margaret and joan, "while we in our open pinnaces, and far under them, had nothing to shroud and cover us." moreover the numbers were, seven hundred and fifty to one hundred. but, the spaniards, still quite disconcerted by the events of the preceding night, seemed under a spell. otherwise it would have been an easy matter for the great galeasse to annihilate such puny antagonists in a very short space of time. the english pelted the spaniards quite cheerfully, however, with arquebus shot, whenever they showed themselves above the bulwarks, picked off a considerable number, and sustained a rather severe loss themselves, lieutenant preston of the ark-royal, among others, being dangerously wounded. "we had a pretty skirmish for half-an-hour," said tomson. at last don hugo de moncada, furious at the inefficiency of his men, and leading them forward in person, fell back on his deck with a bullet through both eyes. the panic was instantaneous, for, meantime, several other english boats--some with eight, ten; or twelve men on board--were seen pulling--towards the galeasse; while the dismayed soldiers at once leaped overboard on the land side, and attempted to escape by swimming and wading to the shore. some of them succeeded, but the greater number were drowned. the few who remained--not more, than twenty in all-- hoisted two handkerchiefs upon two rapiers as a signal of truce. the english, accepting it as a signal of defeat; scrambled with great difficulty up the lofty sides of the capitana, and, for an hour and a half, occupied themselves most agreeably in plundering the ship and in liberating the slaves. it was their intention, with the flood-tide, to get the vessel off, as she was but slightly damaged, and of very great value. but a serious obstacle arose to this arrangement. for presently a boat came along- side, with young m. de gourdon and another french captain, and hailed the galeasse. there was nobody on board who could speak french but richard tomson. so richard returned the hail, and asked their business. they said they came from the governor. "and what is the--governor's pleasure?" asked tomson, when they had come up the side. "the governor has stood and beheld your fight, and rejoiced in your victory," was the reply; "and he says that for your prowess and manhood you well deserve the pillage of the galeasse. he requires and commands you, however, not to attempt carrying off either the ship or its ordnance; for she lies a-ground under the battery of his castle, and within his jurisdiction, and does of right appertain to him." this seemed hard upon the hundred volunteers, who, in their two open boats, had so manfully carried a ship of tons, guns, and men; but richard answered diplomatically. "we thank m. de gourdon," said he, "for granting the pillage to mariners and soldiers who had fought for it, and we acknowledge that without his good-will we cannot carry away anything we have got, for the ship lies on ground directly under his batteries and bulwarks. concerning the ship and ordnance, we pray that he would send a pinnace to my lord admiral howard, who is here in person hard by, from whom he will have an honourable and friendly answer, which we shall all-obey." with this--the french officers, being apparently content, were about to depart, and it is not impossible that the soft answer might have obtained the galeasse and the ordnance, notwithstanding the arrangement which philip ii. had made with his excellent friend henry iii. for aid and comfort to spanish vessels in french ports. unluckily, however, the inclination for plunder being rife that morning, some of the englishmen hustled their french visitors, plundered them of their rings and jewels, as if they had been enemies, and then permitted them to depart. they rowed off to the shore, vowing vengeance, and within a few minutes after their return the battery of the fort was opened upon the english, and they were compelled to make their escape as they could with the plunder already secured, leaving the galeasse in the possession of m. de gourdon. this adventure being terminated, and the pinnaces having returned to the fleet, the lord-admiral, who had been lying off and on, now bore away with all his force in pursuit of the spaniards. the invincible armada, already sorely crippled, was standing n.n.e. directly before a fresh topsail-breeze from the s.s.w. the english came up with them soon after nine o'clock a.m. off gravelines, and found them sailing in a half-moon, the admiral and vice-admiral in the centre, and the flanks protected by the three remaining galeasses and by the great galleons of portugal. seeing the enemy approaching, medina sidonia ordered his whole fleet to luff to the wind, and prepare for action. the wind shifting a few points, was now at w.n.w., so that the english had both the weather-gage and the tide in their favour. a general combat began at about ten, and it was soon obvious to the spaniards that their adversaries were intending warm work. sir francis drake in the revenge, followed by, frobisher in the triumph, hawkins in the victory, and some smaller vessels, made the first attack upon the spanish flagships. lord henry in the rainbow, sir henry palmer in the antelope, and others, engaged with three of the largest galleons of the armada, while sir william winter in the vanguard, supported by most of his squadron, charged the starboard wing. the portion of the fleet thus assaulted fell back into the main body. four of the ships ran foul of each other, and winter, driving into their centre, found himself within musket-shot of many of their most formidable' ships. "i tell you, on the credit of a poor gentleman," he said, "that there were five hundred discharges of demi-cannon, culverin, and demi-culverin, from the vanguard; and when i was farthest off in firing my pieces, i was not out of shot of their harquebus, and most time within speech, one of another." the battle lasted six hours long, hot and furious; for now there was no excuse for retreat on the part of the spaniards, but, on the contrary, it was the intention of the captain-general to return to his station off calais, if it were within his power. nevertheless the english still partially maintained the tactics which had proved so successful, and resolutely refused the fierce attempts of the spaniards to lay themselves along-side. keeping within musket-range, the well-disciplined english mariners poured broadside after broadside against the towering ships of the armada, which afforded so easy a mark; while the spaniards, on their part, found it impossible, while wasting incredible quantities of powder and shot, to inflict any severe damage on their enemies. throughout the action, not an english ship was destroyed, and not a hundred men were killed. on the other hand, all the best ships of the spaniards were riddled through and through, and with masts and yards shattered, sails and rigging torn to shreds, and a north-went wind still drifting them towards the fatal sand-batiks of holland, they, laboured heavily in a chopping sea, firing wildly, and receiving tremendous punishment at the hands of howard drake, seymour, winter, and their followers. not even master-gunner thomas could complain that day of "blind exercise" on the part of the english, with "little harm done" to the enemy. there was scarcely a ship in the armada that did not suffer severely; for nearly all were engaged in that memorable action off the sands of gravelines. the captain-general himself, admiral recalde, alonzo de leyva, oquendo, diego flores de valdez, bertendona, don francisco de toledo, don diego de pimentel, telles enriquez, alonzo de luzon, garibay, with most of the great galleons and galeasses, were in the thickest of the fight, and one after the other each of those huge ships was disabled. three sank before the fight was over, many others were soon drifting helpless wrecks towards a hostile shore, and, before five o'clock, in the afternoon, at least sixteen of their best ships had been sacrificed, and from four to five thousand soldiers killed. ["god hath mightily preserved her majesty's forces with the least losses that ever hath been heard of, being within the compass of so great volleys of shot, both small and great. i verily believe there is not threescore men lost of her majesty's forces." captain j. fenner to walsingham, / aug. . (s. p. office ms.)] nearly all the largest vessels of the armada, therefore, having, been disabled or damaged--according to a spanish eye-witness--and all their small shot exhausted, medina sidonia reluctantly gave orders to retreat. the captain-general was a bad sailor; but he was, a chivalrous spaniard of ancient gothic blood, and he felt deep mortification at the plight of his invincible fleet, together with undisguised: resentment against alexander farnese, through whose treachery and incapacity, he considered. the great catholic cause to have been, so foully sacrificed. crippled, maltreated, and diminished in number, as were his ships; he would have still faced, the enemy, but the winds and currents were fast driving him on, a lee-shore, and the pilots, one and all, assured him that it would be inevitable destruction to remain. after a slight and very ineffectual attempt to rescue don diego de pimentel in the st. matthew--who refused to leave his disabled ship--and don francisco de toledo; whose great galleon, the st. philip, was fast driving, a helpless wreck, towards zeeland, the armada bore away n.n.e. into the open sea, leaving those, who could not follow, to their fate. the st. matthew, in a sinking condition, hailed a dutch fisherman, who was offered a gold chain to pilot her into newport. but the fisherman, being a patriot; steered her close to the holland fleet, where she was immediately assaulted by admiral van der does, to whom, after a two hours' bloody fight, she struck her flag. don diego, marshal of the camp to the famous legion of sicily, brother, of the marquis of tavera, nephew of the viceroy of sicily, uncle to the viceroy of naples, and numbering as many titles, dignities; and high affinities as could be expected of a grandee of the first class, was taken, with his officers, to the hague. "i was the means," said captain borlase, "that the best sort were saved, and the rest were cast overboard and slain at our entry. he, fought with us two hours; and hurt divers of our men, but at, last yielded." john van der does, his captor; presented the banner; of the saint matthew to the great church of leyden, where--such was its prodigious length--it hung; from floor to ceiling without being entirely unrolled; and there hung, from generation to generation; a worthy companion to the spanish flags which had been left behind when valdez abandoned the siege of that heroic city fifteen years before. the galleon st. philip, one of the four largest ships in the armada, dismasted and foundering; drifted towards newport, where camp-marshal don francisco de toledo hoped in, vain for succour. la motte made a feeble attempt at rescue, but some vessels from the holland fleet, being much more active, seized the unfortunate galleon, and carried her into flushing. the captors found forty-eight brass cannon and other things of value on board, but there were some casks of ribadavia wine which was more fatal to her enemies than those pieces of artillery had proved. for while the rebels were refreshing themselves, after the fatigues of the capture, with large draughts of that famous vintage, the st. philip, which had been bored through and through with english shot, and had been rapidly filling with water, gave a sudden lurch, and went down in a moment, carrying with her to the bottom three hundred of those convivial hollanders. a large biscay galleon, too, of recalde's squadron, much disabled in action, and now, like many others, unable to follow the armada, was summoned by captain cross of the hope, guns, to surrender. although foundering, she resisted, and refused to strike her flag. one of her officers attempted to haul down her colours, and was run through the body by the captain, who, in his turn, was struck dead by a brother of the officer thus slain. in the midst of this quarrel the ship went down with all her crew. six hours and more, from ten till nearly five, the fight had lasted-- a most cruel battle, as the spaniard declared. there were men in the armada who had served in the action of lepanto, and who declared that famous encounter to have been far surpassed in severity and spirit by this fight off gravelines. "surely every man in our fleet did well," said winter, "and the slaughter the enemy received was great." nor would the spaniards have escaped even worse punishment, had not, most unfortunately, the penurious policy of the queen's government rendered her ships useless at last, even in this supreme moment. they never ceased cannonading the discomfited enemy until the ammunition was exhausted. "when the cartridges were all spent," said winter, "and the munitions in some vessels gone altogether, we ceased fighting, but followed the enemy, who still kept away." and the enemy--although still numerous, and seeming strong enough, if properly handled, to destroy the whole english fleet--fled before them. there remained more than fifty spanish vessels, above six hundred tons in size, besides sixty hulks and other vessels of less account; while in the whole english navy were but thirteen ships of or above that burthen. "their force is wonderful great and strong," said howard, "but we pluck their feathers by little and little." for medina sidonia had now satisfied himself that he should never succeed in boarding those hard-fighting and swift-sailing craft, while, meantime, the horrible panic of sunday night and the succession of fights throughout the following day, had completely disorganized his followers. crippled, riddled, shorn, but still numerous, and by no means entirely vanquished, the armada was flying with a gentle breeze before an enemy who, to save his existence; could not have fired a broadside. "though our powder and shot was well nigh spent," said the lord-admiral, "we put on a brag countenance and gave them chase, as though we had wanted nothing." and the brag countenance was successful, for that "one day's service had much appalled the enemy" as drake observed; and still the spaniards fled with a freshening gale all through the monday night. "a thing greatly to be regarded," said fenner, of the nonpariel, "is that that the almighty had stricken them with a wonderful fear. i have hardly, seen any of their companies succoured of the extremities which befell them after their fights, but they have been left, at utter ruin, while they bear as much sail as ever they possibly can." on tuesday morning, th august, the english ships were off the isle of walcheren, at a safe distance from the shore. "the wind is hanging westerly," said richard tomson, of the margaret and joan, "and we drive our enemies apace, much marvelling in what port they will direct themselves. those that are left alive are so weak and heartless that they could be well content to lose all charges and to be at home, both rich and poor." "in my, conscience," said sir william winter, "i think the duke would give his dukedom to be in spain again." the english ships, one-hundred and four in number, being that morning half-a-league to windward, the duke gave orders for the whole armada to lay to and, await their approach. but the english had no disposition to engage, for at, that moment the instantaneous destruction of their enemies seemed inevitable. ill-managed, panic-struck, staggering before their foes, the spanish fleet was now close upon the fatal sands of zeeland. already there were but six and a-half fathoms of water, rapidly shoaling under their keels, and the pilots told medina that all were irretrievably lost, for the freshening north-welter was driving them steadily upon the banks. the english, easily escaping the danger, hauled their wind, and paused to see the ruin of the proud armada accomplished before their eyes. nothing but a change of wind at the instant could save them from perdition. there was a breathless shudder of suspense, and then there came the change. just as the foremost ships were about to ground on the ooster zand, the wind suddenly veered to the south-west, and the spanish ships quickly squaring their sails to the new impulse, stood out once more into the open sea. all that day the galleons and galeasses, under all the canvas which they dared to spread, continued their flight before the south-westerly breeze, and still the lord-admiral, maintaining the brag countenance, followed, at an easy distance, the retreating foe. at p. m., howard fired a signal gun, and ran up a flag of council. winter could not go, for he had been wounded in action, but seymour and drake, hawkins, frobisher, and the rest were present, and it was decided that lord henry should return, accompanied by winter and the rest of the inner, squadron, to guard the thames mouth against any attempt of the duke of parma, while the lord admiral and the rest of the navy should continue the pursuit of the armada. very wroth was lord henry at being deprived of his share in the chase. "the lord-admiral was altogether desirous to have me strengthen him," said he, "and having done so to the utmost of my good-will and the venture of my life, and to the distressing of the spaniards, which was thoroughly done on the monday last, i now find his lordship jealous and loath to take part of the honour which is to come. so he has used his authority to command me to look to our english coast, threatened by the duke of parma. i pray god my lord admiral do not find the lack of the rainbow and her companions, for i protest before god i vowed i would be as near or nearer with my little ship to encounter our enemies as any of the greatest ships in both armies." there was no insubordination, however, and seymour's squadron; at twilight of tuesday evening, august th--according to orders, so that the enemy might not see their departure--bore away for margate. but although winter and seymour were much disappointed at their enforced return, there was less enthusiasm among the sailors of the fleet. pursuing the spaniards without powder or fire, and without beef and bread to eat, was not thought amusing by the english crews. howard had not three days' supply of food in his lockers, and seymour and his squadron had not food for one day. accordingly, when seymour and winter took their departure, "they had much ado," so winter said; "with the staying of many ships that would have returned with them, besides their own company." had the spaniards; instead of being panic-struck, but turned on their pursuers, what might have been the result of a conflict with starving and unarmed men? howard, drake, and frobisher, with the rest of the fleet, followed the armada through the north sea from tuesday night ( th august) till friday (the th), and still, the strong southwester swept the spaniards before them, uncertain whether to seek refuge, food, water, and room to repair damages, in the realms of the treacherous king of scots, or on the iron- bound coasts of norway. medina sidonia had however quite abandoned his intention of returning to england, and was only anxious for a safe return: to spain. so much did he dread that northern passage; unpiloted, around the grim hebrides, that he would probably have surrendered, had the english overtaken him and once more offered battle. he was on the point of hanging out a white flag as they approached him for the last time--but yielded to the expostulations of the ecclesiastics on board the saint martin, who thought, no doubt, that they had more to fear from england than from the sea, should they be carried captive to that country, and who persuaded him that it would be a sin and a disgrace to surrender before they had been once more attacked. on the other hand, the devonshire skipper, vice-admiral drake, now thoroughly in his element, could not restrain his hilarity, as he saw the invincible armada of the man whose beard he had so often singed, rolling through the german ocean, in full flight from the country which was to have been made, that week, a spanish province. unprovided as were his ships, he was for risking another battle, and it is quite possible that the brag countenance might have proved even more successful than howard thought. "we have the army of spain before us," wrote drake, from the revenge, "and hope with the grace of god to wrestle a pull with him. there never was any thing pleased me better than seeing the enemy flying with a southerly wind to the northward. god grant you have a good eye to the duke of parma, for with the grace of god, if we live, i doubt not so to handle the matter with the duke of sidonia as he shall wish himself at st. mary's port among his orange trees." but howard decided to wrestle no further pull. having followed the spaniards till friday, th of august, as far as the latitude of d. ' the lord admiral called a council. it was then decided, in order to save english lives and ships, to put into the firth of forth for water and provisions, leaving two "pinnaces to dog, the fleet until it should be past the isles of scotland." but the next day, as the wind shifted to the north-west, another council decided to take advantage of the change, and bear away for the north foreland, in order to obtain a supply of powder, shot, and provisions. up to this period, the weather, though occasionally threatening, had been moderate. during the week which succeeded the eventful night off. calais, neither the 'armada nor the english ships had been much impeded in their manoeuvres by storms of heavy seas. but on the following sunday, th of august, there was a change. the wind shifted again to the south-west, and, during the whole of that day and the monday, blew a tremendous gale. "'twas a more violent storm," said howard, "than was ever seen before at this time of the year." the retreating english fleet was, scattered, many ships were in peril, "among the ill-favoured sands off norfolk," but within four or five days all arrived safely in margate roads. far different was the fate of the spaniards. over their invincible armada, last seen by the departing english midway between the coasts of scotland and denmark, the blackness of night seemed suddenly to descend. a mystery hung for a long time over their fate. damaged, leaking, without pilots, without a competent commander, the great fleet entered that furious storm, and was whirled along the iron crags of norway and between the savage rocks of faroe and the hebrides. in those regions of tempest the insulted north wreaked its full vengeance on the insolent spaniards. disaster after disaster marked their perilous track; gale after gale swept them hither and thither, tossing them on sandbanks or shattering them against granite cliffs. the coasts of norway, scotland, ireland, were strewn with the wrecks of that pompous fleet, which claimed the dominion of the seas with the bones of those invincible legions which were to have sacked london and made england a spanish vice-royalty. through the remainder of the month of august there, was a succession of storms. on the nd september a fierce southwester drove admiral oquendo in his galleon, together with one of the great galeasses, two large venetian ships, the ratty and the balauzara, and thirty-six other vessels, upon the irish coast, where nearly every soul on board perished, while the few who escaped to the shore--notwithstanding their religious affinity with the inhabitants--were either butchered in cold blood, or sent coupled in halters from village to village, in order to be shipped to england. a few ships were driven on the english coast; others went ashore near rochelle. of the four galeasses and four galleys, one of each returned to spain. of the ninety-one great galleons and hulks, fifty-eight were lost and thirty-three returned. of the tenders and zabras, seventeen were lost. and eighteen returned. of one hundred and, thirty-four vessels, which sailed from corona in july, but fifty-three, great and small, made their escape to spain, and these were so damaged as to be, utterly worthless. the invincible armada had not only been vanquished but annihilated. of the , men who sailed in the fleet; it is probable that not more than , ever saw their native land again. most of the leaders of the expedition lost their lives. medina sidonia reached santander in october, and, as philip for a moment believed, "with the greater part of the armada," although the king soon discovered his mistake. recalde, diego flores de valdez, oquendo, maldonado, bobadilla, manriquez, either perished at sea, or died of exhaustion immediately after their return. pedro de valdez, vasco de silva, alonzo de sayas, piemontel, toledo, with many other nobles, were prisoners in england and holland. there was hardly a distinguished family in spain not placed in mourning, so that, to relieve the universal gloom, an edict was published, forbidding the wearing of mourning at all. on the other hand, a merchant of lisbon, not yet reconciled to the spanish conquest of his country, permitted himself some tokens of hilarity at the defeat of the armada, and was immediately hanged by express command of philip. thus--as men said--one could neither cry nor laugh within the spanish dominions. this was the result of the invasion, so many years preparing, and at an expense almost incalculable. in the year alone, the cost of philip's armaments for the subjugation of england could not have been less than six millions of ducats, and there was at least as large a sum on board the armada itself, although the pope refused to pay his promised million. and with all this outlay, and with the sacrifice of so many thousand lives, nothing had been accomplished, and spain, in a moment, instead of seeming terrible to all the world, had become ridiculous. "beaten and shuffled together from the lizard to calais, from calais driven with squibs from their anchors, and chased out of sight of england about scotland and ireland," as the devonshire skipper expressed himself, it must be confessed that the spaniards presented a sorry sight. "their invincible and dreadful navy," said drake, "with all its great and terrible ostentation, did not in all their sailing about england so much as sink or take one ship, bark, pinnace, or cock-boat of ours, or even burn so much as one sheep-tote on this land." meanwhile farnese sat chafing under the unjust reproaches heaped upon him, as if he, and not his master, had been responsible for the gigantic blunders of the invasion. "as for the prince of parma," said drake, "i take him to be as a bear robbed of her whelps." the admiral was quite right. alexander was beside himself with rage. day after day, he had been repeating to medina sidonia and to philip that his flotilla and transports could scarcely live in any but the smoothest sea, while the supposition that they could serve a warlike purpose he pronounced absolutely ludicrous. he had always counselled the seizing of a place like flushing, as a basis of operations against england, but had been overruled; and he had at least reckoned upon the invincible armada to clear the way for him, before he should be expected to take the sea. with prodigious energy and at great expense he had constructed or improved internal water-communications from ghent to sluy's, newport, and dunkerk. he had, thus transported all his hoys, barges, and munitions for the invasion, from all points of the obedient netherlands to the sea- coast, without coming within reach of the hollanders and zeelanders, who were keeping close watch on the outside. but those hollanders and zeelanders, guarding every outlet to the ocean, occupying every hole and cranny of the coast, laughed the invaders of england to scorn, braving them, jeering them, daring them to come forth, while the walloons and spaniards shrank before such amphibious assailants, to whom a combat on the water was as natural as upon dry land. alexander, upon one occasion, transported with rage, selected a band of one thousand musketeers, partly spanish, partly irish, and ordered an assault upon those insolent boatmen. with his own hand--so it was related--he struck dead more than one of his own officers who remonstrated against these commands; and then the attack was made by his thousand musketeers upon the hollanders, and every man of the thousand was slain. he had been reproached for not being ready, for not having embarked his men; but he had been ready for a month, and his men could be embarked in a single day. "but it was impossible," he said, "to keep them long packed up on board vessels, so small that there was no room to turn about in the people would sicken, would rot, would die." so soon as he had received information of the arrival of the fleet before calais--which was on the th august--he had proceeded the same night to newport and embarked , men, and before dawn he was at dunkerk, where the troops stationed in that port were as rapidly placed on board the transports. sir william stanley, with his irish kernes, were among the first shipped for the enterprise. two-days long these regiments lay heaped. together, like sacks of corn, in the boats--as one of their officers described it--and they lay cheerfully hoping that the dutch fleet would be swept out of the sea by the invincible armada, and patiently expecting the signal for setting sail to england. then came the prince of ascoli, who had gone ashore from the spanish fleet at calais, accompanied by serjeant-major gallinato and other messengers from medina sidonia, bringing the news of the fire-ships and the dispersion and flight of the armada. "god knows," said alexander, "the distress in which this event has plunged me, at the very moment when i expected to be sending your majesty my congratulations on the success of the great undertaking. but these are the works of the lord, who can recompense your majesty by giving you many victories, and the fulfilment of your majesty's desires, when he thinks the proper time arrived. meantime let him be praised for all, and let your majesty take great care of your health, which is the most important thing of all." evidently the lord did not think the proper time yet arrived for fulfilling his majesty's desires for the subjugation of england, and meanwhile the king might find what comfort he could in pious commonplaces and in attention to his health. but it is very certain that, of all the high parties concerned, alexander farnese was the least reprehensible for the over-throw of philips hopes. no man could have been more judicious--as it has been sufficiently made evident in the course of this narrative--in arranging all the details of the great enterprise, in pointing out all the obstacles, in providing for all emergencies. no man could have been more minutely faithful to his master, more treacherous to all the world beside. energetic, inventive, patient, courageous; and stupendously false, he had covered flanders with canals and bridges, had constructed flotillas, and equipped a splendid army, as thoroughly as he had puzzled comptroller croft. and not only had that diplomatist and his wiser colleagues been hoodwinked, but elizabeth and burghley, and, for a moment, even walsingham, were in the, dark, while henry iii. had been his passive victim, and the magnificent balafre a blind instrument in his hands. nothing could equal alexander's fidelity, but his perfidy. nothing could surpass his ability to command but his obedience. and it is very possible that had philip followed his nephew's large designs, instead of imposing upon him his own most puerile schemes; the result far england, holland, and, all christendom might have been very different from the actual one. the blunder against which farnese had in vain warned his master, was the stolid ignorance in which the king and all his counsellors chose to remain of the holland and zeeland fleet. for them warmond and nassau, and van der does and joost de moor; did not exist, and it was precisely these gallant sailors, with their intrepid crews, who held the key to the whole situation. to the queen's glorious naval-commanders, to the dauntless mariners of england, with their well-handled vessels; their admirable seamanship, their tact and their courage, belonged the joys of the contest, the triumph, and the glorious pursuit; but to the patient hollanders and zeelanders, who, with their hundred vessels held farneae, the chief of the great enterprise, at bay, a close prisoner with his whole army in his own ports, daring him to the issue, and ready--to the last plank of their fleet and to the last drop of their blood--to confront both him and the duke of medina sidona, an equal share of honour is due. the safety of the two free commonwealths of the world in that terrible contest was achieved by the people and the mariners of the two states combined. great was the enthusiasm certainly of the english people as the volunteers marched through london to the place of rendezvous, and tremendous were the cheers when the brave queen rode on horseback along the lines of tilbury. glowing pictures are revealed to us of merry little england, arising in its strength, and dancing forth to encounter the spaniards, as if to a great holiday. "it was a pleasant sight," says that enthusiastic merchant-tailor john stowe, "to behold the cheerful countenances, courageous words, and gestures, of the soldiers, as they marched to tilbury, dancing, leaping wherever they came, as joyful at the news of the foe's approach as if lusty giants were to run a race. and bellona-like did the queen infuse a second spirit of loyalty, love, and resolution, into every soldier of her army, who, ravished with their sovereign's sight, prayed heartily that the spaniards might land quickly, and when they heard they were fled, began to lament." but if the spaniards had not fled, if there had been no english navy in the channel, no squibs at calais, no dutchmen off dunkerk, there might have been a different picture to paint. no man who has, studied the history of those times, can doubt the universal and enthusiastic determination of the english nation to repel the invaders. catholics and protestants felt alike on the great subject. philip did not flatter, himself with assistance from any english papists, save exiles and renegades like westmoreland, paget, throgmorton, morgan, stanley, and the rest. the bulk of the catholics, who may have constituted half the population of england, although malcontent, were not rebellious; and notwithstanding the precautionary measures taken by government against them, elizabeth proudly acknowledged their loyalty. but loyalty, courage, and enthusiasm, might not have sufficed to supply the want of numbers and discipline. according to the generally accepted statement of contemporary chroniclers, there were some , men under arms: , along the southern coast, , under leicester, and , under lord chamberlain hunsdon, for the special defence of the queen's person. but it would have been very difficult, in the moment of danger, to bring anything like these numbers into the field. a drilled and disciplined army--whether of regulars or of militia-men--had no existence whatever. if the merchant vessels, which had been joined to the royal fleet, were thought by old naval commanders to be only good to make a show, the volunteers on land were likely to be even less effective than the marine militia, so much more accustomed than they to hard work. magnificent was the spirit of the great feudal lords as they rallied round their queen. the earl of pembroke offered to serve at the head of three hundred horse and five hundred footmen, armed at his own cost, and all ready to "hazard the blood of their hearts" in defence of her person. "accept hereof most excellent sovereign," said the earl, "from a person desirous to live no longer than he may see your highness enjoy your blessed estate, maugre the beards of all confederated leaguers." the earl of shrewsbury, too, was ready to serve at the head of his retainers, to the last drop of his blood. "though i be old," he said, "yet shall your quarrel make me young again. though lame in body, yet lusty in heart to lend your greatest enemy one blow, and to stand near your defence, every way wherein your highness shall employ me." but there was perhaps too much of this feudal spirit. the lieutenant- general complained bitterly that there was a most mischievous tendency among all the militia-men to escape from the queen's colours, in order to enrol themselves as retainers to the great lords. this spirit was not favourable to efficient organization of a national army. even, had the commander-in-chief been a man, of genius and experience it would have been difficult for him, under such circumstances, to resist a splendid army, once landed, and led by alexander farnese, but even leicester's most determined flatterers hardly ventured to compare him in-military ability with that first general of his age. the best soldier in england was un-questionably sir john norris, and sir john was now marshal of the camp to leicester. the ancient quarrel between the two had been smoothed over, and--as might be expected--the earl hated norris more bitterly than before, and was perpetually vituperating him, as he had often done in the netherlands. roger william, too, was entrusted with the important duties of master of the horse, under the lieutenant-general, and leicester continued to bear the grudge towards that honest welshman, which had begun in holland. these were not promising conditions in a camp, when an invading army was every day expected; nor was the completeness or readiness of the forces sufficient to render harmless the quarrels of the commanders. the armada had arrived in calais roads on saturday afternoon; the th august. if it had been joined on that day, or the next--as philip and medina sidonia fully expected--by the duke of parma's flotilla, the invasion would have been made at once. if a spanish army had ever landed in england at all, that event would have occurred on the th august. the weather was not unfavourable; the sea was smooth, and the circumstances under which the catastrophe of the great drama was that night accomplished, were a profound mystery to every soul in england. for aught that leicester, or burghley, or queen elizabeth, knew at the time, the army of farnese might, on monday, have been marching upon london. now, on that monday morning, the army of lord hunsdon was not assembled at all, and leicester with but four thousand men, under his command, was just commencing his camp at tilbury. the. "bellona-like" appearance of the queen on her white palfrey,--with truncheon in hand, addressing her troops, in that magnificent burst of eloquence which has so often been repeated, was not till eleven days afterwards; not till the great armada, shattered and tempest-tossed, had been, a week long, dashing itself against the cliffs of norway and the faroes, on, its forlorn retreat to spain. leicester, courageous, self-confident, and sanguine as ever; could not restrain his indignation at the parsimony with which his own impatient spirit had to contend. "be you assured," said he, on the rd august, when the armada was off the isle of wight, "if the spanish fleet arrive safely in the narrow seas, the duke of parma will join presently with all his forces, and lose no time in invading this realm. therefore i beseech you, my good lords, let no man, by hope or other abuse; prevent your speedy providing defence against, this mighty enemy now knocking at our gate." for even at this supreme moment doubts were entertained at court as to the intentions of the spaniards: next day he informed walsingham that his four thousand men had arrived. "they be as forward men and willing to meet the enemy as i ever saw," said he. he could not say as much in, praise of the commissariat: "some want the captains showed," he observed, "for these men arrived without one meal of victuals so that on their-arrival, they had not one barrel of beer nor loaf of bread--enough after twenty miles' march to have discouraged them, and brought them to mutiny. i see many causes to increase my former opinion of the dilatory wants you shall find upon all sudden hurley burleys. in no former time was ever so great a cause, and albeit her majesty hath appointed an army to resist her enemies if they land, yet how hard a matter it will be to gather men together, i find it now. if it will be five days to gather these countrymen, judge what it will be to look in short space for those that dwell forty, fifty, sixty miles off." he had immense difficulty in feeding even this slender force. "i made proclamation," said he, "two days ago, in all market towns, that victuallers should come to the camp and receive money for their provisions, but there is not one victualler come in to this hour. i have sent to all the justices of peace about it from place to place. i speak it that timely consideration be had of these things, and that they be not deferred till the worst come. let her majesty not defer the time, upon any supposed hope, to assemble a convenient force of horse and foot about her. her majesty cannot be strong enough too soon, and if her navy had not been strong and abroad as it is, what care had herself and her whole realm been in by this time! and what care she will be in if her forces be not only assembled, but an army presently dressed to withstand the mighty enemy that is to approach her gates." "god doth know, i speak it not to bring her to charges. i would she had less cause to spend than ever she had, and her coffers fuller than ever they were; but i will prefer her life and safety, and the defence of the realm, before all sparing of charges in the present danger." thus, on the th august, no army had been assembled--not even the body- guard of the queen--and leicester, with four thousand men, unprovided with a barrel of beer or a loaf of bread, was about commencing his entrenched camp at tilbury. on the th august the armada was in calais roads, expecting alexander farnese to lead his troops upon london! norris and williams, on the news of medina sidonia's approach, had rushed to dover, much to the indignation of leicester, just as the earl was beginning his entrenchments at tilbury. "i assure you i am angry with sir john norris and sir roger williams," he said. "i am here cook, caterer, and huntsman. i am left with no one to supply sir john's place as marshal, but, for a day or two, am willing to work the harder myself. i ordered them both to return this day early, which they faithfully promised. yet, on arriving this morning, i hear nothing of either, and have nobody to marshal the camp either for horse or foot. this manner of dealing doth much mislike me in them both. i am ill-used. 'tis now four o'clock, but here's not one of them. if they come not this night, i assure you i will not receive them into office, nor bear such loose careless dealing at their hands. if you saw how weakly i am assisted you would be sorry to think that we here, should be the front against the enemy that is so mighty, if he should land here. and seeing her majesty hath appointed me her lieutenant-general, i look that respect be used towards me, such as is due to my place." thus the ancient grudge--between leicester and the earl of sussex's son was ever breaking forth, and was not likely to prove beneficial at this eventful season. next day the welshman arrived, and sir john promised to come back in the evening. sir roger brought word from the coast that lord henry seymour's fleet was in want both of men and powder. "good lord!" exclaimed leicester, "how is this come to pass, that both he and, my lord-admiral are so weakened of men. i hear they be running away. i beseech you, assemble your forces, and play not away this kingdom by delays. hasten our horsemen hither and footmen: . . . . if the spanish fleet come to the narrow seas the, prince of parma will play another part than is looked for." as the armada approached calais, leicester was informed that the soldiers at dover began to leave the coast. it seemed that they were dissatisfied with the penuriousness of the government. our soldiers do break away at dover, or are not pleased. i assure you, without wages, the people will not tarry, and contributions go hard with them. surely i find that her majesty must needs deal liberally, and be at charges to entertain her subjects that have chargeably, and liberally used, themselves to serve her." the lieutenant-general even thought it might be necessary for him to proceed to dover in person, in order to remonstrate with these discontented troops; for it was possible that those ill-paid, undisciplined, and very meagre forces, would find much difficulty in opposing alexander's march, to london, if he should once succeed in landing. leicester had a very indifferent opinion too of the train-bands of the metropolis. "for your londoners," he said, "i see their service will be little, except they have their own captains, and having them, i look for none at all by them, when we shall meet the enemy. this was not complimentary, certainly, to the training of the famous artillery garden, and furnished a still stronger motive for defending the road over which the capital was to be approached. but there was much jealousy, both among citizens and nobles, of any authority entrusted to professional soldiers. "i know what burghers be, well enough," said the earl, "as brave and well-entertained as ever the londoners were. if they should go forth from the city they should have good leaders. you know the imperfections of the time, how few-leaders you have, and the gentlemen of the counties are very loth to have any captains placed with them. so that the beating out of our best captains is like to be cause of great danger."' sir john smith, a soldier of experience, employed to drill and organize some of the levies, expressed still more disparaging opinions than those of leicester concerning the probable efficiency in the field of these english armies. the earl was very angry with the knight, however, and considered, him incompetent, insolent, and ridiculous. sir john seemed, indeed, more disposed to keep himself out of harm's way, than to render service to the queen by leading awkward recruits against alexander farnese. he thought it better to nurse himself. "you would laugh to see how sir john smith has dealt since my coming," said leicester. "he came to me, and told me that his disease so grew upon him as he must needs go to the baths. i told him i would not be against his health, but he saw what the time was, and what pains he had taken with his countrymen, and that i had provided a good place for him. next day he came again, saying little to my offer then, and seemed desirous, for his health, to be gone. i told him what place i did appoint, which was a regiment of a great part of his countrymen. he said his health was dear to him, and he desired to take leave of me, which i yielded unto. yesterday, being our muster-day, he came again to me to dinner; but such foolish and vain-glorious paradoxes he burst withal, without any cause offered, as made all that knew anything smile and answer little, but in sort rather to satisfy men present than to argue with him." and the knight went that day to review leicester's choice troops--the four thousand men of essex--but was not much more deeply impressed with their proficiency than he had been with that of his own regiment. he became very censorious. "after the muster," said the lieutenant-general, "he entered again into such strange cries for ordering of men, and for the fight with the weapon, as made me think he was not well. god forbid he should have charge of men that knoweth so little, as i dare pronounce that he doth." yet the critical knight was a professional--campaigner, whose opinions were entitled to respect; and the more so, it would seem, because they did not materially vary from those which leicester himself was in the habit of expressing. and these interior scenes of discord, tumult, parsimony, want of organization, and unsatisfactory mustering of troops, were occurring on the very saturday and sunday when the armada lay in sight of dover cliffs, and when the approach of the spaniards on the dover road might at any moment be expected. leicester's jealous and overbearing temper itself was also proving a formidable obstacle to a wholesome system of defence. he was already displeased with the amount of authority entrusted to lord hunsdon, disposed to think his own rights invaded; and desirous that the lord chamberlain should accept office under himself. he wished saving clauses as to his own authority inserted in hunsdon's patent. "either it must be so, or i shall have wrong," said he, "if he absolutely command where my patent doth give me power. you may easily conceive what absurd dealings are likely to fall out, if you allow two absolute commanders." looking at these pictures of commander-in-chief, officers, and rank and file--as painted by themselves--we feel an inexpressible satisfaction that in this great crisis of england's destiny, there were such men as howard, drake, frobisher, hawkins, seymour, winter, fenner, and their gallant brethren, cruising that week in the channel, and that nassau and warmond; de moor and van der does, were blockading the flemish coast. there was but little preparation to resist the enemy once landed. there were no fortresses, no regular army, no population trained to any weapon. there were patriotism, loyalty, courage, and enthusiasm, in abundance; but the commander-in-chief was a queen's favourite, odious to the people, with very moderate abilities, and eternally quarrelling with officers more competent than himself; and all the arrangements were so hopelessly behind-hand, that although great disasters might have been avenged, they could scarcely have been avoided. remembering that the invincible armada was lying in calais roads on the th of august, hoping to cross to dover the next morning, let us ponder the words addressed on that very day to queen elizabeth by the lieutenant-general of england. "my most dear and gracious lady," said the earl, "it is most true that those enemies that approach your kingdom and person are your undeserved foes, and being so, and hating you for a righteous cause, there is the less fear to be had of their malice or their forces; for there is a most just god that beholdeth the innocence of that heart. the cause you are assailed for is his and his church's, and he never failed any that faithfully do put their chief trust in his goodness. he hath, to comfort you withal, given you great and mighty means to defend yourself, which means i doubt not but your majesty will timely and princely use them, and your good god that ruleth all will assist you and bless you with victory." he then proceeded to give his opinion on two points concerning which the queen had just consulted him--the propriety of assembling her army, and her desire to place herself at the head of it in person. on the first point one would have thought discussion superfluous on the th of august. "for your army, it is more than time it were gathered and about you," said leicester, "or so near you as you may have the use of it at a few hours' warning. the reason is that your mighty enemies are at hand, and if god suffers them to pass by your fleet, you are sure they will attempt their purpose of landing with all expedition. and albeit your navy be very strong, but, as we have always heard, the other is not only far greater, but their forces of men much beyond yours. no doubt if the prince of parma come forth, their forces by sea shall not only be greatly, augmented, but his power to land shall the easier take effect whensoever he shall attempt it. therefore it is most requisite that your majesty at all events have as great a force every way as you can devise; for there is no dalliance at such a time, nor with such an enemy. you shall otherwise hazard your own honour, besides your person and country, and must offend your gracious god that gave you these forces and power, though you will not use them when you should." it seems strange enough that such phrases should be necessary when the enemy was knocking at the gate; but it is only too, true that the land- forces were never organized until the hour, of danger had, most fortunately and unexpectedly, passed by. suggestions at this late moment were now given for the defence of the throne, the capital, the kingdom, and the life of the great queen, which would not have seemed premature had they been made six months before, but which, when offered in august, excite unbounded amazement. alexander would have had time to, march from dover to duxham before these directions, now leisurely stated with all the air of novelty, could be carried into effect. "now for the placing of your army," says the lieutenant-general on the memorable saturday, th of august, "no doubt but i think about london the, meetest, and i suppose that others will be of the same mind. and your majesty should forthwith give the charge thereof to some special nobleman about you, and likewise place all your chief officers that every man may know what he shall do, and gather as many good horse above all things as you can, and the oldest, best, and assuredest captains to lead; for therein will consist the greatest hope of good success under god. and so soon as your army is assembled, let them by and by be exercised, every man to know his weapon, and that there be all other things prepared in readiness, for your army, as if they should march upon a day's warning, especially carriages, and a commissary of victuals, and a master of ordnance." certainly, with alexander of parma on his way to london, at the head of his italian pikemen, his spanish musketeers, his famous veteran legion-- "that nursing mother of great soldiers"--it was indeed more than time. that every man should know what he should do, that an army of englishmen should be-assembled, and that every man should know his weapon. "by and by" was easily said, and yet, on the th of august it was by and by that an army, not yet mustered, not yet officered, not yet provided with a general, a commissary of victuals, or a master of ordinance, was to be exercised, "every man to know his weapon." english courage might ultimately triumph over, the mistakes of those who governed the country, and over those disciplined brigands by whom it was to be invaded. but meantime every man of those invaders had already learned on a hundred battle-fields to know his weapon. it was a magnificent determination on the part of elizabeth to place herself at the head of her troops; and the enthusiasm which her attitude inspired, when she had at last emancipated herself from the delusions of diplomacy and the seductions of thrift, was some recompense at least for the perils caused by her procrastination. but leicester could not approve of this hazardous though heroic resolution. the danger passed away. the invincible armada was driven out of the channel by the courage; the splendid seamanship, and the enthusiasm of english sailors and volunteers. the duke of parma was kept a close prisoner by the fleets of holland and zeeland; and the great storm of the th and th of august at last completed the overthrow of the spaniards. it was, however, supposed for a long time that they would come back, for the disasters which had befallen them in the north were but tardily known in england. the sailors, by whom england had been thus defended in her utmost need, were dying by hundreds, and even thousands, of ship-fever, in the latter days of august. men sickened one day, and died the next, so that it seemed probable that the ten thousand sailors by whom the english ships of war were manned, would have almost wholly disappeared, at a moment when their services might be imperatively required. nor had there been the least precaution taken for cherishing and saving these brave defenders of their country. they rotted in their ships, or died in the streets of the naval ports, because there were no hospitals to receive them. "'tis a most pitiful sight," said the lord-admiral, "to see here at margate how the men, having no place where they can be received, die in, the streets. i am driven of force myself to come on land to see them bestowed in some lodgings; and the best i can get is barns and such outhouses, and the relief is small that i can provide for them here. it would grieve any man's heart to see men that have served so valiantly die so miserably." the survivors, too, were greatly discontented; for, after having been eight months at sea, and enduring great privations, they could not get their wages. "finding it to come thus scantily," said howard, "it breeds a marvellous alteration among them." but more dangerous than the pestilence or the discontent was the misunderstanding which existed at the moment between the leading admirals of the english fleet. not only was seymour angry with howard, but hawkins and frobisher were at daggers drawn with drake; and sir martin-- if contemporary, affidavits can be trusted--did not scruple to heap the most virulent abuse upon sir francis, calling him, in language better fitted for the forecastle than the quarter-deck, a thief and a coward, for appropriating the ransom for don pedro valdez in which both frobisher and hawkins claimed at least an equal share with himself. and anxious enough was the lord-admiral with his sailors perishing by pestilence, with many of his ships so weakly manned that as lord henry seymour declared there were not mariners enough to weigh the anchors, and with the great naval heroes, on whose efforts the safety of the realm depended, wrangling like fisherwomen among themselves, when rumours came, as they did almost daily, of the return of the spanish armada, and of new demonstrations on the part of farnese. he was naturally unwilling that the fruits of english valour on the seas should now be sacrificed by the false economy of the government. he felt that, after all that had been endured and accomplished, the queen and her counsellors were still capable of leaving england at the mercy of a renewed attempt, "i know not what you think at the court," said he; "but i think, and so do all here, that there cannot be too great forces maintained for the next five or six weeks. god knoweth whether the spanish fleet will not, after refreshing themselves in norway; denmark, and the orkneys, return. i think they dare not go back to sprain with this, dishonour, to their king and overthrow of the pope's credit. sir, sure bind, sure find. a kingdom is a grand wager. security is dangerous; and, if god had not been our best friend; we should have found it so." [howard to walsingham, aug. / . (s. p. office ms.)] ["some haply may say that winter cometh on apace," said drake, "but my poor opinion is that i dare not advise her majesty to hazard a kingdom with the saving of a little charge." (drake to walsingham, aug. / .)] nothing could be more replete, with sound common sense than this simple advice, given as it was in utter ignorance of the fate of the armada; after it had been lost sight of by the english vessels off the firth of forth, and of the cold refreshment which: it had found in norway and the orkneys. but, burghley had a store of pithy apophthegms, for which--he knew he could always find sympathy in the queen's breast, and with which he could answer these demands of admirals and generals. "to spend in time convenient is wisdom;" he observed--"to continue charges without needful cause bringeth, repentance;"--"to hold on charges without knowledge of the certainty thereof and of means how to support them, is lack of wisdom;" and so on. yet the spanish fleet might have returned into the channel for ought the lord-treasurer on the nd august knew--or the dutch fleet might have relaxed, in its vigilant watching of farnese's movements. it might have then seemed a most plentiful lack of wisdom to allow english sailors to die of plague in the streets for want of hospitals; and to grow mutinous for default of pay. to have saved under such circumstances would, perhaps have brought repentance. the invasion of england by spain had been most portentous. that the danger was at last averted is to be ascribed to the enthusiasm of the english, nation--both patricians and plebeians--to the heroism of the little english fleet, to the spirit of the naval commanders and volunteers, to the stanch, and effective support of the hollanders; and to the hand of god shattering the armada at last; but very little credit can be conscientiously awarded to the diplomatic or the military efforts of the queen's government. miracles alone, in the opinion of roger williams, had saved england on this occasion from perdition. towards the end of august, admiral de nassau paid a visit to dover with forty ships, "well appointed and furnished." he dined and conferred with seymour, palmer, and other officers--winter being still laid up with his wound--and expressed the opinion that medina sidonia would hardly return to the channel, after the banquet he had received from her majesty's navy between calais and gravelines. he also gave the information that the states had sent fifty dutch vessels in pursuit of the spaniards, and had compelled all the herring-fishermen for the time to serve in the ships of war, although the prosperity of the country depended on that industry. "i find the man very wise, subtle, and cunning," said seymour of the dutch admiral, "and therefore do i trust him." nassau represented the duke of parma as evidently discouraged, as having already disembarked his troops, and as very little disposed to hazard any further enterprise against england. "i have left twenty-five kromstevens," said he, "to prevent his egress from sluys, and i am immediately returning thither myself. the tide will not allow his vessels at present to leave dunkerk, and i shall not fail--before the next full moon--to place myself before that place, to prevent their coming out, or to have a brush with them if they venture to put to sea." but after the scenes on which the last full moon had looked down in those waters, there could be no further pretence on the part of farnese to issue from sluys and dunkerk, and england and holland were thenceforth saved from all naval enterprises on the part of spain. meantime, the same uncertainty which prevailed in england as to the condition and the intentions of the armada was still more remarkable elsewhere. there was a systematic deception practised not only upon other governments; but upon the king of spain as well. philip, as he sat at his writing-desk, was regarding himself as the monarch of england, long after his armada had been hopelessly dispersed. in paris, rumours were circulated during the first ten days of august that england was vanquished, and that the queen was already on her way to rome as a prisoner, where she was to make expiation, barefoot, before his holiness. mendoza, now more magnificent than ever--stalked into notre dame with his drawn sword in his hand, crying out with a loud voice, "victory, victory!" and on the th of august ordered bonfires to be made before his house; but afterwards thought better of that scheme. he had been deceived by a variety of reports sent to him day after day by agents on the coast; and the king of france--better informed by stafford, but not unwilling thus to feed his spite against the insolent ambassador-- affected to believe his fables. he even confirmed them by intelligence, which he pretended to have himself received from other sources, of the landing of the spaniards in england without opposition, and of the entire subjugation of that country without the striking of a blow. hereupon, on the night of august th, the envoy--"like a wise man," as stafford observed--sent off four couriers, one after another, with the great news to spain, that his master's heart might be rejoiced, and caused a pamphlet on the subject to be printed and distributed over paris! "i will not waste a large sheet of paper to express the joy which we must all feel," he wrote to idiaquez, "at this good news. god be praised for all, who gives us small chastisements to make us better, and then, like a merciful father, sends us infinite rewards." and in the same strain he wrote; day after day, to moura and idiaquez, and to philip himself. stafford, on his side, was anxious to be informed by his government of the exact truth, whatever it were, in order that these figments of mendoza might be contradicted. "that which cometh from me," he said, "will be believed; for i have not been used to tell lies, and in very truth i have not the face to do it." and the news of the calais squibs, of the fight off gravelines, and the retreat of the armada towards the north; could not be very long concealed. so soon, therefore, as authentic intelligence reached, the english envoy of those events--which was not however for nearly ten days after their--occurrence--stafford in his turn wrote a pamphlet, in answer to that of mendoza, and decidedly the more successful one of the two. it cost him but five crowns, he said, to print 'four hundred copies of it; but those in whose name it was published got one hundred crowns by its sale. the english ambassador was unwilling to be known as the author--although "desirous of touching up the impudence of the spaniard" --but the king had no doubt of its origin. poor henry, still smarting under the insults of mendoza and 'mucio,--was delighted with this blow to philip's presumption; was loud in his praises of queen elizabeth's valour, prudence, and marvellous fortune, and declared that what she had just done could be compared to the greatest: exploits of the most illustrious men in history. "so soon as ever he saw the pamphlet," said stafford; "he offered to lay a wager it was my doing; and laughed at it heartily." and there were malicious pages about the french; court; who also found much amusement in writing to the ambassador, begging his interest with the duke of parma that they might obtain from that conqueror some odd-refuse town or so in: england, such as york, canterbury, london, or the like--till the luckless don bernardino was ashamed to show his face. a letter, from farnese, however, of th august, apprized philip before the end of august of the calais disasters and caused him great uneasiness, without driving him to despair. "at the very moment," wrote the king to medina sidonia; "when i was expecting news of the effect hoped for from my armada, i have learned the retreat from before calais, to which it was compelled by the weather; [!] and i have received a very great shock which keeps, me in anxiety not to be exaggerated. nevertheless i hope in our lord that he will have provided a remedy; and that if it was possible for you to return upon the enemy to come back to the appointed posts and to watch an opportunity for the great stroke; you will have done as the case required; and so i am expecting with solicitude, to hear what has happened, and please god it may be that which is so suitable for his service." his spanish children the sacking of london, and the butchering of the english nation-rewards and befits similar to those which they bad formerly enjoyed in the netherlands. and in the same strain, melancholy yet hopeful, were other letters despatched on that day to the duke of parma. "the satisfaction caused by your advices on the th august of the arrival of the armada near calais, and of your preparations to embark your troops, was changed into a sentiment which you can imagine, by your letter of the th. the anxiety thus occasioned it would be impossible to exaggerate, although the cause being such as it is--there is no ground for distrust. perhaps the armada, keeping together, has returned upon the enemy, and given a good account of itself, with the help of the lord. so i still promise myself that you will have performed your part in the enterprise in such wise as that the service intended to the lord may have been executed, and repairs made to the reputation of all; which has been so much compromised." and the king's drooping spirits were revived by fresh accounts which reached him in september, by way of france. he now learned that the armada had taken captive four dutch men-of-war and many english ships; that, after the spaniards had been followed from calais roads by the enemy's fleet, there had been an action, which the english had attempted in vain to avoid; off newcastle; that medina sidonia had charged upon them so vigorously, as to sink twenty of their ships, and to capture twenty-six others, good and sound; that the others, to escape perdition, had fled, after suffering great damage, and had then gone to pieces, all hands perishing; that the armada had taken a port in scotland, where it was very comfortably established; that the flag-ship of lord-admiral howard, of drake; and of that "distinguished mariner hawkins," had all been sunk in action, and that no soul had been saved except drake, who had escaped in a cock-boat. "this is good news," added the writer; "and it is most certain." the king pondered seriously over these conflicting accounts, and remained very much in the dark. half, the month of september went by, and he had heard nothing--official since the news of the calais catastrophe. it may be easily understood that medina sidonia, while flying round the orkneys had not much opportunity for despatching couriers to spain, and as farnese had not written since the th august, philip was quite at a loss whether to consider himself triumphant or defeated. from the reports by way of calais, dunkerk, and rouen, he supposed that the armada, had inflicted much damage on the enemy. he suggested accordingly, on the rd september, to the duke of parma, that he might now make the passage to england, while the english fleet, if anything was left of it was repairing its damages. "'twill be easy enough to conquer the country," said philip," so soon as you set foot on the soil. then perhaps our armada can come back and station itself in the thames to support you." nothing could be simpler. nevertheless the king felt a pang of doubt lest affairs, after all, might not be going on so swimmingly; so he dipped his pen in the inkstand again, and observed with much pathos, "but if this hope must be given up, you must take the isle of walcheren: something must be done to console me." and on the th september he was still no wiser. "this business of the armada leaves me no repose," he said; "i can think of nothing else. i don't content myself with what i have written, but write again and again, although in great want of light. i hear that the armada has sunk and captured many english ships, and is refitting in a scotch pert. if this is in the territory, of lord huntley, i hope he will stir up the catholics of that country." and so, in letter after letter, philip clung to the delusion that alexander could yet, cross to england, and that the armada might sail up the thames. the duke was directed to make immediate arrangements to that effect with medina sidonia, at the very moment when that tempest-tossed grandee was painfully-creeping back towards the bay of biscay, with what remained of his invincible fleet. sanguine and pertinacious, the king refused to believe in, the downfall of his long-cherished scheme; and even when the light was at last dawning upon him, he was like a child, crying for a fresh toy, when the one which had long amused him had been broken. if the armada were really very much damaged, it was easy enough, he thought, for the duke of parma to make him a new one, while the old, one was repairing. "in case the armada is too much shattered to come out," said philip, "and winter compels it to stay in that port, you must cause another armada to be constructed at emden and the adjacent towns, at my expense, and, with the two together, you will certainly be able to conquer england." and he wrote to medina sidonia in similar terms. that naval commander was instructed to enter the thames at once, if strong enough. if not, he was to winter in the scotch port which he was supposed to have captured. meantime farnese would build a new fleet at emden, and in the spring the two dukes would proceed to accomplish the great purpose. but at last the arrival of medina sidonia at santander dispelled these visions, and now the king appeared in another attitude. a messenger, coming post-haste from the captain-general, arrived in the early days of october at the escorial. entering the palace he found idiaquez and moura pacing up and down the corridor, before the door of philip's cabinet, and was immediately interrogated by those counsellors, most anxious, of course, to receive authentic intelligence at last as to the fate, of the armada. the entire overthrow of the great project was now, for the first time, fully revealed in spain; the fabulous victories over the english, and the annihilation of howard and all his ships, were dispersed in air. broken, ruined, forlorn, the invincible armada--so far as it still existed--had reached a spanish port. great was the consternation of idiaquez and moura, as they listened to the tale, and very desirous was each of the two secretaries that the other should, discharge the unwelcome duty of communicating the fatal intelligence to the king. at last moura consented to undertake the task, and entering the cabinet, he found philip seated at his desk. of course he was writing letters. being informed of the arrival of a messenger from the north, he laid down his pen, and inquired the news. the secretary replied that the accounts, concerning the armada were by no means so favourable as, could be wished. the courier was then introduced, and made his dismal report. the king did not change countenance. "great thanks," he observed, "do i render to almighty god, by whose generous hand i am gifted with such power, that i could easily, if i chose, place another fleet upon the seas. nor is it of very great importance that a running stream should be sometimes intercepted, so long as the fountain from which it flows remains inexhaustible." so saying he resumed his pen, and serenely proceeded with his letters. christopher moura stared with unaffected amazement at his sovereign, thus tranquil while a shattered world was falling on his head, and then retired to confer with his colleague. "and how did his majesty receive the blow?" asked idiaquez. "his majesty thinks nothing of the blow," answered moura, "nor do i, consequently, make more of this great calamity than does his majesty." so the king--as fortune flew away from him, wrapped himself in his virtue; and his counsellors, imitating their sovereign, arrayed themselves in the same garment. thus draped, they were all prepared to bide the pelting of the storm which was only beating figuratively on their heads, while it had been dashing the king's mighty galleons on the rocks, and drowning by thousands the wretched victims of his ambition. soon afterwards, when the particulars of the great disaster were thoroughly known, philip ordered a letter to be addressed in his name to all the bishops of spain, ordering a solemn thanksgiving to the almighty for the safety of that portion of the invincible armada which it had pleased him to preserve. and thus, with the sound of mourning throughout spain--for there was scarce a household of which some beloved member had not perished in the great catastrophe--and with the peals of merry bells over all england and holland, and with a solemn 'te deum' resounding in every church, the curtain fell upon the great tragedy of the armada. etext editor's bookmarks: forbidding the wearing of mourning at all hardly a distinguished family in spain not placed in mourning invincible armada had not only been vanquished but annihilated nothing could equal alexander's fidelity, but his perfidy one could neither cry nor laugh within the spanish dominions security is dangerous sixteen of their best ships had been sacrificed sure bind, sure find this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, (b) chapter xxiii. philip's scheme of aggrandizement--projected invasion of france-- internal condition of france--character of henry of navarre-- preparation for action--battle of ivry--victory of the french king over the league--reluctance of the king to attack the french capital--siege of paris--the pope indisposed towards the league-- extraordinary demonstration of ecclesiastics--influence of the priests--extremities of the siege--attempted negotiation--state of philip's army--difficult position of farnese--march of the allies to the relief of paris--lagny taken and the city relieved--desertion of the king's army--siege of corbeil--death of pope sixtus v.-- re-capture of lagny and corbeil--return of parma to the netherlands --result of the expedition. the scene of the narrative shifts to france. the history of the united netherlands at this epoch is a world-history. were it not so, it would have far less of moral and instruction for all time than it is really capable of affording. the battle of liberty against despotism was now fought in the hop-fields of brabant or the polders of friesland, now in the: narrow seas which encircle england, and now on the sunny plains of dauphiny, among the craggy inlets of brittany, or along the high roads and rivers which lead to the gates of paris. but everywhere a noiseless, secret, but ubiquitous negotiation was speeding with never an instant's pause to accomplish the work which lansquenettes and riders, pikemen and carabineers were contending for on a hundred battle-fields and amid a din of arms which for a quarter of a century had been the regular hum of human industry. for nearly a generation of mankind, germans and hollanders, englishmen, frenchmen, scotchmen, irishmen, spaniards and italians seemed to be born into the world mainly to fight for or against a system of universal monarchy, conceived for his own benefit by a quiet old man who passed his days at a writing desk in a remote corner of europe. it must be confessed that philip ii. gave the world work enough. whether--had the peoples governed themselves--their energies might not have been exerted in a different direction, and on the whole have produced more of good to the human race than came of all this blood and awoke, may be questioned. but the divine right of kings, associating itself with the power supreme of the church, was struggling to maintain that old mastery of mankind which awakening reason was inclined to dispute. countries and nations being regarded as private property to be inherited or bequeathed by a few favoured individuals--provided always that those individuals were obedient to the chief-priest--it had now become right and proper for the spanish monarch to annex scotland, england, and france to the very considerable possessions which were already his own. scotland he claimed by virtue of the expressed wish of mary to the exclusion of her heretic son. france, which had been unjustly usurped by another family in times past to his detriment, and which only a mere human invention--a "pleasantry" as alva had happily termed it, called the "salic law"--prevented from passing quietly to his daughter, as heiress to her mother, daughter of henry ii., he was now fully bent upon making his own without further loss of time. england, in consequence of the mishap of the year eighty-eight, he was inclined to defer appropriating until the possession of the french coasts, together with those of the netherlands, should enable him to risk the adventure with assured chances of success. the netherlands were fast slipping beyond his control, to be sure, as he engaged in these endless schemes; and ill-disposed people of the day said that the king was like aesop's dog, lapping the river dry in order to get at the skins floating on the surface. the duke of parma was driven to his wits' ends for expedients, and beside himself with vexation, when commanded to withdraw his ill-paid and mutinous army from the provinces for the purpose of invading france. most importunate were the appeals and potent the arguments by which he attempted to turn philip from his purpose. it was in vain. spain was the great, aggressive, overshadowing power at that day, before whose plots and whose violence the nations alternately trembled, and it was france that now stood in danger of being conquered or dismembered by the common enemy of all. that unhappy kingdom, torn by intestine conflict, naturally invited the ambition and the greediness of foreign powers. civil war had been its condition, with brief intervals, for a whole generation of mankind. during the last few years, the sword had been never sheathed, while "the holy confederacy" and the bearnese struggled together for the mastery. religion was the mantle under which the chiefs on both sides concealed their real designs as they led on their followers year after year to the desperate conflict. and their followers, the masses, were doubtless in earnest. a great principle--the relation of man to his maker and his condition in a future world as laid down by rival priesthoods--has in almost every stage of history had power to influence the multitude to fury and to deluge the world in blood. and so long as the superstitious element of human nature enables individuals or combinations of them to dictate to their fellow- creatures those relations, or to dogmatize concerning those conditions-- to take possession of their consciences in short, and to interpose their mummeries between man and his creator--it is, probable that such scenes as caused the nations to shudder, throughout so large a portion of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries will continue to repeat themselves at intervals in various parts of the earth. nothing can be more sublime than the self-sacrifice, nothing more demoniac than the crimes, which human creatures have seemed always ready to exhibit under the name of religion. it was and had been really civil war in france. in the netherlands it had become essentially a struggle for independence against a foreign monarch; although the germ out of which both conflicts had grown to their enormous proportions was an effort of the multitude to check the growth of papacy. in france, accordingly, civil war, attended by that gaunt sisterhood, murder, pestilence, and famine, had swept from the soil almost everything that makes life valuable. it had not brought in its train that extraordinary material prosperity and intellectual development at which men wondered in the netherlands, and to which allusion has just been made. but a fortunate conjunction of circumstances had now placed henry of navarre in a position of vantage. he represented the principle of nationality, of french unity. it was impossible to deny that he was in the regular line of succession, now that luckless henry of valois slept with his fathers, and the principle of nationality might perhaps prove as vital a force as attachment to the roman church. moreover, the adroit and unscrupulous bearnese knew well how to shift the mantle of religion from one shoulder to the other, to serve his purposes or the humours of those whom he addressed. "the king of spain would exclude me from the kingdom and heritage of my father because of my religion," he said to the duke of saxony; "but in that religion i am determined to persist so long as i shall live." the hand was the hand of henry, but it was the voice of duplessis mornay. "were there thirty crowns to win," said he, at about the same time to the states of france, "i would not change my religion on compulsion, the dagger at my throat. instruct me, instruct me, i am not obstinate." there spoke the wily freethinker, determined not to be juggled out of what he considered his property by fanatics or priests of either church. had henry been a real devotee, the fate of christendom might have been different. the world has long known how much misery it is in the power of crowned bigots to inflict. on the other hand, the holy league, the sacred confederacy, was catholic or nothing. already it was more papist than the pope, and loudly denounced sixtus v. as a huguenot because he was thought to entertain a weak admiration both for henry the heretic and for the jezebel of england. but the holy confederacy was bent on destroying the national government of france, and dismembering the national domain. to do this the pretext of trampling out heresy and indefinitely extending the power of rome, was most influential with the multitude, and entitled the leaders to enjoy immense power for the time being, while maturing their schemes for acquiring permanent possession of large fragments of the national territory. mayenne, nemours, aumale, mercoeur longed to convert temporary governments into independent principalities. the duke of lorraine looked with longing eyes on verdun, sedan, and, the other fair cities within the territories contiguous--to his own domains. the reckless house of savoy; with whom freebooting and landrobbery seemed geographical, and hereditary necessities, was busy on the southern borders, while it seemed easy enough for philip, ii., in right of his daughter, to secure at least the duchy of brittany before entering on the sovereignty of the whole kingdom. to the eyes of the world at large: france might well seem in a condition of hopeless disintegration; the restoration of its unity and former position among the nations, under the government of a single chief, a weak and wicked dream. furious and incessant were the anathemas hurled on the head of the bearnese for his persistence in drowning the land in blood in the hope of recovering a national capital which never could be his, and of wresting from the control of the confederacy that power. which, whether usurped or rightful, was considered, at least by the peaceably inclined, to have become a solid fact. the poor puppet locked in the tower of fontenay, and entitled charles x.; deceived and scared no one. such money as there was might be coined, in its name, but madam league reigned supreme in paris. the confederates, inspired by the eloquence of a cardinal legate, and supplied with funds by the faithful, were ready to dare a thousand deaths rather than submit to the rule of a tyrant and heretic. what was an authority derived from the laws of the land and the history of the race compared with the dogmas of rome and the trained veterans of spain? it remained to be seen whether nationality or bigotry would triumph. but in the early days of the prospects of nationality were not encouraging. francois de luxembourg, due de pincey, was in rome at that moment, deputed by such catholic nobles of france as were friendly to henry of navarre. sixtus might perhaps be influenced as to the degree of respect to be accorded to the envoy's representations by the events of the campaign about to open. meantime the legate gaetano, young, rich, eloquent, unscrupulous, distinguished alike for the splendour of his house and the brilliancy of his intellect, had arrived in paris. followed by a great train of adherents he had gone down to the house of parliament, and was about to seat himself under the dais reserved for the king, when brisson, first president of parliament, plucked him back by the arm, and caused him to take a seat immediately below his own. deeply was the bold president to expiate this defence of king and law against the holy league. for the moment however the legate contented himself with a long harangue, setting forth the power of rome, while brisson replied by an oration magnifying the grandeur of france. soon afterwards the cardinal addressed himself to the counteraction of henry's projects of conversion. for, well did the subtle priest understand that in purging himself of heresy, the bearnese was about to cut the ground from beneath his enemies' feet. in a letter to the archbishops and bishops of france, he argued the matter at length. especially he denied the necessity or the legality of an assembly of all the prelates of france, such as henry desired to afford him the requisite "instruction" as to the respective merits of the roman and the reformed church. certainly, he urged, the prince of bearne could hardly require instruction as to the tenets of either, seeing that at different times he had faithfully professed both. but while benches of bishops and doctors of the sorbonne were burnishing all the arms in ecclesiastical and legal arsenals for the approaching fray, the sound of louder if not more potent artillery began to be heard in the vicinity of paris. the candid henry, while seeking ghostly instruction with eagerness from his papistical patrons, was equally persevering in applying for the assistance of heretic musketeers and riders from his protestant friends in england, holland, germany, and switzerland. queen elizabeth and the states-general vied with each other in generosity to the great champion of protestantism, who was combating the holy league so valiantly, and rarely has a great historical figure presented itself to the world so bizarre of aspect, and under such shifting perplexity of light and shade, as did the bearnese in the early spring of . the hope of a considerable portion of the catholic nobility of his realm, although himself an excommunicated heretic; the mainstay of calvinism while secretly bending all his energies to effect his reconciliation with the pope; the idol of the austere and grimly puritanical, while himself a model of profligacy; the leader of the earnest and the true, although false as water himself in every relation in which human beings can stand to each other; a standardbearer of both great branches of the christian church in an age when religion was the atmosphere of men's daily lives, yet finding his sincerest admirer, and one of his most faithful allies, in the grand turk, [a portion of the magnificently protective letter of sultan amurath, in which he complimented henry on his religious stedfastness, might almost have made the king's cheek tingle.] the representative of national liberty and human rights against regal and sacerdotal absolutism, while himself a remorseless despot by nature and education, and a believer in no rights of the people save in their privilege to be ruled by himself; it seems strange at first view that henry of navarre should have been for centuries so heroic and popular an image. but he was a soldier, a wit, a consummate politician; above all, he was a man, at a period when to be a king was often to be something much less or much worse. to those accustomed to weigh and analyse popular forces it might well seem that he was now playing an utterly hopeless game. his capital garrisoned by the pope and the king of spain, with its grandees and its populace scoffing at his pretence of authority and loathing his name; with an exchequer consisting of what he could beg or borrow from queen elizabeth--most parsimonious of sovereigns reigning over the half of a small island--and from the states-general governing a half-born, half- drowned little republic, engaged in a quarter of a century's warfare with the greatest monarch in the world; with a wardrobe consisting of a dozen shirts and five pocket-handkerchiefs, most of them ragged, and with a commissariat made up of what could be brought in the saddle-bags of his huguenot cavaliers who came to the charge with him to-day, and to-morrow were dispersed again to their mountain fastnesses; it did not seem likely on any reasonable theory of dynamics that the power of the bearnese was capable of outweighing pope and spain, and the meaner but massive populace of france, and the sorbonne, and the great chiefs of the confederacy, wealthy, long descended, allied to all the sovereigns of christendom, potent in territorial possessions and skilful in wielding political influences. "the bearnese is poor but a gentleman of good family," said the cheerful henry, and it remained to-be seen whether nationality, unity, legitimate authority, history, and law would be able to neutralise the powerful combination of opposing elements. the king had been besieging dreux and had made good progress in reducing the outposts of the city. as it was known that he was expecting considerable reinforcements of english ships, netherlanders, and germans, the chiefs of the league issued orders from paris for an attack before he should thus be strengthened. for parma, unwillingly obeying the stringent commands of his master, had sent from flanders eighteen hundred picked cavalry under count philip egmont to join the army of mayenne. this force comprised five hundred belgian heavy dragoons under the chief nobles of the land, together with a selection, in even proportions, of walloon, german, spanish, and italian troopers. mayenne accordingly crossed the seine at mantes with an army of ten thousand foot, and, including egmont's contingent, about four thousand horse. a force under marshal d'aumont, which lay in ivry at the passage of the eure, fell back on his approach and joined the remainder of the king's army. the siege of dreux was abandoned; and henry withdrew to the neighbourhood of nonancourt. it was obvious that the duke meant to offer battle, and it was rare that the king under any circumstances could be induced to decline a combat. on the night of the th- th march, henry occupied saint andre, a village situated on an elevated and extensive plain four leagues from nonancourt, in the direction of ivry, fringed on three sides by villages and by a wood, and commanding a view of all the approaches from the country between the seine and eure. it would have been better had mayenne been beforehand with him, as the sequel proved; but the duke was not famed for the rapidity of his movements. during the greater part of the night, henry was employed in distributing his orders for that conflict which was inevitable on the following day. his army was drawn up according to a plan prepared by himself, and submitted to the most experienced of his generals for their approval. he then personally visited every portion of the encampment, speaking words of encouragement to his soldiers, and perfecting his arrangements for the coming conflict. attended by marshals d'aumont and biron he remained on horseback during a portion of the night, having ordered his officers to their tents and reconnoitred as well as he could the position of the enemy. towards morning he retired to his headquarters at fourainville, where he threw himself half-dressed on his truckle bed, and although the night was bitterly cold, with no covering but his cloak. he was startled from his slumber before the dawn by a movement of lights in the enemy's camp, and he sprang to his feet supposing that the duke was stealing a march upon him despite all his precautions. the alarm proved to be a false one, but henry lost no time in ordering his battle. his cavalry he divided in seven troops or squadrons. the first, forming the left wing, was a body of three hundred under marshal d'aumont, supported by two regiments of french infantry. next, separated by a short interval, was another troop of three hundred under the duke of montpensier, supported by two other regiments of foot, one swiss and one german. in front of montpensier was baron biron the younger, at the head of still another body of three hundred. two troops of cuirassiers, each four hundred strong, were on biron's left, the one commanded by the grand prior of france, charles d'angouleme, the other by monsieur de givry. between the prior and givry were six pieces of heavy artillery, while the battalia, formed of eight hundred horse in six squadrons, was commanded by the king in person, and covered on both sides by english and swiss infantry, amounting to some four thousand in all. the right wing was under the charge of old marshal biron, and comprised three troops of horse, numbering one hundred and fifty each, two companies of german riders, and four regiments of french infantry. these numbers, which are probably given with as much accuracy as can be obtained, show a force of about three thousand horse and twelve thousand foot. the duke of mayenne, seeing too late the advantage of position which he might have easily secured the day before, led his army forth with the early light, and arranged it in an order not very different from that adopted by the king, and within cannon-shot of his lines. the right wing under marshal de la chatre consisted of three regiments of french and one of germans, supporting three regiments of spanish lancers, two cornets of german riders under the bastard of brunswick, and four hundred cuirassiers. the battalia, which was composed of six hundred splendid cavalry, all noblemen of france, guarding the white banner of the holy league, and supported by a column of three thousand swiss and two thousand french infantry, was commanded by mayenne in person, assisted by his half-brother, the duke of nemours. in front of the infantry was a battery of six cannon and three culverines. the left wing was commanded by marshal de rene, with six regiments of french and lorrainers, two thousand germans, six hundred french cuirassiers, and the mounted troopers of count egmont. it is probable that mayenne's whole force, therefore, amounted to nearly four thousand cavalry and at least thirteen thousand foot. very different was the respective appearance of the two armies, so far, especially, as regarded the horsemen on both sides. gay in their gilded armour and waving plumes, with silken scarves across their shoulders, and the fluttering favours of fair ladies on their arms or in their helmets, the brilliant champions of the holy catholic confederacy clustered around the chieftains of the great house of guise, impatient for the conflict. it was like a muster for a brilliant and chivalrous tournament. the walloon and flemish nobles, outrivalling even the self-confidence of their companions in arms, taunted them with their slowness. the, impetuous egmont, burning to eclipse the fame of his ill-fated father at gravelines and st. quintin in the same holy cause, urged on the battle with unseemly haste, loudly proclaiming that if the french were faint- hearted he would himself give a good account of the navarrese prince without any assistance from them. a cannon-shot away, the grim puritan nobles who had come forth from their mountain fastnesses to do battle for king and law and for the rights of conscience against the holy league--men seasoned in a hundred battle- fields, clad all in iron, with no dainty ornaments nor holiday luxury of warfare--knelt on the ground, smiting their mailed breasts with iron hands, invoking blessings on themselves and curses and confusion on their enemies in the coming conflict, and chanting a stern psalm of homage to the god of battles and of wrath. and henry of france and navarre, descendant of lewis the holy and of hugh the great, beloved chief of the calvinist cavaliers, knelt among his heretic brethren, and prayed and chanted with them. but not the staunchest huguenot of them all, not duplessis, nor d'aubigne, nor de la noue with the iron arm, was more devoted on that day to crown and country than were such papist supporters of the rightful heir as had sworn to conquer the insolent foreigner on the soil of france or die. when this brief prelude was over, henry made an address to his soldiers, but its language has not been preserved. it is known, however, that he wore that day his famous snow-white plume, and that he ordered his soldiers, should his banner go down in the conflict, to follow wherever and as long as that plume should be seen waving on any part of the field. he had taken a position by which his troops had the sun and wind in their backs, so that the smoke rolled toward the enemy and the light shone in their eyes. the combat began with the play of artillery, which soon became so warm that egmont, whose cavalry--suffering and galled--soon became impatient, ordered a charge. it was a most brilliant one. the heavy troopers of flanders and hainault, following their spirited chieftain, dashed upon old marshal biron, routing his cavalry, charging clean up to the huguenot guns and sabring the cannoneers. the shock was square, solid, irresistible, and was followed up by the german riders under eric of brunswick, who charged upon the battalia of the royal army, where the king commanded in person. there was a panic. the whole royal cavalry wavered, the supporting infantry recoiled, the day seemed lost before the battle was well begun. yells of "victory! victory! up with the holy league, down with the heretic bearnese," resounded through the catholic squadrons. the king and marshal biron, who were near each other, were furious with rage, but already doubtful of the result. they exerted themselves to rally the troops under their immediate command, and to reform the shattered ranks. the german riders and french lancers under brunswick and bassompierre had, however, not done their work as thoroughly as egmont had done. the ground was so miry and soft that in the brief space which separated the hostile lines they had not power to urge their horses to full speed. throwing away their useless lances, they came on at a feeble canter, sword in hand, and were unable to make a very vigorous impression on the more heavily armed troopers opposed to them. meeting with a firm resistance to their career, they wheeled, faltered a little and fell a short distance back. many of the riders being of the reformed religion, refused moreover to fire upon the huguenots, and discharged their carbines in the air. the king, whose glance on the battle-field was like inspiration, saw the blot and charged upon them in person with his whole battalia of cavalry. the veteran biron followed hard upon the snow-white plume. the scene was changed, victory succeeded to impending defeat, and the enemy was routed. the riders and cuirassiers, broken into a struggling heap of confusion, strewed the ground with their dead bodies, or carried dismay into the ranks of the infantry as they strove to escape. brunswick went down in the melee, mortally wounded as it was believed. egmont renewing the charge at the head of his victorious belgian troopers, fell dead with a musket-ball through his heart. the shattered german and walloon cavalry, now pricked forward by the lances of their companions, under the passionate commands of mayenne and aumale, now fading back before the furious charges of the huguenots, were completely overthrown and cut to pieces. seven times did henry of navarre in person lead his troopers to the charge; but suddenly, in the midst of the din of battle and the cheers of victory, a message of despair went from lip to lip throughout the royal lines. the king had disappeared. he was killed, and the hopes of protestantism and of france were fallen for ever with him. the white standard of his battalia had been seen floating wildly and purposelessly over the field; for his bannerman, pot de rhodes, a young noble of dauphiny, wounded mortally in the head, with blood streaming over his face and blinding his sight, was utterly unable to control his horse, who gallopped hither and thither at his own caprice, misleading many troopers who followed in his erratic career. a cavalier, armed in proof, and wearing the famous snow-white plume, after a hand-to-hand struggle with a veteran of count bossu's regiment, was seen to fall dead by the side of the bannerman: the fleming, not used to boast, loudly asserted that he had slain the bearnese, and the news spread rapidly over the battle- field. the defeated confederates gained new courage, the victorious royalists were beginning to waver, when suddenly, between the hostile lines, in the very midst of the battle, the king gallopped forward, bareheaded, covered with blood and dust, but entirely unhurt. a wild shout of "vive le roi!" rang through the air. cheerful as ever, he addressed a few encouraging words to his soldiers, with a smiling face, and again led a charge. it was all that was necessary to complete the victory. the enemy broke and ran away on every side in wildest confusion, followed by the royalist cavalry, who sabred them as they fled. the panic gained the foot-soldiers, who should have supported the cavalry, but had not been at all engaged in the action. the french infantry threw away their arms as they rushed from the field and sought refuge in the woods. the walloons were so expeditious in the race, that they never stopped till they gained their own frontier. the day was hopelessly lost, and although mayenne had conducted himself well in the early part of the day, it was certain that he was excelled by none in the celerity of his flight when the rout had fairly begun. pausing to draw breath as he gained the wood, he was seen to deal blows with his own sword among the mob of fugitives, not that he might rally them to their flag and drive them back to another encounter, but because they encumbered his own retreat. the walloon carbineers, the german riders, and the french lancers, disputing as to the relative blame to be attached to each corps, began shooting and sabring each other, almost before they were out of the enemy's sight. many were thus killed. the lansquenets were all put to the sword. the swiss infantry were allowed to depart for their own country on pledging themselves not again to bear arms against henry iv. it is probable that eight hundred of the leaguers were either killed on the battle-field or drowned in the swollen river in their retreat. about one-fourth of that number fell in the army of the king. it is certain that of the contingent from the obedient netherlands, two hundred and seventy, including their distinguished general, lost their lives. the bastard of brunswick, crawling from beneath a heap of slain, escaped with life. mayenne lost all his standards and all the baggage of his army, while the army itself was for a time hopelessly dissolved. few cavalry actions have attained a wider celebrity in history than the fight of ivry. yet there have been many hard-fought battles, where the struggle was fiercer and closer, where the issue was for a longer time doubtful, where far more lives on either side were lost, where the final victory was immediately productive of very much greater results, and which, nevertheless, have sunk into hopeless oblivion. the, personal details which remain concerning the part enacted by the adventurous king at this most critical period of his career, the romantic interest which must always gather about that ready-witted, ready-sworded gascon, at the moment when, to contemporaries, the result of all his struggles seemed so hopeless or at best so doubtful; above all, the numerous royal and princely names which embellished the roll-call of that famous passage of arms, and which were supposed, in those days at least, to add such lustre to a battle-field, as humbler names, however illustrious by valour or virtue, could never bestow, have made this combat for ever famous. yet it is certain that the most healthy moral, in military affairs, to be derived from the event, is that the importance of a victory depends less upon itself than on the use to be made of it. mayenne fled to mantes, the duke of nemours to chartres, other leaders of the league in various directions, mayenne told every body he met that the bearnese was killed, and that although his own army was defeated, he should soon have another one on foot. the same intelligence was communicated to the duke of parma, and by him to philip. mendoza and the other spanish agents went about paris spreading the news of henry's death, but the fact seemed woefully to lack confirmation, while the proofs of the utter overthrow and shameful defeat of the leaguers were visible on every, side. the parisians--many of whom the year before had in vain hired windows in the principal streets, in order to witness the promised entrance of the bearnese, bound hand and foot, and with a gag in his mouth, to swell the triumph of madam league--were incredulous as to the death now reported to them of this very lively heretic, by those who had fled so ignominiously from his troopers. de la none and the other huguenot chieftains, earnestly urged upon henry the importance of advancing upon paris without an instant's delay, and it seems at least extremely probable that, had he done so, the capital would have fallen at once into his hands. it is the concurrent testimony of contemporaries that the panic, the destitution, the confusion would have made resistance impossible had a determined onslaught been made. and henry had a couple of thousand horsemen flushed with victory, and a dozen thousand foot who had been compelled to look upon a triumph in which they had no opportunity of sharing: success and emulation would have easily triumphed over dissension and despair. but the king, yielding to the councils of biron and other catholics, declined attacking the capital, and preferred waiting the slow, and in his circumstances eminently hazardous, operations of a regular siege. was it the fear of giving a signal triumph to the cause of protestantism that caused the huguenot leader--so soon to become a renegade--to pause in his career? was it anxiety lest his victorious entrance into paris might undo the diplomacy of his catholic envoys at rome? or was it simply the mutinous condition of his army, especially of the swiss mercenaries, who refused to advance a step unless their arrears of pay were at once furnished them out of the utterly empty exchequer of the king? whatever may have been the cause of the delay, it is certain that the golden fruit of victory was not plucked, and that although the confederate army had rapidly dissolved, in consequence of their defeat, the king's own forces manifested as little cohesion. and now began that slow and painful siege, the details of which are as terrible, but as universally known, as those of any chapters in the blood-stained history of the century. henry seized upon the towns guarding the rivers seine and marne, twin nurses of paris. by controlling the course of those streams as well as that of the yonne and oise--especially by taking firm possession of lagny on the marne, whence a bridge led from the isle of france to the brie country--great thoroughfare of wine and corn--and of corbeil at the junction of the little river essonne with the seine-it was easy in that age to stop the vital circulation of the imperial city. by midsummer, paris, unquestionably the first city of europe at that day, was in extremities, and there are few events in history in which our admiration is more excited by the power of mankind to endure almost preternatural misery, or our indignation more deeply aroused by the cruelty with which the sublimest principles of human nature may be made to serve the purposes of selfish ambition and grovelling superstition, than this famous leaguer. rarely have men at any epoch defended their fatherland against foreign oppression with more heroism than that which was manifested by the parisians of in resisting religious toleration, and in obeying a foreign and priestly despotism. men, women, and children cheerfully laid down their lives by thousands in order that the papal legate and the king of spain might trample upon that legitimate sovereign of france who was one day to become the idol of paris and of the whole kingdom. a census taken at the beginning of the siege had showed a populace of two hundred thousand souls, with a sufficiency of provisions, it was thought, to last one month. but before the terrible summer was over--so completely had the city been invested--the bushel of wheat was worth three hundred and sixty crowns, rye and oats being but little cheaper. indeed, grain might as well have cost three thousand crowns the bushel, for the prices recorded placed it beyond the reach of all but the extremely wealthy. the flesh of horses, asses, dogs, cats, rats had become rare luxuries. there was nothing cheap, said a citizen bitterly, but sermons. and the priests and monks of every order went daily about the streets, preaching fortitude in that great resistance to heresy, by which paris was earning for itself a crown of glory, and promising the most direct passage to paradise for the souls of the wretched victims who fell daily, starved to death, upon the pavements. and the monks and priests did their work nobly, aiding the general resolution by the example of their own courage. better fed than their fellow citizens, they did military work in trench, guard-house and rampart, as the population became rapidly unfit, from physical exhaustion, for the defence of the city. the young duke of nemours, governor of the place, manifested as much resolution and conduct in bringing his countrymen to perdition as if the work in which he was engaged had been the highest and holiest that ever tasked human energies. he was sustained in his task by that proud princess, his own and mayenne's mother, by madame montpensier, by the resident triumvirate of spain, mendoza, commander moreo, and john baptist tasais, by the cardinal legate gaetano, and, more than all, by the sixteen chiefs of the wards, those municipal tyrants of the unhappy populace. pope sixtus himself was by no means eager for the success of the league. after the battle of ivry, he had most seriously inclined his ear to the representations of henry's envoy, and showed much willingness to admit the victorious heretic once more into the bosom of the church. sixtus was not desirous of contributing to the advancement of philip's power. he feared his designs on italy, being himself most anxious at that time to annex naples to the holy see. he had amassed a large treasure, but he liked best to spend it in splendid architecture, in noble fountains, in magnificent collections of art, science, and literature, and, above all, in building up fortunes for the children of his sister the washerwoman, and in allying them all to the most princely houses of italy, while never allowing them even to mention the name of their father, so base was his degree; but he cared not to disburse from his hoarded dollars to supply the necessities of the league. but gaetano, although he could wring but fifty thousand crowns from his holiness after the fatal fight of ivry, to further the good cause, was lavish in expenditures from his own purse and from other sources, and this too at a time when thirty-three per cent. interest was paid to the usurers of antwerp for one month's loan of ready money. he was indefatigable, too, and most successful in his exhortations and ghostly consolations to the people. those proud priests and great nobles were playing a reckless game, and the hopes of mankind beyond the grave were the counters on their table. for themselves there were rich prizes for the winning. should they succeed in dismembering the fair land where they were enacting their fantastic parts, there were temporal principalities, great provinces, petty sovereignties, to be carved out of the heritage which the bearnese claimed for his own. obviously then, their consciences could never permit this shameless heretic, by a simulated conversion at the critical moment, to block their game and restore the national unity and laws. and even should it be necessary to give the whole kingdom, instead of the mere duchy of brittany, to philip of spain, still there were mighty guerdons to be bestowed on his supporters before the foreign monarch could seat himself on the throne of henry's ancestors. as to the people who were fighting, starving, dying by thousands in this great cause, there were eternal rewards in another world profusely promised for their heroism instead of the more substantial bread and beef, for lack of which they were laying down their lives. it was estimated that before july twelve thousand human beings in paris had died, for want of food, within three months. but as there were no signs of the promised relief by the army of parma and mayenne, and as the starving people at times appeared faint-hearted, their courage was strengthened one day by a stirring exhibition. an astonishing procession marched through the streets of the city, led by the bishop of senlis and the prior of chartreux, each holding a halberd in one hand and a crucifix in the other, and graced by the presence of the cardinal-legate, and of many prelates from italy. a lame monk, adroitly manipulating the staff of a drum major, went hopping and limping before them, much to the amazement of the crowd. then came a long file of monks-capuchins, bernardists, minimes, franciscans, jacobins, carmelites, and other orders--each with his cowl thrown back, his long robes trussed up, a helmet on his head, a cuirass on his breast, and a halberd in his hand. the elder ones marched first, grinding their teeth, rolling their eyes, and making other ferocious demonstrations. then came the younger friars, similarly attired, all armed with arquebusses, which they occasionally and accidentally discharged to the disadvantage of the spectators, several of whom were killed or wounded on the spot. among others a servant of cardinal gaetano was thus slain, and the even caused much commotion, until the cardinal proclaimed that a man thus killed in so holy a cause had gone straight to heaven and had taken his place among the just. it was impossible, thus argued the people in their simplicity, that so wise and virtuous a man as the cardinal should not know what was best. the procession marched to the church of our lady of loretto, where they solemnly promised to the blessed virgin a lamp and ship of gold--should she be willing to use her influence in behalf of the suffering city--to be placed on her shrine as soon as the siege should be raised. but these demonstrations, however cheering to the souls, had comparatively little effect upon the bodies of the sufferers. it was impossible to walk through the streets of paris without stumbling over the dead bodies of the citizens. trustworthy eye-witnesses of those dreadful days have placed the number of the dead during the summer at thirty thousand. a tumultuous assemblage of the starving and the forlorn rushed at last to the municipal palace, demanding peace or bread. the rebels were soon dispersed however by a charge, headed by the chevalier d'aumale, and assisted by the chiefs of the wards, and so soon as the riot was quelled, its ringleader, a leading advocate, renaud by name, was hanged. still, but for the energy of the priests, it is doubtful whether the city could have been held by the confederacy. the duke of nemours confessed that there were occasions when they never would have been able to sustain a determined onslaught, and they were daily expecting to see the prince of bearne battering triumphantly at their gates. but the eloquence of the preachers, especially of the one-eyed father boucher, sustained the fainting spirits of the people, and consoled the sufferers in their dying agonies by glimpses of paradise. sublime was that devotion, superhuman that craft; but it is only by weapons from the armoury of the unseen that human creatures can long confront such horrors in a wicked cause. superstition, in those days at least, was a political force absolutely without limitation, and most adroitly did the agents of spain and rome handle its tremendous enginery against unhappy france. for the hideous details of the most dreadful sieges recorded in ancient or modern times were now reproduced in paris. not a revolutionary circumstance, at which the world had shuddered in the accounts of the siege of jerusalem, was spared. men devoured such dead vermin as could be found lying in the streets. they crowded greedily around stalls in the public squares where the skin, bones, and offal of such dogs, cats and unclean beasts as still remained for the consumption of the wealthier classes were sold to the populace. over the doorways of these flesh markets might be read "haec runt munera pro iis qui vitam pro philippo profuderunt." men stood in archways and narrow passages lying in wait for whatever stray dogs still remained at large, noosed them, strangled them, and like savage beasts of prey tore them to pieces and devoured them alive. and it sometimes happened, too, that the equally hungry dog proved the more successful in the foul encounter, and fed upon the man. a lady visiting the duchess of nemours--called for the high pretensions of her sons by her two marriages the queen-mother--complained bitterly that mothers in paris had been compelled to kill their own children outright to save them from starving to death in lingering agony. "and if you are brought to that extremity," replied the duchess, "as for the sake of our holy religion to be forced to kill your own children, do you think that so great a matter after all? what are your children made of more than other people's children? what are we all but dirt and dust?" such was the consolation administered by the mother of the man who governed paris, and defended its gates against its lawful sovereign at the command of a foreigner; while the priests in their turn persuaded the populace that it was far more righteous to kill their own children, if they had no food to give them, than to obtain food by recognising a heretic king. it was related too, and believed, that in some instances mothers had salted the bodies of their dead children and fed upon them, day by day, until the hideous repast would no longer support their own life. they died, and the secret was revealed by servants who had partaken of the food. the spanish ambassador, mendoza, advised recourse to an article of diet which had been used in some of the oriental sieges. the counsel at first was rejected as coming from the agent of spain, who wished at all hazards to save the capital of france from falling out of the hands of his master into those of the heretic. but dire necessity prevailed, and the bones of the dead were taken in considerable quantities from the cemeteries, ground into flour, baked into bread, and consumed. it was called madame montpensier's cake, because the duchess earnestly proclaimed its merits to the poor parisians. "she was never known to taste it herself, however," bitterly observed one who lived in paris through that horrible summer. she was right to abstain, for all who ate of it died, and the montpensier flour fell into disuse. lansquenets and other soldiers, mad with hunger and rage, when they could no longer find dogs to feed on, chased children through the streets, and were known in several instances to kill and devour them on the spot. to those expressing horror at the perpetration of such a crime, a leading personage, member of the council of nine, maintained that there was less danger to one's soul in satisfying one's hunger with a dead child, in case of necessity, than in recognizing the heretic bearnese, and he added that all the best theologians and doctors of paris were of his opinion. as the summer wore on to its close, through all these horrors, and as there were still no signs of mayenne and parma leading their armies to the relief of the city, it became necessary to deceive the people by a show of negotiation with the beleaguering army. accordingly, the spanish ambassador, the legate, and the other chiefs of the holy league appointed a deputation, consisting of the cardinal gondy, the archbishop of lyons, and the abbe d'elbene, to henry. it soon became evident to the king, however, that these commissioners were but trifling with him in order to amuse the populace. his attitude was dignified and determined throughout the interview. the place appointed was st. anthony's abbey, before the gates of paris. henry wore a cloak and the order of the holy ghost, and was surrounded by his council, the princes of the blood, and by more than four hundred of the chief gentlemen of his army. after passing the barricade, the deputies were received by old marshal biron, and conducted by him to the king's chamber of state. when they had made their salutations, the king led the way to an inner cabinet, but his progress was much impeded by the crowding of the nobles about him. wishing to excuse this apparent rudeness, he said to the envoys: "gentlemen, these men thrust me on as fast to the battle against the foreigner as they now do to my cabinet. therefore bear with them." then turning to the crowd, he said: "room, gentlemen, for the love of me," upon which they all retired. the deputies then stated that they had been sent by the authorities of paris to consult as to the means of obtaining a general peace in france. they expressed the hope that the king's disposition was favourable to this end, and that he would likewise permit them to confer with the duke of mayenne. this manner of addressing him excited his choler. he told cardinal gondy, who was spokesman of the deputation, that he had long since answered such propositions. he alone could deal with his subjects. he was like the woman before solomon; he would have all the child or none of it. rather than dismember his kingdom he would lose the whole. he asked them what they considered him to be. they answered that they knew his rights, but that the parisians had different opinions. if paris would only acknowledge him to be king there could be no more question of war. he asked them if they desired the king of spain or the duke of mayenne for their king, and bade them look well to themselves. the king of spain could not help them, for he had too much business on hand; while mayenne had neither means nor courage, having been within three leagues of them for three weeks doing nothing. neither king nor duke should have that which belonged to him, of that they might be assured. he told them he loved paris as his capital, as his eldest daughter. if the parisians wished to see the end of their miseries it was to him they should appeal, not to the spaniard nor to the duke of mayenne. by the grace of god and the swords of his brave gentlemen he would prevent the king of spain from making a colony of france as he had done of brazil. he told the commissioners that they ought to die of shame that they, born frenchmen, should have so forgotten their love of country and of liberty as thus to bow the head to the spaniard, and--while famine was carrying off thousands of their countrymen before their eyes--to be so cowardly as not to utter one word for the public welfare from fear of offending cardinal. gaetano, mendoza, and moreo. he said that he longed for a combat to decide the issue, and that he had charged count de brissac to tell mayenne that he would give a finger of his right hand for a battle, and two for a general peace. he knew and pitied the sufferings of paris, but the horrors now raging there were to please the king of spain. that monarch had told the duke of parma to trouble himself but little about the netherlands so long as he could preserve for him his city of paris. but it was to lean on a broken reed to expect support from this old, decrepit king, whose object was to dismember the flourishing kingdom of france, and to divide it among as many tyrants as he had sent viceroys to the indies. the crown was his own birthright. were it elective he should receive the suffrages of the great mass of the electors. he hoped soon to drive those red-crossed foreigners out of his kingdom. should he fail, they would end by expelling the duke of mayenne and all the rest who had called them in, and paris would become the theatre of the bloodiest tragedy ever yet enacted. the king then ordered sir roger williams to see that a collation was prepared for the deputies, and the veteran welshman took occasion to indulge in much blunt conversation with the guests. he informed them that he, mr. sackville, and many other strangers were serving the king from the hatred they bore the spaniards and mother league, and that his royal mistress had always englishmen ready to maintain the cause. while the conferences were going on, the officers and soldiers of the besieging army thronged to the gate, and had much talk with the townsmen. among others, time-honoured la none with the iron arm stood near the gate and harangued the parisians. "we are here," said he, "five thousand gentlemen; we desire your good, not your ruin. we will make you rich: let us participate in your labour and industry. undo not yourselves to serve the ambition of a few men." the townspeople hearing the old warrior discoursing thus earnestly, asked who he was. when informed that it was la noue they cheered him vociferously, and applauded his speech with the greatest vehemence. yet la noue was the foremost huguenot that the sun shone upon, and the parisians were starving themselves to death out of hatred to heresy. after the collation the commissioners were permitted to go from the camp in order to consult mayenne. such then was the condition of paris during that memorable summer of tortures. what now were its hopes of deliverance out of this gehenna? the trust of frenchmen was in philip of spain, whose legions, under command of the great italian chieftain, were daily longed for to save them from rendering obedience to their lawful prince. for even the king of straw--the imprisoned cardinal--was now dead, and there was not even the effigy of any other sovereign than henry of bourbon to claim authority in france. mayenne, in the course of long interviews with the duke of parma at conde and brussels, had expressed his desire to see philip king of france, and had promised his best efforts to bring about such a result. in that case he stipulated for the second place in the kingdom for himself, together with a good rich province in perpetual sovereignty, and a large sum of money in hand. should this course not run smoothly, he would be willing to take the crown himself, in which event he would cheerfully cede to philip the sovereignty of brittany and burgundy, besides a selection of cities to be arranged for at a later day. although he spoke of himself with modesty, said alexander, it was very plain that he meant to arrive at the crown himself: well had the bearnese alluded to the judgment of solomon. were not children, thus ready to dismember their mother, as foul and unnatural as the mother who would divide her child? and what was this dependence on a foreign tyrant really worth? as we look back upon those dark days with the light of what was then the almost immediate future turned full and glaring upon them, we find it difficult to exaggerate the folly of the chief actors in those scenes of crime. did not the penniless adventurer, whose keen eyesight and wise recklessness were passing for hallucination and foolhardiness in the eyes of his contemporaries, understand the game he was playing better than did that profound thinker, that mysterious but infallible politician, who sat in the escorial and made the world tremble at every hint of his lips, every stroke of his pen? the netherlands--that most advanced portion of philip's domain, without the possession of which his conquest of england and his incorporation of france were but childish visions, even if they were not monstrous chimeras at best--were to be in a manner left to themselves, while their consummate governor and general was to go forth and conquer france at the head of a force with which he had been in vain attempting to hold those provinces to their obedience. at that very moment the rising young chieftain of the netherlands was most successfully inaugurating his career of military success. his armies well drilled, well disciplined, well paid, full of heart and of hope, were threatening their ancient enemy in every quarter, while the veteran legions of spain and italy, heroes of a hundred flemish and frisian battle-fields, were disorganised, starving, and mutinous. the famous ancient legion, the terzo viejo, had been disbanded for its obstinate and confirmed unruliness. the legion of manrique, sixteen hundred strong, was in open mutiny at courtray. farnese had sent the prince of ascoli to negotiate with them, but his attempts were all in vain. two years' arrearages--to be paid, not in cloth at four times what the contractors had paid for it, but in solid gold--were their not unreasonable demands after years of as hard fighting and severe suffering as the world has often seen. but philip, instead of ducats or cloth, had only sent orders to go forth and conquer a new kingdom for him. verdugo, too, from friesland was howling for money, garrotting and hanging his mutinous veterans every day, and sending complaints and most dismal forebodings as often as a courier could make his way through the enemy's lines to farnese's headquarters. and farnese, on his part, was garrotting and hanging the veterans. alexander did not of course inform his master that he was a mischievous lunatic, who upon any healthy principle of human government ought long ago to have been shut up from all communion with his species. it was very plain, however, from his letters, that such was his innermost, thought, had it been safe, loyal, or courteous to express it in plain language. he was himself stung almost to madness moreover by the presence of commander moreo, who hated him, who was perpetually coming over from france to visit him, who was a spy upon all his actions, and who was regularly distilling his calumnies into the ears of secretary idiaquez and of philip himself. the king was informed that farnese was working for his own ends, and was disgusted with his sovereign; that there never had been a petty prince of italy that did not wish to become a greater one, or that was not jealous of philip's power, and that there was not a villain in all christendom but wished for philip's death. moreo followed the prince about to antwerp, to brussels, to spa, whither he had gone to drink the waters for his failing health, pestered him, lectured him, pried upon him, counselled him, enraged him. alexander told him at last that he cared not if the whole world came to an end so long as flanders remained, which alone had been entrusted to him, and that if he was expected to conquer france it would be as well to give him the means of performing that exploit. so moreo told the king that alexander was wasting time and wasting money, that he was the cause of egmont's overthrow, and that he would be the cause of the loss of paris and of the downfall of the whole french scheme; for that he was determined to do nothing to assist mayenne, or that did not conduce to his private advantage. yet farnese had been not long before informed in sufficiently plain language, and by personages of great influence, that in case he wished to convert his vice-royalty of the netherlands into a permanent sovereignty, he might rely on the assistance of henry of navarre, and perhaps of queen elizabeth. the scheme would not have been impracticable, but the duke never listened to it for a moment. if he were slow in advancing to the relief of starving, agonising paris, there were sufficient reasons for his delay. most decidedly and bitterly, but loyally, did he denounce the madness of his master's course in all his communications to that master's private ear. he told him that the situation in which he found himself was horrible. he had no money for his troops, he had not even garrison bread to put in their mouths. he had not a single stiver to advance them on account. from friesland, from the rhine country, from every quarter, cries of distress were rising to heaven, and the lamentations were just. he was in absolute penury. he could not negotiate a bill on the royal account, but had borrowed on his own private security a few thousand crowns which he had given to his soldiers. he was pledging his jewels and furniture like a bankrupt, but all was now in vain to stop the mutiny at courtray. if that went on it would be of most pernicious example, for the whole army was disorganised, malcontent, and of portentous aspect. "these things," said he, "ought not to surprise people of common understanding, for without money, without credit, without provisions, and in an exhausted country, it is impossible to satisfy the claims, or even to support the life of the army." when he sent the flemish cavalry to mayenne in march, it was under the impression that with it that prince would have maintained his reputation and checked the progress of the bearnese until greater reinforcements could be forwarded. he was now glad that no larger number had been sent, for all would have been sacrificed on the fatal field of ivry. the country around him was desperate, believed itself abandoned, and was expecting fresh horrors everyday. he had been obliged to remove portions of the garrisons at deventer and zutphen purely to save them from starving and desperation. every day he was informed by his garrisons that they could feed no longer on fine words or hopes, for in them they found no sustenance. but philip told him that he must proceed forthwith to france, where he was to raise the siege of paris, and occupy calais and boulogne in order to prevent the english from sending succour to the bearnese, and in order to facilitate his own designs on england. every effort was to be made before the bearnese climbed into the seat. the duke of parma was to talk no more of difficulties, but to conquer them; a noble phrase on the battle field, but comparatively easy of utterance at the writing-desk! at last, philip having made some remittances, miserably inadequate for the necessities of the case, but sufficient to repress in part the mutinous demonstrations throughout the army, farnese addressed himself with a heavy heart to the work required of him. he confessed the deepest apprehensions of the result both in the netherlands and in france. he intimated a profound distrust of the french, who had, ever been philip's enemies, and dwelt on the danger of leaving the provinces, unable to protect themselves, badly garrisoned, and starving. "it grieves me to the soul, it cuts me to the heart," he said, "to see that your majesty commands things which are impossible, for it is our lord alone that can work miracles. your majesty supposes that with the little money you have sent me, i can satisfy all the soldiers serving in these provinces, settle with the spanish and the german mutineers--because, if they are to be used in the expedition, they must at least be quieted--give money to mayenne and the parisians, pay retaining wages (wartgeld) to the german riders for the protection of these provinces, and make sure of the maritime places where the same mutinous language is held as at courtray. the poverty, the discontent, and the desperation of this unhappy country," he added, "have, been so often described to your majesty that i have nothing to add. i am hanging and garrotting my veterans everywhere, only because they have rebelled for want of pay without committing any excess. yet under these circumstances i am to march into france with twenty thousand troops--the least number to effect anything withal. i am confused and perplexed because the whole world is exclaiming against me, and protesting that through my desertion the country entrusted to my care will come to utter perdition. on the other hand, the french cry out upon me that i am the cause that paris is going to destruction, and with it the catholic cause in france. every one is pursuing his private ends. it is impossible to collect a force strong enough for the necessary work. paris has reached its extreme unction, and neither mayenne nor any one of the confederates has given this invalid the slightest morsel to support her till your majesty's forces should arrive." he reminded his sovereign that the country around paris was eaten bare of food and forage, and yet that it was quite out of the question for him to undertake the transportation of supplies for his army all the way-- supplies from the starving netherlands to starving france. since the king was so peremptory, he had nothing for it but to obey, but he vehemently disclaimed all responsibility for the expedition, and, in case of his death, he called on his majesty to vindicate his honour, which his enemies were sure to assail. the messages from mayenne becoming daily more pressing, farnese hastened as much as possible those preparations which at best were so woefully inadequate, and avowed his determination not to fight the bearnese if it were possible to avoid an action. he feared, however, that with totally insufficient forces he should be obliged to accept the chances of an engagement. with twelve thousand foot and three thousand horse farnese left the netherlands in the beginning of august, and arrived on the rd of that month at valenciennes. his little army, notwithstanding his bitter complaints, was of imposing appearance. the archers and halberdiers of his bodyguard were magnificent in taffety and feathers and surcoats of cramoisy velvet. four hundred nobles served in the cavalry. arenberg and barlaymont and chimay, and other grandees of the netherlands, in company with ascoli and the sons of terranova and pastrana, and many more great lords of italy and spain were in immediate attendance on the illustrious captain. the son of philip's secretary of state, idiaquez, and the nephew of the cardinal-legate, gaetano, were among the marshals of the camp. alexander's own natural authority and consummate powers of organisation had for the time triumphed over the disintegrating tendencies which, it had been seen, were everywhere so rapidly destroying the foremost military establishment of the world. nearly half his forces, both cavalry and infantry, were netherlanders; for--as if there were not graves enough in their own little territory--those flemings, walloons, and hollanders were destined to leave their bones on both sides of every well-stricken field of that age between liberty and despotism. and thus thousands of them had now gone forth under the banner of spain to assist their own tyrant in carrying out his designs upon the capital of france, and to struggle to the death with thousands of their own countrymen who were following the fortunes of the bearnese. truly in that age it was religion that drew the boundary line between nations. the army was divided into three portions. the vanguard was under the charge of the netherland general, marquis of renty. the battalia was commanded by farnese in person, and the rearguard was entrusted to that veteran netherlander, la motte, now called the count of everbeck. twenty pieces of artillery followed the last division. at valenciennes farnese remained eight days, and from this place count charles mansfeld took his departure in a great rage--resigning his post as chief of artillery because la motte had received the appointment of general- marshal of the camp--and returned to his father, old peter ernest mansfeld, who was lieutenant-governor of the netherlands in parma's absence. leaving valenciennes on the th, the army proceeded by way of quesney, guise, soissons, fritemilon to meaux. at this place, which is ten leagues from paris, farnese made his junction, on the nd of august, with mayenne, who was at the head of six thousand infantry--one half of them germans under cobalto, and the other half french--and of two thousand horse. on arriving at meaux, alexander proceeded straightway to the cathedral, and there, in presence of all, he solemnly swore that he had not come to france in order to conquer that kingdom or any portion of it, in the interests of his master, but only to render succour to the catholic cause and to free the friends and confederates of his majesty from violence and heretic oppression. time was to show the value of that oath. here the deputation from paris--the archbishop of lyons and his colleagues, whose interview with henry has just been narrated--were received by the two dukes. they departed, taking with them promises of immediate relief for the starving city. the allies remained five days at meaux, and leaving that place on the th, arrived in the neighbourhood of chelles, on the last day but one of the summer. they had a united force of five thousand cavalry and eighteen thousand foot. the summer of horrors was over, and thus with the first days of autumn there had come a ray of hope for the proud city which was lying at its last gasp. when the allies, came in sight of the monastery of chellea they found themselves in the immediate neighbourhood of the bearnese. the two great captains of the age had at last met face to face. they were not only the two first commanders of their time, but there was not a man in europe at that day to be at all compared with either of them. the youth, concerning whose earliest campaign an account will be given in the following chapter, had hardly yet struck his first blow. whether that blow was to reveal the novice or the master was soon to be seen. meantime in it would have been considered a foolish adulation to mention the name of maurice of nassau in the same breath with that of navarre or of farnese. the scientific duel which was now to take place was likely to task the genius and to bring into full display the peculiar powers and defects of the two chieftains of europe. each might be considered to be still in the prime of life, but alexander, who was turned of forty-five, was already broken in health, while the vigorous henry was eight years younger, and of an iron constitution. both had passed then lives in the field, but the king, from nature, education, and the force of circumstances, preferred pitched battles to scientific combinations, while the duke, having studied and practised his art in the great spanish and italian schools of warfare, was rather a profound strategist than a professional fighter, although capable of great promptness and intense personal energy when his judgment dictated a battle. both were born with that invaluable gift which no human being can acquire, authority, and both were adored and willingly obeyed by their soldiers, so long as those soldiers were paid and fed. the prize now to be contended for was a high one. alexander's complete success would tear from henry's grasp the first city of christendom, now sinking exhausted into his hands, and would place france in the power of the holy league and at the feet of philip. another ivry would shatter the confederacy, and carry the king in triumph to his capital and his ancestral throne. on the approach of the combined armies under parma and mayenne, the king had found himself most reluctantly compelled to suspend the siege of paris. his army, which consisted of sixteen thousand foot and five thousand horse, was not sufficiently numerous to confront at the same time the relieving force and to continue the operations before the city. so long, however, as he held the towns and bridges on the great rivers, and especially those keys to the seine and marne, corbeil and lagny, he still controlled the life-blood of the capital, which indeed had almost ceased to flow. on the st august he advanced towards the enemy. sir edward stafford, queen elizabeth's ambassador, arrived at st. denis in the night of the th august. at a very early hour next morning he heard a shout under his window, and looking down beheld king henry at the head of his troops, cheerfully calling out to his english friend as he passed his door. "welcoming us after his familiar manner," said stafford, "he desired us, in respect of the battle every hour expected, to come as his friends to see and help him, and not to treat of anything which afore, we meant, seeing the present state to require it, and the enemy so near that we might well have been interrupted in half-an-hour's talk, and necessity constrained the king to be in every corner, where for the most part we follow him." that day henry took up his headquarters at the monastery of chelles, a fortified place within six leagues of paris, on the right bank of the marne. his army was drawn up in a wide valley somewhat encumbered with wood and water, extending through a series of beautiful pastures towards two hills of moderate elevation. lagny, on the left bank of the river, was within less than a league of him on his right hand. on the other side of the hills, hardly out of cannon-shot, was the camp of the allies. henry, whose natural disposition in this respect needed no prompting, was most eager for a decisive engagement. the circumstances imperatively required it of him. his infantry consisted of frenchmen, netherlanders, english, germans, scotch; but of his cavalry four thousand were french nobles, serving at their own expense, who came to a battle as to a banquet, but who were capable of riding off almost as rapidly, should the feast be denied them. they were volunteers, bringing with them rations for but a few days, and it could hardly be expected that they would remain as patiently as did parma's veterans, who, now that their mutiny had been appeased by payment of a portion of their arrearages, had become docile again. all the great chieftains who surrounded henry, whether catholic or protestant--montpensier, nevers, soissons, conti, the birons, lavradin, d'aumont, tremouille, turenne, chatillon, la noue--were urgent for the conflict, concerning the expediency of which there could indeed be no doubt, while the king was in raptures at the opportunity of dealing a decisive blow at the confederacy of foreigners and rebels who had so long defied his authority and deprived him of his rights. stafford came up with the king, according to his cordial invitation, on the same day, and saw the army all drawn up in battle array. while henry was "eating a morsel in an old house," turenne joined him with six or seven hundred horsemen and between four and five thousand infantry. "they were the likeliest footmen," said stafford, "the best countenanced, the best furnished that ever i saw in my life; the best part of them old soldiers that had served under the king for the religion all this while." the envoy was especially enthusiastic, however, in regard to the french cavalry. "there are near six thousand horse," said he, "whereof gentlemen above four thousand, about twelve hundred other french, and eight hundred reiters. i never saw, nor i think never any man saw, in prance such a company of gentlemen together so well horsed and so well armed." henry sent a herald to the camp of the allies, formally challenging them to a general engagement, and expressing a hope that all differences might now be settled by the ordeal of battle, rather than that the sufferings of the innocent people should be longer protracted. farnese, on arriving at meaux, had resolved to seek the enemy and take the hazards of a stricken field. he had misgivings as to the possible result, but he expressly announced this intention in his letters to philip, and mayenne confirmed him in his determination. nevertheless, finding the enemy so eager and having reflected more maturely, he saw no reason for accepting the chivalrous cartel. as commanderin-chief--for mayenne willingly conceded the supremacy which it would have been absurd in him to dispute--he accordingly replied that it was his custom to refuse a combat when a refusal seemed advantageous to himself, and to offer battle whenever it suited his purposes to fight. when that moment should arrive the king would find him in the field. and, having sent this courteous, but unsatisfactory answer to the impatient bearnese, he gave orders to fortify his camp, which was already sufficiently strong. seven days long the two armies lay face to face--henry and his chivalry chafing in vain for the longed-for engagement--and nothing occurred between those forty or fifty thousand mortal enemies, encamped within a mile or two of each other, save trifling skirmishes leading to no result. at last farnese gave orders for an advance. renty, commander of the vanguard, consisting of nearly all the cavalry, was instructed to move slowly forward over the two hills, and descending on the opposite side, to deploy his forces in two great wings to the right and left. he was secretly directed in this movement to magnify as much as possible the apparent dimensions of his force. slowly the columns moved over the hills. squadron after squadron, nearly all of them lancers, with their pennons flaunting gaily in the summer wind, displayed themselves deliberately and ostentatiously in the face of the royalists. the splendid light-horse of basti, the ponderous troopers of the flemish bands of ordnance under chimay and berlaymont, and the famous albanian and italian cavalry, were mingled with the veteran leaguers of france who had fought under the balafre, and who now followed the fortunes of his brother mayenne. it was an imposing demonstration. henry could hardly believe his eyes as the much-coveted opportunity, of which he had been so many days disappointed, at last presented itself, and he waited with more than his usual caution until the plan of attack should be developed by his great antagonist. parma, on his side, pressed the hand of mayenne as he watched the movement, saying quietly, "we have already fought our battle and gained the victory." he then issued orders for the whole battalia--which, since the junction, had been under command of mayenne, farnese reserving for himself the superintendence of the entire army--to countermarch rapidly towards the marne and take up a position opposite lagny. la motte, with the rearguard, was directed immediately to follow. the battalia had thus become the van, the rearguard the battalia, while the whole cavalry corps by this movement had been transformed from the vanguard into the rear. renty was instructed to protect his manoeuvres, to restrain the skirmishing as much as possible, and to keep the commander-in-chief constantly informed of every occurrence. in the night he was to entrench and fortify himself rapidly and thoroughly, without changing his position. under cover of this feigned attack, farnese arrived at the river side on the th september, seized an open village directly opposite lagny, which was connected with it by a stone bridge, and planted a battery of nine pieces of heavy artillery directly opposite the town. lagny was fortified in the old-fashioned manner, with not very thick walls, and without a terreplain. its position, however, and its command of the bridge, seemed to render an assault impossible, and de la fin, who lay there with a garrison of twelve hundred french, had no fear for the security of the place. but farnese, with the precision and celerity which characterized his movements on special occasions, had thrown pontoon bridges across the river three miles above, and sent a considerable force of spanish and walloon infantry to the other side. these troops were ordered to hold themselves ready for an assault, so soon as the batteries opposite should effect a practicable breach. the next day henry, reconnoitering the scene, saw, with intense indignation, that he had been completely out-generalled. lagny, the key to the marne, by holding which he had closed the door on nearly all the food supplies for paris, was about to be wrested from him. what should he do? should he throw himself across the river and rescue the place before it fell? this was not to be thought of even by the audacious bearnese. in the attempt to cross the river, under the enemy's fire, he was likely to lose a large portion of his army. should he fling himself upon renty's division which had so ostentatiously offered battle the day before? this at least might be attempted, although not so advantageously as would have been the case on the previous afternoon. to undertake this was the result of a rapid council of generals. it was too late. renty held the hills so firmly entrenched and fortified that it was an idle hope to carry them by assault. he might hurl column after column against those heights, and pass the day in seeing his men mowed to the earth without result. his soldiers, magnificent in the open field, could not be relied upon to carry so strong a position by sudden storm; and there was no time to be lost. he felt the enemy a little. there was some small skirmishing, and while it was going on, farnese opened a tremendous fire across the river upon lagny. the weak walls soon crumbled; a breach was effected, the signal for assault was given, and the troops posted on the other side, after a brief but sanguinary straggle, overcame all, resistance, and were masters of the town. the whole garrison, twelve hundred strong, was butchered, and the city thoroughly sacked; for farnese had been brought up in the old-fashioned school of alva; and julian romero and com-. wander requesens. thus lagny was seized before the eyes of henry, who was forced to look helplessly on his great antagonist's triumph. he had come forth in full panoply and abounding confidence to offer battle. he was foiled of his combat; and he had lost the prize. never was blow more successfully parried, a counter-stroke more ingeniously planted. the bridges of charenton and st. maur now fell into farnese's hands without a contest. in an incredibly short space of time provisions and munitions were poured into the starving city; two thousand boat-loads arriving in a single day. paris was relieved. alexander had made his demonstration, and solved the problem. he had left the netherlands against his judgment, but he had at least accomplished his french work as none but he could have done it. the king was now in worse plight than ever. his army fell to pieces. his cavaliers, cheated of their battle; and having neither food nor forage, rode off by hundreds every day. "our state is such," said stafford; on the th september, "and so far unexpected and wonderful, that i am almost ashamed to write, because methinks everybody should think i dream. myself seeing of it methinketh that i dream. for, my lord, to see an army such a one i think as i shall never see again-- especially for horsemen and gentlemen to take a mind to disband upon the taking of such a paltry thing as lagny, a town no better indeed than rochester, it is a thing so strange to me that seeing of it i can scarce believe it. they make their excuses of their want, which i know indeed is great--for there were few left with one penny in their purses--but yet that extremity could not be such but that they might have tarried ten days or fifteen at the most that the king desired of them . . . . . from six thousand horse that we were and above, we are come to two thousand and i do not see an end of our leave-takers, for those be hourly. "the most i can see we can make account of to tarry are the viscount turenne's troops, and monsieur de chatillon's, and our switzers, and lanaquenettes, which make very near five thousand. the first that went away, though he sent word to the king an hour before he would tarry, was the count soissons, by whose parting on a sudden and without leave-taking we judge a discontentment." the king's army seemed fading into air. making virtue of necessity he withdrew to st. denis, and decided to disband his forces, reserving to himself only a flying camp with which to harass the enemy as often as opportunity should offer. it must be confessed that the bearnese had been thoroughly out- generalled. "it was not god's will," said stafford, who had been in constant attendance upon henry through the whole business; "we deserved it not; for the king might as easily have had paris as drunk, four or five times. and at the last, if he had not committed those faults that children would not have done, only with the desire to fight and give the battle (which the other never meant), he had had it in the duke of parma's eight as he took lagny in ours." he had been foiled of the battle on which he had set his heart, and, in which he felt confident of overthrowing the great captain of the age, and trampling the league under his feet. his capital just ready to sink exhausted into his hands had been wrested from his grasp, and was alive with new hope and new defiance. the league was triumphant, his own army scattering to the four winds. even a man of high courage and sagacity might have been in despair. yet never were the magnificent hopefulness, the wise audacity of henry more signally manifested than now when he seemed most blundering and most forlorn. his hardy nature ever met disaster with so cheerful a smile as almost to perplex disaster herself. unwilling to relinquish his grip without a last effort, he resolved on a midnight assault upon paris. hoping that the joy at being relieved, the unwonted feasting which had succeeded the long fasting, and the conciousness of security from the presence of the combined armies of the victorious league, would throw garrison and citizens off their guard, he came into the neighbourhood of the faubourgs st. jacques, st. germain, st. marcel, and st. michel on the night of th september. a desperate effort was made to escalade the walls between st. jacques and st. germain. it was foiled, not by the soldiers nor the citizens, but by the sleepless jesuits, who, as often before during this memorable siege, had kept guard on the ramparts, and who now gave the alarm. the first assailants were hurled from their ladders, the city was roused, and the duke of nemours was soon on the spot, ordering burning pitch hoops, atones, and other missiles to be thrown down upon the invaders. the escalade was baffled; yet once more that night, just before dawn, the king in person renewed the attack on the faubourg st. germain. the faithful stafford stood by his side in the trenches, and was witness to his cool determination, his indomitable hope. la none too was there, and was wounded in the leg--an accident the results of which were soon to cause much weeping through christendom. had one of those garlands of blazing tar which all night had been fluttering from the walls of paris alighted by chance on the king's head there might have been another history of france. the ladders, too, proved several feet too short, and there were too few, of them. had they been more numerous and longer, the tale might have been a different one. as it was, the king was forced to retire with the approaching daylight. the characteristics of the great commander of the huguenots and of the leaguers' chieftain respectively were well illustrated in several incidents of this memorable campaign. farnese had been informed by scouts and spies of this intended assault by henry on the walls of paris. with his habitual caution he discredited the story. had he believed it, he might have followed the king in overwhelming force and taken him captive. the penalty of henry's unparalleled boldness was thus remitted by alexander's exuberant discretion. soon afterwards farnese laid siege to corbeil. this little place--owing to the extraordinary skill and determination of its commandant, rigaut, an old huguenot officer, who had fought with la noue in flanders-- resisted for nearly four weeks. it was assaulted at last, rigaut killed, the garrison of one thousand french soldiers put to the sword, and the town sacked. with the fall of corbeil both the seine and marne were re- opened. alexander then made a visit to paris, where he was received with great enthusiasm. the legate, whose efforts and whose money had so much contributed to the successful defence of the capital had returned to italy to participate in the election of a new pope. for the "huguenot pope," sixtus v., had died at the end of august, having never bestowed on the league any of his vast accumulated treasures to help it in its utmost need. it was not surprising that philip was indignant, and had resorted to menace of various kinds against the holy father, when he found him swaying so perceptibly in the direction of the hated bearnese. of course when he died his complaint was believed to be spanish poison. in those days, none but the very obscure were thought capable of dying natural deaths, and philip was esteemed too consummate an artist to allow so formidable an adversary as sixtus to pass away in god's time only. certainly his death was hailed as matter of great rejoicing by the spanish party in rome, and as much ignominy bestowed upon his memory as if he had been a heretic; while in paris his decease was celebrated with bonfires and other marks of popular hilarity. to circumvent the great huguenot's reconciliation with the roman church was of course an indispensable portion of philip's plan; for none could be so dull as not to perceive that the resistance of paris to its heretic sovereign would cease to be very effective, so soon as the sovereign had ceased to be heretic. it was most important therefore that the successor of sixtus should be the tool of spain. the leading confederates were well aware of henry's intentions to renounce the reformed faith, and to return to the communion of rome whenever he could formally accomplish that measure. the crafty bearnese knew full well that the road to paris lay through the gates of rome. yet it is proof either of the privacy with which great public matters were then transacted, or of the extraordinary powers of deceit with which henry was gifted, that the leaders of protestantism were still hoodwinked in regard to his attitude. notwithstanding the embassy of luxembourg, and the many other indications of the king's intentions, queen elizabeth continued to regard him as the great champion of the reformed faith. she had just sent him an emerald, which she had herself worn, accompanied by the expression of her wish that the king in wearing it might never strike a blow without demolishing an enemy, and that in his farther progress he might put all his enemies to rout and confusion. "you will remind the king, too," she added, "that the emerald has this virtue, never to break so long as faith remains entire and firm." and the shrewd stafford, who was in daily attendance upon him, informed his sovereign that there were no symptoms of wavering on henry's part. "the catholics here," said he, "cry hard upon the king to be a catholic or else that he is lost, and they would persuade him that for all their calling in the spaniards, both paris and all other towns will yield to him, if he will but assure them that he will become a catholic. for my part, i think they would laugh at him when he had done so, and so i find he believeth the same, if he had mind to it, which i find no disposition in him unto it." the not very distant future was to show what the disposition of the bold gascon really was in this great matter, and whether he was likely to reap nothing but ridicule from his apostasy, should it indeed become a fact. meantime it was the opinion of the wisest sovereign in europe, and of one of the most adroit among her diplomatists, that there was really nothing in the rumours as to the king's contemplated conversion. it was, of course, unfortunate for henry that his staunch friend and admirer sixtus was no more. but english diplomacy could do but little in rome, and men were trembling with apprehension lest that arch-enemy of elizabeth, that devoted friend of philip, the english cardinal allen, should be elected to the papal throne. "great ado is made in rome," said stafford, "by the spanish ambassador, by all corruptions and ways that may be, to make a pope that must needs depend and be altogether at the king of spain's devotion. if the princes of italy put not their hands unto it, no doubt they will have their wills, and i fear greatly our villainous allen, for, in my judgment, i can comprehend no man more with reason to be tied altogether to the king of spain's will than he. i pray god send him either to god or the devil first. an evil-minded englishman, tied to the king of spain by necessity, finding almost four millions of money, is a dangerous beast for a pope in this time." cardinal allen was doomed to disappointment. his candidacy was not successful, and, after the brief reign--thirteen days long--of urban vii, sfondrato wore the triple tiara with the title of gregory xiv. before the year closed, that pontiff had issued a brief urging the necessity of extirpating heresy in france, and of electing a catholic king, and asserting his determination to send to paris--that bulwark of the catholic faith--not empty words alone but troops, to be paid fifteen thousand crowns of gold each month, so long as the city should need assistance. it was therefore probable that the great leader of the huguenots, now that he had been defeated by farnese, and that his capital was still loyal to the league, would obtain less favour--however conscientiously he might instruct himself--from gregory xiv. than he had begun to find in the eyes of sixtus after the triumph of ivry. parma refreshed his army by a fortnight's repose, and early in november determined on his return to the netherlands. the leaguers were aghast at his decision, and earnestly besought him to remain. but the duke had given them back their capital, and although this had been accomplished without much bloodshed in their army or his own, sickness was now making sad ravages among his troops, and there was small supply of food or forage for such large forces as had now been accumulated, in the neighbourhood of paris. moreover, dissensions were breaking out. between the spaniards, italians, and netherlanders of the relieving army with their french allies. the soldiers and peasants hated the foreigners who came there as victors, even although to assist the leaguers in overthrowing the laws, government, and nationality of france. the stragglers and wounded on farnese's march were killed by the country people in considerable numbers, and it was a pure impossibility for him longer to delay his return to the provinces which so much against his will he had deserted. he marched back by way of champagne rather than by that of picardy, in order to deceive the king. scarcely had he arrived in champagne when he heard of the retaking of lagny and corbeil. so soon as his back was turned, the league thus showed its impotence to retain the advantage which his genius had won. corbeil, which had cost him a month of hard work, was recaptured in two days. lagny fell almost as quickly. earnestly did the confederates implore him to return to their rescue, but he declined almost contemptuously to retrace his steps. his march was conducted in the same order and with the same precision which--had marked his advance. henry, with his flying camp, hung upon his track, harassing him now in front, now in rear, now in flank. none of the skirmishes were of much military importance. a single cavalry combat, however, in which old marshal biron was nearly surrounded and was in imminent danger of death or capture, until chivalrously rescued by the king in person at the head of a squadron of lancers, will always possess romantic interest. in a subsequent encounter, near baroges on the yesle, henry had sent biron forward with a few companies of horse to engage some five hundred carabineers of farnese on their march towards the frontier, and had himself followed close upon the track with his usual eagerness to witness or participate in every battle. suddenly alphonse corse, who rode at henry's aide, pointed out to him, not more than a hundred paces off, an officer wearing a felt hat, a great ruff, and a little furred cassock, mounted on a horse without armour or caparisons, galloping up and down and brandishing his sword at the carabineers to compel them to fall back. this was the duke of parma, and thus the two great champions of the huguenots and of the leaguers--the two foremost captains of the age--had met face to face. at that moment la noue, riding up, informed the king that he had seen the whole of the enemy's horse and foot in battle array, and henry, suspecting the retreat of farnese to be a feint for the purpose of luring him on with his small force to an attack, gave orders to retire as soon as possible. at guise, on the frontier, the duke parted with mayenne, leaving with him an auxiliary force of four thousand foot and five hundred horse, which he could ill spare. he then returned to brussels, which city he reached on the th december, filling every hotel and hospital with his sick soldiers, and having left one-third of his numbers behind him. he had manifested his own military skill in the adroit and successful manner in which he had accomplished the relief of paris, while the barrenness of the result from the whole expedition vindicated the political sagacity with which he had remonstrated against his sovereign's infatuation. paris, with the renewed pressure on its two great arteries at lagny and corbeil, soon fell into as great danger as before; the obedient netherlands during the absence of farnese had been sinking rapidly to ruin, while; on the other hand, great progress and still greater preparations in aggressive warfare had been made by the youthful general and stadtholder of the republic. etext editor's bookmarks: alexander's exuberant discretion divine right of kings ever met disaster with so cheerful a smile future world as laid down by rival priesthoods invaluable gift which no human being can acquire, authority king was often to be something much less or much worse magnificent hopefulness myself seeing of it methinketh that i dream nothing cheap, said a citizen bitterly, but sermons obscure were thought capable of dying natural deaths philip ii. gave the world work enough righteous to kill their own children road to paris lay through the gates of rome shift the mantle of religion from one shoulder to the other thirty-three per cent. interest was paid (per month) under the name of religion (so many crimes) this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, chapter xviii. part . dangerous discord in north holland--leicester's resignation arrives --enmity of willoughby and maurice--willoughby's dark picture of affairs--hatred between states and leicestrians--maurice's answer to the queen's charges--end of sonoy's rebellion--philip foments the civil war in france--league's threats and plots against henry--mucio arrives in paris--he is received with enthusiasm--the king flies, and spain triumphs in paris--states expostulate with the queen-- english statesmen still deceived--deputies from netherland churches --hold conference with the queen--and present long memorials--more conversations with the queen--national spirit of england and holland--dissatisfaction with queen's course--bitter complaints of lord howard--want of preparation in army and navy--sanguine statements of leicester--activity of parma--the painful suspense continues. but it is necessary-in order to obtain a complete picture of that famous year , and to understand the cause from which such great events were springing--to cast a glance at the internal politics of the states most involved in philip's meshes. certainly, if there had ever been a time when the new commonwealth of the netherlands should be both united in itself and on thoroughly friendly terms with england, it was exactly that epoch of which we are treating. there could be no reasonable doubt that the designs of spain against england were hostile, and against holland revengeful. it was at least possible that philip meant to undertake the conquest of england, and to undertake it as a stepping-stone to the conquest of holland. both the kingdom and the republic should have been alert, armed, full of suspicion towards the common foe, full of confidence in each other. what decisive blows might have been struck against parma in the netherlands, when his troops were starving, sickly, and mutinous, if the hollanders and englishmen had been united under one chieftain, and thoroughly convinced of the impossibility of peace! could the english and dutch statesmen of that day have read all the secrets of their great enemy's heart, as it is our privilege at this hour to do, they would have known that in sudden and deadly strokes lay their best chance of salvation. but, without that advantage, there were men whose sagacity told them that it was the hour for deeds and not for dreams. for to leicester and walsingham, as well as to paul buys and barneveld, peace with spain seemed an idle vision. it was unfortunate that they were overruled by queen elizabeth and burghley, who still clung to that delusion; it was still more disastrous that the intrigues of leicester had done so much to paralyze the republic; it was almost fatal that his departure, without laying down his authority, had given the signal for civil war. during the winter, spring, and summer of , while the duke--in the face of mighty obstacles--was slowly proceeding with his preparations in flanders, to co-operate with the armaments from spain, it would have been possible by a combined movement to destroy his whole plan, to liberate all the netherlands, and to avert, by one great effort, the ruin impending over england. instead of such vigorous action, it was thought wiser to send commissioners, to make protocols, to ask for armistices, to give profusely to the enemy that which he was most in need of--time. meanwhile the hollanders and english could quarrel comfortably among themselves, and the little republic, for want of a legal head, could come as near as possible to its dissolution. young maurice--deep thinker for his years and peremptory in action--was not the man to see his great father's life-work annihilated before his eyes, so long as he had an arm and brain of his own. he accepted his position at the head of the government of holland and zeeland, and as chief of the war-party. the council of state, mainly composed of leicester's creatures, whose commissions would soon expire by their own limitation, could offer but a feeble resistance to such determined individuals as maurice, buys, and barneveld. the party made rapid progress. on the other hand, the english leicestrians did their best to foment discord in the provinces. sonoy was sustained in his rebellion in north holland, not only by the earl's partizans, but by elizabeth herself. her rebukes to maurice, when maurice was pursuing the only course which seemed to him consistent with honour and sound policy, were sharper than a sword. well might duplessis mornay observe, that the commonwealth had been rather strangled than embraced by the english queen. sonoy, in the name of leicester, took arms against maurice and the states; maurice marched against him; and lord willoughby, commander- in-chief of the english forces, was anxious to march against maurice. it was a spectacle to make angels weep, that of englishmen and hollanders preparing to cut each other's throats, at the moment when philip and parma were bending all their energies to crush england and holland at once. indeed, the interregnum between the departure of leicester and his abdication was diligently employed by his more reckless partizans to defeat and destroy the authority of the states. by prolonging the interval, it was hoped that no government would be possible except the arbitrary rule of the earl, or of a successor with similar views: for a republic--a free commonwealth--was thought an absurdity. to entrust supreme power to advocates; merchants, and mechanics, seemed as hopeless as it was vulgar. willoughby; much devoted to leicester and much detesting barneveld, had small scruple in fanning the flames of discord. there was open mutiny against the states by the garrison of gertruydenberg, and willoughby's brother-in-law, captain wingfield, commanded in gertruydenberg. there were rebellious demonstrations in naarden, and willoughby went to naarden. the garrison was troublesome, but most of the magistrates were firm. so willoughby supped with the burgomasters, and found that paul buys had been setting the people against queen elizabeth, leicester, and the whole english nation, making them all odious. colonel dorp said openly that it was a shame for the country to refuse their own natural-born count for strangers. he swore that he would sing his song whose bread he had eaten. a "fat militia captain" of the place, one soyssons, on the other hand, privately informed willoughby that maurice and barneveld were treating underhand with spain. willoughby was inclined to believe the calumny, but feared that his corpulent friend would lose his head for reporting it. meantime the english commander did his best to strengthen the english party in their rebellion against the states. "but how if they make war upon us?" asked the leicestrians. "it is very likely," replied willoughby, "that if they use violence you will have her majesty's assistance, and then you who continue constant to the end will be rewarded accordingly. moreover, who would not rather be a horse-keeper to her majesty, than a captain to barneveld or buys?" when at last the resignation of leicester--presented to the states by killegrew on the st march--seemed to promise comparative repose to the republic, the vexation of the leicestrians was intense. their efforts. to effect a dissolution of the government had been rendered unsuccessful, when success seemed within their grasp. "albeit what is once executed cannot be prevented," said captain champernoun; "yet 'tis thought certain that if the resignation of lord leicester's commission had been deferred yet some little time; the whole country and towns would have so revolted and mutinied against the government and authority of the states, as that they should have had no more credit given them by the people than pleased her majesty. most part of the people could see--in consequence of the troubles, discontent, mutiny of garrisons, and the like, that it was most necessary for the good success of their affairs that the power of the states should be abolished, and the whole government of his excellency erected. as these matters were busily working into the likelihood of some good effect, came the resignation of his excellency's commission and authority, which so dashed the proceedings of it, as that all people and commanders well affected unto her majesty and my lord of leicester are utterly discouraged. the states, with their adherents, before they had any lord's resignations were much perplexed what course to take, but now begin to hoist their heads." the excellent leicestrian entertained hopes, however; that mutiny and intrigue might still carry the day. he had seen the fat militiaman of naarden and other captains, and, hoped much mischief from their schemes. "the chief mutineers of gertruydenberg," he said, "maybe wrought to send unto 'the states, that if they do not procure them some english governor, they will compound with the enemy, whereon the states shall be driven to request her majesty to accept the place, themselves entertaining the garrison. i know certain captains discontented with the states for arrears of pay, who will contrive to get into naarden with their companies, with the states consent, who, once entered, will keep the place for their satisfaction, pay their soldiers out of the contributions of the country; and yet secretly hold the place at her majesty's command." this is not an agreeable picture; yet it is but one out of many examples of the intrigues by which leicester and his party were doing their best to destroy the commonwealth of the netherlands at a moment when its existence was most important to that of england. to foment mutiny in order to subvert the authority of maurice, was not a friendly or honourable course of action either towards holland or england; and it was to play into the hands of philip as adroitly as his own stipendiaries could have done. with mischief-makers like champernoun in every city, and with such diplomatists at ostend as croft and ropers and valentine dale, was it wonderful that the king and the duke of parma found time to mature their plans for the destruction of both countries? lord willoughby, too, was extremely dissatisfied with his own position. he received no commission from the queen for several months. when it at last reached him, it seemed inadequate, and he became more sullen than ever. he declared that he would rather serve the queen as a private soldier, at his own expense--"lean as his purse was"--than accept the limited authority conferred on him. he preferred to show his devotion "in a beggarly state, than in a formal show." he considered it beneath her majesty's dignity that he should act in the field under the states, but his instructions forbade his acceptance of any office from that body but that of general in their service. he was very discontented, and more anxious than ever to be rid of his functions. without being extremely ambitious, he was impatient of control. he desired not "a larger-shaped coat," but one that fitted him better. "i wish to shape my garment homely, after my cloth," he said, "that the better of my parish may not be misled by my sumptuousness. i would live quietly, without great noise, my poor roof low and near the ground, not subject to be overblown with unlooked-for storms, while the sun seems most shining." being the deadly enemy of the states and their leaders, it was a matter of course that he should be bitter against maurice. that young prince, bold, enterprising, and determined, as he was, did not ostensibly meddle with political affairs more than became his years; but he accepted the counsels of the able statesmen in whom his father had trusted. riding, hunting, and hawking, seemed to be his chief delight at the hague, in the intervals of military occupations. he rarely made his appearance in the state-council during the winter, and referred public matters to the states-general, to the states of holland, to barneveld, buys, and hohenlo. superficial observers like george gilpin regarded him as a cipher; others, like robert cecil, thought him an unmannerly schoolboy; but willoughby, although considering him insolent and conceited, could not deny his ability. the peace partisans among the burghers--a very small faction--were furious against him, for they knew that maurice of nassau represented war. they accused of deep designs against the liberties of their country the youth who was ever ready to risk his life in their defence. a burgomaster from friesland, who had come across the zuyder zee to intrigue against the states' party, was full of spleen at being obliged to dance attendance for a long time at the hague. he complained that count maurice, green of years, and seconded by greener counsellors, was meditating the dissolution of the state-council, the appointment of a new board from his own creatures, the overthrow of all other authority, and the assumption of the, sovereignty of holland and zeeland, with absolute power. "and when this is done;" said the rueful burgomaster, "he and his turbulent fellows may make what terms they like with spain, to the disadvantage of the queen and of us poor wretches." but there was nothing farther from the thoughts of the turbulent fellows than any negotiations with spain. maurice was ambitious enough, perhaps, but his ambition ran in no such direction. willoughby knew better; and thought that by humouring the petulant young man it might be possible to manage him. "maurice is young," he said, "hot-headed; coveting honour. if we do but look at him through our fingers, without much words, but with providence enough, baiting his hook a little to his appetite, there is no doubt but he might be caught and kept in a fish-pool; while in his imagination he may judge it a sea. if not, 'tis likely he will make us fish in troubled waters." maurice was hardly the fish for a mill-pond even at that epoch, and it might one day be seen whether or not he could float in the great ocean of events. meanwhile, he swam his course without superfluous gambols or spoutings. the commander of her majesty's forces was not satisfied with the states, nor their generals, nor their politicians. "affairs are going 'a malo in pejus,'" he said. "they embrace their liberty as apes their young. to this end are counts hollock and maurice set upon the stage to entertain the popular sort. her majesty and my lord of leicester are not forgotten. the counts are in holland, especially hollock, for the other is but the cipher. and yet i can assure you maurice hath wit and spirit too much for his time." as the troubles of the interregnum increased willoughby was more dissatisfied than ever with the miserable condition of the provinces, but chose to ascribe it to the machinations of the states' party, rather than to the ambiguous conduct of leicester. "these evils," he said, "are especially, derived from the childish ambition of the young count maurice, from the covetous and furious counsels of the proud hollanders, now chief of the states-general, and, if with pardon it may be said, from our slackness and coldness to entertain our friends. the provident and wiser sort--weighing what a slender ground the appetite of a young man is, unfurnished with the sinews of war to manage so great a cause--for a good space after my lord of leicester's departure, gave him far looking on, to see him play has part on the stage." willoughby's spleen caused him to mix his metaphors more recklessly than strict taste would warrant, but his violent expressions painted the relative situation of parties more vividly than could be done by a calm disquisition. maurice thus playing his part upon the stage--as the general proceeded to observe--"was a skittish horse, becoming by little and little assured of what he had feared, and perceiving the harmlessness thereof; while his companions, finding no safety of neutrality in so great practices, and no overturning nor barricado to stop his rash wilded chariot, followed without fear; and when some of the first had passed the bog; the rest, as the fashion is, never started after. the variable democracy; embracing novelty, began to applaud their prosperity; the base and lewdest sorts of men, to whom there is nothing more agreeable than change of estates, is a better monture to degrees than their merit, took present hold thereof. hereby paul buys, barneveld, and divers others, who were before mantled with a tolerable affection, though seasoned with a poisoned intention, caught the occasion, and made themselves the beelzebubs of all these mischiefs, and, for want of better angels, spared not to let fly our golden-winged ones in the name of guilders, to prepare the hearts and hands that hold money more dearer than honesty, of which sort, the country troubles and the spanish practices having suckled up many, they found enough to serve their purpose. as the breach is safely saltable where no defence is made, so they, finding no head, but those scattered arms that were disavowed, drew the sword with peter, and gave pardon with the pope, as you shall plainly perceive by the proceedings at horn. thus their force; fair words, or corruption, prevailing everywhere, it grew to this conclusion--that the worst were encouraged with their good success, and the best sort assured of no fortune or favour." out of all this hubbub of stage-actors, skittish horses, rash wilded chariots, bogs, beelzebubs, and golden-winged angels, one truth was distinctly audible; that beelzebub, in the shape of barneveld, had been getting the upper hand in the netherlands, and that the lecestrians were at a disadvantage. in truth those partisans were becoming extremely impatient. finding themselves deserted by their great protector, they naturally turned their eyes towards spain, and were now threatening to sell themselves to philip. the earl, at his departure, had given them privately much encouragement. but month after month had passed by while they were waiting in vain for comfort. at last the "best"--that is to say, the unhappy leicestrians--came to willoughby, asking his advice in their "declining and desperate cause." "well nigh a month longer," said that general, "i nourished them with compliments, and assured them that my lord of leicester would take care of them." the diet was not fattening. so they began to grumble more loudly than ever, and complained with great bitterness of the miserable condition in which they had been left by the earl, and expressed their fears lest the queen likewise meant to abandon them. they protested that their poverty, their powerful foes, and their slow friends, would. compel them either to make their peace with the states' party, or "compound with the enemy." it would have seemed that real patriots, under such circumstances, would hardly hesitate in their choice, and would sooner accept the dominion of "beelzebub," or even paul buys, than that of philip ii. but the leicestrians of utrecht and friesland--patriots as they were--hated holland worse than they hated the inquisition. willoughby encouraged them in that hatred. he assured him of her majesty's affection for them, complained of the factious proceedings of the states, and alluded to the unfavourable state of the weather, as a reason why--near four months long--they had not received the comfort out of england which they had a right to expect. he assured them that neither the queen nor leicester would conclude this honourable action, wherein much had been hazarded, "so rawly and tragically" as they seemed to fear, and warned them, that "if they did join with holland, it would neither ease nor help them, but draw them into a more dishonourable loss of their liberties; and that, after having wound them in, the hollanders would make their own peace with the enemy." it seemed somewhat unfair-while the queen's government was straining every nerve to obtain a peace from philip, and while the hollanders were obstinately deaf to any propositions for treating--that willoughby should accuse them of secret intentions to negotiate. but it must be confessed that faction has rarely worn a more mischievous aspect than was presented by the politics of holland and england in the winter and spring of . young maurice was placed in a very painful position. he liked not to be "strangled in the great queen's embrace;" but he felt most keenly the necessity of her friendship, and the importance to both countries of a close alliance. it was impossible for him, however, to tolerate the rebellion of sonoy, although sonoy was encouraged by elizabeth, or to fly in the face of barneveld, although barneveld was detested by leicester. so with much firmness and courtesy, notwithstanding the extravagant pictures painted by willoughby, he suppressed mutiny in holland, while avowing the most chivalrous attachment to the sovereign of england. her majesty expressed her surprise and her discontent, that, notwithstanding his expressions of devotion to herself, he should thus deal with sonoy, whose only crime was an equal devotion. "if you do not behave with more moderation in future," she said, "you may believe that we are not a princess of so little courage as not to know how to lend a helping hand to those who are unjustly oppressed. we should be sorry if we had cause to be disgusted with your actions, and if we were compelled to make you a stranger to the ancient good affection which we bore to your late father, and have continued towards yourself." but maurice maintained a dignified attitude, worthy of his great father's name. he was not the man to crouch like leicester, when he could no longer refresh himself in the "shadow of the queen's golden beams," important as he knew her friendship to be to himself and his country. so he defended himself in a manly letter to the privy council against the censures of elizabeth. he avowed his displeasure, that, within his own jurisdiction, sonoy should give a special oath of obedience to leicester; a thing never done before in the country, and entirely illegal. it would not even be tolerated in england, he said, if a private gentleman should receive a military appointment in warwickshire or norfolk without the knowledge of the lord-lieutenant of the shire. he had treated the contumacious sonoy with mildness during a long period, but without effect. he had abstained from violence towards him, out of reverence to the queen, under whose sacred name he sheltered himself. sonoy had not desisted, but had established himself in organized rebellion at medenblik, declaring that he would drown the whole country, and levy black-mail upon its whole property, if he were not paid one hundred thousand crowns. he had declared that he would crush holland like a glass beneath his feet. having nothing but religion in his mouth, and protecting himself with the queen's name, he had been exciting all the cities of north holland to rebellion, and bringing the poor people to destruction. he had been offered money enough to satisfy the most avaricious soldier in the world, but he stood out for six years' full pay for his soldiers, a demand with which it was impossible to comply. it was necessary to prevent him from inundating the land and destroying the estates of the country gentlemen and the peasants. "this gentlemen," said maurice, "is the plain truth; nor do i believe that you will sustain against me a man who was under such vast obligations to my late father, and who requites his debt by daring to speak of myself as a rascal; or that you will countenance his rebellion against a country to which he brought only, his cloak and sword, and, whence he has filched one hundred thousand crowns. you will not, i am sure, permit a simple captain, by his insubordination to cause such mischief, and to set on fire this and other provinces. "if, by your advice," continued the count; "the queen should appoint fitting' personages to office here--men who know what honour is; born of illustrious and noble-race, or who by their great virtue have been elevated to the honours of the kingdom--to them i will render an account of my actions. and it shall appear that i have more ability and more desire to do my duty, to her majesty than those who render her lip- service only, and only make use of her sacred name to fill their purses, while i and, mine have been ever ready to employ our lives, and what remains of our fortunes, in the cause of god, her majesty, and our country." certainly no man had a better right: to speak with consciousness of the worth of race than the son of william the silent, the nephew of lewis, adolphus, and henry of nassau, who had all laid down their lives for the liberty of their country. but elizabeth continued to threaten the states-general, through the mouth of willoughby, with the loss of her protection, if they should continue thus to requite her favours with ingratitude and insubordination: and maurice once more respectfully but firmly replied that sonoy's rebellion could not and would not be tolerated; appealing boldly to her sense of justice, which was the noblest attribute of kings. at last the queen informed willoughby, that--as the cause of sonoy's course seemed to be his oath of obedience to leicester, whose resignation of office had not yet been received in the netherlands--she had now ordered councillor killigrew to communicate the fact of that resignation. she also wrote to sonoy, requiring him to obey the states and count maurice, and to accept a fresh commission from them, or at least to surrender medenblik, and to fulfil all their orders with zeal and docility. this act of abdication by leicester, which had been received on the nd of january by the english envoy, herbert, at the moment of his departure from the netherlands, had been carried back by him to england, on the ground that its communication to the states at that moment would cause him inconveniently to postpone his journey. it never officially reached the states-general until the st of march, so that this most dangerous crisis was protracted nearly five months long--certainly without necessity or excuse--and whether through design, malice, wantonness, or incomprehensible carelessness, it is difficult to say. so soon as the news reached sonoy, that contumacious chieftain found his position untenable, and he allowed the states' troops to take possession of medenblik, and with it the important territory of north holland. maurice now saw himself undisputed governor. sonoy was in the course of the summer deprived of all office, and betook himself to england. here he was kindly received by the queen, who bestowed upon him a ruined tower, and a swamp among the fens of lincolnshire. he brought over some of his countrymen, well-skilled in such operations, set himself to draining and dyking, and hoped to find himself at home and comfortable in his ruined tower. but unfortunately, as neither he nor his wife, notwithstanding their english proclivities, could speak a word of the language; they found their social enjoyments very limited. moreover, as his work-people were equally without the power of making their wants understood, the dyking operations made but little progress. so the unlucky colonel soon abandoned his swamp, and retired to east friesland, where he lived a morose and melancholy life on a pension of one thousand florins, granted him by the states of holland, until the year , when he lost his mind, fell into the fire, and thus perished. and thus; in the netherlands, through hollow negotiations between enemies and ill-timed bickerings among friends, the path of philip and parma had been made comparatively smooth during the spring and early summer of . what was the aspect of affairs in germany and france? the adroit capture of bonn by martin schenk had given much trouble. parma was obliged to detach a strong force; under prince chimay, to attempt the recovery of that important place, which--so long as it remained in the power of the states--rendered the whole electorate insecure and a source of danger to the spanish party. farnese endeavoured in vain to win back the famous partizan by most liberal offers, for he felt bitterly the mistake he had made in alienating so formidable a freebooter. but the truculent martin remained obdurate and irascible. philip, much offended that the news of his decease had proved false, ordered rather than requested the emperor rudolph to have a care that nothing was done in germany to interfere with the great design upon england. the king gave warning that he would suffer no disturbance from that quarter, but certainly the lethargic condition of germany rendered such threats superfluous. there were riders enough, and musketeers enough, to be sold to the highest bidder. german food for powder was offered largely in the market to any foreign consumer, for the trade in their subjects', lives was ever a prolific source of revenue to the petty sovereigns--numerous as the days of the year--who owned germany and the germans. the mercenaries who had so recently been, making their inglorious campaign in france had been excluded from that country at the close of , and furious were the denunciations of the pulpits and the populace of paris that the foreign brigands who had been devastating the soil of france, and attempting to oppose the decrees of the holy father of rome, should; have made their escape so easily. rabid lincestre and other priests and monks foamed with rage, as they execrated and anathematized the devil-worshipper henry of valois, in all the churches of that monarch's capital. the spanish ducats were flying about, more profusely than ever, among the butchers and porters, and fishwomen, of the great city; and madam league paraded herself in the day-light with still increasing insolence. there was scarcely a pretence at recognition of any authority, save that of philip and sixtus. france had become a wilderness--an uncultivated, barbarous province of spain. mucio--guise had been secretly to rome, had held interviews with the pope and cardinals, and had come back with a sword presented by his holiness, its hilt adorned with jewels, and its blade engraved with tongues of fire. and with this flaming sword the avenging messenger of the holy father was to smite the wicked, and to drive them into outer darkness. and there had been fresh conferences among the chiefs of the sacred league within the lorraine territory, and it was resolved to require of the valois an immediate extermination of heresy and heretics throughout the kingdom, the publication of the council of trent, and the formal establishment of the holy inquisition in every province of france. thus, while doing his spanish master's bidding, the great lieutenant of the league might, if he was adroit enough, to outwit philip, ultimately carve out a throne for himself. yet philip felt occasional pangs of uneasiness lest there should, after all, be peace in france, and lest his schemes against holland and england might be interfered with from that quarter. even farnese, nearer the scene, could, not feel completely secure that a sudden reconciliation among contending factions might not give rise to a dangerous inroad across the flemish border. so guise was plied more vigourously than ever by the duke with advice and encouragement, and assisted with such walloon carabineers as could be spared, while large subsidies and larger promises came from philip, whose prudent policy was never to pay excessive sums, until the work contracted for was done. "mucio must do the job long since agreed upon," said philip to farnese, "and you and mendoza must see that he prevents the king of france from troubling me in my enterprize against england." if the unlucky henry iii. had retained one spark of intelligence, he would have seen that his only chance of rescue lay in the arm of the bearnese, and in an honest alliance with england. yet so strong was his love for the monks, who were daily raving against him, that he was willing to commit any baseness, in order to win back their affection. he was ready to exterminate heresy and to establish the inquisition, but he was incapable of taking energetic measures of any kind, even when throne and life were in imminent peril. moreover, he clung to epernon and the 'politiques,' in whose swords he alone found protection, and he knew that epernon and the 'politiques' were the objects of horror to paris and to the league. at the same time he looked imploringly towards england and towards the great huguenot chieftain, elizabeth's knight-errant. he had a secret interview with sir edward stafford, in the garden of the bernardino convent, and importuned that envoy to implore the queen to break off her negotiations with philip, and even dared to offer the english ambassador a large reward, if such a result could be obtained. stafford was also earnestly, requested to beseech the queen's influence with henry of navarre, that he should convert himself to catholicism, and thus destroy the league. on the other hand, the magniloquent mendoza, who was fond of describing himself as "so violent and terrible to the french that they wished to be rid of him," had--as usual--been frightening the poor king, who, after a futile attempt at dignity, had shrunk before the blusterings of the ambassador. "this king," said don bernardino, "thought that he could impose, upon me and silence me, by talking loud, but as i didn't talk softly to him, he has undeceived himself . . . . i have had another interview with him, and found him softer than silk, and he made me many caresses, and after i went out, he said that i was a very skilful minister." it was the purpose of the league to obtain possession of the king's person, and, if necessary, to dispose of the 'politiques' by a general massacre, such as sixteen years before had been so successful in the case of coligny and the huguenots. so the populace--more rabid than ever-- were impatient that their adored balafre should come to paris and begin the holy work. he came as far as gonesse to do the job he had promised to philip, but having heard that henry had reinforced himself with four thousand swiss from the garrison of lagny, he fell back to soissons. the king sent him a most abject message, imploring him not to expose his sovereign to so much danger, by setting his foot at that moment in the capital. the balafre hesitated, but the populace raved and roared for its darling. the queen-mother urged her unhappy son to yield his consent, and the montpensier--fatal sister of guise, with the famous scissors ever at her girdle--insisted that her brother had as good a right as any man to come to the city. meantime the great chief of the 'politiques,' the hated and insolent epernon, had been appointed governor of normandy, and henry had accompanied his beloved minion a part of the way towards rouen. a plot contrived by the montpensier to waylay the monarch on his return, and to take him into the safe-keeping of the league, miscarried, for the king reentered the city before the scheme was ripe. on the other hand, nicholas poulain, bought for twenty thousand crowns by the 'politiques,' gave the king and his advisers-full information of all these intrigues, and, standing in henry's cabinet, offered, at peril of his life, if he might be confronted with the conspirators--the leaders of the league within the city--to prove the truth of the charges which he had made. for the whole city was now thoroughly organized. the number of its districts had been reduced from sixteen to five, the better to bring it under the control of the league; and, while it could not be denied that mucio, had, been doing his master's work very thoroughly, yet it was still in the power of the king--through the treachery of poulain--to strike a blow for life and freedom, before he was quite, taken in the trap. but he stood helpless, paralyzed, gazing in dreamy stupor--like one fascinated at the destruction awaiting him. at last, one memorable may morning, a traveller alighted outside the gate of saint martin, and proceeded on foot through the streets of paris. he was wrapped in a large cloak, which he held carefully over his face. when he had got as far as the street of saint denis, a young gentleman among the passers by, a good leaguer, accosted the stranger, and with coarse pleasantry, plucked the cloak from his face, and the hat from his head. looking at the handsome, swarthy features, marked with a deep scar, and the dark, dangerous eyes which were then revealed, the practical jester at once recognized in the simple traveller the terrible balafre, and kissed the hem of his garments with submissive rapture. shouts of "vive guise" rent the air from all the bystanders, as the duke, no longer affecting concealment, proceeded with a slow and stately step toward the residence of catharine de' medici.' that queen of compromises and of magic had been holding many a conference with the leaders of both parties; had been increasing her son's stupefaction by her enigmatical counsels; had been anxiously consulting her talisman of goat's and human blood, mixed with metals melted under the influence of the star of her nativity, and had been daily visiting the wizard ruggieri, in whose magic circle--peopled with a thousand fantastic heads--she had held high converse with the world of spirits, and derived much sound advice as to the true course of action to be pursued between her son and philip, and between the politicians and the league. but, in spite of these various sources of instruction, catharine--was somewhat perplexed, now that decisive action seemed necessary--a dethronement and a new massacre impending, and judicious compromise difficult. so after a hurried conversation with mucio, who insisted on an interview with the king, she set forth for the louvre, the duke lounging calmly by the aide of her, sedan chair, on foot, receiving the homage of the populace, as men, women, and children together, they swarmed around him as he walked, kissing his garments, and rending the air with their shouts. for that wolfish mob of paris, which had once lapped the blood of ten thousand huguenots in a single night, and was again rabid with thirst, was most docile and fawning to the great balafre. it grovelled before him, it hung upon his look, it licked his hand, and, at the lifting of his finger, or the glance of his eye, would have sprung at the throat of king or queen-mother, minister, or minion, and devoured them all before his eyes. it was longing for the sign, for, much as paris adored and was besotted with guise and the league, even more, if possible, did it hate those godless politicians, who had grown fat on extortions from the poor, and who had converted their substance into the daily bread of luxury. nevertheless the city was full of armed men, swiss and german mercenaries, and burgher guards, sworn to fidelity to the throne. the place might have been swept clean, at that moment, of rebels who were not yet armed or fortified in their positions. the lord had delivered guise into henry's hands. "oh, the madman!"--cried sixtus v., when he heard that the duke had gone to paris, "thus to put himself into the clutches of the king whom he had so deeply offended!" and, "oh, the wretched coward, the imbecile?" he added, when he heard how the king had dealt with his great enemy. for the monarch was in his cabinet that may morning, irresolutely awaiting the announced visit of the duke. by his aide stood alphonse corse, attached as a mastiff to his master, and fearing not guise nor leaguer, man nor devil. "sire, is the duke of guise your friend or enemy?" said alphonse. the king answered by an expressive shrug. "say the word, sire," continued alphonse, "and i pledge myself to bring his head this instant, and lay it at your feet." and he would have done it. even at the side of catharine's sedan chair, and in the very teeth of the worshipping mob, the corsican would have had the balafre's life, even though he laid down his own. but henry--irresolute and fascinated--said it was not yet time for such a blow. soon afterward; the duke was announced. the chief of the league and the last of the valois met, face to face; but not for the last time. the interview--was coldly respectful on the part of mucio, anxious and embarrassed on that of the king. when the visit, which was merely one of ceremony, was over, the duke departed as he came, receiving the renewed homage of the populace as he walked to his hotel. that night precautions were taken. all the guards were doubled around the palace and through the streets. the hotel de ville and the place de la greve were made secure, and the whole city was filled with troops. but the place maubert was left unguarded, and a rabble rout--all night long--was collecting in that distant spot. four companies of burgher- guards went over to the league at three o'clock in the morning. the rest stood firm in the cemetery of the innocents, awaiting the orders of the king. at day-break on the th the town was still quiet. there was an awful pause of expectation. the shops remained closed all the morning, the royal troops were drawn up in battle-array, upon the greve and around the hotel de ville, but they stood motionless as statues, until the populace began taunting them with cowardice, and then laughing them to scorn. for their sovereign lord and master still sat paralyzed in his palace. the mob had been surging through all the streets and lanes, until, as by a single impulse, chains were stretched across the streets, and barricades thrown up in all the principal thoroughfares. about noon the duke of guise, who had been sitting quietly in his hotel, with a very few armed followers, came out into the street of the hotel montmorency, and walked calmly up and down, arm-in-aim with the archbishop of lyons, between a double hedge-row of spectators and admirers, three or four ranks thick. he was dressed in a white slashed doublet and hose, and wore a very large hat. shouts of triumph resounded from a thousand brazen throats, as he moved calmly about, receiving, at every instant, expresses from the great gathering in the place maubert. "enough, too much, my good friends," he said, taking off the great hat-- ("i don't know whether he was laughing in it," observed one who was looking on that day)--"enough of 'long live guise!' cry 'long live the king!'" there was no response, as might be expected, and the people shouted more hoarsely than ever for madam league and the balafre. the duke's face was full of gaiety; there was not a shadow of anxiety upon it in that perilous and eventful moment. he saw that the day was his own. for now, the people, ripe, ready; mustered, armed, barricaded; awaited but a signal to assault the king's mercenaries, before rushing to the palace: on every house-top missiles were provided to hurl upon their heads. there seemed no escape for henry or his germans from impending doom, when guise, thoroughly triumphant, vouchsafed them their lives. "you must give me these soldiers as a present, my friends," said he to the populace. and so the armed swiss, french, and german troopers and infantry, submitted to be led out of paris, following with docility the aide-de- camp of guise, captain st. paul, who walked quietly before them, with his sword in its scabbard, and directing their movements with a cane. sixty of them were slain by the mob, who could not, even at the command of their beloved chieftain, quite forego their expected banquet. but this was all the blood shed on the memorable day of barricades, when another bartholomew massacre had been, expected. meantime; while guise was making his promenade through the city, exchanging embraces with the rabble; and listening to the coarse congratulations and obscene jests of the porters and fishwomen, the poor king sat crying all day long in the louvre. the queen-mother was with him, reproaching him bitterly with his irresolution and want of confidences in her, and scolding him for his tears. but the unlucky henry only wept the more as he cowered in a corner. "these are idle tears," said catherine. "this is no time for crying. and for myself, though women weep so easily; i feel my heart too deeply wrung for tears. if they came to my eyes they would be tears of blood." next day the last valois walked-out, of the louvre; as if for a promenade in, the tuileries, and proceeded straightway to the stalls, where his horse stood saddled. du halde, his equerry, buckled his master's spurs on upside down. "no; matter;" said henry; "i am not riding to see my mistress. i have a longer journey before me." and so, followed by a rabble rout of courtiers, without boots or cloaks; and mounted on, sorry hacks--the king-of france rode forth from his capital post-haste, and turning as he left the gates, hurled back impotent imprecations upon paris and its mob. thenceforth, for a long interval, there: was no king in that country. mucio had done his work, and earned his wages, and philip ii. reigned in paris. the commands of the league were now complied with. heretics were doomed to extermination. the edict of th july, , was published with the most exclusive and stringent provisions that the most bitter romanist could imagine, and, as a fair beginning; two young girls, daughters of jacques forcade, once 'procureur au parlement,' were burned in paris, for the crime, of protestantism. the duke of guise was named generalissimo of the kingdom ( th august, ). henry gave in his submission to the council of trent, the edicts, the inquisition, and the rest of the league's infernal machinery, and was formally reconciled. to guise, with how much sincerity time was soon to show. [the king bound himself by oath to extirpate heresy, to remove all persons suspected of that crime from office, and never to lay down arms so long as a single, heretic remained. by secret articles,'two armies against the huguenots were agreed upon, one under the duke of mayenne, the other under some general to be appointed by the grog. the council of trent was forthwith to be proclaimed, and by a refinement of malice the league stipulated that all officers appointed in paris by the duke of guise on the day after the barricades should resign their powers, and be immediately re- appointed by the king himself (dethou, x. . , pp. - .)] meantime philip, for whom and at whose expense all this work had been done by he hands of the faithful mucio, was constantly assuring his royal brother of france, through envoy longlee, at madrid, of his most affectionate friendship, and utterly repudiating all knowledge of these troublesome and dangerous plots. yet they had been especially organized --as we have seen--by himself and the balafre, in order that france might be kept a prey to civil war, and thus rendered incapable of offering any obstruction to his great enterprise against england. any complicity of mendoza, the spanish ambassador in paris, or, of the duke of parma, who were important agents in all these proceedings, with the duke of guise, was strenuously--and circumstantially--denied; and the balafre, on the day of the barricades, sent brissac to elizabeth's envoy, sir edward stafford, to assure him as to his personal safety; and as to the deep affection with which england and its queen were regarded by himself and all his friends. stafford had also been advised to accept a guard for his house of embassy. his reply was noble. "i represent the majesty of england," he said, "and can take no safeguard from a subject of the sovereign to whom i am accredited." to the threat of being invaded, and to the advice to close his gates, he answered, "do you see these two doors? now, then, if i am attacked, i am determined to defend myself to the last drop of my blood, to serve as an example to the universe of the law of nations, violated in my person. do not imagine that i shall follow your advice. the gates of an ambassador shall be open to all the world." brissac returned with this answer to guise, who saw that it was hopeless to attempt making a display in the eyes of queen elizabeth, but gave private orders that the ambassador should not be molested. such were the consequences of the day of the barricades--and thus the path of philip was cleared of all obstructions on, the part of france. his mucio was now, generalissimo. henry was virtually deposed. henry of navarre, poor and good-humoured as ever, was scarcely so formidable at that moment as he might one day become. when the news of the day of barricades was brought at night to that cheerful monarch, he started from his couch. "ha," he exclaimed with a laugh, "but they havn't yet caught the bearnese!" and it might be long before the league would catch the bearnese; but, meantime, he could render slight assistance to queen elizabeth. in england there had been much fruitless negotiation between the government of that country and the commissioners from the states-general. there was perpetual altercation on the subject of utrecht, leyden, sonoy, and the other causes of contention; the queen--as usual--being imperious and choleric, and the envoys, in her opinion, very insolent. but the principal topic of discussion was the peace-negotiations, which the states-general, both at home and through their delegation in england, had been doing their best to prevent; steadily refusing her majesty's demand that commissioners, on their part, should be appointed to participate in the conferences at ostend. elizabeth promised that there should be as strict regard paid to the interests of holland as to those of england, in case of a pacification, and that she would never forget her duty to them, to herself, and to the world, as the protectress of the reformed religion. the deputies, on the other hand, warned her that peace with spain was impossible; that the intention of the spanish court was to deceive her, while preparing her destruction and theirs; that it was hopeless to attempt the concession of any freedom of conscience from philip ii.; and that any stipulations which might be made upon that, or any other subject, by the spanish commissioners, would be tossed to the wind. in reply to the queen's loud complaints that the states had been trifling with her, and undutiful to her, and that they had kept her waiting seven months long for an answer to her summons to participate in the negotiations, they replied, that up to the th october of the previous year, although there had been flying rumours of an intention on the part of her majesty's government to open those communications with the enemy, it had, "nevertheless been earnestly and expressly, and with high words and oaths, denied that there was any truth in those rumours." since that time the states had not once only, but many times, in private letters, in public documents, and in conversations with lord leicester and other eminent personages, deprecated any communications whatever with spain, asserting uniformly their conviction that such proceedings would bring ruin on their country, and imploring her majesty not to give ear to any propositions whatever. and not only were the envoys, regularly appointed by the states-general, most active in england, in their, attempts to prevent the negotiations, but delegates from the netherland churches were also sent to the queen, to reason with her on the subject, and to utter solemn warnings that the cause of the reformed religion would be lost for ever, in case of a treaty on her part with spain. when these clerical envoys reached england the queen was already beginning to wake from her delusion; although her commissioners were still--as we have seen--hard at work, pouring sand through their sieves at ostend, and although the steady protestations, of the duke of parma, and the industrious circulation of falsehoods by spanish emissaries, had even caused her wisest statesmen, for a time, to participate in that delusion. for it is not so great an impeachment on the sagacity of the great queen of england, as it would now appear to those who judge by the light of subsequent facts, that she still doubted whether the armaments, notoriously preparing in spain and flanders, were intended against herself; and that even if such were the case--she still believed in the possibility of averting the danger by negotiation. so late as the beginning of may, even the far-seeing and anxious walsingham could say, that in england "they were doing nothing but honouring st. george, of whom the spanish armada seemed to be afraid. we hear," he added, "that they will not be ready to set forward before the midst of may, but i trust that it will be may come twelve months. the king of spain is too old and too sickly to fall to conquer kingdoms. if he be well counselled, his best course will be to settle his own kingdoms in his own hands." and even much later, in the middle of july--when the mask was hardly, maintained--even then there was no certainty as to the movements of the armada; and walsingham believed, just ten days before the famous fleet was to appear off plymouth, that it had dispersed and returned to spain, never to re-appear. as to parma's intentions, they were thought to lie rather in the direction: of ostend than of england; and elizabeth; on the th july, was more anxious for that city than for her own kingdom. "mr. ned, i am persuaded," she wrote to morris, "that if a spanish fleet break, the prince of parma's enterprise for england will fall to the ground, and then are you to look to ostend. haste your works." all through the spring and early summer, stafford, in paris, was kept in a state of much perplexity as to the designs of spain--so contradictory were the stories circulated--and so bewildering the actions of men known to be hostile to england. in, the last days of april he intimated it as a common opinion in paris, that these naval preparations of philip were an elaborate farce; "that the great elephant would bring forth but a mouse--that the great processions, prayers, and pardons, at rome, for the prosperous success of the armada against england; would be of no effect; that the king of spain was laughing in his sleeve at the pope, that he could make such a fool of him; and that such an enterprise was a thing the king never durst think of in deed, but only in show to feed the world." thus, although furnished with minute details as to these, armaments, and as to the exact designs of spain against his country, by the ostentatious statements of the; spanish ambassador in paris himself, the english, envoy was still inclined to believe that these statements were a figment, expressly intended to deceive. yet he was aware that lord westmoreland, lord paget, sir charles paget, morgan, and other english refugees, were constantly meeting with mendoza, that they were told to get themselves in readiness, and to go down--as well appointed as might be--to the duke of parma; that they had been "sending for their tailor to make them apparel, and to put themselves in equipage;" that, in particular, westmoreland had been assured of being restored by philip to his native country in better condition than before. the catholic and spanish party in paris were however much dissatisfied with the news from scotland, and were getting more and more afraid that king james would object to the spaniards getting a foot-hold in his country, and that "the scots would soon be playing them a scottish trick." stafford was plunged still more inextricably into doubt by the accounts from longlee in madrid. the diplomatist, who had been completely convinced by philip as to his innocence of any participation in the criminal enterprise of guise against henry iii., was now almost staggered by the unscrupulous mendacity of that monarch with regard to any supposed designs against england. although the armada was to be ready by the th may, longlee was of opinion--notwithstanding many bold announcements of an attack upon elizabeth--that the real object of the expedition was america. there had recently been discovered, it was said, "a new country, more rich in gold and silver than any yet found, but so full of stout people that they could not master them." to reduce these stout people beyond the atlantic, therefore, and to get possession of new gold mines, was the real object at which philip was driving, and longlee and stafford were both very doubtful whether it were worth the queen's while to exhaust her finances in order to protect herself against an imaginary invasion. even so late as the middle of july, six to one was offered on the paris exchange that the spanish fleet would never be seen in the english seas, and those that offered the bets were known to be well- wishers to the spanish party. thus sharp diplomatists and statesmen like longlee, stafford, and walsingham, were beginning to lose their fear of the great bugbear by which england had so long been haunted. it was, therefore no deep stain on the queen's sagacity that she, too, was willing to place credence in the plighted honour of alexander farnese, the great prince who prided himself on his sincerity, and who, next to the king his master, adored the virgin queen of england. the deputies of the netherland churches had come, with the permission of count maurice and of the states general; but they represented more strongly than any other envoys could do, the english and the monarchical party. they were instructed especially to implore the queen to accept the sovereignty of their country; to assure her that the restoration of philip--who had been a wolf instead of a shepherd to his flock--was an impossibility, that he had been solemnly and for ever deposed, that under her sceptre only could the provinces ever recover their ancient prosperity; that ancient and modern history alike made it manifest that a free republic could never maintain itself, but that it must, of necessity, run its course through sedition, bloodshed, and anarchy, until liberty was at last crushed by an absolute despotism; that equality of condition, the basis of democratic institutions, could never be made firm; and that a fortunate exception, like that of switzerland, whose historical and political circumstances were peculiar, could never serve as a model to the netherlands, accustomed as those provinces had ever been to a monarchical form of government; and that the antagonism of aristocratic and democratic elements in the states had already produced discord, and was threatening destruction to the whole country. to avert such dangers the splendour of royal authority was necessary, according to the venerable commands of holy writ; and therefore the netherland churches acknowledged themselves the foster-children of england, and begged that in political matters also the inhabitants of the provinces might be accepted as the subjects of her majesty. they also implored the queen to break off these accursed negotiations with spain, and to provide that henceforth in the netherlands the reformed religion might be freely exercised, to the exclusion of any other. thus it was very evident that these clerical envoys, although they were sent by permission of the states, did not come as the representatives of the dominant party. for that 'beelzebub,' barneveld, had different notions from theirs as to the possibility of a republic, and as to the propriety of tolerating other forms of worship than his own. but it was for such pernicious doctrines, on religious matters in particular, that he was called beelzebub, pope john, a papist in disguise, and an atheist; and denounced, as leading young maurice and the whole country to destruction. on the basis of these instructions, the deputies drew up a memorial of pitiless length, filled with astounding parallels between their own position and that of the hebrews, assyrians, and other distinguished nations of antiquity. they brought it to walsingham on the th july, , and the much enduring man heard it read from beginning to end. he expressed his approbation of its sentiments, but said it was too long. it must be put on one sheet of paper, he said, if her majesty was expected to read it. "moreover," said the secretary of state, "although your arguments are full of piety, and your examples from holy writ very apt, i must tell you the plain truth. great princes are not always so zealous in religious matters as they might be. political transactions move them more deeply, and they depend too much on worldly things. however there is no longer much danger, for our envoys will return from flanders in a few days." "but," asked a deputy, "if the spanish fleet does not succeed in its enterprise, will the peace-negotiations be renewed?" "by no means," said walsingham; "the queen can never do that, consistently with her honour. they have scattered infamous libels against her--so scandalous, that you would be astounded should you read them. arguments drawn from honour are more valid with princes than any other." he alluded to the point in their memorial touching the free exercise of the reformed religion in the provinces. "'tis well and piously said," he observed; "but princes and great lords are not always very earnest in such matters. i think that her majesty's envoys will not press for the free exercise of the religion so very much; not more than for two or three years. by that time--should our negotiations succeed--the foreign troops will have evacuated the netherlands on condition that the states-general shall settle the religious question." "but," said daniel de dieu, one of the deputies, "the majority of the states is popish." "be it so," replied sir francis; "nevertheless they will sooner permit the exercise of the reformed religion than take up arms and begin the war anew." he then alluded to the proposition of the deputies to exclude all religious worship but that of the reformed church--all false religion-- as they expressed themselves. "her majesty," said he, "is well disposed to permit some exercise of their religion to the papists. so far as regards my own feelings, if we were now in the beginning, of the reformation, and the papacy were still entire, i should willingly concede such exercise; but now that the papacy has been overthrown, i think it would not be safe to give such permission. when we were disputing, at the time of the pacification of ghent, whether the popish religion should be partially permitted, the prince of orange was of the affirmative opinion; but i, who was then at antwerp, entertained the contrary conviction." "but," said one of the deputies--pleased to find that walsingham was more of their way of thinking on religious toleration than the great prince of orange had been, or than maurice and barneveld then were--"but her majesty will, we hope, follow the advice of her good and faithful counsellors." "to tell you the truth," answered sir francis, "great princes are not always inspired with a sincere and upright zeal;"--it was the third time he had made this observation"--although, so far as regards the maintenance of the religion in the netherlands, that is a matter of necessity. of that there is no fear, since otherwise all the pious would depart, and none would remain but papists, and, what is more, enemies of england. therefore the queen is aware that the religion must be maintained." he then advised the deputies to hand in the memorial to her majesty, without any long speeches, for which there was then no time or opportunity; and it was subsequently arranged that they should be presented to the queen as she would be mounting her horse at st. james's to ride to richmond. accordingly on the th july, as her majesty came forth at the gate, with a throng of nobles and ladies--some about to accompany her and some bidding her adieu--the deputies fell on their knees before her. notwithstanding the advice of walsingham, daniel de dieu was bent upon an oration. "oh illustrious queen!" he began, "the churches of the united netherlands----" he had got no further, when the queen, interrupting, exclaimed, "oh! i beg you--at another time--i cannot now listen to a speech. let me see the memorial." daniel de dieu then humbly presented that document, which her majesty graciously received, and then, getting on horseback, rode off to richmond.' the memorial was in the nature of an exhortation to sustain the religion, and to keep clear of all negotiations with idolaters and unbelievers; and the memorialists supported themselves by copious references to deuteronomy, proverbs, isaiah, timothy, and psalms, relying mainly on the case of jehosaphat, who came to disgrace and disaster through his treaty with the idolatrous king ahab. with regard to any composition with spain, they observed, in homely language, that a burnt cat fears the fire; and they assured the queen that, by following their advice, she would gain a glorious and immortal name, like those of david, ezekiel, josiah, and others, whose fragrant memory, even as precious incense from the apothecary's, endureth to the end of the world. it was not surprising that elizabeth, getting on horseback on the th july, , with her head full of tilbury fort and medina sidonia, should have as little relish for the affairs of ahab and jehosophat, as for those melting speeches of diomede and of turnus, to which dr. valentine dale on his part was at that moment invoking her attention. on the th july, the deputies were informed by leicester that her majesty would grant them an interview, july , and that they must come into his quarter of the palace and await her arrival. between six and seven in the evening she came into the throne-room, and the deputies again fell on their knees before her. she then seated herself--the deputies remaining on their knees on her right side and the earl of leicester standing at her left--and proceeded to make many remarks touching her earnestness in the pending negotiations to provide for their religious freedom. it seemed that she must have received a hint from walsingham on the subject. "i shall provide," she said, "for the maintenance of the reformed worship." de dieu--"the enemy will never concede it." the queen.--"i think differently." de dieu.--"there is no place within his dominions where he has permitted the exercise of the pure religion. he has never done so." the queen.--"he conceded it in the pacification of ghent." de dieu.--"but he did not keep his agreement. don john had concluded with the states, but said he was not held to his promise, in case he should repent; and the king wrote afterwards to our states, and said that he was no longer bound to his pledge." the queen.--"that is quite another thing." de dieu.--"he has very often broken his faith." the queen.--"he shall no longer be allowed to do so. if he does not keep his word, that is my affair, not yours. it is my business to find the remedy. men would say, see in what a desolation the queen of england has brought this poor people. as to the freedom of worship, i should have proposed three or four years' interval--leaving it afterwards to the decision of the states." de dieu.--"but the majority of the states is popish." the queen.--"i mean the states-general, not the states of any particular province." de dieu.--"the greater part of the states-general is popish." the queen.--"i mean the three estates--the clergy, the nobles, and the cities." the queen--as the deputies observed--here fell into an error. she thought that prelates of the reformed church, as in england, had seats in the states-general. daniel de dieu explained that they had no such position. the queen.--"then how were you sent hither?" de dieu.--"we came with the consent of count maurice of nassau." the queen.--"and of the states?" de dieu.--"we came with their knowledge." the queen.--"are you sent only from holland and zeeland? is there no envoy from utrecht and the other provinces?" helmichius.--"we two," pointing to his colleague sossingius, "are from utrecht." the queen.--"what? is this young man also a minister?" she meant helmichius, who had a very little beard, and looked young. sossingius.--"he is not so young as he looks." the queen.--"youths are sometimes as able as old men." de dieu.--"i have heard our brother preach in france more than fourteen years ago." the queen.--"he must have begun young. how old were you when you first became a preacher?" helmichius.--"twenty-three or twenty-four years of age." the queen.--"it was with us, at first, considered a scandal that a man so young as that should be admitted to the pulpit. our antagonists reproached us with it in a book called 'scandale de l'angleterre,' saying that we had none but school-boys for ministers. i understand that you pray for me as warmly as if i were your sovereign princess. i think i have done as much for the religion as if i were your queen." helmichius.--"we are far from thinking otherwise. we acknowledge willingly your majesty's benefits to our churches." the queen.--"it would else be ingratitude on your part." helmichius.--"but the king of spain will never keep any promise about the religion." the queen.--"he will never come so far: he does nothing but make a noise on all sides. item, i don't think he has much confidence in himself." de dieu.--"your majesty has many enemies. the lord hath hitherto supported you, and we pray that he may continue to uphold your majesty." the queen.--"i have indeed many enemies; but i make no great account of them. is there anything else you seek?" de dieu.--"there is a special point: it concerns our, or rather your majesty's, city of flushing. we hope that russelius--(so he called sir william russell)--may be continued in its government, although he wishes his discharge." "aha!" said the queen, laughing and rising from her seat, "i shall not answer you; i shall call some one else to answer you." she then summoned russell's sister, lady warwick. "if you could speak french," said the queen to that gentlewoman, "i should bid you reply to these gentlemen, who beg that your brother may remain in flushing, so very agreeable has he made himself to them." the queen was pleased to hear this good opinion of sir william, and this request that he might continue to be governor of flushing, because he had uniformly supported the leicester party, and was at that moment in high quarrel with count maurice and the leading members of the states. as the deputies took their leave, they requested an answer to their memorial, which was graciously promised. three days afterwards, walsingham gave them a written answer to their memorial--conceived in the same sense as had been the expressions of her majesty and her counsellors. support to the netherlands and stipulations for the free exercise of their religion were promised; but it was impossible for these deputies of the churches to obtain a guarantee from england that the popish religion should be excluded from the provinces, in case of a successful issue to the queen's negotiation with spain. and thus during all those eventful days-the last weeks of july and the first weeks of august--the clerical deputation remained in england, indulging in voluminous protocols and lengthened conversations with the queen and the principal members of her government. it is astonishing, in that breathless interval of history, that so much time could be found for quill-driving and oratory. nevertheless, both in holland and england, there had been other work than protocolling. one throb of patriotism moved the breast of both nations. a longing to grapple, once for all, with the great enemy of civil and religious liberty inspired both. in holland, the states-general and all the men to whom the people looked for guidance, had been long deprecating the peace-negotiations. extraordinary supplies--more than had ever been granted before--were voted for the expenses of the campaign; and maurice of nassau, fitly embodying the warlike tendencies of his country and race, had been most importunate with queen elizabeth that she would accept his services and his advice. armed vessels of every size, from the gun-boat to the galleon of tons--then the most imposing ship in those waters--swarmed in all the estuaries and rivers, and along the dutch and flemish coast, bidding defiance to parma and his armaments; and offers of a large contingent from the fleets of jooat de moor and justinua de nassau, to serve under seymour and howard, were freely made to the states-general. it was decided early in july, by the board of admiralty, presided over by prince maurice, that the largest square-rigged vessels of holland and zeeland should cruise between england and the flemish coast, outside the banks; that a squadron of lesser ships should be stationed within the banks; and that a fleet of sloops and fly-boats should hover close in shore, about flushing and rammekens. all the war-vessels of the little republic were thus fully employed. but, besides this arrangement, maurice was empowered to lay an embargo--under what penalty he chose and during his pleasure--on all square-rigged vessels over tons, in order that there might be an additional supply in case of need. ninety ships of war under warmond, admiral, and van der does, vice-admiral of holland; and justinus de nassau, admiral, and joost de moor, vice-admiral of zeeland; together with fifty merchant-vessels of the best and strongest, equipped and armed for active service, composed a formidable fleet. the states-general, a month before, had sent twenty-five or thirty good ships, under admiral rosendael, to join lord henry seymour, then cruising between dover and calais. a tempest, drove them back, and their absence from lord henry's fleet being misinterpreted by the english, the states were censured for ingratitude and want of good faith. but the injustice of the accusation was soon made manifest, for these vessels, reinforcing the great dutch fleet outside the banks, did better service than they could have done; in the straits. a squadron of strong well-armed vessels, having on board, in addition to their regular equipment, a picked force of twelve hundred musketeers, long accustomed to this peculiar kind of naval warfare, with crews of, grim zeelanders, who had faced alva, and valdez in their day, now kept close watch over farnese, determined that he should never thrust his face out of any haven or nook on the coast so long as they should be in existence to prevent him. and in england the protracted diplomacy at ostend, ill-timed though it was, had not paralyzed the arm or chilled the heart of the nation. when the great queen, arousing herself from the delusion in which the falsehoods of farnese and of philip had lulled her, should once more. represent--as no man or woman better than elizabeth tudor could represent --the defiance of england to foreign insolence; the resolve of a whole people to die rather than yield; there was a thrill of joy through the national heart. when the enforced restraint was at last taken off, there was one bound towards the enemy. few more magnificent spectacles have been seen in history than the enthusiasm which pervaded the country as the great danger, so long deferred, was felt at last to be closely approaching. the little nation of four millions, the merry england of the sixteenth century, went forward to the death-grapple with its gigantic antagonist as cheerfully as to a long-expected holiday. spain was a vast empire, overshadowing the world; england, in comparison, but a province; yet nothing could surpass the steadiness with which the conflict was awaited. for, during all the months of suspense; the soldiers and sailors, and many statesman of england, had deprecated, even as the hollanders had been doing, the dangerous delays of ostend. elizabeth was not embodying the national instinct, when she talked of peace; and shrank penuriously from the expenses of war. there was much disappointment, even indignation, at the slothfulness with which the preparations for defence went on, during the period when there was yet time to make them. it was feared with justice that england, utterly unfortified as were its cities, and defended only by its little navy without, and by untaught enthusiasm within, might; after all, prove an easier conquest than holland and zeeland, every town, in whose territory bristled with fortifications. if the english ships--well-trained and swift sailors as they were--were unprovided with spare and cordage, beef and biscuit, powder and shot, and the militia-men, however enthusiastic, were neither drilled nor armed, was it so very certain, after all, that successful resistance would be made to the great armada, and to the veteran pikemen and musketeers of farnese, seasoned on a hundred, battlefields, and equipped as for a tournament? there was generous confidence and chivalrous loyalty on the part of elizabeth's naval and military commanders; but there had been deep regret and disappointment at her course. hawkins was anxious, all through the winter and spring, to cruise with a small squadron off the coast of spain. with a dozen vessels he undertook to "distress anything that went through the seas." the cost of such a squadron, with eighteen hundred men, to be relieved every four months, he estimated at two thousand seven hundred pounds sterling the month, or a shilling a day for each man; and it would be a very unlucky month, he said, in which they did not make captures to three times that amount; for they would see nothing that would not be presently their own. "we might have peace, but not with god," said the pious old slave-trader; "but rather than serve baal, let us die a thousand deaths. let us have open war with these jesuits, and every man will contribute, fight, devise, or do, for the liberty of our country." and it was open war with the jesuits for which those stouthearted sailors longed. all were afraid of secret mischief. the diplomatists--who were known to be flitting about france, flanders, scotland, and england--were birds of ill omen. king james was beset by a thousand bribes and expostulations to avenge his mother's death; and although that mother had murdered his father, and done her best to disinherit himself, yet it was feared that spanish ducats might induce him to be true to his mother's revenge, and false to the reformed religion. nothing of good was hoped for from france. "for my part," said lord admiral howard, "i have made of the french king, the scottish king, and the king of spain, a trinity that i mean never to trust to be saved by, and i would that others were of my opinion." the noble sailor, on whom so much responsibility rested, yet who was so trammelled and thwarted by the timid and parsimonious policy of elizabeth and of burghley, chafed and shook his chains like a captive. "since england was england," he exclaimed, "there was never such a stratagem and mask to deceive her as this treaty of peace. i pray god that we do not curse for this a long grey beard with a white head witless, that will make all the world think us heartless. you know whom i mean." and it certainly was not difficult to understand the allusion to the pondering lord-treasurer." 'opus est aliquo daedalo,' to direct us out of the maze," said that much puzzled statesman; but he hardly seemed to be making himself wings with which to lift england and himself out of the labyrinth. the ships were good ships, but there was intolerable delay in getting a sufficient number of them as ready for action as was the spirit of their commanders. "our ships do show like gallants here," said winter; "it would do a man's heart good to behold them. would to god the prince of parma were on the seas with all his forces, and we in sight of them. you should hear that we would make his enterprise very unpleasant to him." and howard, too, was delighted not only with his own little flag-ship the ark-royal--"the odd ship of the world for all conditions,"--but with all of his fleet that could be mustered. although wonders were reported, by every arrival from the south, of the coming armada, the lord-admiral was not appalled. he was perhaps rather imprudent in the defiance he flung to the enemy. "let me have the four great ships and twenty hoys, with but twenty men a-piece, and each with but two iron pieces, and her majesty shall have a good account of the spanish forces; and i will make the king wish his galleys home again. few as we are, if his forces be not hundreds, we will make good sport with them." but those four great ships of her majesty, so much longed for by howard, were not forthcoming. he complained that the queen was "keeping them to protect chatham church withal, when they should be serving their turn abroad." the spanish fleet was already reported as numbering from sail, with , men,' to or ships, and , soldiers and mariners; and yet drake was not ready with his squadron. "the fault is not in him," said howard, "but i pray god her majesty do not repent her slack dealing. we must all lie together, for we shall be stirred very shortly with heave ho! i fear ere long her majesty will be sorry she hath believed some so much as she hath done." howard had got to sea, and was cruising all the stormy month of march in the channel with his little unprepared squadron; expecting at any moment --such was the profound darkness which, enveloped the world at that day-- that the sails of the armada might appear in the offing. he made a visit to the dutch coast, and was delighted with the enthusiasm with which he was received. five thousand people a day came on board his ships, full of congratulation and delight; and he informed the queen that she was not more assured of the isle of sheppey than of walcheren. nevertheless time wore on, and both the army and navy of england were quite unprepared, and the queen was more reluctant than ever to incur the expense necessary to the defence of her kingdom. at least one of those galleys, which, as howard bitterly complained, seemed destined to defend chatham church, was importunately demanded; but it was already easter-day ( th april), and she was demanded in vain. "lord! when should she serve," said the admiral, "if not at such a time as this? either she is fit now to serve, or fit for the fire. i hope never in my time to see so great a cause for her to be used. i dare say her majesty will look that men should fight for her, and i know they will at this time. the king of spain doth not keep any ship at home, either of his own or any other, that he can get for money. well, well, i must pray heartily for peace," said howard with increasing spleen, "for i see the support of an honourable, war will never appear. sparing and war have no affinity together." in truth elizabeth's most faithful subjects were appalled at the ruin which she seemed by her mistaken policy to be rendering inevitable. "i am sorry," said the admiral, "that her majesty is so careless of this most dangerous time. i fear me much, and with grief i think it, that she relieth on a hope that will deceive her, and greatly endanger her, and then it will not be her money nor her jewels that will help; for as they will do good in time, so they will help nothing for the redeeming of time." the preparations on shore were even more dilatory than those on the sea. we have seen that the duke of parma, once landed, expected to march directly upon london; and it was notorious that there were no fortresses to oppose a march of the first general in europe and his veterans upon that unprotected and wealthy metropolis. an army had been enrolled--a force of , foot, and , cavalry; but it was an army on paper merely. even of the , , only , were set down as trained; and it is certain that the training had been of the most meagre and unsatisfactory description. leicester was to be commander-in-chief; but we have already seen that nobleman measuring himself, not much to his advantage, with alexander farnese, in the isle of bommel, on the sands of blankenburg, and at the gates of sluys. his army was to consist of , infantry, and horse; yet at midsummer it had not reached half that number. lord chamberlain hunsdon was to protect the queen's person with another army of , ; but this force, was purely an imaginary one; and the lord-lieutenant of each county was to do his best with the militia. but men were perpetually escaping out of the general service, in order to make themselves retainers for private noblemen, and be kept at their expense. "you shall hardly believe," said leicester, "how many new liveries be gotten within these six weeks, and no man fears the penalty. it would be better that every nobleman did as lord dacres, than to take away from the principal service such as are set down to serve." of enthusiasm and courage, then, there was enough, while of drill and discipline, of powder and shot, there was a deficiency. no braver or more competent soldier could be found than sir edward stanley--the man whom we have seen in his yellow jerkin, helping himself into fort zutphen with the spanish soldier's pike--and yet sir edward stanley gave but a sorry account of the choicest soldiers of chester and lancashire, whom he had been sent to inspect. "i find them not," he said, "according to your expectation, nor mine own liking. they were appointed two years past to have been trained six days by the year or more, at the discretion of the muster-master, but, as yet, they have not been trained one day, so that they have benefited nothing, nor yet know their leaders. there is now promise of amendment, which, i doubt, will be very slow, in respect to my lord derby's absence." my lord derby was at that moment, and for many months afterwards, assisting valentine dale in his classical prolusions on the sands of bourbourg. he had better have been mustering the trainbands of lancashire. there was a general indisposition in the rural districts to expend money and time in military business, until the necessity should become imperative. professional soldiers complained bitterly of the canker of a long peace. "for our long quietness, which it hath pleased god to send us," said stanley, "they think their money very ill bestowed which they expend on armour or weapon, for that they be in hope they shall never have occasion to use it, so they may pass muster, as they have done heretofore. i want greatly powder, for there is little or none at all." the day was fast approaching when all the power in england would be too little for the demand. but matters had not very much mended even at midsummer. it is true that leicester, who was apt to be sanguine- particularly in matters under his immediate control--spoke of the handful of recruits assembled at his camp in essex, as "soldiers of a year's experience, rather than a month's camping; "but in this opinion he differed from many competent authorities, and was somewhat in contradiction to himself. nevertheless he was glad that the queen had determined to visit him, and encourage his soldiers. "i have received in secret," he said, "those news that please me, that your majesty doth intend to behold the poor and bare company that lie here in the field, most willingly to serve you, yea, most ready to die for you. you shall, dear lady, behold as goodly, loyal, and as able men as any prince christian can show you, and yet but a handful of your own, in comparison of the rest you have. what comfort not only these shall receive who shall be the happiest to behold yourself i cannot express; but assuredly it will give no small comfort to the rest, that shall be overshined with the beams of so gracious and princely a party, for what your royal majesty shall do to these will be accepted as done to all. good sweet queen, alter not your purpose, if god give you health. it will be your pain for the time, but your pleasure to behold such people. and surely the place must content you, being as fair a soil and as goodly a prospect as may be seen or found, as this extreme weather hath made trial, which doth us little annoyance, it is so firm and dry a ground. your usher also liketh your lodging--a proper, secret, cleanly house. your camp is a little mile off, and your person will be as sure as at st. james's, for my life." but notwithstanding this cheerful view of the position expressed by the commander-in-chief, the month of july had passed, and the early days of august had already arrived; and yet the camp was not formed, nor anything more than that mere handful of troops mustered about tilbury, to defend the road from dover to london. the army at tilbury never, exceeded sixteen or seventeen thousand men. the whole royal navy-numbering about thirty-four vessels in all--of different sizes, ranging from and tons to , had at last been got ready for sea. its aggregate tonnage was , ; not half so much as at the present moment--in the case of one marvellous merchant-steamer-- floats upon a single keel. these vessels carried. guns and men. but the navy was reinforced by the patriotism and liberality of english merchants and private gentlemen. the city of london having been requested to furnish ships of war and men, asked two days for deliberation, and then gave ships and , men of which number were seamen. other cities, particularly plymouth, came forward with proportionate liberality, and private individuals, nobles, merchants, and men of humblest rank, were enthusiastic in volunteering into the naval service, to risk property and life in defence of the country. by midsummer there had been a total force of vessels manned, and partially equipped, with an aggregate of , tons, and , seamen. of this fleet a very large number were mere coasters of less than tons each; scarcely ten ships were above , and but one above tons--the triumph, captain frobisher, of tons, guns, and sailors. lord howard of effingham, lord high-admiral of england, distinguished for his martial character, public spirit, and admirable temper, rather than for experience or skill as a seaman, took command of the whole fleet, in his "little odd ship for all conditions," the ark-royal, of tons, sailors, and guns. next in rank was vice-admiral drake, in the revenge, of tons, men and guns. lord henry seymour, in the rainbow, of precisely the same size and strength, commanded the inner squadron, which cruised in the neighbourhood of the french and flemish coast. the hollanders and zeelanders had undertaken to blockade the duke of parma still more closely, and pledged themselves that he should never venture to show himself upon the open sea at all. the mouth of the scheldt, and the dangerous shallows off the coast of newport and dunkirk, swarmed with their determined and well-seasoned craft, from the flybooter or filibuster of the rivers, to the larger armed vessels, built to confront every danger, and to deal with any adversary. farnese, on his part, within that well-guarded territory, had, for months long, scarcely slackened in his preparations, day or night. whole forests had been felled in the land of waas to furnish him with transports and gun-boats, and with such rapidity, that--according to his enthusiastic historiographer--each tree seemed by magic to metamorphose itself into a vessel at the word of command. shipbuilders, pilots, and seamen, were brought from the baltic, from hamburgh, from genoa. the whole surface of the obedient netherlands, whence wholesome industry had long been banished, was now the scene of a prodigious baleful activity. portable bridges for fording the rivers of england, stockades for entrenchments, rafts and oars, were provided in vast numbers, and alexander dug canals and widened natural streams to facilitate his operations. these wretched provinces, crippled, impoverished, languishing for peace, were forced to contribute out of their poverty, and to find strength even in their exhaustion, to furnish the machinery for destroying their own countrymen, and for hurling to perdition their most healthful neighbour. and this approaching destruction of england--now generally believed in-- was like the sound of a trumpet throughout catholic europe. scions of royal houses, grandees of azure blood, the bastard of philip ii., the bastard of savoy, the bastard of medici, the margrave of burghaut, the archduke charles, nephew of the emperor, the princes of ascoli and of melfi, the prince of morocco, and others of illustrious name, with many a noble english traitor, like paget, and westmoreland, and stanley, all hurried to the camp of farnese, as to some famous tournament, in which it was a disgrace to chivalry if their names were not enrolled. the roads were trampled with levies of fresh troops from spain, naples, corsica, the states of the church, the milanese, germany, burgundy. blas capizucca was sent in person to conduct reinforcements from the north of italy. the famous terzio of naples, under carlos pinelo, arrived strong--the most splendid regiment ever known in the history of war. every man had an engraved corslet and musket-barrel, and there were many who wore gilded armour, while their waving plumes and festive caparisons made them look like holiday-makers, rather than real campaigners, in the eyes of the inhabitants of the various cities through which their road led them to flanders. by the end of april the duke of parma saw himself at the head of , men, at a monthly expense of , crowns or dollars. yet so rapid was the progress of disease-- incident to northern climates--among those southern soldiers, that we shall find the number woefully diminished before they were likely to set foot upon the english shore. thus great preparations, simultaneously with pompous negotiations, had been going forward month after month, in england, holland, flanders. nevertheless, winter, spring, two-thirds of summer, had passed away, and on the th july, , there remained the same sickening uncertainty, which was the atmosphere in which the nations had existed for a twelvemonth. howard had cruised for a few weeks between england and spain, without any results, and, on his return, had found it necessary to implore her majesty, as late as july, to "trust no more to judas' kisses, but to her sword, not her enemy's word." etext editor's bookmarks: a burnt cat fears the fire a free commonwealth--was thought an absurdity baiting his hook a little to his appetite canker of a long peace englishmen and hollanders preparing to cut each other's throats faction has rarely worn a more mischievous aspect hard at work, pouring sand through their sieves she relieth on a hope that will deceive her sparing and war have no affinity together the worst were encouraged with their good success trust her sword, not her enemy's word this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, - chapter xx. alexander besieges bergen-op-zoom--pallavicini's attempt to seduce parma--alexander's fury--he is forced to raise the siege, of bergen --gertruydenberg betrayed to parma--indignation of the states-- exploits, of schenk--his attack on nymegen--he is defeated and drowned--english-dutch expedition to spain--its meagre results-- death of guise and of the queen--mother--combinations after the murder of henry iii.--tandem fit surculus arbor. the fever of the past two years was followed by comparative languor. the deadly crisis was past, the freedom of europe was saved, holland and england breathed again; but tension now gave place to exhaustion. the events in the remainder of the year , with those of --although important in themselves--were the immediate results of that history which has been so minutely detailed in these volumes, and can be indicated in a very few pages. the duke of parma, melancholy, disappointed, angry stung to the soul by calumnies as stupid as they were venomous, and already afflicted with a painful and lingering disease, which his friends attributed to poison administered by command of the master whom he had so faithfully served-- determined, if possible, to afford the consolation which that master was so plaintively demanding at his hands. so alexander led the splendid army which had been packed in, and unpacked from, the flat boats of newport and dunkerk, against bergen-op-zoom, and besieged that city in form. once of great commercial importance, although somewhat fallen away from its original prosperity, bergen was well situate on a little stream which connected it with the tide-waters of the scheldt, and was the only place in brabant, except willemstad, still remaining to the states. opposite lay the isle of tholen from which it was easily to be supplied and reinforced. the vosmeer, a branch of the scheldt, separated the island from the main, and there was a path along the bed of that estuary, which, at dead low-water, was practicable for wading. alexander, accordingly, sent a party of eight hundred pikemen, under montigny, marquis of renty, and ottavio mansfeld, supported on the dyke by three thousand musketeers, across; the dangerous ford, at ebb-tide, in order to seize this important island. it was an adventure similar to those, which, in the days of the grand commander, and under the guidance of mondragon; had been on two occasions so brilliantly successful. but the isle of tholen was now defended by count solms and a garrison of fierce amphibious zeelanders--of those determined bands which had just been holding farnese and his fleet in prison, and daring him to the issue--and the invading party, after fortunately accomplishing their night journey along the bottom of the vosmeer, were unable to effect a landing, were driven with considerable loss into the waves again, and compelled to find their way back as best they could, along their dangerous path, and with a rapidly rising tide. it was a blind and desperate venture, and the vosmeer soon swallowed four hundred of the spaniards. the rest, half-drowned or smothered, succeeded in reaching the shore--the chiefs of the expedition, renty and mansfeld, having been with difficulty rescued by their followers, when nearly sinking in the tide. the duke continued the siege, but the place was well defended by an english and dutch garrison, to the number of five thousand, and commanded by colonel morgan, that bold and much experienced welshman, so well known in the netherland wars. willoughby and maurice of nassau, and olden- barneveld were, at different times, within the walls; for the duke had been unable to invest the place so closely as to prevent all communications from without; and, while maurice was present, there were almost daily sorties from the town, with many a spirited skirmish, to give pleasure to the martial young prince. the english, officers, vere and baskerville, and two netherland colonels, the brothers bax, most distinguished themselves on these occasions. the siege was not going on with the good fortune which had usually attended the spanish leaguer. of dutch cities, while, on the th september, a personal incident came to increase alexander's dissatisfaction and melancholy. on that day the duke was sitting in his tent, brooding, as he was apt to do, over the unjust accusations which had been heaped upon him in regard to the failure of the armada, when a stranger was announced. his name, he said, was giacomo morone, and he was the bearer of a letter from sir horace pallavicini, a genoese gentleman long established in london; and known to be on confidential terms with the english government. alexander took the letter, and glancing at the bottom of the last page, saw that it was not signed. "how dare you bring me a dispatch without a signature?" he exclaimed. the messenger, who was himself a genoese, assured the duke that the letter was most certainly written by pallavicini--who had himself placed it, sealed, in his hands--and that he had supposed it signed, although he had of course, not seen the inside. alexander began to read the note, which was not a very long one, and his brow instantly darkened. he read a line or two more, when, with an exclamation of fury, he drew his dagger, and, seizing the astonished genoese by the throat, was about to strike him dead. suddenly mastering his rage, however, by a strong effort, and remembering that the man might be a useful witness; he flung morone from him. "if i had pallavicini here," he said, "i would treat, him as i have just refrained from using you. and if i had any suspicion that you were aware of the contents of this letter, i would send you this instant to be hanged." the unlucky despatch-bearer protested his innocence of all complicity with pallavicini, and his ignorance of the tenor of the communication by which the duke's wrath had been so much excited. he was then searched and cross-examined most carefully by richardot and other counsellors, and his innocence being made apparent-he was ultimately discharged. the letter of pallavicini was simply an attempt to sound farnese as to his sentiments in regard to a secret scheme, which could afterwards be arranged in form, and according, to which he was to assume the sovereignty of the netherlands himself, to the exclusion of his king, to guarantee to england the possession of the cautionary towns, until her advances to the states should be refunded, and to receive the support and perpetual alliance of the queen in his new and rebellious position. here was additional evidence, if any were wanting, of the universal belief in his disloyalty; and alexander, faithful, if man ever were to his master--was cut to the heart, and irritated almost to madness, by such insolent propositions. there is neither proof nor probability that the queen's government was implicated in this intrigue of pallavicini, who appears to have been inspired by the ambition of achieving a bit of machiavellian policy, quite on his own account. nothing came of the proposition, and the duke; having transmitted to the king a minute narrative of, the affair, together with indignant protestations of the fidelity, which all the world seemed determined to dispute, received most affectionate replies from that monarch, breathing nothing but unbounded confidence in his nephew's innocence and devotion. such assurances from any other man in the world might have disarmed suspicion, but alexander knew his master too well to repose upon his word, and remembered too bitterly the last hours of don john of austria --whose dying pillow he had soothed, and whose death had been hastened, as he knew, either by actual poison or by the hardly less fatal venom of slander--to regain tranquillity as to his own position. the king was desirous that pallavicini should be invited over to flanders, in order that alexander, under pretence of listening to his propositions, might draw from the genoese all the particulars of his scheme, and then, at leisure, inflict the punishment which he had deserved. but insuperable obstacles presented themselves, nor was alexander desirous of affording still further pretexts for his slanderers. very soon after this incident--most important as showing the real situation of various parties, although without any immediate result-- alexander received a visit in his tent from another stranger. this time the visitor was an englishman, one lieutenant grimstone, and the object of his interview with the duke was not political, but had, a direct reference to the siege of bergen. he was accompanied by a countryman of his own, redhead by name, a camp-suttler by profession. the two represented themselves as deserters from the besieged city, and offered, for a handsome reward, to conduct a force of spaniards, by a secret path, into one of the gates. the duke questioned them narrowly, and being satisfied with their intelligence and coolness, caused them to take an oath on the evangelists, that they were not playing him false. he then selected a band of one hundred musketeers, partly spaniards, partly walloons--to be followed at a distance by a much, more considerable force; two thousand in number, under sancho de leyva: and the marquis of renti--and appointed the following night for an enterprise against the city, under the guidance of grimstone. it was a wild autumnal night, moonless, pitch-dark, with a storm of wind and rain. the waters were out--for the dykes had been cut in all 'directions by the defenders of the city--and, with exception of some elevated points occupied by parma's forces, the whole country was overflowed. before the party set forth on their daring expedition, the two englishmen were tightly bound with cords, and led, each by two soldiers, instructed to put them to instant death if their conduct should give cause for suspicion. but both grimstone and redhead preserved a cheerful countenance, and inspired a strong confidence in their honest intention to betray their countrymen. and thus the band of bold adventurers plunged at once into the darkness, and soon found themselves contending with the tempest, and wading breast high in the black waters of the scheldt. after a long and perilous struggle, they at length reached the appointed gate, the external portcullis was raised and the fifteen foremost of the band rushed into tho town. at the next moment, lord willoughby, who had been privy to the whole scheme, cut with his own hand the cords which, held the portcullis, and entrapped the leaders of the expedition, who were all, at once put to the sword, while their followers were thundering at the gate. the lieutenant and suttler who had thus overreached that great master of dissimulation; alexander farnese; were at the same time unbound by their comrades, and rescued from the fate intended for them. notwithstanding the probability--when the portcullis fell--that the whole party, had been deceived by an artifice of war the adventurers, who had come so far, refused to abandon the enterprise, and continued an impatient battery upon the gate. at last it was swung wide open, and a furious onslaught was made by the garrison upon the spaniards. there was--a fierce brief struggle, and then the assailants were utterly routed. some were killed under the walls, while the rest were hunted into the waves. nearly every one of the, expedition (a thousand in number) perished. it had now become obvious to the duke that his siege must be raised. the days were gone when the walls of dutch towns seemed to melt before the first scornful glance of the spanish invader; and when a summons meant a surrender, and a surrender a massacre. now, strong in the feeling of independence, and supported by the courage and endurance of their english allies, the hollanders had learned to humble the pride of spain as it had never been humbled before. the hero of a hundred battle- fields, the inventive and brilliant conqueror of antwerp, seemed in the deplorable issue of the english invasion to have lost all his genius, all his fortune. a cloud had fallen upon his fame, and he now saw himself; at the head of the best army in europe, compelled to retire, defeated and humiliated, from the walls of bergen. winter was coming on apace; the country was flooded; the storms in that-bleak region and inclement season were incessant; and he was obliged to retreat before his army should be drowned. on the night of - november he set fire to his camp; and took his departure. by daybreak he was descried in full retreat, and was hotly pursued by the english and dutch from the city, who drove the great alexander and his legions before them in ignominious flight. lord willoughby, in full view of the retiring enemy, indulged the allied forces with a chivalrous spectacle. calling a halt, after it had become obviously useless, with their small force of cavalry; to follow any longer, through a flooded country, an enemy who had abandoned his design, he solemnly conferred the honour of knighthood, in the name of queen elizabeth, on the officers who had most distinguished themselves during the siege, francis vere, baskerville, powell, parker, knowles, and on the two netherland brothers, paul and marcellus bax. the duke of parma then went into winter quarters in brabant, and, before the spring, that obedient province had been eaten as bare as flanders had already been by the friendly spaniards. an excellent understanding between england and holland had been the result of their united and splendid exertions against the invincible armada. late in the year sir john norris had been sent by the queen to offer her congratulations and earnest thanks to the states for their valuable assistance in preserving her throne, and to solicit their cooperation in some new designs against the common foe. unfortunately, however, the epoch of good feeling was but of brief duration. bitterness and dissension seemed the inevitable conditions of the english-dutch alliance. it will be, remembered, that, on the departure of leicester, several cities had refused to acknowledge the authority of count maurice and the states; and that civil war in the scarcely-born commonwealth had been the result. medenblik, naarden, and the other contumacious cities, had however been reduced to obedience after the reception of the earl's resignation, but the important city of gertruydenberg had remained in a chronic state of mutiny. this rebellion had been partially appeased during the year by the efforts of willoughby, who had strengthened, the garrison by reinforcements of english troops under command of his brother-in-law, sir john wingfield. early in however, the whole garrison became rebellious, disarmed and maltreated the burghers, and demanded immediate payment of the heavy arrearages still due to the troops. willoughby, who--much disgusted with his career in the netherlands--was about leaving for england, complaining that the states had not only left him without remuneration for his services, but had not repaid his own advances, nor even given him a complimentary dinner, tried in vain to pacify them. a rumour became very current, moreover, that the garrison had opened negotiations with alexander farnese, and accordingly maurice of nassau--of whose patrimonial property the city of gertruydenberg made a considerable proportion, to the amount of eight thousand pounds sterling a years--after summoning the garrison, in his own name and that of the states, to surrender, laid siege to the place in form. it would have been cheaper, no doubt, to pay the demands of the garrison in full, and allow them to depart. but maurice considered his honour at stake. his letters of summons, in which he spoke of the rebellious commandant and his garrison as self-seeking foreigners and mercenaries, were taken in very ill part. wingfield resented the statement in very insolent language, and offered to prove its falsehood with his sword against any man and in any place whatever. willoughby wrote to his brother-in-law, from flushing, when about to embark, disapproving of his conduct and of his language; and to maurice, deprecating hostile measures against a city under the protection of queen elizabeth. at any rate, he claimed that sir john wingfield and his wife, the countess of kent, with their newly-born child, should be allowed to depart from the place. but wingfield expressed great scorn at any suggestion of retreat, and vowed that he would rather surrender the city to the spaniards than tolerate the presumption of maurice and the states. the young prince accordingly, opened his batteries, but before an entrance could be effected into the town, was obliged to retire at the approach of count mansfield with a much superior force. gertruydenberg was now surrendered to the spaniards in accordance with a secret negotiation which had been proceeding all the spring, and had been brought to a conclusion at last. the garrison received twelve months' pay in full and a gratuity of five months in addition, and the city was then reduced into obedience to spain and rome on the terms which had been usual during the government of farnese. the loss of this city was most severe to the republic, for the enemy had thus gained an entrance into the very heart of holland. it was a more important acquisition to alexander than even bergen-op-zoom would have been, and it was a bitter reflection that to the treachery of netherlanders and of their english allies this great disaster was owing. all the wrath aroused a year before by the famous treason of york and stanley, and which had been successfully extinguished, now flamed forth afresh. the states published a placard denouncing the men who had thus betrayed the cause of freedom, and surrendered the city of gertruydenberg to the spaniards, as perjured traitors whom it was made lawful to hang, whenever or wherever caught, without trial or sentence, and offering fifty florins a-head for every private soldier and one hundred florins for any officer of the garrison. a list of these englishmen and netherlanders, so far as known, was appended to the placard, and the catalogue was headed by the name of sir john wingfield. thus the consequences of the fatal event were even more deplorable than the loss of the city itself. the fury of olden-barneveld at the treason was excessive, and the great advocate governed the policy of the republic, at this period, almost like a dictator. the states, easily acknowledging the sway of the imperious orator, became bitter--and wrathful with the english, side by side with whom they had lately been so cordially standing. willoughby, on his part, now at the english court, was furious with the states, and persuaded the leading counsellors of the queen as well as her majesty herself, to adopt his view of the transaction. wingfield, it was asserted, was quite innocent in the matter; he was entirely ignorant of the french language, and therefore was unable to read a word of the letters addressed to him by maurice and the replies which had been signed by himself. whether this strange excuse ought to be accepted or not, it is quite certain that he was no traitor like york and stanley, and no friend to spain; for he had stipulated for himself the right to return to england, and had neither received nor desired any reward. he hated maurice and he hated the states, but he asserted that he had been held in durance, that the garrison was mutinous, and that he was no more responsible for the loss of the city than sir francis vere had been, who had also been present, and whose name had been subsequently withdrawn, in honourable fashion from the list of traitors, by authority of the states. his position--so far as he was personally concerned--seemed defensible, and the queen was thoroughly convinced of his innocence. willoughby complained that the republic was utterly in the hands of barneveld, that no man ventured to lift his voice or his eyes in presence of the terrible advocate who ruled every netherlander with a rod of iron, and that his violent and threatening language to wingfield and himself at the dinner- table in bergen-op-zoom on the subject of the mutiny (when one hundred of the gertruydenberg garrison were within sound of his voice) had been the chief cause of the rebellion. inspired by these remonstrances, the queen once more emptied the vials of her wrath upon the united netherlands. the criminations and recriminations seemed endless, and it was most fortunate that spain had been weakened, that alexander, a prey to melancholy and to lingering disease, had gone to the baths of spa to recruit his shattered health, and that his attention and the schemes of philip for the year and the following period were to be directed towards france. otherwise the commonwealth could hardly have escaped still more severe disasters than those already experienced in this unfortunate condition of its affairs, and this almost hopeless misunderstanding with its most important and vigorous friend. while these events had been occurring in the heart of the republic, martin schenk, that restless freebooter, had been pursuing a bustling and most lucrative career on its outskirts. all the episcopate of cologne-- that debatable land of the two rival paupers, bavarian ernest and gebhard truchsess--trembled before him. mothers scared their children into quiet with the terrible name of schenk, and farmers and land-younkers throughout the electorate and the land of berg, cleves, and juliers, paid their black-mail, as if it were a constitutional impost, to escape the levying process of the redoubtable partisan. but martin was no longer seconded, as he should have been, by the states, to whom he had been ever faithful since he forsook the banner of spain for their own; and he had even gone to england and complained to the queen of the short-comings of those who owed him so much. his ingenious and daring exploit--the capture of bonn--has already been narrated, but the states had neglected the proper precautions to secure that important city. it had consequently, after a six months' siege, been surrendered to the spaniards under prince chimay, on the th of september; while, in december following, the city of wachtendonk, between the rhine and meuse, had fallen into mansfeld's hands. rheinberg, the only city of the episcopate which remained to the deposed truchsess, was soon afterwards invested by the troops of parma, and schenk in vain summoned the states- general to take proper measures for its defence. but with the enemy now eating his way towards the heart of holland, and with so many dangers threatening them on every side, it was thought imprudent to go so far away to seek the enemy. so gebhard retired in despair into germany, and martin did what he could to protect rheinberg, and to fill his own coffers at the expense of the whole country side. he had built a fort, which then and long afterwards bore his name- schenken schans, or schenk's sconce--at that important point where the rhine, opening its two arms to enclose the "good meadow" island of batavia, becomes on the left the waal, while on the right it retains its ancient name; and here, on the outermost edge of the republic, and looking straight from his fastness into the fruitful fields of munster, westphalia, and the electorate, the industrious martin devoted himself with advantage to his favourite pursuits. on the th of august, on the heath of lippe, he had attacked a body of spanish musketeers, more than a thousand strong, who were protecting a convoy of provisions, treasure, and furniture, sent by farnese to verdugo, royal governor of friesland. schenk, without the loss of a single man, had put the greater part of these spaniards and walloons to the sword, and routed the rest. the leader of the expedition, colonel aristotle patton, who had once played him so foul a trick in the surrender of gelder, had soon taken to flight, when he found his ancient enemy upon him, and, dashing into the lippe, had succeeded, by the strength and speed of his horse, in gaining the opposite bank, and effecting his escape. had he waited many minutes longer it is probable that the treacherous aristotle would have passed a comfortless half-hour with his former comrade. treasure to the amount of seven thousand crowns in gold, five hundred horses, with jewels, plate, and other articles of value, were the fruit of this adventure, and schenk returned with his followers, highly delighted, to schenkenschans, and sent the captured spanish colours to her majesty of england as a token. a few miles below his fortress was nymegen, and towards that ancient and wealthy city schenk had often cast longing eyes. it still held for the king, although on the very confines of batavia; but while acknowledging the supremacy of philip, it claimed the privileges of the empire. from earliest times it had held its head very high among imperial towns, had been one of the three chief residences of the emperor. charlemagne, and still paid the annual tribute of a glove full of pepper to the german empire. on the evening of the th of august, , there was a wedding feast in one of the splendid mansions of the stately city. the festivities were prolonged until deep in the midsummer's night, and harp and viol were still inspiring the feet of the dancers, when on a sudden, in the midst of the holiday-groups, appeared the grim visage of martin schenk, the man who never smiled. clad in no wedding-garment, but in armour of proof, with morion on head, and sword in hand, the great freebooter strode heavily through the ball-room, followed by a party of those terrible musketeers who never gave or asked for quarter, while the affrighted revellers fluttered away before them. taking advantage of a dark night, he had just dropped down the river from his castle, with five-and-twenty barges, had landed with his most trusted soldiers in the foremost vessels, had battered down the gate of st. anthony, and surprised and slain the guard. without waiting for the rest of his boats, he had then stolen with his comrades through the silent streets, and torn away the lattice-work, and other slight defences on the rear of the house which they had now entered, and through which they intended to possess themselves of the market-place. martin had long since selected this mansion as a proper position for his enterprise, but he had not been bidden to the wedding, and was somewhat disconcerted when he found himself on the festive scene which he had so grimly interrupted. some of the merry-makers escaped from the house, and proceeded to alarm the town; while schenk hastily fortified his position; and took possession of the square. but the burghers and garrison were soon on foot, and he was driven back into the house. three times he recovered the square by main strength of his own arm, seconded by the handful of men whom he had brought with him, and three times he was beaten back by overwhelming numbers into the wedding mansion. the arrival of the greater part of his followers, with whose assistance he could easily have mastered the city in the first moments of surprise, was mysteriously delayed. he could not account for their prolonged, absence, and was meanwhile supported only by those who had arrived with him in the foremost barges. the truth--of which he was ignorant--was, that the remainder of the flotilla, borne along by the strong and deep current of the waal, then in a state of freshet, had shot past the landing-place, and had ever since been vainly struggling against wind and tide to force their way back to the necessary point. meantime schenk and his followers fought desperately in the market-place, and desperately in the house which he had seized. but a whole garrison, and a town full of citizens in arms proved too much for him, and he was now hotly besieged in the mansion, and at last driven forth into the streets. by this time day was dawning, the whole population, soldiers and burghers, men, women, and children, were thronging about the little band of marauders, and assailing them with every weapon and every missile to be found. schenk fought with his usual ferocity, but at last the musketeers, in spite of his indignant commands, began rapidly to retreat towards the quay. in vain martin stormed and cursed, in vain with his own hand he struck more than one of his soldiers dead. he was swept along with the panic-stricken band, and when, shouting and gnashing his teeth with frenzy, he reached the quay at last, he saw at a glance why his great enterprise had failed. the few empty barges of his own party were moored at the steps; the rest were half a mile off, contending hopelessly against the swollen and rapid waal. schenk, desperately wounded, was left almost alone upon the wharf, for his routed followers had plunged helter skelter into the boats, several of which, overladen in the panic, sank at once, leaving the soldiers to drown or struggle with the waves. the game was lost. nothing was left the freebooter but retreat. reluctantly turning his back on his enemies, now in full cry close behind him, schenk sprang into the last remaining boat just pushing from the quay. already overladen, it foundered with his additional weight, and martin schenk, encumbered with his heavy armour, sank at once to the bottom of the waal. some of the fugitives succeeded in swimming down the stream, and were picked up by their comrades in the barges below the town, and so made their escape. many were drowned with their captain. a few days afterwards, the inhabitants of nymegen fished up the body of the famous partisan. he was easily recognized by his armour, and by his truculent face, still wearing the scowl with which he had last rebuked his followers. his head was taken off at once, and placed on one of the turrets of the town, and his body, divided in four, was made to adorn other portions of the battlements; so that the burghers were enabled to feast their eyes on the remnants of the man at whose name the whole country had so often trembled. this was the end of sir martin schenk of niddegem, knight, colonel, and brigand; save that ultimately his dissevered limbs were packed in a chest, and kept in a church tower, until maurice of nassau, in course of time becoming master of nymegen, honoured the valiant and on the whole faithful freebooter with a christian and military burial. a few months later (october, ) another man who had been playing an important part in the netherlands' drama lost his life. count moeurs and niewenaar, stadholder of utrecht, gelderland, and overysael, while inspecting some newly-invented fireworks, was suddenly killed by their accidental ignition and explosion. his death left vacant three great stadholderates, which before long were to be conferred upon a youth whose power henceforth was rapidly to grow greater. the misunderstanding between holland and england continuing, olden- barneveld, aerssens, and buys, refusing to see that they had done wrong in denouncing the dutch and english traitors who had sold gertruydenberg to the enemy, and the queen and her counsellors persisting in their anger at so insolent a proceeding, it may easily be supposed that there was no great heartiness in the joint expedition against spain, which had been projected in the autumn of , and was accomplished in the spring and summer of . nor was this well-known enterprise fruitful of any remarkable result. it had been decided to carry the war into spain itself, and don antonio, prior of crato, bastard of portugal, and pretender to its crown, had persuaded himself and the english government that his name would be potent to conjure with in that kingdom, hardly yet content with the spanish yoke. supported by a determined force of english and dutch adventurers, he boasted that he should excite a revolution by the magic of his presence, and cause philip's throne to tremble, in return for the audacious enterprise of that monarch against england. if a foray were to be made into spain, no general and no admiral could be found in the world so competent to the adventure as sir john norris and sir francis drake. they were accompanied, too, by sir edward norris, and another of those 'chickens of mars,' henry norris; by the indomitable and ubiquitous welshman, roger williams, and by the young earl of essex, whom the queen in vain commanded to remain at home, and who, somewhat to the annoyance of the leaders of the expedition, concealed himself from her majesty's pursuit, and at last embarked in a vessel which he had equipped, in order not to be cheated of his share in the hazard and the booty. "if i speed well," said the spendthrift but valiant youth; "i will adventure to be rich; if not, i will never live, to see the end of my poverty." but no great riches were to be gathered in the expedition. with some fourteen thousand men, and one hundred and sixty vessels--of which six were the queen's ships of war, including the famous revenge and the dreadnought, and the rest armed merchantmen, english, and forty hollanders--and with a contingent of fifteen hundred dutchmen under nicolas van meetkerke and van laen, the adventurers set sail from plymouth on the th of april, . they landed at coruna--at which place they certainly could not expect to create a portuguese revolution, which was the first object of the expedition--destroyed some shipping in the harbour, captured and sacked the lower town, and were repulsed in the upper; marched with six thousand men to burgos, crossed the bridge at push of pike, and routed ten thousand spaniards under andrada and altamira--edward norris receiving a desperate blow on the head at the passage' of the bridge, and being rescued from death by his brother john--took sail for the south after this action, in which they had killed a thousand spaniards, and had lost but two men of their own; were joined off cape finisterre by essex; landed a force at peniche, the castle of which place surrendered to them, and acknowledged the authority of don antonio; and thence marched with the main body of the troops, under sir john norris, forty-eight miles to lisbon, while drake, with the fleet, was to sail up the tagus. nothing like a revolution had been effected in portugal. no one seemed to care for the pretender, or even to be aware that he had ever existed, except the governor of peniche castle, a few ragged and bare-footed peasants, who, once upon the road, shouted "viva don antonio," and one old gentleman by the way side, who brought him a plate of plums. his hopes of a crown faded rapidly, and when the army reached lisbon it had dwindled to not much more than four thousand effective men--the rest being dead of dysentery, or on the sick-list from imprudence in eating and drinking--while they found that they had made an unfortunate omission in their machinery for assailing the capital, having not a single fieldpiece in the whole army. moreover, as drake was prevented by bad weather and head-winds from sailing up the tagus, it seemed a difficult matter to carry the city. a few cannon, and the co-operation of the fleet, were hardly to be dispensed with on such an occasion. nevertheless it would perhaps have proved an easier task than it appeared--for so great was the panic within the place that a large number of the inhabitants had fled, the cardinal viceroy archduke albert had but a very insufficient guard, and there were many gentlemen of high station who were anxious to further the entrance of the english, and who were afterwards hanged or garotted for their hostile sentiments to the spanish government. while the leaders were deliberating what course to take, they were informed that count fuentes and henriquez de guzman, with six thousand men, lay at a distance of two miles from lisbon, and that they had been proclaiming by sound of trumpet that the english had been signally defeated before lisbon, and that they were in full retreat. fired at this bravado, norris sent a trumpet to fuentes and guzman, with a letter signed and sealed, giving them the lie in plainest terms, appointing the next day for a meeting of the two forces, and assuring them that when the next encounter should take place, it should be seen whether a spaniard or an englishman would be first to fly; while essex, on his part, sent a note, defying either or both those boastful generals to single combat. next day the english army took the field, but the spaniards retired before them; and nothing came of this exchange of cartels, save a threat on the part of fuentes to hang the trumpeter who had brought the messages. from the execution of this menace he refrained, however, on being assured that the deed would be avenged by the death of the spanish prisoner of highest rank then in english hands, and thus the trumpeter escaped. soon afterwards the fleet set sail from the tagus, landed, and burned vigo on their way homeward, and returned to plymouth about the middle of july. of the thirteen thousand came home six thousand, the rest having perished of dysentery and other disorders. they had braved and insulted spain, humbled her generals, defied her power, burned some defenceless villages, frightened the peasantry, set fire to some shipping, destroyed wine, oil, and other merchandize, and had divided among the survivors of the expedition, after landing in england, five shillings a head prize-money; but they had not effected a revolution in portugal. don antonio had been offered nothing by his faithful subjects but a dish of plums--so that he retired into obscurity from that time forward--and all this was scarcely a magnificent result for the death of six or seven thousand good english and dutch soldiers, and the outlay of considerable treasure. as a free-booting foray--and it was nothing else--it could hardly be thought successful; although it was a splendid triumph compared with the result of the long and loudly heralded invincible armada. in france, great events during the remainder of and the following year, and which are well known even to the most superficial student of history, had much changed the aspect of european affairs. it was fortunate for the two commonwealths of holland and england, engaged in the great struggle for civil and religious liberty, and national independence, that the attention of philip became more and more absorbed- as time wore on--with the affairs of france. it seemed necessary for him firmly to establish his dominion in that country before attempting once more the conquest of england, or the recovery of the netherlands. for france had been brought more nearly to anarchy and utter decomposition than ever. henry iii., after his fatal forgiveness of the deadly offence of guise, felt day by day more keenly that he had transferred his sceptre--such as it was--to that dangerous intriguer. bitterly did the king regret having refused the prompt offer of alphonse corse on the day of the barricades; for now, so long as the new generalissimo should live, the luckless henry felt himself a superfluity in his own realm. the halcyon days were for ever past, when, protected by the swords of joyeuse and of epernon, the monarch of france could pass his life playing at cup and ball, or snipping images out of pasteboard, or teaching his parrots- to talk, or his lap-dogs to dance. his royal occupations were gone, and murder now became a necessary preliminary to any future tranquillity or enjoyment. discrowned as he felt himself already, he knew that life or liberty was only held by him now at the will of guise. the assassination of the duke in december was the necessary result of the barricades in may; and accordingly that assassination was arranged with an artistic precision of which the world had hardly suspected the valois to be capable, and which philip himself might have envied. the story of the murders of blois--the destruction of guise and his brother the cardinal, and the subsequent imprisonment of the archbishop of lyons, the cardinal bourbon, and the prince de joinville, now, through the death of his father, become the young duke of guise--all these events are too familiar in the realms of history, song, romance, and painting, to require more than this slight allusion here. never had an assassination been more technically successful; yet its results were not commensurate with the monarch's hopes. the deed which he had thought premature in may was already too late in december. his mother denounced his cruelty now, as she had, six months before, execrated his cowardice. and the old queen, seeing that her game was played out--that the cards had all gone against her--that her son was doomed, and her own influence dissolved in air, felt that there was nothing left for her but to die. in a week she was dead, and men spoke no more of catharine de' medici, and thought no more of her than if--in the words of a splenetic contemporary--"she had been a dead she-goat." paris howled with rage when it learned the murders of blois, and the sixteen quarters became more furious than ever against the valois. some wild talk there was of democracy and republicanism after the manner of switzerland, and of dividing france into cantons--and there was an earnest desire on the part of every grandee, every general, every soldier of fortune, to carve out a portion of french territory with his sword, and to appropriate it for himself and his heirs. disintegration was making rapid progress, and the epoch of the last valois seemed mare dark and barbarous than the times of the degenerate carlovingians had been. the letter-writer of the escorial, who had earnestly warned his faithful mucio, week after week, that dangers were impending over him, and that "some trick would be played upon him," should he venture into the royal presence, now acquiesced in his assassination, and placidly busied himself with fresh combinations and newer tools. baked, hunted, scorned by all beside, the luckless henry now threw himself into the arms of the bearnese--the man who could and would have protected him long before, had the king been capable of understanding their relative positions and his own true interests. could the valois have conceived the thought of religious toleration, his throne even then might have been safe. but he preferred playing the game of the priests and bigots, who execrated his name and were bent upon his destruction. at last, at plessis les tours, the bearnese, in his shabby old chamois jacket and his well-dinted cuirass took the silken henry in his arms, and the two--the hero and the fribble--swearing eternal friendship, proceeded to besiege paris. a few weeks later, the dagger of jacques clement put an end for ever to, the line of valois. luckless henry iii. slept with his forefathers, and henry of bourbon and navarre proclaimed himself king of france. catharine and her four sons had all past away at last, and it would be a daring and a dexterous schemer who should now tear the crown, for which he had so long and so patiently waited, from the iron grasp of the bearnese. philip had a more difficult game than ever to play in france. it would be hard for him to make valid the claims of the infanta and any husband he might select for her to the crown of her grandfather henry ii. it seemed simple enough for him, while waiting the course of events, to set up a royal effigy before the world in the shape of an effete old cardinal bourbon, to pour oil upon its head and to baptize it charles x.; but meantime the other bourbon was no effigy, and he called himself henry iv. it was easy enough for paris, and madam league, and philip the prudent, to cry wo upon the heretic; but the cheerful leader of the huguenots was a philosopher, who in the days of st. bartholomew had become orthodox to save his life, and who was already "instructing himself" anew in order to secure his crown. philip was used to deal with fanatics, and had often been opposed by a religious bigotry as fierce as his own; but he might perhaps be baffled by a good-humoured free-thinker, who was to teach him a lesson in political theology of which he had never dreamed. the leaguers were not long in doubt as to the meaning of "instruction," and they were thoroughly persuaded that--so soon as henry iv. should reconcile himself with rome--their game was likely to become desperate. nevertheless prudent philip sat in his elbow-chairs writing his apostilles, improving himself and his secretaries in orthography, but chiefly confining his attention to the affairs of france. the departed mucio's brother mayenne was installed as chief stipendiary of spain and lieutenant-general for the league in france, until philip should determine within himself in what form to assume the sovereignty of that kingdom. it might be questionable however whether that corpulent duke, who spent more time in eating than henry iv. did in sleeping, and was longer in reading a letter than henry in winning a battle, were likely to prove a very dangerous rival even with all spain at his back--to the lively bearnese. but time would necessarily be consumed before the end was reached, and time and philip were two. henry of navarre and france was ready to open his ears to instruction; but even he had declared, several years before, that "a religion was not to be changed like a shirt." so while the fresh garment was airing for him at rome, and while he was leisurely stripping off the old, he might perhaps be taken at a disadvantage. fanaticism on both sides, during this process of instruction, might be roused. the huguenots on their part might denounce the treason of their great chief, and the papists, on theirs, howl at the hypocrisy of the pretended conversion. but henry iv. had philosophically prepared himself for the denunciations of the protestants, while determined to protect them against the persecutions of the romanism to which he meant to give his adhesion. while accepting the title of renegade, together with an undisputed crown, he was not the man to rekindle those fires of religious bigotry which it was his task to quench, now that they had lighted his way to the throne. the demands of his catholic supporters for the exclusion from the kingdom of all religions but their own, were steadily refused. and thus the events of and indicated that the great game of despotism against freedom would be played, in the coming years, upon the soil of france. already elizabeth had furnished the new king with l , in gold--a larger sum; as he observed, than he had ever seen before in his life, and the states of the netherlands had provided him with as much more. willoughby too, and tough roger williams, and baskerville, and umpton, and vere, with english pikemen at their back, had already made a brief but spirited campaign in france; and the duke of parma, after recruiting his health; so, far as it was possible; at spa, was preparing himself to measure swords with that great captain of huguenots; who now assumed the crown of his ancestors, upon the same ground. it seemed probable that for the coming years england would be safe from spanish invasion, and that holland would have a better opportunity than it had ever enjoyed before of securing its liberty and perfecting its political organization. while parma, philip; and mayenne were fighting the bearnese for the crown of france, there might be a fairer field for the new commonwealth of the united netherlands. and thus many of the personages who have figured in these volumes have already passed away. leicester had died just after the defeat of the armada, and the thrifty queen, while dropping a tear upon the grave of 'sweet robin,' had sold his goods at auction to defray his debts to herself; and moeurs, and martin schenk, and 'mucio,' and henry iii., and catharine de' medici, were all dead. but philip the prudent remained, and elizabeth of england, and henry of france and navarre, and john of olden-barneveld; and there was still another personage, a very young man still, but a deep-thinking, hard-working student, fagging steadily at mathematics and deep in the works of stevinus, who, before long, might play a conspicuous part in the world's great drama. but, previously to , maurice of nassau seemed comparatively insignificant, and he could be spoken of by courtiers as a cipher, and as an unmannerly boy just let loose from school. etext editor's bookmarks: i will never live, to see the end of my poverty religion was not to be changed like a shirt tension now gave place to exhaustion this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, (a) chapter xxi. effect of the assassination of henry iii.--concentration of forces for the invasion of france--the netherlands determine on striking a blow for freedom--organization of a dutch army--stratagem to surprise the castle of breda--intrepidity and success of the enterprise. the dagger of jacques clement had done much, and was likely to do more, to change the face of europe. another proof was afforded that assassination had become a regular and recognised factor in the political problems of the sixteenth century. another illustration was exhibited of the importance of the individual--even although that individual was in himself utterly despicable--to the working out of great historical results. it seemed that the murder of henry iii.--that forlorn caricature of kingship and of manhood--was likely to prove eminently beneficial to the cause of the netherland commonwealth. five years earlier, the murder of william the silent had seemed to threaten its very existence. for philip the prudent, now that france was deprived of a head, conceived that the time had arrived when he might himself assume the sovereignty of that kingdom. while a thing of straw, under the name of charles x. and shape of a cardinal bourbon, was set up to do battle with that living sovereign and soldier, the heretic bearnese, the duke of parma was privately ordered to bend all his energies towards the conquest of the realm in dispute, under pretence of assisting the holy league. accordingly, early in the year , alexander concentrated a considerable force on the french frontier in artois and hainault, apparently threatening bergen-op-zoom and other cities in south holland, but in reality preparing to invade france. the duke of mayenne, who had assumed the title of lieutenant-general of that kingdom, had already visited him at brussels in order to arrange the plan of the campaign. while these measures were in preparation, an opportunity was likely to be afforded to the netherlanders of striking a blow or two for liberty and independence; now that all the force that possibly could be spared was to be withdrawn by their oppressors and to be used for the subjugation of their neighbours. the question was whether there would be a statesman and a soldier ready to make use of this golden opportunity. there was a statesman ripe and able who, since the death of the taciturn, had been growing steadily in the estimation of his countrymen and who already was paramount in the councils of the states-general. there was a soldier, still very young, who was possessed of the strongest hereditary claims to the confidence and affection of the united provinces and who had been passing a studious youth in making himself worthy of his father and his country. fortunately, too, the statesman and the soldier were working most harmoniously together. john of olden-barneveld, with his great experience and vast and steady intellect, stood side by side with young maurice of nassau at this important crisis in the history of the new commonwealth. at length the twig was becoming the tree--'tandem fit surculus arbor'-- according to the device assumed by the son of william the silent after his father's death. the netherlands had sore need of a practical soldier to contend with the scientific and professional tyrants against whom they had so long been struggling, and maurice, although so young, was pre-eminently a practical man. he was no enthusiast; he was no poet. he was at that period certainly no politician. not often at the age of twenty has a man devoted himself for years to pure mathematics for the purpose of saving his country. yet this was maurice's scheme. four years long and more, when most other youths in his position and at that epoch would have been alternating between frivolous pleasures and brilliant exploits in the field, the young prince had spent laborious days and nights with the learned simon stevinus of bruges. the scientific work which they composed in common, the credit of which the master assigned to the pupil, might have been more justly attributed perhaps to the professor than to the prince, but it is certain that maurice was an apt scholar. in that country, ever held in existence by main human force against the elements, the arts of engineering, hydrostatics and kindred branches were of necessity much cultivated. it was reserved for the young mathematician to make them as potent against a human foe. moreover, there were symptoms that the military discipline, learning and practical skill, which had almost made spain the mistress of the world, were sinking into decay. farnese, although still in the prime of life, was broken in health, and there seemed no one fit to take the place of himself and his lieutenants when they should be removed from the scene where they had played. their parts so consummately. the army of the netherlands was still to be created. thus far the contest had been mainly carried on by domestic militia and foreign volunteers or hirelings. the train-bands of the cities were aided in their struggles against spanish pikemen and artillerists, italian and albanian cavalry by the german riders, whom every little potentate was anxious to sell to either combatant according to the highest bid, and by english mercenaries, whom the love of adventure or the hope of plunder sent forth under such well-seasoned captains as williams and morgan, vere and the norrises, baskerville and willoughby. but a dutch army there was none and maurice had determined that at last a national force should be created. in this enterprise he was aided and guided by his cousin lewis william, stadtholder of friesland--the quaint, rugged little hero, young in years but almost a veteran in the wars of freedom, who was as genial and intellectual in council as he was reckless and impulsive in the field. lewis william had felt that the old military art was dying out and that-- there was nothing to take its place. he was a diligent student of antiquity. he had revived in the swamps of friesland the old manoeuvres, the quickness of wheeling, the strengthening, without breaking ranks or columns, by which the ancient romans had performed so much excellent work in their day, and which seemed to have passed entirely into oblivion. old colonels and rittmasters, who had never heard of leo the thracian nor the macedonian phalanx, smiled and shrugged their shoulders, as they listened to the questions of the young count, or gazed with profound astonishment at the eccentric evolutions to which he was accustoming his troops. from the heights of superior wisdom they looked down with pity upon these innovations on the good old battle order. they were accustomed to great solid squares of troops wheeling in one way, steadily, deliberately, all together, by one impulse and as one man. it was true that in narrow fields, and when the enemy was pressing, such stately evolutions often became impossible or ensured defeat; but when the little stadtholder drilled his soldiers in small bodies of various shapes, teaching them to turn, advance; retreat; wheel in a variety of ways, sometimes in considerable masses, sometimes man by man, sending the foremost suddenly to the rear, or bringing the hindmost ranks to the front, and began to attempt all this in narrow fields as well as in wide ones, and when the enemy was in sight, men stood aghast at his want of reverence, or laughed at him as a pedant. but there came a day when they did not laugh, neither friends nor enemies. meantime the two cousins, who directed all the military operations in the provinces, understood each other thoroughly and proceeded to perfect their new system, to be adopted at a later period by all civilized nations. the regular army of the netherlands was small in number at that moment-- not more than twenty thousand foot with two thousand horse--but it was well disciplined, well equipped, and, what was of great importance, regularly paid. old campaigners complained that in the halcyon days of paper enrolments, a captain could earn more out of his company than a colonel now received for his whole regiment. the days when a thousand men were paid for, with a couple of hundred in the field, were passing away for the united provinces and existed only for italians and spaniards. while, therefore, mutiny on an organised and extensive scale seemed almost the normal condition of the unpaid legions of philip, the little army of maurice was becoming the model for europe to imitate. the united provinces were as yet very far from being masters of their own territory. many of their most important cities still held for the king. in brabant, such towns as breda with its many dependencies and gertruydenberg; on the waal, the strong and wealthy nymegen which martin schenk had perished in attempting to surprise; on the yssel, the thriving city of zutphen, whose fort had been surrendered by the traitor york, and the stately deventer, which had been placed in philip's possession by the treachery of sir william stanley; on the borders of drenthe, the almost impregnable koevorden, key to the whole zwollian country; and in the very heart of ancient netherland, groningen, capital of the province of the same name, which the treason of renneberg had sold to the spanish tyrant; all these flourishing cities and indispensable strongholds were garrisoned by foreign troops, making the idea of dutch independence a delusion. while alexander of parma, sorely against his will and in obedience to what, he deemed the insane suggestions of his master, was turning his back on the netherlands in order to relieve paris, now hard pressed by the bearnese, an opportunity offered itself of making at least a beginning in the great enterprise of recovering these most valuable possessions. the fair and pleasant city of breda lies on the merk, a slender stream, navigable for small vessels, which finds its way to the sea through the great canal of the dintel. it had been the property of the princes of orange, barons of breda, and had passed with the other possessions of the family to the house of chalons-nassau. henry of nassau had, half a century before, adorned and strengthened it by a splendid palace-fortress which, surrounded by a deep and double moat, thoroughly commanded the town. a garrison of five companies of italian infantry and one of cavalry lay in this castle, which was under the command of edward lanzavecchia, governor both of breda and of the neighbouring gertruydenberg. breda was an important strategical position. it was moreover the feudal superior of a large number of adjacent villages as well as of the cities osterhout, steenberg and rosendaal. it was obviously not more desirable for maurice of nassau to recover his patrimonial city than it was for the states-general to drive the spaniards from so important a position! in the month of february, , maurice, being then at the castle of voorn in zeeland, received a secret visit from a boatman, adrian van der berg by name, who lived at the village of leur, eight or ten miles from breda, and who had long been in the habit of supplying the castle with turf. in the absence of woods and coal mines, the habitual fuel of the country was furnished by those vast relics of the antediluvian forests which abounded in the still partially submerged soil. the skipper represented that his vessel had passed so often into and out of the castle as to be hardly liable to search by the guard on its entrance. he suggested a stratagem by which it might be possible to surprise the stronghold. the prince approved of the scheme and immediately consulted with barneveld. that statesman at once proposed, as a suitable man to carry out the daring venture, captain charles de heraugiere, a nobleman of cambray, who had been long in the service of the states, had distinguished himself at sluys and on other occasions, but who had been implicated in leicester's nefarious plot to gain possession of the city of leyden a few years before. the advocate expressed confidence that he would be grateful for so signal an opportunity of retrieving a somewhat damaged reputation. heraugiere, who was with his company in voorn at the moment, eagerly signified his desire to attempt the enterprise as soon as the matter was communicated to him; avowing the deepest devotion to the house of william the silent and perfect willingness to sacrifice his life, if necessary, in its cause and that of the country. philip nassau, cousin of prince maurice and brother of lewis william, governor of gorcum, dorcum, and lowenstein castle and colonel of a regiment of cavalry, was also taken into the secret, as well as count hohenlo, president van der myle and a few others; but a mystery was carefully spread and maintained over the undertaking. heraugiere selected sixty-eight men, on whose personal daring and patience he knew that he could rely, from the regiments of philip nassau and of famars, governor of the neighbouring city of heusden, and from his own company. besides himself, the officers to command the party were captains logier and fervet, and lieutenant matthew held. the names of such devoted soldiers deserve to be commemorated and are still freshly remembered by their countrymen. on the th of february, maurice and his staff went to willemstad on the isle of klundert, it having been given out on his departure from the hague that his destination was dort. on the same night at about eleven o'clock, by the feeble light of a waning moon, heraugiere and his band came to the swertsenburg ferry, as agreed upon, to meet the boatman. they found neither him nor his vessel, and they wandered about half the night, very cold, very indignant, much perplexed. at last, on their way back, they came upon the skipper at the village of terheyde, who made the extraordinary excuse that he had overslept himself and that he feared the plot had been discovered. it being too late to make any attempt that night, a meeting was arranged for the following evening. no suspicion of treachery occurred to any of the party, although it became obvious that the skipper had grown faint-hearted. he did not come on the next night to the appointed place but he sent two nephews, boatmen like himself, whom he described as dare-devils. on monday night, the th of february, the seventy went on board the vessel, which was apparently filled with blocks of turf, and packed themselves closely in the hold. they moved slowly during a little time on their perilous voyage; for the winter wind, thick with fog and sleet, blew directly down the river, bringing along with it huge blocks of ice and scooping the water out of the dangerous shallows, so as to render the vessel at any moment liable to be stranded. at last the navigation became impossible and they came to a standstill. from monday night till thursday morning those seventy hollanders lay packed like herrings in the hold of their little vessel, suffering from hunger, thirst, and deadly cold; yet not one of them attempted to escape or murmured a wish to abandon the enterprise. even when the third morning dawned there was no better prospect of proceeding; for the remorseless east wind still blew a gale against them, and the shoals which beset their path had become more dangerous than ever. it was, however, absolutely necessary to recruit exhausted nature, unless the adventurers were to drop powerless on the threshold when they should at last arrive at their destination. in all secrecy they went ashore at a lonely castle called nordam, where they remained to refresh themselves until about eleven at night, when one of the boatmen came to them with the intelligence that the wind had changed and was now blowing freshly in from the sea. yet the voyage of a few leagues, on which they were embarked, lasted nearly two whole days longer. on saturday afternoon they passed through the last sluice, and at about three o'clock the last boom was shut behind them. there was no retreat possible for them now. the seventy were to take the strong castle and city of breda or to lay down their lives, every man of them. no quarter and short shrift--such was their certain destiny, should that half-crippled, half-frozen little band not succeed in their task before another sunrise. they were now in the outer harbour and not far from the watergate which led into the inner castle-haven. presently an officer of the guard put off in a skiff and came on board the vessel. he held a little conversation with the two boatmen, observed that the castle was--much in want of full, took a survey of the turf with which the ship was apparently laden, and then lounged into the little cabin. here he was only separated by a sliding trap-door from the interior of the vessel. those inside could hear and see his every movement. had there been a single cough or sneeze from within, the true character of the cargo, then making its way into the castle, would have been discovered and every man would within ten minutes have been butchered. but the officer, unsuspecting, soon took his departure, saying that he would send some men to warp the vessel into the castle dock. meantime, as the adventurers were making their way slowly towards the watergate, they struck upon a hidden obstruction in the river and the deeply laden vessel sprang a leak. in a few minutes those inside were sitting up to their knees in water--a circumstance which scarcely improved their already sufficiently dismal condition. the boatmen vigorously plied the pumps to save the vessel from sinking outright; a party of italian soldiers soon arrived on the shore, and in the course of a couple of hours they had laboriously dragged the concealed hollanders into the inner harbour and made their vessel fast, close to the guard-house of the castle. and now a crowd of all sorts came on board. the winter nights had been long and fearfully cold, and there was almost a dearth of fuel both in town and fortress. a gang of labourers set to work discharging the turf from the vessel with such rapidity that the departing daylight began to shine in upon the prisoners much sooner than they wished. moreover, the thorough wetting, to which after all their other inconveniences they had just been exposed in their narrow escape from foundering, had set the whole party sneezing and coughing. never was a catarrh so sudden, so universal, or so ill-timed. lieutenant held, unable to control the violence of his cough, drew his dagger and eagerly implored his next neighbour to stab him to the heart, lest his infirmity should lead to the discovery of the whole party. but the calm and wary skipper who stood on the deck instantly commanded his companion to work at the pump with as much clatter as possible, assuring the persons present that the hold was nearly full of water. by this means the noise of the coughing was effectually drowned. most thoroughly did the bold boatman deserve the title of dare-devil, bestowed by his more fainthearted uncle. calmly looking death in the face, he stood there quite at his ease, exchanging jokes with his old acquaintances, chaffering with the eager purchasers of peat shouting most noisy and superfluous orders to the one man who composed his crew, doing his utmost, in short, to get rid of his customers and to keep enough of the turf on board to conceal the conspirators. at last, when the case seemed almost desperate, he loudly declared that sufficient had been unladen for that evening and that it was too dark and he too tired for further work. so, giving a handful of stivers among the workmen, he bade them go ashore at once and have some beer and come next morning for the rest of the cargo. fortunately, they accepted his hospitable proposition and took their departure. only the servant of the captain of the guard lingered behind, complaining that the turf was not as good as usual and that his master would never be satisfied with it. "ah!" returned the cool skipper, "the best part of the cargo is underneath. this is expressly reserved for the captain. he is sure to get enough of it to-morrow." thus admonished, the servant departed and the boatman was left to himself. his companion had gone on shore with secret orders to make the best of his way to prince maurice, to inform him of the arrival of the ship within the fortress, and of the important fact which they had just learned, that governor lanzavecchia, who had heard rumours of some projected enterprise and who suspected that the object aimed at was gertruydenberg, had suddenly taken his departure for that city, leaving as his lieutenant his nephew paolo, a raw lad quite incompetent to provide for the safety of breda. a little before midnight, captain heraugiere made a brief address to his comrades in the vessel, telling them that the hour for carrying out their undertaking had at length arrived. retreat was impossible, defeat was certain death, only in complete victory lay their own safety and a great advantage for the commonwealth. it was an honor to them to be selected for such an enterprise. to show cowardice now would be an eternal shame for them, and he would be the man to strike dead with his own hand any traitor or poltroon. but if, as he doubted not, every one was prepared to do his duty, their success was assured, and he was himself ready to take the lead in confronting every danger. he then divided the little band into two companies, one under himself to attack the main guard-house, the other under fervet to seize the arsenal of the fortress. noiselessly they stole out of the ship where they had so long been confined, and stood at last on the ground within the precincts of the castle. heraugiere marched straight to the guard-house. "who goes there?" cried a sentinel, hearing some movement in the darkness. "a friend," replied the captain, seizing him, by the throat, and commanding him, if he valued his life, to keep silence except when addressed and then to speak in a whisper. "how many are there in the garrison?" muttered heraugiere. "three hundred and fifty," whispered the sentinel. "how many?" eagerly demanded the nearest followers, not hearing the reply. "he says there are but fifty of them," said heraugiere, prudently suppressing the three hundred, in order to encourage his comrades. quietly as they had made their approach, there was nevertheless a stir in the guard-house. the captain of the watch sprang into the courtyard. "who goes there?" he demanded in his turn. "a friend," again replied heraugiere, striking him dead with a single blow as he spoke. others emerged with torches. heraugiere was slightly wounded, but succeeded, after a brief struggle, in killing a second assailant. his followers set upon the watch who retreated into the guard-house. heraugiere commanded his men to fire through the doors and windows, and in a few minutes every one of the enemy lay dead. it was not a moment for making prisoners or speaking of quarter. meantime fervet and his band had not been idle. the magazine-house of the castle was seized, its defenders slain. young lanzavecchia made a sally from the palace, was wounded and driven back together with a few of his adherents. the rest of the garrison fled helter-skelter into the town. never had the musketeers of italy--for they all belonged to spinola's famous sicilian legion--behaved so badly. they did not even take the precaution to destroy the bridge between the castle and the town as they fled panic- stricken before seventy hollanders. instead of encouraging the burghers to their support they spread dismay, as they ran, through every street. young lanzavecchia, penned into a corner of the castle; began to parley; hoping for a rally before a surrender should be necessary. in the midst of the negotiation and a couple of hours before dawn, hohenlo; duly apprised by the boatman, arrived with the vanguard of maurice's troops before the field-gate of the fort. a vain attempt was made to force this portal open, but the winter's ice had fixed it fast. hohenlo was obliged to batter down the palisade near the water-gate and enter by the same road through which the fatal turf-boat had passed. soon after he had marched into the town at the head of a strong detachment, prince maurice himself arrived in great haste, attended by philip nassau, the admiral justinus nassau, count solms, peter van der does, and sir francis vere, and followed by another body of picked troops; the musicians playing merrily that national air, then as now so dear to netherlanders-- "wilhelmus van nassouwen ben ick van duytaem bloed." the fight was over. some forty of the garrison had been killed, but not a man of the attacking party. the burgomaster sent a trumpet to the prince asking permission to come to the castle to arrange a capitulation; and before sunrise, the city and fortress of breda had surrendered to the authority of the states-general and of his excellency. the terms were moderate. the plundering was commuted for the payment of two months' wages to every soldier engaged in the affair. burghers who might prefer to leave the city were allowed to do so with protection to life, and property. those who were willing to remain loyal citizens were not to be molested, in their consciences or their households, in regard to religion. the public exercise of catholic rites was however suspended until the states-general should make some universal provision on this subject. subsequently, it must be allowed, the bargain of commutation proved a bad one for the burghers. seventy men had in reality done the whole work, but so many soldiers, belonging to the detachments who marched in after the fortress had been taken, came forward to claim their months' wages as to bring the whole amount required above one hundred thousand florins. the spaniards accordingly reproached prince maurice with having fined his own patrimonial city more heavily than alexander farnese had mulcted antwerp, which had been made to pay but four hundred thousand florins, a far less sum in proportion to the wealth and importance of the place. already the prince of parma, in the taking of breda, saw verified his predictions of the disasters about to fall on the spanish interests in the netherlands, by reason of philip's obstinate determination to concentrate all his energies on the invasion of france. alexander had been unable, in the midst of preparations for his french campaign, to arrest this sudden capture, but his italian blood was on fire at the ignominy which had come upon the soldiership of his countrymen. five companies of foot and one of horse-picked troops of spain and italy--had surrendered a wealthy, populous town and a well-fortified castle to a mud-scow, and had fled shrieking in dismay from the onset of seventy frost-bitten hollanders. it was too late to save the town, but he could punish, as it deserved, the pusillanimity of the garrison. three captains--one of them rejoicing in the martial name of cesar guerra--were publicly beheaded in brussels. a fourth, ventimiglia, was degraded but allowed to escape with life, on account of his near relationship to the duke of terranova, while governor lanzavecchia was obliged to resign the command of gertruydenberg. the great commander knew better than to encourage the yielding up of cities and fortresses by a mistaken lenity to their unlucky defenders. prince maurice sent off letters the same night announcing his success to the states-general. hohenlo wrote pithily to olden-barneveld--"the castle and town of breda are ours, without a single man dead on our side. the garrison made no resistance but ran distracted out of the town." the church bells rang and bonfires blazed and cannon thundered in every city in the united provinces to commemorate this auspicious event. olden-barneveld, too, whose part in arranging the scheme was known to have been so valuable, received from the states-general a magnificent gilded vase with sculptured representations of the various scenes in the drama, and it is probable that not more unmingled satisfaction had been caused by any one event of the war than by this surprise of breda. the capture of a single town, not of first-rate importance either, would hardly seem too merit so minute a description as has been given in the preceding pages. but the event, with all its details, has been preserved with singular vividness in netherland story. as an example of daring, patience, and complete success, it has served to encourage the bold spirits of every generation and will always inspire emulation in patriotic hearts of every age and clime, while, as the first of a series of audacious enterprises by which dutch victories were to take the place of a long procession of spanish triumphs on the blood-stained soil of the provinces, it merits, from its chronological position, a more than ordinary attention. in the course of the summer prince maurice, carrying out into practice the lessons which he had so steadily been pondering, reduced the towns and strong places of heyl, flemert, elshout, crevecoeur, hayden, steenberg, rosendaal, and osterhout. but his time, during the remainder of the year , was occupied with preparations for a campaign on an extended scale and with certain foreign negotiations to which it will soon be necessary to direct the reader's attention. chapter xxii. struggle of the united provinces against philip of spain--progress of the republic--influence of geographical position on the fate of the netherlands--contrast offered by america--miserable state of the so--called "obedient" provinces--prosperity of the commonwealth--its internal government--tendency to provincialism--quibbles of the english members of the council, wilkes and bodley--exclusion of olden-barneveld from the state council--proposals of philip for mediation with the united provinces--the provinces resolutely decline all proffers of intervention. the united provinces had now been engaged in unbroken civil war for a quarter of a century. it is, however, inaccurate to designate this great struggle with tyranny as a civil war. it was a war for independence, maintained by almost the whole population of the united provinces against a foreigner, a despot, alien to their blood, ignorant of their language, a hater of their race, a scorner of their religion, a trampler upon their liberties, their laws, and institutions--a man who had publicly declared that he would rather the whole nation were exterminated than permitted to escape from subjection to the church of rome. liberty of speech, liberty of the press, liberty of thought on political, religious, and social questions existed within those dutch pastures and frisian swamps to a far greater degree than in any other part of the world at that day; than in very many regions of christendom in our own time. personal slavery was unknown. in a large portion of their territory it had never existed. the free frisians, nearest blood-relations of, in this respect, the less favoured anglo-saxons, had never bowed the knee to the feudal system, nor worn nor caused to be worn the collar of the serf. in the battles for human liberty no nation has stood with cleaner hands before the great tribunal, nor offered more spotless examples of patriotism to be emulated in all succeeding ages, than the netherlanders in their gigantic struggle with philip of spain. it was not a class struggling for their own privileges, but trampling on their fellow-men in a lower scale of humanity. kings and aristocrats sneered at the vulgar republic where hans miller, hans baker, and hans brewer enjoyed political rights end prated of a sovereignty other than that of long-descended races and of anointed heads. yet the pikemen of spain and the splendid cavalry and musketeers of italy and burgundy, who were now beginning to show their backs both behind entrenchments and in the open field to their republican foes, could not deny the valour with which the battles of liberty were fought; while elizabeth of england, maintainer, if such ever were, of hereditary sovereignty and hater of popular freedom, acknowledged that for wisdom in council, dignity and adroitness in diplomatic debate, there were none to surpass the plain burgher statesmen of the new republic. and at least these netherlanders were consistent with themselves. they had come to disbelieve in the mystery of kingcraft, in the divine speciality of a few transitory mortals to direct the world's events and to dictate laws to their fellow-creatures. what they achieved was for the common good of all. they chose to live in an atmosphere of blood and fire for generation after generation rather than flinch from their struggle with despotism, for they knew that, cruel as the sea, it would swallow them all at last in one common destruction if they faltered or paused. they fought for the liberty of all. and it is for this reason that the history of this great conflict deserved to be deeply pondered by those who have the instinct of human freedom. had the hollanders basely sunk before the power of spain, the proud history of england, france, and germany would have been written in far different terms. the blood and tears which the netherlanders caused to flow in their own stormy days have turned to blessings for remotest climes and ages. a pusillanimous peace, always possible at any period of their war, would have been hailed with rapture by contemporary statesmen, whose names have vanished from the world's memory; but would have sown with curses and misery the soil of europe for succeeding ages. the territory of the netherlands is narrow and meagre. it is but a slender kingdom now among the powers of the earth. the political grandeur of nations is determined by physical causes almost as much as by moral ones. had the cataclysm which separated the fortunate british islands from the mainland happened to occur, instead, at a neighbouring point of the earth's crust; had the belgian, dutch, german and danish netherland floated off as one island into the sea, while that famous channel between two great rival nations remained dry land, there would have been a different history of the world. but in the th century the history of one country was not an isolated chapter of personages and events. the history of the netherlands is history of liberty. it was now combined with the english, now with french, with german struggles for political and religious freedom, but it is impossible to separate it from the one great complex which makes up the last half of the sixteenth and the first half of the seventeenth centuries. at that day the netherland republic was already becoming a power of importance in the political family of christendom. if, in spite of her geographical disadvantages, she achieved so much, how much vaster might her power have grown, how much stronger through her example might popular institutions throughout the world have become, and how much more pacific the relations of european tribes, had nature been less niggard in her gifts to the young commonwealth. on the sea she was strong, for the ocean is the best of frontiers; but on land her natural boundaries faded vaguely away, without strong physical demarcations and with no sharply defined limits of tongue, history or race. accident or human caprice seemed to have divided german highland from german netherland; belgic gaul from the rest of the gallic realm. and even from the slender body, which an arbitrary destiny had set off for centuries into a separate organism, tyranny and religious bigotry had just hewn another portion away. but the commonwealth was already too highly vitalized to permit peaceful dismemberment. only the low organisms can live in all their parts after violent separations. the trunk remained, bleeding but alive and vigorous, while the amputated portion lay for centuries in fossilized impotence. never more plainly than in the history of this commonwealth was the geographical law manifested by which the fate of nations is so deeply influenced. courage, enterprise amounting almost to audacity, and a determined will confronted for a long lapse of time the inexorable, and permitted a great empire to germinate out of a few sand-banks held in defiance of the ocean, and protected from human encroachments on the interior only by the artificial barrier of custom-house and fort. thus foredoomed at birth, it must increase our admiration of human energy and of the sustaining influence of municipal liberty that the republic, even if transitory, should yet have girdled the earth with its possessions and held for a considerable period so vast a portion of the world in fee. what a lesson to our transatlantic commonwealth, whom bountiful nature had blessed at her birth beyond all the nations of history and seemed to speed upon an unlimited career of freedom and peaceful prosperity, should she be capable at the first alarm on her track to throw away her inestimable advantages! if all history is not a mockery and a fable, she may be sure that the nation which deliberately carves itself in pieces and, substitutes artificial boundaries for the natural and historic ones, condemns itself either to extinction or to the lower life of political insignificance and petty warfare, with the certain loss of liberty and national independence at last. better a terrible struggle, better the sacrifice of prosperity and happiness for years, than the eternal setting of that great popular hope, the united american republic. i speak in this digression only of the relations of physical nature to liberty and nationality, making no allusion to the equally stringent moral laws which no people can violate and yet remain in health and vigour. despite a quarter of a century of what is commonly termed civil war, the united netherlands were prosperous and full of life. it was in the provinces which had seceded from the union of utrecht that there was silence as of the grave, destitution, slavery, abject submission to a foreign foe. the leaders in the movement which had brought about the scission of --commonly called the 'reconciliation'--enjoyed military and civil posts under a foreign tyrant, but were poorly rewarded for subserviency in fighting against their own brethren by contumely on the part of their masters. as for the mass of the people it would be difficult to find a desolation more complete than that recorded of the "obedient" provinces. even as six years before, wolves littered their whelps in deserted farmhouses, cane-brake and thicket usurped the place of cornfield and, orchard, robbers swarmed on the highways once thronged by a most thriving population, nobles begged their bread in the streets of cities whose merchants once entertained emperors and whose wealth and traffic were the wonder of the world, while the spanish viceroy formally permitted the land in the agricultural districts to be occupied and farmed by the first comer for his own benefit, until the vanished proprietors of the soil should make their re-appearance. "administered without justice or policy," said a netherlander who was intensely loyal to the king and a most uncompromising catholic, "eaten up and abandoned for that purpose to the arbitrary will of foreigners who suck the substance and marrow of the land without benefit to the king, gnaw the obedient cities to the bones, and plunder the open defenceless country at their pleasure, it may be imagined how much satisfaction these provinces take in their condition. commerce and trade have ceased in a country which traffic alone has peopled, for without it no human habitation could be more miserable and poor than our land."--[discours du seigneur de champagny sur les affaires des pays bas, dec. . bibl. de bourgogne, ms. no. , .] nothing could be more gloomy than the evils thus described by the netherland statesman and soldier, except the remedy which he suggested. the obedient provinces, thus scourged and blasted for their obedience, were not advised to improve their condition by joining hands with their sister states, who had just constituted themselves by their noble resistance to royal and ecclesiastical tyranny into a free and powerful commonwealth. on the contrary, two great sources of regeneration and prosperity were indicated, but very different ones from those in which the republic had sought and found her strength. in the first place, it was suggested as indispensable that the obedient provinces should have more jesuits and more friars. the mendicant orders should be summoned to renewed exertions, and the king should be requested to send seminary priests to every village in numbers proportionate to the population, who should go about from house to house, counting the children, and seeing that they learned their catechism if their parents did not teach them, and, even in case they did, examining whether it was done thoroughly and without deception. in the second place it was laid down as important that the bishops should confirm no one who had not been sufficiently catechized. "and if the mendicant orders," said champagny, "are not numerous enough for these catechizations, the jesuits might charge themselves therewith, not more and not less than the said mendicants, some of each being deputed to each parish. to this end it would be well if his majesty should obtain from the pope a command to the jesuits to this effect, since otherwise they might not be willing to comply. it should also be ordered that all jesuits, natives of these provinces, should return hither, instead of wandering about in other regions as if their help were not so necessary here."--[ibid.] it was also recommended that the mendicant friars should turn their particular attention to antwerp, and that one of them should preach in french, another in german, another in english, every day at the opening of the exchange. with these appliances it was thought that antwerp would revive out of its ruins and, despite the blockade of its river, renew its ancient commercial glories. founded on the substantial rocks of mendicancy and jesuitism, it might again triumph over its rapidly rising rival, the heretic amsterdam, which had no better basis for its grandeur than religious and political liberty, and uncontrolled access to the ocean. such were the aspirations of a distinguished and loyal netherlander for the regeneration of his country. such were his opinions as to the true sources of the wealth and greatness of nations. can we wonder that the country fell to decay, or that this experienced, statesman and brave soldier should himself, after not many years, seek to hide his dishonoured head under the cowl of a monk? the coast of the obedient provinces was thoroughly blockaded. the united provinces commanded the sea, their cruisers, large and small, keeping diligent watch off every port and estuary of the flemish coast, so that not a herringboat could enter without their permission. antwerp, when it fell into the hands of the spaniard, sank for ever from its proud position. the city which venetians but lately had confessed with a sigh to be superior in commercial grandeur to their own magnificent capital, had ceased to be a seaport. shut in from the ocean by flushing--firmly held by an english garrison as one of the cautionary towns for the queen's loan--her world-wide commerce withered before men's eyes. her population was dwindling to not much more than half its former numbers, while ghent, bruges, and other cities were diminished by two-thirds. on the other hand, the commerce and manufactures of the united republic had enormously augmented. its bitterest enemies bore witness to the sagacity and success by which its political affairs were administered, and to its vast superiority in this respect over the obedient provinces. "the rebels are not ignorant of our condition," said champagny, "they are themselves governed with consummate wisdom, and they mock at those who submit themselves to the duke of parma. they are the more confirmed in their rebellion, when they see how many are thronging from us to them, complaining of such bad government, and that all take refuge in flight who can from the misery and famine which it has caused throughout these provinces!" the industrial population had flowed from the southern provinces into the north, in obedience to an irresistible law. the workers in iron, paper, silk, linen, lace, the makers of brocade, tapestry, and satin, as well as of all the coarser fabrics, had fled from the land of oppression to the land of liberty. never in the history of civilisation had there been a more rapid development of human industry than in holland during these years of bloodiest warfare. the towns were filled to overflowing. amsterdam multiplied in wealth and population as fast as antwerp shrank. almost as much might be said of middelburg, enkhuyzen, horn, and many other cities. it is the epoch to which the greatest expansion of municipal architecture is traced. warehouses, palaces, docks, arsenals, fortifications, dykes, splendid streets and suburbs, were constructed on every side, and still there was not room for the constantly increasing population, large numbers of which habitually dwelt in the shipping. for even of that narrow span of earth called the province of holland, one-third was then interior water, divided into five considerable lakes, those of harlem, schermer, beemster, waert, and purmer. the sea was kept out by a magnificent system of dykes under the daily superintendence of a board of officers, called dyke-graves, while the rain-water, which might otherwise have drowned the soil thus painfully reclaimed, was pumped up by windmills and drained off through sluices opening and closing with the movement of the tides. the province of zeeland was one vast "polder." it was encircled by an outer dyke of forty dutch equal to one hundred and fifty english, miles in extent, and traversed by many interior barriers. the average cost of dyke-building was sixty florins the rod of twelve feet, or , florins the dutch mile. the total cost of the zeeland dykes was estimated at , , florins, besides the annual repairs. but it was on the sea that the netherlanders were really at home, and they always felt it in their power--as their last resource against foreign tyranny--to bury their land for ever in the ocean, and to seek a new country at the ends of the earth. it has always been difficult to doom to political or personal slavery a nation accustomed to maritime pursuits. familiarity with the boundless expanse of ocean, and the habit of victoriously contending with the elements in their stormy strength, would seem to inspire a consciousness in mankind of human dignity and worth. with the exception of spain, the chief seafaring nations of the world were already protestant. the counter-league, which was to do battle so strenuously with the holy confederacy, was essentially a maritime league. "all the maritime heretics of the world, since heresy is best suited to navigators, will be banded together," said champagny, "and then woe to the spanish indies, which england and holland are already threatening." the netherlanders had been noted from earliest times for a free-spoken and independent personal demeanour. at this epoch they were taking the lead of the whole world in marine adventure. at least three thousand vessels of between one hundred and four hundred tons, besides innumerable doggers, busses, cromstevens, and similar craft used on the rivers and in fisheries, were to be found in the united provinces, and one thousand, it was estimated, were annually built. they traded to the baltic regions for honey, wax, tallow, lumber, iron, turpentine, hemp. they brought from farthest indies and from america all the fabrics of ancient civilisation, all the newly discovered products of a virgin soil, and dispensed them among the less industrious nations of the earth. enterprise, led on and accompanied by science, was already planning the boldest flights into the unknown yet made by mankind, and it will soon be necessary to direct attention to those famous arctic voyages, made by hollanders in pursuit of the north-west passage to cathay, in which as much heroism, audacity, and scientific intelligence were displayed as in later times have made so many men belonging to both branches of the anglo-saxon race illustrious. a people, engaged in perennial conflict with a martial and sacerdotal despotism the most powerful in the world, could yet spare enough from its superfluous energies to confront the dangers of the polar oceans, and to bring back treasures of science to enrich the world. such was the spirit of freedom. inspired by its blessed influence this vigorous and inventive little commonwealth triumphed over all human, all physical obstacles in its path. it organised armies on new principles to drive the most famous legions of history from its soil. it built navies to help rescue, at critical moments, the cause of england, of protestantism, of civil liberty, and even of french nationality. more than all, by its trade with its arch-enemy, the republic constantly multiplied its resources for destroying his power and aggrandizing its own. the war navy of the united provinces was a regular force of one hundred ships--large at a period when a vessel of thirteen hundred tons was a monster--together with an indefinite number of smaller craft, which could be put into the public service on short notice? in those days of close quarters and light artillery a merchant ship was converted into a cruiser by a very simple, process. the navy was a self-supporting one, for it was paid by the produce of convoy fees and licenses to trade. it must be confessed that a portion of these revenues savoured much of black-mail to be levied on friend and foe; for the distinctions between, freebooter, privateer, pirate, and legitimate sea-robber were not very closely drawn in those early days of seafaring. prince maurice of nassau was lord high admiral, but he was obliged to listen to the counsels of various provincial boards of admiralty, which often impeded his action and interfered with his schemes. it cannot be denied that the inherent vice of the netherland polity was already a tendency to decentralisation and provincialism. the civil institutions of the country, in their main characteristics, have been frequently sketched in these pages. at this period they had entered almost completely into the forms which were destined to endure until the commonwealth fell in the great crash of the french revolution. their beneficial effects were more visible now--sustained and bound together as the nation was by the sense of a common danger, and by the consciousness of its daily developing strength--than at a later day when prosperity and luxury had blunted the fine instincts of patriotism. the supreme power, after the deposition of philip, and the refusal by france and by england to accept the sovereignty of the provinces, was definitely lodged in the states-general. but the states-general did not technically represent the, people. its members were not elected by the people. it was a body composed of, delegates from each provincial assembly, of which there were now five: holland, zeeland, friesland, utrecht, and gelderland. each provincial assembly consisted again of delegates, not from the inhabitants of the provinces, but from the magistracies of the cities. those, magistracies, again, were not elected by the citizens. they elected themselves by renewing their own vacancies, and were, in short, immortal corporations. thus, in final analysis, the supreme power was distributed and localised among the mayors and aldermen of a large number of cities, all independent alike of the people below and of any central power above. it is true that the nobles, as, a class, had a voice in the provincial and, in the general assembly, both for themselves and as technical representatives of the smaller towns and of the rural population. but, as a matter of fact, the influence of this caste had of late years very rapidly diminished, through its decrease in numbers, and the far more rapid increase in wealth and power of the commercial and manufacturing classes. individual nobles were constantly employed in the military, civil, and diplomatic service of the republic, but their body had ceased to be a power. it had been. the policy of william the silent to increase the number of cities entitled to send deputies to the states; for it was among the cities that his resistance to the tyranny of spain, and his efforts to obtain complete independence for his country, had been mainly supported. many of the great nobles, as has been seen in these pages, denounced the liberator and took sides with the tyrant. lamoral egmont had walked to the scaffold to which philip had condemned him, chanting a prayer for philip's welfare. egmont's eldest son was now foremost in the spanish army, doing battle against his own country in behalf of the tyrant who had taken his father's life. aremberg and ligny, arachot, chimay, croy, caprea, montigny, and most of the great patrician families of the netherlands fought on the royal side. the revolution which had saved the country from perdition and created the great netherland republic was a burgher revolution, and burgher statesmen now controlled the state. the burgher class of europe is not the one that has been foremost in the revolutionary movements of history, or that has distinguished itself--especially in more modern times-- by a passionate love of liberty. it is always easy to sneer at hans miller and hans baker, and at the country where such plebeians are powerful. yet the burghers played a prominent part in the great drama which forms my theme, and there has rarely been seen a more solid or powerful type of their class than the burgher statesman, john of olden- barneveld, who, since the death of william the silent and the departure of lord leicester, had mainly guided the destinies of holland. certainly no soldier nor statesman who ever measured intellects with that potent personage was apt to treat his genius otherwise than with profound respect. but it is difficult to form a logical theory of government except on the fiction of divine right as a basis, unless the fact of popular sovereignty, as expressed by a majority, be frankly accepted in spite of philosophical objections. in the netherlands there was no king, and strictly speaking no people. but this latter and fatal defect was not visible in the period of danger and of contest. the native magistrates of that age were singularly pure, upright, and patriotic. of this there is no question whatever. and the people acquiesced cheerfully in their authority, not claiming a larger representation than such as they virtually possessed in the multiple power exercised over them, by men moving daily among them, often of modest fortunes and of simple lives. two generations later, and in the wilderness of massachusetts, the early american colonists voluntarily placed in the hands of their magistrates, few in number, unlimited control of all the functions of government, and there was hardly an instance known of an impure exercise of authority. yet out of that simple kernel grew the least limited and most powerful democracy ever known. in the later days of netherland history a different result became visible, and with it came the ruin of the state. the governing class, of burgher origin, gradually separated itself from the rest of the citizens, withdrew from commercial pursuits, lived on hereditary fortunes in the exercise of functions which were likewise virtually hereditary, and so became an oligarchy. this result, together with the physical causes already indicated, made the downfall of the commonwealth probable whenever it should be attacked by an overwhelming force from without. the states-general, however, at this epoch--although they had in a manner usurped the sovereignty, which in the absence of a feudal lord really belonged to the whole people, and had silently repossessed themselves of those executive functions which they had themselves conferred upon the state council--were at any rate without self-seeking ambition. the hollanders, as a race, were not office seekers, but were singularly docile to constituted authority, while their regents--as the municipal magistrates were commonly called--were not very far removed above the mass by birth or habitual occupation. the republic was a social and political fact, against which there was no violent antagonism either of laws or manners, and the people, although not technically existing, in reality was all in all. in netherland story the people is ever the true hero. it was an almost unnoticed but significant revolution--that by which the state council was now virtually deprived of its authority. during leicester's rule it had been a most important college of administration. since his resignation it had been entrusted by the states-general with high executive functions, especially in war matters. it was an assembly of learned counsellors appointed from the various provinces for wisdom and experience, usually about eighteen in number, and sworn in all things to be faithful to the whole republic. the allegiance of all was rendered to the nation. each individual member was required to "forswear his native province in order to be true to the generality." they deliberated in common for the general good, and were not hampered by instructions from the provincial diets, nor compelled to refer to those diets for decision when important questions were at issue. it was an independent executive committee for the whole republic. but leicester had made it unpopular. his intrigues, in the name of democracy, to obtain possession of sovereign power, to inflame the lower classes against the municipal magistracies, and to excite the clergy to claim a political influence to which they were not entitled and which was most mischievous in its effects, had exposed the state council, with which he had been in the habit of consulting, to suspicion. the queen of england, by virtue of her treaty had the right to appoint two of her subjects to be members of the council. the governor of her auxiliary forces was also entitled to a seat there. since the malpractices of leicester and the danger to which the country had been, subjected in consequence had been discovered, it was impossible that there should be very kindly feeling toward england in the public mind, however necessary a sincere alliance between the two countries was known to be for the welfare of both. the bickering of the two english councillors, wilkes and bodley, and of the governor of the english contingent with the hollanders, was incessant. the englishmen went so far as to claim the right of veto upon all measures passed by the council, but the states-general indignantly replied that the matters deliberated and decided upon by that board were their own affairs, not the state affairs of england. the two members and the military officer who together represented her majesty were entitled to participate in the deliberations and to vote with their brother members. for them to claim the right, however, at will to annul the proceedings was an intolerable assumption, and could not be listened to for a moment. certainly it would have been strange had two dutchmen undertaken to veto every measure passed by the queen's council at richmond or windsor, and it was difficult to say on what article of the contract this extraordinary privilege was claimed by englishmen at the hague. another cause of quarrel was the inability of the englishmen to understand the language in which the debates of the state council were held. according to a custom not entirely unexampled in parliamentary history the members of assembly and council made use of their native tongue in discussing the state affairs of their native land. it was however considered a grievance by the two english members that the dutchmen should speak dutch, and it was demanded in the queen's name that they should employ some other language which a foreigner could more easily understand. the hollanders however refused this request, not believing that in a reversed case her majesty's council or houses of parliament would be likely or competent to carry on their discussions habitually in italian or latin for the benefit of a couple of strangers who might not be familiar with english. the more natural remedy would have been for the foreigners to take lessons in the tongue of the country, or to seek for an interpreter among their colleagues; especially as the states, when all the netherlands were but provinces, had steadily refused to adopt any language but their mother tongue, even at the demand of their sovereign prince. at this moment, sir thomas bodley was mainly entrusted with her majesty's affairs at the hague, but his overbearing demeanour, intemperate language, and passionate style of correspondence with the states and with the royal government, did much injury to both countries. the illustrious walsingham--whose death in the spring of this year england had so much reason to deplore--had bitterly lamented, just before his death, having recommended so unquiet a spirit for so important a place. ortel, envoy of the states to london, expressed his hopes that affairs would now be handled more to the satisfaction of the states; as bodley would be obliged, since the death of sir francis, to address his letters to the lord high treasurer, with whom it would be impossible for him to obtain so much influence as he had enjoyed with the late secretary of state. moreover it was exactly at this season that the advocate of holland, olden-barneveld, was excluded from the state council. already the important province of holland was dissatisfied with its influence in that body. bearing one-half of the whole burthen of the war it was not content with one-quarter of the council vote, and very soon it became the custom for the states-general to conduct all the most important affairs of the republic. the state council complained that even in war matters it was not consulted, and that most important enterprises were undertaken by prince maurice without its knowledge, and on advice of the advocate alone. doubtless this was true, and thus, most unfortunately, the commonwealth was degraded to a confederacy instead of becoming an incorporate federal state. the members of the states-general--as it has been seen were responsible only to their constituents, the separate provinces. they avowed allegiance, each to his own province, none to the central government. moreover they were not representatives, but envoys, appointed by petty provinces, bound by written orders, and obliged to consult at every step with their sovereigns at home. the netherland polity was thus stamped almost at its birth with a narrow provincialism: delay and hesitation thus necessarily engendered were overcome in the days of danger by patriotic fervour. the instinct of union for the sake of the national existence was sufficiently strong, and the robust, practical common sense of the people sufficiently enlightened to prevent this weakness from degenerating into impotence so long as the war pressure remained to mould them into a whole. but a day was to come for bitterly rueing this paralysis of the imperial instincts of the people, this indefinite decentralisation of the national strength. for the present, the legislative and executive body was the states- general. but the states-general were in reality the states provincial, and the states provincial were the city municipalities, among which the magistracies of holland were preponderant. ere long it became impossible for an individual to resist the decrees of the civic authorities. in , the states-general passed a resolution by which these arrogant corporations virtually procured their exemption from any process at the suit of a private person to be placed on record. so far could the principle of sovereignty be pulverized. city council boards had become supreme. it was naturally impossible during the long continuance of this great struggle, that neutral nations should not be injuriously affected by it in a variety of ways. and as a matter of course neutral nations were disposed to counsel peace. peace, peace; peace was the sigh of the bystanders whose commerce was impeded, whose international relations. were complicated, and whose own security was endangered in the course of the bloody conflict. it was however not very much the fashion of that day for governments to obtrude advice upon each other; or to read to each other moral lectures. it was assumed that when the expense and sacrifice of war had been incurred, it was for cause, and the discovery had not yet been made that those not immediately interested in the fray were better acquainted with its merits than, the combatants themselves, and were moreover endued with, superhuman wisdom to see with perfect clearness that future issue which to the parties themselves was concealed. cheap apothegms upon the blessings of peace and upon the expediency of curbing the angry passions, uttered by the belligerents of yesterday to the belligerents of to-day, did not then pass current for profound wisdom. still the emperor rudolph, abstaining for a time from his star-gazing, had again thought proper to make a feeble attempt at intervention in those sublunary matters which were supposed to be within his sphere. it was perfectly well known that philip was incapable of abating one jot of his pretensions, and that to propose mediation to the united provinces was simply to request them, for the convenience of other powers, to return to the slavery out of which, by the persistent efforts of a quarter of a century, they had struggled. nevertheless it was formally proposed to re-open those lukewarm fountains of diplomatic commonplace in which healing had been sought during the peace negotiations of cologne in the year . but the states-general resolutely kept them sealed. they simply answered his imperial majesty by a communication of certain intercepted correspondence between--the king of spain and his ambassador at vienna, san clemente, through which it was satisfactorily established that any negotiation would prove as gigantic a comedy on the part of spain as had been the memorable conferences at ostend, by which the invasion of england had been masked. there never was a possibility of mediation or of compromise except by complete submission on the part of the netherlanders to crown and church. both in this, as well as in previous and subsequent attempts at negotiations, the secret instructions of philip forbade any real concessions on his side. he was always ready to negotiate, he was especially anxious to obtain a suspension of arms from the rebels during negotiation; but his agents were instructed to use great dexterity and dissimulation in order that the proposal for such armistice, as well as for negotiation at all, should appear to proceed, not from himself as was the fact, but from the emperor as a neutral potentate. the king uniformly proposed three points; firstly, that the rebels should reconvert themselves to the catholic religion; secondly, that they should return to their obedience to himself; thirdly, that they should pay the expenses of the war. number three was, however, usually inserted in order that, by conceding it subsequently, after much contestation, he might appear conciliatory. it was a vehicle of magnanimity towards men grown insolent with temporary success. numbers one and two were immutable. especially upon number one was concession impossible. "the catholic religion is the first thing," said philip, "and although the rebels do not cease to insist that liberty of conscience should be granted them, in order that they may preserve that which they have had during these past years, this is never to be thought of in any event." the king always made free use of the terrible weapon which the protestant princes of germany had placed in his hands. for indeed if it were right that one man, because possessed of hereditary power over millions of his fellow creatures, should compel them all to accept the dogmas of luther or of calvin because agreeable to himself, it was difficult to say why another man, in a similarly elevated position, might not compel his subjects to accept the creed of trent, or the doctrines of mahomet or confucius. the netherlanders were fighting--even more than they knew-for liberty of conscience, for equality of all religions; not for moses, nor for melancthon; for henry, philip, or pius; while philip justly urged that no prince in christendom permitted license. "let them well understand," said his majesty, "that since others who live in error, hold the opinion that vassals are to conform to the religion of their master, it is insufferable that it should be proposed to me that my vassals should have a different religion from mine--and that too being the true religion, proved by so many testimonies and miracles, while all others are deception. this must be arranged with the authority of the commissioners of the emperor, since it is well understood by them that the vassal is never to differ from the opinion of his master." certainly it was worth an eighty years' war to drive such blasphemous madness as this out of human heads, whether crowned or shaven. there was likewise a diet held during the summer of this year, of the circles of the empire nearest to the netherlands--westphalia, cleves, juliers, and saxony--from which commissioners were deputed both to brussels and to the hague, to complain of the misfortunes suffered by neutral and neighbouring nations in consequence of the civil war. they took nothing by their mission to the duke of parma. at the hague the deputies were heard on the nd august, . they complained to the states-general of "brandschatting" on the border, of the holding of forts beyond the lines, and of other invasions of neutral territory, of the cruising of the war-vessels of the states off the shores and on the rivers, and of their interference with lawful traders. threats were made of forcible intervention and reprisals. the united states replied on the th september. expressing deep regret that neutral nations should suffer, they pronounced it to be impossible but that some sparks from the great fire, now desolating their land, should fly over into their neighbours' ground. the states were fighting the battle of liberty against slavery, in which the future generations of germany, as well as of the netherlands were interested. they were combating that horrible institution, the holy inquisition. they were doing their best to strike down the universal monarchy of spain, which they described as a bloodthirsty, insatiable, insolent, absolute dominion of saracenic, moorish christians. they warred with a system which placed inquisitors on the seats of judges, which made it unlawful to read the scriptures, which violated all oaths, suppressed all civic freedom, trampled, on all laws and customs, raised inordinate taxes by arbitrary decree, and subjected high and low to indiscriminate murder. spain had sworn the destruction of the provinces and their subjugation to her absolute dominion, in order to carry out her scheme of universal empire. these were the deeds and designs against which the states were waging that war, concerning some inconvenient results of which their neighbours, now happily neutral, were complaining. but the cause of the states was the cause of humanity itself. this saracenic, moorish, universal monarchy had been seen by germany to murder, despoil, and trample upon the netherlands. it had murdered millions of innocent indians and granadians. it had kept naples and milan in abject slavery. it had seized portugal. it had deliberately planned and attempted an accursed invasion of england and ireland. it had overrun and plundered many cities of the empire. it had spread a web of secret intrigue about scotland. at last it was sending great armies to conquer france and snatch its crown. poor france now saw the plans of this spanish tyranny and bewailed her misery. the subjects of her lawful king were ordered to rise against him, on account of religion and conscience. such holy pretexts were used by these saracenic christians in order to gain possession of that kingdom. for all these reasons, men should not reproach the inhabitants of the netherlands, because seeing the aims of this accursed tyranny, they had set themselves to resist it. it was contrary to reason to consider them as disturbers of the general peace, or to hold them guilty of violating their oaths or their duty to the laws of the holy empire. the states- general were sure that they had been hitherto faithful and loyal, and they were resolved to continue in that path. as members of the holy empire, in part--as of old they were considered to be--they had rather the right to expect, instead of reproaches, assistance against the enormous power and inhuman oppression of their enemies. they had demanded it heretofore by their ambassadors, and they still continued to claim it. they urged that, according to the laws of the empire, all foreign soldiers, spaniards, saracens, and the like should be driven out of the limits of the empire. through these means the german highland and the german netherland might be restored once more to their old friendship and unity, and might deal with each other again in amity and commerce. if, however, such requests could not be granted they at least begged his electoral highness and the other dukes, lords, and states to put on the deeds of netherlanders in this laborious and heavy war the best interpretation, in order that they might, with the better courage and resolution, bear those inevitable burthens which were becoming daily heavier in this task of resistance and self-protection; in order that the provinces might not be utterly conquered, and serve, with their natural resources and advantageous situation, as 'sedes et media belli' for the destruction of neighbouring states and the building up of the contemplated universal, absolute monarchy. the united provinces had been compelled by overpowering necessity to take up arms. that which had resulted was and remained in 'terminis defensionis.' their object was to protect what belonged to them, to recover that which by force or fraud had been taken from them. in regard to excesses committed by their troops against neutral inhabitants on the border, they expressed a strong regret, together with a disposition to make all proper retribution and to cause all crimes to be punished. they alluded to the enormous sins of this nature practised by the enemy against neutral soil. they recalled to mind that the spaniards paid their troops ill or not at all, and that they allowed them to plunder the innocent and the neutral, while the united states had paid their troops better wages, and more punctually, than had ever been done by the greatest potentates of europe. it was true that the states kept many cruisers off the coasts and upon the rivers, but these were to protect their own citizens and friendly traders against pirates and against the common foe. germany derived as much benefit from this system as did the provinces themselves. thus did the states-general, respectfully but resolutely, decline all proffers of intervention, which, as they were well aware, could only enure to the benefit of the enemy. thus did they avoid being entrapped into negotiations which could only prove the most lamentable of comedies. etext editor's bookmarks: a pusillanimous peace, always possible at any period at length the twig was becoming the tree being the true religion, proved by so many testimonies certainly it was worth an eighty years' war chief seafaring nations of the world were already protestant conceding it subsequently, after much contestation fled from the land of oppression to the land of liberty german highland and the german netherland little army of maurice was becoming the model for europe luxury had blunted the fine instincts of patriotism maritime heretics portion of these revenues savoured much of black-mail the divine speciality of a few transitory mortals the history of the netherlands is history of liberty the nation which deliberately carves itself in pieces they had come to disbelieve in the mystery of kingcraft worn nor caused to be worn the collar of the serf this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, chapter xix. part . philip second in his cabinet--his system of work and deception--his vast but vague schemes of conquest--the armada sails--description of the fleet--the junction with parma unprovided for--the gale off finisterre--exploits of david gwynn--first engagements in the english channel--considerable losses of the spaniards--general engagement near portland--superior seamanship of the english it is now time to look in upon the elderly letter-writer in the escorial, and see how he was playing his part in the drama. his counsellors were very few. his chief advisers were rather like private secretaries than cabinet ministers; for philip had been withdrawing more and more into seclusion and mystery as the webwork of his schemes multiplied and widened. he liked to do his work, assisted by a very few confidential servants. the prince of eboli, the famous ruy gomez, was dead. so was cardinal granvelle. so were erasso and delgado. his midnight council--junta de noche--for thus, from its original hour of assembling, and the all of secrecy in which it was enwrapped, it was habitually called--was a triumvirate. don juan de idiaquez was chief secretary of state and of war; the count de chinchon was minister for the household, for italian affairs, and for the kingdom of aragon; don cristoval de moura, the monarch's chief favourite, was at the head of the finance department, and administered the affairs of portugal and castile! the president of the council of italy, after granvelle's death, was quiroga, cardinal of toledo, and inquisitor-general. enormously long letters, in the king's: name, were prepared chiefly by the two secretaries, idiaquez and moura. in their hands was the vast correspondence with mendoza and parma, and olivarez at rome, and with mucio; in which all the stratagems for the subjugation of protestant europe were slowly and artistically contrived. of the great conspiracy against human liberty, of which the pope and philip were the double head, this midnight triumvirate was the chief executive committee. these innumerable despatches, signed by philip, were not the emanations of his own mind. the king had a fixed purpose to subdue protestantism and to conquer the world; but the plans for carrying the purpose into effect were developed by subtler and more comprehensive minds than his own. it was enough for him to ponder wearily over schemes which he was supposed to dictate, and to give himself the appearance of supervising what he scarcely comprehended. and his work of supervision was often confined to pettiest details. the handwriting of spain and italy at that day was beautiful, and in our modern eyes seems neither antiquated nor ungraceful. but philip's scrawl was like that of 'a' clown just admitted to a writing-school, and the whole margin of a fairly penned despatch perhaps fifty pages long; laid before him for comment and signature by idiaquez or moura, would be sometimes covered with a few awkward sentences, which it was almost impossible to read, and which, when deciphered, were apt to reveal suggestions of astounding triviality. thus a most important despatch--in which the king, with his own hand, was supposed to be conveying secret intelligence to mendoza concerning the armada, together with minute directions for the regulation of guise's conduct at the memorable epoch of the barricades--contained but a single comment from the monarch's own pen. "the armada has been in lisbon about a month--quassi un mes"--wrote the secretary. "there is but one s in quasi," said philip. again, a despatch of mendoza to the king contained the intelligence that queen elizabeth was, at the date of the letter, residing at st. james's. philip, who had no objection to display his knowledge of english affairs --as became the man who had already been almost sovereign of england, and meant to be entirely so--supplied a piece of information in an apostille to this despatch. "st. james is a house of recreation," he said, "which was once a monastery. there is a park between it, and the palace which is called huytal; but why it is called huytal, i am sure i don't know." his researches in the english language had not enabled him to recognize the adjective and substantive out of which the abstruse compound white- hall (huyt-al), was formed. on another occasion, a letter from england containing important intelligence concerning the number of soldiers enrolled in that country to resist the spanish invasion, the quantity of gunpowder and various munitions collected, with other details of like nature, furnished besides a bit of information of less vital interest. "in the windows of the queen's presence-chamber they have discovered a great quantity of lice, all clustered together," said the writer. such a minute piece of statistics could not escape the microscopic eye of philip. so, disregarding the soldiers and the gunpowder, he commented only on this last-mentioned clause of the letter; and he did it cautiously too, as a king surnamed the prudent should:-- "but perhaps they were fleas," wrote philip. such examples--and many more might be given--sufficiently indicate the nature of the man on whom such enormous responsibilities rested, and who had been, by the adulation of his fellow-creatures, elevated into a god. and we may cast a glance upon him as he sits in his cabinet-buried among those piles of despatches--and receiving methodically, at stated hours, idiaquez, or moura, or chincon, to settle the affairs of so many millions of the human race; and we may watch exactly the progress of that scheme, concerning which so many contradictory rumours were circulating in europe. in the month of april a walsingham could doubt, even in august an ingenuous comptroller could disbelieve, the reality of the great project, and the pope himself, even while pledging himself to assistance, had been systematically deceived. he had supposed the whole scheme rendered futile by the exploit of drake at cadiz, and had declared that "the queen of england's distaff was worth more than philip's sword, that the king was a poor creature, that he would never be able to come to a resolution, and that even if he should do so, it would be too late;" and he had subsequently been doing his best, through his nuncio in france, to persuade the queen to embrace the catholic religion, and thus save herself from the impending danger. henry iii. had even been urged by the pope to send a special ambassador to her for this purpose--as if the persuasions of the wretched valois were likely to be effective with elizabeth tudor--and burghley had, by means of spies in rome, who pretended to be catholics, given out intimations that the queen was seriously contemplating such a step. thus the pope, notwithstanding cardinal allan, the famous million, and the bull, was thought by mendoza to be growing lukewarm in the spanish cause, and to be urging upon the "englishwoman" the propriety of converting herself, even at the late hour of may, . but philip, for years, had been maturing his scheme, while reposing entire confidence--beyond his own cabinet doors--upon none but alexander farnese; and the duke--alone of all men--was perfectly certain that the invasion would, this year, be attempted. the captain-general of the expedition was the marquis of santa cruz, a man of considerable naval experience, and of constant good fortune, who, in thirty years, had never sustained a defeat. he had however shown no desire to risk one when drake had offered him the memorable challenge in the year , and perhaps his reputation of the invincible captain had been obtained by the same adroitness on previous occasions. he was no friend to alexander farnese, and was much disgusted when informed of the share allotted to the duke in the great undertaking. a course of reproach and perpetual reprimand was the treatment to which he was, in consequence, subjected, which was not more conducive to the advancement of the expedition than it was to the health of the captain-general. early in january the cardinal archduke was sent to lisbon to lecture him, with instructions to turn a deaf ear to all his remonstrances, to deal with him peremptorily, to forbid his writing letters on the subject to his majesty, and to order him to accept his post or to decline it without conditions, in which latter contingency he was to be informed that his successor was already decided upon. this was not the most eligible way perhaps for bringing the captain- general into a cheerful mood; particularly as he was expected to be ready in january to sail to the flemish coast. nevertheless the marquis expressed a hope to accomplish his sovereign's wishes; and great had been the bustle in all the dockyards of naples, sicily, and spain; particularly in the provinces of guipuzcoa, biscay, and andalusia, and in the four great cities of the coast. war-ships of all dimensions, tenders, transports, soldiers, sailors, sutlers, munitions of war, provisions, were all rapidly concentrating in lisbon as the great place of rendezvous; and philip confidently believed, and as confidently informed the duke of parma, that he, might be expecting the armada at any time after the end of january. perhaps in the history of mankind there has never been a vast project of conquest conceived and matured in so protracted and yet so desultory a manner, as was this famous spanish invasion. there was something almost puerile in the whims rather than schemes of philip for carrying out his purpose. it was probable that some resistance would be offered, at least by the navy of england, to the subjugation of that country, and the king had enjoyed an opportunity, the preceding summer, of seeing the way in which english sailors did their work. he had also appeared to understand the necessity of covering the passage of farnese from the flemish ports into the thames, by means of the great spanish fleet from lisbon. nevertheless he never seemed to be aware that farnese could not invade england quite by himself, and was perpetually expecting to hear that he had done so. "holland and zeeland," wrote alexander to philip, "have been arming with their accustomed promptness; england has made great preparations. i have done my best to make the impossible possible; but your letter told me to wait for santa cruz, and to expect him very shortly. if, on the contrary, you had told me to make the passage without him, i would have made the attempt, although we had every one of us perished. four ships of war could sink every one of my boats. nevertheless i beg to be informed of your majesty's final order. if i am seriously expected to make the passage without santa cruz, i am ready to do it, although i should go all alone in a cock-boat." but santa cruz at least was not destined to assist in the conquest of england; for, worn out with fatigue and vexation, goaded by the reproaches and insults of philip, santa cruz was dead. he was replaced in the chief command of the fleet by the duke of medina sidonia, a grandee of vast wealth, but with little capacity and less experience. to the iron marquis it was said that a golden duke had succeeded; but the duke of gold did not find it easier to accomplish impossibilities than his predecessor had done. day after day, throughout the months of winter and spring, the king had been writing that the fleet was just on the point of sailing, and as frequently he had been renewing to alexander farnese the intimation that perhaps, after all, he might find an opportunity of crossing to england, without waiting for its arrival. and alexander, with the same regularity, had been informing his master that the troops in the netherlands had been daily dwindling from sickness and other causes, till at last, instead of the , effective infantry, with which it had been originally intended to make the enterprise, he had not more than , in the month of april. the spaniards, whom he was to receive from the fleet of medina sidonia, would therefore be the very mainspring of his army. after leaving no more soldiers in the netherlands than were absolutely necessary for the defence of the obedient provinces against the rebels, he could only take with him to england , men, even after the reinforcements from medina. "when we talked of taking england by surprise," said alexander, "we never thought of less than , . now that she is alert and ready for us, and that it is certain we must fight by sea and by land, , would be few." he almost ridiculed the king's suggestion that a feint might be made by way of besieging some few places in holland or zeeland. the whole matter in hand, he said, had become as public as possible, and the only efficient blind was the peace-negotiation; for many believed, as the english deputies were now treating at ostend, that peace would follow. at last, on the th, th, and th may, , the fleet, which had been waiting at lisbon more than a month for favourable weather, set sail from that port, after having been duly blessed by the cardinal archduke albert, viceroy of portugal. there were rather more than one hundred and thirty ships in all, divided into ten squadrons. there was the squadron of portugal, consisting of ten galleons, and commanded by the captain-general, medina sidonia. in the squadron of castile were fourteen ships of various sizes, under general diego flores de valdez. this officer was one of the most experienced naval officers in the spanish service, and was subsequently ordered, in consequence, to sail with the generalissimo in his flag-ship. in the squadron of andalusia were ten galleons and other vessels, under general pedro de valdez. in the squadron of biscay were ten galleons and lesser ships, under general juan martinet de recalde, upper admiral of the fleet. in the squadron of guipuzcoa were ten galleons, under general miguel de oquendo. in the squadron of italy were ten ships, under general martin de bertendona. in the squadron of urcas, or store-ships, were twenty-three sail, under general juan gomez de medina. the squadron of tenders, caravels, and other vessels, numbered twenty-two sail, under general antonio hurtado de mendoza. the squadron of four galeasses was commanded by don hugo de moncada. the squadron of four galeras, or galleys, was in charge of captain diego de medrado. next in command to medina sidonia was don alonzo de leyva, captain- general of the light horse of milan. don francisco de bobadilla was marshal-general of the camp. don diego de pimentel was marshal of the camp to the famous terzio or legion of sicily. the total tonnage of the fleet was , : the number of guns was . of spanish troops there were , on board: there were sailors and galley-slaves. besides these, there was a force of noble volunteers, belonging to the most illustrious houses of spain, with their attendants amounting to nearly in all. there was also don martin alaccon, administrator and vicar-general of the holy inquisition, at the head of some monks of the mendicant orders, priests and familiars. the grand total of those embarked was about , . the daily expense of the fleet was estimated by don diego de pimentel at , ducats a-day, and the daily cost of the combined naval and military force under farnese and medina sidonia was stated at , ducats. the size of the ships ranged from tons to . the galleons, of which there were about sixty, were huge round-stemmed clumsy vessels, with bulwarks three or four feet thick, and built up at stem and stern, like castles. the galeasses of which there were four--were a third larger than the ordinary galley, and were rowed each by three hundred galley-slaves. they consisted of an enormous towering fortress at the stern; a castellated structure almost equally massive in front, with seats for the rowers amidships. at stem and stern and between each of the slaves' benches were heavy cannon. these galeasses were floating edifices, very wonderful to contemplate. they were gorgeously decorated. there were splendid state-apartments, cabins, chapels, and pulpits in each, and they were amply provided with awnings, cushions, streamers, standards, gilded saints, and bands of music. to take part in an ostentatious pageant, nothing could be better devised. to fulfil the great objects of a war-vessel--to sail and to fight--they were the worst machines ever launched upon the ocean. the four galleys were similar to the galeasses in every respect except that of size, in which they were by one-third inferior. all the ships of the fleet--galeasses, galleys, galleons, and hulks--were so encumbered with top-hamper, so overweighted in proportion to their draught of water, that they could bear but little canvas, even with smooth seas and light and favourable winds. in violent tempests, therefore, they seemed likely to suffer. to the eyes of the th century these vessels seemed enormous. a ship of tons was then a monster rarely seen, and a fleet, numbering from to sail, with an aggregate tonnage of , , seemed sufficient to conquer the world, and to justify the arrogant title, by which it had baptized itself, of the invincible. such was the machinery which philip had at last set afloat, for the purpose of dethroning elizabeth and establishing the inquisition in england. one hundred and forty ships, eleven thousand spanish veterans, as many more recruits, partly spanish, partly portuguese, grandees, as many galley-slaves, and three hundred barefooted friars and inquisitors. the plan was simple. medina sidonia was to proceed straight from lisbon to calais roads: there he was to wait: for the duke of parma, who was to come forth from newport, sluys, and dunkerk, bringing with him his , veterans, and to assume the chief command of the whole expedition. they were then to cross the channel to dover, land the army of parma, reinforced with spaniards from the fleet, and with these , men alexander was to march at once upon london. medina sidonia was to seize and fortify the isle of wight, guard the entrance of the harbours against any interference from the dutch and english fleets, and--so soon as the conquest of england had been effected--he was to proceed to ireland. it had been the wish of sir william stanley that ireland should be subjugated first, as a basis of operations against england; but this had been overruled. the intrigues of mendoza and farnese, too, with the catholic nobles of scotland, had proved, after all, unsuccessful. king james had yielded to superior offers of money and advancement held out to him by elizabeth, and was now, in alexander's words, a confirmed heretic. there was no course left, therefore, but to conquer england at once. a strange omission had however been made in the plan from first to last. the commander of the whole expedition was the duke of parma: on his head was the whole responsibility. not a gun was to be fired--if it could be avoided--until be had come forth with his veterans to make his junction with the invincible armada off calais. yet there was no arrangement whatever to enable him to come forth--not the slightest provision to effect that junction. it would almost seem that the letter-writer of the escorial had been quite ignorant of the existence of the dutch fleets off dunkerk, newport, and flushing, although he had certainly received information enough of this formidable obstacle to his plan. "most joyful i shall be," said farnese-writing on one of the days when he had seemed most convinced by valentine dale's arguments, and driven to despair by his postulates--"to see myself with these soldiers on english ground, where, with god's help, i hope to accomplish your majesty's demands." he was much troubled however to find doubts entertained at the last moment as to his spaniards; and certainly it hardly needed an argument to prove that the invasion of england with but , soldiers was a somewhat hazardous scheme. yet the pilot moresini had brought him letters from medina sidonia, in which the duke expressed hesitation about parting with these veterans; unless the english fleet should have been previously destroyed, and had also again expressed his hope that parma would be punctual to the rendezvous. alexander immediately combated these views in letters to medina and to the king. he avowed that he would not depart one tittle from the plan originally laid down. the men, and more if possible, were to be furnished him, and the spanish armada was to protect his own flotilla, and to keep the channel clear of enemies. no other scheme was possible, he said, for it was clear that his collection of small flat-bottomed river-boats and hoys could not even make the passage, except in smooth weather. they could not contend with a storm, much less with the enemy's ships, which would destroy them utterly in case of a meeting, without his being able to avail himself of his soldiers--who would be so closely packed as to be hardly moveable--or of any human help. the preposterous notion that he should come out with his flotilla to make a junction with medina off calais, was over and over again denounced by alexander with vehemence and bitterness, and most boding expressions were used by him as to the probable result, were such a delusion persisted in. every possible precaution therefore but one had been taken. the king of france--almost at the same instant in which guise had been receiving his latest instructions from the escorial for dethroning and destroying that monarch--had been assured by philip of his inalienable affection; had been informed of the object of this great naval expedition--which was not by any means, as mendoza had stated to henry, an enterprise against france or england, but only a determined attempt to clear the sea, once for all, of these english pirates who had done so much damage for years past on the high seas--and had been requested, in case any spanish ship should be driven by stress of weather into french ports, to afford them that comfort and protection to which the vessels of so close and friendly an ally were entitled. thus there was bread, beef, and powder enough--there were monks and priests enough--standards, galley-slaves, and inquisitors enough; but there were no light vessels in the armada, and no heavy vessels in parma's fleet. medina could not go to farnese, nor could farnese come to medina. the junction was likely to be difficult, and yet it had never once entered the heads of philip or his counsellors to provide for that difficulty. the king never seemed to imagine that farnese, with , or , soldiers in the netherlands, a fleet of transports, and power to dispose of very large funds for one great purpose, could be kept in prison by a fleet of dutch skippers and corsairs. with as much sluggishness as might have been expected from their clumsy architecture, the ships of the armada consumed nearly three weeks in sailing from lisbon to the neighbourhood of cape finisterre. here they were overtaken by a tempest, and were scattered hither and thither, almost at the mercy of the winds and waves; for those unwieldy hulks were ill adapted to a tempest in the bay of biscay. there were those in the armada, however, to whom the storm was a blessing. david gwynn, a welsh mariner, had sat in the spanish hulks a wretched galley-slave--as prisoner of war for more than eleven years, hoping, year after year, for a chance of escape from bondage. he sat now among the rowers of the great galley, the trasana, one of the humblest instruments by which the subjugation of his native land to spain and rome was to be effected. very naturally, among the ships which suffered most in the gale were the four huge unwieldy galleys--a squadron of four under don diego de medrado--with their enormous turrets at stem and stern, and their low and open waists. the chapels, pulpits, and gilded madonnas proved of little avail in a hurricane. the diana, largest of the four, went down with all hands; the princess was labouring severely in the trough of the sea, and the trasana was likewise in imminent danger. so the master of this galley asked the welsh slave, who had far more experience and seamanship than he possessed himself, if it were possible to save the vessel. gwynn saw an opportunity for which he had been waiting eleven years. he was ready to improve it. he pointed out to the captain the hopelessness of attempting to overtake the armada. they should go down, he said, as the diana had already done, and as the princess was like at any moment to do, unless they took in every rag of sail, and did their best with their oars to gain the nearest port. but in order that the rowers might exert themselves to the utmost, it was necessary that the soldiers, who were a useless incumbrance on deck, should go below. thus only could the ship be properly handled. the captain, anxious to save his ship and his life, consented. most of the soldiers were sent beneath the hatches: a few were ordered to sit on the benches among the slaves. now there had been a secret understanding for many days among these unfortunate men, nor were they wholly without weapons. they had been accustomed to make toothpicks and other trifling articles for sale out of broken sword- blades and other refuse bits of steel. there was not a man among them who had not thus provided himself with a secret stiletto. at first gwynn occupied himself with arrangements for weathering the gale. so soon however as the ship had been made comparatively easy, he looked around him, suddenly threw down his cap, and raised his hand to the rigging. it was a preconcerted signal. the next instant he stabbed the captain to the heart, while each one of the galley-slaves killed the soldier nearest him; then, rushing below, they surprised and overpowered the rest of the troops, and put them all to death. coming again upon deck, david gwynn descried the fourth galley of the squadron, called the royal, commanded by commodore medrado in person, bearing down upon them, before the wind. it was obvious that the vasana was already an object of suspicion. "comrades," said gwynn, "god has given us liberty, and by our courage we must prove ourselves worthy of the boon." as he spoke there came a broadside from the galley royal which killed nine of his crew. david, nothing daunted; laid his ship close alongside of the royal, with such a shock that the timbers quivered again. then at the head of his liberated slaves, now thoroughly armed, he dashed on board the galley, and, after a furious conflict, in which he was assisted by the slaves of the royal, succeeded in mastering the vessel, and putting all the spanish soldiers to death. this done, the combined rowers, welcoming gwynn as their deliverer from an abject slavery which seemed their lot for life, willingly accepted his orders. the gale had meantime abated, and the two galleys, well conducted by the experienced and intrepid welshman, made their way to the coast of france, and landed at bayonne on the st, dividing among them the property found on board the two galleys. thence, by land, the fugitives, four hundred and sixty- six in number--frenchmen, spaniards, englishmen, turks, and moors, made their way to rochelle. gwynn had an interview with henry of navarre, and received from that chivalrous king a handsome present. afterwards he found his way to england, and was well commended by the queen. the rest of the liberated slaves dispersed in various directions. this was the first adventure of the invincible armada. of the squadron of galleys, one was already sunk in the sea, and two of the others had been conquered by their own slaves. the fourth rode out the gale with difficulty, and joined the rest of the fleet, which ultimately re- assembled at coruna; the ships having, in distress, put in at first at vivera, ribadeo, gijon, and other northern ports of spain. at the groyne--as the english of that day were accustomed to call coruna--they remained a month, repairing damages and recruiting; and on the nd of july (n.s.) the armada set sail: six days later, the spaniards took soundings, thirty leagues from the scilly islands, and on--friday, the th of july, off the lizard, they had the first glimpse of the land of promise presented them by sixtus v., of which they had at last come to take possession. [the dates in the narrative will be always given according to the new style, then already adopted by spain, holland, and france, although not by england. the dates thus given are, of course, ten days later than they appear in contemporary english records.] on the same day and night the blaze and smoke of ten thousand beacon- fires from the land's end to margate, and from the isle of wight to cumberland, gave warning to every englishman that the enemy was at last upon them. almost at that very instant intelligence had been brought from the court to the lord-admiral at plymouth, that the armada, dispersed and shattered by the gales of june, was not likely to make its appearance that year; and orders had consequently been given to disarm the four largest ships, and send them into dock. even walsingham, as already stated, had participated in this strange delusion. before howard had time to act upon this ill-timed suggestion--even had he been disposed to do so--he received authentic intelligence that the great fleet was off the lizard. neither he nor francis drake were the men to lose time in such an emergency, and before that friday, night was spent, sixty of the best english ships had been warped out of plymouth harbour. on saturday, th july, the wind was very light at southwest, with a mist and drizzling rain, but by three in the afternoon the two fleets could descry and count each other through the haze. by nine o'clock, st july, about two miles from looe, on the cornish coast, the fleets had their first meeting. there were sail of the spaniards, of which ninety were large ships, and sixty-seven of the english. it was a solemn moment. the long-expected armada presented a pompous, almost a theatrical appearance. the ships seemed arranged for a pageant, in honour of a victory already won. disposed in form of a crescent, the horns of which were seven miles asunder, those gilded, towered, floating castles, with their gaudy standards and their martial music, moved slowly along the channel, with an air of indolent pomp. their captain-general, the golden duke, stood in his private shot-proof fortress, on the--deck of his great galleon the saint martin, surrounded by generals of infantry, and colonels of cavalry, who knew as little as he did himself of naval matters. the english vessels, on the other hand--with a few exceptions, light, swift, and easily handled--could sail round and round those unwieldy galleons, hulks, and galleys rowed by fettered slave-gangs. the superior seamanship of free englishmen, commanded by such experienced captains as drake, frobisher, and hawkins-- from infancy at home on blue water--was manifest in the very, first encounter. they obtained the weather-gage at once, and cannonaded the enemy at intervals with considerable effect, easily escaping at will out of range of the sluggish armada, which was incapable of bearing sail in pursuit, although provided with an armament which could sink all its enemies at close quarters. "we had some small fight with them that sunday afternoon," said hawkins. medina sidonia hoisted the royal standard at the fore, and the whole fleet did its utmost, which was little, to offer general battle. it was in vain. the english, following at the heels of the enemy, refused all such invitations, and attacked only the rear-guard of the armada, where recalde commanded. that admiral, steadily maintaining his post, faced his nimble antagonists, who continued to teaze, to maltreat, and to elude him, while the rest of the fleet proceeded slowly up the channel closely, followed by the enemy. and thus the running fight continued along the coast, in full view of plymouth, whence boats with reinforcements and volunteers were perpetually arriving to the english ships, until the battle had drifted quite out of reach of the town. already in this first "small fight" the spaniards had learned a lesson, and might even entertain a doubt of their invincibility. but before the sun set there were more serious disasters. much powder and shot had been expended by the spaniards to very little purpose, and so a master-gunner on board admiral oquendo's flag-ship was reprimanded for careless ball- practice. the gunner, who was a fleming, enraged with his captain, laid a train to the powder-magazine, fired it, and threw himself into the sea. two decks blew up. the into the clouds, carrying with it the paymaster- general of the fleet, a large portion of treasure, and nearly two hundred men.' the ship was a wreck, but it was possible to save the rest of the crew. so medina sidonia sent light vessels to remove them, and wore with his flag-ship, to defend oquendo, who had already been fastened upon by his english pursuers. but the spaniards, not being so light in hand as their enemies, involved themselves in much embarrassment by this manoeuvre; and there was much falling foul of each other, entanglement of rigging, and carrying away of yards. oquendo's men, however, were ultimately saved, and taken to other ships. meantime don pedro de valdez, commander of the andalusian squadron, having got his galleon into collision with two or three spanish ships successively, had at last carried away his fore-mast close to the deck, and the wreck had fallen against his main-mast. he lay crippled and helpless, the armada was slowly deserting him, night was coming on, the sea was running high, and the english, ever hovering near, were ready to grapple with him. in vain did don pedro fire signals of distress. the captain-general, even as though the unlucky galleon had not been connected with the catholic fleet--calmly fired a gun to collect his scattered ships, and abandoned valdez to his fate. "he left me comfortless in sight of the whole fleet," said poor pedro, "and greater inhumanity and unthankfulness i think was never heard of among men." yet the spaniard comported himself most gallantly. frobisher, in the largest ship of the english fleet, the triumph, of tons, and hawkins in the victory, of , cannonaded him at a distance, but, night coming on, he was able to resist; and it was not till the following morning that he surrendered to the revenge. drake then received the gallant prisoner on board his flagship--much to the disgust and indignation of frobisher and hawkins, thus disappointed of their prize and ransom-money--treated him with much courtesy, and gave his word of honour that he and his men should be treated fairly like good prisoners of war. this pledge was redeemed, for it was not the english, as it was the spanish custom, to convert captives into slaves, but only to hold them for ransom. valdez responded to drake's politeness by kissing his hand, embracing him, and overpowering him with magnificent compliments. he was then sent on board the lord-admiral, who received him with similar urbanity, and expressed his regret that so distinguished a personage should have been so coolly deserted by the duke of medina. don pedro then returned to the revenge, where, as the guest of drake, he was a witness to all subsequent events up to the th of august, on which day he was sent to london with some other officers, sir francis claiming his ransom as his lawful due. here certainly was no very triumphant beginning for the invincible armada. on the very first day of their being in presence of the english fleet--then but sixty-seven in number, and vastly their inferior in size and weight of metal--they had lost the flag ships of the guipuzcoan and of the andalusian squadrons, with a general-admiral, officers and, men, and some , ducats of treasure. they had been out-manoeuvred, out-sailed, and thoroughly maltreated by their antagonists, and they had been unable to inflict a single blow in return. thus the "small fight" had been a cheerful one for the opponents of the inquisition, and the english were proportionably encouraged. on monday, st of august, medina sidonia placed the rear-guard-consisting of the galeasses, the galleons st. matthew, st. luke, st. james, and the florence and other ships, forty-three in all--under command of don antonio de leyva. he was instructed to entertain the enemy-- so constantly hanging on the rear--to accept every chance of battle, and to come to close quarters whenever it should be possible. the spaniards felt confident of sinking every ship in the english navy, if they could but once come to grappling; but it was growing more obvious every hour that the giving or withholding battle was entirely in the hands of their foes. meantime--while the rear was thus protected by leyva's division-- the vanguard and main body of the armada, led by the captain-general, would steadily pursue its way, according to the royal instructions, until it arrived at its appointed meeting-place with the duke of parma. moreover, the duke of medina--dissatisfied with the want of discipline and of good seamanship hitherto displayed in his fleet--now took occasion to send a serjeant-major, with written sailing directions, on board each ship in the armada, with express orders to hang every captain, without appeal or consultation, who should leave the position assigned him; and the hangmen were sent with the sergeant-majors to ensure immediate attention to these arrangements. juan gil was at the name time sent off in a sloop to the duke of parma, to carry the news of the movements of the armada, to request information as to the exact spot and moment of the junction, and to beg for pilots acquainted with the french and flemish coasts. "in case of the slightest gale in the world," said medina, "i don't know how or where to shelter such large ships as ours." disposed in this manner; the spaniards sailed leisurely along the english coast with light westerly breezes, watched closely by the queen's fleet, which hovered at a moderate distance to windward, without offering, that day, any obstruction to their course. by five o'clock on tuesday morning, nd of august, the armada lay between portland bill and st. albans' head, when the wind shifted to the north- east, and gave the spaniards the weather-gage. the english did their beat to get to windward, but the duke, standing close into the land with the whole armada, maintained his advantage. the english then went about, making a tack seaward, and were soon afterwards assaulted by the spaniards. a long and spirited action ensued. howard in his little ark- royal--"the odd ship of the world for all conditions"--was engaged at different times with bertendona, of the italian squadron, with alonzo de leyva in the batta, and with other large vessels. he was hard pressed for a time, but was gallantly supported by the nonpareil, captain tanner; and after a long and confused combat, in which the st. mark, the st. luke, the st. matthew, the st. philip, the st. john, the st. james, the st. john baptist, the st. martin, and many other great galleons, with saintly and apostolic names, fought pellmell with the lion, the bear, the bull, the tiger, the dreadnought, the revenge, the victory, the triumph, and other of the more profanely-baptized english ships, the spaniards were again baffled in all their attempts to close with, and to board, their ever-attacking, ever-flying adversaries. the cannonading was incessant. "we had a sharp and a long fight," said hawkins. boat-loads of men and munitions were perpetually arriving to the english, and many, high-born volunteers--like cumberland, oxford, northumberland, raleigh, brooke, dudley, willoughby, noel, william hatton, thomas cecil, and others--could no longer restrain their impatience, as the roar of battle sounded along the coasts of dorset, but flocked merrily on board the ships of drake,--hawkins, howard, and frobisher, or came in small vessels which they had chartered for themselves, in order to have their share in the delights of the long-expected struggle. the action, irregular, desultory, but lively, continued nearly all day, and until the english had fired away most of their powder and shot. the spaniards, too, notwithstanding their years of preparation, were already sort of light metal, and medina sidonia had been daily sending to parma for a supply of four, six, and ten pound balls. so much lead and gunpowder had never before been wasted in a single day; for there was no great damage inflicted on either side. the artillery-practice was certainly not much to the credit of either nation. "if her majesty's ships had been manned with a full supply of good gunners," said honest william thomas, an old artilleryman, "it would have been the woefullest time ever the spaniard took in hand, and the most noble victory ever heard of would have been her majesty's. but our sins were the cause that so much powder and shot were spent, so long time in fight, and in comparison so little harm done. it were greatly to be wished that her majesty were no longer deceived in this way." yet the english, at any rate, had succeeded in displaying their seamanship, if not their gunnery, to advantage. in vain the unwieldly hulks and galleons had attempted to grapple with their light-winged foes, who pelted them, braved them, damaged their sails and gearing; and then danced lightly off into the distance; until at last, as night fell, the wind came out from the west again, and the english regained and kept the weather-gage. the queen's fleet, now divided into four squadrons, under howard, drake, hawkins, and frobisher, amounted to near one hundred sail, exclusive of lord henry seymour's division, which was cruising in the straits of dover. but few of all this number were ships of war however, and the merchant vessels; although zealous and active enough, were not thought very effective. "if you had seen the simple service done by the merchants and coast ships," said winter, "you would have said we had been little holpen by them, otherwise than that they did make a show." all night the spaniards, holding their course towards calais, after the long but indecisive conflict had terminated, were closely pursued by their wary antagonists. on wednesday, rd of august, there was some slight cannonading, with but slender results; and on thursday, the th, both fleets were off dunnose, on the isle of wight. the great hulk santana and a galleon of portugal having been somewhat damaged the previous day, were lagging behind the rest of the armada, and were vigorously attacked by the triumph, and a few other vessels. don antonio de leyva, with some of the galeasses and large galleons, came to the rescue, and frobisher, although in much peril, maintained an unequal conflict, within close range, with great spirit. seeing his danger, the lord admiral in the ark-royal, accompanied by the golden lion; the white bear, the elizabeth, the victory, and the leicester, bore boldly down into the very midst of the spanish fleet, and laid himself within three or four hundred yards of medina's flag ship, the st. martin, while his comrades were at equally close quarters with vice-admiral recalde and the galleons of oquendo, mexia, and almanza. it was the hottest conflict which had yet taken place. here at last was thorough english work. the two, great fleets, which were there to subjugate and to defend the realm of elizabeth, were nearly yard-arm and yard-arm together--all england on the lee. broadside after broadside of great guns, volley after volley of arquebusry from maintop and rigging, were warmly exchanged, and much damage was inflicted on the spaniards, whose gigantic ships, were so easy a mark to aim at, while from their turreted heights they themselves fired for the most part harmlessly over the heads of their adversaries. the leaders of the armada, however, were encouraged, for they expected at last to come to even closer quarters, and there were some among the english who were mad enough to wish to board. but so soon as frobisher, who was the hero of the day, had extricated himself from his difficulty, the lord-admiral--having no intention of risking the existence of his fleet, and with it perhaps of the english crown, upon the hazard of a single battle, and having been himself somewhat damaged in the fight--gave the signal for retreat, and caused the ark-royal to be towed out of action. thus the spaniards were frustrated of their hopes, and the english; having inflicted much. punishment at comparatively small loss to themselves, again stood off to windward; and the armada continued its indolent course along the cliffs of freshwater and blackgang. on friday; th august, the english, having received men and munitions from shore, pursued their antagonists at a moderate distance; and the lord-admiral; profiting by the pause--for, it was almost a flat calm-- sent for martin frobisher, john hawkins, roger townsend, lord thomas howard, son of the duke of norfolk, and lord edmund sheffield; and on the deck of the royal ark conferred the honour of knighthood on each for his gallantry in the action of the previous day. medina sidonia, on his part, was again despatching messenger after messenger to the duke of parma, asking for small shot, pilots, and forty fly-boats, with which to pursue the teasing english clippers. the catholic armada, he said, being so large and heavy, was quite in the power of its adversaries, who could assault, retreat, fight, or leave off fighting, while he had nothing for it but to proceed, as expeditiously as might be; to his rendezvous in calais roads. etext editor's bookmarks: inquisitors enough; but there were no light vessels in the armada history of the united netherlands, - , volume i. (of iv), complete from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce volume i. by john lothrop motley preface. the indulgence with which the history of the rise of the dutch republic was received has encouraged me to prosecute my task with renewed industry. a single word seems necessary to explain the somewhat increased proportions which the present work has assumed over the original design. the intimate connection which was formed between the kingdom of england and the republic of holland, immediately after the death of william the silent, rendered the history and the fate of the two commonwealths for a season almost identical. the years of anxiety and suspense during which the great spanish project for subjugating england and reconquering the netherlands, by the same invasion, was slowly matured, were of deepest import for the future destiny of those two countries, and for the cause of national liberty. the deep-laid conspiracy of spain and rome against human rights deserves to be patiently examined, for it is one of the great lessons of history. the crisis was long and doubtful, and the health--perhaps the existence--of england and holland, and, with them, of a great part of christendom, was on the issue. history has few so fruitful examples of the dangers which come from superstition and despotism, and the blessings which flow from the maintenance of religious and political freedom, as those afforded by the struggle between england and holland on the one side, and spain and rome on the other, during the epoch which i have attempted to describe. it is for this reason that i have thought it necessary to reveal, as minutely as possible, the secret details of this conspiracy of king and priest against the people, and to show how it was baffled at last by the strong self-helping energy of two free nations combined. the period occupied by these two volumes is therefore a short one, when counted by years, for it begins in and ends with the commencement of . when estimated by the significance of events and their results for future ages, it will perhaps be deemed worthy of the close examination which it has received. with the year the crisis was past; england was safe, and the new dutch commonwealth was thoroughly organized. it is my design, in two additional volumes, which, with the two now published, will complete the present work, to carry the history of the republic down to the synod of dort. after this epoch the thirty years' war broke out in germany; and it is my wish, at a future day, to retrace the history of that eventful struggle, and to combine with it the civil and military events in holland, down to the epoch when the thirty years' war and the eighty years' war of the netherlands were both brought to a close by the peace of westphalia. the materials for the volumes now offered to the public were so abundant that it was almost impossible to condense them into smaller compass without doing injustice to the subject. it was desirable to throw full light on these prominent points of the history, while the law of historical perspective will allow long stretches of shadow in the succeeding portions, in which less important objects may be more slightly indicated. that i may not be thought capable of abusing the reader's confidence by inventing conversations, speeches, or letters, i would take this opportunity of stating--although i have repeated the remark in the foot-notes--that no personage in these pages is made to write or speak any words save those which, on the best historical evidence, he is known to have written or spoken. a brief allusion to my sources of information will not seem superfluous: i have carefully studied all the leading contemporary chronicles and pamphlets of holland, flanders, spain, france, germany, and england; but, as the authorities are always indicated in the notes, it is unnecessary to give a list of them here. but by far my most valuable materials are entirely unpublished ones. the archives of england are especially rich for the history of the sixteenth century; and it will be seen, in the course of the narrative, how largely i have drawn from those mines of historical wealth, the state paper office and the ms. department of the british museum. although both these great national depositories are in admirable order, it is to be regretted that they are not all embraced in one collection, as much trouble might then be spared to the historical student, who is now obliged to pass frequently from the one place to the other, in order to, find different portions of the same correspondence. from the royal archives of holland i have obtained many most important, entirely unpublished documents, by the aid of which i have endeavoured to verify, to illustrate, or sometimes to correct, the recitals of the elder national chroniclers; and i have derived the greatest profit from the invaluable series of archives and correspondence of the orange-nassau family, given to the world by m. groen van prinsterer. i desire to renew to that distinguished gentleman, and to that eminent scholar m. bakhuyzen van den brink, the expression of my gratitude for their constant kindness and advice during my residence at the hague. nothing can exceed the courtesy which has been extended to me in holland, and i am deeply grateful for the indulgence with which my efforts to illustrate the history of the country have been received where that history is best known. i have also been much aided by the study of a portion of the archives of simancas, the originals of which are in the archives de l'empire in paris, and which were most liberally laid before me through the kindness of m. le comte de la borde. i have, further; enjoyed an inestimable advantage in the perusal of the whole correspondence between philip ii., his ministers, and governors, relating to the affairs of the netherlands, from the epoch at which this work commences down to that monarch's death. copies of this correspondence have been carefully made from the originals at simancas by order of the belgian government, under the superintendence of the eminent archivist m. gachard, who has already published a synopsis or abridgment of a portion of it in a french translation. the translation and abridgment of so large a mass of papers, however, must necessarily occupy many years, and it may be long, therefore, before the whole of the correspondence--and particularly that portion of it relating to the epoch occupied by these volumes sees the light. it was, therefore, of the greatest importance for me to see the documents themselves unabridged and untranslated. this privilege has been accorded me, and i desire to express my thanks to his excellency m. van de weyer, the distinguished representative of belgium at the english court, to whose friendly offices i am mainly indebted for the satisfaction of my wishes in this respect. a letter from him to his excellency m. rogier, minister of the interior in belgium--who likewise took the most courteous interest in promoting my views--obtained for me the permission thoroughly to study this correspondence; and i passed several months in brussels, occupied with reading the whole of it from the year to the end of the reign of philip ii. i was thus saved a long visit to the archives of simancas, for it would be impossible conscientiously to write the history of the epoch without a thorough examination of the correspondence of the king and his ministers. i venture to hope, therefore--whatever judgment may be passed upon my own labours--that this work may be thought to possess an intrinsic value; for the various materials of which it is composed are original, and--so far as i am aware--have not been made use of by any historical writer. i would take this opportunity to repeat my thanks to m. gachard, archivist of the kingdom of belgium, for the uniform courtesy and kindness which i have received at his-hands, and to bear my testimony to the skill and critical accuracy with which he has illustrated so many passages of belgian and spanish history. , hertford-street, may-fair, november th . the united netherlands. chapter i. murder of orange--extension of protestantism--vast power of spain-- religious origin of the revolt--disposal of the sovereignty--courage of the estates of holland--children of william the silent-- provisional council of state--firm attitude of holland and zeeland-- weakness of flanders--fall of ghent--adroitness of alexander farnese. william the silent, prince of orange, had been murdered on the th of july, . it is difficult to imagine a more universal disaster than the one thus brought about by the hand of a single obscure fanatic. for nearly twenty years the character of the prince had been expanding steadily as the difficulties of his situation increased. habit, necessity, and the natural gifts of the man, had combined to invest him at last with an authority which seemed more than human. there was such general confidence in his sagacity, courage, and purity, that the nation had come to think with his brain and to act with his hand. it was natural that, for an instant, there should be a feeling as of absolute and helpless paralysis. whatever his technical attributes in the polity of the netherlands--and it would be difficult to define them with perfect accuracy--there is no doubt that he stood there, the head of a commonwealth, in an attitude such as had been maintained by but few of the kings, or chiefs, or high priests of history. assassination, a regular and almost indispensable portion of the working machinery of philip's government, had produced, in this instance, after repeated disappointments, the result at last which had been so anxiously desired. the ban of the pope and the offered gold of the king had accomplished a victory greater than any yet achieved by the armies of spain, brilliant as had been their triumphs on the blood-stained soil of the netherlands. had that "exceeding proud, neat, and spruce" doctor of laws, william parry, who had been busying himself at about the same time with his memorable project against the queen of england, proved as successful as balthazar gerard, the fate of christendom would have been still darker. fortunately, that member of parliament had made the discovery in time--not for himself, but for elizabeth--that the "lord was better pleased with adverbs than nouns;" the well-known result being that the traitor was hanged and the sovereign saved. yet such was the condition of europe at that day. a small, dull, elderly, imperfectly-educated, patient, plodding invalid, with white hair and protruding under jaw, and dreary visage, was sitting day after day; seldom speaking, never smiling, seven or eight hours out of every twenty-four, at a writing table covered with heaps of interminable despatches, in a cabinet far away beyond the seas and mountains, in the very heart of spain. a clerk or two, noiselessly opening and shutting the door, from time to time, fetching fresh bundles of letters and taking away others--all written and composed by secretaries or high functionaries--and all to be scrawled over in the margin by the diligent old man in a big schoolboy's hand and style--if ever schoolboy, even in the sixteenth century, could write so illegibly or express himself so awkwardly; couriers in the court-yard arriving from or departing for the uttermost parts of earth-asia, africa america, europe-to fetch and carry these interminable epistles which contained the irresponsible commands of this one individual, and were freighted with the doom and destiny of countless millions of the world's inhabitants--such was the system of government against which the netherlands had protested and revolted. it was a system under which their fields had been made desolate, their cities burned and pillaged, their men hanged, burned, drowned, or hacked to pieces; their women subjected to every outrage; and to put an end to which they had been devoting their treasure and their blood for nearly the length of one generation. it was a system, too, which, among other results, had just brought about the death of the foremost statesman of europe, and had nearly effected simultaneously the murder of the most eminent sovereign in the world. the industrious philip, safe and tranquil in the depths of the escorial, saying his prayers three times a day with exemplary regularity, had just sent three bullets through the body of william the silent at his dining-room door in delft. "had it only been done two years earlier," observed the patient old man, "much trouble might have been spared me; but 'tis better late than never." sir edward stafford, english envoy in paris, wrote to his government--so soon as the news of the murder reached him--that, according to his information out of the spanish minister's own house, "the same practice that had been executed upon the prince of orange, there were practisers more than two or three about to execute upon her majesty, and that within two months." without vouching for the absolute accuracy of this intelligence, he implored the queen to be more upon her guard than ever. "for there is no doubt," said the envoy, "that she is a chief mark to shoot at; and seeing that there were men cunning enough to inchant a man and to encourage him to kill the prince of orange, in the midst of holland, and that there was a knave found desperate enough to do it, we must think hereafter that anything may be done. therefore god preserve her majesty." invisible as the grand lama of thibet, clothed with power as extensive and absolute as had ever been wielded by the most imperial caesar, philip the prudent, as he grew older and feebler in mind and body seemed to become more gluttonous of work, more ambitious to extend his sceptre over lands which he had never seen or dreamed of seeing, more fixed in his determination to annihilate that monster protestantism, which it had been the business of his life to combat, more eager to put to death every human creature, whether anointed monarch or humble artizan, that defended heresy or opposed his progress to universal empire. if this enormous power, this fabulous labour, had, been wielded or performed with a beneficent intention; if the man who seriously regarded himself as the owner of a third of the globe, with the inhabitants thereof, had attempted to deal with these extensive estates inherited from his ancestors with the honest intention of a thrifty landlord, an intelligent slave-owner, it would have yet been possible for a little longer to smile at the delusion, and endure the practice. but there was another old man, who lived in another palace in another remote land, who, in his capacity of representative of saint peter, claimed to dispose of all the kingdoms of the earth--and had been willing to bestow them upon the man who would go down and worship him. philip stood enfeoffed, by divine decree, of all america, the east indies, the whole spanish peninsula, the better portion of italy, the seventeen netherlands, and many other possessions far and near; and he contemplated annexing to this extensive property the kingdoms of france, of england, and ireland. the holy league, maintained by the sword of guise, the pope's ban, spanish ducats, italian condottieri, and german mercenaries, was to exterminate heresy and establish the spanish dominion in france. the same machinery, aided by the pistol or poniard of the assassin, was to substitute for english protestantism and england's queen the roman catholic religion and a foreign sovereign. "the holy league," said duplessis-mornay, one of the noblest characters of the age, "has destined us all to the name sacrifice. the ambition of the spaniard, which has overleaped so many lands and seas, thinks nothing inaccessible." the netherland revolt had therefore assumed world-wide proportions. had it been merely the rebellion of provinces against a sovereign, the importance of the struggle would have been more local and temporary. but the period was one in which the geographical land-marks of countries were almost removed. the dividing-line ran through every state, city, and almost every family. there was a country which believed in the absolute power of the church to dictate the relations between man and his maker, and to utterly exterminate all who disputed that position. there was another country which protested against that doctrine, and claimed, theoretically or practically, a liberty of conscience. the territory of these countries was mapped out by no visible lines, but the inhabitants of each, whether resident in france, germany, england, or flanders, recognised a relationship which took its root in deeper differences than those of race or language. it was not entirely a question of doctrine or dogma. a large portion of the world had become tired of the antiquated delusion of a papal supremacy over every land, and had recorded its determination, once for all, to have done with it. the transition to freedom of conscience became a necessary step, sooner or later to be taken. to establish the principle of toleration for all religions was an inevitable consequence of the dutch revolt; although thus far, perhaps only one conspicuous man in advance of his age had boldly announced that doctrine and had died in its defence. but a great true thought never dies--though long buried in the earth--and the day was to come, after long years, when the seed was to ripen into a harvest of civil and religious emancipation, and when the very word toleration was to sound like an insult and an absurdity. a vast responsibility rested upon the head of a monarch, placed as philip ii. found himself, at this great dividing point in modern history. to judge him, or any man in such a position, simply from his own point of view, is weak and illogical. history judges the man according to its point of view. it condemns or applauds the point of view itself. the point of view of a malefactor is not to excuse robbery and murder. nor is the spirit of the age to be pleaded in defence of the evil-doer at a time when mortals were divided into almost equal troops. the age of philip ii. was also the age of william of orange and his four brethren, of sainte aldegonde, of olden-barneveldt, of duplessis-mornay, la noue, coligny, of luther, melancthon, and calvin, walsingham, sidney, raleigh, queen elizabeth, of michael montaigne, and william shakspeare. it was not an age of blindness, but of glorious light. if the man whom the maker of the universe had permitted to be born to such boundless functions, chose to put out his own eyes that he might grope along his great pathway of duty in perpetual darkness, by his deeds he must be judged. the king perhaps firmly believed that the heretics of the netherlands, of france, or of england, could escape eternal perdition only by being extirpated from the earth by fire and sword, and therefore; perhaps, felt it his duty to devote his life to their extermination. but he believed, still more firmly, that his own political authority, throughout his dominions, and his road to almost universal empire, lay over the bodies of those heretics. three centuries have nearly past since this memorable epoch; and the world knows the fate of the states which accepted the dogma which it was philip's life-work to enforce, and of those who protested against the system. the spanish and italian peninsulas have had a different history from that which records the career of france, prussia, the dutch commonwealth, the british empire, the transatlantic republic. yet the contest between those seven meagre provinces upon the sand-banks of the north sea, and--the great spanish empire, seemed at the moment with which we are now occupied a sufficiently desperate one. throw a glance upon the map of europe. look at the broad magnificent spanish peninsula, stretching across eight degrees of latitude and ten of longitude, commanding the atlantic and the mediterranean, with a genial climate, warmed in winter by the vast furnace of africa, and protected from the scorching heats of summer by shady mountain and forest, and temperate breezes from either ocean. a generous southern territory, flowing with wine and oil, and all the richest gifts of a bountiful nature-splendid cities--the new and daily expanding madrid, rich in the trophies of the most artistic period of the modern world--cadiz, as populous at that day as london, seated by the straits where the ancient and modern systems of traffic were blending like the mingling of the two oceans--granada, the ancient wealthy seat of the fallen moors--toledo, valladolid, and lisbon, chief city of the recently-conquered kingdom of portugal, counting, with its suburbs, a larger population than any city, excepting paris, in europe, the mother of distant colonies, and the capital of the rapidly-developing traffic with both the indies--these were some of the treasures of spain herself. but she possessed sicily also, the better portion of italy, and important dependencies in africa, while the famous maritime discoveries of the age had all enured to her aggrandizement. the world seemed suddenly to have expanded its wings from east to west, only to bear the fortunate spanish empire to the most dizzy heights of wealth and power. the most accomplished generals, the most disciplined and daring infantry the world has ever known, the best-equipped and most extensive navy, royal and mercantile, of the age, were at the absolute command of the sovereign. such was spain. turn now to the north-western corner of europe. a morsel of territory, attached by a slight sand-hook to the continent, and half-submerged by the stormy waters of the german ocean--this was holland. a rude climate, with long, dark, rigorous, winters, and brief summers, a territory, the mere wash of three great rivers, which had fertilized happier portions of europe only to desolate and overwhelm this less-favoured land, a soil so ungrateful, that if the whole of its four hundred thousand acres of arable land had been sowed with grain, it could not feed the labourers alone, and a population largely estimated at one million of souls--these were the characteristics of the province which already had begun to give its name to the new commonwealth. the isles of zeeland--entangled in the coils of deep slow-moving rivers, or combating the ocean without--and the ancient episcopate of utrecht, formed the only other provinces that had quite shaken off the foreign yoke. in friesland, the important city of groningen was still held for the king, while bois-le-duc, zutphen, besides other places in gelderland and north brabant, also in possession of the royalists, made the position of those provinces precarious. the limit of the spanish or "obedient" provinces, on the one hand, and of the united provinces on the other, cannot, therefore, be briefly and distinctly stated. the memorable treason--or, as it was called, the "reconciliation" of the walloon provinces in the year - --had placed the provinces of hainault, arthois, douay, with the flourishing cities arran, valenciennes, lille, tournay, and others--all celtic flanders, in short-in the grasp of spain. cambray was still held by the french governor, seigneur de balagny, who had taken advantage of the duke of anjou's treachery to the states, to establish himself in an unrecognized but practical petty sovereignty, in defiance both of france and spain; while east flanders and south brabant still remained a disputed territory, and the immediate field of contest. with these limitations, it may be assumed, for general purposes, that the territory of the united states was that of the modern kingdom of the netherlands, while the obedient provinces occupied what is now the territory of belgium. such, then, were the combatants in the great eighty years' war for civil and religious liberty; sixteen of which had now passed away. on the one side, one of the most powerful and, populous world-empires of history, then in the zenith of its prosperity; on the other hand, a slender group of cities, governed by merchants and artisans, and planted precariously upon a meagre, unstable soil. a million and a half of souls against the autocrat of a third part of the known world. the contest seemed as desperate as the cause was certainly sacred; but it had ceased to be a local contest. for the history which is to occupy us in these volumes is not exclusively the history of holland. it is the story of the great combat between despotism, sacerdotal and regal, and the spirit of rational human liberty. the tragedy opened in the netherlands, and its main scenes were long enacted there; but as the ambition of spain expanded, and as the resistance to the principle which she represented became more general, other nations were, of necessity, involved in the struggle. there came to be one country, the citizens of which were the leaguers; and another country, whose inhabitants were protestants. and in this lay the distinction between freedom and absolutism. the religious question swallowed all the others. there was never a period in the early history of the dutch revolt when the provinces would not have returned to their obedience, could they have been assured of enjoying liberty of conscience or religious peace; nor was there ever a single moment in philip ii.'s life in which he wavered in his fixed determination never to listen to such a claim. the quarrel was in its nature irreconcilable and eternal as the warfare between wrong and right; and the establishment of a comparative civil liberty in europe and america was the result of the religious war of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. the struggle lasted eighty years, but the prize was worth the contest. the object of the war between the netherlands and spain was not, therefore, primarily, a rebellion against established authority for the maintenance of civil rights. to preserve these rights was secondary. the first cause was religion. the provinces had been fighting for years against the inquisition. had they not taken arms, the inquisition would have been established in the netherlands, and very probably in england, and england might have become in its turn a province of the spanish empire. the death of william the silent produced a sudden change in the political arrangements of the liberated netherlands. during the year , the united provinces had elected francis, duke of anjou, to be duke of brabant and sovereign of the whole country, under certain constitutional provisions enumerated in articles of solemn compact. that compact had been grossly violated. the duke had made a treacherous attempt to possess himself of absolute power and to seize several important cities. he had been signally defeated in antwerp, and obliged to leave the country, covered with ignominy. the states had then consulted william of orange as to the course to be taken in the emergency. the prince had told them that their choice was triple. they might reconcile themselves with spain, and abandon the contest for religious liberty which they had so long been waging; they might reconcile themselves with anjou, notwithstanding that he had so utterly forfeited all claims to their consideration; or they might fight the matter out with spain single-handed. the last course was, in his opinion, the most eligible one, and he was ready to sacrifice his life to its furtherance. it was, however, indispensable, should that policy be adopted, that much larger supplies should be voted than had hitherto been raised, and, in general, that a much more extensive and elevated spirit of patriotism should manifest itself than had hitherto been displayed. it was, on the whole, decided to make a second arrangement with the duke of anjou, queen elizabeth warmly urging that course. at the same time, however, that articles of agreement were drawn up for the installation of anjou as sovereign of the united provinces, the prince had himself consented to accept the title of count of holland, under an ample constitutional charter, dictated by his own lips. neither anjou nor orange lived to be inaugurated into the offices thus bestowed upon them. the duke died at chateau-thierry on the th june, and the prince was assassinated a month later at delft. what now was the political position of the united provinces at this juncture? the sovereignty which had been held by the estates, ready to be conferred respectively upon anjou and orange, remained in the hands of the estates. there was no opposition to this theory. no more enlarged view of the social compact had yet been taken. the people, as such, claimed no sovereignty. had any champion claimed it for them they would hardly have understood him. the nation dealt with facts. after abjuring philip in --an act which had been accomplished by the estates--the same estates in general assembly had exercised sovereign power, and had twice disposed of that sovereign power by electing a hereditary ruler. their right and their power to do this had been disputed by none, save by the deposed monarch in spain. having the sovereignty to dispose of, it seemed logical that the estates might keep it, if so inclined. they did keep it, but only in trust. while orange lived, he might often have been elected sovereign of all the provinces, could he have been induced to consent. after his death, the estates retained, ex necessitate, the sovereignty; and it will soon be related what they intended to do with it. one thing is very certain, that neither orange, while he lived, nor the estates, after his death, were actuated in their policy by personal ambition. it will be seen that the first object of the estates was to dispossess themselves of the sovereignty which had again fallen into their hands. what were the estates? without, at the present moment, any farther inquiries into that constitutional system which had been long consolidating itself, and was destined to exist upon a firmer basis for centuries longer, it will be sufficient to observe, that the great characteristic of the netherland government was the municipality. each province contained a large number of cities, which were governed by a board of magistrates, varying in number from twenty to forty. this college, called the vroedschap (assembly of sages), consisted of the most notable citizens, and was a self-electing body--a close corporation--the members being appointed for life, from the citizens at large. whenever vacancies occurred from death or loss of citizenship, the college chose new members--sometimes immediately, sometimes by means of a double or triple selection of names, the choice of one from among which was offered to the stadtholder of the province. this functionary was appointed by the count, as he was called, whether duke of bavaria or of burgundy, emperor, or king. after the abjuration of philip, the governors were appointed by the estates of each province. the sage-men chose annually a board of senators, or schepens, whose functions were mainly judicial; and there were generally two, and sometimes three, burgomasters, appointed in the same way. this was the popular branch of the estates. but, besides this body of representatives, were the nobles, men of ancient lineage and large possessions, who had exercised, according to the general feudal law of europe, high, low, and intermediate jurisdiction upon their estates, and had long been recognized as an integral part of the body politic, having the right to appear, through delegates of their order, in the provincial and in the general assemblies. regarded as a machine for bringing the most decided political capacities into the administration of public affairs, and for organising the most practical opposition to the system of religious tyranny, the netherland constitution was a healthy, and, for the age, an enlightened one. the officeholders, it is obvious, were not greedy for the spoils of office; for it was, unfortunately, often the case that their necessary expenses in the service of the state were not defrayed. the people raised enormous contributions for carrying on the war; but they could not afford to be extremely generous to their faithful servants. thus constituted was the commonwealth upon the death of william the silent. the gloom produced by that event was tragical. never in human history was a more poignant and universal sorrow for the death of any individual. the despair was, for a brief season, absolute; but it was soon succeeded by more lofty sentiments. it seemed, after they had laid their hero in the tomb, as though his spirit still hovered above the nation which he had loved so well, and was inspiring it with a portion of his own energy and wisdom. even on the very day of the murder, the estates of holland, then sitting at delft, passed a resolution "to maintain the good cause, with god's help, to the uttermost, without sparing gold or blood." this decree was communicated to admiral de warmont, to count hohenlo, to william lewis of nassau, and to other commanders by land and sea. at the same time, the sixteen members--for no greater number happened to be present at the session--addressed letters to their absent colleagues, informing them of the calamity which had befallen them, summoning them at once to conference, and urging an immediate convocation of the estates of all the provinces in general assembly. they also addressed strong letters of encouragement, mingled with manly condolence, upon the common affliction, to prominent military and naval commanders and civil functionaries, begging them to "bear themselves manfully and valiantly, without faltering in the least on account of the great misfortune which had occurred, or allowing themselves to be seduced by any one from the union of the states." among these sixteen were van zuylen, van nyvelt, the seigneur de warmont, the advocate of holland, paul buys, joost de menin, and john van olden-barneveldt. a noble example was thus set at once to their fellow citizens by these their representatives--a manful step taken forward in the path where orange had so long been leading. the next movement, after the last solemn obsequies had been rendered to the prince was to provide for the immediate wants of his family. for the man who had gone into the revolt with almost royal revenues, left his estate so embarrassed that his carpets, tapestries, household linen--nay, even his silver spoons, and the very clothes of his wardrobe were disposed of at auction for the benefit of his creditors. he left eleven children--a son and daughter by the first wife, a son and daughter by anna of saxony, six daughters by charlotte of bourbon, and an infant, frederic henry, born six months before his death. the eldest son, philip william, had been a captive in spain for seventeen years, having been kidnapped from school, in leyden, in the year . he had already become so thoroughly hispaniolized under the masterly treatment of the king and the jesuits, that even his face had lost all resemblance to the type of his heroic family, and had acquired a sinister, gloomy, forbidding expression, most painful to contemplate. all of good that he had retained was a reverence for his father's name--a sentiment which he had manifested to an extravagant extent on a memorable occasion in madrid, by throwing out of window, and killing on the spot a spanish officer who had dared to mention the great prince with insult. the next son was maurice, then seventeen years of age, a handsome youth, with dark blue eyes, well-chiselled features, and full red lips, who had already manifested a courage and concentration of character beyond his years. the son of william the silent, the grandson of maurice of saxony, whom he resembled in visage and character, he was summoned by every drop of blood in his veins to do life-long battle with the spirit of spanish absolutism, and he was already girding himself for his life's work. he assumed at once for his device a fallen oak, with a young sapling springing from its root. his motto, "tandem fit surculus arbor," "the twig shall yet become a tree"--was to be nobly justified by his career. the remaining son, then a six months' child, was also destined to high fortunes, and to win an enduring name in his country's history. for the present he remained with his mother, the noble louisa de coligny, who had thus seen, at long intervals, her father and two husbands fall victims to the spanish policy; for it is as certain that philip knew beforehand, and testified his approbation of, the massacre of st. bartholomew, as that he was the murderer of orange. the estates of holland implored the widowed princess to remain in their territory, settling a liberal allowance upon herself and her child, and she fixed her residence at leyden. but her position was most melancholy. married in youth to the seigneur de teligny, a young noble of distinguished qualities, she had soon become both a widow and an orphan in the dread night of st. bartholomew. she had made her own escape to switzerland; and ten years afterwards she had united herself in marriage with the prince of orange. at the age of thirty-two, she now found herself desolate and wretched in a foreign land, where she had never felt thoroughly at home. the widow and children of william the silent were almost without the necessaries of life. "i hardly know," wrote the princess to her brother-in-law, count john, "how the children and i are to maintain ourselves according to the honour of the house. may god provide for us in his bounty, and certainly we have much need of it." accustomed to the more luxurious civilisation of france, she had been amused rather than annoyed, when, on her first arrival in holland for her nuptials, she found herself making the journey from rotterdam to delft in an open cart without springs, instead of the well-balanced coaches to which she had been used, arriving, as might have been expected, "much bruised and shaken." such had become the primitive simplicity of william the silent's household. but on his death, in embarrassed circumstances, it was still more straightened. she had no cause either to love leyden, for, after the assassination of her husband, a brutal preacher, hakkius by name, had seized that opportunity for denouncing the french marriage, and the sumptuous christening of the infant in january, as the deeds which had provoked the wrath of god and righteous chastisement. to remain there in her widowhood, with that six months' child, "sole pledge of her dead lord, her consolation and only pleasure," as she pathetically expressed herself, was sufficiently painful, and she had been inclined to fix her residence in flushing, in the edifice which had belonged to her husband, as marquis of vere. she had been persuaded, however, to remain in holland, although "complaining, at first, somewhat of the unkindness of the people." a small well-formed woman, with delicate features, exquisite complexion, and very beautiful dark eyes, that seemed in after-years, as they looked from beneath her coif, to be dim with unshed tears; with remarkable powers of mind, angelic sweetness of disposition, a winning manner, and a gentle voice, louisa de coligny became soon dear to the rough hollanders, and was ever a disinterested and valuable monitress both to her own child and to his elder brother maurice. very soon afterwards the states general established a state council, as a provisional executive board, for the term of three months, for the provinces of holland, zeeland, utrecht, friesland, and such parts of flanders and brabant as still remained in the union. at the head of this body was placed young maurice, who accepted the responsible position, after three days' deliberation. the young man had been completing his education, with a liberal allowance from holland and zeeland, at the university of leyden; and such had been their tender care for the child of so many hopes, that the estates had given particular and solemn warning, by resolution, to his governor during the previous summer, on no account to allow him to approach the sea-shore, lest he should be kidnapped by the prince of parma, who had then some war-vessels cruising on the coast. the salary of maurice was now fixed at thirty thousand florins a year, while each of the councillors was allowed fifteen hundred annually, out of which stipend he was to support at least one servant; without making any claim for travelling or other incidental expenses. the council consisted of three members from brabant, two from flanders, four from holland, three from zeeland, two from utrecht, one from mechlin, and three from friesland--eighteen in all. they were empowered and enjoined to levy troops by land and sea, and to appoint naval and military officers; to establish courts of admiralty, to expend the moneys voted by the states, to maintain the ancient privileges of the country, and to see that all troops in service of the provinces made oath of fidelity to the union. diplomatic relations, questions of peace and war, the treaty-making power, were not entrusted to the council, without the knowledge and consent of the states general, which body was to be convoked twice a year by the state council. thus the provinces in the hour of danger and darkness were true to themselves, and were far from giving way to a despondency which under the circumstances would not have been unnatural. for the waves of bitterness were rolling far and wide around them. a medal, struck in holland at this period, represented a dismasted hulk reeling through the tempest. the motto, "incertum quo fate ferent" (who knows whither fate is sweeping her?) expressed most vividly the ship wrecked condition of the country. alexander of parma, the most accomplished general and one of the most adroit statesmen of the age, was swift to take advantage of the calamity which had now befallen the rebellious provinces. had he been better provided with men and money, the cause of the states might have seemed hopeless. he addressed many letters to the states general, to the magistracies of various cities, and to individuals, affecting to consider that with the death of orange had died all authority, as well as all motive for continuing the contest with spain. he offered easy terms of reconciliation with the discarded monarch--always reserving, however, as a matter of course, the religious question--for it was as well known to the states as to parma that there was no hope of philip making concessions upon that important point. in holland and zeeland the prince's blandishments were of no avail. his letters received in various towns of those provinces, offered, said one who saw them, "almost every thing they would have or demand, even till they should repent." but the bait was not taken. individuals and municipalities were alike stanch, remembering well that faith was not to be kept with heretics. the example was followed by the estates of other provinces, and all sent in to the general assembly, soon in session at delft, "their absolute and irrevocable authority to their deputies to stand to that which they, the said states general, should dispose of as to their persons, goods and country; a resolution and agreement which never concurred before among them, to this day, in what age or government soever." it was decreed that no motion of agreement "with the tyrant of spain" should be entertained either publicly or privately, "under pain to be reputed ill patriots." it was also enacted in the city of dort that any man that brought letter or message from the enemy to any private person "should be forthwith hanged." this was expeditious and business-like. the same city likewise took the lead in recording its determination by public act, and proclaiming it by sound of trumpet, "to live and die in the cause now undertaken." in flanders and brabant the spirit was less noble. those provinces were nearly lost already. bruges seconded parma's efforts to induce its sister-city ghent to imitate its own baseness in surrendering without a struggle; and that powerful, turbulent, but most anarchical little commonwealth was but too ready to listen to the voice of the tempter. "the ducats of spain, madam, are trotting about in such fashion," wrote envoy des pruneaux to catherine de medici, "that they have vanquished a great quantity of courages. your majesties, too, must employ money if you wish to advance one step." no man knew better than parma how to employ such golden rhetoric to win back a wavering rebel to his loyalty, but he was not always provided with a sufficient store of those practical arguments. he was, moreover, not strong in the field, although he was far superior to the states at this contingency. he had, besides his garrisons, something above , men. the provinces had hardly foot and horse, and these were mostly lying in the neighbourhood of zutphen. alexander was threatening at the same time ghent, dendermonde, mechlin, brussels, and antwerp. these five powerful cities lie in a narrow circle, at distances varying from six miles to thirty, and are, as it were, strung together upon the scheldt, by which river, or its tributary, the senne, they are all threaded. it would have been impossible for parma, with , men at his back, to undertake a regular and simultaneous siege of these important places. his purpose was to isolate them from each other and from the rest of the country, by obtaining the control of the great river, and so to reduce them by famine. the scheme was a masterly one, but even the consummate ability of farnese would have proved inadequate to the undertaking, had not the preliminary assassination of orange made the task comparatively easy. treason, faint-heartedness, jealousy, were the fatal allies that the governor-general had reckoned upon, and with reason, in the council-rooms of these cities. the terms he offered were liberal. pardon, permission for soldiers to retreat with technical honour, liberty to choose between apostacy to the reformed religion or exile, with a period of two years granted to the conscientious for the winding up of their affairs; these were the conditions, which seemed flattering, now that the well-known voice which had so often silenced the flemish palterers and intriguers was for ever hushed. upon the th august ( ) dendermonde surrendered, and no lives were taken save those of two preachers, one of whom was hanged, while the other was drowned. upon the th september vilvoorde capitulated, by which event the water-communication between brussels and antwerp was cut off. ghent, now thoroughly disheartened, treated with parma likewise; and upon the th september made its reconciliation with the king. the surrender of so strong and important a place was as disastrous to the cause of the patriots as it was disgraceful to the citizens themselves. it was, however, the result of an intrigue which had been long spinning, although the thread had been abruptly, and, as it was hoped, conclusively, severed several months before. during the early part of the year, after the reconciliation of bruges with the king--an event brought about by the duplicity and adroitness of prince chimay--the same machinery had been diligently and almost successfully employed to produce a like result in ghent. champagny, brother of the famous cardinal granvelle, had been under arrest for six years in that city. his imprisonment was not a strict one however; and he avenged himself for what he considered very unjust treatment at the hands of the patriots, by completely abandoning a cause which he had once begun to favour. a man of singular ability, courage, and energy, distinguished both for military and diplomatic services, he was a formidable enemy to the party from which he was now for ever estranged. as early as april of this year, secret emissaries of parma, dealing with champagny in his nominal prison, and with the disaffected burghers at large, had been on the point of effecting an arrangement with the royal governor. the negotiation had been suddenly brought to a close by the discovery of a flagrant attempt by imbue, one of the secret adherents of the king, to sell the city of dendermonde, of which he was governor, to parma. for this crime he had been brought to ghent for trial, and then publicly beheaded. the incident came in aid of the eloquence of orange, who, up to the latest moment of his life, had been most urgent in his appeals to the patriotic hearts of ghent, not to abandon the great cause of the union and of liberty. william the silent knew full well, that after the withdrawal of the great keystone-city of ghent, the chasm between the celtic-catholic and the flemish-calvinist netherlands could hardly be bridged again. orange was now dead. the negotiations with france, too, on which those of the ghenters who still held true to the national cause had fastened their hopes, had previously been brought to a stand-still by the death of anjou; and champagny, notwithstanding the disaster to imbize, became more active than ever. a private agent, whom the municipal government had despatched to the french court for assistance, was not more successful than his character and course of conduct would have seemed to warrant; for during his residence in paris, he had been always drunk, and generally abusive. this was not good diplomacy, particularly on the part of an agent from a weak municipality to a haughty and most undecided government. "they found at this court," wrote stafford to walsingham, "great fault with his manner of dealing that was sent from gaunt. he was scarce sober from one end of the week to the other, and stood so much on his tiptoes to have present answer within three days, or else that they of gaunt could tell where to bestow themselves. they sent him away after keeping him three weeks, and he went off in great dudgeon, swearing by yea and nay that he will make report thereafter." accordingly, they of ghent did bestow themselves very soon thereafter upon the king of spain. the terms were considered liberal, but there was, of course, no thought of conceding the great object for which the patriots were contending--religious liberty. the municipal privileges--such as they might prove to be worth under the interpretation of a royal governor and beneath the guns of a citadel filled with spanish troops--were to be guaranteed; those of the inhabitants who did not choose to go to mass were allowed two years to wind up their affairs before going into perpetual exile, provided they behaved themselves "without scandal;" while on the other hand, the king's authority as count of flanders was to be fully recognised, and all the dispossessed monks and abbots to be restored to their property. accordingly, champagny was rewarded for his exertions by being released from prison and receiving the appointment of governor of the city: and, after a very brief interval, about one-half of the population, the most enterprising of its merchants and manufacturers, the most industrious of its artizans, emigrated to holland and zeeland. the noble city of ghent--then as large as paris, thoroughly surrounded with moats, and fortified with bulwarks, ravelins, and counterscarps, constructed of earth, during the previous two years, at great expense, and provided with bread and meat, powder and shot, enough to last a year--was ignominiously surrendered. the population, already a very reduced and slender one for the great extent of the place and its former importance, had been estimated at , . the number of houses was , , so that as the inhabitants were soon farther reduced to one-half, there remained but one individual to each house. on the other hand, the twenty-five monasteries and convents in the town were repeopled--with how much advantage as a set-off to the thousands of spinners and weavers who had wandered away, and who in the flourishing days of ghent had sent gangs of workmen through the streets "whose tramp was like that of an army"--may be sufficiently estimated by the result. the fall of brussels was deferred till march, and that of mechlin ( th july, ) and of antwerp ( th august, ), till midsummer of the following year; but, the surrender of ghent ( th march ) foreshadowed the fate of flanders and brabant. ostend and sluys, however, were still in the hands of the patriots, and with them the control of the whole flemish coast. the command of the sea was destined to remain for centuries with the new republic. the prince of parma, thus encouraged by the great success of his intrigues, was determined to achieve still greater triumphs with his arms, and steadily proceeded with his large design of closing the scheldt--and bringing about the fall of antwerp. the details of that siege-one of the most brilliant military operations of the age and one of the most memorable in its results--will be given, as a connected whole, in a subsequent series of chapters. for the present, it will be better for the reader who wishes a clear view of european politics at this epoch, and of the position of the netherlands, to give his attention to the web of diplomatic negotiation and court-intrigue which had been slowly spreading over the leading states of christendom, and in which the fate of the world was involved. if diplomatic adroitness consists mainly in the power to deceive, never were more adroit diplomatists than those of the sixteenth century. it would, however, be absurd to deny them a various range of abilities; and the history of no other age can show more subtle, comprehensive, indefatigable--but, it must also be added, often unscrupulous--intellects engaged in the great game of politics in which the highest interests of millions were the stakes, than were those of several leading minds in england, france, germany, and spain. with such statesmen the burgher-diplomatists of the new-born commonwealth had to measure themselves; and the result was to show whether or not they could hold their own in the cabinet as on the field. for the present, however, the new state was unconscious of its latent importance, the new-risen republic remained for a season nebulous, and ready to unsphere itself so soon as the relative attraction of other great powers should determine its absorption. by the death of anjou and of orange the united netherlands had became a sovereign state, an independent republic; but they stood with that sovereignty in their hands, offering it alternately, not to the highest bidder, but to the power that would be willing to accept their allegiance, on the sole condition of assisting them in the maintenance of their religious freedom. chapter ii. relations of the republic to france--queen's severity towards catholics and calvinists--relative positions of england and france-- timidity of germany--apathy of protestant germany--indignation of the netherlanders--henry iii. of france--the king and his minions-- henry of guise--henry of navarre--power of france--embassy of the states to france--ignominious position of the envoys--views of the french huguenots--efforts to procure annexation--success of des pruneaux. the prince of orange had always favoured a french policy. he had ever felt a stronger reliance upon the support of france than upon that of any other power. this was not unreasonable, and so long as he lived, the tendency of the netherlands had been in that direction. it had never been the wish of england to acquire the sovereignty of the provinces. in france on the contrary, the queen dowager, catharine de' medici had always coveted that sovereignty for her darling francis of alencon; and the design had been favoured, so far as any policy could be favoured, by the impotent monarch who occupied the french throne. the religion of the united netherlands was calvinistic. there were also many anabaptists in the country. the queen of england hated anabaptists, calvinists, and other sectarians, and banished them from her realms on pain of imprisonment and confiscation of property. as firmly opposed as was her father to the supremacy of the bishop of rome, she felt much of the paternal reluctance to accept the spirit of the reformation. henry tudor hanged the men who believed in the pope, and burnt alive those who disbelieved in transubstantiation, auricular confession, and the other 'six articles.' his daughter, whatever her secret religious convictions, was stanch in her resistance to rome, and too enlightened a monarch not to see wherein the greatness and glory of england were to be found; but she had no thought of tolerating liberty of conscience. all opposed to the church of england, whether papists or puritans, were denounced as heretics, and as such imprisoned or banished. "to allow churches with contrary rites and ceremonies," said elizabeth, "were nothing else but to sow religion out of religion, to distract good men's minds, to cherish factious men's humours, to disturb religion and commonwealth, and mingle divine and human things; which were a thing in deed evil, in example worst of all; to our own subjects hurtful, and to themselves--to whom it is granted, neither greatly commodious, nor yet at all safe."--[camden] the words were addressed, it is true, to papists, but there is very little doubt that anabaptists or any other heretics would have received a similar reply, had they, too, ventured to demand the right of public worship. it may even be said that the romanists in the earlier days of elizabeth's reign fared better than the calvinists. the queen neither banished nor imprisoned the catholics. she did not enter their houses to disturb their private religious ceremonies, or to inquire into their consciences. this was milder treatment than the burning alive, burying alive, hanging, and drowning, which had been dealt out to the english and the netherland heretics by philip and by mary, but it was not the spirit which william the silent had been wont to manifest in his measures towards anabaptists and papists alike. moreover, the prince could hardly forget that of the nine thousand four hundred catholic ecclesiastics who held benefices at the death of queen mary, all had renounced the pope on the accession of queen elizabeth, and acknowledged her as the head of the church, saving only one hundred and eighty-nine individuals. in the hearts of the nine thousand two hundred and eleven others, it might be thought perhaps that some tenderness for the religion from which they had so suddenly been converted, might linger, while it could hardly be hoped that they would seek to inculcate in the minds of their flocks or of their sovereign any connivance with the doctrines of geneva. when, at a later period, the plotting of catholics, suborned by the pope and philip, against the throne and person of the queen, made more rigorous measures necessary; when it was thought indispensable to execute as traitors those roman seedlings--seminary priests and their disciples--who went about preaching to the queen's subjects the duty of carrying out the bull by which the bishop of rome had deposed and excommunicated their sovereign, and that "it was a meritorious act to kill such princes as were excommunicate," even then, the men who preached and practised treason and murder experienced no severer treatment than that which other "heretics" had met with at the queen's hands. jesuits and popish priests were, by act of parliament, ordered to depart the realm within forty days. those who should afterwards return to the kingdom were to be held guilty of high treason. students in the foreign seminaries were commanded to return within six months and recant, or be held guilty of high treason. parents and guardians supplying money to such students abroad were to incur the penalty of a preamunire--perpetual exile, namely, with loss of all their goods. many seminary priests and others were annually executed in england under these laws, throughout the queen's reign, but nominally at least they were hanged not as papists, but as traitors; not because they taught transubstantiation, ecclesiastical celibacy, auricular confession, or even papal supremacy, but because they taught treason and murder--because they preached the necessity of killing the queen. it was not so easy, however, to defend or even comprehend the banishment and imprisonment of those who without conspiring against the queen's life or throne, desired to see the church of england reformed according to the church of geneva. yet there is no doubt that many sectaries experienced much inhuman treatment for such delinquency, both in the early and the later years of elizabeth's reign. there was another consideration, which had its due weight in this balance, and that was the respective succession to the throne in the two kingdoms of france and england. mary stuart, the catholic, the niece of the guises, emblem and exponent of all that was most roman in europe, the sworn friend of philip, the mortal foe to all heresy, was the legitimate successor to elizabeth. although that sovereign had ever refused to recognize that claim; holding that to confirm mary in the succession was to "lay her own winding sheet before her eyes, yea, to make her, own grave, while she liveth and looketh on;" and although the unfortunate claimant of two thrones was a prisoner in her enemy's hands, yet, so long as she lived, there was little security for protestantism, even in elizabeth's lifetime, and less still in case of her sudden death. on the other hand, not only were the various politico-religious forces of france kept in equilibrium by their action upon each other--so that it was reasonable to believe that the house of valois, however catholic itself, would be always compelled by the fast-expanding strength of french calvinism, to observe faithfully a compact to tolerate the netherland churches--but, upon the death of henry iii. the crown would be legitimately placed upon the head of the great champion and chief of the huguenots, henry of navarre. it was not unnatural, therefore, that the prince of orange, a calvinist himself, should expect more sympathy with the netherland reformers in france than in england. a large proportion of the population of that kingdom, including an influential part of the nobility, was of the huguenot persuasion, and the religious peace, established by royal edict, had endured so long, that the reformers of france and the netherlands had begun to believe in the royal clemency, and to confide in the royal word. orange did not live to see the actual formation of the holy league, and could only guess at its secrets. moreover, it should be remembered that france at that day was a more formidable state than england, a more dangerous enemy, and, as it was believed, a more efficient protector. the england of the period, glorious as it was for its own and all future ages, was, not the great british empire of to-day. on the contrary, it was what would now be considered, statistically speaking, a rather petty power. the england of elizabeth, walsingham, burghley, drake, and raleigh, of spenser and shakspeare, hardly numbered a larger population than now dwells in its capital and immediate suburbs. it had neither standing army nor considerable royal navy. it was full of conspirators, daring and unscrupulous, loyal to none save to mary of scotland, philip of spain, and the pope of rome, and untiring in their efforts to bring about a general rebellion. with ireland at its side, nominally a subject province, but in a state of chronic insurrection--a perpetual hot-bed for spanish conspiracy and stratagem; with scotland at its back, a foreign country, with half its population exasperated enemies of england, and the rest but doubtful friends, and with the legitimate sovereign of that country, "the daughter of debate, who discord still did sow,"--[sonnet by queen elizabeth.]--a prisoner in elizabeth's hands, the central point around which treason was constantly crystallizing itself, it was not strange that with the known views of the queen on the subject of the reformed dutch religion, england should seem less desirable as a protector for the netherlands than the neighbouring kingdom of france. elizabeth was a great sovereign, whose genius orange always appreciated, in a comparatively feeble realm. henry of valois was the contemptible monarch of a powerful state, and might be led by others to produce incalculable mischief or considerable good. notwithstanding the massacre of st. bartholomew, therefore, and the more recent "french fury" of antwerp, orange had been willing to countenance fresh negociations with france. elizabeth, too, it should never be forgotten, was, if not over generous, at least consistent and loyal in her policy towards the provinces. she was not precisely jealous of france, as has been unjustly intimated on distinguished authority, for she strongly advocated the renewed offer of the sovereignty to anjou, after his memorable expulsion from the provinces. at that period, moreover, not only her own love-coquetries with anjou were over, but he was endeavouring with all his might, though in secret, to make a match with the younger infanta of spain. elizabeth furthered the negociation with france, both publicly and privately. it will soon be narrated how those negociations prospered. if then england were out of the question, where, except in france, should the netherlanders, not deeming themselves capable of standing alone, seek for protection and support? we have seen the extensive and almost ubiquitous power of spain. where she did not command as sovereign, she was almost equally formidable as an ally. the emperor of germany was the nephew and the brother-in-law of philip, and a strict catholic besides. little aid was to be expected from him or the lands under his control for the cause of the netherland revolt. rudolph hated his brother-in-law, but lived in mortal fear of him. he was also in perpetual dread of the grand turk. that formidable potentate, not then the "sick man" whose precarious condition and territorial inheritance cause so much anxiety in modern days, was, it is true, sufficiently occupied for the moment in persia, and had been sustaining there a series of sanguinary defeats. he was all the more anxious to remain upon good terms with philip, and had recently sent him a complimentary embassy, together with some rather choice presents, among which were "four lions, twelve unicorns, and two horses coloured white, black, and blue." notwithstanding these pacific manifestations towards the west, however, and in spite of the truce with the german empire which the turk had just renewed for nine years,--rudolph and his servants still trembled at every report from the east. "he is much deceived," wrote busbecq, rudolph's ambassador in paris, "who doubts that the turk has sought any thing by this long persian war, but to protect his back, and prepare the way, after subduing that enemy, to the extermination of all christendom, and that he will then, with all his might, wage an unequal warfare with us, in which the existence of the empire will be at stake." the envoy expressed, at the same period, however, still greater awe of spain. "it is to no one," he wrote, "endowed with good judgment, in the least obscure, that the spanish nation, greedy of empire, will never be quiet, even with their great power, but will seek for the dominion of the rest of christendom. how much remains beyond what they have already acquired? afterwards, there will soon be no liberty, no dignity, for other princes and republics. that single nation will be arbiter of all things, than which nothing can be more miserable, nothing more degrading. it cannot be doubted that all kings, princes, and states, whose safety or dignity is dear to them, would willingly associate in arms to extinguish the common conflagration. the death of the catholic king would seem the great opportunity 'miscendis rebus'." unfortunately neither busbecq's master nor any other king or prince manifested any of this commendable alacrity to "take up arms against the conflagration." germany was in a shiver at every breeze from east or west-trembling alike before philip and amurath. the papists were making rapid progress, the land being undermined by the steady and stealthy encroachments of the jesuits. lord burghley sent many copies of his pamphlet, in latin, french, and italian, against the seminaries, to gebhard truchsess; and the deposed archbishop made himself busy in translating that wholesome production into german, and in dispersing it "all germany over." the work, setting duly forth "that the executions of priests in england were not for religion but for treason," was "marvellously liked" in the netherlands. "in uttering the truth," said herle, "'tis likely to do great good;" and he added, that duke augustus of saxony "did now see so far into the sect of jesuits, and to their inward mischiefs, as to become their open enemy, and to make friends against them in the empire." the love of truchsess for agnes mansfeld had created disaster not only for himself but for germany. the whole electorate of cologne had become the constant seat of partisan warfare, and the resort of organised bands of brigands. villages were burned and rifled, highways infested, cities threatened, and the whole country subjected to perpetual black mail (brandschatzung)--fire-insurance levied by the incendiaries in person--by the supporters of the rival bishops. truchsess had fled to delft, where he had been countenanced and supported by orange. two cities still held for him, rheinberg and neuss. on the other hand, his rival, ernest of bavaria; supported by philip ii., and the occasional guest of alexander of parma, had not yet succeeded in establishing a strong foothold in the territory. two pauper archbishops, without men or means of their own, were thus pushed forward and back, like puppets, by the contending highwaymen on either side; while robbery and murder, under the name of protestantism or catholicism, were for a time the only motive or result of the contest. thus along the rhine, as well as the maas and the scheldt, the fires of civil war were ever burning. deeper within the heart of germany, there was more tranquillity; but it was the tranquillity rather of paralysis than of health. a fearful account was slowly accumulating, which was evidently to be settled only by one of the most horrible wars which history has ever recorded. meantime there was apathy where there should have been enthusiasm; parsimony and cowardice where generous and combined effort were more necessary than ever; sloth without security. the protestant princes, growing fat and contented on the spoils of the church, lent but a deaf ear to the moans of truchsess, forgetting that their neighbour's blazing roof was likely soon to fire their own. "they understand better, 'proximus sum egomet mild'," wrote lord willoughby from kronenburg, "than they have learned, 'humani nihid a me alienum puto'. these german princes continue still in their lethargy, careless of the state of others, and dreaming of their ubiquity, and some of them, it is thought, inclining to be spanish or popish more of late than heretofore." the beggared archbishop, more forlorn than ever since the death of his great patron, cried woe from his resting-place in delft, upon protestant germany. his tones seemed almost prophetic of the thirty years' wrath to blaze forth in the next generation. "courage is wanting to the people throughout germany," he wrote to william lewis of nassau. "we are becoming the laughing-stock of the nations. make sheep of yourselves, and the wolf will eat you. we shall find our destruction in our immoderate desire for peace. spain is making a papistical league in germany. therefore is assonleville despatched thither, and that's the reason why our trash of priests are so insolent in the empire. 'tis astonishing how they are triumphing on all sides. god will smite them. thou dear god! what are our evangelists about in germany? asleep on both ears. 'dormiunt in utramque aurem'. i doubt they will be suddenly enough awakened one day, and the cry will be, 'who'd have thought it?' then they will be for getting oil for the lamp, for shutting the stable-door when the steed is stolen," and so on, with a string of homely proverbs worthy of sancho panza, or landgrave william of hesse. in truth, one of the most painful features is the general aspect of affairs was the coldness of the german protestants towards the netherlands. the enmity between lutherans and calvinists was almost as fatal as that between protestants and papists. there was even a talk, at a little later period, of excluding those of the "reformed" church from the benefits of the peace of passau. the princes had got the augsburg confession and the abbey-lands into the bargain; the peasants had got the augsburg confession without the abbey-lands, and were to believe exactly what their masters believed. this was the german-lutheran sixteenth-century idea of religious freedom. neither prince nor peasant stirred in behalf of the struggling christians in the united provinces, battling, year after year, knee-deep in blood, amid blazing cities and inundated fields, breast to breast with the yellow jerkined pikemen of spain and italy, with the axe and the faggot and the rack of the holy inquisition distinctly visible behind them. such were the realities which occupied the netherlanders in those days, not watery beams of theological moonshine, fantastical catechism-making, intermingled with scenes of riot and wantonness, which drove old john of nassau half frantic; with banquetting and guzzling, drinking and devouring, with unchristian flaunting and wastefulness of apparel, with extravagant and wanton dancing, and other lewd abominations; all which, the firm old reformer prophesied, would lead to the destruction of germany. for the mass, slow moving but apparently irresistible, of spanish and papistical absolutism was gradually closing over christendom. the netherlands were the wedge by which alone the solid bulk could be riven asunder. it was the cause of german, of french, of english liberty, for which the provinces were contending. it was not surprising that they were bitter, getting nothing in their hour of distress from the land of luther but dogmas and augsburg catechisms instead of money and gunpowder, and seeing german reiters galloping daily to reinforce the army of parma in exchange for spanish ducats. brave old la noue, with the iron arm, noblest of frenchmen and huguenots--who had just spent five years in spanish bondage, writing military discourses in a reeking dungeon, filled with toads and vermin, after fighting the battle of liberty for a life-time, and with his brave son already in the netherlands emulating his father's valour on the same field--denounced at a little later day, the lukewarmness of protestant germany with whimsical vehemence:--"i am astounded," he cried, "that these princes are not ashamed of themselves; doing nothing while they see the oppressed cut to pieces at their gates. when will god grant me grace to place me among those who are doing their duty, and afar from those who do nothing, and who ought to know that the cause is a common one. if i am ever caught dancing the german cotillon, or playing the german flute, or eating pike with german sauce, i hope it may be flung in my teeth." the great league of the pope and philip was steadily consolidating itself, and there were but gloomy prospects for the counter-league in germany. there was no hope but in england and france. for the reasons already indicated, the prince of orange, taking counsel with the estates, had resolved to try the french policy once more. the balance of power in europe, which no man in christendom so well understood as he, was to be established by maintaining (he thought) the equilibrium between france and spain. in the antagonism of those two great realms lay the only hope for dutch or european liberty. notwithstanding the treason of anjou, therefore, it had been decided to renew negociations with that prince. on the death of the duke, the envoys of the states were accordingly instructed to make the offer to king henry iii. which had been intended for his brother. that proposition was the sovereignty of all the netherlands, save holland and zeeland, under a constitution maintaining the reformed religion and the ancient laws and privileges of the respective provinces. but the death of francis of anjou had brought about a considerable change in french policy. it was now more sharply defined than ever, a right-angled triangle of almost mathematical precision. the three henrys and their partizans divided the realm into three hostile camps--threatening each other in simulated peace since the treaty of fleig ( ), which had put an end to the "lover's war" of the preceding year,--henry of valois, henry of guise, and henry of navarre. henry iii., last of the valois line, was now thirty-three years of age. less than king, less even than man, he was one of those unfortunate personages who seem as if born to make the idea of royalty ridiculous, and to test the capacity of mankind to eat and drink humiliation as if it were wholesome food. it proved how deeply engraved in men's minds of that century was the necessity of kingship, when the hardy netherlanders, who had abjured one tyrant, and had been fighting a generation long rather than return to him, were now willing to accept the sovereignty of a thing like henry of valois. he had not been born without natural gifts, such as heaven rarely denies to prince or peasant; but the courage which he once possessed had been exhausted on the field of moncontour, his manhood had been left behind him at venice, and such wit as heaven had endowed him withal was now expended in darting viperous epigrams at court-ladies whom he was only capable of dishonouring by calumny, and whose charms he burned to outrival in the estimation of his minions. for the monarch of france was not unfrequently pleased to attire himself like a woman and a harlot. with silken flounces, jewelled stomacher, and painted face, with pearls of great price adorning his bared neck and breast, and satin-slippered feet, of whose delicate shape and size he was justly vain, it was his delight to pass his days and nights in a ceaseless round of gorgeous festivals, tourneys, processions; masquerades, banquets, and balls, the cost of which glittering frivolities caused the popular burthen and the popular execration to grow, from day to day, more intolerable and more audible. surrounded by a gang of "minions," the most debauched and the most desperate of france, whose bedizened dresses exhaled perfumes throughout paris, and whose sanguinary encounters dyed every street in blood, henry lived a life of what he called pleasure, careless of what might come after, for he was the last of his race. the fortunes of his minions rose higher and higher, as their crimes rendered them more and more estimable in the eyes of a king who took a woman's pride in the valour of such champions to his weakness, and more odious to a people whose miserable homes were made even more miserable, that the coffers of a few court-favourites might be filled: now sauntering, full-dressed, in the public promenades, with ghastly little death's heads strung upon his sumptuous garments, and fragments of human bones dangling among his orders of knighthood--playing at cup and ball as he walked, and followed by a few select courtiers who gravely pursued the same exciting occupation--now presiding like a queen of beauty at a tournament to assign the prize of valour, and now, by the advice of his mother, going about the streets in robes of penitence, telling his beads as he went, that the populace might be edified by his piety, and solemnly offering up prayers in the churches that the blessing of an heir might be vouchsafed to him,--henry of valois seemed straining every nerve in order to bring himself and his great office into contempt. as orthodox as he was profligate, he hated the huguenots, who sought his protection and who could have saved his throne, as cordially as he loved the jesuits, who passed their lives in secret plottings against his authority and his person, or in fierce denunciations from the paris pulpits against his manifold crimes. next to an exquisite and sanguinary fop, he dearly loved a monk. the presence of a friar, he said, exerted as agreeable an effect upon his mind as the most delicate and gentle tickling could produce upon his body; and he was destined to have a fuller dose of that charming presence than he coveted. his party--for he was but the nominal chief of a faction, 'tanquam unus ex nobis'--was the party in possession--the office-holders' party; the spoilsmen, whose purpose was to rob the exchequer and to enrich themselves. his minions--for the favourites were called by no other name--were even more hated, because less despised than the king. attired in cloth of gold--for silk and satin were grown too coarse a material for them--with their little velvet porringer-caps stuck on the sides of their heads, with their long hair stiff with pomatum, and their heads set inside a well-starched ruff a foot wide, "like st. john's head in a charger," as a splenetic contemporary observed, with a nimbus of musk and violet-powder enveloping them as they passed before vulgar mortals, these rapacious and insolent courtiers were the impersonation of extortion and oppression to the parisian populace. they were supposed, not unjustly, to pass their lives in dancing, blasphemy, dueling, dicing, and intrigue, in following the king about like hounds, fawning at his feet, and showing their teeth to all besides; and for virtues such as these they were rewarded by the highest offices in church, camp, and state, while new taxes and imposts were invented almost daily to feed their avarice and supply their extravagance. france, doomed to feel the beak and talons of these harpies in its entrails, impoverished by a government that robbed her at home while it humiliated her abroad, struggled vainly in its misery, and was now on the verge of another series of internecine combats--civil war seeming the only alternative to a voluptuous and licentious peace. "we all stood here at gaze," wrote ambassador stafford to walsingham, "looking for some great matter to come of this sudden journey to lyons; but, as far as men can find, 'parturient montes', for there hath been nothing but dancing and banquetting from one house to another, bravery in apparel, glittering like the sun." he, mentioned that the duke of epernon's horse, taking fright at a red cloak, had backed over a precipice, breaking his own neck, while his master's shoulder merely was put out of joint. at the same time the duke of joyeuse, coming over mount cenis, on his return from savoy, had broken his wrist. the people, he said, would rather they had both broken their necks "than any other joint, the king having racked the nation for their sakes, as he hath-done." stafford expressed much compassion for the french in the plight in which they found themselves. "unhappy people!" he cried, "to have such a king, who seeketh nothing but to impoverish them to enrich a couple, and who careth not what cometh after his death, so that he may rove on while he liveth, and careth neither for doing his own estate good nor his neighbour's state harm." sir edward added, however, in a philosophizing vein, worthy of corporal nym, that, "seeing we cannot be so happy as to have a king to concur with us to do us any good, yet we are happy to have one that his humour serveth him not to concur with others to do us harm; and 'tis a wisdom for us to follow these humours, that we may keep him still in that humour, and from hearkening to others that may egg him on to worse." it was a dark hour for france, and rarely has a great nation been reduced to a lower level by a feeble and abandoned government than she was at that moment under the distaff of henry iii. society was corrupted to its core. "there is no more truth, no more justice, no more mercy," moaned president l'etoile. "to slander, to lie, to rob, to wench, to steal; all things are permitted save to do right and to speak the truth." impiety the most cynical, debauchery the most unveiled, public and unpunished homicides, private murders by what was called magic, by poison, by hired assassins, crimes natural, unnatural, and preternatural, were the common characteristics of the time. all posts and charges were venal. great offices of justice were sold to the highest bidder, and that which was thus purchased by wholesale was retailed in the same fashion. unhappy the pauper client who dreamed of justice at the hands of law. the great ecclesiastical benefices were equally matter of merchandise, and married men, women, unborn children, enjoyed revenues as dignitaries of the church. infants came into the world, it was said, like the mitre-fish, stamped with the emblems of place. "'twas impossible," said l'etoile, "to find a crab so tortuous and backsliding as the government." this was the aspect of the first of the three factions in france. such was the henry at its head, the representative of royalty. henry with the scar, duke of guise, the well-known chief of the house of lorraine, was the chief of the extreme papistical party. he was now thirty-four years of age, tall, stately, with a dark, martial face and dangerous eyes, which antonio moro loved to paint; a physiognomy made still more expressive by the arquebus-shot which had damaged his left cheek at the fight near chateau-thierry and gained him his name of balafre. although one of the most turbulent and restless plotters of that plotting age, he was yet thought more slow and heavy in character than subtle, teutonic rather than italian. he was the idol of the parisian burghers. the grocers, the market-men, the members of the arquebus and crossbow clubs, all doated on him. the fishwomen worshipped him as a god. he was the defender of the good old religion under which paris and the other cities of france had thriven, the uncompromising opponent of the new-fangled doctrines which western clothiers, and dyers, and tapestry-workers, had adopted, and which the nobles of the mountain-country, the penniless chevaliers of bearn and gascony and guienne, were ceaselessly taking the field and plunging france into misery and bloodshed to support. but for the balafre and madam league--as the great spanish catholic conspiracy against the liberties of france, and of england, and of all europe, was affectionately termed by the paris populace--honest catholics would fare no better in france than they did in england, where, as it was well known, they were every day subjected to fearful tortures: the shopwindows were filled with coloured engravings, representing, in exaggerated fashion, the sufferings of the english catholics under bloody elizabeth, or jezebel, as she was called; and as the gaping burghers stopped to ponder over these works of art, there were ever present, as if by accident, some persons of superior information who would condescendingly explain the various pictures, pointing out with a long stick the phenomena most worthy of notice. these caricatures proving highly successful, and being suppressed by order of government, they were repeated upon canvas on a larger scale, in still more conspicuous situations, as if in contempt of the royal authority, which sullied itself by compromise with calvinism! the pulpits, meanwhile, thundered denunciations on the one hand against the weak and wicked king, who worshipped idols, and who sacrificed the dearly-earned pittance of his subjects to feed the insolent pomp of his pampered favourites; and on the other, upon the arch-heretic, the arch-apostate, the bearnese huguenot, who, after the death of the reigning monarch, would have the effrontery to claim his throne, and to introduce into france the persecutions and the horrors under which unhappy england was already groaning. the scarce-concealed instigator of these assaults upon the royal and upon the huguenot faction was, of course, the duke of guise,--the man whose most signal achievement had been the massacre of st. bartholomew--all the preliminary details of that transaction having been arranged by his skill. so long as charles ix. was living, the balafre had created the confusion which was his element, by entertaining and fomenting the perpetual intrigues of anjou and alencon against their brother; while the altercations between them and the queen mother and the furious madman who then sat upon the throne, had been the cause of sufficient disorder and calamity for france. on the death of charles ix. guise had sought the intimacy of henry of navarre, that by his means he might frustrate the hopes of alencon for the succession. during the early period of the bearnese's residence at the french court the two had been inseparable, living together, going to the same festivals, tournaments, and masquerades, and even sleeping in the same bed. "my master," was ever guise's address to henry; "my gossip," the young king of navarre's reply. but the crafty bearnese had made use of the intimacy only to read the secrets of the balafre's heart; and on navarre's flight from the court, and his return to huguenotism, guise knew that he had been played upon by a subtler spirit than his own. the simulated affection was now changed into undisguised hatred. moreover, by the death of alencon, navarre now stood next the throne, and guise's plots became still more extensive and more open as his own ambition to usurp the crown on the death of the childless henry iii. became more fervid. thus, by artfully inflaming the populace of paris, and through his organized bands of confederates--that of all the large towns of france, against the huguenots and their chief, by appeals to the religious sentiment; and at the same time by stimulating the disgust and indignation of the tax-payers everywhere at the imposts and heavy burthens which the boundless extravagance of the court engendered, guise paved the way for the advancement of the great league which he represented. the other two political divisions were ingeniously represented as mere insolent factions, while his own was the true national and patriotic party, by which alone the ancient religion and the cherished institutions of france could be preserved. and the great chief of this national patriotic party was not henry of guise, but the industrious old man who sat writing despatches in the depths of the escorial. spanish counsels, spanish promises, spanish ducats--these were the real machinery by which the plots of guise against the peace of france and of europe were supported. madam league was simply philip ii. nothing was written, officially or unofficially, to the french government by the spanish court that was not at the same time communicated to "mucio"--as the duke of guise was denominated in the secret correspondence of philip, and mucio was in philip's pay, his confidential agent, spy, and confederate, long before the actual existence of the league was generally suspected. the queen-mother, catharine de' medici, played into the duke's hands. throughout the whole period of her widowhood, having been accustomed to govern her sons, she had, in a certain sense, been used to govern the kingdom. by sowing dissensions among her own children, by inflaming party against party, by watching with care the oscillations of france--so than none of the great divisions should obtain preponderance--by alternately caressing and massacring the huguenots, by cajoling or confronting philip, by keeping, as she boasted, a spy in every family that possessed the annual income of two thousand livres, by making herself the head of an organized system of harlotry, by which the soldiers and politicians of france were inveigled, their secrets faithfully revealed to her by her well-disciplined maids of honour, by surrounding her unfortunate sons with temptation from earliest youth, and plunging them by cold calculation into deepest debauchery, that their enervated faculties might be ever forced to rely in political affairs on the maternal counsel, and to abandon the administration to the maternal will; such were the arts by which catharine had maintained her influence, and a great country been governed for a generation--machiavellian state-craft blended with the more simple wiles of a procuress. now that alencon was dead, and henry iii. hopeless of issue, it was her determination that the children of her daughter, the duchess of lorraine, should succeed to the throne. the matter was discussed as if the throne were already vacant, and guise and the queen-mother, if they agreed in nothing else, were both cordial in their detestation of henry of navarre. the duke affected to support the schemes in favour of his relatives, the princes of lorraine, while he secretly informed the spanish court that this policy was only a pretence. he was not likely, he said, to advance the interests of the younger branch of a house of which he was himself the chief, nor were their backs equal to the burthen. it was necessary to amuse the old queen, but he was profoundly of opinion that the only sovereign for france, upon the death of henry, was philip ii. himself. this was the duke's plan of arriving, by means of spanish assistance, at the throne of france; and such was henry le balafre, chief of the league. and the other henry, the huguenot, the bearnese, henry of bourbon, henry of navarre, the chieftain of the gascon chivalry, the king errant, the hope and the darling of the oppressed protestants in every land--of him it is scarce needful to say a single word. at his very name a figure seems to leap forth from the mist of three centuries, instinct with ruddy vigorous life. such was the intense vitality of the bearnese prince, that even now he seems more thoroughly alive and recognizable than half the actual personages who are fretting their hour upon the stage. we see, at once, a man of moderate stature, light, sinewy, and strong; a face browned with continual exposure; small, mirthful, yet commanding blue eyes, glittering from beneath an arching brow, and prominent cheekbones; a long hawk's nose, almost resting upon a salient chin, a pendent moustache, and a thick, brown, curly beard, prematurely grizzled; we see the mien of frank authority and magnificent good humour, we hear the ready sallies of the shrewd gascon mother-wit, we feel the electricity which flashes out of him, and sets all hearts around him on fire, when the trumpet sounds to battle. the headlong desperate charge, the snow-white plume waving where the fire is hottest, the large capacity for enjoyment of the man, rioting without affectation in the 'certaminis gaudia', the insane gallop, after the combat, to lay its trophies at the feet of the cynthia of the minute, and thus to forfeit its fruits; all are as familiar to us as if the seven distinct wars, the hundred pitched battles, the two hundred sieges; in which the bearnese was personally present, had been occurrences of our own day. he at least was both king and man, if the monarch who occupied the throne was neither. he was the man to prove, too, for the instruction of the patient letter-writer of the escorial, that the crown of france was to be won with foot in stirrup and carbine in hand, rather than to be caught by the weaving and casting of the most intricate nets of diplomatic intrigue, though thoroughly weighted with mexican gold. the king of navarre was now thirty-one years old; for the three henrys were nearly of the same age. the first indications of his existence had been recognized amid the cannon and trumpets of a camp in picardy, and his mother had sung a gay bearnese song as he was coming into the world at pau. thus, said his grandfather, henry of navarre, thou shalt not bear to us a morose and sulky child. the good king, without a kingdom, taking the child, as soon as born, in the lapel of his dressing-gown, had brushed his infant lips with a clove of garlic, and moistened them with a drop of generous gascon wine. thus, said the grandfather again, shall the boy be both merry and bold. there was something mythologically prophetic in the incidents of his birth. the best part of navarre had been long since appropriated by ferdinand of aragon. in france there reigned a young and warlike sovereign with four healthy boys. but the new-born infant had inherited the lilies of france from st. louis, and a later ancestor had added to the escutcheon the motto "espoir." his grandfather believed that the boy was born to revenge upon spain the wrongs of the house of albret, and henry's nature seemed ever pervaded with robert of clermont's device. the same sensible grandfather, having different views on the subject of education from those manifested by catherine de medici towards her children, had the boy taught to run about bare-headed and bare-footed, like a peasant, among the mountains and rocks of bearn, till he became as rugged as a young bear, and as nimble as a kid. black bread, and beef, and garlic, were his simple fare; and he was taught by his mother and his grandfather to hate lies and liars, and to read the bible. when he was fifteen, the third religious war broke out. both his father and grandfather were dead. his mother, who had openly professed the reformed faith, since the death of her husband, who hated it, brought her boy to the camp at rochelle, where he was received as the chief of the huguenots. his culture was not extensive. he had learned to speak the truth, to ride, to shoot, to do with little sleep and less food. he could also construe a little latin, and had read a few military treatises; but the mighty hours of an eventful life were now to take him by the hand, and to teach him much good and much evil, as they bore him onward. he now saw military treatises expounded practically by professors, like his uncle condo, and admiral coligny, and lewis nassau, in such lecture-rooms as laudun, and jarnac, and montcontour, and never was apter scholar. the peace of arnay-le-duc succeeded, and then the fatal bartholomew marriage with the messalina of valois. the faith taught in the mountains of bearn was no buckler against the demand of "the mass or death," thundered at his breast by the lunatic charles, as he pointed to thousands of massacred huguenots. henry yielded to such conclusive arguments, and became a catholic. four years of court imprisonment succeeded, and the young king of navarre, though proof to the artifices of his gossip guise, was not adamant to the temptations spread for him by catherine de' medici. in the harem entertained for him in the louvre many pitfalls entrapped him; and he became a stock-performer in the state comedies and tragedies of that plotting age. a silken web of palace-politics, palace-diplomacy, palace revolutions, enveloped him. schemes and counter-schemes, stratagems and conspiracies, assassinations and poisonings; all the state-machinery which worked so exquisitely in fair ladies' chambers, to spread havoc and desolation over a kingdom, were displayed before his eyes. now campaigning with one royal brother against huguenots, now fighting with another on their side, now solicited by the queen-mother to attempt the life of her son, now implored by henry iii. to assassinate his brother, the bearnese, as fresh antagonisms, affinities; combinations, were developed, detected, neutralized almost daily, became rapidly an adept in medicean state-chemistry. charles ix. in his grave, henry iii. on the throne, alencon in the huguenot camp--henry at last made his escape. the brief war and peace of monsieur succeeded, and the king of navarre formally abjured the catholic creed. the parties were now sharply defined. guise mounted upon the league, henry astride upon the reformation, were prepared to do battle to the death. the temporary "war of the amorous" was followed by the peace of fleix. four years of peace again; four fat years of wantonness and riot preceding fourteen hungry famine-stricken years of bloodiest civil war. the voluptuousness and infamy of the louvre were almost paralleled in vice, if not in splendour, by the miniature court at pau. henry's spartan grandfather would scarce have approved the courses of the youth, whose education he had commenced on so simple a scale. for margaret of valois, hating her husband, and living in most undisguised and promiscuous infidelity to him, had profited by her mother's lessons. a seraglio of maids of honour ministered to henry's pleasures, and were carefully instructed that the peace and war of the kingdom were playthings in their hands. while at paris royalty was hopelessly sinking in a poisonous marsh, there was danger that even the hardy nature of the bearnese would be mortally enervated by the atmosphere in which he lived. the unhappy henry iii., baited by the guises, worried by alencon and his mother, implored the king of navarre to return to paris and the catholic faith. m. de segur, chief of navarre's council, who had been won over during a visit to the capital, where he had made the discovery that "henry iii. was an angel, and his ministers devils," came back to pau, urging his master's acceptance of the royal invitation. henry wavered. bold d'aubigne, stanchest of huguenots, and of his friends, next day privately showed segur a palace-window opening on a very steep precipice over the bayae, and cheerfully assured him that he should be flung from it did he not instantly reverse his proceedings, and give his master different advice. if i am not able to do the deed myself, said d'aubigne, here are a dozen more to help me. the chief of the council cast a glance behind him, saw a number of grim puritan soldiers, with their hats plucked down upon their brows, looking very serious; so made his bow, and quite changed his line of conduct. at about the same time, philip ii. confidentially offered henry of navarre four hundred thousand crowns in hand, and twelve hundred thousand yearly, if he would consent to make war upon henry iii. mucio, or the duke of guise, being still in philip's pay, the combination of leaguers and huguenots against the unfortunate valois would, it was thought, be a good triangular contest. but henry--no longer the unsophisticated youth who had been used to run barefoot among the cliffs of coarasse--was grown too crafty a politician to be entangled by spanish or medicean wiles. the duke of anjou was now dead. of all the princes who had stood between him and the throne, there was none remaining save the helpless, childless, superannuated youth, who was its present occupant. the king of navarre was legitimate heir to the crown of france. "espoir" was now in letters of light upon his shield, but he knew that his path to greatness led through manifold dangers, and that it was only at the head of his huguenot chivalry that he could cut his way. he was the leader of the nobles of gascony, and dauphins, and guienne, in their mountain fastnesses, of the weavers, cutlers, and artizans, in their thriving manufacturing and trading towns. it was not spanish gold, but carbines and cutlasses, bows and bills, which could bring him to the throne of his ancestors. and thus he stood the chieftain of that great austere party of huguenots, the men who went on, their knees before the battle, beating their breasts with their iron gauntlets, and singing in full chorus a psalm of david, before smiting the philistines hip and thigh. their chieftain, scarcely their representative--fit to lead his puritans on the battle-field, was hardly a model for them elsewhere. yet, though profligate in one respect, he was temperate in every other. in food, wine, and sleep, he was always moderate. subtle and crafty in self-defence, he retained something of his old love of truth, of his hatred for liars. hardly generous perhaps, he was a friend of justice, while economy in a wandering king, like himself, was a necessary virtue, of which france one day was to feel the beneficent action. reckless and headlong in appearance, he was in truth the most careful of men. on the religious question, most cautious of all, he always left the door open behind him, disclaimed all bigotry of opinion, and earnestly implored the papists to seek, not his destruction, but his instruction. yet prudent as he was by nature in every other regard, he was all his life the slave of one woman or another, and it was by good luck rather than by sagacity that he did not repeatedly forfeit the fruits of his courage and conduct, in obedience to his master-passion. always open to conviction on the subject of his faith, he repudiated the appellation of heretic. a creed, he said, was not to be changed like a shirt, but only on due deliberation, and under special advice. in his secret heart he probably regarded the two religions as his chargers, and was ready to mount alternately the one or the other, as each seemed the more likely to bear him safely in the battle. the bearnese was no puritan, but he was most true to himself and to his own advancement. his highest principle of action was to reach his goal, and to that principle he was ever loyal. feeling, too, that it was the interest of france that he should succeed, he was even inspired--compared with others on the stage--by an almost lofty patriotism. amiable by nature and by habit, he had preserved the most unimpaired good-humour throughout the horrible years which succeeded st. bartholomew, during which he carried his life in his hand, and learned not to wear his heart upon his sleeve. without gratitude, without resentment, without fear, without remorse, entirely arbitrary, yet with the capacity to use all men's judgments; without convictions, save in regard to his dynastic interests, he possessed all the qualities, necessary to success. he knew how to use his enemies. he knew how to use his friends, to abuse them, and to throw them away. he refused to assassinate francis alencon at the bidding of henry iii., but he attempted to procure the murder of the truest of his own friends, one of the noblest characters of the age--whose breast showed twelve scars received in his services--agrippa d'aubigne, because the honest soldier had refused to become his pimp--a service the king had implored upon his knees. beneath the mask of perpetual careless good-humour, lurked the keenest eye, a subtle, restless, widely combining brain, and an iron will. native sagacity had been tempered into consummate elasticity by the fiery atmosphere in which feebler natures had been dissolved. his wit was as flashing and as quickly unsheathed as his sword. desperate, apparently reckless temerity on the battle-field was deliberately indulged in, that the world might be brought to recognise a hero and chieftain in a king. the do-nothings of the merovingian line had been succeeded by the pepins; to the effete carlovingians had come a capet; to the impotent valois should come a worthier descendant of st. louis. this was shrewd gascon calculation, aided by constitutional fearlessness. when despatch-writing, invisible philips, stargazing rudolphs, and petticoated henrys, sat upon the thrones of europe, it was wholesome to show the world that there was a king left who could move about in the bustle and business of the age, and could charge as well as most soldiers at the head of his cavalry; that there was one more sovereign fit to reign over men, besides the glorious virgin who governed england. thus courageous, crafty, far-seeing, consistent, untiring, imperturbable, he was born to command, and had a right to reign. he had need of the throne, and the throne had still more need of him. this then was the third henry, representative of the third side of the triangle, the reformers of the kingdom. and before this bubbling cauldron of france, where intrigues, foreign and domestic, conflicting ambitions, stratagems, and hopes, were whirling in never-ceasing tumult, was it strange if the plain netherland envoys should stand somewhat aghast? yet it was necessary that they should ponder well the aspect of affairs; for all their hopes, the very existence of themselves and of their religion, depended upon the organization which should come of this chaos. it must be remembered, however, that those statesmen--even the wisest or the best-informed of them--could not take so correct a view of france and its politics as it is possible for us, after the lapse of three centuries, to do. the interior leagues, subterranean schemes, conflicting factions, could only be guessed at; nor could the immediate future be predicted, even by such far-seeing politicians as william of orange; at a distance, or henry of navarre, upon the spot. it was obvious to the netherlanders that france, although torn by faction, was a great and powerful realm. there had now been, with the brief exception of the lovers' war in , a religious peace of eight years' duration. the huguenots had enjoyed tranquil exercise of their worship during that period, and they expressed perfect confidence in the good faith of the king. that the cities were inordinately taxed to supply the luxury of the court could hardly be unknown to the netherlanders. nevertheless they knew that the kingdom was the richest and most populous of christendom, after that of spain. its capital, already called by contemporaries the "compendium of the world," was described by travellers as "stupendous in extent and miraculous for its numbers." it was even said to contain eight hundred thousand souls; and although, its actual population did not probably exceed three hundred and twenty thousand, yet this was more than double the number of london's inhabitants, and thrice as many as antwerp could then boast, now that a great proportion of its foreign denizens had been scared away. paris was at least by one hundred thousand more populous than any city of europe, except perhaps the remote and barbarous moscow, while the secondary cities of france, rouen in the north, lyons in the centre, and marseilles in the south, almost equalled in size, business, wealth, and numbers, the capitals of other countries. in the whole kingdom were probably ten or twelve millions of inhabitants, nearly as many as in spain, without her colonies, and perhaps three times the number that dwelt in england. in a military point of view, too, the alliance of france was most valuable to the contiguous netherlands. a few regiments of french troops, under the command of one of their experienced marshals, could block up the spaniards in the walloon provinces, effectually stop their operations against ghent, antwerp, and the other great cities of flanders and brabant, and, with the combined action of the united provinces on the north, so surround and cripple the forces of parma, as to reduce the power of philip, after a few vigorous and well-concerted blows, to an absolute nullity in, the low countries. as this result was of as vital importance to the real interests of france and of europe, whether protestant or catholic, as it was to the provinces, and as the french government had privately manifested a strong desire to oppose the progress of spain towards universal empire, it was not surprising that the states general, not feeling capable of standing alone, should make their application to france. this they had done with the knowledge and concurrence of the english government. what lay upon the surface the netherland statesmen saw and pondered well. what lurked beneath, they surmised as shrewdly as they could, but it was impossible, with plummet and fathom-line ever in hand, to sound the way with perfect accuracy, where the quicksands were ever shifting, and the depth or shallowness of the course perpetually varying. it was not easy to discover the intentions of a government which did not know its own intentions, and whose changing policy was controlled by so many hidden currents. moreover, as already indicated, the envoys and those whom they represented had not the same means of arriving at a result as are granted to us. thanks to the liberality of many modern governments of europe, the archives where the state-secrets of the buried centuries have so long mouldered, are now open to the student of history. to him who has patience and industry many mysteries are thus revealed, which no political sagacity or critical acumen could have divined. he leans over the shoulder of philip the second at his writing-table, as the king spells patiently out, with cipher-key in hand, the most concealed hieroglyphics of parma or guise or mendoza. he reads the secret thoughts of "fabius,"--[the name usually assigned to philip himself in the paris-simancas correspondence.]--as that cunctative roman scrawls his marginal apostilles on each despatch; he pries into all the stratagems of camillus, hortensius, mucius, julius, tullius, and the rest of those ancient heroes who lent their names to the diplomatic masqueraders of the th century; he enters the cabinet of the deeply-pondering burghley, and takes from the most private drawer the memoranda which record that minister's unutterable doubtings; he pulls from the dressing-gown folds of the stealthy, softly-gliding walsingham the last secret which he has picked from the emperor's pigeon-holes, or the pope's pocket, and which, not hatton, nor buckhurst, nor leicester, nor the lord treasurer, is to see; nobody but elizabeth herself; he sits invisible at the most secret councils of the nassaus and barneveldt and buys, or pores with farnese over coming victories, and vast schemes of universal conquest; he reads the latest bit of scandal, the minutest characteristic of king or minister, chronicled by the gossiping venetians for the edification of the forty; and, after all this prying and eavesdropping, having seen the cross-purposes, the bribings, the windings, the fencings in the dark, he is not surprised, if those who were systematically deceived did not always arrive at correct conclusions. noel de caron, seigneur de schoneval, had been agent of the states at the french court at the time of the death of the duke of anjou. upon the occurrence of that event, la mouillerie and asseliers were deputed by the provinces to king henry iii., in order to offer him the sovereignty, which they had intended to confer upon his brother. meantime that brother, just before his death, and with the privity of henry, had been negotiating for a marriage with the younger daughter of philip ii.--an arrangement somewhat incompatible with his contemporaneous scheme to assume the sovereignty of philip's revolted provinces. an attempt had been made at the same time to conciliate the duke of savoy, and invite him to the french court; but the duc de joyeuse, then on his return from turin, was bringing the news, not only that the match with anjou was not favored--which, as anjou was dead, was of no great consequence--but that the duke of savoy was himself to espouse the infanta, and was therefore compelled to decline the invitation to paris, for fear of offending his father-in-law. other matters were in progress, to be afterwards indicated, very much interfering with the negotiations of the netherland envoys. when la mouillerie and asseliers arrived at rouen, on their road from dieppe to paris, they received a peremptory order from the queen-mother to proceed no farther. this prohibition was brought by an unofficial personage, and was delivered, not to them, but to des pruneaux, french envoy to the states general, who had accompanied the envoys to france. after three weeks' time, during which they "kept themselves continually concealed in rouen," there arrived in that city a young nephew of secretary brulart, who brought letters empowering him to hear what they had in charge for the king. the envoys, not much flattered by such cavalier treatment on the part of him to, whom they were offering a crown, determined to digest the affront as they best might, and, to save time, opened the whole business to this subordinate stripling. he received from them accordingly an ample memoir to be laid before his majesty, and departed by the post the same night. then they waited ten days longer, concealed as if they had been thieves or spies, rather than the representatives of a friendly power, on a more than friendly errand. at last, on the th july , after the deputies had been thus shut up a whole month, secretary brulart himself arrived from fontainebleau. he stated that the king sent his royal thanks to the states for the offer which they had made him, and to the deputies in particular for taking the trouble of so long a journey; but that he did not find his realm in condition to undertake a foreign war so inopportunely. in every other regard, his majesty offered the states "all possible favours and pleasures." certainly, after having been thus kept in prison for a month, the ambassadors had small cause to be contented with this very cold communication. to be forbidden the royal presence, and to be turned out of the country without even an official and accredited answer to a communication in which they had offered the sovereignty of their fatherland, was not flattering to their dignity. "we little thought," said they to brulart, after a brief consultation among themselves, "to receive such a reply as this. it displeases us infinitely that his majesty will not do us the honour to grant us an audience. we must take the liberty of saying, that 'tis treating the states, our masters, with too much contempt. who ever heard before of refusing audience to public personages? kings often grant audience to mere letter-carriers. even the king of spain never refused a hearing to the deputies from the netherlands when they came to spain to complain of his own government. the states general have sent envoys to many other kinds and princes, and they have instantly granted audience in every case. his majesty, too, has been very ill-informed of the contracts which we formerly made with the duke of anjou, and therefore a personal interview is the more necessary." as the envoys were obstinate on the point of paris, brulart said "that the king, although he should himself be at lyons, would not prevent any one from going to the capital on his own private affairs; but would unquestionably take it very ill if, they should visit that city in a public manner, and as deputies." des pruneaux professed himself "very grievous at this result, and desirous of a hundred deaths in consequence." they stated that they should be ready within a month to bring an army of , horse and , foot into the field for the relief of ghent, besides their military operations against zutphen; and that the enemy had recently been ignominiously defeated in his attack upon fort lille, and had lost , of his best soldiers. here were encouraging facts; and it certainly was worth the while of the french sovereign to pause a moment before rejecting without a hearing, the offer of such powerful and conveniently-situated provinces. des pruneaux, a man of probity and earnestness, but perhaps of insufficient ability to deal with such grave matters as now fell almost entirely upon his shoulders, soon afterwards obtained audience of the king. being most sincerely in favour of the annexation of the netherlands to france, and feeling that now or never was the opportunity of bringing it about, he persuaded the king to send him back to the provinces, in order to continue the negotiation directly with the states general. the timidity and procrastination of the court could be overcome no further. the two dutch envoys, who had stolen secretly to paris, were indulged in a most barren and unmeaning interview with the queen-mother. before their departure from france, however, they had the advantage of much conversation with leading members of the royal council, of the parliaments of paris and rouen, and also with various persons professing the reformed religion. they endeavoured thus to inform themselves, as well as they could, why the king made so much difficulty in accepting their propositions, and whether, and by what means, his majesty could be induced to make war in their behalf upon the king of spain. they were informed that, should holland and zeeland unite with the rest of the netherlands, the king "without any doubt would undertake the cause most earnestly." his councillors, also--even those who had been most active in dissuading his majesty from such a policy--would then be unanimous in supporting the annexation of the provinces and the war with spain. in such a contingency, with the potent assistance of holland and zeeland, the king would have little difficulty, within a very short time, in chasing every single spaniard out of the netherlands. to further this end, many leading personages in france avowed to the envoys their determination "to venture their lives and their fortunes, and to use all the influence which they possessed at court." the same persons expressed their conviction that the king, once satisfied by the provinces as to conditions and reasons, would cheerfully go into the war, without being deterred by any apprehension as to the power of spain. it was, however, fitting that each province should chaffer as little as possible about details, but should give his majesty every reasonable advantage. they should remember that they were dealing with "a great, powerful monarch, who was putting his realm in jeopardy, and not with a duke of anjou, who had every thing to gain and nothing to lose." all the huguenots, with whom the envoys conversed, were excessively sanguine. could the king be once brought they said, to promise the netherlands his protection, there was not the least fear but that he would keep his word. he would use all the means within his power; "yea, he would take the crown from his head," rather than turn back. although reluctant to commence a war with so powerful a sovereign, having once promised his help, he would keep his pledge to the utmost, "for he was a king of his word," and had never broken and would never break his faith with those of the reformed religion. thus spoke the leading huguenots of france, in confidential communication with the netherland envoys, not many months before the famous edict of extermination, published at nemours. at that moment the reformers were full of confidence; not foreseeing the long procession of battles and sieges which was soon to sweep through the land. notwithstanding the urgency of the papists for their extirpation, they extolled loudly the liberty of religious worship which calvinists, as well as catholics, were enjoying in france, and pointed to the fact that the adherents of both religions were well received at court, and that they shared equally in offices of trust and dignity throughout the kingdom. the netherland envoys themselves bore testimony to the undisturbed tranquillity and harmony in which the professors of both religions were living and worshipping side by side "without reproach or quarrel" in all the great cities which they had visited. they expressed the conviction that the same toleration would be extended to all the provinces when under french dominion; and, so far as their ancient constitutions and privileges were concerned, they were assured that the king of france would respect and maintain them with as much fidelity as the states could possibly desire. des pruneaux, accompanied by the two states' envoys, departed forthwith for the netherlands. on the th august, he delivered a discourse before the states general, in which he disclosed, in very general terms, the expectations of henry iii., and intimated very clearly that the different provinces were to lose no time in making an unconditional offer to that monarch. with regard to holland and zeeland he observed that he was provided with a special commission to those estates. it was not long before one province after the other came to the conclusion to offer the sovereignty to the king without written conditions, but with a general understanding that their religious freedom and their ancient constitutions were to be sacredly respected. meantime, des pruneaux made his appearance in holland and zeeland, and declared the king's intentions of espousing the cause of the states, and of accepting the sovereignty of all the provinces. he distinctly observed, however, that it was as sovereign, not as protector, that his majesty must be recognised in holland and zeeland, as well as in the rest of the country. upon this grave question there was much debate and much difference of opinion. holland and zeeland had never contemplated the possibility of accepting any foreign sovereignty, and the opponents of the present scheme were loud and angry, but very reasonable in their remarks. the french, they said, were no respecters of privileges nor of persons. the duke of anjou had deceived william of orange and betrayed the provinces. could they hope to see farther than that wisest and most experienced prince? had not the stout hearts of the antwerp burghers proved a stronger defence to brabant liberties than the "joyous entry" on the dread day of the "french fury," it would have fared ill then and for ever with the cause of freedom and religion in the netherlands. the king of france was a papist, a jesuit. he was incapable of keeping his pledges. should they make the arrangement now proposed and confer the sovereignty upon him, he would forthwith make peace with spain, and transfer the provinces back to that crown in exchange for the duchy of milan, which france had ever coveted. the netherlands, after a quarter of a century of fighting in defence of their hearths and altars, would find themselves handed over again, bound and fettered, to the tender mercies of the spanish inquisition. the kings of france and of spain always acted in concert, for religion was the most potent of bonds. witness the sacrifice of thousands of french soldiers to alva by their own sovereign at mons, witness the fate of genlis, witness the bloody night of st. bartholomew, witness the antwerp fury. men cited and relied upon the advice of william of orange as to this negotiation with france. but orange never dreamed of going so far as now proposed. he was ever careful to keep the provinces of holland and zeeland safe from every foreign master. that spot was to be holy ground. not out of personal ambition. god forbid that they, should accuse his memory of any such impurity, but because he wished one safe refuge for the spirit of freedom. many years long they had held out by land and sea against the spaniards, and should they now, because this des pruneaux shrugged his shoulders, be so alarmed as to open the door to the same spaniard wearing the disguise of a frenchman? prince maurice also made a brief representation to the states' assembly of holland, in which, without distinctly opposing the negotiation with france, he warned them not to proceed too hastily with so grave a matter. he reminded them how far they had gone in the presentation of the sovereignty to his late father, and requested them, in their dealings with france, not to forget his interests and those of his family. he reminded them of the position of that family, overladen with debt contracted in their service alone. he concluded by offering most affectionately his service in any way in which he, young and inexperienced as he knew himself to be, might be thought useful; as he was long since resolved to devote his life to the welfare of his country. these passionate appeals were answered with equal vehemence by those who had made up their minds to try the chances of the french sovereignty. des pruneaux, meanwhile, was travelling from province to province, and from city to city, using the arguments which have already been sufficiently indicated, and urging a speedy compliance with the french king's propositions. at the same time, in accordance with his instructions, he was very cautious to confine himself to generalities, and to avoid hampering his royal master with the restrictions which had proved so irksome to the duke of anjou. "the states general demanded a copy of my speech," he wrote the day after that harangue had been delivered, "but i only gave them a brief outline; extending myself [ th august, ] as little as i possibly could, according to the intention and command of your majesty. when i got here, i found them without hope of our assistance, and terribly agitated by the partizans of spain. there was some danger of their going over in a panic to the enemy. they are now much changed again, and the spanish partizans are beginning to lose their tongues. i invite them, if they intend to address your majesty, to proceed as they ought towards a veritably grand monarch, without hunting up any of their old quibbles, or reservations of provinces, or any thing else which could inspire suspicion. i have sent into gelderland and friesland, for i find i must stay here in holland and zeeland myself. these two provinces are the gates and ramparts through which we must enter. 'tis, in my opinion, what could be called superb, to command all the sea, thus subject to the crown of france. and france, too, with assistance of this country, will command the land as well. they are much astonished here, however, that i communicate nothing of the intention of your majesty. they say that if your majesty does not accept this offer of their country, your majesty puts the rope around their necks." the french envoy was more and more struck with the brilliancy of the prize offered to his master. "if the king gets these provinces," said he to catharine, "'t will be the most splendid inheritance which prince has ever conquered." in a very few weeks the assiduity of the envoy and of the french party was successful. all the other provinces had very soon repeated the offer which they had previously made through asseliers and la mouillerie. by the beginning of october the opposition of holland was vanquished. the estates of that province--three cities excepted, however--determined "to request england and france to assume a joint protectorate over the netherlands. in case the king of france should refuse this proposition, they were then ready to receive him as prince and master, with knowledge and consent of the queen of england, and on such conditions as the united states should approve." immediately afterwards, the general assembly of all the states determined to offer the sovereignty to king henry "on conditions to be afterwards settled." des pruneaux, thus triumphant, received a gold chain of the value of two thousand florins, and departed before the end of october for france. the departure of the solemn embassy to that country, for the purpose of offering the sovereignty to the king, was delayed till the beginning of january. meantime it is necessary to cast a glance at the position of england in relation to these important transactions. etext editor's bookmarks: diplomatic adroitness consists mainly in the power to deceive enmity between lutherans and calvinists find our destruction in our immoderate desire for peace german-lutheran sixteenth-century idea of religious freedom intentions of a government which did not know its own intentions lord was better pleased with adverbs than nouns make sheep of yourselves, and the wolf will eat you necessity of kingship neighbour's blazing roof was likely soon to fire their own nor is the spirit of the age to be pleaded in defence pauper client who dreamed of justice at the hands of law seem as if born to make the idea of royalty ridiculous shutting the stable-door when the steed is stolen string of homely proverbs worthy of sancho panza the very word toleration was to sound like an insult there was apathy where there should have been enthusiasm tranquillity rather of paralysis than of health write so illegibly or express himself so awkwardly history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, - chapter iii. policy of england--schemes of the pretender of portugal--hesitation of the french court--secret wishes of france--contradictory views as to the opinions of netherlanders--their love for england and elizabeth--prominent statesmen of the provinces--roger williams the welshman views of walsingham, burghley, and the queen--an embassy to holland decided upon--davison at the hague--cautious and secret measures of burghley--consequent dissatisfaction of walsingham-- english and dutch suspicion of france--increasing affection of holland for england. the policy of england towards the provinces had been somewhat hesitating, but it had not been disloyal. it was almost inevitable that there should be timidity in the councils of elizabeth, when so grave a question as that of confronting the vast power of spain was forcing itself day by day more distinctly upon the consideration of herself and her statesmen. it was very clear, now that orange was dead, that some new and decided step would be taken. elizabeth was in favour of combined action by the french and english governments, in behalf of the netherlands--a joint protectorate of the provinces, until such time as adequate concessions on the religious question could be obtained from spain. she was unwilling to plunge into the peril and expense of a war with the strongest power in the world. she disliked the necessity under which she should be placed of making repeated applications to her parliament, and of thus fostering the political importance of the commons; she was reluctant to encourage rebellious subjects in another land, however just the cause of their revolt. she felt herself vulnerable in ireland and on the scottish border. nevertheless, the spanish power was becoming so preponderant, that if the netherlands were conquered, she could never feel a moment's security within her own territory. if the provinces were annexed to france, on the other hand, she could not contemplate with complacency the increased power thus placed in the hands of the treacherous and jesuitical house of valois. the path of the queen was thickly strewed with peril: her advisers were shrewd, far-seeing, patriotic, but some of them were perhaps over cautious. the time had, however, arrived when the danger was to be faced, if the whole balance of power in europe were not to come to an end, and weak states, like england and the netherlands, to submit to the tyranny of an overwhelming absolutism. the instinct of the english sovereign, of english statesmen, of the english nation, taught them that the cause of the netherlands was their own. nevertheless, they were inclined to look on yet a little longer, although the part of spectator had become an impossible one. the policy of the english government was not treacherous, although it was timid. that of the french court was both the one and the other, and it would have been better both for england and the provinces, had they more justly appreciated the character of catharine de' medici and her son. the first covert negotiations between henry and the states had caused much anxiety among the foreign envoys in france. don bernardino de mendoza, who had recently returned from spain after his compulsory retreat from his post of english ambassador, was now established in paris, as representative of philip. he succeeded tasais--a netherlander by birth, and one of the ablest diplomatists in the spanish service--and his house soon became the focus of intrigue against the government to which he was accredited--the very head-quarters of the league. his salary was large, his way of living magnificent, his insolence intolerable. "tassis is gone to the netherlands," wrote envoy busbecq to the emperor, "and thence is to proceed to spain. don bernardino has arrived in his place. if it be the duty of a good ambassador to expend largely, it would be difficult to find a better one than he; for they say 'tis his intention to spend sixteen thousand dollars yearly in his embassy. i would that all things were in correspondence; and that he were not in other respects so inferior to tassis." it is, however, very certain that mendoza was not only a brave soldier, but a man of very considerable capacity in civil affairs, although his inordinate arrogance interfered most seriously with his skill as a negotiator. he was, of course, watching with much fierceness the progress of these underhand proceedings between the french court and the rebellious subjects of his master, and using threats and expostulations in great profusion. "mucio," too, the great stipendiary of philip, was becoming daily more dangerous, and the adherents of the league were multiplying with great celerity. the pretender of portugal, don antonio, prior of crato, was also in paris; and it was the policy of both the french and the english governments to protect his person, and to make use of him as a rod over the head of philip. having escaped, after the most severe sufferings, in the mountains of spain, where he had been tracked like a wild beast, with a price of thirty thousand crowns placed upon his head, he was now most anxious to stir the governments of europe into espousing his cause, and into attacking spain through the recently acquired kingdom of portugal. meantime, he was very desirous of some active employment, to keep himself from starving, and conceived the notion, that it would be an excellent thing for the netherlands and himself, were he to make good to them the loss of william the silent. "don antonio," wrote stafford, "made a motion to me yesterday, to move her majesty, that now upon the prince of orange's death, as it is a necessary thing for them to have a governor and head, and him to be at her majesty's devotion, if her majesty would be at the means to work it for him, she should be assured nobody should be more faithfully tied in devotion to her than he. truly you would pity the poor man's case, who is almost next door to starving in effect." a starving condition being, however, not the only requisite in a governor and head to replace the prince of orange, nothing came of this motion. don antonio remained in paris, in a pitiable plight, and very much environed by dangers; for the duke of guise and his brother had undertaken to deliver him into the hands of philip the second, or those of his ministers, before the feast of st. john of the coming year. fifty thousand dollars were to be the reward of this piece of work, combined with other services; "and the sooner they set about it the better," said philip, writing a few months later, "for the longer they delay it, the less easy will they find it."' the money was never earned, however, and meantime don antonio made himself as useful as he could, in picking up information for sir edward stafford and the other opponents of spanish policy in paris. the english envoy was much embarrassed by the position of affairs. he felt sure that the french monarch would never dare to enter the lists against the king of spain, yet he was accurately informed of the secret negotiations with the netherlands, while in the dark as to the ultimate intentions of his own government. "i was never set to school so much," he wrote to walsingham ( th july, ), "as i have been to decipher the cause of the deputies of the low countries coming hither, the offers that they made the king here, and the king's manner of dealing with them!" he expressed great jealousy at the mystery which enveloped the whole transaction; and much annoyance with noel de caron, who "kept very secret, and was angry at the motion," when he endeavoured to discover the business in which they were engaged. yet he had the magnanimity to request walsingham not to mention the fact to the queen, lest she should be thereby prejudiced against the states. "for my part," said he, "i would be glad in any thing to further them, rather than to hinder them--though they do not deserve it--yet for the good the helping them at this time may bring ourselves." meantime, the deputies went away from france, and the king went to lyons, where he had hoped to meet both the duke of savoy and the king of navarre. but joyeuse, who had been received at chambery with "great triumphs and tourneys," brought back only a broken wrist, without bringing the duke of savoy; that potentate sending word that the "king of spain had done him the honour to give him his daughter, and that it was not fit for him to do any thing that might bring jealousy." henry of navarre also, as we have seen, declined the invitation sent him, m. de segur not feeling disposed for the sudden flight out of window suggested by agrippa d' aubigne; so that, on the whole, the king and his mother, with all the court, returned from lyons in marvellous ill humour. "the king storms greatly," said stafford, "and is in a great dump." it was less practicable than ever to discover the intentions of the government; for although it was now very certain that active exertions were making by des pruneaux in the provinces, it was not believed by the most sagacious that a serious resolution against spain had been taken in france. there was even a talk of a double matrimonial alliance, at that very moment, between the two courts. "it is for certain here said," wrote stafford, "that the king of spain doth presently marry the dowager of france, and 'tis thought that if the king of spain marry, he will not live a year. whensoever the marriage be," added the envoy, "i would to god the effect were true, for if it be not by some such handy work of god, i am afraid things will not go so well as i could wish." there was a lull on the surface of affairs, and it was not easy to sound the depths of unseen combinations and intrigues. there was also considerable delay in the appointment and the arrival of the new deputies from the netherlands; and stafford was as doubtful as ever as to the intentions of his own government. "they look daily here for the states," he wrote to walsingham ( th dec. ), "and i pray that i may hear from you as soon as you may, what course i shall take when they be here, either hot or cold or lukewarm in the matter, and in what sort i shall behave myself. some badly affected have gone about to put into the king's head, that they never meant to offer the sovereignty, which, though the king be not thoroughly persuaded of, yet so much is won by this means that the king hearkeneth to see the end, and then to believe as he seeth cause, and in the meantime to speak no more of any such matter than if it had never been moved." while his majesty was thus hearkening in order to see more, according to sir edward's somewhat hibernian mode of expressing himself, and keeping silent that he might see the better, it was more difficult than ever for the envoy to know what course to pursue. some persons went so far as to suggest that the whole negotiation was a mere phantasmagoria devised by queen elizabeth--her purpose being to breed a quarrel between henry and philip for her own benefit; and "then, seeing them together by the ears, as her accustomed manner was, to let them go alone, and sit still to look on." the king did not appear to be much affected by these insinuations against elizabeth; but the doubt and the delay were very harassing. "i would to god," wrote the english envoy, "that if the states mean to do anything here with the king, and if her. majesty and the council think it fit, they would delay no time, but go roundly either to an agreement or to a breach with the king. otherwise, as the matter now sleepeth, so it will die, for the king must be taken in his humour when he begins to nibble at any bait, for else he will come away, and never bite a full bite while he liveth." there is no doubt that the bait, at which henry nibbled with much avidity, was the maritime part of the netherlands. holland and zeeland in the possession of either england or spain, was a perpetual inconvenience to france. the king, or rather the queen-mother and her advisers--for henry himself hardly indulged in any profound reflections on state-affairs,--desired and had made a sine qua non of those provinces. it had been the french policy, from the beginning, to delay matters, in order to make the states feel the peril of their position to the full. "the king, differing and temporising," wrote herle to the queen, "would have them fall into that necessity and danger, as that they should offer unto him simply the possession of all their estates. otherwise, they were to see, as in a glass, their evident and hasty ruin." even before the death of orange, henry had been determined, if possible, to obtain possession of the island of walcheren, which controlled the whole country. "to give him that," said herle, "would be to turn the hot end of the poker towards themselves, and put the cold part in the king's hand. he had accordingly made a secret offer to william of orange, through the princess, of two millions of livres in ready money, or, if he preferred it, one hundred thousand livres yearly of perpetual inheritance, if he would secure to him the island of walcheren. in that case he promised to declare war upon the king of spain, to confirm to the states their privileges, and to guarantee to the prince the earldoms of holland and zeeland, with all his other lands and titles." it is superfluous to say that such offers were only regarded by the prince as an affront. it was, however, so necessary, in his opinion; to maintain the cause of the reformed churches in france, and to keep up the antagonism between that country and spain, that the french policy was not abandoned, although the court was always held in suspicion. but on the death of william, there was a strong reaction against france and in favour of england. paul buys, one of the ablest statesmen of the netherlands, advocate of holland, and a confidential friend of william the silent up to the time of his death, now became the leader of the english party, and employed his most strenuous efforts against the french treaty-having "seen the scope of that court." with regard to the other leading personages, there was a strong inclination in favour of queen elizabeth, whose commanding character inspired great respect. at the same time warmer sentiments of adhesion seem to have been expressed towards the french court, by the same individuals, than the mere language of compliment justified. thus, the widowed princess of orange was described by des pruneaux to his sovereign, as "very desolate, but nevertheless doing all in her power to advance his interests; the count maurice, of gentle hopes, as also most desirous of remaining his majesty's humble servant, while elector truchsess was said to be employing himself, in the same cause, with very great affection." a french statesman resident in the provinces, whose name has not been preserved, but who was evidently on intimate terms with many eminent netherlanders, declared that maurice, "who had a mind entirely french, deplored infinitely the misfortunes of france, and regretted that all the provinces could not be annexed to so fair a kingdom. i do assure you," he added, "that he is in no wise english." of count hohenlo, general-in-chief of the states' army under prince maurice, and afterwards his brother-in-law, the same gentleman spoke with even greater confidence. "count d'oloc," said he (for by that ridiculous transformation of his name the german general was known to french and english), "with whom i have passed three weeks on board the fleet of the states, is now wholly french, and does not love the english at all. the very first time i saw him, he protested twice or thrice, in presence of members of the states general and of the state council, that if he had no frenchmen he could never carry on the war. he made more account," he said, "of two thousand french than of six thousand others, english, or germans." yet all these distinguished persons--the widowed princess of orange, count maurice, ex-elector truchsess, count holenlo--were described to queen elizabeth by her confidential agent, then employed in the provinces, as entirely at that sovereign's devotion. "count maurice holds nothing of the french, nor esteems them," said herle, "but humbly desired me to signify unto your majesty that he had in his mind and determination faithfully vowed his service to your majesty, which should be continued in his actions with all duty, and sealed with his blood; for he knew how much his father and the cause were beholden ever to your highness's goodness." the princess, together with her sister-in-law countess schwartzenburg, and the young daughters of the late prince were described on the same occasion "as recommending their service unto her majesty with a most tender affection, as to a lady of all ladies." "especially," said herle, "did the two princesses in most humble and wise sort, express a certain fervent devotion towards your majesty." elector truchsess was spoken of as "a prince well qualified and greatly devoted to her majesty; who, after many grave and sincere words had of her majesty's virtue, calling her 'la fille unique de dieu, and le bien heureuse princesse', desired of god that he might do her service as she merited." and, finally, count hollock--who seemed to "be reformed in sundry things, if it hold" (a delicate allusion to the count's propensity for strong potations), was said "to desire humbly to be known for one that would obey the commandment of her majesty more than of any earthly prince living besides." there can be no doubt that there was a strong party in favour of an appeal to england rather than to france. the netherlanders were too shrewd a people not to recognize the difference between the king of a great realm, who painted his face and wore satin petticoats, and the woman who entertained ambassadors, each in his own language, on gravest affairs of state, who matched in her wit and wisdom the deepest or the most sparkling intellects of her council, who made extemporaneous latin orations to her universities, and who rode on horseback among her generals along the lines of her troops in battle-array, and yet was only the unmarried queen of a petty and turbulent state. "the reverend respect that is borne to your majesty throughout these countries is great," said william herle. they would have thrown themselves into her arms, heart and soul, had they been cordially extended at that moment of their distress; but she was coy, hesitating, and, for reasons already sufficiently indicated, although not so conclusive as they seemed, disposed to temporize and to await the issue of the negotiations between the provinces and france. in holland and zeeland especially, there was an enthusiastic feeling in favour of the english alliance. "they recommend themselves," said herleo "throughout the country in their consultations and assemblies, as also in their common and private speeches, to the queen of england's only favour and goodness, whom they call their saviour, and the princess of greatest perfection in wisdom and sincerity that ever governed. notwithstanding their treaty now on foot by their deputies with france, they are not more disposed to be governed by the french than to be tyrannized over by the spaniard; concluding it to be alike; and even 'commutare non sortem sed servitutem'." paul buys was indefatigable in his exertions against the treaty with france, and in stimulating the enthusiasm for england and elizabeth. he expressed sincere and unaffected devotion to the queen on all occasions, and promised that no negotiations should take place, however secret and confidential, that were not laid before her majesty. "he has the chief administration among the states," said herle, "and to his credit and dexterity they attribute the despatch of most things. he showed unto me the state of the enemy throughout the provinces, and of the negotiation in france, whereof he had no opinion at all of success, nor any will of his own part but to please the prince of orange in his life-time." it will be seen in the sequel whether or not the views of this experienced and able statesman were lucid and comprehensive. it will also be seen whether his strenuous exertions in favour of the english alliance were rewarded as bountifully as they deserved, by those most indebted to him. meantime he was busily employed in making the english government acquainted with the capacity, disposition, and general plans of the netherlanders. "they have certain other things in consultation amongst the states to determine of," wrote herle, "which they were sworn not to reveal to any, but buys protested that nothing should pass but to your liking and surety, and the same to be altered and disposed as should seem good to your highness's own authority; affirming to me sincerely that holland and zeeland, with the rest of the provinces, for the estimation they had of your high virtue and temperancy, would yield themselves absolutely to your majesty and crown for ever, or to none other (their liberties only reserved), whereof you should have immediate possession, without reservation of place or privilege." the important point of the capability of the provinces to defend themselves, about which elizabeth was most anxious to be informed, was also fully elucidated by the advocate. "the means should be such, proceeding from the provinces," said he, "as your majesty might defend your interest therein with facility against the whole world." he then indicated a plan, which had been proposed by the states of brabant to the states general, according to which they were to keep on foot an army of , foot and horse, with which they should be able, "to expulse the enemy and to reconquer their towns and country lost, within three months." of this army they hoped to induce the queen to furnish english footmen and horse, to be paid monthly by a treasurer of her own; and for the assistance thus to be furnished they proposed to give ostend and sluys as pledge of payment. according to this scheme the elector palatine, john casimir, had promised to furnish, equip, and pay cavalry, taking the town of maestricht and the country of limburg, when freed from the enemy, in pawn for his disbursements; while antwerp and brabant had agreed to supply , crowns in ready money for immediate use. many powerful politicians opposed this policy, however, and urged reliance upon france, "so that this course seemed to be lame in many parts."--[letter of herle]. agents had already been sent both to england and france, to procure, if possible, a levy of troops for immediate necessity. the attempt was unsuccessful in france, but the dutch community of the reformed religion in london subscribed nine thousand and five florins. this sum, with other contributions, proved sufficient to set morgan's regiment on foot, which soon after began to arrive in the netherlands by companies. "but if it were all here at once," said stephen le sieur, "'t would be but a breakfast for the enemy." the agent for the matter in england was de griyse, formerly bailiff of bruges; and although tolerably successful in his mission, he was not thought competent for so important a post, nor officially authorised for the undertaking. while procuring this assistance in english troops he had been very urgent with the queen to further the negotiations between the states and france; and paul buys was offended with him as a mischief-maker and an intriguer. he complained of him as having "thrust himself in, to deal and intermeddle in the affairs of the low countries unavowed," and desired that he might be closely looked after. after the advocate, the next most important statesman in the provinces was, perhaps, meetkerk, president of the high court of flanders, a man of much learning, sincerity, and earnestness of character; having had great experience in the diplomatic service of the country on many important occasions. "he stands second in reputation here," said herle, "and both buys and he have one special care in all practises that are discovered, to examine how near anything may concern your person or kingdom, whereof they will advertise as matter shall fall out in importance." john van olden-barneveldt, afterwards so conspicuous in the history of the country, was rather inclined, at this period, to favour the french party; a policy which was strenuously furthered by villiers and by sainte aldegonde. besides the information furnished to the english government, as to the state of feeling and resources of the netherlands, by buys, meetkerk, and william herle, walsingham relied much upon the experienced eye and the keen biting humour of roger williams. a frank open-hearted welshman, with no fortune but his sword, but as true as its steel, he had done the states much important service in the hard-fighting days of grand commander requesens and of don john of austria. with a shrewd welsh head under his iron morion, and a stout welsh heart under his tawny doublet, he had gained little but hard knocks and a dozen wounds in his campaigning, and had but recently been ransomed, rather grudgingly by his government, from a spanish prison in brabant. he was suffering in health from its effects, but was still more distressed in mind, from his sagacious reading of the signs of the times. fearing that england was growing lukewarm, and the provinces desperate, he was beginning to find himself out of work, and was already casting about him for other employment. poor, honest, and proud, he had repeatedly declined to enter the spanish service. bribes, such as at a little later period were sufficient to sully conspicuous reputations and noble names, among his countrymen in better circumstances than his own, had been freely but unsuccessfully offered him. to serve under any but the english or states' flag in the provinces he scorned; and he thought the opportunity fast slipping away there for taking the papistical party in europe handsomely by the beard. he had done much manful work in the netherlands, and was destined to do much more; but he was now discontented, and thought himself slighted. in more remote regions of the world, the thrifty soldier thought that there might be as good harvesting for his sword as in the thrice-trampled stubble of flanders. "i would refuse no hazard that is possible to be done in the queen's service," he said to walsingham; "but i do persuade myself she makes no account of me. had it not been for the duty that nature bound me towards her and my country, i needed not to have been in that case that i am in. perhaps i could have fingered more pistoles than mr. newell, the late latiner, and had better usage and pension of the spaniards than he. some can tell that i refused large offers, in the misery of alost, of the prince of parma. last of all, verdugo offered me very fair, being in loccum, to quit the states' service, and accept theirs, without treachery or betraying of place or man." not feeling inclined to teach latin in spain, like the late mr. newell, or to violate oaths and surrender fortresses, like brave soldiers of fortune whose deeds will be afterwards chronicled, he was disposed to cultivate the "acquaintance of divers pollacks," from which he had received invitations. "find i nothing there," said he, "duke matthias has promised me courtesy if i would serve in hungary. if not, i will offer service to one of the turk's bashaws against the persians." fortunately, work was found for the trusty welshman in the old fields. his brave honest face often reappeared; his sharp sensible tongue uttered much sage counsel; and his ready sword did various solid service, in leaguer, battle-field, and martial debate, in flanders, holland, spain, and france. for the present, he was casting his keen glances upon the negotiations in progress, and cavilling at the general policy which seemed predominant. he believed that the object of the french was to trifle with the states, to protract interminably their negotiations, to prevent the english government from getting any hold upon the provinces, and then to leave them to their fate. he advised walsingham to advance men and money, upon the security of sluys and ostend. "i dare venture my life," said he, with much energy, "that were norris, bingham, yorke, or carlisle, in those ports, he would keep them during the spanish king's life." but the true way to attack spain--a method soon afterwards to be carried into such brilliant effect by the naval heroes of england and the netherlands--the long-sighted welshman now indicated; a combined attack, namely, by sea upon the colonial possessions of philip. "i dare be bound," said he, "if you join with treslong, the states admiral, and send off, both, three-score sail into his indies, we will force him to retire from conquering further, and to be contented to let other princes live as well as he." in particular, williams urged rapid action, and there is little doubt, that had the counsels of prompt, quick-witted, ready-handed soldiers like himself, and those who thought with him, been taken; had the stealthy but quick-darting policy of walsingham prevailed over the solemn and stately but somewhat ponderous proceedings of burghley, both ghent and antwerp might have been saved, the trifling and treacherous diplomacy of catharine de' medici neutralized, and an altogether more fortunate aspect given at once to the state of protestant affairs. "if you mean to do anything," said he, "it is more than time now. if you will send some man of credit about it, will it please your honour, i will go with him, because i know the humour of the people, and am acquainted with a number of the best. i shall be able to show him a number of their dealings, as well with the french as in other affairs, and perhaps will find means to send messengers to ghent, and to other places, better than the states; for the message of one soldier is better than twenty boors." it was ultimately decided--as will soon be related--to send a man of credit to the provinces. meantime, the policy of england continued to be expectant and dilatory, and advocate buys, after having in vain attempted to conquer the french influence, and bring about the annexation of the provinces to england, threw down his office in disgust, and retired for a time from the contest. he even contemplated for a moment taking service in denmark, but renounced the notion of abandoning his country, and he will accordingly be found, at a later period, conspicuous in public affairs. the deliberations in the english councils were grave and anxious, for it became daily more obvious that the netherland question was the hinge upon which the whole fate of christendom was slowly turning. to allow the provinces to fall back again into the grasp of philip, was to offer england herself as a last sacrifice to the spanish inquisition. this was felt by all the statesmen in the land; but some of them, more than the rest, had a vivid perception of the danger, and of the necessity of dealing with it at once. to the prophetic eye of walsingham, the mists of the future at times were lifted; and the countless sails of the invincible armada, wafting defiance and destruction to england, became dimly visible. he felt that the great netherland bulwark of protestantism and liberty was to be defended at all hazards, and that the death-grapple could not long be deferred. burghley, deeply pondering, but less determined, was still disposed to look on and to temporize. the queen, far-seeing and anxious, but somewhat hesitating, still clung to the idea of a joint protectorate. she knew that the reestablishment of spanish authority in the low countries would be fatal to england, but she was not yet prepared to throw down the gauntlet to philip. she felt that the proposed annexation of the provinces to france would be almost as formidable; yet she could not resolve, frankly and fearlessly, to assume, the burthen of their protection. under the inspiration of burghley, she was therefore willing to encourage the netherlanders underhand; preventing them at every hazard from slackening in their determined hostility to spain; discountenancing, without absolutely forbidding, their proposed absorption by france; intimating, without promising, an ultimate and effectual assistance from herself. meantime, with something of feline and feminine duplicity, by which the sex of the great sovereign would so often manifest itself in the most momentous affairs, she would watch and wait, teasing the provinces, dallying with the danger, not quite prepared as yet to abandon the prize to henry or philip, or to seize it herself. the situation was rapidly tending to become an impossible one. late in october a grave conference was held council, "upon the question whether her majesty should presently relieve the states of the low countries." it was shown, upon one side, that the "perils to the queen and to the realm were great, if the king of spain should recover holland and zeeland, as he had the other countries, for lack of succour in seasonable time, either by the french king or the queen's majesty." on the other side, the great difficulties in the way of effectual assistance by england, were "fully remembered." "but in the end, and upon comparison made," said lord burghley, summing up, "betwixt the perils on the one part, and the difficulties on the other," it was concluded that the queen would be obliged to succumb to the power of spain, and the liberties of england be hopelessly lost, if philip were then allowed to carry out his designs, and if the provinces should be left without succour at his mercy. a "wise person" was accordingly to be sent into holland; first, to ascertain whether the provinces had come to an actual agreement with the king of france, and, if such should prove to be the case, to enquire whether that sovereign had pledged himself to declare war upon philip. in this event, the wise person was to express her majesty's satisfaction that the provinces were thus to be "relieved from the tyranny of the king of spain." on the other hand, if it should appear that no such conclusive arrangements had been made, and that the provinces were likely to fall again victims to the "spanish tyranny," her majesty would then "strain herself as far as, with preservation of her own estate, she might, to succour them at this time." the agent was then to ascertain "what conditions the provinces would require" upon the matter of succour, and, if the terms seemed reasonable, he would assure them that "they should not be left to the cruelties of the spaniards." and further, the wise person, "being pressed to answer, might by conference of speeches and persuasions provoke them to offer to the queen the ports of flushing and middelburg and the brill, wherein she meant not to claim any property, but to hold them as gages for her expenses, and for performances of their covenants." he was also to make minute inquiries as to the pecuniary resources of the provinces, the monthly sums which they would be able to contribute, the number of troops and of ships of war that they would pledge themselves to maintain. these investigations were very important, because the queen, although very well disposed to succour them, "so nevertheless she was to consider how her power might be extended, without ruin or manifest peril to her own estate." it was also resolved, in the same conference, that a preliminary step of great urgency was to "procure a good peace with the king of scots." whatever the expense of bringing about such a pacification might be, it was certain that a "great deal more would be expended in defending the realm against scotland," while england was engaged in hostilities with spain. otherwise, it was argued that her majesty would be "so impeached by scotland in favour of the king of spain, that her action against that king would be greatly weakened." other measures necessary to be taken in view of the spanish war were also discussed. the ex-elector of cologne, "a man of great account in germany," was to be assisted with money to make head against his rival supported by the troops of philip. duke casimir of the palatinate was to be solicited to make a diversion in gelderland. the king of france was to be reminded of his treaty with england for mutual assistance in case of the invasion by a foreign power of either realm, and to be informed "not only of the intentions of the spaniards to invade england, upon their conquest of the netherlands, but of their actual invasion of ireland." it was "to be devised how the king of navarre and don antonio of portugal, for their respective titles, might be induced to offend and occupy the king of spain, whereby to diminish his forces bent upon the low countries." it was also decided that parliament should be immediately summoned, in which, besides the request of a subsidy, many other necessary, provisions should be made for her majesty's safety. "the conclusions of the whole," said lord burghley, with much earnestness, "was this. although her majesty should hereby enter into a war presently, yet were she better to do it now, while she may make the same out of her realm, having the help of the people of holland, and before the king of spain shall have consummated his conquests in those countries, whereby he shall be so provoked with pride, solicited by the pope, and tempted by the queen's own subjects, and shall be so strong by sea, and so free from all other actions and quarrels,--yea, shall be so formidable to all the rest of christendom, as that her majesty shall no wise be able, with her own power, nor with aid of any other, neither by sea nor land, to withstand his attempts, but shall be forced to give place to his insatiable malice, which is most terrible to be thought of, but miserable to suffer." thus did the lord treasurer wisely, eloquently, and well, describe the danger by which england was environed. through the shield of holland the spear was aimed full at the heart of england. but was it a moment to linger? was that buckler to be suffered to fall to the ground, or to be raised only upon the arm of a doubtful and treacherous friend? was it an hour when the protection of protestantism and of european liberty against spain was to be entrusted to the hand of a feeble and priest-ridden valois? was it wise to indulge any longer in doubtings and dreamings, and in yet a little more folding of the arms to sleep, while that insatiable malice, so terrible to be thought of, so miserable to feel, was bowing hourly more formidable, and approaching nearer and nearer? early in december, william davison, gentleman-in-ordinary of her majesty's household, arrived at the hague; a man painstaking, earnest, and zealous, but who was fated, on more than one great occasion, to be made a scape-goat for the delinquencies of greater personages than himself. he had audience of the states general on the th december. he then informed that body that the queen had heard, with, sorrowful heart, of the great misfortunes which the united provinces had sustained since the death of the prince of orange; the many cities which they had lost, and the disastrous aspect of the common cause. moved by the affection which she had always borne the country, and anxious for its preservation, she had ordered her ambassador stafford to request the king of france to undertake, jointly with herself, the defence of the provinces against the king of spain. not till very lately, however, had that envoy succeeded in obtaining an audience, and he had then received "a very cold answer." it being obvious to her majesty, therefore, that the french government intended to protract these matters indefinitely, davison informed the states that she had commissioned him to offer them "all possible assistance, to enquire into the state of the country, and to investigate the proper means of making that assistance most useful." he accordingly requested the appointment of a committee to confer with him upon the subject; and declared that the queen did not desire to make herself mistress of the provinces, but only to be informed how she best could aid their cause. a committee was accordingly appointed, and a long series of somewhat concealed negotiations was commenced. as the deputies were upon the eve of their departure for france, to offer the sovereignty of the provinces to henry, these proceedings were necessarily confused, dilatory, and at tines contradictory. after the arrival of the deputies in france, the cunctative policy inspired by the lord treasurer was continued by england. the delusion of a joint protectorate was still clung to by the queen, although the conduct of france was becoming very ambiguous, and suspicion growing darker as to the ultimate and secret purport of the negotiations in progress. the anxiety and jealousy of elizabeth were becoming keener than ever. if the offers to the king were unlimited; he would accept them, and would thus become as dangerous as philip. if they were unsatisfactory, he would turn his back upon the provinces, and leave them a prey to philip. still she would not yet renounce the hope of bringing the french king over to an ingenuous course of action. it was thought, too, that something might be done with the great malcontent nobles of flanders, whose defection from the national cause had been so disastrous, but who had been much influenced in their course, it was thought, by their jealousy of william the silent. now that the prince was dead, it was thought probable that the arschots, and havres, chimays, and lalaings, might arouse themselves to more patriotic views than they had manifested when they espoused the cause of spain. it would be desirable to excite their jealousy of french influence, and, at the same time, to inspire throughout the popular mind the fear of another tyranny almost as absolute as that of spain. "and if it be objected," said burghley, "that except they shall admit the french king to the absolute dominion, he will not aid them, and they, for lack of succour, be forced to yield to the spaniard, it may be answered that rather than they should be wholly subjected to the french, or overcome by the spaniard, her majesty would yield unto them as much as, with preservation of her estate, and defence of her own country, might be demanded." the real object kept in view by the queen's government was, in short, to obtain for the provinces and for the general cause of liberty the greatest possible amount of assistance from henry, and to allow him to acquire in return the least possible amount of power. the end proposed was a reasonable one, but the means employed savoured too much of intrigue. "it may be easily made probable to the states," said the lord treasurer, "that the government of the french is likely to prove as cumbersome and perilous as that of the spaniards; and likewise it may probably be doubted how the french will keep touch and covenants with them, when any opportunity shall be offered to break them; so that her majesty thinketh no good can be looked for to those countries by yielding this large authority to the french. if they shall continue their title by this grant to be absolute lords, there is no end, for a long time, to be expected of this war; and, contrariwise, if they break off, there is an end of any good composition with the king of spain." shivering and shrinking, but still wading in deeper and deeper, inch by inch, the cautious minister was fast finding himself too far advanced to retreat. he was rarely decided, however, and never lucid; and least of all in emergencies, when decision and lucidity would have been more valuable than any other qualities. deeply doubting, painfully balancing, he at times drove the unfortunate davison almost distraught. puzzled himself and still more puzzling to others, he rarely permitted the netherlanders, or even his own agents, to perceive his drift. it was fair enough, perhaps, to circumvent the french government by its own arts, but the netherlanders meanwhile were in danger of sinking into despair. "thus," wrote the lord treasurer to the envoy, "i have discoursed to you of these uncertainties and difficulties, things not unknown to yourself, but now being imparted to you by her majesty's commandment, you are, by your wisdom, to consider with whom to deal for the stay of this french course, and yet, so to use it (as near as you may) that they of the french faction there be not able to charge you therewith, by-advertising into france. for it hath already appeared, by some speeches past between our ambassador there and des pruneaux, that you are had in some jealousy as a hinderer of this french course, and at work for her majesty to have some entrance and partage in that country. nevertheless our ambassador; by his answer, hath satisfied them to think the contrary." they must have been easily satisfied, if they knew as much of the dealings of her majesty's government as the reader already knows. to inspire doubt of the french, to insinuate the probability of their not "keeping touch and covenant," to represent their rule as "cumbersome and perilous," was wholesome conduct enough towards the netherlanders--and still more so, had it been accompanied with frank offers of assistance--but it was certainly somewhat to "hinder the courses of the french." but in truth all parties were engaged for a season in a round game of deception, in which nobody was deceived. walsingham was impatient, almost indignant at this puerility. "your doings, no doubt of it," he wrote to davison, "are observed by the french faction, and therefore you cannot proceed so closely but it will be espied. howsoever it be, seeing direction groweth from hence, we cannot but blame ourselves, if the effects thereof do not fall out to our liking." that sagacious statesman was too well informed, and too much accustomed to penetrate the designs of his antagonists, to expect anything from the present intrigues. to loiter thus, when mortal blows should be struck, was to give the spanish government exactly that of which it was always most gluttonous--time; and the netherlanders had none of it to spare. "with time and myself, there are two of us," was philip ii.'s favourite observation; and the prince of parma was at this moment sorely perplexed by the parsimony and the hesitations of his own government, by which his large, swift and most creative genius was so often hampered. thus the spanish soldiers, deep in the trenches, went with bare legs and empty stomachs in january; and the dutchmen, among their broken dykes, were up to their ears in mud and water; and german mercenaries, in the obedient provinces, were burning the peasants' houses in order to sell the iron to buy food withal; while grave-visaged statesmen, in comfortable cabinets, wagged their long white beards at each other from a distance, and exchanged grimaces and protocols which nobody heeded. walsingham was weary of this solemn trifling. "i conclude," said he to davison, "that her majesty--with reverence be it spoken--is ill advised, to direct you in a course that is like to work so great peril. i know you will do your best endeavour to keep all things upright, and yet it is hard--the disease being now come to this state, or, as the physicians term it, crisis--to carry yourself in such sort, but that it will, i fear, breed a dangerous alteration in the cause." he denounced with impatience, almost with indignation, the insincerity and injustice of these intolerable hesitations. "sorry am i," said he, "to see the course that is taken in this weighty cause, for we will neither help those poor countries ourselves, nor yet suffer others to do it. i am not ignorant that in time to come the annexing of these countries to the crown of france may prove prejudicial to england, but if france refuse to deal with them, and the rather for that we shall minister some cause of impediment by a kind of dealing underhand, then shall they be forced to return into the hands of spain, which is like to breed such a present peril towards her majesty's self, as never a wise man that seeth it, and loveth her, but lamenteth it from the bottom of his heart." walsingham had made up his mind that it was england, not france, that should take up the cause of the provinces, and defend them at every hazard. he had been overruled, and the queen's government had decided to watch the course of the french negotiation, doing what it could, underhand, to prevent that negotiation from being successful. the secretary did not approve of this disingenuous course. at the same time he had no faith in the good intentions of the french court. "i could wish," said he, "that the french king were carried with that honourable mind into the defence of these countries that her majesty is, but france has not been used to do things for god's sake; neither do they mean to use our advice or assistance in making of the bargain. for they still hold a jealous conceit that when spain and they are together by the ears, we will seek underhand to work our own peace." walsingham, therefore, earnestly deprecated the attitude provisionally maintained by england. meantime, early in january, (jan. , ) the deputation from the provinces had arrived in france. the progress of their negotiation will soon be related, but, before its result was known, a general dissatisfaction had already manifested itself in the netherlands. the factitious enthusiasm which had been created in favour of france, as well as the prejudice against england, began to die out. it became probable in the opinion of those most accustomed to read the signs of the times, that the french court was acting in connivance with philip, and that the negotiation was only intended to amuse the netherlanders, to circumvent the english, and to gain time both for france and spain. it was not believed that the character of henry or the policy of his mother was likely to the cause of any substantial aid to the cause of civil liberty or protestant principles. "they look for no better fruit from the commission to france," wrote davison, who surveyed the general state of affairs with much keenness and breadth of vision, "than a dallying entertainment of the time, neither leaving them utterly hopeless, nor at full liberty to seek for relief elsewhere, especially in england, or else some pleasing motion of peace, wherein the french king will offer his mediation with spain. meantime the people, wearied with the troubles, charges, and hazard of the war, shall be rocked asleep, the provision for their defence neglected, some provinces nearest the danger seduced, the rest by their defection astonished, and the enemy by their decay and confusions, strengthened. this is the scope whereto the doings of the french king, not without intelligence with the spanish sovereign, doth aim, whatever is pretended." there was a wide conviction that the french king was dealing falsely with the provinces. it seemed certain that he must be inspired by intense jealousy of england, and that he was unlikely, for the sake of those whose "religion, popular liberty, and rebellion against their sovereign," he could not but disapprove, to allow queen elizabeth to steal a march upon him, and "make her own market with spain to his cost and disadvantage." in short, it was suspected--whether justly or not will be presently shown--that henry iii. "was seeking to blear the eyes of the world, as his brother charles did before the massacre of st. bartholomew." as the letters received from the dutch envoys in france became less and less encouraging, and as the queen was informed by her ambassador in paris of the tergiversations in paris, she became the more anxious lest the states should be driven to despair. she therefore wrote to davison, instructing him "to nourish in them underhand some hope--as a thing proceeding from himself--that though france should reject them, yet she would not abandon them." he was directed to find out, by circuitous means, what towns they would offer to her as security for any advances she might be induced to make, and to ascertain the amount of monthly contributions towards the support of the war that they were still capable of furnishing. she was beginning to look with dismay at the expatriation of wealthy merchants and manufacturers going so rapidly forward, now that ghent had fallen and brussels and antwerp were in such imminent peril. she feared that, while so much valuable time had been thrown away, the provinces had become too much impoverished to do their own part in their own defence; and she was seriously alarmed at rumours which had become prevalent of a popular disposition towards treating for a peace at any price with spain. it soon became evident that these rumours were utterly without foundation, but the other reasons for elizabeth's anxiety were sufficiently valid. on the whole, the feeling in favour of england was rapidly gaining ground. in holland especially there was general indignation against the french party. the letters of the deputies occasioned "murmur and mislike" of most persons, who noted them to contain "more ample report of ceremonies and compliments than solid argument of comfort." sir edward stafford, who looked with great penetration into the heart of the mysterious proceedings at paris, assured his government that no better result was to be looked for, "after long dalliance and entertainment, than either a flat refusal or such a masked embracing of their cause, as would rather tend to the increasing of their miseries and confusion than relief for their declining estate." while "reposing upon a broken reed," they were, he thought, "neglecting other means more expedient for their necessities." this was already the universal opinion in holland. men now remembered, with bitterness, the treachery of the duke of anjou, which they had been striving so hard to forget, but which less than two years ago had nearly proved fatal to the cause of liberty in the provinces. a committee of the states had an interview with the queen's envoy at the hague; implored her majesty through him not to abandon their cause; expressed unlimited regret for the course which had been pursued, and avowed a determination "to pluck their heads out of the collar," so soon as the opportunity should offer. they stated, moreover, that they had been directed by the assembly to lay before him the instructions for the envoys to france, and the articles proposed for the acceptance of the king. the envoy knew his business better than not to have secretly provided himself with copies of these documents, which he had already laid before his own government. he affected, however, to feel hurt that he had been thus kept in ignorance of papers which he really knew by heart. "after some pretended quarrel," said he, "for their not acquainting me therewith sooner, i did accept them, as if i had before neither seen nor heard of them." this then was the aspect of affairs in the provinces during the absence of the deputies in france. it is now necessary to shift the scene to that country. chapter iv. reception of the dutch envoys at the louvre--ignominious result of the embassy--secret influences at work--bargaining between the french and spanish courts--claims of catharine de' medici upon portugal--letters of henry and catharine--secret proposal by france to invade england--states' mission to henry of navarre--subsidies of philip to guise--treaty of joinville--philip's share in the league denied by parma--philip in reality its chief--manifesto of the league--attitude of henry iii. and of navarre--the league demands a royal decree--designs of france and spain against england --secret interview of mendoza and villeroy--complaints of english persecution--edict of nemours--excommunication of navarre and his reply. the king, notwithstanding his apparent reluctance, had, in sir edward stafford's language, "nibbled at the bait." he had, however, not been secured at the first attempt, and now a second effort was to be made, under what were supposed to be most favourable circumstances. in accordance with his own instructions, his envoy, des pruneaux, had been busily employed in the states, arranging the terms of a treaty which should be entirely satisfactory. it had been laid down as an indispensable condition that holland and zeeland should unite in the offer of sovereignty, and, after the expenditure of much eloquence, diplomacy, and money, holland and zeeland had given their consent. the court had been for some time anxious and impatient for the arrival of the deputies. early in december, des pruneaux wrote from paris to count maurice, urging with some asperity, the necessity of immediate action. "when i left you," he said, "i thought that performance would follow promises. i have been a little ashamed, as the time passed by, to hear nothing of the deputies, nor of any excuse on the subject. it would seem as though god had bandaged the eyes of those who have so much cause to know their own adversity." to the states his language was still more insolent. "excuse me, gentlemen," he said, "if i tell you that i blush at hearing nothing from you. i shall have the shame and you the damage. i regret much the capture of de teligny, and other losses which are occasioned by your delays and want of resolution." thus did the french court, which a few months before had imprisoned, and then almost ignominiously dismissed the envoys who came to offer the sovereignty of the provinces, now rebuke the governments which had ever since been strenuously engaged in removing all obstacles to the entire fulfillment of the king's demands. the states were just despatching a solemn embassy to renew that offer, with hardly any limitation as to terms. the envoys arrived on january rd, , at boulogne, after a stormy voyage from brielle. yet it seems incredible to relate, that, after all the ignominy heaped upon the last, there was nothing but solemn trifling in reserve for the present legation; although the object of both embassies was to offer a crown. the deputies were, however, not kept in prison, upon this occasion, nor treated like thieves or spies. they were admirably lodged, with plenty of cooks and lacqueys to minister to them; they fared sumptuously every day, at henry's expense, and, after they had been six weeks in the kingdom, they at last succeeded in obtaining their first audience. on the th february the king sent five "very splendid, richly-gilded, court-coach-waggons" to bring the envoys to the palace. at one o'clock they arrived at the louvre, and were ushered through four magnificent antechambers into the royal cabinet. the apartments through which they passed swarmed with the foremost nobles, court-functionaries, and ladies of france, in blazing gala costume, who all greeted the envoys with demonstrations of extreme respect: the halls and corridors were lined with archers, halbardiers, swiss guards, and grooms "besmeared with gold," and it was thought that all this rustle of fine feathers would be somewhat startling to the barbarous republicans, fresh from the fens of holland. henry received them in his cabinet, where he was accompanied only by the duke of joyeuse--his foremost and bravest "minion"--by the count of bouscaige, m. de valette, and the count of chateau vieux. the most christian king was neatly dressed, in white satin doublet and hose, and well-starched ruff, with a short cloak on his shoulders, a little velvet cap on the side of his head, his long locks duly perfumed and curled, his sword at his side, and a little basket, full of puppies, suspended from his neck by a broad ribbon. he held himself stiff and motionless, although his face smiled a good-humoured welcome to the ambassadors; and he moved neither foot, hand, nor head, as they advanced. chancellor leoninus, the most experienced, eloquent, and tedious of men, now made an interminable oration, fertile in rhetoric and barren in facts; and the king made a short and benignant reply, according to the hallowed formula in such cases provided. and then there was a presentation to the queen, and to the queen-mother, when leoninus was more prolix than before, and catharine even more affectionate than her son; and there were consultations with chiverny and villeroy, and brulart and pruneaux, and great banquets at the royal expense, and bales of protocols, and drafts of articles, and conditions and programmes and apostilles by the hundred weight, and at last articles of annexation were presented by the envoys, and pruneaux looked at and pronounced them "too raw and imperative," and the envoys took them home again, and dressed them and cooked them till there was no substance left in them; for whereas the envoys originally offered the crown of their country to france, on condition that no religion but the reformed religion should be tolerated there, no appointments made but by the states, and no security offered for advances to be made by the christian king, save the hearts and oaths of his new subjects--so they now ended by proposing the sovereignty unconditionally, almost abjectly; and, after the expiration of nearly three months, even these terms were absolutely refused, and the deputies were graciously permitted to go home as they came. the annexation and sovereignty were definitely declined. henry regretted and sighed, catharine de' medici wept--for tears were ever at her command--chancellor chiverny and secretary brulart wept likewise, and pruneaux was overcome with emotion at the parting interview of the ambassadors with the court, in which they were allowed a last opportunity for expressing what was called their gratitude. and then, on the lath march, m. d'oignon came to them, and presented, on the part of the king, to each of the envoys a gold chain weighing twenty-one ounces and two grains. des pruneaux, too--des pruneaux who had spent the previous summer in the netherlands, who had travelled from province to province, from city to city, at the king's command, offering boundless assistance, if they would unanimously offer their sovereignty; who had vanquished by his importunity the resistance of the stern hollanders, the last of all the netherlanders to yield to the royal blandishments--des pruneaux, who had "blushed"--des pruneaux who had wept--now thought proper to assume an airy tone, half encouragement, half condolence. "man proposes, gentlemen," said he "but god disposes. we are frequently called on to observe that things have a great variety of times and terms. many a man is refused by a woman twice, who succeeds the third time," and so on, with which wholesome apothegms des pruneaux faded away then and for ever from the page of netherland history. in a few days afterwards the envoys took shipping at dieppe, and arrived early in april at the hague. and thus terminated the negotiation of the states with france. it had been a scene of elaborate trifling on the king's part from beginning to end. yet the few grains of wheat which have thus been extracted from the mountains of diplomatic chaff so long mouldering in national storehouses, contain, however dry and tasteless, still something for human nourishment. it is something to comprehend the ineffable meanness of the hands which then could hold the destiny of mighty empires. here had been offered a magnificent prize to france; a great extent of frontier in the quarter where expansion was most desirable, a protective network of towns and fortresses on the side most vulnerable, flourishing, cities on the sea-coast where the marine traffic was most lucrative, the sovereignty of a large population, the most bustling, enterprising, and hardy in europe--a nation destined in a few short years to become the first naval and commercial power in the world--all this was laid at the feet of henry valois and catharine de' medici, and rejected. the envoys, with their predecessors, had wasted eight months of most precious time; they had heard and made orations, they had read and written protocols, they had witnessed banquets, masquerades, and revels of stupendous frivolity, in honour of the english garter, brought solemnly to the valois by lord derby, accompanied by one hundred gentlemen "marvellously, sumptuously, and richly accoutred," during that dreadful winter when the inhabitants of brussels, antwerp, mechlin--to save which splendid cities and to annex them to france, was a main object of the solemn embassy from the netherlands--were eating rats, and cats, and dogs, and the weeds from the pavements, and the grass from the churchyards; and were finding themselves more closely pressed than ever by the relentless genius of farnese; and in exchange for all these losses and all this humiliation, the ambassadors now returned to their constituents, bringing an account of chiverny's magnificent banquets and long orations, of the smiles of henry iii., the tears of catharine de' medici, the regrets of m. des pruneaux, besides sixteen gold chains, each weighing twenty-one ounces and two grains. it is worth while to go for a moment behind the scene; we have seen the actors, with mask and cothurn and tinsel crown, playing their well-conned parts upon the stage. let us hear them threaten, and whimper, and chaffer among themselves. so soon as it was intimated that henry iii. was about to grant the netherland, envoys an audience, the wrath of ambassador mendoza was kindled. that magniloquent spaniard instantly claimed an interview with the king, before whom, according to the statement of his colleagues, doing their best to pry into these secrets, he blustered and bounced, and was more fantastical in his insolence than even spanish envoy had ever been before. "he went presently to court," so walsingham was informed by stafford, "and dealt very passionately with the king and queen-mother to deny them audience, who being greatly offended with his presumptuous and malapert manner of proceeding, the king did in choler and with some sharp speeches, let him plainly understand that he was an absolute king, bound to yield account of his doings to no man, and that it was lawful for him to give access to any man within his own realm. the queen-mother answered him likewise very roundly, whereupon he departed for the time, very much discontented." brave words, on both sides, if they had ever been spoken, or if there had been any action corresponding to their spirit. but, in truth, from the beginning, henry and his mother saw in the netherland embassy only the means of turning a dishonest penny. since the disastrous retreat of anjou from the provinces, the city of cambray had remained in the hands of the seigneur de balagny, placed there by the duke. the citadel, garrisoned by french troops, it was not the intention of catharine de' medici to restore to philip, and a truce on the subject had been arranged provisionally for a year. philip, taking parma's advice to prevent the french court, if possible, from "fomenting the netherland rebellion," had authorized the prince to conclude that truce, as if done on his own responsibility, and not by royal order. meantime, balagny was gradually swelling into a petty potentate, on his own account, making himself very troublesome to the prince of parma, and requiring a great deal of watching. cambray was however apparently acquired for france. but, besides this acquisition, there was another way of earning something solid, by turning this netherland matter handsomely to account. philip ii. had recently conquered portugal. among the many pretensions to that crown, those of catherine de' medici had been put forward, but had been little heeded. the claim went back more than three hundred years, and to establish its validity would have been to convert the peaceable possession of a long line of sovereigns into usurpation. to ascend to alphonso iii. was like fetching, as it was said, a claim from evander's grandmother. nevertheless, ever since philip had been upon the portuguese throne, catherine had been watching the opportunity, not of unseating that sovereign, but of converting her claim into money. the netherland embassy seemed to offer the coveted opportunity. there was, therefore, quite as much warmth at the outset, on the part of mendoza, in that first interview after the arrival of the deputies, as had been represented. there was however less dignity and more cunning on the part of henry and catherine than was at all suspected. even before that conference the king had been impatiently expecting overtures from the spanish envoy, and had been disappointed. "he told me," said henry, "that he would make proposals so soon as tassis should be gone, but he has done nothing yet. he said to gondi that all he meant was to get the truce of cambray accomplished. i hope, however, that my brother, the king of spain, will do what is right in regard to madam my mother's pretensions. 'tis likely that he will be now incited thereto, seeing that the deputies of all the netherland provinces are at present in my kingdom, to offer me carte blanche. i shall hear what they have to say, and do exactly what the good of my own affairs shall seem to require. the queen of england, too, has been very pressing and urgent with me for several months on this subject. i shall hear, too, what she has to say, and i presume, if the king of spain will now disclose himself, and do promptly what he ought, that we may set christendom at rest." henry then instructed his ambassador in spain to keep his eyes wide open, in order to penetrate the schemes of philip, and to this end ordered him an increase of salary by a third, that he might follow that monarch on his journey to arragon. meanwhile mendoza had audience of his majesty. "he made a very pressing remonstrance," said the king, "concerning the arrival of these deputies, urging me to send them back at once; denouncing them as disobedient rebels and heretics. i replied that my kingdom was free, and that i should hear from them all that they had to say, because i could not abandon madam my mother in her pretensions, not only for the filial obedience which i owe her, but because i am her only heir. mendoza replied that he should go and make the same remonstrance to the queen-mother, which he accordingly did, and she will herself write you what passed between them. if they do not act up to their duty down there i know how to take my revenge upon them." this is the king's own statement--his veriest words--and he was surely best aware of what occurred between himself and mendoza, under their four eyes only. the ambassador is not represented as extremely insolent, but only pressing; and certainly there is little left of the fine periods on henry's part about listening to the cry of the oppressed, or preventing the rays of his ancestors' diadem from growing pale, with which contemporary chronicles are filled. there was not one word of the advancement and glory of the french nation; not a hint of the fame to be acquired by a magnificent expansion of territory, still less of the duty to deal generously or even honestly with an oppressed people, who in good faith were seeking an asylum in exchange for offered sovereignty, not a syllable upon liberty of conscience, of religious or civil rights; nothing but a petty and exclusive care for the interests of his mother's pocket, and of his own as his mother's heir. this farthing-candle was alone to guide the steps of "the high and mighty king," whose reputation was perpetually represented as so precious to him in all the conferences between his ministers and the netherland deputies. was it possible for those envoys to imagine the almost invisible meanness of such childish tricks? the queen-mother was still more explicit and unblushing throughout the whole affair. "the ambassador of spain," she said, "has made the most beautiful remonstrances he could think of about these deputies from the netherlands. all his talk, however, cannot persuade me to anything else save to increase my desire to have reparation for the wrong that has been done me in regard to my claims upon portugal, which i am determined to pursue by every means within my power. nevertheless i have told don bernardino that i should always be ready to embrace any course likely to bring about a peaceful conclusion. he then entered into a discussion of my rights, which, he said, were not thought in spain to be founded in justice. but when i explained to him the principal points (of which i possess all the pieces of evidence and justification), he hardly knew what to say, save that he was astounded that i had remained so long without speaking of my claims. in reply, i told him ingenuously the truth." the truth which the ingenuous catharine thus revealed was, in brief, that all her predecessors had been minors, women, and persons in situations not to make their rights valid. finding herself more highly placed, she had advanced her claims, which had been so fully recognized in portugal, that she had been received as infanta of the kingdom. all pretensions to the throne being now through women only, hers were the best of any. at all this don bernardino expressed profound astonishment, and promised to send a full account to his master of "the infinite words" which had passed between them at this interview! "i desire," said catharine, "that the lord king of spain should open his mind frankly and promptly upon the recompense which he is willing to make me for portugal, in order that things may pass rather with gentleness than otherwise." it was expecting a great deal to look for frankness and promptness from the lord king of spain, but the queen-mother considered that the netherland envoys had put a whip into her hand. she was also determined to bring philip up to the point, without showing her own game. "i will never say," said catharine--ingenuous no longer--"i will never say how much i ask, but, on the contrary, i shall wait for him to make the offer. i expect it to be reasonable, because he has seen fit to seize and occupy that which i declare to be my property." this is the explanation of all the languor and trifling of the french court in the netherland negotiation. a deep, constant, unseen current was running counter to all the movement which appeared upon the surface. the tergiversations of the spanish cabinet in the portugal matter were the cause of the shufflings of the french ministers on the subject of the provinces. "i know well," said henry a few days later, "that the people down there, and their ambassador here, are leading us on with words, as far as they can, with regard to the recompense of madam my mother for her claims upon portugal. but they had better remember (and i think they will), that out of the offers which these sixteen deputies of the netherlands are bringing me--and i believe it to be carte blanche--i shall be able to pay myself. 'twill be better to come promptly to a good bargain and a brief conclusion, than to spin the matter out longer." "don bernardino," said the queen-mother on the same day, "has been keeping us up to this hour in hopes of a good offer, but 'tis to be feared, for the good of christendom, that 'twill be too late. the deputies are come, bringing carte blanche. nevertheless, if the king of spain is willing to be reasonable, and that instantly, it will be well, and it would seem as if god had been pleased to place this means in our hands." after the conferences had been fairly got under way between the french government and the envoys, the demands upon philip for a good bargain and a handsome offer became still more pressing. "i have given audience to the deputies from the provinces," wrote henry, "and the queen-mother has done the same. chancellor chiverny, villequier, bellievre, and brulart, will now confer with them from day today. i now tell you that it will be well, before things go any farther, for the king of spain to come to reason about the pretensions of madam mother. this will be a means of establishing the repose of christendom. i shall be very willing to concur in such an arrangement, if i saw any approximation to it on the part of the king or his ministers. but i fear they will delay too long, and so you had better tell them. push them to the point as much as possible, without letting them suspect that i have been writing about it, for that would make them rather draw back than come forward." at the same time, during this alternate threatening and coaxing between the french and the spanish court, and in the midst of all the solemn and tedious protocolling of the ministry and the dutch envoys, there was a most sincere and affectionate intercourse maintained between henry iii. and the prince of parma. the spanish governor-general was assured that nothing but the warmest regard was entertained for him and his master on the part of the french court. parma had replied, however, that so many french troops had in times past crossed the frontier to assist the rebels, that he hardly knew what to think. he expressed the hope, now that the duke of anjou was dead, that his christian majesty would not countenance the rebellion, but manifest his good-will. "how can your highness doubt it," said malpierre, henry's envoy, "for his majesty has given proof enough of his good will, having prevented all enterprises in this regard, and preferred to have his own subjects cut into pieces rather than that they should carry out their designs. had his majesty been willing merely to connive at these undertakings, 'tis probable that the affairs of your highness would not have succeeded so well as they have done." with regard to england, also, the conduct of henry and his mother in these negotiations was marked by the same unfathomable duplicity. there was an appearance of cordiality on the surface; but there was deep plotting, and bargaining, and even deadly hostility lurking below. we have seen the efforts which elizabeth's government had been making to counteract the policy which offered the sovereignty of the provinces to the french monarch. at the same time there was at least a loyal disposition upon the queen's part to assist the netherlands, in concurrence with henry. the demeanour of burghley and his colleagues was frankness itself, compared with the secret schemings of the valois; for at least peace and good-will between the "triumvirate" of france, england and the netherlands, was intended, as the true means of resisting the predominant influence of spain. yet very soon after the solemn reception by henry of the garter brought by lord derby, and in the midst of the negotiations between the french court and the united provinces, the french king was not only attempting to barter the sovereignty offered him by the netherlanders against a handsome recompense for the portugal claim, but he was actually proposing to the king of spain to join with him in an invasion of england! even philip himself must have admired and respected such a complication of villany on the part of his most christian brother. he was, however, not disposed to put any confidence in his schemes. "with regard to the attempt against england," wrote philip to mendoza, "you must keep your eyes open--you must look at the danger of letting them, before they have got rid of their rivals and reduced their heretics, go out of their own house and kingdom, and thus of being made fools of when they think of coming back again. let them first exterminate the heretics of france, and then we will look after those of england; because 'tis more important to finish those who are near than those afar off. perhaps the queen-mother proposes this invasion in order to proceed more feebly with matters in her own kingdom; and thus mucio (duke of guise) and his friends will not have so safe a game, and must take heed lest they be deceived." thus it is obvious that henry and catharine intended, on the whole, to deceive the english and the netherlanders, and to get as good a bargain and as safe a friendship from philip as could be manufactured out of the materials placed in the french king's hands by the united provinces. elizabeth honestly wished well to the states, but allowed burghley and those who acted with him to flatter themselves with the chimera that henry could be induced to protect the netherlands without assuming the sovereignty of that commonwealth. the provinces were fighting for their existence, unconscious of their latent strength, and willing to trust to france or to england, if they could only save themselves from being swallowed by spain. as for spain itself, that country was more practised in duplicity even than the government of the medici-valois, and was of course more than a match at the game of deception for the franker politicians of england and holland. the king of navarre had meanwhile been looking on at a distance. too keen an observer, too subtle a reasoner to doubt the secret source of the movements then agitating france to its centre, he was yet unable to foresee the turn that all these intrigues were about to take. he could hardly doubt that spain was playing a dark and desperate game with the unfortunate henry iii.; for, as we have seen, he had himself not long before received a secret and liberal offer from philip ii., if he would agree to make war upon the king. but the bearnese was not the man to play into the hands of spain, nor could he imagine the possibility of the valois or even of his mother taking so suicidal a course. after the netherland deputies had received their final dismissal from the king, they sent calvart, who had been secretary to their embassy, on a secret mission to henry of navarre, then resident at chartres. the envoy communicated to the huguenot chief the meagre result of the long negotiation with the french court. henry bade him be of good cheer, and assured him of his best wishes for their cause. he expressed the opinion that the king of france would now either attempt to overcome the guise faction by gentle means, or at once make war upon them. the bishop of acqs had strongly recommended the french monarch to send the king of navarre, with a strong force, to the assistance of the netherlands, urging the point with much fervid eloquence and solid argument. henry for a moment had seemed impressed, but such a vigorous proceeding was of course entirely beyond his strength, and he had sunk back into his effeminate languor so soon as the bold bishop's back was turned. the bearnese had naturally conceived but little hope that such a scheme would be carried into effect; but he assured calvart, that nothing could give him greater delight than to mount and ride in such a cause. "notwithstanding," said the bearnese, "that the villanous intentions of the guises are becoming plainer and plainer, and that they are obviously supplied with spanish dollars, i shall send a special envoy to the most christian king, and, although 'tis somewhat late, implore him to throw his weight into the scale, in order to redeem your country from its misery. meantime be of good heart, and defend as you have done your hearths, your liberty, and the honour of god." he advised the states unhesitatingly to continue their confidence in the french king, and to keep him informed of their plans and movements; expressing the opinion that these very intrigues of the guise party would soon justify or even force henry iii. openly to assist the netherlands. so far, at that very moment, was so sharp a politician as the bearnese from suspecting the secret schemes of henry of valois. calvart urged the king of navarre to assist the states at that moment with some slight subsidy. antwerp was in such imminent danger as to fill the hearts of all true patriots with dismay; and a timely succour, even if a slender one, might be of inestimable value. henry expressed profound regret that his own means were so limited, and his own position so dangerous, as to make it difficult for him to manifest in broad daylight the full affection which he bore the provinces. "to my sorrow," said he, "your proposition is made in the midst of such dark and stormy weather, that those who have clearest sight are unable to see to what issue these troubles of france are tending." nevertheless, with much generosity and manliness, he promised calvart to send two thousand soldiers, at his own charges, to the provinces without delay; and authorised that envoy to consult with his agent at the court of the french king, in order to obtain the royal permission for the troops to cross the frontier. the crownless and almost houseless king had thus, at a single interview, and in exchange for nothing but good wishes, granted what the most christian monarch of france had refused, after months of negotiation, and with sovereignty as the purchase-money. the envoy, well pleased, sped as swiftly as possible to paris; but, as may easily be imagined, henry of valois forbade the movement contemplated by henry of navarre. "his majesty," said villeroy, secretary of state, "sees no occasion, in so weighty a business, thus suddenly to change his mind; the less so, because he hopes to be able ere long to smooth over these troubles which have begun in france. should the king either openly or secretly assist the netherlands or allow them to be assisted, 'twould be a reason for all the catholics now sustaining his majesty's party to go over to the guise faction. the provinces must remain firm, and make no pacification with the enemy. meantime the queen of england is the only one to whom god has given means to afford you succour. one of these days, when the proper time comes, his majesty will assist her in affording you relief." calvart, after this conference with the king of navarre, and subsequently with the government, entertained a lingering hope that the french king meant to assist the provinces. "i know well who is the author of these troubles," said the unhappy monarch, who never once mentioned the name of guise in all those conferences, "but, if god grant me life, i will give him as good as he sends, and make him rue his conduct." they were not aware after how many strange vacillations henry was one day to wreak this threatened vengeance. as for navarre, he remained upon the watch, good humoured as ever, more merry and hopeful as the tempest grew blacker; manifesting the most frank and friendly sentiments towards the provinces, and writing to queen elizabeth in the chivalrous style so dear to the heart of that sovereign, that he desired nothing better than to be her "servant and captain-general against the common enemy." but, indeed, the french king was not so well informed as he imagined himself to be of the authorship of these troubles. mucio, upon whose head he thus threatened vengeance, was but the instrument. the concealed hand that was directing all these odious intrigues, and lighting these flames of civil war which were so long to make france a scene of desolation, was that of the industrious letter-writer in the escorial. that which henry of navarre shrewdly suspected, when he talked of the spanish dollars in the balafre's pocket, that which was dimly visible to the bishop of acqs when he told henry iii. that the "tagus had emptied itself into the seine and loire, and that the gold of mexico was flowing into the royal cabinet," was much more certain than they supposed. philip, in truth, was neglecting his own most pressing interests that he might direct all his energies towards entertaining civil war in france. that france should remain internally at peace was contrary to all his plans. he had therefore long kept guise and his brother, the cardinal de lorraine, in his pay, and he had been spending large sums of money to bribe many of the most considerable functionaries in the kingdom. the most important enterprises in the netherlands were allowed to languish, that these subterranean operations of the "prudent" monarch of spain should be pushed forward. the most brilliant and original genius that philip had the good fortune to have at his disposal, the genius of alexander farnese, was cramped and irritated almost to madness, by the fetters imposed upon it, by the sluggish yet obstinate nature of him it was bound to obey. farnese was at that moment engaged in a most arduous military undertaking, that famous siege of antwerp, the details of which will be related in future chapters, yet he was never furnished with men or money enough to ensure success to a much more ordinary operation. his complaints, subdued but intense, fell almost unheeded on his master's ear. he had not "ten dollars at his command," his cavalry horses were all dead of hunger or had been eaten by their riders, who were starving to death themselves, his army had dwindled to a "handful," yet he still held on to his purpose, in spite of famine, the desperate efforts of indefatigable enemies, and all the perils and privations of a deadly winter. he, too, was kept for a long time in profound ignorance of philip's designs. meantime, while the spanish soldiers were starving in flanders, philip's dollars were employed by mucio and his adherents in enlisting troops in switzerland and germany, in order to carry on the civil war in france. the french king was held systematically up to ridicule or detestation in every village-pulpit in his own kingdom, while the sister of mucio, the duchess of montpensier, carried the scissors at her girdle, with which she threatened to provide henry with a third crown, in addition to those of france and poland, which he had disgraced--the coronal tonsure of a monk. the convent should be, it was intimated, the eventual fate of the modern childeric, but meantime it was more important than ever to supersede the ultimate pretensions of henry of navarre. to prevent that heretic of heretics, who was not to be bought with spanish gold, from ever reigning, was the first object of philip and mucio. accordingly, on the last day of the year , a secret treaty had been signed at joinville between henry of guise and his brother the duc de mayenne, holding the proxies of their brother the cardinal and those of their uncles, aumale and elbeuf, on the one part, and john baptist tassis and commander moreo, on the other, as representatives of philip. this transaction, sufficiently well known now to the most superficial student of history, was a profound mystery then, so far as regarded the action of the spanish king. it was not a secret, however, that the papistical party did not intend that the bearnese prince should ever come to the throne, and the matter of the succession was discussed, precisely as if the throne had been vacant. it was decided that charles, paternal uncle to henry of navarre, commonly called the cardinal bourbon, should be considered successor to the crown, in place of henry, whose claim was forfeited by heresy. moreover, a great deal of superfluous money and learning was expended in ordering some elaborate legal arguments to be prepared by venal jurisconsults, proving not only that the uncle ought to succeed before the nephew, but that neither the one nor the other had any claim to succeed at all. the pea having thus been employed to do the work which the sword alone could accomplish, the poor old cardinal was now formally established by the guise faction as presumptive heir to the crown. a man of straw, a superannuated court-dangler, a credulous trifler, but an earnest papist as his brother antony had been, sixty-six years old, and feeble beyond his years, who, his life long, had never achieved one manly action, and had now one foot in the grave; this was the puppet placed in the saddle to run a tilt against the bearnese, the man with foot ever in the stirrup, with sword rarely in its sheath. the contracting parties at joinville agreed that the cardinal should succeed on the death of the reigning king, and that no heretic should ever ascend the throne, or hold the meanest office in the kingdom. they agreed further that all heretics should be "exterminated" without distinction throughout france and the netherlands. in order to procure the necessary reforms among the clergy, the council of trent was to be fully carried into effect. philip pledged himself to furnish at least fifty thousand crowns monthly, for the advancement of this holy league, as it was denominated, and as much more as should prove necessary. the sums advanced were to be repaid by the cardinal on his succeeding to the throne. all the great officers of the crown, lords and gentlemen, cities, chapters, and universities, all catholics, in short, in the kingdom, were deemed to be included in the league. if any foreign catholic prince desired to enter the union, he should be admitted with the consent of both parties. neither his catholic majesty nor the confederated princes should treat with the most christian king, either directly or indirectly. the compact was to remain strictly secret--one copy of it being sent to philip, while the other was to be retained by cardinal bourbon and his fellow leaguers. and now--in accordance with this program--philip proceeded stealthily and industriously to further the schemes of mucio, to the exclusion of more urgent business. noiseless and secret himself, and delighting in clothing so much as to glide, as it were, throughout europe, wrapped in the mantle of invisibility, he was perpetually provoked by the noise, the bombast, and the bustle, which his less prudent confederates permitted themselves. while philip for a long time hesitated to confide the secret of the league to parma, whom it most imported to understand these schemes of his master, the confederates were openly boasting of the assistance which they were to derive from parma's cooperation. even when the prince had at last been informed as to the state of affairs, he stoutly denied the facts of which the leaguers made their vaunt; thus giving to mucio and his friends a lesson in dissimulation. "things have now arrived at a point," wrote philip to tassis, th march, , "that this matter of the league cannot and ought not to be concealed from those who have a right to know it. therefore you must speak clearly to the prince of parma, informing him of the whole scheme, and enjoining the utmost secrecy. you must concert with him as to the best means of rendering aid to this cause, after having apprised him of the points which regarded him, and also that of the security of cardinal de bourbon, in case of necessity." the prince was anything but pleased, in the midst of his anxiety and his almost superhuman labour in the antwerp siege, to be distracted, impoverished, and weakened, in order to carry out these schemes against france; but he kept the secret manfully. to malpierre, the french envoy in brussels--for there was the closest diplomatic communication between henry iii. and philip, while each was tampering with the rebellious subjects of the other--to malpierre parma flatly contradicted all complicity on the part of the spanish king or himself with the holy league, of which he knew philip to be the originator and the chief. "if i complain to the prince of parma," said the envoy, "of the companies going from flanders to assist the league, he will make me no other reply than that which the president has done--that there is nothing at all in it--until they are fairly arrived in france. the president (richardot) said that if the catholic king belonged to the league, as they insinuate, his majesty would declare the fact openly." and a few days later, the prince himself averred, as malpierre had anticipated, that "as to any intention on the part of himself or his catholic majesty, to send succour to the league, according to the boast of these gentlemen, he had never thought of such a thing, nor had received any order on the subject from his master. if the king intended to do anything of the kind, he would do it openly. he protested that he had never seen anything, or known anything of the league." here was a man who knew how to keep a secret, and who had no scruples in the matter of dissimulation, however enraged he might be at seeing men and money diverted from his own masterly combinations in order to carry out these schemes of his master. mucio, on the contrary, was imprudent and inclined to boast. his contempt for henry iii, made him blind to the dangers to be apprehended from henry of navarre. he did little, but talked a great deal. philip was very anxious that the work should be done both secretly and thoroughly. "let the business be finished before saint john's day," said he to tassis, when sending fifty thousand dollars for the use of the brothers guise. "tell iniquez to warn them not to be sluggish. let them not begin in a lukewarm manner, but promise them plenty of assistance from me, if they conduct themselves properly. let them beware of wavering, or of falling into plans of conciliation. if they do their duty, i will do mine." but the guise faction moved slowly despite of philip's secret promptings. the truth is, that the means proposed by the spanish monarch were ludicrously inadequate to his plans, and it was idle to suppose that the world was to be turned upside down for his benefit, at the very low price which he was prepared to pay. nothing less than to exterminate all the heretics in christendom, to place himself on the thrones of france and of england, and to extinguish the last spark of rebellion in the netherlands, was his secret thought, and yet it was very difficult to get fifty thousand dollars from him from month to month. procrastinating and indolent himself, he was for ever rebuking the torpid movements of the guises. "let mucio set his game well at the outset," said he; "let him lay the axe to the root of the tree, for to be wasting time fruitlessly is sharpening the knife for himself." this was almost prophetic. when after so much talking and tampering, there began to be recrimination among the leaguers, philip was very angry with his subordinate. "here is mucio," said he, "trying to throw the blame of all the difficulties, which have arisen, upon us. not hastening, not keeping his secret, letting the execution of the enterprise grow cold, and lending an ear to suggestions about peace, without being sure of its conclusion, he has turned his followers into cowards, discredited his cause, and given the king of france opportunity to strengthen his force and improve his party. these are all very palpable things. i am willing to continue my friendship for them, but not, if, while they accept it, they permit themselves to complain, instead of manifesting gratitude." on the whole, however, the affairs of the league seemed prosperous. there was doubtless too much display among the confederates, but there was a growing uneasiness among the royalists. cardinal bourbon, discarding his ecclesiastical robes and scarlet stockings, paraded himself daily in public, clothed in military costume, with all the airs of royalty. many persons thought him mad. on the other hand, epergnon, the haughty minion-in-chief, who governed henry iii., and insulted all the world, was becoming almost polite. "the progress of the league," said busbecq, "is teaching the duc d' epergnon manners. 'tis a youth of such insolence, that without uncovering he would talk with men of royal descent, while they were bareheaded. 'tis a common jest now that he has found out where his hat is." thus, for a long time, a network of secret political combinations had been stretching itself over christendom. there were great movements of troops throughout germany, switzerland, the netherlands, slowly concentrating themselves upon france; yet, on the whole, the great mass of the populations, the men and women who were to pay, to fight, to starve, to be trampled upon, to be outraged, to be plundered, to be burned out of houses and home, to bleed, and to die, were merely ignorant, gaping spectators. that there was something very grave in prospect was obvious, but exactly what was impending they knew no more than the generation yet unborn. very noiselessly had the patient manager who sat in the escorial been making preparations for that european tragedy in which most of the actors had such fatal parts assigned them, and of which few of the spectators of its opening scenes were doomed to witness the conclusion. a shifting and glancing of lights, a vision of vanishing feet, a trampling and bustling of unseen crowds, movements of concealed machinery, a few incoherent words, much noise and confusion vague and incomprehensible, till at last the tinkling of a small bell, and a glimpse of the modest manager stealing away as the curtain was rising--such was the spectacle presented at midsummer . and in truth the opening picture was effective. sixteen black-robed, long-bearded netherland envoys stalking away, discomfited and indignant upon one side; catharine de' medici on the other, regarding them with a sneer, painfully contorted into a pathetic smile; henry the king, robed in a sack of penitence, trembling and hesitating, leaning on the arm of epergnon, but quailing even under the protection of that mighty swordsman; mucio, careering, truncheon in hand, in full panoply, upon his war-horse, waving forward a mingled mass of german lanzknechts, swiss musketeers, and lorraine pikemen; the redoubtable don bernardino de mendoza, in front, frowning and ferocious, with his drawn sword in his hand; elizabeth of england, in the back ground, with the white-bearded burghley and the monastic walsingham, all surveying the scene with eyes of deepest meaning; and, somewhat aside, but in full view, silent, calm, and imperturbably good-humoured, the bold bearnese, standing with a mischievous but prophetic smile glittering through his blue eyes and curly beard--thus grouped were the personages of the drama in the introductory scenes. the course of public events which succeeded the departure of the netherland deputies is sufficiently well known. the secret negotiations and intrigues, however, by which those external facts were preceded or accompanied rest mainly in dusty archives, and it was therefore necessary to dwell somewhat at length upon them in the preceding pages. the treaty of joinville was signed on the last day of the year . we have seen the real nature of the interview of ambassador mendoza with henry iii. and his mother, which took place early in january, . immediately after that conference, don bernardino betook himself to the duke of guise, and lost no time in stimulating his confederate to prompt but secret action. the netherland envoys had their last audience on the th march, and their departure and disappointment was the signal for the general exhibition and explosion. the great civil war began, and the man who refused to annex the netherlands to the french kingdom soon ceased to be regarded as a king. on the st march, the heir presumptive, just manufactured by the guises, sent forth his manifesto. cardinal bourbon, by this document, declared that for twenty-four years past no proper measures had been taken to extirpate the heresy by which france was infested. there was no natural heir to the king. those who claimed to succeed at his death had deprived themselves, by heresy, of their rights. should they gain their ends, the ancient religion would be abolished throughout the kingdom, as it had been in england, and catholics be subjected to the same frightful tortures which they were experiencing there. new men, admitted to the confidence of the crown, clothed with the highest honours, and laden with enormous emoluments, had excluded the ancient and honoured functionaries of the state, who had been obliged to sell out their offices to these upstart successors. these new favourites had seized the finances of the kingdom, all of which were now collected into the private coffers of the king, and shared by him with his courtiers. the people were groaning under new taxes invented every day, yet they knew nothing of the distribution of the public treasure, while the king himself was so impoverished as to be unable to discharge his daily debts. meantime these new advisers of the crown had renewed to the protestants of the kingdom the religious privileges of which they had so justly been deprived, yet the religious peace which had followed had not brought with it the promised diminution of the popular burthens. never had the nation been so heavily taxed or reduced to such profound misery. for these reasons, he, cardinal bourbon, with other princes of the blood, peers, gentlemen, cities, and universities, had solemnly bound themselves by oath to extirpate heresy down to the last root, and to save the people from the dreadful load under which they were languishing. it was for this that they had taken up arms, and till that purpose was accomplished they would never lay them down. the paper concluded with the hope that his majesty would not take these warlike demonstrations amiss; and a copy of the document was placed in the royal hands. it was very obvious to the most superficial observer, that the manifesto was directed almost as much against the reigning sovereign as against henry of navarre. the adherents of the guise faction, and especially certain theologians in their employ, had taken very bold grounds upon the relations between king and subjects, and had made the public very familiar with their doctrines. it was a duty, they said, "to depose a prince who did not discharge his duty. authority ill regulated was robbery, and it was as absurd to call him a king who knew not how to govern, as it was to take a blind man for a guide, or to believe that a statue could influence the movements of living men." yet to the faction, inspired by such rebellious sentiments, and which was thundering in his face such tremendous denunciations, the unhappy henry could not find a single royal or manly word of reply. he threw himself on his knees, when, if ever, he should have assumed an attitude of command. he answered the insolence of the men, who were parading their contempt for his authority, by humble excuses, and supplications for pardon. he threw his crown in the dust before their feet, as if such humility would induce them to place it again upon his head. he abandoned the minions who had been his pride, his joy, and his defence, and deprecated, with an abject whimper, all responsibility for the unmeasured ambition and the insatiable rapacity of a few private individuals. he conjured the party-leaders, who had hurled defiance in his face, to lay down their arms, and promised that they should find in his wisdom and bounty more than all the advantages which they were seeking to obtain by war. henry of navarre answered in a different strain. the gauntlet had at last been thrown down to him, and he came forward to take it up; not insolently nor carelessly, but with the cold courtesy of a christian knight and valiant gentleman. he denied the charge of heresy. he avowed detestation of all doctrines contrary to the word of god, to the decrees of the fathers of the church, or condemned by the councils. the errors and abuses which had from time to time crept into the church, had long demanded, in the opinion of all pious persons, some measures of reform. after many bloody wars, no better remedy had been discovered to arrest the cause of these dire religious troubles, whether in france or germany, than to permit all men to obey the dictates of their own conscience. the protestants had thus obtained in france many edicts by which the peace of the kingdom had been secured. he could not himself be denounced as a heretic, for he had always held himself ready to receive instruction, and to be set right where he had erred. to call him "relapsed" was an outrage. were it true, he were indeed unworthy of the crown, but the world knew that his change at the massacre of st. bartholomew had been made under duresse, and that he had returned to the reformed faith when he had recovered his liberty. religious toleration had been the object of his life. in what the tyranny of the popes and the violence of the spaniards had left him of his kingdom of navarre, catholics and protestants enjoyed a perfect religious liberty. no man had the right, therefore, to denounce him as an enemy of the church, or a disturber of the public repose, for he had ever been willing to accept all propositions of peace which left the rights of conscience protected. he was a frenchman, a prince of france, a living member of the kingdom; feeling with its pains, and bleeding with its wounds. they who denounced him were alien to france, factitious portions of her body, feeling no suffering, even should she be consuming with living fire. the leaguers were the friends and the servants of the spaniards, while he had been born the enemy, and with too good reason, of the whole spanish race. "let the name of papist and of huguenot," he said, "be heard no more among us. those terms were buried in the edict of peace. let us speak only of frenchmen and of spaniards. it is the counter-league which we must all unite to form, the natural union of the head with all its members." finally, to save the shedding of so much innocent blood, to spare all the countless miseries of civil war, he implored the royal permission to terminate this quarrel in person, by single combat with the duke of guise, one to one, two to two, or in as large a number as might be desired, and upon any spot within or without the kingdom that should be assigned. "the duke of guise," said henry of navarre, "cannot but accept my challenge as an honour, coming as it does from a prince infinitely his superior in rank; and thus, may god defend the right." this paper, drawn up by the illustrious duplessis-mornay, who was to have been the second of the king of navarre in the proposed duel, was signed june . the unfortunate henry iii., not so dull as to doubt that the true object of the guise party was to reduce him to insignificance, and to open their own way to the throne, was too impotent of purpose to follow the dictates which his wisest counsellors urged and his own reason approved. his choice had lain between open hostility with his spanish enemy and a more terrible combat with that implacable foe wearing the mask of friendship. he had refused to annex to his crown the rich and powerful netherlands, from dread of a foreign war; and he was now about to accept for himself and kingdom all the horrors of a civil contest, in which his avowed antagonist was the first captain of the age, and his nominal allies the stipendiaries of philip ii. villeroy, his prime minister, and catharine de' medici, his mother, had both devoted him to disgrace and ruin. the deputies from the netherlands had been dismissed, and now, notwithstanding the festivities and exuberant demonstrations of friendship with which the earl of derby's splendid embassy had been greeted, it became necessary to bind henry hand and foot to the conspirators, who had sworn the destruction of that queen, as well as his own, and the extirpation of heresy and heretics in every realm of christendom. on the th june the league demanded a royal decree, forbidding the practice of all religion but the roman catholic, on pain of death. in vain had the clear-sighted bishop of acqs uttered his eloquent warnings. despite such timely counsels, which he was capable at once of appreciating and of neglecting, henry followed slavishly the advice of those whom he knew in his heart to be his foes, and authorised the great conspiracy against elizabeth, against protestantism, and against himself. on the th june villeroy had expressed a wish for a very secret interview with mendoza, on the subject of the invasion of england. "it needed not this overture," said that magniloquent spaniard, "to engender in a person of my talents, and with the heart of a mendoza, venom enough for vengeance. i could not more desire than i did already to assist in so holy a work; nor could i aspire to greater honour than would be gained in uniting those crowns (of france and spain) in strict friendship, for the purpose of extirpating heresy throughout europe, and of chastising the queen of england--whose abominations i am never likely to forget, having had them so long before my eyes--and of satisfying my just resentment for the injuries she has inflicted on myself. it was on this subject," continued the ambassador, "that monsieur de villeroy wished a secret interview with me, pledging himself--if your majesty would deign to unite yourself with this king, and to aid him with your forces--to a successful result." mendoza accordingly expressed a willingness to meet the ingenuous secretary of state--who had so recently been assisting at the banquets and rejoicings with lord derby and his companions, which had so much enlivened the french capital--and assured him that his most catholic majesty would be only too glad to draw closer the bonds of friendship with the most christian king, for the service of god and the glory of his church. the next day the envoy and the secretary of state met, very secretly, in the house of the signor gondi. villeroy commenced his harangue by an allusion to the current opinion, that mendoza had arrived in france with a torch in his hand, to light the fires of civil war in that kingdom, as he had recently done in england. "i do not believe," replied mendoza, "that discreet and prudent persons in france attribute my actions to any such motives. as for the ignorant people of the kingdom, they do not appal me, although they evidently imagine that i have imbibed, during my residence in england, something of the spirit of the enchanter merlin, that, by signs and cabalistic words alone, i am thought capable of producing such commotions." after this preliminary flourish the envoy proceeded to complain bitterly of the most christian king and his mother, who, after the propositions which they had made him, when on his way to spain, had, since his return, become so very cold and dry towards him. and on this theme he enlarged for some time. villeroy replied, by complaining, in his turn, about the dealings of the most catholic king, with the leaguers and the rebels of france; and mendoza rejoined by an intimation that harping upon past grievances and suspicions was hardly the way to bring about harmony in present matters. struck with the justice of this remark, the french secretary of state entered at once upon business. he made a very long speech upon the tyranny which "that englishwoman" was anew inflicting upon the catholics in her kingdom, upon the offences which she had committed against the king of spain, and against the king of france and his brothers, and upon the aliment which she had been yielding to the civil war in the netherlands and in france for so many years. he then said that if mendoza would declare with sincerity, and "without any of the duplicity of a minister"--that philip would league himself with henry for the purpose of invading england, in order to reduce the three kingdoms to the catholic faith, and to place their crowns on the head of the queen of scotland, to whom they of right belonged; then that the king, his master, was most ready to join in so holy an enterprise. he begged mendoza to say with what number of troops the invasion could be made; whether philip could send any from flanders or from spain; how many it would be well to send from france, and under what chieftain; in what manner it would be best to communicate with his most catholic majesty; whether it were desirable to despatch a secret envoy to him, and of what quality such agent ought to be. he also observed that the most christian king could not himself speak to mendoza on the subject before having communicated the matter to the queen-mother, but expressed a wish that a special carrier might be forthwith despatched to spain; for he might be sure that, on an affair of such weight, he would not have permitted himself to reveal the secret wishes of his master, except by his commands. mendoza replied, by enlarging with much enthusiasm on the facility with which england could be conquered by the combined power of france and spain. if it were not a very difficult matter before--even with the jealousy between the two crowns--how much less so, now that they could join their fleets and armies; now that the arming by the one prince would not inspire the other with suspicion; now that they would be certain of finding safe harbour in each other's kingdoms, in case of unfavourable weather and head-winds, and that they could arrange from what ports to sail, in what direction, and under what commanders. he disapproved, however, of sending a special messenger to spain, on the ground of wishing to keep the matter entirely secret, but in reality--as he informed philip--because he chose to keep the management in his own hands; because he could always let slip mucio upon them, in case they should play him false; because he feared that the leaking out of the secret might discourage the leaguers, and because he felt that the bolder and more lively were the cardinal of bourbon and his confederates, the stronger was the party of the king, his master, and the more intimidated and dispirited would be the mind and the forces of the most christian king. "and this is precisely the point," said the diplomatist, "at which a minister of your majesty should aim at this season." thus the civil war in france--an indispensable part of philip's policy--was to be maintained at all hazards; and although the ambassador was of opinion that the most christian king was sincere in his proposition to invade england, it would never do to allow any interval of tranquillity to the wretched subjects of that christian king. "i cannot doubt," said mendoza, "that the making of this proposal to me with so much warmth was the especial persuasion of god, who, hearing the groans of the catholics of england, so cruelly afflicted, wished to force the french king and his minister to feel, in the necessity which surrounds them, that the offending him, by impeding the grandeur of your majesty, would be their total ruin, and that their only salvation is to unite in sincerity and truth with your majesty for the destruction of the heretics." therefore, although judging from the nature of the french--he might imagine that they were attempting to put him to sleep, mendoza, on the whole, expressed a conviction that the king was in earnest, having arrived at the conclusion that he could only get rid of the guise faction by sending them over to england. "seeing that he cannot possibly eradicate the war from his kingdom," said the envoy, "because of the boldness with which the leaguers maintain it, with the strong assistance of your majesty, he has determined to embrace with much fervour, and without any deception at all, the enterprise against england, as the only remedy to quiet his own dominions. the subjugation of those three kingdoms, in order to restore them to their rightful owner, is a purpose so holy, just, and worthy of your majesty, and one which you have had so constantly in view, that it is superfluous for me to enlarge upon the subject. your majesty knows that its effects will be the tranquillity and preservation of all your realms. the reasons for making the attempt, even without the aid of france, become demonstrations now that she is unanimously in favour of the scheme. the most christian king is resolutely bent--so far as i can comprehend the intrigues of villeroy--to carry out this project on the foundation of a treaty with the guise party. it will not take much time, therefore, to put down the heretics here; nor will it consume much more to conquer england with the armies of two such powerful princes. the power of that island is of little moment, there being no disciplined forces to oppose us, even if they were all unanimous in its defence; how much less then, with so many catholics to assist the invaders, seeing them so powerful. if your majesty, on account of your netherlands, is not afraid of putting arms into the hands of the guise family in france, there need be less objection to sending one of that house into england, particularly as you will send forces of your own into that kingdom, by the reduction of which the affairs of flanders will be secured. to effect the pacification of the netherlands the sooner, it would be desirable to conquer england as early as october." having thus sufficiently enlarged upon the sincerity of the french king and his prime minister, in their dark projects against a friendly power, and upon the ease with which that friendly power could be subjected, the ambassador begged for a reply from his royal master without delay. he would be careful, meantime, to keep the civil war alive in france--thus verifying the poetical portrait of himself, the truth of which he had just been so indignantly and rhetorically denying--but it was desirable that the french should believe that this civil war was not philip's sole object. he concluded by drawing his master's attention to the sufferings of the english catholics. "i cannot refrain," he said, "from placing before your eyes the terrible persecutions which the catholics are suffering in england; the blood of the martyrs flowing in so many kinds of torments; the groans of the prisoners, of the widows and orphans; the general oppression and servitude, which is the greatest ever endured by a people of god, under any tyrant whatever. your majesty, into whose hands god is now pleased to place the means, so long desired, of extirpating and totally destroying the heresies of our time, can alone liberate them from their bondage." the picture of these kings, prime ministers, and ambassadors, thus plotting treason, stratagem, and massacre, is a dark and dreary one. the description of english sufferings for conscience' sake, under the protestant elizabeth, is even more painful; for it had unfortunately too much, of truth, although as wilfully darkened and exaggerated as could be done by religious hatred and spanish bombast. the queen was surrounded by legions of deadly enemies. spain, the pope, the league, were united in one perpetual conspiracy against her; and they relied on the cooperation of those subjects of hers whom her own cruelty was converting into traitors. we read with a shudder these gloomy secrets of conspiracy and wholesale murder, which make up the diplomatic history of the sixteenth century, and we cease to wonder that a woman, feeling herself so continually the mark at which all the tyrants and assassins of europe were aiming--although not possessing perhaps the evidences of her peril so completely as they have been revealed to us--should come to consider every english papist as a traitor and an assassin. it was unfortunate that she was not able to rise beyond the vile instincts of the age, and by a magnanimous and sublime toleration, to convert her secret enemies into loyal subjects. and now henry of valois was to choose between league and counter-league, between henry of guise and henry of navarre, between france and spain. the whole chivalry of gascony and guienne, the vast swarm of industrious and hardy huguenot artisans, the netherland rebels, the great english queen, stood ready to support the cause of french nationality, and of all nationalities, against a threatening world-empire, of religious liberty against sacerdotal absolutism, and the crown of a king, whose only merit had hitherto been to acquiesce in a religious toleration dictated to him by others, against those who derided his authority and insulted his person. the bold knight-errant of christendom, the champion to the utterance against spain, stood there with lance in rest, and the king scarcely hesitated. the league, gliding so long unheeded, now reared its crest in the very palace of france, and full in the monarch's face. with a single shudder the victim fell into its coils. the choice was made. on the th of july ( ) the edict of nemours was published, revoking all previous edicts by which religious peace had been secured. death and confiscation of property were now proclaimed as the penalty of practising any religious rites save those of the roman catholic church. six months were allowed to the nonconformists to put their affairs in order, after which they were to make public profession of the catholic religion, with regular attendance upon its ceremonies, or else go into perpetual exile. to remain in france without abjuring heresy was thenceforth a mortal crime, to be expiated upon the gallows. as a matter of course, all huguenots were instantaneously incapacitated from public office, the mixed chambers of justice were abolished, and the cautionary towns were to be restored. on the other hand, the guise faction were to receive certain cities into their possession, as pledges that this sanguinary edict should be fulfilled. thus did henry iii. abjectly kiss the hand which smote him. his mother, having since the death of anjou no further interest in affecting to favour the huguenots, had arranged the basis of this treaty with the spanish party. and now the unfortunate king had gone solemnly down to the parliament of paris, to be present at the registration of the edict. the counsellors and presidents were all assembled, and as they sat there in their crimson robes, they seemed, to the excited imagination of those who loved their country, like embodiments of the impending and most sanguinary tragedy. as the monarch left the parliament-house a faint cry of 'god save the king' was heard in the street. henry hung his head, for it was long since that cry had met his ears, and he knew that it was a false and languid demonstration which had been paid for by the leaguers. and thus was the compact signed--an unequal compact. madam league was on horseback, armed in proof, said a contemporary; the king was on foot, and dressed in a shirt of penitence. the alliance was not an auspicious one. not peace, but a firebrand--'facem, non pacem'--had the king held forth to his subjects. when the news came to henry of navarre that the king had really promulgated this fatal edict, he remained for a time, with amazement and sorrow, leaning heavily upon a table, with his face in his right hand. when he raised his head again--so he afterwards asserted--one side of his moustachio had turned white. meantime gregory xiii., who had always refused to sanction the league, was dead, and cardinal peretti, under the name of sixtus v., now reigned in his place. born of an illustrious house, as he said--for it was a house without a roof--this monk of humble origin was of inordinate ambition. feigning a humility which was but the cloak to his pride, he was in reality as grasping, self-seeking, and revengeful, as he seemed gentle and devout. it was inevitable that a pontiff of this character should seize the opportunity offered him to mimic hildebrand, and to brandish on high the thunderbolts of the church. with a flaming prelude concerning the omnipotence delegated by almighty god to st. peter and his successors--an authority infinitely superior to all earthly powers--the decrees of which were irresistible alike by the highest and the meanest, and which hurled misguided princes from their thrones into the abyss, like children of beelzebub, the pope proceeded to fulminate his sentence of excommunication against those children of wrath, henry of navarre and henry of conde. they were denounced as heretics, relapsed, and enemies of god ( th aug. ). the king was declared dispossessed of his principality of bearne, and of what remained to him of navarre. he was stripped of all dignities, privileges, and property, and especially proclaimed incapable of ever ascending the throne of france. the bearnese replied by a clever political squib. a terse and spirited paper found its way to rome, and was soon affixed, to the statutes of pasquin and marforio, and in other public places of that city, and even to the gates of the papal palace. without going beyond his own doors, his holiness had the opportunity of reading, to his profound amazement, that mr. sixtus, calling himself pope, had foully and maliciously lied in calling the king of navarre a heretic. this henry offered to prove before any free council legitimately chosen. if the pope refused to submit to such decision, he was himself no better than excommunicate and antichrist, and the king of navarre thereby declared mortal and perpetual war upon him. the ancient kings of france had known how to chastise the insolence of former popes, and he hoped, when he ascended the throne, to take vengeance on mr. sixtus for the insult thus offered to all the kings of christendom--and so on, in a vein which showed the bearnese to be a man rather amused than blasted by these papal fireworks. sixtus v., though imperious, was far from being dull. he knew how to appreciate a man when he found one, and he rather admired the cheerful attitude maintained by navarre, as he tossed back the thunderbolts. he often spoke afterwards of henry with genuine admiration, and declared that in all the world he knew but two persons fit to wear a crown--henry of navarre and elizabeth of england. "'twas pity," he said, "that both should be heretics." and thus the fires of civil war had been lighted throughout christendom, and the monarch of france had thrown himself head foremost into the flames. etext editor's bookmarks: hibernian mode of expressing himself his inordinate arrogance his insolence intolerable humility which was but the cloak to his pride longer they delay it, the less easy will they find it oration, fertile in rhetoric and barren in facts round game of deception, in which nobody was deceived wasting time fruitlessly is sharpening the knife for himself with something of feline and feminine duplicity 'twas pity, he said, that both should be heretics history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history of the united netherlands, alexander farnese, the duke of parma chapter v., part . position and character of farnese--preparations for antwerp siege-- its characteristics--foresight of william the silent--sainte aldegonde, the burgomaster--anarchy in antwerp--character of sainte aldegonde--admiral treslong--justinus de nassau--hohenlo--opposition to the plan of orange--liefkenshoek--head--quarters of parma at kalloo--difficulty of supplying the city--results of not piercing the dykes--preliminaries of the siege--successes of the spaniards-- energy of farnese with sword and pen--his correspondence with the antwerpers--progress of the bridge--impoverished condition of parma --patriots attempt bois-le-duc--their misconduct--failure of the enterprise--the scheldt bridge completed--description of the structure the negotiations between france and the netherlands have been massed, in order to present a connected and distinct view of the relative attitude of the different countries of europe. the conferences and diplomatic protocolling had resulted in nothing positive; but it is very necessary for the reader to understand the negative effects of all this dissimulation and palace-politics upon the destiny of the new commonwealth, and upon christendom at large. the league had now achieved a great triumph; the king of france had virtually abdicated, and it was now requisite for the king of navarre, the netherlands, and queen elizabeth, to draw more closely together than before, if the last hope of forming a counter-league were not to be abandoned. the next step in political combination was therefore a solemn embassy of the states-general to england. before detailing those negotiations, however, it is proper to direct attention to the external public events which had been unrolling themselves in the provinces, contemporaneously with the secret history which has been detailed in the preceding chapters. by presenting in their natural groupings various distinct occurrences, rather than by detailing them in strict chronological order, a clearer view of the whole picture will be furnished than could be done by intermingling personages, transactions, and scenery, according to the arbitrary command of time alone. the netherlands, by the death of orange, had been left without a head. on the other hand, the spanish party had never been so fortunate in their chief at any period since the destiny of the two nations had been blended with each other. alexander farnese, prince of parma, was a general and a politician, whose character had been steadily ripening since he came into the command of the country. he was now thirty-seven years of age--with the experience of a sexagenarian. no longer the impetuous, arbitrary, hot-headed youth, whose intelligence and courage hardly atoned for his insolent manner and stormy career, he had become pensive, modest, almost gentle. his genius was rapid in conception, patient in combination, fertile in expedients, adamantine in the endurance or suffering; for never did a heroic general and a noble army of veterans manifest more military virtue in the support of an infamous cause than did parma and his handful of italians and spaniards. that which they considered to be their duty they performed. the work before them they did with all their might. alexander had vanquished the rebellion in the celtic provinces, by the masterly diplomacy and liberal bribery which have been related in a former work. artois, hainault, douay, orchies, with the rich cities of lille, tournay, valenciennes, arras, and other important places, were now the property of philip. these unhappy and misguided lands, however, were already reaping the reward of their treason. beggared, trampled upon, plundered, despised, they were at once the prey of the spaniards, and the cause that their sister-states, which still held out, were placed in more desperate condition than ever. they were also, even in their abject plight, made still more forlorn by the forays of balagny, who continued in command of cambray. catharine de' medici claimed that city as her property, by will of the duke of anjou. a strange title--founded upon the treason and cowardice of her favourite son--but one which, for a time, was made good by the possession maintained by balagny. that usurper meantime, with a shrewd eye to his own interests, pronounced the truce of cambray, which was soon afterwards arranged, from year to year, by permission of philip, as a "most excellent milch-cow;" and he continued to fill his pails at the expense of the "reconciled" provinces, till they were thoroughly exhausted. this large south-western section of the netherlands being thus permanently re-annexed to the spanish crown, while holland, zeeland, and the other provinces, already constituting the new dutch republic, were more obstinate in their hatred of philip than ever, there remained the rich and fertile territory of flanders and brabant as the great debateable land. here were the royal and political capital, brussels, the commercial capital, antwerp, with mechlin, dendermonde, vilvoorde, and other places of inferior importance, all to be struggled for to the death. with the subjection of this district the last bulwark between the new commonwealth and the old empire would be overthrown, and spain and holland would then meet face to face. if there had ever been a time when every nerve in protestant christendom should be strained to weld all those provinces together into one great commonwealth, as a bulwark for european liberty, rather than to allow them to be broken into stepping-stones, over which absolutism could stride across france and holland into england, that moment had arrived. every sacrifice should have been cheerfully made by all netherlanders, the uttermost possible subsidies and auxiliaries should have been furnished by all the friends of civil and religious liberty in every land to save flanders and brabant from their impending fate. no man felt more keenly the importance of the business in which he was engaged than parma. he knew his work exactly, and he meant to execute it thoroughly. antwerp was the hinge on which the fate of the whole country, perhaps of all christendom, was to turn. "if we get antwerp," said the spanish soldiers--so frequently that the expression passed into a proverb--"you shall all go to mass with us; if you save antwerp, we will all go to conventicle with you." alexander rose with the difficulty and responsibility of his situation. his vivid, almost poetic intellect formed its schemes with perfect distinctness. every episode in his great and, as he himself termed it, his "heroic enterprise," was traced out beforehand with the tranquil vision of creative genius; and he was prepared to convert his conceptions into reality, with the aid of an iron nature that never knew fatigue or fear. but the obstacles were many. alexander's master sat in his cabinet with his head full of mucio, don antonio, and queen elizabeth; while alexander himself was left neglected, almost forgotten. his army was shrinking to a nullity. the demands upon him were enormous, his finances delusive, almost exhausted. to drain an ocean dry he had nothing but a sieve. what was his position? he could bring into the field perhaps eight or ten thousand men over and above the necessary garrisons. he had before him brussels, antwerp, mechlin, ghent, dendermonde, and other powerful places, which he was to subjugate. here was a problem not easy of solution. given an army of eight thousand, more or less, to reduce therewith in the least possible time, half-a-dozen cities; each containing fifteen or twenty thousand men able to bear arms. to besiege these places in form was obviously a mere chimera. assault, battery, and surprises--these were all out of the question. yet alexander was never more truly heroic than in this position of vast entanglement. untiring, uncomplaining, thoughtful of others, prodigal of himself, generous, modest, brave; with so much intellect and so much devotion to what he considered his duty, he deserved to be a patriot and a champion of the right, rather than an instrument of despotism. and thus he paused for a moment--with much work already accomplished, but his hardest life-task before him; still in the noon of manhood, a fine martial figure, standing, spear in hand, full in the sunlight, though all the scene around him was wrapped in gloom--a noble, commanding shape, entitled to the admiration which the energetic display of great powers, however unscrupulous, must always command. a dark, meridional physiognomy, a quick; alert, imposing head; jet black, close-clipped hair; a bold eagle's face, with full, bright, restless eye; a man rarely reposing, always ready, never alarmed; living in the saddle, with harness on his back--such was the prince of parma; matured and mellowed, but still unharmed by time. the cities of flanders and brabant he determined to reduce by gaining command of the scheldt. the five principal ones ghent, dendermonde, mechlin, brussels antwerp, lie narrow circle, at distances from each other varying from five miles to thirty, and are all strung together by the great netherland river or its tributaries. his plan was immensely furthered by the success of balthasar gerard, an ally whom alexander had despised and distrusted, even while he employed him. the assassination of orange was better to parma than forty thousand men. a crowd of allies instantly started up for him, in the shape of treason, faintheartedness, envy, jealousy, insubordination, within the walls of every beleaguered city. alexander knew well how to deal with those auxiliaries. letters, artfully concocted, full of conciliation and of promise, were circulated in every council-room, in almost every house. the surrender of ghent--brought about by the governor's eloquence, aided by the golden arguments which he knew so well how to advance--had by the middle of september ( th sept. ), put him in possession of west flanders, with the important exception of the coast. dendermonde capitulated at a still earlier day; while the fall of brussels, which held out till many persons had been starved to death, was deferred till the th march of the following year, and that of mechlin till midsummer. the details of the military or political operations, by which the reduction of most of these places were effected, possess but little interest. the siege of antwerp, however, was one of the most striking events of the age; and although the change in military tactics and the progress of science may have rendered this leaguer of less technical importance than it possessed in the sixteenth century, yet the illustration that it affords of the splendid abilities of parma, of the most cultivated mode of warfare in use at that period, and of the internal politics by which the country was then regulated, make it necessary to dwell upon the details of an episode which must ever possess enduring interest. it is agreeable to reflect, too, that the fame of the general is not polluted with the wholesale butchery, which has stained the reputation of other spanish commanders so indelibly. there was no killing for the mere love of slaughter. with but few exceptions, there was no murder in cold blood; and the many lives that were laid down upon those watery dykes were sacrificed at least in bold, open combat; in a contest, the ruling spirits of which were patriotism, or at least honour. it is instructive, too, to observe the diligence and accuracy with which the best lights of the age were brought to bear upon the great problem which parma had undertaken to solve. all the science then at command was applied both by the prince and by his burgher antagonists to the advancement of their ends. hydrostatics, hydraulics, engineering, navigation, gunnery, pyrotechnics, mining, geometry, were summoned as broadly, vigorously, and intelligently to the destruction or preservation of a trembling city, as they have ever been, in more commercial days, to advance a financial or manufacturing purpose. land converted into water, and water into land, castles built upon the breast of rapid streams, rivers turned from their beds and taught new courses; the distant ocean driven across ancient bulwarks, mines dug below the sea, and canals made to percolate obscene morasses--which the red hand of war, by the very act, converted into blooming gardens--a mighty stream bridged and mastered in the very teeth of winter, floating ice-bergs, ocean-tides, and an alert and desperate foe, ever ready with fleets and armies and batteries--such were the materials of which the great spectacle was composed; a spectacle which enchained the attention of europe for seven months, and on the result of which, it was thought, depended the fate of all the netherlands, and perhaps of all christendom. antwerp, then the commercial centre of the netherlands and of europe, stands upon the scheldt. the river, flowing straight, broad, and full along the verge of the city, subtends the arc into which the place arranges itself as it falls back from the shore. two thousand ships of the largest capacity then known might easily find room in its ample harbours. the stream, nearly half a mile in width, and sixty feet in depth, with a tidal rise and fall of eleven feet, moves, for a few miles, in a broad and steady current between the provinces of brabant and flanders. then, dividing itself into many ample estuaries, and gathering up the level isles of zeeland into its bosom, it seems to sweep out with them into the northern ocean. here, at the junction of the river and the sea, lay the perpetual hope of antwerp, for in all these creeks and currents swarmed the fleets of the zeelanders, that hardy and amphibious race, with which few soldiers or mariners could successfully contend, on land or water. even from the beginning of the year parma had been from time to time threatening antwerp. the victim instinctively felt that its enemy was poising and hovering over head, although he still delayed to strike. early in the summer sainte aldegonde, recorder martini, and other official personages, were at delft, upon the occasion of the christening ceremonies of frederic henry, youngest child of orange. the prince, at that moment, was aware of the plans of parma, and held a long conversation with his friends upon the measures which he desired to see immediately undertaken. unmindful of his usual hospitality, he insisted that these gentlemen should immediately leave for antwerp. alexander farnese, he assured them, had taken the firm determination to possess himself of that place, without further delay. he had privately signified his purpose of laying the axe at once to the root of the tree, believing that with the fall of the commercial capital the infant confederacy of the united states would fall likewise. in order to accomplish this object, he would forthwith attempt to make himself master of the banks of the scheldt, and would even throw a bridge across the stream, if his plans were not instantly circumvented. william of orange then briefly indicated his plan; adding that he had no fears for the result; and assuring his friends, who expressed much anxiety on the subject, that if parma really did attempt the siege of antwerp it should be his ruin. the plan was perfectly simple. the city stood upon a river. it was practicable, although extremely hazardous, for the enemy to bridge that river, and by so doing ultimately to reduce the place. but the ocean could not be bridged; and it was quite possible to convert antwerp, for a season, into an ocean-port. standing alone upon an island, with the sea flowing around it, and with full and free marine communication with zeeland and holland, it might safely bid defiance to the land-forces, even of so great a commander as parma. to the furtherance of this great measure of defence, it was necessary to destroy certain bulwarks, the chief of ( th june, ) which was called the blaw-garen dyke; and sainte aldegonde was therefore requested to return to the city, in order to cause this task to be executed without delay. nothing could be more judicious than this advice. the low lands along the scheldt were protected against marine encroachments, and the river itself was confined to its bed, by a magnificent system of dykes, which extended along its edge towards the ocean, in parallel lines. other barriers of a similar nature ran in oblique directions, through the wide open pasture lands, which they maintained in green fertility, against the ever-threatening sea. the blaw-garen, to which the prince mainly alluded, was connected with the great dyke upon the right bank of the scheldt. between this and the city, another bulwark called the kowenstyn dyke, crossed the country at right angles to the river, and joined the other two at a point, not very far from lillo, where the states had a strong fortress. the country in this neighbourhood was low, spongy, full of creeks, small meres, and the old bed of the scheldt. orange, therefore, made it very clear, that by piercing the great dyke just described, such a vast body of water would be made to pour over the land as to submerge the kowenstyn also, the only other obstacle in the passage of fleets from zeeland to antwerp. the city would then be connected with the sea and its islands, by so vast an expanse of navigable water, that any attempt on parma's part to cut off supplies and succour would be hopeless. antwerp would laugh the idea of famine to scorn; and although this immunity would be purchased by the sacrifice of a large amount of agricultural territory the price so paid was but a slender one, when the existence of the capital, and with it perhaps of the whole confederacy was at stake. sainte aldegonde and martini suggested, that, as there would be some opposition to the measure proposed, it might be as well to make a similar attempt on the flemish side, in preference, by breaking through the dykes in the neighbourhood of saftingen. orange replied, by demonstrating that the land in the region which he had indicated was of a character to ensure success, while in the other direction there were certain very unfavourable circumstances which rendered the issue doubtful. the result was destined to prove the sagacity of the prince, for it will be shown in the sequel, that the saftingen plan, afterwards really carried out, was rather advantageous than detrimental to the enemy's projects. sainte aldegonde, accordingly, yielded to the arguments and entreaties of his friend, and repaired without delay to antwerp. the advice of william the silent--as will soon be related--was not acted upon; and, within a few weeks after it had been given, he was in his grave. nowhere was his loss more severely felt than in antwerp. it seemed, said a contemporary, that with his death had died all authority. the prince was the only head which the many-membered body of that very democratic city ever spontaneously obeyed. antwerp was a small republic--in time of peace intelligently and successfully administered--which in the season of a great foreign war, amid plagues, tumults, famine, and internal rebellion, required the firm hand and the clear brain of a single chief. that brain and hand had been possessed by orange alone. before his death he had desired that sainte aldegonde should accept the office of burgomaster of the city. nominally, the position was not so elevated as were many of the posts which that distinguished patriot had filled. in reality, it was as responsible and arduous a place as could be offered to any man's acceptance throughout the country. sainte aldegonde consented, not without some reluctance. he felt that there was odium to be incurred; he knew that much would be expected of him, and that his means would be limited. his powers would be liable to a constant and various restraint. his measures were sure to be the subject of perpetual cavil. if the city were besieged, there were nearly one hundred thousand mouths to feed, and nearly one hundred thousand tongues to dispute about furnishing the food. for the government of antwerp had been degenerating from a well-organised municipal republicanism into anarchy. the clashing of the various bodies exercising power had become incessant and intolerable. the burgomaster was charged with the chief executive authority, both for peace and war. nevertheless he had but a single vote in the board of magistrates, where a majority decided. moreover, he could not always attend the sessions, because he was also member of the council of brabant. important measures might therefore be decided by the magistracy, not only against his judgment, but without his knowledge. then there was a variety of boards or colleges, all arrogating concurrent--which in truth was conflicting-authority. there was the board of militia-colonels, which claimed great powers. here, too, the burgomaster was nominally the chief, but he might be voted down by a majority, and of course was often absent. then there were sixteen captains who came into the colonels' sessions whenever they liked, and had their word to say upon all subjects broached. if they were refused a hearing, they were backed by eighty other captains, who were ready at any moment to carry every disputed point before the "broadcouncil." there were a college of ward-masters, a college of select men, a college of deacons, a college of ammunition, of fortification, of ship-building, all claiming equal authority, and all wrangling among themselves; and there was a college of "peace-makers," who wrangled more than all the rest together. once a week there was a session of the board or general council. dire was the hissing and confusion, as the hydra heads of the multitudinous government were laid together. heads of colleges, presidents of chambers, militia-chieftains; magistrates, ward-masters, deans of fishmongers, of tailors, gardeners, butchers, all met together pell-mell; and there was no predominant authority. this was not a convenient working machinery for a city threatened with a siege by the first captain of the age. moreover there was a deficiency of regular troops: the burgher-militia were well trained and courageous, but not distinguished for their docility. there was also a regiment of english under colonel morgan, a soldier of great experience, and much respected; but, as stephen le sieur said, "this force, unless seconded with more, was but a breakfast for the enemy." unfortunately, too, the insubordination, which was so ripe in the city, seemed to affect these auxiliaries. a mutiny broke out among the english troops. many deserted to parma, some escaped to england, and it was not until morgan had beheaded captain lee and captain powell, that discipline could be restored. and into this scene of wild and deafening confusion came philip de marnix, lord of sainte aldegonde. there were few more brilliant characters than he in all christendom. he was a man, of a most rare and versatile genius. educated in geneva at the very feet of calvin, he had drunk, like mother's milk, the strong and bitter waters of the stern reformer's, creed; but he had in after life attempted, although hardly with success, to lift himself to the height of a general religious toleration. he had also been trained in the severe and thorough literary culture which characterised that rigid school. he was a scholar, ripe and rare; no holiday trifler in the gardens of learning. he spoke and wrote latin like his native tongue. he could compose poignant greek epigrams. he was so familiar with hebrew, that he had rendered the psalms of david out of the original into flowing flemish verse, for the use of the reformed churches. that he possessed the modern tongues of civilized europe, spanish, italian, french, and german, was a matter of course. he was a profound jurisconsult, capable of holding debate against all competitors upon any point of theory or practice of law, civil, municipal, international. he was a learned theologian, and had often proved himself a match for the doctors, bishops, or rabbin of europe, in highest argument of dogma, creed, or tradition. he was a practised diplomatist, constantly employed in delicate and difficult negotiations by william the silent, who ever admired his genius, cherished his friendship, and relied upon his character. he was an eloquent orator, whose memorable harangue, beyond all his other efforts, at the diet of worms, had made the german princes hang their heads with shame, when, taking a broad and philosophical view of the netherland matter, he had shown that it was the great question of europe; that nether germany was all germany; that protestantism could not be unravelled into shreds; that there was but one cause in christendom--that of absolutism against national liberty, papacy against the reform; and that the seventeen provinces were to be assisted in building themselves into an eternal barrier against spain, or that the "burning mark of shame would be branded upon the forehead of germany;" that the war, in short, was to be met by her on the threshold; or else that it would come to seek her at home--a prophecy which the horrible thirty years' war was in after time most signally to verify. he was a poet of vigour and originality, for he had accomplished what has been achieved by few; he had composed a national hymn, whose strophes, as soon as heard, struck a chord in every netherland heart, and for three centuries long have rung like a clarion wherever the netherland tongue is spoken. "wilhelmus van nassouwe," regarded simply as a literary composition, has many of the qualities which an ode demands; an electrical touch upon the sentiments, a throb of patriotism, sympathetic tenderness, a dash of indignation, with rhythmical harmony and graceful expression; and thus it has rung from millions of lips, from generation to generation. he was a soldier, courageous, untiring, prompt in action, useful in council, and had distinguished himself in many a hard-fought field. taken prisoner in the sanguinary skirmish at maaslandssluys, he had been confined a year, and, for more than three months, had never laid his head, as he declared, upon the pillow without commending his soul as for the last time to his maker, expecting daily the order for his immediate execution, and escaping his doom only because william the silent proclaimed that the proudest head among the spanish prisoners should fall to avenge his death; so that he was ultimately exchanged against the veteran mondragon. from the incipient stages of the revolt he had been foremost among the patriots. he was supposed to be the author of the famous "compromise of the nobles," that earliest and most conspicuous of the state-papers of the republic, and of many other important political documents; and he had contributed to general literature many works of european celebrity, of which the 'roman bee-hive' was the most universally known. scholar, theologian, diplomatist, swordsman, orator, poet, pamphleteer, he had genius for all things, and was eminent in all. he was even famous for his dancing, and had composed an intelligent and philosophical treatise upon the value of that amusement, as an agent of civilisation, and as a counteractor of the grosser pleasures of the table to which upper and nether germans were too much addicted. of ancient savoyard extraction, and something of a southern nature, he had been born in brussels, and was national to the heart's core. a man of interesting, sympathetic presence; of a physiognomy where many of the attaching and attractive qualities of his nature revealed themselves; with crisp curling hair, surmounting a tall, expansive forehead--full of benevolence, idealism, and quick perceptions; broad, brown, melancholy eyes, overflowing with tenderness; a lean and haggard cheek, a rugged flemish nose; a thin flexible mouth; a slender moustache, and a peaked and meagre beard; so appeared sainte aldegonde in the forty-seventh year of his age, when he came to command in antwerp. yet after all--many-sided, accomplished, courageous, energetic, as he was--it may be doubted whether he was the man for the hour or the post. he was too impressionable; he had too much of the temperament of genius. without being fickle, he had, besides his versatility of intellect, a character which had much facility in turning; not, indeed, in the breeze of self-interest, but because he seemed placed in so high and clear an atmosphere of thought that he was often acted upon and swayed by subtle and invisible influences. at any rate his conduct was sometimes inexplicable. he had been strangely fascinated by the ignoble duke of anjou, and, in the sequel, it will be found that he was destined to experience other magnetic or magical impulses, which were once thought suspicious, and have remained mysterious even to the present day. he was imaginative. he was capable of broad and boundless hopes. he was sometimes prone to deep despair. his nature was exquisitely tempered; too fine and polished a blade to be wielded among those hydra-heads by which he was, now surrounded; and for which the stunning sledgehammer of arbitrary force was sometimes necessary. he was perhaps deficient in that gift, which no training and no culture can bestow, and which comes from above alone by birth-right divine--that which men willingly call master, authority; the effluence which came so naturally from the tranquil eyes of william the silent. nevertheless, sainte aldegonde was prepared to do his best, and all his best was to be tasked to the utmost. his position was rendered still more difficult by the unruly nature of some of his coordinates. "from the first day to the last," said one who lived in antwerp during the siege, "the mistakes committed in the city were incredible." it had long been obvious that a siege was contemplated by parma. a liberal sum of money had been voted by the states-general, of which holland and zeeland contributed a very large proportion (two hundred thousand florins); the city itself voted another large subsidy, and an order was issued to purchase at once and import into the city at least a year's supply of every kind of provisions of life and munitions of war. william de blois, lord of treslong, admiral of holland and zeeland, was requested to carry out this order, and superintend the victualling of antwerp. but treslong at once became troublesome. he was one of the old "beggars of the sea," a leader in the wild band who had taken possession of the brill, in the teeth of alva, and so laid the foundation of the republic. an impetuous noble, of wealthy family, high connections, and refractory temper--a daring sailor, ever ready for any rash adventure, but possessed of a very moderate share of prudence or administrative ability, he fell into loose and lawless courses on the death of orange, whose firm hand was needed to control him. the french negotiation had excited his profound disgust, and knowing sainte aldegonde to be heart and soul in favour of that alliance, he was in no haste whatever to carry out his orders with regard to antwerp. he had also an insignificant quarrel with president meetkerk. the prince of parma--ever on the watch for such opportunities--was soon informed of the admiral's discontent, and had long been acquainted with his turbulent character. alexander at once began to inflame his jealousy and soothe his vanity by letters and messengers, urging upon him the propriety of reconciling himself with the king, and promising him large rewards and magnificent employments in the royal service. even the splendid insignia of the golden fleece were dangled before his eyes. it is certain that the bold hollander was not seduced by these visions, but there is no doubt that he listened to the voice of the tempter. he unquestionably neglected his duty. week after week he remained, at ostend, sneering at the french and quaffing huge draughts in honour of queen elizabeth. at last, after much time had elapsed, he agreed to victual antwerp if he could be furnished with thirty krom-stevens,--a peculiar kind of vessel, not to be found in zeeland. the krom-stevens were sent to him from holland. then, hearing that his negligence had been censured by the states-general, he became more obstinate than ever, and went up and down proclaiming that if people made themselves disagreeable to him he would do that which should make all the women and children in the netherlands shriek and tremble. what this nameless horror was to be he never divulged, but meantime he went down to middelburg, and swore that not a boat-load of corn should go up to antwerp until two members of the magistracy, whom he considered unpleasant, had been dismissed from their office. wearied with all this bluster, and imbued with grave suspicion as to his motives, the states at last rose upon their high admiral and threw him into prison. he was accused of many high crimes and misdemeanours, and, it was thought, would be tried for his life. he was suspected and even openly accused of having been tampered with by spain, but there was at any rate a deficiency of proof. "treslong is apprehended," wrote davison to burghley, "and, is charged to have been the cause that the fleet passed not up to antwerp. he is suspected to have otherwise forgotten himself, but whether justly or not will appear by his trial. meantime he is kept in the common prison of middelburg, a treatment which it is thought they would not offer him if they had not somewhat of importance against him." he was subsequently released at the intercession of queen elizabeth, and passed some time in england. he was afterwards put upon trial, but no accuser appearing to sustain the charges against him, he was eventually released. he never received a command in the navy again, but the very rich sinecures of grand falconer and chief forester of holland were bestowed upon him, and he appears to have ended his days in peace and plenty. he was succeeded in the post of admiral of holland and zeeland by justinus de nassau, natural son of william the silent, a young man of much promise but of little experience. general count hohenlo, too, lieutenant for young maurice, and virtual commander-in-chief of the states' forces, was apt to give much trouble. a german noble, of ancient descent and princely rank; brave to temerity, making a jest of danger; and riding into a foray as if to a merry-making; often furiously intoxicated, and always turbulent and uncertain; a handsome, dissipated cavalier, with long curls floating over his shoulders, an imposing aristocratic face, and a graceful, athletic figure, he needed some cool brain and steady hand to guide him--valuable as he was to fulfil any daring project but was hardly willing to accept the authority of a burgomaster. while the young maurice yet needed tutelage, while "the sapling was growing into the tree," hohenlo was a dangerous chieftain and a most disorderly lieutenant. with such municipal machinery and such coadjutors had sainte aldegonde to deal, while, meantime, the delusive french negociation was dragging its slow length along, and while parma was noiselessly and patiently proceeding with his preparations. the burgomaster--for sainte aldegonde, in whom vulgar ambition was not a foible, had refused the dignity and title of margrave of antwerp, which had been tendered him--had neglected no effort towards carrying into effect the advice of orange, given almost with his latest breath. the manner in which that advice was received furnished a striking illustration of the defective machinery which has been pourtrayed. upon his return from delft, sainte aldegonde had summoned a meeting of the magistracy of antwerp. he laid before the board the information communicated by orange as to parma's intentions. he also explained the scheme proposed for their frustration, and urged the measures indicated with so much earnestness that his fellow-magistrates were convinced. the order was passed for piercing the blauw-garen dyke, and sainte aldegonde, with some engineers, was requested to view the locality, and to take order for the immediate fulfilment of the plan. unfortunately there were many other boards in session besides that of the schepens, many other motives at work besides those of patriotism. the guild of butchers held a meeting, so soon as the plan suggested was known, and resolved with all their strength to oppose its execution. the butchers were indeed furious. twelve thousand oxen grazed annually upon the pastures which were about to be submerged, and it was represented as unreasonable that all this good flesh and blood should be sacrificed. at a meeting of the magistrates on the following day, sixteen butchers, delegates from their guild, made their appearance, hoarse with indignation. they represented the vast damage which would be inflicted upon the estates of many private individuals by the proposed inundation, by this sudden conversion of teeming meadows, fertile farms, thriving homesteads, prolific orchards, into sandy desolation. above all they depicted, in glowing colours and with natural pathos, the vast destruction of beef which was imminent, and they urged--with some show of reason--that if parma were really about to reduce antwerp by famine, his scheme certainly would not be obstructed by the premature annihilation of these wholesome supplies. that the scheldt could be, closed in any manner was, however, they said, a preposterous conception. that it could be bridged was the dream of a lunatic. even if it were possible to construct a bridge, and probable that the zeelanders and antwerpers would look on with folded arms while the work proceeded, the fabric, when completed, would be at the mercy of the ice-floods of the winter and the enormous power of the ocean-tides. the prince of orange himself, on a former occasion, when antwerp was spanish, had attempted to close the river with rafts, sunken piles, and other obstructions, but the whole had been swept away, like a dam of bulrushes, by the first descent of the ice-blocks of winter. it was witless to believe that parma contemplated any such measure, and utterly monstrous to believe in its success. thus far the butchers. soon afterwards came sixteen colonels of militia, as representatives of their branch of the multiform government. these personages, attended by many officers of inferior degree, sustained the position of the butchers with many voluble and vehement arguments. not the least convincing of their conclusions was the assurance that it would be idle for the authorities to attempt the destruction of the dyke, seeing that the municipal soldiery itself would prevent the measure by main force, at all hazards, and without regard to their own or others' lives. the violence of this opposition, and the fear of a serious internecine conflict at so critical a juncture, proved fatal to the project. much precious time was lost, and when at last the inhabitants of the city awoke from their delusion, it was to find that repentance, as usual, had come many hours too late. for parma had been acting while his antagonists had been wrangling. he was hampered in his means, but he was assisted by what now seems the incredible supineness of the netherlanders. even sainte aldegonde did not believe in the possibility of erecting the bridge; not a man in antwerp seemed to believe it. "the preparations," said one who lived in the city, "went on before our very noses, and every one was ridiculing the spanish commander's folly." a very great error was, moreover, committed in abandoning herenthals to the enemy. the city of antwerp governed brabant, and it would have been far better for the authorities of the commercial capital to succour this small but important city, and, by so doing, to protract for a long time their own defence. mondragon saw and rejoiced over the mistake. "now 'tis easy to see that the prince of orange is dead," said the veteran, as he took possession, in the icing's name, of the forsaken herenthals. early in the summer, parma's operations had been, of necessity, desultory. he had sprinkled forts up and down the scheldt, and had gradually been gaining control of the navigation upon that river. thus ghent and dendermonde, vilvoorde, brussels, and antwerp, had each been isolated, and all prevented from rendering mutual assistance. below antwerp, however, was to be the scene of the great struggle. here, within nine miles of the city, were two forts belonging to the states, on opposite sides of the stream, lille, and liefkenshoek. it was important for the spanish commander to gain possession of both; before commencing his contemplated bridge. unfortunately for the states, the fortifications of liefkenshoek, on the flemish side of the river, had not been entirely completed. eight hundred men lay within it, under colonel john pettin of arras, an old patriotic officer of much experience. parma, after reconnoitring the place in person, despatched the famous viscount of ghent--now called marquis of roubaix and richebourg--to carry it by assault. the marquis sent one hundred men from his walloon legion, under two officers, in whom he had confidence, to attempt a surprise, with orders, if not successful, to return without delay. they were successful. the one hundred gained entrance into the fort at a point where the defences had not been put into sufficient repair. they were immediately followed by richebourg, at the head of his regiment. the day was a fatal one. it was the th july, and william of orange was falling at delft by the hand of balthazar gerard. liefkenshoek was carried at a blow. of the eight hundred patriots in the place, scarcely a man escaped. four hundred were put to the sword, the others were hunted into the river, when nearly all were drowned. of the royalists a single man was killed, and two or three more were wounded. "our lord was pleased," wrote parma piously to philip, that we "should cut the throats of four hundred of them in a single instant, and that a great many more should be killed upon the dykes; so that i believe very few to have escaped with life. we lost one man, besides two or three wounded." a few were taken prisoners, and among them was the commander john pettin. he was at once brought before richebourg, who was standing in the presence of the prince of parma. the marquis drew his sword, walked calmly up to the captured colonel, and ran him through the body. pettin fell dead upon the spot. the prince was displeased. "too much choler, marquis, too much choler,"--said he reprovingly. "troppa colera, signor marchese, a questa." but richebourg knew better. he had, while still viscount of ghent, carried on a year previously a parallel intrigue with the royalists and the patriots. the prince of parma had bid highest for his services, and had, accordingly, found him a most effectual instrument in completing the reduction of the walloon provinces. the prince was not aware, however, that his brave but venal ally had, at the very same moment, been secretly treating with william of orange; and as it so happened that colonel pettin had been the agent in the unsuccessful negotiation, it was possible that his duplicity would now be exposed. the marquis had, therefore, been prompt to place his old confederate in the condition wherein men tell no tales, and if contemporary chronicles did not bely him, it was not the first time that he had been guilty of such cold-blooded murder. the choler had not been superfluous. the fortress of lille was garrisoned by the antwerp volunteers, called the "young bachelors." teligny, the brave son of the illustrious "iron-armed" la none, commanded in chief: and he had, besides the militia, a company of french under captain gascoigne, and four hundred scotchmen under colonel morgan--perhaps two thousand men in all. mondragon, hero of the famous submarine expeditions of philipsland and zierickzee, was ordered by parma to take the place at every hazard. with five thousand men--a large proportion of the spanish effective force at that moment--the veteran placed himself before the fort, taking possession, of the beautiful country-house and farm of lille, where he planted his batteries, and commenced a regular cannonade. the place was stronger than liefkenshoek, however, and teligny thoroughly comprehended the importance of maintaining it for the states. mondragon dug mines, and teligny countermined. the spanish daily cannonade was cheerfully responded to by the besieged, and by the time mondragon had shot away fifty thousand pounds of powder, he found that he had made no impression upon the fortress, while the number of his troops had been diminishing with great rapidity. mondragon was not so impetuous as he had been on many former occasions. he never ventured an assault. at last teligny made a sortie at the head of a considerable force. a warm action succeeded, at the conclusion of which, without a decided advantage on either side, the sluice-gate in the fortress was opened, and the torrent of the scheldt, swollen by a high tide, was suddenly poured upon the spaniards. assailed at once by the fire from the lillo batteries, and by the waters of the river, they were forced to a rapid retreat. this they effected with great loss, but with signal courage; struggling breast high in the waves, and bearing off their field-pieces in their arms in the very face of the enemy. three weeks long mondragon had been before fort lille, and two thousand of his soldiers had been slain in the trenches. the attempt was now abandoned. parma directed permanent batteries to be established at lillo-house, at oordam, and at other places along the river, and proceeded quietly with his carefully-matured plan for closing the river. his own camp was in the neighbourhood of the villages of beveren, kalloo, and borght. of the ten thousand foot and seventeen hundred horse, which composed at the moment his whole army, about one-half lay with him, while the remainder were with count peter ernest mansfield, in the neighbourhood of stabroek. thus the prince occupied a position on the left bank of the scheldt, nearly opposite antwerp, while mansfield was stationed upon the right bank, and ten miles farther down the river. from a point in the neighbourhood of kalloo, alexander intended to throw a fortified bridge to the opposite shore. when completed, all traffic up the river from zeeland would be cut off; and as the country on the land-side; abut antwerp, had been now reduced, the city would be effectually isolated. if the prince could hold his bridge until famine should break the resistance of the burghers, antwerp would fall into his hands. his head-quarters were at kalloo, and this obscure spot soon underwent a strange transformation. a drowsy placid little village--with a modest parish spire peeping above a clump of poplars, and with half a dozen cottages, with storks nests on their roofs, sprinkled here and there among pastures and orchards--suddenly saw itself changed as it were into a thriving bustling town; for, saving the white tents which dotted the green turf in every direction, the aspect of the scene was, for a time, almost pacific. it was as if, some great manufacturing enterprise had been set on foot, and the world had suddenly awoke to the hidden capabilities of the situation. a great dockyard and arsenal suddenly revealed themselves--rising like an exhalation--where ship-builders, armourers, blacksmiths, joiners, carpenters, caulkers, gravers, were hard at work all day long. the din and hum of what seemed a peaceful industry were unceasing. from kalloo, parma dug a canal twelve miles long to a place called steeken, hundreds of pioneers being kept constantly at work with pick and spade till it was completed. through this artificial channel--so soon as ghent and dendermonde had fallen--came floats of timber, fleets of boats laden with provisions of life and munitions of death, building-materials, and every other requisite for the great undertaking, all to be disembarked at kalloo. the object was a temporary and destructive one, but it remains a monument of the great general's energy and a useful public improvement. the amelioration of the fenny and barren soil, called the waesland, is dated from that epoch; and the spot in europe which is the most prolific, and which nourishes the largest proportion of inhabitants to the square mile, is precisely the long dreary swamp which the prince thus drained for military purposes, and converted into a garden. drusus and corbulo, in the days of the roman empire, had done the same good service for their barbarian foes. at kalloo itself, all the shipwrights, cutlers, masons, brass-founders, rope-makers, anchor-forgers, sailors, boatmen, of flanders and brabant, with a herd of bakers, brewers, and butchers, were congregated by express order of parma. in the little church itself the main workshop was established, and all day long, week after week, month after month, the sound of saw and hammer, adze and plane, the rattle of machinery, the cry of sentinels, the cheers of mariners, resounded, where but lately had been heard nothing save the drowsy homily and the devout hymn of rustic worship. nevertheless the summer and autumn wore on, and still the bridge was hardly commenced. the navigation of the river--although impeded and rendered dangerous by the forts which parma held along the banks--was still open; and, so long as the price of corn in antwerp remained three or four times as high as the sum for which it could be purchased in holland and zeeland, there were plenty of daredevil skippers ready to bring cargoes. fleets of fly-boats, convoyed by armed vessels, were perpetually running the gauntlet. sharp actions on shore between the forts of the patriots and those of parma, which were all intermingled promiscuously along the banks, and amphibious and most bloody encounters on ship-board, dyke, and in the stream itself, between the wild zeelanders and the fierce pikemen of italy and spain, were of repeated occurrence. many a lagging craft fell into the enemy's hands, when, as a matter of course, the men, women, and children, on board, were horribly mutilated by the spaniards, and were then sent drifting in their boat with the tide--their arms, legs, and ears lopped off up to the city, in order that--the dangerous nature of this provision-trade might be fully illustrated. yet that traffic still went on. it would have continued until antwerp had been victualled for more than a year, had not the city authorities, in the plentitude of their wisdom, thought proper to issue orders for its regulation. on the th october ( ) a census was taken, when the number of persons inside the walls was found to be ninety thousand. for this population it was estimated that , veertell, or about , bushels of corn, would be required annually. the grain was coming in very fast, notwithstanding the perilous nature of the trade; for wheat could be bought in holland for fifty florins the last, or about fifteen pence sterling the bushel, while it was worth five or six florins the veertel, or about four shillings the bushel, in antwerp. the magistrates now committed a folly more stupendous than it seemed possible for human creatures, under such circumstances, to compass. they established a maximum upon corn. the skippers who had run their cargoes through the gauntlet, all the way from flushing to antwerp, found on their arrival, that, instead of being rewarded, according to the natural laws of demand and supply, they were required to exchange their wheat, rye, butter, and beef, against the exact sum which the board of schepens thought proper to consider a reasonable remuneration. moreover, in order to prevent the accumulation of provisions in private magazines, it was enacted, that all consumers of grain should be compelled to make their purchases directly from the ships. these two measures were almost as fatal as the preservation of the blaw-garen dyke, in the interest of the butchers. winter and famine were staring the city in the face, and the maximum now stood sentinel against the gate, to prevent the admission of food. the traffic ceased without a struggle. parma himself could not have better arranged the blockade. meantime a vast and almost general inundation had taken place. the aspect of the country for many miles around was strange and desolate. the sluices had been opened in the neighbourhood of saftingen, on, the flemish side, so that all the way from hulst the waters were out, and flowed nearly to the gates of antwerp. a wide and shallow sea rolled over the fertile plains, while church-steeples, the tops of lofty trees, and here and there the turrets of a castle, scarcely lifted themselves above the black waters; the peasants' houses, the granges, whole rural villages, having entirely disappeared. the high grounds of doel, of kalloo, and beveren, where alexander was established, remained out of reach of the flood. far below, on the opposite side of the river, other sluices had been opened, and the sea had burst over the wide, level plain. the villages of wilmerdonk, orderen, ekeren, were changed to islands in the ocean, while all the other hamlets, for miles around, were utterly submerged. still, however, the blaw-garen dyke and its companion the kowenstyn remained obstinately above the waters, forming a present and more fatal obstruction to the communication between antwerp and zeeland than would be furnished even by the threatened and secretly-advancing bridge across the scheldt. had orange's prudent advice been taken, the city had been safe. over the prostrate dykes, whose destruction he had so warmly urged, the ocean would have rolled quite to the gates of antwerp, and it would have been as easy to bridge the north sea as to control the free navigation of the patriots over so wide a surface. when it was too late, the butchers, and colonels, and captains, became penitent enough. an order was passed, by acclamation, in november, to do what orange had recommended in june. it was decreed that the blaw-garen and the kowenstyn should be pierced. alas, the hour had long gone by. alexander of parma was not the man to undertake the construction of a bridge across the river, at a vast expense, and at the same time to permit the destruction of the already existing barrier. there had been a time for such a deed. the seigneur de kowenstyn, who had a castle and manor on and near the dyke which bore his name, had repeatedly urged upon the antwerp magistracy the propriety of piercing this bulwark, even after their refusal to destroy the outer barrier. sainte aldegonde, who vehemently urged the measure, protested that his hair had stood on end, when he found, after repeated entreaty, that the project was rejected. the seigneur de kowenstyn, disgusted and indignant, forswore his patriotism, and went over to parma. the dyke fell into the hands of the enemy. and now from stabroek, where old mansfeid lay with his army, all the way across the flooded country, ran the great bulwark, strengthened with new palisade-work and block-houses, bristling with spanish cannon, pike, and arquebus, even to the bank of the scheldt, in the immediate vicinity of fort lille. at the angle of its junction with the main dyke of the river's bank, a strong fortress called holy cross (santa cruz) had been constructed. that fortress and the whole line of the kowenstyn were held in the iron grip of mondragon. to wrench it from him would be no child's play. five new strong redoubts upon the dyke, and five or six thousand spaniards established there, made the enterprise more formidable than it would have been in june. it had been better to sacrifice the twelve thousand oxen. twelve thousand hollanders might now be slaughtered, and still the dyke remain above the waves. here was the key to the fate of antwerp. on the other hand, the opening of the saftingen sluice had done parma's work for him. even there, too, orange had been prophetic. kalloo was high and dry, but alexander had experienced some difficulty in bringing a fleet of thirty vessels, laden with cannon and other valuable materials, from ghent along the scheldt, into his encampment, because it was necessary for them, before reaching their destination, to pass in front of antwerp. the inundation, together with a rupture in the dyke of borght, furnished him with a watery road; over which his fleet completely avoided the city, and came in triumph to kalloo. sainte aldegonde, much provoked by this masterly movement on the part of parma, had followed the little squadron closely with some armed vessels from the city. a sharp action had succeeded, in which the burgomaster, not being properly sustained by the zeeland ships on which he relied, had been defeated. admiral jacob jacobzoon behaved with so little spirit on the occasion that he acquired with the antwerp populace the name of "run-away jacob," "koppen gaet loppen;" and sainte aldegonde declared, that, but for his cowardice, the fleet of parma would have fallen into their hands. the burgomaster himself narrowly escaped becoming a prisoner, and owed his safety only to the swiftness of his barge, which was called the "flying devil." the patriots, in order to counteract similar enterprises in future, now erected a sconce, which they called fort teligny; upon the ruptured dyke of borght, directly in front of the borght blockhouse, belonging to the spaniards, and just opposite fort hoboken. here, in this narrow passage, close under the walls of antwerp, where friends and foes were brought closely, face to face, was the scene of many a sanguinary skirmish, from the commencement of the siege until its close. still the bridge was believed to be a mere fable, a chimaera. parma, men said, had become a lunatic from pride. it was as easy to make the netherlands submit to the yoke of the inquisition as to put a bridle on the scheldt. its depth; breadth, the ice-floods of a northern winter, the neighbourhood of the zeeland fleets, the activity of the antwerp authorities, all were pledges that the attempt would be signally frustrated. and they should have been pledges--more than enough. unfortunately, however, there was dissension within, and no chieftain in the field, no sage in the council, of sufficient authority to sustain the whole burthen of the war, and to direct all the energies of the commonwealth. orange was dead. his son, one day to become the most illustrious military commander in europe, was a boy of seventeen, nominally captain-general, but in reality but a youthful apprentice to his art. hohenlo was wild, wilful, and obstinate. young william lewis nassau, already a soldier of marked abilities, was fully occupied in friesland, where he was stadholder, and where he had quite enough to do in making head against the spanish governor and general, the veteran verdugo: military operations against zutphen distracted the attention of the states, which should have been fixed upon antwerp. admiral treslong, as we have seen, was refractory, the cause of great delinquency on the part of the fleets, and of infinite disaster to the commonwealth. more than all, the french negotiation was betraying the states into indolence and hesitation; and creating a schism between the leading politicians of the country. several thousand french troops, under monsieur d'allaynes, were daily expected, but never arrived; and thus, while english and french partisans were plotting and counter-plotting, while a delusive diplomacy was usurping the place of lansquenettes and gun-boats--the only possible agents at that moment to preserve antwerp--the bridge of parma was slowly advancing. before the winter had closed in, the preparatory palisades had been finished. between kalloo and ordam, upon the opposite side, a sandbar had been discovered in the river's bed, which diminished the depth of the stream, and rendered the pile-driving comparatively easy. the breadth of the scheldt at this passage was twenty-four hundred feet; its depth, sixty feet. upon the flemish side, near kalloo, a strong fort was erected, called saint mary, in honour of the blessed virgin, to whom the whole siege of antwerp had been dedicated from the beginning. on the opposite bank was a similar fort, flamed philip, for the king. from each of these two points, thus fortified, a framework of heavy timber, supported upon huge piles, had been carried so far into the stream on either side that the distance between the ends had at last been reduced to thirteen hundred feet. the breadth of the roadway--formed of strong sleepers firmly bound together--was twelve feet, along which block-houses of great thickness were placed to defend the whole against assault. thus far the work had been comparatively easy. to bridge the remaining open portion of the river, however, where its current was deepest and strongest, and where the action of tide, tempest, and icebergs, would be most formidable, seemed a desperate undertaking; for as the enterprise advanced, this narrow open space became the scene of daily amphibious encounters between the soldiers and sailors of parma and the forces of the states. unfortunately for the patriots, it was only skirmishing. had a strong, concerted attack, in large force, from holland and zeeland below and from the city above, been agreed upon, there was hardly a period, until very late in the winter, when it might not have had the best chances of success. with a vigorous commander against him, parma, weak in men, and at his wits' end for money, might, in a few hours, have seen the labour of several months hopelessly annihilated. on the other hand, the prince was ably seconded by his lieutenant, marquis richebourg, to whom had been delegated the immediate superintendence of the bridge-building in its minutest details. he was never idle. audacious, indefatigable, ubiquitous, he at least atoned by energy and brilliant courage for his famous treason of the preceding year, while his striking and now rapidly approaching doom upon the very scene of his present labours, made him appear to have been building a magnificent though fleeting monument to his own memory. sainte aldegonde, shut up in antwerp, and hampered by dissension within and obstinate jealousy without the walls, did all in his power to frustrate the enemy's enterprise and animate the patriots. through the whole of the autumn and early winter, he had urged the states of holland and zeeland to make use of the long winter nights, when moonless and stormy, to attempt the destruction of parma's undertaking, but the fatal influences already indicated were more efficient against antwerp than even the genius of farnese; and nothing came of the burgomaster's entreaties save desultory skirmishing and unsuccessful enterprises. an especial misfortune happened in one of these midnight undertakings. teligny ventured forth in a row-barge, with scarcely any companions, to notify the zeelanders of a contemplated movement, in which their co-operation was desired. it was proposed that the antwerp troops should make a fictitious demonstration upon fort ordam, while at the same moment the states' troops from fort lillo should make an assault upon the forts on kowenstyn dyke; and in this important enterprise the zeeland vessels were requested to assist. but the brave teligny nearly forfeited his life by his rashness, and his services were, for a long time, lost to the cause of liberty. it had been better to send a less valuable officer upon such hazardous yet subordinate service. the drip of his oars was heard in the darkness. he was pursued by a number of armed barges, attacked, wounded severely in the shoulder, and captured. he threw his letters overboard, but they were fished out of the water, carried to parma, and deciphered, so that the projected attack upon the kowenstyn was discovered, and, of necessity, deferred. as for teligny, he was taken, as a most valuable prize, into the enemy's camp, and was soon afterwards thrust into prison at tournay, where he remained six years--one year longer than the period which his illustrious father had been obliged to consume in the infamous dungeon at mons. few disasters could have been more keenly felt by the states than the loss of this brilliant and devoted french chieftain, who, young as he was, had already become very dear to the republic; and sainte aldegonde was severely blamed for sending so eminent a personage on that dangerous expedition, and for sending him, too, with an insufficient convoy. still alexander felt uncertain as to the result. he was determined to secure antwerp, but he yet thought it possible to secure it by negotiation. the enigmatical policy maintained by france perplexed him; for it did not seem possible that so much apparent solemnity and earnestness were destined to lead to an impotent and infamous conclusion. he was left, too, for a long time in ignorance of his own master's secret schemes, he was at liberty to guess, and to guess only, as to the projects of the league, he was without adequate means to carry out to a certain triumph his magnificent enterprise, and he was in constant alarm lest he should be suddenly assailed by an overwhelming french force. had a man sat upon the throne of henry iii., at that moment, parma's bridge-making and dyke-fortifying skilful as they were--would have been all in vain. meantime, in uncertainty as to the great issue, but resolved to hold firmly to his purpose, he made repeated conciliatory offers to the states with one hand, while he steadily prosecuted his aggressive schemes with the other. parma had become really gentle, almost affectionate, towards the netherlanders. he had not the disposition of an alva to smite and to blast, to exterminate the rebels and heretics with fire and sword, with the axe, the rack, and the gallows. provided they would renounce the great object of the contest, he seemed really desirous that they should escape further chastisement; but to admit the worship of god according to the reformed creed, was with him an inconceivable idea. to do so was both unrighteous and impolitic. he had been brought up to believe that mankind could be saved from eternal perdition only by believing in the infallibility of the bishop of rome; that the only keys to eternal paradise were in the hands of st. peter's representative. moreover, he instinctively felt that within this religious liberty which the netherlanders claimed was hidden the germ of civil liberty; and though no bigger than a grain of mustard-seed, it was necessary to destroy it at once; for of course the idea of civil liberty could not enter the brain of the brilliant general of philip ii. on the th of november he addressed a letter to the magistracy and broad-council of antwerp. he asserted that the instigators of the rebellion were not seeking to further the common weal, but their own private ends. especially had this been the ruling motive with the prince of orange and the duke of anjou, both of whom god had removed from the world, in order to manifest to the states their own weakness, and the omnipotence of philip, whose prosperity the lord was constantly increasing. it was now more than time for the authorities of the country to have regard for themselves, and for the miseries of the poor people. the affection which he had always felt for the provinces from which he had himself sprung and the favours which he had received from them in his youth, had often moved him to propose measures, which, before god and his conscience, he believed adequate to the restoration of peace. but his letters had been concealed or falsely interpreted by the late prince of orange, who had sought nothing but to spread desolation over the land, and to shed the blood of the innocent. he now wrote once more, and for the last time, in all fervour and earnestness, to implore them to take compassion on their own wives and children and forlorn fatherland, to turn their eyes backward on the peace and prosperity which they had formerly enjoyed when obedient to his majesty, and to cast a glance around them upon the miseries which were so universal since the rebellion. he exhorted them to close their ears to the insidious tongues of those who were leading them into delusion as to the benevolence and paternal sweetness of their natural lord and master, which were even now so boundless that he did not hesitate once more to offer them his entire forgiveness. if they chose to negotiate, they would find everything granted that with right and reason could be proposed. the prince concluded by declaring that he made these advances not from any doubt as to the successful issue of the military operations in which he was engaged, but simply out of paternal anxiety for the happiness of the provinces. did they remain obstinate, their ultimate conditions would be rendered still more severe, and themselves, not he, would be responsible for the misery and the bloodshed to ensue. ten days afterwards, the magistrates, thus addressed--after communication with the broad-council--answered parma's. rd nov., letter manfully, copiously, and with the customary but superfluous historical sketch. they begged leave to entertain a doubt as to the paternal sweetness of a king who had dealt so long in racks and gibbets. with parma's own mother, as they told the prince, the netherlanders had once made a treaty, by which the right to worship god according to their consciences had been secured; yet for maintaining that treaty they had been devoted to indiscriminate destruction, and their land made desolate with fire and sword. men had been massacred by thousands, who had never been heard in their own defence, and who had never been accused of any crime, "save that they had assembled together in the name of god, to pray to him through their only mediator and advocate jesus christ, according to his command." the axis of the revolt was the religious question; and it was impossible to hope anything from a monarch who was himself a slave of the inquisition, and who had less independence of action than that enjoyed by jews and turks, according to the express permission of the pope. therefore they informed parma that they had done with philip for ever, and that in consequence of the extraordinary wisdom, justice, and moderation, of the french king, they had offered him the sovereignty of their land, and had implored his protection. they paid a tribute to the character of farnese, who after gaining infinite glory in arms, had manifested so much gentleness and disposition to conciliate. they doubted not that he would, if he possessed the power, have guided the royal councils to better and more generous results, and protested that they would not have delayed to throw themselves into his arms, had they been assured that he was authorized to admit that which alone could form the basis of a successful negotiation--religious freedom. they would in such case have been willing to close with him, without talking about other conditions than such as his highness in his discretion and sweetness might think reasonable. moreover, as they observed in conclusion, they were precluded, by their present relations with france, from entering into any other negotiation; nor could they listen to any such proposals without deserving to be stigmatized as the most lewd, blasphemous, and thankless mortals, that ever cumbered the earth. being under equal obligations both to the union and to france, they announced that parma's overtures would be laid before the french government and the assembly of the states-general. a day was to come, perhaps, when it would hardly seem lewdness and blasphemy for the netherlanders to doubt the extraordinary justice and wisdom of the french king. meantime, it cannot be denied that they were at least loyal to their own engagements, and long-suffering where they had trusted and given their hearts. parma replied by another letter, dated december rd. he assured the citizens that henry iii. was far too discreet, and much too good a friend to philip ii., to countenance this rebellion. if he were to take up their quarrel, however, the king of spain had a thousand means of foiling all his attempts. as to the religious question--which they affirmed to be the sole cause of the war--he was not inclined to waste words upon that subject; nevertheless, so far as he in his simplicity could understand the true nature of a christian, he could not believe that it comported with the doctrines of jesus, whom they called their only mediator, nor with the dictates of conscience, to take up arms against their lawful king, nor to burn, rob, plunder, pierce dykes, overwhelm their fatherland, and reduce all things to misery and chaos, in the name of religion. thus moralizing and dogmatizing, the prince concluded his letter, and so the correspondence terminated. this last despatch was communicated at once both to the states-general and to the french government, and remained unanswered. soon afterwards the netherlands and england, france and spain, were engaged in that vast game of delusion which has been described in the preceding chapters. meantime both antwerp and parma remained among the deluded, and were left to fight out their battle on their own resources. having found it impossible to subdue antwerp by his rhetoric, alexander proceeded with his bridge. it is impossible not to admire the steadiness and ingenuity with which the prince persisted in his plans, the courage with which he bore up against the parsimony and neglect of his sovereign, the compassionate tenderness which he manifested for his patient little army. so much intellectual energy commands enthusiasm, while the supineness on the other side sometimes excites indignation. there is even a danger of being entrapped into sympathy with tyranny, when the cause of tyranny is maintained by genius; and of being surprised into indifference for human liberty, when the sacred interests of liberty are endangered by self-interest, perverseness, and folly. even sainte aldegonde did not believe that the bridge could be completed. his fears were that the city would be ruined rather by the cessation of its commerce than by want of daily food. already, after the capture of liefkenshoek and the death of orange, the panic among commercial people had been so intense that seventy or eighty merchants, representing the most wealthy mercantile firms in antwerp, made their escape from the place, as if it had been smitten with pestilence, or were already in the hands of parma. all such refugees were ordered to return on peril of forfeiting their property. few came back, however, for they had found means of converting and transferring their funds to other more secure places, despite the threatened confiscation. it was insinuated that holland and zeeland were indifferent to the fate of antwerp, because in the sequel the commercial cities of those provinces succeeded to the vast traffic and the boundless wealth which had been forfeited by the brabantine capital. the charge was an unjust one. at the very commencement of the siege the states of holland voted two hundred thousand florins for its relief; and, moreover, these wealthy refugees were positively denied admittance into the territory of the united states, and were thus forced to settle in germany or england. this cessation of traffic was that which principally excited the anxiety of aldegonde. he could not bring himself to believe in the possibility of a blockade, by an army of eight or ten thousand men, of a great and wealthy city, where at least twenty thousand citizens were capable of bearing arms. had he thoroughly understood the deprivations under which alexander was labouring, perhaps he would have been even more confident as to the result. "with regard to the affair of the river scheldt," wrote parma to philip, "i should like to send your majesty a drawing of the whole scheme; for the work is too vast to be explained by letters. the more i examine it, the more astonished i am that it should have been conducted to this point; so many forts, dykes, canals, new inventions, machinery, and engines, have been necessarily required." he then proceeded to enlighten the king--as he never failed to do in all his letters--as to his own impoverished, almost helpless condition. money, money, men! this was his constant cry. all would be in vain, he said, if he were thus neglected. "'tis necessary," said he, "for your majesty fully to comprehend, that henceforth the enterprise is your own. i have done my work faithfully thus far; it is now for your majesty to take it thoroughly to heart; and embrace it with the warmth with which an affair involving so much of your own interests deserves to be embraced." he avowed that without full confidence in his sovereign's sympathy he would never have conceived the project. "i confess that the enterprise is great," he said, "and that by many it will be considered rash. certainly i should not have undertaken it, had i not felt certain of your majesty's full support." but he was already in danger of being forced to abandon the whole scheme--although so nearly carried into effect--for want of funds. "the million promised," he wrote, "has arrived in bits and morsels, and with so many ceremonies, that i haven't ten crowns at my disposal. how i am to maintain even this handful of soldiers--for the army is diminished to such a mere handful that it would astonish your majesty--i am unable to imagine. it would move you to witness their condition. they have suffered as much as is humanly possible." many of the troops, indeed, were deserting, and making their escape, beggared and desperate, into france, where, with natural injustice, they denounced their general, whose whole heart was occupied with their miseries, for the delinquency of his master, whose mind was full of other schemes. "there past this way many spanish soldiers," wrote stafford from paris, "so poor and naked as i ever saw any. there have been within this fortnight two hundred at a time in this town, who report the extremity of want of victuals in their camp, and that they have been twenty-four months without pay. they exclaim greatly upon the prince of parma. mendoza seeks to convey them away, and to get money for them by all means he can." stafford urged upon his government the propriety of being at least as negligent as philip had showed himself to be of the spaniards. by prohibiting supplies to the besieging army, england might contribute, negatively, if not otherwise, to the relief of antwerp. "there is no place," he wrote to walsingham, "whence the spaniards are so thoroughly victualled as from us. english boats go by sixteen and seventeen into dunkirk, well laden with provisions." this was certainly not in accordance with the interests nor the benevolent professions of the english ministers. these supplies were not to be regularly depended upon however. they were likewise not to be had without paying a heavy price for them, and the prince had no money in his coffer. he lived from hand to mouth, and was obliged to borrow from every private individual who had anything to lend. merchants, nobles, official personages, were all obliged to assist in eking out the scanty pittance allowed by the sovereign. "the million is all gone," wrote parma to his master; "some to verdugo in friesland; some to repay the advances of marquis richebourg and other gentlemen. there is not a farthing for the garrisons. i can't go on a month longer, and, if not supplied, i shall be obliged to abandon the work. i have not money enough to pay my sailors, joiners, carpenters, and other mechanics, from week to week, and they will all leave me in the lurch, if i leave them unpaid. i have no resource but to rely on your majesty. otherwise the enterprise must wholly fail." in case it did fail, the prince wiped his hands of the responsibility. he certainly had the right to do so. one of the main sources of supply was the city of hertogenbosch, or bois-le-duc. it was one of the four chief cities of brabant, and still held for the king, although many towns in its immediate neighbourhood had espoused the cause of the republic. the states had long been anxious to effect a diversion for the relief of antwerp, by making an attack on bois-le-duc. could they carry the place, parma would be almost inevitably compelled to abandon the siege in which he was at present engaged, and he could moreover spare no troops for its defence. bois-le-duc was a populous, wealthy, thriving town, situate on the deeze, two leagues above its confluence with the meuse, and about twelve leagues from antwerp. it derived its name of `duke's wood' from a magnificent park and forest, once the favourite resort and residence of the old dukes of brabant, of which some beautiful vestiges still remained. it was a handsome well-built city, with two thousand houses of the better class, besides more humble tenements. its citizens were celebrated for their courage and belligerent skill, both on foot and on horseback. they were said to retain more of the antique belgic ferocity which caesar had celebrated than that which had descended to most of their kinsmen. the place was, moreover, the seat of many prosperous manufactures. its clothiers sent the products of their looms over all christendom, and its linen and cutlery were equally renowned. it would be a most fortunate blow in the cause of freedom to secure so, thriving and conspicuous a town, situated thus in the heart of what seemed the natural territory of the united states; and, by so doing, to render nugatory the mighty preparations of parma against antwerp. moreover, it was known that there was no spanish or other garrison within its walls, so that there was no opposition to be feared, except from the warlike nature of the citizens. count hohenlo was entrusted, early in january, with this important enterprise. he accordingly collected a force of four thousand infantry, together with two hundred mounted lancers; having previously reconnoitered the ground. he relied very much, for the success of the undertaking, on captain kleerhagen, a brussels nobleman, whose wife was a native of bois-le-duc, and who was thoroughly familiar with the locality. one dark winter's night, kleerhagen, with fifty picked soldiers, advanced to the antwerp gate of bois-le-duc, while hohenlo, with his whole force, lay in ambuscade as near as possible to the city. between the drawbridge and the portcullis were two small guard-houses, which, very carelessly, had been left empty. kleerhagen, with his fifty followers, successfully climbed into these lurking-places, where they quietly ensconced themselves for the night. at eight o'clock of the following morning ( th january) the guards of the gate drew up the portcullis, and reconnoitered. at the same instant, the ambushed fifty sprang from their concealment, put them to the sword, and made themselves masters of the gate. none of the night-watch escaped with life, save one poor old invalided citizen, whose business had been to draw up the portcullis, and who was severely wounded, and left for dead. the fifty immediately summoned all of rohenlo's ambuscade that were within hearing, and then, without waiting for them, entered the town pell-mell in the best of spirits, and shouting victory! victory! till they were hoarse. a single corporal, with two men, was left to guard the entrance. meantime, the old wounded gate-opener, bleeding and crippled, crept into a dark corner, and laid himself down, unnoticed, to die. soon afterwards hohenlo galloped into the town, clad in complete armour, his long curls floating in the wind, with about two hundred troopers clattering behind him, closely followed by five hundred pike-men on foot. very brutally, foolishly, and characteristically, he had promised his followers the sacking of the city so soon as it should be taken. they accordingly set about the sacking, before it was taken. hardly had the five or six hundred effected their entrance, than throwing off all control, they dispersed through the principal streets, and began bursting open the doors of the most opulent households. the cries of "victory!" "gained city!" "down with the spaniards!" resounded on all sides. many of the citizens, panic-struck, fled from their homes, which they thus abandoned to pillage, while, meantime, the loud shouts of the assailants reached the ears of the sergeant and his two companies who had been left in charge of the gate. fearing that they should be cheated of their rightful share in the plunder, they at once abandoned their post, and set forth after their comrades, as fast as their legs could carry them. now it so chanced--although there was no garrison in the town--that forty burgundian and italian lancers, with about thirty foot-soldiers, had come in the day before to escort a train of merchandise. the seigneur de haultepenne, governor of breda, a famous royalist commander--son of old count berlaymont, who first gave the name of "beggars" to the patriots-had accompanied them in the expedition. the little troop were already about to mount their horses to depart, when they became aware of the sudden tumult. elmont, governor of the city, had also flown to the rescue, and had endeavoured to rally the burghers. not unmindful of their ancient warlike fame, they had obeyed his entreaties. elmont, with a strong party of armed citizens, joined himself to haultepenne's little band of lancers. they fired a few shots at straggling parties of plunderers, and pursued others up some narrow streets. they were but an handful in comparison with the number of the patriots, who had gained entrance to the city. they were, however, compact, united, and resolute. the assailants were scattered, disorderly, and bent only upon plunder. when attacked by an armed and regular band, they were amazed. they had been told that there was no garrison; and behold a choice phalanx of spanish lancers, led on by one of the most famous of philip's netherland chieftains. they thought themselves betrayed by kleerhagen, entrapped into a deliberately arranged ambush. there was a panic. the soldiers, dispersed and doubtful, could not be rallied. hohenlo, seeing that nothing was to be done with his five hundred, galloped furiously out of the gate, to bring in the rest of his troops who had remained outside the walls. the prize of the wealthy city of bois-le-duc was too tempting to be lightly abandoned; but he had much better have thought of making himself master of it himself before he should present it as a prey to his followers. during his absence the panic spread. the states' troops, bewildered, astonished, vigorously assaulted, turned their backs upon their enemies, and fled helter-skelter towards the gates, through which they had first gained admittance. but unfortunately for them, so soon as the corporal had left his position, the wounded old gate-opener, in a dying condition, had crawled forth on his hands and knees from a dark hole in the tower, cut, with a pocket-knife, the ropes of the portcullis, and then given up the ghost. most effective was that blow struck by a dead man's hand. down came the portcullis. the flying plunderers were entrapped. close behind them came the excited burghers--their antique belgic ferocity now fully aroused--firing away with carbine and matchlock, dealing about them with bludgeon and cutlass, and led merrily on by haultepenne and elmont armed in proof, at the head of their squadron of lancers. the unfortunate patriots had risen very early in the morning only to shear the wolf. some were cut to pieces in the streets; others climbed the walls, and threw themselves head foremost into the moat. many were drowned, and but a very few effected their escape. justinus de nassau sprang over the parapet, and succeeded in swimming the ditch. kleerhagen, driven into the holy cross tower, ascended to its roof, leaped, all accoutred as he was, into the river, and with the assistance of a scotch soldier, came safe to land. ferdinand truchsess, brother of the ex-elector of cologne, was killed. four or five hundred of the assailants--nearly all who had entered the city--were slain, and about fifty of the burghers. hohenlo soon came back, with colonel ysselstein, and two thousand fresh troops. but their noses, says a contemporary, grew a hundred feet long with surprise when they saw the gate shut in their faces. it might have occurred to the count, when he rushed out of the town for reinforcements, that it would be as well to replace the guard, which--as he must have seen--had abandoned their post. cursing his folly, he returned, mavellously discomfited, and deservedly censured, to gertruydenberg. and thus had a most important enterprise; which had nearly been splendidly successful, ended in disaster and disgrace. to the recklessness of the general, to the cupidity which he had himself awakened in his followers, was the failure alone to be attributed. had he taken possession of the city with a firm grasp at the head of his four thousand men, nothing could have resisted him; haultepenne, and his insignificant force, would have been dead, or his prisoners; the basis of parma's magnificent operations would have been withdrawn; antwerp would have been saved. "infinite gratitude," wrote parma to philip, "should be rendered to the lord. great thanks are also due to haultepenne. had the rebels succeeded in their enterprise against bolduc, i should have been compelled to abandon the siege of antwerp. the town; by its strength and situation, is of infinite importance for the reduction both of that place and of brussels, and the rebels in possession of bolduc would have cut off my supplies." the prince recommended haultepenne most warmly to the king as deserving of a rich "merced." the true hero of the day, however--at least the chief agent in the victory was the poor, crushed, nameless victim who had cut the ropes of the portcullis at the antwerp gate. hohenlo was deeply stung by the disgrace which he had incurred. for a time he sought oblivion in hard drinking; but--brave and energetic, though reckless--he soon became desirous of retrieving his reputation by more successful enterprises. there was no lack of work, and assuredly his hands were rarely idle. "hollach (hohenlo) is gone from hence on friday last," wrote davison to walsingham, "he will do what he may to recover his reputation lost in the attempt, of bois-le-duc; which, for the grief and trouble he hath conceived thereof, hath for the time greatly altered him." meantime the turbulent scheldt, lashed by the storms of winter, was becoming a more formidable enemy to parma's great enterprise than the military demonstrations of his enemies, or the famine which was making such havoc, with his little army. the ocean-tides were rolling huge ice-blocks up and down, which beat against his palisade with the noise of thunder, and seemed to threaten its immediate destruction. but the work stood firm. the piles supporting the piers, which had been thrust out from each bank into the stream, had been driven fifty feet into the river's bed, and did their duty well. but in the space between, twelve hundred and forty feet in width, the current was too deep for pile-driving and a permanent bridge was to be established upon boats. and that bridge was to be laid across the icy and tempestuous flood, in the depth of winter, in the teeth of a watchful enemy, with the probability of an immediate invasion from france, where the rebel envoys were known to be negotiating on express invitation of the king--by half-naked, half-starving soldiers and sailors, unpaid for years, and for the sake of a master who seemed to have forgotten their existence. "thank god," wrote alexander, "the palisade stands firm in spite of the ice. now with the favour of the lord, we shall soon get the fruit we have been hoping, if your majesty is not wanting in that to which your grandeur, your great christianity, your own interests, oblige you. in truth 'tis a great and heroic work, worthy the great power of your majesty." "for my own part," he continued, "i have done what depended upon me. from your own royal hand must emanate the rest;--men, namely, sufficient to maintain the posts, and money enough to support them there." he expressed himself in the strongest language concerning the danger to the royal cause from the weak and gradually sinking condition of the army. even without the french intrigues with the rebels, concerning which, in his ignorance of the exact state of affairs, he expressed much anxiety, it would be impossible, he said, to save the royal cause without men and money. "i have spared myself," said the prince, "neither day nor night. let not your majesty impute the blame to me if we fail. verdugo also is uttering a perpetual cry out of friesland for men--men and money." yet, notwithstanding all these obstacles, the bridge was finished at last. on the th february, ( ) the day sacred to saint matthew, and of fortunate augury to the emperor charles, father of philip and grandfather of alexander, the scheldt was closed. as already stated, from fort saint mary on the kalloo side, and from fort philip, not far from ordain on the brabant shore of the scheldt, strong structures, supported upon piers, had been projected, reaching, respectively, five hundred feet into the stream. these two opposite ends were now connected by a permanent bridge of boats. there were thirty-two of these barges, each of them sixty-two feet in length and twelve in breadth, the spaces between each couple being twenty-two feet wide, and all being bound together, stem, stern, and midships, by quadruple hawsers and chains. each boat was anchored at stem and stern with loose cables. strong timbers, with cross rafters, were placed upon the boats, upon which heavy frame-work the planked pathway was laid down. a thick parapet of closely-fitting beams was erected along both the outer edges of the whole fabric. thus a continuous and well-fortified bridge, two thousand four hundred feet in length, was stretched at last from shore to shore. each of the thirty-two boats on which the central portion of the structure reposed, was a small fortress provided with two heavy pieces of artillery, pointing, the one up, the other down the stream, and manned by thirty-two soldiers and four sailors, defended by a breastwork formed of gabions of great thickness. the forts of saint philip and st. mary, at either end of the bridge, had each ten great guns, and both were filled with soldiers. in front of each fort, moreover, was stationed a fleet of twenty armed vessels, carrying heavy pieces of artillery; ten anchored at the angle towards antwerp, and as many looking down the river. one hundred and seventy great guns, including the armaments of the boats under the bridge of the armada and the forts, protected the whole structure, pointing up and down the stream. but, besides these batteries, an additional precaution had been taken. on each side, above and below the bridge, at a moderate distance--a bow shot--was anchored a heavy, raft floating upon empty barrels. each raft was composed of heavy timbers, bound together in bunches of three, the spaces between being connected by ships' masts and lighter spar-work, and with a tooth-like projection along the whole outer edge, formed of strong rafters, pointed and armed with sharp prongs and hooks of iron. thus a serried phalanx, as it were, of spears stood ever on guard to protect the precious inner structure. vessels coming from zeeland or antwerp, and the floating ice-masses, which were almost as formidable, were obliged to make their first attack upon these dangerous outer defences. each raft; floating in the middle of the stream, extended twelve hundred, and fifty-two feet across, thus protecting the whole of the bridge of boats and a portion of that resting upon piles. such was the famous bridge of parma. the magnificent undertaking has been advantageously compared with the celebrated rhine-bridge of julius caesar. when it is remembered; however; that the roman work was performed in summer, across a river only half as broad as the scheldt, free from the disturbing, action of the tides; and flowing through an unresisting country; while the whole character of the structure; intended only to, serve for the single passage of an army, was far inferior to the massive solidity of parma's bridge; it seems not unreasonable to assign the superiority to the general who had surmounted all the obstacles of a northern winter, vehement ebb and flow from the sea, and enterprising and desperate enemies at every point. when the citizens, at last, looked upon the completed fabric, converted from the "dream," which they had pronounced it to be, into a terrible reality; when they saw the shining array of spanish and italian legions marching and counter-marching upon their new road; and trampling, as it were; the turbulent river beneath their feet; when they witnessed the solemn military spectacle with which the governor-general celebrated his success, amid peals of cannon and shouts of triumph from his army, they bitterly bewailed their own folly. yet even then they could hardly believe that the work had been accomplished by human agency, but they loudly protested that invisible demons had been summoned to plan and perfect this fatal and preter-human work. they were wrong. there had been but one demon--one clear, lofty intelligence, inspiring a steady and untiring hand. the demon was the intellect of alexander farnese; but it had been assisted in its labour by the hundred devils of envy, covetousness, jealousy, selfishness, distrust, and discord, that had housed, not, in his camp, but in the ranks of those who were contending for their hearths and altars. and thus had the prince arrived at success in spite of every obstacle. he took a just pride in the achievement, yet he knew by how many dangers he was still surrounded, and he felt hurt at his sovereign's neglect. "the enterprise at antwerp," he wrote to philip on the day the bridge was completed, "is so great and heroic that to celebrate it would require me to speak more at large than i like, to do, for fear of being tedious to your majesty. what i will say, is that the labours and difficulties have been every day so, great, that if your majesty knew them, you would estimate, what we have done more highly than-you do; and not forget us so utterly, leaving us to die of hunger." he considered the fabric in itself almost impregnable, provided he were furnished with the means to maintain what he had so painfully constructed. "the whole is in such condition," said he, "that in opinion of all competent military judges it would stand though all holland and zeeland should come to destroy our palisades. their attacks must be made at immense danger, and disadvantage, so severely can we play upon them with our artillery and musketry. every boat is, garnished with the most dainty captains and soldiers, so that if the enemy should attempt to assail us now, they would come back with broken heads." yet in the midst of his apparent triumph he had, at times, almost despair in his heart. he felt really at the last gasp. his troops had dwindled to the mere shadow of an army, and they were forced to live almost upon air. the cavalry had nearly vanished. the garrisons in the different cities were starving. the burghers had no food for the soldiers nor for themselves. "as for the rest of the troops," said alexander, "they are stationed where they have nothing to subsist upon, save salt water and the dykes, and if the lord does not grant a miracle, succour, even if sent by your majesty, will arrive too late." he assured his master, that he could not go on more than five or six days longer, that he had been feeding his soldiers for a long time from hand to mouth, and that it would soon be impossible for him to keep his troops together. if he did not disband them they would run away. his pictures were most dismal, his supplications for money very moving but he never alluded to himself. all his anxiety, all his tenderness, were for his soldiers. "they must have food," he said: "'tis impossible to sustain them any longer by driblets, as i have done for a long time. yet how can i do it without money? and i have none at all, nor do i see where to get a single florin." but these revelations were made only to his master's most secret ear. his letters, deciphered after three centuries, alone make manifest the almost desperate condition in which the apparently triumphant general was placed, and the facility with which his antagonists, had they been well guided and faithful to themselves, might have driven him into the sea. but to those adversaries he maintained an attitude of serene and smiling triumph. a spy, sent from the city to obtain intelligence for the anxious burghers, had gained admission into his lines, was captured and brought before the prince. he expected, of course, to be immediately hanged. on the contrary, alexander gave orders that he should be conducted over every part of the encampment. the forts, the palisades, the bridge, were all to be carefully exhibited and explained to him as if he had been a friendly visitor entitled to every information. he was requested to count the pieces of artillery in the forts, on the bridge, in the armada. after thoroughly studying the scene he was then dismissed with a safe-conduct to the city. "go back to those who sent you," said the prince. "convey to them the information in quest of which you came. apprize them of every thing which you have inspected, counted, heard explained. tell them further, that the siege will never be abandoned, and that this bridge will be my sepulcher or my pathway into antwerp." and now the aspect of the scene was indeed portentous. the chimera had become a very visible bristling reality. there stood the bridge which the citizens had ridiculed while it was growing before their faces. there scowled the kowenstyn--black with cannon, covered all over with fortresses which the butchers had so sedulously preserved. from parma's camp at beveren and kalloo a great fortified road led across the river and along the fatal dyke all the way to the entrenchments at stabroek, where mansfeld's army lay. grim mondragon held the "holy cross" and the whole kowenstyn in his own iron grasp. a chain of forts, built and occupied by the contending hosts of the patriots and the spaniards, were closely packed together along both banks of the scheldt, nine miles long from antwerp to lillo, and interchanged perpetual cannonades. the country all around, once fertile as a garden, had been changed into a wild and wintry sea where swarms of gun-boats and other armed vessels manoeuvred and contended with each other over submerged villages and orchards, and among half-drowned turrets and steeples. yet there rose the great bulwark--whose early destruction would have made all this desolation a blessing--unbroken and obstinate; a perpetual obstacle to communication between antwerp and zeeland. the very spirit of the murdered prince of orange seemed to rise sadly and reproachfully out of the waste of waters, as if to rebuke the men who had been so deaf to his solemn warnings. brussels, too, wearied and worn, its heart sick with hope deferred, now fell into despair as the futile result of the french negotiation became apparent. the stately and opulent city had long been in a most abject condition. many of its inhabitants attempted to escape from the horrors of starving by flying from its walls. of the fugitives, the men were either scourged back by the spaniards into the city, or hanged up along the road-side. the women were treated, leniently, even playfully, for it was thought an excellent jest to cut off the petticoats of the unfortunate starving creatures up to their knees, and then command them to go back and starve at home with their friends and fellow-citizens. a great many persons literally died of hunger. matrons with large families poisoned their children and themselves to avoid the more terrible death by starving. at last, when vilvoorde was taken, when the baseness of the french king was thoroughly understood, when parma's bridge was completed and the scheldt bridled, brussels capitulated on as favourable terms as could well have been expected. etext editor's bookmarks: college of "peace-makers," who wrangled more than all military virtue in the support of an infamous cause not distinguished for their docility repentance, as usual, had come many hours too late history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, alexander farnese, the duke of parma chapter v., part . position of alexander and his army--la motte attempts in vain ostend--patriots gain liefkenshoek--projects of gianibelli--alarm on the bridge--the fire ships--the explosion--its results--death of the viscount of ghent--perpetual anxiety of farnese--impoverished state of the spaniards--intended attack of the kowenstyn--second attack of the kowenstyn--a landing effected--a sharp combat--the dyke pierced --rally of the spaniards--parma comes to the rescue--fierce struggle on the dyke--the spaniards successful--premature triumph at antwerp --defeat of the patriots--the ship war's end--despair of the citizens notwithstanding these triumphs, parma was much inconvenienced by not possessing the sea-coast of flanders. ostend was a perpetual stumbling-block to him. he therefore assented, with pleasure to a proposition made by la motte, one of the most experienced and courageous of the walloon royalist, commanders, to attempt the place by surprise. and la motte; at the first blow; was more than half successful. on the night of the th march, ( ) with two thousand foot and twelve hundred cavalry, he carried the whole of the old port of ostend. leaving a walloon officer, in whom he had confidence, to guard the position already gained, he went back in person for reinforcements. during his advance, the same ill luck attended his enterprise which had blasted hohenlo's achievement at bois-le-duc. the soldiers he left behind him deserted their posts for the sake of rifling the town. the officer in command, instead of keeping them to their duty, joined in the chase. the citizens roused themselves, attacked their invaders, killed many of them, and put the rest to flight. when la motte returned; he found the panic general. his whole force, including the fresh soldiers just brought to the rescue, were beside themselves with fear. he killed several with his own hand, but the troops were not to be rallied. his quick triumph was changed into an absolute defeat. parma, furious at the ignominious result of a plan from which so much had been expected, ordered the walloon captain, from whose delinquency so much disaster had resulted, to be forthwith hanged. "such villainy," said he, "must never go unpunished." it was impossible for the prince to send a second expedition to attempt the reduction of ostend, for the patriots were at last arousing themselves to the necessity of exertion. it was very obvious--now that the bridge had been built, and the kowenstyn fortified--that one or the other was to be destroyed, or antwerp abandoned to its fate. the patriots had been sleeping, as it were, all the winter, hugging the delusive dream of french sovereignty and french assistance. no language can exaggerate the deadly effects from the slow poison of that negotiation. at any rate, the negotiation was now concluded. the dream was dispelled. antwerp must now fall, or a decisive blow must be struck by the patriots themselves, and a telling blow had been secretly and maturely meditated. certain preparatory steps were however necessary. the fort of liefkenshoek, "darling's corner," was a most important post. the patriots had never ceased to regret that precious possession, lost, as we have seen, in so tragical a manner on the very day of orange's death. fort lillo, exactly opposite, on the brabant shore of the scheldt, had always been securely held by them; and was their strongest position. were both places in their power, the navigation of the river, at least as far as the bridge, would be comparatively secure. a sudden dash was made upon liefkenshoek. a number of armed vessels sailed up from zeeland, under command of justinus de nassau. they were assisted from fort lillo by a detachment headed by count hohenlo. these two officers were desirous of retrieving the reputation which they had lost at bois-le-duc. they were successful, and the "darling" fort was carried at a blow. after a brief cannonade, the patriots made a breach, effected a landing, and sprang over the ramparts. the walloons and spaniards fled in dismay; many of them were killed in the fort, and along the dykes; others were hurled into the scheldt. the victors followed up their success by reducing, with equal impetuosity, the fort of saint anthony, situate in the neighbourhood farther down the river. they thus gained entire command of all the high ground, which remained in that quarter above the inundation, and was called the doel. the dyke, on which liefkenshoek stood, led up the river towards kalloo, distant less than a league. there were parma's head-quarters and the famous bridge. but at fort saint mary; where the flemish head of that bridge rested, the dyke was broken. upon that broken end the commanders of the expedition against liefkenshoek were ordered to throw up an entrenchment, without loss of a moment, so soon as they should have gained the fortresses which they were ordered first to assault. sainte aldegonde had given urgent written directions to this effect. from a redoubt situated thus, in the very face of saint mary's, that position, the palisade-work, the whole bridge, might be battered with all the artillery that could be brought from zeeland. but parma was beforehand with them. notwithstanding his rage and mortification that spanish soldiers should have ignominiously lost the important fortress which richebourg had conquered so brilliantly nine months before, he was not the man to spend time in unavailing regrets. his quick eye instantly, detected the flaw which might soon be fatal. in the very same night of the loss of liefkenshoek, he sent as strong a party as could be spared, with plenty of sappers and miners, in flat-bottomed boats across from kalloo. as the morning dawned, an improvised fortress, with the spanish flag waving above its bulwarks, stood on the broken end of the dyke. that done, he ordered one of the two captains who had commanded in liefkenshoek and saint anthony to be beheaded on the same dyke. the other was dismissed with ignominy. ostend was, of course, given up; "but it was not a small matter," said parma, "to fortify ourselves that very night upon the ruptured place, and so prevent the rebels from doing it, which would have been very mal-a-propos." nevertheless, the rebels had achieved a considerable success; and now or never the telling blow, long meditated, was to be struck. there lived in antwerp a subtle mantuan, gianibelli by name, who had married and been long settled in the city. he had made himself busy with various schemes for victualling the place. he had especially urged upon the authorities, at an early period of the siege, the propriety of making large purchases of corn and storing it in magazines at a time when famine-price had by no means been reached. but the leading men had then their heads full of a great ship, or floating castle, which they were building, and which they had pompously named the 'war's end,' 'fin de la guerre.' we shall hear something of this phenomenon at a later period. meanwhile, gianibelli, who knew something of shipbuilding, as he did of most other useful matters, ridiculed the design, which was likely to cost, in itself before completion, as much money as would keep the city in bread for a third of a year. gianibelli was no patriot. he was purely a man of science and of great acquirements, who was looked upon by the ignorant populace alternately as a dreamer and a wizard. he was as indifferent to the cause of freedom as of despotism, but he had a great love for chemistry. he was also a profound mechanician, second to no man of his age in theoretic and practical engineering. he had gone from italy to spain that he might offer his services to philip, and give him the benefit of many original and ingenious inventions. forced to dance attendance, day after day, among sneering courtiers and insolent placemen, and to submit to the criticism of practical sages and philosophers of routine, while, he was constantly denied an opportunity of explaining his projects, the quick-tempered italian had gone away at last, indignant. he had then vowed revenge upon the dulness by which his genius had been slighted, and had sworn that the next time the spaniards heard the name of the man whom they had dared to deride, they should hear it with tears. he now laid before the senate of antwerp a plan for some vessels likely to prove more effective than the gigantic 'war's end,' which he had prophesied would prove a failure. with these he pledged himself to destroy the bridge. he demanded three ships which he had selected from the city fleet; the 'orange,' the 'post,' and the 'golden lion,' measuring, respectively, one hundred and fifty, three hundred and fifty, and five hundred tons. besides these, he wished sixty flat-bottomed scows, which he proposed to send down the river, partially submerged, disposed in the shape of a half moon, with innumerable anchors and grapnel's thrusting themselves out of the water at every point. this machine was intended to operate against the raft. ignorance and incredulity did their work, as usual, and gianbelli's request was refused. as a quarter-measure, nevertheless, he was allowed to take two smaller vessels of seventy and eighty tons. the italian was disgusted with parsimony upon so momentous an occasion, but he at the same time determined, even with these slender materials, to give an exhibition of his power. not all his the glory, however, of the ingenious project. associated with him were two skilful artizans of antwerp; a clockmaker named bory, and a mechanician named timmerman--but gianibelli was the chief and superintendent of the whole daring enterprise. he gave to his two ships the cheerful names of the 'fortune' and the 'hope,' and set himself energetically to justify their titles by their efficiency. they were to be marine volcanos, which, drifting down the river with tide, were to deal destruction where the spaniards themselves most secure. in the hold of each vessel, along the whole length, was laid down a solid flooring of brick and mortar, one foot thick and five feet wide. upon this was built a chamber of marble mason-work, forty feet long, three and a half feet broad, as many high, and with side-walks [walls? d.w.] five feet in thickness. this was the crater. it was filled with seven thousand of gunpowder, of a kind superior to anything known, and prepared by gianibelli himself. it was covered with a roof, six feet in thickness, formed of blue tombstones, placed edgewise. over this crater, rose a hollow cone, or pyramid, made of heavy marble slabs, and filled with mill-stones, cannon balls, blocks of marble, chain-shot, iron hooks, plough-coulters, and every dangerous missile that could be imagined. the spaces between the mine and the sides of each ship were likewise filled with paving stones, iron-bound stakes, harpoons, and other projectiles. the whole fabric was then covered by a smooth light flooring of planks and brick-work, upon which was a pile of wood: this was to be lighted at the proper time, in order that the two vessels might present the appearance of simple fire-ships, intended only to excite a conflagration of the bridge. on the 'fortune' a slow match, very carefully prepared, communicated with the submerged mine, which was to explode at a nicely-calculated moment. the eruption of the other floating volcano was to be regulated by an ingenious piece of clock-work, by which, at the appointed time, fire, struck from a flint, was to inflame the hidden mass of gunpowder below. in addition to these two infernal machines, or "hell-burners," as they were called, a fleet of thirty-two smaller vessels was prepared. covered with tar, turpentine, rosin, and filled with inflammable and combustible materials, these barks were to be sent from antwerp down the river in detachments of eight every half hour with the ebb tide. the object was to clear the way, if possible, of the raft, and to occupy the attention of the spaniards, until the 'fortune' and the `hope' should come down upon the bridge. the th april, ( ) being the day following that on which the successful assault upon liefkenshoek and saint anthony had taken place, was fixed for the descent of the fire-ships. so soon as it should be dark, the thirty-two lesser burning-vessels, under the direction of admiral jacob jacobzoon, were to be sent forth from the neighborhood of the 'boor's sconce'--a fort close to the city walls--in accordance with the italian's plan. "run-a-way jacob," however, or "koppen loppen," had earned no new laurels which could throw into the shade that opprobrious appellation. he was not one of holland's naval heroes, but, on the whole, a very incompetent officer; exactly the man to damage the best concerted scheme which the genius of others could invent. accordingly, koppen-loppen began with a grave mistake. instead of allowing the precursory fire-ships to drift down the stream, at the regular intervals agreed upon, he despatched them all rapidly, and helter skelter, one after another, as fast as they could be set forth on their career. not long afterwards, he sent the two "hellburners," the 'fortune' and the 'hope,' directly in their wake. thus the whole fiery fleet had set forth, almost at once, upon its fatal voyage. it was known to parma that preparations for an attack were making at antwerp, but as to the nature of the danger he was necessarily in the dark. he was anticipating an invasion by a fleet from the city in combination with a squadron of zeelanders coming up from below. so soon as the first vessels, therefore, with their trains not yet lighted, were discovered bearing down from the city, he was confirmed in his conjecture. his drama and trumpets instantly called to arms, and the whole body of his troops was mustered upon the bridge; the palisades, and in the nearest forts. thus the preparations to avoid or to contend with the danger, were leading the spaniards into the very jaws of destruction. alexander, after crossing and recrossing the river, giving minute directions for repelling the expected assault, finally stationed himself in the block-house at the point of junction, on the flemish aide, between the palisade and the bridge of boats. he was surrounded by a group of superior officers, among whom richebourg, billy, gaetano, cessis, and the englishman sir rowland yorke, were conspicuous. it was a dark, mild evening of early spring. as the fleet of vessels dropped slowly down the river, they suddenly became luminous, each ship flaming out of the darkness, a phantom of living fire. the very waves of the scheldt seemed glowing with the conflagration, while its banks were lighted up with a preternatural glare. it was a wild, pompous, theatrical spectacle. the array of soldiers on both aides the river, along the dykes and upon the bridge, with banners waving, and spear and cuirass glancing in the lurid light; the demon fleet, guided by no human hand, wrapped in flames, and flitting through the darkness, with irregular movement; but portentous aspect, at the caprice of wind and tide; the death-like silence of expectation, which had succeeded the sound of trumpet and the shouts of the soldiers; and the weird glow which had supplanted the darkness-all combined with the sense of imminent and mysterious danger to excite and oppress the imagination. presently, the spaniards, as they gazed from the bridge, began to take heart again. one after another, many of the lesser vessels drifted blindly against the raft, where they entangled themselves among the hooks and gigantic spearheads, and burned slowly out without causing any extensive conflagration. others grounded on the banks of the river, before reaching their destination. some sank in the stream. last of all came the two infernal ships, swaying unsteadily with the current; the pilots of course, as they neared the bridge, having noiselessly effected their escape in the skiffs. the slight fire upon the deck scarcely illuminated the dark phantom-like hulls. both were carried by the current clear of the raft, which, by a great error of judgment, as it now appeared, on the part of the builders, had only been made to protect the floating portion of the bridge. the 'fortune' came first, staggering inside the raft, and then lurching clumsily against the dyke, and grounding near kalloo, without touching the bridge. there was a moment's pause of expectation. at last the slow match upon the deck burned out, and there was a faint and partial explosion, by which little or no damage was produced. parma instantly called for volunteers to board the mysterious vessel. the desperate expedition was headed by the bold roland york, a londoner, of whom one day there was more to be heard in netherland history. the party sprang into the deserted and now harmless volcano, extinguishing the slight fires that were smouldering on the deck, and thrusting spears and long poles into the hidden recesses of the hold. there was, however, little time to pursue these perilous investigations, and the party soon made their escape to the bridge. the troops of parma, crowding on the palisade, and looking over the parapets, now began to greet the exhibition with peals of derisive laughter. it was but child's play, they thought, to threaten a spanish army, and a general like alexander farnese, with such paltry fire-works as these. nevertheless all eyes were anxiously fixed upon the remaining fire-ship, or "hell-burner," the 'hope,' which had now drifted very near the place of its destination. tearing her way between the raft and the shore, she struck heavily against the bridge on the kalloo side, close to the block-house at the commencement of the floating portion of the bridge. a thin wreath of smoke was seen curling over a slight and smouldering fire upon her deck. marquis richebourg, standing on the bridge, laughed loudly at the apparently impotent conclusion of the whole adventure. it was his last laugh on earth. a number of soldiers, at parma's summons, instantly sprang on board this second mysterious vessel, and occupied themselves, as the party on board the 'fortune' had done, in extinguishing, the flames, and in endeavoring to ascertain the nature of the machine. richebourg boldly directed from the bridge their hazardous experiments. at the same moment a certain ensign de vega, who stood near the prince of parma, close to the block-house, approached him with vehement entreaties that he should retire. alexander refused to stir from the spot, being anxious to learn the result of these investigations. vega, moved by some instinctive and irresistible apprehension, fell upon his knees, and plucking the general earnestly by the cloak, implored him with such passionate words and gestures to leave the place, that the prince reluctantly yielded. it was not a moment too soon. the clockwork had been better adjusted than the slow match in the 'fortune.' scarcely had alexander reached the entrance of saint mary's fort, at the end of the bridge, when a horrible explosion was heard. the 'hope' disappeared, together with the men who had boarded her, and the block-house, against which she had struck, with all its garrison, while a large portion of the bridge, with all the troops stationed upon it, had vanished into air. it was the work of a single instant. the scheldt yawned to its lowest depth, and then cast its waters across the dykes, deep into the forts, and far over the land. the earth shook as with the throb of a volcano. a wild glare lighted up the scene for one moment, and was then succeeded by pitchy darkness. houses were toppled down miles away, and not a living thing, even in remote places, could keep its feet. the air was filled with a rain of plough-shares, grave-stones, and marble balls, intermixed with the heads, limbs, and bodies, of what had been human beings. slabs of granite, vomited by the flaming ship, were found afterwards at a league's distance, and buried deep in the earth. a thousand soldiers were destroyed in a second of time; many of them being torn to shreds, beyond even the semblance of humanity. richebourg disappeared, and was not found until several days later, when his body was discovered; doubled around an iron chain, which hung from one of the bridge-boats in the centre of the river. the veteran robles, seigneur de billy, a portuguese officer of eminent service and high military rank, was also destroyed. months afterwards, his body was discovered adhering to the timber-work of the bridge, upon the ultimate removal of that structure, and was only recognized by a peculiar gold chain which he habitually wore. parma himself was thrown to the ground, stunned by a blow on the shoulder from a flying stake. the page, who was behind him, carrying his helmet, fell dead without a wound, killed by the concussion of the air. several strange and less tragical incidents occurred. the viscomte de bruxelles was blown out of a boat on the flemish side, and descended safe and, sound into another in the centre of the stream. captain tucci, clad in complete armour, was whirled out of a fort, shot perpendicularly into the air, and then fell back into the river. being of a cool temperament, a good swimmer, and very pious, he skilfully divested himself of cuirass and helmet, recommended himself to the blessed virgin, and swam safely ashore. another young officer of parma's body-guard, francois de liege by name, standing on the kalloo end of the bridge, rose like a feather into the clouds, and, flying quite across the river, alighted on the opposite bank with no further harm than a contused shoulder. he imagined himself (he said afterwards) to have been changed into a cannon-ball, as he rushed through the pitchy atmosphere, propelled by a blast of irresistible fury. [the chief authorities used in the foregoing account of this famous enterprise are those already cited on a previous page, viz.: the ms. letters of the prince of parma in the archives of simancas; bor, ii. , ; strada, h. seq.; meteren, xii. ; hoofd vervolgh, ; baudartii polemographia, ii. - ; bentivoglio, etc., i have not thought it necessary to cite them step by step; for all the accounts, with some inevitable and unimportant discrepancies, agree with each other. the most copious details are to be found in strada and in bor.] it had been agreed that admiral jacobzoon should, immediately after the explosion of the fire-ships, send an eight-oared barge to ascertain the amount of damage. if a breach had been effected, and a passage up to the city opened, he was to fire a rocket. at this signal, the fleet stationed at lillo, carrying a heavy armament, laden with provisions enough to relieve antwerp from all anxiety, and ready to sail on the instant, was at once to force its way up the river. the deed was done. a breach, two hundred feet in width was made. had the most skilful pilot in zeeland held the helm of the 'hope,' with a choice crew obedient to his orders, he could not have guided her more carefully than she had been directed by wind and tide. avoiding the raft which lay in her way, she had, as it were, with the intelligence of a living creature, fulfilled the wishes of the daring genius that had created her; and laid herself alongside the bridge, exactly at the most telling point. she had then destroyed herself, precisely at the right moment. all the effects, and more than all, that had been predicted by the mantuan wizard had come to pass. the famous bridge was cleft through and through, and a thousand picked men--parma's very "daintiest"--were blown out of existence. the governor-general himself was lying stark and stiff upon the bridge which he said should be his triumphal monument or his tomb. his most distinguished officers were dead, and all the survivors were dumb and blind with astonishment at the unheard of, convulsion. the passage was open for the fleet, and the fleet, lay below with sails spread, and oars in the rowlocks, only waiting for the signal to bear up at once to the scene of action, to smite out of existence all that remained of the splendid structure, and to carry relief and triumph into antwerp. not a soul slept in the city. the explosion had shook its walls, and thousands of people thronged the streets, their hearts beating high with expectation. it was a moment of exquisite triumph. the 'hope,' word of happy augury, had not been relied upon in vain, and parma's seven months of patient labour had been annihilated in a moment. sainte aldegonde and gianibelli stood in the 'boors' sconce' on the edge of the river. they had felt and heard the explosion, and they were now straining their eyes through the darkness to mark the flight of the welcome rocket. that rocket never rose. and it is enough, even after the lapse of three centuries, to cause a pang in every heart that beats for human liberty to think of the bitter disappointment which crushed these great and legitimate hopes. the cause lay in the incompetency and cowardice of the man who had been so unfortunately entrusted with a share in a noble enterprise. admiral jacobzoon, paralyzed by the explosion, which announced his own triumph, sent off the barge, but did not wait for its return. the boatmen, too, appalled by the sights and sounds which they had witnessed, and by the murky darkness which encompassed them, did not venture near the scene of action, but, after rowing for a short interval hither and thither, came back with the lying report that nothing had been accomplished, and that the bridge remained unbroken. sainte aldegonde and gianibelli were beside themselves with rage, as they surmised the imbecility of the admiral, and devoted him in their hearts to the gallows, which he certainly deserved. the wrath of the keen italian may be conceived, now that his ingenious and entirely successful scheme was thus rendered fruitless by the blunders of the incompetent fleming. on the other side, there was a man whom no danger could appall. alexander had been thought dead, and the dismay among his followers was universal. he was known to have been standing an instant before the explosion on the very block-house where the 'hope' had struck. after the first terrible moments had passed, his soldiers found their general lying, as if in a trance, on the threshold of st. mary's fort, his drawn sword in his hand, with cessis embracing his knees, and gaetano extended at his side, stunned with a blow upon the head. recovering from his swoon, parma was the first to spring to his feet. sword in hand, he rushed at once upon the bridge to mark the extent of the disaster. the admirable structure, the result of so much patient and intelligent energy, was fearfully shattered; the bridge, the river, and the shore, strewed with the mangled bodies of his soldiers. he expected, as a matter of certainty, that the fleet from below would instantly force its passage, destroy, the remainder of his troops-stunned as they were with the sudden catastrophe complete the demolition of the bridge, and then make its way to antwerp, with ample reinforcements and supplies. and alexander saw that the expedition would be successful. momently expecting the attack, he maintained his courage and semblance of cheerfulness, with despair in his heart. his winter's work seemed annihilated, and it was probable that he should be obliged to raise the siege. nevertheless, he passed in person from rank to rank, from post to post, seeing that the wounded were provided for, encouraging those that remained unhurt, and endeavouring to infuse a portion of his own courage into the survivors of his panic-stricken army. nor was he entirely unsuccessful, as the night wore on and the expected assault was still delayed. without further loss of time, he employed his men to collect the drifting boats, timber, and spar-work, and to make a hasty and temporary restoration--in semblance at least--of the ruined portion of his bridge. and thus he employed himself steadily all the night, although expecting every instant to hear the first broadside of the zeeland cannon. when morning broke, and it became obvious that the patriots were unable or unwilling to follow up their own success, the governor-general felt as secure as ever. he at once set about the thorough repairs of his great work, and--before he could be again molested--had made good the damage which it had sustained. it was not till three days afterwards that the truth was known in antwerp. hohenlo then sent down a messenger, who swam, under the bridge, ascertained the exact state of affairs, and returned, when it was too late, with the first intelligence of the triumph which had been won and lost. the disappointment and mortification were almost intolerable. and thus had. run-a-way jacob, 'koppen loppen,' blasted the hopes of so many wiser and braver spirits than his own. the loss to parma and to the royalist cause in marquis richebourg, was very great. the death of de billy, who was a faithful, experienced, and courageous general, was also much lamented. "the misfortune from their death," said parma, "is not to be exaggerated. each was ever ready to do his duty in your majesty's service, and to save me much fatigue in all my various affairs. nevertheless," continued the prince, with great piety, "we give the lord thanks for all, and take as a favour everything which comes from his hand." alexander had indeed reason to deplore the loss of robert de melun, viscount of ghent, marquis of roubaix and richebourg. he was a most valuable officer. his wealth was great. it had been recently largely increased by the confiscation of his elder brother's estates for his benefit, a measure which at parma's intercession had been accorded by the king. that brother was the patriotic prince of espinoy, whom we have recently seen heading the legation of the states to france. and richebourg was grateful to alexander, for besides these fraternal spoils, he had received two marquisates through his great patron, in addition to the highest military offices. insolent, overbearing, truculent to all the world, to parma he was ever docile, affectionate, watchful, obsequious. a man who knew not fatigue, nor fear, nor remorse, nor natural affection, who could patiently superintend all the details of a great military work, or manage a vast political intrigue by alternations of browbeating and bribery, or lead a forlorn hope, or murder a prisoner in cold blood, or leap into the blazing crater of what seemed a marine volcano, the marquis of richebourg had ever made himself most actively and unscrupulously useful to his master. especially had he rendered invaluable services in the reduction, of the walloon provinces, and in the bridging of the scheldt, the two crowning triumphs of alexander's life. he had now passed from the scene where he had played so energetic and dazzling a part, and lay doubled round an iron cable beneath the current of the restless river. and in this eventful night, parma, as always, had been true to himself and to his sovereign. "we expected," said he, "that the rebels would instantly attack us on all sides after the explosion. but all remained so astonished by the unheard-of accident, that very few understood what was going on. it seemed better that i--notwithstanding the risk of letting myself be seen--should encourage the people not to run away. i did so, and remedied matters a little but not so much as that--if the enemy had then attacked us--we should not have been in the very greatest risk and peril. i did not fail to do what i am obliged to do, and always hope to do; but i say no more of what passed, or what was done by myself, because it does not become me to speak of these things." notwithstanding this discomfiture, the patriots kept up heart, and were incessantly making demonstrations against parma's works. their proceedings against the bridge, although energetic enough to keep the spanish commander in a state of perpetual anxiety, were never so efficient however as on the memorable occasion when the mantuan engineer and the dutch watchmaker had exhausted all their ingenuity. nevertheless, the rebel barks swarmed all over the submerged territory, now threatening this post, and now that, and effecting their retreat at pleasure; for nearly the whole of parma's little armada was stationed at the two extremities of his bridge. many fire-ships were sent down from time to time, but alexander had organized a systematic patrol of a few sentry-boats, armed with scythes and hooks, which rowed up and down in front of the rafts, and protected them against invasion. some little effect was occasionally produced, but there was on the whole more anxiety excited than damage actually inflicted. the perturbation of spirit among the spaniards when any of these 'demon fine-ships,' as they called them, appeared bearing down upon their bridge, was excessive. it could not be forgotten, that the `hope' had sent into space a thousand of the best soldiers of the little army within one moment of time. such rapid proceedings had naturally left an uneasy impression on the minds of the survivors. the fatigue of watching was enormous. hardly an officer or soldier among the besieging forces knew what it was to sleep. there was a perpetual exchanging of signals and beacon-fires and rockets among the patriots--not a day or night, when a concerted attack by the antwerpers from above, and the hollanders from below, with gun-boats and fire-ships, and floating mines, and other devil's enginry, was not expected. "we are always upon the alert," wrote parma, "with arms in our hands. every one must mount guard, myself as well as the rest, almost every night, and the better part of every day." he was quite aware that something was ever in preparation; and the nameless, almost sickening apprehension which existed among his stout-hearted veterans, was a proof that the mantuan's genius--notwithstanding the disappointment as to the great result--had not been exercised entirely in vain. the image of the antwerp devil-ships imprinted itself indelibly upon the spanish mind, as of something preternatural, with which human valour could only contend at a disadvantage; and a day was not very far distant--one of the memorable days of the world's history, big with the fate of england, spain, holland, and all christendom--when the sight of a half-dozen blazing vessels, and the cry of "the antwerp fireships," was to decide the issue of a most momentous enterprise. the blow struck by the obscure italian against antwerp bridge, although ineffective then, was to be most sensibly felt after a few years had passed, upon a wider field. meantime the uneasiness and the watchfulness in the besieging army were very exhausting. "they are never idle in the city," wrote parma. "they are perpetually proving their obstinacy and pertinacity by their industrious genius and the machines which they devise. every day we are expecting some new invention. on our side we endeavour to counteract their efforts by every human means in our power. nevertheless, i confess that our merely human intellect is not competent to penetrate the designs of their diabolical genius. certainly, most wonderful and extraordinary things have been exhibited, such as the oldest soldiers here have never before witnessed." moreover, alexander saw himself growing weaker and weaker. his force had dwindled to a mere phantom of an army. his soldiers, ill-fed, half-clothed, unpaid, were fearfully overworked. he was obliged to concentrate all the troops at his disposal around antwerp. diversions against ostend, operations in friesland and gelderland, although most desirable, had thus been rendered quite impossible. "i have recalled my cavalry and infantry from ostend," he wrote, "and don juan de manrique has fortunately arrived in stabroek with a thousand good german folk. the commissary-general of the cavalry has come in, too, with a good lot of the troops that had been encamped in the open country. nevertheless, we remain wretchedly weak--quite insufficient to attempt what ought to be done. if the enemy were more in force, or if the french wished to make trouble, your majesty would see how important it had been to provide in time against such contingencies. and although our neighbours, crestfallen, and rushing upon their own destruction, leave us in quiet, we are not without plenty of work. it would be of inestimable advantage to make diversions in gelderland and friesland, because, in that case, the hollanders, seeing the enemy so near their own borders, would be obliged to withdraw their assistance from antwerp. 'tis pity to see how few spaniards your majesty has left, and how diminished is our army. now, also, is the time to expect sickness, and this affair of antwerp is obviously stretching out into large proportions. unless soon reinforced, we must inevitably go to destruction. i implore your majesty to ponder the matter well, and not to defer the remedy." his majesty was sure to ponder the matter well, if that had been all. philip was good at pondering; but it was equally certain that the remedy would be deferred. meantime alexander and his starving but heroic little army were left to fight their battles as they could. his complaints were incessant, most reasonable, but unavailing. with all the forces he could muster, by withdrawing from the neighbourhood of ghent, brussels, vilvoorde, and from all the garrisons, every man that could be spared, he had not strength enough to guard his own posts. to attempt to win back the important forts recently captured by the rebels on the doel, was quite out of the question. the pictures he painted of his army were indeed most dismal. the spaniards were so reduced by sickness that it was pitiful to see them. the italians were not in much better condition, nor the germans. "as for the walloons," said he, "they are deserting, as they always do. in truth, one of my principal dangers is that the french civil wars are now tempting my soldiers across the frontier; the country there is so much richer, and offers so much more for the plundering." during the few weeks which immediately followed them famous descent of the 'hope' and the 'fortune,' there had accordingly been made a variety of less elaborate, but apparently mischievous, efforts against the bridge. on the whole, however, the object was rather to deceive and amuse the royalists, by keeping their attention fixed in that quarter, while a great attack was, in reality, preparing against the kowenstyn. that strong barrier, as repeatedly stated, was even a more formidable obstacle than the bridge to the communication between the beleagured city and their allies upon the outside. its capture and demolition, even at this late period, would open the navigation to all the fleets of zeeland. in the undertaking of the th of april all had been accomplished that human ingenuity could devise; yet the triumph had been snatched away even at the very moment when it was complete. a determined and vigorous effort was soon to be made upon the kowenstyn, in the very face of parma; for it now seemed obvious that the true crisis was to come upon that fatal dyke. the great bulwark was three miles long. it reached from stabroek in brabant, near which village mansfeld's troops were encamped, across the inundated country, up to the line of the scheldt. thence, along the river-dyke, and across the bridge to kalloo and beveren, where parma's forces lay, was a continuous fortified road some three leagues in length; so that the two divisions of the besieging army, lying four leagues apart, were all connected by this important line. could the kowenstyn be pierced, the water, now divided by that great bulwark into two vast lakes, would flow together in one continuous sea. moreover the scheldt, it was thought, would, in that case, return to its own cannel through brabant, deserting its present bed, and thus leaving the famous bridge high and dry. a wide sheet of navigable water would then roll between antwerp and the zeeland coasts, and parma's bridge, the result of seven months' labour, would become as useless as a child's broken toy. alexander had thoroughly comprehended the necessity of maintaining the kowenstyn. all that it was possible to do with the meagre forces at his disposal, he had done. he had fringed both its margins, along its whole length, with a breastwork of closely-driven stakes. he had strengthened the whole body of the dyke with timber-work and piles. upon its river-end, just at the junction with the great scheldt dyke, a strong fortress, called the holy cross, had been constructed, which was under the special command of mondragon. besides this, three other forts had been built, at intervals of about a mile, upon the dyke. the one nearest to mondragon was placed at the kowenstyn manor-house, and was called saint james. this was entrusted to camillo bourbon del monte, an italian officer, who boasted the blood royal of france in his veins, and was disposed on all occasions to vindicate that proud pedigree by his deeds. the next fort was saint george's, sometimes called the black sconce. it had been built by la motte, but it was now in command of the spanish officer, benites. the third was entitled the fort of the palisades, because it had been necessary to support it by a stockade-work in the water, there being absolutely not earth enough to hold the structure. it was placed in the charge of captain gamboa. these little castles had been created, as it were, out of water and upon water, and under a hot fire from the enemy's forts and fleets, which gave the pioneers no repose. "'twas very hard work," said parma, "our soldiers are so exposed during their labour, the rebels playing upon them perpetually from their musket-proof vessels. they fill the submerged land with their boats, skimming everywhere as they like, while we have none at all. we have been obliged to build these three forts with neither material nor space; making land enough for the foundation by bringing thither bundles of hurdles and of earth. the fatigue and anxiety are incredible. not a man can sleep at night; not an officer nor soldier but is perpetually mounting guard. but they are animated to their hard work by seeing that i share in it, like one of themselves. we have now got the dyke into good order, so far as to be able to give them a warm reception, whenever they choose to come." quite at the farther or land end of the kowenstyn, was another fort, called the stabroek, which commanded and raked the whole dyke, and was in the neighbourhood of mansfeld's head-quarters. placed as were these little citadels upon a slender, and--at brief distance--invisible thread of land, with the dark waters rolling around them far and near, they presented an insubstantial dream-like aspect, seeming rather like castles floating between air and ocean than actual fortifications--a deceptive mirage rather than reality. there was nothing imaginary, however, in the work which they were to perform. a series of attacks, some serious, others fictitious, had been made, from time to time, upon both bridge and dyke; but alexander was unable to inspire his soldiers with his own watchfulness. upon the th of may a more determined attempt was made upon the kowenstyn, by the fleet from lillo. hohenlo and colonel ysselstein conducted the enterprise. the sentinels at the point selected--having recently been so often threatened by an enemy, who most frequently made a rapid retreat, as to have grown weary and indifferent-were surprised, at dawn of day, and put to the sword. "if the truth must be told," said parma, "the sentries were sound asleep." five hundred zeelanders, with a strong party of sappers and miners, fairly established themselves upon the dyke, between st. george's and fort palisade. the attack, although spirited at its commencement, was doomed to be unsuccessful. a co-operation, agreed upon by the fleet from antwerp, failed through a misunderstanding. sainte aldegonde had stationed certain members of the munition-chamber in the cathedral tower, with orders to discharge three rockets, when they should perceive a beacon-fire which he should light in fort tholouse. the watchmen mistook an accidental camp-fire in the neighbourhood for the preconcerted signal, and sent up the rockets. hohenlo understanding, accordingly, that the expedition was on the point of starting from antwerp, hastened to perform his portion of the work, and sailed up from lillo. he did his duty faithfully and well, and established himself upon the dyke, but found himself alone and without sufficient force to maintain his position. the antwerp fleet never sailed. it was even whispered that the delinquency was rather intended than accidental; the antwerpers being supposed desirous to ascertain the result of hohenlo's attempt before coming forth to share his fate. such was the opinion expressed by farnese in his letters to philip, but it seems probable that he was mistaken. whatever the cause, however, the fact of the zeelanders' discomfiture was certain. the st. george battery and that of the palisade were opened at once upon them, the balls came plunging among the sappers and miners before they had time to throw up many spade-fulls of earth, and the whole party were soon dead or driven from the dyke. the survivors effected their retreat as they best could, leaving four of their ships behind them and three or four hundred men. "forty rebels lay dead on the dyke," said parma, "and one hundred and fifty more, at least, were drowned. the enemy confess a much larger loss than the number i state, but i am not a friend of giving details larger than my ascertained facts; nor do i know how many were killed in the boats." this enterprise was but a prelude, however, to the great undertaking which had now been thoroughly matured. upon the th may, another and most determined attack was to be made upon the kowenstyn, by the antwerpers and hollanders acting in concert. this time, it was to be hoped, there would be no misconception of signals. "it was a determination," said parma, "so daring and desperate that there was no substantial reason why we should believe they would carry it out; but they were at last solemnly resolved to die or to effect their purpose." two hundred ships in all had been got ready, part of them under hohenlo and justinus de nassau, to sail up from zeeland; the others to advance from antwerp under sainte aldegonde. their destination was the kowenstyn dyke. some of the vessels were laden with provisions, others with gabions, hurdles, branches, sacks of sand and of wool, and with other materials for the rapid throwing up of fortifications. it was two o'clock, half an hour before the chill dawn of a may morning, sunday, the th of the month. the pale sight of a waning moon was faintly perceptible in the sky. suddenly the sentinels upon the kowenstyn--this time not asleep--descried, as they looked towards lillo, four fiery apparitions gliding towards them across the waves. the alarm was given, and soon afterwards the spaniards began to muster, somewhat reluctantly, upon the dyke, filled as they always were with the mysterious dread which those demon-vessels never failed to inspire. the fire-ships floated slowly nearer, and at last struck heavily against the stockade-work. there, covered with tar, pitch, rosin, and gunpowder, they flamed, flared, and exploded, during a brief period, with much vigour, and then burned harmlessly out. one of the objects for which they had been sent--to set fire to the palisade--was not accomplished. the other was gained; for the enemy, expecting another volcanic shower of tombstones and plough-coulters, and remembering the recent fate of their comrades on the bridge, had retired shuddering into the forts. meantime, in the glare of these vast torches, a great swarm of gunboats and other vessels, skimming across the leaden-coloured waters, was seen gradually approaching the dyke. it was the fleet of hohenlo and justinus de nassau, who had been sailing and rowing since ten o'clock of the preceding night. the burning ships lighted them on their way, while it had scared the spaniards from their posts. the boats ran ashore in the mile-long space between forts st. george and the palisade, and a party of zeelanders, admiral haultain, governor of walcheren, at their head, sprang upon the dyke. meantime, however, the royalists, finding that the fire-ships had come to so innocent an end, had rallied and emerged from their forts. haultain and his zeelanders, by the time they had fairly mounted the dyke, found themselves in the iron embrace of several hundred spaniards. after a brief fierce struggle, face to face, and at push of pike, the patriots reeled backward down the bank, and took refuge in their boats. admiral haultain slipped as he left the shore, missed a rope's end which was thrown to him, fell into the water, and, borne down by the weight of his armour, was drowned. the enemy, pursuing them, sprang to the waist in the ooze on the edge of the dyke, and continued the contest. the boats opened a hot fire, and there was a severe skirmish for many minutes, with no certain result. it was, however, beginning to go hard with the zeelanders, when, just at the critical moment, a cheer from the other side of the dyke was heard, and the antwerp fleet was seen coming swiftly to the rescue. the spaniards, taken between the two bands of assailants, were at a disadvantage, and it was impossible to prevent the landing of these fresh antagonists. the antwerpers sprang ashore. among the foremost was sainte aldegonde, poet, orator, hymn-book maker, burgomaster, lawyer, polemical divine--now armed to the teeth and cheering on his men, in the very thickest of the fight. the diversion was successful, and sainte aldegonde gallantly drove the spaniards quite off the field. the whole combined force from antwerp and zeeland now effected their landing. three thousand men occupied all the space between fort george and the palisade. with sainte aldegonde came the unlucky koppen loppen, and all that could be spared of the english and scotch troops in antwerp, under balfour and morgan. with hohenlo and justinus de nassau came reinier kant, who had just succeeded paul buys as advocate of holland. besides these came two other men, side by side, perhaps in the same boat, of whom the world was like to hear much, from that time forward, and whose names are to be most solemnly linked together, so long as netherland history shall endure; one, a fair-faced flaxen-haired boy of eighteen, the other a square-visaged, heavy-browed man of forty--prince maurice and john of olden-barneveldt. the statesman had been foremost to urge the claim of william the silent's son upon the stadholderate of holland and zeeland, and had been, as it were, the youth's political guardian. he had himself borne arms more than once before, having shouldered his matchlock under batenburg, and marched on that officer's spirited but disastrous expedition for the relief of haarlem. but this was the life of those dutch rebels. quill-driving, law-expounding, speech-making, diplomatic missions, were intermingled with very practical business in besieged towns or open fields, with italian musketeers and spanish pikemen. and here, too, young maurice was taking his first solid lesson in the art of which he was one day to be so distinguished a professor. it was a sharp beginning. upon this ribband of earth, scarce six paces in breadth, with miles of deep water on both sides--a position recently fortified by the first general of the age, and held by the famous infantry of spain and italy--there was likely to be no prentice-work. to assault such a position was in truth, as alexander had declared it to be, a most daring and desperate resolution on the part of the states. "soldiers, citizens, and all," said parma, "they are obstinate as dogs to try their fortune." with wool-sacks, sand-bags, hurdles, planks, and other materials brought with them, the patriots now rapidly entrenched themselves in the position so brilliantly gained; while, without deferring for an instant the great purpose which they had come to effect, the sappers and miners fastened upon the ironbound soil of the dyke, tearing it with pick, mattock, and shovel, digging, delving, and throwing up the earth around them, busy as human beavers, instinctively engaged in a most congenial task. but the beavers did not toil unmolested. the large and determined force of antwerpers and english, hollanders and zeelanders, guarded the fortifications as they were rapidly rising, and the pioneers as they were so manfully delving; but the enemy was not idle. from fort saint james, next beyond saint george, camillo del monte led a strong party to the rescue. there was a tremendous action, foot to foot, breast to breast, with pike and pistol, sword and dagger. never since the beginning of the war had there been harder fighting than now upon that narrow isthmus. "'twas an affair of most brave obstinacy on both sides," said parma, who rarely used strong language. "soldiers, citizens, and all--they were like mad bulldogs." hollanders, italians, scotchmen, spaniards, englishmen, fell thick and fast. the contest was about the entrenchments before they were completed, and especially around the sappers and miners, in whose picks and shovels lay the whole fate of antwerp. many of the dyke-breakers were digging their own graves, and rolled, one after another, into the breach which they were so obstinately creating. upon that slender thread of land the hopes of many thousands were hanging. to tear it asunder, to roll the ocean-waves up to antwerp, and thus to snatch the great city triumphantly from the grasp of philip--to accomplish this, the three thousand had come forth that may morning. to prevent it, to hold firmly that great treasure entrusted to them, was the determination of the spaniards. and so, closely pent and packed, discharging their carbines into each other's faces, rolling, coiled together, down the slimy sides of the dyke into the black waters, struggling to and fro, while the cannon from the rebel fleet and from the royal forts mingled their roar with the sharp crack of the musketry, catholics and patriots contended for an hour, while still, through all the confusion and uproar, the miners dug and delved. at last the patriots were victorious. they made good their entrenchments, drove the spaniards, after much slaughter, back to the fort of saint george on the one side, and of the palisade on the other, and cleared the whole space between the two points. the centre of the dyke was theirs; the great kowenstyn, the only key by which the gates of antwerp could be unlocked, was in the deliverers' hands. they pursued their victory, and attacked the palisade fort. gamboa, its commandant, was severely wounded; many other officers dead or dying; the outworks were in the hands of the hollanders; the slender piles on which the fortress rested in the water were rudely shaken; the victory was almost complete. and now there was a tremendous cheer of triumph. the beavers had done their work, the barrier was bitten through and through, the salt water rushed like a river through the ruptured dyke. a few moments later, and a zeeland barge, freighted with provisions, floated triumphantly into the waters beyond, now no longer an inland sea. the deed was done--the victory achieved. nothing more was necessary than to secure it, to tear the fatal barrier to fragments, to bury it, for its whole length, beneath the waves. then, after the isthmus had been utterly submerged, when the scheldt was rolled back into its ancient bed, when parma's famous bridge had become useless, when the maritime communication between antwerp and holland had been thoroughly established, the spaniards would have nothing left for it but to drown like rats in their entrenchments or to abandon the siege in despair. all this was in the hands of the patriots. the kowenstyn was theirs. the spaniards were driven from the field, the batteries of their forts silenced. for a long period the rebels were unmolested, and felt themselves secure. "we remained thus some three hours," says captain james, an english officer who fought in the action, and described it in rough, soldierly fashion to walsingham the same day, "thinking all things to be secure." yet in the very supreme moment of victory, the leaders, both of the hollanders and of the antwerpers, proved themselves incompetent to their position. with deep regret it must be admitted, that not only the reckless hohenlo, but the all-accomplished sainte aldegonde, committed the gravest error. in the hour of danger, both had comported themselves with perfect courage and conduct. in the instant of triumph, they gave way to puerile exultation. with a celerity as censurable as it seems incredible, both these commanders sprang into the first barge which had thus floated across the dyke, in order that they might, in person, carry the news of the victory to antwerp, and set all the bells ringing and the bonfires blazing. they took with them ferrante spinola, a mortally-wounded italian officer of rank, as a trophy of their battle, and a boatload of beef and flour, as an earnest of the approaching relief. while the conquerors were thus gone to enjoy their triumph, the conquered, though perplexed and silenced, were not yet disposed to accept their defeat. they were even ignorant that they were conquered. they had been forced to abandon the field, and the patriots had entrenched themselves upon the dyke, but neither fort saint george nor the palisade had been carried, although the latter was in imminent danger. old count peter ernest mansfeld--a grizzled veteran, who had passed his childhood, youth, manhood, and old age, under fire--commanded at the land-end of the dyke, in the fortress of stabroek, in which neighbourhood his whole division was stationed. seeing how the day was going, he called a council of war. the patriots had gained a large section of the dyke. so much was certain. could they succeed in utterly demolishing that bulwark in the course of the day? if so, how were they to be dislodged before their work was perfected? it was difficult to assault their position. three thousand hollanders, antwerpers, englishmen--"mad bulldogs all," as parma called them--showing their teeth very mischievously, with one hundred and sixty zeeland vessels throwing in their broadsides from both margins of the dyke, were a formidable company to face. "oh for one half hour of alexander in the field!" sighed one of the spanish officers in council. but alexander was more than four leagues away, and it was doubtful whether he even knew of the fatal occurrence. yet how to send him a messenger. who could reach him through that valley of death? would it not be better to wait till nightfall? under the cover of darkness something might be attempted, which in the daylight would be hopeless. there was much anxiety, and much difference of opinion had been expressed, when camillo capizucca, colonel of the italian legion, obtained a hearing. a man bold in words as in deeds, he vehemently denounced the pusillanimity which would wait either for parma or for nightfall. "what difference will it make," he asked, "whether we defer our action until either darkness or the general arrives? in each case we give the enemy time enough to destroy the dyke, and thoroughly to relieve the city. that done, what good can be accomplished by our arms? then our disheartened soldiers will either shrink from a fruitless combat or march to certain death." having thus, very warmly but very sagaciously, defined the position in which all were placed, he proceeded to declare that he claimed, neither for himself nor for his legion, any superiority over the rest of the army. he knew not that the italians were more to be relied upon than others in the time of danger, but this he did know, that no man in the world was so devoted as he was to the prince of parma. to show that devotion by waiting with folded arms behind a wall until the prince should arrive to extricate his followers, was not in his constitution. he claimed the right to lead his italians against the enemy at once--in the front rank, if others chose to follow; alone, if the rest preferred to wait till a better leader should arrive. the words of the italian colonel sent a thrill through all who heard him. next in command under capizucca was his camp-marshal, an officer who bore the illustrious name of piccolomini--father of the duke ottavio, of whom so much was to be heard at a later day throughout the fell scenes of that portion of the eighty years' tragedy now enacting, which was to be called the thirty years' war of germany. the camp-marshal warmly seconded the proposition of his colonel. mansfeld, pleased with such enthusiasm among his officers, yielded to their wishes, which were, in truth, his own. six companies of the italian legion were in his encampment while the remainder were stationed, far away, upon the bridge, under command of his son, count charles. early in the morning, before the passage across the dyke had been closed the veteran condottiere, pricking his ears as he snuffed the battle from afar, had contrived to send a message to his son. "charles, my boy," were his words, "to-day we must either beat them or burst." old peter ernest felt that the long-expected, long-deferred assault was to be made that morning in full force, and that it was necessary for the royalists, on both bridge and dyke, to hold their own. piccolomini now drew up three hundred of his italians, picked veterans all, and led them in marching order to mansfeld. that general at the same moment, received another small but unexpected reinforcement. a portion of the spanish legion, which had long been that of pedro pacchi, lay at the extreme verge of the stabroek encampment, several miles away. aroused by the distant cannonading, and suspecting what had occurred, don juan d'aquila, the colonel in command, marched without a moment's delay to mansfeld's head-quarters, at the head of all the force he could muster--about two hundred strong. with him came cardona, gonzales de castro, toralva, and other distinguished officers. as they arrived, capizucca was just setting forth for the field. there arose a dispute for precedence between the italians and the spaniards. capizucca had first demanded the privilege of leading what seemed a forlorn hope, and was unwilling to yield his claim to the new comer. on the other hand, the spaniards were not disposed to follow where they felt entitled to lead. the quarrel was growing warm, when aquila, seizing his italian rival by the hand, protested that it was not a moment for friends to wrangle for precedence. "shoulder to shoulder," said he, "let us go into this business, and let our blows rather fall on our enemies' heads than upon each other's." this terminated the altercation. the italians and spaniards--in battle array as they were--all dropped on their knees, offered a brief prayer to the holy virgin, and then, in the best possible spirits, set forth along the dyke. next to fort stabroek--whence they issued--was the palisade fort, nearly a mile removed, which the patriots had nearly carried, and between which and st. george, another mile farther on, their whole force was established. the troops under capizucca and aquila soon reached the palisade, and attacked the besiegers, while the garrison, cheered by the unexpected relief, made a vigorous sortie. there was a brief sharp contest, in which many were killed on both sides; but at last the patriots fell back upon their own entrenchments, and the fort was saved. its name was instantly changed to fort victory, and the royalists then prepared to charge the fortified camp of the rebels, in the centre of which the dyke-cutting operations were still in progress. at the same moment, from the opposite end of the bulwark, a cry was heard along the whole line of the dyke. from fort holy cross, at the scheldt end, the welcome intelligence was suddenly communicated--as if by a magnetic impulse--that alexander was in the field! it was true. having been up half the night, as usual, keeping watch along his bridge, where he was ever expecting a fatal attack, he had retired for a few hours' rest in his camp at beveren. aroused at day-break by the roar of the cannon, he had hastily thrown on his armour, mounted his horse, and, at the head of two hundred pikemen, set forth for the scene of action. detained on the bridge by a detachment of the antwerp fleet, which had been ordered to make a diversion in that quarter, he had, after beating off their vessels with his boat-artillery, and charging count charles mansfeld to heed well the brief injunction of old peter ernest, made all the haste he could to the kowenstyn. arriving at fort holy cross, he learned from mondragon how the day was going. three thousand rebels, he learned, were established on the dyke, fort palisade was tottering, a fleet from both sides was cannonading the spanish entrenchments, the salt water was flowing across the breach already made. his seven months' work, it seemed, had come to nought. the navigation was already open from the sea to antwerp, the lowenstyn was in the rebels' hands. but alexander was not prone to premature despair. "i arrived," said he to philip in a letter written on the same evening, "at the very nick of time." a less hopeful person might have thought that he had arrived several hours too late. having brought with him every man that could be spared from beveren and from the bridge, he now ordered camillo del monte to transport some additional pieces of artillery from holy cross and from saint james to fort saint georg. at the same time a sharp cannonade was to be maintained upon the rebel fleet from all the forts. mondragon, with a hundred musketeers and pikemen, was sent forward likewise as expeditiously as possible to saint george. no one could be more alert. the battered veteran, hero of some of the most remarkable military adventures that history has ever recorded,' fought his way on foot, in the midst of the fray, like a young ensign who had his first laurels to win. and, in truth, the day was not one for cunning manoeuvres, directed, at a distance, by a skillful tactician. it was a brisk close contest, hand to hand and eye to eye--a homeric encounter, in which the chieftains were to prove a right to command by their personal prowess. alexander, descending suddenly--dramatically, as it were--when the battle seemed lost--like a deity from the clouds-was to justify, by the strength of his arm, the enthusiasm which his name always awakened. having, at a glance, taken in the whole situation, he made his brief arrangements, going from rank to rank, and disposing his troops in the most effective manner. he said but few words, but his voice had always a telling effect. "the man who refuses, this day, to follow me," he said, "has never had regard to his own honour, nor has god's cause or the king's ever been dear to his heart." his disheartened spaniards and italians--roused as by a magic trumpet--eagerly demanded to be led against the rebels. and now from each end of the dyke, the royalists were advancing toward the central position occupied by the patriots. while capizucca and aquila were occupied at fort victory, parma was steadily cutting his way from holy cross to saint george. on foot, armed with sword and shield, and in coat of mail, and marching at the head of his men along the dyke, surrounded by bevilacqua, bentivoglio, manriquez, sforza, and other officers of historic name and distinguished courage, now upon the summit of the causeway, now on its shelving banks, now breast-high in the waters, through which lay the perilous path, contending at every inch with the scattered bands of the patriots, who slowly retired to their entrenched camp, and with the antwerp and zeeland vessels, whose balls tore through the royalist ranks, the general at last reached saint george. on the preservation of that post depended the whole fortune of the day, for parma had already received the welcome intelligence that the palisade--now fort victory--had been regained. he instantly ordered an outer breast-work of wool-sacks and sand-bags to be thrown up in front of saint george, and planted a battery to play point-blank at the enemy's entrenchments. here the final issue was to be made. the patriots and spaniards were thus all enclosed in the mile-long space between st. george and the palisade. upon that narrow strip of earth, scarce six paces in width, more than five thousand men met in mortal combat--a narrow arena for so many gladiators, hemmed in on both sides by the sea. the patriots had, with solemn ceremony, before starting upon their enterprise, vowed to destroy the dyke and relieve antwerp, or to perish in the attempt. they were true to their vow. not the ancient batavians or nervii had ever manifested more tenacity against the roman legions than did their descendants against the far-famed spanish infantry upon this fatal day. the fight on the kowenstyn was to be long remembered in the military annals of spain and holland. never, since the curtain first rose upon the great netherland tragedy, had there been a fiercer encounter. flinching was impossible. there was scant room for the play of pike and dagger, and, close packed as were the combatants, the dead could hardly fall to the ground. it was a mile-long series of separate mortal duels, and the oozy dyke was soon slippery with blood. from both sides, under capizucca and aquila on the one band, and under alexander on the other, the entrenchments of the patriots were at last assaulted, and as the royalists fell thick and fast beneath the breast-work which they were storming, their comrades clambered upon their bodies, and attempted, from such vantage-ground, to effect an entrance. three times the invaders were beaten back with heavy loss, and after each repulse the attack was renewed with fresh vigour, while within the entrenchments the pioneers still plied the pick and shovel, undismayed by the uproar around them. a fourth assault, vigorously made, was cheerfully repelled by the antwerpers and hollanders, clustering behind their breast-works, and looking steadily into their enemies' eyes. captain heraugiere--of whom more was to be heard one day--had led two hundred men into action, and now found himself at the head of only thirteen. the loss had been as severe among many other patriot companies, as well as in the spanish ranks, and again the pikemen of spain and italy faltered before the iron visages and cordial blows of the hollanders. this work had lasted a good hour and a half, when at last, on the fifth assault, a wild and mysterious apparition renewed the enthusiasm of the spaniards. the figure of the dead commander of the old spanish legion, don pedro pacchi, who had fallen a few months before at the siege of dendermonde was seen charging in front of his regiment, clad in his well-known armour, and using the gestures which had been habitual with him in life. no satisfactory explanation was ever made of this singular delusion, but it was general throughout the ranks, and in that superstitious age was as effective as truth. the wavering spaniards rallied once more under the guidance of their phantom leader, and again charged the breast-work of the patriots. toralva, mounting upon the back of one of his soldiers, was first to vault into the entrenchments. at the next instant he lay desperately wounded on the ground, but was close followed by capizucca, sustained by a determined band. the entrenchment was carried, but the furious conflict still continued. at nearly the same moment, however, several of the patriot vessels were observed to cast off their moorings, and to be drifting away from the dyke. a large number of the rest had been disabled by the hot fire, which by alexander's judicious orders had been directed upon the fleet. the ebbing tide left no choice to the commander of the others but to retreat or to remain and fall into the enemy's hands, should he gain the day. had they risked the dangerous alternative, it might have ensured the triumph of the whole enterprise, while their actual decision proved most disastrous in the end. "we have conquered," cried alexander, stretching his arm towards the receding waters. "the sea deserts the impious heretics. strike from them now their last hope, and cut off their retreat to the departing ships." the spaniards were not slow to perceive their advantage, while the courage of the patriots at last began to ebb with the tide. the day was lost. in the hour of transitory triumph the leaders of the expedition had turned their backs on their followers, and now, after so much heroism had been exhibited, fortune too had averted her face. the grim resistance changed to desperate panic, and a mad chase began along the blood-stained dyke. some were slain with spear and bullet, others were hunted into the sea, many were smothered in the ooze along the edge of the embankment. the fugitives, making their way to the retreating vessels, were pursued by the spaniards, who swam after them, with their swords in their teeth, and engaged them in mortal combat in the midst of the waves. "and so we cut all their throats," said parma, "the rebels on every side remaining at our mercy, and i having no doubt that my soldiers would avenge the loss of their friends." the english and the scotch, under balfour and morgan, were the very last to abandon the position which they had held so manfully seven hours long. honest captain james, who fought to the last, and described the action the same night in the fewest possible words, was of opinion that the fleet had moved away only to obtain a better position. "they put off to have more room to play on the enemy," said he; "but the hollanders and zeelanders, seeing the enemy come on so hotly, and thinking our galleys would leave them, abandoned their string. the scots, seeing them to retire, left their string. the enemy pursued very hotly; the englishmen stood to repulse, and are put most to the sword. in this shameful retreat there were slain or drowned to the number of two thousand." the blunt englishman was justly indignant that an enterprise, so nearly successful, had been ruined by the desertion of its chiefs. "we had cut the dyke in three places," said he; "but left it most shamefully for want of commandment." poor koppen loppen--whose blunders on former occasions had caused so much disaster--was now fortunate enough to expiate them by a soldier's death. admiral haultain had, as we have seen, been drowned at the commencement of the action. justinus de nassau, at its close, was more successful in his retreat to the ships. he, too, sprang into the water when the overthrow was absolute; but, alighting in some shallows, was able to conceal himself among weeds and waterlilies till he had divested himself of his armour, when he made his escape by swimming to a boat, which conveyed him to lillo. roelke van deest, an officer of some note, was so horribly wounded in the face, that he was obliged to wear a mask for the remainder of his life. parma, overjoyed at his victory, embraced capizucca before the whole army, with warm expressions of admiration for his conduct. both the italian colonel and his spanish rival aquila were earnestly recommended to philip for reward and promotion. the wounded toralva was carried to alexander's own quarters, and placed in alexander's own bed, where he remained till his recovery, and was then presented--a distinction which he much valued--with the armour which the prince had worn on the day of the battle. parma himself, so soon as the action was concluded, went with his chief officers straight from the field to the little village-church of stabroek, where he fell upon his knees and offered up fervent thanks for his victory. he next set about repairing the ruptured dyke, damaged in many places but not hopelessly ruined, and for this purpose the bodies of the rebels, among other materials, were cast by hundreds into the ditches which their own hands had dug. thus ended the eight hours' fight on the kowenstyn. "the feast lasted from seven to eight hours," said parma, "with the most brave obstinacy on both sides that has been seen for many a long day." a thousand royalists were killed and twice as many patriots, and the issue of the conflict was most uncertain up to the very last. "our loss is greater than i wish it was," wrote alexander to philip: "it was a very close thing, and i have never been more anxious in my life as to the result for your majesty's service. the whole fate of the battle was hanging all the time by a thread." more than ever were reinforcements necessary, and it was only by a miracle that the victory had at last been gained with such slender resources. "'tis a large, long, laborious, expensive, and most perilous war," said parma, when urging the claims of capizucca and aquila, "for we have to fight every minute; and there are no castles and other rewards, so that if soldiers are not to have promotion, they will lose their spirit." thirty-two of the rebel vessels grounded, and fell into the hands of the spaniards, who took from them many excellent pieces of artillery. the result was most conclusive and most disheartening for the patriots. meantime--as we have seen--hohenlo and sainte aldegonde had reached antwerp in breathless haste to announce their triumph. they had been met on the quay by groups of excited citizens, who eagerly questioned the two generals arriving thus covered with laurels from the field of battle, and drank with delight all the details of the victory. the poor dying spinola was exhibited in triumph, the boat-load of breadstuffs received with satisfaction, and vast preparations were made to receive, on wharves and in storehouses, the plentiful supplies about to arrive. beacons and bonfires were lighted, the bells from all the steeples rang their merriest peals, cannon thundered in triumph not only in antwerp itself, but subsequently at amsterdam and other more distant cities. in due time a magnificent banquet was spread in the town-house to greet the conquering hohenlo. immense gratification was expressed by those of the reformed religion; dire threats were uttered against the catholics. some were for hanging them all out of hand, others for throwing them into the scheldt; the most moderate proposed packing them all out of town so soon as the siege should be raised--an event which could not now be delayed many days longer. hohenlo, placed on high at the head of the banquet-table, assumed the very god of war. beside and near him sat the loveliest dames of antwerp, rewarding his bravery with their brightest smiles. the count drained huge goblets to their health, to the success of the patriots, and to the confusion of the royalists, while, as he still drank and feasted, the trumpet, kettle-drum, and cymbal, and merry peal of bell without, did honour to his triumph. so gay and gallant was the victor, that he announced another banquet on the following day, still further to celebrate the happy release of antwerp, and invited the fair ladies around him again to grace the board. it is recorded that the gentlewoman next him responded with a sigh, that, if her presentiments were just, the morrow would scarcely be so joyful as the present day had been, and that she doubted whether the triumph were not premature. hardly had she spoken when sinister sounds were heard in the streets. the first few stragglers, survivors of the deadly fight, had arrived with the fatal news that all was lost, the dyke regained, the spaniards victorious, the whole band of patriots cut to pieces. a few frightfully-wounded and dying sufferers were brought into the banqueting-hall. hohenlo sprang from the feast--interrupted in so ghastly a manner--pursued by shouts and hisses. howls of execration, saluted him in the streets, and he was obliged to conceal himself for a time, to escape the fury of the populace. on the other hand, parma was, not unnaturally, overjoyed at the successful issue to the combat, and expressed himself on the subject in language of (for him) unusual exultation. "to-day, sunday, th of june," said he, in a letter to philip, despatched by special courier on the very same night, "the lord has been pleased to grant to your majesty a great and most signal victory. in this conjuncture of so great importance it may be easily conceived that the best results that can be desired will be obtained if your majesty is now ready to do what is needful. i congratulate your majesty very many times on this occasion, and i desire to render infinite thanks to divine providence." he afterwards proceeded, in a rapid and hurried manner, to give his majesty the outlines of the battle, mentioning, with great encomium, capizucca and aquila, mondragon and vasto, with many other officers, and recommending them for reward and promotion; praising, in short, heartily and earnestly, all who had contributed to the victory, except himself, to whose personal exertions it was chiefly due. "as for good odd mansfeld," said he, "he bore himself like the man he is, and he deserves that your majesty should send him a particular mark of your royal approbation, writing to him yourself pleasantly in spanish, which is that which will be most highly esteemed by him." alexander hinted also that philip would do well to bestow upon mansfeld the countship of biart, as a reward for his long years of faithful service! this action on the kowenstyn terminated the effective resistance of antwerp. a few days before, the monster-vessel, in the construction of which so much time and money had been consumed, had at last been set afloat. she had been called the war's end, and, so far as antwerp was concerned, the fates that presided over her birth seemed to have been paltering in a double sense when the ominous name was conferred. she was larger than anything previously known in naval architecture; she had four masts and three helms. her bulwarks were ten feet thick; her tops were musket-proof. she had twenty guns of largest size, besides many other pieces of artillery of lesser calibre, the lower tier of which was almost at the water's level. she was to carry one thousand men, and she was so supported on corks and barrels as to be sure to float under any circumstances. thus she was a great swimming fortress which could not be sunk, and was impervious to shot. unluckily, however, in spite of her four masts and three helms, she would neither sail nor steer, and she proved but a great, unmanageable and very ridiculous tub, fully justifying all the sarcasms that had been launched upon her during the period of her construction, which had been almost as long as the siege itself. the spaniards called her the bugaboo--a monster to scare children withal. the patriots christened her the elephant, the antwerp folly, the lost penny, with many similar appellations. a small army might have been maintained for a month, they said, on the money she had cost, or the whole city kept in bread for three months. at last, late in may, a few days before the battle of the kowenstyn, she set forth from antwerp, across the submerged land, upon her expedition to sweep all the spanish forts out of existence, and to bring the war to its end. she came to her own end very briefly, for, after drifting helplessly about for an hour, she stuck fast in the sand in the neighbourhood of ordam, while the crew and soldiers made their escape, and came back to the city to share in the ridicule which, from first to last, had attached itself to the monster-ship. two days after the kowenstyn affair, alexander sent an expedition under count charles mansfeld to take possession of the great bugaboo. the boat, in which were count charles, count aremberg, his brother de barbancon, and other noble volunteers, met with an accident: a keg of gun powder accidentally exploding, blowing aremberg into the water, whence he escaped unharmed by swimming, and frightfully damaging mansfeld in the face. this indirect mischief--the only injury ever inflicted by the war's end upon the enemy--did not prevent the rest of the party in the boats from taking possession of the ship, and bringing her in triumph to the prince of parma. after being thoroughly examined and heartily laughed at by the spaniards, she was broken up--her cannon, munitions, and other valuable materials, being taken from her--and then there was an end of the war's end. this useless expenditure-against the judgment and entreaties of many leading personages--was but a type of the difficulties with which sainte aldegonde had been obliged to contend from the first day of the siege to the last. every one in the city had felt himself called on to express an opinion as to the proper measures for defence. diversity of humours, popular license, anarchy, did not constitute the best government for a city beleagured by alexander farnese. we have seen the deadly injury inflicted upon the cause at the outset by the brutality of the butchers, and the manful struggle which sainte aldegonde had maintained against their cupidity and that of their friends. he had dealt with the thousand difficulties which rose up around him from day to day, but his best intentions were perpetually misconstrued, his most strenuous exertions steadily foiled. it was a city where there was much love of money, and where commerce--always timid by nature, particularly when controlled by alien residents--was often the cause of almost abject cowardice. from time to time there had been threatening demonstrations made against the burgomaster, who, by protracting the resistance of antwerp, was bringing about the absolute destruction of a worldwide trade, and the downfall of the most opulent capital in christendom. there were also many popular riots--very easily inflamed by the catholic portion of the inhabitants--for bread. "bread, bread, or peace!" was hoarsely shouted by ill-looking mischievous crowds, that dogged the steps and besieged the doors of sainte aldegonde; but the burgomaster had done his best by eloquence of tongue and personal courage, both against mobs and against the enemy, to inspire the mass of his fellow-citizens with his own generous spirit. he had relied for a long time on the negotiation with france, and it would be difficult to exaggerate the disastrous effects produced by the treachery of the valois court. the historian le petit, a resident of antwerp at the time of the siege, had been despatched on secret mission to paris, and had communicated to the states' deputies sainte aldegonde's earnest adjurations that they should obtain, if possible, before it should be too late, an auxiliary force and a pecuniary subsidy. an immediate assistance, even if slight, might be sufficient to prevent antwerp and its sister cities from falling into the hands of the enemy. on that messenger's return, the burgomaster, much encouraged by his report, had made many eloquent speeches in the senate, and for a long time sustained the sinking spirits of the citizens. the irritating termination to the triumph actually achieved against the bridge, and the tragical result to the great enterprise against the kowenstyn, had now thoroughly broken the heart of antwerp. for the last catastrophe sainte aldegonde himself was highly censurable, although the chief portion of the blame rested on the head of hohenlo. nevertheless the states of holland were yet true to the cause of the union and of liberty. notwithstanding their heavy expenditures, and their own loss of men, they urged warmly and earnestly the continuance of the resistance, and promised, within at latest three months' time, to raise an army of twelve thousand foot and seven thousand horse, with which they pledged themselves to relieve the city, or to perish in the endeavour. at the same time, the legation, which had been sent to england to offer the sovereignty to queen elizabeth, sent encouraging despatches to antwerp, assuring the authorities that arrangements for an auxiliary force had been effected; while elizabeth herself wrote earnestly upon the subject with her own hand. "i am informed," said that princess, "that through the closing of the scheldt you are likely to enter into a treaty with the prince of parma, the issue of which is very much to be doubted, so far as the maintenance of your privileges is concerned. remembering the warm friendship which has ever existed between this crown and the house of burgundy, in the realms of which you are an important member, and considering that my subjects engaged in commerce have always met with more privilege and comity in the netherlands than in any other country, i have resolved to send you at once, assistance, comfort, and aid. the details of the plan will be stated by your envoys; but be assured that by me you will never be forsaken or neglected." the negotiations with queen elizabeth--most important for the netherlands, for england, and for the destinies of europe--which succeeded the futile diplomatic transactions with france, will be laid before the reader in a subsequent chapter. it is proper that they should be massed by themselves, so that the eye can comprehend at a single glance their whole progress and aspect, as revealed both by public and official, and by secret and hitherto unpublished records. meantime, so far as regards antwerp, those negotiations had been too deliberately conducted for the hasty and impatient temper of the citizens. the spirit of the commercial metropolis, long flagging, seemed at last broken. despair was taking possession of all hearts. the common people did nothing but complain, the magistrates did nothing but wrangle. in the broad council the debates and dissensions were discouraging and endless. six of the eight militia-colonels were for holding out at all hazards, while a majority of the eighty captains were for capitulation. the populace was tumultuous and threatening, demanding peace and bread at any price. holland sent promises in abundance, and holland was sincere; but there had been much disappointment, and there was now infinite bitterness. it seemed obvious that a crisis was fast approaching, and--unless immediate aid should come from holland or from england--that a surrender was inevitable. la none, after five years' imprisonment, had at last been exchanged against count philip egmont. that noble, chief of an ancient house, cousin of the queen of france, was mortified at being ransomed against a simple huguenot gentleman--even though that gentleman was the illustrious "iron-armed" la noue--but he preferred to sacrifice his dignity for the sake of his liberty. he was still more annoyed that one hundred thousand crowns as security were exacted from la noue--for which the king of navarre became bondsman--that he would never again bear arms in the netherlands except in obedience to the french monarch, while no such pledges were required of himself. la none visited the prince of parma at antwerp, to take leave, and was received with the courtesy due to his high character and great distinction. alexander took pleasure in showing him all his fortifications, and explaining to him the whole system of the siege, and la noue was filled with honest amazement. he declared afterwards that the works were superb and impregnable; and that if he had been on the outside at the head of twelve thousand troops, he should have felt obliged to renounce the idea of relieving the city. "antwerp cannot escape you," confessed the veteran huguenot, "but must soon fall into your hands. and when you enter, i would counsel you to hang up your sword at its gate, and let its capture be the crowning trophy in your list of victories." "you are right," answered parma, "and many of my friends have given me the same advice; but how am i to retire, engaged as i am for life in the service of my king?" such was the opinion of la none, a man whose love for the reformed religion and for civil liberty can be as little doubted as his competency to form an opinion upon great military subjects. as little could he be suspected just coming as he did from an infamous prison, whence he had been at one time invited by philip ii. to emerge, on condition of allowing his eyes to be put out--of any partiality for that monarch or his representative. moreover, although the states of holland and the english government were earnestly desirous of relieving the city, and were encouraging the patriots with well-founded promises, the zeeland authorities were lukewarm. the officers of the zeeland navy, from which so much was expected, were at last discouraged. they drew up, signed, and delivered to admiral justinus de nassau, a formal opinion to the effect that the scheldt had now so many dry and dangerous places, and that the tranquil summer-nights--so different from those long, stormy ones of winter--were so short as to allow of no attempt by water likely to be successful to relieve the city. here certainly was much to discourage, and sainte aldegonde was at length discouraged. he felt that the last hope of saving antwerp was gone, and with it all possibility of maintaining the existence of a united netherland commonwealth. the walloon provinces were lost already; ghent, brussels, mechlin, had also capitulated, and, with the fall of antwerp, flanders and brabant must fall. there would be no barrier left even to save holland itself. despair entered the heart of the burgomaster, and he listened too soon to its treacherous voice. yet while he thought a free national state no longer a possibility, he imagined it practicable to secure religious liberty by negotiation with philip ii. he abandoned with a sigh one of the two great objects for which he had struggled side by side with orange for twenty years, but he thought it possible to secure the other. his purpose was now to obtain a favourable capitulation for antwerp, and at the same time to bring about the submission of holland, zeeland, and the other united provinces, to the king of spain. here certainly was a great change of face on the part of one so conspicuous, and hitherto so consistent, in the ranks of netherland patriots, and it is therefore necessary, in order thoroughly to estimate both the man and the crisis, to follow carefully his steps through the secret path of negotiation into which he now entered, and in which the antwerp drama was to find its conclusion. in these transactions, the chief actors are, on the one side, the prince of parma, as representative of absolutism and the papacy; on the other, sainte aldegonde, who had passed his life as the champion of the reformation. no doubt the pressure upon the burgomaster was very great. tumults were of daily occurrence. crowds of rioters beset his door with cries of denunciations and demands for bread. a large and turbulent mob upon one occasion took possession of the horse-market, and treated him with personal indignity and violence, when he undertook to disperse them. on the other hand, parma had been holding out hopes of pardon with more reasonable conditions than could well be expected, and had, with a good deal of art, taken advantage of several trivial circumstances to inspire the burghers with confidence in his good-will. thus, an infirm old lady in the city happened to imagine herself so dependent upon asses milk as to have sent her purveyor out of the city, at the peril of his life, to procure a supply from the neighbourhood. the young man was captured, brought to alexander, from whose hands he very naturally expected the punishment of a spy. the prince, however, presented him, not only with his liberty, but with a she-ass; and loaded the animal with partridges and capons, as a present for the invalid. the magistrates, hearing of the incident, and not choosing to be outdone in courtesy, sent back a waggon-load of old wine and remarkable confectionary as an offering to alexander, and with this interchange of dainties led the way to the amenities of diplomacy. etext editor's bookmarks: courage and semblance of cheerfulness, with despair in his heart demanding peace and bread at any price not a friend of giving details larger than my ascertained facts history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, v , alexander farnese, the duke of parma chapter v., part . sainte aldegonde discouraged--his critical position--his negotiations with the enemy--correspondence with richardot-- commotion in the city--interview of marnix with parma--suspicious conduct of marnix--deputation to the prince--oration of marnix-- private views of parma--capitulation of antwerp--mistakes of marnix --philip on the religious question--triumphal entrance of alexander-- rebuilding of the citadel--gratification of philip--note on sainte aldegonde sainte aldegonde's position had become a painful one. the net had been drawn closely about the city. the bridge seemed impregnable, the great kowenstyn was irrecoverably in the hands of the enemy, and now all the lesser forts in the immediate vicinity of antwerp-borght, hoboken, cantecroix, stralen, berghen, and the rest--had likewise fallen into his grasp. an account of grain, taken on the st of june, gave an average of a pound a-head for a month long, or half a pound for two months. this was not the famine-point, according to the standard which had once been established in leyden; but the courage of the burghers had been rapidly oozing away, under the pressure of their recent disappointments. it seemed obvious to the burgomaster, that the time for yielding had arrived. "i had maintained the city," he said, "for a long period, without any excessive tumult or great effusion of blood--a city where there was such a multitude of inhabitants, mostly merchants or artisans deprived of all their traffic, stripped of their manufactures, destitute of all commodities and means of living. i had done this in the midst of a great diversity of humours and opinions, a vast popular license, a confused anarchy, among a great number of commanders, most of them inexperienced in war; with very little authority of my own, with slender forces of ships, soldiers, and sailors; with alight appearance of support from king or prince without, or of military garrison within; and under all these circumstances i exerted myself to do my uttermost duty in preserving the city, both in regard to its internal government, and by force of arms by land and sea, without sparing myself in any labour or peril. "i know very well that there are many persons, who, finding themselves quite at their ease, and far away from the hard blows that are passing, are pleased to exhibit their wisdom by sitting in judgment upon others, founding their decision only upon the results. but i demand to be judged by equity and reason, when passion has been set aside. i claim that my honour shall be protected against my calumniators; for all should remember that i am not the first man, nor shall i be the last, that has been blamed unjustly. all persons employed in public affairs are subject to such hazards, but i submit myself to him who knows all hearts, and who governs all. i take him to witness that in the affair of antwerp, as in all my other actions since my earliest youth, i have most sincerely sought his glory and the welfare of his poor people, without regard to my own private interests." for it is not alone the fate of antwerp that is here to be recorded. the fame of sainte aldegonde was now seriously compromised. the character of a great man must always be closely scanned and scrutinised; protected, if needful, against calumny, but always unflinchingly held up to the light. names illustrious by genius and virtue are history's most precious treasures, faithfully to be guarded by her, jealously to be watched; but it is always a misfortune when her eyes are deceived by a glitter which is not genuine. sainte aldegonde was a man of unquestionable genius. his character had ever been beyond the reproach of self-seeking or ignoble ambition. he had multiplied himself into a thousand forms to serve the cause of the united netherland states, and the services so rendered had been brilliant and frequent. a great change in his conduct and policy was now approaching, and it is therefore the more necessary to examine closely at this epoch his attitude and his character. early in june, richardot, president of the council of artois, addressed a letter to sainte aldegonde, by command of alexander of parma, suggesting a secret interview between the burgomaster and the prince. on the th of june, sainte aldegonde replied, in favourable terms, as to the interview; but observed, that, as he was an official personage, it was necessary for him to communicate the project to the magistracy of the city. he expressed likewise the hope that parma would embrace the present opportunity for making a general treaty with all the provinces. a special accord with antwerp, leaving out holland and zeeland, would, he said, lead to the utter desolation of that city, and to the destruction of its commerce and manufactures, while the occasion now presented itself to the prince of "winning praise and immortal glory by bringing back all the country to a voluntary and prompt obedience to his majesty." he proposed, that, instead of his coming alone, there should be a number of deputies sent from antwerp to confer with alexander. on the th june, richardot replied by expressing, his own regrets and those of the prince, that the interview could not have been with the burgomaster alone, but acknowledging the weight of his reasons, and acquiescing in the proposition to send a larger deputation. three days afterwards, sainte aldegonde, on private consultation with some confidential personages, changed his ground; announced his preference for a private interview, under four eyes, with parma; and requested that a passport might be sent. the passport was accordingly forwarded the same day, with an expression of alexander's gratification, and with the offer, on the part of richardot, to come himself to antwerp as hostage during the absence of the burgomaster in parma's camp at beveren. sainte aldegonde was accordingly about to start on the following day ( th of june), but meantime the affair had got wind. a secret interview, thus projected, was regarded by the citizens as extremely suspicious. there was much bitter insinuation against the burgomaster--many violent demonstrations. "aldegonde, they say, is going to see parma," said one of the burghers, "which gives much dissatisfaction, because, 'tis feared that he will make a treaty according to the appetite and pleasure of his highness, having been gained over to the royal cause by money. he says that it would be a misfortune to send a large number of burghers. last sunday ( th june) there was a meeting of the broad council. the preachers came into the assembly and so animated the citizens by demonstrations of their religion, that all rushed from the council-house, crying with loud voices that they did not desire peace but war." this desire was a healthy and a reasonable one; but, unfortunately, the antwerpers had not always been so vigorous or so united in their resistance to parma. at present, however, they were very furious, so soon as the secret purpose of sainte aldegonde became generally known. the proposed capitulation, which great mobs had been for weeks long savagely demanding at the hands of the burgomaster, was now ascribed to the burgomaster's unblushing corruption. he had obviously, they thought, been purchased by spanish ducats to do what he had hitherto been so steadily refusing. a certain van werne had gone from antwerp into holland a few days before upon his own private affairs, with a safe-conduct from parma. sainte aldegonde had not communicated to him the project then on foot, but he had permitted him to seek a secret interview with count mansfeld. if that were granted, van werne was to hint that in case the provinces could promise themselves a religious peace it would be possible, in the opinion of sainte aldegonde, to induce holland and zealand and all the rest of the united provinces, to return to their obedience. van werne, on his return to antwerp, divulged these secret negotiations, and so put a stop to sainte aldegonde's scheme of going alone to parma. "this has given a bad suspicion to the people," wrote the burgomaster to richardot, "so much so that i fear to have trouble. the broad council has been in session, but i don't know what has taken place there, and i do not dare to ask." sainte aldegonde's motive, as avowed by himself, for seeking a private interview, was because he had received no answer to the main point in his first letter, as to the proposition for a general accord. in order therefore to make the deliberations more rapid, he had been disposed to discuss that preliminary question in secret. "but now," said he to richardot, "as the affair had been too much divulged, as well by diverse reports and writings sown about, very inopportunely, as by the arrival of m. van werne, i have not found it practicable to set out upon my road, without communication with the members of the government. this has been done, however, not in the way of consultation, but as the announcement of a thing already resolved upon." he proceeded to state, that great difficulties had arisen, exactly as he had foreseen. the magistrates would not hear of a general accord, and it was therefore necessary that a delay should be interposed before it would be possible for him to come. he begged richardot to persuade alexander, that he was not trifling with him. "it is not," said he, "from lightness, or any other passion, that i am retarding this affair. i will do all in my power to obtain leave to make a journey to the camp of his highness, at whatever price it may cost and i hope before long to arrive at my object. if i fail, it must be ascribed to the humours of the people; for my anxiety to restore all the provinces to obedience to his majesty is extreme." richardot, in reply, the next day, expressed regret, without astonishment, on the part of alexander and himself, at the intelligence thus received. people had such difference of humour, he said, and all men were not equally capable of reason. nevertheless the citizens were warned not to misconstrue parma's gentleness, because he was determined to die, with his whole army, rather than not take antwerp. "as for the king," said richardot, "he will lay down all his crowns sooner than abandon this enterprise." van werne was represented as free from blame, and sincerely desirous of peace. richardot had only stated to him, in general terms, that letters had been received from sainte aldegonde, expressing an opinion in favour of peace. as for the royalists, they were quite innocent of the reports and writings that had so inopportunely been circulated in the city. it was desirable, however, that the negotiation should not too long be deferred, for otherwise antwerp might perish, before a general accord with holland and zeeland could be made. he begged sainte aldegonde to banish all anxiety as to parma's sentiments towards himself or the community. "put yourself, sir, quite at your ease," said he. "his highness is in no respects dissatisfied with you, nor prone to conceive any indignation against this poor people." he assured the burgomaster that he was not suspected of lightness, nor of a wish to delay matters, but he expressed solicitude with regard to the threatening demonstrations which had been made against him in antwerp. "for," said he, "popular governments are full of a thousand hazards, and it would be infinitely painful to me, if you should come to harm." thus it would appear that it was sainte aldegonde who was chiefly anxious to effect the reconciliation of holland and zeeland with the king. the initiative of this project to include all the united provinces in one scheme with the reduction of antwerp came originally from him, and was opposed, at the outset, by the magistrates of that city, by the prince of parma and his councillors, and, by the states of holland and zeeland. the demonstrations on the part of the preachers, the municipal authorities, and the burghers, against sainte aldegonde and his plan for a secret interview, so soon as it was divulged, made it impossible to carry that project into effect. "aldegonde, who governs antwerp," wrote parma to philip, "was endeavouring, eight days ago, to bring about some kind of negotiation for an accord. he manifested a desire to come hither for the sake of a personal interview with me, which i permitted. it was to have taken place last sunday, th of this month, but by reason of a certain popular tumult, which arose out of these circumstances, it has been necessary to defer the meeting." there was much disappointment felt by the royalist at this unsatisfactory result. "these bravadoes and impertinent demonstrations on the part of some of your people," wrote richardot, ten days later, "will be the destruction of the whole country, and will convert the prince's gentleness into anger. 'tis these good and zealous patriots, trusting to a little favourable breeze that blew for a few days past, who have been the cause of all this disturbance, and who are ruining their miserable country--miserable, i say, for having produced such abortions as themselves." notwithstanding what had passed, however, richardot intimated that alexander was still ready to negotiate. "and if you, sir," he concluded, in his letter to aldegonde, "concerning whom many of our friends have at present a sinister opinion, as if your object was to circumvent us, are willing to proceed roundly and frankly, as i myself firmly believe that you will do, we may yet hope for a favourable issue." thus the burgomaster was already the object of suspicion to both parties. the antwerpers denounced him as having been purchased by spanish gold; the royalists accused him of intending to overreach the king. it was not probable therefore that all were correct in their conjectures. at last it was arranged that deputies should be appointed by the broad council to commence a negotiation with parma. sainte aldegonde informed richardot, that he would ( th july, ) accompany them, if his affairs should permit. he protested his sincerity and frankness throughout the whole affair. "they try to calumniate me," he said, "as much on one side as on the other, but i will overcome by my innocence all the malice of my slanderers. if his highness should be pleased to grant us some liberty for our religion, i dare to promise such faithful service as will give very great satisfaction." four days later, sainte aldegonde himself, together with m. de duffel, m. de schoonhoven, and adrian hesselt, came to parma's camp at beveren, as deputies on the part of the antwerp authorities. they were courteously received by the prince, and remained three days as his guests. during the period of this visit, the terms of a capitulation were thoroughly discussed, between alexander and his councillors upon one part, and the four deputies on the other. the envoys endeavoured, with all the arguments at their command, to obtain the consent of the prince to three preliminary points which they laid down as indispensable. religious liberty must be granted, the citadel must not be reconstructed, a foreign garrison must not be admitted; they said. as it was the firm intention of the king, however, not to make the slightest concession on any one of these points, the discussion was not a very profitable one. besides the public interviews at which all the negotiators were present, there was a private conference between parma and sainte aldegonde which lasted more than four hours, in which each did his best to enforce his opinions upon the other. the burgomaster endeavoured to persuade the prince with all the eloquence for which he was so renowned, that the hearts not of the antwerpers only, but of the hollanders and zeelanders, were easily to be won at that moment. give them religious liberty, and attempt to govern them by gentleness rather than by spanish garrisons, and the road was plain to a complete reconciliation of all the provinces with his majesty. alexander, who knew his master to be inexorable upon these three points, was courteous but peremptory in his statements. he recommended that the rebels should take into consideration their own declining strength, the inexhaustible resources of the king, the impossibility of obtaining succour from france, and the perplexing dilatoriness of england, rather than waste their time in idle expectations of a change in the spanish policy. he also intimated, obliquely but very plainly, to sainte aldegonde, that his own fortune would be made, and that he had everything to hope from his majesty's bounty, if he were now willing to make himself useful in carrying into effect the royal plans. the prince urged these views with so much eloquence, that he seemed, in his own words, to have been directly inspired by the lord for this special occasion! sainte aldegonde, too, was signally impressed by alexander's language, and thoroughly fascinated-magnetized, as it were--by his character. he subsequently declared, that he had often conversed familiarly with many eloquent personages, but that he had never known a man more powerful or persuasive than the prince of parma. he could honestly say of him--as hasdrubal had said of scipio--that farnese was even more admirable when seen face to face, than he had seemed when one only heard of his glorious achievements. "the burgomaster and three deputies," wrote parma to philip, "were here until the th july. we discussed ( th july, ) the points and form of a capitulation, and they have gone back thoroughly satisfied. sainte aldegonde especially was much pleased with the long interview which he had with me, alone, and which lasted more than three hours. i told him, as well as my weakness and suffering from the tertian fever permitted, all that god inspired me to say on our behalf." nevertheless, if sainte aldegonde and his colleagues went away thoroughly satisfied, they had reason, soon after their return, to become thoroughly dejected. the magistrates and burghers would not listen to a proposition to abandon the three points, however strongly urged to do so by arguments drawn from the necessity of the situation, and by representations of parma's benignity. as for the burgomaster, he became the target for calumny, so soon as his three hours' private interview became known; and the citizens loudly declared that his head ought to be cut off, and sent in a bag, as a present, to philip, in order that the traitor might meet the sovereign with whom he sought a reconciliation, face to face, as soon as possible. the deputies, immediately after their return, made their report to the magistrates, as likewise to the colonels and captains, and to the deans of guilds. next day, although it was sunday, there was a session of the broad council, and sainte aldegonde made a long address, in which--as he stated in a letter to richardot--he related everything that had passed in his private conversation with alexander. an answer was promised to parma on the following tuesday, but the burgomaster spoke very discouragingly as to the probability of an accord. "the joy with which our return was greeted," he said, "was followed by a general disappointment and sadness, so soon as the result was known. the want of a religious toleration, as well as the refusal to concede on the other two points, has not a little altered the hearts of all, even of the catholics. a citadel and a garrison are considered ruin and desolation to a great commercial city. i have done what i can to urge the acceptance of such conditions as the prince is willing to give, and have spoken in general terms of his benign intentions. the citizens still desire peace. had his highness been willing to take both religions under his protection, he might have won all hearts, and very soon all the other provinces would have returned to their obedience, while the clemency and magnanimity of his majesty would thus have been rendered admirable throughout the world." the power to form an accurate conception as to the nature of philip and of other personages with whom he was dealing, and as to the general signs of his times, seems to have been wanting in the character of the gifted aldegonde. he had been dazzled by the personal presence of parma, and he now spoke of philip ii., as if his tyranny over the netherlands--which for twenty years had been one horrible and uniform whole--were the accidental result of circumstances, not the necessary expression of his individual character, and might be easily changed at will--as if nero, at a moment's warning, might transform himself into trajan. it is true that the innermost soul of the spanish king could by no possibility be displayed to any contemporary, as it reveals itself, after three centuries, to those who study the record of his most secret thoughts; but, at any rate, it would seem that his career had been sufficiently consistent, to manifest the amount of "clemency and magnanimity" which he might be expected to exercise. "had his majesty," wrote sainte aldegonde, "been willing, since the year sixty-six, to pursue a course of toleration, the memory of his reign would have been sacred to all posterity, with an immortal praise of sapience, benignity, and sovereign felicity." this might be true, but nevertheless a tolerating philip, in the year , ought to have seemed to sainte aldegonde an impossible idea. "the emperors," continued the burgomaster, "who immediately succeeded tiberius were the cause of the wisdom which displayed itself in the good trajan--also a spaniard--and in antoninus, verus, and the rest: if you think that this city, by the banishment of a certain number of persons, will be content to abandon the profession of the reformed faith, you are much mistaken. you will see, with time, that the exile of this religion will be accompanied by a depopulation and a sorrowful ruin and desolation of this flourishing city. but this will be as it pleases god. meantime i shall not fail to make all possible exertions to induce the citizens to consent to a reconciliation with his majesty. the broad council will soon give their answer, and then we shall send a deputation. we shall invite holland and zeeland to join with us, but there is little hope of their consent." certainly there was little hope of their consent. sainte aldegonde was now occupied in bringing about the capitulation of antwerp, without any provision for religious liberty--a concession which parma had most distinctly refused--and it was not probable that holland and zeeland, after twenty years of hard fighting, and with an immediate prospect of assistance from england--could now be induced to resign the great object of the contest without further struggle. it was not until a month had elapsed that the authorities of antwerp sent their propositions to the prince of parma. on the th august, however, sainte aldegonde, accompanied by the same three gentlemen who had been employed on the first mission, and by seventeen others besides, proceeded with safe-conduct to the camp at beveren. here they were received with great urbanity, and hospitably entertained by alexander, who received their formal draft of articles for a capitulation, and referred it to be reported upon to richardot, pamel, and vanden burgh. meantime there were many long speeches and several conferences, sometimes between all the twenty-one envoys and the prince together; on other occasions, more secret ones, at which only aldegonde and one or two of his colleagues were present. it had been obvious, from the date of the first interview, in the preceding month, that the negotiation would be of no avail until the government of antwerp was prepared to abandon all the conditions which they had originally announced as indispensable. alexander had not much disposition and no authority whatever to make concessions. "so far as i can understand," parma had written on the th july, "they are very far from a conclusion. they have most exorbitant ideas, talking of some kind of liberty of conscience, besides refusing on any account to accept of garrisons, and having many reasons to allege on such subjects." the discussions, therefore, after the deputies had at last arrived, though courteously conducted, could scarcely be satisfactory to both parties. "the articles were thoroughly deliberated upon," wrote alexander, "by all the deputies, nor did i fail to have private conferences with aldegonde, that most skilful and practised lawyer and politician, as well as with two or three of the others. i did all in my power to bring them to a thorough recognition of their errors, and to produce a confidence in his majesty's clemency, in order that they might concede what was needful for the interests of the catholic religion and the security of the city. they heard all i had to say without exasperating themselves, and without interposing any strong objections, except in the matter of religion, and, still more, in the matter of the citadel and the garrison. aldegonde took much pains to persuade me that it would be ruinous for a great, opulent, commercial city to submit to a foreign military force. even if compelled by necessity to submit now, the inhabitants would soon be compelled by the same necessity to abandon the place entirely, and to leave in ruins one of the most splendid and powerful cities in the world, and in this opinion catholics and heretics unanimously concurred. the deputies protested, with one accord, that so pernicious and abominable a thing as a citadel and garrison could not even be proposed to their constituents. i answered, that, so long as the rebellion of holland and zeeland lasted, it would be necessary for your majesty to make sure of antwerp, by one or the other of those means, but promised that the city should be relieved of the incumbrance so soon as those islands should be reduced. "sainte aldegonde was not discouraged by this statement, but in the hope of convincing others, or with the wish of showing that he had tried his best, desired that i would hear him before the council of state. i granted the request, and sainte aldegonde then made another long and very elegant oration, intended to divert me from my resolution." it must be confessed--if the reports, which have come down to us of that long and elegant oration be correct--that the enthusiasm of the burgomaster for alexander was rapidly degenerating into idolatry. "we are not here, o invincible prince," he said, "that we may excuse, by an anxious legation, the long defence which we have made of our homes. who could have feared any danger to the most powerful city in the netherlands from so moderate a besieging force? you would yourself have rather wished for, than approved of, a greater facility on our part, for the brave cannot love the timid. we knew the number of your troops, we had discovered the famine in your camp, we were aware of the paucity of your ships, we had heard of the quarrels in your army, we were expecting daily to hear of a general mutiny among your soldiers. were we to believe that with ten or eleven thousand men you would be able to block up the city by land and water, to reduce the open country of brabant, to cut off all aid as well from the neighbouring towns as from the powerful provinces of holland and zeeland, to oppose, without a navy, the whole strength of our fleets, directed against the dyke? truly, if you had been at the head of fifty thousand soldiers, and every soldier had possessed one hundred hands, it would have seemed impossible for you to meet so many emergencies in so many places, and under so many distractions. what you have done we now believe possible to do, only because we see that it has been done. you have subjugated the scheldt, and forced it to bear its bridge, notwithstanding the strength of its current, the fury of the ocean-tides, the tremendous power of the icebergs, the perpetual conflicts with our fleets. we destroyed your bridge, with great slaughter of your troops. rendered more courageous by that slaughter, you restored that mighty work. we assaulted the great dyke, pierced it through and through, and opened a path for our ships. you drove us off when victors, repaired the ruined bulwark, and again closed to us the avenue of relief. what machine was there that we did not employ? what miracles of fire did we not invent? what fleets and floating citadels did we not put in motion? all that genius, audacity, and art, could teach us we have executed, calling to our assistance water, earth, heaven, and hell itself. yet with all these efforts, with all this enginry, we have not only failed to drive you from our walls, but we have seen you gaining victories over other cities at the same time. you have done a thing, o prince, than which there is nothing greater either in ancient or modern story. it has often occurred, while a general was besieging one city that he lost another situate farther off. but you, while besieging antwerp, have reduced simultaneously dendermonde, ghent, nymegen, brussels, and mechlin." all this, and much more, with florid rhetoric, the burgomaster pronounced in honour of farnese, and the eulogy was entirely deserved. it was hardly becoming, however, for such lips, at such a moment, to sound the praise of him whose victory had just decided the downfall of religious liberty, and of the national independence of the netherlands. his colleagues certainly must have winced, as they listened to commendations so lavishly bestowed upon the representative of philip, and it is not surprising that sainte aldegonde's growing unpopularity should, from that hour, have rapidly increased. to abandon the whole object of the siege, when resistance seemed hopeless, was perhaps pardonable, but to offer such lip-homage to the conqueror was surely transgressing the bounds of decorum. his conclusion, too, might to alexander seem as insolent as the whole tenor of his address had been humble; for, after pronouncing this solemn eulogy upon the conqueror, he calmly proposed that the prize of the contest should be transferred to the conquered. "so long as liberty of religion, and immunity from citadel and garrison can be relied upon," he said, "so long will antwerp remain the most splendid and flourishing city in christendom; but desolation will ensue if the contrary policy is to prevail." but it was very certain that liberty of religion, as well as immunity from citadel and garrison, were quite out of the question. philip and parma had long been inexorably resolved upon all the three points. "after the burgomaster had finished his oration," wrote alexander to his sovereign, "i discussed the matter with him in private, very distinctly and minutely." the religious point was soon given up, sainte aldegonde finding it waste of breath to say anything more about freedom of conscience. a suggestion was however made on the subject of the garrison, which the prince accepted, because it contained a condition which it would be easy to evade. "aldegonde proposed," said parma, "that a garrison might be admissible if i made my entrance into the city merely with infantry and cavalry of nations which were acceptable--walloons, namely, and germans--and in no greater numbers than sufficient for a body-guard. i accepted, because, in substance, this would amount to a garrison, and because, also, after the magistrates shall have been changed, i shall have no difficulty in making myself master of the people, continuing the garrison, and rebuilding the citadel." the prince proceeded to give his reasons why he was willing to accept the capitulation on what he considered so favourable terms to the besieged. autumn was approaching. already the fury of the storms had driven vessels clean over the dykes; the rebels in holland and zeeland were preparing their fleets--augmented by many new ships of war and fire-machines--for another desperate attack upon the palisades, in which there was great possibility of their succeeding; an auxiliary force from england was soon expected; so that, in view of all these circumstances, he had resolved to throw himself at his majesty's feet and implore his clemency. "if this people of antwerp, as the head, is gained," said he, "there will be tranquillity in all the members." these reasons were certainly conclusive; nor is it easy to believe, that, under the circumstances thus succinctly stated by alexander, it would have been impossible for the patriots to hold out until the promised succour from holland and from england should arrive. in point of fact, the bridge could not have stood the winter which actually ensued; for it was the repeatedly expressed opinion of the spanish officers in antwerp, that the icebergs which then filled the scheldt must inevitably have shattered twenty bridges to fragments, had there been so many. it certainly was superfluous for the prince to make excuses to philip for accepting the proposed capitulation. all the prizes of victory had been thoroughly secured, unless pillage, massacre, and rape, which had been the regular accompaniments of alva's victories, were to be reckoned among the indispensable trophies of a spanish triumph. nevertheless, the dearth in the city had been well concealed from the enemy; for, three days after the surrender, not a loaf of bread was to be had for any money in all antwerp, and alexander declared that he would never have granted such easy conditions had he been aware of the real condition of affairs. the articles of capitulation agreed upon between parma and the deputies were brought before the broad council on the th august. there was much opposition to them, as many magistrates and other influential personages entertained sanguine expectations from the english negotiation, and were beginning to rely with confidence upon the promises of queen elizabeth. the debate was waxing warm, when some of the councillors, looking out of window of the great hall, perceived that a violent mob had collected in the streets. furious cries for bread were uttered, and some meagre-looking individuals were thrust forward to indicate the famine which was prevailing, and the necessity of concluding the treaty without further delay. thus the municipal government was perpetually exposed to democratic violence, excited by diametrically opposite influences. sometimes the burgomaster was denounced for having sold himself and his country to the spaniards, and was assailed with execrations for being willing to conclude a sudden and disgraceful peace. at other moments he was accused of forging letters containing promises of succour from the queen of england and from the authorities of holland, in order to protract the lingering tortures of the war. upon this occasion the peace-mob carried its point. the councillors, looking out of window, rushed into the hall with direful accounts of the popular ferocity; the magistrates and colonels who had been warmest in opposition suddenly changed their tone, and the whole body of the broad council accepted the articles of capitulation by a unanimous vote. the window was instantly thrown open, and the decision publicly announced. the populace, wild with delight, rushed through the streets, tearing down the arms of the duke of anjou, which had remained above the public edifices since the period of that personage's temporary residence in the netherlands, and substituting, with wonderful celerity, the escutcheon of philip the second. thus suddenly could an antwerp mob pass from democratic insolence to intense loyalty. the articles, on the whole, were as liberal as could have been expected. the only hope for antwerp and for a great commonwealth of all the netherlands was in holding out, even to the last gasp, until england and holland, now united, had time to relieve the city. this was, unquestionably, possible. had antwerp possessed the spirit of leyden, had william of orange been alive, that spanish escutcheon, now raised with such indecent haste, might have never been seen again on the outside wall of any netherland edifice. belgium would have become at once a constituent portion of a great independent national realm, instead of languishing until our own century, the dependency of a distant and a foreign metropolis. nevertheless, as the antwerpers were not disposed to make themselves martyrs, it was something that they escaped the nameless horrors which had often alighted upon cities subjected to an enraged soldiery. it redounds to the eternal honour of alexander farnese--when the fate of naarden and haarlem and maestricht, in the days of alva, and of antwerp itself in the horrible "spanish fury," is remembered--that there were no scenes of violence and outrage in the populous and wealthy city, which was at length at his mercy after having defied him so long. civil and religious liberty were trampled in the dust, commerce and manufactures were destroyed, the most valuable portion of the citizens sent into hopeless exile, but the remaining inhabitants were not butchered in cold blood. the treaty was signed on the th august. antwerp was to return to its obedience. there was to be an entire amnesty and oblivion for the past, without a single exception. royalist absentees were to be reinstated in their possessions. monasteries, churches, and the king's domains were to be restored to their former proprietors. the inhabitants of the city were to practise nothing but the catholic religion. those who refused to conform were allowed to remain two years for the purpose of winding up their affairs and selling out their property, provided that during that period they lived "without scandal towards the ancient religion"--a very vague and unsatisfactory condition. all prisoners were to be released excepting teligny. four hundred thousand florins were to be paid by the authorities as a fine. the patriot garrison was to leave the city with arms and baggage and all the honours of war. this capitulation gave more satisfaction to the hungry portion of the antwerpers than to the patriot party of the netherlands. sainte aldegonde was vehemently and unsparingly denounced as a venal traitor. it is certain, whatever his motives, that his attitude had completely changed. for it was not antwerp alone that he had reconciled or was endeavouring to reconcile with the king of spain, but holland and zeeland as well, and all the other independent provinces. the ancient champion of the patriot army, the earliest signer of the 'compromise,' the bosom friend of william the silent, the author of the 'wilhelmus' national song, now avowed his conviction, in a published defence of his conduct against the calumnious attacks upon it, "that it was impossible, with a clear conscience, for subjects, under any circumstances, to take up arms against philip, their king." certainly if he had always entertained that opinion he must have suffered many pangs of remorse during his twenty years of active and illustrious rebellion. he now made himself secretly active in promoting the schemes of parma and in counteracting the negotiation with england. he flattered himself, with an infatuation which it is difficult to comprehend, that it would be possible to obtain religious liberty for the revolting provinces, although he had consented to its sacrifice in antwerp. it is true that he had not the privilege of reading philip's secret letters to parma, but what was there in the character of the king--what intimation had ever been given by the governor-general--to induce a belief in even the possibility of such a concession? whatever sainte aldegonde's opinions, it is certain that philip had no intention of changing his own policy. he at first suspected the burgomaster of a wish to protract the negotiations for a perfidious purpose. "necessity has forced antwerp," he wrote on the th of august--the very day on which the capitulation was actually signed--"to enter into negotiation. i understand the artifice of aldegonde in seeking to prolong and make difficult the whole affair, under pretext of treating for the reduction of holland and zeeland at the same time. it was therefore very adroit in you to defeat this joint scheme at once, and urge the antwerp matter by itself, at the same time not shutting the door on the others. with the prudence and dexterity with which this business has thus far been managed i am thoroughly satisfied." the king also expressed his gratification at hearing from parma that the demand for religious liberty in the netherlands would soon be abandoned. "in spite of the vehemence," he said, "which they manifest in the religious matter, desiring some kind of liberty, they will in the end, as you say they will, content themselves with what the other cities, which have returned to obedience, have obtained. this must be done in all cases without flinching, and without permitting any modification." what "had been obtained" by brussels, mechlin, ghent, was well known. the heretics had obtained the choice of renouncing their religion or of going into perpetual exile, and this was to be the case "without flinching" in holland and zeeland, if those provinces chose to return to obedience. yet sainte aldegonde deluded himself with the thought of a religious peace. in another and very important letter of the same date philip laid down his policy very distinctly. the prince of parma, by no means such a bigot as his master, had hinted at the possibility of tolerating the reformed religion in the places recovered from the rebels, sub silentio, for a period not defined, and long enough for the heretics to awake from their errors. "you have got an expression of opinion, i see," wrote the king to alexander, "of some grave men of wisdom and conscience, that the limitation of time, during which the heretics may live without scandal, may be left undefined; but i feel very keenly the danger of such a proposition. with regard to holland and zeeland, or any other provinces or towns, the first step must be for them to receive and maintain alone the exercise of the catholic religion, and to subject themselves to the roman church, without tolerating the exercise of any other religion, in city, village, farm-house, or building thereto destined in the fields, or in any place whatsoever; and in this regulation there is to be no flaw, no change, no concession by convention or otherwise of a religious peace, or anything of the sort. they are all to embrace the roman catholic religion, and the exercise of that is alone to be permitted." this certainly was distinct enough, and nothing had been ever said in public to induce a belief in any modification of the principles on which philip had uniformly acted. that monarch considered himself born to suppress heresy, and he had certainly been carrying out this work during his whole lifetime. the king was willing, however, as alexander had intimated in his negotiations with antwerp, and previously in the capitulation of brussels, ghent, and other places, that there should be an absence of investigation into the private chambers of the heretics, during the period allotted them for choosing between the papacy and exile. "it may be permitted," said philip, "to abstain from inquiring as to what the heretics are doing within their own doors, in a private way, without scandal, or any public exhibition of their rites during a fixed time. but this connivance, and the abstaining from executing the heretics, or from chastising them, even although they may be living very circumspectly, is to be expressed in very vague terms." being most anxious to provide against a second crop of heretics to succeed the first, which he was determined to uproot, he took pains to enjoin with his own hand upon parma the necessity of putting in catholic schoolmasters and mistresses to the exclusion of reformed teachers into all the seminaries of the recovered provinces, in order that all the boys and girls might grow up in thorough orthodoxy. yet this was the man from whom sainte aldegonde imagined the possibility of obtaining a religious peace. ten days after the capitulation, parma made his triumphal entrance into antwerp; but, according to his agreement, he spared the citizens the presence of the spanish and italian soldiers, the military procession being composed of the germans and walloons. escorted by his body-guard, and surrounded by a knot of magnates and veterans, among whom the duke of arschot, the prince of chimay, the counts mansfeld, egmont, and aremberg, were conspicuous, alexander proceeded towards the captured city. he was met at the keyser gate by a triumphal chariot of gorgeous workmanship, in which sat the fair nymph antwerpia, magnificently bedizened, and accompanied by a group of beautiful maidens. antwerpia welcomed the conqueror with a kiss, recited a poem in his honour, and bestowed upon him the keys of the city, one of which was in gold. this the prince immediately fastened to the chain around his neck, from which was suspended the lamb of the golden fleece, with which order he had just been, amid great pomp and ceremony, invested. on the public square called the mere, the genoese merchants had erected two rostral columns, each surmounted by a colossal image, representing respectively alexander of macedon and alexander of parma. before the house of portugal was an enormous phoenix, expanding her wings quite across the street; while, in other parts of the town, the procession was met by ships of war, elephants, dromedaries, whales, dragons, and other triumphal phenomena. in the market-place were seven statues in copper, personifying the seven planets, together with an eighth representing bacchus; and perhaps there were good mythological reasons why the god of wine, together with so large a portion of our solar system, should be done in copper by jacob jongeling, to honour the triumph of alexander, although the key to the enigma has been lost. the cathedral had been thoroughly fumigated with frankincense, and besprinkled with holy water, to purify the sacred precincts from their recent pollution by the reformed rites; and the protestant pulpits which had been placed there, had been soundly beaten with rods, and then burned to ashes. the procession entered within its walls, where a magnificent te deum was performed, and then, after much cannon-firing, bell-ringing, torch-light exhibition, and other pyrotechnics, the prince made his way at last to the palace provided for him. the glittering display, by which the royalists celebrated their triumph, lasted three days' long, the city being thronged from all the country round with eager and frivolous spectators, who were never wearied with examining the wonders of the bridge and the forts, and with gazing at the tragic memorials which still remained of the fight on the kowenstyn. during this interval, the spanish and italian soldiery, not willing to be outdone in demonstrations of respect to their chief, nor defrauded of their rightful claim to a holiday amused themselves with preparing a demonstration of a novel character. the bridge, which, as it was well known, was to be destroyed within a very few days, was adorned with triumphal arches, and decked with trees and flowering plants; its roadway was strewed with branches; and the palisades, parapets, and forts, were garnished with wreaths, emblems, and poetical inscriptions in honour of the prince. the soldiers themselves, attired in verdurous garments of foliage and flower-work, their swart faces adorned with roses and lilies, paraded the bridge and the dyke in fantastic procession with clash of cymbal and flourish of trumpet, dancing, singing, and discharging their carbines, in all the delirium of triumph. nor was a suitable termination to the festival wanting, for alexander, pleased with the genial character of these demonstrations, repaired himself to the bridge, where he was received with shouts of rapture by his army, thus whimsically converted into a horde of fauns and satyrs. afterwards, a magnificent banquet was served to the soldiers upon the bridge. the whole extent of its surface, from the flemish to the brabant shore--the scene so lately of deadly combat, and of the midnight havoc caused by infernal enginery--was changed, as if by the stroke of a wand, into a picture of sylvan and arcadian merry-making, and spread with tables laden with delicate viands. here sat that host of war--bronzed figures, banqueting at their ease, their heads crowned with flowers, while the highest magnates of the army, humouring them in their masquerade, served them with dainties, and filled their goblets with wine. after these festivities had been concluded, parma set himself to practical business. there had been a great opposition, during the discussion of the articles of capitulation to the reconstruction of the famous citadel. that fortress had been always considered, not as a defence of the place against a foreign enemy, but as an instrument to curb the burghers themselves beneath a hostile power. the city magistrates, however, as well as the dean and chief officers in all the guilds and fraternities, were at once changed by parma--catholics being uniformly substituted for heretics. in consequence, it was not difficult to bring about a change of opinion in the broad council. it is true that neither papists nor calvinists regarded with much satisfaction the prospect of military violence being substituted for civic rule, but in the first effusion of loyalty, and in the triumph of the ancient religion, they forgot the absolute ruin to which their own action was now condemning their city. champagny, who had once covered himself with glory by his heroic though unsuccessful efforts to save antwerp from the dreadful "spanish fury" which had descended from that very citadel, was now appointed governor of the town, and devoted himself to the reconstruction of the hated fortress. "champagny has particularly aided me," wrote parma, "with his rhetoric and clever management, and has brought the broad council itself to propose that the citadel should be rebuilt. it will therefore be done, as by the burghers themselves, without your majesty or myself appearing to desire it." this was, in truth, a triumph of "rhetoric and clever management," nor could a city well abase itself more completely, kneeling thus cheerfully at its conqueror's feet, and requesting permission to put the yoke upon its own neck. "the erection of the castle has thus been determined upon," said parma, "and i am supposed to know nothing of the resolution." a little later he observed that they, were "working away most furiously at the citadel, and that within a month it would be stronger than it ever had been before." the building went on, indeed, with astonishing celerity, the fortress rising out of its ruins almost as rapidly, under the hands of the royalists, as it had been demolished, but a few years before, by the patriots. the old foundations still remained, and blocks of houses, which had been constructed out of its ruins, were thrown down that the materials might be again employed in its restoration. the citizens, impoverished and wretched, humbly demanded that the expense of building the citadel might be in part defrayed by the four hundred thousand florins in which they had been mulcted by the capitulation. "i don't marvel at this," said parma, "for certainly the poor city is most forlorn and poverty-stricken, the heretics having all left it." it was not long before it was very satisfactorily established, that the presence of those same heretics and liberty of conscience for all men, were indispensable conditions for the prosperity of the great capital. its downfall was instantaneous. the merchants and industrious artisans all wandered away from the place which had been the seat of a world-wide traffic. civilisation and commerce departed, and in their stead were the citadel and the jesuits. by express command of philip, that order, banished so recently, was reinstated in antwerp, as well as throughout the obedient provinces; and all the schools and colleges were placed under its especial care. no children could be thenceforth instructed except by the lips of those fathers. here was a curb more efficacious even than the citadel. that fortress was at first garrisoned with walloons and germans. "i have not yet induced the citizens," said parma, "to accept a spanish garrison, nor am i surprised; so many of them remembering past events (alluding to the 'spanish fury,' but not mentioning it by name), and observing the frequent mutinies at the present time. before long, i expect, however, to make the spaniards as acceptable and agreeable as the inhabitants of the country themselves." it may easily be supposed that philip was pleased with the triumphs that had thus been achieved. he was even grateful, or affected to be grateful, to him who had achieved them. he awarded great praise to alexander for his exertions, on the memorable occasions of the attack upon the bridge, and the battle of the kowenstyn; but censured him affectionately for so rashly exposing his life. "i have no words," he said, "to render the thanks which are merited for all that you have been doing. i recommend you earnestly however to have a care for the security of your person, for that is of more consequence than all the rest." after the news of the reduction of the city, he again expressed gratification, but in rather cold language. "from such obstinate people," said he, "not more could be extracted than has been extracted; therefore the capitulation is satisfactory." what more he wished to extract it would be difficult to say, for certainly the marrow had been extracted from the bones, and the dead city was thenceforth left to moulder under the blight of a foreign garrison and an army of jesuits. "perhaps religious affairs will improve before long," said philip. they did improve very soon, as he understood the meaning of improvement. a solitude of religion soon brought with it a solitude in every other regard, and antwerp became a desert, as sainte aldegonde had foretold would be the case. the king had been by no means so calm, however, when the intelligence of the capitulation first reached him at madrid. on the contrary, his oldest courtiers had never seen him exhibit such marks of hilarity. when he first heard of the glorious victory at lepanto, his countenance had remained impassive, and he had continued in the chapel at the devotional exercises which the messenger from don john had interrupted. only when the news of the massacre of st. bartholomew first reached him, had he displayed an amount of cheerfulness equal to that which he manifested at the fall of antwerp. "never," said granvelle, "had the king been so radiant with joy as when he held in his hand the despatches which announced the capitulation." the letters were brought to him after he had retired to rest, but his delight was so great that he could not remain in his bed. rushing from his chamber, so soon as he had read them, to that of his dearly-beloved daughter, clara isabella, he knocked loudly at the door, and screaming through the keyhole the three words, "antwerp is ours," returned precipitately again to his own apartment. it was the general opinion in spain, that the capture of this city had terminated the resistance of the netherlands. holland and zeeland would, it was thought, accept with very little hesitation the terms which parma had been offering, through the agency of sainte aldegonde; and, with the reduction of those two provinces, the spanish dominion over the whole country would of course become absolute. secretary idiaquez observed, on drawing up instructions for carlo coloma, a spanish financier then departing on special mission for the provinces, that he would soon come back to spain, for the prince of parma was just putting an end to the whole belgic war. time was to show whether holland and zeeland were as malleable as antwerp, and whether there would not be a battle or two more to fight before that belgic war would come to its end. meantime antwerp was securely fettered, while the spirit of commerce--to which its unexampled prosperity had been due--now took its flight to the lands where civil and religious liberty had found a home. ===================================== note on marnix de sainte aldegonde. as every illustration of the career and character of this eminent personage excites constant interest in the netherlands, i have here thrown together, in the form of an appendix, many important and entirely unpublished details, drawn mainly from the archives of simancas, and from the state paper office and british museum in london. the ex-burgomaster seemed determined to counteract the policy of those netherlanders who wished to offer the sovereignty of the provinces to the english queen. he had been earnestly in favour of annexation to france, for his sympathies and feelings were eminently french. he had never been a friend to england, and he was soon aware that a strong feeling of indignation--whether just or unjust--existed against him both in that country and in the netherlands, on account of the surrender of antwerp. "i have had large conference with villiers," wrote sir john norris to walsingham, "he condemneth ste. aldegonde's doings, but will impute it to fear and not to malice. ste. aldegonde, notwithstanding that he was forbidden to come to holland, and laid for at the fleet, yet stole secretly to dort, where they say he is staid, but i doubt he will be heard speak, and then assuredly he will do great hurt." it was most certainly sainte aldegonde's determination, so soon as the capitulation of antwerp had been resolved upon, to do his utmost to restore all the independent provinces to their ancient allegiance. rather spanish than english was his settled resolution. liberty of religion, if possible--that was his cherished wish--but still more ardently, perhaps, did he desire to prevent the country from falling into the hands of elizabeth. "the prince of parma hath conceived such an assured hope of the fidelity of aldegonde," wrote one of walsingham's agents, richard tomson, "in reducing the provinces, yet enemies, into a perfect subjection, that the spaniards are so well persuaded of the man as if he had never been against them. they say, about the middle of this month, he departed for zeeland and holland, to prosecute the effect of his promises, and i am the more induced to believe that he is become altogether spanish, for that the common bruit goeth that he hastened the surrendering of the town of antwerp, after he had intelligence of the coming of the english succours." there was naturally much indignation felt in the independent provinces, against all who had been thought instrumental in bringing about the reduction of the great cities of flanders. famars, governor of mechlin, van den tympel, governor of brussels, martini, who had been active in effecting the capitulation of antwerp, were all arrested in holland. "from all that i can hear," said parma, "it is likely that they will be very severely handled, which is the reason why ste. aldegonde, although he sent his wife and children to holland, has not ventured thither himself: it appears that they threaten him there, but he means now to go, under pretext of demanding to justify himself from the imputations against him. although he tells me freely that, without some amplification of the concessions hitherto made on the point of religion, he hopes for no good result, yet i trust that he will do good offices in the meantime, in spite of the difficulties which obstruct his efforts. on my part, every exertion will be made, and not without hope of some fruit, if not before, at least after, these people have become as tired of the english as they were of the french." of this mutual ill-feeling between the english and the burgomaster, there can be no doubt whatever. the queen's government was fully aware of his efforts to counteract its negotiation with the netherlands, and to bring about their reconciliation with spain. when the earl of leicester--as will soon be related--arrived in the provinces, he was not long in comprehending his attitude and his influence. "i wrote somewhat of sir aldegonde in putting his case," wrote leicester, "but this is certain, i have the copy of his very letters sent hither to practise the peace not two days before i came, and this day one hath told me that loves him well, that he hates our countrymen unrecoverably. i am sorry for it." on the other hand, the queen was very indignant with the man whom she looked upon as the paid agent of spain. she considered him a renegade, the more dangerous because his previous services had been so illustrious. "her majesty's mislike towards ste. aldegonde continueth," wrote walsingham to leicester, "and she taketh offence that he was not restrained of his liberty by your lordship's order." it is unquestionable that the exburgomaster intended to do his best towards effecting the reconciliation of all the provinces with spain; and it is equally certain that the king had offered to pay him well, if he proved successful in his endeavours. there is no proof, however, and no probability that sainte aldegonde ever accepted or ever intended to accept the proffered bribe. on the contrary, his whole recorded career ought to disprove the supposition. yet it is painful, to find him, at this crisis, assiduous in his attempts to undo the great work of his own life, and still more distressing to find that great rewards were distinctly offered to him for such service. immense promises had been frequently made no doubt to william the silent; nor could any public man, in such times, be so pure that an attempt to tamper with him might not be made: but when the personage, thus solicited, was evidently acting in the interests of the tempters, it is not surprising that he should become the object of grave suspicion. "it does not seem to me bad," wrote philip to parma, "this negotiation which you have commenced with ste. aldegonde, in order to gain him, and thus to employ his services in bringing about a reduction of the islands (holland and zeeland). in exchange for this work, any thing which you think proper to offer to him as a reward, will be capital well invested; but it must not be given until the job is done." but the job was hard to do, and sainte aldegonde cared nothing for the offered bribe. he was, however, most strangely confident of being able to overcome, on the one hand, the opposition of holland and zeeland to the hated authority of spain, and, on the other, the intense abhorrence entertained by philip to liberty of conscience. soon after the capitulation, he applied for a passport to visit those two provinces. permission to come was refused him. honest men from antwerp, he was informed, would be always welcome, but there was no room for him. there was, however--or parma persuaded himself that there was--a considerable party in those countries in favour of reconciliation with spain. if the ex-burgomaster could gain a hearing, it was thought probable that his eloquence would prove very effective. "we have been making efforts to bring about negotiations with holland and zeeland," wrote alexander to philip. "gelderland and overyssel likewise show signs of good disposition, but i have not soldiers enough to animate the good and terrify the bad. as for holland and zeeland, there is a strong inclination on the part of the people to a reconciliation, if some concession could be made on the religious question, but the governors oppose it, because they are perverse, and are relying on assistance from england. could this religious concession be made, an arrangement could, without doubt, be accomplished, and more quickly than people think. nevertheless, in such a delicate matter, i am obliged to await your majesty's exact instructions and ultimatum." he then proceeded to define exactly the position and intentions of the burgomaster. "the government of holland and zeeland," he said, "have refused a passport to ste. aldegonde, and express dissatisfaction with him for having surrendered antwerp so soon. they know that he has much credit with the people and with the ministers of the sects, and they are in much fear of him because he is inclined for peace, which is against their interests. they are, therefore, endeavouring to counteract my negotiations with him. these have been, thus far, only in general terms. i have sought to induce him to perform the offices required, without giving him reason to expect any concession as to the exercise of religion. he persuades himself that, in the end, there will be some satisfaction obtained upon this point, and, under this impression he considers the peace as good as concluded, there remaining no doubt as to other matters. he has sent his wife to zeeland, and is himself going to germany, where, as he says, he will do all the good service that he can. he hopes that very shortly the provinces will not only invite, but implore him to come to them; in which case, he promises me to perform miracles." alexander then proceeded to pay a distinct tribute to sainte aldegonde's motives; and, when it is remembered that the statement thus made is contained in a secret despatch, in cipher, to the king, it may be assumed to convey the sincere opinion of the man most qualified to judge correctly as to this calumniated person's character. "ste. aldegonde offers me wonders," he said, "and i have promised him that he shall be recompensed very largely; yet, although he is poor, i do not find him influenced by mercenary or selfish considerations, but only very set in opinions regarding his religion." the prince had however no doubt of sainte aldegonde's sincerity, for sincerity was a leading characteristic of the man. his word, once given, was sacred, and he had given his word to do his best towards effecting a reconciliation of the provinces with spain, and frustrating the efforts of england. "through the agency of ste. aldegonde and that of others" wrote parma, "i shall watch, day and night, to bring about a reduction of holland and zeeland, if humanly possible. i am quite persuaded that they will soon be sick of the english, who are now arriving, broken down, without arms or money, and obviously incapable of holding out very long. doubtless, however, this english alliance, and the determination of the queen to do her utmost against us, complicates matters, and assists the government of holland and zeeland in opposing the inclinations of their people." nothing ever came of these intended negotiations. the miracles were never wrought, and even had sainte aldegonde been as venal as he was suspected of being--which we have thus proof positive that he was not--he never could have obtained the recompense, which, according to philip's thrifty policy, was not to be paid until it had been earned. sainte aldegonde's hands were clean. it is pity that we cannot render the same tribute to his political consistency of character. it is also certain that he remained--not without reason--for a long time under a cloud. he became the object of unbounded and reckless calumny. antwerp had fallen, and the necessary consequence of its reduction was the complete and permanent prostration of its commerce and manufactures. these were transferred to the new, free, national, independent, and prosperous commonwealth that had risen in the "islands" which parma and sainte aldegonde had vainly hoped to restore to their ancient servitude. in a very few years after the subjugation of antwerp, it appeared by statistical documents that nearly all the manufactures of linen, coarse and fine cloths, serges, fustians, tapestry, gold-embroidery, arms-work, silks, and velvets, had been transplanted to the towns of holland and zeeland, which were flourishing and thriving, while the flemish and brabantine cities had become mere dens of thieves and beggars. it was in the mistaken hope of averting this catastrophe--as melancholy as it was inevitable and in despair of seeing all the netherlands united, unless united in slavery, and in deep-rooted distrust of the designs and policy of england, that this statesman, once so distinguished, had listened to the insidious tongue of parma. he had sought to effect a general reconciliation with spain, and the only result of his efforts was a blight upon his own illustrious name. he published a defence of his conduct, and a detailed account of the famous siege. his apology, at the time, was not considered conclusive, but his narrative remains one of the clearest and most trustworthy sources for the history of these important transactions. he was never brought to trial, but he discovered, with bitterness, that he had committed a fatal error, and that his political influence had passed away. he addressed numerous private epistles to eminent persons, indignantly denying the imputations against his character, and demanding an investigation. among other letters he observed in one to count hohenlo, that he was astonished and grieved to find that all his faithful labours and sufferings in the cause of his fatherland had been forgotten in an hour. in place of praise and gratitude, he had reaped nothing but censure and calumny; because men ever judged, not by the merits, but by the issue. that common people should be so unjust, he said, was not to be wondered at, but of men like hohenlo be had hoped better things. he asserted that he had saved antwerp from another "spanish fury," and from impending destruction--a city in which there was not a single regular soldier, and in which his personal authority was so slight that he was unable to count the number of his masters. if a man had ever performed a service to his country, he claimed to have done so in this capitulation. nevertheless, he declared that he was the same philip marnix, earnestly devoted to the service of god, the true religion, and the fatherland; although he avowed himself weary of the war, and of this perpetual offering of the netherland sovereignty to foreign potentates. he was now going, he said, to his estates in zeeland; there to turn farmer again; renouncing public affairs, in the administration of which he had experienced so much ingratitude from his countrymen. count maurice and the states of holland and zeeland wrote to him, however, in very plain language, describing the public indignation as so strong as to make it unsafe for him to visit the country. the netherlands and england--so soon as they were united in policy--were, not without reason, indignant with the man who had made such strenuous efforts to prevent that union. the english were, in truth, deeply offended. he had systematically opposed their schemes, and to his prejudice against their country, and distrust of their intentions, they attributed the fall of antwerp. envoy davison, after his return to holland, on the conclusion of the english treaty, at once expressed his suspicions of the ex-burgomaster, and the great dangers to be apprehended from his presence in the free states. "here is some working underhand," said he to walsingham, "to draw hither sainte aldegonde, under a pretext of his justification, which--as it has hitherto been denied him--so is the sequel suspected, if he should obtain it before they were well settled here, betwixt her majesty and them, considering the manifold presumptions that the subject of his journey should be little profitable or advantageous to the state of these poor countries, as tending, at the best, to the propounding of some general reconcilement." it was certainly not without substantial grounds that the english and hollanders, after concluding their articles of alliance, felt uneasy at the possibility of finding their plans reversed by the intrigues of a man whom they knew to be a mediator between spain and her revolted provinces, and whom they suspected of being a venal agent of the catholic king. it was given out that philip had been induced to promise liberty of religion, in case of reconciliation. we have seen that parma was at heart in favour of such a course, and that he was very desirous of inducing marnix to believe in the possibility of obtaining such a boon, however certain the prince had been made by the king's secret letters, that such a belief was a delusion. "martini hath been examined," wrote davison, "who confesseth both for himself and others, to become hither by direction of the prince of parma and intelligence of sainte aldegonde, from whom he was first addressed by villiers and afterwards to others for advice and assistance. that the scope of this direction was to induce them here to hearken to a peace, wherein the prince of parma promiseth them toleration of religion, although he confesseth yet to have no absolute power in that behalf, but hath written thereof to the king expressly, and holdeth himself assured thereof by the first post, as i have likewise been advertised from rowland york, which if it had been propounded openly here before things had been concluded with her majesty, and order taken for her assurance, your honour can judge what confusion it must of necessity have brought forth." at last, when marnix had become convinced that the toleration would not arrive "by the very next mail from spain," and that, in truth, such a blessing was not to be expected through the post-office at all, he felt an inward consciousness of the mistake which he had committed. too credulously had he inclined his ear to the voice of parma; too obstinately had he steeled his heart against elizabeth, and he was now the more anxious to clear himself at least from the charges of corruption so clamorously made against him by holland and by england. conscious of no fault more censurable than credulity and prejudice, feeling that his long fidelity to the reformed religion ought to be a defence for him against his calumniators, he was desirous both to clear his own honour, and to do at least a tardy justice to england. he felt confident that loyal natures, like those of davison and his colleagues at home, would recognize his own loyalty. he trusted, not without cause, to english honour, and coming to his manor-house of zoubourg, near flushing, he addressed a letter to the ambassador of elizabeth, in which the strong desire to vindicate his aspersed integrity is quite manifest. "i am very joyous," said he, "that coming hither in order to justify myself against the false and malignant imputations with which they charge me, i have learned your arrival here on the part of her majesty, as well as the soon expected coming of the earl of leicester. i see, in truth, that the lord god is just, and never abandons his own. i have never spared myself in the service of my country, and i would have sacrificed my life, a thousand times, had it been possible, in her cause. now, i am receiving for all this a guerdon of blame and calumny, which is cast upon me in order to cover up faults which have been committed by others in past days. i hope, however, to come soon to give you welcome, and to speak more particularly to you of all these things. meantime demanding my justification before these gentlemen, who ought to have known me better than to have added faith to such villanous imputations, i will entreat you that my definite justification, or condemnation, if i have merited it, may be reserved till the arrival of lord leicester." this certainly was not the language of a culprit, nevertheless, his words did not immediately make a deep impression on the hearts of those who heard him. he had come secretly to his house at zoubourg, having previously published his memorable apology; and in accordance with the wishes of the english government, he was immediately confined to his own house. confidence in the intention of a statesman, who had at least committed such grave errors of judgment, and who had been so deeply suspected of darker faults, was not likely very soon to revive. so far from shrinking from an investigation which would have been dangerous, even to his life, had the charges against his honour been founded in fact, he boldly demanded to be confronted with his accusers, in order that he might explain his conduct before all the world. "sir, yesternight, at the shutting of the gates," wrote davison to walsingham, transmitting the little note from marnix, which has just been cited--"i was advertised that ste. aldegonde was not an hour before secretly landed at the head on the other side the rammekens, and come to his house at zoubourg, having prepared his way by an apology, newly published in his defence, whereof i have as yet recovered one only copy, which herewith i send your honour. this day, whilst i was at dinner, he sent his son unto me, with a few lines, whereof i send you the copy, advertising me of his arrival (which he knew i understood before), together with the desire he had to see me, and speak with me, if the states, before whom he was to come to purge himself of the crimes wherewith he stood, as he with, unjustly charged, would vouchsafe him so much liberty. the same morning, the council of zeeland, taking knowledge of his arrival, sent unto him the pensioner of middelburgh and this town, to sound the causes of his coming, and to will him, in their behalf, to keep his house, and to forbear all meddling by word or writing, with any whatsoever, till they should further advise and determine in his cause. in defence thereof, he fell into large and particular discourse with the deputies, accusing his enemies of malice and untruth, offering himself to any trial, and to abide what punishment the laws should lay upon him, if he were found guilty of the crimes imputed to him. touching the cause of his coming, he pretended and protested that he had no other end than his simple justification, preferring any hazard he might incur thereby, to his honour and good fame." as to the great question at issue, marnix had at last become conscious that he had been a victim to spanish dissimulation, and that alexander fainese was in reality quite powerless to make that concession of religious liberty, without which a reconciliation between holland and philip was impossible. "whereas," said davison, "it was supposed that ste. aldegonde had commission from the prince of parma to make some offer of peace, he assured them of the contrary as a thing which neither the prince had any power to yield unto with the surety of religion, or himself would, in conscience, persuade without it; with a number of other particularities in his excuse; amongst the rest, allowing and commending in his speech, the course they had taken with her majesty, as the only safe way of deliverance for these afflicted countries--letting them understand how much the news thereof--specially since the entry of our garrison into this place (which before they would in no sort believe), hath troubled the enemy, who doth what he may to suppress the bruit thereof, and yet comforteth himself with the hope that between the factions and partialities nourished by his industry, and musters among the towns, especially in holland and zeeland (where he is persuaded to find some pliable to a reconcilement) and the disorders and misgovernment of our people, there will be yet occasion offered him to make his profit and advantage. i find that the gentleman hath here many friends indifferently persuaded of his innocency, notwithstanding the closing up of his apology doth make but little for him. howsoever it be, it falleth out the better that the treaty with her majesty is finished, and the cautionary towns assured before his coming, which, if he be ill affected, will i hope either reform his judgment or restrain his will. i will not forget to do the best i can to sift and decipher him yet more narrowly and particularly." thus, while the scales had at length fallen from the eyes of marnix, it was not strange that the confidence which he now began to entertain in the policy of england, should not be met, at the outset, with a corresponding sentiment on the part of the statesman by whom that policy was regulated. "howsoever ste. aldegonde would seem to purge himself," said davison, "it is suspected that his end is dangerous. i have done what i may to restrain him, so nevertheless as it may not seem to come from me." and again--"ste. aldegonde," he wrote, "contimieth still our neighbor at his house between this and middelburg; yet unmolested. he findeth many favourers, and, i fear, doth no good offices. he desireth to be reserved till the coming of my lord of leicester, before whom he pretends a desired trial." this covert demeanour on the part of the ambassador was in accordance with, the wishes of his government. it was thought necessary that sainte aldegonde should be kept under arrest until the arrival of the earl, but deemed preferable that the restraint should proceed from the action of the states rather than from the order of the queen. davison was fulfilling orders in attempting, by underhand means, to deprive marnix, for a time, of his liberty. "let him, i pray you, remain in good safety in any wise," wrote leicester, who was uneasy at the thought of so influential, and, as he thought, so ill-affected a person being at large, but at the same time disposed to look dispassionately upon his past conduct, and to do justice, according to the results of an investigation. "it is thought meet," wrote walsingham to davison, "that you should do your best endeavour to procure that ste. aldegonde may be restrained, which in mine opinion were fit to be handled in such sort, as the restraint might rather proceed from themselves than by your solicitation. and yet rather than he should remain at liberty to practise underhand, whereof you seem to stand in great doubt, it is thought meet that you should make yourself a partizan, to seek by all the means that you may to have him restrained under the guard of some well affected patriot until the earl's coming, at what time his cause may receive examination." this was, however, a result somewhat difficult to accomplish; for twenty years of noble service in the cause of liberty had not been utterly in vain, and there were many magnanimous spirits to sympathize with a great man struggling thus in the meshes of calumny. that the man who challenged rather than shunned investigation, should be thrown into prison, as if he were a detected felon upon the point of absconding, seemed a heartless and superfluous precaution. yet davison and others still feared the man whom they felt obliged to regard as a baffled intriguer. "touching the restraint of ste. aldegonde," wrote davison to lord burghley, "which i had order from mr. secretary to procure underhand, i find the difficulty will be great in regard of his many friends and favourers, preoccupied with some opinion of his innocence, although i have travailled with divers of them underhand, and am promised that some order shall be taken in that behalf, which i think will be harder to execute as long as count maurice is here. for ste. aldegonde's affection, i find continual matter to suspect it inclined to a peace, and that as one notably prejudging our scope and proceeding in this cause, doth lie in wait for an occasion to set it forward, being, as it seems, fed with a hope of 'telle quelle liberte de conscience,' which the prince of parma and others of his council have, as he confesseth, earnestly solicited at the king's hands. this appeareth, in truth, the only apt and easy way for them to prevail both against religion and the liberty of these poor countries, having thereby once recovered the authority which must necessarily follow a peace, to renew and alter the magistrates of the particular towns, which, being at their devotion, may turn, as we say, all upside down, and so in an instant being under their servitude, if not wholly, at the least in a great part of the country, leaving so much the less to do about the rest, a thing confessed and looked for of all men of any judgment here, if the drift of our peace-makers may take effect." sainte aldegonde had been cured of his suspicions of england, and at last the purity of his own character shone through the mists. one winter's morning, two days after christmas, , colonel morgan, an ingenuous welshman, whom we have seen doing much hard fighting on kowenstyn dyke, and at other places, and who now commanded the garrison at flushing, was taking a walk outside the gates, and inhaling the salt breezes from the ocean. while thus engaged he met a gentleman coming along, staff in hand, at a brisk pace towards the town, who soon proved to be no other than the distinguished and deeply suspected sainte aldegonde. the two got at once into conversation. "he began," said morgan, "by cunning insinuations, to wade into matters of state, and at the last fell to touching the principal points, to wit, her majesty's entrance into the cause now in hand, which, quoth he, was an action of high importance, considering how much it behoved her to go through the same, as well in regard of the hope that thereby was given to the distressed people of these parts, as also in consideration of that worthy personage whom she hath here placed, whose estate and credit may not be suffered to quail, but must be upholden as becometh the lieutenant of such a princess as her majesty." "the opportunity thus offered," continued honest morgan, "and the way opened by himself, i thought good to discourse with him to the full, partly to see the end and drift of his induced talk, and consequently to touch his quick in the suspected cause of antwerp." and thus, word for word, taken down faithfully the same day, proceeded the dialogue that wintry morning, near three centuries ago. from that simple record--mouldering unseen and unthought of for ages, beneath piles of official dust--the forms of the illustrious fleming and the bold welsh colonel, seem to start, for a brief moment, out of the three hundred years of sleep which have succeeded their energetic existence upon earth. and so, with the bleak winds of december whistling over the breakers of the north sea, the two discoursed together, as they paced along the coast. morgan.--"i charge you with your want of confidence in her majesty's promised aid. 'twas a thing of no small moment had it been embraced when it was first most graciously offered." sainte aldegonde.--"i left not her prince-like purpose unknown to the states, who too coldly and carelessly passed over the benefit thereof, until it was too late to put the same in practice. for my own part, i acknowledge that indeed i thought some further advice would either alter or at least detract from the accomplishment of her determination. i thought this the rather because she had so long been wedded to peace, and i supposed it impossible to divorce her from so sweet a spouse. but, set it down that she were resolute, yet the sickness of antwerp was so dangerous, as it was to be doubted the patient would be dead before the physician could come. i protest that the state of the town was much worse than was known to any but myself and some few private persons. the want of victuals was far greater than they durst bewray, fearing lest the common people, perceiving the plague of famine to be at hand, would rather grow desperate than patiently expect some happy event. for as they were many in number, so were they wonderfully divided: some being martinists, some papists, some neither the one nor the other, but generally given to be factious, so that the horror at home was equal to the hazard abroad." morgan.--"but you forget the motion made by the martial men for putting out of the town such as were simple artificers, with women and children, mouths that consumed meat, but stood in no stead for defence." sainte aldegonde.--"alas, alas! would you have had me guilty of the slaughter of so many innocents, whose lives were committed to my charge, as well as the best? or might i have answered my god when those massacred creatures should have stood up against me, that the hope of antwerp's deliverance was purchased with the blood of so many simple souls? no, no. i should have found my conscience such a hell and continual worm as the gnawing thereof would have been more painful and bitter than the possession of the whole world would have been pleasant." morgan continued to press the various points which had created suspicion as to the character and motives of marnix, and point by point marnix answered his antagonist, impressing him, armed as he had been in distrust, with an irresistible conviction as to the loftiness of the nature which had been so much calumniated. sainte aldegonde (with vehemence).--"i do assure you, in conclusion, that i have solemnly vowed service and duty to her majesty, which i am ready to perform where and when it may best like her to use the same. i will add moreover that i have oftentimes determined to pass into england to make my own purgation, yet fearing lest her highness would mislike so bold a resolution, i have checked that purpose with a resolution to tarry the lord's leisure, until some better opportunity might answer my desire. for since i know not how i stand in her grace, unwilling i am to attempt her presence without permission; but might it please her to command my attendance, i should not only most joyfully accomplish the same, but also satisfy her of and in all such matters as i stand charged with, and afterwards spend life, land, and goods, to witness my duty towards her highness." morgan.--"i tell you plainly, that if you are in heart the same man that you seem outwardly to be, i doubt not but her majesty might easily be persuaded to conceive a gracious opinion of you. for mine own part, i will surely advertise sir francis walsingham of as much matter as this present conference hath ministered. "hereof," said the colonel--when, according to his promise, faithfully recording the conversation in all its details for mr. secretary's benefit, "he seemed not only content but most glad. therefore i beseech your honour to vouchsafe some few lines herein, that i may return him some part of your mind. i have already written thereof to sir philip sidney, lord governor of flushing, with request that his excellency the earl of leicester may presently be made acquainted with the cause." indeed the brave welshman was thoroughly converted from his suspicions by the earnest language and sympathetic presence of the fallen statesman. this result of the conference was creditable to the ingenuous character of both personages. "thus did he," wrote morgan to sir francis, "from point to point, answer all objections from the first to the last, and that in such sound and substantial manner, with a strong show of truth, as i think his very enemies, having heard his tale, would be satisfied. and truly, sir, as heretofore i have thought hardly of him, being led by a superficial judgment of things as they stood in outward appearance; so now, having pierced deep, and weighed causes by a sounder and more deliberate consideration, i find myself somewhat changed in conceit--not so much carried away by the sweetness of his speech, as confirmed by the force of his religious profession, wherein he remaineth constant, without wavering--an argument of great strength to set him free from treacherous attempts; but as i am herein least able and most unworthy to yield any censure, much less to give advice, so i leave the man and the matter to your honour's opinion. only (your graver judgment reserved) thus i think, that it were good either to employ him as a friend, or as an enemy to remove him farther from us, being a man of such action as the world knoweth he is. and to conclude," added morgan, "this was the upshot between us." nevertheless, he remained in this obscurity for a long period. when, towards the close of the year , the english government was established in holland, he was the object of constant suspicion. "here is aldegonde," wrote sir philip sidney to lord leicester from flushing, "a man greatly suspected, but by no man charged. he lives restrained to his own house, and for aught i can find, deals with nothing, only desiring to have his cause wholly referred to your lordship, and therefore, with the best heed i can to his proceedings, i will leave him to his clearing or condemning, when your lordship shall hear him." in another letter, sir philip again spoke of sainte aldegonde as "one of whom he kept a good opinion, and yet a suspicious eye." leicester himself was excessively anxious on the subject, deeply fearing the designs of a man whom he deemed so mischievous, and being earnestly desirous that he should not elude the chastisement which he seemed to deserve. "touching ste. aldegonde," he wrote to davison, "i grieve that he is at his house without good guard. i do earnestly pray you to move such as have power presently to commit a guard about him, for i know he is a dangerous and a bold man, and presumes yet to carry all, for he hath made many promises to the prince of parma. i would he were in fort rammekyns, or else that mr. russell had charge of him, with a recommendation from me to russell to look well to him till i shall arrive. you must have been so commanded in this from her majesty, for she thinks he is in close and safe guard. if he is not, look for a turn of all things, for he hath friends, i know." but very soon after his arrival, the earl, on examining into the matter, saw fit to change his opinions and his language. persuaded, in spite of his previous convictions, even as the honest welsh colonel had been, of the upright character of the man, and feeling sure that a change had come over the feelings of marnix himself in regard to the english alliance, leicester at once interested himself in removing the prejudices entertained towards him by the queen. "now a few words for ste. aldegonde," said he in his earliest despatches from holland; "i will beseech her majesty to stay her judgment till i write next. if the man be as he now seemeth, it were pity to lose him, for he is indeed marvellously friended. her majesty will think, i know, that i am easily pacified or led in such a matter, but i trust so to deal as she shall give me thanks. once if he do offer service it is sure enough, for he is esteemed that way above all the men in this country for his word, if he give it. his worst enemies here procure me to win him, for sure, just matter for his life there is none. he would fain come into england, so far is he come already, and doth extol her majesty for this work of hers to heaven, and confesseth, till now an angel could not make him believe it." here certainly was a noble tribute paid unconsciously, as it were, to the character of the maligned statesman. "above all the men in the country for his word, if he give it." what wonder that orange had leaned upon him, that alexander had sought to gain him, and how much does it add to our bitter regret that his prejudices against england should not have been removed until too late for antwerp and for his own usefulness. had his good angel really been present to make him believe in that "work of her majesty," when his ear was open to the seductions of parma, the destiny of belgium and his own subsequent career might have been more fortunate than they became. the queen was slow to return from her prejudices. she believed--not without reason--that the opposition of ste. aldegonde to her policy had been disastrous to the cause both of england and the netherlands; and it had been her desire that he should be imprisoned, and tried for his life. her councillors came gradually to take a more favourable view of the case, and to be moved by the pathetic attitude of the man who had once been so conspicuous. "i did acquaint sir christopher hatton," wrote walsingham to leicester, "with the letter which ste. aldegonde wrote to your lordship, which, carrying a true picture of an afflicted mind, cannot but move an honest heart, weighing the rare parts the gentleman is endowed withal, to pity his distressed estate, and, to procure him relief and comfort, which mr. vice-chamberlain (hatton) bath promised on his part to perform. i thought good to send ste. aldegonde's letter unto the lord treasurer (burghley), who heretofore has carried a hard conceit of the gentleman, hoping that the view of his letter will breed some remorse towards him. i have also prayed his lordship, if he see cause, to acquaint her majesty with the said letter." but his high public career was closed. he lived down calumny; and put his enemies to shame, but the fatal error which he had committed, in taking the side of spain rather than of england at so momentous a crisis, could never be repaired. he regained the good opinion of the most virtuous and eminent personages in europe, but in the noon of life he voluntarily withdrew from public affairs. the circumstances just detailed had made him impossible as a political leader, and it was equally impossible for him to play a secondary part. he occasionally consented to be employed in special diplomatic missions, but the serious avocations of his life now became theological and literary. he sought--in his own words--to penetrate himself still more deeply than ever with the spirit of the reformation, and to imbue the minds of the young with that deep love for the reformed religion which had been the guiding thought of his own career. he often spoke with a sigh of his compulsory exile from the field where he had been so conspicuous all his lifetime; he bitterly lamented the vanished dream of the great national union between belgium and holland, which had flattered his youth and his manhood; and he sometimes alluded with bitterness to the calumny which had crippled him of his usefulness. he might have played a distinguished part in that powerful commonwealth which was so steadily and splendidly arising out of the lagunes of zeeland and holland, but destiny and calumny and his own error had decided otherwise. "from the depth of my exile--" he said, "for i am resolved to retire, i know not where, into germany, perhaps into sarmatia, i shall look from afar upon the calamities of my country. that which to me is most mournful is no longer to be able to assist my fatherland by my counsels and my actions." he did not go into exile, but remained chiefly at his mansion of zoubourg, occupied with agriculture and with profound study. many noble works conspicuous in the literature of the epoch--were the results of his learned leisure; and the name of marnix of sainte aldegonde will be always as dear to the lovers of science and letters as to the believers in civil and religious liberty. at the request of the states of holland he undertook, in , a translation of the scriptures from the original, and he was at the same time deeply engaged with a history of christianity, which he intended for his literary master-piece. the man whose sword had done knightly service on many a battle-field for freedom, whose tongue had controlled mobs and senates, courts and councils, whose subtle spirit had metamorphosed itself into a thousand shapes to do battle with the genius of tyranny, now quenched the feverish agitation of his youth and manhood in hebrew and classical lore. a grand and noble figure always: most pathetic when thus redeeming by vigorous but solitary and melancholy hard labor, the political error which had condemned him to retirement. to work, ever to work, was the primary law of his nature. repose in the other world, "repos ailleurs" was the device which he assumed in earliest youth, and to which he was faithful all his days. a great and good man whose life had been brim-full of noble deeds, and who had been led astray from the path, not of virtue, but of sound policy, by his own prejudices and by the fascination of an intellect even more brilliant than his own, he at least enjoyed in his retirement whatever good may come from hearty and genuine labor, and from the high regard entertained for him by the noblest spirits among his contemporaries. "they tell me," said la noue, "that the seigneur de ste. aldegonde has been suspected by the hollanders and the english. i am deeply grieved, for 'tis a personage worthy to be employed. i have always known him to be a zealous friend of his religion and his country, and i will bear him this testimony, that his hands and his heart are clean. had it been otherwise, i must have known it. his example has made me regret the less the promise i was obliged to make, never to bear arms again in the netherlands. for i have thought that since this man, who has so much credit and authority among your people, after having done his duty well, has not failed to be calumniated and ejected from service, what would they have done with me, who am a stranger, had i continued in their employment? the consul terentius varro lost, by his fault, the battle of canna; nevertheless, when he returned to rome, offering the remainder of his life in the cause of his republic reduced to extremity, he was not rejected, but well received, because he hoped well for the country. it is not to be imputed as blame to ste. aldegonde that he lost antwerp, for he surrendered when it could not be saved. what i now say is drawn from me by the compassion i feel when persons of merit suffer without cause at the hands of their fellow citizens. in these terrible tempests, as it is a duty rigorously to punish the betrayers of their country, even so it is an obligation upon us to honor good patriots, and to support them in venial errors, that we may all encourage each other to do the right." strange too as it may now seem to us, a reconciliation of the netherlands with philip was not thought an impossibility by other experienced and sagacious patriots, besides marnix. even olden-barneveld, on taking office as holland's advocate, at this period, made it a condition that his service was to last only until the reunion of the provinces with spain. there was another illustrious personage in a foreign land who ever rendered homage to the character of the retired netherland statesman. amid the desolation of france, duplessis mornay often solaced himself by distant communion with that kindred and sympathizing spirit. "plunged in public annoyances," he wrote to sainte aldegonde, "i find no consolation, except in conference with the good, and among the good i hold you for one of the best. with such men i had rather sigh profoundly than laugh heartily with others. in particular, sir, do me the honor to love me, and believe that i honor you singularly. impart to me something from your solitude, for i consider your deserts to be more fruitful and fertile than our most cultivated habitations. as for me, think of me as of a man drowning in the anxieties of the time, but desirous, if possible, of swimming to solitude." thus solitary, yet thus befriended,--remote from public employment, yet ever employed, doing his daily work with all his soul and strength, marnix passed the fifteen years yet remaining to him. death surprised him at last, at leyden, in the year , while steadily laboring upon his flemish translation of the old testament, and upon the great political, theological, controversial, and satirical work on the differences of religion, which remains the most stately, though unfinished, monument of his literary genius. at the age of sixty he went at last to the repose which he had denied to himself on earth. "repos ailleurs." etext editor's bookmarks: honor good patriots, and to support them in venial errors possible to do, only because we see that it has been done repose in the other world, "repos ailleurs" soldiers enough to animate the good and terrify the bad to work, ever to work, was the primary law of his nature when persons of merit suffer without cause history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter vi., part . policy of england--diplomatic coquetry--dutch envoys in england-- conference of ortel and walsingham--interview with leicester-- private audience of the queen--letters of the states--general-- ill effects of gilpin's despatch--close bargaining of the queen and states--guarantees required by england--england's comparative weakness--the english characterised--paul hentzner--the envoys in london--their characters--olden-barneveldt described--reception at greenwich--speech of menin--reply of the queen--memorial of the envoys--discussions with the ministers--second speech of the queen --third speech of the queen england as we have seen--had carefully watched the negotiations between france and the netherlands. although she had--upon the whole, for that intriguing age--been loyal in her bearing towards both parties, she was perhaps not entirely displeased with the result. as her cherished triumvirate was out of the question, it was quite obvious that, now or never, she must come forward to prevent the provinces from falling back into the hands of spain. the future was plainly enough foreshadowed, and it was already probable, in case of a prolonged resistance on the part of holland, that philip would undertake the reduction of his rebellious subjects by a preliminary conquest of england. it was therefore quite certain that the expense and danger of assisting the netherlands must devolve upon herself, but, at the same time it was a consolation that her powerful next-door neighbour was not to be made still more powerful by the annexation to his own dominion of those important territories. accordingly, so soon as the deputies in france had received their definite and somewhat ignominious repulse from henry iii. and his mother, the english government lost no time in intimating to the states that they were not to be left without an ally. queen elizabeth was however resolutely averse from assuming that sovereignty which she was not unwilling to see offered for her acceptance; and her accredited envoy at the hague, besides other more secret agents, were as busily employed in the spring of --as des pruneaux had been the previous winter on the part of france--to bring about an application, by solemn embassy, for her assistance. there was, however, a difference of view, from the outset, between the leading politicians of the netherlands and the english queen. the hollanders were extremely desirous of becoming her subjects; for the united states, although they had already formed themselves into an independent republic, were quite ignorant of their latent powers. the leading personages of the country--those who were soon to become the foremost statesmen of the new commonwealth--were already shrinking from the anarchy which was deemed inseparable from a non-regal form of government, and were seeking protection for and against the people under a foreign sceptre. on the other hand, they were indisposed to mortgage large and important fortified towns, such as flushing, brill, and others, for the repayment of the subsidies which elizabeth might be induced to advance. they preferred to pay in sovereignty rather than in money. the queen, on the contrary, preferred money to sovereignty, and was not at all inclined to sacrifice economy to ambition. intending to drive a hard bargain with the states, whose cause was her own, and whose demands for aid she; had secretly prompted, she meant to grant a certain number of soldiers for as brief a period as possible, serving at her expense, and to take for such outlay a most ample security in the shape of cautionary towns. too intelligent a politician not to feel the absolute necessity of at last coming into the field to help the netherlanders to fight her own battle, she was still willing, for a season longer, to wear the mask of coyness and coquetry, which she thought most adapted to irritate the netherlanders into a full compliance with her wishes. her advisers in the provinces were inclined to take the same view. it seemed obvious, after the failure in france, that those countries must now become either english or spanish; yet elizabeth, knowing the risk of their falling back, from desperation, into the arms of her rival, allowed them to remain for a season on the edge of destruction--which would probably have been her ruin also--in the hope of bringing them to her feet on her own terms. there was something of feminine art in this policy, and it was not without the success which often attends such insincere manoeuvres. at the same time, as the statesmen of the republic knew that it was the queen's affair, when so near a neighbour's roof was blazing, they entertained little doubt of ultimately obtaining her alliance. it was pity--in so grave an emergency--that a little frankness could not have been substituted for a good deal of superfluous diplomacy. gilpin, a highly intelligent agent of the english government in zeeland, kept sir francis walsingham thoroughly informed of the sentiments entertained by the people of that province towards england. mixing habitually with the most influential politicians, he was able to render material assistance to the english council in the diplomatic game which had been commenced, and on which a no less important stake than the crown of england was to be hazarded. "in conference," he said, "with particular persons that bear any rule or credit, i find a great inclination towards her majesty, joined notwithstanding with a kind of coldness. they allege that matters of such importance are to be maturely and thoroughly pondered, while some of them harp upon the old string, as if her majesty, for the security of her own estate, was to have the more care of theirs here." he was also very careful to insinuate the expediency of diplomatic coquetry into the mind of a princess who needed no such prompting. "the less by outward appearance," said he, "this people shall perceive that her majesty can be contented to take the protection of them upon her, the forwarder they will be to seek and send unto her, and the larger conditions in treaty may be required. for if they see it to come from herself, then do they persuade themselves that it is for the greater security of our own country and her highness to fear the king of spain's greatness. but if they become seekers unto her majesty, and if they may, by outward show, deem that she accounteth not of the said king's might, but able and sufficient to defend her own realms, then verily i think they may be brought to whatsoever points her majesty may desire." certainly it was an age of intrigue, in which nothing seemed worth getting at all unless it could be got by underhand means, and in which it was thought impossible for two parties to a bargain to meet together except as antagonists, who believed that one could not derive a profit from the transaction unless the other had been overreached. this was neither good morality nor sound diplomacy, and the result of such trifling was much loss of time and great disaster. in accordance with this crafty system, the agent expressed the opinion that it would "be good and requisite for the english government somewhat to temporise," and to dally for a season longer, in order to see what measures the states would take to defend themselves, and how much ability and resources they would show for belligerent purposes. if the queen were too eager, the provinces would become jealous, "yielding, as it were, their power, and yet keeping the rudder in their own hands." at the same time gilpin was favourably impressed with the character both of the country and the nation, soon to be placed in such important relations with england. "this people," he said, "is such as by fair means they will be won to yield and grant any reasonable motion or demand. what these islands of zeeland are her majesty and all my lords of her council do know. yet for their government thus much i must write; that during these troubles it never was better than now. they draw, in a manner, one line, long and carefully in their resolution; but the same once taken and promises made, they would perform them to the uttermost." such then was the character of the people, for no man was better enabled to form an opinion on the subject than was gilpin. had it not been as well, then, for englishmen--who were themselves in that age, as in every other, apt to "perform to the uttermost promises once taken and made," and to respect those endowed with the same wholesome characteristic--to strike hands at once in a cause which was so vital to both nations? so soon as the definite refusal of henry iii, was known in england, leicester and walsingham wrote at once to the netherlands. the earl already saw shining through the distance a brilliant prize for his own ambition, although he was too haughty, perhaps too magnanimous, but certainly far too crafty, to suffer such sentiments as yet to pierce to the surface. "mr. davison," he wrote, "you shall perceive by mr. secretary's letters how the french have dealt with these people. they are well enough served; but yet i think, if they will heartily and earnestly seek it, the lord hath appointed them a far better defence. but you must so use the matter as that they must seek their own good, although we shall be partakers thereof also. they may now, if they will effectually and liberally deal, bring themselves to a better end than ever france would have brought them." at that moment there were two diplomatic agents from the states resident in england--jacques de gryze; whom paul buys had formerly described as having thrust himself head and shoulders into the matter without proper authority, and joachim ortel, a most experienced and intelligent man, speaking and writing english like a native, and thoroughly conversant with english habits and character. so soon as the despatches from france arrived, walsingham, th march, , sent for ortel, and the two held a long conference. walsingham.--"we have just received letters from lord derby and sir edward stafford, dated the th march. they inform us that your deputies--contrary to all expectation and to the great hopes that had been hold out to them--have received, last sunday, their definite answer from the king of france. he tells them, that, considering the present condition of his kingdom, he is unable to undertake the protection of the netherlands; but says that if they like, and if the queen of england be willing to second his motion, he is disposed to send a mission of mediation to spain for the purpose of begging the king to take the condition of the provinces to heart, and bringing about some honourable composition, and so forth, and so forth. "moreover the king of france has sent monsieur de bellievre to lord derby and mr. stafford, and bellievre has made those envoys a long oration. he explained to them all about the original treaty between the states and monsieur, the king's brother, and what had taken place from that day to this, concluding, after many allegations and divers reasons, that the king could not trouble himself with the provinces at present; but hoped her majesty would make the best of it, and not be offended with him. "the ambassadors say further, that they have had an interview with your deputies, who are excessively provoked at this most unexpected answer from the king, and are making loud complaints, being all determined to take themselves off as fast as possible. the ambassadors have recommended that some of the number should come home by the way of england." ortel.--"it seems necessary to take active measures at once, and to leave no duty undone in this matter. it will be advisable to confer, so soon as may be, with some of the principal counsellors of her majesty, and recommend to them most earnestly the present condition of the provinces. they know the affectionate confidence which the states entertain towards england, and must now, remembering the sentiments of goodwill which they have expressed towards the netherlands, be willing to employ their efforts with her majesty in this emergency." walsingham (with much show of vexation).--"this conduct on the part of the french court has been most pernicious. your envoys have been delayed, fed with idle hopes, and then disgracefully sent away, so that the best part of the year has been consumed, and it will be most difficult now, in a great hurry, to get together a sufficient force of horse and foot folk, with other necessaries in abundance. on the contrary, the enemy, who knew from the first what result was to be expected in france, has been doing his best to be beforehand with you in the field: add, moreover, that this french negotiation has given other princes a bad taste in their mouths. this is the case with her majesty. the queen is, not without reason, annoyed that the states have not only despised her friendly and good-hearted offers, but have all along been endeavouring to embark her in this war, for the defence of the provinces, which would have cost her several millions, without offering to her the slightest security. on the contrary, others, enemies of the religion, who are not to be depended upon--who had never deserved well of the states or assisted them in their need, as she has done--have received this large offer of sovereignty without any reserve whatever." ortel (not suffering himself to be disconcerted at this unjust and somewhat insidious attack).--"that which has been transacted with france was not done except with the express approbation and full foreknowledge of her majesty, so far back as the lifetime of his excellency (william of orange), of high and laudable memory. things had already gone so far, and the provinces had agreed so entirely together, as to make it inexpedient to bring about a separation in policy. it was our duty to hold together, and, once for all, thoroughly to understand what the king of france, after such manifold presentations through monsieur des pruneaulx and others, and in various letters of his own, finally intended to do. at the same time, notwithstanding these negotiations, we had always an especial eye upon her majesty. we felt a hopeful confidence that she would never desert us, leaving us without aid or counsel, but would consider that these affairs do not concern the provinces alone or even especially, but are just as deeply important to her and to all other princes of the religion." after this dialogue, with much more conversation of a similar character, the secretary and the envoy set themselves frankly and manfully to work. it was agreed between them that every effort should be made with the leading members of the council to induce the queen "in this terrible conjuncture, not to forsake the provinces, but to extend good counsel and prompt assistance to them in their present embarrassments." there was, however, so much business in parliament just then, that it was impossible to obtain immediately the desired interviews. on the th, ortel and de gryze had another interview with walsingham at the palace of greenwich. the secretary expressed the warmest and most sincere affection for the provinces, and advised that one of the two envoys should set forth at once for home in order to declare to the states, without loss of time, her majesty's good inclination to assume the protection of the land, together with the maintenance of the reformed religion and the ancient privileges. not that she was seeking her own profit, or wished to obtain that sovereignty which had just been offered to another of the contrary religion, but in order to make manifest her affectionate solicitude to preserve the protestant faith and to support her old allies and neighbours. nevertheless, as she could not assume this protectorate without embarking in a dangerous war with the king of spain, in which she would not only be obliged to spend the blood of her subjects, but also at least two millions of gold, there was the more reason that the states should give her certain cities as security. those cities would be held by certain of her gentlemen, nominated thereto, of quality, credit, and religion, at the head of good, true, and well-paid garrisons, who should make oath never to surrender them to the king of spain or to any one else without consent of the states. the provinces were also reciprocally to bind themselves by oath to make no treaty with the king, without the advice and approval of her majesty. it was likewise thoroughly to be understood that such cautionary towns should be restored to the states so soon as payment should be made of all moneys advanced during the war. next day the envoys had an interview with the earl of leicester, whom they found as amicably disposed towards their cause as secretary walsingham had been. "her majesty," said the earl, "is excessively indignant with the king of france, that he should so long have abused the provinces, and at last have dismissed their deputies so contemptuously. nevertheless," he continued, "'tis all your own fault to have placed your hopes so entirely upon him as to entirely forget other princes, and more especially her majesty. notwithstanding all that has passed, however, i find her fully determined to maintain the cause of the provinces. for my own part, i am ready to stake my life, estates, and reputation, upon this issue, and to stand side by side with other gentlemen in persuading her majesty to do her utmost for the assistance of your country." he intimated however, as walsingham had done, that the matter of cautionary towns would prove an indispensable condition, and recommended that one of the two envoys should proceed homeward at once, in order to procure, as speedily as possible, the appointment of an embassy for that purpose to her majesty. "they must bring full powers," said the earl, "to give her the necessary guarantees, and make a formal demand for protection; for it would be unbecoming, and against her reputation, to be obliged to present herself, unsought by the other party." in conclusion, after many strong expressions of good-will, leicester promised to meet them next day at court, where he would address the queen personally on the subject, and see that they spoke with her as well. meantime he sent one of his principal gentlemen to keep company with the envoys, and make himself useful to them. this personage, being "of good quality and a member of parliament," gave them much useful information, assuring them that there was a strong feeling in england in favour of the netherlands, and that the matter had been very vigorously taken up in the national legislature. that assembly had been strongly encouraging her majesty boldly to assume the protectorate, and had manifested a willingness to assist her with the needful. "and if," said he, "one subsidy should not be enough, she shall have three, four, five, or six, or as much as may be necessary." the same day, the envoys had an interview with lord treasurer burghley, who held the same language as walsingham and leicester had done. "the queen, to his knowledge," he said, "was quite ready to assume the protectorate; but it was necessary that it should be formally offered, with the necessary guarantees, and that without further loss of time." on the nd march, according to agreement, ortel and de gryze went to the court at greenwich. while waiting there for the queen, who had ridden out into the country, they had more conversation with walsingham, whom they found even more energetically disposed in their favour than ever, and who assured them that her majesty was quite ready to assume the protectorate so soon as offered. "within a month," he said, "after the signing of a treaty, the troops would be on the spot, under command of such a personage of quality and religion as would be highly satisfactory." while they were talking, the queen rode into the court-yard, accompanied by the earl of leicester and other gentlemen. very soon afterwards the envoys were summoned to her presence, and allowed to recommend the affairs of the provinces to her consideration. she lamented the situation of their country, and in a few words expressed her inclination to render assistance, provided the states would manifest full confidence in her. they replied by offering to take instant measures to gratify all her demands, so soon as those demands should be made known; and the queen finding herself surrounded by so many gentlemen and by a crowd of people, appointed them accordingly to come to her private apartments the same afternoon. at that interview none were present save walsingham and lord chamberlain howard. the queen showed herself "extraordinarily resolute" to take up the affairs of the provinces. "she had always been sure," she said, "that the french negotiation would have no other issue than the one which they had just seen. she was fully aware what a powerful enemy she was about to make--one who could easily create mischief for her in scotland and ireland; but she was nevertheless resolved, if the states chose to deal with her frankly and generously, to take them under her protection. she assured the envoys that if a deputation with full powers and reasonable conditions should be immediately sent to her, she would not delay and dally with them, as had been the case in france, but would despatch them back again at the speediest, and would make her good inclination manifest by deeds as well as words. as she was hazarding her treasure together with the blood and repose of her subjects, she was not at liberty to do this except on receipt of proper securities." accordingly de gryze went to the provinces, provided with complimentary and affectionate letters from the queen, while ortel remained in england. so far all was plain and above-board; and walsingham, who, from the first, had been warmly in favour of taking up the netherland cause, was relieved by being able to write in straightforward language. stealthy and subtle, where the object was to get within the guard of an enemy who menaced a mortal blow, he was, both by nature and policy, disposed to deal frankly with those he called his friends. "monsieur de gryze repaireth presently," he wrote to davison, "to try if he can induce the states to send their deputies hither, furnished with more ample instructions than they had to treat with the french king, considering that her majesty carryeth another manner of princely disposition than that sovereign. meanwhile, for that she doubteth lest in this hard estate of their affairs, and the distrust they have conceived to be relieved from hence, they should from despair throw themselves into the course of spain, her pleasure therefore is--though by burnham i sent you directions to put them in comfort of relief, only as of yourself--that you shall now, as it were, in her name, if you see cause sufficient, assure some of the aptest instruments that you shall make choice of for that purpose, that her majesty, rather than that they should perish, will be content to take them under her protection." he added that it was indispensable for the states, upon their part, to offer "such sufficient cautions and assurances as she might in reason demand." matters were so well managed that by the nd april the states-general addressed a letter to the queen, in which they notified her, that the desired deputation was on the point of setting forth. "recognizing," they said, "that there is no prince or potentate to whom they are more obliged than they are to your majesty, we are about to request you very humbly to accept the sovereignty of these provinces, and the people of the same for your very humble vassals and subjects." they added that, as the necessity of the case was great, they hoped the queen would send, so soon as might be, a force of four or five thousand men for the purpose of relieving the siege of antwerp. a similar letter was despatched by the same courier to the earl of leicester. on the st of may, ortel had audience of the queen, to deliver the letters from the states-general. he found that despatches, very encouraging and agreeable in their tenor, had also just arrived from davison. the queen was in good humour. she took the letter from ortel, read it attentively, and paused a good while. then she assured him that her good affection towards the provinces was not in the least changed, and that she thanked the states for the confidence in her that they were manifesting. "it is unnecessary," said the queen, "for me to repeat over and over again sentiments which i have so plainly declared. you are to assure the states that they shall never be disappointed in the trust that they have reposed in my good intentions. let them deal with me sincerely, and without holding open any back-door. not that i am seeking the sovereignty of the provinces, for i wish only to maintain their privileges and ancient liberties, and to defend them in this regard against all the world. let them ripely consider, then, with what fidelity i am espousing their cause, and how, without fear of any one, i am arousing most powerful enemies." ortel had afterwards an interview with leicester, in which the earl assured him that her majesty had not in the least changed in her sentiments towards the provinces. "for myself," said he, "i am ready, if her majesty choose to make use of me, to go over there in person, and to place life, property, and all the assistance i can gain from my friends, upon the issue. yea, with so good a heart, that i pray the lord may be good to me, only so far as i serve faithfully in this cause." he added a warning that the deputies to be appointed should come with absolute powers, in order that her majesty's bountiful intentions might not be retarded by their own fault. ortel then visited walsingham at his house, barn-elms, where he was confined by illness. sir francis assured the envoy that he would use every effort, by letter to her majesty and by verbal instructions to his son-in-law, sir philip sidney, to further the success of the negotiation, and that he deeply regretted his enforced absence from the court on so important an occasion. matters were proceeding most favourably, and the all-important point of sending an auxiliary force of englishmen to the relief of antwerp--before it should be too late, and in advance of the final conclusion of the treaty between the countries-had been nearly conceded. just at that moment, however, "as ill-luck would have it," said ortel, "came a letter from gilpin. i don't think he meant it in malice, but the effect was most pernicious. he sent the information that a new attack was to be made by the th may upon the kowenstyn, that it was sure to be successful, and that the siege of antwerp was as good as raised. so lord burghley informed me, in presence of lord leicester, that her majesty was determined to await the issue of this enterprise. it was quite too late to get troops in readiness; to co-operate with the states' army, so soon as the th may, and as antwerp was so sure to be relieved, there was no pressing necessity for haste. i uttered most bitter complaints to these lords and to other counsellors of the queen, that she should thus draw back, on account of a letter from a single individual, without paying sufficient heed to the despatches from the states-general, who certainly knew their own affairs and their own necessities better than any one else could do, but her majesty sticks firm to her resolution." here were immense mistakes committed on all sides. the premature shooting up of those three rockets from the cathedral-tower, on the unlucky th may, had thus not only ruined the first assault against the kowenstyn, but also the second and the more promising adventure. had the four thousand bold englishmen there enlisted, and who could have reached the provinces in time to cooperate in that great enterprise, have stood side by side with the hollanders, the zeelanders, and the antwerpers, upon that fatal dyke, it is almost a certainty that antwerp would have been relieved, and the whole of flanders and brabant permanently annexed to the independent commonwealth, which would have thus assumed at once most imposing proportions. it was a great blunder of sainte aldegonde to station in the cathedral, on so important an occasion, watchmen in whose judgment he could not thoroughly rely. it was a blunder in gilpin, intelligent as he generally showed himself, to write in such sanguine style before the event. but it was the greatest blunder of all for queen elizabeth to suspend her cooperation at the very instant when, as the result showed, it was likely to prove most successful. it was a chapter of blunders from first to last, but the most fatal of all the errors was the one thus prompted by the great queen's most traitorous characteristic, her obstinate parsimony. and now began a series of sharp chafferings on both sides, not very much to the credit of either party. the kingdom of england, and the rebellious provinces of spain, were drawn to each other by an irresistible law of political attraction. their absorption into each other seemed natural and almost inevitable; and the weight of the strong protestant organism, had it been thus completed, might have balanced the great catholic league which was clustering about spain. it was unfortunate that the two governments of england and the netherlands should now assume the attitude of traders driving a hard bargain with each other, rather than that of two important commonwealths, upon whose action, at that momentous epoch, the weal and wo of christendom was hanging. it is quite true that the danger to england was great, but that danger in any event was to be confronted--philip was to be defied, and, by assuming the cause of the provinces to be her own, which it unquestionably was, elizabeth was taking the diadem from her head--as the king of sweden well observed--and adventuring it upon the doubtful chance of war. would it not have been better then--her mind being once made up--promptly to accept all the benefits, as well as all the hazards, of the bold game to which she was of necessity a party? but she could not yet believe in the incredible meanness of henry iii. "i asked her majesty" ( rd may, ), said ortel, "whether, in view of these vast preparations in france, it did not behove her to be most circumspect and upon her guard. for, in the opinion of many men, everything showed one great scheme already laid down--a general conspiracy throughout christendom against the reformed religion. she answered me, that thus far she could not perceive this to be the case; 'nor could she believe,' she said, 'that the king of france could be so faint-hearted as to submit to such injuries from the guises.'" time was very soon to show the nature of that unhappy monarch with regard to injuries, and to prove to elizabeth the error she had committed in doubting his faint-heartedness. meanwhile, time was passing, and the netherlands were shivering in the storm. they, needed the open sunshine which her caution kept too long behind the clouds. for it was now enjoined upon walsingham to manifest a coldness upon the part of the english government towards the states. davison was to be allowed to return; "but," said sir francis, "her majesty would not have you accompany the commissioners who are coming from the low countries; but to come over, either before them or after them, lest it be thought they come over by her majesty's procurement." as if they were not coming over by her majesty's most especial procurement, and as if it would matter to philip--the union once made between england and holland--whether the invitation to that union came first from the one party or the other! "i am retired for my health from the court to mine own house," said walsingham, "but i find those in whose judgment her majesty reposeth greatest trust so coldly affected unto the cause, as i have no great hope of the matter; and yet, for that the hearts of princes are in the hands of god, who both can will and dispose them at his pleasure, i would be loath to hinder the repair of the commissioners." here certainly, had the sun gone most suddenly into a cloud. sir francis would be loath to advise the commissioners to stay at home, but he obviously thought them coming on as bootless an errand as that which had taken their colleagues so recently into france. the cause of the trouble was flushing. hence the tears, and the coldness, and the scoldings, on the part of the imperious and the economical queen. flushing was the patrimony--a large portion of that which was left to him--of count maurice. it was deeply mortgaged for the payment of the debts of william the silent, but his son maurice, so long as the elder brother philip william remained a captive in spain, wrote himself marquis of flushing and kampveer, and derived both revenue and importance from his rights in that important town. the states of zeeland, while desirous of a political fusion of the two countries, were averse from the prospect of converting, by exception, their commercial, capital into an english city, the remainder of the provinces remaining meanwhile upon their ancient footing. the negociations on the subject caused a most ill-timed delay. the states finding the english government cooling, affected to grow tepid themselves. this was the true mercantile system, perhaps, for managing a transaction most thriftily, but frankness and promptness would have been more statesmanlike at such a juncture. "i am sorry to understand," wrote walsingham, "that the states are not yet grown to a full resolution for the delivering of the town of flushing into her majesty's hands. the queen finding the people of that island so wavering and inconstant, besides that they can hardly, after the so long enjoying a popular liberty, bear a regal authority, would be loath to embark herself into so dangerous a war without some sufficient caution received from them. it is also greatly to be doubted, that if, by practice and corruption, that town might be recovered by the spaniards, it would put all the rest of the country in peril. i find her majesty, in case that town may be gotten, fully resolved to receive them into her protection, so as it may also be made probable unto her that the promised three hundred thousand guilders the month will be duly paid." a day or two after writing this letter, walsingham sent one afternoon, in a great hurry, for ortel, and informed him very secretly, that, according to information just received, the deputies from the states were coming without sufficient authority in regard to this very matter. thus all the good intentions of the english government were likely to be frustrated, and the provinces to be reduced to direful extremity. "what can we possibly advise her majesty to do?" asked walsingham, "since you are not willing to put confidence in her intentions. you are trying to bring her into a public war, in which she is to risk her treasure and the blood of her subjects against the greatest potentates of the world, and you hesitate meantime at giving her such security as is required for the very defence of the provinces themselves. the deputies are coming hither to offer the sovereignty to her majesty, as was recently done in france, or, if that should not prove acceptable, they are to ask assistance in men and money upon a mere 'taliter qualiter' guaranty. that's not the way. and there are plenty of ill-disposed persons here to take advantage of this position of affairs to ruin the interest of the provinces now placed on so good a footing. moreover, in this perpetual sending of despatches back and forth, much precious time is consumed; and this is exactly what our enemies most desire." in accordance with walsingham's urgent suggestions, ortel wrote at once to his constituents, imploring them to remedy this matter. "do not allow," he said, "any, more time to be wasted. let us not painfully, build a wall only to knock our own heads against it, to the dismay of our friends and the gratification of our enemies." it was at last arranged that an important blank should be left in the articles to be brought by the deputies, upon which vacant place the names of certain cautionary towns, afterwards to be agreed upon, were to be inscribed by common consent. meantime the english ministers were busy in preparing to receive the commissioners, and to bring the netherland matter handsomely before the legislature. the integrity, the caution, the thrift, the hesitation, which characterized elizabeth's government, were well pourtrayed in the habitual language of the lord treasurer, chief minister of a third-rate kingdom now called on to play a first-rate part, thoroughly acquainted with the moral and intellectual power of the nation whose policy he directed, and prophetically conscious of the great destinies which were opening upon her horizon. lord burghley could hardly be censured--least of all ridiculed--for the patient and somewhat timid attributes of his nature: the ineffable ponderings, which might now be ludicrous, on the part of a minister of the british empire, with two hundred millions of subjects and near a hundred millions of revenue, were almost inevitable in a man guiding a realm of four millions of people with half a million of income. it was, on the whole, a strange negotiation, this between england and holland. a commonwealth had arisen, but was unconscious of the strength which it was to find in the principle of states' union, and of religious equality. it sought, on the contrary, to exchange its federal sovereignty for provincial dependence, and to imitate, to a certain extent, the very intolerance by which it had been driven into revolt. it was not unnatural that the netherlanders should hate the roman catholic religion, in the name of which they had endured such infinite tortures, but it is, nevertheless, painful to observe that they requested queen elizabeth, whom they styled defender, not of "the faith" but of the "reformed religion," to exclude from the provinces, in case she accepted the sovereignty, the exercise of all religious rites except those belonging to the reformed church. they, however, expressly provided against inquisition into conscience. private houses were to be sacred, the papists free within their own walls, but the churches were to be closed to those of the ancient faith. this was not so bad as to hang, burn, drown, and bury alive nonconformists, as had been done by philip and the holy inquisition in the name of the church of rome; nor is it very surprising that the horrible past should have caused that church to be regarded with sentiments of such deep-rooted hostility as to make the hollanders shudder at the idea of its re-establishment. yet, no doubt, it was idle for either holland or england, at that day, to talk of a reconciliation with rome. a step had separated them, but it was a step from a precipice. no human power could bridge the chasm. the steep contrast between the league and the counter-league, between the systems of philip and mucio, and that of elizabeth and olden-barneveld, ran through the whole world of thought, action, and life. but still the negociation between holland and england was a strange one. holland wished to give herself entirely, and england feared to accept. elizabeth, in place of sovereignty, wanted mortgages; while holland was afraid to give a part, although offering the whole. there was no great inequality between the two countries. both were instinctively conscious, perhaps, of standing on the edge of a vast expansion. both felt that they were about to stretch their wings suddenly for a flight over the whole earth. yet each was a very inferior power, in comparison with the great empires of the past or those which then existed. it is difficult, without a strong effort of the imagination, to reduce the english empire to the slender proportions which belonged to her in the days of elizabeth. that epoch was full of light and life. the constellations which have for centuries been shining in the english firmament were then human creatures walking english earth. the captains, statesmen, corsairs, merchant-adventurers, poets, dramatists, the great queen herself, the cecils, raleigh, walsingham, drake, hawkins, gilbert, howard, willoughby, the norrises, essex, leicester, sidney, spenser, shakspeare and the lesser but brilliant lights which surrounded him; such were the men who lifted england upon an elevation to which she was not yet entitled by her material grandeur. at last she had done with rome, and her expansion dated from that moment. holland and england, by the very condition of their existence, were sworn foes to philip. elizabeth stood excommunicated of the pope. there was hardly a month in which intelligence was not sent by english agents out of the netherlands and france, that assassins, hired by philip, were making their way to england to attempt the life of the queen. the netherlanders were rebels to the spanish monarch, and they stood, one and all, under death-sentence by rome. the alliance was inevitable and wholesome. elizabeth was, however, consistently opposed to the acceptance of a new sovereignty. england was a weak power. ireland was at her side in a state of chronic rebellion--a stepping-stone for spain in its already foreshadowed invasion. scotland was at her back with a strong party of catholics, stipendiaries of philip, encouraged by the guises and periodically inflamed to enthusiasm by the hope of rescuing mary stuart from her imprisonment, bringing her rival's head to the block, and elevating the long-suffering martyr upon the throne of all the british islands. and in the midst of england itself, conspiracies were weaving every day. the mortal duel between the two queens was slowly approaching its termination. in the fatal form of mary was embodied everything most perilous to england's glory and to england's queen. mary stuart meant absolutism at home, subjection to rome and spain abroad. the uncle guises were stipendiaries of philip, philip was the slave of the pope. mucio had frightened the unlucky henry iii. into submission, and there was no health nor hope in france. for england, mary stuart embodied the possible relapse into sloth, dependence, barbarism. for elizabeth, mary stuart embodied sedition, conspiracy, rebellion, battle, murder, and sudden death. it was not to be wondered at that the queen thus situated should be cautious, when about throwing down the gauntlet to the greatest powers of the earth. yet the commissioners from the united states were now on their way to england to propose the throwing of that gauntlet. what now was that england? its population was, perhaps, not greater than the numbers which dwell to-day within its capital and immediate suburbs. its revenue was perhaps equal to the sixtieth part of the annual interest on the present national debt. single, highly-favoured individuals, not only in england but in other countries cis-and trans-atlantic, enjoy incomes equal to more than half the amount of elizabeth's annual budget. london, then containing perhaps one hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, was hardly so imposing a town as antwerp, and was inferior in most material respects to paris and lisbon. forty-two hundred children were born every year within its precincts, and the deaths were nearly as many. in plague years, which were only too frequent, as many as twenty and even thirty thousand people had been annually swept away. at the present epoch there are seventeen hundred births every week, and about one thousand deaths. it is instructive to throw a glance at the character of the english people as it appeared to intelligent foreigners at that day; for the various parts of the world were not then so closely blended, nor did national colours and characteristics flow so liquidly into each other, as is the case in these days of intimate juxta-position. "the english are a very clever, handsome, and well-made people," says a learned antwerp historian and merchant, who had resided a long time in london, "but, like all islanders, by nature weak and tender. they are generally fair, particularly the women, who all--even to the peasant women--protect their complexions from the sun with fans and veils, as only the stately gentlewomen do in germany and the netherlands. as a people they are stout-hearted, vehement, eager, cruel in war, zealous in attack, little fearing: death; not revengeful, but fickle, presumptuous, rash, boastful, deceitful, very suspicious, especially of strangers, whom they despise. they are full of courteous and hypocritical gestures and words, which they consider to imply good manners, civility, and wisdom. they are well spoken, and very hospitable. they feed well, eating much meat, which-owing to the rainy climate and the ranker character of the grass--is not so firm and succulent as the meat of france and the netherlands. the people are not so laborious as the french and hollanders, preferring to lead an indolent life, like the spaniards. the most difficult and ingenious of the handicrafts are in the hands of foreigners, as is the case with the lazy inhabitants of spain. they feed many sheep, with fine wool, from which, two hundred years ago, they learned to make cloth. they keep many idle servants, and many wild animals for their pleasure, instead of cultivating the sail. they have many ships, but they do not even catch fish enough for their own consumption, but purchase of their neighbours. they dress very elegantly. their costume is light and costly, but they are very changeable and capricious, altering their fashions every year, both the men and the women. when they go away from home, riding or travelling, they always wear their best clothes, contrary to the habit of other nations. the english language is broken dutch, mixed with french and british terms and words, but with a lighter pronunciation. they do not speak from the chest, like the germans, but prattle only with the tongue." here are few statistical facts, but certainly it is curious to see how many national traits thus photographed by a contemporary, have quite vanished, and have been exchanged for their very opposites. certainly the last physiological criticism of all would indicate as great a national metamorphosis, during the last three centuries, as is offered by many other of the writer's observations. "with regard to the women," continues the same authority, "they are entirely in the power of the men, except in matters of life and death, yet they are not kept so closely and strictly as in spain and elsewhere. they are not locked up, but have free management of their household, like the netherlanders and their other neighbours. they are gay in their clothing, taking well their ease, leaving house-work to the servant-maids, and are fond of sitting, finely-dressed, before their doors to see the passers-by and to be seen of them. in all banquets and dinner-parties they have the most honour, sitting at the upper end of the board, and being served first. "their time is spent in riding, lounging, card-playing, and making merry with their gossips at child-bearings, christenings, churchings, and buryings; and all this conduct the men wink at, because such are the customs of the land. they much commend however the industry and careful habits of the german and netherland women, who do the work which in england devolves upon the men. hence, england is called the paradise of married women, for the unmarried girls are kept much more strictly than upon the continent. the women are, handsome, white, dressy, modest; although they go freely about the streets without bonnet, hood, or veil; but lately learned to cover their faces with a silken mask or vizard with a plumage of feathers, for they change their fashions every year, to the astonishment of many." paul hentzner, a tourist from germany at precisely the same epoch, touches with equal minuteness on english characteristics. it may be observed, that, with some discrepancies, there is also much similarity, in the views of the two critics. "the english," says the whimsical paul, are serious, like the germans, lovers of show, liking to be followed, wherever they go, by troops of servants, who wear their master's arms, in silver, fastened to their left sleeves, and are justly ridiculed for wearing tails hanging down their backs. they excel in dancing and music, for they are active and lively, although they are of thicker build than the germans. they cut their hair close on the forehead, letting it hang down on either side. they are good sailors, and better pirates, cunning, treacherous, thievish. three hundred and upwards are hanged annually in london. hawking is the favourite sport of the nobility. the english are more polite in eating than the french, devouring less bread, but more meat, which they roast in perfection. they put a great deal of sugar in their drink. their beds are covered with tapestry, even those of farmers. they are powerful in the field, successful against their enemies, impatient of anything like slavery, vastly fond of great ear-filling noises, such as cannon-firing, drum-beating, and bell-ringing; so that it is very common for a number of them, when they have got a cup too much in their heads, to go up to some belfry, and ring the bells for an hour together, for the sake of the amusement. if they see a foreigner very well made or particularly handsome, they will say "'tis pity he is not an englishman." it is also somewhat amusing, at the present day, to find a german elaborately explaining to his countrymen the mysteries of tobacco-smoking, as they appeared to his unsophisticated eyes in england. "at the theatres and everywhere else," says the traveller, "the english are constantly smoking tobacco in the following manner. they have pipes, made on purpose, of clay. at the further end of these is a bowl. into the bowl they put the herb, and then setting fire to it, they draw the smoke into their mouths, which they puff out again through their nostrils, like funnels," and so on; conscientious explanations which a german tourist of our own times might think it superfluous to offer to his compatriots. it is also instructive to read that the light-fingered gentry of the metropolis were nearly as adroit in their calling as they are at present, after three additional centuries of development for their delicate craft; for the learned tobias salander, the travelling companion of paul hentzner, finding himself at a lord mayor's show, was eased of his purse, containing nine crowns, as skilfully as the feat could have been done by the best pickpocket of the nineteenth century, much to that learned person's discomfiture. into such an england and among such english the netherland envoys had now been despatched on their most important errand. after twice putting back, through stress of weather, the commissioners, early in july, arrived at london, and were "lodged and very worshipfully appointed at charges of her majesty in the clothworkers' hall in pynchon-lane, near tower-street." about the tower and its faubourgs the buildings were stated to be as elegant as they were in the city itself, although this was hardly very extravagant commendation. from this district a single street led along the river's strand to westminster, where were the old and new palaces, the famous hall and abbey, the parliament chambers, and the bridge to southwark, built of stone, with twenty arches, sixty feet high, and with rows of shops and dwelling-houses on both its sides. thence, along the broad and beautiful river, were dotted here and there many stately mansions and villas, residences of bishops and nobles, extending farther and farther west as the city melted rapidly into the country. london itself was a town lying high upon a hill--the hill of lud--and consisted of a coil of narrow, tortuous, unseemly streets, each with a black, noisome rivulet running through its centre, and with rows of three-storied, leaden-roofed houses, built of timber-work filled in with lime, with many gables, and with the upper stories overhanging and darkening the basements. there were one hundred and twenty-one churches, small and large, the most conspicuous of which was the cathedral. old saint paul's was not a very magnificent edifice--but it was an extremely large one, for it was seven hundred and twenty feet long, one hundred and thirty broad, and had a massive quadrangular tower, two hundred and sixty feet high. upon this tower had stood a timber-steeple, rising, to a height of five hundred and thirty-four feet from the ground, but it had been struck by lightning in the year , and consumed to the stone-work. the queen's favourite residence was greenwich palace, the place of her birth, and to this mansion, on the th of july, the netherland envoys were conveyed, in royal barges, from the neighbourhood of pynchon-lane, for their first audience. the deputation was a strong one. there was falck of zeeland, a man of consummate adroitness, perhaps not of as satisfactory integrity; "a shrewd fellow and a fine," as lord leicester soon afterwards characterised him. there was menin, pensionary of dort, an eloquent and accomplished orator, and employed on this occasion as chief spokesman of the legation--"a deeper man, and, i think, an honester," said the same personage, adding, with an eye to business, "and he is but poor, which you must consider, but with great secrecy." there was paul buys, whom we have met with before; keen, subtle, somewhat loose of life, very passionate, a most most energetic and valuable friend to england, a determined foe to france, who had resigned the important post of holland's advocate, when the mission offering sovereignty to henry iii. had been resolved upon, and who had since that period been most influential in procuring the present triumph of the english policy. through his exertions the province of holland had been induced at an early moment to furnish the most ample instructions to the commissioners for the satisfaction of queen elizabeth in the great matter of the mortgages. "judge if this paul buys has done his work well," said a french agent in the netherlands, who, despite the infamous conduct of his government towards the provinces, was doing his best to frustrate the subsequent negotiation with england, "and whether or no he has holland under his thumb." the same individual had conceived hopes from falck of zeeland. that province, in which lay the great bone of contention between the queen and the states--the important town of flushing--was much slower than holland to agree to the english policy. it is to be feared that falck was not the most ingenuous and disinterested politician that could be found even in an age not distinguished for frankness or purity; for even while setting forth upon the mission to elizabeth, he was still clinging, or affecting to cling, to the wretched delusion of french assistance. "i regret infinitely," said falck to the french agent just mentioned, "that i am employed in this affair, and that it is necessary in our present straits to have recourse to england. there is--so to speak--not a person in our province that is inclined that way, all recognizing very well that france is much more salutary for us, besides that we all bear her a certain affection. indeed, if i were assured that the king still felt any goodwill towards us, i would so manage matters that neither the queen of england, nor any other prince whatever except his most christian-majesty should take a bite at this country, at least at this province, and with that view, while waiting for news from france, i will keep things in suspense, and spin them out as long as it is possible to do." the news from france happened soon to be very conclusive, and it then became difficult even for falek to believe--after intelligence received of the accord between henry iii. and the guises--that his christian majesty, would be inclined for a bite at the netherlands. this duplicity on the part of so leading a personage furnishes a key to much of the apparent dilatoriness on the part of the english government: it has been seen that elizabeth, up to the last moment, could not fairly comprehend the ineffable meanness of the french monarch. she told ortel that she saw no reason to believe in that great catholic conspiracy against herself and against all protestantism which was so soon to be made public by the king's edict of july, promulgated at the very instant of the arrival in england of the netherland envoys. then that dread fiat had gone forth, the most determined favourer of the french alliance could no longer admit its possibility, and falck became the more open to that peculiar line of argument which leicester had suggested with regard to one of the other deputies. "i will do my best," wrote walsingham, "to procure that paul buys and falck shall receive underhand some reward." besides menin, falck, and buys, were noel de caron, an experienced diplomatist; the poet-soldier, van der does; heroic defender of leyden; de gryze, hersolte, francis maalzoon, and three legal frisians of pith and substance, feitsma, aisma, and jongema; a dozen dutchmen together--as muscular champions as ever little republic sent forth to wrestle with all comers in the slippery ring of diplomacy. for it was instinctively felt that here were conclusions to be tried with a nation of deep, solid thinkers, who were aware that a great crisis in the world's history had occurred, and would put forth their most substantial men to deal with it: burghley and walsingham, the great queen herself, were no feather-weights like the frivolous henry iii., and his minions. it was pity, however, that the discussions about to ensue presented from the outset rather the aspect of a hard hitting encounter of antagonists than that of a frank and friendly congress between two great parties whose interests were identical. since the death of william the silent, there was no one individual in the netherlands to impersonate the great struggle of the provinces with spain and rome, and to concentrate upon his own head a poetical, dramatic, and yet most legitimate interest. the great purpose of the present history must be found in its illustration of the creative power of civil and religious freedom. here was a little republic, just born into the world, suddenly bereft of its tutelary saint, left to its own resources, yet already instinct with healthy vigorous life, and playing its difficult part among friends and enemies with audacity, self-reliance, and success. to a certain extent its achievements were anonymous, but a great principle manifested itself through a series of noble deeds. statesmen, soldiers, patriots, came forward on all sides to do the work which was to be done, and those who were brought into closest contact with the commonwealth acknowledged in strongest language the signal ability with which, self-guided, she steered her course. nevertheless, there was at this moment one netherlander, the chief of the present mission to england, already the foremost statesman of his country, whose name will not soon be effaced from the record of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. that man was john of olden-barneveld. he was now in his thirty-eighth year, having been born at amersfoot on the th of september, . he bore an imposing name, for the olden-barnevelds of gelderland were a race of unquestionable and antique nobility. his enemies, however, questioned his right to the descent which he claimed. they did not dispute that the great grandfather, class van olden-barneveld, was of distinguished lineage and allied to many illustrious houses, but they denied that class was really the great grandfather of john. john's father, gerritt, they said, was a nameless outcast, a felon, a murderer, who had escaped the punishment due to his crimes, but had dragged out a miserable existence in the downs, burrowing like a rabbit in the sand. they had also much to say in disparagement of all john's connections. not only was his father a murderer, but his wife, whom he had married for money, was the child of a most horrible incest, his sisters were prostitutes, his sons and brothers were debauchees and drunkards, and, in short, never had a distinguished man a more uncomfortable and discreditable family-circle than that which surrounded barneveld, if the report of his enemies was to be believed. yet it is agreeable to reflect that, with all the venom which they had such power of secreting, these malignant tongues had been unable to destroy the reputation of the man himself. john's character was honourable and upright, his intellectual power not disputed even by those who at a later period hated him the most bitterly. he had been a profound and indefatigable student from his earliest youth. he had read law at leyden, in france, at heidelberg. here, in the head-quarters of german calvinism, his youthful mind had long pondered the dread themes of foreknowledge, judgment absolute, free will, and predestination: to believe it worth the while of a rational and intelligent deity to create annually several millions of thinking beings, who were to struggle for a brief period on earth, and to consume in perpetual brimstone afterwards, while others were predestined to endless enjoyment, seemed to him an indifferent exchange for a faith in the purgatory and paradise of rome. perplexed in the extreme, the youthful john bethought himself of an inscription over the gateway of his famous but questionable great grandfather's house at amersfort--'nil scire tutissima fides.' he resolved thenceforth to adopt a system of ignorance upon matters beyond the flaming walls of the world; to do the work before him manfully and faithfully while he walked the earth, and to trust that a benevolent creator would devote neither him nor any other man to eternal hellfire. for this most offensive doctrine he was howled at by the strictly pious, while he earned still deeper opprobrium by daring to advocate religious toleration: in face of the endless horrors inflicted by the spanish inquisition upon his native land, he had the hardihood--although a determined protestant himself--to claim for roman catholics the right to exercise their religion in the free states on equal terms with those of the reformed faith. "anyone," said his enemies, "could smell what that meant who had not a wooden nose." in brief, he was a liberal christian, both in theory and practice, and he nobly confronted in consequence the wrath of bigots on both sides. at a later period the most zealous calvinists called him pope john, and the opinions to which he was to owe such appellations had already been formed in his mind. after completing his very thorough legal studies, he had practised as an advocate in holland and zeeland. an early defender of civil and religious freedom, he had been brought at an early day into contact with william the silent, who recognized his ability. he had borne a snap-hance on his shoulder as a volunteer in the memorable attempt to relieve haarlem, and was one of the few survivors of that bloody night. he had stood outside the walls of leyden in company of the prince of orange when that magnificent destruction of the dykes had taken place by which the city had been saved from the fate impending over it. at a still more recent period we have seen him landing from the gun-boats upon the kowenstyn, on the fatal th may. these military adventures were, however, but brief and accidental episodes in his career, which was that of a statesman and diplomatist. as pensionary of rotterdam, he was constantly a member of the general assembly, and had already begun to guide the policy of the new commonwealth. his experience was considerable, and he was now in the high noon of his vigour and his usefulness. he was a man of noble and imposing presence, with thick hair pushed from a broad forehead rising dome-like above a square and massive face; a strong deeply-coloured physiognomy, with shaggy brow, a chill blue eye, not winning but commanding, high cheek bones, a solid, somewhat scornful nose, a firm mouth and chin, enveloped in a copious brown beard; the whole head not unfitly framed in the stiff formal ruff of the period; and the tall stately figure well draped in magisterial robes of velvet and sable--such was john of olden-barneveld. the commissioners thus described arrived at greenwich stairs, and were at once ushered into the palace, a residence which had been much enlarged and decorated by henry viii. they were received with stately ceremony. the presence-chamber was hung with gobelin tapestry, its floor strewn with rushes. fifty-gentlemen pensioners, with gilt battle-ages, and a throng of 'buffetiers', or beef-eaters, in that quaint old-world garb which has survived so many centuries, were in attendance, while the counsellors of the queen, in their robes of state, waited around the throne. there, in close skull-cap and dark flowing gown, was the subtle, monastic-looking walsingham, with long, grave, melancholy face and spanish eyes. there too, white staff in hand, was lord high treasurer burghley, then sixty-five years of age, with serene blue eye, large, smooth, pale, scarce-wrinkled face and forehead; seeming, with his placid, symmetrical features, and great velvet bonnet, under which such silver hairs as remained were soberly tucked away, and with his long dark robes which swept the ground, more like a dignified gentlewoman than a statesman, but for the wintery beard which lay like a snow-drift on his ancient breast. the queen was then in the fifty-third year of her age, and considered herself in the full bloom of her beauty. her, garments were of satin and velvet, with fringes of pearl as big as beans. a small gold crown was upon her head, and her red hair, throughout its multiplicity of curls, blazed with diamonds and emeralds. her forehead was tall, her face long, her complexion fair, her eyes small, dark, and glittering, her nose high and hooked, her lips thin, her teeth black, her bosom white and liberally exposed. as she passed through the ante-chamber to the presence-hall, supplicants presented petitions upon their knees. wherever she glanced, all prostrated themselves on the ground. the cry of "long live queen elizabeth" was spontaneous and perpetual; the reply; "i thank you, my good people," was constant and cordial. she spoke to various foreigners in their respective languages, being mistress, besides the latin and greek, of french, spanish, italian, and german. as the commissioners were presented to her by lord buckhurst it was observed that she was perpetually gloving and ungloving, as if to attract attention to her hand, which was esteemed a wonder of beauty. she spoke french with purity and elegance, but with a drawling, somewhat affected accent, saying "paar maa foi; paar le dieeu vivaant," and so forth, in a style which was ridiculed by parisians, as she sometimes, to her extreme annoyance, discovered. joos de menin, pensionary of dort, in the name of all the envoys, made an elaborate address. he expressed the gratitude which the states entertained for her past kindness, and particularly for the good offices rendered by ambassador davison after the death of the prince of orange, and for the deep regret expressed by her majesty for their disappointment in the hopes they had founded upon france. "since the death of the prince of orange," he said, "the states have lost many important cities, and now, for the preservation of their existence, they have need of a prince and sovereign lord to defend them against the tyranny and iniquitous oppression of the spaniards and their adherents, who are more and more determined utterly to destroy their country, and reduce the poor people to a perpetual slavery worse than that of indians, under the insupportable and detestable yoke of the spanish inquisition. we have felt a confidence that your majesty will not choose to see us perish at the hands of the enemy against whom we have been obliged to sustain this long and cruel war. that war we have undertaken in order to preserve for the poor people their liberty, laws, and franchises, together with the exercise of the true christian religion, of which your majesty bears rightfully the title of defender, and against which the enemy and his allies have made so many leagues and devised so many ambushes and stratagems, besides organizing every day so many plots against the life of your majesty and the safety of your realms--schemes which thus far the good god has averted for the good of christianity and the maintenance of his churches. for these reasons, madam, the states have taken a firm resolution to have recourse to your majesty, seeing that it is an ordinary thing for all oppressed nations to apply in their calamity to neighbouring princes, and especially to such as are endowed with piety, justice, magnanimity, and other kingly virtues. for this reason we have been deputed to offer to your majesty the sovereignty over these provinces, under certain good and equitable conditions, having reference chiefly to the maintenance of the reformed religion and of our ancient liberties and customs. and although, in the course of these long and continued wars, the enemy has obtained possession of many cities and strong places within our couniry, nevertheless the provinces of holland, zeeland, utrecht, and friesland, are, thank god, still entire. and in those lands are many large and stately cities, beautiful and deep rivers, admirable seaports, from which your majesty and your successors can derive much good fruit and commodity, of which it is scarcely, necessary to make a long recital. this point, however, beyond the rest, merits a special consideration; namely, that the conjunction of those provinces of holland, zeeland, utrecht, and friesland, together with the cities of sluys and ostend, with the kingdoms of your majesty, carries with it the absolute empire of the great ocean, and consequently an assurance of perpetual felicity for your subjects. we therefore humbly entreat you to agree to our conditions, to accept the sovereign seignory of these provinces, and consequently to receive the people of the same as your very humble and obedient subjects, under the perpetual safeguard of your crown--a people certainly as faithful and loving towards their princes and sovereign lords, to speak without boasting, as any in all christendom. "so doing, madam, you will preserve many beautiful churches which it has pleased god to raise up in these lands, now much afflicted and shaken, and you will deliver this country and people--before the iniquitous invasion of the spaniards, so rich and flourishing by the great commodity of the sea, their ports and rivers, their commerce and manufactures, for all which they have such natural advantages--from ruin and perpetual slavery of body and soul. this will be a truly excellent work, agreeable to god, profitable to christianity, worthy of immortal praise, and comporting with the heroic virtues of your majesty, and ensuring the prosperity of your country and people. with this we present to your majesty our articles and conditions, and pray that the king of kings may preserve you from all your enemies and ever have you in his holy keeping." the queen listened intently and very courteously to the delivery of this address, and then made answer in french to this effect:--"gentlemen,--had i a thousand tongues i should not be able to express my obligation to you for the great and handsome offers which you have just made. i firmly believe that this proceeds from the true zeal, devotion, and affection, which you have always borne me, and i am certain that you have ever preferred me to all the princes and potentates in the world. even when you selected the late duke of anjou, who was so dear to me, and to whose soul i hope that god has been merciful, i know that you would sooner have offered your country to me if i had desired that you should do so. certainly i esteem it a great thing that you wish to be governed by me, and i feel so much obliged to you in consequence that i will never abandon you, but, on the contrary, assist you till the last sigh of my life. i know very well that your princes have treated you ill, and that the spaniards are endeavouring to ruin you entirely; but i will come to your aid, and i will consider what i can do, consistently with my honour, in regard to the articles which you have brought me. they shall be examined by the members of my council, and i promise that i will not keep you three or four months, for i know very well that your affairs require haste, and that they will become ruinous if you are not assisted. it is not my custom to procrastinate, and upon this occasion i shall not dally, as others have done, but let you have my answer very soon." certainly, if the provinces needed a king, which they had most unequivocally declared to be the case, they might have wandered the whole earth over, and, had it been possible, searched through the whole range of history, before finding a monarch with a more kingly spirit than the great queen to whom they had at last had recourse. unfortunately, she was resolute in her refusal to accept the offered sovereignty. the first interview terminated with this exchange of addresses, and the deputies departed in their barges for their lodgings in pynchon-lane. the next two days were past in perpetual conferences, generally at lord burghley's house, between the envoys and the lords of the council, in which the acceptance of the sovereignty was vehemently urged on the part of the netherlanders, and steadily declined in the name of her majesty. "her highness," said burghley, "cannot be induced, by any writing or harangue that you can make, to accept the principality or proprietorship as sovereign, and it will therefore be labour lost for you to exhibit any writing for the purpose of changing her intention. it will be better to content yourselves with her majesty's consent to assist you, and to take you under her protection." nevertheless, two days afterwards, a writing was exhibited, drawn up by menin, in which another elaborate effort was made to alter the queen's determination. this anxiety, on the part of men already the principal personages in a republic, to merge the independent existence of their commonwealth in another and a foreign political organism, proved, at any rate; that they were influenced by patriotic motives alone. it is also instructive to observe the intense language with which the necessity of a central paramount sovereignty for all the provinces, and the inconveniences of the separate states' right principle were urged by a deputation, at the head of which stood olden-barneveld. "although it is not becoming in us," said they, "to enquire into your majesty's motives for refusing the sovereignty of our country, nevertheless, we cannot help observing that your consent would be most profitable, as well to your majesty, and your successors, as to the provinces themselves. by your acceptance of the sovereignty the two peoples would be, as it were, united in one body. this would cause a fraternal benevolence between them, and a single reverence, love, and obedience to your majesty.--the two peoples being thus under the government of the same sovereign prince, the intrigues and practices which the enemy could attempt with persons under a separate subjection, would of necessity surcease. moreover, those provinces are all distinct duchies, counties, seignories, governed by their own magistrates, laws, and ordinances; each by itself, without any authority or command to be exercised by one province over another. to this end they have need of a supreme power and of one sovereign prince or seignor, who may command all equally, having a constant regard to the public weal--considered as a generality, and not with regard to the profit of the one or the other individual province--and, causing promptly and universally to be executed such ordinances as may be made in the matter of war or police, according to various emergencies. each province, on the contrary, retaining its sovereignty over its own inhabitants, obedience will not be so promptly and completely rendered to the commands of the lieutenant-general of your majesty, and many, a good enterprise and opportunity, will be lost. where there is not a single authority it is always found that one party endeavours to usurp power over another, or to escape doing his duty so thoroughly as the others. and this has notoriously been the case in the matter of contributions, imposts, and similar matters." thus much, and more of similar argument, logically urged, made it sufficiently evident that twenty years of revolt and of hard fighting against one king, had not destroyed in the minds of the leading netherlanders their conviction of the necessity of kingship. if the new commonwealth was likely to remain a republic, it was, at that moment at any rate, because they could not find a king. certainly they did their best to annex themselves to england, and to become loyal subjects of england's elizabeth. but the queen, besides other objections to the course proposed by the provinces, thought that she could do a better thing in the way of mortgages. in this, perhaps, there was something of the penny-wise policy, which sprang from one great defect in her character. at any rate much mischief was done by the mercantile spirit which dictated the hard chaffering on both sides the channel at this important juncture; for during this tedious flint-paring, antwerp, which might have been saved, was falling into the hands of philip. it should never be forgotten, however, that the queen had no standing army, and but a small revenue. the men to be sent from england to the netherland wars were first to be levied wherever it was possible to find them. in truth, many were pressed in the various wards of london, furnished with red coats and matchlocks at the expense of the citizens, and so despatched, helter-skelter, in small squads as opportunity offered. general sir john norris was already superintending these operations, by command of the queen, before the present formal negotiation with the states had begun. subsequently to the th july, on which day the second address had been made to elizabeth, the envoys had many conferences with leicester, burghley, walsingham, and other councillors, without making much progress. there was perpetual wrangling about figures and securities. "what terms will you pledge for the repayment of the monies to be advanced?" asked burghley and walsingham. "but if her majesty takes the sovereignty," answered the deputies, "there will be no question of guarantees. the queen will possess our whole land, and there will be no need of any repayment." "and we have told you over and over again," said the lord treasurer, "that her majesty will never think of accepting the sovereignty. she will assist you in money and men, and must be repaid to the last farthing when the war is over; and, until that period, must have solid pledges in the shape of a town in each province." then came interrogatories as to the amount of troops and funds to be raised respectively by the queen and the states for the common cause. the provinces wished her majesty to pay one-third of the whole expense, while her majesty was reluctant to pay one-quarter. the states wished a permanent force to be kept on foot in the netherlands of thirteen thousand infantry and two thousand cavalry for the field, and twenty-three thousand for garrisons. the councillors thought the last item too much. then there were queries as to the expense of maintaining a force in the provinces. the envoys reckoned one pound sterling, or ten florins, a month for the pay of each foot soldier, including officers; and for the cavalry, three times as much. this seemed reasonable, and the answers to the inquiries touching the expense of the war-vessels and sailors were equally satisfactory. nevertheless it was difficult to bring the queen up to the line to which the envoys had been limited by their instructions. five thousand foot and one thousand horse serving at the queen's expense till the war should be concluded, over and above the garrisons for such cautionary towns as should be agreed upon; this was considered, by the states, the minimum. the queen held out for giving only four thousand foot and four hundred horse, and for deducting the garrisons even from this slender force. as guarantee for the expense thus to be incurred, she required that flushing and brill should be placed in her hands. moreover the position of antwerp complicated the negotiation. elizabeth, fully sensible of the importance of preserving that great capital, offered four thousand soldiers to serve until that city should be relieved, requiring repayment within three months after the object should have been accomplished. as special guarantee for such repayment she required sluys and ostend. this was sharp bargaining, but, at any rate, the envoys knew that the queen, though cavilling to the ninth-part of a hair, was no trifler, and that she meant to perform whatever she should promise. there was another exchange of speeches at the palace of nonesuch, on the th august; and the position of affairs and the respective attitudes of the queen and envoys were plainly characterized by the language then employed. after an exordium about the cruelty of the spanish tyranny and the enormous expense entailed by the war upon the netherlands, menin, who, as usual, was the spokesman, alluded to the difficulty which the states at last felt in maintaining themselves. "five thousand foot and one thousand horse," he said, "over and above the maintenance of garrisons in the towns to be pledged as security to your majesty, seemed the very least amount of succour that would be probably obtained from your royal bounty. considering the great demonstrations of affection and promises of support, made as well by your majesty's own letters as by the mouth of your ambassador davison, and by our envoys de gryse and ortel, who have all declared publicly that your majesty would never forsake us, the states sent us their deputies to this country in full confidence that such reasonable demands as we had been authorized to make would be satisfied." the speaker then proceeded to declare that the offer made by the royal councillors of four thousand foot and four hundred horse, to serve during the war, together with a special force of four thousand for the relief of antwerp, to be paid for within three months after the siege should be raised, against a concession of the cities of flushing, brill, sluys, and ostend, did not come within the limitations of the states-general. they therefore begged the queen to enlarge her offer to the number of five thousand foot and one thousand horse, or at least to allow the envoys to conclude the treaty provisionally, and subject to approval of their constituents. so soon as menin had concluded his address, her majesty instantly replied, with much earnestness and fluency of language. "gentlemen," she said, "i will answer you upon the first point, because it touches my honour. you say that i promised you, both by letters and through my agent davison, and also by my own lips, to assist you and never to abandon you, and that this had moved you to come to me at present. very well, masters, do you not think i am assisting you when i am sending you four thousand foot and four hundred horse to serve during the war? certainly, i think yes; and i say frankly that i have never been wanting to my word. no man shall ever say, with truth, that the queen of england had at any time and ever so slightly failed in her promises, whether to the mightiest monarch, to republics, to gentlemen, or even to private persons of the humblest condition. am i, then, in your opinion, forsaking you when i send you english blood, which i love, and which is my own blood, and which i am bound to defend? it seems to me, no. for my part i tell you again that i will never forsake you. "'sed de modo?' that is matter for agreement. you are aware, gentlemen, that i have storms to fear from many quarters--from france, scotland, ireland, and within my own kingdom. what would be said if i looked only on one side, and if on that side i employed all my resources. no, i will give my subjects no cause for murmuring. i know that my counsellors desire to manage matters with prudence; 'sed aetatem habeo', and you are to believe, that, of my own motion, i have resolved not to extend my offer of assistance, at present, beyond the amount already stated. but i don't say that at another time i may not be able to do more for you. for my intention is never to abandon your cause, always to assist you, and never more to suffer any foreign nation to have dominion over you. "it is true that you present me with two places in each of your provinces. i thank you for them infinitely, and certainly it is a great offer. but it will be said instantly, the queen of england wishes to embrace and devour everything; while, on the contrary, i only wish to render you assistance. i believe, in truth, that if other monarchs should have this offer, they would not allow such an opportunity to escape. i do not let it slip because of fears that i entertain for any prince whatever. for to think that i am not aware--doing what i am doing--that i am embarking in a war against the king of spain, is a great mistake. i know very well that the succour which i am affording you will offend him as much as if i should do a great deal more. but what care i? let him begin, i will answer him. for my part, i say again, that never did fear enter my heart. we must all die once. i know very well that many princes are my enemies, and are seeking my ruin; and that where malice is joined with force, malice often arrives at its ends. but i am not so feeble a princess that i have not the means and the will to defend myself against them all. they are seeking to take my life, but it troubles me not. he who is on high has defended me until this hour, and will keep me still, for in him do i trust. "as to the other point, you say that your powers are not extensive enough to allow your acceptance of the offer i make you. nevertheless, if i am not mistaken, i have remarked in passing--for princes look very close to words--that you would be content if i would give you money in place of men, and that your powers speak only of demanding a certain proportion of infantry and another of cavalry. i believe this would be, as you say, an equivalent, 'secundum quod'. but i say this only because you govern yourselves so precisely by the measure of your instructions. nevertheless i don't wish to contest these points with you. for very often 'dum romae disputatur saguntum perit.' nevertheless, it would be well for you to decide; and, in any event, i do not think it good that you should all take your departure, but that, on the contrary, you should leave some of your number here. otherwise it would at once be said that all was broken off, and that i had chosen to nothing for you; and with this the bad would comfort themselves, and the good would be much discouraged. "touching the last point of your demand--according to which you desire a personage of quality--i know, gentlemen, that you do not always agree very well among yourselves, and that it would be good for you to have some one to effect such agreement. for this reason i have always intended, so soon as we should have made our treaty, to send a lord of name and authority to reside with you, to assist you in governing, and to aid, with his advice, in the better direction of your affairs. "would to god that antwerp were relieved! certainly i should be very glad, and very well content to lose all that i am now expending if that city could be saved. i hope, nevertheless, if it can hold out six weeks longer, that we shall see something good. already the two thousand men of general norris have crossed, or are crossing, every day by companies. i will hasten the rest as much as possible; and i assure you, gentlemen, that i will spare no diligence. nevertheless you may, if you choose, retire with my council, and see if together you can come to some good conclusion." thus spoke elizabeth, like the wise, courageous, and very parsimonious princess that she was. alas, it was too true, that saguntum was perishing while the higgling went on at rome. had those two thousand under sir john norris and the rest of the four thousand but gone a few weeks earlier, how much happier might have been the result! nevertheless, it was thought in england that antwerp would still hold out; and, meantime, a treaty for its relief, in combination with another for permanent assistance to the provinces, was agreed upon between the envoys and the lords of council. on the th august, menin presented himself at nonesuch at the head of his colleagues, and, in a formal speech, announced the arrangement which had thus been entered into, subject to the approval of the states. again elizabeth, whose "tongue," in the homely phrase of the netherlanders, "was wonderfully well hung," replied with energy and ready eloquence. "you see, gentlemen," she said, "that i have opened the door; that i am embarking once for all with you in a war against the king of spain. very well, i am not anxious about the matter. i hope that god will aid us, and that we shall strike a good blow in your cause. nevertheless, i pray you, with all my heart, and by the affection you bear me, to treat my soldiers well; for they are my own englishmen, whom i love as i do myself. certainly it would be a great cruelty, if you should treat them ill, since they are about to hazard their lives so freely in your defence, and i am sure that my request in this regard will be received by you as it deserves. "in the next place, as you know that i am sending, as commander of these english troops, an honest gentleman, who deserves most highly for his experience in arms, so i am also informed that you have on your side a gentleman of great valour. i pray you, therefore, that good care be taken lest there be misunderstanding between these two, which might prevent them from agreeing well together, when great exploits of war are to be taken in hand. for if that should happen--which god forbid--my succour would be rendered quite useless to you. i name count hohenlo, because him alone have i heard mentioned. but i pray you to make the same recommendation to all the colonels and gentlemen in your army; for i should be infinitely sad, if misadventures should arise from such a cause, for your interest and my honour are both at stake. "in the third place, i beg you, at your return, to make a favourable report of me, and to thank the states, in my behalf, for their great offers, which i esteem so highly as to be unable to express my thanks. tell them that i shall remember them for ever. i consider it a great honour, that from the commencement, you have ever been so faithful to me, and that with such great constancy you have preferred me to all other princes, and have chosen me for your queen. and chiefly do i thank the gentlemen of holland and zeeland, who, as i have been informed, were the first who so singularly loved me. and so on my own part i will have a special care of them, and will do my best to uphold them by every possible means, as i will do all the rest who have put their trust in me. but i name holland and zeeland more especially, because they have been so constant and faithful in their efforts to assist the rest in shaking off the yoke of the enemy. "finally, gentlemen, i beg you to assure the states that i do not decline the sovereignty of your country from any dread of the king of spain. for i take god to witness that i fear him not; and i hope, with the blessing of god, to make such demonstrations against him, that men shall say the queen of england does not fear the spaniards." elizabeth then smote herself upon the breast, and cried, with great energy, "'illa que virgo viri;' and is it not quite the same to you, even if i do not assume the sovereignty, since i intend to protect you, and since therefore the effects will be the same? it is true that the sovereignty would serve to enhance my grandeur, but i am content to do without it, if you, upon your own part, will only do your duty. "for myself, i promise you, in truth, that so long as i live, and even to my last sigh, i will never forsake you. go home and tell this boldly to the states which sent you hither." menin then replied with fresh expressions of thanks and compliments, and requested, in conclusion, that her majesty would be pleased to send, as soon as possible, a personage of quality to the netherlands. "gentlemen," replied elizabeth, "i intend to do this, so soon as our treaty shall be ratified, for, in contrary case, the king of spain, seeing your government continue on its present footing, would do nothing but laugh at us. certainly i do not mean this year to provide him with so fine a banquet." etext editor's bookmarks: anarchy which was deemed inseparable from a non-regal form dismay of our friends and the gratification of our enemies her teeth black, her bosom white and liberally exposed (eliz.) holland was afraid to give a part, although offering the whole resolved thenceforth to adopt a system of ignorance say "'tis pity he is not an englishman" seeking protection for and against the people three hundred and upwards are hanged annually in london we must all die once wrath of bigots on both sides history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter vi., part . sir john norris sent to holland--parsimony of elizabeth--energy of davison--protracted negotiations--friendly sentiments of count maurice--letters from him and louisa de coligny--davison vexed by the queen's caprice--dissatisfaction of leicester--his vehement complaints--the queen's avarice--perplexity of davison--manifesto of elizabeth--sir philip sidney--his arrival at flushing. the envoys were then dismissed, and soon afterwards a portion of the deputation took their departure from the netherlands with the proposed treaty. it was however, as we know, quite too late for saguntum. two days after the signing of the treaty, the remaining envoys were at the palace of nonesuch, in conference with the earl of leicester, when a gentleman rushed suddenly into the apartment, exclaiming with great manifestations of anger: "antwerp has fallen! a treaty has been signed with the prince of parma. aldegonde is the author of it all. he is the culprit, who has betrayed us;" with many more expressions of vehement denunciation. the queen was disappointed, but stood firm. she had been slow in taking her resolution, but she was unflinching when her mind was made up. instead of retreating from her, position, now that it became doubly dangerous, she advanced several steps nearer towards her allies. for it was obvious, if more precious time should be lost, that holland and zeeland would share the fate of antwerp. already the belief, that, with the loss of that city, all had been lost, was spreading both in the provinces and in england, and elizabeth felt that the time had indeed come to confront the danger. meantime the intrigues of the enemy in the independent provinces were rife. blunt roger williams wrote in very plain language to walsingham, a very few days after the capitulation of antwerp: "if her majesty means to have holland and zeeland," said he, "she must resolve presently. aldegonde hath promised the enemy to bring them to compound. here arrived already his ministers which knew all his dealings about antwerp from first to last. count maurice is governed altogether by villiers, and villiers was never worse for the english than at this hour. to be short, the people say in general, they will accept a peace, unless her majesty do sovereign them presently. all the men of war will be at her highness' devotion, if they be in credit in time. what you do, it must be done presently, for i do assure your honour there is large offers presented unto them by the enemies. if her majesty deals not roundly and resolutely with them now, it will be too late two months hence." her majesty meant to deal roundly and resolutely. her troops had already gone in considerable numbers. she wrote encouraging letters with her own hand to the states, imploring them not to falter now, even though the great city had fallen. she had long since promised never to desert them, and she was, if possible, more determined than ever to redeem her pledge. she especially recommended to their consideration general norris, commander of the forces that had been despatched to the relief of antwerp. a most accomplished officer, sprung of a house renowned for its romantic valour, sir john was the second of the six sons of lord norris of rycot, all soldiers of high reputation, "chickens of mars," as an old writer expressed himself. "such a bunch of brethren for eminent achievement," said he, "was never seen. so great their states and stomachs that they often jostled with others." elizabeth called their mother, "her own crow;" and the darkness of her hair and visage was thought not unbecoming to her martial issue, by whom it had been inherited. daughter of lord williams of tame, who had been keeper of the tower in the time of elizabeth's imprisonment, she had been affectionate and serviceable to the princess in the hour of her distress, and had been rewarded with her favour in the days of her grandeur. we shall often meet this crow-black norris, and his younger brother sir edward--the most daring soldiers of their time, posters of sea and land--wherever the buffeting was closest, or adventure the wildest on ship-board or shore, for they were men who combined much of the knight-errantry of a vanishing age with the more practical and expansive spirit of adventure that characterized the new epoch. nor was he a stranger in the netherlands. "the gentleman to whom we have committed the government of the forces going to the relief of antwerp," said elizabeth, "has already given you such proofs of his affection by the good services he has rendered you, that without recommendation on our part, he should stand already recommended. nevertheless, in respect for his quality, the house from which he is descended, and the valour which he has manifested in your own country, we desire to tell you that we hold him dear, and that he deserves also to be dear to you." when the fall of antwerp was certain, the queen sent davison, who had been for a brief period in england, back again to his post. "we have learned," she said in the letter which she sent by that envoy; "with very great regret of the surrender of antwerp. fearing lest some apprehension should take possession of the people's mind in consequence, and that some dangerous change might ensue, we send you our faithful and well-beloved davison to represent to you how much we have your affairs at heart, and to say that we are determined to forget nothing that may be necessary to your preservation. assure yourselves that we shall never fail to accomplish all that he may promise you in our behalf." yet, notwithstanding the gravity of the situation, the thorough discussion that had taken place of the whole matter, and the enormous loss which had resulted from the money-saving insanity upon both sides, even then the busy devil of petty economy was not quite exorcised. several precious weeks were wasted in renewed chafferings. the queen was willing that the permanent force should now be raised to five thousand foot and one thousand horse--the additional sixteen, hundred men being taken from the antwerp relieving-force--but she insisted that the garrisons for the cautionary towns should be squeezed out of this general contingent. the states, on the contrary, were determined to screw these garrisons out of her grip, as an additional subsidy. each party complained with reason of the other's closeness. no doubt the states were shrewd bargainers, but it would have been difficult for the sharpest hollander that ever sent a cargo of herrings to cadiz, to force open elizabeth's beautiful hand when she chose to shut it close. walsingham and leicester were alternately driven to despair by the covetousness of the one party or the other. it was still uncertain what "personage of quality" was to go to the netherlands in the queen's name, to help govern the country. leicester had professed his readiness to risk his life, estates, and reputation, in the cause, and the states particularly desired his appointment. "the name of your excellency is so very agreeable to this people," said they in a letter to the earl, "as to give promise of a brief and happy end to this grievous and almost immortal war." the queen was, or affected to be, still undecided as to the appointment. while waiting week after week for the ratifications of the treaty from holland, affairs were looking gloomy at home, and her majesty was growing very uncertain in her temper. "i see not her majesty disposed to use the service of the earl of leicester," wrote walsingham. "i suppose the lot of government will light on lord gray. i would to god the ability of his purse were answerable to his sufficiency otherwise." this was certainly a most essential deficiency on the part of lord gray, and it will soon be seen that the personage of quality to be selected as chief in the arduous and honourable enterprise now on foot, would be obliged to rely quite as much on that same ability of purse as upon the sufficiency of his brain or arm. the queen did not mean to send her favourite forth to purchase anything but honour in the netherlands; and it was not the provinces only that were likely to struggle against her parsimony. yet that parsimony sprang from a nobler motive than the mere love of pelf. dangers encompassed her on every side, and while husbanding her own exchequer, she was saving her subjects' resources. "here we are but book-worms," said walsingham, "yet from sundry quarters we hear of great practices against this poor crown. the revolt in scotland is greatly feared, and that out of hand." scotland, france, spain, these were dangerous enemies and neighbours to a maiden queen, who had a rebellious ireland to deal with on one side the channel, and alexander of parma on the other. davison experienced great inconvenience and annoyance before the definite arrangements could be made. there is no doubt that the spanish party had made great progress since the fall of antwerp. roger williams was right in advising the queen to deal "roundly and resolutely" with the states, and to "sovereign them presently." they had need of being sovereigned, for it must be confessed that the self-government which prevailed at that moment was very like no government. the death of orange, the treachery of henry iii., the triumphs of parma, disastrous facts, treading rapidly upon each other, had produced a not very unnatural effect. the peace-at-any-price party was struggling hard for the ascendancy, and the spanish partizans were doing their best to hold up to suspicion the sharp practice of the english queen. she was even accused of underhand dealing with spain, to the disadvantage of the provinces; so much had slander, anarchy, and despair, been able to effect. the states were reluctant to sign those articles with elizabeth which were absolutely necessary to their salvation. "in how doubtful and uncertain terms i found things at my coming hither," wrote davison to burghley, "how thwarted and delayed since for a resolution, and with what conditions, and for what reasons i have been finally drawn to conclude with them as i have done, your lordship may perceive by that i have written to mr. secretary. the chief difficulty has rested upon the point of entertaining the garrisons within the towns of assurance, over and besides the five thousand footmen and one thousand horse." this, as davison proceeded to observe, was considered a 'sine qua non' by the states, so that, under the perilous circumstances in which both countries were placed, he had felt it his duty to go forward as far as possible to meet their demands. davison always did his work veraciously, thoroughly, and resolutely; and it was seldom that his advice, in all matters pertaining to netherland matters, did not prove the very best that could be offered. no man knew better than he the interests and the temper of both countries. the imperious elizabeth was not fond of being thwarted, least of all by any thing savouring of the democratic principle, and already there was much friction between the tudor spirit of absolutism and the rough "mechanical" nature with which it was to ally itself in the netherlands. the economical elizabeth was not pleased at being overreached in a bargain; and, at a moment when she thought herself doing a magnanimous act, she was vexed at the cavilling with which her generosity was received. "'tis a manner of proceeding," said walsingham, "not to be allowed of, and may very well be termed mechanical, considering that her majesty seeketh no interest in that country--as monsieur and the french king did--but only their good and benefit, without regard had of the expenses of her treasure and the hazard of her subjects' lives; besides throwing herself into a present war for their sakes with the greatest prince and potentate in europe. but seeing the government of those countries resteth in the hands of merchants and advocates--the one regarding profit, the other standing upon vantage of quirks--there is no better fruit to be looked to from them." yet it was, after all, no quirk in those merchants and advocates to urge that the queen was not going to war with the great potentate for their sakes alone. to elizabeth's honour, she did thoroughly comprehend that the war of the netherlands was the war of england, of protestantism, and of european liberty, and that she could no longer, without courting her own destruction, defer taking a part in active military operations. it was no quirk, then, but solid reasoning, for the states to regard the subject in the same light. holland and england were embarked in one boat, and were to sink or swim together. it was waste of time to wrangle so fiercely over pounds and shillings, but the fault was not to be exclusively imputed to the one side or the other. there were bitter recriminations, particularly on the part of elizabeth, for it was not safe to touch too closely either the pride or the pocket of that frugal and despotic heroine. "the two thousand pounds promised by the states to norris upon the muster of the two thousand volunteers," said walsingham, "were not paid. her majesty is not a little offended therewith, seeing how little care they have to yield her satisfaction, which she imputeth to proceed rather from contempt, than from necessity. if it should fall out, however, to be such as by them is pretended, then doth she conceive her bargain to be very ill made, to join her fortune with so weak and broken an estate." already there were indications that the innocent might be made to suffer for the short-comings of the real culprits; nor would it be, the first time, or by any means the last, for davison to appear in the character of a scape-goat. "surely, sir," continued mr. secretary, "it is a thing greatly to be feared that the contributions they will yield will fall not more true in paper than in payment; which if it should so happen, it would turn some to blame, whereof you among others are to bear your part." and thus the months of september and of october wore away, and the ratifications of the treaty had not arrived from the netherlands. elizabeth became furious, and those of the netherland deputation who had remained in england were at their wits' end to appease her choler. no news arrived for many weeks. those were not the days of steam and magnetic telegraphs--inventions by which the nature of man and the aspect of history seem altered--and the queen had nothing for it but to fret, and the envoys to concert with her ministers expedients to mitigate her spleen. towards the end of the month, the commissioners chartered a vessel which they despatched for news to holland. on his way across the sea the captain was hailed on the th october by a boat, in which one hans wyghans was leisurely proceeding to england with netherland despatches dated on the th of the same month. this was the freshest intelligence that had yet been received. so soon as the envoys were put in possession of the documents, they obtained an audience of the queen. this was the last day of october. elizabeth read her letters, and listened to the apologies made by the deputies for the delay with anything but a benignant countenance. then, with much vehemence of language, and manifestations of ill-temper, she expressed her displeasure at the dilatoriness of the states. having sent so many troops, and so many gentlemen of quality, she had considered the whole affair concluded. "i have been unhandsomely treated," she said, "and not as comports with a prince of my quality. my inclination for your support--because you show yourselves unworthy of so great benefits--will be entirely destroyed, unless you deal with me and mine more worthily for the future than you have done in the past. through my great and especial affection for your welfare, i had ordered the earl of leicester to proceed to the netherlands, and conduct your affairs; a man of such quality as all the world knows, and one whom i love, as if he were my own brother. he was getting himself ready in all diligence, putting himself in many perils through the practices of the enemy, and if i should have reason to believe that he would not be respected there according to his due, i should be indeed offended. he and many others are not going thither to advance their own affairs, to make themselves rich, or because they have not means enough to live magnificently at home. they proceed to the netherlands from pure affection for your cause. this is the case, too, with many other of my subjects, all dear to me, and of much worth. for i have sent a fine heap of folk thither--in all, with those his excellency is taking with him, not under ten thousand soldiers of the english nation. this is no small succour, and no little unbaring of this realm of mine, threatened as it is with war from many quarters. yet i am seeking no sovereignty, nor anything else prejudicial to the freedom of your country. i wish only, in your utmost need, to help you out of this lamentable war, to maintain for you liberty of conscience, and to see that law and justice are preserved." all this, and more, with great eagerness of expression and gesture, was urged by the queen, much to the discomfiture of the envoys. in vain they attempted to modify and to explain. their faltering excuses were swept rapidly away upon the current of royal wrath; until at last elizabeth stormed herself into exhaustion and comparative tranquillity. she then dismissed them with an assurance that her goodwill towards the states was not diminished, as would be found to be the case, did they not continue to prove themselves unworthy of her favour that a permanent force of five thousand foot and one thousand horse should serve in the provinces at the queen's expense; and that the cities of flushing and brill should be placed in her majesty's hands until the entire reimbursement of the debt thus incurred by the states. elizabeth also--at last overcoming her reluctance--agreed that the force necessary to garrison these towns should form an additional contingent, instead of being deducted from the general auxiliary force. count maurice of nassau had been confirmed by the states of holland and zeeland as permanent stadholder of those provinces. this measure excited some suspicion on the part of leicester, who, as it was now understood, was the "personage of quality" to be sent to the netherlands as representative of the queen's authority. "touching the election of count maurice," said the earl, "i hope it will be no impairing of the authority heretofore allotted to me, for if it will be, i shall tarry but awhile." nothing, however, could be more frank or chivalrously devoted than the language of maurice to the queen. "madam, if i have ever had occasion," he wrote, "to thank god for his benefits, i confess that it was when, receiving in all humility the letters with which it pleased your majesty to honour me, i learned that the great disaster of my lord and father's death had not diminished the debonaire affection and favour which it has always pleased your majesty to manifest to my father's house. it has been likewise grateful to me to learn that your majesty, surrounded by so many great and important affairs, had been pleased to approve the command which the states-general have conferred upon me. i am indeed grieved that my actions cannot correspond with the ardent desire which i feel to serve your majesty and these provinces, for which i hope that my extreme youth will be accepted as an excuse. and although i find myself feeble enough for the charge thus imposed upon me, yet god will assist my efforts to supply by diligence and sincere intention the defect of the other qualities requisite for my thorough discharge of my duty to the contentment of your majesty. to fulfil these obligations, which are growing greater day by day, i trust to prove by my actions that i will never spare either my labour or life." when it was found that the important town of flushing was required as part of the guaranty to the queen, maurice, as hereditary seignor and proprietor of the place--during the captivity of his elder brother in spain--signified his concurrence in the transfer, together with the most friendly feelings towards the earl of leicester, and to sir philip sidney, appointed english governor of the town. he wrote to davison, whom he called "one of the best and most certain friends that the house of nassau possessed in england," begging that he would recommend the interests of the family to the queen, "whose favour could do more than anything else in the world towards maintaining what remained of the dignity of their house." after solemn deliberation with his step-mother, louisa de coligny, and the other members of his family, he made a formal announcement of adhesion on the part of the house of nassau to the arrangements concluded with the english government, and asked the benediction of god upon the treaty. while renouncing, for the moment, any compensation for his consent to the pledging of flushing his "patrimonial property, and a place of such great importance"--he expressed a confidence that the long services of his father, as well as those which he himself hoped to render, would meet in time with "condign recognition." he requested the earl of leicester to consider the friendship which had existed between himself and the late prince of orange, as an hereditary affection to be continued to the children, and he entreated the earl to do him the honour in future to hold him as a son, and to extend to him counsel and authority; declaring, on his part, that he should ever deem it an honour to be allowed to call him father. and in order still more strongly to confirm his friendship, he begged sir philip sidney to consider him as his brother, and as his companion in arms, promising upon his own part the most faithful friendship. in the name of louisa de coligny, and of his whole family, he also particularly recommended to the queen the interests of the eldest brother of the house, philip william, "who had been so long and so iniquitously detained captive in spain," and begged that, in case prisoners of war of high rank should fall into the hands of the english commanders, they might be employed as a means of effecting the liberation of that much-injured prince. he likewise desired the friendly offices of the queen to protect the principality of orange against the possible designs of the french monarch, and intimated that occasions might arise in which the confiscated estates of the family in burgundy might be recovered through the influence of the swiss cantons, particularly those of the grisons and of berne. and, in conclusion, in case the queen should please--as both count maurice and the princess of orange desired with all their hearts--to assume the sovereignty of these provinces, she was especially entreated graciously to observe those suggestions regarding the interests of the house of nassau, which had been made in the articles of the treaty. thus the path had been smoothed, mainly through the indefatigable energy of davison. yet that envoy was not able to give satisfaction to his imperious and somewhat whimsical mistress, whose zeal seemed to cool in proportion to the readiness with which the obstacles to her wishes were removed. davison was, with reason, discontented. he had done more than any other man either in england or the provinces, to bring about a hearty cooperation in the common cause, and to allay mutual heart-burnings and suspicions. he had also, owing to the negligence of the english treasurer for the netherlands, and the niggardliness of elizabeth, been placed in a position, of great financial embarrassment. his situation was very irksome. "i mused at the sentence you sent me," he wrote, "for i know no cause her majesty hath to shrink at her charges hitherto. the treasure she hath yet disbursed here is not above five or six thousand pounds, besides that which i have been obliged to take up for the saving of her honour, and necessity of her service, in danger otherwise of some notable disgrace. i will not, for shame, say how i have been left here to myself." the delay in the formal appointment of leicester, and, more particularly, of the governors for the cautionary towns, was the cause of great confusion and anarchy in the transitional condition of the country. "the burden i am driven to sustain," said davison, "doth utterly weary me. if sir philip sidney were here, and if my lord of leicester follow not all the sooner, i would use her majesty's liberty to return home. if her majesty think me worthy the reputation of a poor, honest, and loyal servant, i have that contents me. for the rest, i wish 'vivere sine invidia, mollesque inglorius annos egigere, amicitias et mihi jungere pares.'" there was something almost prophetic in the tone which this faithful public servant--to whom, on more than one occasion, such hard measure was to be dealt--habitually adopted in his private letters and conversation. he did his work, but he had not his reward; and he was already weary of place without power, and industry without recognition. "for mine own particular," he said, "i will say with the poet, 'crede mihi, bene qui latuit bene vixit, et intra fortunam debet quisque manere suam.'" for, notwithstanding the avidity with which elizabeth had sought the cautionary towns, and the fierceness with which she had censured the tardiness of the states, she seemed now half inclined to drop the prize which she had so much coveted, and to imitate the very languor which she had so lately rebuked. "she hath what she desired," said davison, "and might yet have more, if this content her not. howsoever you value the places at home, they are esteemed here, by such as know them best, no little increase to her majesty's honour, surety, and greatness, if she be as careful to keep them as happy in getting them. of this, our cold beginning doth already make me jealous." sagacious and resolute princess as she was, she showed something of feminine caprice upon this grave occasion. not davison alone, but her most confidential ministers and favourites at home, were perplexed and provoked by her misplaced political coquetries. but while the alternation of her hot and cold fits drove her most devoted courtiers out of patience, there was one symptom that remained invariable throughout all her paroxysms, the rigidity with which her hand was locked. walsingham, stealthy enough when an advantage was to be gained by subtlety, was manful and determined in his dealings with his friends; and he had more than once been offended with elizabeth's want of frankness in these transactions. "i find you grieved, and not without cause," he wrote to davison, "in respect to the over thwart proceedings as well there as here. the disorders in those countries would be easily redressed if we could take a thoroughly resolute course here--a matter that men may rather pray for than hope for. it is very doubtful whether the action now in hand will be accompanied by very hard success, unless they of the country there may be drawn to bear the greatest part of the burden of the wars." and now the great favourite of all had received the appointment which he coveted. the earl of leicester was to be commander-in-chief of her majesty's forces in the netherlands, and representative of her authority in those countries, whatever that office might prove to be. the nature of his post was anomalous from the beginning. it was environed with difficulties, not the least irritating of which proceeded from the captious spirit of the queen. the earl was to proceed in great pomp to holland, but the pomp was to be prepared mainly at his own expense. besides the auxiliary forces that had been shipped during the latter period of the year, leicester was raising a force of lancers, from four to eight hundred in number; but to pay for that levy he was forced to mortgage his own property, while the queen not only refused to advance ready money, but declined endorsing his bills. it must be confessed that the earl's courtship of elizabeth was anything at that moment but a gentle dalliance. in those thorny regions of finance were no beds of asphodel or amaranthine bowers. there was no talk but of troopers, saltpetre, and sulphur, of books of assurance, and bills of exchange; and the aspect of elizabeth, when the budget was under discussion, must effectually have neutralized for the time any very tender sentiment. the sharpness with which she clipped leicester's authority, when authority was indispensable to his dignity, and the heavy demands upon his resources that were the result of her avarice, were obstacles more than enough to the calm fruition of his triumphs. he had succeeded, in appearance at least, in the great object of his ambition, this appointment to the netherlands; but the appointment was no sinecure, and least of all a promising pecuniary speculation. elizabeth had told the envoys, with reason, that she was not sending forth that man--whom she loved as a brother--in order that he might make himself rich. on the contrary, the earl seemed likely to make himself comparatively poor before he got to the provinces, while his political power, at the moment, did not seem of more hopeful growth. leicester had been determined and consistent in this great enterprize from the beginning. he felt intensely the importance of the crisis. he saw that the time had come for swift and uncompromising action, and the impatience with which he bore the fetters imposed upon him may be easily conceived. "the cause is such," he wrote to walsingham, "that i had as lief be dead as be in the case i shall be in if this restraint hold for taking the oath there, or if some more authority be not granted than i see her majesty would i should have. i trust you all will hold hard for this, or else banish me england withal. i have sent you the books to be signed by her majesty. i beseech you return them with all haste, for i get no money till they be under seal." but her majesty would not put them under her seal, much to the favourite's discomfiture. "your letter yieldeth but cold answer," he wrote, two days afterwards. "above all things yet that her majesty doth stick at, i marvel most at her refusal to sign my book of assurance; for there passeth nothing in the earth against her profit by that act, nor any good to me but to satisfy the creditors, who were more scrupulous than needs. i did complain to her of those who did refuse to lend me money, and she was greatly offended with them. but if her majesty were to stay this, if i were half seas over, i must of necessity come back again, for i may not go without money. i beseech, if the matter be refused by her, bestow a post on me to harwich. i lie this night at sir john peters', and but for this doubt i had been to-morrow at harwich. i pray god make you all that be counsellors plain and direct to the furtherance of all good service for her majesty and the realm; and if it be the will of god to plague us that go, and you that tarry, for our sins, yet let us not be negligent to seek to please the lord." the earl was not negligent at any rate in seeking to please the queen, but she was singularly hard to please. she had never been so uncertain in her humours as at this important crisis. she knew, and had publicly stated as much, that she was "embarking in a war with the greatest potentate in europe;" yet now that the voyage had fairly commenced, and the waves were rolling around her, she seemed anxious to put back to the shore. for there was even a whisper of peace-negotiations, than which nothing could have been more ill-timed. "i perceive by your message," said leicester to walsingham, "that your peace with spain will go fast on, but this is not the way." unquestionably it was not the way, and the whisper was, for the moment at least, suppressed. meanwhile leicester had reached harwich, but the post "bestowed on him," contained, as usual, but cold comfort. he was resolved, however, to go manfully forward, and do the work before him, until the enterprise should prove wholly impracticable. it is by the light afforded by the secret never-published correspondence of the period with which we are now occupied, that the true characteristics of elizabeth, the earl of leicester, and other prominent personages, must be scanned, and the study is most important, for it was by those characteristics, in combination with other human elements embodied in distant parts of christendom, that the destiny of the world was determined. in that age, more than in our own perhaps, the influence of the individual was widely and intensely felt. historical chymistry is only rendered possible by a detection of the subtle emanations, which it was supposed would for ever elude analysis, but which survive in those secret, frequently ciphered intercommunications. philip ii., william of orange, queen elizabeth, alexander farnese, robert dudley, never dreamed--when disclosing their inmost thoughts to their trusted friends at momentous epochs--that the day would come on earth when those secrets would be no longer hid from the patient enquirer after truth. well for those whose reputations before the judgment-seat of history appear even comparatively pure, after impartial comparison of their motives with their deeds. "for mine own part, mr. secretary," wrote leicester, "i am resolved to do that which shall be fit for a poor man's honour, and honestly to obey her majesty's commandment. let the rest fall out to others, it shall not concern me. i mean to assemble myself to the camp, where my authority must wholly lie, and will there do that which in good reason and duty i shall be bound to do. i am sorry that her majesty doth deal in this sort, and if content to overthrow so willingly her own cause. if there can be means to salve this sore, i will. if not,--i tell you what shall become of me, as truly as god lives." yet it is remarkable, that, in spite of this dark intimation, the earl, after all, did not state what was to become of him if the sore was not salved. he was, however, explicit enough as to the causes of his grief, and very vehement in its manifestations. "another matter which shall concern me deeply," he said, "and all the subjects there, is now by you to be carefully considered, which is--money. i find that the money is already gone, and this now given to the treasurer will do no more than pay to the end of the month. i beseech you look to it, for by the lord! i will bear no more so miserable burdens; for if i have no money to pay them, let them come home, or what else. i will not starve them, nor stay them. there was never gentleman nor general so sent out as i am; and if neither queen nor council care to help it, but leave men desperate, as i see men shall be, that inconvenience will follow which i trust in the lord i shall be free of." he then used language about himself, singularly resembling the phraseology employed by elizabeth concerning him, when she was scolding the netherland commissioners for the dilatoriness and parsimony of the states. "for mine own part," he said, "i have taken upon me this voyage, not as a desperate nor forlorn man, but as one as well contented with his place and calling at home as any subject was ever. my cause was not, nor is, any other than the lord's and the queen's. if the queen fail, yet must i trust in the lord, and on him, i see, i am wholly to depend. i can say no more, but pray to god that her majesty never send general again as i am sent. and yet i will do what i can for her and my country." the earl had raised a choice body of lancers to accompany him to the netherlands, but the expense of the levy had come mainly upon his own purse. the queen had advanced five thousand pounds, which was much less than the requisite amount, while for the balance required, as well as for other necessary expenses, she obstinately declined to furnish leicester with funds, even refusing him, at last, a temporary loan. she violently accused him of cheating her, reclaimed money which he had wrung from her on good security, and when he had repaid the sum, objected to give him a discharge. as for receiving anything by way of salary, that was quite out of the question. at that moment he would have been only too happy to be reimbursed for what he was already out of pocket. whether elizabeth loved leicester as a brother, or better than a brother, may be a historical question, but it is no question at all that she loved money better than she did leicester. unhappy the man, whether foe or favourite, who had pecuniary transactions with her highness. "i am sorry," said the earl, "that her majesty hath so hard a conceit of me, that i should go about to cozen her, as though i had got a fee simple from her, and had it not before, or that i had not had her full release for payment of the money i borrowed. i pray god, any that did put such scruple in her, have not deceived her more than i have done. i thank god i have a clear conscience for deceiving her, and for money matters. i think i may justly say i have been the only cause of more gain to her coffers than all her chequer-men have been. but so is the hap of some, that all they do is nothing, and others that do nothing, do all, and have all the thanks. but i would this were all the grief i carry with me; but god is my comfort, and on him i cast all, for there is no surety in this world beside. what hope of help can i have, finding her majesty so strait with myself as she is? i did trust that--the cause being hers and this realm's--if i could have gotten no money of her merchants, she would not have refused to have lent money on so easy prized land as mine, to have been gainer and no loser by it. her majesty, i see, will make trial of me how i love her, and what will discourage me from her service. but resolved am i that no worldly respect shall draw me back from my faithful discharge of my duty towards her, though she shall show to hate me, as it goeth very near; for i find no love or favour at all. and i pray you to remember that i have not had one penny of her majesty towards all these charges of mine--not one penny-and, by all truth, i have already laid out above five thousand pounds. her majesty appointed eight thousand pounds for the levy, which was after the rate of four hundred horse, and, upon my fidelity, there is shipped, of horse of service, eight hundred, so that there ought eight thousand more to have been paid me. no general that ever went that was not paid to the uttermost of these things before he went, but had cash for his provision, which her majesty would not allow me--not one groat. well, let all this go, it is like i shall be the last shall bear this, and some must suffer for the people. good mr. secretary, let her majesty know this, for i deserve god-a-mercy, at the least." leicester, to do him justice, was thoroughly alive to the importance of the crisis. on political principle, at any rate, he was a firm supporter of protestantism, and even of puritanism; a form of religion which elizabeth detested, and in which, with keen instinct, she detected a mutinous element against the divine right of kings. the earl was quite convinced of the absolute necessity that england should take up the netherland matter most vigorously, on pain of being herself destroyed. all the most sagacious counsellors of elizabeth were day by day more and more confirmed in this opinion, and were inclined heartily to support the new lieutenant-general. as for leicester himself, while fully conscious of his own merits, and of his firm intent to do his duty, he was also grateful to those who were willing to befriend him in his arduous enterprise. "i have received a letter from my lord willoughby," he said, "to my seeming, as wise a letter as i have read a great while, and not unfit for her majesty's sight. i pray god open her eyes, that they may behold her present estate indeed, and the wonderful means that god doth offer unto her. if she lose these opportunities, who can look for other but dishonour and destruction? my lord treasurer hath also written me a most hearty and comfortable letter touching this voyage, not only in showing the importance of it, both for her majesty's own safety and the realm's, but that the whole state of religion doth depend thereon, and therefore doth faithfully promise his whole and best assistance for the supply of all wants. i was not a little glad to receive such a letter from him at this time." and from on board the 'amity,' ready to set sail, he expressed his thanks to burghley, at finding him so "earnestly bent for the good supply and maintenance of us poor men sent in her majesty's service and our country's." as for walsingham, earnestly a defender of the netherland cause from the beginning, he was wearied and disgusted with fighting against the queen's parsimony and caprice. "he is utterly discouraged," said leicester to burghley, "to deal any more in these causes. i pray god your lordship grow not so too; for then all will to the ground; on my poor side especially." and to sir francis himself, he wrote, even as his vessel was casting off her moorings:--"i am sorry, mr. secretary," he said, "to find you so discouraged, and that her majesty doth deem you so partial. and yet my suits to her majesty have not of late been so many nor great, while the greatest, i am sure, are for her majesty's own service. for my part, i will discharge my duty as far as my poor ability and capacity shall serve, and if i shall not have her gracious and princely support and supply, the lack will be to us, for the present, but the shame and dishonour will be hers." and with these parting words the earl committed himself to the december seas. davison had been meantime doing his best to prepare the way in the netherlands for the reception of the english administration. what man could do, without money and without authority, he had done. the governors for flushing and the brill, sir philip sidney and sir thomas cecil, eldest son of lord burghley, had been appointed, but had not arrived. their coming was anxiously looked for, as during the interval the condition of the garrisons was deplorable. the english treasurer--by some unaccountable and unpardonable negligence, for which it is to be feared the queen was herself to blame--was not upon the spot, and davison was driven out of his wits to devise expedients to save the soldiers from starving. "your lordship has seen by my former letters," wrote the ambassador to burghley from flushing, "what shift i have been driven to for the relief of this garrison here, left 'a l'abandon;' without which means they had all fallen into wild and shameful disorder, to her majesty's great disgrace and overthrow of her service. i am compelled, unless i would see the poor men famish, and her majesty dishonoured, to try my poor credit for them." general sir john norris was in the betuwe, threatening nvymegen, a town which he found "not so flexible as he had hoped;" and, as he had but two thousand men, while alexander farnese was thought to be marching upon him with ten thousand, his position caused great anxiety. meantime, his brother, sir edward, a hot-headed and somewhat wilful young man, who "thought that all was too little for him," was giving the sober davison a good deal of trouble. he had got himself into a quarrel, both with that envoy and with roger williams, by claiming the right to control military matters in flushing until the arrival of sidney. "if sir thomas and sir philip," said davison, "do not make choice of more discreet, staid, and expert commanders than those thrust into these places by mr. norris, they will do themselves a great deal of worry, and her majesty a great deal of hurt." as might naturally be expected, the lamentable condition of the english soldiers, unpaid and starving--according to the report of the queen's envoy himself--exercised anything but a salutary influence upon the minds of the netherlanders and perpetually fed the hopes of the spanish partizans that a composition with philip and parma would yet take place. on the other hand, the states had been far more liberal in raising funds than the queen had shown herself to be, and were somewhat indignant at being perpetually taunted with parsimony by her agents. davison was offended by the injustice of norris in this regard. "the complaints which the general hath made of the states to her majesty," said he, "are without cause, and i think, when your lordship shall examine it well, you will find it no little sum they have already disbursed unto him for their part. wherein, nevertheless, if they had been looked into, they were somewhat the more excusable, considering how ill our people at her majesty's entertainment were satisfied hitherto--a thing that doth much prejudice her reputation, and hurt her service." at last, however, the die had been cast. the queen, although rejecting the proposed sovereignty of the netherlands, had espoused their cause, by solemn treaty of alliance, and thereby had thrown down the gauntlet to spain. she deemed it necessary, therefore, out of respect for the opinions of mankind, to issue a manifesto of her motives to the world. the document was published, simultaneously in dutch, french, english, and italian. in this solemn state-paper she spoke of the responsibility of princes to the almighty, of the ancient friendship between england and the netherlands, of the cruelty and tyranny of the spaniards, of their violation of the liberties of the provinces, of their hanging, beheading, banishing without law and against justice, in the space of a few months, so many of the highest nobles in the land. although in the beginning of the cruel persecution, the pretext had been the maintenance of the catholic religion, yet it was affirmed they had not failed to exercise their barbarity upon catholics also, and even upon ecclesiastics. of the principal persons put to death, no one, it was asserted, had been more devoted to the ancient church than was the brave count egmont, who, for his famous victories in the service of spain, could never be forgotten in veracious history any more than could be the cruelty of his execution. the land had been made desolate, continued the queen, with fire, sword, famine, and murder. these misfortunes had ever been bitterly deplored by friendly nations, and none could more truly regret such sufferings than did the english, the oldest allies, and familiar neighbours of the provinces, who had been as close to them in the olden time by community of connexion and language, as man and wife. she declared that she had frequently, by amicable embassies, warned her brother of spain--speaking to him like a good, dear sister and neighbour--that unless he restrained the cruelty of his governors and their soldiers, he was sure to force his provinces into allegiance to some other power. she expressed the danger in which she should be placed if the spaniards succeeded in establishing their absolute government in the netherlands, from which position their attacks upon england would be incessant. she spoke of the enterprise favoured and set on foot by the pope and by spain, against the kingdom of ireland. she alluded to the dismissal of the spanish envoy, don bernardino de mendoza, who had been treated by her with great regard for a long time, but who had been afterwards discovered in league with certain ill-disposed and seditious subjects of hers, and with publicly condemned traitors. that envoy had arranged a plot according to which, as appeared by his secret despatches, an invasion of england by a force of men, coming partly from spain, and partly from the netherlands, might be successfully managed, and he had even noted down the necessary number of ships and men, with various other details. some of the conspirators had fled, she observed, and were now consorting with mendoza, who, after his expulsion from england, had been appointed ambassador in paris; while some had been arrested, and had confessed the plot. so soon as this envoy had been discovered to be the chief of a rebellion and projected invasion, the queen had requested him, she said, to leave the kingdom within a reasonable time, as one who was the object of deadly hatred to the english people. she had then sent an agent to spain, in order to explain the whole transaction. that agent had not been allowed even to deliver despatches to the king. when the french had sought, at a previous period, to establish their authority in scotland, even as the spaniards had attempted to do in the netherlands, and through the enormous ambition of the house of guise, to undertake the invasion of her kingdom, she had frustrated their plots, even as she meant to suppress these spanish conspiracies. she spoke of the prince of parma as more disposed by nature to mercy and humanity, than preceding governors had been, but as unable to restrain the blood-thirstiness of spaniards, increased by long indulgence. she avowed, in assuming the protection of the netherlands, and in sending her troops to those countries, but three objects: peace, founded upon the recognition of religious freedom in the provinces, restoration of their ancient political liberties, and security for england. never could there be tranquillity, for her own realm until these neighbouring countries were tranquil. these were her ends and aims, despite all that slanderous tongues might invent. the world, she observed, was overflowing with blasphemous libels, calumnies, scandalous pamphlets; for never had the devil been so busy in supplying evil tongues with venom against the professors of the christian religion. she added that in a pamphlet, ascribed to the archbishop of milan, just published, she had been accused of ingratitude to the king of spain, and of plots to take the life of alexander farnese. in answer to the first charge, she willingly acknowledged her obligations to the king of spain during the reign of her sister. she pronounced it, however, an absolute falsehood that he had ever saved her life, as if she had ever been condemned to death. she likewise denied earnestly the charge regarding the prince of parma. she protested herself incapable of such a crime, besides declaring that he had never given her offence. on the contrary, he was a man whom she had ever honoured for the rare qualities that she had noted in him, and for which he had deservedly acquired a high reputation. such, in brief analysis, was the memorable declaration of elizabeth in favour of the netherlands--a document which was a hardly disguised proclamation of war against philip. in no age of the world could an unequivocal agreement to assist rebellious subjects, with men and money, against their sovereign, be considered otherwise than as a hostile demonstration. the king of spain so regarded the movement, and forthwith issued a decree, ordering the seizure of all english as well as all netherland vessels within his ports, together with the arrest of persons, and confiscation of property. subsequently to the publication of the queen's memorial, and before the departure of the earl of leicester, sir philip sidney, having received his appointment, together with the rank of general of cavalry, arrived in the isle of walcheren, as governor of flushing, at the head of a portion of the english contingent. it is impossible not to contemplate with affection so radiant a figure, shining through the cold mists of that zeeland winter, and that distant and disastrous epoch. there is hardly a character in history upon which the imagination can dwell with more unalloyed delight. not in romantic fiction was there ever created a more attractive incarnation of martial valour, poetic genius, and purity of heart. if the mocking spirit of the soldier of lepanto could "smile chivalry away," the name alone of his english contemporary is potent enough to conjure it back again, so long as humanity is alive to the nobler impulses. "i cannot pass him over in silence," says a dusty chronicler, "that glorious star, that lively pattern of virtue, and the lovely joy of all the learned sort. it was god's will that he should be born into the world, even to show unto our age a sample of ancient virtue." the descendant of an ancient norman race, and allied to many of the proudest nobles in england, sidney himself was but a commoner, a private individual, a soldier of fortune. he was now in his thirty second year, and should have been foremost among the states men of elizabeth, had it not been, according to lord bacon, a maxim of the cecils, that "able men should be by design and of purpose suppressed." whatever of truth there may have been in the bitter remark, it is certainly strange that a man so gifted as sidney--of whom his father-in-law walsingham had declared, that "although he had influence in all countries, and a hand upon all affairs, his philip did far overshoot him with his own bow"--should have passed so much of his life in retirement, or in comparatively insignificant employments. the queen, as he himself observed, was most apt to interpret everything to his disadvantage. among those who knew him well, there seems never to have been a dissenting voice. his father, sir henry sidney, lord-deputy of ireland, and president of wales, a states man of accomplishments and experience, called him "lumen familiae suae," and said of him, with pardonable pride, "that he had the most virtues which he had ever found in any man; that he was the very formular that all well-disposed young gentlemen do form their manners and life by." the learned hubert languet, companion of melancthon, tried friend of william the silent, was his fervent admirer and correspondent. the great prince of orange held him in high esteem, and sent word to queen elizabeth, that having himself been an actor in the most important affairs of europe, and acquainted with her foremost men, he could "pledge his credit that her majesty had one of the ripest and greatest councillors of state in sir philip sidney that lived in europe." the incidents of his brief and brilliant life, up to his arrival upon the fatal soil of the netherlands, are too well known to need recalling. adorned with the best culture that, in a learned age, could be obtained in the best seminaries of his native country, where, during childhood and youth, he had been distinguished for a "lovely and familiar gravity beyond his years," he rapidly acquired the admiration of his comrades and the esteem of all his teachers. travelling for three years, he made the acquaintance and gained the personal regard of such opposite characters as charles ix. of france, henry of navarre, don john of austria, and william of orange, and perfected his accomplishments by residence and study, alternately, in courts, camps, and learned universities. he was in paris during the memorable days of august, , and narrowly escaped perishing in the st. bartholomew massacre. on his return, he was, for a brief period, the idol of the english court, which, it was said, "was maimed without his company." at the age of twenty-one he was appointed special envoy to vienna, ostensibly for the purpose of congratulating the emperor rudolph upon his accession, but in reality that he might take the opportunity of sounding the secret purposes of the protestant princes of germany, in regard to the great contest of the age. in this mission, young as he was, he acquitted himself, not only to the satisfaction, but to the admiration of walsingham, certainly a master himself in that occult science, the diplomacy of the sixteenth century. "there hath not been," said he, "any gentleman, i am sure, that hath gone through so honourable a charge with as great commendations as he." when the memorable marriage-project of queen elizabeth with anjou seemed about to take effect, he denounced the scheme in a most spirited and candid letter, addressed to her majesty; nor is it recorded that the queen was offended with his frankness. indeed we are informed that "although he found a sweet stream of sovereign humours in that well-tempered lady to run against him, yet found he safety in herself against that selfness which appeared to threaten him in her." whatever this might mean, translated out of euphuism into english, it is certain that his conduct was regarded with small favour by the court-grandees, by whom "worth, duty, and justice, were looked upon with no other eyes than lamia's." the difficulty of swimming against that sweet stream of sovereign humours in the well-tempered elizabeth, was aggravated by his quarrel, at this period, with the magnificent oxford. a dispute at a tennis-court, where many courtiers and foreigners were looking on, proceeded rapidly from one extremity to another. the earl commanded sir philip to leave the place. sir philip responded, that if he were of a mind that he should go, he himself was of a mind that he should remain; adding that if he had entreated, where he had no right to command, he might have done more than "with the scourge of fury."--"this answer," says fulke greville, in a style worthy of don adriano de armado, "did, like a bellows, blowing up the sparks of excess already kindled, make my lord scornfully call sir philip by the name of puppy. in which progress of heat, as the tempest grew more and more vehement within, so did their hearts breathe out their perturbations in a more loud and shrill accent;" and so on; but the impending duel was the next day forbidden by express command of her majesty. sidney, not feeling the full force of the royal homily upon the necessity of great deference from gentlemen to their superiors in rank, in order to protect all orders from the insults of plebeians, soon afterwards retired from the court. to his sylvan seclusion the world owes the pastoral and chivalrous romance of the 'arcadia' and to the pompous earl, in consequence, an emotion of gratitude. nevertheless, it was in him to do, rather than to write, and humanity seems defrauded, when forced to accept the 'arcadia,' the `defence of poesy,' and the 'astrophel and stella,' in discharge of its claims upon so great and pure a soul. notwithstanding this disagreeable affair, and despite the memorable letter against anjou, sir philip suddenly flashes upon us again, as one of the four challengers in a tournament to honour the duke's presence in england. a vision of him in blue gilded armour--with horses caparisoned in cloth of gold, pearl-embroidered, attended by pages in cloth of silver, venetian hose, laced hats, and by gentlemen, yeomen, and trumpeters, in yellow velvet cassocks, buskins, and feathers--as one of "the four fostered children of virtuous desire" (to wit, anjou) storming "the castle of perfect beauty" (to wit, queen elizabeth, aetatis ) rises out of the cloud-dusts of ancient chronicle for a moment, and then vanishes into air again. "having that day his hand, his horse, his lance, guided so well that they attained the prize both in the judgment of our english eyes, but of some sent by that sweet enemy, france," as he chivalrously sings, he soon afterwards felt inclined for wider fields of honourable adventure. it was impossible that knight-errant so true should not feel keenest sympathy with an oppressed people struggling against such odds, as the netherlanders were doing in their contest with spain. so soon as the treaty with england was arranged, it was his ambition to take part in the dark and dangerous enterprise, and, being son-in-law to walsingham and nephew to leicester, he had a right to believe that his talents and character would, on this occasion, be recognised. but, like his "very friend," lord willoughby, he was "not of the genus reptilia, and could neither creep nor crouch," and he failed, as usual, to win his way to the queen's favour. the governorship of flushing was denied him, and, stung to the heart by such neglect, he determined to seek his fortune beyond the seas. "sir philip hath taken a very hard resolution," wrote walsingham to davison, "to accompany sir francis drake in this voyage, moved thereto for that he saw her majesty disposed to commit the charge of flushing unto some other; which he reputed would fall out greatly to his disgrace, to see another preferred before him, both for birth and judgment inferior unto him. the despair thereof and the disgrace that he doubted he should receive have carried him into a different course." the queen, however, relenting at last, interfered to frustrate his design. having thus balked his ambition in the indian seas, she felt pledged to offer him the employment which he had originally solicited, and she accordingly conferred upon him the governorship of flushing, with the rank of general of horse, under the earl of leicester. in the latter part of november, he cast anchor, in the midst of a violent storm, at rammekins, and thence came to the city of his government. young, and looking even younger than his years--"not only of an excellent wit, but extremely beautiful of face"--with delicately chiselled anglo-norman features, smooth fair cheek, a faint moustache, blue eyes, and a mass of amber-coloured hair; such was the author of 'arcadia' and the governor of flushing. and thus an anglo-norman representative of ancient race had come back to the home of his ancestors. scholar, poet, knight-errant, finished gentleman, he aptly typified the result of seven centuries of civilization upon the wild danish pirate. for among those very quicksands of storm-beaten walachria that wondrous normandy first came into existence whose wings were to sweep over all the high places of christendom. out of these creeks, lagunes, and almost inaccessible sandbanks, those bold freebooters sailed forth on their forays against england, france, and other adjacent countries, and here they brought and buried the booty of many a wild adventure. here, at a later day, rollo the dane had that memorable dream of leprosy, the cure of which was the conversion of north gaul into normandy, of pagans into christians, and the subsequent conquest of every throne in christendom from ultima thule to byzantium. and now the descendant of those early freebooters had come back to the spot, at a moment when a wider and even more imperial swoop was to be made by their modern representatives. for the sea-kings of the sixteenth century--the drakes, hawkinses, frobishers, raleighs, cavendishes--the de moors, heemskerks, barendts--all sprung of the old pirate-lineage, whether called englanders or hollanders, and instinct with the same hereditary love of adventure, were about to wrestle with ancient tyrannies, to explore the most inaccessible regions, and to establish new commonwealths in worlds undreamed of by their ancestors--to accomplish, in short, more wondrous feats than had been attempted by the knuts, and rollos, rurics, ropers, and tancreds, of an earlier age. the place which sidney was appointed to govern was one of great military and commercial importance. flushing was the key to the navigation of the north seas, ever since the disastrous storm of a century before, in which a great trading city on the outermost verge of the island had been swallowed bodily by the ocean. the emperor had so thoroughly recognized its value, as to make special mention of the necessity for its preservation, in his private instructions to philip, and now the queen of england had confided it to one who was competent to appreciate and to defend the prize. "how great a jewel this place (flushing) is to the crown of england," wrote sidney to his uncle leicester, "and to the queen's safety, i need not now write it to your lordship, who knows it so well. yet i must needs say, the better i know it, the more i find the preciousness of it." he did not enter into his government, however, with much pomp and circumstance, but came afoot into flushing in the midst of winter and foul weather. "driven to land at rammekins," said he, "because the wind began to rise in such sort as from thence our mariners durst not enter the town, i came with as dirty a walk as ever poor governor entered his charge withal." but he was cordially welcomed, nor did he arrive by any means too soon. "i find the people very glad of our coming," he said, "and promise myself as much surety in keeping this town, as popular good-will, gotten by light hopes, and by as slight conceits, may breed; for indeed the garrison is far too weak to command by authority, which is pity . . . . i think, truly, that if my coming had been longer delayed, some alteration would have followed; for the truth is, this people is weary of war, and if they do not see such a course taken as may be likely to defend them, they will in a sudden give over the cause. . . . all will be lost if government be not presently used." he expressed much anxiety for the arrival of his uncle, with which sentiments he assured the earl that the netherlanders fully sympathized. "your lordship's coming," he said, "is as much longed for as messias is of the jews. it is indeed most necessary that your lordship make great speed to reform both the dutch and english abuses." etext editor's bookmarks: able men should be by design and of purpose suppressed he did his work, but he had not his reward matter that men may rather pray for than hope for not of the genus reptilia, and could neither creep nor crouch others that do nothing, do all, and have all the thanks peace-at-any-price party the busy devil of petty economy thought that all was too little for him weary of place without power history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , - chapter vii., part . the earl of leicester--his triumphal entrance into holland--english spies about him--importance of holland to england--spanish schemes for invading england--letter of the grand commander--perilous position of england--true nature of the contest--wealth and strength of the provinces--power of the dutch and english people--affection of the hollanders for the queen--secret purposes of leicester-- wretched condition of english troops--the nassaus and hohenlo--the earl's opinion of them--clerk and killigrew--interview with the states government general offered to the earl--discussions on the subject--the earl accepts the office--his ambition and mistakes--his installation at the hague--intimations of the queen's displeasure-- deprecatory letters of leicester--davison's mission to england-- queen's anger and jealousy--her angry letters to the earl and the states--arrival of davison--stormy interview with the queen--the second one is calmer--queen's wrath somewhat mitigated--mission of heneago to the states--shirley sent to england by the earl--his interview with elizabeth at last the earl of leicester came. embarking at harwich, with a fleet of fifty ships, and attended "by the flower and chief gallants of england"--the lords sheffield, willoughby, north, burroughs, sir gervase clifton, sir william russell, sir robert sidney, and others among the number--the new lieutenant-general of the english forces in the netherlands arrived on the th december, , at flushing. his nephew, sir philip sidney, and count maurice of nassau, with a body of troops and a great procession of civil functionaries; were in readiness to receive him, and to escort him to the lodgings prepared for him. robert dudley, earl of leicester, was then fifty-four years of age. there are few personages in english history whose adventures, real or fictitious, have been made more familiar to the world than his have been, or whose individuality has been presented in more picturesque fashion, by chronicle, tragedy, or romance. born in the same day of the month and hour of the day with the queen, but two years before her birth, the supposed synastry of their destinies might partly account, in that age of astrological superstition, for the influence which he perpetually exerted. they had, moreover, been fellow-prisoners together, in the commencement of the reign of mary, and it is possible that he may have been the medium through which the indulgent expressions of philip ii. were conveyed to the princess elizabeth. his grandfather, john dudley, that "caterpillar of the commonwealth," who lost his head in the first year of henry viii. as a reward for the grist which he brought to the mill of henry vii.; his father, the mighty duke of northumberland, who rose out of the wreck of an obscure and ruined family to almost regal power, only to perish, like his predecessor, upon the scaffold, had bequeathed him nothing save rapacity, ambition, and the genius to succeed. but elizabeth seemed to ascend the throne only to bestow gifts upon her favourite. baronies and earldoms, stars and garters, manors and monopolies, castles and forests, church livings and college chancellorships, advowsons and sinecures, emoluments and dignities, the most copious and the most exalted, were conferred upon him in breathless succession. wine, oil, currants, velvets, ecclesiastical benefices, university headships, licences to preach, to teach, to ride, to sail, to pick and to steal, all brought "grist to his mill." his grandfather, "the horse leach and shearer," never filled his coffers more rapidly than did lord robert, the fortunate courtier. of his early wedlock with the ill-starred amy robsart, of his nuptial projects with the queen, of his subsequent marriages and mock-marriages with douglas sheffield and lettice of essex, of his plottings, poisonings, imaginary or otherwise, of his countless intrigues, amatory and political--of that luxuriant, creeping, flaunting, all-pervading existence which struck its fibres into the mould, and coiled itself through the whole fabric, of elizabeth's life and reign--of all this the world has long known too much to render a repetition needful here. the inmost nature and the secret deeds of a man placed so high by wealth and station, can be seen but darkly through the glass of contemporary record. there was no tribunal to sit upon his guilt. a grandee could be judged only when no longer a favourite, and the infatuation of elizabeth for leicester terminated only with his life. he stood now upon the soil of the netherlands in the character of a "messiah," yet he has been charged with crimes sufficient to send twenty humbler malefactors to the gibbet. "i think," said a most malignant arraigner of the man, in a published pamphlet, "that the earl of leicester hath more blood lying upon his head at this day, crying for vengeance, than ever had private man before, were he never so wicked." certainly the mass of misdemeanours and infamies hurled at the head of the favourite by that "green-coated jesuit," father parsons, under the title of 'leycester's commonwealth,' were never accepted as literal verities; yet the value of the precept, to calumniate boldly, with the certainty that much of the calumny would last for ever, was never better illustrated than in the case of robert dudley. besides the lesser delinquencies of filling his purse by the sale of honours and dignities, by violent ejectments from land, fraudulent titles, rapacious enclosures of commons, by taking bribes for matters of justice, grace, and supplication to the royal authority, he was accused of forging various letters to the queen, often to ruin his political adversaries, and of plottings to entrap them into conspiracies, playing first the comrade and then the informer. the list of his murders and attempts to murder was almost endless. "his lordship hath a special fortune," saith the jesuit, "that when he desireth any woman's favour, whatsoever person standeth in his way hath the luck to die quickly." he was said to have poisoned alice drayton, lady lennox, lord sussex, sir nicholas throgmorton, lord sheffield, whose widow he married and then poisoned, lord essex, whose widow he also married, and intended to poison, but who was said to have subsequently poisoned him--besides murders or schemes for murder of various other individuals, both french and english. "he was a rare artist in poison," said sir robert naunton, and certainly not caesar borgia, nor his father or sister, was more accomplished in that difficult profession than was dudley, if half the charges against him could be believed. fortunately for his fame, many of them were proved to be false. sir henry sidney, lord deputy of ireland, at the time of the death of lord essex, having caused a diligent inquiry to be made into that dark affair, wrote to the council that it was usual for the earl to fall into a bloody flux when disturbed in his mind, and that his body when opened showed no signs of poison. it is true that sir henry, although an honourable man, was leicester's brother-in-law, and that perhaps an autopsy was not conducted at that day in ireland on very scientific principles. his participation in the strange death of his first wife was a matter of current belief among his contemporaries. "he is infamed by the death of his wife," said burghley, and the tale has since become so interwoven with classic and legendary fiction, as well as with more authentic history, that the phantom of the murdered amy robsart is sure to arise at every mention of the earl's name. yet a coroner's inquest--as appears from his own secret correspondence with his relative and agent at cumnor--was immediately and persistently demanded by dudley. a jury was impaneled--every man of them a stranger to him, and some of them enemies. antony forster, appleyard, and arthur robsart, brother-in-law and brother of the lady, were present, according to dudley's special request; "and if more of her friends could have been sent," said he, "i would have sent them;" but with all their minuteness of inquiry, "they could find," wrote blount, "no presumptions of evil," although he expressed a suspicion that "some of the jurymen were sorry that they could not." that the unfortunate lady was killed by a fall down stairs was all that could be made of it by a coroner's inquest, rather hostile than otherwise, and urged to rigorous investigation by the supposed culprit himself. nevertheless, the calumny has endured for three centuries, and is likely to survive as many more. whatever crimes dudley may have committed in the course of his career, there is no doubt whatever that he was the most abused man in europe. he had been deeply wounded by the jesuit's artful publication, in which all the misdeeds with which he was falsely or justly charged were drawn up in awful array, in a form half colloquial, half judicial. "you had better give some contentment to my lord leicester," wrote the french envoy from london to his government, "on account of the bitter feelings excited in him by these villainous books lately written against him." the earl himself ascribed these calumnies to the jesuits, to the guise faction, and particularly to--the queen of scots. he was said, in consequence, to have vowed an eternal hatred to that most unfortunate and most intriguing princess. "leicester has lately told a friend," wrote charles paget, "that he will persecute you to the uttermost, for that he supposeth your majesty to be privy to the setting forth of the book against him." nevertheless, calumniated or innocent he was at least triumphant over calumny. nothing could shake his hold upon elizabeth's affections. the queen scorned but resented the malignant attacks upon the reputation of her favourite. she declared "before god and in her conscience, that she knew the libels against him to be most scandalous, and such as none but an incarnate devil himself could dream to be true." his power, founded not upon genius nor virtue, but upon woman's caprice, shone serenely above the gulf where there had been so many shipwrecks. "i am now passing into another world," said sussex, upon his death-bed, to his friends, "and i must leave you to your fortunes; but beware of the gipsy, or he will be too hard for you. you know not the beast so well as i do." the "gipsy," as he had been called from his dark complexion, had been renowned in youth for the beauty of his person, being "tall and singularly well-featured, of a sweet aspect, but high foreheaded, which was of no discommendation," according to naunton. the queen, who had the passion of her father for tall and proper men, was easier won by externals, from her youth even to the days of her dotage, than befitted so very sagacious a personage. chamberlains, squires of the body, carvers, cup-bearers, gentlemen-ushers, porters, could obtain neither place nor favour at court, unless distinguished for stature, strength, or extraordinary activity. to lose a tooth had been known to cause the loss of a place, and the excellent constitution of leg which helped sir christopher hatton into the chancellorship, was not more remarkable perhaps than the success of similar endowments in other contemporaries. leicester, although stately and imposing, had passed his summer solstice. a big bulky man, with a long red face, a bald head, a defiant somewhat sinister eye, a high nose, and a little torrent of foam-white curly beard, he was still magnificent in costume. rustling in satin and feathers, with jewels in his ears, and his velvet toque stuck as airily as ever upon the side of his head, he amazed the honest hollanders, who had been used to less gorgeous chieftains. "every body is wondering at the great magnificence and splendour of his clothes," said the plain chronicler of utrecht. for, not much more than a year before, fulke greville had met at delft a man whose external adornments were simpler; a somewhat slip-shod personage, whom he thus pourtrayed: "his uppermost garment was a gown," said the euphuistic fulke, "yet such as, i confidently affirm, a mean-born student of our inns of court would not have been well disposed to walk the streets in. unbuttoned his doublet was, and of like precious matter and form to the other. his waistcoat, which showed itself under it, not unlike the best sort of those woollen knit ones which our ordinary barge-watermen row us in. his company about him, the burgesses of that beerbrewing town. no external sign of degree could have discovered the inequality of his worth or estate from that multitude. nevertheless, upon conversing with him, there was an outward passage of inward greatness." of a certainty there must have been an outward passage of inward greatness about him; for the individual in unbuttoned doublet and bargeman's waistcoat, was no other than william the silent. a different kind of leader had now descended among those rebels, yet it would be a great mistake to deny the capacity or vigorous intentions of the magnificent earl, who certainly was like to find himself in a more difficult and responsible situation than any he had yet occupied. and now began a triumphal progress through the land, with a series of mighty banquets and festivities, in which no man could play a better part than leicester. from flushing he came to middelburg, where, upon christmas eve (according to the new reckoning), there was an entertainment, every dish of which has been duly chronicled. pigs served on their feet, pheasants in their feathers, and baked swans with their necks thrust through gigantic pie-crust; crystal castles of confectionery with silver streams flowing at their base, and fair virgins leaning from the battlements, looking for their new english champion, "wine in abundance, variety of all sorts, and wonderful welcomes "--such was the bill of fare. the next day the lieutenant-general returned the compliment to the magistrates of middelburg with a tremendous feast. then came an interlude of unexpected famine; for as the earl sailed with his suite in a fleet of two hundred vessels for dort--a voyage of not many hours' usual duration--there descended a mighty frozen fog upon the waters, and they lay five whole days and nights in their ships, almost starved with hunger and cold--offering in vain a "pound of silver for a pound of bread." emerging at last from this dismal predicament, he landed at dort, and so went to rotterdam and delft, everywhere making his way through lines of musketeers and civic functionaries, amid roaring cannon, pealing bells, burning cressets, blazing tar-barrels, fiery winged dragons, wreaths of flowers, and latin orations. the farther he went the braver seemed the country, and the better beloved his. lordship. nothing was left undone, in the language of ancient chronicle, to fill the bellies and the heads of the whole company. at the close of the year he came to the hague, where the festivities were unusually magnificent. a fleet of barges was sent to escort him. peter, james, and john, met him upon the shore, while the saviour appeared walking upon the waves, and ordered his disciples to cast their nets, and to present the fish to his excellency. farther on, he was confronted by mars and bellona, who recited latin odes in his honour. seven beautiful damsels upon a stage, representing the united states, offered him golden keys; seven others equally beautiful, embodying the seven sciences, presented him with garlands, while an enthusiastic barber adorned his shop with seven score of copper basins, with a wax-light in each, together with a rose, and a latin posy in praise of queen elizabeth. then there were tiltings in the water between champions mounted upon whales, and other monsters of the deep-representatives of siege, famine, pestilence, and murder--the whole interspersed with fireworks, poetry, charades, and matthias, nor anjou, nor king philip, nor the emperor charles, in their triumphal progresses, had been received with more spontaneous or more magnificent demonstrations. never had the living pictures been more startling, the allegories more incomprehensible, the banquets more elaborate, the orations more tedious. beside himself with rapture, leicester almost assumed the god. in delft, a city which he described as "another london almost for beauty and fairness," he is said so far to have forgotten himself as to declare that his family had--in the person of lady jane grey, his father, and brother--been unjustly deprived of the crown of england; an indiscretion which caused a shudder in all who heard him. it was also very dangerous for the lieutenant-general to exceed the bounds of becoming modesty at that momentous epoch. his power, as we shall soon have occasion to observe, was anomalous, and he was surrounded by enemies. he was not only to grapple with a rapidly developing opposition in the states, but he was surrounded with masked enemies, whom he had brought with him from england. every act and word of his were liable to closest scrutiny, and likely to be turned against him. for it was most characteristic of that intriguing age, that even the astute walsingham, who had an eye and an ear at every key-hole in europe, was himself under closest domestic inspection. there was one poley, a trusted servant of lady sidney, then living in the house of her father walsingham, during sir philip's absence, who was in close communication with lord montjoy's brother, blount, then high in favour of queen elizabeth--"whose grandmother she might be for his age and hers"--and with another brother christopher blount, at that moment in confidential attendance upon lord leicester in holland. now poley, and both the blounts, were, in reality, papists, and in intimate correspondence with the agents of the queen of scots, both at home and abroad, although "forced to fawn upon leicester, to see if they might thereby live quiet." they had a secret "alphabet," or cipher, among them, and protested warmly, that they "honoured the ground whereon queen mary trod better than leicester with all his generation; and that they felt bound to serve her who was the only saint living on the earth." it may be well understood then that the earl's position was a slippery one, and that great assumption might be unsafe. "he taketh the matter upon him," wrote morgan to the queen of scots, "as though he were an absolute king; but he hath many personages about him of good place out of england, the best number whereof desire nothing more than his confusion. some of them be gone with him to avoid the persecution for religion in england. my poor advice and labour shall not be wanting to give leicester all dishonour, which will fall upon him in the end with shame enough; though for the present he be very strong." many of these personages of good place, and enjoying "charge and credit" with the earl had very serious plans in their heads. some of them meant "for the service of god, and the advantage of the king of spain, to further the delivery of some notable towns in holland and zeeland to the said king and his ministers," and we are like to hear of these individuals again. meantime, the earl of leicester was at the hague. why was he there? what was his work? why had elizabeth done such violence to her affection as to part with her favourite-in-chief; and so far overcome her thrift, as to furnish forth, rather meagrely to be sure, that little army of englishmen? why had the flower of england's chivalry set foot upon that dark and bloody ground where there seemed so much disaster to encounter, and so little glory to reap? why had england thrown herself so heroically into the breach, just as the last bulwarks were falling which protected holland from the overwhelming onslaught of spain? it was because holland was the threshold of england; because the two countries were one by danger and by destiny; because the naval expedition from spain against england was already secretly preparing; because the deposed tyrant of spain intended the provinces, when again subjugated, as a steppingstone to the conquest of england; because the naval and military forces of holland--her numerous ships, her hardy mariners, her vast wealth, her commodious sea-ports, close to the english coast--if made spanish property would render philip invincible by sea and land; and because the downfall of holland and of protestantism would be death to elizabeth, and annihilation to england. there was little doubt on the subject in the minds of those engaged in this expedition. all felt most keenly the importance of the game, in which the queen was staking her crown, and england its national existence. "i pray god," said wilford, an officer much in walsingham's confidence, "that i live not to see this enterprise quail, and with it the utter subversion of religion throughout all christendom. it may be i may be judged to be afraid of my own shadow. god grant it be so. but if her majesty had not taken the helm in hand, and my lord of leicester sent over, this country had been gone ere this. . . . this war doth defend england. who is he that will refuse to spend his life and living in it? if her majesty consume twenty thousand men in the cause, the experimented men that will remain will double that strength to the realm." this same wilford commanded a company in ostend, and was employed by leicester in examining the defences of that important place. he often sent information to the secretary, "troubling him with the rude stile of a poor soldier, being driven to scribble in haste." he reiterated, in more than one letter, the opinion, that twenty thousand men consumed in the war would be a saving in the end, and his own determination--although he had intended retiring from the military profession--to spend not only his life in the cause, but also the poor living that god had given him. "her highness hath now entered into it," he said; "the fire is kindled; whosoever suffers it to go out, it will grow dangerous to that side. the whole state of religion is in question, and the realm of england also, if this action quail. god grant we never live to see that doleful day. her majesty hath such footing now in these parts, as i judge it impossible for the king to weary her out, if every man will put to the work his helping hand, whereby it may be lustily followed, and the war not suffered to cool. the freehold of england will be worth but little, if this action quail, and therefore i wish no subject to spare his purse towards it." spain moved slowly. philip the prudent was not sudden or rash, but his whole life had proved, and was to prove, him inflexible in his purposes, and patient in his attempts to carry them into effect, even when the purposes had become chimerical, and the execution impossible. before the fall of antwerp he had matured his scheme for the invasion of england, in most of its details--a necessary part of which was of course the reduction of holland and zeeland. "surely no danger nor fear of any attempt can grow to england," wrote wilford, "so long as we can hold this country good." but never was honest soldier more mistaken than he, when he added:--"the papists will make her highness afraid of a great fleet now preparing in spain. we hear it also, but it is only a scare-crow to cool the enterprise here." it was no scare-crow. on the very day on which wilford was thus writing to walsingham, philip the second was writing to alexander farnese. "the english," he said, "with their troops having gained a footing in the islands (holland and zeeland) give me much anxiety. the english catholics are imploring me with much importunity to relieve them from the persecution they are suffering. when you sent me a plan, with the coasts, soundings, quicksands, and ports of england, you said that the enterprise of invading that country should be deferred till we had reduced the isles; that, having them, we could much more conveniently attack england; or that at least we should wait till we had got antwerp. as the city is now taken, i want your advice now about the invasion of england. to cut the root of the evils constantly growing up there, both for god's service and mine, is desirable. so many evils will thus be remedied, which would not be by only warring with the islands. it would be an uncertain and expensive war to go to sea for the purpose of chastising the insolent english corsairs, however much they deserve chastisement. i charge you to be secret, to give the matter your deepest attention, and to let me have your opinions at once." philip then added a postscript, in his own hand, concerning the importance of acquiring a sea-port in holland, as a basis of operations against england. "without a port," he said, "we can do nothing whatever." a few weeks later, the grand commander of castile, by philip's orders, and upon subsequent information received from the prince of parma, drew up an elaborate scheme for the invasion of england, and for the government of that country afterwards; a program according to which the king was to shape his course for a long time to come. the plot was an excellent plot. nothing could be more artistic, more satisfactory to the prudent monarch; but time was to show whether there might not be some difficulty in the way of its satisfactory development. "the enterprise," said the commander, "ought certainly to be undertaken as serving the cause of the lord. from the pope we must endeavour to extract a promise of the largest aid we can get for the time when the enterprise can be undertaken. we must not declare that time however, in order to keep the thing a secret, and because perhaps thus more will be promised, under the impression that it will never take effect. he added that the work could not well be attempted before august or september of the following year; the only fear of such delay being that the french could hardly be kept during all that time in a state of revolt." for this was a uniform portion of the great scheme. france was to be kept, at philip's expense, in a state of perpetual civil war; its every city and village to be the scene of unceasing conflict and bloodshed--subjects in arms against king, and family against family; and the netherlands were to be ravaged with fire and sword; all this in order that the path might be prepared for spanish soldiers into the homes of england. so much of misery to the whole human race was it in the power of one painstaking elderly valetudinarian to inflict, by never for an instant neglecting the business of his life. troops and vessels for the english invasion ought, in the commander's opinion, to be collected in flanders, under colour of an enterprise against holland and zeeland, while the armada to be assembled in spain, of galleons, galeazas, and galleys, should be ostensibly for an expedition to the indies. then, after the conquest, came arrangements for the government of england. should philip administer his new kingdom by a viceroy, or should he appoint a king out of his own family? on the whole the chances for the prince of parma seemed the best of any. "we must liberate the queen of scotland," said the grand commander, "and marry her to some one or another, both in order to put her out of love with her son, and to conciliate her devoted adherents. of course the husband should be one of your majesty's nephews, and none could be so appropriate as the prince of parma, that great captain, whom his talents, and the part he has to bear in the business, especially indicate for that honour." then there was a difficulty about the possible issue of such a marriage. the farneses claimed portugal; so that children sprung from the bloodroyal of england blended with that of parma, might choose to make those pretensions valid. but the objection was promptly solved by the commander:--"the queen of scotland is sure to have no children," he said. that matter being adjusted, parma's probable attitude as king of england was examined. it was true his ambition might cause occasional uneasiness, but then he might make himself still more unpleasant in the netherlands. "if your majesty suspects him," said the commander, "which, after all, is unfair, seeing the way, in which he has been conducting himself--it is to be remembered that in flanders are similar circumstances and opportunities, and that he is well armed, much beloved in the country, and that the natives are of various humours. the english plan will furnish an honourable departure for him out of the provinces; and the principle of loyal obligation will have much influence over so chivalrous a knight as he, when he is once placed on the english throne. moreover, as he will be new there, he will have need of your majesty's favour to maintain himself, and there will accordingly be good correspondence with holland and the islands. thus your majesty can put the infanta and her husband into full possession of all the netherlands; having provided them with so excellent a neighbour in england, and one so closely bound and allied to them. then, as he is to have no english children" (we have seen that the commander had settled that point) "he will be a very good mediator to arrange adoptions, especially if you make good provision for his son rainuccio in italy. the reasons in favour of this plan being so much stronger than those against it, it would be well that your majesty should write clearly to the prince of parma, directing him to conduct the enterprise" (the english invasion), "and to give him the first offer for this marriage (with queen mary) if he likes the scheme. if not, he had better mention which of the archdukes should be substituted in his place." there happened to be no lack of archdukes at that period for anything comfortable that might offer--such as a throne in england, holland, or france--and the austrian house was not remarkable for refusing convenient marriages; but the immediate future only could show whether alexander i. of the house of farnese was to reign in england, or whether the next king of that country was to be called matthias, maximilian, or ernest of hapsburg. meantime the grand commander was of opinion that the invasion-project was to be pushed forward as rapidly and as secretly as possible; because, before any one of philip's nephews could place himself upon the english throne, it was first necessary to remove elizabeth from that position. before disposing of the kingdom, the preliminary step of conquering it was necessary. afterwards it would be desirable, without wasting more time than was requisite, to return with a large portion of the invading force out of england, in order to complete the conquest of holland. for after all, england was to be subjugated only as a portion of one general scheme; the main features of which were the reannexation of holland and "the islands," and the acquisition of unlimited control upon the seas. thus the invasion of england was no "scarecrow," as wilford imagined, but a scheme already thoroughly matured. if holland and zeeland should meantime fall into the hands of philip, it was no exaggeration on that soldier's part to observe that the "freehold of england would be worth but little." to oppose this formidable array against the liberties of europe stood elizabeth tudor and the dutch republic. for the queen, however arbitrary her nature, fitly embodied much of the nobler elements in the expanding english national character. she felt instinctively that her reliance in the impending death-grapple was upon the popular principle, the national sentiment, both in her own country and in holland. that principle and that sentiment were symbolized in the netherland revolt; and england, although under a somewhat despotic rule, was already fully pervaded with the instinct of self-government. the people held the purse and the sword. no tyranny could be permanently established so long as the sovereign was obliged to come every year before parliament to ask for subsidies; so long as all the citizens and yeomen of england had weapons in their possession, and were carefully trained to use them; so long, in short, as the militia was the only army, and private adventurers or trading companies created and controlled the only navy. war, colonization, conquest, traffic, formed a joint business and a private speculation. if there were danger that england, yielding to purely mercantile habits of thought and action, might degenerate from the more martial standard to which she had been accustomed, there might be virtue in that netherland enterprise, which was now to call forth all her energies. the provinces would be a seminary for english soldiers. "there can be no doubt of our driving the enemy out of the country through famine and excessive charges," said the plain-spoken english soldier already quoted, who came out with leicester, "if every one of us will put our minds to go forward without making a miserable gain by the wars. a man may see, by this little progress journey, what this long peace hath wrought in us. we are weary of the war before we come where it groweth, such a danger hath this long peace brought us into. this is, and will be, in my opinion, a most fit school and nursery to nourish soldiers to be able to keep and defend our country hereafter, if men will follow it." wilford was vehement in denouncing the mercantile tendencies of his countrymen, and returned frequently to that point in his communications with walsingham and other statesmen. "god hath stirred up this action," he repeated again, "to be a school to breed up soldiers to defend the freedom of england, which through these long times of peace and quietness is brought into a most dangerous estate, if it should be attempted. our delicacy is such that we are already weary, yet this journey is naught in respect to the misery and hardship that soldiers must and do endure." he was right in his estimate of the effect likely to be produced by the war upon the military habits of englishmen; for there can be no doubt that the organization and discipline of english troops was in anything but a satisfactory state at that period. there was certainly vast room for improvement. nevertheless he was wrong in his views of the leading tendencies of his age. holland and england, self-helping, self-moving, were already inaugurating a new era in the history of the world. the spirit of commercial maritime enterprise--then expanding rapidly into large proportions--was to be matched against the religious and knightly enthusiasm which had accomplished such wonders in an age that was passing away. spain still personified, and had ever personified, chivalry, loyalty, piety; but its chivalry, loyalty, and piety, were now in a corrupted condition. the form was hollow, and the sacred spark had fled. in holland and england intelligent enterprise had not yet degenerated into mere greed for material prosperity. the love of danger, the thirst for adventure, the thrilling sense of personal responsibility and human dignity--not the base love for land and lucre--were the governing sentiments which led those bold dutch and english rovers to circumnavigate the world in cockle-shells, and to beard the most potent monarch on the earth, both at home and abroad, with a handful of volunteers. this then was the contest, and this the machinery by which it was to be maintained. a struggle for national independence, liberty of conscience, freedom of the seas, against sacerdotal and world-absorbing tyranny; a mortal combat of the splendid infantry of spain and italy, the professional reiters of germany, the floating castles of a world-empire, with the militiamen and mercantile-marine of england and holland united. holland had been engaged twenty years long in the conflict. england had thus far escaped it; but there was no doubt, and could be none, that her time had come. she must fight the battle of protestantism on sea and shore, shoulder to shoulder, with the netherlanders, or await the conqueror's foot on her own soil. what now was the disposition and what the means of the provinces to do their part in the contest? if the twain as holland wished, had become of one flesh, would england have been the loser? was it quite sure that elizabeth--had she even accepted the less compromising title which she refused--would not have been quite as much the protected as the "protectress?" it is very certain that the english, on their arrival in the provinces, were singularly impressed by the opulent and stately appearance of the country and its inhabitants. notwithstanding the tremendous war which the hollanders had been waging against spain for twenty years, their commerce had continued to thrive, and their resources to increase. leicester was in a state of constant rapture at the magnificence which surrounded him, from his first entrance into the country. notwithstanding the admiration expressed by the hollanders for the individual sumptuousness of the lieutenant-general; his followers, on their part, were startled by the general luxury of their new allies. "the realm is rich and full of men," said wilford, "the sums men exceed in apparel would bear the brunt of this war;" and again, "if the excess used in sumptuous apparel were only abated, and that we could convert the same to these wars, it would stop a great gap." the favourable view taken by the english as to the resources and inclination of the netherland commonwealth was universal. "the general wish and desire of these countrymen," wrote sir thomas shirley, "is that the amity begun between england and this nation may be everlasting, and there is not any of our company of judgment but wish the same. for all they that see the goodliness and stateliness of these towns, strengthened both with fortification and natural situation, all able to defend themselves with their own abilities, must needs think it too fair a prey to be let pass, and a thing most worthy to be embraced." leicester, whose enthusiasm continued to increase as rapidly as the queen's zeal seemed to be cooling, was most anxious lest the short-comings of his own government should work irreparable evil. "i pray you, my lord," he wrote to burghley, "forget not us poor exiles; if you do, god must and will forget you. and great pity it were that so noble provinces and goodly havens, with such infinite ships and mariners, should not be always as they may now easily be, at the assured devotion of england. in my opinion he can neither love queen nor country that would not wish and further it should be so. and seeing her majesty is thus far entered into the cause, and that these people comfort themselves in full hope of her favour, it were a sin and a shame it should not be handled accordingly, both for honour and surety." sir john conway, who accompanied the earl through the whole of his "progress journey," was quite as much struck as he by the flourishing aspect and english proclivities of the provinces. "the countries which we have passed," he said, "are fertile in their nature; the towns, cities, buildings, of more state and beauty, to such as have travelled other countries, than any they have ever seen. the people the most industrious by all means to live that be in the world, and, no doubt, passing rich. they outwardly show themselves of good heart, zeal, and loyalty, towards the queen our mistress. there is no doubt that the general number of them had rather come under her majesty's regiment, than to continue under the states and burgomasters of their country. the impositions which they lay in defence of their state is wonderful. if her highness proceed in this beginning, she may retain these parts hers, with their good love, and her great glory and gain. i would she might as perfectly see the whole country, towns, profits, and pleasures thereof, in a glass, as she may her own face; i do then assure myself she would with careful consideration receive them, and not allow of any man's reason to the contrary . . . . the country is worthy any prince in the world, the people do reverence the queen, and in love of her do so believe that the grace of leicester is by god and her sent among them for her good. and they believe in him for the redemption of their bodies, as they do in god for their souls. i dare pawn my soul, that if her majesty will allow him the just and rightful mean to manage this cause, that he will so handle the manner and matter as shall highly both please and profit her majesty, and increase her country, and his own honour." lord north, who held a high command in the auxiliary force, spoke also with great enthusiasm. "had your lordship seen," he wrote to burghley, "with what thankful hearts these countries receive all her majesty's subjects, what multitudes of people they be, what stately cities and buildings they have, how notably fortified by art, how strong by nature, flow fertile the whole country, and how wealthy it is, you would, i know, praise the lord that opened your lips to undertake this enterprise, the continuance and good success whereof will eternise her majesty, beautify her crown, with the most shipping, with the most populous and wealthy countries, that ever prince added to his kingdom, or that is or can be found in europe. i lack wit, good my lord, to dilate this matter." leicester, better informed than some of those in his employment, entertained strong suspicions concerning philip's intentions with regard to england; but he felt sure that the only way to laugh at a spanish invasion was to make holland and england as nearly one as it was possible to do. "no doubt that the king of spain's preparations by sea be great," he, said; "but i know that all that he and his friends can make are not able to match with her majesty's forces, if it please her to use the means that god hath given her. but besides her own, if she need; i will undertake to furnish her from hence, upon two months' warning, a navy for strong and tall ships, with their furniture and mariners, that the king of spain, and all that he can make, shall not be able to encounter with them. i think the bruit of his preparations is made the greater to terrify her majesty and this country people. but, thanked be god, her majesty hath little cause to fear him. and in this country they esteem no more of his power by sea than i do of six fisher-boats off rye." thus suggestive is it to peep occasionally behind the curtain. in the calm cabinet of the escorial, philip and his comendador mayor are laying their heads together, preparing the invasion of england; making arrangements for king alexander's coronation in that island, and--like sensible, farsighted persons as they are--even settling the succession to the throne after alexander's death, instead of carelessly leaving such distant details to chance, or subsequent consideration. on the other hand, plain dutch sea-captains, grim beggars of the sea, and the like, denizens of a free commonwealth and of the boundless ocean-men who are at home on blue water, and who have burned gunpowder against those prodigious slave-rowed galleys of spain--together with their new allies, the dauntless mariners of england--who at this very moment are "singeing the king of spain's beard," as it had never been singed before--are not so much awestruck with the famous preparations for invasion as was perhaps to be expected. there may be a delay, after all, before parma can be got safely established in london, and elizabeth in orcus, and before the blood-tribunal of the inquisition can substitute its sway for that of the "most noble, wise, and learned united states." certainly, philip the prudent would have been startled, difficult as he was to astonish, could he have known that those rebel hollanders of his made no more account of his slowly-preparing invincible armada than of six fisher-boats off rye. time alone could show where confidence had been best placed. meantime it was certain, that it well behoved holland and england to hold hard together, nor let "that enterprise quail." the famous expedition of sir francis drake was the commencement of a revelation. "that is the string," said leicester, "that touches the king indeed." it was soon to be made known to the world that the ocean was not a spanish lake, nor both the indies the private property of philip. "while the riches of the indies continue," said leicester, "he thinketh he will be able to weary out all other princes; and i know, by good means, that he more feareth this action of sir francis than he ever did anything that has been attempted against him." with these continued assaults upon the golden treasure-houses of spain, and by a determined effort to maintain the still more important stronghold which had been wrested from her in the netherlands, england might still be safe. "this country is so full of ships and mariners," said leicester, "so abundant in wealth, and in the means to make money, that, had it but stood neutral, what an aid had her majesty been deprived of. but if it had been the enemy's also, i leave it to your consideration what had been likely to ensue. these people do now honour and love her majesty in marvellous sort." there was but one feeling on this most important subject among the english who went to the netherlands. all held the same language. the question was plainly presented to england whether she would secure to herself the great bulwark of her defence, or place it in the hands of her mortal foe? how could there be doubt or supineness on such a momentous subject? "surely, my lord," wrote richard cavendish to burghley, "if you saw the wealth, the strength, the shipping, and abundance of mariners, whereof these countries stand furnished, your heart would quake to think that so hateful an enemy as spain should again be furnished with such instruments; and the spaniards themselves do nothing doubt upon the hope of the consequence hereof, to assure themselves of the certain ruin of her majesty and the whole estate." and yet at the very outset of leicester's administration, there was a whisper of peace-overtures to spain, secretly made by elizabeth in her own behalf, and in that of the provinces. we shall have soon occasion to examine into the truth of these rumours, which, whether originating in truth or falsehood, were most pernicious in their effects. the hollanders were determined never to return to slavery again, so long as they could fire a shot in their own defence. they earnestly wished english cooperation, but it was the cooperation of english matchlocks and english cutlasses, not english protocols and apostilles. it was military, not diplomatic machinery that they required. if they could make up their minds to submit to philip and the inquisition again, philip and the holy office were but too ready to receive the erring penitents to their embrace without a go-between. it was war, not peace, therefore, that holland meant by the english alliance. it was war, not peace, that philip intended. it was war, not peace, that elizabeth's most trusty counsellors knew to be inevitable. there was also, as we have shown, no doubt whatever as to the good disposition, and the great power of the republic to bear its share in the common cause. the enthusiasm of the hollanders was excessive. "there was such a noise, both in delft, rotterdam, and dort," said leicester, "in crying 'god save the queen!' as if she had been in cheapside." her own subjects could not be more loyal than were the citizens and yeomen of holland. "the members of the states dare not but be queen elizabeth's," continued the earl, "for by the living god! if there should fall but the least unkindness through their default, the people would kill them. all sorts of people, from highest to lowest, assure themselves, now that they have her majesty's good countenance, to beat all the spaniards out of their country. never was there people in such jollity as these be. i could be content to lose a limb, could her majesty see these countries and towns as i have done." he was in truth excessively elated, and had already, in imagination, vanquished alexander farnese, and eclipsed the fame of william the silent. "they will serve under me," he observed, "with a better will than ever they served under the prince of orange. yet they loved him well, but they never hoped of the liberty of this country till now." thus the english government had every reason to be satisfied with the aspect of its affairs in the netherlands. but the nature of the earl's authority was indefinite. the queen had refused the sovereignty and the protectorate. she had also distinctly and peremptorily forbidden leicester to assume any office or title that might seem at variance with such a refusal on her part. yet it is certain that, from the very first, he had contemplated some slight disobedience to these prohibitions. "what government is requisite"--wrote he in a secret memorandum of "things most necessary to understand"--"to be appointed to him that shall be their governor? first, that he have as much authority as the prince of orange, or any other governor or captain-general, hath had heretofore." now the prince of orange hath been stadholder of each of the united provinces, governor-general, commander-in-chief, count of holland in prospect, and sovereign, if he had so willed it. it would doubtless have been most desirable for the country, in its confused condition, had there been a person competent to wield, and willing to accept, the authority once exercised by william i. but it was also certain that this was exactly the authority which elizabeth had forbidden leicester to assume. yet it is difficult to understand what position the queen intended that her favourite should maintain, nor how he was to carry out her instructions, while submitting to her prohibitions. he was directed to cause the confused government of the provinces to be redressed, and a better form of polity to be established. he was ordered, in particular, to procure a radical change in the constitution, by causing the deputies to the general assembly to be empowered to decide upon important matters, without, as had always been the custom, making direct reference to the assemblies of the separate provinces. he was instructed to bring about, in some indefinite way, a complete reform in financial matters, by compelling the states-general to raise money by liberal taxation, according to the "advice of her majesty, delivered unto them by her lieutenant." and how was this radical change in the institutions of the provinces to be made by an english earl, whose only authority was that of commander-in-chief over five thousand half-starved, unpaid, utterly-forlorn english troops? the netherland envoys in england, in their parting advice, most distinctly urged him "to hale authority with the first, to declare himself chief head and governor-general" of the whole country,--for it was a political head that was wanted in order to restore unity of action--not an additional general, where there were already generals in plenty. sir john norris, valiant, courageous, experienced--even if not, as walsingham observed, a "religious soldier," nor learned in anything "but a kind of licentious and corrupt government"--was not likely to require the assistance of the new lieutenant-general in field operations nor could the army be brought into a state of thorough discipline and efficiency by the magic of leicester's name. the rank and file of the english army--not the commanders-needed strengthening. the soldiers required shoes and stockings, bread and meat, and for these articles there were not the necessary funds, nor would the title of lieutenant-general supply the deficiency. the little auxiliary force was, in truth, in a condition most pitiable to behold: it was difficult to say whether the soldiers who had been already for a considerable period in the netherlands, or those who had been recently levied in the purlieus of london, were in the most unpromising plight. the beggarly state in which elizabeth had been willing that her troops should go forth to the wars was a sin and a disgrace. well might her lieutenant-general say that her "poor subjects were no better than abjects." there were few effective companies remaining of the old force. "there is but a small number of the first bands left," said sir john conway, "and those so pitiful and unable ever to serve again, as i leave to speak further of theirs, to avoid grief to your heart. a monstrous fault there hath been somewhere." leicester took a manful and sagacious course at starting. those who had no stomach for the fight were ordered to depart. the chaplain gave them sermons; the lieutenant-general, on st. stephen's day, made them a "pithy and honourable" oration, and those who had the wish or the means to buy themselves out of the adventure, were allowed to do so: for the earl was much disgusted with the raw material out of which he was expected to manufacture serviceable troops. swaggering ruffians from the disreputable haunts of london, cockney apprentices, brokendown tapsters, discarded serving men; the bardolphs and pistols, mouldys, warts, and the like--more at home in tavern-brawls or in dark lanes than on the battle-field--were not the men to be entrusted with the honour of england at a momentous crisis. he spoke with grief and shame of the worthless character and condition of the english youths sent over to the netherlands. "believe me," said he, "you will all repent the cockney kind of bringing up at this day of young men. they be gone hence with shame enough, and too many, that i will warrant, will make as many frays with bludgeons and bucklers as any in london shall do; but such shall never have credit with me again. our simplest men in show have been our best men, and your gallant blood and ruffian men the worst of all others." much winnowed, as it was, the small force might in time become more effective; and the earl spent freely of his own substance to supply the wants of his followers, and to atone for the avarice of his sovereign. the picture painted however by muster-master digger of the plumed troops that had thus come forth to maintain the honour of england and the cause of liberty, was anything but imposing. none knew better than digges their squalid and slovenly condition, or was more anxious to effect a reformation therein. "a very wise, stout fellow he is," said the earl, "and very careful to serve thoroughly her majesty." leicester relied much upon his efforts. "there is good hope," said the muster-master, "that his excellency will shortly establish such good order for the government and training of our nation, that these weak, bad-furnished, ill-armed, and worse-trained bands, thus rawly left unto him, shall within a few months prove as well armed, trained, complete, gallant companies as shall be found elsewhere in europe." the damage they were likely to inflict upon the enemy seemed very problematical, until they should have been improved by some wholesome ball-practice. "they are so unskilful," said digger, "that if they should be carried to the field no better trained than yet they are, they would prove much more dangerous to their own leaders and companies than any ways serviceable on their enemies. the hard and miserable estate of the soldiers generally, excepting officers, hath been such, as by the confessions of the captains themselves, they have been offered by many of their soldiers thirty and forty pounds a piece to be dismissed and sent away; whereby i doubt not the flower of the pressed english bands are gone, and the remnant supplied with such paddy persons as commonly, in voluntary procurements, men are glad to accept." even after the expiration of four months the condition of the paddy persons continued most destitute. the english soldiers became mere barefoot starving beggars in the streets, as had never been the case in the worst of times, when the states were their paymasters. the little money brought from the treasury by the earl, and the large sums which he had contributed out of his own pocket, had been spent in settling, and not fully settling, old scores. "let me entreat you," wrote leicester to walsingham, "to be a mean to her majesty, that the poor soldiers be not beaten for my sake. there came no penny of treasure over since my coming hither. that which then came was most part due before it came. there is much still due. they cannot get a penny, their credit is spent, they perish for want of victuals and clothing in great numbers. the whole are ready to mutiny. they cannot be gotten out to service, because they cannot discharge the debts they owe in the places where they are. i have let of my own more than i may spare."--"there was no soldier yet able to buy himself a pair of hose," said the earl again, "and it is too, too great shame to see how they go, and it kills their hearts to show themselves among men." there was no one to dispute the earl's claims. the nassau family was desperately poor, and its chief, young maurice, although he had been elected stadholder of holland and zeeland, had every disposition--as sir philip upon his arrival in flushing immediately informed his uncle--to submit to the authority of the new governor. louisa de coligny, widow of william the silent, was most anxious for the english alliance, through which alone she believed that the fallen fortunes of the family could be raised. it was thus only, she thought, that the vengeance for which she thirsted upon the murderers of her father and her husband could be obtained. "we see now," she wrote to walsingham, in a fiercer strain than would seem to comport with so gentle a nature--deeply wronged as the daughter of coligny and the wife of orange had been by papists--"we see now the effects of our god's promises. he knows when it pleases him to avenge the blood of his own; and i confess that i feel most keenly the joy which is shared in by the whole church of god. there is none that has received more wrong from these murderers than i have done, and i esteem myself happy in the midst of my miseries that god has permitted me to see some vengeance. these beginnings make me hope that i shall see yet more, which will be not less useful to the good, both in your country and in these isles." there was no disguise as to the impoverished condition to which the nassau family had been reduced by the self-devotion of its chief. they were obliged to ask alms of england, until the "sapling should become a tree."--"since it is the will of god," wrote the princess to davison, "i am not ashamed to declare the necessity of our house, for it is in his cause that it has fallen. i pray you, sir, therefore to do me and these children the favour to employ your thoughts in this regard." if there had been any strong french proclivities on their part--as had been so warmly asserted--they were likely to disappear. villiers, who had been a confidential friend of william the silent, and a strong favourer of france, in vain endeavoured to keep alive the ancient sentiments towards that country, although he was thought to be really endeavouring to bring about a submission of the nassaus to spain. "this villiers," said leicester, "is a most vile traitorous knave, and doth abuse a young nobleman here extremely, the count maurice. for all his religion, he is a more earnest persuader secretly to have him yield to a reconciliation than sainte aldegonde was. he shall not tarry ten days neither in holland nor zeeland. he is greatly hated here of all sorts, and it shall go hard but i will win the young count." as for hohenlo, whatever his opinions might once have been regarding the comparative merits of frenchmen and englishmen, he was now warmly in favour of england, and expressed an intention of putting an end to the villiers' influence by simply drowning villiers. the announcement of this summary process towards the counsellor was not untinged with rudeness towards the pupil. "the young count," said leicester, "by villiers' means, was not willing to have flushing rendered, which the count hollock perceiving, told the count maurice, in a great rage, that if he took any course than that of the queen of england, and swore by no beggars, he would drown his priest in the haven before his face, and turn himself and his mother-in-law out of their house there, and thereupon went with mr. davison to the delivery of it." certainly, if hohenlo permitted himself such startling demonstrations towards the son and widow of william the silent, it must have been after his habitual potations had been of the deepest. nevertheless it was satisfactory for the new chieftain to know that the influence of so vehement a partisan was secured for england. the count's zeal deserved gratitude upon leicester's part, and leicester was grateful. "this man must be cherished," said the earl; "he is sound and faithful, and hath indeed all the chief holds in his hands, and at his commandment. ye shall do well to procure him a letter of thanks, taking knowledge in general of his good-will to her majesty. he is a right almayn in manner and fashion, free of his purse and of his drink, yet do i wish him her majesty's pensioner before any prince in germany, for he loves her and is able to serve her, and doth desire to be known her servant. he hath been laboured by his nearest kinsfolk and friends in germany to have left the states and to have the king of spain's pension and very great reward; but he would not. i trust her majesty will accept of his offer to be her servant during his life, being indeed a very noble soldier." the earl was indeed inclined to take so cheerful view of matters as to believe that he should even effect a reform in the noble soldier's most unpleasant characteristic. "hollock is a wise gallant gentleman," he said, "and very well esteemed. he hath only one fault, which is drinking; but good hope that he will amend it. some make me believe that i shall be able to do much with him, and i mean to do my best, for i see no man that knows all these countries, and the people of all sorts, like him, and this fault overthrows all." accordingly, so long as maurice continued under the tutelage of this uproarious cavalier--who, at a later day, was to become his brother-in-law-he was not likely to interfere with leicester's authority. the character of the young count was developing slowly. more than his father had ever done, he deserved the character of the taciturn. a quiet keen observer of men and things, not demonstrative nor talkative, nor much given to writing--a modest, calm, deeply-reflecting student of military and mathematical science--he was not at that moment deeply inspired by political ambition. he was perhaps more desirous of raising the fallen fortunes of his house than of securing the independence of his country. even at that early age, however, his mind was not easy to read, and his character was somewhat of a puzzle to those who studied it. "i see him much discontented with the states," said leicester; "he hath a sullen deep wit. the young gentleman is yet to be won only to her majesty, i perceive, of his own inclination. the house is marvellous poor and little regarded by the states, and if they get anything it is like to be by her majesty, which should be altogether, and she may easily, do for him to win him sure. i will undertake it." yet the earl was ever anxious about some of the influences which surrounded maurice, for he thought him more easily guided than he wished him to be by any others but himself. "he stands upon making and marring," he said, "as he meets with good counsel." and at another time he observed, "the young gentleman hath a solemn sly wit; but, in troth, if any be to be doubted toward the king of spain, it is he and his counsellors, for they have been altogether, so far, french, and so far in mislike with england as they cannot almost hide it." and there was still another member of the house of nassau who was already an honour to his illustrious race. count william lewis, hardly more than a boy in years, had already served many campaigns, and had been desperately wounded in the cause for which so much of the heroic blood of his race had been shed. of the five nassau brethren, his father count john was the sole survivor, and as devoted as ever to the cause of netherland liberty. the other four had already laid down their lives in its defence. and william lewis, was worthy to be the nephew of william and lewis, henry and adolphus, and the son of john. not at all a beautiful or romantic hero in appearance, but an odd-looking little man, with a round bullet-head, close-clipped hair, a small, twinkling, sagacious eye, rugged, somewhat puffy features screwed whimsically awry, with several prominent warts dotting, without ornamenting, all that was visible of a face which was buried up to the ears in a furzy thicket of yellow-brown beard, the tough young stadholder of friesland, in his iron corslet, and halting upon his maimed leg, had come forth with other notable personages to the hague. he wished to do honour heartily and freely to queen elizabeth and her representative. and leicester was favourably impressed with his new acquaintance. "here is another little fellow," he said, "as little as may be, but one of the gravest and wisest young men that ever i spake withal; it is the count guilliam of nassau. he governs friesland; i would every province had such another." thus, upon the great question which presented itself upon the very threshold--the nature and extent of the authority to be exercised by leicester--the most influential netherlanders were in favour of a large and liberal interpretation of his powers. the envoys in england, the nassau family hohenlo, the prominent members of the states, such as the shrewd, plausible menin, the "honest and painful" falk, and the chancellor of gelderland--"that very great, wise, old man leoninus," as leicester called him,--were all desirous that he should assume an absolute governor-generalship over the whole country. this was a grave and a delicate matter, and needed to be severely scanned, without delay. but besides the natives, there were two englishmen--together with ambassador davison--who were his official advisers. bartholomew clerk, ll.d., and sir henry killigrew had been appointed by the queen to be members of the council of the united states, according to the provisions of the august treaty. the learned bartholomew hardly seemed equal to his responsible position among those long-headed dutch politicians. philip sidney--the only blemish in whose character was an intolerable tendency to puns--observed that "doctor clerk was of those clerks that are not always the wisest, and so my lord too late was finding him." the earl himself, who never undervalued the intellect of the netherlanders whom he came to govern, anticipated but small assistance from the english civilian. "i find no great stuff in my little colleague," he said, "nothing that i looked for. it is a pity you have no more of his profession, able men to serve. this man hath good will, and a pretty scholar's wit; but he is too little for these big fellows, as heavy as her majesty thinks them to be. i would she had but one or two, such as the worst of half a score be here." the other english statecounsellor seemed more promising. "i have one here," said the earl, "in whom i take no small comfort; that is little hal killigrew. i assure you, my lord, he is a notable servant, and more in him than ever i heretofore thought of him, though i always knew him to be an honest man and an able." but of all the men that stood by leicester's side, the most faithful, devoted, sagacious, experienced, and sincere of his counsellors, english or flemish, was envoy davison. it is important to note exactly the opinion that had been formed of him by those most competent to judge, before events in which he was called on to play a prominent and responsible though secondary part, had placed him in a somewhat false position. "mr. davison," wrote sidney, "is here very careful in her majesty's causes, and in your lordship's. he takes great pains and goes to great charges for it." the earl himself was always vehement in his praise. "mr. davison," said he at another time, "has dealt most painfully and chargeably in her majesty's service here, and you shall find him as sufficiently able to deliver the whole state of this country as any man that ever was in it, acquainted with all sorts here that are men of dealing. surely, my lord, you shall do a good deed that he may be remembered with her majesty's gracious consideration, for his being here has been very chargeable, having kept a very good countenance, and a very good table, all his abode here, and of such credit with all the chief sort, as i know no stranger in any place hath the like. as i am a suitor to you to be his good friend to her majesty, so i must heartily pray you, good my lord, to procure his coming hither shortly to me again, for i know not almost how to do without him. i confess it is a wrong to the gentleman, and i protest before god, if it were for mine own particular respect, i would not require it for l . but your lordship doth little think how greatly i have to do, as also how needful for her majesty's service his being here will, be. wherefore, good my lord, if it may not offend her majesty, be a mean for this my request, for her own service' sake wholly." such were the personages who surrounded the earl on his arrival in the netherlands, and such their sentiments respecting the position that it was desirable for him to assume. but there was one very important fact. he had studiously concealed from davison that the queen had peremptorily and distinctly forbidden his accepting the office of governor-general. it seemed reasonable, if he came thither at all, that he should come in that elevated capacity. the staten wished it. the earl ardently longed for it. the ambassador, who knew more of netherland politics and netherland humours than any man did, approved of it. the interests of both england and holland seemed to require it. no one but leicester knew that her majesty had forbidden it. accordingly, no sooner had the bell-ringing, cannon-explosions, bonfires, and charades, come to an end, and the earl got fairly housed in the hague, than the states took the affair of government seriously in hand. on the th january, chancellor leoninus and paul buys waited upon davison, and requested a copy of the commission granted by the queen to the earl. the copy was refused, but the commission was read; by which it appeared that he had received absolute command over her majesty's forces in the netherlands by land and sea, together with authority to send for all gentlemen and other personages out of england that he might think useful to him. on the th the states passed a resolution to offer him the governor-generalship over all the provinces. on the same day another committee waited upon his "excellency"--as the states chose to denominate the earl, much to the subsequent wrath of the queen--and made an appointment for the whole body to wait upon him the following morning. upon that day accordingly--new year's day, by the english reckoning, th january by the new style--the deputies of all the states at an early hour came to his lodgings, with much pomp, preceded by a herald and trumpeters. leicester, not expecting them quite so soon, was in his dressing-room, getting ready for the solemn audience, when, somewhat to his dismay, a flourish of trumpets announced the arrival of the whole body in his principal hall of audience. hastening his preparations as much as possible, he descended to that apartment, and was instantly saluted by a flourish of rhetoric still more formidable; for that "very great, and wise old leoninus," forthwith began an oration, which promised to be of portentous length and serious meaning. the earl was slightly flustered, when, fortunately; some one whispered in his ear that they had come to offer him the much-coveted prize of the stadholderate-general. thereupon he made bold to interrupt the flow of the chancellor's eloquence in its first outpourings. "as this is a very private matter," said he, "it will be better to treat of it in a more private place i pray you therefore to come into my chamber, where these things may be more conveniently discussed." "you hear what my lord says," cried leoninus, turning to his companions; "we are to withdraw into his chamber." accordingly they withdrew, accompanied by the earl, and by five or six select counsellors, among whom were davison and dr. clerk. then the chancellor once more commenced his harangue, and went handsomely through the usual forms of compliment, first to the queen, and then to her representative, concluding with an earnest request that the earl--although her majesty had declined the sovereignty "would take the name and place of absolute governor and general of all their forces and soldiers, with the disposition of their whole revenues and taxes." so soon as the oration was concluded, leicester; who did not speak french, directed davison to reply in that language. the envoy accordingly, in name of the earl, expressed the deepest gratitude for this mark of the affection and confidence of the states-general towards the queen. he assured them that the step thus taken by them would be the cause of still more favour and affection on the part of her majesty, who would unquestionably, from day to day, augment the succour that she was extending to the provinces in order to relieve men from their misery. for himself, the earl protested that he could never sufficiently recompense the states for the honour which had thus been conferred upon him, even if he should live one hundred lives. although he felt himself quite unable to sustain the weight of so great an office, yet he declared that they might repose with full confidence on his integrity and good intentions. nevertheless, as the authority thus offered to him was very arduous, and as the subject required deep deliberation, he requested that the proposition should be reduced to writing, and delivered into his hands. he might then come to a conclusion thereupon, most conducive to the glory of god and the welfare of the land. three days afterwards, th january, the offer, drawn up formally in writing, was presented to envoy davison, according to the request of leicester. three days latter, th january, his excellency having deliberated upon the proposition, requested a committee of conference. the conference took place the same day, and there was some discussion upon matters of detail, principally relating to the matter of contributions. the earl, according to the report of the committee, manifested no repugnance to the acceptance of the office, provided these points could be satisfactorily adjusted. he seemed, on the contrary, impatient, rather than reluctant; for, on the day following the conference, he sent his secretary gilpin with a somewhat importunate message. "his excellency was surprised," said the secretary, "that the states were so long in coming to a resolution on the matters suggested by him in relation to the offer of the government-general; nor could his excellency imagine the cause of the delay." for, in truth, the delay was caused by an excessive, rather than a deficient, appetite for power on the part of his excellency. the states, while conferring what they called the "absolute" government, by which it afterwards appeared that they meant absolute, in regard to time, not to function--were very properly desirous of retaining a wholesome control over that government by means of the state-council. they wished not only to establish such a council, as a check upon the authority of the new governor, but to share with him at least in the appointment of the members who were to compose the board. but the aristocratic earl was already restive under the thought of any restraint--most of all the restraint of individuals belonging to what he considered the humbler classes. "cousin, my lord ambassador," said he to davison, "among your sober companions be it always remembered, i beseech you, that your cousin have no other alliance but with gentle blood. by no means consent that he be linked in faster bonds than their absolute grant may yield him a free and honourable government, to be able to do such service as shall be meet for an honest man to perform in such a calling, which of itself is very noble. but yet it is not more to be embraced, if i were to be led in alliance by such keepers as will sooner draw my nose from the right scent of the chace, than to lead my feet in the true pace to pursue the game i desire to reach. consider, i pray you, therefore, what is to be done, and how unfit it will be in respect of my poor self, and how unacceptable to her majesty, and how advantageous to enemies that will seek holes in my coat, if i should take so great a name upon me, and so little power. they challenge acceptation already, and i challenge their absolute grant and offer to me, before they spoke of any instructions; for so it was when leoninus first spoke to me with them all on new years day, as you heard--offering in his speech all manner of absolute authority. if it please them to confirm this, without restraining instructions, i will willingly serve the states, or else, with such advising instructions as the dowager of hungary had." this was explicit enough, and davison, who always acted for leicester in the negotiations with the states, could certainly have no doubt as to the desires of the earl, on the subject of "absolute" authority. he did accordingly what he could to bring the states to his excellency's way of thinking; nor was he unsuccessful. on the nd january, a committee of conference was sent by the states to leyden, in which city leicester was making a brief visit. they were instructed to procure his consent, if possible, to the appointment, by the states themselves, of a council consisting of members from each province. if they could not obtain this concession, they were directed to insist as earnestly as possible upon their right to present a double. list of candidates, from which he was to make nominations. and if the one and the other proposition should be refused, the states were then to agree that his excellency should freely choose and appoint a council of state, consisting of native residents from every province, for the period of one year. the committee was further authorised to arrange the commission for the governor, in accordance with these points; and to draw up a set of instructions for the state-council, to the satisfaction of his excellency. the committee was also empowered to conclude the matter at once, without further reference to the states. certainly a committee thus instructed was likely to be sufficiently pliant. it had need to be, in order to bend to the humour of his excellency, which was already becoming imperious. the adulation which he had received; the triumphal marches, the latin orations, the flowers strewn in his path, had produced their effect, and the earl was almost inclined to assume the airs of royalty. the committee waited upon him at leyden. he affected a reluctance to accept the "absolute" government, but his coyness could not deceive such experienced statesmen as the "wise old leoliinus," or menin, maalzoon, florin thin, or aitzma, who composed the deputation. it was obvious enough to them that it was not a king log that had descended among them, but it was not a moment for complaining. the governor elect insisted, of course, that the two englishmen, according to the treaty with her majesty, should be members of, the council. he also, at once, nominated leoninus, meetkerk, brederode, falck, and paul buys, to the same office; thinking, no doubt, that these were five keepers--if keepers he must have--who would not draw his nose off the scent, nor prevent his reaching the game he hunted, whatever that game might be. it was reserved for the future, however, to show, whether, the five were like to hunt in company with him as harmoniously as he hoped. as to the other counsellors, he expressed a willingness that candidates should be proposed for him, as to whose qualifications he would make up his mind at leisure. this matter being satisfactorily adjusted-and certainly unless the game pursued by the earl was a crown royal, he ought to have been satisfied with his success--the states received a letter from their committee at leyden, informing them that his excellency, after some previous protestations, had accepted the government ( th january, ). it was agreed that he should be inaugurated governor-general of the united provinces of gelderland and zutphen, flanders, holland, zeeland, utrecht, friesland, and all others in confederacy with them. he was to have supreme military command by land and sea. he was to exercise supreme authority in matters civil and political, according to the customs prevalent in the reign of the emperor charles v. all officers, political, civil, legal, were to be appointed by him out of a double or triple nomination made by the states of the provinces in which vacancies might occur. the states-general were to assemble whenever and wherever he should summon them. they were also--as were the states of each separate province--competent to meet together by their own appointment. the governor-general was to receive an oath of fidelity from the states, and himself to swear the maintenance of the ancient laws, customs, and privileges of the country. the deed was done. in vain had an emissary of the french court been exerting his utmost to prevent the consummation of this close alliance. for the wretched government of henry iii., while abasing itself before philip ii., and offering the fair cities and fertile plains of france as a sacrifice to that insatiable ambition which wore the mask of religious bigotry, was most anxious that holland and england should not escape the meshes by which it was itself enveloped. the agent at the hague came nominally upon some mercantile affairs, but in reality, according to leicester, "to impeach the states from binding themselves to her majesty." but he was informed that there was then no leisure for his affairs; "for the states would attend to the service of the queen of england, before all princes in the world." the agent did not feel complimented by the coolness of this reception; yet it was reasonable enough, certainly, that the hollanders should remember with bitterness the contumely, which they had experienced the previous year in france. the emissary was; however, much disgusted. "the fellow," said leicester, "took it in such snuff, that he came proudly to the states and offered his letters, saying; 'now i trust you have done all your sacrifices to the queen of england, and may yield me some leisure to read my masters letters.'"--"but they so shook him, up," continued the earl, "for naming her majesty in scorn--as they took it--that they hurled him his letters; and bid him content himself;" and so on, much to the agent's discomfiture, who retired in greater "snuff" than ever. so much for the french influence. and now leicester had done exactly what the most imperious woman in the world, whose favour was the breath of his life, had expressly forbidden him to do. the step having been taken, the prize so tempting to his ambition having been snatched, and the policy which had governed the united action of the states and himself seeming so sound, what ought he to have done in order to avert the tempest which he must have foreseen? surely a man who knew so much of woman's nature and of elizabeth's nature as he did, ought to have attempted to conciliate her affections, after having so deeply wounded her pride. he knew his power. besides the graces of his person and manner--which few women, once impressed by them, could ever forget--he possessed the most insidious and flattering eloquence, and, in absence, his pen was as wily as his tongue. for the earl was imbued with the very genius of courtship. none was better skilled than he in the phrases of rapturous devotion, which were music to the ear both of the woman and the queen; and he knew his royal mistress too well not to be aware that the language of passionate idolatry, however extravagant, had rarely fallen unheeded upon her soul. it was strange therefore, that in this emergency, he should not at once throw himself upon her compassion without any mediator. yet, on the contrary, he committed the monstrous error of entrusting his defence to envoy davison, whom he determined to despatch at once with instructions to the queen, and towards whom he committed the grave offence of concealing from him her previous prohibitions. but how could the earl fail to perceive that it was the woman, not the queen, whom he should have implored for pardon; that it was robert dudley, not william davison, who ought to have sued upon his knees. this whole matter of the netherland sovereignty and the leicester stadholderate, forms a strange psychological study, which deserves and requires some minuteness of attention; for it was by the characteristics of these eminent personages that the current history was deeply stamped. certainly, under the peculiar circumstances of the case, the first letter conveying intelligence so likely to pique the pride of elizabeth, should have been a letter from leicester. on the contrary, it proved to be a dull formal epistle from the states. and here again the assistance of the indispensable davison was considered necessary. on the rd february the ambassador--having announced his intention of going to england, by command of his excellency, so soon as the earl should have been inaugurated, for the purpose of explaining all these important transactions to her majesty--waited upon the states with the request that they should prepare as speedily as might be their letter to the queen, with other necessary documents, to be entrusted to his care. he also suggested that the draft or minute of their proposed epistle should be submitted to him for advice--"because the humours of her majesty were best known to him." now the humours of her majesty were best known to leicester of all men in the whole world, and it is inconceivable that he should have allowed so many days and weeks to pass without taking these humours properly into account. but the earl's head was slightly turned by his sudden and unexpected success. the game that he had been pursuing had fallen into his grasp, almost at the very start, and it is not astonishing that he should have been somewhat absorbed in the enjoyment of his victory. three days later ( th february) the minute of a letter to elizabeth, drawn up by menin, was submitted to the ambassador; eight days after that ( th february) mr. davison took leave of the states, and set forth for the brill on his way to england; and three or four days later yet, he was still in that sea-port, waiting for a favourable wind. thus from the th january, n.s., upon which day the first offer of the absolute government had been made to leicester, nearly forty days had elapsed, during which long period the disobedient earl had not sent one line, private or official, to her majesty on this most important subject. and when at last the queen was to receive information of her favourite's delinquency, it was not to be in his well-known handwriting and accompanied by his penitent tears and written caresses, but to be laid before her with all the formality of parchment and sealingwax, in the stilted diplomatic jargon of those "highly-mighty, very learned, wise, and very foreseeing gentlemen, my lords the states-general." nothing could have been managed with less adroitness. meantime, not heeding the storm gathering beyond the narrow seas, the new governor was enjoying the full sunshine of power. on the th february the ceremony of his inauguration took place, with great pomp and ceremony at the hague. the beautiful, placid, village-capital of holland wore much the same aspect at that day as now. clean, quiet, spacious streets, shaded with rows of whispering poplars and umbrageous limes, broad sleepy canals--those liquid highways alone; which glided in phantom silence the bustle, and traffic, and countless cares of a stirring population--quaint toppling houses, with tower and gable; ancient brick churches, with slender spire and musical chimes; thatched cottages on the outskirts, with stork-nests on the roofs--the whole without fortification save the watery defences which enclosed it with long-drawn lines on every side; such was the count's park, or 's graven haage, in english called the hague. it was embowered and almost buried out of sight by vast groves of oaks and beeches. ancient badahuennan forests of sanguinary druids, the "wild wood without mercy" of saxon savages, where, at a later period, sovereign dirks and florences, in long succession of centuries, had ridden abroad with lance in rest, or hawk on fist; or under whose boughs, in still nearer days, the gentle jacqueline had pondered and wept over her sorrows, stretched out in every direction between the city and the neighbouring sea. in the heart of the place stood the ancient palace of the counts, built in the thirteenth century by william ii. of holland, king of the romans, with massive brick walls, cylindrical turrets, pointed gable and rose-shaped windows, and with spacious coup-yard, enclosed by feudal moat, drawbridge, and portcullis. in the great banqueting-hall of the ancient palace, whose cedarn-roof of magnificent timber-work, brought by crusading counts from the holy land, had rung with the echoes of many a gigantic revel in the days of chivalry--an apartment one hundred and fifty feet long and forty feet high--there had been arranged an elevated platform, with a splendid chair of state for the "absolute" governor, and with a great profusion of gilding and velvet tapestry, hangings, gilt emblems, complimentary devices, lions, unicorns, and other imposing appurtenances. prince maurice, and all the members of his house, the states-general in full costume, and all the great functionaries, civil and military, were assembled. there was an elaborate harangue by orator menin, in which it was proved; by copious citations from holy writ and from ancient chronicle, that the lord never forsakes his own; so that now, when the provinces were at their last gasp by the death of orange and the loss of antwerp, the queen of england and the earl of leicester had suddenly descended, as if from heaven; to their rescue. then the oaths of mutual fidelity were exchanged between the governor and the states, and, in conclusion, dr. bartholomew clerk ventured to measure himself with the "big fellows," by pronouncing an oration which seemed to command universal approbation. and thus the earl was duly installed governor-general of the united states of the netherlands. but already the first mutterings of the storm were audible. a bird in the air had whispered to the queen that her favourite was inclined to disobedience. "some flying tale hath been told me here," wrote leicester to walsingham, "that her majesty should mislike my name of excellency. but if i had delighted, or would have received titles, i refused a title higher than excellency, as mr. davison, if you ask him, will tell you; and that i, my own self, refused most earnestly that, and, if i might have done it, this also." certainly, if the queen objected to this common form of address, which had always been bestowed upon leicester, as he himself observed, ever since she had made him an earl, it might be supposed that her wrath would mount high when she should hear of him as absolute governor-general. it is also difficult to say what higher title he had refused, for certainly the records show that he had refused nothing, in the way of power and dignity, that it was possible for him to obtain. but very soon afterwards arrived authentic intelligence that the queen had been informed of the proposition made on new year's-day (o.s.), and that, although she could not imagine the possibility of his accepting, she was indignant that he had not peremptorily rejected the offer. "as to the proposal made to you," wrote burghley, "by the mouth of leoninus, her majesty hath been informed that you had thanked them in her name, and alleged that there was no such thing in the contract, and that therefore you could not accept nor knew how to answer the same." now this information was obviously far from correct, although it had been furnished by the earl himself to burghley. we have seen that leicester had by no means rejected, but very gratefully entertained, the proposition as soon as made. nevertheless the queen was dissatisfied, even without suspecting that she had been directly disobeyed. "her majesty," continued the lord-treasurer; "is much offended with this proceeding. she allows not that you should give them thanks, but findeth it very strange that you did not plainly declare to them that they did well know how often her majesty had refused to have any one for her take any such government there, and that she had always so answered peremptorily. therefore there might be some suspicion conceived that by offering on their part, and refusal on hers, some further mischief might be secretly hidden by some odd person's device to the hurt of the cause. but in that your lordship did not flatly say to them that yourself did know her majesty's mind therein, that she never meant, in this sort, to take the absolute government, she is offended considering, as she saith, that none knew her determination therein better than yourself. for at your going hence, she did peremptorily charge you not to accept any such title and office; and therefore her straight commandment now is that you shall not accept the same, for she will never assent thereto, nor avow you with any such title." if elizabeth was so wrathful, even while supposing that the offer had been gratefully declined, what were likely to be her emotions when she should be informed that it had been gratefully accepted. the earl already began to tremble at the probable consequences of his mal-adroitness. grave was the error he had committed in getting himself made governor-general against orders; graver still, perhaps fatal, the blunder of not being swift to confess his fault, and cry for pardon, before other tongues should have time to aggravate his offence. yet even now he shrank from addressing the queen in person, but hoped to conjure the rising storm by means of the magic wand of the lord-treasurer. he implored his friend's interposition to shield him in the emergency, and begged that at least her majesty and the lords of council would suspend their judgment until mr. davison should deliver those messages and explanations with which, fully freighted, he was about to set sail from the brill. "if my reasons seem to your wisdoms," said he, "other than such as might well move a true and a faithful careful man to her majesty to do as i have done, i do desire, for my mistaking offence, to bear the burden of it; to be disavowed with all displeasure and disgrace; a matter of as great reproach and grief as ever can happen to any man." he begged that another person might be sent as soon as possible in his place-protesting, however, by his faith in christ, that he had done only what he was bound to do by his regard for her majesty's service--and that when he set foot in the country he had no more expected to be made governor of the netherlands than to be made king of spain. certainly he had been paying dear for the honour, if honour it was, and he had not intended on setting forth for the provinces to ruin himself, for the sake of an empty title. his motives--and he was honest, when he so avowed them--were motives of state at least as much as of self-advancement. "i have no cause," he said, "to have played the fool thus far for myself; first, to have her majesty's displeasure, which no kingdom in the world could make me willingly deserve; next, to undo myself in my later days; to consume all that should have kept me all my life in one half year. but i must thank god for all, and am most heartily grieved at her majesty's heavy displeasure. i neither desire to live, nor to see my country with it." and at this bitter thought, he began to sigh like furnace, and to shed the big tears of penitence. "for if i have not done her majesty good service at this time," he said, "i shall never hope to do her any, but will withdraw me into some out-corner of the world, where i will languish out the rest of my few-too many-days, praying ever for her majesty's long and prosperous life, and with this only comfort to live an exile, that this disgrace hath happened for no other cause but for my mere regard for her majesty's estate." having painted this dismal picture of the probable termination to his career--not in the hope of melting burghley but of touching the heart of elizabeth--he proceeded to argue the point in question with much logic and sagacity. he had satisfied himself on his arrival in the provinces, that, if he did not take the governor-generalship some other person would; and that it certainly was for the interest of her majesty that her devoted servant, rather than an indifferent person, should be placed in that important position. he maintained that the queen had intimated, to him, in private, her willingness that he should accept the office in question provided the proposition should come from the states and not from her; he reasoned that the double nature of his functions--being general and counsellor for her, as well as general and counsellor for the provinces--made his acceptance of the authority conferred on him almost indispensable; that for him to be merely commander over five thousand english troops, when an abler soldier than himself, sir john norris, was at their head, was hardly worthy her majesty's service or himself, and that in reality the queen had lost nothing, by his appointment, but had gained much benefit and honour by thus having the whole command of the provinces, of their forces by land and sea, of their towns and treasures, with knowledge of all their secrets of state. then, relapsing into a vein of tender but reproachful melancholy, he observed, that, if it had been any man but himself that had done as he had done, he would have been thanked, not censured. "but such is now my wretched case," he said, "as for my faithful, true, and loving heart to her majesty and my country, i have utterly undone myself. for favour, i have disgrace; for reward, utter spoil and ruin. but if this taking upon me the name of governor is so evil taken as it hath deserved dishonour, discredit, disfavour, with all griefs that may be laid upon a man, i must receive it as deserved of god and not of my queen, whom i have reverenced with all humility, and whom i have loved with all fidelity." this was the true way, no doubt, to reach the heart of elizabeth, and leicester had always plenty of such shafts in his quiver. unfortunately he had delayed too long, and even now he dared not take a direct aim. he feared to write to the queen herself, thinking that his so doing, "while she had such conceipts of him, would only trouble her," and he therefore continued to employ the lord-treasurer and mr. secretary as his mediators. thus he committed error upon error. meantime, as if there had not been procrastination enough, davison was loitering at the brill, detained by wind and weather. two days after the letter, just cited, had been despatched to walsingham, leicester sent an impatient message to the envoy. "i am heartily sorry, with all my heart," he said, "to hear of your long stay at brill, the wind serving so fair as it hath done these two days. i would have laid any wager that you had been in england ere this. i pray you make haste, lest our cause take too great a prejudice there ere you come, although i cannot fear it, because it is so good and honest. i pray you imagine in what care i dwell till i shall hear from you, albeit some way very resolute." thus it was obvious that he had no secret despair of his cause when it should be thoroughly laid before the queen. the wonder was that he had added the offence of long silence to the sin of disobedience. davison had sailed, however, before the receipt of the earl's letter. he had been furnished with careful instructions upon the subject of his mission. he was to show how eager the states had been to have leicester for their absolute governor--which was perfectly true--and how anxious the earl had been to decline the proffered honour--which was certainly false, if contemporary record and the minutes of the states-general are to be believed. he was to sketch the general confusion which had descended upon the country, the quarrelling of politicians, and the discontent of officers and soldiers, from out of all which chaos one of two results was sure to arise: the erection of a single chieftain, or a reconciliation of the provinces with spain. that it would be impossible for the earl to exercise the double functions with which he was charged--of general of her majesty's forces, and general and chief counsellor of the states--if any other man than himself should be appointed governor; was obvious. it was equally plain that the provinces could only be kept at her majesty's disposition by choosing the course which, at their own suggestion, had been adopted. the offer of the government by the states, and its acceptance by the earl, were the logical consequence of the step which the queen had already taken. it was thus only that england could retain her hold upon the country, and even upon the cautionary towns. as to a reconciliation of the provinces with spain--which would have been the probable result of leicester's rejection of the proposition made by the stateait was unnecessary to do more than allude to such a catastrophe. no one but a madman could doubt that, in such an event, the subjugation of england was almost certain. but before the arrival of the ambassador, the queen had been thoroughly informed as to the whole extent of the earl's delinquency. dire was the result. the wintry gales which had been lashing the north sea, and preventing the unfortunate davison from setting forth on his disastrous mission, were nothing to the tempest of royal wrath which had been shaking the court-world to its centre. the queen had been swearing most fearfully ever since she read the news, which leicester had not dared to communicate directly, to herself. no one was allowed to speak a word in extenuation of the favourite's offence. burghley, who lifted up his voice somewhat feebly to appease her wrath, was bid, with a curse, to hold his peace. so he took to his bed-partly from prudence, partly from gout--and thus sheltered himself for a season from the peltings of the storm. walsingham, more manful, stood to his post, but could not gain a hearing. it was the culprit that should have spoken, and spoken in time. "why, why did you not write yourself?" was the plaintive cry of all the earl's friends, from highest to humblest. "but write to her now," they exclaimed, "at any rate; and, above all, send her a present, a love-gift." "lay out two or three hundred crowns in some rare thing, for a token to her majesty," said christopher hatton. strange that his colleagues and his rivals should have been obliged to advise leicester upon the proper course to pursue; that they--not himself--should have been the first to perceive that it was the enraged woman, even more than the offended sovereign, who was to be propitiated and soothed. in truth, all the woman had been aroused in elizabeth's bosom. she was displeased that her favourite should derive power and splendour from any source but her own bounty. she was furious that his wife, whom she hated, was about to share in his honours. for the mischievous tongues of court-ladies had been collecting or fabricating many unpleasant rumours. a swarm of idle but piquant stories had been buzzing about the queen's ears, and stinging her into a frenzy of jealousy. the countess--it was said--was on the point of setting forth for the netherlands, to join the earl, with a train of courtiers and ladies, coaches and side-saddles, such as were never seen before--where the two were about to establish themselves in conjugal felicity, as well as almost royal state. what a prospect for the jealous and imperious sovereign! "coaches and side-saddles! she would show the upstarts that there was one queen, and that her name was elizabeth, and that there was no court but hers." and so she continued to storm and swear, and threaten unutterable vengeance, till all her courtiers quaked in their shoes. thomas dudley, however, warmly contradicted the report, declaring, of his own knowledge, that the countess had no wish to go to the provinces, nor the earl any intention of receiving her there. this information was at once conveyed to the queen, "and," said dudley, "it did greatly pacify her stomach." his friends did what they could to maintain the governor's cause; but burghley, walsingham, hatton, and the rest of them, were all "at their wits end," and were nearly distraught at the delay in davison's arrival. meantime the queen's stomach was not so much pacified but that she was determined to humiliate the earl with the least possible delay. having waited sufficiently long for his explanations, she now appointed sir thomas heneage as special commissioner to the states, without waiting any longer. her wrath vented itself at once in the preamble to the instructions for this agent. "whereas," she said, "we have been given to understand that the earl of leicester hath in a very contemptuous sort--contrary to our express commandment given unto him by ourself, accepted of an offer of a more absolute government made by the states unto him, than was agreed on between us and their commissioners--which kind of contemptible manner of proceeding giveth the world just cause to think that there is not that reverent respect carried towards us by our subjects as in duty appertaineth; especially seeing so notorious a contempt committed by one whom we have raised up and yielded in the eye of the world, even from the beginning of our reign, as great portion of our favour as ever subject enjoyed at any prince's hands; we therefore, holding nothing dearer than our honour, and considering that no one thing could more touch our reputation than to induce so open and public a faction of a prince, and work a greater reproach than contempt at a subject's hand, without reparation of our honour, have found it necessary to send you unto him, as well to charge him with the said contempt, as also to execute such other things as we think meet to be done, for the justifying of ourselves to the world, as the repairing of the indignity cast upon us by his undutiful manner of proceeding towards us. . . . and for that we find ourselves also not well dealt withal by the states, in that they have pressed the said earl, without our assent or privity, to accept of a more absolute government than was agreed on between us and their commissioners, we have also thought meet that you shall charge them therewith, according to the directions hereafter ensuing. and to the end there may be no delay used in the execution of that which we think meet to be presently done, you shall charge the said states, even as they tender the continuance of our good-will towards them, to proceed to the speedy execution of our request." after this trumpet-like preamble it may be supposed that the blast which followed would be piercing and shrill. the instructions, in truth, consisted in wild, scornful flourishes upon one theme. the word contempt had occurred five times in the brief preamble. it was repeated in almost every line of the instructions. "you shall let the earl" (our cousin no longer) "understand," said the queen, "how highly and justly we are offended with his acceptation of the government, which we do repute to be a very great and strange contempt, least looked for at our hands, being, as he is, a creature of our own." his omission to acquaint her by letter with the causes moving him "so contemptuously to break" her commandment, his delay in sending davison "to answer the said contempt," had much "aggravated the fault," although the queen protested herself unable to imagine any "excuse for so manifest a contempt." the states were to be informed that she "held it strange" that "this creature of her own" should have been pressed by them to "commit so notorious a contempt" against her, both on account of this very exhibition of contempt on leicester's part, and because they thereby "shewed themselves to have a very slender and weak conceit of her judgment, by pressing a minister of hers to accept that which she had refused, as: though her long experience in government had not taught her to discover what was fit to do in matters of state." as the result of such a proceeding would be to disgrace her in the eyes of mankind, by inducing an opinion that her published solemn declaration on this great subject had been intended to abuse the world, he was directed--in order to remove the hard conceit justly to be taken by the world, "in consideration of the said contempt,"--to make a public and open resignation of the government in the place where he had accepted the same. thus it had been made obvious to the unlucky "creature of her own," that the queen did not easily digest "contempt." nevertheless these instructions to heneage were gentle, compared with the fierce billet which she addressed directly to the earl: it was brief, too, as the posy of a ring; and thus it ran: "to my lord of leicester, from the queen, by sir thomas heneage. how contemptuously we conceive ourself to have been used by you, you shall by this bearer understand, whom we have expressly sent unto you to charge you withal. we could never have imagined, had we not seen it fall out in experience, that a man raised up by ourself, and extraordinarily favoured by us above any other subject of this land, would have, in so contemptible a sort, broken our commandment, in a cause that so greatly toucheth us in honour; whereof, although you have showed yourself to make but little account, in most undutiful a sort, you may not therefore think that we have so little care of the reparation thereof as we mind to pass so great a wrong in silence unredressed. and therefore our express pleasure and commandment is, that--all delays and excuses laid apart--you do presently, upon the duty of your allegiance, obey and fulfil whatsoever the bearer hereof shall direct you to do in our name. whereof fail not, as you will answer the contrary at your uttermost peril." here was no billing and cooing, certainly, but a terse, biting phraseology, about which there could be no misconception. by the same messenger the queen also sent a formal letter to the states-general; the epistle--'mutatis mutandis'--being also addressed to the state-council. in this document her majesty expressed her great surprise that leicester should have accepted their offer of the absolute government, "both for police and war," when she had so expressly rejected it herself. "to tell the truth," she observed, "you seem to have treated us with very little respect, and put a too manifest insult upon us, in presenting anew to one of, our subjects the same proposition which we had already declined, without at least waiting for our answer whether we should like it or no; as if we had not sense enough to be able to decide upon what we ought to accept or refuse." she proceeded to express her dissatisfaction with the course pursued, because so repugnant to her published declaration, in which she had stated to the world her intention of aiding the provinces, without meddling in the least with the sovereignty of the country. "the contrary would now be believed," she said, "at least by those who take the liberty of censuring, according to their pleasure, the actions of princes." thus her honour was at stake. she signified her will, therefore, that, in order to convince the world of her sincerity, the authority conferred should be revoked, and that "the earl," whom she had decided to recall very soon, should, during his brief residence there, only exercise the power agreed upon by the original contract. she warmly reiterated her intention, however, of observing inviolably the promise of assistance which she had given to the states. "and if," she said, "any malicious or turbulent spirits should endeavour, perchance, to persuade the people that this our refusal proceeds from lack of affection or honest disposition to assist you--instead of being founded only on respect for our honour, which is dearer to us than life--we beg you, by every possible means, to shut their mouths, and prevent their pernicious designs." thus, heavily laden with the royal wrath, heneage was on the point of leaving london for the netherlands, on the very day upon which davison arrived, charged with deprecatory missives from that country. after his long detention he had a short passage, crossing from the brill to margate in a single night. coming immediately to london, he sent to walsingham to inquire which way the wind was blowing at court, but received a somewhat discouraging reply. "your long detention by his lordship," said the secretary, "has wounded the whole cause;" adding, that he thought her majesty would not speak with him. on the other hand, it seemed indispensable for him to go to the court, because if the queen should hear of his arrival before he had presented himself, she was likely to be more angry than ever. so, the same afternoon, davison waited upon walsingham, and found him in a state of despondency. "she takes his lordship's acceptance of the government most haynously," said sir francis, "and has resolved to send sir thomas heneage at once, with orders for him to resign the office. she has been threatening you and sir philip sidney, whom she considers the chief actors and persuaders in the matter, according to information received from some persons about my lord of leicester." davison protested himself amazed at the secretary's discourse, and at once took great pains to show the reasons by which all parties had been influenced in the matter of the government. he declared roundly that if the queen should carry out her present intentions, the earl would be most unworthily disgraced, the cause utterly overthrown, the queen's honour perpetually stained, and that her kingdom would incur great disaster. directly after this brief conversation, walsingham went up stairs to the queen, while davison proceeded to the apartments of sir christopher hatton. thence he was soon summoned to the royal presence, and found that he had not been misinformed as to the temper of her majesty. the queen was indeed in a passion, and began swearing at davison so soon as he got into the chamber; abusing leicester for having accepted the offer of the states, against her many times repeated commandment, and the ambassador for not having opposed his course. the thing had been done, she said, in contempt of her, as if her consent had been of no consequence, or as if the matter in no way concerned her. so soon as she paused to take breath, the envoy modestly, but firmly, appealed to her reason, that she would at any rate lend him a patient and favourable ear, in which case he doubted not that she would form a more favourable opinion of the case than she had hitherto done: he then entered into a long discourse upon the state of the netherlands before the arrival of leicester, the inclination in many quarters for a peace, the "despair that any sound and good fruit would grow of her majesty's cold beginning," the general unpopularity of the states' government, the "corruption, partiality, and confusion," which were visible everywhere, the perilous condition of the whole cause, and the absolute necessity of some immediate reform. "it was necessary," said davison, "that some one person of wisdom and authority should take the helm. among the netherlanders none was qualified for such a charge. lord maurice is a child, poor, and of but little respect among them. elector truchsess, count hohenlo, meurs, and the rest, strangers and incapable of the burden. these considerations influenced the states to the step which had been taken; without which all the rest of her benevolence was to little purpose." although the contract between the commissioners and the queen had not literally provided for such an arrangement, yet it had always been contemplated by the states, who had left themselves without a head until the arrival of the earl. "under one pretext or another," continued the envoy, "my lord of leicester had long delayed to satisfy them,"--(and in so stating he went somewhat further in defence of his absent friend than the facts would warrant), "for he neither flatly refused it, nor was willing to accept, until your majesty's pleasure should be known." certainly the records show no reservation of his acceptance until the queen had been consulted; but the defence by davison of the offending earl was so much the more courageous. "at length, wearied by their importunity, moved with their reasons, and compelled by necessity, he thought it better to take the course he did," proceeded the diplomatist, "for otherwise he must have been an eye-witness of the dismemberment of the whole country, which could not be kept together but by a reposed hope in her majesty's found favour, which had been utterly despaired of by his refusal. he thought it better by accepting to increase the honour, profit; and surety, of her majesty, and the good of the cause, than, by refusing, to utterly hazard the one, and overthrow the other." to all this and more, well and warmly urged by davison; the queen listened by fits and starts, often interrupting his discourse by violent abuse of leicester, accusing him of contempt for her, charging him with thinking more of his own particular greatness than of her honour and service, and then "digressing into old griefs," said the envoy, "too long and tedious to write." she vehemently denounced davison also for dereliction of duty in not opposing the measure; but he manfully declared that he never deemed so meanly of her majesty or of his lordship as to suppose that she would send him, or that he would go to the provinces, merely, "to take command of the relics of mr. norris's worn and decayed troops." such a change, protested davison, was utterly unworthy a person of the earl's quality, and utterly unsuited to the necessity of the time and state. but davison went farther in defence of leicester. he had been present at many of the conferences with the netherland envoys during the preceding summer in england, and he now told the queen stoutly to her face that she herself, or at any rate one of her chief counsellors, in her hearing and his, had expressed her royal determination not to prevent the acceptance of whatever authority the states might choose to confer, by any one whom she might choose to send. she had declined to accept it in person, but she had been willing that it should be wielded by her deputy; and this remembrance of his had been confirmed by that of one of the commissioners since their return. she had never--davison maintained--sent him one single line having any bearing on the subject. under such circumstances, "i might have been accused of madness,", said he, "to have dissuaded an action in my poor opinion so necessary and expedient for your majesty's honour, surety, and greatness." if it were to do over again, he avowed, and "were his opinion demanded, he could give no other advice than that which he had given, having received no contrary, commandment from her highness." and so ended the first evening's long and vehement debate, and davison departed, "leaving her," as he said, "much qualified, though in many points unsatisfied." she had however, absolutely refused to receive a letter from leicester, with which he had been charged, but which, in her opinion, had better have been written two months before. the next day, it seemed, after all, that heneage was to be despatched, "in great heat," upon his mission. davison accordingly requested an immediate audience. so soon as admitted to the presence he burst into tears, and implored the queen to pause before she should inflict the contemplated disgrace on one whom she had hitherto so highly esteemed, and, by so doing, dishonour herself and imperil both countries. but the queen was more furious than ever that morning, returning at every pause in the envoy's discourse to harp upon the one string--"how dared he come to such a decision without at least imparting it to me?"--and so on, as so many times before. and again davison, with all the eloquence and with every soothing art he had at command; essayed to pour oil upon the waves. nor was he entirely unsuccessful; for presently the queen became so calm again that he ventured once more to present the rejected letter of the earl. she broke the seal, and at sight of the well-known handwriting she became still more gentle; and so soon as she had read the first of her favourite's honied phrases she thrust the precious document into her pocket, in order to read it afterwards, as davison observed, at her leisure. the opening thus successfully made, and the envoy having thus, "by many insinuations," prepared her to lend him a "more patient and willing ear than she had vouchsafed before," he again entered into a skilful and impassioned argument to show the entire wisdom of the course pursued by the earl. it is unnecessary to repeat the conversation. since to say that no man could have more eloquently and faithfully supported an absent friend under difficulties than davison now defended the earl. the line of argument is already familiar to the reader, and, in truth, the queen had nothing to reply, save to insist upon the governor's delinquency in maintaining so long and inexplicable a silence. and--at this thought, in spite of the envoy's eloquence, she went off again in a paroxysm of anger, abusing the earl, and deeply censuring davison for his "peremptory and partial dealing." "i had conceived a better opinion of you," she said, "and i had intended more good to you than i now find you worthy of." "i humbly thank your highness," replied the ambassador, "but i take yourself to witness that i have never affected or sought any such grace at your hands. and if your majesty persists in the dangerous course on which you are now entering, i only pray your leave, in recompense for all my travails, to retire myself home, where i may spend the rest of my life in praying for you, whom salvation itself is not able to save, if these purposes are continued. henceforth, madam, he is to be deemed happiest who is least interested in the public service." and so ended the second day's debate. the next day the lord-treasurer, who, according to davison, employed himself diligently--as did also walsingham and hatton--in dissuading the queen from the violent measures which she had resolved upon, effected so much of a change as to procure the insertion of those qualifying clauses in heneage's instructions which had been previously disallowed. the open and public disgrace of the earl, which was to have been peremptorily demanded, was now to be deferred, if such a measure seemed detrimental to the public service. her majesty, however, protested herself as deeply offended as ever, although she had consented to address a brief, somewhat mysterious, but benignant letter of compliment to the states. soon after this davison retired for a few days from the court, having previously written to the earl that "the heat of her majesty's offence to his lordship was abating every day somewhat, and that she was disposed both to hear and to speak more temperately of him." he implored him accordingly to a "more diligent entertaining of her by wise letters and messages, wherein his slackness hitherto appeared to have bred a great part of this unkindness." he observed also that the "traffic of peace was still going on underhand; but whether to use it as a second string to our bow, if the first should fail, or of any settled inclination thereunto, he could not affirm." meantime sir thomas heneage was despatched on his mission to the staten, despite all the arguments and expostulations of walsingham, burghley, hatton, and davison. all the queen's counsellors were unequivocally in favour of sustaining leicester; and heneage was not a little embarrassed as to the proper method of conducting the affair. everything, in truth, was in a most confused condition. he hardly understood to what power he was accredited. "heneage writes even now unto me," said walsingham to davison, "that he cannot yet receive any information who be the states, which he thinketh will be a great maimer unto him in his negotiation. i have told him that it is an assembly much like that of our burgesses that represent the state, and that my lord of leicester may cause some of them to meet together, unto whom he may deliver his letters and messages." thus the new envoy was to request the culprit to summon the very assembly by which his downfall and disgrace were to be solemnized, as formally as had been so recently his elevation to the height of power. the prospect was not an agreeable one, and the less so because of his general want of familiarity with the constitutional forms of the country he was about to visit. davison accordingly, at the request of sir francis, furnished heneage with much valuable information and advice upon the subject. thus provided with information, forewarned of danger, furnished with a double set of letters from the queen to the states--the first expressed in language of extreme exasperation, the others couched in almost affectionate terms--and laden with messages brimfull of wrathful denunciation from her majesty to one who was notoriously her majesty's dearly-beloved, sir thomas heneage set forth on his mission. these were perilous times for the davisons and the heneages, when even leicesters and burghleys were scarcely secure. meantime the fair weather at court could not be depended upon from one day to another, and the clouds were perpetually returning after the rain. "since my second and third day's audience," said davison, "the storms i met with at my arrival have overblown and abated daily. on saturday again she fell into some new heat, which lasted not long. this day i was myself at the court, and found her in reasonable good terms, though she will not yet seem satisfied to me either with the matter or manner of your proceeding, notwithstanding all the labour i have taken in that behalf. yet i find not her majesty altogether so sharp as some men look, though her favour has outwardly cooled in respect both of this action and of our plain proceeding with her here in defence thereof." the poor countess--whose imaginary exodus, with the long procession of coaches and side-saddles, had excited so much ire--found herself in a most distressing position. "i have not seen my lady these ten or twelve days," said davison. "to-morrow i hope to do my duty towards her. i found her greatly troubled with tempestuous news she received from court, but somewhat comforted when she understood how i had proceeded with her majesty . . . . but these passions overblown, i hope her majesty will have a gracious regard both towards myself and the cause." but the passions seemed not likely to blow over so soon as was desirable. leicester's brother the earl of warwick took a most gloomy view of the whole transaction, and hoarser than the raven's was his boding tone. "well, our mistress's extreme rage doth increase rather than diminish," he wrote, "and she giveth out great threatening words against you. therefore make the best assurance you can for yourself, and trust not her oath, for that her malice is great and unquenchable in the wisest of their opinions here, and as for other friendships, as far as i can learn, it is as doubtful as the other. wherefore, my good brother, repose your whole trust in god, and he will defend you in despite of all your enemies. and let this be a great comfort to you, and so it is likewise to myself and all your assured friends, and that is, that you were never so honoured and loved in your life amongst all good people as you are at this day, only for dealing so nobly and wisely in this action as you have done; so that, whatsoever cometh of it, you have done your part. i praise god from my heart for it. once again, have great care of yourself, i mean for your safety, and if she will needs revoke you, to the overthrowing of the cause, if i were as you, if i could not be assured there, i would go to the farthest part of christendom rather than ever come into england again. take heed whom you trust, for that you have some false boys about you." and the false boys were busy enough, and seemed likely to triumph in the result of their schemes. for a glance into the secret correspondence of mary of scotland has already revealed the earl to us constantly surrounded by men in masks. many of those nearest his person, and of highest credit out of england, were his deadly foes, sworn to compass his dishonour, his confusion, and eventually his death, and in correspondence with his most powerful adversaries at home and abroad. certainly his path was slippery and perilous along those icy summits of power, and he had need to look well to his footsteps. before heneage had arrived in the netherlands, sir thomas shirley, despatched by leicester to england with a commission to procure supplies for the famishing soldiers, and, if possible, to mitigate the queen's wrath, had, been admitted more than once to her majesty's presence. he had fought the earl's battle as manfully as davison had done, and, like that envoy, had received nothing in exchange for his plausible arguments but bitter words and big oaths. eight days after his arrival he was introduced by hatton into the privy chamber, and at the moment of his entrance was received with a volley of execrations. "i did expressly and peremptorily forbid his acceptance of the absolute government, in the hearing of divers of my council," said the queen. shirley.--"the necessity of the case was imminent, your highness. it was his lordship's intent to do all for your majesty's service. those countries did expect him as a governor at his first landing, and the states durst do no other than satisfy the people also with that opinion. the people's mislike of their present government is such and so great as that the name of states is grown odious amongst them. therefore the states, doubting the furious rage of the people, conferred the authority upon his lordship with incessant suit to him to receive it. notwithstanding this, however, he did deny it until he saw plainly both confusion and ruin of that country if he should refuse. on the other hand, when he had seen into their estates, his lordship found great profit and commodity like to come unto your majesty by your acceptance of it. your highness may now have garrisons of english in as many towns as pleaseth you, without any more charge than you are now at. nor can any peace be made with spain at any time hereafter, but through you: and by you. your majesty should remember, likewise, that if a man of another nation had been chosen governor it might have wrought great danger. moreover it would have been an indignity that your lieutenant-general should of necessity be under him that so should have been elected. finally, this is a stop to any other that may affect the place of government there." queen (who has manifested many signs of impatience during this discourse).--"your speech is all in vain. his lordship's proceeding is sufficient to make me infamous to all princes, having protested the contrary, as i have done, in a book which is translated into divers and sundry languages. his lordship, being my servant, a creature of my own, ought not, in duty towards me, have entered into this course without my knowledge and good allowance." shirley.--"but the world hath conceived a high judgment of your majesty's great wisdom and providence; shown by your assailing the king of spain at one time both in the low countries and also by sir francis drake. i do assure myself that the same judgment which did first cause you to take this in hand must continue a certain knowledge in your majesty that one of these actions must needs stand much better by the other. if sir frances do prosper, then all is well. and though he should not prosper, yet this hold that his lordship hath taken for you on the low countries must always assure an honourable peace at your highness's pleasure. i beseech your majesty to remember that to the king of spain the government of his lordship is no greater matter than if he were but your lieutenant-general there; but the voyage of sir francis is of much greater offence than all." queen (interrupting).--"i can very well answer for sir francis. moreover, if need be, the gentleman careth not if i should disavow him." shirley.--"even so standeth my lord, if your disavowing of him may also stand with your highness's favour towards him. nevertheless; should this bruit of your mislike of his lordship's authority there come unto the ears of those people; being a nation both sudden and suspicious, and having been heretofore used to stratagem--i fear it may work some strange notion in them, considering that, at this time, there is an increase of taxation raised upon them, the bestowing whereof perchance they know not of. his lordship's giving; up of the government may leave them altogether without government, and in worse case than they were ever in before. for now the authority of the states is dissolved, and his lordship's government is the only thing that holdeth them together. i do beseech your highness, then, to consider well of it, and if there be any private cause for which you take grief against his lordship, nevertheless, to have regard unto the public cause, and to have a care of your own safety, which in many wise men's opinions, standeth much upon the good maintenance and upholding of this matter." queen.--"i believe nothing of, what you say concerning the dissolving of the authority of the states. i know well enough that the states do remain states still. i mean not to do harm to the cause, but only to reform that which his lordship hath done beyond his warrant from me." and with this the queen swept suddenly from the apartment. sir thomas, at different stages of the conversation, had in vain besought her to accept a letter from the earl which had been entrusted to his care. she obstinately refused to touch it. shirley had even had recourse to stratagem: affecting ignorance on many points concerning which the queen desired information, and suggesting that doubtless she would find those matters fully explained in his lordship's letter. the artifice was in vain, and the discussion was, on the whole, unsatisfactory. yet there is no doubt that the queen had had the worst of the argument, and she was far too sagacious a politician not to feel the weight of that which had been urged so often in defence of the course pursued. but it was with her partly a matter of temper and offended pride, perhaps even of wounded affection. on the following morning shirley saw the queen walking in the garden of the palace, and made bold to accost her. thinking, as he said, "to test her affection to lord leicester by another means," the artful sir thomas stepped up to her, and observed that his lordship was seriously ill. "it is feared," he said, "that the earl is again attacked by the disease of which dr. goodrowse did once cure him. wherefore his lordship is now a humble suitor to your highness that it would please you to spare goodrowse, and give him leave to go thither for some time." the queen was instantly touched. "certainly--with all my heart, with all my heart, he shall have him," she replied, "and sorry i am that his lordship hath that need of him." "and indeed," returned sly sir thomas, "your highness is a very gracious prince, who are pleased not to suffer his lordship to perish in health, though otherwise you remain deeply offended with him." "you know my mind," returned elizabeth, now all the queen again, and perhaps suspecting the trick; "i may not endure that any man should alter my commission and the authority that i gave him, upon his own fancies and without me." with this she instantly summoned one of her gentlemen, in order to break off the interview, fearing that shirley was about to enter again upon a discussion of the whole subject, and again to attempt the delivery of the earl's letter. in all this there was much of superannuated coquetry, no doubt, and much of tudor despotism, but there was also a strong infusion of artifice. for it will soon be necessary to direct attention to certain secret transactions of an important nature in which the queen was engaged, and which were even hidden from the all-seeing eye of walsingham--although shrewdly suspected both by that statesman and by leicester--but which were most influential in modifying her policy at that moment towards the netherlands. there could be no doubt, however, of the stanch and strenuous manner in which the delinquent earl was supported by his confidential messengers and by some of his fellow-councillors. his true friends were urgent that the great cause in which he was engaged should be forwarded sincerely and without delay. shirley had been sent for money; but to draw money from elizabeth was like coining her life-blood, drachma by drachma. "your lordship is like to have but a poor supply of money at this time," said sir thomas. "to be plain with you, i fear she groweth weary of the charge, and will hardly be brought to deal thoroughly in the action." he was also more explicit than he might have been--had he been better informed as to the disposition of the chief personages of the court, concerning whose temper the absent earl was naturally anxious. hatton was most in favour at the moment, and it was through hatton that the communications upon netherland matters passed; "for," said shirley, "she will hardly endure mr. secretary (walsingham) to speak unto her therein." "and truly, my lord," he continued, "as mr. secretary is a noble, good, and true friend unto you, so doth mr. vice-chamberlain show himself an honourable, true, and faithful gentleman, and doth carefully and most like a good friend for your lordship." and thus very succinctly and graphically had the envoy painted the situation to his principal. "your lordship now sees things just as they stand," he moralized. "your lordship is exceeding wise. you know the queen and her nature best of any man. you know all men here. your lordship can judge the sequel by this that you see: only this i must tell your lordship, i perceive that fears and doubts from thence are like to work better effects here than comforts and assurance. i think it my part to send your lordship this as it is, rather than to be silent." and with these rather ominous insinuations the envoy concluded for the time his narrative. etext editor's bookmarks: intolerable tendency to puns new years day in england, th january by the new style peace and quietness is brought into a most dangerous estate history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter vii., part . leicester's letters to his friends--paltry conduct of the earl to davison--he excuses himself at davison's expense--his letter to burghley--effect of the queen's letters to the states--suspicion and discontent in holland--states excuse their conduct to the queen-- leicester discredited in holland--evil consequences to holland and england--magic: effect of a letter from leicester--the queen appeased--her letters to the states and the earl--she permits the granted authority----unhappy results of the queen's course--her variable moods--she attempts to deceive walsingham--her injustice to heneage--his perplexity and distress--humiliating position of leicester--his melancholy letters to the queen--he receives a little consolation--and writes more cheerfully--the queen is more benignant--the states less contented than the earl--his quarrels with them begin. while these storms were blowing and "overblowing" in england, leicester remained greatly embarrassed and anxious in holland. he had sown the wind more extensively than he had dreamed of when accepting the government, and he was now awaiting, with much trepidation, the usual harvest: and we have seen that it was rapidly ripening. meantime, the good which he had really effected in the provinces by the course he had taken was likely to be neutralized by the sinister rumours as to his impending disgrace, while the enemy was proportionally encouraged. "i understand credibly," he said, "that the prince of parma feels himself in great jollity that her majesty doth rather mislike than allow of our doings here, which; if it be true, let her be sure her own sweet self shall first smart." moreover; the english troops were, as we have seen, mere shoeless, shivering, starving vagabonds. the earl had generously advanced very large sums of money from his own pocket to relieve their necessity. the states, on the other hand, had voluntarily increased the monthly contribution of , florins, to which their contract with elizabeth obliged them, and were more disposed than ever they had been since the death of orange to proceed vigorously and harmoniously against the common enemy of christendom. under such circumstances it may well be imagined that there was cause on leicester's part for deep mortification at the tragical turn which the queen's temper seemed to be taking. "i know not," he said, "how her majesty doth mean to dispose of me. it hath grieved me more than i can express that for faithful and good service she should so deeply conceive against me. god knows with what mind i have served her highness, and perhaps some others might have failed. yet she is neither tied one jot by covenant or promise by me in any way, nor at one groat the more charges, but myself two or three thousand pounds sterling more than now is like to be well spent. i will desire no partial speech in my favour. if my doings be ill for her majesty and the realm, let me feel the smart of it. the cause is now well forward; let not her majesty suffer it to quail. if you will have it proceed to good effect, send away sir william pelham with all the haste you can. i mean not to complain, but with so weighty a cause as this is, few men have been so weakly assisted. her majesty hath far better choice for my place, and with any that may succeed me let sir william pelham be first that may come. i speak from my soul for her majesty's service. i am for myself upon an hour's warning to obey her good pleasure." thus far the earl had maintained his dignity. he had yielded to the solicitations of the states, and had thereby exceeded his commission, and gratified his ambition, but he had in no wise forfeited his self-respect. but--so soon as the first unquestionable intelligence of the passion to which the queen had given way at his misdoings reached him--he began to whimper, the straightforward tone which davison had adopted in his interviews with elizabeth, and the firmness with which he had defended the cause of his absent friend, at a moment when he had plunged himself into disgrace, was worthy of applause. he deserved at least a word of honest thanks. ignoble however was the demeanor of the earl towards the man--for whom he had but recently been unable to invent eulogies sufficiently warm--so soon as he conceived the possibility of sacrificing his friend as the scape-goat for his own fault. an honest schoolboy would have scorned to leave thus in the lurch a comrade who had been fighting his battles so honestly. "how earnest i was," he wrote to the lords of the council, th march, , "not only to acquaint her majesty, but immediately upon the first motion made by the states, to send mr. davison over to her with letters, i doubt not but he will truly affirm for me; yea, and how far against my will it was, notwithstanding any reasons delivered me, that he and others persisted in, to have me accept first of this place. . . . the extremity of the case, and my being persuaded that mr. davison might have better satisfied her majesty, than i perceive he can, caused, me-neither arrogantly nor contemptuously, but even merely and faithfully--to do her majesty the best service." he acknowledged, certainly, that davison had been influenced by honest motives, although his importunities had been the real cause of the earl's neglect of his own obligations. but he protested that he had himself, only erred through an excessive pliancy to the will of others. "my yielding was my own fault," he admitted, "whatsoever his persuasions; but far from a contemptuous heart, or else god pluck out both heart and bowels with utter shame." so soon as sir thomas heneage had presented himself, and revealed the full extent of the queen's wrath, the earl's disposition to cast the whole crime on the shoulders of davison became quite undisguised. "i thank you for your letters," wrote leicester to walsingham, "though you can send me no comfort. her majesty doth deal hardly to believe so ill of me. it is true i faulted, but she doth not consider what commodities she hath withal, and herself no way engaged for it, as mr. davison might have better declared it, if it had pleased him. and i must thank him only for my blame, and so he will confess to you, for, i protest before god, no necessity here could have made me leave her majesty unacquainted with the cause before i would have accepted of it, but only his so earnest pressing me with his faithfull assured promise to discharge me, however her majesty should take it. for you all see there she had no other cause to be offended but this, and, by the lord, he was the only cause; albeit it is no sufficient allegation, being as i am . . . . . he had, i think, saved all to have told her, as he promised me. but now it is laid upon me, god send the cause to take no harm, my grief must be the less. "how far mr. heneage's commission shall deface me i know not. he is wary to observe his commission, and i consent withal. i know the time will be her majesty will be sorry for it. in the meantime i am too, too weary of the high dignity. i would that any that could serve her majesty were placed in it, and i to sit down with all my losses." in more manful strain he then alluded to the sufferings of his army. "whatsoever become of me," he said, "give me leave to speak for the poor soldiers. if they be not better maintained, being in this strange country, there will be neither good service done, nor be without great dishonour to her majesty. . . . well, you see the wants, and it is one cause that will glad me to be rid of this heavy high calling, and wish me at my poor cottage again, if any i shall find. but let her majesty pay them well, and appoint such a man as sir william pelham to govern them, and she never wan more honour than these men here will do, i am persuaded." that the earl was warmly urged by all most conversant with netherland politics to assume the government was a fact admitted by all. that he manifested rather eagerness than reluctance on the subject, and that his only hesitation arose from the proposed restraints upon the power, not from scruples about accepting the power, are facts upon record. there is nothing save his own assertion to show any backwardness on his part to snatch the coveted prize; and that assertion was flatly denied by davison, and was indeed refuted by every circumstance in the case. it is certain that he had concealed from davison the previous prohibitions of the queen. he could anticipate much better than could davison, therefore, the probable indignation of the queen. it is strange then that he should have shut his eyes to it so wilfully, and stranger still that he should have relied on the envoy's eloquence instead of his own to mitigate that emotion. had he placed his defence simply upon its true basis, the necessity of the case, and the impossibility of carrying out the queen's intentions in any other way, it would be difficult to censure him; but that he should seek to screen himself by laying the whole blame on a subordinate, was enough to make any honest man who heard him hang his head. "i meant not to do it, but davison told me to do it, please your majesty, and if there was naughtiness in it, he said he would make it all right with your majesty." such, reduced to its simplest expression, was the defence of the magnificent earl of leicester. and as he had gone cringing and whining to his royal mistress, so it was natural that he should be brutal and blustering to his friend. "by your means," said he, "i have fallen into her majesty's deep displeasure . . . . if you had delivered to her the truth of my dealing, her highness never could have conceived, as i perceive she doth . . . . nor doth her majesty know how hardly i was drawn to accept this place before i had acquainted her--as to which you promised you would not only give her full satisfaction, but would, procure me great thanks. . . . you did chiefly persuade me to take this charge upon me . . . . you can remember how many treaties you and others had with the states, before i agreed; for all yours and their persuasion to take it. . . . you gave me assurance to satisfy her majesty, but i see not that you have done anything . . . . i did not hide from you the doubt i had of her majesty's ill taking it . . . . you chiefly brought me into it . . . . and it could no way have been heavy to you, though you had told the uttermost of your own doing, as you faithfully promised you would . . . . i did very unwillingly come into the matter, doubting that to fall out which is come to pass . . . . and it doth so fall out by your negligent carelessness, whereof i many hundred times told you that you would both mar the goodness of the matter, and breed me her majesty's displeasure. . . . thus fare you well, and except your embassages have better success, i shall have no cause to commend them." and so was the unfortunate davison ground into finest dust between the upper and lower millstones of royal wrath and loyal subserviency. meantime the other special envoy had made his appearance in the netherlands; the other go-between between the incensed queen and the backsliding favourite. it has already been made sufficiently obvious, by the sketch given of his instructions, that his mission was a delicate one. in obedience to those instructions, heneage accordingly made his appearance before the council, and, in leicester's presence, delivered to them the severe and biting reprimand which elizabeth had chosen to inflict upon the states and upon the governor. the envoy performed his ungracious task as daintily, as he could, and after preliminary consultation with leicester; but the proud earl was deeply mortified. "the fourteenth day of this month of march," said he, "sir thomas heneage delivered a very sharp letter from her majesty to the council of estate, besides his message--myself being, present, for so was her majesty's pleasure, as he said, and i do think he did but as he was commanded. how great a grief it must be to an honest heart and a true, faithful servant, before his own face, to a company of very wise and grave counsellors, who had conceived a marvellous opinion before of my credit with her majesty, to be charged now with a manifest and wilful contempt! matter enough to have broken any man's heart, that looked rather for thanks, as god doth know i did when i first heard of mr. heneage's arrival--i must say to your lordship, for discharge of my duty, i can be no fit man to serve here--my disgrace is too great--protesting to you that since that day i cannot find it in my heart to come into that place, where, by my own sufferings torn, i was made to be thought so lewd a person." he then comforted himself--as he had a right to do--with the reflection that this disgrace inflicted was more than he deserved, and that such would be the opinion of those by whom he was surrounded. "albeit one thing," he said, "did greatly comfort me, that they all best knew the wrong was great i had, and that her majesty was very wrongfully informed of the state of my cause. i doubt not but they can and will discharge me, howsoever they shall satisfy her majesty. and as i would rather wish for death than justly to deserve her displeasure; so, good my lord, this disgrace not coming for any ill service to her, pray procure me a speedy resolution, that i may go hide me and pray for her. my heart is broken, though thus far i can quiet myself, that i know i have done her majesty as faithful and good service in these countries as ever she had done her since she was queen of england . . . . under correction, my good lord, i have had halifax law--to be condemned first and inquired upon after. i pray god that no man find this measure that i have done, and deserved no worse." he defended himself--as davison had already defended him--upon the necessities of the case. "i, a poor gentleman," he said, "who have wholly depended upon herself alone--and now, being commanded to a service of the greatest importance that ever her majesty employed any servant in, and finding the occasion so serving me, and the necessity of time such as would not permit such delays, flatly seeing that if that opportunity were lost, the like again for her service and the good of the realm was never, to be looked for, presuming upon the favour of my prince, as many servants have done, exceeding somewhat thereupon, rather than breaking any part of my commission, taking upon me a place whereby i found these whole countries could be held at her best devotion, without binding her majesty to any such matter as she had forbidden to the states before finding, i say, both the time and opportunity to serve, and no lack but to trust to her gracious acceptation, i now feel that how good, how honourable, how profitable soever it be, it is turned to a worse part than if i had broken all her commissions and commandments, to the greatest harm, and dishonour, and danger, that may be imagined against her person, state, and dignity." he protested, not without a show of reason, that he was like to be worse punished "for well-doing than any man that had committed a most heinous or traitorous offence," and he maintained that if he had not accepted the government, as he had done, "the whole state had been gone and wholly lost." all this--as we have seen--had already been stoutly urged by davison, in the very face of the tempest, but with no result, except to gain the enmity of both parties to the quarrel. the ungrateful leicester now expressed confidence that the second go-between would be more adroit than the first had proved. "the causes why," said he, "mr. davison could have told--no man better--but mr. heneage can now tell, who hath sought to the uttermost the bottom of all things. i will stand to his report, whether glory or vain desire of title caused me to step one foot forward in the matter. my place was great enough and high enough before, with much less trouble than by this, besides the great indignation of her majesty . . . . if i had overslipt the good occasion then in danger, i had been worthy to be hanged, and to be taken for a most lewd servant to her majesty, and a dishonest wretch to my country." but diligently as heneage had sought to the bottom of all things, he had not gained the approbation of sidney. sir philip thought that the new man had only ill botched a piece of work that had been most awkwardly contrived from the beginning. "sir thomas heneage," said he, "hath with as much honesty, in my opinion done as much hurt as any man this twelve-month hath done with naughtiness. but i hope in god, when her majesty finds the truth of things, her graciousness will not utterly, overthrow a cause so behooveful and costly unto her." he briefly warned the government that most disastrous effects were likely to ensue, if the earl should be publicly disgraced, and the recent action of the states reversed. the penny-wise economy, too, of the queen, was rapidly proving a most ruinous extravagance. "i only cry for flushing;" said sidney, "but, unless the monies be sent over, there will some terrible accident follow, particularly to the cautionary towns, if her majesty mean to have them cautions." the effect produced by the first explosion of the queen's wrath was indeed one of universal suspicion and distrust. the greatest care had been taken, however, that the affair should be delicately handled, for heneage, while, doing as much hurt by honesty as, others by naughtiness, had modified his course as much as he dared in deference to the opinions of the earl himself, and that of his english counsellors. the great culprit himself, assisted by his two lawyers, clerk and killigrew--had himself drawn the bill of his own indictment. the letters of the queen to the states, to the council, and to the earl himself, were, of necessity, delivered, but the reprimand which heneage had been instructed to fulminate was made as harmless as possible. it was arranged that he should make a speech before the council; but abstain from a protocol. the oration was duly pronounced, and it was, of necessity, stinging. otherwise the disobedience to the queen, would have been flagrant. but the pain inflicted was to disappear with the first castigation. the humiliation was to be public and solemn, but it was not to be placed on perpetual record. "we thought best," said leicester, heneage, clerk, and killigrew--"in according to her majesty's secret instructions--to take that course which might least endanger the weak estate of the provinces--that is to say, to utter so much in words as we hoped might satisfy her excellent majesty's expectation, and yet leave them nothing in writing to confirm that which was secretly spread in many places to the hindrance of the good course of settling these affairs. which speech, after sir thomas heneage had devised, and we both perused and allowed, he, by our consent and advice, pronounced to the council of state. this we did think needful--especially because every one of the council that was present at the reading of her majesty's first letters, was of the full mind, that if her majesty should again show the least mislike of the present government, or should not by her next letters confirm it, they, were all undone--for that every man would cast with himself which way to make his peace." thus adroitly had the "poor gentleman, who could not find it in his heart to come again into the place, where--by his own sufferings torn--he was made to appear so lewd a person"--provided that there should remain no trace of that lewdness and of his sovereign's displeasure, upon the record of the states. it was not long, too, before the earl was enabled to surmount his mortification; but the end was not yet. the universal suspicion, consequent on these proceedings, grew most painful. it pointed to one invariable quarter. it was believed by all that the queen was privately treating for peace, and that the transaction was kept a secret not only from the states but from her own most trusted counsellors also. it would be difficult to exaggerate the pernicious effects of this suspicion. whether it was a well-grounded one or not, will be shown in a subsequent chapter, but there is no doubt that the vigour of the enterprise was thus sapped at a most critical moment. the provinces had never been more heartily banded together since the fatal th of july, , than they were in the early spring of . they were rapidly organizing their own army, and, if the queen had manifested more sympathy with her own starving troops, the united englishmen and hollanders would have been invincible even by alexander farnese. moreover, they had sent out nine war-vessels to cruise off the cape verd islands for the homeward-bound spanish treasure fleet from america, with orders, if they missed it, to proceed to the west indies; so that, said leicester, "the king of spain will have enough to do between these men and drake." all parties had united in conferring a generous amount of power upon the earl, who was, in truth, stadholder-general, under grant from the states--and both leicester and the provinces themselves were eager and earnest for the war. in war alone lay the salvation of england and holland. peace was an impossibility. it seemed to the most experienced statesmen of both countries even an absurdity. it may well be imagined, therefore, that the idea of an underhand negotiation by elizabeth would cause a frenzy in the netherlands. in leicester's opinion, nothing short of a general massacre of the english would be the probable consequence. "no doubt," said he, "the very way it is to put us all to the sword here. for mine own part it would be happiest for me, though i wish and trust to lose my life in better sort." champagny, however, was giving out mysterious hints that the king of spain could have peace with england when he wished for it. sir thomas cecil, son of lord burghley, on whose countenance the states especially relied, was returning on sick-leave from his government of the brill, and this sudden departure of so eminent a personage, joined with the public disavowal of the recent transaction between leicester and the provinces, was producing a general and most sickening apprehension as to the queen's good faith. the earl did not fail to urge these matters most warmly on the consideration of the english council, setting forth that the states were stanch for the war, but that they would be beforehand with her if she attempted by underhand means to compass a peace. "if these men once smell any such matter," wrote leicester to burghley, "be you sure they will soon come before you, to the utter overthrow of her majesty and state for ever." the earl was suspecting the "false boys," by whom he was surrounded, although it was impossible for him to perceive, as we have been enabled to do, the wide-spread and intricate meshes by which he was enveloped. "your papists in england," said he, "have sent over word to some in this company, that all that they ever hoped for is come to pass; that my lord of leicester shall be called away in greatest indignation with her majesty, and to confirm this of champagny, i have myself seen a letter that her majesty is in hand with a secret peace. god forbid! for if it be so, her majesty, her realm, and we, are all undone." the feeling in the provinces was still sincerely loyal towards england. "these men," said leicester, "yet honour and most dearly love her majesty, and hardly, i know, will be brought to believe ill of her any way." nevertheless these rumours, to the discredit of her good faith, were doing infinite harm; while the earl, although keeping his eyes and ears wide open, was anxious not to compromise himself any further with his sovereign, by appearing himself to suspect her of duplicity. "good, my lord," he besought burghley, "do not let her majesty know of this concerning champagny as coming from me, for she will think it is done for my own cause, which, by the lord god, it is not, but even on the necessity of the case for her own safety, and the realm, and us all. good my lord, as you will do any good in the matter, let not her majesty understand any piece of it to come from me." the states-general, on the th march, n.s., addressed a respectful letter to the queen, in reply to her vehement chidings. they expressed their deep regret that her majesty should be so offended with the election of the earl of leicester as absolute governor. they confessed that she had just cause of displeasure, but hoped that when she should be informed of the whole matter she would rest better satisfied with their proceedings. they stated that the authority was the same which had been previously bestowed upon governors-general; observing that by the word "absolute," which had been used in designation of that authority, nothing more had been intended than to give to the earl full power to execute his commission, while the sovereignty of the country was reserved to the people. this commission, they said, could not be without danger revoked. and therefore they most humbly besought her majesty to approve what had been done, and to remember its conformity with her own advice to them, that a multitude of heads, whereby confusion in the government is bred, should be avoided. leicester, upon the same occasion, addressed a letter to burghley and walsingham, expressing himself as became a crushed and contrite man, never more to raise his drooping head again, but warmly and manfully urging upon the attention of the english government--for the honour and interest of the queen herself--"the miserable state of the poor soldiers." the necessity of immediate remittances in order to keep them from starving, was most imperious. for himself, he was smothering his wretchedness until he should learn her majesty's final decision, as to what was to become of him. "meantime," said he, "i carry my grief inward, and will proceed till her majesty's full pleasure come with as little discouragement to the cause as i can. i pray god her majesty may do that may be best for herself. for my own part my heart is broken, but not by the enemy." there is no doubt that the public disgrace thus inflicted upon the broken-hearted governor, and the severe censure administered to the states by the queen were both ill-timed and undeserved. whatever his disingenuousness towards davison, whatever his disobedience to elizabeth, however ambitious his own secret motives may, have been, there is no doubt at all that thus far he had borne himself well in his great office. richard cavendish--than whom few had better opportunities of judging--spoke in strong language on the subject. "it is a thing almost incredible," said he, "that the care and diligence of any, one man living could, in so small time; have so much repaired so disjointed and loose an estate as my lord found this country, in. but lest he should swell in pride of that his good success, your lordship knoweth that god hath so tempered the cause with the construction thereof, as may well hold him in good consideration of human things." he alluded with bitterness--as did all men in the netherlands who were not open or disguised papists--to the fatal rumours concerning the peace-negotiation in connection with the recall of leicester. "there be here advertisements of most fearful instance," he said, "namely, that champagny doth not spare most liberally to bruit abroad that he hath in his hands the conditions of peace offered by her majesty unto the king his master, and that it is in his power to conclude at pleasure--which fearful and mischievous plot, if in time it be not met withal by some notable encounter, it cannot but prove the root of great ruin." the "false boys" about leicester were indefatigable in spreading these rumours, and in taking advantage--with the assistance of the papists in the obedient provinces and in england--of the disgraced condition in which the queen had placed the favourite. most galling to the haughty earl--most damaging to the cause of england, holland, and, liberty--were the tales to his discredit, which circulated on the bourse at antwerp, middelburg, amsterdam, and in all the other commercial centres. the most influential bankers and merchants, were assured--by a thousand chattering--but as it were invisible--tongues, that the queen had for a long time disliked leicester; that he was a man of no account among the statesmen of england; that he was a beggar and a bankrupt; that, if he had waited two months longer, he would have made his appearance in the provinces with one man and one boy for his followers; that the queen had sent him thither to be rid of him; that she never intended him to have more authority than sir john norris had; that she could not abide the bestowing the title of excellency upon him, and that she had not disguised her fury at his elevation to the post of governor-general. all who attempted a refutation of these statements were asked, with a sneer, whether her majesty had ever written a line to him, or in commendation of him, since his arrival. minute inquiries were made by the dutch merchants of their commercial correspondents, both in their own country and in england, as to leicester's real condition and character. at home. what was his rank, they asked, what his ability, what: his influence at court? why, if he were really of so high quality as had been reported, was he thus neglected, and at last disgraced? had he any landed property in england? had he really ever held any other office but that of master of the horse? "and then," asked one particular busy body, who made himself very unpleasant on the amsterdam exchange, "why has her majesty forbidden all noblemen and gentlemen from coming hither, as was the case at the beginning? is it because she is hearkening to a peace? and if it be so, quoth he, we are well handled; for if her majesty hath sent a disgraced man to amuse us, while she is secretly working a peace for herself, when we--on the contrary--had broken off all our negotiations, upon confidence of her majesty's goodness; such conduct will be remembered to the end of the world, and the hollanders will never abide the name of england again." on such a bed of nettles there was small chance of repose for the governor. some of the rumours were even more stinging. so incomprehensible did it seem that the proud sovereign of england should send over her subjects to starve or beg in the streets of flushing and ostend, that it was darkly intimated that leicester had embezzled the funds, which, no doubt, had been remitted for the poor soldiers. this was the most cruel blow of all. the earl had been put to enormous charges. his household at the hague cost him a thousand pounds a month. he had been paying and furnishing five hundred and fifty men out of his own purse. he had also a choice regiment of cavalry, numbering seven hundred and fifty horse; three hundred and fifty of which number were over and above those allowed for by the queen, and were entirely at his expense. he was most liberal in making presents of money to every gentleman in his employment. he had deeply mortgaged his estates in order to provide for these heavy demands upon him, and professed his willingness "to spend more, if he might have got any more money for his land that was left;" and in the face of such unquestionable facts--much to the credit certainly of his generosity--he was accused of swindling a queen whom neither jew nor gentile had ever yet been sharp enough to swindle; while he was in reality plunging forward in a course of reckless extravagance in order to obviate the fatal effects of her penuriousness. yet these sinister reports were beginning to have a poisonous effect. already an alteration of mien was perceptible in the states-general. "some buzzing there is amongst them," said leicester, "whatsoever it be. they begin to deal very strangely within these few days." moreover the industry of the poleys, blunts, and pagets, had turned these unfavourable circumstances to such good account that a mutiny had been near breaking out among the english troops. "and, before the lord i speak it," said the earl, "i am sure some of these good towns had been gone ere this, but for my money. as for the states, i warrant you, they see day at a little hole. god doth know what a forward and a joyful country here was within a month. god send her majesty to recover it so again, and to take care of it, on the condition she send me after sir francis drake to the indies, my service here being no more acceptable." such was the aspect of affairs in the provinces after the first explosion of the queen's anger had become known. meanwhile the court-weather was very changeable in england, being sometimes serene, sometimes cloudy,--always treacherous. mr. vavasour, sent by the earl with despatches to her majesty and the council, had met with a sufficiently benignant reception. she accepted the letters, which, however, owing to a bad cold with a defluxion in the eyes, she was unable at once to read; but she talked ambiguously with the messenger. yavasour took pains to show the immediate necessity of sending supplies, so that the armies in the netherlands might take the field at the earliest possible moment. "and what," said she, "if a peace should come in the mean time?" "if your majesty desireth a convenient peace," replied vavasour, "to take the field is the readiest way to obtain it; for as yet the king of spain hath had no reason to fear you. he is daily expecting that your own slackness may give your majesty an overthrow. moreover, the spaniards are soldiers, and are not to be moved by-shadows." but the queen had no ears for these remonstrances, and no disposition to open her coffers. a warrant for twenty-four thousand pounds had been signed by her at the end of the month of march, and was about to be sent, when vavasour arrived; but it was not possible for him, although assisted by the eloquence of walsingham and burghley, to obtain an enlargement of the pittance. "the storms are overblown," said walsingham, "but i fear your lordship shall receive very scarce measure from hence. you will not believe how the sparing humour doth increase upon us." nor were the storms so thoroughly overblown but that there were not daily indications of returning foul weather. accordingly--after a conference with vavasour--burghley, and walsingham had an interview with the queen, in which the lord treasurer used bold and strong language. he protested to her that he was bound, both by his duty to himself and his oath as her councillor, to declare that the course she was holding to lord leicester was most dangerous to her own honour, interest and safety. if she intended to continue in this line of conduct, he begged to resign his office of lord treasurer; wishing; before god and man, to wash his bands of the shame and peril which he saw could not be avoided. the queen, astonished at the audacity of burghley's attitude and language, hardly knew whether to chide him for his presumption or to listen to his arguments. she did both. she taxed him with insolence in daring to address her so roundly, and then finding he was speaking even in 'amaritudine animae' and out of a clear conscience, she became calm again, and intimated a disposition to qualify her anger against the absent earl. next day, to their sorrow, the two councillors found that the queen had again changed her mind--"as one that had been by some adverse counsel seduced." she expressed the opinion that affairs would do well enough in the netherlands, even though leicester were displaced. a conference followed between walsingham, hatton, and burghley, and then the three went again to her majesty. they assured her that if she did not take immediate steps to satisfy the states and the people of the provinces, she would lose those countries and her own honour at the same time; and that then they would prove a source of danger to her instead of protection and glory. at this she was greatly troubled, and agreed to do anything they might advise consistently with her honour. it was then agreed that leicester should be continued in the government which he had accepted until the matter should be further considered, and letters to that effect were at once written. then came messenger from sir thomas heneage, bringing despatches from that envoy, and a second and most secret one from the earl himself. burghley took the precious letter which the favourite had addressed to his royal mistress, and had occasion to observe its magical effect. walsingham and the lord treasurer had been right in so earnestly remonstrating with him on his previous silence. "she read your letter," said burghley, "and, in very truth, i found her princely heart touched with favourable interpretation of your actions; affirming them to be only offensive to her, in that she was not made privy to them; not now misliking that you had the authority." such, at fifty-three, was elizabeth tudor. a gentle whisper of idolatry from the lips of the man she loved, and she was wax in his hands. where now were the vehement protestations of horror that her public declaration of principles and motives had been set at nought? where now were her vociferous denunciations of the states, her shrill invectives against leicester, her big oaths, and all the 'hysterica passio,' which had sent poor lord burghley to bed with the gout, and inspired the soul of walsingham with dismal forebodings? her anger had dissolved into a shower of tenderness, and if her parsimony still remained it was because that could only vanish when she too should cease to be. and thus, for a moment, the grave diplomatic difference between the crown of england and their high mightinesses the united states--upon the solution of which the fate of christendom was hanging--seemed to shrink to the dimensions of a lovers' quarrel. was it not strange that the letter had been so long delayed? davison had exhausted argument in defence of the acceptance by the earl of the authority conferred by the states and had gained nothing by his eloquence, save abuse from the queen, and acrimonious censure from the earl. he had deeply offended both by pleading the cause of the erring favourite, when the favourite should have spoken for himself. "poor mr. davison," said walsingham, "doth take it very grievously that your lordship should conceive so hardly of him as you do. i find the conceit of your lordship's disfavour hath greatly dejected him. but at such time as he arrived her majesty was so incensed, as all the arguments and orators in the world could not have wrought any satisfaction." but now a little billet-doux had done what all the orators in the world could not do. the arguments remained the same, but the queen no longer "misliked that leicester should have the authority." it was natural that the lord treasurer should express his satisfaction at this auspicious result. "i did commend her princely nature," he said, "in allowing your good intention, and excusing you of any spot of evil meaning; and i thought good to hasten her resolution, which you must now take to come from a favourable good mistress. you must strive with your nature to throw over your shoulder that which is past." sir walter raleigh, too, who had been "falsely and pestilently" represented to the earl as an enemy, rather than what he really was, a most ardent favourer of the netherland cause, wrote at once to congratulate him on the change in her majesty's demeanour. "the queen is in very good terms with you now," he said, "and, thanks be to god, well pacified, and you are again her 'sweet robin.'" sir walter wished to be himself the bearer of the comforting despatches to leicester, on the ground that he had been represented as an "ill instrument against him," and in order that he might justify himself against the charge, with his own lips. the queen, however, while professing to make use of shirley as the messenger, bade walsingham declare to the earl, upon her honour, that raleigh had done good offices for him, and that, in the time of her anger, he had been as earnest in his defence as the best friend could be. it would have been--singular, indeed, had it been otherwise. "your lordship," said sir walter, "doth well understand my affection toward spain, and how i have consumed the best part of my fortune, hating the tyrannous prosperity of that state. it were strange and monstrous that i should now become an enemy to my country and conscience. all that i have desired at your lordship's hands is that you will evermore deal directly with me in all matters--of suspect doubleness, and so ever esteem me as you shall find me deserving good or bad. in the mean time, let no poetical scribe work your lordship by any device to doubt that i am a hollow or cold servant to the action." it was now agreed that letters should be drawn, up authorizing leicester to continue in the office which he held, until the state-council should devise some modification in his commission. as it seemed, however, very improbable that the board would devise anything of the kind, burghley expressed the belief that the country was like to continue in the earl's government without any change whatever. the lord treasurer was also of opinion that the queen's letters to leicester would convey as much comfort as he had received discomfort; although he admitted that there was a great difference: the former letters he knew had deeply wounded his heart, while the new ones could not suddenly sink so low as the wound. the despatch to the states-general was benignant, elaborate, slightly diffuse. the queen's letter to 'sweet robin' was caressing, but argumentative. "it is always thought," said she, "in the opinion of the world, a hard bargain when both parties are losers, and so doth fall out in the case between us two. you, as we hear, are greatly grieved in respect of the great displeasure you find we have conceived against you. we are no less grieved that a subject of ours of that quality that you are, a creature of our own, and one that hath always received an extraordinary portion of our favour above all our subjects, even from the beginning of our reign, should deal so carelessly, not to say contemptuously, as to give the world just cause to think that we are had in contempt by him that ought most to respect and reverence us, which, we do assure you, hath wrought as great grief in us as anyone thing that ever happened unto us. "we are persuaded that you, that have so long known us, cannot think that ever we could have been drawn to have taken so hard a course therein had we not been provoked by an extraordinary cause. but for that your grieved and wounded mind hath more need of comfort than reproof, who, we are persuaded, though the act of contempt can no ways be excused, had no other meaning and intent than to advance our service, we think meet to forbear to dwell upon a matter wherein we ourselves do find so little comfort, assuring you that whosoever professeth to love you best taketh not more comfort of your well doing, or discomfort of your evil doing than ourself." after this affectionate preface she proceeded to intimate her desire that the earl should take the matter as nearly as possible into his own hands. it was her wish that he should retain the authority of absolute governor, but--if it could be so arranged--that he should dispense with the title, retaining only that of her lieutenant-general. it was not her intention however, to create any confusion or trouble in the provinces, and she was therefore willing that the government should remain upon precisely the same footing as that on which it then stood, until circumstances should permit the change of title which she suggested. and the whole matter was referred to the wisdom of leicester, who was to advise with heneage and such others as he liked to consult, although it was expressly stated that the present arrangement was to be considered a provisional and not a final one. until this soothing intelligence could arrive in the netherlands the suspicions concerning the underhand negotiations with spain grew daily more rife, and the discredit cast upon the earl more embarrassing. the private letters which passed between the earl's enemies in holland and in england contained matter more damaging to himself and to the cause which he had at heart than the more public reports of modern days can disseminate, which, being patent to all, can be more easily contradicted. leicester incessantly warned his colleagues of her majesty's council against the malignant manufacturers of intelligence. "i pray you, my lords, as you are wise," said he, "beware of them all. you shall find them here to be shrewd pick-thinks, and hardly worth the hearkening unto." he complained bitterly of the disgrace that was heaped upon him, both publicly and privately, and of the evil consequences which were sure to follow from the course pursued. "never was man so villanously handled by letters out of england as i have been," said he, "not only advertising her majesty's great dislike with me before this my coming over, but that i was an odious man in england, and so long as i tarried here that no help was to be looked for, that her majesty would send no more men or money, and that i was used here but for a time till a peace were concluded between her majesty and the prince of parma. what the continuance of a man's discredit thus will turn out is to be thought of, for better i were a thousand times displaced than that her majesty's great advantage of so notable provinces should be hindered." as to the peace-negotiations--which, however cunningly managed, could not remain entirely concealed--the earl declared them to be as idle as they were disingenuous. "i will boldly pronounce that all the peace you can make in the world, leaving these countries," said he to burghley, "will never prove other than a fair spring for a few days, to be all over blasted with a hard storm after." two days later her majesty's comforting letters arrived, and the earl began to raise his drooping head. heneage, too, was much relieved, but he was, at the same time, not a little perplexed. it was not so easy to undo all the mischief created by the queen's petulance. the "scorpion's sting"--as her majesty expressed herself--might be balsamed, but the poison had spread far beyond the original wound. "the letters just brought in," wrote heneage to burghley, "have well relieved a most noble and sufficient servant, but i fear they will not restore the much-repaired wrecks of these far-decayed noble countries into the same state i found them in. a loose, disordered, and unknit state needs no shaking, but propping. a subtle and fearful kind of people--should not be made more distrustful, but assured." he then expressed annoyance at the fault already found with him, and surely if ever man had cause to complain of reproof administered him, in quick succession; for not obeying contradictory directions following upon each other as quickly, that man was sir thomas heneage. he had been, as he thought, over cautious in administering the rebuke to the earl's arrogance, which he had been expressly sent over to administer but scarcely had he accomplished his task, with as much delicacy as he could devise, when he found himself censured;--not for dilatoriness, but for haste. "fault i perceive," said he to burghley, "is found in me, not by your lordship, but by some other, that i did not stay proceeding if i found the public cause might take hurt. it is true i had good warrant for the manner, the place, and the persons, but, for the matter none, for done it must be. her majesty's offence must be declared. yet if i did not all i possibly could to uphold the cause, and to keep the tottering cause upon the wheels, i deserve no thanks, but reproof." certainly, when the blasts of royal rage are remembered, by which the envoy had been, as it were, blown out of england into holland, it is astonishing to find his actions censured for undue precipitancy. but it was not the first, nor was it likely to be the last time, for comparatively subordinate agents in elizabeth's government to be, distressed by, contradictory commands, when the sovereign did not know or did not chose to make known, her own mind on important occasions. "well, my lord," said plaintive sir thomas, "wiser men may serve more pleasingly and happily, but never shall any serve her majesty more, faithfully and heartily. and so i cannot be persuaded her majesty thinketh; for from herself i find nothing but most sweet and--gracious, favour, though by others' censures i may gather otherwise of her judgment; which i confess, doth cumber me." he was destined to be cumbered more than once before these negotiations should be concluded; but meantime; there was a brief gleam of sunshine. the english friends of leicester in the netherlands were enchanted with the sudden change in the queen's humour; and to lord burghley, who was not, in reality, the most stanch of the absent earl's defenders, they poured themselves out in profuse and somewhat superfluous gratitude. cavendish, in strains exultant, was sure that burghley's children, grand-children, and remotest posterity, would rejoice that their great ancestor, in such a time of need had been "found and felt to be indeed a 'pater patria,' a good-father to a happy land." and, although unwilling to "stir up the old adam" in his lordship's soul, he yet took the liberty of comparing the lord treasurer, in his old and declining years with mary magdalen; assuring him, that for ever after; when the tale of the preservation of the church of god, of her majesty; and of the netherland cause; which were all one, should be told; his name and well-doing would be held in memory also. and truly there was much of honest and generous enthusiasm, even if couched in language somewhat startling to the ears of a colder and more material age; in the hearts of these noble volunteers. they were fighting the cause of england, of the netherland republic, and of human liberty; with a valour worthy the best days of english' chivalry, against manifold obstacles, and they were certainly; not too often cheered by the beams of royal favour. it was a pity that a dark cloud was so soon again to sweep over the scene: for the temper of elizabeth at this important juncture seemed as capricious: as the april weather in which the scenes were enacting. we have seen the genial warmth of her letters and messages to leicester, to heneage,--to the states-general; on the first of the month. nevertheless it was hardly three weeks after they had been despatched when walsingham and burghley found, her majesty one morning a towering passion, because, the earl had not already laid down the government. the lord treasurer ventured to remonstrate, but was bid to bold his tongue. ever variable and mutable as woman, elizabeth was perplexing and baffling to her counsellors, at this epoch, beyond all divination. the "sparing humour" was increasing fearfully, and she thought it would be easier for her to slip out of the whole expensive enterprise, provided leicester were merely her lieutenant-general, and not stadholder for the provinces. moreover the secret negotiations for peace were producing a deleterious effect upon her mind. upon this subject, the queen and burghley, notwithstanding his resemblance to mary magdalen, were better informed than the secretary, whom, however, it had been impossible wholly to deceive. the man who could read secrets so far removed as the vatican, was not to be blinded to intrigues going on before his face. the queen, without revealing more than she could help, had been obliged to admit that informal transactions were pending, but had authorised the secretary to assure the united states that no treaty would be made without their knowledge and full concurrence. "she doth think," wrote walsingham to leicester, "that you should, if you shall see no cause to the contrary, acquaint the council of state there that certain overtures of peace are daily made unto her, but that she meaneth not to proceed therein without their good liking and privity, being persuaded that there can no peace be made profitable or sure for her that shall not also stand with their safety; and she doth acknowledge hers to be so linked with theirs as nothing can fall out to their prejudice, but she must be partaker of their harm." this communication was dated on the st april, exactly three weeks after the queen's letter to heneage, in which she had spoken of the "malicious bruits" concerning the pretended peace-negotiations; and the secretary was now confirming, by her order, what she had then stated under her own hand, that she would "do nothing that might concern them without their own knowledge and good liking." and surely nothing could be more reasonable. even if the strict letter of the august treaty between the queen and the states did not provide against any separate negotiations by the one party without the knowledge of the other, there could be no doubt at all that its spirit absolutely forbade the clandestine conclusion of a peace with spain by england alone, or by the netherlands alone, and that such an arrangement would be disingenuous, if not positively dishonourable. nevertheless it would almost seem that elizabeth had been taking advantage of the day when she was writing her letter to heneage on the st of april. never was painstaking envoy more elaborately trifled with. on the th of the month--and only five days after the communication by walsingham just noticed--the queen was furious that any admission should have been made to the states of their right to participate with her in peace-negotiations. "we find that sir thomas heneage," said she to leicester, "hath gone further--in assuring the states that we would make no peace without their privity and assent--than he had commission; for that our direction was--if our meaning had been well set down, and not mistaken by our secretary--that they should have been only let understand that in any treaty that might pass between us and spain, they might be well assured we would have no less care of their safety than of our own." secretary walsingham was not likely to mistake her majesty's directions in this or any other important affair of state. moreover, it so happened that the queen had, in her own letter to heneage, made the same statement which she now chose to disavow. she had often a convenient way of making herself misunderstood, when she thought it desirable to shift responsibility from her own shoulders upon those of others; but upon this occasion she had been sufficiently explicit. nevertheless, a scape-goat was necessary, and unhappy the subordinate who happened to be within her majesty's reach when a vicarious sacrifice was to be made. sir francis walsingham was not a man to be brow-beaten or hood-winked, but heneage was doomed to absorb a fearful amount of royal wrath. "what phlegmatical reasons soever were made you," wrote the queen, who but three weeks before had been so gentle and affectionate to her, ambassador, "how happeneth it that you will not remember, that when a man hath faulted and committed by abettors thereto, neither the one nor the other will willingly make their own retreat. jesus! what availeth wit, when it fails the owner at greatest need? do that you are bidden, and leave your considerations for your own affairs. for in some things you had clear commandment, which you did not, and in others none, and did. we princes be wary enough of our bargains. think you i will be bound by your own speech to make no peace for mine own matters without their consent? it is enough that i injure not their country nor themselves in making peace for them without their consent. i am assured of your dutiful thoughts, but i am utterly at squares with this childish dealing." blasted by this thunderbolt falling upon his head out of serenest sky, the sad. sir. thomas remained, for a time, in a state of political annihilation. 'sweet robin' meanwhile, though stunned, was unscathed--thanks to the convenient conductor at his side. for, in elizabeth's court, mediocrity was not always golden, nor was it usually the loftiest mountains that the lightnings smote. the earl was deceived by his royal mistress, kept in the dark as to important transactions, left to provide for his famishing' soldiers as he best might; but the queen at that moment, though angry, was not disposed, to trample upon him. now that his heart was known to be broken, and his sole object in life to be retirement to remote regions--india or elsewhere--there to languish out the brief remainder of his days in prayers for elizabeth's happiness, elizabeth was not inclined very bitterly to upbraid him. she had too recently been employing herself in binding up his broken heart, and pouring balm into the "scorpion's sting," to be willing so soon to deprive him of those alleviations. her tone--was however no longer benignant, and her directions were extremely peremptory. on the st of april she had congratulated leicester, heneage, the states, and all the world, that her secret commands had been staid, and that the ruin which would have followed, had, those decrees been executed according to her first violent wish, was fortunately averted. heneage was even censured, not by herself, but by courtiers in her confidence, and with her concurrence, for being over hasty in going before the state-council, as he had done, with her messages and commands. on the th of april she expressed astonishment that heneage had dared to be so dilatory, and that the title of governor had not been laid down by leicester "out of hand." she marvelled greatly, and found it very strange that "ministers in matters of moment should presume to do things of their own head without direction." she accordingly gave orders that there should be no more dallying, but that the earl should immediately hold a conference with the state-council in order to arrange a modification in his commission. it was her pleasure that he should retain all the authority granted to him by the states, but as already intimated by her, that he should abandon the title of "absolute governor," and retain only that of her lieutenant-general. was it strange that heneage, placed in so responsible a situation, and with the fate of england, of holland, and perhaps of all christendom, hanging in great measure upon this delicate negotiation, should be amazed at such contradictory orders, and grieved by such inconsistent censures? "to tell you my griefs and my lacks," said he to walsingham, "would little please you or help me. therefore i will say nothing, but think there was never man in so great a service received so little comfort and so contrarious directions. but 'dominus est adjutor in tribulationibus.' if it be possible, let me receive some certain direction, in following which i shall not offend her majesty, what good or hurt soever i do besides." this certainly seemed a loyal and reasonable request, yet it was not one likely to be granted. sir thomas, perplexed, puzzled, blindfolded, and brow-beaten, always endeavoring to obey orders, when he could comprehend them, and always hectored and lectured whether he obeyed them or not--ruined in purse by the expenses, of a mission on which he had been sent without adequate salary--appalled at the disaffection waging more formidable every hour in provinces which were recently so loyal to her majesty, but which were now pervaded by a suspicion that there was double-dealing upon her part became quite sick of his life. he fell seriously ill, and was disappointed, when, after a time, the physicians declared him convalescent. for when when he rose from his sick-bed, it was only to plunge once more, without a clue, into the labyrinth where he seemed to be losing his reason. "it is not long," said he to walsingham, "since i looked to have written you no more letters, my extremity was so great. . . but god's will is best, otherwise i could have liked better to have cumbered the earth no longer, where i find myself contemned, and which i find no reason to see will be the better in the wearing . . . it were better for her majesty's service that the directions which come were not contrarious one to another, and that those you would have serve might know what is meant, else they cannot but much deceive you, as well as displease you." public opinion concerning the political morality of the english court was not gratifying, nor was it rendered more favourable by these recent transactions. "i fear," said heneage, "that the world will judge what champagny wrote in one of his letters out of england (which i have lately seen) to be over true. his words be these, 'et de vray, c'est le plus fascheux et le plus incertain negocier de ceste court, que je pense soit au monde.'" and so "basting," as he said, "with a weak body and a willing mind; to do, he feared, no good work," he set forth from middelburgh to rejoin leicester at arnheim, in order to obey, as well as he could, the queen's latest directions. but before he could set to work there came more "contrarious" orders. the last instructions, both to leicester and himself, were that the earl should resign the post of governor absolute "out of hand," and the queen had been vehement in denouncing any delay on such an occasion. he was now informed, that, after consulting with leicester and with the state-council, he was to return to england with the result of such deliberations. it could afterwards be decided how the earl could retain all the authority of governor absolute, while bearing only the title of the queen's lieutenant general. "for her meaning is not," said walsingham, "that his lord ship should presently give it over, for she foreseeth in her princely judgment that his giving over the government upon a sudden, and leaving those countries without a head or director, cannot but breed a most dangerous alteration there." the secretary therefore stated the royal wish at present to be that the "renunciation of the title" should be delayed till heneage could visit england, and subsequently return to holland with her majesty's further directions. even the astute walsingham was himself puzzled, however, while conveying these ambiguous orders; and he confessed that he was doubtful whether he had rightly comprehended the queen's intentions. burghley, however, was better at guessing riddles than he was, and so heneage was advised to rely chiefly upon burghley. but heneage had now ceased to be interested in any enigmas that might be propounded by the english court, nor could he find comfort, as walsingham had recommended he should do, in railing. "i wish i could follow your counsel," he said, "but sure the uttering of my choler doth little ease my grief or help my case." he rebuked, however, the inconsistency and the tergiversations of the government with a good deal of dignity. "this certainly shall i tell her majesty," he said, "if i live to see her, that except a more constant course be taken with this inconstant people, it is not the blaming of her ministers will advance her highness's service, or better the state of things. and shall i tell you what they now say here of us--i fear not without some cause--even as lipsius wrote of the french, 'de gallis quidem enigmata veniunt, non veniunt, volunt, holunt, audent, timent, omnia, ancipiti metu, suspensa et suspecta.' god grant better, and ever keep you and help me." he announced to burghley that he was about to attend a meeting of the state-council the next day, for the purpose of a conference on these matters at arnheim, and that he would then set forth for england to report proceedings to her majesty. he supposed, on the whole, that this was what was expected of him, but acknowledged it hopeless to fathom the royal intentions. yet if he went wrong, he was always, sure to make mischief, and though innocent, to be held accountable for others' mistakes. "every prick i make," said he, "is made a gash; and to follow the words of my directions from england is not enough, except i likewise see into your minds. and surely mine eyesight is not so good. but i will pray to god for his help herein. with all the wit i have, i will use all the care i can--first, to satisfy her majesty, as god knoweth i have ever most desired; then, not to hurt this cause, but that i despair of." leicester, as maybe supposed, had been much discomfited and perplexed during the course of these contradictory and perverse directions. there is no doubt whatever that his position bad been made discreditable and almost ridiculous, while he was really doing his best, and spending large sums out of his private fortune to advance the true interests of the queen. he had become a suspected man in the netherlands, having been, in the beginning of the year, almost adored as a messiah. he had submitted to the humiliation which had been imposed upon him, of being himself the medium to convey to the council the severe expressions of the queen's displeasure at the joint action of the states-general and himself. he had been comforted by the affectionate expressions with which that explosion of feminine and royal wrath had been succeeded. he was now again distressed by the peremptory command to do what was a disgrace to him, and an irreparable detriment to the cause, yet he was humble and submissive, and only begged to be allowed, as a remedy for all his anguish, to return to the sunlight of elizabeth's presence. he felt that her course; if persisted in, would lead to the destruction of the netherland commonwealth, and eventually to the downfall of england; and that the provinces, believing themselves deceived by the queen; were ready to revolt against an authority to which, but a short time before, they were so devotedly loyal nevertheless, he only wished to know what his sovereign's commands distinctly were, in order to set himself to their fulfilment. he had come from the camp before nymegen in order to attend the conference with the state-council at arnheim, and he would then be ready and anxious to, despatch heneage to england, to learn her majesty's final determination. he protested to the queen that he had come upon this arduous and perilous service only, because he, considered her throne in danger, and that this was the only means of preserving it; that, in accepting the absolute government, he had been free from all ambitious motives, but deeply impressed with the idea that only by so doing could he conduct the enterprise entrusted to him to the desired consummation; and he declared with great fervour that no advancement to high office could compensate him for this enforced absence from her. to be sent back even in disgrace would still be a boon to him, for he should cease to be an exile from her sight. he knew that his enemies had been busy in defaming him, while he had been no longer there to defend himself, but his conscience acquitted him of any thought which was not for her happiness and glory. "yet grievous it is to me," said he in, a tone of tender reproach, "that having left all--yea, all that may be imagined--for you, you have left me for very little, even to the uttermost of all hard fortune. for what have i, unhappy man, to do here either with cause or country but for you?" he stated boldly that his services had not been ineffective, that the enemy had never been in worse plight than now, that he had lost at least five thousand men in divers overthrows, and that, on the other hand, the people and towns of the seven provinces had been safely preserved. "since my arrival," he said, "god hath blessed the action which you have taken in hand, and committed to the charge of me your poor unhappy servant. i have good cause to say somewhat for myself, for that i think i have as few friends to speak for me as any man." nevertheless--as he warmly protested--his only wish was to return; for the country in which he had lost her favour, which was more precious than life, had become odious to him. the most lowly office in her presence was more to be coveted than the possession of unlimited power away from her. it was by these tender and soft insinuations, as the earl knew full well, that he was sure to obtain what he really coveted--her sanction for retaining the absolute government in the provinces. and most artfully did he strike the key. "most dear and gracious lady," he cried, "my care and service here do breed me nothing but grief and unhappiness. i have never had your majesty's good favour since i came into this charge--a matter that from my first beholding your eyes hath been most dear unto me above all earthly treasures. never shall i love that place or like that soil which shall cause the lack of it. most gracious lady, consider my long, true, and faithful heart toward you. let not this unfortunate place here bereave me of that which, above all the world, i esteem there, which is your favor and your presence. i see my service is not acceptable, but rather more and more disliketh you. here i can do your majesty no service; there i can do you some, at the least rub your horse's heels--a service which shall be much more welcome to me than this, with all that these men may give me. i do, humbly and from my heart, prostrate at your feet, beg this grace at your sacred hands, that you will be pleased to let me return to my home-service, with your favour, let the revocation be used in what sort shall please and like you. but if ever spark of favour was in your majesty toward your old servant, let me obtain this my humble suit; protesting before the majesty of all majesties, that there was no cause under heaven but his and yours, even for your own special and particular cause, i say, could have made me take this absent journey from you in hand. if your majesty shall refuse me this, i shall think all grace clean gone from me, and i know: my days will not be long." she must melt at this, thought 'sweet robin' to himself; and meantime accompanied by heneage; he proceeded with the conferences in the state-council-chamber touching the modification of the title and the confirmation of his authority. this, so far as walsingham could divine, and burghley fathom, was the present intention of the queen. he averred that he had ever sought most painfully to conform his conduct to her instructions as fast as they were received, and that he should continue so to do. on the whole it was decided by the conference to let matters stand as, they were for a little longer, and until: after heneage should have time once more to go and come. "the same manner of proceeding that was is now," said leicester, "your pleasure is declared to the council here as you have willed it. how it will fall out again in your majesty's construction, the lord knoweth." leicester might be forgiven for referring to higher powers, for any possible interpretation of her majesty's changing humour; but meantime; while sir. thomas was getting ready, for his expedition to england, the earl's heart was somewhat gladdened by more gracious messages from the queen. the alternation of emotions would however prove too much for him, he feared, and he was reluctant to open his heart to so unwonted a tenant as joy. "but that my fear is such, most dear and gracious lady," he said, "as my unfortunate destiny will hardly permit; whilst i remain here; any good-acceptation of so simple a service as, mine, i should, greatly rejoice and comfort myself with the hope of your majesty's most prayed-for favour. but of late, being by your own sacred hand lifted even up into heaven with joy of your favour, i was bye and bye without any new desert or offence at all, cast down and down: again into the depth of all grief. god doth know, my dear and dread sovereign, that after i first received your resolute pleasure by sir thomas heneage, i made neither stop nor stay nor any excuse to be rid of this place, and to satisfy your command. . . . so much i mislike this place and fortune of mine; as i desire nothing in the world so much, as to be delivered, with your favours from all charge here, fearing still some new cross of your displeasure to fall upon me, trembling continually with the fear thereof, in such sort as till i may be fully confirmed in my new regeneration of your wonted favour i cannot receive that true comfort which doth appertain to so great a hope. yet i will not only acknowledge with all humbleness and dutiful thanks the exceeding joy these last blessed lines brought to my long-wearied heart, but will, with all true loyal affection, attend that further joy from your sweet self which may utterly, extinguish all consuming fear away." poor heneage--who likewise received a kind word or two after having been so capriciously and petulantly dealt with was less extravagant in his expressions of gratitude. "the queen hath sent me a paper-plaister which must please for a time," he said. "god almighty bless her majesty ever, and best direct her." he was on the point of starting for england, the bearer of the states' urgent entreaties that leicester might retain the government, and of despatches; announcing the recent success of the allies before grave. "god prospereth the action in these countries beyond all expectation," he said, "which all amongst you will not be over glad of, for somewhat i know." the intrigues of grafigni, champagny, and bodman, with croft, burghley, and the others were not so profound a secret as they could wish. the tone adopted by leicester has been made manifest in his letters to the queen. he had held the same language of weariness and dissatisfaction in his communications to his friends. he would not keep the office, he avowed, if they should give him "all holland and zeeland, with all their appurtenances," and he was ready to resign at any moment. he was not "ceremonious for reputation," he said, but he gave warning that the netherlanders would grow desperate if they found her majesty dealing weakly or carelessly with them. as for himself he had already had enough of government. "i am weary, mr. secretary," he plaintively exclaimed, "indeed i am weary; but neither of pains nor travail. my ill hap that i can please her majesty no better hath quite discouraged me." he had recently, however--as we have seen--received some comfort, and he was still further encouraged, upon the eve of heneage's departure, by receiving another affectionate epistle from the queen. amends seemed at last to be offered for her long and angry silence, and the earl was deeply grateful. "if it hath not been, my most dear and gracious lady," said he in reply, "no small comfort to your poor old servant to receive but one line of your blessed hand-writing in many months, for the relief of a most grieved, wounded heart, how far more exceeding joy must it be, in the midst of all sorrow, to receive from the same sacred hand so many comfortable lines as my good friend mr. george hath at once brought me. pardon me, my sweet lady, if they cause me to forget myself. only this i do say, with most humble dutiful thanks, that the scope of all my service hath ever been to content and please you; and if i may do that, then is all sacrifice, either of life or whatsoever, well offered for you." the matter of the government absolute having been so fully discussed during the preceding four months, and the last opinions of the state-council having been so lucidly expounded in the despatches to be carried by heneage to england, the matter might be considered as exhausted. leicester contented himself, therefore, with once more calling her majesty's attention to the fact that if he had not himself accepted the office thus conferred upon him by the states, it would have been bestowed upon some other personage. it would hardly have comported with her dignity, if count maurice of nassau, or count william, or count moeurs, had been appointed governor absolute, for in that case the earl, as general of the auxiliary english force, would have been subject to the authority of the chieftain thus selected. it was impossible, as the state-council had very plainly shown, for leicester to exercise supreme authority, while merely holding the military office of her majesty's lieutenant-general. the authority of governor or stadholder could only be derived from the supreme power of the country. if her majesty had chosen to accept the sovereignty, as the states had ever desired, the requisite authority could then have been derived from her, as from the original fountain. as she had resolutely refused that offer however, his authority was necessarily to be drawn from the states-general, or else the queen must content herself with seeing him serve as an english military officer, only subject to the orders of the supreme power, wherever that power might reside. in short, elizabeth's wish that her general might be clothed with the privileges of her viceroy, while she declined herself to be the sovereign, was illogical, and could not be complied with. very soon after inditing these last epistles to the provinces, the queen became more reasonable on the subject; and an elaborate communication was soon received by the state-council, in which the royal acquiescence was signified to the latest propositions of the states. the various topics, suggested in previous despatches from leicester and from the council, were reviewed, and the whole subject was suddenly placed in a somewhat different light from that in which it seemed to have been previously regarded by her majesty. she alluded to the excuse, offered by the state-council, which had been drawn from the necessity of the case, and from their "great liking for her cousin of leicester," although in violation of the original contract. "as you acknowledge, however," she said, "that therein you were justly to be blamed, and do crave pardon for the same, we cannot, upon this acknowledgment of your fault, but remove our former dislike." nevertheless it would now seem that her "mistake" had proceeded, not from the excess, but from the insufficiency of the powers conferred upon the earl, and she complained, accordingly, that they had given him shadow rather than substance. simultaneously with this royal communication, came a joint letter to leicester, from burghley, walsingham; and hatton, depicting the long and strenuous conflict which they had maintained in his behalf with the rapidly varying inclinations of the queen. they expressed a warm sympathy with the difficulties of his position, and spoke in strong terms of the necessity that the netherlands and england should work heartily together. for otherwise, they said, "the cause will fall, the enemy will rise, and we must stagger." notwithstanding the secret negotiations with the enemy, which leicester and walsingham suspected, and which will be more fully examined in a subsequent chapter, they held a language on that subject, which in the secretary's mouth at least was sincere. "whatsoever speeches be blown abroad of parleys of peace," they said, "all will be but smoke, yea fire will follow." they excused themselves for their previous and enforced silence by the fact that they had been unable to communicate any tidings but messages of distress, but they now congratulated the earl that her majesty, as he would see by her letter to the council, was firmly resolved, not only to countenance his governorship, but to sustain him in the most thorough manner. it would be therefore quite out of the question for them to listen to his earnest propositions to be recalled. moreover, the lord treasurer had already apprized leicester that heneage had safely arrived in england, that he, had made his report to the queen, and that her majesty was "very well contented with him and his mission." it may be easily believed that the earl would feel a sensation of relief, if not of triumph, at this termination to the embarrassments under which he had been labouring ever since, he listened to the oration of the wise leoninus upon new years' day. at last the queen had formally acquiesced in the action of the states, and in his acceptance of their offer. he now saw himself undisputed "governor absolute," having been six months long a suspected, discredited, almost disgraced man. it was natural that he should express himself cheerfully. "my great comfort received, oh my most gracious lady," he said, "by your most favourable lines written by your own sacred hand, i did most humbly acknowledge by my former letter; albeit i can no way make testimony of enough of the great joy i took thereby. and seeing my wounded heart is by this means almost made whole, i do pray unto god that either i may never feel the like again from you, or not be suffered to live, rather than i should fall again into those torments of your displeasure. most gracious queen, i beseech you, therefore, make perfect that which you have begun. let not the common danger, nor any ill, incident to the place i serve you in, be accompanied with greater troubles and fears indeed than all the horrors of death can bring me. my strong hope doth now so assure me, as i have almost won the battle against despair, and i do arm myself with as many of those wonted comfortable conceits as may confirm my new revived spirits, reposing myself evermore under the shadow of those blessed beams that must yield the only nourishment to this disease." but however nourishing the shade of those blessed beams might prove to leicester's disease, it was not so easy to bring about a very sunny condition in the provinces. it was easier for elizabeth to mend the broken heart of the governor than to repair the damage which had been caused to the commonwealth by her caprice and her deceit. the dispute concerning the government absolute had died away, but the authority of the earl had got a "crack in it" which never could be handsomely made whole. the states, during the long period of leicester's discredit--feeling more and more doubtful as to the secret intentions of elizabeth--disappointed in the condition of the auxiliary troops and in the amount of supplies furnished from england, and, above all, having had time to regret their delegation of a power which they began to find agreeable to exercise with their own hands, became indisposed to entrust the earl with the administration and full inspection of their resources. to the enthusiasm which had greeted the first arrival of elizabeth's representative had succeeded a jealous, carping, suspicious sentiment. the two hundred thousand florins monthly were paid, according to the original agreement, but the four hundred thousand of extra service-money subsequently voted were withheld, and withheld expressly on account of heneage's original mission to disgrace the governor. "the late return of sir thomas heneage," said lord north, "hath put such busses in their heads, as they march forward with leaden heels and doubtful hearts." in truth, through the discredit cast by the queen upon the earl in this important affair, the supreme authority was forced back into the hands of the states, at the very moment when they had most freely divested themselves of power. after the queen had become more reasonable, it was too late to induce them to part, a second time, so freely with the immediate control of their own affairs. leicester had become, to a certain extent, disgraced and disliked by the estates. he thought himself, by the necessity of the case, forced to appeal to the people against their legal representatives, and thus the foundation of a nominally democratic party, in opposition to the municipal one, was already laid. nothing could be more unfortunate at that juncture; for we shall, in future, find the earl in perpetual opposition to the most distinguished statesmen in the provinces; to the very men indeed who had been most influential in offering the sovereignty to england, and in placing him in the position which he had so much coveted. no sooner therefore had he been confirmed by elizabeth in that high office than his arrogance broke forth, and the quarrels between himself and the representative body became incessant. "i stand now in somewhat better terms than i did," said he; "i was not in case till of late to deal roundly with them as i have now done. i have established a chamber of finances, against some of their wills, whereby i doubt not to procure great benefit to increase our ability for payments hereafter. the people i find still best devoted to her majesty, though of late many lewd practices have been used to withdraw their good wills. but it will not be; they still pray god that her majesty may be their sovereign. she should then see what a contribution they will all bring forth. but to the states they will never return, which will breed some great mischief, there is such mislike of the states universally. i would your lordship had seen the case i had lived in among them these four months, especially after her majesty's mislike was found. you would then marvel to see how i have waded, as i have done, through no small obstacles, without help, counsel, or assistance." thus the part which he felt at last called upon to enact was that of an aristocratic demagogue, in perpetual conflict with the burgher-representative body. it is now necessary to lift a corner of the curtain, by which some international--or rather interpalatial--intrigues were concealed, as much as possible, even from the piercing eyes of walsingham. the secretary was, however, quite aware--despite the pains taken to deceive him--of the nature of the plots and of the somewhat ignoble character of the actors concerned in them. etext editor's bookmarks: a hard bargain when both parties are losers condemned first and inquired upon after disordered, and unknit state needs no shaking, but propping upper and lower millstones of royal wrath and loyal subserviency uttering of my choler doth little ease my grief or help my case history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history of the united netherlands, volume , chapter viii. forlorn condition of flanders--parma's secret negotiations with the queen--grafigni and bodman--their dealings with english counsellors --duplicity of farnese--secret offers of the english peace-party-- letters and intrigues of de loo--drake's victories and their effect --parma's perplexity and anxiety--he is relieved by the news from england--queen's secret letters to parma--his letters and instructions to bodman--bodman's secret transactions at greenwich-- walsingham detects and exposes the plot--the intriguers baffled-- queen's letter to parma and his to the king--unlucky results of the peace--intrigues--unhandsome treatment of leicester--indignation of the earl and walsingham--secret letter of parma to philip--invasion of england recommended--details of the project. alexander farnese and his heroic little army had been left by their sovereign in as destitute a condition as that in which lord leicester and his unfortunate "paddy persons" had found themselves since their arrival in the netherlands. these mortal men were but the weapons to be used and broken in the hands of the two great sovereigns, already pitted against each other in mortal combat. that the distant invisible potentate, the work of whose life was to do his best to destroy all european nationality, all civil and religious freedom, should be careless of the instruments by which his purpose was to be effected, was but natural. it is painful to reflect that the great champion of liberty and of protestantism was almost equally indifferent to the welfare of the human creatures enlisted in her cause. spaniards and italians, english and irish, went half naked and half starving through the whole inclement winter, and perished of pestilence in droves, after confronting the less formidable dangers of battlefield and leaguer. manfully and sympathetically did the earl of leicester--while whining in absurd hyperbole over the angry demeanour of his sovereign towards himself-represent the imperative duty of an english government to succour english troops. alexander farnese was equally plain-spoken to a sovereign with whom plain-speaking was a crime. in bold, almost scornful language, the prince represented to philip the sufferings and destitution of the little band of heroes, by whom that magnificent military enterprise, the conquest of antwerp, had just been effected. "god will be weary of working miracles for us," he cried, "and nothing but miracles can save the troops from starving." there was no question of paying them their wages, there was no pretence at keeping them reasonably provided with lodging and clothing, but he asserted the undeniable proposition that they "could not pass their lives without eating," and he implored his sovereign to send at least money enough to buy the soldiers shoes. to go foodless and barefoot without complaining, on the frozen swamps of flanders, in january, was more than was to be expected from spaniards and italians. the country itself was eaten bare. the obedient provinces had reaped absolute ruin as the reward of their obedience. bruges, ghent, and the other cities of brabant and flanders, once so opulent and powerful, had become mere dens of thieves and paupers. agriculture, commerce, manufactures--all were dead. the condition of antwerp was most tragical. the city, which had been so recently the commercial centre of the earth, was reduced to absolute beggary. its world-wide traffic was abruptly terminated, for the mouth of its great river was controlled by flushing, and flushing was in the firm grasp of sir philip sidney, as governor for the english queen. merchants and bankers, who had lately been possessed of enormous resources, were stripped of all. such of the industrial classes as could leave the place had wandered away to holland and england. there was no industry possible, for there was no market for the products of industry. antwerp was hemmed in by the enemy on every side, surrounded by royal troops in a condition of open mutiny, cut off from the ocean, deprived of daily bread, and yet obliged to contribute out of its poverty to the maintenance of the spanish soldiers, who were there for its destruction. its burghers, compelled to furnish four hundred thousand florins, as the price of their capitulation, and at least six hundred thousand more for the repairs of the dykes, the destruction of which, too long deferred, had only spread desolation over the country without saving the city, and over and above all forced to rebuild, at their own expense, that fatal citadel, by which their liberty and lives were to be perpetually endangered, might now regret at leisure that they had not been as stedfast during their siege as had been the heroic inhabitants of leyden in their time of trial, twelve years before. obedient antwerp was, in truth, most forlorn. but there was one consolation for her and for philip, one bright spot in the else universal gloom. the ecclesiastics assured parma, that, notwithstanding the frightful diminution in the population of the city, they had confessed and absolved more persons that easter than they had ever done since the commencement of the revolt. great was philip's joy in consequence. "you cannot imagine my satisfaction," he wrote, "at the news you give me concerning last easter." with a ruined country, starving and mutinous troops, a bankrupt exchequer, and a desperate and pauper population, alexander farnese was not unwilling to gain time by simulated negotiations for peace. it was strange, however, that so sagacious a monarch as the queen of england should suppose it for her interest to grant at that moment the very delay which was deemed most desirable by her antagonist. yet it was not wounded affection alone, nor insulted pride, nor startled parsimony, that had carried the fury of the queen to such a height on the occasion of leicester's elevation to absolute government. it was still more, because the step was thought likely to interfere with the progress of those negotiations into which the queen had allowed herself to be drawn. a certain grafigni--a genoese merchant residing much in london and in antwerp, a meddling, intrusive, and irresponsible kind of individual, whose occupation was gone with the cessation of flemish trade--had recently made his appearance as a volunteer diplomatist. the principal reason for accepting or rather for winking at his services, seemed to be the possibility of disavowing him, on both sides, whenever it should be thought advisable. he had a partner or colleague, too, named bodman, who seemed a not much more creditable negotiator than himself. the chief director of the intrigue was, however, champagny, brother of cardinal granvelle, restored to the king's favour and disposed to atone by his exuberant loyalty for his heroic patriotism on a former and most memorable occasion. andrea de loo, another subordinate politician, was likewise employed at various stages of the negotiation. it will soon be perceived that the part enacted by burghley, hatton, croft, and other counsellors, and even by the queen herself, was not a model of ingenuousness towards the absent leicester and the states-general. the gentlemen sent at various times to and from the earl and her majesty's government; davison, shirley, vavasor, heneage, and the rest--had all expressed themselves in the strongest language concerning the good faith and the friendliness of the lord-treasurer and the vice-chamberlain, but they were not so well informed as they would have been, had they seen the private letters of parma to philip ii. walsingham, although kept in the dark as much as it was possible, discovered from time to time the mysterious practices of his political antagonists, and warned the queen of the danger and dishonour she was bringing upon herself. elizabeth, when thus boldly charged, equivocated and stormed alternately. she authorized walsingham to communicate the secrets--which he had thus surprised--to the states-general, and then denied having given any such orders. in truth, walsingham was only entrusted with such portions of the negotiations as he had been able, by his own astuteness, to divine; and as he was very much a friend to the provinces and to leicester, he never failed to keep them instructed, to the best of his ability. it must be confessed, however, that the shuffling and paltering among great men and little men, at that period, forms a somewhat painful subject of contemplation at the present day. grafigni having some merchandise to convey from antwerp to london, went early in the year to the prince of parma, at brussels, in order to procure a passport. they entered into some conversation upon the misery of the country, and particularly concerning the troubles to which the unfortunate merchants had been exposed. alexander expressed much sympathy with the commercial community, and a strong desire that the ancient friendship between his master and the queen of england might be restored. grafigni assured the prince--as the result of his own observation in england--that the queen participated in those pacific sentiments: "you are going to england," replied the prince, "and you may say to the ministers of her majesty, that, after my allegiance to my king, i am most favourably and affectionately inclined towards her. if it pleases them that i, as alexander farnese, should attempt to bring about an accord, and if our commissioners could be assured of a hearing in england, i would take care that everything should be conducted with due regard to the honour and reputation of her majesty." grafigni then asked for a written letter of credence. "that cannot be," replied alexander; "but if you return to me i shall believe your report, and then a proper person can be sent, with authority from the king to treat with her majesty." grafigni proceeded to england, and had an interview with lord cobham. a few days later that nobleman gave the merchant a general assurance that the queen had always felt a strong inclination to maintain firm friendship with the house of burgundy. nevertheless, as he proceeded to state, the bad policy of the king's ministers, and the enterprises against her majesty, had compelled her to provide for her own security and that of her realm by remedies differing in spirit from that good inclination. being however a christian princess, willing to leave vengeance to the lord and disposed to avoid bloodshed, she was ready to lend her ear to a negotiation for peace, if it were likely to be a sincere and secure one. especially she was pleased that his highness of parma should act as mediator of such a treaty, as she considered him a most just and honourable prince in all his promises and actions. her majesty would accordingly hold herself in readiness to receive the honourable commissioners alluded to, feeling sure that every step taken by his highness would comport with her honour and safety. at about the same time the other partner in this diplomatic enterprise, william bodman, communicated to alexander, the result of his observations in england. he stated that lords burghley, buckhurst, and cobham, sir christopher hatton, and comptroller croft, were secretly desirous of peace with spain and that they had seized the recent opportunity of her pique against the earl of leicester to urge forward these underhand negotiations. some progress had been made; but as no accredited commissioner arrived from the prince of parma, and as leicester was continually writing earnest letters against peace, the efforts of these counsellors had slackened. bodman found them all, on his arrival, anxious as he said, "to get their necks out of the matter;" declaring everything which had been done to be pure matter of accident, entirely without the concurrence of the queen, and each seeking to outrival the other in the good graces of her majesty. grafigni informed bodman, however, that lord cobham was quite to be depended upon in the affair, and would deal with him privately, while lord burghley would correspond with andrea de loo at antwerp. moreover, the servant of comptroller croft would direct bodman as to his course, and would give him daily instructions. now it so happened that this servant of croft, norris by name, was a papist, a man of bad character, and formerly a spy of the duke of anjou. "if your lordship or myself should use such instruments as this," wrote walsingham to leicester, "i know we should bear no small reproach; but it is the good hap of hollow and doubtful men to be best thought of." bodman thought the lords of the peace-faction and their adherents not sufficiently strong to oppose the other party with success. he assured farnese that almost all the gentlemen and the common people of england stood ready to risk their fortunes and to go in person to the field to maintain the cause of the queen and religious liberty; and that the chance of peace was desperate unless something should turn the tide, such as, for example, the defeat of drake, or an invasion by philip of ireland or scotland. as it so happened that drake was just then engaged in a magnificent career of victory, sweeping the spanish main and startling the nearest and the most remote possessions of the king with english prowess, his defeat was not one of the cards to be relied on by the peace-party in the somewhat deceptive game which they had commenced. yet, strange to say, they used, or attempted to use, those splendid triumphs as if they had been disasters. meantime there was an active but very secret correspondence between lord cobham, lord burghley, sir james croft, and various subordinate personages in england, on the one side, and champagny, president richardot, la motte, governor of gravelines, andrea de loo, grafigni, and other men in the obedient provinces, more or less in alexander's confidence, on the other side. each party was desirous of forcing or wheedling the antagonist to show his hand. "you were employed to take soundings off the english coast in the duke of norfolk's time," said cobham to la motte: "you remember the duke's fate. nevertheless, her majesty hates war, and it only depends on the king to have a firm and lasting peace." "you must tell lord cobham," said richardot to la motte, "that you are not at liberty to go into a correspondence, until assured of the intentions of queen elizabeth. her majesty ought to speak first, in order to make her good-will manifest," and so on. "the 'friend' can confer with you," said richardot to champagny; "but his highness is not to appear to know anything at all about it. the queen must signify her intentions." "you answered champagny correctly," said burghley to de loo, "as to what i said last winter concerning her majesty's wishes in regard to a pacification. the netherlands must be compelled to return to obedience to the king; but their ancient privileges are to be maintained. you omitted, however, to say a word about toleration, in the provinces, of the reformed religion. but i said then, as i say now, that this is a condition indispensable to peace." this was a somewhat important omission on the part of de loo, and gives the measure of his conscientiousness or his capacity as a negotiator. certainly for the lord-treasurer of england to offer, on the part of her majesty, to bring about the reduction of her allies under the yoke which they had thrown off without her assistance, and this without leave asked of them, and with no provision for the great principle of religious liberty, which was the cause of the revolt, was a most flagitious trifling with the honour of elizabeth and of england. certainly the more this mysterious correspondence is examined, the more conclusive is the justification of the vague and instinctive jealousy felt by leicester and the states-general as to english diplomacy during the winter and spring of . burghley summoned de loo, accordingly, to recall to his memory all that had been privately said to him on the necessity of protecting the reformed religion in the provinces. if a peace were to be perpetual, toleration was indispensable, he observed, and her majesty was said to desire this condition most earnestly. the lord-treasurer also made the not unreasonable suggestion, that, in case of a pacification, it would be necessary to provide that english subjects--peaceful traders, mariners, and the like--should no longer be shut up in the inquisition prisons of spain and portugal, and there starved to death, as, with great multitudes, had already been the case. meantime alexander, while encouraging and directing all these underhand measures, was carefully impressing upon his master that he was not, in the least degree; bound by any such negotiations. "queen elizabeth," he correctly observed to philip, "is a woman: she is also by no means fond of expense. the kingdom, accustomed to repose, is already weary of war therefore, they are all pacifically inclined." "it has been intimated to me," he said, "that if i would send a properly qualified person, who should declare that your majesty had not absolutely forbidden the coming of lord leicester, such an agent would be well received, and perhaps the earl would be recalled." alexander then proceeded, with the coolness befitting a trusted governor of philip ii., to comment upon the course which he was pursuing. he could at any time denounce the negotiations which he was secretly prompting. meantime immense advantages could be obtained by the deception practised upon an enemy whose own object was to deceive. the deliberate treachery of the scheme was cynically enlarged upon, and its possible results mathematically calculated: philip was to proceed with the invasion while alexander was going on with the negotiation. if, meanwhile, they could receive back holland and zeeland from the hands of england, that would be an immense success. the prince intimated a doubt, however, as to so fortunate a result, because, in dealing with heretics and persons of similar quality, nothing but trickery was to be expected. the chief good to be hoped for was to "chill the queen in her plots, leagues, and alliances," and during the chill, to carry forward their own great design. to slacken not a whit in their preparations, to "put the queen to sleep," and, above all, not to leave the french for a moment unoccupied with internal dissensions and civil war; such was the game of the king and the governor, as expounded between themselves. president richardot, at the same time, stated to cardinal granvelle that the english desire for peace was considered certain at brussels. grafigni had informed the prince of parma and his counsellors that the queen was most amicably disposed, and that there would be no trouble on the point of religion, her majesty not wishing to obtain more than she would herself be willing to grant. "in this," said richardot, "there is both hard and soft;" for knowing that the spanish game was deception, pure and simple, the excellent president could not bring himself to suspect a possible grain of good faith in the english intentions. much anxiety was perpetually felt in the french quarter, her majesty's government being supposed to be secretly preparing an invasion of the obedient netherlands across the french frontier, in combination, not with the bearnese, but with henry iii. so much in the dark were even the most astute politicians. "i can't feel satisfied in this french matter," said the president: "we mustn't tickle ourselves to make ourselves laugh." moreover, there was no self-deception nor self-tickling possible as to the unmitigated misery of the obedient netherlands. famine was a more formidable foe than frenchmen, hollanders, and englishmen combined; so that richardot avowed that the "negotiation would be indeed holy," if it would restore holland and zeeland to the king without fighting. the prospect seemed on the whole rather dismal to loyal netherlanders like the old leaguing, intriguing, hispamolized president of the privy council. "i confess," said he plaintively, "that england needs chastisement; but i don't see how we are to give it to her. only let us secure holland and zeeland, and then we shall always find a stick whenever we like to beat the dog." meantime andrea de loo had been bustling and buzzing about the ears of the chief counsellors at the english court during all the early spring. most busily he had been endeavouring to efface the prevalent suspicion that philip and alexander were only trifling by these informal negotiations. we have just seen whether or not there was ground for that suspicion. de loo, being importunate, however--"as he usually was," according to his own statement--obtained in burghley's hand a confirmation, by order of the queen, of de loo's--letter of the th december. the matter of religion gave the worthy merchant much difficulty, and he begged lord buckhurst, the lord treasurer, and many other counsellors, not to allow this point of toleration to ruin the whole affair; "for," said he, "his majesty will never permit any exercise of the reformed religion." at last buckhurst sent for him, and in presence of comptroller croft, gave him information that he had brought the queen to this conclusion: firstly, that she would be satisfied with as great a proportion of religious toleration for holland, zeeland, and the other united provinces, as his majesty could concede with safety to his conscience and his honour; secondly, that she required an act of amnesty; thirdly, that she claimed reimbursement by philip for the money advanced by her to the states. certainly a more wonderful claim was never made than this--a demand upon an absolute monarch for indemnity for expenses incurred in fomenting a rebellion of his own subjects. the measure of toleration proposed for the provinces--the conscience, namely, of the greatest bigot ever born into the world--was likely to prove as satisfactory as the claim for damages propounded by the most parsimonious sovereign in christendom. it was, however, stipulated that the nonconformists of holland and zeeland, who should be forced into exile, were to have their property administered by papist trustees; and further, that the spanish inquisition was not to be established in the netherlands. philip could hardly demand better terms than these last, after a career of victory. that they should be offered now by elizabeth was hardly compatible with good faith to the states. on account of lord burghley's gout, it was suggested that the negotiators had better meet in england, as it would be necessary for him to take the lead in the matters and as he was but an indifferent traveller. thus, according to de loo, the queen was willing to hand over the united provinces to philip, and to toss religious toleration to the winds, if she could only get back the seventy thousand pounds--more or less--which she had invested in an unpromising speculation. a few weeks later, and at almost the very moment when elizabeth had so suddenly overturned her last vial of wrath upon the discomfited heneage for having communicated--according to her express command--the fact of the pending negotiations to the netherland states; at that very instant parma was writing secretly, and in cipher, to philip. his communication--could sir thomas have read it--might have partly explained her majesty's rage. parma had heard, he said, through bodman, from comptroller croft, that the queen would willingly receive a proper envoy. it was very easy to see, he observed, that the english counsellors were seeking every means of entering into communication with spain, and that they were doing so with the participation of the queen! lord-treasurer burghley and comptroller croft had expressed surprise that the prince had not yet sent a secret agent to her majesty, under pretext of demanding explanations concerning lord leicester's presence in the provinces, but in reality to treat for peace. such an agent, it had been intimated, would be well received. the lord-treasurer and the comptroller would do all in their power to advance the negotiation, so that, with their aid and with the pacific inclination of the queen, the measures proposed in favour of leicester would be suspended, and perhaps the earl himself and all the english would be recalled. the queen was further represented as taking great pains to excuse both the expedition of sir francis drake to the indies, and the mission of leicester to the provinces. she was said to throw the whole blame of these enterprises upon walsingham and other ill-intentioned personages, and to avow that she now understood matters better; so that, if parma would at once send an envoy, peace would, without question, soon be made. parma had expressed his gratification at these hopeful dispositions on the part of burghley and croft, and held out hopes of sending an agent to treat with them, if not directly with her majesty. for some time past--according to the prince--the english government had not seemed to be honestly seconding the earl of leicester, nor to correspond with his desires. "this makes me think," he said, "that the counsellors before-mentioned, being his rivals, are trying to trip him up." in such a caballing, prevaricating age, it is difficult to know which of all the plotters and counterplotters engaged in these intrigues could accomplish the greatest amount of what--for the sake of diluting in nine syllables that which could be more forcibly expressed in one--was then called diplomatic dissimulation. it is to be feared, notwithstanding her frequent and vociferous denials, that the robes of the "imperial votaress" were not so unsullied as could be wished. we know how loudly leicester had complained--we have seen how clearly walsingham could convict; but elizabeth, though convicted, could always confute: for an absolute sovereign, even without resorting to philip's syllogisms of axe and faggot, was apt in the sixteenth century to have the best of an argument with private individuals. the secret statements of parma-made, not for public effect, but for the purpose of furnishing his master with the most accurate information he could gather as to english policy--are certainly entitled to consideration. they were doubtless founded upon the statements of individuals rejoicing in no very elevated character; but those individuals had no motive to deceive their patron. if they clashed with the vehement declarations of very eminent personages, it must be admitted, on the other hand, that they were singularly in accordance with the silent eloquence of important and mysterious events. as to alexander farnese--without deciding the question whether elizabeth and burghley were deceiving walsingham and leicester, or only trying to delude philip and himself--he had no hesitation, of course, on his part, in recommending to philip the employment of unlimited dissimulation. nothing could be more ingenuous than the intercourse between the king and his confidential advisers. it was perfectly understood among them that they were always to deceive every one, upon every occasion. only let them be false, and it was impossible to be wholly wrong; but grave mistakes might occur from occasional deviations into sincerity. it was no question at all, therefore, that it was parma's duty to delude elizabeth and burghley. alexander's course was plain. he informed his master that he would keep these difficulties alive as much as it was possible. in order to "put them all to sleep with regard to the great enterprise of the invasion," he would send back bodman to burghley and croft, and thus keep this unofficial negotiation upon its legs. the king was quite uncommitted, and could always disavow what had been done. meanwhile he was gaining, and his adversaries losing, much precious time. "if by this course," said parma, "we can induce the english to hand over to us the places which they hold in holland and zeeland, that will be a great triumph." accordingly he urged the king not to slacken, in the least, his preparations for invasion, and, above all, to have a care that the french were kept entangled and embarrassed among themselves, which was a most substantial point. meantime europe was ringing with the american successes of the bold corsair drake. san domingo, porto rico, santiago, cartliagena, florida, were sacked and destroyed, and the supplies drawn so steadily from the oppression of the western world to maintain spanish tyranny in europe, were for a time extinguished. parma was appalled at these triumphs of the sea-king--"a fearful man to the king of spain"--as lord burghley well observed. the spanish troops were starving in flanders, all flanders itself was starving, and philip, as usual, had sent but insignificant remittances to save his perishing soldiers. parma had already exhausted his credit. money was most difficult to obtain in such a forlorn country; and now the few rich merchants and bankers of antwerp that were left looked very black at these crushing news from america. "they are drawing their purse-strings very tight," said alexander, "and will make no accommodation. the most contemplative of them ponder much over this success of drake, and think that your majesty will forget our matters here altogether." for this reason he informed the king that it would be advisable to drop all further negotiation with england for the time, as it was hardly probable that, with such advantages gained by the queen, she would be inclined to proceed in the path which had been just secretly opened. moreover, the prince was in a state of alarm as to the intentions of france. mendoza and tassis had given him to understand that a very good feeling prevailed between the court of henry and of elizabeth, and that the french were likely to come to a pacification among themselves. in this the spanish envoys were hardly anticipating so great an effect as we have seen that they had the right to do from their own indefatigable exertions; for, thanks to their zeal, backed by the moderate subsidies furnished by their master, the civil war in france already seemed likely to be as enduring as that of the netherlands. but parma--still quite in the dark as to french politics--was haunted by the vision of seventy thousand foot and six thousand horses ready to be let slip upon him at any, moment, out of a pacified and harmonious france; while he had nothing but a few starving and crippled regiments to withstand such an invasion. when all these events should have taken place, and france, in alliance with england, should have formally declared war against spain, alexander protested that he should have learned nothing new. the prince was somewhat mistaken as to political affairs; but his doubts concerning his neighbours, blended with the forlorn condition of himself and army, about which there was no doubt at all, showed the exigencies of his situation. in the midst of such embarrassments it is impossible not to admire his heroism as a military chieftain, and his singular adroitness as a diplomatist. he had painted for his sovereign a most faithful and horrible portrait of the obedient provinces. the soil was untilled; the manufactories had all stopped; trade had ceased to exist. it was a pity only to look upon the raggedness of his soldiers. no language could describe the misery of the reconciled provinces--artois, hainault, flanders. the condition of bruges would melt the hardest heart; other cities were no better; antwerp was utterly ruined; its inhabitants were all starving. the famine throughout the obedient netherlands was such as had not been known for a century. the whole country had been picked bare by the troops, and the plough was not put into the ground. deputations were constantly with him from bruges, dendermonde, bois-le-duc, brussels, antwerp, nymegen, proving to him by the most palpable evidence that the whole population of those cities had almost literally nothing to eat. he had nothing, however, but exhortations to patience to feed them withal. he was left without a groat even to save his soldiers from starving, and he wildly and bitterly, day after day, implored his sovereign for aid. these pictures are not the sketches of a historian striving for effect, but literal transcripts from the most secret revelations of the prince himself to his sovereign. on the other hand, although leicester's complaints of the destitution of the english troops in the republic were almost as bitter, yet the condition of the united provinces was comparatively healthy. trade, external and internal, was increasing daily. distant commercial and military expeditions were fitted out, manufactures were prosperous, and the war of independence was gradually becoming--strange to say--a source of prosperity to the new commonwealth. philip--being now less alarmed than his nephew concerning french affairs, and not feeling so keenly the misery of the obedient provinces, or the wants of the spanish army--sent to alexander six hundred thousand ducats, by way of genoa. in the letter submitted by his secretary recording this remittance, the king made, however, a characteristic marginal note:--"see if it will not be as well to tell him something concerning the two hundred thousand ducats to be deducted for mucio, for fear of more mischief, if the prince should expect the whole six hundred thousand." accordingly mucio got the two hundred thousand. one-third of the meagre supply destined for the relief of the king's starving and valiant little army in the netherlands was cut off to go into the pockets of the intriguing duke of guise. "we must keep the french," said philip, "in a state of confusion at home, and feed their civil war. we must not allow them to come to a general peace, which would be destruction for the catholics. i know you will put a good face on the matter; and, after all, 'tis in the interest of the netherlands. moreover, the money shall be immediately refunded." alexander was more likely to make a wry face, notwithstanding his views of the necessity of fomenting the rebellion against the house of valois. certainly if a monarch intended to conquer such countries as france, england, and holland, without stirring from his easy chair in the escorial, it would have been at least as well--so alexander thought--to invest a little more capital in the speculation. no monarch ever dreamed of arriving at universal empire with less personal fatigue or exposure, or at a cheaper rate, than did philip ii. his only fatigue was at his writing-table. but even here his merit was of a subordinate description. he sat a great while at a time. he had a genius for sitting; but he now wrote few letters himself. a dozen words or so, scrawled in hieroglyphics at the top, bottom, or along the margin of the interminable despatches of his secretaries, contained the suggestions, more or less luminous, which arose in his mind concerning public affairs. but he held firmly to his purpose: he had devoted his life to the extermination of protestantism, to the conquest of france and england, to the subjugation of holland. these were vast schemes. a king who should succeed in such enterprises, by his personal courage and genius, at the head of his armies, or by consummate diplomacy, or by a masterly system of finance-husbanding and concentrating the resources of his almost boundless realms--might be in truth commended for capacity. hitherto however philip's triumph had seemed problematical; and perhaps something more would be necessary than letters to parma, and paltry remittances to mucio, notwithstanding alexander's splendid but local victories in flanders. parma, although in reality almost at bay, concealed his despair, and accomplished wonders in the field. the military events during the spring and summer of will be sketched in a subsequent chapter. for the present it is necessary to combine into a complete whole the subterranean negotiations between brussels and england. much to his surprise and gratification, parma found that the peace-party were not inclined to change their views in consequence of the triumphs of drake. he soon informed the king that--according to champagny and bodman--the lord treasurer, the comptroller, lord cobham, and sir christopher hatton, were more pacific than they had ever been. these four were represented by grafigni as secretly in league against leicester and walsingham, and very anxious to bring about a reconciliation between the crowns of england and spain. the merchant-diplomatist, according to his own statement, was expressly sent by queen elizabeth to the prince of parma, although without letter of credence or signed instructions, but with the full knowledge and approbation of the four counsellors just mentioned. he assured alexander that the queen and the majority of her council felt a strong desire for peace, and had manifested much repentance for what had been done. they had explained their proceedings by the necessity of self-defence. they had avowed--in case they should be made sure of peace--that they should, not with reluctance and against their will, but, on the contrary, with the utmost alacrity and at once, surrender to the king of spain the territory which they possessed in the netherlands, and especially the fortified towns in holland and zeeland; for the english object had never been conquest. parma had also been informed of the queen's strong desire that he should be employed as negotiator, on account of her great confidence in his sincerity. they had expressed much satisfaction on hearing that he was about to send an agent to england, and had protested themselves rejoiced at drake's triumphs, only because of their hope that a peace with spain would thus be rendered the easier of accomplishment. they were much afraid, according to grafigni, of philip's power, and dreaded a spanish invasion of their country, in conjunction with the pope. they were now extremely anxious that parma--as he himself informed the king--should send an agent of good capacity, in great secrecy, to england. the comptroller had said that he had pledged himself to such a result, and if it failed, that they would probably cut off his head. the four counsellors were excessively solicitous for the negotiation, and each of them was expecting to gain favour by advancing it to the best of his ability. parma hinted at the possibility that all these professions were false, and that the english were only intending to keep the king from the contemplated invasion. at the same time he drew philip's attention to the fact that burghley and his party had most evidently been doing everything in their power to obstruct leicester's progress in the netherlands and to keep back the reinforcements of troops and money which he so much required. no doubt these communications of parma to the king were made upon the faith of an agent not over-scrupulous, and of no elevated or recognised rank in diplomacy. it must be borne in mind, however, that he had been made use of by both parties; perhaps because it would be easy to throw off, and discredit, him whenever such a step should be convenient; and that, on the other hand, coming fresh from burghley and the rest into the presence of the keen-eyed farnese, he would hardly invent for his employer a budget of falsehoods. that man must have been a subtle negotiator who could outwit such a statesman as burghley--and the other counsellors of elizabeth, and a bold one who could dare to trifle on a momentous occasion with alexander of parma. leicester thought burghley very much his friend, and so thought davison and heneage; and the lord-treasurer had, in truth, stood stoutly by the earl in the affair of the absolute governorship;--"a matter more severe and cumbersome to him and others," said burghley, "than any whatsoever since he was a counsellor." but there is no doubt that these negotiations were going forward all the spring and summer, that they were most detrimental to leicester's success, and that they were kept--so far as it was possible--a profound secret from him, from walsingham, and from the states-general. nothing was told them except what their own astuteness had discovered beforehand; and the game of the counsellors--so far as their attitude towards leicester and walsingham was concerned--seems both disingenuous and impolitic. parma, it was to be feared, was more than a match for the english governor-general in the field; and it was certainly hopeless for poor old comptroller croft, even though backed by the sagacious burghley, to accomplish so great an amount of dissimulation in a year as the spanish cabinet, without effort, could compass in a week. nor were they attempting to do so. it is probable that england was acting towards philip in much better faith than he deserved, or than parma believed; but it is hardly to be wondered at that leicester should think himself injured by being kept perpetually in the dark. elizabeth was very impatient at not receiving direct letters from parma, and her anxiety on the subject explains much of her caprice during the quarrel about the governor-generalship. many persons in the netherlands thought those violent scenes a farce, and a farce that had been arranged with leicester beforehand. in this they were mistaken; for an examination of the secret correspondence of the period reveals the motives--which to contemporaries were hidden--of many strange transactions. the queen was, no doubt, extremely anxious, and with cause, at the tempest slowly gathering over her head; but the more the dangers thickened, the more was her own official language to those in high places befitting the sovereign of england. she expressed her surprise to farnese that he had not written to her on the subject of the grafigni and bodman affair. the first, she said, was justified in all which he had narrated, save in his assertion that she had sent him. the other had not obtained audience, because he had not come provided with any credentials, direct or indirect. having now understood from andrea de loo and the seigneur de champagny that parma had the power to conclude a peace, which he seemed very much to desire, she observed that it was not necessary for him to be so chary in explaining the basis of the proposed negotiations. it was better to enter into a straightforward path, than by ambiguous words to spin out to great length matters which princes should at once conclude. "do not suppose," said the queen, "that i am seeking what belongs to others. god forbid. i seek only that which is mine own. but be sure that i will take good heed of the sword which threatens me with destruction, nor think that i am so craven-spirited as to endure a wrong, or to place myself at the mercy of my enemy. every week i see advertisements and letters from spain that this year shall witness the downfall of england; for the spaniards--like the hunter who divided, with great liberality, among his friends the body and limbs of the wolf, before it had been killed--have partitioned this kingdom and that of ireland before the conquest has been effected. but my royal heart is no whit appalled by such threats. i trust, with the help of the divine hand--which has thus far miraculously preserved me--to smite all these braggart powers into the dust, and to preserve my honour, and the kingdoms which he has given me for my heritage. "nevertheless, if you have authority to enter upon and to conclude this negotiation, you will find my ears open to hear your propositions; and i tell you further, if a peace is to be made, that i wish you to be the mediator thereof. such is the affection i bear you, notwithstanding that some letters, written by your own hand, might easily have effaced such sentiments from my mind." soon afterwards, bodman was again despatched to england, grafigni being already there. he was provided with unsigned instructions, according to which he was to say that the prince, having heard of the queen's good intentions, had despatched him and grafigni to her court. they were to listen to any suggestions made by the queen to her ministers; but they were to do nothing but listen. if the counsellors should enter into their grievances against his majesty, and ask for explanations, the agents were to say that they had no authority or instructions to speak for so great and christian a monarch. thus they were to cut the thread of any such discourse, or any other observations not to the purpose. silence, in short, was recommended, first and last, as the one great business of their mission; and it was unlucky that men whose talent for taciturnity was thus signally relied upon should be somewhat remarkable for loquacity. grafigni was also the bearer of a letter from alexander to the queen--of which bodman received a copy--but it was strictly enjoined upon them to keep the letter, their instructions, and the objects of their journey, a secret from all the world. the letter of the prince consisted mainly of complimentary flourishes. he had heard, he said, all that agostino grafigni had communicated, and he now begged her majesty to let him understand the course which it was proper to take; assuring her of his gratitude for her good opinion touching his sincerity, and his desire to save the effusion of blood, and so on; concluding of course with expressions of most profound consideration and devotion. early in july bodman arrived in london. he found grafigni in very low spirits. he had been with lord cobham, and was much disappointed with his reception, for cobham--angry that grafigni had brought no commission from the king--had refused to receive parma's letter to the queen, and had expressed annoyance that bodman should be employed on this mission, having heard that lie was very ill-tempered and passionate. the same evening, he had been sent for by lord burghley--who had accepted the letter for her majesty without saying a word--and on the following morning, he had been taken to task, by several counsellors, on the ground that the prince, in that communication, had stated that the queen had expressed a desire for peace. it has just been shown that there was no such intimation at all in the letter; but as neither grafigni nor bodman had read the epistle itself, but only the copy furnished them, they could merely say that such an assertion; if made by the prince, had been founded on no statement of theirs. bodman consoled his colleague, as well as he could, by assurances that when the letter was fairly produced, their vindication would be complete, and grafigni, upon that point, was comforted. he was, however, very doleful in general, and complained bitterly of burghley and the other english counsellors. he said that they had forced him, against his will, to make this journey to brussels, that they had offered him presents, that they would leave him no rest in his own house, but had made him neglect all his private business, and caused him a great loss of time and money, in order that he might serve them. they had manifested the strongest desire that parma should open this communication, and had led him to expect a very large recompense for his share in the transaction. "and now," said grafigni to his colleague, with great bitterness, "i find no faith nor honour in them at all. they don't keep their word, and every one of them is trying to slide out of the very business, in which each was, but the other day, striving to outrival the other, in order that it might be brought to a satisfactory conclusion." after exploding in this way to bodman, he went back to cobham, and protested, with angry vehemence, that parma had never written such a word to the queen, and that so it would prove, if the letter were produced. next day, bodman was sent for to greenwich, where her majesty was, as usual, residing. a secret pavilion was indicated to him, where he was to stay until sunset. when that time arrived, lord cobham's secretary came with great mystery, and begged the emissary to follow him, but at a considerable distance, towards the apartments of lord burghley in the palace. arriving there, they found the lord treasurer accompanied by cobham and croft. burghley instantly opened the interview by a defence of the queen's policy in sending troops to the netherlands, and in espousing their cause, and then the conversation proceeded to the immediate matter in hand. bodman (after listening respectfully to the lord-treasurer's observations).--"his highness has, however, been extremely surprised that my lord leicester should take an oath, as governor-general of the king's provinces. he is shocked likewise by the great demonstrations of hostility on the part of her majesty." burghley.--"the oath was indispensable. the queen was obliged to tolerate the step on account of the great urgency of the states to have a head. but her majesty has commanded us to meet you on this occasion, in order to hear what you have to communicate on the part of the prince of parma." bodman (after a profusion of complimentary phrases).--"i have no commission to say anything. i am only instructed to listen to anything that may be said to me, and that her majesty may be pleased to command." burghley.--"'tis very discreet to begin thus. but time is pressing, and it is necessary to be brief. we beg you therefore to communicate, without further preface, that which you have been charged to say." bodman.--"i can only repeat to your lordship, that i have been charged to say nothing." after this barmecide feast of diplomacy, to partake of which it seemed hardly necessary that the guests should have previously attired themselves in such garments of mystery, the parties separated for the night. in spite of their care, it would seem that the argus-eyed walsingham had been able to see after sunset; for, the next evening--after bodman had been introduced with the same precautions to the same company, in the same place--burghley, before a word had been spoken, sent for sir francis. bodman was profoundly astonished, for he had been expressly informed that walsingham was to know nothing of the transaction. the secretary of state could not so easily be outwitted, however, and he was soon seated at the table, surveying the scene, with his grave melancholy eyes, which had looked quite through the whole paltry intrigue. burghley.--"her majesty has commanded us to assemble together, in order that, in my presence, it may be made clear that she did not commence this negotiation. let grafigni be summoned." grafigni immediately made his appearance. burghley.--"you will please to explain how you came to enter into this business." grafigni.--"the first time i went to the states, it was on my private affairs; i had no order from any one to treat with the prince of parma. his highness, having accidentally heard, however, that i resided in england, expressed a wish to see me. i had an interview with the prince. i told him, out of my own head, that the queen had a strong inclination to hear propositions of peace, and that--as some of her counsellors were of the same opinion--i believed that if his highness should send a negotiator, some good would be effected. the prince replied that he felt by no means sure of such a result; but that, if i should come back from england, sent by the queen or her council, he would then despatch a person with a commission to treat of peace. this statement, together with other matters that had passed between us, was afterwards drawn up in writing by command of his highness." burghley.--"who bade you say, after your second return to brussels, that you came on the part of the queen? for you well know that her majesty did not send you." grafigni.--"i never said so. i stated that my lord cobham had set down in writing what i was to say to the prince of parma. it will never appear that i represented the queen as desiring peace. i said that her majesty would lend her ears to peace. bodman knows this too; and he has a copy of the letter of his highness." walsingham to bodman.--"have you the copy still?" bodman.--"yes, mr. secretary." walsingham.--"please to produce it, in order that this matter may be sifted to the bottom." bodman.--"i supplicate your lorships to pardon me, but indeed that cannot be. my instructions forbid my showing the letter." walsingham (rising).--"i will forthwith go to her majesty, and fetch the original." a pause. mr. secretary returns in a few minutes, having obtained the document, which the queen, up to that time, had kept by her, without showing it to any one. walsingham (after reading the letter attentively, and aloud).--"there is not such a word, as that her majesty is desirous of peace, in the whole paper." burghley (taking the letter, and slowly construing it out of italian into english).--"it would seem that his highness hath written this, assuming that the signor grafigni came from the queen, although he had received his instructions from my lord cobham. it is plain, however, that the negotiation was commenced accidentally." comptroller croft (nervously, and with the air of a man fearful of getting into trouble).--"you know very well, mr. bodman, that my servant came to dunkirk only to buy and truck away horses; and that you then, by chance, entered into talk with him, about the best means of procuring a peace between the two kingdoms. my servant told you of the good feeling that prevailed in england. you promised to write on the subject to the prince, and i immediately informed the lord-treasurer of the whole transaction." burghley.--"that is quite true." croft.--"my servant subsequently returned to the provinces in order to learn what the prince might have said on the subject." bodman (with immense politeness, but very decidedly).--"pardon me, mr. comptroller; but, in this matter, i must speak the truth, even if the honour and life of my father were on the issue. i declare that your servant norris came to me, directly commissioned for that purpose by yourself, and informed me from you, and upon your authority, that if i would solicit the prince of parma to send a secret agent to england, a peace would be at once negotiated. your servant entreated me to go to his highness at brussels. i refused, but agreed to consider the proposition. after the lapse of several days, the servant returned to make further enquiries. i told him that the prince had come to no decision. norris continued to press the matter. i excused myself. he then solicited and obtained from me a letter of introduction to de loo, the secretary of his highness. armed with this, he went to brussels and had an interview--as i found, four days later--with the prince. in consequence of the representations of norris, those of signor grafigni, and those by way of antwerp, his highness determined to send me to england." burghley to croft.--"did you order your servant to speak with andrea de loo?" croft.--"i cannot deny it." burghley.--"the fellow seems to have travelled a good way out of his commission. his master sends him to buy horses, and he commences a peace-negotiation between two kingdoms. it would be well he were chastised. as regards the antwerp matter, too, we have had many letters, and i have, seen one from the seigneur de champagny, the same effect as that of all the rest." walsingham.--"i see not to what end his highness of parma has sent mr. bodman hither. the prince avows that he hath no commission from spain." bodman.--"his highness was anxious to know what was her majesty's pleasure. so soon as that should be known, the prince could obtain ample authority. he would never have proceeded so far without meaning a good end." walsingham.--"very like. i dare say that his highness will obtain the commission. meantime, as prince of parma, he writes these letters, and assists his sovereign perhaps more than he doth ourselves." here the interview terminated. a few days later, bodman had another conversation with burghley and cobham. reluctantly, at their urgent request, he set down in writing all that he had said concerning his mission. the lord treasurer said that the queen and her counsellors were "ready to embrace peace when it was treated of sincerely." meantime the queen had learned that the prince had been sending letters to the cautionary towns in holland and zeeland, stating that her majesty was about to surrender them to the king of spain. these were tricks to make mischief, and were very detrimental to the queen. bodman replied that these were merely the idle stories of quidnuncs; and that the prince and all his counsellors were dealing with the utmost sincerity. burghley answered that he had intercepted the very letters, and had them in his possession. a week afterwards, bodman saw walsingham alone, and was informed by him that the queen had written an answer to parma's letter, and that negotiations for the future were to be carried on in the usual form, or not at all. walsingham, having thus got the better of his rivals, and delved below their mines, dismissed the agent with brief courtesy. afterwards the discomfited mr. comptroller wished a private interview with bodman. bodman refused to speak with him except in presence of lord cobham. this croft refused. in the same way bodman contrived to get rid, as he said, of lord burghley and lord cobham, declining to speak with either of them alone. soon afterwards he returned to the provinces! the queen's letter to parma was somewhat caustic. it was obviously composed through the inspiration of walsingham rather than that of burghley. the letter, brought by a certain grafigni and a certain bodman, she said, was a very strange one, and written under a delusion. it was a very grave error, that, in her name, without her knowledge, contrary to her disposition, and to the prejudice of her honour, such a person as this grafigni, or any one like him, should have the audacity to commence such a business, as if she had, by messages to the prince, sought a treaty with his king, who had so often returned evil for her good. grafigni, after representing the contrary to his highness, had now denied in presence of her counsellors having received any commission from the queen. she also briefly gave the result of bodman's interviews with burghley and the others, just narrated. that agent had intimated that parma would procure authority to treat for peace, if assured that the queen would lend her ear to any propositions. she replied by referring to her published declarations, as showing her powerful motives for interfering in these affairs. it was her purpose to save her own realm and to rescue her ancient neighbours from misery and from slavery. to this end she should still direct her actions, notwithstanding the sinister rumours which had been spread that she was inclined to peace before providing for the security and liberty of her allies. she was determined never to separate their cause from her own. propositions tending to the security of herself and of her neighbours would always be favourably received. parma, on his part, informed his master that there could be no doubt that the queen and the majority of her council abhorred the war, and that already much had been gained by the fictitious negotiation. lord-treasurer burghley had been interposing endless delays and difficulties in the way of every measure proposed for the relief of lord leicester, and the assistance rendered him had been most lukewarm. meantime the prince had been able, he said, to achieve much success in the field, and the english had done nothing to prevent it. since the return of grafigni and bodman, however, it was obvious that the english government had disowned these non-commissioned diplomatists. the whole negotiation and all the negotiators were now discredited, but there was no doubt that there had been a strong desire to treat, and great disappointment at the result. grafigni and andrea de loo had been publishing everywhere in antwerp that england would consider the peace as made, so soon as his majesty should be willing to accept any propositions. his majesty, meanwhile, sat in his cabinet, without the slightest intention of making or accepting any propositions save those that were impossible. he smiled benignantly at his nephew's dissimulation and at the good results which it had already produced. he approved of gaining time, he said, by fictitious negotiations and by the use of a mercantile agent; for, no doubt, such a course would prevent the proper succours from being sent to the earl of leicester. if the english would hand over to him the cautionary towns held by them in holland and zeeland, promise no longer to infest the seas, the indies, and the isles, with their corsairs, and guarantee the complete obedience to their king and submission to the holy catholic church of the rebellious provinces, perhaps something might be done with them; but, on the whole, he was inclined to think that they had been influenced by knavish and deceitful motives from the beginning. he enjoined it upon parma, therefore, to proceed with equal knavery--taking care, however, not to injure his reputation--and to enter into negotiations wherever occasion might serve, in order to put the english off their guard and to keep back the reinforcements so imperatively required by leicester. and the reinforcements were indeed kept back. had burghley and croft been in the pay of philip ii. they could hardly have served him better than they had been doing by the course pursued. here then is the explanation of the shortcomings of the english government towards leicester and the states during the memorable spring and summer of . no money, no soldiers, when most important operations in the field were required. the first general of the age was to be opposed by a man who had certainly never gained many laurels as a military chieftain, but who was brave and confident, and who, had he been faithfully supported by the government which sent him to the netherlands, would have had his antagonist at a great disadvantage. alexander had scarcely eight thousand effective men. famine, pestilence, poverty, mutiny, beset and almost paralyzed him. language could not exaggerate the absolute destitution of the country. only miracles could save the king's cause, as farnese repeatedly observed. a sharp vigorous campaign, heartily carried on against him by leicester and hohenlo, with plenty of troops and money at command, would have brought the heroic champion of catholicism to the ground. he was hemmed in upon all sides; he was cut off from the sea; he stood as it were in a narrowing circle, surrounded by increasing dangers. his own veterans, maddened by misery, stung by their king's ingratitude, naked, starving, ferocious, were turning against him. mucio, like his evil genius, was spiriting away his supplies just as they were reaching his hands; a threatening tempest seemed rolling up from france; the whole population of the provinces which he had "reconciled"--a million of paupers--were crying to him for bread; great commercial cities, suddenly blasted and converted into dens of thieves and beggars, were cursing the royal author of their ruin, and uttering wild threats against his vicegerent; there seemed, in truth, nothing left for alexander but to plunge headlong into destruction, when, lo! mr. comptroller croft, advancing out of the clouds, like a propitious divinity, disguised in the garb of a foe--and the scene was changed. the feeble old man, with his shufling, horse-trucking servant, ex-spy of monsieur, had accomplished more work for philip and alexander than many regiments of spaniards and walloons could have done. the arm of leicester was paralyzed upon the very threshold of success. the picture of these palace-intrigues has been presented with minute elaboration, because, however petty and barren in appearance, they were in reality prolific of grave results. a series of victories by parma was substituted for the possible triumphs of elizabeth and the states. the dissimulation of the spanish court was fathomless. the secret correspondence of the times reveals to us that its only purpose was to deceive the queen and her counsellors, and to gain time to prepare the grand invasion of england and subjugation of holland--that double purpose which philip could only abandon with life. there was never a thought, on his part, of honest negotiation. on the other hand, the queen was sincere; burghley and hatton and cobham were sincere; croft was sincere, so far as spain was concerned. at least they had been sincere. in the private and doleful dialogues between bodman and grafigni which we have just been overhearing, these intriguers spoke the truth, for they could have no wish to deceive each other, and no fear of eaves-droppers not to be born till centuries afterwards. these conversations have revealed to us that the lord treasurer and three of his colleagues had been secretly doing their best to cripple leicester, to stop the supplies for the netherlands, and to patch up a hurried and unsatisfactory, if not a disgraceful peace; and this, with the concurrence of her majesty. after their plots had been discovered by the vigilant secretary of state, there was a disposition to discredit the humbler instruments in the cabal. elizabeth was not desirous of peace. far from it. she was qualmish at the very suggestion. dire was her wrath against bodman, de loo, graafigni, and the rest, at their misrepresentations on the subject. but she would "lend her ear." and that royal ear was lent, and almost fatal was the distillment poured into its porches. the pith and marrow of the great netherland enterprise was sapped by the slow poison of the ill-timed negotiation. the fruit of drake's splendid triumphs in america was blighted by it. the stout heart of the vainglorious but courageous leicester was sickened by it, while, meantime, the maturing of the great armada-scheme, by which the destruction of england was to be accomplished, was furthered, through the unlimited procrastination so precious to the heart of philip. fortunately the subtle walsingham was there upon the watch to administer the remedy before it was quite too late; and to him england and the netherlands were under lasting obligations. while alexander and philip suspected a purpose on the part of the english government to deceive them, they could not help observing that the earl of leicester was both deserted and deceived. yet it had been impossible for the peace-party in the government wholly to conceal their designs, when such prating fellows as grafigni and de loo were employed in what was intended to be a secret negotiation. in vain did the friends of leicester in the netherlands endeavour to account for the neglect with which he was treated, and for the destitution of his army. hopelessly did they attempt to counteract those "advertisements of most fearful instance," as richard cavendish expressed himself, which were circulating everywhere. thanks to the babbling of the very men, whose chief instructions had been to hold their tongues, and to listen with all their ears, the secret negotiations between parma and the english counsellors became the town-talk at antwerp, the hague, amsterdam, brussels, london. it is true that it was impossible to know what was actually said and done; but that there was something doing concerning which leicester was not to be informed was certain. grafigni, during one of his visits to the obedient provinces, brought a brace of greyhounds and a couple of horses from england, as a present to alexander, and he perpetually went about, bragging to every one of important negotiations which he was conducting, and of his intimacy with great personages in both countries. leicester, on the other hand, was kept in the dark. to him grafigni made no communications, but he once sent him a dish of plums, "which," said the earl, with superfluous energy, "i will boldly say to you, by the living god, is all that i have ever had since i came into these countries." when it is remembered that leicester had spent many thousand pounds in the netherland cause, that he had deeply mortgaged his property in order to provide more funds, that he had never received a penny of salary from the queen, that his soldiers were "ragged and torn like rogues-pity to see them," and were left without the means of supporting life; that he had been neglected, deceived, humiliated, until he was forced to describe himself as a "forlorn man set upon a forlorn hope," it must be conceded that grafigni's present of a dish of plums could hardly be sufficient to make him very happy. from time to time he was enlightened by sir francis, who occasionally forced his adversaries' hands, and who always faithfully informed the earl of everything he could discover. "we are so greedy of a peace, in respect of the charges of the wars," he wrote in april, "as in the procuring thereof we weigh neither honour nor safety. somewhat here is a dealing underhand, wherein there is great care taken that i should not be made acquainted withal." but with all their great care, the conspirators, as it has been seen, were sometimes outwitted by the secretary, and, when put to the blush, were forced to take him into half-confidence. "your lordship may see," he wrote, after getting possession of parma's letter to the queen, and unravelling croft's intrigues, "what effects are wrought by such weak ministers. they that have been the employers of them are ashamed of the matter." unutterable was the amazement, as we have seen, of bodman and grafigni when they had suddenly found themselves confronted in burghley's private apartments in greenwich palace, whither they had been conducted so mysteriously after dark from the secret pavilion--by the grave secretary of state, whom they had been so anxious to deceive; and great was the embarrassment of croft and cobham, and even of the imperturbable burghley. and thus patiently did walsingham pick his course, plummet in hand, through the mists and along the quicksands, and faithfully did he hold out signals to his comrade embarked on the same dangerous voyage. as for the earl himself, he was shocked at the short-sighted policy of his mistress, mortified by the neglect to which he was exposed, disappointed in his ambitious schemes. vehemently and judiciously he insisted upon the necessity of vigorous field operations throughout the spring and summer thus frittered away in frivolous negotiations. he was for peace, if a lasting and honourable peace could be procured; but he insisted that the only road to such a result was through a "good sharp war." his troops were mutinous for want of pay, so that he had been obliged to have a few of them executed, although he protested that he would rather have "gone a thousand miles a-foot" than have done so; and he was crippled by his government at exactly the time when his great adversary's condition was most forlorn. was it strange that the proud earl should be fretting his heart away when such golden chances were eluding his grasp? he would "creep upon the ground," he said, as far as his hands and knees would carry him, to have a good peace for her majesty, but his care was to have a peace indeed, and not a show of it. it was the cue of holland and england to fight before they could expect to deal upon favourable terms with their enemy. he was quick enough to see that his false colleagues at home were playing into the enemy's hands. victory was what was wanted; victory the earl pledged himself, if properly seconded, to obtain; and, braggart though he was, it is by no means impossible that he might have redeemed his pledge. "if her majesty will use her advantage," he said, "she shall bring the king, and especially this prince of parma, to seek peace in other sort than by way of merchants." of courage and confidence the governor had no lack. whether he was capable of outgeneralling alexander farnese or no, will be better seen, perhaps, in subsequent chapters; but there is no doubt that he was reasonable enough in thinking, at that juncture, that a hard campaign rather than a "merchant's brokerage" was required to obtain an honourable peace. lofty, indeed, was the scorn of the aristocratic leicester that "merchants and pedlars should be paltering in so weighty a cause," and daring to send him a dish of plums when he was hoping half a dozen regiments from the queen; and a sorry business, in truth, the pedlars had made of it. never had there been a more delusive diplomacy, and it was natural that the lieutenant-general abroad and the statesman at home should be sad and indignant, seeing england drifting to utter shipwreck while pursuing that phantom of a pacific haven. had walsingham and himself tampered with the enemy, as some counsellors he could name had done, leicester asserted that the gallows would be thought too good for them; and yet he hoped he might be hanged if the whole spanish faction in england could procure for the queen a peace fit for her to accept. certainly it was quite impossible for the spanish-faction to bring about a peace. no human power could bring it about. even if england had been willing and able to surrender holland, bound hand and foot, to philip, even then she could only have obtained a hollow armistice. philip had sworn in his inmost soul the conquest of england and the dethronement of elizabeth. his heart was fixed. it was only by the subjugation of england that he hoped to recover the netherlands. england was to be his stepping-stone to holland. the invasion was slowly but steadily maturing, and nothing could have diverted the king from his great purpose. in the very midst of all these plots and counterplots, bodmans and grafignis, english geldings and irish greyhounds, dishes of plums and autograph letters of her majesty and his highness, the prince was deliberately discussing all the details of the invasion, which, as it was then hoped, would be ready by the autumn of the year . although he had sent a special agent to philip, who was to state by word of mouth that which it was deemed unsafe to write, yet alexander, perpetually urged by his master, went at last more fully into particulars than he had ever ventured to do before; and this too at the very moment when elizabeth was most seriously "lending her ear" to negotiation, and most vehemently expressing her wrath at sir thomas heneage for dealing candidly with the states-general. the prince observed that when, two or three years before, he had sent his master an account of the coasts, anchoring-places, and harbours of england, he had then expressed the opinion that the conquest of england was an enterprise worthy of the grandeur and christianity of his majesty, and not so difficult as to be considered altogether impossible. to make himself absolutely master of the business, however, he had then thought that the king should have no associates in the scheme, and should make no account of the inhabitants of england. since that time the project had become more difficult of accomplishment, because it was now a stale and common topic of conversation everywhere--in italy, germany, and france--so that there could be little doubt that rumours on the subject were daily reaching the ears of queen elizabeth and of every one in her kingdom. hence she had made a strict alliance with sweden, denmark, the protestant princes of germany, and even with the turks and the french. nevertheless, in spite of these obstacles, the king, placing his royal hand to the work, might well accomplish the task; for the favour of the lord, whose cause it was, would be sure to give him success. being so christian and catholic a king, philip naturally desired to extend the area of the holy church, and to come to the relief of so many poor innocent martyrs in england, crying aloud before the lord for help. moreover elizabeth had fomented rebellion in the king's provinces for a long time secretly, and now, since the fall of antwerp, and just as holland and zeeland were falling into his grasp, openly. thus, in secret and in public, she had done the very worst she could do; and it was very clear that the lord, for her sins; had deprived her of understanding, in order that his majesty might be the instrument of that chastisement which she so fully deserved. a monarch of such great prudence, valour, and talent as philip, could now give all the world to understand that those who dared to lose a just and decorous respect for him, as this good lady had done, would receive such chastisement as royal power guided by prudent counsel could inflict. parma assured his sovereign, that, if the conquest of england were effected, that of the netherlands would be finished with much facility and brevity; but that otherwise, on account of the situation, strength and obstinacy of those people, it would be a very long, perilous, and at best doubtful business. "three points," he said, "were most vital to the invasion of england--secrecy, maintenance of the civil war in france, and judicious arrangement of matters in the provinces." the french, if unoccupied at home, would be sure to make the enterprise so dangerous as to become almost impossible; for it might be laid down as a general maxim that that nation, jealous of philip's power, had always done and would always do what it could to counteract his purposes. with regard to the netherlands, it would be desirable to leave a good number of troops in those countries--at least as many as were then stationed there--besides the garrisons, and also to hold many german and swiss mercenaries in "wartgeld." it would be further desirable that alexander should take most of the personages of quality and sufficiency in the provinces over with him to england, in order that they should not make mischief in his absence. with regard to the point of secrecy, that was, in parma's opinion, the most important of all. all leagues must become more or less public, particularly those contrived at or with rome. such being the case, the queen of england would be well aware of the spanish projects, and, besides her militia at home, would levy german infantry and cavalry, and provide plenty of vessels, relying therein upon holland and zeeland, where ships and sailors were in such abundance. moreover, the english and the netherlanders knew the coasts, currents, tides, shallows, quicksands, ports, better than did the pilots of any fleets that the king could send thither. thus, having his back assured, the enemy would meet them in front at a disadvantage. although, notwithstanding this inequality, the enemy would be beaten, yet if the engagement should be warm, the spaniards would receive an amount of damage which could not fail to be inconvenient, particularly as they would be obliged to land their troops, and to give battle to those who would be watching their landing. moreover the english would be provided with cavalry, of which his majesty's forces would have very little, on account of the difficulty of its embarkation. the obedient netherlands would be the proper place in which to organize the whole expedition. there the regiments could be filled up, provisions collected, the best way of effecting the passage ascertained, and the force largely increased without exciting suspicion; but with regard to the fleet, there were no ports there capacious enough for large vessels. antwerp had ceased to be a seaport; but a large number of flat-bottomed barges, hoys, and other barks, more suitable for transporting soldiers, could be assembled in dunkirk, gravelines, and newport, which, with some five-and-twenty larger vessels, would be sufficient to accompany the fleet. the queen, knowing that there were no large ships, nor ports to hold them in the obedient provinces, would be unauspicious, if no greater levies seemed to be making than the exigencies of the netherlands might apparently require. the flat-bottomed boats, drawing two or three feet of water, would be more appropriate than ships of war drawing twenty feet. the passage across, in favourable weather, might occupy from eight to twelve hours. the number of troops for the invading force should be thirty thousand infantry, besides five hundred light troopers, with saddles, bridles, and lances, but without horses, because, in alexander's opinion, it would be easier to mount them in england. of these thirty thousand there should be six thousand spaniards, six thousand italians, six thousand walloons, nine thousand germans, and three thousand burgundians. much money would be required; at least three hundred thousand dollars the month for the new force, besides the regular one hundred and fifty thousand for the ordinary provision in the netherlands; and this ordinary provision would be more necessary than ever, because a mutiny breaking forth in the time of the invasion would be destruction to the spaniards both in england and in the provinces. the most appropriate part of the coast for a landing would, in alexander's opinion, be between dover and margate, because the spaniards, having no footing in holland and zeeland, were obliged to make their starting-point in flanders. the country about dover was described by parma as populous, well-wooded, and much divided by hedges; advantageous for infantry, and not requiring a larger amount of cavalry than the small force at his disposal, while the people there were domestic in their habits, rich, and therefore less warlike, less trained to arms, and more engrossed by their occupations and their comfortable ways of life. therefore, although some encounters would take place, yet after the commanders of the invading troops had given distinct and clear orders, it would be necessary to leave the rest in the "hands of god who governs all things, and from whose bounty and mercy it was to be hoped that he would favour a cause so eminently holy, just, and his own." it would be necessary to make immediately for london, which city, not being fortified, would be very easily taken. this point gained, the whole framework of the business might be considered as well put together. if the queen should fly--as, being a woman, she probably would do--everything would be left in such confusion, as, with the blessing of god, it might soon be considered that the holy and heroic work had been accomplished: her majesty, it was suggested, would probably make her escape in a boat before she could be captured; but the conquest would be nevertheless effected. although, doubtless, some english troops might be got together to return and try their fortune, yet it would be quite useless; for the invaders would have already planted themselves upon the soil, and then, by means of frequent excursions and forays hither and thither about the island, all other places of importance would be gained, and the prosperous and fortunate termination of the adventure assured. as, however, everything was to be provided for, so, in case the secret could not be preserved, it would be necessary for philip, under pretext of defending himself against the english and french corsairs, to send a large armada to sea, as doubtless the queen would take the same measure. if the king should prefer, however, notwithstanding alexander's advice to the contrary, to have confederates in the enterprise,--then, the matter being public, it would be necessary to prepare a larger and stronger fleet than any which elizabeth, with the assistance of her french and netherland allies, could oppose to him. that fleet should be well provided with vast stores of provisions, sufficient to enable the invading force, independently of forage, to occupy three or four places in england at once, as the enemy would be able to come from various towns and strong places to attack them. as for the proper season for the expedition, it would be advisable to select the month of october of the current year, because the english barns would then be full of wheat and other forage, and the earth would have been sown for the next year--points of such extreme importance, that if the plan could not be executed at that time, it would be as well to defer it until the following october. the prince recommended that the negotiations with the league should be kept spinning, without allowing them to come to a definite conclusion; because there would be no lack of difficulties perpetually offering themselves, and the more intricate and involved the policy of france, the better it would be for the interests of spain. alexander expressed the utmost confidence that his majesty, with his powerful arm, would overcome all obstacles in the path of his great project, and would show the world that he "could do a little more than what was possible." he also assured his master, in adding in this most extravagant language, of his personal devotion, that it was unnecessary for him to offer his services in this particular enterprise, because, ever since his birth, he had dedicated and consecrated himself to execute his royal commands. he further advised that old peter ernest mansfeld should be left commander-in-chief of the forces in the netherlands during his own absence in england. "mansfeld was an honourable cavalier," he said, "and a faithful servant of the king;" and although somewhat ill-conditioned at times, yet he had essential good qualities, and was the only general fit to be trusted alone. the reader, having thus been permitted to read the inmost thoughts of philip and alexander, and to study their secret plans for conquering england in october, while their frivolous yet mischievous negotiations with the queen had been going on from april to june, will be better able than before to judge whether leicester were right or no in doubting if a good peace could be obtained by a "merchant's brokerage." and now, after examining these pictures of inter-aulic politics and back-stairs diplomacy, which represent so large and characteristic a phasis of european history during the year , we must throw a glance at the external, more stirring, but not more significant public events which were taking place during the same period. etext editor's bookmarks: could do a little more than what was possible elizabeth, though convicted, could always confute he sat a great while at a time. he had a genius for sitting mistakes might occur from occasional deviations into sincerity nine syllables that which could be more forcibly expressed in on they were always to deceive every one, upon every occasion we mustn't tickle ourselves to make ourselves laugh etext editor's bookmarks of the history of the united netherlands - a hard bargain when both parties are losers able men should be by design and of purpose suppressed anarchy which was deemed inseparable from a non-regal form college of "peace-makers," who wrangled more than all condemned first and inquired upon after could do a little more than what was possible courage and semblance of cheerfulness, with despair in his heart demanding peace and bread at any price diplomatic adroitness consists mainly in the power to deceive dismay of our friends and the gratification of our enemies disordered, and unknit state needs no shaking, but propping elizabeth, though convicted, could always confute enmity between lutherans and calvinists find our destruction in our immoderate desire for peace german-lutheran sixteenth-century idea of religious freedom he sat a great while at a time. he had a genius for sitting he did his work, but he had not his reward her teeth black, her bosom white and liberally exposed (eliz.) hibernian mode of expressing himself his inordinate arrogance his insolence intolerable holland was afraid to give a part, although offering the whole honor good patriots, and to support them in venial errors humility which was but the cloak to his pride intentions of a government which did not know its own intentions intolerable tendency to puns longer they delay it, the less easy will they find it lord was better pleased with adverbs than nouns make sheep of yourselves, and the wolf will eat you matter that men may rather pray for than hope for military virtue in the support of an infamous cause mistakes might occur from occasional deviations into sincerity necessity of kingship neighbour's blazing roof was likely soon to fire their own new years day in england, th january by the new style nine syllables that which could be more forcibly expressed in on nor is the spirit of the age to be pleaded in defence not a friend of giving details larger than my ascertained facts not of the genus reptilia, and could neither creep nor crouch not distinguished for their docility oration, fertile in rhetoric and barren in facts others that do nothing, do all, and have all the thanks pauper client who dreamed of justice at the hands of law peace and quietness is brought into a most dangerous estate peace-at-any-price party possible to do, only because we see that it has been done repentance, as usual, had come many hours too late repose in the other world, "repos ailleurs" resolved thenceforth to adopt a system of ignorance round game of deception, in which nobody was deceived seeking protection for and against the people seem as if born to make the idea of royalty ridiculous shutting the stable-door when the steed is stolen soldiers enough to animate the good and terrify the bad string of homely proverbs worthy of sancho panza the very word toleration was to sound like an insult the busy devil of petty economy there was apathy where there should have been enthusiasm they were always to deceive every one, upon every occasion thought that all was too little for him three hundred and upwards are hanged annually in london tis pity he is not an englishman to work, ever to work, was the primary law of his nature tranquillity rather of paralysis than of health twas pity, he said, that both should be heretics upper and lower millstones of royal wrath and loyal subserviency uttering of my choler doth little ease my grief or help my case wasting time fruitlessly is sharpening the knife for himself we must all die once we mustn't tickle ourselves to make ourselves laugh weary of place without power when persons of merit suffer without cause with something of feline and feminine duplicity wrath of bigots on both sides write so illegibly or express himself so awkwardly this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, chapter xiv. leicester in england--trial of the queen of scots--fearful perplexity at the english court--infatuation and obstinacy of the queen--netherland envoys in england--queen's bitter invective against them--amazement of the envoys--they consult with her chief councillors--remarks of burghley and davison--fourth of february letter from the states--its severe language towards leicester-- painful position of the envoys at court--queen's parsimony towards leicester. the scene shifts, for a brief interval, to england. leicester had reached the court late in november. those "blessed beams," under whose shade he was wont to find so much "refreshment and nutrition," had again fallen with full radiance upon him. "never since i was born," said he, "did i receive a more gracious welcome."--[leicester to 'wilkes, dec. . (s. p. office ms)]--alas, there was not so much benignity for the starving english soldiers, nor for the provinces, which were fast growing desperate; but although their cause was so intimately connected with the "great cause," which then occupied elizabeth, almost to the exclusion of other matter, it was, perhaps, not wonderful, although unfortunate, that for a time the netherlands should be neglected. the "daughter of debate" had at last brought herself, it was supposed, within the letter of the law, and now began those odious scenes of hypocrisy on the part of elizabeth, that frightful comedy--more melancholy even than the solemn tragedy which it preceded and followed-- which must ever remain the darkest passage in the history of the queen. it is unnecessary, in these pages, to make more than a passing allusion to the condemnation and death of the queen of scots. who doubts her participation in the babington conspiracy? who doubts that she was the centre of one endless conspiracy by spain and rome against the throne and life of elizabeth? who doubts that her long imprisonment in england was a violation of all law, all justice, all humanity? who doubts that the fineing, whipping, torturing, hanging, embowelling of men, women, and children, guilty of no other crime than adhesion to the catholic faith, had assisted the pope and philip, and their band of english, scotch, and irish conspirators, to shake elizabeth's throne and endanger her life? who doubts that; had the english sovereign been capable of conceiving the great thought of religious toleration, her reign would have been more glorious than, it was, the cause of protestantism and freedom more triumphant, the name of elizabeth tudor dearer to human hearts? who doubts that there were many enlightened and noble spirits among her protestant subjects who lifted up their voices, over and over again, in parliament and out of it, to denounce that wicked persecution exercised upon their innocent catholic brethren, which was fast converting loyal englishmen, against their will, into traitors and conspirators? yet who doubts that it would have required, at exactly that moment, and in the midst of that crisis; more elevation of soul than could fairly be predicated of any individual, for elizabeth in to pardon mary, or to relax in the severity of her legislation towards english papists? yet, although a display of sublime virtue, such as the world has rarely seen, was not to be expected, it was reasonable to look for honest and royal dealing, from a great sovereign, brought at last face to face with a great event. the "great cause" demanded, a great, straightforward blow. it was obvious, however, that it would be difficult, in the midst of the tragedy and the comedy, for the netherland business to come fairly before her majesty. "touching the low country causes," said leicester; "very little is done yet, by reason of the continued business we have had about the queen of scots' matters. all the speech i have had with her majesty hitherto touching those causes hath been but private."-- [leicester to wilkes, des . (s. p. office ms.)]--walsingham, longing for retirement, not only on account of his infinite grief for the death of sir philip sidney, "which hath been the cause;" he said, "that i have ever since betaken myself into solitariness, and withdrawn; from public affairs," but also by reason of the perverseness an difficulty manifested in the gravest affairs by the sovereign he so faithfully served, sent information, that, notwithstanding the arrival of some of the states' deputies, leicester was persuading her majesty to proceed first in the great cause. "certain principal persons, chosen as committees," he said, "of both houses are sent as humble suitors, to her majesty to desire that she would be pleased to give order for the execution of the scottish queen. her majesty made answer that she was loath to proceed in so violent a course against the said queen; as the taking away of her life, and therefore prayed them to think of some other way which might be for her own and their safety. they replied, no other way but her execution. her majesty, though she yielded no answer to this their latter reply, is contented to give order that the proclamation be published, and so also it is hoped that she, will be moved by this, their earnest instance to proceed to the thorough ending of the cause." and so the cause went slowly on to its thorough ending. and when "no other way" could be thought of but to take mary's life, and when "no other way of taking that life could be devised," at elizabeth's suggestion, except by public execution, when none of the gentlemen "of the association," nor paulet, nor drury--how skilfully soever their "pulses had been felt" by elizabeth's command--would commit assassination to serve a queen who was capable of punishing them afterwards for the murder, the great cause came to its inevitable conclusion, and mary stuart was executed by command of elizabeth tudor. the world may continue to differ as to the necessity of the execution but it has long since pronounced a unanimous verdict as to the respective display of royal dignity by the two queens upon that great occasion. during this interval the netherland matter, almost as vital to england as the execution of mary, was comparatively neglected. it was not absolutely in abeyance, but the condition of the queen's mind coloured every state-affair with its tragic hues. elizabeth, harassed, anxious, dreaming dreams, and enacting a horrible masquerade, was in the worst possible temper to be approached by the envoys. she was furious with the netherlanders for having maltreated her favourite. she was still more furious because their war was costing so much money. her disposition became so uncertain, her temper so ungovernable, as to drive her counsellors to their wit's ends. burghley confessed himself "weary of his miserable life," and protested "that the only desire he had in the world was to be delivered from the ungrateful burthen of service, which her majesty laid upon him so very heavily." walsingham wished himself "well established in basle." the queen set them all together by the ears. she wrangled spitefully over the sum-totals from the netherlands; she worried leicester, she scolded burghley for defending leicester, and leicester abused burghley for taking part against him. the lord-treasurer, overcome with "grief which pierced both his body and his heart," battled his way--as best he could--through the throng of dangers which beset the path of england in that great crisis. it was most obvious to every statesman in the realm that this was not the time-- when the gauntlet had been thrown full in the face of philip and sixtus and all catholicism, by the condemnation of mary--to leave the netherland cause "at random," and these outer bulwarks of her own kingdom insufficiently protected. "your majesty will hear," wrote parma to philip, "of the disastrous, lamentable, and pitiful end of the, poor queen of scots. although for her it will be immortal glory, and she will be placed among the number of the many martyrs whose blood has been shed in the kingdom of england, and be crowned in heaven with a diadem more precious than the one she wore on earth, nevertheless one cannot repress one's natural emotions. i believe firmly that this cruel deed will be the concluding crime of the many which that englishwoman has committed, and that our lord will be pleased that she shall at last receive the chastisement which she has these many long years deserved, and which has been reserved till now, for her greater ruin and confusion."--[parma to philip il, march. . (arch. de simancas, ms.)]--and with this, the duke proceeded to discuss the all important and rapidly-preparing invasion of england. farnese was not the man to be deceived by the affected reluctance of elizabeth before mary's scaffold, although he was soon to show that he was himself a master in the science of grimace. for elizabeth--more than ever disposed to be friends with spain and rome, now that war to the knife was made inevitable--was wistfully regarding that trap of negotiation, against which all her best friends were endeavouring to warn her. she was more ill-natured than ever to the provinces, she turned her back upon the warnese, she affronted henry iii. by affecting to believe in the fable of his envoy's complicity in the stafford conspiracy against her life. "i pray god to open her eyes," said walsingham, "to see the evident peril of the course she now holdeth . . . . if it had pleased her to have followed the advice given her touching the french ambassador, our ships had been released . . . . but she has taken a very strange course by writing a very sharp letter unto the french king, which i fear will cause him to give ear to those of the league, and make himself a party with them, seeing so little regard had to him here. your lordship may see that our courage doth greatly increase, for that we make no difficulty to fall out with all the world . . . . . i never saw her worse affected to the poor king of navarre, and yet doth she seek in no sort to yield contentment to the french king. if to offend all the world;" repeated the secretary bitterly, "be it good cause of government, then can we not do amiss . . . . . i never found her less disposed to take a course of prevention of the approaching mischiefs toward this realm than at this present. and to be plain with you, there is none here that hath either credit or courage to deal effectually with her in any of her great causes." thus distracted by doubts and dangers, at war with her best friends, with herself, and with all-the world, was elizabeth during the dark days and months which, preceded and followed the execution of the scottish queen. if the great fight was at last to be fought triumphantly through, it was obvious that england was to depend upon englishmen of all ranks and classes, upon her prudent and far-seeing statesmen, upon her nobles and her adventurers, on her anglo-saxon and anglo-norman blood ever mounting against, oppression, on howard and essex, drake and williams, norris, and willoughby, upon high-born magnates, plebeian captains, london merchants, upon yeomen whose limbs were made in england, and upon hollanders and zeelanders whose fearless mariners were to swarm to the protection of her coasts, quite as much in that year of anxious expectation as upon the great queen herself. unquestionable as were her mental capacity and her more than woman's courage, when fairly, brought face, to face with the danger, it was fortunately not on one man or woman's brain and arm that england's salvation depended in that crisis of her fate. as to the provinces, no one ventured to speak very boldly in their defence. "when i lay before her the peril," said walsingham, "she scorneth at it. the hope of a peace with spain has put her into a most dangerous security." nor would any man now assume responsibility. the fate of davison--of the man who had already in so detestable a manner been made the scape-goat for leicester's sins in the netherlands, and who had now been so barbarously sacrificed by the queen for faithfully obeying her orders in regard to the death-warrant, had sickened all courtiers and counsellors for the time. "the late severe, dealing used by her highness towards mr. secretary davison," said walsingham to wilkes, "maketh us very circumspect and careful not to proceed in anything but wherein we receive direction from herself, and therefore you must not find it strange if we now be more sparing than heretofore hath been accustomed." such being the portentous state of the political atmosphere, and such the stormy condition of the royal mind, it may be supposed that the interviews of the netherland envoys with her majesty during this period were not likely to be genial. exactly at the most gloomy moment-- thirteen days before the execution of mary--they came first into elizabeth's presence at greenwich. the envoys were five in number, all of them experienced and able statesmen--zuylen van nyvelt, joos de menyn, nicasius de silla, jacob valck, and vitus van kammings. the queen was in the privy council- chamber, attended by the admiral of england, lord thomas howard, lord hunsdon, great-chamberlain, sir christopher hatton, vice-chamberlain, secretary davison, and many other persons of distinction. the letters of credence were duly presented, but it was obvious from the beginning of the interview that the queen was ill-disposed toward the deputies, and had not only been misinformed as to matters of fact, but as to the state of feeling of the netherlanders and of the states-general towards herself. menyu, however, who was an orator by profession--being pensionary of dort--made, in the name of his colleagues, a brief but pregnant speech, to which the queen listened attentively, although, with frequent indications of anger and impatience. he commenced by observing that the united provinces still entertained the hope that her majesty would conclude, upon further thoughts, to accept the sovereignty over them, with reasonable conditions; but the most important passages of his address were those relating to the cost of the war. "besides our stipulated contributions," said the pensionary, "of , florins the month, we have furnished , as an extraordinary grant; making for the year , , florins, and this over and above the particular and special expenditures of the provinces, and other sums for military purposes. we confess, madam, that the succour of your majesty is a truly royal one, and that there have been few princes in history who have given such assistance to their neighbours unjustly oppressed. it is certain that by means of that help, joined with the forces of the united provinces, the earl of leicester has been able to arrest the course of the duke of parma's victories and to counteract his designs. nevertheless, it appears, madam, that these forces have not been sufficient to drive the enemy out of the country. we are obliged, for regular garrison work and defence of cities, to keep; up an army of at least , foot and horse. of this number your majesty pays foot and horse, and we are now commissioned, madam, humbly to request an increase of your regular succour during the war to , foot and horse. we also implore the loan of l , sterling, in order to assist us in maintaining for the coming season a sufficient force in the field." such, in brief, was the oration of pensionary menyn, delivered in the french language. he had scarcely concluded, when the queen--evidently in a great passion--rose to her feet, and without any hesitation, replied in a strain of vehement eloquence in the same tongue. "now i am not deceived, gentlemen," she said, "and that which i have been fearing has occurred. our common adage, which we have in england, is a very good one. when one fears that an evil is coming, the sooner it arrives the better. here is a quarter of a year that i have been expecting you, and certainly for the great benefit i have conferred on you, you have exhibited a great ingratitude, and i consider myself very ill treated by you. 'tis very strange that you should begin by soliciting still greater succour without rendering me any satisfaction for your past actions, which have been so extraordinary, that i swear by the living god i think it impossible to find peoples or states more ungrateful or ill-advised than yourselves. "i have sent you this year fifteen, sixteen, aye seventeen or eighteen thousand men. you have left them without payment, you have let some of them die of hunger, driven others to such desperation that they have deserted to the enemy. is it not mortifying for the english nation and a great shame for you that englishmen should say that they have found more courtesy from spaniards than from netherlanders? truly, i tell you frankly that i will never endure such indignities. rather will i act according to my will, and you may do exactly, as you think best. "if i chose, i could do something very good without you, although some persons are so fond of saying that it was quite necessary for the queen of england to do what she does for her own protection. no, no! disabuse yourselves of that impression. these are but false persuasions. believe boldly that i can play an excellent game without your assistance, and a better one than i ever did with it! nevertheless, i do not choose to do that, nor do i wish you so much harm. but likewise do i not choose that you should hold such language to me. it is true that i should not wish the spaniard so near me if he should be my enemy. but why should i not live in peace, if we were to be friends to each other? at the commencement of my reign we lived honourably together, the king of spain and i, and he even asked me to, marry him, and, after that, we lived a long time very peacefully, without any attempt having been made against my life. if we both choose, we can continue so to do. "on the other hand, i sent you the earl of leicester, as lieutenant of my forces, and my intention was that he should have exact knowledge of your finances and contributions. but, on the contrary, he has never known anything about them, and you have handled them in your own manner and amongst yourselves. you have given him the title of governor, in order, under this name, to cast all your evils on his head. that title he accepted against my will, by doing which he ran the risk of losing his life, and his estates, and the grace and favour of his princess, which was more important to him than all. but he did it in order to maintain your tottering state. and what authority, i pray you, have you given him? a shadowy authority, a purely imaginary one. this is but mockery. he is, at any rate, a gentleman, a man of honour and of counsel. you had no right to treat him thus. if i had accepted the title which you wished to give me, by the living god, i would not have suffered you so to treat me. "but you are so badly advised that when there is a man of worth who discovers your tricks you wish him ill, and make an outcry against him; and yet some of you, in order to save your money, and others in the hope of bribes, have been favouring the spaniard, and doing very wicked work. no, believe me that god will punish those who for so great a benefit wish to return me so much evil. believe, boldly too, that the king of spain will never trust men who have abandoned the party to which they belonged, and from which they have received so many benefits, and will never believe a word of what they promise him. yet, in order to cover up their filth, they spread the story that the queen of england is thinking of treating for peace without their knowledge. no, i would rather be dead than that any one should have occasion to say that i had not kept my promise. but princes must listen to both sides, and that can be done without breach of faith. for they transact business in a certain way, and with a princely intelligence, such as private persons cannot imitate. "you are states, to be sure, but private individuals in regard to princes. certainly, i would never choose to do anything without your knowledge, and i would never allow the authority which you have among yourselves, nor your privileges, nor your statutes, to be infringed. nor will i allow you to be perturbed in your consciences. what then would you more of me? you have issued a proclamation in your country that no one is to talk of peace. very well, very good. but permit princes likewise to do as they shall think best for the security of their state, provided it does you no injury. among us princes we are not wont to make such long orations as you do, but you ought to be content with the few words that we bestow upon you, and make yourself quiet thereby. "if i ever do anything for you again, i choose to be treated more honourably. i shall therefore appoint some personages of my council to communicate with you. and in the first place i choose to hear and see for myself what has taken place already, and have satisfaction about that, before i make any reply to what you have said to me as to greater assistance. and so i will leave you to-day, without troubling you further." with this her majesty swept from the apartment, leaving the deputies somewhat astounded at the fierce but adroit manner in which the tables had for a moment been turned upon them. it was certainly a most unexpected blow, this charge of the states having left the english soldiers--whose numbers the queen had so suddenly multiplied by three--unpaid and unfed. those englishmen who, as individuals, had entered the states' service, had been--like all the other troops regularly paid. this distinctly appeared from the statements of her own counsellors and generals. on the other hand, the queen's contingent, now dwindled to about half their original number, had been notoriously unpaid for nearly six months. this has already been made sufficiently clear from the private letters of most responsible persons. that these soldiers were starving, deserting; and pillaging, was, alas! too true; but the envoys of the states hardly expected to be censured by her majesty, because she had neglected to pay her own troops. it was one of the points concerning which they had been especially enjoined to complain, that the english cavalry, converted into highwaymen by want of pay, had been plundering the peasantry, and we have seen that thomas wilkes had "pawned his carcase" to provide for their temporary relief. with regard to the insinuation that prominent personages in the country had been tampered with by the enemy, the envoys were equally astonished by such an attack. the great deventer treason had not yet been heard of in england for it had occurred only a week before this first interview-- but something of the kind was already feared; for the slippery dealings of york and stanley with tassis and parma, had long been causing painful anxiety, and had formed the subject of repeated remonstrances on the part of the 'states' to leicester and to the queen. the deputies were hardly, prepared therefore to defend their own people against dealing privately with the king of spain. the only man suspected of such practices was leicester's own favourite and financier, jacques ringault, whom the earl had persisted in employing against the angry remonstrances of the states, who believed him to be a spanish spy; and the man was now in prison, and threatened with capital punishment. to suppose that buys or barneveld, roorda, meetkerk, or any other leading statesman in the netherlands, was contemplating a private arrangement with philip ii., was as ludicrous a conception as to imagine walsingham a pensioner of the pope, or cecil in league with the duke of guise. the end and aim of the states' party was war. in war they not only saw the safety of the reformed religion, but the only means of maintaining the commercial prosperity of the commonwealth. the whole correspondence of the times shows that no politician in the country dreamed of peace, either by public or secret negotiation. on the other hand--as will be made still clearer than ever--the queen was longing for peace, and was treating for peace at that moment through private agents, quite without the knowledge of the states, and in spite of her indignant disavowals in her speech to the envoys. yet if elizabeth could have had the privilege of entering--as we are about to do--into the private cabinet of that excellent king of spain, with whom, she had once been such good friends, who had even sought her hand in marriage, and with whom she saw no reason whatever why she should not live at peace, she might have modified her expressions an this subject. certainly, if she could have looked through the piles of papers--as we intend to do--which lay upon that library-table, far beyond the seas and mountains, she would have perceived some objections to the scheme of living at peace with that diligent letter-writer. perhaps, had she known how the subtle farnese was about to express himself concerning the fast-approaching execution of mary, and the as inevitably impending destruction of "that englishwoman" through the schemes of his master and himself, she would have paid less heed to the sentiments couched in most exquisite italian which alexander was at the same time whispering in her ear, and would have taken less offence at the blunt language of the states-general. nevertheless, for the present, elizabeth would give no better answer than the hot-tempered one which had already somewhat discomfited the deputies. two days afterwards, the five envoys had an interview with several members of her majesty's council, in the private apartment of the lord- treasurer in greenwich palace. burghley, being indisposed, was lying upon his bed. leicester, admiral lord howard, lord hunsden, sir christopher hatton, lord buckhurst, and secretary davison, were present, and the lord-treasurer proposed that the conversation should be in latin, that being the common language most familiar to them all. then, turning over the leaves of the report, a copy of which lay on his bed, he asked the envoys, whether, in case her majesty had not sent over the assistance which she had done under the earl of leicester, their country would not have been utterly ruined. "to all appearance, yes," replied menyn. "but," continued burghley, still running through the pages of the document, and here and there demanding an explanation of an obscure passage or two, "you are now proposing to her majesty to send , foot and horse, and to lend l , . this is altogether monstrous and excessive. nobody will ever dare even to speak to her majesty on the subject. when you first came in , you asked for , men, but you were fully authorized to accept . no doubt that is the case now." "on that occasion," answered menyn, "our main purpose was to induce her majesty to accept the sovereignty, or at least the perpetual protection of our country. failing in that we broached the third point, and not being able to get , soldiers we compounded for , the agreement being subject to ratification by our principals. we gave ample security in shape of the mortgaged cities. but experience has shown us that these forces and this succour are insufficient. we have therefore been sent to beg her majesty to make up the contingent to the amount originally requested." "but we are obliged to increase the garrisons in the cautionary towns," said one of the english councillors, "as men in a city like flushing are very little." "pardon me," replied valck, "the burghers are not enemies but friends to her majesty and to the english nation. they are her dutiful subjects like all the inhabitants of the netherlands." "it is quite true," said burghley, after having made some critical remarks upon the military system of the provinces, "and a very common adage, 'quod tunc tua res agitur, paries cum proximus ardet,' but, nevertheless, this war principally concerns you. therefore you are bound to do your utmost to meet its expenses in your own country, quite as much as a man who means to build a house is expected to provide the stone and timber himself. but the states have not done their best. they have not at the appointed time come forward with their extraordinary contributions for the last campaign. "how many men," he asked, "are required for garrisons in all the fortresses and cities, and for the field?" "but," interposed lord hunsden, "not half so many men are needed in the garrisons; for the burghers ought to be able to defend their own cities. moreover it is probable that your ordinary contributions might be continued and doubled and even tripled." "and on the whole," observed the lord admiral, "don't you think that the putting an army in the field might be dispensed with for this year? her majesty at present must get together and equip a fleet of war vessels against the king of spain, which will be an excessively large pennyworth, besides the assistance which she gives her neighbours." "yes, indeed," said secretary davison, "it would be difficult to exaggerate the enormous expense which her majesty must encounter this year for defending and liberating her own kingdoms against the king of spain. that monarch is making great naval preparations, and is treating all englishmen in the most hostile manner. we are on the brink of declared war with spain, with the french king, who is arresting all english persons and property within his kingdom, and with scotland, all which countries are understood to have made a league together on account of the queen of scotland, whom it will be absolutely necessary to put to death in order to preserve the life of her majesty, and are about to make war upon england. this matter then will cost us, the current year, at least eight hundred thousand pounds sterling. nevertheless her majesty is sure to assist you so far as her means allow; and i, for my part, will do my best to keep her majesty well disposed to your cause, even as i have ever done, as you well know." thus spoke poor davison, but a few days before the fatal th of february, little dreaming that the day for his influencing the disposition of her majesty would soon be gone, and that he was himself to be crushed for ever by the blow which was about to destroy the captive queen. the political combinations resulting from the tragedy were not to be exactly as he foretold, but there is little doubt that in him the netherlands, and leicester, and the queen of england, were to lose an honest, diligent, and faithful friend. "well, gentlemen," said the lord-treasurer, after a few more questions concerning the financial abilities of the states had been asked and answered, "it is getting late into the evening, and time for you all to get back to london. let me request you, as soon as may be, to draw up some articles in writing, to which we will respond immediately." menyn then, in the name of the deputies, expressed thanks for the urbanity shown them in the conference, and spoke of the deep regret with which they had perceived, by her majesty's answer two days before, that she was so highly offended with them and with the states-general. he then, notwithstanding burghley's previous hint as to the lateness of the hour, took up the queen's answer, point by point, contradicted all its statements, appealing frequently to lord leicester for confirmation of what he advanced, and concluded by begging the councillors to defend the cause of the netherlands to her majesty, burghley requested them to make an excuse or reply to the queen in writing, and send it to him to present. thus the conference terminated, and the envoys returned to london. they were fully convinced by the result of, these interviews, as they told their constituents, that her majesty, by false statements and reports of persons either grossly ignorant or not having the good of the commonwealth before their eyes, had been very incorrectly informed as to the condition of the provinces, and of the great efforts made by the states-general to defend their country against the enemy: it was obvious, they said, that their measures had been exaggerated in order to deceive the queen and her council. and thus statements and counter-statements, protocols and apostilles, were glibly exchanged; the heap of diplomatic rubbish was rising higher and higher, and the councillors and envoys, pleased with their work, were growing more and more amicable, when the court was suddenly startled by the news of the deventer and zutphen treason. the intelligence was accompanied by the famous th of february letter, which descended, like a bombshell, in the midst of the, decorous council-chamber. such language had rarely been addressed to the earl of leicester, and; through him; to the imperious sovereign herself, as the homely truths with which barneveld, speaking with the voice of the states-general, now smote the delinquent governor. "my lord," said he, "it is notorious; and needs no illustration whatever, with what true confidence and unfeigned affection we received your excellency in our land; the states-general, the states-provincial, the magistrates, and the communities of the chief cities in the united provinces, all uniting to do honour to her serene majesty of england and to yourself, and to confer upon you the government-general over us. and although we should willingly have placed some limitations upon the authority thus bestowed on you; in, order that by such a course your own honour and the good and constitutional condition of the country might be alike preserved, yet finding your excellency not satisfied with those limitations, we postponed every objection, and conformed ourselves to your pleasure. yet; before coming to that decision, we had well considered that by doing so we might be opening a door to many ambitious, avaricious, and pernicious persons, both of these countries and from other nations, who might seize the occasion to advance their own private profits, to the detriment of the country and the dishonour of your excellency. "and, in truth, such persons have done their work so efficiently as to inspire you with distrust against the most faithful and capable men in the provinces, against the estates general and provincial, magistrates, and private persons, knowing very well that they could never arrive at their own ends so long as you were guided by the constitutional authorities of the country. and precisely upon the distrust; thus created as a foundation, they raised a back-stairs council, by means of which they were able to further their ambitious, avaricious, and seditious practices, notwithstanding the good advice and remonstrances of the council of state, and the states general and provincial." he proceeded to handle the subjects of the english rose-noble; put in circulation by leicester's finance or back-stairs council at two florins above its value, to the manifest detriment of the provinces, to the detestable embargo which had prevented them from using the means bestowed upon them by god himself to defend their country, to the squandering. and embezzlement of the large sums contributed by the province; and entrusted to the earl's administration; to the starving condition of the soldiers; maltreated by government, and thus compelled to prey upon the inhabitants--so that troops in the states' service had never been so abused during the whole war, although the states had never before voted such large contributions nor paid them so promptly--to the placing in posts of high honour and trust men of notoriously bad character and even spanish spies; to the taking away the public authority from those to whom it legitimately belonged, and conferring it on incompetent and unqualified persons; to the illegal banishment of respectable citizens, to the violation of time-honoured laws and privileges, to the shameful attempts to repudiate the ancient authority of the states, and to usurp a control over the communities and nobles by them represented, and to the perpetual efforts to foster dissension, disunion, and rebellion among the inhabitants. having thus drawn up a heavy bill of indictment, nominally against the earl's illegal counsellors, but in reality against the earl himself, he proceeded to deal with the most important matter of all. "the principal cities and fortresses in the country have been placed in hands of men suspected by the states on legitimate grounds, men who had been convicted of treason against these provinces, and who continued to be suspected, notwithstanding that your excellency had pledged your own honour for their fidelity. finally, by means of these scoundrels, it was brought to pass, that the council of state having been invested by your excellency with supreme authority during your absence--a secret document, was brought to light after your departure, by which the most substantial matters, and those most vital to the defence of the country, were withdrawn from the disposition of that council. and now, alas, we see the effects of these practices! "sir william stanley, by you appointed governor of deventer, and rowland york, governor of fort zutphen, have refused, by virtue of that secret document, to acknowledge any authority in this country. and notwithstanding that since your departure they and their soldiers have been supported at our expense, and had just received a full month's pay from the states, they have traitorously and villainously delivered the city and the fortress to the enemy, with a declaration made by stanley that he did the deed to ease his conscience, and to render to the king of spain the city which of right was belonging to him. and this is a crime so dishonourable, scandalous, ruinous, and treasonable, as that, during this, whole war, we have never seen the like. and we are now, in daily fear lest the english commanders in bergen-op-zoom, ostend, and other cities, should commit the same crime. and although we fully suspected the designs of stanley and york, yet your excellency's secret document had deprived us of the power to act. "we doubt not that her majesty and your excellency will think this strange language. but we can assure you, that we too think it strange and grievous that those places should have been confided to such men, against our repeated remonstrances, and that, moreover, this very stanley should have been recommended by your excellency for general of all the forces. and although we had many just and grave reasons for opposing your administration--even as our ancestors were often wont to rise against the sovereigns of the country--we have, nevertheless, patiently suffered for a long time, in order not to diminish your authority, which we deemed so important to our welfare, and in the hope that you would at last be moved by the perilous condition of the commonwealth, and awake to the artifices of your advisers. "but at last-feeling that the existence of the state can no longer be preserved without proper authority, and that the whole community is full of emotion and distrust, on account of these great treasons--we, the states-general, as well as the states-provincial, have felt constrained to establish such a government as we deem meet for the emergency. and of this we think proper to apprize your excellency." he then expressed the conviction that all these evil deeds had been accomplished against the intentions of the earl and the english government, and requested his excellency so to deal with her majesty that the contingent of horse and foot hitherto accorded by her "might be maintained in good order, and in better pay." here, then, was substantial choleric phraseology, as good plain speaking as her majesty had just been employing, and with quite as sufficient cause. here was no pleasant diplomatic fencing, but straightforward vigorous thrusts. it was no wonder that poor wilkes should have thought the letter "too sharp," when he heard it read in the assembly, and that he should have done his best to prevent it from being despatched. he would have thought it sharper could he have seen how the pride of her majesty and of leicester was wounded by it to the quick. her list of grievances against the states seem to vanish into air. who had been tampering with the spaniards now? had that "shadowy and imaginary authority" granted to leicester not proved substantial enough? was it the states-general, the state-council, or was it the "absolute governor" --who had carried off the supreme control of the commonwealth in his pocket--that was responsible for the ruin effected by englishmen who had scorned all "authority" but his own? the states, in another blunt letter to the queen herself, declared the loss of deventer to be more disastrous to them than even the fall of antwerp had been; for the republic had now been split asunder, and its most ancient and vital portions almost cut away. nevertheless they were not "dazzled nor despairing," they said, but more determined than ever to maintain their liberties, and bid defiance to the spanish tyrant. and again they demanded of, rather than implored; her majesty to be true to her engagements with them. the interviews which followed were more tempestuous than ever. "i had intended that my lord of leicester should return to you," she said to the envoys. "but that shall never be. he has been treated with gross ingratitude, he has served the provinces with ability, he has consumed his own property there, he has risked his life, he has lost his near kinsman, sir philip sidney, whose life i should be glad to purchase with many millions, and, in place of all reward, he receives these venomous letters, of which a copy has been sent to his sovereign to blacken him with her." she had been advising him to return, she added, but she was now resolved that he should "never set foot in the provinces again." here the earl, who, was present, exclaimed--beating himself on the breast--"a tali officio libera nos, domine!" but the states, undaunted by these explosions of wrath, replied that it had ever been their custom, when their laws and liberties were invaded, to speak their mind boldly to kings and governors, and to procure redress of their grievances, as became free men. during that whole spring the queen was at daggers drawn with all her leading counsellors, mainly in regard to that great question of questions--the relations of england with the netherlands and spain. walsingham--who felt it madness to dream of peace, and who believed it the soundest policy to deal with parma and his veterans upon the soil of flanders, with the forces of the republic for allies, rather than to await his arrival in london--was driven almost to frenzy by what he deemed the queen's perverseness. "our sharp words continue," said the secretary, "which doth greatly disquiet her majesty, and discomfort her poor servants that attend her. the lord-treasurer remaineth still in disgrace, and, behind my back, her majesty giveth out very hard speeches of myself, which i the rather credit, for that i find, in dealing with her, i am nothing gracious; and if her majesty could be otherwise served, i know i should not be used . . . . . her majesty doth wholly lend herself to devise some further means to disgrace her poor council, in respect whereof she neglecteth all other causes . . . . . the discord between her majesty and her council hindereth the necessary consultations that were to be destined for the preventing of the manifold perils that hang over this realm . . . . . . sir christopher hatton hath dealt very plainly and dutifully with her, which hath been accepted in so evil part as he is resolved to retire for a time. i assure you i find every man weary of attendance here . . . . . . i would to god i could find as good resolution in her majesty to proceed in a princely course in relieving the united provinces, as i find an honorable disposition in your lordship to employ yourself in their service." the lord-treasurer was much puzzled, very wretched, but philosophically resigned. "why her majesty useth me thus strangely, i know not," he observed. "to some she saith that she meant not i should have gone from the court; to some she saith, she may not admit me, nor give me contentment. i shall dispose myself to enjoy god's favour, and shall do nothing to deserve her disfavour. and if i be suffered to be a stranger to her affairs, i shall have a quieter life." leicester, after the first burst of his anger was over, was willing to return to the provinces. he protested that he had a greater affection for the netherland people--not for the governing powers--even than he felt for the people of england.--"there is nothing sticks in my stomach," he said, "but the good-will of that poor afflicted people, for whom, i take god to record, i could be content to lose any limb i have to do them good." but he was crippled with debt, and the queen resolutely refused to lend him a few thousand pounds, without which he could not stir. walsingham in vain did battle with her parsimony, representing how urgently and vividly the necessity of his return had been depicted by all her ministers in both countries, and how much it imported to her own safety and service. but she was obdurate. "she would rather," he said bitterly to leicester, "hazard the increase of confusion there--which may put the whole country in peril--than supply your want. the like course she holdeth in the rest of her causes, which maketh me to wish myself from the helm." at last she agreed to advance him ten thousand pounds, but on so severe conditions, that the earl declared himself heart-broken again, and protested that he would neither accept the money, nor ever set foot in the netherlands. "let norris stay there," he said in a fury; "he will do admirably, no doubt. only let it not be supposed that i can be there also. not for one hundred thousand pounds would i be in that country with him." meantime it was agreed that lord buckhurst should be sent forth on what wilkes termed a mission of expostulation, and a very ill-timed one. this new envoy was to inquire into the causes of the discontent, and to do his best to remove them: as if any man in england or in holland doubted as to the causes, or as to the best means of removing them; or as if it were not absolutely certain that delay was the very worst specific that could be adopted--delay--which the netherland statesmen, as well as the queen's wisest counsellors, most deprecated, which alexander and philip most desired, and by indulging in which her majesty was most directly playing into her adversary's hand. elizabeth was preparing to put cards upon the table against an antagonist whose game was close, whose honesty was always to be suspected, and who was a consummate master in what was then considered diplomatic sleight of hand. so lord buckhurst was to go forth to expostulate at the hague, while transports were loading in cadiz and lisbon, reiters levying in germany, pikemen and musketeers in spain and italy, for a purpose concerning which walsingham and barneveld had for a long time felt little doubt. meantime lord leicester went to bath to drink the waters, and after he had drunk the waters, the queen, ever anxious for his health, was resolved that he should not lose the benefit of those salubrious draughts by travelling too soon, or by plunging anew into the fountains of bitterness which flowed perennially in the netherlands. chapter xv. buckhurst sent to the netherlands--alarming state of affairs on his arrival--his efforts to conciliate--democratic theories of wilkes-- sophistry of the argument--dispute between wilkes and barneveld-- religious tolerance by the states--their constitutional theory-- deventer's bad counsels to leicester--their pernicious effect--real and supposed plots against hohenlo--mutual suspicion and distrust-- buckhurst seeks to restore good feeling--the queen angry and vindictive--she censures buckhurst's course--leicester's wrath at hohenlo's charges of a plot by the earl to murder him--buckhurst's eloquent appeals to the queen--her perplexing and contradictory orders--despair of wilkes--leicester announces his return--his instructions--letter to junius--barneveld denounces him in the states. we return to the netherlands. if ever proof were afforded of the influence of individual character on the destiny of nations and of the world, it certainly was seen in the year . we have lifted the curtain of the secret council-chamber at greenwich. we have seen all elizabeth's advisers anxious to arouse her from her fatal credulity, from her almost as fatal parsimony. we have seen leicester anxious to return, despite all fancied indignities, walsingham eager to expedite the enterprise, and the queen remaining obdurate, while month after month of precious time was melting away. in the netherlands, meantime, discord and confusion had been increasing every day; and the first great cause of such a dangerous condition of affairs was the absence of the governor. to this all parties agreed. the leicestrians, the anti-leicestriana, the holland party, the utrecht party, the english counsellors, the english generals, in private letter, in solemn act, all warned the queen against the lamentable effects resulting from leicester's inopportune departure and prolonged absence. on the first outbreak of indignation after the deventer affair, prince maurice was placed at the head of the general government, with the violent hohenlo as his lieutenant. the greatest exertions were made by these two nobles and by barneveld, who guided the whole policy of the party, to secure as many cities as possible to their cause. magistrates and commandants of garrisons in many towns willingly gave in their adhesion to the new government; others refused; especially diedrich sonoy, an officer of distinction, who was governor of enkhuyzen, and influential throughout north holland, and who remained a stanch partisan of leicester. utrecht, the stronghold of the leicestrians, was wavering and much torn by faction; hohenlo and moeurs had "banquetted and feasted" to such good purpose that they had gained over half the captains of the burgher-guard, and, aided by the branch of nobles, were making a good fight against the leicester magistracy and the clerical force, enriched by the plunder of the old catholic livings, who denounced as papistical and hispaniolized all who favoured the party of maurice and barneveld. by the end of march the envoys returned from london, and in their company came lord buckhurst, as special ambassador from the queen. thomas sackville, lord buckhurst--afterwards earl of dorset and lord- treasurer--was then fifty-one years of age. a man of large culture-poet, dramatist, diplomatist-bred to the bar; afterwards elevated to the peerage; endowed with high character and strong intellect; ready with tongue and pen; handsome of person, and with a fascinating address, he was as fit a person to send on a mission of expostulation as any man to be found in england. but the author of the 'induction to the mirror for magistrates' and of 'gorboduc,' had come to the netherlands on a forlorn hope. to expostulate in favour of peace with a people who knew that their existence depended on war, to reconcile those to delay who felt that delay was death, and to, heal animosities between men who were enemies from their cradles to their graves, was a difficult mission. but the chief ostensible object of buckhurst was to smooth the way for leicester, and, if possible, to persuade the netherlanders as to the good inclinations of the english government. this was no easy task, for they knew that their envoys had been dismissed, without even a promise of subsidy. they had asked for twelve thousand soldiers and sixty thousand pounds, and had received a volley of abuse. over and over again, through many months, the queen fell into a paroxysm of rage when even an allusion was made to the loan of fifty or sixty thousand pounds; and even had she promised the money, it would have given but little satisfaction. as count moeurs observed, he would rather see one english rose-noble than a hundred royal promises. so the hollanders and zeelanders--not fearing leicester's influence within their little morsel of a territory--were concentrating their means of resistance upon their own soil, intending to resist spain, and, if necessary, england, in their last ditch, and with the last drop of their blood. while such was the condition of affairs, lord buckhurst landed at flushing--four months after the departure of leicester--on the th march, having been tossing three days and nights at sea in a great storm, "miserably sick and in great danger of drowning." sir william russell, governor of flushing, informed him of the progress making by prince maurice in virtue of his new authority. he told him that the zeeland regiment, vacant by sidney's death, and which the queen wished bestowed upon russell himself, had been given to count solms; a circumstance which was very sure to exite her majesty's ire; but that the greater number, and those of the better sort; disliked the alteration of government, and relied entirely upon the queen. sainte aldegonde visited him at middelburgh, and in a "long discourse" expressed the most friendly sentiments towards england, with free offers of personal service. "nevertheless," said buckhurst, cautiously, "i mean to trust the effect, not his words, and so i hope he will not much deceive me. his opinion is that the earl of leicester's absence hath chiefly caused this change, and that without his return it will hardly be restored again, but that upon his arrival all these clouds will prove but a summershower." as a matter of course the new ambassador lifted up his voice, immediately after setting foot on shore, in favour of the starving soldiers of his queen. "'tis a most lamentable thing," said he, "to hear the complaints of soldiers and captains for want of pay." . . . . whole companies made their way into his presence, literally crying aloud for bread. "for jesus' sake," wrote buckhurst, "hasten to send relief with all speed, and let such victuallers be appointed as have a conscience not to make themselves rich with the famine of poor soldiers. if her majesty send not money, and that with speed, for their payment, i am afraid to think what mischief and miseries are like to follow." then the ambassador proceeded to the hague, holding interviews with influential personages in private, and with the states-general in public. such was the charm of his manner, and so firm the conviction of sincerity and good-will which he inspired, that in the course of a fortnight there was already a sensible change in the aspect of affairs. the enemy, who, at the time of their arrival, had been making bonfires and holding triumphal processions for joy of the great breach between holland and england, and had been "hoping to swallow them all up, while there were so few left who knew how to act," were already manifesting disappointment. in a solemn meeting of the states-general with the state-council, buckhurst addressed the assembly upon the general subject of her majesty's goodness to the netherlands. he spoke of the gracious assistance rendered by her, notwithstanding her many special charges for the common cause, and of the mighty enmities which she had incurred for their sake. he sharply censured the hollanders for their cruelty to men who had shed their blood in their cause, but who were now driven forth from their towns; and left to starve on the highways, and hated for their nation's sake; as if the whole english name deserved to be soiled "for the treachery of two miscreants." he spoke strongly of their demeanour towards the earl of leicester, and of the wrongs they had done him, and told them, that, if they were not ready to atone to her majesty for such injuries, they were not to wonder if their deputies received no better answer at her hands. "she who embraced your cause," he said, "when other mighty princes forsook you, will still stand fast unto you, yea, and increase her goodness, if her present state may suffer it." after being addressed in this manner the council of state made what counsellor clerk called a "very honest, modest, and wise answer;" but the states-general, not being able "so easily to discharge that which had so long boiled within them," deferred their reply until the following day. they then brought forward a deliberate rejoinder, in which they expressed themselves devoted to her majesty, and, on the whole, well disposed to the earl. as to the th february letter, it had been written "in amaritudine cordis," upon hearing the treasons of york and stanley, and in accordance with "their custom and liberty used towards all princes, whereby they had long preserved their estate," and in the conviction that the real culprits for all the sins of his excellency's government were certain "lewd persons who sought to seduce his lordship, and to cause him to hate the states." buckhurst did not think it well to reply, at that moment, on the ground that there had been already crimination and recrimination more than enough, and that "a little bitterness more had rather caused them to determine dangerously than solve for the best." they then held council together--the envoys and the state-general, as to the amount of troops absolutely necessary--casting up the matter "as pinchingly as possibly might be." and the result was, that , foot and horse for garrison work, and an army of , foot, horse, and pioneers, for a campaign of five or six months, were pronounced indispensable. this would require all their l , sterling a-year, regular contribution, her majesty's contingent of l , , and an extra sum of l , sterling. of this sum the states requested her majesty should furnish two-thirds, while they agreed to furnish the other third, which would make in all l , for the queen, and l , for the states. as it was understood that the english subsidies were only a loan, secured by mortgage of the cautionary towns, this did not seem very unreasonable, when the intimate blending of england's welfare with that of the provinces was considered. thus it will be observed that lord buckhurst--while doing his best to conciliate personal feuds and heart-burnings--had done full justice to the merits of leicester, and had placed in strongest light the favours conferred by her majesty. he then proceeded to utrecht, where he was received with many demonstrations of respect, "with solemn speeches" from magistrates and burgher-captains, with military processions, and with great banquets, which were, however, conducted with decorum, and at which even count moeurs excited universal astonishment by his sobriety. it was difficult, however, for matters to go very smoothly, except upon the surface. what could be more disastrous than for a little commonwealth--a mere handful of people, like these netherlanders, engaged in mortal combat with the most powerful monarch in the world, and with the first general of the age, within a league of their borders--thus to be deprived of all organized government at a most critical moment, and to be left to wrangle with their allies and among themselves, as to the form of polity to be adopted, while waiting the pleasure of a capricious and despotic woman? and the very foundation of the authority by which the spanish yoke had been abjured, the sovereignty offered to elizabeth, and the government- general conferred on leicester, was fiercely assailed by the confidential agents of elizabeth herself. the dispute went into the very depths of the social contract. already wilkes, standing up stoutly for the democratic views of the governor, who was so foully to requite him, had assured the english government that the "people were ready to cut the throats" of the staten-general at any convenient moment. the sovereign people, not the deputies, were alone to be heeded, he said, and although he never informed the world by what process he had learned the deliberate opinion of that sovereign, as there had been no assembly excepting those of the states-general and states-provincial--he was none the less fully satisfied that the people were all with leicester, and bitterly opposed to the states. "for the sovereignty, or supreme authority," said he, through failure of a legitimate prince, belongs to the people, and not to you, gentlemen, who are only servants, ministers, and deputies of the people. you have your commissions or instructions surrounded by limitations--which conditions are so widely different from the power of sovereignty, as the might of the subject is in regard to his prince, or of a servant in, respect to his master. for sovereignty is not limited either as to power or as to time. still less do you represent the sovereignty; for the people, in giving the general and absolute government to the earl of leicester, have conferred upon him at once the exercise of justice, the administration of polity, of naval affairs, of war, and of all the other points of sovereignty. of these a governor-general is however only the depositary or guardian, until such time as it may please the prince or people to revoke the trust; there being no other in this state who can do this; seeing that it was the people, through the instrumentality of your offices--through you as its servants--conferred on his excellency, this power, authority, and government. according to the common rule law, therefore, 'quo jure quid statuitur, eodem jure tolli debet.' you having been fully empowered by the provinces and cities, or, to speak more correctly, by your masters and superiors, to confer the government on his excellency, it follows that you require a like power in order to take it away either in whole or in part. if then you had no commission to curtail his authority, or even that of the state-council, and thus to tread upon and usurp his power as governor general and absolute, there follows of two things one: either you did not well understand what you were doing, nor duly consider how far that power reached, or--much more probably--you have fallen into the sin of disobedience, considering how solemnly you swore allegiance to him. thus subtly and ably did wilkes defend the authority of the man who had deserted his post at a most critical moment, and had compelled the states, by his dereliction, to take the government into their own hands. for, after all, the whole argument of the english counsellor rested upon a quibble. the people were absolutely sovereign, he said, and had lent that sovereignty to leicester. how had they made that loan? through the machinery of the states-general. so long then as the earl retained the absolute sovereignty, the states were not even representatives of the sovereign people. the sovereign people was merged into one english earl. the english earl had retired--indefinitely--to england. was the sovereign people to wait for months, or years, before it regained its existence? and if not, how was it to reassert its vitality? how but through the agency of the states-general, who--according to wilkes himself--had been fully empowered by the provinces and cities to confer the government on the earl? the people then, after all, were the provinces and cities. and the states-general were at that moment as much qualified to represent those provinces and cities as they ever had been, and they claimed no more. wilkes, nor any other of the leicester party, ever hinted at a general assembly of the people. universal suffrage was not dreamed of at that day. by the people, he meant, if he meant anything, only that very small fraction of the inhabitants of a country, who, according to the english system, in the reign of elizabeth, constituted its commons. he chose, rather from personal and political motives than philosophical ones, to draw a distinction between the people and the states, but it is quite obvious, from the tone of his private communications, that by the 'states' he meant the individuals who happened, for the time-being, to be the deputies of the states of each province. but it was almost an affectation to accuse those individuals of calling or considering themselves 'sovereigns;' for it was very well known that they sat as envoys, rather than as members of a congress, and were perpetually obliged to recur to their constituents, the states of each province, for instructions. it was idle, because buys and barneveld, and roorda, and other leaders, exercised the influence due to their talents, patriotism, and experience, to stigmatize them as usurpers of sovereignty, and to hound the rabble upon them as tyrants and mischief-makers. yet to take this course pleased the earl of leicester, who saw no hope for the liberty of the people, unless absolute and unconditional authority over the people, in war, naval affairs, justice, and policy, were placed in his hands. this was the view sustained by the clergy of the reformed church, because they found it convenient, through such a theory, and by leicester's power, to banish papists, exercise intolerance in matters of religion, sequestrate for their own private uses the property of the catholic church, and obtain for their own a political power which was repugnant to the more liberal ideas of the barneveld party. the states of holland--inspired as it were by the memory of that great martyr to religious and political liberty, william the silent--maintained freedom of conscience. the leicester party advocated a different theory on the religious question. they were also determined to omit no effort to make the states odious. "seeing their violent courses," said wilkes to leicester, "i have not been negligent, as well by solicitations to the ministers, as by my letters to such as have continued constant in affection to your lordship, to have the people informed of the ungrateful and dangerous proceedings of the states. they have therein travailed with so good effect, as the people are now wonderfully well disposed, and have delivered everywhere in speeches, that if, by the overthwart dealings of the states, her majesty shall be drawn to stay her succours and goodness to them, and that thereby your lordship be also discouraged to return, they will cut their throats." who the "people" exactly were, that had been so wonderfully well disposed to throat-cutting by the ministers of the gospel, did not distinctly appear. it was certain, however, that they were the special friends of leicester, great orators, very pious, and the sovereigns of the country. so much could not be gainsaid. "your lordship would wonder," continued the councillor, "to see the people--who so lately, by the practice of the said states and the accident of deventer, were notably alienated--so returned to their former devotion towards her majesty, your lordship, and our nation." wilkes was able moreover to gratify the absent governor-general with the intelligence--of somewhat questionable authenticity however--that the states were very "much terrified with these threats of the people." but barneveld came down to the council to inquire what member of that body it was who had accused the states of violating the earl's authority. "whoever he is," said the advocate, "let him deliver his mind frankly, and he shall be answered." the man did not seem much terrified by the throat-cutting orations. "it is true," replied wilkes, perceiving himself to be the person intended, "that you have very injuriously, in many of your proceedings, derogated from and trodden the authority of his lordship and of this council under your feet." and then he went into particulars, and discussed, 'more suo,' the constitutional question, in which various leicestrian counsellors seconded him. but barneveld grimly maintained that the states were the sovereigns, and that it was therefore unfit that the governor, who drew his authority from them, should call them to account for their doings. "it was as if the governors in the time of charles v.," said the advocate, "should have taxed that emperor for any action of his done in the government." in brief, the rugged barneveld, with threatening voice, and lion port, seemed to impersonate the staten, and to hold reclaimed sovereignty in his grasp. it seemed difficult to tear it from him again. "i did what i could," said wilkes, "to beat them from this humour of their sovereignty, showing that upon that error they had grounded the rest of their wilful absurdities." next night, he drew up sixteen articles, showing the disorders of the states, their breach of oaths, and violations of the earl's authority; and with that commenced a series of papers interchanged by the two parties, in which the topics of the origin of government and the principles of religious freedom were handled with much ability on both sides, but at unmerciful length. on the religious question, the states-general, led by barneveld and by francis franck, expressed themselves manfully, on various occasions, during the mission of buckhurst. "the nobles and cities constituting the states," they said, "have been denounced to lord leicester as enemies of religion, by the self-seeking mischief-makers who surround him. why? because they had refused the demand of certain preachers to call a general synod, in defiance of the states-general, and to introduce a set of ordinances, with a system of discipline, according to their arbitrary will. this the late prince of orange and the states-general had always thought detrimental both to religion and polity. they respected the difference in religious opinions, and leaving all churches in their freedom, they chose to compel no man's conscience--a course which all statesmen, knowing the diversity of human opinions, had considered necessary in order to maintain fraternal harmony." such words shine through the prevailing darkness of the religious atmosphere at that epoch, like characters of light. they are beacons in the upward path of mankind. never before, had so bold and wise a tribute to the genius of the reformation been paid by an organized community. individuals walking in advance of their age had enunciated such truths, and their voices had seemed to die away, but, at last, a little, struggling, half-developed commonwealth had proclaimed the rights of conscience for all mankind--for papists and calvinists, jews and anabaptists--because "having a respect for differences in religious opinions, and leaving all churches in their freedom, they chose to compel no man's conscience." on the constitutional question, the states commenced by an astounding absurdity. "these mischief-makers, moreover," said they, "have not been ashamed to dispute, and to cause the earl of leicester to dispute, the lawful constitution of the provinces; a matter which has not been disputed for eight hundred years." this was indeed to claim a respectable age for their republic. eight hundred years took them back to the days of charlemagne, in whose time it would have been somewhat difficult to detect a germ of their states- general and states-provincial. that the constitutional government-- consisting of nobles and of the vroedschaps of chartered cities--should have been in existence four hundred and seventeen years before the first charter had ever been granted to a city, was a very loose style of argument. thomas wilkes, in reply; might as well have traced the english parliament to hengist and horsa. "for eight hundred years;" they said, "holland had been governed by counts and countesses, on whom the nobles and cities, as representing the states, had legally conferred sovereignty." now the first incorporated city of holland and zeeland that ever existed was middelburg, which received its charter from count william i. of holland and countess joan of flanders; in the year . the first count that had any legal recognized authority was dirk the first to whom charles the simple presented the territory of holland, by letters-patent, in . yet the states-general, in a solemn and eloquent document, gravely dated their own existence from the year , and claimed the regular possession and habitual delegation of sovereignty from that epoch down! after this fabulous preamble, they proceeded to handle the matter of fact with logical precision. it was absurd, they said, that mr. wilkes and lord leicester should affect to confound the persons who appeared in the assembly with the states themselves; as if those individuals claimed or exercised sovereignty. any man who had observed what had been passing during the last fifteen years, knew very well that the supreme authority did not belong to the thirty or forty individuals who came to the meetings . . . . . the nobles, by reason of their ancient dignity and splendid possessions, took counsel together over state matters, and then, appearing at the assembly, deliberated with the deputies of the cities. the cities had mainly one form of government--a college of counsellors; or wise men, , , , or in number, of the most respectable out of the whole community. they were chosen for life, and vacancies were supplied by the colleges themselves out of the mass of citizens. these colleges alone governed the city, and that which had been ordained by them was to be obeyed by all the inhabitants--a system against which there had never been any rebellion. the colleges again, united with those of the nobles, represented the whole state, the whole body of the population; and no form of government could be imagined, they said, that could resolve, with a more thorough knowledge of the necessities of the country, or that could execute its resolves with more unity of purpose and decisive authority. to bring the colleges into an assembly could only be done by means of deputies. these deputies, chosen by their colleges, and properly instructed, were sent to the place of meeting. during the war they had always been commissioned to resolve in common on matters regarding the liberty of the land. these deputies, thus assembled, represented, by commission, the states; but they are not, in their own persons, the states; and no one of them had any such pretension. "the people of this country," said the states, "have an aversion to all ambition; and in these disastrous times, wherein nothing but trouble and odium is to be gathered by public employment, these commissions are accounted 'munera necessaria' . . . . . this form of government has, by god's favour, protected holland and zeeland, during this war, against a powerful foe, without lose of territory, without any popular outbreak, without military mutiny, because all business has been transacted with open doors; and because the very smallest towns are all represented, and vote in the assembly." in brief, the constitution of the united provinces was a matter of fact. it was there in good working order, and had, for a generation of mankind, and throughout a tremendous war, done good service. judged by the principles of reason and justice, it was in the main a wholesome constitution, securing the independence and welfare of the state, and the liberty and property of the individual, as well certainly as did any polity then existing in the world. it seemed more hopeful to abide by it yet a little longer than to adopt the throat-cutting system by the people, recommended by wilkes and leicester as an improvement on the old constitution. this was the view of lord buckhurst. he felt that threats of throat-cutting were not the best means of smoothing and conciliating, and he had come over to smooth and conciliate. "to spend the time," said he, "in private brabbles and piques between the states and lord leicester, when we ought to prepare an army against the enemy, and to repair the shaken and torn state, is not a good course for her majesty's service." letters were continually circulating from hand to hand among the antagonists of the holland party, written out of england by leicester, exciting the ill-will of the populace against the organized government. "by such means to bring the states into hatred," said buckhurst, "and to stir up the people against them; tends to great damage and miserable end. this his lordship doth full little consider, being the very way to dissolve all government, and so to bring all into confusion, and open the door for the enemy. but oh, how lamentable a thing it is, and how doth my lord of leicester abuse her majesty, making her authority the means to uphold and justify, and under her name to defend and maintain, all his intolerable errors. i thank god that neither his might nor his malice shall deter me from laying open all those things which my conscience knoweth, and which appertaineth to be done for the good of this cause and of her majesty's service. herein, though i were sure to lose my life, yet will i not offend neither the one nor the other, knowing very well that i must die; and to die in her majesty's faithful service, and with a good conscience, is far more happy than the miserable life that i am in. if leicester do in this sort stir up the people against the states to follow his revenge against them, and if the queen do yield no better aid, and the minds of count maurice and hohenlo remain thus in fear and hatred of him, what good end or service can be hoped for here?"--[buckhurst to walsingham, th june, . (brit. mus. galba, d. i. p. , ms.)] buckhurst was a man of unimpeached integrity and gentle manners. he had come over with the best intentions towards the governor-general, and it has been seen that he boldly defended him in, his first interviews with the states. but as the intrigues and underhand plottings of the earl's agents were revealed to him, he felt more and more convinced that there was a deep laid scheme to destroy the government, and to constitute a virtual and absolute sovereignty for leicester. it was not wonderful that the states were standing vigorously on the defensive. the subtle deventer, leicester's evil genius, did not cease to poison the mind of the governor, during his protracted absence, against all persons who offered impediments to the cherished schemes of his master and himself. "your excellency knows very well," he said, "that the state of this country is democratic, since, by failure of a prince, the sovereign disposition of affairs has returned to the people. that same people is everywhere so incredibly affectionate towards you that the delay in your return drives them to extreme despair. any one who would know the real truth has but to remember the fine fear the states-general were in when the news of your displeasure about the th february letter became known." had it not been for the efforts of lord buckhurst in calming the popular rage, deventer assured the earl that the writers of the letter would "have scarcely saved their skins;" and that they had always continued in great danger. he vehemently urged upon leicester, the necessity of his immediate return--not so much for reasons drawn from the distracted state of the country, thus left to a provisional government and torn by faction--but because of the facility with which he might at once seize upon arbitrary power. he gratified his master by depicting in lively colours the abject condition into which barneveld, maurice, hohenlo, and similar cowards, would be thrown by his sudden return. "if," said he, "the states' members and the counts, every one of them, are so desperately afraid of the people, even while your excellency is afar off, in what trepidation will they be when you are here! god, reason, the affection of the sovereign people, are on your side. there needs, in a little commonwealth like ours, but a wink of the eye, the slightest indication of dissatisfaction on your part, to take away all their valour from men who are only brave where swords are too short. a magnanimous prince like yourself should seek at once the place where such plots are hatching, and you would see the fury of the rebels change at once to cowardice. there is more than one man here in the netherlands that brags of what he will do against the greatest and most highly endowed prince in england, because he thinks he shall never see him again, who, at the very first news of your return, my lord, would think only of packing his portmanteau, greasing his boots, or, at the very least, of sneaking back into his hole." but the sturdy democrat was quite sure that his excellency, that most magnanimous prince of england would not desert his faithful followers-- thereby giving those "filthy rascals," his opponents, a triumph, and "doing so great an injury to the sovereign people, who were ready to get rid of them all at a single blow, if his excellency would but say the word." he then implored the magnanimous prince to imitate the example of moses, joshua, david, and that of all great emperors and captains, hebrew, greek, and roman, to come at once to the scene of action, and to smite his enemies hip and thigh. he also informed his excellency, that if the delay should last much longer, he would lose all chance of regaining power, because the sovereign people had quite made up their mind to return to the dominion of spain within three months, if they could not induce his excellency to rule over them. in that way at least, if in no other, they could circumvent those filthy rascals whom they so much abhorred, and frustrate the designs of maurice, hohenlo, and sir john norris, who were represented as occupying the position of the triumvirs after the death of julius caesar. to place its neck under the yoke of philip ii. and the inquisition, after having so handsomely got rid of both, did not seem a sublime manifestation of sovereignty on the part of the people, and even deventer had some misgivings as to the propriety of such a result. "what then will become of our beautiful churches?" he cried, "what will princes say, what will the world in general say, what will historians say, about the honour of the english nation?" as to the first question, it is probable that the prospect of the reformed churches would not have been cheerful, had the inquisition been re-established in holland and utrecht, three months after that date. as to the second, the world and history were likely to reply, that the honour of the english nation was fortunately not entirely, entrusted at that epoch to the "magnanimous prince" of leicester, and his democratic, counsellor-in-chief, burgomaster deventer. these are but samples of the ravings which sounded incessantly in the ears of the governor-general. was it strange that a man, so thirsty for power, so gluttonous of flattery, should be influenced by such passionate appeals? addressed in strains of fulsome adulation, convinced that arbitrary power was within his reach, and assured that he had but to wink his eye to see his enemies scattered before him, he became impatient of all restraint; and determined, on his return, to crush the states into insignificance. thus, while buckhurst had been doing his best as a mediator to prepare the path for his return, leicester himself end his partisans had been secretly exerting themselves to make his arrival the signal for discord; perhaps of civil war. the calm, then, immediately succeeding the mission of buckhurst was a deceitful one, but it seemed very promising. the best feelings were avowed and perhaps entertained. the states professed great devotion to her majesty and friendly regard for the governor. they distinctly declared that the arrangements by which maurice and hohenlo had been placed in their new positions were purely provisional ones, subject to modifications on the arrival of the earl. "all things are reduced to a quiet calm," said buckhurst, "ready to receive my lord of leicester and his authority, whenever he cometh." the quarrel of hohenlo with sir edward norris had been, by the exertions of buckhurst, amicably arranged: the count became an intimate friend of sir john, "to the gladding of all such as wished well to, the country;" but he nourished a deadly hatred to the earl. he ran up and down like a madman whenever his return was mentioned. "if the queen be willing to take the sovereignty," he cried out at his own dinner-table to a large company, "and is ready to proceed roundly in this action, i will serve her to the last drop of my blood; but if she embrace it in no other sort than hitherto she hath done, and if leicester is to return, then am i as good a man as leicester, and will never be commanded by him. i mean to continue on my frontier, where all who love me can come and find me." he declared to several persons that he had detected a plot on the part of leicester to have him assassinated; and the assertion seemed so important, that villiers came to councillor clerk to confer with him on the subject. the worthy bartholomew, who had again, most reluctantly, left his quiet chambers in the temple to come again among the guns and drums, which his soul abhorred, was appalled by such a charge. it was best to keep it a secret, he said, at least till the matter could be thoroughly investigated. villiers was of the same opinion, and accordingly the councillor, in the excess of his caution, confided the secret only--to whom? to mr. atye, leicester's private secretary. atye, of course, instantly told his master--his master in a frenzy of rage, told the queen, and her majesty, in a paroxysm of royal indignation at this new insult to her favourite, sent furious letters to her envoys, to the states-general, to everybody in the netherlands--so that the assertion of hohenlo became the subject of endless recrimination. leicester became very violent, and denounced the statement as an impudent falsehood, devised wilfully in order to cast odium upon him and to prevent his return. unquestionably there was nothing in the story but table-talk; but the count would have been still more ferocious towards leicester than he was, had he known what was actually happening at that very moment. while buckhurst was at utrecht, listening to the "solemn-speeches" of the militia-captains and exchanging friendly expressions at stately banquets with moeurs, he suddenly received a letter in cipher from her majesty. not having the key, he sent to wilkes at the hague. wilkes was very ill; but the despatch was marked pressing and immediate, so he got out of bed and made the journey to utrecht. the letter, on being deciphered, proved to be an order from the queen to decoy hohenlo into some safe town, on pretence of consultation and then to throw him into prison, on the ground that he had been tampering with the enemy, and was about to betray the republic to philip. the commotion which would have been excited by any attempt to enforce this order, could be easily imagined by those familiar with hohenlo and with the powerful party in the netherlands of which he was one of the chiefs. wilkes stood aghast as he deciphered the letter. buckhurst felt the impossibility of obeying the royal will. both knew the cause, and both foresaw the consequences of the proposed step. wilkes had heard some rumours of intrigues between parma's agents at deventer and hohenlo, and had confided them to walsingham, hoping that the secretary would keep the matter in his own breast, at least till further advice. he was appalled at the sudden action proposed on a mere rumour, which both buckhurst and himself had begun to consider an idle one. he protested, therefore, to walsingham that to comply with her majesty's command would not only be nearly impossible, but would, if successful, hazard the ruin of the republic. wilkes was also very anxious lest the earl of leicester should hear of the matter. he was already the object of hatred to that powerful personage, and thought him capable of accomplishing his destruction in any mode. but if leicester could wreak his vengeance upon his enemy wilkes by the hand of his other deadly enemy hohenlo, the councillor felt that this kind of revenge would have a double sweetness for him. the queen knows what i have been saying, thought wilkes, and therefore leicester knows it; and if leicester knows it, he will take care that hohenlo shall hear of it too, and then wo be unto me. "your honour knoweth," he said to walsingham, "that her majesty can hold no secrets, and if she do impart it to leicester, then am i sped." nothing came of it however, and the relations of wilkes and buckhurst with hohenlo continued to be friendly. it was a lesson to wilkes to be more cautious even with the cautious walsingham. "we had but bare suspicions," said buckhurst, "nothing fit, god knoweth, to come to such a reckoning. wilkes saith he meant it but for a premonition to you there; but i think it will henceforth be a premonition to himself--there being but bare presumptions, and yet shrewd presumptions." here then were deventer and leicester plotting to overthrow the government of the states; the states and hohenlo arming against leicester; the extreme democratic party threatening to go over to the spaniards within three months; the earl accused of attempting the life of hohenlo; hohenlo offering to shed the last drop of his blood for queen elizabeth; queen elizabeth giving orders to throw hohenlo into prison as a traitor; councillor wilkes trembling for his life at the hands both of leicester and hohenlo; and buckhurst doing his best to conciliate all parties, and imploring her majesty in vain to send over money to help on the war, and to save her soldiers from starving. for the queen continued to refuse the loan of fifty thousand pounds which the provinces solicited, and in hope of which the states had just agreed to an extra contribution of a million florins (l , ), a larger sum than had been levied by a single vote since the commencement of the war. it must be remembered, too, that the whole expense of the war fell upon holland and zeeland. the province of utrecht, where there was so strong a disposition to confer absolute authority upon leicester, and to destroy the power of the states-general contributed absolutely nothing. since the loss of deventer, nothing could be raised in the provinces of utrecht, gelderland or overyssel; the spaniards levying black mail upon the whole territory, and impoverishing the inhabitants till they became almost a nullity. was it strange then that the states of holland and zeeland, thus bearing nearly the whole; burden of the war, should be dissatisfied with the hatred felt toward them by their sister provinces so generously protected by them? was it unnatural that barneveld, and maurice, and hohenlo, should be disposed to bridle the despotic inclinations of leicester, thus fostered by those who existed, as it were, at their expense? but the queen refused the l , , although holland and zeeland had voted the l , . "no reason that breedeth charges," sighed walsingham, "can in any sort be digested." it was not for want of vehement entreaty on the part of the secretary of state and of buckhurst that the loan was denied. at least she was entreated to send over money for her troops, who for six months past were unpaid. "keeping the money in your coffers," said buckhurst, "doth yield no interest to you, and--which is above all earthly, respects--it shall be the means of preserving the lives of many of your faithful subjects which otherwise must needs, daily perish. their miseries, through want of meat and money, i do protest to god so much moves, my soul with commiseration of that which is past, and makes my heart tremble to think of the like to come again, that i humbly beseech your majesty, for jesus christ sake, to have compassion on their lamentable estate past, and send some money to prevent the like hereafter." these were moving words,--but the money did not come--charges could not be digested. "the eternal god," cried buckhurst, "incline your heart to grant the petition of the states for the loan of the l , , and that speedily, for the dangerous terms of the state here and the mighty and forward preparation of the enemy admit no minute of delay; so that even to grant it slowly is to deny it utterly." he then drew a vivid picture of the capacity of the netherlands to assist the endangered realm of england, if delay were not suffered to destroy both commonwealths, by placing the provinces in an enemy's hand. "their many and notable good havens," he said, "the great number of ships and mariners, their impregnable towns, if they were in the hands of a potent prince that would defend them, and, lastly, the state of this shore; so near and opposite unto the land and coast of england--lo, the sight of all this, daily in mine eye, conjoined with the deep, enrooted malice of that your so mighty enemy who seeketh to regain them; these things entering continually into the, meditations of my heart--so much do they import the safety of yourself and your estate--do enforce me, in the abundance of my love and duty to your majesty, most earnestly to speak, write, and weep unto you, lest when the occasion yet offered shall be gone by, this blessed means of your defence, by god's provident goodness thus put into your hand, will then be utterly lost, lo; never, never more to be recovered again." it was a noble, wise, and eloquent appeal, but it was muttered in vain. was not leicester--his soul filled with petty schemes of reigning in utrecht, and destroying the constitutional government of the provinces --in full possession of the royal ear? and was not the same ear lent, at most critical moment, to the insidious alexander farnese, with his whispers of peace, which were potent enough to drown all the preparations for the invincible armada? six months had rolled away since leicester had left the netherlands; six months long, the provinces, left in a condition which might have become anarchy, had been saved by the wise government of the states-general; six months long the english soldiers had remained unpaid by their sovereign; and now for six weeks the honest, eloquent, intrepid, but gentle buckhurst had done his best to conciliate all parties, and to mould the netherlanders into an impregnable bulwark for the realm of england. but his efforts were treated with scorn by the queen. she was still maddened by a sense of the injuries done by the states to leicester. she was indignant that her envoy should have accepted such lame apologies for the th of february letter; that he should have received no better atonement for their insolent infringements of the earl's orders during his absence; that he should have excused their contemptuous proceedings and that, in short, he should have been willing to conciliate and forgive when he should have stormed and railed. "you conceived, it seemeth," said her majesty, "that a more sharper manner of proceeding would have exasperated matters to the prejudice of the service, and therefore you did think it more fit to wash the wounds rather with water than vinegar, wherein we would rather have wished, on the other side, that you had better considered that festering wounds had more need of corrosives than lenitives. your own judgment ought to have taught that such a alight and mild kind of dealing with a people so ingrate and void of consideration as the said estates have showed themselves toward us, is the ready way to increase their contempt." the envoy might be forgiven for believing that at any rate there would be no lack of corrosives or vinegar, so long as the royal tongue or pen could do their office, as the unfortunate deputies had found to their cost in their late interviews at greenwich, and as her own envoys in the netherlands were perpetually finding now. the queen was especially indignant that the estates should defend the tone of their letters to the earl on the ground that he had written a piquant epistle to them. "but you can manifestly see their untruths in naming it a piquant letter," said elizabeth, "for it has no sour or sharp word therein, nor any clause or reprehension, but is full of gravity and gentle admonition. it deserved a thankful answer, and so you may maintain it to them to their reproof." the states doubtless thought that the loss of deventer and, with it, the almost ruinous condition of three out of the seven provinces, might excuse on their part a little piquancy of phraseology, nor was it easy for them to express gratitude to the governor for his grave and gentle admonitions, after he had, by his secret document of th november, rendered himself fully responsible for the disaster they deplored. she expressed unbounded indignation with hohenlo, who, as she was well aware, continued to cherish a deadly hatred for leicester. especially she was exasperated, and with reason, by the assertion the count had made concerning the governor's murderous designs upon him. "'tis a matter," said the queen, "so foul and dishonourable that doth not only touch greatly the credit of the earl, but also our own honour, to have one who hath been nourished and brought up by us, and of whom we have made show to the world to have extraordinarily favoured above any other of our own subjects, and used his service in those countries in a place of that reputation he held there, stand charged with so horrible and unworthy a crime. and therefore our pleasure is, even as you tender the continuance of our favour towards you, that you seek, by all the means you may, examining the count hollock, or any other party in this matter, to discover and to sift out how this malicious imputation hath been wrought; for we have reason to think that it hath grown out of some cunning device to stay the earl's coming, and to discourage him from the continuance of his service in those countries." and there the queen was undoubtedly in the right. hohenlo was resolved, if possible, to make the earl's government of the netherlands impossible. there was nothing in the story however; and all that by the most diligent "sifting" could ever be discovered, and all that the count could be prevailed upon to confess, was an opinion expressed by him that if he had gone with leicester to england, it might perhaps have fared ill with him. but men were given to loose talk in those countries. there was great freedom of tongue and pen; and as the earl, whether with justice or not, had always been suspected of strong tendencies to assassination, it was not very wonderful that so reckless an individual as hohenlo should promulgate opinions on such subjects, without much reserve. "the number of crimes that have been imputed to me," said leicester, "would be incomplete, had this calumny not been added to all preceding ones." it is possible that assassination, especially poisoning, may have been a more common-place affair in those days than our own. at any rate, it is certain that accusations of such crimes were of ordinary occurrence. men were apt to die suddenly if they had mortal enemies, and people would gossip. at the very same moment, leicester was deliberately accused not only of murderous intentions towards hohenlo, but towards thomas wilkes and count lewis william of nassau likewise. a trumpeter, arrested in friesland, had just confessed that he had been employed by the spanish governor of that province, colonel verdugo, to murder count lewis, and that four other persons had been entrusted with the same commission. the count wrote to verdugo, and received in reply an indignant denial of the charge. "had i heard of such a project," said the spaniard, "i would, on the contrary, have given you warning. and i give you one now." he then stated, as a fact known to him on unquestionable authority, that the earl of leicester had assassins at that moment in his employ to take the life of count lewis, adding that as for the trumpeter, who had just been hanged for the crime suborned by the writer, he was a most notorious lunatic. in reply, lewis, while he ridiculed this plea of insanity set up for a culprit who had confessed his crime succinctly and voluntarily, expressed great contempt for the counter-charge against leicester. "his excellency," said the sturdy little count," is a virtuous gentleman, the most pious and god-fearing i have ever known. i am very sure that he could never treat his enemies in the manner stated, much less his friends. as for yourself, may god give me grace, in requital of your knavish trick, to make such a war upon you as becomes an upright soldier and a man of honour." thus there was at least one man--and a most important, one--in the opposition--party who thoroughly believed in the honour of the governor- general. the queen then proceeded to lecture lord buckhurst very severely for having tolerated an instant the states' proposition to her for a loan of l , . "the enemy," she observed, "is quite unable to attempt the siege of any town." buckhurst was, however, instructed, in case the states' million should prove insufficient to enable the army to make head against the enemy, and in the event of "any alteration of the good-will of the people towards her, caused by her not yielding, in this their necessity, some convenient support," to let them then understand, "as of himself, that if they would be satisfied with a loan of ten or fifteen thousand pounds, he, would do his best endeavour to draw her majesty to yield unto the furnishing of such a sum, with assured hope to obtaining the same at her hands." truly walsingham was right in saying that charges of any kind were difficult of digestion: yet, even at that moment, elizabeth had no more attached subjects in england than sere the burghers of the netherlands; who were as anxious ever to annex their territory to her realms. 'thus, having expressed an affection for leicester which no one doubted, having once more thoroughly brow-beaten the states, and having soundly lectured buckhurst--as a requital for his successful efforts to bring about a more wholesome condition of affairs--she gave the envoy a parting stab, with this postscript;--"there is small disproportion," she said "twist a fool who useth not wit because he hath it not, and him that useth it not when it should avail him." leicester, too, was very violent in his attacks upon buckhurst. the envoy had succeeded in reconciling hohenlo with the brothers norris, and had persuaded sir john to offer the hand of friendship to leicester, provided it were sure of being accepted. yet in this desire to conciliate, the earl found renewed cause for violence. "i would have had more regard of my lord of buckhurst," he said, "if the case had been between him and norris, but i must regard my own reputation the more that i see others would impair it. you have deserved little thanks of me, if i must deal plainly, who do equal me after this sort with him, whose best place is colonel under me, and once my servant, and preferred by me to all honourable place he had." and thus were enterprises of great moment, intimately affecting the, safety of holland, of england, of all protestantism, to be suspended between triumph and ruin, in order that the spleen of one individual--one queen's favourite--might be indulged. the contempt of an insolent grandee for a distinguished commander--himself the son, of a baron, with a mother the dear friend of her sovereign--was to endanger the existence of great commonwealths. can the influence of the individual, for good or bad, upon the destinies of the race be doubted, when the characters and conduct of elizabeth and leicester, burghley and walsingham, philip and parma, are closely scrutinized and broadly traced throughout the wide range of their effects? "and i must now, in your lordship's sight," continued leicester, "be made a counsellor with this companion, who never yet to this day hath done so much as take knowledge of my mislike of him; no, not to say this much, which i think would well become his better, that he was sorry, to hear i had mislike to him, that he desired my suspension till he might either speak with me, or be charged from me, and if then he were not able to satisfy me, he would acknowledge his fault, and make me any honest satisfaction. this manner of dealing would have been no disparagement to his better. and even so i must think that your lordship doth me wrong, knowing what you do, to make so little difference between john norris, my man not long since, and now but my colonel under me, as though we were equals. and i cannot but more than marvel at this your proceeding, when i remember your promises of friendship, and your opinions resolutely set down . . . . you were so determined before you went hence, but must have become wonderfully enamoured of those men's unknown virtues in a few days of acquaintance, from the alteration that is grown by their own commendations of themselves. you know very well that all the world should not make me serve with john norris. your sudden change from mislike to liking has, by consequence, presently cast disgrace upon me. but all is not gold that glitters, nor every shadow a perfect representation . . . . you knew he should not serve with me, but either you thought me a very inconstant man, or else a very simple soul, resolving with you as i did, for you to take the course you have done." he felt, however, quite strong in her majesty's favour. he knew himself her favourite, beyond all chance or change, and was sure, so long as either lived, to thrust his enemies, by her aid, into outer darkness. woe to buckhurst, and norris, and wilkes, and all others who consorted with his enemies. let them flee from the wrath to come! and truly they were only too anxious to do so, for they knew that leicester's hatred was poisonous. "he is not so facile to forget as ready to revenge," said poor wilkes, with neat alliteration. "my very heavy and mighty adversary will disgrace and undo me. "it sufficeth," continued leicester, "that her majesty both find my dealings well enough, and so, i trust will graciously use me. as for the reconciliations and love-days you have made there, truly i have liked well of it; for you did sow me your disposition therein before, and i allowed of it, and i had received letters both from count maurice and hohenlo of their humility and kindness, but now in your last letters you say they have uttered the cause of their mislike towards me, which you forbear to write of, looking so speedily for my return." but the earl knew well enough what the secret was, for had it not been specially confided by the judicious bartholomew to atye, who had incontinently told his master? "this pretense that i should kill hohenlo," cried leicester, "is a matter properly foisted in to bring me to choler. i will not suffer it to rest, thus. its authors shall be duly and severely punished. and albeit i see well enough the plot of this wicked device, yet shall it not work the effect the devisers have done it for. no, my lord, he is a villain and a false lying knave whosoever he be, and of what, nation soever that hath forged this device. count hohenlo doth know i never gave him cause to fear me so much. there were ways and means offered me to have quitted him of the country if i had so liked. this new monstrous villany which is now found out i do hate and detest, as i would look for the right judgment of god to fall upon myself, if i had but once imagined it. all this makes good proof of wilkes's good dealing with me, that hath heard of so vile and villainous a reproach of me, and never gave me knowledge. but i trust your lordship shall receive her majesty's order for this, as for a matter that toucheth herself in honour, and me her poor servant and minister, as dearly as any matter can do; and i will so take it and use it to the uttermost." we have seen how anxiously buckhurst had striven to do his duty upon a most difficult mission. was it unnatural that so fine a nature as his should be disheartened, at reaping nothing but sneers and contumely from the haughty sovereign he served, and from the insolent favourite who controlled her councils? "i beseech your lordship," he said to burghley, "keep one ear for me, and do not hastily condemn me before you hear mine answer. for if i ever did or shall do any acceptable service to her majesty, it was in, the stay and appeasing of these countries, ever ready at my coming to have cast off all good respect towards us, and to have entered even into some desperate cause. in the meantime i am hardly thought of by her majesty, and in her opinion condemned before mine answer be understood. therefore i beseech you to help me to return, and not thus to lose her majesty's favour for my good desert, wasting here my mind, body, my wits, wealth, and all; with continual toils, taxes, and troubles, more than i am able to endure." but besides his instructions to smooth and expostulate, in which he had succeeded so well, and had been requited so ill; buckhurst had received a still more difficult commission. he had been ordered to broach the subject of peace, as delicately as possible, but without delay; first sounding the leading politicians, inducing them to listen to the queen's suggestions on the subject, persuading them that they ought to be satisfied with the principles of the pacification of ghent, and that it was hopeless for the provinces to continue the war with their mighty adversary any longer. most reluctantly had buckhurst fulfilled his sovereign's commands in this disastrous course. to talk to the hollanders of the ghent pacification seemed puerile. that memorable treaty, ten years before, had been one of the great landmarks of progress, one of the great achievements of william the silent. by its provisions, public exercise of the reformed religion had been secured for the two provinces of holland and zeeland, and it had been agreed that the secret practice of those rites should be elsewhere winked at, until such time as the states-general, under the auspices of philip ii., should otherwise ordain. but was it conceivable that now, after philip's authority had been solemnly abjured, and the reformed worship had become the, public, dominant religion, throughout all the provinces,--the whole republic should return to the spanish dominion, and to such toleration as might be sanctioned by an assembly professing loyalty to the most catholic king? buckhurst had repeatedly warned the queen, in fervid and eloquent language, as to the intentions of spain. "there was never peace well made," he observed, "without a mighty war preceding, and always, the sword in hand is the best pen to write the conditions of peace." "if ever prince had cause," he continued, "to think himself beset with doubt and danger, you, sacred queen, have most just cause not only to think it, but even certainly to believe it. the pope doth daily plot nothing else but how he may bring to pass your utter overthrow; the french king hath already sent you threatenings of revenge, and though for that pretended cause i think little will ensue, yet he is blind that seeth not the mortal dislike that boileth deep in his heart for other respects against you. the scottish king, not only in regard of his future hope, but also by reason of some over conceit in his heart, may be thought a dangerous neighbour to you. the king of spain armeth and extendeth all his power to ruin both you and your estate. and if the indian gold have corrupted also the king of denmark, and made him likewise spanish, as i marvellously fear; why will not your majesty, beholding the flames of your enemies on every side kindling around, unlock all your coffers and convert your treasure for the advancing of worthy men, and for the arming of ships and men-of-war that may defend you, since princes' treasures serve only to that end, and, lie they never so fast or so full in their chests, can no ways so defend them? "the eternal god, in whose hands the hearts of kings do rest, dispose and guide your sacred majesty to do that which may be most according to his blessed will, and best for you, as i trust he will, even for his mercy's sake, both toward your majesty and the whole realm of england, whose desolation is thus sought and compassed." was this the language of a mischievous intriguer, who was sacrificing the true interest of his country, and whose proceedings were justly earning for him rebuke and disgrace at the hands of his sovereign? or was it rather the noble advice of an upright statesman, a lover of his country, a faithful servant of his queen, who had looked through the atmosphere of falsehood in which he was doing his work, and who had detected, with rare sagacity, the secret purposes of those who were then misruling the world? buckhurst had no choice, however, but to obey. his private efforts were of course fruitless, but he announced to her majesty that it was his intention very shortly to bring the matter--according to her wish--before the assembly. but elizabeth, seeing that her counsel had been unwise and her action premature, turned upon her envoy, as she was apt to do, and rebuked him for his obedience, so soon as obedience had proved inconvenient to herself. "having perused your letters," she said, "by which you at large debate unto us what you have done in the matter of peace . . . . . we find it strange that you should proceed further. and although we had given you full and ample direction to proceed to a public dealing in that cause, yet our own discretion, seeing the difficulties and dangers that you yourself saw in the propounding of the matter, ought to have led you to delay till further command from us." her majesty then instructed her envoy, in case he had not yet "propounded the matter in the state-house to the general assembly," to pause entirely until he heard her further pleasure. she concluded, as usual, with a characteristic postcript in her own hand. "oh weigh deeplier this matter," she said, "than, with so shallow a judgment, to spill the cause, impair my honour, and shame yourself, with all your wit, that once was supposed better than to lose a bargain for the handling." certainly the sphinx could have propounded no more puzzling riddles than those which elizabeth thus suggested to buckhurst. to make war without an army, to support an army without pay, to frame the hearts of a whole people to peace who were unanimous for war, and this without saying a word either in private or public; to dispose the netherlanders favourably to herself and to leicester, by refusing them men and money, brow-beating them for asking for it, and subjecting them to a course of perpetual insults, which she called "corrosives," to do all this and more seemed difficult. if not to do it, were to spill the cause and to lose the bargain, it was more than probable that they would be spilt and lost. but the ambassador was no oedipus--although a man of delicate perceptions and brilliant intellect--and he turned imploringly to a wise counsellor for aid against the tormentor who chose to be so stony-faced and enigmatical. "touching the matter of peace," said he to walsingham, "i have written somewhat to her majesty in cipher, so as i am sure you will be called for to decipher it. if you did know how infinitely her majesty did at my departure and before--for in this matter of peace she hath specially used me this good while--command me, pray me, and persuade me to further and hasten the same with all the speed possible that might be, and how, on the other side, i have continually been the man and the mean that have most plainly dehorted her from such post-haste, and that she should never make good peace without a puissant army in the field, you would then say that i had now cause to fear her displeasure for being too slow, and not too forward. and as for all the reasons which in my last letters are set down, her majesty hath debated them with me many times." and thus midsummer was fast approaching, the commonwealth was without a regular government, leicester remained in england nursing his wrath and preparing his schemes, the queen was at greenwich, corresponding with alexander farnese, and sending riddles to buckhurst, when the enemy--who, according to her majesty, was "quite unable to attempt the, siege of any town" suddenly appeared in force in flanders, and invested sluy's. this most important seaport, both for the destiny of the republic and of england at that critical moment, was insufficiently defended. it was quite time to put an army in the field, with a governor-general to command it. on the th june there was a meeting of the state-council at the hague. count maurice, hohenlo, and moeurs were present, besides several members of the states-general. two propositions were before the council. the first was that it was absolutely necessary to the safety of the republic, now that the enemy had taken the field, and the important city of sluy's was besieged, for prince maurice to be appointed captain-general, until such time as the earl of leicester or some other should be sent by her majesty. the second was to confer upon the state-council the supreme government in civil affairs, for the same period, and to repeal all limitations and restrictions upon the powers of the council made secretly by the earl. chancellor leoninus, "that grave, wise old man," moved the propositions. the deputies of the states were requested to withdraw. the vote of each councillor was demanded. buckhurst, who, as the queen's representative-- together with wilkes and john norris--had a seat in the council, refused to vote. "it was a matter," he discreetly observed with which "he had not been instructed by her majesty to intermeddle." norris and wilkes also begged to be excused from voting, and, although earnestly urged to do so by the whole council, persisted in their refusal. both measures were then carried. no sooner was the vote taken, than an english courier entered the council-chamber, with pressing despatches from lord leicester. the letters were at once read. the earl announced his speedy arrival, and summoned both the states-general and the council to meet him at dort, where his lodgings were already taken. all were surprised, but none more than buckhurst, wilkes, and norris; for no intimation of this sudden resolution had been received by them, nor any answer given to various propositions, considered by her majesty as indispensable preliminaries to the governor's visit. the council adjourned till after dinner, and buckhurst held conference meantime with various counsellors and deputies. on the reassembling of the board, it was urged by barneveld, in the name of the states, that the election of prince maurice should still hold good. "although by these letters," said he, "it would seem that her majesty had resolved upon the speedy return of his excellency, yet, inasmuch as the counsels and resolutions of princes are often subject to change upon new occasion, it does not seem fit that our late purpose concerning prince maurice should receive any interruption." accordingly, after brief debate, both resolutions, voted in the morning, were confirmed in the afternoon. "so now," said wilkes, "maurice is general of all the forces, 'et quid sequetur nescimus.'" but whatever else was to follow, it was very certain that wilkes would not stay. his great enemy had sworn his destruction, and would now take his choice, whether to do him to death himself, or to throw him into the clutch of the ferocious hohenlo. "as for my own particular," said the counsellor, "the word is go, whosoever cometh or cometh not," and he announced to walsingham his intention of departing without permission, should he not immediately receive it from england. "i shall stay to be dandled with no love-days nor leave-takings," he observed. but leicester had delayed his coming too long. the country felt that it- had been trifled with by his: absence--at so critical a period--of seven months. it was known too that the queen was secretly treating with the enemy, and that buckhurst had been privately sounding leading personages upon that subject, by her orders. this had caused a deep, suppressed indignation. over and over again had the english government been warned as to the danger of delay. "your length in resolving;" wilkes had said, "whatsoever your secret purposes may be--will put us to new plunges before long." the mission of buckhurst was believed to be "but a stale, having some other intent than was expressed." and at last, the new plunge had been fairly taken. it seemed now impossible for leicester to regain the absolute authority, which he coveted; and which he had for a brief season possessed. the states-general, under able leaders, had become used to a government which had been forced upon them, and which they had wielded with success. holland and zeeland, paying the whole expense of the war, were not likely to endure again the absolute sovereignty of a foreigner, guided by a back stairs council of reckless politicians--most of whom were unprincipled, and some of whom had been proved to be felons--and established, at utrecht, which contributed nothing to the general purse. if leicester were really-coming, it seemed certain that he would be held to acknowledge the ancient constitution, and to respect the sovereignty of the states-general. it was resolved that he should be well bridled. the sensations of barneveld and his party may therefore be imagined, when a private letter of leicester, to his secretary "the fellow named junius," as hohenlo called him--having been intercepted at this moment, gave them an opportunity of studying the earl's secret thoughts. the earl informed his correspondent that he was on the point of starting for the netherlands. he ordered him therefore to proceed at once to reassure those whom he knew well disposed as to the good intentions of her majesty and of the governor-general. and if, on the part of lord buckhurst or others, it should be intimated that the queen was resolved to treat for peace with the king of spain; and wished to have the opinion of the netherlanders on that subject, he was to say boldly that lord buckhurst never had any such charge, and that her majesty had not been treating at all. she had only been attempting to sound the king's intentions towards the netherlands, in case of any accord. having received no satisfactory assurance on the subject, her majesty was determined to proceed with the defence of these countries. this appeared by the expedition of drake against spain, and by the return of the earl, with a good cumber of soldiers paid by her majesty, over and above her ordinary subsidy. "you are also;" said the earl, "to tell those who have the care of the people" (the ministers of the reformed church and others), "that i am returning, in the confidence that they will, in future, cause all past difficulties to cease, and that they will yield to me a legitimate authority, such as befits for administering the sovereignty of the provinces, without my being obliged to endure all the oppositions and counterminmgs of the states, as in times past. the states must content themselves with retaining the power which they claim to have exercised under the governors of the emperor and the king--without attempting anything farther during my government--since i desire to do nothing of importance without the advice of the council, which will be composed legitimately of persons of the country. you will also tell them that her majesty commands me to return unless i can obtain from the states the authority which is necessary, in order not to be governor in appearance only and on paper. and i wish that those who are good may be apprized of all this, in order that nothing may happen to their prejudice and ruin, and contrary to their wishes." there were two very obvious comments to be made upon this document. firstly, the states--de jure, as they claimed, and de facto most unquestionably--were in the position of the emperor and king. they were the sovereigns. the earl wished them to content themselves with the power which they exercised under the emperor's governors. this was like requesting the emperor, when in the netherlands, to consider himself subject to his own governor. the second obvious reflection was that the earl, in limiting his authority by a state-council, expected, no doubt, to appoint that body himself--as he had done before--and to allow the members only the right of talking, and of voting,--without the power of enforcing their decisions. in short, it was very plain that leicester meant to be more absolute than ever. as to the flat contradiction given to buckhurst's proceedings in the matter of peace, that statement could scarcely deceive any one who had seen her majesty's letters and instructions to her envoy. it was also a singularly deceitful course to be adopted by leicester towards buckhurst and towards the netherlands, because his own private instructions, drawn up at the same moment, expressly enjoined him to do exactly what buckhurst had been doing. he was most strictly and earnestly commanded to deal privately with all such persons as bad influence with the "common sort of people," in order that they should use their influence with those common people in favour of peace, bringing vividly before them the excessive burthens of the war, their inability to cope with so potent a prince as philip, and the necessity the queen was under of discontinuing her contributions to their support. he was to make the same representations to the states, and he was further most explicitly to inform all concerned, that, in case they were unmoved by these suggestions, her majesty had quite made up her mind to accept the handsome offers of peace held out by the king of spain, and to leave them to their fate. it seemed scarcely possible that the letter to junius and the instructions for the earl should have been dated the same week, and should have emanated from the same mind; but such was the fact. he was likewise privately to assure maurice and hohenlo--in order to remove their anticipated opposition to the peace--that such care should be taken in providing for them, as that "they should have no just cause to dislike thereof, but to rest satisfied withal." with regard to the nature of his authority, he was instructed to claim a kind of dictatorship in everything regarding the command of the forces, and the distribution of the public treasure. all offices were to be at his disposal. every florin contributed by the states was to be placed in his hands, and spent according to his single will. he was also to have plenary power to prevent the trade in victuals with the enemy by death and confiscation. if opposition to any of these proposals were made by the states-general, he was to appeal to the states of each province; to the towns and communities, and in case it should prove impossible for him "to be furnished with the desired authority," he was then instructed to say that it was "her majesty's meaning to leave them to their own counsel and defence, and to withdraw the support that she had yielded to them: seeing plainly that the continuance of the confused government now reigning among them could not but work their ruin." both these papers came into barneveld's hands, through the agency of ortel, the states' envoy in england, before the arrival of the earl in the netherlands. of course they soon became the topics of excited conversation and of alarm in every part of the country. buckhurst, touched to the quick by the reflection upon those--proceedings of his which had been so explicitly enjoined upon him, and so reluctantly undertaken--appealed earnestly to her majesty. he reminded her, as delicately as possible, that her honour, as well as his own, was at stake by leicester's insolent disavowals of her authorized ambassador. he besought her to remember "what even her own royal hand had written to the duke of parma;" and how much his honour was interested "by the disavowing of his dealings about the peace begun by her majesty's commandment." he adjured her with much eloquence to think upon the consequences of stirring up the common and unstable multitude against their rulers; upon the pernicious effects of allowing the clergy to inflame the passions of the people against the government. "under the name of such as have charge over the people," said buckhurst, "are understood the ministers and chaplains of the churches in every town, by the means of whom it, seems that his lordship tendeth his whole purpose to attain to his desire of the administration of the sovereignty." he assured the queen that this scheme of leicester to seize virtually upon that sovereignty, would be a disastrous one. "the states are resolved," said he, "since your majesty doth refuse the sovereignty, to lay it upon no creature else, as a thing contrary to their oath and allegiance to their country." he reminded her also that the states had been dissatisfied with the earl's former administration, believing that he had exceeded his commission, and that they were determined therefore to limit his authority at his return. "your sacred majesty may consider," he said, "what effect all this may work among the common and ignorant people, by intimating that, unless they shall procure him the administration of such a sovereignty as he requireth, their ruin may ensue." buckhurst also informed her that he had despatched councillor wilkes to england, in order that he might give more ample information on all these affairs by word of mouth than could well be written. it need hardly be stated that barneveld came down to the states'-house with these papers in his hand, and thundered against the delinquent and intriguing governor till the general indignation rose to an alarming height. false statements of course were made to leicester as to the substance of the advocate's discourse. he was said to have charged upon the english government an intention to seize forcibly upon their cities, and to transfer them to spain on payment of the sums due to the queen from the states, and to have declared that he had found all this treason in the secret instructions of the earl. but barneveld had read the instructions, to which the attention of the reader has just been called, and had strictly stated the truth which was damaging enough, without need of exaggeration. etext editor's bookmarks: all business has been transacted with open doors beacons in the upward path of mankind been already crimination and recrimination more than enough casting up the matter "as pinchingly as possibly might be" disposed to throat-cutting by the ministers of the gospel during this, whole war, we have never seen the like even to grant it slowly is to deny it utterly evil is coming, the sooner it arrives the better fool who useth not wit because he hath it not guilty of no other crime than adhesion to the catholic faith individuals walking in advance of their age never peace well made, he observed, without a mighty war rebuked him for his obedience respect for differences in religious opinions sacrificed by the queen for faithfully obeying her orders succeeded so well, and had been requited so ill sword in hand is the best pen to write the conditions of peace their existence depended on war they chose to compel no man's conscience torturing, hanging, embowelling of men, women, and children universal suffrage was not dreamed of at that day waiting the pleasure of a capricious and despotic woman who the "people" exactly were this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, chapter ix. military plans in the netherlands--the elector and electorate of cologne--martin schenk--his career before serving the states-- franeker university founded--parma attempts grave--battle on the meuse--success and vainglory of leicester--st. george's day triumphantly kept at utrecht--parma not so much appalled as it was thought--he besieges and reduces grave--and is master of the meuse-- leicester's rage at the surrender of grave--his revenge--parma on the rhine--he besieges aid assaults neusz--horrible fate of the garrison and city--which leicester was unable to relieve--asel surprised by maurice and sidney--the zeeland regiment given to sidney--condition of the irish and english troops--leicester takes the field--he reduces doesburg--he lays siege to zutphen--which parma prepares to relieve--the english intercept the convoy--battle of warnsfeld--sir philip sidney wounded--results of the encounter-- death of sidney at arnheim--gallantry of edward stanley. five great rivers hold the netherland territory in their coils. three are but slightly separated--the yssel, waal, and ancient rhine, while the scheldt and, meuse are spread more widely asunder. along each of these streams were various fortified cities, the possession of which, in those days, when modern fortification was in its infancy, implied the control of the surrounding country. the lower part of all the rivers, where they mingled with the sea and became wide estuaries, belonged to the republic, for the coasts and the ocean were in the hands of the hollanders and english. above, the various strong places were alternately in the hands of the spaniards and of the patriots. thus antwerp, with the other scheldt cities, had fallen into parma's power, but flushing, which controlled them all, was held by philip sidney for the queen and states. on the meuse, maastricht and roermond were spanish, but yenloo, grave, meghem, and other towns, held for the commonwealth. on the waal, the town of nymegen had, through the dexterity of martin schenk, been recently transferred to the royalists, while the rest of that river's course was true to the republic. the rhine, strictly so called, from its entrance into netherland, belonged to the rebels. upon its elder branch, the yssel, zutphen was in parma's hands, while, a little below, deventer had been recently and adroitly saved by leicester and count meurs from falling into the same dangerous grasp. thus the triple rhine, after it had crossed the german frontier, belonged mainly, although not exclusively, to the states. but on the edge of the batavian territory, the ancient river, just before dividing itself into its three branches, flowed through a debatable country which was even more desolate and forlorn, if possible, than the land of the obedient provinces. this unfortunate district was the archi-episcopal electorate of cologne. the city of cologne itself, neusz, and rheinberg, on the river, werll and other places in westphalia and the whole country around, were endangered, invaded, ravaged, and the inhabitants plundered, murdered, and subjected to every imaginable outrage, by rival bands of highwaymen, enlisted in the support of the two rival bishops--beggars, outcasts, but high-born and learned churchmen both--who disputed the electorate. at the commencement of the year a portion of the bishopric was still in the control of the deposed protestant elector gebhard truchsess, assisted of course by the english and the states. the city of cologne was held by the catholic elector, ernest of bavaria, bishop of liege; but neusz and rheinberg were in the hands of the dutch republic. the military operations of the year were, accordingly, along the meuse, where the main object of parma was to wrest grave from the netherlands; along the waal, where, on the other hand, the patriots wished to recover nymegen; on the yssel, where they desired to obtain the possession of zutphen; and in the cologne electorate, where the spaniards meant, if possible, to transfer neusz and rheinberg from truchsess to elector ernest. to clear the course of these streams, and especially to set free that debatable portion of the river-territory which hemmed him in from neutral germany, and cut off the supplies from his starving troops, was the immediate design of alexander farnese. nothing could be more desolate than the condition of the electorate. ever since gebhard truchsess had renounced the communion of the catholic church for the love of agnes mansfeld, and so gained a wife and lost his principality, he had been a dependant upon the impoverished nassaus, or a supplicant for alms to the thrifty elizabeth. the queen was frequently implored by leicester, without much effect, to send the ex-elector a few hundred pounds to keep him from starving, as "he had not one groat to live upon," and, a little later, he was employed as a go-between, and almost a spy, by the earl, in his quarrels with the patrician party rapidly forming against him in the states. at godesberg--the romantic ruins of which stronghold the traveller still regards with interest, placed as it is in the midst of that enchanting region where drachenfels looks down on the crumbling tower of roland and the convent of nonnenwerth--the unfortunate gebhard had sustained a conclusive defeat. a small, melancholy man, accomplished, religious, learned, "very poor but very wise," comely, but of mean stature, altogether an unlucky and forlorn individual, he was not, after all, in very much inferior plight to that in which his rival, the bavarian bishop, had found himself. prince ernest, archbishop of liege and cologne, a hangeron of his brother, who sought to shake him off, and a stipendiary of philip, who was a worse paymaster than elizabeth, had a sorry life of it, notwithstanding his nominal possession of the see. he was forced to go, disguised and in secret, to the prince of parma at brussels, to ask for assistance, and to mention, with lacrymose vehemence, that both his brother and himself had determined to renounce the episcopate, unless the forces of the spanish king could be employed to recover the cities on the rhine. if neusz and rheinberg were not wrested from the rebels; cologne itself would soon be gone. ernest represented most eloquently to alexander, that if the protestant archbishop were reinstated in the ancient see, it would be a most perilous result for the ancient church throughout all northern europe. parma kept the wandering prelate for a few days in his palace in brussels, and then dismissed him, disguised and on foot, in the dusk of the evening, through the park-gate. he encouraged him with hopes of assistance, he represented to his sovereign the importance of preserving the rhenish territory to bishop ernest and to catholicism, but hinted that the declared intention of the bavarian to resign the dignity, was probably a trick, because the archi-episcopate was no such very bad thing after all. the archi-episcopate might be no very bad thing, but it was a most uncomfortable place of residence, at the moment, for prince or peasant. overrun by hordes of brigands, and crushed almost out of existence by that most deadly of all systems of taxations, the 'brandschatzung,' it was fast becoming a mere den of thieves. the 'brandschatzung' had no name in english, but it was the well-known impost, levied by roving commanders, and even by respectable generals of all nations. a hamlet, cluster of farm-houses, country district, or wealthy city, in order to escape being burned and ravaged, as the penalty of having fallen into a conqueror's hands, paid a heavy sum of ready money on the nail at command of the conqueror. the free companions of the sixteenth century drove a lucrative business in this particular branch of industry; and when to this was added the more direct profits derived from actual plunder, sack, and ransoming, it was natural that a large fortune was often the result to the thrifty and persevering commander of free lances. of all the professors of this comprehensive art, the terrible martin schenk was preeminent; and he was now ravaging the cologne territory, having recently passed again to the service of the states. immediately connected with the chief military events of the period which now occupies us, he was also the very archetype of the marauders whose existence was characteristic of the epoch. born in of an ancient and noble family of gelderland, martin schenk had inherited no property but a sword. serving for a brief term as page to the seigneur of ysselstein, he joined, while yet a youth, the banner of william of orange, at the head of two men-at-arms. the humble knight-errant, with his brace of squires, was received with courtesy by the prince and the estates, but he soon quarrelled with his patrons. there was a castle of blyenbeek, belonging to his cousin, which he chose to consider his rightful property, because he was of the same race, and because it was a convenient and productive estate and residence, the courts had different views of public law, and supported the ousted cousin. martin shut himself up in the castle, and having recently committed a rather discreditable homicide, which still further increased his unpopularity with the patriots, he made overtures to parma. alexander was glad to enlist so bold a soldier on his side, and assisted schenk in his besieged stronghold. for years afterwards, his services under the king's banner were most brilliant, and he rose to the highest military command, while his coffers, meantime, were rapidly filling with the results of his robberies and 'brandschatzungs.' "'tis a most courageous fellow," said parma, "but rather a desperate highwayman than a valiant soldier." martin's couple of lances had expanded into a corps of free companions, the most truculent, the most obedient, the most rapacious in christendom. never were freebooters more formidable to the world at large, or more docile to their chief, than were the followers of general schenk. never was a more finished captain of highwaymen. he was a man who was never sober, yet who never smiled. his habitual intoxication seemed only to increase both his audacity and his taciturnity, without disturbing his reason. he was incapable of fear, of fatigue, of remorse. he could remain for days and nights without dismounting-eating, drinking, and sleeping in the saddle; so that to this terrible centaur his horse seemed actually a part of himself. his soldiers followed him about like hounds, and were treated by him like hounds. he habitually scourged them, often took with his own hand the lives of such as displeased him, and had been known to cause individuals of them to jump from the top of church steeples at his command; yet the pack were ever stanch to his orders, for they knew that he always led them where the game was plenty. while serving under parma he had twice most brilliantly defeated hohenlo. at the battle of hardenberg heath he had completely outgeneralled that distinguished chieftain, slaying fifteen hundred of his soldiers at the expense of only fifty or sixty of his own. by this triumph he had preserved the important city of groningen for philip, during an additional quarter of a century, and had been received in that city with rapture. several startling years of victory and rapine he had thus run through as a royalist partisan. he became the terror and the scourge of his native gelderland, and he was covered with wounds received in the king's service. he had been twice captured and held for ransom. twice he had effected his escape. he had recently gained the city of nymegen. he was the most formidable, the most unscrupulous, the most audacious netherlander that wore philip's colours; but he had received small public reward for his services, and the wealth which he earned on the high-road did not suffice for his ambition. he had been deeply disgusted, when, at the death of count renneberg, verdugo, a former stable-boy of mansfeld, a spaniard who had risen from the humblest rank to be a colonel and general, had been made governor of friesland. he had smothered his resentment for a time however, but had sworn within himself to desert at the most favourable opportunity. at last, after he had brilliantly saved the city of breda from falling into the hands of the patriots, he was more enraged than he had ever been before, when haultepenne, of the house of berlapmont, was made governor of that place in his stead. on the th of may, , at an hour after midnight, he had a secret interview with count meurs, stadholder for the states of gelderland, and agreed to transfer his mercenary allegiance to the republic. he made good terms. he was to be lieutenant-governor of gelderland, and he was to have rank as marshal of the camp in the states' army, with a salary of twelve hundred and fifty guilders a month. he agreed to resign his famous castle of blyenbeek, but was to be reimbursed with estates in holland and zeeland, of the annual value of four thousand florins. after this treaty, martin and his free lances served the states faithfully, and became sworn foes to parma and the king. he gave and took no quarter, and his men, if captured, "paid their ransom with their heads." he ceased to be the scourge of gelderland, but he became the terror of the electorate. early in , accompanied by herman kloet, the young and daring dutch commandant of neusz, he had swept down into the westphalian country, at the head of five hundred foot and five hundred horse. on the th of march he captured the city of werll by a neat stratagem. the citizens, hemmed in on all sides by marauders, were in want of many necessaries of life, among other things, of salt. martin had, from time to time, sent some of his soldiers into the place, disguised as boors from the neighbourhood, and carrying bags of that article. a pacific trading intercourse had thus been established between the burghers within and the banditti without the gates. agreeable relations were formed within the walls, and a party of townsmen had agreed to cooperate with the followers of schenk. one morning a train of waggons laden with soldiers neatly covered with salt, made their appearance at the gate. at the same time a fire broke out most opportunely within the town. the citizens busily employed themselves in extinguishing the flames. the salted soldiers, after passing through the gateway, sprang from the waggons, and mastered the watch. the town was. carried at a blow. some of the inhabitants were massacred as a warning to the rest; others were taken prisoners and held for ransom; a few, more fortunate, made their escape to the citadel. that fortress was stormed in vain, but the city was thoroughly sacked. every house was rifled of its contents. meantime haultepenne collected a force of nearly four thousand men, boors, citizens, and soldiers, and came to besiege schenk in the town, while, at the same time, attacks were made upon him from the castle. it was impossible for him to hold the city, but he had completely robbed it of every thing valuable. accordingly he loaded a train of waggons with his booty, took with him thirty of the magistrates as hostages, with other wealthy citizens, and marching in good order against haultepenne, completely routed him, killing a number variously estimated at from five hundred to two thousand, and effected his retreat, desperately wounded in the thigh, but triumphant, and laden with the spoils to venlo on the meuse, of which city he was governor. "surely this is a noble fellow, a worthy fellow," exclaimed leicester, who was filled with admiration at the bold marauder's progress, and vowed that he was "the only soldier in truth that they had, for he was never idle, and had succeeded hitherto very happily." and thus, at every point of the doomed territory of the little commonwealth, the natural atmosphere in which the inhabitants existed was one of blood and rapine. yet during the very slight lull, which was interposed in the winter of - to the eternal clang of arms in friesland, the estates of that province, to their lasting honour, founded the university of franeker. a dozen years before, the famous institution at leyden had been established, as a reward to the burghers for their heroic defence of the city. and now this new proof was given of the love of netherlanders, even in the midst of their misery and their warfare, for the more humane arts. the new college was well endowed from ancient churchlands, and not only was the education made nearly gratuitous, while handsome salaries were provided for the professors, but provision was made by which the, poorer scholars could be fed and boarded at a very moderate expense. there was a table provided at an annual cost to the student of but fifty florins, and a second and third table at the very low price of forty and thirty florins respectively. thus the sum to be paid by the poorer class of scholars for a year's maintenance was less than three pounds sterling a year [ exchange rate d.w.]. the voice with which this infant seminary of the muses first made itself heard above the din of war was but feeble, but the institution was destined to thrive, and to endow the world, for many successive generations, with the golden fruits of science and genius. early in the spring, the war was seriously taken in hand by farnese. it has already been seen that the republic had been almost entirely driven out of flanders and brabant. the estates, however, still held grave, megem, batenburg, and venlo upon the meuse. that river formed, as it were, a perfect circle of protection for the whole province of brabant, and farnese determined to make himself master of this great natural moat. afterwards, he meant to possess himself of the rhine, flowing in a parallel course, about twenty-five miles further to the east. in order to gain and hold the meuse, the first step was to reduce the city of grave. that town, upon the left or brabant bank, was strongly fortified on its land-side, where it was surrounded by low and fertile pastures, while, upon the other, it depended upon its natural toss, the river. it was, according to lord north and the earl of leicester, the "strongest town in all the low countries, though but a little one." baron hemart, a young gueldrian noble, of small experience in military affairs, commanded in the city, his garrison being eight hundred soldiers, and about one thousand burgher guard. as early as january, farnese had ordered count mansfeld to lay siege to the place. five forts had accordingly been constructed, above and below the town, upon the left bank of the river, while a bridge of boats thrown across the stream led to a fortified camp on the opposite side. mansfeld, mondragon, bobadil, aquila, and other distinguished veterans in philip's service, were engaged in the enterprise. a few unimportant skirmishes between schenk and the spaniards had taken place, but the city was already hard pressed, and, by the series of forts which environed it, was cut off from its supplies. it was highly important, therefore, that grave should be relieved, with the least possible delay. early in easter week, a force of three thousand men, under hohenlo and sir john norris, was accordingly despatched by leicester, with orders, at every hazard, to throw reinforcements and provisions into the place. they took possession, at once, of a stone sconce, called the mill-fort, which was guarded by fifty men, mostly boors of the country. these were nearly all hanged for "using malicious words," and for "railing against queen elizabeth," and--a sufficient number of men being left to maintain the fort--the whole relieving force marched with great difficulty--for the river was rapidly rising, and flooding the country--along the right bank of the meuse, taking possession of batenburg and ravenstein castles, as they went. a force of four or five hundred englishmen was then pushed forward to a point almost exactly opposite grave, and within an english mile of the head of the bridge constructed by the spaniards. here, in the night of easter tuesday, they rapidly formed an entrenched camp, upon the dyke along the river, and, although molested by some armed vessels, succeeded in establishing themselves in a most important position. on the morning of easter wednesday, april , mansfeld, perceiving that the enemy had thus stolen a march upon him, ordered one thousand picked troops, all spaniards, under aquila, casco and other veterans, to assault this advanced post. a reserve of two thousand was placed in readiness to support the attack. the spaniards slowly crossed the bridge, which was swaying very dangerously with the current, and then charged the entrenched camp at a run. a quarrel between the different regiments as to the right of precedence precipitated the attack, before the reserve, consisting of some picked companies of mondragon's veterans, had been able to arrive. coming in breathless and fatigued, the first assailants were readily repulsed in their first onset. aquila then opportunely made his appearance, and the attack was renewed with great vigour: the defenders of the camp yielded at the third charge and fled in dismay, while the spaniards, leaping the barriers, scattered hither and thither in the ardour of pursuit. the routed englishmen fled swiftly along the oozy dyke, in hopes of joining the main body of the relieving party, who were expected to advance, with the dawn, from their position six miles farther down the river. two miles long the chace lasted, and it seemed probable that the fugitives would be overtaken and destroyed, when, at last, from behind a line of mounds which stretched towards batenburg and had masked their approach, appeared count hohenlo and sir john norris, at the head of twenty-five hundred englishmen and hollanders. this force, advanced as rapidly as the slippery ground and the fatigue of a two hours' march would permit to the rescue of their friends, while the retreating english rallied, turned upon their pursuers, and drove them back over the path along which they had just been charging in the full career of victory. the fortune of the day was changed, and in a few minutes hohenlo and norris would have crossed the river and entered grave, when the spanish companies of bobadil and other commanders were seen marching along the quaking bridge. three thousand men on each side now met at push of pike on the bank of the meuse. the rain-was pouring in torrents, the wind was blowing a gale, the stream was rapidly rising, and threatening to overwhelm its shores. by a tacit and mutual consent, both armies paused for a few moments in full view of each other. after this brief interval they closed again, breast to breast, in sharp and steady conflict. the ground, slippery with rain and with blood, which was soon flowing almost as fast as the rain, afforded an unsteady footing to the combatants. they staggered like drunken men, fell upon their knees, or upon their backs, and still, kneeling or rolling prostrate, maintained the deadly conflict. for the space of an hour and a half the fierce encounter of human passion outmastered the fury of the elements. norris and hohenlo fought at the head of their columns, like paladins of old. the englishman was wounded in the mouth and breast, the count was seen to gallop past one thousand musketeers and caliver-men of the enemy, and to escape unscathed. but as the strength of the soldiers exhausted itself, the violence of the tempest increased. the floods of rain and the blasts of the hurricane at last terminated the affray. the spaniards, fairly conquered, were compelled to a retreat, lest the rapidly rising river should sweep away the frail and trembling bridge, over which they had passed to their unsuccessful assault. the english and netherlanders remained masters of the field. the rising flood, too, which was fast converting the meadows into a lake, was as useful to the conquerors as it was damaging to the spaniards. in the course of the few following days, a large number of boats was despatched before the very eyes of parma, from batenburg into grave; hohenlo, who had "most desperately adventured his person" throughout the whole affair, entering the town himself. a force of five hundred men, together with provisions enough to last a year, was thrown into the city, and the course of the meuse was, apparently, secured to the republic. in this important action about one hundred and fifty dutch and english were killed, and probably four hundred spaniards, including several distinguished officers. the earl of leicester was incredibly elated so soon as the success of this enterprise was known. "oh that her majesty knew," he cried, "how easy a match now she hath with the king of spain, and what millions of aficted people she hath relieved in these, countries. this summer, this summer, i say, would make an end to her immortal glory." he was no friend to his countryman, the gallant sir john norris--whom, however, he could not help applauding on this occasion,--but he was in raptures with hohenlo. next to god, he assured the queen's government that the victory was owing to the count. "he is both a valiant man and a wise man, and the painfullest that ever i knew," he said; adding--as a secret--that "five hundred englishmen of the best flemish training had flatly and shamefully run away," when the fight had been renewed by hohenlo and norris. he recommended that her majesty should, send her picture to the count, worth two hundred pounds, which he would value at more than one thousand pounds in money, and he added that "for her sake the count had greatly left his drinking." as for the prince of parma, leicester looked upon him as conclusively beaten. he spoke of him as "marvellously appalled" by this overthrow of his forces; but he assured the government that if the prince's "choler should press him to seek revenge," he should soon be driven out of the country. the earl would follow him "at an inch," and effectually frustrate all his undertakings. "if the spaniard have such a may as he has had an april," said lord north, "it will put water in his wine." meantime, as st. george's day was approaching, and as the earl was fond of banquets and ceremonies, it was thought desirable to hold a great triumphal feast at utrecht. his journey to that city from the hague was a triumphal procession. in all the towns through which he passed he was entertained with military display, pompous harangues, interludes, dumb shows, and allegories. at amsterdam--a city which he compared to venice for situation and splendour, and where one thousand ships were constantly lying--he was received with "sundry great whales and other fishes of hugeness," that gambolled about his vessel, and convoyed him to the shore. these monsters of the deep presented him to the burgomaster and magistrates who were awaiting him on the quay. the burgomaster made him a latin oration, to which dr. bartholomew clerk responded, and then the earl was ushered to the grand square, upon which, in his honour, a magnificent living picture was exhibited, in which he figured as moses, at the head of the israelites, smiting the philistines hip and thigh. after much mighty banqueting in amsterdam, as in the other cities, the governor-general came to utrecht. through the streets of this antique and most picturesque city flows the palsied current of the rhine, and every barge and bridge were decorated with the flowers of spring. upon this spot, where, eight centuries before the anglo-saxon, willebrod had first astonished the wild frisians with the pacific doctrines of jesus, and had been stoned to death as his reward, stood now a more arrogant representative of english piety. the balconies were crowded with fair women, and decorated with scarves and banners. from the earl's residence--the ancient palace of the knights of rhodes--to the cathedral, the way was lined with a double row of burgher guards, wearing red roses on their arms, and apparelled in the splendid uniforms for which the netherlanders were celebrated. trumpeters in scarlet and silver, barons, knights, and great officers, in cloth of gold and silks of all colours; the young earl of essex, whose career was to be so romantic, and whose fate so tragic; those two ominous personages, the deposed little archbishop-elector of cologne, with his melancholy face, and the unlucky don antonio, pretender of portugal, for whom, dead or alive, thirty thousand crowns and a dukedom were perpetually offered by philip ii.; young maurice of nassau, the future controller of european destinies; great counsellors of state, gentlemen, guardsmen, and portcullis-herald, with the coat of arms of elizabeth, rode in solemn procession along. then great leicester himself, "most princelike in the robes of his order," guarded by a troop of burghers, and by his own fifty halberd-men in scarlet cloaks trimmed with white and purple velvet, pranced gorgeously by. the ancient cathedral, built on the spot where saint willebrod had once ministered, with its light, tapering, brick tower, three hundred and sixty feet in height, its exquisitely mullioned windows, and its elegantly foliaged columns, soon received the glittering throng. hence, after due religious ceremonies, and an english sermon from master knewstubs, leicester's chaplain, was a solemn march back again to the palace, where a stupendous banquet was already laid in the great hall. on the dais at the upper end of the table, blazing with plate and crystal, stood the royal chair, with the queen's plate and knife and fork before it, exactly as if she had been present, while leicester's trencher and stool were set respectfully quite at the edge of the board. in the neighbourhood of this post of honour sat count maurice, the elector, the pretender, and many illustrious english personages, with the fair agnes mansfeld, princess chimay, the daughters of william the silent, and other dames of high degree. before the covers were removed, came limping up to the dais grim-visaged martin schenk, freshly wounded, but triumphant, from the sack of werll, and black john norris, scarcely cured of the spearwounds in his face and breast received at the relief of grave. the sword of knighthood was laid upon the shoulder of each hero, by the earl of leicester, as her majesty's vicegerent; and then the ushers marshalled the mighty feast. meats in the shape of lions, tigers, dragons, and leopards, flanked by peacocks, swans, pheasants, and turkeys "in their natural feathers as in their greatest pride," disappeared, course after course, sonorous metal blowing meanwhile the most triumphant airs. after the banquet came dancing, vaulting, tumbling; together with the "forces of hercules, which gave great delight to the strangers," after which the company separated until evensong. then again, "great was the feast," says the chronicler,--a mighty supper following hard upon the gigantic dinner. after this there was tilting at the barriers, the young earl of essex and other knights bearing themselves more chivalrously than would seem to comport with so much eating and drinking. then, horrible to relate, came another "most sumptuous banquet of sugar-meates for the men-at-arms and the ladies," after which, it being now midnight, the lord of leicester bade the whole company good rest, and the men-at-arms and ladies took their leave. but while all this chivalrous banqueting and holiday-making was in hand, the prince of parma was in reality not quite so much "appalled" by the relief of grave as his antagonist had imagined. the earl, flushed with the success of hohenlo, already believed himself master of the country, and assured his government, that, if he should be reasonably well supplied, he would have antwerp back again and bruges besides before mid june. never, said he, was "the prince of parma so dejected nor so melancholy since he came into these countries, nor so far out of courage." and it is quite true that alexander had reason to be discouraged. he had but eight or nine thousand men, and no money to pay even this little force. the soldiers were perishing daily, and nearly all the survivors were described by their chief, as sick or maimed. the famine in the obedient provinces was universal, the whole population was desperate with hunger; and the merchants, frightened by drake's successes, and appalled by the ruin all around them, drew their purse- strings inexorably. "i know not to what saint to devote myself," said alexander. he had been compelled, by the movement before grave, to withdraw haultepenne from the projected enterprise against neusz, and he was quite aware of the cheerful view which leicester was inclined to take of their relative positions. "the english think they are going to do great things," said he; "and consider themselves masters of the field." nevertheless, on the th may, the dejected melancholy man had left brussels, and joined his little army, consisting of three thousand spaniards and five thousand of all other nations. his veterans, though unpaid; ragged, and half-starved were in raptures to, have their idolized commander among them again, and vowed that under his guidance there was nothing which they could not accomplish. the king's honour, his own, that of the army, all were pledged to take the city. on the success of, that enterprise, he said, depended all his past conquests, and every hope for the future. leicester and the, english, whom he called the head and body of the rebel forces, were equally pledged to relieve the place, and were bent upon meeting him in the field. the earl had taken some forts in the batavia--betuwe; or "good meadow," which he pronounced as fertile and about as large as herefordshire,--and was now threatening nymegen, a city which had been gained for philip by the last effort of schenk, on the royalist side. he was now observing alexander's demonstrations against grave; but, after the recent success in victualling that place, he felt a just confidence in its security. on the st may the trenches were commenced, and on the th june the batteries were opened. the work went rapidly forward when farnese was in the field. "the prince of parma doth batter it like a prince," said lord north, admiring the enemy with the enthusiasm of an honest soldier: on the th of june, as alexander rode through the camp to reconnoitre, previous to an attack. a well-directed cannon ball carried away the hinder half, of his horse. the prince fell to the ground, and, for a moment, dismay was in the spanish ranks. at the next instant, though somewhat bruised, he was on his feet again, and, having found the breach sufficiently promising, he determined on the assault. as a preliminary measure, he wished to occupy a tower which had been battered nearly to ruins, situate near the river. captain de solis was ordered, with sixty veterans, to take possession of this tower, and to "have a look at the countenance of the enemy, without amusing himself with anything else." the tower was soon secured, but solis, in disobedience to his written instructions led his men against the ravelin, which was still in a state of perfect defence. a musket-ball soon stretched him dead beneath the wall, and his followers, still attempting to enter the impracticable breach, were repelled by a shower of stones and blazing pitch-hoops. hot sand; too, poured from sieves and baskets, insinuated itself within the armour of the spaniards, and occasioned such exquisite suffering, that many threw themselves into the river to allay the pain. emerging refreshed, but confused, they attempted in vain to renew the onset. several of the little band were slain, the assault was quite unsuccessful, and the trumpet sounded a recal. so completely discomfited were the spaniards by this repulse, and so thoroughly at their ease were the besieged, that a soldier let himself down from the ramparts of the town for the sake of plundering the body of captain solis, who was richly dressed, and, having accomplished this feat, was quietly helped back again by his comrades from above. to the surprise of the besiegers, however, on the very next morning came a request from the governor of the city, baron hemart, to negotiate for a surrender. alexander was, naturally, but too glad to grant easy terms, and upon the th of june the garrison left the town with colours displayed and drums beating, and the prince of parma marched into it, at the head of his troops. he found a year's provision there for six thousand men, while, at the same time, the walls had suffered so little, that he must have been obliged to wait long for a practicable breach. "there was no good reason even for women to have surrendered the place," exclaimed leicester, when he heard the news. and the earl had cause to be enraged at such a result. he had received a letter only the day before, signed by hemart himself and by all the officers in grave, asserting their determination and ability to hold the place for a good five months, or for an indefinite period, and until they should be relieved. and indeed all the officers, with three exceptions, had protested against the base surrender. but at the bottom of the catastrophe--of the disastrous loss of the city and the utter ruin of young hemart--was a woman. the governor was governed by his mistress, a lady of good family in the place, but of spanish inclinations, and she, for some mysterious reasons, had persuaded him thus voluntarily to capitulate. parma lost no time, however, in exulting over his success. upon the same day the towns of megen and batenburg surrendered to him, and immediately afterwards siege was laid to venlo, a town of importance, lying thirty miles farther up the meuse. the wife and family of martin schenk were in the city, together with two hundred horses, and from forty to one hundred thousand crowns in money, plate; and furniture belonging to him. that bold partisan, accompanied by the mad welshman, roger williams, at the head of one hundred and thirty english lances and thirty of schenk's men, made a wild nocturnal attempt to cut their way through the besieging force, and penetrate to the city. they passed through the enemy's lines, killed all the corps-de-garde, and many spanish troopers--the terrible martin's own hand being most effective in this midnight slaughter--and reached the very door of parma's tent, where they killed his secretary and many of his guards. it was even reported; and generally believed, that farnese himself had been in imminent danger, that schenk had fired his pistol at him unsuccessfully, and had then struck him on the head with its butt-end, and that the prince had only saved his life by leaping from his horse, and scrambling through a ditch. but these seem to have been fables. the alarm at last became general, the dawn of a summer's day was fast approaching; the drums beat to arms, and the bold marauders were obliged to effect their retreat, as they best might, hotly pursued by near two thousand men. having slain many of, the spanish army, and lost nearly half their own number, they at last obtained shelter in wachtendonk. soon afterwards the place capitulated without waiting for a battery, upon moderate terms. schenk's wife was sent away ( june ) courteously with her family, in a coach and four, and with as much "apparel" as might be carried with her. his property was confiscated, for "no fair wars could be made with him." thus, within a few weeks after taking the field, the "dejected, melancholy" man, who was so "out of courage," and the soldiers who were so "marvellously beginning to run away"--according to the earl of leicester--had swept their enemy from every town on the meuse. that river was now, throughout its whole course, in the power of the spaniards. the province of brabant became thoroughly guarded again by its foes, and the enemy's road was opened into the northern provinces. leicester, meantime, had not distinguished himself. it must be confessed that he had been sadly out-generalled. the man who had talked of following the enemy inch by inch, and who had pledged himself not only to protect grave, and any other place that might be attacked, but even to recover antwerp and bruges within a few weeks, had wasted the time in very desultory operations. after the st. george feasting, knewstub sermons, and forces of hercules, were all finished, the earl had taken the field with five thousand foot and fifteen hundred horse. his intention was to clear the yssel; by getting possession of doesburg and zutphen, but, hearing of parma's demonstrations upon grave, he abandoned the contemplated siege of those cities, and came to arnheim. he then crossed the rhine into the isle of batavia, and thence, after taking a few sconces of inferior importance--while schenk, meanwhile, was building on the island of gravenweert, at the bifurcation of the rhine and waal, the sconce so celebrated a century later as 'schenk's fort' (schenkenschans)---he was preparing to pass the waal in order to attack farnese, when he heard to his astonishment, of the surrender of grave. he could therefore--to his chagrin--no longer save that important city, but he could, at least, cut off the head of the culprit. leicester was in bommel when he heard of baron hemart's faint-heartedness or treachery, and his wrath was extravagant in proportion to the exultation with which his previous success had inspired him. he breathed nothing but revenge against the coward and the traitor, who had delivered up the town in "such lewd and beastly sort." "i will never depart hence," he said, "till by the goodness of god i be satisfied someway of this villain's treachery." there could be little doubt that hemart deserved punishment. there could be as little that leicester would mete it out to him in ample measure. "the lewd villain who gave up grave," said he, "and the captains as deep in fault as himself, shall all suffer together." hemart came boldly to meet him. "the honest man came to me at bommel," said leicester, and he assured the government that it was in the hope of persuading the magistrates of that and other towns to imitate his own treachery. but the magistrates straightway delivered the culprit to the governor- general, who immediately placed him under arrest. a court-martial was summoned, th of june, at utrecht, consisting of hohenlo, essex, and other distinguished officers. they found that the conduct of the prisoner merited death, but left it to the earl to decide whether various extenuating circumstances did not justify a pardon. hohenlo and norris exerted themselves to procure a mitigation of the young man's sentence, and they excited thereby the governor's deep indignation. norris, according to leicester, was in love with the culprit's aunt, and was therefore especially desirous of saving his life. moreover, much use was made of the discredit which had been thrown by the queen on the earl's authority, and it was openly maintained, that, being no longer governor- general, he had no authority to order execution upon a netherland officer. the favourable circumstances urged in the case, were, that hemart was a young man, without experience in military matters, and that he had been overcome by the supplications and outcries of the women, panic-struck after the first assault. there were no direct proofs of treachery, or even of personal cowardice. he begged hard for a pardon, not on account of his life, but for the sake of his reputation. he earnestly implored permission to serve under the queen of england, as a private soldier, without pay, on land or sea, for as many years as she should specify, and to be selected for the most dangerous employments, in order that, before he died, he might wipe out the disgrace, which, through his fault, in an hour of weakness, had come upon an ancient and honourable house. much interest was made for him--his family connection being powerful--and a general impression prevailing that he had erred through folly rather than deep guilt. but leicester beating himself upon the breast--as he was wont when excited--swore that there should be no pardon for such a traitor. the states of holland and zeeland, likewise, were decidedly in favour of a severe example. hemart was accordingly led to the scaffold on the th june. he spoke to the people with great calmness, and, in two languages, french and flemish, declared that he was guiltless of treachery, but that the terror and tears of the women, in an hour of panic, had made a coward of him. he was beheaded, standing. the two captains, du ban and koeboekum, who had also been condemned, suffered with him. a third captain, likewise convicted, was, "for very just cause,", pardoned by leicester. the earl persisted in believing that hemart had surrendered the city as part of a deliberate plan, and affirmed that in such a time, when men had come to think no more of giving up a town than of abandoning a house, it was highly necessary to afford an example to traitors and satisfaction to the people. and the people were thoroughly satisfied, according to the governor, and only expressed their regret that three or four members of the states-general could not have their heads cut off as well, being as arrant knaves as henlart; "and so i think they be," added leicester. parma having thus made himself master of the meuse, lost no time in making a demonstration upon the parallel course of the rhine, thirty miles farther east. schenk, kloet; and other partisans, kept that portion of the archi-episcopate and of westphalia in a state of perpetual commotion. early in the, preceding year, count de meurs had, by a fortunate stratagem, captured the town of neusz for the deposed elector, and herman kloet, a young and most determined geldrian soldier, now commanded in the place. the elector ernest had made a visit in disguise to the camp of parma, and had represented the necessity of recovering the city. it had become the stronghold of heretics, rebels, and banditti. the rhine was in their hands, and with it the perpetual power of disturbing the loyal netherlands. it was as much the interest of his catholic majesty as that of the archbishop that neusz should be restored to its lawful owner. parma had felt the force of this reasoning, and had early in the year sent haultepenne to invest the city. he had been obliged to recal that commander during the siege of grave. the place being reduced, alexander, before the grass could grow beneath his feet advanced to the rhine in person. early in july he appeared before the walls of neusz with eight thousand foot and two thousand horse. the garrison under kloet numbered scarcely more than sixteen hundred effective soldiers, all netherlanders and germans, none being english. the city is twenty-miles below cologne. it was so well fortified that a century before it had stood a year's siege from the famous charles the bold, who, after all, had been obliged to retire. it had also resisted the strenuous efforts of charles the fifth; and was now stronger than it ever had been. it was thoroughly well provisioned, so that it was safe enough "if those within it," said leicester, "be men." the earl expressed the opinion, however, that "those fellows were not good to defend towns, unless the besiegers were obliged to swim to the attack." the issue was to show whether the sarcasm were just or not. meantime the town was considered by the governor-general to be secure, "unless towns were to be had for the asking." neusz is not immediately upon the rhine, but that river, which sweeps away in a north-easterly direction from the walls, throws out an arm which completely encircles the town. a part of the place, cut into an island by the erpt, was strengthened by two redoubts. this island was abandoned, as being too weak to hold, and the spaniards took possession of it immediately. there were various preliminary and sanguinary sorties and skirmishes, during which the spaniards after having been once driven from the island, again occupied that position. archbishop ernest came into the camp, and, before proceeding to a cannonade, parma offered to the city certain terms of capitulation, which were approved by that prelate. kloet replied to this proposal, that he was wedded to the town and to his honour, which were as one. these he was incapable of sacrificing, but his life he was ready to lay down. there was, through some misapprehension, a delay in reporting this answer to farnese. meantime that general became impatient, and advanced to the battery of the italian regiment. pretending to be a plenipotentiary from the commander-in-chief, he expostulated in a loud voice at the slowness of their counsels. hardly had he begun to speak, when a shower of balls rattled about him. his own soldiers were terrified at his danger, and a cry arose in the town that "holofernese"--as the flemings and germans were accustomed to nickname farnese--was dead. strange to relate, he was quite unharmed, and walked back to his tent with dignified slowness and a very frowning face. it was said that this breach of truce had been begun by the spaniards, who had fired first, and had been immediately answered by the town. this was hotly denied, and parma sent colonel tasais with a flag of truce to the commander, to rebuke and to desire an explanation of this dishonourable conduct. the answer given, or imagined, was that commander kloet had been sound asleep, but that he now much regretted this untoward accident. the explanation was received with derision, for it seemed hardly probable that so young and energetic a soldier would take the opportunity to refresh himself with slumber at a moment when a treaty for the capitulation of a city under his charge was under discussion. this terminated the negotiation. a few days afterwards, the feast of st james was celebrated in the spanish camp, with bonfires and other demonstrations of hilarity. the townsmen are said to have desecrated the same holiday by roasting alive in the market-place two unfortunate soldiers, who had been captured in a sortie a few days before; besides burning the body of the holy saint quirinus, with other holy relics. the detestable deed was to be most horribly avenged. a steady cannonade from forty-five great guns was kept up from a.m. of july until the dawn of the following day; the cannoneers--being all provided with milk and vinegar to cool the pieces. at daybreak the assault was ordered. eight separate attacks were made with the usual impetuosity of spaniards, and were steadily repulsed. at the ninth, the outer wall was carried, and the spaniards shouting "santiago" poured over it, bearing back all resistance. an italian knight of the sepulchre, cesar guidiccioni by name, and a spanish ensign, one alphonao de mesa, with his colours in one hand and a ladder in the other, each claimed the honour of having first mounted the breach. both being deemed equally worthy of reward, parma, after the city had been won, took from his own cap a sprig of jewels and a golden wheat-ear ornamented with a gem, which he had himself worn in place of a plume, and thus presented each with a brilliant token of his regard. the wall was then strengthened against the inner line of fortification, and all night long a desperate conflict was maintained in the dark upon the narrow space between the two barriers. before daylight kloet, who then, as always, had led his men in the moat desperate adventures, was carried into the town, wounded in five places, and with his leg almost severed at the thigh. "'tis the bravest man," said the enthusiastic lord north, "that was ever heard of in the world."--"he is but a boy," said alexander farnese, "but a commander of extraordinary capacity and valour." early in the morning, when this mishap was known, an officer was sent to the camp of the besiegers to treat. the soldiers received him with furious laughter, and denied him access to the general. "commander kloet had waked from his nap at a wrong time," they said, "and the prince of parma was now sound asleep, in his turn." there was no possibility of commencing a negotiation. the spaniards, heated by the conflict, maddened by opposition, and inspired by the desire to sack a wealthy city, overpowered all resistance. "my little soldiers were not to be restrained," said farnese, and so compelling a reluctant consent on the part of the commander-in-chief to an assault, the italian and spanish legions poured into the town at two opposite gates; which were no. longer strong enough to withstand the enemy. the two streams met in the heart of the place, and swept every living thing in their, path out of existence. the garrison was butchered to a man, and subsequently many of the inhabitants--men, women, and children-also, although the women; to the honour of alexander, had been at first secured from harm in some of the churches, where they had been ordered to take refuge. the first blast of indignation was against the commandant of the place. alexander, who had admired, his courage, was not unfavourably disposed towards him, but archbishop ernest vehemently, demanded his immediate death, as a personal favour to himself. as the churchman was nominally sovereign of the city although in reality a beggarly dependant on philip's alms, farnese felt bound to comply. the manner in which it was at first supposed that the bishop's christian request had; been complied, with, sent a shudder through every-heart in the netherlands. "they took kloet, wounded as he was," said lord north, "and first strangled, him, then smeared him with pitch, and burnt him with gunpowder; thus, with their holiness, they, made a tragical end of an heroical service. it is wondered that the prince would suffer so great an outrage to be done to so noble a soldier, who did but his duty." but this was an error. a jesuit priest was sent to the house of the commandant, for a humane effort was thought necessary in order to save the soul of the man whose life was forfeited for the crime of defending his city. the culprit was found lying in bed. his wife, a woman of remarkable beauty, with her sister, was in attendance upon him. the spectacle of those two fair women, nursing a wounded soldier fallen upon the field of honour, might have softened devils with sympathy. but the jesuit was closely followed by a band of soldiers, who, notwithstanding the supplications of the women, and the demand of kloet to be indulged with a soldier's death, tied a rope round the commandant's necks dragged him from his bed, and hanged him from his own window. the calvinist clergyman, fosserus of oppenheim, the deacons of the congregation, two military officers, and--said parma--"forty other rascals," were murdered in the same way at the same time. the bodies remained at the window till they were devoured by the flames, which soon consumed the house. for a vast conflagration, caused none knew whether by accident, by the despair of the inhabitants; by the previous, arrangements of the commandant, by the latest-arrived bands of the besiegers enraged that the italians and spaniards had been beforehand with them in the spoils, or--as farnese more maturely believed--by the special agency of the almighty, offended with the burning of saint quirinus,--now came to complete the horror of the scene. three-quarters of the town were at once in a blaze. the churches, where the affrighted women had been cowering during the sack and slaughter, were soon on fire, and now, amid the crash of falling houses and the uproar of the drunken soldiery, those unhappy victims were seen flitting along the flaming streets; seeking refuge against the fury of the elements in the more horrible cruelty of man. the fire lasted all day and night, and not one stone would have been left upon another, had not the body of a second saint, saved on a former occasion from the heretics by the piety of a citizen, been fortunately deposited in his house. at this point the conflagration was stayed--for the flames refused to consume these holy relics--but almost the whole of the town was destroyed, while at least four thousand people, citizens and soldiers, had perished by sword or fire. three hundred survivors of the garrison took refuge in a tower. its base was surrounded, and, after brief parley, they descended as prisoners. the prince and haultepenne attempted in vain to protect them against the fury of the soldiers, and every man of them was instantly put to death. the next day, alexander gave orders that the wife and sister of the commandant should be protected--for they had escaped, as if by miracle, from all the horrors of that day and night--and sent, under escort, to their friends! neusz had nearly ceased to exist, for according to contemporaneous accounts, but eight houses had escaped destruction. and the reflection was most painful to leicester and to every generous englishman or netherlander in the country, that this important city and its heroic defenders might have been preserved, but for want of harmony and want of money. twice had the earl got together a force of four thousand men for the relief of the place, and twice had he been obliged to disband them again for the lack of funds to set them in the field. he had pawned his plate and other valuables, exhausted his credit, and had nothing for it but to wait for the queen's tardy remittances, and to wrangle with the states; for the leaders of that body were unwilling to accord large supplies to a man who had become personally suspected by them, and was the representative of a deeply-suspected government. meanwhile, one-third at least of the money which really found its way from time to time out of england, was filched from the "poor starved wretches," as leicester called his soldiers, by the dishonesty of norris, uncle of sir john and army-treasurer. this man was growing so rich on his peculations, on his commissions, and on his profits from paying the troops in a depreciated coin, that leicester declared the whole revenue of his own landed estates in england to be less than that functionary's annual income. thus it was difficult to say whether the "ragged rogues" of elizabeth or the maimed and neglected soldiers of philip were in the more pitiable plight. the only consolation in the recent reduction of neusz was to be found in the fact that parma had only gained a position, for the town had ceased to exist; and in the fiction that he had paid for his triumph by the loss of six thousand soldiers, killed and wounded. in reality not more than five hundred of farnese's army lost their lives, and although the town, excepting some churches, had certainly been destroyed; yet the prince was now master of the rhine as far as cologne, and of the meuse as far as grave. the famine which pressed so sorely upon him, might now be relieved, and his military communications with germany be considered secure. the conqueror now turned his attention to rheinberg, twenty-five miles farther down the river. sir philip sidney had not been well satisfied by the comparative idleness in which, from these various circumstances; he had been compelled to remain. early in the spring he had been desirous of making an attack upon flanders by capturing the town of steenberg. the faithful roger williams had strongly seconded the proposal. "we wish to show your excellency," said he to leicester, "that we are not sound asleep." the welshman was not likely to be accused of somnolence, but on this occasion sidney and himself had been overruled. at a later moment, and during the siege of neusz, sir philip had the satisfaction of making a successful foray into flanders. the expedition had been planned by prince maurice of nassau, and was his. earliest military achievement. he proposed carrying by surprise, the city of axel, a well-built, strongly-fortified town on the south-western edge of the great scheldt estuary, and very important from its position. its acquisition would make the hold of the patriots and the english upon sluys and ostend more secure, and give them many opportunities of annoying the enemy in flanders. early in july, maurice wrote to the earl of leicester, communicating the particulars of his scheme, but begging that the affair might be "very secretly handled," and kept from every one but sidney. leicester accordingly sent his nephew to maurice that they might consult together upon the enterprise, and make sure "that there was no ill intent, there being so much treachery in the world." sidney found no treachery in young maurice, but only, a noble and intelligent love of adventure, and the two arranged their plans in harmony. leicester, then, in order to deceive the enemy, came to bergen-op-zoom, with five hundred men, where he remained two days, not sleeping a wink, as he averred, during the whole time. in the night of tuesday, th of july, the five hundred english soldiers were despatched by water, under charge of lord willoughby, "who," said the earl, "would needs go with them." young hatton, too, son of sir christopher, also volunteered on the service, "as his first nursling." sidney had, five hundred of his own zeeland regiment in readiness, and the rendezvous was upon the broad waters of the scheldt, opposite flushing. the plan was neatly carried out, and the united flotilla, in a dark, calm, midsummer's night, rowed across the smooth estuary and landed at ter neuse, about a league from axel. here they were joined by maurice with some netherland companies, and the united troops, between two and three thousand strong, marched at once to the place proposed. before two in the morning they had reached axel, but found the moat very deep. forty soldiers immediately plunged in, however, carrying their ladders with them, swam across, scaled the rampart, killed, the guard, whom they found asleep in their beds, and opened the gates for their comrades. the whole force then marched in, the dutch companies under colonel pyion being first, lord willoughby's men being second, and sir philip with his zeelanders bringing up the rear. the garrison, between five and six hundred in number, though surprised, resisted gallantly, and were all put to the sword. of the invaders, not a single man lost his life. sidney most generously rewarded from his own purse the adventurous soldiers who had swum the moat; and it was to his care and intelligence that the success of prince maurice's scheme was generally attributed. the achievement was hailed with great satisfaction, and it somewhat raised the drooping spirits of the patriots after their severe losses at grave and venlo. "this victory hath happened in good time," wrote thomas cecil to his father, "and hath made us somewhat to lift up our heads." a garrison of eight hundred, under colonel pyron, was left in axel, and the dykes around were then pierced. upwards of two millions' worth of property in grass, cattle, corn, was thus immediately destroyed in the territory of the obedient netherlands. after an unsuccessful attempt to surprise gravelines, the governor of which place, the veteran la motte, was not so easily taken napping; sir philip having gained much reputation by this conquest of axel, then joined the main body of the army, under leicester, at arnheim. yet, after all, sir philip had not grown in favour with her majesty during his service in the low countries. he had also been disappointed in the government of zeeland, to which post his uncle had destined him. the cause of leicester's ambition had been frustrated by the policy of barneveld and buys, in pursuance of which count or prince maurice--as he was now purposely designated, in order that his rank might surpass that of the earl--had become stadholder and captain general both of holland and zeeland. the earl had given his nephew, however, the colonelcy of the zeeland regiment, vacant by the death of admiral haultain on the kowenstyn dyke. this promotion had excited much anger among the high officers in the netherlands who, at the instigation of count hohenlo, had presented a remonstrance upon the subject to the governor-general. it had always been the custom, they said, with the late prince of orange, to confer promotion according to seniority, without regard to social rank, and they were therefore unwilling that a young foreigner, who had just entered the service; should thus be advanced over the heads of veterans who had been campaigning there so many weary years. at the same time the gentlemen who signed the paper protested to sir philip, in another letter, "with all the same hands," that they had no personal feeling towards him, but, on the contrary, that they wished him all honour. young maurice himself had always manifested the most friendly feelings toward sidney, although influenced in his action by the statesmen who were already organizing a powerful opposition to leicester. "count maurice showed himself constantly, kind in the matter of the regiment," said sir philip, "but mr. paul buss has so many busses in his head, such as you shall find he will be to god and man about one pitch. happy is the communication of them that join in the fear of god." hohenlo, too, or hollock, as he was called by the french and english, was much governed by buys and olden-barneveld. reckless and daring, but loose of life and uncertain of purpose, he was most dangerous, unless under safe guidance. roger williams--who vowed that but for the love he bore to sidney and leicester, he would not remain ten days in the netherlands--was much disgusted by hohenlo's conduct in regard to the zeeland regiment. "'tis a mutinous request of hollock," said he, "that strangers should not command netherlanders. he and his alemaynes are farther born from zeeland than sir philip is. either you must make hollock assured to you, or you must disgrace him. if he will not be yours, i will show you means to disinherit him of all his commands at small danger. what service doth he, count solms, count overatein, with their almaynes, but spend treasure and consume great contributions?" it was, very natural that the chivalrous sidney, who had come to the netherlands to win glory in the field, should be desirous of posts that would bring danger and distinction with them. he was not there merely that he might govern flushing, important as it was, particularly as the garrison was, according to his statement, about as able to maintain the town, "as the tower was to answer for london." he disapproved of his wife's inclination to join him in holland, for he was likely--so he wrote to her father, walsingham--"to run such a course as would not be fit for any of the feminine gender." he had been, however; grieved to the heart, by the spectacle which was perpetually exhibited of the queen's parsimony, and of the consequent suffering of the soldiers. twelve or fifteen thousand englishmen were serving in the netherlands--more than two thirds of them in her majesty's immediate employment. no troops had ever fought better, or more honourably maintained the ancient glory of england. but rarely had more ragged and wretched warriors been seen than they, after a few months' campaigning. the irish kernes--some fifteen hundred of whom were among the auxiliaries--were better off, for they habitually dispensed with clothing; an apron from waist to knee being the only protection of these wild kelts, who fought with the valour, and nearly, in the costume of homeric heroes. fearing nothing, needing nothing, sparing nothing, they stalked about the fens of zeeland upon their long stilts, or leaped across running rivers, scaling ramparts, robbing the highways, burning, butchering, and maltreating the villages and their inhabitants, with as little regard for the laws of christian warfare as for those of civilized costume. other soldiers, more sophisticated as to apparel, were less at their ease. the generous sidney spent all his means, and loaded himself with debt, in order to relieve the necessities of the poor soldiers. he protested that if the queen would not pay her troops, she would lose her troops, but that no living man should say the fault was in him. "what relief i can do them i will," he wrote to his father-in-law; "i will spare no danger, if occasion serves. i am sure that no creature shall lay injustice to my charge." very soon it was discovered that the starving troops had to contend not only with the queen's niggardliness but with the dishonesty of her agents. treasurer norris was constantly accused by leicester and sidney of gross peculation. five per cent., according to sir philip, was lost to the zeeland soldiers in every payment, "and god knows," he said, "they want no such hindrance, being scarce able to keep life with their entire pay. truly it is but poor increase to her majesty, considering what loss it is to the miserable soldier." discipline and endurance were sure to be sacrificed, in the end, to such short-sighted economy. "when soldiers," said sidney, "grow to despair, and give up towns, then it is too late to buy with hundred thousands what might have been saved with a trifle." this plain dealing, on the part of sidney, was anything but agreeable to the queen, who was far from feeling regret that his high-soaring expectations had been somewhat blighted in the provinces. he often expressed his mortification that her majesty was disposed to interpret everything to, his disadvantage. "i understand," said he, "that i am called ambitious, and very proud at home, but certainly, if they knew my heart, they would not altogether so judge me." elizabeth had taken part with hohenlo against sir philip in the matter of the zeeland regiment, and in this perhaps she was not entirely to be blamed. but she inveighed needlessly against his ambitious seeking of the office, and--as walsingham observed--"she was very apt, upon every light occasion, to find fault with him." it is probable that his complaints against the army treasurer, and his manful defence of the "miserable soldiers," more than counterbalanced, in the queen's estimation, his chivalry in the field. nevertheless he had now the satisfaction of having gained an important city in flanders; and on subsequently joining the army under his uncle, he indulged the hope of earning still greater distinction. martin schenk had meanwhile been successfully defending rheinberg, for several weeks, against parma's forces. it was necessary, however, that leicester, notwithstanding the impoverished condition of his troops, should make some diversion, while his formidable antagonist was thus carrying all before him. he assembled, accordingly, in the month of august, all the troops that could be brought into the field, and reviewed them, with much ceremony, in the neighbourhood of arnheim. his army--barely numbered seven thousand foot and two thousand horse, but he gave out, very extensively, that he had fourteen thousand under his command, and he was moreover expecting a force of three thousand reiters, and as many pikemen recently levied in germany. lord essex was general of the cavalry, sir william pelham--a distinguished soldier, who had recently arrived out of england, after the most urgent solicitations to the queen, for that end, by leicester--was lord-marshal of the camp, and sir john norris was colonel- general of the infantry. after the parade, two sermons were preached upon the hillside to the soldiers, and then there was a council of war: it was decided-- notwithstanding the earl's announcement of his intentions to attack parma in person--that the condition of the army did not warrant such an enterprise. it was thought better to lay siege to zutphen. this step, if successful, would place in the power of the republic and her ally a city of great importance and strength. in every event the attempt would probably compel farnese to raise the siege of berg. leicester, accordingly, with "his brave troop of able and likely men" --five thousand of the infantry being english--advanced as far as doesburg. this city, seated at the confluence of the ancient canal of drusus and the yssel, five miles above zutphen, it was necessary, as a preliminary measure, to secure. it was not a very strong place, being rather slightly walled with brick, and with a foss drawing not more than three feet of water. by the th august it had been completely invested. on the same night, at ten o'clock, sir william pelham, came to the earl to tell him "what beastly pioneers the dutchmen were. "leicester accordingly determined, notwithstanding the lord-marshal's entreaties, to proceed to the trenches in person. there being but faint light, the two lost their way, and soon found themselves nearly, at the gate of the town. here, while groping about in the dark; and trying to effect their retreat, they were saluted with a shot, which struck sir william in the stomach. for an instant; thinking himself mortally injured, he expressed his satisfaction that he had been, between the commander-in-chief and the blow, and made other "comfortable and resolute speeches." very fortunately, however, it proved that the marshal was not seriously hurt, and, after a few days, he was about his work as usual, although obliged-- as the earl of leicester expressed it--"to carry a bullet in his belly as long as he should live." roger williams, too, that valiant adventurer--"but no, more valiant than wise, and worth his weight in gold," according to the appreciative leicester--was shot through the arm. for the dare-devil welshman, much to the earl's regret, persisted in running up and down the trenches "with a great plume of feathers in his gilt morion," and in otherwise making a very conspicuous mark of himself "within pointblank of a caliver." notwithstanding these mishaps, however, the siege went successfully forward. upon the nd september the earl began to batter, and after a brisk cannonade, from dawn till two in the afternoon, he had considerably damaged the wall in two places. one of the breaches was eighty feet wide, the other half as large, but the besieged had stuffed them full of beds, tubs, logs of wood, boards, and "such like trash," by means whereof the ascent was not so easy as it seemed. the soldiers were excessively eager for the assault. sir john norris came to leicester to receive his orders as to the command of the attacking party. the earl referred the matter to him. "there is no man," answered sir john, "fitter for that purpose than myself; for i am colonel-general of the infantry." but leicester, not willing to indulge so unreasonable a proposal, replied that he would reserve him for service of less hazard and greater importance. norris being, as usual, "satis prodigus magnae animae," was out of humour at the refusal, and ascribed it to the earl's persistent hostility to him and his family. it was then arranged that the assault upon the principal breach should be led by younger officers, to be supported by sir john and other veterans. the other breach was assigned to the dutch and scotch-black norris scowling at them the while with jealous eyes; fearing that they might get the start of the english party, and be first to enter the town. a party of noble volunteers clustered about sir john-lord burgh, sir thomas cecil, sir philip sidney, and his brother robert among the rest--most impatient for the signal. the race was obviously to be a sharp one. the governor-general forbade these violent demonstrations, but lord burgh, "in a most vehement passion, waived the countermand," and his insubordination was very generally imitated. before the signal was given, however, leicester sent a trumpet to summon the town to surrender, and could with difficulty restrain his soldiers till the answer should be returned. to the universal disappointment, the garrison agreed to surrender. norris himself then stepped forward to the breach, and cried aloud the terms, lest the returning herald, who had been sent back by leicester, should offer too favourable a capitulation. it was arranged that the soldiers should retire without arms, with white wands in their hands--the officers remaining prisoners--and that the burghers, their lives, and property, should be at leicester's disposal. the earl gave most peremptory orders that persons and goods should be respected, but his commands were dis obeyed. sir william stanley's men committed frightful disorders, and thoroughly, rifled the town." "and because," said norris, "i found fault herewith, sir william began to quarrel with me, hath braved me extremely, refuseth to take any direction from me, and although i have sought for redress, yet it is proceeded in so coldly, that he taketh encouragement rather to increase the quarrel than to leave it." notwithstanding therefore the decree of leicester, the expostulations and anger of norris, and the energetic efforts of lord essex and other generals, who went about smiting the marauders on the head, the soldiers sacked the city, and committed various disorders, in spite of the capitulation. doesburg having been thus reduced, the earl now proceeded toward the more important city which he had determined to besiege. zutphen, or south- fen, an antique town of wealth and elegance, was the capital of the old landgraves of zutphen. it is situate on the right bank of the yssel, that branch of the rhine which flows between gelderland and overyssel into the zuyder-zee. the ancient river, broad, deep, and languid, glides through a plain of almost boundless extent, till it loses itself in the flat and misty horizon. on the other side of the stream, in the district called the veluwe, or bad meadow, were three sconces, one of them of remarkable strength. an island between the city and the shore was likewise well fortified. on the landward side the town was protected by a wall and moat sufficiently strong in those infant days of artillery. near the hospital-gate, on the east, was an external fortress guarding the road to warnsfeld. this was a small village, with a solitary slender church- spire, shooting up above a cluster of neat one-storied houses. it was about an english mile from zutphen, in the midst of a wide, low, somewhat fenny plain, which, in winter, became so completely a lake, that peasants were not unfrequently drowned in attempting to pass from the city to the village. in summer, the vague expanse of country was fertile and cheerful of aspect. long rows of poplars marking the straight highways, clumps of pollard willows scattered around the little meres, snug farm- houses, with kitchen-gardens and brilliant flower-patches dotting the level plain, verdant pastures sweeping off into seemingly infinite distance, where the innumerable cattle seemed to swarm like insects, wind-mills swinging their arms in all directions, like protective giants, to save the country from inundation, the lagging sail of market-boats shining through rows of orchard trees--all gave to the environs of zutphen a tranquil and domestic charm. deventer and kampen, the two other places on the river, were in the hands of the states. it was, therefore, desirable for the english and the patriots, by gaining possession of zutphen, to obtain control of the yssel; driven, as they had been, from the meuse and rhine. sir john norris, by leicester's direction, took possession of a small rising-ground, called 'gibbet dill' on the land-side; where he established a fortified camp, and proceeded to invest the city. with him were count lewis william of nassau, and sir philip sidney, while the earl himself, crossing the yssel on a bridge of boats which he had constructed, reserved for himself the reduction of the forts upon the veluwe side. farnese, meantime, was not idle; and leicester's calculations proved correct. so soon as the prince was informed of this important demonstration of the enemy he broke up--after brief debate with his officers--his camp before rheinberg, and came to wesel. at this place he built a bridge over the rhine, and fortified it with two block-houses. these he placed under command of claude berlot, who was ordered to watch strictly all communication up the river with the city of rheinberg, which he thus kept in a partially beleaguered state. alexander then advanced rapidly by way of groll and burik, both which places he took possession of, to the neighbourhood of zutphen. he was determined, at every hazard, to relieve that important city; and although, after leaving necessary detachments on the, way; he had but five thousand men under his command, besides fifteen hundred under verdugo--making sixty-five hundred in all --he had decided that the necessity of the case, and his own honour; required him to seek the enemy, and to leave, as he said, the issue with the god of battles, whose cause it was. tassis, lieutenant-governor of gelderland, was ordered into the city with two cornets of horse and six hundred foot. as large a number, had already been stationed there. verdugo, who had been awaiting the arrival of the prince at borkelo, a dozen miles from zutphen, with four hundred foot and two hundred horse, now likewise entered the city. on the night of th august alexander himself entered zutphen for the purpose of encouraging the garrison by promise of-relief, and of ascertaining the position of the enemy by personal observation. his presence as it always did, inspired the soldiers with enthusiasm, so that they could with difficulty be restrained from rushing forth to assault the besiegers. in regard to the enemy he found that gibbet hill was still occupied by sir john norris, "the best soldier, in his opinion, that they had," who had entrenched himself very strongly, and was supposed to have thirty-five hundred men under his command. his position seemed quite impregnable. the rest of the english were on the other side of the river, and alexander observed, with satisfaction, that they had abandoned a small redoubt, near the leper-house, outside the loor-gate, through which the reinforcements must enter the city. the prince determined to profit by this mistake, and to seize the opportunity thus afforded of sending those much needed supplies. during the night the enemy were found to be throwing up works "most furiously," and skirmishing parties were sent out of the town to annoy them. in the darkness nothing of consequence was effected, but a scotch officer was captured, who informed the spanish commander that the enemy was fifteen thousand strong--a number which was nearly double that of leicester's actual force. in the morning alexander returned to his camp at borkelo --leaving tassis in command of the veluwe forts, and verdugo in the city itself--and he at once made rapid work in collecting victuals. he had soon wheat and other supplies in readiness, sufficient to feed four thousand mouths for three months, and these he determined to send into the city immediately, and at every hazard. the great convoy which was now to be despatched required great care and a powerful escort. twenty-five hundred musketeers and pikemen, of whom one thousand were spaniards, and six hundred cavalry, epirotes; spaniards, and italians, under hannibal gonzaga, george crescia, bentivoglio, sesa, and others, were accordingly detailed for this expedition. the marquis del vasto, to whom was entrusted the chief command, was ordered to march from borkelo at midnight on wednesday, october (st. nov.) [n.s.]. it was calculated that he would reach a certain hillock not far from warnsfeld by dawn of day. here he was to pause, and send forward an officer towards the town, communicating his arrival, and requesting the cooperation of verdugo, who was to make a sortie with one thousand men, according to alexander's previous arrangements. the plan was successfully carried out. the marquis arrived by daybreak at the spot indicated, and despatched captain de vega who contrived to send intelligence of the fact. a trooper, whom parma had himself sent to verdugo with earlier information of the movement, had been captured on the way. leicester had therefore been apprized, at an early moment, of the prince's intentions, but he was not aware that the convoy would be accompanied by so strong a force as had really been detailed. he had accordingly ordered sir john norris, who commanded on the outside of the town near the road which the spaniards must traverse, to place an ambuscade in his way. sir john, always ready for adventurous enterprises, took a body of two hundred cavalry, all picked men, and ordered sir william stanley, with three hundred pikemen, to follow. a much stronger force of infantry was held in reserve and readiness, but it was not thought that it would be required. the ambuscade was successfully placed, before the dawn of thursday morning, in the neighbourhood of warnsfeld church. on the other hand, the earl of leicester himself, anxious as to the result, came across the river just at daybreak. he was accompanied by the chief gentlemen in his camp, who could never be restrained when blows were passing current. the business that morning was a commonplace and practical though an important, one--to "impeach" a convoy of wheat and barley, butter, cheese, and beef--but the names of those noble and knightly volunteers, familiar throughout christendom, sound like the roll-call for some chivalrous tournament. there were essex and audley, stanley, pelham, russell, both the sidneys, all the norrises, men whose valour had been. proved on many a hard-fought battle-field. there, too, was the famous hero of british ballad whose name was so often to ring on the plains of the netherlands-- "the brave lord willoughby, of courage fierce and fell, who would not give one inch of way for all the devils in hell." twenty such volunteers as these sat on horseback that morning around the stately earl of leicester. it seemed an incredible extravagance to send a handful of such heroes against an army. but the english commander-in-chief had been listening to the insidious tongue of roland york--that bold, plausible, unscrupulous partisan, already twice a renegade, of whom more was ere long to be heard in the netherlands and england. of the man's courage there could be no doubt, and he was about to fight that morning in the front rank at the head of his company. but he had, for some mysterious reason, been bent upon persuading the earl that the spaniards were no match for englishmen at a hand-to-hand contest. when they could ride freely up and down, he said, and use their lances as they liked, they were formidable. but the english were stronger men, better riders, better mounted, and better armed. the spaniards hated helmets and proof armour, while the english trooper, in casque, cuirass, and greaves, was a living fortress impregnable to spanish or italian light horsemen. and leicester seemed almost convinced by his reasoning. it was five o'clock of a chill autumn morning. it was time for day to break, but the fog was so thick that a man at the distance of five yards was quite invisible. the creaking of waggon-wheels and the measured tramp of soldiers soon became faintly audible however to sir john norris and his five hundred as they sat there in the mist. presently came galloping forward in hot haste those nobles and gentlemen, with their esquires, fifty men in all--sidney, willoughby, and the rest--whom leicester had no longer been able to restrain from taking part in the adventure. a force of infantry, the amount of which cannot be satisfactorily ascertained, had been ordered by the earl to cross the bridge at a later moment. sidney's cornet of horse was then in deventer, to which place it had been sent in order to assist in quelling an anticipated revolt, so that he came, like most of his companions, as a private volunteer and knight-errant. the arrival of the expected convoy was soon more distinctly heard, but no scouts or outposts had been stationed to give timely notice, of the enemy's movements. suddenly the fog, which had shrouded the scene so closely, rolled away like a curtain, and in the full light of an october morning the englishmen found themselves face to face with a compact body of more than three thousand men. the marquis del vasto rode at the head of the forces surrounded by a band of mounted arquebus men. the cavalry, under the famous epirote chief george crescia, hannibal gonzaga, bentivoglio, sesa, conti, and other distinguished commanders, followed; the columns of pikemen and musketeers lined the, hedge-rows on both sides the causeway; while between them the long train of waggons came slowly along under their protection. the whole force had got in motion after having sent notice of their arrival to verdugo, who, with one or two thousand men, was expected to sally forth almost immediately from the city-gate. there was but brief time for deliberation. notwithstanding the tremendous odds there was no thought of retreat. black norris called to sir william stanley, with whom he had been at variance so lately at doesburg. "there hath been ill-blood between us," he said. "let us be friends together this day, and die side by side, if need be, in her majesty's cause." "if you see me not serve my prince with faithful courage now," replied stanley, "account, me for ever a coward. living or dying i will stand err lie by you in friendship." as they were speaking these words the young earl of essex, general of the horse, cried to his, handful of troopers: "follow me, good fellows, for the honour of england and of england's queen!" as he spoke he dashed, lance in rest, upon the enemy's cavalry, overthrew the foremost man, horse and rider, shivered his own spear to splinters, and then, swinging his cartel-axe, rode merrily forward. his whole little troop, compact, as an arrow-head, flew with an irresistible shock against the opposing columns, pierced clean through them, and scattered them in all directions. at the very first charge one hundred english horsemen drove the spanish and albanian cavalry back upon the musketeers and pikemen. wheeling with rapidity, they retired before a volley of musket-shot, by which many horses and a few riders were killed; and then formed again to renew the attack. sir philip sidney, an coming to the field, having met sir william pelham, the veteran lord marshal, lightly armed, had with chivalrous extravagance thrown off his own cuishes, and now rode to the battle with no armour but his cuirass. at the second charge his horse was shot under him, but, mounting another, he was seen everywhere, in the thick of the fight, behaving himself with a gallantry which extorted admiration even from the enemy. for the battle was a series of personal encounters in which high officers were doing the work of private, soldiers. lord north, who had been lying "bed-rid" with a musket-shot in the leg, had got himself put on horseback, and with "one boot on and one boot off," bore himself, "most lustily" through the whole affair. "i desire that her majesty may know;" he said, "that i live but to, serve her. a better barony than i have could not hire the lord north to live, on meaner terms." sir william russell laid about him with his curtel-axe to such purpose that the spaniards pronounced him a devil and not a man. "wherever," said an eye- witness, "he saw five or six of the enemy together; thither would he, and with his hard knocks soon separated their friendship." lord willoughby encountered george crescia, general of the famed albanian cavalry, unhorsed him at the first shock, and rolled him into the ditch. "i yield me thy prisoner," called out the epirote in french, "for thou art a 'preux chevalier;'" while willoughby, trusting to his captive's word, galloped onward, and with him the rest of the little troop, till they seemed swallowed up by the superior numbers of the enemy. his horse was shot under him, his basses were torn from his legs, and he was nearly taken a prisoner, but fought his way back with incredible strength and good fortune. sir william stanley's horse had seven bullets in him, but bore his rider unhurt to the end of the battle. leicester declared sir william and "old reads" to be "worth their, weight in pearl." hannibal gonzaga, leader of the spanish cavalry, fell mortally wounded a the marquis del vasto, commander of the expedition, nearly met the same fate. an englishman was just cleaving his head with a battle-axe, when a spaniard transfixed the soldier with his pike. the most obstinate struggle took place about the train of waggons. the teamsters had fled in the beginning of the action, but the english and spanish soldiers, struggling with the horses, and pulling them forward and backward, tried in vain to get exclusive possession of the convoy which was the cause of the action. the carts at last forced their way slowly nearer and nearer to the town, while the combat still went on, warm as ever, between the hostile squadrons. the action, lasted an hour and a half, and again and again the spanish horsemen wavered and broke before the handful of english, and fell back upon their musketeers. sir philip sidney, in the last charge, rode quite through the enemy's ranks till he came upon their entrenchments, when a musket-ball from the camp struck him upon the thigh, three inches above the knee. although desperately wounded in a part which should have been protected by the cuishes which he had thrown aside, he was not inclined to leave the field; but his own horse had been shot under him at the-beginning of the action, and the one upon which he was now mounted became too restive for him, thus crippled, to control. he turned reluctantly away, and rode a mile and a half back to the entrenchments, suffering extreme pain, for his leg was dreadfully shattered. as he past along the edge of the battle-field his attendants brought him a bottle of water to quench his raging thirst. at, that moment a wounded english soldier, "who had eaten his last at the same feast," looked up wistfully, in his face, when sidney instantly handed him the flask, exclaiming, "thy necessity is even greater than mine." he then pledged his dying comrade in a draught, and was soon afterwards met by his uncle. "oh, philip," cried leicester, in despair, "i am truly grieved to see thee in this plight." but sidney comforted him with manful words, and assured him that death was sweet in the cause of his queen and country. sir william russell, too, all blood-stained from the fight, threw his arms around his friend, wept like a child, and kissing his hand, exclaimed, "oh! noble sir philip, never did man attain hurt so honourably or serve so valiantly as you." sir william pelham declared "that sidney's noble courage in the face of our enemies had won him a name of continuing honour." the wounded gentleman was borne back to the camp, and thence in a barge to arnheim. the fight was over. sir john norris bade lord leicester "be merry, for," said he, "you have had the honourablest day. a handful of men has driven the enemy three times to retreat. "but, in truth, it was now time for the english to retire in their turn. their reserve never arrived. the whole force engaged against the thirty-five hundred spaniards had never exceeded two hundred and fifty horse and three hundred foot, and of this number the chief work had beer done by the fifty or sixty volunteers and their followers. the heroism which had been displayed was fruitless, except as a proof--and so leicester wrote to the palatine john casimir--"that spaniards were not invincible." two thousand men now sallied from the loor gate under verdugo and tassis, to join the force under vasto, and the english were forced to retreat. the whole convoy was then carried into the city, and the spaniards remained masters of the field. thirteen troopers and twenty-two foot soldiers; upon the english side, were killed. the enemy lost perhaps two hundred men. they were thrice turned from their position, and thrice routed, but they succeeded at last in their attempt to carry their convoy into zutphen. upon that day, and the succeeding ones, the town was completely victualled. very little, therefore, save honour, was gained by the display of english valour against overwhelming numbers; five hundred against, near, four thousand. never in the whole course of the war had there been such fighting, for the troops upon both sides were picked men and veterans. for a long time afterwards it was the custom of spaniards and netherlanders, in characterising a hardly-contested action, to call it as warm as the fight at zutphen. "i think i may call it," said leicester, "the most notable encounter that hath been in our age, and it will remain to our posterity famous." nevertheless it is probable that the encounter would have been forgotten by posterity but for the melancholy close upon that field to sidney's bright career. and perhaps the queen of england had as much reason to blush for the incompetency of her general and favourite as to be proud. of the heroism displayed by her officers and soldiers. "there were too many indeed at this skirmish of the better sort," said leicester; "only a two hundred and fifty horse, and most of them the best of this camp, and unawares to me. i was offended when i knew it, but could not fetch them back; but since they all so well escaped (save my dear nephew), i would not for ten thousand pounds but they had been there, since they have all won that honour they have. your lordship never heard of such desperate charges as they gave upon the enemies in the face of their muskets." he described sidney's wound as "very dangerous, the bone being broken in pieces;" but said that the surgeons were in good hope. "i pray god to save his life," said the earl, "and i care not how lame he be." sir philip was carried to arnheim, where the best surgeons were immediately in attendance upon him. he submitted to their examination and the pain which they inflicted, with great cheerfulness, although himself persuaded that his wound was mortal. for many days the result was doubtful, and messages were sent day by day to england that he was convalescent-- intelligence which was hailed by the queen and people as a matter not of private but of public rejoicing. he soon began to fail, however. count hohenlo was badly wounded a few days later before the great fort of zutphen. a musket-ball entered his mouth; and passed through his cheek, carrying off a jewel which hung in his ear. notwithstanding his own critical condition, however, hohenlo sent his surgeon, adrian van den spiegel, a man of great skill, to wait upon sir philip, but adrian soon felt that the case was hopeless. meantime fever and gangrene attacked the count himself; and those in attendance upon him, fearing for his life, sent for his surgeon. leicester refused to allow adrian to depart, and hohenlo very generously acquiescing in the decree, but, also requiring the surgeon's personal care, caused himself to be transported in a litter to arnheim. sidney was first to recognise the symptoms of mortification, which made a fatal result inevitable. his demeanour during his sickness and upon his death-bed was as beautiful as his life. he discoursed with his friends concerning the immortality of the soul, comparing the doctrines of plato and of other ancient philosophers, whose writings were so familiar to him, with the revelations of scripture and with the dictates of natural religion. he made his will with minute and elaborate provisions, leaving bequests, remembrances, and rings, to all his friends. then he indulged himself with music, and listened particularly to a strange song which he had himself composed during his illness, and which he had entitled 'la cuisse rompue.' he took leave of the friends around him with perfect calmness; saying to his brother robert, "love my memory. cherish my friends. above all, govern your will and affections by the will and word of your creator; in me beholding the end of this world with all her vanities." and thus this gentle and heroic spirit took its flight. parma, after thoroughly victualling zutphen, turned his attention to the german levies which leicester was expecting under the care of count meurs. "if the enemy is reinforced by these six thousand fresh troops," said alexander; "it will make him master of the field." and well he might hold this opinion, for, in the meagre state of both the spanish and the liberating armies, the addition of three thousand fresh reiters and as many infantry would be enough to turn the scale. the duke of parma-- for, since the recent death of his father, farnese had succeeded to his title--determined in person to seek the german troops, and to destroy them if possible. but they never gave him the chance. their muster- place was bremen, but when they heard that the terrible 'holofernese' was in pursuit of them, and that the commencement of their service would be a pitched battle with his spaniards and italians, they broke up and scattered about the country. soon afterwards the duke tried another method of effectually dispersing them, in case they still retained a wish to fulfil their engagement with leicester. he sent a messenger to treat with them, and in consequence two of their rittmeisters; paid him a visit. he offered to give them higher pay, and "ready money in place of tricks and promises." the mercenary heroes listened very favourably to his proposals, although they had already received--besides the tricks and promises--at least one hundred thousand florins out of the states' treasury. after proceeding thus far in the negotiation, however, parma concluded, as the season was so far advanced, that it was sufficient to have dispersed them, and to have deprived the english and patriots of their services. so he gave the two majors a gold chain a-piece, and they went their way thoroughly satisfied. "i have got them away from the enemy for this year," said alexander; "and this i hold to be one of the best services that has been rendered for many a long day to your majesty." during the period which intervened between the action at warnsfeld and the death of sidney, the siege-operations before zutphen had been continued. the city, strongly garrisoned and well supplied with provisions, as it had been by parma's care, remained impregnable; but the sconces beyond the river and upon the island fell into leicester's hands. the great fortress which commanded the veluwe, and which was strong enough to have resisted count hohenlo on a former, occasion for nearly a whole year, was the scene of much hard fighting. it was gained at last by the signal valour of edward stanley, lieutenant to sir william. that officer, at the commencement of an assault upon a not very practicable breach, sprang at the long pike of a spanish soldier, who was endeavoring to thrust him from the wall, and seized it with both hands. the spaniard struggled to maintain his hold of the weapon, stanley to wrest it from his grasp. a dozen other soldiers broke their pikes upon his cuirass or shot at him with their muskets. conspicuous by his dress, being all in yellow but his corslet, he was in full sight of leicester and of fire thousand men. the earth was so shifty and sandy that the soldiers who were to follow him were not able to climb the wall. still stanley grasped his adversary's pike, but, suddenly changing his plan, he allowed the spaniard to lift him from the ground. then, assisting himself with his feet against the wall, he, much to the astonishment of the spectators, scrambled quite over the parapet, and dashed sword in hand among the defenders of the fort. had he been endowed with a hundred lives it seemed impossible for him to escape death. but his followers, stimulated by his example, made ladders for themselves of each others' shoulders, clambered at last with great exertion over the broken wall, overpowered the garrison, and made themselves masters of the sconce. leicester, transported with enthusiasm for this noble deed of daring, knighted edward stanley upon the spot, besides presenting him next day with forty pounds in gold and an annuity of one hundred marks, sterling for life. "since i was born, i did never see any man behave himself as he did," said the earl. "i shall never forget it, if i live a thousand year, and he shall have a part of my living for it as long as i live." the occupation of these forts terminated the military operations of the year, for the rainy season, precursor of the winter, had now set in. leicester, leaving sir william stanley, with twelve hundred english and irish horse, in command of deventer; sir john burrowes, with one thousand men, in doesburg; and sir robert yorke, with one thousand more, in the great sconce before zutphen; took his departure for the hague. zutphen seemed so surrounded as to authorize the governor to expect ere long its capitulation. nevertheless, the results of the campaign had not been encouraging. the states had lost ground, having been driven from the meuse and rhine, while they had with difficulty maintained themselves on the flemish coast and upon the yssel. it is now necessary to glance at the internal politics of the republic during the period of leicester's administration and to explain the position in which he found himself at the close of the year. etext editor's bookmarks: and thus this gentle and heroic spirit took its flight five great rivers hold the netherland territory in their coils high officers were doing the work of private, soldiers i did never see any man behave himself as he did there is no man fitter for that purpose than myself this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, chapter xiii. barneveld's influence in the provinces--unpopularity of leicester intrigues--of his servants--gossip of his secretary-- its mischievous effects--the quarrel of norris and hollock-- the earl's participation in the affair--his increased animosity to norris--seizure of deventer--stanley appointed its governor--york and stanley--leicester's secret instructions--wilkes remonstrates with stanley--stanley's insolence and equivocation--painful rumours as to him and york--duplicity of york--stanley's banquet at deventer--he surrenders the city to tassis--terms of the bargain-- feeble defence of stanley's conduct--subsequent fate of stanley and york--betrayal of gelder to parma--these treasons cast odium on the english--miserable plight of the english troops--honesty and energy of wilkes--indignant discussion in the assembly. the government had not been laid down by leicester on his departure. it had been provisionally delegated, as already mentioned to the state- council. in this body-consisting of eighteen persons--originally appointed by the earl, on nomination by the states, several members were friendly to the governor, and others were violently opposed to him. the staten of holland, by whom the action of the states-general was mainly controlled, were influenced in their action by buys and barneveld. young maurice of nassau, nineteen years of age, was stadholder of holland and zeeland. a florid complexioned, fair-haired young man, of sanguine- bilious temperament; reserved, quiet, reflective, singularly self- possessed; meriting at that time, more than his father had ever done, the appellation of the taciturn; discreet, sober, studious. "count maurice saith but little, but i cannot tell what he thinketh," wrote leicester's eaves-dropper-in-chiefs. mathematics, fortification, the science of war --these were his daily pursuits. "the sapling was to become the tree," and meantime the youth was preparing for the great destiny which he felt, lay before him. to ponder over the works and the daring conceptions of stevinus, to build up and to batter the wooden blocks of mimic citadels; to arrange in countless combinations, great armies of pewter soldiers; these were the occupations of his leisure-hours. yet he was hardly suspected of bearing within him the germs of the great military commander. "small desire hath count maurice to follow the wars," said one who fancied himself an acute observer at exactly this epoch. "and whereas it might be supposed that in respect to his birth and place, he would affect the chief military command in these countries, it is found by experience had of his humour, that there is no chance of his entering into competition with the others." a modest young man, who could bide his time--but who, meanwhile, under the guidance of his elders, was doing his best, both in field and cabinet, to learn the great lessons of the age--he had already enjoyed much solid practical instruction, under such a desperate fighter as hohenlo, and under so profound a statesman as barneveld. for at this epoch olden-barneveld was the preceptor, almost the political patron of maurice, and maurice, the official head of the holland party, was the declared opponent of the democratic-calvinist organization. it is not necessary, at this early moment, to foreshadow the changes which time was to bring. meantime it would be seen, perhaps ere long, whether or no, it would be his humour to follow the wars. as to his prudent and dignified deportment there was little doubt. "count maurice behaveth himself very discreetly all this while," wrote one, who did not love him, to leicester, who loved him less: "he cometh every day to the council, keeping no company with count hollock, nor with any of them all, and never drinks himself full with any of them, as they do every day among themselves." certainly the most profitable intercourse that maurice could enjoy with hohenlo was upon the battle-field. in winter-quarters, that hard- fighting, hard-drinking, and most turbulent chieftain, was not the best mentor for a youth whose destiny pointed him out as the leader of a free commonwealth. after the campaigns were over--if they ever could be over- -the count and other nobles from the same country were too apt to indulge in those mighty potations, which were rather characteristic of their nation and the age. "since your excellency's departure," wrote leicester's secretary, "there hath been among the dutch counts nothing but dancing and drinking, to the grief of all this people; which foresee that there can come no good of it. specially count hollock, who hath been drunk almost a fortnight together." leicester had rendered himself unpopular with the states-general, and with all the leading politicians and generals; yet, at that moment, he had deeply mortgaged his english estates in order to raise funds to expend in the netherland cause. thirty thousand pounds sterling-- according to his own statement--he was already out of pocket, and, unless the queen would advance him the means to redeem his property; his broad lands were to be brought to the hammer. but it was the queen, not the states-general, who owed the money; for the earl had advanced these sums as a portion of the royal contingent. five hundred and sixty thousand pounds sterling had been the cost of one year's war during the english governor's administration; and of this sum one hundred and forty thousand had been paid by england. there was a portion of the sum, over and above their monthly levies; for which the states had contracted a debt, and they were extremely desirous to obtain, at that moment, an additional loan of fifty thousand pounds from elizabeth; a favour which--elizabeth was very firmly determined not to grant. it was this terror at the expense into which the netherland war was plunging her, which made the english sovereign so desirous for peace, and filled the anxious mind of walsingham with the most painful forebodings. leicester, in spite of his good qualities--such as they were--had not that most necessary gift for a man in his position, the art of making friends. no man made so many enemies. he was an excellent hater, and few men have been more cordially hated in return. he was imperious, insolent, hot-tempered. he could brook no equal. he had also the fatal defect of enjoying the flattery, of his inferiors in station. adroit intriguers burned incense to him as a god, and employed him as their tool. and now he had mortally offended hohenlo, and buys, and barneveld, while he hated sir john norris with a most passionate hatred. wilkes, the english representative, was already a special object of his aversion. the unvarnished statements made by the stiff counsellor, of the expense of the past year's administration, and the various errors committed, had inspired leicester with such ferocious resentment, that the friends of wilkes trembled for his life. ["it is generally bruited here," wrote henry smith to his brother- in-law wilkes, "of a most heavy displeasure conceived by my lord of leicester against you, and it is said to be so great as that he hath protested to be revenged of you; and to procure you the more enemies, it is said he hath revealed to my lord treasurer, and secretary davison some injurious speeches (which i cannot report) you should have used of them to him at your last being with him. furthermore some of the said lord's secretaries have reported here that it were good for you never to return hither, or, if their lord be appointed to go over again, it will be too hot for you to tarry there. these things thus coming to the ears of your friends have stricken a great fear and grief into the minds of such as love you, lest the wonderful force and authority of this man being bent against you, should do you hurt, while there is none to answer for you." smith to wilkes, jan. . (s. p. office ms.)] cordiality between the governor-general and count maurice had become impossible. as for willoughby and sir william pelham, they were both friendly to him, but willoughby was a magnificent cavalry officer, who detested politics, and cared little for the netherlands, except as the best battle-field in europe, and the old marshal of the camp--the only man that leicester ever loved--was growing feeble in health, was broken down by debt, and hardly possessed, or wished for, any general influence. besides deventer of utrecht, then, on whom, the earl chiefly relied during his, absence, there were none to support him cordially, except two or three members of the state-council. "madame de brederode hath sent unto you a kind of rose," said his intelligencer, "which you have asked for, and beseeches you to command anything she has in her garden, or whatsoever. m. meetkerke, m. brederode, and mr. dorius, wish your return with all, their hearts. for the rest i cannot tell, and will not swear. but mr. barneveld is not your very great friend, whereof i can write no more at this time." this certainly was a small proportion out of a council of eighteen, when all the leading politicians of the country were in avowed hostility to the governor. and thus the earl was, at this most important crisis, to depend upon the subtle and dangerous deventer, and upon two inferior personages, the "fellow junius" and a non-descript, whom hohenlo characterized as a "long lean englishman, with a little black beard." this meagre individual however seems to have been of somewhat doubtful nationality. he called himself otheman, claimed to be a frenchman, had lived much in england, wrote with great fluency and spirit, both in french and english, but was said, in reality, to be named robert dale. it was not the best policy for the representative of the english queen to trust to such counsellors at a moment when the elements of strife between holland and england were actively at work; and when the safety, almost the existence, of the two commonwealths depended upon their acting cordially in concert. "overyssel, utrecht, friesland, and gelderland, have agreed to renew the offer of sovereignty to her majesty," said leicester. "i shall be able to make a better report of their love and good inclination than i can of holland." it was thought very desirable by the english government that this great demonstration should be made once more, whatever might be the ultimate decision of her majesty upon so momentous a measure. it seemed proper that a solemn embassy should once more proceed to england in order to confer with elizabeth; but there was much delay in regard to the step, and much indignation, in consequence, on the part of the earl. the opposition came, of course, from the barneveld party. "they are in no great haste to offer the sovereignty," said wilkes. "first some towns of holland made bones thereat, and now they say that zeeland is not resolved." the nature and the causes of the opposition offered by barneveld and the states of holland have been sufficiently explained. buys, maddened by his long and unjustifiable imprisonment, had just been released by the express desire of hohenlo; and that unruly chieftain, who guided the german and dutch magnates; such as moeurs and overstein, and who even much influenced maurice and his cousin count lewis william, was himself governed by barneveld. it would have been far from impossible for leicester, even then, to conciliate the whole party. it was highly desirable that he should do so, for not one of the provinces where he boasted his strength was quite secure for england. count moeurs, a potent and wealthy noble, was governor of utrecht and gelderland, and he had already begun to favour the party in holland which claimed for that province a legal jurisdiction over the whole ancient episcopate. under these circumstances common prudence would have suggested that as good an understanding as possible might be kept up with the dutch and german counts, and that the breach might not be rendered quite irreparable. yet, as if there had not been administrative blunders enough committed in one year, the unlucky lean englishman, with the black beard, who was the earl's chief representative, contrived--almost before his master's back was turned--to draw upon himself the wrath of all the fine ladies in holland. that this should be the direful spring of unutterable disasters, social and political, was easy to foretell. just before the governor's departure otheman came to pay his farewell respects, and receive his last commands. he found leicester seated at chess with sir francis drake. "i do leave you here, my poor otheman," said the earl, "but so soon as i leave you i know very well that nobody will give you a good look." "your excellency was a true prophet," wrote the secretary a few weeks later, "for, my good lord, i have been in as great danger of my life as ever man was. i have been hunted at delft from house to house, and then besieged in my lodgings four or five hours, as though i had been the greatest thief, murderer, and traitor in the land." and why was the unfortunate otheman thus hunted to his lair? because he had chosen to indulge in 'scandalum magnatum,' and had thereby excited the frenzy of all the great nobles whom it was most important for the english party to conciliate. there had been gossip about the princess of chimay and one calvaert, who lived in her house, much against the advice of all her best friends. one day she complained bitterly to master otheman of the spiteful ways of the world. "i protest," said she, "that i am the unhappiest lady upon earth to have my name thus called in question." so said otheman, in order to comfort her: "your highness is aware that such things are said of all. i am sure i hear every day plenty of speeches about lords and ladies, queens and princesses. you have little cause to trouble yourself for such matters, being known to live honestly, and like a good christian lady. your highness is not the only lady spoken of." the princess listened with attention. "think of the stories about the queen of england and my lord of leicester!" said otheman, with infinite tact. "no person is exempted from the tongues of evil, speakers; but virtuous and godly men do put all such foolish matter under their feet. then there is the countess of hoeurs, how much evil talk does one hear about her!" the princess seemed still more interested and even excited; and the adroit otheman having thus, as he imagined, very successfully smoothed away her anger, went off to have a little more harmless gossip about the princess and the countess, with madame de meetkerke, who had sent leicester the rose from her garden. but, no sooner, had he gone, than away went her highness to madame de moeurs, "a marvellous wise and well-spoken gentlewoman and a grave," and informed her and the count, with some trifling exaggeration, that the vile englishman, secretary to the odious leicester, had just been there, abusing and calumniating the countess in most lewd and abominable fashion. he had also, she protested, used "very evil speeches of all the ladies in the country." for her own part the princess avowed her determination to have him instantly murdered. count moeurs was quite of the same mind, and desired nothing better than to be one of his executioners. accordingly, the next sunday, when the babbling secretary had gone down to delft to hear the french sermon, a select party, consisting of moeurs, lewis william of nassau, count overstein, and others, set forth for that city, laid violent hands on the culprit, and brought him bodily before princess chimay. there, being called upon to explain his innuendos, he fell into much trepidation, and gave the names of several english captains, whom he supposed to be at that time in england. "for if i had denied the whole matter," said he, "they would have given me the lie, and used me according to their evil mind." upon this they relented, and released their prisoner, but, the next day they made another attack upon him, hunted him from house to house, through the whole city of delft, and at last drove him to earth in his own lodgings, where they kept him besieged several hours. through the intercession of wilkes and the authority of the council of state, to which body he succeeded in conveying information of his dangerous predicament, he was, in his own language, "miraculously preserved," although remaining still in daily danger of his life. "i pray god keep me hereafter from the anger of a woman," he exclaimed, "quia non est ira supra iram mulieris." he was immediately examined before the council, and succeeded in clearing and justifying himself to the satisfaction of his friends. his part was afterwards taken by the councillors, by all the preachers and godly men, and by the university of leyden. but it was well understood that the blow and the affront had been levelled at the english governor and the english nation. "all your friends do see," said otheman, "that this disgrace is not meant so much to me as to your excellency; the dutch earls having used such speeches unto me, and against all law, custom, and reason, used such violence to me, that your excellency shall wonder to hear of it." now the princess chimay, besides being of honourable character, was a sincere and exemplary member of the calvinist church, and well inclined to the leicestrians. she was daughter of count meghem, one of the earliest victims of philip ii., in the long tragedy of netherland independence, and widow of lancelot berlaymont. count moeurs was governor of utrecht, and by no means, up to that time, a thorough supporter of the holland party; but thenceforward he went off most abruptly from the party of england, became hand and glove with hohenlo, accepted the influence of barneveld, and did his best to wrest the city of utrecht from english authority. such was the effect of the secretary's harmless gossip. "i thought count moeurs and his wife better friends to your excellency than i do see them to be," said otheman afterwards. "but he doth now disgrace the english nation many ways in his speeches--saying that they are no soldiers, that they do no good to this country, and that these englishmen that are at arnheim have an intent to sell and betray the town to the enemy." but the disgraceful squabble between hohenlo and edward norris had been more unlucky for leicester than any other incident during the year, for its result was to turn the hatred of both parties against himself. yet the earl of all men, was originally least to blame for the transaction. it has been seen that sir philip sidney had borne norris's cartel to hohenlo, very soon after the outrage had been committed. the count had promised satisfaction, but meantime was desperately wounded in the attack on fort zutphen. leicester afterwards did his best to keep edward norris employed in distant places, for he was quite aware that hohenlo, as lieutenant-general and count of the empire, would consider himself aggrieved at being called to the field by a simple english captain, however deeply he might have injured him. the governor accordingly induced the queen to recall the young man to england, and invited him-- much as he disliked his whole race--to accompany him on his departure for that country. the captain then consulted with his brother sir john, regarding the pending dispute with hohenlo. his brother advised that the count should be summoned to keep his promise, but that lord leicester's permission should previously be requested. a week before the governor's departure, accordingly, edward norris presented himself one morning in the dining-room, and, finding the earl reclining on a window-seat, observed to him that "he desired his lordship's favour towards the discharging of his reputation." "the count hollock is now well," he proceeded, "and is fasting and banqueting in his lodgings, although he does not come abroad." "and what way will you take?" inquired leicester, "considering that he keeps his house." "'twill be best, i thought," answered norris, "to write unto him, to perform his promise he made me to answer me in the field." "to whom did he make that promise?" asked the earl. "to sir philip sidney," answered the captain. "to my nephew sidney," said leicester, musingly; "very well; do as you think best, and i will do for you what i can." and the governor then added many kind expressions concerning the interest he felt in the young man's reputation. passing to other matters, morris then spoke of the great charges he had recently been put to by reason of having exchanged out of the states' service in order to accept a commission from his lordship to levy a company of horse. this levy had cost him and his friends three hundred pounds, for which he had not been able to "get one groat." "i beseech your lordship to stand good for me," said he; "considering the meanest captain in all the country hath as good entertainment as i." "i can do but little for you before my departure," said leicester; "but at my return i will advise to do more." after this amicable conversation morris thanked his lordship, took his leave, and straightway wrote his letter to count hollock. that personage, in his answer, expressed astonishment that norris should summon him, in his "weakness and indisposition;" but agreed to give him the desired meeting; with sword and dagger, so soon as he should be sufficiently recovered. morris, in reply, acknowledged his courteous promise, and hoped that he might be speedily restored to health. the state-council, sitting at the hague, took up the matter at once however, and requested immediate information of the earl. he accordingly sent for norris and his brother sir john, who waited upon him in his bed- chamber, and were requested to set down in writing the reasons which had moved them in the matter. this statement was accordingly furnished, together with a copy of the correspondence. the earl took the papers, and promised to allow most honourably of it in the council. such is the exact narrative, word for word, as given by sir john and edward norris, in a solemn memorial to the lords of her majesty's privy council, as well as to the state-council of the united provinces. a very few days afterwards leicester departed for england, taking edward norris with him. count hohenlo was furious at the indignity, notwithstanding the polite language in which he had accepted the challenge. "'t was a matter punishable with death," he said, "in all kingdoms and countries, for a simple captain to send such a summons to a man of his station, without consent of the supreme authority. it was plain," he added, "that the english governor-general had connived at the affront," for norris had been living in his family and dining at his table. nay, more, lord leicester had made him a knight at flushing just before their voyage to england. there seems no good reason to doubt the general veracity of the brothers norris, although, for the express purpose of screening leicester, sir john represented at the time to hohenlo and others that the earl had not been privy to the transaction. it is very certain, however, that so soon as the general indignation of hohenlo and his partizans began to be directed against leicester, he at once denied, in passionate and abusive language, having had any knowledge whatever of norris's intentions. he protested that he learned, for the first time, of the cartel from information furnished to the council of state. the quarrel between hohenlo and norris was afterwards amicably arranged by lord buckhurst, during his embassy to the states, at the express desire of the queen. hohenlo and sir john norris became very good friends, while the enmity between them and leicester grew more deadly every day. the earl was frantic with rage whenever he spoke of the transaction, and denounced sir john norris as "a fool, liar, and coward" on all occasions, besides overwhelming his brother, buckhurst, wilkes, and every other person who took their part, with a torrent of abuse; and it is well known that the earl was a master of billingsgate. "hollock says that i did procure edward norris to send him his cartel," observed leicester on one occasion, "wherein i protest before the lord, i was as ignorant as any man in england. his brother john can tell whether i did not send for him to have committed him for it; but that, in very truth, upon the perusing of it" (after it had been sent), "it was very reasonably written, and i did consider also the great wrong offered him by the count, and so forbore it. i was so careful for the count's safety after the brawl between him and norris, that i charged sir john, if any harm came to the count's person by any of his or under him, that he should answer it. therefore, i take the story to be bred in the bosom of some much like a thief or villain, whatsoever he were." and all this was doubtless true so far as regarded the earl's original exertions to prevent the consequences of the quarrel, but did not touch the point of the second correspondence preceded by the conversation in the dining-room, eight days before the voyage to england. the affair, in itself of slight importance, would not merit so much comment at this late day had it not been for its endless consequences. the ferocity with which the earl came to regard every prominent german, hollander, and englishman, engaged in the service of the states, sprang very much from the complications of this vulgar brawl. norris, hohenlo, wilkes, buckhurst, were all denounced to the queen as calumniators, traitors, and villains; and it may easily be understood how grave and extensive must have been the effects of such vituperation upon the mind of elizabeth, who, until the last day of his life, doubtless entertained for the earl the deepest affection of which her nature was susceptible. hohenlo, with count maurice, were the acknowledged chiefs of the anti-english party, and the possibility of cordial cooperation between the countries may be judged of by the entanglement which had thus occurred. leicester had always hated sir john norris, but he knew that the mother had still much favour with the queen, and he was therefore the more vehement in his denunciations of the son the more difficulty be found in entirely destroying his character, and the keener jealousy he felt that any other tongue but his should influence her majesty. "the story of john norris about the cartel is, by the lord god, most false," he exclaimed; "i do beseech you not to see me so dealt withal, but that especially her majesty may understand these untruths, who perhaps, by the mother's fair speeches and the son's smooth words, may take some other conceit of my doings than i deserve." he was most resolute to stamp the character of falsehood upon both the brothers, for he was more malignant towards sir john than towards any man in the world, not even excepting wilkes. to the queen, to the lords of the privy council, to walsingham, to burghley, he poured forth endless quantities of venom, enough to destroy the characters of a hundred honest men. "the declaration of the two norrises for the cartel is most false, as i am a christian," he said to walsingham. "i have a dozen witnesses, as good and some better than they, who will testify that they were present when i misliked the writing of the letter before ever i saw it. and by the allegiance i owe to her majesty, i never knew of the letter, nor gave consent to it, nor heard of it till it was complained of from count hollock. but, as they are false in this, so you will find j. n. as false in his other answers; so that he would be ashamed, but that his old conceit hath made him past shame, i fear. his companions in ireland, as in these countries, report that sir john norris would often say that he was but an ass and a fool, who, if a lie would serve his turn, would spare it. i remember i have heard that the earl of sussex would say so; and indeed this gentleman doth imitate him in divers things." but a very grave disaster to holland and england was soon the fruit of the hatred borne by leicester to sir john norris. immediately after the battle of zutphen and the investment of that town by the english and netherlanders, great pains were taken to secure the city of deventer. this was, after amsterdam and antwerp, the most important mercantile place in all the provinces. it was a large prosperous commercial and manufacturing capital, a member of the hanseatic league, and the great centre of the internal trade of the netherlands with the baltic nations. there was a strong catholic party in the town, and the magistracy were disposed to side with parma. it was notorious that provisions and munitions were supplied from thence to the beleaguered zutphen; and leicester despatched sir william pelham, accordingly, to bring the inhabitants to reason. the stout marshal made short work of it. taking sir william stanley and the greater part of his regiment with him, he caused them, day by day, to steal into the town, in small parties of ten and fifteen. no objection was made to this proceeding on the part of the city government. then stanley himself arrived in the morning, and the marshal in the evening, of the th of october. pelham ordered the magistrates to present themselves forthwith at his lodgings, and told them, with grim courtesy, that the earl of leicester excused himself from making them a visit, not being able, for grief at the death of sir philip sidney, to come so soon near the scene of his disaster. his excellency had therefore sent him to require the town to receive an english garrison. "so make up your minds, and delay not," said pelham; "for i have many important affairs on my hands, and must send word to his excellency at once. to-morrow morning, at eight o'clock, i shall expect your answer." next day, the magistrates were all assembled in the townhouse before six. stanley had filled the great square with his troops, but he found that the burghers-five thousand of whom constituted the municipal militia--had chained the streets and locked the gates. at seven o'clock pelham proceeded, to the town-house, and, followed by his train, made his appearance before the magisterial board. then there was a knocking at the door, and sir william stanley entered, having left a strong guard of soldiers at the entrance to the hall. "i am come for an answer," said the lord marshal; "tell me straight." the magistrates hesitated, whispered, and presently one of them slipped away. "there's one of you gone," cried the marshal. "fetch him straight back; or, by the living god, before whom i stand, there is not one of you shall leave this place with life." so the burgomasters sent for the culprit, who returned. "now, tell me," said pelham, "why you have, this night, chained your streets and kept such strong watch while your friends and defenders were in the town? do you think we came over here to spend our lives and our goods, and to leave all we have, to be thus used and thus betrayed by you? nay, you shall find us trusty to our friends, but as politic as yourselves. now, then; set your hands to this document," he proceeded, as he gave them a new list of magistrates, all selected from stanch protestants. "give over your government to the men here nominated, straight; dally not!" the burgomasters signed the paper. "now," said pelham, "let one of you go to the watch, discharge the guard, bid them unarm, and go home to their lodgings." a magistrate departed on the errand. "now fetch me the keys of the gate," said pelham, "and that straightway, or, before god, you shall die." the keys were brought, and handed to the peremptory old marshal. the old board of magistrates were then clapped into prison, the new ones installed, and deventer was gained for the english and protestant party. there could be no doubt that a city so important and thus fortunately secured was worthy to be well guarded. there could be no doubt either that it would be well to conciliate the rich and influential papists in the place, who, although attached to the ancient religion, were not necessarily disloyal to the republic; but there could be as little that, under the circumstances of this sudden municipal revolution, it would be important to place a garrison of protestant soldiers there, under the command of a protestant officer of known fidelity. to the astonishment of the whole commonwealth, the earl appointed sir william stanley to be governor of the town, and stationed in it a garrison of twelve hundred wild irishmen. sir william was a cadet of one of the noblest english houses. he was the bravest of the brave. his gallantry at the famous zutphen fight had attracted admiration, where nearly all had performed wondrous exploits, but he was known to be an ardent papist and a soldier of fortune, who had fought on various sides, and had even borne arms in the netherlands under the ferocious alva. was it strange that there should be murmurs at the appointment of so dangerous a chief to guard a wavering city which had so recently been secured? the irish kernes--and they are described by all contemporaries, english and flemish, in the same language--were accounted as the wildest and fiercest of barbarians. there was something grotesque, yet appalling, in the pictures painted of these rude, almost naked; brigands, who ate raw flesh, spoke no intelligible language, and ranged about the country, burning, slaying, plundering, a terror to the peasantry and a source of constant embarrassment to the more orderly troops in the service of the republic. "it seemed," said one who had seen them, "that they belonged not to christendom, but to brazil." moreover, they were all papists, and, however much one might be disposed to censure that great curse of the age, religious intolerance--which was almost as flagrant in the councils of queen elizabeth as in those of philip--it was certainly a most fatal policy to place such a garrison, at that critical juncture, in the newly-acquired city. yet leicester, who had banished papists from utrecht without cause and without trial, now placed most notorious catholics in deventer. zutphen, which was still besieged by the english and the patriots, was much crippled by the loss of the great fort, the capture of which, mainly through the brilliant valour of stanley's brother edward, has already been related. the possession of deventer and of this fort gave the control of the whole north-eastern territory to the patriots; but, as if it were not enough to place deventer in the hands of sir william stanley, leicester thought proper to confide the government of the fort to roland york. not a worse choice could be made in the whole army. york was an adventurer of the most audacious and dissolute character. he was a londoner by birth, one of those "ruing blades" inveighed against by the governor-general on his first taking command of the forces. a man of desperate courage, a gambler, a professional duellist, a bravo, famous in his time among the "common hacksters and swaggerers" as the first to introduce the custom of foining, or thrusting with the rapier in single combats--whereas before his day it had been customary among the english to fight with sword and shield, and held unmanly to strike below the girdle--he had perpetually changed sides, in the netherland wars, with the shameless disregard to principle which characterized all his actions. he had been lieutenant to the infamous john van imbyze, and had been concerned with him in the notorious attempt to surrender dendermonde and ghent to the enemy, which had cost that traitor his head. york had been thrown into prison at brussels, but there had been some delay about his execution, and the conquest of the city by parma saved him from the gibbet. he had then taken service under the spanish commander-in-chief, and had distinguished himself, as usual, by deeds of extraordinary valour, having sprung on board the, burning volcano-ship at the siege of antwerp. subsequently returning to england, he had, on leicester's appointment, obtained the command of a company in the english contingent, and had been conspicuous on the field of warnsveld; for the courage which he always displayed under any standard was only equalled by the audacity with which he was ever ready to desert from it. did it seem credible that the fort of zutphen should be placed in the hands of roland york? remonstrances were made by the states-general at once. with regard to stanley, leicester maintained that he was, in his opinion, the fittest man to take charge of the whole english army, during his absence in england. in answer to a petition made by the states against the appointment of york, "in respect to his perfidious dealings before," the earl replied that he would answer for his fidelity as for his own brother; adding peremptorily--"do you trust me? then trust york." but, besides his other qualifications for high command, stanley possessed an inestimable one in leicester's eyes. he was, or at least had been, an enemy of sir john norris. to be this made a papist pardonable. it was even better than to be a puritan. but the earl did more than to appoint the traitor york and the papist stanley to these important posts. on the very day of his departure, and immediately after his final quarrel with sir john about the hohenlo cartel, which had renewed all the ancient venom, he signed a secret paper, by which he especially forbade the council of state to interfere with or set aside any appointments to the government of towns or forts, or to revoke any military or naval commissions, without his consent. now supreme executive authority had been delegated to the state-council by the governor-general during his absence. command in chief over all the english forces, whether in the queen's pay or the state's pay, had been conferred upon norris, while command over the dutch and german troops belonged to hohenlo; but, by virtue of the earl's secret paper, stanley and york were now made independent of all authority. the evil consequences natural to such a step were not slow in displaying themselves. stanley at once manifested great insolence towards norris. that distinguished general was placed in a most painful position. a post of immense responsibility was confided to him. the honour of england's queen and of england's soldiers was entrusted to his keeping; at a moment full of danger, and in a country where every hour might bring forth some terrible change; yet he knew himself the mark at which the most powerful man in england was directing all his malice, and that the queen, who was wax in her great favourite's hands, was even then receiving the most fatal impressions as to his character and conduct. "well i know," said he to burghley, "that the root of the former malice borne me is not withered, but that i must look for like fruits therefrom as before;" and he implored the lord-treasurer, that when his honour and reputation should be called in question, he might be allowed to return to england and clear himself. "for myself," said he, "i have not yet received any commission, although i have attended his lordship of leicester to his ship. it is promised to be sent me, and in the meantime i understand that my lord hath granted separate commissions to sir william stanley and roland york, exempting them from obeying of me. if this be true, 'tis only done to nourish factions, and to interrupt any better course in our doings than before hath been." he earnestly requested to be furnished with a commission directly from her majesty. "the enemy is reinforcing," he added. "we are very weak, our troops are unpaid these three months, and we are grown odious, to our friends." honest councillor wilkes, who did his best to conciliate all parties, and to do his duty to england and holland, to leicester and to norris, had the strongest sympathy with sir john. "truly, besides the value, wisdom, and many other good parts that are in him," he said, "i have noted wonderful patience and modesty in the man, in bearing many apparent injuries done unto him, which i have known to be countenanced and nourished, contrary to all reason, to disgrace him. please therefore continue your honourable opinion of him in his absence, whatsoever may be maliciously reported to his disadvantage, for i dare avouch, of my own poor skill, that her majesty hath not a second subject of his place and quality able to serve in those countries as he . . . . . i doubt not god will move her majesty, in despite of the devil, to respect him as he deserves." sir john disclaimed any personal jealousy in regard to stanley's appointment, but, within a week or two of the earl's departure, he already felt strong anxiety as to its probable results. "if it prove no hindrance to the service," he said, "it shall nothing trouble me. i desire that my doings may show what i am; neither will i seek, by indirect means to calumniate him or any other, but will let them show themselves." early in december he informed the lord-treasurer that stanley's own men were boasting that their master acknowledged no superior authority to his own, and that he had said as much himself to the magistracy of deventer. the burghers had already complained, through the constituted guardians of their liberties, of his insolence and rapacity, and of the turbulence of his troops, and had appealed to sir john; but the colonel-general's remonstrances had been received by sir william with contumely and abuse, and by daunt that he had even a greater commission than any he had yet shown. "three sheep, an ox, and a whole hog," were required weekly of the peasants for his table, in a time of great scarcity, and it was impossible to satisfy the rapacious appetites of the irish kernes. the paymaster-general of the english forces was daily appealed to by stanley for funds--an application which was certainly not unreasonable, as her majesty's troops had not received any payment for three months--but there "was not a denier in the treasury," and he was therefore implored to wait. at last the states-general sent him a month's pay for himself and all his troops, although, as he was in the queen's service, no claim could justly be made upon them. wilkes, also, as english member of the state council, faithfully conveyed to the governor-general in england the complaints which came up to all the authorities of the republic, against sir william stanley's conduct in deventer. he had seized the keys of the gates, he kept possession of the towers and fortifications, he had meddled with the civil government, he had infringed all their privileges. yet this was the board of magistrates, expressly set up by leicester, with the armed hand, by the agency of marshal pelham and this very colonel stanley--a board of calvinist magistrates placed but a few weeks before in power to control a city of catholic tendencies. and here was a papist commander displaying leicester's commission in their faces, and making it a warrant for dealing with the town as if it were under martial law, and as if he were an officer of the duke of parma. it might easily be judged whether such conduct were likely to win the hearts of netherlanders to leicester and to england. "albeit, for my own part," said wilkes, "i do hold sir william stanley to be a wise and a discreet gent., yet when i consider that the magistracy is such as was established by your lordship, and of the religion, and well affected to her majesty, and that i see how heavily the matter is conceived of here by the states and council, i do fear that all is not well. the very bruit of this doth begin to draw hatred upon our nation. were it not that i doubt some dangerous issue of this matter, and that i might be justly charged with negligence, if i should not advertise you beforehand, i would, have forborne to mention this dissension, for the states are about to write to your lordship and to her majesty for reformation in this matter." he added that he had already written earnestly to sir william, "hoping to persuade him to carry a mild hand over the people." thus wrote councillor wilkes, as in duty bound, to lord leicester, so early as the th december, and the warning voice of norris had made itself heard in england quite as soon. certainly the governor-general, having, upon his own responsibility; and prompted, it would seem, by passion more than reason, made this dangerous appointment, was fortunate in receiving timely and frequent notice of its probable results. and the conscientious wilkes wrote most earnestly, as he said he had done, to the turbulent stanley. "good sir william," said he, "the magistrates and burgesses of deventer complain to this council, that you have by violence wrested from them the keys of one of their gates, that you assemble your garrison in arms to terrify them, that you have seized one of their forts, that the irish soldiers do commit many extortions and exactions upon the inhabitants, that you have imprisoned their burgesses, and do many things against their laws and privileges, so that it is feared the best affected, of the inhabitants towards her majesty will forsake the town. whether any of these things be true, yourself doth best know, but i do assure you that the apprehension thereof here doth make us and our government hateful. for mine own part, i have always known you for a gentleman of value, wisdom; and judgment, and therefore should hardly believe any such thing. . . . . i earnestly require you to take heed of consequences, and to be careful of the honour of her majesty and the reputation of our nation. you will consider that the gaining possession of the town grew by them that are now in office, who being of the religion, and well affected to his excellency's government, wrought his entry into the same . . . . i know that lord leicester is sworn to maintain all the inhabitants of the provinces in their ancient privileges and customs. i know further that your commission carreeth no authority to warrant you to intermeddle any further than with the government of the soldiers and guard of the town. well, you may, in your own conceipt, confer some words to authorize you in some larger sort, but, believe me, sir, they will not warrant you sufficiently to deal any further than i have said, for i have perused a copy of your commission for that purpose. i know the name itself of a governor of a town is odious to this people, and hath been ever since the remembrance of the spanish government, and if we, by any lack of foresight, should give the like occasion, we should make ourselves as odious as they are; which god forbid. "you are to consider that we are not come into these countries for their defence only, but for the defence of her majesty and our own native country, knowing that the preservation of both dependeth altogether upon the preserving of these. wherefore i do eftsoons intreat and require you to forbear to intermeddle any further. if there shall follow any dangerous effect of your proceedings, after this my friendly advice, i shall be heartily sorry for your sake, but i shall be able to testify to her majesty that i have done my duty in admonishing you." thus spake the stiff councillor, earnestly and well, in behalf of england's honour and the good name of england's queen. but the brave soldier, whose feet were fast sliding into the paths of destruction, replied, in a tone of indignant innocence, more likely to aggravate than to allay suspicion. "finding," said stanley, "that you already threaten, i have gone so far as to scan the terms of my commission, which i doubt not to execute, according to his excellency's meaning and mine honour. first, i assure you that i have maintained justice, and that severely; else hardly would the soldiers have been contented with bread and bare cheese." he acknowledged possessing himself of the keys of the town, but defended it on the ground of necessity; and of the character of the people, "who thrust out the spaniards and almaynes, and afterwards never would obey the prince and states." "i would be," he said, "the sorriest man that lives, if by my negligence the place should be lost. therefore i thought good to seize the great tower and ports. if i meant evil, i needed no keys, for here is force enough." with much effrontery, he then affected to rely for evidence of his courteous and equitable conduct towards the citizens, upon the very magistrates who had been petitioning the states-general, the state- council, and the english queen, against his violence: "for my courtesy and humanity," he said, "i refer me unto the magistrates themselves. but i think they sent rhetoricians, who could, allege of little grief, and speak pitiful, and truly i find your ears have been as pitiful in so timorously condemning me. i assure you that her majesty hath not a better servant than i nor a more faithful in these parts. this i will prove with my flesh and blood. although i know there be divers flying reports spread by my enemies, which are come to my ears, i doubt not my virtue and truth will prove them calumniators and men of little. so, good mr. wilkes, i pray you, consider gravely, give ear discreetly, and advertise into england soundly. for me, i have been and am your friend, and glad to hear any admonition from one so wise as yourself." he then alluded ironically to the "good favour and money" with which he had been so contented of late, that if mr. wilkes would discharge him of his promise to lord leicester, he would take his leave with all his heart. captain, officers, and soldiers, had been living on half a pound of cheese a day. for himself, he had received but one hundred and twenty pounds in five months, and was living at three pounds by the day. "this my wealth will not long hold out," he observed, "but yet i will never fail of my promise to his excellency, whatsoever i endure. it is for her majesty's service and for the love i bear to him." he bitterly complained of the unwillingness of the country-people to furnish vivers, waggons, and other necessaries, for the fort before zutphen. "had it not been," he said, "for the travail extraordinary of myself, and patience of my brother, yorke, that fort would have been in danger. but, according to his desire and forethought, i furnished that place with cavalry and infantry; for i know the troops there be marvellous weak." in reply, wilkes stated that the complaints had been made "by no rhetorician," but by letter from the magistrates themselves (on whom he relied so confidently) to the state-council. the councillor added, rather tartly, that since his honest words of defence and of warning, had been "taken in so scoffing a manner," sir william might be sure of not being troubled with any more of his letters. but, a day or two before thus addressing him, he had already enclosed to leicester very important letters addressed by the council of gelderland to count moeurs, stadholder of the province, and by him forwarded to the state-council. for there were now very grave rumours concerning the fidelity of "that patient and foreseeing brother york," whom stanley had been so generously strengthening in fort zutphen. the lieutenant of york, a certain mr. zouch, had been seen within the city of zutphen, in close conference with colonel tassis, spanish governor of the place. moreover there had been a very frequent exchange of courtesies--by which the horrors of war seemed to be much mitigated--between york on the outside and tassis within. the english commander sent baskets of venison, wild fowl, and other game, which were rare in the market of a besieged town. the spanish governor responded with baskets of excellent wine and barrels of beer. a very pleasant state of feeling, perhaps, to contemplate--as an advance in civilization over the not very distant days of the haarlem and leyden sieges, when barrels of prisoners' heads, cut off, a dozen or two at a time, were the social amenities usually exchanged between spaniards and dutchmen--but somewhat suspicious to those who had grown grey in this horrible warfare. the irish kernes too, were allowed to come to mass within the city, and were received there with as much fraternity by, the catholic soldiers of tassis as the want of any common dialect would allow--a proceeding which seemed better perhaps for the salvation of their souls, than--for the advancement of the siege. the state-council had written concerning these rumours to roland york, but the patient man had replied in a manner which wilkes characterized as "unfit to have been given to such as were the executors of the earl of leicester's authority." the councillor implored the governor-general accordingly to send some speedy direction in this matter, as well to roland york as to sir william stanley; for he explicitly and earnestly warned him, that those personages would pay no heed to the remonstrances of the state-council. thus again and again was leicester--on whose head rested, by his own deliberate act, the whole responsibility--forewarned that some great mischief was impending. there was time enough even then--for it was but the th december--to place full powers in the hands of the state- council, of norris, or of hohenlo, and secretly and swiftly to secure the suspected persons, and avert the danger. leicester did nothing. how could he acknowledge his error? how could he manifest confidence in the detested norris? how appeal to the violent and deeply incensed hohenlo? three weeks more rolled by, and the much-enduring roland york was still in confidential correspondence with leicester and walsingham, although his social intercourse with the spanish governor of zutphen continued to be upon the most liberal and agreeable footing. he was not quite satisfied with the general, aspect of the queen's cause in the netherlands, and wrote to the secretary of state in a tone of despondency, and mild expostulation. walsingham would have been less edified by these communications, had he been aware that york, upon first entering leicester's service, had immediately opened a correspondence with the duke of parma, and had secretly given him to understand that his object was to serve the cause of spain. this was indeed the fact, as the duke informed the king, "but then he is such a scatter-brained, reckless dare-devil," said parma, "that i hardly expected much of him." thus the astute sir francis had been outwitted, by the adventurous roland, who was perhaps destined also to surpass the anticipations of the spanish commander-in-chief. meantime york informed his english patrons, on the th january, that matters were not proceeding so smoothly in the political world as he could wish. he had found "many cross and indirect proceedings," and so, according to lord leicester's desire, he sent him a "discourse" on the subject, which he begged sir francis to "peruse, add to, or take away from," and then to inclose to the earl. he hoped he should be forgiven if the style of the production was not quite satisfactory; for, said he, "the place where i am doth too much torment my memory, to call every point to my remembrance." it must, in truth, have been somewhat a hard task upon his memory, to keep freshly in mind every detail of the parallel correspondence which he was carrying on with the spanish and with the english government. even a cool head like roland's might be forgiven for being occasionally puzzled. "so if there be anything hard to be understood," he observed to walsingham, "advertise me, and i will make it plainer." nothing could be more ingenuous. he confessed, however, to being out of pocket. "please your honour," said he, "i have taken great pains to make a bad place something, and it has cost me all the money i had, and here i can receive nothing but discontentment. i dare not write you all lest you should think it impossible," he added--and it is quite probable that even walsingham would have been astonished, had roland written all. the game playing by york and stanley was not one to which english gentlemen were much addicted. "i trust the bearer, edward stanley; a discreet, brave gentleman," he said, "with details." and the remark proves that the gallant youth who had captured this very fort zutphen in, so brilliant a manner was not privy to the designs of his brother and of york; for the object of the "discourse" was to deceive the english government. "i humbly beseech that you will send for me home," concluded roland, "for true as i humbled my mind to please her majesty, your honour, and the dead, now am i content to humble myself lower to please myself, for now, since his, excellency's departure, there is no form of proceeding neither honourably nor honestly." three other weeks passed over, weeks of anxiety and dread throughout the republic. suspicion grew darker than ever, not only as to york and stanley, but as to all the english commanders, as to the whole english nation. an anjou plot, a general massacre, was expected by many, yet there were no definite grounds for such dark anticipations. in vain had painstaking, truth-telling wilkes summoned stanley to his duty, and called on leicester, time after time, to interfere. in vain did sir john norris, sir john conway, the members of the state-council, and all others who should have had authority, do their utmost to avert a catastrophe. their hands were all tied by the fatal letter of the th november. most anxiously did all implore the earl of leicester to return. never was a more dangerous moment than this for a country to be left to its fate. scarcely ever in history was there a more striking exemplification of the need of a man--of an individual--who should embody the powers and wishes, and concentrate in one brain and arm, the whole energy, of a commonwealth. but there was no such man, for the republic had lost its chief when orange died. there was much wisdom and patriotism now. olden-barneveld was competent, and so was buys, to direct the councils of the republic, and there were few better soldiers than norris and hohenlo to lead her armies against spain. but the supreme authority had been confided to leicester. he had not perhaps proved himself extraordinarily qualified for his post, but he was the governor-in-chief, and his departure, without resigning his powers, left the commonwealth headless, at a moment when singleness of action was vitally important. at last, very late in january, one hugh overing, a haberdasher from ludgate hill, was caught at rotterdam, on his way to ireland, with a bundle of letters from sir william stanley, and was sent, as a suspicious character, to the state-council at the hague. on the same day, another englishman, a small youth, "well-favoured," rejoicing in a "very little red beard, and in very ragged clothes," unknown by name; but ascertained to be in the service of roland york and to have been the bearer of letters to brussels, also passed through rotterdam. by connivance of the innkeeper, one joyce, also an englishman, he succeeded in making his escape. the information contained in the letters thus intercepted was important, but it came too late, even if then the state-council could have acted without giving mortal offence to elizabeth and to leicester. on the evening of th january (n. s.), sir william stanley entertained the magistrates of deventer at a splendid banquet. there was free conversation at table concerning the idle suspicions which had been rife in the provinces as to his good intentions and the censures which had been cast upon him for the repressive measures which he had thought necessary to adopt for the security of the city. he took that occasion to assure his guests that the queen of england had not a more loyal subject than himself, nor the netherlands a more devoted friend. the company expressed themselves fully restored to confidence in his character and purposes, and the burgomasters, having exchanged pledges of faith and friendship with the commandant in flowing goblets, went home comfortably to bed, highly pleased with their noble entertainer and with themselves. very late that same night, stanley placed three hundred of his wild irish in the noorenberg tower, a large white structure which commanded the zutphen gate, and sent bodies of chosen troops to surprise all the burgher-guards at their respective stations. strong pickets of cavalry were also placed in all the principal thoroughfares of the city. at three o'clock in the following morning he told his officers that he was about to leave deventer for a few hours, in order to bring in some reinforcements for which he had sent, as he had felt much anxiety for some time past as to the disposition of the burghers. his officers, honest englishmen, suspecting no evil and having confidence in their chief, saw nothing strange in this proceeding, and sir william rode deliberately out of zutphen. after he had been absent an hour or two, the clatter of hoofs and the tramp of infantry was heard without, and presently the commandant returned, followed by a thousand musketeers and three or four hundred troopers. it was still pitch dark; but, dimly lighted by torches, small detachments of the fresh troops picked their way through the black narrow streets, while the main body poured at once upon the brink, or great square. here, quietly and swiftly, they were marshalled into order, the cavalry, pikemen, and musketeers, lining all sides of the place, and a chosen band--among whom stood sir william stanley, on foot, and an officer of high rank on horseback--occupying the central space immediately in front of the town-house. the drums then beat, and proclamation went forth through the city that all burghers, without any distinction--municipal guards and all--were to repair forthwith to the city-hall, and deposit their arms. as the inhabitants arose from their slumbers, and sallied forth into the streets to inquire the cause of the disturbance, they soon discovered that they had, in some mysterious manner, been entrapped. wild irishmen, with uncouth garb, threatening gesture, and unintelligible jargon, stood gibbering at every corner, instead of the comfortable flemish faces of the familiar burgher-guard. the chief burgomaster, sleeping heavily after sir william's hospitable banquet, aroused himself at last, and sent a militia-captain to inquire the cause of the unseasonable drum-beat and monstrous proclamation. day was breaking as the trusty captain made his way to the scene of action. the wan light of a cold, drizzly january morning showed him the wide, stately square--with its leafless lime-trees and its tall many storied, gable-ended houses rising dim and spectral through the mist-filled to overflowing with troops, whose uniforms and banners resembled nothing that he remembered in dutch and english regiments. fires were lighted at various corners, kettles were boiling, and camp-followers and sutlers were crouching over them, half perished with cold--for it had been raining dismally all night--while burghers, with wives and children, startled from their dreams by the sudden reveillee, stood gaping about, with perplexed faces and despairing gestures. as he approached the town-house--one of those magnificent, many-towered, highly-decorated, municipal palaces of the netherlands--he found troops all around it; troops guarding the main entrance, troops on the great external staircase leading to the front balcony, and officers, in yellow jerkin and black bandoleer, grouped in the balcony itself. the flemish captain stood bewildered, when suddenly the familiar form of stanley detached itself from the central group and advanced towards him. taking him by the hand with much urbanity, sir william led the militia- man through two or three ranks of soldiers, and presented him to the strange officer on horseback "colonel tassis," said he, "i recommend to you a very particular friend of mine. let me bespeak your best offices in his behalf." "ah god!" cried the honest burgher, "tassis! tassis! then are we indeed most miserably betrayed." even the spanish colonel who was of flemish origin, was affected by the despair of the netherlander. "let those look to the matter of treachery whom it concerns," said he; "my business here is to serve the king, my master." "render unto caesar the things which are caesar's, and unto god the things which are god's," said stanley, with piety. the burgher-captain was then assured that no harm was intended to the city, but that it now belonged to his most catholic majesty of spain-- colonel stanley, to whom its custody had been entrusted, having freely and deliberately restored it to its lawful owner. he was then bid to go and fetch the burgomasters and magistrates. presently they appeared--a dismal group, weeping and woe-begone--the same board of strict calvinists forcibly placed in office but three months before by leicester, through the agency of this very stanley, who had so summarily ejected their popish predecessors, and who only the night before had so handsomely feasted themselves. they came forward, the tears running down their cheeks, crying indeed so piteously that even stanley began to weep bitterly himself. "i have not done this," he sobbed, "for power or pelf. not the hope of reward, but the love of god hath moved me." presently some of the ex-magistrates made their appearance, and a party of leading citizens went into a private house with tassis and stanley to hear statements and explanations--as if any satisfactory ones were possible. sir william, still in a melancholy tone, began to make a speech, through an interpreter, and again to protest that he had not been influenced by love of lucre. but as he stammered and grew incoherent as he approached the point, tassis suddenly interrupted the conference. "let us look after our soldiers," said he, "for they have been marching in the foul weather half the night." so the spanish troops, who had been, standing patiently to be rained upon after their long march, until the burghers had all deposited their arms in the city-hall, were now billeted on the townspeople. tassis gave peremptory orders that no injury should be offered to persons or property on pain of death; and, by way of wholesome example, hung several hibernians the same day who had been detected in plundering the inhabitants. the citizens were, as usual in such cases, offered the choice between embracing the catholic religion or going into exile, a certain interval being allowed them to wind up their affairs. they were also required to furnish stanley and his regiment full pay for the whole period of their service since coming to the provinces, and to tassis three months' wages for his spaniards in advance. stanley offered his troops the privilege of remaining with him in the service of spain, or of taking their departure unmolested. the irish troops were quite willing to continue under their old chieftain, particularly as it was intimated to them that there was an immediate prospect of a brisk campaign in their native island against the tyrant elizabeth, under the liberating banners of philip. and certainly, in an age where religion constituted country, these fervent catholics could scarcely be censured for taking arms against the sovereign who persecuted their religion and themselves. these honest barbarians had broken no oath, violated no trust, had never pretended sympathy with freedom; or affection for their queen. they had fought fiercely under the chief who led them into battle--they had robbed and plundered voraciously as opportunity served, and had been occasionally hanged for their exploits; but deventer and fort zutphen had not been confided to their keeping; and it was a pleasant thought to them, that approaching invasion of ireland. "i will ruin the whole country from holland to friesland," said stanley to captain newton, "and then i will play such a game in ireland as the queen has never seen the like all the days of her life." newton had already been solicited by roland york to take service under parma, and had indignantly declined. sir edmund carey and his men, four hundred in all, refused, to a man, to take part in the monstrous treason, and were allowed to leave the city. this was the case with all the english officers. stanley and york were the only gentlemen who on this occasion sullied the honour of england. captain henchman, who had been taken prisoner in a skirmish a few days before the surrender of deventer, was now brought to that city, and earnestly entreated by tassis and by stanley to seize this opportunity of entering the service of spain. "you shall have great advancement and preferment," said tassis. "his catholic majesty has got ready very many ships for ireland, and sir william stanley is to be general of the expedition." "and you shall choose your own preferment," said stanley, "for i know you to be a brave man." "i would rather," replied henchman, "serve my prince in loyalty as a beggar, than to be known and reported a rich traitor, with breach of conscience." "continue so," replied stanley, unabashed; "for this is the very principle of my own enlargement: for, before, i served the devil, and now i am serving god." the offers and the arguments of the spaniard and the renegade were powerless with the blunt captain, and notwithstanding "divers other traitorous alledgements by sir william for his most vile facts," as henchman expressed it, that officer remained in poverty and captivity until such time as he could be exchanged. stanley subsequently attempted in various ways to defend his character. he had a commission from leicester, he said, to serve whom he chose--as if the governor-general had contemplated his serving philip ii. with that commission; he had a passport to go whither he liked--as if his passport entitled him to take the city of deventer along with him; he owed no allegiance to the states; he was discharged from his promise to the earl; he was his own master; he wanted neither money nor preferment; he had been compelled by his conscience and his duty to god to restore the city to its lawful master, and so on, and so on. but whether he owed the states allegiance or not, it is certain that he had accepted their money to relieve himself and his troops eight days before his treason. that leicester had discharged him from his promises to such an extent as to justify his surrendering a town committed to his honour for safe keeping, certainly deserved no answer; that his duty to conscience required him to restore the city argued a somewhat tardy awakening of that monitor in the breast of the man who three months before had wrested the place with the armed hand from men suspected of catholic inclinations; that his first motive however was not the mere love of money, was doubtless true. attachment to his religion, a desire to atone for his sins against it, the insidious temptings of his evil spirit, york, who was the chief organizer of the conspiracy, and the prospect of gratifying a wild and wicked ambition--these were the springs that moved him. sums--varying from l , to a pension of pistolets a year--were mentioned, as the stipulated price of his treason, by norris, wilkes, conway, and others; but the duke of parma, in narrating the whole affair in a private letter to the king, explicitly stated that he had found stanley "singularly disinterested." "the colonel was only actuated by religious motives," he said, "asking for no reward, except that be might serve in his majesty's army thenceforth--and this is worthy to be noted." at the same time it appears from this correspondence, that the duke, recommended, and that the king bestowed, a "merced," which stanley did not refuse; and it was very well known that to no persons in, the world was philip apt to be so generous as to men of high rank, flemish, walloon, or english, who deserted the cause of his rebellious subjects to serve under his own banners. yet, strange to relate, almost at the very moment that stanley was communicating his fatal act of treason, in order that he might open a high career for his ambition, a most brilliant destiny was about to dawn upon him. the queen had it in contemplation, in recompense for his distinguished services, and by advice of leicester, to bestow great honors and titles upon him, and to appoint him viceroy of ireland--of that very country which he was now proposing, as an enemy to his sovereign and as the purchased tool of a foreign despot, to invade. stanley's subsequent fate was obscure. a price of florins was put by the states upon his head and upon that of york. he went to spain, and afterwards returned to the provinces. he was even reported to have become, through the judgment of god, a lunatic, although the tale wanted confirmation; and it is certain that at the close of the year he had mustered his regiment under farnese, prepared to join the duke in the great invasion of england. roland york, who was used to such practices, cheerfully consummated his crime on the same day that witnessed the surrender of deventer. he rode up to the gates of that city on the morning of the th january, inquired quietly whether tassis was master of the place, and then galloped furiously back the ten miles to his fort. entering, he called his soldiers together, bade them tear in pieces the colours of england, and follow him into the city of zutphen. two companies of states' troops offered resistance, and attempted to hold the place; but they were overpowered by the english and irish, assisted by a force of spaniards, who, by a concerted movement, made their appearance from the town. he received a handsome reward, having far surpassed the duke of parma's expectations, when he made his original offer of service. he died very suddenly, after a great banquet at deventer, in the course of the sane year, not having succeeded in making his escape into spain to live at ease on his stipend. it was supposed that he was poisoned; but the charge in those days was a common one, and nobody cared to investigate the subject. his body was subsequently exhumed when deventer came into the hands of the patriots--and with impotent and contemptible malice hanged upon a gibbet. this was the end of roland york. parma was highly gratified, as may be imagined, at such successful results. "thus fort zutphen," said he, "about which there have been so many fisticuffs, and deventer--which was the real object of the last campaign, and which has cost the english so much blood and money, and is the safety of groningen and of all those provinces--is now your majesty's. moreover, the effect of this treason must be to sow great distrust between the english and the rebels, who will henceforth never know in whom they can confide." parma was very right in this conjuncture. moreover, there was just then a fearful run against the states. the castle of wauw, within a league of bergen-op-zoom, which had been entrusted to one le marchand, a frenchman in the service of the republic, was delivered by him to parma for , florins. "'tis a very important post," said the duke, "and the money was well laid out." the loss of the city of gelder, capital of the province of the same name, took place in the summer. this town belonged to the jurisdiction of martin schenk, and was, his chief place of deposit for the large and miscellaneous property acquired by him during his desultory, but most profitable, freebooting career. the famous partisan was then absent, engaged in a lucrative job in the way of his profession. he had made a contract--in a very-business-like way--with the states, to defend the city of rheinberg and all the country, round against the duke of parma, pledging himself to keep on foot for that purpose an army of foot and horse. for this extensive and important operation, he was to receive , florins a month from the general exchequer; and in addition he was to be allowed the brandschatz--the black-mail, that is to say--of the whole country-side, and the taxation upon all vessels going up and down the river before rheinberg; an ad valorem duty, in short, upon all river-merchandise, assessed and collected in summary fashion. a tariff thus enforced was not likely to be a mild one; and although the states considered that they had got a "good penny-worth" by the job, it was no easy thing to get the better, in a bargain, of the vigilant martin, who was as thrifty a speculator as he was a desperate fighter. a more accomplished highwayman, artistically and enthusiastically devoted to his pursuit, never lived. nobody did his work more thoroughly--nobody got himself better paid for his work--and thomas wilkes, that excellent man of business, thought the states not likely to make much by their contract. nevertheless, it was a comfort to know that the work would not be neglected. schenk was accordingly absent, jobbing the rheinberg siege, and in his place one aristotle patton, a scotch colonel in the states' service, was commandant of gelders. now the thrifty scot had an eye to business, too, and was no more troubled with qualms of conscience than rowland york himself. moreover, he knew himself to be in great danger of losing his place, for leicester was no friend to him, and intended to supersede him. patton had also a decided grudge against schenk, for that truculent personage had recently administered to him a drubbing, which no doubt he had richly deserved. accordingly, when; the duke of parma made a secret offer to him of , florins if he would quietly surrender the city entrusted to him, the colonel jumped at so excellent an opportunity of circumventing leicester, feeding his grudge against martin, and making a handsome fortune for himself. he knew his trade too well, however, to accept the offer too eagerly, and bargained awhile for better terms, and to such good purpose, that it was agreed he should have not only the , florins, but all the horses, arms, plate, furniture, and other moveables in the city belonging to schenk, that he could lay his hands upon. here were revenge and solid damages for the unforgotten assault and battery--for schenk's property alone made no inconsiderable fortune-- and accordingly the city, towards midsummer, was surrendered to the seigneur d'haultepenne. moreover, the excellent patton had another and a loftier motive. he was in love. he had also a rival. the lady of his thoughts was the widow of pontus de noyelle, seigneur de bours, who had once saved the citadel of antwerp, and afterwards sold that city and himself. his rival was no other than the great seigneur de champagny, brother of cardinal granvelle, eminent as soldier, diplomatist, and financier, but now growing old, not in affluent circumstances, and much troubled with the gout. madame de bours had, however, accepted his hand, and had fixed the day for the wedding, when the scotchman, thus suddenly enriched, renewed a previously unsuccessful suit. the widow then, partially keeping her promise, actually celebrated her nuptials on the appointed evening; but, to the surprise of the provinces, she became not the 'haulte et puissante dame de champagny,' but mrs. aristotle patton. for this last treason neither leicester nor the english were responsible. patton was not only a scot, but a follower of hohenlo, as leicester loudly protested. le merchant was a frenchman. but deventer and zutphen were places of vital importance, and stanley an englishman of highest consideration, one who had been deemed worthy of the command in chief in leicester's absence. moreover, a cornet in the service of the earl's nephew, sir robert sidney, had been seen at zutphen in conference with tassis; and the horrible suspicion went abroad that even the illustrious name of sidney was to be polluted also. this fear was fortunately false, although the cornet was unquestionably a traitor, with whom the enemy had been tampering; but the mere thought that sir robert sidney could betray the trust reposed in him was almost enough to make the still unburied corpse of his brother arise from the dead. parma was right when he said that all confidence of the netherlanders in the englishmen would now be gone, and that the provinces would begin to doubt their best friends. no fresh treasons followed, but they were expected every day. an organized plot to betray the country was believed in, and a howl of execration swept through the land. the noble deeds of sidney and willoughby, and norris and pelham, and roger williams, the honest and valuable services of wilkes, the generosity and courage of leicester, were for a season forgotten. the english were denounced in every city and village of the netherlands as traitors and miscreants. respectable english merchants went from hostelry to hostelry, and from town to town, and were refused a lodging for love or money. the nation was put under ban. a most melancholy change from the beginning of the year, when the very men who were now loudest in denunciation and fiercest in hate, had been the warmest friends of elizabeth, of england, and of leicester. at hohenlo's table the opinion was loudly expressed, even in the presence of sir roger williams, that it was highly improbable, if a man like stanley, of such high rank in the kingdom of england, of such great connections and large means, could commit such a treason, that he could do so without the knowledge and consent of her majesty. barneveld, in council of state, declared that leicester, by his restrictive letter of th november, had intended to carry the authority over the republic into england, in order to dispose of everything at his pleasure, in conjunction with the english cabinet-council, and that the country had never been so cheated by the french as it had now been by the english, and that their government had become insupportable. councillor carl roorda maintained at the table of elector truchsess that the country had fallen 'de tyrannide in tyrrannidem;' and--if they had spurned the oppression of the spaniards and the french--that it was now time to, rebel against the english. barneveld and buys loudly declared that the provinces were able to protect themselves without foreign assistance, and that it was very injurious to impress a contrary opinion upon the public mind. the whole college of the states-general came before the state-council, and demanded the name of the man to whom the earl's restrictive letter had been delivered--that document by which the governor had dared surreptitiously to annul the authority which publicly he had delegated to that body, and thus to deprive it of the power of preventing anticipated crimes. after much colloquy the name of brackel was given, and, had not the culprit fortunately been absent, his life might have, been in danger, for rarely had grave statesmen been so thoroughly infuriated. no language can exaggerate the consequences of this wretched treason. unfortunately, too; the abject condition to which the english troops had been reduced by the niggardliness of their sovereign was an additional cause of danger. leicester was gone, and since her favourite was no longer in the netherlands, the queen seemed to forget that there was a single englishman upon that fatal soil. in five months not one penny had been sent to her troops. while the earl had been there one hundred and forty thousand pounds had been sent in seven or eight months. after his departure not five thousand pounds were sent in one half year. the english soldiers, who had fought so well in every flemish battle- field of freedom, had become--such as were left of them--mere famishing half naked vagabonds and marauders. brave soldiers had been changed by their sovereign into brigands, and now the universal odium which suddenly attached itself to the english name converted them into outcasts. forlorn and crippled creatures swarmed about the provinces, but were forbidden to come through the towns, and so wandered about, robbing hen- roosts and pillaging the peasantry. many deserted to the enemy. many begged their way to england, and even to the very gates of the palace, and exhibited their wounds and their misery before the eyes of that good queen bess who claimed to be the mother of her subjects,--and begged for bread in vain. the english cavalry, dwindled now to a body of five hundred, starving and mutinous, made a foray into holland, rather as highwaymen than soldiers. count maurice commanded their instant departure, and hohenlo swore that if the order were not instantly obeyed, he would put himself at the head of his troops and cut every man of them to pieces. a most painful and humiliating condition for brave men who had been fighting the battles of their queen and of the republic, to behold themselves--through the parsimony of the one and the infuriated sentiment of the other--compelled to starve, to rob, or to be massacred by those whom they had left their homes to defend. at last, honest wilkes, ever watchful of his duty, succeeded in borrowing eight hundred pounds sterling for two months, by "pawning his own carcase" as he expressed himself. this gave the troopers about thirty shillings a man, with which relief they became, for a time, contented and well disposed. is this picture exaggerated? is it drawn by pencils hostile to the english nation or the english queen? it is her own generals and confidential counsellors who have told a story in all its painful details, which has hardly found a place in other chronicles. the parsimony of the great queen must ever remain a blemish on her character, and it was never more painfully exhibited than towards her brave soldiers in flanders in the year . thomas wilkes, a man of truth, and a man of accounts, had informed elizabeth that the expenses of one year's war, since leicester had been governor-general, had amounted to exactly five hundred and seventy-nine thousand three hundred and sixty pounds and nineteen shillings, of which sum one hundred and forty-six thousand three hundred and eighty-six pounds and eleven shillings had been spent by her majesty, and the balance had been paid, or was partly owing by the states. these were not agreeable figures, but the figures of honest accountants rarely flatter, and wilkes was not one of those financiers who have the wish or the gift to make things pleasant. he had transmitted the accounts just as they had been delivered, certified by the treasurers of the states and by the english paymasters, and the queen was appalled at the sum-totals. she could never proceed with such a war as that, she said, and she declined a loan of sixty thousand pounds which the states requested, besides stoutly refusing to advance her darling robin a penny to pay off the mortgages upon two-thirds of his estates, on which the equity of redemption was fast expiring, or to give him the slightest help in furnishing him forth anew for the wars. yet not one of her statesmen doubted that these netherland battles were english battles, almost as much as if the fighting-ground had been the isle of wight or the coast of kent, the charts of which the statesmen and generals of spain were daily conning. wilkes, too, while defending leicester stoutly behind his back, doing his best, to explain his short-comings, lauding his courage and generosity, and advocating his beloved theory of popular sovereignty with much ingenuity and eloquence, had told him the truth to his face. although assuring him that if he came back soon, he might rule the states "as a schoolmaster doth his boys," he did not fail to set before him the disastrous effects of his sudden departure and of his protracted absence; he had painted in darkest colours the results of the deventer treason, he had unveiled the cabals against his authority, he had repeatedly and vehemently implored his return; he had, informed the queen, that notwithstanding some errors of, administration, he was much the fittest man to represent her in the netherlands, and, that he could accomplish, by reason of his experience, more in three months than any other man could do in a year. he bad done his best to reconcile the feuds which existed between him and important personages in the netherlands, he had been the author of the complimentary letters sent to him in the name of the states-general--to the great satisfaction of the queen--but he had not given up his friendship with sir john norris, because he said "the virtues of the man made him as worthy of love as any one living, and because the more he knew him, the more he had cause to affect and to admire him." this was the unpardonable offence, and for this, and for having told the truth about the accounts, leicester denounced wilkes to the queen as a traitor and a hypocrite, and threatened repeatedly to take his life. he had even the meanness to prejudice burghley against him--by insinuating to the lord-treasurer that he too had been maligned by wilkes--and thus most effectually damaged the character of the plain-spoken councillor with the queen and many of her advisers; notwithstanding that he plaintively besought her to "allow him to reiterate his sorry song, as doth the cuckoo, that she would please not condemn her poor servant unheard." immediate action was taken on the deventer treason, and on the general relations between the states-general and the english government. barneveld immediately drew up a severe letter to the earl of leicester. on the nd february wilkes came by chance into the assembly of the states-general, with the rest of the councillors, and found barneveld just demanding the public reading of that document. the letter was read. wilkes then rose and made a few remarks. "the letter seems rather sharp upon his excellency," he observed. "there is not a word in it," answered barneveld curtly, "that is not perfectly true;" and with this he cut the matter short, and made a long speech upon other matters which were then before the assembly. wilkes, very anxious as to the effect of the letter, both upon public feeling in england and upon his own position as english councillor, waited immediately upon count maurice, president van der myle, and upon villiers the clergyman, and implored their interposition to prevent the transmission of the epistle. they promised to make an effort to delay its despatch or to mitigate its tone. a fortnight afterwards, however, wilkes learned with dismay, that the document (the leading passages of which will be given hereafter) had been sent to its destination. meantime, a consultation of civilians and of the family council of count maurice was held, and it was determined that the count should assume the title of prince more formally than he had hitherto done, in order that the actual head of the nassaus might be superior in rank to leicester or to any man who could be sent from england. maurice was also appointed by the states, provisionally, governor-general, with hohenlo for his lieutenant-general. that formidable personage, now fully restored to health, made himself very busy in securing towns and garrisons for the party of holland, and in cashiering all functionaries suspected of english tendencies. especially he became most intimate with count moeurs, stadholder of utrecht--the hatred of which individual and his wife towards leicester and the english nation; springing originally from the unfortunate babble of otheman, had grown more intense than ever,-- "banquetting and feasting" with him all day long, and concocting a scheme; by which, for certain considerations, the province of utrecht was to be annexed to holland under the perpetual stadholderate of prince maurice. etext editor's bookmarks: defect of enjoying the flattery, of his inferiors in station the sapling was to become the tree this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, volume history of the united netherlands, volume , chapter viii. forlorn condition of flanders--parma's secret negotiations with the queen--grafigni and bodman--their dealings with english counsellors --duplicity of farnese--secret offers of the english peace-party-- letters and intrigues of de loo--drake's victories and their effect --parma's perplexity and anxiety--he is relieved by the news from england--queen's secret letters to parma--his letters and instructions to bodman--bodman's secret transactions at greenwich-- walsingham detects and exposes the plot--the intriguers baffled-- queen's letter to parma and his to the king--unlucky results of the peace--intrigues--unhandsome treatment of leicester--indignation of the earl and walsingham--secret letter of parma to philip--invasion of england recommended--details of the project. alexander farnese and his heroic little army had been left by their sovereign in as destitute a condition as that in which lord leicester and his unfortunate "paddy persons" had found themselves since their arrival in the netherlands. these mortal men were but the weapons to be used and broken in the hands of the two great sovereigns, already pitted against each other in mortal combat. that the distant invisible potentate, the work of whose life was to do his best to destroy all european nationality, all civil and religious freedom, should be careless of the instruments by which his purpose was to be effected, was but natural. it is painful to reflect that the great champion of liberty and of protestantism was almost equally indifferent to the welfare of the human creatures enlisted in her cause. spaniards and italians, english and irish, went half naked and half starving through the whole inclement winter, and perished of pestilence in droves, after confronting the less formidable dangers of battlefield and leaguer. manfully and sympathetically did the earl of leicester--while whining in absurd hyperbole over the angry demeanour of his sovereign towards himself- represent the imperative duty of an english government to succour english troops. alexander farnese was equally plain-spoken to a sovereign with whom plain-speaking was a crime. in bold, almost scornful language, the prince represented to philip the sufferings and destitution of the little band of heroes, by whom that magnificent military enterprise, the conquest of antwerp, had just been effected. "god will be weary of working miracles for us," he cried, "and nothing but miracles can save the troops from starving." there was no question of paying them their wages, there was no pretence at keeping them reasonably provided with lodging and clothing, but he asserted the undeniable proposition that they "could not pass their lives without eating," and he implored his sovereign to send at least money enough to buy the soldiers shoes. to go foodless and barefoot without complaining, on the frozen swamps of flanders, in january, was more than was to be expected from spaniards and italians. the country itself was eaten bare. the obedient provinces had reaped absolute ruin as the reward of their obedience. bruges, ghent, and the other cities of brabant and flanders, once so opulent and powerful, had become mere dens of thieves and paupers. agriculture, commerce, manufactures--all were dead. the condition of antwerp was most tragical. the city, which had been so recently the commercial centre of the earth, was reduced to absolute beggary. its world-wide traffic was abruptly terminated, for the mouth of its great river was controlled by flushing, and flushing was in the firm grasp of sir philip sidney, as governor for the english queen. merchants and bankers, who had lately been possessed of enormous resources, were stripped of all. such of the industrial classes as could leave the place had wandered away to holland and england. there was no industry possible, for there was no market for the products of industry. antwerp was hemmed in by the enemy on every side, surrounded by royal troops in a condition of open mutiny, cut off from the ocean, deprived of daily bread, and yet obliged to contribute out of its poverty to the maintenance of the spanish soldiers, who were there for its destruction. its burghers, compelled to furnish four hundred thousand florins, as the price of their capitulation, and at least six hundred thousand more for the repairs of the dykes, the destruction of which, too long deferred, had only spread desolation over the country without saving the city, and over and above all forced to rebuild, at their own expense, that fatal citadel, by which their liberty and lives were to be perpetually endangered, might now regret at leisure that they had not been as stedfast during their siege as had been the heroic inhabitants of leyden in their time of trial, twelve years before. obedient antwerp was, in truth, most forlorn. but there was one consolation for her and for philip, one bright spot in the else universal gloom. the ecclesiastics assured parma, that, notwithstanding the frightful diminution in the population of the city, they had confessed and absolved more persons that easter than they had ever done since the commencement of the revolt. great was philip's joy in consequence. "you cannot imagine my satisfaction," he wrote, "at the news you give me concerning last easter." with a ruined country, starving and mutinous troops, a bankrupt exchequer, and a desperate and pauper population, alexander farnese was not unwilling to gain time by simulated negotiations for peace. it was strange, however, that so sagacious a monarch as the queen of england should suppose it for her interest to grant at that moment the very delay which was deemed most desirable by her antagonist. yet it was not wounded affection alone, nor insulted pride, nor startled parsimony, that had carried the fury of the queen to such a height on the occasion of leicester's elevation to absolute government. it was still more, because the step was thought likely to interfere with the progress of those negotiations into which the queen had allowed herself to be drawn. a certain grafigni--a genoese merchant residing much in london and in antwerp, a meddling, intrusive, and irresponsible kind of individual, whose occupation was gone with the cessation of flemish trade--had recently made his appearance as a volunteer diplomatist. the principal reason for accepting or rather for winking at his services, seemed to be the possibility of disavowing him, on both sides, whenever it should be thought advisable. he had a partner or colleague, too, named bodman, who seemed a not much more creditable negotiator than himself. the chief director of the intrigue was, however, champagny, brother of cardinal granvelle, restored to the king's favour and disposed to atone by his exuberant loyalty for his heroic patriotism on a former and most memorable occasion. andrea de loo, another subordinate politician, was likewise employed at various stages of the negotiation. it will soon be perceived that the part enacted by burghley, hatton, croft, and other counsellors, and even by the queen herself, was not a model of ingenuousness towards the absent leicester and the states- general. the gentlemen sent at various times to and from the earl and her majesty's government; davison, shirley, vavasor, heneage, and the rest--had all expressed themselves in the strongest language concerning the good faith and the friendliness of the lord-treasurer and the vice- chamberlain, but they were not so well informed as they would have been, had they seen the private letters of parma to philip ii. walsingham, although kept in the dark as much as it was possible, discovered from time to time the mysterious practices of his political antagonists, and warned the queen of the danger and dishonour she was bringing upon herself. elizabeth, when thus boldly charged, equivocated and stormed alternately. she authorized walsingham to communicate the secrets--which he had thus surprised--to the states-general, and then denied having given any such orders. in truth, walsingham was only entrusted with such portions of the negotiations as he had been able, by his own astuteness, to divine; and as he was very much a friend to the provinces and to leicester, he never failed to keep them instructed, to the best of his ability. it must be confessed, however, that the shuffling and paltering among great men and little men, at that period, forms a somewhat painful subject of contemplation at the present day. grafigni having some merchandise to convey from antwerp to london, went early in the year to the prince of parma, at brussels, in order to procure a passport. they entered into some conversation upon the misery of the country, and particularly concerning the troubles to which the unfortunate merchants had been exposed. alexander expressed much sympathy with the commercial community, and a strong desire that the ancient friendship between his master and the queen of england might be restored. grafigni assured the prince--as the result of his own observation in england--that the queen participated in those pacific sentiments: "you are going to england," replied the prince, "and you may say to the ministers of her majesty, that, after my allegiance to my king, i am most favourably and affectionately inclined towards her. if it pleases them that i, as alexander farnese, should attempt to bring about an accord, and if our commissioners could be assured of a hearing in england, i would take care that everything should be conducted with due regard to the honour and reputation of her majesty." grafigni then asked for a written letter of credence. "that cannot be," replied alexander; "but if you return to me i shall believe your report, and then a proper person can be sent, with authority from the king to treat with her majesty." grafigni proceeded to england, and had an interview with lord cobham. a few days later that nobleman gave the merchant a general assurance that the queen had always felt a strong inclination to maintain firm friendship with the house of burgundy. nevertheless, as he proceeded to state, the bad policy of the king's ministers, and the enterprises against her majesty, had compelled her to provide for her own security and that of her realm by remedies differing in spirit from that good inclination. being however a christian princess, willing to leave vengeance to the lord and disposed to avoid bloodshed, she was ready to lend her ear to a negotiation for peace, if it were likely to be a sincere and secure one. especially she was pleased that his highness of parma should act as mediator of such a treaty, as she considered him a most just and honourable prince in all his promises and actions. her majesty would accordingly hold herself in readiness to receive the honourable commissioners alluded to, feeling sure that every step taken by his highness would comport with her honour and safety. at about the same time the other partner in this diplomatic enterprise, william bodman, communicated to alexander, the result of his observations in england. he stated that lords burghley, buckhurst, and cobham, sir christopher hatton, and comptroller croft, were secretly desirous of peace with spain and that they had seized the recent opportunity of her pique against the earl of leicester to urge forward these underhand negotiations. some progress had been made; but as no accredited commissioner arrived from the prince of parma, and as leicester was continually writing earnest letters against peace, the efforts of these counsellors had slackened. bodman found them all, on his arrival, anxious as he said, "to get their necks out of the matter;" declaring everything which had been done to be pure matter of accident, entirely without the concurrence of the queen, and each seeking to outrival the other in the good graces of her majesty. grafigni informed bodman, however, that lord cobham was quite to be depended upon in the affair, and would deal with him privately, while lord burghley would correspond with andrea de loo at antwerp. moreover, the servant of comptroller croft would direct bodman as to his course, and would give him daily instructions. now it so happened that this servant of croft, norris by name, was a papist, a man of bad character, and formerly a spy of the duke of anjou. "if your lordship or myself should use such instruments as this," wrote walsingham to leicester, "i know we should bear no small reproach; but it is the good hap of hollow and doubtful men to be best thought of." bodman thought the lords of the peace-faction and their adherents not sufficiently strong to oppose the other party with success. he assured farnese that almost all the gentlemen and the common people of england stood ready to risk their fortunes and to go in person to the field to maintain the cause of the queen and religious liberty; and that the chance of peace was desperate unless something should turn the tide, such as, for example, the defeat of drake, or an invasion by philip of ireland or scotland. as it so happened that drake was just then engaged in a magnificent career of victory, sweeping the spanish main and startling the nearest and the most remote possessions of the king with english prowess, his defeat was not one of the cards to be relied on by the peace-party in the somewhat deceptive game which they had commenced. yet, strange to say, they used, or attempted to use, those splendid triumphs as if they had been disasters. meantime there was an active but very secret correspondence between lord cobham, lord burghley, sir james croft, and various subordinate personages in england, on the one side, and champagny, president richardot, la motte, governor of gravelines, andrea de loo, grafigni, and other men in the obedient provinces, more or less in alexander's confidence, on the other side. each party was desirous of forcing or wheedling the antagonist to show his hand. "you were employed to take soundings off the english coast in the duke of norfolk's time," said cobham to la motte: "you remember the duke's fate. nevertheless, her majesty hates war, and it only depends on the king to have a firm and lasting peace." "you must tell lord cobham," said richardot to la motte, "that you are not at liberty to go into a correspondence, until assured of the intentions of queen elizabeth. her majesty ought to speak first, in order to make her good-will manifest," and so on. "the 'friend' can confer with you," said richardot to champagny; "but his highness is not to appear to know anything at all about it. the queen must signify her intentions." "you answered champagny correctly," said burghley to de loo, "as to what i said last winter concerning her majesty's wishes in regard to a pacification. the netherlands must be compelled to return to obedience to the king; but their ancient privileges are to be maintained. you omitted, however, to say a word about toleration, in the provinces, of the reformed religion. but i said then, as i say now, that this is a condition indispensable to peace." this was a somewhat important omission on the part of de loo, and gives the measure of his conscientiousness or his capacity as a negotiator. certainly for the lord-treasurer of england to offer, on the part of her majesty, to bring about the reduction of her allies under the yoke which they had thrown off without her assistance, and this without leave asked of them, and with no provision for the great principle of religious liberty, which was the cause of the revolt, was a most flagitious trifling with the honour of elizabeth and of england. certainly the more this mysterious correspondence is examined, the more conclusive is the justification of the vague and instinctive jealousy felt by leicester and the states-general as to english diplomacy during the winter and spring of . burghley summoned de loo, accordingly, to recall to his memory all that had been privately said to him on the necessity of protecting the reformed religion in the provinces. if a peace were to be perpetual, toleration was indispensable, he observed, and her majesty was said to desire this condition most earnestly. the lord-treasurer also made the not unreasonable suggestion, that, in case of a pacification, it would be necessary to provide that english subjects--peaceful traders, mariners, and the like--should no longer be shut up in the inquisition prisons of spain and portugal, and there starved to death, as, with great multitudes, had already been the case. meantime alexander, while encouraging and directing all these underhand measures, was carefully impressing upon his master that he was not, in the least degree; bound by any such negotiations. "queen elizabeth," he correctly observed to philip, "is a woman: she is also by no means fond of expense. the kingdom, accustomed to repose, is already weary of war therefore, they are all pacifically inclined." "it has been intimated to me," he said, "that if i would send a properly qualified person, who should declare that your majesty had not absolutely forbidden the coming of lord leicester, such an agent would be well received, and perhaps the earl would be recalled." alexander then proceeded, with the coolness befitting a trusted governor of philip ii., to comment upon the course which he was pursuing. he could at any time denounce the negotiations which he was secretly prompting. meantime immense advantages could be obtained by the deception practised upon an enemy whose own object was to deceive. the deliberate treachery of the scheme was cynically enlarged upon, and its possible results mathematically calculated: philip was to proceed with the invasion while alexander was going on with the negotiation. if, meanwhile, they could receive back holland and zeeland from the hands of england, that would be an immense success. the prince intimated a doubt, however, as to so fortunate a result, because, in dealing with heretics and persons of similar quality, nothing but trickery was to be expected. the chief good to be hoped for was to "chill the queen in her plots, leagues, and alliances," and during the chill, to carry forward their own great design. to slacken not a whit in their preparations, to "put the queen to sleep," and, above all, not to leave the french for a moment unoccupied with internal dissensions and civil war; such was the game of the king and the governor, as expounded between themselves. president richardot, at the same time, stated to cardinal granvelle that the english desire for peace was considered certain at brussels. grafigni had informed the prince of parma and his counsellors that the queen was most amicably disposed, and that there would be no trouble on the point of religion, her majesty not wishing to obtain more than she would herself be willing to grant. "in this," said richardot, "there is both hard and soft;" for knowing that the spanish game was deception, pure and simple, the excellent president could not bring himself to suspect a possible grain of good faith in the english intentions. much anxiety was perpetually felt in the french quarter, her majesty's government being supposed to be secretly preparing an invasion of the obedient netherlands across the french frontier, in combination, not with the bearnese, but with henry iii. so much in the dark were even the most astute politicians. "i can't feel satisfied in this french matter," said the president: "we mustn't tickle ourselves to make ourselves laugh." moreover, there was no self-deception nor self-tickling possible as to the unmitigated misery of the obedient netherlands. famine was a more formidable foe than frenchmen, hollanders, and englishmen combined; so that richardot avowed that the "negotiation would be indeed holy," if it would restore holland and zeeland to the king without fighting. the prospect seemed on the whole rather dismal to loyal netherlanders like the old leaguing, intriguing, hispamolized president of the privy council. "i confess," said he plaintively, "that england needs chastisement; but i don't see how we are to give it to her. only let us secure holland and zeeland, and then we shall always find a stick whenever we like to beat the dog." meantime andrea de loo had been bustling and buzzing about the ears of the chief counsellors at the english court during all the early spring. most busily he had been endeavouring to efface the prevalent suspicion that philip and alexander were only trifling by these informal negotiations. we have just seen whether or not there was ground for that suspicion. de loo, being importunate, however--"as he usually was," according to his own statement--obtained in burghley's hand a confirmation, by order of the queen, of de loo's--letter of the th december. the matter of religion gave the worthy merchant much difficulty, and he begged lord buckhurst, the lord treasurer, and many other counsellors, not to allow this point of toleration to ruin the whole affair; "for," said he, "his majesty will never permit any exercise of the reformed religion." at last buckhurst sent for him, and in presence of comptroller croft, gave him information that he had brought the queen to this conclusion: firstly, that she would be satisfied with as great a proportion of religious toleration for holland, zeeland, and the other united provinces, as his majesty could concede with safety to his conscience and his honour; secondly, that she required an act of amnesty; thirdly, that she claimed reimbursement by philip for the money advanced by her to the states. certainly a more wonderful claim was never made than this--a demand upon an absolute monarch for indemnity for expenses incurred in fomenting a rebellion of his own subjects. the measure of toleration proposed for the provinces--the conscience, namely, of the greatest bigot ever born into the world--was likely to prove as satisfactory as the claim for damages propounded by the most parsimonious sovereign in christendom. it was, however, stipulated that the nonconformists of holland and zeeland, who should be forced into exile, were to have their property administered by papist trustees; and further, that the spanish inquisition was not to be established in the netherlands. philip could hardly demand better terms than these last, after a career of victory. that they should be offered now by elizabeth was hardly compatible with good faith to the states. on account of lord burghley's gout, it was suggested that the negotiators had better meet in england, as it would be necessary for him to take the lead in the matters and as he was but an indifferent traveller. thus, according to de loo, the queen was willing to hand over the united provinces to philip, and to toss religious toleration to the winds, if she could only get back the seventy thousand pounds--more or less--which she had invested in an unpromising speculation. a few weeks later, and at almost the very moment when elizabeth had so suddenly overturned her last vial of wrath upon the discomfited heneage for having communicated --according to her express command--the fact of the pending negotiations to the netherland states; at that very instant parma was writing secretly, and in cipher, to philip. his communication--could sir thomas have read it--might have partly explained her majesty's rage. parma had heard, he said, through bodman, from comptroller croft, that the queen would willingly receive a proper envoy. it was very easy to see, he observed, that the english counsellors were seeking every means of entering into communication with spain, and that they were doing so with the participation of the queen! lord-treasurer burghley and comptroller croft had expressed surprise that the prince had not yet sent a secret agent to her majesty, under pretext of demanding explanations concerning lord leicester's presence in the provinces, but in reality to treat for peace. such an agent, it had been intimated, would be well received. the lord-treasurer and the comptroller would do all in their power to advance the negotiation, so that, with their aid and with the pacific inclination of the queen, the measures proposed in favour of leicester would be suspended, and perhaps the earl himself and all the english would be recalled. the queen was further represented as taking great pains to excuse both the expedition of sir francis drake to the indies, and the mission of leicester to the provinces. she was said to throw the whole blame of these enterprises upon walsingham and other ill-intentioned personages, and to avow that she now understood matters better; so that, if parma would at once send an envoy, peace would, without question, soon be made. parma had expressed his gratification at these hopeful dispositions on the part of burghley and croft, and held out hopes of sending an agent to treat with them, if not directly with her majesty. for some time past-- according to the prince--the english government had not seemed to be honestly seconding the earl of leicester, nor to correspond with his desires. "this makes me think," he said, "that the counsellors before- mentioned, being his rivals, are trying to trip him up." in such a caballing, prevaricating age, it is difficult to know which of all the plotters and counterplotters engaged in these intrigues could accomplish the greatest amount of what--for the sake of diluting in nine syllables that which could be more forcibly expressed in one--was then called diplomatic dissimulation. it is to be feared, notwithstanding her frequent and vociferous denials, that the robes of the "imperial votaress" were not so unsullied as could be wished. we know how loudly leicester had complained--we have seen how clearly walsingham could convict; but elizabeth, though convicted, could always confute: for an absolute sovereign, even without resorting to philip's syllogisms of axe and faggot, was apt in the sixteenth century to have the best of an argument with private individuals. the secret statements of parma-made, not for public effect, but for the purpose of furnishing his master with the most accurate information he could gather as to english policy--are certainly entitled to consideration. they were doubtless founded upon the statements of individuals rejoicing in no very elevated character; but those individuals had no motive to deceive their patron. if they clashed with the vehement declarations of very eminent personages, it must be admitted, on the other hand, that they were singularly in accordance with the silent eloquence of important and mysterious events. as to alexander farnese--without deciding the question whether elizabeth and burghley were deceiving walsingham and leicester, or only trying to delude philip and himself--he had no hesitation, of course, on his part, in recommending to philip the employment of unlimited dissimulation. nothing could be more ingenuous than the intercourse between the king and his confidential advisers. it was perfectly understood among them that they were always to deceive every one, upon every occasion. only let them be false, and it was impossible to be wholly wrong; but grave mistakes might occur from occasional deviations into sincerity. it was no question at all, therefore, that it was parma's duty to delude elizabeth and burghley. alexander's course was plain. he informed his master that he would keep these difficulties alive as much as it was possible. in order to "put them all to sleep with regard to the great enterprise of the invasion," he would send back bodman to burghley and croft, and thus keep this unofficial negotiation upon its legs. the king was quite uncommitted, and could always disavow what had been done. meanwhile he was gaining, and his adversaries losing, much precious time. "if by this course," said parma, "we can induce the english to hand over to us the places which they hold in holland and zeeland, that will be a great triumph." accordingly he urged the king not to slacken, in the least, his preparations for invasion, and, above all, to have a care that the french were kept entangled and embarrassed among themselves, which was a most substantial point. meantime europe was ringing with the american successes of the bold corsair drake. san domingo, porto rico, santiago, cartliagena, florida, were sacked and destroyed, and the supplies drawn so steadily from the oppression of the western world to maintain spanish tyranny in europe, were for a time extinguished. parma was appalled at these triumphs of the sea-king--"a fearful man to the king of spain"--as lord burghley well observed. the spanish troops were starving in flanders, all flanders itself was starving, and philip, as usual, had sent but insignificant remittances to save his perishing soldiers. parma had already exhausted his credit. money was most difficult to obtain in such a forlorn country; and now the few rich merchants and bankers of antwerp that were left looked very black at these crushing news from america. "they are drawing their purse-strings very tight," said alexander, "and will make no accommodation. the most contemplative of them ponder much over this success of drake, and think that your majesty will forget our matters here altogether." for this reason he informed the king that it would be advisable to drop all further negotiation with england for the time, as it was hardly probable that, with such advantages gained by the queen, she would be inclined to proceed in the path which had been just secretly opened. moreover, the prince was in a state of alarm as to the intentions of france. mendoza and tassis had given him to understand that a very good feeling prevailed between the court of henry and of elizabeth, and that the french were likely to come to a pacification among themselves. in this the spanish envoys were hardly anticipating so great an effect as we have seen that they had the right to do from their own indefatigable exertions; for, thanks to their zeal, backed by the moderate subsidies furnished by their master, the civil war in france already seemed likely to be as enduring as that of the netherlands. but parma--still quite in the dark as to french politics--was haunted by the vision of seventy thousand foot and six thousand horses ready to be let slip upon him at any, moment, out of a pacified and harmonious france; while he had nothing but a few starving and crippled regiments to withstand such an invasion. when all these events should have taken place, and france, in alliance with england, should have formally declared war against spain, alexander protested that he should have learned nothing new. the prince was somewhat mistaken as to political affairs; but his doubts concerning his neighbours, blended with the forlorn condition of himself and army, about which there was no doubt at all, showed the exigencies of his situation. in the midst of such embarrassments it is impossible not to admire his heroism as a military chieftain, and his singular adroitness as a diplomatist. he had painted for his sovereign a most faithful and horrible portrait of the obedient provinces. the soil was untilled; the manufactories had all stopped; trade had ceased to exist. it was a pity only to look upon the raggedness of his soldiers. no language could describe the misery of the reconciled provinces--artois, hainault, flanders. the condition of bruges would melt the hardest heart; other cities were no better; antwerp was utterly ruined; its inhabitants were all starving. the famine throughout the obedient netherlands was such as had not been known for a century. the whole country had been picked bare by the troops, and the plough was not put into the ground. deputations were constantly with him from bruges, dendermonde, bois-le-duc, brussels, antwerp, nymegen, proving to him by the most palpable evidence that the whole population of those cities had almost literally nothing to eat. he had nothing, however, but exhortations to patience to feed them withal. he was left without a groat even to save his soldiers from starving, and he wildly and bitterly, day after day, implored his sovereign for aid. these pictures are not the sketches of a historian striving for effect, but literal transcripts from the most secret revelations of the prince himself to his sovereign. on the other hand, although leicester's complaints of the destitution of the english troops in the republic were almost as bitter, yet the condition of the united provinces was comparatively healthy. trade, external and internal, was increasing daily. distant commercial and military expeditions were fitted out, manufactures were prosperous, and the war of independence was gradually becoming--strange to say--a source of prosperity to the new commonwealth. philip--being now less alarmed than his nephew concerning french affairs, and not feeling so keenly the misery of the obedient provinces, or the wants of the spanish army--sent to alexander six hundred thousand ducats, by way of genoa. in the letter submitted by his secretary recording this remittance, the king made, however, a characteristic marginal note:-- "see if it will not be as well to tell him something concerning the two hundred thousand ducats to be deducted for mucio, for fear of more mischief, if the prince should expect the whole six hundred thousand." accordingly mucio got the two hundred thousand. one-third of the meagre supply destined for the relief of the king's starving and valiant little army in the netherlands was cut off to go into the pockets of the intriguing duke of guise. "we must keep the french," said philip, "in a state of confusion at home, and feed their civil war. we must not allow them to come to a general peace, which would be destruction for the catholics. i know you will put a good face on the matter; and, after all, 'tis in the interest of the netherlands. moreover, the money shall be immediately refunded." alexander was more likely to make a wry face, notwithstanding his views of the necessity of fomenting the rebellion against the house of valois. certainly if a monarch intended to conquer such countries as france, england, and holland, without stirring from his easy chair in the escorial, it would have been at least as well--so alexander thought--to invest a little more capital in the speculation. no monarch ever dreamed of arriving at universal empire with less personal fatigue or exposure, or at a cheaper rate, than did philip ii. his only fatigue was at his writing-table. but even here his merit was of a subordinate description. he sat a great while at a time. he had a genius for sitting; but he now wrote few letters himself. a dozen words or so, scrawled in hieroglyphics at the top, bottom, or along the margin of the interminable despatches of his secretaries, contained the suggestions, more or less luminous, which arose in his mind concerning public affairs. but he held firmly to his purpose: he had devoted his life to the extermination of protestantism, to the conquest of france and england, to the subjugation of holland. these were vast schemes. a king who should succeed in such enterprises, by his personal courage and genius, at the head of his armies, or by consummate diplomacy, or by a masterly system of finance- husbanding and concentrating the resources of his almost boundless realms--might be in truth commended for capacity. hitherto however philip's triumph had seemed problematical; and perhaps something more would be necessary than letters to parma, and paltry remittances to mucio, notwithstanding alexander's splendid but local victories in flanders. parma, although in reality almost at bay, concealed his despair, and accomplished wonders in the field. the military events during the spring and summer of will be sketched in a subsequent chapter. for the present it is necessary to combine into a complete whole the subterranean negotiations between brussels and england. much to his surprise and gratification, parma found that the peace-party were not inclined to change their views in consequence of the triumphs of drake. he soon informed the king that--according to champagny and bodman--the lord treasurer, the comptroller, lord cobham, and sir christopher hatton, were more pacific than they had ever been. these four were represented by grafigni as secretly in league against leicester and walsingham, and very anxious to bring about a reconciliation between the crowns of england and spain. the merchant-diplomatist, according to his own statement, was expressly sent by queen elizabeth to the prince of parma, although without letter of credence or signed instructions, but with the full knowledge and approbation of the four counsellors just mentioned. he assured alexander that the queen and the majority of her council felt a strong desire for peace, and had manifested much repentance for what had been done. they had explained their proceedings by the necessity of self-defence. they had avowed--in case they should be made sure of peace--that they should, not with reluctance and against their will, but, on the contrary, with the utmost alacrity and at once, surrender to the king of spain the territory which they possessed in the netherlands, and especially the fortified towns in holland and zeeland; for the english object had never been conquest. parma had also been informed of the queen's strong desire that he should be employed as negotiator, on account of her great confidence in his sincerity. they had expressed much satisfaction on hearing that he was about to send an agent to england, and had protested themselves rejoiced at drake's triumphs, only because of their hope that a peace with spain would thus be rendered the easier of accomplishment. they were much afraid, according to grafigni, of philip's power, and dreaded a spanish invasion of their country, in conjunction with the pope. they were now extremely anxious that parma--as he himself informed the king--should send an agent of good capacity, in great secrecy, to england. the comptroller had said that he had pledged himself to such a result, and if it failed, that they would probably cut off his head. the four counsellors were excessively solicitous for the negotiation, and each of them was expecting to gain favour by advancing it to the best of his ability. parma hinted at the possibility that all these professions were false, and that the english were only intending to keep the king from the contemplated invasion. at the same time he drew philip's attention to the fact that burghley and his party had most evidently been doing everything in their power to obstruct leicester's progress in the netherlands and to keep back the reinforcements of troops and money which he so much required. no doubt these communications of parma to the king were made upon the faith of an agent not over-scrupulous, and of no elevated or recognised rank in diplomacy. it must be borne in mind, however, that he had been made use of by both parties; perhaps because it would be easy to throw off, and discredit, him whenever such a step should be convenient; and that, on the other hand, coming fresh from burghley and the rest into the presence of the keen-eyed farnese, he would hardly invent for his employer a budget of falsehoods. that man must have been a subtle negotiator who could outwit such a statesman as burghley--and the other counsellors of elizabeth, and a bold one who could dare to trifle on a momentous occasion with alexander of parma. leicester thought burghley very much his friend, and so thought davison and heneage; and the lord-treasurer had, in truth, stood stoutly by the earl in the affair of the absolute governorship;--"a matter more severe and cumbersome to him and others," said burghley, "than any whatsoever since he was a counsellor." but there is no doubt that these negotiations were going forward all the spring and summer, that they were most detrimental to leicester's success, and that they were kept--so far as it was possible--a profound secret from him, from walsingham, and from the states-general. nothing was told them except what their own astuteness had discovered beforehand; and the game of the counsellors--so far as their attitude towards leicester and walsingham was concerned-- seems both disingenuous and impolitic. parma, it was to be feared, was more than a match for the english governor-general in the field; and it was certainly hopeless for poor old comptroller croft, even though backed by the sagacious burghley, to accomplish so great an amount of dissimulation in a year as the spanish cabinet, without effort, could compass in a week. nor were they attempting to do so. it is probable that england was acting towards philip in much better faith than he deserved, or than parma believed; but it is hardly to be wondered at that leicester should think himself injured by being kept perpetually in the dark. elizabeth was very impatient at not receiving direct letters from parma, and her anxiety on the subject explains much of her caprice during the quarrel about the governor-generalahip. many persons in the netherlands thought those violent scenes a farce, and a farce that had been arranged with leicester beforehand. in this they were mistaken; for an examination of the secret correspondence of the period reveals the motives--which to contemporaries were hidden--of many strange transactions. the queen was, no doubt, extremely anxious, and with cause, at the tempest slowly gathering over her head; but the more the dangers thickened, the more was her own official language to those in high places befitting the sovereign of england. she expressed her surprise to farnese that he had not written to her on the subject of the grafigni and bodman affair. the first, she said, was justified in all which he had narrated, save in his assertion that she had sent him. the other had not obtained audience, because he had not come provided with any credentials, direct or indirect. having now understood from andrea de loo and the seigneur de champagny that parma had the power to conclude a peace, which he seemed very much to desire, she observed that it was not necessary for him to be so chary in explaining the basis of the proposed negotiations. it was better to enter into a straightforward path, than by ambiguous words to spin out to great length matters which princes should at once conclude. "do not suppose," said the queen, "that i am seeking what belongs to others. god forbid. i seek only that which is mine own. but be sure that i will take good heed of the sword which threatens me with destruction, nor think that i am so craven-spirited as to endure a wrong, or to place myself at the mercy of my enemy. every week i see advertisements and letters from spain that this year shall witness the downfall of england; for the spaniards--like the hunter who divided, with great liberality, among his friends the body and limbs of the wolf, before it had been killed--have partitioned this kingdom and that of ireland before the conquest has been effected. but my royal heart is no whit appalled by such threats. i trust, with the help of the divine hand--which has thus far miraculously preserved me--to smite all these braggart powers into the dust, and to preserve my honour, and the kingdoms which he has given me for my heritage. "nevertheless, if you have authority to enter upon and to conclude this negotiation, you will find my ears open to hear your propositions; and i tell you further, if a peace is to be made, that i wish you to be the mediator thereof. such is the affection i bear you, notwithstanding that some letters, written by your own hand, might easily have effaced such sentiments from my mind." soon afterwards, bodman was again despatched to england, grafigni being already there. he was provided with unsigned instructions, according to which he was to say that the prince, having heard of the queen's good intentions, had despatched him and grafigni to her court. they were to listen to any suggestions made by the queen to her ministers; but they were to do nothing but listen. if the counsellors should enter into their grievances against his majesty, and ask for explanations, the agents were to say that they had no authority or instructions to speak for so great and christian a monarch. thus they were to cut the thread of any such discourse, or any other observations not to the purpose. silence, in short, was recommended, first and last, as the one great business of their mission; and it was unlucky that men whose talent for taciturnity was thus signally relied upon should be somewhat remarkable for loquacity. grafigni was also the bearer of a letter from alexander to the queen--of which bodman received a copy--but it was strictly enjoined upon them to keep the letter, their instructions, and the objects of their journey, a secret from all the world. the letter of the prince consisted mainly of complimentary flourishes. he had heard, he said, all that agostino grafigni had communicated, and he now begged her majesty to let him understand the course which it was proper to take; assuring her of his gratitude for her good opinion touching his sincerity, and his desire to save the effusion of blood, and so on; concluding of course with expressions of most profound consideration and devotion. early in july bodman arrived in london. he found grafigni in very low spirits. he had been with lord cobham, and was much disappointed with his reception, for cobham--angry that grafigni had brought no commission from the king--had refused to receive parma's letter to the queen, and had expressed annoyance that bodman should be employed on this mission, having heard that lie was very ill-tempered and passionate. the same evening, he had been sent for by lord burghley--who had accepted the letter for her majesty without saying a word--and on the following morning, he had been taken to task, by several counsellors, on the ground that the prince, in that communication, had stated that the queen had expressed a desire for peace. it has just been shown that there was no such intimation at all in the letter; but as neither grafigni nor bodman had read the epistle itself, but only the copy furnished them, they could merely say that such an assertion; if made by the prince, had been founded on no statement of theirs. bodman consoled his colleague, as well as he could, by assurances that when the letter was fairly produced, their vindication would be complete, and grafigni, upon that point, was comforted. he was, however, very doleful in general, and complained bitterly of burghley and the other english counsellors. he said that they had forced him, against his will, to make this journey to brussels, that they had offered him presents, that they would leave him no rest in his own house, but had made him neglect all his private business, and caused him a great loss of time and money, in order that he might serve them. they had manifested the strongest desire that parma should open this communication, and had led him to expect a very large recompense for his share in the transaction. "and now," said grafigni to his colleague, with great bitterness, "i find no faith nor honour in them at all. they don't keep their word, and every one of them is trying to slide out of the very business, in which each was, but the other day, striving to outrival the other, in order that it might be brought to a satisfactory conclusion." after exploding in this way to bodman, he went back to cobham, and protested, with angry vehemence, that parma had never written such a word to the queen, and that so it would prove, if the letter were produced. next day, bodman was sent for to greenwich, where her majesty was, as usual, residing. a secret pavilion was indicated to him, where he was to stay until sunset. when that time arrived, lord cobham's secretary came with great mystery, and begged the emissary to follow him, but at a considerable distance, towards the apartments of lord burghley in the palace. arriving there, they found the lord treasurer accompanied by cobham and croft. burghley instantly opened the interview by a defence of the queen's policy in sending troops to the netherlands, and in espousing their cause, and then the conversation proceeded to the immediate matter in hand. bodman (after listening respectfully to the lord-treasurer's observations).--"his highness has, however, been extremely surprised that my lord leicester should take an oath, as governor-general of the king's provinces. he is shocked likewise by the great demonstrations of hostility on the part of her majesty." burghley.--"the oath was indispensable. the queen was obliged to tolerate the step on account of the great urgency of the states to have a head. but her majesty has commanded us to meet you on this occasion, in order to hear what you have to communicate on the part of the prince of parma." bodman (after a profusion of complimentary phrases).--"i have no commission to say anything. i am only instructed to listen to anything that may be said to me, and that her majesty may be pleased to command." burghley.--"'tis very discreet to begin thus. but time is pressing, and it is necessary to be brief. we beg you therefore to communicate, without further preface, that which you have been charged to say." bodman.--"i can only repeat to your lordship, that i have been charged to say nothing." after this barmecide feast of diplomacy, to partake of which it seemed hardly necessary that the guests should have previously attired themselves in such garments of mystery, the parties separated for the night. in spite of their care, it would seem that the argus-eyed walsingham had been able to see after sunset; for, the next evening--after bodman had been introduced with the same precautions to the same company, in the same place--burghley, before a word had been spoken, sent for sir francis. bodman was profoundly astonished, for he had been expressly informed that walsingham was to know nothing of the transaction. the secretary of state could not so easily be outwitted, however, and he was soon seated at the table, surveying the scene, with his grave melancholy eyes, which had looked quite through the whole paltry intrigue. burghley.--"her majesty has commanded us to assemble together, in order that, in my presence, it may be made clear that she did not commence this negotiation. let grafigni be summoned." grafigni immediately made his appearance. burghley.--"you will please to explain how you came to enter into this business." grafigni.--"the first time i went to the states, it was on my private affairs; i had no order from any one to treat with the prince of parma. his highness, having accidentally heard, however, that i resided in england, expressed a wish to see me. i had an interview with the prince. i told him, out of my own head, that the queen had a strong inclination to hear propositions of peace, and that--as some of her counsellors were of the same opinion--i believed that if his highness should send a negotiator, some good would be effected. the prince replied that he felt by no means sure of such a result; but that, if i should come back from england, sent by the queen or her council, he would then despatch a person with a commission to treat of peace. this statement, together with other matters that had passed between us, was afterwards drawn up in writing by command of his highness." burghley.--"who bade you say, after your second return to brussels, that you came on the part of the queen? for you well know that her majesty did not send you." grafigni.--"i never said so. i stated that my lord cobham had set down in writing what i was to say to the prince of parma. it will never appear that i represented the queen as desiring peace. i said that her majesty would lend her ears to peace. bodman knows this too; and he has a copy of the letter of his highness." walsingham to bodman.--"have you the copy still?" bodman.--"yes, mr. secretary." walsingham.--"please to produce it, in order that this matter may be sifted to the bottom." bodman.--"i supplicate your lorships to pardon me, but indeed that cannot be. my instructions forbid my showing the letter." walsingham (rising).--"i will forthwith go to her majesty, and fetch the original." a pause. mr. secretary returns in a few minutes, having obtained the document, which the queen, up to that time, had kept by her, without showing it to any one. walsingham (after reading the letter attentively, and aloud).--"there is not such a word, as that her majesty is desirous of peace, in the whole paper." burghley (taking the letter, and slowly construing it out of italian into english).--"it would seem that his highness hath written this, assuming that the signor grafigni came from the queen, although he had received his instructions from my lord cobham. it is plain, however, that the negotiation was commenced accidentally." comptroller croft (nervously, and with the air of a man fearful of getting into trouble).--"you know very well, mr. bodman, that my servant came to dunkirk only to buy and truck away horses; and that you then, by chance, entered into talk with him, about the best means of procuring a peace between the two kingdoms. my servant told you of the good feeling that prevailed in england. you promised to write on the subject to the prince, and i immediately informed the lord-treasurer of the whole transaction." burghley.--"that is quite true." croft.--"my servant subsequently returned to the provinces in order to learn what the prince might have said on the subject." bodman (with immense politeness, but very decidedly).--"pardon me, mr. comptroller; but, in this matter, i must speak the truth, even if the honour and life of my father were on the issue. i declare that your servant norris came to me, directly commissioned for that purpose by yourself, and informed me from you, and upon your authority, that if i would solicit the prince of parma to send a secret agent to england, a peace would be at once negotiated. your servant entreated me to go to his highness at brussels. i refused, but agreed to consider the proposition. after the lapse of several days, the servant returned to make further enquiries. i told him that the prince had come to no decision. norris continued to press the matter. i excused myself. he then solicited and obtained from me a letter of introduction to de loo, the secretary of his highness. armed with this, he went to brussels and had an interview--as i found, four days later--with the prince. in consequence of the representations of norris, those of signor grafigni, and those by way of antwerp, his highness determined to send me to england." burghley to croft.--"did you order your servant to speak with andrea de loo?" croft.--"i cannot deny it." burghley.--"the fellow seems to have travelled a good way out of his commission. his master sends him to buy horses, and he commences a peace-negotiation between two kingdoms. it would be well he were chastised. as regards the antwerp matter, too, we have had many letters, and i have, seen one from the seigneur de champagny, the same effect as that of all the rest." walsingham.--"i see not to what end his highness of parma has sent mr. bodman hither. the prince avows that he hath no commission from spain." bodman.--"his highness was anxious to know what was her majesty's pleasure. so soon as that should be known, the prince could obtain ample authority. he would never have proceeded so far without meaning a good end." walsingham.--"very like. i dare say that his highness will obtain the commission. meantime, as prince of parma, he writes these letters, and assists his sovereign perhaps more than he doth ourselves." here the interview terminated. a few days later, bodman had another conversation with burghley and cobham. reluctantly, at their urgent request, he set down in writing all that he had said concerning his mission. the lord treasurer said that the queen and her counsellors were "ready to embrace peace when it was treated of sincerely." meantime the queen had learned that the prince had been sending letters to the cautionary towns in holland and zeeland, stating that her majesty was about to surrender them to the king of spain. these were tricks to make mischief, and were very detrimental to the queen. bodman replied that these were merely the idle stories of quidnuncs; and that the prince and all his counsellors were dealing with the utmost sincerity. burghley answered that he had intercepted the very letters, and had them in his possession. a week afterwards, bodman saw walsingham alone, and was informed by him that the queen had written an answer to parma's letter, and that negotiations for the future were to be carried on in the usual form, or not at all. walsingham, having thus got the better of his rivals, and delved below their mines, dismissed the agent with brief courtesy. afterwards the discomfited mr. comptroller wished a private interview with bodman. bodman refused to speak with him except in presence of lord cobham. this croft refused. in the same way bodman contrived to get rid, as he said, of lord burghley and lord cobham, declining to speak with either of them alone. soon afterwards he returned to the provinces! the queen's letter to parma was somewhat caustic. it was obviously composed through the inspiration of walsingham rather than that of burghley. the letter, brought by a certain grafigni and a certain bodman, she said, was a very strange one, and written under a delusion. it was a very grave error, that, in her name, without her knowledge, contrary to her disposition, and to the prejudice of her honour, such a person as this grafigni, or any one like him, should have the audacity to commence such a business, as if she had, by messages to the prince, sought a treaty with his king, who had so often returned evil for her good. grafigni, after representing the contrary to his highness, had now denied in presence of her counsellors having received any commission from the queen. she also briefly gave the result of bodman's interviews with burghley and the others, just narrated. that agent had intimated that parma would procure authority to treat for peace, if assured that the queen would lend her ear to any propositions. she replied by referring to her published declarations, as showing her powerful motives for interfering in these affairs. it was her purpose to save her own realm and to rescue her ancient neighbours from misery and from slavery. to this end she should still direct her actions, notwithstanding the sinister rumours which had been spread that she was inclined to peace before providing for the security and liberty of her allies. she was determined never to separate their cause from her own. propositions tending to the security of herself and of her neighbours would always be favourably received. parma, on his part, informed his master that there could be no doubt that the queen and the majority of her council abhorred the war, and that already much had been gained by the fictitious negotiation. lord- treasurer burghley had been interposing endless delays and difficulties in the way of every measure proposed for the relief of lord leicester, and the assistance rendered him had been most lukewarm. meantime the prince had been able, he said, to achieve much success in the field, and the english had done nothing to prevent it. since the return of grafigni and bodman, however, it was obvious that the english government had disowned these non-commissioned diplomatists. the whole negotiation and all the negotiators were now discredited, but there was no doubt that there had been a strong desire to treat, and great disappointment at the result. grafigni and andrea de loo had been publishing everywhere in antwerp that england would consider the peace as made, so soon as his majesty should be willing to accept any propositions. his majesty, meanwhile, sat in his cabinet, without the slightest intention of making or accepting any propositions save those that were impossible. he smiled benignantly at his nephew's dissimulation and at the good results which it had already produced. he approved of gaining time, he said, by fictitious negotiations and by the use of a mercantile agent; for, no doubt, such a course would prevent the proper succours from being sent to the earl of leicester. if the english would hand over to him the cautionary towns held by them in holland and zeeland, promise no longer to infest the seas, the indies, and the isles, with their corsairs, and guarantee the complete obedience to their king and submission to the holy catholic church of the rebellious provinces, perhaps something might be done with them; but, on the whole, he was inclined to think that they had been influenced by knavish and deceitful motives from the beginning. he enjoined it upon parma, therefore, to proceed with equal knavery--taking care, however, not to injure his reputation--and to enter into negotiations wherever occasion might serve, in order to put the english off their guard and to keep back the reinforcements so imperatively required by leicester. and the reinforcements were indeed kept back. had burghley and croft been in the pay of philip ii. they could hardly have served him better than they had been doing by the course pursued. here then is the explanation of the shortcomings of the english government towards leicester and the states during the memorable spring and summer of . no money, no soldiers, when most important operations in the field were required. the first general of the age was to be opposed by a man who had certainly never gained many laurels as a military chieftain, but who was brave and confident, and who, had he been faithfully supported by the government which sent him to the netherlands, would have had his antagonist at a great disadvantage. alexander had scarcely eight thousand effective men. famine, pestilence, poverty, mutiny, beset and almost paralyzed him. language could not exaggerate the absolute destitution of the country. only miracles could save the king's cause, as farnese repeatedly observed. a sharp vigorous campaign, heartily carried on against him by leicester and hohenlo, with plenty of troops and money at command, would have brought the heroic champion of catholicism to the ground. he was hemmed in upon all sides; he was cut off from the sea; he stood as it were in a narrowing circle, surrounded by increasing dangers. his own veterans, maddened by misery, stung by their king's ingratitude, naked, starving, ferocious, were turning against him. mucio, like his evil genius, was spiriting away his supplies just as they were reaching his hands; a threatening tempest seemed rolling up from france; the whole population of the provinces which he had "reconciled"--a million of paupers--were crying to him for bread; great commercial cities, suddenly blasted and converted into dens of thieves and beggars, were cursing the royal author of their ruin, and uttering wild threats against his vicegerent; there seemed, in truth, nothing left for alexander but to plunge headlong into destruction, when, lo! mr. comptroller croft, advancing out of the clouds, like a propitious divinity, disguised in the garb of a foe--and the scene was changed. the feeble old man, with his shufing, horse-trucking servant, ex-spy of monsieur, had accomplished more work for philip and alexander than many regiments of spaniards and walloons could have done. the arm of leicester was paralyzed upon the very threshold of success. the picture of these palace-intrigues has been presented with minute elaboration, because, however petty and barren in appearance, they were in reality prolific of grave results. a series of victories by parma was substituted for the possible triumphs of elizabeth and the states. the dissimulation of the spanish court was fathomless. the secret correspondence of the times reveals to us that its only purpose was to deceive the queen and her counsellors, and to gain time to prepare the grand invasion of england and subjugation of holland--that double purpose which philip could only abandon with life. there was never a thought, on his part, of honest negotiation. on the other hand, the queen was sincere; burghley and hatton and cobham were sincere; croft was sincere, so far as spain was concerned. at least they had been sincere. in the private and doleful dialogues between bodman and grafigni which we have just been overhearing, these intriguers spoke the truth, for they could have no wish to deceive each other, and no fear of eaves-droppers not to be born till centuries afterwards. these conversations have revealed to us that the lord treasurer and three of his colleagues had been secretly doing their best to cripple leicester, to stop the supplies for the netherlands, and to patch up a hurried and unsatisfactory, if not a disgraceful peace; and this, with the concurrence of her majesty. after their plots had been discovered by the vigilant secretary of state, there was a disposition to discredit the humbler instruments in the cabal. elizabeth was not desirous of peace. far from it. she was qualmish at the very suggestion. dire was her wrath against bodman, de loo, graafigni, and the rest, at their misrepresentations on the subject. but she would "lend her ear." and that royal ear was lent, and almost fatal was the distilment poured into its porches. the pith and marrow of the great netherland enterprise was sapped by the slow poison of the ill- timed negotiation. the fruit of drake's splendid triumphs in america was blighted by it. the stout heart of the vainglorious but courageous leicester was sickened by it, while, meantime, the maturing of the great armada-scheme, by which the destruction of england was to be accomplished, was furthered, through the unlimited procrastination so precious to the heart of philip. fortunately the subtle walsingham was there upon the watch to administer the remedy before it was quite too late; and to him england and the netherlands were under lasting obligations. while alexander and philip suspected a purpose on the part of the english government to deceive them, they could not help observing that the earl of leicester was both deserted and deceived. yet it had been impossible for the peace-party in the government wholly to conceal their designs, when such prating fellows as grafigni and de loo were employed in what was intended to be a secret negotiation. in vain did the friends of leicester in the netherlands endeavour to account for the neglect with which he was treated, and for the destitution of his army. hopelessly did they attempt to counteract those "advertisements of most fearful instance," as richard cavendish expressed himself, which were circulating everywhere. thanks to the babbling of the very men, whose chief instructions had been to hold their tongues, and to listen with all their ears, the secret negotiations between parma and the english counsellors became the town- talk at antwerp, the hague, amsterdam, brussels, london. it is true that it was impossible to know what was actually said and done; but that there was something doing concerning which leicester was not to be informed was certain. grafigni, during one of his visits to the obedient provinces, brought a brace of greyhounds and a couple of horses from england, as a present to alexander, and he perpetually went about, bragging to every one of important negotiations which he was conducting, and of his intimacy with great personages in both countries. leicester, on the other hand, was kept in the dark. to him grafigni made no communications, but he once sent him a dish of plums, "which," said the earl, with superfluous energy, "i will boldly say to you, by the living god, is all that i have ever had since i came into these countries." when it is remembered that leicester had spent many thousand pounds in the netherland cause, that he had deeply mortgaged his property in order to provide more funds, that he had never received a penny of salary from the queen, that his soldiers were "ragged and torn like rogues-pity to see them," and were left without the means of supporting life; that he had been neglected, deceived, humiliated, until he was forced to describe himself as a "forlorn man set upon a forlorn hope," it must be conceded that grafigni's present of a dish of plums could hardly be sufficient to make him very happy. from time to time he was enlightened by sir francis, who occasionally forced his adversaries' hands, and who always faithfully informed the earl of everything he could discover. "we are so greedy of a peace, in respect of the charges of the wars," he wrote in april, "as in the procuring thereof we weigh neither honour nor safety. somewhat here is adealing underhand, wherein there is great care taken that i should not be made acquainted withal." but with all their great care, the conspirators, as it has been seen, were sometimes outwitted by the secretary, and, when put to the blush, were forced to take him into half- confidence. "your lordship may see," he wrote, after getting possession of parma's letter to the queen, and unravelling croft's intrigues, "what effects are wrought by such weak ministers. they that have been the employers of them are ashamed of the matter." unutterable was the amazement, as we have seen, of bodman and grafigni when they had suddenly found themselves confronted in burghley's private apartments in greenwich palace, whither they had been conducted so mysteriously after dark from the secret pavilion--by the grave secretary of state, whom they had been so anxious to deceive; and great was the embarrassment of croft and cobham, and even of the imperturbable burghley. and thus patiently did walsingham pick his course, plummet in hand, through the mists and along the quicksands, and faithfully did he hold out signals to his comrade embarked on the same dangerous voyage. as for the earl himself, he was shocked at the short-sighted policy of his mistress, mortified by the neglect to which he was exposed, disappointed in his ambitious schemes. vehemently and judiciously he insisted upon the necessity of vigorous field operations throughout the spring and summer thus frittered away in frivolous negotiations. he was for peace, if a lasting and honourable peace could be procured; but he insisted that the only road tosuch a result was through a "good sharp war." his troops were mutinous for want of pay, so that he had been obligedto have a few of them executed, although he protested that he would rather have "gone a thousand miles a-foot" than have done so; and he was crippled by his government at exactly the time when his great adversary's condition was most forlorn. was it strange that the proud earl should be fretting his heart away when such golden chances were eluding his grasp? he would "creep upon the ground," he said, as far as his hands and knees would carry him, to have a good peace for her majesty, but his care was to have a peace indeed, and not a show of it. it was the cue of holland and england to fight before they could expect to deal upon favourable terms with their enemy. he was quick enough to see that his false colleagues at home were playing into the enemy's hands. victory was what was wanted; victory the earl pledged himself, if properly seconded, to obtain; and, braggart though he was, it is by no means impossible that he might have redeemed his pledge. "if her majesty will use her advantage," he said, "she shall bring the king, and especially this prince of parma, to seek peace in other sort than by way of merchants." of courage and confidence the governor had no lack. whether he was capable of outgeneralling alexander farnese or no, will be better seen, perhaps, in subsequent chapters; but there is no doubt that he was reasonable enough in thinking, at that juncture, that a hard campaign rather than a "merchant's brokerage" was required to obtain an honourable peace. lofty, indeed, was the scorn of the aristocratic leicester that "merchants and pedlars should be paltering in so weighty a cause," and daring to send him a dish of plums when he was hoping half a dozen regiments from the queen; and a sorry business, in truth, the pedlars had made of it. never had there been a more delusive diplomacy, and it was natural that the lieutenant-general abroad and the statesman at home should be sad and indignant, seeing england drifting to utter shipwreck while pursuing that phantom of a pacific haven. had walsingham and himself tampered with the enemy, as some counsellors he could name had done, leicester asserted that the gallows would be thought too good for them; and yet he hoped he might be hanged if the whole spanish faction in england could procure for the queen a peace fit for her to accept. certainly it was quite impossible for the spanish-faction to bring about a peace. no human power could bring it about. even if england had been willing and able to surrender holland, bound hand and foot, to philip, even then she could only have obtained a hollow armistice. philip had sworn in his inmost soul the conquest of england and the dethronement of elizabeth. his heart was fixed. it was only by the subjugation of england that he hoped to recover the netherlands. england was to be his stepping-stone to holland. the invasion was slowly but steadily maturing, and nothing could have diverted the king from his great purpose. in the very midst of all these plots and counterplots, bodmans and grafignis, english geldings and irish greyhounds, dishes of plums and autograph letters of her majesty and his highness, the prince was deliberately discussing all the details of the invasion, which, as it was then hoped, would be ready by the autumn of the year . although he had sent a special agent to philip, who was to state by word of mouth that which it was deemed unsafe to write, yet alexander, perpetually urged by his master, went at last more fully into particulars than he had ever ventured to do before; and this too at the very moment when elizabeth was most seriously "lending her ear" to negotiation, and most vehemently expressing her wrath at sir thomas heneage for dealing candidly with the states-general. the prince observed that when, two or three years before, he had sent his master an account of the coasts, anchoring-places, and harbours of england, he had then expressed the opinion that the conquest of england was an enterprise worthy of the grandeur and christianity of his majesty, and not so difficult as to be considered altogether impossible. to make himself absolutely master of the business, however, he had then thought that the king should have no associates in the scheme, and should make no account of the inhabitants of england. since that time the project had become more difficult of accomplishment, because it was now a stale and common topic of conversation everywhere--in italy, germany, and france-- so that there could be little doubt that rumours on the subject were daily reaching the ears of queen elizabeth and of every one in her kingdom. hence she had made a strict alliance with sweden, denmark, the protestant princes of germany, and even with the turks and the french. nevertheless, in spite of these obstacles, the king, placing his royal hand to the work, might well accomplish the task; for the favour of the lord, whose cause it was, would be sure to give him success. being so christian and catholic a king, philip naturally desired to extend the area of the holy church, and to come to the relief of so many poor innocent martyrs in england, crying aloud before the lord for help. moreover elizabeth had fomented rebellion in the king's provinces for a long time secretly, and now, since the fall of antwerp, and just as holland and zeeland were falling into his grasp, openly. thus, in secret and in public, she had done the very worst she could do; and it was very clear that the lord, for her sins; had deprived her of understanding, in order that his majesty might be the instrument of that chastisement which she so fully deserved. a monarch of such great prudence, valour, and talent as philip, could now give all the world to understand that those who dared to lose a just and decorous respect for him, as this good lady had done, would receive such chastisement as royal power guided by prudent counsel could inflict. parma assured his sovereign, that, if the conquest of england were effected, that of the netherlands would be finished with much facility and brevity; but that otherwise, on account of the situation, strength and obstinacy of those people, it would be a very long, perilous, and at best doubtful business. "three points," he said, "were most vital to the invasion of england-- secrecy, maintenance of the civil war in france, and judicious arrangement of matters in the provinces." the french, if unoccupied at home, would be sure to make the enterprise so dangerous as to become almost impossible; for it might be laid down as a general maxim that that nation, jealous of philip's power, had always done and would always do what it could to counteract his purposes. with regard to the netherlands, it would be desirable to leave a good number of troops in those countries--at least as many as were then stationed there--besides the garrisons, and also to hold many german and swiss mercenaries in "wartgeld." it would be further desirable that alexander should take most of the personages of quality and sufficiency in the provinces over with him to england, in order that they should not make mischief in his absence. with regard to the point of secrecy, that was, in parma's opinion, the most important of all. all leagues must become more or less public, particularly those contrived at or with rome. such being the case, the queen of england would be well aware of the spanish projects, and, besides her militia at home, would levy german infantry and cavalry, and provide plenty of vessels, relying therein upon holland and zeeland, where ships and sailors were in such abundance. moreover, the english and the netherlanders knew the coasts, currents, tides, shallows, quicksands, ports, better than did the pilots of any fleets that the king could send thither. thus, having his back assured, the enemy would meet them in front at a disadvantage. although, notwithstanding this inequality, the enemy would be beaten, yet if the engagement should be warm, the spaniards would receive an amount of damage which could not fail to be inconvenient, particularly as they would be obliged to land their troops, and to give battle to those who would be watching their landing. moreover the english would be provided with cavalry, of which his majesty's forces would have very little, on account of the difficulty of its embarkation. the obedient netherlands would be the proper place in which to organize the whole expedition. there the regiments could be filled up, provisions collected, the best way of effecting the passage ascertained, and the force largely increased without exciting suspicion; but with regard to the fleet, there were no ports there capacious enough for large vessels. antwerp had ceased to be a seaport; but a large number of flat-bottomed barges, hoys, and other barks, more suitable for transporting soldiers, could be assembled in dunkirk, gravelines, and newport, which, with some five-and-twenty larger vessels, would be sufficient to accompany the fleet. the queen, knowing that there were no large ships, nor ports to hold them in the obedient provinces, would be unauspicious, if no greater levies seemed to be making than the exigencies of the netherlands might apparently require. the flat-bottomed boats, drawing two or three feet of water, would be more appropriate than ships of war drawing twenty feet. the passage across, in favourable weather, might occupy from eight to twelve hours. the number of troops for the invading force should be thirty thousand infantry, besides five hundred light troopers, with saddles, bridles, and lances, but without horses, because, in alexander's opinion, it would be easier to mount them in england. of these thirty thousand there should be six thousand spaniards, six thousand italians, six thousand walloons, nine thousand germans, and three thousand burgundians. much money would be required; at least three hundred thousand dollars the month for the new force, besides the regular one hundred and fifty thousand for the ordinary provision in the netherlands; and this ordinary provision would be more necessary than ever, because a mutiny breaking forth in the time of the invasion would be destruction to the spaniards both in england and in the provinces. the most appropriate part of the coast for a landing would, in alexander's opinion, be between dover and margate, because the spaniards, having no footing in holland and zeeland, were obliged to make their starting-point in flanders. the country about dover was described by parma as populous, well-wooded, and much divided by hedges; advantageous for infantry, and not requiring a larger amount of cavalry than the small force at his disposal, while the people there were domestic in their habits, rich, and therefore less warlike, less trained to arms, and more engrossed by their occupations and their comfortable ways of life. therefore, although some encounters would take place, yet after the commanders of the invading troops had given distinct and clear orders, it would be necessary to leave the rest in the, "hands of god who governs all things, and from whose bounty and mercy it was to be hoped that he would favour a cause so eminently holy, just, and his own." it would be necessary to make immediately for london, which city, not being fortified, would be very easily taken. this point gained, the whole framework of the business might be considered as well put together. if the queen should fly--as, being a woman, she probably would do-- everything would be left in such confusion, as, with the blessing of god, it might soon be considered that the holy and heroic work had been accomplished: her majesty, it was suggested, would probably make her escape in a boat before she could be captured; but the conquest would be nevertheless effected. although, doubtless, some english troops might be got together to return and try their fortune, yet it would be quite useless; for the invaders would have already planted themselves upon the soil, and then, by means of frequent excursions and forays hither and thither about the island, all other places of importance would be gained, and the prosperous and fortunate termination of the adventure assured. as, however, everything was to be provided for, so, in case the secret could not be preserved, it would be necessary for philip, under pretext of defending himself against the english and french corsairs, to send a large armada to sea, as doubtless the queen would take the same measure. if the king should prefer, however, notwithstanding alexander's advice to the contrary, to have confederates in the enterprise,--then, the matter being public, it would be necessary to prepare a larger and stronger fleet than any which elizabeth, with the assistance of her french and netherland allies, could oppose to him. that fleet should be well provided with vast stores of provisions, sufficient to enable the invading force, independently of forage, to occupy three or four places in england at once, as the enemy would be able to come from various towns and strong places to attack them. as for the proper season for the expedition, it would be advisable to select the month of october of the current year, because the english barns would then be full of wheat and other forage, and the earth would have been sown for the next year--points of such extreme importance, that if the plan could not be executed at that time, it would be as well to defer it until the following october. the prince recommended that the negotiations with the league should be kept spinning, without allowing them to come to a definite conclusion; because there would be no lack of difficulties perpetually offering themselves, and the more intricate and involved the policy of france, the better it would be for the interests of spain. alexander expressed the utmost confidence that his majesty, with his powerful arm, would overcome all obstacles in the path of his great project, and would show the world that he "could do a little more than what was possible." he also assured his master, in adding in this most extravagant language, of his personal devotion, that it was unnecessary for him to offer his services in this particular enterprise, because, ever since his birth, he had dedicated and consecrated himself to execute his royal commands. he further advised that old peter ernest mansfeld should be left commander-in-chief of the forces in the netherlands during his own absence in england. "mansfeld was an honourable cavalier," he said, "and a faithful servant of the king;" and although somewhat ill-conditioned at times, yet he had essential good qualities, and was the only general fit to be trusted alone. the reader, having thus been permitted to read the inmost thoughts of philip and alexander, and to study their secret plans for conquering england in october, while their frivolous yet mischievous negotiations with the queen had been going on from april to june, will be better able than before to judge whether leicester were right or no in doubting if a good peace could be obtained by a "merchant's brokerage." and now, after examining these pictures of inter-aulic politics and back- stairs diplomacy, which represent so large and characteristic a phasis of european history during the year , we must throw a glance at the external, more stirring, but not more significant public events which were taking place during the same period. etext editor's bookmarks: could do a little more than what was possible elizabeth, though convicted, could always confute he sat a great while at a time. he had a genius for sitting mistakes might occur from occasional deviations into sincerity nine syllables that which could be more forcibly expressed in on they were always to deceive every one, upon every occasion we mustn't tickle ourselves to make ourselves laugh this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, volume history united netherlands, volume , chapter vii., part . leicester's letters to his friends--paltry conduct of the earl to davison--he excuses himself at davison's expense--his letter to burghley--effect of the queen's letters to the states--suspicion and discontent in holland--states excuse their conduct to the queen-- leicester discredited in holland--evil consequences to holland and england--magic: effect of a letter from leicester--the queen appeased--her letters to the states and the earl--she permits the granted authority----unhappy results of the queen's course--her variable moods--she attempts to deceive walsingham--her injustice to heneage--his perplexity and distress--humiliating position of leicester--his melancholy letters to the queen--he receives a little consolation--and writes more cheerfully--the queen is more benignant--the states less contented than the earl--his quarrels with them begin. while these storms were blowing and "overblowing" in england, leicester remained greatly embarrassed and anxious in holland. he had sown the wind more extensively than he had dreamed of when accepting the government, and he was now awaiting, with much trepidation, the usual harvest: and we have seen that it was rapidly ripening. meantime, the good which he had really effected in the provinces by the course he had taken was likely to be neutralized by the sinister rumours as to his impending disgrace, while the enemy was proportionally encouraged. "i understand credibly," he said, "that the prince of parma feels himself in great jollity that her majesty doth rather mislike than allow of our doings here, which; if it be true, let her be sure her own sweet self shall first smart." moreover; the english troops were, as we have seen, mere shoeless, shivering, starving vagabonds. the earl had generously advanced very large sums of money from his own pocket to relieve their necessity. the states, on the other hand, had voluntarily increased the monthly contribution of , florins, to which their contract with elizabeth obliged them, and were more disposed than ever they had been since the death of orange to proceed vigorously and harmoniously against the common enemy of christendom. under such circumstances it may well be imagined that there was cause on leicester's part for deep mortification at the tragical turn which the queen's temper seemed to be taking. "i know not," he said, "how her majesty doth mean to dispose of me. it hath grieved me more than i can express that for faithful and good service she should so deeply conceive against me. god knows with what mind i have served her highness, and perhaps some others might have failed. yet she is neither tied one jot by covenant or promise by me in any way, nor at one groat the more charges, but myself two or three thousand pounds sterling more than now is like to be well spent. i will desire no partial speech in my favour. if my doings be ill for her majesty and the realm, let me feel the smart of it. the cause is now well forward; let not her majesty suffer it to quail. if you will have it proceed to good effect, send away sir william pelham with all the haste you can. i mean not to complain, but with so weighty a cause as this is, few men have been so weakly assisted. her majesty hath far better choice for my place, and with any that may succeed me let sir william pelham be first that may come. i speak from my soul for her majesty's service. i am for myself upon an hour's warning to obey her good pleasure." thus far the earl had maintained his dignity. he had yielded to the solicitations of the states, and had thereby exceeded his commission, and gratified his ambition, but he had in no wise forfeited his self-respect. but--so soon as the first unquestionable intelligence of the passion to which the queen had given way at his misdoings reached him--he began to whimper, the straightforward tone which davison had adopted in his interviews with elizabeth, and the firmness with which he had defended the cause of his absent friend, at a moment when he had plunged himself into disgrace, was worthy of applause. he deserved at least a word of honest thanks. ignoble however was the demeanor of the earl towards the man--for whom he had but recently been unable to invent eulogies sufficiently warm-- so soon as he conceived the possibility of sacrificing his friend as the scape-goat for his own fault. an honest schoolboy would have scorned to leave thus in the lurch a comrade who had been fighting his battles so honestly. "how earnest i was," he wrote to the lords of the council, th march, , "not only to acquaint her majesty, but immediately upon the first motion made by the states, to send mr. davison over to her with letters, i doubt not but he will truly affirm for me; yea, and how far against my will it was, notwithstanding any reasons delivered me, that he and others persisted in, to have me accept first of this place . . . . . the extremity of the case, and my being persuaded that mr. davison might have better satisfied her majesty, than i perceive he can, caused, me-neither arrogantly nor contemptuously, but even merely and faithfully--to do her majesty the best service." he acknowledged, certainly, that davison had been influenced by honest motives, although his importunities had been the real cause of the earl's neglect of his own obligations. but he protested that he had himself, only erred through an excessive pliancy to the will of others. "my yielding was my own fault," he admitted, "whatsoever his persuasions; but far from a contemptuous heart, or else god pluck out both heart and bowels with utter shame." so soon as sir thomas heneage had presented himself, and revealed the full extent of the queen's wrath, the earl's disposition to cast the whole crime on the shoulders of davison became quite undisguised. "i thank you for your letters," wrote leicester to walsingham, "though you can send me no comfort. her majesty doth deal hardly to believe so ill of me. it is true i faulted, but she doth not consider what commodities she hath withal, and herself no way engaged for it, as mr. davison might have better declared it, if it had pleased him. and i must thank him only for my blame, and so he will confess to you, for, i protest before god, no necessity here could have made me leave her majesty unacquainted with the cause before i would have accepted of it, but only his so earnest pressing me with his faithfid assured promise to discharge me, however her majesty should take it. for you all see there she had no other cause to be offended but this, and, by the lord, he was the only cause; albeit it is no sufficient allegation, being as i am . . . . . he had, i think, saved all to have told her, as he promised me. but now it is laid upon me, god send the cause to take no harm, my grief must be the less. "how far mr. heneage's commission shall deface me i know not. he is wary to observe his commission, and i consent withal. i know the time will be her majesty will be sorry for it. in the meantime i am too, too weary of the high dignity. i would that any that could serve her majesty were placed in it, and i to sit down with all my losses." in more manful strain he then alluded to the sufferings of his army. "whatsoever become of me," he said, "give me leave to speak for the poor soldiers. if they be not better maintained, being in this strange country, there will be neither good service done, nor be without great dishonour to her majesty . . . . . well, you see the wants, and it is one cause that will glad me to be rid of this heavy high calling, and wish me at my poor cottage again, if any i shall find. but let her majesty pay them well, and appoint such a man as sir william pelham to govern them, and she never wan more honour than these men here will do, i am persuaded." that the earl was warmly urged by all most conversant with netherland politics to assume the government was a fact admitted by all. that he manifested rather eagerness than reluctance on the subject, and that his only hesitation arose from the proposed restraints upon the power, not from scruples about accepting the power, are facts upon record. there is nothing save his own assertion to show any backwardness on his part to snatch the coveted prize; and that assertion was flatly denied by davison, and was indeed refuted by every circumstance in the case. it is certain that he had concealed from davison the previous prohibitions of the queen. he could anticipate much better than could davison, therefore, the probable indignation of the queen. it is strange then that he should have shut his eyes to it so wilfully, and stranger still that he should have relied on the envoy's eloquence instead of his own to mitigate that emotion. had he placed his defence simply upon its true basis, the necessity of the case, and the impossibility of carrying out the queen's intentions in any other way, it would be difficult to censure him; but that he should seek to screen himself by laying the whole blame on a subordinate, was enough to make any honest man who heard him hang his head. "i meant not to do it, but davison told me to do it, please your majesty, and if there was naughtiness in it, he said he would make it all right with your majesty." such, reduced to its simplest expression, was the defence of the magnificent earl of leicester. and as he had gone cringing and whining to his royal mistress, so it was natural that he should be brutal and blustering to his friend. "by your means," said he, "i have fallen into her majesty's deep displeasure . . . . . if you had delivered to her the truth of my dealing, her highness never could have conceived, as i perceive she doth . . . . . nor doth her majesty know how hardly i was drawn to accept this place before i had acquainted her--as to which you promised you would not only give her full satisfaction, but would, procure me great thanks. . . . . you did chiefly persuade me to take this charge upon me . . . . you can remember how many treaties you and others had with the states, before i agreed; for all yours and their persuasion to take it . . . . . you gave me assurance to satisfy her majesty, but i see not that you have done anything . . . . i did not hide from you the doubt i had of her majesty's ill taking it . . . . . you chiefly brought me into it . . . . and it could no way have been heavy to you, though you had told the uttermost of your own doing, as you faithfully promised you would . . . . . i did very unwillingly come into the matter, doubting that to fall out which is come to pass . . . . and it doth so fall out by your negligent carelessness, whereof i many hundred times told you that you would both mar the goodness of the matter, and breed me her majesty's displeasure . . . . . thus fare you well, and except your embassages have better success, i shall have no cause to commend them." and so was the unfortunate davison ground into finest dust between the upper and lower millstones of royal wrath and loyal subserviency. meantime the other special envoy had made his appearance in the netherlands; the other go-between between the incensed queen and the backsliding favourite. it has already been made sufficiently obvious, by the sketch given of his instructions, that his mission was a delicate one. in obedience to those instructions, heneage accordingly made his appearance before the council, and, in leicester's presence, delivered to them the severe and biting reprimand which elizabeth had chosen to inflict upon the states and upon the governor. the envoy performed his ungracious task as daintily, as he could, and after preliminary consultation with leicester; but the proud earl was deeply mortified." the fourteenth day of this month of march," said he, "sir thomas heneage delivered a very sharp letter from her majesty to the council of estate, besides his message--myself being, present, for so was her majesty's pleasure, as he said, and i do think he did but as he was commanded. how great a grief it must be to an honest heart and a true, faithful servant, before his own face, to a company of very wise and grave counsellors, who had conceived a marvellous opinion before of my credit with her majesty, to be charged now with a manifest and wilful contempt! matter enough to have broken any man's heart, that looked rather for thanks, as god doth know i did when i first heard of mr. heneage's arrival--i must say to your lordship, for discharge of my duty, i can be no fit man to serve here--my disgrace is too great--protesting to you that since that day i cannot find it in my heart to come into that place, where, by my own sufferings torn, i was made to be thought so lewd a person." he then comforted himself--as he had a right to do--with the reflection that this disgrace inflicted was more than he deserved, and that such would be the opinion of those by whom he was surrounded. "albeit one thing," he said, "did greatly comfort me, that they all best knew the wrong was great i had, and that her majesty was very wrongfully informed of the state of my cause. i doubt not but they can and will discharge me, howsoever they shall satisfy her majesty. and as i would rather wish for death than justly to deserve her displeasure; so, good my lord, this disgrace not coming for any ill service to her, pray procure me a speedy resolution, that i may go hide me and pray for her. my heart is broken, though thus far i can quiet myself, that i know i have done her majesty as faithful and good service in these countries as ever she had done her since she was queen of england . . . . . under correction, my good lord, i have had halifax law--to be condemned first and inquired upon after. i pray god that no man find this measure that i have done, and deserved no worse." he defended himself--as davison had already defended him--upon the necessities of the case. "i, a poor gentleman," he said, "who have wholly depended upon herself alone--and now, being commanded to a service of the greatest importance that ever her majesty employed any servant in, and finding the occasion so serving me, and the necessity of time such as would not permit such delays, flatly seeing that if that opportunity were lost, the like again for her service and the good of the realm was never, to be looked for, presuming upon the favour of my prince, as many servants have done, exceeding somewhat thereupon, rather than breaking any part of my commission, taking upon me a place whereby i found these whole countries could be held at her best devotion, without binding her majesty to any such matter as she had forbidden to the states before finding, i say, both the time and opportunity to serve, and no lack but to trust to her gracious acceptation, i now feel that how good, how honourable, how profitable soever it be, it is turned to a worse part than if i had broken all her commissions and commandments, to the greatest harm, and dishonour, and danger, that may be imagined against her person, state, and dignity." he protested, not without a show of reason, that he was like to be worse punished "for well-doing than any man that had committed a most heinous or traitorous offence," and he maintained that if he had not accepted the government, as he had done, "the whole state had been gone and wholly lost." all this--as we have seen--had already been stoutly urged by davison, in the very face of the tempest, but with no result, except to gain the, enmity of both parties to the quarrel. the ungrateful leicester now expressed confidence that the second go-between would be more adroit than the first had proved. "the causes why," said he, "mr. davison could have told--no man better--but mr. heneage can now tell, who hath sought to the uttermost the bottom of all things. i will stand to his report, whether glory or vain desire of title caused me to step one foot forward in the matter. my place was great enough and high enough before, with much less trouble than by this, besides the great indignation of her majesty . . . . . if i had overslipt the good occasion then in danger, i had been worthy to be hanged, and to be taken for a most lewd servant to her majesty, and a dishonest wretch to my country." but diligently as heneage had sought to the bottom of all things, he had not gained the approbation of sidney. sir philip thought that the new man had only ill botched a piece of work that had been most awkwardly contrived from the beginning. "sir thomas heneage," said he, "hath with as much honesty, in my opinion done as much hurt as any man this twelve- month hath done with naughtiness. but i hope in god, when her majesty finds the truth of things, her graciousness will not utterly, overthrow a cause so behooveful and costly unto her." he briefly warned the government that most disastrous effects were likely to ensue, if the earl should be publicly disgraced, and the recent action of the states reversed. the penny-wise economy, too, of the queen, was rapidly proving a most ruinous extravagance. "i only cry for flushing;" said sidney, "but, unless the monies be sent over, there will some terrible accident follow, particularly to the cautionary towns, if her majesty mean to have them cautions." the effect produced by the first explosion of the queen's wrath was indeed one of universal suspicion and distrust. the greatest care had been taken, however, that the affair should be delicately handled, for heneage, while, doing as much hurt by honesty as, others by naughtiness, had modified his course as much as he dared in deference to the opinions of the earl himself, and that of his english counsellors. the great culprit himself, assisted by his two lawyers, clerk and killigrew--had himself drawn the bill of his own indictment. the letters of the queen to the states, to the council, and to the earl himself, were, of necessity, delivered, but the reprimand which heneage had been instructed to fulminate was made as harmless as possible. it was arranged that he should make a speech before the council; but abstain from a protocol. the oration was duly pronounced, and it was, of necessity, stinging. otherwise the disobedience to the queen, would have been flagrant. but the pain inflicted was to disappear with the first castigation. the humiliation was to be public and solemn, but it was not to be placed on perpetual record. "we thought best," said leicester, heneage, clerk, and killigrew--"in according to her majesty's secret instructions--to take that course which might least endanger the weak estate of the provinces--that is to say, to utter so much in words as we hoped might satisfy her excellent majesty's expectation, and yet leave them nothing in writing to confirm that which was secretly spread in many places to the hindrance of the good course of settling these affairs. which speech, after sir thomas heneage had devised, and we both perused and allowed, he, by our consent and advice, pronounced to the council of state. this we did think needful--especially because every one of the council that was present at the reading of her majesty's first letters, was of the full mind, that if her majesty should again show the least mislike of the present government, or should not by her next letters confirm it, they, were all undone--for that every man would cast with himself which way to make his peace." thus adroitly had the "poor gentleman, who could not find it in his heart to come again into the place, where--by his own sufferings torn--he was made to appear so lewd a person"--provided that there should remain no trace of that lewdness and of his sovereign's displeasure, upon the record of the states. it was not long, too, before the earl was enabled to surmount his mortification; but the end was not yet. the universal suspicion, consequent on these proceedings, grew most painful. it pointed to one invariable quarter. it was believed by all that the queen was privately treating for peace, and that the transaction was kept a secret not only from the states but from her own most trusted counsellors also. it would be difficult to exaggerate the pernicious effects of this suspicion. whether it was a well-grounded one or not, will be shown in a subsequent chapter, but there is no doubt that the vigour of the enterprise was thus sapped at a most critical moment. the provinces had never been more heartily banded together since the fatal th of july, , than they were in the early spring of . they were rapidly organizing their own army, and, if the queen had manifested more sympathy with her own starving troops, the united englishmen and hollanders would have been invincible even by alexander farnese. moreover, they had sent out nine war-vessels to cruise off the cape verd islands for the homeward-bound spanish treasure fleet from america, with orders, if they missed it, to proceed to the west indies; so that, said leicester, "the king of spain will have enough to do between these men and drake." all parties had united in conferring a generous amount of power upon the earl, who was, in truth, stadholder-general, under grant from the states--and both leicester and the provinces themselves were eager and earnest for the war. in war alone lay the salvation of england and holland. peace was an impossibility. it seemed to the most experienced statesmen of both countries even an absurdity. it may well be imagined, therefore, that the idea of an underhand negotiation by elizabeth would cause a frenzy in the netherlands. in leicester's opinion, nothing short of a general massacre of the english would be the probable consequence. "no doubt," said he, "the very way it is to put us all to the sword here. for mine own part it would be happiest for me, though i wish and trust to lose my life in better sort." champagny, however, was giving out mysterious hints that the king of spain could have peace with england when he wished for it. sir thomas cecil, son of lord burghley, on whose countenance the states especially relied, was returning on sick-leave from his government of the brill, and this sudden departure of so eminent a personage, joined with the public disavowal of the recent transaction between leicester and the provinces, was producing a general and most sickening apprehension as to the queen's good faith. the earl did not fail to urge these matters most warmly on the consideration of the english council, setting forth that the states were stanch for the war, but that they would be beforehand with her if she attempted by underhand means to compass a peace. "if these men once smell any such matter," wrote leicester to burghley, "be you sure they will soon come before you, to the utter overthrow of her majesty and state for ever." the earl was suspecting the "false boys," by whom he was surrounded, although it was impossible for him to perceive, as we have been enabled to do, the wide-spread and intricate meshes by which he was enveloped. "your papists in england," said he, "have sent over word to some in this company, that all that they ever hoped for is come to pass; that my lord of leicester shall be called away in greatest indignation with her majesty, and to confirm this of champagny, i have myself seen a letter that her majesty is in hand with a secret peace. god forbid! for if it be so, her majesty, her realm, and we, are all undone." the feeling in the provinces was still sincerely loyal towards england. "these men," said leicester, "yet honour and most dearly love her majesty, and hardly, i know, will be brought to believe ill of her any way." nevertheless these rumours, to the discredit of her good faith, were doing infinite harm; while the earl, although keeping his eyes and ears wide open, was anxious not to compromise himself any further with his sovereign, by appearing himself to suspect her of duplicity. "good, my lord," he besought burghley, "do not let her majesty know of this concerning champagny as coming from me, for she will think it is done for my own cause, which, by the lord god, it is not, but even on the necessity of the case for her own safety, and the realm, and us all. good my lord, as you will do any good in the matter, let not her majesty understand any piece of it to come from me." the states-general, on the th march, n.s., addressed a respectful letter to the queen, in reply to her vehement chidings. they expressed their deep regret that her majesty should be so offended with the election of the earl of leicester as absolute governor. they confessed that she had just cause of displeasure, but hoped that when she should be informed of the whole matter she would rest better satisfied with their proceedings. they stated that the authority was the same which had been previously bestowed upon governors-general; observing that by the word "absolute," which had been used in designation of that authority, nothing more had been intended than to give to the earl full power to execute his commission, while the sovereignty of the country was reserved to the people. this commission, they said, could not be without danger revoked. and therefore they most humbly besought her majesty to approve what had been done, and to remember its conformity with her own advice to them, that a multitude of heads, whereby confusion in the government is bred, should be avoided. leicester, upon the same occasion, addressed a letter to burghley and walsingham, expressing himself as became a crushed and contrite man, never more to raise his drooping head again, but warmly and manfully urging upon the attention of the english government--for the honour and interest of the queen herself--"the miserable state of the poor soldiers." the necessity of immediate remittances in order to keep them from starving, was most imperious. for himself, he was smothering his wretchedness until he should learn her majesty's final decision, as to what was to become of him. "meantime," said he, "i carry my grief inward, and will proceed till her majesty's full pleasure come with as little discouragement to the cause as i can. i pray god her majesty may do that may be best for herself. for my own part my, heart is broken, but not by the enemy." there is no doubt that the public disgrace thus inflicted upon the broken-hearted governor, and the severe censure administered to the states by the queen were both ill-timed and undeserved. whatever his disingenuousness towards davison, whatever his disobedience to elizabeth, however ambitious his own secret motives may, have been, there is no doubt at all that thus far he had borne himself well in his great office. richard cavendish--than whom few had better opportunities of judging-- spoke in strong language on the subject. "it is a thing almost incredible," said he, "that the care and diligence of any, one man living could, in so small time; have so much repaired so disjointed and loose an estate as my lord found this country, in. but lest he should swell in pride of that his good success, your lordship knoweth that god hath so tempered the cause with the construction thereof, as may well hold him in good consideration of human things." he alluded with bitterness--as did all men in the netherlands who were not open or disguised papists--to the fatal rumours concerning the peace-negotiation in connection with the recall of leicester. "there be here advertisements of most fearful instance," he said, "namely, that champagny doth not spare most liberally to bruit abroad that he hath in his hands the conditions of peace offered by her majesty unto the king his master, and that it is in his power to conclude at pleasure--which fearful and mischievous plot, if in time it be not met withal by some notable encounter, it cannot but prove the root of great ruin." the "false boys" about leicester were indefatigable in spreading these rumours, and in taking advantage--with the assistance of the papists in the obedient provinces and in england--of the disgraced condition in which the queen had placed the favourite. most galling to the haughty earl--most damaging to the cause of england, holland, and, liberty--were the tales to his discredit, which circulated on the bourse at antwerp, middelburg, amsterdam, and in all the other commercial centres. the most influential bankers and merchants, were assured--by a thousand chattering --but as it were invisible--tongues, that the queen had for a long time disliked leicester; that he was a man of no account among the statesmen of england; that he was a beggar and a bankrupt; that, if he had waited two months longer, he would have made his appearance in the provinces with one man and one boy for his followers; that the queen had sent him thither to be rid of him; that she never intended him to have more authority than sir john norris had; that she could not abide the bestowing the title of excellency upon him, and that she had not disguised her fury at his elevation to the post of governor-general. all who attempted a refutation of these statements were asked, with a sneer, whether her majesty had ever written a line to him, or in commendation of him, since his arrival. minute inquiries were made by the dutch merchants of their commercial correspondents, both in their own country and in england, as to leicester's real condition and character. at home. what was his rank, they asked, what his ability, what: his influence at court? why, if he were really of so high quality as had been reported, was he thus neglected, and at last disgraced? had he any landed property in england? had he really ever held any other office but that of master of the horse? "and then," asked one particular busy body, who made himself very unpleasant on the amsterdam exchange, "why has her majesty forbidden all noblemen and gentlemen from coming hither, as was the case at the beginning? is it because she is hearkening to a peace? and if it be so, quoth he, we are well handled; for if her majesty hath sent a disgraced man to amuse us, while she is secretly working a peace for herself, when we--on the contrary--had broken off all our negotiations, upon confidence of her majesty's goodness; such conduct will be remembered to the end of the world, and the hollanders will never abide the name of england again." on such a bed of nettles there was small chance of repose for the governor. some of the rumours were even more stinging. so incomprehensible did it seem that the proud sovereign of england should send over her subjects to starve or beg in the streets of flushing and ostend, that it was darkly intimated that leicester had embezzled the funds, which, no doubt, had been remitted for the poor soldiers. this was the most cruel blow of all. the earl had been put to enormous charges. his household at the hague cost him a thousand pounds a month. he had been paying and furnishing five hundred and fifty men out of his own purse. he had also a choice regiment of cavalry, numbering seven hundred and fifty horse; three hundred and fifty of which number were over and above those allowed for by the queen, and were entirely at his expense. he was most liberal in making presents of money to every gentleman in his employment. he had deeply mortgaged his estates in order to provide for these heavy demands upon him, and professed his willingness "to spend more, if he might have got any more money for his land that was left;" and in the face of such unquestionable facts--much to the credit certainly of his generosity--he was accused of swindling a queen whom neither jew nor gentile had ever yet been sharp enough to swindle; while he was in reality plunging forward in a course of reckless extravagance in order to obviate the fatal effects of her penuriousness. yet these sinister reports were beginning to have a poisonous effect. already an alteration of mien was perceptible in the states-general. "some buzzing there is amongst them," said leicester, "whatsoever it be. they begin to deal very strangely within these few days." moreover the industry of the poleys, blunts, and pagets, had turned these unfavourable circumstances to such good account that a mutiny had been near breaking out among the english troops. "and, before the lord i speak it," said the earl, "i am sure some of these good towns had been gone ere this, but for my money. as for the states, i warrant you, they see day at a little hole. god doth know what a forward and a joyful country here was within a month. god send her majesty to recover it so again, and to take care of it, on the condition she send me after sir francis drake to the indies, my service here being no more acceptable." such was the aspect of affairs in the provinces after the first explosion of the queen's anger had become known. meanwhile the court-weather was very changeable in england, being sometimes serene, sometimes cloudy,-- always treacherous. mr. vavasour, sent by the earl with despatches to her majesty and the council, had met with a sufficiently benignant reception. she accepted the letters, which, however, owing to a bad cold with a defluxion in the eyes, she was unable at once to read; but she talked ambiguously with the messenger. yavasour took pains to show the immediate necessity of sending supplies, so that the armies in the netherlands might take the field at the, earliest possible moment. "and what," said she, "if a peace should come in the mean time?" "if your majesty desireth a convenient peace," replied vavasour, "to take the field is the readiest way to obtain it; for as yet the king of spain hath had no reason to fear you. he is daily expecting that your own slackness may give your majesty an overthrow. moreover, the spaniards are soldiers, and are not to be moved by-shadows." but the queen had no ears for these remonstrances, and no disposition to open her coffers. a warrant for twenty-four thousand pounds had been signed by her at the end of the month of march, and was about to be sent, when vavasour arrived; but it was not possible for him, although assisted by the eloquence of walsingham and burghley, to obtain an enlargement of the pittance. "the storms are overblown," said walsingham, "but i fear your lordship shall receive very scarce measure from hence. you will not believe how the sparing humour doth increase upon us." nor were the storms so thoroughly overblown but that there were not daily indications of returning foul weather. accordingly--after a conference with vavasour--burghley, and walsingham had an interview with the queen, in which the lord treasurer used bold and strong language. he protested to her that he was bound, both by his duty to himself and his oath as her councillor, to declare that the course she was holding to lord leicester was most dangerous to her own honour, interest and safety. if she intended to continue in this line of conduct, he begged to resign his office of lord treasurer; wishing; before god and man, to wash his bands of the shame and peril which he saw could not be avoided. the queen, astonished at the audacity of burghley's attitude and language, hardly knew whether to chide him for his presumption or to listen to his arguments. she did both. she taxed him with insolence in daring to address her so roundly, and then finding he was speaking even in 'amaritudine animae' and out of a clear conscience, she became calm again, and intimated a disposition to qualify her anger against the absent earl. next day, to their sorrow, the two councillors found that the queen had again changed her mind--"as one that had been by some adverse counsel seduced." she expressed the opinion that affairs would do well enough in the netherlands, even though leicester were displaced. a conference followed between walsingham, hatton, and burghley, and then the three went again to her majesty. they assured her that if she did not take immediate steps to satisfy the states and the people of the provinces, she would lose those countries and her own honour at the same time; and that then they would prove a source of danger to her instead of protection and glory. at this she was greatly troubled, and agreed to do anything they might advise consistently with her honour. it was then agreed that leicester should be continued in the government which he had accepted until the matter should be further considered, and letters to that effect were at once written. then came messenger from sir thomas heneage, bringing despatchesfrom that envoy, and a second and most secret one from the earl himself. burghley took the precious letter which the favourite had addressed to his royal mistress, and had occasion to observe its magical effect. walsingham and the lord treasurer had been right in so earnestly remonstrating with him on his previous silence. "she read your letter," said burghley, "and, in very truth, i found her princely heart touched with favourable interpretation of your actions; affirming them to be only offensive to her, in that she was not made privy to them; not now misliking that you had the authority." such, at fifty-three, was elizabeth tudor. a gentle whisper of idolatry from the lips of the man she loved, and she was wax in his hands. where now were the vehement protestations of horror that her public declaration of principles and motives had been set at nought? where now were her vociferous denunciations of the states, her shrill invectives against leicester, her big oaths, and all the 'hysterica passio,' which had sent poor lord burghley to bed with the gout, and inspired the soul of walsingham with dismal forebodings? her anger had dissolved into a shower of tenderness, and if her parsimony still remained it was because that could only vanish when she too should cease to be. and thus, for a moment, the grave diplomatic difference between the crown of england and their high mightinesses the united states--upon the solution of which the fate of christendom was hanging--seemed to shrink to the dimensions of a lovers' quarrel. was it not strange that the letter had been so long delayed? davison had exhausted argument in defence of the acceptance by the earl of the authority conferred by the states and had gained nothing by his eloquence, save abuse from the queen, and acrimonious censure from the earl. he had deeply offended both by pleading the cause of the erring favourite, when the favourite should have spoken for himself. "poor mr. davison," said walsingham, "doth take it very grievously that your lordship should conceive so hardly of him as you do. i find the conceit of your lordship's disfavour hath greatly dejected him. but at such time as he arrived her majesty was so incensed, as all the arguments and orators in the world could not have wrought any satisfaction." but now a little billet-doux had done what all the orators in the world could not do. the arguments remained the same, but the queen no longer "misliked that leicester should have the authority." it was natural that the lord treasurer should express his satisfaction at this auspicious result. "i did commend her princely nature," he said, "in allowing your good intention, and excusing you of any spot of evil meaning; and i thought good to hasten her resolution, which you must now take to come from a favourable good mistress. you must strive with your nature to throw over your shoulder that which is past." sir walter raleigh, too, who had been "falsely and pestilently" represented to the earl as an enemy, rather than what he really was, a most ardent favourer of the netherland cause, wrote at once to congratulate him on the change in her majesty's demeanour. "the queen is in very good terms with you now," he said, "and, thanks be to god, well pacified, and you are again her 'sweet robin.'" sir walter wished to be himself the bearer of the comforting despatches to leicester, on the ground that he had been represented as an "ill instrument against him," and in order that he might justify himself against the charge, with his own lips. the queen, however, while professing to make use of shirley as the messenger, bade walsingham declare to the earl, upon her honour, that raleigh had done good offices for him, and that, in the time of her anger, he had been as earnest in his defence as the best friend could be. it would have been--singular, indeed, had it been otherwise. "your lordship," said sir walter, "doth well understand my affection toward spain, and how i have consumed the best part of my fortune, hating the tyrannous prosperity of that state. it were strange and monstrous that i should now become an enemy to my country and conscience. all that i have desired at your lordship's hands is that you will evermore deal directly with me in all matters --of suspect doubleness, and so ever esteem me as you shall find me deserving good or bad. in the mean time, let no poetical scribe work your lordship by any device to doubt that i am a hollow or cold servant to the action." it was now agreed that letters should be drawn, up authorizing leicester to continue in the office which he held, until the state-council should devise some modification in his commission. as it seemed, however, very improbable that the board would devise anything of the kind, burghley expressed the belief that the country was like to continue in the earl's government without any change whatever. the lord treasurer was also of opinion that the queen's letters to leicester would convey as much comfort as he had received discomfort; although he admitted that there was a great difference: the former letters he knew had deeply wounded his heart, while the new ones could not suddenly sink so low as the wound. the despatch to the states-general was benignant, elaborate, slightly diffuse. the queen's letter to 'sweet robin' was caressing, but argumentative. "it is always thought," said she, "in the opinion of the world, a hard bargain when both parties are losers, and so doth fall out in the case between us two. you, as we hear, are greatly grieved in respect of the great displeasure you find we have conceived against you. we are no less grieved that a subject of ours of that quality that you are, a creature of our own, and one that hath always received an extraordinary portion of our favour above all our subjects, even from the beginning of our reign, should deal so carelessly, not to say contemptuously, as to give the world just cause to think that we are had in contempt by him that ought most to respect and reverence us, which, we do assure you, hath wrought as great grief in us as anyone thing that ever happened unto us. "we are persuaded that you, that have so long known us, cannot think that ever we could have been drawn to have taken so hard a course therein had we not been provoked by an extraordinary cause. but for that your grieved and wounded mind hath more need of comfort than reproof, who, we are persuaded, though the act of contempt can no ways be excused, had no other meaning and intent than to advance our service, we think meet to forbear to dwell upon a matter wherein we ourselves do find so little comfort, assuring you that whosoever professeth to love you best taketh not more comfort of your well doing, or discomfort of your evil doing than ourself." after this affectionate preface she proceeded to intimate her desire that the earl should take the matter as nearly as possible into his own hands. it was her wish that he should retain the authority of absolute governor, but--if it could be so arranged--that he should dispense with the title, retaining only that of her lieutenant-general. it was not her intention however, to create any confusion or trouble in the provinces, and she was therefore willing that the government should remain upon precisely the same footing as that on which it then stood, until circumstances should permit the change of title which she suggested. and the whole matter was referred to the wisdom of leicester, who was to advise with heneage and such others as he liked to consult, although it was expressly stated that the present arrangement was to be considered a provisional and not a final one. until this soothing intelligence could arrive in the netherlands the suspicions concerning the underhand negotiations with spain grew daily more rife, and the discredit cast upon the earl more embarrassing. the private letters which passed between the earl's enemies in holland and in england contained matter more damaging to himself and to the cause which he had at heart than the more public reports of modern days can disseminate, which, being patent to all, can be more easily contradicted. leicester incessantly warned his colleagues of her majesty's council against the malignant manufacturers of intelligence. "i pray you, my lords, as you are wise," said he, "beware of them all. you shall find them here to be shrewd pick-thinks, and hardly worth the hearkening unto." he complained bitterly of the disgrace that was heaped upon him, both publicly and privately, and of the evil consequences which were sure to follow from the course pursued. "never was man so villanously handled by letters out of england as i have been," said he, "not only advertising her majesty's great dislike with me before this my coming over, but that i was an odious man in england, and so long as i tarried here that no help was to be looked for, that her majesty would send no more men or money, and that i was used here but for a time till a peace were concluded between her majesty and the prince of parma. what the continuance of a man's discredit thus will turn out is to be thought of, for better i were a thousand times displaced than that her majesty's great advantage of so notable provinces should be hindered." as to the peace-negotiations--which, however cunningly managed, could not remain entirely concealed--the earl declared them to be as idle as they were disingenuous. "i will boldly pronounce that all the peace you can make in the world, leaving these countries," said he to burghley, "will never prove other than a fair spring for a few days, to be all over blasted with a hard storm after." two days later her majesty's comforting letters arrived, and the earl began to raise his drooping head. heneage, too, was much relieved, but he was, at the same time, not a little perplexed. it was not so easy to undo all the mischief created by the queen's petulance. the "scorpion's sting"--as her majesty expressed herself--might be balsamed, but the poison had spread far beyond the original wound. "the letters just brought in," wrote heneage to burghley, "have well relieved a most noble and sufficient servant, but i fear they will not restore the much-repaired wrecks of these far-decayed noble countries into the same state i found them in. a loose, disordered, and unknit state needs no shaking, but propping. a subtle and fearful kind of people--should not be made more distrustful, but assured." he then expressed annoyance at the fault already found with him, and surely if ever man had cause to complain of reproof administered him, in quick succession; for not obeying contradictory directions following upon each other as quickly, that man was sir thomas heneage. he had been, as he thought, over cautious in administering the rebuke to the earl's arrogance, which he had been expressly sent over to administer but scarcely had he accomplished his task, with as much delicacy as he could devise, when he found himself censured;--not for dilatoriness, but for haste. "fault i perceive," said he to burghley, "is found in me, not by your lordship, but by some other, that i did not stay proceeding if i found the public cause might take hurt. it is true i had good warrant for the manner, the, place, and the persons, but, for the matter none, for done it must be. her majesty's offence must be declared. yet if i did not all i possibly could to uphold the cause, and to keep the tottering cause upon the wheels, i deserve no thanks, but reproof." certainly, when the blasts of royal rage are remembered, by which the envoy had been, as it were, blown out of england into holland, it is astonishing to find his actions censured for undue precipitancy. but it was not the, first, nor was it likely to be the last time, for comparatively subordinate agents in elizabeth's government to be, distressed by, contradictory commands, when the sovereign did not know or did not chose to make known, her own mind on important occasions. "well, my lord," said plaintive sir thomas, "wiser men may serve more pleasingly and happily, but never shall any serve her majesty more, faithfully and heartily. and so i cannot be persuaded her majesty thinketh; for from herself i find nothing but most sweet and--gracious, favour, though by others' censures i may gather otherwise of her judgment; which i confess, doth cumber me." he was destined to be cumbered more than once before these negotiations should be concluded; but meantime; there was a brief gleam of sunshine. the english friends of leicester in the netherlands were enchanted with the sudden change in the queen's humour; and to lord burghley, who was not, in reality, the most stanch of the absent earl's defenders, they poured themselves out in profuse and somewhat superfluous gratitude. cavendish, in strains exultant, was sure that burghley's children, grand- children, and remotest posterity, would rejoice that their great ancestor, in such a time of need had been "found and felt to be indeed a 'pater patria,' a good-father to a happy land." and, although unwilling to "stir up the old adam" in his lordship's soul, he yet took the liberty of comparing the lord treasurer, in his old and declining years with mary magdalen; assuring him, that for ever after; when the tale of the preservation of the church of god, of her majesty; and of the netherland cause; which were all one, should be told; his name and well-doing would be held in memory also. and truly there was much of honest and generous enthusiasm, even if couched in language somewhat startling to the ears of a colder and more material age; in the hearts of these noble volunteers. they were fighting the cause of england, of the netherland republic, and of human liberty; with a valour worthy the best days of english' chivalry, against manifold obstacles, and they were certainly; not too often cheered by the beams of royal favour. it was a pity that a dark cloud was so soon again to sweep over the scene: for the temper of elizabeth at this important juncture seemed as capricious: as the: april weather in which the scenes were enacting. we have seen the genial warmth of her letters and messages to leicester, to heneage,--to the states-general; on the first of the month. nevertheless it was hardly three weeks after they had been despatched when walsingham and burghley found, her majesty one morning a towering passion, because, the earl had not already laid down the government. the lord treasurer ventured to remonstrate, but was bid to bold his tongue. ever variable and mutable as woman, elizabeth was perplexing and baffling to her counsellors, at this epoch, beyond all divination. the "sparing humour" was increasing fearfully, and she thought it would be easier for her to slip out of the whole expensive enterprise, provided leicester were merely her lieutenant-general, and not stadholder for the provinces. moreover the secret negotiations for peace were producing a deleterious effect upon her mind. upon this subject, the queen and burghley, notwithstanding his resemblance to mary magdalen, were better informed than the secretary, whom, however, it had been impossible wholly to deceive. the man who could read secrets so far removed as the vatican, was not to be blinded to intrigues going on before his face. the queen, without revealing more than she could help, had been obliged to admit that informal transactions were pending, but had authorised the secretary to assure the united states that no treaty would be made without their knowledge and full concurrence. "she doth think," wrote walsingham to leicester," that you should, if you shall see no cause to the contrary, acquaint the council of state there that certain overtures of peace are daily made unto her, but that she meaneth not to proceed therein without their good liking and privity, being persuaded that there can no peace be made profitable or sure for her that shall not also stand with their safety; and she doth acknowledge hers to be so linked with theirs as nothing can fall out to their prejudice, but she must be partaker of their harm." this communication was dated on the st april, exactly three weeks after the queen's letter to heneage, in which she had spoken of the "malicious bruits" concerning the pretended peace-negotiations; and the secretary was now confirming, by her order, what she had then stated under her own hand, that she would "do nothing that might concern them without their own knowledge and good liking." and surely nothing could be more reasonable. even if the strict letter of the august treaty between the queen and the states did not provide against any separate negotiations by the one party without the knowledge of the other, there could be no doubt at all that its spirit absolutely forbade the clandestine conclusion of a peace with spain by england alone, or by the netherlands alone, and that such an arrangement would be disingenuous, if not positively dishonourable. nevertheless it would almost seem that elizabeth had been taking advantage of the day when she was writing her letter to heneage on the st of april. never was painstaking envoy more elaborately trifled with. on the th of the month--and only five days after the communication by walsingham just noticed--the queen was furious that any admission should have been made to the states of their right to participate with her in peace-negotiations. "we find that sir thomas heneage," said she to leicester, "hath gone further--in assuring the states that we would make no peace without their privity and assent--than he had commission; for that our direction was-- if our meaning had been well set down, and not mistaken by our secretary --that they should have been only let understand that in any treaty that might pass between us and spain, they might be well assured we would have no less care of their safety than of our own." secretary walsingham was not likely to mistake her majesty's directions in this or any other important affair of state. moreover, it so happened that the queen had, in her own letter to heneage, made the same statement which she now chose to disavow. she had often a convenient way of making herself misunderstood, when she thought it desirable to shift responsibility from her own shoulders upon those of others; but upon this occasion she had been sufficiently explicit. nevertheless, a scape-goat was necessary, and unhappy the subordinate who happened to be within her majesty's reach when a vicarious sacrifice was to be made. sir francis walsingham was not a man to be brow-beaten or hood-winked, but heneage was doomed to absorb a fearful amount of royal wrath. "what phlegmatical reasons soever were made you," wrote the queen, who but three weeks before had been so gentle and affectionate to her, ambassador, "how happeneth it that you will not remember, that when a man hath faulted and committed by abettors thereto, neither the one nor the other will willingly make their own retreat. jesus! what availeth wit, when it fails the owner at greatest need? do that you are bidden, and leave your considerations for your own affairs. for in some things you had clear commandment, which you did not, and in others none, and did. we princes be wary enough of our bargains. think you i will be bound by your own speech to make no peace for mine own matters without their consent? it is enough that i injure not their country nor themselves in making peace for them without their consent. i am assured of your dutiful thoughts, but i am utterly at squares with this childish dealing." blasted by this thunderbolt falling upon his head out of serenest sky, the sad. sir. thomas remained, for a time, in a state of political annihilation. 'sweet robin' meanwhile, though stunned, was unscathed-- thanks to the convenient conductor at his side. for, in elizabeth's court, mediocrity was not always golden, nor was it usually the loftiest mountains that the lightnings smote. the earl was deceived by his royal mistress, kept in the dark as to important transactions, left to provide for his famishing' soldiers as he best might; but the, queen at that moment, though angry, was not disposed, to trample upon him. now that his heart was known to be broken, and his sole object in life to be retirement to remote regions--india or elsewhere--there to languish out the brief remainder of his days in prayers for elizabeth's happiness, elizabeth was not inclined very bitterly to upbraid him. she had too recently been employing herself in binding up his broken heart, and pouring balm into the "scorpion's sting," to be willing so soon to deprive him of those alleviations. her tone--was however no longer benignant, and her directions were extremely peremptory. on the st of april she had congratulated leicester, heneage, the states, and all the world, that her secret commands had been staid, and that the ruin which would have followed, had, those decrees been executed according to her first violent wish, was fortunately averted. heneage was even censured, not by herself, but by courtiers in her confidence, and with her concurrence, for being over hasty in going before the state-council, as he had done, with her messages and commands. on the th of april she expressed astonishment that heneage had dared to be so dilatory, and that the title of governor had not been laid down by leicester "out of hand." she marvelled greatly, and found it very strange that "ministers in matters of moment should presume to do things of their own head without direction." she accordingly gave orders that there should be no more dallying, but that the earl should immediately hold a conference with the state-council in order to arrange a modification in his commission. it was her pleasure that he should retain all the authority granted to him by the states, but as already intimated by her, that he should abandon the title of "absolute governor," and retain only that of her lieutenant-general. was it strange that heneage, placed in so responsible a situation, and with the fate of england, of holland, and perhaps of all christendom, hanging in great measure upon this delicate negotiation, should be amazed at such contradictory orders, and grieved by such inconsistent censures? "to tell you my griefs and my lacks," said he to walsingham, "would little please you or help me. therefore i will say nothing, but think there was never man in so great a service received so little comfort and so contrarious directions. but 'dominus est adjutor in tribulationibus.' if it be possible, let me receive some certain direction, in following which i shall not offend her majesty, what good or hurt soever i do besides." this certainly seemed a loyal and reasonable request, yet it was not one likely to be granted. sir thomas, perplexed, puzzled, blindfolded, and brow-beaten, always endeavoring to obey orders, when he could comprehend them, and always hectored and lectured whether he obeyed them or not-- ruined in purse by the expenses, of a mission on which he had been sent without adequate salary--appalled at the disaffection waging more formidable every hour in provinces which were recently so loyal to her majesty, but which were now pervaded by a suspicion that there was double-dealing upon her part became quite sick of his life. he fell seriously ill, and was disappointed, when, after a time, the physicians declared him convalescent. for when when he rose from his sick-bed, it was only to plunge once more, without a clue, into the labyrinth where he seemed to be losing his reason. "it is not long," said he to walsingham, "since i looked to have written you no more letters, my extremity was so great. . . but god's will is best, otherwise i could have liked better to have cumbered the earth no longer, where i find myself contemned, and which i find no reason to see will be the better in the wearing . . . it were better for her majesty's service that the directions which come were not contrarious one to another, and that those you would have serve might know what is meant, else they cannot but much deceive you, as well as displease you." public opinion concerning the political morality of the english court was not gratifying, nor was it rendered more favourable by these recent transactions. "i fear," said heneage, "that the world will judge what champagny wrote in one of his letters out of england (which i have lately seen) to be over true. his words be these, 'et de vray, c'est le plus fascheux et le plus incertain negocier de ceste court, que je pense soit au monde.'" and so "basting," as he said, "with a weak body and a willing mind; to do, he feared, no good work," he set forth from middelburgh to rejoin leicester at arnheim, in order to obey, as well as he could, the queen's latest directions. but before he could set to work there came more "contrarious" orders. the last instructions, both to leicester and himself, were that the earl should resign the post of governor absolute "out of hand," and the queen had been vehement in denouncing any delay on such an occasion. he was now informed, that, after consulting with leicester and with the state-council, he was to return to england with the result of such deliberations. it could afterwards be decided how the earl could retain all the authority of governor absolute, while bearing only the title of the queen's lieutenant general. "for her meaning is not," said walsingham, "that his lord ship should presently give it over, for she foreseeth in her princely judgment that his giving over the government upon a sudden, and leaving those countries without a head or director, cannot but breed a most dangerous alteration there." the secretary therefore stated the royal wish at present to be that the "renunciation of the title" should be delayed till heneage could visit england, and subsequently return to holland with her majesty's further directions. even the astute walsingham was himself puzzled, however, while conveying these ambiguous orders; and he confessed that he was doubtful whether he had rightly comprehended the queen's intentions. burghley, however, was better at guessing riddles than he was, and so heneage was advised to rely chiefly upon burghley. but heneage had now ceased to be interested in any enigmas that might be propounded by the english court, nor could he find comfort, as walsingham had recommended he should do, in railing. "i wish i could follow your counsel," he said, "but sure the uttering of my choler doth little ease my grief or help my case." he rebuked, however, the inconsistency and the tergiversations of the government with a good deal of dignity. "this certainly shall i tell her majesty," he said, "if i live to see her, that except a more constant course be taken with this inconstant people, it is not the blaming of her ministers will advance her highness's service, or better the state of things. and shall i tell you what they now say here of us--i fear not without some cause--even as lipsius wrote of the french, 'de gallis quidem enigmata veniunt, non veniunt, volunt, holunt, audent, timent, omnia, ancipiti metu, suspensa et suspecta.' god grant better, and ever keep you and help me." he announced to burghley that he was about to attend a meeting of the state-council the next day, for the purpose of a conference on these matters at arnheim, and that he would then set forth for england to report proceedings to her majesty. he supposed, on the whole, that this was what was expected of him, but acknowledged it hopeless to fathom. the royal intentions. yet if he went wrong, he was always, sure to make mischief, and though innocent, to be held accountable for others' mistakes. "every prick i make," said he, "is made a gash; and to follow the words of my directions from england is not enough, except i likewise see into your minds. and surely mine eyesight is not so good. but i will pray to god for his help herein. with all the wit i have, i will use all the care i can--first, to satisfy her majesty, as god knoweth i have ever most desired; then, not to hurt this cause, but that i despair of." leicester, as maybe supposed, had been much discomfited and perplexed during the course of these contradictory and perverse directions. there is no doubt whatever that his position bad been made discreditable and almost ridiculous, while he was really doing his best, and spending large sums out of his private fortune to advance the true interests of the queen. he had become a suspected man in the netherlands, having been, in the beginning of the year, almost adored as a messiah. he had submitted to the humiliation which had been imposed upon him, of being himself the medium to convey to the council the severe expressions of the queen's displeasure at the joint action of the states- general and himself. he had been comforted by the affectionate expressions with which that explosion of feminine and royal wrath had been succeeded. he was now again distressed by the peremptory command to do what was a disgrace to him, and an irreparable detriment to the cause, yet he was humble and submissive, and only begged to be allowed, as a remedy for all his anguish, to return to the sunlight of elizabeth's presence. he felt that her course; if persisted in, would lead to the destruction of the netherland commonwealth, and eventually to the downfall of england; and that the provinces, believing themselves deceived by the queen; were ready to revolt against an authority to which, but a short time before, they were so devotedly loyal nevertheless, he only wished to know what his sovereign's commands distinctly were, in order to set himself to their fulfilment. he had come from the camp before nymegen in order to attend the conference with the state-council at arnheim, and he would then be ready and anxious to, despatch heneage to england, to learn her majesty's final determination. he protested to the queen that he had come upon this arduous and perilous service only, because he, considered her throne in danger, and that this was the only means of preserving it; that, in accepting the absolute government, he had been free from all ambitious motives, but deeply impressed with the idea that only by so doing could he conduct the enterprise entrusted to him to the desired consummation; and he declared with great fervour that no advancement to high office could compensate him for this enforced absence from her. to be sent back even in disgrace would still be a boon to him, for he should cease to be an exile from her sight. he knew that his enemies had been busy in defaming him, while he had been no longer there to defend himself, but his conscience acquitted him of any thought which was not for her happiness and glory. "yet grievous it is to me," said he in, a tone of tender reproach, "that having left all--yea, all that may be imagined--for you, you have left me for very little, even to the uttermost of all hard fortune. for what have i, unhappy man, to do here either with cause or country but for you?" he stated boldly that his services had not been ineffective, that the enemy had never been in worse plight than now, that he had lost at least five thousand men in divers overthrows, and that, on the other hand, the people and towns of the seven provinces had been safely preserved. "since my arrival," he said, "god hath blessed the action which you have taken in hand, and committed to the charge of me your poor unhappy servant. i have good cause to say somewhat for myself, for that i think i have as few friends to speak for me as any man." nevertheless--as he warmly protested--his only wish was to return; for the country in which he had lost her favour, which was more precious than life, had become odious to him. the most lowly office in her presence was more to be coveted than the possession of unlimited power away from her. it was by these tender and soft insinuations, as the earl knew full well, that he was sure to obtain what he really coveted--her sanction for retaining the absolute government in the provinces. and most artfully did he strike the key. "most dear and gracious lady," he cried, "my care and service here do breed me nothing but grief and unhappiness. i have never had your majesty's good favour since i came into this charge--a matter that from my first beholding your eyes hath been most dear unto me above all earthly treasures. never shall i love that place or like that soil which shall cause the lack of it. most gracious lady, consider my long, true, and faithful heart toward you. let not this unfortunate place here bereave me of that which, above all the world, i esteem there, which is your favodr and your presence. i see my service is not acceptable, but rather more and more disliketh you. here i can do your majesty no service; there i can do you some, at the least rub your horse's heels-- a service which shall be much more welcome to me than this, with all that these men may give me. i do, humbly and from my heart, prostrate at your feet, beg this grace at your sacred hands, that you will be pleased to let me return to my home-service, with your favour, let the revocation be used in what sort shall please and like you. but if ever spark of favour was in your majesty toward your old servant, let me obtain this my humble suit; protesting before the majesty of all majesties, that there was no cause under heaven but his and yours, even for your own special and particular cause, i say, could have made me take this absent journey from you in hand. if your majesty shall refuse me this, i shall think all grace clean gone from me, and i know: my days will not be long." she must melt at this, thought 'sweet robin' to himself; and meantime accompanied by heneage; he proceeded with the conferences in the state- council-chamber touching the modification of the title and the confirmation of his authority. this, so far as walsingham could divine, and burghley fathom, was the present intention of the queen. he averred that he had ever sought most painfully to conform his conduct to her instructions as fast as they were received, and that he should continue so to do. on the whole it was decided by the conference to let matters stand as, they were for a little longer, and until: after heneage should have time once more to go and come. "the same manner of proceeding that was is now," said leicester, "your pleasure is declared to the council here as you have willed it. how it will fall out again in your majesty's construction, the lord knoweth." leicester might be forgiven for referring to higher powers, for any possible interpretation of her majesty's changing humour; but meantime; while sir. thomas was getting ready, for his expedition to england, the earl's heart was somewhat gladdened by more gracious messages from the queen. the alternation of emotions would however prove too much for him, he feared, and he was reluctant to open his heart to so unwonted a tenant as joy. "but that my fear is such, most dear and gracious lady," he said, "as my unfortunate destiny will hardly permit; whilst i remain here; any good- acceptation of so simple a service as, mine, i should, greatly rejoice and comfort myself with the hope of your majesty's most prayed-for favour. but of late, being by your own sacred hand lifted even up into heaven with joy of your favour, i was bye and bye without any new desert or offence at all, cast down and down: again into the depth of all grief. god doth know, my dear and dread sovereign, that after i first received your resolute pleasure by sir thomas heneage, i made neither stop nor stay nor any excuse to be rid of this place, and to satisfy your command. . . . . . so much i mislike this place and fortune of mine; as i desire nothing in the world so much, as to be delivered, with your favours from all charge here, fearing still some new cross of your displeasure to fall upon me, trembling continually with the fear thereof, in such sort as till i may be fully confirmed in my new regeneration of your wonted favour i cannot receive that true comfort which doth appertain to so great a hope. yet i will not only acknowledge with all humbleness and dutiful thanks the exceeding joy these last blessed lines brought to my long-wearied heart, but will, with all true loyal affection, attend that further joy from your sweet self which may utterly, extinguish all consuming fear away." poor heneage--who likewise received a kind word or two after having been so capriciously and petulantly dealt with was less extravagant in his expressions of gratitude. "the queen hath sent me a paper-plaister which must please for a time," he said. "god almighty bless her majesty ever, and best direct her." he was on the point of starting for england, the bearer of the states' urgent entreaties that leicester might retain the, government, and of despatches; announcing the recent success of the allies before grave. "god prospereth the action in these countries beyond all expectation," he said, "which all amongst you will not be over glad of, for somewhat i know." the intrigues of grafigni, champagny, and bodman, with croft, burghley, and the others were not so profound a secret as they could wish. the tone adopted by leicester has been made manifest in his letters to the queen. he had held the same language of weariness and dissatisfaction in his communications to his friends. he would not keep the office, he avowed, if they should give him "all holland and zeeland, with all their appurtenances," and he was ready to resign at any moment. he was not "ceremonious for reputation," he said, but he gave warning that the netherlanders would grow desperate if they found her majesty dealing weakly or carelessly with them. as for himself he had already had enough of government. "i am weary, mr. secretary," he plaintively exclaimed, "indeed i am weary; but neither of pains nor travail. my ill hap that i can please her majesty no better hath quite discouraged me." he had recently, however--as we have seen--received some comfort, and he was still further encouraged, upon the eve of heneage's departure, by receiving another affectionate epistle from the queen. amends seemed at last to be offered for her long and angry silence, and the earl was deeply grateful. "if it hath not been, my most dear and gracious lady," said he in reply, "no small comfort to your poor old servant to receive but one line of your blessed hand-writing in many months, for the relief of a most grieved, wounded heart, how far more exceeding joy must it be, in the midst of all sorrow, to receive from the same sacred hand so many comfortable lines as my good friend mr. george hath at once brought me. pardon me, my sweet lady, if they cause me to forget myself. only this i do say, with most humble dutiful thanks, that the scope of all my service hath ever been to content and please you; and if i may do that, then is all sacrifice, either of life or whatsoever, well offered for you." the matter of the government absolute having been so fully discussed during the preceding four months, and the last opinions of the state- council having been so lucidly expounded in the despatches to be carried by heneage to england, the matter might be considered as exhausted. leicester contented himself, therefore, with once more calling her majesty's attention to the fact that if he had not himself accepted the office thus conferred upon him by the states, it would have been bestowed upon some other personage. it would hardly have comported with her dignity, if count maurice of nassau, or count william, or count moeurs, had been appointed governor absolute, for in that case the earl, as general of the auxiliary english force, would have been subject to the authority of the chieftain thus selected. it was impossible, as the state-council had very plainly shown, for leicester to exercise supreme authority, while merely holding the military office of her majesty's lieutenant-general. the authority of governor or stadholder could only be derived from the supreme power of the country. if her majesty had chosen to accept the sovereignty, as the states had ever desired, the requisite authority could then have been derived from her, as from the original fountain. as she had resolutely refused that offer however, his authority was necessarily to be drawn from the states-general, or else the queen must content herself with seeing him serve as an english military officer, only subject to the orders of the supreme power, wherever that power might reside. in short, elizabeth's wish that her general might be clothed with the privileges of her viceroy, while she declined herself to be the sovereign, was illogical, and could not be complied with. very soon after inditing these last epistles to the provinces, the queen became more reasonable on the subject; and an elaborate communication was soon received by the state-council, in which the royal acquiescence was signified to the latest propositions of the states. the various topics, suggested in previous despatches from leicester and from the council, were reviewed, and the whole subject was suddenly placed in a somewhat different light from that in which it seemed to have been previously regarded by her majesty. she alluded to the excuse, offered by the state-council, which had been drawn from the necessity of the case, and from their "great liking for her cousin of leicester," although in violation of the original contract. "as you acknowledge, however," she said, "that therein you were justly to be blamed, and do crave pardon for the same, we cannot, upon this acknowledgment of your fault, but remove our former dislike." nevertheless it would now seem that her "mistake" had proceeded, not from the excess, but from the insufficiency of the powers conferred upon the earl, and she complained, accordingly, that they had given him shadow rather than substance. simultaneously with this royal communication, came a joint letter to leicester, from burghley, walsingham; and hatton, depicting the long and strenuous conflict which they had maintained in his behalf with the rapidly varying inclinations of the queen. they expressed a warm sympathy with the difficulties of his position, and spoke in strong terms of the necessity that the netherlands and england should work heartily together. for otherwise, they said, "the cause will fall, the enemy will rise, and we must stagger." notwithstanding the secret negotiations with the enemy, which leicester and walsingham suspected, and which will be more fully examined in a subsequent chapter, they held a language on that subject, which in the secretary's mouth at least was sincere. "whatsoever speeches be blown abroad of parleys of peace," they said, "all will be but smoke, yea fire will follow." they excused themselves for their previous and enforced silence by the fact that they had been unable to communicate any tidings but messages of distress, but they now congratulated the earl that her majesty, as he would see by her letter to the council, was firmly resolved, not only to countenance his governorship, but to sustain him in the most thorough manner. it would be therefore quite out of the question for them to listen to his earnest propositions to be recalled. moreover, the lord treasurer had already apprized leicester that heneage had safely arrived in england, that he, had made his report to the queen, and that her majesty was "very well contented with him and his mission." it may be easily believed that the earl would feel a sensation of relief, if not of triumph, at this termination to the embarrassments under which he had been labouring ever since, he listened to the oration of the wise leoninus upon new years' day. at last the queen had formally acquiesced in the action of the states, and in his acceptance of their offer. he now saw himself undisputed "governor absolute," having been six months long a suspected, discredited, almost disgraced man. it was natural that he should express himself cheerfully. "my great comfort received, oh my most gracious lady," he said, "by your most favourable lines written by your own sacred hand, i did most humbly acknowledge by my former letter; albeit i can no way make testimony of enough of the great joy i took thereby. and seeing my wounded heart is by this means almost made whole, i do pray unto god that either i may never feel the like again from you, or not be suffered to live, rather than i should fall again into those torments of your displeasure. most gracious queen, i beseech you, therefore, make perfect that which you have begun. let not the common danger, nor any ill, incident to the place i serve you in, be accompanied with greater troubles and fears indeed than all the horrors of death can bring me. my strong hope doth now so assure me, as i have almost won the battle against despair, and i do arm myself with as many of those wonted comfortable conceits as may confirm my new revived spirits, reposing myself evermore under the shadow of those blessed beams that must yield the only nourishment to this disease." but however nourishing the shade of those blessed beams might prove to leicester's disease, it was not so easy to bring about a very sunny condition in the provinces. it was easier for elizabeth to mend the broken heart of the governor than to repair the damage which had been caused to the commonwealth by her caprice and her deceit. the dispute concerning the government absolute had died away, but the authority of the earl had got a "crack in it" which never could be handsomely made whole. the states, during the long period of leicester's discredit-- feeling more and more doubtful as to the secret intentions of elizabeth --disappointed in the condition of the auxiliary troops and in the amount of supplies furnished from england, and, above all, having had time to regret their delegation of a power which they began to find agreeable to exercise with their own hands, became indisposed to entrust the earl with the administration and full inspection of their resources. to the enthusiasm which had greeted the first arrival of elizabeth's representative had succeeded a jealous, carping, suspicious sentiment. the two hundred thousand florins monthly were paid, according to the original agreement, but the four hundred thousand of extra service-money subsequently voted were withheld, and withheld expressly on account of heneage's original mission to disgrace the governor." "the late return of sir thomas heneage," said lord north, "hath put such busses in their heads, as they march forward with leaden heels and doubtful hearts." in truth, through the discredit cast by the queen upon the earl in this important affair, the supreme authority was forced back into the hands of the states, at the very moment when they had most freely divested themselves of power. after the queen had become more reasonable, it was too late to induce them to part, a second time, so freely with the immediate control of their own affairs. leicester had become, to a certain extent, disgraced and disliked by the estates. he thought himself, by the necessity of the case, forced to appeal to the people against their legal representatives, and thus the foundation of a nominally democratic party, in opposition to the municipal one, was already laid. nothing could be more unfortunate at that juncture; for we shall, in future, find the earl in perpetual opposition to the most distinguished statesmen in the provinces; to the very men indeed who had been most influential in offering the sovereignty to england, and in placing him in the position which he had so much coveted. no sooner therefore had he been confirmed by elizabeth in that high office than his arrogance broke forth, and the quarrels between himself and the representative body became incessant. "i stand now in somewhat better terms than i did," said he; "i was not in case till of late to deal roundly with them as i have now done. i have established a chamber of finances, against some of their wills, whereby i doubt not to procure great benefit to increase our ability for payments hereafter. the people i find still best devoted to her majesty, though of late many lewd practices have been used to withdraw their good wills. but it will not be; they still pray god that her majesty may be their sovereign. she should then see what a contribution they will all bring forth. but to the states they will never return, which will breed some great mischief, there is such mislike of the states universally. i would your lordship had seen the case i had lived in among them these four months, especially after her majesty's mislike was found. you would then marvel to see how i have waded, as i have done, through no small obstacles, without help, counsel, or assistance." thus the part which he felt at last called upon to enact was that of an aristocratic demagogue, in perpetual conflict with the burgher- representative body. it is now necessary to lift a corner of the curtain, by which some international--or rather interpalatial--intrigues were concealed, as much as possible, even from the piercing eyes of walsingham. the secretary was, however, quite aware--despite the pains taken to deceive him--of the nature of the plots and of the somewhat ignoble character of the actors concerned in them. etext editor's bookmarks: a hard bargain when both parties are losers condemned first and inquired upon after disordered, and unknit state needs no shaking, but propping upper and lower millstones of royal wrath and loyal subserviency uttering of my choler doth little ease my grief or help my case this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, chapter xi drake in the netherlands--good results of his visit--the babington conspiracy--leicester decides to visit england--exchange of parting compliments. late in the autumn of the same year an englishman arrived in the netherlands, bearer of despatches from the queen. he had been entrusted by her majesty with a special mission to the states-general, and he had soon an interview with that assembly at the hague. he was a small man, apparently forty-five years of age, of a fair but somewhat weather-stained complexion, with light-brown, closely-curling hair, an expansive forehead, a clear blue eye, rather commonplace features, a thin, brown, pointed beard, and a slight moustache. though low of stature, he was broad-chested, with well-knit limbs. his hands, which were small and nervous, were brown and callous with the marks of toil. there was something in his brow and glance not to be mistaken, and which men willingly call master; yet he did not seem, to have sprung of the born magnates of the earth. he wore a heavy gold chain about his neck, and it might be observed that upon the light full sleeves of his slashed doublet the image of a small ship on a terrestrial globe was curiously and many times embroidered. it was not the first time that he had visited the netherlands. thirty years before the man had been apprentice on board a small lugger, which traded between the english coast and the ports of zeeland. emerging in early boyhood from his parental mansion--an old boat, turned bottom upwards on a sandy down he had naturally taken to the sea, and his master, dying childless not long afterwards, bequeathed to him the lugger. but in time his spirit, too much confined by coasting in the narrow seas, had taken a bolder flight. he had risked his hard-earned savings in a voyage with the old slave-trader, john hawkins--whose exertions, in what was then considered an honourable and useful vocation, had been rewarded by queen elizabeth with her special favour, and with a coat of arms, the crest whereof was a negro's head, proper, chained--but the lad's first and last enterprise in this field was unfortunate. captured by spaniards, and only escaping with life, he determined to revenge himself on the whole spanish nation; and this was considered a most legitimate proceeding according to the "sea divinity" in which he, had been schooled. his subsequent expeditions against the spanish possessions in the west indies were eminently successful, and soon the name of francis drake rang through the world, and startled philip in the depths of his escorial. the first englishman, and the second of any nation, he then ploughed his memorable "furrow round the earth," carrying amazement and, destruction to the spaniards as he sailed, and after three years brought to the queen treasure enough, as it was asserted, to maintain a war with the spanish king for seven years, and to pay himself and companions, and the merchant-adventurers who had participated in his enterprise, forty-seven pounds sterling for every pound invested in the voyage. the speculation had been a fortunate one both, for himself and for the kingdom. the terrible sea-king was one of the great types of the sixteenth century. the self-helping private adventurer, in his little vessel the 'golden hind,' one hundred tons burthen, had waged successful war against a mighty empire, and had shown england how to humble philip. when he again set foot on his native soil he was followed by admiring crowds, and became the favourite hero of romance and ballad; for it was not the ignoble pursuit of gold alone, through toil and peril, which had endeared his name to the nation. the popular instinct recognized that the true means had been found at last for rescuing england and protestantism from the overshadowing empire of spain. the queen visited him in his 'golden hind,' and gave him the honour of knighthood. the treaty between the united netherlands and england had been followed by an embargo upon english vessels, persons, and property, in the ports of spain; and after five years of unwonted repose, the privateersman again set forth with twenty-five small vessels--of which five or six only were armed--under his command, conjoined with that of general carlisle. this time the voyage was undertaken with full permission and assistance of the queen who, however, intended to disavow him, if she should find such a step convenient. this was the expedition in which philip sidney had desired to take part. the queen watched its result with intense anxiety, for the fate of her netherland adventure was thought to be hanging on the issue. "upon drake's voyage, in very truth, dependeth the life and death of the cause, according to man's judgment," said walsingham. the issue was encouraging, even, if the voyage--as a mercantile speculation--proved not so brilliant as the previous enterprises of sir francis had been. he returned in the midsummer of , having captured and brandschatzed st. domingo and carthagena; and burned st. augustine. "a fearful man to the king of spain is sir francis drake," said lord burghley. nevertheless, the queen and the lord-treasurer--as we have shown by the secret conferences at greenwich--had, notwithstanding these successes, expressed a more earnest desire for peace than ever. a simple, sea-faring englishman, with half-a-dozen miserable little vessels, had carried terror, into the spanish possessions all over the earth: but even then the great queen had not learned to rely on the valour of her volunteers against her most formidable enemy. drake was, however, bent on another enterprise. the preparations for philip's great fleet had been going steadily forward in lisbon, cadiz, and other ports of spain and portugal, and, despite assurances to the contrary, there was a growing belief that england was to be invaded. to destroy those ships before the monarch's face, would be, indeed, to "singe his beard." but whose arm was daring enough for such a stroke? whose but that of the devonshire skipper who had already accomplished so much? and so sir francis, "a man true to his word, merciful to those under him, and hating nothing so much as idleness," had come to the netherlands to talk over his project with the states-general, and with the dutch merchants and sea-captains. his visit was not unfruitful. as a body the assembly did nothing; but they recommended that in every maritime city of holland and zeeland one or two ships should be got ready, to participate in all the future enterprises of sir francis and his comrades. the martial spirit of volunteer sailors, and the keen instinct of mercantile speculation, were relied upon--exactly as in england-- to furnish men, ships, and money, for these daring and profitable adventures. the foundation of a still more intimate connection between england and holland was laid, and thenceforth dutchmen and englishmen fought side by side, on land and sea, wherever a blow was to be struck in the cause of human freedom against despotic spain. the famous babington conspiracy, discovered by walsingham's "travail and cost," had come to convince the queen and her counsellors--if further proof were not superfluous--that her throne and life were both incompatible with philip's deep designs, and that to keep that monarch out of the netherlands, was as vital to her as to keep him out of england. "she is forced by this discovery to countenance the cause by all outward means she may," said walsingham, "for it appeareth unto her most plain, that unless she had entered into the action, she had been utterly undone, and that if she do not prosecute the same she cannot continue." the secretary had sent leicester information at an early day of the great secret, begging his friend to "make the letter a heretic after be had read the same," and expressing the opinion that "the matter, if well handled, would break the neck of all dangerous practices during her majesty's reign." the tragedy of mary stuart--a sad but inevitable portion of the vast drama in which the emancipation of england and holland, and, through them, of half christendom, was accomplished--approached its catastrophe; and leicester could not restrain his anxiety for her immediate execution. he reminded walsingham that the great seal had been put upon a warrant for her execution for a less crime seventeen years before, on the occasion of the northumberland and westmorland rebellion. "for who can warrant these villains from her," he said, "if that person live, or shall live any time? god forbid! and be you all stout and resolute in this speedy execution, or be condemned of all the world for ever. it is most. certain, if you will have your majesty safe, it must be done, for justice doth crave it beside policy." his own personal safety was deeply compromised. "your lordship and i," wrote burghley, "were very great motes in the traitors' eyes; for your lordship there and i here should first, about one time, have been killed. of your lordship they thought rather of poisoning than slaying. after us two gone, they purposed her majesty's death." but on this great affair of state the earl was not swayed by such personal considerations. he honestly thought--as did all the statesmen who governed england--that english liberty, the very existence of the english commonwealth, was impossible so long as mary stuart lived. under these circumstances he was not impatient, for a time at least, to leave the netherlands. his administration had not been very successful. he had been led away by his own vanity, and by the flattery of artful demagogues, but the immense obstacles with which he had to contend in the queen's wavering policy, and in the rivalry of both english and dutch politicians have been amply exhibited. that he had been generous, courageous, and zealous, could not be denied; and, on the whole, he had accomplished as much in the field as could have been expected of him with such meagre forces, and so barren an exchequer. it must be confessed, however, that his leaving the netherlands at that moment was a most unfortunate step, both for his own reputation and for the security of the provinces. party-spirit was running high, and a political revolution was much to be dreaded in so grave a position of affairs, both in england and holland. the arrangements--and particularly the secret arrangements which he made at his departure--were the most fatal measures of all; but these will be described in the following chapter. on the st october; the earl announced to the state-council his intention of returning to england, stating, as the cause of this sudden determination, that he had been summoned to attend the parliament then sitting in westminster. wilkes, who was of course present, having now succeeded killigrew as one of the two english members, observed that "the states and council used but slender entreaty to his excellency for his stay and countenance there among them, whereat his excellency and we that were of the council for her majesty did not a little marvel." some weeks later, however, upon the st november, leicester summoned barneveld, and five other of the states general, to discuss the necessary measures for his departure, when those gentlemen remonstrated very earnestly upon the step, pleading the danger and confusion of affairs which must necessarily ensue. the earl declared that he was not retiring from the country because he was offended, although he had many causes for offence: and he then alluded to the, navigation act, to the establishment council, and spoke of the finance of burgrave and reingault, for his employment of which individuals so much obloquy had been heaped upon his, head. burgrave he pronounced, as usual, a substantial, wise, faithful, religious personage, entitled to fullest confidence; while reingault-- who had been thrown into prison by the states on charges of fraud, peculation, and sedition--he declared to be a great financier, who had promised, on penalty of his head, to bring "great sums into the treasury for carrying on the war, without any burthen to the community." had he been able to do this, he had certainly claim to be considered the greatest of financiers; but the promised "mountains of gold" were never discovered, and reingault was now awaiting his trial. the deputies replied that the concessions upon the navigation act had satisfied the country, but that reingault was a known instrument of the spaniards, and burgrave a mischief-making demagogue, who consorted with malignants, and sent slanderous reports concerning the states and the country to her majesty. they had in consequence felt obliged to write private despatches to envoy ortel in england, not because they suspected the earl, but in order to counteract the calumnies of his chief advisers. they had urged the agent to bring the imprisonment of paul buys before her majesty, but for that transaction leicester boldly disclaimed all responsibility. it was agreed between the earl and the deputies that, during his absence, the whole government, civil and military, should devolve upon the state- council, and that sir john norris should remain in command of the english forces. two days afterwards leicester, who knew very well that a legation was about to proceed to england, without any previous concurrence on his part, summoned a committee of the states-general, together with barneveld, into the state-council. counsellor wilkes on his behalf then made a speech, in which he observed that more ample communications on the part of the states were to be expected. they had in previous colloquies touched upon comparatively unimportant matters, but he now begged to be informed why these commissioners were proceeding to england, and what was the nature of their instructions. why did not they formally offer the sovereignty of the provinces to the queen without conditions? that step had already been taken by utrecht. the deputies conferred apart for a little while, and then replied that the proposition made by utrecht was notoriously factious, illegal, and altogether futile. without the sanction of all the united states, of what value was the declaration of utrecht? moreover the charter of that province had been recklessly violated, its government overthrown, and its leading citizens banished. the action of the province under such circumstances was not deserving of comment; but should it appear that her majesty was desirous of assuming the sovereignty of the provinces upon reasonable conditions, the states of holland and of zeeland would not be found backward in the business. leicester proposed that prince maurice of nassau should go with him to england, as nominal chief of the embassy, and some of the deputies favoured the suggestion. it was however, vigorously and successfully opposed by barneveld, who urged that to leave the country without a head in such a dangerous position of affairs, would be an act of madness. leicester was much annoyed when informed of this decision. he was suspected of a design, during his absence, of converting maurice entirely to his own way of thinking. if unsuccessful, it was believed by the advocate and by many others that the earl would cause the young prince to be detained in england as long as philip william, his brother, had been kept in spain. he observed peevishly that he knew how it had all been brought about. words, of course, and handsome compliments were exchanged between the governor and the states-general on his departure. he protested that he had never pursued any private ends during his administration, but had ever sought to promote the good of the country and the glory of the queen, and that he had spent three hundred thousand florins of his own money in the brief period of his residence there. the advocate, on part of the states, assured him that they were all aware that in the friendship of england lay their only chance of salvation, but that united action was the sole means by which that salvation could be effected, and the one which had enabled the late prince of orange to maintain a contest unequalled by anything recorded in history. there was also much disquisition on the subject of finance--the advocate observing that the states now raised as much in a month as the provinces in the time of the emperor used to levy in a year--and expressed the hope that the queen would increase her contingent to ten thousand foot, and two thousand horse. he repudiated, in the name of the states-general and his own, the possibility of peace-negotiations; deprecated any allusion to the subject as fatal to their religion, their liberty, their very existence, and equally disastrous to england and to protestantism, and implored the earl, therefore, to use all his influence in opposition to any pacific overtures to or from spain. on the th november, acts were drawn up and signed by the earl, according to which the supreme government of the united netherlands was formally committed to the state-council during his absence. decrees were to be pronounced in the name of his excellency, and countersigned by maurice of nassau. on the following day, leicester, being somewhat indisposed, requested a deputation of the states-general to wait upon him in his own house. this was done, and a formal and affectionate farewell was then read to him by his secretary, mr. atye. it was responded to in complimentary fashion by advocate barneveld, who again took occasion at this parting interview to impress upon the governor the utter impossibility, in his own opinion and that of the other deputies, of reconciling the provinces with spain. leicester received from the states--as a magnificent parting present-- a silver gilt vase "as tall as a man," and then departed for flushing to take shipping for england. chapter xii. ill-timed interregnum in the provinces--firmness of the english and dutch people--factions during leicester's government--democratic theories of the leicestriana--suspicions as to the earl's designs-- extreme views of the calvinists--political ambition of the church-- antagonism of the church and states--the states inclined to tolerance--desolation of the obedient provinces--pauperism and famine--prosperity of the republic--the year of expectation. it was not unnatural that the queen should desire the presence of her favourite at that momentous epoch, when the dread question, "aut fer aut feri," had at last demanded its definite solution. it was inevitable, too, that leicester should feel great anxiety to be upon the spot where the great tragedy, so full of fate to all christendom, and in which his own fortunes were so closely involved, was to be enacted. but it was most cruel to the netherlands--whose well-being was nearly as important to elizabeth as that of her own realm--to plunge them into anarchy at such a moment. yet this was the necessary result of the sudden retirement of leicester. he did not resign his government. he did not bind himself to return. the question of sovereignty was still unsettled, for it was still hoped by a large and influential party, that the english queen would accept the proposed annexation. it was yet doubtful, whether, during the period of abeyance, the states-general or the states-provincial, each within their separate sphere, were entitled to supreme authority. meantime, as if here were not already sufficient elements of dissension and doubt, came a sudden and indefinite interregnum, a provisional, an abnormal, and an impotent government. to the state-council was deputed the executive authority. but the state-council was a creature of the states-general, acting in concert with the governor-general, and having no actual life of its own. it was a board of consultation, not of decision, for it could neither enact its own decrees nor interpose a veto upon the decrees of the governor. certainly the selection of leicester to fill so important a post had not been a very fortunate one; and the enthusiasm which had greeted him, "as if he had been a messiah," on his arrival, had very rapidly dwindled away, as his personal character became known. the leading politicians of the country had already been aware of the error which they had committed in clothing with almost sovereign powers the delegate of one who had refused the sovereignty. they, were too adroit to neglect the opportunity, which her majesty's anger offered them, of repairing what they considered their blunder. when at last the quarrel, which looked so much like a lovers' quarrel, between elizabeth and 'sweet robin,' had been appeased to the satisfaction of robin, his royal mistress became more angry with the states for circumscribing than she had before been for their exaggeration of his authority. hence the implacable hatred of leicester to paul buys and barneveld. those two statesmen, for eloquence, learning, readiness, administrative faculty, surpassed by few who have ever wielded the destinies of free commonwealths, were fully equal to the task thrown upon their hands by the progress of events. that task was no slight one, for it was to the leading statesmen of holland and england, sustained by the indomitable resistance to despotism almost universal in the english and dutch nations, that the liberty of europe was entrusted at that, momentous epoch. whether united under one crown, as the netherlands ardently desired, or closely allied for aggression and defence, the two peoples were bound indissolubly together. the clouds were rolling up from the fatal south, blacker and more portentous than ever; the artificial equilibrium of forces, by which the fate of france was kept in suspense, was obviously growing every day more uncertain; but the prolonged and awful interval before the tempest should burst over the lands of freedom and protestantism, gave at least time for the prudent to prepare. the armada was growing every day in the ports of spain and portugal, and walsingham doubted, as little as did buys or barneveld, toward what shores that invasion was to be directed. england was to be conquered in order that the rebellious netherlands might be reduced; and 'mucio' was to be let slip upon the unhappy henry iii. so soon as it was thought probable that the bearnese and the valois had sufficiently exhausted each other. philip was to reign in paris, amsterdam, london, and edinburgh, without stirring from the escorial. an excellent programme, had there not been some english gentlemen, some subtle secretaries of state, some devonshire skippers, some dutch advocates and merchants, some zeeland fly-boatsmen, and six million men, women, and children, on the two sides of the north sea, who had the power of expressing their thoughts rather bluntly than otherwise, in different dialects of old anglo-saxon speech. certainly it would be unjust and ungracious to disparage the heroism of the great queen when the hour of danger really came, nor would it be legitimate for us, who can scan that momentous year of expectation, , by the light of subsequent events and of secret contemporaneous record, to censure or even sharply to criticise the royal hankering for peace, when peace had really become impossible. but as we shall have occasion to examine rather closely the secrets of the spanish, french, english, and dutch councils, during this epoch, we are likely to find, perhaps, that at least as great a debt is due to the english and dutch people, in mass, for the preservation of european liberty at that disastrous epoch as to any sovereign, general, or statesman. for it was in the great waters of the sixteenth century that the nations whose eyes were open, discovered the fountain of perpetual youth, while others, who were blind, passed rapidly onward to decrepitude. england was, in many respects, a despotism so far as regarded governmental forms; and no doubt the catholics were treated with greater rigour than could be justified even by the perpetual and most dangerous machinations of the seminary priests and their instigators against the throne and life of elizabeth. the word liberty was never musical in tudor ears, yet englishmen had blunt tongues and sharp weapons which rarely rusted for want of use. in the presence of a parliament, and the absence of a standing army, a people accustomed to read the bible in the vernacular, to handle great questions of religion and government freely, and to bear arms at will, was most formidable to despotism. there was an advance on the olden time. a francis drake, a john hawkins, a roger williams, might have been sold, under the plantagenets, like an ox or an ass. a 'female villain' in the reign of henry iii. could have been purchased for eighteen shillings--hardly the price of a fatted pig, and not one-third the value of an ambling palfrey--and a male villain, such an one as could in elizabeth's reign circumnavigate the globe in his own ship, or take imperial field-marshals by the beard, was worth but two or three pounds sterling in the market. here was progress in three centuries, for the villains were now become admirals and generals in england and holland, and constituted the main stay of these two little commonwealths, while the commanders who governed the 'invincible' fleets and armies of omnipotent spain, were all cousins of emperors, or grandees of bluest blood. perhaps the system of the reformation would not prove the least effective in the impending crisis. it was most important, then, that these two nations should be united in council, and should stand shoulder to shoulder as their great enemy advanced. but this was precisely what had been rendered almost impossible by the course of events during leicester's year of administration, and by his sudden but not final retirement at its close. the two great national parties which had gradually been forming, had remained in a fluid state during the presence of the governor-general. during his absence they gradually hardened into the forms which they were destined to retain for centuries. in the history of civil liberty, these incessant contests, these oral and written disquisitions, these sharp concussions of opinion, and the still harder blows, which, unfortunately, were dealt on a few occasions by the combatants upon each other, make the year a memorable one. the great questions of the origin of government, the balance of dynastic forces, the distribution of powers, were dealt with by the ablest heads, both dutch and english, that could be employed in the service of the kingdom and republic. it was a war of protocols, arguments, orations, rejoinders, apostilles, and pamphlets; very wholesome for the cause of free institutions and the intellectual progress of mankind. the reader may perhaps be surprised to see with how much vigour and boldness the grave questions which underlie all polity, were handled so many years before the days of russell and sidney, of montesquieu and locke, franklin, jefferson, rousseau, and voltaire; and he may be even more astonished to find exceedingly democratic doctrines propounded, if not believed in, by trained statesmen of the elizabethan school. he will be also apt to wonder that a more fitting time could not be found for such philosophical debate than the epoch at which both the kingdom and the republic were called upon to strain every sinew against the most formidable and aggressive despotism that the world had known since the fall of the roman empire. the great dividing-line between the two parties, that of leicester and that of holland, which controlled the action of the states-general, was the question of sovereignty. after the declaration of independence and the repudiation of philip, to whom did the sovereignty belong? to the people, said the leicestrians. to the states-general and the states- provincial, as legitimate representatives of the people, said the holland party. without looking for the moment more closely into this question, which we shall soon find ably discussed by the most acute reasoners of the time, it is only important at present to make a preliminary reflection. the earl of leicester, of all men is the world, would seem to have been precluded by his own action, and by the action of his queen, from taking ground against the states. it was the states who, by solemn embassy, had offered the sovereignty to elizabeth. she had not accepted the offer, but she had deliberated on the subject, and certainly she had never expressed a doubt whether or not the offer had been legally made. by the states, too, that governor-generalship had been conferred upon the earl, which had been so thankfully and eagerly accepted. it was strange, then, that he should deny the existence of the power whence his own authority was derived. if the states were not sovereigns of the netherlands, he certainly was nothing. he was but general of a few thousand english troops. the leicester party, then, proclaimed extreme democratic principles as to the origin of government and the sovereignty of the people. they sought to strengthen and to make almost absolute the executive authority of their chief, on the ground that such was the popular will; and they denounced with great acrimony the insolence of the upstart members of the states, half a dozen traders, hired advocates, churls, tinkers, and the like--as leicester was fond of designating the men who opposed him--in assuming these airs of sovereignty. this might, perhaps, be philosophical doctrine, had its supporters not forgotten that there had never been any pretence at an expression of the national will, except through the mouths of the states. the states- general and the states-provincial, without any usurpation, but as a matter of fact and of great political convenience, had, during fifteen years, exercised the authority which had fallen from philip's hands. the people hitherto had acquiesced in their action, and certainly there had not yet been any call for a popular convention, or any other device to ascertain the popular will. it was also difficult to imagine what was the exact entity of this abstraction called the "people" by men who expressed such extreme contempt for "merchants, advocates, town-orators, churls, tinkers, and base mechanic men, born not to command but to obey." who were the people when the educated classes and the working classes were thus carefully eliminated? hardly the simple peasantry--the boors-- who tilled the soil. at that day the agricultural labourers less than all others dreamed of popular sovereignty, and more than all others submitted to the mild authority of the states. according to the theory of the netherland constitutions, they were supposed--and they had themselves not yet discovered the fallacies to which such doctrines could lead--to be represented by the nobles and country-squires who maintained in the states of each province the general farming interests of the republic. moreover, the number of agricultural peasants was comparatively small. the lower classes were rather accustomed to plough the sea than the land, and their harvests were reaped from that element, which to hollanders and zeelanders was less capricious than the solid earth. almost every inhabitant of those sea-born territories was, in one sense or another, a mariner; for every highway was a canal; the soil was percolated by rivers and estuaries, pools and meres; the fisheries were the nurseries in which still more daring navigators rapidly learned their trade, and every child took naturally to the ocean as to its legitimate home. the "people," therefore, thus enthroned by the leicestrians over all the inhabitants of the country, appeared to many eyes rather a misty abstraction, and its claim of absolute sovereignty a doctrine almost as fantastic as that of the divine right of kings. the netherlanders were, on the whole, a law-abiding people, preferring to conduct even a revolution according to precedent, very much attached to ancient usages and traditions, valuing the liberties, as they called them, which they had wrested from what had been superior force, with their own right hands, preferring facts to theories, and feeling competent to deal with tyrants in the concrete rather than to annihilate tyranny in the abstract by a bold and generalizing phraseology. moreover the opponents of the leicester party complained that the principal use to which this newly discovered "people" had been applied, was to confer its absolute sovereignty unconditionally upon one man. the people was to be sovereign in order that it might immediately abdicate in favour of the earl. utrecht, the capital of the leicestrians, had already been deprived of its constitution. the magistracy was, according to law, changed every year. a list of candidates was furnished by the retiring board, an equal number of names was added by the governor of the province, and from the catalogue thus composed the governor with his council selected the new magistrates for the year. but de villiers, the governor of the province, had been made a prisoner by the enemy in the last campaign; count moeurs had been appointed provisional stadholder by the states; and, during his temporary absence on public affairs, the leicestrians had seized upon the government, excluded all the ancient magistrates, banished many leading citizens from the town, and installed an entirely new board, with gerard proninck, called deventer, for chief burgomaster, who was a brabantine refugee just arrived in the province, and not eligible to office until after ten years' residence. it was not unnatural that the netherlanders, who remembered the scenes of bloodshed and disorder produced by the memorable attempt of the duke of anjou to obtain possession of antwerp and other cities, should be suspicious of leicester. anjou, too, had been called to the provinces by the voluntary action of the states. he too had been hailed as a messiah and a deliverer. in him too had unlimited confidence been reposed, and he had repaid their affection and their gratitude by a desperate attempt to obtain the control of their chief cities by the armed hand, and thus to constitute himself absolute sovereign of the netherlands. the inhabitants had, after a bloody contest, averted the intended massacre and the impending tyranny; but it was not astonishing that--so very, few years having elapsed since those tragical events--they should be inclined to scan severely the actions of the man who had already obtained by unconstitutional means the mastery of a most important city, and was supposed to harbour designs upon all the cities. no, doubt it was a most illiberal and unwise policy for the inhabitants of the independent states to exclude from office the wanderers, for conscience' sake, from the obedient provinces. they should have been welcomed heart and hand by those who were their brethren in religion and in the love of freedom. moreover, it was notorious that hohenlo, lieutenant-general under maurice of nassau, was a german, and that by the treaty with england, two foreigners sat in the state council, while the army swarmed with english, irish, end german officers in high command. nevertheless, violently to subvert the constitution of a province, and to place in posts of high responsibility men who were ineligible--some whose characters were suspicious, and some who were known to be dangerous, and to banish large numbers of respectable burghers--was the act of a despot. besides their democratic doctrines, the leicestrians proclaimed and encouraged an exclusive and rigid calvinism. it would certainly be unjust and futile to detract from the vast debt which the republic owed to the geneva church. the reformation had entered the netherlands by the walloon gate. the earliest and most eloquent preachers, the most impassioned converts, the sublimest martyrs, had lived, preached, fought, suffered, and died with the precepts of calvin in their hearts. the fire which had consumed the last vestige of royal and sacerdotal despotism throughout the independent republic, had been lighted by the hands of calvinists. throughout the blood-stained soil of france, too, the men who were fighting the same great battle as were the netherlanders against philip ii. and the inquisition, the valiant cavaliers of dauphiny and provence, knelt on the ground, before the battle, smote their iron breasts with their mailed hands, uttered a calvinistic prayer, sang a psalm of marot, and then charged upon guise, or upon joyeuse, under the white plume of the bearnese. and it was on the calvinist weavers and clothiers of rochelle that the great prince relied in the hour of danger as much as on his mountain chivalry. in england too, the seeds of liberty, wrapped up in calvinism and hoarded through many trying years, were at last destined to float over land and sea, and to bear large harvests of temperate freedom for great commonwealths, which were still unborn. nevertheless there was a growing aversion in many parts of the states for the rigid and intolerant spirit of the reformed religion. there were many men in holland who had already imbibed the true lesson--the only, one worth learning of the reformation--liberty of thought; but toleration in the eyes of the extreme calvinistic party was as great a vice as it could be in the estimation of papists. to a favoured few of other habits of thought, it had come to be regarded as a virtue; but the day was still far distant when men were to scorn the very word toleration as an insult to the dignity of man; as if for any human being or set of human beings, in caste, class, synod, or church, the right could even in imagination be conceded of controlling the consciences of their fellow-creatures. but it was progress for the sixteenth century that there were individuals, and prominent individuals, who dared to proclaim liberty of conscience for all. william of orange was a calvinist, sincere and rigid, but he denounced all oppression of religion, and opened wide the doors of the commonwealth to papists, lutherans, and anabaptists alike. the earl of leicester was a calvinist, most rigid in tenet, most edifying of conversation, the acknowledged head of the puritan party of england, but he was intolerant and was influenced only by the most intolerant of his sect. certainly it would have required great magnanimity upon his part to assume a friendly demeanour towards the papists. it is easier for us, in more favoured ages, to rise to the heights of philosophical abstraction, than for a man, placed as was leicester, in the front rank of a mighty battle, in which the triumph of either religion seemed to require the bodily annihilation of all its adversaries. he believed that the success of a catholic conspiracy against the life of elizabeth or of a spanish invasion of england, would raise mary to the throne and consign himself to the scaffold. he believed that the subjugation of the independent netherlands would place the spaniards instantly in england, and he frequently received information, true or false, of popish plots that were ever hatching in various parts of the provinces against the english queen. it was not surprising, therefore, although it was unwise, that he should incline his ear most seriously to those who counselled severe measures not only against papists, but against those who were not persecutors of papists, and that he should allow himself to be guided by adventurers, who wore the mask of religion only that they might plunder the exchequer and rob upon the highway. under the administration of this extreme party, therefore, the papists were maltreated, disfranchised, banished, and plundered. the distribution of the heavy war-taxes, more than two-thirds of which were raised in holland only, was confided to foreigners, and regulated mainly at utrecht, where not one-tenth part of the same revenue was collected. this naturally excited the wrath of the merchants and manufacturers of holland and the other provinces, who liked not that these hard-earned and lavishly-paid subsidies should be meddled with by any but the cleanest hands. the clergy, too, arrogated a direct influence in political affairs. their demonstrations were opposed by the anti-leicestrians, who cared not to see a geneva theocracy in the place of the vanished papacy. they had as little reverence in secular affairs for calvinistic deacons as for the college of cardinals, and would as soon accept the infallibility of sixtus v. as that of herman modet. the reformed clergy who had dispossessed and confiscated the property of the ancient ecclesiastics who once held a constitutional place in the estates of utrecht--although many of those individuals were now married and had embraced the reformed religion who had demolished, and sold at public auction, for , florins, the time-honoured cathedral where the earliest christians of the netherlands had worshipped, and st. willibrod had ministered, were roundly rebuked, on more than one occasion, by the blunt matters beyond their sphere. the party of the states-general, as opposed to the leicester party, was guided by the statesmen of holland. at a somewhat later period was formed the states-right party, which claimed sovereignty for each province, and by necessary consequence the hegemony throughout the confederacy, for holland. at present the doctrine maintained was that the sovereignty forfeited by philip had naturally devolved upon the states-general. the statesmen of this party repudiated the calumny that it had therefore lapsed into the hands of half a dozen mechanics and men of low degree. the states of each province were, they maintained, composed of nobles and country-gentlemen, as representing the agricultural interest, and of deputies from the 'vroedschappen,' or municipal governments, of every city and smallest town. such men as adrian van der werff, the heroic burgomaster of leyden during its famous siege, john van der does, statesman, orator, soldier, poet, adolphus meetkerke, judge, financier, politician, carl roorda, noel de carom diplomatist of most signal ability, floris thin, paul buys, and olden-barneveld, with many others, who would have done honour to the legislative assemblies and national councils in any country or any age, were constantly returned as members of the different vroedschaps in the commonwealth. so far from its being true then that half a dozen ignorant mechanics had usurped the sovereignty of the provinces, after the abjuration of the spanish king, it may be asserted in general terms, that of the eight hundred thousand inhabitants of holland at least eight hundred persons were always engaged in the administration of public affairs, that these individuals were perpetually exchanged for others, and that those whose names became most prominent in the politics of the day were remarkable for thorough education, high talents, and eloquence with tongue and pen. it was acknowledged by the leading statesmen of england and france, on repeated occasions throughout the sixteenth century, that the diplomatists and statesmen of the netherlands were even more than a match for any politicians who were destined to encounter them, and the profound respect which leicester expressed for these solid statesmen, these "substantial, wise, well-languaged" men, these "big fellows," so soon as he came in contact with them, and before he began to hate them for outwitting him, has already appeared. they were generally men of the people, born without any of the accidents of fortune; but, the leaders had studied in the common schools, and later in the noble universities of a land where to be learned and eloquent was fast becoming almost as great an honour as to be wealthy or high born. the executive, the legislative, and the judiciary departments were more carefully and scientifically separated than could perhaps have been expected in that age. the lesser municipal courts, in which city- senators presided, were subordinate to the supreme court of holland, whose officers were appointed by the stadholders and council; the supplies were in the hands of the states-provincial, and the supreme administrative authority was confided to a stadholder appointed by the states. the states-general were constituted of similar materials to those of which the states-provincial were constructed, and the same individuals were generally prominent in both. they were deputies appointed by the provincial estates, were in truth rather more like diplomatic envoys than senators, were generally bound very strictly by instructions, and were often obliged, by the jealousy springing from the states-right principle, to refer to their constituents, on questions when the times demanded a sudden decision, and when the necessary delay was inconvenient and dangerous. in religious matters, the states-party, to their honour, already leaned to a wide toleration. not only catholics were not burned, but they were not banished, and very large numbers remained in the territory, and were quite undisturbed in religious matters, within their own doors. there were even men employed in public affairs who were suspected of papistical tendencies, although their hostility, to spain and their attachment to their native land could not fairly be disputed. the leaders of the states-party had a rooted aversion to any political influence on the part of the clergy of any denomination whatever. disposed to be lenient to all forms of worship, they were disinclined to an established church, but still more opposed to allowing church-influence in secular affairs. as a matter of course, political men with such bold views in religious matters were bitterly assailed by their rigid opponents. barneveld, with his "nil scire tutissima fides," was denounced as a disguised catholic or an infidel, and as for paul buys, he was a "bolsterer of papists, an atheist, a devil," as it has long since been made manifest. nevertheless these men believed that they understood the spirit of their country and of the age. in encouragement to an expanding commerce, the elevation and education of the masses, the toleration of all creeds, and a wide distribution of political functions and rights, they looked for the salvation of their nascent republic from destruction, and the maintenance of the true interests of the people. they were still loyal to queen elizabeth, and desirous that she should accept the sovereignty of the provinces. but they were determined that the sovereignty should be a constitutional one, founded upon and limited by the time-honoured laws and traditions of their commonwealth; for they recognised the value of a free republic with an hereditary chief, however anomalous it might in theory appear. they knew that in utrecht the leicestrian party were about to offer the queen the sovereignty of their province, without conditions, but they were determined that neither queen elizabeth nor any other monarch should ever reign in the netherlands, except under conditions to be very accurately defined and well secured. thus, contrasted, then, were the two great parties in the netherlands, at the conclusion of leicester's first year of administration. it may easily be understood that it was not an auspicious moment to leave the country without a chief. the strength of the states-party lay in holland, zeeland, friesland. the main stay of the democratic or leicester faction was in the city of utrecht, but the earl had many partizans in gelderland, friesland, and in overyssel, the capital of which province, the wealthy and thriving deventer, second only in the republic to amsterdam for commercial and political importance, had been but recently secured for the provinces by the vigorous measures of sir william pelham. the condition of the republic and of the spanish provinces was, at that moment, most signally contrasted. if the effects of despotism and of liberty could ever be exhibited at a single glance, it was certainly only necessary to look for a moment at the picture of the obedient and of the rebel netherlands. since the fall of antwerp, the desolation of brabant, flanders, and of the walloon territories had become complete. the king had recovered the great commercial capital, but its commerce was gone. the scheldt, which, till recently, had been the chief mercantile river in the world, had become as barren as if its fountains had suddenly dried up. it was as if it no longer flowed to the ocean, for its mouth was controlled by flushing. thus antwerp was imprisoned and paralyzed. its docks and basins, where ships had once been counted, were empty, grass was growing in its streets, its industrious population had vanished, and the jesuits had returned in swarms. and the same spectacle was presented by ghent, bruges, valenciennes, tournay, and those other fair cities, which had once been types of vigorous industry and tumultuous life. the sea- coast was in the hands of two rising commercial powers, the great and free commonwealths of the future. those powers were acting in concert, and commanding the traffic of the world, while the obedient provinces were excluded from all foreign intercourse and all markets, as the result of their obedience. commerce, manufactures, agriculture; were dying lingering deaths. the thrifty farms, orchards, and gardens, which had been a proverb and wonder of industry were becoming wildernesses. the demand for their produce by the opulent and thriving cities, which had been the workshops of the world, was gone. foraging bands of spanish and italian mercenaries had succeeded to the famous tramp of the artizans and mechanics, which had often been likened to an army, but these new customers were less profitable to the gardeners and farmers. the clothiers, the fullers, the tapestry-workers, the weavers, the cutlers, had all wandered away, and the cities of holland, friesland, and of england, were growing skilful and rich by the lessons and the industry of the exiles to whom they afforded a home. there were villages and small towns in the spanish netherlands that had been literally depopulated. large districts of country had gone to waste, and cane-brakes and squalid morasses usurped the place of yellow harvest-fields. the fog, the wild boar, and the wolf, infested the abandoned homes of the peasantry; children could not walk in safety in the neighbourhood even of the larger cities; wolves littered their young in the deserted farm-houses; two hundred persons, in the winter of - , were devoured by wild beasts in the outskirts of ghent. such of the remaining labourers and artizans as had not been converted into soldiers, found their most profitable employment as brigands, so that the portion of the population spared by war and emigration was assisting the enemy in preying upon their native country. brandschatzung, burglary, highway-robbery, and murder, had become the chief branches of industry among the working classes. nobles and wealthy burghers had been changed to paupers and mendicants. many a family of ancient lineage, and once of large possessions, could be seen begging their bread, at the dusk of evening, in the streets of great cities, where they had once exercised luxurious hospitality; and they often begged in vain. for while such was the forlorn aspect of the country--and the portrait, faithfully sketched from many contemporary pictures, has not been exaggerated in any of its dark details--a great famine smote the land with its additional scourge. the whole population, soldiers and brigands, spaniards and flemings, beggars and workmen, were in danger of perishing together. where the want of employment had been so great as to cause a rapid depopulation, where the demand for labour had almost entirely ceased, it was a necessary result, that during the process, prices should be low, even in the presence of foreign soldiery, and despite the inflamed' profits, which such capitalists as remained required, by way not only of profit but insurance, in such troublous times. accordingly, for the last year or two, the price of rye at antwerp and brussels had been one florin for the veertel (three bushels) of one hundred and twenty pounds; that of wheat, about one-third of a florin more. five pounds of rye, therefore, were worth, one penny sterling, reckoning, as was then usual, two shillings to the florin. a pound weight of wheat was worth about one farthing. yet this was forty- one years after the discovery of the mines of potosi (a.d. ), and full sixteen years after the epoch; from which is dated that rapid fall in the value of silver, which in the course of seventy years, caused the average price of corn and of all other commodities, to be tripled or even quadrupled. at that very moment the average cost of wheat in england was sixty-four shillings the quarter, or about seven and sixpence sterling the bushel, and in the markets of holland, which in truth regulated all others, the same prices prevailed. a bushel of wheat in england was equal therefore to eight bushels in brussels. thus the silver mines, which were the spanish king's property, had produced their effect everywhere more signally than within the obedient provinces. the south american specie found its way to philip's coffers, thence to the paymasters of his troops in flanders, and thence to the commercial centres of holland and england. those countries, first to feel and obey the favourable expanding impulse of the age, were moving surely and steadily on before it to greatness. prices were rising with unexampled rapidity, the precious metals were comparatively a drug, a world-wide commerce, such as had never been dreamed of, had become an every-day concern, the arts and sciences and a most generous culture in famous schools and universities, which had been founded in the midst of tumult and bloodshed, characterized the republic, and the golden age of english poetry, which was to make the elizabethan era famous through all time, had already begun. in the spanish netherlands the newly-found treasure served to pay the only labourers required in a subjugated and almost deserted country, the pikemen of spain and italy, and the reiters of germany. prices could not sustain themselves in the face of depopulation. where there was no security for property, no home-market, no foreign intercourse, industrial pursuits had become almost impossible. the small demand for labour had caused it, as it were, to disappear, altogether. all men had become beggars, brigands, or soldiers. a temporary reaction followed. there were no producers. suddenly it was discovered that no corn had been planted, and that there was no harvest. a famine was the inevitable result. prices then rose with most frightful rapidity. the veertel of rye, which in the previous year had been worth one florin at brussels and antwerp, rose in the winter of - to twenty, twenty-two, and even twenty-four florins; and wheat advanced from one and one-third florin to thirty-two florins the veertel. other articles were proportionally increased in market-value; but it is worthy of remark that mutton was quoted in the midst of the famine at nine stuyvers (a little more than ninepence sterling) the pound, and beef at fivepence, while a single cod- fish sold for twenty-two florins. thus wheat was worth sixpence sterling the pound weight (reckoning the veertel of one hundred and twenty pounds at thirty florins), which was a penny more than the price of a pound of beef; while an ordinary fish was equal in value to one hundred and six pounds of beef. no better evidence could be given that the obedient provinces were relapsing into barbarism, than that the only agricultural industry then practised was to allow what flocks and herds were remaining to graze at will over the ruined farms and gardens, and that their fishermen were excluded from the sea. the evil cured itself, however, and, before the expiration of another year, prices were again at their previous level. the land was sufficiently cultivated to furnish the necessaries of life for a diminishing population, and the supply of labour was more than enough, for the languishing demand. wheat was again at tenpence the bushel, and other commodities valued in like proportion, and far below the market- prices in holland and england. on the other, hand, the prosperity of the republic was rapidly increasing. notwithstanding the war, which had beer raging for a terrible quarter. of a century without any interruption, population was increasing, property rapidly advancing in value, labour in active demand. famine was impossible to a state which commanded the ocean. no corn grew in holland and zeeland, but their ports were the granary of the world. the fisheries were a mine of wealth almost equal to the famous potosi, with which the commercial world was then ringing. their commerce with the baltic nations was enormous. in one month eight hundred vessels left their havens for the eastern ports alone. there was also no doubt whatever--and the circumstance was a source of constant complaint and of frequent ineffective legislation--that the rebellious provinces were driving a most profitable trade with spain and the spanish possessions, in spite of their revolutionary war. the mines of peru and mexico were as fertile for the hollanders and zeelanders as for the spaniards themselves. the war paid for the war, one hundred large frigates were constantly cruising along the coasts to protect the fast-growing traffic, and an army of twenty thousand foot soldiers and two thousand cavalry were maintained on land. there were more ships and sailors at that moment in holland and zeeland than in the whole kingdom of england. while the sea-ports were thus rapidly increasing in importance, the towns in the interior were advancing as steadily. the woollen manufacture, the tapestry, the embroideries of gelderland, and friesland, and overyssel, were becoming as famous as had been those of tournay, ypres, brussels, and valenciennes. the emigration from the obedient provinces and from other countries was very great. it was difficult to obtain lodgings in the principal cities; new houses, new streets, new towns, were rising every day. the single province of holland furnished regularly, for war- expenses alone, two millions of florins (two hundred thousand pounds) a year, besides frequent extraordinary grants for the same purpose, yet the burthen imposed upon the vigorous young commonwealth seemed only to make it the more elastic. "the coming generations may see," says a contemporary historian, "the fortifications erected at that epoch in the cities, the costly and magnificent havens, the docks, the great extension of the cities; for truly the war had become a great benediction to the inhabitants." such a prosperous commonwealth as this was not a prize to be lightly thrown away. there is no doubt whatever that a large majority of the inhabitants, and of the states by whom the people were represented, ardently and affectionately desired to be annexed to the english crown. leicester had become unpopular, but elizabeth was adored, and there was nothing unreasonable in the desire entertained by the provinces of retaining their ancient constitutions, and of transferring their allegiance to the english queen. but the english queen could not resolve to take the step. although the great tragedy which was swiftly approaching its inevitable catastrophe, the execution of the scottish queen, was to make peace with philip impossible--even if it were imaginable before--elizabeth, during the year , was earnestly bent on peace. this will be made manifest in subsequent pages, by an examination of the secret correspondence of the court. her most sagacious statesmen disapproved her course, opposed it, and were often overruled, although never convinced; for her imperious will would have its way. the states-general loathed the very name of peace with spain. the people loathed it. all knew that peace with spain meant the exchange of a thriving prosperous commonwealth, with freedom of religion, constitutional liberty, and self-government, for provincial subjection to the inquisition and to despotism: to dream of any concession from philip on the religious point was ridiculous. there was a mirror ever held up before their eyes by the obedient provinces, in which they might see their own image, should, they too return to obedience. and there was never a pretence, on the part of any honest adviser of queen elizabeth in the netherlands, whether englishman or hollander, that the idea of peace- negotiation could be tolerated for a moment by states or people. yet the sum of the queen's policy, for the year , may be summed up in one word--peace; peace for the provinces, peace for herself, with their implacable enemy. in france, during the same year of expectation, we shall see the long prologue to the tragic and memorable slowly enacting; the same triangular contest between the three henrys and their partizans still proceeding. we shall see the misguided and wretched valois lamenting over his victories, and rejoicing over his defeats; forced into hollow alliance with his deadly enemy; arrayed in arms against his only protector and the true champion of the realm; and struggling vainly in the toils of his own mother and his own secretary of state, leagued with his most powerful foes. we shall see 'mucio,' with one 'hand extended in mock friendship toward the king, and with the other thrust backward to grasp the purse of , crowns held forth to aid his fellow- conspirator's dark designs against their common victim; and the bearnese, ever with lance in rest, victorious over the wrong antagonist, foiled of the fruits of victory, proclaiming himself the english queen's devoted knight, but railing at her parsimony; always in the saddle, always triumphant, always a beggar, always in love, always cheerful, and always confident to outwit the guises and philip, parma and the pope. and in spain we shall have occasion to look over the king's shoulder, as he sits at his study-table, in his most sacred retirement; and we shall find his policy for the year summed up in two words--invasion of england. sincerely and ardently as elizabeth meant peace with philip, just so sincerely did philip intend war with england, and the dethronement and destruction of the queen. to this great design all others were now subservient, and it was mainly on account of this determination that there was sufficient leisure in the republic for the leicestrians and the states-general to fight out so thoroughly their party-contests. etext editor's bookmarks: acknowledged head of the puritan party of england (leicester) geneva theocracy in the place of the vanished papacy hankering for peace, when peace had really become impossible hating nothing so much as idleness mirror ever held up before their eyes by the obedient provinces rigid and intolerant spirit of the reformed religion scorn the very word toleration as an insult the word liberty was never musical in tudor ears this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, chapter x. should elizabeth accept the sovereignty?--the effects of her anger-- quarrels between the earl and the staten--the earl's three counsellors--leicester's finance--chamber--discontent of the mercantile classes--paul buys and the opposition--been insight of paul buys--truchsess becomes a spy upon him--intrigues of buys with denmark--his imprisonment--the earl's unpopularity--his quarrels with the states--and with the norrises--his counsellors wilkes and clerke--letter from the queen to leicester--a supper party at hohenlo's--a drunken quarrel--hohenlo's assault upon edward norris-- ill effects of the riot. the brief period of sunshine had been swiftly followed by storms. the governor absolute had, from the outset, been placed in a false position. before he came to the netherlands the queen had refused the sovereignty. perhaps it was wise in her to decline so magnificent an offer; yet certainly her acceptance would have been perfectly honourable. the constituted authorities of the provinces formally made the proposition. there is no doubt whatever that the whole population ardently desired to become her subjects. so far as the netherlands were concerned, then, she would have been fully justified in extending her sceptre over a free people, who, under no compulsion and without any, diplomatic chicane, had selected her for their hereditary chief. so far as regarded england, the annexation to that country of a continental cluster of states, inhabited by a race closely allied to it by blood, religion, and the instinct for political freedom, seemed, on the whole, desirable. in a financial point of view, england would certainly lose nothing by the union. the resources of the provinces were at leant equal to her own. we have seen the astonishment which the wealth and strength of the netherlands excited in their english visitors. they were amazed by the evidences of commercial and manufacturing prosperity, by the spectacle of luxury and advanced culture, which met them on every side. had the queen--as it had been generally supposed--desired to learn whether the provinces were able and willing to pay the expenses of their own defence before she should definitely decide on, their offer of sovereignty, she was soon thoroughly enlightened upon the subject. her confidential agents all--held one language. if she would only, accept the sovereignty, the amount which the provinces would pay was in a manner boundless. she was assured that the revenue of her own hereditary realm was much inferior to that of the possessions thus offered to her sway. in regard to constitutional polity, the condition of the netherlands was at least, as satisfactory as that of england. the great amount of civil freedom enjoyed by those countries--although perhaps an objection--in the eyes of elizabeth tudor--should certainly have been a recommendation to her liberty-loving subjects. the question of defence had been satisfactorily answered. the provinces, if an integral part of the english empire, could protect themselves, and would become an additional element of strength--not a troublesome encumbrance. the difference of language was far, less than that which already existed between the english and their irish fellow-subjects, while it was counterbalanced by sympathy, instead of being aggravated by mutual hostility in the matter of religion. with regard to the great question of abstract sovereignty, it was certainly impolitic for an absolute monarch to recognize the right of a nation to repudiate its natural allegiance. but elizabeth had already countenanced that step by assisting the rebellion against philip. to allow the rebels to transfer their obedience from the king of spain to herself was only another step in the same direction. the queen, should she annex the provinces, would certainly be accused by the world of ambition; but the ambition was a noble one, if, by thus consenting to the urgent solicitations of a free people, she extended the region of civil and religious liberty, and raised up a permanent bulwark against sacerdotal and royal absolutism. a war between herself and spain was inevitable if she accepted the sovereignty, but peace had been already rendered impossible by the treaty of alliance. it is true that the queen imagined the possibility of combining her engagements towards the states with a conciliatory attitude towards their ancient master, but it was here that she committed the gravest error. the negotiations of parma and his sovereign with the english court were a masterpiece of deceit on the part of spain. we have shown, by the secret correspondence, and we shall in the sequel make it still clearer, that philip only intended to amuse his antagonists; that he had already prepared his plan for the conquest of england, down to the minutest details; that the idea of tolerating religious liberty had never entered his mind; and that his fixed purpose was not only thoroughly to chastise the dutch rebels, but to deprive the heretic queen who had fostered their rebellion both of throne and life. so far as regarded the spanish king, then, the quarrel between him and elizabeth was already mortal; while in a religious, moral, political, and financial point of view, it would be difficult to show that it was wrong, or imprudent for england to accept the sovereignty over his ancient subjects. the cause of human, freedom seemed likely to gain by the step, for the states did not consider themselves strong enough to maintain the independent republic which had already risen. it might be a question whether, on the whole, elizabeth made a mistake in declining the sovereignty. she was certainly wrong, however, in wishing the lieutenant-general of her six thousand auxiliary troops to be clothed, as such, with vice-regal powers. the states-general, in a moment of enthusiasm, appointed him governor absolute, and placed in his hands, not only the command of the forces, but the entire control of their revenues, imposts, and customs, together with the appointment of civil and military officers. such an amount of power could only be delegated by the sovereign. elizabeth had refused the sovereignty: it then rested with the states. they only, therefore, were competent to confer the power which elizabeth wished her favourite to exercise simply as her lieutenant-general. her wrathful and vituperative language damaged her cause and that of the netherlands more severely than can now be accurately estimated. the earl was placed at once in a false, a humiliating, almost a ridiculous position. the authority which the states had thus a second time offered to england was a second time and most scornfully thrust back upon them. elizabeth was indignant that "her own man" should clothe himself in the supreme attributes which she had refused. the states were forced by the violence of the queen to take the authority into their own hands again, and leicester was looked upon as a disgraced man. then came the neglect with which the earl was treated by her majesty and her ill-timed parsimony towards the cause. no letters to him in four months, no remittances for the english troops, not a penny of salary for him. the whole expense of the war was thrown for the time upon their hands, and the english soldiers seemed only a few thousand starving, naked, dying vagrants, an incumbrance instead of an aid. the states, in their turn, drew the purse-strings. the two hundred thousand florins monthly were paid. the four hundred thousand florins which had been voted as an additional supply were for a time held back, as leicester expressly stated, because of the discredit which had been thrown upon him from home. [strangely enough, elizabeth was under the impression that the extra grant of , florins (l , ) for four months was four hundred thousand pounds sterling. "the rest that was granted by the states, as extraordinary to levy an army, which was , florins, not pounds, as i hear your majesty taketh it. it is forty thousand pounds, and to be paid in march, april, may, and june last," &c. leicester to the queen, l oct. . (s. p. office ms.)] the military operations were crippled for want of funds, but more fatal than everything else were the secret negotiations for peace. subordinate individuals, like grafigni and de loo, went up and down, bringing presents out of england for alexander farnese, and bragging that parma and themselves could have peace whenever they liked to make it, and affirming that leicester's opinions were of no account whatever. elizabeth's coldness to the earl and to the netherlands was affirmed to be the prince of parma's sheet-anchor; while meantime a house was ostentatiously prepared in brussels by their direction for the reception of an english ambassador, who was every moment expected to arrive. under such circumstances it was in, vain for the governor-general to protest that the accounts of secret negotiations were false, and quite natural that the states should lose their confidence in the queen. an unfriendly and suspicious attitude towards her representative was a necessary result, and the demonstrations against the common enemy became still more languid. but for these underhand dealings, grave, venlo, and neusz, might have been saved, and the current 'of the meuse and rhine have remained in the hands of the patriots. the earl was industrious, generous, and desirous of playing well his part. his personal courage was undoubted, and, in the opinion of his admirers--themselves, some of them, men of large military experience--his ability as a commander was of a high order. the valour displayed by the english nobles and gentlemen who accompanied him was magnificent, worthy the descendants of the victors at crecy, poitiers, and agincourt; and the good behaviour of their followers--with a few rare exceptions--had been equally signal. but now the army was dwindling to a ghastly array of scarecrows, and the recruits, as they came from england, were appalled by the spectacle presented by their predecessors. "our old ragged rogues here have so discouraged our new men," said leicester; "as i protest to you they look like dead men." out of eleven hundred freshly-arrived englishmen, five hundred ran away in two days. some were caught and hanged, and all seemed to prefer hanging to remaining in the service, while the earl declared that he would be hanged as well rather than again undertake such a charge without being assured payment for his troops beforehand! the valour of sidney and essex, willoughby and pelham, roger williams and martin schenk, was set at nought by such untoward circumstances. had not philip also left his army to starve and alexander farnese to work miracles, it would have fared still worse with holland and england, and with the cause of civil and religious liberty in the year . the states having resumed, as much as possible; their former authority, were on very unsatisfactory terms with the governor-general. before long, it was impossible for the, twenty or thirty individuals called the states to be in the same town with the man whom, at the commencement of the, year, they had greeted so warmly. the hatred between the leicester faction and the municipalities became intense, for the foundation of the two great parties which were long to divide the netherland commonwealth was already laid. the mercantile patrician interest, embodied in the states of holland and zeeland and inclined to a large toleration in the matter of religion, which afterwards took the form of arminianism, was opposed by a strict calvinist party, which desired to subject the political commonwealth to the reformed church; which nevertheless indulged in very democratic views of the social compact; and which was controlled by a few refugees from flanders and brabant, who had succeeded in obtaining the confidence of leicester. thus the earl was the nominal head of the calvinist democratic party; while young maurice of nassau; stadholder of holland and zeeland, and guided by barneveld, buys, and other leading statesmen of these provinces; was in an attitude precisely the reverse of the one which he was destined at a later and equally memorable epoch to assume. the chiefs of the faction which had now succeeded in gaining the confidence of leicester were reingault, burgrave, and deventer, all refugees. the laws of holland and of the other united states were very strict on the subject of citizenship, and no one but a native was competent to hold office in each province. doubtless, such regulations were narrow- spirited; but to fly in the face of them was the act of a despot, and this is what leicester did. reingault was a fleming. he was a bankrupt merchant, who had been taken into the protection of lamoral egmont, and by that nobleman recommended to granvelle for an office under the cardinal's government. the refusal of this favour was one of the original causes of egmont's hostility to granvelle. reingault subsequently entered the service of the cardinal, however, and rewarded the kindness of his former benefactor by great exertions in finding, or inventing, evidence to justify the execution of that unfortunate nobleman. he was afterwards much employed by the duke of alva and by the grand commander requesens; but after the pacification of ghent he had been completely thrown out of service. he had recently, in a subordinate capacity, accompanied the legations of the states to france and to england, and had now contrived to ingratiate himself with the earl of leicester. he affected great zeal for the calvinistic religion--an exhibition which, in the old servant of granvelle and alva, was far from edifying--and would employ no man or maid-servant in his household until their religious principles had been thoroughly examined by one or two clergymen. in brief, he was one of those, who, according to a homely flemish proverb, are wont to hang their piety on the bell-rope; but, with the exception of this brief interlude in his career, he lived and died a papist. gerard proninck, called deventer, was a respectable inhabitant of bois- le-duc, who had left that city after it had again become subject to the authority of spain. he was of decent life and conversation, but a restless and ambitious demagogue. as a brabantine, he was unfit for office; and yet, through leicester's influence and the intrigues of the democratic party, he obtained the appointment of burgomaster in the city of utrecht. the states-general, however, always refused to allow him to appear at their sessions as representative of that city. daniel de burgrave was a flemish mechanic, who, by the exertion of much energy and talent, had risen to the poet of procureur-general of flanders. after the conquest of the principal portion of that province by parma, he had made himself useful to the english governor-general in various ways, and particularly as a linguist. he spoke english--a tongue with which few netherlanders of that day were familiar--and as the earl knew no other, except (very imperfectly) italian, he found his services in speaking and writing a variety of languages very convenient. he was the governor's private secretary, and, of course, had no entrance to the council of state, but he was accused of frequently thrusting himself into their hall of sessions, where, under pretence of arranging the earl's table, or portfolio, or papers, he was much addicted to whispering into his master's ear, listening to conversation,--to eaves-dropping; in short, and general intrusiveness. "a most faithful, honest servant is burgrave," said leicester; "a substantial, wise man. 'tis as sufficient a man as ever i met withal of any nation; very well learned, exceeding wise, and sincere in religion. i cannot commend the man too much. he is the only comfort i have had of any of this nation." these three personages were the leaders of the leicester faction. they had much, influence with all the refugees from flanders, brabant, and the walloon provinces. in utrecht, especially, where the earl mainly resided, their intrigues were very successful. deventer was appointed, as already stated, to the important post of burgomaster; many, of the influential citizens were banished, without cause or, trial; the upper branch of the municipal government, consisting of the clerical delegates of the colleges, was in an arbitrary manner abolished; and, finally, the absolute sovereignty of, the province, without condition, was offered to the queen, of england. leicester was now determined to carry out one of the great objects which the queen had in view when she sent him to the netherlands. she desired thoroughly to ascertain the financial resources of the provinces, and their capacity to defend themselves. it was supposed by the states, and hoped by the earl and by a majority of the netherland people, that she would, in case the results were satisfactory, accept, after all, the sovereignty. she certainly was not to be blamed that she wished to make this most important investigation, but it was her own fault that any new machinery had been rendered necessary. the whole control of the finances had, in the beginning of the year, been placed in the earl's hands, and it was only by her violently depriving him of his credit and of the confidence of the country that he had not retained it. he now established a finance-chamber, under the chief control of reingault, who promised him mountains of money, and who was to be chief treasurer. paul buys was appointed by leicester to fill a subordinate position in the new council. he spurned the offer with great indignation, saying that reingault was not fit to be his clerk, and that he was not likely himself, therefore, to accept a humble post under the administration of such an individual. this scornful refusal filled to the full the hatred of leicester against the ex-advocate of holland. the mercantile interest at once took the alarm, because it was supposed that the finance-chamber, was intended to crush the merchants. early in april an act had been passed by the state-council, prohibiting commerce with the spanish possessions. the embargo was intended to injure the obedient provinces and their sovereign, but it was shown that its effect would be to blast the commerce of holland. it forbade the exportation from the republic not only of all provisions and munitions of war, but of all goods and merchandize whatever, to spain, portugal, the spanish netherlands, or any other of philip's territories, either in dutch or neutral vessel. it would certainly seem, at first sight, that such an act was reasonable, although the result would really be, not to deprive the enemy of supplies, but to throw the whole baltic trade into the hands of the bremen, hamburg, and "osterling" merchants. leicester expected to derive a considerable revenue by granting passports and licenses to such neutral traders, but the edict became so unpopular that it was never thoroughly enforced, and was before long rescinded. the odium of the measure was thrown upon the governor-general, yet he had in truth opposed it in the state-council, and was influential in procuring its repeal. another important act had been directed against the mercantile interest, and excited much general discontent. the netherlands wished the staple of the english cloth manufacture to be removed from emden--the petty, sovereign of which place was the humble servant of spain--to amsterdam or delft. the desire was certainly, natural, and the dutch merchants sent a committee to confer with leicester. he was much impressed with their views, and with the sagacity of their chairman, one mylward, "a wise fellow and well languaged, an ancient man and very, religious," as the earl pronounced him to be. notwithstanding the wisdom however, of this well-languaged fellow, the queen, for some strange reason, could not be induced to change the staple from emden, although it was shown that the public revenue of the netherlands would gain twenty thousand pounds a year by the measure. "all holland will cry out for it," said leicester; "but i had rather they cried than that england should weep." thus the mercantile community, and especially the patrician families of holland and zeeland, all engaged in trade, became more and more hostile to the governor-general and to his financial trio, who were soon almost as unpopular as the famous consults of cardinal granvelle had been. it was the custom of the states to consider the men who surrounded the earl as needy and unprincipled renegades and adventurers. it was the policy of his advisers to represent the merchants and the states--which mainly consisted of, or were controlled by merchants--as a body of corrupt, selfish, greedy money-getters. the calumnies put in circulation against the states by reingault and his associates grew at last so outrageous, and the prejudice created in the mind of leicester and his immediate english adherents so intense, that it was rendered necessary for the states, of holland and zeeland to write to their agent ortell in london, that he might forestall the effect of these perpetual misrepresentations on her majesty's government. leicester, on the other hand, under the inspiration; of his artful advisers, was vehement in his entreaties that ortell should be sent away from england. the ablest and busiest of the opposition-party, the "nimblest head" in the states-general was the ex-advocate of holland; paul buys. this man was then the foremost statesman in, the netherlands. he had been the firmest friend to the english alliance; he had resigned his office when the states were-offering the sovereignty to france, and had been on the point of taking service in denmark. he had afterwards been prominent in the legation which offered the sovereignty to elizabeth, and, for a long time, had been the most firm, earnest, and eloquent advocate of the english policy. leicester had originally courted him, caressed him, especially recommended him to the queen's favour, given him money--as he said, "two hundred pounds sterling thick at a time"--and openly pronounced him to be "in ability above all men." "no man hath ever sought a man," he said, "as i have sought p. b." the period of their friendship was, however, very brief. before many weeks had passed there was no vituperative epithet that leicester was not in the daily habit of bestowing upon paul. the earl's vocabulary of abuse was not a limited one, but he exhausted it on the head of the advocate. he lacked at last words and breath to utter what was like him. he pronounced his former friend "a very dangerous man, altogether hated of the people and the states;"--"a lewd sinner, nursled in revolutions; a most covetous, bribing fellow, caring for nothing but to bear the sway and grow rich;"--"a man who had played many parts, both lewd and audacious;"--"a very knave, a traitor to his country;"--"the most ungrateful wretch alive, a hater of the queen and of all the english; a most unthankful man to her majesty; a practiser to make himself rich and great, and nobody else;"--"among all villains the greatest;"-- "a bolsterer of all papists and ill men, a dissembler, a devil, an atheist," a "most naughty man, and a most notorious drunkard in the worst degree." where the earl hated, his hatred was apt to be deadly, and he was determined, if possible, to have the life of the detested paul. "you shall see i will do well enough with him, and that shortly," he said. "i will course him as he was not so this twenty year. i will warrant him hanged and one or two of his fellows, but you must not tell your shirt of this yet;" and when he was congratulating the government on his having at length procured the execution of captain hemart, the surrenderer of grave, he added, pithily, "and you shall hear that mr. p. b. shall follow." yet the earl's real griefs against buys may be easily summed up. the lewd sinner, nursled in revolutions, had detected the secret policy of the queen's government, and was therefore perpetually denouncing the intrigues going on with spain. he complained that her majesty was tired of having engaged in the netherland enterprise; he declared that she would be glad to get fairly out of it; that her reluctance to spend a farthing more in the cause than she was obliged to do was hourly increasing upon her; that she was deceiving and misleading the states- general; and that she was hankering after a peace. he said that the earl had a secret intention to possess himself of certain towns in holland, in which case the whole question of peace and war would be in the hands of the queen, who would also have it thus in her power to reimburse herself at once for all expenses that she had incurred. it would be difficult to show that there was anything very calumnious in these charges, which, no doubt, paul was in the habit of making. as to the economical tendencies of her majesty, sufficient evidence has been given already from leicester's private letters. "rather than spend one hundred pounds," said walsingham, "she can be content to be deceived of five thousand." that she had been concealing from the staten, from walsingham, from leicester, during the whole summer, her secret negotiations with spain, has also been made apparent. that she was disgusted with the enterprise in which she had embarked, walsingham, burghley, hatton, and all the other statesmen of england, most abundantly testified. whether leicester had really an intention to possess himself of certain cities in holland--a charge made by paul buys, and denounced as especially slanderous by the earl--may better appear from his own private statements. "this i will do," he wrote to the queen, "and i hope not to fail of it, to get into my hands three or four most principal places in north holland; which will be such a strength and assurance for your majesty, as you shall see you shall both rule these men and make war or peace as you list, always provided--whatsoever you hear, or is--part not with the brill; and having these places in your hands, whatsoever should chance to these countries, your majesty, i will warrant sure enough to make what peace you will in an hour, and to have your debts and charges readily answered." at a somewhat later moment it will be seen what came of these secret designs. for the present, leicester was very angry with paul for daring to suspect him of such treachery. the earl complained, too, that the influence of buys with hohenlo and young maurice of nassau was most pernicious. hohenlo had formerly stood high in leicester's opinion. he was a "plain, faithful soldier, a most valiant gentleman," and he was still more important, because about to marry mary of nassau; eldest slaughter, of william the silent, and coheiress with philip william, to the buren property. but he had been tampered with by the intriguing paul buys, and had then wished to resign his office under leicester. being pressed for reasons, he had "grown solemn," and withdrawn himself almost entirely. maurice; with his "solemn, sly wit," also gave the earl much trouble, saying little; but thinking much, and listening to the insidious paul. he "stood much on making or marring," so leicester thought, "as he met with good counsel." he had formerly been on intimate terms with the governor-general, who affected to call him his son; but he had subsequently kept aloof, and in three months had not come near him. the earl thought that money might do much, and was anxious for sir francis drake to come home from the indies with millions of gold, that the queen might make both hohenlo and maurice a handsome present before it should be too late. meantime he did what he could with elector truchsess to lure them back again. that forlorn little prelate was now poorer and more wretched than ever. he was becoming paralytic, though young, and his heart was broken through want. leicester, always generous as the sun, gave him money, four thousand florins at a time, and was most earnest that the queen should put him on her pension list. "his wisdom, his behaviour, his languages, his person," said the earl, "all would like her well. he is in great melancholy for his town of neusz, and for his poverty, having a very noble mind. if, he be lost, her majesty had better lose a hundred thousand pounds." the melancholy truchsess now became a spy and a go-between. he insinuated himself into the confidence of paul buys, wormed his secrets from him, and then communicated them to hohenlo and to leicester; "but he did it very wisely," said the earl, "so that he was not mistrusted." the governor always affected, in order to screen the elector from suspicion, to obtain his information from persons in utrecht; and he had indeed many spies in that city; who diligently reported paul's table-talk. nevertheless, that "noble gentleman, the elector," said leicester, "hath dealt most deeply with him, to seek out the bottom." as the ex-advocate of holland was very communicative in his cups, and very bitter against the governor-general, there was soon such a fund of information collected on the subject by various eaves-droppers, that leicester was in hopes of very soon hanging mr. paul buys, as we have already seen. the burthen of the charges against the culprit was his statement that the provinces would be gone if her majesty did not declare herself, vigorously and generously, in their favour; but, as this was the perpetual cry of leicester himself, there seemed hardly hanging matter in that. that noble gentleman, the elector, however, had nearly saved the hangman his trouble, having so dealt with hohenlo as to "bring him into as good a mind as ever he was;" and the first fruits of this good mind were, that the honest count--a man of prompt dealings--walked straight to paul's house in order to kill him on the spot. something fortunately prevented the execution of this plan; but for a time at least the energetic count continued to be "governed greatly" by the ex-archbishop, and "did impart wholly unto him his most secret heart." thus the "deep wise truxy," as leicester called him, continued to earn golden opinions, and followed up his conversion of hohenlo by undertaking to "bring maurice into tune again also," and the young prince was soon on better terms with his "affectionate father" than he had ever been before. paul buys was not so easily put down, however, nor the two magnates so thoroughly gained over. before the end of the season maurice stood in his old position, the nominal head of the holland or patrician party, chief of the opposition to leicester, while hohenlo had become more bitter than ever against the earl. the quarrel between himself and edward norris, to which allusion will soon be made, tended to increase the dissatisfaction, although he singularly misunderstood leicester's sentiments throughout the whole affair. hohenlo recovered of his wound before zutphen; but, on his recovery, was more malcontent than ever. the earl was obliged at last to confess that "he was a very dangerous man, inconstant, envious; and hateful to all our nation, and a very traitor to the cause. there is no dealing to win him," he added, "i have sought it to my cost. his best friends tell me he is not to be trusted." meantime that lewd sinner, the indefatigable paul, was plotting desperately--so leicester said and believed--to transfer the sovereignty of the provinces to the king of denmark. buys, who was privately of opinion that the states required an absolute head, "though it were but an onion's head," and that they would thankfully continue under leicester as governor absolute if elizabeth would accept the sovereignty, had made up his mind that the queen would never take that step. he was therefore disposed to offer the crown to the king of denmark, and was believed to have brought maurice--who was to espouse that king's daughter--to the same way of thinking. young count rantzan, son of a distinguished danish statesman, made a visit to the netherlands in order to confer with buys. paul was also anxious to be appointed envoy to denmark, ostensibly to arrange for the two thousand cavalry, which the king had long before promised for the assistance of the provinces, but in reality, to examine the details of this new project; and leicester represented to the queen very earnestly how powerful the danish monarch would become, thus rendered master of the narrow seas, and how formidable to england. in the midst of these plottings, real or supposed, a party of armed men, one fine summer's morning, suddenly entered paul's bedroom as he lay asleep at the house of the burgomaster, seized his papers, and threw him: into prison in the wine-cellar of the town-house. "oh my papers, oh my papers!" cried the unfortunate politician, according to leicester's statement, "the queen of england will for ever hate me." the earl disavowed all, participation in the arrest; but he was not believed. he declared himself not sorry that the measure had been taken, and promised that he would not "be hasty to release him," not doubting that "he would be found faulty enough." leicester maintained that there was stuff enough discovered to cost paul his head; but he never lost his head, nor was anything treasonable or criminal ever found against him. the intrigue with denmark--never proved--and commenced, if undertaken at all, in utter despair of elizabeth's accepting the sovereignty, was the gravest charge. he remained, however, six months in prison, and at the beginning of was released, without trial or accusation, at the request of the english queen. the states could hardly be blamed for their opposition to the earl's administration, for he had thrown himself completely into the arms of a faction, whose object was to vilipend and traduce them, and it was now difficult for him to recover the functions of which the queen had deprived him. "the government they had given from themselves to me stuck in their stomachs always," he said. thus on the one side, the states were," growing more stately than ever," and were-always "jumbling underhand," while the aristocratic earl, on, his part, was resolute not to be put down by "churls and tinkers." he was sure that the people were with him, and that, "having always been governed by some prince, they, never did nor could consent to be ruled by bakers, brewers, and hired advocates. i know they hate them," said this high-born tribune of the people. he was much disgusted with the many-headed chimaera, the monstrous republic, with which he found himself in such unceasing conflict, and was disposed to take a manful stand. "i have been fain of late," he said, "to set the better leg foremost, to handle some of my masters somewhat plainly; for they thought i would droop; and whatsoever becomes of me, you shall hear i will keep my reputation, or die for it." but one great accusation, made against the churls and tinkers, and bakers and hired advocates, and mr. paul buys at their head, was that they were liberal towards the papists. they were willing that catholics should remain in the country and exercise the rights of citizens, provided they, conducted themselves like good citizens. for this toleration--a lesson which statesmen like buys and barneveld had learned in the school of william the silent--the opposition-party were denounced as bolsterers of papists, and papists themselves at heart, and "worshippers of idolatrous idols." from words, too, the government of leicester passed to acts. seventy papists were banished from the city of utrecht at the time of the arrest of buys. the queen had constantly enforced upon leicester the importance of dealing justly with the catholics in the netherlands, on the ground that they might be as good patriots and were as much interested in the welfare of their country as were the protestants; and he was especially enjoined "not to meddle in matters of religion." this wholesome advice it would have been quite impossible for the earl, under the guidance of reingault, burgrave, and stephen perret, to carry out. he protested that he should have liked to treat papists and calvinists "with indifference," but that it had proved impossible; that the catholics were perpetually plotting with the spanish faction, and that no towns were safe except those in which papists had been excluded from office. "they love the pope above all," he said, "and the prince of parma hath continual intelligence with them." nor was it catholics alone who gave the governor trouble. he was likewise very busy in putting down other denominations that differed from the calvinists. "your majesty will not believe," he said, "the number of sects that are in most towns; especially anabaptists, families of love, georgians; and i know not what. the godly and good ministers were molested by them in many places, and ready to give over; and even such diversities grew among magistrates in towns, being caused by some sedition-sowers here." it is however, satisfactory to reflect that the anabaptists and families of love, although discouraged and frowned upon, were not burned alive, buried alive, drowned in dungeons, and roasted at slow fires, as had been the case with them and with every other species of protestants, by thousands and tens of thousands, so long as charles v. and philip ii. had ruled the territory of that commonwealth. humanity had acquired something by the war which the netherlanders had been waging for twenty years, and no man or woman was ever put to death for religious causes after the establishment of the republic. with his hands thus full of business, it was difficult for the earl to obey the queen's command not to meddle in religious matters; for he was not of the stature of william the silent, and could not comprehend that the great lesson taught by the sixteenth century was that men were not to meddle with men in matters of religion. but besides his especial nightmare--mr. paul buys--the governor-general had a whole set of incubi in the norris family. probably no two persons ever detested each other more cordially than did leicester and sir john norris. sir john had been commander of the forces in the netherlands before leicester's arrival, and was unquestionably a man of larger experience than the earl. he had, however, as walsingham complained, acquired by his services in "countries where neither discipline military nor religion carried any sway," a very rude and licentious kind of government. "would to god," said the secretary, "that, with his value and courage, he carried the mind and reputation of a religious soldier." but that was past praying for. sir john was proud, untractable, turbulent, very difficult to manage. he hated leicester, and was furious with sir william pelham, whom leicester had made marshal of the camp. he complained, not unjustly, that from the first place in the army, which he had occupied in the netherlands, he had been reduced to the fifth. the governor-general--who chose to call sir john the son of his ancient enemy, the earl of sussex--often denounced him in good set terms. "his brother edward is as ill as he," he said, "but john is right the late earl of sussex' son; he will so dissemble and crouch, and so cunningly carry his doings, as no man living would imagine that there were half the malice or vindictive mind that plainly his words prove to be." leicester accused him of constant insubordination, insolence, and malice, complained of being traduced by him everywhere in the netherlands and in england, and declared that he was followed about by "a pack of lewd audacious fellows," whom the earl vowed he would hang, one and all, before he had done with them. he swore openly, in presence of all his camp, that he would hang sir john likewise; so that both the brothers, who had never been afraid of anything since they had been born into the world, affected to be in danger of their lives. the norrises were on bad terms with many officers--with sir william pelham of course, with "old reade," lord north, roger williams, hohenlo, essex, and other nobles--but with sir philip sidney, the gentle and chivalrous, they were friends. sir john had quarrelled in former times-- according to leicester--with hohenlo and even with the "good and brave" la none, of the iron arm; "for his pride," said the earl, "was the spirit of the devil." the governor complained every day of his malignity, and vowed that he "neither regarded the cause of god, nor of his prince, nor country." he consorted chiefly with sir thomas cecil, governor of brill, son of lord burghley, and therefore no friend to leicester; but the earl protested that "master thomas should bear small rule," so long as he was himself governor-general. "now i have pelham and stanley, we shall do well enough," he said, "though my young master would countenance him. i will be master while i remain here, will they, nill they." edward norris, brother of sir john, gave the governor almost as much trouble as he; but the treasurer norris, uncle to them both, was, if possible, more odious to him than all. he was--if half leicester's accusations are to be believed--a most infamous peculator. one-third of the money sent by the queen for the soldiers stuck in his fingers. he paid them their wretched four-pence a-day in depreciated coin, so that for their "naughty money they could get but naughty ware." never was such "fleecing of poor soldiers," said leicester. on the other hand, sir john maintained that his uncle's accounts were always ready for examination, and earnestly begged the home-government not to condemn that functionary without a hearing. for himself, he complained that he was uniformly kept in the background, left in ignorance of important enterprises, and sent on difficult duty with inadequate forces. it was believed that leicester's course was inspired by envy, lest any military triumph that might be gained should redound to the glory of sir john, one of the first commanders of the age, rather than to that of the governor-general. he was perpetually thwarted, crossed, calumniated, subjected to coarse and indecent insults, even from such brave men as lord north and roger williams, and in the very presence of the commander-in-chief, so that his talents were of no avail, and he was most anxious to be gone from the country. thus with the tremendous opposition formed to his government in the states-general, the incessant bickerings with the norrises, the peculations of the treasurer, the secret negotiations with spain, and the impossibility of obtaining money from home for himself or for his starving little army, the earl was in anything but a comfortable position. he was severely censured in england; but he doubted, with much reason, whether there were many who would take his office, and spend twenty thousand pounds sterling out of their own pockets, as he had done. the earl was generous and brave as man could be, full of wit, quick of apprehension; but inordinately vain, arrogant, and withal easily led by designing persons. he stood up manfully for the cause in which he was embarked, and was most strenuous in his demands for money. "personally he cared," he said, "not sixpence for his post; but would give five thousand sixpences, and six thousand shillings beside, to be rid of it;" but it was contrary to his dignity to "stand bucking with the states" for his salary. "is it reason," he asked, "that i, being sent from so great a prince as our sovereign is, must come to strangers to beg my entertainment: if they are to pay me, why is there no remembrance made of it by her majesty's letters, or some of the lords?" the earl and those around him perpetually and vehemently urged upon the queen to reconsider her decision, and accept the sovereignty of the provinces at once. there was no other remedy for the distracted state of the country--no other safeguard for england. the netherland people anxiously, eagerly desired it. her majesty was adored by all the inhabitants, who would gladly hang the fellows called the states. lord north was of this opinion--so was cavendish. leicester had always held it. "sure i am," he said, "there is but one way for our safety, and that is, that her majesty may take that upon her which i fear she will not." thomas wilkes, who now made his appearance on the scene, held the same language. this distinguished civilian had been sent by the queen, early in august, to look into the state of netherland affairs. leicester having expressly urged the importance of selecting as wise a politician as could be found--because the best man in england would hardly be found a match for the dullards and drunkards, as it was the fashion there to call the dutch statesmen--had selected wilkes. after fulfilling this important special mission, he was immediately afterwards to return to the netherlands as english member of the state-council, at forty shillings a-day, in the place of "little hal killigrew," whom leicester pronounced a "quicker and stouter fellow" than he had at first taken him for, although he had always thought well of him. the other english counsellor, dr. bartholomew clerk, was to remain, and the earl declared that he too, whom he had formerly undervalued, and thought to have "little stuff in him," was now "increasing greatly in understanding." but notwithstanding this intellectual progress, poor bartholomew, who was no beginner, was most anxious to retire. he was a man of peace, a professor, a doctor of laws, fonder of the learned leisure and the trim gardens of england than of the scenes which now surrounded him. "i beseech your good lordship to consider," he dismally observed to burghley, "what a hard case it is for a man that these fifteen years hath had vitam sedentariam, unworthily in a place judicial, always in his long robe, and who, twenty-four years since, was a public reader in the university (and therefore cannot be young), to come now among guns and drums, tumbling up and down, day and night, over waters and banks, dykes and ditches, upon every occasion that falleth out; hearing many insolences with silence, bearing many hard measures with patience-- a course most different from my nature, and most unmeet for him that hath ever professed learning." wilkes was of sterner stuff. always ready to follow the camp and to face the guns and drums with equanimity, and endowed beside with keen political insight, he was more competent than most men to unravel the confused skein of netherland politics. he soon found that the queen's secret negotiations with spain, and the general distrust of her intentions in regard to the provinces, were like to have fatal consequences. both he and leicester painted the anxiety of the netherland people as to the intention of her majesty in vivid colours. the queen could not make up her mind--in the very midst of the greenwich secret conferences, already described--to accept the netherland sovereignty. "she gathereth from your letter," wrote walsingham, "that the only salve for this sore is to make herself proprietary of the country, and to put in such an army as may be able to make head to the enemy. these two things being so contrary to her majesty's disposition-- the one, for that it breedeth a doubt of a perpetual war, the other, for that it requireth an increase of charges--do marvellously distract her, and make her repent that ever she entered into the action." upon the great subject of the sovereignty, therefore, she was unable to adopt the resolution so much desired by leicester and by the people of the provinces; but she answered the earl's communications concerning maurice and hohenlo, sir john norris and the treasurer, in characteristic but affectionate language. and thus she wrote: "rob, i am afraid you will suppose, by my wandering writings, that a midsummer's moon hath taken large possession of my brains this month; but you must needs take things as they come in my head, though order be left behind me. when i remember your request to have a discreet and honest man that may carry my mind, and see how all goes there, i have chosen this bearer (thomas wilkes), whom you know and have made good trial of. i have fraught him full of my conceipts of those country matters, and imparted what way i mind to take and what is fit for you to use. i am sure you can credit him, and so i will be short with these few notes. first, that count maurice and count hollock (hohenlo) find themselves trusted of you, esteemed of me, and to be carefully regarded, if ever peace should happen, and of that assure them on my word, that yet never deceived any. and for norris and other captains that voluntarily, without commandment, have many years ventured their lives and won our nation honour and themselves fame, let them not be discouraged by any means, neither by new-come men nor by old trained soldiers elsewhere. if there be fault in using of soldiers, or making of profit by them, let them hear of it without open shame, and doubt not i will well chasten them therefore. it frets me not a little that the poor soldiers that hourly venture life should want their due, that well deserve rather reward; and look, in whom the fault may truly be proved, let them smart therefore. and if the treasurer be found untrue or negligent, according to desert he shall be used. but you know my old wont, that love not to discharge from office without desert. god forbid! i pray you let this bearer know what may be learned herein, and for the treasure i have joined sir thomas shirley to see all this money discharged in due sort, where it needeth and behoveth. "now will i end, that do imagine i talk still with you, and therefore loathly say farewell one hundred thousand times; though ever i pray god bless you from all harm, and save you from all foes. with my million and legion of thanks for all your pains and cares, "as you know ever the same, "e. r. "p. s. let wilkes see that he is acceptable to you. if anything there be that w. shall desire answer of be such as you would have but me to know, write it to myself. you know i can keep both others' counsel and mine own. mistrust not that anything you would have kept shall be disclosed by me, for although this bearer ask many things, yet you may answer him such as you shall think meet, and write to me the rest." thus, not even her favourite leicester's misrepresentations could make the queen forget her ancient friendship for "her own crow;" but meantime the relations between that "bunch of brethren," black norris and the rest, and pelham, hollock, and other high officers in leicester's army, had grown worse than ever. one august evening there was a supper-party at count hollock's quarters in gertruydenberg. a military foray into brabant had just taken place, under the lead of the count, and of the lord marshal, sir william pelham. the marshal had requested lord willoughby, with his troop of horse and five hundred foot, to join in the enterprise, but, as usual, particular pains had been taken that sir john norris should know nothing of the affair. pelham and hollock--who was "greatly in love with mr. pelham"-- had invited several other gentlemen high in leicester's confidence to accompany the expedition; and, among the rest, sir philip sidney, telling him that he "should see some good service." sidney came accordingly, in great haste, from flushing, bringing along with him edward norris--that hot-headed young man, who, according to leicester, "greatly governed his elder brother"--but they arrived at gertruydenberg too late. the foray was over, and the party--"having burned a village, and killed some boors" --were on their return. sidney, not perhaps much regretting the loss of his share in this rather inglorious shooting party, went down to the water-side, accompanied by captain norris, to meet hollock and the other commanders. as the count stepped on shore he scowled ominously, and looked very much out of temper. "what has come to hollock?" whispered captain patton, a scotchman, to sidney. "has he a quarrel with any of the party? look at his face! he means mischief to somebody." but sidney was equally amazed at the sudden change in the german general's countenance, and as unable to explain it. soon afterwards, the whole party, hollock, lewis william of nassau, lord carew, lord essex, lord willoughby, both the sidneys, roger williams, pelham, edward norris, and the rest, went to the count's lodgings, where they supped, and afterwards set themselves seriously to drinking. norris soon perceived that he was no welcome guest; for he was not--like sidney--a stranger to the deep animosity which had long existed between sir john norris and sir william pelham and his friends. the carouse was a tremendous one, as usually was the case where hollock was the amphitryon, and, as the potations grew deeper, an intention became evident on the part of some of the company to behave unhandsomely to norris. for a time the young captain ostentatiously restrained himself, very much after the fashion of those meek individuals who lay their swords on the tavern-table, with "god grant i may have no need of thee!" the custom was then prevalent at banquets for the revellers to pledge each other in rotation, each draining a great cup, and exacting the same feat from his neighbour, who then emptied his goblet as a challenge to his next comrade. the lord marshal took a beaker, and called out to edward norris. "i drink to the health of my lord norris, and of my lady; your mother." so saying, he emptied his glass. the young man did not accept the pledge. "your lordship knows," he said somewhat sullenly, "that i am not wont to drink deep. mr. sidney there can tell you that, for my health's sake, i have drank no wine these eight days. if your lordship desires the pleasure of seeing me drunk, i am not of the same mind. i pray you at least to take a smaller glass." sir william insisted on the pledge. norris then, in no very good humour, emptied his cup to the earl of essex. essex responded by draining a goblet to count hollock. "a norris's father," said the young earl; as he pledged the count, who was already very drunk, and looking blacker than ever. "an 'orse's father--an 'orse's father!" growled' hollock; "i never drink to horses, nor to their fathers either:" and with this wonderful witticism he declined the pledge. essex explained that the toast was lord norris, father of the captain; but the count refused to understand, and held fiercely, and with damnable iteration, to his jest. the earl repeated his explanation several times with no better success. norris meanwhile sat swelling with wrath, but said nothing. again the lord marshal took the same great glass, and emptied it to the young captain. norris, not knowing exactly what course to take, placed the glass at the side of his plate, and glared grimly at sir william. pelham was furious. reaching over the table, he shoved the glass towards norris with an angry gesture. "take your glass, captain norris," he cried; "and if you have a mind to jest, seek other companions. i am not to be trifled with; therefore, i say, pledge me at once." "your lordship shall not force me to drink more wine than i list," returned the other. "it is your pleasure to take advantage of your military rank. were we both at home, you would be glad to be my companion." norris was hard beset, and although his language was studiously moderate, it was not surprising that his manner should be somewhat insolent. the veteran lord marshal, on the other hand, had distinguished himself on many battle-fields, but his deportment at this banqueting-table was not much to his credit. he paused a moment, and norris, too, held his peace, thinking that his enemy would desist. it was but for a moment. "captain norris," cried pelham, "i bid you pledge me without more ado. neither you nor your best friends shall use me as you list. i am better born than you and your brother, the colonel-general, and the whole of you." "i warn you to say nothing disrespectful against my brother," replied the captain. "as for yourself, i know how to respect your age and superior rank." "drink, drink, drink!" roared the old marshal. "i tell you i am better born than the best of you. i have advanced you all too, and you know it; therefore drink to me." sir william was as logical as men in their cups are prone to be. "indeed, you have behaved well to my brother thomas," answered norris, suddenly becoming very courteous, "and for this i have ever loved your lordship, and would, do you any service." "well, then," said the marshal, becoming tender in his turn, "forget what hath past this night, and do as you would have done before." "very well said, indeed!" cried sir philip sidney, trying to help the natter into the smoother channel towards which it was tending. norris, seeing that the eyes of the whole company were upon them; took the glass accordingly, and rose to his feet. "my lord marshal," he said, "you have done me more wrong this night than you can easily make satisfaction for. but i am unwilling that any trouble or offence should grow through me. therefore once more i pledge you." he raised the cup to his lips. at that instant hollock, to whom nothing had been said, and who had spoken no word since his happy remark about the horse's father, suddenly indulged in a more practical jest; and seizing the heavy gilt cover of a silver vase, hurled it at the head of norris. it struck him full on the forehead, cutting him to the bone. the captain, stunned for a moment, fell back in his chair, with the blood running down his eyes and face. the count, always a man of few words, but prompt in action, now drew his dagger, and strode forward, with the intention of despatching him upon the spot. sir philip sidney threw his arms around hollock, however, and, with the assistance of others in the company, succeeded in dragging him from the room. the affair was over in a few seconds. norris, coming back to consciousness, sat for a moment as one amazed, rubbing the blood out of his eyes; then rose from the table to seek his adversary; but he was gone. soon afterwards he went to his lodgings. the next morning he was advised to leave the town as speedily as possible; for as it was under the government of hollock, and filled with his soldiers, he was warned that his life would not be safe there an hour. accordingly he went to his boat, accompanied only by his man and his page, and so departed with his broken head, breathing vengeance against hollock, pelham, leicester, and the whole crew, by whom he had been thus abused. the next evening there was another tremendous carouse at the count's, and, says the reporter of the preceding scene, "they were all on such good terms, that not one of the company had falling band or ruff left about his neck. all were clean torn away, and yet there was no blood drawn." edward norris--so soon as might be afterwards--sent a cartel to the count, demanding mortal combat with sword and dagger. sir philip sidney bore the message. sir john norris, of course warmly and violently espoused the cause of his brother, and was naturally more incensed against the lord marshal than ever, for sir william pelham was considered the cause of the whole affray. "even if the quarrel is to be excused by drink," said an eye-witness, "'tis but a slender defence for my lord to excuse himself by his cups; and often drink doth bewray men's humours and unmask their malice. certainly the count hollock thought to have done a pleasure to the company in killing him." nothing could be more ill-timed than this quarrel, or more vexatious to leicester. the count--although considering himself excessively injured at being challenged by a simple captain and an untitled gentleman, whom he had attempted to murder--consented to waive his privilege, and grant the meeting. leicester interposed, however, to delay, and, if possible, to patch up the affair. they were on the eve of active military operations, and it was most vexatious for the commander-in-chief to see, as he said, "the quarrel with the enemy changed to private revenge among ourselves." the intended duel did not take place; for various influential personages succeeded in deferring the meeting. then came the battle of zutphen. sidney fell, and hollock was dangerously wounded in the attack which was soon afterwards made upon the fort. he was still pressed to afford the promised satisfaction, however, and agreed to do so whenever he should rise from his bed. strange to say, the count considered leicester, throughout the whole business, to have taken part against him. yet there is no doubt whatever that the earl--who detested the norrises, and was fonder of pelham than of any man living--uniformly narrated the story most unjustly, to the discredit of the young captain. he considered him extremely troublesome, represented him as always quarrelling with some one--with colonel morgan, roger williams, old reade, and all the rest--while the lord marshal, on the contrary, was depicted as the mildest of men. "this i must say," he observed, "that all present, except my two nephews (the sidneys), who are not here yet, declare the greatest fault to be in edward norris, and that he did most arrogantly use the marshal." it is plain, however, that the old marshal, under the influence of wine, was at least quite as much to blame as the young captain; and sir philip sidney sufficiently showed his sense of the matter by being the bearer of edward norris's cartel. after sidney's death, sir john norris, in his letter of condolence to walsingham for the death of his illustrious son- in-law, expressed the deeper regret at his loss because sir philip's opinion had been that the norrises were wronged. hollock had conducted himself like a lunatic, but this he was apt to do whether in his cups or not. he was always for killing some one or another on the slightest provocation, and, while the dog-star of was raging, it was not his fault if he had not already despatched both edward norris and the objectionable "mr. p. b." for these energetic demonstrations against leicester's enemies he considered himself entitled to the earl's eternal gratitude, and was deeply disgusted at his apparent coldness. the governor was driven almost to despair by these quarrels. his colonel-general, his lord marshal, his lieutenant-general, were all at daggers drawn. "would god i were rid of this place!" he exclaimed. "what man living would go to the field and have his officers divided almost into mortal quarrel? one blow but by any of their lackeys brings us altogether by the ears." it was clear that there was not room enough on the netherland soil for the earl of leicester and the brothers norris. the queen, while apparently siding with the earl, intimated to sir john that she did not disapprove his conduct, that she should probably recall him to england, and that she should send him back to the provinces after the earl had left that country. such had been the position of the governor-general towards the queen, towards the states-general, and towards his own countrymen, during the year . etext editor's bookmarks: are wont to hang their piety on the bell-rope arminianism as logical as men in their cups are prone to be tolerating religious liberty had never entered his mind this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, chapter xvi. situation of sluys--its dutch and english garrison--williams writes from sluys to the queen--jealousy between the earl and states-- schemes to relieve sluys--which are feeble and unsuccessful--the town capitulates--parma enters--leicester enraged--the queen angry with the anti-leicestrians--norris, wilkes, and buckhurst punished-- drake sails for spain--his exploits at cadiz and lisbon--he is rebuked by elizabeth. when dante had passed through the third circle of the inferno--a desert of red-hot sand, in which lay a multitude of victims of divine wrath, additionally tortured by an ever-descending storm of fiery flakes--he was led by virgil out of this burning wilderness along a narrow causeway. this path was protected, he said, against the showers of flame, by the lines of vapour which rose eternally from a boiling brook. even by such shadowy bulwarks, added the poet, do the flemings between kadzand and bruges protect their land against the ever-threatening sea. it was precisely among these slender dykes between kadzand and bruges that alexander farnese had now planted all the troops that he could muster in the field. it was his determination to conquer the city of sluys; for the possession of that important sea-port was necessary for him as a basis for the invasion of england, which now occupied all the thoughts of his sovereign and himself. exactly opposite the city was the island of kadzand, once a fair and fertile territory, with a city and many flourishing villages upon its surface, but at that epoch diminished to a small dreary sand-bank by the encroachments of the ocean. a stream of inland water, rising a few leagues to the south of sluys, divided itself into many branches just before reaching the city, converted the surrounding territory into a miniature archipelago--the islands of which were shifting treacherous sand-banks at low water, and submerged ones at flood--and then widening and deepening into a considerable estuary, opened for the city a capacious harbour, and an excellent although intricate passage to the sea. the city, which was well built and thriving, was so hidden in its labyrinth of canals and streamlets, that it seemed almost as difficult a matter to find sluys as to conquer it. it afforded safe harbour for five hundred large vessels; and its possession, therefore, was extremely important for parma. besides these natural defences, the place was also protected by fortifications; which were as well constructed as the best of that period. there was a strong rampire and many towers. there was also a detached citadel of great strength, looking towards the sea, and there was a ravelin, called st. anne's, looking in the direction of bruges. a mere riband of dry land in that quarter was all of solid earth to be found in the environs of sluys. the city itself stood upon firm soil, but that soil had been hollowed into a vast system of subterranean magazines, not for warlike purposes, but for cellars, as sluys had been from a remote period the great entrepot of foreign wines in the netherlands. while the eternal disputes between leicester and the states were going on both in holland and in england, while the secret negotiations between alexander farnese and queen slowly proceeding at brussels and greenwich, the duke, notwithstanding the destitute condition of his troops, and the famine which prevailed throughout the obedient provinces, had succeeded in bringing a little army of five thousand foot, and something less than one thousand horse, into the field. a portion of this force he placed under the command of the veteran la motte. that distinguished campaigner had assured the commander-in-chief that the reduction of the city would be an easy achievement. alexander soon declared that the enterprise was the most difficult one that he had ever undertaken. yet, two years before, he had carried to its triumphant conclusion the famous siege of antwerp. he stationed his own division upon the isle of kadzand, and strengthened his camp by additionally fortifying those shadowy bulwarks, by which the island, since the age of dante, had entrenched itself against the assaults of ocean. on the other hand, la motte, by the orders of his chief, had succeeded, after a sharp struggle, in carrying the fort of st. anne. a still more important step was the surprising of blankenburg, a small fortified place on the coast, about midway between ostend and sluys, by which the sea- communications with the former city for the relief of the beleaguered town were interrupted. parma's demonstrations against sluys had commenced in the early days of june. the commandant of the place was arnold de groenevelt, a dutch noble of ancient lineage and approved valour. his force was, however, very meagre, hardly numbering more than eight hundred, all netherlanders, but counting among its officers several most distinguished personages- nicholas de maulde, adolphus de meetkerke and his younger brother, captain heraugiere, and other well-known partisans. on the threatening of danger the commandant had made application to sir william russell, the worthy successor of sir philip sidney in the government of flushing. he had received from him, in consequence, a reinforcement of eight hundred english soldiers, under several eminent chieftains, foremost among whom were the famous welshman roger williams, captain huntley, baskerville, sir francis vere, ferdinando gorges, and captain hart. this combined force, however, was but a slender one; there being but sixteen hundred men to protect two miles and a half of rampart, besides the forts and ravelins. but, such as it was, no time was lost in vain regrets. the sorties against the besiegers were incessant and brilliant. on one occasion sir francis vere--conspicuous in the throng, in his red mantilla, and supported only by one hundred englishmen and dutchmen, under captain baskerville--held at bay eight companies of the famous spanish legion called the terzo veijo, at push of pike, took many prisoners, and forced the spaniards from the position in which they were entrenching themselves. on the other hand, farnese declared that he had never in his life witnessed anything so unflinching as the courage of his troops; employed as they were in digging trenches where the soil was neither land nor water, exposed to inundation by the suddenly-opened sluices, to a plunging fire from the forts, and to perpetual hand-to-hand combats with an active and fearless foe, and yet pumping away in the coffer-dams-which they had invented by way of obtaining a standing-ground for their operations--as steadily and sedately as if engaged in purely pacific employments. the besieged here inspired by a courage equally remarkable. the regular garrison was small enough, but the burghers were courageous, and even the women organized themselves into a band of pioneers. this corps of amazons, led by two female captains, rejoicing in the names of 'may in the heart' and 'catherine the rose,' actually constructed an important redoubt between the citadel and the rampart, which received, in compliment to its builders, the appellation of 'fort venus.' the demands of the beleaguered garrison, however, upon the states and upon leicester were most pressing. captain hart swam thrice out of the city with letters to the states, to the governor-general, and to queen elizabeth; and the same perilous feat was performed several times by a netherland officer. the besieged meant to sell their lives dearly, but it was obviously impossible for them, with so slender a force, to resist a very long time. "our ground is great and our men not so many," wrote roger williams to his sovereign, "but we trust in god and our valour to defend it . . . . . . . we mean, with god's help, to make their downs red and black, and to let out every acre of our ground for a thousand of their lives, besides our own." the welshman was no braggart, and had proved often enough that he was more given to performances than promises. "we doubt not your majesty will succour us," he said, "for our honest mind and plain dealing toward your royal person and dear country;" adding, as a bit of timely advice, "royal majesty, believe not over much your peacemakers. had they their mind, they will not only undo your friend's abroad, but, in the end, your royal estate." certainly it was from no want of wholesome warning from wise statesmen and blunt soldiers that the queen was venturing into that labyrinth of negotiation which might prove so treacherous. never had been so inopportune a moment for that princess to listen to the voice of him who was charming her so wisely, while he was at the same moment battering the place, which was to be the basis of his operations against her realm. her delay in sending forth leicester, with at least a moderate contingent, to the rescue, was most pernicious. the states--ignorant of the queen's exact relations with spain, and exaggerating her disingenuousness into absolute perfidy became on their own part exceedingly to blame. there is no doubt whatever that both hollanders and english men were playing into the hands of parma as adroitly as if he had actually directed their movements. deep were the denunciations of leicester and his partisans by the states' party, and incessant the complaints of the english and dutch troops shut up in sluys against the inactivity or treachery of maurice and hohenlo. "if count maurice and his base brother, the admiral (justinus de nassau), be too young to govern, must holland and zeeland lose their countries and towns to make them expert men of war?" asked roger williams.' a pregnant question certainly, but the answer was, that by suspicion and jealousy, rather than by youth and inexperience, the arms were paralyzed which should have saved the garrison. "if these base fellows (the states) will make count hollock their instrument," continued the welshman; "to cover and maintain their folly and lewd dealing, is it necessary for her royal majesty to suffer it? these are too great matters to be rehearsed by me; but because i am in the town, and do resolve to, sign with my blood my duty in serving my sovereign and country, i trust her majesty will pardon me." certainly the gallant adventurer on whom devolved at least half the work of directing the defence of the city, had a right to express his opinions. had he known the whole truth, however, those opinions would have been modified. and he wrote amid the smoke and turmoil of daily and nightly battle. "yesterday was the fifth sally we made," he observed: "since i followed the wars i never saw valianter captains, nor willinger soldiers. at eleven o'clock the enemy entered the ditch of our fort, with trenches upon wheels, artillery-proof. we sallied out, recovered their trenches, slew the governor of dam, two spanish captains, with a number of others, repulsed them into their artillery, kept the ditch until yesternight, and will recover it, with god's help, this night, or else pay dearly for it . . . . . i care not what may become of me in this world, so that her majesty's honour,--with the rest of honourable good friends, will think me an honest man." no one ever doubted the simple-hearted welshman's honesty, any more than his valour; but he confided in the candour of others who were somewhat more sophisticated than himself. when he warned her, royal majesty against the peace-makers, it was impossible for him to know that the great peace-maker was elizabeth herself. after the expiration of a month the work had become most fatiguing. the enemy's trenches had been advanced close to the ramparts, and desperate conflicts were of daily occurrence. the spanish mines, too, had been pushed forward towards the extensive wine-caverns below the city, and the danger of a vast explosion or of a general assault from beneath their very feet, seemed to the inhabitants imminent. eight days long, with scarcely an intermission, amid those sepulchral vaults, dimly-lighted with torches, dutchmen, englishmen, spaniards, italians, fought hand to hand, with pike, pistol, and dagger, within the bowels of the earth. meantime the operations of the states were not commendable. the ineradicable jealousy between the leicestrians and the barneveldians had done its work. there was no hearty effort for the relief of sluys. there were suspicions that, if saved, the town would only be taken possession of by the earl of leicester, as an additional vantage-point for coercing the country into subjection to his arbitrary authority. perhaps it would be transferred to philip by elizabeth as part of the price for peace. there was a growing feeling in holland and zeeland that as those provinces bore all the expense of the war, it was an imperative necessity that they should limit their operations to the defence of their own soil. the suspicions as to the policy of the english government were sapping the very foundations of the alliance, and there was small disposition on the part of the hollanders, therefore, to protect what remained of flanders, and thus to strengthen the hands of her whom they were beginning to look upon as an enemy. maurice and hohenlo made, however, a foray into brabant, by way of diversion to the siege of sluys, and thus compelled farnese to detach a considerable force under haultepenne into that country, and thereby to weaken himself. the expedition of maurice was not unsuccessful. there was some sharp skirmishing between hohenlo and haultepenne, in which the latter, one of the most valuable and distinguished generals on the royal side, was defeated and slain; the fort of engel, near bois-le-duc, was taken, and that important city itself endangered; but, on the other hand, the contingent on which leicester relied from the states to assist in relieving sluys was not forthcoming. for, meantime, the governor-general had at last been sent back by his sovereign to the post which he had so long abandoned. leaving leicester house on the th july (n. s.), he had come on board the fleet two days afterwards at margate. he was bringing with him to the netherlands three thousand fresh infantry, and thirty thousand pounds, of which sum fifteen thousand pounds had been at last wrung from elizabeth as an extra loan, in place of the sixty thousand pounds which the states had requested. as he sailed past ostend and towards flushing, the earl was witness to the constant cannonading between the besieged city and the camp of farnese, and saw that the work could hardly be more serious; for in one short day more shots were fired than had ever been known before in a single day in all parma's experience. arriving at flushing, the governor-general was well received by the inhabitants; but the mischief, which had been set a-foot six months before, had done its work. the political intrigues, disputes, and the conflicting party-organizations, have already been set in great detail before the reader, in order that their effect might now be thoroughly understood without--explanation. the governor-general came to flushing at a most critical moment. the fate of all the spanish netherlands, of sluys, and with it the whole of philip and parma's great project, were, in farnese's own language, hanging by a thread. it would have been possible--had the transactions of the past six months, so far as regarded holland and england, been the reverse of what they had been--to save the city; and, by a cordial and united effort, for the two countries to deal the spanish power such a blow, that summer, as would have paralyzed it for a long time to come, and have placed both commonwealths in comparative security. instead of all this, general distrust and mutual jealousy prevailed. leicester had, previously to his departure from england, summoned the states to meet him at dort upon his arrival. not a soul appeared. such of the state-councillors as were his creatures came to him, and count maurice made a visit of ceremony. discussions about a plan for relieving the siege became mere scenes of bickering and confusion. the officers within sluys were desirous that a fleet should force its way into the harbour, while, at the same time, the english army, strengthened by the contingent which leicester had demanded from the states, should advance against the duke of parma by land. it was, in truth, the only way to succour the place. the scheme was quite practicable. leicester recommended it, the hollanders seemed to favour it, commandant groenevelt and roger williams urged it. "i do assure you," wrote the honest welshman to leicester, "if you will come afore this town, with as many galliots and as many flat-bottomed boats as can cause two men-of-war to enter, they cannot stop their passage, if, your mariners will do a quarter of their duty, as i saw them do divers times. before, they make their entrance, we will come with our boats, and fight with the greatest part, and show them there is no such great danger. were it not for my wounded arm, i would be, in your first boat to enter. notwithstanding, i and other englishmen will approach their boats in such sort, that we will force them to give their saker of artillery upon us. if, your excellency will give ear unto those false lewd fellows (the captain meant the states-general), you shall lose great opportunity. within ten or twelve days the enemy will make his bridge from kadzand unto st. anne, and force you to hazard battle before you succour this town. let my lord willoughby and sir william russell land at terhoven, right against kadzand, with , and entrench hard by the waterside, where their boats can carry them victual and munition. they may approach by trenches without engaging any dangerous fight . . . . we dare not show the estate of this town more than we have done by captain herte. we must fight this night within our rampart in the fort. you may sure the world here are no hamerts, but valiant captains and valiant soldiers, such as, with god's help, had rather be buried in the place than be disgraced in any point that belongs to such a number of men-of-war." but in vain did the governor of the place, stout arnold froenevelt, assisted by the rough and direct eloquence of roger williams, urge upon the earl of leicester and the states-general the necessity and the practicability of the plan proposed. the fleet never entered the harbour. there was no william of orange to save antwerp and sluys, as leyden had once been saved, and his son was not old enough to unravel the web of intrigue by which he was surrounded, or to direct the whole energies of the commonwealth towards an all-important end. leicester had lost all influence, all authority, nor were his military abilities equal to the occasion, even if he had been cordially obeyed. ten days longer the perpetual battles on the ramparts and within the mines continued, the plans conveyed by the bold swimmer, captain hart, for saving the place were still unattempted, and the city was tottering to its fall. "had captain hart's words taken place," wrote williams, bitterly," we had been succoured, or, if my letters had prevailed, our pain had been, no peril: all wars are best executed in sight of the enemy . . . . the last night of june ( th july, n. s.) the enemy entered the ditches of our fort in three several places, continuing in fight in mine and on rampart for the space of eight nights. the ninth; he battered us furiously, made a breach of five score paces suitable for horse and man. that day be attempted us in all, places with a general, assault for the space of almost five hours." the citadel was now lost. it had been gallantly defended; and it was thenceforth necessary to hold the town itself, in the very teeth of an overwhelming force. "we were forced to quit the fort," said-sir roger, "leaving nothing behind us but bare earth. but here we do remain resolutely to be buried, rather than to be dishonoured in the least point." it was still possible for the fleet to succour the city. "i do assure you," said-williams, "that your captains and mariners do not their duty unless they enter with no great loss; but you must consider that no wars may be made without danger. what you mean to do, we beseech you to do with expedition, and persuade yourself that we will die valiant, honest- men. your excellency will do well to thank the old president de meetkerk far the honesty and valour of his son." count maurice and his natural brother, the admiral, now undertook the succour by sea; but, according to the leicestrians, they continued dilatory and incompetent. at any rate, it is certain that they did nothing. at last, parma had completed the bridge; whose construction, was so much dreaded: the haven was now enclosed by a strong wooden structure, resting an boats, on a plan similar to that of the famous bridge with which he had two years before bridled the scheldt, and sluys was thus completely shut in from the sea. fire-ships were now constructed, by order of leicester--feeble imitations: of the floating volcanoes of gianihelli--and it was agreed that they should be sent against the bridge with the first flood-tide. the propitious moment never seemed to arrive, however, and, meantime, the citizens of flushing, of their own accord, declared that they would themselves equip and conduct a fleet into the harbour of sluys. but the nassaus are said to have expressed great disgust that low-born burghers should presume to meddle with so important an enterprise, which of right belonged to their family. thus, in the midst of these altercations and contradictory schemes; the month of july wore away, and the city was reduced to its last gasp. for the cannonading had thoroughly done its work. eighteen days long the burghers and what remained of the garrison had lived upon the ramparts, never leaving their posts, but eating, sleeping, and fighting day and night. of the sixteen hundred dutch and english but seven hundred remained. at last a swimming messenger was sent out by the besieged with despatches for the states, to the purport that the city could hold out no longer. a breach in the wall had been effected wide enough to admit a hundred men abreast. sluys had, in truth, already fallen, and it was hopeless any longer to conceal the fact. if not relieved within a day or two, the garrison would be obliged to surrender; but they distinctly stated, that they had all pledged themselves, soldiers and burghers, men, women, and all, unless the most honourable terms were granted, to set fire to the city in a hundred places, and then sally, in mass, from the gates, determined to fight their way through, or be slain in the attempt. the messenger who carried these despatches was drowned, but the letters were saved, and fell into parma's hands. at the same moment, leicester was making, at last, an effort to raise the siege. he brought three or four thousand men from flushing, and landed them at ostend; thence he marched to blanckenburg. he supposed that if he could secure that little port, and thus cut the duke completely off from the sea, he should force the spanish commander to raise (or at least suspend) the siege in order to give him battle. meantime, an opportunity would be afforded for maurice and hohenlo to force an entrance into the harbour of sluys, in this conjecture he was quite correct; but unfortunately he did not thoroughly carry out his own scheme. if the earl had established himself at blanckenburg, it would have been necessary for parma--as he himself subsequently declared-to raise the siege. leicester carried the outposts of the place successfully; but, so soon as farnese was aware of this demonstration, he detached a few companies with orders to skirmish with the enemy until the commander-in- chief, with as large a force as he could spare, should come in person to his support. to the unexpected gratification of farnese, however, no sooner did the advancing spaniards come in sight, than the earl, supposing himself invaded by the whole of the duke's army, under their famous general, and not feeling himself strong enough for such an encounter, retired, with great precipitation, to his boats, re-embarked his troops with the utmost celerity, and set sail for ostend. the next night had been fixed for sending forth the fireships against the bridge, and for the entrance of the fleet into the harbour. one fire- ship floated a little way towards the bridge and exploded ingloriously. leicester rowed in his barge about the fleet, superintending the soundings and markings of the channel, and hastening the preparations; but, as the decisive moment approached, the pilots who had promised to conduct the expedition came aboard his pinnace and positively refused to have aught to do with the enterprise, which they now declared an impossibility. the earl was furious with the pilots, with maurice, with hohenlo, with admiral de nassau, with the states, with all the world. he stormed and raged and beat his breast, but all in vain. his ferocity would have been more useful the day before, in face of the spaniards, than now, against the zeeland mariners: but the invasion by the fleet alone, unsupported by a successful land-operation, was pronounced impracticable, and very soon tie relieving fleet was seen by the distressed garrison sailing away from the neighbourhood, and it soon disappeared beneath the horizon. their fate was sealed. they entered into treaty with parma, who, secretly instructed, as has been seen, of their desperate intentions, in case any but the most honourable conditions were offered, granted those conditions. the garrison were allowed to go out with colours displayed, lighted matches, bullet in mouth, and with bag and baggage. such burghers as chose to conform to the government of spain and the church of rome; were permitted to remain. those who preferred to depart were allowed reasonable time to make their necessary arrangements. "we have hurt and slain very near eight hundred," said sir roger williams." we had not powder to fight two hours. there was a breach of almost four hundred paces, another of three score, another of fifty, saltable for horse and men. we had lain continually eighteen nights all on the breaches. he gave us honourable composition. had the state of england lain on it, our lives could not defend the place, three hours, for half the rampires were his, neither had we any pioneers but ourselves. we were sold by their negligence who are now angry with us." on the th august parma entered the city. roger williams with his gilt morion rather battered, and his great plume of feathers much bedraggled- was a witness to the victor's entrance. alexander saluted respectfully an officer so well known to him by reputation, and with some complimentary remarks urged him to enter the spanish service, and to take the field against the turks. "my sword," replied the doughty welshman, "belongs to her royal majesty, queen elizabeth, above and before all the world. when her highness has no farther use for it, it is at the service of the king of navarre." considering himself sufficiently answered, the duke then requested sir roger to point out captain baskerville--very conspicuous by a greater plume of feathers than even that of the welshman himself--and embraced that officer; when presented to him, before all his staff. "there serves no prince in europe a braver man than this englishman," cried alexander, who well knew how to appreciate high military qualities, whether in his own army or in that of his foes. the garrison then retired, sluy's became spanish, and a capacious harbour, just opposite the english coast, was in parma's hands. sir roger williams was despatched by leicester to bear the melancholy tidings to his government, and the queen was requested to cherish the honest welshman, and at least to set him on horseback; for he was of himself not rich enough to buy even a saddle. it is painful to say that the captain did not succeed in getting the horse. the earl was furious in his invectives against hohenlo, against maurice, against the states, uniformly ascribing the loss of sluy's to negligence and faction. as for sir john norris, he protested that his misdeeds in regard to this business would, in king henry viii.'s time, have "cost him his pate." the loss of sluys was the beginning and foreshadowed the inevitable end of leicester's second administration. the inaction of the states was one of the causes of its loss. distrust of leicester was the cause of the inaction. sir william russell, lord willoughby, sir william pelham, and other english officers, united in statements exonerating the earl from all blame for the great failure to relieve the place. at the same time, it could hardly be maintained that his expedition to blanckenburg and his precipitate retreat on the first appearance of the enemy were proofs of consummate generalship. he took no blame to himself for the disaster; but he and his partisans were very liberal in their denunciations of the hollanders, and leicester was even ungrateful enough to censure roger williams, whose life had been passed, as it were, at push of pike with the spaniards, and who was one of his own most devoted adherents. the queen was much exasperated when informed of the fall of the city. she severely denounced the netherlanders, and even went so far as to express dissatisfaction with the great leicester himself. meantime, farnese was well satisfied with his triumph, for he had been informed that "all england was about to charge upon him," in order to relieve the place. all england, however, had been but feebly represented by three thousand raw recruits with a paltry sum of l , to help pay a long bill of arrears. wilkes and norris had taken their departure from the netherlands before the termination of the siege, and immediately after the return of leicester. they did not think it expedient to wait upon the governor before leaving the country, for they had very good reason to believe that such an opportunity of personal vengeance would be turned to account by the earl. wilkes had already avowed his intention of making his escape without being dandled with leave-takings, and no doubt he was right. the earl was indignant when he found that they had given him the slip, and denounced them with fresh acrimony to the queen, imploring her to wreak full measure of wrath upon their heads; and he well knew that his entreaties would meet with the royal attention. buckhurst had a parting interview with the governor-general, at which killigrew and beale, the new english counsellors who had replaced wilkes and clerk, were present. the conversation was marked by insolence on the part of leicester, and by much bitterness on that of buckhurst. the parting envoy refused to lay before the earl a full statement of the grievances between the states-general and the governor, on the ground that leicester had no right to be judge in his own cause. the matter, he said, should be laid before the queen in council, and by her august decision he was willing to abide. on every other subject he was ready to give any information in his power. the interview lasted a whole forenoon and afternoon. buckhurst, according to his own statement, answered, freely all questions put to him by leicester and his counsellors; while, if the report of those personages is to be trusted, he passionately refused to make any satisfactory communication. under the circumstances, however, it may well be believed that no satisfactory communication was possible. on arriving in england, sir john norris was forbidden to come into her majesty's presence, wilkes was thrown into the fleet prison, and buckhurst was confined in his own country house. norris had done absolutely nothing, which, even by implication, could be construed into a dereliction of duty; but it was sufficient that he was hated by leicester, who had not scrupled, over and over again, to denounce this first general of england as a fool, a coward, a knave, and a liar. as for wilkes, his only crime was a most conscientious discharge of his duty, in the course of which he had found cause to modify his abstract opinions in regard to the origin of sovereignty, and had come reluctantly to the conviction that leicester's unpopularity had made perhaps another governor-general desirable. but this admission had only been made privately and with extreme caution; while, on the other hand, he had constantly defended the absent earl, with all the eloquence at his command. but the hatred cf leicester was sufficient to consign this able and painstaking public servant to a prison; and thus was a man of worth, honour, and talent, who had been placed in a position of grave responsibility and immense fatigue, and who had done his duty like an upright, straight-forward englishman, sacrificed to the wrath of a favourite. "surely, mr. secretary," said the earl, "there was never a falser creature, a more seditious wretch, than wilkes. he is a villain, a devil, without faith or religion." as for buckhurst himself, it is unnecessary to say a word in his defence. the story of his mission has been completely detailed from the most authentic and secret documents, and there is not a single line written to the queen, to her ministers, to the states, to any public body or to any private friend, in england or elsewhere, that does not reflect honour on his name. with sagacity, without passion, with unaffected sincerity, he had unravelled the complicated web of netherland politics, and, with clear vision, had penetrated the designs of the mighty enemy whom england and holland had to encounter in mortal combat. he had pointed out the errors of the earl's administration--he had fearlessly, earnestly, but respectfully deplored the misplaced parsimony of the queen--he had warned her against the delusions which had taken possession of her keen intellect--he had done--his best to place the governor-general upon good terms with the states and with his sovereign; but it had been impossible for him to further his schemes for the acquisition of a virtual sovereignty over the netherlands, or to extinguish the suspicions of the states that the queen was secretly negotiating with the spaniard, when he knew those suspicions to be just. for deeds, such as these, the able and high-minded ambassador, the accomplished statesman and poet, was forbidden to approach his sovereign's presence, and was ignominiously imprisoned in his own house until the death of leicester. after that event, buckhurst emerged from confinement, received the order of the garter and the earldom of dorset, and on the death of burghley succeeded that statesman in the office of lord-treasurer. such was the substantial recognition of the merits of a man who was now disgraced for the conscientious discharge of the most important functions that had yet been confided to him. it would be a thankless and superfluous task to give the details of the renewed attempt, during a few months, made by leicester to govern the provinces. his second administration consisted mainly of the same altercations with the states, on the subject of sovereignty, the same mutual recriminations and wranglings, that had characterized the period of his former rule. he rarely met the states in person, and almost never resided at the hague, holding his court at middleburg, dort, or utrecht, as his humour led him. the one great feature of the autumn of was the private negotiation between elizabeth and the duke of parma. before taking a glance at the nature of those secrets, however, it is necessary to make a passing allusion to an event which might have seemed likely to render all pacific communications with spain, whether secret or open, superfluous. for while so much time had been lost in england and holland, by misunderstandings and jealousies, there was one englishman who had not been losing time. in the winter and early spring of , the devonshire skipper had organized that expedition which he had come to the netherlands, the preceding autumn, to discuss. he meant to aim a blow at the very heart of that project which philip was shrouding with so much mystery, and which elizabeth was attempting to counteract by so much diplomacy. on the nd april, francis drake sailed from plymouth with four ships belonging to the queen, and with twenty-four furnished by the merchants of london, and other private individuals. it was a bold buccaneering expedition--combining chivalrous enterprise with the chance of enormous profit--which was most suited to the character of english adventurers at that expanding epoch. for it was by england, not by elizabeth, that the quarrel with spain was felt to be a mortal one. it was england, not its sovereign, that was instinctively arming, at all points, to grapple with the great enemy of european liberty. it was the spirit of self-help, of self-reliance, which was prompting the english nation to take the great work of the age into its own hands. the mercantile instinct of the nation was flattered with the prospect of gain, the martial quality of its patrician and of its plebeian blood was eager to confront danger, the great protestant mutiny. against a decrepit superstition in combination with an aggressive tyranny, all impelled the best energies of the english people against spain, as the embodiment of all which was odious and menacing to them, and with which they felt that the life and death struggle could not long be deferred. and of these various tendencies, there were no more fitting representatives than drake and frobisher, hawkins and essex, cavendish and grenfell, and the other privateersmen of the sixteenth century. the same greed for danger, for gold, and for power, which, seven centuries before, had sent the norman race forth to conquer all christendom, was now sending its anglo-saxon and anglo-norman kindred to take possession of the old world and the new. "the wind commands me away," said drake on the nd april, ; "our ship is under sail. god grant that we may so live in his fear, that the enemy may have cause to say that god doth fight for her majesty abroad as well as at home." but he felt that he was not without enemies behind him, for the strong influence brought to bear against the bold policy which walsingham favoured, was no secret to drake. "if we deserve ill," said he, "let us be punished. if we discharge our duty, in doing our best, it is a hard measure to be reported ill by those who will either keep their fingers out of the fire; or who too well affect that alteration in our government which i hope in god they shall never live to see." in latitude deg. he spoke two zeeland ships, homeward bound, and obtained information of great warlike stores accumulating in cadiz and lisbon. his mind was instantly made up. fortunately, the pinnace which the queen despatched with orders to stay his hand in the very act of smiting her great adversary, did not sail fast enough to overtake the swift corsair and his fleet. sir francis had too promptly obeyed the wind, when it "commanded him away," to receive the royal countermand. on the th april, the english ships entered the harbour of cadiz, and destroyed ten thousand tons of shipping, with their contents, in the very face of a dozen great galleys, which the nimble english vessels soon drove under their forts for shelter. two nights and a day, sir francis, that "hater of idleness," was steadily doing his work; unloading, rifling, scuttling, sinking, and burning those transportships which contained a portion of the preparations painfully made by philip for his great enterprise. pipe-staves and spikes, horse-shoes and saddles, timber and cutlasses, wine, oil, figs, raisins, biscuits, and flour, a miscellaneous mass of ingredients long brewing for the trouble of england, were emptied into the harbour, and before the second night, the blaze of a hundred and fifty burning vessels played merrily upon the grim walls of philip's fortresses. some of these ships were of the largest size then known. there was one belonging to marquis santa cruz of tons, there was a biscayan of , there were several others of , , and of nearly equal dimensions. thence sailing for lisbon, sir francis, captured and destroyed a hundred vessels more, appropriating what was portable of the cargoes, and annihilating the rest. at lisbon, marquis santa cruz, lord high admiral of spain and generalissimo of the invasion, looked on, mortified and amazed, but offering no combat, while the plymouth privateersman swept the harbour of the great monarch of the world. after thoroughly accomplishing his work, drake sent a message to santa cruz, proposing to exchange his prisoners for such englishmen as might then be confined in spain. but the marquis denied all prisoners. thereupon sir francis decided to sell his captives to the moors, and to appropriate the proceeds of the sale towards the purchase of english slaves put of the same bondage. such was the fortune of war in the sixteenth century. having dealt these great blows, drake set sail again from lisbon, and, twenty leagues from st. michaels, fell in with one of those famous spanish east indiamen, called carracks, then the great wonder of the seas. this vessel, san felipe by name, with a cargo of extraordinary value, was easily captured, and sir francis now determined to return. he had done a good piece of work in a few weeks, but he was by no means of opinion that he had materially crippled the enemy. on the contrary, he gave the government warning as to the enormous power and vast preparations of spain. "there would be forty thousand men under way ere long," he said, "well equipped and provisioned; "and he stated, as the result of personal observation, that england could not be too energetic in, its measures of resistance. he had done something with his little fleet, but he was no braggart, and had no disposition to underrate the enemy's power. "god make us all thankful again and again," he observed, "that we have, although it be little, made a beginning upon the coast of spain." and modestly as he spoke of what he had accomplished, so with quiet self-reliance did he allude to the probable consequences. it was certain, he intimated, that the enemy would soon seek revenge with all his strength, and "with all the devices and traps he could devise." this was a matter which could not be doubted. "but," said sir francis, "i thank them much that they have staid so long, and when they come they shall be but the sons of mortal men." perhaps the most precious result of the expedition, was the lesson which the englishmen had thus learned in handling the great galleys of spain. it might soon stand them in stead. the little war-vessels which had come from plymouth, had sailed round and round these vast unwieldy hulks, and had fairly driven them off the field, with very slight damage to themselves. sir francis had already taught the mariners of england, even if he had done nothing else by this famous cadiz expedition, that an armada, of spain might not be so invincible as men imagined. yet when the conqueror returned from his great foray, he received no laurels. his sovereign met him, not with smiles, but with frowns and cold rebukes. he had done his duty, and helped to save her endangered throne, but elizabeth was now the dear friend of alexander farnese, and in amicable correspondence with his royal master. this "little" beginning on the coast of spain might not seem to his catholic majesty a matter to be thankful for, nor be likely to further a pacification, and so elizabeth hastened to disavow her plymouth captain.' ["true it is, and i avow it on my faith, her majesty did send a ship expressly before he went to cadiz with a message by letters charging sir francis drake not to show any act of hostility, which messenger by contrary winds could never come to the place where he was, but was constrained to come home, and hearing of sir f. drake's actions, her majesty commanded the party that returned to have been punished, but that he acquitted himself by the oaths of himself and all his company. and so unwitting yea unwilling to her majesty those actions were committed by sir f. drake, for the which her majesty is as yet greatly offended with him." burghley to andreas de loo, july, . flanders correspondence.' (s. p. office ms.)] etext editor's bookmarks: the blaze of a hundred and fifty burning vessels we were sold by their negligence who are now angry with us this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, chapter xxxiv. mission of the states to henry to prevent the consummation of peace with spain--proposal of henry to elevate prince maurice to the sovereignty, of the states--embarkation of the states' envoys for england--their interview with queen elizabeth--return of the envoys from england--demand of elizabeth for repayment of her advances to the republic--second embassy to england--final arrangement between the queen and the states. the great advocate was now to start on his journey in order to make a supreme effort both with henry and with elizabeth to prevent the consummation of this fatal peace. admiral justinus of nassau, natural son of william the silent, was associated with barneveld in the mission, a brave fighting man, a staunch patriot, and a sagacious counsellor; but the advocate on this occasion, as in other vital emergencies of the commonwealth, was all in all. the instructions of the envoys were simple. they were to summon the king to fulfil his solemnly sworn covenants with the league. the states- general had never doubted, they said, that so soon as the enemy had begun to feel the effects, of that league he would endeavour to make a composition with one or other of the parties in order to separate them, and to break up that united strength which otherwise he could never resist. the king was accordingly called upon to continue the war against the common enemy, and the states-general offered, over and above the four hundred and fifty thousand florins promised by them for the support of the four thousand infantry for the year , to bring their whole military power, horse and foot, into the field to sustain his majesty in the war, whether separately or in conjunction, whether in the siege of cities or in open campaigns. certainly they could hardly offer fairer terms than these. henry had complained, and not unreasonably, that elizabeth had made no offers of assistance for carrying on the war either to fonquerolles or to hurault de maisse; but he certainly could make no reproach of that nature against the republic, nor assign their lukewarmness as an excuse for his desertion. the envoys were ready to take their departure for france on the last day of january. it might be a curious subject to consider how far historical events are modified and the world's destiny affected by the different material agencies which man at various epochs has had at his disposal. the human creature in his passions and ambitions, his sensual or sordid desires, his emotional and moral nature, undergoes less change than might be hoped from age to age. the tyrant; the patriot, the demagogue, the voluptuary, the peasant, the trader, the intriguing politician, the hair-splitting diplomatist, the self-sacrificing martyr, the self-seeking courtier, present essentially one type in the twelfth, the sixteenth, the nineteenth, or any other century. the human tragi-comedy seems ever to repeat itself with the same bustle, with the same excitement for immediate interests, for the development of the instant plot or passing episode, as if the universe began and ended with each generation--as in reality it would appear to do for the great multitude of the actors. there seems but a change of masks, of costume, of phraseology, combined with a noisy but eternal monotony. yet while men are produced and are whirled away again in endless succession, man remains, and to all appearance is perpetual and immortal even on this earth. whatever science acquires man inherits. whatever steadfastness is gained for great moral truths which change not through the ages--however they may be thought, in dark or falsely brilliant epochs, to resolve themselves into elemental vapour--gives man a securer foothold in his onward and upward progress. the great, continuous history of that progress is not made up of the reigns of kings or the lives of politicians, with whose names history has often found it convenient to mark its epochs. these are but milestones on the turnpike. human progress is over a vast field, and it is only at considerable intervals that a retrospective view enables us to discern whether the movement has been slow or rapid, onward or retrograde. the record of our race is essentially unwritten. what we call history is but made up of a few scattered fragments, while it is scarcely given to human intelligence to comprehend the great whole. yet it is strange to reflect upon the leisurely manner in which great affairs were conducted in the period with which we are now occupied, as compared with the fever and whirl of our own times, in which the stupendous powers of steam and electricity are ever-ready to serve the most sublime or the most vulgar purposes of mankind. whether there were ever a critical moment in which a rapid change might have been effected in royal or national councils, had telegraphic wires and express trains been at the command of henry, or burghley, or barneveld, or the cardinal albert, need not and cannot be decided. it is almost diverting, however, to see how closely the intrigues of cabinets, the movements of armies, the plans of patriots, were once dependent on those natural elements over which man has now gained almost despotic control. here was the republic intensely eager to prevent, with all speed, the consummation of a treaty between its ally and its enemy--a step which it was feared might be fatal to its national existence, and concerning which there seemed a momentary hesitation. yet barneveld and justinus of nassau, although ready on the last day of january, were not able to sail from the brill to dieppe until the th march, on account of a persistent south-west wind. after forty-six days of waiting, the envoys, accompanied by buzanval, henry's resident at the hague, were at last, on the th march, enabled to set sail with a favourable breeze. as it was necessary for travellers in that day to provide themselves with every possible material for their journey--carriages, horses, hosts of servants, and beds, fortunate enough if they found roads and occasionally food--barneveld and nassau were furnished with three ships of war, while another legation on its way to england had embarked in two other vessels of the same class. a fleet of forty or fifty merchantmen sailed under their convoy. departing from the brill in this imposing manner, they sailed by calais, varying the monotony of the voyage by a trifling sea-fight with some cruisers from that spanish port, neither side receiving any damage. landing at dieppe on the morning of the th, the envoys were received with much ceremony at the city gates by the governor of the place, who conducted them in a stately manner to a house called the king's mansion, which he politely placed at their disposal. "as we learned, however," says barneveld, with grave simplicity; "that there was no furniture whatever in that royal abode, we thanked his excellency, and declared that we would rather go to a tavern." after three days of repose and preparation in dieppe, they started at dawn on their journey to rouen, where they arrived at sundown. on the next morning but one they set off again on their travels, and slept that night at louviers. another long day's journey brought them to evreux. on the th they came to dreux, on the th to chartres, and on the th to chateaudun. on the th, having started an hour before sunrise, they were enabled after a toilsome journey to reach blois at an hour after dark. exhausted with fatigue, they reposed in that city for a day, and on the st april proceeded, partly by the river loire and partly by the road, as far as tours. here they were visited by nobody, said barneveld, but fiddlers and drummers, and were execrably lodged. nevertheless they thought the town in other respects agreeable, and apparently beginning to struggle out of the general desolation of, france. on the end april they slept at langeais, and on the night of the rd reached saumur, where they were disappointed at the absence of the illustrious duplessis mornay, then governor of that city. a glance at any map of france will show the course of the journey taken by the travellers, which, after very hard work and great fatigue, had thus brought them from dieppe to saumur in about as much time as is now consumed by an average voyage from europe to america. in their whole journey from holland to saumur, inclusive of the waiting upon the wind and other enforced delays, more than two months had been consumed. twenty-four hours would suffice at present for the excursion. at saumur they received letters informing them that the king was "expecting them with great devotion at angiers." a despatch from cecil, who was already with henry, also apprised them that he found "matters entirely arranged for a peace." this would be very easily accomplished, he said, for france and england, but the great difficulty was for the netherlands. he had come to france principally for the sake of managing affairs for the advantage of the states, but he begged the envoys not to demean themselves as if entirely bent on war. they arrived at angiers next day before dark, and were met at a league's distance from the gates by the governor of the castle, attended by young prince frederic henry of nassau; followed by a long train of nobles and mounted troops. welcomed in this stately manner on behalf of the king, the envoys were escorted to the lodgings provided for them in the city. the same evening they waited on the widowed princess of orange, louisa of coligny, then residing temporarily with her son in angiera, and were informed by her that the king's mind was irrevocably fixed on peace. she communicated, however, the advice of her step-son in law, the duke of bouillon, that they should openly express their determination to continue the war, notwithstanding that both their majesties of england and france wished to negotiate. thus the counsels of bouillon to the envoys were distinctly opposed to those of cecil, and it was well known to them that the duke was himself sincerely anxious that the king should refuse the pacific offers of spain. next morning, th april, they were received at the gates of the castle by the governor of anjou and the commandant of the citadel of angiers, attended by a splendid retinue, and were conducted to the king, who was walking in the garden of the fortress. henry received them with great demonstrations of respect, assuring them that he considered the states- general the best and most faithful friends that he possessed in the world, and that he had always been assisted by them in time of his utmost need with resoluteness and affection. the approach of the english ambassador, accompanied by the chancellor of france and several other persons, soon brought the interview to a termination. barneveld then presented several gentlemen attached to the mission, especially his son and hugo grotius, then a lad of fifteen, but who had already gained such distinction at leyden that scaliger, pontanus; heinsius, dousa, and other professors, foretold that he would become more famous than erasmus. they were all very cordially received by the king, who subsequently bestowed especial marks of his consideration upon the youthful grotius. the same day the betrothal of monsieur caesar with the daughter of the duke of mercoeur was celebrated, and there was afterwards much dancing and banqueting at the castle. it was obvious enough to the envoys that the matter of peace and war was decided. the general of the franciscans, sent by the pope, had been flitting very busily for many months between rome, madrid, brussels, and paris, and there could be little doubt that every detail of the negotiations between france and spain had been arranged while olden-barneveld and his colleague had been waiting for the head-wind to blow itself out at the brill. nevertheless no treaty had as yet been signed, and it was the business of the republican diplomatists to prevent the signature if possible. they felt, however, that they were endeavouring to cause water to run up hill. villeroy, de maisse, and buzanval came to them to recount, by the king's order, everything that had taken place. this favour was, however, the less highly appreciated by them, as they felt that the whole world was in a very short time to be taken as well into the royal confidence. these french politicians stated that the king, after receiving the most liberal offers of peace on the part of spain, had communicated all the facts to the queen, and had proposed, notwithstanding these most profitable overtures, to continue the war as long as her majesty and the states-general would assist him in it. de maisse had been informed, however, by the queen that she had no means to assist the king withal, and was, on the contrary, very well disposed to make peace. the lord treasurer had avowed the same opinions as his sovereign, had declared himself to be a man of peace, and had exclaimed that peace once made he would sing "nunc dimitte servum tuum domine." thereupon, at the suggestion of the legate, negotiations had begun at vervins, and although nothing was absolutely concluded, yet sir robert cecil, having just been sent as special ambassador from the queen, had brought no propositions whatever of assistance in carrying on the war, but plenty of excuses about armadas, irish rebellions, and the want of funds. there was nothing in all this, they said, but want of good will. the queen had done nothing and would do nothing for the league herself, nor would she solicit for it the adherence of other kings and princes. the king, by making peace, could restore his kingdom to prosperity, relieve the distress of his subjects, and get back all his lost cities--calais, ardres, dourlens, blavet, and many more--without any expense of treasure or of blood. certainly there was cogency in this reasoning from the point of view of the french king, but it would have been as well to state, when he was so pompously making a league for offensive and defensive war, that his real interests and his real purposes were peace. much excellent diplomacy, much ringing of bells, firing of artillery, and singing of anthems in royal chapels, and much disappointment to honest dutchmen, might have thus been saved. it is also instructive to observe the difference between the accounts of de maisse's negotiations in england given by that diplomatist himself, and those rendered by the queen to the states' envoy. of course the objurgations of the hollanders that the king, in a very fallacious hope of temporary gain to himself, was about to break his solemn promises to his allies and leave them to their fate, drew but few tears down the iron cheeks of such practised diplomatists as villeroy and his friends. the envoys visited de rosuy, who assured them that he was very much their friend, but gave them to understand that there was not the slightest possibility of inducing the king to break off the negotiations. before taking final leave of his majesty they concluded, by advice of the princess of orange and of buzanval, to make the presents which they had brought with them from the states-general. accordingly they sent, through the hands of the princess, four pieces of damask linen and two pieces of fine linen to the king's sister, madame catherine, two pieces of linen to villeroy, and two to the beautiful gabrielle. the two remaining pieces were bestowed upon buzanval for his pains in accompanying them on the journey and on their arrival at court. the incident shows the high esteem in which the nethcrland fabrics were held at that period. there was a solemn conference at last between the leading counsellors of the king, the chancellor, the dukes of espernon and bouillon, count schomberg, and de sancy, plessis, buzanval, maisse, the dutch envoys, and the english ambassador and commissioner herbert. cecil presided, and barneveld once more went over the whole ground, resuming with his usual vigour all the arguments by which the king's interest and honour were proved to require him to desist from the peace negotiations. and the orator had as much success as is usual with those who argue against a foregone conclusion. everyone had made up his mind. everyone knew that peace was made. it is unnecessary, therefore, to repeat the familiar train of reasoning. it is superfluous to say that the conference was barren. on the same evening villeroy called on the states' envoys, and informed them plainly, on the part of the king, that his majesty had fully made up his mind. on the rd april--three mortal weeks having thus been wasted in diplomatic trilling--barneveld was admitted to his majesty's dressing- room. the advocate at the king's request came without his colleague, and was attended only by his son. no other persons were present in the chamber save buzanval and beringen. the king on this occasion confirmed what had so recently been stated by villeroy. he had thoroughly pondered, he said, all the arguments used by the states to dissuade him from the negotiation, and had found them of much weight. the necessities of his kingdom, however, compelled him to accept a period of repose. he would not, however, in the slightest degree urge the states to join in the treaty. he desired their security, and would aid in maintaining it. what had most vexed him was that the protestants with great injustice accused him of intending to make war upon them. but innumerable and amazing reports were flying abroad, both among his own subjects, the english, and the enemies' spies, as to these secret conferences. he then said that he would tell the duke of bouillon to speak with sir robert cecil concerning a subject which now for the first time he would mention privately to olden-barneveld. the king then made a remarkable and unexpected suggestion. alluding to the constitution of the netherlands, he remarked that a popular government in such emergencies as those then existing was subject to more danger than monarchies were, and he asked the advocate if he thought there was no disposition to elect a prince. barneveld replied that the general inclination was rather for a good republic. the government, however, he said, was not of the people, but aristocratic, and the state was administered according to laws and charters by the principal inhabitants, whether nobles or magistrates of cities. since the death of the late prince of orange, and the offer made to the king of france, and subsequently to the queen of england, of the sovereignty, there had been no more talk on that subject, and to discuss again so delicate a matter might cause divisions and other difficulties in the state. henry then spoke of prince maurice, and asked whether, if he should be supported by the queen of england and the king of france, it would not be possible to confer the sovereignty upon him. here certainly was an astounding question to be discharged like a pistol- shot full in the face of a republican minister. the answer of the advocate was sufficiently adroit if not excessively sincere. if your majesty, said he, together with her majesty the queen, think the plan expedient, and are both willing on this footing to continue the war, to rescue all the netherlands from the hands of the spaniards and their adherents, and thus render the states eternally obliged to the sovereigns and kingdoms of france and england, my lords the states-general would probably be willing to accept this advice. but the king replied by repeating that repose was indispensable to him. without inquiring for the present whether the project of elevating maurice to the sovereignty of the netherlands, at the expense of the republican constitution, was in harmony or not with the private opinions of barneveld at that period, it must be admitted that the condition he thus suggested was a very safe one to offer. he had thoroughly satisfied himself during the period in which he had been baffled by the southwest gales at the brill and by the still more persistent head-winds which he had found prevailing at the french court, that it was hopeless to strive for that much-desired haven, a general war. the admiral and himself might as well have endeavoured to persuade mahomet iii. and sigismund of poland to join the states in a campaign against cardinal albert, as to hope for the same good offices from elizabeth and henry. having received exactly the answer which he expected, he secretly communicated, next day, to cecil the proposition thus made by the king. subsequently he narrated the whole conversation to the queen of england. on the th april both barneveld and nassau were admitted to the royal dressing-room in nantes citadel for a final audience. here, after the usual common places concerning his affection for the netherlands, and the bitter necessity which compelled him to desert the alliance, henry again referred to his suggestion in regard to prince maurice; urging a change from a republican to a monarchical form of government as the best means of preserving the state. the envoys thanked the king for all the honours conferred upon them, but declared themselves grieved to the heart by his refusal to grant their request. the course pursued by his majesty, they said, would be found very hard of digestion by the states, both in regard to the whole force of the enemy which would now come upon their throats, and because of the bad example thus set for other powers. they then took leave, with the usual exchange of compliments. at their departure his majesty personally conducted them through various apartments until they came to the chamber of his mistress, the duchess of beaufort, then lying in childbed. here he drew wide open the bed- curtains, and bade them kiss the lady. they complied, and begging the duchess to use her influence in their behalf, respectfully bade her farewell. she promised not to forget their request, and thanked them for the presents of damask and fine linen. such was the result of the mission of the great advocate and his colleague to henry iv., from which so much had been hoped; and for anything useful accomplished, after such an expenditure of time, money, and eloquence, the whole transaction might have begun and ended in this touching interview with the beautiful gabrielle. on the th of may the envoys embarked at dieppe for england, and on the th were safely lodged with the resident minister of the republic, noel de caron, at the village of clapham. having so ill-succeeded in their attempts to prevent the treaty between france and spain, they were now engaged in what seemed also a forlorn hope, the preservation of their offensive and defensive alliance with england. they were well aware that many of the leading counsellors of elizabeth, especially burghley and buckhurst, were determined upon peace. they knew that the queen was also heartily weary of the war and of the pugnacious little commonwealth which had caused her so much expense. but they knew, too, that henry, having now secured the repose of his own kingdom, was anything but desirous that his deserted allies should enjoy the same advantage. the king did not cease to assure the states that he would secretly give them assistance in their warfare against his new ally, while secretary of state villeroy, as they knew, would place every possible impediment in the way of the queen's negotiations with spain. elizabeth, on her part, was vexed with everybody. what the states most feared was that she might, in her anger or her avarice, make use of the cautionary towns in her negotiations with philip. at any rate, said francis aerssens, then states' minister in france, she will bring us to the brink of the precipice, that we may then throw ourselves into her arms in despair. the queen was in truth resolved to conclude a peace if a peace could be made. if not, she was determined to make as good a bargain with the states as possible, in regard to the long outstanding account of her advances. certainly it was not unreasonable that she should wish to see her exchequer reimbursed by people who, as she believed, were rolling in wealth, the fruit of a contraband commerce which she denied to her own subjects, and who were in honour bound to pay their debts to her now, if they wished her aid to be continued. her subjects were impoverished and panting for peace, and although, as she remarked, "their sense of duty restrained them from the slightest disobedience to her absolute commands," still she could not forgive herself for thus exposing them to perpetual danger. she preferred on the whole, however, that the commonwealth should consent to its own dissolution; for she thought it unreasonable that--after this war of thirty years, during fifteen of which she had herself actively assisted them--these republican calvinists should, refuse to return to the dominion of their old tyrant and the pope. to barneveld, maurice of nassau, and the states-general this did not seem a very logical termination to so much hard fighting. accordingly, when on the th of may the two envoys fell on their knees-- as the custom was--before the great queen, and had been raised by her to their feet again, they found her majesty in marvellously ill-humour. olden-barneveld recounted to her the results of their mission to france, and said that from beginning to end it had been obvious that there could be no other issue. the king was indifferent, he had said, whether the states preferred peace or war, but in making his treaty he knew that he had secured a profit for himself, iuflicted damage on his enemy, and done no harm to his friends. her majesty then interrupted the speaker by violent invectives against the french king for his treachery. she had written with her own hand, she said, to tell him that she never had believed him capable of doing what secretaries and other servants had reported concerning him, but which had now proved true. then she became very abusive to the dutch envoys, telling them that they were quite unjustifiable in not following sir robert cecil's advice, and in not engaging with him at once in peace negotiations; at least so far as to discover what the enemy's intentions might be. she added, pettishly, that if prince maurice and other functionaries were left in the enjoyment of their offices, and if the spaniards were sent out of the country, there seemed no reason why such terms should not be accepted. barneveld replied that such accommodation was of course impossible, unless they accepted their ancient sovereign as prince. then came the eternal two points--obedience to god, which meant submission to the pope; and obedience to the king, that was to say, subjection to his despotic authority. thus the christian religion would be ruined throughout the provinces, and the whole land be made a bridge and a ladder for spanish ambition. the queen here broke forth into mighty oaths, interrupting the envoy's discourse, protesting over and over again by the living god that she would not and could not give the states any further assistance; that she would leave them to their fate; that her aid rendered in their war had lasted much longer than the siege of troy did, and swearing that she had been a fool to help them and the king of france as she had done, for it was nothing but evil passions that kept the states so obstinate. the envoy endeavoured to soothe her, urging that as she had gained the reputation over the whole world of administering her affairs with admirable, yea with almost divine wisdom, she should now make use of that sagacity in the present very difficult matter. she ought to believe that it was not evil passion, nor ambition, nor obstinacy that prevented the states from joining in these negotiations, but the determination to maintain their national existence, the christian religion, and their ancient liberties and laws. they did not pretend, he said, to be wiser than great monarch or their counsellors, but the difference between their form of government and a monarchy must be their excuse. monarchs, when they made treaties, remained masters, and could protect their realms and their subjects from danger. the states-general could not accept a prince without placing themselves under his absolute authority, and the netherlanders would never subject themselves to their deadly enemy, whom they had long ago solemnly renounced. surely these remarks of the advocate should have seemed entirely unanswerable. surely there was no politician in europe so ignorant as not to know that any treaty of peace between philip and the states meant their unconditional subjugation and the complete abolition of the protestant religion. least of all did the queen of england require information on this great matter of state. it was cruel trifling therefore, it was inhuman insolence on her part, to suggest anything like a return of the states to the dominion of spain. but her desire for peace and her determination to get back her money overpowered at that time all other considerations. the states wished to govern themselves, she said; why then could they not make arrangements against all dangers, and why could they not lay down conditions under which the king would not really be their master; especially if france and england should guarantee them against any infraction of their rights. by the living god! by the living god! by the living god! she swore over and over again as her anger rose, she would never more have anything to do with such people; and she deeply regretted having thrown away her money and the lives of her subjects in so stupid a manner. again the grave and experienced envoy of the republic strove with calm and earnest words to stay the torrent of her wrath; representing that her money and her pains had by no means been wasted, that the enemy had been brought to shame and his finances to confusion; and urging her, without paying any heed to the course pursued by the king of france, to allow the republic to make levies of troops, at its own expense, within her kingdom. but her majesty was obdurate. "how am i to defend myself?" she cried; "how are the affairs of ireland to be provided for? how am i ever to get back my money? who is to pay the garrisons of brill and flushing?" and with this she left the apartment, saying that her counsellors would confer with the envoys.' from the beginning to the end of the interview the queen was in a very evil temper, and took no pains to conceal her dissatisfaction with all the world. now there is no doubt whatever that the subsidies furnished by england to the common cause were very considerable, amounting in fourteen years, according to the queen's calculation, to nearly fourteen hundred thousand pounds sterling. but in her interviews with the republican statesmen she was too prone to forget that it was a common cause, to forget that the man who had over and over again attempted her assassination, who had repeatedly attempted the invasion of her realms with the whole strength of the most powerful military organization in the world, whose dearest wish on earth was still to accomplish her dethronement and murder, to extirpate from england the religion professed by the majority of living englishmen, and to place upon her vacant throne a spanish, german, or italian prince, was as much her enemy as he was the foe of his ancient subjects in the netherlands. at that very epoch philip was occupied in reminding the pope that the two had always agreed as to the justice of the claims of the infanta isabella to the english crown, and calling on his holiness to sustain those pretensions, now that she had been obliged, in consequence of the treaty with the prince of bearne, to renounce her right to reign over france. certainly it was fair enough for the queen and her, counsellors to stand out for an equitable arrangement of the debt; but there was much to dispute in the figures. when was ever an account of fifteen years' standing adjusted, whether between nations or individuals, without much wrangling? meantime her majesty held excellent security in two thriving and most important netherland cities. but had the states consented to re-establish the spanish authority over the whole of their little protestant republic, was there an english child so ignorant of arithmetic or of history as not to see how vast would be the peril, and how incalculable the expense, thus caused to england? yet besides the cecils and the lord high admiral, other less influential counsellors of the crown--even the upright and accomplished buckhurst, who had so often proved his friendship for the states--were in favour of negotiation. there were many conferences with meagre results. the englishmen urged that the time had come for the states to repay the queen's advances, to relieve her from future subsidies, to assume the payment of the garrisons in the cautionary towns, and to furnish a force in defence of england when attacked. such was the condition of the kingdom, they said--being, as it was, entirely without fortified cities-- that a single battle would imperil the whole realm, so that it was necessary to keep the enemy out of it altogether. these arguments were not unreasonable, but the inference was surely illogical. the special envoys from the republic had not been instructed to treat about the debt. this had been the subject of perpetual negotiation. it was discussed almost every day by the queen's commissioners at the hague and by the states' resident minister at london. olden-barneveld and the admiral had been sent forth by the staten in what in those days was considered great haste to prevent a conclusion of a treaty between their two allies and the common enemy. they had been too late in france, and now, on arriving in england, they found that government steadily drifting towards what seemed the hopeless shipwreck of a general peace. what must have been the grief of olden-barneveld when he heard from the lips of the enlightened buckhurst that the treaty of had been arranged to expire--according to the original limitation--with a peace, and that as the states could now make peace and did not choose to do so, her majesty must be considered as relieved from her contract of alliance, and as justified in demanding repayment of her advances! to this perfidious suggestion what could the states' envoy reply but that as a peace such as the treaty of presupposed--to wit, with security for the protestant religion and for the laws and liberties of the provinces--was impossible, should the states now treat with the king or the cardinal? the envoys had but one more interview with, the queen, in which she was more benignant in manner but quite as peremptory in her demands. let the states either thoroughly satisfy her as to past claims and present necessities, or let them be prepared for her immediate negotiation with the enemy. should she decide to treat, she would not be unmindful of their interests, she said, nor deliver them over into the enemy's hands. she repeated, however, the absurd opinion that there were means enough of making philip nominal sovereign of all the netherlands, without allowing him to exercise any authority over them. as if the most catholic and most absolute monarch that ever breathed could be tied down by the cobwebs of constitutional or treaty stipulations; as if the previous forty years could be effaced from the record of history. she asked, too, in case the rumours of the intended transfer of the netherlands to the cardinal or the infanta should prove true, which she doubted, whether this arrangement would make any difference in the sentiments of the states. barneveld replied that the transfer was still uncertain, but that they had no more confidence in the cardinal or the infants than in the king of spain himself. on taking leave of the queen the envoys waited upon lord burghley, whom they found sitting in an arm-chair in his bedchamber, suffering from the gout and with a very fierce countenance. he made no secret of his opinions in favour of negotiation, said that the contracts made by monarchs should always be interpreted reasonably, and pronounced a warm eulogy on the course pursued by the king of france. it was his majesty's duty, he said, to seize the best opportunity for restoring repose to his subjects and his realms, and it was the duty of other sovereigns to do the same. the envoys replied that they were not disposed at that moment to sit in judgment upon the king's actions. they would content themselves with remarking that in their opinion even kings and princes were bound by their, contracts, oaths, and pledges before god and man; and with this wholesome sentiment they took leave of the lord high treasurer. they left london immediately, on the last day of may, without, passports. or despatches of recal, and embarked at gravesend in the midst of a gale of wind. lord essex, the sincere friend of the republic, was both surprised and disturbed at their sudden departure, and sent a special courier, after them to express his regrets at the unsatisfactory termination to their mission: "my mistress knows very well," said he, "that she is an absolute princess, and that, when her ministers have done their extreme duty, she wills what she wills." the negotiations between england and spain were deferred, however, for a brief space, and a special message was despatched to the hague as to the arrangement of the debt. "peace at once with philip," said the queen, "or else full satisfaction of my demands." now it was close dealing between such very thrifty and acute bargainers as the queen and the netherland republic. two years before, the states had offered to pay twenty thousand pounds a year on her majesty's birthday so long as the war should last, and after a peace, eighty thousand pounds annually for four years. the queen, on her part, fixed the sum total of the debt at nearly a million and a half sterling, and required instant payment of at least one hundred thousand pounds on account, besides provision for a considerable annual refunding, assumption by the states of the whole cost of the garrisons in the cautionary towns, and assurance of assistance in case of an attack upon england. thus there was a whole ocean between the disputants. vere and gilpin were protocolling and marshalling accounts at the hague, and conducting themselves with much arrogance and bitterness, while, meantime, barneveld had hardly had time to set his foot on his native shores before he was sent back again to england at the head of another solemn legation. one more effort was to be made to arrange this financial problem and to defeat the english peace party. the offer of the year just alluded to was renewed and instantly rejected. naturally enough, the dutch envoys were disposed, in the exhausting warfare which was so steadily draining their finances, to pay down as little as possible on the nail, while providing for what they considered a liberal annual sinking fund. the english, on the contrary, were for a good round sum in actual cash, and held the threatened negotiation with spain over the heads of the unfortunate envoys like a whip. so the queen's counsellors and the republican envoys travelled again and again over the well-worn path. on the th june, buckhurst took olden-barneveld into his cabinet, and opened his heart to him, not as a servant of her majesty, he said, but as a private englishman. he was entirely for peace. now that peace was offered to her majesty, a continuance of the war was unrighteous, and the lord god's blessing could not be upon it. without god's blessing no resistance could be made by the queen nor by the states to the enemy, who was ten times more powerful than her majesty in kingdoms, provinces, number of subjects, and money. he had the pope, the emperor, the dukes of savoy and lorraine, and the republic of genoa, for his allies. he feared that the war might come upon england, and that they might be fated on one single day to win or lose all. the queen possessed no mines, and was obliged to carry on the war by taxing her people. the king had ever- flowing fountains in his mines; the queen nothing but a stagnant pool, which, when all the water was pumped out, must in the end be dry. he concluded, therefore, that as her majesty had no allies but the netherlands, peace was best for england, and advisable for the provinces. arrangements could easily be made to limit the absolute authority of spain. this highly figurative view of the subject--more becoming to the author of ferrex and porrex than to so, experienced a statesman as sackville had become since his dramatic days--did not much impress barneveld. he answered that, although the king of spain was unquestionably very powerful, the lord god was still stronger; that england and the netherlands together could maintain the empire of the seas, which was of the utmost importance, especially for england; but that if the republic were to make her submission to spain, and become incorporate with that power, the control of the seas was lost for ever to england. the advocate added the unanswerable argument that to admit philip as sovereign, and then to attempt a limitation of his despotism was a foolish dream. buckhurst repeated that the republic was the only ally of england, that there was no confidence to be placed by her in any other power, and that for himself, he was, as always, very much the friend of the states. olden-barneveld might well have prayed, however, to be delivered from such friends. to thrust one's head into the lion's mouth, while one's friends urge moderation on the noble animal, can never be considered a cheerful or prudent proceeding. at last, after all offers had been rejected which the envoys had ventured to make, elizabeth sent for olden-barneveld and caron and demanded their ultimatum within twenty-four hours. should it prove unsatisfactory, she would at once make peace with spain. on the st august the envoys accordingly proposed to cecil and the other ministers to pay thirty thousand pounds a year, instead of twenty thousand, so long as the war should last, but they claimed the right of redeeming the cautionary towns at one hundred thousand pounds each. this seemed admissible, and cecil and his colleagues pronounced the affair arranged. but they had reckoned without the queen after all. elizabeth sent for caron as soon as she heard of the agreement, flew into a great rage, refused the terms, swore that she would instantly make peace with spain, and thundered loudly against her ministers. "they were great beasts," she said, "if they had stated that she would not treat with the enemy. she had merely intended to defer the negotiations." so the whole business was to be done over again. at last the sum claimed by the queen, fourteen hundred thousand pounds, was reduced by agreement to eight hundred thousand, and one-half of this the envoys undertook on the part of the states to refund in annual payments of thirty thousand pounds, while the remaining four hundred thousand should be provided for by some subsequent arrangement. all attempts, however, to obtain a promise from the queen to restore the cautionary towns to the republic in case of a peace between spain and england remained futile. that was to be a bone of contention for many years. it was further agreed by the treaty, which was definitely signed on the th august, that, in case england were invaded by the common enemy, the states should send to the queen's assistance at least thirty ships of war, besides five thousand infantry and five squadrons of horse. chapter xxxv. negotiations between france and spain--conclusion of the treaty of peace--purchase of the allegiance of the french nobles--transfer of the netherlands to albert and isabella--marriage of the infante and the infanta--illness of philip ii.--horrible nature of his malady-- his last hours and death--review of his reign--extent of the spanish dominions--causes of the greatness of spain, and of its downfall-- philip's wars and their expenses--the crown revenues of spain-- character of the people--their inordinate self-esteem--consequent deficiency of labour--ecclesiastical government--revenues of the church--characteristics of the spanish clergy--foreign commerce of spain--governmental system of philip ii.--founded on the popular ignorance and superstition--extinction of liberty in spain--the holy inquisition--the work and character of philip. while the utterly barren conferences had been going on at angiers and nantes between henry iv. and the republican envoys, the negotiations had been proceeding at vervins. president richardot on behalf of spain, and secretary of state villeroy as commissioner of henry, were the chief negotiators. two old acquaintances, two ancient leaguers, two bitter haters of protestants and rebels, two thorough adepts in diplomatic chicane, they went into this contest like gladiators who thoroughly understood and respected each other's skill. richardot was recognized by all as the sharpest and most unscrupulous politician in the obedient netherlands. villeroy had conducted every intrigue of france during a whole generation of mankind. they scarcely did more than measure swords and test each other's objects, before arriving at a conviction as to the inevitable result of the encounter. it was obvious at once to villeroy that philip was determined to make peace with france in order that the triple alliance might be broken up. it was also known to the french diplomatist that the spanish king was ready for, almost every concession to henry, in order that this object might be accomplished. all that richardot hoped to save out of the various conquests made by spain over france was calais. but villeroy told him that it was useless to say a word on that subject. his king insisted on the restoration of the place. otherwise he would make no peace. it was enough, he said, that his majesty said nothing about navarre. richardot urged that at the time when the english had conquered calais it had belonged to artois, not to france. it was no more than equitable, then, that it should be retained by its original proprietor. the general of the franciscans, who acted as a kind of umpire in the transactions, then took each negotiator separately aside and whispered in his ear. villeroy shook his head, and said he had given his ultimatum. richardot acknowledged that he had something in reserve, upon which the monk said that it was time to make it known. accordingly--the two being all ears--richardot observed that what he was about to state he said with fear and trembling. he knew not what the king of spain would think of his proposition, but he would, nevertheless, utter the suggestion that calais should be handed over to the pope. his holiness would keep the city in pledge until the war with the rebels was over, and then there would be leisure enough to make definite arrangements on the subject. now villeroy was too experienced a practitioner to be imposed upon, by this ingenious artifice. moreover, he happened to have an intercepted letter in his possession in which philip told the cardinal that calais was to be given up if the french made its restitution a sine qua non. so villeroy did make it a sine qua non, and the conferences soon after terminated in an agreement on the part of spain to surrender all its conquests in france. certainly no more profitable peace than this could have been made by the french king under such circumstances, and philip at the last moment had consented to pay a heavy price for bringing discord between the three friends. the treaty was signed at vervins on the nd may, and contained thirty-five articles. its basis was that of the treaty of cateau cambresis of . restitution of all places conquered by either party within the dominions of the other since the day of that treaty was stipulated. henry recovered calais, ardres, dourlens, blavet, and many other places, and gave up the country of charolois. prisoners were to be surrendered on both sides without ransom, and such of those captives of war as had been enslaved at the galleys should be set free. the pope, the emperor, all states, and cities under their obedience or control, the duke of savoy, the king of poland and sweden, the kings of denmark and scotland, the dukes of lorraine and tuscany, the doge of venice, the republic of genoa, and many lesser states and potentates, were included in the treaty. the famous edict of nantes in favour of the protestant subjects of the french king was drawn up and signed in the city of which it bears the name at about the same time with these negotiations. its publication was, however, deferred until after the departure of the legate from france in the following year. the treaty of cateau cambresis had been pronounced the most disgraceful and disastrous one that had ever been ratified by a french monarch; and surely henry had now wiped away that disgrace and repaired that disaster. it was natural enough that he should congratulate himself on the rewards which he had gathered by deserting his allies. he had now sufficient occupation for a time in devising ways and means, with the aid of the indefatigable bethune, to pay the prodigious sums with which he had purchased the allegiance of the great nobles and lesser gentlemen of france. thirty-two millions of livres were not sufficient to satisfy the claims of these patriots, most of whom had been drawing enormous pensions from the king of spain up to the very moment, or beyond it, when they consented to acknowledge the sovereign of their own country. scarcely a, great name in the golden book of france but was recorded among these bills of sale. mayenne, lorraine, guise, nemours, mercoeur, montpensier, joyeuse, epernon, brissac, d'arlincourt, balagny, rochefort, villeroy, villars, montespan, leviston, beauvillars, and countless others, figured in the great financier's terrible account-book, from mayenne, set down at the cool amount of three and a half millions, to beauvoir or beauvillars at the more modest price of a hundred and sixty thousand livres. "i should appal my readers," said de bethune, "if i should show to them that this sum makes but a very small part of the amounts demanded from the royal treasury, either by frenchmen or by strangers, as pay and pension, and yet the total was thirty-two millions's." and now the most catholic king, having brought himself at last to exchange the grasp of friendship with the great ex-heretic, and to recognize the prince of bearne as the legitimate successor of st. louis, to prevent which consummation he had squandered so many thousands of lives, so many millions of treasure, and brought ruin to so many prosperous countries, prepared himself for another step which he had long hesitated to take. he resolved to transfer the netherlands to his daughter isabella and to the cardinal archduke albert, who, as the king had now decided, was to espouse the infanta. the deed of cession was signed at madrid on the th may, . it was accompanied by a letter of the same date from the prince philip, heir apparent to the crown. on the th may the infanta executed a procuration by which she gave absolute authority to her future husband to rule over the provinces of the netherlands, burgundy, and charolois, and to receive the oaths of the estates and of public functionaries. [see all the deeds and documents in bor, iv. - . compare herrera, iii. - . very elaborate provisions were made in regard to the children and grand-children to spring from this marriage, but it was generally understood at the time that no issue was to be expected. the incapacity of the cardinal seems to have been revealed by an indiscretion of the general of franciscans-- diplomatist and father confessor--and was supported by much collateral evidence. hence all these careful stipulations were a solemn jest, like much of the diplomatic work of this reign.] it was all very systematically done. no transfer of real estate, no 'donatio inter vivos' of mansions and messuages, parks and farms, herds and flocks, could have been effected in a more business-like manner than the gift thus made by the most prudent king to his beloved daughter. the quit-claim of the brother was perfectly regular. so also was the power of attorney, by which the infanta authorised the middle-aged ecclesiastic whom she was about to espouse to take possession in her name of the very desirable property which she had thus acquired. it certainly never occurred, either to the giver or the receivers, that the few millions of netherlanders, male and female, inhabiting these provinces in the north sea, were entitled to any voice or opinion as to the transfer of themselves and their native land to a young lady living in a remote country. for such was the blasphemous system of europe at that day. property had rights. kings, from whom all property emanated, were enfeoffed directly from the almighty; they bestowed certain privileges on their vassals, but man had no rights at all. he was property, like the ox or the ass, like the glebe which he watered with the sweat of his brow. the obedient netherlands acquiesced obediently in these new arrangements. they wondered only that the king should be willing thus to take from his crown its choicest jewels--for it is often the vanity of colonies and dependencies to consider themselves gems. the republican netherlanders only laughed at these arrangements, and treated the invitation to transfer themselves to the new sovereigns of the provinces with silent contempt. the cardinal-archduke left brussels in september, having accomplished the work committed to him by the power of attorney, and having left cardinal andrew of austria, bishop of constantia, son of the archduke ferdinand, to administer affairs during his absence. francis de mendoza, admiral of arragon, was entrusted with the supreme military command for the same interval. the double marriage of the infante of spain with the archduchess margaret of austria, and of the unfrocked cardinal albert of austria with the infanta clara eugenia isabella, was celebrated by proxy, with immense pomp, at ferrara, the pope himself officiating with the triple crown upon his head. meantime, philip ii., who had been of delicate constitution all his life, and who had of late years been a confirmed valetudinarian, had been rapidly failing ever since the transfer of the netherlands in may. longing to be once more in his favourite retirement of the escorial, he undertook the journey towards the beginning of june, and was carried thither from madrid in a litter borne by servants, accomplishing the journey of seven leagues in six days. when he reached the palace cloister, he was unable to stand. the gout, his life-long companion, had of late so tortured him in the hands and feet that the mere touch of a linen sheet was painful to him. by the middle of july a low fever had attacked him, which rapidly reduced his strength. moreover, a new and terrible symptom of the utter disintegration of his physical constitution had presented itself. imposthumes, from which he had suffered on the breast and at the joints, had been opened after the usual ripening applications, and the result was not the hoped relief, but swarms of vermin, innumerable in quantities, and impossible to extirpate, which were thus generated and reproduced in the monarch's blood and flesh. the details of the fearful disorder may have attraction for the pathologist, but have no especial interest for the general reader. let it suffice, that no torture ever invented by torquemada or peter titelman to serve the vengeance of philip and his ancestors or the pope against the heretics of italy or flanders, could exceed in acuteness the agonies which the most catholic king was now called upon to endure. and not one of the long line of martyrs, who by decree of charles or philip had been strangled, beheaded, burned, or buried alive, ever faced a death of lingering torments with more perfect fortitude, or was sustained by more ecstatic visions of heavenly mercy, than was now the case with the great monarch of spain. that the grave-worms should do their office before soul and body were parted, was a torment such as the imagination of dante might have invented for the lowest depths of his "inferno." [a great english poet has indeed expressed the horrible thought:-- "it is as if the dead could feel the icy worm about them steal:"--byron.] on the nd july, the king asked dr. mercado if his sickness was likely to have a fatal termination. the physician, not having the courage at once to give the only possible reply, found means to evade the question. on the st august his majesty's confessor, father diego de yepes, after consultation with mercado, announced to philip that the only issue to his malady was death. already he had been lying for ten days on his back, a mass of sores and corruption, scarcely able to move, and requiring four men to turn him in his bed. he expressed the greatest satisfaction at the sincerity which had now been used, and in the gentlest and most benignant manner signified his thanks to them for thus removing all doubts from his mind, and for giving him information which it was of so much importance for his eternal welfare to possess. his first thought was to request the papal nuncio, gaetano, to despatch a special courier to rome to request the pope's benediction. this was done, and it was destined that the blessing of his holiness should arrive in time. he next prepared himself to make a general confession, which lasted three days, father diego having drawn up at his request a full and searching interrogatory. the confession may have been made the more simple, however, by the statement which he made to the priest, and subsequently repeated to the infante his son, that in all his life he had never consciously done wrong to any one. if he had ever committed an act of injustice, it was unwittingly, or because he had been deceived in the circumstances. this internal conviction of general righteousness was of great advantage to him in the midst of his terrible sufferings, and accounted in great degree for the gentleness, thoughtfulness for others, and perfect benignity, which, according to the unanimous testimony of many witnesses, characterised his conduct during this whole sickness. after he had completed his long general confession, the sacrament of the lord's supper was administered to him. subsequently, the same rites were more briefly performed every few days. his sufferings were horrible, but no saint could have manifested in them more gentle resignation or angelic patience. he moralized on the condition to which the greatest princes might thus be brought at last by the hand of god, and bade the prince observe well his father's present condition, in order that, when he too should be laid thus low, he might likewise be sustained by a conscience void of offence. he constantly thanked his assistants and nurses for their care, insisted upon their reposing themselves after their daily fatigues, and ordered others to relieve them in their task. he derived infinite consolation from the many relics of saints, of which, as has been seen, he had made plentiful prevision during his long reign. especially a bone of st. alban, presented to him by clement viii., in view of his present straits, was of great service. with this relic, and with the arm of st. vincent of ferrara, and the knee-bone of st. sebastian, he daily rubbed his sores, keeping the sacred talismans ever in his sight on the altar, which was not far from his bed. he was much pleased when the priests and other bystanders assured him that the remains of these holy men would be of special efficacy to him, because he had cherished and worshipped them in times when misbelievers and heretics had treated them with disrespect. on a sideboard in his chamber a human skull was placed, and upon this skull--in ghastly mockery of royalty, in truth, yet doubtless in the conviction that such an exhibition showed the superiority of anointed kings even over death--he ordered his servants to place a golden crown. and thus, during the whole of his long illness, the antic held his state, while the poor mortal representative of absolute power lay living still, but slowly mouldering away. with perfect composure, and with that minute attention to details which had characterised the king all his lifetime, and was now more evident than ever, he caused the provisions for his funeral obsequies to be read aloud one day by juan ruys de velasco, in order that his children, his ministers, and the great officers of state who were daily in attendance upon him, might thoroughly learn their lesson before the time came for performing the ceremony. "having governed my kingdom for forty years," said he, "i now give it back, in the seventy-first year of my age, to god almighty, to whom it belongs, recommending my soul into his blessed hands, that his divine majesty may do what he pleases therewith." he then directed that after his body should have been kept as long as the laws prescribed, it should be buried thus:-- the officiating bishop was to head the procession, bearing the crucifix, and followed by the clergy. the adelantado was to come next, trailing the royal standard along the ground. then the duke of novara was to appear, bearing the crown on an open salver, covered with a black cloth, while the marquis of avillaer carried the sword of state. the coffin was to be borne by eight principal grandees, clad in mourning habiliments, and holding lighted torches. the heir apparent was to follow, attended by don garcia de loyasa, who had just been consecrated, in the place of cardinal albert, as archbishop of toledo. the body was to be brought to the church, and placed in the stately tomb already prepared for its reception. "mass being performed," said the king, "the prelate shall place me in the grave which shall be my last house until i go to my eternal dwelling. then the prince, third king of my name, shall go into the cloister of st. jerome at madrid, where he shall keep nine days mourning. my daughter, and her aunt--my sister, the ex-empress--shall for the same purpose go to the convent of the grey sisters." the king then charged his successor to hold the infanta in especial affection and consideration; "for," said he, "she has been my mirror, yea; the light of my eyes." he also ordered that the marquis of mondejar be taken from prison and set free, on condition never to show himself at court. the wife of antonio perez was also to be released from prison, in order that she might be immured in a cloister, her property being bestowed upon her daughters. as this unfortunate lady's only crime consisted in her husband's intrigue with the king's mistress, princess eboli, in which she could scarcely be considered an accomplice, this permission to exchange one form of incarceration for another did not seem an act of very great benignity. philip further provided that thirty thousand masses should be said for his soul, five hundred slaves liberated from the galleys, and five hundred maidens provided with marriage portions. after these elaborate instructions had been read, the king ordered a certain casket to be brought to him and opened in his presence. from this he took forth a diamond of great price and gave it to the infanta, saying that it had belonged to her mother, isabella of france. he asked the prince if he consented to the gift. the prince answered in the affirmative. he next took from the coffer a written document, which he handed to his son, saying, "herein you will learn how to govern your kingdoms." then he produced a scourge, which he said was the instrument with which his father, the emperor, had been in the habit of chastising himself during his retreat at the monastery of juste. he told the by-standers to observe the imperial blood by which the lash was still slightly stained. as the days wore on he felt himself steadily sinking, and asked to receive extreme unction. as he had never seen that rite performed he chose to rehearse it beforehand, and told ruys velasco; who was in constant attendance upon him, to go for minute instructions on the subject to the archbishop of toledo. the sacrament having been duly. administered; the king subsequently, on the st september, desired to receive it once more. the archbishop, fearing that the dying monarch's strength would be insufficient for the repetition of the function, informed him that the regulations of the church required in such cases only a compliance with certain trifling forms, as the ceremony had been already once thoroughly carried out. but the king expressed himself as quite determined that the sacrament should be repeated in all its parts; that he should once more--be anointed--to use the phrase of brother francis neyen--with the oil which holy athletes require in their wrestle with death. this was accordingly done in the presence of his son and daughter, and, of his chief secretaries, christopher de moura and john de idiaquez, besides the counts chinchon, fuensalido, and several other conspicuous personages. he was especially desirous that his son should be present, in order that; when he too should come to die, he might not find himself, like his father, in ignorance of the manner in which this last sacrament was to be performed. when it was finished he described himself as infinitely consoled, and as having derived even more happiness from the rite than he had dared to anticipate. thenceforth he protested that he would talk no more of the world's affairs. he had finished with all things below, and for the days or hours still remaining to him he would keep his heart exclusively fixed upon heaven. day by day as he lay on his couch of unutterable and almost unexampled misery, his confessors and others read to him from religious works, while with perfect gentleness he would insist that one reader should relieve another, that none might be fatigued. on the th september he dictated these words to christopher de moura, who was to take them to diego de yepes, the confessor:-- "father confessor, you are in the place of god, and i protest thus before his presence that i will do all that you declare necessary for my salvation. thus upon you will be the, responsibility for my omissions, because i am ready to do all." finding that the last hour was approaching, he informed don fernando de toledo where: he could find some candles of our lady of montserrat, one of which he desered to keep in his hand at the supreme moment. he also directed ruys de velasco to take from a special shrine--which he had indicated to him six years before--a crucifix which the emperor his father had held upon his death-bed. all this was accomplished according to his wish. he had already made arrangements for his funeral procession, and had subsequently provided all the details of his agony. it was now necessary to give orders as to the particulars of his burial. he knew that decomposition had made such progress even while he was still living as to render embalming impossible: he accordingly instructed don christopher to see his body wrapped in a shroud just as it lay, and to cause it to be placed in a well-soldered metallic coffin already provided. the coffin of state, in which the leaden one was to be enclosed, was then brought into the chamber by his command, that he might see if it was entirely to his taste. having examined it, he ordered that it should be lined with white satin and ornamented with gold nails and lace-work. he also described a particular brocade of black and gold, to be found in the jewelroom, which he desired for the pall. next morning he complained to don christopher that the sacrament of the lord's supper had not been administered to him for several days. it was urged that his strength was deemed insufficient, and that, as he had received that rite already four times during his illness, and extreme unction twice, it was thought that the additional fatigue might be spared him. but as the king insisted, the sacrament was once more performed and prayers were read. he said with great fervour many times, "pater, non mea voluntas, sed tux fiat." he listened, too, with much devotion to the psalm, "as the hart panteth for the water-brooks;" and he spoke faintly at long intervals of the magdalen, of the prodigal son, and of the paralytic. when these devotional exercises had been concluded, father diego expressed the hope to him that he might then pass away, for it would be a misfortune by temporary convalescence to fall from the exaltation of piety which he had then reached. the remark was heard by philip with an expression of entire satisfaction. that day both the infanta and the prince came for the last time to his bedside to receive his blessing. he tenderly expressed his regret to his daughter that he had not been permitted to witness her marriage, but charged her never to omit any exertion to augment and sustain the holy roman catholic religion in the netherlands. it was in the interest of that holy church alone that he had endowed her with those provinces, and he now urged it upon her with his dying breath to impress upon her future husband these his commands to both. his two children took leave of him with tears and sobs: as the prince left the chamber he asked don christopher who it was that held the key to the treasury. the secretary replied, "it is i, sir." the prince demanded that he should give it into his hands. but don christopher excused himself, saying that it had been entrusted to him by the king, and that without his consent he could not part with it. then the prince returned to the king's chamber, followed by the secretary, who narrated to the dying monarch what had taken place. "you have done wrong," said philip; whereupon don christopher, bowing to the earth, presented the key to the prince. the king then feebly begged those about his bedside to repeat the dying words of our saviour on the cross, in order that he might hear them and repeat them in his heart as his soul was taking flight. his father's crucifix was placed in his hands, and he said distinctly, "i die like a good catholic, in faith and obedience to the holy roman church." soon after these last words had been spoken, a paroxysm, followed by faintness, came over him, and he lay entirely still. they had covered his face with a cloth, thinking that he had already expired, when he suddenly started, with great energy, opened his eyes, seized the crucifix again from the hand of don fernando de toledo, kissed it, and fell back again into agony. the archbishop and the other priests expressed the opinion that he must have had, not a paroxysm, but a celestial vision, for human powers would not have enabled him to arouse himself so quickly and so vigorously as he had done at that crisis. he did not speak again, but lay unconsciously dying for some hours, and breathed his last at five in the morning of sunday the th september. his obsequies were celebrated according to the directions which he had so minutely given. ------------------------------------ these volumes will have been written in vain if it be now necessary to recal to my readers the leading events in the history of the man who had thus left the world where, almost invisible himself, he had so long played a leading part. it may not be entirely useless, however, to throw a parting glance at a character which it has been one of the main objects of this work, throughout its whole course, to pourtray. my theme has been the reign of philip ii., because, as the less is included in the greater, the whole of that reign, with the exception of a few episodes, is included in the vast movement out of which the republic of the united netherlands was born and the assailed independence of france and england consolidated. the result of philip's efforts to establish a universal monarchy was to hasten the decline of the empire which he had inherited, by aggravating the evils which had long made that downfall inevitable. it is from no abstract hatred to monarchy that i have dwelt with emphasis upon the crimes of this king, and upon the vices of the despotic system, as illustrated during his lifetime. it is not probable that the military, monarchical system--founded upon conquests achieved by barbarians and pirates of a distant epoch over an effete civilization and over antique institutions of intolerable profligacy--will soon come to an end in the older world. and it is the business of europeans so to deal with the institutions of their inheritance or their choice as to ensure their steady melioration and to provide for the highest interests of the people. it matters comparatively little by what name a government is called, so long as the intellectual and moral development of mankind, and the maintenance of justice among individuals, are its leading principles. a government, like an individual, may remain far below its ideal; but, without an ideal, governments and individuals are alike contemptible. it is tyranny only--whether individual or popular--that utters its feeble sneers at the ideologists, as if mankind were brutes to whom instincts were all in all and ideas nothing. where intellect and justice are enslaved by that unholy trinity--force; dogma, and ignorance--the tendency of governments, and of those subjected to them, must of necessity be retrograde and downward. there can be little doubt to those who observe the movements of mankind during the course of the fourteen centuries since the fall of the roman empire--a mere fragment of human history--that its progress, however concealed or impeded, and whether for weal or woe, is towards democracy; for it is the tendency of science to liberate and to equalize the physical and even the intellectual forces of humanity. a horse and a suit of armour would now hardly enable the fortunate possessor of such advantages to conquer a kingdom, nor can wealth and learning be monopolised in these latter days by a favoured few. yet veneration for a crown and a privileged church--as if without them and without their close connection with each other law and religion were impossible--makes hereditary authority sacred to great masses of mankind in the old world. the obligation is the more stringent, therefore, on men thus set apart as it were by primordial selection for ruling and instructing their fellow-creatures, to keep their edicts and their practice in harmony with divine justice. for these rules cannot be violated with impunity during along succession of years, and it is usually left for a comparatively innocent generation, to atone for the sins of their forefathers. if history does not teach this it teaches nothing, and as the rules of morality; whether for individuals or for nations, are simple and devoid of mystery; there is the less excuse for governments which habitually and cynically violate the eternal law. among self-evident truths not one is more indisputable than that which, in the immortal words of our declaration of independence, asserts the right of every human being to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; but the only happiness that can be recognised by a true statesman as the birthright of mankind is that which comes from intellectual and moral development, and from the subjugation of the brutal instincts. a system according to which clowns remain clowns through all the ages, unless when extraordinary genius or fortunate accident enables an exceptional individual to overleap the barrier of caste, necessarily retards the result to which the philosopher looks forward with perfect faith. for us, whose business it is to deal with, and, so far as human fallibility will permit, to improve our inevitable form of government- which may degenerate into the most intolerable of polities unless we are ever mindful that it is yet in its rudimental condition; that, although an immense step has been taken in the right direction by the abolition of caste, the divorce of church and state, and the limitation of intrusion by either on the domain of the individual, it is yet only a step from which, without eternal vigilance, a falling back is very easy; and that here, more than in other lands, ignorance of the scientific and moral truths on--which national happiness and prosperity depend, deserves bitter denunciation--for us it is wholesome to confirm our faith in democracy, and to justify our hope that the people will prove itself equal to the awful responsibility of self-government by an occasional study of the miseries which the opposite system is capable of producing. it is for this reason that the reign of the sovereign whose closing moments have just been recorded is especially worthy of a minute examination, and i still invite a parting glance at the spectacle thus presented, before the curtain falls. the spanish monarchy in the reign of philip ii. was not only the most considerable empire then existing, but probably the most powerful and extensive empire that had ever been known. certainly never before had so great an agglomeration of distinct and separate sovereignties been the result of accident. for it was owing to a series of accidents--in the common acceptation of that term--that philip governed so mighty a realm. according to the principle that vast tracts: of the earth's surface, with the human beings feeding upon: them, were transferable in fee-simple from one man or woman to another by marriage, inheritance, or gift, a heterogeneous collection of kingdoms, principalities, provinces, and: wildernesses had been consolidated, without geographical continuity, into an artificial union--the populations differing from each other as much as human beings can differ, in race, language, institutions, and historical traditions, and resembling each other in little, save in being the property alike of the same fortunate individual. thus the dozen kingdoms of spain, the seventeen provinces of the netherlands, the kingdoms of the two sicilies, the duchy of milan, and certain fortresses and districts of tuscany, in europe; the kingdom of barbary, the coast of guinea, and an indefinite and unmeasured expanse. of other territory, in africa; the controlling outposts and cities all along the coast of the two indian peninsulas, with as much of the country as it seemed good to occupy, the straits and the, great archipelagoes, so far as they had--been visited'by europeans, in asia; peru, brazil, mexico, the antilles--the whole recently discovered fourth quarter of the world in short, from the "land of fire" in the south to the frozen regions of the north--as much territory as the spanish and portuguese sea-captains could circumnavigate and the pope in the plentitude of his power and his generosity could bestow on his fortunate son, in america; all this enormous proportion of the habitable globe was the private property, of philip; who was the son of charles, who was the son of joanna, who was the daughter of isabella, whose husband was ferdinand. by what seems to us the most whimsical of political arrangements, the papuan islander, the calabrian peasant, the amsterdam merchant, the semi- civilized aztec, the moor of barbary, the castilian grandee, the roving camanche, the guinea negro, the indian brahmin, found themselves--could they but have known it--fellow-citizens of one commonwealth. statutes of family descent, aided by fraud, force, and chicane, had annexed the various european sovereignties to the crown of spain; the genius of a genoese sailor had given to it the new world, and more recently the conquest of portugal, torn from hands not strong enough to defend the national independence, had vested in the same sovereignty those oriental possessions which were due to the enterprise of vasco de gama, his comrades and successors. the, voyager, setting forth from the straits of gibraltar, circumnavigating the african headlands and cape comorin, and sailing through the molucca channel and past the isles which bore the name of philip in the eastern sea, gave the hand at last to his adventurous comrade, who, starting from the same point, and following westward in the track of magellaens and under the southern cross, coasted the shore of patagonia, and threaded his path through unmapped and unnumbered clusters of islands in the western pacific; and during this spanning of the earth's whole circumference not an inch of land or water was traversed that was not the domain of philip. for the sea, too, was his as well as the dry land. from borneo to california the great ocean was but a spanish lake, as much the king's private property as his fish-ponds at the escorial with their carp and perch. no subjects but his dared to navigate those sacred waters. not a common highway of the world's commerce, but a private path for the gratification of one human being's vanity, had thus been laid out by the bold navigators of the sixteenth century. it was for the dutch rebels to try conclusions upon this point, as they had done upon so many others, with the master of the land and sea. the opening scenes therefore in the great career of maritime adventure and discovery by which these republicans were to make themselves famous will soon engage the reader's attention. thus the causes of what is called the greatness of spain are not far to seek. spain was not a nation, but a temporary and factitious conjunction of several nations, which it was impossible to fuse into a permanent whole, but over whose united resources a single monarch for a time disposed. and the very concentration of these vast and unlimited, powers, fortuitous as it was, in this single hand, inspiring the individual, not unnaturally, with a consciousness of superhuman grandeur; impelled him to those frantic and puerile efforts to achieve the impossible which resulted, in the downfall of spain. the man who inherited so much material greatness believed himself capable of destroying the invisible but omnipotent spirit of religious and political liberty in the netherlands, of trampling out the national existence of france and of england, and of annexing those realms to his empire: it has been my task to relate, with much minuteness, how miserably his efforts failed. but his resources were great. all italy was in his hands, with the single exception of the venetian republic; for the grand duke of florence and the so-called republic of genoa were little more than his vassals, the pope was generally his other self, and the duke of savoy was his son- in-law. thus his armies, numbering usually a hundred thousand men, were supplied from the best possible sources. the italians were esteemed the best soldiers for siege; assault, light skirmishing. the german heavy troopers and arquebuseers were the most effective for open field-work, and these were to be purchased at reasonable prices and to indefinite amount from any of the three or four hundred petty sovereigns to whom what was called germany belonged. the sicilian and neapolitan pikemen, the milanese light-horse, belonged exclusively to philip, and were used, year after year, for more than a generation of mankind, to fight battles in which they had no more interest than had their follow-subjects in the moluccas or in mexico, but which constituted for them personally as lucrative a trade on the whole as was afforded them at that day by any branch of industry. silk, corn, wine, and oil were furnished in profusion from these favoured regions, not that the inhabitants might enjoy life, and, by accumulating wealth, increase the stock of human comforts and contribute to intellectual and scientific advancement, but in order that the proprietor of the soil might feed those eternal armies ever swarming from the south to scatter desolation over the plains of france, burgundy, flanders, and holland, and to make the crown of spain and the office of the holy inquisition supreme over the world. from naples and sicily were derived in great plenty the best materials and conveniences for ship-building and marine equipment. the galleys and the galley-slaves furnished by these subject realms formed the principal part of the royal navy. from distant regions, a commerce which in philip's days had become oceanic supplied the crown with as much revenue as could be expected in a period of gross ignorance as to the causes of the true grandeur and the true wealth of nations. especially from the mines of mexico came an annual average of ten or twelve millions of precious metals, of which the king took twenty- five per cent. for himself. it would be difficult and almost superfluous to indicate the various resources placed in the hands of this one personage, who thus controlled so large a portion of the earth. all that breathed or grew belonged to him, and most steadily was the stream of blood and treasure poured through the sieve of his perpetual war. his system was essentially a gigantic and perpetual levy of contributions in kind, and it is only in this vague and unsatisfactory manner that the revenues of his empire can be stated. a despot really keeps no accounts, nor need to do so, for he is responsible to no man for the way in which he husbands or squanders his own. moreover, the science of statistics had not a beginning of existence in those days, and the most common facts can hardly be obtained, even by approximation. the usual standard of value, the commodity which we call money--gold or silver--is well known to be at best a fallacious guide for estimating the comparative wealth--of individuals or of nations at widely different epochs. the dollar of philip's day was essentially the same bit of silver that it is in our time in spain, naples, rome, or america, but even should an elaborate calculation be made as to the quantity of beef, or bread or broadcloth to be obtained for that bit of silver in this or that place in the middle of the sixteenth century, the result, as compared with prices now prevalent, would show many remarkable discrepancies. thus a bushel of wheat at antwerp during philip's reign might cost a quarter of a dollar, in average years, and there have been seasons in our own time when two bushels of wheat could have been bought for a quarter of a dollar in illinois. yet if, notwithstanding this, we should allow a tenfold value in exchange to the dollar of philip's day, we should be surprised at the meagreness of his revenues, of his expenditures, and of the debts which at the close of his career brought him to bankruptcy; were the sums estimated in coin. thus his income was estimated by careful contemporary statesmen at what seemed to them the prodigious annual amount of sixteen millions of dollars. he carried on a vast war without interruption during the whole of his forty-three years' reign against the most wealthy and military nations of christendom not recognising his authority, and in so doing he is said to have expended a sum total of seven hundred millions of dollars--a statement which made men's hair stand on their heads. yet the american republic, during its civil war to repress the insurrection of the slaveholders, has spent nominally as large a sum as this every year; and the british empire in time of profound peace spends half as much annually. and even if we should allow sixteen millions to have represented the value of a hundred and sixty millions--a purely arbitrary supposition--as compared with our times, what are a hundred and sixty, millions of dollars, or thirty-three millions of pounds sterling--as the whole net revenue of the greatest empire that had ever existed in the world, when compared with the accumulated treasures over which civilized and industrious countries can now dispose? thus the power of levying men and materials in kind constituted the chief part of the royal power, and, in truth, very little revenue in money was obtained from milan or naples, or from any of the outlying european possessions of the crown. eight millions a year were estimated as the revenue from the eight kingdoms incorporated under the general name of castile, while not more than six hundred thousand came from the three kingdoms which constituted arragon. the chief sources of money receipts were a tax of ten per cent. upon sales, paid by the seller, called alcavala, and the almoxarifalgo or tariff upon both imports and exports. besides these imposts he obtained about eight hundred thousand dollars a year by selling to his subjects the privilege of eating eggs upon fast-days, according to the permission granted him by the pope, in the bull called the cruzada. he received another annual million from the sussidio and the excusado. the first was a permission originally given by the popes to levy six hundred thousand dollars a year upon ecclesiastical property for equipment of a hundred war-galleys against the saracens, but which had more recently established itself as a regular tax to pay for naval hostilities against dutch and english heretics--a still more malignant species of unbelievers in the orthodox eyes of the period. the excusado was the right accorded to the king always to select from the church possessions a single benefice and to appropriate its fruit--a levy commuted generally for four hundred thousand dollars a year. besides these regular sources of income, large but irregular amounts of money were picked up by his majesty in small sums, through monks sent about the country simply as beggars, under no special license, to collect alms from rich and poor for sustaining the war against the infidels of england and holland. a certain jesuit, father sicily by name, had been industrious enough at one period in preaching this crusade to accumulate more than a million and a half, so that a facetious courtier advised his sovereign to style himself thenceforth king, not of the two, but of the three sicilies, in honour of the industrious priest. it is worthy of remark that at different periods during philip's reign, and especially towards its close, the whole of his regular revenue was pledged to pay the interest, on his debts, save only the sussidio and the cruzada. thus the master of the greatest empire of the earth had at times no income at his disposal except the alma he could solicit from his poorest subjects to maintain his warfare against foreign miscreants, the levy on the church for war-galleys; and the proceeds of his permission to eat meat on fridays. this sounds like an epigram, but it is a plain, incontestable fact. thus the revenues of his foreign dominions being nearly consumed by their necessary expenses, the measure of his positive wealth was to be found in the riches of spain. but spain at that day was not an opulent country. it was impossible that it should be rich, for nearly every law, according to which the prosperity of a country becomes progressive; was habitually violated. it is difficult to state even by approximation the amount of its population, but the kingdoms united under the crown of castile were estimated by contemporaries to contain eight millions, while the kingdom of portugal, together with those annexed to arragon and the other provinces of the realm, must have numbered half as many. here was a populous nation in a favoured land, but the foundation of all wealth was sapped by a perverted moral sentiment. labour was esteemed dishonourable. the spaniard, from highest to lowest, was proud, ignorant, and lazy. for a people endowed by nature with many noble qualities--courage, temperance, frugality, endurance, quickness of perception; a high sense of honour, a reverence for law--the course of the national history had proved as ingeniously bad a system of general education as could well be invented. the eternal contests, century after century, upon the soil of spain between the crescent and the cross, and the remembrance of the ancient days in which oriental valour and genius had almost extirpated germanic institutions and christian faith from the peninsula, had inspired one great portion of the masses with a hatred, amounting almost to insanity, towards every form of religion except the church of rome, towards every race of mankind except the goths and vandals. innate reverence for established authority had expanded into an intensity of religious emotion and into a fanaticism of loyalty which caused the anointed monarch leading true believers against infidels to be accepted as a god. the highest industrial and scientific civilization that had been exhibited upon spanish territory was that of moors and jews. when in the course of time those races had been subjugated, massacred, or driven into exile, not only was spain deprived of its highest intellectual culture and its most productive labour, but intelligence, science, and industry were accounted degrading, because the mark of inferior and detested peoples. the sentiment of self-esteem, always a national characteristic, assumed an almost ludicrous shape. not a ragged biscayan muleteer, not a swineherd of estremadura, that did not imagine himself a nobleman because he was not of african descent. not a half-starved, ignorant brigand, gaining his living on the highways and byways by pilfering or assassination, that did not kneel on the church pavement and listen to orisons in an ancient tongue, of which he understood not a syllable, with a sentiment of christian self-complacency to which godfrey of bouillon might have been a stranger. especially those born towards the northern frontier, and therefore farthest removed from moorish contamination, were proudest of the purity of their race. to be an asturian or a gallician, however bronzed by sun and wind, was to be furnished with positive proof against suspicion of moorish blood; but the sentiment was universal throughout the peninsula. it followed as a matter of course that labour of any kind was an impeachment against this gentility of descent. to work was the province of moors, jews, and other heretics; of the marani or accursed, miscreants and descendants of miscreants; of the sanbeniti or infamous, wretches whose ancestors had been convicted by the holy inquisition of listening, however secretly, to the holy scriptures as expounded by other lips than those of roman priests. and it is a remarkable illustration of this degradation of labour and of its results, that in the reign of philip twenty-five thousand individuals of these dishonoured and comparatively industrious classes, then computed at four millions in number in the castilian kingdoms alone, had united in a society which made a formal offer to the king to pay him two thousand dollars a head if the name and privileges of hidalgo could be conferred upon them. thus an inconsiderable number of this vilest and most abject of the population-- oppressed by taxation which was levied exclusively upon the low, and from which not only the great nobles but mechanics and other hidalgos were, exempt--had been able to earn and to lay by enough to offer the monarch fifty millions of dollars to purchase themselves out of semi-slavery into manhood, and yet found their offer rejected by an almost insolvent king. nothing could exceed the idleness and the frivolity of the upper classes, as depicted by contemporary and not unfriendly observers. the nobles were as idle and as ignorant as their inferiors. they were not given to tournays nor to the delights of the chase and table, but were fond of brilliant festivities, dancing, gambling, masquerading, love-making, and pompous exhibitions of equipage, furniture, and dress. these diversions --together with the baiting of bulls and the burning of protestants--made up their simple round of pleasures. when they went to the wars they scorned all positions but that of general, whether by land or sea, and as war is a trade which requires an apprenticeship; it is unnecessary to observe that these grandees were rarely able to command, having never learned to obey. the poorer spaniards were most honourably employed perhaps--so far as their own mental development was concerned--when they were sent with pike and arquebus to fight heretics in france and flanders. they became brave and indomitable soldiers when exported to the seat of war, and thus afforded proof--by strenuously doing the hardest physical work that human beings can be called upon to perform, campaigning year after year amid the ineffable deprivations, dangers, and sufferings which are the soldier's lot--that it was from no want of industry or capacity that the lower masses of spaniards in that age were the idle, listless, dice-playing, begging, filching vagabonds into which cruel history and horrible institutions had converted them at home. it is only necessary to recal these well-known facts to understand why one great element of production--human labour--was but meagrely supplied. it had been the deliberate policy of the government for ages to extirpate the industrious classes, and now that a great portion of moors and jews were exiles and outcasts, it was impossible to supply their place by native workmen. even the mechanics, who condescended to work with their hands in the towns, looked down alike upon those who toiled in the field and upon those who, attempted to grow rich by traffic. a locksmith or a wheelwright who could prove four descents of western, blood called himself a son of somebody--a hidalgo--and despised the farmer and the merchant. and those very artisans were careful not to injure themselves by excessive industry, although not reluctant by exorbitant prices to acquire in one or-two days what might seem a fair remuneration for a week, and to impress upon their customers that it was rather by way of favour that they were willing to serve them at all. labour being thus deficient, it is obvious that there could hardly have been a great accumulation, according to modern ideas, of capital. that other chief element of national wealth, which is the result of generations of labour and of abstinence, was accordingly not abundant. and even those accretions of capital, which in the course of centuries had been inevitable, were as clumsily and inadequately diffused as the most exquisite human perverseness could desire. if the object of civil and political institutions had been to produce the greatest ill to the greatest number, that object had been as nearly attained at last in spain as human imperfection permits; the efforts of government and of custom coming powerfully to the aid of the historical evils already indicated. it is superfluous to say that the land belonged not to those who lived upon it--but subject to the pre-eminent right of the crown--to a small selection of the human species. moderate holdings, small farms, peasant proprietorship's, were unknown. any kind of terrestrial possession; in short, was as far beyond the reach of those men who held themselves so haughtily and esteemed themselves so inordinately, as were the mountains in the moon. the great nobles--and of real grandees of spain there were but forty- nine, although the number of titled families was much larger--owned all the country, except that vast portion of it which had reposed for ages in the dead-hand of the church. the law of primogeniture, strictly enforced, tended with every generation to narrow the basis of society. nearly every great estate was an entail, passing from eldest son to eldest son, until these were exhausted, in which case a daughter transferred the family possessions to a new house. thus the capital of the country--meagre at best in comparison with what it might have been, had industry been honoured instead of being despised, had the most intelligent and most diligent classes been cherished rather than hunted to death or into obscure dens like vermin--was concentrated in very few hands. not only was the accumulation less than it should have been, but the slenderness of its diffusion had nearly amounted to absolute stagnation. the few possessors of capital wasted their revenues in unproductive consumption. the millions of the needy never dreamed of the possibility of deriving benefit from the capital of the rich, nor would have condescended to employ it, nor known how to employ it, had its use in any form been vouchsafed to them. the surface of spain, save only around the few royal residences, exhibited no splendour of architecture, whether in town or country, no wonders of agricultural or horticultural skill, no monumentsof engineering and constructive genius in roads, bridges, docks, warehouses, and other ornamental and useful fabrics, or in any of the thousand ways in which man facilitates intercourse among his kind and subdues nature to his will. yet it can never be too often repeated that it, is only the spaniard of the sixteenth century, such as extraneous circumstances had made him, that is here depicted; that he, even like his posterity and his ancestors, had been endowed by nature with some of her noblest gifts. acuteness of intellect, wealth of imagination, heroic qualities of heart, and hand, and brain, rarely surpassed in any race, and manifested on a thousand battle-fields, and in the triumphs of a magnificent and most original literature, had not been able to save a whole nation from the disasters and the degradation which the mere words philip ii, and the holy inquisition suggest to every educated mind. nor is it necessary for my purpose to measure exactly the space which separated spain from the other leading monarchies of the day. that the standard of civilization was a vastly higher one in england, holland, or even france--torn as they all were with perpetual civil war--no thinker will probably deny; but as it is rather my purpose at this moment to exhibit the evils which may spring from a perfectly bad monarchical system, as administered by a perfectly bad king, i prefer not to wander at present from the country which was ruled for almost half a century by philip ii. besides the concentration of a great part of the capital of the country in a very small number of titled families, still another immense portion of the national wealth belonged, as already intimated, to the church. there were eleven archbishops, at the head of whom stood the archbishop of toledo, with the enormous annual revenue of three hundred thousand dollars. next to him came the archbishop of seville, with one hundred and fifty thousand dollars yearly, while the income of the others varied from fifty thousand to twenty thousand dollars respectively. there were sixty-two bishops, with annual incomes ranging from fifty thousand to six thousand dollars. the churches, also, of these various episcopates were as richly endowed as the great hierarchs themselves. but without fatiguing the reader with minute details, it is sufficient to say that one-third of the whole annual income of spain and portugal belonged to the ecclesiastical body. in return for this enormous proportion of the earth's fruits, thus placed by the caprice of destiny at their disposal, these holy men did very little work in the world. they fed their flocks neither with bread nor with spiritual food. they taught little, preached little, dispensed little in charity. very few of the swarming millions of naked and hungry throughout the land were clothed or nourished out of these prodigious revenues of the church. the constant and avowed care of those prelates was to increase their worldly, possessions, to build up the fortunes of their respective families, to grow richer and richer at the expense of the people whom for centuries they had fleeced. of gross crime, of public ostentatious immorality, such as had made the roman priesthood of that and preceding ages loathsome in the sight of man and god, the spanish church- dignitaries were innocent. avarice; greediness, and laziness were their characteristics. it is almost superfluous to say that, while the ecclesiastical princes were rolling in this almost fabulous wealth, the subordinate clergy, the mob of working priests, were needy, half-starved mendicants. from this rapid survey of the condition of the peninsula it will seem less surprising than it might do at first glance that the revenue of the greatest monarch of the world was rated at the small amount--even after due allowance for the difference of general values between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries--of sixteen millions of dollars. the king of spain was powerful and redoubtable at home and abroad, because accident had placed the control of a variety of separate realms in his single hand. at the same time spain was poor and weak, because she had lived for centuries in violation of the principles on which the wealth and strength of nations depend. moreover, every one of those subject and violently annexed nations hated spain with undying fervour, while an infernal policy--the leading characteristics of which were to sow dissensions among the nobles, to confiscate their property on all convenient occasions, and to bestow it upon spaniards and other foreigners; to keep the discontented masses in poverty, but to deprive them of the power or disposition to unite with their superiors in rank in demonstrations against the crown--had sufficed to suppress any extensive revolt in the various italian states united under philip's sceptre. still more intense than the hatred of the italians was the animosity which was glowing in every portuguese breast against the spanish sway; while even the arragonese were only held in subjection by terror, which, indeed, in one form or another, was the leading instrument of philip's government. it is hardly necessary to enlarge upon the regulations of spain's foreign commerce; for it will be enough to repeat the phrase that in her eyes the great ocean from east to west was a spanish lake, sacred to the ships of the king's subjects alone. with such a simple code of navigation coming in aid of the other causes which impoverished the land, it may be believed that the maritime traffic of the country would dwindle into the same exiguous proportions which characterised her general industry. moreover, it should never be forgotten that, although the various kingdoms of spain were politically conjoined by their personal union under one despot, they were commercially distinct. a line of custom- houses separated each province from the rest, and made the various inhabitants of the peninsula practically strangers to each other. thus there was less traffic between castile, biscay, and arragon than there was between any one of them and remote foreign nations. the biscayans, for example, could even import and export commodities to and from remote countries by sea, free of duty, while their merchandize to and from castile was crushed by imposts. as this ingenious perversity of positive arrangements came to increase the negative inconveniences caused by the almost total absence of tolerable roads, canals, bridges, and other means of intercommunication, it may be imagined that internal traffic--the very life-blood of every prosperous nation--was very nearly stagnant in spain. as an inevitable result, the most thriving branch of national industry was that of the professional smuggler, who, in the pursuit of his vocation, did his best to aid government in sapping the wealth of the nation. the whole accumulated capital of spain, together with the land--in the general sense which includes not only the soil but the immovable property of a country being thus exclusively owned by the crown, the church, and a very small number of patrician families, while the supply of labour owing to the special causes which had converted the masses of the people into paupers ashamed to work but not unwilling to beg or to rob--was incredibly small, it is obvious that, so long as the same causes continued in operation, the downfall of the country was a logical result from which there was no escape. nothing but a general revolution of mind and hand against the prevalent system, nothing but some great destructive but regenerating catastrophe, could redeem the people. and it is the condition of the people which ought always to be the prominent subject of interest to those who study the records of the past. it is only by such study that we can derive instruction from history, and enable ourselves, however dimly and feebly, to cast the horoscope of younger nations. human history, so far as it has been written, is at best a mere fragment; for the few centuries or year-thousands of which there is definite record are as nothing compared to the millions of unnumbered years during which man has perhaps walked the earth. it may be as practicable therefore to derive instruction from a minute examination in detail of a very limited period of time and space, and thus to deduce general rules for the infinite future, during which our species may be destined to inhabit this planet, as by a more extensive survey, which must however be at best a limited one. men die, but man is immortal, and it would be a sufficiently forlorn prospect for humanity if we were not able to discover causes in operation which would ultimately render the system of philip ii. impossible in any part of the globe. certainly, were it otherwise, the study of human history would be the most wearisome and unprofitable of all conceivable occupations. the festivities of courts, the magnificence of an aristocracy, the sayings and doings of monarchs and their servants, the dynastic wars, the solemn treaties; the ossa upon pelion of diplomatic and legislative rubbish by which, in the course of centuries, a few individuals or combinations of individuals have been able to obstruct the march of humanity, and have essayed to suspend the operation of elemental laws--all this contains but little solid food for grown human beings. the condition of the brave and quickwitted spanish people in the latter half of the sixteenth century gives more matter for reflection and possible instruction. that science is the hope of the world, that ignorance is the real enslaver of mankind, and therefore the natural ally of every form of despotism, may be assumed as an axiom, and it was certainly the ignorance and superstition of the people upon which the philippian policy was founded. a vast mass, entirely uneducated, half fed, half clothed, unemployed; and reposing upon a still lower and denser stratum--the millions namely of the "accursed," of the africans, and last and vilest of all, the "blessed" descendants of spanish protestants whom the holy office had branded with perpetual infamy because it had burned their progenitors-- this was the people; and it was these paupers and outcasts, nearly the whole nation, that paid all the imposts of which the public revenue was composed. the great nobles, priests, and even the hidalgos, were exempt from taxation. need more be said to indicate the inevitable ruin of both government and people? and it was over such a people, and with institutions like these, that philip ii. was permitted to rule during forty-three years. his power was absolute. with this single phrase one might as well dismiss any attempt at specification. he made war or peace at will with foreign nations. he had power of life and death over all his subjects. he had unlimited control of their worldly goods. as he claimed supreme jurisdiction over their religious opinions also, he was master of their minds, bodies, and estates. as a matter of course, he nominated and removed at will every executive functionary, every judge, every magistrate, every military or civil officer; and moreover, he not only selected, according to the license tacitly conceded to him by the pontiff, every archbishop, bishop, and other church dignitary, but, through his great influence at rome, he named most of the cardinals, and thus controlled the election of the popes. the whole machinery of society, political, ecclesiastical, military, was in his single hand. there was a show of provincial privilege here and there in different parts of spain, but it was but the phantom of that ancient municipal liberty which it had been the especial care of his father and his great-grandfather to destroy. most patiently did philip, by his steady inactivity, bring about the decay of the last ruins of free institutions in the peninsula. the councils and legislative assemblies were convoked and then wearied out in waiting for that royal assent to their propositions and transactions, which was deferred intentionally, year after year, and never given. thus the time of the deputies was consumed in accomplishing infinite nothing, until the moment arrived when the monarch, without any violent stroke of state, could feel safe in issuing decrees and pragmatic edicts; thus reducing the ancient legislative and consultative bodies to nullity, and substituting the will of an individual for a constitutional fabric. to criticise the expenses of government or to attempt interference with the increase of taxation became a sorry farce. the forms remained in certain provinces after the life had long since fled. only in arragon had the ancient privileges seemed to defy the absolute authority of the monarch; and it was reserved for antonio perez to be the cause of their final extirpation. the grinning skulls of the chief justice of that kingdom and of the boldest and noblest advocates and defenders of the national liberties, exposed for years in the market-place, with the record of their death-sentence attached, informed the spaniards, in language which the most ignorant could read, that the crime of defending a remnant of human freedom and constitutional law was sure to draw down condign punishment. it was the last time in that age that even the ghost of extinct liberty was destined to revisit the soil of spain. it mattered not that the immediate cause for pursuing perez was his successful amour with the king's mistress, nor that the crime of which he was formally accused was the deadly offence of calvinism, rather than his intrigue with the eboli and his assassination of escovedo; for it was in the natural and simple sequence of events that the last vestige of law or freedom should be obliterated wherever philip could vindicate his sway. it must be admitted, too, that the king seized this occasion to strike a decisive blow with a promptness very different from his usual artistic sluggishness. rarely has a more terrible epigram been spoken by man than the royal words which constituted the whole trial and sentence of the chief justice of arragon, for the crime of defending the law of his country: "you will take john of lanuza, and you will have his head cut off." this was the end of the magistrate and of the constitution which he had defended. his power, was unlimited. a man endowed with genius and virtue, and possessing the advantages of a consummate education, could have perhaps done little more than attempt to mitigate the general misery, and to remove some of its causes. for it is one of the most pernicious dogmas of the despotic system, and the one which the candid student of history soonest discovers to be false, that the masses of mankind are to look to any individual, however exalted by birth or intellect, for their redemption. woe to the world if the nations are never to learn that their fate is and ought to be in their own hands; that their institutions, whether liberal or despotic, are the result of the national biography and of the national character, not the work of a few individuals whose names have been preserved by capricious accident as heroes and legislators. yet there is no doubt that, while comparatively powerless for good, the individual despot is capable of almost infinite mischief. there have been few men known to history who have been able to accomplish by their own exertions so vast an amount of evil as the king who had just died. if philip possessed a single virtue it has eluded the conscientious research of the writer of these pages. if there are vices --as possibly there are from which he was exempt, it is because it is not permitted to human nature to attain perfection even in evil. the only plausible explanation--for palliation there is none--of his infamous career is that the man really believed himself not a king but a god. he was placed so high above his fellow-creatures as, in good faith perhaps, to believe himself incapable of doing wrong; so that, whether indulging his passions or enforcing throughout the world his religious and political dogmas, he was ever conscious of embodying divine inspirations and elemental laws. when providing for the assassination of a monarch, or commanding the massacre of a townfill of protestants; when trampling on every oath by which a human being can bind himself; when laying desolate with fire and sword, during more than a generation, the provinces which he had inherited as his private property, or in carefully maintaining the flames of civil war in foreign kingdoms which he hoped to acquire; while maintaining over all christendom a gigantic system of bribery, corruption, and espionage, keeping the noblest names of england and scotland on his pension-lists of traitors, and impoverishing his exchequer with the wages of iniquity paid in france to men of all degrees, from princes of blood like guise and mayenne down to the obscurest of country squires, he ever felt that these base or bloody deeds were not crimes, but the simple will of the godhead of which he was a portion. he never doubted that the extraordinary theological system which he spent his life in enforcing with fire and sword was right, for it was a part of himself. the holy inquisition, thoroughly established as it was in his ancestral spain, was a portion of the regular working machinery by which his absolute kingship and his superhuman will expressed themselves. a tribunal which performed its functions with a celerity, certainty, and invisibility resembling the attributes of omnipotence; which, like the pestilence, entered palace or hovel at will, and which smote the wretch guilty or suspected of heresy with a precision against which no human ingenuity or sympathy could guard--such an institution could not but be dear to his heart. it was inevitable that the extension and perpetuation of what he deemed its blessings throughout his dominions should be his settled purpose. spain was governed by an established terrorism. it is a mistake to suppose that philip was essentially beloved in his native land, or that his religious and political system was heartily accepted because consonant to the national character. on the contrary, as has been shown, a very large proportion of the inhabitants were either secretly false to the catholic faith, or descended at least from those who had expiated their hostility to it with their lives. but the grand inquisitor was almost as awful a personage; as the king or the pope. his familiars were in every village and at every fireside, and from their fangs there was no escape. millions of spaniards would have rebelled against the crown or accepted the reformed religion, had they not been perfectly certain of being burned or hanged at the slightest movement in such a direction. the popular force in the course of the political combinations of centuries seemed at last to have been eliminated. the nobles, exempt from taxation, which crushed the people to the earth, were the enemies rather than the chieftains and champions of the lower classes in any possible struggle with a crown to which they were united by ties of interest as well as of affection, while the great churchmen, too, were the immediate dependants and of course the firm supporters of the king. thus the people, without natural leaders, without organisation, and themselves divided into two mutually hostile sections, were opposed by every force in the state. crown, nobility, and clergy; all the wealth and all that there was of learning, were banded together to suppress the democratic principle. but even this would hardly have sufficed to extinguish every spark of liberty, had it not been for the potent machinery of the inquisition; nor could that perfection of terrorism have become an established institution but for the extraordinary mixture of pride and superstition of which the national character had been, in the course of the national history, compounded. the spanish portion of the people hated the nobles, whose petty exactions and oppressions were always visible; but they had a reverential fear of the unseen monarch, as the representative both of the great unsullied christian nation to which the meanest individual was proud to belong, and of the god of wrath who had decreed the extermination of all unbelievers. the "accursed" portion of the people were sufficiently disloyal at heart, but were too much crushed by oppression and contempt to imagine themselves men. as to the netherlanders, they did not fight originally for independence. it was not until after a quarter of a century of fighting that they ever thought of renouncing their allegiance to philip. they fought to protect themselves against being taxed by the king without the consent of those constitutional assemblies which he had sworn to maintain, and to save themselves and their children from being burned alive if they dared to read the bible. independence followed after nearly a half-century of fighting, but it would never have been obtained, or perhaps demanded, had those grievances of the people been redressed. of this perfect despotism philip was thus the sole administrator. certainly he looked upon his mission with seriousness, and was industrious in performing his royal functions. but this earnestness and seriousness were, in truth, his darkest vices; for the most frivolous voluptuary that ever wore a crown would never have compassed a thousandth part of the evil which was philip's life-work. it was because he was a believer in himself, and in what he called his religion, that he was enabled to perpetrate such a long catalogue of crimes. when an humble malefactor is brought before an ordinary court of justice, it is not often, in any age or country, that he escapes the pillory or the gallows because, from his own point of view, his actions, instead of being criminal, have been commendable, and because the multitude and continuity of his offences prove him to have been sincere. and because anointed monarchs are amenable to no human tribunal, save to that terrible assize which the people, bursting its chain from time to time in the course of the ages, sets up for the trial of its oppressors, and which is called revolution, it is the more important for the great interests of humanity that before the judgment-seat of history a crown should be no protection to its wearer. there is no plea to the jurisdiction of history, if history be true to itself. as for the royal criminal called philip ii., his life is his arraignment, and these volumes will have been written in vain if a specification is now required. homicide such as was hardly ever compassed before by one human being was committed by philip when in the famous edict of he sentenced every man, woman, and child in the netherlands to death. that the whole of this population, three millions or more, were not positively destroyed was because no human energy could suffice to execute the diabolical decree. but alva, toiling hard, accomplished much of this murderous work. by the aid of the "council of blood," and of the sheriffs and executioners of the holy inquisition, he was able sometimes to put eight hundred human beings to death in a single week for the crimes of protestantism or of opulence, and at the end of half a dozen years he could boast of having strangled, drowned, burned, or beheaded somewhat more than eighteen thousand of his fellow-creatures. these were some of the non-combatant victims; for of the tens of thousands who perished during his administration alone, in siege and battle, no statistical record has been preserved. in face of such wholesale crimes, of these forty years of bloodshed, it is superfluous to refer to such isolated misdeeds as his repeated attempts to procure the assassination of the prince of orange, crowned at last by the success of balthazar gerard, nor to his persistent efforts to poison the queen of england; for the enunciation of all these murders or attempts at murder would require a repetition of the story which it has been one of the main purposes of these volumes to recite. for indeed it seems like mere railing to specify his crimes. their very magnitude and unbroken continuity, together with their impunity, give them almost the appearance of inevitable phenomena. the horrible monotony of his career stupefies the mind until it is ready to accept the principle of evil as the fundamental law of the world. his robberies, like his murders, were colossal. the vast, system of confiscation set up in the netherlands was sufficient to reduce unnumbered innocent families to beggary, although powerless to break the spirit of civil and religious liberty or to pay the expenses of subjugating a people. not often in the world's history have so many thousand individual been plundered by a foreign tyrant for no crime, save that they were rich enough to be worth robbing. for it can never be too often repeated that those confiscations and extortions were perpetrated upon catholics as well as protestants, monarchists as well as rebels; the possession of property making proof of orthodoxy or of loyalty well-nigh impossible. falsehood was the great basis of the king's character, which perhaps derives its chief importance, as a political and psychological study, from this very fact. it has been shown throughout the whole course of this history, by the evidence of his most secret correspondence, that he was false, most of all, to those to whom he gave what he called his heart. granvelle, alva, don john, alexander farnese, all those, in short, who were deepest in his confidence experienced in succession his entire perfidy, while each in turn was sacrificed to his master's sleepless suspicion. the pope himself was often as much the dupe of the catholic monarch's faithlessness as the vilest heretic had ever been. could the great schoolmaster of iniquity for the sovereigns and politicians of the south have lived to witness the practice of the monarch who had most laid to heart the precepts of the "prince," he would have felt that he had not written in vain, and that his great paragon of successful falsehood, ferdinand of arragon, had been surpassed by the great grandson. for the ideal perfection of perfidy, foreshadowed by the philosopher who died in the year of philip's birth, was thoroughly embodied at last by this potentate. certainly nicholas macchiavelli could have hoped for no more docile pupil. that all men are vile, that they are liars; scoundrels, poltroons, and idiots alike--ever ready to deceive and yet easily to be duped, and that he only is fit to be king who excels his kind in the arts of deception; by this great maxim of the florentine, philip was ever guided. and those well-known texts of hypocrisy, strewn by the same hand, had surely not fallen on stony ground when received into philip's royal soul. "often it is necessary, in order to maintain power, to act contrary to faith, contrary to charity, contrary to humanity, contrary to religion . . . . . . a prince ought therefore to have great care that from his mouth nothing should ever come that is not filled with those five qualities, and that to see and hear him he should appear all piety, all faith, all integrity, all humanity, all religion. and nothing is more necessary than to seem to have this last-mentioned quality. every one sees what you seem, few perceive what you are." surely this hand-book of cant had been philip's 'vade mecum' through his life's pilgrimage. it is at least a consolation to reflect that a career controlled by such principles came to an ignominious close. had the mental capacity of this sovereign been equal to his criminal intent, even greater woe might have befallen the world. but his intellect was less than mediocre. his passion for the bureau, his slavery to routine, his puerile ambition personally to superintend details which could have been a thousand times better administered by subordinates, proclaimed every day the narrowness of his mind. his diligence in reading, writing, and commenting upon despatches may excite admiration only where there has been no opportunity of judging of his labours by personal inspection. those familiar with the dreary displays of his penmanship must admit that such work could have been at least as well done by a copying clerk of average capacity. his ministers were men of respectable ability, but he imagined himself, as he advanced in life, far superior to any counsellor that he could possibly select, and was accustomed to consider himself the first statesman in the world. his reign was a thorough and disgraceful failure. its opening scene was the treaty of catean cambresis, by which a triumph over france had been achieved for him by the able generals and statesmen of his father, so humiliating and complete as to make every french soldier or politician gnash his teeth. its conclusion was the treaty of vervins with the same power, by which the tables were completely turned, and which was as utterly disgraceful to spain as that of cateau cambresis had been to france. he had spent his life in fighting with the spirit of the age-- that invincible power of which he had not the faintest conception--while the utter want of adaptation of his means to his ends often bordered, not on the ludicrous, but the insane. he attempted to reduce the free netherlands to slavery and to papacy. before his death they had expanded into an independent republic, with a policy founded upon religious toleration and the rights of man. he had endeavoured all his life to exclude the bearnese from his heritage and to place himself or his daughter on the vacant throne; before his death henry iv. was the most powerful and popular sovereign that had ever reigned in france. he had sought to invade and to conquer england, and to dethrone and assassinate its queen. but the queen outwitted, outgeneralled, and outlived, him; english soldiers and sailors, assisted. by their dutch comrades in arms, accomplished on the shores of spain what the invincible armada had in vain essayed against england and holland; while england, following thenceforth the opposite system to that of absolutism and the inquisition, became, after centuries of struggles towards the right, the most powerful, prosperous, and enlightened kingdom in the world. his exchequer, so full when he ascended the throne as to excite the awe of contemporary financiers, was reduced before his death to a net income of some four millions of dollars. his armies; which had been the wonder of the age in the earlier period of his reign for discipline, courage, and every quality on which military efficiency depends, were in his later years a horde of starving, rebellious brigands, more formidable to their commanders than to the foe. mutiny was the only organised military institution that was left in his dominions, while the spanish inquisition, which it was the fell purpose of his life from youth upwards to establish over the world, became a loathsome and impossible nuisance everywhere but in its natal soil. if there be such a thing as historical evidence, then is philip ii., convicted before the tribunal of impartial posterity of every crime charged in his indictment. he lived seventy-one years and three months, he reigned forty-three years. he endured the martyrdom of his last illness with the heroism of a saint, and died in the certainty of immortal bliss as the reward of his life of evil. etext editor's bookmarks: a despot really keeps no accounts, nor need to do so all italy was in his hands every one sees what you seem, few perceive what you are god of wrath who had decreed the extermination of all unbeliever had industry been honoured instead of being despised history is but made up of a few scattered fragments hugo grotius idle, listless, dice-playing, begging, filching vagabonds ignorance is the real enslaver of mankind innocent generation, to atone for the sins of their forefathers intelligence, science, and industry were accounted degrading labour was esteemed dishonourable man had no rights at all he was property matters little by what name a government is called moral nature, undergoes less change than might be hoped names history has often found it convenient to mark its epochs national character, not the work of a few individuals proceeds of his permission to eat meat on fridays rarely able to command, having never learned to obey rich enough to be worth robbing seems but a change of masks, of costume, of phraseology selling the privilege of eating eggs upon fast-days sentiment of christian self-complacency spain was governed by an established terrorism that unholy trinity--force; dogma, and ignorance the great ocean was but a spanish lake the most thriving branch of national industry (smuggler) the record of our race is essentially unwritten thirty thousand masses should be said for his soul those who argue against a foregone conclusion three or four hundred petty sovereigns (of germany) utter want of adaptation of his means to his ends while one's friends urge moderation whole revenue was pledged to pay the interest, on his debts this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, - chapter xxxii. archduke cardinal albert appointed governor of the netherlands-- return of philip william from captivity--his adherence to the king of spain--notice of the marquis of varambon, count varax, and other new officers--henry's communications with queen elizabeth--madame de monceaux--conversation of henry with the english ambassador-- marseilles secured by the duke of guise--the fort of rysbank taken by de roane calais in the hands of the spanish--assistance from england solicited by henry--unhandsome conditions proposed by elizabeth--annexation of calais to the obedient provinces--pirates of dunkirk--uneasiness of the netherlanders with regard to the designs of elizabeth--her protestations of sincerity--expedition of dutch and english forces to spain--attack on the spanish war-ships-- victory of the allies--flag of the republic planted on the fortress of cadiz--capitulation of the city--letter of elizabeth to the dutch admirals--state of affairs in france--proposition of the duke of montpensier for the division of the kingdom--successes of the cardinal archduke in normandy--he proceeds to flanders--siege and capture of hulat--projected alliance against spain--interview of de sancy with lord burghley--diplomatic conference at greenwich-- formation of a league against spain--duplicity of the treaty-- affairs in germany--battle between the emperor and the grand turk-- endeavours of philip to counteract the influence of the league--his interference in the affairs of germany--secret intrigue of henry with spain--philip's second attempt at the conquest of england. another governor-general arrived in the early days of the year , to take charge of the obedient provinces. it had been rumoured for many months that philip's choice was at last fixed upon the archduke cardinal albert, archbishop of toledo, youngest of the three surviving brothers, of the emperor rudolph, as the candidate for many honours. he was to espouse the infanta, he was to govern the netherlands, and, as it was supposed, there were wider and wilder schemes for the aggrandizement of this fortunate ecclesiastic brooding in the mind of philip than yet had seen the light. meantime the cardinal's first care was to unfrock himself. he had also been obliged to lay down the most lucrative episcopate in christendom, that of toledo, the revenues of which amounted to the enormous sum of three hundred thousand dollars a year. of this annual income, however, he prudently reserved to himself fifty thousand dollars, by contract with his destined successor. the cardinal reached the netherlands before the end of january. he brought with him three thousand spanish infantry, and some companies of cavalry, while his personal baggage was transported on three hundred and fifty mules. of course there was a triumphal procession when, on the th february, the new satrap entered the obedient netherlands, and there was the usual amount of bell-ringing, cannon-firing, trumpet-blowing, with torch-light processions, blazing tar-barrels, and bedizened platforms, where allegory, in an advanced state of lunacy, performed its wonderful antics. it was scarcely possible for human creatures to bestow more adulation, or to abase themselves more thoroughly, than the honest citizens of brussels had so recently done in honour of the gentle, gouty ernest, but they did their best. that mythological conqueror and demigod had sunk into an unhonoured grave, despite the loud hosannaha sung to him on his arrival in belgica, and the same nobles, pedants, and burghers were now ready and happy to grovel at the feet of albert. but as it proved as impossible to surpass the glories of the holiday which had been culled out for his brother, so it would be superfluous now to recall the pageant which thus again delighted the capital. but there was one personage who graced this joyous entrance whose presence excited perhaps more interest than did that of the archduke himself. the procession was headed by three grandees riding abreast. there was the duke of aumale, pensionary of philip, and one of the last of the leaguers, who had just been condemned to death and executed in effigy at paris, as a traitor to his king and country; there was the prince of chimay, now since the recent death of his father at venice become duke of arschot; and between the two rode a gentleman forty-two years of age, whose grave; melancholy features--although wearing a painful expression of habitual restraint and distrust suggested, more than did those of the rest of his family, the physiognomy of william the silent to all who remembered that illustrious rebel. it was the eldest son of the great founder of the dutch republic. philip william, prince of orange, had at last, after twenty-eight years of captivity in spain, returned to the netherlands, whence he had been kidnapped while a school boy at louvain, by order of the duke of alva. rarely has there been a more dreary fate, a more broken existence than his. his almost life-long confinement, not close nor cruel, but strict and inexorable, together with the devilish arts of the jesuits, had produced nearly as blighting an effect upon his moral nature as a closer dungeon might have done on his physical constitution. although under perpetual arrest in madrid, he had been allowed to ride and to hunt, to go to mass, and to enjoy many of the pleasures of youth. but he had been always a prisoner, and his soul--a hopeless captive--could no longer be liberated now that the tyrant, in order to further his own secret purposes; had at last released his body from gaol. although the eldest- born of his father, and the inheritor of the great estates of orange and of buren, he was no longer a nassau except in name. the change wrought by the pressure of the spanish atmosphere was complete. all that was left of his youthful self was a passionate reverence for his father's memory, strangely combined with a total indifference to all that his father held dear, all for which his father had laboured his whole lifetime, and for which his heart's blood had been shed. on being at last set free from bondage he had been taken to the escorial, and permitted to kiss the hand of the king--that hand still reeking with his father's murder. he had been well received by the infante and the infanta, and by the empress-mother, daughter of charles v., while the artistic treasures of the palace and cloister were benignantly pointed out to him. it was also signified to him that he was to receive the order of the golden fleece, and to enter into possession of his paternal and maternal estates. and philip william had accepted these conditions as if a born loyal subject of his most catholic majesty. could better proof be wanting that in that age religion was the only fatherland, and that a true papist could sustain no injury at the hands of his most catholic majesty. if to be kidnapped in boyhood, to be imprisoned during a whole generation of mankind, to be deprived of vast estates, and to be made orphan by the foulest of assassinations, could not engender resentment against, the royal, perpetrator of these crimes in the bosom of his victim, was it strange that philip should deem himself, something far, more than man, and should placidly accept the worship rendered to him by inferior beings, as to the holy impersonation of almighty wrath? yet there is no doubt that the prince had a sincere respect for his father, and had bitterly sorrowed at his death. when a spanish officer, playing chess with him, in prison, had ventured to speak lightly of that father, philip william had seized him bodily, thrown him from the window, and thus killed him on the spot. and when on his arrival in brussels it was suggested to him by president riehardat that it was the king's intention to reinstate him in the possession of his estates, but that a rent-charge of eighteen thousand florins a year was still to be paid from them; to the heirs of balthazar gerard, his father's assassin, he flamed into a violent rage, drew his poniard, and would have stabbed the president; had not the bystanders forcibly inteferred. in consequence of this refusal--called magnanimous by contemporary writers--to accept his property under such conditions, the estates were detained from him for a considerable time longer. during the period of his captivity he had been allowed an income of fifteen thousand livres; but after his restoration his household, gentlemen, and servants alone cost him eighty thousand livres annually. it was supposed that the name of orange-nassau might now be of service to the king's designs in the netherlands. philip william had come by way of rome, where he had been allowed to kiss the pope's feet and had received many demonstrations of favour, and it was fondly thought that he would now prove an instrument with which king and pontiff might pipe back the rebellious republic to its ancient allegiance. but the dutchmen and frisians were deaf. they had tasted liberty too long, they had dealt too many hard blows on the head of regal and sacerdotal despotism, to be deceived by coarse artifices. especially the king thought that something might be done with count hohenlo. that turbulent personage having recently married the full sister of philip william, and being already at variance with count maurice, both for military and political causes, and on account of family and pecuniary disputes, might, it was thought, be purchased by the king, and perhaps a few towns and castles in the united netherlands might be thrown into the bargain. in that huckstering age, when the loftiest and most valiant nobles of europe were the most shameless sellers of themselves, the most cynical mendicants for alms and the most infinite absorbers of bribes in exchange for their temporary fealty; when mayenne, mercoeur, guise, pillars, egmont, and innumerable other possessors of ancient and illustrious names alternately and even simultaneously drew pensions from both sides in the great european conflict, it was not wonderful that philip should think that the boisterous hohenlo might be bought as well as another. the prudent king, however, gave his usual order that nothing was to be paid beforehand, but that the service was to be rendered first; and the price received afterwards. the cardinal applied himself to the task on his first arrival, but was soon obliged to report that he could make but little progress in the negotiation. the king thought, too, that heraugiere, who had commanded the memorable expedition against breda, and who was now governor of that stronghold, might be purchased, and he accordingly instructed the cardinal to make use of the prince of orange in the negotiations to be made for that purpose. the cardinal, in effect, received an offer from heraugiere in the course of a few months not only to surrender breda, without previous recompense, but likewise to place gertruydenberg, the governor of which city was his relative, in the king's possession. but the cardinal was afraid of a trick, for heraugiere was known to be as artful as he was brave, and there can be little doubt that the netherlander was only disposed to lay an ambush for the governor-general. and thus the son of william the silent made his reappearance in the streets of brussels, after twenty-eight years of imprisonment, riding in the procession of the new viceroy. the cardinal-archduke came next, with fuentes riding at his left hand. that vigorous soldier and politician soon afterwards left the netherlands to assume the government of milan. there was a correspondence between the prince of orange and the states- general, in which the republican authorities after expressing themselves towards him with great propriety, and affectionate respect, gave him plainly but delicately to understand that his presence at that time in the united provinces would neither be desirable, nor, without their passports, possible. they were quite aware of the uses to which the king was hoping to turn their reverence for the memory and the family of the great martyr, and were determined to foil such idle projects on the threshold. the archduke albert, born on rd of november, , was now in his thirty-sixth year. a small, thin, pale-faced man, with fair hair, and beard, commonplace features, and the hereditary underhanging burgundian jaw prominently developed, he was not without a certain nobility of presence. his manners were distant to haughtiness and grave to solemnity. he spoke very little and very slowly. he had resided long in spain, where he had been a favourite with his uncle--as much as any man could be a favourite with philip--and he had carefully formed himself on that royal model. he looked upon the king of spain as the greatest, wisest, and best of created beings, as the most illustrious specimen of kingcraft ever yet vouchsafed to the world. he did his best to look sombre and spanish, to turn his visage into a mask; to conceal his thoughts and emotions, not only by the expression of his features but by direct misstatements of his tongue, and in all things to present to the obedient flemings as elaborate a reproduction of his great prototype as copy can ever recall inimitable original. old men in the netherlands; who remembered in how short a time philip had succeeded, by the baleful effect of his personal presence, in lighting up a hatred which not the previous twenty years of his father's burnings, hangings, and butcherings in those provinces had been able to excite, and which forty subsequent years of bloodshed had not begun to allay, might well shake their heads when they saw this new representative of spanish authority. it would have been wiser--so many astute politicians thought--for albert to take the emperor charles for his model, who had always the power of making his tyranny acceptable to the flemings, through the adroitness with which he seemed to be entirely a fleming himself. but albert, although a german, valued himself on appearing like a spaniard. he was industrious, regular in his habits, moderate in eating and drinking, fond of giving audiences on business. he spoke german, spanish, and latin, and understood french and italian. he had at times been a student, and, especially, had some knowledge of mathematics. he was disposed to do his duty--so far as a man can do his duty, who imagines himself so entirely lifted above his fellow creatures as to owe no obligation except to exact their obedience and to personify to them the will of the almighty. to philip and the pope he was ever faithful. he was not without pretensions to military talents, but his gravity, slowness, and silence made him fitter to shine in the cabinet than in the field. henry iv., who loved his jests whether at his own expense or that of friend or foe, was wont to observe that there were three things which nobody would ever believe, and which yet were very true; that queen elizabeth deserved her title of the, throned vestal, that he was himself a good catholic, and that cardinal albert was a good general. it is probable that the assertions were all equally accurate. the new governor did not find a very able group of generals or statesmen assembled about him to assist in the difficult task which he had undertaken. there were plenty of fine gentlemen, with ancient names and lofty pretensions, but the working men in field or council had mostly disappeared. mondragon, la motte, charles mansfeld, frank verdugo were all dead. fuentes was just taking his departure for italy. old peter ernest was a cipher; and his son's place was filled by the marquis of varambon; as principal commander in active military operations. this was a burgundian of considerable military ability, but with an inordinate opinion of himself and of his family. "accept the fact that his lineage is the highest possible, and that he has better connections than those of anybody else in the whole world, and he will be perfectly contented," said a sharp, splenetic spaniard in the cardinal's confidence. "'tis a faithful and loyal cavalier, but full of impertinences." the brother of varambon, count varax, had succeeded la motte as general of artillery, and of his doings there was a, tale ere long to be told. on the whole, the best soldier in the archduke's service for the moment was the frenchman savigny de rosne, an ancient leaguer, and a passionate hater of the bearnese, of heretics, and of france as then constituted. he had once made a contract with henry by which he bound himself to his service; but after occasioning a good deal of injury by his deceitful attitude, he had accepted a large amount of spanish dollars, and had then thrown off the mask and proclaimed himself the deadliest foe of his lawful sovereign. "he was foremost," said carlos coloma, "among those who were successfully angled for by the commander moreo with golden hooks." although prodigiously fat, this renegade was an active and experienced campaigner; while his personal knowledge of his own country made his assistance of much value to those who were attempting its destruction. the other great nobles, who were pressing themselves about the new viceroy with enthusiastic words of welcome, were as like to give him embarrassment as support. all wanted office, emoluments, distinctions, nor could, much dependence be placed on the ability or the character of any of them. the new duke of arschot had in times past, as prince of chimay, fought against the king, and had even imagined himself a calvinist, while his wife was still a determined heretic. it is true that she was separated from her husband. he was a man of more quickness and acuteness than his father had been, but if possible more mischievous both to friend and foe; being subtle, restless, intriguing, fickle; ambitious, and deceitful. the prince of orange was considered a man of very ordinary intelligence, not more than half witted, according to queen elizabeth, and it was probable that the peculiar circumstances of his life would extinguish any influence that he might otherwise have attained with either party. he was likely to affect a neutral position and, in times of civil war, to be neutral is to be nothing. arenberg, unlike the great general on the catholic side who had made the name illustrious in the opening scenes of the mighty contest, was disposed to quiet obscurity so far as was compatible with his rank. having inherited neither fortune nor talent with his ancient name, he was chiefly occupied with providing for the wants of his numerous family. a good papist, well-inclined and docile, he was strongly recommended for the post of admiral, not because he had naval acquirements, but because he had a great many children. the marquis of havre, uncle to the duke of arschot, had played in his time many prominent parts in the long netherland tragedy. although older than he was when requesens and don john of austria had been governors, he was not much wiser, being to the full as vociferous, as false, as insolent, as self-seeking, and as mischievous as in his youth. alternately making appeals to popular passions in his capacity of high-born demagogue, or seeking crumbs of bounty as the supple slave of his sovereign, he was not more likely to acquire the confidence of the cardinal than he had done that of his predecessors. the most important and opulent grandee of all the provinces was the count de ligne, who had become by marriage or inheritance prince of espinay, seneschal of hainault, and viscount of ghent. but it was only his enormous estates that gave him consideration, for he was not thought capable of either good or bad intentions. he had, however, in times past, succeeded in the chief object of his ambition, which was to keep out of trouble, and to preserve his estates from confiscation. his wife, who governed him, and had thus far guided him safely, hoped to do so to the end. the cardinal was informed that the golden fleece would be all- sufficient to keep him upon the right track. of the egmonts, one had died on the famous field of ivry, another was an outlaw, and had been accused of participation in plots of assassination against william of orange; the third was now about the archduke's court, and was supposed, to be as dull a man--as ligne, but likely to be serviceable so long as he could keep his elder brother out of his inheritance. thus devoted to church and king were the sons of the man whose head philip had taken off on a senseless charge of treason. the two counts van den berg--frederic and herman--sons of the sister of william the silent, were, on the whole, as brave, efficient, and trustworthy servants of the king and cardinal as were to be found in the obedient, provinces. the new governor had come well provided with funds, being supplied for the first three-quarters of the year with a monthly: allowance of , , florins. for reasons soon to appear, it was not probable that the states-general would be able very, soon to make a vigorous campaign, and it was thought best for the cardinal to turn his immediate attention to france. the negotiations for, effecting an alliance offensive and defensive, between the three powers most interested in opposing the projects of spain for universal empire, were not yet begun, and will be reserved for a subsequent chapter. meantime there had been much informal discussion and diplomatic trifling between france and england for the purpose of bringing about a sincere co-operation of the two crowns against the fifth monarchy--as it was much the fashion to denominate philip's proposed dominion. henry had suggested at different times to sir robert sidney, during his frequent presence in france as special envoy for the queen, the necessity of such a step, but had not always found a hearty sympathy. but as the king began to cool in his hatred to spain, after his declaration of war against that power, it seemed desirable to elizabeth to fan his resentment afresh, and to revert to those propositions which had been so coolly received when made. sir harry umton, ambassador from her majesty, was accordingly provided with especial letters on the subject from the queen's own hand, and presented them early in the year at coucy (feb. , ). no man in the world knew better the tone to adopt in his communications with elizabeth than did the chivalrous king. no man knew better than he how impossible it was to invent terms of adulation too gross for her to accept as spontaneous and natural effusions, of the heart. he received the letters from the hands of sir henry, read them with rapture, heaved a deep sigh, and exclaimed. "ah! mr. ambassador, what shall i say to you? this letter of the queen, my sister, is full of sweetness and affection. i see that she loves me, while that i love her is not to be doubted. yet your commission shows me the contrary, and this proceeds from her, ministers. how else can these obliquities stand with her professions of love? i am forced, as a king, to take a course which, as henry, her loving brother, i could never adopt." they then walked out into the park, and the king fell into frivolous discourse, on purpose to keep the envoy from the important subject which had been discussed in the cabinet. sir henry brought him back to business, and insisted that there was no disagreement between her majesty and her counsellors, all being anxious to do what she wished. the envoy, who shared in the prevailing suspicions that henry was about to make a truce with spain, vehemently protested against such a step, complaining that his ministers, whose minds were distempered with jealousy, were inducing him to sacrifice her friendship to a false and hollow reconciliation with spain. henry protested that his preference would be for england's amity, but regretted that the english delays were so great, and that such dangers were ever impending over his head, as to make it impossible for him, as a king, to follow the inclinations of his heart. they then met madame de monceaux, the beautiful gabrielle, who was invited to join in the walk, the king saying that she was no meddler in politics, but of a tractable spirit. this remark, in sir henry's opinion, was just, for, said he to burghley, she is thought incapable of affairs, and, very simple. the duchess unmasked very graciously as the ambassador was presented; but, said the splenetic diplomatist, "i took no pleasure in it, nor held it any grace at all." "she was attired in a plain satin gown," he continued, "with a velvet hood to keep her from the weather, which became her very ill. in my opinion, she is altered very much for the worse, and was very grossly painted." the three walked together discoursing of trifles, much to the annoyance of umton. at last, a shower forced the lady into the house, and the king soon afterwards took the ambassador to his cabinet. "he asked me how i liked his mistress," wrote sir henry to burghley, "and i answered sparingly in her praise, and told him that if without offence i might speak it, i had the picture of a far more excellent mistress, and yet did her picture come far from the perfection of her beauty." "as you love me," cried the king, "show it me, if you have it about you!" "i made some difficulty," continued sir henry, "yet upon his importunity i offered it to his view very secretly, still holding it in my hand. he beheld it with passion and admiration, saying that i was in the right." "i give in," said the king, "je me rends." then, protesting that he had never seen such beauty all his life, he kissed it reverently twice or thrice, sir henry still holding the miniature firmly in his hand. the king then insisted upon seizing the picture, and there was a charming struggle between the two, ending in his majesty's triumph. he then told sir henry that he might take his leave of the portrait, for he would never give it up again for any treasure, and that to possess the favour of the original he would forsake all the world. he fell into many more such passionate and incoherent expressions of rhapsody, as of one suddenly smitten and spell-bound with hapless love, bitterly reproaching the ambassador for never having brought him any answers to the many affectionate letters which he had written to the queen, whose silence had made him so wretched. sir henry, perhaps somewhat confounded at being beaten at his own fantastic game, answered as well as he could, "but i found," said he, "that the dumb picture did draw on more speech and affection from him than all my best arguments and eloquence. this was the effect of our conference, and, if infiniteness of vows and outward professions be a strong argument of inward affection, there is good likelihood of the king's continuance of amity with her majesty; only i fear lest his necessities may inconsiderately draw him into some hazardous treaty with spain, which i hope confidently it is yet in the power of her majesty to prevent." the king, while performing these apish tricks about the picture of a lady with beady black eyes, a hooked nose, black teeth, and a red wig, who was now in the sixty-fourth year of her age, knew very well that the whole scene would be at once repeated to the fair object of his passion by her faithful envoy; but what must have been the opinion entertained of elizabeth by contemporary sovereigns and statesmen when such fantastic folly could be rehearsed and related every day in the year! and the king knew, after all, and was destined very soon to acquire proof of it which there was no gainsaying, that the beautiful elizabeth had exactly as much affection for him as he had for her, and was as capable of sacrificing his interests for her own, or of taking advantage of his direct necessities as cynically and as remorselessly, as the king of spain, or the duke of mayenne, or the pope had ever done. henry had made considerable progress in re-establishing his authority over a large portion of the howling wilderness to which forty years of civil war had reduced his hereditary kingdom. there was still great danger, however, at its two opposite extremities. calais, key to the norman gate of france, was feebly held; while marseilles, seated in such dangerous proximity to spain on the one side, and to the republic of genoa, that alert vassal of spain, on the other, was still in the possession of the league. a concerted action was undertaken by means of john andrew doria, with a spanish fleet from genoa on the outside and a well-organised conspiracy from within, to carry the city bodily over to philip. had it succeeded, this great mediterranean seaport would have become as much a spanish 'possession as barcelona or naples, and infinite might have been the damage to henry's future prospects in consequence. but there was a man in marseilles; petrus libertas by name, whose ancestors had gained this wholesome family appellation by a successful effort once made by them to rescue the little town of calvi, in corsica, from the tyranny of genoa. peter liberty needed no prompting to vindicate, on a fitting occasion, his right to his patronymic. in conjunction with men in marseilles who hated oppression, whether of kings, priests, or renegade republics, as much as he did, and with a secret and well-arranged understanding with the duke of guise, who was burning with ambition to render a signal benefit to the cause which he had just espoused, this bold tribune of the people succeeded in stirring the population to mutiny at exactly the right moment, and in opening the gates of marseilles to the duke of guise and his forces before it was possible for the leaguers to admit the fleet of doria into its harbour. thus was the capital of mediterranean france lost and won. guise gained great favour in henry's eyes; and with reason; for the son of the great balafre, who was himself the league, had now given the league the stroke of mercy. peter liberty became consul of marseilles, and received a patent of nobility. it was difficult, however, for any diploma to confer anything more noble upon him than the name which he hade inherited, and to which he had so well established his right. but while henry's cause had thus been so well served in the south, there was danger impending in the north. the king had been besieging, since autumn, the town of la fere, an important military and strategic position, which had been farnese's basis of operations during his memorable campaigns in france, and which had ever since remained in the hands of the league. the cardinal had taken the field with an army of fifteen thousand foot and three thousand horse, assembled at valenciennes, and after hesitating some time whether, or not he should attempt to relieve la fere, he decided instead on a diversion. in the second week of april; de rosne was detached at the head of four thousand men, and suddenly appeared before calais. the city had been long governed by de gordan, but this wary and experienced commander had unfortunately been for two years dead. still more unfortunately, it had been in his power to bequeath, not only his fortune, which was very large, but the government of calais, considered the most valuable command in france, to his nephew, de vidosan. he had, however, not bequeathed to him his administrative and military genius. the fortress called the risban, or rysbank, which entirely governed the harbour, and the possession of which made calais nearly impregnable, as inexhaustible supplies could thus be poured into it by sea, had fallen into comparative decay. de gordan had been occupied in strengthening the work, but since his death the nephew had entirely neglected the task. on the land side, the bridge of nivelet was the key to the place. the faubourg was held by two dutch companies, under captains le gros and dominique, who undertook to prevent the entrance of the archduke's forces. vidosan, however; ordered these faithful auxiliaries into the citadel. de rosne, acting with great promptness; seized both the bridge of nivelet and the fort of rysbank by a sudden and well-concerted movement. this having been accomplished, the city was in his power, and, after sustaining a brief cannonade, it surrendered. vidosan, with his garrison, however, retired into the citadel, and it was agreed between, himself and de rosne that unless succour should be received from the french king before the expiration of six days; the citadel should also be-evacuated. meantime henry, who was at boulogne, much disgusted at this unexpected disaster, had sent couriers to the netherlands, demanding assistance of the states-general and of the stadholder. maurice had speedily responded to the appeal. proceeding himself to zeeland, he had shipped fifteen companies of picked troops from middelburg, together with a flotilla laden with munitions and provisions enough to withstand a siege of several weeks. when the arrangements were completed, he went himself on board of a ship of war to take command of the expedition in person. on the th of april he arrived with his succours off the harbour of calais, and found to his infinite disappointment that the rysbank fort was in the hands of the enemy. as not a vessel could pass the bar without almost touching that fortress, the entrance to calais was now impossible. had the incompetent vidosan heeded the advice of his brave dutch officers; the place might still have been saved, for it had surrendered in a panic on the very day when the fleet of maurice arrived off the port. henry had lost no time in sending, also, to his english allies for succour. the possession of calais by the spaniards might well seem alarming to elizabeth, who could not well forget that up to the time of her sister this important position had been for two centuries an english stronghold. the defeat of the spanish husband of an english queen had torn from england the last trophies of the black prince, and now the prize had again fallen into the hands of spain; but of spain no longer in alliance, but at war, with england. obviously it was most dangerous to the interests and to the safety of the english realm, that this threatening position, so near the gates of london, should be in the hands of the most powerful potentate in the world and the dire enemy of england. in response to henry's appeal, the earl of essex was despatched with a force of six thousand men--raised by express command of the queen on sunday when the people were all at church--to dover, where shipping was in readiness to transport the troops at once across the channel. at the same time, the politic queen and some of her counsellors thought the opening a good one to profit by the calamity of their dear ally, certainly it was desirable to prevent calais from falling into the grasp of philip. but it was perhaps equally desirable, now that the place without the assistance of elizabeth could no longer be preserved by henry, that elizabeth, and not henry, should henceforth be its possessor. to make this proposition as clear to the french king as it seemed to the english queen, sir robert sidney was despatched in all haste to boulogne, even while the guns of de rosne were pointed at calais citadel, and while maurice's fleet, baffled by the cowardly surrender of the risban, was on its retreat from the harbour. at two o'clock in the afternoon of the st of april, sidney landed at boulogne. henry, who had been intensely impatient to hear from england, and who suspected that the delay was boding no good to his cause, went down to the strand to meet the envoy, with whom then and there he engaged instantly in the most animated discourse. as there was little time to be lost, and as sidney on getting out of the vessel found himself thus confronted with the soldier-king in person, he at once made the demand which he had been sent across the channel to make. he requested the king to deliver up the town and citadel of calais to the queen of england as soon as, with her assistance, he should succeed in recovering the place. he assigned as her majesty's reasons for this peremptory summons that she would on no other terms find it in her power to furnish the required succour. her subjects, she said, would never consent to it except on these conditions. it was perhaps not very common with the queen to exhibit so much deference to the popular will, but on this occasion the supposed inclinations of the nation furnished her with an excellent pretext for carrying out her own. sidney urged moreover that her majesty felt certain of being obliged--in case she did not take calais into her own safe-keeping and protection--to come to the rescue again within four or six months to prevent it once more from being besieged, conquered, and sacked by the enemy. the king had feared some such proposition as this, and had intimated as much to the states' envoy, calvaert, who had walked with him down to the strand, and had left him when the conference began. henry was not easily thrown from his equanimity nor wont to exhibit passion on any occasion, least of all in his discussions with the ambassadors of england, but the cool and insolent egotism of this communication was too much for him. he could never have believed, he said in reply, that after the repeated assurances of her majesty's affection for him which he had received from the late sir henry umton in their recent negotiations, her majesty would now so discourteously seek to make her profit out of his misery. he had come to boulogne, he continued, on the pledge given by the earl of essex to assist him with seven or eight thousand men in the recovery of calais. if this after all should fail him--although his own reputation would be more injured by the capture of the place thus before his eyes than if it had happened in his absence--he would rather a hundred times endure the loss of the place than have it succoured with such injurious and dishonourable conditions. after all, he said, the loss of calais was substantially of more importance to the queen than to himself. to him the chief detriment would be in the breaking up of his easy and regular communications with his neighbours through this position, and especially with her majesty. but as her affection for him was now proved to be so slender as to allow her to seek a profit from his misfortune and dishonour, it would be better for him to dispense with her friendship altogether and to strengthen his connections with truer and more honourable friends. should the worst come to the worst, he doubted not that he should be able, being what he was and much more than he was of old, to make a satisfactory arrangement with, the king of spain. he was ready to save calais at the peril of his life, to conquer it in person, and not by the hands of any of his lieutenants; but having done so, he was not willing--at so great a loss of reputation without and at so much peril within--to deliver it to her majesty or to any-one else. he would far rather see it fall into the hands of the spaniards. thus warmly and frankly did henry denounce the unhandsome proposition made in the name of the queen, while, during his vehement expostulations, sidney grew red with shame, and did not venture to look the king for one moment in the face. he then sought to mitigate the effect of his demand by intimating, with much embarrassment of demeanour, that perhaps her majesty would be satisfied with the possession of calais for her own life-time, and--as this was at once plumply refused--by the suggestion of a pledge of it for the term of one year. but the king only grew the more indignant as the bargaining became more paltry, and he continued to heap bitter reproaches upon the queen, who, without having any children or known inheritor of her possessions, should nevertheless, be so desirous of compassing his eternal disgrace and of exciting the discontent of his subjects for the sake of an evanescent gain for herself. at such a price, he avowed, he had no wish to purchase her majesty'a friendship. after this explosion the conference became more amicable. the english envoy assured the king that there could be, at all events, no doubt of the arrival of essex with eight thousand men on the following thursday to assist in the relief of the citadel; notwithstanding the answer which, he had received to the demand of her majesty. he furthermore expressed the strong desire which he felt that the king might be induced to make a personal visit to the queen at dover, whither she would gladly come to receive him, so soon as calais should have been saved. to this the king replied with gallantry, that it was one of the things in the world that he had most at heart. the envoy rejoined that her majesty would consider such a visit a special honour and favour. she had said that she could leave this world more cheerfully, when god should ordain, after she had enjoyed two hours' conversation with his majesty. sidney on taking his departure repeated the assurance that the troops under essex would arrive before calais by thursday, and that they were fast marching to the english coast; forgetting, apparently, that, at the beginning of the interview, he had stated, according to the queen's instructions, that the troops had been forbidden to march until a favourable answer had been returned by the king to her proposal. henry then retired to his headquarters for the purpose of drawing up information for his minister in england, de saucy, who had not yet been received by the queen, and who had been kept in complete ignorance of this mission of sidney and of its purport. while the king was thus occupied, the english envoy was left in the company of calvaert, who endeavoured, without much success, to obtain from him the result of the conference which had just taken place. sidney was not to be pumped by the dutch diplomatist, adroit as he unquestionably was, but, so soon as the queen's ambassador was fairly afloat again on his homeward track--which was the case within three hours after his arrival at boulogne--calvaert received from the king a minute account of the whole conversation. henry expressed unbounded gratitude to the states-general of the republic for their prompt and liberal assistance, and he eagerly contrasted the conduct of prince maurice--sailing forth in person so chivalrously to his rescue--with the sharp bargainings and shortcomings of the queen. he despatched a special messenger to convey his thanks to the prince, and he expressed his hope to calvaert that the states might be willing that their troops should return to the besieged place under the command of maurice, whose, presence alone, as he loudly and publicly protested, was worth four thousand men. but it was too late. the six days were rapidly passing, away. the governor of boulogne, campagnolo, succeeded, by henry's command, in bringing a small reinforcement of two or three hundred men into the citadel of calais during the night of the nd of april. this devoted little band made their way, when the tide was low, along the flats which stretched between the fort of rysbank and the sea. sometimes wading up to the neck in water, sometimes swimming for their lives, and during a greater part of their perilous, march clinging so close to the hostile fortress as almost to touch its guns, the gallant adventurers succeeded in getting into the citadel in time to be butchered with the rest of the garrison on the following day. for so soon as the handful of men had gained admittance to the gates--although otherwise the aspect of affairs was quite unchanged--the rash and weak de vidosan proclaimed that the reinforcements stipulated in his conditional capitulation having arrived, he should now resume hostilities. whereupon he opened fire, upon the town, and a sentry was killed. de rosne, furious, at what he considered a breach of faith, directed a severe cannonade against the not very formidable walls of the castle. during the artillery engagement which ensued the prince of orange, who had accompanied de rosne to the siege, had a very narrow escape. a cannon-ball from the town took off the heads of two spaniards standing near him, bespattering him with their blood and brains. he was urged to retire, but assured those about him that he came of too good a house to be afraid. his courage was commendable, but it seems not to have occurred to him that the place for his father's son was not by the aide of the general who was doing the work of his father's murderer. while his brother maurice with a fleet of twenty dutch war- ships was attempting in vain to rescue calais from the grasp of the spanish king, philip william of nassau was looking on, a pleased and passive spectator of the desperate and unsuccessful efforts at defence. the assault was then ordered? the-first storm was repulsed, mainly by the dutch companies, who fought in the breach until most of their numbers were killed or wounded, their captains dominique and le gros having both fallen. the next attack was successful, the citadel was carried; and the whole garrison, with exception of what remained of the hollanders and zeelanders, put to the sword. de vidosan himself perished. thus calais was once more a spanish city, and was re-annexed to the obedient provinces of flanders. of five thousand persons, soldiers and citizens, who had taken refuge in the castle, all were killed or reduced to captivity.' the conversion of this important naval position into a spanish-flemish station was almost as disastrous to the republic as it was mortifying to france and dangerous to england. the neighbouring dunkirk had long been a nest of pirates, whence small, fast-sailing vessels issued, daily and nightly, to prey indiscriminately upon the commerce of all nations. these corsairs neither gave nor took quarter, and were in the habit, after they had plundered their prizes, of setting them adrift, with the sailors nailed to the deck or chained to the rigging; while the dfficers were held for ransom. in case the vessels themselves were wanted, the crews were indiscriminately tossed overboard; while, on the ether hand, the buccaneers rarely hesitated to blow up their own ships, when unable to escape from superior force. capture was followed by speedy execution, and it was but recently that one of these freebooters having been brought into rotterdam, the whole crew, forty-four in number, were hanged on the day of their arrival, while some five and twenty merchant-captains held for ransom by the pirates thus obtained their liberty. and now calais was likely to become a second and more dangerous sea- robbers' cave than even dunkirk had been. notwithstanding this unlucky beginning of the campaign for the three allies, it was determined to proceed with a considerable undertaking which had been arranged between england and the republic. for the time, therefore, the importunate demands of the queen for repayments by the states of her disbursements during the past ten years were suspended. it had, indeed, never been more difficult than at that moment for the republic to furnish extraordinary sums of money. the year had not been prosperous. although the general advance in commerce, manufactures, and in every department of national development had been very remark able, yet there had recently been, for exceptional causes, an apparent falling off; while, on the other hand, there had been a bad harvest in the north of europe. in holland, where no grain was grown, and which yet was the granary of the world, the prices were trebled. one hundred and eight bushels (a last) of rye, which ordinarily was worth fifty florins, now sold for one hundred and fifty florins, and other objects of consumption were equally enhanced in value. on the other hand, the expenses of the war were steadily increasing, and were fixed for this year at five millions of florins. the republic, and especially the states of holland, never hesitated to tax heroically. the commonwealth had no income except that which the several provinces chose to impose upon themselves in order to fill the quota assigned to them by the states-general; but this defect in their political organization was not sensibly felt so long as the enthusiasm for the war continued in full force. the people of the netherlands knew full well that there was no liberty for them without fighting, no fighting without an army, no army without wages, and no wages without taxation; and although by the end of the century the imposts had become so high that, in the language of that keen observer, cardinal bentivoglio; nuncio at brussels, they could scarcely be imagined higher, yet, according to the same authority, they were laid unflinchingly and paid by the people without a murmur. during this year and the next the states of holland, whose proportion often amounted to fifty per cent. of the whole contribution of the united provinces, and who ever set a wholesome example in taxation, raised the duty on imports and all internal taxes by one-eighth, and laid a fresh impost on such articles of luxury as velvets and satins, pleas and processes. starch, too, became a source of considerable revenue. with the fast-rising prosperity of the country luxury had risen likewise, and, as in all ages and countries of the world of which there is record, woman's dress signalized itself by extravagant and very often tasteless conceptions. in a country where, before the doctrine of popular sovereignty had been broached in any part of the world by the most speculative theorists, very vigorous and practical examples of democracy had been afforded to europe; in a country where, ages before the science of political economy had been dreamed of, lessons of free trade on the largest scale had been taught to mankind by republican traders instinctively breaking in many directions through the nets by which monarchs and oligarchs, guilds and corporations, had hampered the movements of commerce; it was natural that fashion should instinctively rebel against restraint. the honest burgher's vrow of middelburg or enkhuyzen claimed the right to make herself as grotesque as queen elizabeth in all her glory. sumptuary laws were an unwholesome part of feudal tyranny, and, as such, were naturally dropping into oblivion on the free soil of the netherlands. it was the complaint therefore of moralists that unproductive consumption was alarmingly increasing. formerly starch had been made of the refuse parts of corn, but now the manufacturers of that article made use of the bloom of the wheat and consumed as much of it as would have fed great cities. in the little village of wormer the starch-makers used between three and four thousand bushels a week. thus a substantial gentlewoman in fashionable array might bear the food of a parish upon her ample bosom. a single manufacturer in amsterdam required four hundred weekly bushels. such was the demand for the stiffening of the vast ruffs, the wonderful head-gear, the elaborate lace-work, stomachers and streamers, without which no lady who respected herself could possibly go abroad to make her daily purchases of eggs and poultry in the market-place. "may god preserve us," exclaimed a contemporary chronicler, unreasonably excited on the starch question, "from farther luxury and wantonness, and abuse of his blessings and good gifts, that the punishment of jeroboam, which followed upon solomon's fortunate reign and the gold-ships of ophir may not come upon us." the states of holland not confounding--as so often has been the case-- the precepts of moral philosophy with those of political economy, did not, out of fear for the doom of jeroboam, forbid the use of starch. they simply laid a tax of a stiver a pound on the commodity, or about six per cent, ad valorem; and this was a more wholesome way of serving the state than by abridging the liberty of the people in the choice of personal attire. meantime the preachers were left to thunder from their pulpits upon the sinfulness of starched rues and ornamental top-knots, and to threaten their fair hearers with the wrath to come, with as much success as usually attends such eloquence. there had been uneasiness in the provinces in regard to the designs of the queen, especially since the states had expressed their inability to comply in full with her demands for repayment. spanish emissaries had been busily circulating calumnious reports that her majesty was on the eve of concluding a secret peace with philip, and that it was her intention to deliver the cautionary towns to the king. the government attached little credence to such statements, but it was natural that envoy caron should be anxious at their perpetual recurrence both in england and in the provinces. so, one day, he had a long conversation with the earl of essex on the subject; for it will be recollected that lord leicester had strenuously attempted at an earlier day to get complete possession, not only of the pledged cities but of leyden also, in order to control the whole country. essex was aflame with indignation at once, and, expressed himself with his customary recklessness. he swore that if her majesty were so far forsaken of god and so forgetful of her own glory, as through evil counsel to think of making any treaty with spain without the knowledge of the states-general and in order to cheat them, he would himself make the matter as public as it was possible to do, and would place himself in direct opposition to such a measure, so as to show the whole world that his heart and soul were foreign at least to any vile counsel of the kind that might have been given to his sovereign. caron and essex conversed much in this vein, and although the envoy, especially requested him not to do so, the earl, who was not distinguished, for his powers of dissimulation, and who suspected burleigh of again tampering, as he had often before tampered, with secret agents of philip, went straight to the queen with the story. next day, essex invited caron to dine and to go with him after dinner to the queen. this was done, and, so soon as the states' envoy was admitted to the royal presence, her majesty at once opened the subject. she had heard, she said, that the reports in question had been spread through the provinces, and she expressed much indignation in regard to them. she swore very vehemently, as usual, and protested that she had better never have been born than prove so miserable a princess as these tales would make her. the histories of england, she said, should never describe her as guilty of such falsehood. she could find a more honourable and fitting means of making peace than by delivering up cities and strongholds so sincerely and confidingly placed in her hands. she hoped to restore them as faithfully as they had loyally been entrusted to her keeping. she begged caron to acquaint the states-general with these asseverations; declaring that never since she had sent troops to the netherlands had she lent her ear to those who had made such underhand propositions. she was aware that cardinal albert had propositions to make, and that he was desirous of inducing both the french king and, herself to consent to a peace with spain: but she promised, the states' envoy solemnly before god to apprise him of any such overtures, so soon as they should be made known to herself. much more in this strain, with her usual vehemence and mighty oaths, did the great queen aver, and the republican envoy, to whom she was on this occasion very gracious, was fain to believe in her sincerity. yet the remembrance of the amazing negotiations between the queen's ministers and the agents of alexander farnese, by which the invasion of the armada had been masked; could not but have left an uneasy feeling in the mind of every dutch statesman. "i trust in god," said caron, "that he may never so abandon her as to permit her to do the reverse of what she now protests with so much passion. should it be otherwise--which god forbid --i should think that he would send such chastisement upon her and her people that other princes would see their fate therein as in a mirror, should they make and break such oaths and promises. i tell you these things as they occur, because, as i often feel uneasiness myself, i imagine that my friends on the other side the water may be subject to the same anxiety. nevertheless, beat the bush as i may, i can obtain no better information than this which i am now sending you." it had been agreed that for a time the queen should desist from her demands for repayment--which, according to the treaty of , was to be made only after conclusion of peace between spain and the provinces, but which elizabeth was frequently urging on the ground that the states could now make that peace when they chose--and in return for such remission the republic promised to furnish twenty-four ships of war and four tenders for a naval expedition which was now projected against the spanish coast. these war-ships were to be of four hundred, three hundred, and two hundred tons-eight of each dimension--and the estimated expense of their fitting out for five months was , florins. before the end of april, notwithstanding the disappointment occasioned in the netherlands by the loss of calais, which the states had so energetically striven to prevent, the fleet under admiral john of duvenwoord, seigneur of warmond, and vice-admirals jan gerbrantz and cornelius leusen, had arrived at plymouth, ready to sail with their english allies. there were three thousand sailors of holland and zeeland on board, the best mariners in the world, and two thousand two hundred picked veterans from the garrisons of the netherlands. these land-troops were english, but they belonged to the states' army, which was composed of dutch, german, walloon, scotch, and irish soldiers, and it was a liberal concession on the part of the republican government to allow them to serve on the present expedition. by the terms of the treaty the queen had no more power to send these companies to invade spain than to campaign against tyr owen in ireland, while at a moment when the cardinal archduke had a stronger and better-appointed army in flanders than had been seen for many years in the provinces, it was a most hazardous experiment for the states to send so considerable a portion of their land and naval forces upon a distant adventure. it was also a serious blow to them to be deprived for the whole season of that valiant and experienced commander, sir francis vere, the most valuable lieutenant, save lewis william, that maurice had at his disposition. yet vere was to take command of this contingent thus sent to the coast of spain, at the very moment when the republican army ought to issue from their winter quarters and begin active operations in the field. the consequence of this diminution of their strength and drain upon their resources was that the states were unable to put an army in the field during the current year, or make any attempt at a campaign. the queen wrote a warm letter of thanks to admiral warmond for the promptness and efficiency with which he had brought his fleet to the place of rendezvous, and now all was bustle and preparation in the english ports for the exciting expedition resolved upon. never during philip's life-time, nor for several years before his birth, had a hostile foot trod the soil of spain, except during the brief landing at corunna in , and, although the king's beard had been well singed ten years previously by sir francis drake, and although the coast of portugal had still more recently been invaded by essex and vere, yet the present adventure was on a larger scale, and held out brighter prospects of success than any preceding expedition had done. in an age when the line between the land and sea service, between regular campaigners and volunteers, between public and private warfare, between chivalrous knights-errant and buccaneers, was not very distinctly drawn, there could be nothing more exciting to adventurous spirits, more tempting to the imagination of those who hated the pope and philip, who loved fighting, prize-money, and the queen, than a foray into spain. it was time to return the visit of the armada. some of the sea-kings were gone. those magnificent freebooters, drake and hawkins, had just died in the west indies, and doughty sir roger williams had left the world in which he had bustled so effectively, bequeathing to posterity a classic memorial of near a half century of hard fighting, written, one might almost imagine, in his demi-pique saddle. but that most genial, valiant, impracticable, reckless, fascinating hero of romance, the earl of essex--still a youth although a veteran in service--was in the spring- tide of favour and glory, and was to command the land-forces now assembled at plymouth. that other "corsair"--as the spaniards called him--that other charming and heroic shape in england's chequered chronicle of chivalry and crime--famous in arts and arms, politics, science, literature, endowed with so many of the gifts by which men confer lustre on their age and country, whose name was already a part of england's eternal glory, whose tragic destiny was to be her undying shame--raleigh, the soldier, sailor, scholar, statesman, poet, historian, geographical discoverer, planter of empires yet unborn--was also present, helping to organize the somewhat chaotic elements of which the chief anglo-dutch enterprise for this year against--the spanish world-dominion was compounded. and, again, it is not superfluous to recal the comparatively slender materials, both in bulk and numbers, over which the vivid intelligence and restless energy of the two leading protestant powers, the kingdom and the republic, disposed. their contest against the overshadowing empire, which was so obstinately striving to become the fifth-monarchy of history, was waged by land: and naval forces, which in their aggregate numbers would scarce make a startling list of killed and wounded in a single modern battle; by ships such that a whole fleet of them might be swept out of existence with half-a-dozen modern broadsides; by weapons which would seem to modern eyes like clumsy toys for children. such was the machinery by which the world was to be lost and won, less than three centuries ago. could science; which even in that age had made gigantic strides out of the preceding darkness, have revealed its later miracles, and have presented its terrible powers to the despotism which was seeking to crush all christendom beneath its feet, the possible result might have been most tragical to humanity. while there are few inventions in morals, the demon intellect is ever at his work, knowing no fatigue and scorning contentment in his restless demands upon the infinite unknown. yet moral truth remains unchanged, gradually through the ages extending its influence, and it is only by conformity to its simple and, eternal dictates that nations, like individuals, can preserve a healthful existence. in the unending warfare between right and wrong, between liberty and despotism; evil has the advantage of rapidly assuming many shapes. it has been well said that constant vigilance is the price of liberty. the tendency of our own times, stimulated by scientific discoveries and their practical application, is to political consolidation, to the absorption of lesser communities in greater; just as disintegration was the leading characteristic of the darker ages. the scheme of charlemagne to organize europe into a single despotism was a brilliant failure because the forces which were driving human society into local and gradual reconstruction around various centres of crystallization: were irresistible to any countervailing enginry which the emperor had at his disposal. the attempt of philip, eight centuries later, at universal monarchy, was frivolous, although he could dispose of material agencies which in the hands of charlemagne might have made the dreams of charlemagne possible. it was frivolous because the rising instinct of the age was for religious, political, and commercial freedom in a far intenser degree than those who lived in that age were themselves aware. a considerable republic had been evolved as it were involuntarily out of the necessities of the time almost without self-consciousness that it was a republic, and even against the desire of many who were guiding its destinies. and it found itself in constant combination with two monarchs, despotic at heart and of enigmatical or indifferent religious convictions, who yet reigned over peoples, largely influenced by enthusiasm for freedom. thus liberty was preserved for the world; but, as the law of human progress would seem to be ever by a spiral movement, it; seems strange to the superficial observer not prone to generalizing, that calvinism, which unquestionably was the hard receptacle in which the germ of human freedom was preserved in various countries and at different epochs, should have so often degenerated into tyranny. yet notwithstanding the burning of servetus at geneva, and the hanging of mary dyer at boston, it is certain that france, england, the netherlands, and america, owe a large share of such political liberty as they have enjoyed to calvinism. it may be possible for large masses of humanity to accept for ages the idea of one infallible church, however tyrannical but the idea once admitted that there may be many churches; that what is called the state can be separated from what is called the church; the plea of infallibility and of authority soon becomes ridiculous--a mere fiction of political or fashionable quackery to impose upon the uneducated or the unreflecting. and now essex, raleigh and howard, vere, warmond and nassau were about to invade the shores of the despot who sat in his study plotting to annex england, scotland, ireland, france, the dutch republic, and the german empire to the realms of spain, portugal, naples, milan, and the eastern and western indies, over which he already reigned. the fleet consisted of fifty-seven ships of war, of which twenty-four were dutch vessels under admiral warmond, with three thousand sailors of holland and zeeland. besides the sailors, there was a force of six thousand foot soldiers, including the english veterans from the netherlands under sir francis vere. there were also fifty transports laden with ammunition and stores. the expedition was under the joint command of lord high admiral howard and of the earl of essex. many noble and knightly volunteers, both from england and the republic, were on board, including, besides those already mentioned, lord thomas howard, son of the duke of norfolk, sir john wingfield, who had commanded at gertruydenburg, when it had been so treacherously surrendered to farnese; count lewis gunther of nassau, who had so recently escaped from the disastrous fight with mondragon in the lippe, and was now continuing his education according to the plan laid down for him by his elder brother lewis william; nicolas meetkerk, peter regesmortes, don christopher of portugal, son of don antonio, and a host of other adventurers. on the last day of june the expedition arrived off cadiz. next morning they found a splendid spanish fleet in the harbour of that city, including four of the famous apostolic great galleons, st. philip, st. matthew, st. thomas, and st. andrew, with twenty or thirty great war- ships besides, and fifty-seven well-armed indiamen, which were to be convoyed on their outward voyage, with a cargo estimated at twelve millions of ducats. the st. philip was the phenomenon of naval architecture of that day, larger and stronger than any ship before known. she was two thousand tons burthen, carried eighty-two bronze cannon, and had a crew of twelve hundred men. the other three apostles carried each fifty guns and four hundred men. the armament of the other war-ships varied from fifty-two to eighteen guns each. the presence of such a formidable force might have seemed a motive for discouragement, or at least of caution. on the contrary, the adventurers dashed at once upon their prey; thus finding a larger booty than they had dared to expect. there was but a brief engagement. at the outset a dutch ship accidentally blew up, and gave much encouragement to the spaniards. their joy was but short-lived. two of the great galleons were soon captured, the other two, the st. philip and the st. thomas, were run aground and burned. the rest of the war- ships were driven within the harbour, but were unable to prevent a landing of the enemy's forces. in the eagerness of the allies to seize the city, they unluckily allowed many of the indiamen to effect their escape through the puente del zuazzo, which had not been supposed a navigable passage for ships of such burthen. nine hundred soldiers under essex, and four hundred noble volunteers under lewis gunther of nassau, now sprang on shore, and drove some eleven hundred spanish skirmishers back within the gates of the city, or into a bastion recently raised to fortify the point when the troops had landed. young nassau stormed the bulwark sword in hand, carried it at the first assault, and planted his colours on its battlement. it was the flag of william the silent; for the republican banner was composed of the family colours of the founder of the new commonwealth. the blazonry of the proscribed and assassinated rebel waved at last defiantly over one of the chief cities of spain. essex and nassau and all the rest then entered the city. there was little fighting. twenty-five english and hollanders were killed, and about as many spaniards. essex knighted about fifty gentlemen, englishmen and hollanders, in the square of cadiz for their gallantry. among the number were lewis gunther of nassau, admiral warmond, and peter regesmortes. colonel nicolas meetkerke was killed in the brief action, and sir john wingfield, who insisted in prancing about on horseback without his armour, defying the townspeople and neglecting the urgent appeal of sir francis vere, was also slain. the spanish soldiers, discouraged by the defeat of the ships on which they had relied for protection of the town, retreated with a great portion of the inhabitants into the citadel. next morning the citadel capitulated without striking a blow, although there, were six thousand able-bodied, well-armed men within its walls. it was one of the most astonishing panics ever recorded. the great fleet, making a third of the king's navy, the city of cadiz and its fortress, were surrendered to this audacious little force, which had only arrived off the harbour thirty-six hours before. the invaders had, however, committed a great mistake. they had routed, and, as it were, captured the spanish galleons, but they had not taken possession of them, such had been their eagerness to enter the city. it was now agreed that the fleet should be ransomed for two million ducats, but the proud duke of medina sidonia, who had already witnessed the destruction of one mighty armada, preferred that these splendid ships too should perish rather than that they should pay tribute to the enemy. scorning the capitulation of the commandant of the citadel, he ordered the fleet to be set on fire. thirty-two ships, most of them vessels of war of the highest class, were burned, with all their equipments. twelve hundred cannon sunk at once to the bottom of the bay of cadiz, besides arms for five or six thousand men. at least one-third of philip's effective navy was thus destroyed. the victors now sacked the city very thoroughly, but the results were disappointing. a large portion of the portable wealth of the inhabitants, their gold and their jewelry, had been so cunningly concealed that, although half a dozen persons were tortured till they should reveal hidden treasures, not more than five hundred thousand ducats worth of-plunder was obtained. another sum of equal amount having been levied upon the citizens; forty notable personages; among them eighteen ecclesiastical dignitaries, were carried off as hostages for its payment. the city was now set on fire by command of essex in four different quarters. especially the cathedral and other churches, the convents and the hospitals, were burned. it was perhaps not unnatural: that both englishmen and hollanders should be disposed to wreak a barbarous vengeance on everything representative of the church which they abhorred, and from which such endless misery had issued to the, uttermost corners of their own countries. but it is at any rate refreshing to record amid these acts of pillage and destruction, in which, as must ever be the case, the innocent and the lowly were made to suffer for the crimes of crowned and mitred culprits, that not many special acts of cruelty were committed upon individuals: no man was murdered in cold blood, no woman was outraged. the beautiful city was left a desolate and blackened ruin, and a general levy of spoil was made for the benefit of the victors, but there was no infringement of the theory and practice of the laws of war as understood in that day or in later ages. it is even recorded that essex ordered one of his soldiers, who was found stealing a woman's gown, to be hanged on the spot, but that, wearied by the intercession of an ecclesiastic of cadiz, the canon quesada, he consented at last to pardon the marauder. it was the earnest desire of essex to hold cadiz instead of destroying it. with three thousand men, and with temporary supplies from the fleet, the place could be maintained against all comers; holland and england together commanding the seas. admiral warmond and all the netherlanders seconded the scheme, and offered at once to put ashore from their vessels food and munitions enough to serve two thousand men for two months. if the english admiral would do as much, the place might be afterwards supplied without limit and held till doomsday, a perpetual thorn in philip's side. sir francis vere was likewise warmly in favour of the project, but he stood alone. all the other englishmen opposed it as hazardous, extravagant, and in direct contravention of the minute instructions of the queen. with a sigh or a curse for what he considered the superfluous caution of his royal mistress, and the exaggerated docility of lord high admiral howard, essex was fain to content himself with the sack and the conflagration, and the allied fleet sailed away from cadiz. on their way towards lisbon they anchored off faro, and landed a force, chiefly of netherlanders, who expeditiously burned and plundered the place. when they reached the neighbourhood of lisbon, they received information that a great fleet of indiamen, richly laden, were daily expected from the flemish islands, as the azores were then denominated. again essex was vehemently disposed to steer at once for that station, in order to grasp so tempting a prize; again he was strenuously supported by the dutch admiral and yere, and again lord howard peremptorily interdicted the plan. it was contrary to his instructions and to his ideas of duty, he said, to risk so valuable a portion of her majesty's fleet on so doubtful a venture. his ships were not fitted for a winter's cruise, he urged. thus, although it was the very heart of midsummer, the fleet was ordered to sail homeward. the usual result of a divided command was made manifest, and it proved in the sequel that, had they sailed for the islands, they would have pounced at exactly the right moment upon an unprotected fleet of merchantmen, with cargoes valued at seven millions of ducats. essex, not being willing to undertake the foray to the azores with the dutch ships alone, was obliged to digest his spleen as: best he could. meantime the english fleet bore away for england, leaving essex in his own ship, together with the two captured spanish galleons, to his fate. that fate might, have been a disastrous one, for his prizes were not fully manned, his own vessel was far from powerful, and there were many rovers and cruisers upon the seas. the dutch admiral, with all his ships, however, remained in company, and safely convoyed him to plymouth, where they arrived only a day or two later than howard and his fleet. warmond, who had been disposed to sail up the thames in order to pay his respects to the queen, was informed that his presence would not be desirable but rather an embarrassment. he, however, received the following letter from the hand of elizabeth. monsieur duyenwoord,--the report made to me by the generals of our fleet, just happily arrived from the coast of spain, of the devoirs of those who have been partakers in so, famous a victory, ascribes so much of it to the valour, skill, and readiness exhibited by yourself and our other friends from the netherlands under your command, during the whole course of the expedition, as to fill our mind with special joy and satisfaction, and, with a desire to impart these feelings to you. no other means presenting themselves at this moment than that of a letter (in some sense darkening the picture of the conceptions of our soul), we are willing to make use of it while waiting for means more effectual. wishing thus to disburthen ourselves we find ourselves confused, not- knowing where to begin, the greatness of each part exceeding the merit of the other. for, the vigour and promptness with which my lords the states-general stepped into the enterprise, made us acknowledge that the good favour, which we have always borne the united provinces and the proofs thereof which we have given in the benefits conferred by us upon them, had not been ill-bestowed. the valour, skill, and discipline manifested by you in this enterprise show that you and your, whole nation are worthy the favour and protection of princes against those who wish to tyrannize over you. but the honourableness and the valour shown by you, sir admiral, towards our cousin the earl of essex on his return, when he unfortunately was cut off from the fleet, and deep in the night was deprived of all support, when you kept company with him and gave him escort into the harbour of plymouth, demonstrate on the one hand your foresight in providing thus by your pains and patience against all disasters, which through an accident falling upon one of the chiefs of our armada might have darkened the great victory; and on the other hand the fervour and fire of the affection which you bear us, increasing thus, through a double bond, the obligations we are owing you, which is so great in our hearts that we have felt bound to discharge a part of it by means of this writing, which we beg you to communicate to the whole company of our friends under your command; saying to them besides, that they may feel assured that even as we have before given proof of our goodwill to their fatherland, so henceforth--incited by their devoirs and merits--we are ready to extend our bounty and affection in all ways which may become a princess recompensing the virtues and gratitude of a nation so worthy as yours. "elizabeth r. " th august, ." this letter was transmitted by the admiral to the states-general; who, furnished him with a copy of it, but enrolled the original in their archives; recording as it did, in the hand of the great english queen, so striking a testimony to the valour and the good conduct of netherlanders. the results of this expedition were considerable, for the king's navy was crippled, a great city was destroyed, and some millions of plunder had been obtained. but the permanent possession of cadiz, which, in such case, essex hoped to exchange for calais, and the destruction of the fleet at the azores--possible achievements both, and unwisely neglected --would have been far more profitable, at least to england. it was also matter of deep regret that there was much quarrelling between the netherlanders and the englishmen as to their respective share of the spoils; the netherlanders complaining loudly that they had been defrauded. moreover the merchants of middelburg, amsterdam, and other commercial cities of holland and zeeland were, as it proved, the real owners of a large portion of the property destroyed or pillaged at cadiz; so that a loss estimated as high as three hundred thousand florins fell upon those unfortunate traders through this triumph of the allies. the internal consequences of the fall of calais had threatened at the first moment to be as disastrous as the international results of that misfortune had already proved. the hour for the definite dismemberment and partition of the french kingdom, not by foreign conquerors but among its own self-seeking and disloyal grandees, seemed to have struck. the indomitable henry, ever most buoyant when most pressed by misfortune, was on the way to his camp at la fere, encouraging the faint-hearted, and providing as well as he could for the safety of the places most menaced, when he was met at st. quentin by a solemn deputation of the principal nobles, military commanders, and provincial governors of france. the duke of montpensier was spokesman of the assembly, and, in an harangue carefully prepared for the occasion, made an elaborate proposition to the king that the provinces, districts, cities, castles; and other strong- holds throughout the kingdom should now be formally bestowed upon the actual governors and commandants thereof in perpetuity, and as hereditary property, on condition of rendering a certain military service to the king and his descendants. it seemed so amazing that this temporary disaster to the national arms should be used as a pretext for parcelling out france, and converting a great empire into a number of insignificant duchies and petty principalities; that this movement should be made, not by the partisans of spain, but by the adherents of the king; and that its leader should be his own near relative, a prince of the blood, and a possible successor to the crown, that henry was struck absolutely dumb. misinterpreting his silence, the duke proceeded very confidently with his well-conned harangue; and was eloquently demonstrating that, under such a system, henry, as principal feudal chief, would have greater military forces at his disposal whenever he chose to summon his faithful vassals to the field than could be the case while the mere shadow of royal power or dignity was allowed to remain; when the king, finding at last a tongue, rebuked his cousin; not angrily, but with a grave melancholy which was more impressive than wrath. he expressed his pity for the duke that designing intriguers should have thus taken advantage of his facility of character to cause him to enact a part so entirely unworthy a frenchman, a gentleman, and a prince of the blood. he had himself, at the outset of his career, been much farther from the throne than montpensier was at that moment; but at no period of his life would he have consented to disgrace himself by attempting the dismemberment of the realm. so far from entering for a moment into the subject-matter of the duke's discourse, he gave him and all his colleagues distinctly to understand that he would rather die a thousand deaths than listen to suggestions which would cover his family and the royal dignity with infamy. rarely has political cynicism been displayed in more revolting shape than in this deliberate demonstration by the leading patricians and generals of france, to whom patriotism seemed an unimaginable idea. thus signally was their greediness to convert a national disaster into personal profit rebuked by the king. henry was no respecter of the people, which he regarded as something immeasurably below his feet. on the contrary, he was the most sublime self-seeker of them all; but his courage, his intelligent ambition, his breadth and strength of purpose, never permitted him to doubt that his own greatness was inseparable from the greatness of france. thus he represented a distinct and wholesome principle--the national integrity of a great homogeneous people at a period when that integrity seemed, through domestic treason and foreign hatred, to be hopelessly lost. hence it is not unnatural that he should hold his place in the national chronicle as henry the great. meantime, while the military events just recorded had been occurring in the southern peninsula, the progress of the archduke and his lieutenants in the north against the king and against the republic had been gratifying to the ambition of that martial ecclesiastic. soon after the fall of calais, de rosne had seized the castles of guynes and hames, while de mexia laid siege to the important stronghold of ardres. the garrison, commanded by count belin, was sufficiently numerous and well supplied to maintain the place until henry, whose triumph at la fere could hardly be much longer delayed, should come to its relief. to the king's infinite dissatisfaction, however, precisely as don alvario de osorio was surrendering la fere to him, after a seven months' siege, ardres was capitulating to de mexia. the reproaches upon belin for cowardice, imbecility, and bad faith, were bitter and general. all his officers had vehemently protested against the surrender, and henry at first talked of cutting off his head. it was hardly probable, however-- had the surrender been really the result of treachery--that the governor would have put himself, as he did at once in the king's power; for the garrison marched out of ardres with the commandant at their head, banners displayed, drums beating, matches lighted and bullet in mouth, twelve hundred fighting men strong, besides invalids. belin was possessed of too much influence, and had the means of rendering too many pieces of service to the politic king, whose rancour against spain was perhaps not really so intense as was commonly supposed, to meet with the condign punishment which might have been the fate of humbler knaves. these successes having been obtained in normandy, the cardinal with a force of nearly fifteen thousand men now took the field in flanders; and, after hesitating for a time whether he should attack breda, bergen, ostend, or gertruydenburg,--and after making occasional feints in various directions, came, towards the end of june, before hulst. this rather insignificant place, with a population of but one thousand inhabitants, was defended by a strong garrison under command of that eminent and experienced officer count everard solms. its defences were made more complete by a system of sluices, through which the country around could be laid under water; and maurice, whose capture of the town in the year had been one of his earliest military achievements, was disposed to hold it at all hazards. he came in person to inspect the fortifications, and appeared to be so eager on the subject, and so likely to encounter unnecessary hazards, that the states of holland passed a resolution imploring him "that he would not, in his heroic enthusiasm and laudable personal service, expose a life on which the country so much depended to manifest dangers." the place was soon thoroughly invested, and the usual series of minings and counter-minings, assaults, and sorties followed, in the course of which that courageous and corpulent renegade, de rosne, had his head taken off by a cannon-ball, while his son, a lad of sixteen, was fighting by his side. on the th august the cardinal formally demanded the surrender of the place, and received the magnanimous reply that hulst would be defended to the death. this did not, however, prevent the opening of negotiations the very same day. all the officers, save one, united in urging solms to capitulate; and solms, for somewhat mysterious reasons, and, as was stated, in much confusion, gave his consent. the single malcontent was the well-named matthew held, whose family name meant hero, and who had been one of the chief actors in the far-famed capture of breda. he was soon afterwards killed in an unsuccessful attack made by maurice upon venlo. hulst capitulated on the th august. the terms were honourable; but the indignation throughout the country against count solms was very great. the states of zeeland, of whose regiment he had been commander ever, since the death of sir philip sidney, dismissed him from their service, while a torrent of wrath flowed upon him from every part of the country. members of the states-general refused to salute him in the streets; eminent person, ages turned their backs upon him, and for a time there was no one willing to listen to a word in his defence. the usual reaction in such cases followed; maurice sustained the commander, who had doubtless committed a grave error, but who had often rendered honourable service to the republic, and the states-general gave him a command as important as that of which he had been relieved by the zeeland states. it was mainly on account of the tempest thus created within the netherlands, that an affair of such slight importance came to occupy so large a space in contemporary history. the defenders of solmstold wild stories about the losses of the besieging army. the cardinal, who was thought prodigal of blood, and who was often quoted as saying "his soldiers' lives belonged to god and their bodies to the king," had sacrificed, it, was ridiculously said, according to the statement of the spaniards themselves, five thousand soldiers before the walls of hulst. it was very logically deduced therefrom that the capture of a few more towns of a thousand inhabitants each would cost him his whole army. people told each other, too, that the conqueror had refused a triumph which the burghers of brussels wished to prepare for him on his entrance into the capital, and that he had administered the very proper rebuke that, if they had more money than they knew what to do with, they should expend it in aid of the wounded and of the families of the fallen, rather than in velvets and satins and triumphal arches. the humanity of the suggestion hardly tallied with the blood-thirstiness of which he was at the same time so unjustly accused--although it might well be doubted whether the commander-in-chief, even if he could witness unflinchingly the destruction of five thousand soldiers on the battle-field, would dare to confront a new demonstration of schoolmaster houwaerts and his fellowpedants. the fact was, however, that the list of casualties in the cardinal's camp during the six weeks' siege amounted to six hundred, while the losses within the city were at least as many. there was no attempt to relieve the place; for the states, as before observed, had been too much cramped by the strain upon their resources and by the removal of so many veterans for the expedition against cadiz to be able to muster any considerable forces in the field during the whole of this year. for a vast war in which the four leading powers of the earth were engaged, the events, to modern eyes, of the campaign of seem sufficiently meagre. meantime, during all this campaigning by land and sea in the west, there had been great but profitless bloodshed in the east. with difficulty did the holy roman empire withstand the terrible, ever-renewed assaults of the unholy realm of ottoman--then in the full flush of its power--but the two empires still counterbalanced each other, and contended with each'other at the gates of vienna. as the fighting became more languid, however, in the western part of christendom, the negotiations and intrigues grew only the more active. it was most desirable for the republic to effect, if possible, a formal alliance offensive and defensive with france and england against spain. the diplomacy of the netherlands had been very efficient in bringing about the declaration of war by henry against philip, by which the current year had opened, after henry and philip had been doing their best to destroy each other and each other's subjects during the half-dozen previous years. elizabeth, too, although she had seen her shores invaded by philip with the most tremendous armaments that had ever floated on the seas, and although she had herself just been sending fire and sword into the heart of spain, had very recently made the observation that she and philip were not formally at war with each other. it seemed, therefore, desirable to the states-general that this very practical warfare should be, as it were, reduced to a theorem. in this case the position of the republic to both powers and to spain itself might perhaps be more accurately defined. calvaert, the states' envoy--to use his own words--haunted henry like his perpetual shadow, and was ever doing his best to persuade him of the necessity of this alliance. de saucy, as we have seen, had just arrived in england, when the cool proposition of the queen to rescue calais from philip on condition of keeping it for herself had been brought to boulogne by sidney. notwithstanding the indignation of the king, he had been induced directly afterwards to send an additional embassy to elizabeth, with the duke of bouillon at its head; and he had insisted upon calvaert's accompanying the mission. he had, as he frequently observed, no secrets from the states-general, or from calvaert, who had been negotiating upon these affairs for two years past and was so well acquainted with all their bearings. the dutch envoy was reluctant to go, for he was seriously ill and very poor in purse, but henry urged the point so vehemently, that calvaert found himself on board ship within six hours of the making of the proposition. the incident shows of how much account the republican diplomatist was held by so keen a judge of mankind as the bearnese; but it will subsequently appear that the candour of the king towards the states-general and their representative was by no means without certain convenient limitations. de sancy had arrived just as--without his knowledge--sidney had been despatched across the channel with the brief mission already mentioned. when he was presented to the queen, the next day, she excused herself for the propositions by which henry had been so much enraged, by assuring the envoy that it had been her intention only to keep calais out of the enemy's hand, so long as the king's forces were too much occupied at a distance to provide for its safety. as diplomatic conferences were about to begin in which--even more than in that age, at least, was usually the case--the object of the two conferring powers was to deceive each other, and at the same time still more decidedly to defraud other states, sancy accepted the royal explanation, although henry's special messenger, lomenie, had just brought him from the camp at boulogne a minute account of the propositions of sidney. the envoy had, immediately afterwards, an interview with lord burghley, and at once perceived that he was no friend to his master. cecil observed that the queen had formerly been much bound to the king for religion's sake. as this tie no longer existed, there was nothing now to unite them save the proximity of the two states to each other and their ancient alliances, a bond purely of interest which existed only so long as princes found therein a special advantage. de sancy replied that the safety of the two crowns depended upon their close alliance against a very powerful foe who was equally menacing to them both. cecil rejoined that he considered the spaniards deserving of the very highest praise for having been able to plan so important an enterprise, and to have so well deceived the king of france by the promptness and the secrecy of their operations as to allow him to conceive no suspicion as to their designs. to this not very friendly sarcasm the envoy, indignant that france should thus be insulted in her misfortunes, exclaimed that he prayed to god that the affairs of englishmen might never be reduced to such a point as to induce the world to judge by the result merely, as to the sagacity of their counsels. he added that there were many passages through which to enter france, and that it was difficult to be present everywhere, in order to defend them all against the enemy. a few days afterwards the duke of bouillon arrived in london. he had seen lord essex at dover as he passed, and had endeavoured without success to dissuade him from his expedition against the spanish coast. the conferences opened on the th may, at greenwich, between burghley, cobham, the lord chamberlain, and one or two other commissioners on the part of the queen, and bouillon, sancy, du yair, and ancel, as plenipotentiaries of henry. there was the usual indispensable series of feints at the outset, as if it were impossible for statesmen to meet around a green table except as fencers in the field or pugilists in the ring. "we have nothing to do," said burghley, "except to listen to such propositions as may be made on the part of the king, and to repeat them to her highness the queen." "you cannot be ignorant," replied bouillon, "of the purpose for which we have been sent hither by his very christian majesty. you know very well that it is to conclude a league with england. 'tis necessary, therefore, for the english to begin by declaring whether they are disposed to enter into such an alliance. this point once settled, the french can make their propositions, but it would be idle to dispute about the conditions of a treaty, if there is after all no treaty to be made." to this cecil rejoined, that, if the king were reduced to the necessity of asking succour from the queen, and of begging for her alliance, it was necessary for them, on the other hand, to see what he was ready to do for the queen in return, and to learn what advantage she could expect from the league. the duke said that the english statesmen were perfectly aware of the french intention of proposing a league against the common enemy of both nations, and that it would be unquestionably for the advantage of both to unite their forces for a vigorous attack upon spain, in which case it would be more difficult for the spanish to resist them than if each were acting separately. it was no secret that the spaniards would rather attack england than france, because their war against england, being coloured by a religious motive, would be much less odious, and would even have a specious pretext. moreover the conquest of england would give them an excellent vantage ground to recover what they had lost in the netherlands. if, on the contrary, the enemy should throw himself with his whole force upon france, the king, who would perhaps lose many places at once, and might hardly be able to maintain himself single-handed against domestic treason and a concentrated effort on the part of spain, would probably find it necessary to make a peace with that power. nothing could be more desirable for spain than such a result, for she would then be free to attack england and holland, undisturbed by any fear of france. this was a piece of advice, the duke said, which the king offered, in the most friendly spirit, and as a proof of his affection, to her majesty's earnest consideration. burghley replied that all this seemed to him no reason for making a league. "what more can the queen do," he observed, "than she is already doing? she has invaded spain by land and sea, she has sent troops to spain, france, and the netherlands; she has lent the king fifteen hundred thousand crowns in gold. in short, the envoys ought rather to be studying how to repay her majesty for her former benefits than to be soliciting fresh assistance." he added that the king was so much stronger by the recent gain of marseilles as to be easily able to bear the loss of places of far less importance, while ireland, on the contrary, was a constant danger to the queen. the country was already in a blaze, on account of the recent landing effected there by the spaniards, and it was a very ancient proverb among the english, that to attack england it was necessary to take the road of ireland. bouillon replied that in this war there was much difference between the position of france and that of england. the queen, notwithstanding hostilities, obtained her annual revenue as usual, while the king was cut off from his resources and obliged to ruin his kingdom in order to wage war. sancy added, that it must be obvious to the english ministers that the peril of holland was likewise the peril of england and of france, but that at the same time they could plainly see that the king, if not succoured, would be forced to a peace with spain. all his counsellors were urging him to this, and it was the interest of all his neighbours to prevent such a step. moreover, the proposed league could not but be advantageous to the english; whether by restraining the spaniards from entering england, or by facilitating a combined attack upon the common enemy. the queen might invade any portion of the flemish coast at her pleasure, while the king's fleet could sail with troops from his ports to prevent any attack upon her realms. at this burghley turned to his colleagues and said, in english, "the french are acting according to the proverb; they wish to sell us the bear-skin before they have killed the bear." sancy, who understood english, rejoined, "we have no bear-skin to sell, but we are giving you a very good and salutary piece of advice. it is for you to profit by it as you may." "where are these ships of war, of which you were speaking?" asked burghley. "they are at rochelle, at bordeaux, and at st. malo," replied de sancy. "and these ports are not in the king's possession," said the lord treasurer. the discussion was growing warm. the duke of bouillon, in order to, put an end to it, said that what england had most to fear was a descent by spain upon her coasts, and that the true way to prevent this was to give occupation to philip's army in flanders. the soldiers in the fleet then preparing were raw levies with which he would not venture to assail her kingdom. the veterans in flanders were the men on whom he relied for that purpose. moreover the queen, who had great influence with the states-general, would procure from them a prohibition of all commerce between the provinces and spain; all the netherlands would be lost to philip, his armies would disperse of their own accord; the princes of italy, to whom the power of spain was a perpetual menace, would secretly supply funds to the allied powers, and the germans, declared enemies of philip, would furnish troops. burghley asserted confidently that this could never be obtained from the hollanders, who lived by commerce alone. upon which saucy, wearied with all these difficulties, interrupted the lord treasurer by exclaiming, "if the king is to expect neither an alliance nor any succour on your part, he will be very much obliged to the queen if she will be good enough to inform him of the decision taken by her, in order that he may, upon his side, take the steps most suitable to the present position of his affairs." the session then terminated. two days afterwards, in another conference, burghley offered three thousand men on the part of the queen, on condition that they should be raised at the king's expense, and that they should not leave england until they had received a month's pay in advance. the duke of bouillon said this was far from being what had been expected of the generosity of her majesty, that if the king had money he would find no difficulty in raising troops in switzerland and germany, and that there was a very great difference between hired princes and allies. the english ministers having answered that this was all the queen could do, the duke and saucy rose in much excitement, saying that they had then no further business than to ask for an audience of leave, and to return to france as fast as possible. before they bade farewell to the queen, however, the envoys sent a memoir to her majesty, in which they set forth that the first proposition as to a league had been made by sir henry umton, and that now, when the king had sent commissioners to treat concerning an alliance, already recommended by the queen's ambassador in france, they had been received in such a way as to indicate a desire to mock them rather than to treat with them. they could not believe, they said, that it was her majesty's desire to use such language as had been addressed to them, and they therefore implored her plainly to declare her intentions, in order that they might waste no more time unnecessarily, especially as the high offices with which their sovereign had honoured them did not allow them to remain for a long time absent from france. the effect of this memoir upon the queen was, that fresh conferences were suggested, which took place at intervals between the th and the th of may. they were characterized by the same mutual complaints of overreachings and of shortcomings by which all the previous discussions had been distinguished. on the th may the french envoys even insisted on taking formal farewell of the queen, and were received by her majesty for that purpose at a final audience. after they had left the presence-- the preparations for their homeward journey being already made--the queen sent sir robert cecil, henry brooke, son of lord cobham, and la fontaine, minister of a french church in england, to say to them how very much mortified she was that the state of her affairs did not permit her to give the king as much assistance as he desired, and to express her wish to speak to them once more before their departure. the result of the audience given accordingly to the envoys, two days later, was the communication of her decision to enter into the league proposed, but without definitely concluding the treaty until it should be ratified by the king. on the th may articles were finally agreed upon, by which the king and queen agreed to defend each other's dominions, to unite in attacking the common enemy, and to invite other princes and states equally interested with themselves in resisting the ambitious projects of spain, to join in the league. it was arranged that an army should be put in the field as soon as possible, at the expense of the king and queen, and of such other powers as should associate themselves in the proposed alliance; that this army should invade the dominions of the spanish monarch, that the king and queen were never, without each other's consent, to make peace or truce with philip; that the queen should immediately raise four thousand infantry to serve six months of every year in picardy and normandy, with the condition that they were never to be sent to a distance of more than fifty leaguas from boulogna; that when the troubles of ireland should be over the queen should be at liberty to add new troops to the four thousand men thus promised by her to the league; that the queen was to furnish to these four thousand men six months' pay in advance before they should leave england, and that the king should agree to repay the amount six months afterwards, sending meanwhile four nobles to england as hostages. if the dominions of the queen should be attacked it was stipulated that, at two months' notice, the king should raise four thousand men at the expense of the queen and send them to her assistance, and that they were to serve for six months at her charge, but were not to be sent to a distance of more than fifty leagues from the coasts of france. the english were not willing that the states-general should be comprehended among the powers to be invited to join the league, because being under the protection of the queen of england they were supposed to have no will but hers. burghley insisted accordingly that, in speaking of those who were thus to be asked, no mention was to be made of peoples nor of states, for fear lest the states-general might be included under those terms. the queen was, however, brought at last to yield the point, and consented, in order to satisfy the french envoys, that to the word princes should be added the general expression orders or estates. the obstacle thus interposed to the formation of the league by the hatred of the queen and of the privileged classes of england to popular liberty, and by the secret desire entertained of regaining that sovereignty over the provinces which had been refused ten years before by elizabeth, was at length set aside. the republic, which might have been stifled at its birth, was now a formidable fact, and could neither be annexed to the english dominions nor deprived of its existence as a new member of the european family. it being no longer possible to gainsay the presence of the young commonwealth among the nations, the next best thing--so it was thought-- was to defraud her in the treaty to which she was now invited to accede. this, as it will presently appear, the king of france and the queen of england succeeded in doing very thoroughly, and they accomplished it notwithstanding the astuteness and the diligence of the states' envoy, who at henry's urgent request had accompanied the french mission to england. calvaert had been very active in bringing about the arrangement, to assist in which he had, as we have seen, risen from a sick bed and made the journey to england: "the proposition for an offensive and defensive alliance was agreed to by her majesty's council, but under intolerable and impracticable conditions," said he, "and, as such, rejected by the duke and sancy, so that they took leave of her majesty. at last, after some negotiation in which, without boasting, i may say that i did some service, it was again taken in hand, and at last, thank god, although with much difficulty, the league has been concluded." when the task was finished the french envoys departed to obtain their master's ratification of the treaty. elizabeth expressed herself warmly in regard to her royal brother, inviting him earnestly to pay her a visit, in which case she said she would gladly meet him half way; for a sight of him would be her only consolation in the midst of her adversity and annoyance. "he may see other princesses of a more lovely appearance," she added, "but he will never make a visit to a more faithful friend." but the treaty thus concluded was for the public. the real agreement between france and england was made by a few days later, and reduced the ostensible arrangement to a sham, a mere decoy to foreign nations, especially to the dutch republic, to induce them to imitate england in joining the league, and to emulate her likewise in affording that substantial assistance to the league which in reality england was very far from giving. "two contracts were made," said secretary of state villeroy; "the one public, to give credit and reputation to the said league, the other secret, which destroyed the effects and the promises of the first. by the first his majesty was to be succoured by four thousand infantry, which number was limited by the second contract to two thousand, who were to reside and to serve only in the cities of boulogne and montreuil, assisted by an equal number of french, and not otherwise, and on condition of not being removed from those towns unless his majesty should be personally present in picardy with an army, in which case they might serve in picardy, but nowhere else." an english garrison in a couple of french seaports, over against the english coast, would hardly have seemed a sufficient inducement to other princes and states to put large armies in the field to sustain the protestant league, had they known that this was the meagre result of the protocolling and disputations that had been going on all the summer at greenwich. nevertheless the decoy did its work, the envoys returned to france, and it was not until three months later that the duke of bouillon again made his appearance in england, bringing the treaty duly ratified by henry. the league was then solemnized, on, the th august, by the queen with much pomp and ceremony. three peers of the realm waited upon the french ambassador at his lodgings, and escorted him and his suite in seventeen royal coaches to the tower. seven splendid barges then conveyed them along the thames to greenwich. on the pier the ambassador was received by the earl of derby at the head of a great suite of nobles and high functionaries, and conducted to the palace of nonesuch. there was a religious ceremony in the royal chapel, where a special pavilion had been constructed. standing, within this sanctuary, the queen; with her hand on her breast, swore faithfully to maintain the league just concluded. she then gave her hand to the duke of bouillon, who held it in both his own, while psalms were sung and the organ resounded through the chapel. afterwards there was a splendid banquet in the palace, the duke sitting in solitary grandeur at the royal table, being placed at a respectful distance from her majesty, and the dishes being placed on the board by the highest nobles of the realm, who, upon their knees, served the queen with wine. no one save the ambassador sat at elizabeth's table, but in the same hall was spread another, at which the earl of essex entertained many distinguished guests, young count lewis gunther of nassau among the number. in the midsummer twilight the brilliantly decorated barges were again floating on the historic river, the gaily-coloured lanterns lighting the sweep of the oars, and the sound of lute and viol floating merrily across the water. as the ambassador came into the courtyard of his house, he found a crowd of several thousand people assembled, who shouted welcome to the representative of henry, and invoked blessings on the head of queen elizabeth and of her royal brother of france. meanwhile all the bells of london were ringing, artillery was thundering, and bonfires were blazing, until the night was half spent. such was the holiday-making by which the league between the great protestant queen and the ex-chief of the huguenots of france was celebrated within a year after the pope had received him, a repentant sinner, into the fold of the church. truly it might be said that religion was rapidly ceasing to be the line of demarcation among the nations, as had been the case for the two last generations of mankind. the duke of bouillon soon afterwards departed for the netherlands, where the regular envoy to the commonwealth, paul chouart seigneur de buzanval, had already been preparing the states-general for their entrance into the league. of course it was duly impressed upon those republicans that they should think themselves highly honoured by the privilege of associating themselves with so august an alliance. the queen wrote an earnest letter to the states, urging them to join the league. "especially should you do so," she said, "on account of the reputation which you will thereby gain for your affairs with the people who are under you, seeing you thus sustained (besides the certainty which you have of our favour) by the friendship of other confederated princes, and particularly by that of the most christian king." on the st october the articles of agreement under which the republic acceded to the new confederation were signed at the hague. of course it was not the exact counterpart of the famous catholic association. madam league, after struggling feebly for the past few years, a decrepit beldame, was at last dead and buried. but there had been a time when she was filled with exuberant and terrible life. she, at least, had known the object of her creation, and never, so long as life was in her, had she faltered in her dread purpose. to extirpate protestantism, to murder protestants, to burn, hang, butcher, bury them alive, to dethrone every protestant sovereign in europe, especially to assassinate the queen of england, the prince of orange, with all his race, and henry of navarre, and to unite in the accomplishment of these simple purposes all the powers of christendom under the universal monarchy of philip of spain-- for all this, blood was shed in torrents, and the precious metals of the "indies" squandered as fast as the poor savages, who were thus taking their first lessons in the doctrines of jesus of nazareth, could dig it from the mines. for this america had been summoned, as it were by almighty fiat, out of previous darkness, in order that it might furnish money with which to massacre all the heretics of the earth. for this great purpose was the sublime discovery of the genoese sailor to be turned to account. these aims were intelligible, and had in part been attained. william of orange had fallen, and a patent of nobility, with a handsome fortune, had been bestowed upon his assassin. elizabeth's life had been frequently attempted. so had those of henry, of maurice, of olden-barneveld. divine providence might perhaps guide the hand of future murderers with greater accuracy, for even if madam league were dead, her ghost still walked among the jesuits and summoned them to complete the crimes left yet unfinished. but what was the design of the new confederacy? it was not a protestant league. henry of navarre could no longer be the chief of such an association, although it was to protestant powers only that he could turn for assistance. it was to the commonwealth of the netherlands, to the northern potentates and to the calvinist and lutheran princes of germany, that the king and queen could alone appeal in their designs against philip of spain. the position of henry was essentially a false one from the beginning. he felt it to be so, and the ink was scarce dry with which he signed the new treaty before he was secretly casting about him to, make peace with that power with which he was apparently summoning all the nations of the earth to do battle. even the cautious elizabeth was deceived by the crafty bearnese, while both united to hoodwink the other states and princes. on the st october, accordingly, the states-general agreed to go into the league with england and france; "in order to resist the enterprises and ambitious designs of the king of spain against all the princes and potentates of christendom." as the queen had engaged--according to the public treaty or decoy--to furnish four thousand infantry to the league, the states now agreed to raise and pay for another four thousand to be maintained in the king's service at a cost of four hundred and fifty thousand florins annually, to be paid by the month. the king promised, in case the netherlands should be invaded by the enemy with the greater part of his force, that these four thousand soldiers should return to the netherlands. the king further bound himself to carry on a sharp offensive war in artois and hainault. the states-general would have liked a condition inserted in the treaty that no peace should be made with spain by england or france without the consent of the provinces; but this was peremptorily refused. perhaps the republic had no special reason to be grateful for the grudging and almost contemptuous manner in which it had thus been virtually admitted into the community of sovereigns; but the men who directed its affairs were far too enlightened not to see how great a step was taken when their political position, now conceded to them, had been secured. in good faith they intended to carry out the provisions of the new treaty, and they immediately turned their attention to the vital matters of making new levies and of imposing new taxes, by means of which they might render themselves useful to their new allies. meantime ancel was deputed by henry to visit the various courts of germany and the north in order to obtain, if possible, new members for the league? but germany was difficult to rouse. the dissensions among protestants were ever inviting the assaults of the papists. its multitude of sovereigns were passing their leisure moments in wrangling among themselves as usual on abstruse points of theology, and devoting their serious hours to banquetting, deep drinking, and the pleasures of the chase. the jeremiads of old john of nassau grew louder than ever, but his voice was of one crying in the wilderness. the wrath to come of that horrible thirty years' war, which he was not to witness seemed to inspire all his prophetic diatribes. but there were few to heed them. two great dangers seemed ever impending over christendom, and it is difficult to decide which fate would have been the more terrible, the establishment of the universal monarchy of philip ii., or the conquest of germany by the grand turk. but when ancel and other emissaries sought to obtain succour against the danger from the south-west, he was answered by the clash of arms and the shrieks of horror which came daily from the south-east. in vain was it urged, and urged with truth, that the alcoran was less cruel than the inquisition, that the soil of europe might be overrun by turks and tartars, and the crescent planted triumphantly in every village, with less disaster to the human race, and with better hope that the germs of civilization and the precepts of christianity might survive the invasion, than if the system of philip, of torquemada, and of alva, should become the universal law. but the turk was a frank enemy of christianity, while philip murdered christians in the name of christ. the distinction imposed upon the multitudes, with whom words were things. moreover, the danger from the young and enterprising mahomet seemed more appalling to the imagination than the menace, from which experience had taken something of its terrors, of the old and decrepit philip. the ottoman empire, in its exact discipline, in its terrible concentration of purpose, in its contempt for all arts and sciences, and all human occupation save the trade of war and the pursuit of military dominion, offered a strong contrast to the distracted condition of the holy roman empire, where an intellectual and industrious people, distracted by half a century of religious controversy and groaning under one of the most elaborately perverse of all the political systems ever invented by man, seemed to offer itself an easy prey to any conqueror. the turkish power was in the fulness of its aggressive strength, and seemed far more formidable than it would have done had there been clearer perceptions of what constitutes the strength and the wealth of nations. could the simple truth have been thoroughly, comprehended that a realm founded upon such principles was the grossest of absurdities, the eastern might have seemed less terrible than the western danger. but a great campaign, at no considerable distance from the walls of vienna, had occupied the attention of germany during the autumn. mahomet had taken the field in person with a hundred thousand men, and the emperor's brother, maximilian, in conjunction with the prince of transylvania, at the head of a force of equal magnitude, had gone forth to give him battle. between the theiss and the danube, at keveste, not far from the city of erlau, on the th october, the terrible encounter on which the fate of christendom seemed to hang at last took place, and europe held its breath in awful suspense until its fate should be decided. when the result at last became known, a horrible blending of the comic and the tragic, such as has rarely been presented in history, startled the world. seventy thousand human beings--moslems and christians--were lying dead or wounded on the banks of a nameless little stream which flows into the theisa, and the commanders-in-chief of both armies were running away as fast as horses could carry them. each army believed itself hopelessly defeated, and abandoning tents, baggage, artillery, ammunition, the remnants of each, betook themselves to panic- stricken flight. generalissimo maximilian never looked behind him as he fled, until he had taken refuge in kaschan, and had thence made his way, deeply mortified and despondent, to vienna. the prince of transylvania retreated into the depths of his own principality. mahomet, with his principal officers, shut himself up in buda, after which he returned to constantinople and abandoned himself for a time to a voluptuous ease, inconsistent with the ottoman projects of conquering the world. the turks, less prone to desperation than the christians, had been utterly overthrown in the early part of the action, but when the victors were, as usual, greedily bent upon plunder before the victory had been fairly secured, the tide of battle was turned by the famous italian renegade cicala. the turks, too, had the good sense to send two days afterwards and recover their artillery, trains, and other property, which ever since the battle had been left at the mercy of the first comers. so ended the turkish campaign of the year . ancel, accordingly, fared ill in his negotiations with germany. on the other hand mendoza, admiral of arragon, had been industriously but secretly canvassing the same regions as the representative of the spanish king. it was important for philip, who put more faith in the league of the three powers than henry himself did, to lose no time in counteracting its influence. the condition of the holy roman empire had for some time occupied his most serious thoughts. it seemed plain that rudolph would never marry. certainly he would never marry the infanta, although he was very angry that his brother should aspire to the hand which he himself rejected. in case of his death without children, philip thought it possible that there might be a protestant revolution in germany, and that the house of habsburg might lose the imperial crown altogether. it was even said that the emperor himself was of that opinion, and preferred that the empire should end with his own life." philip considered that neither matthias nor maximilian was fit to succeed their brother, being both of them lukewarm in the catholic faith." in other words, he chose that his destined son-in-law, the cardinal albert, should supersede them, and he was anxious to have him appointed as soon as possible king of the romans. "his holiness the pope and the king of spain," said the admiral of arragon, "think it necessary to apply most stringent measures to the emperor to compel him to appoint a successor, because, in case of his death without one, the administration during the vacancy would fall to the elector palatine,--a most perverse calvinistic heretic, and as great an enemy of the house of austria and of our holy religion as the turk himself--as sufficiently appears in those diabolical laws of his published in the palatinate a few months since. a vacancy is so dreadful, that in the north of germany the world would come to an end; yet the emperor, being of rather a timid nature than otherwise, is inclined to quiet, and shrinks from the discussions and conflicts likely to be caused by an appointment. therefore his holiness and his catholic majesty, not choosing that we should all live in danger of the world's falling in ruins, have resolved to provide the remedy. they are to permit the electors to use the faculty which they possess of suspending the emperor and depriving him of his power; there being examples of this in other times against emperors who governed ill." the admiral farther alluded to the great effort made two years before to elect the king of denmark emperor, reminding philip that in hamburg they had erected triumphal arches, and made other preparations to receive him. this year, he observed, the protestants were renewing their schemes. on the occasion of the baptism of the child of the elector palatine, the english envoy being present, and queen elizabeth being god-mother, they had agreed upon nine articles of faith much more hostile to the catholic creed than anything ever yet professed. in case of the death of the emperor, this elector palatine would of course make much trouble, and the emperor should therefore be induced, by fair means if possible, on account of the great inconvenience of forcing him, but not without a hint of compulsion, to acquiesce in the necessary measures. philip was represented as willing to assist the empire with considerable force against the turk--as there could be no doubt that hungary was in great danger--but in recompense it was necessary to elect a king of the romans in all respects satisfactory to him. there were three objections to the election of albert, whose recent victories and great abilities entitled him in philip's opinion to the crown. firstly, there was a doubt whether the kingdoms of hungary and bohemia were elective or hereditary, and it was very important that the king of the romans should succeed to those two crowns, because the electors and other princes having fiefs within those kingdoms would be unwilling to swear fealty to two suzerains, and as albert was younger than his brothers he could scarcely expect to take by inheritance. secondly, albert had no property of his own, but the admiral suggested that the emperor might be made to abandon to him the income of the tyrol. thirdly, it was undesirable for albert to leave the netherlands at that juncture. nevertheless, it was suggested by the easy-going admiral, with the same tranquil insolence which marked all his proposed arrangements, that as rudolph would retire from the government altogether, albert, as king of the romans and acting emperor, could very well take care of the netherlands as part of his whole realm. albert being moreover about to marry the infanta, the handsome dowry which he would receive with her from the king would enable him to sustain his dignity. thus did philip who had been so industrious during the many past years in his endeavours to expel the heretic queen of england and the huguenot henry from the realms of their ancestors, and to seat himself or his daughter, or one or another of his nephews, in their places, now busy himself with schemes to discrown rudolph of habsburg, and to place the ubiquitous infanta and her future husband on his throne. time would show the result. meantime, while the protestant ancel and other agents of the new league against philip were travelling about from one court of europe to another to gain adherents to their cause, the great founder of the confederacy was already secretly intriguing for a peace with that monarch. the ink was scarce dry on the treaty to which he had affixed his signature before he was closeted with the agents of the archduke albert, and receiving affectionate messages and splendid presents from that military ecclesiastic. in november, , la balvena, formerly a gentleman of the count de la fera, came to rouen. he had a very secret interview with henry iv. at three o'clock one morning, and soon afterwards at a very late hour in the night. the king asked him why the archduke was not willing to make a general peace, including england and holland. balvena replied that he had no authority to treat on that subject; it being well known, however, that the king of spain would never consent to a peace with the rebels, except on the ground of the exclusive maintenance of the catholic religion. he is taking the very course to destroy that religion, said henry. the king then avowed himself in favour of peace for the sake of the poor afflicted people of all countries. he was not tired of arms, he said, which were so familiar to him, but his wish was to join in a general crusade against the turk. this would be better for the catholic religion than the present occupations of all parties. he avowed that the queen of england was his very good friend, and said he had never yet broken his faith with her, and never would do so. she had sent him the garter, and he had accepted it, as his brother henry iii. had done before him, and he would negotiate no peace which did not include her. the not very distant future was to show how much these stout professions of sincerity were worth. meantime henry charged balvena to keep their interviews a profound secret, especially from every one in france. the king expressed great anxiety lest the huguenots should hear of it, and the agent observed that any suspicion of peace negotiations would make great disturbance among the heretics, as one of the conditions of the king's absolution by the pope was supposed to be that he should make war upon his protestant subjects. on his return from rouen the emissary made a visit to monlevet, marshal of the camp to henry iv. and a calvinist. there was much conversation about peace, in the course of which monlevet observed, "we are much afraid of you in negotiation, for we know that you spaniards far surpass us in astuteness." "nay," said balvena, "i will only repeat the words of the emperor charles v.--'the spaniards seem wise, and are madmen; the french seem madmen, and are wise.'" a few weeks later the archduke sent balvena again to rouen. he had another interview with the king, at which not only villeroy and other catholics were present, but monlevet also. this proved a great obstacle to freedom of conversation. the result was the same as before. there were strong professions of a desire on the part of the king for a peace but it was for a general peace; nothing further. on the th december balvena was sent for by the king before daylight, just as he was mounting his horse for the chase. "tell his highness," said henry, "that i am all frankness, and incapable of dissimulation, and that i believe him too much a man of honour to wish to deceive me. go tell him that i am most anxious for peace, and that i deeply regret the defeat that has been sustained against the turk. had i been there i would have come out dead or victorious. let him arrange an agreement between us, so that presto he may see me there with my brave nobles, with infantry and with plenty of switzers. tell him that i am his friend: begone. be diligent." on the last day but two of the year, the archduke, having heard this faithful report of henry's affectionate sentiments, sent him a suit of splendid armour, such as was then made better in antwerp than anywhere else, magnificently burnished of a blue colour, according to an entirely new fashion. with such secret courtesies between his most catholic majesty's vicegerent and himself was henry's league with the two protestant powers accompanied. exactly at the same epoch philip was again preparing an invasion of the queen's dominions. an armada of a hundred and twenty-eight ships, with a force of fourteen thousand infantry and three thousand horse, had been assembled during the autumn of this year at lisbon, notwithstanding the almost crushing blow that the english and hollanders had dealt the king's navy so recently at cadiz. this new expedition was intended for ireland, where it was supposed that the catholics would be easily roused. it was also hoped that the king of scots might be induced to embrace this opportunity of wreaking vengeance on his mother's destroyer. "he was on the watch the last time that my armada went forth against the english," said philip, "and he has now no reason to do the contrary, especially if he remembers that here is a chance to requite the cruelty which was practised on his mother." the fleet sailed on the th october under the command of the count santa gadea. its immediate destination was the coast of ireland, where they were to find some favourable point for disembarking the troops. having accomplished this, the ships, with the exception of a few light vessels, were to take their departure and pass the winter in ferrol. in case the fleet should be forced by stress of weather on the english coast, the port of milford haven in wales was to be seized, "because," said philip, "there are a great many catholics there well affected to our cause, and who have a special enmity to the english." in case the english fleet should come forth to give battle, philip sent directions that it was to be conquered at once, and that after the victory milford haven was to be firmly held. this was easily said. but it was not fated that this expedition should be more triumphant than that of the unconquerable armada which had been so signally conquered eight years before. scarcely had the fleet put to sea when it was overtaken by a tremendous storm, in which forty ships foundered with five thousand men. the shattered remnants took refuge in ferrol. there the ships were to refit, and in the spring the attempt was to be renewed. thus it was ever with the king of spain. there was a placid unconsciousness on his part of defeat which sycophants thought sublime. and such insensibility might have been sublimity had the monarch been in person on the deck of a frigate in the howling tempest, seeing ship after ship go down before his eyes; and exerting himself with tranquil energy and skill to encourage his followers, and to preserve what remained afloat from destruction. certainly such exhibitions of human superiority to the elements are in the highest degree inspiring. his father had shown himself on more than one occasion the master of his fate. the king of france, too, bare-headed, in his iron corslet, leading a forlorn hope, and, by the personal charm of his valour, changing fugitives into heroes and defeat into victory, had afforded many examples of sublime unconsciousness of disaster, such as must ever thrill the souls of mankind. but it is more difficult to be calm in battle and shipwreck than at the writing desk; nor is that the highest degree of fortitude which enables a monarch--himself in safety--to endure without flinching the destruction of his fellow creatures. no sooner, however, was the remnant of the tempest-tost fleet safe in ferrol than the king requested the cardinal to collect an army at calais and forthwith to invade england. he asked his nephew whether he could not manage to send his troops across the channel in vessels of light draught, such as he already had at command, together with some others which might be furnished him from spain. in this way he was directed to gain a foot-hold in england, and he was to state immediately whether he could accomplish this with his own resources or should require the assistance of the fleet at ferrol. the king further suggested that the enemy, encouraged by his success at cadiz the previous summer, might be preparing a fresh expedition against spain, in which case the invasion of england would be easier to accomplish. thus on the last day of , philip, whose fleet sent forth for the conquest of ireland and england had been too crippled to prosecute the adventure, was proposing to his nephew to conquer england without any fleet at all. he had given the same advice to alexander farnese so soon as he heard of the destruction of the invincible armada. etext editor's bookmarks: allow her to seek a profit from his misfortune burning of servetus at geneva constant vigilance is the price of liberty evil has the advantage of rapidly assuming many shapes french seem madmen, and are wise hanging of mary dyer at boston imposed upon the multitudes, with whom words were things impossible it was to invent terms of adulation too gross in times of civil war, to be neutral is to be nothing meet around a green table except as fencers in the field one-third of philip's effective navy was thus destroyed patriotism seemed an unimaginable idea placid unconsciousness on his part of defeat plea of infallibility and of authority soon becomes ridiculous religion was rapidly ceasing to be the line of demarcation so often degenerated into tyranny (calvinism) spaniards seem wise, and are madmen the alcoran was less cruel than the inquisition there are few inventions in morals to attack england it was necessary to take the road of ireland tranquil insolence unproductive consumption was alarmingly increasing upon their knees, served the queen with wine wish to sell us the bear-skin before they have killed the bear this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, - chapter xxiv. prince maurice--state of the republican army--martial science of the period--reformation of the military system by prince maurice--his military genius--campaign in the netherlands--the fort and town of zutphen taken by the states' forces--attack upon deventer--its capitulation--advance on groningen, delfzyl, opslag, yementil, steenwyk, and other places--farnese besieges fort knodsenburg-- prince maurice hastens to its relief--a skirmish ensues resulting in the discomfiture of the spanish and italian troops--surrender of hulat and nymegen--close of military, operations of the year. while the events revealed in the last chapter had been occupying the energies of farnese and the resources of his sovereign, there had been ample room for prince maurice to mature his projects, and to make a satisfactory beginning in the field. although alexander had returned to the netherlands before the end of the year , and did not set forth on his second french campaign until late in the following year, yet the condition of his health, the exhaustion of his funds, and the dwindling of his army, made it impossible for him to render any effectual opposition to the projects of the youthful general. for the first time maurice was ready to put his theories and studies into practice on an extensive scale. compared with modern armaments, the warlike machinery to be used for liberating the republic from its foreign oppressors would seem almost diminutive. but the science and skill of a commander are to be judged by the results he can work out with the materials within reach. his progress is to be measured by a comparison with the progress of his contemporaries--coheirs with him of what time had thus far bequeathed. the regular army of the republic, as reconstructed, was but ten thousand foot and two thousand horse, but it was capable of being largely expanded by the trainbands of the cities, well disciplined and enured to hardship, and by the levies of german reiters and other, foreign auxiliaries in such numbers as could be paid for by the hard-pressed exchequer of the provinces. to the state-council, according to its original constitution, belonged the levying and disbanding of troops, the conferring of military offices, and the supervision of military operations by sea and land. it was its duty to see that all officers made oath of allegiance to the united provinces. the course of leicester's administration, and especially the fatal treason of stanley and of york, made it seem important for the true lovers of their country to wrest from the state-council, where the english had two seats, all political and military power. and this, as has been seen, was practically but illegally accomplished. the silent revolution by which at this epoch all the main attributes of government passed into the hands of the states-general-acting as a league of sovereignties--has already been indicated. the period during which the council exercised functions conferred on it by the states-general themselves was brief and evanescent. the jealousy of the separate provinces soon prevented the state-council--a supreme executive body entrusted with the general defence of the commonwealth--from causing troops to pass into or out of one province or another without a patent from his excellency the prince, not as chief of the whole army, but as governor and captain-general of holland, or gelderland, or utrecht, as the case might be. the highest military office in the netherlands was that of captain- general or supreme commander. this quality was from earliest times united to that of stadholder, who stood, as his title implied, in the place of the reigning sovereign, whether count, duke, king, or emperor. after the foundation of the republic this dynastic form, like many others, remained, and thus prince maurice was at first only captain- general of holland and zeeland, and subsequently of gelderland, utrecht, and overyssel, after he had been appointed stadholder of those three provinces in on the death of count nieuwenaar. however much in reality he was general-in-chief of the army, he never in all his life held the appointment of captain-general of the union. to obtain a captain's commission in the army, it was necessary to have served four years, while three years' service was the necessary preliminary to the post of lieutenant or ensign. three candidates were presented by the province for each office, from whom the stadholder appointed one.--the commissions, except those of the highest commanders, were made out in the name of the states-general, by advice and consent of the council of state. the oath of allegiance, exacted from soldiers as well as officers; mentioned the name of the particular province to which they belonged, as well as that of the states-generals. it thus appears that, especially after maurice's first and successful campaigns; the supreme authority over the army really belonged to the states-general, and that the powers of the state-council in this regard fell, in the course of four years, more and more into the back-ground, and at last disappeared almost entirely. during the active period of the war, however; the effect of this revolution was in fact rather a greater concentration of military power than its dispersion, for the states- general meant simply the province of holland. holland was the republic. the organisation of the infantry was very simple. the tactical unit was the company. a temporary combination of several companies--made a regiment, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant-colonel, but for such regiments there was no regular organisation. sometimes six or seven companies were thus combined, sometimes three times that number, but the strength of a force, however large, was always estimated by the number of companies, not of regiments. the normal strength of an infantry company, at the beginning of maurice's career, may be stated at one hundred and thirteen, commanded by one captain, one lieutenant, one ensign, and by the usual non-commissioned officers. each company was composed of musketeers, harquebusseers, pikemen, halberdeers, and buckler-men. long after, portable firearms had come into use, the greater portion of foot soldiers continued to be armed with pikes, until the introduction of the fixed bayonet enabled the musketeer to do likewise the duty of pikeman. maurice was among the first to appreciate the advantage of portable firearms, and he accordingly increased the proportion of soldiers armed with the musket in his companies. in a company of a hundred and thirteen, including officers, he had sixty-four armed with firelocks to thirty carrying pikes and halberds. as before his time the proportion between the arms had been nearly even; he thus more than doubled the number of firearms. of these weapons there were two sorts, the musket and the harquebus. the musket was a long, heavy, unmanageable instrument. when fired it was- placed upon an iron gaffle or fork, which: the soldier carried with him, and stuck before him into the ground. the bullets of the musket were twelve to the pound. the harquebus--or hak-bus, hook-gun, so called because of the hook in the front part of the barrel to give steadiness in firing--was much lighter, was discharged from the hand; and carried bullets of twenty-four to the pound. both weapons had matchlocks. the pike was eighteen feet long at least, and pikemen as well as halberdsmen carried rapiers. there were three buckler-men to each company, introduced by maurice for the personal protection of the leader of the company. the prince was often attended by one himself, and, on at least one memorable occasion, was indebted to this shield for the preservation of his life. the cavalry was divided into lancers and carabineers. the unit was the squadron, varying in number from sixty to one hundred and fifty, until the year , when the regular complement of the squadron was fixed at one hundred and twenty. as the use of cavalry on the battle-field at that day, or at least in the netherlands, was not in rapidity of motion, nor in severity of shock--the attack usually taking place on a trot--maurice gradually displaced the lance in favour of the carbine. his troopers thus became rather mounted infantry than regular cavalry. the carbine was at least three feet long, with wheel-locks, and carried bullets of thirty to the pound. the artillery was a peculiar organisation. it was a guild of citizens, rather than a strictly military force like the cavalry and infantry. the arm had but just begun to develop itself, and it was cultivated as a special trade by the guild of the holy barbara existing in all the principal cities. thus a municipal artillery gradually organised itself, under the direction of the gun-masters (bus-meesters), who in secret laboured at the perfection of their art, and who taught it to their apprentices and journeymen; as the principles of other crafts were conveyed by master to pupil. this system furnished a powerful element of defence at a period when every city had in great measure to provide for its own safety. in the earlier campaigns of maurice three kinds of artillery were used; the whole cannon (kartow) of forty-eight pounds; the half-cannon, or twenty-four pounder, and the field-piece carrying a ball of twelve pounds. the two first were called battering pieces or siege-guns. all the guns were of bronze. the length of the whole cannon was about twelve feet; its weight one hundred and fifty times that of the ball, or about seven thousand pounds. it was reckoned that the whole kartow could fire from eighty to one hundred shots in an hour. wet hair cloths were used to cool the piece after every, ten or twelve discharges. the usual charge was twenty pounds of powder. the whole gun was drawn by thirty-one horses, the half-cannon by twenty- three. the field-piece required eleven horses, but a regular field-artillery, as an integral part of the army, did not exist, and was introduced in much later times. in the greatest pitched battle ever fought by maurice, that of nieuport, he had but six field-pieces. the prince also employed mortars in his sieges, from which were thrown grenades, hot shot, and stones; but no greater distance was reached than six hundred yards. bomb-shells were not often used although they had been known for a century. before the days of maurice a special education for engineers had never been contemplated. persons who had privately acquired a knowledge of fortification and similar branches of the science were employed, upon occasion, but regular corps of engineers there were none. the prince established a course of instruction in this profession at the university of leyden, according to a system drawn up by the celebrated stevinus. doubtless the most important innovation of the prince, and the one which required the most energy to enforce, was the use of the spade. his soldiers were jeered at by the enemy as mere boors and day labourers who were dishonouring themselves and their profession by the use of that implement instead of the sword. such a novelty was a shock to all the military ideas of the age, and it was only the determination and vigour of the prince and of his cousin lewis william that ultimately triumphed over the universal prejudice. the pay of the common soldier varied from ten to twenty florins the month, but every miner had eighteen florins, and, when actually working in the mines, thirty florins monthly. soldiers used in digging trenches received, over and above their regular pay, a daily wage of from ten to fifteen styvers, or nearly a shilling sterling. another most wholesome improvement made by the prince was in the payment of his troops. the system prevailing in every european country at that day, by which governments were defrauded and soldiers starved, was most infamous. the soldiers were paid through the captain, who received the wages of a full company, when perhaps not one-third of the names on the master-roll were living human beings. accordingly two-thirds of all the money stuck to the officer's fingers, and it was not thought a disgrace to cheat the government by dressing and equipping for the day a set of ragamuffins, caught up in the streets for the purpose, and made to pass muster as regular soldiers. these parse-volants, or scarecrows, were passed freely about from one company to another, and the indecency of the fraud was never thought a disgrace to the colours of the company. thus, in the armada year, the queen had demanded that a portion of her auxiliary force in the netherlands should be sent to england. the states agreed that three thousand of these english troops, together with a few cavalry companies, should go, but stipulated that two thousand should remain in the provinces. the queen accepted the proposal, but when the two thousand had been counted out, it appeared that there was scarcely a man left for the voyage to england. yet every one of the english captains had claimed full pay for his company from her majesty's exchequer. against this tide of peculation and corruption the strenuous maurice set himself with heart and soul, and there is no doubt that to his reformation in this vital matter much of his military success was owing. it was impossible that roguery and venality should ever furnish a solid foundation for the martial science. to the student of military history the campaigns and sieges of maurice, and especially the earlier: ones, are of great importance. there is no doubt whatever, that the youth who now, after deep study and careful preparation, was measuring himself against the first captains of the age, was founding the great modern school of military science. it was in this netherland academy, and under the tuition of its consummate professor, that the commanders of the seventeenth century not only acquired the rudiments, but perfected themselves in the higher walks of their art. therefore the siege operations, in which all that had been invented by modern genius, or rescued from the oblivion which had gathered over ancient lore during the more vulgar and commonplace practice of the mercenary commanders of the day was brought into successful application, must always engage the special attention of the military student. to the general reader, more interested in marking the progress of civilisation and the advance of the people in the path of development and true liberty, the spectacle of tho young stadholder's triumphs has an interest of another kind. at the moment when a thorough practical soldier was most needed by the struggling little commonwealth, to enable it to preserve liberties partially secured by its unparalleled sacrifices of blood and treasure during a quarter of a century, and to expel the foreign invader from the soil which he had so long profaned, it was destined that a soldier should appear. spade in hand, with his head full of roman castrametation and geometrical problems, a prince, scarce emerged from boyhood, presents himself on that stage where grizzled mansfelds, drunken hohenlos, and truculent verdugos have been so long enacting, that artless military drama which consists of hard knocks and wholesale massacres. the novice is received with universal hilarity. but although the machinery of war varies so steadily from age to age that a commonplace commander of to-day, rich in the spoils of preceding time, might vanquish the alexanders, and caesars, and frederics, with their antiquated enginery, yet the moral stuff out of which great captains, great armies, great victories are created, is the simple material it was in the days of sesostris or cyrus. the moral and physiological elements remain essentially the same as when man first began to walk up and down the earth and destroy his fellow-creatures. to make an army a thorough mowing-machine, it then seemed necessary that it should be disciplined into complete mechanical obedience. to secure this, prompt payment of wages and inexorable punishment of delinquencies were indispensable. long arrearages were now converting farnese's veterans into systematic marauders; for unpaid soldiers in every age and country have usually degenerated into highwaymen, and it is an impossibility for a sovereign, with the strictest intentions, to persist in starving his soldiers and in killing them for feeding themselves. in maurice's little army, on the contrary, there were no back-wages and no thieving. at the siege of delfzyl maurice hung two of his soldiers for stealing, the one a hat and the other a poniard, from the townsfolk, after the place had capitulated. at the siege of hulst he ordered another to be shot, before the whole camp, for robbing a woman. this seems sufficiently harsh, but war is not a pastime nor a very humane occupation. the result was, that robbery disappeared, and it is better for all that enlisted men should be soldiers rather than thieves. to secure the ends which alone can justify war--and if the netherlanders engaged in defending national existence and human freedom against foreign tyranny were not justifiable then a just war has never been waged-- a disciplined army is vastly more humane in its operations than a band of brigands. swift and condign punishments by the law-martial, for even trifling offences, is the best means of discipline yet devised. to bring to utmost perfection the machinery already in existence, to encourage invention, to ponder the past with a practical application to the present, to court fatigue, to scorn pleasure, to concentrate the energies on the work in hand, to cultivate quickness of eye and calmness of nerve in the midst of danger, to accelerate movements, to economise blood even at the expense of time, to strive after ubiquity and omniscience in the details of person and place, these were the characteristics of maurice, and they have been the prominent traits of all commanders who have stamped themselves upon their age. although his method of war-making differed as far as possible from that quality in common, of the bearnese, yet the two had one personal insensibility to fear. but in the case of henry, to confront danger for its own sake was in itself a pleasure, while the calmer spirit of maurice did not so much seek the joys of the combat as refuse to desist from scientific combinations in the interests of his personal safety. very frequently, in the course of his early campaigns, the prince was formally and urgently requested by the states-general not to expose his life so recklessly, and before he had passed his twenty-fifth year he had received wounds which, but for fortunate circumstances, would have proved mortal, because he was unwilling to leave special operations on which much was depending to other eyes than his own. the details of his campaigns are, of necessity, the less interesting to a general reader from their very completeness. desultory or semi-civilised warfare, where the play of the human passions is distinctly visible, where individual man, whether in buff jerkin or milan coat of proof, meets his fellow man in close mortal combat, where men starve by thousands or are massacred by town-fulls, where hamlets or villages blaze throughout whole districts or are sunk beneath the ocean--scenes of rage, hatred, vengeance, self- sacrifice, patriotism, where all the virtues and vices of which humanity is capable stride to and fro in their most violent colours and most colossal shape where man in a moment rises almost to divinity, or sinks beneath the beasts of the field--such tragical records of which the sanguinary story of mankind is full--and no portion of them more so than the netherland chronicles appeal more vividly to the imagination than the neatest solution of mathematical problems. yet, if it be the legitimate end of military science to accomplish its largest purposes at the least expense of human suffering; if it be progress in civilisation to acquire by scientific combination what might be otherwise attempted, and perhaps vainly attempted, by infinite carnage, then is the professor with his diagrams, standing unmoved amid danger, a more truly heroic image than coeur-de-lion with his battle-axe or alva with his truncheon. the system--then a new one--which maurice introduced to sustain that little commonwealth from sinking of which he had become at the age of seventeen the predestined chief, was the best under the circumstances that could have been devised. patriotism the most passionate, the most sublime, had created the republic. to maintain its existence against perpetual menace required the exertion of perpetual skill. passionless as algebra, the genius of maurice was ready for the task. strategic points of immense value, important cities and fortresses, vital river-courses and communications--which foreign tyranny had acquired during the tragic past with a patient iniquity almost without a parallel, and which patriotism had for years vainly struggled to recover--were the earliest trophies and prizes of his art. but the details of his victories may be briefly indicated, for they have none of the picturesqueness of crime. the sieges of naarden, harlem, leyden, were tragedies of maddening interest, but the recovery of zutphen, deventer, nymegen, groningen, and many other places--all important though they were--was accomplished with the calmness of a consummate player, who throws down on the table the best half dozen invincible cards which it thus becomes superfluous to play. there were several courses open to the prince before taking the field. it was desirable to obtain control of the line of the waal, by which that heart of the republic--holland--would be made entirely secure. to this end, gertruydenberg--lately surrendered to the enemy by the perfidy of the englishman wingfield, to whom it had been entrusted--bois le duc, and nymegen were to be wrested from spain. it was also important to hold the yssel, the course of which river led directly through the united netherlands, quite to the zuyder zee, cutting off friesland, groningen, and gelderland from their sister provinces of holland and zeeland. and here again the keys to this river had been lost by english treason. the fort of zutphen and the city of deventer had been transferred to the spaniard by roland york and sir william stanley, in whose honour the republic had so blindly confided, and those cities it was now necessary to reduce by regular siege before the communications between the eastern and western portions of the little commonwealth could ever be established. still farther in the ancient frisian depths, the memorable treason of that native netherlander, the high-born renneberg, had opened the way for the spaniard's foot into the city of groningen. thus this whole important province--with its capital--long subject to the foreign oppressor, was garrisoned with his troops. verdugo, a veteran officer of portuguese birth, who had risen from the position of hostler to that of colonel and royal stadholder, commanded in friesland. he had in vain demanded reinforcements and supplies from farnese, who most reluctantly was obliged to refuse them in order that he might obey his master's commands to neglect everything for the sake of the campaign in france. and verdugo, stripped of all adequate forces to protect his important province, was equally destitute of means for feeding the troops that were left to him. "i hope to god that i may do my duty to the king and your highness," he cried, "but i find myself sold up and pledged to such an extent that i am poorer than when i was a soldier at four crowns a month. and everybody in the town is as desperate as myself." maurice, after making a feint of attacking gertruydenberg and bois le duc, so that farnese felt compelled, with considerable difficulty, to strengthen the garrison of those places, came unexpectedly to arnhem with a force of nine thousand foot and sixteen hundred horse. he had previously and with great secrecy sent some companies of infantry under sir francis vere to doesburg. on the rd may ( ) five peasants and six peasant women made their appearance at dawn of day before the chief guard-house of the great fort in the badmeadow (vel-uwe), opposite zutphen, on the west side of the yssel. it was not an unusual occurrence. these boors and their wives had brought baskets of eggs, butter, and cheese, for the garrison, and they now set themselves quietly down on the ground before the gate, waiting for the soldiers of the garrison to come out and traffic with them for their supplies. very soon several of the guard made their appearance, and began to chaffer with the peasants, when suddenly one of the women plucked a pistol from under her petticoats and shot dead the soldier who was cheapening her eggs. the rest of the party, transformed in an instant from boors to soldiers, then sprang upon the rest of the guard, overpowered and bound them, and took possession of the gate. a considerable force, which had been placed in ambush by prince maurice near the spot, now rushed forward, and in a few minutes the great fort of zutphen was mastered by the states' forces without loss of a man. it was a neat and perfectly successful stratagem. next day maurice began the regular investment of the city. on the th, count lewis william arrived with some frisian companies. on the th, maurice threw a bridge of boats from the badmeadow side, across the river to the weert before the city. on the th he had got batteries, mounting thirty-two guns, into position, commanding the place at three points. on the th the town capitulated. thus within exactly one week from the firing of the pistol shot by the supposed butterwoman, this fort and town, which had so long resisted the efforts of the states, and were such important possessions of the spaniards, fell into the hands of maurice. the terms of surrender were easy. the city being more important than its garrison, the soldiers were permitted to depart with bag and baggage. the citizens were allowed three days to decide whether to stay under loyal obedience to the states-general, or to take their departure. those who chose to remain were to enjoy all the privileges of citizens of the united provinces. but very few substantial citizens were left, for such had been the tyranny, the misery, and the misrule during the long occupation by a foreign soldiery of what was once a thriving dutch town, that scarcely anybody but paupers and vagabonds were left. one thousand houses were ruined and desolate. it is superfluous to add that the day of its restoration to the authority of the union was the beginning of its renewed prosperity. maurice, having placed a national garrison in the place, marched the same evening straight upon deventer, seven miles farther down the river, without pausing to sleep upon his victory. his artillery and munitions were sent rapidly down the yssel. within five days he had thoroughly invested the city, and brought twenty- eight guns to bear upon the weakest part of its defences. it was a large, populous, well-built town, once a wealthy member of the hanseatic league, full of fine buildings, both public and private, the capital of the rich and fertile province of overyssel, and protected by a strong wall and moat--as well-fortified a place as could be found in the netherlands. the garrison consisted of fourteen hundred spaniards and walloons, under the command of count herman van den berg, first cousin of prince maurice. no sooner had the states army come before the city than a spanish captain observed--"we shall now have a droll siege--cousins on the outside, cousins on the inside. there will be a sham fight or two, and then the cousins will make it up, and arrange matters to suit themselves." such hints had deeply wounded van den berg, who was a fervent catholic, and as loyal a servant to philip ii. as he could have been, had that monarch deserved, by the laws of nature and by his personal services and virtues, to govern all the swamps of friesland. he slept on the gibe, having ordered all the colonels and captains of the garrison to attend at solemn mass in the great church the next morning. he there declared to them all publicly that he felt outraged at the suspicions concerning his fidelity, and after mass he took the sacrament, solemnly swearing never to give up the city or even to speak of it until he had made such resistance that he must be carried from the breach. so long as he could stand or sit he would defend the city entrusted to his care. the whole council who had come from zutphen to maurice's camp were allowed to deliberate concerning the siege. the, enemy had been seen hovering about the neighbourhood in considerable numbers, but had not ventured an attempt to throw reinforcements into the place. many of the counsellors argued against the siege. it was urged that the resistance would be determined and protracted, and that the duke of parma was sure to take the field in person to relieve so important a city, before its reduction could be effected. but maurice had thrown a bridge across the yssel above, and another below the town, had carefully and rapidly taken measures in the success of which he felt confident, and now declared that it would be cowardly and shameful to abandon an enterprise so well begun. the city had been formally summoned to surrender, and a calm but most decided refusal had been returned. on the th june the batteries began playing, and after four thousand six hundred shots a good breach had been effected in the defences along the kaye--an earthen work lying between two strong walls of masonry. the breach being deemed practicable, a storm was ordered. to reach the kaye it was necessary to cross a piece of water called the haven, over which a pontoon bridge was hastily thrown. there was now a dispute among the english, scotch, and netherlanders for precedence in the assault. it was ultimately given to the english, in order that the bravery of that nation might now on the same spot wipe out the disgrace inflicted upon its name by the treason of sir william stanley. the english did their duty well and rushed forward merrily, but the bridge proved too short. some sprang over and pushed boldly for the breach. some fell into the moat and were drowned. others, sustained by the netherlanders under solms, meetkerke, and brederode, effected their passage by swimming, leaping, or wading, so that a resolute attack was made. herman van den berg met them in the breach at the head of seven companies. the defenders were most ferocious in their resistance. they were also very drunk. the count had placed many casks of rhenish and of strong beer within reach, and ordered his soldiers to drink their fill as they fought. he was himself as vigorous in his potations as he was chivalrous with sword and buckler. two pages and two lieutenants fell at his side, but still he fought at the head of his men with a desperation worthy of his vow, until he fell wounded in the eye and was carried from the place. notwithstanding this disaster to the commander of the town, the assailants were repulsed, losing two hundred-and twenty-five in killed and wounded--colonel meetkerke and his brother, two most valuable dutch officers, among them. during the whole of the assault, a vigorous cannonade had been kept up upon other parts of the town, and houses and church-towers were toppling down in all directions. meanwhile the inhabitants--for it was sunday-- instead of going to service were driven towards the breach by the serjeant-major, a truculent spaniard, next in command to van den berg, who ran about the place with a great stick, summoning the dutch burghers to assist the spanish garrison on the wall. it was thought afterwards that this warrior would have been better occupied among the soldiers, at the side of his commander. a chivalrous incident in the open field occurred during the assault. a gigantic albanian cavalry officer came prancing out of deventer into the spaces between the trenches, defying any officer in the states' army to break a lance with him. prince maurice forbade any acceptance of the challenge, but lewis van der cathulle, son of the famous ryhove of ghent, unable to endure the taunts and bravado of this champion, at last obtained permission to encounter him in single combat. they met accordingly with much ceremony, tilted against each other, and shivered their lances in good style, but without much effect. the albanian then drew a pistol. cathulle had no weapon save a cutlass, but with this weapon he succeeded in nearly cutting off the hand which held the pistol. he then took his enemy prisoner, the vain-glorious challenger throwing his gold chain around his conqueror's neck in token of his victory. prince maurice caused his wound to be bound up and then liberated him, sending him into the city with a message to the governor. during the following night the bridge, over which the assailants had nearly forced their way into the town, was vigorously attacked by the garrison, but count lewis william, in person, with a chosen band defended it stoutly till morning, beating back the spaniards with heavy loss in a sanguinary midnight contest. next morning there was a unanimous outcry on the part of the besieged for a capitulation. it was obvious that, with the walls shot to ruins as they had been, the place was no longer tenable against maurice's superior forces. a trumpet was sent to the prince before the dawn of day, and on the th of june, accordingly, the place capitulated. it was arranged that the garrison should retire with arms and baggage whithersoever they chose. van den berg stipulated nothing in favour of the citizens, whether through forgetfulness or spite does not distinctly appear. but the burghers were received like brothers. no plunder was permitted, no ransom demanded, and the city took its place among its sisterhood of the united provinces. van den berg himself was received at the prince's head, quarters with much cordiality. he was quite blind; but his wound seemed to be the effect of exterior contusions, and he ultimately recovered the sight of one eye. there was mach free conversation between himself and his cousins during the brief interval in which he was their guest. "i've often told verdugo," said he, "that the states had no power to make a regular siege, nor to come with proper artillery into the field, and he agreed with me. but we were both wrong, for i now see the contrary." to which count lewis william replied with a laugh: "my dear cousin, i've observed that in all your actions you were in the habit of despising us beggars, and i have said that you would one day draw the shortest straw in consequence. i'm glad to hear this avowal from your own lips." herman attempted no reply but let the subject drop, seeming to regret having said so much. soon afterwards he was forwarded by maurice in his own coach to ulff, where he was attended by the prince's body physician till he was re- established in health. thus within ten days of his first appearance before its walls, the city of deventer, and with it a whole province, had fallen into the hands of maurice. it began to be understood that the young pedant knew something about his profession, and that he had not been fagging so hard at the science of war for nothing. the city was in a sorry plight when the states took possession of it. as at zutphen, the substantial burghers had wandered away, and the foreign soldiers bivouacking there so long had turned the stately old hanseatic city into a brick and mortar wilderness. hundreds of houses had been demolished by the garrison, that the iron might be sold and the woodwork burned for fuel; for the enemy had conducted himself as if feeling in his heart that the occupation could not be a permanent one, and as if desirous to make the place as desolate as possible for the beggars when they should return. the dead body of the traitor york, who had died and been buried in deventer, was taken from the tomb, after the capture of the city, and with the vulgar ferocity so characteristic of the times, was hung, coffin and all, on the gibbet for the delectation of the states' soldiery. maurice, having thus in less than three weeks recovered two most important cities, paused not an instant in his career but moved at once on groningen. there was a strong pressure put upon him to attempt the capture of nymegen, but the understanding with the frisian stadholders and his troops had been that the enterprise upon groningen should follow the reduction of deventer. on the th june maurice appeared before groningen. next day, as a precautionary step, he moved to the right and attacked the strong city of delfzyl. this place capitulated to him on the nd july. the fort of opslag surrendered on the th july. he then moved to the west of groningen, and attacked the forts of yementil and lettebaest, which fell into his hands on the th july. he then moved along the nyenoort through the seven wolds and drenthe to steenwyk, before which strongly fortified city he arrived on the th july. meantime, he received intercepted letters from verdugo to the duke of parma, dated th june from groningen. in these, the spanish stadholder informed farnese that the enemy was hovering about his neighbourhood, and that it would be necessary for the duke to take the field in person in considerable force, or that groningen would be lost, and with it the spanish forces in the province. he enclosed a memorial of the course proper to be adopted by the duke for his relief. notwithstanding the strictness by which philip had tied his great general's hands, farnese felt the urgency of the situation. by the end of june, accordingly, although full of his measures for marching to the relief of the leaguers in normandy, he moved into gelderland, coming by way of xanten, rees, and neighbouring places. here he paused for a moment perplexed, doubting whether to take the aggressive in gelderland or to march straight to the relief of groningen. he decided that it was better for the moment to protect the line of the waal. shipping his army accordingly into the batavian island or good-meadow (bet-uwe), which lies between the two great horns of the rhine, he laid siege to fort knodsenburg, which maurice had built the year before, on the right bank of the waal for the purpose of attacking nymegen. farnese, knowing that the general of the states was occupied with his whole army far away to the north, and separated from him by two great rivers, wide and deep, and by the whole breadth of that dangerous district called the foul-meadow (vel-uwe), and by the vast quagmire known as the rouvenian morass, which no artillery nor even any organised forces had ever traversed since the beginning of the world, had felt no hesitation in throwing his army in boats across the waal. he had no doubt of reducing a not very powerful fortress long before relief could be brought to it, and at the same time of disturbing by his presence in batavia the combinations of his young antagonist in friesland and groningen. so with six thousand foot and one thousand horse, alexander came before knodsenburg. the news reached maurice at steenwyk on the th july. instantly changing his plans, the prince decided that farnese must be faced at once, and, if possible, driven from the ground, thinking it more important to maintain, by concentration, that which had already been gained, than to weaken and diffuse his forces in insufficient attempts to acquire more. before two days had passed, he was on the march southward, having left lewis william with a sufficient force to threaten groningen. coming by way of hasselt zwol to deventer, he crossed the yssel on a bridge of boats on the th of july, and proceeded to arnhem. his army, although excessively fatigued by forced marches in very hot weather, over nearly impassable roads, was full of courage and cheerfulness, having learned implicit confidence in their commander. on the th he was at arnhem. on the nd his bridge of boats was made, and he had thrown his little army across the rhine into batavia, and entrenched himself with his six thousand foot and fourteen hundred horse in the immediate neighbourhood of farnese--foul-meadow and good-meadow, dyke, bog, wold, and quagmire, had been successfully traversed, and within one week of his learning that the great viceroy of philip had reached the batavian island, maurice stood confronting that famous chieftain in battle-array. on the nd july, farnese, after firing two hundred and eighty-five shots at fort knodsenburg, ordered an assault, expecting that so trifling a work could hardly withstand a determined onslaught by his veterans. to his surprise they were so warmly received that two hundred of the assailants fell at the first onset, and the attack was most conclusively repulsed. and now maurice had appeared upon the scene, determined to relieve a place so important for his ulterior designs. on the th july he sent out a small but picked force of cavalry to reconnoitre the enemy. they were attacked by a considerable body of italian and spanish horse from the camp before knodsenburg, including alexander's own company of lancers under nicelli. the states troops fled before them in apparent dismay for a little distance, hotly pursued by the royalists, until, making a sudden halt, they turned to the attack, accompanied by five fresh companies of cavalry and a thousand musketeers, who fell upon the foe from all directions. it was an ambush, which had been neatly prepared by maurice in person, assisted by sir francis vere. sixty of the spaniards and italians were killed and one hundred and fifty prisoners, including captain nicelli, taken, while the rest of the party sought safety in ignominious flight. this little skirmish, in which ten companies of the picked veterans of alexander farnese had thus been utterly routed before his eyes, did much to inspire the states troops with confidence in themselves and their leader. parma was too experienced a campaigner, and had too quick an eye, not to recognise the error which he had committed in placing the dangerous river waal, without a bridge; between himself and his supplies. he had not dreamed that his antagonist would be capable of such celerity of movement as he had thus displayed, and his first business now was to extricate himself from a position which might soon become fatal. without hesitation, he did his best to amuse the enemy in front of the fort, and then passed the night in planting batteries upon the banks of the river, under cover of which he succeeded next day in transporting in ferry-boats his whole force, artillery and: baggage, to the opposite shore, without loss, and with his usual skill. he remained but a short time in nymegen, but he was hampered by the express commands of the king. moreover, his broken health imperatively required that he should once more seek the healing influence of the waters of spa, before setting forth on his new french expedition. meanwhile, although he had for a time protected the spanish possessions in the north by his demonstration in gelderland, it must be confessed that the diversion thus given to the plans of maurice was but a feeble one. having assured the inhabitants of nymegen that he would watch over the city like the apple of, his eye, he took his departure on the th of august for spa. he was accompanied on his journey by his son, prince ranuccio, just arrived from italy. after the retreat of farnese, maurice mustered his forces at arnhem, and found himself at the head of seven thousand foot and fifteen hundred horse. it was expected by all the world that, being thus on the very spot, he would forthwith proceed to reduce the ancient, wealthy, imperial city of nynegen. the garrison and burghers accordingly made every preparation to resist the attack, disconcerted as they were, however, by the departure of parma, and by the apparent incapacity of verdugo to bring them effectual relief. but to the surprise of all men, the states forces suddenly disappeared from the scene, having been, as it were, spirited away by night-time, along those silent watery highways and crossways of canal, river, and estuary--the military advantages of which to the netherlands, maurice was the first thoroughly to demonstrate. having previously made great preparations of munitions and provisions in zeeland, the young general, who was thought hard at work in gelderland, suddenly presented himself on the th september, before the gates of hulst, on the border of zeeland and brabant. it was a place of importance from its situation, its possession by the enemy being a perpetual thorn in the side of the states, and a constant obstacle to the plans of maurice. his arrangements having been made with the customary, neatness, celerity, and completeness, he received the surrender of the city on the fifth day after his arrival. its commander, castillo, could offer no resistance; and was subsequently, it is said, beheaded by order of the duke of parma for his negligence. the place is but a dozen miles from antwerp, which city was at the very, moment keeping great holiday and outdoing itself in magnificent festivals in honour of young ranuccio. the capture of hulst before his eyes was a demonstration quite unexpected by the prince, and great was the wrath of old mondragon, governor of antwerp, thus bearded in his den. the veteran made immediate preparations for chastising the audacious beggars of zeeland and their, pedantic young commander, but no sooner had the spaniards taken the field than the wily foe had disappeared as magically as he had come. the flemish earth seemed to have bubbles as the water hath, and while mondragon was beating the air in vain on the margin of the scheld, maurice was back again upon the waal, horse, foot, and artillery, bag, baggage, and munition, and had fairly set himself down in earnest to besiege nymegen, before the honest burghers and the garrison had finished drawing long breaths at their recent escape. between the th and th october he had bridged the deep, wide, and rapid river, had transported eight thousand five hundred infantry and, sixteen companies of cavalry to the southern side, had entrenched his camp and made his approaches, and had got sixty-eight pieces of artillery into three positions commanding the weakest part of the defences of the city between the falcon tower and the hoender gate. the fort of knodsenburg was also ready to throw hot shot across the river into the town. not a detail in all these preparations escaped the vigilant eye of the commander-in-chief, and again and again was he implored not so recklessly to expose a life already become precious to his country. on the th october, maurice sent to demand the surrender of the city. the reply was facetious but decisive. the prince was but a young suitor, it was said, and the city a spinster not so lightly to be won. a longer courtship and more trouble would be necessary. whereupon the suitor opened all his batteries without further delay, and the spinster gave a fresh example of the inevitable fate of talking castles and listening ladies. nymegen, despite her saucy answer on the th, surrendered on the st. relief was impossible. neither parma, now on his way to france, nor verdugo, shut up in friesland, could come to the rescue of the place, and the combinations of maurice were an inexorable demonstration. the terms of the surrender were similar to those accorded to zutphen and deventer. in regard to the religious point it was expressly laid down by maurice that the demand for permission to exercise publicly the roman catholic religion should be left to the decision of the states-general. and thus another most important city had been added to the domains of the republic. another triumph was inscribed on the record of the young commander. the exultation was very great throughout the united netherlands, and heartfelt was the homage rendered by all classes of his countrymen to the son of william the silent. queen elizabeth wrote to congratulate him in warmest terms on his great successes, and even the spaniards began to recognise the merits of the new chieftain. an intercepted letter from verdugo, who had been foiled in his efforts to arrest the career of maurice, indicated great respect for his prowess. "i have been informed," said the veteran, "that count maurice of nassau wishes to fight me. had i the opportunity i assure you that i should not fail him, for even if ill luck were my portion, i should at least not escape the honour of being beaten by such a personage. i beg you to tell him so with my affectionate compliments. yours, francis verdugo." these chivalrous sentiments towards prince maurice had not however prevented verdugo from doing his best to assassinate count lewis william. two spaniards had been arrested in the states camp this summer, who came in as deserters, but who confessed "with little, or mostly without torture," that they had been sent by their governor and colonel with instructions to seize a favourable opportunity to shoot lewis william and set fire to his camp. but such practices were so common on the part of the spanish commanders as to occasion no surprise whatever. it will be remembered that two years before, the famous martin schenk had come to a tragic end at nymegen. he had been drowned, fished up, hanged, drawn, and quartered; after which his scattered fragments, having been exposed on all the principal towers of the city, had been put in pickle and deposited in a chest. they were now collected and buried triumphantly in the tomb of the dukes of gelderland. thus the shade of the grim freebooter was at last appeased. the government of the city was conferred upon count lewis william, with gerard de jonge as his lieutenant. a substantial garrison was placed in the city, and, the season now far advanced maurice brought the military operations of the year, saving a slight preliminary demonstration against gertruydenberg, to a close. he had deserved and attained--considerable renown. he had astonished the leisurely war-makers and phlegmatic veterans of the time, both among friends and foes, by the unexampled rapidity of his movements and the concentration of his attacks. he had carried great waggon trains and whole parks of siege artillery--the heaviest then known--over roads and swamps which had been deemed impassable even for infantry. he had traversed the length and breadth of the republic in a single campaign, taken two great cities in overyssel, picked up cities and fortresses in the province of groningen, and threatened its capital, menaced steenwyk, relieved knodsenburg though besieged in person by the greatest commander of the age, beaten the most famous cavalry of spain and italy under the eyes of their chieftain, swooped as it were through the air upon brabant, and carried off an important city almost in the sight of antwerp, and sped back again in the freezing weather of early autumn, with his splendidly served and invincible artillery, to the imperial city of nymegen, which farnese had sworn to guard like the apple of his eye, and which, with consummate skill, was forced out of his grasp in five days. "some might attribute these things to blind fortune," says an honest chronicler who had occupied important posts in the service of the prince and of his cousin lewis william, "but they who knew the prince's constant study and laborious attention to detail, who were aware that he never committed to another what he could do himself, who saw his sobriety, vigilance, his perpetual study and holding of council with count lewis william (himself possessed of all these good gifts, perhaps even in greater degree), and who never found him seeking, like so many other commanders, his own ease and comfort, would think differently." chapter xxv war in brittany and normandy--death of la noue--religious and political persecution in paris--murder of president brisson, larcher, and tardif--the sceptre of france offered to philip--the duke of mayenne punishes the murderers of the magistrates--speech of henry's envoy to the states-general--letter of queen elizabeth to henry--siege of rouen--farnese leads an army to its relief--the king is wounded in a skirmish--siege of rue by farnese--henry raises the siege of rouen--siege of caudebec--critical position of farnese and his army--victory of the duke of mercoeur in brittany. again the central point towards which the complicated events to be described in this history gravitate is found on the soil of france. movements apparently desultory and disconnected--as they may have seemed to the contemporaneous observer, necessarily occupied with the local and daily details which make up individual human life--are found to be necessary parts of a whole, when regarded with that breadth and clearness of vision which is permitted to human beings only when they can look backward upon that long sequence of events which make up the life of nations and which we call the past. it is only by the anatomical study of what has ceased to exist that we can come thoroughly to comprehend the framework and the vital conditions of that which lives. it is only by patiently lifting the shroud from the past that we can enable ourselves to make even wide guesses at the meaning of the dim present and the veiled future. it is only thus that the continuity of human history reveals itself to us as the most important of scientific facts. if ever commonwealth was apparently doomed to lose that national existence which it had maintained for a brief period at the expense of infinite sacrifice of blood and treasure, it was the republic of the united netherlands in the period immediately succeeding the death of william the silent. domestic treason, secession of important provinces, religious-hatred, foreign intrigue, and foreign invasion--in such a sea of troubles was the republic destined generations long to struggle. who but the fanatical, the shallow-minded, or the corrupt could doubt the inevitable issue of the conflict? did not great sages and statesmen whose teachings seemed so much wiser in their generation than the untaught impulses of the great popular heart, condemn over and over again the hopeless struggles and the atrocious bloodshed which were thought to disgrace the age, and by which it was held impossible that the cause of human liberty should ever be advanced? to us who look back from the vantage summit which humanity has reached-- thanks to the toil and sacrifices of those who have preceded us--it may seem doubtful whether premature peace in the netherlands, france, and england would have been an unmitigated blessing, however easily it might have been purchased by the establishment all over europe of that holy institution called the inquisition, and by the tranquil acceptance of the foreign domination of spain. if, too; ever country seemed destined to the painful process of national vivisection and final dismemberment, it was france: its natural guardians and masters, save one, were in secret negotiation with foreign powers to obtain with their assistance a portion of the national territory under acknowledgment of foreign supremacy. there was hardly an inch of french soil that had not two possessors. in burgundy baron biron was battling against the viscount tavannes; in the lyonese and dauphiny marshal des digiueres was fighting with the dukes of savoy and nemours; in provence, epernon was resisting savoy; in languedoc, constable montmorency contended with the duke of joyeuse; in brittany, the prince of dombes was struggling with the duke of mercoeur. but there was one adventurer who thought he could show a better legal title to the throne of france than all the doctors of the sorbonne could furnish to philip ii. and his daughter, and who still trusted, through all the disasters which pursued him, and despite the machinations of venal warriors and mendicant princes, to his good right and his good sword, and to something more potent than both, the cause of national unity. his rebuke to the intriguing priests at the interview of st. denis, and his reference to the judgment of solomon, formed the text to his whole career. the brunt of the war now fell upon brittany and normandy. three thousand spaniards under don john de aquila had landed in the port of blavet which they had fortified, as a stronghold on the coast. and thither, to defend the integrity of that portion of france, which, in spanish hands, was a perpetual menace to her realm, her crown, even to her life, queen elizabeth had sent some three thousand englishmen, under commanders well known to france and the netherlands. there was black norris again dealing death among the spaniards and renewing his perpetual squabbles with sir roger williams. there was that doughty welshman himself, truculent and caustic as ever--and as ready with sword or pen, foremost in every mad adventure or every forlorn hope, criticising with sharpest tongue the blunders and shortcomings of friend and foe, and devoting the last drop in his veins with chivalrous devotion to his queen. "the world cannot deny," said he, "that any carcase living ventured himself freer and oftener for his prince, state, and friends than i did mine. there is no more to be had of a poor beast than his skin, and for want of other means i never respected mine in the least respect towards my sovereign's service, or country." and so passing his life in the saddle and under fire, yet finding leisure to collect the materials for, and to complete the execution of, one of the most valuable and attractive histories of the age, the bold welshman again and again appears, wearing the same humorous but truculent aspect that belonged to him when he was wont to run up and down in a great morion and feathers on flemish battlefields, a mark for the spanish sharpshooters. there, too, under the banner of the bearnese, that other historian of those sanguinary times, who had fought on almost every battle-field where tyranny and liberty had sought to smite each other dead, on french or flemish soil, and who had prepared his famous political and military discourses in a foul dungeon swarming with toads and rats and other villainous reptiles to which the worse than infernal tyranny of philip ii. had consigned him for seven years long as a prisoner of war--the brave and good la noue, with the iron arm, hero of a hundred combats, was fighting his last fight. at the siege of lamballe in brittany, he had taken off his calque and climbed a ladder to examine the breach effected by the batteries. an arquebus shot from the town grazed his forehead, and, without inflicting a severe wound, stunned him so much that he lost his balance and fell head foremost towards the ground; his leg, which had been wounded at the midnight assault upon paris, where he stood at the side of king henry, caught in the ladder and held him suspended. his head was severely bruised, and the contusions and shock to his war-worn frame were so great that he died after lingering eighteen days. his son de teligny; who in his turn had just been exchanged and released from the prison where he had lain since his capture before antwerp, had hastened with joy to join his father in the camp, but came to close his eyes. the veteran caused the chapter in job on the resurrection of the body to be read to him on his death-bed, and died expressing his firm faith in a hereafter. thus passed away, at the age of sixty, on the th august, , one of the most heroic spirits of france. prudence, courage, experience, military knowledge both theoretic and practical, made him one of the first captains of the age, and he was not more distinguished for his valour than for the purity of his life, and the moderation, temperance, and justice of his character. the prince of dombes, in despair at his death, raised the siege of lamballe. there was yet another chronicler, fighting among the spaniards, now in brittany, now in normandy, and now in flanders, and doing his work as thoroughly with his sword as afterwards with his pen, don carlos coloma, captain of cavalry, afterwards financier, envoy, and historian. for it was thus that those writers prepared themselves for their work. they were all actors in the great epic, the episodes of which they have preserved. they lived and fought, and wrought and suffered and wrote. rude in tongue; aflame with passion, twisted all awry by prejudice, violent in love and hate, they have left us narratives which are at least full of colour and thrilling with life. thus netherlanders, englishmen, and frenchmen were again mingling their blood and exhausting their energies on a hundred petty battle-fields of brittany and normandy; but perhaps to few of those hard fighters was it given to discern the great work which they were slowly and painfully achieving. in paris the league still maintained its ascendancy. henry, having again withdrawn from his attempts to reduce the capital, had left the sixteen tyrants who governed it more leisure to occupy themselves with internal politics. a network of intrigue was spread through the whole atmosphere of the place. the sixteen, sustained by the power of spain and rome, and fearing nothing so much as the return of peace, by which their system of plunder would come to an end, proceeded with their persecution of all heretics, real or supposed, who were rich enough to offer a reasonable chance of spoil. the soul of all these intrigues was the new legate, sego, bishop of piacenza. letters from him to alexander farnese, intercepted by henry, showed a determination to ruin the duke of mayenne and count belin governor of paris, whom he designated as colossus and renard, to extirpate the magistrates, and to put spanish partizans in their places, and in general to perfect the machinery by which the authority of philip was to be established in france. he was perpetually urging upon that monarch the necessity of spending more money among his creatures in order to carry out these projects. accordingly the attention of the sixteen had been directed to president brisson, who had already made himself so dangerously conspicuous by his resistance to the insolent assumption of the cardinal-legate. this eminent juris-consult had succeeded pomponne de bellievre as first president of the parliament of paris. he had been distinguished for talent, learning, and eloquence as an advocate; and was the author of several important legal works. his ambition to fill the place of first president had caused him to remain in paris after its revolt against henry iii. he was no leaguer; and, since his open defiance of the ultra- catholic party, he had been a marked man--doomed secretly by the confederates who ruled the capital. he had fondly imagined that he could govern the parisian populace as easily as he had been in the habit of influencing the parliament or directing his clients. he expected to restore the city to its obedience to the constituted authorities. he hoped to be himself the means of bringing henry iv. in triumph to the throne of his ancestors. he found, however, that a revolution was more difficult to manage than a law case; and that the confederates of the holy league were less tractable than his clients had usually been found. on the night of the th november; ; he was seized on the bridge st. michel, while on his way to parliament, and was told that he was expected at the hotel de ville. he was then brought to the prison of the little chatelet. hardly had he been made secure in the dimly-lighted dungeon, when crome, a leader among the parisian populacey made his appearance, accompanied by some of his confederates, and dressed in a complete suit of mail. he ordered the magistrate to take off his hat and to kneel. he then read a sentence condemning him to death. profoundly astonished, brisson demanded to know of what crime he was accused; and under what authority. the answer was a laugh; and an assurance that he had no time to lose. he then begged that at least he might be imprisoned long enough to enable him to complete a legal work on which he was engaged, and which, by his premature death, would be lost to the commonwealth. this request produced no doubt more merriment than his previous demands. his judges were inflexible; and allowed him hardly time to confess himself. he was then hanged in his dungeon. two other magistrates, larcher and tardif, were executed in the same way, in the same place, and on the same night. the crime charged against them was having spoken in a public assembly somewhat freely against the sixteen, and having aided in the circulation in paris of a paper drawn up by the duke of nevers, filled with bitterness against the lorraine princes and the league, and addressed to the late pope sixtus. the three bodies were afterwards gibbeted on the greve in front of the hotel de ville, and exposed for two days to the insults and fury of the populace. this was the culminating point of the reign of terror in paris. never had the sixteen tyrants; lords of the market halls, who governed the capital by favour of and in the name of the populace, seemed more omnipotent. as representatives or plenipotentiaries of madam league they had laid the crown. at the feet of the king of spain, hoping by still further drafts on his exchequer and his credulity to prolong indefinitely their own ignoble reign. the extreme democratic party, which had hitherto supported the house of lorraine and had seemed to idolize that family in the person of the great balafre, now believed themselves possessed of sufficient power to control the duke of mayenne and all his adherents. they sent the jesuit claude mathieu with a special memorial to philip ii. that monarch was implored to take, the sceptre of france, and to reign over them, inasmuch as they most willingly threw themselves into his arms? they assured him that all reasonable people, and especially the holy league, wished him to take the reins of government, on condition of exterminating heresy throughout the kingdom by force of arms, of publishing the council of trent, and of establishing everywhere the holy inquisition--an institution formidable only to the wicked and desirable for the good. it was suggested that philip should not call himself any longer king of spain nor adopt the title of king of france, but that he should proclaim himself the great king, or make use of some similar designation, not indicating any specialty but importing universal dominion. should philip, however, be disinclined himself to accept the monarchy, it was suggested that the young duke of guise, son of the first martyr of france, would be the most appropriate personage to be honoured with the hand of the legitimate queen of france, the infanta clara isabella. but the sixteen were reckoning without the duke of mayenne. that great personage, although an indifferent warrior and an utterly unprincipled and venal statesman, was by no means despicable as a fisherman in the troubled waters of revolution. he knew how to manage intrigues with both sides for his own benefit. had he been a bachelor he might have obtained the infanta and shared her prospective throne. being encumbered with a wife he had no hope of becoming the son-in-law of philip, and was determined that his nephew guise should not enjoy a piece of good fortune denied to himself. the escape of the young duke from prison had been the signal for the outbreak of jealousies between uncle and nephew, which parma and other agents had been instructed by their master to foster to the utmost. "they must be maintained in such disposition in regard to me," he said, "that the one being ignorant of my relations to the other, both may without knowing it do my will." but mayenne, in this grovelling career of self-seeking, in this perpetual loading of dice and marking of cards, which formed the main occupation of so many kings and princes of the period, and which passed for machiavellian politics, was a fair match for the spanish king and his italian viceroy. he sent president jeannin on special mission to philip, asking for two armies, one to be under his command, the other under that of farnese, and assured him that he should be king himself, or appoint any man he liked to the vacant throne. thus he had secured one hundred thousand crowns a month to carry on his own game withal. "the maintenance of these two armies costs me , crowns a month," said philip to his envoy ybarra. and what was the result of all this expenditure of money, of all this lying and counter-lying, of all this frantic effort on the part of the most powerful monarch of the age to obtain property which did not belong to him--the sovereignty of a great kingdom, stocked with a dozen millions of human beings--of all this endless bloodshed of the people in the interests of a high-born family or two, of all this infamous brokerage charged by great nobles for their attempts to transfer kingdoms like private farms from one owner to another? time was to show. meanwhile men trembled at the name of philip ii., and grovelled before him as the incarnation of sagacity, high policy, and king-craft. but mayenne, while taking the brokerage, was less anxious about the transfer. he had fine instinct enough to suspect that the bearnese, outcast though he seemed, might after all not be playing so desperate a game against the league as it was the fashion to suppose. he knew whether or not henry was likely to prove a more fanatical huguenot in than he bad shown himself twenty years before at the bartholomew festival. and he had wit enough to foresee that the "instruction" which the gay free-thinker held so cautiously in his fingers might perhaps turn out the trump card. a bold, valorous frenchman with a flawless title, and washed whiter than snow by the freshet of holy water, might prove a more formidable claimant to the allegiance of frenchmen than a foreign potentate, even though backed by all the doctors of the sorbonne. the murder of president brisson and his colleagues by the confederates of the sixteen quarters, was in truth the beginning of the end. what seemed a proof of supreme power was the precursor of a counter-revolution, destined ere long to lead farther than men dreamed. the sixteen believed themselves omnipotent. mayenne being in their power, it was for them to bestow the crown at their will, or to hold it suspended in air as long as seemed best to them. they felt no doubt that all the other great cities in the kingdom would follow the example of paris. but the lieutenant-general of the realm felt it time for him to show that his authority was not a shadow--that he was not a pasteboard functionary like the deceased cardinal-king, charles x. the letters entrusted by the sixteen to claude mathieu were intercepted by henry, and, very probably, an intimation of their contents was furnished to mayenne. at any rate, the duke, who lacked not courage nor promptness when his own interests were concerned, who felt his authority slipping away from him, now that it seemed the object of the spaniards to bind the democratic party to themselves by a complicity in crime, hastened at once to paris, determined to crush these intrigues and to punish the murderers of the judges. the spanish envoy ybarra, proud, excitable, violent, who had been privy to the assassinations, and was astonished that the deeds had excited indignation and fury instead of the terror counted upon, remonstrated with mayenne, intimating that in times of civil commotion it was often necessary to be blind and deaf. in vain. the duke carried it with a high and firm hand. he arrested the ringleaders, and hanged four of them in the basement of the louvre within twenty days after the commission of their crime. the energy was well- timed and perfectly successful. the power of the sixteen was struck to the earth at a blow. the ignoble tyrants became in a moment as despicable as they had been formidable and insolent. crome, more fortunate than many of his fellows, contrived to make his escape out of the kingdom. thus mayenne had formally broken with the democratic party, so called- with the market-halls oligarchy. in thus doing, his ultimate rupture with the spaniards was foreshadowed. the next combination for him to strive for would be one to unite the moderate catholics and the bearnese. ah! if henry would but "instruct" himself out of hand, what a game the duke might play! the burgess-party, the mild royalists, the disgusted portion of the leaguers, coalescing with those of the huguenots whose fidelity might prove stanch even against the religious apostasy contemplated by their chief--this combination might prove an over-match for the ultra-leaguers, the democrats, and the spaniards. the king's name would be a tower of strength for that "third party," which began to rear its head very boldly and to call itself "politica." madam league might succumb to this new rival in the fickle hearts of the french. at the beginning of the year ; buzanval had presented his credentials to the states-general at the hague as envoy of henry iv. in the speech which he made on this occasion he expressed the hope that the mission of the viscount turenne, his majesty's envoy to england and to the netherlands, had made known the royal sentiments towards the states and the great satisfaction of the king with their energetic sympathy and assistance. it was notorious, said buzanval, that the king of spain for many years had been governed by no other motive than to bring all the rest of christendom under his dominion, while at the same time he forced upon those already placed under his sceptre a violent tyranny, passing beyond all the bounds that god, nature, and reason had set to lawful forms of government. in regard to nations born under other laws than his, he had used the pretext of religion for reducing them to servitude. the wars stirred up by his family in germany, and his recent invasion of england, were proofs of this intention, still fresh in the memory of all men. still more flagrant were his machinations in the present troubles of france. of his dealings with his hereditary realms, the condition of the noble provinces of the netherlands, once so blooming under reasonable laws, furnished, a sufficient illustration. you see, my masters, continued the envoy, the subtle plans of the spanish king and his counsellors to reach with certainty the object of their ambition. they have reflected that spain, which is the outermost corner of europe, cannot conveniently make war upon other christian realms. they have seen that a central position is necessary to enable them to stretch their arms to every side. they have remembered that princes who in earlier days were able to spread their wings over all christendom had their throne in france, like charles the great and his descendants. therefore the king is now earnestly bent on seizing this occasion to make himself master of france. the death of the late king (henry iii.) had no sooner occurred, than--as the blood through great terror rushes from the extremities and overflows the heart--they here also, fearing to lose their opportunity and astonished at the valour of our present king, abandoned all their other enterprises in order to pour themselves upon france. buzanval further reminded the states that henry had received the most encouraging promises from the protestant princes of germany, and that so great a personage as the viscount turenne, who had now gone thither to reap the fruit of those promises, would not have been sent on such a mission except that its result was certain. the queen of england, too, had promised his majesty most liberal assistance. it was not necessary to argue as to the close connection between the cause of the netherlands and that of france. the king had beaten down the mutiny of his own subjects, and repulsed the invasion of the dukes of savoy and of lorraine. in consideration of the assistance promised by germany and england--for a powerful army would be at the command of henry in the spring--it might be said that the netherlands might repose for a time and recruit their exhausted energies, under the shadow of these mighty preparations. "i do not believe, however," said the minister, "that you will all answer me thus. the faint-hearted and the inexperienced might flatter themselves with such thoughts, and seek thus to cover their cowardice, but the zealous and the courageous will see that it is time to set sail on the ship, now that the wind is rising so freshly and favourably. "for there are many occasions when an army might be ruined for want of twenty thousand crowns. what a pity if a noble edifice, furnished to the roof-tree, should fall to decay for want of a few tiles. no doubt your own interests are deeply connected with our own. men may say that our proposals should be rejected on the principle that the shirt is nearer to the skin than the coat, but it can be easily proved that our cause is one. the mere rumour of this army will prevent the duke of parma from attacking you. his forces will be drawn to france. he will be obliged to intercept the crash of this thunderbolt. the assistance of this army is worth millions to you, and has cost you nothing. to bring france into hostility with spain is the very policy that you have always pursued and always should pursue in order to protect your freedom. you have always desired a war between france and spain, and here is a fierce and cruel one in which you have hazarded nothing. it cannot come to an end without bringing signal advantages to yourselves. "you have always desired an alliance with a french sovereign, and here is a firm friendship offered you by our king, a natural alliance. "you know how unstable are most treaties that are founded on shifting interests, and do not concern the freedom of bodies and souls. the first are written with pen upon paper, and are generally as light as paper. they have no roots in the heart. those founded on mutual assistance on trying occasions have the perpetual strength of nature. they bring always good and enduring fruit in a rich soil like the heart of our king; that heart which is as beautiful and as pure from all untruth as the lily upon his shield. "you will derive the first profits from the army thus raised. from the moment of its mustering under a chief of such experience as turenne, it will absorb the whole attention of spain, and will draw her thoughts from the netherlands to france." all this and more in the same earnest manner did the envoy urge upon the consideration of the states-general, concluding with a demand of , florins as their contribution towards the french campaign. his eloquence did not fall upon unwilling ears; for the states-general, after taking time to deliberate, replied to the propositions by an expression of the strongest sympathy with, and admiration for, the heroic efforts of the king of france. accordingly, notwithstanding their own enormous expenses, past and present, and their strenuous exertions at that very moment to form an army of foot and horse for the campaign, the brilliant results of which have already been narrated, they agreed to furnish the required loan of , florins to be repaid in a year, besides six or seven good ships of war to co-operate with the fleets of england and france upon the coasts of normandy. and the states were even better than their word. before the end of autumn of the year , henry had laid siege to rouen, then the second city of the kingdom. to leave much longer so important a place--dominating, as it did, not only normandy but a principal portion of the maritime borders of france--under the control of the league and of spain was likely to be fatal to henry's success. it was perfectly sound in queen elizabeth to insist as she did, with more than her usual imperiousness towards her excellent brother, that he should lose no more time before reducing that city. it was obvious that rouen in the hands of her arch-enemy was a perpetual menace to the safety of her own kingdom. it was therefore with correct judgment, as well as with that high-flown gallantry so dear to the heart of elizabeth, that her royal champion and devoted slave assured her of his determination no longer to defer obeying her commands in this respect. the queen had repeatedly warned him of the necessity of defending the maritime frontier of his kingdom, and she was not sparing of her reproaches that the large sums which she expended in his cause had been often ill bestowed. her criticisms on what she considered his military mistakes were not few, her threats to withdraw her subsidies frequent. "owning neither the east nor the west indies," she said, "we are unable to supply the constant demands upon us; and although we have the reputation of being a good housewife, it does not follow that we can be a housewife for all the world." she was persistently warning the king of an attack upon dieppe, and rebuking him for occupying himself with petty enterprises to the neglect of vital points. she expressed her surprise that after the departure of parma, he had not driven the spaniards out of brittany, without allowing them to fortify themselves in that country. "i am astonished," she said to him, "that your eyes are so blinded as not to see this danger. remember, my dear brother," she frankly added, "that it is not only france that i am aiding, nor are my own natural realms of little consequence to me. believe me, if i see that you have no more regard to the ports and maritime places nearest to us, it will be necessary that my prayers should serve you in place of any other assistance, because it does not please me to send my people to the shambles where they may perish before having rendered you any assistance. i am sure the spaniards will soon besiege dieppe. beware of it, and excuse my bluntness, for if in the beginning you had taken the maritime forts, which are the very gates of your kingdom, paris would not have been so well furnished, and other places nearer the heart of the kingdom would not have received so much foreign assistance, without which the others would have soon been vanquished. pardon my simplicity as belonging to my own sex wishing to give a lesson to one who knows better, but my experience in government makes me a little obstinate in believing that i am not ignorant of that which belongs to a king, and i persuade myself that in following my advice you will not fail to conquer your assailants." before the end of the year henry had obtained control of the, seine, both above and below the city, holding pont de l'arche on the north--where was the last bridge across the river; that of rouen, built by the english when they governed normandy, being now in ruins--and caudebec on the south in an iron grasp. several war-vessels sent by the hollanders, according to the agreement with buzanval, cruised in the north of the river below caudebec, and rendered much service to the king in cutting off supplies from the beleaguered place, while the investing army of henry, numbering twenty-five thousand foot--inclusive of the english contingent, and three thousand netherlanders--and ten thousand cavalry, nearly all french, was fast reducing the place to extremities. parma, as usual, in obedience to his master's orders, but entirely against his own judgment, had again left the rising young general of the netherlands to proceed from one triumph to another, while he transferred beyond the borders of that land which it was his first business to protect, the whole weight of his military genius and the better portion of his well disciplined forces. most bitterly and indignantly did he express himself, both at the outset and during the whole progress of the expedition, concerning the utter disproportions between the king's means and aims. the want of money was the cause of wholesale disease, desertion, mutiny, and death in his slender army. such great schemes as his master's required, as he perpetually urged, liberality of expenditure and measures of breadth. he protested that he was not to blame for the ruin likely to come upon the whole enterprise. he had besought, remonstrated, reasoned with the king in vain. he had seen his beard first grow, he said, in the king's service, and he had grown gray in that service, but rather than be kept longer in such a position, without money, men, or means to accomplish the great purposes on which he was sent, he protested that he would "abandon his office and retire into the woods to feed on roots." repeatedly did he implore his master for a large and powerful army; for money and again money. the royal plans should be enforced adequately or abandoned entirely. to spend money in small sums, as heretofore, was only throwing it into the sea. it was deep in the winter however before he could fairly come to the rescue of the besieged city. towards the end of january, , he moved out of hainault, and once more made his junction at guise with the duke of mayenne. at a review of his forces on th january, , alexander found himself at the head of thirteen thousand five hundred and sixteen infantry and four thousand and sixty-one cavalry. the duke of mayenne's army, for payment of which that personage received from philip , dollars a month, besides , dollars a month for his own pocket, ought to have numbered ten thousand foot and three thousand horse, according to contract, but was in reality much less. the duke of montemarciano, nephew of gregory xiv., had brought two thousand swiss, furnished by the pontiff to the cause of the league, and the duke of lorraine had sent his kinsmen, the counts chaligny and vaudemont, with a force of seven hundred lancers and cuirassiers. the town of fere was assigned in pledge to farnese to hold as a convenient: mustering-place and station in proximity to his own borders, and, as usual, the chief command over the united armies was placed in his hands. these arrangements concluded, the allies moved slowly forward much in the same order as in the previous year. the young duke of guise, who had just made his escape from the prison of tours, where he had been held in durance since the famous assassination of his father and uncle, and had now come to join his uncle mayenne, led the vanguard. ranuccio, son of the duke, rode also in the advance, while two experienced commanders, vitry and de la chatre, as well as the famous marquis del vasto, formerly general of cavalry in the netherlands, who had been transferred to italy but was now serving in the league's army as a volunteer, were associated with the young princes. parma, mayenne, and montemarciano rode in the battalia, the rear being under command of the duke of aumale and the count chaligny. wings of cavalry protected the long trains of wagons which were arranged on each flank of the invading army. the march was very slow, a farnese's uniform practice to guard himself scrupulously against any possibility of surprise and to entrench himself thoroughly at nightfall. by the middle of february they reached the vicinity of aumale in picardy. meantime henry, on the news of the advance of the relieving army, had again the same problem to solve that had been presented to him before paris in the summer of . should he continue in the trenches, pressing more and more closely the city already reduced to great straits? should he take the open field against the invaders and once more attempt to crush the league and its most redoubtable commander in a general engagement? biron strenuously advised the continuance of the siege. turenne, now, through his recent marriage with the heiress, called duc de bouillon, great head of the huguenot party in france, counselled as warmly the open attack. henry, hesitating more than was customary with him, at last decided on a middle course. the resolution did not seem a very wise one, but the king, who had been so signally out-generalled in the preceding campaign by the great italian, was anxious to avoid his former errors, and might perhaps fall into as great ones by attempting two inconsistent lines of action. leaving biron in command of the infantry and a portion of the horse to continue the siege, he took the field himself with the greater part of the cavalry, intending to intercept and harass the enemy and to prevent his manifest purpose of throwing reinforcements and supplies into the invested city. proceeding to neufchatel and aumale, he soon found himself in the neighbourhood of the leaguers, and it was not long before skirmishing began. at this time, on a memorable occasion, henry, forgetting as usual, in his eagerness for the joys of the combat that he was not a young captain of cavalry with his spurs to win by dashing into every mad adventure that might present itself, but a king fighting for his crown, with the welfare of a whole people depending on his fortunes, thought proper to place himself at the head of a handful of troopers to reconnoitre in person the camp of the leaguers. starting with five hundred horse, and ordering lavardin and givry to follow with a larger body, while the dukes of nevers and longueville were to move out, should it prove necessary, in force, the king rode forth as merrily as to a hunting party, drove in the scouts and pickets of the confederated armies, and, advancing still farther in his investigations, soon found himself attacked by a cavalry force of the enemy much superior to his own. a skirmish began, and it was necessary for the little troop to beat a hasty retreat, fighting as it ran. it was not long before henry was recognised by the enemy, and the chase became all the more lively; george basti, the famous albanian trooper, commanding the force which pressed most closely upon the king. the news spread to the camp of the league that the bearnese was the leader of the skirmishers. mayenne believed it, and urged the instant advance of the flying squadron and of the whole vanguard. farnese refused. it was impossible that the king should be there, he said, doing picket duty at the head of a company. it was a clumsy ambush to bring on a general engagement in the open field, and he was not to be drawn out of his trenches into a trap by such a shallow device. a french captain, who by command of henry had purposely allowed himself to be taken, informed his captors that the skirmishers were in reality supported by a heavy force of infantry. this suggestion of the ready bearnese confirmed the doubts of alexander. meantime the skirmishing steeplechase went on before his eyes. the king dashing down a hill received an arquebus shot in his side, but still rode for his life. lavardin and givry came to the rescue, but a panic seized their followers as the rumour flew that the king was mortally wounded--was already dead--so that they hardly brought a sufficient force to beat back the leaguers. givry's horse was soon killed under him, and his own thigh crushed; lavardin was himself dangerously wounded. the king was more hard pressed than ever, men were falling on every side of him, when four hundred french dragoons--as a kind of musketeers who rode on hacks to the scene of action but did their work on foot, were called at that day--now dismounted and threw themselves between henry and his pursuers. nearly every man of them laid down his life, but they saved the king's. their vigorous hand to hand fighting kept off the assailants until nevers and longueville received the king at the gates of aumale with a force before which the leaguers were fain to retreat as rapidly as they had come. in this remarkable skirmish of aumale the opposite qualities of alexander and of henry were signally illustrated. the king, by his constitutional temerity, by his almost puerile love of confronting danger for the danger's sake, was on the verge of sacrificing himself with all the hopes of his house and of the nobler portion of his people for an absolute nothing; while the duke, out of his superabundant caution, peremptorily refused to stretch out his hand and seize the person of his great enemy when directly within his, grasp. dead or alive, the bearnese was unquestionably on that day in the power of farnese, and with him the whole issue of the campaign and of the war. never were the narrow limits that separate valour on the one side and discretion on the other from unpardonable lunacy more nearly effaced than on that occasion.' when would such an opportunity occur again? the king's wound proved not very dangerous, although for many days troublesome, and it required, on account of his general state of health, a thorough cure. meantime the royalists fell back from aumale and neufchatel, both of which places were at once occupied by the leaguers: in pursuance of his original plan, the duke of parma advanced with his customary steadiness and deliberation towards rouen. it was his intention to assault the king's army in its entrenchments in combination with a determined sortie to be made by the besieged garrison. his preparations for the attack were ready on the th february, when he suddenly received a communication from de villars, who had thus far most ably and gallantly conducted the defence of the place, informing him that it was no longer necessary to make a general attack. on the day before he had made a sally from the four gates of the city, had fallen upon the besiegers in great force, had wounded biron and killed six hundred of his soldiers, had spiked several pieces of artillery and captured others which he had successfully brought into the town, and had in short so damaged the enemy's works and disconcerted him in all his plans, that he was confident of holding the place longer than the king could afford to stay in front of him. all he wished was a moderate reinforcement of men and munitions. farnese by no means sympathized with the confident tone of villars nor approved of his proposition. he had come to relieve rouen and to raise the siege, and he preferred to do his work thoroughly. mayenne was however most heartily in favour of taking the advice of villars. he urged that it was difficult for the bearnese to keep an army long in the field, still more so in the trenches. let them provide for the immediate wants of the city; then the usual process of decomposition would soon be witnessed in the ill-paid, ill-fed, desultory forces of the heretic pretender. alexander deferred to the wishes of mayenne, although against his better judgment. eight hundred infantry, were successfully sent into rouen. the army of the league then countermarched into picardy near the confines of artois. they were closely followed by henry at the head of his cavalry, and lively skirmishes were of frequent occurrence. in a military point of view none of these affairs were of consequence, but there was one which partook at once of the comic and the pathetic. for it chanced that in a cavalry action of more than common vivacity the count chaligny found himself engaged in a hand to hand conflict with a very dashing swordsman, who, after dealing and receiving many severe blows, at last succeeded in disarming the count and taking him prisoner. it was the fortune of war, and, but a few days before, might have been the fate of the great henry himself. but chaligny's mortification at his captivity became intense when he discovered that the knight to whom he had surrendered was no other than the king's jester. that he, a chieftain of the holy league, the long-descended scion of the illustrious house of lorraine, brother of the great duke of mercoeur, should become the captive of a huguenot buffoon seemed the most stinging jest yet perpetrated since fools had come in fashion. the famous chicot--who was as fond of a battle as of a gibe, and who was almost as reckless a rider as his master--proved on this occasion that the cap and bells could cover as much magnanimity as did the most chivalrous crest. although desperately wounded in the struggle which had resulted in his triumph, he generously granted to the count his freedom without ransom. the proud lorrainer returned to his leaguers and the poor fool died afterwards of his wounds. the army of the allies moved through picardy towards the confines of artois, and sat down leisurely to beleaguer rue, a low-lying place on the banks and near the mouth of the somme, the only town in the province which still held for the king. it was sufficiently fortified to withstand a good deal of battering, and it certainly seemed mere trifling for the great duke of parma to leave the netherlands in such confusion, with young maurice of nassau carrying everything before him, and to come all the way into normandy in order, with the united armies of spain and the league, to besiege the insignificant town of rue. and this was the opinion of farnese, but he had chosen throughout the campaign to show great deference to the judgment of mayenne. meantime the month of march wore away, and what had been predicted came to pass. henry's forces dwindled away as usual. his cavaliers rode off to forage for themselves, when their battles were denied them, and the king was now at the head of not more than sixteen thousand foot and five thousand horse. on the other hand the leaguers' army had been melting quite as rapidly. with the death of pope sfondrato, his nephew montemarciano had disappeared with his two thousand swiss; while the french cavalry and infantry, ill-fed and uncomfortable, were diminishing daily. especially the walloons, flemings, and other netherlanders of parma's army, took advantage of their proximity to the borders and escaped in large numbers to their own homes. it was but meagre and profitless campaigning on both sides during those wretched months of winter and early spring, although there was again an opportunity for sir roger williams, at the head of two hundred musketeers and one hundred and fifty pikemen, to make one of his brilliant skirmishes under the eye of the bearnese. surprised and without armour, he jumped, in doublet and hose, on horseback, and led his men merrily against five squadrons of spanish and italian horse, and six companies of spanish infantry; singled out and unhorsed the leader of the spanish troopers, and nearly cut off the head, of the famous albanian chief george basti with one swinging blow of his sword. then, being reinforced by some other english companies, he succeeded in driving the whole body of italians and spaniards, with great loss, quite into their entrenchments. "the king doth commend him very highly," said umton, "and doth more than wonder at the valour of our nation. i never heard him give more honour to any service nor to any man than he doth to sir roger williams and the rest, whom he held as lost men, and for which he has caused public thanks to be given to god." at last villars, who had so peremptorily rejected assistance at the end of february, sent to say that if he were not relieved by the middle of april he should be obliged to surrender the city. if the siege were not raised by the twentieth of the month he informed parma, to his profound astonishment, that rouen would be in henry's hands. in effecting this result the strict blockade maintained by the dutch squadron at the mouth of the river, and the resolute manner in which those cruisers dashed at every vessel attempting to bring relief to rouen, were mainly instrumental. as usual with the stern hollanders and zeelanders when engaged at sea with the spaniards, it was war to the knife. early in april twelve large vessels, well armed and manned, attempted to break the blockade. a combat ensued, at the end of which eight of the spanish ships were captured, two were sunk, and two were set on fire in token of victory, every man on board of all being killed and thrown into the sea. queen elizabeth herself gave the first news of this achievement to the dutch envoy in london. "and in truth," said he, "her majesty expressed herself, in communicating these tidings, with such affection and extravagant joy to the glory and honour of our nation and men-of-war's-men, that it wonderfully delighted me, and did me good into my very heart to hear it from her." instantly farnese set himself to the work which, had he followed his own judgment, would already have been accomplished. henry with his cavalry had established himself at dieppe and arques, within a distance of five or six leagues from the infantry engaged in the siege of rouen. alexander saw the profit to be derived from the separation between the different portions of the enemy's forces, and marched straight upon the enemy's entrenchments. he knew the disadvantage of assailing a strongly fortified camp, but believed that by a well-concerted, simultaneous assault by villars from within and the leaguers from without, the king's forces would be compelled to raise the siege or be cut up in their trenches. but henry did not wait for the attack. he had changed his plan, and, for once in his life, substituted extreme caution for his constitutional temerity. neither awaiting the assault upon his entrenchments nor seeking his enemy in the open field, he ordered the whole camp to be broken up, and on the th of april raised the siege. farnese marched into rouen, where the leaguers were received with tumultuous joy, and this city, most important for the purposes of the league and for philip's ulterior designs, was thus wrested from the grasp just closing upon it. henry's main army now concentrated itself in the neighbourhood of dieppe, but the cavalry under his immediate superintendence continued to harass the leaguers. it was now determined to lay siege to caudebec, on the right bank of the seine, three leagues below rouen; the possession of this place by the enemy being a constant. danger and difficulty to rouen, whose supplies by the seine were thus cut off. alexander, as usual, superintended the planting of the batteries against the place. he had been suffering during the whole campaign with those dropsical ailments which were making life a torture to him; yet his indomitable spirit rose superior to his physical disorders, and he wrought all day long on foot or on horseback, when he seemed only fit to be placed on his bed as a rapid passage to his grave. on this occasion, in company with the italian engineer properzio, he had been for some time examining with critical nicety the preliminaries, for the siege, when it was suddenly observed by those around him that he was growing pale. it then appeared that he had received a musket-ball between the wrist and the elbow, and had been bleeding profusely; but had not indicated by a word or the movement of a muscle that he had been wounded, so intent was he upon carrying out the immediate task to which he had set himself. it was indispensable, however, that he should now take to his couch. the wound was not trifling, and to one in his damaged and dropsical condition it was dangerous. fever set in, with symptoms of gangrene, and it became necessary to entrust the command of the league to mayenne. but it was hardly concealed from parma that the duke was playing a double game. prince ranuccio, according to his father's express wish, was placed provisionally at the head of the flemish forces. this was conceded; however, with much heart-burning, and with consequences easily to be imagined. meantime caudebec fell at once. henry did nothing to relieve it, and the place could offer but slight resistance to the force arrayed against it. the bulk of the king's army was in the neighbourhood of dieppe, where they had been recently strengthened by twenty companies of netherlanders and scotchmen brought by count philip nassau. the league's headquarters were in the village of yvetot, capital of the realm of the whimsical little potentate so long renowned under that name. the king, in pursuance of the plan he had marked out for himself, restrained his skirmishing more than was his wont. nevertheless he lay close to yvetot. his cavalry, swelling and falling as usual like an alpine torrent, had now filled up its old channels again, for once more the mountain chivalry had poured themselves around their king. with ten thousand horsemen he was now pressing the leaguers, from time to time, very hard, and on one occasion the skirmishing became so close and so lively that a general engagement seemed imminent. young ranuccio had a horse shot under him, and his father--suffering as he was--had himself dragged out of bed and brought on a litter into the field, where he was set on horseback, trampling on wounds and disease, and, as it were, on death itself, that he might by his own unsurpassed keenness of eye and quickness of resource protect the army which had been entrusted to his care. the action continued all day; young bentivoglio, nephew of the famous cardinal, historian and diplomatist, receiving a bad wound in the leg, as he fought gallantly at the side of ranuccio. carlo coloma also distinguished himself in the engagement. night separated the combatants before either side had gained a manifest advantage, and on the morrow it seemed for the interest of neither to resume the struggle. the field where this campaign was to be fought was a narrow peninsula enclosed between the sea and the rivers seine and dieppe. in this peninsula, called the land of caux, it was henry's intention to shut up his enemy. farnese had finished the work that he had been sent to do, and was anxious, as henry was aware, to return to the netherlands. rouen was relieved, caudebec had fallen. there was not food or forage enough in the little peninsula to feed both the city and the whole army of the league. shut up in this narrow area, alexander must starve or surrender. his only egress was into picardy and so home to artois, through the base of the isosceles triangle between the two rivers and on the borders of picardy. on this base henry had posted his whole army. should farnese assail him, thus provided with a strong position and superiority of force, defeat was certain. should he remain where he was, he must inevitably starve. he had no communications with the outside. the hollanders lay with their ships below caudebec, blockading the river's mouth and the coast. his only chance of extrication lay across the seine. but alexander was neither a bird nor a fish, and it was necessary, so henry thought, to be either the one or the other to cross that broad, deep, and rapid river, where there were no bridges, and where the constant ebb and flow of the tide made transportation almost impossible in face of a powerful army in rear and flank. farnese's situation seemed, desperate; while the shrewd bearnese sat smiling serenely, carefully watching at the mouth of the trap into which he had at last inveigled his mighty adversary. secure of his triumph, he seemed to have changed his nature, and to have become as sedate and wary as, by habit, he was impetuous and hot. and in truth farnese found himself in very narrow quarters. there was no hay for his horses, no bread for his men. a penny loaf was sold for two shillings. a jug of water was worth a crown. as for meat or wine, they were hardly to be dreamed of. his men were becoming furious at their position. they had enlisted to fight, not to starve, and they murmured that it was better for an army to fall with weapons in its hands than to drop to pieces hourly with the enemy looking on and enjoying their agony. it was obvious to farnese that there were but two ways out of his dilemma. he might throw himself upon henry--strongly entrenched as he was, and with much superior forces to his own, upon ground deliberately chosen for himself--defeat him utterly, and march over him back to the netherlands. this would be an agreeable result; but the undertaking seemed difficult, to say the least. or he might throw his army across the seine and make his escape through the isle of france and southern picardy back to the so-called obedient provinces. but it seemed, hopeless without bridges or pontoons to attempt the passage of the seine. there was; however, no time left, for hesitation. secretly he took his resolution and communicated it in strict confidence to mayenne, to ranuccio, and to one or two other chiefs. he came to caudebec, and there, close to the margin of the river, he threw up a redoubt. on the opposite bank, he constructed another. on both he planted artillery, placing a force of eight hundred netherlanders under count bossu in the one, and an equal number of the same nation, walloons chiefly, under barlotte in the other. he collected all the vessels, flatboats,-- wherries,--and rafts that could be found or put together at rouen, and then under cover of his forts he transported all the flemish infantry, and the spanish, french, and italian cavalry, during the night of nd may to the may, opposite bank of the seine. next morning he sent up all the artillery together with the flemish cavalry to rouen, where, making what use he could by temporary contrivances of the broken arches of the broken bridge, in order to shorten the distance from shore to shore, he managed to convey his whole army with all its trains across the river. a force was left behind, up to the last moment, to engage in the customary skirmishes, and to display themselves as largely as possible for the purpose of imposing upon the enemy. the young prince of parma had command of this rearguard. the device was perfectly successful. the news of the movement was not brought to the ears of henry until after it had been accomplished. when the king reached the shore of the seine, he saw to his infinite chagrin and indignation that the last stragglers of the army, including the garrison of the fort on the right bank, were just ferrying themselves across under command of ranuccio. furious with disappointment, he brought some pieces of artillery to bear upon the triumphant fugitives. not a shot told, and the leaguers had the satisfaction of making a bonfire in the king's face of the boats which had brought them over. then, taking up their line of march rapidly inland, they placed themselves completely out of the reach of the huguenot guns. henry had a bridge at pont de l'arche, and his first impulse was to pursue with his cavalry, but it was obvious that his infantry could never march by so circuitous a route fast enough to come up with the enemy, who had already so prodigious a stride in advance. there was no need to disguise it to himself. henry saw himself for the second time out-generalled by the consummate farnese. the trap was broken, the game had given him the slip. the manner in which the duke had thus extricated himself from a profound dilemma; in which his fortunes seemed hopelessly sunk, has usually been considered one of the most extraordinary exploits of his life. precisely at this time, too, ill news reached henry from brittany and the neighbouring country. the princes conti and dombes had been obliged, on the th may, , to raise the siege of craon, in consequence of the advance of the duke of mercoeur, with a force of seven thousand men. they numbered, including lanzknechts and the english contingent, about half as many, and before they could effect their retreat, were attacked by mercoeur, and utterly routed. the english, who alone stood to their colours, were nearly all cut to pieces. the rest made a disorderly retreat, but were ultimately, with few exceptions, captured or slain. the duke, following up his victory, seized chateau gontier and la val, important crossing places on the river mayenne, and laid siege to mayenne, capital city of that region. the panic, spreading through brittany and maine, threatened the king's cause there with complete overthrow, hampered his operations in normandy, and vastly encouraged the leaguers. it became necessary for henry to renounce his designs upon rouen, and the pursuit of parma, and to retire to vernon, there to occupy himself with plans for the relief of brittany. in vain had the earl of essex, whose brother had already been killed in the campaign, manifested such headlong gallantry in that country as to call forth the sharpest rebukes from the admiring but anxious elizabeth. the handful of brave englishmen who had been withdrawn from the netherlands, much to the dissatisfaction of the states-general, in order to defend the coasts of brittany, would have been better employed under maurice of nassau. so soon as the heavy news reached the king, the faithful umton was sent for. "he imparted the same unto me," said the envoy, "with extraordinary passion and discontent. he discoursed at large of his miserable estate, of the factions of his servants, and of their ill-dispositions, and then required my opinion touching his course for brittan, as also what further aid he might expect from her majesty; alleging that unless he were presently strengthened by england it was impossible for him, longer to resist the greatness of the king of spain, who assailed his country by brittany, languedoc, the low countries by the duke of saxony and the duke of lorraine, and so ended his speech passionately." thus adjured, sir henry spoke to the king firmly but courteously, reminding him how, contrary to english advice, he had followed other counsellors to the neglect of brittany, and had broken his promises to the queen. he concluded by urging him to advance into that country in person, but did not pledge himself on behalf of her majesty to any further assistance. "to this," said umton, "the king gave a willing ear, and replied, with many thanks, and without disallowing of anything that i alleged, yielding many excuses of his want of means, not of disposition, to provide a remedy, not forgetting to acknowledge her majesty's care of him and his country, and especially of brittany, excusing much the bad disposition of his counsellors, and inclining much to my motion to go in person thither, especially because he might thereby give her majesty better satisfaction; . . . . and protesting that he would either immediately himself make war there in those parts or send an army thither. i do not doubt," added the ambassador, "but with good handling her majesty may now obtain any reasonable matter for the conservation of brittany, as also for a place of retreat for the english, and i urge continually the yielding of brest into her majesty's hands, whereunto i find the king well inclined, if he might bring it to pass." alexander passed a few days in paris, where he was welcomed with much cordiality, recruiting his army for a brief period in the land of brie, and then--broken in health but entirely successful--he dragged himself once more to spa to drink the waters. he left an auxiliary force with mayenne, and promised--infinitely against his own wishes--to obey his master's commands and return again before the winter to do the league's work. and thus alexander had again solved a difficult problem. he had saved for his master and for the league the second city of france and the whole coast of normandy. rouen had been relieved in masterly manner even as paris had been succoured the year before. he had done this, although opposed by the sleepless energy and the exuberant valour of the quick- witted navarre, and although encumbered by the assistance of the ponderous duke of mayenne. his military reputation, through these two famous reliefs and retreats, grew greater than ever. no commander of the age was thought capable of doing what he had thus done. yet, after all, what had he accomplished? did he not feel in his heart of hearts that he was but a strong and most skilful swimmer struggling for a little while against an ocean-tide which was steadily sweeping him and his master and all their fortunes far out into the infinite depths? something of this breathed ever in his most secret utterances. but, so long as life was in him, his sword and his genius were at the disposal of his sovereign, to carry out a series of schemes as futile as they were nefarious. for us, looking back upon the past, which was then the future, it is easy to see how remorselessly the great current of events was washing away the system and the personages seeking to resist its power and to oppose the great moral principles by which human affairs in the long run are invariably governed. spain and rome were endeavouring to obliterate the landmarks of race, nationality, historical institutions, and the tendencies of awakened popular conscience, throughout christendom, and to substitute for them a dead level of conformity to one regal and sacerdotal despotism. england, holland, the navarre party in france, and a considerable part of germany were contending for national unity and independence, for vested and recorded rights. much farther than they themselves or their chieftains dreamed those millions of men were fighting for a system of temperate human freedom; for that emancipation under just laws from arbitrary human control, which is the right--however frequently trampled upon--of all classes, conditions, and races of men; and for which it is the instinct of the human race to continue to struggle under every disadvantage, and often against all hope, throughout the ages, so long as the very principle of humanity shall not be extinguished in those who have been created after their maker's image. it may safely be doubted whether the great queen, the bearnese, alexander farnese, or his master, with many of their respective adherents, differed very essentially from each other in their notions of the right divine and the right of the people. but history has shown us which of them best understood the spirit of the age, and had the keenest instinct to keep themselves in the advance by moving fastest in the direction whither it was marshalling all men. there were many, earnest, hard-toiling men in those days, men who believed in the work to which they devoted their lives. perhaps, too, the devil-worshippers did their master's work as strenuously and heartily as any, and got fame and pelf for their pains. fortunately, a good portion of what they so laboriously wrought for has vanished into air; while humanity has at least gained something from those who deliberately or instinctively conformed themselves to her eternal laws. etext editor's bookmarks: anatomical study of what has ceased to exist artillery bomb-shells were not often used although known for a century court fatigue, to scorn pleasure for us, looking back upon the past, which was then the future hardly an inch of french soil that had not two possessors holy institution called the inquisition inevitable fate of talking castles and listening ladies life of nations and which we call the past often necessary to be blind and deaf picturesqueness of crime royal plans should be enforced adequately or abandoned entirely toil and sacrifices of those who have preceded us use of the spade utter disproportions between the king's means and aims valour on the one side and discretion on the other walk up and down the earth and destroy his fellow-creatures we have the reputation of being a good housewife weapons this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, chapter xxx. prince maurice lays siege to gertruydenberg--advantages of the new system of warfare--progress of the besieging operations--superiority of maurice's manoeuvres--adventure of count philip of nassau-- capitulation of gertruydenberg--mutiny among the spanish troops-- attempt of verdugo to retake coeworden--suspicions of treason in the english garrison at ostend--letter of queen elizabeth to sir edward norris on the subject--second attempt on coeworden--assault on groningen by maurice--second adventure of philip of nassau--narrow escape of prince maurice--surrender of groningen--particulars of the siege--question of religious toleration--progress of the united netherlands--condition of the "obedient" netherlands--incompetency of peter mansfeld as governor--archduke ernest, the successor of farnese--difficulties of his position--his unpopularity--great achievements of the republicans--triumphal entry of ernest into brussels and antwerp--magnificence of the spectacle--disaffection of the spanish troops--great military rebellion--philip's proposal to destroy the english fleet--his assassination plans--plot to poison queen elizabeth--conspiracies against prince maurice--futile attempts at negotiation--proposal of a marriage between henry and the infanta--secret mission from henry to the king of spain--special dispatch to england and the staten--henry obtains further aid from queen elizabeth and the states--council--anxiety of the protestant countries to bring about a war with spain--aspect of affairs at the close of the year . while philip's world-empire seemed in one direction to be so rapidly fading into cloudland there were substantial possessions of the spanish crown which had been neglected in brabant and friesland. two very important cities still held for the king of spain within the territories of what could now be fairly considered the united dutch republic--st. gertruydenberg and groningen. early in the spring of , maurice had completed his preparations for a siege, and on the th march appeared before gertruydenberg. it was a stately, ancient city, important for its wealth, its strength, and especially for its position. for without its possession even the province of holland could hardly consider itself mistress of its own little domains. it was seated on the ancient meuse, swollen as it approached the sea almost to the dimension of a gulf, while from the south another stream, called the donge, very brief in its course, but with considerable depth of water, came to mingle itself with the meuse, exactly under the walls of the city. the site of the place was so low that it was almost hidden and protected by its surrounding dykes. these afforded means of fortification, which had been well improved. both by nature and art the city was one of the strongholds of the netherlands. maurice had given the world a lesson in the beleaguering science at the siege of steenwyk, such as had never before been dreamt of; but he was resolved that the operations before gertruydenberg should constitute a masterpiece. nothing could be more beautiful as a production of military art, nothing, to the general reader, more insipid than its details. on the land side, hohenlo's headquarters were at ramsdonck, a village about a german mile to the east of gertruydenberg. maurice himself was established on the west side of the city. two bridges constructed across the donge facilitated the communications between the two camps, while great quantities of planks and brush were laid down across the swampy roads to make them passable for waggon-trains and artillery. the first care of the young general, whose force was not more than twenty thousand men, was to protect himself rather than to assail the town. his lines extended many miles in a circuit around the place, and his forts, breastworks, and trenches were very numerous. the river was made use of as a natural and almost impassable ditch of defence, and windmills were freely employed to pump water into the shallows in one direction, while in others the outer fields, in quarters whence a relieving force might be expected, were turned into lakes by the same machinery. farther outside, a system of palisade work of caltrops and man-traps--sometimes in the slang of the day called turkish ambassadors--made the country for miles around impenetrable or very disagreeable to cavally. in a shorter interval than would have seemed possible, the battlements and fortifications of the besieging army had risen like an exhalation out of the morass. the city of gertruydenberg was encompassed by another city as extensive and apparently as impregnable as itself. then, for the first time in that age, men thoroughly learned the meaning of that potent implement the spade. three thousand pioneers worked night and day with pickaxe and shovel. the soldiers liked the business; for every man so employed received his ten stivers a day additional wages, punctually paid, and felt moreover that every stioke was bringing the work nearer to its conclusion. the spaniards no longer railed at maurice as a hedger and ditcher. when he had succeeded in bringing a hundred great guns to bear upon the beleaguered city they likewise ceased to sneer at heavy artillery. the kartowen and half kartowen were no longer considered "espanta vellacos." meantime, from all the country round, the peasants flocked within the lines. nowhere in europe were provisions so plentiful and cheap as in the dutch camp. nowhere was a readier market for agricultural products, prompter payment, or more perfect security for the life and property of non-combatants. not so much as a hen's egg was taken unlawfully. the country people found themselves more at ease within maurice's lines than within any other part of the provinces, obedient or revolted. they ploughed and sowed and reaped at their pleasure, and no more striking example was ever afforded of the humanizing effect of science upon the barbarism of war, than in this siege of gertruydenberg. certainly it was the intention of the prince to take his city, and when he fought the enemy it was his object to kill; but, as compared with the bloody work which alva, and romero, and requesens, and so many others had done in those doomed provinces, such war-making as this seemed almost like an institution for beneficent and charitable purposes. visitors from the neighbourhood, from other provinces, from foreign countries, came to witness the extraordinary spectacle, and foreign generals repaired to the camp of maurice to take practical lessons in the new art of war. old peter ernest mansfeld, who was nominal governor of the spanish netherlands since the death of farnese, rubbed his eyes and stared aghast when the completeness of the preparations for reducing the city at last broke in upon his mind. count fuentes was the true and confidential regent however until the destined successor to parma should arrive; but fuentes, although he had considerable genius for assassination, as will hereafter appear, and was an experienced and able commander of the old- fashioned school, was no match for maurice in the scientific combinations on which the new system was founded. in vain did the superannuated peter call aloud upon his sofa and governor, count charles, to assist him in this dire dilemma. that artillery general had gone with a handful of germans, walloons; and other obedient netherlanders--too few to accomplish anything abroad, too many to be spared from the provinces--to besiege noyon in france. but what signified the winning or losing of such a place as noyon at exactly the moment when the prince of bearne, assisted by the able generalship of the archbishop of bourges, had just executed those famous flanking movements in the churches of st. denis and chartres, by which the world-empire had been effectually shattered, and philip and the pope completely out- manoeuvred. better that the five thousand fighters under charles mansfeld had been around gertruydenberg. his aged father did what he could. as many men as could be spared from the garrison of antwerp and its neighbourhood were collected; but the spaniards were reluctant to march, except under old mondragon. that hero, who had done much of the hardest work, and had fought in most of the battles of the century, was nearly as old as the century. being now turned of ninety, he thought best to keep house in antwerp castle: accordingly twelve thousand foot and three thousand horse took the field under the more youthful peter ernest? but peter ernest, when his son was not there to superintend his operations, was nothing but a testy octogenarian, while the two together were not equal to the little finger of farnese, whom philip would have displaced, had he not fortunately died. "nothing is to be expected out of this place but toads and poison," wrote ybarra in infinite disgust to the two secretaries of state at madrid. "i have done my best to induce fuentes to accept that which the patent secured him, and count peter is complaining that fuentes showed him the patent so late only to play him a trick. there is a rascally pack of meddlers here, and the worst of them all are the women, whom i particularly give to the devil. there is no end to the squabbles as to who shall take the lead in relieving gertruydenberg." mansfeld at last came ponderously up in the neighbourhood of turnhout. there was a brilliant little skirmish, in the, neighbourhood of this place, in which a hundred and fifty dutch cavalry under the famous brothers bax defeated four hundred picked lancers of spain and italy. but mansfeld could get nothing but skirmishes. in vain he plunged about among the caltrops and man-traps. in vain he knocked at the fortifications of hohenlo on the east and of maurice on the west. he found them impracticable, impregnable, obdurate. it was maurice's intention to take his town at as small sacrifice of life as possible. a trumpet was sent on some trifling business to mansfeld, in reply to a communication made by the general to maurice. "why does your master," said the choleric veteran to the trumpeter, "why does prince maurice, being a lusty young commander as he is, not come out of his trenches into the open field and fight me like a man, where honour and fame await him?" "because my master," answered the trumpeter, "means to live to be a lusty old commander like your excellency, and sees no reason to-day to give you an advantage." at this the bystanders laughed, rather at the expense of the veteran. meantime there were not many incidents within the lines or within the city to vary the monotony of the scientific siege. on the land side, as has been seen, the city was enclosed and built out of human sight by another gertruydenberg. on the wide estuary of the meuse, a chain of war ships encircled the sea-front, in shape of a half moon, lying so close to each other that it was scarcely possible even for a messenger to swim out of a dark night. the hardy adventurers who attempted that feat with tidings of despair were almost invariably captured. this blockading fleet took regular part in the daily cannonade; while, on the other hand, the artillery practice from the landbatteries of maurice and hohenlo was more perfect than anything ever known before in the netherlands or france. and the result was that in the course of the cannonade which lasted nearly ninety days, not more than four houses in the city escaped injury. the approaches were brought, every hour, nearer and nearer to the walls. with subterranean lines converging in the form of the letter y, the prince had gradually burrowed his way beneath the principal bastion. hohenlo, representative of the older school of strategy, had on one occasion ventured to resist the authority of the commander-in-chief. he had constructed a fort at ramsdonck. maurice then commanded the erection of another, fifteen hundred yards farther back. it was as much a part of his purpose to defend himself against the attempts of mansfeld's relieving force, as to go forward against the city. hohenlo objected that it would be impossible to sustain himself against a sudden attack in so isolated a position. maurice insisted. in the midst of the altercation hohenlo called to the men engaged in throwing up the new fortifications: "here, you captains and soldiers," he cried, "you are delivered up here to be butchered. you may drop work and follow me to the old fort." "and i swear to you," said maurice quietly, "that the first man who moves from this spot shall be hanged." no one moved. the fort was completed and held to the and; hohenlo sulkily acquiescing in the superiority which this stripling--his former pupil--had at last vindicated over all old-fashioned men-at-arms. from the same cause which was apt to render hohenlo's services inefficient, the prince was apt to suffer inconvenience in the persons placed in still nearer relation to himself. count philip of nassau, brother of the wise and valiant lewis william, had already done much brilliant campaigning against the spaniards both in france and the provinces. unluckily, he was not only a desperate fighter but a mighty drinker, and one day, after a dinner-party and potent carouse at colonel brederode's quarters, he thought proper, in doublet and hose, without armour of any kind, to mount his horse, in order to take a solitary survey of the enemy's works. not satisfied with this piece of reconnoitering--which he effected with much tipsy gravity, but probably without deriving any information likely to be of value to the commanding general--he then proceeded to charge in person a distant battery. the deed was not commendable in a military point of view. a fire was opened upon him at long range so soon as he was discovered, and at the same time the sergeant-major of his regiment and an equerry of prince maurice started in pursuit, determined to bring him off if possible, before his life had been thus absurdly sacrificed. fortunately for him they came to the rescue in time, pulled him from his horse, and succeeded in bringing him away unharmed. the sergeant-major, however, sinisky by name, while thus occupied in preserving the count's life, was badly wounded in the leg by a musket-shot from the fort; which casualty was the only result of this after-dinner assault. as the siege proceeded, and as the hopes of relief died away, great confusion began to reign within the city. the garrison, originally of a thousand veterans, besides burgher militia, had been much diminished. two commandants of the place, one after another, had lost their lives. on the st of june, governor de masieres, captain mongyn, the father-confessor of the garrison, and two soldiers, being on the top of the great church tower taking observations, were all brought down with one cannon-shot. thus the uses of artillery were again proved to be something more than to scare cowards. the final result seemed to have been brought about almost by accident, if accident could be admitted as a factor in such accurate calculations as those of maurice. on the th june captains haen and bievry were relieving watch in the trenches near the great north ravelin of the town --a bulwark which had already been much undermined from below and weakened above. being adventurous officers, it occurred to them suddenly to scale the wall of the fort and reconnoitre what was going on in the town. it was hardly probable that they would come back alive from the expedition, but they nevertheless threw some planks across the ditch, and taking a few soldiers with them, climbed cautiously up. somewhat to his own surprise, still more to that of the spanish sentinels, bievry in a few minutes found himself within the ravelin. he was closely followed by captain haen, captain kalf, and by half a company of soldiers. the alarm was given. there was a fierce hand-to-hand struggle. sixteen of the bold stormers fell, and nine of the garrison of the fort. the rest fled into the city. the governor of the place, captain gysant, rushing to the rescue without staying to put on his armour, was killed. count solms, on the other hand, came from the besieging camp into the ravelin to investigate the sudden uproar. to his profound astonishment he was met there, after a brief interval, by a deputation from the city, asking for terms of surrender. the envoys had already been for some little time looking in vain for a responsible person with whom to treat. when maurice was informed of the propositions he thought it at first a trick; for he had known nothing of the little adventure of the three captains. soon afterwards he came into a battery whither the deputies had been brought, and the terms of capitulation were soon agreed upon. next day the garrison were allowed to go out with sidearms and personal baggage, and fifty waggons were lent them by the victor to bring their wounded men to antwerp. thus was gertruydenberg surrendered in the very face of peter mansfeld, who only became aware of the fact by the salvos of artillery fired in honour of the triumph, and by the blaze of illumination which broke forth over camp and city. the sudden result was an illustration of the prince's perfect arrangements. when maurice rode into the town, he found it strong enough and sufficiently well provisioned to have held out many a long day. but it had been demonstrated to the besieged that relief was impossible, and that the surrender on one day or another, after the siege operations should be brought to their close, was certain. the inexorable genius of the commander--skilled in a science which to the coarser war- makers of that age seemed almost superhuman--hovered above them like a fate. it was as well to succumb on the th june as to wait till the th july. moreover the great sustaining principle--resistance to the foreigner-- which had inspired the deeds of daring, the wonders of endurance, in the dutch cities beleaguered so remorselessly by the spaniard twenty years earlier in the century, was wanting. in surrendering to the born netherlander--the heroic chieftain of the illustrious house of nassau--these netherlanders were neither sullying their flag nor injuring their country. enough had been done for military honour in the gallant resistance, in which a large portion of the garrison had fallen. nor was that religious superstition so active within the city, which three years before had made miracles possible in paris when a heretic sovereign was to be defied by his own subjects. it was known that even if the public ceremonies of the catholic church were likely to be suspended for a time after the surrender, at least the rights of individual conscience and private worship within individual households would be tolerated, and there was no papal legate with fiery eloquence persuading a city full of heroic dupes that it was more virtuous for men or women to eat their own children than to forego one high mass, or to wink at a single conventicle. after all, it was no such bitter hardship for the citizens of gertruydenberg to participate in the prosperity of the rising and thriving young republic, and to enjoy those municipal and national liberties which her sister cities had found so sweet. nothing could be calmer or more reasonable than such a triumph, nothing less humiliating or less disastrous than such a surrender. the problem was solved, the demonstration was made. to open their gates to the soldiers of the union was not to admit the hordes of a spanish commander with the avenging furies of murder, pillage, rape, which ever followed in their train over the breach of a captured city. to an enemy bated or dreaded to the uttermost mortal capacity, that well- fortified and opulent city might have held out for months, and only when the arms and the fraud of the foe without, and of famine within, had done their work, could it have bowed its head to the conqueror, and submitted to the ineffable tortures which would be the necessary punishment of its courage. four thousand shots had been fired from the siege-guns upon the city, and three hundred upon the relieving force. the besieging army numbered in all nine thousand one hundred and fifty men of all arms, and they lost during the eighty-five days' siege three hundred killed and four hundred wounded. after the conclusion of these operations, and the thorough remodelling of the municipal government of the important city thus regained to the republic, maurice occupied himself with recruiting and refreshing his somewhat exhausted little army. on the other hand, old count mansfeld, dissatisfied with the impotent conclusion to his attempts, retired to brussels to be much taunted by the insolent fuentes. he at least escaped very violent censure on the part of his son charles, for that general, after his superfluous conquest of noyon, while returning towards the netherlands, far too tardily to succour gertruydenberg, had been paralyzed in all his movements by a very extensive mutiny which broke out among the spanish troops in the province of artois. the disorder went through all its regular forms. a town was taken, an eletto was appointed. the country-side was black-mailed or plundered, and the rebellion lasted some thirteen months. before it was concluded there was another similar outbreak among the italians, together with the walloons and other obedient netherlanders in hainault, who obliged the city of mons to collect nine hundred florins a day for them. the consequence of these military rebellions was to render the spanish crown almost powerless during the whole year, within the provinces nominally subject to its sway. the cause--as always--was the non-payment of these veterans' wages, year after year. it was impossible for philip, with all the wealth of the indies and mexico pouring through the danaid sieve of the holy league in france, to find the necessary funds to save the bronzed and war-worn instruments of his crimes in the netherlands from starving and from revolt. meantime there was much desultory campaigning in friesland. verdugo and frederic van den berg picked up a few cities, and strong places which had thrown off their allegiance september, to the king--auerzyl, schlochteren, winschoten, wedde, ootmarzum--and invested the much more important town of coeworden, which maurice had so recently reduced to the authority of the union. verdugo's force was insufficient, however, and he had neither munitions nor provisions for a long siege. winter was coming on; and the states, aware that he would soon be obliged to retire from before the well-garrisoned and fortified place, thought it unnecessary to interfere with him. after a very brief demonstration the portuguese veteran was obliged to raise the siege. there were also certain vague attempts made by the enemy to re-possess himself of those most important seaports which had been pledged to the english queen. on a previous page the anxiety has been indicated with which sir robert sydney regarded the withdrawal of the english troops in the netherlands for the sake of assisting the french king. this palpable breach of the treaty had necessarily weakened england's hold on the affections of the netherlanders, and awakened dark suspicions that treason might be impending at flushing or ostend. the suspicions were unjust--so far as the governors of those places were concerned--for sydney and norris were as loyal as they were intelligent and brave; but the trust in their characters was not more implicit than it had been in that of sir william stanley before the commission of his crime. it was now believed that the enemy was preparing for a sudden assault upon ostend, with the connivance, it was feared, of a certain portion of the english garrison. the intelligence was at once conveyed to her majesty's government by sir edward norris, and they determined to take a lesson from past experience. norris was at once informed that in view of the attack which he apprehended, his garrison should be strengthened by five hundred men under sir conyers clifford from certain companies in flushing, and that other reinforcements should be sent from the english troops in normandy. the governor was ordered to look well after his captains and soldiers, to remind them, in the queen's name, of their duty to herself and to the states, to bid all beware of sullying the english name, to make close investigations into any possible intrigues of the garrison with the enemy, and, should any culprits be found, to bring them at once to condign punishment. the queen, too, determined that there should be no blighting of english honour, if she could prevent it by her warnings, indited with her own hand a characteristic letter to sir edward norris, to accompany the more formal despatch of lord burghley. thus it ran "ned!-- "though you have some tainted sheep among your flock, let not that serve for excuse for the rest. we trust you are so carefully regarded as nought shall be left for your excuses, but either ye lack heart or want will; for of fear we will not make mention, as that our soul abhors, and we assure ourselves you will never discern suspicion of it. now or never let for the honour of us and our nation, each man be so much of bolder heart as their cause is good, and their honour must be according, remembering the old goodness of our god, who never yet made us fail his needful help, who ever bless you as i with my prince's hand beseech him." the warnings and preparations proved sufficiently effective, and the great schemes with which the new royal governor of the netherlands was supposed to be full--a mere episode in which was the conquest of ostend-- seemed not so formidable as their shadows had indicated. there was, in the not very distant future, to be a siege of ostend, which the world would not soon forget, but perhaps the place would not yield to a sudden assault. its resistance, on the contrary, might prove more protracted than was then thought possible. but the chronicle of events must not be anticipated. for the present, ostend was safe. early in the following spring, verdugo again appeared before coeworden in force. it was obvious that the great city of groningen, the mistress of all the north-eastern provinces, would soon be attacked, and coeworden was the necessary base of any operations against the place. fortunately for the states, william lewis had in the preceding autumn occupied and fortified the only avenue through the bourtange morass, so that when verdugo sat down before coeworden, it was possible for maurice, by moving rapidly, to take the royal governor at a disadvantage. verdugo had eight thousand picked troops, including two thousand walloon cavalry, troopers who must have been very formidable, if they were to be judged by the prowess of one of their captains, gaucier by name. this obedient netherlander was in the habit of boasting that he had slain four hundred and ten men with his own hand, including several prisoners and three preachers; but the rest of those warriors were not so famed for their martial achievements. the peril, however, was great, and prince maurice, trifling not a moment, threw himself with twelve thousand infantry, germans, frisians, scotch, english, and hollanders, and nearly two thousand horse, at once upon the road between the vecht and the bourtange morass. on the th of may, verdugo found the states' commander-in-chief trenched and impregnable, squarely established upon his line of communications. he reconnoitred, called a council of war, and decided that to assail him were madness; to remain, destruction. on the night of the th of may, he broke up his camp and stole away in the darkness, without sound of drum or trumpet, leaving all his fortifications and burning all his huts. thus had maurice, after showing the world how strong places were to be reduced, given a striking exhibition of the manner in which they were to be saved. coeworden, after thirty-one weeks' investment, was relieved. the stadholder now marched upon groningen. this city was one of the most splendid and opulent of all the netherland towns. certainly it should have been one of the most ancient in europe, since it derived its name-- according to that pains-taking banker, francis guicciardini--"from grun, a trojan gentleman," who, nevertheless, according to munster, was "a frenchman by birth."--"both theories, however, might be true," added the conscientious florentine, "as the french have always claimed to be descended from the relics of troy." a simpler-minded antiquary might have babbled of green fields, since 'groenighe,' or greenness, was a sufficiently natural appellation for a town surrounded as was groningen on the east and west by the greenest and fattest of pastures. in population it was only exceeded by antwerp and amsterdam. situate on the line where upper and nether germany blend into one, the capital of a great province whose very name was synonymous with liberty, and whose hardy sons had clone fierce battle with despotism in every age, so long as there had been human record of despotism and of battles, groningen had fallen into the hands of the foreign foe, not through the prowess of the spaniard but the treason of the netherlander. the baseness of the brilliant, trusted, valiant, treacherous young renneberg has been recorded on a previous page of these volumes. for thirteen years long the republic had chafed at this acquisition of the hated enemy within its very heart. and now the day had come when a blow should be struck for its deliverance by the ablest soldier that had ever shown himself in those regions, one whom the commonwealth had watched over from his cradle. for in groningen there was still a considerable party in favour of the union, although the treason of renneberg had hitherto prevented both city and province from incorporating themselves in the body politic of the united netherlands. within the precincts were five hundred of verdugo's veterans under george lanckema, stationed at a faubourg called schuytendiess. in the city there was, properly speaking, no garrison, for the citizens in the last few years had come to value themselves on their fidelity to church and king, and to take a sorry pride in being false to all that was noble in their past. their ancestors had wrested privilege after privilege at the sword's point from the mailed hands of dukes and emperors, until they were almost a self-governing republic; their courts of justice recognizing no appeal to higher powers, even under the despotic sway of charles v. and now, under the reign of his son, and in the feebler days of that reign, the capital of the free frisians--the men whom their ancient pagan statutes had once declared to be "free so long as the wind blew out of the clouds"--relied upon the trained bands of her burghers enured to arms and well-provided with all. munitions of war to protect her, not against foreign tyranny nor domestic sedition, but against liberty and against law. for the representative of the most ancient of the princely houses of europe, a youth whose ancestors had been emperors when the forefathers of philip, long-descended as he was, were but country squires, was now knocking at their gates. not as a conqueror and a despot, but as the elected first magistrate and commander-in-chief of the freest commonwealth in the world, maurice of nassau, at the head of fifteen thousand netherlanders, countrymen of their own, now summoned the inhabitants of the town and province to participate with their fellow citizens in all the privileges and duties of the prosperous republic. it seemed impossible that such an appeal could be resisted by force of arms. rather it would seem that the very walls should have fallen at his feet at the first blast of the trumpet; but there was military honour, there was religious hatred, there was the obstinacy of party. more than all, there were half a dozen jesuits within the town, and to those ablest of generals in times of civil war it was mainly owing that the siege of groningen was protracted longer than under other circumstances would have been possible. it is not my purpose to describe in detail the scientific operations during the sixty-five days between the th may and the th july. again the commander-in-chief enlightened the world by an exhibition of a more artistic and humane style of warfare than previously to his appearance on the military stage had been known. but the daily phenomena of the leaguer--although they have been minutely preserved by most competent eyewitnesses--are hardly entitled to a place except in special military histories where, however, they should claim the foremost rank. the fortifications of the city were of the most splendid and substantial character known to the age. the ditches, the ravelins, the curtains, the towers were as thoroughly constructed as the defences of any place in europe. it was therefore necessary that maurice and his cousin lewis should employ all their learning, all their skill, and their best artillery to reduce this great capital of the eastern netherlands. again the scientific coil of approaches wound itself around and around the doomed stronghold; again were constructed the galleries, the covered ways, the hidden mines, where soldiers, transformed to gnomes, burrowed and fought within the bowels of the earth; again that fatal letter y advanced slowly under ground, stretching its deadly prongs nearer and nearer up to the walls; and again the system of defences against a relieving force was so perfectly established that verdugo or mansfield, with what troops they could muster, seemed as powerless as the pewter soldiers with which maurice in his boyhood--not yet so long passed away --was wont to puzzle over the problems which now practically engaged his early manhood. again, too, strangely enough, it is recorded that philip nassau, at almost the same period of the siege as in that of gertruydenberg, signalized himself by a deed of drunken and superfluous daring. this time the dinner party was at the quarters of count solms, in honour of the prince of anhalt, where, after potations pottle deep, count philip rushed from the dinner-table to the breach, not yet thoroughly practicable, of the north ravelin, and, entirely without armour, mounted pike in hand to the assault, proposing to carry the fort by his own unaided exertions. another officer, one captain vaillant, still more beside himself than was the count, inspired him to these deeds of valour by assuring him that the mine was to be sprung under the ravelin that afternoon, and that it was a plot on the part of the holland boatmen to prevent the soldiers who had been working so hard and so long in the mines from taking part in the honours of the assault. the count was with difficulty brought off with a whole skin and put to bed. yet despite these disgraceful pranks there is no doubt that a better and braver officer than he was hardly to be found even among the ten noble nassaus who at that moment were fighting for the cause of dutch liberty-- fortunately with more sobriety than he at all times displayed. on the following day, prince maurice, making a reconnoissance of the works with his usual calmness, yet with the habitual contempt of personal danger which made so singular a contrast with the cautious and painstaking characteristics of his strategy, very narrowly escaped death. a shot from the fort struck so hard upon the buckler under cover of which he was taking his observations as to fell him to the ground. sir francis vere, who was with the prince under the same buckler, likewise measured his length in the trench, but both escaped serious injury. pauli, one of the states commissioners present in the camp, wrote to barneveld that it was to be hoped that the accident might prove a warning to his excellency. he had repeatedly remonstrated with him, he said, against his reckless exposure of himself to unnecessary danger, but he was so energetic and so full of courage that it was impossible to restrain him from being everywhere every day. three days later, the letter y did its work. at ten o'clock july, of the night of the th july, prince maurice ordered the mines to be sprung, when the north ravelin was blown into the air, and some forty of the garrison with it. two of them came flying into the besiegers' camp, and, strange to say, one was alive and sound. the catastrophe finished the sixty-five days' siege, the breach was no longer defensible, the obstinacy of the burghers was exhausted, and capitulation followed. in truth, there had been a subterranean intrigue going on for many weeks, which was almost as effective as the mine. a certain jan to boer had been going back and forth between camp and city, under various pretexts and safe-conducts, and it had at last appeared that the jesuits and the five hundred of verdugo's veterans were all that prevented groningen from returning to the union. there had been severe fighting within the city itself, for the jesuits had procured the transfer of the veterans from the faubourg to the town itself, and the result of all these operations, political, military, and jesuitical, was that on nd july articles of surrender were finally agreed upon between maurice and a deputation from the magistrates, the guilds, and commander lanckema. the city was to take its place thenceforth as a member of the union. william lewis, already stadholder of friesland for the united states, was to be recognised as chief magistrate of the whole province, which was thus to retain all its ancient privileges, laws, and rights of self- government, while it exchanged its dependence on a distant, foreign, and decaying despotism for incorporation with a young and vigorous commonwealth. it was arranged that no religion but the reformed religion, as then practised in the united republic, should be publicly exercised in the province, but that no man should be questioned as to his faith, or troubled in his conscience: cloisters and ecclesiastical property were to remain 'in statu quo,' until the states-general should come to a definite conclusion on these subjects. universal amnesty was proclaimed for all offences and quarrels. every citizen or resident foreigner was free to remain in or to retire from the town or province, with full protection to his person and property, and it was expressly provided in the articles granted to lanckema that his soldiers should depart with arms and baggage, leaving to prince maurice their colours only, while the prince furnished sufficient transportation for their women and their wounded. the property of verdugo, royal stadholder of the province, was to be respected, and to remain in the city, or to be taken thence under safe conduct, as might be preferred. ten thousand cannon-shot had been fired against the city. the cost of powder and shot consumed was estimated at a hundred thousand florins. four hundred of the besiegers had been killed, and a much larger number wounded. the army had been further weakened by sickness and numerous desertions. of the besieged, three hundred soldiers in all were killed, and a few citizens. thirty-six cannon were taken, besides mortars, and it was said that eight hundred tons of powder, and plenty of other ammunition and provisions were found in the place. on the rd july maurice and william lewis entered the city. some of the soldiers were disappointed at the inexorable prohibition of pillage; but it was the purpose of maurice, as of the states-general, to place the sister province at once in the unsullied possession of the liberty and the order for which the struggle with spain had, been carried on so long. if the limitation of public religious worship seemed harsh, it should be remembered that romanism in a city occupied by spanish troops had come to mean unmitigated hostility to the republic. in the midst of civil war, the hour for that religious liberty which was the necessary issue of the great conflict had not yet struck. it was surely something gained for humanity that no man should be questioned at all as to his creed in countries where it was so recently the time-honoured practice to question him on the rack, and to burn him if the answer was objectionable to the inquirer. it was something that the holy inquisition had been for ever suppressed in the land. it must be admitted, likewise, that the terms of surrender and the spectacle of re-established law and order which succeeded the capture of groningen furnished a wholesome contrast to the scenes of ineffable horror that had been displayed whenever a dutch town had fallen into the hands of philip. and thus the commonwealth of the united netherlands, through the practical military genius and perseverance of maurice and lewis william, and the substantial statesmanship of barneveld and his colleagues, had at last rounded itself into definite shape; while in all directions toward which men turned their eyes, world-empire, imposing and gorgeous as it had seemed for an interval, was vanishing before its votaries like a mirage. the republic, placed on the solid foundations of civil liberty, self-government, and reasonable law, was steadily consolidating itself. no very prominent movements were undertaken by the forces of the union during the remainder of the year. according to the agreements with henry iv. it had been necessary to provide that monarch with considerable assistance to carry on his new campaigns, and it was therefore difficult for maurice to begin for the moment upon the larger schemes which he had contemplated. meantime the condition of the obedient netherlands demands a hasty glance. on the death of brother alexander the capuchin, fuentes produced a patent by which peter ernest mansfeld was provisionally appointed governor, in case the post should become vacant. during the year which followed, that testy old campaigner had indulged himself in many petty feuds with all around him, but had effected, as we have seen, very little to maintain the king's authority either in the obedient or disobedient provinces. his utter incompetency soon became most painfully apparent. his more than puerile dependence upon his son, and the more than paternal severity exercised over him by count charles, were made manifest to all the world. the son ruled the trembling but peevish old warrior with an iron rod, and endless was their wrangling with fuentes and all the other spaniards. between the querulousness of the one and the ferocity of the other, poor fuentes became sick of his life. "'tis a diabolical genius, this count charles," said ybarra, "and so full of ambition that he insists on governing everybody just as he rules his father. as for me, until the archduke comes i am a fish out of water." the true successor to farnese was to be, the archduke ernest, one of the many candidates for the hand of the infanta, and for the throne of that department of the spanish dominions which was commonly called france. should philip not appropriate the throne without further scruple, in person, it was on the, whole decided that his favorite nephew should be the satrap of that outlying district of the spanish empire. in such case obedient france might be annexed to obedient netherlands, and united under the sway of archduke ernest. but these dreams had proved in the cold air of reality but midsummer madness. when the name of the archduke was presented to the estates as king ernest i. of france, even the most unscrupulous and impassioned leaguers of that country fairly hung their heads. that a foreign prince, whose very name had never been before heard of by the vast bulk of the french population, should be deliberately placed upon the throne of st. louis and hugh capet, was a humiliation hard to defend, profusely as philip had scattered the peruvian and mexican dollars among the great ones of the nation, in order to accomplish his purpose. so archduke ernest, early in the year , came to brussels, but he came as a gloomy, disappointed man. to be a bachelor-governor of the impoverished, exhausted, half-rebellious, and utterly forlorn little remnant of the spanish netherlands, was a different position from that of husband of clara isabella and king of france, on which his imagination had been feeding so long. for nearly the whole twelvemonth subsequent to the death of farnese, the spanish envoy to the imperial court had been endeavouring to arrange for the departure of the archduke to his seat of government in the netherlands. the prince himself was willing enough, but there were many obstacles on the part of the emperor and his advisers. "especially there is one very great impossibility," said san clemente, "and that is the poverty of his highness, which is so great that my own is not greater in my estate. so i don't see how he can stir a step without money. here they'll not furnish him with a penny, and for himself he possesses nothing but debts." the emperor was so little pleased with the adventure that in truth, according to the same authority, he looked upon the new viceroy's embarrassments with considerable satisfaction, so that it was necessary for philip to provide for his travelling expenses. ernest was next brother of the emperor rudolph, and as intensely devoted to the interests of the roman church as was that potentate himself, or even his uncle philip. he was gentle, weak, melancholy, addicted to pleasure, a martyr to the gout. he brought no soldiers to the provinces, for the emperor, threatened with another world-empire on his pagan flank, had no funds nor troops to send to the assistance of his christian brother-in-law and uncle. moreover, it may be imagined that rudolph, despite the bonds of religion and consanguinity, was disposed to look coldly on the colossal projects of philip. so ernest brought no troops, but he brought six hundred and seventy gentlemen, pages, and cooks, and five hundred and thirty-four horses, not to charge upon the rebellious dutchmen withal, but to draw coaches and six. there was trouble enough prepared for the new governor at his arrival. the great flemish and walloon nobles were quarrelling fiercely with the spaniards and among themselves for office and for precedence. arschot and his brother havre both desired the government of flanders; so did arenberg. all three, as well as other gentlemen, were scrambling for the majordomo's office in ernest's palace. havre wanted the finance department as well, but ybarra, who was a financier, thought the public funds in his hands would be in a perilous condition, inasmuch as he was provinces was accounted the most covetous man in all the provinces. so soon as the archduke was known to be approaching the capital there was a most ludicrous race run by all these grandees, in order to be the first to greet his highness. while mansfeld and fuentes were squabbling, as usual, arschot got the start of both, and arrived at treves. then the decrepit peter ernest struggled as far as luxembourg, while fuentes posted on to namur. the archduke was much perplexed as to the arranging of all these personages on the day of his entrance into brussels. in the council of state it was still worse. arschot claimed the first place as duke and as senior member, peter ernest demanded it as late governor- general and because of his grey hairs. never was imperial highness more disturbed, never was clamour for loaves and fishes more deafening. the caustic financier--whose mind was just then occupied with the graver matter of assassination on a considerable scale--looked with profound contempt at the spectacle thus presented to him. "there has been the devil's own row," said he, "between these counts about offices, and also about going out to receive the most serene archduke. i have had such work with them that by the salvation of my soul i swear if it were to last a fortnight longer i would go off afoot to spain, even if i were sure of dying in jail after i got there. i have reconciled the two counts (fuentes and mansfeld) with each other a hundred times, and another hundred times they have fallen out again, and behaved themselves with such vulgarity that i blushed for them. they are both to blame, but at any rate we have now got the archduke housed, and he will get us out of this embarrassment." the archduke came with rather a prejudice against the spaniards-- the result doubtless of his disappointment in regard to france--and he manifested at first an extreme haughtiness to those of that nation with whom he came in contact. a castilian noble of high rank, having audience with him on one occasion, replaced his hat after salutation, as he had been accustomed to do--according to the manner of grandees of spain-- during the government of farnese. the hat was rudely struck from his head by the archduke's chamberlain, and he was himself ignominiously thrust out of the presence. at another time an interview was granted to two spanish gentlemen who had business to transact. they made their appearance in magnificent national costume, splendidly embroidered in gold. after a brief hearing they were dismissed, with appointment of another audience for a few days later. when they again presented themselves they found the archduke with his court jester standing at his side, the buffoon being attired in a suit precisely similar to their own, which in the interval had been prepared by the court tailor. such amenities as these did not increase the popularity of ernest with the high-spirited spaniards, nor was it palatable to them that it should be proposed to supersede the old fighting portuguese, verdugo, as governor and commander-in-chief for the king in friesland, by frederic van den berg, a renegade netherlander, unworthy cousin of the nassaus, who had never shown either military or administrative genius. nor did he succeed in conciliating the flemings or the germans by these measures. in truth he was, almost without his own knowledge, under the controlling influence of fuentes, the most unscrupulous and dangerous spaniard of them all, while his every proceeding was closely watched not only by diego and stephen ybarra, but even by christoval de moura, one of philip's two secretaries of state who at this crisis made a visit to brussels. these men were indignant at the imbecility of the course pursued in the obedient provinces. they knew that the incapacity of the government to relieve the sieges of gertruydenberg and groningen had excited the contempt of europe, and was producing a most damaging effect an spanish authority throughout christendom. they were especially irritated by the presence of the arch-intrigues, mayenne, in brussels, even after all his double dealings had been so completely exposed that a blind man could have read them. yet there was mayenne, consorting with the archduke, and running up a great bill of sixteen thousand florins at the hotel, which the royal paymaster declined to settle for want of funds, notwithstanding ernest's order to that effect, and there was no possibility of inducing the viceroy to arrest him, much as he had injured and defrauded the king. how severely ybarra and feria denounced mayenne has been seen; but remonstrances about this and other grave mistakes of administration were lost upon ernest, or made almost impossible by his peculiar temper. "if i speak of these things to his highness," said ybarra, "he will begin to cry, as he always does." ybarra, however, thought it his duty secretly to give the king frequent information as to the blasted and forlorn condition of the provinces. "this sick man will die in our arms," he said, "without our wishing to kill him." he also left no doubt in the royal mind as to the utter incompetency of the archduke for his office. although he had much christianity, amiability, and good intentions, he was so unused to business, so slow and so lazy, so easily persuaded by those around him, as to be always falling into errors. he was the servant of his own servants, particularly of those least disposed to the king's service and most attentive to their own interests. he had endeavoured to make himself beloved by the natives of the country, while the very reverse of this had been the result. "as to his agility and the strength of his body," said the spaniard, as if he were thinking of certain allegories which were to mark the archduke's triumphal entry, "they are so deficient as to leave him unfit for arms. i consider him incapable of accompanying an army to the field, and we find him so new to all such affairs as constitute government and the conduct of warlike business, that he could not steer his way without some one to enlighten and direct him." it was sometimes complained of in those days--and the thought has even prolonged itself until later times--that those republicans of the united netherlands had done and could do great things; but that, after all, there was no grandeur about them. certainly they had done great things. it was something to fight the ocean for ages, and patiently and firmly to shut him out from his own domain. it was something to extinguish the spanish inquisition--a still more cruel and devouring enemy than the sea. it was something that the fugitive spirit of civil and religious liberty had found at last its most substantial and steadfast home upon those storm-washed shoals and shifting sandbanks. it was something to come to the rescue of england in her great agony, and help to save her from invasion. it was something to do more than any nation but england, and as much as she, to assist henry the huguenot to the throne of his ancestors and to preserve the national unity of france which its own great ones had imperilled. it was something to found two magnificent universities, cherished abodes of science and of antique lore, in the midst of civil commotions and of resistance to foreign oppression. it was something, at the same period, to lay the foundation of a systew of common schools--so cheap as to be nearly free--for rich and poor alike, which, in the words of one of the greatest benefactors to the young republic, "would be worth all the soldiers, arsenals, armouries, munitions, and alliances in the world." it was something to make a revolution, as humane as it was effective, in military affairs, and to create an army whose camps were european academies. it was something to organize, at the same critical period, on the most skilful and liberal scale, to carry out with unexampled daring, sagacity, and fortitude, great voyages of discovery to the polar regions, and to open new highways for commerce, new treasures for science. many things of this nature had been done by the new commonwealth; but, alas! she did not drape herself melodramatically, nor stalk about with heroic wreath and cothurn. she was altogether without grandeur. when alva had gained his signal victories, and followed them up by those prodigious massacres which, but for his own and other irrefragable testimony, would seem too monstrous for belief, he had erected a colossal statue to himself, attired in the most classical of costumes, and surrounded with the most mythological of attributes. here was grandeur. but william the silent, after he had saved the republic, for which he had laboured during his whole lifetime and was destined to pour out his heart's blood, went about among the brewers and burghers with unbuttoned doublet and woollen bargeman's waistcoat. it was justly objected to his clothes, by the euphuistic fulke greville, that a meanborn student of the inns of court would have been ashamed to walk about london streets in them. and now the engineering son of that shabbily-dressed personage had been giving the whole world lessons in the science of war, and was fairly perfecting the work which william and his great contemporaries had so well begun. but if all this had been merely doing great things without greatness, there was one man in the netherlands who knew what grandeur was. he was not a citizen of the disobedient republic, however, but a loyal subject of the obedient provinces, and his name was john baptist houwaerts, an eminent schoolmaster of brussels. he was still more eminent as a votary of what was called "rhetoric" and as an arranger of triumphal processions and living pictures. the arrival of archduke ernest at the seat of the provincial government offered an opportunity, which had long been wanting, for a display of john baptist's genius. the new viceroy was in so shattered a condition of health, so crippled with the gout, as to be quite unable to stand, and it required the services of several lackeys to lift him into and out of his carriage. a few days of repose therefore were indispensable to him before he could make his "joyous entrance" into the capital. but the day came at last, and the exhibition was a masterpiece. it might have seemed that the abject condition of the spanish provinces-- desolate, mendicant, despairing--would render holiday making impossible. but although almost every vestige of the ancient institutions had vanished from the obedient netherlands as a reward for their obedience; although to civil and religious liberty, law, order, and a thriving commercial and manufacturing existence, such as had been rarely witnessed in the world, had succeeded the absolute tyranny of jesuits, universal beggary, and a perennial military mutiny--setting government at defiance and plundering the people--there was one faithful never deserted belgica, and that was rhetoric. neither the magnificence nor the pedantry of the spectacles by which the entry of the mild and inefficient ernest into brussels and antwerp was now solemnized had ever been surpassed. the town councils, stimulated by hopes absolutely without foundation as to great results to follow the advent of the emperor's brother, had voted large sums and consumed many days in anxious deliberation upon the manner in which they should be expended so as most to redound to the honour of ernest and the reputation of the country. in place of the "bloody tragedies of burning, murdering, and ravishing," of which the provinces had so long been the theatre, it was resolved that, "rhetoric's sweet comedies, amorous jests, and farces," should gladden all eyes and hearts. a stately procession of knights and burghers in historical and mythological costumes, followed by ships, dromedaries, elephants, whales, giants, dragons, and other wonders of the sea and shore, escorted the archduke into the city. every street and square was filled with triumphal arches, statues and platforms, on which the most ingenious and thoroughly classical living pictures were exhibited. there was hardly an eminent deity of olympus, or hero of ancient history, that was not revived and made visible to mortal eyes in the person of ernestus of austria. on a framework fifty-five feet high and thirty-three feet in breadth he was represented as apollo hurling his darts at an enormous python, under one of whose fore-paws struggled an unfortunate burgher, while the other clutched a whole city; tellus, meantime, with her tower on her head, kneeling anxious and imploring at the feet of her deliverer. on another stage ernest assumed the shape of perseus; belgica that of the bound and despairing andromeda. on a third, the interior of etna was revealed, when vulcan was seen urging his cyclops to forge for ernest their most tremendous thunderbolts with which to smite the foes of the provinces, those enemies being of course the english and the hollanders. venus, the while, timidly presented an arrow to her husband, which he was requested to sharpen, in order that when the wars were over cupid, therewith might pierce the heart of some beautiful virgin, whose charms should reward ernest--fortunately for the female world, still a bachelor--for his victories and his toils. the walls of every house were hung with classic emblems and inscribed with latin verses. all the pedagogues of brussels and antwerp had been at work for months, determined to amaze the world with their dithyrambics and acrostics, and they had outdone themselves. moreover, in addition to all these theatrical spectacles and pompous processions--accompanied as they were by blazing tar-barrels, flying dragons, and leagues of flaring torches--john baptist, who had been director-in-chief of all the shows successively arranged to welcome don john of austria, archduke matthias, francis of alengon, and even william of orange, into the capital, had prepared a feast of a specially intellectual character for the new governor-general. the pedant, according to his own account, so soon as the approach of ernest had been announced, fell straightway into a trance. while he was in that condition, a beautiful female apparition floated before his eyes, and, on being questioned, announced her name to be moralization. john baptist begged her to inform him whether it were true, as had been stated, that jupiter had just sent mercury to the netherlands. the phantom, correcting his mistake, observed that the king of gods and men had not sent hermes but the archduke ernestus, beloved of the three graces, favourite of the nine muses, and, in addition to these advantages, nephew and brother-in-law of the king of spain, to the relief of the suffering provinces. the netherlands, it was true, for their religious infidelity, had justly incurred great disasters and misery; but benignant jove, who, to the imagination of this excited fleming, seemed to have been converted to catholicism while still governing the universe, had now sent them in mercy a deliverer. the archduke would speedily relieve "bleeding belgica" from her sufferings, bind up her wounds, and annihilate her enemies. the spirit further informed the poet that the forests of the low countries--so long infested by brigands, wood-beggars, and malefactors of all kinds--would thenceforth swarm with "nymphs, rabbits, hares, and animals of that nature." a vision of the conquering ernest, attended by "eight-and-twenty noble and pleasant females, marching two and two, half naked, each holding a torch in one hand and a laurel-wreath in the other," now swept before the dreamer's eyes." he naturally requested the "discreet spirit" to mention the names of this bevy of imperfectly attired ladies thronging so lovingly around the fortunate archduke, and was told that "they were the eight-and-twenty virtues which chiefly characterized his serene highness." prominent in this long list, and they were all faithfully enumerated, were philosophy, audacity, acrimony, virility, equity, piety, velocity, and alacrity." the two last-mentioned qualities could hardly be attributed to the archduke in his decrepit condition, except in an intensely mythological sense. certainly, they would have been highly useful virtues to him at that moment. the prince who had just taken gertruydenberg, and was then besieging groningen, was manifesting his share of audacity, velocity, and other good gifts on even a wider platform than that erected for ernest by john baptist houwaerts; and there was an admirable opportunity for both to develope their respective characteristics for the world's judgment. meantime the impersonation of the gentle and very gouty invalid as apollo, as perseus, as the feather-heeled mercury, was highly applauded by the burghers of brussels. and so the dreamer dreamed on, and the discreet nymph continued to discourse, until john baptist, starting suddenly from his trance beheld that it was all a truth and no vision. ernest was really about to enter the netherlands, and with him the millennium. the pedant therefore proceeded to his desk, and straightway composed the very worst poem that had ever been written in any language, even flemish. there were thousands of lines in it, and not a line without a god or a goddess. mars, nemesis, and ate, pluto, rhadamanthus, and minos, the fates and the furies, together with charon, calumnia, bellona, and all such objectionable divinities, were requested to disappear for ever from the low countries; while in their stead were confidently invoked jupiter, apollo, triptolemus, and last, though not least, rhetorica. enough has been said of this raree-show to weary the reader's patience, but not more than enough to show the docile and enervated nature of this portion of a people who had lost everything for which men cherish their fatherland, but who could still find relief--after thirty years of horrible civil war in painted pageantry, latin versification, and the classical dictionary. yet there was nothing much more important achieved by the archduke in the brief period for which his administration was destined to endure. three phenomena chiefly marked his reign, but his own part in the three was rather a passive than an active one--mutiny, assassination, and negotiation--the two last attempted on a considerable scale but ending abortively. it is impossible to exaggerate the misery of the obedient provinces at this epoch. the insane attempt of the king of spain, with such utterly inadequate machinery, to conquer the world has been sufficiently dilated upon. the spanish and italian and walloon soldiers were starving in brabant and flanders in order that spanish gold might be poured into the bottomless pit of the holy league in france. the mutiny that had broken forth the preceding year in artois and hamault was now continued on a vast scale in brabant. never had that national institution--a spanish mutiny--been more thoroughly organized, more completely carried out in all its details. all that was left of the famous spanish discipline and military science in this their period of rapid decay, seemed monopolized by the mutineers. some two thousand choice troops (horse and foot), italians and spanish, took possession of two considerable cities, sichem and arschot, and ultimately concentrated themselves at sichem, which they thoroughly fortified. having chosen their eletto and other officers they proceeded regularly to business. to the rallying point came disaffected troops of all nations from far and near. never since the beginning of the great war had there been so extensive a military rebellion, nor one in which so many veteran officers, colonels, captains, and subalterns took part. the army of philip had at last grown more dangerous to himself than to the hollanders. the council at brussels deliberated anxiously upon the course to be pursued, and it was decided at last to negotiate with instead of attacking them. but it was soon found that the mutineers were as hard to deal with as were the republicans on the other side the border. they refused to hear of anything short of complete payment of the enormous arrears due to them, with thorough guarantees and hostages that any agreement made between themselves and the archduke should be punctually carried out. meanwhile they ravaged the country far and near, and levied their contributions on towns and villages, up to the very walls of brussels, and before the very eyes of the viceroy. moreover they entered into negotiation with prince maurice of nassau, not offering to enlist under his flag, but asking for protection against the king in exchange for a pledge meanwhile not to serve his cause. at last the archduke plucked up a heart and sent some troops against the rebels, who had constructed two forts on the river demer near the city of sichem. in vain velasco, commander of the expedition, endeavoured to cut off the supplies for these redoubts. the vigour and audacity of the rebel cavalry made the process impossible. velasco then attempted to storm the lesser stronghold of the two, but was repulsed with the loss of two hundred killed. among these were many officers, one of whom, captain porto carrero, was a near relative of fuentes. after a siege, velasco, who was a marshal of the camp of considerable distinction, succeeded in driving the mutineers out of the forts; who, finding their position thus weakened, renewed their negotiations with maurice. they at last obtained permission from the prince to remain under the protection of gertruydenberg and breda until they could ascertain what decision the archduke would take. more they did not ask of maurice, nor did he require more of them. the mutiny, thus described in a few lines, had occupied nearly a year, and had done much to paralyze for that period all the royal operations in the netherlands. in december the rebellious troops marched out of sichem in perfect order, and came to langstraet within the territory of the republic. the archduke now finding himself fairly obliged to treat with them sent an offer of the same terms which had been proposed to mutineers on previous occasions. at first they flatly refused to negotiate at all, but at last, with the permission of maurice, who conducted himself throughout with scrupulous delicacy, and made no attempts to induce them to violate their allegiance to the king, they received count belgioso, the envoy of the archduke. they held out for payment of all their arrears up to the last farthing, and insisted on a hostage of rank until the debt should be discharged. full forgiveness of their rebellious proceedings was added as a matter of course. their terms were accepted, and francisco padiglia was assigned as a hostage. they then established themselves, according to agreement, at tirlemont, which they were allowed to fortify at the expense of the province and to hold until the money for their back wages could be scraped together. meantime they received daily wages and rations from the government at brussels, including thirty stivers a day for each horseman, thirteen crowns a day for the eletto, and ten crowns a day for each counsellor, making in all five hundred crowns a day. and here they remained, living exceedingly at their ease and enjoying a life of leisure for eighteen months, and until long after the death of the archduke, for it was not until the administration of cardinal albert that the funds, amounting to three hundred and sixty thousand crowns, could be collected. these were the chief military exploits of the podagric perseus in behalf of the flemish andromeda. a very daring adventure was however proposed to the archduke. philip calmly suggested that an expedition should be rapidly fitted out in dunkirk, which should cross the channel, ascend the thames as far as rochester, and burn the english fleet. "i am informed by persons well acquainted with the english coast," said the king, "that it would be an easy matter for a few quick-sailing vessels to accomplish this. two or three thousand soldiers might be landed at rochester who might burn or sink all the unarmed vessels they could find there, and the expedition could return and sail off again before the people of the country could collect in sufficient numbers to do them any damage." the archduke was instructed to consult with fuentes and ybarra as to whether this little matter, thus parenthetically indicated, could be accomplished without too much risk and trouble. certainly it would seem as if the king believed in the audacity, virility, velocity, alacrity, and the rest of the twenty-eight virtues of his governor-general, even more seriously than did john baptist houwaerts. the unfortunate archduke would have needed to be, in all earnestness, a mythological demigod to do the work required of him. with the best part of his army formally maintained by him in recognised mutiny, with the great cities of the netherlands yielding themselves to the republic with hardly an attempt on the part of the royal forces to relieve them, and with the country which he was supposed to govern, the very centre of the obedient provinces, ruined, sacked, eaten up by the soldiers of spain; villages, farmhouses, gentlemen's castles, churches plundered; the male population exposed to daily butchery, and the women to outrages worse than death; it seemed like the bitterest irony to propose that he should seize that moment to outwit the english and dutch sea-kings who were perpetually cruising in the channel, and to undertake a "beard-singeing" expedition such as even the dare-devil drake would hardly have attempted. such madcap experiments might perhaps one day, in the distant future, be tried with reasonable success, but hardly at the beck of a spanish king sitting in his easy chair a thousand miles off, nor indeed by the servants of any king whatever. the plots of murder arranged in brussels during this administration were on a far more extensive scale than were the military plans. the count of fuentes, general superintendant of foreign affairs, was especially charged with the department of assassination. this office was no sinecure; for it involved much correspondence, and required great personal attention to minute details. philip, a consummate artist in this branch of industry, had laid out a good deal of such work which he thought could best be carried out in and from the netherlands. especially it was desirable to take off, by poison or otherwise, henry iv., queen elizabeth, maurice of nassau, olden-barneveld, st. aldegonde, and other less conspicuous personages. henry's physician-in-chief, de la riviere, was at that time mainly occupied with devising antidotes to poison, which he well knew was offered to his master on frequent occasions, and in the most insidious ways. andrada, the famous portuguese poisoner, amongst others is said, under direction of fuentes and ybarra, to have attempted his life by a nosegay of roses impregnated with so subtle a powder that its smell alone was relied upon to cause death, and de la riviere was doing his best to search for a famous saxon drug, called fable-powder, as a counter-poison. "the turk alarms us, and well he may," said a diplomatic agent of henry, "but the spaniard allows us not to think of the turk. and what a strange manner is this to exercise one's enmities and vengeance by having recourse to such damnable artifices, after force and arms have not succeeded, and to attack the person of princes by poisonings and assassinations." a most elaborate attempt upon the life of queen elizabeth early in this year came near being successful. a certain portuguese jew, dr. lopez, had for some time been her physician-in-ordinary. he had first been received into her service on the recommendation of don antonio, the pretender, and had the reputation of great learning and skill. with this man count fuentes and stephen ybarra, chief of the financial department at brussels, had a secret understanding. their chief agent was emanuel andrada, who was also in close communication with bernardino de mendoza and other leading personages of the spanish court. two years previously, philip, by the hands of andrada, had sent a very valuable ring of rubies and diamonds as a present to lopez, and the doctor had bound himself to do any service for the king of spain that might be required of him. andrada accordingly wrote to mendoza that he had gained over this eminent physician, but that as lopez was poor and laden with debt, a high price would be required for his work. hereupon fuentes received orders from the king of spain to give the jew all that he could in reason demand, if he would undertake to poison the queen. it now became necessary to handle the matter with great delicacy, and fuentes and ybarra entered accordingly into a correspondence, not with lopez, but with a certain ferrara de gama. these letters were entrusted to one emanuel lewis de tinoco, secretly informed of the plot, for delivery to ferrara. fuentes charged tinoco to cause ferrara to encourage lopez to poison her majesty of england, that they might all have "a merry easter." lopez was likewise requested to inform the king of spain when he thought he could accomplish the task. the doctor ultimately agreed to do the deed for fifty thousand crowns, but as he had daughters and was an affectionate parent, he stipulated for a handsome provision in marriage for those young ladies. the terms were accepted, but lopez wished to be assured of the money first. "having once undertaken the work," said lord burghley, if he it were, "he was so greedy to perform it that he would ask ferrara every day, 'when will the money come? i am ready to do the service if the answer were come out of spain.'" but philip, as has been often seen, was on principle averse to paying for work before it had been done. some delay occurring, and the secret, thus confided to so many, having floated as it were imperceptibly into the air, tinoco was arrested on suspicion before he had been able to deliver the letters of fuentes and ybarra to ferrara, for ferrara, too, had been imprisoned before the arrival of tinoco. the whole correspondence was discovered, and both ferrara and tinoco confessed the plot. lopez, when first arrested, denied his guilt very stoutly, but being confronted with ferrara, who told the whole story to his face in presence of the judges, he at last avowed the crime. they were all condemned, executed, and quartered at london in the spring of . the queen wished to send a special envoy to the archduke at brussels, to complain that secretary of state cristoval de moura, count fuentes, and finance minister ybarra--all three then immediately about his person--were thus implicated in the plot against her life, to demand their punishment, or else, in case of refusals to convict the king and the archduke as accomplices in the crime. safe conduct was requested for such an envoy, which was refused by ernest as an insulting proposition both to his uncle and himself. the queen accordingly sent word to president richardot by one of her council, that the whole story would be published, and this was accordingly done. early in the spring of this same year, a certain renichon, priest and schoolmaster of namur, was summoned from his school to a private interview with count berlaymont. that nobleman very secretly informed the priest that the king of, spain wished to make use of him in an affair of great importance, and one which would be very profitable to himself. the pair then went together to brussels, and proceeded straightway to the palace. they were secretly admitted to the apartments of the archduke, but the priest, meaning to follow his conductor into the private chamber, where he pretended to recognize the person of ernest, was refused admittance. the door was, however, not entirely closed, and he heard, as he declared, the conversation between his highness and berlaymont, which was carried on partly in latin and partly in spanish. he heard them discussing the question--so he stated--of the recompense to be awarded for the business about to be undertaken, and after a brief conversation, distinctly understood the archduke to say, as the count was approaching the door, "i will satisfy him abundantly and with interest." berlaymont then invited his clerical guest to supper--so ran his statement--and, after that repast was finished, informed him that he was requested by the archduke to kill prince maurice of nassau. for this piece of work he was to receive one hundred philip-dollars in hand, and fifteen thousand more, which were lying ready for him, so soon as the deed should be done. the schoolmaster at first objected to the enterprise, but ultimately yielded to the persuasions of the count. he was informed that maurice was a friendly, familiar gentleman, and that there would be opportunities enough for carrying out the project if he took his time. he was to buy a good pair of pistols and remove to the hague, where he was to set up a school, and wait for the arrival of his accomplices, of whom there were six. berlaymont then caused to be summoned and introduced to the pedagogue a man whom he described as one of the six. the new comer, hearing that renichon had agreed to the propositions made to him, hailed him cordially as comrade and promised to follow him very soon into holland. berlaymont then observed that there were several personages to be made away with, besides prince maurice--especially barneveld, and st. aldegonde and that the six assassins had, since the time of the duke of parma, been kept in the pay of the king of spain as nobles, to be employed as occasion should serve. his new comrade accompanied renichon to the canal boat, conversing by the way, and informed him that they were both to be sent to leyden in order to entice away and murder the young brother of maurice, frederic henry, then at school at that place, even as philip william, eldest of all the brothers, had been kidnapped five-and-twenty years before from the same town. renichon then disguised himself as a soldier, proceeded to antwerp, where he called himself michael de triviere, and thence made his way to breda, provided with letters from berlaymont. he was, however, arrested on suspicion not long after his arrival there, and upon trial the whole plot was discovered. having unsuccessfully attempted to hang himself, he subsequently, without torture, made a full and minute confession, and was executed on the rd june, . later in the year, one pierre du four, who had been a soldier both in the states and the french service, was engaged by general la motte and counsellor assonleville to attempt the assassination of prince maurice. la motte took the man to the palace, and pretended at least to introduce him to the chamber of the archduke, who was said to be lying ill in bed. du four was advised to enrol himself in the body-guard at the hague, and to seek an opportunity when the prince went hunting, or was mounting his horse, or was coming from church, or at some such unguarded moment, to take a shot at him. "will you do what i ask," demanded from the bed the voice of him who was said to be ernest, "will you kill this tyrant?"-- "i will," replied the soldier. "then my son," was the parting benediction of the supposed archduke, "you will go straight to paradise." afterwards he received good advice from assonleville, and was assured that if he would come and hear a mass in the royal chapel next morning, that religious ceremony would make him invisible when he should make his attempt on the life of maurice, and while he should be effecting his escape. the poor wretch accordingly came next morning to chapel, where this miraculous mass was duly performed, and he then received a certain portion of his promised reward in ready money. he was also especially charged, in case he should be arrested, not to make a confession--as had been done by those previously employed in such work--as all complicity with him on part of his employers would certainly be denied. the miserable dupe was arrested, convicted, executed; and of course the denial was duly made on the part of the archduke, la motte, and assonleville. it was also announced, on behalf of ernest, that some one else, fraudulently impersonating his highness, had lain in the bed to which the culprit had been taken, and every one must hope that the statement was a true one. enough has been given to show the peculiar school of statesmanship according to the precepts of which the internal concerns and foreign affairs of the obedient netherlands were now administered. poison and pistols in the hands of obscure priests and deserters were relied on to bring about great political triumphs, while the mutinous royal armies, entrenched and defiant, were extorting capitulations from their own generals and their own sovereign upon his own soil. such a record as this seems rather like the exaggeration of a diseased fancy, seeking to pander to a corrupt public taste which feeds greedily upon horrors; but, unfortunately, it is derived from the register of high courts of justice, from diplomatic correspondence, and from the confessions, without torture or hope of free pardon, of criminals. for a crowned king and his high functionaries and generals to devote so much of their time, their energies, and their money to the murder of brother and sister sovereigns, and other illustrious personages, was not to make after ages in love with the monarchic and aristocratic system, at least as thus administered. popular governments may be deficient in polish, but a system resting for its chief support upon bribery and murder cannot be considered lovely by any healthy mind. and this is one of the lessons to be derived from the history of philip ii. and of the holy league. but besides mutiny and assassination there were also some feeble attempts at negotiation to characterize the ernestian epoch at brussels. the subject hardly needs more than a passing allusion. two flemish juris-consults, otto hertius and jerome comans, offered their services to the archduke in the peacemaking department. ernest accepted the proposition,--although it was strongly opposed by fuentes, who relied upon the more practical agency of dr. lopez, andrada, renichon, and the rest--and the peace-makers accordingly made their appearance at the hague, under safe conduct, and provided with very conciliatory letters from his highness to the states-general. in all ages and under all circumstances it is safe to enlarge, with whatever eloquence may be at command, upon the blessings of peace and upon the horrors of war; for the appeal is not difficult to make, and a response is certain in almost every human breast. but it is another matter to descend from the general to the particular, and to demonstrate how the desirable may be attained and the horrible averted. the letters of ernest were full of benignity and affection, breathing a most ardent desire that the miserable war, now a quarter of a century old, should be then and there terminated. but not one atom of concession was offered, no whisper breathed that the republic, if it should choose to lay down its victorious arms, and renounce its dearly gained independence, should share any different fate from that under which it saw the obedient provinces gasping before its eyes. to renounce religious and political liberty and self-government, and to submit unconditionally to the authority of philip ii. as administered by ernest and fuentes, was hardly to be expected as the result of the three years' campaigns of maurice of nassau. the two doctors of law laid the affectionate common-places of the archduke before the states-general, each of them making, moreover, a long and flowery oration in which the same protestations of good will and hopes of future good-fellowship were distended to formidable dimensions by much windy rhetoric. the accusations which had been made against the government of brussels of complicity in certain projects of assassination were repelled with virtuous indignation. the answer of the states-general was wrathful and decided. they informed the commissioners that they had taken up arms for a good cause and meant to retain them in their hands. they expressed their thanks for the expressions of good will which had been offered, but avowed their right to complain before god and the world of those who under pretext of peace were attempting to shed the innocent blood of christians, and to procure the ruin and destruction of the netherlands. to this end the state- council of spain was more than ever devoted, being guilty of the most cruel and infamous proceedings and projects. they threw out a rapid and stinging summary of their wrongs; and denounced with scorn the various hollow attempts at negotiation during the preceding twenty-five years. coming down to the famous years and , they alluded in vehement terms to the fraudulent peace propositions which had been thrown as a veil over the spanish invasion of england and the armada; and they glanced at the mediation-projects of the emperor in at the desire of spain, while armies were moving in force from germany, italy, and the netherlands to crush the king of france, in order that philip might establish his tyranny over all kings, princes, provinces, and republics. that the spanish government was secretly dealing with the emperor and other german potentates for the extension of his universal empire appeared from intercepted letters of the king--copies of which were communicated--from which it was sufficiently plain that the purpose of his majesty was not to bestow peace and tranquillity upon the netherlands. the names of fuentes, clemente, ybarra, were sufficient in themselves to destroy any such illusion. they spoke in blunt terms of the attempt of dr. lopez to poison queen elizabeth, at the instigation of count fuentes for fifty thousand crowns to be paid by the king of spain: they charged upon the same fuentes and upon ybarra that they had employed the same andrada to murder the king of france with a nosegay of roses; and they alluded further to the revelations of michael renichon, who was to murder maurice of nassau and kidnap frederic william, even as their father and brother had been already murdered and kidnapped. for such reasons the archduke might understand by what persons and what means the good people of the netherlands were deceived, and how difficult it was for the states to forget such lessons, or to imagine anything honest in the present propositions. the states declared themselves, on the contrary, more called upon than ever before to be upon the watch against the stealthy proceedings of the spanish council of state--bearing in mind the late execrable attempts at assassination, and the open war which was still carried on against the king of france. and although it was said that his highness was displeased with such murderous and hostile proceedings, still it was necessary for the states to beware of the nefarious projects of the king of spain and his council. after the conversion of henry iv. to the roman church had been duly accomplished that monarch had sent a secret envoy to spain. the mission of this agent--de varenne by name--excited intense anxiety and suspicion in england and holland and among the protestants of france and germany. it was believed that henry had not only made a proposition of a separate peace with philip, but that he had formally but mysteriously demanded the hand of the infanta in marriage. such a catastrophe as this seemed to the heated imaginations of the great body of calvinists throughout europe, who had so faithfully supported the king of navarre up to the moment of his great apostasy, the most cruel and deadly treachery of all. that the princess with the many suitors should come to reign over france after all--not as the bride of her own father, not as the queen-consort of ernest the habsburger or of guise the lorrainer, but as the lawful wife of henry the huguenot--seemed almost too astounding for belief, even amid the chances and changes of that astonishing epoch. yet duplessis mornay avowed that the project was entertained, and that he had it from the very lips of the secret envoy who was to negotiate the marriage. "la varenne is on his way to spain," wrote duplessis to the duke of bouillon, "in company with a gentleman of don bernardino de mendoza, who brought the first overtures. he is to bring back the portrait of the infanta. 'tis said that the marriage is to be on condition that the queen and the netherlands are comprised in the peace, but you know that this cannot be satisfactorily arranged for those two parties. all this was once guess-work, but is now history." that eminent diplomatist and soldier mendoza had already on his return from france given the king of spain to understand that there were no hopes of his obtaining the french crown either for himself or for his daughter, that all the money lavished on the chiefs of the league was thrown away, and that all their promises were idle wind. mendoza in consequence had fallen into contempt at court, but philip, observing apparently that there might have been something correct in his statements, had recently recalled him, and, notwithstanding his blindness and other infirmities, was disposed to make use of him in secret negotiations. mendoza had accordingly sent a confidential agent to henry iv. offering his good offices, now that the king had returned to the bosom of the church. this individual, whose name was nunez, was admitted by de bethune (afterwards the famous due de sully) to the presence of the king, but de bethune, believing it probable that the spaniard had been sent to assassinate henry, held both the hands of the emissary during the whole interview, besides subjecting him to a strict personal visitation beforehand. nunez stated that he was authorized to propose to his majesty a marriage with the infanta clara isabella, and henry, much to the discontent of de bethune, listened eagerly to the suggestion, and promised to send a secret agent to spain to confer on the subject with mendoza. the choice he made of la varenne, whose real name was guillaume fouquet, for this mission was still more offensive to de bethune. fouquet had originally been a cook in the service of madame catherine, and was famous for his talent for larding poultry, but he had subsequently entered the household of henry, where he had been employed in the most degrading service which one man can render to another. ["la varenne," said madame catherine on one occasion "tu as plus gagne ti porter les poulets de men frere, qu'a piquer les miens." memoires de sully, liv. vi. p. , note . he accumulated a large fortune in these dignified pursuits--having, according to winwood, landed estates to the annual amount of sixty thousand francs a-year --and gave large dowries to his daughters, whom he married into noblest families; "which is the more remarkable," adds winwood, "considering the services wherein he is employed about the king, which is to be the mezzano for his loves; the place from whence he came, which is out of the kitchen of madame the king's sister."-- memorials, i. .] on his appointment to this offce of secret diplomacy he assumed all the airs of an ambassador, while henry took great pains to contradict the reports which were spread as to the true nature of this mission to spain. duplessis was, in truth, not very far wrong in his conjectures, but, as might be supposed, henry was most anxious to conceal these secret negotiations with his catholic majesty from the huguenot chiefs whom he had so recently deserted. "this is all done without the knowledge of the duke of bouillon," said calvaert, "or at least under a very close disguise, as he, himself keenly feels and confesses to me." the envoy of the republic, as well as the leaders of the protestant party in france, were resolved if possible to break off these dark and dangerous intrigues, the nature of which they so shrewdly suspected, and to substitute for them an open rupture of henry with the king of spain, and a formal declaration of war against him. none of the diplomatists or political personages engaged in these great affairs, in which the whole world was so deeply interested, manifested more sagacity and insight on this occasion than did the dutch statesmen. we have seen that even sir edward stafford was deceived up to a very late moment, as to the rumoured intentions of henry to enter the catholic church. envoy edmonds was now equally and completely in the dark as to the mission of varenne, and informed his government that the only result of it was that the secret agent to spain was favoured, through the kindness of mendoza, with a distant view of philip ii. with his son and daughter at their devotions in the chapel of the escorial. this was the tale generally recounted and believed after the agent's return from spain, so that varenne was somewhat laughed at as having gone to spain on a fool's errand, and as having got nothing from mendoza but a disavowal of his former propositions. but the shrewd calvaert, who had entertained familiar relations with la varenne, received from that personage after his return a very different account of his excursion to the escorial from the one generally circulated. "coming from monceaus to paris in his company," wrote calvaert in a secret despatch to the states, "i had the whole story from him. the chief part of his negotiations with don bernardino de mendoza was that if his majesty (the french king) would abandon the queen of england and your highnesses (the states of the netherlands), there were no conditions that would be refused the king, including the hand of the infanta, together with a good recompense for the kingdom of navarre. la varenne maintained that the king of spain had caused these negotiations to be entered upon at this time with him in the certain hope and intention of a definite conclusion, alleging to me many pertinent reasons, and among others that he, having been lodged at madrid, through the adroitness of don bernardino, among all the agents of the league, and hearing all their secrets and negotiations, had never been discovered, but had always been supposed to be one of the league himself. he said also that he was well assured that the infanta in her heart had an affection for the french king, and notwithstanding any resolutions that might be taken (to which i referred, meaning the projects for bestowing her on the house of austria) that she with her father's consent or in case of his death would not fail to carry out this marriage. you may from all this, even out of the proposal for compensation for the kingdom of navarre (of which his majesty also let out something to me inadvertently); collect the reasons why such feeble progress is made in so great an occasion as now presents itself for a declaration of war and an open alliance with your highnesses. i shall not fail to watch these events, even in case of the progress of the said resolutions, notwithstanding the effects of which it is my opinion that this secret intrigue is not to be abandoned. to this end, besides the good intelligence which one gets by means of good friends, a continual and agreeable presentation of oneself to his majesty, in order to see and hear everything, is necessary." certainly, here were reasons more than sufficient why henry should be making but feeble preparations for open war in alliance with england and the republic against philip, as such a step was hardly compatible with the abandonment of england and the republic and the espousal of philip's daughter--projects which henry's commissioner had just been discussing with philip's agent at madrid and the escorial. truly it was well for the republican envoy to watch events as closely as possible, to make the most of intelligence from his good friends, and to present himself as frequently and as agreeably as possible to his majesty, that he might hear and see everything. there was much to see and to hear, and it needed adroitness and courage, not to slip or stumble in such dark ways where the very ground seemed often to be sliding from beneath the feet. to avoid the catastrophe of an alliance between henry, philip, and the pope against holland and england, it was a pressing necessity for holland and england to force henry into open war against philip. to this end the dutch statesmen were bending all their energies. meantime elizabeth regarded the campaign in artois and hainault with little favour. as he took leave on departing for france, la varenne had requested mendoza to write to king henry, but the spaniard excused himself-- although professing the warmest friendship for his majesty--on the ground of the impossibility of addressing him correctly. "if i call him here king of navarre, i might as well put my head on the block at once," he observed; "if i call him king of france, my master has not yet recognized him as such; if i call him anything else, he will himself be offended." and the vision of philip in black on his knees, with his children about him, and a rapier at his side, passed with the contemporary world as the only phenomenon of this famous secret mission. but henry, besides this demonstration towards spain, lost no time in despatching a special minister to the republic and to england, who was instructed to make the most profuse, elaborate, and conciliatory explanations as to his recent conversion and as to his future intentions. never would he make peace, he said, with spain without the full consent of the states and of england; the dearest object of his heart in making his peace with rome having been to restore peace to his own distracted realm, to bring all christians into one brotherhood, and to make a united attack upon the grand turk--a vision which the cheerful monarch hardly intended should ever go beyond the ivory gate of dreams, but which furnished substance enough for several well-rounded periods in the orations of de morlans. that diplomatist, after making the strongest representations to queen elizabeth as to the faithful friendship of his master, and the necessity he was under of pecuniary and military assistance, had received generous promises of aid both in men and money--three thousand men besides the troops actually serving in brittany--from that sagacious sovereign, notwithstanding the vehement language in which she had rebuked her royal brother's apostasy. he now came for the same purpose to the hague, where he made very eloquent harangues to the states-general, acknowledging that the republic had ever been the most upright, perfect, and undisguised friend to his master and to france in their darkest days and deepest affliction; that she had loved the king and kingdom for themselves, not merely hanging on to their prosperity, but, on the contrary, doing her best to produce that prosperity by her contributions in soldiers, ships, and subsidies. "the king," said de morlans, "is deeply grieved that he can prove his gratitude only in words for so many benefits conferred, which are absolutely without example, but he has commissioned me to declare that if god should ever give him the occasion, he will prove how highly he places your friendship." the envoy assured the states that all fears entertained by those of the reformed religion on account of the conversion of his majesty were groundless. nothing was farther from the king's thoughts than to injure those noble spirits with whom his soul had lived so long, and whom he so much loved and honoured. no man knew better than the king did, the character of those who professed the religion, their virtue, valour, resolution, and patience in adversity. their numbers had increased in war, their virtues had been purified by affliction, they had never changed their position, whether battles had been won or lost. should ever an attempt be made to take up arms against them within his realms, and should there be but five hundred of them against ten thousand, the king, remembering their faithful and ancient services, would leave the greater number in order to die at the head of his old friends. he was determined that they should participate in all the honours of the kingdom, and with regard to a peace with spain, he would have as much care for the interests of the united provinces as for his own. but a peace was impossible with that monarch, whose object was to maintain his own realms in peace while he kept france in perpetual revolt against the king whom god had given her. the king of spain had trembled at henry's cradle, at his youth, at the bloom of his manhood, and knew that he had inflicted too much injury upon him ever to be on friendly terms with him. the envoy was instructed to say that his master never expected to be in amity with one who had ruined his house confiscated his property, and caused so much misery to france; and he earnestly hoped--without presuming to dictate--that the states-general would in this critical emergency manifest their generosity. if the king were not assisted now, both king and kingdom would perish. if he were assisted, the succour would bear double fruit. the sentiments expressed on the part of henry towards his faithful subjects of the religion, the heretic queen of england, and the stout dutch calvinists who had so long stood by him, were most noble. it was pity that, at the same moment, he was proposing to espouse the infanta, and to publish the council of trent. the reply of the states-general to these propositions of the french envoy was favourable, and it was agreed that a force of three thousand foot and five hundred horse should be sent to the assistance of the king. moreover, the state-paper drawn up on this occasion was conceived with so much sagacity and expressed with so much eloquence, as particularly to charm the english queen when it was communicated to her majesty. she protested very loudly and vehemently to noel de caron, envoy from the provinces at london, that this response on the part of his government to de morlans was one of the wisest documents that she had ever seen. "in all their actions," said she, "the states-general show their sagacity, and indeed, it is the wisest government ever known among republics. i would show you," she added to the gentlemen around her, "the whole of the paper if it were this moment at hand." after some delays, it was agreed between the french government and that of the united provinces, that the king should divide his army into three parts, and renew the military operations against spain with the expiration of the truce at the end of the year ( ). one body, composed of the english contingent, together with three thousand french horse, three thousand swiss, and four thousand french harquebus-men, were to be under his own immediate command, and were to act against the enemy wherever it should appear to his majesty most advantageous. a second, army was to expel the rebels and their foreign allies from normandy and reduce rouen to obedience. a third was to make a campaign in the provinces of artois and hainault, under the duke of bouillon (more commonly called the viscount turenne), in conjunction with the forces to be supplied by the republic. "any treaty of peace on our part with the king of spain," said the states-general, "is our certain ruin. this is an axiom. that monarch's object is to incorporate into his own realms not only all the states and possessions of neighbouring kings, principalities, and powers, but also all christendom, aye, the whole world, were it possible. we joyfully concur then in your majesty's resolution to carry on the war in artois and hainault, and agree to your suggestion of diversions on our part by sieges and succour by contingents." balagny, meantime, who had so long led an independent existence at cambray, now agreed to recognise henry's authority, in consideration of sixty-seven thousand crowns yearly pension and the dignity of marshal of france. towards the end of the year , buzanval, the regular french envoy at the hague, began to insist more warmly than seemed becoming that the campaign in artois and hainault--so often the base of military operations on the part of spain against france--should begin. further achievements on the part of maurice after the fall of groningen were therefore renounced for that year, and his troops went into garrison and winter- quarters. the states-general, who had also been sending supplies, troops, and ships to brittany to assist the king, now, after soundly rebuking buzanval for his intemperate language, entrusted their contingent for the proposed frontier campaign to count philip nassau, who accordingly took the field toward the end of the year at the head of twenty-eight companies of foot and five squadrons of cavalry. he made his junction with turenne-bouillon, but the duke, although provided with a tremendous proclamation, was but indifferently supplied with troops. the german levies, long-expected, were slow in moving, and on the whole it seemed that the operations might have been continued by maurice with more effect, according to his original plan, than in this rather desultory fashion. the late winter campaign on the border was feeble and a failure. the bonds of alliance, however, were becoming very close between henry and the republic. despite the change in religion on the part of the king, and the pangs which it had occasioned in the hearts of leading netherlanders, there was still the traditional attraction between france and the states, which had been so remarkably manifested during the administration of william the silent. the republic was more restive than ever under the imperious and exacting friendship of elizabeth, and, feeling more and more its own strength, was making itself more and more liable to the charge of ingratitude; so constantly hurled in its face by the queen. and henry, now that he felt himself really king of france, was not slow to manifest a similar ingratitude or an equal love of independence. both monarch and republic, chafing under the protection of elizabeth, were drawn into so close a union as to excite her anger and jealousy--sentiments which in succeeding years were to become yet more apparent. and now; while henry still retained the chivalrous and flowery phraseology, so sweet to her ears, in his personal communications to the queen, his ministers were in the habit of using much plainer language. "mr. de sancy said to me," wrote the netherland minister in france, calvaert, "that his majesty and your highnesses (the states-general) must without long delay conclude an alliance offensive and defensive. in regard to england, which perhaps might look askance at this matter, he told me it would be invited also by his majesty into the same alliance; but if, according to custom, it shilly-shallied, and without coming to deeds or to succour should put him off with words, he should in that case proceed with our alliance without england, not doubting that many other potentates in italy and germany would join in it likewise. he said too, that he, the day before the departure of the english ambassador, had said these words to him in the presence of his majesty; namely, that england had entertained his majesty sixteen months long with far-fetched and often-repeated questions and discontents, that one had submitted to this sort of thing so long as his majesty was only king of mantes, dieppe, and louviers, but that his majesty being now king of paris would be no longer a servant of those who should advise him to suffer it any longer or accept it as good payment; that england must treat his majesty according to his quality, and with deeds, not words. he added that the ambassador had very anxiously made answer to these words, and had promised that when he got back to england he would so arrange that his majesty should be fully satisfied, insisting to the last on the alliance then proposed." in germany, meanwhile, there was much protocolling, and more hard drinking, at the diet of ratisbon. the protestant princes did little for their cause against the new designs of spain and the moribund league, while the catholics did less to assist philip. in truth, the holy roman empire, threatened with a turkish invasion, had neither power nor inclination to help the new universal empire of the west into existence. so the princes and grandees of germany, while amurath was knocking at the imperial gates, busied themselves with banquetting and other diplomatic work, but sent few reiters either to the east or west. philip's envoys were indignant at the apathy displayed towards the great catholic cause, and felt humbled at the imbecility exhibited by spain in its efforts against the netherlands and france. san clemente, who was attending the diet at ratisbon, was shocked at the scenes he witnessed. "in less than three months," said that temperate spaniard, "they have drunk more than five million florins' worth of wine, at a time when the turk has invaded the frontiers of germany; and among those who have done the most of this consumption of wine, there is not one who is going to give any assistance on the frontier. in consequence of these disorders my purse is drained so low, that unless the king helps me i am ruined. you must tell our master that the reputation of his grandeur and strength has never been so low as it is now in germany. the events in france and those which followed in the netherlands have thrown such impediments in the negotiations here, that not only our enemies make sport of marquis havre and myself, but even our friends--who are very few--dare not go to public feasts, weddings, and dinners, because they are obliged to apologize for us." truly the world-empire was beginning to crumble. "the emperor has been desiring twenty times," continued the envoy, "to get back to prague from the diet, but the people hold him fast like a steer. as i think over all that passes, i lose all judgment, for i have no money, nor influence, nor reputation. meantime, i see this rump of an empire keeping itself with difficulty upon its legs. 'tis full of wrangling and discord about religion, and yet there is the turk with two hundred thousand men besieging a place forty miles from vienna, which is the last outpost. god grant it may last!" such was the aspect of the christian world at the close of the year etext editor's bookmarks: beneficent and charitable purposes (war) chronicle of events must not be anticipated eat their own children than to forego one high mass humanizing effect of science upon the barbarism of war slain four hundred and ten men with his own hand this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, - chapter xxviii. influence of the rule and character of philip ii.--heroism of the sixteenth century--contest for the french throne--character and policy of the duke of mayenne--escape of the duke of guise from castle tours--propositions for the marriage of the infanta--plotting of the catholic party--grounds of philip's pretensions to the crown of france--motives of the duke of parma maligned by commander moreo --he justifies himself to the king--view of the private relations between philip and the duke of mayenne and their sentiments towards each other--disposition of the french politicians and soldiers towards philip--peculiar commercial pursuits of philip--confused state of affairs in france--treachery of philip towards the duke of parma--recall of the duke to spain--his sufferings and death. the people--which has been generally regarded as something naturally below its rulers, and as born to be protected and governed, paternally or otherwise, by an accidental selection from its own species, which by some mysterious process has shot up much nearer to heaven than itself--is often described as brutal, depraved, self-seeking, ignorant, passionate, licentious, and greedy. it is fitting, therefore, that its protectors should be distinguished, at great epochs of the world's history, by an absence of such objectionable qualities. it must be confessed, however, that if the world had waited for heroes-- during the dreary period which followed the expulsion of something that was called henry iii. of france from the gates of his capital, and especially during the time that followed hard upon the decease of that embodiment of royalty--its axis must have ceased to turn for a long succession of years. the bearnese was at least alive, and a man. he played his part with consummate audacity and skill; but alas for an epoch or a country in which such a shape--notwithstanding all its engaging and even commanding qualities--looked upon as an incarnation of human greatness! but the chief mover of all things--so far as one man can be prime mover-- was still the diligent scribe who lived in the escorial. it was he whose high mission it was to blow the bellows of civil war, and to scatter curses over what had once been the smiling abodes of human creatures, throughout the leading countries of christendom. the throne of france was vacant, nominally as well as actually, since--the year . during two-and-twenty years preceding that epoch he had scourged the provinces, once constituting the richest and most enlightened portions of his hereditary domains, upon the theory that without the spanish inquisition no material prosperity was possible on earth, nor any entrance permitted to the realms of bliss beyond the grave. had every netherlander consented to burn his bible, and to be burned himself should he be found listening to its holy precepts if read to him in shop, cottage, farm- house, or castle; and had he furthermore consented to renounce all the liberal institutions which his ancestors had earned, in the struggle of centuries, by the sweat of their brows and the blood of, their hearts; his benignant proprietor and master, who lived at the ends of the earth, would have consented at almost any moment to peace. his arms were ever open. let it not be supposed that this is the language of sarcasm or epigram. stripped of the decorous sophistication by which human beings are so fond of concealing their naked thoughts from each other, this was the one simple dogma always propounded by philip. grimace had done its worst, however, and it was long since it had exercised any power in the netherlands. the king and the dutchmen understood each other; and the plain truths with which those republicans answered the imperial proffers of mediation, so frequently renewed, were something new, and perhaps not entirely unwholesome in diplomacy. it is not an inviting task to abandon the comparatively healthy atmosphere of the battle-field, the blood-stained swamp, the murderous trench--where human beings, even if communing only by bullets and push of pike, were at least dealing truthfully with each other--and to descend into those subterranean regions where the effluvia of falsehood becomes almost too foul for ordinary human organisation. heroes in those days, in any country, there were few. william the silent was dead. de la noue was dead. duplessis-mornay was living, but his influence over his royal master was rapidly diminishing. cecil, hatton, essex, howard, raleigh, james croft, valentine dale, john norris, roger williams, the "virgin queen" herself--does one of these chief agents in public affairs, or do all of them together, furnish a thousandth part of that heroic whole which the england of the sixteenth century presents to every imagination? maurice of nassau-excellent soldier and engineer as he had already proved himself--had certainly not developed much of the heroic element, although thus far he was walking straightforward like a man, in the path of duty, with the pithy and substantial lewis william ever at his side. olden-barneveld--tough burgher-statesman, hard-headed, indomitable man of granite--was doing more work, and doing it more thoroughly, than any living politician, but he was certainly not of the mythological brotherhood who inhabit the serene regions of space beyond the moon. he was not the son of god or goddess, destined, after removal from this sphere, to shine with planetary lustre, among other constellations, upon the scenes of mortal action. those of us who are willing to rise-or to descend if the phrase seems wiser--to the idea of a self-governing people must content ourselves, for this epoch, with the fancy of a hero-people and a people-king. a plain little republic, thrusting itself uninvited into the great political family-party of heaven-anointed sovereigns and long-descended nobles, seemed a somewhat repulsive phenomenon. it became odious and dangerous when by the blows it could deal in battle, the logic it could chop in council, it indicated a remote future for the world, in which right divine and regal paraphernalia might cease to be as effective stage-properties as they had always been considered. yet it will be difficult for us to find the heroic individualised very perceptibly at this period, look where we may. already there seemed ground for questioning the comfortable fiction that the accidentally dominant families and castes were by nature wiser, better, braver than that much-contemned entity, the people. what if the fearful heresy should gain ground that the people was at least as wise, honest, and brave as its masters? what if it should become a recognised fact that the great individuals and castes, whose wealth and station furnished them with ample time and means for perfecting themselves in the science of government, were rather devoting their leisure to the systematic filling of their own pockets than to the hiving up of knowledge for the good of their fellow creatures? what if the whole theory of hereditary superiority should suddenly exhale? what if it were found out that we were all fellow-worms together, and that those which had crawled highest were not necessarily the least slimy? meantime it will be well for us, in order to understand what is called the past, to scrutinise somewhat closely that which was never meant to be revealed. to know the springs which once controlled the world's movements, one must ponder the secret thoughts, purposes, aspirations, and baffled attempts of the few dozen individuals who once claimed that world in fee-simple. such researches are not in a cheerful field; for the sources of history are rarely fountains of crystal, bubbling through meadows of asphodel. vast and noisome are the many sewers which have ever run beneath decorous christendom. some of the leading military events in france and flanders, patent to all the world, which grouped themselves about the contest for the french throne, as the central point in the history of philip's proposed world- empire, have already been indicated. it was a species of triangular contest--so far as the chief actors were concerned--for that vacant throne. philip, mayenne, henry of navarre, with all the adroitness which each possessed, were playing for the splendid prize. of philip it is not necessary to speak. the preceding volumes of this work have been written in vain, if the reader has not obtained from irrefragable testimony--the monarch's own especially--a sufficient knowledge of that human fetish before which so much of contemporary humanity grovelled. the figure of navarre is also one of the most familiar shapes in history. as for the duke of mayenne, he had been, since the death of his brother the balafre, ostensible leader of the league, and was playing, not without skill, a triple game. firstly, he hoped for the throne for himself. secondly, he was assisting the king of spain to obtain that dignity. thirdly, he was manoeuvring in dull, dumb, but not ineffective manner, in favour of navarre. so comprehensive and self-contradictory a scheme would seem to indicate an elasticity of principle and a fertility of resource not often vouchsafed to man. certainly one of the most pregnant lessons of history is furnished in the development of these cabals, nor is it, in this regard, of great importance whether the issue was to prove them futile or judicious. it is sufficient for us now, that when those vanished days constituted the present--the vital atmosphere of christendom--the world's affairs were controlled by those plotters and their subordinates, and it is therefore desirable for us to know what manner of men they were, and how they played their parts. nor should it ever be forgotten that the leading motive with all was supposed to be religion. it was to maintain the supremacy of the roman church, or to vindicate, to a certain extent, liberty of conscience, through the establishment of a heterodox organisation, that all these human beings of various lineage and language throughout christendom had been cutting each other's throats for a quarter of a century. mayenne was not without courage in the field when he found himself there, but it was observed of him that he spent more time at table than the bearnese in sleep, and that he was so fat as to require the assistance of twelve men to put him in the saddle again whenever he fell from his horse. yet slow fighter as he was, he was a most nimble intriguer. as for his private character, it was notoriously stained with every vice, nor was there enough of natural intelligence or superior acquirement to atone for his, crapulous; licentious, shameless life. his military efficiency at important emergencies was impaired and his life endangered by vile diseases. he was covetous and greedy beyond what was considered decent even in that cynical age. he received subsidies and alms with both hands from those who distrusted and despised him, but who could not eject him from his advantageous position. he wished to arrive at the throne of france. as son of francis of guise, as brother of the great balafre, he considered himself entitled to the homage of the fishwomen and the butchers' halls. the constitution of the country in that age making a people impossible, the subtle connection between a high-born intriguer and the dregs of a populace, which can only exist in societies of deep chasms and precipitous contrasts, was easily established. the duke's summary dealing with the sixteen tyrants of paris in the matter of the president's murder had, however, loosened his hold on what was considered the democracy; but this was at the time when his schemes were silently swinging towards the protestant aristocracy; at the moment when politica was taking the place of madam league in his secret affections. nevertheless, so long as there seemed a chance, he was disposed to work the mines for his own benefit. his position as lieutenant-general gave him an immense advantage for intriguing with both sides, and--in case his aspirations for royalty were baffled--for obtaining the highest possible price for himself in that auction in which philip and the bearnese were likely to strain all their resources in outbidding each other. on one thing his heart was fixed. his brother's son should at least not secure the golden prize if he could prevent it. the young duke of guise, who had been immured in castle tours since the famous murder of his father and uncle, had made his escape by a rather neat stratagem. having been allowed some liberty for amusing himself in the corridors in the neighbourhood of his apartment, he had invented a game of hop, skip, and jump up stairs and down, which he was wont to play with the soldiers of the guard, as a solace to the tediousness of confinement. one day he hopped and skipped up the staircase with a rapidity which excited the admiration of the companions of his sport, slipped into his room, slammed and bolted the doors, and when the guard, after in vain waiting a considerable tine for him to return and resume the game, at last forced an entrance, they found the bird flown out of window. rope-ladders, confederates, fast-galloping post-horses did the rest, and at last the young duke joined his affectionate uncle in camp, much to that eminent relative's discomfiture. philip gave alternately conflicting instructions to farnese--sometimes that he should encourage the natural jealousy between the pair; sometimes that he should cause them to work harmoniously together for the common good--that common good being the attainment by the king of spain of the sovereignty of france. but it was impossible, as already intimated, for mayenne to work harmoniously with his nephew. the duke of guise might marry with the infanta and thus become king of france by the grace of god and philip. to such a consummation in the case of his uncle there stood, as we know, an insuperable obstacle in the shape of the duchess of mayenne. should it come to this at last, it was certain that the duke would make any and every combination to frustrate such a scheme. meantime he kept his own counsel, worked amiably with philip, parma, and the young duke, and received money in overflowing measure, and poured into his bosom from that spanish monarch whose veterans in the netherlands were maddened by starvation into mutiny. philip's plans were a series of alternatives. france he regarded as the property of his family. of that there could be no doubt at all. he meant to put the crown upon his own head, unless the difficulties in the way should prove absolutely insuperable. in that case he claimed france and all its inhabitants as the property of his daughter. the salic law was simply a pleasantry, a bit of foolish pedantry, an absurdity. if clara isabella, as daughter of isabella of france, as grandchild of henry ii., were not manifestly the owner of france--queen-proprietary, as the spanish doctors called it--then there was no such thing, so he thought, as inheritance of castle, farm-house, or hovel--no such thing as property anywhere in the world. if the heiress of the valois could not take that kingdom as her private estate, what security could there ever be for any possessions public or private? this was logical reasoning enough for kings and their counsellors. there was much that might be said, however, in regard to special laws. there was no doubt that great countries, with all their livestock--human or otherwise--belonged to an individual, but it was not always so clear who that individual was. this doubt gave much work and comfortable fees to the lawyers. there was much learned lore concerning statutes of descent, cutting off of entails, actions for ejectment, difficulties of enforcing processes, and the like, to occupy the attention of diplomatists, politicians and other sages. it would have caused general hilarity, however, could it have been suggested that the live-stock had art or part in the matter; that sheep, swine, or men could claim a choice of their shepherds and butchers. philip--humbly satisfied, as he always expressed himself, so long as the purity of the roman dogmas and the supremacy of the romish church over the whole earth were maintained--affected a comparative indifference as to whether he should put the crown of st. louis and of hugh capet upon his own grey head or whether he should govern france through his daughter and her husband. happy the man who might exchange the symbols of mutual affection with philip's daughter. the king had various plans in regard to the bestowal of the hand thus richly endowed. first and foremost it was suggested--and the idea was not held too monstrous to be even believed in by some conspicuous individuals--that he proposed espousing his daughter himself. the pope was to be relied on, in this case, to give a special dispensation. such a marriage, between parties too closely related to be usually united in wedlock, might otherwise shock the prejudices of the orthodox. his late niece and wife was dead, so that there was no inconvenience on that score, should the interests of his dynasty, his family, and, above all, of the church, impel him, on mature reflection, to take for his fourth marriage one step farther within the forbidden degrees than he had done in his third. here is the statement, which, if it have no other value, serves to show the hideous designs of which the enemies of philip sincerely believed that monarch capable. "but god is a just god," wrote sir edward stafford, "and if with all things past, that be true that the king ('videlicet' henry iv.) yesterday assured me to be true, and that both his ambassador from venice writ to him and monsieur de luxembourg from rome, that the count olivarez had made a great instance to the pope (sixtus v.) a little afore his death, to permit his master to marry his daughter, no doubt god will not leave it long unpunished." such was the horrible tale which was circulated and believed in by henry the great of france and by eminent nobles and ambassadors, and at least thought possible by the english envoy. by such a family arrangement it was obvious that the conflicting claims of father and daughter to the proprietorship of france would be ingeniously adjusted, and the children of so well assorted a marriage might reign in undisputed legitimacy over france and spain, and the rest of the world-monarchy. should the king decide on the whole against this matrimonial project, should innocent or clement prove as intractable as sixtus, then it would be necessary to decide among various candidates for the infanta's hand. in mayenne's opinion the duke of guise was likely to be the man; but there is little doubt that philip, in case these more cherished schemes should fail, had made up his mind--so far as he ever did make up his mind upon anything--to select his nephew the archduke ernest, brother of the emperor rudolph, for his son-in-law. but it was not necessary to make an immediate choice. his quiver was full of archdukes, any one of whom would be an eligible candidate, while not one of them would be likely to reject the infanta with france on her wedding-finger. meantime there was a lion in the path in the shape of henry of navarre. those who disbelieve in the influence of the individual on the fate of mankind may ponder the possible results to history and humanity, had the dagger of jacques clement entered the stomach of henry iv. rather than of henry iii. in the summer of , or the perturbations in the world's movements that might have puzzled philosophers had there been an unsuspected mass of religious conviction revolving unseen in the mental depths of the bearnese. conscience, as it has from time to time exhibited itself on this planet of ours, is a powerful agent in controlling political combinations; but the instances are unfortunately not rare, so far as sublunary progress is concerned, in which the absence of this dominant influence permits a prosperous rapidity to individual careers. eternal honour to the noble beings, true chieftains among men, who have forfeited worldly power or sacrificed life itself at the dictate of religious or moral conviction--even should the basis of such conviction appear to some of us unsafe or unreal. shame on the tongue which would malign or ridicule the martyr or the honest convert to any form of christian faith! but who can discover aught that is inspiring to the sons of men in conversions--whether of princes or of peasants-- wrought, not at risk of life and pelf, but for the sake of securing and increasing the one and the other? certainly the bearnese was the most candid of men. it was this very candour, this freedom from bigotry, this want of conviction, and this openness to conviction, that made him so dangerous and caused so much anxiety to philip. the roman church might or might not be strengthened by the re-conversion of the legitimate heir of france, but it was certain that the claims of philip and the infanta to the proprietorship of that kingdom would be weakened by the process. while the spanish king knew himself to be inspired in all his actions by a single motive, the maintenance of the supremacy of the roman church, he was perfectly aware that the prince of bearne was not so single-hearted nor so conscientious as himself. the prince of bearne--heretic, son of heretics, great chieftain of heretics--was supposed capable of becoming orthodox whenever the pope would accept his conversion. against this possibility philip struggled with all his strength. since pope sixtus v., who had a weakness for henry, there had been several popes. urban vii., his immediate successor, had reigned but thirteen days. gregory xiv. (sfondrato) had died th october, , ten months after his election. fachinetti, with the title of innocent ix., had reigned two months, from th october to th december, . he died of "spanish poison," said envoy umton, as coolly as if speaking of gout, or typhus, or any other recognised disorder. clement viii. (aldobrandini) was elected th january, . he was no lover of henry, and lived in mortal fear of philip, while it must be conceded that the spanish ambassador at rome was much given to brow-beating his holiness. should he dare to grant that absolution which was the secret object of the bearnese, there was no vengeance, hinted the envoy, that philip would not wreak on the holy father. he would cut off his supplies from naples and sicily, and starve him and all-his subjects; he would frustrate all his family schemes, he would renounce him, he would unpope him, he would do anything that man and despot could do, should the great shepherd dare to re-admit this lost sheep, and this very black sheep, into the fold of the faithful. as for henry himself, his game--for in his eyes it was nothing but a game--lay every day plainer and plainer before him. he was indispensable to the heretics. neither england, nor holland, nor protestant germany, could renounce him, even should he renounce "the religion." nor could the french huguenots exist without that protection which, even although catholic, he could still extend to them when he should be accepted as king by the catholics. hereditary monarch by french law and history, released from his heresy by the authority that could bind and loose, purged as with hyssop and washed whiter than snow, it should go hard with him if philip, and farnese, and mayenne, and all the pikemen and reiters they might muster, could keep him very long from the throne of his ancestors. nothing could match the ingenuousness with which he demanded the instruction whenever the fitting time for it should arrive; as if, instead of having been a professor both of the calvinist and catholic persuasion, and having relapsed from both, he had been some innocent peruvian or hindoo, who was invited to listen to preachings and to examine dogmas for the very first time in his life. yet philip had good grounds for hoping a favourable result from his political and military manoeuvre. he entertained little doubt that france belonged to him or to his daughter; that the most powerful party in the country was in favour of his claims, provided he would pay the voters liberally enough for their support, and that if the worst came to the worst it would always be in his power to dismember the kingdom, and to reserve the lion's share for himself, while distributing some of the provinces to the most prominent of his confederates. the sixteen tyrants of paris had already, as we have seen, urged the crown upon him, provided he would establish in france the inquisition, the council of trent, and other acceptable institutions, besides distributing judiciously a good many lucrative offices among various classes of his adherents. the duke of mayenne, in his own name and that of all the catholics of france, formally demanded of him to maintain two armies, forty thousand men in all, to be respectively under command of the duke himself and of alexander farnese, and regularly to pay for them. these propositions, as has been seen, were carried into effect as nearly as possible, at enormous expense to philip's exchequer, and he naturally expected as good faith on the part of mayenne. in the same paper in which the demand was made philip was urged to declare himself king of france. he was assured that the measure could be accomplished "by freely bestowing marquisates, baronies, and peerages, in order to content the avarice and ambition of many persons, without at the same time dissipating the greatness from which all these members depended. pepin and charlemagne," said the memorialists, "who were foreigners and saxons by nation, did as much in order to get possession of a kingdom to which they had no other right except that which they acquired there by their prudence and force, and after them hugh capet, much inferior to them in force and authority, following their example, had the same good fortune for himself and his posterity, and one which still endures. "if the authority of the holy see could support the scheme at the same time," continued mayenne and friends, "it would be a great help. but it being perilous to ask for that assistance before striking the blow, it would be better to obtain it after the execution." that these wholesome opinions were not entirely original on the part of mayenne, nor produced spontaneously, was plain from the secret instructions given by philip to his envoys, don bernardino de mendoza, john baptist de tassis, and the commander moreo, whom he had sent soon after the death of henry iii. to confer with cardinal gaetano in paris. they were told, of course, to do everything in their power to prevent the election of the prince of bearne, "being as he was a heretic, obstinate and confirmed, who had sucked heresy with his mother's milk." the legate was warned that "if the bearnese should make a show of converting himself, it would be frigid and fabricated." if they were asked whom philip desired for king--a question which certainly seemed probable under the circumstances--they were to reply that his foremost wish was to establish the catholic religion in the kingdom, and that whatever was most conducive to that end would be most agreeable to him. "as it is however desirable, in order to arrange matters, that you should be informed of everything," said his majesty, "it is proper that you should know that i have two kinds of right to all that there is over there. firstly, because the crown of france has been usurped from me, my ancestors having been unjustly excluded by foreign occupation of it; and secondly, because i claim the same crown as first male of the house of valois." here certainly were comprehensive pretensions, and it was obvious that the king's desire for the establishment of the catholic religion must have been very lively to enable him to invent or accept such astonishing fictions. but his own claims were but a portion of the case. his daughter and possible spouse had rights of her own, hard, in his opinion, to be gainsaid. "over and above all this," said philip, "my eldest daughter, the infanta, has two other rights; one to all the states which as dower- property are joined by matrimony and through females to this crown, which now come to her in direct line, and the other to the crown itself, which belongs directly to the said infanta, the matter of the salic law being a mere invention." thus it would appear that philip was the legitimate representative, not only of the ancient races of french monarchs--whether merovingians, carlovingians, or otherwise was not stated but also of the usurping houses themselves, by whose intrusion those earlier dynasties had been ejected, being the eldest male heir of the extinct line of valois, while his daughter was, if possible, even more legitimately the sovereign and proprietor of france than he was himself. nevertheless in his magnanimous desire for the peace of the world and the advancement of the interests of the church, he was, if reduced to extremities, willing to forego his own individual rights--when it should appear that they could by no possibility be enforced--in favour of his daughter and of the husband whom he should select for her. "thus it may be seen," said the self-denying man, "that i know how, for the sake of the public repose, to strip myself of my private property." afterwards, when secretly instructing the duke of feria, about to proceed to paris for the sake of settling the sovereignty of the kingdom, he reviewed the whole subject, setting forth substantially the same intentions. that the prince of bearne could ever possibly succeed to the throne of his ancestors was an idea to be treated only with sublime scorn by all right-minded and sensible men. "the members of the house of bourbon," said he, "pretend that by right of blood the crown belongs to them, and hence is derived the pretension made by the prince of bearne; but if there were wanting other very sufficient causes to prevent this claim--which however are not wanting--it is quite enough that he is a relapsed heretic, declared to be such by the apostolic see, and pronounced incompetent, as well as the other members of his house, all of them, to say the least, encouragers of heresy; so that not one of them can ever be king of france, where there have been such religious princes in time past, who have justly merited the name of most christian; and so there is no possibility of permitting him or any of his house to aspire to the throne, or to have the subject even treated of in the estates. it should on the contrary be entirely excluded as prejudicial to the realm and unworthy to be even mentioned among persons so catholic as those about to meet in that assembly." the claims of the man whom his supporters already called henry the fourth of france being thus disposed of, philip then again alluded with his usual minuteness to the various combinations which he had formed for the tranquillity and good government of that kingdom and of the other provinces of his world-empire. it must moreover be never forgotten that what he said passed with his contemporaries almost for oracular dispensations. what he did or ordered to be done was like the achievements or behests of a superhuman being. time, as it rolls by, leaves the wrecks of many a stranded reputation to bleach in the sunshine of after-ages. it is sometimes as profitable to learn what was not done by the great ones of the earth, in spite of all their efforts, as to ponder those actual deeds which are patent to mankind. the past was once the present, and once the future, bright with rainbows or black with impending storm; for history is a continuous whole of which we see only fragments. he who at the epoch with which we are now occupied was deemed greatest and wisest among the sons of earth, at whose threats men quailed, at whose vast and intricate schemes men gasped in palefaced awe, has left behind him the record of his interior being. let us consider whether he was so potent as his fellow mortals believed, or whether his greatness was merely their littleness; whether it was carved out, of the inexhaustible but artificial quarry of human degradation. let us see whether the execution was consonant with the inordinate plotting; whether the price in money and blood--and certainly few human beings have squandered so much of either as did philip the prudent in his long career--was high or low for the work achieved. were after generations to learn, only after curious research, of a pretender who once called himself, to the amusement of his contemporaries, henry the fourth of france; or was the world-empire for which so many armies were marshalled, so many ducats expended, so many falsehoods told, to prove a bubble after all? time was to show. meantime wise men of the day who, like the sages of every generation, read the future like a printed scroll, were pitying the delusion and rebuking the wickedness of henry the bearnese; persisting as he did in his cruel, sanguinary, hopeless attempt to establish a vanished and impossible authority over a land distracted by civil war. nothing could be calmer or more reasonable than the language of the great champion of the inquisition. "and as president jeannin informs me," he said, "that the catholics have the intention of electing me king, that appearing to them the gentlest and safest method to smooth all rivalries likely to arise among the princes aspiring to the crown, i reply, as you will see by the copy herewith sent. you will observe that after not refusing myself to that which may be the will of our lord, should there be no other mode of serving him, above all i desire that which concerns my daughter, since to her belongs the kingdom. i desire nothing else nor anything for myself, nor for anybody else, except as a means for her to arrive at her right." he had taken particular pains to secure his daughter's right in brittany, while the duchess of mercoeur, by the secret orders of her husband, had sent a certain ecclesiastic to spain to make over the sovereignty of this province to the infanta. philip directed that the utmost secrecy should be observed in regard to this transaction with the duke and duchess, and promised the duke, as his reward for these proposed services in dismembering his country, the government of the province for himself and his heirs. for the king was quite determined--in case his efforts to obtain the crown for himself or for his daughter were unsuccessful--to dismember france, with the assistance of those eminent frenchmen who were now so industriously aiding him in his projects. "and in the third place," said he, in his secret instructions to feria, "if for the sins of all, we don't manage to make any election, and if therefore the kingdom (of france) has to come to separation and to be divided into many hands; in this case we must propose to the duke of mayenne to assist him in getting possession of normandy for himself, and as to the rest of the kingdom, i shall take for myself that which seems good to me--all of us assisting each other." but unfortunately it was difficult for any of these fellow-labourers to assist each other very thoroughly, while they detested each other so cordially and suspected each other with such good reason. moreo, ybarra, feria, parma, all assured their master that mayenne was taking spanish money as fast as he could get it, but with the sole purpose of making himself king. as to any of the house of lorraine obtaining the hand of the infanta and the throne with it, feria assured philip that mayenne "would sooner give the crown to the grand turk." nevertheless philip thought it necessary to continue making use of the duke. both were indefatigable therefore in expressing feelings of boundless confidence each in the other. it has been seen too how entirely the king relied on the genius and devotion of alexander farnese to carry out his great schemes; and certainly never had monarch a more faithful, unscrupulous, and dexterous servant. remonstrating, advising, but still obeying--entirely without conscience, unless it were conscience to carry out his master's commands, even when most puerile or most diabolical--he was nevertheless the object of philip's constant suspicion, and felt himself placed under perpetual though secret supervision. commander moreo was unwearied in blackening the duke's character, and in maligning his every motive and action, and greedily did the king incline his ear to the calumnies steadily instilled by the chivalrous spy. "he has caused all the evil we are suffering," said moreo. "when he sent egmont to france 'twas without infantry, although egmont begged hard for it, as did likewise the legate, don bernardino, and tassis. had he done this there is no doubt at all that the catholic cause in france would have been safe, and your majesty would now have the control over that kingdom which you desire. this is the opinion of friends and foes. i went to the duke of parma and made free to tell him that the whole world would blame him for the damage done to christianity, since your majesty had exonerated yourself by ordering him to go to the assistance of the french catholics with all the zeal possible. upon this he was so disgusted that he has never shown me a civil face since. i doubt whether he will send or go to france at all, and although the duke of mayenne despatches couriers every day with protestations and words that would soften rocks, i see no indications of a movement." thus, while the duke was making great military preparations far invading france without means; pawning his own property to get bread for his starving veterans, and hanging those veterans whom starving had made. mutinous, he was depicted, to the most suspicious and unforgiving mortal that ever wore a crown, as a traitor and a rebel, and this while he was renouncing his own judicious and well-considered policy in obedience to the wild schemes of his master. "i must make bold to remind your majesty," again whispered the spy, "that there never was an italian prince who failed to pursue his own ends, and that there are few in the world that are not wishing to become greater than they are. this man here could strike a greater blow than all the rest of them put together. remember that there is not a villain anywhere that does not desire the death of your majesty. believe me, and send to cut off my head if it shall be found that i am speaking from passion, or from other motive than pure zeal for your royal service." the reader will remember into what a paroxysm of rage alexander was thrown on, a former occasion, when secretly invited to listen to propositions by which the sovereignty over the netherlands was to be secured to himself, and how near he was to inflicting mortal punishment with his own hand on the man who had ventured to broach that treasonable matter. such projects and propositions were ever floating, as it were, in the atmosphere, and it was impossible for the most just men to escape suspicion in the mind of a king who fed upon suspicion as his daily bread. yet nothing could be fouler or falser than the calumny which described alexander as unfaithful to philip. had he served his god as he served his master perhaps his record before the highest tribunal would have been a clearer one. and in the same vein in which he wrote to the monarch in person did the crafty moreo write to the principal secretary of state, idiaquez, whose mind, as well as his master's, it was useful to poison, and who was in daily communication with philip. "let us make sure of flanders," said he, "otherwise we shall all of us be well cheated. i will tell you something of that which i have already told his majesty, only not all, referring you to tassis, who, as a personal witness to many things, will have it in his power to undeceive his majesty, i have seen very clearly that the duke is disgusted with his majesty, and one day he told me that he cared not if the whole world went to destruction, only not flanders." "another day he told me that there was a report abroad that his majesty was sending to arrest him, by means of the duke of pastrana, and looking at me he said: 'see here, seignior commander, no threats, as if it were in the power of mortal man to arrest me, much less of such fellows as these.'" "but this is but a small part of what i could say," continued the detective knight-commander, "for i don't like to trust these ciphers. but be certain that nobody in flanders wishes well to these estates or to the catholic cause, and the associates of the duke of parma go about saying that it does not suit the italian potentates to have his majesty as great a monarch as he is trying to be." this is but a sample of the dangerous stuff with which the royal mind was steadily drugged, day after day, by those to whom farnese was especially enjoined to give his confidence. later on it will be seen how-much effect was thus produced both upon the king and upon the duke. moreo, mendoza, and tasais were placed about the governor-general, nominally as his counsellors, in reality as police- officers. "you are to confer regularly with mendoza, tassis, and moreo," said philip to farnese. "you are to assist, correspond, and harmonize in every way with the duke of parma," wrote philip to mendoza, tassis, and moreo. and thus cordially and harmoniously were the trio assisting and corresponding with the duke. but moreo was right in not wishing to trust the ciphers, and indeed he had trusted them too much, for farnese was very well aware of his intrigues, and complained bitterly of them to the king and to idiaquez. most eloquently and indignantly did he complain of the calumnies, ever renewing themselves, of which he was the subject. "'tis this good moreo who is the author of the last falsehoods," said he to the secretary; "and this is but poor payment for my having neglected my family, my parents and children for so many years in the king's service, and put my life ever on the hazard, that these fellows should be allowed to revile me and make game of me now, instead of assisting me." he was at that time, after almost superhuman exertions, engaged in the famous relief of paris. he had gone there, he said, against his judgment and remonstrating with his majesty on the insufficiency of men and money for such an enterprise. his army was half-mutinous and unprovided with food, artillery, or munitions; and then he found himself slandered, ridiculed, his life's life lied away. 'twas poor payment for his services, he exclaimed, if his majesty should give ear to these calumniators, and should give him no chance of confronting his accusers and clearing his reputation. moreo detested him, as he knew, and prince doria said that the commander once spoke so ill of farnese in genoa that he was on the point of beating him; while moreo afterwards told the story as if he had been maltreated because of defending farnese against doria's slanders. and still more vehemently did he inveigh against moreo in his direct appeals to philip. he had intended to pass over his calumnies, of which he was well aware, because he did not care to trouble the dead--for moreo meantime had suddenly died, and the gossips, of course, said it was of farnese poison--but he had just discovered by documents that the commander had been steadily and constantly pouring these his calumnies into the monarch's ears. he denounced every charge as lies, and demanded proof. moreo had further been endeavouring to prejudice the duke of mayenne against the king of spain and himself, saying that he, farnese, had been commissioned to take mayenne into custody, with plenty of similar lies. "but what i most feel," said alexander, with honest wrath, "is to see that your majesty gives ear to them without making the demonstration which my services merit, and has not sent to inform me of them, seeing that they may involve my reputation and honour. people have made more account of these calumnies than of my actions performed upon the theatre of the world. i complain, after all my toils and dangers in your majesty's service, just when i stood with my soul in my mouth and death in my teeth, forgetting children, house, and friends, to be treated thus, instead of receiving rewards and honour, and being enabled to leave to my children, what was better than all the riches the royal hand could bestow, an unsullied and honourable name." he protested that his reputation had so much suffered that he would prefer to retire to some remote corner as a humble servant of the king, and leave a post which had made him so odious to all. above all, he entreated his majesty to look upon this whole affair "not only like a king but like a gentleman." philip answered these complaints and reproaches benignantly, expressed unbounded confidence in the duke, assured him that the calumnies of his supposed enemies could produce no effect upon the royal mind, and coolly professed to have entirely forgotten having received any such letter as that of which his nephew complained. "at any rate i have mislaid it," he said, "so that you see how much account it was with me." as the king was in the habit of receiving such letters every week, not only from the commander, since deceased, but from ybarra and others, his memory, to say the least, seemed to have grown remarkably feeble. but the sequel will very soon show that he had kept the letters by him and pondered them to much purpose. to expect frankness and sincerity from him, however, even in his most intimate communications to his most trusted servants, would have been to "swim with fins of lead." such being the private relations between the conspirators, it is instructive to observe how they dealt with each other in the great game they were playing for the first throne in christendom. the military events have been sufficiently sketched in the preceding pages, but the meaning and motives of public affairs can be best understood by occasional glances behind the scenes. it is well for those who would maintain their faith in popular governments to study the workings of the secret, irresponsible, arbitrary system; for every government, as every individual, must be judged at last by those moral laws which no man born of woman can evade. during the first french expedition-in the course of which farnese had saved paris from falling into, the hands of henry, and had been doing his best to convert it prospectively into the capital of his master's empire- -it was his duty, of course, to represent as accurately as possible the true state of france. he submitted his actions to his master's will, but he never withheld from him the advantage that he might have derived, had he so chosen, from his nephew's luminous intelligence and patient observation. with the chief personage he had to deal with he professed himself, at first, well satisfied. "the duke of mayenne," said he to philip, "persists in desiring your majesty only as king of france, and will hear of no other candidate, which gives me satisfaction such as can't be exaggerated." although there were difficulties in the way, farnese thought that the two together with god's help might conquer them. "certainly it is not impossible that your majesty may succeed," he said, "although very problematical; and in case your majesty does succeed in that which we all desire and are struggling for, mayenne not only demands the second place in the kingdom for himself, but the fief of some great province for his family." should it not be possible for philip to obtain the crown, farnese was, on the whole, of opinion that mayenne had better be elected. in that event he would make over brittany and burgundy to philip, together with the cities opposite the english coast. if they were obliged to make the duke king, as was to be feared, they should at any rate exclude the prince of bearne, and secure, what was the chief point, the catholic religion. "this," said alexander, "is about what i can gather of mayenne's views, and perhaps he will put them down in a despatch to your majesty." after all, the duke was explicit enough. he was for taking all he could get--the whole kingdom if possible--but if foiled, then as large a slice of it as philip would give him as the price of his services. and philip's ideas were not materially different from those of the other conspirator. both were agreed on one thing. the true heir must be kept out of his rights, and the catholic religion be maintained in its purity. as to the inclination of the majority of the inhabitants, they could hardly be in the dark. they knew that the bearnese was instinctively demanded by the nation; for his accession to the throne would furnish the only possible solution to the entanglements which had so long existed. as to the true sentiments of the other politicians and soldiers of the league with whom bearnese came in contact in france, he did not disguise from his master that they were anything but favourable. "that you may know, the, humour of this kingdom," said he, "and the difficulties in which i am placed, i must tell you that i am by large experience much confirmed in that which i have always suspected. men don't love nor esteem the royal name of your majesty, and whatever the benefits and assistance they get from you they have no idea of anything redounding to your benefit and royal service, except so far as implied in maintaining the catholic religion and keeping out the bearne. these two things, however, they hold to be so entirely to your majesty's profit, that all you are doing appears the fulfilment of a simple obligation. they are filled with fear, jealousy, and suspicion of your majesty. they dread your acquiring power here. whatever negotiations they pretend in regard to putting the kingdom or any of their cities under your protection, they have never had any real intention of doing it, but their only object is to keep up our vain hopes while they are carrying out their own ends. if to-day they seem to have agreed upon any measure, tomorrow they are sure to get out of it again. this has always been the case, and all your majesty's ministers that have had dealings here would say so, if they chose to tell the truth. men are disgusted with the entrance of the army, and if they were not expecting a more advantageous peace in the kingdom with my assistance than without it, i don't know what they would do; for i have heard what i have heard and seen what i have seen. they are afraid of our army, but they want its assistance and our money." certainly if philip desired enlightenment as to the real condition of the country he had determined to, appropriate; and the true sentiments of its most influential inhabitants, here, was the man most competent of all the world to advise him; describing the situation for him, day by day, in the most faithful manner. and at every, step the absolutely puerile inadequacy of the means, employed by the king to accomplish his gigantic purposes became apparent. if the crime of subjugating or at least dismembering the great kingdom of france were to, be attempted with any hope of success, at least it might have been expected that the man employed to consummate the deed would be furnished with more troops and money than would be required to appropriate a savage island off the caribbean, or a german. principality. but philip expected miracles to be accomplished by the mere private assertion of his will. it was so easy to conquer realms the writing table. "i don't say," continued farnese, "if i could have entered france with a competent army, well paid and disciplined, with plenty of artillery, and munitions, and with funds enough to enable mayenne to buy up the nobles of his party, and to conciliate the leaders generally with presents and promises, that perhaps they might not have softened. perhaps interest and fear would have made that name agreeable which pleases them so little, now that the very reverse of all this has occurred. my want of means is causing a thousand disgusts among the natives of the country, and it is this penury that will be the chief cause of the disasters which may occur." here was sufficiently plain speaking. to conquer a war-like nation without an army; to purchase a rapacious nobility with an empty purse, were tasks which might break the stoutest heart. they were breaking alexander's. yet philip had funds enough, if he had possessed financial ability himself, or any talent for selecting good financiers. the richest countries of the old world and the new were under his sceptre; the mines of peru and mexico; the wealth of farthest ind, were at his disposition; and moreover he drove a lucrative traffic in the sale of papal bulls and massbooks, which were furnished to him at a very low figure, and which he compelled the wild indians of america and the savages of the pacific to purchase of him at an enormous advance. that very year, a spanish carrack had been captured by the english off the barbary coast, with an assorted cargo, the miscellaneous nature of which gives an idea of royal commercial pursuits at that period. besides wine in large quantities there were fourteen hundred chests of quicksilver, an article indispensable to the working of the silver mines, and which no one but the king could, upon pain of death, send to america. he received, according to contract; for every pound of quicksilver thus delivered a pound of pure silver, weight for weight. the ship likewise contained ten cases of gilded mass-books and papal bulls. the bulls, two million and seventy thousand in number, for the dead and the living, were intended for the provinces of new spain, yucatan, guatemala, honduras, and the philippines. the quicksilver and the bulls cost the king three hundred thousand florins, but he sold them for five million. the .price at, which the bulls were to be sold varied-according to the letters of advice found in the ships--from two to four reals a piece, and the inhabitants of those conquered regions were obliged to buy them. "from all this," says a contemporary chronicler; "is to be seen what a thrifty trader was the king." the affairs of france were in such confusion that it was impossible for them, according to farnese, to remain in such condition much longer without bringing about entire decomposition. every man was doing as he chose--whether governor of a city, commander of a district, or gentleman in his castle. many important nobles and prelates followed the bearnese party, and mayenne was entitled to credit for doing as well as he did. there was no pretence, however, that his creditable conduct was due to anything but the hope of being well paid. "if your majesty should decide to keep mayenne," said alexander, "you can only do it with large: sums of money. he is a good catholic and very firm in his purpose, but is so much opposed by his own party, that if i had not so stimulated him by hopes of his own grandeur, he would have grown desperate--such small means has he of maintaining his party--and, it is to be feared, he would have made arrangements with bearne, who offers him carte-blanche." the disinterested man had expressed his assent to the views of philip in regard to the assembly of the estates and the election of king, but had claimed the sum of six hundred thousand dollars as absolutely necessary to the support of himself and followers until those events should occur. alexander not having that sum at his disposal was inclined to defer matters, but was more and more confirmed in his opinion that the duke was a "man of truth, faith, and his word." he had distinctly agreed that no king should be elected, not satisfactory to philip, and had "stipulated in return that he should have in this case, not only the second place in the kingdom, but some very great and special reward in full property." thus the man of truth, faith, and his word had no idea of selling himself cheap, but manifested as much commercial genius as the fuggers themselves could have displayed, had they been employed as brokers in these mercantile transactions. above all things, alexander implored the king to be expeditious, resolute, and liberal; for, after all, the bearnese might prove a more formidable competitor than he was deemed. "these matters must be arranged while the iron is hot," he said, "in order that the name and memory of the bearne and of all his family may be excluded at once and forever; for your majesty must not doubt that the whole kingdom inclines to him, both because he is natural successor, to the crowns and because in this way the civil war would cease. the only thing that gives trouble is the religions defect, so that if this should be remedied in appearance, even if falsely, men would spare no pains nor expense in his cause." no human being at that moment, assuredly, could look into the immediate future accurately enough to see whether the name and memory of the man, whom his adherents called henry the fourth of france, and whom spaniards, legitimists and enthusiastic papists, called the prince of bearne, were to be for ever excluded from the archives of france; whether henry, after spending the whole of his life as a pretender, was destined to bequeath the same empty part to his descendants, should they think it worth their while to play it. meantime the sages smiled superior at his delusion; while alexander farnese, on the contrary, better understanding the chances of the great game which they were all playing, made bold to tell his master that all hearts in france were inclining to their natural lord. "differing from your majesty," said he, "i am of opinion that there is no better means of excluding him than to make choice of the duke of mayenne, as a person agreeable to the people, and who could only reign by your permission and support." thus, after much hesitation and circumlocution, the nephew made up his mind to chill his uncle's hopes of the crown, and to speak a decided opinion in behalf of the man of his word, faith and truth. and thus through the whole of the two memorable campaigns made by alexander in france, he never failed to give his master the most accurate pictures of the country, and an interior view of its politics; urging above all the absolute necessity of providing much more liberal supplies for the colossal adventure in which he was engaged. "money and again money is what is required," he said. "the principal matter is to be accomplished with money, and the particular individuals must be bought with money. the good will of every french city must be bought with money. mayenne must be humoured. he is getting dissatisfied. very probably he is intriguing with bearne. everybody is pursuing his private ends. mayenne has never abandoned his own wish to be king, although he sees the difficulties in the way; and while he has not the power to do us as much good as is thought, it is certainly in his hands to do us a great deal of injury." when his army was rapidly diminishing by disease, desertion, mutiny, and death, he vehemently and perpetually denounced the utter inadequacy of the king's means to his vast projects. he protested that he was not to blame for the ruin likely to come upon the whole enterprise. he had besought, remonstrated, reasoned with philip--in vain. he assured his master that in the condition of weakness in which they found themselves, not very triumphant negotiations could be expected, but that he would do his best. "the frenchmen," he said, "are getting tired of our disorders, and scandalized by our weakness, misery, and poverty. they disbelieve the possibility of being liberated through us." he was also most diligent in setting before the king's eyes the dangerous condition of the obedient netherlands, the poverty of the finances, the mutinous degeneration of the once magnificent spanish army, the misery of the country, the ruin of the people, the discontent of the nobles, the rapid strides made by the republic, the vast improvement in its military organization, the rising fame of its young stadholder, the thrift of its exchequer, the rapid development of its commerce, the menacing aspect which it assumed towards all that was left of spanish power in those regions. moreover, in the midst of the toils and anxieties of war-making and negotiation, he had found time to discover and to send to his master the left leg of the glorious apostle st. philip, and the head of the glorious martyr st. lawrence, to enrich his collection of relics; and it may be doubted whether these treasures were not as welcome to the king as would have been the news of a decisive victory. during the absence of farnese in his expeditions against the bearnese, the government of his provinces was temporarily in the hands of peter ernest mansfeld. this grizzled old fighter--testy, choleric, superannuated--was utterly incompetent for his post. he was a mere tool in the hands of his son. count charles hated parma very cordially, and old count peter was made to believe himself in danger of being poisoned or poniarded by the duke. he was perpetually wrangling with, importuning and insulting him in consequence, and writing malicious letters to the king in regard to him. the great nobles, arschot, chimay, berlaymont, champagny, arenberg, and the rest, were all bickering among themselves, and agreeing in nothing save in hatred to farnese. a tight rein, a full exchequer, a well-ordered and well-paid army, and his own constant patience, were necessary, as alexander too well knew, to make head against the republic, and to hold what was left of the netherlands. but with a monthly allowance, and a military force not equal to his own estimates for the netherland work, he was ordered to go forth from the netherlands to conquer france--and with it the dominion of the world--for the recluse of the escorial. very soon it was his duty to lay bare to his master, still more unequivocally than ever, the real heart of mayenne. no one could surpass alexander in this skilful vivisection of political characters; and he soon sent the information that the duke was in reality very near closing his bargain with the bearnese, while amusing philip and drawing largely from his funds. thus, while faithfully doing his master's work with sword and pen, with an adroitness such as no other man could have matched, it was a necessary consequence that philip should suspect, should detest, should resolve to sacrifice him. while assuring his nephew, as we have seen, that elaborate, slanderous reports and protocols concerning him, sent with such regularity by the chivalrous moreo and the other spies, had been totally disregarded, even if they had ever met his eye, he was quietly preparing--in the midst of all these most strenuous efforts of alexander, in the field at peril of his life, in the cabinet at the risk of his soul--to deprive him of his office, and to bring him, by stratagem if possible, but otherwise by main force, from the netherlands to spain. this project, once-resolved upon, the king proceeded to execute with that elaborate attention to detail, with that feline stealth which distinguished him above all kings or chiefs of police that have ever existed. had there been a murder at the end of the plot, as perhaps there was to be--philip could not have enjoyed himself more. nothing surpassed the industry for mischief of this royal invalid. the first thing to be done was of course the inditing of a most affectionate epistle to his nephew. "nephew," said he, "you know the confidence which i have always placed in you and all that i have put in your hands, and i know how much you are to me, and how earnestly you work in my service, and so, if i could have you at the same time in several places, it would be a great relief to me. since this cannot be however, i wish to make use of your assistance, according to the times and occasions, in order that i may have some certainty as to the manner in which all this business is to be managed, may see why the settlement of affairs in france is thus delayed, and what the state of things in christendom generally is, and may consult with, you about an army which i am getting levied here, and about certain schemes now on foot in regard to the remedy for all this; all which makes me desire your presence here for some time, even if a short time, in order to resolve upon and arrange with the aid of your advice and opinion, many affairs concerning the public good and facilitate their execution by means of your encouragement and presence, and to obtain the repose which i hope for in putting them into your hands. and so i charge and command you that, if you desire to content me, you use all possible diligence to let me see you here as soon as possible, and that you start at once for genoa." he was further directed to leave count mansfeld at the head of affairs during this temporary absence, as had been the case so often before, instructing him to make use of the marquis of cerralbo, who was already there, to lighten labours that might prove too much for a man of mansfeld's advanced age. "i am writing to the marquis," continued the king, "telling him that he is to obey all your orders. as to the reasons of your going away, you will give out that it is a decision of your own, founded on good cause, or that it is a summons of mine, but full of confidence and good will towards you, as you see that it is." the date of this letter was th february, . the secret instructions to the man who was thus to obey all the duke's orders were explicit enough upon that point, although they were wrapped in the usual closely-twisted phraseology which distinguished philip's style when his purpose was most direct. cerralbo was entrusted with general directions as to the french matter, and as to peace negotiations with "the islands;" but the main purport of his mission was to remove alexander farnese. this was to be done by fair means, if possible; if not, he was to be deposed and sent home by force. this was to be the reward of all the toil and danger through which he had grown grey and broken in the king's service. "when you get to the netherlands" (for the instructions were older than the letter to alexander just cited), "you are," said the king, "to treat of the other two matters until the exact time arrives for the third, taking good care not to, cut the thread of good progress in the affairs of france if by chance they are going on well there. "when the time arrives to treat of commission number three," continued his majesty, "you will take occasion of the arrival of the courier of th february, and will give with much secrecy the letter of that date to the duke; showing him at the same time the first of the two which you will have received." if the duke showed the letter addressed to him by his uncle--which the reader has already seen--then the marquis was to discuss with him the details of the journey, and comment upon the benefits and increased reputation which would be the result of his return to spain. "but if the duke should not show you the letter," proceeded philip, "and you suspect that he means to conceal and equivocate about the particulars of it, you can show him your letter number two, in which it is stated that you have received a copy of the letter to the duke. this will make the step easier." should the duke declare himself ready to proceed to spain on the ground indicated--that the king had need of his services--the marquis was then to hasten his departure as earnestly as possible. every pains were to be taken to overcome any objections that might be made by the duke on the score of ill health, while the great credit which attached to this summons to consult with the king in such arduous affairs was to be duly enlarged upon. should count mansfeld meantime die of old age, and should farnese insist the more vehemently, on that account, upon leaving his son the prince ranuccio in his post as governor, the marquis was authorised to accept the proposition for the moment--although secretly instructed that such an appointment was really quite out of the question--if by so doing the father could be torn from the place immediately. but if all would not do, and if it should become certain that the duke would definitively refuse to take his departure, it would then become necessary to tell him clearly, but secretly, that no excuse would be accepted, but that go he must; and that if he did not depart voluntarily within a fixed time, he would be publicly deprived of office and conducted to spain by force. but all these things were to be managed with the secrecy and mystery so dear to the heart of philip. the marquis was instructed to go first to the castle of antwerp, as if upon financial business, and there begin his operations. should he find at last all his private negotiations and coaxings of no avail, he was then to make use of his secret letters from the king to the army commanders, the leading nobles of the country, and of the neighbouring princes, all of whom were to be undeceived in regard to the duke, and to be informed of the will of his majesty. the real successor of farnese was to be the archduke albert, cardinal of austria, son of archduke ferdinand, and the letters on this subject were to be sent by a "decent and confidential person" so soon as it should become obvious that force would be necessary in order to compel the departure of alexander. for if it came to open rupture, it would be necessary to have the cardinal ready to take the place. if the affair were arranged amicably, then the new governor might proceed more at leisure. the marquis was especially enjoined, in case the duke should be in france, and even if it should be necessary for him to follow him there on account of commissions number one and two, not to say a word to him then of his recall, for fear of damaging matters in that kingdom. he was to do his best to induce him to return to flanders, and when they were both there, he was to begin his operations. thus, with minute and artistic treachery, did philip provide for the disgrace and ruin of the man who was his near blood relation, and who had served him most faithfully from earliest youth. it was not possible to carry out the project immediately, for, as it has already been narrated, farnese, after achieving, in spite of great obstacles due to the dulness of the king alone, an extraordinary triumph, had been dangerously wounded, and was unable for a brief interval to attend to public affairs. on the conclusion of his rouen campaign he had returned to the netherlands, almost immediately betaking himself to the waters of spa. the marquis de cerralbo meanwhile had been superseded in his important secret mission by the count of fuentes, who received the same instructions as had been provided for the marquis. but ere long it seemed to become unnecessary to push matters to extremities. farnese, although nominally the governor, felt himself unequal to take the field against the vigorous young commander who was carrying everything before him in the north and east. upon the mansfelds was the responsibility for saving steenwyk and coeworden, and to the mansfelds did verdugo send piteously, but in vain, for efficient help. for the mansfelds and other leading personages in the obedient netherlands were mainly occupied at that time in annoying farnese, calumniating his actions, laying obstacles in the way of his administration, military and civil, and bringing him into contempt with the populace. when the weary soldier--broken in health, wounded and harassed with obtaining triumphs for his master such as no other living man could have gained with the means placed at his disposal--returned to drink the waters, previously to setting forth anew upon the task of achieving the impossible, he was made the mark of petty insults on the part of both the mansfelds. neither of them paid their respects to him; ill as he was, until four days after his arrival. when the duke subsequently called a council; count peter refused to attend it on account of having slept ill the night before. champagny; who was one of, the chief mischief-makers, had been banished by parma to his house in burgundy. he became very much alarmed, and was afraid of losing his head. he tried to conciliate the duke, but finding it difficult he resolved to turn monk, and so went to the convent of capuchins, and begged hard to be admitted a member. they refused him on account of his age and infirmities. he tried a franciscan monastery with not much better success, and then obeyed orders and went to his burgundy mansion; having been assured by farnese that he was not to lose his head. alexander was satisfied with that arrangement, feeling sure, he said, that so soon as his back was turned champagny would come out of his convent before the term of probation had expired, and begin to make mischief again. a once valiant soldier, like champagny, whose conduct in the famous "fury of antwerp" was so memorable; and whose services both in field and-cabinet had, been so distinguished, fallen so low as to, be used as a tool by the mansfelds against a man like farnese; and to be rejected as unfit company by flemish friars, is not a cheerful spectacle to contemplate. the walls of the mansfeld house and gardens, too, were decorated by count charles with caricatures, intending to illustrate the indignities put upon his father: and himself. among others, one picture represented count peter lying tied hand and foot, while people were throwing filth upon him; count charles being pourtrayed as meantime being kicked away from the command of a battery of cannon by, de la motte. it seemed strange that the mansfelds should, make themselves thus elaborately ridiculous, in order to irritate farnese; but thus it was. there was so much stir, about these works of art that alexander transmitted copies of them to the king, whereupon charles mansfeld, being somewhat alarmed, endeavoured to prove that they had been entirely misunderstood. the venerable personage lying on the ground, he explained, was not his father, but socrates. he found it difficult however to account for the appearance of la motte, with his one arm wanting and with artillery by his side, because, as farnese justly remarked, artillery had not been invented in the time of socrates, nor was it recorded that the sage had lost an arm. thus passed the autumn of , and alexander, having as he supposed somewhat recruited his failing strength, prepared, according to his master's orders for a new campaign in france. for with almost preterhuman malice philip was employing the man whom he had doomed to disgrace, perhaps to death, and whom he kept under constant secret supervision, in those laborious efforts to conquer without an army and to purchase a kingdom with an empty purse, in which, as it was destined, the very last sands of parma's life were to run away. suffering from a badly healed wound, from water on the chest, degeneration of the heart, and gout in the limbs, dropsical, enfeebled, broken down into an old man before his time, alexander still confronted disease and death with as heroic a front as he had ever manifested in the field to embattled hollanders and englishmen, or to the still more formidable array of learned pedants and diplomatists in the hall of negotiation. this wreck of a man was still fitter to lead armies and guide councils than any soldier or statesman that philip could call into his service, yet the king's cruel hand was ready to stab the dying man in the dark. nothing could surpass the spirit with which the soldier was ready to do battle with his best friend, coming in the guise of an enemy. to the last moment, lifted into the saddle, he attended personally as usual to the details of his new campaign, and was dead before he would confess himself mortal. on the rd of december, , in the city of arran, he fainted after retiring at his usual hour to bed, and thus breathed his last. according to the instructions in his last will, he was laid out barefoot in the robe and cowl of a capuchin monk. subsequently his remains were taken to parma, and buried under the pavement of the little franciscan church. a pompous funeral, in which the italians and spaniards quarrelled and came to blows for precedence, was celebrated in brussels, and a statue of the hero was erected in the capitol at rome. the first soldier and most unscrupulous diplomatist of his age, he died when scarcely past his prime, a wearied; broken-hearted old man. his triumphs, military and civil, have been recorded in these pages, and his character has been elaborately pourtrayed. were it possible to conceive of an italian or spaniard of illustrious birth in the sixteenth century, educated in the school of machiavelli, at the feet of philip, as anything but the supple slave of a master and the blind instrument of a church, one might for a moment regret that so many gifts of genius and valour had been thrown away or at least lost to mankind. could the light of truth ever pierce the atmosphere in which such men have their being; could the sad music of humanity ever penetrate to their ears; could visions of a world--on this earth or beyond it--not exclusively the property of kings and high-priests be revealed to them, one might lament that one so eminent among the sons of women had not been a great man. but it is a weakness to hanker for any possible connection between truth and italian or spanish statecraft of that day. the truth was not in it nor in him, and high above his heroic achievements, his fortitude, his sagacity, his chivalrous self-sacrifice, shines forth the baleful light of his perpetual falsehood. [i pass over, as beneath the level of history, a great variety of censorious and probably calumnious reports as to the private character of farnese, with which the secret archives of the times are filled. especially champagny, the man by whom the duke was most hated and feared, made himself busy in compiling the slanderous chronicle in which the enemies of farnese, both in spain and the netherlands, took so much delight. according to the secret history thus prepared for the enlightenment of the king and his ministers, the whole administration of the netherlands--especially the financial department, with the distribution of offices--was in the hands of two favourites, a beardless secretary named cosmo e massi, and a lady of easy virtue called franceline, who seems to have had a numerous host of relatives and friends to provide for at the public expense. towards the latter end of the duke's life, it was even said that the seal of the finance department was in the hands of his valet-de-chambre, who, in his master's frequent absences, was in the habit of issuing drafts upon the receiver-general. as the valet- dechambre was described as an idiot who did not know how to read, it may be believed that the finances fell into confusion. certainly, if such statements were to be accepted, it would be natural enough that for every million dollars expended by the king in the provinces, not more than one hundred thousand were laid out for the public service; and this is the estimate made by champagny, who, as a distinguished financier and once chief of the treasury in the provinces, might certainly be thought to know something of the subject. but champagny was beside himself with rage, hatred.] chapter xxix. effect of the death of farnese upon philip's schemes--priestly flattery and counsel--assembly of the states-general of france-- meeting of the leaguers at the louvre--conference at surene between the chiefs of the league and the "political" leaders--henry convokes an assembly of bishops, theologians, and others--strong feeling on all sides on the subject of the succession--philip commands that the infanta and the duke of guise be elected king and queen of france-- manifesto of the duke of mayenne--formal re-admission of henry to the roman faith--the pope refuses to consent to his reconciliation with the church--his consecration with the sacred oil--entry of the king into paris--departure of the spanish garrison from the capital --dissimulation of the duke of mayenne--he makes terms with henry-- grief of queen elizabeth on receipt of the communications from france. during the past quarter of a century there had been tragic scenes enough in france, but now the only man who could have conducted philip's schemes to a tragic if not a successful issue was gone. friendly death had been swifter than philip, and had removed alexander from the scene before his master had found fitting opportunity to inflict the disgrace on which he was resolved. meantime, charles mansfeld made a feeble attempt to lead an army from the netherlands into france, to support the sinking fortunes of the league; but it was not for that general-of-artillery to attempt the well-graced part of the all-accomplished farnese with much hope of success. a considerable force of spanish infantry, too, had been sent to paris, where they had been received with much enthusiasm; a very violent and determined churchman, sega, archbishop of piacenza, and cardinal- legate, having arrived to check on the part of the holy father any attempt by the great wavering heretic to get himself readmitted into the fold of the faithful. the king of spain considered it his duty, as well as his unquestionable right, to interfere in the affairs of france, and to save the cause of religion, civilization and humanity, in the manner so dear to the civilization-savers, by reducing that distracted country--utterly unable to govern itself--under his sceptre. to achieve this noble end no bribery was too wholesale, no violence too brutal, no intrigue too paltry. it was his sacred and special mission to save france from herself. if he should fail, he could at least carve her in pieces, and distribute her among himself and friends. frenchmen might assist him in either of these arrangements, but it was absurd to doubt that on him devolved the work and the responsibility. yet among his advisers were some who doubted whether the purchase of the grandees of france was really the most judicious course to pursue. there was a general and uneasy feeling that the grandees were making sport of the spanish monarch, and that they would be inclined to remain his stipendiaries for an indefinite period, without doing their share of the work. a keen jesuit, who had been much in france, often whispered to philip that he was going astray. "those who best understand the fit remedy for this unfortunate kingdom, and know the tastes and temper of the nation," said he, "doubt giving these vast presents and rewards in order that the nobles of france may affect your cause and further your schemes. it is the greatest delusion, because they love nothing but their own interest, and for this reason wish for no king at all, but prefer that the kingdom should remain topsy-turvy in order that they may enjoy the spanish doubloons, as they say themselves almost publicly, dancing and feasting; that they may take a castle to-day, and to-morrow a city, and the day, after a province, and so on indefinitely. what matters it to them that blood flows, and that the miserable people are destroyed, who alone are good for anything?" "the immediate cause of the ruin of france," continued the jesuit, "comes from two roots which must be torn up; the one is the extreme ignorance and scandalous life of the ecclesiastics, the other is the tyranny and the abominable life of the nobility, who with sacrilege and insatiable avarice have entered upon the property of the church. this nobility is divided into three factions. the first, and not the least, is heretic; the second and the most pernicious is politic or atheist; the third and last is catholic. all these, although they differ in opinion, are the same thing in corruption of life and manners, so that there is no choice among them." he then proceeded to set forth how entirely, the salvation of france depended on the king of spain. "morally speaking," he said, "it is impossible for any frenchman to apply the remedy. for this two things are wanting; intense zeal for the honour of god, and power. i ask now what frenchman: has both these, or either of them. no one certainly that we know. it is the king of spain who alone in the world has the zeal and the power. no man who knows the insolence and arrogance of the french nature will believe that even if a king should be elected out of france he would be obeyed by the others. the first to oppose him would be mayenne; even if a king were chosen from his family, unless everything should be given him that he asked; which would be impossible." thus did the wily priest instil into the ready ears of philip additional reasons for believing himself the incarnate providence of god. when were priestly flatterers ever wanting to pour this poison into the souls of tyrants? it is in vain for us to ask why it is permitted that so much power for evil should be within the grasp of one wretched human creature, but it is at least always instructive to ponder the career of these crowned conspirators, and sometimes consoling to find its conclusion different from the goal intended. so the jesuit advised the king not to be throwing away his money upon particular individuals, but with the funds which they were so unprofitably consuming to form a jolly army ('gallardo egercito') of fifteen thousand foot, and five thousand-horse, all spaniards, under a spanish general--not a frenchman being admitted into it--and then to march forward, occupy all the chief towns, putting spanish garrisons into them, but sparing the people, who now considered the war eternal, and who were eaten up by both armies. in a short time the king might accomplish all he wished, for it was not in the power of the bearnese to make considerable resistance for any length of time. this was the plan of father odo for putting philip on the throne of france, and at the same time lifting up the downtrodden church, whose priests, according to his statement, were so profligate, and whose tenets were rejected by all but a small minority of the governing classes of the country. certainly it did not lack precision, but it remained to be seen whether the bearnese was to prove so very insignificant an antagonist as the sanguine priest supposed. for the third party--the moderate catholics--had been making immense progress in france, while the diplomacy of philip had thus far steadily counteracted their efforts at rome. in vain had the marquis pisani, envoy of the politicians' party, endeavoured to soften the heart of clement towards henry. the pope lived in mortal fear of spain, and the duke of sessa, philip's ambassador to the holy see, denouncing all these attempts on the part of the heretic, and his friends, and urging that it was much better for rome that the pernicious kingdom of france should be dismembered and subdivided, assured his holiness that rome should be starved, occupied, annihilated, if such abominable schemes should be for an instant favoured. clement took to his bed with sickness brought on by all this violence, but had nothing for it but to meet pisani and other agents of the same cause with a peremptory denial, and send most, stringent messages to his legate in paris, who needed no prompting. there had already been much issuing of bulls by the pope, and much burning of bulls by the hangman, according to decrees of the parliament of chalons and other friendly tribunals, and burning of chalons decrees by paris hangmen, and edicts in favour of protestants at nantz and other places--measures the enactment, repeal, and reenactment of which were to mark the ebb and flow of the great tide of human opinion on the most important of subjects, and the traces of which were to be for a long time visible on the shores of time. early in mayenne, yielding to the pressure of the spanish party, reluctantly consented to assemble the states-general of france, in order that a king might be chosen. the duke, who came to be thoroughly known to alexander farnese before the death of that subtle italian, relied on his capacity to outwit all the other champions of the league and agents of philip now that the master-spirit had been removed. as firmly opposed as ever to the election of any other candidate but himself, or possibly his son, according to a secret proposition which he had lately made to the pope, he felt himself obliged to confront the army of spanish diplomatists, roman prelates, and learned doctors, by whom it was proposed to exclude the prince of bearne from his pretended rights. but he did not, after all, deceive them as thoroughly as he imagined. the spaniards shrewdly suspected the french tactics, and the whole business was but a round game of deception, in which no one was much deceived, who ever might be destined ultimately, to pocket the stakes: "i know from a very good source," said fuentes, "that mayenne, guise, and the rest of them are struggling hard in order not to submit to bearne, and will suffer everything your majesty may do to them, even if you kick them in the mouth, but still there is no conclusion on the road we are travelling, at least not the one which your majesty desires. they will go on procrastinating and gaining time, making authority for themselves out of your majesty's grandeur, until the condition of things comes which they are desiring. feria tells me that they are still taking your majesty's money, but i warn your majesty that it is only to fight off bearne, and that they are only pursuing their own ends at your majesty's expense." perhaps mayenne had already a sufficiently clear insight into the not far-distant future, but he still presented himself in spanish cloak and most ultramontane physiognomy. his pockets were indeed full of spanish coin at that moment, for he had just claimed and received eighty-eight thousand-nine hundred dollars for back debts, together with one hundred and eighty, thousand dollars more to distribute among the deputies of the estates. "all i can say about france," said fuentes, "is that it is one great thirst for money. the duke of feria believes in a good result, but i think that mayenne is only trying to pocket as much money as he can." thus fortified, the duke of mayenne issued the address to the states- general of the kingdom, to meet at an early day in order to make arrangements to secure religion and peace, and to throw off the possible yoke of the heretic pretender. the great seal affixed to the document represented an empty throne, instead of the usual effigy of a king. the cardinal-legate issued a thundering manifesto at the same time sustaining mayenne and virulently denouncing the bearnese. the politicians' party now seized the opportunity to impress upon henry that the decisive moment was come. the spaniard, the priest; and the league, had heated the furnace. the iron was at a white heat. now was the time to strike. secretary of state revol gaspar de schomberg, jacques auguste de thou, the eminent historian, and other influential personages urged the king to give to the great question the only possible solution. said the king with much meekness, "if i am in error, let those who attack me with so much fury instruct me, and show me the way of salvation. i hate those who act against their conscience. i pardon all those who are inspired by truly religious motives, and i am ready to receive all into favour whom the love of peace, not the chagrin of ill-will, has disgusted with the war." there was a great meeting of leaguers at the louvre, to listen to mayenne, the cardinal-legate, cardinal pelleve, the duke of guise, and other chieftains. the duke of feria made a long speech in latin, setting forth the spanish policy, veiled as usual, but already sufficiently well known, and assuring the assembly that the king of spain desired nothing so much as the peace of france and of all the world, together with the supremacy of the roman church. whether these objects could best be attained by the election of philip or of his daughter, as sovereign, with the archduke ernest as king-consort, or with perhaps the duke of guise or some other eligible husband, were fair subjects for discussion. no selfish motive influenced the king, and he placed all his wealth and all his armies at the disposal of the league to carry out these great projects. then there was a conference at surene between the chiefs the league and the "political" leaders; the archbishop of lyons, the cardinal-legate, villars, admiral of france and defender of rouen, belin, governor of paris, president jeannin, and others upon one side; upon the other, the archbishop of bourges, bellievre, schomberg, revol, and de thou. the archbishop of lyons said that their party would do nothing either to frustrate or to support the mission of pisani, and that the pope would, as ever, do all that could be done to maintain the interests of the true religion. the archbishop of bourges, knowing well the meaning of such fine phrases, replied that he had much respect for the holy father, but that popes had now, become the slaves and tools of the king of spain, who, because he was powerful, held them subject to his caprice. at an adjourned meeting at the same place, the archbishop of lyons said that all questions had been asked and answered. all now depended on the pope, whom the league would always obey. if the pope would accept the reconciliation of the prince of bearne it was well. he, hoped that his conversion would be sincere. the political archbishop (of bourges) replied to the league's archbishop, that there was no time for delays, and for journeys by land and sea to rome. the least obstruction might prove fatal to both parties. let the leaguers now show that the serenity of their faces was but the mirror of their minds. but the leaguers' archbishop said that he could make no further advances. so ended the conference.' the chiefs of the politicians now went to the king and informed him that the decisive moment had arrived. henry had preserved: his coolness throughout. amid all the hubbub of learned doctors of law, archbishops-leaguer and political-sorbonne pedants, solemn grandees from spain with latin orations in their pockets, intriguing guises, huckstering mayennes, wrathful huguenots, sanguinary cardinal-legates, threatening world-monarchs--heralded by spanish musketeers, italian lancers, and german reiters--shrill screams of warning from the english queen, grim denunciations from dutch calvinists, scornful repulses from the holy father; he kept his temper and his eye- sight, as perfectly as he had ever done through the smoke and din of the wildest battle-field. none knew better than he how to detect the weakness of the adversary, and to sound the charge upon his wavering line. he blew the blast--sure that loyal catholics and protestants alike would now follow him pell-mell. on the th, may, , he gave notice that he consented to get himself instructed, and that he summoned an assembly at mantes on the th july, of bishops, theologians, princes, lords, and courts of parliament to hold council, and to advise him what was best to do for religion and the state. meantime he returned to the siege of dreux, made an assault on the place, was repulsed, and then hung nine prisoners of war in full sight of the garrison as a punishment for their temerity in resisting him. the place soon after capitulated ( th july, ). the interval between the summons and the assembling of the clerical and lay notables at mantes was employed by the leaguers in frantic and contradictory efforts to retrieve a game which the most sagacious knew to be lost. but the politicians were equal to the occasion, and baffled them at every point. the leaguers' archbishop inveighed bitterly against the abominable edicts recently issued in favour of the protestants. the political archbishop (of bourges) replied not by defending; but by warmly disapproving, those decrees of toleration, by excusing the king for having granted them for a temporary purpose, and by asserting positively that, so soon as the king should be converted, he would no longer countenance such measures. it is superfluous to observe that very different language was held on the part of henry to the english and dutch protestants, and to the huguenots of his own kingdom. and there were many meetings of the leaguers in paris, many belligerent speeches by the cardinal legate, proclaiming war to the knife rather than that the name of henry the heretic should ever be heard of again as candidate for the throne, various propositions spasmodically made in full assembly by feria, ybarra, tassis, the jurisconsult mendoza, and other spanish agents in favour of the infanta as queen of france, with archduke ernest or the duke of guise, or any other eligible prince, for her husband. the league issued a formal and furious invective in answer to henry's announcement; proving by copious citations from jeremiah, st. epiphany; st. jerome, st. cyprian, and st. bernard, that it was easier for a leopard to change his spots or for a blackamoor to be washed white; than for a heretic to be converted, and that the king was thinking rather of the crown of france than of a heavenly crown, in his approaching conversion--an opinion which there were few to gainsay. and the duke of nemours wrote to his half-brother, the duke of mayenne; offering to use all his influence to bring about mayenne's election as king on condition that if these efforts failed, mayenne should do his best to procure the election of nemours. and the parliament of paris formally and prospectively proclaimed any election of a foreigner null and void, and sent deputies to mayenne urging him never to consent to the election of the infanta. what help, said they, can the league expect from the old and broken philip; from a king who in thirty years has not been able, with all the resources of his kingdoms, to subdue the revolted provinces of the netherlands? how can he hope to conquer france? pay no further heed to the legate, they said, who is laughing in his sleeve at the miseries and distractions of our country. so spake the deputies of the league- parliament to the great captain of the league, the duke of mayenne. it was obvious that the "great and holy confederacy" was becoming less confident of its invincibility. madame league was suddenly grown decrepit in the eyes of her adorers. mayenne was angry at the action of the parliament, and vehemently swore that he would annul their decree. parliament met his threats with dignity, and resolved to stand by the decree, even if they all died in their places. at the same time the duke of feria suddenly produced in full assembly of leaguers a written order from philip that the duke of guise and the infanta should at once be elected king and queen. taken by surprise, mayenne dissembled his rage in masterly-fashion, promised feria to support the election, and at once began to higgle for conditions. he stipulated that he should have for himself the governments of champagne, burgundy, and la brie, and that they should be hereditary in his family: he furthermore demanded that guise should cede to him the principality of joinville, and that they should pay him on the spot in hard money two hundred thousand crowns in gold, six hundred thousand more in different payments, together with an annual payment of fifty thousand crowns. it was obvious that the duke did not undervalue himself; but he had after all no intention of falling into the trap set for him. "he has made these promises (as above given) in writing," said the duke of savoy's envoy to his master, but he will never keep them. the duchess of mayenne could not help telling me that her husband will never consent that the duke of guise should have the throne." from this resolve he had never wavered, and was not likely to do so now. accordingly the man "of his word, of faith, and truth," whom even the astute farnese had at times half believed in, and who had received millions of philip's money, now thought it time to break with philip. he issued a manifesto, in which he observed that the states-general of france had desired that philip should be elected king of france, and carry out his design of a universal monarchy, as the only-means of ensuring the safety of the catholic religion and the pacification of the world. it was feared, however, said mayenne; that the king might come to the same misfortunes which befell his father, who, when it was supposed that he was inspired only by private ambition; and by the hope of placing a hereditary universal crown in his family, had excited the animosity of the princes of the empire. "if a mere suspicion had caused so great a misfortune in the empire," continued the man of his word, "what will the princes of all europe do when they find his majesty elected king of france, and grown by increase of power so formidable to the world? can it be doubted that they will fly to arms at once, and give all their support to the king of navarre, heretic though he be? what motive had so many princes to traverse philip's designs in the netherlands, but desire to destroy the enormous power which they feared? therefore had the queen, of england, although refusing the sovereignty, defended the independence of the netherlands these fifteen years. "however desirable," continued mayenne, "that this universal monarchy, for which the house of austria has so long been working, should be established, yet the king is too prudent not to see the difficulties in his way. although he has conquered portugal, he is prevented by the fleets of holland and england from taking possession of the richest of the portuguese possessions, the islands and the indies. he will find in france insuperable objections to his election as king, for he could in this case well reproach the leaguers with having been changed from frenchmen into spaniards. he must see that his case is hopeless in france, he who for thirty years has been in vain endeavouring to re- establish his authority in the netherlands. it would be impossible in the present position of affairs to become either the king or the protector of france. the dignity of france allows it not." mayenne then insisted on the necessity of a truce with the royalists or politicians, and, assembling the estates at the louvre on the th july, he read a written paper declining for the moment to hold an election for king. john baptist tassis, next day, replied by declaring that in this case philip would send no more succours of men or money; for that the only effectual counter-poison to the pretended conversion of the prince of bearne was the immediate election of a king. thus did mayenne escape from the snare in which the spaniards thought to catch the man who, as they now knew, was changing every day, and was true to nothing save his own interests. and now the great day had come. the conversion of henry to the roman faith, fixed long before for--the rd july,-- , formally took place at the time appointed. from six in the morning till the stroke of noon did henry listen to the exhortations and expoundings of the learned prelates and doctors whom he had convoked, the politic archbishop of bourges taking the lead in this long-expected instruction. after six mortal hours had come to an end, the king rose from his knees, somewhat wearied, but entirely instructed and convinced. he thanked the bishops for having taught him that of which he was before quite ignorant, and assured them that; after having invoked the light, of the holy ghost upon his musings, he should think seriously over what they had just taught him, in order to come to a resolution salutary to himself and to the state. nothing could be more candid. next day, at eight in the morning, there was a great show in the cathedral of saint denis, and the population of paris, notwithstanding the prohibition of the league authorities, rushed thither in immense crowds to witness the ceremony of the reconciliation of the king. henry went to the church, clothed as became a freshly purified heretic, in white satin doublet and hose, white silk stockings, and white silk shoes with white roses in them; but with a black hat and a black mantle. there was a great procession with blare of trumpet and beat of drum. the streets were strewn with flowers. as henry entered the great portal of the church, he found the archbishop of bourges, seated in state, effulgent in mitre and chasuble, and surrounded by other magnificent prelates in gorgeous attire. "who are you, and what do you want?" said the arch-bishop. "i am the king," meekly replied henry, "and i demand to be received into the bosom of the roman catholic church." "do you wish it sincerely?" asked the prelate. "i wish it with all my heart," said the king. then throwing himself on his knees, the bearne--great champion of the huguenots--protested before god that he would live and die in the catholic faith, and that he renounced all heresy. a passage was with difficulty opened through the crowd, and he was then led to the high altar, amid the acclamations of the people. here he knelt devoutly and repeated his protestations. his unction and contrition were most impressive, and the people, of course, wept piteously. the king, during the progress of the ceremony, with hands clasped together and adoring the eucharist with his eyes, or, as the host was elevated, smiting himself thrice upon the breast, was a model of passionate devotion. afterwards he retired to a pavilion behind the altar, where the archbishop confessed and absolved him. then the te deum sounded, and high mass was celebrated by the bishop of nantes. then, amid acclamations and blessings, and with largess to the crowd, the king returned to the monastery of saint denis, where he dined amid a multitude of spectators, who thronged so thickly around him that his dinner-table was nearly overset. these were the very parisians, who, but three years before, had been feeding on rats and dogs and dead men's bones, and the bodies of their own children, rather than open their gates to this same prince of bearne. now, although mayenne had set strong guards at those gates, and had most strictly prohibited all egress, the city was emptied of its populace, which pressed in transports of adoration around the man so lately the object of their hate. yet few could seriously believe that much change had been effected in the inner soul of him, whom the legate, and the spaniard, and the holy father at rome still continued to denounce as the vilest of heretics and the most infamous of impostors. the comedy was admirably played out and was entirely successful. it may be supposed that the chief actor was, however, somewhat wearied. in private, he mocked at all this ecclesiastical mummery, and described himself as heartily sick of the business. "i arrived here last evening," he wrote to the beautiful gabrielle, "and was importuned with 'god save you' till bed-time. in regard to the leaguers i am of the order of st. thomas. i am beginning to-morrow morning to talk to the bishops, besides those i told you about yesterday. at this moment of writing i have a hundred of these importunates on my shoulders, who will make me hate saint denis as much as you hate mantes. 'tis to-morrow that i take the perilous leap. i kiss a million times the beautiful hands of my angel and the mouth of my dear mistress." a truce--renewed at intervals--with the leaguers lasted till the end of the year. the duke of nevers was sent on special mission to rome to procure the holy father's consent to the great heretic's reconciliation to the church, and he was instructed to make the king's submission in terms so wholesale and so abject that even some of the life-long papists of france were disgusted, while every honest protestant in europe shrank into himself for shame. but clement, overawed by philip and his ambassador, was deaf to all the representations of the french envoy. he protested that he would not believe in the sincerity of the bearne's conversion unless an angel from heaven should reveal it to him. so nevers left rome, highly exasperated, and professing that he would rather have lost a leg, that he would rather have been sewn in a sack and tossed into the tiber, than bear back such a message. the pope ordered the prelates who had accompanied nevers to remain in rome and be tried by the inquisition for misprision of heresy, but the duke placed them by his side and marched out of the porta del popolo with them, threatening to kill any man who should attempt to enforce the command. meantime it became necessary to follow up the st. denis comedy with a still more exhilarating popular spectacle. the heretic had been purified, confessed, absolved. it was time for a consecration. but there was a difficulty. although the fever of loyalty to the ancient house of bourbon, now redeemed from its worship of the false gods, was spreading contagiously through the provinces; although all the white silk in lyons had been cut into scarves and banners to celebrate the reconciliation of the candid king with mother church; although that ancient city was ablaze with bonfires and illuminations, while its streets ran red, with blood no longer, but with wine; and although madam league, so lately the object of fondest adoration, was now publicly burned in the effigy of a grizzly hag; yet paris still held for that decrepit beldame, and closed its gates to the bearnese. the city of rheims, too, had not acknowledged the former huguenot, and it was at rheims, in the church of st. remy, that the holy bottle was preserved. with what chrism, by what prelate, should the consecration of henry be performed? five years before, the league had proposed in the estates of blois to place among the fundamental laws of the kingdom that no king should be considered a legitimate sovereign whose head had not been anointed by the bishop at rheims with oil from that holy bottle. but it was now decided that to ascribe a monopoly of sanctity to that prelate and to that bottle would be to make a schism in the church. moreover it was discovered that there was a chrism in existence still more efficacious than the famous oil of st. remy. one hundred and twelve years before the baptism of clovis, st. martin had accidentally tumbled down stairs, and lay desperately bruised and at the point of death. but, according to sulpicius severus, an angel had straightway descended from heaven, and with a miraculous balsam had anointed the contusions of the saint, who next day felt no farther inconveniences from his fall. the balsam had ever since been preserved in the church of marmoutier near tours. here, then, was the most potent of unguents brought directly from heaven. to mix a portion thereof with the chrism of consecration was clearly more judicious than to make use of the holy bottle, especially as the holy bottle was not within reach. the monks of marmoutier consented to lend the sacred phial containing the famous oil of st. martin for the grand occasion of the royal consecration. accompanied by a strong military escort provided by giles de souvri, governor of touraine, a deputation of friars brought the phial to chartres, where the consecration was to take place. prayers were offered up, without ceasing, in the monastery during their absence that no mishap should befal the sacred treasure. when the monks arrived at chartres, four young barons of the first nobility were assigned to them as hostages for the safe restoration of the phial, which was then borne in triumph to the cathedral, the streets through which it was carried being covered with tapestry. there was a great ceremony, a splendid consecration; six bishops, with mitres on their heads and in gala robes, officiating; after which the king knelt before the altar and took the customary oath. thus the champion of the fierce huguenots, the well-beloved of the dead la noue and the living duplessis mornay, the devoted knight of the heretic queen elizabeth, the sworn ally of the stout dutch calvinists, was pompously reconciled to that rome which was the object of their hatred and their fear. the admirably arranged spectacles of the instruction at st. denis and the consecration at chartres were followed on the day of the vernal equinox by a third and most conclusive ceremony: a secret arrangement had been made with de cosse-brissac, governor of paris, by the king, according to which the gates of paris were at last to be opened to him. the governor obtained a high price for his services-- three hundred thousand livres in hard cash, thirty thousand a year for his life, and the truncheon of marshal of france. thus purchased, brissac made his preparations with remarkable secrecy and skill. envoy ybarra, who had scented something suspicious in the air, had gone straight to the governor for information, but the keen spaniard was thrown out by the governor's ingenuous protestations of ignorance. the next morning, march nd, was stormy and rainy, and long before daylight ybarra, still uneasy despite the statements of brissac, was wandering about the streets of paris when he became the involuntary witness of an extraordinary spectacle. through the wind and the rain came trampling along the dark streets of the capital a body of four thousand troopers and lansquenettes. many torch-bearers attended on the procession, whose flambeaux threw a lurid light upon the scene. there, surrounded by the swart and grizzly bearded visages of these strange men-at-arms, who were discharging their arquebuses, as they advanced upon any bystanders likely to oppose their progress; in the very midst of this sea of helmed heads, the envoy was enabled to recognise the martial figure of the prince of bearne. armed to the teeth, with sword in hand and dagger at side, the hero of ivry rode at last through the barriers which had so long kept him from his capital. "'twas like enchantment," said ybarra. the first bourbon entered the city through the same gate out of which the last valois had, five years before, so ignominiously fled. it was a midnight surprise, although not fully accomplished until near the dawn of day. it was not a triumphal entrance; nor did henry come as the victorious standard-bearer of a great principle. he had defeated the league in many battle-fields, but the league still hissed defiance at him from the very hearthstone of his ancestral palace. he had now crept, in order to conquer, even lower than the league itself; and casting off his huguenot skin at last, he had soared over the heads of all men, the presiding genius of the holy catholic church. twenty-one years before, he had entered the same city on the conclusion of one of the truces which had varied the long monotony of the religious wars of france. the youthful son of antony bourbon and joan of albret had then appeared as the champion and the idol of the huguenots. in the same year had come the fatal nuptials with the bride of st. bartholomew, the first catholic conversion of henry and the massacre at which the world still shudders. now he was chief of the "politicians," and sworn supporter of the council of trent. earnest huguenots were hanging their heads in despair. he represented the principle of national unity against national dismemberment by domestiv, treason and foreign violence. had that principle been his real inspiration, as it was in truth his sole support, history might judge him more leniently. had he relied upon it entirely it might have been strong enough to restore him to the throne of his ancestors, without the famous religious apostacy with which his name is for ever associated. it is by no means certain that permanent religious toleration might not have been the result of his mounting the throne, only when he could do so without renouncing the faith of his fathers. a day of civilization may come perhaps, sooner or later, when it will be of no earthly cousequence to their fellow creatures to what creed, what christian church, what religious dogma kings or humbler individuals may be partial; when the relations between man and his maker shall be undefiled by political or social intrusion. but the day will never come when it will be otherwise than damaging to public morality and humiliating to human dignity to forswear principle for a price, and to make the most awful of mysteries the subject of political legerdemain and theatrical buffoonery. the so-called conversion of the king marks an epoch in human history. it strengthened the roman church and gave it an indefinite renewal of life; but it sapped the foundations of religious faith. the appearance of henry the huguenot as the champion of the council of trent was of itself too biting an epigram not to be extensively destructive. whether for good or ill, religion was fast ceasing to be the mainspring of political combinations, the motive of great wars and national convulsions. the age of religion was to be succeeded by the age of commerce. but the king was now on his throne. all paris was in rapture. there was te deum with high mass in notre dame, and the populace was howling itself hoarse with rapture in honour of him so lately the object of the general curse. even the sorbonne declared in favour of the reclaimed heretic, and the decision of those sages had vast influence with less enlightened mortals. there was nothing left for the duke of feria but to take himself off and make latin orations in favour of the infanta elsewhere, if fit audience elsewhere could be found. a week after the entrance of henry, the spanish garrison accordingly was allowed to leave paris with the honours of war. "we marched out at p.m.," wrote the duke to his master, "with closed ranks, colours displayed, and drums beating. first came the italians and then the spaniards, in the midst of whom was myself on horseback, with the walloons marching near me. the prince of bearne"--it was a solace to the duke's heart, of which he never could be deprived, to call the king by that title--"was at a window over the gate of st. denis through which we took our departure. he was dressed in light grey, with a black hat surmounted by a great white feather. our displayed standards rendered him no courteous salute as we passed." here was another solace! thus had the game been lost and won, but philip as usual did not acknowledge himself beaten. mayenne, too, continued to make the most fervent promises to all that was left of the confederates. he betook himself to brussels, and by the king's orders was courteously received by the spanish authorities in the netherlands. in the midst of the tempest now rapidly destroying all rational hopes, philip still clung to mayenne as to a spar in the shipwreck. for the king ever possessed the virtue, if it be one, of continuing to believe himself invincible and infallible, when he had been defeated in every quarter, and when his calculations had all proved ridiculous mistakes. when his famous armada had been shattered and sunk, have we not seen him peevishly requiring alexander farnese to construct a new one immediately and to proceed therewith to conquer england out of hand? was it to be expected that he would renounce his conquest of france, although the legitimate king had entered his capital, had reconciled himself to the church, and was on the point of obtaining forgiveness of the pope? if the prince of bearne had already destroyed the holy league, why should not the duke of mayenne and archduke ernest make another for him, and so conquer france without further delay? but although it was still possible to deceive the king, who in the universality of his deceptive powers was so prone to delude himself, it was difficult even for so accomplished an intriguer as mayenne to hoodwink much longer the shrewd spaniards who were playing so losing a game against him. "our affairs in france," said ybarra, "are in such condition that we are losing money and character there, and are likely to lose all the provinces here, if things are not soon taken up in a large and energetic manner. money and troops are what is wanted on a great scale for france. the king's agents are mightily discontented with mayenne, and with reason; but they are obliged to dissimulate and to hold their tongues. we can send them no assistance from these regions, unless from down yonder you send us the cloth and the scissors to cut it with." and the archduke ernest, although he invited mayenne to confer with him at brussels, under the impression that he could still keep him and the duke of guise from coming to an arrangement with bearne, hardly felt more confidence in the man than did feria or ybarra. "since the loss of paris," said ernest, "i have had a letter from mayenne, in which, deeply affected by that event, he makes me great offers, even to the last drop of his blood, vowing never to abandon the cause of the league. but of the intentions and inner mind of this man i find such vague information, that i don't dare to expect more stability from him than may be founded upon his own interest." and so mayenne came to brussels and passed three days with the archduke. "he avows himself ready to die in our cause," said ernest. "if your majesty will give men and money enough, he will undertake so to deal with bearne that he shall not think himself safe in his own house." the archduke expressed his dissatisfaction to mayenne that with the money he had already received, so little had been accomplished, but he still affected a confidence which he was far from feeling, "because," said he, "it is known that mayenne is already treating with bearne. if he has not concluded those arrangements, it is because bearne now offers him less money than before." the amount of dissimulation, politely so-called, practised by the grandees of that age, to say nothing of their infinite capacity for pecuniary absorption, makes the brain reel and enlarges one's ideas of the human faculties as exerted in certain directions. it is doubtful whether plain hans miller or hans baker could have risen to such level. feria wrote a despatch to the king, denouncing mayenne as false, pernicious to the cause of spain and of catholicism, thoroughly self- seeking and vile, and as now most traitorous to the cause of the confederacy, engaged in surrendering its strong places to the enemy, and preparing to go over to the prince of bearne. "if," said he, "i were to recount all his base tricks, i should go on till midnight, and perhaps till to-morrow morning." this letter, being intercepted, was sent with great glee by henry iv., not to the royal hands for which it was destined, but to the duke of mayenne. great was the wrath of that injured personage as he read such libellous truths. he forthwith fulminated a scathing reply, addressed to philip ii., in which he denounced the duke of feria as "a dirty ignoramus, an impudent coward, an impostor, and a blind thief;" adding, after many other unsavoury epithets, "but i will do him an honour which he has not merited, proving him a liar with my sword; and i humbly pray your majesty to grant me this favour and to pardon my just grief, which causes me to depart from the respect due to your majesty, when i speak of this impostor who has thus wickedly torn my reputation." his invectives were, however, much stronger than his arguments in defence of that tattered reputation. the defiance to mortal combat went for nothing; and, in the course of the next year, the injured mayenne turned his back on philip and his spaniards, and concluded his bargain with the prince of bearne. he obtained good terms: the government of burgundy, payment of his debts, and a hundred and twenty thousand crowns in hard cash. it is not on record that the man of his word, of credit, and of truth, ever restored a penny of the vast sums which he had received from philip to carry on the business of the league. subsequently the duke came one very hot summer's-day to monceaux to thank the king, as he expressed it, for "delivering him from spanish arrogance and italian wiles;" and having got with much difficulty upon his knees, was allowed to kiss the royal hand. henry then insisted upon walking about with him through the park at a prodigious rate, to show him all the improvements, while the duke panted, groaned, and perspired in his vain efforts to keep pace with his new sovereign. "if i keep this fat fellow walking about in the sun much longer," whispered the king to de bethune, who was third in the party, "i shall be sufficiently avenged for all the mischief he has done us." at last, when the duke was forced to admit himself to be on the point of expiring with fatigue, he was dismissed to the palace with orders to solace himself with a couple of bottles of excellent wine of arbois, expressly provided for him by the king's direction. and this was all the punishment ever inflicted by the good-humoured monarch on the corpulent conspirator. the duke of guise made his arrangements with the ex-huguenot on even better terms and at a still earlier day; while joyeuse and mercoeur stood out a good while and higgled hard for conditions. "these people put such a high price on themselves," said one of henry's diplomatists, "that one loses almost more than one gains in buying them. they strip and plunder us even in our nakedness, and we are obliged, in order to conciliate such harpies, to employ all that we can scrape out of our substance and our blood. i think, however, that we ought to gain them by whatever means and at whatever price." thus henry iv., the man whom so many contemporary sages had for years been rebuking or ridiculing for his persistency in a hopeless attempt to save his country from dismemberment, to restore legitimate authority, and to resist the "holy confederacy" of domestic traitors, aided by foreign despots and sympathizers, was at last successful, and the fratricidal war in france was approaching its only possible conclusion. but, alas! the hopes of those who loved the reformed church as well as they loved their country were sadly blasted by the apostasy of their leader. from the most eminent leaders of the huguenots there came a wail, which must have penetrated even to the well-steeled heart of the cheerful gascon. "it will be difficult," they said, "to efface very soon from your memory the names of the men whom the sentiment of a common religion, association in the same perils and persecutions, a common joy in the same deliverance, and the long experience of so many faithful services, have engraved there with a pencil of diamond. the remembrance of these things pursues you and accompanies you everywhere; it interrupts your most important affairs, your most ardent pleasures, your most profound slumber, to represent to you, as in a picture, yourself to yourself: yourself not as you are to-day, but such as you were when, pursued to the death by the greatest princes of europe, you went on conducting to the harbour of safety the little vessel against which so many tempests were beating." the states of the dutch republic, where the affair of henry's conversion was as much a matter of domestic personal interest as it could be in france--for religion up to that epoch was the true frontier between nation and nation--debated the question most earnestly while it was yet doubtful. it was proposed to send a formal deputation to the king, in order to divert him, if possible, from the fatal step which he was about to take. after ripe deliberation however, it was decided to leave the matter "in the hands of god almighty, and to pray him earnestly to guide the issue to his glory and the welfare of the churches." the queen of england was, as might be supposed, beside herself with indignation, and, in consequence of the great apostasy, and of her chronic dissatisfaction with the manner in which her contingent of troops had been handled in france, she determined to withdraw every english soldier from the support of henry's cause. the unfortunate french ambassador in london was at his wits' ends. he vowed that he could not sleep of nights, and that the gout and the cholic, to which he was always a martyr, were nothing to the anguish which had now come upon his soul and brain, such as he had never suffered since the bloody day of st. bartholomew. "ah, my god!" said he to burghley, "is it possible that her just choler has so suddenly passed over the great glory which she has acquired by so many benefits and liberalities?" but he persuaded himself that her majesty would after all not persist in her fell resolution. to do so, he vowed, would only be boiling milk for the french papists, who would be sure to make the most of the occasion in order to precipitate the king into the, abyss, to the border of which they had already brought him. he so dreaded the ire of the queen that he protested he was trembling all over merely to see the pen of his secretary wagging as he dictated his despatches. nevertheless it was his terrible duty to face her in her wrath, and he implored the lord treasurer to accompany him and to shield him at the approaching interview. "protect me," he cried, "by your wisdom from the ire of this great princess; for by the living god, when i see her enraged against any person whatever i wish myself in calcutta, fearing her anger like death itself." when all was over, henry sent de morlans as special envoy to communicate the issue to the governments of england and of holland. but the queen, although no longer so violent, was less phlegmatic than the states- general, and refused to be comforted. she subsequently receded, however, from her determination to withdraw her troops from france. "ah! what grief; ah! what regrets; ah! what groans, have i felt in my soul," she wrote, "at the sound of the news brought to me by morlans! my god! is it possible that any wordly respect can efface the terror of divine wrath? can we by reason even expect a good sequel to such iniquitous acts? he who has maintained and preserved you by his mercy, can you imagine that he permits you to walk alone in your utmost need? 'tis bad to do evil that good may come of it. meantime i shall not cease to put you in the first rank of my devotions, in order that the hands of esau may not spoil the blessings of jacob. as to your promises to me of friendship and fidelity, i confess to have dearly deserved them, nor do i repent, provided you do not change your father--otherwise i shall be your bastard sister by the father's side--for i shall ever love a natural better than an adopted one. i desire that god may guide you in a straight road and a better path. your most sincere sister in the old fashion. as to the new, i have nothing to do with it. elizabeth r." etext editor's bookmarks: all fellow-worms together continuing to believe himself invincible and infallible he spent more time at table than the bearnese in sleep henry the huguenot as the champion of the council of trent highest were not necessarily the least slimy his invectives were, however, much stronger than his arguments history is a continuous whole of which we see only fragments infinite capacity for pecuniary absorption leading motive with all was supposed to be religion past was once the present, and once the future sages of every generation, read the future like a printed scroll sewers which have ever run beneath decorous christendom wrath of that injured personage as he read such libellous truths this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, - chapter xxxvi. commercial prospects of holland--travels of john huygen van linschoten their effect on the trade and prosperity of the netherlands--progress of nautical and geographical science--maritime exploration--fantastic notions respecting the polar regions--state of nautical science--first arctic expedition--success of the voyagers--failure of the second expedition--third attempt to discover the north-east passage--discovery of spitzbergen-- scientific results of the voyage--adventures in the frozen regions-- death of william barendz--return of the voyagers to amsterdam-- southern expedition against the spanish power--disasters attendant upon it--extent of dutch discovery. during a great portion of philip's reign the netherlanders, despite their rebellion, had been permitted to trade with spain. a spectacle had thus been presented of a vigorous traffic between two mighty belligerents, who derived from their intercourse with each other the means of more thoroughly carrying on their mutual hostilities. the war fed their commerce, and commerce fed their war. the great maritime discoveries at the close of the fifteenth century had enured quite as much to the benefit of the flemings and hollanders as to that of the spaniards and portuguese, to whom they were originally due. antwerp and subsequently amsterdam had thriven on the great revolution of the indian trade which vasco de gama's voyage around the cape had effected. the nations of the baltic and of farthest ind now exchanged their products on a more extensive scale. and with a wider sweep across the earth than when the mistress of the adriatic alone held the keys of asiatic commerce. the haughty but intelligent oligarchy of shopkeepers, which had grown so rich and attained so eminent a political position from its magnificent monopoly, already saw the sources of its grandeur drying up before its eyes, now that the world's trade--for the first time in human history-- had become oceanic. in holland, long since denuded of forests, were great markets of timber, whither shipbuilders and architects came from all parts of the world to gather the utensils for their craft. there, too, where scarcely a pebble had been deposited in the course of the geological transformations of our planet, were great artificial quarries of granite, and marble, and basalt. wheat was almost as rare a product of the soil as cinnamon, yet the granaries of christendom, and the oriental magazines of spices and drugs, were found chiefly on that barren spot of earth. there was the great international mart where the osterling, the turk, the hindoo, the atlantic and the mediterranean traders stored their wares and negotiated their exchanges; while the curious and highly-prized products of netherland skill--broadcloths, tapestries, brocades, laces, substantial fustians, magnificent damasks, finest linens--increased the mass of visible wealth piled mountains high upon that extraordinary soil which produced nothing and teemed with everything. after the incorporation of portugal with spain however many obstacles were thrown in the way of the trade from the netherlands to lisbon and the spanish ports. loud and bitter were the railings uttered, as we know, by the english sovereign and her statesmen against the nefarious traffic which the dutch republic persisted in carrying on with the common enemy. but it is very certain that although the spanish armadas would have found it comparatively difficult to equip themselves without the tar and the timber, the cordage, the stores, and the biscuits furnished by the hollanders, the rebellious commonwealth, if excluded from the world's commerce, in which it had learned to play so controlling a part, must have ceased to exist. for without foreign navigation the independent republic was an inconceivable idea. not only would it have been incapable of continuing the struggle with the greatest monarch in the world, but it might as well have buried itself once and for ever beneath the waves from which it had scarcely emerged. commerce and holland were simply synonymous terms. its morsel of territory was but the wharf to which the republic was occasionally moored; its home was in every ocean and over all the world. nowhere had there ever existed before so large a proportion of population that was essentially maritime. they were born sailors--men and women alike--and numerous were the children who had never set foot on the shore. at the period now treated of the republic had three times as many ships and sailors as any one nation in the world. compared with modern times, and especially with the gigantic commercial strides of the two great anglo-saxon families, the statistics both of population and of maritime commerce in that famous and most vigorous epoch would seem sufficiently meagre. yet there is no doubt that in the relative estimate of forces then in activity it would be difficult to exaggerate the naval power of the young commonwealth. when therefore, towards the close of philip ii.'s reign, it became necessary to renounce the carrying trade with spain and portugal, by which the communication with india and china was effected, or else to submit to the confiscation of dutch ships in spanish ports, and the confinement of dutch sailors in the dungeons of the inquisition, a more serious dilemma was presented to the statesmen of the netherlands than they had ever been called upon to solve. for the splendid fiction of the spanish lake was still a formidable fact. not only were the portuguese and spaniards almost the only direct traders to the distant east, but even had no obstacles been interposed by government, the exclusive possession of information as to the course of trade, the pre-eminent practical knowledge acquired by long experience of that dangerous highway around the world at a time when oceanic navigation was still in its infancy, would have given a monopoly of the traffic to the descendants of the bold discoverers who first opened the great path to the world's commerce. the hollanders as a nation had never been engaged in the direct trade around the cape of good hope. fortunately however at this crisis in their commercial destiny there was a single hollander who had thoroughly learned the lesson which it was so necessary that all his countrymen should now be taught. few men of that period deserve a more kindly and more honourable remembrance by posterity for their contributions to science and the progress of civilization than john huygen van linschoten, son of a plain burgher of west friesland. having always felt a strong impulse to study foreign history and distant nations and customs; he resolved at the early age of seventeen "to absent himself from his fatherland, and from the conversation of friends and relatives," in order to gratify this inclination for self-improvement. after a residence of two years in lisbon he departed for india in the suite of the archbishop of goa, and remained in the east for nearly thirteen years. diligently examining all the strange phenomena which came under his observation and patiently recording the results of his researches day by day and year by year, he amassed a fund of information which he modestly intended for the entertainment of his friends when he should return to his native country. it was his wish that "without stirring from their firesides or counting- houses" they might participate with him in the gratification and instruction to be derived fiom looking upon a world then so strange, and for europeans still so new. he described the manners and customs, the laws, the religions, the social and political institutions, of the ancient races who dwelt in either peninsula of india. he studied the natural history, the botany, the geography of all the regions which he visited. especially the products which formed the material of a great traffic; the system of culture, the means of transportation, and the course of commerce, were examined by him with minuteness, accuracy, and breadth of vision. he was neither a trader nor a sailor, but a man of letters, a scientific and professional traveller. but it was obvious when he returned, rich with the spoils of oriental study during thirteen years of life, that the results of his researches were worthy of a wider circulation than that which he had originally contemplated. his work was given to the public in the year , and was studied with avidity not only by men of science but by merchants and seafarers. he also added to the record of his indian experiences a practical manual for navigators. he described the course of the voyage from lisbon to the east, the currents, the trade-winds and monsoons, the harbours, the islands, the shoals, the sunken rocks and dangerous quicksands, and he accompanied his work with various maps and charts, both general and special, of land and water, rarely delineated before his day, as well as by various astronomical and mathematical calculations. already a countryman of his own, wagenaar of zeeland, had laid the mariners of the world under special obligation by a manual which came into such universal use that for centuries afterwards the sailors of england and of other countries called their indispensable 'vade-mecum' a wagenaar. but in that text- book but little information was afforded to eastern voyagers, because, before the enterprise of linschoten, little was known of the orient except to the portuguese and spaniards, by whom nothing was communicated. the work of linschoten was a source of wealth, both from the scientific treasures which it diffused among an active and intelligent people, and the impulse which it gave to that direct trade between the netherlands and the east which had been so long deferred, and which now came to relieve the commerce of the republic, and therefore the republic itself, from the danger of positive annihilation. it is not necessary for my purpose to describe in detail the series of voyages by way of the cape of good hope which, beginning with the adventures of the brothers houtmann at this period, and with the circumnavigation of the world by olivier van noord, made the dutch for a long time the leading christian nation in those golden regions, and which carried the united netherlands to the highest point of prosperity and power. the spanish monopoly of the indian and the pacific ocean was effectually disposed of, but the road was not a new road, nor did any striking discoveries at this immediate epoch illustrate the enterprise of holland in the east. in the age just opening the homely names most dear to the young republic were to be inscribed on capes, islands, and promontories, seas, bays, and continents. there was soon to be a "staten island" both in the frozen circles of the northern and of the southern pole, as well as in that favoured region where now the mighty current of a worldwide commerce flows through the gates of that great metropolis of the western world, once called new amsterdam. those well-beloved words, orange and nassau, maurice and william, intermingled with the names of many an ancient town and village, or with the simple patronymics of hardy navigators or honoured statesmen, were to make the vernacular of the new commonwealth a familiar sound in the remotest corners of the earth; while a fifth continent, discovered by the enterprise of hollanders, was soon to be fitly baptized with the name of the fatherland. posterity has been neither just nor grateful, and those early names which dutch genius and enterprise wrote upon so many prominent points of the earth's surface, then seen for the first time by european eyes, are no longer known. the impulse given to the foreign trade of the netherlands by the publication of linschoten's work was destined to be a lasting one. meantime this most indefatigable and enterprising voyager--one of those men who had done nothing in his own estimation so long as aught remained to do--was deeply pondering the possibility of a shorter road to the opulent kingdoms of cathay and of china than the one which the genius of de gama had opened to his sovereigns. geography as a science was manifesting the highest activity at that period, but was still in a rudimentary state. to the hollanders especially much of the progress already made by it was owing. the maps of the world by mercator of leyden, published on a large scale, together with many astronomical and geographical charts, delineations of exploration, and other scientific works, at the magnificent printing establishment of william blaeuw, in amsterdam, the friend and pupil of tycho brahe, and the first in that line of typographers who made the name famous, constituted an epoch in cosmography. another ardent student of geography lived in amsterdam, peter plancius by name, a calvinist preacher, and one of the most zealous and intolerant of his cloth. in an age and a country which had not yet thoroughly learned the lesson taught by hundreds of thousands of murders committed by an orthodox church, he was one of those who considered the substitution of a new dogma and a new hierarchy, a new orthodoxy and a new church, in place of the old ones, a satisfactory result for fifty, years of perpetual bloodshed. nether torquemada nor peter titelmann could have more thoroughly abhorred a jew or a calvinist than peter plancius detested a lutheran, or any other of the unclean tribe of remonstranta. that the intolerance of himself and his comrades was confined to fiery words, and was not manifested in the actual burning alive of the heterodox, was a mark of the advance made by the mass of mankind in despite of bigotry. it was at any rate a solace to those who believed in human progress; even in matters of conscience, that no other ecclesiastical establishment was ever likely to imitate the matchless machinery for the extermination of heretical vermin which the church of rome had found in the spanish inquisition. the blasts of denunciation from the pulpit of plancius have long since mingled with empty air and been forgotten, but his services in the cause of nautical enterprise and geographical science, which formed, as it were, a relaxation to what he deemed the more serious pursuits of theology, will endear his name for ever to the lovers of civilization. plancius and dr. francis maalzoon--the enlightened pensionary of enkhuizen--had studied long and earnestly the history and aspects of the oceanic trade, which had been unfolding itself then for a whole century, but was still comparatively new, while barneveld, ever ready to assist in the advancement of science, and to foster that commerce which was the life of the commonwealth, was most favourably disposed towards projects of maritime exploration. for hitherto, although the hollanders had been among the hardiest and the foremost in the art of navigation they had contributed but little to actual discovery. a genoese had led the way to america, while one portuguese mariner had been the first to double the southern cape of africa, and another, at the opposite side of the world, had opened what was then supposed the only passage through the vast continent which, according to ideas then prevalent, extended from the southern pole to greenland, and from java to patagonia. but it was easier to follow in the wake of columbus, gama, or magellan, than to strike out new pathways by the aid of scientific deduction and audacious enterprise. at a not distant day many errors, disseminated by the boldest of portuguese navigators, were to be corrected by the splendid discoveries of sailors sent forth by the dutch republic, and a rich harvest in consequence was to be reaped both by science and commerce. it is true, too, that the netherlanders claimed to have led the way to the great voyages of columbus by their discovery of the azores. joshua van den berg, a merchant of bruges, it was vigorously maintained, had landed in that archipelago in the year . he had found there, however, no vestiges of the human race, save that upon the principal island, in the midst of the solitude, was seen--so ran the tale--a colossal statue of a man on horseback, wrapped in a cloak, holding the reins of his steed in his left hand, and solemnly extending his right arm to the west. this gigantic and solitary apparition on a rock in the ocean was supposed to indicate the existence of a new world, and the direction in which it was to be sought, but it is probable that the shipwrecked fleeting was quite innocent of any such magnificent visions. the original designation of the flemish islands, derived from their first colonization by netherlanders, was changed to azores by portuguese mariners, amazed at the myriads of hawks which they found there. but if the netherlanders had never been able to make higher claims as discoverers than the accidental and dubious landing upon an unknown shore of a tempest-tost mariner, their position in the records of geographical exploration would not be so eminent as it certainly is. meantime the eyes of linschoten, plancius, maalzoon, barneveld, and of many other ardent philosophers and patriots, were turned anxiously towards the regions of the north pole. two centuries later--and still more recently in our own day and generation--what heart has not thrilled with sympathy and with pride at the story of the magnificent exploits, the heroism, the contempt of danger and of suffering which have characterized the great navigators whose names are so familiar to the world; especially the arctic explorers of england and of our own country? the true chivalry of an advanced epoch--recognizing that there can be no sublimer vocation for men of action than to extend the boundary of human knowledge in the face of perils and obstacles more formidable and more mysterious than those encountered by the knights of old in the cause of the lord's sepulchre or the holy grail--they have thus embodied in a form which will ever awaken enthusiasm in imaginative natures, the noble impulses of our latter civilization. to win the favour of that noblest of mistresses, science; to take authoritative possession, in her name, of the whole domain of humanity; to open new pathways to commerce; to elevate and enlarge the human intellect, and to multiply indefinitely the sum of human enjoyments; to bring the inhabitants of the earth into closer and more friendly communication, so that, after some yet unimagined inventions and discoveries, and after the lapse of many years, which in the sight of the omnipotent are but as one day, the human race may form one pacific family, instead of being broken up, as are the most enlightened of peoples now, into warring tribes of internecine savages, prating of the advancement of civilization while coveting each other's possessions, intriguing against each other's interests, and thoroughly in earnest when cutting each other's throats; this is truly to be the pioneers of a possible civilization, compared to which our present culture may seem but a poor barbarism. if the triumphs and joys of the battle-field have been esteemed among the noblest themes for poet, painter, or chronicler, alike in the mists of antiquity and in the full glare of later days, surely a still more encouraging spectacle for those who believe in the world's progress is the exhibition of almost infinite valour, skill, and endurance in the cause of science and humanity. it was believed by the dutch cosmographers that some ten thousand miles of voyaging might be saved, could the passage to what was then called the kingdoms of cathay be effected by way of the north. it must be remembered that there were no maps of the unknown regions lying beyond the northern headlands of sweden. delineations of continents, islands, straits, rivers, and seas, over which every modern schoolboy pores, were not attempted even by the hand of fancy. it was perhaps easier at the end of the sixteenth century than it is now, to admit the possibility of a practical path to china and india across the pole; for delusions as to climate and geographical configuration then prevalent have long since been dispelled. while, therefore, at least as much heroism was required then as now to launch into those unknown seas, in hope to solve the dread mystery of the north; there was even a firmer hope than can ever be cherished again of deriving an immediate and tangible benefit from the enterprise. plancius and maalzoon, the states-general and prince maurice, were convinced that the true road to cathay would be found by sailing north-east. linschoten, the man who knew india and the beaten paths to india better than any other living christian, was so firmly convinced of the truth of this theory, that he volunteered to take the lead in the first expedition. many were the fantastic dreams in which even the wisest thinkers of the age indulged as to the polar regions. four straits or channels, pierced by a magic hand, led, it was thought, from the interior of muscovy towards the arctic seas. according to some speculators, however, those seas enclosed a polar continent where perpetual summer and unbroken daylight reigned, and whose inhabitants, having obtained a high degree of culture; lived in the practice of every virtue and in the enjoyment of every blessing. others peopled these mysterious regions with horrible savages, having hoofs of horses and heads of dogs, and with no clothing save their own long ears coiled closely around their limbs and bodies; while it was deemed almost certain that a race of headless men, with eyes in their breasts, were the most enlightened among those distant tribes. instead of constant sunshine, it was believed by such theorists that the wretched inhabitants of that accursed zone were immersed in almost incessant fogs or tempests, that the whole population died every winter and were only recalled to temporary existence by the advent of a tardy and evanescent spring. no doubt was felt that the voyager in those latitudes would have to encounter volcanoes of fire and mountains of ice, together with land and sea monsters more ferocious than the eye of man had ever beheld; but it was universally admitted that an opening, either by strait or sea, into the desired indian haven would reveal itself at last. the instruments of navigation too were but rude and defective compared to the beautiful machinery with which modern art and science now assist their votaries along the dangerous path of discovery. the small yet unwieldy, awkward, and, to the modern mind, most grotesque vessels in which such audacious deeds were performed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries awaken perpetual astonishment. a ship of a hundred tons burden, built up like a tower, both at stem and stern, and presenting in its broad bulbous prow, its width of beam in proportion to its length, its depression amidships, and in other sins against symmetry, as much opposition to progress over the waves as could well be imagined, was the vehicle in which those indomitable dutchmen circumnavigated the globe and confronted the arctic terrors of either pole. an astrolabe-- such as martin beheim had invented for the portuguese, a clumsy astronomical ring of three feet in circumference--was still the chief machine used for ascertaining the latitude, and on shipboard a most defective one. there were no logarithms, no means of determining at sea the variations of the magnetic needle, no system of dead reckoning by throwing the log and chronicling the courses traversed. the firearms with which the sailors were to do battle with the unknown enemies that might beset their path were rude and clumsy to handle. the art of compressing and condensing provisions was unknown. they had no tea nor coffee to refresh the nervous system in its terrible trials; but there was one deficiency which perhaps supplied the place of many positive luxuries. those hollanders drank no ardent spirits. they had beer and wine in reasonable quantities, but no mention is ever made in the journals of their famous voyages of any more potent liquor; and to this circumstance doubtless the absence of mutinous or disorderly demonstrations, under the most trying circumstances, may in a great degree be attributed. thus, these navigators were but slenderly provided with the appliances with which hazardous voyages have been smoothed by modern art; but they had iron hearts, faith in themselves, in their commanders, in their republic, and in the omnipotent; perfect discipline and unbroken cheerfulness amid toil, suffering, and danger. no chapter of history utters a more beautiful homily an devotion to duty as the true guiding principle of human conduct than the artless narratives which have been preserved of many of these maritime enterprises. it is for these noble lessons that they deserve to be kept in perpetual memory. and in no individual of that day were those excellent qualities more thoroughly embodied than in william barendz, pilot and burgher of amsterdam. it was partly under his charge that the first little expedition set forth on the th of june, , towards those unknown arctic seas, which no keel from christendom had ever ploughed, and to those fabulous regions where the foot of civilized men had never trod. maalzoon, plancius, and balthaser moucheron, merchant of middelburg, were the chief directors of the enterprise; but there was a difference of opinion between them. the pensionary was firm in the faith that the true path to china would be found by steering through the passage which was known to exist between the land of nova zembla and the northern coasts of muscovy, inhabited by the savage tribes called samoyedes. it was believed that, after passing those straits, the shores of the great continent would be found to trend in a south-easterly direction, and that along that coast it would accordingly be easy to make the desired voyage to the eastern ports of china. plancius, on the contrary, indicated as the most promising passage the outside course, between the northern coast of nova zembla and the pole. three ships and a fishing yacht were provided by the cities of enkhuizen, amsterdam, and by the province of zeeland respectively. linschoten was principal commissioner on board the enkhuizen vessel, having with him an experienced mariner, brandt ijsbrantz by name, as skipper. barendz, with the amsterdam ship and the yacht, soon parted company with the others, and steered, according to the counsels of plancius and his own convictions; for the open seas of the north. and in that memorable summer, for the first time in the world's history, the whole desolate region of nova zembla was visited, investigated, and thoroughly mapped out. barendz sailed as far as latitude deg. and to the extreme north-eastern point of the island. in a tremendous storm off a cape, which he ironically christened consolationhook (troost-hoek), his ship, drifting under bare poles amid ice and mist and tempest, was nearly dashed to pieces; but he reached at last the cluster of barren islets beyond the utmost verge of nova zembla, to which he hastened to affix the cherished appellation of orange. this, however, was the limit of his voyage. his ship was ill-provisioned, and the weather had been severe beyond expectation. he turned back on the st of august, resolving to repeat his experiment early in the following year. meantime linschoten, with the ships swan and mercury, had entered the passage which they called the straits of nassau, but which are now known to all the world as the waigats. they were informed by the samoyedes of the coast that, after penetrating the narrow channel, they would find themselves in a broad and open sea. subsequent discoveries showed the correctness of the statement, but it was not permitted to the adventurers on this occasion to proceed so far. the strait was already filled with ice-drift, and their vessels were brought to a standstill, after about a hundred and fifty english miles of progress beyond the waigats; for the whole sea of tartary, converted into a mass of ice- mountains and islands, and lashed into violent agitation by a north easterly storm, seemed driving down upon the doomed voyagers. it was obvious that the sunny clime of cathay was not thus to be reached, at least upon that occasion. with difficulty they succeeded in extricating themselves from the dangers surrounding them, and emerged at last from the waigats. on the th of august, in latitude deg. ', they met the ship of barendz and returned in company to holland, reaching amsterdam on the th of september. barendz had found the seas and coasts visited by him destitute of human inhabitants, but swarming with polar bears, with seals, with a terrible kind of monsters, then seen for the first time, as large as oxen, with almost human faces and with two long tusks protruding from each grim and grotesque visage. these mighty beasts, subsequently known as walrusses or sea-horses, were found sometimes in swarms of two hundred at a time, basking in the arctic sun, and seemed equally at home on land, in the sea, and on icebergs. when aware of the approach of their human visitors, they would slide off an iceblock into the water, holding their cubs in their arms, and ducking up and down in the sea as if in sport. then tossing the young ones away, they would rush upon the boats, and endeavour to sink the strangers, whom they instinctively recognised as their natural enemies. many were the severe combats recorded by the diarist of that voyage of barendz with the walrusses and the bears. the chief result of this first expedition was the geographical investigation made, and, with unquestionable right; these earliest arctic pilgrims bestowed the names of their choice upon the regions first visited by themselves. according to the unfailing and universal impulse on such occasions, the names dear to the fatherland were naturally selected. the straits were called nassau, the island at its mouth became states or staten island; the northern coasts of tartary received the familiar appellations of new holland, new friesland, new walcheren; while the two rivers, beyond which linschoten did not advance, were designated swan and mercury respectively, after his two ships. barendz, on his part, had duly baptized every creek, bay, islet, and headland of nova zembla, and assuredly christian mariner had never taken the latitude of deg. before. yet the antiquary, who compares the maps soon afterwards published by william blaeuw with the charts now in familiar use, will observe with indignation the injustice with which the early geographical records have been defaced, and the names rightfully bestowed upon those terrible deserts by their earliest discoverers rudely torn away. the islands of orange can still be recognized, and this is almost the only vestige left of the whole nomenclature. but where are cape nassau, william's island, admiralty island, cape plancius, black-hook, cross- hook, bear's-hook, ice-hook, consolation-hook, cape desire, the straits of nassau, maurice island, staten island, enkhuizen island, and many other similar appellations. the sanguine linschoten, on his return, gave so glowing an account of the expedition that prince maurice and olden-barneveld, and prominent members of the states-general, were infected with his enthusiasm. he considered the north-east passage to china discovered and the problem solved. it would only be necessary to fit out another expedition on a larger scale the next year, provide it with a cargo of merchandize suitable for the china market, and initiate the direct polar-oriental trade without further delay. it seems amazing that so incomplete an attempt to overcome such formidable obstacles should have been considered a decided success. yet there is no doubt of the genuineness of the conviction by which linschoten was actuated. the calmer barendz, and his friend and comrade gerrit de veer, were of opinion that the philosopher had made "rather a free representation" of the enterprise of and of the prospects for the future. nevertheless, the general government, acting on linschoten's suggestion, furnished a fleet of seven ships: two from enkhuizen, two from zeeland, two from amsterdam; and a yacht which was to be despatched homeward with the news, so soon as the expedition should have passed through the straits of nassau, forced its way through the frozen gulf of tartary, doubled cape tabin, and turned southward on its direct course to china. the sublime credulity which accepted linschoten's hasty solution of the polar enigma as conclusive was fairly matched by the sedateness with which the authorities made the preparations for the new voyage. so deliberately were the broadcloths, linens, tapestries, and other assorted articles for this first great speculation to cathay, via the north pole, stowed on board the fleet, that nearly half the summer had passed before anchor was weighed in the meuse. the pompous expedition was thus predestined to an almost ridiculous failure. yet it was in the hands of great men, both on shore and sea. maurice, barneveld, and maalzoon had personally interested themselves in the details of its outfitting, linschoten sailed as chief commissioner, the calm and intrepid barendz was upper pilot of the whole fleet, and a man who was afterwards destined to achieve an immortal name in the naval history of his country, jacob heemskerk, was supercargo of the amsterdam ship. in obedience to the plans of linschoten and of maalzoon, the passage by way of the waigats was of course attempted. a landing was effected on the coast of tartary. whatever geographical information could be obtained from such a source was imparted by the wandering samoyedes. on the nd of september a party went ashore on staten island and occupied themselves in gathering some glistening pebbles which the journalist of the expedition describes with much gravity as a "kind of diamonds, very plentiful upon the island." while two of the men were thus especially engaged in a deep hollow, one of them found himself suddenly twitched from behind. "what are you pulling at me for, mate?" he said, impatiently to his comrade as he supposed. but his companion was a large, long, lean white bear, and in another instant the head of the unfortunate diamond-gatherer was off and the bear was sucking his blood. the other man escaped to his friends, and together a party of twenty charged upon the beast. another of the combatants was killed and half devoured by the hungry monster before a fortunate bullet struck him in the head. but even then the bear maintained his grip upon his two victims, and it was not until his brains were fairly beaten out with the butt end of a snaphance by the boldest of the party that they were enabled to secure the bodies of their comrades and give them a hurried kind of christian burial. they flayed the bear and took away his hide with them, and this, together with an ample supply of the diamonds of staten island, was the only merchandize obtained upon the voyage for which such magnificent preparations had been made. for, by the middle of september, it had become obviously hopeless to attempt the passage of the frozen sea that season, and the expedition returned, having accomplished nothing. it reached amsterdam upon the th of november, . the authorities, intensely disappointed at this almost ridiculous result, refused to furnish direct assistance to any farther attempts at arctic explorations. the states-general however offered a reward of twenty-five thousand florins to any navigators who might succeed in discovering the northern passage, with a proportionate sum to those whose efforts in that direction might be deemed commendable, even if not crowned with success. stimulated by the spirit of adventure and the love of science far more than by the hope of gaining a pecuniary prize, the undaunted barendz, who was firm in the faith that a pathway existed by the north of nova zembla and across the pole to farthest ind, determined to renew the attempt the following summer. the city of amsterdam accordingly, early in the year , fitted out two ships. select crews of entirely unmarried men volunteered for the enterprise. john cornelisz van der ryp, an experienced sea-captain, was placed in charge of one of the vessels, william barendz was upper pilot of the other, and heemskerk, "the man who ever steered his way through ice or iron," was skipper and supercargo. the ships sailed from the vlie on the th may. the opinions of peter plancius prevailed in this expedition at last; the main object of both ryp and barendz being to avoid the fatal, narrow, ice-clogged waigats. although identical in this determination, their views as to the configuration of the land and sea, and as to the proper course to be steered, were conflicting. they however sailed in company mainly in a n.e. by n. direction, although barendz would have steered much more to the east. on the th june the watch on deck saw, as they supposed, immense flocks of white swans swimming towards the ships, and covering the sea as far as the eye could reach. all hands came up to look at the amazing spectacle, but the more experienced soon perceived that the myriads of swans were simply infinite fields of ice, through which however they were able to steer their course without much impediment, getting into clear sea beyond about midnight, at which hour the sun was one degree above the horizon. proceeding northwards two days more they were again surrounded by ice, and, finding the "water green as grass, they believed themselves to be near greenland." on the th june they discovered an island in latitude, according to their observation, deg. ', which seemed about five miles long. in this neighbourhood they remained four days, having on one occasion a "great fight which lasted four glasses" with a polar bear, and making a desperate attempt to capture him in order to bring him as a show to holland. the effort not being successful, they were obliged to take his life to save their own; but in what manner they intended, had they secured him alive, to provide for such a passenger in the long voyage across the north pole to china, and thence back to amsterdam, did not appear. the attempt illustrated the calmness, however, of those hardy navigators. they left the island on the th june, having baptised it bear island in memory of their vanquished foe, a name which was subsequently exchanged for the insipid appellation of cherry island, in honour of a comfortable london merchant who seven years afterwards sent a ship to those arctic regions. six days later they saw land again, took the sun, and found their latitude deg. '. certainly no men had ever been within less than ten degrees of the pole before. on the longest day of the year they landed on this newly discovered country, which they at first fancied to be a part of greenland. they found its surface covered with eternal snow, broken into mighty glaciers, jagged with precipitous ice-peaks; and to this land of almost perpetual winter, where the mercury freezes during ten months in the year, and where the sun remains four months beneath the horizon, they subsequently gave the appropriate and vernacular name of spitzbergen. combats with the sole denizens of these hideous abodes, the polar bears, on the floating ice, on the water, or on land, were constantly occurring, and were the only events to disturb the monotony of that perpetual icy sunshine, where no night came to relieve the almost maddening glare. they rowed up a wide inlet on the western coast, and came upon great numbers of wild-geese sitting on their eggs. they proved to be the same geese that were in the habit of visiting holland in vast flocks every summer, and it had never before been discovered where they laid and hatched their eggs. "therefore," says the diarist of the expedition, "some voyagers have not scrupled to state that the eggs grow on trees in scotland, and that such of the fruits of those trees as fall into the water become goslings, while those which drop on the ground burst in pieces and come to nothing. we now see that quite the contrary is the case," continues de veer, with perfect seriousness, "nor is it to be wondered at, for nobody has ever been until now where those birds lay their eggs. no man, so far as known, ever reached the latitude of eighty degrees before. this land was hitherto unknown." the scientific results of this ever-memorable voyage might be deemed sufficiently meagre were the fact that the eggs of wild geese did not grow on trees its only recorded discovery. but the investigations made into the dread mysteries of the north, and the actual problems solved, were many, while the simplicity of the narrator marks the infantine character of the epoch in regard to natural history. when so illustrious a mind as grotius was inclined to believe in a race of arctic men whose heads grew beneath their shoulders; the ingenuous mariner of amsterdam may be forgiven for his earnestness in combating the popular theory concerning goslings. on the rd june they went ashore again, and occupied themselves, as well as the constant attacks of the bears would permit, in observing the variation of the needle, which they ascertained to be sixteen degrees. on the same day, the ice closing around in almost infinite masses, they made haste to extricate themselves from the land and bore southwards again, making bear island once more on the st july. here cornelius ryp parted company with heemskerk and barendz, having announced his intention to sail northward again beyond latitude deg. in search of the coveted passage. barendz, retaining his opinion that the true inlet to the circumpolar sea, if it existed, would be found n.e. of nova zembla, steered in that direction. on the th july they found themselves by observation in latitude deg., and considered themselves in the neighbourhood of sir hugh willoughby's land. four days later they were in lomms' bay, a harbour of nova zembla, so called by them from the multitude of lomms frequenting it, a bird to which they gave the whimsical name of arctic parrots. on the th july the ice obstructed their voyage; covering the sea in all directions with floating mountains and valleys, so that they came to an anchor off an islet where on a former voyage the hollanders had erected the precious emblem of christian faith, and baptised the dreary solitude cross island. but these pilgrims, as they now approached the spot, found no worshippers there, while, as if in horrible mockery of their piety, two enormous white bears had reared themselves in an erect posture, in order the better to survey their visitors, directly at the foot of the cross. the party which had just landed were unarmed, and were for making off as fast as possible to their boats. but skipper heemskerk, feeling that this would be death to all of them, said simply, "the first man that runs shall have this boat- hook of mine in his hide. let us remain together and face them off." it was done. the party moved slowly towards their boats, heemskerlk bringing up the rear, and fairly staring the polar monsters out of countenance, who remained grimly regarding them, and ramping about the cross. the sailors got into their boat with much deliberation, and escaped to the ship, "glad enough," said de veer, "that they were alive to tell the story, and that they had got out of the cat-dance so fortunately." next day they took the sun, and found their latitude deg. ', and the variation of the needle twenty-six degrees. for seventeen days more they were tossing about in mist and raging snow- storms, and amidst tremendous icebergs, some of them rising in steeples and pinnacles to a hundred feet above the sea, some grounded and stationary, others drifting fearfully around in all directions, threatening to crush them at any moment or close in about them and imprison them for ever. they made fast by their bower anchor on the evening of th august to a vast iceberg which was aground, but just as they had eaten their supper there was a horrible groaning, bursting, and shrieking all around them, an indefinite succession of awful, sounds which made their hair stand on end, and then the iceberg split beneath the water into more than four hundred pieces with a crash "such as no words could describe." they escaped any serious damage, and made their way to a vast steepled and towered block like a floating cathedral, where they again came to anchor. on the th august they reached the isles of orange, on the extreme north-eastern verge of nova zembla. here a party going ashore climbed to the top of a rising ground, and to their infinite delight beheld an open sea entirely free from ice, stretching to the s. e. and e.s.e. as far as eye could reach. at last the game was won, the passage to cathay was discovered. full of joy, they pulled back in their boat to the ship, "not knowing how to get there quick enough to tell william barendz." alas! they were not aware of the action of that mighty ocean river, the gulf-stream, which was sweeping around those regions with its warm dissolving current. three days later they returned baffled in their sanguine efforts to sail through the open sea. the ice had returned upon them, setting southwardly in obedience to the same impulse which for a moment had driven it away, and they found themselves imprisoned again near the "hook of desire." on the th august they had given up all the high hopes by which they had been so lately inspired, and, as the stream was again driving the ice from the land, they trusted to sail southward and westward back towards the waigats. having passed by nova zembla, and found no opening into the seas beyond, they were disposed in the rapidly waning summer to effect their retreat by the south side of the island, and so through the straits of nassau home. in vain. the catastrophe was upon them. as they struggled slowly past the "ice-haven," the floating mountains and glaciers, impelled by the mighty current, once more gathered around and forced them back to that horrible harbour. during the remaining days of august the ship struggled, almost like a living creature, with the perils that, beset her; now rearing in the air, her bows propped upon mighty blocks, till she absolutely sat erect upon her stern, now lying prostrate on her side, and anon righting again as the ice-masses would for a moment float away and leave her breathing space and room to move in. a blinding snow-storm was raging the while, the ice was cracking and groaning in all directions, and the ship was shrieking, so that the medley of awful sights and sounds was beyond the power of language. "'twas enough to make the hair stand on end," said gerrit de veer, "to witness the hideous spectacle." but the agony was soon over. by the st september the ship was hard and fast. the ice was as immoveable as the dry land, and she would not move again that year even if she ever floated. those pilgrims from the little republic were to spend the winter in their arctic harbour. resigning themselves without a murmur to their inevitable fate, they set about their arrangements with perfect good humour and discipline. most fortunately a great quantity of drift wood, masses of timber, and great trees torn away with their roots from distant shores, lay strewn along the coast, swept thither by the wandering currents. at once they resolved to build a house in which they might shelter themselves from the wild beasts, and from their still more cruel enemy, the cold. so thanking god for the providential and unexpected supply of building material and fuel, they lost no time in making sheds, in hauling timber, and in dragging supplies from the ship before the dayless winter should descend upon them. six weeks of steady cheerful labour succeeded. tremendous snow-storms, accompanied by hurricanes of wind, often filled the atmosphere to suffocation, so that no human being could move a ship's length without perishing; while, did any of their number venture forth, as the tempest subsided, it was often to find himself almost in the arms of a polar bear before the dangerous snow-white form could be distinguished moving sluggishly through the white chaos. for those hungry companions never left them so long as the sun remained above the horizon, swarming like insects and birds in tropical lands. when the sailors put their meat-tubs for a moment out upon the ice a bear's intrusive muzzle would forthwith be inserted to inspect the contents. maddened by hunger, and their keen scent excited by the salted provisions, and by the living flesh and blood of these intruders upon their ancient solitary domains, they would often attempt to effect their entrance into the ship. on one such occasion, when heemskerk and two companions were the whole garrison, the rest being at a distance sledding wood, the future hero of gibraltar was near furnishing a meal to his nova zembla enemies. it was only by tossing sticks and stones and marling-spikes across the ice, which the bears would instantly turn and pursue, like dogs at play with children, that the assault could be diverted until a fortunate shot was made. several were thus killed in the course of the winter, and one in particular was disembowelled and set frozen upon his legs near their house, where he remained month after month with a mass of snow and ice accumulated upon him, until he had grown into a fantastic and gigantic apparition, still wearing the semblance of their mortal foe. by the beginning of october the weather became so intensely cold that it was almost impossible to work. the carpenter died before the house was half completed. to dig a grave was impossible, but they laid him in a cleft of the ice, and he was soon covered with the snow. meantime the sixteen that were left went on as they best might with their task, and on october nd they had a house-raising. the frame-work was set up, and in order to comply with the national usage in such cases, they planted, instead of the may-pole with its fluttering streamers, a gigantic icicle before their new residence. ten days later they moved into the house and slept there for the first time, while a bear, profiting by their absence, passed the night in the deserted ship. on the th november the sun rose no more, but the moon at first shone day and night, until they were once in great perplexity to know whether it were midday or midnight. it proved to be exactly noon. the bears disappeared with the sun, but white foxes swarmed in their stead, and all day and night were heard scrambling over their roof. these were caught daily in traps and furnished them food, besides furs for raiment. the cold became appalling, and they looked in each other's faces sometimes in speechless amazement. it was obvious that the extreme limit of human endurance had been reached. their clothes were frozen stiff. their shoes were like iron, so that they were obliged to array themselves from head to foot in the skins of the wild foxes. the clocks stopped. the beer became solid. the spanish wine froze and had to be melted in saucepans. the smoke in the house blinded them. fire did not warm them, and their garments were often in a blaze while their bodies were half frozen. all through the month of december an almost perpetual snow- deluge fell from the clouds. for days together they were unable to emerge, and it was then only by most vigorous labour that they could succeed in digging a passage out of their buried house. on the night of the th december sudden death had nearly put an end to the sufferings of the whole party. having brought a quantity of seacoal from the ship, they had made a great fire, and after the smoke was exhausted, they had stopped up the chimney and every crevice of the house. each man then turned into his bunk for the night, "all rejoicing much in the warmth and prattling a long time with each other." at last an unaccustomed giddiness and faintness came over them, of which they could not guess the cause, but fortunately one of the party had the instinct, before he lost consciousness, to open the chimney, while another forced open the door and fell in a swoon upon the snow. their dread enemy thus came to their relief, and saved their lives. as the year drew to a close, the frost and the perpetual snow-tempest became, if that were possible, still more frightful. their christmas was not a merry one, and for the first few days of the new year, it was impossible for them to move from the house. on the th january, the snow-storms having somewhat abated, they once more dug themselves as it were out of their living grave, and spent the whole day in hauling wood from the shore. as their hour-glasses informed them that night was approaching, they bethought themselves that it was twelfth night, or three kings' eve. so they all respectfully proposed to skipper heemskerk, that, in the midst of their sorrow they might for once have a little diversion. a twelfth-night feast was forthwith ordained. a scanty portion of the wine yet remaining to them was produced. two pounds weight of flour, which they had brought to make paste with for cartridges, was baked into pancakes with a little oil, and a single hard biscuit was served out to each man to be sopped in his meagre allowance of wine. "we were as happy," said gerrit de veer, with simple pathos, "as if we were having a splendid banquet at home. we imagined ourselves in the fatherland with all our friends, so much did we enjoy our repast." that nothing might be omitted, lots were drawn for king, and the choice fell on the gunner, who was forthwith proclaimed monarch of nova zembla. certainly no men, could have exhibited more undaunted cheerfulness amid bears and foxes, icebergs and cold--such as christians had never conceived of before--than did these early arctic pilgrims. nor did barendz neglect any opportunity of studying the heavens. a meridian was drawn near the house, on which the compass was placed, and observations of various stars were constantly made, despite the cold, with extraordinary minuteness. the latitude, from concurrent measurement of the giant, the bull, orion, aldebaran, and other constellations--in the absence of the sun--was ascertained to be a little above seventy-six degrees, and the variations of the needle were accurately noted. on the th january it was clear weather and comparatively mild, so that heemskerk, with de veer and another, walked to the strand. to their infinite delight and surprise they again saw the disk of the sun on the edge of the horizon, and they all hastened back with the glad tidings. but barendz shook his head. many days must elapse, he said, before the declination of the sun should be once more deg., at which point in the latitude of deg. they had lost sight of the luminary on the th november, and at which only it could again be visible. this, according to his calculations, would be on the th february. two days of mirky and stormy atmosphere succeeded, and those who had wagered in support of the opinion of barendz were inclined to triumph over those who believed in the observation of heemskerk. on the th january there was, however, no mistake. the sky was bright, and the whole disk of the sun was most distinctly seen by all, although none were able to explain the phenomenon, and barendz least of all. they had kept accurate diaries ever since their imprisonment, and although the clocks sometimes had stopped, the hour-glasses had regularly noted the lapse of time. moreover, barendz knew from the ephemerides for to , published by dr. joseph scala in venice, a copy of which work he had brought with him, that on the th january, , the moon would be seen at one o'clock a.m. at venice, in conjunction with jupiter. he accordingly took as good an observation as could be done with the naked eye and found that conjunction at six o'clock a.m. of the same day, the two bodies appearing in the same vertical line in the sign of taurus. the date was thus satisfactorily established, and a calculation of the longitude of the house was deduced with an accuracy which in those circumstances was certainly commendable. nevertheless, as the facts and the theory of refraction were not thoroughly understood, nor tycho brahe's tables of refraction generally known, pilot barendz could not be expected to be wiser than his generation. the startling discovery that in the latitude of deg. the sun reappeared on the th january, instead of the th february, was destined to awaken commotion throughout the whole scientific world, and has perhaps hardly yet been completely explained. but the daylight brought no mitigation of their sufferings. the merciless cold continued without abatement, and the sun seemed to mock their misery. the foxes disappeared, and the ice-bears in their stead swarmed around the house, and clambered at night over the roof. again they constantly fought with them for their lives. daily the grave question was renewed whether the men should feed on the bears or the bears on the men. on one occasion their dead enemy proved more dangerous to them than in life, for three of their number, who had fed on bear's liver, were nearly poisoned to death. had they perished, none of the whole party would have ever left nova zembla. "it seemed," said the diarist, "that the beasts had smelt out that we meant to go away, and had just begin to have a taste for us." and thus the days wore on. the hour-glass and the almanac told them that winter had given place to spring, but nature still lay in cold obstruction. one of their number, who had long been ill, died. they hollowed a grave for him in the frozen snow, performing a rude burial service, and singing a psalm; but the cold had nearly made them all corpses before the ceremony was done. at last, on the th april, some of them climbing over the icebergs to the shore found much open sea. they also saw a small bird diving in the water, and looked upon it as a halcyon and harbinger of better fortunes. the open weather continuing, they began to hanker for the fatherland. so they brought the matter, "not mutinously but modestly and reasonably, before william barendz; that he might suggest it to heemskerk, for they were all willing to submit to his better judgment." it was determined to wait through the month of may. should they then be obliged to abandon the ship they were to make the voyage in the two open boats, which had been carefully stowed away beneath the snow. it was soon obvious that the ship was hard and fast, and that she would never float again, except perhaps as a portion of the icebergs in which she had so long been imbedded, when they should be swept off from the shore. as they now set to work repairing and making ready the frail skiffs which were now their only hope, and supplying them with provisions and even with merchandize from the ship, the ravages made by the terrible winter upon the strength of the men became painfully apparent. but heemskerk encouraged them to persevere; "for," said he, "if the boats are not got soon under way we must be content to make our graves here as burghers of nova zembla." on the th june they launched the boats, and "trusting themselves to god," embarked once more upon the arctic sea. barendz, who was too ill to walk, together with claas anderson, also sick unto death, were dragged to the strand in sleds, and tenderly placed on board. barendz had, however, despite his illness, drawn up a triple record of their voyage; one copy being fastened to the chimney of their deserted house, and one being placed in each of the boats. their voyage was full of danger as they slowly retraced their way along the track by which they reached the memorable ice haven, once more doubling the cape of desire and heading for the point of consolation--landmarks on their desolate progress, whose nomenclature suggests the immortal apologue so familiar to anglo-saxon ears. off the ice-hook, both boats came alongside each other, and skipper heemskerk called out to william barendz to ask how it was with him. "all right, mate," replied barendz, cheerfully; "i hope to be on my legs again before we reach the ward-huis." then' he begged de veer to lift him up, that he might look upon the ice-hook once more. the icebergs crowded around them, drifting this way and that, impelled by mighty currents and tossing on an agitated sea. there was "a hideous groaning and bursting and driving of the ice, and it seemed every moment as if the boats were to be dashed into a hundred pieces." it was plain that their voyage would now be finished for ever, were it not possible for some one of their number to get upon the solid ice beyond and make fast a line. "but who is to bell the cat?" said gerrit de veer, who soon, however, volunteered himself, being the lightest of all. leaping from one floating block to another at the imminent risk of being swept off into space, he at last reached a stationary island, and fastened his rope. thus they warped themselves once more into the open sea. on the th june william barendz lay in the boat studying carefully the charts which they had made of the land and ocean discovered in their voyage. tossing about in an open skiff upon a polar sea, too weak to sit upright, reduced by the unexampled sufferings of that horrible winter almost to a shadow, he still preserved his cheerfulness, and maintained that he would yet, with god's help, perform his destined task. in his next attempt he would steer north-east from the north cape, he said, and so discover the passage. while he was "thus prattling," the boatswain of the other boat came on board, and said that claas anderson would hold out but little longer. "then," said william barendz, "methinks i too shall last but a little while. gerrit, give me to drink." when he had drunk, he turned his eyes on de veer and suddenly breathed his last. great was the dismay of his companions, for they had been deceived by the dauntless energy of the man, thus holding tenaciously to his great purpose, unbaffled by danger and disappointment, even to the last instant of life. he was their chief pilot and guide, "in whom next to god they trusted." and thus the hero, who for vivid intelligence, courage, and perseverance amid every obstacle, is fit to be classed among the noblest of maritime adventurers, had ended his career. nor was it unmeet that the man who had led those three great although unsuccessful enterprises towards the north pole, should be laid at last to rest--like the soldier dying in a lost battle--upon the field of his glorious labours. nearly six weeks longer they struggled amid tempestuous seas. hugging the shore, ever in danger of being dashed to atoms by the ice, pursued by their never-failing enemies the bears, and often sailing through enormous herds of walrusses, which at times gave chase to the boats, they at last reached the schanshoek on the th july. here they met with some russian fishermen, who recognised heemskerk and de veer, having seen them on their previous voyage. most refreshing it was to see other human faces again, after thirteen months' separation from mankind, while the honest muscovites expressed compassion for the forlorn and emaciated condition of their former acquaintance. furnished by them with food and wine, the hollanders sailed in company with the russians as far as the waigats. on the th august they made candenoes, at the mouth of the white sea, and doubling that cape stood boldly across the gulf for kildin. landing on the coast they were informed by the laps that there were vessels from holland at kola. on the th august one of the party, guided by a lap, set forth on foot for that place. four days later the guide was seen returning without their comrade; but their natural suspicion was at once disarmed as the good-humoured savage straightway produced a letter which he handed to heemakerk. breaking the seal, the skipper found that his correspondent expressed great surprise at the arrival of the voyagers, as he he had supposed them all to be long since dead. therefore he was the more delighted with their coming, and promised to be with them soon, bringing with him plenty of food and drink. the letter was signed-- "by me, jan cornelisz ryp." the occurrence was certainly dramatic, but, as one might think, sufficiently void of mystery. yet, astonishing to relate, they all fell to pondering who this john ryp might be who seemed so friendly and sympathetic. it was shrewdly suggested by some that it might perhaps be the sea-captain who had parted company with them off bear island fourteen months before in order to sail north by way of spitzbergen. as his christian name and surname were signed in full to the letter, the conception did not seem entirely unnatural, yet it was rejected on the ground that they had far more reasons to believe that he had perished than he for accepting their deaths as certain. one might imagine it to have been an every day occurrence for hollanders to receive letters by a lapland penny postman in those, desolate regions. at last heemskerk bethought himself that among his papers were several letters from their old comrade, and, on comparison, the handwriting was found the same as that of the epistle just received. this deliberate avoidance of any hasty jumping at conclusions certainly inspires confidence in the general right accuracy of the adventurers, and we have the better right to believe that on the th january the sun's disk was really seen by them in the ice harbour--a fact long disputed by the learned world--when the careful weighing of evidence on the less important matter of ryp's letter is taken into account. meantime while they were slowly admitting the identity of their friend and correspondent, honest john cornelius ryp himself arrived--no fantastic fly-away hollander, but in full flesh and blood, laden with provisions, and greeting them heartily. he had not pursued his spitzbergen researches of the previous year, but he was now on a trading voyage in a stout vessel, and he conveyed them all by way of the ward-huis, where he took in a cargo, back to the fatherland. they dropped anchor in the meuse on the th october, and on the st november arrived at amsterdam. here, attired in their robes and caps of white fox-skin which they had worn while citizens of nova zembla, they were straightway brought before the magistrates to give an account of their adventures. they had been absent seventeen months, they had spent a whole autumn, winter, and spring--nearly ten months--under the latitude of deg. in a frozen desert, where no human beings had ever dwelt before, and they had penetrated beyond deg. north--a farther stride towards the pole than had ever been hazarded. they had made accurate geographical, astronomical, and meteorological observations of the regions visited. they had carefully measured latitudes and longitudes and noted the variations of the magnet. they had thoroughly mapped out, described, and designated every cape, island, hook, and inlet of those undiscovered countries, and more than all, they had given a living example of courage, endurance, patience under hardship, perfect discipline, fidelity, to duty, and trust in god, sufficient to inspire noble natures with emulation so long as history can read moral lessons to mankind. no farther attempt was made to discover the north-eastern passage. the enthusiasm of barendz had died with him, and it may be said that the stern negation by which this supreme attempt to solve the mystery of the pole was met was its best practical result. certainly all visions of a circumpolar sea blessed with a gentle atmosphere and eternal tranquillity, and offering a smooth and easy passage for the world's commerce between europe and asia, had been for ever dispelled. the memorable enterprise of barendz and heemskerk has been thought worthy of a minute description because it was a voyage of discovery, and because, however barren of immediate practical results it may, seem to superficial eyes, it forms a great landmark in the history of human progress and the advancement of science. contemporaneously with these voyages towards the north pole, the enlightened magistrates of the netherland municipalities, aided by eminent private citizens, fitted out expeditions in the opposite direction. it was determined to measure strength with the lord of the land and seas, the great potentate against whom these republicans had been so long in rebellion, in every known region of the globe. both from the newly discovered western world, and from the ancient abodes of oriental civilization, spanish monopoly had long been furnishing the treasure to support spanish tyranny, and it was the dearest object of netherland ambition to confront their enemy in both those regions, and to clip both those overshadowing wings of his commerce at once. the intelligence, enthusiasm, and tenacity in wrestling against immense obstacles manifested by the young republic at this great expanding era of the world's history can hardly be exaggerated. it was fitting that the little commonwealth, which was foremost among the nations in its hatred of tyranny, its love of maritime adventure, and its aptitude for foreign trade, should take the lead in the great commercial movements which characterized the close of the sixteenth and the commencement of the seventeenth centuries. while barendz and heemskerk were attempting to force the frozen gates which were then supposed to guard the northern highway of commerce, fleets were fitting out in holland to storm the southern pole, or at least to take advantage of the pathways already opened by the genius and enterprise of the earlier navigators of the century. linschoten had taught his countrymen the value of the technical details of the indian trade as then understood. the voyages of the brothers houtmann, - , the first dutch expeditions to reach the east by doubling the cape of good hope, were undertaken according to his precepts, and directed by the practical knowledge obtained by the houtmanns during a residence in portugal, but were not signalized by important discoveries. they are chiefly memorable as having laid the foundation of the vast trade out of which the republic was to derive so much material power, while at the same time they mark the slight beginnings of that mighty monopoly, the dutch east india company, which was to teach such tremendous lessons in commercial restriction to a still more colossal english corporation, that mercantile tyrant only in our own days overthrown. at the same time and at the other side of the world seven ships, fitted out from holland by private enterprise, were forcing their way to the south sea through the terrible strait between patagonia and fire land; then supposed the only path around the globe. for the tortuous mountain channel, filled with whirlpools and reefs, and the home of perpetual tempest, which had been discovered in the early part of the century by magellan, was deemed the sole opening pierced by nature through the mighty southern circumpolar continent. a few years later a daring hollander was to demonstrate the futility of this theory, and to give his own name to a broader pathway, while the stormy headland of south america, around which the great current of universal commerce was thenceforth to sweep, was baptized by the name of the tranquil town in west friesland where most of his ship's company were born. meantime the seven ships under command of jacob mahu, simon de cordes, and sebald de weerdt; were contending with the dangers of the older route. the expedition sailed from holland in june, , but already the custom was forming itself of directing those navigators of almost unknown seas by explicit instructions from those who remained on shore, and who had never navigated the ocean at all. the consequence on this occasion was that the voyagers towards the straits of magellan spent a whole summer on the coast of africa, amid pestiferous heats and distracting calms, and reached the straits only in april of the following year. admiral mahu and a large proportion of the crew had meantime perished of fevers contracted by following the course marked out for them by their employers, and thus diminished in numbers, half-stripped of provisions, and enfeebled by the exhausting atmosphere of the tropics, the survivors were ill prepared to confront the antarctic ordeal which they were approaching. five months longer the fleet, under command of admiral de cordes, who had succeeded to the command, struggled in those straits, where, as if in the home of eolus, all the winds of heaven seemed holding revel; but indifference to danger, discipline, and devotion to duty marked the conduct of the adventurers, even as those qualities had just been distinguishing their countrymen at the other pole. they gathered no gold, they conquered no kingdoms, they made few discoveries, they destroyed no fleets, yet they were the first pioneers on a path on which thereafter were to be many such achievements by the republic. at least one heroic incident, which marked their departure from the straits, deserves to be held in perpetual remembrance. admiral de cordes raised on the shore, at the western mouth of the channel, a rude memorial with an inscription that the netherlanders were the first to effect this dangerous passage with a fleet of heavy ships. on the following day, in commemoration of the event, he founded an order of knighthood. the chief officers of the squadron were the knights-commanders, and the most deserving of the crew were the knights-brethren. the members of the fraternity made solemn oath to de cordes, as general, and to each other, that "by no danger, no necessity, nor by the fear of death, would they ever be moved to undertake anything prejudicial to their honour, to, the welfare of the fatherland, or to the success of the enterprise in which they were engaged; pledging themselves to stake their lives in order, consistently with honour, to inflict every possible damage on the hereditary enemy, and to plant the banner of holland in all those territories whence the king of spain gathered the treasures with which he had carried on this perpetual war against the netherlands." thus was instituted on the desolate shores of fire land the order of knights of the unchained lion, with such rude solemnities as were possible in those solitudes. the harbour where the fleet was anchored was called the chevaliers' bay, but it would be in vain to look on modern maps for that heroic appellation. patagonia and tierra del fuego know the honest knights of the unchained lion no more; yet to an unsophisticated mind no stately brotherhood of sovereigns and patricians seems more thoroughly inspired with the spirit of christian chivalry than were those weather-beaten adventurers. the reefs and whirlwinds of unknown seas, polar cold, patagonian giants, spanish cruisers, a thousand real or fabulous dangers environed them. their provisions were already running near exhaustion; and they were feeding on raw seal-flesh, on snails and mussels, and on whatever the barren rocks and niggard seas would supply, to save them from absolutely perishing, but they held their resolve to maintain their honour unsullied, to be true to each other and to the republic, and to circumnavigate the globe to seek the proud enemy of their fatherland on every sea, and to do battle with him in every corner of the earth. the world had already seen, and was still to see, how nobly netherlanders could keep their own. meantime disaster on disaster descended on this unfortunate expedition. one ship after another melted away and was seen no more. of all the seven, only one, that of sebald de weerdt, ever returned to the shores of holland. another reached japan, and although the crew fell into hostile hands, the great trade with that oriental empire was begun. in a third--the blyde boodachaft, or good news--dirk gerrits sailed nearer the south pole than man had ever been before, and discovered, as he believed, a portion of the southern continent, which he called, with reason good, gerrit's land. the name in course of time faded from maps and charts, the existence of the country was disputed, until more than two centuries later the accuracy of the dutch commander was recognised. the rediscovered land however no longer bears his name, but has been baptized south shetland. thus before the sixteenth century had closed, the navigators of holland had reached almost the extreme verge of human discovery at either pole. chapter xxxvii. military operations in the netherlands--designs of the spanish commander--siege of orsoy--advance upon rheinberg--murder of the count of broeck and his garrison--capture of rees and emmerich-- outrages of the spanish soldiers in the peaceful provinces-- inglorious attempt to avenge the hostilities--state of trade in the provinces--naval expedition under van der does--arrival of albert and isabella at brussels--military operations of prince maurice-- negotiation between london and brussels--henry's determination to enact the council of trent--his projected marriage--queen elizabeth and envoy caron--peace proposals of spain to elizabeth--conferences at gertruydenberg--uncertain state of affairs. the military operations in the netherlands during the whole year were on a comparatively small scale and languidly conducted. the states were exhausted by the demands made upon the treasury, and baffled by the disingenuous policy of their allies. the cardinal-archduke, on the other hand, was occupied with the great events of his marriage, of his father- in-law's death, and of his own succession in conjunction with his wife to the sovereignty of the provinces. in the autumn, however, the admiral of arragon, who, as has been stated, was chief military commander during the absence of albert, collected an army of twenty-five thousand foot and two thousand cavalry, crossed the meuse at roermond, and made his appearance before a small town called orsoy, on the rhine. it was his intention to invade the duchies of clever, juliers, and berg, taking advantage of the supposed madness of the duke, and of the spanish inclinations of his chief counsellors, who constituted a kind of regency. by obtaining possession of these important provinces--wedged as they were between the territory of the republic, the obedient netherlands, and germany--an excellent military position would be gained for making war upon the rebellious districts from the east, for crushing protestantism in the duchies, for holding important passages of the rhine, and for circumventing the designs of the protestant sons-in-law and daughters of the old duke of cleves. of course, it was the determination of maurice and the states-general to frustrate these operations. german and dutch protestantism gave battle on this neutral ground to the omnipotent tyranny of the papacy and spain. unfortunately, maurice had but a very slender force that autumn at his command. fifteen hundred horse and six thousand infantry were all his effective troops, and with these he took the field to defend the borders of the republic, and to out-manceuvre, so far as it might lie in his power, the admiral with his far-reaching and entirely unscrupulous designs. with six thousand spanish veterans, two thousand italians, and many walloon and german regiments under bucquoy, hachincourt, la bourlotte, stanley, and frederic van den berg, the admiral had reached the frontiers of the mad duke's territory. orsoy was garrisoned by a small company of "cocks' feathers," or country squires, and their followers. presenting himself in person before the walls of the town, with a priest at his right hand and a hangman holding a bundle of halters at the other, he desired to be informed whether the governor would prefer to surrender or to hang with his whole garrison. the cock feathers surrendered. the admiral garrisoned and fortified orsoy as a basis and advanced upon rheinberg, first surprising the count of broeck in his castle, who was at once murdered in cold blood with his little garrison. he took burik on the th october, rheinberg on the th of the same month, and compounded with wesel for a hundred and twenty thousand florins. leaving garrisons in these and a few other captured places, he crossed the lippe, came to borhold, and ravaged the whole country side. his troops being clamorous for pay were only too eager to levy black-mail on this neutral territory. the submission of the authorities to this treatment brought upon them a reproach of violation of neutrality by the states-general; the governments of munster and of the duchies being informed that, if they aided and abetted the one belligerent, they must expect to be treated as enemies by the other. the admiral took rees on the th october, and emmerich on the nd november--two principal cities of cleves. on the th november he crossed into the territory of the republic and captured deutekom, after a very short siege. maurice, by precaution, occupied sevenaer in cleves. the prince--whose difficult task was to follow up and observe an enemy by whom he was outnumbered nearly four to one, to harass him by skirmishes, to make forays on his communications, to seize important points before he could reach them, to impose upon him by an appearance of far greater force than the republican army could actually boast, to protect the cities of the frontier like zutphen, lochem, and doesburg, and to prevent him from attempting an invasion of the united provinces in force, by crossing any of the rivers, either in the autumn or after the winter's ice had made them passable for the spanish army-succeeded admirably in all his strategy. the admiral never ventured to attack him, for fear of risking a defeat of his whole army by an antagonist whom he ought to have swallowed at a mouthful, relinquished all designs upon the republic, passed into munster, cleves, and berg, and during the whole horrible winter converted those peaceful provinces into a hell. no outrage which even a spanish army could inflict was spared the miserable inhabitants. cities and villages were sacked and burned, the whole country was placed under the law of black-mail. the places of worship, mainly protestant, were all converted at a blow of the sword into catholic churches. men were hanged, butchered, tossed in sport from the tops of steeples, burned, and buried alive. women of every rank were subjected by thousands to outrage too foul and too cruel for any but fiends or spanish soldiers to imagine. such was the lot of thousands of innocent men and women at the hands of philip's soldiers in a country at peace with philip, at the very moment when that monarch was protesting with a seraphic smile on his expiring lips that he had never in his whole life done injury to a single human being. in vain did the victims call aloud upon their sovereign, the emperor rudolph. the spaniards laughed the feeble imperial mandates to scorn, and spurned the word neutrality. "oh, poor roman empire!" cried john fontanus, "how art thou fallen! thy protector has become thy despoiler, and, although thy members see this and know it, they sleep through it all. one day they may have a terrible awakening from their slumbers . . . . . . . the admiral of arragon has entirely changed the character of the war, recognizes no neutrality, saying that there must be but one god, one pope, and one king, and that they who object to this arrangement must be extirpated with fire and sword, let them be where they may." the admiral, at least, thoroughly respected the claims of the dead philip to universal monarchy. maurice gained as much credit by the defensive strategy through which he saved the republic from the horrors thus aficting its neighbours, as he had ever done by his most brilliant victories. queen elizabeth was enchanted with the prowess of the prince, and with the sagacious administration of those republican magistrates whom she never failed to respect, even when most inclined to quarrel with them. "never before was it written or heard of," said the queen, "that so great an extent of country could be defended with so few troops, that an invasion of so superior a hostile force could be prevented, especially as it appeared that all the streams and rivers were frozen." this, she added, was owing to the wise and far-seeing counsels of the states-general, and to the faithful diligence of their military commander, who now, as she declared, deserved the title of the first captain of all christendom. a period of languor and exhaustion succeeded. the armies of the states had dwindled to an effective force of scarcely four or five thousand men, while the new levies came in but slowly. the taxation, on the other hand, was very severe. the quotas for the provinces had risen to the amount of five million eight hundred thousand florins for the year , against an income of four millions six hundred thousand, and this deficit went on increasing, notwithstanding a new tax of one-half per cent. on the capital of all estates above three thousand florins in value, and another of two and a half per cent. on all sales of real property. the finances of the obedient provinces were in a still worse condition, and during the absence of the cardinal-archduke an almost universal mutiny, occasioned by the inability of the exchequer to provide payment for the troops, established itself throughout flanders and brabant. there was much recrimination on the subject of the invasion of the rhenish duchies, and a war of pamphlets and manifestos between the archduke's government and the states-general succeeded to those active military operations by which so much misery had been inflicted on the unfortunate inhabitants of that border land. there was a slight attempt on the part of the princes of brunswick, hesse, and brandenburg to counteract and to punish the hostilities of the spanish troops committed upon german soil. an army --very slowly organized, against the wishes of the emperor, the bishops, and the catholic party--took the field, and made a feeble demonstration upon rheinberg and upon rees entirely without result and then disbanded itself ingloriously. meantime the admiral had withdrawn from german territory, and was amusing himself with a variety of blows aimed at vital points of the republic. an excursion into the isle of bommel was not crowned with much success. the assault on the city was repulsed. the fortress of crevecoeur was, however, taken, and the fort of st. andrew constructed--in spite of the attempts of the states to frustrate the design--at a point commanding the course of both the waal and the meuse. having placed a considerable garrison in each of those strongholds, the admiral discontinued his labours and went into winter-quarters. the states-general for political reasons were urgent that prince maurice should undertake some important enterprise, but the stadholder, sustained by the opinion of his cousin lewis william, resisted the pressure. the armies of the commonwealth were still too slender in numbers and too widely scattered for active service on a large scale, and the season for active campaigning was wisely suffered to pass without making any attempt of magnitude during the year. the trade of the provinces, moreover, was very much hampered, and their revenues sadly diminished by the severe prohibitions which had succeeded to the remarkable indulgence hitherto accorded to foreign commerce. edicts in the name of the king of spain and of the archdukes albert and isabella, forbidding all intercourse between the rebellious provinces and the obedient netherlands or any of the spanish possessions, were met by countervailing decrees of the states-general. free trade with its enemies and with all the world, by means of which the commonwealth had prospered in spite of perpetual war, was now for a season destroyed, and the immediate results were at once visible in its diminished resources. to employ a portion of the maritime energies of the hollanders and zeelanders, thus temporarily deprived of a sufficient field, a naval expedition of seventy-five war vessels under admiral van der does was fitted out, but met with very trifling success. they attacked and plundered the settlements and forts of the canary islands, inflicted much damage on the inhabitants, sailed thence to the isle of st. thomas, near the equator, where the towns and villages were sacked and burned, and where a contagious sickness broke out in the fleet, sweeping off in a very brief period a large proportion of the crew. the admiral himself fell a victim to the disease and was buried on the island. the fleet put to sea again under admiral storm van wena, but the sickness pursued the adventurers on their voyage towards brazil, one thousand of them dying at sea in fifteen days. at brazil they accomplished nothing, and, on their homeward voyage, not only the new commander succumbed to the same contagion, but the mortality continued to so extraordinary an extent that, on the arrival of the expedition late in the winter in holland, there were but two captains left alive, and, in many of the vessels, not more than six sound men to each. nothing could be more wretched than this termination of a great and expensive voyage, which had occasioned such high hopes throughout the provinces; nothing more dismal than the political atmosphere which surrounded the republic during the months which immediately ensued. it was obvious to barneveld and the other leading personages, in whose hands was the administration of affairs, that a great military success was absolutely indispensable, if the treacherous cry of peace, when peace was really impossible, should not become universal and fatal. meantime affairs were not much more cheerful in the obedient provinces. archduke albert arrived with his bride in the early days of september, , at brussels, and was received with great pomp and enthusiastic rejoicings. when are pomp and enthusiasm not to be obtained by imperial personages, at brief notice and in vast quantities, if managers understand their business? after all, it may be doubted whether the theatrical display was as splendid as that which marked the beginning of the ernestian era. schoolmaster houwaerts had surpassed himself on that occasion, and was no longer capable of deifying the new sovereign as thoroughly as he had deified his brother. much real discontent followed close upon the fictitious enthusiasm. the obedient provinces were poor and forlorn, and men murmured loudly at the enormous extravagance of their new master's housekeeping. there were one hundred and fifty mules, and as many horses in their sovereign's stables, while the expense of feeding the cooks; lackeys, pages, and fine gentlemen who swelled the retinue of the great household, was estimated, without, wages or salaries, at two thousand florins a day. albert had wished to be called a king, but had been unable to obtain the gratification of his wish. he had aspired to be emperor, and he was at least sufficiently imperial in his ideas of expense. the murmurers were loftily rebuked for their complaints, and reminded of the duty of obedient provinces to contribute at least as much for the defence of their masters as the rebels did in maintenance of their rebellion. the provincial estates were summoned accordingly to pay roundly for the expenses of the war as well as of the court, and to enable the new sovereigns to suppress the military mutiny, which amid the enthusiasm greeting their arrival was the one prominent and formidable fact. the archduke was now thirty-nine years of age, the infanta isabella six years younger. she was esteemed majestically beautiful by her courtiers, and cardinal bentivoglio, himself a man of splendid intellect, pronounced her a woman of genius, who had grown to be a prodigy of wisdom, under the tuition of her father, the most sagacious statesman of the age. in attachment to the roman faith and ritual, in superhuman loftiness of demeanour, and in hatred of heretics, she was at least a worthy child of that sainted sovereign. in a moral point of view she was his superior. the archdukes--so albert and isabella were always designated--were a singularly attached couple, and their household, if extravagant and imperial, was harmonious. they loved each other--so it was believed-- as sincerely as they abhorred heretics and rebels, but it does not appear that they had a very warm affection for their flemish subjects. every characteristic of their court was spanish. spanish costume, spanish manners, the spanish tongue, were almost exclusively predominant, and although the festivals, dances, banquets, and tourneys, were all very magnificent, the prevailing expression of the brabantine capital resembled that of a spanish convent, so severely correct, so stately, and so grim, was the demeanour of the court. the earliest military operations of the stadholder in the first year of the new century were successful. partly by menace; but more effectually by judicious negotiation. maurice recovered crevecoeur, and obtained the surrender of st. andrew, the fort which the admiral had built the preceding year in honour of albert's uncle. that ecclesiastic, with whom mendoza had wrangled most bitterly during the whole interval of albert's absence, had already taken his departure for rome, where he soon afterwards died. the garrisons of the forts, being mostly walloon soldiers, forsook the spanish service for that of the states, and were banded together in a legion some twelve hundred strong, which became known as the "new beggars," and were placed under the nominal command of frederick henry of nassau, youngest child of william the silent. the next military event of the year was a mad combat, undertaken by formal cartel, between breaute, a young norman noble in the service of the republic, and twenty comrades, with an equal number of flemish warriors from the obedient provinces, under grobbendonck. about one half of the whole number were killed, including the leaders, but the encounter, although exciting much interest at the time, had of course no permanent importance. there was much negotiation, informal and secret, between brussels and london during this and a portion of the following year. elizabeth, naturally enough, was weary of the war, but she felt, after all, as did the government of france, that a peace between the united netherlands and spain would have for its result the restoration of the authority of his most catholic majesty over all the provinces. the statesmen of france and england, like most of the politicians of europe, had but slender belief in the possibility of a popular government, and doubted therefore the continued existence of the newly-organized republic. therefore they really deprecated the idea of a peace which should include the states, notwithstanding that from time to time the queen or some of her counsellors had so vehemently reproached the netherlanders with their unwillingness to negotiate. "at the first recognition that these people should make of the mere shadow of a prince," said buzanval, the keenly observing and experienced french envoy at the hague, "they lose the form they have. all the blood of the body would flow to the head, and the game would be who should best play the valet. . . . . the house of nassau would lose its credit within a month in case of peace." as such statesmen could not imagine a republic, they ever dreaded the restoration in the united provinces of the subverted authority of spain. france and england were jealous of each other, and both were jealous of spain. therefore even if the republican element, the strength and endurance of which was so little suspected, had been as trifling a factor in the problem, as was supposed, still it would have been difficult for any one of these powers to absorb the united netherlands. as for france, she hardly coveted their possession. "we ought not to flatter ourselves," said buzanval, "that these maritime peoples will cast themselves one day into our nets, nor do i know that it would be advisable to pull in the net if they should throw themselves in." henry was full of political schemes and dreams at this moment--as much as his passion for mademoiselle d'entraigues, who had so soon supplanted the image of the dead gabrielle in his heart, would permit. he was very well disposed to obtain possession of the spanish netherlands, whenever he should see his way to such an acquisition, and was even indulging in visions of the imperial crown. he was therefore already, and for the time at least, the most intense of papists. he was determined to sacrifice the huguenot chiefs, and introduce the council of trent, in order, as he told du plessis, that all might be christians. if he still retained any remembrance of the ancient friendship between himself and the heretic republic, it was not likely to exhibit itself, notwithstanding his promises and his pecuniary liabilities to her, in anything more solid than words. "i repeat it," said the dutch envoy at paris; "this court cares nothing for us, for all its cabals tend to close union with rome, whence we can expect nothing but foul weather. the king alone has any memory of our past services." but imperturbable and self-confident as ever, henry troubled himself little with fears in regard to the papal supremacy, even when his parliament professed great anxiety in regard to the consequences of the council of trent, if not under him yet under his successors. "i will so bridle the popes," said he, cheerfully, "that they will never pass my restrictions. my children will be still more virtuous and valiant than i. if i have none, then the devil take the hindmost. nevertheless i choose that the council shall be enacted. i desire it more ardently than i pressed the edict for the protestants." such being the royal humour at the moment, it may well be believed that duplessis mornay would find but little sunshine from on high on the occasion of his famous but forgotten conferences with du perron, now archbishop of evreux, before the king and all the court at fontainebleau. it was natural enough that to please the king the king's old huguenot friend should be convicted of false citations from the fathers; but it would seem strange, were the motives unknown, that henry should have been so intensely interested in this most arid and dismal of theological controversies. yet those who had known and observed the king closely for thirty years, declared that he had never manifested so much passion, neither on the eve of battles nor of amorous assignations, as he then did for the demolition of duplessis and his deductions. he had promised the nuncius that the huguenot should be utterly confounded, and with him the whole fraternity, "for," said the king, "he has wickedly and impudently written against the pope, to whom i owe as much as i do to god." these were not times in which the hollanders, battling as stoutly against spain and the pope as they had done during the years when the republic stood shoulder to shoulder with henry the huguenot, could hope for aid and comfort from their ancient ally. it is very characteristic of that age of dissimulation and of reckless political gambling, that at the very moment when henry's marriage with marie de medicis was already arranged, and when that princess was soon expected in lyons, a cabal at the king's court was busy with absurd projects to marry their sovereign to the infanta of spain. it is true that the infanta was already the wife of the cardinal-archduke, but it was thought possible--for reasons divulged through the indiscretions or inventions of the father confessor--to obtain the pope's dispensation on the ground of the nullity of the marriage. thus there were politicians at the french court seriously occupied in an attempt to deprive the archduke of his wife, of his netherland provinces, and of the crown of, the holy roman empire, which he still hoped to inherit. yet the ink was scarcely dry with which henry had signed the treaty of amity with madrid and brussels. the queen of england, on the other hand--although often listenting to secret agents from brussels and madrid who offered peace, and although perfectly aware that the great abject of spain in securing peace with england was to be able to swoop down at once upon the republic, thus deprived of any allies was beside herself with rage, whenever she suspected, with or without reason, that brussels or madrid had been sending peace emissaries to the republic. "before i could get into the room," said caron, on one such occasion, "she called out, 'have you not always told me that the states never could, would, or should treat for peace with the enemy? yet now it is plain enough that they have proceeded only too far in negotiations.' and she then swore a big oath that if the states were to deceive her she meant to take such vengeance that men should talk of it for ever and ever." it was a long time before the envoy could induce her to listen to a single word, although the, perfect sincerity of the states in their attitude to the queen and to spain was unquestionable, and her ill-humour on the subject continued long after it had been demonstrated how much she had been deceived. yet it was impossible in the nature of things for the states to play her false, even if no reliance were to be placed on their sagacity and their honour. even the recent naval expedition of the republic against the distant possessions of spain--which in its result had caused so much disappointment to the states, and cost them so many lives, including that of the noble admiral whom every sailor in the netherlands adored had been of immense advantage to england. the queen acknowledged that the dutch navy had averted the storm which threatened to descend upon her kingdom out of spain, the spanish ships destined for the coast of ireland having been dispersed and drawn to the other aide of the world by these demonstrations of her ally. for this she vowed that she would be eternally grateful, and she said as much in "letters full of sugar and honey"--according to the french envoy--which she sent to the states by sir francis vere. she protested, in short, that she had been better and more promptly served in her necessities by the netherlands than by her own subjects. all this sugar and honey however did not make the mission of envoy edmonds less bitter to the states. they heard that he was going about through half the cities of the obedient netherlands in a sort of triumphal procession, and it was the general opinion of the politicians and financiers of the continent that peace between spain and england was as good as made. naturally therefore, notwithstanding the exuberant expressions of gratitude on the part of elizabeth, the republican government were anxious to know what all this parleying meant. they could not believe that people would make a raree-show of the english envoy except for sufficient reason. caron accordingly presented himself before the queen, with respectful inquiries on the subject. he found her in appearance very angry, not with him, but with edmonds, from whom she had received no advices. "i don't know what they are doing with him," said her majesty, "i hear from others that they are ringing the church bells wherever he goes, and that they have carried him through a great many more places than was necessary. i suppose that they think him a monster, and they are carrying him about to exhibit him. all this is done," she continued, "to throw dust in the eyes of the poor people, and to put it into their heads that the queen of england is suing for peace, which is very wide of the mark." she further observed that, as the agents of the spanish government had been perpetually sending to her, she had been inclined once for all to learn what they had to say. thus she should make manifest to all the world that she was not averse to a treaty such as might prove a secure peace for herself and for christendom; otherwise not. it subsequently appeared that what they had to say was that if the queen would give up to the spanish government the cautionary towns which she held as a pledge for her advances to the republic, forbid all traffic and intercourse between her subjects and the netherlanders, and thenceforth never allow an englishman to serve in or with the armies of the states, a peace might be made. surely it needed no great magnanimity on the queen's part to spurn such insulting proposals, the offer of which showed her capable, in the opinion of verreycken, the man who made them, of sinking into the very depths of dishonour. and she did spurn them. surely, for the ally, the protrectress, the grateful friend of the republic, to give its chief seaports to its arch-enemy, to shut the narrow seas against its ships, so that they never more could sail westward, and to abandon its whole population to their fate, would be a deed of treachery such as history, full of human baseness as it is, has rarely been obliged to record. before these propositions had been made by verreycken elizabeth protested that, should he offer them, she would send him home with such an answer that people should talk of it for some time to come. "before i consent to a single one of those points," said the queen, "i wish myself taken from this world. until now i have been a princess of my word, who would rather die than so falsely deceive such good people as the states." and she made those protestations with such expression and attitude that the dutch envoy believed her incapable at that moment of dissimulation. nevertheless her indignation did not carry her so far as to induce her to break off the negotiations. the answer of which mankind was to talk in time to come was simply that she would not send her commissioners to treat for peace unless the spanish government should recede from the three points thus offered by verreycken. this certainly was not a very blasting reply, and the spanish agents were so far from losing heart in consequence that the informal conferences continued for a long time, much to the discomfort of the netherlanders. for more than an hour and a half on one occasion of an uncommonly hot afternoon in april did noel de caron argue with her majesty against these ill-boding negotiations, and ever and anon, oppressed by the heat of the weather and the argument, did the queen wander from one room of the palace to the other in search of cool air, still bidding the envoy follow her footsteps. "we are travelling about like pilgrims," said elizabeth, "but what is life but a pilgrimage?" yet, notwithstanding this long promenade and these moral reflections, caron could really not make out at the end of the interview whether or no she intended to send her commissioners. at last he asked her the question bluntly. "hallo! hallo!" she replied. "i have only spoken to my servant once, and i must obtain more information and think over the matter before i decide. be assured however that i shall always keep you informed of the progress of the negotiations, and do you inform the states that they may build upon me as upon a rock." after the envoy had taken his leave, the queen said to him in latin, "modicae fidei quare dubitasti?" caron had however so nearly got out of the door that he did not hear this admonition. this the queen perceived, and calling him by name repeated, "o caron! modicae fidei quare dubitasti?" adding the injunction that he should remember this dictum, for he well knew what she meant by it. thus terminated the interview, while the negotiations with spain, not for lack of good-will on her part, and despite the positive assertions to the contrary of buzanval and other foreign agents, were destined to come to nothing. at a little later period, at the time of certain informal and secret conferences at gertruydenberg, the queen threatened the envoy with her severest displeasure, should the states dare to treat with spain without her permission. "her majesty called out to me," said caron, "as soon as i entered the room, that i had always assured her that the states neither would nor could make peace with the enemy. yet it was now looking very differently, she continued, swearing with a mighty oath that if the states should cheat her in that way she meant to revenge herself in such a fashion that men would talk of it through all eternity." the french government was in a similar state of alarm in consequence of the gertruydenberg conferences. the envoy of the archdukes, marquis d'havre, reported on the other hand that all attempts to negotiate had proved fruitless, that olden- barneveld, who spoke for all his colleagues, was swollen with pride, and made it but too manifest that the states had no intention to submit to any foreign jurisdiction, but were resolved to maintain themselves in the form of a republic. etext editor's bookmarks: children who had never set foot on the shore done nothing so long as aught remained to do fed on bear's liver, were nearly poisoned to death inhabited by the savage tribes called samoyedes this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, - chapter xxxiii. straggle of the netherlands against spain--march to turnhout-- retreat of the spanish commander--pursuit and attack--demolition of the spanish army--surrender of the garrison of turnhout--improved military science--moral effect of the battle--the campaign in france--attack on amiens by the spaniards--sack and burning of the city--de rosny's plan for reorganization of the finances--jobbery and speculation--philip's repudiation of his debts--effects of the measure--renewal of persecution by the jesuits--contention between turk and christian--envoy from the king of poland to the hague to plead for reconciliation with philip--his subsequent presentation to queen elizabeth--military events recovery of amiens--feeble operations of the confederate powers against spain--marriage of the princess emilia, sister of maurice--reduction of the castle and town of alphen--surrender of rheinberg--capitulation of meurs--surrender of grol--storming and taking of brevoort capitulation of enschede, ootmaxsum, oldenzaal, and lingen--rebellion of the spanish garrisons in antwerp and ghent--progress of the peace movement between henry and philip--relations of the three confederate powers--henry's scheme for reconciliation with spain--his acceptance of philip's offer of peace announced to elizabeth--endeavours for a general peace. the old year had closed with an abortive attempt of philip to fulfil his favourite dream--the conquest of england. the new year opened with a spirited effort of prince maurice to measure himself in the open field with the veteran legions of spain. turnhout, in brabant, was an open village--the largest in all the netherlands lying about twenty-five english miles in almost a direct line south from gertruydenburg. it was nearly as far distant in an easterly direction from antwerp, and was about five miles nearer breda than it was to gertruydenberg. at this place the cardinal-archduke had gathered a considerable force, numbering at least four thousand of his best infantry, with several squadrons of cavalry, the whole under-command of the general-in-chief of artillery, count varax. people in the neighbourhood were growing uneasy, for it was uncertain in what direction it might be intended to use this formidable force. it was perhaps the cardinal's intention to make a sudden assault upon breda, the governor of which seemed not inclined to carry out his proposition to transfer that important city to the king, or it was thought that he might take advantage of a hard frost and cross the frozen morasses and estuaries into the land of ter tholen, where he might overmaster some of the important strongholds of zeeland. marcellus bax, that boldest and most brilliant of holland's cavalry officers, had come to maurice early in january with an urgent suggestion that no time might be lost in making an attack upon the force of turnhout, before they should succeed in doing any mischief. the prince pondered the proposition, for a little time, by himself, and then conferred very privately upon the subject with the state-council. on the th january it was agreed with that body that the enterprise should be attempted, but with the utmost secrecy. a week later the council sent an express messenger to maurice urging him not to expose his own life to peril, but to apprise them as soon as possible as to the results of the adventure. meantime, patents had been sent to the various garrisons for fifty companies of foot and sixteen squadrons of horse. on the nd january maurice came to gertruydenberg, the place of rendezvous, attended by sir francis vere and count solms. colonel kloetingen was already there with the transports of ammunition and a few pieces of artillery from zeeland, and in the course of the day the whole infantry force had assembled. nothing could have been managed with greater promptness or secrecy. next day, before dawn, the march began. the battalia was led by van der noot, with six companies of hollanders. then came vere, with eight companies of the reserve, dockray with eight companies of englishmen, murray with eight companies of scotch, and kloetingen and la corde with twelve companies of dutch and zeelanders. in front of the last troop under la corde marched the commander of the artillery, with two demi-cannon and two field-pieces, followed by the ammunition and, baggage trains. hohenlo arrived just as the march was beginning, to whom the stadholder, notwithstanding their frequent differences, communicated his plans, and entrusted the general command of the cavalry. that force met the expedition at osterhout, a league's distance from gertruydenberg, and consisted of the best mounted companies, english and dutch, from the garrisons of breda, bergen, nymegen, and the zutphen districts. it was a dismal, drizzly, foggy morning; the weather changing to steady rain as the expedition advanced. there had been alternate frost and thaw for the few previous weeks, and had that condition of the atmosphere continued the adventure could not have been attempted. it had now turned completely to thaw. the roads were all under water, and the march was sufficiently difficult. nevertheless, it was possible; so the stout hollanders, zeelanders, and englishmen struggled on manfully, shoulder to shoulder, through the mist and the mire. by nightfall the expedition had reached ravels, at less than a league's distance from turnhout, having accomplished, under the circumstances, a very remarkable march of over twenty miles. a stream of water, the neethe, one of the tributaries of the scheld, separated ravels from turnhout, and was crossed by a stone bridge. it was an anxious moment. maurice discovered by his scouts that he was almost within cannon-shot of several of the most famous regiments in the spanish army lying fresh, securely posted, and capable of making an attack at any moment. he instantly threw forward marcellus bax with four squadrons of bergen cavalry, who, jaded as they were by their day's work, were to watch the bridge that night, and to hold it against all comers and at every hazard. the spanish commander, on his part, had reconnoitred the advancing, foe, for it was impossible for the movement to have been so secret or so swift over those inundated roads as to be shrouded to the last moment in complete mystery. it was naturally to be expected therefore that those splendid legions--the famous neapolitan tercio of trevico, the veteran troops of sultz and hachicourt, the picked epirote and spanish cavalry of nicolas basta and guzman--would be hurled upon the wearied, benumbed, bemired soldiers of the republic, as they came slowly along after their long march through the cold winter's rain. varax took no such heroic resolution. had he done so that january afternoon, the career of maurice of nassau might have been brought to a sudden close, despite the affectionate warning of the state-council. certainly it was difficult for any commander to be placed in a more perilous position than that in which the stadholder found himself. he remained awake and afoot the whole night, perfecting his arrangements for the morning, and watching every indication of a possible advance on the part of the enemy. marcellus bax and his troopers remained at the bridge till morning, and were so near the spaniards that they heard the voices of their pickets, and could even distinguish in the distance the various movements in their camp. but no attack was made, and the little army of maurice was allowed to sleep off its fatigue. with the dawn of the th january, a reconnoitring party, sent out from the republican camp, discovered that varax, having no stomach for an encounter, had given his enemies the slip. long before daylight his baggage and ammunition trains had been sent off in a southerly direction, and his whole force had already left the village of turnhout. it was the intention of the commander to take refuge in the fortified city of herenthals, and there await the attack of maurice. accordingly, when the stadholder arrived on the fields beyond the immediate precincts of the village, he saw the last of the enemy's rearguard just disappearing from view. the situation was a very peculiar one. the rain and thaw, following upon frosty weather, had converted the fenny country in many directions into a shallow lake. the little river which flowed by the village had risen above its almost level banks, and could with difficulty be traversed at any point, while there was no permanent bridge, such as there was at ravels. the retreating spaniards had made their way through a narrow passage, where a roughly-constructed causeway of planks had enabled the infantry to cross the waters almost in single file, while the cavalry had floundered through as best they might. those who were acquainted with the country reported that beyond this defile there was an upland heath, a league in extent, full of furze and thickets, where it would be easy enough for varax to draw up his army in battle array, and conceal it from view. maurice's scouts, too, brought information that the spanish commander had left a force of musketeers to guard the passage at the farther end. this looked very like an ambush. in the opinion of hohenlo, of solms, and of sidney, an advance was not to be thought of; and if the adventure seemed perilous to such hardy and experienced campaigners as these three, the stadholder might well hesitate. nevertheless, maurice had made up his mind. sir francis vere and marcellus bax confirmed him in his determination, and spoke fiercely of the disgrace which would come upon the arms of the republic if now, after having made a day's march to meet the enemy, they should turn their backs upon him just as he was doing his best to escape. on leave obtained from the prince, these two champions, the englishman and the hollander, spurred their horses through the narrow pass, with the waters up to the saddle-bow, at the head of a mere handful of troopers, not more than a dozen men in all. two hundred musketeers followed, picking their way across the planks. as they emerged into the open country beyond, the spanish soldiers guarding the passage fled without firing a shot. such was already the discouraging effect produced upon veterans by the unexpected order given that morning to retreat. vere and bax sent word for all the cavalry to advance at once, and meantime hovered about the rearguard of the retreating enemy, ready to charge upon him so soon as they should be strong enough. maurice lost no time in plunging with his whole mounted force through the watery defile; directing the infantry to follow as fast as practicable. when the commander-in-chief with his eight hundred horsemen, englishmen, zeelanders, hollanders, and germans, came upon the heath, the position and purpose of the enemy were plainly visible. he was not drawn up in battle order, waiting to sweep down upon his rash assailants so soon as, after struggling through the difficult pass, they should be delivered into his hands. on the contrary, it was obvious at a glance that his object was still to escape. the heath of tiel, on which spaniards, italians, walloons, germans, dutchmen, english; scotch, and irishmen now all found themselves together, was a ridgy, spongy expanse of country, bordered on one side by the swollen river, here flowing again through steeper banks which were overgrown with alders and pollard willows. along the left of the spanish army, as they moved in the direction of herenthals, was a continuous fringe of scrub-oaks, intermixed with tall beeches, skirting the heath, and forming a leafless but almost impervious screen for the movements of small detachments of troops. quite at the termination of the open apace, these thickets becoming closely crowded, overhung another extremely narrow passage, which formed the only outlet from the plain. thus the heath of tiel, upon that winter's morning, had but a single entrance and a single exit, each very dangerous or very fortunate for those capable of taking or neglecting the advantages offered by the position. the whole force of varax, at least five thousand strong, was advancing in close marching order towards the narrow passage by which only they could emerge from the heath. should they reach this point in time, and thus effect their escape, it would be useless to attempt to follow them, for, as was the case with the first defile, it was not possible for two abreast to go through, while beyond was a swampy-country in which military operations were impossible. yet there remained less than half a league's space for the retreating soldiers to traverse, while not a single foot-soldier of maurice's army had thus far made his appearance on the heath. all were still wallowing and struggling, single file, in the marshy entrance, through which only the cavalry had forced their way. here was a dilemma. should maurice look calmly on while the enemy, whom he had made so painful a forced march to meet, moved off out of reach before his eyes? yet certainly this was no slight triumph in itself. there sat the stadholder on his horse at the head of eight hundred carabineers, and there marched four of philip's best infantry regiments, garnished with some of his most renowned cavalry squadrons, anxious not to seek but to avoid a combat. first came the germans of count sultz, the musketeers in front, and the spearsmen, of which the bulk of this and of all the regiments was composed, marching in closely serried squares, with the company standards waving over each. next, arranged in the same manner, came the walloon regiments of hachicourt and of la barlotte. fourth and last came the famous neapolitans of marquis trevico. the cavalry squadrons rode on the left of the infantry, and were commanded by nicolas basta, a man who had been trampling upon the netherlanders ever since the days of alva, with whom he had first come to the country. and these were the legions--these very men or their immediate predecessors--these italians, spaniards, germans, and walloons, who during so many terrible years had stormed and sacked almost every city of the netherlands, and swept over the whole breadth of those little provinces as with the besom of destruction. both infantry and cavalry, that picked little army of varax was of the very best that had shared in the devil's work which had been the chief industry practised for so long in the obedient netherlands. was it not madness for the stadholder, at the head of eight hundred horsemen, to assail such an army as this? was it not to invoke upon his head the swift vengeance of heaven? nevertheless, the painstaking, cautious maurice did not hesitate. he ordered hohenlo, with all the brabantine cavalry, to ride as rapidly as their horses could carry them along the edge of the plain, and behind the tangled woodland, by which the movement would be concealed. he was at all hazards to intercept the enemy's vanguard before it should reach the fatal pass. vere and marcellus bax meanwhile, supported now by edmont with the nymegen squadrons, were to threaten the spanish rear. a company of two under laurentz was kept by maurice near his person in reserve. the spaniards steadily continued their march, but as they became aware of certain slight and indefinite movements on their left, their cavalry, changing their position, were transferred from the right to the left of the line of march, and now rode between the infantry and the belt of woods. in a few minutes after the orders given to hohenlo, that dashing soldier had circumvented the spaniards, and emerged upon the plain between them and the entrance to the defile, the next instant the trumpets sounded a charge, and hohenlo fell upon the foremost regiment, that of sultz, while the rearguard, consisting of trevico's neapolitan regiment, was assailed by du bois, donck, rysoir, marcellus bax, and sir francis vere. the effect seemed almost supernatural. the spanish cavalry--those far-famed squadrons of guzman and basta--broke at the first onset and galloped off for the pass as if they had been riding a race. most of them escaped through the hollow into the morass beyond. the musketeers of sultz's regiment hardly fired a shot, and fell back in confusion upon the thickly clustered pikemen. the assailants, every one of them in complete armour, on powerful horses, and armed not with lances but with carbines, trampled over the panic-struck and struggling masses of leather jerkined pikemen and shot them at arm's length. the charge upon trevico's men at the same moment was just as decisive. in less time than it took afterwards to describe the scene, those renowned veterans were broken into a helpless mass of dying, wounded, or fugitive creatures, incapable of striking a blow. thus the germans in the front and the neapolitans in the rear had been simultaneously shattered, and rolled together upon the two other regiments, those of hachicourt and la barlotte, which were placed between them. nor did these troops offer any better resistance, but were paralysed and hurled out of existence like the rest. in less than an hour the spanish army was demolished. varax himself lay dead upon the field, too fortunate not to survive his disgrace. it was hardly more than daylight on that dull january morning; nine o'clock had scarce chimed from the old brick steeples of turnhout, yet two thousand spaniards had fallen before the blows of eight hundred netherlanders, and there were five hundred prisoners beside. of maurice's army not more than nine or ten were slain. the story sounds like a wild legend. it was as if the arm of each netherlander had been nerved by the memory of fifty years of outrage, as if the spectre of their half-century of crime had appalled the soul of every spaniard. like a thunderbolt the son of william the silent smote that army of philip, and in an instant it lay blasted on the heath of tiel. at least it could hardly be called sagacious generalship on the part of the stadholder. the chances were all against him, and if instead of varax those legions had been commanded that morning by old christopher mondragon, there might perhaps have been another tale to tell. even as it was, there had been a supreme moment when the spanish disaster had nearly been changed to victory. the fight was almost done, when a small party of staten' cavalry, who at the beginning of the action had followed the enemy's horse in its sudden retreat through the gap, came whirling back over the plain in wild confusion, pursued by about forty of the enemy's lancers. they swept by the spot where maurice, with not more than ten horsemen around him, was directing and watching the battle, and in vain the prince threw himself in front of them and strove to check their flight. they were panic- struck, and maurice would himself have been swept off the field, had not marcellus bax and edmont, with half a dozen heavy troopers, come to the rescue. a grave error had been committed by parker, who, upon being ordered by maurice to cause louis laurentz to charge, had himself charged with the whole reserve and left the stadholder almost alone upon the field. thus the culprits--who after pursuing the spanish cavalry through the pass had been plundering the enemy's baggage until they were set upon by the handful left to guard it, and had become fugitives in their turn-- might possibly have caused the lose of the day after the victory had been won, had there been a man on the spanish side to take in the situation at a glance. but it is probable that the rout had been too absolute to allow of any such sudden turning to account of the serious errors of the victors. the cavalry, except this handful, had long disappeared, at least half the infantry lay dead or wounded in the field, while the remainder, throwing away pipe and matchlock, were running helter-skelter for their lives. besides prince maurice himself, to whom the chief credit of the whole expedition justly belonged, nearly all the commanders engaged obtained great distinction by their skill and valour. sir francis vere, as usual, was ever foremost in the thickest of the fray, and had a horse killed under him. parker erred by too much readiness to engage, but bore himself manfully throughout the battle. hohenlo, solma, sidney, louis laurentz, du bois, all displayed their usual prowess; but the real hero of the hour, the personal embodiment of the fortunate madness which prompted and won the battle, was undoubtedly marcellus bax. maurice remained an hour or two on the field of battle, and then, returning towards the village of turnhout, summoned its stronghold. the garrison of sixty, under captain van der delf, instantly surrendered. the victor allowed these troops to go off scot free, saying that there had been blood enough shed that day. every standard borne by the spaniards in the battle-thirty-eight in number--was taken, besides nearly all their arms. the banners were sent to the hague to be hung up in the great hall of the castle. the dead body of varax was sent to the archduke with a courteous letter, in which, however, a categorical explanation was demanded as to a statement in circulation that albert had decided to give the soldiers of the republic no quarter. no answer being immediately returned, maurice ordered the five hundred prisoners to be hanged or drowned unless ransomed within twenty days, and this horrible decree appears from official documents to be consistent with the military usages of the period. the arrival of the letter from the cardinal-archduke, who levied the money for the ransom on the villagers of brabant, prevented, however, the execution of the menace, which could hardly have been seriously intended. within a week from the time of his departure from the hague to engage in this daring adventure, the stadholder had returned to that little capital, having achieved a complete success. the enthusiastic demonstrations throughout the land on account of so signal a victory can easily be imagined. nothing like this had ever before been recorded in the archives of the young commonwealth. there had been glorious defences of beleaguered cities, where scenes of heroic endurance and self-sacrifice had been enacted, such as never can be forgotten so long as the history of human liberty shall endure, but a victory won in the open field over the most famous legions of spain and against overwhelming numbers, was an achievement entirely without example. it is beyond all doubt that the force under varax was at least four times as large as that portion of the states' army which alone was engaged; for maurice had not a foot-soldier on the field until the battle was over, save the handful of musketeers who had followed vere and bax at the beginning of the action. therefore it is that this remarkable action merits a much more attentive consideration than it might deserve, regarded purely as a military exploit. to the military student a mere cavalry affair, fought out upon an obscure brabantine heath between a party of dutch carabineers and spanish pikemen, may seem of little account--a subject fitted by picturesque costume and animated action for the pencil of a wouvermanns or a terburg, but conveying little instruction. as illustrating a period of transition in which heavy armoured troopers--each one a human iron- clad fortress moving at speed and furnished with the most formidable portable artillery then known--could overcome the resistance of almost any number of foot-soldiers in light marching gear and armed with the antiquated pike, the affair may be worthy of a moment's attention; and for this improvement--itself now as obsolete as the slings and cataphracts of roman legions--the world was indebted to maurice. but the shock of mighty armies, the manoeuvring of vast masses in one magnificent combination, by which the fate of empires, the happiness or the misery of the peoples for generations, may perhaps be decided in a few hours, undoubtedly require a higher constructive genius than could be displayed in any such hand-to-hand encounter as that of turnhout, scientifically managed as it unquestionably was. the true and abiding interest of the battle is derived from is moral effect, from its influence on the people of the netherlands. and this could scarcely be exaggerated. the nation was electrified, transformed in an instant. who now should henceforth dare to say that one spanish fighting-man was equal to five or ten hollanders? at last the days of jemmingen and mooker-heath needed no longer to be remembered by every patriot with a shudder of shame. here at least in the open field a spanish army, after in vain refusing a combat and endeavouring to escape, had literally bitten the dust before one fourth of its own number. and this effect was a permanent one. thenceforth for foreign powers to talk of mediation between the republic and the ancient master, to suggest schemes of reconciliation and of a return to obedience, was to offer gratuitous and trivial insult, and we shall very soon have occasion to mark the simple eloquence with which the thirty-eight spanish standards of turnhout, hung up in the old hall of the hague, were made to reply to the pompous rhetoric of an interfering ambassador. this brief episode was not immediately followed by other military events of importance in the provinces during what remained of the winter. very early in the spring, however, it was probable that the campaign might open simultaneously in france and on the frontiers of flanders. of all the cities in the north of france there was none, after rouen, so important, so populous, so wealthy as amiens. situate in fertile fields, within three days march of paris, with no intervening forests or other impediments of a physical nature to free communication, it was the key to the gates of the capital. it had no garrison, for the population numbered fifteen thousand men able to bear arms, and the inhabitants valued themselves on the prowess of their trained militiamen, five thousand of whom they boasted to be able to bring into the field at an hour's notice--and they were perfectly loyal to henry. one morning in march there came a party of peasants, fifteen or twenty in number, laden with sacks of chestnuts and walnuts, to the northernmost gate of the town. they offered them for sale, as usual, to the soldiers at the guard-house, and chaffered and jested--as boors and soldiers are wont to do--over their wares. it so happened that in the course of the bargaining one of the bags became untied, and its contents, much to the dissatisfaction of the proprietor, were emptied on the ground. there was a scramble for the walnuts, and much shouting, kicking, and squabbling ensued, growing almost into a quarrel between the burgher-soldiers and the peasants. as the altercation was at its height a heavy wagon, laden with long planks, came towards the gate for the use of carpenters and architects within the town. the portcullis was drawn up to admit this lumbering vehicle, but in the confusion caused by the chance medley going on at the guard-house, the gate dropped again before the wagon had fairly got through the passage, and remained resting upon the timber with which it was piled. at that instant a shrill whistle was heard; and as if by magic the twenty chestnut-selling peasants were suddenly transformed to spanish and walloon soldiers. armed to the teeth, who were presently reinforced by as many more of their comrades, who sprang from beneath the plank-work by which the real contents of the wagon had thus been screened. captain dognano, his brother the sergeant-major, captain d'arco, and other officers of a walloon regiment stationed in dourlans, were the leaders of the little party, and while they were busily occupied in putting the soldiers of the watch, thus taken unawares, to death, the master-spirit of the whole adventure suddenly made his appearance and entered the city at the head of fifteen hundred men. this was an extremely small, yellow, dried up, energetic spanish captain, with a long red beard, hernan tello de porto carrero by came, governor of the neighbouring city of dourlens, who had conceived this plan for obtaining possession of amiens. having sent these disguised soldiers on before him, he had passed the night with his men in ambush until the signal should sound. the burghers of the town were mostly in church; none were dreaming of an attack, as men rarely do--for otherwise how should they ever be surprised--and in half an hour amiens was the property of philip of spain. there were not very many lives lost, for the resistance was small, but great numbers were tortured for ransom and few women escaped outrage. the sack was famous, for the city was rich and the captors were few in number, so that each soldier had two or three houses to plunder for his own profit. when the work was done, the faubourgs were all destroyed, for it was the intention of the conquerors to occupy the place, which would be a most convenient basis of operations for any attack upon paris, and it was desirable to contract the limits to be defended. fifteen hundred houses, many of them beautiful villas surrounded with orchards and pleasure gardens,--were soon in flames, and afterwards razed to the ground. the governor of the place, count st. pol, managed to effect his escape. his place was now supplied by the marquis of montenegro, an italian in the service of the spanish king. such was the fate of amiens in the month of march, ; such the result of the refusal by the citizens to accept the garrison urged upon them by henry. it would be impossible to exaggerate the consternation produced. throughout france by this astounding and altogether unlooked for event. "it seemed," said president de thou, "as if it had extinguished in a moment the royal majesty and the french name." a few nights later than the date of this occurrence, maximilian de bethune (afterwards duke of sully, but then called marquis de rosny) was asleep in his bed in paris. he had returned, at past two o'clock in the morning, from a magnificent ball given by the constable of france. the capital had been uncommonly brilliant during the winter with banquets and dances, tourneys and masquerades, as if to cast a lurid glare over the unutterable misery of the people and the complete desolation of the country; but this entertainment--given by montmorency in honour of a fair dame with whom he supposed himself desperately in love, the young bride of a very ancient courtier--surpassed in splendour every festival that had been heard of for years. de bethune had hardly lost himself in slumber when he was startled by beringen, who, on drawing his curtains in this dead hour of the night, presented such a ghastly visage that the faithful friend of henry instantly imagined some personal disaster to his well-beloved sovereign. "is the king dead?" he cried. being re-assured as to, this point and told to hasten to the louvre, rosny instantly complied with the command. when he reached the palace he was admitted at once to the royal bed-chamber, where he found the king in the most unsophisticated of costumes, striding up and down the room, with his hands clasped together behind his head, and with an expression of agony upon his face: many courtiers were assembled there, stuck all of them like images against the wall, staring before them in helpless perplexity. henry rushed forward as rosny entered, and wringing him by the hand, exclaimed, "ah, my friend, what a misfortune, amiens is taken!" "very well," replied the financier, with unperturbed visage; "i have just completed a plan which will restore to your majesty not only amiens but many other places." the king drew a great sigh of relief and asked for his project. rosny, saying that he would instantly go and fetch his papers, left the apartment for an interval, in order to give vent to the horrible agitation which he had been enduring and so bravely concealing ever since the fatal words had been spoken. that a city so important, the key to paris, without a moment's warning, without the semblance of a siege, should thus fall into the hands of the enemy, was a blow as directly to the heart of de bethune as it could have been to any other of henry's adherents. but while they had been distracting the king by unavailing curses or wailings, henry, who had received the intelligence just as he was getting into bed, had sent for support and consolation to the tried friend of years, and he now reproachfully contrasted their pusillanimity with de rosny's fortitude. a great plan for reorganising the finances of the kingdom was that very night submitted by rosny to the king, and it was wrought upon day by day thereafter until it was carried into effect. it must be confessed that the crudities and immoralities which the project revealed do not inspire the political student of modern days with so high a conception of the financial genius of the great minister as his calm and heroic deportment on trying occasions, whether on the battle- field or in the council-chamber, does of his natural authority over his fellow-men. the scheme was devised to put money in the king's coffers, which at that moment were completely empty. its chief features were to create a great many new offices in the various courts of justice and tribunals of administration, all to be disposed of by sale to the highest bidder; to extort a considerable loan from the chief courtiers and from the richest burghers in the principal towns; to compel all the leading peculators--whose name in the public service was legion--to disgorge a portion of their ill-gotten gains, on being released from prosecution; and to increase the tax upon salt. such a project hardly seems a masterpiece of ethics or political economy, but it was hailed with rapture by the needy monarch. at once there was a wild excitement amongst the jobbers and speculators in places. the creation of an indefinite number of new judgeships and magistracies, to be disposed of at auction, was a tempting opportunity even in that age of corruption. one of the most notorious traders in the judicial ermine, limping robin de tours by name, at once made a private visit to madame de rosny and offered seventy-two thousand crowns for the exclusive right to distribute these new offices. if this could be managed to his satisfaction, he promised to give her a diamond worth two thousand crowns, and another, worth six thousand, to her husband. the wife of the great minister, who did not comprehend the whole amount of the insult, presented robin to her husband. she was enlightened, however, as to the barefaced iniquity of the offer, when she heard de bethune's indignant. reply, and saw the jobber limp away, crest-fallen and amazed. that a financier or a magistrate should decline a bribe or interfere with the private sale of places, which were after all objects of merchandise, was to him incomprehensible. the industrious robin, accordingly, recovering from his discomfiture, went straightway to the chancellor, and concluded the same bargain in the council chamber which had been rejected by de bethune, with the slight difference that the distribution of the places. was assigned to the speculator for seventy-five thousand instead of seventy-two thousand crowns. it was with great difficulty that de bethune, who went at once to the king with complaints and insinuations as to the cleanness of the chancellor's hands, was able to cancel the operation. the day was fast approaching when the universal impoverishment of the great nobles and landholders--the result of the long, hideous, senseless massacres called the wars of religion--was to open the way for the labouring classes to acquire a property in the soil. thus that famous fowl in every pot was to make its appearance, which vulgar tradition ascribes to the bounty of a king who hated everything like popular rights, and loved nothing but his own glory and his own amusement. it was not until the days of his grandchildren and great- grandchildren that privilege could renew those horrible outrages on the people, which were to be avenged by a dread series of wars, massacres, and crimes, compared to which even the religious conflicts of the sixteenth century grow pale. meantime de bethune comforted his master with these financial plans, and assured him in the spirit of prophecy that the king of spain, now tottering as it was thought to his grave, would soon be glad to make a favourable peace with france even if he felt obliged to restore not only amiens but every other city or stronghold that he had ever conquered in that kingdom. time would soon show whether this prediction were correct or delusive; but while the secret negotiations between henry and the pope were vigorously proceeding for that peace with spain which the world in general and the commonwealth of the netherlands in particular thought to be farthest from the warlike king's wishes, it was necessary to set about the siege of amiens. henry assembled a force of some twelve or fifteen thousand men for that purpose, while the cardinal-archduke, upon his part, did his best to put an army in the field in order to relieve the threatened city so recently acquired by a coarse but successful artifice. but albert was in even a worse plight than that in which his great antagonist found himself. when he had first arrived in the provinces, his exchequer was overflowing, and he was even supposed to devote a considerable portion of the military funds to defray the expenses of his magnificent housekeeping at brussels. but those halcyon days were over. a gigantic fraud, just perpetrated by philip; had descended like a thunderbolt upon the provinces and upon all commercial europe, and had utterly blasted the unfortunate viceroy. in the latter days of the preceding year the king had issued a general repudiation of his debts. he did it solemnly, too, and with great religious unction, for it was a peculiarity of this remarkable sovereign that he was ever wont to accomplish his darkest crimes, whether murders or stratagems, as if they were acts of virtue. perhaps he really believed them to be such, for a man, before whom so many millions of his fellow worms had been writhing for half a century in the dust, might well imagine himself a deity. so the king, on the th november, , had publicly revoked all the assignments, mortgages, and other deeds by which the royal domains; revenues, taxes, and other public property had been transferred or pledged for moneys already advanced to merchants, banker, and other companies or individuals, and formally took them again into his own possession, on the ground that his exertions in carrying on this long war to save christianity from destruction had reduced him to beggary, while the money-lenders, by charging him exorbitant interest, had all grown rich at his expense. this was perfectly simple. there was no attempt to disguise the villany of the transaction. the massacre of so many millions of protestants, the gigantic but puerile attempts to subjugate the dutch republic, and to annex france, england, and the german empire to his hereditary dominions, had been attended with more expense than philip had calculated upon. the enormous wealth which a long series of marriages, inheritances, conquests, and maritime discoveries had heaped upon spain had been exhausted by the insane ambition of the king to exterminate heresy throughout the world, and to make himself the sovereign of one undivided, universal, catholic monarchy. all the gold and silver of america had not sufficed for this purpose, and he had seen, with an ever rising indignation, those very precious metals which, in his ignorance of the laws of trade, he considered his exclusive property flowing speedily into the coffers of the merchants of europe, especially those of the hated commonwealth of the rebellious netherlands. therefore he solemnly renounced all his contracts, and took god to witness that it was to serve his divine will. how else could he hope to continue his massacre of the protestants? the effect of the promulgation of this measure was instantaneous. two millions and a half of bills of exchange sold by the cardinal albert came back in one day protested. the chief merchants and bankers of europe suspended payment. their creditors became bankrupt. at the frankfort fair there were more failures in one day than there had ever been in all the years since frankfort existed. in genoa alone a million dollars of interest were confiscated. it was no better in antwerp; but antwerp was already ruined. there was a general howl of indignation and despair upon every exchange, in every counting-room, in every palace, in every cottage of christendom. such a tremendous repudiation of national debts was never heard of before. there had been debasements of the currency, petty frauds by kings upon their unfortunate peoples, but such a crime as this had never been conceived by human heart before. the archduke was fain to pawn his jewelry, his plate, his furniture, to support the daily expenses of his household. meantime he was to set an army in the field to relieve a city, beleaguered by the most warlike monarch in christendom. fortunately for him, that prince was in very similar straits, for the pressure upon the public swindlers and the auction sales of judicial ermine throughout his kingdom were not as rapidly productive as had been hoped. it was precisely at this moment, too, that an incident of another nature occurred in antwerp, which did not tend to make the believers in the possibility of religious or political freedom more in love with the system of spain and rome. those blood-dripping edicts against heresy in the netherlands, of which enough has been said in previous volumes of this history, and which had caused the deaths, by axe, faggot, halter, or burial alive, of at least fifty thousand human creatures--however historical scepticism may shut its eyes to evidence--had now been, dormant for twenty years. their activity had ceased with the pacification of ghent; but the devilish spirit which had inspired them still lived in the persons of the jesuits, and there were now more jesuits in the obedient provinces than there had been for years. we have seen that champagny's remedy for the ills the country was enduring was "more jesuits." and this, too, was albert's recipe. always "more jesuits." and now the time had come when the jesuits thought that they might step openly with their works into the daylight again. of late years they had shrouded themselves in comparative mystery, but from their seminaries and colleges had gone forth a plentiful company of assassins against elizabeth and henry, nassau, barneveld, and others who, whether avowedly or involuntarily, were prominent in the party of human progress. some important murders had already been accomplished, and the prospect was fair that still others might follow, if the jesuits persevered. meantime those ecclesiastics thought that a wholesome example might be by the spectacle of a public execution. two maiden ladies lived on the north rampart of antwerp. they had formerly professed the protestant religion, and had been thrown into prison for that crime; but the fear of further persecution, human weakness, or perhaps sincere conviction, had caused them to renounce the error of their ways, and they now went to mass. but they had a maidservant, forty years of age, anna van den hove by name, who was staunch in that reformed faith in which she had been born and bred. the jesuits denounced this maid-servant to the civil authority, and claimed her condemnation and execution under the edicts of , decrees which every one had supposed as obsolete as the statutes of draco, which they had so entirely put to shame. the sentence having been obtained from the docile and priest-ridden magistrates, anna van den hove was brought to brussels and informed that she was at once to be buried alive. at the same time, the jesuits told her that by converting herself to the church she might escape punishment. when king henry iv. was summoned to renounce that same huguenot faith, of which he was the political embodiment and the military champion, the candid man answered by the simple demand to be instructed. when the proper moment came, the instruction was accomplished by an archbishop with the rapidity of magic. half an hour undid the work of half a life- time. thus expeditiously could religious conversion be effected when an earthly crown was its guerdon. the poor serving-maid was less open to conviction. in her simple fanaticism she too talked of a crown, and saw it descending from heaven on her poor forlorn head as the reward, not of apostasy, but of steadfastness. she asked her tormentors how they could expect her to abandon her religion for fear of death. she had read her bible every day, she said, and had found nothing there of the pope or purgatory, masses, invocation of saints, or the absolution of sins except through the blood of the blessed redeemer. she interfered with no one who thought differently; she quarrelled with no one's religious belief. she had prayed for enlightenment from him, if she were in error, and the result was that she felt strengthened in her simplicty, and resolved to do nothing against her conscience. rather than add this sin to the manifold ones committed by her, she preferred, she said, to die the death. so anna van den hove was led, one fine midsummer morning, to the hayfield outside of brussels, between two jesuits, followed by a number of a peculiar kind of monks called love-brothers. those holy men goaded her as she went, telling her that she was the devil's carrion, and calling on her to repent at the last moment, and thus save her life and escape eternal damnation beside. but the poor soul had no ear for them, and cried out that, like stephen, she saw the heavens opening, and the angels stooping down to conduct her far away from the power of the evil one. when they came to the hay-field they found the pit already dug, and the maid-servant was ordered to descend into it. the executioner then covered her with earth up to the waist, and a last summons was made to her to renounce her errors. she refused, and then the earth was piled upon her, and the hangman jumped upon the grave till it was flattened and firm. of all the religious murders done in that hideous sixteenth century in the netherlands; the burial of the antwerp servantmaid was the last and the worst. the worst, because it was a cynical and deliberate attempt to revive the demon whose thirst for blood had been at last allayed, and who had sunk into repose. and it was a spasmodic revival only, for, in the provinces at least, that demon had finished his work. still, on the eastern borders of what was called civilization, turk and christian were contending for the mastery. the great battle of kovesd had decided nothing, and the crescent still shone over the fortified and most important hungarian stronghold of raab, within arm's length of vienna. how rapidly might that fatal and menacing emblem fill its horns, should it once be planted on the walls of the imperial capital! it was not wonderful that a sincere impatience should be felt by all the frontier states for the termination of the insurrection of the netherlands. would that rebellious and heretical republic only consent to go out of existence, again bow its stubborn knee to philip and the pope, what a magnificent campaign might be made against mahomet! the king of spain was the only potentate at all comparable in power to the grand turk. the king of france, most warlike of men, desired nothing better, as he avowed, than to lead his brave nobles into hungary to smite the unbelievers. even prince maurice, it was fondly hoped, might be induced to accept a high command in the united armies of christendom, and seek for glory by campaigning, in alliance with philip; rudolph, and henry, against the ottoman, rather than against his natural sovereign. such were the sagacity, the insight, the power of forecasting the future possessed in those days by monarchs, statesmen, and diplomatists who were imagining that they held the world's destiny in their hands. there was this summer a solemn embassy from the emperor to the states- general proposing mediation referring in the usual conventional phraseology to the right of kings to command, and to the duty of the people to submit, and urging the gentle-mindedness and readiness to forgive which characterised the sovereign of the netherlands and of spain. and the statesmen of the republic had answered as they always did, showing with courteous language, irresistible logic, and at, unmerciful length, that there never had been kings in the netherlands at all, and that the gentle-mindedness of philip had been exhibited in the massacre of a hundred thousand netherlanders in various sieges and battles, and in the murder, under the duke of alva alone, of twenty thousand human beings by the hangman. they liked not such divine right nor such gentle-mindedness. they recognised no duty on their part to consent to such a system. even the friendly king of denmark sent a legation for a similar purpose, which was respectfully but very decidedly allowed to return as it came; but the most persistent in schemes of interference for the purpose of putting an end to the effusion of blood in the netherlands was sigismund of poland. this monarch, who occupied two very incompatible positions, being sovereign at once of fanatically protestant sweden and of orthodox poland, and who was, moreover, son-in-law of archduke charles of styria whose other daughter was soon to be espoused by the prince of spain--was personally and geographically interested in liberating philip from the inconvenience of his netherland war. only thus could he hope to bring the spanish power to the rescue of christendom against the turk. troubles enough were in store for sigismund in his hereditary northern realms, and he was to learn that his intermarriage with the great catholic and imperial house did not enable him to trample out protestantism in those hardy scandinavian and flemish regions where it had taken secure root. meantime he despatched, in solemn mission to the republic and to the heretic queen, a diplomatist whose name and whose oratorical efforts have by a caprice of history been allowed to endure to our times. paul dialyn was solemnly received at the hague on the st july. a pragmatical fop, attired in a long, magnificent polish robe, covered with diamonds and other jewels, he was yet recognised by some of those present as having been several years before a student at leyden under a different name, and with far less gorgeous surroundings. he took up his position in the council-chamber, in the presence of the stadholder and the leading members of the states-general, and pronounced a long latin oration, in the manner, as it was said, of a monk delivering a sermon from the pulpit. he kept his eyes steadily fixed on the ceiling, never once looking at the men whom he was addressing, and speaking in a loud, nasal, dictatorial tone, not at all agreeable to the audience. he dwelt in terms of extravagant eulogy on the benignity and gentleness of the king of spain--qualities in which he asserted that no prince on earth could be compared to him--and he said this to the very face of maurice of nassau. that the benignant and gentle king had caused the stadholder's father to be assassinated, and that he had rewarded the murderer's family with a patent of nobility, and with an ample revenue taken from the murdered man's property, appeared of no account to the envoy in the full sweep of his rhetoric. yet the reminiscence caused a shudder of disgust in all who heard him. he then stated the wish of his master the polish king to be that, in regard to the turk, the provinces might reconcile themselves to their natural master, who was the most powerful monarch in christendom, and the only one able to make head against the common foe. they were solemnly warned of the enormous power and resources of the great king, with whom it was hopeless for them to protract a struggle sure to end at last in their uttermost destruction. it was for kings to issue commands; he said, and for the people to obey; but philip was full of sweetness, and would accord them full forgiveness for their manifold sins against him. the wish to come to the rescue of christendom, in this extreme peril from the turk, was with him paramount to all other considerations. such; in brief, was the substance of the long latin harangue by which it was thought possible to induce those sturdy republicans and calvinists to renounce their vigorous national existence and to fal on their knees before the most catholic king. this was understood to be mediation, statesmanship, diplomacy, in deference to which the world was to pause and the course of events to flow backwards. truly, despots and their lackeys were destined to learn some rude lessons from that vigorous little commonwealth in the north sea, before it should have accomplished its mission on earth. the states-general dissembled their disgust, however, for it was not desirable to make open enemies of sigismund or rudolph. they refused to accept a copy of the oration, but they promised to send him a categorical answer to it in writing. meantime the envoy had the honour of walking about the castle with the stadholder, and, in the course of their promenade, maurice pointed to the thirty-eight standards taken at the battle of turnhout, which hung from the cedarn rafters of the ancient banquetting hall. the mute eloquence of those tattered banners seemed a not illogical reply to the diplomatic paul's rhetoric in regard to the hopelessness of a contest with spanish armies. next, van der werken--pensionary of leyden, and a classical scholar-- waited upon the envoy with a latin reply to his harangue, together with a courteous letter for sigismund. both documents were scathing denunciations of the policy pursued by the king of spain and by all his aiders and abettors, and a distinct but polished refusal to listen to a single word in favour of mediation or of peace. paul dialyn then received a courteous permission to leave the territory of the republic, and was subsequently forwarded in a states' vessel of war to england. his reception, about a month later, by queen elizabeth is an event on which all english historians are fond of dwelling. the pedant, on being presented to that imperious and accomplished sovereign, deported himself with the same ludicrous arrogance which had characterised him at the hague. his latin oration, which had been duly drawn up for him by the chancellor of sweden, was quite as impertinent as his harangue to the states-general had been, and was delivered with the same conceited air. the queen replied on the instant in the same tongue. she was somewhat in a passion, but spoke with majestic moderation? "oh, how i have been deceived!" she exclaimed. "i expected an ambassador, and behold a herald! in all my life i never heard of such an oration. your boldness and unadvised temerity i cannot sufficiently admire. but if the king your master has given you any such thing in charge--which i much doubt--i believe it is because, being but a young man, and lately advanced to the crown, not by ordinary succession of blood, but by election, he understandeth not yet the way of such affairs." and so on--for several minutes longer. never did envoy receive such a setting down from sovereign. "god's death, my lords!" said the queen to her ministers; as she concluded, "i have been enforced this day to scour up my old latin that hath lain long in rusting." this combination of ready wit, high spirit, and good latin, justly excited the enthusiasm of the queen's subjects, and endeared her still more to every english heart. it may, however, be doubted whether the famous reply was in reality so entirely extemporaneous as it has usually been considered. the states-general had lost no time in forwarding to england a minute account of the proceedings of paul dialyn at the hague, together with a sketch of his harangue and of the reply on behalf of the states. her majesty and her counsellors therefore, knowing that the same envoy was on his way to england with a similar errand, may be supposed to have had leisure to prepare the famous impromptu. moreover, it is difficult to understand, on the presumption that these classic utterances were purely extemporaneous, how they have kept their place in all chronicles and histories from that day to the present, without change of a word in the text. surely there was no stenographer present to take down the queen's words as they fell from her lips. the military events of the year did not testify to a much more successful activity on the part of the new league in the field than it had displayed in the sphere of diplomacy. in vain did the envoy of the republic urge henry and his counsellors to follow up the crushing blow dealt to the cardinal at turnhout by vigorous operations in conjunction with the states' forces in artois and hainault. for amiens had meantime been taken, and it was now necessary for the king to employ all his energy and all his resources to recover that important city. so much damage to the cause of the republic and of the new league had the little yellow spanish captain inflicted in an hour, with his bags of chestnuts and walnuts. the siege of amiens lasted nearly six months, and was the main event of the campaign, so far as henry was concerned. it is true--as the reader has already seen, and as will soon be more clearly developed--that henry's heart had been fixed on peace from the moment that he consented in conjunction with the republic to declare war, and that he had entered into secret and separate negotiations for that purpose with the agents of philip so soon as he had bound himself by solemn covenant with elizabeth to have no negotiations whatever with him except with her full knowledge and consent. the siege of amiens, however, was considered a military masterpiece, and its whole progress showed the revolution which the stadholder of holland had already effected in european warfare. henry iv. beleaguered amiens as if he were a pupil of maurice, and contemporaries were enthusiastic over the science, the patience, the inventive ingenuity which were at last crowned with success. the heroic hernan tello de porto carrero was killed in a sortie during the defence of the place which he had so gallantly won, and when the city was surrendered to the king on the th of september it was stipulated in the first article of the capitulation that the tomb, epitaph, and trophies, by which his memory was honoured in the principal church, should not be disturbed, and that his body might be removed whenever and whither it seemed good to his sovereign. in vain the cardinal had taken the field with an army of eighteen thousand foot and fifteen hundred light cavalry. the king had learned so well to entrench himself and to moderate his ardour for inopportune pitched battles, that the relieving force could find, no occasion to effect its purpose. the archduke retired. he came to amiens like a soldier, said henry, but he went back like a priest. moreover, he was obliged to renounce, besides the city, a most tempting prize which he thought that he had secured within the city. alexander farnese, in his last french campaign, had procured and sent to his uncle the foot of st. philip and the head of st. lawrence; but what was albert's delight when he learned that in amiens cathedral there was a large piece of the head of john the baptist! "there will be a great scandal about it in this kingdom," he wrote to philip, "if i undertake to transport it out of the country, but i will try to contrive it as your majesty desires." but the military events of the year prevented the cardinal from gratifying the king in regard to these choice curiosities. after the reduction of the city henry went a considerable distance with his army towards the frontier of flanders, in order to return, as he said, "his cousin's visit." but the recovery of amiens had placed too winning a card in the secret game which he was then playing to allow him to push his nominal adversary to extremities. the result, suspected very early in the year by the statesmen of the republic, was already very plainly foreshadowing itself as the winter advanced. nor had the other two members of the league affected much in the field. again an expedition had been fitted forth under essex against the spanish coast to return the compliment which philip had intended with the unlucky armada under santa gadea; and again sir francis vere, with two thousand veterans from the netherlands, and the dutch admirals, with ten ships of war and a large number of tenders and transports, had faithfully taken part in the adventure. the fleet was tempest-tossed for ten days, during which it reached the threatened coast and was blown off again. it returned at last into the english ports, having accomplished nothing, and having expended superfluously a considerable amount of money and trouble. essex, with a few of the vessels, subsequently made a cruise towards the azores, but, beyond the capture of a spanish merchantman or two, gained no glory and inflicted no damage. nothing could be feebler than the military operations of the three confederated powers ever since they had so solemnly confederated themselves. sick at heart with the political intrigues of his allies which had-- brought a paralysis upon his arms which the blows of the enemy could hardly have effected, maurice took the field in august: for an autumnal campaign on the eastern frontier of the republic. foiled in his efforts for a combined attack by the whole force of the league upon philip's power in the west, he thought it at least expedient to liberate the rhine, to secure the important provinces of zutphen, gelderland, and overyssel from attack, and to provide against the dangerous intrigues and concealed warfare carried on by spain in the territories of the mad duke of juliers, clever and berg. for the seeds of the thirty years' war of germany were already sown broadcast in those fatal duchies, and it was the determination of the agents of spain to acquire the mastery of that most eligible military position, that excellent 'sedes belli,' whenever protestantism was to be assailed in england, the netherlands, or germany. meantime the hispaniolated counsellors of duke john had strangled--as it was strongly suspected--his duchess, who having gone to bed in perfect health one evening was found dead in her bed next morning, with an ugly mark on her throat; and it was now the purpose of these statesmen to find a new bride for their insane sovereign in the ever ready and ever orthodox house of lorrain. and the protestant brothers-in-law and nephews and nieces were making every possible combination in order to check such dark designs, and to save these important territories from the ubiquitous power of spain. the stadholder had also family troubles at this period. his sister emilia had conceived a desperate passion for don emmanuel, the pauper son of the forlorn pretender to portugal, don antonio, who had at last departed this life. maurice was indignant that a catholic, an outcast, and, as it was supposed, a bastard, should dare to mate with the daughter of william of orange-nassau; and there were many scenes of tenderness, reproaches, recriminations, and 'hysterica passio,' in which not only the lovers, the stadholder and his family, but also the high and mighty states-general, were obliged to enact their parts. the chronicles are filled with the incidents, which, however, never turned to tragedy, nor even to romance, but ended, without a catastrophe, in a rather insipid marriage. the princess emilia remained true both to her religion and her husband during a somewhat obscure wedded life, and after her death don emmanuel found means to reconcile himself with the king of spain and to espouse, in second nuptials, a spanish lady. on the th of august, maurice arrived at arnhem with a force of seven thousand foot and twelve hundred horse. hohenlo was with him, and william lewis, and there was yet another of the illustrious house of nassau in the camp, frederick henry, a boy in his thirteenth year, the youngest born of william the silent, the grandson of admiral de coligny, now about; in this his first campaign, to take the first step in a long and noble career. having reduced the town and castle of alphen, the stadholder came before rheinberg, which he very expeditiously invested. during a preliminary skirmish william lewis received a wound in the leg, while during the brief siege maurice had a narrow escape from death, a cannon-ball passing through his tent and over his head as he lay taking a brief repose upon his couch. on the th, rheinberg, the key to that portion of the river, surrendered. on the st the stadholder opened his batteries upon the city of meurs, which capitulated on the nd of september; the commandant, andrew miranda, stipulating that he should carry off an old fifty- pounder, the only piece of cannon in the place. maurice gave his permission with a laugh, begging miranda not to batter down any cities with his big gun. on the th september the stadholdet threw a bridge over the rhine, and crossing that river and the lippe, came on the th before grol. there was no christopher mondragon now in his path to check his progress and spoil his campaign, so that in seventeen days the city, being completely surrounded with galleries and covered ways up to its walls, surrendered. count van stirum, royal governor of the place, dined with the stadholder on that day, and the garrison, from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred strong; together with such of the townsfolk as chose to be subjects of philip rather than citizens of the republic, were permitted to depart in peace. on the th october the town and castle of brevoort were taken by storm and the town was burned. on the th october, maurice having summoned enschede, the commandant requested permission to examine the artillery by which it was proposed to reduce the city. leave being granted, two captains were deputed accordingly as inspectors, who reported that resistance was useless. the place accordingly capitulated at once. here, again, was an improvement on the heroic practice of alva and romero. on the st and nd october, ootmarsum and oldenzaal were taken, and on the th the little army came before lingen. this important city surrendered after a fortnight's siege. thus closed a sagacious, business-like, three-months' campaign, in the course of which the stadholder, although with a slender force, had by means of his excellent organization and his profound practical science, achieved very considerable results. he had taken nine strongly-fortified cities and five castles, opened the navigation of the rhine, and strengthened the whole eastern bulwarks of the republic. he was censured by the superficial critics of the old school for his humanity towards the conquered garrisons. at least it was thought quite superfluous to let these spanish soldiers go scot free. five thousand veterans had thus been liberated to swell the ranks of the cardinal's army, but the result soon proved the policy of maurice to be, in many ways, wholesome. the great repudiation by philip, and the consequent bankruptcy of alberta converted large numbers of the royal troops into mutineers, and these garrisons from the eastern frontier were glad to join in the game. after the successful siege of hulst in the previous year the cardinal had reduced the formidable mutiny which had organized itself at tirlemont and chapelle in the days of his luckless predecessor. those rebels had been paid off and had mainly returned to italy and other lands to spend their money. but soon a new rebellion in all the customary form's established itself in antwerp citadel during the temporary absence of mexia, the governor, and great was the misery of the unhappy burghers thus placed at the mercy of the guns of that famous pentagon. they were obliged to furnish large sums to the whole garrison, paying every common foot- soldier twelve stivers a day and the officers in proportion, while the great eletto demanded, beside his salary, a coach and six, a state bed with satin curtains and fine linen, and the materials for banquetting sumptuously every day. at the slightest demur to these demands the bombardment from the citadel would begin, and the accurate artillery practice of those experienced cannoneers soon convinced the loyal citizens of the propriety of the arrangement. the example spread. the garrison of ghent broke into open revolt, and a general military rebellion lasted for more than a year. while the loyal cities of the obedient provinces were thus enjoying the fruits of their loyalty and obedience, the rebellious capital of the republic was receiving its stadholder with exuberant demonstrations of gratitude. the year, begun with the signal victory of turnhout, had worthily terminated, so far as military events were concerned, with the autumnal campaign on the rhine, and great were the rejoicings throughout the little commonwealth. thus, with diminished resources, had the republic been doing its share of the work which the anti-spanish league had been called into existence to accomplish. but, as already intimated, this league was a mere fraud upon the netherlands, which their statesmen were not slow in discovering. of course it was the object of philip and of the pope to destroy this formidable triple alliance as soon as formed, and they found potent assistance, not only in henry's counsellors, but in the bosom of that crafty monarch himself. clement hated philip as much as he feared him, so that the prospect both of obtaining henry as a counterpoise to his own most oppressive and most catholic protector, and of breaking up the great convert's alliance with the heretic queen and the rebellious republic, was a most tempting one to his holiness. therefore he employed, indefatigably, the matchless powers of intrigue possessed by rome to effect this great purpose. as for elizabeth, she was weary of the war, most anxious to be reimbursed her advances to the states, and profoundly jealous of the rising commercial and naval greatness of the new commonwealth. if the league therefore proved impotent from the beginning, certainly it was not the fault of the united netherlands. we have seen how much the king deplored, in intimate conversation with de bethune, his formal declaration of war against spain which the dutch diplomatists had induced him to make; and indeed nothing can be more certain than that this public declaration of war, and this solemn formation of the triple alliance against philip, were instantly accompanied on henry's part by secret peace negotiations with philip's agents. villeroy, told envoy calvaert that as for himself he always trembled when he thought on what he had done, in seconding the will of his majesty in that declaration at the instance of the states-general, of which measure so many losses and such bitter fruits had been the result. he complained, too, of the little assistance or co-operation yielded by england. calvaert replied that he had nothing to say in defence of england, but that certainly the king could have no cause to censure the states. the republic, however, had good ground, he said, to complain that nothing had been done by france, that all favourable occasions had been neglected, and that there was a perpetual change of counsels. the envoy, especially, and justly, reproached the royal government for having taken no advantage of the opportunity offered by the victory of turnhout, in which the republic had utterly defeated the principal forces of the common enemy. he bluntly remarked, too, that the mysterious comings and goings of balvena had naturally excited suspicions in the netherlands, and that it would be better that all such practices should be at once abandoned. they did his majesty no service, and it was no wonder that they caused uneasiness to his allies. villeroy replied that the king had good reasons to give satisfaction to those who were yearning for peace. as henry himself was yearning in this regard as much as any of his subjects, it was natural enough that he should listen to balvena and all other informal negotiators whom cardinal ilbert might send from brussels or clement from rome. it will be recollected that henry's parting words to balvena at rouen had been: "tell the archduke that i am very much his friend. let him arrange a peace. begone. be diligent." but the king's reply to calvaert, when, after the interview with villeroy, that envoy was admitted to the royal dressing room for private conversation and took the occasion to remonstrate with his majesty on these intrigues with the spanish agent, was that he should send off balvena in such fashion that it would take from the cardinal-archduke all hope of troubling him with any further propositions. it has been seen, too, with what an outbreak of wrath the proposition, made by elizabeth through robert sydney, that she should succour calais on condition of keeping it for herself, had been received by henry. at a somewhat later moment, when calais had passed entirely into the possession of spain, the queen offered to lay siege to that city with twelve thousand men, but with the understanding that the success was to be entirely for her own profit. again the king bad expressed great astonishment and indignation at the proposition. nevertheless, after amiens had been lost, henry had sent fonquerolles on a special mission to england, asking elizabeth's assistance in the siege for its recovery, and offering that she should keep calais as a pledge for expenses thus incurred, on the same terms as those on which she held the brill and flushing in the netherlands. this proposal, however, to make a considerable campaign in picardy, and to be indemnified by henry for her trouble with the pledge of a city which was not his property, did not seem tempting to elizabeth: the mission of fonquerolles was fruitless, as might have been supposed. nothing certainly in the queen's attitude, up to that moment, could induce the supposition that she would help to reduce amiens for the sake of the privilege of conquering calais if she could. so soon as her refusal was made certain, henry dropped the mask. buzanval, the regular french envoy at the hague--even while amazing the states by rebukes for their short-comings in the field and by demands for immediate co-operation in the king's campaign, when the king was doing nothing but besiege amiens--astonished the republican statesmen still further by telling them--that his master was listening seriously to the pope's secret offers. his holiness had assured the king, through the legate at paris, that he could easily bring about a peace between him and philip, if henry would agree to make it alone, and he would so manage it that the king's name should not be mixed up with the negotiations, and that he should not appear as seeking for peace. it was to be considered however--so henry's envoy intimated both at greenwich and the hague--that if the king should accept the pope's intervention he would be obliged to exclude from a share in it the queen and all others not of the catholic religion, and it was feared that the same necessity which had compelled him to listen to these overtures would force him still further in the same path. he dreaded lest, between peace and war, he might fall into a position in which the law would be dictated to him either by the enemy or by those who had undertaken to help him out of danger. much more information to this effect did buzanval communicate to the states on the authority of a private letter from the king, telling him of the ill-success of the mission of fonquerolles. that diplomatist had brought back nothing from england, it appeared, save excuses, general phrases, and many references to the troubles in ireland and to the danger of a new spanish armada. it was now for the first time, moreover, that the states learned how they had been duped both by england and france in the matter of the league. to their surprise they were informed that while they were themselves furnishing four thousand men, according to the contract signed by the three powers, the queen had in reality only agreed to contribute two thousand soldiers, and these only for four months' service, within a very strict territorial limit, and under promise of immediate reimbursement of the expenses thus incurred. these facts, together with the avowal that their magnanimous ally had all along been secretly treating for peace with the common enemy, did not make a cheerful impression upon those plain-spoken republicans, nor was it much consolation to them to receive the assurance that "after the king's death his affection and gratitude towards the states would be found deeply engraved upon his heart." the result of such a future autopsy might seem a matter of comparative indifference, since meantime the present effect to the republic of those deep emotions was a treacherous desertion. calvaert, too, who had so long haunted the king like his perpetual shadow, and who had believed him--at least so far as the netherlands were concerned--to be almost without guile, had been destined after all to a rude awakening. sick and suffering, he did not cease, so long as life was in him, to warn the states-general of the dangers impending over them from the secret negotiations which their royal ally was doing his best to conceal from them, and as to which he had for a time succeeded so dexterously in hoodwinking their envoy himself. but the honest and energetic agent of the republic did not live to see the consummation of these manceuvres of henry and the pope. he died in paris during the month of june of this year. certainly the efforts of spanish and papal diplomacy had not been unsuccessful in bringing about a dissolution of the bonds of amity by which the three powers seemed so lately to be drawing themselves very closely together. the republic and henry iv. were now on a most uncomfortable footing towards each other. on the other hand, the queen was in a very ill humour with the states and very angry with henry. especially the persistent manner in which the hollanders carried on trade with spain and were at the same time making fortunes for themselves and feeding the enemy, while englishmen, on pain of death, were debarred from participation in such traffic, excited great and general indignation in england. in vain was it represented that this trade, if prohibited to the commonwealth would fall into the hands of neutral powers, and that spain would derive her supplies from the baltic and other regions as regularly as ever, while the republic, whose whole life was in her foreign commerce, would not only become incapable of carrying on the war but would perish of inanition. the english statesmen threatened to declare all such trade contraband, and vessels engaging in it lawful prize to english cruisers. burghley declared, with much excitement, to canon, that he, as well as all the council, considered the conduct of the hollanders so unjustifiable as to make them regret that their princess had ever embarked with a state which chose to aid its own enemies in the destruction of itself and its allies. such conduct was so monstrous that those who were told of it would hardly believe it. the dutch envoy observed that there were thirty thousand sailors engaged in this trade, and he asked the lord treasurer whether he proposed that these people should all starve or be driven into the service of the enemy. burghley rejoined that the hollanders had the whole world beside to pursue their traffic in, that they did indeed trade over the whole world, and had thereby become so extraordinarily, monstrously rich that there was no believing it. caron declared his sincere wish that this was true, but said, on the contrary, that he knew too well what extreme trouble and labour the states-general had in providing for the expenses of the war and in extracting the necessary funds from the various communities. this would hardly be the case were such great wealth in the land as was imagined. but still the english counsellors protested that they would stop this trading with the enemy at every hazard. on the question of peace or war itself the republican diplomatists were often baffled as to the true intentions of the english government. "as the queen is fine and false," said marquis havre, observing and aiding in the various intrigues which were weaving at brussels, "and her council much the same, she is practising towards the hollanders a double stratagem. on the one hand she induces them to incline to a general peace. on the other, her adherents, ten or twelve in number of those who govern holland and have credit with the people, insist that the true. interest of the state is in a continuation of the war." but havre, adept in diplomatic chicane as he undoubtedly was, would have found it difficult to find any man of intelligence or influence in that rebellious commonwealth, of which he was once a servant, who had any doubt on that subject. it needed no english argument to persuade olden- barneveld, and the other statesmen who guided the destiny of the republic, that peace would be destruction. moreover, there is no question that both the queen and burghley would have been truly grateful had the states-general been willing to make peace and return to the allegiance which they had long since spurned. nevertheless it is difficult to say whether there were at this moment more of animosity in elizabeth's mind towards her backsliding ally, with whom she had so recently and so pompously sworn an eternal friendship, or towards her ancient enemy. although she longed for peace, she hardly saw her way to it, for she felt that the secret movements of henry had in a manner barred the path. she confessed to the states' envoy that it was as easy for her to make black white as to make peace with spain. to this caron cordially assented, saying with much energy, "there is as much chance for your majesty and for us to make peace, during the life of the present king of spain, as to find redemption in hell." to the danish ambassadors, who had come to england with proposals of mediation, the queen had replied that the king of spain had attacked her dominions many times, and had very often attempted her assassination, that after long patience she had begun to defend herself, and had been willing to show him that she had the courage and the means, not only to maintain herself against his assaults, but also to invade his realms; that, therefore, she was not disposed to speak first; nor to lay down any conditions. yet, if she saw that the king of spain had any remorse for his former offences against her, and wished to make atonement for them, she was willing to declare that her heart was not so alienated from peace; but that she could listen to propositions on the subject. she said, too, that such a peace must be a general one, including both the king of france and the states of the netherlands, for with these powers she had but lately made an offensive and defensive league against the king of spain, from which she protested that for no consideration in the world would she ever swerve one jot. certainly these were words of christian charity and good faith, but such professions are the common staple of orations and documents for public consumption. as the accounts became more and more minute, however, of henry's intrigues with albert, philip, and clement, the queen grew more angry. she told caron that she was quite aware that the king had long been in communication with the cardinal's emissaries, and that he had even sent some of his principal counsellors to confer with the cardinal himself at arras, in direct violation of the stipulations of the league. she expressed her amazement at the king's conduct; for she knew very well, she said, that the league had hardly been confirmed and sworn to, before he was treating with secret agents sent to him by the cardinal. "and now," she continued, "they propose to send an ambassador to inform me of the whole proceeding, and to ask my advice and consent in regard to negotiations which they have, perchance, entirely concluded." she further informed the republican envoy that the king had recently been taking the ground in these dealings with the common enemy; that the two kingdoms of france and england must first be provided for; that when the basis between these powers and spain had been arranged, it would be time to make arrangements for the states, and that it would probably be found advisable to obtain a truce of three or four years between them and spain, in which interval the government of the provinces might remain on its actual footing. during this armistice the king of spain was to withdraw all spanish troops from the netherlands, in consequence of which measure all distrust would by degrees vanish, and the community, becoming more and more encouraged, would in time recognise the king for their sovereign once more. this, according to the information received by elizabeth from her resident minister in france, was henry's scheme for carrying out the principles of the offensive and defensive league, which only the year before he had so solemnly concluded with the dutch republic. instead of assisting that commonwealth in waging her war of independence against spain, he would endeavour to make it easy for her to return peacefully to her ancient thraldom. the queen asked caron what he thought of the project. how could that diplomatist reply but with polite scorn? not a year of such an armistice would elapse, he said, before the spanish partisans would have it all their own way in the netherlands, and the king of spain would be master of the whole country. again and again he repeated that peace, so long as philip lived, was an impossibility for the states. no doubt that monarch would gladly consent to the proposed truce, for it, would be indeed strange if by means of it he could not so establish himself in the provinces as to easily overthrow the sovereigns who were thus helping him to so advantageous a position. the queen listened patiently to a long and earnest remonstrance in this vein made by the envoy, and assured him that not even to gain another kingdom would she be the cause of a return of the provinces to the dominion of spain. she would do her best to dissuade the king from his peace negotiations; but she would listen to de maisae, the new special envoy from henry, and would then faithfully report to caron, by word of mouth, the substance of the conversation. the states-general did not deserve to be deceived, nor would she be a party to any deception, unless she were first cheated herself. "i feel indeed," she added, "that matters are not always managed as they should be by your government, and that you have not always treated princes, especially myself, as we deserve to be treated. nevertheless, your state is not a monarchy, and so we must take all things into consideration, and weigh its faults against its many perfections." with this philosophical--and in the mouth of elizabeth tudor, surely very liberal--reflection, the queen terminated the interview with the republican envoy. meantime the conferences with the special ambassador of france proceeded. for, so soon as henry had completed all his arrangements, and taken his decision to accept the very profitable peace offered to him by spain, he assumed that air of frankness which so well became him, and candidly avowed his intention of doing what he had already done. hurault de maisse arrived in england not long before the time when the peace- commissioners were about assembling at vervins. he was instructed to inform her majesty that he had done his best to bring about a general alliance of the european powers from which alone the league concluded between england, france, and the netherlands would have derived substantial strength. but as nothing was to be hoped for from germany, as england offered but little assistance, and as france was exhausted by her perpetual conflicts, it had become necessary for the king to negotiate for a peace. he now wished to prove, therefore, to the queen, as to a sister to whom he was under such obligations, that the interests of england were as dear to him as those of france. the proof of these generous sentiments did not, however, seem so clear as could be wished, and there were very stormy debates, so soon as the ambassador found himself in conference with her majesty's counsellors. the english statesmen bitterly reproached the french for having thus lightly thrown away the alliance between the two countries, and they insisted upon the duty of the king to fulfil his solemn engagements. the reply was very frank and very decided. kings, said de maisse, never make treaties except with the tacit condition to embrace every thing that may be useful to them, and carefully to avoid every thing prejudicial to their interests. the corollary from this convenient and sweeping maxim was simple enough. the king could not be expected, by his allies to reject an offered peace which was very profitable, nor to continue a war which, was very detrimental. all that they could expect was that he should communicate his intentions to them, and this he was now very cheerfully doing. such in brief were the statements of de maisse. the english were indignant. they also said a stout word for the provinces, although it has been made sufficiently clear that they did not love that upstart republic. but the french ambassador replied that his, master really meant secretly to assist the states in carrying on the war until they should make an arrangement. he should send them very powerful succours for this purpose, and he expected confidently that england would assist him in this line of conduct. thus henry was secretly pledging himself, to make underhand but substantial war against spain, with which power he was at that instant concluding peace, while at the same time he was abandoning his warlike league with the queen and the republic, in order to affect that very pacification. truly the morality of the governing powers of the earth was not entirely according to the apostolic standard. the interviews between the queen and the new ambassador were, of course, on his part, more courteous in tone than those with the counsellors, but mainly to the same effect. de maisse stated that the spanish king had offered to restore every place that he held in france, including calais, brittany, and the marquisate of saluces, and as he likewise manifested a willingness to come to favourable terms with her majesty and with the states, it was obviously the duty of henry to make these matters known to her majesty, in whose hands was thus placed the decision between peace or continuation of the war. the queen asked what was the authority for the supposition that england was to be included by spain in the pacification. de maisse quoted president richardot. in that case, the queen remarked, it was time for her to prepare for a third spanish armada. when a former envoy from france had alluded to richardot as expressing the same friendly sentiments on the part of his sovereign and himself, she had replied by referring to the sham negotiations of bourbourg, by which the famous invasion of had been veiled, and she had intimated her expectation that another spanish fleet would soon be at her throat. and within three weeks of the utterance of her prophecy the second armada, under santa gadea, had issued from spain to assail her realms. now then, as richardot was again cited as a peace negotiator, it was time to look for a third invasion. it was an impertinence for secretary of state villeroy to send her word about richardot. it was not an impertinence in king henry, who understood war-matters better than he did affairs of state, in which kings were generally governed by their counsellors and secretaries, but it was very strange that villeroy should be made quiet with a simple declaration of richardot. the queen protested that she would never consent to a peace with spain, except with the knowledge and consent of the states. de maisse replied that the king was of the same mind, upon which her majesty remarked that in that case he had better have apprised her and the states of his intentions before treating alone and secretly with the enemy. the envoy denied that the king had been treating. he had only been listening to what the king of spain had to propose, and suggesting his own wishes and intentions. the queen rejoined that this was treating if anything was, and certainly her majesty was in the right if the term has any meaning at all. elizabeth further reproachfully observed, that although the king talked about continuing the war, he seemed really tired of that dangerous pursuit, in which he had exercised himself so many long years, and that he was probably beginning to find a quiet and agreeable life more to his taste. she expressed the hope, however, that he would acquit himself honourably towards herself and her allies, and keep the oaths which he had so solemnly sworn before god. such was the substance of the queen's conversations with de maisse, as she herself subsequently reported them to the states' envoy. the republican statesmen had certainly cause enough to suspect henry's intentions, but they did not implicitly trust elizabeth. they feared that both king and queen were heartily sick of the war, and disposed to abandon the league, while each was bent on securing better terms than the other in any negotiations for peace. barneveld--on the whole the most sagacious of the men then guiding the affairs of europe, although he could dispose of but comparatively slender resources, and was merely the chief minister of a scarcely-born little commonwealth of some three million souls--was doing his best to save the league and to divert henry from thoughts of peace. feeling that the queen, notwithstanding her professions to caron and others, would have gladly entered into negotiations with philip, had she found the door as wide open as henry had found it, he did his best to prevent both his allies from proceeding farther in that direction. he promised the french envoy at the hague that not only would the republic continue to furnish the four thousand soldiers as stipulated in the league, but that if henry would recommence active operations, a states' army of nine thousand foot and two thousand horse should at once take the field on the flemish frontier of france, and aid in the campaign to the full extent of their resources. if the king were disposed to undertake the siege of calais, the advocate engaged that he should be likewise energetically assisted in that enterprise. nor was it suggested in case the important maritime stronghold were recovered that it should be transferred, not to the sovereign of france, but to the dominions of the republic. that was the queen's method of assisting an ally, but it was not the practice of the states. buzanval, who was quite aware of his master's decision to conclude peace, suggested henry's notion of a preliminary and general truce for six months. but of course barneveld rejected the idea with horror. he felt, as every intelligent statesman of the commonwealth could not but feel, that an armistice would be a death-blow. it would be better, he said, for the states to lose one or two towns than to make a truce, for there were so many people in the commonwealth sure to be dazzled by the false show of a pacification, that they would be likely, after getting into the suburbs, to wish to enter the heart of the city. "if," said the advocate, "the french and the english know what they are doing when they are, facilitating the spanish dominion in the provinces, they would prefer to lose a third of their own kingdoms to seeing the spaniard absolute master here." it was determined, in this grave position of affairs, to send a special mission both to france and to england with the advocate as its chief. henry made no objections to this step, but, on the contrary, affected much impatience for the arrival of the envoys, and ascribed the delay to the intrigues of elizabeth. he sent word to prince maurice and to barneveld that he suspected the queen of endeavouring to get before him in negotiating with spain in order to obtain calais for herself. and, in truth, elizabeth very soon afterwards informed barneveld that she might really have had calais, and have got the better of the king in these secret transactions. meantime, while the special mission to france and england was getting ready to depart, an amateur diplomatist appeared in brussels, and made a feeble effort to effect a reconciliation between the republic and the cardinal. this was a certain van der meulen, an antwerp merchant who, for religious reasons, had emigrated to leyden, and who was now invited by the cardinal archduke to brussels to confer with his counsellors as to the possibility of the rebellious states accepting his authority. for, as will soon be indicated, philip had recently resolved on a most important step. he was about to transfer the sovereignty of all the netherlands to his daughter isabella and her destined husband, cardinal albert. it would, obviously, therefore, be an excessively advantageous arrangement for those new sovereigns if the rebellious states would join hands with the obedient provinces, accept the dominion of albert and isabella and give up their attempt to establish a republican government. accordingly the cardinal had intimated that the states would be allowed the practice of their religion, while the military and civil functionaries might retain office. he even suggested that he would appoint maurice of nassau his stadholder for the northern provinces, unless he should prefer a high position in the imperial armies. such was the general admiration felt in spain and elsewhere for the military talents of the prince, that he would probably be appointed commander-in-chief of the forces against mahomet. van der meulen duly reported all these ingenious schemes to the states, but the sturdy republicans only laughed at them. they saw clearly enough through such slight attempts to sow discord in their commonwealth, and to send their great chieftain to turkey. a most affectionate letter, written by the cardinal-archduke to the states-general, inviting them to accept his sovereignty, and another from the obedient provinces to the united states of the same purport, remained unanswered. but the antwerp merchant, in his interviews with the crafty politicians who surrounded the cardinal, was able at least to obtain some insight into the opinions prevalent at brussels; and these were undoubtedly to the effect that both england and france were willing enough to abandon the cause of the netherlands, provided only that they could obtain satisfactory arrangements for themselves. van der meulen remarked to richardot that in all their talk about a general peace nothing had been said of the queen of england, to whom the states were under so great obligations, and without whom they would never enter into any negotiations. richardot replied that the queen had very sagaciously provided for the safety of her own kingdom, and had kept up the fire everywhere else in order to shelter herself. there was more difficulty for this lady, he said, than for any of the rest. she had shown herself very obstinate, and had done them a great deal of mischief. they knew very well that the king of france did not love her. nevertheless, as they had resolved upon a general peace, they were willing to treat with her as well as with the others. etext editor's bookmarks: auction sales of judicial ermine decline a bribe or interfere with the private sale of places famous fowl in every pot fellow worms had been writhing for half a century in the dust for his humanity towards the conquered garrisons (censured) historical scepticism may shut its eyes to evidence imagining that they held the world's destiny in their hands king had issued a general repudiation of his debts loud, nasal, dictatorial tone, not at all agreeable peace would be destruction repudiation of national debts was never heard of before some rude lessons from that vigorous little commonwealth such a crime as this had never been conceived (bankruptcy) they liked not such divine right nor such gentle-mindedness whether murders or stratagems, as if they were acts of virtue this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, chapter xxxi. formal declaration of war against spain--marriage festivities--death of archduke ernest--his year of government--fuentes declared governor-general--disaffection of the duke of arschot and count arenberg--death of the duke of arschot----fuentes besieges le catelet--the fortress of ham, sold to the spanish by de gomeron, besieged and taken by the duke of bouillon--execution of de gomeron--death of colonel verdugo--siege of dourlens by fuentes-- death of la motte--death of charles mansfeld--total defeat of the french--murder of admiral de pillars--dourlens captured, and the garrison and citizens put to the sword--military operations in eastern netherlands and on the rhine--maurice lays siege to groento --mondragon hastening to its relief, prince maurice raises the siege--skirmish between maurice and mondragon--death of philip of nassau--death of mondragon--bombardment and surrender of weerd castle--maurice retires into winter quarters--campaign of henry iv.- --he besieges dijon--surrender of dijon--absolution granted to henry by the pope--career of balagny at cambray--progress of the siege-- capitulation of the town--suicide of the princess of cambray, wife of balagny the year opened with a formal declaration of war by the king of france against the king of spain. it would be difficult to say for exactly how many years the war now declared had already been waged, but it was a considerable advantage to the united netherlands that the manifesto had been at last regularly issued. and the manifesto was certainly not deficient in bitterness. not often in christian history has a monarch been solemnly and officially accused by a brother sovereign of suborning assassins against his life. bribery, stratagem, and murder, were, however, so entirely the commonplace machinery of philip's administration as to make an allusion to the late attempt of chastel appear quite natural in henry's declaration of war. the king further stigmatized in energetic language the long succession of intrigues by which the monarch of spain, as chief of the holy league, had been making war upon him by means of his own subjects, for the last half dozcn years. certainly there was hardly need of an elaborate statement of grievances. the deeds of philip required no herald, unless henry was prepared to abdicate his hardly-earned title to the throne of france. nevertheless the politic gascon subsequently regretted the fierce style in which he had fulminated his challenge. he was accustomed to observe that no state paper required so much careful pondering as a declaration of war, and that it was scarcely possible to draw up such a document without committing many errors in the phraseology. the man who never knew fear, despondency, nor resentment, was already instinctively acting on the principle that a king should deal with his enemy as if sure to become his friend, and with his friends as if they might easily change to foes. the answer to the declaration was delayed for two months. when the reply came it of course breathed nothing but the most benignant sentiments in regard to france, while it expressed regret that it was necessary to carry fire and sword through that country in order to avert the unutterable woe which the crimes of the heretic prince of bearne were bringing upon all mankind. it was a solace for philip to call the legitimate king by the title borne by him when heir-presumptive, and to persist in denying to him that absolution which, as the whole world was aware, the vicar of christ was at that very moment in the most solemn manner about to bestow upon him. more devoted to the welfare of france than were the french themselves, he was determined that a foreign prince himself, his daughter, or one of his nephews--should supplant the descendant of st. louis on the french throne. more catholic than the pope he could not permit the heretic, whom his holiness was just washing whiter than snow, to intrude himself into the society of christian sovereigns. the winter movements by bouillon in luxembourg, sustained by philip nassau campaigning with a meagre force on the french frontier, were not very brilliant. the netherland regiments quartered at yssoire, la ferte, and in the neighbourhood accomplished very little, and their numbers were sadly thinned by dysentery. a sudden and successful stroke, too, by which that daring soldier heraugiere, who had been the chief captor of breda, obtained possession of the town, and castle of huy, produced no permanent advantage. this place, belonging to the bishop of liege, with its stone bridge over the meuse, was an advantageous position from which to aid the operations of bouillon in luxembourg. heraugiere was, however, not sufficiently reinforced, and huy was a month later recaptured by la motte. the campaigning was languid during that winter in the united netherlands, but the merry-making was energetic. the nuptials of hohenlo with mary, eldest daughter of william the silent and own sister of the captive philip william; of the duke of bouillon with elizabeth, one of the daughters of the same illustrious prince by his third wife, charlotte of bourbon; and of count everard solms, the famous general of the zeeland troops, with sabina, daughter of the unfortunate lamoral egmont, were celebrated with much pomp during the months of february and march. the states of holland and of zeeland made magnificent presents of diamonds to the brides; the countess hohenlo receiving besides a yearly income of three thousand florins for the lives of herself and her husband. in the midst of these merry marriage bells at the hague a funeral knell was sounding in brussels. on the th february, the governor-general of the obedient netherlands, archduke ernest, breathed his last. his career had not been so illustrious as the promises of the spanish king and the allegories of schoolmaster houwaerts had led him to expect. he had not espoused the infanta nor been crowned king of france. he had not blasted the rebellious netherlands with cyclopean thunderbolts, nor unbound the belgic andromeda from the rock of doom. his brief year of government had really been as dismal as, according to the announcement of his sycophants, it should have been amazing. he had accomplished nothing, and all that was left him was to die at the age of forty-two, over head and ears in debt, a disappointed, melancholy man. he was very indolent, enormously fat, very chaste, very expensive, fond of fine liveries and fine clothes, so solemn and stately as never to be known to laugh, but utterly without capacity either as a statesman or a soldier. he would have shone as a portly abbot ruling over peaceful friars, but he was not born to ride a revolutionary whirlwind, nor to evoke order out of chaos. past and present were contending with each other in fierce elemental strife within his domain. a world was in dying agony, another world was coming, full-armed, into existence within the hand-breadth of time and of space where he played his little part, but he dreamed not of it. he passed away like a shadow, and was soon forgotten. an effort was made, during the last illness of ernest, to procure from him the appointment of the elector of cologne as temporary successor to tho government, but count fuentes was on the spot and was a man of action. he produced a power in the french language from philip, with a blank for the name. this had been intended for the case of peter ernest mansfeld's possible death during his provisional administration, and fuentes now claimed the right of inserting his own name. the dying ernest consented, and upon his death fuentes was declared governor-general until the king's further pleasure should be known. pedro de guzman, count of fuentes, a spaniard of the hard and antique type, was now in his sixty-fourth year. the pupil and near relative of the duke of alva, he was already as odious to the netherlanders as might have been inferred from such education and such kin. a dark, grizzled, baldish man, with high steep forehead, long, haggard, leathern visage, sweeping beard, and large, stern, commanding, menacing eyes, with his brussels ruff of point lace and his milan coat of proof, he was in personal appearance not unlike the terrible duke whom men never named without a shudder, although a quarter of a century had passed since he had ceased to curse the netherlands with his presence. elizabeth of england was accustomed to sneer at fuentes because he had retreated before essex in that daring commander's famous foray into portugal. the queen called the spanish general a timid old woman. if her gibe were true, it was fortunate for her, for henry of france, and for the republic, that there were not many more such old women to come from spain to take the place of the veteran chieftains who were destined to disappear so rapidly during this year in flanders. he was a soldier of fortune, loved fighting, not only for the fighting's sake, but for the prize-money which was to be accumulated by campaigning, and he was wont to say that he meant to enter paradise sword in hand. meantime his appointment excited the wrath of the provincial magnates. the duke of arschot was beside himself with frenzy, and swore that he would never serve under fuentes nor sit at his council-board. the duke's brother, marquis havre, and his son-in-law, count arenberg, shared in the hatred, although they tried to mitigate the vehemence of its expression. but arschot swore that no man had the right to take precedence of him in the council of state, and that the appointment of this or any spaniard was a violation of the charters of the provinces and of the promises of his majesty. as if it were for the nobles of the obedient provinces to prate of charters and of oaths! their brethren under the banner of the republic had been teaching philip for a whole generation how they could deal with the privileges of freemen and with the perjury of tyrants. it was late in the day for the obedient netherlanders to remember their rights. havre and arenberg, dissembling their own wrath, were abused and insulted by the duke when they tried to pacify him. they proposed a compromise, according to which arschot should be allowed to preside in the council of state while fuentes should content himself with the absolute control of the army. this would be putting a bit of fat in the duke's mouth, they said. fuentes would hear of no such arrangement. after much talk and daily attempts to pacify this great netherlander, his relatives at last persuaded him to go home to his country place. he even promised arenberg and his wife that he would go to italy, in pursuance of a vow made to our lady of loretto. arenberg privately intimated to stephen ybarra that there was a certain oil, very apt to be efficacious in similar cases of irritation, which might be applied with prospect of success. if his father-in-law could only receive some ten thousand florins which he claimed as due to him from government, this would do more to quiet him than a regiment of soldiers could. he also suggested that fuentes should call upon the duke, while secretary ybarra should excuse himself by sickness for not having already paid his respects. this was done. fuentes called. the duke returned the call, and the two conversed amicably about the death of the archduke, but entered into no political discussion. arschot then invited the whole council of state, except john baptist tassis, to a great dinner. he had prepared a paper to read to them in which he represented the great dangers likely to ensue from such an appointment as this of fuentes, but declared that he washed his hands of the consequences, and that he had determined to leave a country where he was of so little account. he would then close his eyes and ears to everything that might occur, and thus escape the infamy of remaining in a country where so little account was made of him. he was urged to refrain from reading this paper and to invite tassis. after a time he consented to suppress the document, but he manfully refused to bid the objectionable diplomatist to his banquet. the dinner took place and passed off pleasantly enough. arschot did not read his manifesto, but, as he warmed with wine, he talked a great deal of nonsense which, according to stephen ybarra, much resembled it, and he vowed that thenceforth he would be blind and dumb to all that might occur. a few days later, he paid a visit to the new governor-general, and took a peaceful farewell of him. "your majesty knows very well what he is," wrote fuentes: "he is nothing but talk." before leaving the country he sent a bitter complaint to ybarra, to the effect that the king had entirely forgotten him, and imploring that financier's influence to procure for him some gratuity from his majesty. he was in such necessity, he said, that it was no longer possible for him to maintain his household. and with this petition the grandee of the obedient provinces shook the dust from his shoes, and left his natal soil for ever. he died on the th december of the same year in venice. his son the prince of chimay, his brother, and son-inlaw, and the other obedient nobles, soon accommodated themselves to the new administration, much as they had been inclined to bluster at first about their privileges. the governor soon reported that matters were proceeding very, smoothly. there was a general return to the former docility now that such a disciplinarian as fuentes held the reins. the opening scenes of the campaign between the spanish governor and france were, as usual, in picardy. the marquis of varambon made a demonstration in the neighbourhood of dourlens--a fortified town on the river authie, lying in an open plain, very deep in that province--while fuentes took the field with eight thousand men, and laid siege to le catelet. he had his eye, however, upon ham. that important stronghold was in the hands of a certain nobleman called de gomeron, who had been an energetic leaguer, and was now disposed, for a handsome consideration, to sell himself to the king of spain. in the auction of governors and generals then going on in every part of france it had been generally found that henry's money was more to be depended upon in the long run, although philip's bids were often very high, and, for a considerable period, the payments regular. gomeron's upset price for himself was twenty-five thousand crowns in cash, and a pension of eight thousand a year. upon these terms he agreed to receive a spanish garrison into the town, and to cause the french in the citadel to be sworn into the service of the spanish king. fuentes agreed to the bargain and paid the adroit tradesman, who knew so well how to turn a penny for himself, a large portion of the twenty-five thousand crowns upon the nail. de gomeron was to proceed to brussels to receive the residue. his brother-in-law, m. d'orville, commanded in the citadel, and so soon as the spanish troops had taken possession of the town its governor claimed full payment of his services. but difficulties awaited him in brussels. he was informed that a french garrison could not be depended upon for securing the fortress, but that town and citadel must both be placed in spanish hands. de gomeron loudly protesting that this was not according to contract, was calmly assured, by command of fuentes, that unless the citadel were at once evacuated and surrendered, he would not receive the balance of his twenty-five thousand crowns, and that he should instantly lose his head. here was more than de gomeron had bargained for; but this particular branch of commerce in revolutionary times, although lucrative, has always its risks. de gomeron, thus driven to the wall, sent a letter by a spanish messenger to his brother-in-law, ordering him to surrender the fortress. d'orville--who meantime had been making his little arrangements with the other party--protested that the note had been written under duress, and refused to comply with its directions. time was pressing, for the duke of bouillon and the count of st. pol lay with a considerable force in the neighbourhood, obviously menacing ham. fuentes accordingly sent that distinguished soldier and historian, don carlos coloma, with a detachment of soldiers to brussels, with orders to bring gomeron into camp. he was found seated at supper with his two young brothers, aged respectively sixteen and eighteen years, and was just putting a cherry into his mouth as coloma entered the room. he remained absorbed in thought, trifling with the cherry without eating it, which don carlos set down as a proof of guilt: the three brothers were at once put in a coach, together with their sister, a nun of the age of twenty, and conveyed to the head-quarters of fuentes, who lay before le catelet, but six leagues from ham. meantime d'orville had completed his negotiations with bouillon, and had agreed to surrender the fortress so soon as the spanish troops should be driven from the town. the duke knowing that there was no time to lose, came with three thousand men before the place. his summons to surrender was answered by a volley of cannon-shot from the town defences. an assault was made and repulsed, d'humieres, a most gallant officer and a favourite of king henry, being killed, besides at least two hundred soldiers. the next attack was successful, the town was carried, and the spanish garrison put to the sword. d'orville then, before giving up the citadel, demanded three hostages for the lives of his three brothers-in-law. the hostages availed him little. fuentes had already sent word to gomeron's mother, that if the bargain were not fulfilled he would send her the heads of her three sons on three separate dishes. the distracted woman made her way, to d'orville, and fell at his feet with tears and entreaties. it was too late, and d'orville, unable to bear her lamentations, suddenly rushed from the castle, and nearly fell into the hands of the spaniards as he fled from the scene. two of the four cuirassiers, who alone of the whole garrison accompanied him, were taken prisoners. the governor escaped to unknown regions. madame de gomeron then appeared before fuentes, and tried in vain to soften him. de gomeron was at once beheaded in the sight of the whole camp. the two younger sons were retained in prison, but ultimately set at liberty. the town and citadel were thus permanently acquired by their lawful king, who was said to be more afflicted at the death of d'humieres than rejoiced at the capture of ham. meantime colonel verdugo, royal governor of friesland, whose occupation in those provinces, now so nearly recovered by the republic, was gone, had led a force of six thousand foot, and twelve hundred horse across the french border, and was besieging la ferte on the cher. the siege was relieved by bouillon on the th may, and the spanish veteran was then ordered to take command in burgundy. but his days were numbered. he had been sick of dysentery at luxembourg during the summer, but after apparent recovery died suddenly on the nd september, and of course was supposed to have been poisoned. he was identified with the whole history of the netherland wars. born at talavera de la reyna, of noble parentage, as he asserted--although his mother was said to have sold dogs' meat, and he himself when a youth was a private soldier--he rose by steady conduct and hard fighting to considerable eminence in his profession. he was governor of harlem after the famous siege, and exerted himself with some success to mitigate the ferocity of the spaniards towards the netherlanders at that epoch. he was marshal- general of the camp under don john of austria, and distinguished himself at the battle of gemblours. he succeeded count renneberg as governor of friesland and groningen, and bore a manful part in most of the rough business that had been going on for a generation of mankind among those blood-stained wolds and morasses. he was often victorious, and quite as often soundly defeated; but he enjoyed campaigning, and was a glutton of work. he cared little for parade and ceremony, but was fond of recalling with pleasure the days when he was a soldier at four crowns a month, with an undivided fourth of one cloak, which he and three companions wore by turns on holidays. although accused of having attempted to procure the assassination of william lewis nassau, he was not considered ill-natured, and he possessed much admiration for prince maurice. an iron-clad man, who had scarcely taken harness from his back all his life, he was a type of the spanish commanders who had implanted international hatred deeply in the netherland soul, and who, now that this result and no other had been accomplished, were rapidly passing away. he had been baptised franco, and his family appellation of verdugo meant executioner. punning on these names he was wont to say, that he was frank for all good people, but a hangman for heretics; and he acted up to his gibe. foiled at ham, fuentes had returned to the siege of catelet, and had soon reduced the place. he then turned his attention again to dourlens, and invested that city. during the preliminary operations, another veteran commander in these wars, valentin pardieu de la motte, recently created count of everbecque by philip, who had been for a long time general-in- chief of the artillery, and was one of the most famous and experienced officers in the spanish service, went out one fine moonlight night to reconnoitre the enemy, and to superintend the erection of batteries. as he was usually rather careless of his personal safety, and rarely known to put on his armour when going for such purposes into the trenches, it was remarked with some surprise, on this occasion, that he ordered his page to bring his, accoutrements, and that he armed himself cap-a pie before leaving his quarters. nevertheless, before he had reached the redoubt, a bullet from the town struck him between the fold of his morion and the edge of his buckler and he fell dead without uttering a sound. here again was a great loss to the king's service. la motte, of a noble family in burgundy, had been educated in the old fierce traditions of the spanish system of warfare in the netherlands, and had been one of the very hardest instruments that the despot could use for his bloody work. he had commanded a company of horse at the famous battle of st. quintin, and since that opening event in philip's reign he had been unceasingly-- engaged in the flemish wars. alva made him a colonel of a walloon regiment; the grand commander requesena appointed him governor of gravelines. on the whole he had been tolerably faithful to his colours; having changed sides but twice. after the pacification of ghent he swore allegiance to the states-general, and assisted in the bombardment of the citadel of that place. soon afterwards he went over to don john of austria, and surrendered to him the town and fortress of gravelines, of which he then continued governor in the name of the king. he was fortunate in the accumulation of office and of money; rather unlucky in his campaigning. he was often wounded in action, and usually defeated when commanding in chief. he lost an arm at the siege of sluy's, and had now lost his life almost by an accident. although twice married he left no children to inherit his great estates, while the civil and military offices left vacant by his death were sufficient to satisfy the claims of five aspiring individuals. the count of varax succeeded him as general of artillery; but it was difficult to find a man to replace la motte, possessing exactly the qualities which had made that warrior so valuable to his king. the type was rapidly disappearing, and most fortunately for humanity, if half the stories told of him by grave chroniclers, accustomed to discriminate between history and gossip, are to be believed. he had committed more than one cool homicide. although not rejoicing in the same patronymic as his spanish colleague of friesland, he too was ready on occasion to perform hangman's work. when sergeant- major in flanders, he had himself volunteered--so ran the chronicle-- to do execution on a poor wretch found guilty of professing the faith of calvin; and, with his own hands, had prepared a fire of straw, tied his victim to the stake, and burned him to cinders. another netherlander for the name crime of heresy had been condemned to be torn to death by horses. no one could be found to carry out the sentence. the soldiers under la motte's command broke into mutiny rather than permit themselves to be used for such foul purposes; but the ardent young sergeant-major came forward, tied the culprit by the arms and legs to two horses, and himself whipped them to their work till it was duly accomplished. was it strange that in philip's reign such energy should be rewarded by wealth, rank, and honour? was not such a labourer in the vineyard worthy of his hire? still another eminent chieftain in the king's service disappeared at this time--one who, although unscrupulous and mischievous enough in his day, was however not stained by any suspicion of crimes like these. count charles mansfeld, tired of governing his decrepit parent peter ernest, who, since the appointment of fuentes, had lost all further chance of governing the netherlands, had now left philip's service and gone to the turkish wars. for amurath iii., who had died in the early days of the year, had been succeeded by a sultan as warlike as himself. mahomet iii., having strangled his nineteen brothers on his accession, handsomely buried them in cypress coffins by the side of their father, and having subsequently sacked and drowned ten infant princes posthumously born to amurath, was at leisure to carry the war through transylvania and hungary, up to the gates of vienna, with renewed energy. the turk, who could enforce the strenuous rules of despotism by which all secundogenitures and collateral claimants in the ottoman family were thus provided for, was a foe to be dealt with seriously. the power of the moslems at that day was a full match for the holy roman empire. the days were far distant when the grim turk's head was to become a mockery and a show; and when a pagan empire, born of carnage and barbarism, was to be kept alive in europe when it was ready to die, by the collective efforts of christian princes. charles mansfeld had been received with great enthusiasm at the court of rudolph, where he was created a prince of the empire, and appointed to the chief command of the imperial armies under the archduke matthias. but his warfare was over. at the siege of gran he was stricken with sickness and removed to comorn, where he lingered some weeks. there, on the th august, as he lay half-dozing on his couch, he was told that the siege was at last successful; upon which he called for a goblet of wine, drained it eagerly, and then lay resting his head on his hand, like one absorbed in thought. when they came to arouse him from his reverie they found that he was dead. his father still remained superfluous in the netherlands, hating and hated by fuentes; but no longer able to give that governor so much annoyance as during his son's life-time the two had been able to create for alexander farnese. the octogenarian was past work and past mischief now; but there was one older soldier than he still left upon the stage, the grandest veteran in philip's service, and now the last survivor, except the decrepit peter ernest, of the grim commanders of alva's school. christopher mondragon--that miracle of human endurance, who had been an old man when the great duke arrived in the netherlands--was still governor of antwerp citadel, and men were to speak of him yet once more before he passed from the stage. i return from this digression to the siege of dourlens. the death of la motte made no difference in the plans of fuentes. he was determined to reduce the place preparatively to more important operations. bouillon was disposed to relieve it, and to that end had assembled a force of eight thousand men within the city of amiens. by midsummer the spaniards had advanced with their mines and galleries close to the walls of the city. meantime admiral villars, who had gained so much renown by defending rouen against henry iv., and who had subsequently made such an excellent bargain with that monarch before entering his service, arrived at amiens. on the th july an expedition was sent from that city towards dourlens. bouillon and st. pol commanded in person a force of six hundred picked cavalry. pillars and sanseval each led half as many, and there was a supporting body of twelve hundred musketeers. this little army convoyed a train of wagons, containing ammunition and other supplies for the beleaguered town. but fuentes, having sufficiently strengthened his works, sallied forth with two thousand infantry, and a flying squadron of spanish horse, to intercept them. it was the eve of st. james, the patron saint of spain, at the sound, of whose name as a war-cry so many battle-fields had been won in the netherlands, so many cities sacked, so many wholesale massacres perpetrated. fuentes rode in the midst of his troops with the royal standard of spain floating above him. on the other hand yillars, glittering in magnificent armour and mounted on a superbly caparisoned charger came on, with his three hundred troopers, as if about to ride a course in a tournament. the battle which ensued was one of the most bloody for the numbers engaged, and the victory one of the most decisive recorded in this war. villars charged prematurely, furiously, foolishly. he seemed jealous of bouillon, and disposed to show the sovereign to whom he had so recently given his allegiance that an ancient leaguer and papist was a better soldier for his purpose than the most grizzled huguenot in his army. on the other hand the friends of villars accused the duke of faintheartedness, or at least of an excessive desire to save himself and his own command. the first impetuous onset of the admiral was successful, and he drove half- a-dozen companies of spaniards before him. but he had ventured too far from his supports. bouillon had only intended a feint, instead of a desperate charge; the spaniards were rallied, and the day was saved by that cool and ready soldier, carlos coloma. in less than an hour the french were utterly defeated and cut to pieces. bouillon escaped to amiens with five hundred men; this was all that was left of the expedition. the horse of villars was shot under him and the admiral's leg was broken as he fell. he was then taken prisoner by two lieutenants of carlos coloma; but while these warriors were enjoying, by anticipation, the enormous ransom they should derive from so illustrious a captive, two other lieutenants in the service of marshal de rosnes came up and claimed their share in the prize. while the four were wrangling, the admiral called out to them in excellent spanish not to dispute, for he had money enough to satisfy them all. meantime the spanish commissary--general of cavalry, contreras, came up, rebuked this unseemly dispute before the enemy had been fairly routed, and, in order to arrange the quarrel impartially, ordered his page to despatch de villars on the spot. the page, without a word, placed his arquebus to the admiral's forehead and shot him dead. so perished a bold and brilliant soldier, and a most unscrupulous politician. whether the cause of his murder was mere envy on the part of the commissary at having lost a splendid opportunity for prize-money, or hatred to an ancient leaguer thus turned renegade, it is fruitless now to enquire. villars would have paid two hundred thousand crowns for his ransom, so that the assassination was bad as a mercantile speculation; but it was pretended by the friends of contreras that rescue was at hand. it is certain, however, that nothing was attempted by the french to redeem their total overthrow. count belin was wounded and fell into the hands of coloma. sanseval was killed; and a long list of some of the most brilliant nobles in france was published by the spaniards as having perished on that bloody field. this did not prevent a large number of these victims, however, from enjoying excellent health for many long years afterwards, although their deaths have been duly recorded in chronicle from that day to our own times. but villars and sanseval were certainly slain, and fuentes sent their bodies, with a courteous letter, to the duke of nevers, at amiens, who honoured them with a stately funeral. there was much censure cast on both bouillon and villars respectively by the antagonists of each chieftain; and the contest as to the cause of the defeat was almost as animated as the skirmish itself. bouillon was censured for grudging a victory to the catholics, and thus leaving the admiral to his fate. yet it is certain that the huguenot duke himself commanded a squadron composed almost entirely of papists. villars, on the other hand, was censured for rashness, obstinacy, and greediness for distinction; yet it is probable that fuentes might have been defeated had the charges of bouillon been as determined and frequent as were those of his colleague. savigny de rosnes, too, the ancient leaguer, who commanded under fuentes, was accused of not having sufficiently followed up the victory, because unwilling that his spanish friends should entirely trample upon his own countrymen. yet there is no doubt whatever that de rosnes was as bitter an enemy to his own country as the most ferocious spaniard of them all. it has rarely been found in civil war that the man who draws his sword against his fatherland, under the banner of the foreigner, is actuated by any lingering tenderness for the nation he betrays; and the renegade frenchman was in truth the animating spirit of fuentes during the whole of his brilliant campaign. the spaniard's victories were, indeed, mainly attributable to the experience, the genius, and the rancour of de rosnes. but debates over a lost battle are apt to be barren. meantime fuentes, losing no time in controversy, advanced upon the city of dourlens, was repulsed twice, and carried it on the third assault, exactly one week after the action just recounted. the spaniards and leaguers, howling "remember ham!" butchered without mercy the garrison and all the citizens, save a small number of prisoners likely to be lucrative. six hundred of the townspeople and two thousand five hundred french soldiers were killed within a few hours. well had fuentes profited by the relationship and tuition of alva! the count of dinant and his brother de ronsoy were both slain, and two or three hundred thousand florins were paid in ransom by those who escaped with life. the victims were all buried outside of the town in one vast trench, and the effluvia bred a fever which carried off most of the surviving inhabitants. dourlens became for the time a desert. fuentes now received deputies with congratulations from the obedient provinces, especially from hainault, artois, and lille. he was also strongly urged to attempt the immediate reduction of cambray, to which end those envoys were empowered to offer contributions of four hundred and fifty thousand florins and a contingent of seven thousand infantry. berlaymont, too, bishop of tournay and archbishop of cambray, was ready to advance forty thousand florins in the same cause. fuentes, in the highest possible spirits at his success, and having just been reinforced by count bucquoy with a fresh walloon regiment of fifteen hundred foot and with eight hundred and fifty of the mutineers from tirlemont and chapelle, who were among the choicest of spanish veterans, was not disposed to let the grass grow under his feet. within four days after the sack of dourlens he broke up his camp, and came before cambray with an army of twelve thousand foot and nearly four thousand horse. but before narrating the further movements of the vigorous new governor- general, it is necessary to glance at the military operations in the eastern part of the netherlands and upon the rhine. the states-general had reclaimed to their authority nearly all that important region lying beyond the yssel--the solid frisian bulwark of the republic--but there were certain points nearer the line where upper and nether germany almost blend into one, which yet acknowledged the name of the king. the city of groenlo, or grol, not a place of much interest or importance in itself, but close to the frontier, and to that destined land of debate, the duchies of cleves, juliers, and berg, still retained its spanish garrison. on the th july prince maurice of nassau came before the city with six thousand infantry, some companies of cavalry, and sixteen pieces of artillery. he made his approaches in form, and after a week's operations he fired three volleys, according to his custom, and summoned the place to capitulate. governor jan van stirum replied stoutly that he would hold the place for god and the king to the last drop of his blood. meantime there was hope of help from the outside. maurice was a vigorous young commander, but there was a man to be dealt with who had been called the "good old mondragon" when the prince was in his cradle; and who still governed the citadel of antwerp, and was still ready for an active campaign. christopher mondragon was now ninety-two years old. not often in the world's history has a man of that age been capable of personal, participation in the joys of the battlefield, whatever natural reluctance veterans are apt to manifest at relinquishing high military control. but mondragon looked not with envy but with admiration on the growing fame of the nassau chieftain, and was disposed, before he himself left the stage, to match himself with the young champion. so soon as he heard of the intended demonstration of maurice against grol, the ancient governor of antwerp collected a little army by throwing together all the troops that could be spared from the various garrisons within his command. with two spanish regiments, two thousand swiss, the walloon troops of de grisons, and the irish regiment of stanley--in all seven thousand foot and thirteen hundred horse--mondragon marched straight across brabant and gelderland to the rhine. at kaiserworth he reviewed his forces, and announced his intention of immediately crossing the river. there was a murmur of disapprobation among officers and men at what they considered the foolhardy scheme of mad old mondragon. but the general had not campaigned a generation before, at the age of sixty- nine, in the bottom of the sea, and waded chin-deep for six hours long of an october night, in the face of a rising tide from the german ocean and of an army of zeelanders, to be frightened now at the summer aspect of the peaceful rhine. the wizened little old man, walking with difficulty by the aid of a staff, but armed in proof, with plumes waving gallantly from his iron headpiece, and with his rapier at his side, ordered a chair to be brought to the river's edge. then calmly seating himself in the presence of his host, he stated that he should not rise from that chair until the last man had crossed the river. furthermore, he observed that it was not only his purpose to relieve the city of grol, but to bring maurice to an action, and to defeat him, unless he retired. the soldiers ceased to murmur, the pontoons were laid, the, river was passed, and on the th july, maurice, hearing of the veteran's approach, and not feeling safe in his position, raised the siege of the city. burning his camp and everything that could not be taken with him on his march, the prince came in perfect order to borkelo, two dutch miles from grol. here he occupied himself for some time in clearing the country of brigands who in the guise of soldiers infested that region and made the little cities of deutecom, anholt, and heerenberg unsafe. he ordered the inhabitants of these places to send out detachments to beat the bushes for his cavalry, while hohenlo was ordered to hunt the heaths and wolds thoroughly with packs of bloodhounds until every man and beast to be found lurking in those wild regions should be extirpated. by these vigorous and cruel, but perhaps necessary, measures the brigands were at last extirpated, and honest people began to sleep in their beds. on the th august maurice took up a strong position at bislich, not far from wesel, where the river lippe empties itself into the rhine. mondragon, with his army strengthened by reinforcements from garrisons in gelderland, and by four hundred men brought by frederic, van den berg from grol, had advanced to a place called walston in den ham, in the neighbourhood of wesel. the lippe flowed between the two hostile forces. although he had broken up his siege, the prince was not disposed to renounce his whole campaign before trying conclusions with his veteran antagonist. he accordingly arranged an ambush with much skill, by means of which he hoped to bring on a general engagement and destroy mondragon and his little army. his cousin and favourite lieutenant, philip nassau, was entrusted with the preliminaries. that adventurous commander, with a picked force of seven hundred cavalry, moved quietly from the camp on the evening of the st september. he took with him his two younger brothers, ernest and lewis gunther, who, as has been seen, had received the promise of the eldest brother of the family, william lewis, that they should be employed from time to time in any practical work that might be going, forward. besides these young gentlemen, several of the most famous english and dutch commanders were on, the expedition; the brothers paul and marcellus bax, captains parker, cutler, and robert vere, brother of sir francis, among the number. early in the morning of the nd september the force crossed the lippe, according to orders, keeping a pontoon across the stream to secure their retreat. they had instructions thus to feel the enemy at early dawn, and, as he was known to have foraging parties out every morning along the margin of the river, to make a sudden descent upon their pickets, and to capture those companies before they could effect their escape or be reinforced. afterwards they were to retreat across the lippe, followed, as it was hoped would be the case, by the troops: of mondragon, anxious to punish this piece of audacity. meantime maurice with five thousand infantry, the rest of his cavalry, and several pieces of artillery, awaited their coming, posted behind some hills in the neighbourhood of wesel. the plot of the young commander was an excellent one, but the ancient campaigner on the other side of the river had not come all the way from his comfortable quarters in antwerp to be caught napping on that september morning. mondragon had received accurate information from his scouts as to what was going on in the enemy's camp; and as to the exact position of maurice. he was up long before daybreak--"the good old christopher"--and himself personally arranged a counter-ambush. in the fields lying a little back from the immediate neighbourhood of, the lippe he posted the mass of his cavalry, supported by a well-concealed force of infantry. the pickets on the stream and the foraging companies were left to do their usual work as if nothing were likely to happen. philip nassau galloped cheerfully forward; according to the well- concerted plan, sending cutler and marcellus bax with a handful of troopers to pounce upon the enemy's pickets. when those officers got to the usual foraging ground they, came upon a much larger cavalry force than they had looked for; and, suspecting something wrong; dashed back-- again to give information to count philip. that impatient commander, feeling sure of his game unless this foolish delay should give the foraging companies time to, escape; ordered an immediate advance with his whole cavalry force: the sheriff of zallant was ordered to lead the way. he objected that the pass, leading through a narrow lane and opening by a gate into an open field, was impassable for more than two troopers abreast; and that the enemy was in force beyond. philips scorning these words of caution, and exclaiming that seventy-five lancers were enough to put fifty carabineers to rout; put on his casque, drew his sword; and sending his brother lewis to summon kinski and donck; dashed into the pass, accompanied by the two counts and, a couple of other nobles. the sheriff, seeing this, followed him at full gallop; and after him came the troopers of barchon, of du bois, and of paul bax; riding single file but in much disorder. when they had all entered inextricably into the lane, with the foremost of the lancers already passing through the gate, they discovered the enemy's cavalry and infantry drawn up in force upon the watery, heathery pastures beyond. there was at once a scene of confusion. to use lances was impossible, while they were all struggling together through the narrow passage offering themselves an easy prey to the enemy as they slowly emerged into the gelds. the foremost defended themselves with sabre and pistol as well as they could. the hindmost did their best to escape, and rode for their lives to the other side of the river. all trampled upon each other and impeded each other's movements. there was a brief engagement, bloody, desperate, hand to hand, and many spaniards fell before the entrapped netherlanders. but there could not be a moment's doubt as to the issue. count philip went down in the beginning of the action, shot through the body by an arquebus, discharged so close to him that his clothes were set on fire. as there was no water within reach the flames could be extinguished at last only by rolling him over, and over, wounded as he was, among the sand and heather. count ernest solms was desperately wounded at the same time. for a moment both gentlemen attempted to effect their escape by mounting on one horse, but both fell to the ground exhausted and were taken prisoners. ernest nassau was also captured. his young brother, lewis gunther, saved himself by swimming the river. count kinski was mortally wounded. robert vere, too, fell into the enemy's hands, and was afterwards murdered in cold blood. marcellus bax, who had returned to the field by a circuitous path, still under the delusion that he was about handsomely to cut off the retreat of the foraging companies, saved himself and a handful of cavalry by a rapid flight, so soon as he discovered the enemy drawn up in line of battle. cutler and parker were equally fortunate. there was less than a hundred of the states' troops killed, and it is probable that a larger number of the spaniards fell. but the loss of philip nassau, despite the debauched life and somewhat reckless valour. of that soldier, was a very severe one to the army and to his family. he was conveyed to rheinberg, where his wounds were dressed. as he lay dying he was courteously visited by mondragon, and by many other spanish officers, anxious to pay their respects to so distinguished and warlike a member of an illustrious house. he received them with dignity, and concealed his physical agony so as to respond to their conversation as became a nassau. his cousin, frederic van den berg, who was among the visitors, indecently taunted him with his position; asking him what he had expected by serving the cause of the beggars. philip turned from him with impatience and bade him hold his peace. at midnight he died. william of orange and his three brethren had already laid down their lives for the republic, and now his eldest brother's son had died in the same cause. "he has carried the name of nassau with honour into the grave," said his brother lewis william, to their father. ten others of the house, besides many collateral relations, were still in arms for their adopted country. rarely in history has a single noble race so entirely identified itself with a nation's record in its most heroic epoch as did that of orange-nassau with the liberation of holland. young ernest solms, brother of count everard, lay in the same chamber with philip nassau, and died on the following day. their bodies were sent by mondragon with a courteous letter to maurice at bisslich. ernest nassau was subsequently ransomed for ten thousand florins. this skirmish on the lippe has no special significance in a military point of view, but it derives more than a passing interest, not only from the death of many a brave and distinguished soldier, but for the illustration of human vigour triumphing, both physically and mentally, over the infirmities of old age, given by the achievement of christopher mondragon. alone he had planned his expedition across the country from antwerp, alone he had insisted on crossing the rhine, while younger soldiers hesitated; alone, with his own active brain and busy hands, he had outwitted the famous young chieftain of the netherlands, counteracted his subtle policy, and set the counter-ambush by which his choicest cavalry were cut to pieces, and one of his bravest generals slain. so far could the icy blood of ninety-two prevail against the vigour of twenty-eight. the two armies lay over against each other, with the river between them, for some days longer, but it was obvious that nothing further would be attempted on either side. mondragon had accomplished the object for which he had marched from brabant. he had, spoiled the autumn campaign of maurice, and, was, now disposed to return before winter to, his own quarters. he sent a trumpet accordingly to his antagonist, begging him, half in jest, to have more consideration for his infirmities than to keep him out in his old age in such foul weather, but to allow him the military honour of being last to break up camp. should maurice consent to move away, mondragon was ready to pledge himself not to pursue him, and within three days to leave his own entrenchments. the proposition was not granted, and very soon afterwards the spaniard, deciding to retire, crossed the rhine on the th october. maurice made a slight attempt at pursuit, sending count william lewis with some cavalry, who succeeded in cutting off a few wagons. the army, however, returned safely, to be dispersed into various garrisons. this was mondragon's last feat of, arms. less than three months afterwards, in antwerp citadel, as the veteran was washing his hands previously to going to the dinner-table, he sat down and died. strange to say, this man--who had spent almost a century on the battlefield, who had been a soldier in nearly every war that had been waged in any part of europe during that most belligerent age, who had come an old man to the netherlands before alva's arrival, and had ever since been constantly and personally engaged in the vast flemish tragedy which had now lasted well nigh thirty years--had never himself lost a drop of blood. his battle- fields had been on land and water, on ice, in fire, and at the bottom of the sea, but he had never received a wound. nay, more; he had been blown up in a fortress--the castle of danvilliers in luxembourg, of which he was governor--where all perished save his wife and himself, and, when they came to dig among the ruins, they excavated at last the ancient couple, protected by the framework of a window in the embrasure of which they had been seated, without a scratch or a bruise. he was a biscayan by descent, but born in medina del campo. a strict disciplinarian, very resolute and pertinacious, he had the good fortune to be beloved by his inferiors, his equals, and his superiors. he was called the father of his soldiers, the good mondragon, and his name was unstained by any of those deeds of ferocity which make the chronicles of the time resemble rather the history of wolves than of men. to a married daughter, mother of several children, he left a considerable fortune. maurice broke up his camp soon after the departure of his antagonist, and paused for a few days at arnheim to give honourable burial to his cousin philip and count solms. meantime sir francis vere was detached, with three regiments, which were to winter in overyssel, towards weerd castle, situate at a league's distance from ysselsburg, and defended by a garrison of twenty-six men under captain pruys. that doughty commandant, on being summoned to surrender, obstinately refused. vere, according to maurice's orders, then opened with his artillery against the place, which soon capitulated in great panic and confusion. the captain demanded the honours of war. vere told him in reply that the honours of war were halters for the garrison who had dared to defend such a hovel against artillery. the twenty-six were accordingly ordered to draw black and white straws. this was done, and the twelve drawing white straws were immediately hanged; the thirteenth receiving his life on consenting to act as executioner for his comrades. the commandant was despatched first of all. the rope broke, but the english soldiers held him under the water of the ditch until he was drowned. the castle was then thoroughly sacked, the women being sent unharmed to ysselsburg. maurice then shipped the remainder of his troops along the rhine and waal to their winter quarters and returned to the hague. it was the feeblest year's work yet done by the stadholder. meantime his great ally, the huguenot-catholic prince of bearne, was making a dashing, and, on the whole, successful campaign in the heart of his own kingdom. the constable of castile, don ferdinando de velasco, one of spain's richest grandees and poorest generals, had been sent with an army of ten thousand men to take the field in burgundy against the man with whom the great farnese had been measuring swords so lately, and with not unmingled success, in picardy. biron, with a sudden sweep, took possession of aussone, autun, and beaune, but on one adventurous day found himself so deeply engaged with a superior force of the enemy in the neighbourhood of fontaine francaise, or st. seine, where france's great river takes its rise, as to be nearly cut off and captured. but henry himself was already in the field, and by one of those mad, reckless impulses which made him so adorable as a soldier and yet so profoundly censurable as a commander-in-chief, he flung himself, like a young lieutenant, with a mere handful of cavalry, into the midst of the fight, and at the imminent peril of his own life succeeded in rescuing the marshal and getting off again unscathed. on other occasions henry said he had fought for victory, but on that for dear life; and, even as in the famous and foolish skirmish at aumale three years before, it was absence of enterprise or lack of cordiality on the part of his antagonists, that alone prevented a captive king from being exhibited as a trophy of triumph for the expiring league. but the constable of castile was not born to cheer the heart of his prudent master with such a magnificent spectacle. velasco fell back to gray and obstinately refused to stir from his entrenchments, while henry before his eyes laid siege to dijon. on the th june the capital of burgundy surrendered to its sovereign, but no temptations could induce the constable to try the chance of a battle. henry's movements in the interior were more successful than were the operations nearer the frontier, but while the monarch was thus cheerfully fighting for his crown in france, his envoys were winning a still more decisive campaign for him in rome. d'ossat and perron had accomplished their diplomatic task with consummate ability, and, notwithstanding the efforts and the threats of the spanish ambassador and the intrigues of his master, the absolution was granted. the pope arose early on the morning of the th august, and walked barefoot from his palace of mount cavallo to the church of maria maggiore, with his eyes fixed on the ground, weeping loudly and praying fervently. he celebrated mass in the church, and then returned as he went, saluting no one on the road and shutting himself up in his palace afterwards. the same ceremony was performed ten days later on the festival of our lady's ascension. in vain, however, had been the struggle on the part of his holiness to procure from the ambassador the deposition of the crown of france in his hands, in order that the king might receive it back again as a free gift and concession from the chief pontiff. such a triumph was not for rome, nor could even the publication of the council of trent in france be conceded except with a saving clause "as to matters which could not be put into operation without troubling the repose of the kingdom." and to obtain this clause the envoys declared "that they had been obliged to sweat blood and water." on the th day of september the absolution was proclaimed with great pomp and circumstance from the gallery of st. peter's, the holy father seated on the highest throne of majesty, with his triple crown on has head, and all his cardinals and bishops about him in their most effulgent robes. the silver trumpets were blown, while artillery roared from the castle of st. angelo, and for two successive nights rome was in a blaze of bonfires and illumination, in a whirl of bell-ringing, feasting, and singing of hosannaha. there had not been such a merry-making in the eternal city since the pope had celebrated solemn thanksgiving for the massacre of st. bartholomew. the king was almost beside himself with rapture when the great news reached him, and he straightway wrote letters, overflowing with gratitude and religious enthusiasm, to the pontiff and expressed his regret that military operations did not allow him to proceed at once to rome in person to kiss the holy father's feet. the narrative returns to fuentes, who was left before the walls of cambray. that venerable ecclesiastical city; pleasantly seated amid gardens, orchards, and green pastures, watered, by the winding scheld, was well fortified after the old manner, but it was especially defended and dominated by a splendid pentagonal citadel built by charles v. it was filled with fine churches, among which the magnificent cathedral was pre-eminent, and with many other stately edifices. the population was thrifty, active, and turbulent, like that of all those flemish and walloon cities which the spirit of mediaeval industry had warmed for a time into vehement little republics. but, as has already been depicted in these pages, the celtic element had been more apt to receive than consistent to retain the generous impress which had once been stamped on all the netherlands. the walloon provinces had fallen away from their flemish sisters and seemed likely to accept a permanent yoke, while in the territory of the united states, as john baptist tassis was at that very moment pathetically observing in a private letter to philip, "with the coming up of a new generation educated as heretics from childhood, who had never heard what the word king means, it was likely to happen at last that the king's memory, being wholly forgotten nothing would remain in the land but heresy alone." from this sad fate cambray had been saved. gavre d'inchy had seventeen years before surrendered the city to the duke of alencon during that unlucky personage's brief and base career in the netherlands, all, that was left of his visit being the semi-sovereignty which the notorious balagny had since that time enjoyed, in the archiepiscopal city. this personage, a natural son of monluc, bishop of valence, and nephew of the, distinguished marshal monluci was one of the most fortunate and the most ignoble of all the soldiers of fortune who had played their part at this epoch in the netherlands. a poor creature himself, he had a heroine for a wife. renee, the sister of bussy d'amboise, had vowed to unite herself to a man who would avenge the assassination of her brother by the count montsoreau? balagny readily agreed to perform the deed, and accordingly espoused the high-born dame, but it does not appear that he ever wreaked her vengeance on the murderer. he had now governed cambray until the citizens and the whole countryside were galled and exhausted by his grinding tyranny, his inordinate pride, and his infamous extortions. his latest achievement had been to force upon his subjects a copper currency bearing the nominal value of silver, with the same blasting effects which such experiments in political economy are apt to produce on princes and peoples. he had been a royalist, a guisist, a leaguer, a dutch republican, by turns, and had betrayed all the parties, at whose expense he had alternately filled his coffers. during the past year he had made up his mind--like most of the conspicuous politicians and campaigners of france--that the moribund league was only fit to be trampled upon by its recent worshippers, and he had made accordingly one of the very best bargains with henry iv. that had yet been made, even at that epoch of self-vending grandees. henry, by treaty ratified in august, , had created him prince of cambray and marshal of france, so that the man who had been receiving up to that very moment a monthly subsidy of seven thousand two hundred dollars from the king of spain was now gratified with a pension to about the same yearly amount by the king of france. during the autumn henry had visited cambray, and the new prince had made wondrous exhibitions of loyalty to the sovereign whom he had done his best all his life to exclude from his kingdom. there had been a ceaseless round of tournaments, festivals, and masquerades in the city in honour of the huguenot chieftain, now changed into the most orthodox and most legitimate of monarchs, but it was not until midsummer of the present year that balagny was called on to defend his old possessions and his new principality against a well-seasoned army and a vigorous commander. meanwhile his new patron was so warmly occupied in other directions that it might be difficult for him to send assistance to the beleaguered city. on the th august fuentes began his siege operations. before the investment had been completed the young prince of rhetelois, only fifteen years of age, son of the duke of nevers, made his entrance into the city attended by thirty of his father's archers. de vich, too, an experienced and faithful commander, succeeded in bringing four or five hundred dragoons through the enemy's lines. these meagre reinforcements were all that reached the place; for, although the states-general sent two or three thousand scotchmen and zeelanders, under justinus of nassau, to henry, that he might be the better enabled to relieve this important frontier city, the king's movements were not sufficiently prompt to turn the force to good account balagny was left with a garrison of three thousand french and walloons in the city, besides five hundred french in the fortress. after six weeks steady drawing of parallels and digging of mines fuentes was ready to open his batteries. on the th september, the news, very much exaggerated, of mondragon's brilliant victory near wessel, and of the deaths of philip nassau and ernest solms, reached the spanish camp. immense was the rejoicing. triumphant salutes from eighty-seven cannon and many thousand muskets shook the earth and excited bewilderment and anxiety within the walls of the city. almost immediately afterwards a tremendous cannonade was begun and so vigorously sustained that the burghers, and part of the garrison, already half rebellious with hatred to balagny, began loudly to murmur as the balls came flying into their streets. a few days later an insurrection broke out. three thousand citizens, with red flags flying, and armed to the teeth were discovered at daylight drawn up in the market place. balagny came down from the citadel and endeavoured to calm the tumult, but was received with execrations. they had been promised, shouted the insurgents, that every road about cambray was to swarm with french soldiers under their formidable king, kicking the heads of the spaniards in all directions. and what had they got? a child with thirty archers, sent by his father, and half a man at the head of four hundred dragoons. to stand a siege under such circumstances against an army of fifteen thousand spaniards, and to take balagny's copper as if it were gold, was more than could be asked of respectable burghers. the allusion to the young prince rhetelois and to de vich, who had lost a leg in the wars, was received with much enthusiasm. balagny, appalled at the fury of the people, whom he had so long been trampling upon while their docility lasted, shrank back before their scornful denunciations into the citadel. but his wife was not appalled. this princess had from the beginning of the siege showed a courage and an energy worthy of her race. night and day she had gone the rounds of the ramparts, encouraging and directing the efforts of the garrison. she had pointed batteries against the enemy's works, and, with her own hands, had fired the cannon. she now made her appearance in the market-place, after her husband had fled, and did her best to assuage the tumult, and to arouse the mutineers to a sense of duty or of shame. she plucked from her bosom whole handfuls of gold which she threw among the bystanders, and she was followed by a number of carts filled with sacks of coin ready to be exchanged for the debased currency. expressing contempt for the progress made by the besieging army, and for the, slight impression so far produced upon the defences of the city, she snatched a pike from a soldier and offered in person to lead the garrison to the breach. her audience knew full well that this was no theatrical display, but that the princess was ready as the boldest warrior to lead a forlorn hope or to repel the bloodiest assault. nor, from a military point of view, was their situation desperate. but their hatred and scorn for balagny could not be overcome by any passing sentiment of admiration for his valiant though imperious wife. no one followed her to the breach. exclaiming that she at least would never surrender, and that she would die a sovereign princess rather than live a subject, renee de balagny retained to the citadel. the town soon afterwards capitulated, and as the spanish soldiers, on entering, observed the slight damage that had been caused by their batteries, they were most grateful to the faint-hearted or mutinous condition by which they had been spared the expense of an assault. the citadel was now summoned to surrender; and balagny agreed, in case he should not be relieved within six days, to accept what was considered honourable terms. it proved too late to expect succour from henry, and balagny, but lately a reigning prince, was fain to go forth on the appointed day and salute his conqueror. but the princess kept her vow. she had done her best to defend her dominions and to live a sovereign, and now there was nothing left her but to die. with bitter reproaches on her husband's pusillanimity, with tears and sobs of rage and shame, she refused food, spurned the idea of capitulation, and expired before the th of october. on that day a procession moved out of the citadel gates. balagny, with a son of eleven years of age, the prince of rhetelois, the commander de vich; and many other distinguished personages, all magnificently attired, came forth at the head of what remained of the garrison. the soldiers, numbering thirteen hundred foot and two hundred and forty horse, marched with colours flying, drums beating, bullet in mouth, and all the other recognised palliatives of military disaster. last of all came a hearse, bearing the coffin of the princess of cambray. fuentes saluted the living leaders of the procession, and the dead heroine; with stately courtesy, and ordered an escort as far as peronne. balagny met with a cool reception from henry at st. quintin, but subsequently made his peace, and espoused the sister of the king's mistress, gabrielle d'estrees. the body of gavre d'inchy, which had been buried for years, was dug up and thrown into a gutter. etext editor's bookmarks: deal with his enemy as if sure to become his friend mondragon was now ninety-two years old more catholic than the pope octogenarian was past work and past mischief sacked and drowned ten infant princes strangled his nineteen brothers on his accession this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, chapter xxvi. return of prince maurice to the siege of steenwyck--capitulation of the besieged--effects of the introduction of mining operations-- maurice besieges coeworden--verdugo attempts to relieve the city, but fails--the city capitulates, and prince maurice retreats into winter quarters. while farnese had thus been strengthening the bulwarks of philip's universal monarchy in that portion of his proposed french dominions which looked towards england, there had been opportunity for prince maurice to make an assault upon the frisian defences of this vast realm. it was difficult to make half europe into one great spanish fortification, guarding its every bastion and every point of the curtain, without far more extensive armaments than the "great king," as the leaguers proposed that philip should entitle himself, had ever had at his disposal. it might be a colossal scheme to stretch the rod of empire over so large a portion of the earth, but the dwarfish attempts to carry the design into execution hardly reveal the hand of genius. it is astonishing to contemplate the meagre numbers and the slender funds with which this world-empire was to be asserted and maintained. the armies arrayed at any important point hardly exceeded a modern division or two; while the resources furnished for a year would hardly pay in later days for a few weeks' campaign. when alexander, the first commander of his time, moved out of flanders into france with less than twenty thousand men, he left most vital portions of his master's hereditary dominions so utterly unprotected that it was possible to attack them with a handful of troops. the young disciple of simon stevinus now resumed that practical demonstration of his principles which had been in the previous year so well begun. on the th may, , maurice, taking the field with six thousand foot and two thousand horse, came once more before steenwyck. it will be remembered that he had been obliged to relinquish the siege of this place in order to confront the duke of parma in july, , at nymegen. the city--very important from its position, being the key to the province of drenthe as well as one of the safeguards of friesland--had been besieged in vain by count renneberg after his treasonable surrender of groningen, of which he was governor, to the spaniards, but had been subsequently surprised by tassis. since that time it had held for the king. its fortifications were strong, and of the best description known at that day. its regular garrison was sixteen companies of foot and some cavalry under antoine de quocqueville, military governor. besides these troops were twelve hundred walloon infantry, commanded by lewis, youngest count van den berg, a brave lad of eighteen years, with whom were the lord of waterdyck and other netherland nobles. to the military student the siege may possess importance as marking a transitional epoch in the history of the beleaguering science. to the general reader, as in most of the exploits of the young poliorcetes, its details have but slender interest. perhaps it was here that the spade first vindicated its dignity, and entitled itself to be classed as a military weapon of value along with pike and arquebus. it was here that the soldiers of maurice, burrowing in the ground at ten stuyvers a day, were jeered at by the enemy from the battlements as boors and ditchers, who had forfeited their right to be considered soldiers--but jeered at for the last time. from th may to th june the prince was occupied in throwing up earthworks on the low grounds in order to bring his guns into position. on the th june he began to batter with forty-five pieces, but effected little more than to demolish some of the breast-works. he threw hot shot into the town very diligently, too, but did small damage. the cannonading went on for nearly a week, but the practice was so very indifferent--notwithstanding the protection of the blessed barbara and the tuition of the busmasters--that the besieged began to amuse themselves with these empty and monotonous salvos of the honourable artillery guild. when all this blazing and thundering had led to no better result than to convert a hundred thousand good flemish florins into noise and smoke, the thrifty netherlanders on both sides of the walls began to disparage the young general's reputation. after all, they said, the spaniards were right when they called artillery mere 'espanta-vellacos' or scare-cowards. this burrowing and bellowing must at last give place to the old-fashioned push of pike, and then it would be seen who the soldiers were. observations like these were freely made under a flag of truce; for on the th june--notwithstanding their contempt for the 'espanta-vellacos'--the besieged had sent out a deputation to treat for an honourable surrender. maurice entertained the negotiators hospitably in his own tent, but the terms suggested to him were inadmissible. nothing came of the conference therefore but mutual criticisms, friendly enough, although sufficiently caustic. maurice now ceased cannonading, and burrowed again for ten days without interruption. four mines, leading to different points of the defences, were patiently constructed, and two large chambers at the terminations, neatly finished off and filled respectively with five thousand and twenty-five hundred pounds of powder, were at last established under two of the principal bastions. during all this digging there had been a couple of sorties in which the besieged had inflicted great damage on their enemy, and got back into the town with a few prisoners, having lost but six of their own men. sir francis vere had been severely wounded in the leg, so that he was obliged to keep his bed during the rest of the siege. verdugo, too, had made a feeble attempt to reinforce the place with three hundred men, sixty or seventy of whom had entered, while the rest had been killed or captured. on such a small scale was philip's world-empire contended for by his stadholder in friesland; yet it was certainly not the fault of the stout old portuguese. verdugo would rather have sent thirty thousand men to save the front door of his great province than three hundred. but every available man--and few enough of them they were--had been sent out of the netherlands, to defend the world-empire in its outposts of normandy and brittany. this was philip the prudent's system for conquering the world, and men looked upon him as the consummation of kingcraft. on the rd july maurice ordered his whole force to be in readiness for the assault. the mines were then sprung. the bastion of the east gate was blown to ruins. the mine under the gast-huys bulwark, burst outwardly, and buried alive many hollanders standing ready for the assault. at this untoward accident maurice hesitated to give the signal for storming the breach, but the panic within the town was so evident that lewis william lost no time in seizing the overthrown eastern bulwark, from the ruins of which he looked over the whole city. the other broken bastion was likewise easily mastered, and the besieged, seeing the storm about to burst upon them with irresistible fury, sent a trumpet. meantime maurice, inspecting the effects of the explosion and preparing for the assault, had been shot through the left cheek. the wound was not dangerous, and the prince extracted the bullet with his own hand, but the change of half an inch would have made it fatal. he was not incapacitated--after his wound had been dressed, amidst the remonstrances of his friends for his temerity- from listening to the propositions of the city. they were refused, for the prince was sure of having his town on his own terms. next day he permitted the garrison to depart; the officers and soldiers promising not to serve the king of spain on the netherland side of the rhine for six months. they were to take their baggage, but to leave arms, flags, munitions, and provisions. both maurice and lewis william were for insisting on sterner conditions, but the states' deputies and members of the council who were present, as usual, in camp urged the building of the golden bridge. after all, a fortified city, the second in importance after groningen of all those regions, was the real prize contended for. the garrison was meagre and much reduced during the siege. the fortifications, of masonry and earthwork combined, were nearly as strong as ever. saint barbara had done them but little damage, but the town itself was in a sorry plight. churches and houses were nearly all shot to pieces, and the inhabitants had long been dwelling in the cellars. two hundred of the garrison remained, severely wounded, in the town; three hundred and fifty had been killed, among others the young cousin of the nassaus, count lewis van den berg. the remainder of the royalists marched out, and were treated with courtesy by maurice, who gave them an escort, permitting the soldiers to retain their side-arms, and furnishing horses to the governor. in the besieging army five or six hundred had been killed and many wounded, but not in numbers bearing the same proportion to the slain as in modern battles. the siege had lasted forty-four days. when it was over, and men came out from the town to examine at leisure the prince's camp and his field of operations, they were astounded at the amount of labor performed in so short a time. the oldest campaigners confessed that they never before had understood what a siege really was, and they began to conceive a higher respect for the art of the engineer than they had ever done before. "even those who were wont to rail at science and labour," said one who was present in the camp of maurice, "declared that the siege would have been a far more arduous undertaking had it not been for those two engineers, joost matthes of alost, and jacob kemp of gorcum. it is high time to take from soldiers the false notion that it is shameful to work with the spade; an error which was long prevalent among the netherlanders, and still prevails among the french, to the great detriment of the king's affairs, as may be seen in his sieges." certainly the result of henry's recent campaign before rouen had proved sufficiently how much better it would have been for him had there been some dutch joosts and jacobs with their picks and shovels in his army at that critical period. they might perhaps have baffled parma as they had done verdugo. without letting the grass grow under his feet, maurice now led his army from steenwyck to zwol and arrived on the th july before coeworden. this place, very strong by art and still stronger by-nature, was the other key to all north netherland--friesland, groningen, and drenthe. should it fall into the hands of the republic it would be impossible for the spaniards to retain much longer the rich and important capital of all that country, the city of groningen. coeworden lay between two vast morasses, one of which--the bourtange swamp--extended some thirty miles to the bay of the dollart; while the other spread nearly as far in a westerly direction to the zuyder zee. thus these two great marshes were a frame--an almost impassable barrier--by which the northern third of the whole territory of the republic was encircled and defended. throughout this great morass there was not a hand-breadth of solid ground--not a resting-place for a human foot, save the road which led through coeworden. this passage lay upon a natural deposit of hard, dry sand, interposed as if by a caprice of nature between the two swamps; and was about half a mile in width. the town itself was well fortified, and verdugo had been recently strengthening the position with additional earthworks. a thousand veterans formed the garrison under command of another van den berg, the count frederic. it was the fate of these sister's-children of the great founder of the republic to serve the cause of foreign despotism with remarkable tenacity against their own countrymen, and against their nearest blood relations. on many conspicuous occasions they were almost as useful to spain and the inquisition as the son and nearly all the other kinsmen of william the silent had rendered themselves to the cause of holland and of freedom. having thoroughly entrenched his camp before coeworden and begun the regular approaches, maurice left his cousin lewis william to superintend the siege operations for the moment, and advanced towards ootmarsum, a frontier town which might give him trouble if in the hands of a relieving force. the place fell at once, with the loss of but one life to the states army, but that a very valuable one; general de famars, one of the original signers of the famous compromise; and a most distinguished soldier of the republic, having been killed before the gates. on the st july, maurice returned to his entrenchments. the enemy professed unbounded confidence; van den berg not doubting that he should be relieved by verdugo, and verdugo being sure that van den berg would need no relief. the portuguese veteran indeed was inclined to wonder at maurice's presumption in attacking so impregnable a fortress. "if coeworden does not hold," said he, "there is no place in the world that can hold." count peter ernest, was still acting as governor-general for alexander farnese, on returning from his second french campaign, had again betaken himself, shattered and melancholy, to the waters of spa, leaving the responsibility for netherland affairs upon the german octogenarian. to him; and to the nonagenarian mondragon at antwerp, the veteran verdugo now called loudly for aides against the youthful pedant, whom all men had been laughing at a twelvemonth or so before. the macedonian phalanx, simon stevinus and delving dutch boors--unworthy of the name of soldiers- -seemed to be steadily digging the ground from under philip's feet in his hereditary domains. what would become of the world-empire, where was the great king--not of spain alone, nor of france alone--but the great monarch of all christendom, to plant his throne securely, if his frisian strongholds, his most important northern outposts, were to fall before an almost beardless youth at the head of a handful of republican militia? verdugo did his best, but the best was little. the spanish and italian legions had been sent out of the netherlands into france. many had died there, many were in hospital after their return, nearly all the rest were mutinous for want of pay. on the th august, maurice formally summoned coeworden to surrender. after the trumpeter had blown thrice; count van den berg, forbidding all others, came alone upon the walls and demanded his message. "to claim this city in the name of prince maurice of nassau and of the states- general," was the reply. "tell him first to beat down my walls as flat as the ditch," said van den berg, "and then to bring five or six storms. six months after that i will think whether i will send a trumpet." the prince proceeded steadily with his approaches, but he was infinitely chagrined by the departure out of his camp of sir francis vere with his english contingent of three regiments, whom queen elizabeth had peremptorily ordered to the relief of king henry in brittany. nothing amazes the modern mind so much as the exquisite paucity of forces and of funds by which the world-empire was fought for and resisted in france, holland, spain, and england. the scenes of war were rapidly shifted--almost like the slides of a magic-lantern--from one country to another; the same conspicuous personages, almost the same individual armies, perpetually re-appearing in different places, as if a wild phantasmagoria were capriciously repeating itself to bewilder the imagination. essex, and vere, and roger williams, and black norris-van der does, and admiral nassau, the meetkerks and count philip-farnese and mansfeld, george basti, arenberg, berlaymont, la none and teligny, aquila and coloma--were seen alternately fighting, retreating, triumphant, beleaguering, campaigning all along the great territory which extends from the bay of biscay to the crags of brittany, and across the narrow seas to the bogs of ireland, and thence through the plains of picardy and flanders to the swamps of groningen and the frontiers of the rhine. this was the arena in which the great struggle was ever going on, but the champions were so few in number that their individual shapes become familiar to us like the figures of an oft-repeated pageant. and now the withdrawal of certain companies of infantry and squadrons of cavalry from the spanish armies into france, had left obedient netherland too weak to resist rebellious netherland, while, on the other hand, the withdrawal of some twenty or thirty companies of english auxiliaries--most hard- fighting veterans it is true, but very few in number--was likely to imperil the enterprise of maurice in friesland. the removal of these companies from the low countries to strengthen the bearnese in the north of france, formed the subject of much bitter diplomatic conference between the states and england; the order having been communicated by the great queen herself in many a vehement epistle and caustic speech, enforced by big, manly oaths. verdugo, although confident in the strength of the place, had represented to parma and to mansfeld the immense importance of relieving coeworden. the city, he said, was more valuable than all the towns taken the year before. all friesland hung upon it, and it would be impossible to save groningen should coeworden fall. meantime count philip nassau arrived from the campaign in france with his three regiments which he threw into garrison, and thus set free an equal number of fresh troops, which were forthwith sent to the camp of maurice. the prince at the same time was made aware that verdugo was about to receive important succour, and he was advised by the deputies of the states-general present at his headquarters to send out his german reiters to intercept them. maurice refused. should his cavalry be defeated, he said, his whole army would be endangered. he determined to await within his fortified camp the attack of the relieving force. during the whole month of august he proceeded steadily with his sapping and mining. by the middle of the month his lines had come through the ditch, which he drained of water into the counterscarp. by the beginning of september he had got beneath the principal fort, which, in the course of three or four days, he expected to blow into the air. the rainy weather had impeded his operations and the march of the relieving army. nevertheless that army was at last approaching. the regiments of mondragon, charles mansfeld, gonzaga, berlaymont, and arenberg had been despatched to reinforce verdugo. on the rd august, having crossed the rhine at rheinberg, they reached olfen in the country of benthem, ten miles from coeworden. here they threw up rockets and made other signals that relief was approaching the town. on the rd of september verdugo, with the whole force at his disposal, amounting to four thousand foot and eighteen hundred horse, was at the village of emblichen, within a league of the besieged city. that night a peasant was captured with letters from verdugo to the governor of coeworden, giving information that he intended to make an assault on the besiegers on the night of th- th september. thus forewarned, maurice took the best precautions and calmly within his entrenchments awaited the onslaught. punctual to his appointment, verdugo with his whole force, yelling "victoria! victoria!" made a shirt-attack, or camiciata--the men wearing their shirts outside their armour to distinguish each other in the darkness--upon that portion of the camp which was under command of hohenlo. they were met with determination and repulsed, after fighting all night, with a loss of three hundred killed and a proportionate number of wounded. the netherlanders had but three killed and six wounded. among the latter, however, was lewis william, who received a musket-ball in the belly, but remained on the ground until the enemy had retreated. it was then discovered that his wound was not mortal--the intestines not having been injured--and he was soon about his work again. prince maurice, too, as usual, incurred the remonstrances of the deputies and others for the reckless manner in which he exposed himself wherever the fire was hottest he resolutely refused, however, to permit his cavalry to follow the retreating enemy. his object was coeworden--a prize more important than a new victory over the already defeated spaniards would prove--and this object he kept ever before his eyes. this was verdugo's first and last attempt to relieve the city. he had seen enough of the young prince's tactics and had no further wish to break his teeth against those scientific entrenchments. the spaniards at last, whether they wore their shirts inside or outside their doublets, could no longer handle the dutchmen at pleasure. that people of butter, as the iron duke of alva was fond of calling the netherlanders, were grown harder with the pressure of a twenty-five years' war. five days after the sanguinary 'camiciata' the besieged offered to capitulate. the trumpet at which the proud van den berg had hinted for six months later arrived on the th september. maurice was glad to get his town. his "little soldiers" did not insist, as the spaniards and italians were used to do in the good old days, on unlimited murder, rape, and fire, as the natural solace and reward of their labours in the trenches. civilization had made some progress, at least in the netherlands. maurice granted good terms, such as he had been in the habit of conceding to all captured towns. van den berg was courteously received by his cousins, as he rode forth from the place at the head of what remained of his garrison, five hundred in number, with colours flying, matches burning, bullet in mouth, and with all their arms and baggage except artillery and ammunition, and the heroic little lewis, notwithstanding the wound in his belly, got on horseback and greeted him with a cousinly welcome in the camp. the city was a most important acquisition, as already sufficiently set forth, but queen elizabeth, much misinformed on this occasion, was inclined to undervalue it. she wrote accordingly to the states, reproaching them for using all that artillery and that royal force against a mere castle and earthheap, instead of attempting some considerable capital, or going in force to the relief of brittany. the day was to come when she would acknowledge the advantage of not leaving this earth-heap in the hands of the spaniard. meantime, prince maurice-- the season being so far advanced--gave the world no further practical lessons in the engineering science, and sent his troops into winter quarters. these were the chief military phenomena in france and flanders during three years of the great struggle to establish philip's universal dominion. chapter xxvii. negotiations between queen elizabeth and the states--aspect of affair between england and the netherlands--complaints of the hollanders on the piratical acts of the english--the dutch envoy and the english government--caron's interview with elizabeth--the queen promises redress of grievances. it is now necessary to cast a glance at certain negotiations on delicate topics which had meantime been occurring between queen elizabeth and the states. england and the republic were bound together by ties so close that it was impossible for either to injure the other without inflicting a corresponding damage on itself. nevertheless this very community of interest, combined with a close national relationship--for in the european family the netherlanders and english were but cousins twice removed--with similarity of pursuits, with commercial jealousy, with an intense and ever growing rivalry for that supremacy on the ocean towards which the monarchy and the republic were so earnestly struggling, with a common passion for civil and religious freedom, and with that inveterate habit of self-assertion--the healthful but not engaging attribute of all vigorous nations--which strongly marked them both, was rapidly producing an antipathy between the two countries which time was likely rather to deepen than efface. and the national divergences were as potent as the traits of resemblance in creating this antagonism. the democratic element was expanding itself in the republic so rapidly as to stifle for a time the oligarchical principle which might one day be developed out of the same matrix; while, despite the hardy and adventurous spirit which characterised the english nation throughout all its grades, there was never a more intensely aristocratic influence in the world than the governing and directing spirit of the england of that age. it was impossible that the courtiers of elizabeth and the burgher- statesmen of holland and friesland should sympathize with each other in sentiment or in manner. the republicans in their exuberant consciousness of having at last got rid of kings and kingly paraphernalia in their own, land--for since the rejection of the sovereignty offered to france and england in this feeling had become so predominant as to make it difficult to believe that those offers had been in reality so recent-- were insensibly adopting a frankness, perhaps a roughness, of political and social demeanour which was far from palatable to the euphuistic formalists of other, countries. especially the english statesmen, trained to approach their sovereign with almost oriental humility, and accustomed to exact for themselves a large amount of deference, could ill brook the free and easy tone occasionally adopted in diplomatic and official intercourse by these upstart republicans. [the venetian ambassador contarin relates that in the reign of james i. the great nobles of england were served at table by lackeys on they knees.] a queen, who to loose morals, imperious disposition, and violent temper united as inordinate a personal vanity as was ever vouchsafed to woman, and who up to the verge of decrepitude was addressed by her courtiers in the language of love-torn swain to blooming shepherdess, could naturally find but little to her taste in the hierarchy of hans brewer and hans baker. thus her majesty and her courtiers, accustomed to the faded gallantries with which the serious affairs of state were so grotesquely intermingled, took it ill when they were bluntly informed, for instance, that the state council of the netherlands, negotiating on netherland affairs, could not permit a veto to the representatives of the queen, and that this same body of dutchmen discussing their own business insisted upon talking dutch and not latin. it was impossible to deny that the young stadholder was a gentleman of a good house, but how could the insolence of a common citizen like john of olden-barneveld be digested? it was certain that behind those shaggy, overhanging brows there was a powerful brain stored with legal and historic lore, which supplied eloquence to an ever-ready tongue and pen. yet these facts, difficult to gainsay, did not make the demands so frequently urged by the states-general upon the english government for the enforcement of dutch rights and the redress of english wrongs the more acceptable. bodley, gilpin, and the rest were in a chronic state of exasperation with the hollanders, not only because of their perpetual complaints, but because their complaints were perpetually just. the states-general were dissatisfied, all the netherlanders were dissatisfied--and not entirely without reason--that the english, with whom the republic was on terms not only of friendship but of alliance, should burn their ships on the high seas, plunder their merchants, and torture their sea-captains in order to extort information as to the most precious portions of their cargoes. sharp language against such malpractices was considered but proof of democratic vulgarity. yet it would be hard to maintain that martin frobisher, mansfield, grenfell, and the rest of the sea-kings, with all their dash and daring and patriotism, were not as unscrupulous pirates as ever sailed blue water, or that they were not apt to commit their depredations upon friend and foe alike. on the other hand; by a liberality of commerce in extraordinary contrast with the practice of modern times, the netherlanders were in the habit of trading directly with the arch-enemy of both holland and england, even in the midst of their conflict with him, and it was complained of that even the munitions of war and the implements of navigation by which spain had been enabled to effect its foot-hold in brittany, and thus to threaten the english coast, were derived from this very traffic. the hollanders replied, that, according to their contract with england, they were at liberty to send as many as forty or fifty vessels at a time to spain and portugal, that they had never exceeded the stipulated number, that england freely engaged in the same traffic herself with the common enemy, that it was not reasonable to consider cordage or dried fish or shooks and staves, butter, eggs, and corn as contraband of war, that if they were illegitimate the english trade was vitiated to the same degree, and that it would be utterly hopeless for the provinces to attempt to carry on the war, except by enabling themselves, through the widest and most unrestricted foreign commerce, even including the enemy's realms, to provide their nation with the necessary wealth to sustain so gigantic a conflict. here were ever flowing fountains of bitterest discussion and recrimination. it must be admitted however that there was occasionally an advantage in the despotic and summary manner in which the queen took matters into her own hands. it was refreshing to see this great sovereign--who was so well able to grapple with questions of state, and whose very imperiousness of temper impelled her to trample on shallow sophistries and specious technicalities--dealing directly with cases of piracy and turning a deaf ear to the counsellors, who in that, as in every age, were too prone to shove by international justice in order to fulfil municipal forms. it was, however, with much difficulty that the envoy of the republic was able to obtain a direct hearing from her majesty in order to press the long list of complaints on account of the english piratical proceedings upon her attention. he intimated that there seemed to be special reasons why the great ones about her throne were disposed to deny him access to the queen, knowing as they did in what intent he asked for interviews. they described in strong language the royal wrath at the opposition recently made by the states to detaching the english auxiliaries in the netherlands for the service of the french king in normandy, hoping thereby to deter him from venturing into her presence with a list of grievances on the part of his government. "i did my best to indicate the danger incurred by such transferring of troops at so critical a moment," said noel de canon, "showing that it was directly in opposition to the contract made with her majesty. but i got no answer save very high words from the lord treasurer, to the effect that the states-general were never willing to agree to any of her majesty's prepositions, and that this matter was as necessary to the states' service as to that of the french king. in effect, he said peremptorily that her majesty willed it and would not recede from her resolution." the envoy then requested an interview with the queen before her departure into the country. next day, at noon, lord burghley sent word that she was to leave between five and six o'clock that evening, and that the minister would be welcome meantime at any hour. "but notwithstanding that i presented myself," said caron, "at two o'clock in the afternoon, i was unable to speak to her majesty until a moment before she was about to mount her horse. her language was then very curt. she persisted in demanding her troops, and strongly expressed her dissatisfaction that we should have refused them on what she called so good an occasion for using them. i was obliged to cut my replies very short, as it was already between six and seven o'clock, and she was to ride nine english miles to the place where she was to pass the night. i was quite sensible, however; that the audience was arranged to be thus brief, in order that i should not be able to stop long enough to give trouble, and perhaps to find occasion to renew our complaints touching the plunderings and robberies committed upon us at sea. this is what some of the great personages here, without doubt, are afraid of, for they were wonderfully well overhauled in my last audience. i shall attempt to speak to her again before she goes very deep into the country." it was not however before the end of the year, after caron had made a voyage to holland and had returned, that he nov. was able to bring the subject thoroughly before her majesty. on the th november he had preliminary interviews with the lord high admiral and the lord treasurer at hampton court, where the queen was then residing. the plundering business was warmly discussed between himself and the admiral, and there was much quibbling and special pleading in defence of the practices which had created so much irritation and pecuniary loss in holland. there was a good deal of talk about want of evidence and conflict of evidence, which, to a man who felt as sure of the facts and of the law as the dutch envoy did--unless it were according to public law for one friend and, ally to plunder and burn the vessels of another friend and ally--was not encouraging as to the probable issue of his interview with her majesty. it would be tedious to report the conversation as fully as it was laid by noel de caron before the states-general; but at last the admiral expressed a hope that the injured parties would be able to make good their, case. at any rate he assured the envoy that he would take care of captain mansfield for the present, who was in prison with two other captains, so that proceedings might be had against them if it was thought worth while. caron answered with dutch bluntness. "i recommended him very earnestly to do this," he said, "and told him roundly that this was by all means necessary for the sake of his own honour. otherwise no man could ever be made to believe that his excellency was not seeking to get his own profit out of the affair. but he vehemently swore and protested that this was not the case." he then went to the lord treasurer's apartment, where a long and stormy interview followed on the subject of the withdrawal of the english troops. caron warmly insisted that the measure had been full of danger, for the states; that they had been ordered out of prince maurice's camp at a most critical moment; that; had it not, been for the stallholder's promptness and military skill; very great disasters to the common cause must have ensued; and that, after all, nothing had been done by the contingent in any other field, for they had been for six months idle and sick, without ever reaching brittany at all. "the lord treasurer, who, contrary to his custom," said the envoy, "had been listening thus long to what i had to say, now observed that the states had treated her majesty very ill, that they had kept her running after her own troops nearly half a year, and had offered no excuse for their proceedings." it would be superfluous to repeat the arguments by which caron endeavoured to set forth that the english troops, sent to the netherlands according to a special compact, for a special service, and for a special consideration and equivalent, could not honestly be employed, contrary to the wishes of the states-general, upon a totally different service and in another country. the queen willed it, he was informed, and it was ill- treatment of her majesty on the part of the hollanders to oppose her will. this argument was unanswerable. soon afterwards, caron was admitted to the presence of elizabeth. he delivered, at first, a letter from the states-general, touching the withdrawal of the troops. the queen, instantly broke the seal and read the letter to the end. coming to the concluding passage, in which the states observed that they had great and just cause highly to complain on that subject, she paused, reading the sentences over twice or thrice, and then remarked: "truly these are comical people. i have so often been complaining that they refused to send my troops, and now the states complain that they are obliged to let them go. yet my intention is only to borrow them for a little while, because i can give my brother of france no better succour than by sending him these soldiers, and this i consider better than if i should send him four thousand men. i say again, i am only borrowing them, and surely the states ought never to make such complaints, when the occasion was such a favourable one, and they had received already sufficient aid from these troops, and had liberated their whole country. i don't comprehend these grievances. they complain that i withdraw my people, and meantime they are still holding them and have brought them ashore again. they send me frivolous excuses that the skippers don't know the road to my islands, which is, after all, as easy to find as the way to caen, for it is all one. i have also sent my own pilots; and i complain bitterly that by making this difficulty they will cause the loss of all brittany. they run with their people far away from me, and meantime they allow the enemy to become master of all the coasts lying opposite me. but if it goes badly with me they will rue it deeply themselves." there was considerable reason, even if there were but little justice, in this strain of remarks. her majesty continued it for some little time longer, and it is interesting to see the direct and personal manner in which this great princess handled the weightiest affairs of state. the transfer of a dozen companies of english infantry from friesland to brittany was supposed to be big with the fate of france, england, and the dutch republic, and was the subject of long and angry controversy, not as a contested point of principle, in regard to which numbers, of course, are nothing, but as a matter of practical and pressing importance. "her majesty made many more observations of this nature," said caron, "but without getting at all into a passion, and, in my opinion, her discourse was sensible, and she spoke with more moderation than she is wont at other times." the envoy then presented the second letter from the states-general in regard to the outrages inflicted on the dutch merchantmen. the queen read it at once, and expressed herself as very much displeased with her people. she said that she had received similar information from counsellor bodley, who had openly given her to understand that the enormous outrages which her people were committing at sea upon the netherlanders were a public scandal. it had made her so angry, she said, that she knew not which way to turn. she would take it in hand at once, for she would rather make oath never more to permit a single ship of war to leave her ports than consent to such thieveries and villanies. she told caron that he would do well to have his case in regard to these matters verified, and then to give it into her own hands, since otherwise it would all be denied her and she would find herself unable to get at the truth." "i have all the proofs and documents of the merchants by me, "replied the envoy, "and, moreover, several of the sea-captains who have been robbed and outraged have come over with me, as likewise some merchants who were tortured by burning of the thumbs and other kinds of torments." this disturbed the queen very much, and she expressed her wish that caron should not allow himself to be put off with, delays by the council, but should insist upon all due criminal punishment, the infliction of which she promised in the strongest terms to order; for she could never enjoy peace of mind, she said; so long as such scoundrels were tolerated in her kingdom. the envoy had brought with him a summary of the cases, with the names of all the merchants interested, and a list of all the marks on the sacks of money which had been stolen. the queen looked over it very carefully, declaring it to be her intention that there should be no delays interposed in the conduct of this affair by forms of special pleading, but that speedy cognizance should be taken of the whole, and that the property should forthwith be restored. she then sent for sir robert cecil, whom she directed to go at once and tell his father, the lord treasurer, that he was to assist caron in this affair exactly as if it were her own. it was her intention, she said, that her people were in no wise to trouble the hollanders in legitimate mercantile pursuits. she added that it was not enough for her people to say that they had only been seizing spaniards' goods and money, but she meant that they should prove it, too, or else they should swing for it. caron assured her majesty that he had no other commission from his masters than to ask for justice, and that he had no instructions to claim spanish property or enemy's goods. he had brought sufficient evidence with him, he said, to give her majesty entire satisfaction. it is not necessary to pursue the subject any farther. the great nobles still endeavoured to interpose delays, and urged the propriety of taking the case before the common courts of law. carom strong in the support of the queen, insisted that it should be settled, as her majesty had commanded, by the council, and it was finally arranged that the judge of admiralty should examine the evidence on both sides, and then communicate the documents at once to the lord treasurer. meantime the money was to be deposited with certain aldermen of london, and the accused parties kept in prison. the ultimate decision was then to be made by the council, "not by form of process but by commission thereto ordained." in the course of the many interviews which followed between the dutch envoy and the privy counsellors, the lord admiral stated that an english merchant residing in the netherlands had sent to offer him a present of two thousand pounds sterling, in case the affair should be decided against the hollanders. he communicated the name of the individual to caron, under seal of secrecy, and reminded the lord treasurer that he too had seen the letter of the englishman. lord burghley observed that he remembered the fact that certain letters had been communicated to him by the lord admiral, but that he did not know from whence they came, nor anything about the person of the writer. the case of the plundered merchants was destined to drag almost as slowly before the council as it might have done in the ordinary tribunals, and caron was "kept running," as he expressed it, "from the court to london, and from london to the court," and it was long before justice was done to the sufferers. yet the energetic manner in which the queen took the case into her own hands, and the intense indignation with which she denounced the robberies and outrages which had been committed by her subjects upon her friends and allies, were effective in restraining such wholesale piracy in the future. on the whole, however, if the internal machinery is examined by which the masses of mankind were moved at epoch in various parts of christendom, we shall not find much reason to applaud the conformity of governments to the principles of justice, reason, or wisdom. etext editor's bookmarks: accustomed to the faded gallantries conformity of governments to the principles of justice considerable reason, even if there were but little justice disciple of simon stevinus self-assertion--the healthful but not engaging attribute history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- volume iii. by john lothrop motley chapter xxi. effect of the assassination of henry iii.--concentration of forces for the invasion of france--the netherlands determine on striking a blow for freedom--organization of a dutch army--stratagem to surprise the castle of breda--intrepidity and success of the enterprise. the dagger of jacques clement had done much, and was likely to do more, to change the face of europe. another proof was afforded that assassination had become a regular and recognised factor in the political problems of the sixteenth century. another illustration was exhibited of the importance of the individual--even although that individual was in himself utterly despicable--to the working out of great historical results. it seemed that the murder of henry iii.--that forlorn caricature of kingship and of manhood--was likely to prove eminently beneficial to the cause of the netherland commonwealth. five years earlier, the murder of william the silent had seemed to threaten its very existence. for philip the prudent, now that france was deprived of a head, conceived that the time had arrived when he might himself assume the sovereignty of that kingdom. while a thing of straw, under the name of charles x. and shape of a cardinal bourbon, was set up to do battle with that living sovereign and soldier, the heretic bearnese, the duke of parma was privately ordered to bend all his energies towards the conquest of the realm in dispute, under pretence of assisting the holy league. accordingly, early in the year , alexander concentrated a considerable force on the french frontier in artois and hainault, apparently threatening bergen-op-zoom and other cities in south holland, but in reality preparing to invade france. the duke of mayenne, who had assumed the title of lieutenant-general of that kingdom, had already visited him at brussels in order to arrange the plan of the campaign. while these measures were in preparation, an opportunity was likely to be afforded to the netherlanders of striking a blow or two for liberty and independence; now that all the force that possibly could be spared was to be withdrawn by their oppressors and to be used for the subjugation of their neighbours. the question was whether there would be a statesman and a soldier ready to make use of this golden opportunity. there was a statesman ripe and able who, since the death of the taciturn, had been growing steadily in the estimation of his countrymen and who already was paramount in the councils of the states-general. there was a soldier, still very young, who was possessed of the strongest hereditary claims to the confidence and affection of the united provinces and who had been passing a studious youth in making himself worthy of his father and his country. fortunately, too, the statesman and the soldier were working most harmoniously together. john of olden-barneveld, with his great experience and vast and steady intellect, stood side by side with young maurice of nassau at this important crisis in the history of the new commonwealth. at length the twig was becoming the tree--'tandem fit surculus arbor'--according to the device assumed by the son of william the silent after his father's death. the netherlands had sore need of a practical soldier to contend with the scientific and professional tyrants against whom they had so long been struggling, and maurice, although so young, was pre-eminently a practical man. he was no enthusiast; he was no poet. he was at that period certainly no politician. not often at the age of twenty has a man devoted himself for years to pure mathematics for the purpose of saving his country. yet this was maurice's scheme. four years long and more, when most other youths in his position and at that epoch would have been alternating between frivolous pleasures and brilliant exploits in the field, the young prince had spent laborious days and nights with the learned simon stevinus of bruges. the scientific work which they composed in common, the credit of which the master assigned to the pupil, might have been more justly attributed perhaps to the professor than to the prince, but it is certain that maurice was an apt scholar. in that country, ever held in existence by main human force against the elements, the arts of engineering, hydrostatics and kindred branches were of necessity much cultivated. it was reserved for the young mathematician to make them as potent against a human foe. moreover, there were symptoms that the military discipline, learning and practical skill, which had almost made spain the mistress of the world, were sinking into decay. farnese, although still in the prime of life, was broken in health, and there seemed no one fit to take the place of himself and his lieutenants when they should be removed from the scene where they had played their parts so consummately. the army of the netherlands was still to be created. thus far the contest had been mainly carried on by domestic militia and foreign volunteers or hirelings. the train-bands of the cities were aided in their struggles against spanish pikemen and artillerists, italian and albanian cavalry by the german riders, whom every little potentate was anxious to sell to either combatant according to the highest bid, and by english mercenaries, whom the love of adventure or the hope of plunder sent forth under such well-seasoned captains as williams and morgan, vere and the norrises, baskerville and willoughby. but a dutch army there was none and maurice had determined that at last a national force should be created. in this enterprise he was aided and guided by his cousin lewis william, stadtholder of friesland--the quaint, rugged little hero, young in years but almost a veteran in the wars of freedom, who was as genial and intellectual in council as he was reckless and impulsive in the field. lewis william had felt that the old military art was dying out and that--there was nothing to take its place. he was a diligent student of antiquity. he had revived in the swamps of friesland the old manoeuvres, the quickness of wheeling, the strengthening, without breaking ranks or columns, by which the ancient romans had performed so much excellent work in their day, and which seemed to have passed entirely into oblivion. old colonels and rittmasters, who had never heard of leo the thracian nor the macedonian phalanx, smiled and shrugged their shoulders, as they listened to the questions of the young count, or gazed with profound astonishment at the eccentric evolutions to which he was accustoming his troops. from the heights of superior wisdom they looked down with pity upon these innovations on the good old battle order. they were accustomed to great solid squares of troops wheeling in one way, steadily, deliberately, all together, by one impulse and as one man. it was true that in narrow fields, and when the enemy was pressing, such stately evolutions often became impossible or ensured defeat; but when the little stadtholder drilled his soldiers in small bodies of various shapes, teaching them to turn, advance; retreat; wheel in a variety of ways, sometimes in considerable masses, sometimes man by man, sending the foremost suddenly to the rear, or bringing the hindmost ranks to the front, and began to attempt all this in narrow fields as well as in wide ones, and when the enemy was in sight, men stood aghast at his want of reverence, or laughed at him as a pedant. but there came a day when they did not laugh, neither friends nor enemies. meantime the two cousins, who directed all the military operations in the provinces, understood each other thoroughly and proceeded to perfect their new system, to be adopted at a later period by all civilized nations. the regular army of the netherlands was small in number at that moment--not more than twenty thousand foot with two thousand horse--but it was well disciplined, well equipped, and, what was of great importance, regularly paid. old campaigners complained that in the halcyon days of paper enrolments, a captain could earn more out of his company than a colonel now received for his whole regiment. the days when a thousand men were paid for, with a couple of hundred in the field, were passing away for the united provinces and existed only for italians and spaniards. while, therefore, mutiny on an organised and extensive scale seemed almost the normal condition of the unpaid legions of philip, the little army of maurice was becoming the model for europe to imitate. the united provinces were as yet very far from being masters of their own territory. many of their most important cities still held for the king. in brabant, such towns as breda with its many dependencies and gertruydenberg; on the waal, the strong and wealthy nymegen which martin schenk had perished in attempting to surprise; on the yssel, the thriving city of zutphen, whose fort had been surrendered by the traitor york, and the stately deventer, which had been placed in philip's possession by the treachery of sir william stanley; on the borders of drenthe, the almost impregnable koevorden, key to the whole zwollian country; and in the very heart of ancient netherland, groningen, capital of the province of the same name, which the treason of renneberg had sold to the spanish tyrant; all these flourishing cities and indispensable strongholds were garrisoned by foreign troops, making the idea of dutch independence a delusion. while alexander of parma, sorely against his will and in obedience to what, he deemed the insane suggestions of his master, was turning his back on the netherlands in order to relieve paris, now hard pressed by the bearnese, an opportunity offered itself of making at least a beginning in the great enterprise of recovering these most valuable possessions. the fair and pleasant city of breda lies on the merk, a slender stream, navigable for small vessels, which finds its way to the sea through the great canal of the dintel. it had been the property of the princes of orange, barons of breda, and had passed with the other possessions of the family to the house of chalons-nassau. henry of nassau had, half a century before, adorned and strengthened it by a splendid palace-fortress which, surrounded by a deep and double moat, thoroughly commanded the town. a garrison of five companies of italian infantry and one of cavalry lay in this castle, which was under the command of edward lanzavecchia, governor both of breda and of the neighbouring gertruydenberg. breda was an important strategical position. it was moreover the feudal superior of a large number of adjacent villages as well as of the cities osterhout, steenberg and rosendaal. it was obviously not more desirable for maurice of nassau to recover his patrimonial city than it was for the states-general to drive the spaniards from so important a position! in the month of february, , maurice, being then at the castle of voorn in zeeland, received a secret visit from a boatman, adrian van der berg by name, who lived at the village of leur, eight or ten miles from breda, and who had long been in the habit of supplying the castle with turf. in the absence of woods and coal mines, the habitual fuel of the country was furnished by those vast relics of the antediluvian forests which abounded in the still partially submerged soil. the skipper represented that his vessel had passed so often into and out of the castle as to be hardly liable to search by the guard on its entrance. he suggested a stratagem by which it might be possible to surprise the stronghold. the prince approved of the scheme and immediately consulted with barneveld. that statesman at once proposed, as a suitable man to carry out the daring venture, captain charles de heraugiere, a nobleman of cambray, who had been long in the service of the states, had distinguished himself at sluys and on other occasions, but who had been implicated in leicester's nefarious plot to gain possession of the city of leyden a few years before. the advocate expressed confidence that he would be grateful for so signal an opportunity of retrieving a somewhat damaged reputation. heraugiere, who was with his company in voorn at the moment, eagerly signified his desire to attempt the enterprise as soon as the matter was communicated to him; avowing the deepest devotion to the house of william the silent and perfect willingness to sacrifice his life, if necessary, in its cause and that of the country. philip nassau, cousin of prince maurice and brother of lewis william, governor of gorcum, dorcum, and lowenstein castle and colonel of a regiment of cavalry, was also taken into the secret, as well as count hohenlo, president van der myle and a few others; but a mystery was carefully spread and maintained over the undertaking. heraugiere selected sixty-eight men, on whose personal daring and patience he knew that he could rely, from the regiments of philip nassau and of famars, governor of the neighbouring city of heusden, and from his own company. besides himself, the officers to command the party were captains logier and fervet, and lieutenant matthew held. the names of such devoted soldiers deserve to be commemorated and are still freshly remembered by their countrymen. on the th of february, maurice and his staff went to willemstad on the isle of klundert, it having been given out on his departure from the hague that his destination was dort. on the same night at about eleven o'clock, by the feeble light of a waning moon, heraugiere and his band came to the swertsenburg ferry, as agreed upon, to meet the boatman. they found neither him nor his vessel, and they wandered about half the night, very cold, very indignant, much perplexed. at last, on their way back, they came upon the skipper at the village of terheyde, who made the extraordinary excuse that he had overslept himself and that he feared the plot had been discovered. it being too late to make any attempt that night, a meeting was arranged for the following evening. no suspicion of treachery occurred to any of the party, although it became obvious that the skipper had grown faint-hearted. he did not come on the next night to the appointed place but he sent two nephews, boatmen like himself, whom he described as dare-devils. on monday night, the th of february, the seventy went on board the vessel, which was apparently filled with blocks of turf, and packed themselves closely in the hold. they moved slowly during a little time on their perilous voyage; for the winter wind, thick with fog and sleet, blew directly down the river, bringing along with it huge blocks of ice and scooping the water out of the dangerous shallows, so as to render the vessel at any moment liable to be stranded. at last the navigation became impossible and they came to a standstill. from monday night till thursday morning those seventy hollanders lay packed like herrings in the hold of their little vessel, suffering from hunger, thirst, and deadly cold; yet not one of them attempted to escape or murmured a wish to abandon the enterprise. even when the third morning dawned there was no better prospect of proceeding; for the remorseless east wind still blew a gale against them, and the shoals which beset their path had become more dangerous than ever. it was, however, absolutely necessary to recruit exhausted nature, unless the adventurers were to drop powerless on the threshold when they should at last arrive at their destination. in all secrecy they went ashore at a lonely castle called nordam, where they remained to refresh themselves until about eleven at night, when one of the boatmen came to them with the intelligence that the wind had changed and was now blowing freshly in from the sea. yet the voyage of a few leagues, on which they were embarked, lasted nearly two whole days longer. on saturday afternoon they passed through the last sluice, and at about three o'clock the last boom was shut behind them. there was no retreat possible for them now. the seventy were to take the strong castle and city of breda or to lay down their lives, every man of them. no quarter and short shrift--such was their certain destiny, should that half-crippled, half-frozen little band not succeed in their task before another sunrise. they were now in the outer harbour and not far from the watergate which led into the inner castle-haven. presently an officer of the guard put off in a skiff and came on board the vessel. he held a little conversation with the two boatmen, observed that the castle was--much in want of full, took a survey of the turf with which the ship was apparently laden, and then lounged into the little cabin. here he was only separated by a sliding trap-door from the interior of the vessel. those inside could hear and see his every movement. had there been a single cough or sneeze from within, the true character of the cargo, then making its way into the castle, would have been discovered and every man would within ten minutes have been butchered. but the officer, unsuspecting, soon took his departure, saying that he would send some men to warp the vessel into the castle dock. meantime, as the adventurers were making their way slowly towards the watergate, they struck upon a hidden obstruction in the river and the deeply laden vessel sprang a leak. in a few minutes those inside were sitting up to their knees in water--a circumstance which scarcely improved their already sufficiently dismal condition. the boatmen vigorously plied the pumps to save the vessel from sinking outright; a party of italian soldiers soon arrived on the shore, and in the course of a couple of hours they had laboriously dragged the concealed hollanders into the inner harbour and made their vessel fast, close to the guard-house of the castle. and now a crowd of all sorts came on board. the winter nights had been long and fearfully cold, and there was almost a dearth of fuel both in town and fortress. a gang of labourers set to work discharging the turf from the vessel with such rapidity that the departing daylight began to shine in upon the prisoners much sooner than they wished. moreover, the thorough wetting, to which after all their other inconveniences they had just been exposed in their narrow escape from foundering, had set the whole party sneezing and coughing. never was a catarrh so sudden, so universal, or so ill-timed. lieutenant held, unable to control the violence of his cough, drew his dagger and eagerly implored his next neighbour to stab him to the heart, lest his infirmity should lead to the discovery of the whole party. but the calm and wary skipper who stood on the deck instantly commanded his companion to work at the pump with as much clatter as possible, assuring the persons present that the hold was nearly full of water. by this means the noise of the coughing was effectually drowned. most thoroughly did the bold boatman deserve the title of dare-devil, bestowed by his more fainthearted uncle. calmly looking death in the face, he stood there quite at his ease, exchanging jokes with his old acquaintances, chaffering with the eager purchasers of peat shouting most noisy and superfluous orders to the one man who composed his crew, doing his utmost, in short, to get rid of his customers and to keep enough of the turf on board to conceal the conspirators. at last, when the case seemed almost desperate, he loudly declared that sufficient had been unladen for that evening and that it was too dark and he too tired for further work. so, giving a handful of stivers among the workmen, he bade them go ashore at once and have some beer and come next morning for the rest of the cargo. fortunately, they accepted his hospitable proposition and took their departure. only the servant of the captain of the guard lingered behind, complaining that the turf was not as good as usual and that his master would never be satisfied with it. "ah!" returned the cool skipper, "the best part of the cargo is underneath. this is expressly reserved for the captain. he is sure to get enough of it to-morrow." thus admonished, the servant departed and the boatman was left to himself. his companion had gone on shore with secret orders to make the best of his way to prince maurice, to inform him of the arrival of the ship within the fortress, and of the important fact which they had just learned, that governor lanzavecchia, who had heard rumours of some projected enterprise and who suspected that the object aimed at was gertruydenberg, had suddenly taken his departure for that city, leaving as his lieutenant his nephew paolo, a raw lad quite incompetent to provide for the safety of breda. a little before midnight, captain heraugiere made a brief address to his comrades in the vessel, telling them that the hour for carrying out their undertaking had at length arrived. retreat was impossible, defeat was certain death, only in complete victory lay their own safety and a great advantage for the commonwealth. it was an honor to them to be selected for such an enterprise. to show cowardice now would be an eternal shame for them, and he would be the man to strike dead with his own hand any traitor or poltroon. but if, as he doubted not, every one was prepared to do his duty, their success was assured, and he was himself ready to take the lead in confronting every danger. he then divided the little band into two companies, one under himself to attack the main guard-house, the other under fervet to seize the arsenal of the fortress. noiselessly they stole out of the ship where they had so long been confined, and stood at last on the ground within the precincts of the castle. heraugiere marched straight to the guard-house. "who goes there?" cried a sentinel, hearing some movement in the darkness. "a friend," replied the captain, seizing him, by the throat, and commanding him, if he valued his life, to keep silence except when addressed and then to speak in a whisper. "how many are there in the garrison?" muttered heraugiere. "three hundred and fifty," whispered the sentinel. "how many?" eagerly demanded the nearest followers, not hearing the reply. "he says there are but fifty of them," said heraugiere, prudently suppressing the three hundred, in order to encourage his comrades. quietly as they had made their approach, there was nevertheless a stir in the guard-house. the captain of the watch sprang into the courtyard. "who goes there?" he demanded in his turn. "a friend," again replied heraugiere, striking him dead with a single blow as he spoke. others emerged with torches. heraugiere was slightly wounded, but succeeded, after a brief struggle, in killing a second assailant. his followers set upon the watch who retreated into the guard-house. heraugiere commanded his men to fire through the doors and windows, and in a few minutes every one of the enemy lay dead. it was not a moment for making prisoners or speaking of quarter. meantime fervet and his band had not been idle. the magazine-house of the castle was seized, its defenders slain. young lanzavecchia made a sally from the palace, was wounded and driven back together with a few of his adherents. the rest of the garrison fled helter-skelter into the town. never had the musketeers of italy--for they all belonged to spinola's famous sicilian legion--behaved so badly. they did not even take the precaution to destroy the bridge between the castle and the town as they fled panic-stricken before seventy hollanders. instead of encouraging the burghers to their support they spread dismay, as they ran, through every street. young lanzavecchia, penned into a corner of the castle; began to parley; hoping for a rally before a surrender should be necessary. in the midst of the negotiation and a couple of hours before dawn, hohenlo; duly apprised by the boatman, arrived with the vanguard of maurice's troops before the field-gate of the fort. a vain attempt was made to force this portal open, but the winter's ice had fixed it fast. hohenlo was obliged to batter down the palisade near the water-gate and enter by the same road through which the fatal turf-boat had passed. soon after he had marched into the town at the head of a strong detachment, prince maurice himself arrived in great haste, attended by philip nassau, the admiral justinus nassau, count solms, peter van der does, and sir francis vere, and followed by another body of picked troops; the musicians playing merrily that national air, then as now so dear to netherlanders-- "wilhelmus van nassouwen ben ick van duytaem bloed." the fight was over. some forty of the garrison had been killed, but not a man of the attacking party. the burgomaster sent a trumpet to the prince asking permission to come to the castle to arrange a capitulation; and before sunrise, the city and fortress of breda had surrendered to the authority of the states-general and of his excellency. the terms were moderate. the plundering was commuted for the payment of two months' wages to every soldier engaged in the affair. burghers who might prefer to leave the city were allowed to do so with protection to life, and property. those who were willing to remain loyal citizens were not to be molested, in their consciences or their households, in regard to religion. the public exercise of catholic rites was however suspended until the states-general should make some universal provision on this subject. subsequently, it must be allowed, the bargain of commutation proved a bad one for the burghers. seventy men had in reality done the whole work, but so many soldiers, belonging to the detachments who marched in after the fortress had been taken, came forward to claim their months' wages as to bring the whole amount required above one hundred thousand florins. the spaniards accordingly reproached prince maurice with having fined his own patrimonial city more heavily than alexander farnese had mulcted antwerp, which had been made to pay but four hundred thousand florins, a far less sum in proportion to the wealth and importance of the place. already the prince of parma, in the taking of breda, saw verified his predictions of the disasters about to fall on the spanish interests in the netherlands, by reason of philip's obstinate determination to concentrate all his energies on the invasion of france. alexander had been unable, in the midst of preparations for his french campaign, to arrest this sudden capture, but his italian blood was on fire at the ignominy which had come upon the soldiership of his countrymen. five companies of foot and one of horse-picked troops of spain and italy--had surrendered a wealthy, populous town and a well-fortified castle to a mud-scow, and had fled shrieking in dismay from the onset of seventy frost-bitten hollanders. it was too late to save the town, but he could punish, as it deserved, the pusillanimity of the garrison. three captains--one of them rejoicing in the martial name of cesar guerra--were publicly beheaded in brussels. a fourth, ventimiglia, was degraded but allowed to escape with life, on account of his near relationship to the duke of terranova, while governor lanzavecchia was obliged to resign the command of gertruydenberg. the great commander knew better than to encourage the yielding up of cities and fortresses by a mistaken lenity to their unlucky defenders. prince maurice sent off letters the same night announcing his success to the states-general. hohenlo wrote pithily to olden-barneveld--"the castle and town of breda are ours, without a single man dead on our side. the garrison made no resistance but ran distracted out of the town." the church bells rang and bonfires blazed and cannon thundered in every city in the united provinces to commemorate this auspicious event. olden-barneveld, too, whose part in arranging the scheme was known to have been so valuable, received from the states-general a magnificent gilded vase with sculptured representations of the various scenes in the drama, and it is probable that not more unmingled satisfaction had been caused by any one event of the war than by this surprise of breda. the capture of a single town, not of first-rate importance either, would hardly seem too merit so minute a description as has been given in the preceding pages. but the event, with all its details, has been preserved with singular vividness in netherland story. as an example of daring, patience, and complete success, it has served to encourage the bold spirits of every generation and will always inspire emulation in patriotic hearts of every age and clime, while, as the first of a series of audacious enterprises by which dutch victories were to take the place of a long procession of spanish triumphs on the blood-stained soil of the provinces, it merits, from its chronological position, a more than ordinary attention. in the course of the summer prince maurice, carrying out into practice the lessons which he had so steadily been pondering, reduced the towns and strong places of heyl, flemert, elshout, crevecoeur, hayden, steenberg, rosendaal, and osterhout. but his time, during the remainder of the year , was occupied with preparations for a campaign on an extended scale and with certain foreign negotiations to which it will soon be necessary to direct the reader's attention. chapter xxii. struggle of the united provinces against philip of spain--progress of the republic--influence of geographical position on the fate of the netherlands--contrast offered by america--miserable state of the so--called "obedient" provinces--prosperity of the commonwealth--its internal government--tendency to provincialism--quibbles of the english members of the council, wilkes and bodley--exclusion of olden-barneveld from the state council--proposals of philip for mediation with the united provinces--the provinces resolutely decline all proffers of intervention. the united provinces had now been engaged in unbroken civil war for a quarter of a century. it is, however, inaccurate to designate this great struggle with tyranny as a civil war. it was a war for independence, maintained by almost the whole population of the united provinces against a foreigner, a despot, alien to their blood, ignorant of their language, a hater of their race, a scorner of their religion, a trampler upon their liberties, their laws, and institutions--a man who had publicly declared that he would rather the whole nation were exterminated than permitted to escape from subjection to the church of rome. liberty of speech, liberty of the press, liberty of thought on political, religious, and social questions existed within those dutch pastures and frisian swamps to a far greater degree than in any other part of the world at that day; than in very many regions of christendom in our own time. personal slavery was unknown. in a large portion of their territory it had never existed. the free frisians, nearest blood-relations of, in this respect, the less favoured anglo-saxons, had never bowed the knee to the feudal system, nor worn nor caused to be worn the collar of the serf. in the battles for human liberty no nation has stood with cleaner hands before the great tribunal, nor offered more spotless examples of patriotism to be emulated in all succeeding ages, than the netherlanders in their gigantic struggle with philip of spain. it was not a class struggling for their own privileges, but trampling on their fellow-men in a lower scale of humanity. kings and aristocrats sneered at the vulgar republic where hans miller, hans baker, and hans brewer enjoyed political rights end prated of a sovereignty other than that of long-descended races and of anointed heads. yet the pikemen of spain and the splendid cavalry and musketeers of italy and burgundy, who were now beginning to show their backs both behind entrenchments and in the open field to their republican foes, could not deny the valour with which the battles of liberty were fought; while elizabeth of england, maintainer, if such ever were, of hereditary sovereignty and hater of popular freedom, acknowledged that for wisdom in council, dignity and adroitness in diplomatic debate, there were none to surpass the plain burgher statesmen of the new republic. and at least these netherlanders were consistent with themselves. they had come to disbelieve in the mystery of kingcraft, in the divine speciality of a few transitory mortals to direct the world's events and to dictate laws to their fellow-creatures. what they achieved was for the common good of all. they chose to live in an atmosphere of blood and fire for generation after generation rather than flinch from their struggle with despotism, for they knew that, cruel as the sea, it would swallow them all at last in one common destruction if they faltered or paused. they fought for the liberty of all. and it is for this reason that the history of this great conflict deserved to be deeply pondered by those who have the instinct of human freedom. had the hollanders basely sunk before the power of spain, the proud history of england, france, and germany would have been written in far different terms. the blood and tears which the netherlanders caused to flow in their own stormy days have turned to blessings for remotest climes and ages. a pusillanimous peace, always possible at any period of their war, would have been hailed with rapture by contemporary statesmen, whose names have vanished from the world's memory; but would have sown with curses and misery the soil of europe for succeeding ages. the territory of the netherlands is narrow and meagre. it is but a slender kingdom now among the powers of the earth. the political grandeur of nations is determined by physical causes almost as much as by moral ones. had the cataclysm which separated the fortunate british islands from the mainland happened to occur, instead, at a neighbouring point of the earth's crust; had the belgian, dutch, german and danish netherland floated off as one island into the sea, while that famous channel between two great rival nations remained dry land, there would have been a different history of the world. but in the th century the history of one country was not an isolated chapter of personages and events. the history of the netherlands is history of liberty. it was now combined with the english, now with french, with german struggles for political and religious freedom, but it is impossible to separate it from the one great complex which makes up the last half of the sixteenth and the first half of the seventeenth centuries. at that day the netherland republic was already becoming a power of importance in the political family of christendom. if, in spite of her geographical disadvantages, she achieved so much, how much vaster might her power have grown, how much stronger through her example might popular institutions throughout the world have become, and how much more pacific the relations of european tribes, had nature been less niggard in her gifts to the young commonwealth. on the sea she was strong, for the ocean is the best of frontiers; but on land her natural boundaries faded vaguely away, without strong physical demarcations and with no sharply defined limits of tongue, history or race. accident or human caprice seemed to have divided german highland from german netherland; belgic gaul from the rest of the gallic realm. and even from the slender body, which an arbitrary destiny had set off for centuries into a separate organism, tyranny and religious bigotry had just hewn another portion away. but the commonwealth was already too highly vitalized to permit peaceful dismemberment. only the low organisms can live in all their parts after violent separations. the trunk remained, bleeding but alive and vigorous, while the amputated portion lay for centuries in fossilized impotence. never more plainly than in the history of this commonwealth was the geographical law manifested by which the fate of nations is so deeply influenced. courage, enterprise amounting almost to audacity, and a determined will confronted for a long lapse of time the inexorable, and permitted a great empire to germinate out of a few sand-banks held in defiance of the ocean, and protected from human encroachments on the interior only by the artificial barrier of custom-house and fort. thus foredoomed at birth, it must increase our admiration of human energy and of the sustaining influence of municipal liberty that the republic, even if transitory, should yet have girdled the earth with its possessions and held for a considerable period so vast a portion of the world in fee. what a lesson to our transatlantic commonwealth, whom bountiful nature had blessed at her birth beyond all the nations of history and seemed to speed upon an unlimited career of freedom and peaceful prosperity, should she be capable at the first alarm on her track to throw away her inestimable advantages! if all history is not a mockery and a fable, she may be sure that the nation which deliberately carves itself in pieces and, substitutes artificial boundaries for the natural and historic ones, condemns itself either to extinction or to the lower life of political insignificance and petty warfare, with the certain loss of liberty and national independence at last. better a terrible struggle, better the sacrifice of prosperity and happiness for years, than the eternal setting of that great popular hope, the united american republic. i speak in this digression only of the relations of physical nature to liberty and nationality, making no allusion to the equally stringent moral laws which no people can violate and yet remain in health and vigour. despite a quarter of a century of what is commonly termed civil war, the united netherlands were prosperous and full of life. it was in the provinces which had seceded from the union of utrecht that there was silence as of the grave, destitution, slavery, abject submission to a foreign foe. the leaders in the movement which had brought about the scission of --commonly called the 'reconciliation'--enjoyed military and civil posts under a foreign tyrant, but were poorly rewarded for subserviency in fighting against their own brethren by contumely on the part of their masters. as for the mass of the people it would be difficult to find a desolation more complete than that recorded of the "obedient" provinces. even as six years before, wolves littered their whelps in deserted farmhouses, cane-brake and thicket usurped the place of cornfield and, orchard, robbers swarmed on the highways once thronged by a most thriving population, nobles begged their bread in the streets of cities whose merchants once entertained emperors and whose wealth and traffic were the wonder of the world, while the spanish viceroy formally permitted the land in the agricultural districts to be occupied and farmed by the first comer for his own benefit, until the vanished proprietors of the soil should make their re-appearance. "administered without justice or policy," said a netherlander who was intensely loyal to the king and a most uncompromising catholic, "eaten up and abandoned for that purpose to the arbitrary will of foreigners who suck the substance and marrow of the land without benefit to the king, gnaw the obedient cities to the bones, and plunder the open defenceless country at their pleasure, it may be imagined how much satisfaction these provinces take in their condition. commerce and trade have ceased in a country which traffic alone has peopled, for without it no human habitation could be more miserable and poor than our land."--[discours du seigneur de champagny sur les affaires des pays bas, dec. . bibl. de bourgogne, ms. no. , .] nothing could be more gloomy than the evils thus described by the netherland statesman and soldier, except the remedy which he suggested. the obedient provinces, thus scourged and blasted for their obedience, were not advised to improve their condition by joining hands with their sister states, who had just constituted themselves by their noble resistance to royal and ecclesiastical tyranny into a free and powerful commonwealth. on the contrary, two great sources of regeneration and prosperity were indicated, but very different ones from those in which the republic had sought and found her strength. in the first place, it was suggested as indispensable that the obedient provinces should have more jesuits and more friars. the mendicant orders should be summoned to renewed exertions, and the king should be requested to send seminary priests to every village in numbers proportionate to the population, who should go about from house to house, counting the children, and seeing that they learned their catechism if their parents did not teach them, and, even in case they did, examining whether it was done thoroughly and without deception. in the second place it was laid down as important that the bishops should confirm no one who had not been sufficiently catechized. "and if the mendicant orders," said champagny, "are not numerous enough for these catechizations, the jesuits might charge themselves therewith, not more and not less than the said mendicants, some of each being deputed to each parish. to this end it would be well if his majesty should obtain from the pope a command to the jesuits to this effect, since otherwise they might not be willing to comply. it should also be ordered that all jesuits, natives of these provinces, should return hither, instead of wandering about in other regions as if their help were not so necessary here."--[ibid.] it was also recommended that the mendicant friars should turn their particular attention to antwerp, and that one of them should preach in french, another in german, another in english, every day at the opening of the exchange. with these appliances it was thought that antwerp would revive out of its ruins and, despite the blockade of its river, renew its ancient commercial glories. founded on the substantial rocks of mendicancy and jesuitism, it might again triumph over its rapidly rising rival, the heretic amsterdam, which had no better basis for its grandeur than religious and political liberty, and uncontrolled access to the ocean. such were the aspirations of a distinguished and loyal netherlander for the regeneration of his country. such were his opinions as to the true sources of the wealth and greatness of nations. can we wonder that the country fell to decay, or that this experienced, statesman and brave soldier should himself, after not many years, seek to hide his dishonoured head under the cowl of a monk? the coast of the obedient provinces was thoroughly blockaded. the united provinces commanded the sea, their cruisers, large and small, keeping diligent watch off every port and estuary of the flemish coast, so that not a herringboat could enter without their permission. antwerp, when it fell into the hands of the spaniard, sank for ever from its proud position. the city which venetians but lately had confessed with a sigh to be superior in commercial grandeur to their own magnificent capital, had ceased to be a seaport. shut in from the ocean by flushing--firmly held by an english garrison as one of the cautionary towns for the queen's loan--her world-wide commerce withered before men's eyes. her population was dwindling to not much more than half its former numbers, while ghent, bruges, and other cities were diminished by two-thirds. on the other hand, the commerce and manufactures of the united republic had enormously augmented. its bitterest enemies bore witness to the sagacity and success by which its political affairs were administered, and to its vast superiority in this respect over the obedient provinces. "the rebels are not ignorant of our condition," said champagny, "they are themselves governed with consummate wisdom, and they mock at those who submit themselves to the duke of parma. they are the more confirmed in their rebellion, when they see how many are thronging from us to them, complaining of such bad government, and that all take refuge in flight who can from the misery and famine which it has caused throughout these provinces!" the industrial population had flowed from the southern provinces into the north, in obedience to an irresistible law. the workers in iron, paper, silk, linen, lace, the makers of brocade, tapestry, and satin, as well as of all the coarser fabrics, had fled from the land of oppression to the land of liberty. never in the history of civilisation had there been a more rapid development of human industry than in holland during these years of bloodiest warfare. the towns were filled to overflowing. amsterdam multiplied in wealth and population as fast as antwerp shrank. almost as much might be said of middelburg, enkhuyzen, horn, and many other cities. it is the epoch to which the greatest expansion of municipal architecture is traced. warehouses, palaces, docks, arsenals, fortifications, dykes, splendid streets and suburbs, were constructed on every side, and still there was not room for the constantly increasing population, large numbers of which habitually dwelt in the shipping. for even of that narrow span of earth called the province of holland, one-third was then interior water, divided into five considerable lakes, those of harlem, schermer, beemster, waert, and purmer. the sea was kept out by a magnificent system of dykes under the daily superintendence of a board of officers, called dyke-graves, while the rain-water, which might otherwise have drowned the soil thus painfully reclaimed, was pumped up by windmills and drained off through sluices opening and closing with the movement of the tides. the province of zeeland was one vast "polder." it was encircled by an outer dyke of forty dutch equal to one hundred and fifty english, miles in extent, and traversed by many interior barriers. the average cost of dyke-building was sixty florins the rod of twelve feet, or , florins the dutch mile. the total cost of the zeeland dykes was estimated at , , florins, besides the annual repairs. but it was on the sea that the netherlanders were really at home, and they always felt it in their power--as their last resource against foreign tyranny--to bury their land for ever in the ocean, and to seek a new country at the ends of the earth. it has always been difficult to doom to political or personal slavery a nation accustomed to maritime pursuits. familiarity with the boundless expanse of ocean, and the habit of victoriously contending with the elements in their stormy strength, would seem to inspire a consciousness in mankind of human dignity and worth. with the exception of spain, the chief seafaring nations of the world were already protestant. the counter-league, which was to do battle so strenuously with the holy confederacy, was essentially a maritime league. "all the maritime heretics of the world, since heresy is best suited to navigators, will be banded together," said champagny, "and then woe to the spanish indies, which england and holland are already threatening." the netherlanders had been noted from earliest times for a free-spoken and independent personal demeanour. at this epoch they were taking the lead of the whole world in marine adventure. at least three thousand vessels of between one hundred and four hundred tons, besides innumerable doggers, busses, cromstevens, and similar craft used on the rivers and in fisheries, were to be found in the united provinces, and one thousand, it was estimated, were annually built. they traded to the baltic regions for honey, wax, tallow, lumber, iron, turpentine, hemp. they brought from farthest indies and from america all the fabrics of ancient civilisation, all the newly discovered products of a virgin soil, and dispensed them among the less industrious nations of the earth. enterprise, led on and accompanied by science, was already planning the boldest flights into the unknown yet made by mankind, and it will soon be necessary to direct attention to those famous arctic voyages, made by hollanders in pursuit of the north-west passage to cathay, in which as much heroism, audacity, and scientific intelligence were displayed as in later times have made so many men belonging to both branches of the anglo-saxon race illustrious. a people, engaged in perennial conflict with a martial and sacerdotal despotism the most powerful in the world, could yet spare enough from its superfluous energies to confront the dangers of the polar oceans, and to bring back treasures of science to enrich the world. such was the spirit of freedom. inspired by its blessed influence this vigorous and inventive little commonwealth triumphed over all human, all physical obstacles in its path. it organised armies on new principles to drive the most famous legions of history from its soil. it built navies to help rescue, at critical moments, the cause of england, of protestantism, of civil liberty, and even of french nationality. more than all, by its trade with its arch-enemy, the republic constantly multiplied its resources for destroying his power and aggrandizing its own. the war navy of the united provinces was a regular force of one hundred ships--large at a period when a vessel of thirteen hundred tons was a monster--together with an indefinite number of smaller craft, which could be put into the public service on short notice? in those days of close quarters and light artillery a merchant ship was converted into a cruiser by a very simple, process. the navy was a self-supporting one, for it was paid by the produce of convoy fees and licenses to trade. it must be confessed that a portion of these revenues savoured much of black-mail to be levied on friend and foe; for the distinctions between, freebooter, privateer, pirate, and legitimate sea-robber were not very closely drawn in those early days of seafaring. prince maurice of nassau was lord high admiral, but he was obliged to listen to the counsels of various provincial boards of admiralty, which often impeded his action and interfered with his schemes. it cannot be denied that the inherent vice of the netherland polity was already a tendency to decentralisation and provincialism. the civil institutions of the country, in their main characteristics, have been frequently sketched in these pages. at this period they had entered almost completely into the forms which were destined to endure until the commonwealth fell in the great crash of the french revolution. their beneficial effects were more visible now--sustained and bound together as the nation was by the sense of a common danger, and by the consciousness of its daily developing strength--than at a later day when prosperity and luxury had blunted the fine instincts of patriotism. the supreme power, after the deposition of philip, and the refusal by france and by england to accept the sovereignty of the provinces, was definitely lodged in the states-general. but the states-general did not technically represent the people. its members were not elected by the people. it was a body composed of, delegates from each provincial assembly, of which there were now five: holland, zeeland, friesland, utrecht, and gelderland. each provincial assembly consisted again of delegates, not from the inhabitants of the provinces, but from the magistracies of the cities. those, magistracies, again, were not elected by the citizens. they elected themselves by renewing their own vacancies, and were, in short, immortal corporations. thus, in final analysis, the supreme power was distributed and localised among the mayors and aldermen of a large number of cities, all independent alike of the people below and of any central power above. it is true that the nobles, as, a class, had a voice in the provincial and, in the general assembly, both for themselves and as technical representatives of the smaller towns and of the rural population. but, as a matter of fact, the influence of this caste had of late years very rapidly diminished, through its decrease in numbers, and the far more rapid increase in wealth and power of the commercial and manufacturing classes. individual nobles were constantly employed in the military, civil, and diplomatic service of the republic, but their body had ceased to be a power. it had been the policy of william the silent to increase the number of cities entitled to send deputies to the states; for it was among the cities that his resistance to the tyranny of spain, and his efforts to obtain complete independence for his country, had been mainly supported. many of the great nobles, as has been seen in these pages, denounced the liberator and took sides with the tyrant. lamoral egmont had walked to the scaffold to which philip had condemned him, chanting a prayer for philip's welfare. egmont's eldest son was now foremost in the spanish army, doing battle against his own country in behalf of the tyrant who had taken his father's life. aremberg and ligny, arachot, chimay, croy, caprea, montigny, and most of the great patrician families of the netherlands fought on the royal side. the revolution which had saved the country from perdition and created the great netherland republic was a burgher revolution, and burgher statesmen now controlled the state. the burgher class of europe is not the one that has been foremost in the revolutionary movements of history, or that has distinguished itself--especially in more modern times--by a passionate love of liberty. it is always easy to sneer at hans miller and hans baker, and at the country where such plebeians are powerful. yet the burghers played a prominent part in the great drama which forms my theme, and there has rarely been seen a more solid or powerful type of their class than the burgher statesman, john of olden-barneveld, who, since the death of william the silent and the departure of lord leicester, had mainly guided the destinies of holland. certainly no soldier nor statesman who ever measured intellects with that potent personage was apt to treat his genius otherwise than with profound respect. but it is difficult to form a logical theory of government except on the fiction of divine right as a basis, unless the fact of popular sovereignty, as expressed by a majority, be frankly accepted in spite of philosophical objections. in the netherlands there was no king, and strictly speaking no people. but this latter and fatal defect was not visible in the period of danger and of contest. the native magistrates of that age were singularly pure, upright, and patriotic. of this there is no question whatever. and the people acquiesced cheerfully in their authority, not claiming a larger representation than such as they virtually possessed in the multiple power exercised over them, by men moving daily among them, often of modest fortunes and of simple lives. two generations later, and in the wilderness of massachusetts, the early american colonists voluntarily placed in the hands of their magistrates, few in number, unlimited control of all the functions of government, and there was hardly an instance known of an impure exercise of authority. yet out of that simple kernel grew the least limited and most powerful democracy ever known. in the later days of netherland history a different result became visible, and with it came the ruin of the state. the governing class, of burgher origin, gradually separated itself from the rest of the citizens, withdrew from commercial pursuits, lived on hereditary fortunes in the exercise of functions which were likewise virtually hereditary, and so became an oligarchy. this result, together with the physical causes already indicated, made the downfall of the commonwealth probable whenever it should be attacked by an overwhelming force from without. the states-general, however, at this epoch--although they had in a manner usurped the sovereignty, which in the absence of a feudal lord really belonged to the whole people, and had silently repossessed themselves of those executive functions which they had themselves conferred upon the state council--were at any rate without self-seeking ambition. the hollanders, as a race, were not office seekers, but were singularly docile to constituted authority, while their regents--as the municipal magistrates were commonly called--were not very far removed above the mass by birth or habitual occupation. the republic was a social and political fact, against which there was no violent antagonism either of laws or manners, and the people, although not technically existing, in reality was all in all. in netherland story the people is ever the true hero. it was an almost unnoticed but significant revolution--that by which the state council was now virtually deprived of its authority. during leicester's rule it had been a most important college of administration. since his resignation it had been entrusted by the states-general with high executive functions, especially in war matters. it was an assembly of learned counsellors appointed from the various provinces for wisdom and experience, usually about eighteen in number, and sworn in all things to be faithful to the whole republic. the allegiance of all was rendered to the nation. each individual member was required to "forswear his native province in order to be true to the generality." they deliberated in common for the general good, and were not hampered by instructions from the provincial diets, nor compelled to refer to those diets for decision when important questions were at issue. it was an independent executive committee for the whole republic. but leicester had made it unpopular. his intrigues, in the name of democracy, to obtain possession of sovereign power, to inflame the lower classes against the municipal magistracies, and to excite the clergy to claim a political influence to which they were not entitled and which was most mischievous in its effects, had exposed the state council, with which he had been in the habit of consulting, to suspicion. the queen of england, by virtue of her treaty had the right to appoint two of her subjects to be members of the council. the governor of her auxiliary forces was also entitled to a seat there. since the malpractices of leicester and the danger to which the country had been, subjected in consequence had been discovered, it was impossible that there should be very kindly feeling toward england in the public mind, however necessary a sincere alliance between the two countries was known to be for the welfare of both. the bickering of the two english councillors, wilkes and bodley, and of the governor of the english contingent with the hollanders, was incessant. the englishmen went so far as to claim the right of veto upon all measures passed by the council, but the states-general indignantly replied that the matters deliberated and decided upon by that board were their own affairs, not the state affairs of england. the two members and the military officer who together represented her majesty were entitled to participate in the deliberations and to vote with their brother members. for them to claim the right, however, at will to annul the proceedings was an intolerable assumption, and could not be listened to for a moment. certainly it would have been strange had two dutchmen undertaken to veto every measure passed by the queen's council at richmond or windsor, and it was difficult to say on what article of the contract this extraordinary privilege was claimed by englishmen at the hague. another cause of quarrel was the inability of the englishmen to understand the language in which the debates of the state council were held. according to a custom not entirely unexampled in parliamentary history the members of assembly and council made use of their native tongue in discussing the state affairs of their native land. it was however considered a grievance by the two english members that the dutchmen should speak dutch, and it was demanded in the queen's name that they should employ some other language which a foreigner could more easily understand. the hollanders however refused this request, not believing that in a reversed case her majesty's council or houses of parliament would be likely or competent to carry on their discussions habitually in italian or latin for the benefit of a couple of strangers who might not be familiar with english. the more natural remedy would have been for the foreigners to take lessons in the tongue of the country, or to seek for an interpreter among their colleagues; especially as the states, when all the netherlands were but provinces, had steadily refused to adopt any language but their mother tongue, even at the demand of their sovereign prince. at this moment, sir thomas bodley was mainly entrusted with her majesty's affairs at the hague, but his overbearing demeanour, intemperate language, and passionate style of correspondence with the states and with the royal government, did much injury to both countries. the illustrious walsingham--whose death in the spring of this year england had so much reason to deplore--had bitterly lamented, just before his death, having recommended so unquiet a spirit for so important a place. ortel, envoy of the states to london, expressed his hopes that affairs would now be handled more to the satisfaction of the states; as bodley would be obliged, since the death of sir francis, to address his letters to the lord high treasurer, with whom it would be impossible for him to obtain so much influence as he had enjoyed with the late secretary of state. moreover it was exactly at this season that the advocate of holland, olden-barneveld, was excluded from the state council. already the important province of holland was dissatisfied with its influence in that body. bearing one-half of the whole burthen of the war it was not content with one-quarter of the council vote, and very soon it became the custom for the states-general to conduct all the most important affairs of the republic. the state council complained that even in war matters it was not consulted, and that most important enterprises were undertaken by prince maurice without its knowledge, and on advice of the advocate alone. doubtless this was true, and thus, most unfortunately, the commonwealth was degraded to a confederacy instead of becoming an incorporate federal state. the members of the states-general--as it has been seen were responsible only to their constituents, the separate provinces. they avowed allegiance, each to his own province, none to the central government. moreover they were not representatives, but envoys, appointed by petty provinces, bound by written orders, and obliged to consult at every step with their sovereigns at home. the netherland polity was thus stamped almost at its birth with a narrow provincialism: delay and hesitation thus necessarily engendered were overcome in the days of danger by patriotic fervour. the instinct of union for the sake of the national existence was sufficiently strong, and the robust, practical common sense of the people sufficiently enlightened to prevent this weakness from degenerating into impotence so long as the war pressure remained to mould them into a whole. but a day was to come for bitterly rueing this paralysis of the imperial instincts of the people, this indefinite decentralisation of the national strength. for the present, the legislative and executive body was the states-general. but the states-general were in reality the states provincial, and the states provincial were the city municipalities, among which the magistracies of holland were preponderant. ere long it became impossible for an individual to resist the decrees of the civic authorities. in , the states-general passed a resolution by which these arrogant corporations virtually procured their exemption from any process at the suit of a private person to be placed on record. so far could the principle of sovereignty be pulverized. city council boards had become supreme. it was naturally impossible during the long continuance of this great struggle, that neutral nations should not be injuriously affected by it in a variety of ways. and as a matter of course neutral nations were disposed to counsel peace. peace, peace; peace was the sigh of the bystanders whose commerce was impeded, whose international relations. were complicated, and whose own security was endangered in the course of the bloody conflict. it was however not very much the fashion of that day for governments to obtrude advice upon each other; or to read to each other moral lectures. it was assumed that when the expense and sacrifice of war had been incurred, it was for cause, and the discovery had not yet been made that those not immediately interested in the fray were better acquainted with its merits than, the combatants themselves, and were moreover endued with, superhuman wisdom to see with perfect clearness that future issue which to the parties themselves was concealed. cheap apothegms upon the blessings of peace and upon the expediency of curbing the angry passions, uttered by the belligerents of yesterday to the belligerents of to-day, did not then pass current for profound wisdom. still the emperor rudolph, abstaining for a time from his star-gazing, had again thought proper to make a feeble attempt at intervention in those sublunary matters which were supposed to be within his sphere. it was perfectly well known that philip was incapable of abating one jot of his pretensions, and that to propose mediation to the united provinces was simply to request them, for the convenience of other powers, to return to the slavery out of which, by the persistent efforts of a quarter of a century, they had struggled. nevertheless it was formally proposed to re-open those lukewarm fountains of diplomatic commonplace in which healing had been sought during the peace negotiations of cologne in the year . but the states-general resolutely kept them sealed. they simply answered his imperial majesty by a communication of certain intercepted correspondence between--the king of spain and his ambassador at vienna, san clemente, through which it was satisfactorily established that any negotiation would prove as gigantic a comedy on the part of spain as had been the memorable conferences at ostend, by which the invasion of england had been masked. there never was a possibility of mediation or of compromise except by complete submission on the part of the netherlanders to crown and church. both in this, as well as in previous and subsequent attempts at negotiations, the secret instructions of philip forbade any real concessions on his side. he was always ready to negotiate, he was especially anxious to obtain a suspension of arms from the rebels during negotiation; but his agents were instructed to use great dexterity and dissimulation in order that the proposal for such armistice, as well as for negotiation at all, should appear to proceed, not from himself as was the fact, but from the emperor as a neutral potentate. the king uniformly proposed three points; firstly, that the rebels should reconvert themselves to the catholic religion; secondly, that they should return to their obedience to himself; thirdly, that they should pay the expenses of the war. number three was, however, usually inserted in order that, by conceding it subsequently, after much contestation, he might appear conciliatory. it was a vehicle of magnanimity towards men grown insolent with temporary success. numbers one and two were immutable. especially upon number one was concession impossible. "the catholic religion is the first thing," said philip, "and although the rebels do not cease to insist that liberty of conscience should be granted them, in order that they may preserve that which they have had during these past years, this is never to be thought of in any event." the king always made free use of the terrible weapon which the protestant princes of germany had placed in his hands. for indeed if it were right that one man, because possessed of hereditary power over millions of his fellow creatures, should compel them all to accept the dogmas of luther or of calvin because agreeable to himself, it was difficult to say why another man, in a similarly elevated position, might not compel his subjects to accept the creed of trent, or the doctrines of mahomet or confucius. the netherlanders were fighting--even more than they knew-for liberty of conscience, for equality of all religions; not for moses, nor for melancthon; for henry, philip, or pius; while philip justly urged that no prince in christendom permitted license. "let them well understand," said his majesty, "that since others who live in error, hold the opinion that vassals are to conform to the religion of their master, it is insufferable that it should be proposed to me that my vassals should have a different religion from mine--and that too being the true religion, proved by so many testimonies and miracles, while all others are deception. this must be arranged with the authority of the commissioners of the emperor, since it is well understood by them that the vassal is never to differ from the opinion of his master." certainly it was worth an eighty years' war to drive such blasphemous madness as this out of human heads, whether crowned or shaven. there was likewise a diet held during the summer of this year, of the circles of the empire nearest to the netherlands--westphalia, cleves, juliers, and saxony--from which commissioners were deputed both to brussels and to the hague, to complain of the misfortunes suffered by neutral and neighbouring nations in consequence of the civil war. they took nothing by their mission to the duke of parma. at the hague the deputies were heard on the nd august, . they complained to the states-general of "brandschatting" on the border, of the holding of forts beyond the lines, and of other invasions of neutral territory, of the cruising of the war-vessels of the states off the shores and on the rivers, and of their interference with lawful traders. threats were made of forcible intervention and reprisals. the united states replied on the th september. expressing deep regret that neutral nations should suffer, they pronounced it to be impossible but that some sparks from the great fire, now desolating their land, should fly over into their neighbours' ground. the states were fighting the battle of liberty against slavery, in which the future generations of germany, as well as of the netherlands were interested. they were combating that horrible institution, the holy inquisition. they were doing their best to strike down the universal monarchy of spain, which they described as a bloodthirsty, insatiable, insolent, absolute dominion of saracenic, moorish christians. they warred with a system which placed inquisitors on the seats of judges, which made it unlawful to read the scriptures, which violated all oaths, suppressed all civic freedom, trampled, on all laws and customs, raised inordinate taxes by arbitrary decree, and subjected high and low to indiscriminate murder. spain had sworn the destruction of the provinces and their subjugation to her absolute dominion, in order to carry out her scheme of universal empire. these were the deeds and designs against which the states were waging that war, concerning some inconvenient results of which their neighbours, now happily neutral, were complaining. but the cause of the states was the cause of humanity itself. this saracenic, moorish, universal monarchy had been seen by germany to murder, despoil, and trample upon the netherlands. it had murdered millions of innocent indians and granadians. it had kept naples and milan in abject slavery. it had seized portugal. it had deliberately planned and attempted an accursed invasion of england and ireland. it had overrun and plundered many cities of the empire. it had spread a web of secret intrigue about scotland. at last it was sending great armies to conquer france and snatch its crown. poor france now saw the plans of this spanish tyranny and bewailed her misery. the subjects of her lawful king were ordered to rise against him, on account of religion and conscience. such holy pretexts were used by these saracenic christians in order to gain possession of that kingdom. for all these reasons, men should not reproach the inhabitants of the netherlands, because seeing the aims of this accursed tyranny, they had set themselves to resist it. it was contrary to reason to consider them as disturbers of the general peace, or to hold them guilty of violating their oaths or their duty to the laws of the holy empire. the states-general were sure that they had been hitherto faithful and loyal, and they were resolved to continue in that path. as members of the holy empire, in part--as of old they were considered to be--they had rather the right to expect, instead of reproaches, assistance against the enormous power and inhuman oppression of their enemies. they had demanded it heretofore by their ambassadors, and they still continued to claim it. they urged that, according to the laws of the empire, all foreign soldiers, spaniards, saracens, and the like should be driven out of the limits of the empire. through these means the german highland and the german netherland might be restored once more to their old friendship and unity, and might deal with each other again in amity and commerce. if, however, such requests could not be granted they at least begged his electoral highness and the other dukes, lords, and states to put on the deeds of netherlanders in this laborious and heavy war the best interpretation, in order that they might, with the better courage and resolution, bear those inevitable burthens which were becoming daily heavier in this task of resistance and self-protection; in order that the provinces might not be utterly conquered, and serve, with their natural resources and advantageous situation, as 'sedes et media belli' for the destruction of neighbouring states and the building up of the contemplated universal, absolute monarchy. the united provinces had been compelled by overpowering necessity to take up arms. that which had resulted was and remained in 'terminis defensionis.' their object was to protect what belonged to them, to recover that which by force or fraud had been taken from them. in regard to excesses committed by their troops against neutral inhabitants on the border, they expressed a strong regret, together with a disposition to make all proper retribution and to cause all crimes to be punished. they alluded to the enormous sins of this nature practised by the enemy against neutral soil. they recalled to mind that the spaniards paid their troops ill or not at all, and that they allowed them to plunder the innocent and the neutral, while the united states had paid their troops better wages, and more punctually, than had ever been done by the greatest potentates of europe. it was true that the states kept many cruisers off the coasts and upon the rivers, but these were to protect their own citizens and friendly traders against pirates and against the common foe. germany derived as much benefit from this system as did the provinces themselves. thus did the states-general, respectfully but resolutely, decline all proffers of intervention, which, as they were well aware, could only enure to the benefit of the enemy. thus did they avoid being entrapped into negotiations which could only prove the most lamentable of comedies. etext editor's bookmarks: a pusillanimous peace, always possible at any period at length the twig was becoming the tree being the true religion, proved by so many testimonies certainly it was worth an eighty years' war chief seafaring nations of the world were already protestant conceding it subsequently, after much contestation fled from the land of oppression to the land of liberty german highland and the german netherland little army of maurice was becoming the model for europe luxury had blunted the fine instincts of patriotism maritime heretics portion of these revenues savoured much of black-mail the divine speciality of a few transitory mortals the history of the netherlands is history of liberty the nation which deliberately carves itself in pieces they had come to disbelieve in the mystery of kingcraft worn nor caused to be worn the collar of the serf chapter xxiii. philip's scheme of aggrandizement--projected invasion of france-- internal condition of france--character of henry of navarre-- preparation for action--battle of ivry--victory of the french king over the league--reluctance of the king to attack the french capital--siege of paris--the pope indisposed towards the league-- extraordinary demonstration of ecclesiastics--influence of the priests--extremities of the siege--attempted negotiation--state of philip's army--difficult position of farnese--march of the allies to the relief of paris--lagny taken and the city relieved--desertion of the king's army--siege of corbeil--death of pope sixtus v.-- re-capture of lagny and corbeil--return of parma to the netherlands --result of the expedition. the scene of the narrative shifts to france. the history of the united netherlands at this epoch is a world-history. were it not so, it would have far less of moral and instruction for all time than it is really capable of affording. the battle of liberty against despotism was now fought in the hop-fields of brabant or the polders of friesland, now in the narrow seas which encircle england, and now on the sunny plains of dauphiny, among the craggy inlets of brittany, or along the high roads and rivers which lead to the gates of paris. but everywhere a noiseless, secret, but ubiquitous negotiation was speeding with never an instant's pause to accomplish the work which lansquenettes and riders, pikemen and carabineers were contending for on a hundred battle-fields and amid a din of arms which for a quarter of a century had been the regular hum of human industry. for nearly a generation of mankind, germans and hollanders, englishmen, frenchmen, scotchmen, irishmen, spaniards and italians seemed to be born into the world mainly to fight for or against a system of universal monarchy, conceived for his own benefit by a quiet old man who passed his days at a writing desk in a remote corner of europe. it must be confessed that philip ii. gave the world work enough. whether--had the peoples governed themselves--their energies might not have been exerted in a different direction, and on the whole have produced more of good to the human race than came of all this blood and awoke, may be questioned. but the divine right of kings, associating itself with the power supreme of the church, was struggling to maintain that old mastery of mankind which awakening reason was inclined to dispute. countries and nations being regarded as private property to be inherited or bequeathed by a few favoured individuals--provided always that those individuals were obedient to the chief-priest--it had now become right and proper for the spanish monarch to annex scotland, england, and france to the very considerable possessions which were already his own. scotland he claimed by virtue of the expressed wish of mary to the exclusion of her heretic son. france, which had been unjustly usurped by another family in times past to his detriment, and which only a mere human invention--a "pleasantry" as alva had happily termed it, called the "salic law"--prevented from passing quietly to his daughter, as heiress to her mother, daughter of henry ii., he was now fully bent upon making his own without further loss of time. england, in consequence of the mishap of the year eighty-eight, he was inclined to defer appropriating until the possession of the french coasts, together with those of the netherlands, should enable him to risk the adventure with assured chances of success. the netherlands were fast slipping beyond his control, to be sure, as he engaged in these endless schemes; and ill-disposed people of the day said that the king was like aesop's dog, lapping the river dry in order to get at the skins floating on the surface. the duke of parma was driven to his wits' ends for expedients, and beside himself with vexation, when commanded to withdraw his ill-paid and mutinous army from the provinces for the purpose of invading france. most importunate were the appeals and potent the arguments by which he attempted to turn philip from his purpose. it was in vain. spain was the great, aggressive, overshadowing power at that day, before whose plots and whose violence the nations alternately trembled, and it was france that now stood in danger of being conquered or dismembered by the common enemy of all. that unhappy kingdom, torn by intestine conflict, naturally invited the ambition and the greediness of foreign powers. civil war had been its condition, with brief intervals, for a whole generation of mankind. during the last few years, the sword had been never sheathed, while "the holy confederacy" and the bearnese struggled together for the mastery. religion was the mantle under which the chiefs on both sides concealed their real designs as they led on their followers year after year to the desperate conflict. and their followers, the masses, were doubtless in earnest. a great principle--the relation of man to his maker and his condition in a future world as laid down by rival priesthoods--has in almost every stage of history had power to influence the multitude to fury and to deluge the world in blood. and so long as the superstitious element of human nature enables individuals or combinations of them to dictate to their fellow-creatures those relations, or to dogmatize concerning those conditions--to take possession of their consciences in short, and to interpose their mummeries between man and his creator--it is, probable that such scenes as caused the nations to shudder, throughout so large a portion of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries will continue to repeat themselves at intervals in various parts of the earth. nothing can be more sublime than the self-sacrifice, nothing more demoniac than the crimes, which human creatures have seemed always ready to exhibit under the name of religion. it was and had been really civil war in france. in the netherlands it had become essentially a struggle for independence against a foreign monarch; although the germ out of which both conflicts had grown to their enormous proportions was an effort of the multitude to check the growth of papacy. in france, accordingly, civil war, attended by that gaunt sisterhood, murder, pestilence, and famine, had swept from the soil almost everything that makes life valuable. it had not brought in its train that extraordinary material prosperity and intellectual development at which men wondered in the netherlands, and to which allusion has just been made. but a fortunate conjunction of circumstances had now placed henry of navarre in a position of vantage. he represented the principle of nationality, of french unity. it was impossible to deny that he was in the regular line of succession, now that luckless henry of valois slept with his fathers, and the principle of nationality might perhaps prove as vital a force as attachment to the roman church. moreover, the adroit and unscrupulous bearnese knew well how to shift the mantle of religion from one shoulder to the other, to serve his purposes or the humours of those whom he addressed. "the king of spain would exclude me from the kingdom and heritage of my father because of my religion," he said to the duke of saxony; "but in that religion i am determined to persist so long as i shall live." the hand was the hand of henry, but it was the voice of duplessis mornay. "were there thirty crowns to win," said he, at about the same time to the states of france, "i would not change my religion on compulsion, the dagger at my throat. instruct me, instruct me, i am not obstinate." there spoke the wily freethinker, determined not to be juggled out of what he considered his property by fanatics or priests of either church. had henry been a real devotee, the fate of christendom might have been different. the world has long known how much misery it is in the power of crowned bigots to inflict. on the other hand, the holy league, the sacred confederacy, was catholic or nothing. already it was more papist than the pope, and loudly denounced sixtus v. as a huguenot because he was thought to entertain a weak admiration both for henry the heretic and for the jezebel of england. but the holy confederacy was bent on destroying the national government of france, and dismembering the national domain. to do this the pretext of trampling out heresy and indefinitely extending the power of rome, was most influential with the multitude, and entitled the leaders to enjoy immense power for the time being, while maturing their schemes for acquiring permanent possession of large fragments of the national territory. mayenne, nemours, aumale, mercoeur longed to convert temporary governments into independent principalities. the duke of lorraine looked with longing eyes on verdun, sedan, and, the other fair cities within the territories contiguous--to his own domains. the reckless house of savoy; with whom freebooting and landrobbery seemed geographical, and hereditary necessities, was busy on the southern borders, while it seemed easy enough for philip, ii., in right of his daughter, to secure at least the duchy of brittany before entering on the sovereignty of the whole kingdom. to the eyes of the world at large: france might well seem in a condition of hopeless disintegration; the restoration of its unity and former position among the nations, under the government of a single chief, a weak and wicked dream. furious and incessant were the anathemas hurled on the head of the bearnese for his persistence in drowning the land in blood in the hope of recovering a national capital which never could be his, and of wresting from the control of the confederacy that power. which, whether usurped or rightful, was considered, at least by the peaceably inclined, to have become a solid fact. the poor puppet locked in the tower of fontenay, and entitled charles x.; deceived and scared no one. such money as there was might be coined, in its name, but madam league reigned supreme in paris. the confederates, inspired by the eloquence of a cardinal legate, and supplied with funds by the faithful, were ready to dare a thousand deaths rather than submit to the rule of a tyrant and heretic. what was an authority derived from the laws of the land and the history of the race compared with the dogmas of rome and the trained veterans of spain? it remained to be seen whether nationality or bigotry would triumph. but in the early days of the prospects of nationality were not encouraging. francois de luxembourg, due de pincey, was in rome at that moment, deputed by such catholic nobles of france as were friendly to henry of navarre. sixtus might perhaps be influenced as to the degree of respect to be accorded to the envoy's representations by the events of the campaign about to open. meantime the legate gaetano, young, rich, eloquent, unscrupulous, distinguished alike for the splendour of his house and the brilliancy of his intellect, had arrived in paris. followed by a great train of adherents he had gone down to the house of parliament, and was about to seat himself under the dais reserved for the king, when brisson, first president of parliament, plucked him back by the arm, and caused him to take a seat immediately below his own. deeply was the bold president to expiate this defence of king and law against the holy league. for the moment however the legate contented himself with a long harangue, setting forth the power of rome, while brisson replied by an oration magnifying the grandeur of france. soon afterwards the cardinal addressed himself to the counteraction of henry's projects of conversion. for, well did the subtle priest understand that in purging himself of heresy, the bearnese was about to cut the ground from beneath his enemies' feet. in a letter to the archbishops and bishops of france, he argued the matter at length. especially he denied the necessity or the legality of an assembly of all the prelates of france, such as henry desired to afford him the requisite "instruction" as to the respective merits of the roman and the reformed church. certainly, he urged, the prince of bearne could hardly require instruction as to the tenets of either, seeing that at different times he had faithfully professed both. but while benches of bishops and doctors of the sorbonne were burnishing all the arms in ecclesiastical and legal arsenals for the approaching fray, the sound of louder if not more potent artillery began to be heard in the vicinity of paris. the candid henry, while seeking ghostly instruction with eagerness from his papistical patrons, was equally persevering in applying for the assistance of heretic musketeers and riders from his protestant friends in england, holland, germany, and switzerland. queen elizabeth and the states-general vied with each other in generosity to the great champion of protestantism, who was combating the holy league so valiantly, and rarely has a great historical figure presented itself to the world so bizarre of aspect, and under such shifting perplexity of light and shade, as did the bearnese in the early spring of . the hope of a considerable portion of the catholic nobility of his realm, although himself an excommunicated heretic; the mainstay of calvinism while secretly bending all his energies to effect his reconciliation with the pope; the idol of the austere and grimly puritanical, while himself a model of profligacy; the leader of the earnest and the true, although false as water himself in every relation in which human beings can stand to each other; a standardbearer of both great branches of the christian church in an age when religion was the atmosphere of men's daily lives, yet finding his sincerest admirer, and one of his most faithful allies, in the grand turk, [a portion of the magnificently protective letter of sultan amurath, in which he complimented henry on his religious stedfastness, might almost have made the king's cheek tingle.] the representative of national liberty and human rights against regal and sacerdotal absolutism, while himself a remorseless despot by nature and education, and a believer in no rights of the people save in their privilege to be ruled by himself; it seems strange at first view that henry of navarre should have been for centuries so heroic and popular an image. but he was a soldier, a wit, a consummate politician; above all, he was a man, at a period when to be a king was often to be something much less or much worse. to those accustomed to weigh and analyse popular forces it might well seem that he was now playing an utterly hopeless game. his capital garrisoned by the pope and the king of spain, with its grandees and its populace scoffing at his pretence of authority and loathing his name; with an exchequer consisting of what he could beg or borrow from queen elizabeth--most parsimonious of sovereigns reigning over the half of a small island--and from the states-general governing a half-born, half-drowned little republic, engaged in a quarter of a century's warfare with the greatest monarch in the world; with a wardrobe consisting of a dozen shirts and five pocket-handkerchiefs, most of them ragged, and with a commissariat made up of what could be brought in the saddle-bags of his huguenot cavaliers who came to the charge with him to-day, and to-morrow were dispersed again to their mountain fastnesses; it did not seem likely on any reasonable theory of dynamics that the power of the bearnese was capable of outweighing pope and spain, and the meaner but massive populace of france, and the sorbonne, and the great chiefs of the confederacy, wealthy, long descended, allied to all the sovereigns of christendom, potent in territorial possessions and skilful in wielding political influences. "the bearnese is poor but a gentleman of good family," said the cheerful henry, and it remained to-be seen whether nationality, unity, legitimate authority, history, and law would be able to neutralise the powerful combination of opposing elements. the king had been besieging dreux and had made good progress in reducing the outposts of the city. as it was known that he was expecting considerable reinforcements of english ships, netherlanders, and germans, the chiefs of the league issued orders from paris for an attack before he should thus be strengthened. for parma, unwillingly obeying the stringent commands of his master, had sent from flanders eighteen hundred picked cavalry under count philip egmont to join the army of mayenne. this force comprised five hundred belgian heavy dragoons under the chief nobles of the land, together with a selection, in even proportions, of walloon, german, spanish, and italian troopers. mayenne accordingly crossed the seine at mantes with an army of ten thousand foot, and, including egmont's contingent, about four thousand horse. a force under marshal d'aumont, which lay in ivry at the passage of the eure, fell back on his approach and joined the remainder of the king's army. the siege of dreux was abandoned; and henry withdrew to the neighbourhood of nonancourt. it was obvious that the duke meant to offer battle, and it was rare that the king under any circumstances could be induced to decline a combat. on the night of the th- th march, henry occupied saint andre, a village situated on an elevated and extensive plain four leagues from nonancourt, in the direction of ivry, fringed on three sides by villages and by a wood, and commanding a view of all the approaches from the country between the seine and eure. it would have been better had mayenne been beforehand with him, as the sequel proved; but the duke was not famed for the rapidity of his movements. during the greater part of the night, henry was employed in distributing his orders for that conflict which was inevitable on the following day. his army was drawn up according to a plan prepared by himself, and submitted to the most experienced of his generals for their approval. he then personally visited every portion of the encampment, speaking words of encouragement to his soldiers, and perfecting his arrangements for the coming conflict. attended by marshals d'aumont and biron he remained on horseback during a portion of the night, having ordered his officers to their tents and reconnoitred as well as he could the position of the enemy. towards morning he retired to his headquarters at fourainville, where he threw himself half-dressed on his truckle bed, and although the night was bitterly cold, with no covering but his cloak. he was startled from his slumber before the dawn by a movement of lights in the enemy's camp, and he sprang to his feet supposing that the duke was stealing a march upon him despite all his precautions. the alarm proved to be a false one, but henry lost no time in ordering his battle. his cavalry he divided in seven troops or squadrons. the first, forming the left wing, was a body of three hundred under marshal d'aumont, supported by two regiments of french infantry. next, separated by a short interval, was another troop of three hundred under the duke of montpensier, supported by two other regiments of foot, one swiss and one german. in front of montpensier was baron biron the younger, at the head of still another body of three hundred. two troops of cuirassiers, each four hundred strong, were on biron's left, the one commanded by the grand prior of france, charles d'angouleme, the other by monsieur de givry. between the prior and givry were six pieces of heavy artillery, while the battalia, formed of eight hundred horse in six squadrons, was commanded by the king in person, and covered on both sides by english and swiss infantry, amounting to some four thousand in all. the right wing was under the charge of old marshal biron, and comprised three troops of horse, numbering one hundred and fifty each, two companies of german riders, and four regiments of french infantry. these numbers, which are probably given with as much accuracy as can be obtained, show a force of about three thousand horse and twelve thousand foot. the duke of mayenne, seeing too late the advantage of position which he might have easily secured the day before, led his army forth with the early light, and arranged it in an order not very different from that adopted by the king, and within cannon-shot of his lines. the right wing under marshal de la chatre consisted of three regiments of french and one of germans, supporting three regiments of spanish lancers, two cornets of german riders under the bastard of brunswick, and four hundred cuirassiers. the battalia, which was composed of six hundred splendid cavalry, all noblemen of france, guarding the white banner of the holy league, and supported by a column of three thousand swiss and two thousand french infantry, was commanded by mayenne in person, assisted by his half-brother, the duke of nemours. in front of the infantry was a battery of six cannon and three culverines. the left wing was commanded by marshal de rene, with six regiments of french and lorrainers, two thousand germans, six hundred french cuirassiers, and the mounted troopers of count egmont. it is probable that mayenne's whole force, therefore, amounted to nearly four thousand cavalry and at least thirteen thousand foot. very different was the respective appearance of the two armies, so far, especially, as regarded the horsemen on both sides. gay in their gilded armour and waving plumes, with silken scarves across their shoulders, and the fluttering favours of fair ladies on their arms or in their helmets, the brilliant champions of the holy catholic confederacy clustered around the chieftains of the great house of guise, impatient for the conflict. it was like a muster for a brilliant and chivalrous tournament. the walloon and flemish nobles, outrivalling even the self-confidence of their companions in arms, taunted them with their slowness. the impetuous egmont, burning to eclipse the fame of his ill-fated father at gravelines and st. quintin in the same holy cause, urged on the battle with unseemly haste, loudly proclaiming that if the french were faint-hearted he would himself give a good account of the navarrese prince without any assistance from them. a cannon-shot away, the grim puritan nobles who had come forth from their mountain fastnesses to do battle for king and law and for the rights of conscience against the holy league--men seasoned in a hundred battle-fields, clad all in iron, with no dainty ornaments nor holiday luxury of warfare--knelt on the ground, smiting their mailed breasts with iron hands, invoking blessings on themselves and curses and confusion on their enemies in the coming conflict, and chanting a stern psalm of homage to the god of battles and of wrath. and henry of france and navarre, descendant of lewis the holy and of hugh the great, beloved chief of the calvinist cavaliers, knelt among his heretic brethren, and prayed and chanted with them. but not the staunchest huguenot of them all, not duplessis, nor d'aubigne, nor de la noue with the iron arm, was more devoted on that day to crown and country than were such papist supporters of the rightful heir as had sworn to conquer the insolent foreigner on the soil of france or die. when this brief prelude was over, henry made an address to his soldiers, but its language has not been preserved. it is known, however, that he wore that day his famous snow-white plume, and that he ordered his soldiers, should his banner go down in the conflict, to follow wherever and as long as that plume should be seen waving on any part of the field. he had taken a position by which his troops had the sun and wind in their backs, so that the smoke rolled toward the enemy and the light shone in their eyes. the combat began with the play of artillery, which soon became so warm that egmont, whose cavalry--suffering and galled--soon became impatient, ordered a charge. it was a most brilliant one. the heavy troopers of flanders and hainault, following their spirited chieftain, dashed upon old marshal biron, routing his cavalry, charging clean up to the huguenot guns and sabring the cannoneers. the shock was square, solid, irresistible, and was followed up by the german riders under eric of brunswick, who charged upon the battalia of the royal army, where the king commanded in person. there was a panic. the whole royal cavalry wavered, the supporting infantry recoiled, the day seemed lost before the battle was well begun. yells of "victory! victory! up with the holy league, down with the heretic bearnese," resounded through the catholic squadrons. the king and marshal biron, who were near each other, were furious with rage, but already doubtful of the result. they exerted themselves to rally the troops under their immediate command, and to reform the shattered ranks. the german riders and french lancers under brunswick and bassompierre had, however, not done their work as thoroughly as egmont had done. the ground was so miry and soft that in the brief space which separated the hostile lines they had not power to urge their horses to full speed. throwing away their useless lances, they came on at a feeble canter, sword in hand, and were unable to make a very vigorous impression on the more heavily armed troopers opposed to them. meeting with a firm resistance to their career, they wheeled, faltered a little and fell a short distance back. many of the riders being of the reformed religion, refused moreover to fire upon the huguenots, and discharged their carbines in the air. the king, whose glance on the battle-field was like inspiration, saw the blot and charged upon them in person with his whole battalia of cavalry. the veteran biron followed hard upon the snow-white plume. the scene was changed, victory succeeded to impending defeat, and the enemy was routed. the riders and cuirassiers, broken into a struggling heap of confusion, strewed the ground with their dead bodies, or carried dismay into the ranks of the infantry as they strove to escape. brunswick went down in the melee, mortally wounded as it was believed. egmont renewing the charge at the head of his victorious belgian troopers, fell dead with a musket-ball through his heart. the shattered german and walloon cavalry, now pricked forward by the lances of their companions, under the passionate commands of mayenne and aumale, now fading back before the furious charges of the huguenots, were completely overthrown and cut to pieces. seven times did henry of navarre in person lead his troopers to the charge; but suddenly, in the midst of the din of battle and the cheers of victory, a message of despair went from lip to lip throughout the royal lines. the king had disappeared. he was killed, and the hopes of protestantism and of france were fallen for ever with him. the white standard of his battalia had been seen floating wildly and purposelessly over the field; for his bannerman, pot de rhodes, a young noble of dauphiny, wounded mortally in the head, with blood streaming over his face and blinding his sight, was utterly unable to control his horse, who gallopped hither and thither at his own caprice, misleading many troopers who followed in his erratic career. a cavalier, armed in proof, and wearing the famous snow-white plume, after a hand-to-hand struggle with a veteran of count bossu's regiment, was seen to fall dead by the side of the bannerman: the fleming, not used to boast, loudly asserted that he had slain the bearnese, and the news spread rapidly over the battle-field. the defeated confederates gained new courage, the victorious royalists were beginning to waver, when suddenly, between the hostile lines, in the very midst of the battle, the king gallopped forward, bareheaded, covered with blood and dust, but entirely unhurt. a wild shout of "vive le roi!" rang through the air. cheerful as ever, he addressed a few encouraging words to his soldiers, with a smiling face, and again led a charge. it was all that was necessary to complete the victory. the enemy broke and ran away on every side in wildest confusion, followed by the royalist cavalry, who sabred them as they fled. the panic gained the foot-soldiers, who should have supported the cavalry, but had not been at all engaged in the action. the french infantry threw away their arms as they rushed from the field and sought refuge in the woods. the walloons were so expeditious in the race, that they never stopped till they gained their own frontier. the day was hopelessly lost, and although mayenne had conducted himself well in the early part of the day, it was certain that he was excelled by none in the celerity of his flight when the rout had fairly begun. pausing to draw breath as he gained the wood, he was seen to deal blows with his own sword among the mob of fugitives, not that he might rally them to their flag and drive them back to another encounter, but because they encumbered his own retreat. the walloon carbineers, the german riders, and the french lancers, disputing as to the relative blame to be attached to each corps, began shooting and sabring each other, almost before they were out of the enemy's sight. many were thus killed. the lansquenets were all put to the sword. the swiss infantry were allowed to depart for their own country on pledging themselves not again to bear arms against henry iv. it is probable that eight hundred of the leaguers were either killed on the battle-field or drowned in the swollen river in their retreat. about one-fourth of that number fell in the army of the king. it is certain that of the contingent from the obedient netherlands, two hundred and seventy, including their distinguished general, lost their lives. the bastard of brunswick, crawling from beneath a heap of slain, escaped with life. mayenne lost all his standards and all the baggage of his army, while the army itself was for a time hopelessly dissolved. few cavalry actions have attained a wider celebrity in history than the fight of ivry. yet there have been many hard-fought battles, where the struggle was fiercer and closer, where the issue was for a longer time doubtful, where far more lives on either side were lost, where the final victory was immediately productive of very much greater results, and which, nevertheless, have sunk into hopeless oblivion. the personal details which remain concerning the part enacted by the adventurous king at this most critical period of his career, the romantic interest which must always gather about that ready-witted, ready-sworded gascon, at the moment when, to contemporaries, the result of all his struggles seemed so hopeless or at best so doubtful; above all, the numerous royal and princely names which embellished the roll-call of that famous passage of arms, and which were supposed, in those days at least, to add such lustre to a battle-field, as humbler names, however illustrious by valour or virtue, could never bestow, have made this combat for ever famous. yet it is certain that the most healthy moral, in military affairs, to be derived from the event, is that the importance of a victory depends less upon itself than on the use to be made of it. mayenne fled to mantes, the duke of nemours to chartres, other leaders of the league in various directions, mayenne told every body he met that the bearnese was killed, and that although his own army was defeated, he should soon have another one on foot. the same intelligence was communicated to the duke of parma, and by him to philip. mendoza and the other spanish agents went about paris spreading the news of henry's death, but the fact seemed woefully to lack confirmation, while the proofs of the utter overthrow and shameful defeat of the leaguers were visible on every side. the parisians--many of whom the year before had in vain hired windows in the principal streets, in order to witness the promised entrance of the bearnese, bound hand and foot, and with a gag in his mouth, to swell the triumph of madam league--were incredulous as to the death now reported to them of this very lively heretic, by those who had fled so ignominiously from his troopers. de la none and the other huguenot chieftains, earnestly urged upon henry the importance of advancing upon paris without an instant's delay, and it seems at least extremely probable that, had he done so, the capital would have fallen at once into his hands. it is the concurrent testimony of contemporaries that the panic, the destitution, the confusion would have made resistance impossible had a determined onslaught been made. and henry had a couple of thousand horsemen flushed with victory, and a dozen thousand foot who had been compelled to look upon a triumph in which they had no opportunity of sharing: success and emulation would have easily triumphed over dissension and despair. but the king, yielding to the councils of biron and other catholics, declined attacking the capital, and preferred waiting the slow, and in his circumstances eminently hazardous, operations of a regular siege. was it the fear of giving a signal triumph to the cause of protestantism that caused the huguenot leader--so soon to become a renegade--to pause in his career? was it anxiety lest his victorious entrance into paris might undo the diplomacy of his catholic envoys at rome? or was it simply the mutinous condition of his army, especially of the swiss mercenaries, who refused to advance a step unless their arrears of pay were at once furnished them out of the utterly empty exchequer of the king? whatever may have been the cause of the delay, it is certain that the golden fruit of victory was not plucked, and that although the confederate army had rapidly dissolved, in consequence of their defeat, the king's own forces manifested as little cohesion. and now began that slow and painful siege, the details of which are as terrible, but as universally known, as those of any chapters in the blood-stained history of the century. henry seized upon the towns guarding the rivers seine and marne, twin nurses of paris. by controlling the course of those streams as well as that of the yonne and oise--especially by taking firm possession of lagny on the marne, whence a bridge led from the isle of france to the brie country--great thoroughfare of wine and corn--and of corbeil at the junction of the little river essonne with the seine-it was easy in that age to stop the vital circulation of the imperial city. by midsummer, paris, unquestionably the first city of europe at that day, was in extremities, and there are few events in history in which our admiration is more excited by the power of mankind to endure almost preternatural misery, or our indignation more deeply aroused by the cruelty with which the sublimest principles of human nature may be made to serve the purposes of selfish ambition and grovelling superstition, than this famous leaguer. rarely have men at any epoch defended their fatherland against foreign oppression with more heroism than that which was manifested by the parisians of in resisting religious toleration, and in obeying a foreign and priestly despotism. men, women, and children cheerfully laid down their lives by thousands in order that the papal legate and the king of spain might trample upon that legitimate sovereign of france who was one day to become the idol of paris and of the whole kingdom. a census taken at the beginning of the siege had showed a populace of two hundred thousand souls, with a sufficiency of provisions, it was thought, to last one month. but before the terrible summer was over--so completely had the city been invested--the bushel of wheat was worth three hundred and sixty crowns, rye and oats being but little cheaper. indeed, grain might as well have cost three thousand crowns the bushel, for the prices recorded placed it beyond the reach of all but the extremely wealthy. the flesh of horses, asses, dogs, cats, rats had become rare luxuries. there was nothing cheap, said a citizen bitterly, but sermons. and the priests and monks of every order went daily about the streets, preaching fortitude in that great resistance to heresy, by which paris was earning for itself a crown of glory, and promising the most direct passage to paradise for the souls of the wretched victims who fell daily, starved to death, upon the pavements. and the monks and priests did their work nobly, aiding the general resolution by the example of their own courage. better fed than their fellow citizens, they did military work in trench, guard-house and rampart, as the population became rapidly unfit, from physical exhaustion, for the defence of the city. the young duke of nemours, governor of the place, manifested as much resolution and conduct in bringing his countrymen to perdition as if the work in which he was engaged had been the highest and holiest that ever tasked human energies. he was sustained in his task by that proud princess, his own and mayenne's mother, by madame montpensier, by the resident triumvirate of spain, mendoza, commander moreo, and john baptist tasais, by the cardinal legate gaetano, and, more than all, by the sixteen chiefs of the wards, those municipal tyrants of the unhappy populace. pope sixtus himself was by no means eager for the success of the league. after the battle of ivry, he had most seriously inclined his ear to the representations of henry's envoy, and showed much willingness to admit the victorious heretic once more into the bosom of the church. sixtus was not desirous of contributing to the advancement of philip's power. he feared his designs on italy, being himself most anxious at that time to annex naples to the holy see. he had amassed a large treasure, but he liked best to spend it in splendid architecture, in noble fountains, in magnificent collections of art, science, and literature, and, above all, in building up fortunes for the children of his sister the washerwoman, and in allying them all to the most princely houses of italy, while never allowing them even to mention the name of their father, so base was his degree; but he cared not to disburse from his hoarded dollars to supply the necessities of the league. but gaetano, although he could wring but fifty thousand crowns from his holiness after the fatal fight of ivry, to further the good cause, was lavish in expenditures from his own purse and from other sources, and this too at a time when thirty-three per cent. interest was paid to the usurers of antwerp for one month's loan of ready money. he was indefatigable, too, and most successful in his exhortations and ghostly consolations to the people. those proud priests and great nobles were playing a reckless game, and the hopes of mankind beyond the grave were the counters on their table. for themselves there were rich prizes for the winning. should they succeed in dismembering the fair land where they were enacting their fantastic parts, there were temporal principalities, great provinces, petty sovereignties, to be carved out of the heritage which the bearnese claimed for his own. obviously then, their consciences could never permit this shameless heretic, by a simulated conversion at the critical moment, to block their game and restore the national unity and laws. and even should it be necessary to give the whole kingdom, instead of the mere duchy of brittany, to philip of spain, still there were mighty guerdons to be bestowed on his supporters before the foreign monarch could seat himself on the throne of henry's ancestors. as to the people who were fighting, starving, dying by thousands in this great cause, there were eternal rewards in another world profusely promised for their heroism instead of the more substantial bread and beef, for lack of which they were laying down their lives. it was estimated that before july twelve thousand human beings in paris had died, for want of food, within three months. but as there were no signs of the promised relief by the army of parma and mayenne, and as the starving people at times appeared faint-hearted, their courage was strengthened one day by a stirring exhibition. an astonishing procession marched through the streets of the city, led by the bishop of senlis and the prior of chartreux, each holding a halberd in one hand and a crucifix in the other, and graced by the presence of the cardinal-legate, and of many prelates from italy. a lame monk, adroitly manipulating the staff of a drum major, went hopping and limping before them, much to the amazement of the crowd. then came a long file of monks-capuchins, bernardists, minimes, franciscans, jacobins, carmelites, and other orders--each with his cowl thrown back, his long robes trussed up, a helmet on his head, a cuirass on his breast, and a halberd in his hand. the elder ones marched first, grinding their teeth, rolling their eyes, and making other ferocious demonstrations. then came the younger friars, similarly attired, all armed with arquebusses, which they occasionally and accidentally discharged to the disadvantage of the spectators, several of whom were killed or wounded on the spot. among others a servant of cardinal gaetano was thus slain, and the even caused much commotion, until the cardinal proclaimed that a man thus killed in so holy a cause had gone straight to heaven and had taken his place among the just. it was impossible, thus argued the people in their simplicity, that so wise and virtuous a man as the cardinal should not know what was best. the procession marched to the church of our lady of loretto, where they solemnly promised to the blessed virgin a lamp and ship of gold--should she be willing to use her influence in behalf of the suffering city--to be placed on her shrine as soon as the siege should be raised. but these demonstrations, however cheering to the souls, had comparatively little effect upon the bodies of the sufferers. it was impossible to walk through the streets of paris without stumbling over the dead bodies of the citizens. trustworthy eye-witnesses of those dreadful days have placed the number of the dead during the summer at thirty thousand. a tumultuous assemblage of the starving and the forlorn rushed at last to the municipal palace, demanding peace or bread. the rebels were soon dispersed however by a charge, headed by the chevalier d'aumale, and assisted by the chiefs of the wards, and so soon as the riot was quelled, its ringleader, a leading advocate, renaud by name, was hanged. still, but for the energy of the priests, it is doubtful whether the city could have been held by the confederacy. the duke of nemours confessed that there were occasions when they never would have been able to sustain a determined onslaught, and they were daily expecting to see the prince of bearne battering triumphantly at their gates. but the eloquence of the preachers, especially of the one-eyed father boucher, sustained the fainting spirits of the people, and consoled the sufferers in their dying agonies by glimpses of paradise. sublime was that devotion, superhuman that craft; but it is only by weapons from the armoury of the unseen that human creatures can long confront such horrors in a wicked cause. superstition, in those days at least, was a political force absolutely without limitation, and most adroitly did the agents of spain and rome handle its tremendous enginery against unhappy france. for the hideous details of the most dreadful sieges recorded in ancient or modern times were now reproduced in paris. not a revolutionary circumstance, at which the world had shuddered in the accounts of the siege of jerusalem, was spared. men devoured such dead vermin as could be found lying in the streets. they crowded greedily around stalls in the public squares where the skin, bones, and offal of such dogs, cats and unclean beasts as still remained for the consumption of the wealthier classes were sold to the populace. over the doorways of these flesh markets might be read "haec runt munera pro iis qui vitam pro philippo profuderunt." men stood in archways and narrow passages lying in wait for whatever stray dogs still remained at large, noosed them, strangled them, and like savage beasts of prey tore them to pieces and devoured them alive. and it sometimes happened, too, that the equally hungry dog proved the more successful in the foul encounter, and fed upon the man. a lady visiting the duchess of nemours--called for the high pretensions of her sons by her two marriages the queen-mother--complained bitterly that mothers in paris had been compelled to kill their own children outright to save them from starving to death in lingering agony. "and if you are brought to that extremity," replied the duchess, "as for the sake of our holy religion to be forced to kill your own children, do you think that so great a matter after all? what are your children made of more than other people's children? what are we all but dirt and dust?" such was the consolation administered by the mother of the man who governed paris, and defended its gates against its lawful sovereign at the command of a foreigner; while the priests in their turn persuaded the populace that it was far more righteous to kill their own children, if they had no food to give them, than to obtain food by recognising a heretic king. it was related too, and believed, that in some instances mothers had salted the bodies of their dead children and fed upon them, day by day, until the hideous repast would no longer support their own life. they died, and the secret was revealed by servants who had partaken of the food. the spanish ambassador, mendoza, advised recourse to an article of diet which had been used in some of the oriental sieges. the counsel at first was rejected as coming from the agent of spain, who wished at all hazards to save the capital of france from falling out of the hands of his master into those of the heretic. but dire necessity prevailed, and the bones of the dead were taken in considerable quantities from the cemeteries, ground into flour, baked into bread, and consumed. it was called madame montpensier's cake, because the duchess earnestly proclaimed its merits to the poor parisians. "she was never known to taste it herself, however," bitterly observed one who lived in paris through that horrible summer. she was right to abstain, for all who ate of it died, and the montpensier flour fell into disuse. lansquenets and other soldiers, mad with hunger and rage, when they could no longer find dogs to feed on, chased children through the streets, and were known in several instances to kill and devour them on the spot. to those expressing horror at the perpetration of such a crime, a leading personage, member of the council of nine, maintained that there was less danger to one's soul in satisfying one's hunger with a dead child, in case of necessity, than in recognizing the heretic bearnese, and he added that all the best theologians and doctors of paris were of his opinion. as the summer wore on to its close, through all these horrors, and as there were still no signs of mayenne and parma leading their armies to the relief of the city, it became necessary to deceive the people by a show of negotiation with the beleaguering army. accordingly, the spanish ambassador, the legate, and the other chiefs of the holy league appointed a deputation, consisting of the cardinal gondy, the archbishop of lyons, and the abbe d'elbene, to henry. it soon became evident to the king, however, that these commissioners were but trifling with him in order to amuse the populace. his attitude was dignified and determined throughout the interview. the place appointed was st. anthony's abbey, before the gates of paris. henry wore a cloak and the order of the holy ghost, and was surrounded by his council, the princes of the blood, and by more than four hundred of the chief gentlemen of his army. after passing the barricade, the deputies were received by old marshal biron, and conducted by him to the king's chamber of state. when they had made their salutations, the king led the way to an inner cabinet, but his progress was much impeded by the crowding of the nobles about him. wishing to excuse this apparent rudeness, he said to the envoys: "gentlemen, these men thrust me on as fast to the battle against the foreigner as they now do to my cabinet. therefore bear with them." then turning to the crowd, he said: "room, gentlemen, for the love of me," upon which they all retired. the deputies then stated that they had been sent by the authorities of paris to consult as to the means of obtaining a general peace in france. they expressed the hope that the king's disposition was favourable to this end, and that he would likewise permit them to confer with the duke of mayenne. this manner of addressing him excited his choler. he told cardinal gondy, who was spokesman of the deputation, that he had long since answered such propositions. he alone could deal with his subjects. he was like the woman before solomon; he would have all the child or none of it. rather than dismember his kingdom he would lose the whole. he asked them what they considered him to be. they answered that they knew his rights, but that the parisians had different opinions. if paris would only acknowledge him to be king there could be no more question of war. he asked them if they desired the king of spain or the duke of mayenne for their king, and bade them look well to themselves. the king of spain could not help them, for he had too much business on hand; while mayenne had neither means nor courage, having been within three leagues of them for three weeks doing nothing. neither king nor duke should have that which belonged to him, of that they might be assured. he told them he loved paris as his capital, as his eldest daughter. if the parisians wished to see the end of their miseries it was to him they should appeal, not to the spaniard nor to the duke of mayenne. by the grace of god and the swords of his brave gentlemen he would prevent the king of spain from making a colony of france as he had done of brazil. he told the commissioners that they ought to die of shame that they, born frenchmen, should have so forgotten their love of country and of liberty as thus to bow the head to the spaniard, and--while famine was carrying off thousands of their countrymen before their eyes--to be so cowardly as not to utter one word for the public welfare from fear of offending cardinal. gaetano, mendoza, and moreo. he said that he longed for a combat to decide the issue, and that he had charged count de brissac to tell mayenne that he would give a finger of his right hand for a battle, and two for a general peace. he knew and pitied the sufferings of paris, but the horrors now raging there were to please the king of spain. that monarch had told the duke of parma to trouble himself but little about the netherlands so long as he could preserve for him his city of paris. but it was to lean on a broken reed to expect support from this old, decrepit king, whose object was to dismember the flourishing kingdom of france, and to divide it among as many tyrants as he had sent viceroys to the indies. the crown was his own birthright. were it elective he should receive the suffrages of the great mass of the electors. he hoped soon to drive those red-crossed foreigners out of his kingdom. should he fail, they would end by expelling the duke of mayenne and all the rest who had called them in, and paris would become the theatre of the bloodiest tragedy ever yet enacted. the king then ordered sir roger williams to see that a collation was prepared for the deputies, and the veteran welshman took occasion to indulge in much blunt conversation with the guests. he informed them that he, mr. sackville, and many other strangers were serving the king from the hatred they bore the spaniards and mother league, and that his royal mistress had always englishmen ready to maintain the cause. while the conferences were going on, the officers and soldiers of the besieging army thronged to the gate, and had much talk with the townsmen. among others, time-honoured la none with the iron arm stood near the gate and harangued the parisians. "we are here," said he, "five thousand gentlemen; we desire your good, not your ruin. we will make you rich: let us participate in your labour and industry. undo not yourselves to serve the ambition of a few men." the townspeople hearing the old warrior discoursing thus earnestly, asked who he was. when informed that it was la noue they cheered him vociferously, and applauded his speech with the greatest vehemence. yet la noue was the foremost huguenot that the sun shone upon, and the parisians were starving themselves to death out of hatred to heresy. after the collation the commissioners were permitted to go from the camp in order to consult mayenne. such then was the condition of paris during that memorable summer of tortures. what now were its hopes of deliverance out of this gehenna? the trust of frenchmen was in philip of spain, whose legions, under command of the great italian chieftain, were daily longed for to save them from rendering obedience to their lawful prince. for even the king of straw--the imprisoned cardinal--was now dead, and there was not even the effigy of any other sovereign than henry of bourbon to claim authority in france. mayenne, in the course of long interviews with the duke of parma at conde and brussels, had expressed his desire to see philip king of france, and had promised his best efforts to bring about such a result. in that case he stipulated for the second place in the kingdom for himself, together with a good rich province in perpetual sovereignty, and a large sum of money in hand. should this course not run smoothly, he would be willing to take the crown himself, in which event he would cheerfully cede to philip the sovereignty of brittany and burgundy, besides a selection of cities to be arranged for at a later day. although he spoke of himself with modesty, said alexander, it was very plain that he meant to arrive at the crown himself: well had the bearnese alluded to the judgment of solomon. were not children, thus ready to dismember their mother, as foul and unnatural as the mother who would divide her child? and what was this dependence on a foreign tyrant really worth? as we look back upon those dark days with the light of what was then the almost immediate future turned full and glaring upon them, we find it difficult to exaggerate the folly of the chief actors in those scenes of crime. did not the penniless adventurer, whose keen eyesight and wise recklessness were passing for hallucination and foolhardiness in the eyes of his contemporaries, understand the game he was playing better than did that profound thinker, that mysterious but infallible politician, who sat in the escorial and made the world tremble at every hint of his lips, every stroke of his pen? the netherlands--that most advanced portion of philip's domain, without the possession of which his conquest of england and his incorporation of france were but childish visions, even if they were not monstrous chimeras at best--were to be in a manner left to themselves, while their consummate governor and general was to go forth and conquer france at the head of a force with which he had been in vain attempting to hold those provinces to their obedience. at that very moment the rising young chieftain of the netherlands was most successfully inaugurating his career of military success. his armies well drilled, well disciplined, well paid, full of heart and of hope, were threatening their ancient enemy in every quarter, while the veteran legions of spain and italy, heroes of a hundred flemish and frisian battle-fields, were disorganised, starving, and mutinous. the famous ancient legion, the terzo viejo, had been disbanded for its obstinate and confirmed unruliness. the legion of manrique, sixteen hundred strong, was in open mutiny at courtray. farnese had sent the prince of ascoli to negotiate with them, but his attempts were all in vain. two years' arrearages--to be paid, not in cloth at four times what the contractors had paid for it, but in solid gold--were their not unreasonable demands after years of as hard fighting and severe suffering as the world has often seen. but philip, instead of ducats or cloth, had only sent orders to go forth and conquer a new kingdom for him. verdugo, too, from friesland was howling for money, garrotting and hanging his mutinous veterans every day, and sending complaints and most dismal forebodings as often as a courier could make his way through the enemy's lines to farnese's headquarters. and farnese, on his part, was garrotting and hanging the veterans. alexander did not of course inform his master that he was a mischievous lunatic, who upon any healthy principle of human government ought long ago to have been shut up from all communion with his species. it was very plain, however, from his letters, that such was his innermost, thought, had it been safe, loyal, or courteous to express it in plain language. he was himself stung almost to madness moreover by the presence of commander moreo, who hated him, who was perpetually coming over from france to visit him, who was a spy upon all his actions, and who was regularly distilling his calumnies into the ears of secretary idiaquez and of philip himself. the king was informed that farnese was working for his own ends, and was disgusted with his sovereign; that there never had been a petty prince of italy that did not wish to become a greater one, or that was not jealous of philip's power, and that there was not a villain in all christendom but wished for philip's death. moreo followed the prince about to antwerp, to brussels, to spa, whither he had gone to drink the waters for his failing health, pestered him, lectured him, pried upon him, counselled him, enraged him. alexander told him at last that he cared not if the whole world came to an end so long as flanders remained, which alone had been entrusted to him, and that if he was expected to conquer france it would be as well to give him the means of performing that exploit. so moreo told the king that alexander was wasting time and wasting money, that he was the cause of egmont's overthrow, and that he would be the cause of the loss of paris and of the downfall of the whole french scheme; for that he was determined to do nothing to assist mayenne, or that did not conduce to his private advantage. yet farnese had been not long before informed in sufficiently plain language, and by personages of great influence, that in case he wished to convert his vice-royalty of the netherlands into a permanent sovereignty, he might rely on the assistance of henry of navarre, and perhaps of queen elizabeth. the scheme would not have been impracticable, but the duke never listened to it for a moment. if he were slow in advancing to the relief of starving, agonising paris, there were sufficient reasons for his delay. most decidedly and bitterly, but loyally, did he denounce the madness of his master's course in all his communications to that master's private ear. he told him that the situation in which he found himself was horrible. he had no money for his troops, he had not even garrison bread to put in their mouths. he had not a single stiver to advance them on account. from friesland, from the rhine country, from every quarter, cries of distress were rising to heaven, and the lamentations were just. he was in absolute penury. he could not negotiate a bill on the royal account, but had borrowed on his own private security a few thousand crowns which he had given to his soldiers. he was pledging his jewels and furniture like a bankrupt, but all was now in vain to stop the mutiny at courtray. if that went on it would be of most pernicious example, for the whole army was disorganised, malcontent, and of portentous aspect. "these things," said he, "ought not to surprise people of common understanding, for without money, without credit, without provisions, and in an exhausted country, it is impossible to satisfy the claims, or even to support the life of the army." when he sent the flemish cavalry to mayenne in march, it was under the impression that with it that prince would have maintained his reputation and checked the progress of the bearnese until greater reinforcements could be forwarded. he was now glad that no larger number had been sent, for all would have been sacrificed on the fatal field of ivry. the country around him was desperate, believed itself abandoned, and was expecting fresh horrors everyday. he had been obliged to remove portions of the garrisons at deventer and zutphen purely to save them from starving and desperation. every day he was informed by his garrisons that they could feed no longer on fine words or hopes, for in them they found no sustenance. but philip told him that he must proceed forthwith to france, where he was to raise the siege of paris, and occupy calais and boulogne in order to prevent the english from sending succour to the bearnese, and in order to facilitate his own designs on england. every effort was to be made before the bearnese climbed into the seat. the duke of parma was to talk no more of difficulties, but to conquer them; a noble phrase on the battle field, but comparatively easy of utterance at the writing-desk! at last, philip having made some remittances, miserably inadequate for the necessities of the case, but sufficient to repress in part the mutinous demonstrations throughout the army, farnese addressed himself with a heavy heart to the work required of him. he confessed the deepest apprehensions of the result both in the netherlands and in france. he intimated a profound distrust of the french, who had, ever been philip's enemies, and dwelt on the danger of leaving the provinces, unable to protect themselves, badly garrisoned, and starving. "it grieves me to the soul, it cuts me to the heart," he said, "to see that your majesty commands things which are impossible, for it is our lord alone that can work miracles. your majesty supposes that with the little money you have sent me, i can satisfy all the soldiers serving in these provinces, settle with the spanish and the german mutineers--because, if they are to be used in the expedition, they must at least be quieted--give money to mayenne and the parisians, pay retaining wages (wartgeld) to the german riders for the protection of these provinces, and make sure of the maritime places where the same mutinous language is held as at courtray. the poverty, the discontent, and the desperation of this unhappy country," he added, "have, been so often described to your majesty that i have nothing to add. i am hanging and garrotting my veterans everywhere, only because they have rebelled for want of pay without committing any excess. yet under these circumstances i am to march into france with twenty thousand troops--the least number to effect anything withal. i am confused and perplexed because the whole world is exclaiming against me, and protesting that through my desertion the country entrusted to my care will come to utter perdition. on the other hand, the french cry out upon me that i am the cause that paris is going to destruction, and with it the catholic cause in france. every one is pursuing his private ends. it is impossible to collect a force strong enough for the necessary work. paris has reached its extreme unction, and neither mayenne nor any one of the confederates has given this invalid the slightest morsel to support her till your majesty's forces should arrive." he reminded his sovereign that the country around paris was eaten bare of food and forage, and yet that it was quite out of the question for him to undertake the transportation of supplies for his army all the way--supplies from the starving netherlands to starving france. since the king was so peremptory, he had nothing for it but to obey, but he vehemently disclaimed all responsibility for the expedition, and, in case of his death, he called on his majesty to vindicate his honour, which his enemies were sure to assail. the messages from mayenne becoming daily more pressing, farnese hastened as much as possible those preparations which at best were so woefully inadequate, and avowed his determination not to fight the bearnese if it were possible to avoid an action. he feared, however, that with totally insufficient forces he should be obliged to accept the chances of an engagement. with twelve thousand foot and three thousand horse farnese left the netherlands in the beginning of august, and arrived on the rd of that month at valenciennes. his little army, notwithstanding his bitter complaints, was of imposing appearance. the archers and halberdiers of his bodyguard were magnificent in taffety and feathers and surcoats of cramoisy velvet. four hundred nobles served in the cavalry. arenberg and barlaymont and chimay, and other grandees of the netherlands, in company with ascoli and the sons of terranova and pastrana, and many more great lords of italy and spain were in immediate attendance on the illustrious captain. the son of philip's secretary of state, idiaquez, and the nephew of the cardinal-legate, gaetano, were among the marshals of the camp. alexander's own natural authority and consummate powers of organisation had for the time triumphed over the disintegrating tendencies which, it had been seen, were everywhere so rapidly destroying the foremost military establishment of the world. nearly half his forces, both cavalry and infantry, were netherlanders; for--as if there were not graves enough in their own little territory--those flemings, walloons, and hollanders were destined to leave their bones on both sides of every well-stricken field of that age between liberty and despotism. and thus thousands of them had now gone forth under the banner of spain to assist their own tyrant in carrying out his designs upon the capital of france, and to struggle to the death with thousands of their own countrymen who were following the fortunes of the bearnese. truly in that age it was religion that drew the boundary line between nations. the army was divided into three portions. the vanguard was under the charge of the netherland general, marquis of renty. the battalia was commanded by farnese in person, and the rearguard was entrusted to that veteran netherlander, la motte, now called the count of everbeck. twenty pieces of artillery followed the last division. at valenciennes farnese remained eight days, and from this place count charles mansfeld took his departure in a great rage--resigning his post as chief of artillery because la motte had received the appointment of general-marshal of the camp--and returned to his father, old peter ernest mansfeld, who was lieutenant-governor of the netherlands in parma's absence. leaving valenciennes on the th, the army proceeded by way of quesney, guise, soissons, fritemilon to meaux. at this place, which is ten leagues from paris, farnese made his junction, on the nd of august, with mayenne, who was at the head of six thousand infantry--one half of them germans under cobalto, and the other half french--and of two thousand horse. on arriving at meaux, alexander proceeded straightway to the cathedral, and there, in presence of all, he solemnly swore that he had not come to france in order to conquer that kingdom or any portion of it, in the interests of his master, but only to render succour to the catholic cause and to free the friends and confederates of his majesty from violence and heretic oppression. time was to show the value of that oath. here the deputation from paris--the archbishop of lyons and his colleagues, whose interview with henry has just been narrated--were received by the two dukes. they departed, taking with them promises of immediate relief for the starving city. the allies remained five days at meaux, and leaving that place on the th, arrived in the neighbourhood of chelles, on the last day but one of the summer. they had a united force of five thousand cavalry and eighteen thousand foot. the summer of horrors was over, and thus with the first days of autumn there had come a ray of hope for the proud city which was lying at its last gasp. when the allies, came in sight of the monastery of chellea they found themselves in the immediate neighbourhood of the bearnese. the two great captains of the age had at last met face to face. they were not only the two first commanders of their time, but there was not a man in europe at that day to be at all compared with either of them. the youth, concerning whose earliest campaign an account will be given in the following chapter, had hardly yet struck his first blow. whether that blow was to reveal the novice or the master was soon to be seen. meantime in it would have been considered a foolish adulation to mention the name of maurice of nassau in the same breath with that of navarre or of farnese. the scientific duel which was now to take place was likely to task the genius and to bring into full display the peculiar powers and defects of the two chieftains of europe. each might be considered to be still in the prime of life, but alexander, who was turned of forty-five, was already broken in health, while the vigorous henry was eight years younger, and of an iron constitution. both had passed then lives in the field, but the king, from nature, education, and the force of circumstances, preferred pitched battles to scientific combinations, while the duke, having studied and practised his art in the great spanish and italian schools of warfare, was rather a profound strategist than a professional fighter, although capable of great promptness and intense personal energy when his judgment dictated a battle. both were born with that invaluable gift which no human being can acquire, authority, and both were adored and willingly obeyed by their soldiers, so long as those soldiers were paid and fed. the prize now to be contended for was a high one. alexander's complete success would tear from henry's grasp the first city of christendom, now sinking exhausted into his hands, and would place france in the power of the holy league and at the feet of philip. another ivry would shatter the confederacy, and carry the king in triumph to his capital and his ancestral throne. on the approach of the combined armies under parma and mayenne, the king had found himself most reluctantly compelled to suspend the siege of paris. his army, which consisted of sixteen thousand foot and five thousand horse, was not sufficiently numerous to confront at the same time the relieving force and to continue the operations before the city. so long, however, as he held the towns and bridges on the great rivers, and especially those keys to the seine and marne, corbeil and lagny, he still controlled the life-blood of the capital, which indeed had almost ceased to flow. on the st august he advanced towards the enemy. sir edward stafford, queen elizabeth's ambassador, arrived at st. denis in the night of the th august. at a very early hour next morning he heard a shout under his window, and looking down beheld king henry at the head of his troops, cheerfully calling out to his english friend as he passed his door. "welcoming us after his familiar manner," said stafford, "he desired us, in respect of the battle every hour expected, to come as his friends to see and help him, and not to treat of anything which afore, we meant, seeing the present state to require it, and the enemy so near that we might well have been interrupted in half-an-hour's talk, and necessity constrained the king to be in every corner, where for the most part we follow him." that day henry took up his headquarters at the monastery of chelles, a fortified place within six leagues of paris, on the right bank of the marne. his army was drawn up in a wide valley somewhat encumbered with wood and water, extending through a series of beautiful pastures towards two hills of moderate elevation. lagny, on the left bank of the river, was within less than a league of him on his right hand. on the other side of the hills, hardly out of cannon-shot, was the camp of the allies. henry, whose natural disposition in this respect needed no prompting, was most eager for a decisive engagement. the circumstances imperatively required it of him. his infantry consisted of frenchmen, netherlanders, english, germans, scotch; but of his cavalry four thousand were french nobles, serving at their own expense, who came to a battle as to a banquet, but who were capable of riding off almost as rapidly, should the feast be denied them. they were volunteers, bringing with them rations for but a few days, and it could hardly be expected that they would remain as patiently as did parma's veterans, who, now that their mutiny had been appeased by payment of a portion of their arrearages, had become docile again. all the great chieftains who surrounded henry, whether catholic or protestant--montpensier, nevers, soissons, conti, the birons, lavradin, d'aumont, tremouille, turenne, chatillon, la noue--were urgent for the conflict, concerning the expediency of which there could indeed be no doubt, while the king was in raptures at the opportunity of dealing a decisive blow at the confederacy of foreigners and rebels who had so long defied his authority and deprived him of his rights. stafford came up with the king, according to his cordial invitation, on the same day, and saw the army all drawn up in battle array. while henry was "eating a morsel in an old house," turenne joined him with six or seven hundred horsemen and between four and five thousand infantry. "they were the likeliest footmen," said stafford, "the best countenanced, the best furnished that ever i saw in my life; the best part of them old soldiers that had served under the king for the religion all this while." the envoy was especially enthusiastic, however, in regard to the french cavalry. "there are near six thousand horse," said he, "whereof gentlemen above four thousand, about twelve hundred other french, and eight hundred reiters. i never saw, nor i think never any man saw, in prance such a company of gentlemen together so well horsed and so well armed." henry sent a herald to the camp of the allies, formally challenging them to a general engagement, and expressing a hope that all differences might now be settled by the ordeal of battle, rather than that the sufferings of the innocent people should be longer protracted. farnese, on arriving at meaux, had resolved to seek the enemy and take the hazards of a stricken field. he had misgivings as to the possible result, but he expressly announced this intention in his letters to philip, and mayenne confirmed him in his determination. nevertheless, finding the enemy so eager and having reflected more maturely, he saw no reason for accepting the chivalrous cartel. as commanderin-chief--for mayenne willingly conceded the supremacy which it would have been absurd in him to dispute--he accordingly replied that it was his custom to refuse a combat when a refusal seemed advantageous to himself, and to offer battle whenever it suited his purposes to fight. when that moment should arrive the king would find him in the field. and, having sent this courteous, but unsatisfactory answer to the impatient bearnese, he gave orders to fortify his camp, which was already sufficiently strong. seven days long the two armies lay face to face--henry and his chivalry chafing in vain for the longed-for engagement--and nothing occurred between those forty or fifty thousand mortal enemies, encamped within a mile or two of each other, save trifling skirmishes leading to no result. at last farnese gave orders for an advance. renty, commander of the vanguard, consisting of nearly all the cavalry, was instructed to move slowly forward over the two hills, and descending on the opposite side, to deploy his forces in two great wings to the right and left. he was secretly directed in this movement to magnify as much as possible the apparent dimensions of his force. slowly the columns moved over the hills. squadron after squadron, nearly all of them lancers, with their pennons flaunting gaily in the summer wind, displayed themselves deliberately and ostentatiously in the face of the royalists. the splendid light-horse of basti, the ponderous troopers of the flemish bands of ordnance under chimay and berlaymont, and the famous albanian and italian cavalry, were mingled with the veteran leaguers of france who had fought under the balafre, and who now followed the fortunes of his brother mayenne. it was an imposing demonstration. henry could hardly believe his eyes as the much-coveted opportunity, of which he had been so many days disappointed, at last presented itself, and he waited with more than his usual caution until the plan of attack should be developed by his great antagonist. parma, on his side, pressed the hand of mayenne as he watched the movement, saying quietly, "we have already fought our battle and gained the victory." he then issued orders for the whole battalia--which, since the junction, had been under command of mayenne, farnese reserving for himself the superintendence of the entire army--to countermarch rapidly towards the marne and take up a position opposite lagny. la motte, with the rearguard, was directed immediately to follow. the battalia had thus become the van, the rearguard the battalia, while the whole cavalry corps by this movement had been transformed from the vanguard into the rear. renty was instructed to protect his manoeuvres, to restrain the skirmishing as much as possible, and to keep the commander-in-chief constantly informed of every occurrence. in the night he was to entrench and fortify himself rapidly and thoroughly, without changing his position. under cover of this feigned attack, farnese arrived at the river side on the th september, seized an open village directly opposite lagny, which was connected with it by a stone bridge, and planted a battery of nine pieces of heavy artillery directly opposite the town. lagny was fortified in the old-fashioned manner, with not very thick walls, and without a terreplain. its position, however, and its command of the bridge, seemed to render an assault impossible, and de la fin, who lay there with a garrison of twelve hundred french, had no fear for the security of the place. but farnese, with the precision and celerity which characterized his movements on special occasions, had thrown pontoon bridges across the river three miles above, and sent a considerable force of spanish and walloon infantry to the other side. these troops were ordered to hold themselves ready for an assault, so soon as the batteries opposite should effect a practicable breach. the next day henry, reconnoitering the scene, saw, with intense indignation, that he had been completely out-generalled. lagny, the key to the marne, by holding which he had closed the door on nearly all the food supplies for paris, was about to be wrested from him. what should he do? should he throw himself across the river and rescue the place before it fell? this was not to be thought of even by the audacious bearnese. in the attempt to cross the river, under the enemy's fire, he was likely to lose a large portion of his army. should he fling himself upon renty's division which had so ostentatiously offered battle the day before? this at least might be attempted, although not so advantageously as would have been the case on the previous afternoon. to undertake this was the result of a rapid council of generals. it was too late. renty held the hills so firmly entrenched and fortified that it was an idle hope to carry them by assault. he might hurl column after column against those heights, and pass the day in seeing his men mowed to the earth without result. his soldiers, magnificent in the open field, could not be relied upon to carry so strong a position by sudden storm; and there was no time to be lost. he felt the enemy a little. there was some small skirmishing, and while it was going on, farnese opened a tremendous fire across the river upon lagny. the weak walls soon crumbled; a breach was effected, the signal for assault was given, and the troops posted on the other side, after a brief but sanguinary straggle, overcame all, resistance, and were masters of the town. the whole garrison, twelve hundred strong, was butchered, and the city thoroughly sacked; for farnese had been brought up in the old-fashioned school of alva; and julian romero and com-. wander requesens. thus lagny was seized before the eyes of henry, who was forced to look helplessly on his great antagonist's triumph. he had come forth in full panoply and abounding confidence to offer battle. he was foiled of his combat; and he had lost the prize. never was blow more successfully parried, a counter-stroke more ingeniously planted. the bridges of charenton and st. maur now fell into farnese's hands without a contest. in an incredibly short space of time provisions and munitions were poured into the starving city; two thousand boat-loads arriving in a single day. paris was relieved. alexander had made his demonstration, and solved the problem. he had left the netherlands against his judgment, but he had at least accomplished his french work as none but he could have done it. the king was now in worse plight than ever. his army fell to pieces. his cavaliers, cheated of their battle; and having neither food nor forage, rode off by hundreds every day. "our state is such," said stafford; on the th september, "and so far unexpected and wonderful, that i am almost ashamed to write, because methinks everybody should think i dream. myself seeing of it methinketh that i dream. for, my lord, to see an army such a one i think as i shall never see again--especially for horsemen and gentlemen to take a mind to disband upon the taking of such a paltry thing as lagny, a town no better indeed than rochester, it is a thing so strange to me that seeing of it i can scarce believe it. they make their excuses of their want, which i know indeed is great--for there were few left with one penny in their purses--but yet that extremity could not be such but that they might have tarried ten days or fifteen at the most that the king desired of them. . . . from six thousand horse that we were and above, we are come to two thousand and i do not see an end of our leave-takers, for those be hourly. "the most i can see we can make account of to tarry are the viscount turenne's troops, and monsieur de chatillon's, and our switzers, and lanaquenettes, which make very near five thousand. the first that went away, though he sent word to the king an hour before he would tarry, was the count soissons, by whose parting on a sudden and without leave-taking we judge a discontentment." the king's army seemed fading into air. making virtue of necessity he withdrew to st. denis, and decided to disband his forces, reserving to himself only a flying camp with which to harass the enemy as often as opportunity should offer. it must be confessed that the bearnese had been thoroughly out-generalled. "it was not god's will," said stafford, who had been in constant attendance upon henry through the whole business; "we deserved it not; for the king might as easily have had paris as drunk, four or five times. and at the last, if he had not committed those faults that children would not have done, only with the desire to fight and give the battle (which the other never meant), he had had it in the duke of parma's eight as he took lagny in ours." he had been foiled of the battle on which he had set his heart, and, in which he felt confident of overthrowing the great captain of the age, and trampling the league under his feet. his capital just ready to sink exhausted into his hands had been wrested from his grasp, and was alive with new hope and new defiance. the league was triumphant, his own army scattering to the four winds. even a man of high courage and sagacity might have been in despair. yet never were the magnificent hopefulness, the wise audacity of henry more signally manifested than now when he seemed most blundering and most forlorn. his hardy nature ever met disaster with so cheerful a smile as almost to perplex disaster herself. unwilling to relinquish his grip without a last effort, he resolved on a midnight assault upon paris. hoping that the joy at being relieved, the unwonted feasting which had succeeded the long fasting, and the consciousness of security from the presence of the combined armies of the victorious league, would throw garrison and citizens off their guard, he came into the neighbourhood of the faubourgs st. jacques, st. germain, st. marcel, and st. michel on the night of th september. a desperate effort was made to escalade the walls between st. jacques and st. germain. it was foiled, not by the soldiers nor the citizens, but by the sleepless jesuits, who, as often before during this memorable siege, had kept guard on the ramparts, and who now gave the alarm. the first assailants were hurled from their ladders, the city was roused, and the duke of nemours was soon on the spot, ordering burning pitch hoops, atones, and other missiles to be thrown down upon the invaders. the escalade was baffled; yet once more that night, just before dawn, the king in person renewed the attack on the faubourg st. germain. the faithful stafford stood by his side in the trenches, and was witness to his cool determination, his indomitable hope. la none too was there, and was wounded in the leg--an accident the results of which were soon to cause much weeping through christendom. had one of those garlands of blazing tar which all night had been fluttering from the walls of paris alighted by chance on the king's head there might have been another history of france. the ladders, too, proved several feet too short, and there were too few, of them. had they been more numerous and longer, the tale might have been a different one. as it was, the king was forced to retire with the approaching daylight. the characteristics of the great commander of the huguenots and of the leaguers' chieftain respectively were well illustrated in several incidents of this memorable campaign. farnese had been informed by scouts and spies of this intended assault by henry on the walls of paris. with his habitual caution he discredited the story. had he believed it, he might have followed the king in overwhelming force and taken him captive. the penalty of henry's unparalleled boldness was thus remitted by alexander's exuberant discretion. soon afterwards farnese laid siege to corbeil. this little place--owing to the extraordinary skill and determination of its commandant, rigaut, an old huguenot officer, who had fought with la noue in flanders--resisted for nearly four weeks. it was assaulted at last, rigaut killed, the garrison of one thousand french soldiers put to the sword, and the town sacked. with the fall of corbeil both the seine and marne were re-opened. alexander then made a visit to paris, where he was received with great enthusiasm. the legate, whose efforts and whose money had so much contributed to the successful defence of the capital had returned to italy to participate in the election of a new pope. for the "huguenot pope," sixtus v., had died at the end of august, having never bestowed on the league any of his vast accumulated treasures to help it in its utmost need. it was not surprising that philip was indignant, and had resorted to menace of various kinds against the holy father, when he found him swaying so perceptibly in the direction of the hated bearnese. of course when he died his complaint was believed to be spanish poison. in those days, none but the very obscure were thought capable of dying natural deaths, and philip was esteemed too consummate an artist to allow so formidable an adversary as sixtus to pass away in god's time only. certainly his death was hailed as matter of great rejoicing by the spanish party in rome, and as much ignominy bestowed upon his memory as if he had been a heretic; while in paris his decease was celebrated with bonfires and other marks of popular hilarity. to circumvent the great huguenot's reconciliation with the roman church was of course an indispensable portion of philip's plan; for none could be so dull as not to perceive that the resistance of paris to its heretic sovereign would cease to be very effective, so soon as the sovereign had ceased to be heretic. it was most important therefore that the successor of sixtus should be the tool of spain. the leading confederates were well aware of henry's intentions to renounce the reformed faith, and to return to the communion of rome whenever he could formally accomplish that measure. the crafty bearnese knew full well that the road to paris lay through the gates of rome. yet it is proof either of the privacy with which great public matters were then transacted, or of the extraordinary powers of deceit with which henry was gifted, that the leaders of protestantism were still hoodwinked in regard to his attitude. notwithstanding the embassy of luxembourg, and the many other indications of the king's intentions, queen elizabeth continued to regard him as the great champion of the reformed faith. she had just sent him an emerald, which she had herself worn, accompanied by the expression of her wish that the king in wearing it might never strike a blow without demolishing an enemy, and that in his farther progress he might put all his enemies to rout and confusion. "you will remind the king, too," she added, "that the emerald has this virtue, never to break so long as faith remains entire and firm." and the shrewd stafford, who was in daily attendance upon him, informed his sovereign that there were no symptoms of wavering on henry's part. "the catholics here," said he, "cry hard upon the king to be a catholic or else that he is lost, and they would persuade him that for all their calling in the spaniards, both paris and all other towns will yield to him, if he will but assure them that he will become a catholic. for my part, i think they would laugh at him when he had done so, and so i find he believeth the same, if he had mind to it, which i find no disposition in him unto it." the not very distant future was to show what the disposition of the bold gascon really was in this great matter, and whether he was likely to reap nothing but ridicule from his apostasy, should it indeed become a fact. meantime it was the opinion of the wisest sovereign in europe, and of one of the most adroit among her diplomatists, that there was really nothing in the rumours as to the king's contemplated conversion. it was, of course, unfortunate for henry that his staunch friend and admirer sixtus was no more. but english diplomacy could do but little in rome, and men were trembling with apprehension lest that arch-enemy of elizabeth, that devoted friend of philip, the english cardinal allen, should be elected to the papal throne. "great ado is made in rome," said stafford, "by the spanish ambassador, by all corruptions and ways that may be, to make a pope that must needs depend and be altogether at the king of spain's devotion. if the princes of italy put not their hands unto it, no doubt they will have their wills, and i fear greatly our villainous allen, for, in my judgment, i can comprehend no man more with reason to be tied altogether to the king of spain's will than he. i pray god send him either to god or the devil first. an evil-minded englishman, tied to the king of spain by necessity, finding almost four millions of money, is a dangerous beast for a pope in this time." cardinal allen was doomed to disappointment. his candidacy was not successful, and, after the brief reign--thirteen days long--of urban vii, sfondrato wore the triple tiara with the title of gregory xiv. before the year closed, that pontiff had issued a brief urging the necessity of extirpating heresy in france, and of electing a catholic king, and asserting his determination to send to paris--that bulwark of the catholic faith--not empty words alone but troops, to be paid fifteen thousand crowns of gold each month, so long as the city should need assistance. it was therefore probable that the great leader of the huguenots, now that he had been defeated by farnese, and that his capital was still loyal to the league, would obtain less favour--however conscientiously he might instruct himself--from gregory xiv. than he had begun to find in the eyes of sixtus after the triumph of ivry. parma refreshed his army by a fortnight's repose, and early in november determined on his return to the netherlands. the leaguers were aghast at his decision, and earnestly besought him to remain. but the duke had given them back their capital, and although this had been accomplished without much bloodshed in their army or his own, sickness was now making sad ravages among his troops, and there was small supply of food or forage for such large forces as had now been accumulated, in the neighbourhood of paris. moreover, dissensions were breaking out between the spaniards, italians, and netherlanders of the relieving army with their french allies. the soldiers and peasants hated the foreigners who came there as victors, even although to assist the leaguers in overthrowing the laws, government, and nationality of france. the stragglers and wounded on farnese's march were killed by the country people in considerable numbers, and it was a pure impossibility for him longer to delay his return to the provinces which so much against his will he had deserted. he marched back by way of champagne rather than by that of picardy, in order to deceive the king. scarcely had he arrived in champagne when he heard of the retaking of lagny and corbeil. so soon as his back was turned, the league thus showed its impotence to retain the advantage which his genius had won. corbeil, which had cost him a month of hard work, was recaptured in two days. lagny fell almost as quickly. earnestly did the confederates implore him to return to their rescue, but he declined almost contemptuously to retrace his steps. his march was conducted in the same order and with the same precision which--had marked his advance. henry, with his flying camp, hung upon his track, harassing him now in front, now in rear, now in flank. none of the skirmishes were of much military importance. a single cavalry combat, however, in which old marshal biron was nearly surrounded and was in imminent danger of death or capture, until chivalrously rescued by the king in person at the head of a squadron of lancers, will always possess romantic interest. in a subsequent encounter, near baroges on the yesle, henry had sent biron forward with a few companies of horse to engage some five hundred carabineers of farnese on their march towards the frontier, and had himself followed close upon the track with his usual eagerness to witness or participate in every battle. suddenly alphonse corse, who rode at henry's aide, pointed out to him, not more than a hundred paces off, an officer wearing a felt hat, a great ruff, and a little furred cassock, mounted on a horse without armour or caparisons, galloping up and down and brandishing his sword at the carabineers to compel them to fall back. this was the duke of parma, and thus the two great champions of the huguenots and of the leaguers--the two foremost captains of the age--had met face to face. at that moment la noue, riding up, informed the king that he had seen the whole of the enemy's horse and foot in battle array, and henry, suspecting the retreat of farnese to be a feint for the purpose of luring him on with his small force to an attack, gave orders to retire as soon as possible. at guise, on the frontier, the duke parted with mayenne, leaving with him an auxiliary force of four thousand foot and five hundred horse, which he could ill spare. he then returned to brussels, which city he reached on the th december, filling every hotel and hospital with his sick soldiers, and having left one-third of his numbers behind him. he had manifested his own military skill in the adroit and successful manner in which he had accomplished the relief of paris, while the barrenness of the result from the whole expedition vindicated the political sagacity with which he had remonstrated against his sovereign's infatuation. paris, with the renewed pressure on its two great arteries at lagny and corbeil, soon fell into as great danger as before; the obedient netherlands during the absence of farnese had been sinking rapidly to ruin, while; on the other hand, great progress and still greater preparations in aggressive warfare had been made by the youthful general and stadtholder of the republic. etext editor's bookmarks: alexander's exuberant discretion divine right of kings ever met disaster with so cheerful a smile future world as laid down by rival priesthoods invaluable gift which no human being can acquire, authority king was often to be something much less or much worse magnificent hopefulness myself seeing of it methinketh that i dream nothing cheap, said a citizen bitterly, but sermons obscure were thought capable of dying natural deaths philip ii. gave the world work enough righteous to kill their own children road to paris lay through the gates of rome shift the mantle of religion from one shoulder to the other thirty-three per cent. interest was paid (per month) under the name of religion (so many crimes) chapter xxiv. - prince maurice--state of the republican army--martial science of the period--reformation of the military system by prince maurice--his military genius--campaign in the netherlands--the fort and town of zutphen taken by the states' forces--attack upon deventer--its capitulation--advance on groningen, delfzyl, opslag, yementil, steenwyk, and other places--farnese besieges fort knodsenburg-- prince maurice hastens to its relief--a skirmish ensues resulting in the discomfiture of the spanish and italian troops--surrender of hulat and nymegen--close of military, operations of the year. while the events revealed in the last chapter had been occupying the energies of farnese and the resources of his sovereign, there had been ample room for prince maurice to mature his projects, and to make a satisfactory beginning in the field. although alexander had returned to the netherlands before the end of the year , and did not set forth on his second french campaign until late in the following year, yet the condition of his health, the exhaustion of his funds, and the dwindling of his army, made it impossible for him to render any effectual opposition to the projects of the youthful general. for the first time maurice was ready to put his theories and studies into practice on an extensive scale. compared with modern armaments, the warlike machinery to be used for liberating the republic from its foreign oppressors would seem almost diminutive. but the science and skill of a commander are to be judged by the results he can work out with the materials within reach. his progress is to be measured by a comparison with the progress of his contemporaries--coheirs with him of what time had thus far bequeathed. the regular army of the republic, as reconstructed, was but ten thousand foot and two thousand horse, but it was capable of being largely expanded by the trainbands of the cities, well disciplined and enured to hardship, and by the levies of german reiters and other, foreign auxiliaries in such numbers as could be paid for by the hard-pressed exchequer of the provinces. to the state-council, according to its original constitution, belonged the levying and disbanding of troops, the conferring of military offices, and the supervision of military operations by sea and land. it was its duty to see that all officers made oath of allegiance to the united provinces. the course of leicester's administration, and especially the fatal treason of stanley and of york, made it seem important for the true lovers of their country to wrest from the state-council, where the english had two seats, all political and military power. and this, as has been seen, was practically but illegally accomplished. the silent revolution by which at this epoch all the main attributes of government passed into the hands of the states-general-acting as a league of sovereignties--has already been indicated. the period during which the council exercised functions conferred on it by the states-general themselves was brief and evanescent. the jealousy of the separate provinces soon prevented the state-council--a supreme executive body entrusted with the general defence of the commonwealth--from causing troops to pass into or out of one province or another without a patent from his excellency the prince, not as chief of the whole army, but as governor and captain-general of holland, or gelderland, or utrecht, as the case might be. the highest military office in the netherlands was that of captain-general or supreme commander. this quality was from earliest times united to that of stadholder, who stood, as his title implied, in the place of the reigning sovereign, whether count, duke, king, or emperor. after the foundation of the republic this dynastic form, like many others, remained, and thus prince maurice was at first only captain-general of holland and zeeland, and subsequently of gelderland, utrecht, and overyssel, after he had been appointed stadholder of those three provinces in on the death of count nieuwenaar. however much in reality he was general-in-chief of the army, he never in all his life held the appointment of captain-general of the union. to obtain a captain's commission in the army, it was necessary to have served four years, while three years' service was the necessary preliminary to the post of lieutenant or ensign. three candidates were presented by the province for each office, from whom the stadholder appointed one.--the commissions, except those of the highest commanders, were made out in the name of the states-general, by advice and consent of the council of state. the oath of allegiance, exacted from soldiers as well as officers; mentioned the name of the particular province to which they belonged, as well as that of the states-generals. it thus appears that, especially after maurice's first and successful campaigns; the supreme authority over the army really belonged to the states-general, and that the powers of the state-council in this regard fell, in the course of four years, more and more into the back-ground, and at last disappeared almost entirely. during the active period of the war, however; the effect of this revolution was in fact rather a greater concentration of military power than its dispersion, for the states-general meant simply the province of holland. holland was the republic. the organisation of the infantry was very simple. the tactical unit was the company. a temporary combination of several companies--made a regiment, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant-colonel, but for such regiments there was no regular organisation. sometimes six or seven companies were thus combined, sometimes three times that number, but the strength of a force, however large, was always estimated by the number of companies, not of regiments. the normal strength of an infantry company, at the beginning of maurice's career, may be stated at one hundred and thirteen, commanded by one captain, one lieutenant, one ensign, and by the usual non-commissioned officers. each company was composed of musketeers, harquebusseers, pikemen, halberdeers, and buckler-men. long after, portable firearms had come into use, the greater portion of foot soldiers continued to be armed with pikes, until the introduction of the fixed bayonet enabled the musketeer to do likewise the duty of pikeman. maurice was among the first to appreciate the advantage of portable firearms, and he accordingly increased the proportion of soldiers armed with the musket in his companies. in a company of a hundred and thirteen, including officers, he had sixty-four armed with firelocks to thirty carrying pikes and halberds. as before his time the proportion between the arms had been nearly even; he thus more than doubled the number of firearms. of these weapons there were two sorts, the musket and the harquebus. the musket was a long, heavy, unmanageable instrument. when fired it was-placed upon an iron gaffle or fork, which: the soldier carried with him, and stuck before him into the ground. the bullets of the musket were twelve to the pound. the harquebus--or hak-bus, hook-gun, so called because of the hook in the front part of the barrel to give steadiness in firing--was much lighter, was discharged from the hand; and carried bullets of twenty-four to the pound. both weapons had matchlocks. the pike was eighteen feet long at least, and pikemen as well as halberdsmen carried rapiers. there were three buckler-men to each company, introduced by maurice for the personal protection of the leader of the company. the prince was often attended by one himself, and, on at least one memorable occasion, was indebted to this shield for the preservation of his life. the cavalry was divided into lancers and carabineers. the unit was the squadron, varying in number from sixty to one hundred and fifty, until the year , when the regular complement of the squadron was fixed at one hundred and twenty. as the use of cavalry on the battle-field at that day, or at least in the netherlands, was not in rapidity of motion, nor in severity of shock--the attack usually taking place on a trot--maurice gradually displaced the lance in favour of the carbine. his troopers thus became rather mounted infantry than regular cavalry. the carbine was at least three feet long, with wheel-locks, and carried bullets of thirty to the pound. the artillery was a peculiar organisation. it was a guild of citizens, rather than a strictly military force like the cavalry and infantry. the arm had but just begun to develop itself, and it was cultivated as a special trade by the guild of the holy barbara existing in all the principal cities. thus a municipal artillery gradually organised itself, under the direction of the gun-masters (bus-meesters), who in secret laboured at the perfection of their art, and who taught it to their apprentices and journeymen; as the principles of other crafts were conveyed by master to pupil. this system furnished a powerful element of defence at a period when every city had in great measure to provide for its own safety. in the earlier campaigns of maurice three kinds of artillery were used; the whole cannon (kartow) of forty-eight pounds; the half-cannon, or twenty-four pounder, and the field-piece carrying a ball of twelve pounds. the two first were called battering pieces or siege-guns. all the guns were of bronze. the length of the whole cannon was about twelve feet; its weight one hundred and fifty times that of the ball, or about seven thousand pounds. it was reckoned that the whole kartow could fire from eighty to one hundred shots in an hour. wet hair cloths were used to cool the piece after every ten or twelve discharges. the usual charge was twenty pounds of powder. the whole gun was drawn by thirty-one horses, the half-cannon by twenty-three. the field-piece required eleven horses, but a regular field-artillery, as an integral part of the army, did not exist, and was introduced in much later times. in the greatest pitched battle ever fought by maurice, that of nieuport, he had but six field-pieces. the prince also employed mortars in his sieges, from which were thrown grenades, hot shot, and stones; but no greater distance was reached than six hundred yards. bomb-shells were not often used although they had been known for a century. before the days of maurice a special education for engineers had never been contemplated. persons who had privately acquired a knowledge of fortification and similar branches of the science were employed, upon occasion, but regular corps of engineers there were none. the prince established a course of instruction in this profession at the university of leyden, according to a system drawn up by the celebrated stevinus. doubtless the most important innovation of the prince, and the one which required the most energy to enforce, was the use of the spade. his soldiers were jeered at by the enemy as mere boors and day labourers who were dishonouring themselves and their profession by the use of that implement instead of the sword. such a novelty was a shock to all the military ideas of the age, and it was only the determination and vigour of the prince and of his cousin lewis william that ultimately triumphed over the universal prejudice. the pay of the common soldier varied from ten to twenty florins the month, but every miner had eighteen florins, and, when actually working in the mines, thirty florins monthly. soldiers used in digging trenches received, over and above their regular pay, a daily wage of from ten to fifteen styvers, or nearly a shilling sterling. another most wholesome improvement made by the prince was in the payment of his troops. the system prevailing in every european country at that day, by which governments were defrauded and soldiers starved, was most infamous. the soldiers were paid through the captain, who received the wages of a full company, when perhaps not one-third of the names on the master-roll were living human beings. accordingly two-thirds of all the money stuck to the officer's fingers, and it was not thought a disgrace to cheat the government by dressing and equipping for the day a set of ragamuffins, caught up in the streets for the purpose, and made to pass muster as regular soldiers. these parse-volants, or scarecrows, were passed freely about from one company to another, and the indecency of the fraud was never thought a disgrace to the colours of the company. thus, in the armada year, the queen had demanded that a portion of her auxiliary force in the netherlands should be sent to england. the states agreed that three thousand of these english troops, together with a few cavalry companies, should go, but stipulated that two thousand should remain in the provinces. the queen accepted the proposal, but when the two thousand had been counted out, it appeared that there was scarcely a man left for the voyage to england. yet every one of the english captains had claimed full pay for his company from her majesty's exchequer. against this tide of peculation and corruption the strenuous maurice set himself with heart and soul, and there is no doubt that to his reformation in this vital matter much of his military success was owing. it was impossible that roguery and venality should ever furnish a solid foundation for the martial science. to the student of military history the campaigns and sieges of maurice, and especially the earlier: ones, are of great importance. there is no doubt whatever, that the youth who now, after deep study and careful preparation, was measuring himself against the first captains of the age, was founding the great modern school of military science. it was in this netherland academy, and under the tuition of its consummate professor, that the commanders of the seventeenth century not only acquired the rudiments, but perfected themselves in the higher walks of their art. therefore the siege operations, in which all that had been invented by modern genius, or rescued from the oblivion which had gathered over ancient lore during the more vulgar and commonplace practice of the mercenary commanders of the day was brought into successful application, must always engage the special attention of the military student. to the general reader, more interested in marking the progress of civilisation and the advance of the people in the path of development and true liberty, the spectacle of the young stadholder's triumphs has an interest of another kind. at the moment when a thorough practical soldier was most needed by the struggling little commonwealth, to enable it to preserve liberties partially secured by its unparalleled sacrifices of blood and treasure during a quarter of a century, and to expel the foreign invader from the soil which he had so long profaned, it was destined that a soldier should appear. spade in hand, with his head full of roman castrametation and geometrical problems, a prince, scarce emerged from boyhood, presents himself on that stage where grizzled mansfelds, drunken hohenlos, and truculent verdugos have been so long enacting, that artless military drama which consists of hard knocks and wholesale massacres. the novice is received with universal hilarity. but although the machinery of war varies so steadily from age to age that a commonplace commander of to-day, rich in the spoils of preceding time, might vanquish the alexanders, and caesars, and frederics, with their antiquated enginery, yet the moral stuff out of which great captains, great armies, great victories are created, is the simple material it was in the days of sesostris or cyrus. the moral and physiological elements remain essentially the same as when man first began to walk up and down the earth and destroy his fellow-creatures. to make an army a thorough mowing-machine, it then seemed necessary that it should be disciplined into complete mechanical obedience. to secure this, prompt payment of wages and inexorable punishment of delinquencies were indispensable. long arrearages were now converting farnese's veterans into systematic marauders; for unpaid soldiers in every age and country have usually degenerated into highwaymen, and it is an impossibility for a sovereign, with the strictest intentions, to persist in starving his soldiers and in killing them for feeding themselves. in maurice's little army, on the contrary, there were no back-wages and no thieving. at the siege of delfzyl maurice hung two of his soldiers for stealing, the one a hat and the other a poniard, from the townsfolk, after the place had capitulated. at the siege of hulst he ordered another to be shot, before the whole camp, for robbing a woman. this seems sufficiently harsh, but war is not a pastime nor a very humane occupation. the result was, that robbery disappeared, and it is better for all that enlisted men should be soldiers rather than thieves. to secure the ends which alone can justify war--and if the netherlanders engaged in defending national existence and human freedom against foreign tyranny were not justifiable then a just war has never been waged--a disciplined army is vastly more humane in its operations than a band of brigands. swift and condign punishments by the law-martial, for even trifling offences, is the best means of discipline yet devised. to bring to utmost perfection the machinery already in existence, to encourage invention, to ponder the past with a practical application to the present, to court fatigue, to scorn pleasure, to concentrate the energies on the work in hand, to cultivate quickness of eye and calmness of nerve in the midst of danger, to accelerate movements, to economise blood even at the expense of time, to strive after ubiquity and omniscience in the details of person and place, these were the characteristics of maurice, and they have been the prominent traits of all commanders who have stamped themselves upon their age. although his method of war-making differed as far as possible from that quality in common, of the bearnese, yet the two had one personal insensibility to fear. but in the case of henry, to confront danger for its own sake was in itself a pleasure, while the calmer spirit of maurice did not so much seek the joys of the combat as refuse to desist from scientific combinations in the interests of his personal safety. very frequently, in the course of his early campaigns, the prince was formally and urgently requested by the states-general not to expose his life so recklessly, and before he had passed his twenty-fifth year he had received wounds which, but for fortunate circumstances, would have proved mortal, because he was unwilling to leave special operations on which much was depending to other eyes than his own. the details of his campaigns are, of necessity, the less interesting to a general reader from their very completeness. desultory or semi-civilised warfare, where the play of the human passions is distinctly visible, where individual man, whether in buff jerkin or milan coat of proof, meets his fellow man in close mortal combat, where men starve by thousands or are massacred by town-fulls, where hamlets or villages blaze throughout whole districts or are sunk beneath the ocean--scenes of rage, hatred, vengeance, self-sacrifice, patriotism, where all the virtues and vices of which humanity is capable stride to and fro in their most violent colours and most colossal shape where man in a moment rises almost to divinity, or sinks beneath the beasts of the field--such tragical records of which the sanguinary story of mankind is full--and no portion of them more so than the netherland chronicles appeal more vividly to the imagination than the neatest solution of mathematical problems. yet, if it be the legitimate end of military science to accomplish its largest purposes at the least expense of human suffering; if it be progress in civilisation to acquire by scientific combination what might be otherwise attempted, and perhaps vainly attempted, by infinite carnage, then is the professor with his diagrams, standing unmoved amid danger, a more truly heroic image than coeur-de-lion with his battle-axe or alva with his truncheon. the system--then a new one--which maurice introduced to sustain that little commonwealth from sinking of which he had become at the age of seventeen the predestined chief, was the best under the circumstances that could have been devised. patriotism the most passionate, the most sublime, had created the republic. to maintain its existence against perpetual menace required the exertion of perpetual skill. passionless as algebra, the genius of maurice was ready for the task. strategic points of immense value, important cities and fortresses, vital river-courses and communications--which foreign tyranny had acquired during the tragic past with a patient iniquity almost without a parallel, and which patriotism had for years vainly struggled to recover--were the earliest trophies and prizes of his art. but the details of his victories may be briefly indicated, for they have none of the picturesqueness of crime. the sieges of naarden, harlem, leyden, were tragedies of maddening interest, but the recovery of zutphen, deventer, nymegen, groningen, and many other places--all important though they were--was accomplished with the calmness of a consummate player, who throws down on the table the best half dozen invincible cards which it thus becomes superfluous to play. there were several courses open to the prince before taking the field. it was desirable to obtain control of the line of the waal, by which that heart of the republic--holland--would be made entirely secure. to this end, gertruydenberg--lately surrendered to the enemy by the perfidy of the englishman wingfield, to whom it had been entrusted--bois le duc, and nymegen were to be wrested from spain. it was also important to hold the yssel, the course of which river led directly through the united netherlands, quite to the zuyder zee, cutting off friesland, groningen, and gelderland from their sister provinces of holland and zeeland. and here again the keys to this river had been lost by english treason. the fort of zutphen and the city of deventer had been transferred to the spaniard by roland york and sir william stanley, in whose honour the republic had so blindly confided, and those cities it was now necessary to reduce by regular siege before the communications between the eastern and western portions of the little commonwealth could ever be established. still farther in the ancient frisian depths, the memorable treason of that native netherlander, the high-born renneberg, had opened the way for the spaniard's foot into the city of groningen. thus this whole important province--with its capital--long subject to the foreign oppressor, was garrisoned with his troops. verdugo, a veteran officer of portuguese birth, who had risen from the position of hostler to that of colonel and royal stadholder, commanded in friesland. he had in vain demanded reinforcements and supplies from farnese, who most reluctantly was obliged to refuse them in order that he might obey his master's commands to neglect everything for the sake of the campaign in france. and verdugo, stripped of all adequate forces to protect his important province, was equally destitute of means for feeding the troops that were left to him. "i hope to god that i may do my duty to the king and your highness," he cried, "but i find myself sold up and pledged to such an extent that i am poorer than when i was a soldier at four crowns a month. and everybody in the town is as desperate as myself." maurice, after making a feint of attacking gertruydenberg and bois le duc, so that farnese felt compelled, with considerable difficulty, to strengthen the garrison of those places, came unexpectedly to arnhem with a force of nine thousand foot and sixteen hundred horse. he had previously and with great secrecy sent some companies of infantry under sir francis vere to doesburg. on the rd may ( ) five peasants and six peasant women made their appearance at dawn of day before the chief guard-house of the great fort in the badmeadow (vel-uwe), opposite zutphen, on the west side of the yssel. it was not an unusual occurrence. these boors and their wives had brought baskets of eggs, butter, and cheese, for the garrison, and they now set themselves quietly down on the ground before the gate, waiting for the soldiers of the garrison to come out and traffic with them for their supplies. very soon several of the guard made their appearance, and began to chaffer with the peasants, when suddenly one of the women plucked a pistol from under her petticoats and shot dead the soldier who was cheapening her eggs. the rest of the party, transformed in an instant from boors to soldiers, then sprang upon the rest of the guard, overpowered and bound them, and took possession of the gate. a considerable force, which had been placed in ambush by prince maurice near the spot, now rushed forward, and in a few minutes the great fort of zutphen was mastered by the states' forces without loss of a man. it was a neat and perfectly successful stratagem. next day maurice began the regular investment of the city. on the th, count lewis william arrived with some frisian companies. on the th, maurice threw a bridge of boats from the badmeadow side, across the river to the weert before the city. on the th he had got batteries, mounting thirty-two guns, into position, commanding the place at three points. on the th the town capitulated. thus within exactly one week from the firing of the pistol shot by the supposed butterwoman, this fort and town, which had so long resisted the efforts of the states, and were such important possessions of the spaniards, fell into the hands of maurice. the terms of surrender were easy. the city being more important than its garrison, the soldiers were permitted to depart with bag and baggage. the citizens were allowed three days to decide whether to stay under loyal obedience to the states-general, or to take their departure. those who chose to remain were to enjoy all the privileges of citizens of the united provinces. but very few substantial citizens were left, for such had been the tyranny, the misery, and the misrule during the long occupation by a foreign soldiery of what was once a thriving dutch town, that scarcely anybody but paupers and vagabonds were left. one thousand houses were ruined and desolate. it is superfluous to add that the day of its restoration to the authority of the union was the beginning of its renewed prosperity. maurice, having placed a national garrison in the place, marched the same evening straight upon deventer, seven miles farther down the river, without pausing to sleep upon his victory. his artillery and munitions were sent rapidly down the yssel. within five days he had thoroughly invested the city, and brought twenty-eight guns to bear upon the weakest part of its defences. it was a large, populous, well-built town, once a wealthy member of the hanseatic league, full of fine buildings, both public and private, the capital of the rich and fertile province of overyssel, and protected by a strong wall and moat--as well-fortified a place as could be found in the netherlands. the garrison consisted of fourteen hundred spaniards and walloons, under the command of count herman van den berg, first cousin of prince maurice. no sooner had the states army come before the city than a spanish captain observed--"we shall now have a droll siege--cousins on the outside, cousins on the inside. there will be a sham fight or two, and then the cousins will make it up, and arrange matters to suit themselves." such hints had deeply wounded van den berg, who was a fervent catholic, and as loyal a servant to philip ii. as he could have been, had that monarch deserved, by the laws of nature and by his personal services and virtues, to govern all the swamps of friesland. he slept on the gibe, having ordered all the colonels and captains of the garrison to attend at solemn mass in the great church the next morning. he there declared to them all publicly that he felt outraged at the suspicions concerning his fidelity, and after mass he took the sacrament, solemnly swearing never to give up the city or even to speak of it until he had made such resistance that he must be carried from the breach. so long as he could stand or sit he would defend the city entrusted to his care. the whole council who had come from zutphen to maurice's camp were allowed to deliberate concerning the siege. the enemy had been seen hovering about the neighbourhood in considerable numbers, but had not ventured an attempt to throw reinforcements into the place. many of the counsellors argued against the siege. it was urged that the resistance would be determined and protracted, and that the duke of parma was sure to take the field in person to relieve so important a city, before its reduction could be effected. but maurice had thrown a bridge across the yssel above, and another below the town, had carefully and rapidly taken measures in the success of which he felt confident, and now declared that it would be cowardly and shameful to abandon an enterprise so well begun. the city had been formally summoned to surrender, and a calm but most decided refusal had been returned. on the th june the batteries began playing, and after four thousand six hundred shots a good breach had been effected in the defences along the kaye--an earthen work lying between two strong walls of masonry. the breach being deemed practicable, a storm was ordered. to reach the kaye it was necessary to cross a piece of water called the haven, over which a pontoon bridge was hastily thrown. there was now a dispute among the english, scotch, and netherlanders for precedence in the assault. it was ultimately given to the english, in order that the bravery of that nation might now on the same spot wipe out the disgrace inflicted upon its name by the treason of sir william stanley. the english did their duty well and rushed forward merrily, but the bridge proved too short. some sprang over and pushed boldly for the breach. some fell into the moat and were drowned. others, sustained by the netherlanders under solms, meetkerke, and brederode, effected their passage by swimming, leaping, or wading, so that a resolute attack was made. herman van den berg met them in the breach at the head of seven companies. the defenders were most ferocious in their resistance. they were also very drunk. the count had placed many casks of rhenish and of strong beer within reach, and ordered his soldiers to drink their fill as they fought. he was himself as vigorous in his potations as he was chivalrous with sword and buckler. two pages and two lieutenants fell at his side, but still he fought at the head of his men with a desperation worthy of his vow, until he fell wounded in the eye and was carried from the place. notwithstanding this disaster to the commander of the town, the assailants were repulsed, losing two hundred-and twenty-five in killed and wounded--colonel meetkerke and his brother, two most valuable dutch officers, among them. during the whole of the assault, a vigorous cannonade had been kept up upon other parts of the town, and houses and church-towers were toppling down in all directions. meanwhile the inhabitants--for it was sunday--instead of going to service were driven towards the breach by the serjeant-major, a truculent spaniard, next in command to van den berg, who ran about the place with a great stick, summoning the dutch burghers to assist the spanish garrison on the wall. it was thought afterwards that this warrior would have been better occupied among the soldiers, at the side of his commander. a chivalrous incident in the open field occurred during the assault. a gigantic albanian cavalry officer came prancing out of deventer into the spaces between the trenches, defying any officer in the states' army to break a lance with him. prince maurice forbade any acceptance of the challenge, but lewis van der cathulle, son of the famous ryhove of ghent, unable to endure the taunts and bravado of this champion, at last obtained permission to encounter him in single combat. they met accordingly with much ceremony, tilted against each other, and shivered their lances in good style, but without much effect. the albanian then drew a pistol. cathulle had no weapon save a cutlass, but with this weapon he succeeded in nearly cutting off the hand which held the pistol. he then took his enemy prisoner, the vain-glorious challenger throwing his gold chain around his conqueror's neck in token of his victory. prince maurice caused his wound to be bound up and then liberated him, sending him into the city with a message to the governor. during the following night the bridge, over which the assailants had nearly forced their way into the town, was vigorously attacked by the garrison, but count lewis william, in person, with a chosen band defended it stoutly till morning, beating back the spaniards with heavy loss in a sanguinary midnight contest. next morning there was a unanimous outcry on the part of the besieged for a capitulation. it was obvious that, with the walls shot to ruins as they had been, the place was no longer tenable against maurice's superior forces. a trumpet was sent to the prince before the dawn of day, and on the th of june, accordingly, the place capitulated. it was arranged that the garrison should retire with arms and baggage whithersoever they chose. van den berg stipulated nothing in favour of the citizens, whether through forgetfulness or spite does not distinctly appear. but the burghers were received like brothers. no plunder was permitted, no ransom demanded, and the city took its place among its sisterhood of the united provinces. van den berg himself was received at the prince's head, quarters with much cordiality. he was quite blind; but his wound seemed to be the effect of exterior contusions, and he ultimately recovered the sight of one eye. there was mach free conversation between himself and his cousins during the brief interval in which he was their guest. "i've often told verdugo," said he, "that the states had no power to make a regular siege, nor to come with proper artillery into the field, and he agreed with me. but we were both wrong, for i now see the contrary." to which count lewis william replied with a laugh: "my dear cousin, i've observed that in all your actions you were in the habit of despising us beggars, and i have said that you would one day draw the shortest straw in consequence. i'm glad to hear this avowal from your own lips." herman attempted no reply but let the subject drop, seeming to regret having said so much. soon afterwards he was forwarded by maurice in his own coach to ulff, where he was attended by the prince's body physician till he was re-established in health. thus within ten days of his first appearance before its walls, the city of deventer, and with it a whole province, had fallen into the hands of maurice. it began to be understood that the young pedant knew something about his profession, and that he had not been fagging so hard at the science of war for nothing. the city was in a sorry plight when the states took possession of it. as at zutphen, the substantial burghers had wandered away, and the foreign soldiers bivouacking there so long had turned the stately old hanseatic city into a brick and mortar wilderness. hundreds of houses had been demolished by the garrison, that the iron might be sold and the woodwork burned for fuel; for the enemy had conducted himself as if feeling in his heart that the occupation could not be a permanent one, and as if desirous to make the place as desolate as possible for the beggars when they should return. the dead body of the traitor york, who had died and been buried in deventer, was taken from the tomb, after the capture of the city, and with the vulgar ferocity so characteristic of the times, was hung, coffin and all, on the gibbet for the delectation of the states' soldiery. maurice, having thus in less than three weeks recovered two most important cities, paused not an instant in his career but moved at once on groningen. there was a strong pressure put upon him to attempt the capture of nymegen, but the understanding with the frisian stadholders and his troops had been that the enterprise upon groningen should follow the reduction of deventer. on the th june maurice appeared before groningen. next day, as a precautionary step, he moved to the right and attacked the strong city of delfzyl. this place capitulated to him on the nd july. the fort of opslag surrendered on the th july. he then moved to the west of groningen, and attacked the forts of yementil and lettebaest, which fell into his hands on the th july. he then moved along the nyenoort through the seven wolds and drenthe to steenwyk, before which strongly fortified city he arrived on the th july. meantime, he received intercepted letters from verdugo to the duke of parma, dated th june from groningen. in these, the spanish stadholder informed farnese that the enemy was hovering about his neighbourhood, and that it would be necessary for the duke to take the field in person in considerable force, or that groningen would be lost, and with it the spanish forces in the province. he enclosed a memorial of the course proper to be adopted by the duke for his relief. notwithstanding the strictness by which philip had tied his great general's hands, farnese felt the urgency of the situation. by the end of june, accordingly, although full of his measures for marching to the relief of the leaguers in normandy, he moved into gelderland, coming by way of xanten, rees, and neighbouring places. here he paused for a moment perplexed, doubting whether to take the aggressive in gelderland or to march straight to the relief of groningen. he decided that it was better for the moment to protect the line of the waal. shipping his army accordingly into the batavian island or good-meadow (bet-uwe), which lies between the two great horns of the rhine, he laid siege to fort knodsenburg, which maurice had built the year before, on the right bank of the waal for the purpose of attacking nymegen. farnese, knowing that the general of the states was occupied with his whole army far away to the north, and separated from him by two great rivers, wide and deep, and by the whole breadth of that dangerous district called the foul-meadow (vel-uwe), and by the vast quagmire known as the rouvenian morass, which no artillery nor even any organised forces had ever traversed since the beginning of the world, had felt no hesitation in throwing his army in boats across the waal. he had no doubt of reducing a not very powerful fortress long before relief could be brought to it, and at the same time of disturbing by his presence in batavia the combinations of his young antagonist in friesland and groningen. so with six thousand foot and one thousand horse, alexander came before knodsenburg. the news reached maurice at steenwyk on the th july. instantly changing his plans, the prince decided that farnese must be faced at once, and, if possible, driven from the ground, thinking it more important to maintain, by concentration, that which had already been gained, than to weaken and diffuse his forces in insufficient attempts to acquire more. before two days had passed, he was on the march southward, having left lewis william with a sufficient force to threaten groningen. coming by way of hasselt zwol to deventer, he crossed the yssel on a bridge of boats on the th of july, and proceeded to arnhem. his army, although excessively fatigued by forced marches in very hot weather, over nearly impassable roads, was full of courage and cheerfulness, having learned implicit confidence in their commander. on the th he was at arnhem. on the nd his bridge of boats was made, and he had thrown his little army across the rhine into batavia, and entrenched himself with his six thousand foot and fourteen hundred horse in the immediate neighbourhood of farnese--foul-meadow and good-meadow, dyke, bog, wold, and quagmire, had been successfully traversed, and within one week of his learning that the great viceroy of philip had reached the batavian island, maurice stood confronting that famous chieftain in battle-array. on the nd july, farnese, after firing two hundred and eighty-five shots at fort knodsenburg, ordered an assault, expecting that so trifling a work could hardly withstand a determined onslaught by his veterans. to his surprise they were so warmly received that two hundred of the assailants fell at the first onset, and the attack was most conclusively repulsed. and now maurice had appeared upon the scene, determined to relieve a place so important for his ulterior designs. on the th july he sent out a small but picked force of cavalry to reconnoitre the enemy. they were attacked by a considerable body of italian and spanish horse from the camp before knodsenburg, including alexander's own company of lancers under nicelli. the states troops fled before them in apparent dismay for a little distance, hotly pursued by the royalists, until, making a sudden halt, they turned to the attack, accompanied by five fresh companies of cavalry and a thousand musketeers, who fell upon the foe from all directions. it was an ambush, which had been neatly prepared by maurice in person, assisted by sir francis vere. sixty of the spaniards and italians were killed and one hundred and fifty prisoners, including captain nicelli, taken, while the rest of the party sought safety in ignominious flight. this little skirmish, in which ten companies of the picked veterans of alexander farnese had thus been utterly routed before his eyes, did much to inspire the states troops with confidence in themselves and their leader. parma was too experienced a campaigner, and had too quick an eye, not to recognise the error which he had committed in placing the dangerous river waal, without a bridge; between himself and his supplies. he had not dreamed that his antagonist would be capable of such celerity of movement as he had thus displayed, and his first business now was to extricate himself from a position which might soon become fatal. without hesitation, he did his best to amuse the enemy in front of the fort, and then passed the night in planting batteries upon the banks of the river, under cover of which he succeeded next day in transporting in ferry-boats his whole force, artillery and: baggage, to the opposite shore, without loss, and with his usual skill. he remained but a short time in nymegen, but he was hampered by the express commands of the king. moreover, his broken health imperatively required that he should once more seek the healing influence of the waters of spa, before setting forth on his new french expedition. meanwhile, although he had for a time protected the spanish possessions in the north by his demonstration in gelderland, it must be confessed that the diversion thus given to the plans of maurice was but a feeble one. having assured the inhabitants of nymegen that he would watch over the city like the apple of, his eye, he took his departure on the th of august for spa. he was accompanied on his journey by his son, prince ranuccio, just arrived from italy. after the retreat of farnese, maurice mustered his forces at arnhem, and found himself at the head of seven thousand foot and fifteen hundred horse. it was expected by all the world that, being thus on the very spot, he would forthwith proceed to reduce the ancient, wealthy, imperial city of nynegen. the garrison and burghers accordingly made every preparation to resist the attack, disconcerted as they were, however, by the departure of parma, and by the apparent incapacity of verdugo to bring them effectual relief. but to the surprise of all men, the states forces suddenly disappeared from the scene, having been, as it were, spirited away by night-time, along those silent watery highways and crossways of canal, river, and estuary--the military advantages of which to the netherlands, maurice was the first thoroughly to demonstrate. having previously made great preparations of munitions and provisions in zeeland, the young general, who was thought hard at work in gelderland, suddenly presented himself on the th september, before the gates of hulst, on the border of zeeland and brabant. it was a place of importance from its situation, its possession by the enemy being a perpetual thorn in the side of the states, and a constant obstacle to the plans of maurice. his arrangements having been made with the customary, neatness, celerity, and completeness, he received the surrender of the city on the fifth day after his arrival. its commander, castillo, could offer no resistance; and was subsequently, it is said, beheaded by order of the duke of parma for his negligence. the place is but a dozen miles from antwerp, which city was at the very, moment keeping great holiday and outdoing itself in magnificent festivals in honour of young ranuccio. the capture of hulst before his eyes was a demonstration quite unexpected by the prince, and great was the wrath of old mondragon, governor of antwerp, thus bearded in his den. the veteran made immediate preparations for chastising the audacious beggars of zeeland and their pedantic young commander, but no sooner had the spaniards taken the field than the wily foe had disappeared as magically as he had come. the flemish earth seemed to have bubbles as the water hath, and while mondragon was beating the air in vain on the margin of the scheld, maurice was back again upon the waal, horse, foot, and artillery, bag, baggage, and munition, and had fairly set himself down in earnest to besiege nymegen, before the honest burghers and the garrison had finished drawing long breaths at their recent escape. between the th and th october he had bridged the deep, wide, and rapid river, had transported eight thousand five hundred infantry and, sixteen companies of cavalry to the southern side, had entrenched his camp and made his approaches, and had got sixty-eight pieces of artillery into three positions commanding the weakest part of the defences of the city between the falcon tower and the hoender gate. the fort of knodsenburg was also ready to throw hot shot across the river into the town. not a detail in all these preparations escaped the vigilant eye of the commander-in-chief, and again and again was he implored not so recklessly to expose a life already become precious to his country. on the th october, maurice sent to demand the surrender of the city. the reply was facetious but decisive. the prince was but a young suitor, it was said, and the city a spinster not so lightly to be won. a longer courtship and more trouble would be necessary. whereupon the suitor opened all his batteries without further delay, and the spinster gave a fresh example of the inevitable fate of talking castles and listening ladies. nymegen, despite her saucy answer on the th, surrendered on the st. relief was impossible. neither parma, now on his way to france, nor verdugo, shut up in friesland, could come to the rescue of the place, and the combinations of maurice were an inexorable demonstration. the terms of the surrender were similar to those accorded to zutphen and deventer. in regard to the religious point it was expressly laid down by maurice that the demand for permission to exercise publicly the roman catholic religion should be left to the decision of the states-general. and thus another most important city had been added to the domains of the republic. another triumph was inscribed on the record of the young commander. the exultation was very great throughout the united netherlands, and heartfelt was the homage rendered by all classes of his countrymen to the son of william the silent. queen elizabeth wrote to congratulate him in warmest terms on his great successes, and even the spaniards began to recognise the merits of the new chieftain. an intercepted letter from verdugo, who had been foiled in his efforts to arrest the career of maurice, indicated great respect for his prowess. "i have been informed," said the veteran, "that count maurice of nassau wishes to fight me. had i the opportunity i assure you that i should not fail him, for even if ill luck were my portion, i should at least not escape the honour of being beaten by such a personage. i beg you to tell him so with my affectionate compliments. yours, francis verdugo." these chivalrous sentiments towards prince maurice had not however prevented verdugo from doing his best to assassinate count lewis william. two spaniards had been arrested in the states camp this summer, who came in as deserters, but who confessed "with little, or mostly without torture," that they had been sent by their governor and colonel with instructions to seize a favourable opportunity to shoot lewis william and set fire to his camp. but such practices were so common on the part of the spanish commanders as to occasion no surprise whatever. it will be remembered that two years before, the famous martin schenk had come to a tragic end at nymegen. he had been drowned, fished up, hanged, drawn, and quartered; after which his scattered fragments, having been exposed on all the principal towers of the city, had been put in pickle and deposited in a chest. they were now collected and buried triumphantly in the tomb of the dukes of gelderland. thus the shade of the grim freebooter was at last appeased. the government of the city was conferred upon count lewis william, with gerard de jonge as his lieutenant. a substantial garrison was placed in the city, and, the season now far advanced maurice brought the military operations of the year, saving a slight preliminary demonstration against gertruydenberg, to a close. he had deserved and attained--considerable renown. he had astonished the leisurely war-makers and phlegmatic veterans of the time, both among friends and foes, by the unexampled rapidity of his movements and the concentration of his attacks. he had carried great waggon trains and whole parks of siege artillery--the heaviest then known--over roads and swamps which had been deemed impassable even for infantry. he had traversed the length and breadth of the republic in a single campaign, taken two great cities in overyssel, picked up cities and fortresses in the province of groningen, and threatened its capital, menaced steenwyk, relieved knodsenburg though besieged in person by the greatest commander of the age, beaten the most famous cavalry of spain and italy under the eyes of their chieftain, swooped as it were through the air upon brabant, and carried off an important city almost in the sight of antwerp, and sped back again in the freezing weather of early autumn, with his splendidly served and invincible artillery, to the imperial city of nymegen, which farnese had sworn to guard like the apple of his eye, and which, with consummate skill, was forced out of his grasp in five days. "some might attribute these things to blind fortune," says an honest chronicler who had occupied important posts in the service of the prince and of his cousin lewis william, "but they who knew the prince's constant study and laborious attention to detail, who were aware that he never committed to another what he could do himself, who saw his sobriety, vigilance, his perpetual study and holding of council with count lewis william (himself possessed of all these good gifts, perhaps even in greater degree), and who never found him seeking, like so many other commanders, his own ease and comfort, would think differently." chapter xxv. war in brittany and normandy--death of la noue--religious and political persecution in paris--murder of president brisson, larcher, and tardif--the sceptre of france offered to philip--the duke of mayenne punishes the murderers of the magistrates--speech of henry's envoy to the states-general--letter of queen elizabeth to henry--siege of rouen--farnese leads an army to its relief--the king is wounded in a skirmish--siege of rue by farnese--henry raises the siege of rouen--siege of caudebec--critical position of farnese and his army--victory of the duke of mercoeur in brittany. again the central point towards which the complicated events to be described in this history gravitate is found on the soil of france. movements apparently desultory and disconnected--as they may have seemed to the contemporaneous observer, necessarily occupied with the local and daily details which make up individual human life--are found to be necessary parts of a whole, when regarded with that breadth and clearness of vision which is permitted to human beings only when they can look backward upon that long sequence of events which make up the life of nations and which we call the past. it is only by the anatomical study of what has ceased to exist that we can come thoroughly to comprehend the framework and the vital conditions of that which lives. it is only by patiently lifting the shroud from the past that we can enable ourselves to make even wide guesses at the meaning of the dim present and the veiled future. it is only thus that the continuity of human history reveals itself to us as the most important of scientific facts. if ever commonwealth was apparently doomed to lose that national existence which it had maintained for a brief period at the expense of infinite sacrifice of blood and treasure, it was the republic of the united netherlands in the period immediately succeeding the death of william the silent. domestic treason, secession of important provinces, religious-hatred, foreign intrigue, and foreign invasion--in such a sea of troubles was the republic destined generations long to struggle. who but the fanatical, the shallow-minded, or the corrupt could doubt the inevitable issue of the conflict? did not great sages and statesmen whose teachings seemed so much wiser in their generation than the untaught impulses of the great popular heart, condemn over and over again the hopeless struggles and the atrocious bloodshed which were thought to disgrace the age, and by which it was held impossible that the cause of human liberty should ever be advanced? to us who look back from the vantage summit which humanity has reached--thanks to the toil and sacrifices of those who have preceded us--it may seem doubtful whether premature peace in the netherlands, france, and england would have been an unmitigated blessing, however easily it might have been purchased by the establishment all over europe of that holy institution called the inquisition, and by the tranquil acceptance of the foreign domination of spain. if, too; ever country seemed destined to the painful process of national vivisection and final dismemberment, it was france: its natural guardians and masters, save one, were in secret negotiation with foreign powers to obtain with their assistance a portion of the national territory under acknowledgment of foreign supremacy. there was hardly an inch of french soil that had not two possessors. in burgundy baron biron was battling against the viscount tavannes; in the lyonese and dauphiny marshal des digiueres was fighting with the dukes of savoy and nemours; in provence, epernon was resisting savoy; in languedoc, constable montmorency contended with the duke of joyeuse; in brittany, the prince of dombes was struggling with the duke of mercoeur. but there was one adventurer who thought he could show a better legal title to the throne of france than all the doctors of the sorbonne could furnish to philip ii. and his daughter, and who still trusted, through all the disasters which pursued him, and despite the machinations of venal warriors and mendicant princes, to his good right and his good sword, and to something more potent than both, the cause of national unity. his rebuke to the intriguing priests at the interview of st. denis, and his reference to the judgment of solomon, formed the text to his whole career. the brunt of the war now fell upon brittany and normandy. three thousand spaniards under don john de aquila had landed in the port of blavet which they had fortified, as a stronghold on the coast. and thither, to defend the integrity of that portion of france, which, in spanish hands, was a perpetual menace to her realm, her crown, even to her life, queen elizabeth had sent some three thousand englishmen, under commanders well known to france and the netherlands. there was black norris again dealing death among the spaniards and renewing his perpetual squabbles with sir roger williams. there was that doughty welshman himself, truculent and caustic as ever--and as ready with sword or pen, foremost in every mad adventure or every forlorn hope, criticising with sharpest tongue the blunders and shortcomings of friend and foe, and devoting the last drop in his veins with chivalrous devotion to his queen. "the world cannot deny," said he, "that any carcase living ventured himself freer and oftener for his prince, state, and friends than i did mine. there is no more to be had of a poor beast than his skin, and for want of other means i never respected mine in the least respect towards my sovereign's service, or country." and so passing his life in the saddle and under fire, yet finding leisure to collect the materials for, and to complete the execution of, one of the most valuable and attractive histories of the age, the bold welshman again and again appears, wearing the same humorous but truculent aspect that belonged to him when he was wont to run up and down in a great morion and feathers on flemish battlefields, a mark for the spanish sharpshooters. there, too, under the banner of the bearnese, that other historian of those sanguinary times, who had fought on almost every battle-field where tyranny and liberty had sought to smite each other dead, on french or flemish soil, and who had prepared his famous political and military discourses in a foul dungeon swarming with toads and rats and other villainous reptiles to which the worse than infernal tyranny of philip ii. had consigned him for seven years long as a prisoner of war--the brave and good la noue, with the iron arm, hero of a hundred combats, was fighting his last fight. at the siege of lamballe in brittany, he had taken off his calque and climbed a ladder to examine the breach effected by the batteries. an arquebus shot from the town grazed his forehead, and, without inflicting a severe wound, stunned him so much that he lost his balance and fell head foremost towards the ground; his leg, which had been wounded at the midnight assault upon paris, where he stood at the side of king henry, caught in the ladder and held him suspended. his head was severely bruised, and the contusions and shock to his war-worn frame were so great that he died after lingering eighteen days. his son de teligny; who in his turn had just been exchanged and released from the prison where he had lain since his capture before antwerp, had hastened with joy to join his father in the camp, but came to close his eyes. the veteran caused the chapter in job on the resurrection of the body to be read to him on his death-bed, and died expressing his firm faith in a hereafter. thus passed away, at the age of sixty, on the th august, , one of the most heroic spirits of france. prudence, courage, experience, military knowledge both theoretic and practical, made him one of the first captains of the age, and he was not more distinguished for his valour than for the purity of his life, and the moderation, temperance, and justice of his character. the prince of dombes, in despair at his death, raised the siege of lamballe. there was yet another chronicler, fighting among the spaniards, now in brittany, now in normandy, and now in flanders, and doing his work as thoroughly with his sword as afterwards with his pen, don carlos coloma, captain of cavalry, afterwards financier, envoy, and historian. for it was thus that those writers prepared themselves for their work. they were all actors in the great epic, the episodes of which they have preserved. they lived and fought, and wrought and suffered and wrote. rude in tongue; aflame with passion, twisted all awry by prejudice, violent in love and hate, they have left us narratives which are at least full of colour and thrilling with life. thus netherlanders, englishmen, and frenchmen were again mingling their blood and exhausting their energies on a hundred petty battle-fields of brittany and normandy; but perhaps to few of those hard fighters was it given to discern the great work which they were slowly and painfully achieving. in paris the league still maintained its ascendancy. henry, having again withdrawn from his attempts to reduce the capital, had left the sixteen tyrants who governed it more leisure to occupy themselves with internal politics. a network of intrigue was spread through the whole atmosphere of the place. the sixteen, sustained by the power of spain and rome, and fearing nothing so much as the return of peace, by which their system of plunder would come to an end, proceeded with their persecution of all heretics, real or supposed, who were rich enough to offer a reasonable chance of spoil. the soul of all these intrigues was the new legate, sego, bishop of piacenza. letters from him to alexander farnese, intercepted by henry, showed a determination to ruin the duke of mayenne and count belin governor of paris, whom he designated as colossus and renard, to extirpate the magistrates, and to put spanish partizans in their places, and in general to perfect the machinery by which the authority of philip was to be established in france. he was perpetually urging upon that monarch the necessity of spending more money among his creatures in order to carry out these projects. accordingly the attention of the sixteen had been directed to president brisson, who had already made himself so dangerously conspicuous by his resistance to the insolent assumption of the cardinal-legate. this eminent juris-consult had succeeded pomponne de bellievre as first president of the parliament of paris. he had been distinguished for talent, learning, and eloquence as an advocate; and was the author of several important legal works. his ambition to fill the place of first president had caused him to remain in paris after its revolt against henry iii. he was no leaguer; and, since his open defiance of the ultra-catholic party, he had been a marked man--doomed secretly by the confederates who ruled the capital. he had fondly imagined that he could govern the parisian populace as easily as he had been in the habit of influencing the parliament or directing his clients. he expected to restore the city to its obedience to the constituted authorities. he hoped to be himself the means of bringing henry iv. in triumph to the throne of his ancestors. he found, however, that a revolution was more difficult to manage than a law case; and that the confederates of the holy league were less tractable than his clients had usually been found. on the night of the th november; ; he was seized on the bridge st. michel, while on his way to parliament, and was told that he was expected at the hotel de ville. he was then brought to the prison of the little chatelet. hardly had he been made secure in the dimly-lighted dungeon, when crome, a leader among the parisian populacey made his appearance, accompanied by some of his confederates, and dressed in a complete suit of mail. he ordered the magistrate to take off his hat and to kneel. he then read a sentence condemning him to death. profoundly astonished, brisson demanded to know of what crime he was accused; and under what authority. the answer was a laugh; and an assurance that he had no time to lose. he then begged that at least he might be imprisoned long enough to enable him to complete a legal work on which he was engaged, and which, by his premature death, would be lost to the commonwealth. this request produced no doubt more merriment than his previous demands. his judges were inflexible; and allowed him hardly time to confess himself. he was then hanged in his dungeon. two other magistrates, larcher and tardif, were executed in the same way, in the same place, and on the same night. the crime charged against them was having spoken in a public assembly somewhat freely against the sixteen, and having aided in the circulation in paris of a paper drawn up by the duke of nevers, filled with bitterness against the lorraine princes and the league, and addressed to the late pope sixtus. the three bodies were afterwards gibbeted on the greve in front of the hotel de ville, and exposed for two days to the insults and fury of the populace. this was the culminating point of the reign of terror in paris. never had the sixteen tyrants; lords of the market halls, who governed the capital by favour of and in the name of the populace, seemed more omnipotent. as representatives or plenipotentiaries of madam league they had laid the crown at the feet of the king of spain, hoping by still further drafts on his exchequer and his credulity to prolong indefinitely their own ignoble reign. the extreme democratic party, which had hitherto supported the house of lorraine and had seemed to idolize that family in the person of the great balafre, now believed themselves possessed of sufficient power to control the duke of mayenne and all his adherents. they sent the jesuit claude mathieu with a special memorial to philip ii. that monarch was implored to take, the sceptre of france, and to reign over them, inasmuch as they most willingly threw themselves into his arms? they assured him that all reasonable people, and especially the holy league, wished him to take the reins of government, on condition of exterminating heresy throughout the kingdom by force of arms, of publishing the council of trent, and of establishing everywhere the holy inquisition--an institution formidable only to the wicked and desirable for the good. it was suggested that philip should not call himself any longer king of spain nor adopt the title of king of france, but that he should proclaim himself the great king, or make use of some similar designation, not indicating any specialty but importing universal dominion. should philip, however, be disinclined himself to accept the monarchy, it was suggested that the young duke of guise, son of the first martyr of france, would be the most appropriate personage to be honoured with the hand of the legitimate queen of france, the infanta clara isabella. but the sixteen were reckoning without the duke of mayenne. that great personage, although an indifferent warrior and an utterly unprincipled and venal statesman, was by no means despicable as a fisherman in the troubled waters of revolution. he knew how to manage intrigues with both sides for his own benefit. had he been a bachelor he might have obtained the infanta and shared her prospective throne. being encumbered with a wife he had no hope of becoming the son-in-law of philip, and was determined that his nephew guise should not enjoy a piece of good fortune denied to himself. the escape of the young duke from prison had been the signal for the outbreak of jealousies between uncle and nephew, which parma and other agents had been instructed by their master to foster to the utmost. "they must be maintained in such disposition in regard to me," he said, "that the one being ignorant of my relations to the other, both may without knowing it do my will." but mayenne, in this grovelling career of self-seeking, in this perpetual loading of dice and marking of cards, which formed the main occupation of so many kings and princes of the period, and which passed for machiavellian politics, was a fair match for the spanish king and his italian viceroy. he sent president jeannin on special mission to philip, asking for two armies, one to be under his command, the other under that of farnese, and assured him that he should be king himself, or appoint any man he liked to the vacant throne. thus he had secured one hundred thousand crowns a month to carry on his own game withal. "the maintenance of these two armies costs me , crowns a month," said philip to his envoy ybarra. and what was the result of all this expenditure of money, of all this lying and counter-lying, of all this frantic effort on the part of the most powerful monarch of the age to obtain property which did not belong to him--the sovereignty of a great kingdom, stocked with a dozen millions of human beings--of all this endless bloodshed of the people in the interests of a high-born family or two, of all this infamous brokerage charged by great nobles for their attempts to transfer kingdoms like private farms from one owner to another? time was to show. meanwhile men trembled at the name of philip ii., and grovelled before him as the incarnation of sagacity, high policy, and king-craft. but mayenne, while taking the brokerage, was less anxious about the transfer. he had fine instinct enough to suspect that the bearnese, outcast though he seemed, might after all not be playing so desperate a game against the league as it was the fashion to suppose. he knew whether or not henry was likely to prove a more fanatical huguenot in than he bad shown himself twenty years before at the bartholomew festival. and he had wit enough to foresee that the "instruction" which the gay free-thinker held so cautiously in his fingers might perhaps turn out the trump card. a bold, valorous frenchman with a flawless title, and washed whiter than snow by the freshet of holy water, might prove a more formidable claimant to the allegiance of frenchmen than a foreign potentate, even though backed by all the doctors of the sorbonne. the murder of president brisson and his colleagues by the confederates of the sixteen quarters, was in truth the beginning of the end. what seemed a proof of supreme power was the precursor of a counter-revolution, destined ere long to lead farther than men dreamed. the sixteen believed themselves omnipotent. mayenne being in their power, it was for them to bestow the crown at their will, or to hold it suspended in air as long as seemed best to them. they felt no doubt that all the other great cities in the kingdom would follow the example of paris. but the lieutenant-general of the realm felt it time for him to show that his authority was not a shadow--that he was not a pasteboard functionary like the deceased cardinal-king, charles x. the letters entrusted by the sixteen to claude mathieu were intercepted by henry, and, very probably, an intimation of their contents was furnished to mayenne. at any rate, the duke, who lacked not courage nor promptness when his own interests were concerned, who felt his authority slipping away from him, now that it seemed the object of the spaniards to bind the democratic party to themselves by a complicity in crime, hastened at once to paris, determined to crush these intrigues and to punish the murderers of the judges. the spanish envoy ybarra, proud, excitable, violent, who had been privy to the assassinations, and was astonished that the deeds had excited indignation and fury instead of the terror counted upon, remonstrated with mayenne, intimating that in times of civil commotion it was often necessary to be blind and deaf. in vain. the duke carried it with a high and firm hand. he arrested the ringleaders, and hanged four of them in the basement of the louvre within twenty days after the commission of their crime. the energy was well-timed and perfectly successful. the power of the sixteen was struck to the earth at a blow. the ignoble tyrants became in a moment as despicable as they had been formidable and insolent. crome, more fortunate than many of his fellows, contrived to make his escape out of the kingdom. thus mayenne had formally broken with the democratic party, so called-with the market-halls oligarchy. in thus doing, his ultimate rupture with the spaniards was foreshadowed. the next combination for him to strive for would be one to unite the moderate catholics and the bearnese. ah! if henry would but "instruct" himself out of hand, what a game the duke might play! the burgess-party, the mild royalists, the disgusted portion of the leaguers, coalescing with those of the huguenots whose fidelity might prove stanch even against the religious apostasy contemplated by their chief--this combination might prove an over-match for the ultra-leaguers, the democrats, and the spaniards. the king's name would be a tower of strength for that "third party," which began to rear its head very boldly and to call itself "politica." madam league might succumb to this new rival in the fickle hearts of the french. at the beginning of the year ; buzanval had presented his credentials to the states-general at the hague as envoy of henry iv. in the speech which he made on this occasion he expressed the hope that the mission of the viscount turenne, his majesty's envoy to england and to the netherlands, had made known the royal sentiments towards the states and the great satisfaction of the king with their energetic sympathy and assistance. it was notorious, said buzanval, that the king of spain for many years had been governed by no other motive than to bring all the rest of christendom under his dominion, while at the same time he forced upon those already placed under his sceptre a violent tyranny, passing beyond all the bounds that god, nature, and reason had set to lawful forms of government. in regard to nations born under other laws than his, he had used the pretext of religion for reducing them to servitude. the wars stirred up by his family in germany, and his recent invasion of england, were proofs of this intention, still fresh in the memory of all men. still more flagrant were his machinations in the present troubles of france. of his dealings with his hereditary realms, the condition of the noble provinces of the netherlands, once so blooming under reasonable laws, furnished, a sufficient illustration. you see, my masters, continued the envoy, the subtle plans of the spanish king and his counsellors to reach with certainty the object of their ambition. they have reflected that spain, which is the outermost corner of europe, cannot conveniently make war upon other christian realms. they have seen that a central position is necessary to enable them to stretch their arms to every side. they have remembered that princes who in earlier days were able to spread their wings over all christendom had their throne in france, like charles the great and his descendants. therefore the king is now earnestly bent on seizing this occasion to make himself master of france. the death of the late king (henry iii.) had no sooner occurred, than--as the blood through great terror rushes from the extremities and overflows the heart--they here also, fearing to lose their opportunity and astonished at the valour of our present king, abandoned all their other enterprises in order to pour themselves upon france. buzanval further reminded the states that henry had received the most encouraging promises from the protestant princes of germany, and that so great a personage as the viscount turenne, who had now gone thither to reap the fruit of those promises, would not have been sent on such a mission except that its result was certain. the queen of england, too, had promised his majesty most liberal assistance. it was not necessary to argue as to the close connection between the cause of the netherlands and that of france. the king had beaten down the mutiny of his own subjects, and repulsed the invasion of the dukes of savoy and of lorraine. in consideration of the assistance promised by germany and england--for a powerful army would be at the command of henry in the spring--it might be said that the netherlands might repose for a time and recruit their exhausted energies, under the shadow of these mighty preparations. "i do not believe, however," said the minister, "that you will all answer me thus. the faint-hearted and the inexperienced might flatter themselves with such thoughts, and seek thus to cover their cowardice, but the zealous and the courageous will see that it is time to set sail on the ship, now that the wind is rising so freshly and favourably. "for there are many occasions when an army might be ruined for want of twenty thousand crowns. what a pity if a noble edifice, furnished to the roof-tree, should fall to decay for want of a few tiles. no doubt your own interests are deeply connected with our own. men may say that our proposals should be rejected on the principle that the shirt is nearer to the skin than the coat, but it can be easily proved that our cause is one. the mere rumour of this army will prevent the duke of parma from attacking you. his forces will be drawn to france. he will be obliged to intercept the crash of this thunderbolt. the assistance of this army is worth millions to you, and has cost you nothing. to bring france into hostility with spain is the very policy that you have always pursued and always should pursue in order to protect your freedom. you have always desired a war between france and spain, and here is a fierce and cruel one in which you have hazarded nothing. it cannot come to an end without bringing signal advantages to yourselves. "you have always desired an alliance with a french sovereign, and here is a firm friendship offered you by our king, a natural alliance. "you know how unstable are most treaties that are founded on shifting interests, and do not concern the freedom of bodies and souls. the first are written with pen upon paper, and are generally as light as paper. they have no roots in the heart. those founded on mutual assistance on trying occasions have the perpetual strength of nature. they bring always good and enduring fruit in a rich soil like the heart of our king; that heart which is as beautiful and as pure from all untruth as the lily upon his shield. "you will derive the first profits from the army thus raised. from the moment of its mustering under a chief of such experience as turenne, it will absorb the whole attention of spain, and will draw her thoughts from the netherlands to france." all this and more in the same earnest manner did the envoy urge upon the consideration of the states-general, concluding with a demand of , florins as their contribution towards the french campaign. his eloquence did not fall upon unwilling ears; for the states-general, after taking time to deliberate, replied to the propositions by an expression of the strongest sympathy with, and admiration for, the heroic efforts of the king of france. accordingly, notwithstanding their own enormous expenses, past and present, and their strenuous exertions at that very moment to form an army of foot and horse for the campaign, the brilliant results of which have already been narrated, they agreed to furnish the required loan of , florins to be repaid in a year, besides six or seven good ships of war to co-operate with the fleets of england and france upon the coasts of normandy. and the states were even better than their word. before the end of autumn of the year , henry had laid siege to rouen, then the second city of the kingdom. to leave much longer so important a place--dominating, as it did, not only normandy but a principal portion of the maritime borders of france--under the control of the league and of spain was likely to be fatal to henry's success. it was perfectly sound in queen elizabeth to insist as she did, with more than her usual imperiousness towards her excellent brother, that he should lose no more time before reducing that city. it was obvious that rouen in the hands of her arch-enemy was a perpetual menace to the safety of her own kingdom. it was therefore with correct judgment, as well as with that high-flown gallantry so dear to the heart of elizabeth, that her royal champion and devoted slave assured her of his determination no longer to defer obeying her commands in this respect. the queen had repeatedly warned him of the necessity of defending the maritime frontier of his kingdom, and she was not sparing of her reproaches that the large sums which she expended in his cause had been often ill bestowed. her criticisms on what she considered his military mistakes were not few, her threats to withdraw her subsidies frequent. "owning neither the east nor the west indies," she said, "we are unable to supply the constant demands upon us; and although we have the reputation of being a good housewife, it does not follow that we can be a housewife for all the world." she was persistently warning the king of an attack upon dieppe, and rebuking him for occupying himself with petty enterprises to the neglect of vital points. she expressed her surprise that after the departure of parma, he had not driven the spaniards out of brittany, without allowing them to fortify themselves in that country. "i am astonished," she said to him, "that your eyes are so blinded as not to see this danger. remember, my dear brother," she frankly added, "that it is not only france that i am aiding, nor are my own natural realms of little consequence to me. believe me, if i see that you have no more regard to the ports and maritime places nearest to us, it will be necessary that my prayers should serve you in place of any other assistance, because it does not please me to send my people to the shambles where they may perish before having rendered you any assistance. i am sure the spaniards will soon besiege dieppe. beware of it, and excuse my bluntness, for if in the beginning you had taken the maritime forts, which are the very gates of your kingdom, paris would not have been so well furnished, and other places nearer the heart of the kingdom would not have received so much foreign assistance, without which the others would have soon been vanquished. pardon my simplicity as belonging to my own sex wishing to give a lesson to one who knows better, but my experience in government makes me a little obstinate in believing that i am not ignorant of that which belongs to a king, and i persuade myself that in following my advice you will not fail to conquer your assailants." before the end of the year henry had obtained control of the seine, both above and below the city, holding pont de l'arche on the north--where was the last bridge across the river; that of rouen, built by the english when they governed normandy, being now in ruins--and caudebec on the south in an iron grasp. several war-vessels sent by the hollanders, according to the agreement with buzanval, cruised in the north of the river below caudebec, and rendered much service to the king in cutting off supplies from the beleaguered place, while the investing army of henry, numbering twenty-five thousand foot--inclusive of the english contingent, and three thousand netherlanders--and ten thousand cavalry, nearly all french, was fast reducing the place to extremities. parma, as usual, in obedience to his master's orders, but entirely against his own judgment, had again left the rising young general of the netherlands to proceed from one triumph to another, while he transferred beyond the borders of that land which it was his first business to protect, the whole weight of his military genius and the better portion of his well disciplined forces. most bitterly and indignantly did he express himself, both at the outset and during the whole progress of the expedition, concerning the utter disproportions between the king's means and aims. the want of money was the cause of wholesale disease, desertion, mutiny, and death in his slender army. such great schemes as his master's required, as he perpetually urged, liberality of expenditure and measures of breadth. he protested that he was not to blame for the ruin likely to come upon the whole enterprise. he had besought, remonstrated, reasoned with the king in vain. he had seen his beard first grow, he said, in the king's service, and he had grown gray in that service, but rather than be kept longer in such a position, without money, men, or means to accomplish the great purposes on which he was sent, he protested that he would "abandon his office and retire into the woods to feed on roots." repeatedly did he implore his master for a large and powerful army; for money and again money. the royal plans should be enforced adequately or abandoned entirely. to spend money in small sums, as heretofore, was only throwing it into the sea. it was deep in the winter however before he could fairly come to the rescue of the besieged city. towards the end of january, , he moved out of hainault, and once more made his junction at guise with the duke of mayenne. at a review of his forces on th january, , alexander found himself at the head of thirteen thousand five hundred and sixteen infantry and four thousand and sixty-one cavalry. the duke of mayenne's army, for payment of which that personage received from philip , dollars a month, besides , dollars a month for his own pocket, ought to have numbered ten thousand foot and three thousand horse, according to contract, but was in reality much less. the duke of montemarciano, nephew of gregory xiv., had brought two thousand swiss, furnished by the pontiff to the cause of the league, and the duke of lorraine had sent his kinsmen, the counts chaligny and vaudemont, with a force of seven hundred lancers and cuirassiers. the town of fere was assigned in pledge to farnese to hold as a convenient: mustering-place and station in proximity to his own borders, and, as usual, the chief command over the united armies was placed in his hands. these arrangements concluded, the allies moved slowly forward much in the same order as in the previous year. the young duke of guise, who had just made his escape from the prison of tours, where he had been held in durance since the famous assassination of his father and uncle, and had now come to join his uncle mayenne, led the vanguard. ranuccio, son of the duke, rode also in the advance, while two experienced commanders, vitry and de la chatre, as well as the famous marquis del vasto, formerly general of cavalry in the netherlands, who had been transferred to italy but was now serving in the league's army as a volunteer, were associated with the young princes. parma, mayenne, and montemarciano rode in the battalia, the rear being under command of the duke of aumale and the count chaligny. wings of cavalry protected the long trains of wagons which were arranged on each flank of the invading army. the march was very slow, a farnese's uniform practice to guard himself scrupulously against any possibility of surprise and to entrench himself thoroughly at nightfall. by the middle of february they reached the vicinity of aumale in picardy. meantime henry, on the news of the advance of the relieving army, had again the same problem to solve that had been presented to him before paris in the summer of . should he continue in the trenches, pressing more and more closely the city already reduced to great straits? should he take the open field against the invaders and once more attempt to crush the league and its most redoubtable commander in a general engagement? biron strenuously advised the continuance of the siege. turenne, now, through his recent marriage with the heiress, called duc de bouillon, great head of the huguenot party in france, counselled as warmly the open attack. henry, hesitating more than was customary with him, at last decided on a middle course. the resolution did not seem a very wise one, but the king, who had been so signally out-generalled in the preceding campaign by the great italian, was anxious to avoid his former errors, and might perhaps fall into as great ones by attempting two inconsistent lines of action. leaving biron in command of the infantry and a portion of the horse to continue the siege, he took the field himself with the greater part of the cavalry, intending to intercept and harass the enemy and to prevent his manifest purpose of throwing reinforcements and supplies into the invested city. proceeding to neufchatel and aumale, he soon found himself in the neighbourhood of the leaguers, and it was not long before skirmishing began. at this time, on a memorable occasion, henry, forgetting as usual, in his eagerness for the joys of the combat that he was not a young captain of cavalry with his spurs to win by dashing into every mad adventure that might present itself, but a king fighting for his crown, with the welfare of a whole people depending on his fortunes, thought proper to place himself at the head of a handful of troopers to reconnoitre in person the camp of the leaguers. starting with five hundred horse, and ordering lavardin and givry to follow with a larger body, while the dukes of nevers and longueville were to move out, should it prove necessary, in force, the king rode forth as merrily as to a hunting party, drove in the scouts and pickets of the confederated armies, and, advancing still farther in his investigations, soon found himself attacked by a cavalry force of the enemy much superior to his own. a skirmish began, and it was necessary for the little troop to beat a hasty retreat, fighting as it ran. it was not long before henry was recognised by the enemy, and the chase became all the more lively; george basti, the famous albanian trooper, commanding the force which pressed most closely upon the king. the news spread to the camp of the league that the bearnese was the leader of the skirmishers. mayenne believed it, and urged the instant advance of the flying squadron and of the whole vanguard. farnese refused. it was impossible that the king should be there, he said, doing picket duty at the head of a company. it was a clumsy ambush to bring on a general engagement in the open field, and he was not to be drawn out of his trenches into a trap by such a shallow device. a french captain, who by command of henry had purposely allowed himself to be taken, informed his captors that the skirmishers were in reality supported by a heavy force of infantry. this suggestion of the ready bearnese confirmed the doubts of alexander. meantime the skirmishing steeplechase went on before his eyes. the king dashing down a hill received an arquebus shot in his side, but still rode for his life. lavardin and givry came to the rescue, but a panic seized their followers as the rumour flew that the king was mortally wounded--was already dead--so that they hardly brought a sufficient force to beat back the leaguers. givry's horse was soon killed under him, and his own thigh crushed; lavardin was himself dangerously wounded. the king was more hard pressed than ever, men were falling on every side of him, when four hundred french dragoons--as a kind of musketeers who rode on hacks to the scene of action but did their work on foot, were called at that day--now dismounted and threw themselves between henry and his pursuers. nearly every man of them laid down his life, but they saved the king's. their vigorous hand to hand fighting kept off the assailants until nevers and longueville received the king at the gates of aumale with a force before which the leaguers were fain to retreat as rapidly as they had come. in this remarkable skirmish of aumale the opposite qualities of alexander and of henry were signally illustrated. the king, by his constitutional temerity, by his almost puerile love of confronting danger for the danger's sake, was on the verge of sacrificing himself with all the hopes of his house and of the nobler portion of his people for an absolute nothing; while the duke, out of his superabundant caution, peremptorily refused to stretch out his hand and seize the person of his great enemy when directly within his, grasp. dead or alive, the bearnese was unquestionably on that day in the power of farnese, and with him the whole issue of the campaign and of the war. never were the narrow limits that separate valour on the one side and discretion on the other from unpardonable lunacy more nearly effaced than on that occasion.' when would such an opportunity occur again? the king's wound proved not very dangerous, although for many days troublesome, and it required, on account of his general state of health, a thorough cure. meantime the royalists fell back from aumale and neufchatel, both of which places were at once occupied by the leaguers: in pursuance of his original plan, the duke of parma advanced with his customary steadiness and deliberation towards rouen. it was his intention to assault the king's army in its entrenchments in combination with a determined sortie to be made by the besieged garrison. his preparations for the attack were ready on the th february, when he suddenly received a communication from de villars, who had thus far most ably and gallantly conducted the defence of the place, informing him that it was no longer necessary to make a general attack. on the day before he had made a sally from the four gates of the city, had fallen upon the besiegers in great force, had wounded biron and killed six hundred of his soldiers, had spiked several pieces of artillery and captured others which he had successfully brought into the town, and had in short so damaged the enemy's works and disconcerted him in all his plans, that he was confident of holding the place longer than the king could afford to stay in front of him. all he wished was a moderate reinforcement of men and munitions. farnese by no means sympathized with the confident tone of villars nor approved of his proposition. he had come to relieve rouen and to raise the siege, and he preferred to do his work thoroughly. mayenne was however most heartily in favour of taking the advice of villars. he urged that it was difficult for the bearnese to keep an army long in the field, still more so in the trenches. let them provide for the immediate wants of the city; then the usual process of decomposition would soon be witnessed in the ill-paid, ill-fed, desultory forces of the heretic pretender. alexander deferred to the wishes of mayenne, although against his better judgment. eight hundred infantry, were successfully sent into rouen. the army of the league then countermarched into picardy near the confines of artois. they were closely followed by henry at the head of his cavalry, and lively skirmishes were of frequent occurrence. in a military point of view none of these affairs were of consequence, but there was one which partook at once of the comic and the pathetic. for it chanced that in a cavalry action of more than common vivacity the count chaligny found himself engaged in a hand to hand conflict with a very dashing swordsman, who, after dealing and receiving many severe blows, at last succeeded in disarming the count and taking him prisoner. it was the fortune of war, and, but a few days before, might have been the fate of the great henry himself. but chaligny's mortification at his captivity became intense when he discovered that the knight to whom he had surrendered was no other than the king's jester. that he, a chieftain of the holy league, the long-descended scion of the illustrious house of lorraine, brother of the great duke of mercoeur, should become the captive of a huguenot buffoon seemed the most stinging jest yet perpetrated since fools had come in fashion. the famous chicot--who was as fond of a battle as of a gibe, and who was almost as reckless a rider as his master--proved on this occasion that the cap and bells could cover as much magnanimity as did the most chivalrous crest. although desperately wounded in the struggle which had resulted in his triumph, he generously granted to the count his freedom without ransom. the proud lorrainer returned to his leaguers and the poor fool died afterwards of his wounds. the army of the allies moved through picardy towards the confines of artois, and sat down leisurely to beleaguer rue, a low-lying place on the banks and near the mouth of the somme, the only town in the province which still held for the king. it was sufficiently fortified to withstand a good deal of battering, and it certainly seemed mere trifling for the great duke of parma to leave the netherlands in such confusion, with young maurice of nassau carrying everything before him, and to come all the way into normandy in order, with the united armies of spain and the league, to besiege the insignificant town of rue. and this was the opinion of farnese, but he had chosen throughout the campaign to show great deference to the judgment of mayenne. meantime the month of march wore away, and what had been predicted came to pass. henry's forces dwindled away as usual. his cavaliers rode off to forage for themselves, when their battles were denied them, and the king was now at the head of not more than sixteen thousand foot and five thousand horse. on the other hand the leaguers' army had been melting quite as rapidly. with the death of pope sfondrato, his nephew montemarciano had disappeared with his two thousand swiss; while the french cavalry and infantry, ill-fed and uncomfortable, were diminishing daily. especially the walloons, flemings, and other netherlanders of parma's army, took advantage of their proximity to the borders and escaped in large numbers to their own homes. it was but meagre and profitless campaigning on both sides during those wretched months of winter and early spring, although there was again an opportunity for sir roger williams, at the head of two hundred musketeers and one hundred and fifty pikemen, to make one of his brilliant skirmishes under the eye of the bearnese. surprised and without armour, he jumped, in doublet and hose, on horseback, and led his men merrily against five squadrons of spanish and italian horse, and six companies of spanish infantry; singled out and unhorsed the leader of the spanish troopers, and nearly cut off the head, of the famous albanian chief george basti with one swinging blow of his sword. then, being reinforced by some other english companies, he succeeded in driving the whole body of italians and spaniards, with great loss, quite into their entrenchments. "the king doth commend him very highly," said umton, "and doth more than wonder at the valour of our nation. i never heard him give more honour to any service nor to any man than he doth to sir roger williams and the rest, whom he held as lost men, and for which he has caused public thanks to be given to god." at last villars, who had so peremptorily rejected assistance at the end of february, sent to say that if he were not relieved by the middle of april he should be obliged to surrender the city. if the siege were not raised by the twentieth of the month he informed parma, to his profound astonishment, that rouen would be in henry's hands. in effecting this result the strict blockade maintained by the dutch squadron at the mouth of the river, and the resolute manner in which those cruisers dashed at every vessel attempting to bring relief to rouen, were mainly instrumental. as usual with the stern hollanders and zeelanders when engaged at sea with the spaniards, it was war to the knife. early in april twelve large vessels, well armed and manned, attempted to break the blockade. a combat ensued, at the end of which eight of the spanish ships were captured, two were sunk, and two were set on fire in token of victory, every man on board of all being killed and thrown into the sea. queen elizabeth herself gave the first news of this achievement to the dutch envoy in london. "and in truth," said he, "her majesty expressed herself, in communicating these tidings, with such affection and extravagant joy to the glory and honour of our nation and men-of-war's-men, that it wonderfully delighted me, and did me good into my very heart to hear it from her." instantly farnese set himself to the work which, had he followed his own judgment, would already have been accomplished. henry with his cavalry had established himself at dieppe and arques, within a distance of five or six leagues from the infantry engaged in the siege of rouen. alexander saw the profit to be derived from the separation between the different portions of the enemy's forces, and marched straight upon the enemy's entrenchments. he knew the disadvantage of assailing a strongly fortified camp, but believed that by a well-concerted, simultaneous assault by villars from within and the leaguers from without, the king's forces would be compelled to raise the siege or be cut up in their trenches. but henry did not wait for the attack. he had changed his plan, and, for once in his life, substituted extreme caution for his constitutional temerity. neither awaiting the assault upon his entrenchments nor seeking his enemy in the open field, he ordered the whole camp to be broken up, and on the th of april raised the siege. farnese marched into rouen, where the leaguers were received with tumultuous joy, and this city, most important for the purposes of the league and for philip's ulterior designs, was thus wrested from the grasp just closing upon it. henry's main army now concentrated itself in the neighbourhood of dieppe, but the cavalry under his immediate superintendence continued to harass the leaguers. it was now determined to lay siege to caudebec, on the right bank of the seine, three leagues below rouen; the possession of this place by the enemy being a constant. danger and difficulty to rouen, whose supplies by the seine were thus cut off. alexander, as usual, superintended the planting of the batteries against the place. he had been suffering during the whole campaign with those dropsical ailments which were making life a torture to him; yet his indomitable spirit rose superior to his physical disorders, and he wrought all day long on foot or on horseback, when he seemed only fit to be placed on his bed as a rapid passage to his grave. on this occasion, in company with the italian engineer properzio, he had been for some time examining with critical nicety the preliminaries, for the siege, when it was suddenly observed by those around him that he was growing pale. it then appeared that he had received a musket-ball between the wrist and the elbow, and had been bleeding profusely; but had not indicated by a word or the movement of a muscle that he had been wounded, so intent was he upon carrying out the immediate task to which he had set himself. it was indispensable, however, that he should now take to his couch. the wound was not trifling, and to one in his damaged and dropsical condition it was dangerous. fever set in, with symptoms of gangrene, and it became necessary to entrust the command of the league to mayenne. but it was hardly concealed from parma that the duke was playing a double game. prince ranuccio, according to his father's express wish, was placed provisionally at the head of the flemish forces. this was conceded; however, with much heart-burning, and with consequences easily to be imagined. meantime caudebec fell at once. henry did nothing to relieve it, and the place could offer but slight resistance to the force arrayed against it. the bulk of the king's army was in the neighbourhood of dieppe, where they had been recently strengthened by twenty companies of netherlanders and scotchmen brought by count philip nassau. the league's headquarters were in the village of yvetot, capital of the realm of the whimsical little potentate so long renowned under that name. the king, in pursuance of the plan he had marked out for himself, restrained his skirmishing more than was his wont. nevertheless he lay close to yvetot. his cavalry, swelling and falling as usual like an alpine torrent, had now filled up its old channels again, for once more the mountain chivalry had poured themselves around their king. with ten thousand horsemen he was now pressing the leaguers, from time to time, very hard, and on one occasion the skirmishing became so close and so lively that a general engagement seemed imminent. young ranuccio had a horse shot under him, and his father--suffering as he was--had himself dragged out of bed and brought on a litter into the field, where he was set on horseback, trampling on wounds and disease, and, as it were, on death itself, that he might by his own unsurpassed keenness of eye and quickness of resource protect the army which had been entrusted to his care. the action continued all day; young bentivoglio, nephew of the famous cardinal, historian and diplomatist, receiving a bad wound in the leg, as he fought gallantly at the side of ranuccio. carlo coloma also distinguished himself in the engagement. night separated the combatants before either side had gained a manifest advantage, and on the morrow it seemed for the interest of neither to resume the struggle. the field where this campaign was to be fought was a narrow peninsula enclosed between the sea and the rivers seine and dieppe. in this peninsula, called the land of caux, it was henry's intention to shut up his enemy. farnese had finished the work that he had been sent to do, and was anxious, as henry was aware, to return to the netherlands. rouen was relieved, caudebec had fallen. there was not food or forage enough in the little peninsula to feed both the city and the whole army of the league. shut up in this narrow area, alexander must starve or surrender. his only egress was into picardy and so home to artois, through the base of the isosceles triangle between the two rivers and on the borders of picardy. on this base henry had posted his whole army. should farnese assail him, thus provided with a strong position and superiority of force, defeat was certain. should he remain where he was, he must inevitably starve. he had no communications with the outside. the hollanders lay with their ships below caudebec, blockading the river's mouth and the coast. his only chance of extrication lay across the seine. but alexander was neither a bird nor a fish, and it was necessary, so henry thought, to be either the one or the other to cross that broad, deep, and rapid river, where there were no bridges, and where the constant ebb and flow of the tide made transportation almost impossible in face of a powerful army in rear and flank. farnese's situation seemed, desperate; while the shrewd bearnese sat smiling serenely, carefully watching at the mouth of the trap into which he had at last inveigled his mighty adversary. secure of his triumph, he seemed to have changed his nature, and to have become as sedate and wary as, by habit, he was impetuous and hot. and in truth farnese found himself in very narrow quarters. there was no hay for his horses, no bread for his men. a penny loaf was sold for two shillings. a jug of water was worth a crown. as for meat or wine, they were hardly to be dreamed of. his men were becoming furious at their position. they had enlisted to fight, not to starve, and they murmured that it was better for an army to fall with weapons in its hands than to drop to pieces hourly with the enemy looking on and enjoying their agony. it was obvious to farnese that there were but two ways out of his dilemma. he might throw himself upon henry--strongly entrenched as he was, and with much superior forces to his own, upon ground deliberately chosen for himself--defeat him utterly, and march over him back to the netherlands. this would be an agreeable result; but the undertaking seemed difficult, to say the least. or he might throw his army across the seine and make his escape through the isle of france and southern picardy back to the so-called obedient provinces. but it seemed, hopeless without bridges or pontoons to attempt the passage of the seine. there was; however, no time left, for hesitation. secretly he took his resolution and communicated it in strict confidence to mayenne, to ranuccio, and to one or two other chiefs. he came to caudebec, and there, close to the margin of the river, he threw up a redoubt. on the opposite bank, he constructed another. on both he planted artillery, placing a force of eight hundred netherlanders under count bossu in the one, and an equal number of the same nation, walloons chiefly, under barlotte in the other. he collected all the vessels, flatboats,--wherries,--and rafts that could be found or put together at rouen, and then under cover of his forts he transported all the flemish infantry, and the spanish, french, and italian cavalry, during the night of nd may to the may, opposite bank of the seine. next morning he sent up all the artillery together with the flemish cavalry to rouen, where, making what use he could by temporary contrivances of the broken arches of the broken bridge, in order to shorten the distance from shore to shore, he managed to convey his whole army with all its trains across the river. a force was left behind, up to the last moment, to engage in the customary skirmishes, and to display themselves as largely as possible for the purpose of imposing upon the enemy. the young prince of parma had command of this rearguard. the device was perfectly successful. the news of the movement was not brought to the ears of henry until after it had been accomplished. when the king reached the shore of the seine, he saw to his infinite chagrin and indignation that the last stragglers of the army, including the garrison of the fort on the right bank, were just ferrying themselves across under command of ranuccio. furious with disappointment, he brought some pieces of artillery to bear upon the triumphant fugitives. not a shot told, and the leaguers had the satisfaction of making a bonfire in the king's face of the boats which had brought them over. then, taking up their line of march rapidly inland, they placed themselves completely out of the reach of the huguenot guns. henry had a bridge at pont de l'arche, and his first impulse was to pursue with his cavalry, but it was obvious that his infantry could never march by so circuitous a route fast enough to come up with the enemy, who had already so prodigious a stride in advance. there was no need to disguise it to himself. henry saw himself for the second time out-generalled by the consummate farnese. the trap was broken, the game had given him the slip. the manner in which the duke had thus extricated himself from a profound dilemma; in which his fortunes seemed hopelessly sunk, has usually been considered one of the most extraordinary exploits of his life. precisely at this time, too, ill news reached henry from brittany and the neighbouring country. the princes conti and dombes had been obliged, on the th may, , to raise the siege of craon, in consequence of the advance of the duke of mercoeur, with a force of seven thousand men. they numbered, including lanzknechts and the english contingent, about half as many, and before they could effect their retreat, were attacked by mercoeur, and utterly routed. the english, who alone stood to their colours, were nearly all cut to pieces. the rest made a disorderly retreat, but were ultimately, with few exceptions, captured or slain. the duke, following up his victory, seized chateau gontier and la val, important crossing places on the river mayenne, and laid siege to mayenne, capital city of that region. the panic, spreading through brittany and maine, threatened the king's cause there with complete overthrow, hampered his operations in normandy, and vastly encouraged the leaguers. it became necessary for henry to renounce his designs upon rouen, and the pursuit of parma, and to retire to vernon, there to occupy himself with plans for the relief of brittany. in vain had the earl of essex, whose brother had already been killed in the campaign, manifested such headlong gallantry in that country as to call forth the sharpest rebukes from the admiring but anxious elizabeth. the handful of brave englishmen who had been withdrawn from the netherlands, much to the dissatisfaction of the states-general, in order to defend the coasts of brittany, would have been better employed under maurice of nassau. so soon as the heavy news reached the king, the faithful umton was sent for. "he imparted the same unto me," said the envoy, "with extraordinary passion and discontent. he discoursed at large of his miserable estate, of the factions of his servants, and of their ill-dispositions, and then required my opinion touching his course for brittan, as also what further aid he might expect from her majesty; alleging that unless he were presently strengthened by england it was impossible for him, longer to resist the greatness of the king of spain, who assailed his country by brittany, languedoc, the low countries by the duke of saxony and the duke of lorraine, and so ended his speech passionately." thus adjured, sir henry spoke to the king firmly but courteously, reminding him how, contrary to english advice, he had followed other counsellors to the neglect of brittany, and had broken his promises to the queen. he concluded by urging him to advance into that country in person, but did not pledge himself on behalf of her majesty to any further assistance. "to this," said umton, "the king gave a willing ear, and replied, with many thanks, and without disallowing of anything that i alleged, yielding many excuses of his want of means, not of disposition, to provide a remedy, not forgetting to acknowledge her majesty's care of him and his country, and especially of brittany, excusing much the bad disposition of his counsellors, and inclining much to my motion to go in person thither, especially because he might thereby give her majesty better satisfaction; . . . . and protesting that he would either immediately himself make war there in those parts or send an army thither. i do not doubt," added the ambassador, "but with good handling her majesty may now obtain any reasonable matter for the conservation of brittany, as also for a place of retreat for the english, and i urge continually the yielding of brest into her majesty's hands, whereunto i find the king well inclined, if he might bring it to pass." alexander passed a few days in paris, where he was welcomed with much cordiality, recruiting his army for a brief period in the land of brie, and then--broken in health but entirely successful--he dragged himself once more to spa to drink the waters. he left an auxiliary force with mayenne, and promised--infinitely against his own wishes--to obey his master's commands and return again before the winter to do the league's work. and thus alexander had again solved a difficult problem. he had saved for his master and for the league the second city of france and the whole coast of normandy. rouen had been relieved in masterly manner even as paris had been succoured the year before. he had done this, although opposed by the sleepless energy and the exuberant valour of the quick-witted navarre, and although encumbered by the assistance of the ponderous duke of mayenne. his military reputation, through these two famous reliefs and retreats, grew greater than ever. no commander of the age was thought capable of doing what he had thus done. yet, after all, what had he accomplished? did he not feel in his heart of hearts that he was but a strong and most skilful swimmer struggling for a little while against an ocean-tide which was steadily sweeping him and his master and all their fortunes far out into the infinite depths? something of this breathed ever in his most secret utterances. but, so long as life was in him, his sword and his genius were at the disposal of his sovereign, to carry out a series of schemes as futile as they were nefarious. for us, looking back upon the past, which was then the future, it is easy to see how remorselessly the great current of events was washing away the system and the personages seeking to resist its power and to oppose the great moral principles by which human affairs in the long run are invariably governed. spain and rome were endeavouring to obliterate the landmarks of race, nationality, historical institutions, and the tendencies of awakened popular conscience, throughout christendom, and to substitute for them a dead level of conformity to one regal and sacerdotal despotism. england, holland, the navarre party in france, and a considerable part of germany were contending for national unity and independence, for vested and recorded rights. much farther than they themselves or their chieftains dreamed those millions of men were fighting for a system of temperate human freedom; for that emancipation under just laws from arbitrary human control, which is the right--however frequently trampled upon--of all classes, conditions, and races of men; and for which it is the instinct of the human race to continue to struggle under every disadvantage, and often against all hope, throughout the ages, so long as the very principle of humanity shall not be extinguished in those who have been created after their maker's image. it may safely be doubted whether the great queen, the bearnese, alexander farnese, or his master, with many of their respective adherents, differed very essentially from each other in their notions of the right divine and the right of the people. but history has shown us which of them best understood the spirit of the age, and had the keenest instinct to keep themselves in the advance by moving fastest in the direction whither it was marshalling all men. there were many, earnest, hard-toiling men in those days, men who believed in the work to which they devoted their lives. perhaps, too, the devil-worshippers did their master's work as strenuously and heartily as any, and got fame and pelf for their pains. fortunately, a good portion of what they so laboriously wrought for has vanished into air; while humanity has at least gained something from those who deliberately or instinctively conformed themselves to her eternal laws. etext editor's bookmarks: anatomical study of what has ceased to exist artillery bomb-shells were not often used although known for a century court fatigue, to scorn pleasure for us, looking back upon the past, which was then the future hardly an inch of french soil that had not two possessors holy institution called the inquisition inevitable fate of talking castles and listening ladies life of nations and which we call the past often necessary to be blind and deaf picturesqueness of crime royal plans should be enforced adequately or abandoned entirely toil and sacrifices of those who have preceded us use of the spade utter disproportions between the king's means and aims valour on the one side and discretion on the other walk up and down the earth and destroy his fellow-creatures we have the reputation of being a good housewife weapons chapter xxvi. return of prince maurice to the siege of steenwyck--capitulation of the besieged--effects of the introduction of mining operations-- maurice besieges coeworden--verdugo attempts to relieve the city, but fails--the city capitulates, and prince maurice retreats into winter quarters. while farnese had thus been strengthening the bulwarks of philip's universal monarchy in that portion of his proposed french dominions which looked towards england, there had been opportunity for prince maurice to make an assault upon the frisian defences of this vast realm. it was difficult to make half europe into one great spanish fortification, guarding its every bastion and every point of the curtain, without far more extensive armaments than the "great king," as the leaguers proposed that philip should entitle himself, had ever had at his disposal. it might be a colossal scheme to stretch the rod of empire over so large a portion of the earth, but the dwarfish attempts to carry the design into execution hardly reveal the hand of genius. it is astonishing to contemplate the meagre numbers and the slender funds with which this world-empire was to be asserted and maintained. the armies arrayed at any important point hardly exceeded a modern division or two; while the resources furnished for a year would hardly pay in later days for a few weeks' campaign. when alexander, the first commander of his time, moved out of flanders into france with less than twenty thousand men, he left most vital portions of his master's hereditary dominions so utterly unprotected that it was possible to attack them with a handful of troops. the young disciple of simon stevinus now resumed that practical demonstration of his principles which had been in the previous year so well begun. on the th may, , maurice, taking the field with six thousand foot and two thousand horse, came once more before steenwyck. it will be remembered that he had been obliged to relinquish the siege of this place in order to confront the duke of parma in july, , at nymegen. the city--very important from its position, being the key to the province of drenthe as well as one of the safeguards of friesland--had been besieged in vain by count renneberg after his treasonable surrender of groningen, of which he was governor, to the spaniards, but had been subsequently surprised by tassis. since that time it had held for the king. its fortifications were strong, and of the best description known at that day. its regular garrison was sixteen companies of foot and some cavalry under antoine de quocqueville, military governor. besides these troops were twelve hundred walloon infantry, commanded by lewis, youngest count van den berg, a brave lad of eighteen years, with whom were the lord of waterdyck and other netherland nobles. to the military student the siege may possess importance as marking a transitional epoch in the history of the beleaguering science. to the general reader, as in most of the exploits of the young poliorcetes, its details have but slender interest. perhaps it was here that the spade first vindicated its dignity, and entitled itself to be classed as a military weapon of value along with pike and arquebus. it was here that the soldiers of maurice, burrowing in the ground at ten stuyvers a day, were jeered at by the enemy from the battlements as boors and ditchers, who had forfeited their right to be considered soldiers--but jeered at for the last time. from th may to th june the prince was occupied in throwing up earthworks on the low grounds in order to bring his guns into position. on the th june he began to batter with forty-five pieces, but effected little more than to demolish some of the breast-works. he threw hot shot into the town very diligently, too, but did small damage. the cannonading went on for nearly a week, but the practice was so very indifferent--notwithstanding the protection of the blessed barbara and the tuition of the busmasters--that the besieged began to amuse themselves with these empty and monotonous salvos of the honourable artillery guild. when all this blazing and thundering had led to no better result than to convert a hundred thousand good flemish florins into noise and smoke, the thrifty netherlanders on both sides of the walls began to disparage the young general's reputation. after all, they said, the spaniards were right when they called artillery mere 'espanta-vellacos' or scare-cowards. this burrowing and bellowing must at last give place to the old-fashioned push of pike, and then it would be seen who the soldiers were. observations like these were freely made under a flag of truce; for on the th june--notwithstanding their contempt for the 'espanta-vellacos'--the besieged had sent out a deputation to treat for an honourable surrender. maurice entertained the negotiators hospitably in his own tent, but the terms suggested to him were inadmissible. nothing came of the conference therefore but mutual criticisms, friendly enough, although sufficiently caustic. maurice now ceased cannonading, and burrowed again for ten days without interruption. four mines, leading to different points of the defences, were patiently constructed, and two large chambers at the terminations, neatly finished off and filled respectively with five thousand and twenty-five hundred pounds of powder, were at last established under two of the principal bastions. during all this digging there had been a couple of sorties in which the besieged had inflicted great damage on their enemy, and got back into the town with a few prisoners, having lost but six of their own men. sir francis vere had been severely wounded in the leg, so that he was obliged to keep his bed during the rest of the siege. verdugo, too, had made a feeble attempt to reinforce the place with three hundred men, sixty or seventy of whom had entered, while the rest had been killed or captured. on such a small scale was philip's world-empire contended for by his stadholder in friesland; yet it was certainly not the fault of the stout old portuguese. verdugo would rather have sent thirty thousand men to save the front door of his great province than three hundred. but every available man--and few enough of them they were--had been sent out of the netherlands, to defend the world-empire in its outposts of normandy and brittany. this was philip the prudent's system for conquering the world, and men looked upon him as the consummation of kingcraft. on the rd july maurice ordered his whole force to be in readiness for the assault. the mines were then sprung. the bastion of the east gate was blown to ruins. the mine under the gast-huys bulwark, burst outwardly, and buried alive many hollanders standing ready for the assault. at this untoward accident maurice hesitated to give the signal for storming the breach, but the panic within the town was so evident that lewis william lost no time in seizing the overthrown eastern bulwark, from the ruins of which he looked over the whole city. the other broken bastion was likewise easily mastered, and the besieged, seeing the storm about to burst upon them with irresistible fury, sent a trumpet. meantime maurice, inspecting the effects of the explosion and preparing for the assault, had been shot through the left cheek. the wound was not dangerous, and the prince extracted the bullet with his own hand, but the change of half an inch would have made it fatal. he was not incapacitated--after his wound had been dressed, amidst the remonstrances of his friends for his temerity-from listening to the propositions of the city. they were refused, for the prince was sure of having his town on his own terms. next day he permitted the garrison to depart; the officers and soldiers promising not to serve the king of spain on the netherland side of the rhine for six months. they were to take their baggage, but to leave arms, flags, munitions, and provisions. both maurice and lewis william were for insisting on sterner conditions, but the states' deputies and members of the council who were present, as usual, in camp urged the building of the golden bridge. after all, a fortified city, the second in importance after groningen of all those regions, was the real prize contended for. the garrison was meagre and much reduced during the siege. the fortifications, of masonry and earthwork combined, were nearly as strong as ever. saint barbara had done them but little damage, but the town itself was in a sorry plight. churches and houses were nearly all shot to pieces, and the inhabitants had long been dwelling in the cellars. two hundred of the garrison remained, severely wounded, in the town; three hundred and fifty had been killed, among others the young cousin of the nassaus, count lewis van den berg. the remainder of the royalists marched out, and were treated with courtesy by maurice, who gave them an escort, permitting the soldiers to retain their side-arms, and furnishing horses to the governor. in the besieging army five or six hundred had been killed and many wounded, but not in numbers bearing the same proportion to the slain as in modern battles. the siege had lasted forty-four days. when it was over, and men came out from the town to examine at leisure the prince's camp and his field of operations, they were astounded at the amount of labor performed in so short a time. the oldest campaigners confessed that they never before had understood what a siege really was, and they began to conceive a higher respect for the art of the engineer than they had ever done before. "even those who were wont to rail at science and labour," said one who was present in the camp of maurice, "declared that the siege would have been a far more arduous undertaking had it not been for those two engineers, joost matthes of alost, and jacob kemp of gorcum. it is high time to take from soldiers the false notion that it is shameful to work with the spade; an error which was long prevalent among the netherlanders, and still prevails among the french, to the great detriment of the king's affairs, as may be seen in his sieges." certainly the result of henry's recent campaign before rouen had proved sufficiently how much better it would have been for him had there been some dutch joosts and jacobs with their picks and shovels in his army at that critical period. they might perhaps have baffled parma as they had done verdugo. without letting the grass grow under his feet, maurice now led his army from steenwyck to zwol and arrived on the th july before coeworden. this place, very strong by art and still stronger by-nature, was the other key to all north netherland--friesland, groningen, and drenthe. should it fall into the hands of the republic it would be impossible for the spaniards to retain much longer the rich and important capital of all that country, the city of groningen. coeworden lay between two vast morasses, one of which--the bourtange swamp--extended some thirty miles to the bay of the dollart; while the other spread nearly as far in a westerly direction to the zuyder zee. thus these two great marshes were a frame--an almost impassable barrier--by which the northern third of the whole territory of the republic was encircled and defended. throughout this great morass there was not a hand-breadth of solid ground--not a resting-place for a human foot, save the road which led through coeworden. this passage lay upon a natural deposit of hard, dry sand, interposed as if by a caprice of nature between the two swamps; and was about half a mile in width. the town itself was well fortified, and verdugo had been recently strengthening the position with additional earthworks. a thousand veterans formed the garrison under command of another van den berg, the count frederic. it was the fate of these sister's-children of the great founder of the republic to serve the cause of foreign despotism with remarkable tenacity against their own countrymen, and against their nearest blood relations. on many conspicuous occasions they were almost as useful to spain and the inquisition as the son and nearly all the other kinsmen of william the silent had rendered themselves to the cause of holland and of freedom. having thoroughly entrenched his camp before coeworden and begun the regular approaches, maurice left his cousin lewis william to superintend the siege operations for the moment, and advanced towards ootmarsum, a frontier town which might give him trouble if in the hands of a relieving force. the place fell at once, with the loss of but one life to the states army, but that a very valuable one; general de famars, one of the original signers of the famous compromise; and a most distinguished soldier of the republic, having been killed before the gates. on the st july, maurice returned to his entrenchments. the enemy professed unbounded confidence; van den berg not doubting that he should be relieved by verdugo, and verdugo being sure that van den berg would need no relief. the portuguese veteran indeed was inclined to wonder at maurice's presumption in attacking so impregnable a fortress. "if coeworden does not hold," said he, "there is no place in the world that can hold." count peter ernest, was still acting as governor-general for alexander farnese, on returning from his second french campaign, had again betaken himself, shattered and melancholy, to the waters of spa, leaving the responsibility for netherland affairs upon the german octogenarian. to him; and to the nonagenarian mondragon at antwerp, the veteran verdugo now called loudly for aides against the youthful pedant, whom all men had been laughing at a twelvemonth or so before. the macedonian phalanx, simon stevinus and delving dutch boors--unworthy of the name of soldiers--seemed to be steadily digging the ground from under philip's feet in his hereditary domains. what would become of the world-empire, where was the great king--not of spain alone, nor of france alone--but the great monarch of all christendom, to plant his throne securely, if his frisian strongholds, his most important northern outposts, were to fall before an almost beardless youth at the head of a handful of republican militia? verdugo did his best, but the best was little. the spanish and italian legions had been sent out of the netherlands into france. many had died there, many were in hospital after their return, nearly all the rest were mutinous for want of pay. on the th august, maurice formally summoned coeworden to surrender. after the trumpeter had blown thrice; count van den berg, forbidding all others, came alone upon the walls and demanded his message. "to claim this city in the name of prince maurice of nassau and of the states-general," was the reply. "tell him first to beat down my walls as flat as the ditch," said van den berg, "and then to bring five or six storms. six months after that i will think whether i will send a trumpet." the prince proceeded steadily with his approaches, but he was infinitely chagrined by the departure out of his camp of sir francis vere with his english contingent of three regiments, whom queen elizabeth had peremptorily ordered to the relief of king henry in brittany. nothing amazes the modern mind so much as the exquisite paucity of forces and of funds by which the world-empire was fought for and resisted in france, holland, spain, and england. the scenes of war were rapidly shifted--almost like the slides of a magic-lantern--from one country to another; the same conspicuous personages, almost the same individual armies, perpetually re-appearing in different places, as if a wild phantasmagoria were capriciously repeating itself to bewilder the imagination. essex, and vere, and roger williams, and black norris-van der does, and admiral nassau, the meetkerks and count philip-farnese and mansfeld, george basti, arenberg, berlaymont, la none and teligny, aquila and coloma--were seen alternately fighting, retreating, triumphant, beleaguering, campaigning all along the great territory which extends from the bay of biscay to the crags of brittany, and across the narrow seas to the bogs of ireland, and thence through the plains of picardy and flanders to the swamps of groningen and the frontiers of the rhine. this was the arena in which the great struggle was ever going on, but the champions were so few in number that their individual shapes become familiar to us like the figures of an oft-repeated pageant. and now the withdrawal of certain companies of infantry and squadrons of cavalry from the spanish armies into france, had left obedient netherland too weak to resist rebellious netherland, while, on the other hand, the withdrawal of some twenty or thirty companies of english auxiliaries--most hard-fighting veterans it is true, but very few in number--was likely to imperil the enterprise of maurice in friesland. the removal of these companies from the low countries to strengthen the bearnese in the north of france, formed the subject of much bitter diplomatic conference between the states and england; the order having been communicated by the great queen herself in many a vehement epistle and caustic speech, enforced by big, manly oaths. verdugo, although confident in the strength of the place, had represented to parma and to mansfeld the immense importance of relieving coeworden. the city, he said, was more valuable than all the towns taken the year before. all friesland hung upon it, and it would be impossible to save groningen should coeworden fall. meantime count philip nassau arrived from the campaign in france with his three regiments which he threw into garrison, and thus set free an equal number of fresh troops, which were forthwith sent to the camp of maurice. the prince at the same time was made aware that verdugo was about to receive important succour, and he was advised by the deputies of the states-general present at his headquarters to send out his german reiters to intercept them. maurice refused. should his cavalry be defeated, he said, his whole army would be endangered. he determined to await within his fortified camp the attack of the relieving force. during the whole month of august he proceeded steadily with his sapping and mining. by the middle of the month his lines had come through the ditch, which he drained of water into the counterscarp. by the beginning of september he had got beneath the principal fort, which, in the course of three or four days, he expected to blow into the air. the rainy weather had impeded his operations and the march of the relieving army. nevertheless that army was at last approaching. the regiments of mondragon, charles mansfeld, gonzaga, berlaymont, and arenberg had been despatched to reinforce verdugo. on the rd august, having crossed the rhine at rheinberg, they reached olfen in the country of benthem, ten miles from coeworden. here they threw up rockets and made other signals that relief was approaching the town. on the rd of september verdugo, with the whole force at his disposal, amounting to four thousand foot and eighteen hundred horse, was at the village of emblichen, within a league of the besieged city. that night a peasant was captured with letters from verdugo to the governor of coeworden, giving information that he intended to make an assault on the besiegers on the night of th- th september. thus forewarned, maurice took the best precautions and calmly within his entrenchments awaited the onslaught. punctual to his appointment, verdugo with his whole force, yelling "victoria! victoria!" made a shirt-attack, or camiciata--the men wearing their shirts outside their armour to distinguish each other in the darkness--upon that portion of the camp which was under command of hohenlo. they were met with determination and repulsed, after fighting all night, with a loss of three hundred killed and a proportionate number of wounded. the netherlanders had but three killed and six wounded. among the latter, however, was lewis william, who received a musket-ball in the belly, but remained on the ground until the enemy had retreated. it was then discovered that his wound was not mortal--the intestines not having been injured--and he was soon about his work again. prince maurice, too, as usual, incurred the remonstrances of the deputies and others for the reckless manner in which he exposed himself wherever the fire was hottest he resolutely refused, however, to permit his cavalry to follow the retreating enemy. his object was coeworden--a prize more important than a new victory over the already defeated spaniards would prove--and this object he kept ever before his eyes. this was verdugo's first and last attempt to relieve the city. he had seen enough of the young prince's tactics and had no further wish to break his teeth against those scientific entrenchments. the spaniards at last, whether they wore their shirts inside or outside their doublets, could no longer handle the dutchmen at pleasure. that people of butter, as the iron duke of alva was fond of calling the netherlanders, were grown harder with the pressure of a twenty-five years' war. five days after the sanguinary 'camiciata' the besieged offered to capitulate. the trumpet at which the proud van den berg had hinted for six months later arrived on the th september. maurice was glad to get his town. his "little soldiers" did not insist, as the spaniards and italians were used to do in the good old days, on unlimited murder, rape, and fire, as the natural solace and reward of their labours in the trenches. civilization had made some progress, at least in the netherlands. maurice granted good terms, such as he had been in the habit of conceding to all captured towns. van den berg was courteously received by his cousins, as he rode forth from the place at the head of what remained of his garrison, five hundred in number, with colours flying, matches burning, bullet in mouth, and with all their arms and baggage except artillery and ammunition, and the heroic little lewis, notwithstanding the wound in his belly, got on horseback and greeted him with a cousinly welcome in the camp. the city was a most important acquisition, as already sufficiently set forth, but queen elizabeth, much misinformed on this occasion, was inclined to undervalue it. she wrote accordingly to the states, reproaching them for using all that artillery and that royal force against a mere castle and earthheap, instead of attempting some considerable capital, or going in force to the relief of brittany. the day was to come when she would acknowledge the advantage of not leaving this earth-heap in the hands of the spaniard. meantime, prince maurice--the season being so far advanced--gave the world no further practical lessons in the engineering science, and sent his troops into winter quarters. these were the chief military phenomena in france and flanders during three years of the great struggle to establish philip's universal dominion. chapter xxvii. negotiations between queen elizabeth and the states--aspect of affair between england and the netherlands--complaints of the hollanders on the piratical acts of the english--the dutch envoy and the english government--caron's interview with elizabeth--the queen promises redress of grievances. it is now necessary to cast a glance at certain negotiations on delicate topics which had meantime been occurring between queen elizabeth and the states. england and the republic were bound together by ties so close that it was impossible for either to injure the other without inflicting a corresponding damage on itself. nevertheless this very community of interest, combined with a close national relationship--for in the european family the netherlanders and english were but cousins twice removed--with similarity of pursuits, with commercial jealousy, with an intense and ever growing rivalry for that supremacy on the ocean towards which the monarchy and the republic were so earnestly struggling, with a common passion for civil and religious freedom, and with that inveterate habit of self-assertion--the healthful but not engaging attribute of all vigorous nations--which strongly marked them both, was rapidly producing an antipathy between the two countries which time was likely rather to deepen than efface. and the national divergences were as potent as the traits of resemblance in creating this antagonism. the democratic element was expanding itself in the republic so rapidly as to stifle for a time the oligarchical principle which might one day be developed out of the same matrix; while, despite the hardy and adventurous spirit which characterised the english nation throughout all its grades, there was never a more intensely aristocratic influence in the world than the governing and directing spirit of the england of that age. it was impossible that the courtiers of elizabeth and the burgher-statesmen of holland and friesland should sympathize with each other in sentiment or in manner. the republicans in their exuberant consciousness of having at last got rid of kings and kingly paraphernalia in their own, land--for since the rejection of the sovereignty offered to france and england in this feeling had become so predominant as to make it difficult to believe that those offers had been in reality so recent--were insensibly adopting a frankness, perhaps a roughness, of political and social demeanour which was far from palatable to the euphuistic formalists of other, countries. especially the english statesmen, trained to approach their sovereign with almost oriental humility, and accustomed to exact for themselves a large amount of deference, could ill brook the free and easy tone occasionally adopted in diplomatic and official intercourse by these upstart republicans. [the venetian ambassador contarin relates that in the reign of james i. the great nobles of england were served at table by lackeys on they knees.] a queen, who to loose morals, imperious disposition, and violent temper united as inordinate a personal vanity as was ever vouchsafed to woman, and who up to the verge of decrepitude was addressed by her courtiers in the language of love-torn swain to blooming shepherdess, could naturally find but little to her taste in the hierarchy of hans brewer and hans baker. thus her majesty and her courtiers, accustomed to the faded gallantries with which the serious affairs of state were so grotesquely intermingled, took it ill when they were bluntly informed, for instance, that the state council of the netherlands, negotiating on netherland affairs, could not permit a veto to the representatives of the queen, and that this same body of dutchmen discussing their own business insisted upon talking dutch and not latin. it was impossible to deny that the young stadholder was a gentleman of a good house, but how could the insolence of a common citizen like john of olden-barneveld be digested? it was certain that behind those shaggy, overhanging brows there was a powerful brain stored with legal and historic lore, which supplied eloquence to an ever-ready tongue and pen. yet these facts, difficult to gainsay, did not make the demands so frequently urged by the states-general upon the english government for the enforcement of dutch rights and the redress of english wrongs the more acceptable. bodley, gilpin, and the rest were in a chronic state of exasperation with the hollanders, not only because of their perpetual complaints, but because their complaints were perpetually just. the states-general were dissatisfied, all the netherlanders were dissatisfied--and not entirely without reason--that the english, with whom the republic was on terms not only of friendship but of alliance, should burn their ships on the high seas, plunder their merchants, and torture their sea-captains in order to extort information as to the most precious portions of their cargoes. sharp language against such malpractices was considered but proof of democratic vulgarity. yet it would be hard to maintain that martin frobisher, mansfield, grenfell, and the rest of the sea-kings, with all their dash and daring and patriotism, were not as unscrupulous pirates as ever sailed blue water, or that they were not apt to commit their depredations upon friend and foe alike. on the other hand; by a liberality of commerce in extraordinary contrast with the practice of modern times, the netherlanders were in the habit of trading directly with the arch-enemy of both holland and england, even in the midst of their conflict with him, and it was complained of that even the munitions of war and the implements of navigation by which spain had been enabled to effect its foot-hold in brittany, and thus to threaten the english coast, were derived from this very traffic. the hollanders replied, that, according to their contract with england, they were at liberty to send as many as forty or fifty vessels at a time to spain and portugal, that they had never exceeded the stipulated number, that england freely engaged in the same traffic herself with the common enemy, that it was not reasonable to consider cordage or dried fish or shooks and staves, butter, eggs, and corn as contraband of war, that if they were illegitimate the english trade was vitiated to the same degree, and that it would be utterly hopeless for the provinces to attempt to carry on the war, except by enabling themselves, through the widest and most unrestricted foreign commerce, even including the enemy's realms, to provide their nation with the necessary wealth to sustain so gigantic a conflict. here were ever flowing fountains of bitterest discussion and recrimination. it must be admitted however that there was occasionally an advantage in the despotic and summary manner in which the queen took matters into her own hands. it was refreshing to see this great sovereign--who was so well able to grapple with questions of state, and whose very imperiousness of temper impelled her to trample on shallow sophistries and specious technicalities--dealing directly with cases of piracy and turning a deaf ear to the counsellors, who in that, as in every age, were too prone to shove by international justice in order to fulfil municipal forms. it was, however, with much difficulty that the envoy of the republic was able to obtain a direct hearing from her majesty in order to press the long list of complaints on account of the english piratical proceedings upon her attention. he intimated that there seemed to be special reasons why the great ones about her throne were disposed to deny him access to the queen, knowing as they did in what intent he asked for interviews. they described in strong language the royal wrath at the opposition recently made by the states to detaching the english auxiliaries in the netherlands for the service of the french king in normandy, hoping thereby to deter him from venturing into her presence with a list of grievances on the part of his government. "i did my best to indicate the danger incurred by such transferring of troops at so critical a moment," said noel de canon, "showing that it was directly in opposition to the contract made with her majesty. but i got no answer save very high words from the lord treasurer, to the effect that the states-general were never willing to agree to any of her majesty's prepositions, and that this matter was as necessary to the states' service as to that of the french king. in effect, he said peremptorily that her majesty willed it and would not recede from her resolution." the envoy then requested an interview with the queen before her departure into the country. next day, at noon, lord burghley sent word that she was to leave between five and six o'clock that evening, and that the minister would be welcome meantime at any hour. "but notwithstanding that i presented myself," said caron, "at two o'clock in the afternoon, i was unable to speak to her majesty until a moment before she was about to mount her horse. her language was then very curt. she persisted in demanding her troops, and strongly expressed her dissatisfaction that we should have refused them on what she called so good an occasion for using them. i was obliged to cut my replies very short, as it was already between six and seven o'clock, and she was to ride nine english miles to the place where she was to pass the night. i was quite sensible, however; that the audience was arranged to be thus brief, in order that i should not be able to stop long enough to give trouble, and perhaps to find occasion to renew our complaints touching the plunderings and robberies committed upon us at sea. this is what some of the great personages here, without doubt, are afraid of, for they were wonderfully well overhauled in my last audience. i shall attempt to speak to her again before she goes very deep into the country." it was not however before the end of the year, after caron had made a voyage to holland and had returned, that he nov. was able to bring the subject thoroughly before her majesty. on the th november he had preliminary interviews with the lord high admiral and the lord treasurer at hampton court, where the queen was then residing. the plundering business was warmly discussed between himself and the admiral, and there was much quibbling and special pleading in defence of the practices which had created so much irritation and pecuniary loss in holland. there was a good deal of talk about want of evidence and conflict of evidence, which, to a man who felt as sure of the facts and of the law as the dutch envoy did--unless it were according to public law for one friend and, ally to plunder and burn the vessels of another friend and ally--was not encouraging as to the probable issue of his interview with her majesty. it would be tedious to report the conversation as fully as it was laid by noel de caron before the states-general; but at last the admiral expressed a hope that the injured parties would be able to make good their case. at any rate he assured the envoy that he would take care of captain mansfield for the present, who was in prison with two other captains, so that proceedings might be had against them if it was thought worth while. caron answered with dutch bluntness. "i recommended him very earnestly to do this," he said, "and told him roundly that this was by all means necessary for the sake of his own honour. otherwise no man could ever be made to believe that his excellency was not seeking to get his own profit out of the affair. but he vehemently swore and protested that this was not the case." he then went to the lord treasurer's apartment, where a long and stormy interview followed on the subject of the withdrawal of the english troops. caron warmly insisted that the measure had been full of danger, for the states; that they had been ordered out of prince maurice's camp at a most critical moment; that; had it not, been for the stallholder's promptness and military skill; very great disasters to the common cause must have ensued; and that, after all, nothing had been done by the contingent in any other field, for they had been for six months idle and sick, without ever reaching brittany at all. "the lord treasurer, who, contrary to his custom," said the envoy, "had been listening thus long to what i had to say, now observed that the states had treated her majesty very ill, that they had kept her running after her own troops nearly half a year, and had offered no excuse for their proceedings." it would be superfluous to repeat the arguments by which caron endeavoured to set forth that the english troops, sent to the netherlands according to a special compact, for a special service, and for a special consideration and equivalent, could not honestly be employed, contrary to the wishes of the states-general, upon a totally different service and in another country. the queen willed it, he was informed, and it was ill-treatment of her majesty on the part of the hollanders to oppose her will. this argument was unanswerable. soon afterwards, caron was admitted to the presence of elizabeth. he delivered, at first, a letter from the states-general, touching the withdrawal of the troops. the queen, instantly broke the seal and read the letter to the end. coming to the concluding passage, in which the states observed that they had great and just cause highly to complain on that subject, she paused, reading the sentences over twice or thrice, and then remarked: "truly these are comical people. i have so often been complaining that they refused to send my troops, and now the states complain that they are obliged to let them go. yet my intention is only to borrow them for a little while, because i can give my brother of france no better succour than by sending him these soldiers, and this i consider better than if i should send him four thousand men. i say again, i am only borrowing them, and surely the states ought never to make such complaints, when the occasion was such a favourable one, and they had received already sufficient aid from these troops, and had liberated their whole country. i don't comprehend these grievances. they complain that i withdraw my people, and meantime they are still holding them and have brought them ashore again. they send me frivolous excuses that the skippers don't know the road to my islands, which is, after all, as easy to find as the way to caen, for it is all one. i have also sent my own pilots; and i complain bitterly that by making this difficulty they will cause the loss of all brittany. they run with their people far away from me, and meantime they allow the enemy to become master of all the coasts lying opposite me. but if it goes badly with me they will rue it deeply themselves." there was considerable reason, even if there were but little justice, in this strain of remarks. her majesty continued it for some little time longer, and it is interesting to see the direct and personal manner in which this great princess handled the weightiest affairs of state. the transfer of a dozen companies of english infantry from friesland to brittany was supposed to be big with the fate of france, england, and the dutch republic, and was the subject of long and angry controversy, not as a contested point of principle, in regard to which numbers, of course, are nothing, but as a matter of practical and pressing importance. "her majesty made many more observations of this nature," said caron, "but without getting at all into a passion, and, in my opinion, her discourse was sensible, and she spoke with more moderation than she is wont at other times." the envoy then presented the second letter from the states-general in regard to the outrages inflicted on the dutch merchantmen. the queen read it at once, and expressed herself as very much displeased with her people. she said that she had received similar information from counsellor bodley, who had openly given her to understand that the enormous outrages which her people were committing at sea upon the netherlanders were a public scandal. it had made her so angry, she said, that she knew not which way to turn. she would take it in hand at once, for she would rather make oath never more to permit a single ship of war to leave her ports than consent to such thieveries and villanies. she told caron that he would do well to have his case in regard to these matters verified, and then to give it into her own hands, since otherwise it would all be denied her and she would find herself unable to get at the truth. "i have all the proofs and documents of the merchants by me," replied the envoy, "and, moreover, several of the sea-captains who have been robbed and outraged have come over with me, as likewise some merchants who were tortured by burning of the thumbs and other kinds of torments." this disturbed the queen very much, and she expressed her wish that caron should not allow himself to be put off with, delays by the council, but should insist upon all due criminal punishment, the infliction of which she promised in the strongest terms to order; for she could never enjoy peace of mind, she said; so long as such scoundrels were tolerated in her kingdom. the envoy had brought with him a summary of the cases, with the names of all the merchants interested, and a list of all the marks on the sacks of money which had been stolen. the queen looked over it very carefully, declaring it to be her intention that there should be no delays interposed in the conduct of this affair by forms of special pleading, but that speedy cognizance should be taken of the whole, and that the property should forthwith be restored. she then sent for sir robert cecil, whom she directed to go at once and tell his father, the lord treasurer, that he was to assist caron in this affair exactly as if it were her own. it was her intention, she said, that her people were in no wise to trouble the hollanders in legitimate mercantile pursuits. she added that it was not enough for her people to say that they had only been seizing spaniards' goods and money, but she meant that they should prove it, too, or else they should swing for it. caron assured her majesty that he had no other commission from his masters than to ask for justice, and that he had no instructions to claim spanish property or enemy's goods. he had brought sufficient evidence with him, he said, to give her majesty entire satisfaction. it is not necessary to pursue the subject any farther. the great nobles still endeavoured to interpose delays, and urged the propriety of taking the case before the common courts of law. carom strong in the support of the queen, insisted that it should be settled, as her majesty had commanded, by the council, and it was finally arranged that the judge of admiralty should examine the evidence on both sides, and then communicate the documents at once to the lord treasurer. meantime the money was to be deposited with certain aldermen of london, and the accused parties kept in prison. the ultimate decision was then to be made by the council, "not by form of process but by commission thereto ordained." in the course of the many interviews which followed between the dutch envoy and the privy counsellors, the lord admiral stated that an english merchant residing in the netherlands had sent to offer him a present of two thousand pounds sterling, in case the affair should be decided against the hollanders. he communicated the name of the individual to caron, under seal of secrecy, and reminded the lord treasurer that he too had seen the letter of the englishman. lord burghley observed that he remembered the fact that certain letters had been communicated to him by the lord admiral, but that he did not know from whence they came, nor anything about the person of the writer. the case of the plundered merchants was destined to drag almost as slowly before the council as it might have done in the ordinary tribunals, and caron was "kept running," as he expressed it, "from the court to london, and from london to the court," and it was long before justice was done to the sufferers. yet the energetic manner in which the queen took the case into her own hands, and the intense indignation with which she denounced the robberies and outrages which had been committed by her subjects upon her friends and allies, were effective in restraining such wholesale piracy in the future. on the whole, however, if the internal machinery is examined by which the masses of mankind were moved at epoch in various parts of christendom, we shall not find much reason to applaud the conformity of governments to the principles of justice, reason, or wisdom. etext editor's bookmarks: accustomed to the faded gallantries conformity of governments to the principles of justice considerable reason, even if there were but little justice disciple of simon stevinus self-assertion--the healthful but not engaging attribute chapter xxviii. - influence of the rule and character of philip ii.--heroism of the sixteenth century--contest for the french throne--character and policy of the duke of mayenne--escape of the duke of guise from castle tours--propositions for the marriage of the infanta--plotting of the catholic party--grounds of philip's pretensions to the crown of france--motives of the duke of parma maligned by commander moreo --he justifies himself to the king--view of the private relations between philip and the duke of mayenne and their sentiments towards each other--disposition of the french politicians and soldiers towards philip--peculiar commercial pursuits of philip--confused state of affairs in france--treachery of philip towards the duke of parma--recall of the duke to spain--his sufferings and death. the people--which has been generally regarded as something naturally below its rulers, and as born to be protected and governed, paternally or otherwise, by an accidental selection from its own species, which by some mysterious process has shot up much nearer to heaven than itself--is often described as brutal, depraved, self-seeking, ignorant, passionate, licentious, and greedy. it is fitting, therefore, that its protectors should be distinguished, at great epochs of the world's history, by an absence of such objectionable qualities. it must be confessed, however, that if the world had waited for heroes--during the dreary period which followed the expulsion of something that was called henry iii. of france from the gates of his capital, and especially during the time that followed hard upon the decease of that embodiment of royalty--its axis must have ceased to turn for a long succession of years. the bearnese was at least alive, and a man. he played his part with consummate audacity and skill; but alas for an epoch or a country in which such a shape--notwithstanding all its engaging and even commanding qualities--looked upon as an incarnation of human greatness! but the chief mover of all things--so far as one man can be prime mover--was still the diligent scribe who lived in the escorial. it was he whose high mission it was to blow the bellows of civil war, and to scatter curses over what had once been the smiling abodes of human creatures, throughout the leading countries of christendom. the throne of france was vacant, nominally as well as actually, since--the year . during two-and-twenty years preceding that epoch he had scourged the provinces, once constituting the richest and most enlightened portions of his hereditary domains, upon the theory that without the spanish inquisition no material prosperity was possible on earth, nor any entrance permitted to the realms of bliss beyond the grave. had every netherlander consented to burn his bible, and to be burned himself should he be found listening to its holy precepts if read to him in shop, cottage, farm-house, or castle; and had he furthermore consented to renounce all the liberal institutions which his ancestors had earned, in the struggle of centuries, by the sweat of their brows and the blood of, their hearts; his benignant proprietor and master, who lived at the ends of the earth, would have consented at almost any moment to peace. his arms were ever open. let it not be supposed that this is the language of sarcasm or epigram. stripped of the decorous sophistication by which human beings are so fond of concealing their naked thoughts from each other, this was the one simple dogma always propounded by philip. grimace had done its worst, however, and it was long since it had exercised any power in the netherlands. the king and the dutchmen understood each other; and the plain truths with which those republicans answered the imperial proffers of mediation, so frequently renewed, were something new, and perhaps not entirely unwholesome in diplomacy. it is not an inviting task to abandon the comparatively healthy atmosphere of the battle-field, the blood-stained swamp, the murderous trench--where human beings, even if communing only by bullets and push of pike, were at least dealing truthfully with each other--and to descend into those subterranean regions where the effluvia of falsehood becomes almost too foul for ordinary human organisation. heroes in those days, in any country, there were few. william the silent was dead. de la noue was dead. duplessis-mornay was living, but his influence over his royal master was rapidly diminishing. cecil, hatton, essex, howard, raleigh, james croft, valentine dale, john norris, roger williams, the "virgin queen" herself--does one of these chief agents in public affairs, or do all of them together, furnish a thousandth part of that heroic whole which the england of the sixteenth century presents to every imagination? maurice of nassau-excellent soldier and engineer as he had already proved himself--had certainly not developed much of the heroic element, although thus far he was walking straightforward like a man, in the path of duty, with the pithy and substantial lewis william ever at his side. olden-barneveld--tough burgher-statesman, hard-headed, indomitable man of granite--was doing more work, and doing it more thoroughly, than any living politician, but he was certainly not of the mythological brotherhood who inhabit the serene regions of space beyond the moon. he was not the son of god or goddess, destined, after removal from this sphere, to shine with planetary lustre, among other constellations, upon the scenes of mortal action. those of us who are willing to rise-or to descend if the phrase seems wiser--to the idea of a self-governing people must content ourselves, for this epoch, with the fancy of a hero-people and a people-king. a plain little republic, thrusting itself uninvited into the great political family-party of heaven-anointed sovereigns and long-descended nobles, seemed a somewhat repulsive phenomenon. it became odious and dangerous when by the blows it could deal in battle, the logic it could chop in council, it indicated a remote future for the world, in which right divine and regal paraphernalia might cease to be as effective stage-properties as they had always been considered. yet it will be difficult for us to find the heroic individualised very perceptibly at this period, look where we may. already there seemed ground for questioning the comfortable fiction that the accidentally dominant families and castes were by nature wiser, better, braver than that much-contemned entity, the people. what if the fearful heresy should gain ground that the people was at least as wise, honest, and brave as its masters? what if it should become a recognised fact that the great individuals and castes, whose wealth and station furnished them with ample time and means for perfecting themselves in the science of government, were rather devoting their leisure to the systematic filling of their own pockets than to the hiving up of knowledge for the good of their fellow creatures? what if the whole theory of hereditary superiority should suddenly exhale? what if it were found out that we were all fellow-worms together, and that those which had crawled highest were not necessarily the least slimy? meantime it will be well for us, in order to understand what is called the past, to scrutinise somewhat closely that which was never meant to be revealed. to know the springs which once controlled the world's movements, one must ponder the secret thoughts, purposes, aspirations, and baffled attempts of the few dozen individuals who once claimed that world in fee-simple. such researches are not in a cheerful field; for the sources of history are rarely fountains of crystal, bubbling through meadows of asphodel. vast and noisome are the many sewers which have ever run beneath decorous christendom. some of the leading military events in france and flanders, patent to all the world, which grouped themselves about the contest for the french throne, as the central point in the history of philip's proposed world-empire, have already been indicated. it was a species of triangular contest--so far as the chief actors were concerned--for that vacant throne. philip, mayenne, henry of navarre, with all the adroitness which each possessed, were playing for the splendid prize. of philip it is not necessary to speak. the preceding volumes of this work have been written in vain, if the reader has not obtained from irrefragable testimony--the monarch's own especially--a sufficient knowledge of that human fetish before which so much of contemporary humanity grovelled. the figure of navarre is also one of the most familiar shapes in history. as for the duke of mayenne, he had been, since the death of his brother the balafre, ostensible leader of the league, and was playing, not without skill, a triple game. firstly, he hoped for the throne for himself. secondly, he was assisting the king of spain to obtain that dignity. thirdly, he was manoeuvring in dull, dumb, but not ineffective manner, in favour of navarre. so comprehensive and self-contradictory a scheme would seem to indicate an elasticity of principle and a fertility of resource not often vouchsafed to man. certainly one of the most pregnant lessons of history is furnished in the development of these cabals, nor is it, in this regard, of great importance whether the issue was to prove them futile or judicious. it is sufficient for us now, that when those vanished days constituted the present--the vital atmosphere of christendom--the world's affairs were controlled by those plotters and their subordinates, and it is therefore desirable for us to know what manner of men they were, and how they played their parts. nor should it ever be forgotten that the leading motive with all was supposed to be religion. it was to maintain the supremacy of the roman church, or to vindicate, to a certain extent, liberty of conscience, through the establishment of a heterodox organisation, that all these human beings of various lineage and language throughout christendom had been cutting each other's throats for a quarter of a century. mayenne was not without courage in the field when he found himself there, but it was observed of him that he spent more time at table than the bearnese in sleep, and that he was so fat as to require the assistance of twelve men to put him in the saddle again whenever he fell from his horse. yet slow fighter as he was, he was a most nimble intriguer. as for his private character, it was notoriously stained with every vice, nor was there enough of natural intelligence or superior acquirement to atone for his, crapulous; licentious, shameless life. his military efficiency at important emergencies was impaired and his life endangered by vile diseases. he was covetous and greedy beyond what was considered decent even in that cynical age. he received subsidies and alms with both hands from those who distrusted and despised him, but who could not eject him from his advantageous position. he wished to arrive at the throne of france. as son of francis of guise, as brother of the great balafre, he considered himself entitled to the homage of the fishwomen and the butchers' halls. the constitution of the country in that age making a people impossible, the subtle connection between a high-born intriguer and the dregs of a populace, which can only exist in societies of deep chasms and precipitous contrasts, was easily established. the duke's summary dealing with the sixteen tyrants of paris in the matter of the president's murder had, however, loosened his hold on what was considered the democracy; but this was at the time when his schemes were silently swinging towards the protestant aristocracy; at the moment when politica was taking the place of madam league in his secret affections. nevertheless, so long as there seemed a chance, he was disposed to work the mines for his own benefit. his position as lieutenant-general gave him an immense advantage for intriguing with both sides, and--in case his aspirations for royalty were baffled--for obtaining the highest possible price for himself in that auction in which philip and the bearnese were likely to strain all their resources in outbidding each other. on one thing his heart was fixed. his brother's son should at least not secure the golden prize if he could prevent it. the young duke of guise, who had been immured in castle tours since the famous murder of his father and uncle, had made his escape by a rather neat stratagem. having been allowed some liberty for amusing himself in the corridors in the neighbourhood of his apartment, he had invented a game of hop, skip, and jump up stairs and down, which he was wont to play with the soldiers of the guard, as a solace to the tediousness of confinement. one day he hopped and skipped up the staircase with a rapidity which excited the admiration of the companions of his sport, slipped into his room, slammed and bolted the doors, and when the guard, after in vain waiting a considerable tine for him to return and resume the game, at last forced an entrance, they found the bird flown out of window. rope-ladders, confederates, fast-galloping post-horses did the rest, and at last the young duke joined his affectionate uncle in camp, much to that eminent relative's discomfiture. philip gave alternately conflicting instructions to farnese--sometimes that he should encourage the natural jealousy between the pair; sometimes that he should cause them to work harmoniously together for the common good--that common good being the attainment by the king of spain of the sovereignty of france. but it was impossible, as already intimated, for mayenne to work harmoniously with his nephew. the duke of guise might marry with the infanta and thus become king of france by the grace of god and philip. to such a consummation in the case of his uncle there stood, as we know, an insuperable obstacle in the shape of the duchess of mayenne. should it come to this at last, it was certain that the duke would make any and every combination to frustrate such a scheme. meantime he kept his own counsel, worked amiably with philip, parma, and the young duke, and received money in overflowing measure, and poured into his bosom from that spanish monarch whose veterans in the netherlands were maddened by starvation into mutiny. philip's plans were a series of alternatives. france he regarded as the property of his family. of that there could be no doubt at all. he meant to put the crown upon his own head, unless the difficulties in the way should prove absolutely insuperable. in that case he claimed france and all its inhabitants as the property of his daughter. the salic law was simply a pleasantry, a bit of foolish pedantry, an absurdity. if clara isabella, as daughter of isabella of france, as grandchild of henry ii., were not manifestly the owner of france--queen-proprietary, as the spanish doctors called it--then there was no such thing, so he thought, as inheritance of castle, farm-house, or hovel--no such thing as property anywhere in the world. if the heiress of the valois could not take that kingdom as her private estate, what security could there ever be for any possessions public or private? this was logical reasoning enough for kings and their counsellors. there was much that might be said, however, in regard to special laws. there was no doubt that great countries, with all their livestock--human or otherwise--belonged to an individual, but it was not always so clear who that individual was. this doubt gave much work and comfortable fees to the lawyers. there was much learned lore concerning statutes of descent, cutting off of entails, actions for ejectment, difficulties of enforcing processes, and the like, to occupy the attention of diplomatists, politicians and other sages. it would have caused general hilarity, however, could it have been suggested that the live-stock had art or part in the matter; that sheep, swine, or men could claim a choice of their shepherds and butchers. philip--humbly satisfied, as he always expressed himself, so long as the purity of the roman dogmas and the supremacy of the romish church over the whole earth were maintained--affected a comparative indifference as to whether he should put the crown of st. louis and of hugh capet upon his own grey head or whether he should govern france through his daughter and her husband. happy the man who might exchange the symbols of mutual affection with philip's daughter. the king had various plans in regard to the bestowal of the hand thus richly endowed. first and foremost it was suggested--and the idea was not held too monstrous to be even believed in by some conspicuous individuals--that he proposed espousing his daughter himself. the pope was to be relied on, in this case, to give a special dispensation. such a marriage, between parties too closely related to be usually united in wedlock, might otherwise shock the prejudices of the orthodox. his late niece and wife was dead, so that there was no inconvenience on that score, should the interests of his dynasty, his family, and, above all, of the church, impel him, on mature reflection, to take for his fourth marriage one step farther within the forbidden degrees than he had done in his third. here is the statement, which, if it have no other value, serves to show the hideous designs of which the enemies of philip sincerely believed that monarch capable. "but god is a just god," wrote sir edward stafford, "and if with all things past, that be true that the king ('videlicet' henry iv.) yesterday assured me to be true, and that both his ambassador from venice writ to him and monsieur de luxembourg from rome, that the count olivarez had made a great instance to the pope (sixtus v.) a little afore his death, to permit his master to marry his daughter, no doubt god will not leave it long unpunished." such was the horrible tale which was circulated and believed in by henry the great of france and by eminent nobles and ambassadors, and at least thought possible by the english envoy. by such a family arrangement it was obvious that the conflicting claims of father and daughter to the proprietorship of france would be ingeniously adjusted, and the children of so well assorted a marriage might reign in undisputed legitimacy over france and spain, and the rest of the world-monarchy. should the king decide on the whole against this matrimonial project, should innocent or clement prove as intractable as sixtus, then it would be necessary to decide among various candidates for the infanta's hand. in mayenne's opinion the duke of guise was likely to be the man; but there is little doubt that philip, in case these more cherished schemes should fail, had made up his mind--so far as he ever did make up his mind upon anything--to select his nephew the archduke ernest, brother of the emperor rudolph, for his son-in-law. but it was not necessary to make an immediate choice. his quiver was full of archdukes, any one of whom would be an eligible candidate, while not one of them would be likely to reject the infanta with france on her wedding-finger. meantime there was a lion in the path in the shape of henry of navarre. those who disbelieve in the influence of the individual on the fate of mankind may ponder the possible results to history and humanity, had the dagger of jacques clement entered the stomach of henry iv. rather than of henry iii. in the summer of , or the perturbations in the world's movements that might have puzzled philosophers had there been an unsuspected mass of religious conviction revolving unseen in the mental depths of the bearnese. conscience, as it has from time to time exhibited itself on this planet of ours, is a powerful agent in controlling political combinations; but the instances are unfortunately not rare, so far as sublunary progress is concerned, in which the absence of this dominant influence permits a prosperous rapidity to individual careers. eternal honour to the noble beings, true chieftains among men, who have forfeited worldly power or sacrificed life itself at the dictate of religious or moral conviction--even should the basis of such conviction appear to some of us unsafe or unreal. shame on the tongue which would malign or ridicule the martyr or the honest convert to any form of christian faith! but who can discover aught that is inspiring to the sons of men in conversions--whether of princes or of peasants--wrought, not at risk of life and pelf, but for the sake of securing and increasing the one and the other? certainly the bearnese was the most candid of men. it was this very candour, this freedom from bigotry, this want of conviction, and this openness to conviction, that made him so dangerous and caused so much anxiety to philip. the roman church might or might not be strengthened by the re-conversion of the legitimate heir of france, but it was certain that the claims of philip and the infanta to the proprietorship of that kingdom would be weakened by the process. while the spanish king knew himself to be inspired in all his actions by a single motive, the maintenance of the supremacy of the roman church, he was perfectly aware that the prince of bearne was not so single-hearted nor so conscientious as himself. the prince of bearne--heretic, son of heretics, great chieftain of heretics--was supposed capable of becoming orthodox whenever the pope would accept his conversion. against this possibility philip struggled with all his strength. since pope sixtus v., who had a weakness for henry, there had been several popes. urban vii., his immediate successor, had reigned but thirteen days. gregory xiv. (sfondrato) had died th october, , ten months after his election. fachinetti, with the title of innocent ix., had reigned two months, from th october to th december, . he died of "spanish poison," said envoy umton, as coolly as if speaking of gout, or typhus, or any other recognised disorder. clement viii. (aldobrandini) was elected th january, . he was no lover of henry, and lived in mortal fear of philip, while it must be conceded that the spanish ambassador at rome was much given to brow-beating his holiness. should he dare to grant that absolution which was the secret object of the bearnese, there was no vengeance, hinted the envoy, that philip would not wreak on the holy father. he would cut off his supplies from naples and sicily, and starve him and all-his subjects; he would frustrate all his family schemes, he would renounce him, he would unpope him, he would do anything that man and despot could do, should the great shepherd dare to re-admit this lost sheep, and this very black sheep, into the fold of the faithful. as for henry himself, his game--for in his eyes it was nothing but a game--lay every day plainer and plainer before him. he was indispensable to the heretics. neither england, nor holland, nor protestant germany, could renounce him, even should he renounce "the religion." nor could the french huguenots exist without that protection which, even although catholic, he could still extend to them when he should be accepted as king by the catholics. hereditary monarch by french law and history, released from his heresy by the authority that could bind and loose, purged as with hyssop and washed whiter than snow, it should go hard with him if philip, and farnese, and mayenne, and all the pikemen and reiters they might muster, could keep him very long from the throne of his ancestors. nothing could match the ingenuousness with which he demanded the instruction whenever the fitting time for it should arrive; as if, instead of having been a professor both of the calvinist and catholic persuasion, and having relapsed from both, he had been some innocent peruvian or hindoo, who was invited to listen to preachings and to examine dogmas for the very first time in his life. yet philip had good grounds for hoping a favourable result from his political and military manoeuvre. he entertained little doubt that france belonged to him or to his daughter; that the most powerful party in the country was in favour of his claims, provided he would pay the voters liberally enough for their support, and that if the worst came to the worst it would always be in his power to dismember the kingdom, and to reserve the lion's share for himself, while distributing some of the provinces to the most prominent of his confederates. the sixteen tyrants of paris had already, as we have seen, urged the crown upon him, provided he would establish in france the inquisition, the council of trent, and other acceptable institutions, besides distributing judiciously a good many lucrative offices among various classes of his adherents. the duke of mayenne, in his own name and that of all the catholics of france, formally demanded of him to maintain two armies, forty thousand men in all, to be respectively under command of the duke himself and of alexander farnese, and regularly to pay for them. these propositions, as has been seen, were carried into effect as nearly as possible, at enormous expense to philip's exchequer, and he naturally expected as good faith on the part of mayenne. in the same paper in which the demand was made philip was urged to declare himself king of france. he was assured that the measure could be accomplished "by freely bestowing marquisates, baronies, and peerages, in order to content the avarice and ambition of many persons, without at the same time dissipating the greatness from which all these members depended. pepin and charlemagne," said the memorialists, "who were foreigners and saxons by nation, did as much in order to get possession of a kingdom to which they had no other right except that which they acquired there by their prudence and force, and after them hugh capet, much inferior to them in force and authority, following their example, had the same good fortune for himself and his posterity, and one which still endures. "if the authority of the holy see could support the scheme at the same time," continued mayenne and friends, "it would be a great help. but it being perilous to ask for that assistance before striking the blow, it would be better to obtain it after the execution." that these wholesome opinions were not entirely original on the part of mayenne, nor produced spontaneously, was plain from the secret instructions given by philip to his envoys, don bernardino de mendoza, john baptist de tassis, and the commander moreo, whom he had sent soon after the death of henry iii. to confer with cardinal gaetano in paris. they were told, of course, to do everything in their power to prevent the election of the prince of bearne, "being as he was a heretic, obstinate and confirmed, who had sucked heresy with his mother's milk." the legate was warned that "if the bearnese should make a show of converting himself, it would be frigid and fabricated." if they were asked whom philip desired for king--a question which certainly seemed probable under the circumstances--they were to reply that his foremost wish was to establish the catholic religion in the kingdom, and that whatever was most conducive to that end would be most agreeable to him. "as it is however desirable, in order to arrange matters, that you should be informed of everything," said his majesty, "it is proper that you should know that i have two kinds of right to all that there is over there. firstly, because the crown of france has been usurped from me, my ancestors having been unjustly excluded by foreign occupation of it; and secondly, because i claim the same crown as first male of the house of valois." here certainly were comprehensive pretensions, and it was obvious that the king's desire for the establishment of the catholic religion must have been very lively to enable him to invent or accept such astonishing fictions. but his own claims were but a portion of the case. his daughter and possible spouse had rights of her own, hard, in his opinion, to be gainsaid. "over and above all this," said philip, "my eldest daughter, the infanta, has two other rights; one to all the states which as dower-property are joined by matrimony and through females to this crown, which now come to her in direct line, and the other to the crown itself, which belongs directly to the said infanta, the matter of the salic law being a mere invention." thus it would appear that philip was the legitimate representative, not only of the ancient races of french monarchs--whether merovingians, carlovingians, or otherwise was not stated but also of the usurping houses themselves, by whose intrusion those earlier dynasties had been ejected, being the eldest male heir of the extinct line of valois, while his daughter was, if possible, even more legitimately the sovereign and proprietor of france than he was himself. nevertheless in his magnanimous desire for the peace of the world and the advancement of the interests of the church, he was, if reduced to extremities, willing to forego his own individual rights--when it should appear that they could by no possibility be enforced--in favour of his daughter and of the husband whom he should select for her. "thus it may be seen," said the self-denying man, "that i know how, for the sake of the public repose, to strip myself of my private property." afterwards, when secretly instructing the duke of feria, about to proceed to paris for the sake of settling the sovereignty of the kingdom, he reviewed the whole subject, setting forth substantially the same intentions. that the prince of bearne could ever possibly succeed to the throne of his ancestors was an idea to be treated only with sublime scorn by all right-minded and sensible men. "the members of the house of bourbon," said he, "pretend that by right of blood the crown belongs to them, and hence is derived the pretension made by the prince of bearne; but if there were wanting other very sufficient causes to prevent this claim--which however are not wanting--it is quite enough that he is a relapsed heretic, declared to be such by the apostolic see, and pronounced incompetent, as well as the other members of his house, all of them, to say the least, encouragers of heresy; so that not one of them can ever be king of france, where there have been such religious princes in time past, who have justly merited the name of most christian; and so there is no possibility of permitting him or any of his house to aspire to the throne, or to have the subject even treated of in the estates. it should on the contrary be entirely excluded as prejudicial to the realm and unworthy to be even mentioned among persons so catholic as those about to meet in that assembly." the claims of the man whom his supporters already called henry the fourth of france being thus disposed of, philip then again alluded with his usual minuteness to the various combinations which he had formed for the tranquillity and good government of that kingdom and of the other provinces of his world-empire. it must moreover be never forgotten that what he said passed with his contemporaries almost for oracular dispensations. what he did or ordered to be done was like the achievements or behests of a superhuman being. time, as it rolls by, leaves the wrecks of many a stranded reputation to bleach in the sunshine of after-ages. it is sometimes as profitable to learn what was not done by the great ones of the earth, in spite of all their efforts, as to ponder those actual deeds which are patent to mankind. the past was once the present, and once the future, bright with rainbows or black with impending storm; for history is a continuous whole of which we see only fragments. he who at the epoch with which we are now occupied was deemed greatest and wisest among the sons of earth, at whose threats men quailed, at whose vast and intricate schemes men gasped in palefaced awe, has left behind him the record of his interior being. let us consider whether he was so potent as his fellow mortals believed, or whether his greatness was merely their littleness; whether it was carved out, of the inexhaustible but artificial quarry of human degradation. let us see whether the execution was consonant with the inordinate plotting; whether the price in money and blood--and certainly few human beings have squandered so much of either as did philip the prudent in his long career--was high or low for the work achieved. were after generations to learn, only after curious research, of a pretender who once called himself, to the amusement of his contemporaries, henry the fourth of france; or was the world-empire for which so many armies were marshalled, so many ducats expended, so many falsehoods told, to prove a bubble after all? time was to show. meantime wise men of the day who, like the sages of every generation, read the future like a printed scroll, were pitying the delusion and rebuking the wickedness of henry the bearnese; persisting as he did in his cruel, sanguinary, hopeless attempt to establish a vanished and impossible authority over a land distracted by civil war. nothing could be calmer or more reasonable than the language of the great champion of the inquisition. "and as president jeannin informs me," he said, "that the catholics have the intention of electing me king, that appearing to them the gentlest and safest method to smooth all rivalries likely to arise among the princes aspiring to the crown, i reply, as you will see by the copy herewith sent. you will observe that after not refusing myself to that which may be the will of our lord, should there be no other mode of serving him, above all i desire that which concerns my daughter, since to her belongs the kingdom. i desire nothing else nor anything for myself, nor for anybody else, except as a means for her to arrive at her right." he had taken particular pains to secure his daughter's right in brittany, while the duchess of mercoeur, by the secret orders of her husband, had sent a certain ecclesiastic to spain to make over the sovereignty of this province to the infanta. philip directed that the utmost secrecy should be observed in regard to this transaction with the duke and duchess, and promised the duke, as his reward for these proposed services in dismembering his country, the government of the province for himself and his heirs. for the king was quite determined--in case his efforts to obtain the crown for himself or for his daughter were unsuccessful--to dismember france, with the assistance of those eminent frenchmen who were now so industriously aiding him in his projects. "and in the third place," said he, in his secret instructions to feria, "if for the sins of all, we don't manage to make any election, and if therefore the kingdom (of france) has to come to separation and to be divided into many hands; in this case we must propose to the duke of mayenne to assist him in getting possession of normandy for himself, and as to the rest of the kingdom, i shall take for myself that which seems good to me--all of us assisting each other." but unfortunately it was difficult for any of these fellow-labourers to assist each other very thoroughly, while they detested each other so cordially and suspected each other with such good reason. moreo, ybarra, feria, parma, all assured their master that mayenne was taking spanish money as fast as he could get it, but with the sole purpose of making himself king. as to any of the house of lorraine obtaining the hand of the infanta and the throne with it, feria assured philip that mayenne "would sooner give the crown to the grand turk." nevertheless philip thought it necessary to continue making use of the duke. both were indefatigable therefore in expressing feelings of boundless confidence each in the other. it has been seen too how entirely the king relied on the genius and devotion of alexander farnese to carry out his great schemes; and certainly never had monarch a more faithful, unscrupulous, and dexterous servant. remonstrating, advising, but still obeying--entirely without conscience, unless it were conscience to carry out his master's commands, even when most puerile or most diabolical--he was nevertheless the object of philip's constant suspicion, and felt himself placed under perpetual though secret supervision. commander moreo was unwearied in blackening the duke's character, and in maligning his every motive and action, and greedily did the king incline his ear to the calumnies steadily instilled by the chivalrous spy. "he has caused all the evil we are suffering," said moreo. "when he sent egmont to france 'twas without infantry, although egmont begged hard for it, as did likewise the legate, don bernardino, and tassis. had he done this there is no doubt at all that the catholic cause in france would have been safe, and your majesty would now have the control over that kingdom which you desire. this is the opinion of friends and foes. i went to the duke of parma and made free to tell him that the whole world would blame him for the damage done to christianity, since your majesty had exonerated yourself by ordering him to go to the assistance of the french catholics with all the zeal possible. upon this he was so disgusted that he has never shown me a civil face since. i doubt whether he will send or go to france at all, and although the duke of mayenne despatches couriers every day with protestations and words that would soften rocks, i see no indications of a movement." thus, while the duke was making great military preparations far invading france without means; pawning his own property to get bread for his starving veterans, and hanging those veterans whom starving had made. mutinous, he was depicted, to the most suspicious and unforgiving mortal that ever wore a crown, as a traitor and a rebel, and this while he was renouncing his own judicious and well-considered policy in obedience to the wild schemes of his master. "i must make bold to remind your majesty," again whispered the spy, "that there never was an italian prince who failed to pursue his own ends, and that there are few in the world that are not wishing to become greater than they are. this man here could strike a greater blow than all the rest of them put together. remember that there is not a villain anywhere that does not desire the death of your majesty. believe me, and send to cut off my head if it shall be found that i am speaking from passion, or from other motive than pure zeal for your royal service." the reader will remember into what a paroxysm of rage alexander was thrown on, a former occasion, when secretly invited to listen to propositions by which the sovereignty over the netherlands was to be secured to himself, and how near he was to inflicting mortal punishment with his own hand on the man who had ventured to broach that treasonable matter. such projects and propositions were ever floating, as it were, in the atmosphere, and it was impossible for the most just men to escape suspicion in the mind of a king who fed upon suspicion as his daily bread. yet nothing could be fouler or falser than the calumny which described alexander as unfaithful to philip. had he served his god as he served his master perhaps his record before the highest tribunal would have been a clearer one. and in the same vein in which he wrote to the monarch in person did the crafty moreo write to the principal secretary of state, idiaquez, whose mind, as well as his master's, it was useful to poison, and who was in daily communication with philip. "let us make sure of flanders," said he, "otherwise we shall all of us be well cheated. i will tell you something of that which i have already told his majesty, only not all, referring you to tassis, who, as a personal witness to many things, will have it in his power to undeceive his majesty, i have seen very clearly that the duke is disgusted with his majesty, and one day he told me that he cared not if the whole world went to destruction, only not flanders." "another day he told me that there was a report abroad that his majesty was sending to arrest him, by means of the duke of pastrana, and looking at me he said: 'see here, seignior commander, no threats, as if it were in the power of mortal man to arrest me, much less of such fellows as these.'" "but this is but a small part of what i could say," continued the detective knight-commander, "for i don't like to trust these ciphers. but be certain that nobody in flanders wishes well to these estates or to the catholic cause, and the associates of the duke of parma go about saying that it does not suit the italian potentates to have his majesty as great a monarch as he is trying to be." this is but a sample of the dangerous stuff with which the royal mind was steadily drugged, day after day, by those to whom farnese was especially enjoined to give his confidence. later on it will be seen how-much effect was thus produced both upon the king and upon the duke. moreo, mendoza, and tasais were placed about the governor-general, nominally as his counsellors, in reality as police-officers. "you are to confer regularly with mendoza, tassis, and moreo," said philip to farnese. "you are to assist, correspond, and harmonize in every way with the duke of parma," wrote philip to mendoza, tassis, and moreo. and thus cordially and harmoniously were the trio assisting and corresponding with the duke. but moreo was right in not wishing to trust the ciphers, and indeed he had trusted them too much, for farnese was very well aware of his intrigues, and complained bitterly of them to the king and to idiaquez. most eloquently and indignantly did he complain of the calumnies, ever renewing themselves, of which he was the subject. "'tis this good moreo who is the author of the last falsehoods," said he to the secretary; "and this is but poor payment for my having neglected my family, my parents and children for so many years in the king's service, and put my life ever on the hazard, that these fellows should be allowed to revile me and make game of me now, instead of assisting me." he was at that time, after almost superhuman exertions, engaged in the famous relief of paris. he had gone there, he said, against his judgment and remonstrating with his majesty on the insufficiency of men and money for such an enterprise. his army was half-mutinous and unprovided with food, artillery, or munitions; and then he found himself slandered, ridiculed, his life's life lied away. 'twas poor payment for his services, he exclaimed, if his majesty should give ear to these calumniators, and should give him no chance of confronting his accusers and clearing his reputation. moreo detested him, as he knew, and prince doria said that the commander once spoke so ill of farnese in genoa that he was on the point of beating him; while moreo afterwards told the story as if he had been maltreated because of defending farnese against doria's slanders. and still more vehemently did he inveigh against moreo in his direct appeals to philip. he had intended to pass over his calumnies, of which he was well aware, because he did not care to trouble the dead--for moreo meantime had suddenly died, and the gossips, of course, said it was of farnese poison--but he had just discovered by documents that the commander had been steadily and constantly pouring these his calumnies into the monarch's ears. he denounced every charge as lies, and demanded proof. moreo had further been endeavouring to prejudice the duke of mayenne against the king of spain and himself, saying that he, farnese, had been commissioned to take mayenne into custody, with plenty of similar lies. "but what i most feel," said alexander, with honest wrath, "is to see that your majesty gives ear to them without making the demonstration which my services merit, and has not sent to inform me of them, seeing that they may involve my reputation and honour. people have made more account of these calumnies than of my actions performed upon the theatre of the world. i complain, after all my toils and dangers in your majesty's service, just when i stood with my soul in my mouth and death in my teeth, forgetting children, house, and friends, to be treated thus, instead of receiving rewards and honour, and being enabled to leave to my children, what was better than all the riches the royal hand could bestow, an unsullied and honourable name." he protested that his reputation had so much suffered that he would prefer to retire to some remote corner as a humble servant of the king, and leave a post which had made him so odious to all. above all, he entreated his majesty to look upon this whole affair "not only like a king but like a gentleman." philip answered these complaints and reproaches benignantly, expressed unbounded confidence in the duke, assured him that the calumnies of his supposed enemies could produce no effect upon the royal mind, and coolly professed to have entirely forgotten having received any such letter as that of which his nephew complained. "at any rate i have mislaid it," he said, "so that you see how much account it was with me." as the king was in the habit of receiving such letters every week, not only from the commander, since deceased, but from ybarra and others, his memory, to say the least, seemed to have grown remarkably feeble. but the sequel will very soon show that he had kept the letters by him and pondered them to much purpose. to expect frankness and sincerity from him, however, even in his most intimate communications to his most trusted servants, would have been to "swim with fins of lead." such being the private relations between the conspirators, it is instructive to observe how they dealt with each other in the great game they were playing for the first throne in christendom. the military events have been sufficiently sketched in the preceding pages, but the meaning and motives of public affairs can be best understood by occasional glances behind the scenes. it is well for those who would maintain their faith in popular governments to study the workings of the secret, irresponsible, arbitrary system; for every government, as every individual, must be judged at last by those moral laws which no man born of woman can evade. during the first french expedition-in the course of which farnese had saved paris from falling into, the hands of henry, and had been doing his best to convert it prospectively into the capital of his master's empire--it was his duty, of course, to represent as accurately as possible the true state of france. he submitted his actions to his master's will, but he never withheld from him the advantage that he might have derived, had he so chosen, from his nephew's luminous intelligence and patient observation. with the chief personage he had to deal with he professed himself, at first, well satisfied. "the duke of mayenne," said he to philip, "persists in desiring your majesty only as king of france, and will hear of no other candidate, which gives me satisfaction such as can't be exaggerated." although there were difficulties in the way, farnese thought that the two together with god's help might conquer them. "certainly it is not impossible that your majesty may succeed," he said, "although very problematical; and in case your majesty does succeed in that which we all desire and are struggling for, mayenne not only demands the second place in the kingdom for himself, but the fief of some great province for his family." should it not be possible for philip to obtain the crown, farnese was, on the whole, of opinion that mayenne had better be elected. in that event he would make over brittany and burgundy to philip, together with the cities opposite the english coast. if they were obliged to make the duke king, as was to be feared, they should at any rate exclude the prince of bearne, and secure, what was the chief point, the catholic religion. "this," said alexander, "is about what i can gather of mayenne's views, and perhaps he will put them down in a despatch to your majesty." after all, the duke was explicit enough. he was for taking all he could get--the whole kingdom if possible--but if foiled, then as large a slice of it as philip would give him as the price of his services. and philip's ideas were not materially different from those of the other conspirator. both were agreed on one thing. the true heir must be kept out of his rights, and the catholic religion be maintained in its purity. as to the inclination of the majority of the inhabitants, they could hardly be in the dark. they knew that the bearnese was instinctively demanded by the nation; for his accession to the throne would furnish the only possible solution to the entanglements which had so long existed. as to the true sentiments of the other politicians and soldiers of the league with whom bearnese came in contact in france, he did not disguise from his master that they were anything but favourable. "that you may know, the humour of this kingdom," said he, "and the difficulties in which i am placed, i must tell you that i am by large experience much confirmed in that which i have always suspected. men don't love nor esteem the royal name of your majesty, and whatever the benefits and assistance they get from you they have no idea of anything redounding to your benefit and royal service, except so far as implied in maintaining the catholic religion and keeping out the bearne. these two things, however, they hold to be so entirely to your majesty's profit, that all you are doing appears the fulfilment of a simple obligation. they are filled with fear, jealousy, and suspicion of your majesty. they dread your acquiring power here. whatever negotiations they pretend in regard to putting the kingdom or any of their cities under your protection, they have never had any real intention of doing it, but their only object is to keep up our vain hopes while they are carrying out their own ends. if to-day they seem to have agreed upon any measure, tomorrow they are sure to get out of it again. this has always been the case, and all your majesty's ministers that have had dealings here would say so, if they chose to tell the truth. men are disgusted with the entrance of the army, and if they were not expecting a more advantageous peace in the kingdom with my assistance than without it, i don't know what they would do; for i have heard what i have heard and seen what i have seen. they are afraid of our army, but they want its assistance and our money." certainly if philip desired enlightenment as to the real condition of the country he had determined to, appropriate; and the true sentiments of its most influential inhabitants, here, was the man most competent of all the world to advise him; describing the situation for him, day by day, in the most faithful manner. and at every step the absolutely puerile inadequacy of the means, employed by the king to accomplish his gigantic purposes became apparent. if the crime of subjugating or at least dismembering the great kingdom of france were to be attempted with any hope of success, at least it might have been expected that the man employed to consummate the deed would be furnished with more troops and money than would be required to appropriate a savage island off the caribbean, or a german principality. but philip expected miracles to be accomplished by the mere private assertion of his will. it was so easy to conquer realms the writing table. "i don't say," continued farnese, "if i could have entered france with a competent army, well paid and disciplined, with plenty of artillery, and munitions, and with funds enough to enable mayenne to buy up the nobles of his party, and to conciliate the leaders generally with presents and promises, that perhaps they might not have softened. perhaps interest and fear would have made that name agreeable which pleases them so little, now that the very reverse of all this has occurred. my want of means is causing a thousand disgusts among the natives of the country, and it is this penury that will be the chief cause of the disasters which may occur." here was sufficiently plain speaking. to conquer a war-like nation without an army; to purchase a rapacious nobility with an empty purse, were tasks which might break the stoutest heart. they were breaking alexander's. yet philip had funds enough, if he had possessed financial ability himself, or any talent for selecting good financiers. the richest countries of the old world and the new were under his sceptre; the mines of peru and mexico; the wealth of farthest ind, were at his disposition; and moreover he drove a lucrative traffic in the sale of papal bulls and massbooks, which were furnished to him at a very low figure, and which he compelled the wild indians of america and the savages of the pacific to purchase of him at an enormous advance. that very year, a spanish carrack had been captured by the english off the barbary coast, with an assorted cargo, the miscellaneous nature of which gives an idea of royal commercial pursuits at that period. besides wine in large quantities there were fourteen hundred chests of quicksilver, an article indispensable to the working of the silver mines, and which no one but the king could, upon pain of death, send to america. he received, according to contract; for every pound of quicksilver thus delivered a pound of pure silver, weight for weight. the ship likewise contained ten cases of gilded mass-books and papal bulls. the bulls, two million and seventy thousand in number, for the dead and the living, were intended for the provinces of new spain, yucatan, guatemala, honduras, and the philippines. the quicksilver and the bulls cost the king three hundred thousand florins, but he sold them for five million. the price at, which the bulls were to be sold varied-according to the letters of advice found in the ships--from two to four reals a piece, and the inhabitants of those conquered regions were obliged to buy them. "from all this," says a contemporary chronicler; "is to be seen what a thrifty trader was the king." the affairs of france were in such confusion that it was impossible for them, according to farnese, to remain in such condition much longer without bringing about entire decomposition. every man was doing as he chose--whether governor of a city, commander of a district, or gentleman in his castle. many important nobles and prelates followed the bearnese party, and mayenne was entitled to credit for doing as well as he did. there was no pretence, however, that his creditable conduct was due to anything but the hope of being well paid. "if your majesty should decide to keep mayenne," said alexander, "you can only do it with large: sums of money. he is a good catholic and very firm in his purpose, but is so much opposed by his own party, that if i had not so stimulated him by hopes of his own grandeur, he would have grown desperate--such small means has he of maintaining his party--and, it is to be feared, he would have made arrangements with bearne, who offers him carte-blanche." the disinterested man had expressed his assent to the views of philip in regard to the assembly of the estates and the election of king, but had claimed the sum of six hundred thousand dollars as absolutely necessary to the support of himself and followers until those events should occur. alexander not having that sum at his disposal was inclined to defer matters, but was more and more confirmed in his opinion that the duke was a "man of truth, faith, and his word." he had distinctly agreed that no king should be elected, not satisfactory to philip, and had "stipulated in return that he should have in this case, not only the second place in the kingdom, but some very great and special reward in full property." thus the man of truth, faith, and his word had no idea of selling himself cheap, but manifested as much commercial genius as the fuggers themselves could have displayed, had they been employed as brokers in these mercantile transactions. above all things, alexander implored the king to be expeditious, resolute, and liberal; for, after all, the bearnese might prove a more formidable competitor than he was deemed. "these matters must be arranged while the iron is hot," he said, "in order that the name and memory of the bearne and of all his family may be excluded at once and forever; for your majesty must not doubt that the whole kingdom inclines to him, both because he is natural successor, to the crowns and because in this way the civil war would cease. the only thing that gives trouble is the religions defect, so that if this should be remedied in appearance, even if falsely, men would spare no pains nor expense in his cause." no human being at that moment, assuredly, could look into the immediate future accurately enough to see whether the name and memory of the man, whom his adherents called henry the fourth of france, and whom spaniards, legitimists and enthusiastic papists, called the prince of bearne, were to be for ever excluded from the archives of france; whether henry, after spending the whole of his life as a pretender, was destined to bequeath the same empty part to his descendants, should they think it worth their while to play it. meantime the sages smiled superior at his delusion; while alexander farnese, on the contrary, better understanding the chances of the great game which they were all playing, made bold to tell his master that all hearts in france were inclining to their natural lord. "differing from your majesty," said he, "i am of opinion that there is no better means of excluding him than to make choice of the duke of mayenne, as a person agreeable to the people, and who could only reign by your permission and support." thus, after much hesitation and circumlocution, the nephew made up his mind to chill his uncle's hopes of the crown, and to speak a decided opinion in behalf of the man of his word, faith and truth. and thus through the whole of the two memorable campaigns made by alexander in france, he never failed to give his master the most accurate pictures of the country, and an interior view of its politics; urging above all the absolute necessity of providing much more liberal supplies for the colossal adventure in which he was engaged. "money and again money is what is required," he said. "the principal matter is to be accomplished with money, and the particular individuals must be bought with money. the good will of every french city must be bought with money. mayenne must be humoured. he is getting dissatisfied. very probably he is intriguing with bearne. everybody is pursuing his private ends. mayenne has never abandoned his own wish to be king, although he sees the difficulties in the way; and while he has not the power to do us as much good as is thought, it is certainly in his hands to do us a great deal of injury." when his army was rapidly diminishing by disease, desertion, mutiny, and death, he vehemently and perpetually denounced the utter inadequacy of the king's means to his vast projects. he protested that he was not to blame for the ruin likely to come upon the whole enterprise. he had besought, remonstrated, reasoned with philip--in vain. he assured his master that in the condition of weakness in which they found themselves, not very triumphant negotiations could be expected, but that he would do his best. "the frenchmen," he said, "are getting tired of our disorders, and scandalized by our weakness, misery, and poverty. they disbelieve the possibility of being liberated through us." he was also most diligent in setting before the king's eyes the dangerous condition of the obedient netherlands, the poverty of the finances, the mutinous degeneration of the once magnificent spanish army, the misery of the country, the ruin of the people, the discontent of the nobles, the rapid strides made by the republic, the vast improvement in its military organization, the rising fame of its young stadholder, the thrift of its exchequer, the rapid development of its commerce, the menacing aspect which it assumed towards all that was left of spanish power in those regions. moreover, in the midst of the toils and anxieties of war-making and negotiation, he had found time to discover and to send to his master the left leg of the glorious apostle st. philip, and the head of the glorious martyr st. lawrence, to enrich his collection of relics; and it may be doubted whether these treasures were not as welcome to the king as would have been the news of a decisive victory. during the absence of farnese in his expeditions against the bearnese, the government of his provinces was temporarily in the hands of peter ernest mansfeld. this grizzled old fighter--testy, choleric, superannuated--was utterly incompetent for his post. he was a mere tool in the hands of his son. count charles hated parma very cordially, and old count peter was made to believe himself in danger of being poisoned or poniarded by the duke. he was perpetually wrangling with, importuning and insulting him in consequence, and writing malicious letters to the king in regard to him. the great nobles, arschot, chimay, berlaymont, champagny, arenberg, and the rest, were all bickering among themselves, and agreeing in nothing save in hatred to farnese. a tight rein, a full exchequer, a well-ordered and well-paid army, and his own constant patience, were necessary, as alexander too well knew, to make head against the republic, and to hold what was left of the netherlands. but with a monthly allowance, and a military force not equal to his own estimates for the netherland work, he was ordered to go forth from the netherlands to conquer france--and with it the dominion of the world--for the recluse of the escorial. very soon it was his duty to lay bare to his master, still more unequivocally than ever, the real heart of mayenne. no one could surpass alexander in this skilful vivisection of political characters; and he soon sent the information that the duke was in reality very near closing his bargain with the bearnese, while amusing philip and drawing largely from his funds. thus, while faithfully doing his master's work with sword and pen, with an adroitness such as no other man could have matched, it was a necessary consequence that philip should suspect, should detest, should resolve to sacrifice him. while assuring his nephew, as we have seen, that elaborate, slanderous reports and protocols concerning him, sent with such regularity by the chivalrous moreo and the other spies, had been totally disregarded, even if they had ever met his eye, he was quietly preparing--in the midst of all these most strenuous efforts of alexander, in the field at peril of his life, in the cabinet at the risk of his soul--to deprive him of his office, and to bring him, by stratagem if possible, but otherwise by main force, from the netherlands to spain. this project, once-resolved upon, the king proceeded to execute with that elaborate attention to detail, with that feline stealth which distinguished him above all kings or chiefs of police that have ever existed. had there been a murder at the end of the plot, as perhaps there was to be--philip could not have enjoyed himself more. nothing surpassed the industry for mischief of this royal invalid. the first thing to be done was of course the inditing of a most affectionate epistle to his nephew. "nephew," said he, "you know the confidence which i have always placed in you and all that i have put in your hands, and i know how much you are to me, and how earnestly you work in my service, and so, if i could have you at the same time in several places, it would be a great relief to me. since this cannot be however, i wish to make use of your assistance, according to the times and occasions, in order that i may have some certainty as to the manner in which all this business is to be managed, may see why the settlement of affairs in france is thus delayed, and what the state of things in christendom generally is, and may consult with, you about an army which i am getting levied here, and about certain schemes now on foot in regard to the remedy for all this; all which makes me desire your presence here for some time, even if a short time, in order to resolve upon and arrange with the aid of your advice and opinion, many affairs concerning the public good and facilitate their execution by means of your encouragement and presence, and to obtain the repose which i hope for in putting them into your hands. and so i charge and command you that, if you desire to content me, you use all possible diligence to let me see you here as soon as possible, and that you start at once for genoa." he was further directed to leave count mansfeld at the head of affairs during this temporary absence, as had been the case so often before, instructing him to make use of the marquis of cerralbo, who was already there, to lighten labours that might prove too much for a man of mansfeld's advanced age. "i am writing to the marquis," continued the king, "telling him that he is to obey all your orders. as to the reasons of your going away, you will give out that it is a decision of your own, founded on good cause, or that it is a summons of mine, but full of confidence and good will towards you, as you see that it is." the date of this letter was th february, . the secret instructions to the man who was thus to obey all the duke's orders were explicit enough upon that point, although they were wrapped in the usual closely-twisted phraseology which distinguished philip's style when his purpose was most direct. cerralbo was entrusted with general directions as to the french matter, and as to peace negotiations with "the islands;" but the main purport of his mission was to remove alexander farnese. this was to be done by fair means, if possible; if not, he was to be deposed and sent home by force. this was to be the reward of all the toil and danger through which he had grown grey and broken in the king's service. "when you get to the netherlands" (for the instructions were older than the letter to alexander just cited), "you are," said the king, "to treat of the other two matters until the exact time arrives for the third, taking good care not to, cut the thread of good progress in the affairs of france if by chance they are going on well there. "when the time arrives to treat of commission number three," continued his majesty, "you will take occasion of the arrival of the courier of th february, and will give with much secrecy the letter of that date to the duke; showing him at the same time the first of the two which you will have received." if the duke showed the letter addressed to him by his uncle--which the reader has already seen--then the marquis was to discuss with him the details of the journey, and comment upon the benefits and increased reputation which would be the result of his return to spain. "but if the duke should not show you the letter," proceeded philip, "and you suspect that he means to conceal and equivocate about the particulars of it, you can show him your letter number two, in which it is stated that you have received a copy of the letter to the duke. this will make the step easier." should the duke declare himself ready to proceed to spain on the ground indicated--that the king had need of his services--the marquis was then to hasten his departure as earnestly as possible. every pains were to be taken to overcome any objections that might be made by the duke on the score of ill health, while the great credit which attached to this summons to consult with the king in such arduous affairs was to be duly enlarged upon. should count mansfeld meantime die of old age, and should farnese insist the more vehemently, on that account, upon leaving his son the prince ranuccio in his post as governor, the marquis was authorised to accept the proposition for the moment--although secretly instructed that such an appointment was really quite out of the question--if by so doing the father could be torn from the place immediately. but if all would not do, and if it should become certain that the duke would definitively refuse to take his departure, it would then become necessary to tell him clearly, but secretly, that no excuse would be accepted, but that go he must; and that if he did not depart voluntarily within a fixed time, he would be publicly deprived of office and conducted to spain by force. but all these things were to be managed with the secrecy and mystery so dear to the heart of philip. the marquis was instructed to go first to the castle of antwerp, as if upon financial business, and there begin his operations. should he find at last all his private negotiations and coaxings of no avail, he was then to make use of his secret letters from the king to the army commanders, the leading nobles of the country, and of the neighbouring princes, all of whom were to be undeceived in regard to the duke, and to be informed of the will of his majesty. the real successor of farnese was to be the archduke albert, cardinal of austria, son of archduke ferdinand, and the letters on this subject were to be sent by a "decent and confidential person" so soon as it should become obvious that force would be necessary in order to compel the departure of alexander. for if it came to open rupture, it would be necessary to have the cardinal ready to take the place. if the affair were arranged amicably, then the new governor might proceed more at leisure. the marquis was especially enjoined, in case the duke should be in france, and even if it should be necessary for him to follow him there on account of commissions number one and two, not to say a word to him then of his recall, for fear of damaging matters in that kingdom. he was to do his best to induce him to return to flanders, and when they were both there, he was to begin his operations. thus, with minute and artistic treachery, did philip provide for the disgrace and ruin of the man who was his near blood relation, and who had served him most faithfully from earliest youth. it was not possible to carry out the project immediately, for, as it has already been narrated, farnese, after achieving, in spite of great obstacles due to the dulness of the king alone, an extraordinary triumph, had been dangerously wounded, and was unable for a brief interval to attend to public affairs. on the conclusion of his rouen campaign he had returned to the netherlands, almost immediately betaking himself to the waters of spa. the marquis de cerralbo meanwhile had been superseded in his important secret mission by the count of fuentes, who received the same instructions as had been provided for the marquis. but ere long it seemed to become unnecessary to push matters to extremities. farnese, although nominally the governor, felt himself unequal to take the field against the vigorous young commander who was carrying everything before him in the north and east. upon the mansfelds was the responsibility for saving steenwyk and coeworden, and to the mansfelds did verdugo send piteously, but in vain, for efficient help. for the mansfelds and other leading personages in the obedient netherlands were mainly occupied at that time in annoying farnese, calumniating his actions, laying obstacles in the way of his administration, military and civil, and bringing him into contempt with the populace. when the weary soldier--broken in health, wounded and harassed with obtaining triumphs for his master such as no other living man could have gained with the means placed at his disposal--returned to drink the waters, previously to setting forth anew upon the task of achieving the impossible, he was made the mark of petty insults on the part of both the mansfelds. neither of them paid their respects to him; ill as he was, until four days after his arrival. when the duke subsequently called a council; count peter refused to attend it on account of having slept ill the night before. champagny; who was one of, the chief mischief-makers, had been banished by parma to his house in burgundy. he became very much alarmed, and was afraid of losing his head. he tried to conciliate the duke, but finding it difficult he resolved to turn monk, and so went to the convent of capuchins, and begged hard to be admitted a member. they refused him on account of his age and infirmities. he tried a franciscan monastery with not much better success, and then obeyed orders and went to his burgundy mansion; having been assured by farnese that he was not to lose his head. alexander was satisfied with that arrangement, feeling sure, he said, that so soon as his back was turned champagny would come out of his convent before the term of probation had expired, and begin to make mischief again. a once valiant soldier, like champagny, whose conduct in the famous "fury of antwerp" was so memorable; and whose services both in field and-cabinet had, been so distinguished, fallen so low as to, be used as a tool by the mansfelds against a man like farnese; and to be rejected as unfit company by flemish friars, is not a cheerful spectacle to contemplate. the walls of the mansfeld house and gardens, too, were decorated by count charles with caricatures, intending to illustrate the indignities put upon his father: and himself. among others, one picture represented count peter lying tied hand and foot, while people were throwing filth upon him; count charles being pourtrayed as meantime being kicked away from the command of a battery of cannon by, de la motte. it seemed strange that the mansfelds should, make themselves thus elaborately ridiculous, in order to irritate farnese; but thus it was. there was so much stir, about these works of art that alexander transmitted copies of them to the king, whereupon charles mansfeld, being somewhat alarmed, endeavoured to prove that they had been entirely misunderstood. the venerable personage lying on the ground, he explained, was not his father, but socrates. he found it difficult however to account for the appearance of la motte, with his one arm wanting and with artillery by his side, because, as farnese justly remarked, artillery had not been invented in the time of socrates, nor was it recorded that the sage had lost an arm. thus passed the autumn of , and alexander, having as he supposed somewhat recruited his failing strength, prepared, according to his master's orders for a new campaign in france. for with almost preterhuman malice philip was employing the man whom he had doomed to disgrace, perhaps to death, and whom he kept under constant secret supervision, in those laborious efforts to conquer without an army and to purchase a kingdom with an empty purse, in which, as it was destined, the very last sands of parma's life were to run away. suffering from a badly healed wound, from water on the chest, degeneration of the heart, and gout in the limbs, dropsical, enfeebled, broken down into an old man before his time, alexander still confronted disease and death with as heroic a front as he had ever manifested in the field to embattled hollanders and englishmen, or to the still more formidable array of learned pedants and diplomatists in the hall of negotiation. this wreck of a man was still fitter to lead armies and guide councils than any soldier or statesman that philip could call into his service, yet the king's cruel hand was ready to stab the dying man in the dark. nothing could surpass the spirit with which the soldier was ready to do battle with his best friend, coming in the guise of an enemy. to the last moment, lifted into the saddle, he attended personally as usual to the details of his new campaign, and was dead before he would confess himself mortal. on the rd of december, , in the city of arran, he fainted after retiring at his usual hour to bed, and thus breathed his last. according to the instructions in his last will, he was laid out barefoot in the robe and cowl of a capuchin monk. subsequently his remains were taken to parma, and buried under the pavement of the little franciscan church. a pompous funeral, in which the italians and spaniards quarrelled and came to blows for precedence, was celebrated in brussels, and a statue of the hero was erected in the capitol at rome. the first soldier and most unscrupulous diplomatist of his age, he died when scarcely past his prime, a wearied; broken-hearted old man. his triumphs, military and civil, have been recorded in these pages, and his character has been elaborately pourtrayed. were it possible to conceive of an italian or spaniard of illustrious birth in the sixteenth century, educated in the school of machiavelli, at the feet of philip, as anything but the supple slave of a master and the blind instrument of a church, one might for a moment regret that so many gifts of genius and valour had been thrown away or at least lost to mankind. could the light of truth ever pierce the atmosphere in which such men have their being; could the sad music of humanity ever penetrate to their ears; could visions of a world--on this earth or beyond it--not exclusively the property of kings and high-priests be revealed to them, one might lament that one so eminent among the sons of women had not been a great man. but it is a weakness to hanker for any possible connection between truth and italian or spanish statecraft of that day. the truth was not in it nor in him, and high above his heroic achievements, his fortitude, his sagacity, his chivalrous self-sacrifice, shines forth the baleful light of his perpetual falsehood. [i pass over, as beneath the level of history, a great variety of censorious and probably calumnious reports as to the private character of farnese, with which the secret archives of the times are filled. especially champagny, the man by whom the duke was most hated and feared, made himself busy in compiling the slanderous chronicle in which the enemies of farnese, both in spain and the netherlands, took so much delight. according to the secret history thus prepared for the enlightenment of the king and his ministers, the whole administration of the netherlands--especially the financial department, with the distribution of offices--was in the hands of two favourites, a beardless secretary named cosmo e massi, and a lady of easy virtue called franceline, who seems to have had a numerous host of relatives and friends to provide for at the public expense. towards the latter end of the duke's life, it was even said that the seal of the finance department was in the hands of his valet-de-chambre, who, in his master's frequent absences, was in the habit of issuing drafts upon the receiver-general. as the valet- dechambre was described as an idiot who did not know how to read, it may be believed that the finances fell into confusion. certainly, if such statements were to be accepted, it would be natural enough that for every million dollars expended by the king in the provinces, not more than one hundred thousand were laid out for the public service; and this is the estimate made by champagny, who, as a distinguished financier and once chief of the treasury in the provinces, might certainly be thought to know something of the subject. but champagny was beside himself with rage, hatred.] chapter xxix. effect of the death of farnese upon philip's schemes--priestly flattery and counsel--assembly of the states-general of france-- meeting of the leaguers at the louvre--conference at surene between the chiefs of the league and the "political" leaders--henry convokes an assembly of bishops, theologians, and others--strong feeling on all sides on the subject of the succession--philip commands that the infanta and the duke of guise be elected king and queen of france-- manifesto of the duke of mayenne--formal re-admission of henry to the roman faith--the pope refuses to consent to his reconciliation with the church--his consecration with the sacred oil--entry of the king into paris--departure of the spanish garrison from the capital --dissimulation of the duke of mayenne--he makes terms with henry-- grief of queen elizabeth on receipt of the communications from france. during the past quarter of a century there had been tragic scenes enough in france, but now the only man who could have conducted philip's schemes to a tragic if not a successful issue was gone. friendly death had been swifter than philip, and had removed alexander from the scene before his master had found fitting opportunity to inflict the disgrace on which he was resolved. meantime, charles mansfeld made a feeble attempt to lead an army from the netherlands into france, to support the sinking fortunes of the league; but it was not for that general-of-artillery to attempt the well-graced part of the all-accomplished farnese with much hope of success. a considerable force of spanish infantry, too, had been sent to paris, where they had been received with much enthusiasm; a very violent and determined churchman, sega, archbishop of piacenza, and cardinal-legate, having arrived to check on the part of the holy father any attempt by the great wavering heretic to get himself readmitted into the fold of the faithful. the king of spain considered it his duty, as well as his unquestionable right, to interfere in the affairs of france, and to save the cause of religion, civilization and humanity, in the manner so dear to the civilization-savers, by reducing that distracted country--utterly unable to govern itself--under his sceptre. to achieve this noble end no bribery was too wholesale, no violence too brutal, no intrigue too paltry. it was his sacred and special mission to save france from herself. if he should fail, he could at least carve her in pieces, and distribute her among himself and friends. frenchmen might assist him in either of these arrangements, but it was absurd to doubt that on him devolved the work and the responsibility. yet among his advisers were some who doubted whether the purchase of the grandees of france was really the most judicious course to pursue. there was a general and uneasy feeling that the grandees were making sport of the spanish monarch, and that they would be inclined to remain his stipendiaries for an indefinite period, without doing their share of the work. a keen jesuit, who had been much in france, often whispered to philip that he was going astray. "those who best understand the fit remedy for this unfortunate kingdom, and know the tastes and temper of the nation," said he, "doubt giving these vast presents and rewards in order that the nobles of france may affect your cause and further your schemes. it is the greatest delusion, because they love nothing but their own interest, and for this reason wish for no king at all, but prefer that the kingdom should remain topsy-turvy in order that they may enjoy the spanish doubloons, as they say themselves almost publicly, dancing and feasting; that they may take a castle to-day, and to-morrow a city, and the day, after a province, and so on indefinitely. what matters it to them that blood flows, and that the miserable people are destroyed, who alone are good for anything?" "the immediate cause of the ruin of france," continued the jesuit, "comes from two roots which must be torn up; the one is the extreme ignorance and scandalous life of the ecclesiastics, the other is the tyranny and the abominable life of the nobility, who with sacrilege and insatiable avarice have entered upon the property of the church. this nobility is divided into three factions. the first, and not the least, is heretic; the second and the most pernicious is politic or atheist; the third and last is catholic. all these, although they differ in opinion, are the same thing in corruption of life and manners, so that there is no choice among them." he then proceeded to set forth how entirely, the salvation of france depended on the king of spain. "morally speaking," he said, "it is impossible for any frenchman to apply the remedy. for this two things are wanting; intense zeal for the honour of god, and power. i ask now what frenchman: has both these, or either of them. no one certainly that we know. it is the king of spain who alone in the world has the zeal and the power. no man who knows the insolence and arrogance of the french nature will believe that even if a king should be elected out of france he would be obeyed by the others. the first to oppose him would be mayenne; even if a king were chosen from his family, unless everything should be given him that he asked; which would be impossible." thus did the wily priest instil into the ready ears of philip additional reasons for believing himself the incarnate providence of god. when were priestly flatterers ever wanting to pour this poison into the souls of tyrants? it is in vain for us to ask why it is permitted that so much power for evil should be within the grasp of one wretched human creature, but it is at least always instructive to ponder the career of these crowned conspirators, and sometimes consoling to find its conclusion different from the goal intended. so the jesuit advised the king not to be throwing away his money upon particular individuals, but with the funds which they were so unprofitably consuming to form a jolly army ('gallardo egercito') of fifteen thousand foot, and five thousand-horse, all spaniards, under a spanish general--not a frenchman being admitted into it--and then to march forward, occupy all the chief towns, putting spanish garrisons into them, but sparing the people, who now considered the war eternal, and who were eaten up by both armies. in a short time the king might accomplish all he wished, for it was not in the power of the bearnese to make considerable resistance for any length of time. this was the plan of father odo for putting philip on the throne of france, and at the same time lifting up the downtrodden church, whose priests, according to his statement, were so profligate, and whose tenets were rejected by all but a small minority of the governing classes of the country. certainly it did not lack precision, but it remained to be seen whether the bearnese was to prove so very insignificant an antagonist as the sanguine priest supposed. for the third party--the moderate catholics--had been making immense progress in france, while the diplomacy of philip had thus far steadily counteracted their efforts at rome. in vain had the marquis pisani, envoy of the politicians' party, endeavoured to soften the heart of clement towards henry. the pope lived in mortal fear of spain, and the duke of sessa, philip's ambassador to the holy see, denouncing all these attempts on the part of the heretic, and his friends, and urging that it was much better for rome that the pernicious kingdom of france should be dismembered and subdivided, assured his holiness that rome should be starved, occupied, annihilated, if such abominable schemes should be for an instant favoured. clement took to his bed with sickness brought on by all this violence, but had nothing for it but to meet pisani and other agents of the same cause with a peremptory denial, and send most, stringent messages to his legate in paris, who needed no prompting. there had already been much issuing of bulls by the pope, and much burning of bulls by the hangman, according to decrees of the parliament of chalons and other friendly tribunals, and burning of chalons decrees by paris hangmen, and edicts in favour of protestants at nantz and other places--measures the enactment, repeal, and reenactment of which were to mark the ebb and flow of the great tide of human opinion on the most important of subjects, and the traces of which were to be for a long time visible on the shores of time. early in mayenne, yielding to the pressure of the spanish party, reluctantly consented to assemble the states-general of france, in order that a king might be chosen. the duke, who came to be thoroughly known to alexander farnese before the death of that subtle italian, relied on his capacity to outwit all the other champions of the league and agents of philip now that the master-spirit had been removed. as firmly opposed as ever to the election of any other candidate but himself, or possibly his son, according to a secret proposition which he had lately made to the pope, he felt himself obliged to confront the army of spanish diplomatists, roman prelates, and learned doctors, by whom it was proposed to exclude the prince of bearne from his pretended rights. but he did not, after all, deceive them as thoroughly as he imagined. the spaniards shrewdly suspected the french tactics, and the whole business was but a round game of deception, in which no one was much deceived, who ever might be destined ultimately, to pocket the stakes: "i know from a very good source," said fuentes, "that mayenne, guise, and the rest of them are struggling hard in order not to submit to bearne, and will suffer everything your majesty may do to them, even if you kick them in the mouth, but still there is no conclusion on the road we are travelling, at least not the one which your majesty desires. they will go on procrastinating and gaining time, making authority for themselves out of your majesty's grandeur, until the condition of things comes which they are desiring. feria tells me that they are still taking your majesty's money, but i warn your majesty that it is only to fight off bearne, and that they are only pursuing their own ends at your majesty's expense." perhaps mayenne had already a sufficiently clear insight into the not far-distant future, but he still presented himself in spanish cloak and most ultramontane physiognomy. his pockets were indeed full of spanish coin at that moment, for he had just claimed and received eighty-eight thousand-nine hundred dollars for back debts, together with one hundred and eighty, thousand dollars more to distribute among the deputies of the estates. "all i can say about france," said fuentes, "is that it is one great thirst for money. the duke of feria believes in a good result, but i think that mayenne is only trying to pocket as much money as he can." thus fortified, the duke of mayenne issued the address to the states-general of the kingdom, to meet at an early day in order to make arrangements to secure religion and peace, and to throw off the possible yoke of the heretic pretender. the great seal affixed to the document represented an empty throne, instead of the usual effigy of a king. the cardinal-legate issued a thundering manifesto at the same time sustaining mayenne and virulently denouncing the bearnese. the politicians' party now seized the opportunity to impress upon henry that the decisive moment was come. the spaniard, the priest; and the league, had heated the furnace. the iron was at a white heat. now was the time to strike. secretary of state revol gaspar de schomberg, jacques auguste de thou, the eminent historian, and other influential personages urged the king to give to the great question the only possible solution. said the king with much meekness, "if i am in error, let those who attack me with so much fury instruct me, and show me the way of salvation. i hate those who act against their conscience. i pardon all those who are inspired by truly religious motives, and i am ready to receive all into favour whom the love of peace, not the chagrin of ill-will, has disgusted with the war." there was a great meeting of leaguers at the louvre, to listen to mayenne, the cardinal-legate, cardinal pelleve, the duke of guise, and other chieftains. the duke of feria made a long speech in latin, setting forth the spanish policy, veiled as usual, but already sufficiently well known, and assuring the assembly that the king of spain desired nothing so much as the peace of france and of all the world, together with the supremacy of the roman church. whether these objects could best be attained by the election of philip or of his daughter, as sovereign, with the archduke ernest as king-consort, or with perhaps the duke of guise or some other eligible husband, were fair subjects for discussion. no selfish motive influenced the king, and he placed all his wealth and all his armies at the disposal of the league to carry out these great projects. then there was a conference at surene between the chiefs the league and the "political" leaders; the archbishop of lyons, the cardinal-legate, villars, admiral of france and defender of rouen, belin, governor of paris, president jeannin, and others upon one side; upon the other, the archbishop of bourges, bellievre, schomberg, revol, and de thou. the archbishop of lyons said that their party would do nothing either to frustrate or to support the mission of pisani, and that the pope would, as ever, do all that could be done to maintain the interests of the true religion. the archbishop of bourges, knowing well the meaning of such fine phrases, replied that he had much respect for the holy father, but that popes had now, become the slaves and tools of the king of spain, who, because he was powerful, held them subject to his caprice. at an adjourned meeting at the same place, the archbishop of lyons said that all questions had been asked and answered. all now depended on the pope, whom the league would always obey. if the pope would accept the reconciliation of the prince of bearne it was well. he, hoped that his conversion would be sincere. the political archbishop (of bourges) replied to the league's archbishop, that there was no time for delays, and for journeys by land and sea to rome. the least obstruction might prove fatal to both parties. let the leaguers now show that the serenity of their faces was but the mirror of their minds. but the leaguers' archbishop said that he could make no further advances. so ended the conference.' the chiefs of the politicians now went to the king and informed him that the decisive moment had arrived. henry had preserved: his coolness throughout. amid all the hubbub of learned doctors of law, archbishops-leaguer and political-sorbonne pedants, solemn grandees from spain with latin orations in their pockets, intriguing guises, huckstering mayennes, wrathful huguenots, sanguinary cardinal-legates, threatening world-monarchs--heralded by spanish musketeers, italian lancers, and german reiters--shrill screams of warning from the english queen, grim denunciations from dutch calvinists, scornful repulses from the holy father; he kept his temper and his eye-sight, as perfectly as he had ever done through the smoke and din of the wildest battle-field. none knew better than he how to detect the weakness of the adversary, and to sound the charge upon his wavering line. he blew the blast--sure that loyal catholics and protestants alike would now follow him pell-mell. on the th, may, , he gave notice that he consented to get himself instructed, and that he summoned an assembly at mantes on the th july, of bishops, theologians, princes, lords, and courts of parliament to hold council, and to advise him what was best to do for religion and the state. meantime he returned to the siege of dreux, made an assault on the place, was repulsed, and then hung nine prisoners of war in full sight of the garrison as a punishment for their temerity in resisting him. the place soon after capitulated ( th july, ). the interval between the summons and the assembling of the clerical and lay notables at mantes was employed by the leaguers in frantic and contradictory efforts to retrieve a game which the most sagacious knew to be lost. but the politicians were equal to the occasion, and baffled them at every point. the leaguers' archbishop inveighed bitterly against the abominable edicts recently issued in favour of the protestants. the political archbishop (of bourges) replied not by defending; but by warmly disapproving, those decrees of toleration, by excusing the king for having granted them for a temporary purpose, and by asserting positively that, so soon as the king should be converted, he would no longer countenance such measures. it is superfluous to observe that very different language was held on the part of henry to the english and dutch protestants, and to the huguenots of his own kingdom. and there were many meetings of the leaguers in paris, many belligerent speeches by the cardinal legate, proclaiming war to the knife rather than that the name of henry the heretic should ever be heard of again as candidate for the throne, various propositions spasmodically made in full assembly by feria, ybarra, tassis, the jurisconsult mendoza, and other spanish agents in favour of the infanta as queen of france, with archduke ernest or the duke of guise, or any other eligible prince, for her husband. the league issued a formal and furious invective in answer to henry's announcement; proving by copious citations from jeremiah, st. epiphany; st. jerome, st. cyprian, and st. bernard, that it was easier for a leopard to change his spots or for a blackamoor to be washed white; than for a heretic to be converted, and that the king was thinking rather of the crown of france than of a heavenly crown, in his approaching conversion--an opinion which there were few to gainsay. and the duke of nemours wrote to his half-brother, the duke of mayenne; offering to use all his influence to bring about mayenne's election as king on condition that if these efforts failed, mayenne should do his best to procure the election of nemours. and the parliament of paris formally and prospectively proclaimed any election of a foreigner null and void, and sent deputies to mayenne urging him never to consent to the election of the infanta. what help, said they, can the league expect from the old and broken philip; from a king who in thirty years has not been able, with all the resources of his kingdoms, to subdue the revolted provinces of the netherlands? how can he hope to conquer france? pay no further heed to the legate, they said, who is laughing in his sleeve at the miseries and distractions of our country. so spake the deputies of the league-parliament to the great captain of the league, the duke of mayenne. it was obvious that the "great and holy confederacy" was becoming less confident of its invincibility. madame league was suddenly grown decrepit in the eyes of her adorers. mayenne was angry at the action of the parliament, and vehemently swore that he would annul their decree. parliament met his threats with dignity, and resolved to stand by the decree, even if they all died in their places. at the same time the duke of feria suddenly produced in full assembly of leaguers a written order from philip that the duke of guise and the infanta should at once be elected king and queen. taken by surprise, mayenne dissembled his rage in masterly-fashion, promised feria to support the election, and at once began to higgle for conditions. he stipulated that he should have for himself the governments of champagne, burgundy, and la brie, and that they should be hereditary in his family: he furthermore demanded that guise should cede to him the principality of joinville, and that they should pay him on the spot in hard money two hundred thousand crowns in gold, six hundred thousand more in different payments, together with an annual payment of fifty thousand crowns. it was obvious that the duke did not undervalue himself; but he had after all no intention of falling into the trap set for him. "he has made these promises (as above given) in writing," said the duke of savoy's envoy to his master, "but he will never keep them. the duchess of mayenne could not help telling me that her husband will never consent that the duke of guise should have the throne." from this resolve he had never wavered, and was not likely to do so now. accordingly the man "of his word, of faith, and truth," whom even the astute farnese had at times half believed in, and who had received millions of philip's money, now thought it time to break with philip. he issued a manifesto, in which he observed that the states-general of france had desired that philip should be elected king of france, and carry out his design of a universal monarchy, as the only-means of ensuring the safety of the catholic religion and the pacification of the world. it was feared, however, said mayenne; that the king might come to the same misfortunes which befell his father, who, when it was supposed that he was inspired only by private ambition; and by the hope of placing a hereditary universal crown in his family, had excited the animosity of the princes of the empire. "if a mere suspicion had caused so great a misfortune in the empire," continued the man of his word, "what will the princes of all europe do when they find his majesty elected king of france, and grown by increase of power so formidable to the world? can it be doubted that they will fly to arms at once, and give all their support to the king of navarre, heretic though he be? what motive had so many princes to traverse philip's designs in the netherlands, but desire to destroy the enormous power which they feared? therefore had the queen, of england, although refusing the sovereignty, defended the independence of the netherlands these fifteen years. "however desirable," continued mayenne, "that this universal monarchy, for which the house of austria has so long been working, should be established, yet the king is too prudent not to see the difficulties in his way. although he has conquered portugal, he is prevented by the fleets of holland and england from taking possession of the richest of the portuguese possessions, the islands and the indies. he will find in france insuperable objections to his election as king, for he could in this case well reproach the leaguers with having been changed from frenchmen into spaniards. he must see that his case is hopeless in france, he who for thirty years has been in vain endeavouring to re-establish his authority in the netherlands. it would be impossible in the present position of affairs to become either the king or the protector of france. the dignity of france allows it not." mayenne then insisted on the necessity of a truce with the royalists or politicians, and, assembling the estates at the louvre on the th july, he read a written paper declining for the moment to hold an election for king. john baptist tassis, next day, replied by declaring that in this case philip would send no more succours of men or money; for that the only effectual counter-poison to the pretended conversion of the prince of bearne was the immediate election of a king. thus did mayenne escape from the snare in which the spaniards thought to catch the man who, as they now knew, was changing every day, and was true to nothing save his own interests. and now the great day had come. the conversion of henry to the roman faith, fixed long before for--the rd july,-- , formally took place at the time appointed. from six in the morning till the stroke of noon did henry listen to the exhortations and expoundings of the learned prelates and doctors whom he had convoked, the politic archbishop of bourges taking the lead in this long-expected instruction. after six mortal hours had come to an end, the king rose from his knees, somewhat wearied, but entirely instructed and convinced. he thanked the bishops for having taught him that of which he was before quite ignorant, and assured them that; after having invoked the light, of the holy ghost upon his musings, he should think seriously over what they had just taught him, in order to come to a resolution salutary to himself and to the state. nothing could be more candid. next day, at eight in the morning, there was a great show in the cathedral of saint denis, and the population of paris, notwithstanding the prohibition of the league authorities, rushed thither in immense crowds to witness the ceremony of the reconciliation of the king. henry went to the church, clothed as became a freshly purified heretic, in white satin doublet and hose, white silk stockings, and white silk shoes with white roses in them; but with a black hat and a black mantle. there was a great procession with blare of trumpet and beat of drum. the streets were strewn with flowers. as henry entered the great portal of the church, he found the archbishop of bourges, seated in state, effulgent in mitre and chasuble, and surrounded by other magnificent prelates in gorgeous attire. "who are you, and what do you want?" said the arch-bishop. "i am the king," meekly replied henry, "and i demand to be received into the bosom of the roman catholic church." "do you wish it sincerely?" asked the prelate. "i wish it with all my heart," said the king. then throwing himself on his knees, the bearne--great champion of the huguenots--protested before god that he would live and die in the catholic faith, and that he renounced all heresy. a passage was with difficulty opened through the crowd, and he was then led to the high altar, amid the acclamations of the people. here he knelt devoutly and repeated his protestations. his unction and contrition were most impressive, and the people, of course, wept piteously. the king, during the progress of the ceremony, with hands clasped together and adoring the eucharist with his eyes, or, as the host was elevated, smiting himself thrice upon the breast, was a model of passionate devotion. afterwards he retired to a pavilion behind the altar, where the archbishop confessed and absolved him. then the te deum sounded, and high mass was celebrated by the bishop of nantes. then, amid acclamations and blessings, and with largess to the crowd, the king returned to the monastery of saint denis, where he dined amid a multitude of spectators, who thronged so thickly around him that his dinner-table was nearly overset. these were the very parisians, who, but three years before, had been feeding on rats and dogs and dead men's bones, and the bodies of their own children, rather than open their gates to this same prince of bearne. now, although mayenne had set strong guards at those gates, and had most strictly prohibited all egress, the city was emptied of its populace, which pressed in transports of adoration around the man so lately the object of their hate. yet few could seriously believe that much change had been effected in the inner soul of him, whom the legate, and the spaniard, and the holy father at rome still continued to denounce as the vilest of heretics and the most infamous of impostors. the comedy was admirably played out and was entirely successful. it may be supposed that the chief actor was, however, somewhat wearied. in private, he mocked at all this ecclesiastical mummery, and described himself as heartily sick of the business. "i arrived here last evening," he wrote to the beautiful gabrielle, "and was importuned with 'god save you' till bed-time. in regard to the leaguers i am of the order of st. thomas. i am beginning to-morrow morning to talk to the bishops, besides those i told you about yesterday. at this moment of writing i have a hundred of these importunates on my shoulders, who will make me hate saint denis as much as you hate mantes. 'tis to-morrow that i take the perilous leap. i kiss a million times the beautiful hands of my angel and the mouth of my dear mistress." a truce--renewed at intervals--with the leaguers lasted till the end of the year. the duke of nevers was sent on special mission to rome to procure the holy father's consent to the great heretic's reconciliation to the church, and he was instructed to make the king's submission in terms so wholesale and so abject that even some of the life-long papists of france were disgusted, while every honest protestant in europe shrank into himself for shame. but clement, overawed by philip and his ambassador, was deaf to all the representations of the french envoy. he protested that he would not believe in the sincerity of the bearne's conversion unless an angel from heaven should reveal it to him. so nevers left rome, highly exasperated, and professing that he would rather have lost a leg, that he would rather have been sewn in a sack and tossed into the tiber, than bear back such a message. the pope ordered the prelates who had accompanied nevers to remain in rome and be tried by the inquisition for misprision of heresy, but the duke placed them by his side and marched out of the porta del popolo with them, threatening to kill any man who should attempt to enforce the command. meantime it became necessary to follow up the st. denis comedy with a still more exhilarating popular spectacle. the heretic had been purified, confessed, absolved. it was time for a consecration. but there was a difficulty. although the fever of loyalty to the ancient house of bourbon, now redeemed from its worship of the false gods, was spreading contagiously through the provinces; although all the white silk in lyons had been cut into scarves and banners to celebrate the reconciliation of the candid king with mother church; although that ancient city was ablaze with bonfires and illuminations, while its streets ran red, with blood no longer, but with wine; and although madam league, so lately the object of fondest adoration, was now publicly burned in the effigy of a grizzly hag; yet paris still held for that decrepit beldame, and closed its gates to the bearnese. the city of rheims, too, had not acknowledged the former huguenot, and it was at rheims, in the church of st. remy, that the holy bottle was preserved. with what chrism, by what prelate, should the consecration of henry be performed? five years before, the league had proposed in the estates of blois to place among the fundamental laws of the kingdom that no king should be considered a legitimate sovereign whose head had not been anointed by the bishop at rheims with oil from that holy bottle. but it was now decided that to ascribe a monopoly of sanctity to that prelate and to that bottle would be to make a schism in the church. moreover it was discovered that there was a chrism in existence still more efficacious than the famous oil of st. remy. one hundred and twelve years before the baptism of clovis, st. martin had accidentally tumbled down stairs, and lay desperately bruised and at the point of death. but, according to sulpicius severus, an angel had straightway descended from heaven, and with a miraculous balsam had anointed the contusions of the saint, who next day felt no farther inconveniences from his fall. the balsam had ever since been preserved in the church of marmoutier near tours. here, then, was the most potent of unguents brought directly from heaven. to mix a portion thereof with the chrism of consecration was clearly more judicious than to make use of the holy bottle, especially as the holy bottle was not within reach. the monks of marmoutier consented to lend the sacred phial containing the famous oil of st. martin for the grand occasion of the royal consecration. accompanied by a strong military escort provided by giles de souvri, governor of touraine, a deputation of friars brought the phial to chartres, where the consecration was to take place. prayers were offered up, without ceasing, in the monastery during their absence that no mishap should befal the sacred treasure. when the monks arrived at chartres, four young barons of the first nobility were assigned to them as hostages for the safe restoration of the phial, which was then borne in triumph to the cathedral, the streets through which it was carried being covered with tapestry. there was a great ceremony, a splendid consecration; six bishops, with mitres on their heads and in gala robes, officiating; after which the king knelt before the altar and took the customary oath. thus the champion of the fierce huguenots, the well-beloved of the dead la noue and the living duplessis mornay, the devoted knight of the heretic queen elizabeth, the sworn ally of the stout dutch calvinists, was pompously reconciled to that rome which was the object of their hatred and their fear. the admirably arranged spectacles of the instruction at st. denis and the consecration at chartres were followed on the day of the vernal equinox by a third and most conclusive ceremony: a secret arrangement had been made with de cosse-brissac, governor of paris, by the king, according to which the gates of paris were at last to be opened to him. the governor obtained a high price for his services--three hundred thousand livres in hard cash, thirty thousand a year for his life, and the truncheon of marshal of france. thus purchased, brissac made his preparations with remarkable secrecy and skill. envoy ybarra, who had scented something suspicious in the air, had gone straight to the governor for information, but the keen spaniard was thrown out by the governor's ingenuous protestations of ignorance. the next morning, march nd, was stormy and rainy, and long before daylight ybarra, still uneasy despite the statements of brissac, was wandering about the streets of paris when he became the involuntary witness of an extraordinary spectacle. through the wind and the rain came trampling along the dark streets of the capital a body of four thousand troopers and lansquenettes. many torch-bearers attended on the procession, whose flambeaux threw a lurid light upon the scene. there, surrounded by the swart and grizzly bearded visages of these strange men-at-arms, who were discharging their arquebuses, as they advanced upon any bystanders likely to oppose their progress; in the very midst of this sea of helmed heads, the envoy was enabled to recognise the martial figure of the prince of bearne. armed to the teeth, with sword in hand and dagger at side, the hero of ivry rode at last through the barriers which had so long kept him from his capital. "'twas like enchantment," said ybarra. the first bourbon entered the city through the same gate out of which the last valois had, five years before, so ignominiously fled. it was a midnight surprise, although not fully accomplished until near the dawn of day. it was not a triumphal entrance; nor did henry come as the victorious standard-bearer of a great principle. he had defeated the league in many battle-fields, but the league still hissed defiance at him from the very hearthstone of his ancestral palace. he had now crept, in order to conquer, even lower than the league itself; and casting off his huguenot skin at last, he had soared over the heads of all men, the presiding genius of the holy catholic church. twenty-one years before, he had entered the same city on the conclusion of one of the truces which had varied the long monotony of the religious wars of france. the youthful son of antony bourbon and joan of albret had then appeared as the champion and the idol of the huguenots. in the same year had come the fatal nuptials with the bride of st. bartholomew, the first catholic conversion of henry and the massacre at which the world still shudders. now he was chief of the "politicians," and sworn supporter of the council of trent. earnest huguenots were hanging their heads in despair. he represented the principle of national unity against national dismemberment by domestic treason and foreign violence. had that principle been his real inspiration, as it was in truth his sole support, history might judge him more leniently. had he relied upon it entirely it might have been strong enough to restore him to the throne of his ancestors, without the famous religious apostacy with which his name is for ever associated. it is by no means certain that permanent religious toleration might not have been the result of his mounting the throne, only when he could do so without renouncing the faith of his fathers. a day of civilization may come perhaps, sooner or later, when it will be of no earthly consequence to their fellow creatures to what creed, what christian church, what religious dogma kings or humbler individuals may be partial; when the relations between man and his maker shall be undefiled by political or social intrusion. but the day will never come when it will be otherwise than damaging to public morality and humiliating to human dignity to forswear principle for a price, and to make the most awful of mysteries the subject of political legerdemain and theatrical buffoonery. the so-called conversion of the king marks an epoch in human history. it strengthened the roman church and gave it an indefinite renewal of life; but it sapped the foundations of religious faith. the appearance of henry the huguenot as the champion of the council of trent was of itself too biting an epigram not to be extensively destructive. whether for good or ill, religion was fast ceasing to be the mainspring of political combinations, the motive of great wars and national convulsions. the age of religion was to be succeeded by the age of commerce. but the king was now on his throne. all paris was in rapture. there was te deum with high mass in notre dame, and the populace was howling itself hoarse with rapture in honour of him so lately the object of the general curse. even the sorbonne declared in favour of the reclaimed heretic, and the decision of those sages had vast influence with less enlightened mortals. there was nothing left for the duke of feria but to take himself off and make latin orations in favour of the infanta elsewhere, if fit audience elsewhere could be found. a week after the entrance of henry, the spanish garrison accordingly was allowed to leave paris with the honours of war. "we marched out at p.m.," wrote the duke to his master, "with closed ranks, colours displayed, and drums beating. first came the italians and then the spaniards, in the midst of whom was myself on horseback, with the walloons marching near me. the prince of bearne"--it was a solace to the duke's heart, of which he never could be deprived, to call the king by that title--"was at a window over the gate of st. denis through which we took our departure. he was dressed in light grey, with a black hat surmounted by a great white feather. our displayed standards rendered him no courteous salute as we passed." here was another solace! thus had the game been lost and won, but philip as usual did not acknowledge himself beaten. mayenne, too, continued to make the most fervent promises to all that was left of the confederates. he betook himself to brussels, and by the king's orders was courteously received by the spanish authorities in the netherlands. in the midst of the tempest now rapidly destroying all rational hopes, philip still clung to mayenne as to a spar in the shipwreck. for the king ever possessed the virtue, if it be one, of continuing to believe himself invincible and infallible, when he had been defeated in every quarter, and when his calculations had all proved ridiculous mistakes. when his famous armada had been shattered and sunk, have we not seen him peevishly requiring alexander farnese to construct a new one immediately and to proceed therewith to conquer england out of hand? was it to be expected that he would renounce his conquest of france, although the legitimate king had entered his capital, had reconciled himself to the church, and was on the point of obtaining forgiveness of the pope? if the prince of bearne had already destroyed the holy league, why should not the duke of mayenne and archduke ernest make another for him, and so conquer france without further delay? but although it was still possible to deceive the king, who in the universality of his deceptive powers was so prone to delude himself, it was difficult even for so accomplished an intriguer as mayenne to hoodwink much longer the shrewd spaniards who were playing so losing a game against him. "our affairs in france," said ybarra, "are in such condition that we are losing money and character there, and are likely to lose all the provinces here, if things are not soon taken up in a large and energetic manner. money and troops are what is wanted on a great scale for france. the king's agents are mightily discontented with mayenne, and with reason; but they are obliged to dissimulate and to hold their tongues. we can send them no assistance from these regions, unless from down yonder you send us the cloth and the scissors to cut it with." and the archduke ernest, although he invited mayenne to confer with him at brussels, under the impression that he could still keep him and the duke of guise from coming to an arrangement with bearne, hardly felt more confidence in the man than did feria or ybarra. "since the loss of paris," said ernest, "i have had a letter from mayenne, in which, deeply affected by that event, he makes me great offers, even to the last drop of his blood, vowing never to abandon the cause of the league. but of the intentions and inner mind of this man i find such vague information, that i don't dare to expect more stability from him than may be founded upon his own interest." and so mayenne came to brussels and passed three days with the archduke. "he avows himself ready to die in our cause," said ernest. "if your majesty will give men and money enough, he will undertake so to deal with bearne that he shall not think himself safe in his own house." the archduke expressed his dissatisfaction to mayenne that with the money he had already received, so little had been accomplished, but he still affected a confidence which he was far from feeling, "because," said he, "it is known that mayenne is already treating with bearne. if he has not concluded those arrangements, it is because bearne now offers him less money than before." the amount of dissimulation, politely so-called, practised by the grandees of that age, to say nothing of their infinite capacity for pecuniary absorption, makes the brain reel and enlarges one's ideas of the human faculties as exerted in certain directions. it is doubtful whether plain hans miller or hans baker could have risen to such level. feria wrote a despatch to the king, denouncing mayenne as false, pernicious to the cause of spain and of catholicism, thoroughly self-seeking and vile, and as now most traitorous to the cause of the confederacy, engaged in surrendering its strong places to the enemy, and preparing to go over to the prince of bearne. "if," said he, "i were to recount all his base tricks, i should go on till midnight, and perhaps till to-morrow morning." this letter, being intercepted, was sent with great glee by henry iv., not to the royal hands for which it was destined, but to the duke of mayenne. great was the wrath of that injured personage as he read such libellous truths. he forthwith fulminated a scathing reply, addressed to philip ii., in which he denounced the duke of feria as "a dirty ignoramus, an impudent coward, an impostor, and a blind thief;" adding, after many other unsavoury epithets, "but i will do him an honour which he has not merited, proving him a liar with my sword; and i humbly pray your majesty to grant me this favour and to pardon my just grief, which causes me to depart from the respect due to your majesty, when i speak of this impostor who has thus wickedly torn my reputation." his invectives were, however, much stronger than his arguments in defence of that tattered reputation. the defiance to mortal combat went for nothing; and, in the course of the next year, the injured mayenne turned his back on philip and his spaniards, and concluded his bargain with the prince of bearne. he obtained good terms: the government of burgundy, payment of his debts, and a hundred and twenty thousand crowns in hard cash. it is not on record that the man of his word, of credit, and of truth, ever restored a penny of the vast sums which he had received from philip to carry on the business of the league. subsequently the duke came one very hot summer's-day to monceaux to thank the king, as he expressed it, for "delivering him from spanish arrogance and italian wiles;" and having got with much difficulty upon his knees, was allowed to kiss the royal hand. henry then insisted upon walking about with him through the park at a prodigious rate, to show him all the improvements, while the duke panted, groaned, and perspired in his vain efforts to keep pace with his new sovereign. "if i keep this fat fellow walking about in the sun much longer," whispered the king to de bethune, who was third in the party, "i shall be sufficiently avenged for all the mischief he has done us." at last, when the duke was forced to admit himself to be on the point of expiring with fatigue, he was dismissed to the palace with orders to solace himself with a couple of bottles of excellent wine of arbois, expressly provided for him by the king's direction. and this was all the punishment ever inflicted by the good-humoured monarch on the corpulent conspirator. the duke of guise made his arrangements with the ex-huguenot on even better terms and at a still earlier day; while joyeuse and mercoeur stood out a good while and higgled hard for conditions. "these people put such a high price on themselves," said one of henry's diplomatists, "that one loses almost more than one gains in buying them. they strip and plunder us even in our nakedness, and we are obliged, in order to conciliate such harpies, to employ all that we can scrape out of our substance and our blood. i think, however, that we ought to gain them by whatever means and at whatever price." thus henry iv., the man whom so many contemporary sages had for years been rebuking or ridiculing for his persistency in a hopeless attempt to save his country from dismemberment, to restore legitimate authority, and to resist the "holy confederacy" of domestic traitors, aided by foreign despots and sympathizers, was at last successful, and the fratricidal war in france was approaching its only possible conclusion. but, alas! the hopes of those who loved the reformed church as well as they loved their country were sadly blasted by the apostasy of their leader. from the most eminent leaders of the huguenots there came a wail, which must have penetrated even to the well-steeled heart of the cheerful gascon. "it will be difficult," they said, "to efface very soon from your memory the names of the men whom the sentiment of a common religion, association in the same perils and persecutions, a common joy in the same deliverance, and the long experience of so many faithful services, have engraved there with a pencil of diamond. the remembrance of these things pursues you and accompanies you everywhere; it interrupts your most important affairs, your most ardent pleasures, your most profound slumber, to represent to you, as in a picture, yourself to yourself: yourself not as you are to-day, but such as you were when, pursued to the death by the greatest princes of europe, you went on conducting to the harbour of safety the little vessel against which so many tempests were beating." the states of the dutch republic, where the affair of henry's conversion was as much a matter of domestic personal interest as it could be in france--for religion up to that epoch was the true frontier between nation and nation--debated the question most earnestly while it was yet doubtful. it was proposed to send a formal deputation to the king, in order to divert him, if possible, from the fatal step which he was about to take. after ripe deliberation however, it was decided to leave the matter "in the hands of god almighty, and to pray him earnestly to guide the issue to his glory and the welfare of the churches." the queen of england was, as might be supposed, beside herself with indignation, and, in consequence of the great apostasy, and of her chronic dissatisfaction with the manner in which her contingent of troops had been handled in france, she determined to withdraw every english soldier from the support of henry's cause. the unfortunate french ambassador in london was at his wits' ends. he vowed that he could not sleep of nights, and that the gout and the cholic, to which he was always a martyr, were nothing to the anguish which had now come upon his soul and brain, such as he had never suffered since the bloody day of st. bartholomew. "ah, my god!" said he to burghley, "is it possible that her just choler has so suddenly passed over the great glory which she has acquired by so many benefits and liberalities?" but he persuaded himself that her majesty would after all not persist in her fell resolution. to do so, he vowed, would only be boiling milk for the french papists, who would be sure to make the most of the occasion in order to precipitate the king into the abyss, to the border of which they had already brought him. he so dreaded the ire of the queen that he protested he was trembling all over merely to see the pen of his secretary wagging as he dictated his despatches. nevertheless it was his terrible duty to face her in her wrath, and he implored the lord treasurer to accompany him and to shield him at the approaching interview. "protect me," he cried, "by your wisdom from the ire of this great princess; for by the living god, when i see her enraged against any person whatever i wish myself in calcutta, fearing her anger like death itself." when all was over, henry sent de morlans as special envoy to communicate the issue to the governments of england and of holland. but the queen, although no longer so violent, was less phlegmatic than the states-general, and refused to be comforted. she subsequently receded, however, from her determination to withdraw her troops from france. "ah! what grief; ah! what regrets; ah! what groans, have i felt in my soul," she wrote, "at the sound of the news brought to me by morlans! my god! is it possible that any worldly respect can efface the terror of divine wrath? can we by reason even expect a good sequel to such iniquitous acts? he who has maintained and preserved you by his mercy, can you imagine that he permits you to walk alone in your utmost need? 'tis bad to do evil that good may come of it. meantime i shall not cease to put you in the first rank of my devotions, in order that the hands of esau may not spoil the blessings of jacob. as to your promises to me of friendship and fidelity, i confess to have dearly deserved them, nor do i repent, provided you do not change your father--otherwise i shall be your bastard sister by the father's side--for i shall ever love a natural better than an adopted one. i desire that god may guide you in a straight road and a better path. your most sincere sister in the old fashion. as to the new, i have nothing to do with it. elizabeth r." etext editor's bookmarks: all fellow-worms together continuing to believe himself invincible and infallible he spent more time at table than the bearnese in sleep henry the huguenot as the champion of the council of trent highest were not necessarily the least slimy his invectives were, however, much stronger than his arguments history is a continuous whole of which we see only fragments infinite capacity for pecuniary absorption leading motive with all was supposed to be religion past was once the present, and once the future sages of every generation, read the future like a printed scroll sewers which have ever run beneath decorous christendom wrath of that injured personage as he read such libellous truths chapter xxx. prince maurice lays siege to gertruydenberg--advantages of the new system of warfare--progress of the besieging operations--superiority of maurice's manoeuvres--adventure of count philip of nassau-- capitulation of gertruydenberg--mutiny among the spanish troops-- attempt of verdugo to retake coeworden--suspicions of treason in the english garrison at ostend--letter of queen elizabeth to sir edward norris on the subject--second attempt on coeworden--assault on groningen by maurice--second adventure of philip of nassau--narrow escape of prince maurice--surrender of groningen--particulars of the siege--question of religious toleration--progress of the united netherlands--condition of the "obedient" netherlands--incompetency of peter mansfeld as governor--archduke ernest, the successor of farnese--difficulties of his position--his unpopularity--great achievements of the republicans--triumphal entry of ernest into brussels and antwerp--magnificence of the spectacle--disaffection of the spanish troops--great military rebellion--philip's proposal to destroy the english fleet--his assassination plans--plot to poison queen elizabeth--conspiracies against prince maurice--futile attempts at negotiation--proposal of a marriage between henry and the infanta--secret mission from henry to the king of spain--special dispatch to england and the staten--henry obtains further aid from queen elizabeth and the states--council--anxiety of the protestant countries to bring about a war with spain--aspect of affairs at the close of the year . while philip's world-empire seemed in one direction to be so rapidly fading into cloudland there were substantial possessions of the spanish crown which had been neglected in brabant and friesland. two very important cities still held for the king of spain within the territories of what could now be fairly considered the united dutch republic--st. gertruydenberg and groningen. early in the spring of , maurice had completed his preparations for a siege, and on the th march appeared before gertruydenberg. it was a stately, ancient city, important for its wealth, its strength, and especially for its position. for without its possession even the province of holland could hardly consider itself mistress of its own little domains. it was seated on the ancient meuse, swollen as it approached the sea almost to the dimension of a gulf, while from the south another stream, called the donge, very brief in its course, but with considerable depth of water, came to mingle itself with the meuse, exactly under the walls of the city. the site of the place was so low that it was almost hidden and protected by its surrounding dykes. these afforded means of fortification, which had been well improved. both by nature and art the city was one of the strongholds of the netherlands. maurice had given the world a lesson in the beleaguering science at the siege of steenwyk, such as had never before been dreamt of; but he was resolved that the operations before gertruydenberg should constitute a masterpiece. nothing could be more beautiful as a production of military art, nothing, to the general reader, more insipid than its details. on the land side, hohenlo's headquarters were at ramsdonck, a village about a german mile to the east of gertruydenberg. maurice himself was established on the west side of the city. two bridges constructed across the donge facilitated the communications between the two camps, while great quantities of planks and brush were laid down across the swampy roads to make them passable for waggon-trains and artillery. the first care of the young general, whose force was not more than twenty thousand men, was to protect himself rather than to assail the town. his lines extended many miles in a circuit around the place, and his forts, breastworks, and trenches were very numerous. the river was made use of as a natural and almost impassable ditch of defence, and windmills were freely employed to pump water into the shallows in one direction, while in others the outer fields, in quarters whence a relieving force might be expected, were turned into lakes by the same machinery. farther outside, a system of palisade work of caltrops and man-traps--sometimes in the slang of the day called turkish ambassadors--made the country for miles around impenetrable or very disagreeable to cavally. in a shorter interval than would have seemed possible, the battlements and fortifications of the besieging army had risen like an exhalation out of the morass. the city of gertruydenberg was encompassed by another city as extensive and apparently as impregnable as itself. then, for the first time in that age, men thoroughly learned the meaning of that potent implement the spade. three thousand pioneers worked night and day with pickaxe and shovel. the soldiers liked the business; for every man so employed received his ten stivers a day additional wages, punctually paid, and felt moreover that every stroke was bringing the work nearer to its conclusion. the spaniards no longer railed at maurice as a hedger and ditcher. when he had succeeded in bringing a hundred great guns to bear upon the beleaguered city they likewise ceased to sneer at heavy artillery. the kartowen and half kartowen were no longer considered "espanta vellacos." meantime, from all the country round, the peasants flocked within the lines. nowhere in europe were provisions so plentiful and cheap as in the dutch camp. nowhere was a readier market for agricultural products, prompter payment, or more perfect security for the life and property of non-combatants. not so much as a hen's egg was taken unlawfully. the country people found themselves more at ease within maurice's lines than within any other part of the provinces, obedient or revolted. they ploughed and sowed and reaped at their pleasure, and no more striking example was ever afforded of the humanizing effect of science upon the barbarism of war, than in this siege of gertruydenberg. certainly it was the intention of the prince to take his city, and when he fought the enemy it was his object to kill; but, as compared with the bloody work which alva, and romero, and requesens, and so many others had done in those doomed provinces, such war-making as this seemed almost like an institution for beneficent and charitable purposes. visitors from the neighbourhood, from other provinces, from foreign countries, came to witness the extraordinary spectacle, and foreign generals repaired to the camp of maurice to take practical lessons in the new art of war. old peter ernest mansfeld, who was nominal governor of the spanish netherlands since the death of farnese, rubbed his eyes and stared aghast when the completeness of the preparations for reducing the city at last broke in upon his mind. count fuentes was the true and confidential regent however until the destined successor to parma should arrive; but fuentes, although he had considerable genius for assassination, as will hereafter appear, and was an experienced and able commander of the old-fashioned school, was no match for maurice in the scientific combinations on which the new system was founded. in vain did the superannuated peter call aloud upon his sofa and governor, count charles, to assist him in this dire dilemma. that artillery general had gone with a handful of germans, walloons; and other obedient netherlanders--too few to accomplish anything abroad, too many to be spared from the provinces--to besiege noyon in france. but what signified the winning or losing of such a place as noyon at exactly the moment when the prince of bearne, assisted by the able generalship of the archbishop of bourges, had just executed those famous flanking movements in the churches of st. denis and chartres, by which the world-empire had been effectually shattered, and philip and the pope completely out-manoeuvred. better that the five thousand fighters under charles mansfeld had been around gertruydenberg. his aged father did what he could. as many men as could be spared from the garrison of antwerp and its neighbourhood were collected; but the spaniards were reluctant to march, except under old mondragon. that hero, who had done much of the hardest work, and had fought in most of the battles of the century, was nearly as old as the century. being now turned of ninety, he thought best to keep house in antwerp castle: accordingly twelve thousand foot and three thousand horse took the field under the more youthful peter ernest? but peter ernest, when his son was not there to superintend his operations, was nothing but a testy octogenarian, while the two together were not equal to the little finger of farnese, whom philip would have displaced, had he not fortunately died. "nothing is to be expected out of this place but toads and poison," wrote ybarra in infinite disgust to the two secretaries of state at madrid. "i have done my best to induce fuentes to accept that which the patent secured him, and count peter is complaining that fuentes showed him the patent so late only to play him a trick. there is a rascally pack of meddlers here, and the worst of them all are the women, whom i particularly give to the devil. there is no end to the squabbles as to who shall take the lead in relieving gertruydenberg." mansfeld at last came ponderously up in the neighbourhood of turnhout. there was a brilliant little skirmish, in the neighbourhood of this place, in which a hundred and fifty dutch cavalry under the famous brothers bax defeated four hundred picked lancers of spain and italy. but mansfeld could get nothing but skirmishes. in vain he plunged about among the caltrops and man-traps. in vain he knocked at the fortifications of hohenlo on the east and of maurice on the west. he found them impracticable, impregnable, obdurate. it was maurice's intention to take his town at as small sacrifice of life as possible. a trumpet was sent on some trifling business to mansfeld, in reply to a communication made by the general to maurice. "why does your master," said the choleric veteran to the trumpeter, "why does prince maurice, being a lusty young commander as he is, not come out of his trenches into the open field and fight me like a man, where honour and fame await him?" "because my master," answered the trumpeter, "means to live to be a lusty old commander like your excellency, and sees no reason to-day to give you an advantage." at this the bystanders laughed, rather at the expense of the veteran. meantime there were not many incidents within the lines or within the city to vary the monotony of the scientific siege. on the land side, as has been seen, the city was enclosed and built out of human sight by another gertruydenberg. on the wide estuary of the meuse, a chain of war ships encircled the sea-front, in shape of a half moon, lying so close to each other that it was scarcely possible even for a messenger to swim out of a dark night. the hardy adventurers who attempted that feat with tidings of despair were almost invariably captured. this blockading fleet took regular part in the daily cannonade; while, on the other hand, the artillery practice from the landbatteries of maurice and hohenlo was more perfect than anything ever known before in the netherlands or france. and the result was that in the course of the cannonade which lasted nearly ninety days, not more than four houses in the city escaped injury. the approaches were brought, every hour, nearer and nearer to the walls. with subterranean lines converging in the form of the letter y, the prince had gradually burrowed his way beneath the principal bastion. hohenlo, representative of the older school of strategy, had on one occasion ventured to resist the authority of the commander-in-chief. he had constructed a fort at ramsdonck. maurice then commanded the erection of another, fifteen hundred yards farther back. it was as much a part of his purpose to defend himself against the attempts of mansfeld's relieving force, as to go forward against the city. hohenlo objected that it would be impossible to sustain himself against a sudden attack in so isolated a position. maurice insisted. in the midst of the altercation hohenlo called to the men engaged in throwing up the new fortifications: "here, you captains and soldiers," he cried, "you are delivered up here to be butchered. you may drop work and follow me to the old fort." "and i swear to you," said maurice quietly, "that the first man who moves from this spot shall be hanged." no one moved. the fort was completed and held to the and; hohenlo sulkily acquiescing in the superiority which this stripling--his former pupil--had at last vindicated over all old-fashioned men-at-arms. from the same cause which was apt to render hohenlo's services inefficient, the prince was apt to suffer inconvenience in the persons placed in still nearer relation to himself. count philip of nassau, brother of the wise and valiant lewis william, had already done much brilliant campaigning against the spaniards both in france and the provinces. unluckily, he was not only a desperate fighter but a mighty drinker, and one day, after a dinner-party and potent carouse at colonel brederode's quarters, he thought proper, in doublet and hose, without armour of any kind, to mount his horse, in order to take a solitary survey of the enemy's works. not satisfied with this piece of reconnoitering--which he effected with much tipsy gravity, but probably without deriving any information likely to be of value to the commanding general--he then proceeded to charge in person a distant battery. the deed was not commendable in a military point of view. a fire was opened upon him at long range so soon as he was discovered, and at the same time the sergeant-major of his regiment and an equerry of prince maurice started in pursuit, determined to bring him off if possible, before his life had been thus absurdly sacrificed. fortunately for him they came to the rescue in time, pulled him from his horse, and succeeded in bringing him away unharmed. the sergeant-major, however, sinisky by name, while thus occupied in preserving the count's life, was badly wounded in the leg by a musket-shot from the fort; which casualty was the only result of this after-dinner assault. as the siege proceeded, and as the hopes of relief died away, great confusion began to reign within the city. the garrison, originally of a thousand veterans, besides burgher militia, had been much diminished. two commandants of the place, one after another, had lost their lives. on the st of june, governor de masieres, captain mongyn, the father-confessor of the garrison, and two soldiers, being on the top of the great church tower taking observations, were all brought down with one cannon-shot. thus the uses of artillery were again proved to be something more than to scare cowards. the final result seemed to have been brought about almost by accident, if accident could be admitted as a factor in such accurate calculations as those of maurice. on the th june captains haen and bievry were relieving watch in the trenches near the great north ravelin of the town--a bulwark which had already been much undermined from below and weakened above. being adventurous officers, it occurred to them suddenly to scale the wall of the fort and reconnoitre what was going on in the town. it was hardly probable that they would come back alive from the expedition, but they nevertheless threw some planks across the ditch, and taking a few soldiers with them, climbed cautiously up. somewhat to his own surprise, still more to that of the spanish sentinels, bievry in a few minutes found himself within the ravelin. he was closely followed by captain haen, captain kalf, and by half a company of soldiers. the alarm was given. there was a fierce hand-to-hand struggle. sixteen of the bold stormers fell, and nine of the garrison of the fort. the rest fled into the city. the governor of the place, captain gysant, rushing to the rescue without staying to put on his armour, was killed. count solms, on the other hand, came from the besieging camp into the ravelin to investigate the sudden uproar. to his profound astonishment he was met there, after a brief interval, by a deputation from the city, asking for terms of surrender. the envoys had already been for some little time looking in vain for a responsible person with whom to treat. when maurice was informed of the propositions he thought it at first a trick; for he had known nothing of the little adventure of the three captains. soon afterwards he came into a battery whither the deputies had been brought, and the terms of capitulation were soon agreed upon. next day the garrison were allowed to go out with sidearms and personal baggage, and fifty waggons were lent them by the victor to bring their wounded men to antwerp. thus was gertruydenberg surrendered in the very face of peter mansfeld, who only became aware of the fact by the salvos of artillery fired in honour of the triumph, and by the blaze of illumination which broke forth over camp and city. the sudden result was an illustration of the prince's perfect arrangements. when maurice rode into the town, he found it strong enough and sufficiently well provisioned to have held out many a long day. but it had been demonstrated to the besieged that relief was impossible, and that the surrender on one day or another, after the siege operations should be brought to their close, was certain. the inexorable genius of the commander--skilled in a science which to the coarser war-makers of that age seemed almost superhuman--hovered above them like a fate. it was as well to succumb on the th june as to wait till the th july. moreover the great sustaining principle--resistance to the foreigner--which had inspired the deeds of daring, the wonders of endurance, in the dutch cities beleaguered so remorselessly by the spaniard twenty years earlier in the century, was wanting. in surrendering to the born netherlander--the heroic chieftain of the illustrious house of nassau--these netherlanders were neither sullying their flag nor injuring their country. enough had been done for military honour in the gallant resistance, in which a large portion of the garrison had fallen. nor was that religious superstition so active within the city, which three years before had made miracles possible in paris when a heretic sovereign was to be defied by his own subjects. it was known that even if the public ceremonies of the catholic church were likely to be suspended for a time after the surrender, at least the rights of individual conscience and private worship within individual households would be tolerated, and there was no papal legate with fiery eloquence persuading a city full of heroic dupes that it was more virtuous for men or women to eat their own children than to forego one high mass, or to wink at a single conventicle. after all, it was no such bitter hardship for the citizens of gertruydenberg to participate in the prosperity of the rising and thriving young republic, and to enjoy those municipal and national liberties which her sister cities had found so sweet. nothing could be calmer or more reasonable than such a triumph, nothing less humiliating or less disastrous than such a surrender. the problem was solved, the demonstration was made. to open their gates to the soldiers of the union was not to admit the hordes of a spanish commander with the avenging furies of murder, pillage, rape, which ever followed in their train over the breach of a captured city. to an enemy bated or dreaded to the uttermost mortal capacity, that well-fortified and opulent city might have held out for months, and only when the arms and the fraud of the foe without, and of famine within, had done their work, could it have bowed its head to the conqueror, and submitted to the ineffable tortures which would be the necessary punishment of its courage. four thousand shots had been fired from the siege-guns upon the city, and three hundred upon the relieving force. the besieging army numbered in all nine thousand one hundred and fifty men of all arms, and they lost during the eighty-five days' siege three hundred killed and four hundred wounded. after the conclusion of these operations, and the thorough remodelling of the municipal government of the important city thus regained to the republic, maurice occupied himself with recruiting and refreshing his somewhat exhausted little army. on the other hand, old count mansfeld, dissatisfied with the impotent conclusion to his attempts, retired to brussels to be much taunted by the insolent fuentes. he at least escaped very violent censure on the part of his son charles, for that general, after his superfluous conquest of noyon, while returning towards the netherlands, far too tardily to succour gertruydenberg, had been paralyzed in all his movements by a very extensive mutiny which broke out among the spanish troops in the province of artois. the disorder went through all its regular forms. a town was taken, an eletto was appointed. the country-side was black-mailed or plundered, and the rebellion lasted some thirteen months. before it was concluded there was another similar outbreak among the italians, together with the walloons and other obedient netherlanders in hainault, who obliged the city of mons to collect nine hundred florins a day for them. the consequence of these military rebellions was to render the spanish crown almost powerless during the whole year, within the provinces nominally subject to its sway. the cause--as always--was the non-payment of these veterans' wages, year after year. it was impossible for philip, with all the wealth of the indies and mexico pouring through the danaid sieve of the holy league in france, to find the necessary funds to save the bronzed and war-worn instruments of his crimes in the netherlands from starving and from revolt. meantime there was much desultory campaigning in friesland. verdugo and frederic van den berg picked up a few cities, and strong places which had thrown off their allegiance september, to the king--auerzyl, schlochteren, winschoten, wedde, ootmarzum--and invested the much more important town of coeworden, which maurice had so recently reduced to the authority of the union. verdugo's force was insufficient, however, and he had neither munitions nor provisions for a long siege. winter was coming on; and the states, aware that he would soon be obliged to retire from before the well-garrisoned and fortified place, thought it unnecessary to interfere with him. after a very brief demonstration the portuguese veteran was obliged to raise the siege. there were also certain vague attempts made by the enemy to re-possess himself of those most important seaports which had been pledged to the english queen. on a previous page the anxiety has been indicated with which sir robert sydney regarded the withdrawal of the english troops in the netherlands for the sake of assisting the french king. this palpable breach of the treaty had necessarily weakened england's hold on the affections of the netherlanders, and awakened dark suspicions that treason might be impending at flushing or ostend. the suspicions were unjust--so far as the governors of those places were concerned--for sydney and norris were as loyal as they were intelligent and brave; but the trust in their characters was not more implicit than it had been in that of sir william stanley before the commission of his crime. it was now believed that the enemy was preparing for a sudden assault upon ostend, with the connivance, it was feared, of a certain portion of the english garrison. the intelligence was at once conveyed to her majesty's government by sir edward norris, and they determined to take a lesson from past experience. norris was at once informed that in view of the attack which he apprehended, his garrison should be strengthened by five hundred men under sir conyers clifford from certain companies in flushing, and that other reinforcements should be sent from the english troops in normandy. the governor was ordered to look well after his captains and soldiers, to remind them, in the queen's name, of their duty to herself and to the states, to bid all beware of sullying the english name, to make close investigations into any possible intrigues of the garrison with the enemy, and, should any culprits be found, to bring them at once to condign punishment. the queen, too, determined that there should be no blighting of english honour, if she could prevent it by her warnings, indited with her own hand a characteristic letter to sir edward norris, to accompany the more formal despatch of lord burghley. thus it ran "ned!-- "though you have some tainted sheep among your flock, let not that serve for excuse for the rest. we trust you are so carefully regarded as nought shall be left for your excuses, but either ye lack heart or want will; for of fear we will not make mention, as that our soul abhors, and we assure ourselves you will never discern suspicion of it. now or never let for the honour of us and our nation, each man be so much of bolder heart as their cause is good, and their honour must be according, remembering the old goodness of our god, who never yet made us fail his needful help, who ever bless you as i with my prince's hand beseech him." the warnings and preparations proved sufficiently effective, and the great schemes with which the new royal governor of the netherlands was supposed to be full--a mere episode in which was the conquest of ostend--seemed not so formidable as their shadows had indicated. there was, in the not very distant future, to be a siege of ostend, which the world would not soon forget, but perhaps the place would not yield to a sudden assault. its resistance, on the contrary, might prove more protracted than was then thought possible. but the chronicle of events must not be anticipated. for the present, ostend was safe. early in the following spring, verdugo again appeared before coeworden in force. it was obvious that the great city of groningen, the mistress of all the north-eastern provinces, would soon be attacked, and coeworden was the necessary base of any operations against the place. fortunately for the states, william lewis had in the preceding autumn occupied and fortified the only avenue through the bourtange morass, so that when verdugo sat down before coeworden, it was possible for maurice, by moving rapidly, to take the royal governor at a disadvantage. verdugo had eight thousand picked troops, including two thousand walloon cavalry, troopers who must have been very formidable, if they were to be judged by the prowess of one of their captains, gaucier by name. this obedient netherlander was in the habit of boasting that he had slain four hundred and ten men with his own hand, including several prisoners and three preachers; but the rest of those warriors were not so famed for their martial achievements. the peril, however, was great, and prince maurice, trifling not a moment, threw himself with twelve thousand infantry, germans, frisians, scotch, english, and hollanders, and nearly two thousand horse, at once upon the road between the vecht and the bourtange morass. on the th of may, verdugo found the states' commander-in-chief trenched and impregnable, squarely established upon his line of communications. he reconnoitred, called a council of war, and decided that to assail him were madness; to remain, destruction. on the night of the th of may, he broke up his camp and stole away in the darkness, without sound of drum or trumpet, leaving all his fortifications and burning all his huts. thus had maurice, after showing the world how strong places were to be reduced, given a striking exhibition of the manner in which they were to be saved. coeworden, after thirty-one weeks' investment, was relieved. the stadholder now marched upon groningen. this city was one of the most splendid and opulent of all the netherland towns. certainly it should have been one of the most ancient in europe, since it derived its name--according to that pains-taking banker, francis guicciardini--"from grun, a trojan gentleman," who, nevertheless, according to munster, was "a frenchman by birth."--"both theories, however, might be true," added the conscientious florentine, "as the french have always claimed to be descended from the relics of troy." a simpler-minded antiquary might have babbled of green fields, since 'groenighe,' or greenness, was a sufficiently natural appellation for a town surrounded as was groningen on the east and west by the greenest and fattest of pastures. in population it was only exceeded by antwerp and amsterdam. situate on the line where upper and nether germany blend into one, the capital of a great province whose very name was synonymous with liberty, and whose hardy sons had clone fierce battle with despotism in every age, so long as there had been human record of despotism and of battles, groningen had fallen into the hands of the foreign foe, not through the prowess of the spaniard but the treason of the netherlander. the baseness of the brilliant, trusted, valiant, treacherous young renneberg has been recorded on a previous page of these volumes. for thirteen years long the republic had chafed at this acquisition of the hated enemy within its very heart. and now the day had come when a blow should be struck for its deliverance by the ablest soldier that had ever shown himself in those regions, one whom the commonwealth had watched over from his cradle. for in groningen there was still a considerable party in favour of the union, although the treason of renneberg had hitherto prevented both city and province from incorporating themselves in the body politic of the united netherlands. within the precincts were five hundred of verdugo's veterans under george lanckema, stationed at a faubourg called schuytendiess. in the city there was, properly speaking, no garrison, for the citizens in the last few years had come to value themselves on their fidelity to church and king, and to take a sorry pride in being false to all that was noble in their past. their ancestors had wrested privilege after privilege at the sword's point from the mailed hands of dukes and emperors, until they were almost a self-governing republic; their courts of justice recognizing no appeal to higher powers, even under the despotic sway of charles v. and now, under the reign of his son, and in the feebler days of that reign, the capital of the free frisians--the men whom their ancient pagan statutes had once declared to be "free so long as the wind blew out of the clouds"--relied upon the trained bands of her burghers enured to arms and well-provided with all munitions of war to protect her, not against foreign tyranny nor domestic sedition, but against liberty and against law. for the representative of the most ancient of the princely houses of europe, a youth whose ancestors had been emperors when the forefathers of philip, long-descended as he was, were but country squires, was now knocking at their gates. not as a conqueror and a despot, but as the elected first magistrate and commander-in-chief of the freest commonwealth in the world, maurice of nassau, at the head of fifteen thousand netherlanders, countrymen of their own, now summoned the inhabitants of the town and province to participate with their fellow citizens in all the privileges and duties of the prosperous republic. it seemed impossible that such an appeal could be resisted by force of arms. rather it would seem that the very walls should have fallen at his feet at the first blast of the trumpet; but there was military honour, there was religious hatred, there was the obstinacy of party. more than all, there were half a dozen jesuits within the town, and to those ablest of generals in times of civil war it was mainly owing that the siege of groningen was protracted longer than under other circumstances would have been possible. it is not my purpose to describe in detail the scientific operations during the sixty-five days between the th may and the th july. again the commander-in-chief enlightened the world by an exhibition of a more artistic and humane style of warfare than previously to his appearance on the military stage had been known. but the daily phenomena of the leaguer--although they have been minutely preserved by most competent eyewitnesses--are hardly entitled to a place except in special military histories where, however, they should claim the foremost rank. the fortifications of the city were of the most splendid and substantial character known to the age. the ditches, the ravelins, the curtains, the towers were as thoroughly constructed as the defences of any place in europe. it was therefore necessary that maurice and his cousin lewis should employ all their learning, all their skill, and their best artillery to reduce this great capital of the eastern netherlands. again the scientific coil of approaches wound itself around and around the doomed stronghold; again were constructed the galleries, the covered ways, the hidden mines, where soldiers, transformed to gnomes, burrowed and fought within the bowels of the earth; again that fatal letter y advanced slowly under ground, stretching its deadly prongs nearer and nearer up to the walls; and again the system of defences against a relieving force was so perfectly established that verdugo or mansfield, with what troops they could muster, seemed as powerless as the pewter soldiers with which maurice in his boyhood--not yet so long passed away--was wont to puzzle over the problems which now practically engaged his early manhood. again, too, strangely enough, it is recorded that philip nassau, at almost the same period of the siege as in that of gertruydenberg, signalized himself by a deed of drunken and superfluous daring. this time the dinner party was at the quarters of count solms, in honour of the prince of anhalt, where, after potations pottle deep, count philip rushed from the dinner-table to the breach, not yet thoroughly practicable, of the north ravelin, and, entirely without armour, mounted pike in hand to the assault, proposing to carry the fort by his own unaided exertions. another officer, one captain vaillant, still more beside himself than was the count, inspired him to these deeds of valour by assuring him that the mine was to be sprung under the ravelin that afternoon, and that it was a plot on the part of the holland boatmen to prevent the soldiers who had been working so hard and so long in the mines from taking part in the honours of the assault. the count was with difficulty brought off with a whole skin and put to bed. yet despite these disgraceful pranks there is no doubt that a better and braver officer than he was hardly to be found even among the ten noble nassaus who at that moment were fighting for the cause of dutch liberty--fortunately with more sobriety than he at all times displayed. on the following day, prince maurice, making a reconnoissance of the works with his usual calmness, yet with the habitual contempt of personal danger which made so singular a contrast with the cautious and painstaking characteristics of his strategy, very narrowly escaped death. a shot from the fort struck so hard upon the buckler under cover of which he was taking his observations as to fell him to the ground. sir francis vere, who was with the prince under the same buckler, likewise measured his length in the trench, but both escaped serious injury. pauli, one of the states commissioners present in the camp, wrote to barneveld that it was to be hoped that the accident might prove a warning to his excellency. he had repeatedly remonstrated with him, he said, against his reckless exposure of himself to unnecessary danger, but he was so energetic and so full of courage that it was impossible to restrain him from being everywhere every day. three days later, the letter y did its work. at ten o'clock july, of the night of the th july, prince maurice ordered the mines to be sprung, when the north ravelin was blown into the air, and some forty of the garrison with it. two of them came flying into the besiegers' camp, and, strange to say, one was alive and sound. the catastrophe finished the sixty-five days' siege, the breach was no longer defensible, the obstinacy of the burghers was exhausted, and capitulation followed. in truth, there had been a subterranean intrigue going on for many weeks, which was almost as effective as the mine. a certain jan to boer had been going back and forth between camp and city, under various pretexts and safe-conducts, and it had at last appeared that the jesuits and the five hundred of verdugo's veterans were all that prevented groningen from returning to the union. there had been severe fighting within the city itself, for the jesuits had procured the transfer of the veterans from the faubourg to the town itself, and the result of all these operations, political, military, and jesuitical, was that on nd july articles of surrender were finally agreed upon between maurice and a deputation from the magistrates, the guilds, and commander lanckema. the city was to take its place thenceforth as a member of the union. william lewis, already stadholder of friesland for the united states, was to be recognised as chief magistrate of the whole province, which was thus to retain all its ancient privileges, laws, and rights of self-government, while it exchanged its dependence on a distant, foreign, and decaying despotism for incorporation with a young and vigorous commonwealth. it was arranged that no religion but the reformed religion, as then practised in the united republic, should be publicly exercised in the province, but that no man should be questioned as to his faith, or troubled in his conscience: cloisters and ecclesiastical property were to remain 'in statu quo,' until the states-general should come to a definite conclusion on these subjects. universal amnesty was proclaimed for all offences and quarrels. every citizen or resident foreigner was free to remain in or to retire from the town or province, with full protection to his person and property, and it was expressly provided in the articles granted to lanckema that his soldiers should depart with arms and baggage, leaving to prince maurice their colours only, while the prince furnished sufficient transportation for their women and their wounded. the property of verdugo, royal stadholder of the province, was to be respected, and to remain in the city, or to be taken thence under safe conduct, as might be preferred. ten thousand cannon-shot had been fired against the city. the cost of powder and shot consumed was estimated at a hundred thousand florins. four hundred of the besiegers had been killed, and a much larger number wounded. the army had been further weakened by sickness and numerous desertions. of the besieged, three hundred soldiers in all were killed, and a few citizens. thirty-six cannon were taken, besides mortars, and it was said that eight hundred tons of powder, and plenty of other ammunition and provisions were found in the place. on the rd july maurice and william lewis entered the city. some of the soldiers were disappointed at the inexorable prohibition of pillage; but it was the purpose of maurice, as of the states-general, to place the sister province at once in the unsullied possession of the liberty and the order for which the struggle with spain had, been carried on so long. if the limitation of public religious worship seemed harsh, it should be remembered that romanism in a city occupied by spanish troops had come to mean unmitigated hostility to the republic. in the midst of civil war, the hour for that religious liberty which was the necessary issue of the great conflict had not yet struck. it was surely something gained for humanity that no man should be questioned at all as to his creed in countries where it was so recently the time-honoured practice to question him on the rack, and to burn him if the answer was objectionable to the inquirer. it was something that the holy inquisition had been for ever suppressed in the land. it must be admitted, likewise, that the terms of surrender and the spectacle of re-established law and order which succeeded the capture of groningen furnished a wholesome contrast to the scenes of ineffable horror that had been displayed whenever a dutch town had fallen into the hands of philip. and thus the commonwealth of the united netherlands, through the practical military genius and perseverance of maurice and lewis william, and the substantial statesmanship of barneveld and his colleagues, had at last rounded itself into definite shape; while in all directions toward which men turned their eyes, world-empire, imposing and gorgeous as it had seemed for an interval, was vanishing before its votaries like a mirage. the republic, placed on the solid foundations of civil liberty, self-government, and reasonable law, was steadily consolidating itself. no very prominent movements were undertaken by the forces of the union during the remainder of the year. according to the agreements with henry iv. it had been necessary to provide that monarch with considerable assistance to carry on his new campaigns, and it was therefore difficult for maurice to begin for the moment upon the larger schemes which he had contemplated. meantime the condition of the obedient netherlands demands a hasty glance. on the death of brother alexander the capuchin, fuentes produced a patent by which peter ernest mansfeld was provisionally appointed governor, in case the post should become vacant. during the year which followed, that testy old campaigner had indulged himself in many petty feuds with all around him, but had effected, as we have seen, very little to maintain the king's authority either in the obedient or disobedient provinces. his utter incompetency soon became most painfully apparent. his more than puerile dependence upon his son, and the more than paternal severity exercised over him by count charles, were made manifest to all the world. the son ruled the trembling but peevish old warrior with an iron rod, and endless was their wrangling with fuentes and all the other spaniards. between the querulousness of the one and the ferocity of the other, poor fuentes became sick of his life. "'tis a diabolical genius, this count charles," said ybarra, "and so full of ambition that he insists on governing everybody just as he rules his father. as for me, until the archduke comes i am a fish out of water." the true successor to farnese was to be, the archduke ernest, one of the many candidates for the hand of the infanta, and for the throne of that department of the spanish dominions which was commonly called france. should philip not appropriate the throne without further scruple, in person, it was on the whole decided that his favorite nephew should be the satrap of that outlying district of the spanish empire. in such case obedient france might be annexed to obedient netherlands, and united under the sway of archduke ernest. but these dreams had proved in the cold air of reality but midsummer madness. when the name of the archduke was presented to the estates as king ernest i. of france, even the most unscrupulous and impassioned leaguers of that country fairly hung their heads. that a foreign prince, whose very name had never been before heard of by the vast bulk of the french population, should be deliberately placed upon the throne of st. louis and hugh capet, was a humiliation hard to defend, profusely as philip had scattered the peruvian and mexican dollars among the great ones of the nation, in order to accomplish his purpose. so archduke ernest, early in the year , came to brussels, but he came as a gloomy, disappointed man. to be a bachelor-governor of the impoverished, exhausted, half-rebellious, and utterly forlorn little remnant of the spanish netherlands, was a different position from that of husband of clara isabella and king of france, on which his imagination had been feeding so long. for nearly the whole twelvemonth subsequent to the death of farnese, the spanish envoy to the imperial court had been endeavouring to arrange for the departure of the archduke to his seat of government in the netherlands. the prince himself was willing enough, but there were many obstacles on the part of the emperor and his advisers. "especially there is one very great impossibility," said san clemente, "and that is the poverty of his highness, which is so great that my own is not greater in my estate. so i don't see how he can stir a step without money. here they'll not furnish him with a penny, and for himself he possesses nothing but debts." the emperor was so little pleased with the adventure that in truth, according to the same authority, he looked upon the new viceroy's embarrassments with considerable satisfaction, so that it was necessary for philip to provide for his travelling expenses. ernest was next brother of the emperor rudolph, and as intensely devoted to the interests of the roman church as was that potentate himself, or even his uncle philip. he was gentle, weak, melancholy, addicted to pleasure, a martyr to the gout. he brought no soldiers to the provinces, for the emperor, threatened with another world-empire on his pagan flank, had no funds nor troops to send to the assistance of his christian brother-in-law and uncle. moreover, it may be imagined that rudolph, despite the bonds of religion and consanguinity, was disposed to look coldly on the colossal projects of philip. so ernest brought no troops, but he brought six hundred and seventy gentlemen, pages, and cooks, and five hundred and thirty-four horses, not to charge upon the rebellious dutchmen withal, but to draw coaches and six. there was trouble enough prepared for the new governor at his arrival. the great flemish and walloon nobles were quarrelling fiercely with the spaniards and among themselves for office and for precedence. arschot and his brother havre both desired the government of flanders; so did arenberg. all three, as well as other gentlemen, were scrambling for the majordomo's office in ernest's palace. havre wanted the finance department as well, but ybarra, who was a financier, thought the public funds in his hands would be in a perilous condition, inasmuch as he was provinces was accounted the most covetous man in all the provinces. so soon as the archduke was known to be approaching the capital there was a most ludicrous race run by all these grandees, in order to be the first to greet his highness. while mansfeld and fuentes were squabbling, as usual, arschot got the start of both, and arrived at treves. then the decrepit peter ernest struggled as far as luxembourg, while fuentes posted on to namur. the archduke was much perplexed as to the arranging of all these personages on the day of his entrance into brussels. in the council of state it was still worse. arschot claimed the first place as duke and as senior member, peter ernest demanded it as late governor-general and because of his grey hairs. never was imperial highness more disturbed, never was clamour for loaves and fishes more deafening. the caustic financier--whose mind was just then occupied with the graver matter of assassination on a considerable scale--looked with profound contempt at the spectacle thus presented to him. "there has been the devil's own row," said he, "between these counts about offices, and also about going out to receive the most serene archduke. i have had such work with them that by the salvation of my soul i swear if it were to last a fortnight longer i would go off afoot to spain, even if i were sure of dying in jail after i got there. i have reconciled the two counts (fuentes and mansfeld) with each other a hundred times, and another hundred times they have fallen out again, and behaved themselves with such vulgarity that i blushed for them. they are both to blame, but at any rate we have now got the archduke housed, and he will get us out of this embarrassment." the archduke came with rather a prejudice against the spaniards--the result doubtless of his disappointment in regard to france--and he manifested at first an extreme haughtiness to those of that nation with whom he came in contact. a castilian noble of high rank, having audience with him on one occasion, replaced his hat after salutation, as he had been accustomed to do--according to the manner of grandees of spain--during the government of farnese. the hat was rudely struck from his head by the archduke's chamberlain, and he was himself ignominiously thrust out of the presence. at another time an interview was granted to two spanish gentlemen who had business to transact. they made their appearance in magnificent national costume, splendidly embroidered in gold. after a brief hearing they were dismissed, with appointment of another audience for a few days later. when they again presented themselves they found the archduke with his court jester standing at his side, the buffoon being attired in a suit precisely similar to their own, which in the interval had been prepared by the court tailor. such amenities as these did not increase the popularity of ernest with the high-spirited spaniards, nor was it palatable to them that it should be proposed to supersede the old fighting portuguese, verdugo, as governor and commander-in-chief for the king in friesland, by frederic van den berg, a renegade netherlander, unworthy cousin of the nassaus, who had never shown either military or administrative genius. nor did he succeed in conciliating the flemings or the germans by these measures. in truth he was, almost without his own knowledge, under the controlling influence of fuentes, the most unscrupulous and dangerous spaniard of them all, while his every proceeding was closely watched not only by diego and stephen ybarra, but even by christoval de moura, one of philip's two secretaries of state who at this crisis made a visit to brussels. these men were indignant at the imbecility of the course pursued in the obedient provinces. they knew that the incapacity of the government to relieve the sieges of gertruydenberg and groningen had excited the contempt of europe, and was producing a most damaging effect an spanish authority throughout christendom. they were especially irritated by the presence of the arch-intrigues, mayenne, in brussels, even after all his double dealings had been so completely exposed that a blind man could have read them. yet there was mayenne, consorting with the archduke, and running up a great bill of sixteen thousand florins at the hotel, which the royal paymaster declined to settle for want of funds, notwithstanding ernest's order to that effect, and there was no possibility of inducing the viceroy to arrest him, much as he had injured and defrauded the king. how severely ybarra and feria denounced mayenne has been seen; but remonstrances about this and other grave mistakes of administration were lost upon ernest, or made almost impossible by his peculiar temper. "if i speak of these things to his highness," said ybarra, "he will begin to cry, as he always does." ybarra, however, thought it his duty secretly to give the king frequent information as to the blasted and forlorn condition of the provinces. "this sick man will die in our arms," he said, "without our wishing to kill him." he also left no doubt in the royal mind as to the utter incompetency of the archduke for his office. although he had much christianity, amiability, and good intentions, he was so unused to business, so slow and so lazy, so easily persuaded by those around him, as to be always falling into errors. he was the servant of his own servants, particularly of those least disposed to the king's service and most attentive to their own interests. he had endeavoured to make himself beloved by the natives of the country, while the very reverse of this had been the result. "as to his agility and the strength of his body," said the spaniard, as if he were thinking of certain allegories which were to mark the archduke's triumphal entry, "they are so deficient as to leave him unfit for arms. i consider him incapable of accompanying an army to the field, and we find him so new to all such affairs as constitute government and the conduct of warlike business, that he could not steer his way without some one to enlighten and direct him." it was sometimes complained of in those days--and the thought has even prolonged itself until later times--that those republicans of the united netherlands had done and could do great things; but that, after all, there was no grandeur about them. certainly they had done great things. it was something to fight the ocean for ages, and patiently and firmly to shut him out from his own domain. it was something to extinguish the spanish inquisition--a still more cruel and devouring enemy than the sea. it was something that the fugitive spirit of civil and religious liberty had found at last its most substantial and steadfast home upon those storm-washed shoals and shifting sandbanks. it was something to come to the rescue of england in her great agony, and help to save her from invasion. it was something to do more than any nation but england, and as much as she, to assist henry the huguenot to the throne of his ancestors and to preserve the national unity of france which its own great ones had imperilled. it was something to found two magnificent universities, cherished abodes of science and of antique lore, in the midst of civil commotions and of resistance to foreign oppression. it was something, at the same period, to lay the foundation of a system of common schools--so cheap as to be nearly free--for rich and poor alike, which, in the words of one of the greatest benefactors to the young republic, "would be worth all the soldiers, arsenals, armouries, munitions, and alliances in the world." it was something to make a revolution, as humane as it was effective, in military affairs, and to create an army whose camps were european academies. it was something to organize, at the same critical period, on the most skilful and liberal scale, to carry out with unexampled daring, sagacity, and fortitude, great voyages of discovery to the polar regions, and to open new highways for commerce, new treasures for science. many things of this nature had been done by the new commonwealth; but, alas! she did not drape herself melodramatically, nor stalk about with heroic wreath and cothurn. she was altogether without grandeur. when alva had gained his signal victories, and followed them up by those prodigious massacres which, but for his own and other irrefragable testimony, would seem too monstrous for belief, he had erected a colossal statue to himself, attired in the most classical of costumes, and surrounded with the most mythological of attributes. here was grandeur. but william the silent, after he had saved the republic, for which he had laboured during his whole lifetime and was destined to pour out his heart's blood, went about among the brewers and burghers with unbuttoned doublet and woollen bargeman's waistcoat. it was justly objected to his clothes, by the euphuistic fulke greville, that a meanborn student of the inns of court would have been ashamed to walk about london streets in them. and now the engineering son of that shabbily-dressed personage had been giving the whole world lessons in the science of war, and was fairly perfecting the work which william and his great contemporaries had so well begun. but if all this had been merely doing great things without greatness, there was one man in the netherlands who knew what grandeur was. he was not a citizen of the disobedient republic, however, but a loyal subject of the obedient provinces, and his name was john baptist houwaerts, an eminent schoolmaster of brussels. he was still more eminent as a votary of what was called "rhetoric" and as an arranger of triumphal processions and living pictures. the arrival of archduke ernest at the seat of the provincial government offered an opportunity, which had long been wanting, for a display of john baptist's genius. the new viceroy was in so shattered a condition of health, so crippled with the gout, as to be quite unable to stand, and it required the services of several lackeys to lift him into and out of his carriage. a few days of repose therefore were indispensable to him before he could make his "joyous entrance" into the capital. but the day came at last, and the exhibition was a masterpiece. it might have seemed that the abject condition of the spanish provinces--desolate, mendicant, despairing--would render holiday making impossible. but although almost every vestige of the ancient institutions had vanished from the obedient netherlands as a reward for their obedience; although to civil and religious liberty, law, order, and a thriving commercial and manufacturing existence, such as had been rarely witnessed in the world, had succeeded the absolute tyranny of jesuits, universal beggary, and a perennial military mutiny--setting government at defiance and plundering the people--there was one faithful never deserted belgica, and that was rhetoric. neither the magnificence nor the pedantry of the spectacles by which the entry of the mild and inefficient ernest into brussels and antwerp was now solemnized had ever been surpassed. the town councils, stimulated by hopes absolutely without foundation as to great results to follow the advent of the emperor's brother, had voted large sums and consumed many days in anxious deliberation upon the manner in which they should be expended so as most to redound to the honour of ernest and the reputation of the country. in place of the "bloody tragedies of burning, murdering, and ravishing," of which the provinces had so long been the theatre, it was resolved that, "rhetoric's sweet comedies, amorous jests, and farces," should gladden all eyes and hearts. a stately procession of knights and burghers in historical and mythological costumes, followed by ships, dromedaries, elephants, whales, giants, dragons, and other wonders of the sea and shore, escorted the archduke into the city. every street and square was filled with triumphal arches, statues and platforms, on which the most ingenious and thoroughly classical living pictures were exhibited. there was hardly an eminent deity of olympus, or hero of ancient history, that was not revived and made visible to mortal eyes in the person of ernestus of austria. on a framework fifty-five feet high and thirty-three feet in breadth he was represented as apollo hurling his darts at an enormous python, under one of whose fore-paws struggled an unfortunate burgher, while the other clutched a whole city; tellus, meantime, with her tower on her head, kneeling anxious and imploring at the feet of her deliverer. on another stage ernest assumed the shape of perseus; belgica that of the bound and despairing andromeda. on a third, the interior of etna was revealed, when vulcan was seen urging his cyclops to forge for ernest their most tremendous thunderbolts with which to smite the foes of the provinces, those enemies being of course the english and the hollanders. venus, the while, timidly presented an arrow to her husband, which he was requested to sharpen, in order that when the wars were over cupid, therewith might pierce the heart of some beautiful virgin, whose charms should reward ernest--fortunately for the female world, still a bachelor--for his victories and his toils. the walls of every house were hung with classic emblems and inscribed with latin verses. all the pedagogues of brussels and antwerp had been at work for months, determined to amaze the world with their dithyrambics and acrostics, and they had outdone themselves. moreover, in addition to all these theatrical spectacles and pompous processions--accompanied as they were by blazing tar-barrels, flying dragons, and leagues of flaring torches--john baptist, who had been director-in-chief of all the shows successively arranged to welcome don john of austria, archduke matthias, francis of alengon, and even william of orange, into the capital, had prepared a feast of a specially intellectual character for the new governor-general. the pedant, according to his own account, so soon as the approach of ernest had been announced, fell straightway into a trance. while he was in that condition, a beautiful female apparition floated before his eyes, and, on being questioned, announced her name to be moralization. john baptist begged her to inform him whether it were true, as had been stated, that jupiter had just sent mercury to the netherlands. the phantom, correcting his mistake, observed that the king of gods and men had not sent hermes but the archduke ernestus, beloved of the three graces, favourite of the nine muses, and, in addition to these advantages, nephew and brother-in-law of the king of spain, to the relief of the suffering provinces. the netherlands, it was true, for their religious infidelity, had justly incurred great disasters and misery; but benignant jove, who, to the imagination of this excited fleming, seemed to have been converted to catholicism while still governing the universe, had now sent them in mercy a deliverer. the archduke would speedily relieve "bleeding belgica" from her sufferings, bind up her wounds, and annihilate her enemies. the spirit further informed the poet that the forests of the low countries--so long infested by brigands, wood-beggars, and malefactors of all kinds--would thenceforth swarm with "nymphs, rabbits, hares, and animals of that nature." a vision of the conquering ernest, attended by "eight-and-twenty noble and pleasant females, marching two and two, half naked, each holding a torch in one hand and a laurel-wreath in the other," now swept before the dreamer's eyes. he naturally requested the "discreet spirit" to mention the names of this bevy of imperfectly attired ladies thronging so lovingly around the fortunate archduke, and was told that "they were the eight-and-twenty virtues which chiefly characterized his serene highness." prominent in this long list, and they were all faithfully enumerated, were "philosophy, audacity, acrimony, virility, equity, piety, velocity, and alacrity." the two last-mentioned qualities could hardly be attributed to the archduke in his decrepit condition, except in an intensely mythological sense. certainly, they would have been highly useful virtues to him at that moment. the prince who had just taken gertruydenberg, and was then besieging groningen, was manifesting his share of audacity, velocity, and other good gifts on even a wider platform than that erected for ernest by john baptist houwaerts; and there was an admirable opportunity for both to develope their respective characteristics for the world's judgment. meantime the impersonation of the gentle and very gouty invalid as apollo, as perseus, as the feather-heeled mercury, was highly applauded by the burghers of brussels. and so the dreamer dreamed on, and the discreet nymph continued to discourse, until john baptist, starting suddenly from his trance beheld that it was all a truth and no vision. ernest was really about to enter the netherlands, and with him the millennium. the pedant therefore proceeded to his desk, and straightway composed the very worst poem that had ever been written in any language, even flemish. there were thousands of lines in it, and not a line without a god or a goddess. mars, nemesis, and ate, pluto, rhadamanthus, and minos, the fates and the furies, together with charon, calumnia, bellona, and all such objectionable divinities, were requested to disappear for ever from the low countries; while in their stead were confidently invoked jupiter, apollo, triptolemus, and last, though not least, rhetorica. enough has been said of this raree-show to weary the reader's patience, but not more than enough to show the docile and enervated nature of this portion of a people who had lost everything for which men cherish their fatherland, but who could still find relief--after thirty years of horrible civil war in painted pageantry, latin versification, and the classical dictionary. yet there was nothing much more important achieved by the archduke in the brief period for which his administration was destined to endure. three phenomena chiefly marked his reign, but his own part in the three was rather a passive than an active one--mutiny, assassination, and negotiation--the two last attempted on a considerable scale but ending abortively. it is impossible to exaggerate the misery of the obedient provinces at this epoch. the insane attempt of the king of spain, with such utterly inadequate machinery, to conquer the world has been sufficiently dilated upon. the spanish and italian and walloon soldiers were starving in brabant and flanders in order that spanish gold might be poured into the bottomless pit of the holy league in france. the mutiny that had broken forth the preceding year in artois and hamault was now continued on a vast scale in brabant. never had that national institution--a spanish mutiny--been more thoroughly organized, more completely carried out in all its details. all that was left of the famous spanish discipline and military science in this their period of rapid decay, seemed monopolized by the mutineers. some two thousand choice troops (horse and foot), italians and spanish, took possession of two considerable cities, sichem and arschot, and ultimately concentrated themselves at sichem, which they thoroughly fortified. having chosen their eletto and other officers they proceeded regularly to business. to the rallying point came disaffected troops of all nations from far and near. never since the beginning of the great war had there been so extensive a military rebellion, nor one in which so many veteran officers, colonels, captains, and subalterns took part. the army of philip had at last grown more dangerous to himself than to the hollanders. the council at brussels deliberated anxiously upon the course to be pursued, and it was decided at last to negotiate with instead of attacking them. but it was soon found that the mutineers were as hard to deal with as were the republicans on the other side the border. they refused to hear of anything short of complete payment of the enormous arrears due to them, with thorough guarantees and hostages that any agreement made between themselves and the archduke should be punctually carried out. meanwhile they ravaged the country far and near, and levied their contributions on towns and villages, up to the very walls of brussels, and before the very eyes of the viceroy. moreover they entered into negotiation with prince maurice of nassau, not offering to enlist under his flag, but asking for protection against the king in exchange for a pledge meanwhile not to serve his cause. at last the archduke plucked up a heart and sent some troops against the rebels, who had constructed two forts on the river demer near the city of sichem. in vain velasco, commander of the expedition, endeavoured to cut off the supplies for these redoubts. the vigour and audacity of the rebel cavalry made the process impossible. velasco then attempted to storm the lesser stronghold of the two, but was repulsed with the loss of two hundred killed. among these were many officers, one of whom, captain porto carrero, was a near relative of fuentes. after a siege, velasco, who was a marshal of the camp of considerable distinction, succeeded in driving the mutineers out of the forts; who, finding their position thus weakened, renewed their negotiations with maurice. they at last obtained permission from the prince to remain under the protection of gertruydenberg and breda until they could ascertain what decision the archduke would take. more they did not ask of maurice, nor did he require more of them. the mutiny, thus described in a few lines, had occupied nearly a year, and had done much to paralyze for that period all the royal operations in the netherlands. in december the rebellious troops marched out of sichem in perfect order, and came to langstraet within the territory of the republic. the archduke now finding himself fairly obliged to treat with them sent an offer of the same terms which had been proposed to mutineers on previous occasions. at first they flatly refused to negotiate at all, but at last, with the permission of maurice, who conducted himself throughout with scrupulous delicacy, and made no attempts to induce them to violate their allegiance to the king, they received count belgioso, the envoy of the archduke. they held out for payment of all their arrears up to the last farthing, and insisted on a hostage of rank until the debt should be discharged. full forgiveness of their rebellious proceedings was added as a matter of course. their terms were accepted, and francisco padiglia was assigned as a hostage. they then established themselves, according to agreement, at tirlemont, which they were allowed to fortify at the expense of the province and to hold until the money for their back wages could be scraped together. meantime they received daily wages and rations from the government at brussels, including thirty stivers a day for each horseman, thirteen crowns a day for the eletto, and ten crowns a day for each counsellor, making in all five hundred crowns a day. and here they remained, living exceedingly at their ease and enjoying a life of leisure for eighteen months, and until long after the death of the archduke, for it was not until the administration of cardinal albert that the funds, amounting to three hundred and sixty thousand crowns, could be collected. these were the chief military exploits of the podagric perseus in behalf of the flemish andromeda. a very daring adventure was however proposed to the archduke. philip calmly suggested that an expedition should be rapidly fitted out in dunkirk, which should cross the channel, ascend the thames as far as rochester, and burn the english fleet. "i am informed by persons well acquainted with the english coast," said the king, "that it would be an easy matter for a few quick-sailing vessels to accomplish this. two or three thousand soldiers might be landed at rochester who might burn or sink all the unarmed vessels they could find there, and the expedition could return and sail off again before the people of the country could collect in sufficient numbers to do them any damage." the archduke was instructed to consult with fuentes and ybarra as to whether this little matter, thus parenthetically indicated, could be accomplished without too much risk and trouble. certainly it would seem as if the king believed in the audacity, virility, velocity, alacrity, and the rest of the twenty-eight virtues of his governor-general, even more seriously than did john baptist houwaerts. the unfortunate archduke would have needed to be, in all earnestness, a mythological demigod to do the work required of him. with the best part of his army formally maintained by him in recognised mutiny, with the great cities of the netherlands yielding themselves to the republic with hardly an attempt on the part of the royal forces to relieve them, and with the country which he was supposed to govern, the very centre of the obedient provinces, ruined, sacked, eaten up by the soldiers of spain; villages, farmhouses, gentlemen's castles, churches plundered; the male population exposed to daily butchery, and the women to outrages worse than death; it seemed like the bitterest irony to propose that he should seize that moment to outwit the english and dutch sea-kings who were perpetually cruising in the channel, and to undertake a "beard-singeing" expedition such as even the dare-devil drake would hardly have attempted. such madcap experiments might perhaps one day, in the distant future, be tried with reasonable success, but hardly at the beck of a spanish king sitting in his easy chair a thousand miles off, nor indeed by the servants of any king whatever. the plots of murder arranged in brussels during this administration were on a far more extensive scale than were the military plans. the count of fuentes, general superintendent of foreign affairs, was especially charged with the department of assassination. this office was no sinecure; for it involved much correspondence, and required great personal attention to minute details. philip, a consummate artist in this branch of industry, had laid out a good deal of such work which he thought could best be carried out in and from the netherlands. especially it was desirable to take off, by poison or otherwise, henry iv., queen elizabeth, maurice of nassau, olden-barneveld, st. aldegonde, and other less conspicuous personages. henry's physician-in-chief, de la riviere, was at that time mainly occupied with devising antidotes to poison, which he well knew was offered to his master on frequent occasions, and in the most insidious ways. andrada, the famous portuguese poisoner, amongst others is said, under direction of fuentes and ybarra, to have attempted his life by a nosegay of roses impregnated with so subtle a powder that its smell alone was relied upon to cause death, and de la riviere was doing his best to search for a famous saxon drug, called fable-powder, as a counter-poison. "the turk alarms us, and well he may," said a diplomatic agent of henry, "but the spaniard allows us not to think of the turk. and what a strange manner is this to exercise one's enmities and vengeance by having recourse to such damnable artifices, after force and arms have not succeeded, and to attack the person of princes by poisonings and assassinations." a most elaborate attempt upon the life of queen elizabeth early in this year came near being successful. a certain portuguese jew, dr. lopez, had for some time been her physician-in-ordinary. he had first been received into her service on the recommendation of don antonio, the pretender, and had the reputation of great learning and skill. with this man count fuentes and stephen ybarra, chief of the financial department at brussels, had a secret understanding. their chief agent was emanuel andrada, who was also in close communication with bernardino de mendoza and other leading personages of the spanish court. two years previously, philip, by the hands of andrada, had sent a very valuable ring of rubies and diamonds as a present to lopez, and the doctor had bound himself to do any service for the king of spain that might be required of him. andrada accordingly wrote to mendoza that he had gained over this eminent physician, but that as lopez was poor and laden with debt, a high price would be required for his work. hereupon fuentes received orders from the king of spain to give the jew all that he could in reason demand, if he would undertake to poison the queen. it now became necessary to handle the matter with great delicacy, and fuentes and ybarra entered accordingly into a correspondence, not with lopez, but with a certain ferrara de gama. these letters were entrusted to one emanuel lewis de tinoco, secretly informed of the plot, for delivery to ferrara. fuentes charged tinoco to cause ferrara to encourage lopez to poison her majesty of england, that they might all have "a merry easter." lopez was likewise requested to inform the king of spain when he thought he could accomplish the task. the doctor ultimately agreed to do the deed for fifty thousand crowns, but as he had daughters and was an affectionate parent, he stipulated for a handsome provision in marriage for those young ladies. the terms were accepted, but lopez wished to be assured of the money first. "having once undertaken the work," said lord burghley, if he it were, "he was so greedy to perform it that he would ask ferrara every day, 'when will the money come? i am ready to do the service if the answer were come out of spain.'" but philip, as has been often seen, was on principle averse to paying for work before it had been done. some delay occurring, and the secret, thus confided to so many, having floated as it were imperceptibly into the air, tinoco was arrested on suspicion before he had been able to deliver the letters of fuentes and ybarra to ferrara, for ferrara, too, had been imprisoned before the arrival of tinoco. the whole correspondence was discovered, and both ferrara and tinoco confessed the plot. lopez, when first arrested, denied his guilt very stoutly, but being confronted with ferrara, who told the whole story to his face in presence of the judges, he at last avowed the crime. they were all condemned, executed, and quartered at london in the spring of . the queen wished to send a special envoy to the archduke at brussels, to complain that secretary of state cristoval de moura, count fuentes, and finance minister ybarra--all three then immediately about his person--were thus implicated in the plot against her life, to demand their punishment, or else, in case of refusals to convict the king and the archduke as accomplices in the crime. safe conduct was requested for such an envoy, which was refused by ernest as an insulting proposition both to his uncle and himself. the queen accordingly sent word to president richardot by one of her council, that the whole story would be published, and this was accordingly done. early in the spring of this same year, a certain renichon, priest and schoolmaster of namur, was summoned from his school to a private interview with count berlaymont. that nobleman very secretly informed the priest that the king of, spain wished to make use of him in an affair of great importance, and one which would be very profitable to himself. the pair then went together to brussels, and proceeded straightway to the palace. they were secretly admitted to the apartments of the archduke, but the priest, meaning to follow his conductor into the private chamber, where he pretended to recognize the person of ernest, was refused admittance. the door was, however, not entirely closed, and he heard, as he declared, the conversation between his highness and berlaymont, which was carried on partly in latin and partly in spanish. he heard them discussing the question--so he stated--of the recompense to be awarded for the business about to be undertaken, and after a brief conversation, distinctly understood the archduke to say, as the count was approaching the door, "i will satisfy him abundantly and with interest." berlaymont then invited his clerical guest to supper--so ran his statement--and, after that repast was finished, informed him that he was requested by the archduke to kill prince maurice of nassau. for this piece of work he was to receive one hundred philip-dollars in hand, and fifteen thousand more, which were lying ready for him, so soon as the deed should be done. the schoolmaster at first objected to the enterprise, but ultimately yielded to the persuasions of the count. he was informed that maurice was a friendly, familiar gentleman, and that there would be opportunities enough for carrying out the project if he took his time. he was to buy a good pair of pistols and remove to the hague, where he was to set up a school, and wait for the arrival of his accomplices, of whom there were six. berlaymont then caused to be summoned and introduced to the pedagogue a man whom he described as one of the six. the new comer, hearing that renichon had agreed to the propositions made to him, hailed him cordially as comrade and promised to follow him very soon into holland. berlaymont then observed that there were several personages to be made away with, besides prince maurice--especially barneveld, and st. aldegonde and that the six assassins had, since the time of the duke of parma, been kept in the pay of the king of spain as nobles, to be employed as occasion should serve. his new comrade accompanied renichon to the canal boat, conversing by the way, and informed him that they were both to be sent to leyden in order to entice away and murder the young brother of maurice, frederic henry, then at school at that place, even as philip william, eldest of all the brothers, had been kidnapped five-and-twenty years before from the same town. renichon then disguised himself as a soldier, proceeded to antwerp, where he called himself michael de triviere, and thence made his way to breda, provided with letters from berlaymont. he was, however, arrested on suspicion not long after his arrival there, and upon trial the whole plot was discovered. having unsuccessfully attempted to hang himself, he subsequently, without torture, made a full and minute confession, and was executed on the rd june, . later in the year, one pierre du four, who had been a soldier both in the states and the french service, was engaged by general la motte and counsellor assonleville to attempt the assassination of prince maurice. la motte took the man to the palace, and pretended at least to introduce him to the chamber of the archduke, who was said to be lying ill in bed. du four was advised to enrol himself in the body-guard at the hague, and to seek an opportunity when the prince went hunting, or was mounting his horse, or was coming from church, or at some such unguarded moment, to take a shot at him. "will you do what i ask," demanded from the bed the voice of him who was said to be ernest, "will you kill this tyrant?"--"i will," replied the soldier. "then my son," was the parting benediction of the supposed archduke, "you will go straight to paradise." afterwards he received good advice from assonleville, and was assured that if he would come and hear a mass in the royal chapel next morning, that religious ceremony would make him invisible when he should make his attempt on the life of maurice, and while he should be effecting his escape. the poor wretch accordingly came next morning to chapel, where this miraculous mass was duly performed, and he then received a certain portion of his promised reward in ready money. he was also especially charged, in case he should be arrested, not to make a confession--as had been done by those previously employed in such work--as all complicity with him on part of his employers would certainly be denied. the miserable dupe was arrested, convicted, executed; and of course the denial was duly made on the part of the archduke, la motte, and assonleville. it was also announced, on behalf of ernest, that some one else, fraudulently impersonating his highness, had lain in the bed to which the culprit had been taken, and every one must hope that the statement was a true one. enough has been given to show the peculiar school of statesmanship according to the precepts of which the internal concerns and foreign affairs of the obedient netherlands were now administered. poison and pistols in the hands of obscure priests and deserters were relied on to bring about great political triumphs, while the mutinous royal armies, entrenched and defiant, were extorting capitulations from their own generals and their own sovereign upon his own soil. such a record as this seems rather like the exaggeration of a diseased fancy, seeking to pander to a corrupt public taste which feeds greedily upon horrors; but, unfortunately, it is derived from the register of high courts of justice, from diplomatic correspondence, and from the confessions, without torture or hope of free pardon, of criminals. for a crowned king and his high functionaries and generals to devote so much of their time, their energies, and their money to the murder of brother and sister sovereigns, and other illustrious personages, was not to make after ages in love with the monarchic and aristocratic system, at least as thus administered. popular governments may be deficient in polish, but a system resting for its chief support upon bribery and murder cannot be considered lovely by any healthy mind. and this is one of the lessons to be derived from the history of philip ii. and of the holy league. but besides mutiny and assassination there were also some feeble attempts at negotiation to characterize the ernestian epoch at brussels. the subject hardly needs more than a passing allusion. two flemish juris-consults, otto hertius and jerome comans, offered their services to the archduke in the peacemaking department. ernest accepted the proposition,--although it was strongly opposed by fuentes, who relied upon the more practical agency of dr. lopez, andrada, renichon, and the rest--and the peace-makers accordingly made their appearance at the hague, under safe conduct, and provided with very conciliatory letters from his highness to the states-general. in all ages and under all circumstances it is safe to enlarge, with whatever eloquence may be at command, upon the blessings of peace and upon the horrors of war; for the appeal is not difficult to make, and a response is certain in almost every human breast. but it is another matter to descend from the general to the particular, and to demonstrate how the desirable may be attained and the horrible averted. the letters of ernest were full of benignity and affection, breathing a most ardent desire that the miserable war, now a quarter of a century old, should be then and there terminated. but not one atom of concession was offered, no whisper breathed that the republic, if it should choose to lay down its victorious arms, and renounce its dearly gained independence, should share any different fate from that under which it saw the obedient provinces gasping before its eyes. to renounce religious and political liberty and self-government, and to submit unconditionally to the authority of philip ii. as administered by ernest and fuentes, was hardly to be expected as the result of the three years' campaigns of maurice of nassau. the two doctors of law laid the affectionate common-places of the archduke before the states-general, each of them making, moreover, a long and flowery oration in which the same protestations of good will and hopes of future good-fellowship were distended to formidable dimensions by much windy rhetoric. the accusations which had been made against the government of brussels of complicity in certain projects of assassination were repelled with virtuous indignation. the answer of the states-general was wrathful and decided. they informed the commissioners that they had taken up arms for a good cause and meant to retain them in their hands. they expressed their thanks for the expressions of good will which had been offered, but avowed their right to complain before god and the world of those who under pretext of peace were attempting to shed the innocent blood of christians, and to procure the ruin and destruction of the netherlands. to this end the state-council of spain was more than ever devoted, being guilty of the most cruel and infamous proceedings and projects. they threw out a rapid and stinging summary of their wrongs; and denounced with scorn the various hollow attempts at negotiation during the preceding twenty-five years. coming down to the famous years and , they alluded in vehement terms to the fraudulent peace propositions which had been thrown as a veil over the spanish invasion of england and the armada; and they glanced at the mediation-projects of the emperor in at the desire of spain, while armies were moving in force from germany, italy, and the netherlands to crush the king of france, in order that philip might establish his tyranny over all kings, princes, provinces, and republics. that the spanish government was secretly dealing with the emperor and other german potentates for the extension of his universal empire appeared from intercepted letters of the king--copies of which were communicated--from which it was sufficiently plain that the purpose of his majesty was not to bestow peace and tranquillity upon the netherlands. the names of fuentes, clemente, ybarra, were sufficient in themselves to destroy any such illusion. they spoke in blunt terms of the attempt of dr. lopez to poison queen elizabeth, at the instigation of count fuentes for fifty thousand crowns to be paid by the king of spain: they charged upon the same fuentes and upon ybarra that they had employed the same andrada to murder the king of france with a nosegay of roses; and they alluded further to the revelations of michael renichon, who was to murder maurice of nassau and kidnap frederic william, even as their father and brother had been already murdered and kidnapped. for such reasons the archduke might understand by what persons and what means the good people of the netherlands were deceived, and how difficult it was for the states to forget such lessons, or to imagine anything honest in the present propositions. the states declared themselves, on the contrary, more called upon than ever before to be upon the watch against the stealthy proceedings of the spanish council of state--bearing in mind the late execrable attempts at assassination, and the open war which was still carried on against the king of france. and although it was said that his highness was displeased with such murderous and hostile proceedings, still it was necessary for the states to beware of the nefarious projects of the king of spain and his council. after the conversion of henry iv. to the roman church had been duly accomplished that monarch had sent a secret envoy to spain. the mission of this agent--de varenne by name--excited intense anxiety and suspicion in england and holland and among the protestants of france and germany. it was believed that henry had not only made a proposition of a separate peace with philip, but that he had formally but mysteriously demanded the hand of the infanta in marriage. such a catastrophe as this seemed to the heated imaginations of the great body of calvinists throughout europe, who had so faithfully supported the king of navarre up to the moment of his great apostasy, the most cruel and deadly treachery of all. that the princess with the many suitors should come to reign over france after all--not as the bride of her own father, not as the queen-consort of ernest the habsburger or of guise the lorrainer, but as the lawful wife of henry the huguenot--seemed almost too astounding for belief, even amid the chances and changes of that astonishing epoch. yet duplessis mornay avowed that the project was entertained, and that he had it from the very lips of the secret envoy who was to negotiate the marriage. "la varenne is on his way to spain," wrote duplessis to the duke of bouillon, "in company with a gentleman of don bernardino de mendoza, who brought the first overtures. he is to bring back the portrait of the infanta. 'tis said that the marriage is to be on condition that the queen and the netherlands are comprised in the peace, but you know that this cannot be satisfactorily arranged for those two parties. all this was once guess-work, but is now history." that eminent diplomatist and soldier mendoza had already on his return from france given the king of spain to understand that there were no hopes of his obtaining the french crown either for himself or for his daughter, that all the money lavished on the chiefs of the league was thrown away, and that all their promises were idle wind. mendoza in consequence had fallen into contempt at court, but philip, observing apparently that there might have been something correct in his statements, had recently recalled him, and, notwithstanding his blindness and other infirmities, was disposed to make use of him in secret negotiations. mendoza had accordingly sent a confidential agent to henry iv. offering his good offices, now that the king had returned to the bosom of the church. this individual, whose name was nunez, was admitted by de bethune (afterwards the famous due de sully) to the presence of the king, but de bethune, believing it probable that the spaniard had been sent to assassinate henry, held both the hands of the emissary during the whole interview, besides subjecting him to a strict personal visitation beforehand. nunez stated that he was authorized to propose to his majesty a marriage with the infanta clara isabella, and henry, much to the discontent of de bethune, listened eagerly to the suggestion, and promised to send a secret agent to spain to confer on the subject with mendoza. the choice he made of la varenne, whose real name was guillaume fouquet, for this mission was still more offensive to de bethune. fouquet had originally been a cook in the service of madame catherine, and was famous for his talent for larding poultry, but he had subsequently entered the household of henry, where he had been employed in the most degrading service which one man can render to another. ["la varenne," said madame catherine on one occasion "tu as plus gagne ti porter les poulets de men frere, qu'a piquer les miens." memoires de sully, liv. vi. p. , note . he accumulated a large fortune in these dignified pursuits--having, according to winwood, landed estates to the annual amount of sixty thousand francs a-year --and gave large dowries to his daughters, whom he married into noblest families; "which is the more remarkable," adds winwood, "considering the services wherein he is employed about the king, which is to be the mezzano for his loves; the place from whence he came, which is out of the kitchen of madame the king's sister."-- memorials, i. .] on his appointment to this office of secret diplomacy he assumed all the airs of an ambassador, while henry took great pains to contradict the reports which were spread as to the true nature of this mission to spain. duplessis was, in truth, not very far wrong in his conjectures, but, as might be supposed, henry was most anxious to conceal these secret negotiations with his catholic majesty from the huguenot chiefs whom he had so recently deserted. "this is all done without the knowledge of the duke of bouillon," said calvaert, "or at least under a very close disguise, as he, himself keenly feels and confesses to me." the envoy of the republic, as well as the leaders of the protestant party in france, were resolved if possible to break off these dark and dangerous intrigues, the nature of which they so shrewdly suspected, and to substitute for them an open rupture of henry with the king of spain, and a formal declaration of war against him. none of the diplomatists or political personages engaged in these great affairs, in which the whole world was so deeply interested, manifested more sagacity and insight on this occasion than did the dutch statesmen. we have seen that even sir edward stafford was deceived up to a very late moment, as to the rumoured intentions of henry to enter the catholic church. envoy edmonds was now equally and completely in the dark as to the mission of varenne, and informed his government that the only result of it was that the secret agent to spain was favoured, through the kindness of mendoza, with a distant view of philip ii. with his son and daughter at their devotions in the chapel of the escorial. this was the tale generally recounted and believed after the agent's return from spain, so that varenne was somewhat laughed at as having gone to spain on a fool's errand, and as having got nothing from mendoza but a disavowal of his former propositions. but the shrewd calvaert, who had entertained familiar relations with la varenne, received from that personage after his return a very different account of his excursion to the escorial from the one generally circulated. "coming from monceaus to paris in his company," wrote calvaert in a secret despatch to the states, "i had the whole story from him. the chief part of his negotiations with don bernardino de mendoza was that if his majesty (the french king) would abandon the queen of england and your highnesses (the states of the netherlands), there were no conditions that would be refused the king, including the hand of the infanta, together with a good recompense for the kingdom of navarre. la varenne maintained that the king of spain had caused these negotiations to be entered upon at this time with him in the certain hope and intention of a definite conclusion, alleging to me many pertinent reasons, and among others that he, having been lodged at madrid, through the adroitness of don bernardino, among all the agents of the league, and hearing all their secrets and negotiations, had never been discovered, but had always been supposed to be one of the league himself. he said also that he was well assured that the infanta in her heart had an affection for the french king, and notwithstanding any resolutions that might be taken (to which i referred, meaning the projects for bestowing her on the house of austria) that she with her father's consent or in case of his death would not fail to carry out this marriage. you may from all this, even out of the proposal for compensation for the kingdom of navarre (of which his majesty also let out something to me inadvertently); collect the reasons why such feeble progress is made in so great an occasion as now presents itself for a declaration of war and an open alliance with your highnesses. i shall not fail to watch these events, even in case of the progress of the said resolutions, notwithstanding the effects of which it is my opinion that this secret intrigue is not to be abandoned. to this end, besides the good intelligence which one gets by means of good friends, a continual and agreeable presentation of oneself to his majesty, in order to see and hear everything, is necessary." certainly, here were reasons more than sufficient why henry should be making but feeble preparations for open war in alliance with england and the republic against philip, as such a step was hardly compatible with the abandonment of england and the republic and the espousal of philip's daughter--projects which henry's commissioner had just been discussing with philip's agent at madrid and the escorial. truly it was well for the republican envoy to watch events as closely as possible, to make the most of intelligence from his good friends, and to present himself as frequently and as agreeably as possible to his majesty, that he might hear and see everything. there was much to see and to hear, and it needed adroitness and courage, not to slip or stumble in such dark ways where the very ground seemed often to be sliding from beneath the feet. to avoid the catastrophe of an alliance between henry, philip, and the pope against holland and england, it was a pressing necessity for holland and england to force henry into open war against philip. to this end the dutch statesmen were bending all their energies. meantime elizabeth regarded the campaign in artois and hainault with little favour. as he took leave on departing for france, la varenne had requested mendoza to write to king henry, but the spaniard excused himself--although professing the warmest friendship for his majesty--on the ground of the impossibility of addressing him correctly. "if i call him here king of navarre, i might as well put my head on the block at once," he observed; "if i call him king of france, my master has not yet recognized him as such; if i call him anything else, he will himself be offended." and the vision of philip in black on his knees, with his children about him, and a rapier at his side, passed with the contemporary world as the only phenomenon of this famous secret mission. but henry, besides this demonstration towards spain, lost no time in despatching a special minister to the republic and to england, who was instructed to make the most profuse, elaborate, and conciliatory explanations as to his recent conversion and as to his future intentions. never would he make peace, he said, with spain without the full consent of the states and of england; the dearest object of his heart in making his peace with rome having been to restore peace to his own distracted realm, to bring all christians into one brotherhood, and to make a united attack upon the grand turk--a vision which the cheerful monarch hardly intended should ever go beyond the ivory gate of dreams, but which furnished substance enough for several well-rounded periods in the orations of de morlans. that diplomatist, after making the strongest representations to queen elizabeth as to the faithful friendship of his master, and the necessity he was under of pecuniary and military assistance, had received generous promises of aid both in men and money--three thousand men besides the troops actually serving in brittany--from that sagacious sovereign, notwithstanding the vehement language in which she had rebuked her royal brother's apostasy. he now came for the same purpose to the hague, where he made very eloquent harangues to the states-general, acknowledging that the republic had ever been the most upright, perfect, and undisguised friend to his master and to france in their darkest days and deepest affliction; that she had loved the king and kingdom for themselves, not merely hanging on to their prosperity, but, on the contrary, doing her best to produce that prosperity by her contributions in soldiers, ships, and subsidies. "the king," said de morlans, "is deeply grieved that he can prove his gratitude only in words for so many benefits conferred, which are absolutely without example, but he has commissioned me to declare that if god should ever give him the occasion, he will prove how highly he places your friendship." the envoy assured the states that all fears entertained by those of the reformed religion on account of the conversion of his majesty were groundless. nothing was farther from the king's thoughts than to injure those noble spirits with whom his soul had lived so long, and whom he so much loved and honoured. no man knew better than the king did, the character of those who professed the religion, their virtue, valour, resolution, and patience in adversity. their numbers had increased in war, their virtues had been purified by affliction, they had never changed their position, whether battles had been won or lost. should ever an attempt be made to take up arms against them within his realms, and should there be but five hundred of them against ten thousand, the king, remembering their faithful and ancient services, would leave the greater number in order to die at the head of his old friends. he was determined that they should participate in all the honours of the kingdom, and with regard to a peace with spain, he would have as much care for the interests of the united provinces as for his own. but a peace was impossible with that monarch, whose object was to maintain his own realms in peace while he kept france in perpetual revolt against the king whom god had given her. the king of spain had trembled at henry's cradle, at his youth, at the bloom of his manhood, and knew that he had inflicted too much injury upon him ever to be on friendly terms with him. the envoy was instructed to say that his master never expected to be in amity with one who had ruined his house confiscated his property, and caused so much misery to france; and he earnestly hoped--without presuming to dictate--that the states-general would in this critical emergency manifest their generosity. if the king were not assisted now, both king and kingdom would perish. if he were assisted, the succour would bear double fruit. the sentiments expressed on the part of henry towards his faithful subjects of the religion, the heretic queen of england, and the stout dutch calvinists who had so long stood by him, were most noble. it was pity that, at the same moment, he was proposing to espouse the infanta, and to publish the council of trent. the reply of the states-general to these propositions of the french envoy was favourable, and it was agreed that a force of three thousand foot and five hundred horse should be sent to the assistance of the king. moreover, the state-paper drawn up on this occasion was conceived with so much sagacity and expressed with so much eloquence, as particularly to charm the english queen when it was communicated to her majesty. she protested very loudly and vehemently to noel de caron, envoy from the provinces at london, that this response on the part of his government to de morlans was one of the wisest documents that she had ever seen. "in all their actions," said she, "the states-general show their sagacity, and indeed, it is the wisest government ever known among republics. i would show you," she added to the gentlemen around her, "the whole of the paper if it were this moment at hand." after some delays, it was agreed between the french government and that of the united provinces, that the king should divide his army into three parts, and renew the military operations against spain with the expiration of the truce at the end of the year ( ). one body, composed of the english contingent, together with three thousand french horse, three thousand swiss, and four thousand french harquebus-men, were to be under his own immediate command, and were to act against the enemy wherever it should appear to his majesty most advantageous. a second, army was to expel the rebels and their foreign allies from normandy and reduce rouen to obedience. a third was to make a campaign in the provinces of artois and hainault, under the duke of bouillon (more commonly called the viscount turenne), in conjunction with the forces to be supplied by the republic. "any treaty of peace on our part with the king of spain," said the states-general, "is our certain ruin. this is an axiom. that monarch's object is to incorporate into his own realms not only all the states and possessions of neighbouring kings, principalities, and powers, but also all christendom, aye, the whole world, were it possible. we joyfully concur then in your majesty's resolution to carry on the war in artois and hainault, and agree to your suggestion of diversions on our part by sieges and succour by contingents." balagny, meantime, who had so long led an independent existence at cambray, now agreed to recognise henry's authority, in consideration of sixty-seven thousand crowns yearly pension and the dignity of marshal of france. towards the end of the year , buzanval, the regular french envoy at the hague, began to insist more warmly than seemed becoming that the campaign in artois and hainault--so often the base of military operations on the part of spain against france--should begin. further achievements on the part of maurice after the fall of groningen were therefore renounced for that year, and his troops went into garrison and winter-quarters. the states-general, who had also been sending supplies, troops, and ships to brittany to assist the king, now, after soundly rebuking buzanval for his intemperate language, entrusted their contingent for the proposed frontier campaign to count philip nassau, who accordingly took the field toward the end of the year at the head of twenty-eight companies of foot and five squadrons of cavalry. he made his junction with turenne-bouillon, but the duke, although provided with a tremendous proclamation, was but indifferently supplied with troops. the german levies, long-expected, were slow in moving, and on the whole it seemed that the operations might have been continued by maurice with more effect, according to his original plan, than in this rather desultory fashion. the late winter campaign on the border was feeble and a failure. the bonds of alliance, however, were becoming very close between henry and the republic. despite the change in religion on the part of the king, and the pangs which it had occasioned in the hearts of leading netherlanders, there was still the traditional attraction between france and the states, which had been so remarkably manifested during the administration of william the silent. the republic was more restive than ever under the imperious and exacting friendship of elizabeth, and, feeling more and more its own strength, was making itself more and more liable to the charge of ingratitude; so constantly hurled in its face by the queen. and henry, now that he felt himself really king of france, was not slow to manifest a similar ingratitude or an equal love of independence. both monarch and republic, chafing under the protection of elizabeth, were drawn into so close a union as to excite her anger and jealousy--sentiments which in succeeding years were to become yet more apparent. and now; while henry still retained the chivalrous and flowery phraseology, so sweet to her ears, in his personal communications to the queen, his ministers were in the habit of using much plainer language. "mr. de sancy said to me," wrote the netherland minister in france, calvaert, "that his majesty and your highnesses (the states-general) must without long delay conclude an alliance offensive and defensive. in regard to england, which perhaps might look askance at this matter, he told me it would be invited also by his majesty into the same alliance; but if, according to custom, it shilly-shallied, and without coming to deeds or to succour should put him off with words, he should in that case proceed with our alliance without england, not doubting that many other potentates in italy and germany would join in it likewise. he said too, that he, the day before the departure of the english ambassador, had said these words to him in the presence of his majesty; namely, that england had entertained his majesty sixteen months long with far-fetched and often-repeated questions and discontents, that one had submitted to this sort of thing so long as his majesty was only king of mantes, dieppe, and louviers, but that his majesty being now king of paris would be no longer a servant of those who should advise him to suffer it any longer or accept it as good payment; that england must treat his majesty according to his quality, and with deeds, not words. he added that the ambassador had very anxiously made answer to these words, and had promised that when he got back to england he would so arrange that his majesty should be fully satisfied, insisting to the last on the alliance then proposed." in germany, meanwhile, there was much protocolling, and more hard drinking, at the diet of ratisbon. the protestant princes did little for their cause against the new designs of spain and the moribund league, while the catholics did less to assist philip. in truth, the holy roman empire, threatened with a turkish invasion, had neither power nor inclination to help the new universal empire of the west into existence. so the princes and grandees of germany, while amurath was knocking at the imperial gates, busied themselves with banquetting and other diplomatic work, but sent few reiters either to the east or west. philip's envoys were indignant at the apathy displayed towards the great catholic cause, and felt humbled at the imbecility exhibited by spain in its efforts against the netherlands and france. san clemente, who was attending the diet at ratisbon, was shocked at the scenes he witnessed. "in less than three months," said that temperate spaniard, "they have drunk more than five million florins' worth of wine, at a time when the turk has invaded the frontiers of germany; and among those who have done the most of this consumption of wine, there is not one who is going to give any assistance on the frontier. in consequence of these disorders my purse is drained so low, that unless the king helps me i am ruined. you must tell our master that the reputation of his grandeur and strength has never been so low as it is now in germany. the events in france and those which followed in the netherlands have thrown such impediments in the negotiations here, that not only our enemies make sport of marquis havre and myself, but even our friends--who are very few--dare not go to public feasts, weddings, and dinners, because they are obliged to apologize for us." truly the world-empire was beginning to crumble. "the emperor has been desiring twenty times," continued the envoy, "to get back to prague from the diet, but the people hold him fast like a steer. as i think over all that passes, i lose all judgment, for i have no money, nor influence, nor reputation. meantime, i see this rump of an empire keeping itself with difficulty upon its legs. 'tis full of wrangling and discord about religion, and yet there is the turk with two hundred thousand men besieging a place forty miles from vienna, which is the last outpost. god grant it may last!" such was the aspect of the christian world at the close of the year etext editor's bookmarks: beneficent and charitable purposes (war) chronicle of events must not be anticipated eat their own children than to forego one high mass humanizing effect of science upon the barbarism of war slain four hundred and ten men with his own hand chapter xxxi. formal declaration of war against spain--marriage festivities--death of archduke ernest--his year of government--fuentes declared governor-general--disaffection of the duke of arschot and count arenberg--death of the duke of arschot----fuentes besieges le catelet--the fortress of ham, sold to the spanish by de gomeron, besieged and taken by the duke of bouillon--execution of de gomeron--death of colonel verdugo--siege of dourlens by fuentes-- death of la motte--death of charles mansfeld--total defeat of the french--murder of admiral de pillars--dourlens captured, and the garrison and citizens put to the sword--military operations in eastern netherlands and on the rhine--maurice lays siege to groento --mondragon hastening to its relief, prince maurice raises the siege--skirmish between maurice and mondragon--death of philip of nassau--death of mondragon--bombardment and surrender of weerd castle--maurice retires into winter quarters--campaign of henry iv. --he besieges dijon--surrender of dijon--absolution granted to henry by the pope--career of balagny at cambray--progress of the siege-- capitulation of the town--suicide of the princess of cambray, wife of balagny the year opened with a formal declaration of war by the king of france against the king of spain. it would be difficult to say for exactly how many years the war now declared had already been waged, but it was a considerable advantage to the united netherlands that the manifesto had been at last regularly issued. and the manifesto was certainly not deficient in bitterness. not often in christian history has a monarch been solemnly and officially accused by a brother sovereign of suborning assassins against his life. bribery, stratagem, and murder, were, however, so entirely the commonplace machinery of philip's administration as to make an allusion to the late attempt of chastel appear quite natural in henry's declaration of war. the king further stigmatized in energetic language the long succession of intrigues by which the monarch of spain, as chief of the holy league, had been making war upon him by means of his own subjects, for the last half dozen years. certainly there was hardly need of an elaborate statement of grievances. the deeds of philip required no herald, unless henry was prepared to abdicate his hardly-earned title to the throne of france. nevertheless the politic gascon subsequently regretted the fierce style in which he had fulminated his challenge. he was accustomed to observe that no state paper required so much careful pondering as a declaration of war, and that it was scarcely possible to draw up such a document without committing many errors in the phraseology. the man who never knew fear, despondency, nor resentment, was already instinctively acting on the principle that a king should deal with his enemy as if sure to become his friend, and with his friends as if they might easily change to foes. the answer to the declaration was delayed for two months. when the reply came it of course breathed nothing but the most benignant sentiments in regard to france, while it expressed regret that it was necessary to carry fire and sword through that country in order to avert the unutterable woe which the crimes of the heretic prince of bearne were bringing upon all mankind. it was a solace for philip to call the legitimate king by the title borne by him when heir-presumptive, and to persist in denying to him that absolution which, as the whole world was aware, the vicar of christ was at that very moment in the most solemn manner about to bestow upon him. more devoted to the welfare of france than were the french themselves, he was determined that a foreign prince himself, his daughter, or one of his nephews--should supplant the descendant of st. louis on the french throne. more catholic than the pope he could not permit the heretic, whom his holiness was just washing whiter than snow, to intrude himself into the society of christian sovereigns. the winter movements by bouillon in luxembourg, sustained by philip nassau campaigning with a meagre force on the french frontier, were not very brilliant. the netherland regiments quartered at yssoire, la ferte, and in the neighbourhood accomplished very little, and their numbers were sadly thinned by dysentery. a sudden and successful stroke, too, by which that daring soldier heraugiere, who had been the chief captor of breda, obtained possession of the town, and castle of huy, produced no permanent advantage. this place, belonging to the bishop of liege, with its stone bridge over the meuse, was an advantageous position from which to aid the operations of bouillon in luxembourg. heraugiere was, however, not sufficiently reinforced, and huy was a month later recaptured by la motte. the campaigning was languid during that winter in the united netherlands, but the merry-making was energetic. the nuptials of hohenlo with mary, eldest daughter of william the silent and own sister of the captive philip william; of the duke of bouillon with elizabeth, one of the daughters of the same illustrious prince by his third wife, charlotte of bourbon; and of count everard solms, the famous general of the zeeland troops, with sabina, daughter of the unfortunate lamoral egmont, were celebrated with much pomp during the months of february and march. the states of holland and of zeeland made magnificent presents of diamonds to the brides; the countess hohenlo receiving besides a yearly income of three thousand florins for the lives of herself and her husband. in the midst of these merry marriage bells at the hague a funeral knell was sounding in brussels. on the th february, the governor-general of the obedient netherlands, archduke ernest, breathed his last. his career had not been so illustrious as the promises of the spanish king and the allegories of schoolmaster houwaerts had led him to expect. he had not espoused the infanta nor been crowned king of france. he had not blasted the rebellious netherlands with cyclopean thunderbolts, nor unbound the belgic andromeda from the rock of doom. his brief year of government had really been as dismal as, according to the announcement of his sycophants, it should have been amazing. he had accomplished nothing, and all that was left him was to die at the age of forty-two, over head and ears in debt, a disappointed, melancholy man. he was very indolent, enormously fat, very chaste, very expensive, fond of fine liveries and fine clothes, so solemn and stately as never to be known to laugh, but utterly without capacity either as a statesman or a soldier. he would have shone as a portly abbot ruling over peaceful friars, but he was not born to ride a revolutionary whirlwind, nor to evoke order out of chaos. past and present were contending with each other in fierce elemental strife within his domain. a world was in dying agony, another world was coming, full-armed, into existence within the hand-breadth of time and of space where he played his little part, but he dreamed not of it. he passed away like a shadow, and was soon forgotten. an effort was made, during the last illness of ernest, to procure from him the appointment of the elector of cologne as temporary successor to the government, but count fuentes was on the spot and was a man of action. he produced a power in the french language from philip, with a blank for the name. this had been intended for the case of peter ernest mansfeld's possible death during his provisional administration, and fuentes now claimed the right of inserting his own name. the dying ernest consented, and upon his death fuentes was declared governor-general until the king's further pleasure should be known. pedro de guzman, count of fuentes, a spaniard of the hard and antique type, was now in his sixty-fourth year. the pupil and near relative of the duke of alva, he was already as odious to the netherlanders as might have been inferred from such education and such kin. a dark, grizzled, baldish man, with high steep forehead, long, haggard, leathern visage, sweeping beard, and large, stern, commanding, menacing eyes, with his brussels ruff of point lace and his milan coat of proof, he was in personal appearance not unlike the terrible duke whom men never named without a shudder, although a quarter of a century had passed since he had ceased to curse the netherlands with his presence. elizabeth of england was accustomed to sneer at fuentes because he had retreated before essex in that daring commander's famous foray into portugal. the queen called the spanish general a timid old woman. if her gibe were true, it was fortunate for her, for henry of france, and for the republic, that there were not many more such old women to come from spain to take the place of the veteran chieftains who were destined to disappear so rapidly during this year in flanders. he was a soldier of fortune, loved fighting, not only for the fighting's sake, but for the prize-money which was to be accumulated by campaigning, and he was wont to say that he meant to enter paradise sword in hand. meantime his appointment excited the wrath of the provincial magnates. the duke of arschot was beside himself with frenzy, and swore that he would never serve under fuentes nor sit at his council-board. the duke's brother, marquis havre, and his son-in-law, count arenberg, shared in the hatred, although they tried to mitigate the vehemence of its expression. but arschot swore that no man had the right to take precedence of him in the council of state, and that the appointment of this or any spaniard was a violation of the charters of the provinces and of the promises of his majesty. as if it were for the nobles of the obedient provinces to prate of charters and of oaths! their brethren under the banner of the republic had been teaching philip for a whole generation how they could deal with the privileges of freemen and with the perjury of tyrants. it was late in the day for the obedient netherlanders to remember their rights. havre and arenberg, dissembling their own wrath, were abused and insulted by the duke when they tried to pacify him. they proposed a compromise, according to which arschot should be allowed to preside in the council of state while fuentes should content himself with the absolute control of the army. this would be putting a bit of fat in the duke's mouth, they said. fuentes would hear of no such arrangement. after much talk and daily attempts to pacify this great netherlander, his relatives at last persuaded him to go home to his country place. he even promised arenberg and his wife that he would go to italy, in pursuance of a vow made to our lady of loretto. arenberg privately intimated to stephen ybarra that there was a certain oil, very apt to be efficacious in similar cases of irritation, which might be applied with prospect of success. if his father-in-law could only receive some ten thousand florins which he claimed as due to him from government, this would do more to quiet him than a regiment of soldiers could. he also suggested that fuentes should call upon the duke, while secretary ybarra should excuse himself by sickness for not having already paid his respects. this was done. fuentes called. the duke returned the call, and the two conversed amicably about the death of the archduke, but entered into no political discussion. arschot then invited the whole council of state, except john baptist tassis, to a great dinner. he had prepared a paper to read to them in which he represented the great dangers likely to ensue from such an appointment as this of fuentes, but declared that he washed his hands of the consequences, and that he had determined to leave a country where he was of so little account. he would then close his eyes and ears to everything that might occur, and thus escape the infamy of remaining in a country where so little account was made of him. he was urged to refrain from reading this paper and to invite tassis. after a time he consented to suppress the document, but he manfully refused to bid the objectionable diplomatist to his banquet. the dinner took place and passed off pleasantly enough. arschot did not read his manifesto, but, as he warmed with wine, he talked a great deal of nonsense which, according to stephen ybarra, much resembled it, and he vowed that thenceforth he would be blind and dumb to all that might occur. a few days later, he paid a visit to the new governor-general, and took a peaceful farewell of him. "your majesty knows very well what he is," wrote fuentes: "he is nothing but talk." before leaving the country he sent a bitter complaint to ybarra, to the effect that the king had entirely forgotten him, and imploring that financier's influence to procure for him some gratuity from his majesty. he was in such necessity, he said, that it was no longer possible for him to maintain his household. and with this petition the grandee of the obedient provinces shook the dust from his shoes, and left his natal soil for ever. he died on the th december of the same year in venice. his son the prince of chimay, his brother, and son-inlaw, and the other obedient nobles, soon accommodated themselves to the new administration, much as they had been inclined to bluster at first about their privileges. the governor soon reported that matters were proceeding very, smoothly. there was a general return to the former docility now that such a disciplinarian as fuentes held the reins. the opening scenes of the campaign between the spanish governor and france were, as usual, in picardy. the marquis of varambon made a demonstration in the neighbourhood of dourlens--a fortified town on the river authie, lying in an open plain, very deep in that province--while fuentes took the field with eight thousand men, and laid siege to le catelet. he had his eye, however, upon ham. that important stronghold was in the hands of a certain nobleman called de gomeron, who had been an energetic leaguer, and was now disposed, for a handsome consideration, to sell himself to the king of spain. in the auction of governors and generals then going on in every part of france it had been generally found that henry's money was more to be depended upon in the long run, although philip's bids were often very high, and, for a considerable period, the payments regular. gomeron's upset price for himself was twenty-five thousand crowns in cash, and a pension of eight thousand a year. upon these terms he agreed to receive a spanish garrison into the town, and to cause the french in the citadel to be sworn into the service of the spanish king. fuentes agreed to the bargain and paid the adroit tradesman, who knew so well how to turn a penny for himself, a large portion of the twenty-five thousand crowns upon the nail. de gomeron was to proceed to brussels to receive the residue. his brother-in-law, m. d'orville, commanded in the citadel, and so soon as the spanish troops had taken possession of the town its governor claimed full payment of his services. but difficulties awaited him in brussels. he was informed that a french garrison could not be depended upon for securing the fortress, but that town and citadel must both be placed in spanish hands. de gomeron loudly protesting that this was not according to contract, was calmly assured, by command of fuentes, that unless the citadel were at once evacuated and surrendered, he would not receive the balance of his twenty-five thousand crowns, and that he should instantly lose his head. here was more than de gomeron had bargained for; but this particular branch of commerce in revolutionary times, although lucrative, has always its risks. de gomeron, thus driven to the wall, sent a letter by a spanish messenger to his brother-in-law, ordering him to surrender the fortress. d'orville--who meantime had been making his little arrangements with the other party--protested that the note had been written under duress, and refused to comply with its directions. time was pressing, for the duke of bouillon and the count of st. pol lay with a considerable force in the neighbourhood, obviously menacing ham. fuentes accordingly sent that distinguished soldier and historian, don carlos coloma, with a detachment of soldiers to brussels, with orders to bring gomeron into camp. he was found seated at supper with his two young brothers, aged respectively sixteen and eighteen years, and was just putting a cherry into his mouth as coloma entered the room. he remained absorbed in thought, trifling with the cherry without eating it, which don carlos set down as a proof of guilt: the three brothers were at once put in a coach, together with their sister, a nun of the age of twenty, and conveyed to the head-quarters of fuentes, who lay before le catelet, but six leagues from ham. meantime d'orville had completed his negotiations with bouillon, and had agreed to surrender the fortress so soon as the spanish troops should be driven from the town. the duke knowing that there was no time to lose, came with three thousand men before the place. his summons to surrender was answered by a volley of cannon-shot from the town defences. an assault was made and repulsed, d'humieres, a most gallant officer and a favourite of king henry, being killed, besides at least two hundred soldiers. the next attack was successful, the town was carried, and the spanish garrison put to the sword. d'orville then, before giving up the citadel, demanded three hostages for the lives of his three brothers-in-law. the hostages availed him little. fuentes had already sent word to gomeron's mother, that if the bargain were not fulfilled he would send her the heads of her three sons on three separate dishes. the distracted woman made her way, to d'orville, and fell at his feet with tears and entreaties. it was too late, and d'orville, unable to bear her lamentations, suddenly rushed from the castle, and nearly fell into the hands of the spaniards as he fled from the scene. two of the four cuirassiers, who alone of the whole garrison accompanied him, were taken prisoners. the governor escaped to unknown regions. madame de gomeron then appeared before fuentes, and tried in vain to soften him. de gomeron was at once beheaded in the sight of the whole camp. the two younger sons were retained in prison, but ultimately set at liberty. the town and citadel were thus permanently acquired by their lawful king, who was said to be more afflicted at the death of d'humieres than rejoiced at the capture of ham. meantime colonel verdugo, royal governor of friesland, whose occupation in those provinces, now so nearly recovered by the republic, was gone, had led a force of six thousand foot, and twelve hundred horse across the french border, and was besieging la ferte on the cher. the siege was relieved by bouillon on the th may, and the spanish veteran was then ordered to take command in burgundy. but his days were numbered. he had been sick of dysentery at luxembourg during the summer, but after apparent recovery died suddenly on the nd september, and of course was supposed to have been poisoned. he was identified with the whole history of the netherland wars. born at talavera de la reyna, of noble parentage, as he asserted--although his mother was said to have sold dogs' meat, and he himself when a youth was a private soldier--he rose by steady conduct and hard fighting to considerable eminence in his profession. he was governor of harlem after the famous siege, and exerted himself with some success to mitigate the ferocity of the spaniards towards the netherlanders at that epoch. he was marshal-general of the camp under don john of austria, and distinguished himself at the battle of gemblours. he succeeded count renneberg as governor of friesland and groningen, and bore a manful part in most of the rough business that had been going on for a generation of mankind among those blood-stained wolds and morasses. he was often victorious, and quite as often soundly defeated; but he enjoyed campaigning, and was a glutton of work. he cared little for parade and ceremony, but was fond of recalling with pleasure the days when he was a soldier at four crowns a month, with an undivided fourth of one cloak, which he and three companions wore by turns on holidays. although accused of having attempted to procure the assassination of william lewis nassau, he was not considered ill-natured, and he possessed much admiration for prince maurice. an iron-clad man, who had scarcely taken harness from his back all his life, he was a type of the spanish commanders who had implanted international hatred deeply in the netherland soul, and who, now that this result and no other had been accomplished, were rapidly passing away. he had been baptised franco, and his family appellation of verdugo meant executioner. punning on these names he was wont to say, that he was frank for all good people, but a hangman for heretics; and he acted up to his gibe. foiled at ham, fuentes had returned to the siege of catelet, and had soon reduced the place. he then turned his attention again to dourlens, and invested that city. during the preliminary operations, another veteran commander in these wars, valentin pardieu de la motte, recently created count of everbecque by philip, who had been for a long time general-in-chief of the artillery, and was one of the most famous and experienced officers in the spanish service, went out one fine moonlight night to reconnoitre the enemy, and to superintend the erection of batteries. as he was usually rather careless of his personal safety, and rarely known to put on his armour when going for such purposes into the trenches, it was remarked with some surprise, on this occasion, that he ordered his page to bring his, accoutrements, and that he armed himself cap-a pie before leaving his quarters. nevertheless, before he had reached the redoubt, a bullet from the town struck him between the fold of his morion and the edge of his buckler and he fell dead without uttering a sound. here again was a great loss to the king's service. la motte, of a noble family in burgundy, had been educated in the old fierce traditions of the spanish system of warfare in the netherlands, and had been one of the very hardest instruments that the despot could use for his bloody work. he had commanded a company of horse at the famous battle of st. quintin, and since that opening event in philip's reign he had been unceasingly--engaged in the flemish wars. alva made him a colonel of a walloon regiment; the grand commander requesena appointed him governor of gravelines. on the whole he had been tolerably faithful to his colours; having changed sides but twice. after the pacification of ghent he swore allegiance to the states-general, and assisted in the bombardment of the citadel of that place. soon afterwards he went over to don john of austria, and surrendered to him the town and fortress of gravelines, of which he then continued governor in the name of the king. he was fortunate in the accumulation of office and of money; rather unlucky in his campaigning. he was often wounded in action, and usually defeated when commanding in chief. he lost an arm at the siege of sluy's, and had now lost his life almost by an accident. although twice married he left no children to inherit his great estates, while the civil and military offices left vacant by his death were sufficient to satisfy the claims of five aspiring individuals. the count of varax succeeded him as general of artillery; but it was difficult to find a man to replace la motte, possessing exactly the qualities which had made that warrior so valuable to his king. the type was rapidly disappearing, and most fortunately for humanity, if half the stories told of him by grave chroniclers, accustomed to discriminate between history and gossip, are to be believed. he had committed more than one cool homicide. although not rejoicing in the same patronymic as his spanish colleague of friesland, he too was ready on occasion to perform hangman's work. when sergeant-major in flanders, he had himself volunteered--so ran the chronicle--to do execution on a poor wretch found guilty of professing the faith of calvin; and, with his own hands, had prepared a fire of straw, tied his victim to the stake, and burned him to cinders. another netherlander for the name crime of heresy had been condemned to be torn to death by horses. no one could be found to carry out the sentence. the soldiers under la motte's command broke into mutiny rather than permit themselves to be used for such foul purposes; but the ardent young sergeant-major came forward, tied the culprit by the arms and legs to two horses, and himself whipped them to their work till it was duly accomplished. was it strange that in philip's reign such energy should be rewarded by wealth, rank, and honour? was not such a labourer in the vineyard worthy of his hire? still another eminent chieftain in the king's service disappeared at this time--one who, although unscrupulous and mischievous enough in his day, was however not stained by any suspicion of crimes like these. count charles mansfeld, tired of governing his decrepit parent peter ernest, who, since the appointment of fuentes, had lost all further chance of governing the netherlands, had now left philip's service and gone to the turkish wars. for amurath iii., who had died in the early days of the year, had been succeeded by a sultan as warlike as himself. mahomet iii., having strangled his nineteen brothers on his accession, handsomely buried them in cypress coffins by the side of their father, and having subsequently sacked and drowned ten infant princes posthumously born to amurath, was at leisure to carry the war through transylvania and hungary, up to the gates of vienna, with renewed energy. the turk, who could enforce the strenuous rules of despotism by which all secundogenitures and collateral claimants in the ottoman family were thus provided for, was a foe to be dealt with seriously. the power of the moslems at that day was a full match for the holy roman empire. the days were far distant when the grim turk's head was to become a mockery and a show; and when a pagan empire, born of carnage and barbarism, was to be kept alive in europe when it was ready to die, by the collective efforts of christian princes. charles mansfeld had been received with great enthusiasm at the court of rudolph, where he was created a prince of the empire, and appointed to the chief command of the imperial armies under the archduke matthias. but his warfare was over. at the siege of gran he was stricken with sickness and removed to comorn, where he lingered some weeks. there, on the th august, as he lay half-dozing on his couch, he was told that the siege was at last successful; upon which he called for a goblet of wine, drained it eagerly, and then lay resting his head on his hand, like one absorbed in thought. when they came to arouse him from his reverie they found that he was dead. his father still remained superfluous in the netherlands, hating and hated by fuentes; but no longer able to give that governor so much annoyance as during his son's life-time the two had been able to create for alexander farnese. the octogenarian was past work and past mischief now; but there was one older soldier than he still left upon the stage, the grandest veteran in philip's service, and now the last survivor, except the decrepit peter ernest, of the grim commanders of alva's school. christopher mondragon--that miracle of human endurance, who had been an old man when the great duke arrived in the netherlands--was still governor of antwerp citadel, and men were to speak of him yet once more before he passed from the stage. i return from this digression to the siege of dourlens. the death of la motte made no difference in the plans of fuentes. he was determined to reduce the place preparatively to more important operations. bouillon was disposed to relieve it, and to that end had assembled a force of eight thousand men within the city of amiens. by midsummer the spaniards had advanced with their mines and galleries close to the walls of the city. meantime admiral villars, who had gained so much renown by defending rouen against henry iv., and who had subsequently made such an excellent bargain with that monarch before entering his service, arrived at amiens. on the th july an expedition was sent from that city towards dourlens. bouillon and st. pol commanded in person a force of six hundred picked cavalry. pillars and sanseval each led half as many, and there was a supporting body of twelve hundred musketeers. this little army convoyed a train of wagons, containing ammunition and other supplies for the beleaguered town. but fuentes, having sufficiently strengthened his works, sallied forth with two thousand infantry, and a flying squadron of spanish horse, to intercept them. it was the eve of st. james, the patron saint of spain, at the sound, of whose name as a war-cry so many battle-fields had been won in the netherlands, so many cities sacked, so many wholesale massacres perpetrated. fuentes rode in the midst of his troops with the royal standard of spain floating above him. on the other hand yillars, glittering in magnificent armour and mounted on a superbly caparisoned charger came on, with his three hundred troopers, as if about to ride a course in a tournament. the battle which ensued was one of the most bloody for the numbers engaged, and the victory one of the most decisive recorded in this war. villars charged prematurely, furiously, foolishly. he seemed jealous of bouillon, and disposed to show the sovereign to whom he had so recently given his allegiance that an ancient leaguer and papist was a better soldier for his purpose than the most grizzled huguenot in his army. on the other hand the friends of villars accused the duke of faintheartedness, or at least of an excessive desire to save himself and his own command. the first impetuous onset of the admiral was successful, and he drove half-a-dozen companies of spaniards before him. but he had ventured too far from his supports. bouillon had only intended a feint, instead of a desperate charge; the spaniards were rallied, and the day was saved by that cool and ready soldier, carlos coloma. in less than an hour the french were utterly defeated and cut to pieces. bouillon escaped to amiens with five hundred men; this was all that was left of the expedition. the horse of villars was shot under him and the admiral's leg was broken as he fell. he was then taken prisoner by two lieutenants of carlos coloma; but while these warriors were enjoying, by anticipation, the enormous ransom they should derive from so illustrious a captive, two other lieutenants in the service of marshal de rosnes came up and claimed their share in the prize. while the four were wrangling, the admiral called out to them in excellent spanish not to dispute, for he had money enough to satisfy them all. meantime the spanish commissary--general of cavalry, contreras, came up, rebuked this unseemly dispute before the enemy had been fairly routed, and, in order to arrange the quarrel impartially, ordered his page to despatch de villars on the spot. the page, without a word, placed his arquebus to the admiral's forehead and shot him dead. so perished a bold and brilliant soldier, and a most unscrupulous politician. whether the cause of his murder was mere envy on the part of the commissary at having lost a splendid opportunity for prize-money, or hatred to an ancient leaguer thus turned renegade, it is fruitless now to enquire. villars would have paid two hundred thousand crowns for his ransom, so that the assassination was bad as a mercantile speculation; but it was pretended by the friends of contreras that rescue was at hand. it is certain, however, that nothing was attempted by the french to redeem their total overthrow. count belin was wounded and fell into the hands of coloma. sanseval was killed; and a long list of some of the most brilliant nobles in france was published by the spaniards as having perished on that bloody field. this did not prevent a large number of these victims, however, from enjoying excellent health for many long years afterwards, although their deaths have been duly recorded in chronicle from that day to our own times. but villars and sanseval were certainly slain, and fuentes sent their bodies, with a courteous letter, to the duke of nevers, at amiens, who honoured them with a stately funeral. there was much censure cast on both bouillon and villars respectively by the antagonists of each chieftain; and the contest as to the cause of the defeat was almost as animated as the skirmish itself. bouillon was censured for grudging a victory to the catholics, and thus leaving the admiral to his fate. yet it is certain that the huguenot duke himself commanded a squadron composed almost entirely of papists. villars, on the other hand, was censured for rashness, obstinacy, and greediness for distinction; yet it is probable that fuentes might have been defeated had the charges of bouillon been as determined and frequent as were those of his colleague. savigny de rosnes, too, the ancient leaguer, who commanded under fuentes, was accused of not having sufficiently followed up the victory, because unwilling that his spanish friends should entirely trample upon his own countrymen. yet there is no doubt whatever that de rosnes was as bitter an enemy to his own country as the most ferocious spaniard of them all. it has rarely been found in civil war that the man who draws his sword against his fatherland, under the banner of the foreigner, is actuated by any lingering tenderness for the nation he betrays; and the renegade frenchman was in truth the animating spirit of fuentes during the whole of his brilliant campaign. the spaniard's victories were, indeed, mainly attributable to the experience, the genius, and the rancour of de rosnes. but debates over a lost battle are apt to be barren. meantime fuentes, losing no time in controversy, advanced upon the city of dourlens, was repulsed twice, and carried it on the third assault, exactly one week after the action just recounted. the spaniards and leaguers, howling "remember ham!" butchered without mercy the garrison and all the citizens, save a small number of prisoners likely to be lucrative. six hundred of the townspeople and two thousand five hundred french soldiers were killed within a few hours. well had fuentes profited by the relationship and tuition of alva! the count of dinant and his brother de ronsoy were both slain, and two or three hundred thousand florins were paid in ransom by those who escaped with life. the victims were all buried outside of the town in one vast trench, and the effluvia bred a fever which carried off most of the surviving inhabitants. dourlens became for the time a desert. fuentes now received deputies with congratulations from the obedient provinces, especially from hainault, artois, and lille. he was also strongly urged to attempt the immediate reduction of cambray, to which end those envoys were empowered to offer contributions of four hundred and fifty thousand florins and a contingent of seven thousand infantry. berlaymont, too, bishop of tournay and archbishop of cambray, was ready to advance forty thousand florins in the same cause. fuentes, in the highest possible spirits at his success, and having just been reinforced by count bucquoy with a fresh walloon regiment of fifteen hundred foot and with eight hundred and fifty of the mutineers from tirlemont and chapelle, who were among the choicest of spanish veterans, was not disposed to let the grass grow under his feet. within four days after the sack of dourlens he broke up his camp, and came before cambray with an army of twelve thousand foot and nearly four thousand horse. but before narrating the further movements of the vigorous new governor-general, it is necessary to glance at the military operations in the eastern part of the netherlands and upon the rhine. the states-general had reclaimed to their authority nearly all that important region lying beyond the yssel--the solid frisian bulwark of the republic--but there were certain points nearer the line where upper and nether germany almost blend into one, which yet acknowledged the name of the king. the city of groenlo, or grol, not a place of much interest or importance in itself, but close to the frontier, and to that destined land of debate, the duchies of cleves, juliers, and berg, still retained its spanish garrison. on the th july prince maurice of nassau came before the city with six thousand infantry, some companies of cavalry, and sixteen pieces of artillery. he made his approaches in form, and after a week's operations he fired three volleys, according to his custom, and summoned the place to capitulate. governor jan van stirum replied stoutly that he would hold the place for god and the king to the last drop of his blood. meantime there was hope of help from the outside. maurice was a vigorous young commander, but there was a man to be dealt with who had been called the "good old mondragon" when the prince was in his cradle; and who still governed the citadel of antwerp, and was still ready for an active campaign. christopher mondragon was now ninety-two years old. not often in the world's history has a man of that age been capable of personal, participation in the joys of the battlefield, whatever natural reluctance veterans are apt to manifest at relinquishing high military control. but mondragon looked not with envy but with admiration on the growing fame of the nassau chieftain, and was disposed, before he himself left the stage, to match himself with the young champion. so soon as he heard of the intended demonstration of maurice against grol, the ancient governor of antwerp collected a little army by throwing together all the troops that could be spared from the various garrisons within his command. with two spanish regiments, two thousand swiss, the walloon troops of de grisons, and the irish regiment of stanley--in all seven thousand foot and thirteen hundred horse--mondragon marched straight across brabant and gelderland to the rhine. at kaiserworth he reviewed his forces, and announced his intention of immediately crossing the river. there was a murmur of disapprobation among officers and men at what they considered the foolhardy scheme of mad old mondragon. but the general had not campaigned a generation before, at the age of sixty-nine, in the bottom of the sea, and waded chin-deep for six hours long of an october night, in the face of a rising tide from the german ocean and of an army of zeelanders, to be frightened now at the summer aspect of the peaceful rhine. the wizened little old man, walking with difficulty by the aid of a staff, but armed in proof, with plumes waving gallantly from his iron headpiece, and with his rapier at his side, ordered a chair to be brought to the river's edge. then calmly seating himself in the presence of his host, he stated that he should not rise from that chair until the last man had crossed the river. furthermore, he observed that it was not only his purpose to relieve the city of grol, but to bring maurice to an action, and to defeat him, unless he retired. the soldiers ceased to murmur, the pontoons were laid, the river was passed, and on the th july, maurice, hearing of the veteran's approach, and not feeling safe in his position, raised the siege of the city. burning his camp and everything that could not be taken with him on his march, the prince came in perfect order to borkelo, two dutch miles from grol. here he occupied himself for some time in clearing the country of brigands who in the guise of soldiers infested that region and made the little cities of deutecom, anholt, and heerenberg unsafe. he ordered the inhabitants of these places to send out detachments to beat the bushes for his cavalry, while hohenlo was ordered to hunt the heaths and wolds thoroughly with packs of bloodhounds until every man and beast to be found lurking in those wild regions should be extirpated. by these vigorous and cruel, but perhaps necessary, measures the brigands were at last extirpated, and honest people began to sleep in their beds. on the th august maurice took up a strong position at bislich, not far from wesel, where the river lippe empties itself into the rhine. mondragon, with his army strengthened by reinforcements from garrisons in gelderland, and by four hundred men brought by frederic, van den berg from grol, had advanced to a place called walston in den ham, in the neighbourhood of wesel. the lippe flowed between the two hostile forces. although he had broken up his siege, the prince was not disposed to renounce his whole campaign before trying conclusions with his veteran antagonist. he accordingly arranged an ambush with much skill, by means of which he hoped to bring on a general engagement and destroy mondragon and his little army. his cousin and favourite lieutenant, philip nassau, was entrusted with the preliminaries. that adventurous commander, with a picked force of seven hundred cavalry, moved quietly from the camp on the evening of the st september. he took with him his two younger brothers, ernest and lewis gunther, who, as has been seen, had received the promise of the eldest brother of the family, william lewis, that they should be employed from time to time in any practical work that might be going, forward. besides these young gentlemen, several of the most famous english and dutch commanders were on, the expedition; the brothers paul and marcellus bax, captains parker, cutler, and robert vere, brother of sir francis, among the number. early in the morning of the nd september the force crossed the lippe, according to orders, keeping a pontoon across the stream to secure their retreat. they had instructions thus to feel the enemy at early dawn, and, as he was known to have foraging parties out every morning along the margin of the river, to make a sudden descent upon their pickets, and to capture those companies before they could effect their escape or be reinforced. afterwards they were to retreat across the lippe, followed, as it was hoped would be the case, by the troops: of mondragon, anxious to punish this piece of audacity. meantime maurice with five thousand infantry, the rest of his cavalry, and several pieces of artillery, awaited their coming, posted behind some hills in the neighbourhood of wesel. the plot of the young commander was an excellent one, but the ancient campaigner on the other side of the river had not come all the way from his comfortable quarters in antwerp to be caught napping on that september morning. mondragon had received accurate information from his scouts as to what was going on in the enemy's camp; and as to the exact position of maurice. he was up long before daybreak--"the good old christopher"--and himself personally arranged a counter-ambush. in the fields lying a little back from the immediate neighbourhood of, the lippe he posted the mass of his cavalry, supported by a well-concealed force of infantry. the pickets on the stream and the foraging companies were left to do their usual work as if nothing were likely to happen. philip nassau galloped cheerfully forward; according to the well-concerted plan, sending cutler and marcellus bax with a handful of troopers to pounce upon the enemy's pickets. when those officers got to the usual foraging ground they, came upon a much larger cavalry force than they had looked for; and, suspecting something wrong; dashed back--again to give information to count philip. that impatient commander, feeling sure of his game unless this foolish delay should give the foraging companies time to, escape; ordered an immediate advance with his whole cavalry force: the sheriff of zallant was ordered to lead the way. he objected that the pass, leading through a narrow lane and opening by a gate into an open field, was impassable for more than two troopers abreast; and that the enemy was in force beyond. philips scorning these words of caution, and exclaiming that seventy-five lancers were enough to put fifty carabineers to rout; put on his casque, drew his sword; and sending his brother lewis to summon kinski and donck; dashed into the pass, accompanied by the two counts and, a couple of other nobles. the sheriff, seeing this, followed him at full gallop; and after him came the troopers of barchon, of du bois, and of paul bax; riding single file but in much disorder. when they had all entered inextricably into the lane, with the foremost of the lancers already passing through the gate, they discovered the enemy's cavalry and infantry drawn up in force upon the watery, heathery pastures beyond. there was at once a scene of confusion. to use lances was impossible, while they were all struggling together through the narrow passage offering themselves an easy prey to the enemy as they slowly emerged into the gelds. the foremost defended themselves with sabre and pistol as well as they could. the hindmost did their best to escape, and rode for their lives to the other side of the river. all trampled upon each other and impeded each other's movements. there was a brief engagement, bloody, desperate, hand to hand, and many spaniards fell before the entrapped netherlanders. but there could not be a moment's doubt as to the issue. count philip went down in the beginning of the action, shot through the body by an arquebus, discharged so close to him that his clothes were set on fire. as there was no water within reach the flames could be extinguished at last only by rolling him over, and over, wounded as he was, among the sand and heather. count ernest solms was desperately wounded at the same time. for a moment both gentlemen attempted to effect their escape by mounting on one horse, but both fell to the ground exhausted and were taken prisoners. ernest nassau was also captured. his young brother, lewis gunther, saved himself by swimming the river. count kinski was mortally wounded. robert vere, too, fell into the enemy's hands, and was afterwards murdered in cold blood. marcellus bax, who had returned to the field by a circuitous path, still under the delusion that he was about handsomely to cut off the retreat of the foraging companies, saved himself and a handful of cavalry by a rapid flight, so soon as he discovered the enemy drawn up in line of battle. cutler and parker were equally fortunate. there was less than a hundred of the states' troops killed, and it is probable that a larger number of the spaniards fell. but the loss of philip nassau, despite the debauched life and somewhat reckless valour of that soldier, was a very severe one to the army and to his family. he was conveyed to rheinberg, where his wounds were dressed. as he lay dying he was courteously visited by mondragon, and by many other spanish officers, anxious to pay their respects to so distinguished and warlike a member of an illustrious house. he received them with dignity, and concealed his physical agony so as to respond to their conversation as became a nassau. his cousin, frederic van den berg, who was among the visitors, indecently taunted him with his position; asking him what he had expected by serving the cause of the beggars. philip turned from him with impatience and bade him hold his peace. at midnight he died. william of orange and his three brethren had already laid down their lives for the republic, and now his eldest brother's son had died in the same cause. "he has carried the name of nassau with honour into the grave," said his brother lewis william, to their father. ten others of the house, besides many collateral relations, were still in arms for their adopted country. rarely in history has a single noble race so entirely identified itself with a nation's record in its most heroic epoch as did that of orange-nassau with the liberation of holland. young ernest solms, brother of count everard, lay in the same chamber with philip nassau, and died on the following day. their bodies were sent by mondragon with a courteous letter to maurice at bisslich. ernest nassau was subsequently ransomed for ten thousand florins. this skirmish on the lippe has no special significance in a military point of view, but it derives more than a passing interest, not only from the death of many a brave and distinguished soldier, but for the illustration of human vigour triumphing, both physically and mentally, over the infirmities of old age, given by the achievement of christopher mondragon. alone he had planned his expedition across the country from antwerp, alone he had insisted on crossing the rhine, while younger soldiers hesitated; alone, with his own active brain and busy hands, he had outwitted the famous young chieftain of the netherlands, counteracted his subtle policy, and set the counter-ambush by which his choicest cavalry were cut to pieces, and one of his bravest generals slain. so far could the icy blood of ninety-two prevail against the vigour of twenty-eight. the two armies lay over against each other, with the river between them, for some days longer, but it was obvious that nothing further would be attempted on either side. mondragon had accomplished the object for which he had marched from brabant. he had, spoiled the autumn campaign of maurice, and, was, now disposed to return before winter to, his own quarters. he sent a trumpet accordingly to his antagonist, begging him, half in jest, to have more consideration for his infirmities than to keep him out in his old age in such foul weather, but to allow him the military honour of being last to break up camp. should maurice consent to move away, mondragon was ready to pledge himself not to pursue him, and within three days to leave his own entrenchments. the proposition was not granted, and very soon afterwards the spaniard, deciding to retire, crossed the rhine on the th october. maurice made a slight attempt at pursuit, sending count william lewis with some cavalry, who succeeded in cutting off a few wagons. the army, however, returned safely, to be dispersed into various garrisons. this was mondragon's last feat of, arms. less than three months afterwards, in antwerp citadel, as the veteran was washing his hands previously to going to the dinner-table, he sat down and died. strange to say, this man--who had spent almost a century on the battlefield, who had been a soldier in nearly every war that had been waged in any part of europe during that most belligerent age, who had come an old man to the netherlands before alva's arrival, and had ever since been constantly and personally engaged in the vast flemish tragedy which had now lasted well nigh thirty years--had never himself lost a drop of blood. his battle-fields had been on land and water, on ice, in fire, and at the bottom of the sea, but he had never received a wound. nay, more; he had been blown up in a fortress--the castle of danvilliers in luxembourg, of which he was governor--where all perished save his wife and himself, and, when they came to dig among the ruins, they excavated at last the ancient couple, protected by the framework of a window in the embrasure of which they had been seated, without a scratch or a bruise. he was a biscayan by descent, but born in medina del campo. a strict disciplinarian, very resolute and pertinacious, he had the good fortune to be beloved by his inferiors, his equals, and his superiors. he was called the father of his soldiers, the good mondragon, and his name was unstained by any of those deeds of ferocity which make the chronicles of the time resemble rather the history of wolves than of men. to a married daughter, mother of several children, he left a considerable fortune. maurice broke up his camp soon after the departure of his antagonist, and paused for a few days at arnheim to give honourable burial to his cousin philip and count solms. meantime sir francis vere was detached, with three regiments, which were to winter in overyssel, towards weerd castle, situate at a league's distance from ysselsburg, and defended by a garrison of twenty-six men under captain pruys. that doughty commandant, on being summoned to surrender, obstinately refused. vere, according to maurice's orders, then opened with his artillery against the place, which soon capitulated in great panic and confusion. the captain demanded the honours of war. vere told him in reply that the honours of war were halters for the garrison who had dared to defend such a hovel against artillery. the twenty-six were accordingly ordered to draw black and white straws. this was done, and the twelve drawing white straws were immediately hanged; the thirteenth receiving his life on consenting to act as executioner for his comrades. the commandant was despatched first of all. the rope broke, but the english soldiers held him under the water of the ditch until he was drowned. the castle was then thoroughly sacked, the women being sent unharmed to ysselsburg. maurice then shipped the remainder of his troops along the rhine and waal to their winter quarters and returned to the hague. it was the feeblest year's work yet done by the stadholder. meantime his great ally, the huguenot-catholic prince of bearne, was making a dashing, and, on the whole, successful campaign in the heart of his own kingdom. the constable of castile, don ferdinando de velasco, one of spain's richest grandees and poorest generals, had been sent with an army of ten thousand men to take the field in burgundy against the man with whom the great farnese had been measuring swords so lately, and with not unmingled success, in picardy. biron, with a sudden sweep, took possession of aussone, autun, and beaune, but on one adventurous day found himself so deeply engaged with a superior force of the enemy in the neighbourhood of fontaine francaise, or st. seine, where france's great river takes its rise, as to be nearly cut off and captured. but henry himself was already in the field, and by one of those mad, reckless impulses which made him so adorable as a soldier and yet so profoundly censurable as a commander-in-chief, he flung himself, like a young lieutenant, with a mere handful of cavalry, into the midst of the fight, and at the imminent peril of his own life succeeded in rescuing the marshal and getting off again unscathed. on other occasions henry said he had fought for victory, but on that for dear life; and, even as in the famous and foolish skirmish at aumale three years before, it was absence of enterprise or lack of cordiality on the part of his antagonists, that alone prevented a captive king from being exhibited as a trophy of triumph for the expiring league. but the constable of castile was not born to cheer the heart of his prudent master with such a magnificent spectacle. velasco fell back to gray and obstinately refused to stir from his entrenchments, while henry before his eyes laid siege to dijon. on the th june the capital of burgundy surrendered to its sovereign, but no temptations could induce the constable to try the chance of a battle. henry's movements in the interior were more successful than were the operations nearer the frontier, but while the monarch was thus cheerfully fighting for his crown in france, his envoys were winning a still more decisive campaign for him in rome. d'ossat and perron had accomplished their diplomatic task with consummate ability, and, notwithstanding the efforts and the threats of the spanish ambassador and the intrigues of his master, the absolution was granted. the pope arose early on the morning of the th august, and walked barefoot from his palace of mount cavallo to the church of maria maggiore, with his eyes fixed on the ground, weeping loudly and praying fervently. he celebrated mass in the church, and then returned as he went, saluting no one on the road and shutting himself up in his palace afterwards. the same ceremony was performed ten days later on the festival of our lady's ascension. in vain, however, had been the struggle on the part of his holiness to procure from the ambassador the deposition of the crown of france in his hands, in order that the king might receive it back again as a free gift and concession from the chief pontiff. such a triumph was not for rome, nor could even the publication of the council of trent in france be conceded except with a saving clause "as to matters which could not be put into operation without troubling the repose of the kingdom." and to obtain this clause the envoys declared "that they had been obliged to sweat blood and water." on the th day of september the absolution was proclaimed with great pomp and circumstance from the gallery of st. peter's, the holy father seated on the highest throne of majesty, with his triple crown on has head, and all his cardinals and bishops about him in their most effulgent robes. the silver trumpets were blown, while artillery roared from the castle of st. angelo, and for two successive nights rome was in a blaze of bonfires and illumination, in a whirl of bell-ringing, feasting, and singing of hosannaha. there had not been such a merry-making in the eternal city since the pope had celebrated solemn thanksgiving for the massacre of st. bartholomew. the king was almost beside himself with rapture when the great news reached him, and he straightway wrote letters, overflowing with gratitude and religious enthusiasm, to the pontiff and expressed his regret that military operations did not allow him to proceed at once to rome in person to kiss the holy father's feet. the narrative returns to fuentes, who was left before the walls of cambray. that venerable ecclesiastical city; pleasantly seated amid gardens, orchards, and green pastures, watered, by the winding scheld, was well fortified after the old manner, but it was especially defended and dominated by a splendid pentagonal citadel built by charles v. it was filled with fine churches, among which the magnificent cathedral was pre-eminent, and with many other stately edifices. the population was thrifty, active, and turbulent, like that of all those flemish and walloon cities which the spirit of mediaeval industry had warmed for a time into vehement little republics. but, as has already been depicted in these pages, the celtic element had been more apt to receive than consistent to retain the generous impress which had once been stamped on all the netherlands. the walloon provinces had fallen away from their flemish sisters and seemed likely to accept a permanent yoke, while in the territory of the united states, as john baptist tassis was at that very moment pathetically observing in a private letter to philip, "with the coming up of a new generation educated as heretics from childhood, who had never heard what the word king means, it was likely to happen at last that the king's memory, being wholly forgotten nothing would remain in the land but heresy alone." from this sad fate cambray had been saved. gavre d'inchy had seventeen years before surrendered the city to the duke of alencon during that unlucky personage's brief and base career in the netherlands, all, that was left of his visit being the semi-sovereignty which the notorious balagny had since that time enjoyed, in the archiepiscopal city. this personage, a natural son of monluc, bishop of valence, and nephew of the distinguished marshal monluci was one of the most fortunate and the most ignoble of all the soldiers of fortune who had played their part at this epoch in the netherlands. a poor creature himself, he had a heroine for a wife. renee, the sister of bussy d'amboise, had vowed to unite herself to a man who would avenge the assassination of her brother by the count montsoreau? balagny readily agreed to perform the deed, and accordingly espoused the high-born dame, but it does not appear that he ever wreaked her vengeance on the murderer. he had now governed cambray until the citizens and the whole countryside were galled and exhausted by his grinding tyranny, his inordinate pride, and his infamous extortions. his latest achievement had been to force upon his subjects a copper currency bearing the nominal value of silver, with the same blasting effects which such experiments in political economy are apt to produce on princes and peoples. he had been a royalist, a guisist, a leaguer, a dutch republican, by turns, and had betrayed all the parties, at whose expense he had alternately filled his coffers. during the past year he had made up his mind--like most of the conspicuous politicians and campaigners of france--that the moribund league was only fit to be trampled upon by its recent worshippers, and he had made accordingly one of the very best bargains with henry iv. that had yet been made, even at that epoch of self-vending grandees. henry, by treaty ratified in august, , had created him prince of cambray and marshal of france, so that the man who had been receiving up to that very moment a monthly subsidy of seven thousand two hundred dollars from the king of spain was now gratified with a pension to about the same yearly amount by the king of france. during the autumn henry had visited cambray, and the new prince had made wondrous exhibitions of loyalty to the sovereign whom he had done his best all his life to exclude from his kingdom. there had been a ceaseless round of tournaments, festivals, and masquerades in the city in honour of the huguenot chieftain, now changed into the most orthodox and most legitimate of monarchs, but it was not until midsummer of the present year that balagny was called on to defend his old possessions and his new principality against a well-seasoned army and a vigorous commander. meanwhile his new patron was so warmly occupied in other directions that it might be difficult for him to send assistance to the beleaguered city. on the th august fuentes began his siege operations. before the investment had been completed the young prince of rhetelois, only fifteen years of age, son of the duke of nevers, made his entrance into the city attended by thirty of his father's archers. de vich, too, an experienced and faithful commander, succeeded in bringing four or five hundred dragoons through the enemy's lines. these meagre reinforcements were all that reached the place; for, although the states-general sent two or three thousand scotchmen and zeelanders, under justinus of nassau, to henry, that he might be the better enabled to relieve this important frontier city, the king's movements were not sufficiently prompt to turn the force to good account balagny was left with a garrison of three thousand french and walloons in the city, besides five hundred french in the fortress. after six weeks steady drawing of parallels and digging of mines fuentes was ready to open his batteries. on the th september, the news, very much exaggerated, of mondragon's brilliant victory near wessel, and of the deaths of philip nassau and ernest solms, reached the spanish camp. immense was the rejoicing. triumphant salutes from eighty-seven cannon and many thousand muskets shook the earth and excited bewilderment and anxiety within the walls of the city. almost immediately afterwards a tremendous cannonade was begun and so vigorously sustained that the burghers, and part of the garrison, already half rebellious with hatred to balagny, began loudly to murmur as the balls came flying into their streets. a few days later an insurrection broke out. three thousand citizens, with red flags flying, and armed to the teeth were discovered at daylight drawn up in the market place. balagny came down from the citadel and endeavoured to calm the tumult, but was received with execrations. they had been promised, shouted the insurgents, that every road about cambray was to swarm with french soldiers under their formidable king, kicking the heads of the spaniards in all directions. and what had they got? a child with thirty archers, sent by his father, and half a man at the head of four hundred dragoons. to stand a siege under such circumstances against an army of fifteen thousand spaniards, and to take balagny's copper as if it were gold, was more than could be asked of respectable burghers. the allusion to the young prince rhetelois and to de vich, who had lost a leg in the wars, was received with much enthusiasm. balagny, appalled at the fury of the people, whom he had so long been trampling upon while their docility lasted, shrank back before their scornful denunciations into the citadel. but his wife was not appalled. this princess had from the beginning of the siege showed a courage and an energy worthy of her race. night and day she had gone the rounds of the ramparts, encouraging and directing the efforts of the garrison. she had pointed batteries against the enemy's works, and, with her own hands, had fired the cannon. she now made her appearance in the market-place, after her husband had fled, and did her best to assuage the tumult, and to arouse the mutineers to a sense of duty or of shame. she plucked from her bosom whole handfuls of gold which she threw among the bystanders, and she was followed by a number of carts filled with sacks of coin ready to be exchanged for the debased currency. expressing contempt for the progress made by the besieging army, and for the slight impression so far produced upon the defences of the city, she snatched a pike from a soldier and offered in person to lead the garrison to the breach. her audience knew full well that this was no theatrical display, but that the princess was ready as the boldest warrior to lead a forlorn hope or to repel the bloodiest assault. nor, from a military point of view, was their situation desperate. but their hatred and scorn for balagny could not be overcome by any passing sentiment of admiration for his valiant though imperious wife. no one followed her to the breach. exclaiming that she at least would never surrender, and that she would die a sovereign princess rather than live a subject, renee de balagny retained to the citadel. the town soon afterwards capitulated, and as the spanish soldiers, on entering, observed the slight damage that had been caused by their batteries, they were most grateful to the faint-hearted or mutinous condition by which they had been spared the expense of an assault. the citadel was now summoned to surrender; and balagny agreed, in case he should not be relieved within six days, to accept what was considered honourable terms. it proved too late to expect succour from henry, and balagny, but lately a reigning prince, was fain to go forth on the appointed day and salute his conqueror. but the princess kept her vow. she had done her best to defend her dominions and to live a sovereign, and now there was nothing left her but to die. with bitter reproaches on her husband's pusillanimity, with tears and sobs of rage and shame, she refused food, spurned the idea of capitulation, and expired before the th of october. on that day a procession moved out of the citadel gates. balagny, with a son of eleven years of age, the prince of rhetelois, the commander de vich; and many other distinguished personages, all magnificently attired, came forth at the head of what remained of the garrison. the soldiers, numbering thirteen hundred foot and two hundred and forty horse, marched with colours flying, drums beating, bullet in mouth, and all the other recognised palliatives of military disaster. last of all came a hearse, bearing the coffin of the princess of cambray. fuentes saluted the living leaders of the procession, and the dead heroine; with stately courtesy, and ordered an escort as far as peronne. balagny met with a cool reception from henry at st. quintin, but subsequently made his peace, and espoused the sister of the king's mistress, gabrielle d'estrees. the body of gavre d'inchy, which had been buried for years, was dug up and thrown into a gutter. etext editor's bookmarks: deal with his enemy as if sure to become his friend mondragon was now ninety-two years old more catholic than the pope octogenarian was past work and past mischief sacked and drowned ten infant princes strangled his nineteen brothers on his accession chapter xxxii. - archduke cardinal albert appointed governor of the netherlands-- return of philip william from captivity--his adherence to the king of spain--notice of the marquis of varambon, count varax, and other new officers--henry's communications with queen elizabeth--madame de monceaux--conversation of henry with the english ambassador-- marseilles secured by the duke of guise--the fort of rysbank taken by de roane calais in the hands of the spanish--assistance from england solicited by henry--unhandsome conditions proposed by elizabeth--annexation of calais to the obedient provinces--pirates of dunkirk--uneasiness of the netherlanders with regard to the designs of elizabeth--her protestations of sincerity--expedition of dutch and english forces to spain--attack on the spanish war-ships-- victory of the allies--flag of the republic planted on the fortress of cadiz--capitulation of the city--letter of elizabeth to the dutch admirals--state of affairs in france--proposition of the duke of montpensier for the division of the kingdom--successes of the cardinal archduke in normandy--he proceeds to flanders--siege and capture of hulat--projected alliance against spain--interview of de sancy with lord burghley--diplomatic conference at greenwich-- formation of a league against spain--duplicity of the treaty-- affairs in germany--battle between the emperor and the grand turk-- endeavours of philip to counteract the influence of the league--his interference in the affairs of germany--secret intrigue of henry with spain--philip's second attempt at the conquest of england. another governor-general arrived in the early days of the year , to take charge of the obedient provinces. it had been rumoured for many months that philip's choice was at last fixed upon the archduke cardinal albert, archbishop of toledo, youngest of the three surviving brothers, of the emperor rudolph, as the candidate for many honours. he was to espouse the infanta, he was to govern the netherlands, and, as it was supposed, there were wider and wilder schemes for the aggrandizement of this fortunate ecclesiastic brooding in the mind of philip than yet had seen the light. meantime the cardinal's first care was to unfrock himself. he had also been obliged to lay down the most lucrative episcopate in christendom, that of toledo, the revenues of which amounted to the enormous sum of three hundred thousand dollars a year. of this annual income, however, he prudently reserved to himself fifty thousand dollars, by contract with his destined successor. the cardinal reached the netherlands before the end of january. he brought with him three thousand spanish infantry, and some companies of cavalry, while his personal baggage was transported on three hundred and fifty mules. of course there was a triumphal procession when, on the th february, the new satrap entered the obedient netherlands, and there was the usual amount of bell-ringing, cannon-firing, trumpet-blowing, with torch-light processions, blazing tar-barrels, and bedizened platforms, where allegory, in an advanced state of lunacy, performed its wonderful antics. it was scarcely possible for human creatures to bestow more adulation, or to abase themselves more thoroughly, than the honest citizens of brussels had so recently done in honour of the gentle, gouty ernest, but they did their best. that mythological conqueror and demigod had sunk into an unhonoured grave, despite the loud hosannaha sung to him on his arrival in belgica, and the same nobles, pedants, and burghers were now ready and happy to grovel at the feet of albert. but as it proved as impossible to surpass the glories of the holiday which had been culled out for his brother, so it would be superfluous now to recall the pageant which thus again delighted the capital. but there was one personage who graced this joyous entrance whose presence excited perhaps more interest than did that of the archduke himself. the procession was headed by three grandees riding abreast. there was the duke of aumale, pensionary of philip, and one of the last of the leaguers, who had just been condemned to death and executed in effigy at paris, as a traitor to his king and country; there was the prince of chimay, now since the recent death of his father at venice become duke of arschot; and between the two rode a gentleman forty-two years of age, whose grave; melancholy features--although wearing a painful expression of habitual restraint and distrust suggested, more than did those of the rest of his family, the physiognomy of william the silent to all who remembered that illustrious rebel. it was the eldest son of the great founder of the dutch republic. philip william, prince of orange, had at last, after twenty-eight years of captivity in spain, returned to the netherlands, whence he had been kidnapped while a school boy at louvain, by order of the duke of alva. rarely has there been a more dreary fate, a more broken existence than his. his almost life-long confinement, not close nor cruel, but strict and inexorable, together with the devilish arts of the jesuits, had produced nearly as blighting an effect upon his moral nature as a closer dungeon might have done on his physical constitution. although under perpetual arrest in madrid, he had been allowed to ride and to hunt, to go to mass, and to enjoy many of the pleasures of youth. but he had been always a prisoner, and his soul--a hopeless captive--could no longer be liberated now that the tyrant, in order to further his own secret purposes; had at last released his body from gaol. although the eldest-born of his father, and the inheritor of the great estates of orange and of buren, he was no longer a nassau except in name. the change wrought by the pressure of the spanish atmosphere was complete. all that was left of his youthful self was a passionate reverence for his father's memory, strangely combined with a total indifference to all that his father held dear, all for which his father had laboured his whole lifetime, and for which his heart's blood had been shed. on being at last set free from bondage he had been taken to the escorial, and permitted to kiss the hand of the king--that hand still reeking with his father's murder. he had been well received by the infante and the infanta, and by the empress-mother, daughter of charles v., while the artistic treasures of the palace and cloister were benignantly pointed out to him. it was also signified to him that he was to receive the order of the golden fleece, and to enter into possession of his paternal and maternal estates. and philip william had accepted these conditions as if a born loyal subject of his most catholic majesty. could better proof be wanting that in that age religion was the only fatherland, and that a true papist could sustain no injury at the hands of his most catholic majesty. if to be kidnapped in boyhood, to be imprisoned during a whole generation of mankind, to be deprived of vast estates, and to be made orphan by the foulest of assassinations, could not engender resentment against, the royal, perpetrator of these crimes in the bosom of his victim, was it strange that philip should deem himself, something far, more than man, and should placidly accept the worship rendered to him by inferior beings, as to the holy impersonation of almighty wrath? yet there is no doubt that the prince had a sincere respect for his father, and had bitterly sorrowed at his death. when a spanish officer, playing chess with him, in prison, had ventured to speak lightly of that father, philip william had seized him bodily, thrown him from the window, and thus killed him on the spot. and when on his arrival in brussels it was suggested to him by president riehardat that it was the king's intention to reinstate him in the possession of his estates, but that a rent-charge of eighteen thousand florins a year was still to be paid from them; to the heirs of balthazar gerard, his father's assassin, he flamed into a violent rage, drew his poniard, and would have stabbed the president; had not the bystanders forcibly interferred. in consequence of this refusal--called magnanimous by contemporary writers--to accept his property under such conditions, the estates were detained from him for a considerable time longer. during the period of his captivity he had been allowed an income of fifteen thousand livres; but after his restoration his household, gentlemen, and servants alone cost him eighty thousand livres annually. it was supposed that the name of orange-nassau might now be of service to the king's designs in the netherlands. philip william had come by way of rome, where he had been allowed to kiss the pope's feet and had received many demonstrations of favour, and it was fondly thought that he would now prove an instrument with which king and pontiff might pipe back the rebellious republic to its ancient allegiance. but the dutchmen and frisians were deaf. they had tasted liberty too long, they had dealt too many hard blows on the head of regal and sacerdotal despotism, to be deceived by coarse artifices. especially the king thought that something might be done with count hohenlo. that turbulent personage having recently married the full sister of philip william, and being already at variance with count maurice, both for military and political causes, and on account of family and pecuniary disputes, might, it was thought, be purchased by the king, and perhaps a few towns and castles in the united netherlands might be thrown into the bargain. in that huckstering age, when the loftiest and most valiant nobles of europe were the most shameless sellers of themselves, the most cynical mendicants for alms and the most infinite absorbers of bribes in exchange for their temporary fealty; when mayenne, mercoeur, guise, pillars, egmont, and innumerable other possessors of ancient and illustrious names alternately and even simultaneously drew pensions from both sides in the great european conflict, it was not wonderful that philip should think that the boisterous hohenlo might be bought as well as another. the prudent king, however, gave his usual order that nothing was to be paid beforehand, but that the service was to be rendered first; and the price received afterwards. the cardinal applied himself to the task on his first arrival, but was soon obliged to report that he could make but little progress in the negotiation. the king thought, too, that heraugiere, who had commanded the memorable expedition against breda, and who was now governor of that stronghold, might be purchased, and he accordingly instructed the cardinal to make use of the prince of orange in the negotiations to be made for that purpose. the cardinal, in effect, received an offer from heraugiere in the course of a few months not only to surrender breda, without previous recompense, but likewise to place gertruydenberg, the governor of which city was his relative, in the king's possession. but the cardinal was afraid of a trick, for heraugiere was known to be as artful as he was brave, and there can be little doubt that the netherlander was only disposed to lay an ambush for the governor-general. and thus the son of william the silent made his reappearance in the streets of brussels, after twenty-eight years of imprisonment, riding in the procession of the new viceroy. the cardinal-archduke came next, with fuentes riding at his left hand. that vigorous soldier and politician soon afterwards left the netherlands to assume the government of milan. there was a correspondence between the prince of orange and the states-general, in which the republican authorities after expressing themselves towards him with great propriety, and affectionate respect, gave him plainly but delicately to understand that his presence at that time in the united provinces would neither be desirable, nor, without their passports, possible. they were quite aware of the uses to which the king was hoping to turn their reverence for the memory and the family of the great martyr, and were determined to foil such idle projects on the threshold. the archduke albert, born on rd of november, , was now in his thirty-sixth year. a small, thin, pale-faced man, with fair hair, and beard, commonplace features, and the hereditary underhanging burgundian jaw prominently developed, he was not without a certain nobility of presence. his manners were distant to haughtiness and grave to solemnity. he spoke very little and very slowly. he had resided long in spain, where he had been a favourite with his uncle--as much as any man could be a favourite with philip--and he had carefully formed himself on that royal model. he looked upon the king of spain as the greatest, wisest, and best of created beings, as the most illustrious specimen of kingcraft ever yet vouchsafed to the world. he did his best to look sombre and spanish, to turn his visage into a mask; to conceal his thoughts and emotions, not only by the expression of his features but by direct misstatements of his tongue, and in all things to present to the obedient flemings as elaborate a reproduction of his great prototype as copy can ever recall inimitable original. old men in the netherlands; who remembered in how short a time philip had succeeded, by the baleful effect of his personal presence, in lighting up a hatred which not the previous twenty years of his father's burnings, hangings, and butcherings in those provinces had been able to excite, and which forty subsequent years of bloodshed had not begun to allay, might well shake their heads when they saw this new representative of spanish authority. it would have been wiser--so many astute politicians thought--for albert to take the emperor charles for his model, who had always the power of making his tyranny acceptable to the flemings, through the adroitness with which he seemed to be entirely a fleming himself. but albert, although a german, valued himself on appearing like a spaniard. he was industrious, regular in his habits, moderate in eating and drinking, fond of giving audiences on business. he spoke german, spanish, and latin, and understood french and italian. he had at times been a student, and, especially, had some knowledge of mathematics. he was disposed to do his duty--so far as a man can do his duty, who imagines himself so entirely lifted above his fellow creatures as to owe no obligation except to exact their obedience and to personify to them the will of the almighty. to philip and the pope he was ever faithful. he was not without pretensions to military talents, but his gravity, slowness, and silence made him fitter to shine in the cabinet than in the field. henry iv., who loved his jests whether at his own expense or that of friend or foe, was wont to observe that there were three things which nobody would ever believe, and which yet were very true; that queen elizabeth deserved her title of the throned vestal, that he was himself a good catholic, and that cardinal albert was a good general. it is probable that the assertions were all equally accurate. the new governor did not find a very able group of generals or statesmen assembled about him to assist in the difficult task which he had undertaken. there were plenty of fine gentlemen, with ancient names and lofty pretensions, but the working men in field or council had mostly disappeared. mondragon, la motte, charles mansfeld, frank verdugo were all dead. fuentes was just taking his departure for italy. old peter ernest was a cipher; and his son's place was filled by the marquis of varambon; as principal commander in active military operations. this was a burgundian of considerable military ability, but with an inordinate opinion of himself and of his family. "accept the fact that his lineage is the highest possible, and that he has better connections than those of anybody else in the whole world, and he will be perfectly contented," said a sharp, splenetic spaniard in the cardinal's confidence. "'tis a faithful and loyal cavalier, but full of impertinences." the brother of varambon, count varax, had succeeded la motte as general of artillery, and of his doings there was a tale ere long to be told. on the whole, the best soldier in the archduke's service for the moment was the frenchman savigny de rosne, an ancient leaguer, and a passionate hater of the bearnese, of heretics, and of france as then constituted. he had once made a contract with henry by which he bound himself to his service; but after occasioning a good deal of injury by his deceitful attitude, he had accepted a large amount of spanish dollars, and had then thrown off the mask and proclaimed himself the deadliest foe of his lawful sovereign. "he was foremost," said carlos coloma, "among those who were successfully angled for by the commander moreo with golden hooks." although prodigiously fat, this renegade was an active and experienced campaigner; while his personal knowledge of his own country made his assistance of much value to those who were attempting its destruction. the other great nobles, who were pressing themselves about the new viceroy with enthusiastic words of welcome, were as like to give him embarrassment as support. all wanted office, emoluments, distinctions, nor could, much dependence be placed on the ability or the character of any of them. the new duke of arschot had in times past, as prince of chimay, fought against the king, and had even imagined himself a calvinist, while his wife was still a determined heretic. it is true that she was separated from her husband. he was a man of more quickness and acuteness than his father had been, but if possible more mischievous both to friend and foe; being subtle, restless, intriguing, fickle; ambitious, and deceitful. the prince of orange was considered a man of very ordinary intelligence, not more than half witted, according to queen elizabeth, and it was probable that the peculiar circumstances of his life would extinguish any influence that he might otherwise have attained with either party. he was likely to affect a neutral position and, in times of civil war, to be neutral is to be nothing. arenberg, unlike the great general on the catholic side who had made the name illustrious in the opening scenes of the mighty contest, was disposed to quiet obscurity so far as was compatible with his rank. having inherited neither fortune nor talent with his ancient name, he was chiefly occupied with providing for the wants of his numerous family. a good papist, well-inclined and docile, he was strongly recommended for the post of admiral, not because he had naval acquirements, but because he had a great many children. the marquis of havre, uncle to the duke of arschot, had played in his time many prominent parts in the long netherland tragedy. although older than he was when requesens and don john of austria had been governors, he was not much wiser, being to the full as vociferous, as false, as insolent, as self-seeking, and as mischievous as in his youth. alternately making appeals to popular passions in his capacity of high-born demagogue, or seeking crumbs of bounty as the supple slave of his sovereign, he was not more likely to acquire the confidence of the cardinal than he had done that of his predecessors. the most important and opulent grandee of all the provinces was the count de ligne, who had become by marriage or inheritance prince of espinay, seneschal of hainault, and viscount of ghent. but it was only his enormous estates that gave him consideration, for he was not thought capable of either good or bad intentions. he had, however, in times past, succeeded in the chief object of his ambition, which was to keep out of trouble, and to preserve his estates from confiscation. his wife, who governed him, and had thus far guided him safely, hoped to do so to the end. the cardinal was informed that the golden fleece would be all-sufficient to keep him upon the right track. of the egmonts, one had died on the famous field of ivry, another was an outlaw, and had been accused of participation in plots of assassination against william of orange; the third was now about the archduke's court, and was supposed, to be as dull a man--as ligne, but likely to be serviceable so long as he could keep his elder brother out of his inheritance. thus devoted to church and king were the sons of the man whose head philip had taken off on a senseless charge of treason. the two counts van den berg--frederic and herman--sons of the sister of william the silent, were, on the whole, as brave, efficient, and trustworthy servants of the king and cardinal as were to be found in the obedient, provinces. the new governor had come well provided with funds, being supplied for the first three-quarters of the year with a monthly: allowance of , , florins. for reasons soon to appear, it was not probable that the states-general would be able very, soon to make a vigorous campaign, and it was thought best for the cardinal to turn his immediate attention to france. the negotiations for, effecting an alliance offensive and defensive, between the three powers most interested in opposing the projects of spain for universal empire, were not yet begun, and will be reserved for a subsequent chapter. meantime there had been much informal discussion and diplomatic trifling between france and england for the purpose of bringing about a sincere co-operation of the two crowns against the fifth monarchy--as it was much the fashion to denominate philip's proposed dominion. henry had suggested at different times to sir robert sidney, during his frequent presence in france as special envoy for the queen, the necessity of such a step, but had not always found a hearty sympathy. but as the king began to cool in his hatred to spain, after his declaration of war against that power, it seemed desirable to elizabeth to fan his resentment afresh, and to revert to those propositions which had been so coolly received when made. sir harry umton, ambassador from her majesty, was accordingly provided with especial letters on the subject from the queen's own hand, and presented them early in the year at coucy (feb. , ). no man in the world knew better the tone to adopt in his communications with elizabeth than did the chivalrous king. no man knew better than he how impossible it was to invent terms of adulation too gross for her to accept as spontaneous and natural effusions, of the heart. he received the letters from the hands of sir henry, read them with rapture, heaved a deep sigh, and exclaimed. "ah! mr. ambassador, what shall i say to you? this letter of the queen, my sister, is full of sweetness and affection. i see that she loves me, while that i love her is not to be doubted. yet your commission shows me the contrary, and this proceeds from her, ministers. how else can these obliquities stand with her professions of love? i am forced, as a king, to take a course which, as henry, her loving brother, i could never adopt." they then walked out into the park, and the king fell into frivolous discourse, on purpose to keep the envoy from the important subject which had been discussed in the cabinet. sir henry brought him back to business, and insisted that there was no disagreement between her majesty and her counsellors, all being anxious to do what she wished. the envoy, who shared in the prevailing suspicions that henry was about to make a truce with spain, vehemently protested against such a step, complaining that his ministers, whose minds were distempered with jealousy, were inducing him to sacrifice her friendship to a false and hollow reconciliation with spain. henry protested that his preference would be for england's amity, but regretted that the english delays were so great, and that such dangers were ever impending over his head, as to make it impossible for him, as a king, to follow the inclinations of his heart. they then met madame de monceaux, the beautiful gabrielle, who was invited to join in the walk, the king saying that she was no meddler in politics, but of a tractable spirit. this remark, in sir henry's opinion, was just, for, said he to burghley, she is thought incapable of affairs, and, very simple. the duchess unmasked very graciously as the ambassador was presented; but, said the splenetic diplomatist, "i took no pleasure in it, nor held it any grace at all." "she was attired in a plain satin gown," he continued, "with a velvet hood to keep her from the weather, which became her very ill. in my opinion, she is altered very much for the worse, and was very grossly painted." the three walked together discoursing of trifles, much to the annoyance of umton. at last, a shower forced the lady into the house, and the king soon afterwards took the ambassador to his cabinet. "he asked me how i liked his mistress," wrote sir henry to burghley, "and i answered sparingly in her praise, and told him that if without offence i might speak it, i had the picture of a far more excellent mistress, and yet did her picture come far from the perfection of her beauty." "as you love me," cried the king, "show it me, if you have it about you!" "i made some difficulty," continued sir henry, "yet upon his importunity i offered it to his view very secretly, still holding it in my hand. he beheld it with passion and admiration, saying that i was in the right." "i give in," said the king, "je me rends." then, protesting that he had never seen such beauty all his life, he kissed it reverently twice or thrice, sir henry still holding the miniature firmly in his hand. the king then insisted upon seizing the picture, and there was a charming struggle between the two, ending in his majesty's triumph. he then told sir henry that he might take his leave of the portrait, for he would never give it up again for any treasure, and that to possess the favour of the original he would forsake all the world. he fell into many more such passionate and incoherent expressions of rhapsody, as of one suddenly smitten and spell-bound with hapless love, bitterly reproaching the ambassador for never having brought him any answers to the many affectionate letters which he had written to the queen, whose silence had made him so wretched. sir henry, perhaps somewhat confounded at being beaten at his own fantastic game, answered as well as he could, "but i found," said he, "that the dumb picture did draw on more speech and affection from him than all my best arguments and eloquence. this was the effect of our conference, and, if infiniteness of vows and outward professions be a strong argument of inward affection, there is good likelihood of the king's continuance of amity with her majesty; only i fear lest his necessities may inconsiderately draw him into some hazardous treaty with spain, which i hope confidently it is yet in the power of her majesty to prevent." the king, while performing these apish tricks about the picture of a lady with beady black eyes, a hooked nose, black teeth, and a red wig, who was now in the sixty-fourth year of her age, knew very well that the whole scene would be at once repeated to the fair object of his passion by her faithful envoy; but what must have been the opinion entertained of elizabeth by contemporary sovereigns and statesmen when such fantastic folly could be rehearsed and related every day in the year! and the king knew, after all, and was destined very soon to acquire proof of it which there was no gainsaying, that the beautiful elizabeth had exactly as much affection for him as he had for her, and was as capable of sacrificing his interests for her own, or of taking advantage of his direct necessities as cynically and as remorselessly, as the king of spain, or the duke of mayenne, or the pope had ever done. henry had made considerable progress in re-establishing his authority over a large portion of the howling wilderness to which forty years of civil war had reduced his hereditary kingdom. there was still great danger, however, at its two opposite extremities. calais, key to the norman gate of france, was feebly held; while marseilles, seated in such dangerous proximity to spain on the one side, and to the republic of genoa, that alert vassal of spain, on the other, was still in the possession of the league. a concerted action was undertaken by means of john andrew doria, with a spanish fleet from genoa on the outside and a well-organised conspiracy from within, to carry the city bodily over to philip. had it succeeded, this great mediterranean seaport would have become as much a spanish 'possession as barcelona or naples, and infinite might have been the damage to henry's future prospects in consequence. but there was a man in marseilles; petrus libertas by name, whose ancestors had gained this wholesome family appellation by a successful effort once made by them to rescue the little town of calvi, in corsica, from the tyranny of genoa. peter liberty needed no prompting to vindicate, on a fitting occasion, his right to his patronymic. in conjunction with men in marseilles who hated oppression, whether of kings, priests, or renegade republics, as much as he did, and with a secret and well-arranged understanding with the duke of guise, who was burning with ambition to render a signal benefit to the cause which he had just espoused, this bold tribune of the people succeeded in stirring the population to mutiny at exactly the right moment, and in opening the gates of marseilles to the duke of guise and his forces before it was possible for the leaguers to admit the fleet of doria into its harbour. thus was the capital of mediterranean france lost and won. guise gained great favour in henry's eyes; and with reason; for the son of the great balafre, who was himself the league, had now given the league the stroke of mercy. peter liberty became consul of marseilles, and received a patent of nobility. it was difficult, however, for any diploma to confer anything more noble upon him than the name which he hade inherited, and to which he had so well established his right. but while henry's cause had thus been so well served in the south, there was danger impending in the north. the king had been besieging, since autumn, the town of la fere, an important military and strategic position, which had been farnese's basis of operations during his memorable campaigns in france, and which had ever since remained in the hands of the league. the cardinal had taken the field with an army of fifteen thousand foot and three thousand horse, assembled at valenciennes, and after hesitating some time whether, or not he should attempt to relieve la fere, he decided instead on a diversion. in the second week of april; de rosne was detached at the head of four thousand men, and suddenly appeared before calais. the city had been long governed by de gordan, but this wary and experienced commander had unfortunately been for two years dead. still more unfortunately, it had been in his power to bequeath, not only his fortune, which was very large, but the government of calais, considered the most valuable command in france, to his nephew, de vidosan. he had, however, not bequeathed to him his administrative and military genius. the fortress called the risban, or rysbank, which entirely governed the harbour, and the possession of which made calais nearly impregnable, as inexhaustible supplies could thus be poured into it by sea, had fallen into comparative decay. de gordan had been occupied in strengthening the work, but since his death the nephew had entirely neglected the task. on the land side, the bridge of nivelet was the key to the place. the faubourg was held by two dutch companies, under captains le gros and dominique, who undertook to prevent the entrance of the archduke's forces. vidosan, however; ordered these faithful auxiliaries into the citadel. de rosne, acting with great promptness; seized both the bridge of nivelet and the fort of rysbank by a sudden and well-concerted movement. this having been accomplished, the city was in his power, and, after sustaining a brief cannonade, it surrendered. vidosan, with his garrison, however, retired into the citadel, and it was agreed between, himself and de rosne that unless succour should be received from the french king before the expiration of six days; the citadel should also be-evacuated. meantime henry, who was at boulogne, much disgusted at this unexpected disaster, had sent couriers to the netherlands, demanding assistance of the states-general and of the stadholder. maurice had speedily responded to the appeal. proceeding himself to zeeland, he had shipped fifteen companies of picked troops from middelburg, together with a flotilla laden with munitions and provisions enough to withstand a siege of several weeks. when the arrangements were completed, he went himself on board of a ship of war to take command of the expedition in person. on the th of april he arrived with his succours off the harbour of calais, and found to his infinite disappointment that the rysbank fort was in the hands of the enemy. as not a vessel could pass the bar without almost touching that fortress, the entrance to calais was now impossible. had the incompetent vidosan heeded the advice of his brave dutch officers; the place might still have been saved, for it had surrendered in a panic on the very day when the fleet of maurice arrived off the port. henry had lost no time in sending, also, to his english allies for succour. the possession of calais by the spaniards might well seem alarming to elizabeth, who could not well forget that up to the time of her sister this important position had been for two centuries an english stronghold. the defeat of the spanish husband of an english queen had torn from england the last trophies of the black prince, and now the prize had again fallen into the hands of spain; but of spain no longer in alliance, but at war, with england. obviously it was most dangerous to the interests and to the safety of the english realm, that this threatening position, so near the gates of london, should be in the hands of the most powerful potentate in the world and the dire enemy of england. in response to henry's appeal, the earl of essex was despatched with a force of six thousand men--raised by express command of the queen on sunday when the people were all at church--to dover, where shipping was in readiness to transport the troops at once across the channel. at the same time, the politic queen and some of her counsellors thought the opening a good one to profit by the calamity of their dear ally, certainly it was desirable to prevent calais from falling into the grasp of philip. but it was perhaps equally desirable, now that the place without the assistance of elizabeth could no longer be preserved by henry, that elizabeth, and not henry, should henceforth be its possessor. to make this proposition as clear to the french king as it seemed to the english queen, sir robert sidney was despatched in all haste to boulogne, even while the guns of de rosne were pointed at calais citadel, and while maurice's fleet, baffled by the cowardly surrender of the risban, was on its retreat from the harbour. at two o'clock in the afternoon of the st of april, sidney landed at boulogne. henry, who had been intensely impatient to hear from england, and who suspected that the delay was boding no good to his cause, went down to the strand to meet the envoy, with whom then and there he engaged instantly in the most animated discourse. as there was little time to be lost, and as sidney on getting out of the vessel found himself thus confronted with the soldier-king in person, he at once made the demand which he had been sent across the channel to make. he requested the king to deliver up the town and citadel of calais to the queen of england as soon as, with her assistance, he should succeed in recovering the place. he assigned as her majesty's reasons for this peremptory summons that she would on no other terms find it in her power to furnish the required succour. her subjects, she said, would never consent to it except on these conditions. it was perhaps not very common with the queen to exhibit so much deference to the popular will, but on this occasion the supposed inclinations of the nation furnished her with an excellent pretext for carrying out her own. sidney urged moreover that her majesty felt certain of being obliged--in case she did not take calais into her own safe-keeping and protection--to come to the rescue again within four or six months to prevent it once more from being besieged, conquered, and sacked by the enemy. the king had feared some such proposition as this, and had intimated as much to the states' envoy, calvaert, who had walked with him down to the strand, and had left him when the conference began. henry was not easily thrown from his equanimity nor wont to exhibit passion on any occasion, least of all in his discussions with the ambassadors of england, but the cool and insolent egotism of this communication was too much for him. he could never have believed, he said in reply, that after the repeated assurances of her majesty's affection for him which he had received from the late sir henry umton in their recent negotiations, her majesty would now so discourteously seek to make her profit out of his misery. he had come to boulogne, he continued, on the pledge given by the earl of essex to assist him with seven or eight thousand men in the recovery of calais. if this after all should fail him--although his own reputation would be more injured by the capture of the place thus before his eyes than if it had happened in his absence--he would rather a hundred times endure the loss of the place than have it succoured with such injurious and dishonourable conditions. after all, he said, the loss of calais was substantially of more importance to the queen than to himself. to him the chief detriment would be in the breaking up of his easy and regular communications with his neighbours through this position, and especially with her majesty. but as her affection for him was now proved to be so slender as to allow her to seek a profit from his misfortune and dishonour, it would be better for him to dispense with her friendship altogether and to strengthen his connections with truer and more honourable friends. should the worst come to the worst, he doubted not that he should be able, being what he was and much more than he was of old, to make a satisfactory arrangement with, the king of spain. he was ready to save calais at the peril of his life, to conquer it in person, and not by the hands of any of his lieutenants; but having done so, he was not willing--at so great a loss of reputation without and at so much peril within--to deliver it to her majesty or to any-one else. he would far rather see it fall into the hands of the spaniards. thus warmly and frankly did henry denounce the unhandsome proposition made in the name of the queen, while, during his vehement expostulations, sidney grew red with shame, and did not venture to look the king for one moment in the face. he then sought to mitigate the effect of his demand by intimating, with much embarrassment of demeanour, that perhaps her majesty would be satisfied with the possession of calais for her own life-time, and--as this was at once plumply refused--by the suggestion of a pledge of it for the term of one year. but the king only grew the more indignant as the bargaining became more paltry, and he continued to heap bitter reproaches upon the queen, who, without having any children or known inheritor of her possessions, should nevertheless, be so desirous of compassing his eternal disgrace and of exciting the discontent of his subjects for the sake of an evanescent gain for herself. at such a price, he avowed, he had no wish to purchase her majesty's friendship. after this explosion the conference became more amicable. the english envoy assured the king that there could be, at all events, no doubt of the arrival of essex with eight thousand men on the following thursday to assist in the relief of the citadel; notwithstanding the answer which, he had received to the demand of her majesty. he furthermore expressed the strong desire which he felt that the king might be induced to make a personal visit to the queen at dover, whither she would gladly come to receive him, so soon as calais should have been saved. to this the king replied with gallantry, that it was one of the things in the world that he had most at heart. the envoy rejoined that her majesty would consider such a visit a special honour and favour. she had said that she could leave this world more cheerfully, when god should ordain, after she had enjoyed two hours' conversation with his majesty. sidney on taking his departure repeated the assurance that the troops under essex would arrive before calais by thursday, and that they were fast marching to the english coast; forgetting, apparently, that, at the beginning of the interview, he had stated, according to the queen's instructions, that the troops had been forbidden to march until a favourable answer had been returned by the king to her proposal. henry then retired to his headquarters for the purpose of drawing up information for his minister in england, de saucy, who had not yet been received by the queen, and who had been kept in complete ignorance of this mission of sidney and of its purport. while the king was thus occupied, the english envoy was left in the company of calvaert, who endeavoured, without much success, to obtain from him the result of the conference which had just taken place. sidney was not to be pumped by the dutch diplomatist, adroit as he unquestionably was, but, so soon as the queen's ambassador was fairly afloat again on his homeward track--which was the case within three hours after his arrival at boulogne--calvaert received from the king a minute account of the whole conversation. henry expressed unbounded gratitude to the states-general of the republic for their prompt and liberal assistance, and he eagerly contrasted the conduct of prince maurice--sailing forth in person so chivalrously to his rescue--with the sharp bargainings and shortcomings of the queen. he despatched a special messenger to convey his thanks to the prince, and he expressed his hope to calvaert that the states might be willing that their troops should return to the besieged place under the command of maurice, whose presence alone, as he loudly and publicly protested, was worth four thousand men. but it was too late. the six days were rapidly passing, away. the governor of boulogne, campagnolo, succeeded, by henry's command, in bringing a small reinforcement of two or three hundred men into the citadel of calais during the night of the nd of april. this devoted little band made their way, when the tide was low, along the flats which stretched between the fort of rysbank and the sea. sometimes wading up to the neck in water, sometimes swimming for their lives, and during a greater part of their perilous, march clinging so close to the hostile fortress as almost to touch its guns, the gallant adventurers succeeded in getting into the citadel in time to be butchered with the rest of the garrison on the following day. for so soon as the handful of men had gained admittance to the gates--although otherwise the aspect of affairs was quite unchanged--the rash and weak de vidosan proclaimed that the reinforcements stipulated in his conditional capitulation having arrived, he should now resume hostilities. whereupon he opened fire, upon the town, and a sentry was killed. de rosne, furious, at what he considered a breach of faith, directed a severe cannonade against the not very formidable walls of the castle. during the artillery engagement which ensued the prince of orange, who had accompanied de rosne to the siege, had a very narrow escape. a cannon-ball from the town took off the heads of two spaniards standing near him, bespattering him with their blood and brains. he was urged to retire, but assured those about him that he came of too good a house to be afraid. his courage was commendable, but it seems not to have occurred to him that the place for his father's son was not by the aide of the general who was doing the work of his father's murderer. while his brother maurice with a fleet of twenty dutch war-ships was attempting in vain to rescue calais from the grasp of the spanish king, philip william of nassau was looking on, a pleased and passive spectator of the desperate and unsuccessful efforts at defence. the assault was then ordered? the-first storm was repulsed, mainly by the dutch companies, who fought in the breach until most of their numbers were killed or wounded, their captains dominique and le gros having both fallen. the next attack was successful, the citadel was carried; and the whole garrison, with exception of what remained of the hollanders and zeelanders, put to the sword. de vidosan himself perished. thus calais was once more a spanish city, and was re-annexed to the obedient provinces of flanders. of five thousand persons, soldiers and citizens, who had taken refuge in the castle, all were killed or reduced to captivity.' the conversion of this important naval position into a spanish-flemish station was almost as disastrous to the republic as it was mortifying to france and dangerous to england. the neighbouring dunkirk had long been a nest of pirates, whence small, fast-sailing vessels issued, daily and nightly, to prey indiscriminately upon the commerce of all nations. these corsairs neither gave nor took quarter, and were in the habit, after they had plundered their prizes, of setting them adrift, with the sailors nailed to the deck or chained to the rigging; while the officers were held for ransom. in case the vessels themselves were wanted, the crews were indiscriminately tossed overboard; while, on the ether hand, the buccaneers rarely hesitated to blow up their own ships, when unable to escape from superior force. capture was followed by speedy execution, and it was but recently that one of these freebooters having been brought into rotterdam, the whole crew, forty-four in number, were hanged on the day of their arrival, while some five and twenty merchant-captains held for ransom by the pirates thus obtained their liberty. and now calais was likely to become a second and more dangerous sea-robbers' cave than even dunkirk had been. notwithstanding this unlucky beginning of the campaign for the three allies, it was determined to proceed with a considerable undertaking which had been arranged between england and the republic. for the time, therefore, the importunate demands of the queen for repayments by the states of her disbursements during the past ten years were suspended. it had, indeed, never been more difficult than at that moment for the republic to furnish extraordinary sums of money. the year had not been prosperous. although the general advance in commerce, manufactures, and in every department of national development had been very remark able, yet there had recently been, for exceptional causes, an apparent falling off; while, on the other hand, there had been a bad harvest in the north of europe. in holland, where no grain was grown, and which yet was the granary of the world, the prices were trebled. one hundred and eight bushels (a last) of rye, which ordinarily was worth fifty florins, now sold for one hundred and fifty florins, and other objects of consumption were equally enhanced in value. on the other hand, the expenses of the war were steadily increasing, and were fixed for this year at five millions of florins. the republic, and especially the states of holland, never hesitated to tax heroically. the commonwealth had no income except that which the several provinces chose to impose upon themselves in order to fill the quota assigned to them by the states-general; but this defect in their political organization was not sensibly felt so long as the enthusiasm for the war continued in full force. the people of the netherlands knew full well that there was no liberty for them without fighting, no fighting without an army, no army without wages, and no wages without taxation; and although by the end of the century the imposts had become so high that, in the language of that keen observer, cardinal bentivoglio; nuncio at brussels, they could scarcely be imagined higher, yet, according to the same authority, they were laid unflinchingly and paid by the people without a murmur. during this year and the next the states of holland, whose proportion often amounted to fifty per cent. of the whole contribution of the united provinces, and who ever set a wholesome example in taxation, raised the duty on imports and all internal taxes by one-eighth, and laid a fresh impost on such articles of luxury as velvets and satins, pleas and processes. starch, too, became a source of considerable revenue. with the fast-rising prosperity of the country luxury had risen likewise, and, as in all ages and countries of the world of which there is record, woman's dress signalized itself by extravagant and very often tasteless conceptions. in a country where, before the doctrine of popular sovereignty had been broached in any part of the world by the most speculative theorists, very vigorous and practical examples of democracy had been afforded to europe; in a country where, ages before the science of political economy had been dreamed of, lessons of free trade on the largest scale had been taught to mankind by republican traders instinctively breaking in many directions through the nets by which monarchs and oligarchs, guilds and corporations, had hampered the movements of commerce; it was natural that fashion should instinctively rebel against restraint. the honest burgher's vrow of middelburg or enkhuyzen claimed the right to make herself as grotesque as queen elizabeth in all her glory. sumptuary laws were an unwholesome part of feudal tyranny, and, as such, were naturally dropping into oblivion on the free soil of the netherlands. it was the complaint therefore of moralists that unproductive consumption was alarmingly increasing. formerly starch had been made of the refuse parts of corn, but now the manufacturers of that article made use of the bloom of the wheat and consumed as much of it as would have fed great cities. in the little village of wormer the starch-makers used between three and four thousand bushels a week. thus a substantial gentlewoman in fashionable array might bear the food of a parish upon her ample bosom. a single manufacturer in amsterdam required four hundred weekly bushels. such was the demand for the stiffening of the vast ruffs, the wonderful head-gear, the elaborate lace-work, stomachers and streamers, without which no lady who respected herself could possibly go abroad to make her daily purchases of eggs and poultry in the market-place. "may god preserve us," exclaimed a contemporary chronicler, unreasonably excited on the starch question, "from farther luxury and wantonness, and abuse of his blessings and good gifts, that the punishment of jeroboam, which followed upon solomon's fortunate reign and the gold-ships of ophir may not come upon us." the states of holland not confounding--as so often has been the case--the precepts of moral philosophy with those of political economy, did not, out of fear for the doom of jeroboam, forbid the use of starch. they simply laid a tax of a stiver a pound on the commodity, or about six per cent, ad valorem; and this was a more wholesome way of serving the state than by abridging the liberty of the people in the choice of personal attire. meantime the preachers were left to thunder from their pulpits upon the sinfulness of starched rues and ornamental top-knots, and to threaten their fair hearers with the wrath to come, with as much success as usually attends such eloquence. there had been uneasiness in the provinces in regard to the designs of the queen, especially since the states had expressed their inability to comply in full with her demands for repayment. spanish emissaries had been busily circulating calumnious reports that her majesty was on the eve of concluding a secret peace with philip, and that it was her intention to deliver the cautionary towns to the king. the government attached little credence to such statements, but it was natural that envoy caron should be anxious at their perpetual recurrence both in england and in the provinces. so, one day, he had a long conversation with the earl of essex on the subject; for it will be recollected that lord leicester had strenuously attempted at an earlier day to get complete possession, not only of the pledged cities but of leyden also, in order to control the whole country. essex was aflame with indignation at once, and, expressed himself with his customary recklessness. he swore that if her majesty were so far forsaken of god and so forgetful of her own glory, as through evil counsel to think of making any treaty with spain without the knowledge of the states-general and in order to cheat them, he would himself make the matter as public as it was possible to do, and would place himself in direct opposition to such a measure, so as to show the whole world that his heart and soul were foreign at least to any vile counsel of the kind that might have been given to his sovereign. caron and essex conversed much in this vein, and although the envoy, especially requested him not to do so, the earl, who was not distinguished, for his powers of dissimulation, and who suspected burleigh of again tampering, as he had often before tampered, with secret agents of philip, went straight to the queen with the story. next day, essex invited caron to dine and to go with him after dinner to the queen. this was done, and, so soon as the states' envoy was admitted to the royal presence, her majesty at once opened the subject. she had heard, she said, that the reports in question had been spread through the provinces, and she expressed much indignation in regard to them. she swore very vehemently, as usual, and protested that she had better never have been born than prove so miserable a princess as these tales would make her. the histories of england, she said, should never describe her as guilty of such falsehood. she could find a more honourable and fitting means of making peace than by delivering up cities and strongholds so sincerely and confidingly placed in her hands. she hoped to restore them as faithfully as they had loyally been entrusted to her keeping. she begged caron to acquaint the states-general with these asseverations; declaring that never since she had sent troops to the netherlands had she lent her ear to those who had made such underhand propositions. she was aware that cardinal albert had propositions to make, and that he was desirous of inducing both the french king and, herself to consent to a peace with spain: but she promised, the states' envoy solemnly before god to apprise him of any such overtures, so soon as they should be made known to herself. much more in this strain, with her usual vehemence and mighty oaths, did the great queen aver, and the republican envoy, to whom she was on this occasion very gracious, was fain to believe in her sincerity. yet the remembrance of the amazing negotiations between the queen's ministers and the agents of alexander farnese, by which the invasion of the armada had been masked; could not but have left an uneasy feeling in the mind of every dutch statesman. "i trust in god," said caron, "that he may never so abandon her as to permit her to do the reverse of what she now protests with so much passion. should it be otherwise--which god forbid--i should think that he would send such chastisement upon her and her people that other princes would see their fate therein as in a mirror, should they make and break such oaths and promises. i tell you these things as they occur, because, as i often feel uneasiness myself, i imagine that my friends on the other side the water may be subject to the same anxiety. nevertheless, beat the bush as i may, i can obtain no better information than this which i am now sending you." it had been agreed that for a time the queen should desist from her demands for repayment--which, according to the treaty of , was to be made only after conclusion of peace between spain and the provinces, but which elizabeth was frequently urging on the ground that the states could now make that peace when they chose--and in return for such remission the republic promised to furnish twenty-four ships of war and four tenders for a naval expedition which was now projected against the spanish coast. these war-ships were to be of four hundred, three hundred, and two hundred tons-eight of each dimension--and the estimated expense of their fitting out for five months was , florins. before the end of april, notwithstanding the disappointment occasioned in the netherlands by the loss of calais, which the states had so energetically striven to prevent, the fleet under admiral john of duvenwoord, seigneur of warmond, and vice-admirals jan gerbrantz and cornelius leusen, had arrived at plymouth, ready to sail with their english allies. there were three thousand sailors of holland and zeeland on board, the best mariners in the world, and two thousand two hundred picked veterans from the garrisons of the netherlands. these land-troops were english, but they belonged to the states' army, which was composed of dutch, german, walloon, scotch, and irish soldiers, and it was a liberal concession on the part of the republican government to allow them to serve on the present expedition. by the terms of the treaty the queen had no more power to send these companies to invade spain than to campaign against tyr owen in ireland, while at a moment when the cardinal archduke had a stronger and better-appointed army in flanders than had been seen for many years in the provinces, it was a most hazardous experiment for the states to send so considerable a portion of their land and naval forces upon a distant adventure. it was also a serious blow to them to be deprived for the whole season of that valiant and experienced commander, sir francis vere, the most valuable lieutenant, save lewis william, that maurice had at his disposition. yet vere was to take command of this contingent thus sent to the coast of spain, at the very moment when the republican army ought to issue from their winter quarters and begin active operations in the field. the consequence of this diminution of their strength and drain upon their resources was that the states were unable to put an army in the field during the current year, or make any attempt at a campaign. the queen wrote a warm letter of thanks to admiral warmond for the promptness and efficiency with which he had brought his fleet to the place of rendezvous, and now all was bustle and preparation in the english ports for the exciting expedition resolved upon. never during philip's life-time, nor for several years before his birth, had a hostile foot trod the soil of spain, except during the brief landing at corunna in , and, although the king's beard had been well singed ten years previously by sir francis drake, and although the coast of portugal had still more recently been invaded by essex and vere, yet the present adventure was on a larger scale, and held out brighter prospects of success than any preceding expedition had done. in an age when the line between the land and sea service, between regular campaigners and volunteers, between public and private warfare, between chivalrous knights-errant and buccaneers, was not very distinctly drawn, there could be nothing more exciting to adventurous spirits, more tempting to the imagination of those who hated the pope and philip, who loved fighting, prize-money, and the queen, than a foray into spain. it was time to return the visit of the armada. some of the sea-kings were gone. those magnificent freebooters, drake and hawkins, had just died in the west indies, and doughty sir roger williams had left the world in which he had bustled so effectively, bequeathing to posterity a classic memorial of near a half century of hard fighting, written, one might almost imagine, in his demi-pique saddle. but that most genial, valiant, impracticable, reckless, fascinating hero of romance, the earl of essex--still a youth although a veteran in service--was in the spring-tide of favour and glory, and was to command the land-forces now assembled at plymouth. that other "corsair"--as the spaniards called him--that other charming and heroic shape in england's chequered chronicle of chivalry and crime--famous in arts and arms, politics, science, literature, endowed with so many of the gifts by which men confer lustre on their age and country, whose name was already a part of england's eternal glory, whose tragic destiny was to be her undying shame--raleigh, the soldier, sailor, scholar, statesman, poet, historian, geographical discoverer, planter of empires yet unborn--was also present, helping to organize the somewhat chaotic elements of which the chief anglo-dutch enterprise for this year against--the spanish world-dominion was compounded. and, again, it is not superfluous to recal the comparatively slender materials, both in bulk and numbers, over which the vivid intelligence and restless energy of the two leading protestant powers, the kingdom and the republic, disposed. their contest against the overshadowing empire, which was so obstinately striving to become the fifth-monarchy of history, was waged by land: and naval forces, which in their aggregate numbers would scarce make a startling list of killed and wounded in a single modern battle; by ships such that a whole fleet of them might be swept out of existence with half-a-dozen modern broadsides; by weapons which would seem to modern eyes like clumsy toys for children. such was the machinery by which the world was to be lost and won, less than three centuries ago. could science; which even in that age had made gigantic strides out of the preceding darkness, have revealed its later miracles, and have presented its terrible powers to the despotism which was seeking to crush all christendom beneath its feet, the possible result might have been most tragical to humanity. while there are few inventions in morals, the demon intellect is ever at his work, knowing no fatigue and scorning contentment in his restless demands upon the infinite unknown. yet moral truth remains unchanged, gradually through the ages extending its influence, and it is only by conformity to its simple and, eternal dictates that nations, like individuals, can preserve a healthful existence. in the unending warfare between right and wrong, between liberty and despotism; evil has the advantage of rapidly assuming many shapes. it has been well said that constant vigilance is the price of liberty. the tendency of our own times, stimulated by scientific discoveries and their practical application, is to political consolidation, to the absorption of lesser communities in greater; just as disintegration was the leading characteristic of the darker ages. the scheme of charlemagne to organize europe into a single despotism was a brilliant failure because the forces which were driving human society into local and gradual reconstruction around various centres of crystallization: were irresistible to any countervailing enginry which the emperor had at his disposal. the attempt of philip, eight centuries later, at universal monarchy, was frivolous, although he could dispose of material agencies which in the hands of charlemagne might have made the dreams of charlemagne possible. it was frivolous because the rising instinct of the age was for religious, political, and commercial freedom in a far intenser degree than those who lived in that age were themselves aware. a considerable republic had been evolved as it were involuntarily out of the necessities of the time almost without self-consciousness that it was a republic, and even against the desire of many who were guiding its destinies. and it found itself in constant combination with two monarchs, despotic at heart and of enigmatical or indifferent religious convictions, who yet reigned over peoples, largely influenced by enthusiasm for freedom. thus liberty was preserved for the world; but, as the law of human progress would seem to be ever by a spiral movement, it; seems strange to the superficial observer not prone to generalizing, that calvinism, which unquestionably was the hard receptacle in which the germ of human freedom was preserved in various countries and at different epochs, should have so often degenerated into tyranny. yet notwithstanding the burning of servetus at geneva, and the hanging of mary dyer at boston, it is certain that france, england, the netherlands, and america, owe a large share of such political liberty as they have enjoyed to calvinism. it may be possible for large masses of humanity to accept for ages the idea of one infallible church, however tyrannical but the idea once admitted that there may be many churches; that what is called the state can be separated from what is called the church; the plea of infallibility and of authority soon becomes ridiculous--a mere fiction of political or fashionable quackery to impose upon the uneducated or the unreflecting. and now essex, raleigh and howard, vere, warmond and nassau were about to invade the shores of the despot who sat in his study plotting to annex england, scotland, ireland, france, the dutch republic, and the german empire to the realms of spain, portugal, naples, milan, and the eastern and western indies, over which he already reigned. the fleet consisted of fifty-seven ships of war, of which twenty-four were dutch vessels under admiral warmond, with three thousand sailors of holland and zeeland. besides the sailors, there was a force of six thousand foot soldiers, including the english veterans from the netherlands under sir francis vere. there were also fifty transports laden with ammunition and stores. the expedition was under the joint command of lord high admiral howard and of the earl of essex. many noble and knightly volunteers, both from england and the republic, were on board, including, besides those already mentioned, lord thomas howard, son of the duke of norfolk, sir john wingfield, who had commanded at gertruydenburg, when it had been so treacherously surrendered to farnese; count lewis gunther of nassau, who had so recently escaped from the disastrous fight with mondragon in the lippe, and was now continuing his education according to the plan laid down for him by his elder brother lewis william; nicolas meetkerk, peter regesmortes, don christopher of portugal, son of don antonio, and a host of other adventurers. on the last day of june the expedition arrived off cadiz. next morning they found a splendid spanish fleet in the harbour of that city, including four of the famous apostolic great galleons, st. philip, st. matthew, st. thomas, and st. andrew, with twenty or thirty great war-ships besides, and fifty-seven well-armed indiamen, which were to be convoyed on their outward voyage, with a cargo estimated at twelve millions of ducats. the st. philip was the phenomenon of naval architecture of that day, larger and stronger than any ship before known. she was two thousand tons burthen, carried eighty-two bronze cannon, and had a crew of twelve hundred men. the other three apostles carried each fifty guns and four hundred men. the armament of the other war-ships varied from fifty-two to eighteen guns each. the presence of such a formidable force might have seemed a motive for discouragement, or at least of caution. on the contrary, the adventurers dashed at once upon their prey; thus finding a larger booty than they had dared to expect. there was but a brief engagement. at the outset a dutch ship accidentally blew up, and gave much encouragement to the spaniards. their joy was but short-lived. two of the great galleons were soon captured, the other two, the st. philip and the st. thomas, were run aground and burned. the rest of the war-ships were driven within the harbour, but were unable to prevent a landing of the enemy's forces. in the eagerness of the allies to seize the city, they unluckily allowed many of the indiamen to effect their escape through the puente del zuazzo, which had not been supposed a navigable passage for ships of such burthen. nine hundred soldiers under essex, and four hundred noble volunteers under lewis gunther of nassau, now sprang on shore, and drove some eleven hundred spanish skirmishers back within the gates of the city, or into a bastion recently raised to fortify the point when the troops had landed. young nassau stormed the bulwark sword in hand, carried it at the first assault, and planted his colours on its battlement. it was the flag of william the silent; for the republican banner was composed of the family colours of the founder of the new commonwealth. the blazonry of the proscribed and assassinated rebel waved at last defiantly over one of the chief cities of spain. essex and nassau and all the rest then entered the city. there was little fighting. twenty-five english and hollanders were killed, and about as many spaniards. essex knighted about fifty gentlemen, englishmen and hollanders, in the square of cadiz for their gallantry. among the number were lewis gunther of nassau, admiral warmond, and peter regesmortes. colonel nicolas meetkerke was killed in the brief action, and sir john wingfield, who insisted in prancing about on horseback without his armour, defying the townspeople and neglecting the urgent appeal of sir francis vere, was also slain. the spanish soldiers, discouraged by the defeat of the ships on which they had relied for protection of the town, retreated with a great portion of the inhabitants into the citadel. next morning the citadel capitulated without striking a blow, although there, were six thousand able-bodied, well-armed men within its walls. it was one of the most astonishing panics ever recorded. the great fleet, making a third of the king's navy, the city of cadiz and its fortress, were surrendered to this audacious little force, which had only arrived off the harbour thirty-six hours before. the invaders had, however, committed a great mistake. they had routed, and, as it were, captured the spanish galleons, but they had not taken possession of them, such had been their eagerness to enter the city. it was now agreed that the fleet should be ransomed for two million ducats, but the proud duke of medina sidonia, who had already witnessed the destruction of one mighty armada, preferred that these splendid ships too should perish rather than that they should pay tribute to the enemy. scorning the capitulation of the commandant of the citadel, he ordered the fleet to be set on fire. thirty-two ships, most of them vessels of war of the highest class, were burned, with all their equipments. twelve hundred cannon sunk at once to the bottom of the bay of cadiz, besides arms for five or six thousand men. at least one-third of philip's effective navy was thus destroyed. the victors now sacked the city very thoroughly, but the results were disappointing. a large portion of the portable wealth of the inhabitants, their gold and their jewelry, had been so cunningly concealed that, although half a dozen persons were tortured till they should reveal hidden treasures, not more than five hundred thousand ducats worth of-plunder was obtained. another sum of equal amount having been levied upon the citizens; forty notable personages; among them eighteen ecclesiastical dignitaries, were carried off as hostages for its payment. the city was now set on fire by command of essex in four different quarters. especially the cathedral and other churches, the convents and the hospitals, were burned. it was perhaps not unnatural: that both englishmen and hollanders should be disposed to wreak a barbarous vengeance on everything representative of the church which they abhorred, and from which such endless misery had issued to the uttermost corners of their own countries. but it is at any rate refreshing to record amid these acts of pillage and destruction, in which, as must ever be the case, the innocent and the lowly were made to suffer for the crimes of crowned and mitred culprits, that not many special acts of cruelty were committed upon individuals: no man was murdered in cold blood, no woman was outraged. the beautiful city was left a desolate and blackened ruin, and a general levy of spoil was made for the benefit of the victors, but there was no infringement of the theory and practice of the laws of war as understood in that day or in later ages. it is even recorded that essex ordered one of his soldiers, who was found stealing a woman's gown, to be hanged on the spot, but that, wearied by the intercession of an ecclesiastic of cadiz, the canon quesada, he consented at last to pardon the marauder. it was the earnest desire of essex to hold cadiz instead of destroying it. with three thousand men, and with temporary supplies from the fleet, the place could be maintained against all comers; holland and england together commanding the seas. admiral warmond and all the netherlanders seconded the scheme, and offered at once to put ashore from their vessels food and munitions enough to serve two thousand men for two months. if the english admiral would do as much, the place might be afterwards supplied without limit and held till doomsday, a perpetual thorn in philip's side. sir francis vere was likewise warmly in favour of the project, but he stood alone. all the other englishmen opposed it as hazardous, extravagant, and in direct contravention of the minute instructions of the queen. with a sigh or a curse for what he considered the superfluous caution of his royal mistress, and the exaggerated docility of lord high admiral howard, essex was fain to content himself with the sack and the conflagration, and the allied fleet sailed away from cadiz. on their way towards lisbon they anchored off faro, and landed a force, chiefly of netherlanders, who expeditiously burned and plundered the place. when they reached the neighbourhood of lisbon, they received information that a great fleet of indiamen, richly laden, were daily expected from the flemish islands, as the azores were then denominated. again essex was vehemently disposed to steer at once for that station, in order to grasp so tempting a prize; again he was strenuously supported by the dutch admiral and yere, and again lord howard peremptorily interdicted the plan. it was contrary to his instructions and to his ideas of duty, he said, to risk so valuable a portion of her majesty's fleet on so doubtful a venture. his ships were not fitted for a winter's cruise, he urged. thus, although it was the very heart of midsummer, the fleet was ordered to sail homeward. the usual result of a divided command was made manifest, and it proved in the sequel that, had they sailed for the islands, they would have pounced at exactly the right moment upon an unprotected fleet of merchantmen, with cargoes valued at seven millions of ducats. essex, not being willing to undertake the foray to the azores with the dutch ships alone, was obliged to digest his spleen as: best he could. meantime the english fleet bore away for england, leaving essex in his own ship, together with the two captured spanish galleons, to his fate. that fate might, have been a disastrous one, for his prizes were not fully manned, his own vessel was far from powerful, and there were many rovers and cruisers upon the seas. the dutch admiral, with all his ships, however, remained in company, and safely convoyed him to plymouth, where they arrived only a day or two later than howard and his fleet. warmond, who had been disposed to sail up the thames in order to pay his respects to the queen, was informed that his presence would not be desirable but rather an embarrassment. he, however, received the following letter from the hand of elizabeth. monsieur duyenwoord,--the report made to me by the generals of our fleet, just happily arrived from the coast of spain, of the devoirs of those who have been partakers in so, famous a victory, ascribes so much of it to the valour, skill, and readiness exhibited by yourself and our other friends from the netherlands under your command, during the whole course of the expedition, as to fill our mind with special joy and satisfaction, and, with a desire to impart these feelings to you. no other means presenting themselves at this moment than that of a letter (in some sense darkening the picture of the conceptions of our soul), we are willing to make use of it while waiting for means more effectual. wishing thus to disburthen ourselves we find ourselves confused, not knowing where to begin, the greatness of each part exceeding the merit of the other. for, the vigour and promptness with which my lords the states-general stepped into the enterprise, made us acknowledge that the good favour, which we have always borne the united provinces and the proofs thereof which we have given in the benefits conferred by us upon them, had not been ill-bestowed. the valour, skill, and discipline manifested by you in this enterprise show that you and your whole nation are worthy the favour and protection of princes against those who wish to tyrannize over you. but the honourableness and the valour shown by you, sir admiral, towards our cousin the earl of essex on his return, when he unfortunately was cut off from the fleet, and deep in the night was deprived of all support, when you kept company with him and gave him escort into the harbour of plymouth, demonstrate on the one hand your foresight in providing thus by your pains and patience against all disasters, which through an accident falling upon one of the chiefs of our armada might have darkened the great victory; and on the other hand the fervour and fire of the affection which you bear us, increasing thus, through a double bond, the obligations we are owing you, which is so great in our hearts that we have felt bound to discharge a part of it by means of this writing, which we beg you to communicate to the whole company of our friends under your command; saying to them besides, that they may feel assured that even as we have before given proof of our goodwill to their fatherland, so henceforth--incited by their devoirs and merits--we are ready to extend our bounty and affection in all ways which may become a princess recompensing the virtues and gratitude of a nation so worthy as yours. "elizabeth r. " th august, ." this letter was transmitted by the admiral to the states-general; who, furnished him with a copy of it, but enrolled the original in their archives; recording as it did, in the hand of the great english queen, so striking a testimony to the valour and the good conduct of netherlanders. the results of this expedition were considerable, for the king's navy was crippled, a great city was destroyed, and some millions of plunder had been obtained. but the permanent possession of cadiz, which, in such case, essex hoped to exchange for calais, and the destruction of the fleet at the azores--possible achievements both, and unwisely neglected--would have been far more profitable, at least to england. it was also matter of deep regret that there was much quarrelling between the netherlanders and the englishmen as to their respective share of the spoils; the netherlanders complaining loudly that they had been defrauded. moreover the merchants of middelburg, amsterdam, and other commercial cities of holland and zeeland were, as it proved, the real owners of a large portion of the property destroyed or pillaged at cadiz; so that a loss estimated as high as three hundred thousand florins fell upon those unfortunate traders through this triumph of the allies. the internal consequences of the fall of calais had threatened at the first moment to be as disastrous as the international results of that misfortune had already proved. the hour for the definite dismemberment and partition of the french kingdom, not by foreign conquerors but among its own self-seeking and disloyal grandees, seemed to have struck. the indomitable henry, ever most buoyant when most pressed by misfortune, was on the way to his camp at la fere, encouraging the faint-hearted, and providing as well as he could for the safety of the places most menaced, when he was met at st. quentin by a solemn deputation of the principal nobles, military commanders, and provincial governors of france. the duke of montpensier was spokesman of the assembly, and, in an harangue carefully prepared for the occasion, made an elaborate proposition to the king that the provinces, districts, cities, castles; and other strong-holds throughout the kingdom should now be formally bestowed upon the actual governors and commandants thereof in perpetuity, and as hereditary property, on condition of rendering a certain military service to the king and his descendants. it seemed so amazing that this temporary disaster to the national arms should be used as a pretext for parcelling out france, and converting a great empire into a number of insignificant duchies and petty principalities; that this movement should be made, not by the partisans of spain, but by the adherents of the king; and that its leader should be his own near relative, a prince of the blood, and a possible successor to the crown, that henry was struck absolutely dumb. misinterpreting his silence, the duke proceeded very confidently with his well-conned harangue; and was eloquently demonstrating that, under such a system, henry, as principal feudal chief, would have greater military forces at his disposal whenever he chose to summon his faithful vassals to the field than could be the case while the mere shadow of royal power or dignity was allowed to remain; when the king, finding at last a tongue, rebuked his cousin; not angrily, but with a grave melancholy which was more impressive than wrath. he expressed his pity for the duke that designing intriguers should have thus taken advantage of his facility of character to cause him to enact a part so entirely unworthy a frenchman, a gentleman, and a prince of the blood. he had himself, at the outset of his career, been much farther from the throne than montpensier was at that moment; but at no period of his life would he have consented to disgrace himself by attempting the dismemberment of the realm. so far from entering for a moment into the subject-matter of the duke's discourse, he gave him and all his colleagues distinctly to understand that he would rather die a thousand deaths than listen to suggestions which would cover his family and the royal dignity with infamy. rarely has political cynicism been displayed in more revolting shape than in this deliberate demonstration by the leading patricians and generals of france, to whom patriotism seemed an unimaginable idea. thus signally was their greediness to convert a national disaster into personal profit rebuked by the king. henry was no respecter of the people, which he regarded as something immeasurably below his feet. on the contrary, he was the most sublime self-seeker of them all; but his courage, his intelligent ambition, his breadth and strength of purpose, never permitted him to doubt that his own greatness was inseparable from the greatness of france. thus he represented a distinct and wholesome principle--the national integrity of a great homogeneous people at a period when that integrity seemed, through domestic treason and foreign hatred, to be hopelessly lost. hence it is not unnatural that he should hold his place in the national chronicle as henry the great. meantime, while the military events just recorded had been occurring in the southern peninsula, the progress of the archduke and his lieutenants in the north against the king and against the republic had been gratifying to the ambition of that martial ecclesiastic. soon after the fall of calais, de rosne had seized the castles of guynes and hames, while de mexia laid siege to the important stronghold of ardres. the garrison, commanded by count belin, was sufficiently numerous and well supplied to maintain the place until henry, whose triumph at la fere could hardly be much longer delayed, should come to its relief. to the king's infinite dissatisfaction, however, precisely as don alvario de osorio was surrendering la fere to him, after a seven months' siege, ardres was capitulating to de mexia. the reproaches upon belin for cowardice, imbecility, and bad faith, were bitter and general. all his officers had vehemently protested against the surrender, and henry at first talked of cutting off his head. it was hardly probable, however--had the surrender been really the result of treachery--that the governor would have put himself, as he did at once in the king's power; for the garrison marched out of ardres with the commandant at their head, banners displayed, drums beating, matches lighted and bullet in mouth, twelve hundred fighting men strong, besides invalids. belin was possessed of too much influence, and had the means of rendering too many pieces of service to the politic king, whose rancour against spain was perhaps not really so intense as was commonly supposed, to meet with the condign punishment which might have been the fate of humbler knaves. these successes having been obtained in normandy, the cardinal with a force of nearly fifteen thousand men now took the field in flanders; and, after hesitating for a time whether he should attack breda, bergen, ostend, or gertruydenburg,--and after making occasional feints in various directions, came, towards the end of june, before hulst. this rather insignificant place, with a population of but one thousand inhabitants, was defended by a strong garrison under command of that eminent and experienced officer count everard solms. its defences were made more complete by a system of sluices, through which the country around could be laid under water; and maurice, whose capture of the town in the year had been one of his earliest military achievements, was disposed to hold it at all hazards. he came in person to inspect the fortifications, and appeared to be so eager on the subject, and so likely to encounter unnecessary hazards, that the states of holland passed a resolution imploring him "that he would not, in his heroic enthusiasm and laudable personal service, expose a life on which the country so much depended to manifest dangers." the place was soon thoroughly invested, and the usual series of minings and counter-minings, assaults, and sorties followed, in the course of which that courageous and corpulent renegade, de rosne, had his head taken off by a cannon-ball, while his son, a lad of sixteen, was fighting by his side. on the th august the cardinal formally demanded the surrender of the place, and received the magnanimous reply that hulst would be defended to the death. this did not, however, prevent the opening of negotiations the very same day. all the officers, save one, united in urging solms to capitulate; and solms, for somewhat mysterious reasons, and, as was stated, in much confusion, gave his consent. the single malcontent was the well-named matthew held, whose family name meant hero, and who had been one of the chief actors in the far-famed capture of breda. he was soon afterwards killed in an unsuccessful attack made by maurice upon venlo. hulst capitulated on the th august. the terms were honourable; but the indignation throughout the country against count solms was very great. the states of zeeland, of whose regiment he had been commander ever, since the death of sir philip sidney, dismissed him from their service, while a torrent of wrath flowed upon him from every part of the country. members of the states-general refused to salute him in the streets; eminent person, ages turned their backs upon him, and for a time there was no one willing to listen to a word in his defence. the usual reaction in such cases followed; maurice sustained the commander, who had doubtless committed a grave error, but who had often rendered honourable service to the republic, and the states-general gave him a command as important as that of which he had been relieved by the zeeland states. it was mainly on account of the tempest thus created within the netherlands, that an affair of such slight importance came to occupy so large a space in contemporary history. the defenders of solmstold wild stories about the losses of the besieging army. the cardinal, who was thought prodigal of blood, and who was often quoted as saying "his soldiers' lives belonged to god and their bodies to the king," had sacrificed, it, was ridiculously said, according to the statement of the spaniards themselves, five thousand soldiers before the walls of hulst. it was very logically deduced therefrom that the capture of a few more towns of a thousand inhabitants each would cost him his whole army. people told each other, too, that the conqueror had refused a triumph which the burghers of brussels wished to prepare for him on his entrance into the capital, and that he had administered the very proper rebuke that, if they had more money than they knew what to do with, they should expend it in aid of the wounded and of the families of the fallen, rather than in velvets and satins and triumphal arches. the humanity of the suggestion hardly tallied with the blood-thirstiness of which he was at the same time so unjustly accused--although it might well be doubted whether the commander-in-chief, even if he could witness unflinchingly the destruction of five thousand soldiers on the battle-field, would dare to confront a new demonstration of schoolmaster houwaerts and his fellow-pedants. the fact was, however, that the list of casualties in the cardinal's camp during the six weeks' siege amounted to six hundred, while the losses within the city were at least as many. there was no attempt to relieve the place; for the states, as before observed, had been too much cramped by the strain upon their resources and by the removal of so many veterans for the expedition against cadiz to be able to muster any considerable forces in the field during the whole of this year. for a vast war in which the four leading powers of the earth were engaged, the events, to modern eyes, of the campaign of seem sufficiently meagre. meantime, during all this campaigning by land and sea in the west, there had been great but profitless bloodshed in the east. with difficulty did the holy roman empire withstand the terrible, ever-renewed assaults of the unholy realm of ottoman--then in the full flush of its power--but the two empires still counterbalanced each other, and contended with each other at the gates of vienna. as the fighting became more languid, however, in the western part of christendom, the negotiations and intrigues grew only the more active. it was most desirable for the republic to effect, if possible, a formal alliance offensive and defensive with france and england against spain. the diplomacy of the netherlands had been very efficient in bringing about the declaration of war by henry against philip, by which the current year had opened, after henry and philip had been doing their best to destroy each other and each other's subjects during the half-dozen previous years. elizabeth, too, although she had seen her shores invaded by philip with the most tremendous armaments that had ever floated on the seas, and although she had herself just been sending fire and sword into the heart of spain, had very recently made the observation that she and philip were not formally at war with each other. it seemed, therefore, desirable to the states-general that this very practical warfare should be, as it were, reduced to a theorem. in this case the position of the republic to both powers and to spain itself might perhaps be more accurately defined. calvaert, the states' envoy--to use his own words--haunted henry like his perpetual shadow, and was ever doing his best to persuade him of the necessity of this alliance. de saucy, as we have seen, had just arrived in england, when the cool proposition of the queen to rescue calais from philip on condition of keeping it for herself had been brought to boulogne by sidney. notwithstanding the indignation of the king, he had been induced directly afterwards to send an additional embassy to elizabeth, with the duke of bouillon at its head; and he had insisted upon calvaert's accompanying the mission. he had, as he frequently observed, no secrets from the states-general, or from calvaert, who had been negotiating upon these affairs for two years past and was so well acquainted with all their bearings. the dutch envoy was reluctant to go, for he was seriously ill and very poor in purse, but henry urged the point so vehemently, that calvaert found himself on board ship within six hours of the making of the proposition. the incident shows of how much account the republican diplomatist was held by so keen a judge of mankind as the bearnese; but it will subsequently appear that the candour of the king towards the states-general and their representative was by no means without certain convenient limitations. de sancy had arrived just as--without his knowledge--sidney had been despatched across the channel with the brief mission already mentioned. when he was presented to the queen, the next day, she excused herself for the propositions by which henry had been so much enraged, by assuring the envoy that it had been her intention only to keep calais out of the enemy's hand, so long as the king's forces were too much occupied at a distance to provide for its safety. as diplomatic conferences were about to begin in which--even more than in that age, at least, was usually the case--the object of the two conferring powers was to deceive each other, and at the same time still more decidedly to defraud other states, sancy accepted the royal explanation, although henry's special messenger, lomenie, had just brought him from the camp at boulogne a minute account of the propositions of sidney. the envoy had, immediately afterwards, an interview with lord burghley, and at once perceived that he was no friend to his master. cecil observed that the queen had formerly been much bound to the king for religion's sake. as this tie no longer existed, there was nothing now to unite them save the proximity of the two states to each other and their ancient alliances, a bond purely of interest which existed only so long as princes found therein a special advantage. de sancy replied that the safety of the two crowns depended upon their close alliance against a very powerful foe who was equally menacing to them both. cecil rejoined that he considered the spaniards deserving of the very highest praise for having been able to plan so important an enterprise, and to have so well deceived the king of france by the promptness and the secrecy of their operations as to allow him to conceive no suspicion as to their designs. to this not very friendly sarcasm the envoy, indignant that france should thus be insulted in her misfortunes, exclaimed that he prayed to god that the affairs of englishmen might never be reduced to such a point as to induce the world to judge by the result merely, as to the sagacity of their counsels. he added that there were many passages through which to enter france, and that it was difficult to be present everywhere, in order to defend them all against the enemy. a few days afterwards the duke of bouillon arrived in london. he had seen lord essex at dover as he passed, and had endeavoured without success to dissuade him from his expedition against the spanish coast. the conferences opened on the th may, at greenwich, between burghley, cobham, the lord chamberlain, and one or two other commissioners on the part of the queen, and bouillon, sancy, du yair, and ancel, as plenipotentiaries of henry. there was the usual indispensable series of feints at the outset, as if it were impossible for statesmen to meet around a green table except as fencers in the field or pugilists in the ring. "we have nothing to do," said burghley, "except to listen to such propositions as may be made on the part of the king, and to repeat them to her highness the queen." "you cannot be ignorant," replied bouillon, "of the purpose for which we have been sent hither by his very christian majesty. you know very well that it is to conclude a league with england. 'tis necessary, therefore, for the english to begin by declaring whether they are disposed to enter into such an alliance. this point once settled, the french can make their propositions, but it would be idle to dispute about the conditions of a treaty, if there is after all no treaty to be made." to this cecil rejoined, that, if the king were reduced to the necessity of asking succour from the queen, and of begging for her alliance, it was necessary for them, on the other hand, to see what he was ready to do for the queen in return, and to learn what advantage she could expect from the league. the duke said that the english statesmen were perfectly aware of the french intention of proposing a league against the common enemy of both nations, and that it would be unquestionably for the advantage of both to unite their forces for a vigorous attack upon spain, in which case it would be more difficult for the spanish to resist them than if each were acting separately. it was no secret that the spaniards would rather attack england than france, because their war against england, being coloured by a religious motive, would be much less odious, and would even have a specious pretext. moreover the conquest of england would give them an excellent vantage ground to recover what they had lost in the netherlands. if, on the contrary, the enemy should throw himself with his whole force upon france, the king, who would perhaps lose many places at once, and might hardly be able to maintain himself single-handed against domestic treason and a concentrated effort on the part of spain, would probably find it necessary to make a peace with that power. nothing could be more desirable for spain than such a result, for she would then be free to attack england and holland, undisturbed by any fear of france. this was a piece of advice, the duke said, which the king offered, in the most friendly spirit, and as a proof of his affection, to her majesty's earnest consideration. burghley replied that all this seemed to him no reason for making a league. "what more can the queen do," he observed, "than she is already doing? she has invaded spain by land and sea, she has sent troops to spain, france, and the netherlands; she has lent the king fifteen hundred thousand crowns in gold. in short, the envoys ought rather to be studying how to repay her majesty for her former benefits than to be soliciting fresh assistance." he added that the king was so much stronger by the recent gain of marseilles as to be easily able to bear the loss of places of far less importance, while ireland, on the contrary, was a constant danger to the queen. the country was already in a blaze, on account of the recent landing effected there by the spaniards, and it was a very ancient proverb among the english, that to attack england it was necessary to take the road of ireland. bouillon replied that in this war there was much difference between the position of france and that of england. the queen, notwithstanding hostilities, obtained her annual revenue as usual, while the king was cut off from his resources and obliged to ruin his kingdom in order to wage war. sancy added, that it must be obvious to the english ministers that the peril of holland was likewise the peril of england and of france, but that at the same time they could plainly see that the king, if not succoured, would be forced to a peace with spain. all his counsellors were urging him to this, and it was the interest of all his neighbours to prevent such a step. moreover, the proposed league could not but be advantageous to the english; whether by restraining the spaniards from entering england, or by facilitating a combined attack upon the common enemy. the queen might invade any portion of the flemish coast at her pleasure, while the king's fleet could sail with troops from his ports to prevent any attack upon her realms. at this burghley turned to his colleagues and said, in english, "the french are acting according to the proverb; they wish to sell us the bear-skin before they have killed the bear." sancy, who understood english, rejoined, "we have no bear-skin to sell, but we are giving you a very good and salutary piece of advice. it is for you to profit by it as you may." "where are these ships of war, of which you were speaking?" asked burghley. "they are at rochelle, at bordeaux, and at st. malo," replied de sancy. "and these ports are not in the king's possession," said the lord treasurer. the discussion was growing warm. the duke of bouillon, in order to, put an end to it, said that what england had most to fear was a descent by spain upon her coasts, and that the true way to prevent this was to give occupation to philip's army in flanders. the soldiers in the fleet then preparing were raw levies with which he would not venture to assail her kingdom. the veterans in flanders were the men on whom he relied for that purpose. moreover the queen, who had great influence with the states-general, would procure from them a prohibition of all commerce between the provinces and spain; all the netherlands would be lost to philip, his armies would disperse of their own accord; the princes of italy, to whom the power of spain was a perpetual menace, would secretly supply funds to the allied powers, and the germans, declared enemies of philip, would furnish troops. burghley asserted confidently that this could never be obtained from the hollanders, who lived by commerce alone. upon which saucy, wearied with all these difficulties, interrupted the lord treasurer by exclaiming, "if the king is to expect neither an alliance nor any succour on your part, he will be very much obliged to the queen if she will be good enough to inform him of the decision taken by her, in order that he may, upon his side, take the steps most suitable to the present position of his affairs." the session then terminated. two days afterwards, in another conference, burghley offered three thousand men on the part of the queen, on condition that they should be raised at the king's expense, and that they should not leave england until they had received a month's pay in advance. the duke of bouillon said this was far from being what had been expected of the generosity of her majesty, that if the king had money he would find no difficulty in raising troops in switzerland and germany, and that there was a very great difference between hired princes and allies. the english ministers having answered that this was all the queen could do, the duke and saucy rose in much excitement, saying that they had then no further business than to ask for an audience of leave, and to return to france as fast as possible. before they bade farewell to the queen, however, the envoys sent a memoir to her majesty, in which they set forth that the first proposition as to a league had been made by sir henry umton, and that now, when the king had sent commissioners to treat concerning an alliance, already recommended by the queen's ambassador in france, they had been received in such a way as to indicate a desire to mock them rather than to treat with them. they could not believe, they said, that it was her majesty's desire to use such language as had been addressed to them, and they therefore implored her plainly to declare her intentions, in order that they might waste no more time unnecessarily, especially as the high offices with which their sovereign had honoured them did not allow them to remain for a long time absent from france. the effect of this memoir upon the queen was, that fresh conferences were suggested, which took place at intervals between the th and the th of may. they were characterized by the same mutual complaints of overreachings and of shortcomings by which all the previous discussions had been distinguished. on the th may the french envoys even insisted on taking formal farewell of the queen, and were received by her majesty for that purpose at a final audience. after they had left the presence--the preparations for their homeward journey being already made--the queen sent sir robert cecil, henry brooke, son of lord cobham, and la fontaine, minister of a french church in england, to say to them how very much mortified she was that the state of her affairs did not permit her to give the king as much assistance as he desired, and to express her wish to speak to them once more before their departure. the result of the audience given accordingly to the envoys, two days later, was the communication of her decision to enter into the league proposed, but without definitely concluding the treaty until it should be ratified by the king. on the th may articles were finally agreed upon, by which the king and queen agreed to defend each other's dominions, to unite in attacking the common enemy, and to invite other princes and states equally interested with themselves in resisting the ambitious projects of spain, to join in the league. it was arranged that an army should be put in the field as soon as possible, at the expense of the king and queen, and of such other powers as should associate themselves in the proposed alliance; that this army should invade the dominions of the spanish monarch, that the king and queen were never, without each other's consent, to make peace or truce with philip; that the queen should immediately raise four thousand infantry to serve six months of every year in picardy and normandy, with the condition that they were never to be sent to a distance of more than fifty leagues from boulogna; that when the troubles of ireland should be over the queen should be at liberty to add new troops to the four thousand men thus promised by her to the league; that the queen was to furnish to these four thousand men six months' pay in advance before they should leave england, and that the king should agree to repay the amount six months afterwards, sending meanwhile four nobles to england as hostages. if the dominions of the queen should be attacked it was stipulated that, at two months' notice, the king should raise four thousand men at the expense of the queen and send them to her assistance, and that they were to serve for six months at her charge, but were not to be sent to a distance of more than fifty leagues from the coasts of france. the english were not willing that the states-general should be comprehended among the powers to be invited to join the league, because being under the protection of the queen of england they were supposed to have no will but hers. burghley insisted accordingly that, in speaking of those who were thus to be asked, no mention was to be made of peoples nor of states, for fear lest the states-general might be included under those terms. the queen was, however, brought at last to yield the point, and consented, in order to satisfy the french envoys, that to the word princes should be added the general expression orders or estates. the obstacle thus interposed to the formation of the league by the hatred of the queen and of the privileged classes of england to popular liberty, and by the secret desire entertained of regaining that sovereignty over the provinces which had been refused ten years before by elizabeth, was at length set aside. the republic, which might have been stifled at its birth, was now a formidable fact, and could neither be annexed to the english dominions nor deprived of its existence as a new member of the european family. it being no longer possible to gainsay the presence of the young commonwealth among the nations, the next best thing--so it was thought--was to defraud her in the treaty to which she was now invited to accede. this, as it will presently appear, the king of france and the queen of england succeeded in doing very thoroughly, and they accomplished it notwithstanding the astuteness and the diligence of the states' envoy, who at henry's urgent request had accompanied the french mission to england. calvaert had been very active in bringing about the arrangement, to assist in which he had, as we have seen, risen from a sick bed and made the journey to england: "the proposition for an offensive and defensive alliance was agreed to by her majesty's council, but under intolerable and impracticable conditions," said he, "and, as such, rejected by the duke and sancy, so that they took leave of her majesty. at last, after some negotiation in which, without boasting, i may say that i did some service, it was again taken in hand, and at last, thank god, although with much difficulty, the league has been concluded." when the task was finished the french envoys departed to obtain their master's ratification of the treaty. elizabeth expressed herself warmly in regard to her royal brother, inviting him earnestly to pay her a visit, in which case she said she would gladly meet him half way; for a sight of him would be her only consolation in the midst of her adversity and annoyance. "he may see other princesses of a more lovely appearance," she added, "but he will never make a visit to a more faithful friend." but the treaty thus concluded was for the public. the real agreement between france and england was made by a few days later, and reduced the ostensible arrangement to a sham, a mere decoy to foreign nations, especially to the dutch republic, to induce them to imitate england in joining the league, and to emulate her likewise in affording that substantial assistance to the league which in reality england was very far from giving. "two contracts were made," said secretary of state villeroy; "the one public, to give credit and reputation to the said league, the other secret, which destroyed the effects and the promises of the first. by the first his majesty was to be succoured by four thousand infantry, which number was limited by the second contract to two thousand, who were to reside and to serve only in the cities of boulogne and montreuil, assisted by an equal number of french, and not otherwise, and on condition of not being removed from those towns unless his majesty should be personally present in picardy with an army, in which case they might serve in picardy, but nowhere else." an english garrison in a couple of french seaports, over against the english coast, would hardly have seemed a sufficient inducement to other princes and states to put large armies in the field to sustain the protestant league, had they known that this was the meagre result of the protocolling and disputations that had been going on all the summer at greenwich. nevertheless the decoy did its work, the envoys returned to france, and it was not until three months later that the duke of bouillon again made his appearance in england, bringing the treaty duly ratified by henry. the league was then solemnized, on, the th august, by the queen with much pomp and ceremony. three peers of the realm waited upon the french ambassador at his lodgings, and escorted him and his suite in seventeen royal coaches to the tower. seven splendid barges then conveyed them along the thames to greenwich. on the pier the ambassador was received by the earl of derby at the head of a great suite of nobles and high functionaries, and conducted to the palace of nonesuch. there was a religious ceremony in the royal chapel, where a special pavilion had been constructed. standing, within this sanctuary, the queen; with her hand on her breast, swore faithfully to maintain the league just concluded. she then gave her hand to the duke of bouillon, who held it in both his own, while psalms were sung and the organ resounded through the chapel. afterwards there was a splendid banquet in the palace, the duke sitting in solitary grandeur at the royal table, being placed at a respectful distance from her majesty, and the dishes being placed on the board by the highest nobles of the realm, who, upon their knees, served the queen with wine. no one save the ambassador sat at elizabeth's table, but in the same hall was spread another, at which the earl of essex entertained many distinguished guests, young count lewis gunther of nassau among the number. in the midsummer twilight the brilliantly decorated barges were again floating on the historic river, the gaily-coloured lanterns lighting the sweep of the oars, and the sound of lute and viol floating merrily across the water. as the ambassador came into the courtyard of his house, he found a crowd of several thousand people assembled, who shouted welcome to the representative of henry, and invoked blessings on the head of queen elizabeth and of her royal brother of france. meanwhile all the bells of london were ringing, artillery was thundering, and bonfires were blazing, until the night was half spent. such was the holiday-making by which the league between the great protestant queen and the ex-chief of the huguenots of france was celebrated within a year after the pope had received him, a repentant sinner, into the fold of the church. truly it might be said that religion was rapidly ceasing to be the line of demarcation among the nations, as had been the case for the two last generations of mankind. the duke of bouillon soon afterwards departed for the netherlands, where the regular envoy to the commonwealth, paul chouart seigneur de buzanval, had already been preparing the states-general for their entrance into the league. of course it was duly impressed upon those republicans that they should think themselves highly honoured by the privilege of associating themselves with so august an alliance. the queen wrote an earnest letter to the states, urging them to join the league. "especially should you do so," she said, "on account of the reputation which you will thereby gain for your affairs with the people who are under you, seeing you thus sustained (besides the certainty which you have of our favour) by the friendship of other confederated princes, and particularly by that of the most christian king." on the st october the articles of agreement under which the republic acceded to the new confederation were signed at the hague. of course it was not the exact counterpart of the famous catholic association. madam league, after struggling feebly for the past few years, a decrepit beldame, was at last dead and buried. but there had been a time when she was filled with exuberant and terrible life. she, at least, had known the object of her creation, and never, so long as life was in her, had she faltered in her dread purpose. to extirpate protestantism, to murder protestants, to burn, hang, butcher, bury them alive, to dethrone every protestant sovereign in europe, especially to assassinate the queen of england, the prince of orange, with all his race, and henry of navarre, and to unite in the accomplishment of these simple purposes all the powers of christendom under the universal monarchy of philip of spain--for all this, blood was shed in torrents, and the precious metals of the "indies" squandered as fast as the poor savages, who were thus taking their first lessons in the doctrines of jesus of nazareth, could dig it from the mines. for this america had been summoned, as it were by almighty fiat, out of previous darkness, in order that it might furnish money with which to massacre all the heretics of the earth. for this great purpose was the sublime discovery of the genoese sailor to be turned to account. these aims were intelligible, and had in part been attained. william of orange had fallen, and a patent of nobility, with a handsome fortune, had been bestowed upon his assassin. elizabeth's life had been frequently attempted. so had those of henry, of maurice, of olden-barneveld. divine providence might perhaps guide the hand of future murderers with greater accuracy, for even if madam league were dead, her ghost still walked among the jesuits and summoned them to complete the crimes left yet unfinished. but what was the design of the new confederacy? it was not a protestant league. henry of navarre could no longer be the chief of such an association, although it was to protestant powers only that he could turn for assistance. it was to the commonwealth of the netherlands, to the northern potentates and to the calvinist and lutheran princes of germany, that the king and queen could alone appeal in their designs against philip of spain. the position of henry was essentially a false one from the beginning. he felt it to be so, and the ink was scarce dry with which he signed the new treaty before he was secretly casting about him to, make peace with that power with which he was apparently summoning all the nations of the earth to do battle. even the cautious elizabeth was deceived by the crafty bearnese, while both united to hoodwink the other states and princes. on the st october, accordingly, the states-general agreed to go into the league with england and france; "in order to resist the enterprises and ambitious designs of the king of spain against all the princes and potentates of christendom." as the queen had engaged--according to the public treaty or decoy--to furnish four thousand infantry to the league, the states now agreed to raise and pay for another four thousand to be maintained in the king's service at a cost of four hundred and fifty thousand florins annually, to be paid by the month. the king promised, in case the netherlands should be invaded by the enemy with the greater part of his force, that these four thousand soldiers should return to the netherlands. the king further bound himself to carry on a sharp offensive war in artois and hainault. the states-general would have liked a condition inserted in the treaty that no peace should be made with spain by england or france without the consent of the provinces; but this was peremptorily refused. perhaps the republic had no special reason to be grateful for the grudging and almost contemptuous manner in which it had thus been virtually admitted into the community of sovereigns; but the men who directed its affairs were far too enlightened not to see how great a step was taken when their political position, now conceded to them, had been secured. in good faith they intended to carry out the provisions of the new treaty, and they immediately turned their attention to the vital matters of making new levies and of imposing new taxes, by means of which they might render themselves useful to their new allies. meantime ancel was deputed by henry to visit the various courts of germany and the north in order to obtain, if possible, new members for the league? but germany was difficult to rouse. the dissensions among protestants were ever inviting the assaults of the papists. its multitude of sovereigns were passing their leisure moments in wrangling among themselves as usual on abstruse points of theology, and devoting their serious hours to banquetting, deep drinking, and the pleasures of the chase. the jeremiads of old john of nassau grew louder than ever, but his voice was of one crying in the wilderness. the wrath to come of that horrible thirty years' war, which he was not to witness seemed to inspire all his prophetic diatribes. but there were few to heed them. two great dangers seemed ever impending over christendom, and it is difficult to decide which fate would have been the more terrible, the establishment of the universal monarchy of philip ii., or the conquest of germany by the grand turk. but when ancel and other emissaries sought to obtain succour against the danger from the south-west, he was answered by the clash of arms and the shrieks of horror which came daily from the south-east. in vain was it urged, and urged with truth, that the alcoran was less cruel than the inquisition, that the soil of europe might be overrun by turks and tartars, and the crescent planted triumphantly in every village, with less disaster to the human race, and with better hope that the germs of civilization and the precepts of christianity might survive the invasion, than if the system of philip, of torquemada, and of alva, should become the universal law. but the turk was a frank enemy of christianity, while philip murdered christians in the name of christ. the distinction imposed upon the multitudes, with whom words were things. moreover, the danger from the young and enterprising mahomet seemed more appalling to the imagination than the menace, from which experience had taken something of its terrors, of the old and decrepit philip. the ottoman empire, in its exact discipline, in its terrible concentration of purpose, in its contempt for all arts and sciences, and all human occupation save the trade of war and the pursuit of military dominion, offered a strong contrast to the distracted condition of the holy roman empire, where an intellectual and industrious people, distracted by half a century of religious controversy and groaning under one of the most elaborately perverse of all the political systems ever invented by man, seemed to offer itself an easy prey to any conqueror. the turkish power was in the fulness of its aggressive strength, and seemed far more formidable than it would have done had there been clearer perceptions of what constitutes the strength and the wealth of nations. could the simple truth have been thoroughly, comprehended that a realm founded upon such principles was the grossest of absurdities, the eastern might have seemed less terrible than the western danger. but a great campaign, at no considerable distance from the walls of vienna, had occupied the attention of germany during the autumn. mahomet had taken the field in person with a hundred thousand men, and the emperor's brother, maximilian, in conjunction with the prince of transylvania, at the head of a force of equal magnitude, had gone forth to give him battle. between the theiss and the danube, at keveste, not far from the city of erlau, on the th october, the terrible encounter on which the fate of christendom seemed to hang at last took place, and europe held its breath in awful suspense until its fate should be decided. when the result at last became known, a horrible blending of the comic and the tragic, such as has rarely been presented in history, startled the world. seventy thousand human beings--moslems and christians--were lying dead or wounded on the banks of a nameless little stream which flows into the theisa, and the commanders-in-chief of both armies were running away as fast as horses could carry them. each army believed itself hopelessly defeated, and abandoning tents, baggage, artillery, ammunition, the remnants of each, betook themselves to panic-stricken flight. generalissimo maximilian never looked behind him as he fled, until he had taken refuge in kaschan, and had thence made his way, deeply mortified and despondent, to vienna. the prince of transylvania retreated into the depths of his own principality. mahomet, with his principal officers, shut himself up in buda, after which he returned to constantinople and abandoned himself for a time to a voluptuous ease, inconsistent with the ottoman projects of conquering the world. the turks, less prone to desperation than the christians, had been utterly overthrown in the early part of the action, but when the victors were, as usual, greedily bent upon plunder before the victory had been fairly secured, the tide of battle was turned by the famous italian renegade cicala. the turks, too, had the good sense to send two days afterwards and recover their artillery, trains, and other property, which ever since the battle had been left at the mercy of the first comers. so ended the turkish campaign of the year . ancel, accordingly, fared ill in his negotiations with germany. on the other hand mendoza, admiral of arragon, had been industriously but secretly canvassing the same regions as the representative of the spanish king. it was important for philip, who put more faith in the league of the three powers than henry himself did, to lose no time in counteracting its influence. the condition of the holy roman empire had for some time occupied his most serious thoughts. it seemed plain that rudolph would never marry. certainly he would never marry the infanta, although he was very angry that his brother should aspire to the hand which he himself rejected. in case of his death without children, philip thought it possible that there might be a protestant revolution in germany, and that the house of habsburg might lose the imperial crown altogether. it was even said that the emperor himself was of that opinion, and preferred that the empire should "end with his own life." philip considered that neither matthias nor maximilian was fit to succeed their brother, being both of them "lukewarm in the catholic faith." in other words, he chose that his destined son-in-law, the cardinal albert, should supersede them, and he was anxious to have him appointed as soon as possible king of the romans. "his holiness the pope and the king of spain," said the admiral of arragon, "think it necessary to apply most stringent measures to the emperor to compel him to appoint a successor, because, in case of his death without one, the administration during the vacancy would fall to the elector palatine,--a most perverse calvinistic heretic, and as great an enemy of the house of austria and of our holy religion as the turk himself--as sufficiently appears in those diabolical laws of his published in the palatinate a few months since. a vacancy is so dreadful, that in the north of germany the world would come to an end; yet the emperor, being of rather a timid nature than otherwise, is inclined to quiet, and shrinks from the discussions and conflicts likely to be caused by an appointment. therefore his holiness and his catholic majesty, not choosing that we should all live in danger of the world's falling in ruins, have resolved to provide the remedy. they are to permit the electors to use the faculty which they possess of suspending the emperor and depriving him of his power; there being examples of this in other times against emperors who governed ill." the admiral farther alluded to the great effort made two years before to elect the king of denmark emperor, reminding philip that in hamburg they had erected triumphal arches, and made other preparations to receive him. this year, he observed, the protestants were renewing their schemes. on the occasion of the baptism of the child of the elector palatine, the english envoy being present, and queen elizabeth being god-mother, they had agreed upon nine articles of faith much more hostile to the catholic creed than anything ever yet professed. in case of the death of the emperor, this elector palatine would of course make much trouble, and the emperor should therefore be induced, by fair means if possible, on account of the great inconvenience of forcing him, but not without a hint of compulsion, to acquiesce in the necessary measures. philip was represented as willing to assist the empire with considerable force against the turk--as there could be no doubt that hungary was in great danger--but in recompense it was necessary to elect a king of the romans in all respects satisfactory to him. there were three objections to the election of albert, whose recent victories and great abilities entitled him in philip's opinion to the crown. firstly, there was a doubt whether the kingdoms of hungary and bohemia were elective or hereditary, and it was very important that the king of the romans should succeed to those two crowns, because the electors and other princes having fiefs within those kingdoms would be unwilling to swear fealty to two suzerains, and as albert was younger than his brothers he could scarcely expect to take by inheritance. secondly, albert had no property of his own, but the admiral suggested that the emperor might be made to abandon to him the income of the tyrol. thirdly, it was undesirable for albert to leave the netherlands at that juncture. nevertheless, it was suggested by the easy-going admiral, with the same tranquil insolence which marked all his proposed arrangements, that as rudolph would retire from the government altogether, albert, as king of the romans and acting emperor, could very well take care of the netherlands as part of his whole realm. albert being moreover about to marry the infanta, the handsome dowry which he would receive with her from the king would enable him to sustain his dignity. thus did philip who had been so industrious during the many past years in his endeavours to expel the heretic queen of england and the huguenot henry from the realms of their ancestors, and to seat himself or his daughter, or one or another of his nephews, in their places, now busy himself with schemes to discrown rudolph of habsburg, and to place the ubiquitous infanta and her future husband on his throne. time would show the result. meantime, while the protestant ancel and other agents of the new league against philip were travelling about from one court of europe to another to gain adherents to their cause, the great founder of the confederacy was already secretly intriguing for a peace with that monarch. the ink was scarce dry on the treaty to which he had affixed his signature before he was closeted with the agents of the archduke albert, and receiving affectionate messages and splendid presents from that military ecclesiastic. in november, , la balvena, formerly a gentleman of the count de la fera, came to rouen. he had a very secret interview with henry iv. at three o'clock one morning, and soon afterwards at a very late hour in the night. the king asked him why the archduke was not willing to make a general peace, including england and holland. balvena replied that he had no authority to treat on that subject; it being well known, however, that the king of spain would never consent to a peace with the rebels, except on the ground of the exclusive maintenance of the catholic religion. he is taking the very course to destroy that religion, said henry. the king then avowed himself in favour of peace for the sake of the poor afflicted people of all countries. he was not tired of arms, he said, which were so familiar to him, but his wish was to join in a general crusade against the turk. this would be better for the catholic religion than the present occupations of all parties. he avowed that the queen of england was his very good friend, and said he had never yet broken his faith with her, and never would do so. she had sent him the garter, and he had accepted it, as his brother henry iii. had done before him, and he would negotiate no peace which did not include her. the not very distant future was to show how much these stout professions of sincerity were worth. meantime henry charged balvena to keep their interviews a profound secret, especially from every one in france. the king expressed great anxiety lest the huguenots should hear of it, and the agent observed that any suspicion of peace negotiations would make great disturbance among the heretics, as one of the conditions of the king's absolution by the pope was supposed to be that he should make war upon his protestant subjects. on his return from rouen the emissary made a visit to monlevet, marshal of the camp to henry iv. and a calvinist. there was much conversation about peace, in the course of which monlevet observed, "we are much afraid of you in negotiation, for we know that you spaniards far surpass us in astuteness." "nay," said balvena, "i will only repeat the words of the emperor charles v.--'the spaniards seem wise, and are madmen; the french seem madmen, and are wise.'" a few weeks later the archduke sent balvena again to rouen. he had another interview with the king, at which not only villeroy and other catholics were present, but monlevet also. this proved a great obstacle to freedom of conversation. the result was the same as before. there were strong professions of a desire on the part of the king for a peace but it was for a general peace; nothing further. on the th december balvena was sent for by the king before daylight, just as he was mounting his horse for the chase. "tell his highness," said henry, "that i am all frankness, and incapable of dissimulation, and that i believe him too much a man of honour to wish to deceive me. go tell him that i am most anxious for peace, and that i deeply regret the defeat that has been sustained against the turk. had i been there i would have come out dead or victorious. let him arrange an agreement between us, so that presto he may see me there with my brave nobles, with infantry and with plenty of switzers. tell him that i am his friend: begone. be diligent." on the last day but two of the year, the archduke, having heard this faithful report of henry's affectionate sentiments, sent him a suit of splendid armour, such as was then made better in antwerp than anywhere else, magnificently burnished of a blue colour, according to an entirely new fashion. with such secret courtesies between his most catholic majesty's vicegerent and himself was henry's league with the two protestant powers accompanied. exactly at the same epoch philip was again preparing an invasion of the queen's dominions. an armada of a hundred and twenty-eight ships, with a force of fourteen thousand infantry and three thousand horse, had been assembled during the autumn of this year at lisbon, notwithstanding the almost crushing blow that the english and hollanders had dealt the king's navy so recently at cadiz. this new expedition was intended for ireland, where it was supposed that the catholics would be easily roused. it was also hoped that the king of scots might be induced to embrace this opportunity of wreaking vengeance on his mother's destroyer. "he was on the watch the last time that my armada went forth against the english," said philip, "and he has now no reason to do the contrary, especially if he remembers that here is a chance to requite the cruelty which was practised on his mother." the fleet sailed on the th october under the command of the count santa gadea. its immediate destination was the coast of ireland, where they were to find some favourable point for disembarking the troops. having accomplished this, the ships, with the exception of a few light vessels, were to take their departure and pass the winter in ferrol. in case the fleet should be forced by stress of weather on the english coast, the port of milford haven in wales was to be seized, "because," said philip, "there are a great many catholics there well affected to our cause, and who have a special enmity to the english." in case the english fleet should come forth to give battle, philip sent directions that it was to be conquered at once, and that after the victory milford haven was to be firmly held. this was easily said. but it was not fated that this expedition should be more triumphant than that of the unconquerable armada which had been so signally conquered eight years before. scarcely had the fleet put to sea when it was overtaken by a tremendous storm, in which forty ships foundered with five thousand men. the shattered remnants took refuge in ferrol. there the ships were to refit, and in the spring the attempt was to be renewed. thus it was ever with the king of spain. there was a placid unconsciousness on his part of defeat which sycophants thought sublime. and such insensibility might have been sublimity had the monarch been in person on the deck of a frigate in the howling tempest, seeing ship after ship go down before his eyes; and exerting himself with tranquil energy and skill to encourage his followers, and to preserve what remained afloat from destruction. certainly such exhibitions of human superiority to the elements are in the highest degree inspiring. his father had shown himself on more than one occasion the master of his fate. the king of france, too, bare-headed, in his iron corslet, leading a forlorn hope, and, by the personal charm of his valour, changing fugitives into heroes and defeat into victory, had afforded many examples of sublime unconsciousness of disaster, such as must ever thrill the souls of mankind. but it is more difficult to be calm in battle and shipwreck than at the writing desk; nor is that the highest degree of fortitude which enables a monarch--himself in safety--to endure without flinching the destruction of his fellow creatures. no sooner, however, was the remnant of the tempest-tost fleet safe in ferrol than the king requested the cardinal to collect an army at calais and forthwith to invade england. he asked his nephew whether he could not manage to send his troops across the channel in vessels of light draught, such as he already had at command, together with some others which might be furnished him from spain. in this way he was directed to gain a foot-hold in england, and he was to state immediately whether he could accomplish this with his own resources or should require the assistance of the fleet at ferrol. the king further suggested that the enemy, encouraged by his success at cadiz the previous summer, might be preparing a fresh expedition against spain, in which case the invasion of england would be easier to accomplish. thus on the last day of , philip, whose fleet sent forth for the conquest of ireland and england had been too crippled to prosecute the adventure, was proposing to his nephew to conquer england without any fleet at all. he had given the same advice to alexander farnese so soon as he heard of the destruction of the invincible armada. etext editor's bookmarks: allow her to seek a profit from his misfortune burning of servetus at geneva constant vigilance is the price of liberty evil has the advantage of rapidly assuming many shapes french seem madmen, and are wise hanging of mary dyer at boston imposed upon the multitudes, with whom words were things impossible it was to invent terms of adulation too gross in times of civil war, to be neutral is to be nothing meet around a green table except as fencers in the field one-third of philip's effective navy was thus destroyed patriotism seemed an unimaginable idea placid unconsciousness on his part of defeat plea of infallibility and of authority soon becomes ridiculous religion was rapidly ceasing to be the line of demarcation so often degenerated into tyranny (calvinism) spaniards seem wise, and are madmen the alcoran was less cruel than the inquisition there are few inventions in morals to attack england it was necessary to take the road of ireland tranquil insolence unproductive consumption was alarmingly increasing upon their knees, served the queen with wine wish to sell us the bear-skin before they have killed the bear chapter xxxiii. - straggle of the netherlands against spain--march to turnhout-- retreat of the spanish commander--pursuit and attack--demolition of the spanish army--surrender of the garrison of turnhout--improved military science--moral effect of the battle--the campaign in france--attack on amiens by the spaniards--sack and burning of the city--de rosny's plan for reorganization of the finances--jobbery and speculation--philip's repudiation of his debts--effects of the measure--renewal of persecution by the jesuits--contention between turk and christian--envoy from the king of poland to the hague to plead for reconciliation with philip--his subsequent presentation to queen elizabeth--military events recovery of amiens--feeble operations of the confederate powers against spain--marriage of the princess emilia, sister of maurice--reduction of the castle and town of alphen--surrender of rheinberg--capitulation of meurs--surrender of grol--storming and taking of brevoort capitulation of enschede, ootmaxsum, oldenzaal, and lingen--rebellion of the spanish garrisons in antwerp and ghent--progress of the peace movement between henry and philip--relations of the three confederate powers--henry's scheme for reconciliation with spain--his acceptance of philip's offer of peace announced to elizabeth--endeavours for a general peace. the old year had closed with an abortive attempt of philip to fulfil his favourite dream--the conquest of england. the new year opened with a spirited effort of prince maurice to measure himself in the open field with the veteran legions of spain. turnhout, in brabant, was an open village--the largest in all the netherlands lying about twenty-five english miles in almost a direct line south from gertruydenburg. it was nearly as far distant in an easterly direction from antwerp, and was about five miles nearer breda than it was to gertruydenberg. at this place the cardinal-archduke had gathered a considerable force, numbering at least four thousand of his best infantry, with several squadrons of cavalry, the whole under-command of the general-in-chief of artillery, count varax. people in the neighbourhood were growing uneasy, for it was uncertain in what direction it might be intended to use this formidable force. it was perhaps the cardinal's intention to make a sudden assault upon breda, the governor of which seemed not inclined to carry out his proposition to transfer that important city to the king, or it was thought that he might take advantage of a hard frost and cross the frozen morasses and estuaries into the land of ter tholen, where he might overmaster some of the important strongholds of zeeland. marcellus bax, that boldest and most brilliant of holland's cavalry officers, had come to maurice early in january with an urgent suggestion that no time might be lost in making an attack upon the force of turnhout, before they should succeed in doing any mischief. the prince pondered the proposition, for a little time, by himself, and then conferred very privately upon the subject with the state-council. on the th january it was agreed with that body that the enterprise should be attempted, but with the utmost secrecy. a week later the council sent an express messenger to maurice urging him not to expose his own life to peril, but to apprise them as soon as possible as to the results of the adventure. meantime, patents had been sent to the various garrisons for fifty companies of foot and sixteen squadrons of horse. on the nd january maurice came to gertruydenberg, the place of rendezvous, attended by sir francis vere and count solms. colonel kloetingen was already there with the transports of ammunition and a few pieces of artillery from zeeland, and in the course of the day the whole infantry force had assembled. nothing could have been managed with greater promptness or secrecy. next day, before dawn, the march began. the battalia was led by van der noot, with six companies of hollanders. then came vere, with eight companies of the reserve, dockray with eight companies of englishmen, murray with eight companies of scotch, and kloetingen and la corde with twelve companies of dutch and zeelanders. in front of the last troop under la corde marched the commander of the artillery, with two demi-cannon and two field-pieces, followed by the ammunition and, baggage trains. hohenlo arrived just as the march was beginning, to whom the stadholder, notwithstanding their frequent differences, communicated his plans, and entrusted the general command of the cavalry. that force met the expedition at osterhout, a league's distance from gertruydenberg, and consisted of the best mounted companies, english and dutch, from the garrisons of breda, bergen, nymegen, and the zutphen districts. it was a dismal, drizzly, foggy morning; the weather changing to steady rain as the expedition advanced. there had been alternate frost and thaw for the few previous weeks, and had that condition of the atmosphere continued the adventure could not have been attempted. it had now turned completely to thaw. the roads were all under water, and the march was sufficiently difficult. nevertheless, it was possible; so the stout hollanders, zeelanders, and englishmen struggled on manfully, shoulder to shoulder, through the mist and the mire. by nightfall the expedition had reached ravels, at less than a league's distance from turnhout, having accomplished, under the circumstances, a very remarkable march of over twenty miles. a stream of water, the neethe, one of the tributaries of the scheld, separated ravels from turnhout, and was crossed by a stone bridge. it was an anxious moment. maurice discovered by his scouts that he was almost within cannon-shot of several of the most famous regiments in the spanish army lying fresh, securely posted, and capable of making an attack at any moment. he instantly threw forward marcellus bax with four squadrons of bergen cavalry, who, jaded as they were by their day's work, were to watch the bridge that night, and to hold it against all comers and at every hazard. the spanish commander, on his part, had reconnoitred the advancing, foe, for it was impossible for the movement to have been so secret or so swift over those inundated roads as to be shrouded to the last moment in complete mystery. it was naturally to be expected therefore that those splendid legions--the famous neapolitan tercio of trevico, the veteran troops of sultz and hachicourt, the picked epirote and spanish cavalry of nicolas basta and guzman--would be hurled upon the wearied, benumbed, bemired soldiers of the republic, as they came slowly along after their long march through the cold winter's rain. varax took no such heroic resolution. had he done so that january afternoon, the career of maurice of nassau might have been brought to a sudden close, despite the affectionate warning of the state-council. certainly it was difficult for any commander to be placed in a more perilous position than that in which the stadholder found himself. he remained awake and afoot the whole night, perfecting his arrangements for the morning, and watching every indication of a possible advance on the part of the enemy. marcellus bax and his troopers remained at the bridge till morning, and were so near the spaniards that they heard the voices of their pickets, and could even distinguish in the distance the various movements in their camp. but no attack was made, and the little army of maurice was allowed to sleep off its fatigue. with the dawn of the th january, a reconnoitring party, sent out from the republican camp, discovered that varax, having no stomach for an encounter, had given his enemies the slip. long before daylight his baggage and ammunition trains had been sent off in a southerly direction, and his whole force had already left the village of turnhout. it was the intention of the commander to take refuge in the fortified city of herenthals, and there await the attack of maurice. accordingly, when the stadholder arrived on the fields beyond the immediate precincts of the village, he saw the last of the enemy's rearguard just disappearing from view. the situation was a very peculiar one. the rain and thaw, following upon frosty weather, had converted the fenny country in many directions into a shallow lake. the little river which flowed by the village had risen above its almost level banks, and could with difficulty be traversed at any point, while there was no permanent bridge, such as there was at ravels. the retreating spaniards had made their way through a narrow passage, where a roughly-constructed causeway of planks had enabled the infantry to cross the waters almost in single file, while the cavalry had floundered through as best they might. those who were acquainted with the country reported that beyond this defile there was an upland heath, a league in extent, full of furze and thickets, where it would be easy enough for varax to draw up his army in battle array, and conceal it from view. maurice's scouts, too, brought information that the spanish commander had left a force of musketeers to guard the passage at the farther end. this looked very like an ambush. in the opinion of hohenlo, of solms, and of sidney, an advance was not to be thought of; and if the adventure seemed perilous to such hardy and experienced campaigners as these three, the stadholder might well hesitate. nevertheless, maurice had made up his mind. sir francis vere and marcellus bax confirmed him in his determination, and spoke fiercely of the disgrace which would come upon the arms of the republic if now, after having made a day's march to meet the enemy, they should turn their backs upon him just as he was doing his best to escape. on leave obtained from the prince, these two champions, the englishman and the hollander, spurred their horses through the narrow pass, with the waters up to the saddle-bow, at the head of a mere handful of troopers, not more than a dozen men in all. two hundred musketeers followed, picking their way across the planks. as they emerged into the open country beyond, the spanish soldiers guarding the passage fled without firing a shot. such was already the discouraging effect produced upon veterans by the unexpected order given that morning to retreat. vere and bax sent word for all the cavalry to advance at once, and meantime hovered about the rearguard of the retreating enemy, ready to charge upon him so soon as they should be strong enough. maurice lost no time in plunging with his whole mounted force through the watery defile; directing the infantry to follow as fast as practicable. when the commander-in-chief with his eight hundred horsemen, englishmen, zeelanders, hollanders, and germans, came upon the heath, the position and purpose of the enemy were plainly visible. he was not drawn up in battle order, waiting to sweep down upon his rash assailants so soon as, after struggling through the difficult pass, they should be delivered into his hands. on the contrary, it was obvious at a glance that his object was still to escape. the heath of tiel, on which spaniards, italians, walloons, germans, dutchmen, english; scotch, and irishmen now all found themselves together, was a ridgy, spongy expanse of country, bordered on one side by the swollen river, here flowing again through steeper banks which were overgrown with alders and pollard willows. along the left of the spanish army, as they moved in the direction of herenthals, was a continuous fringe of scrub-oaks, intermixed with tall beeches, skirting the heath, and forming a leafless but almost impervious screen for the movements of small detachments of troops. quite at the termination of the open apace, these thickets becoming closely crowded, overhung another extremely narrow passage, which formed the only outlet from the plain. thus the heath of tiel, upon that winter's morning, had but a single entrance and a single exit, each very dangerous or very fortunate for those capable of taking or neglecting the advantages offered by the position. the whole force of varax, at least five thousand strong, was advancing in close marching order towards the narrow passage by which only they could emerge from the heath. should they reach this point in time, and thus effect their escape, it would be useless to attempt to follow them, for, as was the case with the first defile, it was not possible for two abreast to go through, while beyond was a swampy-country in which military operations were impossible. yet there remained less than half a league's space for the retreating soldiers to traverse, while not a single foot-soldier of maurice's army had thus far made his appearance on the heath. all were still wallowing and struggling, single file, in the marshy entrance, through which only the cavalry had forced their way. here was a dilemma. should maurice look calmly on while the enemy, whom he had made so painful a forced march to meet, moved off out of reach before his eyes? yet certainly this was no slight triumph in itself. there sat the stadholder on his horse at the head of eight hundred carabineers, and there marched four of philip's best infantry regiments, garnished with some of his most renowned cavalry squadrons, anxious not to seek but to avoid a combat. first came the germans of count sultz, the musketeers in front, and the spearsmen, of which the bulk of this and of all the regiments was composed, marching in closely serried squares, with the company standards waving over each. next, arranged in the same manner, came the walloon regiments of hachicourt and of la barlotte. fourth and last came the famous neapolitans of marquis trevico. the cavalry squadrons rode on the left of the infantry, and were commanded by nicolas basta, a man who had been trampling upon the netherlanders ever since the days of alva, with whom he had first come to the country. and these were the legions--these very men or their immediate predecessors--these italians, spaniards, germans, and walloons, who during so many terrible years had stormed and sacked almost every city of the netherlands, and swept over the whole breadth of those little provinces as with the besom of destruction. both infantry and cavalry, that picked little army of varax was of the very best that had shared in the devil's work which had been the chief industry practised for so long in the obedient netherlands. was it not madness for the stadholder, at the head of eight hundred horsemen, to assail such an army as this? was it not to invoke upon his head the swift vengeance of heaven? nevertheless, the painstaking, cautious maurice did not hesitate. he ordered hohenlo, with all the brabantine cavalry, to ride as rapidly as their horses could carry them along the edge of the plain, and behind the tangled woodland, by which the movement would be concealed. he was at all hazards to intercept the enemy's vanguard before it should reach the fatal pass. vere and marcellus bax meanwhile, supported now by edmont with the nymegen squadrons, were to threaten the spanish rear. a company of two under laurentz was kept by maurice near his person in reserve. the spaniards steadily continued their march, but as they became aware of certain slight and indefinite movements on their left, their cavalry, changing their position, were transferred from the right to the left of the line of march, and now rode between the infantry and the belt of woods. in a few minutes after the orders given to hohenlo, that dashing soldier had circumvented the spaniards, and emerged upon the plain between them and the entrance to the defile, the next instant the trumpets sounded a charge, and hohenlo fell upon the foremost regiment, that of sultz, while the rearguard, consisting of trevico's neapolitan regiment, was assailed by du bois, donck, rysoir, marcellus bax, and sir francis vere. the effect seemed almost supernatural. the spanish cavalry--those far-famed squadrons of guzman and basta--broke at the first onset and galloped off for the pass as if they had been riding a race. most of them escaped through the hollow into the morass beyond. the musketeers of sultz's regiment hardly fired a shot, and fell back in confusion upon the thickly clustered pikemen. the assailants, every one of them in complete armour, on powerful horses, and armed not with lances but with carbines, trampled over the panic-struck and struggling masses of leather jerkined pikemen and shot them at arm's length. the charge upon trevico's men at the same moment was just as decisive. in less time than it took afterwards to describe the scene, those renowned veterans were broken into a helpless mass of dying, wounded, or fugitive creatures, incapable of striking a blow. thus the germans in the front and the neapolitans in the rear had been simultaneously shattered, and rolled together upon the two other regiments, those of hachicourt and la barlotte, which were placed between them. nor did these troops offer any better resistance, but were paralysed and hurled out of existence like the rest. in less than an hour the spanish army was demolished. varax himself lay dead upon the field, too fortunate not to survive his disgrace. it was hardly more than daylight on that dull january morning; nine o'clock had scarce chimed from the old brick steeples of turnhout, yet two thousand spaniards had fallen before the blows of eight hundred netherlanders, and there were five hundred prisoners beside. of maurice's army not more than nine or ten were slain. the story sounds like a wild legend. it was as if the arm of each netherlander had been nerved by the memory of fifty years of outrage, as if the spectre of their half-century of crime had appalled the soul of every spaniard. like a thunderbolt the son of william the silent smote that army of philip, and in an instant it lay blasted on the heath of tiel. at least it could hardly be called sagacious generalship on the part of the stadholder. the chances were all against him, and if instead of varax those legions had been commanded that morning by old christopher mondragon, there might perhaps have been another tale to tell. even as it was, there had been a supreme moment when the spanish disaster had nearly been changed to victory. the fight was almost done, when a small party of staten' cavalry, who at the beginning of the action had followed the enemy's horse in its sudden retreat through the gap, came whirling back over the plain in wild confusion, pursued by about forty of the enemy's lancers. they swept by the spot where maurice, with not more than ten horsemen around him, was directing and watching the battle, and in vain the prince threw himself in front of them and strove to check their flight. they were panic-struck, and maurice would himself have been swept off the field, had not marcellus bax and edmont, with half a dozen heavy troopers, come to the rescue. a grave error had been committed by parker, who, upon being ordered by maurice to cause louis laurentz to charge, had himself charged with the whole reserve and left the stadholder almost alone upon the field. thus the culprits--who after pursuing the spanish cavalry through the pass had been plundering the enemy's baggage until they were set upon by the handful left to guard it, and had become fugitives in their turn--might possibly have caused the lose of the day after the victory had been won, had there been a man on the spanish side to take in the situation at a glance. but it is probable that the rout had been too absolute to allow of any such sudden turning to account of the serious errors of the victors. the cavalry, except this handful, had long disappeared, at least half the infantry lay dead or wounded in the field, while the remainder, throwing away pipe and matchlock, were running helter-skelter for their lives. besides prince maurice himself, to whom the chief credit of the whole expedition justly belonged, nearly all the commanders engaged obtained great distinction by their skill and valour. sir francis vere, as usual, was ever foremost in the thickest of the fray, and had a horse killed under him. parker erred by too much readiness to engage, but bore himself manfully throughout the battle. hohenlo, solma, sidney, louis laurentz, du bois, all displayed their usual prowess; but the real hero of the hour, the personal embodiment of the fortunate madness which prompted and won the battle, was undoubtedly marcellus bax. maurice remained an hour or two on the field of battle, and then, returning towards the village of turnhout, summoned its stronghold. the garrison of sixty, under captain van der delf, instantly surrendered. the victor allowed these troops to go off scot free, saying that there had been blood enough shed that day. every standard borne by the spaniards in the battle-thirty-eight in number--was taken, besides nearly all their arms. the banners were sent to the hague to be hung up in the great hall of the castle. the dead body of varax was sent to the archduke with a courteous letter, in which, however, a categorical explanation was demanded as to a statement in circulation that albert had decided to give the soldiers of the republic no quarter. no answer being immediately returned, maurice ordered the five hundred prisoners to be hanged or drowned unless ransomed within twenty days, and this horrible decree appears from official documents to be consistent with the military usages of the period. the arrival of the letter from the cardinal-archduke, who levied the money for the ransom on the villagers of brabant, prevented, however, the execution of the menace, which could hardly have been seriously intended. within a week from the time of his departure from the hague to engage in this daring adventure, the stadholder had returned to that little capital, having achieved a complete success. the enthusiastic demonstrations throughout the land on account of so signal a victory can easily be imagined. nothing like this had ever before been recorded in the archives of the young commonwealth. there had been glorious defences of beleaguered cities, where scenes of heroic endurance and self-sacrifice had been enacted, such as never can be forgotten so long as the history of human liberty shall endure, but a victory won in the open field over the most famous legions of spain and against overwhelming numbers, was an achievement entirely without example. it is beyond all doubt that the force under varax was at least four times as large as that portion of the states' army which alone was engaged; for maurice had not a foot-soldier on the field until the battle was over, save the handful of musketeers who had followed vere and bax at the beginning of the action. therefore it is that this remarkable action merits a much more attentive consideration than it might deserve, regarded purely as a military exploit. to the military student a mere cavalry affair, fought out upon an obscure brabantine heath between a party of dutch carabineers and spanish pikemen, may seem of little account--a subject fitted by picturesque costume and animated action for the pencil of a wouvermanns or a terburg, but conveying little instruction. as illustrating a period of transition in which heavy armoured troopers--each one a human iron-clad fortress moving at speed and furnished with the most formidable portable artillery then known--could overcome the resistance of almost any number of foot-soldiers in light marching gear and armed with the antiquated pike, the affair may be worthy of a moment's attention; and for this improvement--itself now as obsolete as the slings and cataphracts of roman legions--the world was indebted to maurice. but the shock of mighty armies, the manoeuvring of vast masses in one magnificent combination, by which the fate of empires, the happiness or the misery of the peoples for generations, may perhaps be decided in a few hours, undoubtedly require a higher constructive genius than could be displayed in any such hand-to-hand encounter as that of turnhout, scientifically managed as it unquestionably was. the true and abiding interest of the battle is derived from is moral effect, from its influence on the people of the netherlands. and this could scarcely be exaggerated. the nation was electrified, transformed in an instant. who now should henceforth dare to say that one spanish fighting-man was equal to five or ten hollanders? at last the days of jemmingen and mooker-heath needed no longer to be remembered by every patriot with a shudder of shame. here at least in the open field a spanish army, after in vain refusing a combat and endeavouring to escape, had literally bitten the dust before one fourth of its own number. and this effect was a permanent one. thenceforth for foreign powers to talk of mediation between the republic and the ancient master, to suggest schemes of reconciliation and of a return to obedience, was to offer gratuitous and trivial insult, and we shall very soon have occasion to mark the simple eloquence with which the thirty-eight spanish standards of turnhout, hung up in the old hall of the hague, were made to reply to the pompous rhetoric of an interfering ambassador. this brief episode was not immediately followed by other military events of importance in the provinces during what remained of the winter. very early in the spring, however, it was probable that the campaign might open simultaneously in france and on the frontiers of flanders. of all the cities in the north of france there was none, after rouen, so important, so populous, so wealthy as amiens. situate in fertile fields, within three days march of paris, with no intervening forests or other impediments of a physical nature to free communication, it was the key to the gates of the capital. it had no garrison, for the population numbered fifteen thousand men able to bear arms, and the inhabitants valued themselves on the prowess of their trained militiamen, five thousand of whom they boasted to be able to bring into the field at an hour's notice--and they were perfectly loyal to henry. one morning in march there came a party of peasants, fifteen or twenty in number, laden with sacks of chestnuts and walnuts, to the northernmost gate of the town. they offered them for sale, as usual, to the soldiers at the guard-house, and chaffered and jested--as boors and soldiers are wont to do--over their wares. it so happened that in the course of the bargaining one of the bags became untied, and its contents, much to the dissatisfaction of the proprietor, were emptied on the ground. there was a scramble for the walnuts, and much shouting, kicking, and squabbling ensued, growing almost into a quarrel between the burgher-soldiers and the peasants. as the altercation was at its height a heavy wagon, laden with long planks, came towards the gate for the use of carpenters and architects within the town. the portcullis was drawn up to admit this lumbering vehicle, but in the confusion caused by the chance medley going on at the guard-house, the gate dropped again before the wagon had fairly got through the passage, and remained resting upon the timber with which it was piled. at that instant a shrill whistle was heard; and as if by magic the twenty chestnut-selling peasants were suddenly transformed to spanish and walloon soldiers armed to the teeth, who were presently reinforced by as many more of their comrades, who sprang from beneath the plank-work by which the real contents of the wagon had thus been screened. captain dognano, his brother the sergeant-major, captain d'arco, and other officers of a walloon regiment stationed in dourlans, were the leaders of the little party, and while they were busily occupied in putting the soldiers of the watch, thus taken unawares, to death, the master-spirit of the whole adventure suddenly made his appearance and entered the city at the head of fifteen hundred men. this was an extremely small, yellow, dried up, energetic spanish captain, with a long red beard, hernan tello de porto carrero by came, governor of the neighbouring city of dourlens, who had conceived this plan for obtaining possession of amiens. having sent these disguised soldiers on before him, he had passed the night with his men in ambush until the signal should sound. the burghers of the town were mostly in church; none were dreaming of an attack, as men rarely do--for otherwise how should they ever be surprised--and in half an hour amiens was the property of philip of spain. there were not very many lives lost, for the resistance was small, but great numbers were tortured for ransom and few women escaped outrage. the sack was famous, for the city was rich and the captors were few in number, so that each soldier had two or three houses to plunder for his own profit. when the work was done, the faubourgs were all destroyed, for it was the intention of the conquerors to occupy the place, which would be a most convenient basis of operations for any attack upon paris, and it was desirable to contract the limits to be defended. fifteen hundred houses, many of them beautiful villas surrounded with orchards and pleasure gardens,--were soon in flames, and afterwards razed to the ground. the governor of the place, count st. pol, managed to effect his escape. his place was now supplied by the marquis of montenegro, an italian in the service of the spanish king. such was the fate of amiens in the month of march, ; such the result of the refusal by the citizens to accept the garrison urged upon them by henry. it would be impossible to exaggerate the consternation produced. throughout france by this astounding and altogether unlooked for event. "it seemed," said president de thou, "as if it had extinguished in a moment the royal majesty and the french name." a few nights later than the date of this occurrence, maximilian de bethune (afterwards duke of sully, but then called marquis de rosny) was asleep in his bed in paris. he had returned, at past two o'clock in the morning, from a magnificent ball given by the constable of france. the capital had been uncommonly brilliant during the winter with banquets and dances, tourneys and masquerades, as if to cast a lurid glare over the unutterable misery of the people and the complete desolation of the country; but this entertainment--given by montmorency in honour of a fair dame with whom he supposed himself desperately in love, the young bride of a very ancient courtier--surpassed in splendour every festival that had been heard of for years. de bethune had hardly lost himself in slumber when he was startled by beringen, who, on drawing his curtains in this dead hour of the night, presented such a ghastly visage that the faithful friend of henry instantly imagined some personal disaster to his well-beloved sovereign. "is the king dead?" he cried. being re-assured as to, this point and told to hasten to the louvre, rosny instantly complied with the command. when he reached the palace he was admitted at once to the royal bed-chamber, where he found the king in the most unsophisticated of costumes, striding up and down the room, with his hands clasped together behind his head, and with an expression of agony upon his face: many courtiers were assembled there, stuck all of them like images against the wall, staring before them in helpless perplexity. henry rushed forward as rosny entered, and wringing him by the hand, exclaimed, "ah, my friend, what a misfortune, amiens is taken!" "very well," replied the financier, with unperturbed visage; "i have just completed a plan which will restore to your majesty not only amiens but many other places." the king drew a great sigh of relief and asked for his project. rosny, saying that he would instantly go and fetch his papers, left the apartment for an interval, in order to give vent to the horrible agitation which he had been enduring and so bravely concealing ever since the fatal words had been spoken. that a city so important, the key to paris, without a moment's warning, without the semblance of a siege, should thus fall into the hands of the enemy, was a blow as directly to the heart of de bethune as it could have been to any other of henry's adherents. but while they had been distracting the king by unavailing curses or wailings, henry, who had received the intelligence just as he was getting into bed, had sent for support and consolation to the tried friend of years, and he now reproachfully contrasted their pusillanimity with de rosny's fortitude. a great plan for reorganising the finances of the kingdom was that very night submitted by rosny to the king, and it was wrought upon day by day thereafter until it was carried into effect. it must be confessed that the crudities and immoralities which the project revealed do not inspire the political student of modern days with so high a conception of the financial genius of the great minister as his calm and heroic deportment on trying occasions, whether on the battle-field or in the council-chamber, does of his natural authority over his fellow-men. the scheme was devised to put money in the king's coffers, which at that moment were completely empty. its chief features were to create a great many new offices in the various courts of justice and tribunals of administration, all to be disposed of by sale to the highest bidder; to extort a considerable loan from the chief courtiers and from the richest burghers in the principal towns; to compel all the leading peculators--whose name in the public service was legion--to disgorge a portion of their ill-gotten gains, on being released from prosecution; and to increase the tax upon salt. such a project hardly seems a masterpiece of ethics or political economy, but it was hailed with rapture by the needy monarch. at once there was a wild excitement amongst the jobbers and speculators in places. the creation of an indefinite number of new judgeships and magistracies, to be disposed of at auction, was a tempting opportunity even in that age of corruption. one of the most notorious traders in the judicial ermine, limping robin de tours by name, at once made a private visit to madame de rosny and offered seventy-two thousand crowns for the exclusive right to distribute these new offices. if this could be managed to his satisfaction, he promised to give her a diamond worth two thousand crowns, and another, worth six thousand, to her husband. the wife of the great minister, who did not comprehend the whole amount of the insult, presented robin to her husband. she was enlightened, however, as to the barefaced iniquity of the offer, when she heard de bethune's indignant. reply, and saw the jobber limp away, crest-fallen and amazed. that a financier or a magistrate should decline a bribe or interfere with the private sale of places, which were after all objects of merchandise, was to him incomprehensible. the industrious robin, accordingly, recovering from his discomfiture, went straightway to the chancellor, and concluded the same bargain in the council chamber which had been rejected by de bethune, with the slight difference that the distribution of the places. was assigned to the speculator for seventy-five thousand instead of seventy-two thousand crowns. it was with great difficulty that de bethune, who went at once to the king with complaints and insinuations as to the cleanness of the chancellor's hands, was able to cancel the operation. the day was fast approaching when the universal impoverishment of the great nobles and landholders--the result of the long, hideous, senseless massacres called the wars of religion--was to open the way for the labouring classes to acquire a property in the soil. thus that famous fowl in every pot was to make its appearance, which vulgar tradition ascribes to the bounty of a king who hated everything like popular rights, and loved nothing but his own glory and his own amusement. it was not until the days of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren that privilege could renew those horrible outrages on the people, which were to be avenged by a dread series of wars, massacres, and crimes, compared to which even the religious conflicts of the sixteenth century grow pale. meantime de bethune comforted his master with these financial plans, and assured him in the spirit of prophecy that the king of spain, now tottering as it was thought to his grave, would soon be glad to make a favourable peace with france even if he felt obliged to restore not only amiens but every other city or stronghold that he had ever conquered in that kingdom. time would soon show whether this prediction were correct or delusive; but while the secret negotiations between henry and the pope were vigorously proceeding for that peace with spain which the world in general and the commonwealth of the netherlands in particular thought to be farthest from the warlike king's wishes, it was necessary to set about the siege of amiens. henry assembled a force of some twelve or fifteen thousand men for that purpose, while the cardinal-archduke, upon his part, did his best to put an army in the field in order to relieve the threatened city so recently acquired by a coarse but successful artifice. but albert was in even a worse plight than that in which his great antagonist found himself. when he had first arrived in the provinces, his exchequer was overflowing, and he was even supposed to devote a considerable portion of the military funds to defray the expenses of his magnificent housekeeping at brussels. but those halcyon days were over. a gigantic fraud, just perpetrated by philip; had descended like a thunderbolt upon the provinces and upon all commercial europe, and had utterly blasted the unfortunate viceroy. in the latter days of the preceding year the king had issued a general repudiation of his debts. he did it solemnly, too, and with great religious unction, for it was a peculiarity of this remarkable sovereign that he was ever wont to accomplish his darkest crimes, whether murders or stratagems, as if they were acts of virtue. perhaps he really believed them to be such, for a man, before whom so many millions of his fellow worms had been writhing for half a century in the dust, might well imagine himself a deity. so the king, on the th november, , had publicly revoked all the assignments, mortgages, and other deeds by which the royal domains; revenues, taxes, and other public property had been transferred or pledged for moneys already advanced to merchants, banker, and other companies or individuals, and formally took them again into his own possession, on the ground that his exertions in carrying on this long war to save christianity from destruction had reduced him to beggary, while the money-lenders, by charging him exorbitant interest, had all grown rich at his expense. this was perfectly simple. there was no attempt to disguise the villany of the transaction. the massacre of so many millions of protestants, the gigantic but puerile attempts to subjugate the dutch republic, and to annex france, england, and the german empire to his hereditary dominions, had been attended with more expense than philip had calculated upon. the enormous wealth which a long series of marriages, inheritances, conquests, and maritime discoveries had heaped upon spain had been exhausted by the insane ambition of the king to exterminate heresy throughout the world, and to make himself the sovereign of one undivided, universal, catholic monarchy. all the gold and silver of america had not sufficed for this purpose, and he had seen, with an ever rising indignation, those very precious metals which, in his ignorance of the laws of trade, he considered his exclusive property flowing speedily into the coffers of the merchants of europe, especially those of the hated commonwealth of the rebellious netherlands. therefore he solemnly renounced all his contracts, and took god to witness that it was to serve his divine will. how else could he hope to continue his massacre of the protestants? the effect of the promulgation of this measure was instantaneous. two millions and a half of bills of exchange sold by the cardinal albert came back in one day protested. the chief merchants and bankers of europe suspended payment. their creditors became bankrupt. at the frankfort fair there were more failures in one day than there had ever been in all the years since frankfort existed. in genoa alone a million dollars of interest were confiscated. it was no better in antwerp; but antwerp was already ruined. there was a general howl of indignation and despair upon every exchange, in every counting-room, in every palace, in every cottage of christendom. such a tremendous repudiation of national debts was never heard of before. there had been debasements of the currency, petty frauds by kings upon their unfortunate peoples, but such a crime as this had never been conceived by human heart before. the archduke was fain to pawn his jewelry, his plate, his furniture, to support the daily expenses of his household. meantime he was to set an army in the field to relieve a city, beleaguered by the most warlike monarch in christendom. fortunately for him, that prince was in very similar straits, for the pressure upon the public swindlers and the auction sales of judicial ermine throughout his kingdom were not as rapidly productive as had been hoped. it was precisely at this moment, too, that an incident of another nature occurred in antwerp, which did not tend to make the believers in the possibility of religious or political freedom more in love with the system of spain and rome. those blood-dripping edicts against heresy in the netherlands, of which enough has been said in previous volumes of this history, and which had caused the deaths, by axe, faggot, halter, or burial alive, of at least fifty thousand human creatures--however historical scepticism may shut its eyes to evidence--had now been, dormant for twenty years. their activity had ceased with the pacification of ghent; but the devilish spirit which had inspired them still lived in the persons of the jesuits, and there were now more jesuits in the obedient provinces than there had been for years. we have seen that champagny's remedy for the ills the country was enduring was "more jesuits." and this, too, was albert's recipe. always "more jesuits." and now the time had come when the jesuits thought that they might step openly with their works into the daylight again. of late years they had shrouded themselves in comparative mystery, but from their seminaries and colleges had gone forth a plentiful company of assassins against elizabeth and henry, nassau, barneveld, and others who, whether avowedly or involuntarily, were prominent in the party of human progress. some important murders had already been accomplished, and the prospect was fair that still others might follow, if the jesuits persevered. meantime those ecclesiastics thought that a wholesome example might be by the spectacle of a public execution. two maiden ladies lived on the north rampart of antwerp. they had formerly professed the protestant religion, and had been thrown into prison for that crime; but the fear of further persecution, human weakness, or perhaps sincere conviction, had caused them to renounce the error of their ways, and they now went to mass. but they had a maidservant, forty years of age, anna van den hove by name, who was staunch in that reformed faith in which she had been born and bred. the jesuits denounced this maid-servant to the civil authority, and claimed her condemnation and execution under the edicts of , decrees which every one had supposed as obsolete as the statutes of draco, which they had so entirely put to shame. the sentence having been obtained from the docile and priest-ridden magistrates, anna van den hove was brought to brussels and informed that she was at once to be buried alive. at the same time, the jesuits told her that by converting herself to the church she might escape punishment. when king henry iv. was summoned to renounce that same huguenot faith, of which he was the political embodiment and the military champion, the candid man answered by the simple demand to be instructed. when the proper moment came, the instruction was accomplished by an archbishop with the rapidity of magic. half an hour undid the work of half a life-time. thus expeditiously could religious conversion be effected when an earthly crown was its guerdon. the poor serving-maid was less open to conviction. in her simple fanaticism she too talked of a crown, and saw it descending from heaven on her poor forlorn head as the reward, not of apostasy, but of steadfastness. she asked her tormentors how they could expect her to abandon her religion for fear of death. she had read her bible every day, she said, and had found nothing there of the pope or purgatory, masses, invocation of saints, or the absolution of sins except through the blood of the blessed redeemer. she interfered with no one who thought differently; she quarrelled with no one's religious belief. she had prayed for enlightenment from him, if she were in error, and the result was that she felt strengthened in her simplicity, and resolved to do nothing against her conscience. rather than add this sin to the manifold ones committed by her, she preferred, she said, to die the death. so anna van den hove was led, one fine midsummer morning, to the hayfield outside of brussels, between two jesuits, followed by a number of a peculiar kind of monks called love-brothers. those holy men goaded her as she went, telling her that she was the devil's carrion, and calling on her to repent at the last moment, and thus save her life and escape eternal damnation beside. but the poor soul had no ear for them, and cried out that, like stephen, she saw the heavens opening, and the angels stooping down to conduct her far away from the power of the evil one. when they came to the hay-field they found the pit already dug, and the maid-servant was ordered to descend into it. the executioner then covered her with earth up to the waist, and a last summons was made to her to renounce her errors. she refused, and then the earth was piled upon her, and the hangman jumped upon the grave till it was flattened and firm. of all the religious murders done in that hideous sixteenth century in the netherlands; the burial of the antwerp servantmaid was the last and the worst. the worst, because it was a cynical and deliberate attempt to revive the demon whose thirst for blood had been at last allayed, and who had sunk into repose. and it was a spasmodic revival only, for, in the provinces at least, that demon had finished his work. still, on the eastern borders of what was called civilization, turk and christian were contending for the mastery. the great battle of koveso had decided nothing, and the crescent still shone over the fortified and most important hungarian stronghold of raab, within arm's length of vienna. how rapidly might that fatal and menacing emblem fill its horns, should it once be planted on the walls of the imperial capital! it was not wonderful that a sincere impatience should be felt by all the frontier states for the termination of the insurrection of the netherlands. would that rebellious and heretical republic only consent to go out of existence, again bow its stubborn knee to philip and the pope, what a magnificent campaign might be made against mahomet! the king of spain was the only potentate at all comparable in power to the grand turk. the king of france, most warlike of men, desired nothing better, as he avowed, than to lead his brave nobles into hungary to smite the unbelievers. even prince maurice, it was fondly hoped, might be induced to accept a high command in the united armies of christendom, and seek for glory by campaigning, in alliance with philip; rudolph, and henry, against the ottoman, rather than against his natural sovereign. such were the sagacity, the insight, the power of forecasting the future possessed in those days by monarchs, statesmen, and diplomatists who were imagining that they held the world's destiny in their hands. there was this summer a solemn embassy from the emperor to the states-general proposing mediation referring in the usual conventional phraseology to the right of kings to command, and to the duty of the people to submit, and urging the gentle-mindedness and readiness to forgive which characterised the sovereign of the netherlands and of spain. and the statesmen of the republic had answered as they always did, showing with courteous language, irresistible logic, and at, unmerciful length, that there never had been kings in the netherlands at all, and that the gentle-mindedness of philip had been exhibited in the massacre of a hundred thousand netherlanders in various sieges and battles, and in the murder, under the duke of alva alone, of twenty thousand human beings by the hangman. they liked not such divine right nor such gentle-mindedness. they recognised no duty on their part to consent to such a system. even the friendly king of denmark sent a legation for a similar purpose, which was respectfully but very decidedly allowed to return as it came; but the most persistent in schemes of interference for the purpose of putting an end to the effusion of blood in the netherlands was sigismund of poland. this monarch, who occupied two very incompatible positions, being sovereign at once of fanatically protestant sweden and of orthodox poland, and who was, moreover, son-in-law of archduke charles of styria whose other daughter was soon to be espoused by the prince of spain--was personally and geographically interested in liberating philip from the inconvenience of his netherland war. only thus could he hope to bring the spanish power to the rescue of christendom against the turk. troubles enough were in store for sigismund in his hereditary northern realms, and he was to learn that his intermarriage with the great catholic and imperial house did not enable him to trample out protestantism in those hardy scandinavian and flemish regions where it had taken secure root. meantime he despatched, in solemn mission to the republic and to the heretic queen, a diplomatist whose name and whose oratorical efforts have by a caprice of history been allowed to endure to our times. paul dialyn was solemnly received at the hague on the st july. a pragmatical fop, attired in a long, magnificent polish robe, covered with diamonds and other jewels, he was yet recognised by some of those present as having been several years before a student at leyden under a different name, and with far less gorgeous surroundings. he took up his position in the council-chamber, in the presence of the stadholder and the leading members of the states-general, and pronounced a long latin oration, in the manner, as it was said, of a monk delivering a sermon from the pulpit. he kept his eyes steadily fixed on the ceiling, never once looking at the men whom he was addressing, and speaking in a loud, nasal, dictatorial tone, not at all agreeable to the audience. he dwelt in terms of extravagant eulogy on the benignity and gentleness of the king of spain--qualities in which he asserted that no prince on earth could be compared to him--and he said this to the very face of maurice of nassau. that the benignant and gentle king had caused the stadholder's father to be assassinated, and that he had rewarded the murderer's family with a patent of nobility, and with an ample revenue taken from the murdered man's property, appeared of no account to the envoy in the full sweep of his rhetoric. yet the reminiscence caused a shudder of disgust in all who heard him. he then stated the wish of his master the polish king to be that, in regard to the turk, the provinces might reconcile themselves to their natural master, who was the most powerful monarch in christendom, and the only one able to make head against the common foe. they were solemnly warned of the enormous power and resources of the great king, with whom it was hopeless for them to protract a struggle sure to end at last in their uttermost destruction. it was for kings to issue commands; he said, and for the people to obey; but philip was full of sweetness, and would accord them full forgiveness for their manifold sins against him. the wish to come to the rescue of christendom, in this extreme peril from the turk, was with him paramount to all other considerations. such; in brief, was the substance of the long latin harangue by which it was thought possible to induce those sturdy republicans and calvinists to renounce their vigorous national existence and to fall on their knees before the most catholic king. this was understood to be mediation, statesmanship, diplomacy, in deference to which the world was to pause and the course of events to flow backwards. truly, despots and their lackeys were destined to learn some rude lessons from that vigorous little commonwealth in the north sea, before it should have accomplished its mission on earth. the states-general dissembled their disgust, however, for it was not desirable to make open enemies of sigismund or rudolph. they refused to accept a copy of the oration, but they promised to send him a categorical answer to it in writing. meantime the envoy had the honour of walking about the castle with the stadholder, and, in the course of their promenade, maurice pointed to the thirty-eight standards taken at the battle of turnhout, which hung from the cedarn rafters of the ancient banquetting hall. the mute eloquence of those tattered banners seemed a not illogical reply to the diplomatic paul's rhetoric in regard to the hopelessness of a contest with spanish armies. next, van der werken--pensionary of leyden, and a classical scholar--waited upon the envoy with a latin reply to his harangue, together with a courteous letter for sigismund. both documents were scathing denunciations of the policy pursued by the king of spain and by all his aiders and abettors, and a distinct but polished refusal to listen to a single word in favour of mediation or of peace. paul dialyn then received a courteous permission to leave the territory of the republic, and was subsequently forwarded in a states' vessel of war to england. his reception, about a month later, by queen elizabeth is an event on which all english historians are fond of dwelling. the pedant, on being presented to that imperious and accomplished sovereign, deported himself with the same ludicrous arrogance which had characterised him at the hague. his latin oration, which had been duly drawn up for him by the chancellor of sweden, was quite as impertinent as his harangue to the states-general had been, and was delivered with the same conceited air. the queen replied on the instant in the same tongue. she was somewhat in a passion, but spoke with majestic moderation? "oh, how i have been deceived!" she exclaimed. "i expected an ambassador, and behold a herald! in all my life i never heard of such an oration. your boldness and unadvised temerity i cannot sufficiently admire. but if the king your master has given you any such thing in charge--which i much doubt--i believe it is because, being but a young man, and lately advanced to the crown, not by ordinary succession of blood, but by election, he understandeth not yet the way of such affairs." and so on--for several minutes longer. never did envoy receive such a setting down from sovereign. "god's death, my lords!" said the queen to her ministers; as she concluded, "i have been enforced this day to scour up my old latin that hath lain long in rusting." this combination of ready wit, high spirit, and good latin, justly excited the enthusiasm of the queen's subjects, and endeared her still more to every english heart. it may, however, be doubted whether the famous reply was in reality so entirely extemporaneous as it has usually been considered. the states-general had lost no time in forwarding to england a minute account of the proceedings of paul dialyn at the hague, together with a sketch of his harangue and of the reply on behalf of the states. her majesty and her counsellors therefore, knowing that the same envoy was on his way to england with a similar errand, may be supposed to have had leisure to prepare the famous impromptu. moreover, it is difficult to understand, on the presumption that these classic utterances were purely extemporaneous, how they have kept their place in all chronicles and histories from that day to the present, without change of a word in the text. surely there was no stenographer present to take down the queen's words as they fell from her lips. the military events of the year did not testify to a much more successful activity on the part of the new league in the field than it had displayed in the sphere of diplomacy. in vain did the envoy of the republic urge henry and his counsellors to follow up the crushing blow dealt to the cardinal at turnhout by vigorous operations in conjunction with the states' forces in artois and hainault. for amiens had meantime been taken, and it was now necessary for the king to employ all his energy and all his resources to recover that important city. so much damage to the cause of the republic and of the new league had the little yellow spanish captain inflicted in an hour, with his bags of chestnuts and walnuts. the siege of amiens lasted nearly six months, and was the main event of the campaign, so far as henry was concerned. it is true--as the reader has already seen, and as will soon be more clearly developed--that henry's heart had been fixed on peace from the moment that he consented in conjunction with the republic to declare war, and that he had entered into secret and separate negotiations for that purpose with the agents of philip so soon as he had bound himself by solemn covenant with elizabeth to have no negotiations whatever with him except with her full knowledge and consent. the siege of amiens, however, was considered a military masterpiece, and its whole progress showed the revolution which the stadholder of holland had already effected in european warfare. henry iv. beleaguered amiens as if he were a pupil of maurice, and contemporaries were enthusiastic over the science, the patience, the inventive ingenuity which were at last crowned with success. the heroic hernan tello de porto carrero was killed in a sortie during the defence of the place which he had so gallantly won, and when the city was surrendered to the king on the th of september it was stipulated in the first article of the capitulation that the tomb, epitaph, and trophies, by which his memory was honoured in the principal church, should not be disturbed, and that his body might be removed whenever and whither it seemed good to his sovereign. in vain the cardinal had taken the field with an army of eighteen thousand foot and fifteen hundred light cavalry. the king had learned so well to entrench himself and to moderate his ardour for inopportune pitched battles, that the relieving force could find, no occasion to effect its purpose. the archduke retired. he came to amiens like a soldier, said henry, but he went back like a priest. moreover, he was obliged to renounce, besides the city, a most tempting prize which he thought that he had secured within the city. alexander farnese, in his last french campaign, had procured and sent to his uncle the foot of st. philip and the head of st. lawrence; but what was albert's delight when he learned that in amiens cathedral there was a large piece of the head of john the baptist! "there will be a great scandal about it in this kingdom," he wrote to philip, "if i undertake to transport it out of the country, but i will try to contrive it as your majesty desires." but the military events of the year prevented the cardinal from gratifying the king in regard to these choice curiosities. after the reduction of the city henry went a considerable distance with his army towards the frontier of flanders, in order to return, as he said, "his cousin's visit." but the recovery of amiens had placed too winning a card in the secret game which he was then playing to allow him to push his nominal adversary to extremities. the result, suspected very early in the year by the statesmen of the republic, was already very plainly foreshadowing itself as the winter advanced. nor had the other two members of the league affected much in the field. again an expedition had been fitted forth under essex against the spanish coast to return the compliment which philip had intended with the unlucky armada under santa gadea; and again sir francis vere, with two thousand veterans from the netherlands, and the dutch admirals, with ten ships of war and a large number of tenders and transports, had faithfully taken part in the adventure. the fleet was tempest-tossed for ten days, during which it reached the threatened coast and was blown off again. it returned at last into the english ports, having accomplished nothing, and having expended superfluously a considerable amount of money and trouble. essex, with a few of the vessels, subsequently made a cruise towards the azores, but, beyond the capture of a spanish merchantman or two, gained no glory and inflicted no damage. nothing could be feebler than the military operations of the three confederated powers ever since they had so solemnly confederated themselves. sick at heart with the political intrigues of his allies which had--brought a paralysis upon his arms which the blows of the enemy could hardly have effected, maurice took the field in august: for an autumnal campaign on the eastern frontier of the republic. foiled in his efforts for a combined attack by the whole force of the league upon philip's power in the west, he thought it at least expedient to liberate the rhine, to secure the important provinces of zutphen, gelderland, and overyssel from attack, and to provide against the dangerous intrigues and concealed warfare carried on by spain in the territories of the mad duke of juliers, clever and berg. for the seeds of the thirty years' war of germany were already sown broadcast in those fatal duchies, and it was the determination of the agents of spain to acquire the mastery of that most eligible military position, that excellent 'sedes belli,' whenever protestantism was to be assailed in england, the netherlands, or germany. meantime the hispaniolated counsellors of duke john had strangled--as it was strongly suspected--his duchess, who having gone to bed in perfect health one evening was found dead in her bed next morning, with an ugly mark on her throat; and it was now the purpose of these statesmen to find a new bride for their insane sovereign in the ever ready and ever orthodox house of lorrain. and the protestant brothers-in-law and nephews and nieces were making every possible combination in order to check such dark designs, and to save these important territories from the ubiquitous power of spain. the stadholder had also family troubles at this period. his sister emilia had conceived a desperate passion for don emmanuel, the pauper son of the forlorn pretender to portugal, don antonio, who had at last departed this life. maurice was indignant that a catholic, an outcast, and, as it was supposed, a bastard, should dare to mate with the daughter of william of orange-nassau; and there were many scenes of tenderness, reproaches, recriminations, and 'hysterica passio,' in which not only the lovers, the stadholder and his family, but also the high and mighty states-general, were obliged to enact their parts. the chronicles are filled with the incidents, which, however, never turned to tragedy, nor even to romance, but ended, without a catastrophe, in a rather insipid marriage. the princess emilia remained true both to her religion and her husband during a somewhat obscure wedded life, and after her death don emmanuel found means to reconcile himself with the king of spain and to espouse, in second nuptials, a spanish lady. on the th of august, maurice arrived at arnhem with a force of seven thousand foot and twelve hundred horse. hohenlo was with him, and william lewis, and there was yet another of the illustrious house of nassau in the camp, frederick henry, a boy in his thirteenth year, the youngest born of william the silent, the grandson of admiral de coligny, now about; in this his first campaign, to take the first step in a long and noble career. having reduced the town and castle of alphen, the stadholder came before rheinberg, which he very expeditiously invested. during a preliminary skirmish william lewis received a wound in the leg, while during the brief siege maurice had a narrow escape from death, a cannon-ball passing through his tent and over his head as he lay taking a brief repose upon his couch. on the th, rheinberg, the key to that portion of the river, surrendered. on the st the stadholder opened his batteries upon the city of meurs, which capitulated on the nd of september; the commandant, andrew miranda, stipulating that he should carry off an old fifty-pounder, the only piece of cannon in the place. maurice gave his permission with a laugh, begging miranda not to batter down any cities with his big gun. on the th september the stadholdet threw a bridge over the rhine, and crossing that river and the lippe, came on the th before grol. there was no christopher mondragon now in his path to check his progress and spoil his campaign, so that in seventeen days the city, being completely surrounded with galleries and covered ways up to its walls, surrendered. count van stirum, royal governor of the place, dined with the stadholder on that day, and the garrison, from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred strong; together with such of the townsfolk as chose to be subjects of philip rather than citizens of the republic, were permitted to depart in peace. on the th october the town and castle of brevoort were taken by storm and the town was burned. on the th october, maurice having summoned enschede, the commandant requested permission to examine the artillery by which it was proposed to reduce the city. leave being granted, two captains were deputed accordingly as inspectors, who reported that resistance was useless. the place accordingly capitulated at once. here, again, was an improvement on the heroic practice of alva and romero. on the st and nd october, ootmarsum and oldenzaal were taken, and on the th the little army came before lingen. this important city surrendered after a fortnight's siege. thus closed a sagacious, business-like, three-months' campaign, in the course of which the stadholder, although with a slender force, had by means of his excellent organization and his profound practical science, achieved very considerable results. he had taken nine strongly-fortified cities and five castles, opened the navigation of the rhine, and strengthened the whole eastern bulwarks of the republic. he was censured by the superficial critics of the old school for his humanity towards the conquered garrisons. at least it was thought quite superfluous to let these spanish soldiers go scot free. five thousand veterans had thus been liberated to swell the ranks of the cardinal's army, but the result soon proved the policy of maurice to be, in many ways, wholesome. the great repudiation by philip, and the consequent bankruptcy of alberta converted large numbers of the royal troops into mutineers, and these garrisons from the eastern frontier were glad to join in the game. after the successful siege of hulst in the previous year the cardinal had reduced the formidable mutiny which had organized itself at tirlemont and chapelle in the days of his luckless predecessor. those rebels had been paid off and had mainly returned to italy and other lands to spend their money. but soon a new rebellion in all the customary form's established itself in antwerp citadel during the temporary absence of mexia, the governor, and great was the misery of the unhappy burghers thus placed at the mercy of the guns of that famous pentagon. they were obliged to furnish large sums to the whole garrison, paying every common foot-soldier twelve stivers a day and the officers in proportion, while the great eletto demanded, beside his salary, a coach and six, a state bed with satin curtains and fine linen, and the materials for banquetting sumptuously every day. at the slightest demur to these demands the bombardment from the citadel would begin, and the accurate artillery practice of those experienced cannoneers soon convinced the loyal citizens of the propriety of the arrangement. the example spread. the garrison of ghent broke into open revolt, and a general military rebellion lasted for more than a year. while the loyal cities of the obedient provinces were thus enjoying the fruits of their loyalty and obedience, the rebellious capital of the republic was receiving its stadholder with exuberant demonstrations of gratitude. the year, begun with the signal victory of turnhout, had worthily terminated, so far as military events were concerned, with the autumnal campaign on the rhine, and great were the rejoicings throughout the little commonwealth. thus, with diminished resources, had the republic been doing its share of the work which the anti-spanish league had been called into existence to accomplish. but, as already intimated, this league was a mere fraud upon the netherlands, which their statesmen were not slow in discovering. of course it was the object of philip and of the pope to destroy this formidable triple alliance as soon as formed, and they found potent assistance, not only in henry's counsellors, but in the bosom of that crafty monarch himself. clement hated philip as much as he feared him, so that the prospect both of obtaining henry as a counterpoise to his own most oppressive and most catholic protector, and of breaking up the great convert's alliance with the heretic queen and the rebellious republic, was a most tempting one to his holiness. therefore he employed, indefatigably, the matchless powers of intrigue possessed by rome to effect this great purpose. as for elizabeth, she was weary of the war, most anxious to be reimbursed her advances to the states, and profoundly jealous of the rising commercial and naval greatness of the new commonwealth. if the league therefore proved impotent from the beginning, certainly it was not the fault of the united netherlands. we have seen how much the king deplored, in intimate conversation with de bethune, his formal declaration of war against spain which the dutch diplomatists had induced him to make; and indeed nothing can be more certain than that this public declaration of war, and this solemn formation of the triple alliance against philip, were instantly accompanied on henry's part by secret peace negotiations with philip's agents. villeroy, told envoy calvaert that as for himself he always trembled when he thought on what he had done, in seconding the will of his majesty in that declaration at the instance of the states-general, of which measure so many losses and such bitter fruits had been the result. he complained, too, of the little assistance or co-operation yielded by england. calvaert replied that he had nothing to say in defence of england, but that certainly the king could have no cause to censure the states. the republic, however, had good ground, he said, to complain that nothing had been done by france, that all favourable occasions had been neglected, and that there was a perpetual change of counsels. the envoy, especially, and justly, reproached the royal government for having taken no advantage of the opportunity offered by the victory of turnhout, in which the republic had utterly defeated the principal forces of the common enemy. he bluntly remarked, too, that the mysterious comings and goings of balvena had naturally excited suspicions in the netherlands, and that it would be better that all such practices should be at once abandoned. they did his majesty no service, and it was no wonder that they caused uneasiness to his allies. villeroy replied that the king had good reasons to give satisfaction to those who were yearning for peace. as henry himself was yearning in this regard as much as any of his subjects, it was natural enough that he should listen to balvena and all other informal negotiators whom cardinal ilbert might send from brussels or clement from rome. it will be recollected that henry's parting words to balvena at rouen had been: "tell the archduke that i am very much his friend. let him arrange a peace. begone. be diligent." but the king's reply to calvaert, when, after the interview with villeroy, that envoy was admitted to the royal dressing room for private conversation and took the occasion to remonstrate with his majesty on these intrigues with the spanish agent, was that he should send off balvena in such fashion that it would take from the cardinal-archduke all hope of troubling him with any further propositions. it has been seen, too, with what an outbreak of wrath the proposition, made by elizabeth through robert sydney, that she should succour calais on condition of keeping it for herself, had been received by henry. at a somewhat later moment, when calais had passed entirely into the possession of spain, the queen offered to lay siege to that city with twelve thousand men, but with the understanding that the success was to be entirely for her own profit. again the king bad expressed great astonishment and indignation at the proposition. nevertheless, after amiens had been lost, henry had sent fonquerolles on a special mission to england, asking elizabeth's assistance in the siege for its recovery, and offering that she should keep calais as a pledge for expenses thus incurred, on the same terms as those on which she held the brill and flushing in the netherlands. this proposal, however, to make a considerable campaign in picardy, and to be indemnified by henry for her trouble with the pledge of a city which was not his property, did not seem tempting to elizabeth: the mission of fonquerolles was fruitless, as might have been supposed. nothing certainly in the queen's attitude, up to that moment, could induce the supposition that she would help to reduce amiens for the sake of the privilege of conquering calais if she could. so soon as her refusal was made certain, henry dropped the mask. buzanval, the regular french envoy at the hague--even while amazing the states by rebukes for their short-comings in the field and by demands for immediate co-operation in the king's campaign, when the king was doing nothing but besiege amiens--astonished the republican statesmen still further by telling them--that his master was listening seriously to the pope's secret offers. his holiness had assured the king, through the legate at paris, that he could easily bring about a peace between him and philip, if henry would agree to make it alone, and he would so manage it that the king's name should not be mixed up with the negotiations, and that he should not appear as seeking for peace. it was to be considered however--so henry's envoy intimated both at greenwich and the hague--that if the king should accept the pope's intervention he would be obliged to exclude from a share in it the queen and all others not of the catholic religion, and it was feared that the same necessity which had compelled him to listen to these overtures would force him still further in the same path. he dreaded lest, between peace and war, he might fall into a position in which the law would be dictated to him either by the enemy or by those who had undertaken to help him out of danger. much more information to this effect did buzanval communicate to the states on the authority of a private letter from the king, telling him of the ill-success of the mission of fonquerolles. that diplomatist had brought back nothing from england, it appeared, save excuses, general phrases, and many references to the troubles in ireland and to the danger of a new spanish armada. it was now for the first time, moreover, that the states learned how they had been duped both by england and france in the matter of the league. to their surprise they were informed that while they were themselves furnishing four thousand men, according to the contract signed by the three powers, the queen had in reality only agreed to contribute two thousand soldiers, and these only for four months' service, within a very strict territorial limit, and under promise of immediate reimbursement of the expenses thus incurred. these facts, together with the avowal that their magnanimous ally had all along been secretly treating for peace with the common enemy, did not make a cheerful impression upon those plain-spoken republicans, nor was it much consolation to them to receive the assurance that "after the king's death his affection and gratitude towards the states would be found deeply engraved upon his heart." the result of such a future autopsy might seem a matter of comparative indifference, since meantime the present effect to the republic of those deep emotions was a treacherous desertion. calvaert, too, who had so long haunted the king like his perpetual shadow, and who had believed him--at least so far as the netherlands were concerned--to be almost without guile, had been destined after all to a rude awakening. sick and suffering, he did not cease, so long as life was in him, to warn the states-general of the dangers impending over them from the secret negotiations which their royal ally was doing his best to conceal from them, and as to which he had for a time succeeded so dexterously in hoodwinking their envoy himself. but the honest and energetic agent of the republic did not live to see the consummation of these manoeuvres of henry and the pope. he died in paris during the month of june of this year. certainly the efforts of spanish and papal diplomacy had not been unsuccessful in bringing about a dissolution of the bonds of amity by which the three powers seemed so lately to be drawing themselves very closely together. the republic and henry iv. were now on a most uncomfortable footing towards each other. on the other hand, the queen was in a very ill humour with the states and very angry with henry. especially the persistent manner in which the hollanders carried on trade with spain and were at the same time making fortunes for themselves and feeding the enemy, while englishmen, on pain of death, were debarred from participation in such traffic, excited great and general indignation in england. in vain was it represented that this trade, if prohibited to the commonwealth would fall into the hands of neutral powers, and that spain would derive her supplies from the baltic and other regions as regularly as ever, while the republic, whose whole life was in her foreign commerce, would not only become incapable of carrying on the war but would perish of inanition. the english statesmen threatened to declare all such trade contraband, and vessels engaging in it lawful prize to english cruisers. burghley declared, with much excitement, to canon, that he, as well as all the council, considered the conduct of the hollanders so unjustifiable as to make them regret that their princess had ever embarked with a state which chose to aid its own enemies in the destruction of itself and its allies. such conduct was so monstrous that those who were told of it would hardly believe it. the dutch envoy observed that there were thirty thousand sailors engaged in this trade, and he asked the lord treasurer whether he proposed that these people should all starve or be driven into the service of the enemy. burghley rejoined that the hollanders had the whole world beside to pursue their traffic in, that they did indeed trade over the whole world, and had thereby become so extraordinarily, monstrously rich that there was no believing it. caron declared his sincere wish that this was true, but said, on the contrary, that he knew too well what extreme trouble and labour the states-general had in providing for the expenses of the war and in extracting the necessary funds from the various communities. this would hardly be the case were such great wealth in the land as was imagined. but still the english counsellors protested that they would stop this trading with the enemy at every hazard. on the question of peace or war itself the republican diplomatists were often baffled as to the true intentions of the english government. "as the queen is fine and false," said marquis havre, observing and aiding in the various intrigues which were weaving at brussels, "and her council much the same, she is practising towards the hollanders a double stratagem. on the one hand she induces them to incline to a general peace. on the other, her adherents, ten or twelve in number of those who govern holland and have credit with the people, insist that the true. interest of the state is in a continuation of the war." but havre, adept in diplomatic chicane as he undoubtedly was, would have found it difficult to find any man of intelligence or influence in that rebellious commonwealth, of which he was once a servant, who had any doubt on that subject. it needed no english argument to persuade olden-barneveld, and the other statesmen who guided the destiny of the republic, that peace would be destruction. moreover, there is no question that both the queen and burghley would have been truly grateful had the states-general been willing to make peace and return to the allegiance which they had long since spurned. nevertheless it is difficult to say whether there were at this moment more of animosity in elizabeth's mind towards her backsliding ally, with whom she had so recently and so pompously sworn an eternal friendship, or towards her ancient enemy. although she longed for peace, she hardly saw her way to it, for she felt that the secret movements of henry had in a manner barred the path. she confessed to the states' envoy that it was as easy for her to make black white as to make peace with spain. to this caron cordially assented, saying with much energy, "there is as much chance for your majesty and for us to make peace, during the life of the present king of spain, as to find redemption in hell." to the danish ambassadors, who had come to england with proposals of mediation, the queen had replied that the king of spain had attacked her dominions many times, and had very often attempted her assassination, that after long patience she had begun to defend herself, and had been willing to show him that she had the courage and the means, not only to maintain herself against his assaults, but also to invade his realms; that, therefore, she was not disposed to speak first; nor to lay down any conditions. yet, if she saw that the king of spain had any remorse for his former offences against her, and wished to make atonement for them, she was willing to declare that her heart was not so alienated from peace; but that she could listen to propositions on the subject. she said, too, that such a peace must be a general one, including both the king of france and the states of the netherlands, for with these powers she had but lately made an offensive and defensive league against the king of spain, from which she protested that for no consideration in the world would she ever swerve one jot. certainly these were words of christian charity and good faith, but such professions are the common staple of orations and documents for public consumption. as the accounts became more and more minute, however, of henry's intrigues with albert, philip, and clement, the queen grew more angry. she told caron that she was quite aware that the king had long been in communication with the cardinal's emissaries, and that he had even sent some of his principal counsellors to confer with the cardinal himself at arras, in direct violation of the stipulations of the league. she expressed her amazement at the king's conduct; for she knew very well, she said, that the league had hardly been confirmed and sworn to, before he was treating with secret agents sent to him by the cardinal. "and now," she continued, "they propose to send an ambassador to inform me of the whole proceeding, and to ask my advice and consent in regard to negotiations which they have, perchance, entirely concluded." she further informed the republican envoy that the king had recently been taking the ground in these dealings with the common enemy; that the two kingdoms of france and england must first be provided for; that when the basis between these powers and spain had been arranged, it would be time to make arrangements for the states, and that it would probably be found advisable to obtain a truce of three or four years between them and spain, in which interval the government of the provinces might remain on its actual footing. during this armistice the king of spain was to withdraw all spanish troops from the netherlands, in consequence of which measure all distrust would by degrees vanish, and the community, becoming more and more encouraged, would in time recognise the king for their sovereign once more. this, according to the information received by elizabeth from her resident minister in france, was henry's scheme for carrying out the principles of the offensive and defensive league, which only the year before he had so solemnly concluded with the dutch republic. instead of assisting that commonwealth in waging her war of independence against spain, he would endeavour to make it easy for her to return peacefully to her ancient thraldom. the queen asked caron what he thought of the project. how could that diplomatist reply but with polite scorn? not a year of such an armistice would elapse, he said, before the spanish partisans would have it all their own way in the netherlands, and the king of spain would be master of the whole country. again and again he repeated that peace, so long as philip lived, was an impossibility for the states. no doubt that monarch would gladly consent to the proposed truce, for it, would be indeed strange if by means of it he could not so establish himself in the provinces as to easily overthrow the sovereigns who were thus helping him to so advantageous a position. the queen listened patiently to a long and earnest remonstrance in this vein made by the envoy, and assured him that not even to gain another kingdom would she be the cause of a return of the provinces to the dominion of spain. she would do her best to dissuade the king from his peace negotiations; but she would listen to de maisae, the new special envoy from henry, and would then faithfully report to caron, by word of mouth, the substance of the conversation. the states-general did not deserve to be deceived, nor would she be a party to any deception, unless she were first cheated herself. "i feel indeed," she added, "that matters are not always managed as they should be by your government, and that you have not always treated princes, especially myself, as we deserve to be treated. nevertheless, your state is not a monarchy, and so we must take all things into consideration, and weigh its faults against its many perfections." with this philosophical--and in the mouth of elizabeth tudor, surely very liberal--reflection, the queen terminated the interview with the republican envoy. meantime the conferences with the special ambassador of france proceeded. for, so soon as henry had completed all his arrangements, and taken his decision to accept the very profitable peace offered to him by spain, he assumed that air of frankness which so well became him, and candidly avowed his intention of doing what he had already done. hurault de maisse arrived in england not long before the time when the peace-commissioners were about assembling at vervins. he was instructed to inform her majesty that he had done his best to bring about a general alliance of the european powers from which alone the league concluded between england, france, and the netherlands would have derived substantial strength. but as nothing was to be hoped for from germany, as england offered but little assistance, and as france was exhausted by her perpetual conflicts, it had become necessary for the king to negotiate for a peace. he now wished to prove, therefore, to the queen, as to a sister to whom he was under such obligations, that the interests of england were as dear to him as those of france. the proof of these generous sentiments did not, however, seem so clear as could be wished, and there were very stormy debates, so soon as the ambassador found himself in conference with her majesty's counsellors. the english statesmen bitterly reproached the french for having thus lightly thrown away the alliance between the two countries, and they insisted upon the duty of the king to fulfil his solemn engagements. the reply was very frank and very decided. kings, said de maisse, never make treaties except with the tacit condition to embrace every thing that may be useful to them, and carefully to avoid every thing prejudicial to their interests. the corollary from this convenient and sweeping maxim was simple enough. the king could not be expected, by his allies to reject an offered peace which was very profitable, nor to continue a war which, was very detrimental. all that they could expect was that he should communicate his intentions to them, and this he was now very cheerfully doing. such in brief were the statements of de maisse. the english were indignant. they also said a stout word for the provinces, although it has been made sufficiently clear that they did not love that upstart republic. but the french ambassador replied that his, master really meant secretly to assist the states in carrying on the war until they should make an arrangement. he should send them very powerful succours for this purpose, and he expected confidently that england would assist him in this line of conduct. thus henry was secretly pledging himself, to make underhand but substantial war against spain, with which power he was at that instant concluding peace, while at the same time he was abandoning his warlike league with the queen and the republic, in order to affect that very pacification. truly the morality of the governing powers of the earth was not entirely according to the apostolic standard. the interviews between the queen and the new ambassador were, of course, on his part, more courteous in tone than those with the counsellors, but mainly to the same effect. de maisse stated that the spanish king had offered to restore every place that he held in france, including calais, brittany, and the marquisate of saluces, and as he likewise manifested a willingness to come to favourable terms with her majesty and with the states, it was obviously the duty of henry to make these matters known to her majesty, in whose hands was thus placed the decision between peace or continuation of the war. the queen asked what was the authority for the supposition that england was to be included by spain in the pacification. de maisse quoted president richardot. in that case, the queen remarked, it was time for her to prepare for a third spanish armada. when a former envoy from france had alluded to richardot as expressing the same friendly sentiments on the part of his sovereign and himself, she had replied by referring to the sham negotiations of bourbourg, by which the famous invasion of had been veiled, and she had intimated her expectation that another spanish fleet would soon be at her throat. and within three weeks of the utterance of her prophecy the second armada, under santa gadea, had issued from spain to assail her realms. now then, as richardot was again cited as a peace negotiator, it was time to look for a third invasion. it was an impertinence for secretary of state villeroy to send her word about richardot. it was not an impertinence in king henry, who understood war-matters better than he did affairs of state, in which kings were generally governed by their counsellors and secretaries, but it was very strange that villeroy should be made quiet with a simple declaration of richardot. the queen protested that she would never consent to a peace with spain, except with the knowledge and consent of the states. de maisse replied that the king was of the same mind, upon which her majesty remarked that in that case he had better have apprised her and the states of his intentions before treating alone and secretly with the enemy. the envoy denied that the king had been treating. he had only been listening to what the king of spain had to propose, and suggesting his own wishes and intentions. the queen rejoined that this was treating if anything was, and certainly her majesty was in the right if the term has any meaning at all. elizabeth further reproachfully observed, that although the king talked about continuing the war, he seemed really tired of that dangerous pursuit, in which he had exercised himself so many long years, and that he was probably beginning to find a quiet and agreeable life more to his taste. she expressed the hope, however, that he would acquit himself honourably towards herself and her allies, and keep the oaths which he had so solemnly sworn before god. such was the substance of the queen's conversations with de maisse, as she herself subsequently reported them to the states' envoy. the republican statesmen had certainly cause enough to suspect henry's intentions, but they did not implicitly trust elizabeth. they feared that both king and queen were heartily sick of the war, and disposed to abandon the league, while each was bent on securing better terms than the other in any negotiations for peace. barneveld--on the whole the most sagacious of the men then guiding the affairs of europe, although he could dispose of but comparatively slender resources, and was merely the chief minister of a scarcely-born little commonwealth of some three million souls--was doing his best to save the league and to divert henry from thoughts of peace. feeling that the queen, notwithstanding her professions to caron and others, would have gladly entered into negotiations with philip, had she found the door as wide open as henry had found it, he did his best to prevent both his allies from proceeding farther in that direction. he promised the french envoy at the hague that not only would the republic continue to furnish the four thousand soldiers as stipulated in the league, but that if henry would recommence active operations, a states' army of nine thousand foot and two thousand horse should at once take the field on the flemish frontier of france, and aid in the campaign to the full extent of their resources. if the king were disposed to undertake the siege of calais, the advocate engaged that he should be likewise energetically assisted in that enterprise. nor was it suggested in case the important maritime stronghold were recovered that it should be transferred, not to the sovereign of france, but to the dominions of the republic. that was the queen's method of assisting an ally, but it was not the practice of the states. buzanval, who was quite aware of his master's decision to conclude peace, suggested henry's notion of a preliminary and general truce for six months. but of course barneveld rejected the idea with horror. he felt, as every intelligent statesman of the commonwealth could not but feel, that an armistice would be a death-blow. it would be better, he said, for the states to lose one or two towns than to make a truce, for there were so many people in the commonwealth sure to be dazzled by the false show of a pacification, that they would be likely, after getting into the suburbs, to wish to enter the heart of the city. "if," said the advocate, "the french and the english know what they are doing when they are, facilitating the spanish dominion in the provinces, they would prefer to lose a third of their own kingdoms to seeing the spaniard absolute master here." it was determined, in this grave position of affairs, to send a special mission both to france and to england with the advocate as its chief. henry made no objections to this step, but, on the contrary, affected much impatience for the arrival of the envoys, and ascribed the delay to the intrigues of elizabeth. he sent word to prince maurice and to barneveld that he suspected the queen of endeavouring to get before him in negotiating with spain in order to obtain calais for herself. and, in truth, elizabeth very soon afterwards informed barneveld that she might really have had calais, and have got the better of the king in these secret transactions. meantime, while the special mission to france and england was getting ready to depart, an amateur diplomatist appeared in brussels, and made a feeble effort to effect a reconciliation between the republic and the cardinal. this was a certain van der meulen, an antwerp merchant who, for religious reasons, had emigrated to leyden, and who was now invited by the cardinal archduke to brussels to confer with his counsellors as to the possibility of the rebellious states accepting his authority. for, as will soon be indicated, philip had recently resolved on a most important step. he was about to transfer the sovereignty of all the netherlands to his daughter isabella and her destined husband, cardinal albert. it would, obviously, therefore, be an excessively advantageous arrangement for those new sovereigns if the rebellious states would join hands with the obedient provinces, accept the dominion of albert and isabella and give up their attempt to establish a republican government. accordingly the cardinal had intimated that the states would be allowed the practice of their religion, while the military and civil functionaries might retain office. he even suggested that he would appoint maurice of nassau his stadholder for the northern provinces, unless he should prefer a high position in the imperial armies. such was the general admiration felt in spain and elsewhere for the military talents of the prince, that he would probably be appointed commander-in-chief of the forces against mahomet. van der meulen duly reported all these ingenious schemes to the states, but the sturdy republicans only laughed at them. they saw clearly enough through such slight attempts to sow discord in their commonwealth, and to send their great chieftain to turkey. a most affectionate letter, written by the cardinal-archduke to the states-general, inviting them to accept his sovereignty, and another from the obedient provinces to the united states of the same purport, remained unanswered. but the antwerp merchant, in his interviews with the crafty politicians who surrounded the cardinal, was able at least to obtain some insight into the opinions prevalent at brussels; and these were undoubtedly to the effect that both england and france were willing enough to abandon the cause of the netherlands, provided only that they could obtain satisfactory arrangements for themselves. van der meulen remarked to richardot that in all their talk about a general peace nothing had been said of the queen of england, to whom the states were under so great obligations, and without whom they would never enter into any negotiations. richardot replied that the queen had very sagaciously provided for the safety of her own kingdom, and had kept up the fire everywhere else in order to shelter herself. there was more difficulty for this lady, he said, than for any of the rest. she had shown herself very obstinate, and had done them a great deal of mischief. they knew very well that the king of france did not love her. nevertheless, as they had resolved upon a general peace, they were willing to treat with her as well as with the others. etext editor's bookmarks: auction sales of judicial ermine decline a bribe or interfere with the private sale of places famous fowl in every pot fellow worms had been writhing for half a century in the dust for his humanity towards the conquered garrisons (censured) historical scepticism may shut its eyes to evidence imagining that they held the world's destiny in their hands king had issued a general repudiation of his debts loud, nasal, dictatorial tone, not at all agreeable peace would be destruction repudiation of national debts was never heard of before some rude lessons from that vigorous little commonwealth such a crime as this had never been conceived (bankruptcy) they liked not such divine right nor such gentle-mindedness whether murders or stratagems, as if they were acts of virtue chapter xxxiv. mission of the states to henry to prevent the consummation of peace with spain--proposal of henry to elevate prince maurice to the sovereignty, of the states--embarkation of the states' envoys for england--their interview with queen elizabeth--return of the envoys from england--demand of elizabeth for repayment of her advances to the republic--second embassy to england--final arrangement between the queen and the states. the great advocate was now to start on his journey in order to make a supreme effort both with henry and with elizabeth to prevent the consummation of this fatal peace. admiral justinus of nassau, natural son of william the silent, was associated with barneveld in the mission, a brave fighting man, a staunch patriot, and a sagacious counsellor; but the advocate on this occasion, as in other vital emergencies of the commonwealth, was all in all. the instructions of the envoys were simple. they were to summon the king to fulfil his solemnly sworn covenants with the league. the states-general had never doubted, they said, that so soon as the enemy had begun to feel the effects, of that league he would endeavour to make a composition with one or other of the parties in order to separate them, and to break up that united strength which otherwise he could never resist. the king was accordingly called upon to continue the war against the common enemy, and the states-general offered, over and above the four hundred and fifty thousand florins promised by them for the support of the four thousand infantry for the year , to bring their whole military power, horse and foot, into the field to sustain his majesty in the war, whether separately or in conjunction, whether in the siege of cities or in open campaigns. certainly they could hardly offer fairer terms than these. henry had complained, and not unreasonably, that elizabeth had made no offers of assistance for carrying on the war either to fonquerolles or to hurault de maisse; but he certainly could make no reproach of that nature against the republic, nor assign their lukewarmness as an excuse for his desertion. the envoys were ready to take their departure for france on the last day of january. it might be a curious subject to consider how far historical events are modified and the world's destiny affected by the different material agencies which man at various epochs has had at his disposal. the human creature in his passions and ambitions, his sensual or sordid desires, his emotional and moral nature, undergoes less change than might be hoped from age to age. the tyrant; the patriot, the demagogue, the voluptuary, the peasant, the trader, the intriguing politician, the hair-splitting diplomatist, the self-sacrificing martyr, the self-seeking courtier, present essentially one type in the twelfth, the sixteenth, the nineteenth, or any other century. the human tragi-comedy seems ever to repeat itself with the same bustle, with the same excitement for immediate interests, for the development of the instant plot or passing episode, as if the universe began and ended with each generation--as in reality it would appear to do for the great multitude of the actors. there seems but a change of masks, of costume, of phraseology, combined with a noisy but eternal monotony. yet while men are produced and are whirled away again in endless succession, man remains, and to all appearance is perpetual and immortal even on this earth. whatever science acquires man inherits. whatever steadfastness is gained for great moral truths which change not through the ages--however they may be thought, in dark or falsely brilliant epochs, to resolve themselves into elemental vapour--gives man a securer foothold in his onward and upward progress. the great, continuous history of that progress is not made up of the reigns of kings or the lives of politicians, with whose names history has often found it convenient to mark its epochs. these are but milestones on the turnpike. human progress is over a vast field, and it is only at considerable intervals that a retrospective view enables us to discern whether the movement has been slow or rapid, onward or retrograde. the record of our race is essentially unwritten. what we call history is but made up of a few scattered fragments, while it is scarcely given to human intelligence to comprehend the great whole. yet it is strange to reflect upon the leisurely manner in which great affairs were conducted in the period with which we are now occupied, as compared with the fever and whirl of our own times, in which the stupendous powers of steam and electricity are ever-ready to serve the most sublime or the most vulgar purposes of mankind. whether there were ever a critical moment in which a rapid change might have been effected in royal or national councils, had telegraphic wires and express trains been at the command of henry, or burghley, or barneveld, or the cardinal albert, need not and cannot be decided. it is almost diverting, however, to see how closely the intrigues of cabinets, the movements of armies, the plans of patriots, were once dependent on those natural elements over which man has now gained almost despotic control. here was the republic intensely eager to prevent, with all speed, the consummation of a treaty between its ally and its enemy--a step which it was feared might be fatal to its national existence, and concerning which there seemed a momentary hesitation. yet barneveld and justinus of nassau, although ready on the last day of january, were not able to sail from the brill to dieppe until the th march, on account of a persistent south-west wind. after forty-six days of waiting, the envoys, accompanied by buzanval, henry's resident at the hague, were at last, on the th march, enabled to set sail with a favourable breeze. as it was necessary for travellers in that day to provide themselves with every possible material for their journey--carriages, horses, hosts of servants, and beds, fortunate enough if they found roads and occasionally food--barneveld and nassau were furnished with three ships of war, while another legation on its way to england had embarked in two other vessels of the same class. a fleet of forty or fifty merchantmen sailed under their convoy. departing from the brill in this imposing manner, they sailed by calais, varying the monotony of the voyage by a trifling sea-fight with some cruisers from that spanish port, neither side receiving any damage. landing at dieppe on the morning of the th, the envoys were received with much ceremony at the city gates by the governor of the place, who conducted them in a stately manner to a house called the king's mansion, which he politely placed at their disposal. "as we learned, however," says barneveld, with grave simplicity; "that there was no furniture whatever in that royal abode, we thanked his excellency, and declared that we would rather go to a tavern." after three days of repose and preparation in dieppe, they started at dawn on their journey to rouen, where they arrived at sundown. on the next morning but one they set off again on their travels, and slept that night at louviers. another long day's journey brought them to evreux. on the th they came to dreux, on the th to chartres, and on the th to chateaudun. on the th, having started an hour before sunrise, they were enabled after a toilsome journey to reach blois at an hour after dark. exhausted with fatigue, they reposed in that city for a day, and on the st april proceeded, partly by the river loire and partly by the road, as far as tours. here they were visited by nobody, said barneveld, but fiddlers and drummers, and were execrably lodged. nevertheless they thought the town in other respects agreeable, and apparently beginning to struggle out of the general desolation of, france. on the end april they slept at langeais, and on the night of the rd reached saumur, where they were disappointed at the absence of the illustrious duplessis mornay, then governor of that city. a glance at any map of france will show the course of the journey taken by the travellers, which, after very hard work and great fatigue, had thus brought them from dieppe to saumur in about as much time as is now consumed by an average voyage from europe to america. in their whole journey from holland to saumur, inclusive of the waiting upon the wind and other enforced delays, more than two months had been consumed. twenty-four hours would suffice at present for the excursion. at saumur they received letters informing them that the king was "expecting them with great devotion at angiers." a despatch from cecil, who was already with henry, also apprised them that he found "matters entirely arranged for a peace." this would be very easily accomplished, he said, for france and england, but the great difficulty was for the netherlands. he had come to france principally for the sake of managing affairs for the advantage of the states, but he begged the envoys not to demean themselves as if entirely bent on war. they arrived at angiers next day before dark, and were met at a league's distance from the gates by the governor of the castle, attended by young prince frederic henry of nassau; followed by a long train of nobles and mounted troops. welcomed in this stately manner on behalf of the king, the envoys were escorted to the lodgings provided for them in the city. the same evening they waited on the widowed princess of orange, louisa of coligny, then residing temporarily with her son in angiera, and were informed by her that the king's mind was irrevocably fixed on peace. she communicated, however, the advice of her step-son in law, the duke of bouillon, that they should openly express their determination to continue the war, notwithstanding that both their majesties of england and france wished to negotiate. thus the counsels of bouillon to the envoys were distinctly opposed to those of cecil, and it was well known to them that the duke was himself sincerely anxious that the king should refuse the pacific offers of spain. next morning, th april, they were received at the gates of the castle by the governor of anjou and the commandant of the citadel of angiers, attended by a splendid retinue, and were conducted to the king, who was walking in the garden of the fortress. henry received them with great demonstrations of respect, assuring them that he considered the states-general the best and most faithful friends that he possessed in the world, and that he had always been assisted by them in time of his utmost need with resoluteness and affection. the approach of the english ambassador, accompanied by the chancellor of france and several other persons, soon brought the interview to a termination. barneveld then presented several gentlemen attached to the mission, especially his son and hugo grotius, then a lad of fifteen, but who had already gained such distinction at leyden that scaliger, pontanus; heinsius, dousa, and other professors, foretold that he would become more famous than erasmus. they were all very cordially received by the king, who subsequently bestowed especial marks of his consideration upon the youthful grotius. the same day the betrothal of monsieur caesar with the daughter of the duke of mercoeur was celebrated, and there was afterwards much dancing and banqueting at the castle. it was obvious enough to the envoys that the matter of peace and war was decided. the general of the franciscans, sent by the pope, had been flitting very busily for many months between rome, madrid, brussels, and paris, and there could be little doubt that every detail of the negotiations between france and spain had been arranged while olden-barneveld and his colleague had been waiting for the head-wind to blow itself out at the brill. nevertheless no treaty had as yet been signed, and it was the business of the republican diplomatists to prevent the signature if possible. they felt, however, that they were endeavouring to cause water to run up hill. villeroy, de maisse, and buzanval came to them to recount, by the king's order, everything that had taken place. this favour was, however, the less highly appreciated by them, as they felt that the whole world was in a very short time to be taken as well into the royal confidence. these french politicians stated that the king, after receiving the most liberal offers of peace on the part of spain, had communicated all the facts to the queen, and had proposed, notwithstanding these most profitable overtures, to continue the war as long as her majesty and the states-general would assist him in it. de maisse had been informed, however, by the queen that she had no means to assist the king withal, and was, on the contrary, very well disposed to make peace. the lord treasurer had avowed the same opinions as his sovereign, had declared himself to be a man of peace, and had exclaimed that peace once made he would sing "nunc dimitte servum tuum domine." thereupon, at the suggestion of the legate, negotiations had begun at vervins, and although nothing was absolutely concluded, yet sir robert cecil, having just been sent as special ambassador from the queen, had brought no propositions whatever of assistance in carrying on the war, but plenty of excuses about armadas, irish rebellions, and the want of funds. there was nothing in all this, they said, but want of good will. the queen had done nothing and would do nothing for the league herself, nor would she solicit for it the adherence of other kings and princes. the king, by making peace, could restore his kingdom to prosperity, relieve the distress of his subjects, and get back all his lost cities--calais, ardres, dourlens, blavet, and many more--without any expense of treasure or of blood. certainly there was cogency in this reasoning from the point of view of the french king, but it would have been as well to state, when he was so pompously making a league for offensive and defensive war, that his real interests and his real purposes were peace. much excellent diplomacy, much ringing of bells, firing of artillery, and singing of anthems in royal chapels, and much disappointment to honest dutchmen, might have thus been saved. it is also instructive to observe the difference between the accounts of de maisse's negotiations in england given by that diplomatist himself, and those rendered by the queen to the states' envoy. of course the objurgations of the hollanders that the king, in a very fallacious hope of temporary gain to himself, was about to break his solemn promises to his allies and leave them to their fate, drew but few tears down the iron cheeks of such practised diplomatists as villeroy and his friends. the envoys visited de rosuy, who assured them that he was very much their friend, but gave them to understand that there was not the slightest possibility of inducing the king to break off the negotiations. before taking final leave of his majesty they concluded, by advice of the princess of orange and of buzanval, to make the presents which they had brought with them from the states-general. accordingly they sent, through the hands of the princess, four pieces of damask linen and two pieces of fine linen to the king's sister, madame catherine, two pieces of linen to villeroy, and two to the beautiful gabrielle. the two remaining pieces were bestowed upon buzanval for his pains in accompanying them on the journey and on their arrival at court. the incident shows the high esteem in which the netherland fabrics were held at that period. there was a solemn conference at last between the leading counsellors of the king, the chancellor, the dukes of espernon and bouillon, count schomberg, and de sancy, plessis, buzanval, maisse, the dutch envoys, and the english ambassador and commissioner herbert. cecil presided, and barneveld once more went over the whole ground, resuming with his usual vigour all the arguments by which the king's interest and honour were proved to require him to desist from the peace negotiations. and the orator had as much success as is usual with those who argue against a foregone conclusion. everyone had made up his mind. everyone knew that peace was made. it is unnecessary, therefore, to repeat the familiar train of reasoning. it is superfluous to say that the conference was barren. on the same evening villeroy called on the states' envoys, and informed them plainly, on the part of the king, that his majesty had fully made up his mind. on the rd april--three mortal weeks having thus been wasted in diplomatic trilling--barneveld was admitted to his majesty's dressing-room. the advocate at the king's request came without his colleague, and was attended only by his son. no other persons were present in the chamber save buzanval and beringen. the king on this occasion confirmed what had so recently been stated by villeroy. he had thoroughly pondered, he said, all the arguments used by the states to dissuade him from the negotiation, and had found them of much weight. the necessities of his kingdom, however, compelled him to accept a period of repose. he would not, however, in the slightest degree urge the states to join in the treaty. he desired their security, and would aid in maintaining it. what had most vexed him was that the protestants with great injustice accused him of intending to make war upon them. but innumerable and amazing reports were flying abroad, both among his own subjects, the english, and the enemies' spies, as to these secret conferences. he then said that he would tell the duke of bouillon to speak with sir robert cecil concerning a subject which now for the first time he would mention privately to olden-barneveld. the king then made a remarkable and unexpected suggestion. alluding to the constitution of the netherlands, he remarked that a popular government in such emergencies as those then existing was subject to more danger than monarchies were, and he asked the advocate if he thought there was no disposition to elect a prince. barneveld replied that the general inclination was rather for a good republic. the government, however, he said, was not of the people, but aristocratic, and the state was administered according to laws and charters by the principal inhabitants, whether nobles or magistrates of cities. since the death of the late prince of orange, and the offer made to the king of france, and subsequently to the queen of england, of the sovereignty, there had been no more talk on that subject, and to discuss again so delicate a matter might cause divisions and other difficulties in the state. henry then spoke of prince maurice, and asked whether, if he should be supported by the queen of england and the king of france, it would not be possible to confer the sovereignty upon him. here certainly was an astounding question to be discharged like a pistol-shot full in the face of a republican minister. the answer of the advocate was sufficiently adroit if not excessively sincere. if your majesty, said he, together with her majesty the queen, think the plan expedient, and are both willing on this footing to continue the war, to rescue all the netherlands from the hands of the spaniards and their adherents, and thus render the states eternally obliged to the sovereigns and kingdoms of france and england, my lords the states-general would probably be willing to accept this advice. but the king replied by repeating that repose was indispensable to him. without inquiring for the present whether the project of elevating maurice to the sovereignty of the netherlands, at the expense of the republican constitution, was in harmony or not with the private opinions of barneveld at that period, it must be admitted that the condition he thus suggested was a very safe one to offer. he had thoroughly satisfied himself during the period in which he had been baffled by the southwest gales at the brill and by the still more persistent head-winds which he had found prevailing at the french court, that it was hopeless to strive for that much-desired haven, a general war. the admiral and himself might as well have endeavoured to persuade mahomet iii. and sigismund of poland to join the states in a campaign against cardinal albert, as to hope for the same good offices from elizabeth and henry. having received exactly the answer which he expected, he secretly communicated, next day, to cecil the proposition thus made by the king. subsequently he narrated the whole conversation to the queen of england. on the th april both barneveld and nassau were admitted to the royal dressing-room in nantes citadel for a final audience. here, after the usual common places concerning his affection for the netherlands, and the bitter necessity which compelled him to desert the alliance, henry again referred to his suggestion in regard to prince maurice; urging a change from a republican to a monarchical form of government as the best means of preserving the state. the envoys thanked the king for all the honours conferred upon them, but declared themselves grieved to the heart by his refusal to grant their request. the course pursued by his majesty, they said, would be found very hard of digestion by the states, both in regard to the whole force of the enemy which would now come upon their throats, and because of the bad example thus set for other powers. they then took leave, with the usual exchange of compliments. at their departure his majesty personally conducted them through various apartments until they came to the chamber of his mistress, the duchess of beaufort, then lying in childbed. here he drew wide open the bed-curtains, and bade them kiss the lady. they complied, and begging the duchess to use her influence in their behalf, respectfully bade her farewell. she promised not to forget their request, and thanked them for the presents of damask and fine linen. such was the result of the mission of the great advocate and his colleague to henry iv., from which so much had been hoped; and for anything useful accomplished, after such an expenditure of time, money, and eloquence, the whole transaction might have begun and ended in this touching interview with the beautiful gabrielle. on the th of may the envoys embarked at dieppe for england, and on the th were safely lodged with the resident minister of the republic, noel de caron, at the village of clapham. having so ill-succeeded in their attempts to prevent the treaty between france and spain, they were now engaged in what seemed also a forlorn hope, the preservation of their offensive and defensive alliance with england. they were well aware that many of the leading counsellors of elizabeth, especially burghley and buckhurst, were determined upon peace. they knew that the queen was also heartily weary of the war and of the pugnacious little commonwealth which had caused her so much expense. but they knew, too, that henry, having now secured the repose of his own kingdom, was anything but desirous that his deserted allies should enjoy the same advantage. the king did not cease to assure the states that he would secretly give them assistance in their warfare against his new ally, while secretary of state villeroy, as they knew, would place every possible impediment in the way of the queen's negotiations with spain. elizabeth, on her part, was vexed with everybody. what the states most feared was that she might, in her anger or her avarice, make use of the cautionary towns in her negotiations with philip. at any rate, said francis aerssens, then states' minister in france, she will bring us to the brink of the precipice, that we may then throw ourselves into her arms in despair. the queen was in truth resolved to conclude a peace if a peace could be made. if not, she was determined to make as good a bargain with the states as possible, in regard to the long outstanding account of her advances. certainly it was not unreasonable that she should wish to see her exchequer reimbursed by people who, as she believed, were rolling in wealth, the fruit of a contraband commerce which she denied to her own subjects, and who were in honour bound to pay their debts to her now, if they wished her aid to be continued. her subjects were impoverished and panting for peace, and although, as she remarked, "their sense of duty restrained them from the slightest disobedience to her absolute commands," still she could not forgive herself for thus exposing them to perpetual danger. she preferred on the whole, however, that the commonwealth should consent to its own dissolution; for she thought it unreasonable that--after this war of thirty years, during fifteen of which she had herself actively assisted them--these republican calvinists should, refuse to return to the dominion of their old tyrant and the pope. to barneveld, maurice of nassau, and the states-general this did not seem a very logical termination to so much hard fighting. accordingly, when on the th of may the two envoys fell on their knees--as the custom was--before the great queen, and had been raised by her to their feet again, they found her majesty in marvellously ill-humour. olden-barneveld recounted to her the results of their mission to france, and said that from beginning to end it had been obvious that there could be no other issue. the king was indifferent, he had said, whether the states preferred peace or war, but in making his treaty he knew that he had secured a profit for himself, inflicted damage on his enemy, and done no harm to his friends. her majesty then interrupted the speaker by violent invectives against the french king for his treachery. she had written with her own hand, she said, to tell him that she never had believed him capable of doing what secretaries and other servants had reported concerning him, but which had now proved true. then she became very abusive to the dutch envoys, telling them that they were quite unjustifiable in not following sir robert cecil's advice, and in not engaging with him at once in peace negotiations; at least so far as to discover what the enemy's intentions might be. she added, pettishly, that if prince maurice and other functionaries were left in the enjoyment of their offices, and if the spaniards were sent out of the country, there seemed no reason why such terms should not be accepted. barneveld replied that such accommodation was of course impossible, unless they accepted their ancient sovereign as prince. then came the eternal two points--obedience to god, which meant submission to the pope; and obedience to the king, that was to say, subjection to his despotic authority. thus the christian religion would be ruined throughout the provinces, and the whole land be made a bridge and a ladder for spanish ambition. the queen here broke forth into mighty oaths, interrupting the envoy's discourse, protesting over and over again by the living god that she would not and could not give the states any further assistance; that she would leave them to their fate; that her aid rendered in their war had lasted much longer than the siege of troy did, and swearing that she had been a fool to help them and the king of france as she had done, for it was nothing but evil passions that kept the states so obstinate. the envoy endeavoured to soothe her, urging that as she had gained the reputation over the whole world of administering her affairs with admirable, yea with almost divine wisdom, she should now make use of that sagacity in the present very difficult matter. she ought to believe that it was not evil passion, nor ambition, nor obstinacy that prevented the states from joining in these negotiations, but the determination to maintain their national existence, the christian religion, and their ancient liberties and laws. they did not pretend, he said, to be wiser than great monarch or their counsellors, but the difference between their form of government and a monarchy must be their excuse. monarchs, when they made treaties, remained masters, and could protect their realms and their subjects from danger. the states-general could not accept a prince without placing themselves under his absolute authority, and the netherlanders would never subject themselves to their deadly enemy, whom they had long ago solemnly renounced. surely these remarks of the advocate should have seemed entirely unanswerable. surely there was no politician in europe so ignorant as not to know that any treaty of peace between philip and the states meant their unconditional subjugation and the complete abolition of the protestant religion. least of all did the queen of england require information on this great matter of state. it was cruel trifling therefore, it was inhuman insolence on her part, to suggest anything like a return of the states to the dominion of spain. but her desire for peace and her determination to get back her money overpowered at that time all other considerations. the states wished to govern themselves, she said; why then could they not make arrangements against all dangers, and why could they not lay down conditions under which the king would not really be their master; especially if france and england should guarantee them against any infraction of their rights. by the living god! by the living god! by the living god! she swore over and over again as her anger rose, she would never more have anything to do with such people; and she deeply regretted having thrown away her money and the lives of her subjects in so stupid a manner. again the grave and experienced envoy of the republic strove with calm and earnest words to stay the torrent of her wrath; representing that her money and her pains had by no means been wasted, that the enemy had been brought to shame and his finances to confusion; and urging her, without paying any heed to the course pursued by the king of france, to allow the republic to make levies of troops, at its own expense, within her kingdom. but her majesty was obdurate. "how am i to defend myself?" she cried; "how are the affairs of ireland to be provided for? how am i ever to get back my money? who is to pay the garrisons of brill and flushing?" and with this she left the apartment, saying that her counsellors would confer with the envoys.' from the beginning to the end of the interview the queen was in a very evil temper, and took no pains to conceal her dissatisfaction with all the world. now there is no doubt whatever that the subsidies furnished by england to the common cause were very considerable, amounting in fourteen years, according to the queen's calculation, to nearly fourteen hundred thousand pounds sterling. but in her interviews with the republican statesmen she was too prone to forget that it was a common cause, to forget that the man who had over and over again attempted her assassination, who had repeatedly attempted the invasion of her realms with the whole strength of the most powerful military organization in the world, whose dearest wish on earth was still to accomplish her dethronement and murder, to extirpate from england the religion professed by the majority of living englishmen, and to place upon her vacant throne a spanish, german, or italian prince, was as much her enemy as he was the foe of his ancient subjects in the netherlands. at that very epoch philip was occupied in reminding the pope that the two had always agreed as to the justice of the claims of the infanta isabella to the english crown, and calling on his holiness to sustain those pretensions, now that she had been obliged, in consequence of the treaty with the prince of bearne, to renounce her right to reign over france. certainly it was fair enough for the queen and her, counsellors to stand out for an equitable arrangement of the debt; but there was much to dispute in the figures. when was ever an account of fifteen years' standing adjusted, whether between nations or individuals, without much wrangling? meantime her majesty held excellent security in two thriving and most important netherland cities. but had the states consented to re-establish the spanish authority over the whole of their little protestant republic, was there an english child so ignorant of arithmetic or of history as not to see how vast would be the peril, and how incalculable the expense, thus caused to england? yet besides the cecils and the lord high admiral, other less influential counsellors of the crown--even the upright and accomplished buckhurst, who had so often proved his friendship for the states--were in favour of negotiation. there were many conferences with meagre results. the englishmen urged that the time had come for the states to repay the queen's advances, to relieve her from future subsidies, to assume the payment of the garrisons in the cautionary towns, and to furnish a force in defence of england when attacked. such was the condition of the kingdom, they said--being, as it was, entirely without fortified cities--that a single battle would imperil the whole realm, so that it was necessary to keep the enemy out of it altogether. these arguments were not unreasonable, but the inference was surely illogical. the special envoys from the republic had not been instructed to treat about the debt. this had been the subject of perpetual negotiation. it was discussed almost every day by the queen's commissioners at the hague and by the states' resident minister at london. olden-barneveld and the admiral had been sent forth by the staten in what in those days was considered great haste to prevent a conclusion of a treaty between their two allies and the common enemy. they had been too late in france, and now, on arriving in england, they found that government steadily drifting towards what seemed the hopeless shipwreck of a general peace. what must have been the grief of olden-barneveld when he heard from the lips of the enlightened buckhurst that the treaty of had been arranged to expire--according to the original limitation--with a peace, and that as the states could now make peace and did not choose to do so, her majesty must be considered as relieved from her contract of alliance, and as justified in demanding repayment of her advances! to this perfidious suggestion what could the states' envoy reply but that as a peace such as the treaty of presupposed--to wit, with security for the protestant religion and for the laws and liberties of the provinces--was impossible, should the states now treat with the king or the cardinal? the envoys had but one more interview with, the queen, in which she was more benignant in manner but quite as peremptory in her demands. let the states either thoroughly satisfy her as to past claims and present necessities, or let them be prepared for her immediate negotiation with the enemy. should she decide to treat, she would not be unmindful of their interests, she said, nor deliver them over into the enemy's hands. she repeated, however, the absurd opinion that there were means enough of making philip nominal sovereign of all the netherlands, without allowing him to exercise any authority over them. as if the most catholic and most absolute monarch that ever breathed could be tied down by the cobwebs of constitutional or treaty stipulations; as if the previous forty years could be effaced from the record of history. she asked, too, in case the rumours of the intended transfer of the netherlands to the cardinal or the infanta should prove true, which she doubted, whether this arrangement would make any difference in the sentiments of the states. barneveld replied that the transfer was still uncertain, but that they had no more confidence in the cardinal or the infants than in the king of spain himself. on taking leave of the queen the envoys waited upon lord burghley, whom they found sitting in an arm-chair in his bedchamber, suffering from the gout and with a very fierce countenance. he made no secret of his opinions in favour of negotiation, said that the contracts made by monarchs should always be interpreted reasonably, and pronounced a warm eulogy on the course pursued by the king of france. it was his majesty's duty, he said, to seize the best opportunity for restoring repose to his subjects and his realms, and it was the duty of other sovereigns to do the same. the envoys replied that they were not disposed at that moment to sit in judgment upon the king's actions. they would content themselves with remarking that in their opinion even kings and princes were bound by their contracts, oaths, and pledges before god and man; and with this wholesome sentiment they took leave of the lord high treasurer. they left london immediately, on the last day of may, without, passports. or despatches of recal, and embarked at gravesend in the midst of a gale of wind. lord essex, the sincere friend of the republic, was both surprised and disturbed at their sudden departure, and sent a special courier, after them to express his regrets at the unsatisfactory termination to their mission: "my mistress knows very well," said he, "that she is an absolute princess, and that, when her ministers have done their extreme duty, she wills what she wills." the negotiations between england and spain were deferred, however, for a brief space, and a special message was despatched to the hague as to the arrangement of the debt. "peace at once with philip," said the queen, "or else full satisfaction of my demands." now it was close dealing between such very thrifty and acute bargainers as the queen and the netherland republic. two years before, the states had offered to pay twenty thousand pounds a year on her majesty's birthday so long as the war should last, and after a peace, eighty thousand pounds annually for four years. the queen, on her part, fixed the sum total of the debt at nearly a million and a half sterling, and required instant payment of at least one hundred thousand pounds on account, besides provision for a considerable annual refunding, assumption by the states of the whole cost of the garrisons in the cautionary towns, and assurance of assistance in case of an attack upon england. thus there was a whole ocean between the disputants. vere and gilpin were protocolling and marshalling accounts at the hague, and conducting themselves with much arrogance and bitterness, while, meantime, barneveld had hardly had time to set his foot on his native shores before he was sent back again to england at the head of another solemn legation. one more effort was to be made to arrange this financial problem and to defeat the english peace party. the offer of the year just alluded to was renewed and instantly rejected. naturally enough, the dutch envoys were disposed, in the exhausting warfare which was so steadily draining their finances, to pay down as little as possible on the nail, while providing for what they considered a liberal annual sinking fund. the english, on the contrary, were for a good round sum in actual cash, and held the threatened negotiation with spain over the heads of the unfortunate envoys like a whip. so the queen's counsellors and the republican envoys travelled again and again over the well-worn path. on the th june, buckhurst took olden-barneveld into his cabinet, and opened his heart to him, not as a servant of her majesty, he said, but as a private englishman. he was entirely for peace. now that peace was offered to her majesty, a continuance of the war was unrighteous, and the lord god's blessing could not be upon it. without god's blessing no resistance could be made by the queen nor by the states to the enemy, who was ten times more powerful than her majesty in kingdoms, provinces, number of subjects, and money. he had the pope, the emperor, the dukes of savoy and lorraine, and the republic of genoa, for his allies. he feared that the war might come upon england, and that they might be fated on one single day to win or lose all. the queen possessed no mines, and was obliged to carry on the war by taxing her people. the king had ever-flowing fountains in his mines; the queen nothing but a stagnant pool, which, when all the water was pumped out, must in the end be dry. he concluded, therefore, that as her majesty had no allies but the netherlands, peace was best for england, and advisable for the provinces. arrangements could easily be made to limit the absolute authority of spain. this highly figurative view of the subject--more becoming to the author of ferrex and porrex than to so, experienced a statesman as sackville had become since his dramatic days--did not much impress barneveld. he answered that, although the king of spain was unquestionably very powerful, the lord god was still stronger; that england and the netherlands together could maintain the empire of the seas, which was of the utmost importance, especially for england; but that if the republic were to make her submission to spain, and become incorporate with that power, the control of the seas was lost for ever to england. the advocate added the unanswerable argument that to admit philip as sovereign, and then to attempt a limitation of his despotism was a foolish dream. buckhurst repeated that the republic was the only ally of england, that there was no confidence to be placed by her in any other power, and that for himself, he was, as always, very much the friend of the states. olden-barneveld might well have prayed, however, to be delivered from such friends. to thrust one's head into the lion's mouth, while one's friends urge moderation on the noble animal, can never be considered a cheerful or prudent proceeding. at last, after all offers had been rejected which the envoys had ventured to make, elizabeth sent for olden-barneveld and caron and demanded their ultimatum within twenty-four hours. should it prove unsatisfactory, she would at once make peace with spain. on the st august the envoys accordingly proposed to cecil and the other ministers to pay thirty thousand pounds a year, instead of twenty thousand, so long as the war should last, but they claimed the right of redeeming the cautionary towns at one hundred thousand pounds each. this seemed admissible, and cecil and his colleagues pronounced the affair arranged. but they had reckoned without the queen after all. elizabeth sent for caron as soon as she heard of the agreement, flew into a great rage, refused the terms, swore that she would instantly make peace with spain, and thundered loudly against her ministers. "they were great beasts," she said, "if they had stated that she would not treat with the enemy. she had merely intended to defer the negotiations." so the whole business was to be done over again. at last the sum claimed by the queen, fourteen hundred thousand pounds, was reduced by agreement to eight hundred thousand, and one-half of this the envoys undertook on the part of the states to refund in annual payments of thirty thousand pounds, while the remaining four hundred thousand should be provided for by some subsequent arrangement. all attempts, however, to obtain a promise from the queen to restore the cautionary towns to the republic in case of a peace between spain and england remained futile. that was to be a bone of contention for many years. it was further agreed by the treaty, which was definitely signed on the th august, that, in case england were invaded by the common enemy, the states should send to the queen's assistance at least thirty ships of war, besides five thousand infantry and five squadrons of horse. chapter xxxv. negotiations between france and spain--conclusion of the treaty of peace--purchase of the allegiance of the french nobles--transfer of the netherlands to albert and isabella--marriage of the infante and the infanta--illness of philip ii.--horrible nature of his malady-- his last hours and death--review of his reign--extent of the spanish dominions--causes of the greatness of spain, and of its downfall-- philip's wars and their expenses--the crown revenues of spain-- character of the people--their inordinate self-esteem--consequent deficiency of labour--ecclesiastical government--revenues of the church--characteristics of the spanish clergy--foreign commerce of spain--governmental system of philip ii.--founded on the popular ignorance and superstition--extinction of liberty in spain--the holy inquisition--the work and character of philip. while the utterly barren conferences had been going on at angiers and nantes between henry iv. and the republican envoys, the negotiations had been proceeding at vervins. president richardot on behalf of spain, and secretary of state villeroy as commissioner of henry, were the chief negotiators. two old acquaintances, two ancient leaguers, two bitter haters of protestants and rebels, two thorough adepts in diplomatic chicane, they went into this contest like gladiators who thoroughly understood and respected each other's skill. richardot was recognized by all as the sharpest and most unscrupulous politician in the obedient netherlands. villeroy had conducted every intrigue of france during a whole generation of mankind. they scarcely did more than measure swords and test each other's objects, before arriving at a conviction as to the inevitable result of the encounter. it was obvious at once to villeroy that philip was determined to make peace with france in order that the triple alliance might be broken up. it was also known to the french diplomatist that the spanish king was ready for, almost every concession to henry, in order that this object might be accomplished. all that richardot hoped to save out of the various conquests made by spain over france was calais. but villeroy told him that it was useless to say a word on that subject. his king insisted on the restoration of the place. otherwise he would make no peace. it was enough, he said, that his majesty said nothing about navarre. richardot urged that at the time when the english had conquered calais it had belonged to artois, not to france. it was no more than equitable, then, that it should be retained by its original proprietor. the general of the franciscans, who acted as a kind of umpire in the transactions, then took each negotiator separately aside and whispered in his ear. villeroy shook his head, and said he had given his ultimatum. richardot acknowledged that he had something in reserve, upon which the monk said that it was time to make it known. accordingly--the two being all ears--richardot observed that what he was about to state he said with fear and trembling. he knew not what the king of spain would think of his proposition, but he would, nevertheless, utter the suggestion that calais should be handed over to the pope. his holiness would keep the city in pledge until the war with the rebels was over, and then there would be leisure enough to make definite arrangements on the subject. now villeroy was too experienced a practitioner to be imposed upon, by this ingenious artifice. moreover, he happened to have an intercepted letter in his possession in which philip told the cardinal that calais was to be given up if the french made its restitution a sine qua non. so villeroy did make it a sine qua non, and the conferences soon after terminated in an agreement on the part of spain to surrender all its conquests in france. certainly no more profitable peace than this could have been made by the french king under such circumstances, and philip at the last moment had consented to pay a heavy price for bringing discord between the three friends. the treaty was signed at vervins on the nd may, and contained thirty-five articles. its basis was that of the treaty of cateau cambresis of . restitution of all places conquered by either party within the dominions of the other since the day of that treaty was stipulated. henry recovered calais, ardres, dourlens, blavet, and many other places, and gave up the country of charolois. prisoners were to be surrendered on both sides without ransom, and such of those captives of war as had been enslaved at the galleys should be set free. the pope, the emperor, all states, and cities under their obedience or control, the duke of savoy, the king of poland and sweden, the kings of denmark and scotland, the dukes of lorraine and tuscany, the doge of venice, the republic of genoa, and many lesser states and potentates, were included in the treaty. the famous edict of nantes in favour of the protestant subjects of the french king was drawn up and signed in the city of which it bears the name at about the same time with these negotiations. its publication was, however, deferred until after the departure of the legate from france in the following year. the treaty of cateau cambresis had been pronounced the most disgraceful and disastrous one that had ever been ratified by a french monarch; and surely henry had now wiped away that disgrace and repaired that disaster. it was natural enough that he should congratulate himself on the rewards which he had gathered by deserting his allies. he had now sufficient occupation for a time in devising ways and means, with the aid of the indefatigable bethune, to pay the prodigious sums with which he had purchased the allegiance of the great nobles and lesser gentlemen of france. thirty-two millions of livres were not sufficient to satisfy the claims of these patriots, most of whom had been drawing enormous pensions from the king of spain up to the very moment, or beyond it, when they consented to acknowledge the sovereign of their own country. scarcely a great name in the golden book of france but was recorded among these bills of sale. mayenne, lorraine, guise, nemours, mercoeur, montpensier, joyeuse, epernon, brissac, d'arlincourt, balagny, rochefort, villeroy, villars, montespan, leviston, beauvillars, and countless others, figured in the great financier's terrible account-book, from mayenne, set down at the cool amount of three and a half millions, to beauvoir or beauvillars at the more modest price of a hundred and sixty thousand livres. "i should appal my readers," said de bethune, "if i should show to them that this sum makes but a very small part of the amounts demanded from the royal treasury, either by frenchmen or by strangers, as pay and pension, and yet the total was thirty-two millions's." and now the most catholic king, having brought himself at last to exchange the grasp of friendship with the great ex-heretic, and to recognize the prince of bearne as the legitimate successor of st. louis, to prevent which consummation he had squandered so many thousands of lives, so many millions of treasure, and brought ruin to so many prosperous countries, prepared himself for another step which he had long hesitated to take. he resolved to transfer the netherlands to his daughter isabella and to the cardinal archduke albert, who, as the king had now decided, was to espouse the infanta. the deed of cession was signed at madrid on the th may, . it was accompanied by a letter of the same date from the prince philip, heir apparent to the crown. on the th may the infanta executed a procuration by which she gave absolute authority to her future husband to rule over the provinces of the netherlands, burgundy, and charolois, and to receive the oaths of the estates and of public functionaries. [see all the deeds and documents in bor, iv. - . compare herrera, iii. - . very elaborate provisions were made in regard to the children and grand-children to spring from this marriage, but it was generally understood at the time that no issue was to be expected. the incapacity of the cardinal seems to have been revealed by an indiscretion of the general of franciscans-- diplomatist and father confessor--and was supported by much collateral evidence. hence all these careful stipulations were a solemn jest, like much of the diplomatic work of this reign.] it was all very systematically done. no transfer of real estate, no 'donatio inter vivos' of mansions and messuages, parks and farms, herds and flocks, could have been effected in a more business-like manner than the gift thus made by the most prudent king to his beloved daughter. the quit-claim of the brother was perfectly regular. so also was the power of attorney, by which the infanta authorised the middle-aged ecclesiastic whom she was about to espouse to take possession in her name of the very desirable property which she had thus acquired. it certainly never occurred, either to the giver or the receivers, that the few millions of netherlanders, male and female, inhabiting these provinces in the north sea, were entitled to any voice or opinion as to the transfer of themselves and their native land to a young lady living in a remote country. for such was the blasphemous system of europe at that day. property had rights. kings, from whom all property emanated, were enfeoffed directly from the almighty; they bestowed certain privileges on their vassals, but man had no rights at all. he was property, like the ox or the ass, like the glebe which he watered with the sweat of his brow. the obedient netherlands acquiesced obediently in these new arrangements. they wondered only that the king should be willing thus to take from his crown its choicest jewels--for it is often the vanity of colonies and dependencies to consider themselves gems. the republican netherlanders only laughed at these arrangements, and treated the invitation to transfer themselves to the new sovereigns of the provinces with silent contempt. the cardinal-archduke left brussels in september, having accomplished the work committed to him by the power of attorney, and having left cardinal andrew of austria, bishop of constantia, son of the archduke ferdinand, to administer affairs during his absence. francis de mendoza, admiral of arragon, was entrusted with the supreme military command for the same interval. the double marriage of the infante of spain with the archduchess margaret of austria, and of the unfrocked cardinal albert of austria with the infanta clara eugenia isabella, was celebrated by proxy, with immense pomp, at ferrara, the pope himself officiating with the triple crown upon his head. meantime, philip ii., who had been of delicate constitution all his life, and who had of late years been a confirmed valetudinarian, had been rapidly failing ever since the transfer of the netherlands in may. longing to be once more in his favourite retirement of the escorial, he undertook the journey towards the beginning of june, and was carried thither from madrid in a litter borne by servants, accomplishing the journey of seven leagues in six days. when he reached the palace cloister, he was unable to stand. the gout, his life-long companion, had of late so tortured him in the hands and feet that the mere touch of a linen sheet was painful to him. by the middle of july a low fever had attacked him, which rapidly reduced his strength. moreover, a new and terrible symptom of the utter disintegration of his physical constitution had presented itself. imposthumes, from which he had suffered on the breast and at the joints, had been opened after the usual ripening applications, and the result was not the hoped relief, but swarms of vermin, innumerable in quantities, and impossible to extirpate, which were thus generated and reproduced in the monarch's blood and flesh. the details of the fearful disorder may have attraction for the pathologist, but have no especial interest for the general reader. let it suffice, that no torture ever invented by torquemada or peter titelman to serve the vengeance of philip and his ancestors or the pope against the heretics of italy or flanders, could exceed in acuteness the agonies which the most catholic king was now called upon to endure. and not one of the long line of martyrs, who by decree of charles or philip had been strangled, beheaded, burned, or buried alive, ever faced a death of lingering torments with more perfect fortitude, or was sustained by more ecstatic visions of heavenly mercy, than was now the case with the great monarch of spain. that the grave-worms should do their office before soul and body were parted, was a torment such as the imagination of dante might have invented for the lowest depths of his "inferno." [a great english poet has indeed expressed the horrible thought:-- "it is as if the dead could feel the icy worm about them steal:"--byron.] on the nd july, the king asked dr. mercado if his sickness was likely to have a fatal termination. the physician, not having the courage at once to give the only possible reply, found means to evade the question. on the st august his majesty's confessor, father diego de yepes, after consultation with mercado, announced to philip that the only issue to his malady was death. already he had been lying for ten days on his back, a mass of sores and corruption, scarcely able to move, and requiring four men to turn him in his bed. he expressed the greatest satisfaction at the sincerity which had now been used, and in the gentlest and most benignant manner signified his thanks to them for thus removing all doubts from his mind, and for giving him information which it was of so much importance for his eternal welfare to possess. his first thought was to request the papal nuncio, gaetano, to despatch a special courier to rome to request the pope's benediction. this was done, and it was destined that the blessing of his holiness should arrive in time. he next prepared himself to make a general confession, which lasted three days, father diego having drawn up at his request a full and searching interrogatory. the confession may have been made the more simple, however, by the statement which he made to the priest, and subsequently repeated to the infante his son, that in all his life he had never consciously done wrong to any one. if he had ever committed an act of injustice, it was unwittingly, or because he had been deceived in the circumstances. this internal conviction of general righteousness was of great advantage to him in the midst of his terrible sufferings, and accounted in great degree for the gentleness, thoughtfulness for others, and perfect benignity, which, according to the unanimous testimony of many witnesses, characterised his conduct during this whole sickness. after he had completed his long general confession, the sacrament of the lord's supper was administered to him. subsequently, the same rites were more briefly performed every few days. his sufferings were horrible, but no saint could have manifested in them more gentle resignation or angelic patience. he moralized on the condition to which the greatest princes might thus be brought at last by the hand of god, and bade the prince observe well his father's present condition, in order that, when he too should be laid thus low, he might likewise be sustained by a conscience void of offence. he constantly thanked his assistants and nurses for their care, insisted upon their reposing themselves after their daily fatigues, and ordered others to relieve them in their task. he derived infinite consolation from the many relics of saints, of which, as has been seen, he had made plentiful prevision during his long reign. especially a bone of st. alban, presented to him by clement viii., in view of his present straits, was of great service. with this relic, and with the arm of st. vincent of ferrara, and the knee-bone of st. sebastian, he daily rubbed his sores, keeping the sacred talismans ever in his sight on the altar, which was not far from his bed. he was much pleased when the priests and other bystanders assured him that the remains of these holy men would be of special efficacy to him, because he had cherished and worshipped them in times when misbelievers and heretics had treated them with disrespect. on a sideboard in his chamber a human skull was placed, and upon this skull--in ghastly mockery of royalty, in truth, yet doubtless in the conviction that such an exhibition showed the superiority of anointed kings even over death--he ordered his servants to place a golden crown. and thus, during the whole of his long illness, the antic held his state, while the poor mortal representative of absolute power lay living still, but slowly mouldering away. with perfect composure, and with that minute attention to details which had characterised the king all his lifetime, and was now more evident than ever, he caused the provisions for his funeral obsequies to be read aloud one day by juan ruys de velasco, in order that his children, his ministers, and the great officers of state who were daily in attendance upon him, might thoroughly learn their lesson before the time came for performing the ceremony. "having governed my kingdom for forty years," said he, "i now give it back, in the seventy-first year of my age, to god almighty, to whom it belongs, recommending my soul into his blessed hands, that his divine majesty may do what he pleases therewith." he then directed that after his body should have been kept as long as the laws prescribed, it should be buried thus:-- the officiating bishop was to head the procession, bearing the crucifix, and followed by the clergy. the adelantado was to come next, trailing the royal standard along the ground. then the duke of novara was to appear, bearing the crown on an open salver, covered with a black cloth, while the marquis of avillaer carried the sword of state. the coffin was to be borne by eight principal grandees, clad in mourning habiliments, and holding lighted torches. the heir apparent was to follow, attended by don garcia de loyasa, who had just been consecrated, in the place of cardinal albert, as archbishop of toledo. the body was to be brought to the church, and placed in the stately tomb already prepared for its reception. "mass being performed," said the king, "the prelate shall place me in the grave which shall be my last house until i go to my eternal dwelling. then the prince, third king of my name, shall go into the cloister of st. jerome at madrid, where he shall keep nine days mourning. my daughter, and her aunt--my sister, the ex-empress--shall for the same purpose go to the convent of the grey sisters." the king then charged his successor to hold the infanta in especial affection and consideration; "for," said he, "she has been my mirror, yea; the light of my eyes." he also ordered that the marquis of mondejar be taken from prison and set free, on condition never to show himself at court. the wife of antonio perez was also to be released from prison, in order that she might be immured in a cloister, her property being bestowed upon her daughters. as this unfortunate lady's only crime consisted in her husband's intrigue with the king's mistress, princess eboli, in which she could scarcely be considered an accomplice, this permission to exchange one form of incarceration for another did not seem an act of very great benignity. philip further provided that thirty thousand masses should be said for his soul, five hundred slaves liberated from the galleys, and five hundred maidens provided with marriage portions. after these elaborate instructions had been read, the king ordered a certain casket to be brought to him and opened in his presence. from this he took forth a diamond of great price and gave it to the infanta, saying that it had belonged to her mother, isabella of france. he asked the prince if he consented to the gift. the prince answered in the affirmative. he next took from the coffer a written document, which he handed to his son, saying, "herein you will learn how to govern your kingdoms." then he produced a scourge, which he said was the instrument with which his father, the emperor, had been in the habit of chastising himself during his retreat at the monastery of juste. he told the by-standers to observe the imperial blood by which the lash was still slightly stained. as the days wore on he felt himself steadily sinking, and asked to receive extreme unction. as he had never seen that rite performed he chose to rehearse it beforehand, and told ruys velasco; who was in constant attendance upon him, to go for minute instructions on the subject to the archbishop of toledo. the sacrament having been duly. administered; the king subsequently, on the st september, desired to receive it once more. the archbishop, fearing that the dying monarch's strength would be insufficient for the repetition of the function, informed him that the regulations of the church required in such cases only a compliance with certain trifling forms, as the ceremony had been already once thoroughly carried out. but the king expressed himself as quite determined that the sacrament should be repeated in all its parts; that he should once more--be anointed--to use the phrase of brother francis neyen--with the oil which holy athletes require in their wrestle with death. this was accordingly done in the presence of his son and daughter, and, of his chief secretaries, christopher de moura and john de idiaquez, besides the counts chinchon, fuensalido, and several other conspicuous personages. he was especially desirous that his son should be present, in order that; when he too should come to die, he might not find himself, like his father, in ignorance of the manner in which this last sacrament was to be performed. when it was finished he described himself as infinitely consoled, and as having derived even more happiness from the rite than he had dared to anticipate. thenceforth he protested that he would talk no more of the world's affairs. he had finished with all things below, and for the days or hours still remaining to him he would keep his heart exclusively fixed upon heaven. day by day as he lay on his couch of unutterable and almost unexampled misery, his confessors and others read to him from religious works, while with perfect gentleness he would insist that one reader should relieve another, that none might be fatigued. on the th september he dictated these words to christopher de moura, who was to take them to diego de yepes, the confessor:-- "father confessor, you are in the place of god, and i protest thus before his presence that i will do all that you declare necessary for my salvation. thus upon you will be the responsibility for my omissions, because i am ready to do all." finding that the last hour was approaching, he informed don fernando de toledo where: he could find some candles of our lady of montserrat, one of which he desired to keep in his hand at the supreme moment. he also directed ruys de velasco to take from a special shrine--which he had indicated to him six years before--a crucifix which the emperor his father had held upon his death-bed. all this was accomplished according to his wish. he had already made arrangements for his funeral procession, and had subsequently provided all the details of his agony. it was now necessary to give orders as to the particulars of his burial. he knew that decomposition had made such progress even while he was still living as to render embalming impossible: he accordingly instructed don christopher to see his body wrapped in a shroud just as it lay, and to cause it to be placed in a well-soldered metallic coffin already provided. the coffin of state, in which the leaden one was to be enclosed, was then brought into the chamber by his command, that he might see if it was entirely to his taste. having examined it, he ordered that it should be lined with white satin and ornamented with gold nails and lace-work. he also described a particular brocade of black and gold, to be found in the jewelroom, which he desired for the pall. next morning he complained to don christopher that the sacrament of the lord's supper had not been administered to him for several days. it was urged that his strength was deemed insufficient, and that, as he had received that rite already four times during his illness, and extreme unction twice, it was thought that the additional fatigue might be spared him. but as the king insisted, the sacrament was once more performed and prayers were read. he said with great fervour many times, "pater, non mea voluntas, sed tux fiat." he listened, too, with much devotion to the psalm, "as the hart panteth for the water-brooks;" and he spoke faintly at long intervals of the magdalen, of the prodigal son, and of the paralytic. when these devotional exercises had been concluded, father diego expressed the hope to him that he might then pass away, for it would be a misfortune by temporary convalescence to fall from the exaltation of piety which he had then reached. the remark was heard by philip with an expression of entire satisfaction. that day both the infanta and the prince came for the last time to his bedside to receive his blessing. he tenderly expressed his regret to his daughter that he had not been permitted to witness her marriage, but charged her never to omit any exertion to augment and sustain the holy roman catholic religion in the netherlands. it was in the interest of that holy church alone that he had endowed her with those provinces, and he now urged it upon her with his dying breath to impress upon her future husband these his commands to both. his two children took leave of him with tears and sobs: as the prince left the chamber he asked don christopher who it was that held the key to the treasury. the secretary replied, "it is i, sir." the prince demanded that he should give it into his hands. but don christopher excused himself, saying that it had been entrusted to him by the king, and that without his consent he could not part with it. then the prince returned to the king's chamber, followed by the secretary, who narrated to the dying monarch what had taken place. "you have done wrong," said philip; whereupon don christopher, bowing to the earth, presented the key to the prince. the king then feebly begged those about his bedside to repeat the dying words of our saviour on the cross, in order that he might hear them and repeat them in his heart as his soul was taking flight. his father's crucifix was placed in his hands, and he said distinctly, "i die like a good catholic, in faith and obedience to the holy roman church." soon after these last words had been spoken, a paroxysm, followed by faintness, came over him, and he lay entirely still. they had covered his face with a cloth, thinking that he had already expired, when he suddenly started, with great energy, opened his eyes, seized the crucifix again from the hand of don fernando de toledo, kissed it, and fell back again into agony. the archbishop and the other priests expressed the opinion that he must have had, not a paroxysm, but a celestial vision, for human powers would not have enabled him to arouse himself so quickly and so vigorously as he had done at that crisis. he did not speak again, but lay unconsciously dying for some hours, and breathed his last at five in the morning of sunday the th september. his obsequies were celebrated according to the directions which he had so minutely given. ------------------------------------ these volumes will have been written in vain if it be now necessary to recal to my readers the leading events in the history of the man who had thus left the world where, almost invisible himself, he had so long played a leading part. it may not be entirely useless, however, to throw a parting glance at a character which it has been one of the main objects of this work, throughout its whole course, to portray. my theme has been the reign of philip ii., because, as the less is included in the greater, the whole of that reign, with the exception of a few episodes, is included in the vast movement out of which the republic of the united netherlands was born and the assailed independence of france and england consolidated. the result of philip's efforts to establish a universal monarchy was to hasten the decline of the empire which he had inherited, by aggravating the evils which had long made that downfall inevitable. it is from no abstract hatred to monarchy that i have dwelt with emphasis upon the crimes of this king, and upon the vices of the despotic system, as illustrated during his lifetime. it is not probable that the military, monarchical system--founded upon conquests achieved by barbarians and pirates of a distant epoch over an effete civilization and over antique institutions of intolerable profligacy--will soon come to an end in the older world. and it is the business of europeans so to deal with the institutions of their inheritance or their choice as to ensure their steady melioration and to provide for the highest interests of the people. it matters comparatively little by what name a government is called, so long as the intellectual and moral development of mankind, and the maintenance of justice among individuals, are its leading principles. a government, like an individual, may remain far below its ideal; but, without an ideal, governments and individuals are alike contemptible. it is tyranny only--whether individual or popular--that utters its feeble sneers at the ideologists, as if mankind were brutes to whom instincts were all in all and ideas nothing. where intellect and justice are enslaved by that unholy trinity--force; dogma, and ignorance--the tendency of governments, and of those subjected to them, must of necessity be retrograde and downward. there can be little doubt to those who observe the movements of mankind during the course of the fourteen centuries since the fall of the roman empire--a mere fragment of human history--that its progress, however concealed or impeded, and whether for weal or woe, is towards democracy; for it is the tendency of science to liberate and to equalize the physical and even the intellectual forces of humanity. a horse and a suit of armour would now hardly enable the fortunate possessor of such advantages to conquer a kingdom, nor can wealth and learning be monopolised in these latter days by a favoured few. yet veneration for a crown and a privileged church--as if without them and without their close connection with each other law and religion were impossible--makes hereditary authority sacred to great masses of mankind in the old world. the obligation is the more stringent, therefore, on men thus set apart as it were by primordial selection for ruling and instructing their fellow-creatures, to keep their edicts and their practice in harmony with divine justice. for these rules cannot be violated with impunity during along succession of years, and it is usually left for a comparatively innocent generation, to atone for the sins of their forefathers. if history does not teach this it teaches nothing, and as the rules of morality; whether for individuals or for nations, are simple and devoid of mystery; there is the less excuse for governments which habitually and cynically violate the eternal law. among self-evident truths not one is more indisputable than that which, in the immortal words of our declaration of independence, asserts the right of every human being to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; but the only happiness that can be recognised by a true statesman as the birthright of mankind is that which comes from intellectual and moral development, and from the subjugation of the brutal instincts. a system according to which clowns remain clowns through all the ages, unless when extraordinary genius or fortunate accident enables an exceptional individual to overleap the barrier of caste, necessarily retards the result to which the philosopher looks forward with perfect faith. for us, whose business it is to deal with, and, so far as human fallibility will permit, to improve our inevitable form of government-which may degenerate into the most intolerable of polities unless we are ever mindful that it is yet in its rudimental condition; that, although an immense step has been taken in the right direction by the abolition of caste, the divorce of church and state, and the limitation of intrusion by either on the domain of the individual, it is yet only a step from which, without eternal vigilance, a falling back is very easy; and that here, more than in other lands, ignorance of the scientific and moral truths on--which national happiness and prosperity depend, deserves bitter denunciation--for us it is wholesome to confirm our faith in democracy, and to justify our hope that the people will prove itself equal to the awful responsibility of self-government by an occasional study of the miseries which the opposite system is capable of producing. it is for this reason that the reign of the sovereign whose closing moments have just been recorded is especially worthy of a minute examination, and i still invite a parting glance at the spectacle thus presented, before the curtain falls. the spanish monarchy in the reign of philip ii. was not only the most considerable empire then existing, but probably the most powerful and extensive empire that had ever been known. certainly never before had so great an agglomeration of distinct and separate sovereignties been the result of accident. for it was owing to a series of accidents--in the common acceptation of that term--that philip governed so mighty a realm. according to the principle that vast tracts: of the earth's surface, with the human beings feeding upon: them, were transferable in fee-simple from one man or woman to another by marriage, inheritance, or gift, a heterogeneous collection of kingdoms, principalities, provinces, and: wildernesses had been consolidated, without geographical continuity, into an artificial union--the populations differing from each other as much as human beings can differ, in race, language, institutions, and historical traditions, and resembling each other in little, save in being the property alike of the same fortunate individual. thus the dozen kingdoms of spain, the seventeen provinces of the netherlands, the kingdoms of the two sicilies, the duchy of milan, and certain fortresses and districts of tuscany, in europe; the kingdom of barbary, the coast of guinea, and an indefinite and unmeasured expanse. of other territory, in africa; the controlling outposts and cities all along the coast of the two indian peninsulas, with as much of the country as it seemed good to occupy, the straits and the great archipelagoes, so far as they had--been visited by europeans, in asia; peru, brazil, mexico, the antilles--the whole recently discovered fourth quarter of the world in short, from the "land of fire" in the south to the frozen regions of the north--as much territory as the spanish and portuguese sea-captains could circumnavigate and the pope in the plentitude of his power and his generosity could bestow on his fortunate son, in america; all this enormous proportion of the habitable globe was the private property, of philip; who was the son of charles, who was the son of joanna, who was the daughter of isabella, whose husband was ferdinand. by what seems to us the most whimsical of political arrangements, the papuan islander, the calabrian peasant, the amsterdam merchant, the semi-civilized aztec, the moor of barbary, the castilian grandee, the roving camanche, the guinea negro, the indian brahmin, found themselves--could they but have known it--fellow-citizens of one commonwealth. statutes of family descent, aided by fraud, force, and chicane, had annexed the various european sovereignties to the crown of spain; the genius of a genoese sailor had given to it the new world, and more recently the conquest of portugal, torn from hands not strong enough to defend the national independence, had vested in the same sovereignty those oriental possessions which were due to the enterprise of vasco de gama, his comrades and successors. the voyager, setting forth from the straits of gibraltar, circumnavigating the african headlands and cape comorin, and sailing through the molucca channel and past the isles which bore the name of philip in the eastern sea, gave the hand at last to his adventurous comrade, who, starting from the same point, and following westward in the track of magellaens and under the southern cross, coasted the shore of patagonia, and threaded his path through unmapped and unnumbered clusters of islands in the western pacific; and during this spanning of the earth's whole circumference not an inch of land or water was traversed that was not the domain of philip. for the sea, too, was his as well as the dry land. from borneo to california the great ocean was but a spanish lake, as much the king's private property as his fish-ponds at the escorial with their carp and perch. no subjects but his dared to navigate those sacred waters. not a common highway of the world's commerce, but a private path for the gratification of one human being's vanity, had thus been laid out by the bold navigators of the sixteenth century. it was for the dutch rebels to try conclusions upon this point, as they had done upon so many others, with the master of the land and sea. the opening scenes therefore in the great career of maritime adventure and discovery by which these republicans were to make themselves famous will soon engage the reader's attention. thus the causes of what is called the greatness of spain are not far to seek. spain was not a nation, but a temporary and factitious conjunction of several nations, which it was impossible to fuse into a permanent whole, but over whose united resources a single monarch for a time disposed. and the very concentration of these vast and unlimited, powers, fortuitous as it was, in this single hand, inspiring the individual, not unnaturally, with a consciousness of superhuman grandeur; impelled him to those frantic and puerile efforts to achieve the impossible which resulted, in the downfall of spain. the man who inherited so much material greatness believed himself capable of destroying the invisible but omnipotent spirit of religious and political liberty in the netherlands, of trampling out the national existence of france and of england, and of annexing those realms to his empire: it has been my task to relate, with much minuteness, how miserably his efforts failed. but his resources were great. all italy was in his hands, with the single exception of the venetian republic; for the grand duke of florence and the so-called republic of genoa were little more than his vassals, the pope was generally his other self, and the duke of savoy was his son-in-law. thus his armies, numbering usually a hundred thousand men, were supplied from the best possible sources. the italians were esteemed the best soldiers for siege; assault, light skirmishing. the german heavy troopers and arquebuseers were the most effective for open field-work, and these were to be purchased at reasonable prices and to indefinite amount from any of the three or four hundred petty sovereigns to whom what was called germany belonged. the sicilian and neapolitan pikemen, the milanese light-horse, belonged exclusively to philip, and were used, year after year, for more than a generation of mankind, to fight battles in which they had no more interest than had their follow-subjects in the moluccas or in mexico, but which constituted for them personally as lucrative a trade on the whole as was afforded them at that day by any branch of industry. silk, corn, wine, and oil were furnished in profusion from these favoured regions, not that the inhabitants might enjoy life, and, by accumulating wealth, increase the stock of human comforts and contribute to intellectual and scientific advancement, but in order that the proprietor of the soil might feed those eternal armies ever swarming from the south to scatter desolation over the plains of france, burgundy, flanders, and holland, and to make the crown of spain and the office of the holy inquisition supreme over the world. from naples and sicily were derived in great plenty the best materials and conveniences for ship-building and marine equipment. the galleys and the galley-slaves furnished by these subject realms formed the principal part of the royal navy. from distant regions, a commerce which in philip's days had become oceanic supplied the crown with as much revenue as could be expected in a period of gross ignorance as to the causes of the true grandeur and the true wealth of nations. especially from the mines of mexico came an annual average of ten or twelve millions of precious metals, of which the king took twenty-five per cent. for himself. it would be difficult and almost superfluous to indicate the various resources placed in the hands of this one personage, who thus controlled so large a portion of the earth. all that breathed or grew belonged to him, and most steadily was the stream of blood and treasure poured through the sieve of his perpetual war. his system was essentially a gigantic and perpetual levy of contributions in kind, and it is only in this vague and unsatisfactory manner that the revenues of his empire can be stated. a despot really keeps no accounts, nor need to do so, for he is responsible to no man for the way in which he husbands or squanders his own. moreover, the science of statistics had not a beginning of existence in those days, and the most common facts can hardly be obtained, even by approximation. the usual standard of value, the commodity which we call money--gold or silver--is well known to be at best a fallacious guide for estimating the comparative wealth--of individuals or of nations at widely different epochs. the dollar of philip's day was essentially the same bit of silver that it is in our time in spain, naples, rome, or america, but even should an elaborate calculation be made as to the quantity of beef, or bread or broadcloth to be obtained for that bit of silver in this or that place in the middle of the sixteenth century, the result, as compared with prices now prevalent, would show many remarkable discrepancies. thus a bushel of wheat at antwerp during philip's reign might cost a quarter of a dollar, in average years, and there have been seasons in our own time when two bushels of wheat could have been bought for a quarter of a dollar in illinois. yet if, notwithstanding this, we should allow a tenfold value in exchange to the dollar of philip's day, we should be surprised at the meagreness of his revenues, of his expenditures, and of the debts which at the close of his career brought him to bankruptcy; were the sums estimated in coin. thus his income was estimated by careful contemporary statesmen at what seemed to them the prodigious annual amount of sixteen millions of dollars. he carried on a vast war without interruption during the whole of his forty-three years' reign against the most wealthy and military nations of christendom not recognising his authority, and in so doing he is said to have expended a sum total of seven hundred millions of dollars--a statement which made men's hair stand on their heads. yet the american republic, during its civil war to repress the insurrection of the slaveholders, has spent nominally as large a sum as this every year; and the british empire in time of profound peace spends half as much annually. and even if we should allow sixteen millions to have represented the value of a hundred and sixty millions--a purely arbitrary supposition--as compared with our times, what are a hundred and sixty, millions of dollars, or thirty-three millions of pounds sterling--as the whole net revenue of the greatest empire that had ever existed in the world, when compared with the accumulated treasures over which civilized and industrious countries can now dispose? thus the power of levying men and materials in kind constituted the chief part of the royal power, and, in truth, very little revenue in money was obtained from milan or naples, or from any of the outlying european possessions of the crown. eight millions a year were estimated as the revenue from the eight kingdoms incorporated under the general name of castile, while not more than six hundred thousand came from the three kingdoms which constituted arragon. the chief sources of money receipts were a tax of ten per cent. upon sales, paid by the seller, called alcavala, and the almoxarifalgo or tariff upon both imports and exports. besides these imposts he obtained about eight hundred thousand dollars a year by selling to his subjects the privilege of eating eggs upon fast-days, according to the permission granted him by the pope, in the bull called the cruzada. he received another annual million from the sussidio and the excusado. the first was a permission originally given by the popes to levy six hundred thousand dollars a year upon ecclesiastical property for equipment of a hundred war-galleys against the saracens, but which had more recently established itself as a regular tax to pay for naval hostilities against dutch and english heretics--a still more malignant species of unbelievers in the orthodox eyes of the period. the excusado was the right accorded to the king always to select from the church possessions a single benefice and to appropriate its fruit--a levy commuted generally for four hundred thousand dollars a year. besides these regular sources of income, large but irregular amounts of money were picked up by his majesty in small sums, through monks sent about the country simply as beggars, under no special license, to collect alms from rich and poor for sustaining the war against the infidels of england and holland. a certain jesuit, father sicily by name, had been industrious enough at one period in preaching this crusade to accumulate more than a million and a half, so that a facetious courtier advised his sovereign to style himself thenceforth king, not of the two, but of the three sicilies, in honour of the industrious priest. it is worthy of remark that at different periods during philip's reign, and especially towards its close, the whole of his regular revenue was pledged to pay the interest, on his debts, save only the sussidio and the cruzada. thus the master of the greatest empire of the earth had at times no income at his disposal except the alma he could solicit from his poorest subjects to maintain his warfare against foreign miscreants, the levy on the church for war-galleys; and the proceeds of his permission to eat meat on fridays. this sounds like an epigram, but it is a plain, incontestable fact. thus the revenues of his foreign dominions being nearly consumed by their necessary expenses, the measure of his positive wealth was to be found in the riches of spain. but spain at that day was not an opulent country. it was impossible that it should be rich, for nearly every law, according to which the prosperity of a country becomes progressive; was habitually violated. it is difficult to state even by approximation the amount of its population, but the kingdoms united under the crown of castile were estimated by contemporaries to contain eight millions, while the kingdom of portugal, together with those annexed to arragon and the other provinces of the realm, must have numbered half as many. here was a populous nation in a favoured land, but the foundation of all wealth was sapped by a perverted moral sentiment. labour was esteemed dishonourable. the spaniard, from highest to lowest, was proud, ignorant, and lazy. for a people endowed by nature with many noble qualities--courage, temperance, frugality, endurance, quickness of perception; a high sense of honour, a reverence for law--the course of the national history had proved as ingeniously bad a system of general education as could well be invented. the eternal contests, century after century, upon the soil of spain between the crescent and the cross, and the remembrance of the ancient days in which oriental valour and genius had almost extirpated germanic institutions and christian faith from the peninsula, had inspired one great portion of the masses with a hatred, amounting almost to insanity, towards every form of religion except the church of rome, towards every race of mankind except the goths and vandals. innate reverence for established authority had expanded into an intensity of religious emotion and into a fanaticism of loyalty which caused the anointed monarch leading true believers against infidels to be accepted as a god. the highest industrial and scientific civilization that had been exhibited upon spanish territory was that of moors and jews. when in the course of time those races had been subjugated, massacred, or driven into exile, not only was spain deprived of its highest intellectual culture and its most productive labour, but intelligence, science, and industry were accounted degrading, because the mark of inferior and detested peoples. the sentiment of self-esteem, always a national characteristic, assumed an almost ludicrous shape. not a ragged biscayan muleteer, not a swineherd of estremadura, that did not imagine himself a nobleman because he was not of african descent. not a half-starved, ignorant brigand, gaining his living on the highways and byways by pilfering or assassination, that did not kneel on the church pavement and listen to orisons in an ancient tongue, of which he understood not a syllable, with a sentiment of christian self-complacency to which godfrey of bouillon might have been a stranger. especially those born towards the northern frontier, and therefore farthest removed from moorish contamination, were proudest of the purity of their race. to be an asturian or a gallician, however bronzed by sun and wind, was to be furnished with positive proof against suspicion of moorish blood; but the sentiment was universal throughout the peninsula. it followed as a matter of course that labour of any kind was an impeachment against this gentility of descent. to work was the province of moors, jews, and other heretics; of the marani or accursed, miscreants and descendants of miscreants; of the sanbeniti or infamous, wretches whose ancestors had been convicted by the holy inquisition of listening, however secretly, to the holy scriptures as expounded by other lips than those of roman priests. and it is a remarkable illustration of this degradation of labour and of its results, that in the reign of philip twenty-five thousand individuals of these dishonoured and comparatively industrious classes, then computed at four millions in number in the castilian kingdoms alone, had united in a society which made a formal offer to the king to pay him two thousand dollars a head if the name and privileges of hidalgo could be conferred upon them. thus an inconsiderable number of this vilest and most abject of the population--oppressed by taxation which was levied exclusively upon the low, and from which not only the great nobles but mechanics and other hidalgos were, exempt--had been able to earn and to lay by enough to offer the monarch fifty millions of dollars to purchase themselves out of semi-slavery into manhood, and yet found their offer rejected by an almost insolvent king. nothing could exceed the idleness and the frivolity of the upper classes, as depicted by contemporary and not unfriendly observers. the nobles were as idle and as ignorant as their inferiors. they were not given to tournays nor to the delights of the chase and table, but were fond of brilliant festivities, dancing, gambling, masquerading, love-making, and pompous exhibitions of equipage, furniture, and dress. these diversions--together with the baiting of bulls and the burning of protestants--made up their simple round of pleasures. when they went to the wars they scorned all positions but that of general, whether by land or sea, and as war is a trade which requires an apprenticeship; it is unnecessary to observe that these grandees were rarely able to command, having never learned to obey. the poorer spaniards were most honourably employed perhaps--so far as their own mental development was concerned--when they were sent with pike and arquebus to fight heretics in france and flanders. they became brave and indomitable soldiers when exported to the seat of war, and thus afforded proof--by strenuously doing the hardest physical work that human beings can be called upon to perform, campaigning year after year amid the ineffable deprivations, dangers, and sufferings which are the soldier's lot--that it was from no want of industry or capacity that the lower masses of spaniards in that age were the idle, listless, dice-playing, begging, filching vagabonds into which cruel history and horrible institutions had converted them at home. it is only necessary to recal these well-known facts to understand why one great element of production--human labour--was but meagrely supplied. it had been the deliberate policy of the government for ages to extirpate the industrious classes, and now that a great portion of moors and jews were exiles and outcasts, it was impossible to supply their place by native workmen. even the mechanics, who condescended to work with their hands in the towns, looked down alike upon those who toiled in the field and upon those who, attempted to grow rich by traffic. a locksmith or a wheelwright who could prove four descents of western, blood called himself a son of somebody--a hidalgo--and despised the farmer and the merchant. and those very artisans were careful not to injure themselves by excessive industry, although not reluctant by exorbitant prices to acquire in one or-two days what might seem a fair remuneration for a week, and to impress upon their customers that it was rather by way of favour that they were willing to serve them at all. labour being thus deficient, it is obvious that there could hardly have been a great accumulation, according to modern ideas, of capital. that other chief element of national wealth, which is the result of generations of labour and of abstinence, was accordingly not abundant. and even those accretions of capital, which in the course of centuries had been inevitable, were as clumsily and inadequately diffused as the most exquisite human perverseness could desire. if the object of civil and political institutions had been to produce the greatest ill to the greatest number, that object had been as nearly attained at last in spain as human imperfection permits; the efforts of government and of custom coming powerfully to the aid of the historical evils already indicated. it is superfluous to say that the land belonged not to those who lived upon it--but subject to the pre-eminent right of the crown--to a small selection of the human species. moderate holdings, small farms, peasant proprietorship's, were unknown. any kind of terrestrial possession; in short, was as far beyond the reach of those men who held themselves so haughtily and esteemed themselves so inordinately, as were the mountains in the moon. the great nobles--and of real grandees of spain there were but forty-nine, although the number of titled families was much larger--owned all the country, except that vast portion of it which had reposed for ages in the dead-hand of the church. the law of primogeniture, strictly enforced, tended with every generation to narrow the basis of society. nearly every great estate was an entail, passing from eldest son to eldest son, until these were exhausted, in which case a daughter transferred the family possessions to a new house. thus the capital of the country--meagre at best in comparison with what it might have been, had industry been honoured instead of being despised, had the most intelligent and most diligent classes been cherished rather than hunted to death or into obscure dens like vermin--was concentrated in very few hands. not only was the accumulation less than it should have been, but the slenderness of its diffusion had nearly amounted to absolute stagnation. the few possessors of capital wasted their revenues in unproductive consumption. the millions of the needy never dreamed of the possibility of deriving benefit from the capital of the rich, nor would have condescended to employ it, nor known how to employ it, had its use in any form been vouchsafed to them. the surface of spain, save only around the few royal residences, exhibited no splendour of architecture, whether in town or country, no wonders of agricultural or horticultural skill, no monuments of engineering and constructive genius in roads, bridges, docks, warehouses, and other ornamental and useful fabrics, or in any of the thousand ways in which man facilitates intercourse among his kind and subdues nature to his will. yet it can never be too often repeated that it, is only the spaniard of the sixteenth century, such as extraneous circumstances had made him, that is here depicted; that he, even like his posterity and his ancestors, had been endowed by nature with some of her noblest gifts. acuteness of intellect, wealth of imagination, heroic qualities of heart, and hand, and brain, rarely surpassed in any race, and manifested on a thousand battle-fields, and in the triumphs of a magnificent and most original literature, had not been able to save a whole nation from the disasters and the degradation which the mere words philip ii, and the holy inquisition suggest to every educated mind. nor is it necessary for my purpose to measure exactly the space which separated spain from the other leading monarchies of the day. that the standard of civilization was a vastly higher one in england, holland, or even france--torn as they all were with perpetual civil war--no thinker will probably deny; but as it is rather my purpose at this moment to exhibit the evils which may spring from a perfectly bad monarchical system, as administered by a perfectly bad king, i prefer not to wander at present from the country which was ruled for almost half a century by philip ii. besides the concentration of a great part of the capital of the country in a very small number of titled families, still another immense portion of the national wealth belonged, as already intimated, to the church. there were eleven archbishops, at the head of whom stood the archbishop of toledo, with the enormous annual revenue of three hundred thousand dollars. next to him came the archbishop of seville, with one hundred and fifty thousand dollars yearly, while the income of the others varied from fifty thousand to twenty thousand dollars respectively. there were sixty-two bishops, with annual incomes ranging from fifty thousand to six thousand dollars. the churches, also, of these various episcopates were as richly endowed as the great hierarchs themselves. but without fatiguing the reader with minute details, it is sufficient to say that one-third of the whole annual income of spain and portugal belonged to the ecclesiastical body. in return for this enormous proportion of the earth's fruits, thus placed by the caprice of destiny at their disposal, these holy men did very little work in the world. they fed their flocks neither with bread nor with spiritual food. they taught little, preached little, dispensed little in charity. very few of the swarming millions of naked and hungry throughout the land were clothed or nourished out of these prodigious revenues of the church. the constant and avowed care of those prelates was to increase their worldly, possessions, to build up the fortunes of their respective families, to grow richer and richer at the expense of the people whom for centuries they had fleeced. of gross crime, of public ostentatious immorality, such as had made the roman priesthood of that and preceding ages loathsome in the sight of man and god, the spanish church-dignitaries were innocent. avarice; greediness, and laziness were their characteristics. it is almost superfluous to say that, while the ecclesiastical princes were rolling in this almost fabulous wealth, the subordinate clergy, the mob of working priests, were needy, half-starved mendicants. from this rapid survey of the condition of the peninsula it will seem less surprising than it might do at first glance that the revenue of the greatest monarch of the world was rated at the small amount--even after due allowance for the difference of general values between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries--of sixteen millions of dollars. the king of spain was powerful and redoubtable at home and abroad, because accident had placed the control of a variety of separate realms in his single hand. at the same time spain was poor and weak, because she had lived for centuries in violation of the principles on which the wealth and strength of nations depend. moreover, every one of those subject and violently annexed nations hated spain with undying fervour, while an infernal policy--the leading characteristics of which were to sow dissensions among the nobles, to confiscate their property on all convenient occasions, and to bestow it upon spaniards and other foreigners; to keep the discontented masses in poverty, but to deprive them of the power or disposition to unite with their superiors in rank in demonstrations against the crown--had sufficed to suppress any extensive revolt in the various italian states united under philip's sceptre. still more intense than the hatred of the italians was the animosity which was glowing in every portuguese breast against the spanish sway; while even the arragonese were only held in subjection by terror, which, indeed, in one form or another, was the leading instrument of philip's government. it is hardly necessary to enlarge upon the regulations of spain's foreign commerce; for it will be enough to repeat the phrase that in her eyes the great ocean from east to west was a spanish lake, sacred to the ships of the king's subjects alone. with such a simple code of navigation coming in aid of the other causes which impoverished the land, it may be believed that the maritime traffic of the country would dwindle into the same exiguous proportions which characterised her general industry. moreover, it should never be forgotten that, although the various kingdoms of spain were politically conjoined by their personal union under one despot, they were commercially distinct. a line of custom-houses separated each province from the rest, and made the various inhabitants of the peninsula practically strangers to each other. thus there was less traffic between castile, biscay, and arragon than there was between any one of them and remote foreign nations. the biscayans, for example, could even import and export commodities to and from remote countries by sea, free of duty, while their merchandize to and from castile was crushed by imposts. as this ingenious perversity of positive arrangements came to increase the negative inconveniences caused by the almost total absence of tolerable roads, canals, bridges, and other means of intercommunication, it may be imagined that internal traffic--the very life-blood of every prosperous nation--was very nearly stagnant in spain. as an inevitable result, the most thriving branch of national industry was that of the professional smuggler, who, in the pursuit of his vocation, did his best to aid government in sapping the wealth of the nation. the whole accumulated capital of spain, together with the land--in the general sense which includes not only the soil but the immovable property of a country being thus exclusively owned by the crown, the church, and a very small number of patrician families, while the supply of labour owing to the special causes which had converted the masses of the people into paupers ashamed to work but not unwilling to beg or to rob--was incredibly small, it is obvious that, so long as the same causes continued in operation, the downfall of the country was a logical result from which there was no escape. nothing but a general revolution of mind and hand against the prevalent system, nothing but some great destructive but regenerating catastrophe, could redeem the people. and it is the condition of the people which ought always to be the prominent subject of interest to those who study the records of the past. it is only by such study that we can derive instruction from history, and enable ourselves, however dimly and feebly, to cast the horoscope of younger nations. human history, so far as it has been written, is at best a mere fragment; for the few centuries or year-thousands of which there is definite record are as nothing compared to the millions of unnumbered years during which man has perhaps walked the earth. it may be as practicable therefore to derive instruction from a minute examination in detail of a very limited period of time and space, and thus to deduce general rules for the infinite future, during which our species may be destined to inhabit this planet, as by a more extensive survey, which must however be at best a limited one. men die, but man is immortal, and it would be a sufficiently forlorn prospect for humanity if we were not able to discover causes in operation which would ultimately render the system of philip ii. impossible in any part of the globe. certainly, were it otherwise, the study of human history would be the most wearisome and unprofitable of all conceivable occupations. the festivities of courts, the magnificence of an aristocracy, the sayings and doings of monarchs and their servants, the dynastic wars, the solemn treaties; the ossa upon pelion of diplomatic and legislative rubbish by which, in the course of centuries, a few individuals or combinations of individuals have been able to obstruct the march of humanity, and have essayed to suspend the operation of elemental laws--all this contains but little solid food for grown human beings. the condition of the brave and quickwitted spanish people in the latter half of the sixteenth century gives more matter for reflection and possible instruction. that science is the hope of the world, that ignorance is the real enslaver of mankind, and therefore the natural ally of every form of despotism, may be assumed as an axiom, and it was certainly the ignorance and superstition of the people upon which the philippian policy was founded. a vast mass, entirely uneducated, half fed, half clothed, unemployed; and reposing upon a still lower and denser stratum--the millions namely of the "accursed," of the africans, and last and vilest of all, the "blessed" descendants of spanish protestants whom the holy office had branded with perpetual infamy because it had burned their progenitors--this was the people; and it was these paupers and outcasts, nearly the whole nation, that paid all the imposts of which the public revenue was composed. the great nobles, priests, and even the hidalgos, were exempt from taxation. need more be said to indicate the inevitable ruin of both government and people? and it was over such a people, and with institutions like these, that philip ii. was permitted to rule during forty-three years. his power was absolute. with this single phrase one might as well dismiss any attempt at specification. he made war or peace at will with foreign nations. he had power of life and death over all his subjects. he had unlimited control of their worldly goods. as he claimed supreme jurisdiction over their religious opinions also, he was master of their minds, bodies, and estates. as a matter of course, he nominated and removed at will every executive functionary, every judge, every magistrate, every military or civil officer; and moreover, he not only selected, according to the license tacitly conceded to him by the pontiff, every archbishop, bishop, and other church dignitary, but, through his great influence at rome, he named most of the cardinals, and thus controlled the election of the popes. the whole machinery of society, political, ecclesiastical, military, was in his single hand. there was a show of provincial privilege here and there in different parts of spain, but it was but the phantom of that ancient municipal liberty which it had been the especial care of his father and his great-grandfather to destroy. most patiently did philip, by his steady inactivity, bring about the decay of the last ruins of free institutions in the peninsula. the councils and legislative assemblies were convoked and then wearied out in waiting for that royal assent to their propositions and transactions, which was deferred intentionally, year after year, and never given. thus the time of the deputies was consumed in accomplishing infinite nothing, until the moment arrived when the monarch, without any violent stroke of state, could feel safe in issuing decrees and pragmatic edicts; thus reducing the ancient legislative and consultative bodies to nullity, and substituting the will of an individual for a constitutional fabric. to criticise the expenses of government or to attempt interference with the increase of taxation became a sorry farce. the forms remained in certain provinces after the life had long since fled. only in arragon had the ancient privileges seemed to defy the absolute authority of the monarch; and it was reserved for antonio perez to be the cause of their final extirpation. the grinning skulls of the chief justice of that kingdom and of the boldest and noblest advocates and defenders of the national liberties, exposed for years in the market-place, with the record of their death-sentence attached, informed the spaniards, in language which the most ignorant could read, that the crime of defending a remnant of human freedom and constitutional law was sure to draw down condign punishment. it was the last time in that age that even the ghost of extinct liberty was destined to revisit the soil of spain. it mattered not that the immediate cause for pursuing perez was his successful amour with the king's mistress, nor that the crime of which he was formally accused was the deadly offence of calvinism, rather than his intrigue with the eboli and his assassination of escovedo; for it was in the natural and simple sequence of events that the last vestige of law or freedom should be obliterated wherever philip could vindicate his sway. it must be admitted, too, that the king seized this occasion to strike a decisive blow with a promptness very different from his usual artistic sluggishness. rarely has a more terrible epigram been spoken by man than the royal words which constituted the whole trial and sentence of the chief justice of arragon, for the crime of defending the law of his country: "you will take john of lanuza, and you will have his head cut off." this was the end of the magistrate and of the constitution which he had defended. his power, was unlimited. a man endowed with genius and virtue, and possessing the advantages of a consummate education, could have perhaps done little more than attempt to mitigate the general misery, and to remove some of its causes. for it is one of the most pernicious dogmas of the despotic system, and the one which the candid student of history soonest discovers to be false, that the masses of mankind are to look to any individual, however exalted by birth or intellect, for their redemption. woe to the world if the nations are never to learn that their fate is and ought to be in their own hands; that their institutions, whether liberal or despotic, are the result of the national biography and of the national character, not the work of a few individuals whose names have been preserved by capricious accident as heroes and legislators. yet there is no doubt that, while comparatively powerless for good, the individual despot is capable of almost infinite mischief. there have been few men known to history who have been able to accomplish by their own exertions so vast an amount of evil as the king who had just died. if philip possessed a single virtue it has eluded the conscientious research of the writer of these pages. if there are vices--as possibly there are from which he was exempt, it is because it is not permitted to human nature to attain perfection even in evil. the only plausible explanation--for palliation there is none--of his infamous career is that the man really believed himself not a king but a god. he was placed so high above his fellow-creatures as, in good faith perhaps, to believe himself incapable of doing wrong; so that, whether indulging his passions or enforcing throughout the world his religious and political dogmas, he was ever conscious of embodying divine inspirations and elemental laws. when providing for the assassination of a monarch, or commanding the massacre of a townfull of protestants; when trampling on every oath by which a human being can bind himself; when laying desolate with fire and sword, during more than a generation, the provinces which he had inherited as his private property, or in carefully maintaining the flames of civil war in foreign kingdoms which he hoped to acquire; while maintaining over all christendom a gigantic system of bribery, corruption, and espionage, keeping the noblest names of england and scotland on his pension-lists of traitors, and impoverishing his exchequer with the wages of iniquity paid in france to men of all degrees, from princes of blood like guise and mayenne down to the obscurest of country squires, he ever felt that these base or bloody deeds were not crimes, but the simple will of the godhead of which he was a portion. he never doubted that the extraordinary theological system which he spent his life in enforcing with fire and sword was right, for it was a part of himself. the holy inquisition, thoroughly established as it was in his ancestral spain, was a portion of the regular working machinery by which his absolute kingship and his superhuman will expressed themselves. a tribunal which performed its functions with a celerity, certainty, and invisibility resembling the attributes of omnipotence; which, like the pestilence, entered palace or hovel at will, and which smote the wretch guilty or suspected of heresy with a precision against which no human ingenuity or sympathy could guard--such an institution could not but be dear to his heart. it was inevitable that the extension and perpetuation of what he deemed its blessings throughout his dominions should be his settled purpose. spain was governed by an established terrorism. it is a mistake to suppose that philip was essentially beloved in his native land, or that his religious and political system was heartily accepted because consonant to the national character. on the contrary, as has been shown, a very large proportion of the inhabitants were either secretly false to the catholic faith, or descended at least from those who had expiated their hostility to it with their lives. but the grand inquisitor was almost as awful a personage; as the king or the pope. his familiars were in every village and at every fireside, and from their fangs there was no escape. millions of spaniards would have rebelled against the crown or accepted the reformed religion, had they not been perfectly certain of being burned or hanged at the slightest movement in such a direction. the popular force in the course of the political combinations of centuries seemed at last to have been eliminated. the nobles, exempt from taxation, which crushed the people to the earth, were the enemies rather than the chieftains and champions of the lower classes in any possible struggle with a crown to which they were united by ties of interest as well as of affection, while the great churchmen, too, were the immediate dependants and of course the firm supporters of the king. thus the people, without natural leaders, without organisation, and themselves divided into two mutually hostile sections, were opposed by every force in the state. crown, nobility, and clergy; all the wealth and all that there was of learning, were banded together to suppress the democratic principle. but even this would hardly have sufficed to extinguish every spark of liberty, had it not been for the potent machinery of the inquisition; nor could that perfection of terrorism have become an established institution but for the extraordinary mixture of pride and superstition of which the national character had been, in the course of the national history, compounded. the spanish portion of the people hated the nobles, whose petty exactions and oppressions were always visible; but they had a reverential fear of the unseen monarch, as the representative both of the great unsullied christian nation to which the meanest individual was proud to belong, and of the god of wrath who had decreed the extermination of all unbelievers. the "accursed" portion of the people were sufficiently disloyal at heart, but were too much crushed by oppression and contempt to imagine themselves men. as to the netherlanders, they did not fight originally for independence. it was not until after a quarter of a century of fighting that they ever thought of renouncing their allegiance to philip. they fought to protect themselves against being taxed by the king without the consent of those constitutional assemblies which he had sworn to maintain, and to save themselves and their children from being burned alive if they dared to read the bible. independence followed after nearly a half-century of fighting, but it would never have been obtained, or perhaps demanded, had those grievances of the people been redressed. of this perfect despotism philip was thus the sole administrator. certainly he looked upon his mission with seriousness, and was industrious in performing his royal functions. but this earnestness and seriousness were, in truth, his darkest vices; for the most frivolous voluptuary that ever wore a crown would never have compassed a thousandth part of the evil which was philip's life-work. it was because he was a believer in himself, and in what he called his religion, that he was enabled to perpetrate such a long catalogue of crimes. when an humble malefactor is brought before an ordinary court of justice, it is not often, in any age or country, that he escapes the pillory or the gallows because, from his own point of view, his actions, instead of being criminal, have been commendable, and because the multitude and continuity of his offences prove him to have been sincere. and because anointed monarchs are amenable to no human tribunal, save to that terrible assize which the people, bursting its chain from time to time in the course of the ages, sets up for the trial of its oppressors, and which is called revolution, it is the more important for the great interests of humanity that before the judgment-seat of history a crown should be no protection to its wearer. there is no plea to the jurisdiction of history, if history be true to itself. as for the royal criminal called philip ii., his life is his arraignment, and these volumes will have been written in vain if a specification is now required. homicide such as was hardly ever compassed before by one human being was committed by philip when in the famous edict of he sentenced every man, woman, and child in the netherlands to death. that the whole of this population, three millions or more, were not positively destroyed was because no human energy could suffice to execute the diabolical decree. but alva, toiling hard, accomplished much of this murderous work. by the aid of the "council of blood," and of the sheriffs and executioners of the holy inquisition, he was able sometimes to put eight hundred human beings to death in a single week for the crimes of protestantism or of opulence, and at the end of half a dozen years he could boast of having strangled, drowned, burned, or beheaded somewhat more than eighteen thousand of his fellow-creatures. these were some of the non-combatant victims; for of the tens of thousands who perished during his administration alone, in siege and battle, no statistical record has been preserved. in face of such wholesale crimes, of these forty years of bloodshed, it is superfluous to refer to such isolated misdeeds as his repeated attempts to procure the assassination of the prince of orange, crowned at last by the success of balthazar gerard, nor to his persistent efforts to poison the queen of england; for the enunciation of all these murders or attempts at murder would require a repetition of the story which it has been one of the main purposes of these volumes to recite. for indeed it seems like mere railing to specify his crimes. their very magnitude and unbroken continuity, together with their impunity, give them almost the appearance of inevitable phenomena. the horrible monotony of his career stupefies the mind until it is ready to accept the principle of evil as the fundamental law of the world. his robberies, like his murders, were colossal. the vast, system of confiscation set up in the netherlands was sufficient to reduce unnumbered innocent families to beggary, although powerless to break the spirit of civil and religious liberty or to pay the expenses of subjugating a people. not often in the world's history have so many thousand individual been plundered by a foreign tyrant for no crime, save that they were rich enough to be worth robbing. for it can never be too often repeated that those confiscations and extortions were perpetrated upon catholics as well as protestants, monarchists as well as rebels; the possession of property making proof of orthodoxy or of loyalty well-nigh impossible. falsehood was the great basis of the king's character, which perhaps derives its chief importance, as a political and psychological study, from this very fact. it has been shown throughout the whole course of this history, by the evidence of his most secret correspondence, that he was false, most of all, to those to whom he gave what he called his heart. granvelle, alva, don john, alexander farnese, all those, in short, who were deepest in his confidence experienced in succession his entire perfidy, while each in turn was sacrificed to his master's sleepless suspicion. the pope himself was often as much the dupe of the catholic monarch's faithlessness as the vilest heretic had ever been. could the great schoolmaster of iniquity for the sovereigns and politicians of the south have lived to witness the practice of the monarch who had most laid to heart the precepts of the "prince," he would have felt that he had not written in vain, and that his great paragon of successful falsehood, ferdinand of arragon, had been surpassed by the great grandson. for the ideal perfection of perfidy, foreshadowed by the philosopher who died in the year of philip's birth, was thoroughly embodied at last by this potentate. certainly nicholas macchiavelli could have hoped for no more docile pupil. that all men are vile, that they are liars; scoundrels, poltroons, and idiots alike--ever ready to deceive and yet easily to be duped, and that he only is fit to be king who excels his kind in the arts of deception; by this great maxim of the florentine, philip was ever guided. and those well-known texts of hypocrisy, strewn by the same hand, had surely not fallen on stony ground when received into philip's royal soul. "often it is necessary, in order to maintain power, to act contrary to faith, contrary to charity, contrary to humanity, contrary to religion. . . . a prince ought therefore to have great care that from his mouth nothing should ever come that is not filled with those five qualities, and that to see and hear him he should appear all piety, all faith, all integrity, all humanity, all religion. and nothing is more necessary than to seem to have this last-mentioned quality. every one sees what you seem, few perceive what you are." surely this hand-book of cant had been philip's 'vade mecum' through his life's pilgrimage. it is at least a consolation to reflect that a career controlled by such principles came to an ignominious close. had the mental capacity of this sovereign been equal to his criminal intent, even greater woe might have befallen the world. but his intellect was less than mediocre. his passion for the bureau, his slavery to routine, his puerile ambition personally to superintend details which could have been a thousand times better administered by subordinates, proclaimed every day the narrowness of his mind. his diligence in reading, writing, and commenting upon despatches may excite admiration only where there has been no opportunity of judging of his labours by personal inspection. those familiar with the dreary displays of his penmanship must admit that such work could have been at least as well done by a copying clerk of average capacity. his ministers were men of respectable ability, but he imagined himself, as he advanced in life, far superior to any counsellor that he could possibly select, and was accustomed to consider himself the first statesman in the world. his reign was a thorough and disgraceful failure. its opening scene was the treaty of catean cambresis, by which a triumph over france had been achieved for him by the able generals and statesmen of his father, so humiliating and complete as to make every french soldier or politician gnash his teeth. its conclusion was the treaty of vervins with the same power, by which the tables were completely turned, and which was as utterly disgraceful to spain as that of cateau cambresis had been to france. he had spent his life in fighting with the spirit of the age--that invincible power of which he had not the faintest conception--while the utter want of adaptation of his means to his ends often bordered, not on the ludicrous, but the insane. he attempted to reduce the free netherlands to slavery and to papacy. before his death they had expanded into an independent republic, with a policy founded upon religious toleration and the rights of man. he had endeavoured all his life to exclude the bearnese from his heritage and to place himself or his daughter on the vacant throne; before his death henry iv. was the most powerful and popular sovereign that had ever reigned in france. he had sought to invade and to conquer england, and to dethrone and assassinate its queen. but the queen outwitted, outgeneralled, and outlived, him; english soldiers and sailors, assisted. by their dutch comrades in arms, accomplished on the shores of spain what the invincible armada had in vain essayed against england and holland; while england, following thenceforth the opposite system to that of absolutism and the inquisition, became, after centuries of struggles towards the right, the most powerful, prosperous, and enlightened kingdom in the world. his exchequer, so full when he ascended the throne as to excite the awe of contemporary financiers, was reduced before his death to a net income of some four millions of dollars. his armies; which had been the wonder of the age in the earlier period of his reign for discipline, courage, and every quality on which military efficiency depends, were in his later years a horde of starving, rebellious brigands, more formidable to their commanders than to the foe. mutiny was the only organised military institution that was left in his dominions, while the spanish inquisition, which it was the fell purpose of his life from youth upwards to establish over the world, became a loathsome and impossible nuisance everywhere but in its natal soil. if there be such a thing as historical evidence, then is philip ii., convicted before the tribunal of impartial posterity of every crime charged in his indictment. he lived seventy-one years and three months, he reigned forty-three years. he endured the martyrdom of his last illness with the heroism of a saint, and died in the certainty of immortal bliss as the reward of his life of evil. etext editor's bookmarks: a despot really keeps no accounts, nor need to do so all italy was in his hands every one sees what you seem, few perceive what you are god of wrath who had decreed the extermination of all unbeliever had industry been honoured instead of being despised history is but made up of a few scattered fragments hugo grotius idle, listless, dice-playing, begging, filching vagabonds ignorance is the real enslaver of mankind innocent generation, to atone for the sins of their forefathers intelligence, science, and industry were accounted degrading labour was esteemed dishonourable man had no rights at all he was property matters little by what name a government is called moral nature, undergoes less change than might be hoped names history has often found it convenient to mark its epochs national character, not the work of a few individuals proceeds of his permission to eat meat on fridays rarely able to command, having never learned to obey rich enough to be worth robbing seems but a change of masks, of costume, of phraseology selling the privilege of eating eggs upon fast-days sentiment of christian self-complacency spain was governed by an established terrorism that unholy trinity--force; dogma, and ignorance the great ocean was but a spanish lake the most thriving branch of national industry (smuggler) the record of our race is essentially unwritten thirty thousand masses should be said for his soul those who argue against a foregone conclusion three or four hundred petty sovereigns (of germany) utter want of adaptation of his means to his ends while one's friends urge moderation whole revenue was pledged to pay the interest, on his debts chapter xxxvi. - commercial prospects of holland--travels of john huygen van linschoten their effect on the trade and prosperity of the netherlands--progress of nautical and geographical science--maritime exploration--fantastic notions respecting the polar regions--state of nautical science--first arctic expedition--success of the voyagers--failure of the second expedition--third attempt to discover the north-east passage--discovery of spitzbergen-- scientific results of the voyage--adventures in the frozen regions-- death of william barendz--return of the voyagers to amsterdam-- southern expedition against the spanish power--disasters attendant upon it--extent of dutch discovery. during a great portion of philip's reign the netherlanders, despite their rebellion, had been permitted to trade with spain. a spectacle had thus been presented of a vigorous traffic between two mighty belligerents, who derived from their intercourse with each other the means of more thoroughly carrying on their mutual hostilities. the war fed their commerce, and commerce fed their war. the great maritime discoveries at the close of the fifteenth century had enured quite as much to the benefit of the flemings and hollanders as to that of the spaniards and portuguese, to whom they were originally due. antwerp and subsequently amsterdam had thriven on the great revolution of the indian trade which vasco de gama's voyage around the cape had effected. the nations of the baltic and of farthest ind now exchanged their products on a more extensive scale and with a wider sweep across the earth than when the mistress of the adriatic alone held the keys of asiatic commerce. the haughty but intelligent oligarchy of shopkeepers, which had grown so rich and attained so eminent a political position from its magnificent monopoly, already saw the sources of its grandeur drying up before its eyes, now that the world's trade--for the first time in human history--had become oceanic. in holland, long since denuded of forests, were great markets of timber, whither shipbuilders and architects came from all parts of the world to gather the utensils for their craft. there, too, where scarcely a pebble had been deposited in the course of the geological transformations of our planet, were great artificial quarries of granite, and marble, and basalt. wheat was almost as rare a product of the soil as cinnamon, yet the granaries of christendom, and the oriental magazines of spices and drugs, were found chiefly on that barren spot of earth. there was the great international mart where the osterling, the turk, the hindoo, the atlantic and the mediterranean traders stored their wares and negotiated their exchanges; while the curious and highly-prized products of netherland skill--broadcloths, tapestries, brocades, laces, substantial fustians, magnificent damasks, finest linens--increased the mass of visible wealth piled mountains high upon that extraordinary soil which produced nothing and teemed with everything. after the incorporation of portugal with spain however many obstacles were thrown in the way of the trade from the netherlands to lisbon and the spanish ports. loud and bitter were the railings uttered, as we know, by the english sovereign and her statesmen against the nefarious traffic which the dutch republic persisted in carrying on with the common enemy. but it is very certain that although the spanish armadas would have found it comparatively difficult to equip themselves without the tar and the timber, the cordage, the stores, and the biscuits furnished by the hollanders, the rebellious commonwealth, if excluded from the world's commerce, in which it had learned to play so controlling a part, must have ceased to exist. for without foreign navigation the independent republic was an inconceivable idea. not only would it have been incapable of continuing the struggle with the greatest monarch in the world, but it might as well have buried itself once and for ever beneath the waves from which it had scarcely emerged. commerce and holland were simply synonymous terms. its morsel of territory was but the wharf to which the republic was occasionally moored; its home was in every ocean and over all the world. nowhere had there ever existed before so large a proportion of population that was essentially maritime. they were born sailors--men and women alike--and numerous were the children who had never set foot on the shore. at the period now treated of the republic had three times as many ships and sailors as any one nation in the world. compared with modern times, and especially with the gigantic commercial strides of the two great anglo-saxon families, the statistics both of population and of maritime commerce in that famous and most vigorous epoch would seem sufficiently meagre. yet there is no doubt that in the relative estimate of forces then in activity it would be difficult to exaggerate the naval power of the young commonwealth. when therefore, towards the close of philip ii.'s reign, it became necessary to renounce the carrying trade with spain and portugal, by which the communication with india and china was effected, or else to submit to the confiscation of dutch ships in spanish ports, and the confinement of dutch sailors in the dungeons of the inquisition, a more serious dilemma was presented to the statesmen of the netherlands than they had ever been called upon to solve. for the splendid fiction of the spanish lake was still a formidable fact. not only were the portuguese and spaniards almost the only direct traders to the distant east, but even had no obstacles been interposed by government, the exclusive possession of information as to the course of trade, the pre-eminent practical knowledge acquired by long experience of that dangerous highway around the world at a time when oceanic navigation was still in its infancy, would have given a monopoly of the traffic to the descendants of the bold discoverers who first opened the great path to the world's commerce. the hollanders as a nation had never been engaged in the direct trade around the cape of good hope. fortunately however at this crisis in their commercial destiny there was a single hollander who had thoroughly learned the lesson which it was so necessary that all his countrymen should now be taught. few men of that period deserve a more kindly and more honourable remembrance by posterity for their contributions to science and the progress of civilization than john huygen van linschoten, son of a plain burgher of west friesland. having always felt a strong impulse to study foreign history and distant nations and customs; he resolved at the early age of seventeen "to absent himself from his fatherland, and from the conversation of friends and relatives," in order to gratify this inclination for self-improvement. after a residence of two years in lisbon he departed for india in the suite of the archbishop of goa, and remained in the east for nearly thirteen years. diligently examining all the strange phenomena which came under his observation and patiently recording the results of his researches day by day and year by year, he amassed a fund of information which he modestly intended for the entertainment of his friends when he should return to his native country. it was his wish that "without stirring from their firesides or counting-houses" they might participate with him in the gratification and instruction to be derived from looking upon a world then so strange, and for europeans still so new. he described the manners and customs, the laws, the religions, the social and political institutions, of the ancient races who dwelt in either peninsula of india. he studied the natural history, the botany, the geography of all the regions which he visited. especially the products which formed the material of a great traffic; the system of culture, the means of transportation, and the course of commerce, were examined by him with minuteness, accuracy, and breadth of vision. he was neither a trader nor a sailor, but a man of letters, a scientific and professional traveller. but it was obvious when he returned, rich with the spoils of oriental study during thirteen years of life, that the results of his researches were worthy of a wider circulation than that which he had originally contemplated. his work was given to the public in the year , and was studied with avidity not only by men of science but by merchants and seafarers. he also added to the record of his indian experiences a practical manual for navigators. he described the course of the voyage from lisbon to the east, the currents, the trade-winds and monsoons, the harbours, the islands, the shoals, the sunken rocks and dangerous quicksands, and he accompanied his work with various maps and charts, both general and special, of land and water, rarely delineated before his day, as well as by various astronomical and mathematical calculations. already a countryman of his own, wagenaar of zeeland, had laid the mariners of the world under special obligation by a manual which came into such universal use that for centuries afterwards the sailors of england and of other countries called their indispensable 'vade-mecum' a wagenaar. but in that text-book but little information was afforded to eastern voyagers, because, before the enterprise of linschoten, little was known of the orient except to the portuguese and spaniards, by whom nothing was communicated. the work of linschoten was a source of wealth, both from the scientific treasures which it diffused among an active and intelligent people, and the impulse which it gave to that direct trade between the netherlands and the east which had been so long deferred, and which now came to relieve the commerce of the republic, and therefore the republic itself, from the danger of positive annihilation. it is not necessary for my purpose to describe in detail the series of voyages by way of the cape of good hope which, beginning with the adventures of the brothers houtmann at this period, and with the circumnavigation of the world by olivier van noord, made the dutch for a long time the leading christian nation in those golden regions, and which carried the united netherlands to the highest point of prosperity and power. the spanish monopoly of the indian and the pacific ocean was effectually disposed of, but the road was not a new road, nor did any striking discoveries at this immediate epoch illustrate the enterprise of holland in the east. in the age just opening the homely names most dear to the young republic were to be inscribed on capes, islands, and promontories, seas, bays, and continents. there was soon to be a "staten island" both in the frozen circles of the northern and of the southern pole, as well as in that favoured region where now the mighty current of a worldwide commerce flows through the gates of that great metropolis of the western world, once called new amsterdam. those well-beloved words, orange and nassau, maurice and william, intermingled with the names of many an ancient town and village, or with the simple patronymics of hardy navigators or honoured statesmen, were to make the vernacular of the new commonwealth a familiar sound in the remotest corners of the earth; while a fifth continent, discovered by the enterprise of hollanders, was soon to be fitly baptized with the name of the fatherland. posterity has been neither just nor grateful, and those early names which dutch genius and enterprise wrote upon so many prominent points of the earth's surface, then seen for the first time by european eyes, are no longer known. the impulse given to the foreign trade of the netherlands by the publication of linschoten's work was destined to be a lasting one. meantime this most indefatigable and enterprising voyager--one of those men who had done nothing in his own estimation so long as aught remained to do--was deeply pondering the possibility of a shorter road to the opulent kingdoms of cathay and of china than the one which the genius of de gama had opened to his sovereigns. geography as a science was manifesting the highest activity at that period, but was still in a rudimentary state. to the hollanders especially much of the progress already made by it was owing. the maps of the world by mercator of leyden, published on a large scale, together with many astronomical and geographical charts, delineations of exploration, and other scientific works, at the magnificent printing establishment of william blaeuw, in amsterdam, the friend and pupil of tycho brahe, and the first in that line of typographers who made the name famous, constituted an epoch in cosmography. another ardent student of geography lived in amsterdam, peter plancius by name, a calvinist preacher, and one of the most zealous and intolerant of his cloth. in an age and a country which had not yet thoroughly learned the lesson taught by hundreds of thousands of murders committed by an orthodox church, he was one of those who considered the substitution of a new dogma and a new hierarchy, a new orthodoxy and a new church, in place of the old ones, a satisfactory result for fifty, years of perpetual bloodshed. nether torquemada nor peter titelmann could have more thoroughly abhorred a jew or a calvinist than peter plancius detested a lutheran, or any other of the unclean tribe of remonstranta. that the intolerance of himself and his comrades was confined to fiery words, and was not manifested in the actual burning alive of the heterodox, was a mark of the advance made by the mass of mankind in despite of bigotry. it was at any rate a solace to those who believed in human progress; even in matters of conscience, that no other ecclesiastical establishment was ever likely to imitate the matchless machinery for the extermination of heretical vermin which the church of rome had found in the spanish inquisition. the blasts of denunciation from the pulpit of plancius have long since mingled with empty air and been forgotten, but his services in the cause of nautical enterprise and geographical science, which formed, as it were, a relaxation to what he deemed the more serious pursuits of theology, will endear his name for ever to the lovers of civilization. plancius and dr. francis maalzoon--the enlightened pensionary of enkhuizen--had studied long and earnestly the history and aspects of the oceanic trade, which had been unfolding itself then for a whole century, but was still comparatively new, while barneveld, ever ready to assist in the advancement of science, and to foster that commerce which was the life of the commonwealth, was most favourably disposed towards projects of maritime exploration. for hitherto, although the hollanders had been among the hardiest and the foremost in the art of navigation they had contributed but little to actual discovery. a genoese had led the way to america, while one portuguese mariner had been the first to double the southern cape of africa, and another, at the opposite side of the world, had opened what was then supposed the only passage through the vast continent which, according to ideas then prevalent, extended from the southern pole to greenland, and from java to patagonia. but it was easier to follow in the wake of columbus, gama, or magellan, than to strike out new pathways by the aid of scientific deduction and audacious enterprise. at a not distant day many errors, disseminated by the boldest of portuguese navigators, were to be corrected by the splendid discoveries of sailors sent forth by the dutch republic, and a rich harvest in consequence was to be reaped both by science and commerce. it is true, too, that the netherlanders claimed to have led the way to the great voyages of columbus by their discovery of the azores. joshua van den berg, a merchant of bruges, it was vigorously maintained, had landed in that archipelago in the year . he had found there, however, no vestiges of the human race, save that upon the principal island, in the midst of the solitude, was seen--so ran the tale--a colossal statue of a man on horseback, wrapped in a cloak, holding the reins of his steed in his left hand, and solemnly extending his right arm to the west. this gigantic and solitary apparition on a rock in the ocean was supposed to indicate the existence of a new world, and the direction in which it was to be sought, but it is probable that the shipwrecked fleeting was quite innocent of any such magnificent visions. the original designation of the flemish islands, derived from their first colonization by netherlanders, was changed to azores by portuguese mariners, amazed at the myriads of hawks which they found there. but if the netherlanders had never been able to make higher claims as discoverers than the accidental and dubious landing upon an unknown shore of a tempest-tost mariner, their position in the records of geographical exploration would not be so eminent as it certainly is. meantime the eyes of linschoten, plancius, maalzoon, barneveld, and of many other ardent philosophers and patriots, were turned anxiously towards the regions of the north pole. two centuries later--and still more recently in our own day and generation--what heart has not thrilled with sympathy and with pride at the story of the magnificent exploits, the heroism, the contempt of danger and of suffering which have characterized the great navigators whose names are so familiar to the world; especially the arctic explorers of england and of our own country? the true chivalry of an advanced epoch--recognizing that there can be no sublimer vocation for men of action than to extend the boundary of human knowledge in the face of perils and obstacles more formidable and more mysterious than those encountered by the knights of old in the cause of the lord's sepulchre or the holy grail--they have thus embodied in a form which will ever awaken enthusiasm in imaginative natures, the noble impulses of our latter civilization. to win the favour of that noblest of mistresses, science; to take authoritative possession, in her name, of the whole domain of humanity; to open new pathways to commerce; to elevate and enlarge the human intellect, and to multiply indefinitely the sum of human enjoyments; to bring the inhabitants of the earth into closer and more friendly communication, so that, after some yet unimagined inventions and discoveries, and after the lapse of many years, which in the sight of the omnipotent are but as one day, the human race may form one pacific family, instead of being broken up, as are the most enlightened of peoples now, into warring tribes of internecine savages, prating of the advancement of civilization while coveting each other's possessions, intriguing against each other's interests, and thoroughly in earnest when cutting each other's throats; this is truly to be the pioneers of a possible civilization, compared to which our present culture may seem but a poor barbarism. if the triumphs and joys of the battle-field have been esteemed among the noblest themes for poet, painter, or chronicler, alike in the mists of antiquity and in the full glare of later days, surely a still more encouraging spectacle for those who believe in the world's progress is the exhibition of almost infinite valour, skill, and endurance in the cause of science and humanity. it was believed by the dutch cosmographers that some ten thousand miles of voyaging might be saved, could the passage to what was then called the kingdoms of cathay be effected by way of the north. it must be remembered that there were no maps of the unknown regions lying beyond the northern headlands of sweden. delineations of continents, islands, straits, rivers, and seas, over which every modern schoolboy pores, were not attempted even by the hand of fancy. it was perhaps easier at the end of the sixteenth century than it is now, to admit the possibility of a practical path to china and india across the pole; for delusions as to climate and geographical configuration then prevalent have long since been dispelled. while, therefore, at least as much heroism was required then as now to launch into those unknown seas, in hope to solve the dread mystery of the north; there was even a firmer hope than can ever be cherished again of deriving an immediate and tangible benefit from the enterprise. plancius and maalzoon, the states-general and prince maurice, were convinced that the true road to cathay would be found by sailing north-east. linschoten, the man who knew india and the beaten paths to india better than any other living christian, was so firmly convinced of the truth of this theory, that he volunteered to take the lead in the first expedition. many were the fantastic dreams in which even the wisest thinkers of the age indulged as to the polar regions. four straits or channels, pierced by a magic hand, led, it was thought, from the interior of muscovy towards the arctic seas. according to some speculators, however, those seas enclosed a polar continent where perpetual summer and unbroken daylight reigned, and whose inhabitants, having obtained a high degree of culture; lived in the practice of every virtue and in the enjoyment of every blessing. others peopled these mysterious regions with horrible savages, having hoofs of horses and heads of dogs, and with no clothing save their own long ears coiled closely around their limbs and bodies; while it was deemed almost certain that a race of headless men, with eyes in their breasts, were the most enlightened among those distant tribes. instead of constant sunshine, it was believed by such theorists that the wretched inhabitants of that accursed zone were immersed in almost incessant fogs or tempests, that the whole population died every winter and were only recalled to temporary existence by the advent of a tardy and evanescent spring. no doubt was felt that the voyager in those latitudes would have to encounter volcanoes of fire and mountains of ice, together with land and sea monsters more ferocious than the eye of man had ever beheld; but it was universally admitted that an opening, either by strait or sea, into the desired indian haven would reveal itself at last. the instruments of navigation too were but rude and defective compared to the beautiful machinery with which modern art and science now assist their votaries along the dangerous path of discovery. the small yet unwieldy, awkward, and, to the modern mind, most grotesque vessels in which such audacious deeds were performed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries awaken perpetual astonishment. a ship of a hundred tons burden, built up like a tower, both at stem and stern, and presenting in its broad bulbous prow, its width of beam in proportion to its length, its depression amidships, and in other sins against symmetry, as much opposition to progress over the waves as could well be imagined, was the vehicle in which those indomitable dutchmen circumnavigated the globe and confronted the arctic terrors of either pole. an astrolabe--such as martin beheim had invented for the portuguese, a clumsy astronomical ring of three feet in circumference--was still the chief machine used for ascertaining the latitude, and on shipboard a most defective one. there were no logarithms, no means of determining at sea the variations of the magnetic needle, no system of dead reckoning by throwing the log and chronicling the courses traversed. the firearms with which the sailors were to do battle with the unknown enemies that might beset their path were rude and clumsy to handle. the art of compressing and condensing provisions was unknown. they had no tea nor coffee to refresh the nervous system in its terrible trials; but there was one deficiency which perhaps supplied the place of many positive luxuries. those hollanders drank no ardent spirits. they had beer and wine in reasonable quantities, but no mention is ever made in the journals of their famous voyages of any more potent liquor; and to this circumstance doubtless the absence of mutinous or disorderly demonstrations, under the most trying circumstances, may in a great degree be attributed. thus, these navigators were but slenderly provided with the appliances with which hazardous voyages have been smoothed by modern art; but they had iron hearts, faith in themselves, in their commanders, in their republic, and in the omnipotent; perfect discipline and unbroken cheerfulness amid toil, suffering, and danger. no chapter of history utters a more beautiful homily an devotion to duty as the true guiding principle of human conduct than the artless narratives which have been preserved of many of these maritime enterprises. it is for these noble lessons that they deserve to be kept in perpetual memory. and in no individual of that day were those excellent qualities more thoroughly embodied than in william barendz, pilot and burgher of amsterdam. it was partly under his charge that the first little expedition set forth on the th of june, , towards those unknown arctic seas, which no keel from christendom had ever ploughed, and to those fabulous regions where the foot of civilized men had never trod. maalzoon, plancius, and balthaser moucheron, merchant of middelburg, were the chief directors of the enterprise; but there was a difference of opinion between them. the pensionary was firm in the faith that the true path to china would be found by steering through the passage which was known to exist between the land of nova zembla and the northern coasts of muscovy, inhabited by the savage tribes called samoyedes. it was believed that, after passing those straits, the shores of the great continent would be found to trend in a south-easterly direction, and that along that coast it would accordingly be easy to make the desired voyage to the eastern ports of china. plancius, on the contrary, indicated as the most promising passage the outside course, between the northern coast of nova zembla and the pole. three ships and a fishing yacht were provided by the cities of enkhuizen, amsterdam, and by the province of zeeland respectively. linschoten was principal commissioner on board the enkhuizen vessel, having with him an experienced mariner, brandt ijsbrantz by name, as skipper. barendz, with the amsterdam ship and the yacht, soon parted company with the others, and steered, according to the counsels of plancius and his own convictions; for the open seas of the north. and in that memorable summer, for the first time in the world's history, the whole desolate region of nova zembla was visited, investigated, and thoroughly mapped out. barendz sailed as far as latitude deg. and to the extreme north-eastern point of the island. in a tremendous storm off a cape, which he ironically christened consolationhook (troost-hoek), his ship, drifting under bare poles amid ice and mist and tempest, was nearly dashed to pieces; but he reached at last the cluster of barren islets beyond the utmost verge of nova zembla, to which he hastened to affix the cherished appellation of orange. this, however, was the limit of his voyage. his ship was ill-provisioned, and the weather had been severe beyond expectation. he turned back on the st of august, resolving to repeat his experiment early in the following year. meantime linschoten, with the ships swan and mercury, had entered the passage which they called the straits of nassau, but which are now known to all the world as the waigats. they were informed by the samoyedes of the coast that, after penetrating the narrow channel, they would find themselves in a broad and open sea. subsequent discoveries showed the correctness of the statement, but it was not permitted to the adventurers on this occasion to proceed so far. the strait was already filled with ice-drift, and their vessels were brought to a standstill, after about a hundred and fifty english miles of progress beyond the waigats; for the whole sea of tartary, converted into a mass of ice-mountains and islands, and lashed into violent agitation by a north easterly storm, seemed driving down upon the doomed voyagers. it was obvious that the sunny clime of cathay was not thus to be reached, at least upon that occasion. with difficulty they succeeded in extricating themselves from the dangers surrounding them, and emerged at last from the waigats. on the th of august, in latitude deg. ', they met the ship of barendz and returned in company to holland, reaching amsterdam on the th of september. barendz had found the seas and coasts visited by him destitute of human inhabitants, but swarming with polar bears, with seals, with a terrible kind of monsters, then seen for the first time, as large as oxen, with almost human faces and with two long tusks protruding from each grim and grotesque visage. these mighty beasts, subsequently known as walrusses or sea-horses, were found sometimes in swarms of two hundred at a time, basking in the arctic sun, and seemed equally at home on land, in the sea, and on icebergs. when aware of the approach of their human visitors, they would slide off an iceblock into the water, holding their cubs in their arms, and ducking up and down in the sea as if in sport. then tossing the young ones away, they would rush upon the boats, and endeavour to sink the strangers, whom they instinctively recognised as their natural enemies. many were the severe combats recorded by the diarist of that voyage of barendz with the walrusses and the bears. the chief result of this first expedition was the geographical investigation made, and, with unquestionable right; these earliest arctic pilgrims bestowed the names of their choice upon the regions first visited by themselves. according to the unfailing and universal impulse on such occasions, the names dear to the fatherland were naturally selected. the straits were called nassau, the island at its mouth became states or staten island; the northern coasts of tartary received the familiar appellations of new holland, new friesland, new walcheren; while the two rivers, beyond which linschoten did not advance, were designated swan and mercury respectively, after his two ships. barendz, on his part, had duly baptized every creek, bay, islet, and headland of nova zembla, and assuredly christian mariner had never taken the latitude of deg. before. yet the antiquary, who compares the maps soon afterwards published by william blaeuw with the charts now in familiar use, will observe with indignation the injustice with which the early geographical records have been defaced, and the names rightfully bestowed upon those terrible deserts by their earliest discoverers rudely torn away. the islands of orange can still be recognized, and this is almost the only vestige left of the whole nomenclature. but where are cape nassau, william's island, admiralty island, cape plancius, black-hook, cross-hook, bear's-hook, ice-hook, consolation-hook, cape desire, the straits of nassau, maurice island, staten island, enkhuizen island, and many other similar appellations. the sanguine linschoten, on his return, gave so glowing an account of the expedition that prince maurice and olden-barneveld, and prominent members of the states-general, were infected with his enthusiasm. he considered the north-east passage to china discovered and the problem solved. it would only be necessary to fit out another expedition on a larger scale the next year, provide it with a cargo of merchandize suitable for the china market, and initiate the direct polar-oriental trade without further delay. it seems amazing that so incomplete an attempt to overcome such formidable obstacles should have been considered a decided success. yet there is no doubt of the genuineness of the conviction by which linschoten was actuated. the calmer barendz, and his friend and comrade gerrit de veer, were of opinion that the philosopher had made "rather a free representation" of the enterprise of and of the prospects for the future. nevertheless, the general government, acting on linschoten's suggestion, furnished a fleet of seven ships: two from enkhuizen, two from zeeland, two from amsterdam; and a yacht which was to be despatched homeward with the news, so soon as the expedition should have passed through the straits of nassau, forced its way through the frozen gulf of tartary, doubled cape tabin, and turned southward on its direct course to china. the sublime credulity which accepted linschoten's hasty solution of the polar enigma as conclusive was fairly matched by the sedateness with which the authorities made the preparations for the new voyage. so deliberately were the broadcloths, linens, tapestries, and other assorted articles for this first great speculation to cathay, via the north pole, stowed on board the fleet, that nearly half the summer had passed before anchor was weighed in the meuse. the pompous expedition was thus predestined to an almost ridiculous failure. yet it was in the hands of great men, both on shore and sea. maurice, barneveld, and maalzoon had personally interested themselves in the details of its outfitting, linschoten sailed as chief commissioner, the calm and intrepid barendz was upper pilot of the whole fleet, and a man who was afterwards destined to achieve an immortal name in the naval history of his country, jacob heemskerk, was supercargo of the amsterdam ship. in obedience to the plans of linschoten and of maalzoon, the passage by way of the waigats was of course attempted. a landing was effected on the coast of tartary. whatever geographical information could be obtained from such a source was imparted by the wandering samoyedes. on the nd of september a party went ashore on staten island and occupied themselves in gathering some glistening pebbles which the journalist of the expedition describes with much gravity as a "kind of diamonds, very plentiful upon the island." while two of the men were thus especially engaged in a deep hollow, one of them found himself suddenly twitched from behind. "what are you pulling at me for, mate?" he said, impatiently to his comrade as he supposed. but his companion was a large, long, lean white bear, and in another instant the head of the unfortunate diamond-gatherer was off and the bear was sucking his blood. the other man escaped to his friends, and together a party of twenty charged upon the beast. another of the combatants was killed and half devoured by the hungry monster before a fortunate bullet struck him in the head. but even then the bear maintained his grip upon his two victims, and it was not until his brains were fairly beaten out with the butt end of a snaphance by the boldest of the party that they were enabled to secure the bodies of their comrades and give them a hurried kind of christian burial. they flayed the bear and took away his hide with them, and this, together with an ample supply of the diamonds of staten island, was the only merchandize obtained upon the voyage for which such magnificent preparations had been made. for, by the middle of september, it had become obviously hopeless to attempt the passage of the frozen sea that season, and the expedition returned, having accomplished nothing. it reached amsterdam upon the th of november, . the authorities, intensely disappointed at this almost ridiculous result, refused to furnish direct assistance to any farther attempts at arctic explorations. the states-general however offered a reward of twenty-five thousand florins to any navigators who might succeed in discovering the northern passage, with a proportionate sum to those whose efforts in that direction might be deemed commendable, even if not crowned with success. stimulated by the spirit of adventure and the love of science far more than by the hope of gaining a pecuniary prize, the undaunted barendz, who was firm in the faith that a pathway existed by the north of nova zembla and across the pole to farthest ind, determined to renew the attempt the following summer. the city of amsterdam accordingly, early in the year , fitted out two ships. select crews of entirely unmarried men volunteered for the enterprise. john cornelisz van der ryp, an experienced sea-captain, was placed in charge of one of the vessels, william barendz was upper pilot of the other, and heemskerk, "the man who ever steered his way through ice or iron," was skipper and supercargo. the ships sailed from the vlie on the th may. the opinions of peter plancius prevailed in this expedition at last; the main object of both ryp and barendz being to avoid the fatal, narrow, ice-clogged waigats. although identical in this determination, their views as to the configuration of the land and sea, and as to the proper course to be steered, were conflicting. they however sailed in company mainly in a n.e. by n. direction, although barendz would have steered much more to the east. on the th june the watch on deck saw, as they supposed, immense flocks of white swans swimming towards the ships, and covering the sea as far as the eye could reach. all hands came up to look at the amazing spectacle, but the more experienced soon perceived that the myriads of swans were simply infinite fields of ice, through which however they were able to steer their course without much impediment, getting into clear sea beyond about midnight, at which hour the sun was one degree above the horizon. proceeding northwards two days more they were again surrounded by ice, and, finding the "water green as grass, they believed themselves to be near greenland." on the th june they discovered an island in latitude, according to their observation, deg. ', which seemed about five miles long. in this neighbourhood they remained four days, having on one occasion a "great fight which lasted four glasses" with a polar bear, and making a desperate attempt to capture him in order to bring him as a show to holland. the effort not being successful, they were obliged to take his life to save their own; but in what manner they intended, had they secured him alive, to provide for such a passenger in the long voyage across the north pole to china, and thence back to amsterdam, did not appear. the attempt illustrated the calmness, however, of those hardy navigators. they left the island on the th june, having baptised it bear island in memory of their vanquished foe, a name which was subsequently exchanged for the insipid appellation of cherry island, in honour of a comfortable london merchant who seven years afterwards sent a ship to those arctic regions. six days later they saw land again, took the sun, and found their latitude deg. '. certainly no men had ever been within less than ten degrees of the pole before. on the longest day of the year they landed on this newly discovered country, which they at first fancied to be a part of greenland. they found its surface covered with eternal snow, broken into mighty glaciers, jagged with precipitous ice-peaks; and to this land of almost perpetual winter, where the mercury freezes during ten months in the year, and where the sun remains four months beneath the horizon, they subsequently gave the appropriate and vernacular name of spitzbergen. combats with the sole denizens of these hideous abodes, the polar bears, on the floating ice, on the water, or on land, were constantly occurring, and were the only events to disturb the monotony of that perpetual icy sunshine, where no night came to relieve the almost maddening glare. they rowed up a wide inlet on the western coast, and came upon great numbers of wild-geese sitting on their eggs. they proved to be the same geese that were in the habit of visiting holland in vast flocks every summer, and it had never before been discovered where they laid and hatched their eggs. "therefore," says the diarist of the expedition, "some voyagers have not scrupled to state that the eggs grow on trees in scotland, and that such of the fruits of those trees as fall into the water become goslings, while those which drop on the ground burst in pieces and come to nothing. we now see that quite the contrary is the case," continues de veer, with perfect seriousness, "nor is it to be wondered at, for nobody has ever been until now where those birds lay their eggs. no man, so far as known, ever reached the latitude of eighty degrees before. this land was hitherto unknown." the scientific results of this ever-memorable voyage might be deemed sufficiently meagre were the fact that the eggs of wild geese did not grow on trees its only recorded discovery. but the investigations made into the dread mysteries of the north, and the actual problems solved, were many, while the simplicity of the narrator marks the infantine character of the epoch in regard to natural history. when so illustrious a mind as grotius was inclined to believe in a race of arctic men whose heads grew beneath their shoulders; the ingenuous mariner of amsterdam may be forgiven for his earnestness in combating the popular theory concerning goslings. on the rd june they went ashore again, and occupied themselves, as well as the constant attacks of the bears would permit, in observing the variation of the needle, which they ascertained to be sixteen degrees. on the same day, the ice closing around in almost infinite masses, they made haste to extricate themselves from the land and bore southwards again, making bear island once more on the st july. here cornelius ryp parted company with heemskerk and barendz, having announced his intention to sail northward again beyond latitude deg. in search of the coveted passage. barendz, retaining his opinion that the true inlet to the circumpolar sea, if it existed, would be found n.e. of nova zembla, steered in that direction. on the th july they found themselves by observation in latitude deg., and considered themselves in the neighbourhood of sir hugh willoughby's land. four days later they were in lomms' bay, a harbour of nova zembla, so called by them from the multitude of lomms frequenting it, a bird to which they gave the whimsical name of arctic parrots. on the th july the ice obstructed their voyage; covering the sea in all directions with floating mountains and valleys, so that they came to an anchor off an islet where on a former voyage the hollanders had erected the precious emblem of christian faith, and baptised the dreary solitude cross island. but these pilgrims, as they now approached the spot, found no worshippers there, while, as if in horrible mockery of their piety, two enormous white bears had reared themselves in an erect posture, in order the better to survey their visitors, directly at the foot of the cross. the party which had just landed were unarmed, and were for making off as fast as possible to their boats. but skipper heemskerk, feeling that this would be death to all of them, said simply, "the first man that runs shall have this boat-hook of mine in his hide. let us remain together and face them off." it was done. the party moved slowly towards their boats, heemskerlk bringing up the rear, and fairly staring the polar monsters out of countenance, who remained grimly regarding them, and ramping about the cross. the sailors got into their boat with much deliberation, and escaped to the ship, "glad enough," said de veer, "that they were alive to tell the story, and that they had got out of the cat-dance so fortunately." next day they took the sun, and found their latitude deg. ', and the variation of the needle twenty-six degrees. for seventeen days more they were tossing about in mist and raging snow-storms, and amidst tremendous icebergs, some of them rising in steeples and pinnacles to a hundred feet above the sea, some grounded and stationary, others drifting fearfully around in all directions, threatening to crush them at any moment or close in about them and imprison them for ever. they made fast by their bower anchor on the evening of th august to a vast iceberg which was aground, but just as they had eaten their supper there was a horrible groaning, bursting, and shrieking all around them, an indefinite succession of awful, sounds which made their hair stand on end, and then the iceberg split beneath the water into more than four hundred pieces with a crash "such as no words could describe." they escaped any serious damage, and made their way to a vast steepled and towered block like a floating cathedral, where they again came to anchor. on the th august they reached the isles of orange, on the extreme north-eastern verge of nova zembla. here a party going ashore climbed to the top of a rising ground, and to their infinite delight beheld an open sea entirely free from ice, stretching to the s. e. and e.s.e. as far as eye could reach. at last the game was won, the passage to cathay was discovered. full of joy, they pulled back in their boat to the ship, "not knowing how to get there quick enough to tell william barendz." alas! they were not aware of the action of that mighty ocean river, the gulf-stream, which was sweeping around those regions with its warm dissolving current. three days later they returned baffled in their sanguine efforts to sail through the open sea. the ice had returned upon them, setting southwardly in obedience to the same impulse which for a moment had driven it away, and they found themselves imprisoned again near the "hook of desire." on the th august they had given up all the high hopes by which they had been so lately inspired, and, as the stream was again driving the ice from the land, they trusted to sail southward and westward back towards the waigats. having passed by nova zembla, and found no opening into the seas beyond, they were disposed in the rapidly waning summer to effect their retreat by the south side of the island, and so through the straits of nassau home. in vain. the catastrophe was upon them. as they struggled slowly past the "ice-haven," the floating mountains and glaciers, impelled by the mighty current, once more gathered around and forced them back to that horrible harbour. during the remaining days of august the ship struggled, almost like a living creature, with the perils that, beset her; now rearing in the air, her bows propped upon mighty blocks, till she absolutely sat erect upon her stern, now lying prostrate on her side, and anon righting again as the ice-masses would for a moment float away and leave her breathing space and room to move in. a blinding snow-storm was raging the while, the ice was cracking and groaning in all directions, and the ship was shrieking, so that the medley of awful sights and sounds was beyond the power of language. "'twas enough to make the hair stand on end," said gerrit de veer, "to witness the hideous spectacle." but the agony was soon over. by the st september the ship was hard and fast. the ice was as immoveable as the dry land, and she would not move again that year even if she ever floated. those pilgrims from the little republic were to spend the winter in their arctic harbour. resigning themselves without a murmur to their inevitable fate, they set about their arrangements with perfect good humour and discipline. most fortunately a great quantity of drift wood, masses of timber, and great trees torn away with their roots from distant shores, lay strewn along the coast, swept thither by the wandering currents. at once they resolved to build a house in which they might shelter themselves from the wild beasts, and from their still more cruel enemy, the cold. so thanking god for the providential and unexpected supply of building material and fuel, they lost no time in making sheds, in hauling timber, and in dragging supplies from the ship before the dayless winter should descend upon them. six weeks of steady cheerful labour succeeded. tremendous snow-storms, accompanied by hurricanes of wind, often filled the atmosphere to suffocation, so that no human being could move a ship's length without perishing; while, did any of their number venture forth, as the tempest subsided, it was often to find himself almost in the arms of a polar bear before the dangerous snow-white form could be distinguished moving sluggishly through the white chaos. for those hungry companions never left them so long as the sun remained above the horizon, swarming like insects and birds in tropical lands. when the sailors put their meat-tubs for a moment out upon the ice a bear's intrusive muzzle would forthwith be inserted to inspect the contents. maddened by hunger, and their keen scent excited by the salted provisions, and by the living flesh and blood of these intruders upon their ancient solitary domains, they would often attempt to effect their entrance into the ship. on one such occasion, when heemskerk and two companions were the whole garrison, the rest being at a distance sledding wood, the future hero of gibraltar was near furnishing a meal to his nova zembla enemies. it was only by tossing sticks and stones and marling-spikes across the ice, which the bears would instantly turn and pursue, like dogs at play with children, that the assault could be diverted until a fortunate shot was made. several were thus killed in the course of the winter, and one in particular was disembowelled and set frozen upon his legs near their house, where he remained month after month with a mass of snow and ice accumulated upon him, until he had grown into a fantastic and gigantic apparition, still wearing the semblance of their mortal foe. by the beginning of october the weather became so intensely cold that it was almost impossible to work. the carpenter died before the house was half completed. to dig a grave was impossible, but they laid him in a cleft of the ice, and he was soon covered with the snow. meantime the sixteen that were left went on as they best might with their task, and on october nd they had a house-raising. the frame-work was set up, and in order to comply with the national usage in such cases, they planted, instead of the may-pole with its fluttering streamers, a gigantic icicle before their new residence. ten days later they moved into the house and slept there for the first time, while a bear, profiting by their absence, passed the night in the deserted ship. on the th november the sun rose no more, but the moon at first shone day and night, until they were once in great perplexity to know whether it were midday or midnight. it proved to be exactly noon. the bears disappeared with the sun, but white foxes swarmed in their stead, and all day and night were heard scrambling over their roof. these were caught daily in traps and furnished them food, besides furs for raiment. the cold became appalling, and they looked in each other's faces sometimes in speechless amazement. it was obvious that the extreme limit of human endurance had been reached. their clothes were frozen stiff. their shoes were like iron, so that they were obliged to array themselves from head to foot in the skins of the wild foxes. the clocks stopped. the beer became solid. the spanish wine froze and had to be melted in saucepans. the smoke in the house blinded them. fire did not warm them, and their garments were often in a blaze while their bodies were half frozen. all through the month of december an almost perpetual snow-deluge fell from the clouds. for days together they were unable to emerge, and it was then only by most vigorous labour that they could succeed in digging a passage out of their buried house. on the night of the th december sudden death had nearly put an end to the sufferings of the whole party. having brought a quantity of seacoal from the ship, they had made a great fire, and after the smoke was exhausted, they had stopped up the chimney and every crevice of the house. each man then turned into his bunk for the night, "all rejoicing much in the warmth and prattling a long time with each other." at last an unaccustomed giddiness and faintness came over them, of which they could not guess the cause, but fortunately one of the party had the instinct, before he lost consciousness, to open the chimney, while another forced open the door and fell in a swoon upon the snow. their dread enemy thus came to their relief, and saved their lives. as the year drew to a close, the frost and the perpetual snow-tempest became, if that were possible, still more frightful. their christmas was not a merry one, and for the first few days of the new year, it was impossible for them to move from the house. on the th january, the snow-storms having somewhat abated, they once more dug themselves as it were out of their living grave, and spent the whole day in hauling wood from the shore. as their hour-glasses informed them that night was approaching, they bethought themselves that it was twelfth night, or three kings' eve. so they all respectfully proposed to skipper heemskerk, that, in the midst of their sorrow they might for once have a little diversion. a twelfth-night feast was forthwith ordained. a scanty portion of the wine yet remaining to them was produced. two pounds weight of flour, which they had brought to make paste with for cartridges, was baked into pancakes with a little oil, and a single hard biscuit was served out to each man to be sopped in his meagre allowance of wine. "we were as happy," said gerrit de veer, with simple pathos, "as if we were having a splendid banquet at home. we imagined ourselves in the fatherland with all our friends, so much did we enjoy our repast." that nothing might be omitted, lots were drawn for king, and the choice fell on the gunner, who was forthwith proclaimed monarch of nova zembla. certainly no men, could have exhibited more undaunted cheerfulness amid bears and foxes, icebergs and cold--such as christians had never conceived of before--than did these early arctic pilgrims. nor did barendz neglect any opportunity of studying the heavens. a meridian was drawn near the house, on which the compass was placed, and observations of various stars were constantly made, despite the cold, with extraordinary minuteness. the latitude, from concurrent measurement of the giant, the bull, orion, aldebaran, and other constellations--in the absence of the sun--was ascertained to be a little above seventy-six degrees, and the variations of the needle were accurately noted. on the th january it was clear weather and comparatively mild, so that heemskerk, with de veer and another, walked to the strand. to their infinite delight and surprise they again saw the disk of the sun on the edge of the horizon, and they all hastened back with the glad tidings. but barendz shook his head. many days must elapse, he said, before the declination of the sun should be once more deg., at which point in the latitude of deg. they had lost sight of the luminary on the th november, and at which only it could again be visible. this, according to his calculations, would be on the th february. two days of mirky and stormy atmosphere succeeded, and those who had wagered in support of the opinion of barendz were inclined to triumph over those who believed in the observation of heemskerk. on the th january there was, however, no mistake. the sky was bright, and the whole disk of the sun was most distinctly seen by all, although none were able to explain the phenomenon, and barendz least of all. they had kept accurate diaries ever since their imprisonment, and although the clocks sometimes had stopped, the hour-glasses had regularly noted the lapse of time. moreover, barendz knew from the ephemerides for to , published by dr. joseph scala in venice, a copy of which work he had brought with him, that on the th january, , the moon would be seen at one o'clock a.m. at venice, in conjunction with jupiter. he accordingly took as good an observation as could be done with the naked eye and found that conjunction at six o'clock a.m. of the same day, the two bodies appearing in the same vertical line in the sign of taurus. the date was thus satisfactorily established, and a calculation of the longitude of the house was deduced with an accuracy which in those circumstances was certainly commendable. nevertheless, as the facts and the theory of refraction were not thoroughly understood, nor tycho brahe's tables of refraction generally known, pilot barendz could not be expected to be wiser than his generation. the startling discovery that in the latitude of deg. the sun reappeared on the th january, instead of the th february, was destined to awaken commotion throughout the whole scientific world, and has perhaps hardly yet been completely explained. but the daylight brought no mitigation of their sufferings. the merciless cold continued without abatement, and the sun seemed to mock their misery. the foxes disappeared, and the ice-bears in their stead swarmed around the house, and clambered at night over the roof. again they constantly fought with them for their lives. daily the grave question was renewed whether the men should feed on the bears or the bears on the men. on one occasion their dead enemy proved more dangerous to them than in life, for three of their number, who had fed on bear's liver, were nearly poisoned to death. had they perished, none of the whole party would have ever left nova zembla. "it seemed," said the diarist, "that the beasts had smelt out that we meant to go away, and had just begin to have a taste for us." and thus the days wore on. the hour-glass and the almanac told them that winter had given place to spring, but nature still lay in cold obstruction. one of their number, who had long been ill, died. they hollowed a grave for him in the frozen snow, performing a rude burial service, and singing a psalm; but the cold had nearly made them all corpses before the ceremony was done. at last, on the th april, some of them climbing over the icebergs to the shore found much open sea. they also saw a small bird diving in the water, and looked upon it as a halcyon and harbinger of better fortunes. the open weather continuing, they began to hanker for the fatherland. so they brought the matter, "not mutinously but modestly and reasonably, before william barendz; that he might suggest it to heemskerk, for they were all willing to submit to his better judgment." it was determined to wait through the month of may. should they then be obliged to abandon the ship they were to make the voyage in the two open boats, which had been carefully stowed away beneath the snow. it was soon obvious that the ship was hard and fast, and that she would never float again, except perhaps as a portion of the icebergs in which she had so long been imbedded, when they should be swept off from the shore. as they now set to work repairing and making ready the frail skiffs which were now their only hope, and supplying them with provisions and even with merchandize from the ship, the ravages made by the terrible winter upon the strength of the men became painfully apparent. but heemskerk encouraged them to persevere; "for," said he, "if the boats are not got soon under way we must be content to make our graves here as burghers of nova zembla." on the th june they launched the boats, and "trusting themselves to god," embarked once more upon the arctic sea. barendz, who was too ill to walk, together with claas anderson, also sick unto death, were dragged to the strand in sleds, and tenderly placed on board. barendz had, however, despite his illness, drawn up a triple record of their voyage; one copy being fastened to the chimney of their deserted house, and one being placed in each of the boats. their voyage was full of danger as they slowly retraced their way along the track by which they reached the memorable ice haven, once more doubling the cape of desire and heading for the point of consolation--landmarks on their desolate progress, whose nomenclature suggests the immortal apologue so familiar to anglo-saxon ears. off the ice-hook, both boats came alongside each other, and skipper heemskerk called out to william barendz to ask how it was with him. "all right, mate," replied barendz, cheerfully; "i hope to be on my legs again before we reach the ward-huis." then' he begged de veer to lift him up, that he might look upon the ice-hook once more. the icebergs crowded around them, drifting this way and that, impelled by mighty currents and tossing on an agitated sea. there was "a hideous groaning and bursting and driving of the ice, and it seemed every moment as if the boats were to be dashed into a hundred pieces." it was plain that their voyage would now be finished for ever, were it not possible for some one of their number to get upon the solid ice beyond and make fast a line. "but who is to bell the cat?" said gerrit de veer, who soon, however, volunteered himself, being the lightest of all. leaping from one floating block to another at the imminent risk of being swept off into space, he at last reached a stationary island, and fastened his rope. thus they warped themselves once more into the open sea. on the th june william barendz lay in the boat studying carefully the charts which they had made of the land and ocean discovered in their voyage. tossing about in an open skiff upon a polar sea, too weak to sit upright, reduced by the unexampled sufferings of that horrible winter almost to a shadow, he still preserved his cheerfulness, and maintained that he would yet, with god's help, perform his destined task. in his next attempt he would steer north-east from the north cape, he said, and so discover the passage. while he was "thus prattling," the boatswain of the other boat came on board, and said that claas anderson would hold out but little longer. "then," said william barendz, "methinks i too shall last but a little while. gerrit, give me to drink." when he had drunk, he turned his eyes on de veer and suddenly breathed his last. great was the dismay of his companions, for they had been deceived by the dauntless energy of the man, thus holding tenaciously to his great purpose, unbaffled by danger and disappointment, even to the last instant of life. he was their chief pilot and guide, "in whom next to god they trusted." and thus the hero, who for vivid intelligence, courage, and perseverance amid every obstacle, is fit to be classed among the noblest of maritime adventurers, had ended his career. nor was it unmeet that the man who had led those three great although unsuccessful enterprises towards the north pole, should be laid at last to rest--like the soldier dying in a lost battle--upon the field of his glorious labours. nearly six weeks longer they struggled amid tempestuous seas. hugging the shore, ever in danger of being dashed to atoms by the ice, pursued by their never-failing enemies the bears, and often sailing through enormous herds of walrusses, which at times gave chase to the boats, they at last reached the schanshoek on the th july. here they met with some russian fishermen, who recognised heemskerk and de veer, having seen them on their previous voyage. most refreshing it was to see other human faces again, after thirteen months' separation from mankind, while the honest muscovites expressed compassion for the forlorn and emaciated condition of their former acquaintance. furnished by them with food and wine, the hollanders sailed in company with the russians as far as the waigats. on the th august they made candenoes, at the mouth of the white sea, and doubling that cape stood boldly across the gulf for kildin. landing on the coast they were informed by the laps that there were vessels from holland at kola. on the th august one of the party, guided by a lap, set forth on foot for that place. four days later the guide was seen returning without their comrade; but their natural suspicion was at once disarmed as the good-humoured savage straightway produced a letter which he handed to heemakerk. breaking the seal, the skipper found that his correspondent expressed great surprise at the arrival of the voyagers, as he he had supposed them all to be long since dead. therefore he was the more delighted with their coming, and promised to be with them soon, bringing with him plenty of food and drink. the letter was signed-- "by me, jan cornelisz ryp." the occurrence was certainly dramatic, but, as one might think, sufficiently void of mystery. yet, astonishing to relate, they all fell to pondering who this john ryp might be who seemed so friendly and sympathetic. it was shrewdly suggested by some that it might perhaps be the sea-captain who had parted company with them off bear island fourteen months before in order to sail north by way of spitzbergen. as his christian name and surname were signed in full to the letter, the conception did not seem entirely unnatural, yet it was rejected on the ground that they had far more reasons to believe that he had perished than he for accepting their deaths as certain. one might imagine it to have been an every day occurrence for hollanders to receive letters by a lapland penny postman in those, desolate regions. at last heemskerk bethought himself that among his papers were several letters from their old comrade, and, on comparison, the handwriting was found the same as that of the epistle just received. this deliberate avoidance of any hasty jumping at conclusions certainly inspires confidence in the general right accuracy of the adventurers, and we have the better right to believe that on the th january the sun's disk was really seen by them in the ice harbour--a fact long disputed by the learned world--when the careful weighing of evidence on the less important matter of ryp's letter is taken into account. meantime while they were slowly admitting the identity of their friend and correspondent, honest john cornelius ryp himself arrived--no fantastic fly-away hollander, but in full flesh and blood, laden with provisions, and greeting them heartily. he had not pursued his spitzbergen researches of the previous year, but he was now on a trading voyage in a stout vessel, and he conveyed them all by way of the ward-huis, where he took in a cargo, back to the fatherland. they dropped anchor in the meuse on the th october, and on the st november arrived at amsterdam. here, attired in their robes and caps of white fox-skin which they had worn while citizens of nova zembla, they were straightway brought before the magistrates to give an account of their adventures. they had been absent seventeen months, they had spent a whole autumn, winter, and spring--nearly ten months--under the latitude of deg. in a frozen desert, where no human beings had ever dwelt before, and they had penetrated beyond deg. north--a farther stride towards the pole than had ever been hazarded. they had made accurate geographical, astronomical, and meteorological observations of the regions visited. they had carefully measured latitudes and longitudes and noted the variations of the magnet. they had thoroughly mapped out, described, and designated every cape, island, hook, and inlet of those undiscovered countries, and more than all, they had given a living example of courage, endurance, patience under hardship, perfect discipline, fidelity, to duty, and trust in god, sufficient to inspire noble natures with emulation so long as history can read moral lessons to mankind. no farther attempt was made to discover the north-eastern passage. the enthusiasm of barendz had died with him, and it may be said that the stern negation by which this supreme attempt to solve the mystery of the pole was met was its best practical result. certainly all visions of a circumpolar sea blessed with a gentle atmosphere and eternal tranquillity, and offering a smooth and easy passage for the world's commerce between europe and asia, had been for ever dispelled. the memorable enterprise of barendz and heemskerk has been thought worthy of a minute description because it was a voyage of discovery, and because, however barren of immediate practical results it may, seem to superficial eyes, it forms a great landmark in the history of human progress and the advancement of science. contemporaneously with these voyages towards the north pole, the enlightened magistrates of the netherland municipalities, aided by eminent private citizens, fitted out expeditions in the opposite direction. it was determined to measure strength with the lord of the land and seas, the great potentate against whom these republicans had been so long in rebellion, in every known region of the globe. both from the newly discovered western world, and from the ancient abodes of oriental civilization, spanish monopoly had long been furnishing the treasure to support spanish tyranny, and it was the dearest object of netherland ambition to confront their enemy in both those regions, and to clip both those overshadowing wings of his commerce at once. the intelligence, enthusiasm, and tenacity in wrestling against immense obstacles manifested by the young republic at this great expanding era of the world's history can hardly be exaggerated. it was fitting that the little commonwealth, which was foremost among the nations in its hatred of tyranny, its love of maritime adventure, and its aptitude for foreign trade, should take the lead in the great commercial movements which characterized the close of the sixteenth and the commencement of the seventeenth centuries. while barendz and heemskerk were attempting to force the frozen gates which were then supposed to guard the northern highway of commerce, fleets were fitting out in holland to storm the southern pole, or at least to take advantage of the pathways already opened by the genius and enterprise of the earlier navigators of the century. linschoten had taught his countrymen the value of the technical details of the indian trade as then understood. the voyages of the brothers houtmann, - , the first dutch expeditions to reach the east by doubling the cape of good hope, were undertaken according to his precepts, and directed by the practical knowledge obtained by the houtmanns during a residence in portugal, but were not signalized by important discoveries. they are chiefly memorable as having laid the foundation of the vast trade out of which the republic was to derive so much material power, while at the same time they mark the slight beginnings of that mighty monopoly, the dutch east india company, which was to teach such tremendous lessons in commercial restriction to a still more colossal english corporation, that mercantile tyrant only in our own days overthrown. at the same time and at the other side of the world seven ships, fitted out from holland by private enterprise, were forcing their way to the south sea through the terrible strait between patagonia and fire land; then supposed the only path around the globe. for the tortuous mountain channel, filled with whirlpools and reefs, and the home of perpetual tempest, which had been discovered in the early part of the century by magellan, was deemed the sole opening pierced by nature through the mighty southern circumpolar continent. a few years later a daring hollander was to demonstrate the futility of this theory, and to give his own name to a broader pathway, while the stormy headland of south america, around which the great current of universal commerce was thenceforth to sweep, was baptized by the name of the tranquil town in west friesland where most of his ship's company were born. meantime the seven ships under command of jacob mahu, simon de cordes, and sebald de weerdt; were contending with the dangers of the older route. the expedition sailed from holland in june, , but already the custom was forming itself of directing those navigators of almost unknown seas by explicit instructions from those who remained on shore, and who had never navigated the ocean at all. the consequence on this occasion was that the voyagers towards the straits of magellan spent a whole summer on the coast of africa, amid pestiferous heats and distracting calms, and reached the straits only in april of the following year. admiral mahu and a large proportion of the crew had meantime perished of fevers contracted by following the course marked out for them by their employers, and thus diminished in numbers, half-stripped of provisions, and enfeebled by the exhausting atmosphere of the tropics, the survivors were ill prepared to confront the antarctic ordeal which they were approaching. five months longer the fleet, under command of admiral de cordes, who had succeeded to the command, struggled in those straits, where, as if in the home of eolus, all the winds of heaven seemed holding revel; but indifference to danger, discipline, and devotion to duty marked the conduct of the adventurers, even as those qualities had just been distinguishing their countrymen at the other pole. they gathered no gold, they conquered no kingdoms, they made few discoveries, they destroyed no fleets, yet they were the first pioneers on a path on which thereafter were to be many such achievements by the republic. at least one heroic incident, which marked their departure from the straits, deserves to be held in perpetual remembrance. admiral de cordes raised on the shore, at the western mouth of the channel, a rude memorial with an inscription that the netherlanders were the first to effect this dangerous passage with a fleet of heavy ships. on the following day, in commemoration of the event, he founded an order of knighthood. the chief officers of the squadron were the knights-commanders, and the most deserving of the crew were the knights-brethren. the members of the fraternity made solemn oath to de cordes, as general, and to each other, that "by no danger, no necessity, nor by the fear of death, would they ever be moved to undertake anything prejudicial to their honour, to, the welfare of the fatherland, or to the success of the enterprise in which they were engaged; pledging themselves to stake their lives in order, consistently with honour, to inflict every possible damage on the hereditary enemy, and to plant the banner of holland in all those territories whence the king of spain gathered the treasures with which he had carried on this perpetual war against the netherlands." thus was instituted on the desolate shores of fire land the order of knights of the unchained lion, with such rude solemnities as were possible in those solitudes. the harbour where the fleet was anchored was called the chevaliers' bay, but it would be in vain to look on modern maps for that heroic appellation. patagonia and tierra del fuego know the honest knights of the unchained lion no more; yet to an unsophisticated mind no stately brotherhood of sovereigns and patricians seems more thoroughly inspired with the spirit of christian chivalry than were those weather-beaten adventurers. the reefs and whirlwinds of unknown seas, polar cold, patagonian giants, spanish cruisers, a thousand real or fabulous dangers environed them. their provisions were already running near exhaustion; and they were feeding on raw seal-flesh, on snails and mussels, and on whatever the barren rocks and niggard seas would supply, to save them from absolutely perishing, but they held their resolve to maintain their honour unsullied, to be true to each other and to the republic, and to circumnavigate the globe to seek the proud enemy of their fatherland on every sea, and to do battle with him in every corner of the earth. the world had already seen, and was still to see, how nobly netherlanders could keep their own. meantime disaster on disaster descended on this unfortunate expedition. one ship after another melted away and was seen no more. of all the seven, only one, that of sebald de weerdt, ever returned to the shores of holland. another reached japan, and although the crew fell into hostile hands, the great trade with that oriental empire was begun. in a third--the blyde boodachaft, or good news--dirk gerrits sailed nearer the south pole than man had ever been before, and discovered, as he believed, a portion of the southern continent, which he called, with reason good, gerrit's land. the name in course of time faded from maps and charts, the existence of the country was disputed, until more than two centuries later the accuracy of the dutch commander was recognised. the rediscovered land however no longer bears his name, but has been baptized south shetland. thus before the sixteenth century had closed, the navigators of holland had reached almost the extreme verge of human discovery at either pole. chapter xxxvii. military operations in the netherlands--designs of the spanish commander--siege of orsoy--advance upon rheinberg--murder of the count of broeck and his garrison--capture of rees and emmerich-- outrages of the spanish soldiers in the peaceful provinces-- inglorious attempt to avenge the hostilities--state of trade in the provinces--naval expedition under van der does--arrival of albert and isabella at brussels--military operations of prince maurice-- negotiation between london and brussels--henry's determination to enact the council of trent--his projected marriage--queen elizabeth and envoy caron--peace proposals of spain to elizabeth--conferences at gertruydenberg--uncertain state of affairs. the military operations in the netherlands during the whole year were on a comparatively small scale and languidly conducted. the states were exhausted by the demands made upon the treasury, and baffled by the disingenuous policy of their allies. the cardinal-archduke, on the other hand, was occupied with the great events of his marriage, of his father-in-law's death, and of his own succession in conjunction with his wife to the sovereignty of the provinces. in the autumn, however, the admiral of arragon, who, as has been stated, was chief military commander during the absence of albert, collected an army of twenty-five thousand foot and two thousand cavalry, crossed the meuse at roermond, and made his appearance before a small town called orsoy, on the rhine. it was his intention to invade the duchies of clever, juliers, and berg, taking advantage of the supposed madness of the duke, and of the spanish inclinations of his chief counsellors, who constituted a kind of regency. by obtaining possession of these important provinces--wedged as they were between the territory of the republic, the obedient netherlands, and germany--an excellent military position would be gained for making war upon the rebellious districts from the east, for crushing protestantism in the duchies, for holding important passages of the rhine, and for circumventing the designs of the protestant sons-in-law and daughters of the old duke of cleves. of course, it was the determination of maurice and the states-general to frustrate these operations. german and dutch protestantism gave battle on this neutral ground to the omnipotent tyranny of the papacy and spain. unfortunately, maurice had but a very slender force that autumn at his command. fifteen hundred horse and six thousand infantry were all his effective troops, and with these he took the field to defend the borders of the republic, and to out-manoeuvre, so far as it might lie in his power, the admiral with his far-reaching and entirely unscrupulous designs. with six thousand spanish veterans, two thousand italians, and many walloon and german regiments under bucquoy, hachincourt, la bourlotte, stanley, and frederic van den berg, the admiral had reached the frontiers of the mad duke's territory. orsoy was garrisoned by a small company of "cocks' feathers," or country squires, and their followers. presenting himself in person before the walls of the town, with a priest at his right hand and a hangman holding a bundle of halters at the other, he desired to be informed whether the governor would prefer to surrender or to hang with his whole garrison. the cock feathers surrendered. the admiral garrisoned and fortified orsoy as a basis and advanced upon rheinberg, first surprising the count of broeck in his castle, who was at once murdered in cold blood with his little garrison. he took burik on the th october, rheinberg on the th of the same month, and compounded with wesel for a hundred and twenty thousand florins. leaving garrisons in these and a few other captured places, he crossed the lippe, came to borhold, and ravaged the whole country side. his troops being clamorous for pay were only too eager to levy black-mail on this neutral territory. the submission of the authorities to this treatment brought upon them a reproach of violation of neutrality by the states-general; the governments of munster and of the duchies being informed that, if they aided and abetted the one belligerent, they must expect to be treated as enemies by the other. the admiral took rees on the th october, and emmerich on the nd november--two principal cities of cleves. on the th november he crossed into the territory of the republic and captured deutekom, after a very short siege. maurice, by precaution, occupied sevenaer in cleves. the prince--whose difficult task was to follow up and observe an enemy by whom he was outnumbered nearly four to one, to harass him by skirmishes, to make forays on his communications, to seize important points before he could reach them, to impose upon him by an appearance of far greater force than the republican army could actually boast, to protect the cities of the frontier like zutphen, lochem, and doesburg, and to prevent him from attempting an invasion of the united provinces in force, by crossing any of the rivers, either in the autumn or after the winter's ice had made them passable for the spanish army-succeeded admirably in all his strategy. the admiral never ventured to attack him, for fear of risking a defeat of his whole army by an antagonist whom he ought to have swallowed at a mouthful, relinquished all designs upon the republic, passed into munster, cleves, and berg, and during the whole horrible winter converted those peaceful provinces into a hell. no outrage which even a spanish army could inflict was spared the miserable inhabitants. cities and villages were sacked and burned, the whole country was placed under the law of black-mail. the places of worship, mainly protestant, were all converted at a blow of the sword into catholic churches. men were hanged, butchered, tossed in sport from the tops of steeples, burned, and buried alive. women of every rank were subjected by thousands to outrage too foul and too cruel for any but fiends or spanish soldiers to imagine. such was the lot of thousands of innocent men and women at the hands of philip's soldiers in a country at peace with philip, at the very moment when that monarch was protesting with a seraphic smile on his expiring lips that he had never in his whole life done injury to a single human being. in vain did the victims call aloud upon their sovereign, the emperor rudolph. the spaniards laughed the feeble imperial mandates to scorn, and spurned the word neutrality. "oh, poor roman empire!" cried john fontanus, "how art thou fallen! thy protector has become thy despoiler, and, although thy members see this and know it, they sleep through it all. one day they may have a terrible awakening from their slumbers . . . . . . . the admiral of arragon has entirely changed the character of the war, recognizes no neutrality, saying that there must be but one god, one pope, and one king, and that they who object to this arrangement must be extirpated with fire and sword, let them be where they may." the admiral, at least, thoroughly respected the claims of the dead philip to universal monarchy. maurice gained as much credit by the defensive strategy through which he saved the republic from the horrors thus afflicting its neighbours, as he had ever done by his most brilliant victories. queen elizabeth was enchanted with the prowess of the prince, and with the sagacious administration of those republican magistrates whom she never failed to respect, even when most inclined to quarrel with them. "never before was it written or heard of," said the queen, "that so great an extent of country could be defended with so few troops, that an invasion of so superior a hostile force could be prevented, especially as it appeared that all the streams and rivers were frozen." this, she added, was owing to the wise and far-seeing counsels of the states-general, and to the faithful diligence of their military commander, who now, as she declared, deserved the title of the first captain of all christendom. a period of languor and exhaustion succeeded. the armies of the states had dwindled to an effective force of scarcely four or five thousand men, while the new levies came in but slowly. the taxation, on the other hand, was very severe. the quotas for the provinces had risen to the amount of five million eight hundred thousand florins for the year , against an income of four millions six hundred thousand, and this deficit went on increasing, notwithstanding a new tax of one-half per cent. on the capital of all estates above three thousand florins in value, and another of two and a half per cent. on all sales of real property. the finances of the obedient provinces were in a still worse condition, and during the absence of the cardinal-archduke an almost universal mutiny, occasioned by the inability of the exchequer to provide payment for the troops, established itself throughout flanders and brabant. there was much recrimination on the subject of the invasion of the rhenish duchies, and a war of pamphlets and manifestos between the archduke's government and the states-general succeeded to those active military operations by which so much misery had been inflicted on the unfortunate inhabitants of that border land. there was a slight attempt on the part of the princes of brunswick, hesse, and brandenburg to counteract and to punish the hostilities of the spanish troops committed upon german soil. an army--very slowly organized, against the wishes of the emperor, the bishops, and the catholic party--took the field, and made a feeble demonstration upon rheinberg and upon rees entirely without result and then disbanded itself ingloriously. meantime the admiral had withdrawn from german territory, and was amusing himself with a variety of blows aimed at vital points of the republic. an excursion into the isle of bommel was not crowned with much success. the assault on the city was repulsed. the fortress of crevecoeur was, however, taken, and the fort of st. andrew constructed--in spite of the attempts of the states to frustrate the design--at a point commanding the course of both the waal and the meuse. having placed a considerable garrison in each of those strongholds, the admiral discontinued his labours and went into winter-quarters. the states-general for political reasons were urgent that prince maurice should undertake some important enterprise, but the stadholder, sustained by the opinion of his cousin lewis william, resisted the pressure. the armies of the commonwealth were still too slender in numbers and too widely scattered for active service on a large scale, and the season for active campaigning was wisely suffered to pass without making any attempt of magnitude during the year. the trade of the provinces, moreover, was very much hampered, and their revenues sadly diminished by the severe prohibitions which had succeeded to the remarkable indulgence hitherto accorded to foreign commerce. edicts in the name of the king of spain and of the archdukes albert and isabella, forbidding all intercourse between the rebellious provinces and the obedient netherlands or any of the spanish possessions, were met by countervailing decrees of the states-general. free trade with its enemies and with all the world, by means of which the commonwealth had prospered in spite of perpetual war, was now for a season destroyed, and the immediate results were at once visible in its diminished resources. to employ a portion of the maritime energies of the hollanders and zeelanders, thus temporarily deprived of a sufficient field, a naval expedition of seventy-five war vessels under admiral van der does was fitted out, but met with very trifling success. they attacked and plundered the settlements and forts of the canary islands, inflicted much damage on the inhabitants, sailed thence to the isle of st. thomas, near the equator, where the towns and villages were sacked and burned, and where a contagious sickness broke out in the fleet, sweeping off in a very brief period a large proportion of the crew. the admiral himself fell a victim to the disease and was buried on the island. the fleet put to sea again under admiral storm van wena, but the sickness pursued the adventurers on their voyage towards brazil, one thousand of them dying at sea in fifteen days. at brazil they accomplished nothing, and, on their homeward voyage, not only the new commander succumbed to the same contagion, but the mortality continued to so extraordinary an extent that, on the arrival of the expedition late in the winter in holland, there were but two captains left alive, and, in many of the vessels, not more than six sound men to each. nothing could be more wretched than this termination of a great and expensive voyage, which had occasioned such high hopes throughout the provinces; nothing more dismal than the political atmosphere which surrounded the republic during the months which immediately ensued. it was obvious to barneveld and the other leading personages, in whose hands was the administration of affairs, that a great military success was absolutely indispensable, if the treacherous cry of peace, when peace was really impossible, should not become universal and fatal. meantime affairs were not much more cheerful in the obedient provinces. archduke albert arrived with his bride in the early days of september, , at brussels, and was received with great pomp and enthusiastic rejoicings. when are pomp and enthusiasm not to be obtained by imperial personages, at brief notice and in vast quantities, if managers understand their business? after all, it may be doubted whether the theatrical display was as splendid as that which marked the beginning of the ernestian era. schoolmaster houwaerts had surpassed himself on that occasion, and was no longer capable of deifying the new sovereign as thoroughly as he had deified his brother. much real discontent followed close upon the fictitious enthusiasm. the obedient provinces were poor and forlorn, and men murmured loudly at the enormous extravagance of their new master's housekeeping. there were one hundred and fifty mules, and as many horses in their sovereign's stables, while the expense of feeding the cooks; lackeys, pages, and fine gentlemen who swelled the retinue of the great household, was estimated, without, wages or salaries, at two thousand florins a day. albert had wished to be called a king, but had been unable to obtain the gratification of his wish. he had aspired to be emperor, and he was at least sufficiently imperial in his ideas of expense. the murmurers were loftily rebuked for their complaints, and reminded of the duty of obedient provinces to contribute at least as much for the defence of their masters as the rebels did in maintenance of their rebellion. the provincial estates were summoned accordingly to pay roundly for the expenses of the war as well as of the court, and to enable the new sovereigns to suppress the military mutiny, which amid the enthusiasm greeting their arrival was the one prominent and formidable fact. the archduke was now thirty-nine years of age, the infanta isabella six years younger. she was esteemed majestically beautiful by her courtiers, and cardinal bentivoglio, himself a man of splendid intellect, pronounced her a woman of genius, who had grown to be a prodigy of wisdom, under the tuition of her father, the most sagacious statesman of the age. in attachment to the roman faith and ritual, in superhuman loftiness of demeanour, and in hatred of heretics, she was at least a worthy child of that sainted sovereign. in a moral point of view she was his superior. the archdukes--so albert and isabella were always designated--were a singularly attached couple, and their household, if extravagant and imperial, was harmonious. they loved each other--so it was believed--as sincerely as they abhorred heretics and rebels, but it does not appear that they had a very warm affection for their flemish subjects. every characteristic of their court was spanish. spanish costume, spanish manners, the spanish tongue, were almost exclusively predominant, and although the festivals, dances, banquets, and tourneys, were all very magnificent, the prevailing expression of the brabantine capital resembled that of a spanish convent, so severely correct, so stately, and so grim, was the demeanour of the court. the earliest military operations of the stadholder in the first year of the new century were successful. partly by menace; but more effectually by judicious negotiation. maurice recovered crevecoeur, and obtained the surrender of st. andrew, the fort which the admiral had built the preceding year in honour of albert's uncle. that ecclesiastic, with whom mendoza had wrangled most bitterly during the whole interval of albert's absence, had already taken his departure for rome, where he soon afterwards died. the garrisons of the forts, being mostly walloon soldiers, forsook the spanish service for that of the states, and were banded together in a legion some twelve hundred strong, which became known as the "new beggars," and were placed under the nominal command of frederick henry of nassau, youngest child of william the silent. the next military event of the year was a mad combat, undertaken by formal cartel, between breaute, a young norman noble in the service of the republic, and twenty comrades, with an equal number of flemish warriors from the obedient provinces, under grobbendonck. about one half of the whole number were killed, including the leaders, but the encounter, although exciting much interest at the time, had of course no permanent importance. there was much negotiation, informal and secret, between brussels and london during this and a portion of the following year. elizabeth, naturally enough, was weary of the war, but she felt, after all, as did the government of france, that a peace between the united netherlands and spain would have for its result the restoration of the authority of his most catholic majesty over all the provinces. the statesmen of france and england, like most of the politicians of europe, had but slender belief in the possibility of a popular government, and doubted therefore the continued existence of the newly-organized republic. therefore they really deprecated the idea of a peace which should include the states, notwithstanding that from time to time the queen or some of her counsellors had so vehemently reproached the netherlanders with their unwillingness to negotiate. "at the first recognition that these people should make of the mere shadow of a prince," said buzanval, the keenly observing and experienced french envoy at the hague, "they lose the form they have. all the blood of the body would flow to the head, and the game would be who should best play the valet. . . . the house of nassau would lose its credit within a month in case of peace." as such statesmen could not imagine a republic, they ever dreaded the restoration in the united provinces of the subverted authority of spain. france and england were jealous of each other, and both were jealous of spain. therefore even if the republican element, the strength and endurance of which was so little suspected, had been as trifling a factor in the problem, as was supposed, still it would have been difficult for any one of these powers to absorb the united netherlands. as for france, she hardly coveted their possession. "we ought not to flatter ourselves," said buzanval, "that these maritime peoples will cast themselves one day into our nets, nor do i know that it would be advisable to pull in the net if they should throw themselves in." henry was full of political schemes and dreams at this moment--as much as his passion for mademoiselle d'entraigues, who had so soon supplanted the image of the dead gabrielle in his heart, would permit. he was very well disposed to obtain possession of the spanish netherlands, whenever he should see his way to such an acquisition, and was even indulging in visions of the imperial crown. he was therefore already, and for the time at least, the most intense of papists. he was determined to sacrifice the huguenot chiefs, and introduce the council of trent, in order, as he told du plessis, that all might be christians. if he still retained any remembrance of the ancient friendship between himself and the heretic republic, it was not likely to exhibit itself, notwithstanding his promises and his pecuniary liabilities to her, in anything more solid than words. "i repeat it," said the dutch envoy at paris; "this court cares nothing for us, for all its cabals tend to close union with rome, whence we can expect nothing but foul weather. the king alone has any memory of our past services." but imperturbable and self-confident as ever, henry troubled himself little with fears in regard to the papal supremacy, even when his parliament professed great anxiety in regard to the consequences of the council of trent, if not under him yet under his successors. "i will so bridle the popes," said he, cheerfully, "that they will never pass my restrictions. my children will be still more virtuous and valiant than i. if i have none, then the devil take the hindmost. nevertheless i choose that the council shall be enacted. i desire it more ardently than i pressed the edict for the protestants." such being the royal humour at the moment, it may well be believed that duplessis mornay would find but little sunshine from on high on the occasion of his famous but forgotten conferences with du perron, now archbishop of evreux, before the king and all the court at fontainebleau. it was natural enough that to please the king the king's old huguenot friend should be convicted of false citations from the fathers; but it would seem strange, were the motives unknown, that henry should have been so intensely interested in this most arid and dismal of theological controversies. yet those who had known and observed the king closely for thirty years, declared that he had never manifested so much passion, neither on the eve of battles nor of amorous assignations, as he then did for the demolition of duplessis and his deductions. he had promised the nuncius that the huguenot should be utterly confounded, and with him the whole fraternity, "for," said the king, "he has wickedly and impudently written against the pope, to whom i owe as much as i do to god." these were not times in which the hollanders, battling as stoutly against spain and the pope as they had done during the years when the republic stood shoulder to shoulder with henry the huguenot, could hope for aid and comfort from their ancient ally. it is very characteristic of that age of dissimulation and of reckless political gambling, that at the very moment when henry's marriage with marie de medicis was already arranged, and when that princess was soon expected in lyons, a cabal at the king's court was busy with absurd projects to marry their sovereign to the infanta of spain. it is true that the infanta was already the wife of the cardinal-archduke, but it was thought possible--for reasons divulged through the indiscretions or inventions of the father confessor--to obtain the pope's dispensation on the ground of the nullity of the marriage. thus there were politicians at the french court seriously occupied in an attempt to deprive the archduke of his wife, of his netherland provinces, and of the crown of, the holy roman empire, which he still hoped to inherit. yet the ink was scarcely dry with which henry had signed the treaty of amity with madrid and brussels. the queen of england, on the other hand--although often listening to secret agents from brussels and madrid who offered peace, and although perfectly aware that the great abject of spain in securing peace with england was to be able to swoop down at once upon the republic, thus deprived of any allies was beside herself with rage, whenever she suspected, with or without reason, that brussels or madrid had been sending peace emissaries to the republic. "before i could get into the room," said caron, on one such occasion, "she called out, 'have you not always told me that the states never could, would, or should treat for peace with the enemy? yet now it is plain enough that they have proceeded only too far in negotiations.' and she then swore a big oath that if the states were to deceive her she meant to take such vengeance that men should talk of it for ever and ever." it was a long time before the envoy could induce her to listen to a single word, although the perfect sincerity of the states in their attitude to the queen and to spain was unquestionable, and her ill-humour on the subject continued long after it had been demonstrated how much she had been deceived. yet it was impossible in the nature of things for the states to play her false, even if no reliance were to be placed on their sagacity and their honour. even the recent naval expedition of the republic against the distant possessions of spain--which in its result had caused so much disappointment to the states, and cost them so many lives, including that of the noble admiral whom every sailor in the netherlands adored had been of immense advantage to england. the queen acknowledged that the dutch navy had averted the storm which threatened to descend upon her kingdom out of spain, the spanish ships destined for the coast of ireland having been dispersed and drawn to the other aide of the world by these demonstrations of her ally. for this she vowed that she would be eternally grateful, and she said as much in "letters full of sugar and honey"--according to the french envoy--which she sent to the states by sir francis vere. she protested, in short, that she had been better and more promptly served in her necessities by the netherlands than by her own subjects. all this sugar and honey however did not make the mission of envoy edmonds less bitter to the states. they heard that he was going about through half the cities of the obedient netherlands in a sort of triumphal procession, and it was the general opinion of the politicians and financiers of the continent that peace between spain and england was as good as made. naturally therefore, notwithstanding the exuberant expressions of gratitude on the part of elizabeth, the republican government were anxious to know what all this parleying meant. they could not believe that people would make a raree-show of the english envoy except for sufficient reason. caron accordingly presented himself before the queen, with respectful inquiries on the subject. he found her in appearance very angry, not with him, but with edmonds, from whom she had received no advices. "i don't know what they are doing with him," said her majesty, "i hear from others that they are ringing the church bells wherever he goes, and that they have carried him through a great many more places than was necessary. i suppose that they think him a monster, and they are carrying him about to exhibit him. all this is done," she continued, "to throw dust in the eyes of the poor people, and to put it into their heads that the queen of england is suing for peace, which is very wide of the mark." she further observed that, as the agents of the spanish government had been perpetually sending to her, she had been inclined once for all to learn what they had to say. thus she should make manifest to all the world that she was not averse to a treaty such as might prove a secure peace for herself and for christendom; otherwise not. it subsequently appeared that what they had to say was that if the queen would give up to the spanish government the cautionary towns which she held as a pledge for her advances to the republic, forbid all traffic and intercourse between her subjects and the netherlanders, and thenceforth never allow an englishman to serve in or with the armies of the states, a peace might be made. surely it needed no great magnanimity on the queen's part to spurn such insulting proposals, the offer of which showed her capable, in the opinion of verreycken, the man who made them, of sinking into the very depths of dishonour. and she did spurn them. surely, for the ally, the protrectress, the grateful friend of the republic, to give its chief seaports to its arch-enemy, to shut the narrow seas against its ships, so that they never more could sail westward, and to abandon its whole population to their fate, would be a deed of treachery such as history, full of human baseness as it is, has rarely been obliged to record. before these propositions had been made by verreycken elizabeth protested that, should he offer them, she would send him home with such an answer that people should talk of it for some time to come. "before i consent to a single one of those points," said the queen, "i wish myself taken from this world. until now i have been a princess of my word, who would rather die than so falsely deceive such good people as the states." and she made those protestations with such expression and attitude that the dutch envoy believed her incapable at that moment of dissimulation. nevertheless her indignation did not carry her so far as to induce her to break off the negotiations. the answer of which mankind was to talk in time to come was simply that she would not send her commissioners to treat for peace unless the spanish government should recede from the three points thus offered by verreycken. this certainly was not a very blasting reply, and the spanish agents were so far from losing heart in consequence that the informal conferences continued for a long time, much to the discomfort of the netherlanders. for more than an hour and a half on one occasion of an uncommonly hot afternoon in april did noel de caron argue with her majesty against these ill-boding negotiations, and ever and anon, oppressed by the heat of the weather and the argument, did the queen wander from one room of the palace to the other in search of cool air, still bidding the envoy follow her footsteps. "we are travelling about like pilgrims," said elizabeth, "but what is life but a pilgrimage?" yet, notwithstanding this long promenade and these moral reflections, caron could really not make out at the end of the interview whether or no she intended to send her commissioners. at last he asked her the question bluntly. "hallo! hallo!" she replied. "i have only spoken to my servant once, and i must obtain more information and think over the matter before i decide. be assured however that i shall always keep you informed of the progress of the negotiations, and do you inform the states that they may build upon me as upon a rock." after the envoy had taken his leave, the queen said to him in latin, "modicae fidei quare dubitasti?" caron had however so nearly got out of the door that he did not hear this admonition. this the queen perceived, and calling him by name repeated, "o caron! modicae fidei quare dubitasti?" adding the injunction that he should remember this dictum, for he well knew what she meant by it. thus terminated the interview, while the negotiations with spain, not for lack of good-will on her part, and despite the positive assertions to the contrary of buzanval and other foreign agents, were destined to come to nothing. at a little later period, at the time of certain informal and secret conferences at gertruydenberg, the queen threatened the envoy with her severest displeasure, should the states dare to treat with spain without her permission. "her majesty called out to me," said caron, "as soon as i entered the room, that i had always assured her that the states neither would nor could make peace with the enemy. yet it was now looking very differently, she continued, swearing with a mighty oath that if the states should cheat her in that way she meant to revenge herself in such a fashion that men would talk of it through all eternity." the french government was in a similar state of alarm in consequence of the gertruydenberg conferences. the envoy of the archdukes, marquis d'havre, reported on the other hand that all attempts to negotiate had proved fruitless, that olden-barneveld, who spoke for all his colleagues, was swollen with pride, and made it but too manifest that the states had no intention to submit to any foreign jurisdiction, but were resolved to maintain themselves in the form of a republic. etext editor's bookmarks: children who had never set foot on the shore done nothing so long as aught remained to do fed on bear's liver, were nearly poisoned to death inhabited by the savage tribes called samoyedes etext editor's bookmarks, entire - united netherlands: a pusillanimous peace, always possible at any period a despot really keeps no accounts, nor need to do so accustomed to the faded gallantries alexander's exuberant discretion all italy was in his hands all fellow-worms together allow her to seek a profit from his misfortune anatomical study of what has ceased to exist artillery at length the twig was becoming the tree auction sales of judicial ermine being the true religion, proved by so many testimonies beneficent and charitable purposes (war) bomb-shells were not often used although known for a century burning of servetus at geneva certainly it was worth an eighty years' war chief seafaring nations of the world were already protestant children who had never set foot on the shore chronicle of events must not be anticipated conceding it subsequently, after much contestation conformity of governments to the principles of justice considerable reason, even if there were but little justice constant vigilance is the price of liberty continuing to believe himself invincible and infallible court fatigue, to scorn pleasure deal with his enemy as if sure to become his friend decline a bribe or interfere with the private sale of places disciple of simon stevinus divine right of kings done nothing so long as aught remained to do eat their own children than to forego one high mass ever met disaster with so cheerful a smile every one sees what you seem, few perceive what you are evil has the advantage of rapidly assuming many shapes famous fowl in every pot fed on bear's liver, were nearly poisoned to death fellow worms had been writhing for half a century in the dust fled from the land of oppression to the land of liberty for his humanity towards the conquered garrisons (censured) for us, looking back upon the past, which was then the future french seem madmen, and are wise future world as laid down by rival priesthoods german highland and the german netherland god of wrath who had decreed the extermination of all unbeliever had industry been honoured instead of being despised hanging of mary dyer at boston hardly an inch of french soil that had not two possessors he spent more time at table than the bearnese in sleep henry the huguenot as the champion of the council of trent highest were not necessarily the least slimy his invectives were, however, much stronger than his arguments historical scepticism may shut its eyes to evidence history is but made up of a few scattered fragments history is a continuous whole of which we see only fragments holy institution called the inquisition hugo grotius humanizing effect of science upon the barbarism of war idle, listless, dice-playing, begging, filching vagabonds ignorance is the real enslaver of mankind imagining that they held the world's destiny in their hands imposed upon the multitudes, with whom words were things impossible it was to invent terms of adulation too gross in times of civil war, to be neutral is to be nothing inevitable fate of talking castles and listening ladies infinite capacity for pecuniary absorption inhabited by the savage tribes called samoyedes innocent generation, to atone for the sins of their forefathers intelligence, science, and industry were accounted degrading invaluable gift which no human being can acquire, authority king was often to be something much less or much worse king had issued a general repudiation of his debts labour was esteemed dishonourable leading motive with all was supposed to be religion life of nations and which we call the past little army of maurice was becoming the model for europe loud, nasal, dictatorial tone, not at all agreeable luxury had blunted the fine instincts of patriotism magnificent hopefulness man had no rights at all he was property maritime heretics matters little by what name a government is called meet around a green table except as fencers in the field mondragon was now ninety-two years old moral nature, undergoes less change than might be hoped more catholic than the pope myself seeing of it methinketh that i dream names history has often found it convenient to mark its epochs national character, not the work of a few individuals nothing cheap, said a citizen bitterly, but sermons obscure were thought capable of dying natural deaths octogenarian was past work and past mischief often necessary to be blind and deaf one-third of philip's effective navy was thus destroyed past was once the present, and once the future patriotism seemed an unimaginable idea peace would be destruction philip ii. gave the world work enough picturesqueness of crime placid unconsciousness on his part of defeat plea of infallibility and of authority soon becomes ridiculous portion of these revenues savoured much of black-mail proceeds of his permission to eat meat on fridays rarely able to command, having never learned to obey religion was rapidly ceasing to be the line of demarcation repudiation of national debts was never heard of before rich enough to be worth robbing righteous to kill their own children road to paris lay through the gates of rome royal plans should be enforced adequately or abandoned entirely sacked and drowned ten infant princes sages of every generation, read the future like a printed scroll seems but a change of masks, of costume, of phraseology self-assertion--the healthful but not engaging attribute selling the privilege of eating eggs upon fast-days sentiment of christian self-complacency sewers which have ever run beneath decorous christendom shift the mantle of religion from one shoulder to the other slain four hundred and ten men with his own hand so often degenerated into tyranny (calvinism) some rude lessons from that vigorous little commonwealth spain was governed by an established terrorism spaniards seem wise, and are madmen strangled his nineteen brothers on his accession such a crime as this had never been conceived (bankruptcy) that unholy trinity--force; dogma, and ignorance the history of the netherlands is history of liberty the great ocean was but a spanish lake the divine speciality of a few transitory mortals the alcoran was less cruel than the inquisition the nation which deliberately carves itself in pieces the most thriving branch of national industry (smuggler) the record of our race is essentially unwritten there are few inventions in morals they liked not such divine right nor such gentle-mindedness they had come to disbelieve in the mystery of kingcraft thirty thousand masses should be said for his soul thirty-three per cent. interest was paid (per month) those who argue against a foregone conclusion three or four hundred petty sovereigns (of germany) to attack england it was necessary to take the road of ireland toil and sacrifices of those who have preceded us tranquil insolence under the name of religion (so many crimes) unproductive consumption was alarmingly increasing upon their knees, served the queen with wine use of the spade utter want of adaptation of his means to his ends utter disproportions between the king's means and aims valour on the one side and discretion on the other walk up and down the earth and destroy his fellow-creatures we have the reputation of being a good housewife weapons whether murders or stratagems, as if they were acts of virtue while one's friends urge moderation whole revenue was pledged to pay the interest, on his debts wish to sell us the bear-skin before they have killed the bear worn nor caused to be worn the collar of the serf wrath of that injured personage as he read such libellous truths this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, - chapter xli. death of queen elizabeth--condition of spain--legations to james i. --union of england and scotland--characteristics of the new monarch --the english court and government--piratical practices of the english--audience of the states' envoy with king james--queen elizabeth's scheme far remodelling europe--ambassador extraordinary from henry iv. to james--de rosny's strictures on the english people--private interview of de rosny with the states' envoy--de rosny's audience of the king--objects of his mission--insinuations of the duke of northumberland--invitation of the embassy to greenwich--promise of james to protect the netherlands against spain--misgivings of barneveld--conference at arundel house--its unsatisfactory termination--contempt of de rosny for the english counsellors--political aspect of europe--de rosny's disclosure to the king of the secret object of his mission--agreement of james to the proposals of de rosny--ratification of the treaty of alliance-- return of de rosny and suite to france--arrival of the spanish ambassador. on the th of march, , queen elizabeth died at richmond, having nearly completed her seventieth year. the two halves of the little island of britain were at last politically adjoined to each other by the personal union of the two crowns. a foreigner, son of the woman executed by elizabeth, succeeded to elizabeth's throne. it was most natural that the dutch republic and the french king, the archdukes and his catholic majesty, should be filled with anxiety as to the probable effect of this change of individuals upon the fortunes of the war. for this dutch war of independence was the one absorbing and controlling interest in christendom. upon that vast, central, and, as men thought, baleful constellation the fates of humanity, were dependent. around it lesser political events were forced to gravitate, and, in accordance to their relation to it, were bright or obscure. it was inevitable that those whose vocation it was to ponder the aspects of the political firmament, the sages and high-priests who assumed to direct human action and to foretell human destiny, should now be more than ever perplexed. spain, since the accession of philip iii. to his father's throne, although rapidly declining in vital energy, had not yet disclosed its decrepitude to the world. its boundless ambition survived as a political tradition rather than a real passion, while contemporaries still trembled at the vision of universal monarchy in which the successor of charlemagne and of charles v. was supposed to indulge. meantime, no feebler nor more insignificant mortal existed on earth than this dreaded sovereign. scarcely a hairdresser or lemonade-dealer in all spain was less cognizant of the political affairs of the kingdom than was its monarch, for philip's first care upon assuming the crown was virtually to abdicate in favour of the man soon afterwards known as the duke of lerma. it is therefore only by courtesy and for convenience that history recognizes his existence at all, as surely no human being in the reign of philip iii. requires less mention than philip iii. himself. i reserve for a subsequent chapter such rapid glances at the interior condition of that kingdom with which it seemed the destiny of the dutch republic to be perpetually at war, as may be necessary to illustrate the leading characteristics of the third philip's reign. meantime, as the great queen was no more, who was always too sagacious to doubt that the dutch cause was her own--however disposed she might be to browbeat the dutchmen--it seemed possible to spain that the republic might at last be deprived of its only remaining ally. tassis was despatched as chief of a legation, precursory to a more stately embassy to be confided to the duke of frias. the archdukes sent the prince of arenberg, while from the united states came young henry of nassau, associated with john of olden-barneveld, falk, brederode, and other prominent statesmen of the commonwealth. ministers from denmark and sweden, from the palatinate and from numerous other powers, small and great, were also collected to greet the rising sun in united britain, while the, awkward scotchman, who was now called upon to play that prominent part in the world's tragi-comedy which had been so long and so majestically sustained by the "virgin queen," already began to tremble at the plaudits and the bustle which announced how much was expected of the new performer. there was indeed a new sovereign upon the throne. that most regal spirit which had well expressed so many of the highest characteristics of the nation had fled. mankind, has long been familiar with the dark, closing hours of the illustrious reign. the great queen, moody, despairing, dying, wrapt in profoundest thought, with eyes fixed upon the ground or already gazing into infinity, was besought by the counsellors around her to name the man to whom she chose that the crown should devolve. "not to a rough," said elizabeth, sententiously and grimly. when the king of france was named, she shook her head. when philip iii. was suggested, she made a still more significant sign of dissent. when the king of scots was mentioned, she nodded her approval, and again relapsed into silent meditation. she died, and james was king of great britain and ireland. cecil had become his prime minister long before the queen's eyes were closed. the hard-featured, rickety, fidgety, shambling, learned, most preposterous scotchman hastened to take possession of the throne. never--could there have been a more unfit place or unfit hour for such a man. england, although so small in dimensions, so meager in population, so deficient, compared to the leading nations of europe, in material and financial strength, had already her great future swelling in her heart. intellectually and morally she was taking the lead among the nations. even at that day she had produced much which neither she herself nor any other nation seemed destined to surpass. yet this most redoubtable folk only numbered about three millions, one- tenth of them inhabiting london. with the scots and irish added they amounted to less than five millions of souls, hardly a third as many as the homogeneous and martial people of that dangerous neighbour france. ireland was always rebellious; a mere conquered province, hating her tyrant england's laws, religion, and people; loving spain, and believing herself closely allied by blood as well as sympathy to that most catholic land. scotland, on the accession of james, hastened to take possession of england. never in history had two races detested each other more fervently. the leeches and locusts of the north, as they were universally designated in england, would soon have been swept forth from the country, or have left it of their own accord, had not the king employed all that he had of royal authority or of eloquent persuasion to retain them on the soil. of union, save the personal union of the sceptre, there was no thought. as in ireland there was hatred to england and adoration for spain; so in scotland, france was beloved quite as much as england was abhorred. who could have foretold, or even hoped, that atoms so mutually repulsive would ever have coalesced into a sympathetic and indissoluble whole? even the virtues of james were his worst enemies. as generous as the day, he gave away with reckless profusion anything and everything that he could lay his hands upon. it was soon to appear that the great queen's most unlovely characteristic, her avarice; was a more blessed quality to the nation she ruled than the ridiculous prodigality of james. two thousand gowns, of the most, expensive material, adorned with gold, pearls, and other bravery--for elizabeth was very generous to herself-- were found in the queen's wardrobe, after death. these magnificent and costly robes, not one of which had she vouchsafed to bestow upon or to bequeath to any of her ladies of honour, were now presented by her successor to a needy scotch lord, who certainly did not intend to adorn his own person therewith. "the hat was ever held out," said a splenetic observer, "and it was filled in overflowing measure by the new monarch." in a very short period he had given away--mainly to scotchmen--at least two millions of crowns, in various articles of personal property. yet england was very poor. the empire, if so it could be called, hardly boasted a regular revenue of more than two millions of dollars a year; less than that of a fortunate individual or two, in our own epoch, both in europe and america; and not one-fifth part of the contemporary income of france. the hundred thousand dollars of scotland's annual budget did not suffice to pay its expenses, and ireland was a constant charge upon the imperial exchequer. it is astounding, however, to reflect upon the pomp, extravagance, and inordinate pride which characterized the government and the court. the expenses of james's household were at least five hundred thousand crowns, or about one quarter of the whole revenue of the empire. henry iv., with all his extravagance, did not spend more than one-tenth of the public income of france upon himself and his court. certainly if england were destined to grow great it would be in despite of its new monarch. hating the people, most intolerant in religion, believing intensely in royal prerogative, thoroughly convinced of his regal as well as his personal infallibility, loathing that inductive method of thought which was already leading the english nation so proudly on the road of intellectual advancement, shrinking from the love of free inquiry, of free action, of daring adventure, which was to be the real informing spirit of the great british nation; abhorring the puritans-- that is to say, one-third of his subjects--in whose harsh, but lofty. nature he felt instinctively that popular freedom was enfolded--even as the overshadowing tree in the rigid husk--and sending them forth into the far distant wilderness to wrestle with wild beasts and with savages more ferocious than beasts; fearing and hating the catholics as the sworn enemies of his realm; his race, and himself, trampling on them as much as he dared, forcing them into hypocrisy to save themselves from persecution or at least pecuniary ruin--if they would worship god according to their conscience; at deadly feud, therefore, on religious grounds, with much more than half his subjects--puritans or papists--and yet himself a puritan in dogma and a papist in church government, if only the king could be pope; not knowing, indeed, whether a puritan, or a jesuit whom he called a papist-puritan, should be deemed the more disgusting or dangerous animal; already preparing for his unfortunate successor a path to the scaffold by employing all the pedantry, both theological and philosophical at his command to bring parliaments into contempt, and to place the royal prerogative on a level with divinity; at the head of a most martial, dauntless, and practical nation, trembling, with unfortunate physical timidity, at the sight of a drawn sword; ever scribbling or haranguing in latin, french, or broad scotch, when the world was arming, it must always be a special wonder that one who might have been a respectable; even a useful, pedagogue, should by the caprice of destiny have been permitted, exactly at that epoch to be one of the most contemptible and mischievous of kings. but he had a most effective and energetic minister. even as in spain and in france at the same period, the administration of government was essentially in-one pair of hands. robert cecil, earl of salisbury, ever since the termination of the splendid triumvirate of his father and walsingham, had been in reality supreme. the proud and terrible hunchback, who never forgave, nor forgot to destroy, his enemies, had now triumphed over the last passion of the doting queen. essex had gone to perdition. son of the great minister who had brought the mother of james to the scaffold, salisbury had already extorted forgiveness for that execution from the feeble king. before elizabeth was in her grave, he was already as much the favourite of her successor as of herself, governing scotland as well as england, and being prime minister of great britain before great britain existed. lord high treasurer and first secretary of state, he was now all in all in the council. the other great lords, highborn and highly titled as they were and served at their banquets by hosts of lackeys on their knees--nottinghams, northamptons, suffolks--were, after all, ciphers or at best, mere pensioners of spain. for all the venality of europe was not confined to the continent. spain spent at least one hundred and fifty thousand crowns annually among the leading courtiers of james while his wife, anne of denmark, a papist at heart, whose private boudoir was filled with pictures and images of the madonna and the saints, had already received one hundred thousand dollars in solid cash from the spanish court, besides much jewelry, and other valuable things. to negotiate with government in england was to bribe, even as at paris or madrid. gold was the only passkey to justice, to preferment, or to power. yet the foreign subsidies to the english court were, after all, of but little avail at that epoch. no man had influence but cecil, and he was too proud, too rich, too powerful to be bribed. alone with clean fingers among courtiers and ministers, he had, however, accumulated a larger fortune than any. his annual income was estimated at two hundred thousand crowns, and he had a vast floating capital, always well employed. among other investments, he had placed half a million on interest in holland,' and it was to be expected, therefore, that he should favour the cause of the republic, rebellious and upstart though it were. the pigmy, as the late queen had been fond of nicknaming him, was the only giant in the government. those crooked shoulders held up, without flinching, the whole burden of the state. pale, handsome, anxious, suffering, and intellectual of visage, with his indomitable spirit, ready eloquence, and nervous energy, he easily asserted supremacy over all the intriguers, foreign and domestic, the stipendiariea, the generals, the admirals, the politicians, at court, as well as over the scotch solomon who sat on the throne. but most certainly, it was for the public good of britain, that europe should be pacified. it is very true that the piratical interest would suffer, and this was a very considerable and influential branch of business. so long as war existed anywhere, the corsairs of england sailed with the utmost effrontery from english ports, to prey upon the commerce of friend and foe alike. after a career of successful plunder, it was not difficult for the rovers to return to their native land, and, with the proceeds of their industry, to buy themselves positions of importance, both social and political. it was not the custom to consider too curiously the source of the wealth. if it was sufficient to dazzle the eyes of the vulgar, it was pretty certain to prove the respectability of the owner. it was in vain that the envoys of the dutch and venetian republics sought redress for the enormous damage inflicted on their commerce by english pirates, and invoked the protection of public law. it was always easy for learned juris-consuls to prove such depredations to be consistent with international usage and with sound morality. even at that period, although england was in population and in wealth so insignificant, it possessed a lofty, insular contempt for the opinions and the doctrines of other nations, and expected, with perfect calmness, that her own principles should be not only admitted, but spontaneously adored. yet the piratical interest was no longer the controlling one. that city on the thames, which already numbered more than three hundred thousand inhabitants, had discovered that more wealth was to be accumulated by her bustling shopkeepers in the paths of legitimate industry than by a horde of rovers over the seas, however adventurous and however protected by government. as for france, she was already defending herself against piracy by what at the period seemed a masterpiece of internal improvement. the seine, the loire, and the rhone were soon to be united in one chain of communication. thus merchandise might be water-borne from the channel to the mediterranean, without risking the five or six months' voyage by sea then required from havre to marseilles, and exposure along the whole coast to attack from the corsairs of england spain and barbary. the envoys of the states-general had a brief audience of the new sovereign, in which little more than phrases of compliment were pronounced. "we are here," said barneveld, "between grief and joy. we have lost her whose benefits to us we can never describe in words, but we have found a successor who is heir not only to her kingdom but to all her virtues." and with this exordium the great advocate plunged at once into the depths of his subject, so far as was possible in an address of ceremony. he besought the king not to permit spain, standing on the neck of the provinces, to grasp from that elevation at other empires. he reminded james of his duty to save those of his own religion from the clutch of a sanguinary superstition, to drive away those lurking satellites of the roman pontiff who considered britain their lawful prey. he implored him to complete the work so worthily begun by elizabeth. if all those bound by one interest should now, he urged, unite their efforts, the spaniard, deprived not only of the netherlands, but, if he were not wise in time, banished from the ocean and stripped of all his transmarine possessions, would be obliged to consent to a peace founded on the only secure basis, equality of strength. the envoy concluded by beseeching the king for assistance to ostend, now besieged for two years long. but james manifested small disposition to melt in the fervour of the advocate's eloquence. he answered with a few cold commonplaces. benignant but extremely cautious, he professed goodwill enough to the states but quite as much for spain, a power with which, he observed, he had never quarrelled, and from which he had received the most friendly offices. the archdukes, too, he asserted, had never been hostile to the realm, but only to the queen of england. in brief, he was new to english affairs, required time to look about him, but would not disguise that his genius was literary, studious, and tranquil, and much more inclined to peace than to war. in truth, james had cause to look very sharply about him. it required an acute brain and steady nerves to understand and to control the whirl of parties and the conflict of interests and intrigues, the chameleon shiftings of character and colour, at this memorable epoch of transition in the realm which he had just inherited. there was a scotch party, favourable on the whole to france; there was a spanish party, there was an english party, and, more busy than all, there was a party--not scotch, nor french, nor english, nor spanish--that un-dying party in all commonwealths or kingdoms which ever fights for itself and for the spoils. france and spain had made peace with each other at vervins five years before, and had been at war ever since. nothing could be plainer nor more cynical than the language exchanged between the french monarch and the representative of spain. that philip iii.--as the spanish government by a convenient fiction was always called--was the head and front of the great savoy-biron conspiracy to take henry's life and dismember his kingdom, was hardly a stage secret. yet diplomatic relations were still preserved between the two countries, and wonderful diplomatic interviews had certainly been taking place in paris. ambassador tassis had walked with lofty port into henry's cabinet, disdaining to salute any of the princes of the blood or high functionaries of state in the apartments through which he passed, and with insolent defiance had called henry to account for his dealing with the dutch rebels. "sire, the king my master finds it very strange," he said, "that you still continue to assist his rebels in holland, and that you shoot at his troops on their way to the netherlands. if you don't abstain from such infractions of his rights he prefers open war to being cheated by such a pretended peace. hereupon i demand your reply." "mr. ambassador," replied the king, "i find it still more strange that your master is so impudent as to dare to make such complaints--he who is daily making attempts upon my life and upon this state. even if i do assist the hollanders, what wrong is that to him? it is an organized commonwealth, powerful, neighbourly, acknowledging no subjection to him. but your master is stirring up rebellion in my own kingdom, addressing himself to the princes of my blood and my most notable officers, so that i have been obliged to cut off the head of one of the most beloved of them all. by these unchristian proceedings he has obliged me to take sides with the hollanders, whom i know to be devoted to me; nor have i done anything for them except to pay the debts i owed them. i know perfectly well that the king your master is the head of this conspiracy, and that the troops of naples were meditating an attack upon my kingdom. i have two letters written by the hand of your master to marshal biron, telling him to trust fuentes as if it were himself, and it is notorious that fuentes has projected and managed all the attempts to assassinate me. do you, think you have a child to deal with? the late king of spain knew me pretty well. if this one thinks himself wiser i shall let him see who i am. do you want peace or war? i am ready for either." the ambassador, whose head had thus been so vigorously washed--as henry expressed it in recounting the interview afterwards to the dutch envoy, dr. aerssens--stammered some unintelligible excuses, and humbly begged his majesty not to be offended. he then retired quite crest-fallen, and took leave most politely of everybody as he went, down even to the very grooms of the chambers. "you must show your teeth to the spaniard," said henry to aerssens, "if you wish for a quiet life." here was unsophisticated diplomacy; for the politic henry, who could forgive assassins and conspirators, crowned or otherwise, when it suited his purpose to be lenient, knew that it was on this occasion very prudent to use the gift of language, not in order to conceal, but to express his thoughts. "i left the king as red as a turkey-cock," said tassis, as soon as he got home that morning, "and i was another turkey-cock. we have been talking a little bit of truth to each other." in truth, it was impossible, as the world was then constituted, that france and spain, in spite of many secret sympathies, should not be enemies; that france, england, and the dutch commonwealth, although cordially disliking each other, should not be allies. even before the death of elizabeth a very remarkable interview had taken place at dover, in which the queen had secretly disclosed the great thoughts with which that most imperial brain was filled just before its boundless activity was to cease for ever. she had wished for a personal interview with the french king, whose wit and valour she had always heartily admired, henry, on his part, while unmercifully ridiculing that preterhuman vanity which he fed with fantastic adulation, never failed to do justice to her genius, and had been for a moment disposed to cross the channel, or even to hold council with her on board ship midway between the two countries. it was however found impracticable to arrange any such meeting, and the gossips of the day hinted that the great henry, whose delight was in battle, and who had never been known to shrink from danger on dry land, was appalled at the idea of sea-sickness, and even dreaded the chance of being kidnapped by the english pirates. the corsairs who drove so profitable a business at that period by plundering the merchantmen of their enemy, of their dutch and french allies, and of their own nation, would assuredly have been pleased with such a prize. the queen had confided to de bethune that she had some thing to say to the king which she could never reveal to other ears than his, but when the proposed visit of henry was abandoned, it was decided that his confidential minister should slip across the channel before elizabeth returned to her palace at greenwich. de bethune accordingly came incognito from calais to dover, in which port he had a long and most confidential interview with the queen. then and there the woman, nearly seventy years of age, who governed despotically the half of a small island, while the other half was in the possession of a man whose mother she had slain, and of a people who hated the english more than they hated the spaniards or the french--a queen with some three millions of loyal but most turbulent subjects in one island, and with about half-a-million ferocious rebels in another requiring usually an army of twenty thousand disciplined soldiers to keep them in a kind of subjugation, with a revenue fluctuating between eight hundred thousand pounds sterling, and the half of that sum, and with a navy of a hundred privateersmen--disclosed to the french envoy a vast plan for regulating the polity and the religion of the civilized world, and for remodelling the map of europe. there should be three religions, said elizabeth--not counting the dispensation from mecca, about which turk and hun might be permitted to continue their struggle on the crepuscular limits of civilization. everywhere else there should be toleration only for the churches of peter, of luther, and of calvin. the house of austria was to be humbled --the one branch driven back to spain and kept there, the other branch to be deprived of the imperial crown, which was to be disposed of as in times past by the votes of the princely electors. there should be two republics--the swiss and the dutch--each of those commonwealths to be protected by france and england, and each to receive considerable parings out of the possessions of spain and the empire. finally, all christendom was to be divided off into a certain number of powers, almost exactly equal to each other; the weighing, measuring, and counting, necessary to obtain this international equilibrium, being of course the duty of the king and queen when they should sit some day together at table. thus there were five points; sovereigns and politicians having always a fondness for a neat summary in five or six points. number one, to remodel the electoral system of the holy roman empire. number two, to establish the republic of the united provinces. number three, to do as much for switzerland. number four, to partition europe. number five, to reduce all religions to three. nothing could be more majestic, no plan fuller fraught with tranquillity for the rulers of mankind and their subjects. thrice happy the people, having thus a couple of heads with crowns upon them and brains within them to prescribe what was to be done in this world and believed as to the next! the illustrious successor of that great queen now stretches her benignant sceptre over two hundred millions of subjects, and the political revenues of her empire are more than a hundredfold those of elizabeth; yet it would hardly now be thought great statesmanship or sound imperial policy for a british sovereign even to imagine the possibility of the five points which filled the royal english mind at dover. but henry was as much convinced as elizabeth of the necessity and the possibility of establishing the five points, and de bethune had been astonished at the exact similarity of the conclusion which those two sovereign intellects had reached, even before they had been placed in communion with each other. the death of the queen had not caused any change in the far-reaching designs of which the king now remained the sole executor, and his first thought, on the accession of james, was accordingly to despatch de bethune, now created marquis de rosny, as ambassador extraordinary to england, in order that the new sovereign might be secretly but thoroughly instructed as to the scheme for remodelling christendom. as rosny was also charged with the duty of formally congratulating king james, he proceeded upon his journey with remarkable pomp. he was accompanied by two hundred gentlemen of quality, specially attached to his embassy--young city fops, as he himself described them, who were out of their element whenever they left the pavement of paris--and by an equal number of valets, grooms, and cooks. such a retinue was indispensable to enable an ambassador to transact the public business and to maintain the public dignity in those days; unproductive consumption being accounted most sagacious and noble. before reaching the english shore the marquis was involved in trouble. accepting the offer of the english vice-admiral lying off calais, he embarked with his suite in two english vessels, much to the dissatisfaction of de vic, vice-admiral of france, who was anxious to convey the french ambassador in the war-ships of his country. there had been suspicion afloat as to the good understanding between england and spain, caused by the great courtesy recently shown to the count of arenberg, and there was intense irritation among all the seafaring people of france on account of the exploits of the english corsairs upon their coast. rosny thought it best to begin his embassy by an act of conciliation, but soon had cause to repent his decision. in mid-channel they were met by de vic's vessels with the french banner displayed, at which sight the english commander was so wroth that he forthwith ordered a broadside to be poured into the audacious foreigner; --swearing with mighty oaths that none but the english flag should be shown in those waters. and thus, while conveying a french ambassador and three hundred frenchmen on a sacred mission to the british sovereign, this redoubtable mariner of england prepared to do battle with the ships of france. it was with much difficulty and some prevarication that rosny appeased the strife, representing that the french flag had only been raised in order that it might be dipped, in honour of the french ambassador, as the ships passed each other. the full-shotted broadside was fired from fifty guns, but the english commander consented, at de rosny's representations, that it should be discharged wide of the mark. a few shots, however, struck the side of one of the french vessels, and at the same time, as cardinal richelieu afterwards remarked, pierced the heart of every patriotic frenchman. the ambassador made a sign, which de vic understood; to lower his flag and to refrain from answering the fire. thus a battle between allies, amid the most amazing circumstances, was avoided, but it may well be imagined how long and how deeply the poison of the insult festered. such an incident could hardly predispose the ambassador in favour of the nation he was about to visit, or strengthen his hope of laying, not only the foundation of a perpetual friendship between the two crowns, but of effecting the palingenesis of europe. yet no doubt sully--as the world has so long learned to call him--was actuated by lofty sentiments in many respects in advance of his age. although a brilliant and successful campaigner in his youth, he detested war, and looked down with contempt at political systems which had not yet invented anything better than gunpowder for the arbitrament of international disputes. instead of war being an occasional method of obtaining peace, it pained him to think that peace seemed only a process for arriving at war. surely it was no epigram in those days, but the simplest statement of commonplace fact, that war was the normal condition of christians. alas will it be maintained that in the two and a half centuries which have since elapsed the world has made much progress in a higher direction? is there yet any appeal among the most civilized nations except to the logic of the largest battalions and the eloquence of the biggest guns? de rosny came to be the harbinger of a political millennium, and he heartily despised war. the schemes, nevertheless, which were as much his own as his master's, and which he was instructed to lay before the english monarch as exclusively his own, would have required thirty years of successful and tremendous warfare before they could have a beginning of development. it is not surprising that so philosophical a mind as his, while still inclining to pacific designs, should have been led by what met his eyes and ears to some rather severe generalizations. "it is certain that the english hate us," he said, "and with a hatred so strong and so general that one is tempted to place it among the natural dispositions of this people. yet it is rather the effect of their pride and their presumption; since there is no nation in europe more haughty, more disdainful, more besotted with the idea of its own excellence. if you were to take their word for it, mind and reason are only found with them; they adore all their opinions and despise those of all other nations; and it never occurs to them to listen to others, or to doubt themselves . . . . . examine what are called with them maxims of state; you will find nothing but the laws of pride itself, adopted through arrogance or through indolence." "placed by nature amidst the tempestuous and variable ocean," he wrote to his sovereign, "they are as shifting, as impetuous, as changeable as its waves. so self-contradictory and so inconsistent are their actions almost in the same instant as to make it impossible that they should proceed from the same persons and the same mind. agitated and urged by their pride and arrogance alone, they take all their imaginations and extravagances for truths and realities; the objects of their desires and affections for inevitable events; not balancing and measuring those desires with the actual condition of things, nor with the character of the people with whom they have to deal." when the ambassador arrived in london he was lodged at arundel palace. he at once became the cynosure of all indigenous parties and of adventurous politicians from every part of europe; few knowing how to shape their course since the great familiar lustre had disappeared from the english sky. rosny found the scotch lords sufficiently favourable to france; the english catholic grandees, with all the howards and the lord high admiral at their head, excessively inclined to spain, and a great english party detesting both spain and france with equal fervour and well enough disposed to the united provinces, not as hating that commonwealth less but the two great powers more. the ambassador had arrived with the five points, not in his portfolio but in his heart, and they might after all be concentrated in one phrase-- down with austria, up with the dutch republic. on his first interview with cecil, who came to arrange for his audience with the king, he found the secretary much disposed to conciliate both spain and the empire, and to leave the provinces to shift for themselves. he spoke of ostend as of a town not worth the pains taken to preserve it, and of the india trade as an advantage of which a true policy required that the united provinces should be deprived. already the fine commercial instinct of england had scented a most formidable rival on the ocean. as for the king, he had as yet declared himself for no party, while all parties were disputing among each other for mastery over him. james found himself, in truth, as much, astray in english politics as he was a foreigner upon english earth. suspecting every one, afraid of every one, he was in mortal awe, most of all, of his wife, who being the daughter of one protestant sovereign and wife of another, and queen of a united realm dependent for its very existence on antagonism to spain and rome, was naturally inclined to spanish politics and the catholic faith. the turbulent and intriguing anne of denmark was not at the moment in london, but james was daily expecting and de bethune dreading her arrival. the ambassador knew very well that, although the king talked big in her absence about the forms which he intended to prescribe for her conduct, he would take orders from her as soon as she arrived, refuse her nothing, conceal nothing from her, and tremble before her as usual. the king was not specially prejudiced in favour of the french monarch or his ambassador, for he had been told that henry had occasionally spoken of him as captain of arts and doctor of arms, and that both the marquis de rosny and his brother were known to have used highly disrespectful language concerning him. before his audience, de rosny received a private visit from barneveld and the deputies of the states-general, and was informed that since his arrival they had been treated with more civility by the king. previously he had refused to see them after the first official reception, had not been willing to grant count henry of nassau a private audience, and had spoken publicly of the states as seditious rebels. oh the st june barneveld had a long private interview with the ambassador at arundel palace, when he exerted all his eloquence to prove the absolute necessity of an offensive and defensive alliance between france and the united provinces if the independence of the republic were ever to be achieved. unless a french army took the field at once, ostend would certainly fall, he urged, and resistance to the spaniards would soon afterwards cease. it is not probable that the advocate felt in his heart so much despair as his words indicated, but he was most anxious that henry should openly declare himself the protector of the young commonwealth, and not indisposed perhaps to exaggerate the dangers, grave as they were without doubt, by which its existence was menaced. the ambassador however begged the hollander to renounce any such hopes, assuring him that the king had no intention of publicly and singly taking upon his shoulders the whole burden of war with spain, the fruits of which would not be his to gather. certainly before there had been time thoroughly to study the character and inclinations of the british monarch it would be impossible for de rosny to hold out any encouragement in this regard. he then asked barneveld what he had been able to discover during his residence in london as to the personal sentiments of james. the advocate replied that at first the king, yielding to his own natural tendencies, and to the advice of his counsellors, had refused the dutch deputies every hope, but that subsequently reflecting, as it would seem, that peace would cost england very dear if english inaction should cause the hollanders to fall again under the dominion of the catholic king, or to find their only deliverance in the protection of france, and beginning to feel more acutely how much england had herself to fear from a power like spain, he had seemed to awake out of a profound sleep, and promised to take these important affairs into consideration. subsequently he had fallen into a dreary abyss of indecision, where he still remained. it was certain however that he would form no resolution without the concurrence of the king of france, whose ambassador he had been so impatiently expecting, and whose proposition to him of a double marriage between their respective children had given him much satisfaction. de rosny felt sure that the dutch statesmen were far too adroit to put entire confidence in anything said by james, whether favourable or detrimental to their cause. he conjured barneveld therefore, by the welfare of his country, to conceal nothing from him in regard to the most secret resolutions that might have been taken by the states in the event of their being abandoned by england, or in case of their being embarrassed by a sudden demand on the part of that power for the cautionary towns offered to elizabeth. barneveld, thus pressed, and considering the ambassador as the confidential counsellor of a sovereign who was the republic's only friend, no longer hesitated. making a merit to himself of imparting an important secret, he said that the state-council of the commonwealth had resolved to elude at any cost the restoration of the cautionary towns. the interview was then abruptly terminated by the arrival of the venetian envoy. the nd of june arrived. the marquis had ordered mourning suits for his whole embassy and retinue, by particular command of his sovereign, who wished to pay this public tribute to the memory of the great queen. to his surprise and somewhat to his indignation, he was however informed that no one, stranger or native, scotchman or englishman, had been permitted to present himself to the king in black, that his appearance there in mourning would be considered almost an affront, and that it was a strictly enforced rule at court to abstain from any mention of elizabeth, and to affect an entire oblivion of her reign. at the last moment, and only because convinced that he might otherwise cause the impending negotiations utterly to fail, the ambassador consented to attire himself, the hundred and twenty gentlemen selected from his diplomatic family to accompany him on this occasion, and all his servants, in gala costume. the royal guards, with the earl of derby at their head, came early in the afternoon to arundel house to escort him to the thames, and were drawn up on the quay as the marquis and his followers embarked in the splendid royal barges provided to convey them to greenwich. on arriving at their destination they were met at the landing by the earl of northumberland, and escorted with great pomp and through an infinite multitude of spectators to the palace. such was the crowd, without and within, of courtiers and common people, that it was a long time before the marquis, preceded by his hundred and twenty gentlemen, reached the hall of audience. at last he arrived at the foot of the throne, when james arose and descended eagerly two steps of the dais in order to greet the ambassador. he would have descended them all had not one of the counsellors plucked him by the sleeve, whispering that he had gone quite far enough. "and if i honour this ambassador," cried james, in a loud voice, "more than is usual, i don't intend that it shall serve as a precedent for others. i esteem and love him particularly, because of the affection which i know he cherishes for me, of his firmness in our religion, and of his fidelity to his master." much more that was personally flattering to the marquis was said thus emphatically by james. to all this the ambassador replied, not by a set discourse, but only by a few words of compliment, expressing his sovereign's regrets at the death of queen elizabeth, and his joy at the accession of the new sovereign. he then delivered his letters of credence, and the complimentary conversation continued; the king declaring that he had not left behind him in scotland his passion for the monarch of france, and that even had he found england at war with that country on his accession he would have instantly concluded a peace with a prince whom he so much venerated. thus talking, the king caused his guest to ascend with him to the uppermost steps of the dais, babbling on very rapidly and skipping abruptly from one subject to another. de rosny took occasion to express his personal esteem and devotion, and was assured by the king in reply that the slanders in regard to him which had reached the royal ears had utterly failed of their effect. it was obvious that they were the invention of spanish intriguers who wished to help that nation to universal monarchy. then he launched forth into general and cordial abuse of spain, much to the satisfaction of count henry of nassau, who stood near enough to hear a good deal of the conversation, and of the other dutch deputies who were moving about, quite unknown, in the crowd. he denounced very vigorously the malignity of the spaniards in lighting fires everywhere in their neighbours' possessions, protested that he would always oppose their wicked designs, but spoke contemptuously of their present king as too feeble of mind and body ever to comprehend or to carry out the projects of his predecessors. among other gossip, james asked the envoy if he went to hear the protestant preaching in london. being answered in the affirmative, he expressed surprise, having been told, he said, that it was rosny's intention to repudiate his religion as de sancy had done, in order to secure his fortunes. the marquis protested that such a thought had never entered his head, but intimated that the reports might come from his familiar intercourse with the papal nuncius and many french ecclesiastics. the king asked if, when speaking with the nuncius, he called the pope his holiness, as by so doing he would greatly offend god, in whom alone was holiness. rosny replied that he commonly used the style prevalent at court, governing himself according to the rules adopted in regard to pretenders to crowns and kingdoms which they thought belonged to them, but the possession of which was in other hands, conceding to them, in order not to offend them, the titles which they claimed. james shook his head portentously, and changed the subject. the general tone of the royal-conversation was agreeable enough to the ambassador, who eagerly alluded to the perfidious conduct of a government which, ever since concluding the peace of vervins with henry, had been doing its best to promote sedition and territorial dismemberment in his kingdom, and to assist all his open and his secret enemies. james assented very emphatically, and the marquis felt convinced that a resentment against spain, expressed so publicly and so violently by james, could hardly fail to, be sincere. he began seriously to, hope that his negotiations would be successful, and was for soaring at once into the regions of high politics, when the king suddenly began to talk of hunting. "and so you sent half the stag i sent you; to count arenberg," said james; "but he is very angry about it; thinking that you did so to show how much more i make of you than i do of him. and so i do; for i know the difference between your king, my brother; and his masters who have sent me an ambassador who can neither walk nor talk, and who asked me to give him audience in a garden because he cannot go upstairs." the king then alluded to tassis, chief courier of his catholic majesty and special envoy from spain, asking whether the marquis had seen him on his passage through france. "spain sends me a postillion-ambassador," said he, "that he may travel the faster and attend to business by post." it was obvious that james took a sincere satisfaction in abusing everything relating to that country from its sovereign and the duke of lerma downwards; but he knew very well that velasco, constable of castile, had been already designated as ambassador, and would soon be on his way to england. de rosny on the termination of his audience, was escorted in great state by the earl of northumberland to the barges. a few days later, the ambassador had another private audience, in which the king expressed himself with apparent candour concerning the balance of power. christendom, in his opinion, should belong in three equal shares to the families of stuart, bourbon, and habsburg; but personal ambition and the force of events had given to the house of austria more than its fair third. sound policy therefore required a combination between france and england, in order to reduce their copartner within proper limits. this was satisfactory as far as it went, and the ambassador complimented the king on his wide views of policy and his lofty sentiments in regard to human rights. warming with the subject, james held language very similar to that which de rosny and his master had used in their secret conferences, and took the ground unequivocally that the secret war levied by spain against france and england, as exemplified in the biron conspiracy, the assault on geneva, the aid of the duke of savoy, and in the perpetual fostering of jesuit intrigues, plots of assassination, and other conspiracies in the british islands, justified a secret war on the part of henry and himself against philip. the ambassador would have been more deeply impressed with the royal language had he felt more confidence in the royal character. highly applauding the sentiments expressed, and desiring to excite still further the resentment of james against spain, he painted a vivid picture of the progress of that aggressive power in the past century. she had devoured flanders, burgundy, granada, navarre, portugal, the german empire, milan, naples, and all the indies. if she had not swallowed likewise both france and england those two crowns were indebted for their preservation, after the firmness of elizabeth and henry, to the fortunate incident of the revolt of the netherlands. de rosny then proceeded to expound the necessity under which james would soon find himself of carrying on open war with spain, and of the expediency of making preparations for the great struggle without loss of time. he therefore begged the king to concert with him some satisfactory measure for the preservation of the united provinces. "but," said james, "what better assistance could we give the netherlanders than to divide their territory between the states and spain; agreeing at the same time to drive the spaniard out altogether, if he violates the conditions which we should guarantee." this conclusion was not very satisfactory to de rosny, who saw in the bold language of the king--followed thus by the indication of a policy that might last to the greek kalends, and permit ostend, dutch flanders, and even the republic to fall--nothing but that mixture of timidity, conceit, and procrastination which marked the royal character. he pointed out to him accordingly that spanish statesmanship could beat the world in the art of delay, and of plucking the fruits of delay, and that when the united provinces had been once subjugated, the turn of england would come. it would be then too late for him to hope to preserve himself by such measures as, taken now, would be most salutary. a few days later the king invited de rosny and the two hundred members of his embassy to dine at greenwich, and the excursion down the thames took place with the usual pomp. the two hundred dined with the gentlemen of the court; while at the king's table, on an elevated platform in the same hall, were no guests but de rosny, and the special envoy of france, count beaumont. the furniture and decorations of the table were sumptuous, and the attendants, to the surprise of the frenchmen, went on their knees whenever they offered wine or dishes to the king. the conversation at first was on general topics, such as the heat of the weather, which happened to be remarkable, the pleasures of the chase, and the merits of the sermon which, as it was sunday, de rosny had been invited to hear before dinner in the royal chapel. soon afterwards, however, some allusion being made to the late queen, james spoke of her with contempt. he went so far as to say that, for a long time before her death, he had governed the councils, of england; all her ministers obeying and serving him much better than they did herself. he then called for wine, and, stretching out his glass towards his two. guests, drank to the health of the king and queen and royal family of france. de rosny, replied by proposing the health of his august host, not forgetting the queen and their children, upon which the king, putting his lips close to the ambassador's ear, remarked that his next toast should be in honour of the matrimonial union which was proposed between the families of britain and france. this was the first allusion made by james to the alliance; and the occasion did not strike the marquis as particularly appropriate to such a topic. he however replied in a whisper that he was rejoiced to hear this language from the king, having always believed that there would be no hesitation on his part between king henry and the monarch of spain, who, as he was aware, had made a similar proposition. james, expressing surprise that his guest was so well informed, avowed that he had in fact received the same offer of the infanta for his son as had been made to his christian majesty for the dauphin. what more convenient counters in the great game of state than an infant prince and princess in each of the three royal families to which europe belonged! to how many grave political combinations were these unfortunate infants to give rise, and how distant the period when great nations might no longer be tied to the pinafores of children in the nursery! after this little confidential interlude, james expressed in loud voice, so that all might hear, his determination never to permit the subjugation of the netherlands by spain. measures should be taken the very next day, he promised, in concert with the ambassador, as to the aid to be given to the states. upon the faith of this declaration de rosny took from his pocket the plan of a treaty, and forthwith, in the presence of all the ministers, placed it in the hands of the king, who meantime had risen from table. the ambassador also took this occasion to speak publicly of the english piracies upon french commerce while the two nations were at peace. the king, in reply, expressed his dissatisfaction at these depredations and at the english admiral who attempted to defend what had been done. he then took leave of his guests, and went off to bed, where it was his custom to pass his afternoons. it was certain that the constable of castile was now to arrive very soon, and the marquis had, meantime, obtained information on which he relied, that this ambassador would come charged with very advantageous offers to the english court. accounts had been got ready in council, of all the moneys due to england by france and by the states, and it was thought that these sums, payment of which was to be at once insisted upon, together with the spanish dollars set afloat in london, would prove sufficient to buy up all resistance to the spanish alliance. such being the nature of the information furnished to de rosny, he did not look forward with very high hopes to the issue of the conference indicated by king james at the greenwich dinner. as, after all, he would have to deal once more with cecil, the master-spirit of the spanish party, it did not seem very probable that the king's whispered professions of affection for france, his very loud denunciations of spanish ambition, and his promises of support to the struggling provinces, would be brought into any substantial form for human nourishment. whispers and big words, touching of glasses at splendid banquets, and proposing of royal toasts, would not go far to help those soldiers in ostend, a few miles away, fighting two years long already for a square half-mile of barren sand, in which seemed centred the world's hopes of freedom. barneveld was inclined to take an even more gloomy view than that entertained by the french ambassador. he had, in truth, no reason to be sanguine. the honest republican envoys had brought no babies to offer in marriage. their little commonwealth had only the merit of exchanging buffets forty years long with a power which, after subjugating the netherlands, would have liked to annihilate france and england too, and which, during that period, had done its best to destroy and dismember both. it had only struggled as no nation in the world's history had ever done, for the great principle upon which the power and happiness of england were ever to depend. it was therefore not to be expected that its representatives should be received with the distinction conferred upon royal envoys. barneveld and his colleagues accordingly were not invited, with two hundred noble hangers-on, to come down the thames in gorgeous array, and dine at greenwich palace; but they were permitted to mix in the gaping crowd of spectators, to see the fine folk, and to hear a few words at a distance which fell from august lips. this was not very satisfactory, as barneveld could rarely gain admittance to james or his ministers. de rosny, however, was always glad to confer with him, and was certainly capable of rendering justice both to his genius and to the sacredness of his cause. the advocate, in a long conference with the ambassador, thought it politic to paint the situation of the republic in even more sombre colours than seemed to de rosny justifiable. he was, indeed, the more struck with barneveld's present despondency, because, at a previous conference, a few days before, he had spoken almost with contempt of the spaniards, expressing the opinion that the mutinous and disorganized condition of the archduke's army rendered the conquest of ostend improbable, and hinted at a plan, of which the world as yet knew nothing, which would save that place, or at any rate would secure such an advantage for the states as to more than counterbalance its possible loss? this very sanguine demeanour had rather puzzled those who had conferred with the advocate, although they were ere long destined to understand his allusions, and it was certainly a contrast to his present gloom. he assured de rosny that the hollanders were becoming desperate, and that they were capable of abandoning their country in mass, and seeking an asylum beyond the seas? the menace was borrowed from the famous project conceived by william the silent in darker days, and seemed to the ambassador a present anachronism. obviously it was thought desirable to force the french policy to extreme lengths, and barneveld accordingly proposed that henry should take the burthen upon his shoulders of an open war with spain, in the almost certain event that england would make peace with that power. de rosny calmly intimated to the advocate that this was asking something entirely beyond his power to grant, as the special object of his mission was to form a plan of concerted action with england. the cautionary towns being next mentioned, barneveld stated that a demand had been made upon envoy caron by cecil for the delivery of those places to the english government, as england had resolved to make peace with spain. the advocate confided, however, to de rosny that the states would interpose difficulties, and that it would be long before the towns were delivered. this important information was given under the seal of strictest secrecy, and was coupled with an inference that a war between the republic and britain would be the probable result, in which case the states relied upon the alliance with france. the ambassador replied that in this untoward event the republic would have the sympathy of his royal master, but that it would be out of the question for him to go to war with spain and england at the same time. on the same afternoon there was a conference at arundel house between the dutch deputies, the english counsellors, and de rosny, when barneveld drew a most dismal picture of the situation; taking the ground that now or never was the time for driving the spaniards entirely out of the netherlands. cecil said in a general way that his majesty felt a deep interest in the cause of the provinces, and the french ambassador summoned the advocate, now that he was assured of the sympathy of two great kings, to furnish some plan by which that sympathy might be turned to account. barneveld, thinking figures more eloquent than rhetoric, replied that the states, besides garrisons, had fifteen thousand infantry and three thousand cavalry in the field, and fifty warships in commission, with artillery and munitions in proportion, and that it would be advisable for france and england to furnish an equal force, military and naval, to the common cause. de rosny smiled at the extravagance of the proposition. cecil, again taking refuge in commonplaces, observed that his master was disposed to keep the peace with all his neighbours, but that, having due regard to the circumstances, he was willing to draw a line between the wishes of the states and his own, and would grant them a certain amount of succour underhand. thereupon the dutch deputies withdrew to confer. de rosny, who had no faith in cecil's sincerity--the suggestion being essentially the one which he had himself desired--went meantime a little deeper into the subject, and soon found that england, according to the secretary of state, had no idea of ruining herself for the sake of the provinces, or of entering into any positive engagements in their behalf. in case spain should make a direct attack upon the two kings who were to constitute themselves protectors of dutch liberty, it might be necessary to take up arms. the admission was on the whole superfluous, it not being probable that britain, even under a stuart, would be converted to the doctrine of non-resistance. yet in this case it was suggested by cecil that the chief reliance of his government would be on the debts owed by the dutch and french respectively, which would then be forthwith collected. de rosny was now convinced that cecil was trifling with him, and evidently intending to break off all practical negotiations. he concealed his annoyance, however, as well as he could, and simply intimated that the first business of importance was to arrange for the relief of ostend; that eventualities, such as the possible attack by spain upon france and england, might for the moment be deferred, but that if england thought it a safe policy to ruin henry by throwing on his shoulders the whole burthen of a war with the common enemy, she would discover and deeply regret her fatal mistake. the time was a very ill- chosen one to summon france to pay old debts, and his christian majesty had given his ambassador no instructions contemplating such a liquidation. it was the intention to discharge the sum annually, little by little, but if england desired to exhaust the king by these peremptory demands, it was an odious conduct, and very different from any that france had ever pursued. the english counsellors were not abashed by this rebuke, but became, on the contrary, very indignant, avowing that if anything more was demanded of them, england would entirely abandon the united provinces. "cecil made himself known to me in this conference," said de rosny, "for exactly what he was. he made use only of double meanings and vague propositions; feeling that reason was not on his side. he was forced to blush at his own self-contradictions, when, with a single word, i made him feel the absurdity of his language. now, endeavouring to intimidate me, he exaggerated the strength of england, and again he enlarged upon the pretended offers made by spain to that nation." the secretary, desirous to sow discord between the dutch deputies and the ambassador, then observed that france ought to pay to england l , upon the nail, which sum would be at once appropriated to the necessities of the states. "but what most enraged me," said de rosny, "was to see these ministers, who had come to me to state the intentions of their king, thus impudently substitute their own; for i knew that he had commanded them to do the very contrary to that which they did." the conference ended with a suggestion by cecil, that as france would only undertake a war in conjunction with england, and as england would only consent to this if paid by france and the states, the best thing for the two kings to do would be to do nothing, but to continue to live in friendship together, without troubling themselves about foreign complications. this was the purpose towards which the english counsellors had been steadily tending, and these last words of cecil seemed to the ambassador the only sincere ones spoken by him in the whole conference. "if i kept silence," said the ambassador, "it was not because i acquiesced in their reasoning. on the contrary, the manner in which they had just revealed themselves, and avowed themselves in a certain sort liars and impostors, had given me the most profound contempt for them. i thought, however, that by heating myself and contending with them so far from causing them to abandon a resolution which they had taken in concert--i might even bring about a total rupture. on the other hand, matters remaining as they were, and a friendship existing between the two kings, which might perhaps be cemented by a double marriage, a more favourable occasion might present itself for negotiation. i did not yet despair of the success of my mission, because i believed that the king had no part in the designs which his counsellors wished to carry out." that the counsellors, then struggling for dominion over the new king and his kingdom, understood the character of their sovereign better than did the ambassador, future events were likely enough to prove. that they preferred peace to war, and the friendship of spain to an alliance, offensive and defensive, with france in favour of a republic which they detested, is certain. it is difficult, however, to understand why they were "liars and impostors" because, in a conference with the representative of france, they endeavoured to make their own opinions of public policy valid rather than content themselves simply with being the errand-bearers of the new king, whom they believed incapable of being stirred to an honourable action. the whole political atmosphere of europe was mephitic with falsehood, and certainly the gales which blew from the english court at the accession of james were not fragrant, but de rosny had himself come over from france under false pretences. he had been charged by his master to represent henry's childish scheme, which he thought so gigantic, for the regeneration of europe, as a project of his own, which he was determined to bring to execution, even at the risk of infidelity to his sovereign, and the first element in that whole policy was to carry on war underhand against a power with which his master had just sworn to preserve peace. in that age at least it was not safe for politicians to call each other hard names. the very next day de rosny had a long private interview with james at greenwich. being urged to speak without reserve, the ambassador depicted the privy counsellors to the king as false to his instructions, traitors to the best interests of their country, the humble servants of spain, and most desirous to make their royal master the slave of that power, under the name of its ally. he expressed the opinion, accordingly, that james would do better in obeying only the promptings of his own superior wisdom, rather than the suggestions of the intriguers about him. the adroit de rosny thus softly insinuated to the flattered monarch that the designs of france were the fresh emanations of his own royal intellect. it was the whim of james to imagine himself extremely like henry of bourbon in character, and he affected to take the wittiest, bravest, most adventurous, and most adroit knight-errant that ever won and wore a crown as his perpetual model. it was delightful, therefore, to find himself in company with his royal brother; making and unmaking kings; destroying empires, altering the whole face of christendom, and, better than all, settling then and for ever the theology of the whole world, without the trouble of moving from his easy chair, or of incurring any personal danger. he entered at once, with the natural tendency to suspicion of a timid man, into the views presented by de rosny as to the perfidy of his counsellors. he changed colour; and was visibly moved, as the ambassador gave his version of the recent conference with cecil and the other ministers, and, being thus artfully stimulated, he was, prepared to receive with much eagerness the portentous communications now to be made. the ambassador, however, caused him to season his admiration until he had taken a most solemn oath, by the sacrament of the eucharist, never to reveal a syllable of what he was about to hear. this done, and the royal curiosity excited almost beyond endurance, de rosny began to, unfold. the stupendous schemes which had been, concerted between elizabeth and henry at dover, and which formed the secret object of his present embassy. feeling that the king was most malleable in the theological part of his structure, the wily envoy struck his first blows in that direction; telling him that his own interest in the religious, condition of europe, and especially in the firm establishment of the protestant faith, far surpassed in his mind all considerations of fortune, country, or even of fidelity to his sovereign. thus far, political considerations had kept henry from joining in the great catholic league, but it was possible that a change might occur in his system, and the protestant form of worship, abandoned by its ancient protector, might disappear entirely from france and from europe. de rosny had, therefore, felt the necessity of a new patron for the reformed religion in this great emergency, and had naturally fixed his eyes on the puissant and sagacious prince who now occupied, the british throne. now was the time, he urged, for james to immortalize his name by becoming the arbiter of the destiny of europe. it would always seem his own design, although henry was equally interested in it with himself. the plan was vast but simple, and perfectly easy of execution. there would be no difficulty in constructing an all-powerful league of sovereigns for the destruction of the house of austria, the foundation-stones of which would of course be france, great britain, and the united provinces. the double marriage between the bourbon and stuart families would indissolubly unite the two kingdoms, while interest and gratitude; a common hatred and a common love, would bind the republic as firmly to the union. denmark and sweden were certainly to be relied upon, as well as all other protestant princes. the ambitious and restless duke of savoy would be gained by the offer of lombardy and a kingly crown, notwithstanding his matrimonial connection with spain. as for the german princes, they would come greedily into the arrangement, as the league, rich in the spoils of the austrian house, would have hungary, bohemia, silesia, moravia, the archduchies, and other splendid provinces to divide among them. the pope would be bought up by a present, in fee-simple, of naples, and other comfortable bits of property, of which he was now only feudal lord. sicily would be an excellent sop for the haughty republic of venice. the franche comte; alsace, tirol, were naturally to be annexed to switzerland; liege and the heritage of the duke of cleves and juliers to the dutch commonwealth. the king of france, who, according to de rosny's solemn assertions, was entirely ignorant of the whole scheme, would, however, be sure to embrace it very heartily when james should propose it to him, and would be far too disinterested to wish to keep any of the booty for himself. a similar self-denial was, of course, expected of james, the two great kings satisfying themselves with the proud consciousness of having saved society, rescued the world from the sceptre of an austrian universal monarchy, and regenerated european civilization for all future time. the monarch listened with ravished ears, interposed here and there a question or a doubt, but devoured every detail of the scheme, as the ambassador slowly placed it before him. de rosny showed that the spanish faction was not in reality so powerful as the league which would be constructed for its overthrow. it was not so much a religious as a political frontier which separated the nations. he undertook to prove this, but, after all, was obliged to demonstrate that the defection of henry from the protestant cause had deprived him of his natural allies, and given him no true friends in exchange for the old ones. essentially the catholics were ranged upon one side, and the protestants on the other, but both religions were necessary to henry the huguenot: the bold free-thinker adroitly balanced himself upon each creed. in making use of a stern and conscientious calvinist, like maximilian de bethune, in his first assault upon the theological professor who now stood in elizabeth's place, he showed the exquisite tact which never failed him. toleration for the two religions which had political power, perfect intolerance for all others; despotic forms of polity, except for two little republics which were to be smothered with protection and never left out of leading strings, a thorough recasting of governments and races, a palingenesis of europe, a nominal partition of its hegemony between france and england, which was to be in reality absorbed by france, and the annihilation of austrian power east and west, these were the vast ideas with which that teeming bourbon brain was filled. it is the instinct both of poetic and of servile minds to associate a sentiment of grandeur with such fantastic dreams, but usually on condition that the dreamer wears a crown. when the regenerator of society appears with a wisp of straw upon his head, unappreciative society is apt to send him back to his cell. there, at least, his capacity for mischief is limited. if to do be as grand as to imagine what it were good to do, then the dutchmen in hell's mouth and the porcupine fighting universal monarchy inch by inch and pike to pike, or trying conclusions with the ice-bears of nova zembla, or capturing whole portuguese fleets in the moluccas, were effecting as great changes in the world, and doing perhaps as much for the advancement of civilization, as james of the two britains and henry of france and navarre in those his less heroic days, were likely to accomplish. history has long known the results. the ambassador did his work admirably. the king embraced him in a transport of enthusiasm, vowed by all that was most sacred to accept the project in all its details, and exacted from the ambassador in his turn an oath on the eucharist never to reveal, except to his master, the mighty secrets of their conference. the interview had lasted four hours. when it was concluded, james summoned cecil, and in presence of the ambassador and of some of the counsellors, lectured him soundly on his presumption in disobeying the royal commands in his recent negotiations with de rosny. he then announced his decision to ally himself strictly with france against spain in consequence of the revelations just made to him, and of course to espouse the cause of the united provinces. telling the crest-fallen secretary of state to make the proper official communications on the subject to the ambassadors of my lords the states-general,--thus giving the envoys from the republic for the first time that pompous designation, the king turned once more to the marquis with the exclamation, "well, mr. ambassador, this time i hope that you are satisfied with me?" in the few days following de rosny busied himself in drawing up a plan of a treaty embodying all that had been agreed upon between henry and himself, and which he had just so faithfully rehearsed to james. he felt now some inconvenience from his own artfulness, and was in a measure caught in his own trap. had he brought over a treaty in his pocket, james would have signed it on the spot, so eager was he for the regeneration of europe. it was necessary, however, to continue the comedy a little longer, and the ambassador, having thought it necessary to express many doubts whether his master could be induced to join in the plot, and to approve what was really his own most cherished plan, could now do no more than promise to use all his powers of persuasion unto that end. the project of a convention, which james swore most solemnly to sign, whether it were sent to him in six weeks or six months, was accordingly rapidly reduced to writing and approved. it embodied, of course, most of the provisions discussed in the last secret interview at greenwich. the most practical portion of it undoubtedly related to the united provinces, and to the nature of assistance to be at once afforded to that commonwealth, the only ally of the two kingdoms expressly mentioned in the treaty. england was to furnish troops, the number of which was not specified, and france was to pay for them, partly out of her own funds, partly out of the amount due by her to england. it was, however, understood, that this secret assistance should not be considered to infringe the treaty of peace which already existed between henry and the catholic king. due and detailed arrangements were made as to the manner in which the allies were to assist each other, in case spain, not relishing this kind of neutrality, should think proper openly to attack either great britain or france, or both. unquestionably the dutch republic was the only portion of europe likely to be substantially affected by these secret arrangements; for, after all, it had not been found very easy to embody the splendid visions of henry, which had so dazzled the imagination of james in the dry clauses of a protocol. it was also characteristic enough of the crowned conspirators, that the clause relating to the united provinces provided that the allies would either assist them in the attainment of their independence, or--if it should be considered expedient to restore them to the domination of spain or the empire--would take such precautions and lay down such conditions as would procure perfect tranquillity for them, and remove from the two allied kings the fear of a too absolute government by the house of austria in those provinces. it would be difficult to imagine a more impotent conclusion. those dutch rebels had not been fighting for tranquillity. the tranquillity of the rock amid raging waves--according to the device of the father of the republic--they had indeed maintained; but to exchange their turbulent and tragic existence, ever illumined by the great hope of freedom, for repose under one despot guaranteed to them by two others, was certainly not their aim. they lacked the breadth of vision enjoyed by the regenerators who sat upon mountain-tops. they were fain to toil on in their own way. perhaps, however, the future might show as large results from their work as from the schemes of those who were to begin the humiliation of the austrian house by converting its ancient rebels into tranquil subjects. the marquis of rosny, having distributed , crowns among the leading politicians and distinguished personages at the english court, with ample promises of future largess if they remained true to his master, took an affectionate farewell of king james, and returned with his noble two hundred to recount his triumphs to the impatient henry. the treaty was soon afterwards duly signed and ratified by the high contracting parties. it was, however, for future history to register its results on the fate of pope, emperor, kings, potentates, and commonwealths, and to show the changes it would work in the geography, religion, and polity of the world. the deputies from the states-general, satisfied with the practical assistance promised them, soon afterwards took their departure with comparative cheerfulness, having previously obtained the royal consent to raise recruits in scotland. meantime the great constable of castile, ambassador from his catholic majesty, had arrived in london, and was wroth at all that he saw and all that he suspected. he, too, began to scatter golden arguments with a lavish hand among the great lords and statesmen of britain, but found that the financier of france had, on the whole; got before him in the business, and was skilfully maintaining his precedence from the other side of the channel. but the end of these great diplomatic manoeuvres had not yet come. chapter xlii. siege of ostend--the marquis spinola made commander-in-chief of the besieging army--discontent of the troops--general aspect of the operations--gradual encroachment of the enemy. the scene again shifts to ostend. the spanish cabinet, wearied of the slow progress of the siege, and not entirely satisfied with the generals, now concluded almost without consent of the archdukes, one of the most extraordinary jobs ever made, even in those jobbing days. the marquis spinola, elder brother of the ill-fated frederic, and head of the illustrious genoese family of that name, undertook to furnish a large sum of money which the wealth of his house and its connection with the great money-lenders of genoa enabled him to raise, on condition that he should have supreme command of the operations against ostend and of the foreign armies in the netherlands. he was not a soldier, but he entered into a contract, by his own personal exertions both on the exchange and in the field, to reduce the city which had now resisted all the efforts of the archduke for more than two years. certainly this was an experiment not often hazarded in warfare. the defence of ostend was in the hands of the best and moat seasoned fighting-men in europe. the operations were under the constant supervision of the foremost captain of the age; for maurice, in consultation with the states-general, received almost daily reports from the garrison, and regularly furnished advice and instructions as to their proceedings. he was moreover ever ready to take the field for a relieving campaign. nothing was known of spinola save that he was a high-born and very wealthy patrician who had reached his thirty-fourth year without achieving personal distinction of any kind, and who, during the previous summer, like so many other nobles from all parts of europe, had thought it worth his while to drawl through a campaign or two in the low countries. it was the mode to do this, and it was rather a stigma upon any young man of family not to have been an occasional looker on at that perpetual military game. his brother frederic, as already narrated; had tried his chance for fame and fortune in the naval service, and had lost his life in the adventure without achieving the one or the other. this was not a happy augury for the head of the family. frederic had made an indifferent speculation. what could the brother hope by taking the field against maurice of nassau and lewis william and the baxes and meetkerkes? nevertheless the archduke eagerly accepted his services, while the infanta, fully confident of his success before he had ordered a gun to be fired, protested that if spinola did not take ostend nobody would ever take it. there was also, strangely enough, a general feeling through the republican ranks that the long-expected man had come. thus a raw volunteer, a man who had never drilled a hundred men, who had never held an officer's commission in any army in the world, became, as by the waving of a wand, a field-marshal and commander-in-chief at a most critical moment in history, in the most conspicuous position in christendom, and in a great war, now narrowed down to a single spot of earth, on which the eyes of the world were fixed, and the daily accounts from which were longed for with palpitating anxiety. what but failure and disaster could be expected from such astounding policy? every soldier in the catholic forces--from grizzled veterans of half a century who had commanded armies and achieved victories when this dainty young italian was in his cradle, down to the simple musketeer or rider who had been campaigning for his daily bread ever since he could carry a piece or mount a horse was furious with discontent or outraged pride. very naturally too, it was said that the position of the archdukes had become preposterous. it was obvious, notwithstanding the pilgrimages of the infanta to our lady of hall, to implore not only the fall of ostend, but the birth of a successor to their sovereignty, that her marriage would for ever remain barren. spain was already acting upon this theory, it was said, for the contract with spinola was made, not at brussels, but at madrid, and a foreign army of spaniards and italians, under the supreme command of a genoese adventurer, was now to occupy indefinitely that flanders which had been proclaimed an independent nation, and duly bequeathed by its deceased proprietor to his daughter. ambrose spinola, son of philip, marquis of venafri, and his wife, polyxena grimaldi, was not appalled by the murmurs of hardly suppressed anger or public criticism. a handsome, aristocratic personage, with an intellectual, sad, but sympathetic face, fair hair and beard, and imposing but attractive presence--the young volunteer, at the beginning of october, made his first visit of inspection in the lines before ostend. after studying the situation of affairs very thoroughly, he decided that the operations on the gullet or eastern side, including bucquoy's dike, with pompey targone's perambulatory castles and floating batteries, were of secondary importance. he doubted the probability of closing up a harbour, now open to the whole world and protected by the fleets of the first naval power of europe, with wickerwork, sausages, and bridges upon barrels. his attention was at once concentrated on the western side, and he was satisfied that only by hard fighting and steady delving could he hope to master the place. to gain ostend he would be obliged to devour it piecemeal as he went on. whatever else might be said of the new commander-in-chief, it was soon apparent that, although a volunteer and a patrician, he was no milksop. if he had been accustomed all his life to beds of down, he was as ready now to lie in the trenches, with a cannon for his pillow, as the most ironclad veteran in the ranks. he seemed to require neither sleep nor food, and his reckless habit of exposing himself to unnecessary danger was the subject of frequent animadversion on the part both of the archdukes and of the spanish government. it was however in his case a wise temerity. the veterans whom he commanded needed no encouragement to daring deeds, but they required conviction as to the valour and zeal of their new commander, and this was afforded them in overflowing measure. it is difficult to decide, after such a lapse of years, as to how much of the long series of daily details out of which this famous siege was compounded deserves to be recorded. it is not probable that for military history many of the incidents have retained vital importance. the world rang, at the beginning of the operations, with the skill and inventive talent of targone, giustiniani, and other italian engineers, artificers, and pyrotechnists, and there were great expectations conceived of the effects to be produced by their audacious and original devices. but time wore on. pompey's famous floating battery would not float, his moving monster battery would not move. with the one; the subtle italian had intended to close up the gullet to the states' fleets. it was to rest on the bottom at low water at the harbour's mouth, to rise majestically with the flood, and to be ever ready with a formidable broadside of fifty pounders against all comers. but the wild waves and tempests of the north sea soon swept the ponderous toy into space, before it had fired a gun. the gigantic chariot, on which a moveable fort was constructed, was still more portentous upon paper than the battery. it was directed against that republican work, defending the gullet, which was called in derision the spanish half-moon. it was to be drawn by forty horses, and armed with no man knew how many great guns, with a mast a hundred and fifty feet high in the centre of the fort, up and down which played pulleys raising and lowering a drawbridge long enough to span the gullet. it was further provided with anchors, which were to be tossed over the parapet of the doomed redoubt, while the assailants, thus grappled to the enemy's work, were to dash over the bridge after having silenced the opposing fire by means of their own peripatetic battery. unfortunately for the fame of pompey, one of his many wheels was crushed on the first attempt to drag the chariot to the scene of anticipated triumph, the whole structure remained embedded in the sand, very much askew; nor did all the mules and horses that could be harnessed to it ever succeed in removing it an inch out of a position, which was anything but triumphant. it seemed probable enough therefore that, so far as depended on the operations from the eastern side, the siege of ostend, which had now lasted two years and three months, might be protracted for two years and three months longer. indeed, spinola at once perceived that if the archduke was ever to be put in possession of the place for which he had professed himself ready to wait eighteen years, it would be well to leave bucquoy and targone to build dykes and chariots and bury them on the east at their leisure, while more energy was brought to bear upon the line of fortifications of the west than had hitherto been employed. there had been shooting enough, bloodshed enough, suffering enough, but it was amazing to see the slight progress made. the occupation of what were called the external squares has been described. this constituted the whole result of the twenty-seven months' work. the town itself--the small and very insignificant kernel which lay enclosed in such a complicated series of wrappings and layers of defences--seemed as far off as if it were suspended in the sky. the old haven or canal, no longer navigable for ships, still served as an admirable moat which the assailants had not yet succeeded in laying entirely dry. it protected the counterscarp, and was itself protected by an exterior aeries of works, while behind the counterscarp was still another ditch, not so broad nor deep as the canal, but a formidable obstacle even after the counterscarp should be gained. there were nearly fifty forts and redoubts in these lines, of sufficient importance to have names which in those days became household words, not only in the netherlands, but in europe; the siege of ostend being the one military event of christendom, so long as it lasted. these names are of course as much forgotten now as those of the bastions before nineveh. a very few of them will suffice to indicate the general aspect of the operations. on the extreme southwest of ostend had been in peaceful times a polder-- the general term to designate a pasture out of which the sea-water had been pumped--and the forts in that quarter were accordingly called by that name, as polder half-moon, polder ravelin, or great and little polder bulwark, as the case might be. farther on towards the west, the north-west, and the north, and therefore towards the beach, were the west ravelin, west bulwark, moses's table, the porcupine, the hell's mouth, the old church, and last and most important of all, the sand hill. the last-named work was protected by the porcupine and hell's mouth, was the key to the whole series of fortifications, and was connected by a curtain with the old church, which was in the heart of the old town. spinola had assumed command in october, but the winter was already closing in with its usual tempests and floods before there had been time for him to produce much effect. it seemed plain enough to the besieged that the object of the enemy would be to work his way through the polder, and so gradually round to the porcupine and the sand hill. precisely in what directions his subterraneous passages might be tending, in what particular spot of the thin crust upon which they all stood an explosion might at any moment be expected, it was of course impossible to know. they were sure that the process of mining was steadily progressing, and maurice sent orders to countermine under every bulwark, and to secretly isolate every bastion, so that it would be necessary for spinola to make his way, fort by fort, and inch by inch. thus they struggled drearily about under ground, friend and foe, often as much bewildered as wanderers in the catacombs. to a dismal winter succeeded a ferocious spring. both in february and march were westerly storms, such as had not been recorded even on that tempest-swept coast for twenty years, and so much damage was inflicted on the precious sand hill and its curtain, that, had the enemy been aware of its plight, it is probable that one determined assault might have put him in possession of the place. but ostend was in charge of a most watchful governor, peter van gieselles, who had succeeded charles van der noot at the close of the year . a plain, lantern jawed, dutch colonel; with close-cropped hair, a long peaked beard, and an eye that looked as if it had never been shut; always dressed in a shabby old jerkin with tarnished flowers upon it, he took command with a stout but heavy heart, saying that the place should never be surrendered by him, but that he should never live to see the close of the siege. he lost no time in repairing the damages of the tempest, being ready to fight the west wind, the north sea, and spinola at any moment, singly or conjoined. he rebuilt the curtain of the sand hill, added fresh batteries to the porcupine and hell's mouth, and amused and distracted the enemy with almost daily sorties and feints. his soldiers passed their days and nights up to the knees in mud and sludge and sea-water, but they saw that their commander never spared himself, and having a superfluity of food and drink, owing to the watchful care of the states-general, who sent in fleets laden with provisions faster than they could be consumed, they were cheerful and content. on the th march there was a determined effort to carry the lesser polder bulwark. after a fierce and bloody action, the place was taken by storm, and the first success in the game was registered for spinola. the little fort was crammed full of dead, but such of the defenders as survived were at last driven out of it, and forced to take refuge in the next work. day after day the same bloody business was renewed, a mere monotony of assaults, repulses, sallies, in which hardly an inch of ground was gained on either side, except at the cost of a great pile of corpses. "men will never know, nor can mortal pen ever describe," said one who saw it all, "the ferocity and the pertinacity of both besiegers and besieged." on the th of march, colonel catrice, an accomplished walloon officer of engineers, commanding the approaches against the polder, was killed. on the st march, as peter orieselles was taking his scrambling dinner in company with philip fleming, there was a report that the enemy was out again in force. a good deal of progress had been made during the previous weeks on the south-west and west, and more was suspected than was actually known. it was felt that the foe was steadily nibbling his way up to the counterscarp. moreover, such was the emulation among the germans, walloons, italians, and spaniards for precedence in working across the canal, that a general assault and universal explosion were considered at any instant possible. the governor sent fleming to see if all was right in the porcupine, while he himself went to see if a new battery, which he had just established to check the approaches of the enemy towards the polder half-moon and ravelin in a point very near the counterscarp, was doing its duty. being, as usual, anxious to reconnoitre with his own eyes, he jumped upon the rampart. but there were sharp-shooters in the enemy's trenches, and they were familiar with the governor's rusty old doublet and haggard old face. hardly had he climbed upon the breastwork when a ball pierced his heart, and he fell dead without a groan. there was a shout of triumph from the outside, while the tidings soon spread sadness through the garrison, for all loved and venerated the man. philip fleming, so soon as he learned the heavy news, lost no time in unavailing regrets, but instantly sent a courier to prince maurice; meantime summoning a council of superior officers, by whom colonel john van loon was provisionally appointed commandant. a stately, handsome man, a good officer, but without extensive experience, he felt himself hardly equal to the immense responsibility of the post, but yielding to the persuasions of his comrades, proceeded to do his best. his first care was to secure the all-important porcupine, towards which the enemy had been slowly crawling with his galleries and trenches. four days after he had accepted the command he was anxiously surveying that fortification, and endeavouring to obtain a view of the enemy's works, when a cannon-ball struck him on the right leg, so that he died the next day. plainly the post of commandant of ostend was no sinecure. he was temporarily succeeded by sergeant-major jacques de bievry, but the tumults and confusion incident upon this perpetual change of head were becoming alarming. the enemy gave the garrison no rest night nor day, and it had long become evident that the young volunteer, whose name was so potent on the genoa exchange, was not a man of straw nor a dawdler, however the superseded veterans might grumble. at any rate the troops on either side were like to have their fill of work. on the nd april the polder ravelin was carried by storm. it was a most bloody action. never were a few square feet of earth more recklessly assailed, more resolutely maintained. the garrison did not surrender the place, but they all laid down their lives in its defence. scarcely an individual of them all escaped, and the foe, who paid dearly with heaps of dead and wounded for his prize, confessed that such serious work as this had scarce been known before in any part of that great slaughter- house, flanders. a few days later, colonel bievry, provisional commandant, was desperately wounded in a sortie, and was carried off to zeeland. the states-general now appointed jacques van der meer, baron of berendrecht, to the post of honour and of danger. a noble of flanders, always devoted to the republican cause; an experienced middle-aged officer, vigilant, energetic, nervous; a slight wiry man, with a wizened little face, large bright eyes, a meagre yellow beard, and thin sandy hair flowing down upon his well-starched ruff, the new governor soon showed himself inferior to none of his predecessors in audacity and alertness. it is difficult to imagine a more irritating position in many respects than that of commander in such an extraordinary leaguer. it was not a formal siege. famine, which ever impends over an invested place, and sickens the soul with its nameless horrors, was not the great enemy to contend against here. nor was there the hideous alternative between starving through obstinate resistance or massacre on submission, which had been the lot of so many dutch garrisons in the earlier stages of the war. retreat by sea was ever open to the ostend garrison, and there was always an ample supply of the best provisions and of all munitions of war. but they had been unceasingly exposed to two tremendous enemies. during each winter and spring the ocean often smote their bastions and bulwarks in an hour of wrath till they fell together like children's toys, and it was always at work, night and day, steadily lapping at the fragile foundations on which all their structures stood. nor was it easy to give the requisite attention to the devouring sea, because all the materials that could be accumulated seemed necessary to repair the hourly damages inflicted by their other restless foe. thus the day seemed to draw gradually but inexorably nearer when the place would be, not captured, but consumed. there was nothing for it, so long as the states were determined to hold the spot, but to meet the besieger at every point, above or below the earth, and sell every inch of that little morsel of space at the highest price that brave men could impose. so berendrecht, as vigilant and devoted as even peter gieselles had ever been, now succeeded to the care of the polders and the porcupines, and the hell's mouths; and all the other forts, whose quaint designations had served, as usually is the case among soldiers, to amuse the honest patriots in the midst of their toils and danger. on the th april, the enemy assailed the great western ravelin, and after a sanguinary hand-to- hand action, in which great numbers of officers and soldiers were lost on both sides, he carried the fort; the spaniards, italians, germans, and walloons vieing with each other in deeds of extraordinary daring, and overcoming at last the resistance of the garrison. this was an important success. the foe had now worked his way with galleries and ditches along the whole length of the counterscarp till he was nearly up with the porcupine, and it was obvious that in a few days he would be master of the counterscarp itself. a less resolute commander, at the head of less devoted troops, might have felt that when that inevitable event should arrive all that honour demanded would have been done, and that spinola was entitled to his city. berendrecht simply decided that if the old counterscarp could no longer be held it was time to build a new counterscarp. this, too, had been for some time the intention of prince maurice. a plan for this work had already been sent into the place, and a distinguished english engineer, ralph dexter by name, arrived with some able assistants to carry it into execution. it having been estimated that the labour would take three weeks of time, without more ado the inner line was carefully drawn, cutting off with great nicety and precision about one half the whole place. within this narrowed circle the same obstinate resistance was to be offered as before, and the bastions and redoubts of the new entrenchment were to be baptized with the same uncouth names which two long years of terrible struggle had made so precious. the work was very laborious; for the line was drawn straight through the town, and whole streets had to be demolished and the houses to their very foundations shovelled away. moreover the men were forced to toil with spade in one hand and matchlock in the other, ever ready to ascend from the ancient dilapidated cellars in order to mount the deadly breach at any point in the whole circumference of the place. it became absolutely necessary therefore to send a sufficient force of common workmen into the town to lighten the labours of the soldiers. moreover the thought, although whistled to the wind, would repeatedly recur, that, after all, there must be a limit to these operations, and that at last there would remain no longer any earth in which to find a refuge. the work of the new entrenchment went slowly on, but it was steadily done. meantime they were comforted by hearing that the stadholder had taken the field in flanders, at the head of a considerable force, and they lived in daily expectation of relief. it will be necessary, at the proper moment, to indicate the nature of prince maurice's operations. for the present, it is better that the reader should confine his attention within the walls of ostend. by the th may, the enemy had effected a lodgment in a corner of the porcupine, and already from that point might threaten the new counterscarp before it should be completed. at the same time he had gnawed through to the west bulwark, and was busily mining under the porcupine itself. in this fort friend and foe now lay together, packed like herrings, and profited by their proximity to each other to vary the monotony of pike and anaphance with an occasional encounter of epistolary wit. thus spanish letters, tied to sticks, and tossed over into the next entrenchment, were replied to by others, composed in four languages by the literary man of ostend, auditor fleming, and shot into the enemy's trenches on cross-bow bolts. on the th may, a long prepared mine was sprung beneath the porcupine. it did its work effectively, and the may assailants did theirs no less admirably, crowding into the breach with headlong ferocity, and after a long and sanguinary struggle with immense lose on both sides, carrying the precious and long-coveted work by storm. inch by inch the defenders were thus slowly forced back toward their new entrenchment. on the same day, however, they inflicted a most bloody defeat upon the enemy in an attempt to carry the great polder. he withdrew, leaving heaps of slain, so that the account current for the day would have balanced itself, but that the porcupine, having changed hands, now bristled most formidably against its ancient masters. the daily 'slaughter had become sickening to behold. there were three thousand effective men in the garrison. more could have been sent in to supply the steady depletion in the ranks, but there was no room for more. there was scarce space enough for the living to stand to their work, or for the dead to lie in their graves. and this was an advantage which could not fail to tell. of necessity the besiegers would always very far outnumber the garrison, so that the final success of their repeated assaults became daily more and more possible. yet on the nd june the enemy met not only with another signal defeat, but also with a most bitter surprise. on that day the mine which he had been so long and so laboriously constructing beneath the great polder bulwark was sprung with magnificent effect. a breach, forty feet wide, was made in this last stronghold of the old defences, and the soldiers leaped into the crater almost before it had ceased to blaze, expecting by one decisive storm to make themselves masters at last of all the fortifications, and therefore of the town itself. but as emerging from the mine, they sprang exulting upon the shattered bulwark, a transformation more like a sudden change in some holiday pantomime than a new fact in this three years' most tragic siege presented itself to their astonished eyes. they had carried the last defence of the old counterscarp, and behold--a new one, which they had never dreamed of, bristling before their eyes, with a flanking battery turned directly upon them. the musketeers and pikemen, protected by their new works, now thronged towards the assailants; giving them so hearty a welcome that they reeled back, discomfited, after a brief but severe struggle, from the spot of their anticipated triumph, leaving their dead and dying in the breach. four days later, berendrecht, with a picked party of english troops, stole out for a reconnaissance, not wishing to trust other eyes than his own in the imminent peril of the place. the expedition was successful. a few prisoners were taken, and valuable information was obtained, but these advantages were counterbalanced by a severe disaster. the vigilant and devoted little governor, before effecting his entrance into the sally port, was picked off by a sharpshooter, and died the next day. this seemed the necessary fate of the commandants of ostend, where the operations seemed more like a pitched battle lasting three years than an ordinary siege. gieselles, van loon, bievry, and now berendrecht, had successively fallen at the post of duty since the beginning of the year. not one of them was more sincerely deplored than berendrecht. his place was supplied by colonel uytenhoove, a stalwart, hirsute, hard-fighting dutchman, the descendant of an ancient race, and seasoned in many a hard campaign. the enemy now being occupied in escarping and furnishing with batteries the positions he had gained, with the obvious intention of attacking the new counterscarp, it was resolved to prepare for the possible loss of this line of fortifications by establishing another and still narrower one within it. half the little place had been shorn away by the first change. of the half which was still in possession of the besieged about one-third was now set off, and in this little corner of earth, close against the new harbour, was set up their last refuge. they called the new citadel little troy, and announced, with pardonable bombast, that they would hold out there as long as the ancient trojans had defended ilium. with perfect serenity the engineers set about their task with line, rule, and level, measuring out the bulwarks and bastions, the miniature salients, half-moons, and ditches, as neatly and methodically as if there were no ceaseless cannonade in their ears, and as if the workmen were not at every moment summoned to repel assaults upon the outward wall. they. sent careful drawings of little troy to maurice and the states, and received every encouragement to persevere, together with promises of ultimate relief. but there was one serious impediment to the contemplated construction of the new earth-works. they had no earth. nearly everything solid had been already scooped away in the perpetual delving. the sea-dykes had been robbed of their material, so that the coming winter might find besiegers and besieged all washed together into the german ocean, and it was hard digging and grubbing among the scanty cellarages of the dilapidated houses. but there were plenty of graves, filled with the results of three years' hard fighting. and now, not only were all the cemeteries within the precincts shovelled and carted in mass to the inner fortifications, but rewards being offered of ten stivers for each dead body, great heaps of disinterred soldiers were piled into the new ramparts. thus these warriors, after laying down their lives for the cause of freedom, were made to do duty after death. whether it were just or no thus to disturb the repose--if repose it could be called--of the dead that they might once more protect the living, it can scarcely be doubted that they took ample revenge on the already sufficiently polluted atmosphere. on the th june the foe sprang a mine under the western bulwark; close to a countermine exploded by the garrison the day before. the assailants thronged as merrily as usual to the breach, and were met with customary resolution by the besieged; governor uytenhoove, clad in complete armour, leading his troops. the enemy, after an hour's combat, was repulsed with heavy loss, but the governor fell in the midst of the fight. instantly he was seized by the legs by a party of his own men, some english desperadoes among the number, who, shouting that the colonel was dead, were about to render him the last offices by plundering his body. the ubiquitous fleming, observing the scene, flew to the rescue and, with the assistance of a few officers, drove off these energetic friends, and taking off the governor's casque, discovered that he still breathed. that he would soon have ceased to do so, had he been dragged much farther in his harness over that jagged and precipitous pile of rubbish, was certain. he was desperately wounded, and of course incapacitated for his post. thus, in that year, before the summer solstice, a fifth commandant had fallen. on the same day, simultaneously with this repulse in the west bulwark, the enemy made himself at last completely master of the polder. here, too, was a savage hand-to-hand combat with broadswords and pikes, and when the pikes were broken, with great clubs and stakes pulled from the fascines; but the besiegers were victorious, and the defenders sullenly withdrew with their wounded to the inner entrenchments. on the th june, daniel de hartaing, lord of marquette, was sent by the states-general to take command in ostend. the colonel of the walloon regiment which had rendered such good service on the famous field of nieuport, the new governor, with his broad, brown, cheerful face, and his milan armour, was a familiar figure enough to the campaigners on both sides in flanders or germany. the stoutest heart might have sunk at the spectacle which the condition of the town presented at his first inspection. the states-general were resolved to hold the place, at all hazards, and marquette had come to do their bidding, but it was difficult to find anything that could be called a town. the great heaps of rubbish, which had once been the outer walls, were almost entirely in the possession of the foe, who had lodged himself in all that remained of the defiant porcupine, the hell's mouth, and other redoubts, and now pointed from them at least fifty great guns against their inner walls. the old town, with its fortifications, was completely honeycombed, riddled, knocked to pieces, and, although the sand hill still held out, it was plain enough that its days were numbered unless help should soon arrive. in truth, it required a clear head and a practised eye to discover among those confused masses of prostrate masonry, piles of brick, upturned graves, and mounds of sand and rubbish, anything like order and regularity. yet amid the chaos there was really form and meaning to those who could read aright, and marquette saw, as well in the engineers' lines as in the indomitable spirit that looked out of the grim faces of the garrison, that ostend, so long as anything of it existed in nature, could be held for the republic. their brethren had not been firmer, when keeping their merry christmas, seven years before, under the north pole, upon a pudding made of the gunner's cartridge paste, or the knights of the invincible lion in the horrid solitudes of tierra del fuego, than were the defenders of this sandbank. whether the place were worth the cost or not, it was for my lords the states-general to decide, not for governor marquette. and the decision of those "high and mighty" magistrates, to whom even maurice of nassau bowed without a murmur, although often against his judgment, had been plainly enough announced. and so shiploads of deals and joists, bricks, nails, and fascines, with requisite building materials, were sent daily in from zeeland, in order that little troy might be completed; and, with god's help, said the garrison, the republic shall hold its own. and now there were two months more of mining and countermining, of assaults and repulses, of cannonading and hand-to-hand fights with pikes and clubs. nearer and nearer, day by day, and inch by inch, the foe had crawled up to the verge of their last refuge, and the walls of little troy, founded upon fresh earth and dead men's bones, and shifting sands, were beginning to quake under the guns of the inexorable volunteer from genoa. yet on the th august there was great rejoicing in the beleaguered town. cannon thundered salutes, bonfires blazed, trumpets rang jubilant blasts, and, if the church-bells sounded no merry peals, it was because the only church in the place had been cut off in the last slicing away by the engineers. hymns of thanksgiving ascended to heaven, and the whole garrison fell on their knees, praying fervently to almighty god, with devout and grateful hearts. it was not an ignoble spectacle to see those veterans kneeling where there was scarce room to kneel, amid ruin and desolation, to praise the lord for his mercies. but to explain this general thanksgiving it is now necessary for a moment to go back. etext editor's bookmarks: began to scatter golden arguments with a lavish hand certain number of powers, almost exactly equal to each other conceit, and procrastination which marked the royal character do you want peace or war? i am ready for either eloquence of the biggest guns even the virtues of james were his worst enemies gold was the only passkey to justice if to do be as grand as to imagine what it were good to do it is certain that the english hate us (sully) logic of the largest battalions made peace--and had been at war ever since nations tied to the pinafores of children in the nursery natural tendency to suspicion of a timid man not safe for politicians to call each other hard names one of the most contemptible and mischievous of kings (james i) peace founded on the only secure basis, equality of strength peace seemed only a process for arriving at war repose under one despot guaranteed to them by two others requires less mention than philip iii himself rules adopted in regard to pretenders to crowns served at their banquets by hosts of lackeys on their knees take all their imaginations and extravagances for truths the expenses of james's household the pigmy, as the late queen had been fond of nicknaming him to negotiate with government in england was to bribe unproductive consumption being accounted most sagacious war was the normal condition of christians we have been talking a little bit of truth to each other what was to be done in this world and believed as to the next you must show your teeth to the spaniard this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, chapter xlix. peace deliberations in spain--unpopularity of the project-- disaffection of the courtiers--complaints against spinola-- conference of the catholic party--position of henry iv. towards the republic--state of france further peace negotiations--desire of king james of england for the restoration of the states to spain--arrival of the french commissioners president jeannin before the states- general--dangers of a truce with spain--dutch legation to england-- arrival of lewis verreyken at the hague with philip's ratification-- rejection of the spanish treaty--withdrawal of the dutch fleet from the peninsula--the peace project denounced by the party of prince maurice--opposition of maurice to the plans of barneveld--amended ratification presented to the states-general--discussion of the conditions--determination to conclude a peace--indian trade-- exploits of admiral matelieff in the malay peninsula--he lays siege to malacca--victory over the spanish fleet--endeavour to open a trade with china--return of matelieff to holland. the marquis spinola had informed the spanish government that if , dollars a month could be furnished, the war might be continued, but that otherwise it would be better to treat upon the basis of 'uti possidetis,' and according to the terms proposed by the states-general. he had further intimated his opinion that, instead of waiting for the king's consent, it more comported with the king's dignity for the archdukes to enter into negotiations, to make a preliminary and brief armistice with the enemy, and then to solicit the royal approval of what had been done. in reply, the king--that is to say the man who thought, wrote, and signed in behalf of the king--had plaintively observed that among evils the vulgar rule was to submit to the least. although, therefore, to grant to the netherland rebels not only peace and liberty, but to concede to them whatever they had obtained by violence and the most abominable outrages, was the worst possible example to all princes; yet as the enormous sum necessary for carrying on the war was not to be had, even by attempting to scrape it together from every corner of the earth, he agreed with the opinion of the archdukes that it was better to put an end to this eternal and exhausting war by peace or truce, even under severe conditions. that the business had thus far proceeded without consulting him, was publicly known, and he expressed approval of the present movements towards a peace or a long truce, assuring spinola that such a result would be as grateful to him as if the war had been brought to a successful issue. when the marquis sent formal notice of the armistice to spain there were many complaints at court. men said that the measure was beneath the king's dignity, and contrary to his interests. it was a cessation of arms under iniquitous conditions, accorded to a people formerly subject and now rebellious. such a truce was more fatal than any conflict, than any amount of slaughter. during this long and dreadful war, the king had suffered no disaster so terrible as this, and the courtiers now declared openly that the archduke was the cause of the royal and national humiliation. having no children, nor hope of any, he desired only to live in tranquillity and selfish indulgence, like the indolent priest that he was, not caring what detriment or dishonour might accrue to the crown after his life was over. thus murmured the parasites and the plunderers within the dominions of the do-nothing philip, denouncing the first serious effort to put an end to a war which the laws of nature had proved to be hopeless on the part of spain. spinola too, who had spent millions of his own money, who had plunged himself into debt and discredit, while attempting to sustain the financial reputation of the king, who had by his brilliant services in the field revived the ancient glory of the spanish arms, and who now saw himself exposed with empty coffers to a vast mutiny, which was likely to make his future movements as paralytic as those of his immediate predecessors--spinola, already hated because he was an italian, because he was of a mercantile family, and because he had been successful, was now as much the object of contumely with the courtiers as with the archduke himself. the splendid victory of heemskerk had struck the government with dismay and diffused a panic along the coast. the mercantile fleets, destined for either india, dared not venture forth so long as the terrible dutch cruisers, which had just annihilated a splendid spanish fleet, commanded by a veteran of lepanto, and under the very guns of gibraltar, were supposed to be hovering off the peninsula. very naturally, therefore, there was discontent in spain that the cessation of hostilities had not originally been arranged for sea as well as land, and men said openly at court that spinola ought to have his head cut off for agreeing to such an armistice. quite as reasonably, however, it was now felt to be necessary to effect as soon as possible the recal of this very inconvenient dutch fleet from the coast of spain. the complaints were so incessant against spinola that it was determined to send don diego d'ybarra to brussels, charged with a general superintendence of the royal interests in the present confused condition of affairs. he was especially instructed to convey to spinola the most vehement reproaches in regard to the terms of the armistice, and to insist upon the cessation of naval hostilities, and the withdrawal of the cruisers. spinola, on his part, was exceedingly irritated that the arrangements which he had so carefully made with the archduke at brussels should be so contumaciously assailed, and even disavowed, at madrid. he was especially irritated that ybarra should now be sent as his censor and overseer, and that fuentes should have received orders to levy seven thousand troops in the milanese for flanders, the arrival of which reinforcements would excite suspicion, and probably break off negotiations. he accordingly sent his private secretary biraga, posthaste to spain with two letters. in number one he implored his majesty that ybarra might not be sent to brussels. if this request were granted, number two was to be burned. otherwise, number two was to be delivered, and it contained a request to be relieved from all further employment in the king's service. the marquis was already feeling the same effects of success as had been experienced by alexander farnese, don john of austria, and other strenuous maintainers of the royal authority in flanders. he was railed against, suspected, spied upon, put under guardianship, according to the good old traditions of the spanish court. public disgrace or secret poison might well be expected by him, as the natural guerdons of his eminent deeds. biraga also took with him the draught of the form in which the king's consent to the armistice and pending negotiations was desired, and he was particularly directed to urge that not one letter or comma should be altered, in order that no pretext might be afforded to the suspicious netherlanders for a rupture. in private letters to his own superintendent strata, to don john of idiaquez, to the duke of lerma, and to stephen ybarra, spinola enlarged upon the indignity about to be offered him, remonstrated vehemently against the wrong and stupidity of the proposed policy, and expressed his reliance upon the efforts of these friends of his to prevent its consummation. he intimated to idiaquez that a new deliberation would be necessary to effect the withdrawal of the dutch fleet--a condition not inserted in the original armistice--but that within the three months allowed for the royal ratification there would be time enough to procure the consent of the states to that measure. if the king really desired to continue the war, he had but to alter a single comma in the draught, and, out of that comma, the stadholder's party would be certain to manufacture for him as long a war as he could possibly wish. in a subsequent letter to the king, spinola observed that he was well aware of the indignation created in spain by the cessation of land hostilities without the recal of the fleet, but that nevertheless john neyen had confidentially represented to the archdukes the royal assent as almost certain. as to the mission of ybarra, the marquis reminded his master that the responsibility and general superintendence of the negotiations had been almost forced upon him. certainly he had not solicited them. if another agent were now interposed, it was an advertisement to the world that the business had been badly managed. if the king wished a rupture, he had but to lift his finger or his pen; but to appoint another commissioner was an unfit reward for his faithful service. he was in the king's hands. if his reputation were now to be destroyed, it was all over with him and his affairs. the man, whom mortals had once believed incapable, would be esteemed incapable until the end of his days. it was too late to prevent the mission of ybarra, who, immediately after his arrival in brussels, began to urge in the king's name that the words in which the provinces had been declared free by the archdukes might be expunged. what could be more childish than such diplomacy? what greater proof could be given of the incapacity of the spanish court to learn the lesson which forty years had been teaching? spinola again wrote a most earnest remonstrance to the king, assuring him that this was simply to break off the negotiation. it was ridiculous to suppose, he said, that concessions already made by the archdukes, ratification of which on the part of the king had been guaranteed, could now be annulled. those acquainted with netherland obstinacy knew better. the very possibility of the king's refusal excited the scorn of the states-general. ybarra went about, too, prating to the archdukes and to others of supplies to be sent from spain sufficient to carry on the war for many years, and of fresh troops to be forwarded immediately by fuentes. as four millions of crowns a year were known to be required for any tolerable campaigning, such empty vaunts as these were preposterous. the king knew full well, said spinola, and had admitted the fact in his letters, that this enormous sum could not be furnished. moreover, the war cost the netherlanders far less in proportion. they had river transportation, by which they effected as much in two days as the catholic army could do in a fortnight, so that every siege was managed with far greater rapidity and less cost by the rebels than by their opponents. as to sending troops from milan, he had already stated that their arrival would have a fatal effect. the minds of the people were full of suspicion. every passing rumour excited a prodigious sensation, and the war party was already gaining the upper hand. spinola warned the king, in the most solemn manner, that if the golden opportunity were now neglected the war would be eternal. this, he said, was more certain than certain. for himself, he had strained every nerve, and would continue to do his best in the interest of peace. if calamity must come, he at least would be held blameless. such vehement remonstrances from so eminent a source produced the needful effect. royal letters were immediately sent, placing full powers of treating in the hands of the marquis, and sending him a ratification of the archduke's agreement. government moreover expressed boundless confidence in spinola, and deprecated the idea that ybarra's mission was in derogation of his authority. he had been sent, it was stated, only to procure that indispensable preliminary to negotiations, the withdrawal of the dutch fleet, but as this had now been granted, ybarra was already recalled. spinola now determined to send the swift and sure-footed friar, who had made himself so useful in opening the path to discussion, on a secret mission to spain. ybarra objected; especially because it would be necessary for him to go through france, where he would be closely questioned by the king. it would be equally dangerous, he said, for the franciscan in that case to tell the truth or to conceal it. but spinola replied that a poor monk like him could steal through france undiscovered. moreover, he should be disguised as a footman, travelling in the service of aurelio spinola, a relative of the marquis, then proceeding to madrid. even should henry hear of his presence and send for him, was it to be supposed that so practised a hand would not easily parry the strokes of the french king--accomplished fencer as he undoubtedly was? after stealing into and out of holland as he had so recently done, there was nothing that might not be expected of him. so the wily friar put on the spinola livery, and, without impediment, accompanied don aurelio to madrid. meantime, the french commissioners--pierre jeannin, buzanval, regular resident at the hague, and de russy, who was destined to succeed that diplomatist--had arrived in holland. the great drama of negotiation, which was now to follow the forty years' tragedy, involved the interests and absorbed the attention of the great christian powers. although serious enough in its substance and its probable consequences, its aspect was that of a solemn comedy. there was a secret disposition on the part of each leading personage--with a few exceptions--to make dupes of all the rest. perhaps this was a necessary result of statesmanship, as it had usually been taught at that epoch. paul v., who had succeeded clement viii. in , with the brief interlude of the twenty-six days of leo xi.'s pontificate, was zealous, as might be supposed, to check the dangerous growth of the pestilential little republic of the north. his diplomatic agents, millino at madrid, barberini at paris, and the accomplished bentivoglio, who had just been appointed to the nunciatura at brussels, were indefatigable in their efforts to suppress the heresy and the insolent liberty of which the upstart commonwealth was the embodiment. especially barberini exerted all the powers at his command to bring about a good understanding between the kings of france and spain. he pictured to henry, in darkest colours, the blight that would come over religion and civilization if the progress of the rebellious netherlands could not be arrested. the united provinces were becoming dangerous, if they remained free, not only to the french kingdom, but to the very existence of monarchy throughout the world. no potentate was ever more interested, so it was urged, than henry iv. to bring down the pride of the dutch rebels. there was always sympathy of thought and action between the huguenots of france and their co- religionists in holland. they were all believers alike in calvinism-- a sect inimical not less to temporal monarchies than to the sovereign primacy of the church--and the tendency and purposes of the french rebels were already sufficiently manifest in their efforts, by means of the so- called cities of security, to erect a state within a state; to introduce, in short, a dutch republic into france. a sovereign remedy for the disease of liberty, now threatening to become epidemic in europe, would be found in a marriage between the second son of the king of spain and a daughter of france. as the archdukes were childless, it might be easily arranged that this youthful couple should succeed them--the result of which would of course be the reduction of all the netherlands to their ancient obedience. it has already been seen, and will become still farther apparent, that nostrums like this were to be recommended in other directions. meantime, jeannin and his colleagues made their appearance at the hague. if there were a living politician in europe capable of dealing with barneveld on even terms, it was no doubt president jeannin. an ancient leaguer, an especial adherent of the duke of mayenne, he had been deep in all the various plots and counter-plots of the guises, and often employed by the extinct confederacy in various important intrigues. being secretly sent to spain to solicit help for the league after the disasters of ivry and arques, he found philip ii. so sincerely imbued with the notion that france was a mere province of spain, and so entirely bent upon securing the heritage of the infanta to that large property, as to convince him that the maintenance of the roman religion was with that monarch only a secondary condition. aid and assistance for the confederacy were difficult of attainment, unless coupled with the guarantee of the infanta's rights to reign in france. the guise faction being inspired solely by religious motives of the loftiest kind, were naturally dissatisfied with the lukewarmness of his most catholic majesty. when therefore the discomfited mayenne subsequently concluded his bargain with the conqueror of ivry, it was a matter of course that jeannin should also make his peace with the successful huguenot, now become eldest son of the church. he was very soon taken into especial favour by henry, who recognised his sagacity, and who knew his hands to be far cleaner than those of the more exalted leaguers with whom he had dealt. the "good old fellow," as henry familiarly called him, had not filled his pockets either in serving or when deserting the league. placed in control of the exchequer at a later period, he was never accused of robbery or peculation. he was a hard- working, not overpaid, very intelligent public functionary. he was made president of the parliament, or supreme tribunal of burgundy, and minister of state, and was recognised as one of the ablest jurists and most skilful politicians in the kingdom. an elderly man, with a tall, serene forehead, a large dark eye and a long grey beard, he presented an image of vast wisdom and reverend probity. he possessed--an especial treasure for a statesman in that plotting age--a singularly honest visage. never was that face more guileless, never was his heart more completely worn upon his sleeve, than when he was harbouring the deepest or most dangerous designs. such was the "good fellow," whom that skilful reader of men, henry of france, had sent to represent his interests and his opinions at the approaching conferences. what were those opinions? paul v. and his legates barberini, millino, and the rest, were well enough aware of the secret strings of the king's policy, and knew how to touch them with skill. of all things past, henry perhaps most regretted that not he, but the last and most wretched of the valois line, was sovereign of france when the states-general came to paris with that offer of sovereignty which had been so contumaciously refused. if the object were attainable, the ex-chief of the huguenots still meant to be king of the netherlands as sincerely as philip ii. had ever intended to be monarch of france. but henry was too accurate a calculator of chances, and had bustled too much in the world of realities, to exhaust his strength in striving, year after year, for a manifest impossibility. the enthusiast, who had passed away at last from the dreams of the escorial into the land of shadows, had spent a lifetime, and melted the wealth of an empire; but universal monarchy had never come forth from his crucible. the french king, although possessed likewise of an almost boundless faculty for ambitious visions, was capable of distinguishing cloud-land from substantial empire. jeannin, as his envoy, would at any rate not reveal his master's secret aspirations to those with whom he came to deal, as openly as philip had once unveiled himself to jeannin. there could be no doubt that peace at this epoch was the real interest of france. that kingdom was beginning to flourish again, owing to the very considerable administrative genius of bethune, an accomplished financier according to the lights of the age, and still more by reason of the general impoverishment of the great feudal houses and of the clergy. the result of the almost interminable series of civil and religious wars had been to cause a general redistribution of property. capital was mainly in the hands of the middle and lower classes, and the consequence of this general circulation of wealth through all the channels of society was precisely what might have been expected, an increase of enterprise and of productive industry in various branches. although the financial wisdom of the age was doing its best to impede commerce, to prevent the influx of foreign wares, to prohibit the outflow of specie--in obedience to the universal superstition, which was destined to survive so many centuries, that gold and silver alone constituted wealth--while, at the same time, in deference to the idiotic principle of sumptuary legislation, it was vigorously opposing mulberry culture, silk manufactures, and other creations of luxury, which, in spite of the hostility of government sages, were destined from that time forward to become better mines of wealth for the kingdom than the indies had been for spain, yet on the whole the arts of peace were in the ascendant in france. the king, although an unscrupulous, self-seeking despot and the coarsest of voluptuaries, was at least a man of genius. he had also too much shrewd mother-wit to pursue such schemes as experience had shown to possess no reality. the talisman "espoir," emblazoned on his shield, had led him to so much that it was natural for him at times to think all things possible. but he knew how to renounce as well as how to dare. he had abandoned his hope to be declared prince of wales and successor to the english crown, which he had cherished for a brief period, at the epoch of the essex conspiracy; he had forgotten his magnificent dream of placing the crown of the holy german empire upon his head, and if he still secretly resolved to annex the netherlands to his realms, and to destroy his excellent ally, the usurping, rebellious, and heretic dutch republic, he had craft enough to work towards his aim in the dark, and the common sense to know that by now throwing down the mask he would be for ever baffled of his purpose. the history of france, during the last three-quarters of a century, had made almost every frenchman, old enough to bear arms, an accomplished soldier. henry boasted that the kingdom could put three hundred thousand veterans into the field--a high figure, when it is recollected that its population certainly did not exceed fifteen millions. no man however was better aware than he, that in spite, of the apparent pacification of parties, the three hundred thousand would not be all on one side, even in case of a foreign war. there were at least four thousand great feudal lords as faithful to the huguenot faith and cause as he had been false to both; many of them still wealthy, notwithstanding the general ruin which had swept over the high nobility, and all of them with vast influence and a splendid following, both among the lesser gentry and the men of lower rank. although he kept a jesuit priest ever at his elbow, and did his best to persuade the world and perhaps himself that he had become a devout catholic, in consequence of those memorable five hours' instruction from the bishop of bourges, and that there was no hope for france save in its return to the bosom of the church, he was yet too politic and too farseeing to doubt that for him to oppress the protestants would be not only suicidal, but, what was worse in his eyes, ridiculous. he knew, too, that with thirty or forty thousand fighting-men in the field, with seven hundred and forty churches in the various provinces for their places of worship, with all the best fortresses in france in their possession, with leaders like rohan, lesdiguieres, bouillon, and many others, and with the most virtuous, self-denying, christian government, established and maintained by themselves, it would be madness for him and his dynasty to deny the protestants their political and religious liberty, or to attempt a crusade against their brethren in the netherlands. france was far more powerful than spain, although the world had not yet recognised the fact. yet it would have been difficult for both united to crush the new commonwealth, however paradoxical such a proposition seemed to contemporaries. sully was conscientiously in favour of peace, and sully was the one great minister of france. not a lerma, certainly; for france was not spain, nor was henry iv. a philip iii. the huguenot duke was an inferior financier to his spanish contemporary, if it were the height of financial skill for a minister to exhaust the resources of a great kingdom in order to fill his own pocket. sully certainly did not neglect his own interests, for be had accumulated a fortune of at least seventy thousand dollars a year, besides a cash capital estimated at a million and a half. but while enriching himself, he had wonderfully improved the condition of the royal treasury. he had reformed many abuses and opened many new sources of income. he had, of course, not accomplished the whole augean task of purification. he was a vigorous huguenot, but no hercules, and demigods might have shrunk appalled at the filthy mass of corruption which great european kingdoms everywhere presented to the reformer's eye. compared to the spanish government, that of france might almost have been considered virtuous, yet even there everything was venal. to negotiate was to bribe right and left, and at every step. all the ministers and great functionaries received presents, as a matter of course, and it was necessary to pave the pathway even of their ante- chambers with gold. the king was fully aware of the practice, but winked at it, because his servants, thus paid enormous sums by the public and by foreign governments, were less importunate for rewards and salaries from himself. one man in the kingdom was said to have clean hands, the venerable and sagacious chancellor, pomponne de bellievre. his wife, however, was less scrupulous, and readily disposed of influence and court-favour for a price, without the knowledge, so it was thought, of the great judge. jeannin, too, was esteemed a man of personal integrity, ancient leaguer and tricky politician though he were. highest offices of magistracy and judicature, church and state, were objects of a traffic almost as shameless as in spain. the ermine was sold at auction, mitres were objects of public barter, church preferments were bestowed upon female children in their cradles. yet there was hope in france, notwithstanding that the pragmatic sanction of st. louis, the foundation of the liberties of the gallican church, had been annulled by francis, who had divided the seamless garment of church patronage with leo. those four thousand great huguenot lords, those thirty thousand hard- fighting weavers, and blacksmiths, and other plebeians, those seven hundred and forty churches, those very substantial fortresses in every province of the kingdom, were better facts than the holy inquisition to preserve a great nation from sinking into the slough of political extinction. henry was most anxious that sully should convert himself to the ancient church, and the gossips of the day told each other that the duke had named his price for his conversion. to be made high constable of france, it was said would melt the resolve of the stiff huguenot. to any other inducement or blandishment he was adamant. whatever truth may have been in such chatter, it is certain that the duke never gratified his master's darling desire. yet it was for no lack of attempts and intrigues on the part of the king, although it is not probable that he would have ever consented to bestow that august and coveted dignity upon a bethune. the king did his best by intrigue, by calumny, by talebearing, by inventions, to set the huguenots against each other, and to excite the mutual jealousy of all his most trusted adherents, whether protestant or catholic. the most good-humoured, the least vindictive, the most ungrateful, the falsest of mankind, he made it his policy, as well as his pastime, to repeat, with any amount of embroidery that his most florid fancy could devise, every idle story or calumny that could possibly create bitter feeling and make mischief among those who surrounded him. being aware that this propensity was thoroughly understood, he only multiplied fictions, so cunningly mingled with truths, as to leave his hearers quite unable to know what to believe and what to doubt. by such arts, force being impossible, he hoped one day to sever the band which held the conventicles together, and to reduce protestantism to insignificance. he would have cut off the head of d'aubigne or duplessis mornay to gain an object, and have not only pardoned but caressed and rewarded biron when reeking from the conspiracy against his own life and crown, had he been willing to confess and ask pardon for his stupendous crime. he hated vindictive men almost as much as he despised those who were grateful. he was therefore far from preferring sully to villeroy or jeannin, but he was perfectly aware that, in financial matters at least, the duke was his best friend and an important pillar of the state. the minister had succeeded in raising the annual revenue of france to nearly eleven millions of dollars, and in reducing the annual expenditures to a little more than ten millions. to have a balance on the right side of the public ledger was a feat less easily accomplished in those days even than in our own. could the duke have restrained his sovereign's reckless extravagance in buildings, parks, hunting establishments, and harems, he might have accomplished even greater miracles. he lectured the king roundly, as a parent might remonstrate with a prodigal son, but it was impossible even for a sully to rescue that hoary-headed and most indomitable youth from wantonness and riotous living. the civil-list of the king amounted to more than one-tenth of the whole revenue. on the whole, however, it was clear, as france was then constituted and administered, that a general peace would be, for the time at least, most conducive to its interests, and henry and his great minister were sincerely desirous of bringing about that result. preliminaries for a negotiation which should terminate this mighty war were now accordingly to be laid down at the hague. yet it would seem rather difficult to effect a compromise. besides the powers less interested, but which nevertheless sent representatives to watch the proceedings--such as sweden, denmark, brandenburg, the elector palatine --there were spain, france, england, the republic, and the archdukes. spain knew very well that she could not continue the war; but she hoped by some quibbling recognition of an impossible independence to recover that authority over her ancient vassals which the sword had for the time struck down. distraction in councils, personal rivalries, the well- known incapacity of a people to govern itself, commercial greediness, provincial hatreds, envies and jealousies, would soon reduce that jumble of cities and villages, which aped the airs of sovereignty, into insignificance and confusion. adroit management would easily re-assert afterwards the sovereignty of the lord's anointed. that a republic of freemen, a federation of independent states, could take its place among the nations did not deserve a serious thought. spain in her heart preferred therefore to treat. it was however indispensable that the netherlands should reestablish the catholic religion throughout the land, should abstain then and for ever from all insolent pretences to trade with india or america, and should punish such of their citizens as attempted to make voyages to the one or the other. with these trifling exceptions, the court of madrid would look with favour on propositions made in behalf of the rebels. france, as we have seen, secretly aspired to the sovereignty of all the netherlands, if it could be had. she was also extremely in favour of excluding the hollanders from the indies, east and west. the king, fired with the achievements of the republic at sea, and admiring their great schemes for founding empires at the antipodes by means of commercial corporations, was very desirous of appropriating to his own benefit the experience, the audacity, the perseverance, the skill and the capital of their merchants and mariners. he secretly instructed his commissioners, therefore, and repeatedly urged it upon them, to do their best to procure the renunciation, on the part of the republic, of the indian trade, and to contrive the transplantation into france of the mighty trading companies, so successfully established in holland and zeeland. the plot thus to deprive the provinces of their india trade was supposed by the statesmen of the republic to have been formed in connivance with spain. that power, finding itself half pushed from its seat of power in the east by the "grand and infallible society created by the united provinces,"--[memoir of aerssens, ubi sup]--would be but too happy to make use of this french intrigue in order to force the intruding dutch navy from its conquests. olden-barneveld, too politic to offend the powerful and treacherous ally by a flat refusal, said that the king's friendship was more precious than the india trade. at the same time he warned the french government that, if they ruined the dutch east india company, "neither france nor any other nation would ever put its nose into india again." james of england, too, flattered himself that he could win for england that sovereignty of the netherlands which england as well as france had so decidedly refused. the marriage of prince henry with the spanish infanta was the bait, steadily dangled before him by the politicians of the spanish court, and he deluded himself with the thought that the catholic king, on the death of the childless archdukes, would make his son and daughter-in-law a present of the obedient netherlands. he already had some of the most important places in the united netherlands- the famous cautionary towns in his grasp, and it should go hard but he would twist that possession into a sovereignty over the whole land. as for recognising the rebel provinces as an independent sovereignty, that was most abhorrent to him. such a tampering with the great principles of government was an offence against all crowned heads, a crime in which he was unwilling to participate. his instinct against rebellion seemed like second sight. the king might almost be imagined to have foreseen in the dim future those memorable months in which the proudest triumph of the dutch commonwealth was to be registered before the forum of christendom at the congress of westphalia, and in which the solemn trial and execution of his own son and successor, with the transformation of the monarchy of the tudors and stuarts into a british republic, were simultaneously to startle the world. but it hardly needed the gift of prophecy to inspire james with a fear of revolutions. he was secretly desirous therefore, sustained by salisbury and his other advisers, of effecting the restoration of the provinces to the dominion of his most catholic majesty. it was of course the interest of england that the netherland rebels should renounce the india trade. so would james be spared the expense and trouble of war; so would the great doctrines of divine right be upheld; so would the way be paved towards the ultimate absorption of the netherlands by england. whether his theological expositions would find as attentive pupils when the pope's authority had been reestablished over all his neighbours; whether the catholic rebels in ireland would become more tranquil by the subjugation of the protestant rebels in holland; whether the principles of guy fawkes might not find more effective application, with no bulwark beyond the seas against the incursion of such practitioners--all this he did not perhaps sufficiently ponder. thus far had the discursive mind of james wandered from the position which it occupied at the epoch of maximilian de bethune's memorable embassy to england. the archdukes were disposed to quiet. on them fell the burthen of the war. their little sovereignty, where--if they could only be allowed to expend the money squeezed from the obedient provinces in court diversions, stately architecture, splendid encouragement of the fine arts, and luxurious living, surrounded by a train of great nobles, fit to command regiments in the field or assist in the counsels of state, but chiefly occupied in putting dishes on the court table, handing ewers and napkins to their highnesses, or in still more menial offices--so much enjoyment might be had, was reduced to a mere parade ground for spanish soldiery. it was ridiculous, said the politicians of madrid, to suppose that a great empire like spain would not be continually at war in one direction or another, and would not perpetually require the use of large armies. where then could there be a better mustering place for their forces than those very provinces, so easy of access, so opulent, so conveniently situate in the neighbourhood of spain's most insolent enemies? it was all very fine for the archduke, who knew nothing of war, they declared, who had no hope of children, who longed only for a life of inglorious ease, such as he could have had as archbishop, to prate of peace and thus to compromise the dignity of the realm. on the contrary by making proper use of the netherlands, the repose and grandeur of the monarchy would be secured, even should the war become eternal. this prospect, not agreeable certainly for the archdukes or their subjects, was but little admired outside the spanish court. such then were the sentiments of the archdukes, and such the schemes and visions of spain, france, and england. on two or three points, those great powers were mainly, if unconsciously, agreed. the netherlands should not be sovereign; they should renounce the india navigation; they should consent to the re-establishment of the catholic religion. on the other hand, the states-general knew their own minds, and made not the slightest secret of their intentions. they would be sovereign, they would not renounce the india trade, they would not agree to the re-establishment of the catholic religion. could the issue of the proposed negotiations be thought hopeful, or was another half century of warfare impending? on the th may the french commissioners came before the states-general. there had been many wild rumours flying through the provinces in regard to the king's secret designs upon the republic, especially since the visit made to the hague a twelvemonth before by francis aerssens, states' resident at the french court. that diplomatist, as we know, had been secretly commissioned by henry to feel the public pulse in regard to the sovereignty, so far as that could be done by very private and delicate fingering. although only two or three personages had been dealt with-- the suggestions being made as the private views of the ambassadors only --there had been much gossip on the subject, not only in the netherlands, but at the english and spanish courts. throughout the commonwealth there was a belief that henry wished to make himself king of the country. as this happened to be the fact, it was natural that the president, according to the statecraft of his school, should deny it at once, and with an air of gentle melancholy. wearing therefore his most ingenuous expression, jeannin addressed the assembly. he assured the states that the king had never forgotten how much assistance he had received from them when he was struggling to conquer the kingdom legally belonging to him, and at a time when they too were fighting in their own country for their very existence. the king thought that he had given so many proofs of his sincere friendship as to make doubt impossible; but he had found the contrary, for the states had accorded an armistice, and listened to overtures of peace, without deigning to consult him on the subject. they had proved, by beginning and concluding so important a transaction without his knowledge, that they regarded him with suspicion, and had no respect for his name. whence came the causes of that suspicion it was difficult to imagine, unless from certain false rumours of propositions said to have been put forward in his behalf, although he had never authorised anyone to make them, by which men had been induced to believe that he aspired to the sovereignty of the provinces. "this falsehood," continued the candid president, "has cut our king to the heart, wounding him more deeply than anything else could have done. to make the armistice without his knowledge showed merely your contempt for him, and your want of faith in him. but he blamed not the action in itself, since you deemed it for your good, and god grant that you may not have been deceived. but to pretend that his majesty wished to grow great at your expense, this was to do a wrong to his reputation, to his good faith, and to the desire which he has always shown to secure the prosperity of your state." much more spoke jeannin, in this vein, assuring the assembly that those abominable falsehoods proceeded from the enemies of the king, and were designed expressly to sow discord and suspicion in the provinces. the reader, already aware of the minute and detailed arrangements made by henry and his ministers for obtaining the sovereignty of the united provinces and destroying their liberties, will know how to appreciate the eloquence of the ingenuous president. after the usual commonplaces concerning the royal desire to protect his allies against wrong and oppression, and to advance their interests, the president suggested that the states should forthwith communicate the pending deliberations to all the kings and princes who had favoured their cause, and especially to the king of england, who had so thoroughly proved his desire to promote their welfare. as jeannin had been secretly directed to pave the way by all possible means for the king's sovereignty over the provinces; as he was not long afterwards to receive explicit instructions to expend as much money as might be necessary in bribing prince maurice, count lewis william, barneveld and his son, together with such others as might seem worth purchasing, in order to assist henry in becoming monarch of their country; and as the english king was at that moment represented in henry's private letters to the commissioners as actually loathing the liberty, power, and prosperity of the provinces, it must be conceded that the president had acquitted himself very handsomely in his first oration. such was the virtue of his honest face. barneveld answered with generalities and commonplaces. no man knew better than the advocate the exact position of affairs; no man had more profoundly fathomed the present purposes of the french king; no man had more acutely scanned his character. but he knew the critical position of the commonwealth. he knew that, although the public revenue might be raised by extraordinary and spasmodic exertion to nearly a million sterling, a larger income than had ever been at the disposition of the great queen of england, the annual deficit might be six millions of florins--more than half the revenue--if the war continued, and that there was necessity of peace, could the substantial objects of the war be now obtained. he was well aware too of the subtle and scheming brain which lay hid beneath that reverend brow of the president, although he felt capable of coping with him in debate or intrigue. doubtless he was inspired with as much ardour for the intellectual conflict as henry might have experienced on some great field-day with alexander farnese. on this occasion, however, barneveld preferred to glide gently over the rumours concerning henry's schemes. those reports had doubtless emanated, he said, from the enemies of netherland prosperity. the private conclusion of the armistice he defended on the ground of necessity, and of temporary financial embarrassment, and he promised that deputies should at once be appointed to confer with the royal commissioners in regard to the whole subject. in private, he assured jeannin that the communications of aerssens had only been discussed in secret, and had not been confided to more than three or four persons. the advocate, although the leader of the peace party, was by no means over anxious for peace. the object of much insane obloquy, because disposed to secure that blessing for his country on the basis of freedom and independence, he was not disposed to trust in the sincerity of the archdukes, or the spanish court, or the french king. "timeo danaos etiam dona ferentes," he had lately said to aerssens. knowing that the resistance of the netherlands had been forty years long the bulwark of europe against the designs of the spaniard for universal empire, he believed the republic justified in expecting the support of the leading powers in the negotiations now proposed. "had it not been for the opposition of these provinces," he said, "he might, in the opinion of the wisest, have long ago been monarch of all europe, with small expense of men, money, or credit." he was far from believing therefore that spain, which had sacrificed, according to his estimate, three hundred thousand soldiers and two hundred million ducats in vain endeavours to destroy the resistance of the united provinces, was now ready to lay aside her vengeance and submit to a sincere peace. rather he thought to see "the lambkins, now frisking so innocently about the commonwealth, suddenly transform themselves into lions and wolves." it would be a fatal error, he said, to precipitate the dear fatherland into the net of a simulated negotiation, from unwise impatience for peace. the netherlanders were a simple, truthful people and could hope for no advantage in dealing with spanish friars, nor discover all the danger and deceit lurking beneath their fair words. thus the man, whom his enemies perpetually accused of being bought by the enemy, of wishing peace at any price, of wishing to bring back the catholic party and ecclesiastical influence to the netherlands, was vigorously denouncing a precipitate peace, and warning his countrymen of the danger of premature negotiations. "as one can hardly know the purity and value of gold," he said, "without testing it, so it is much more difficult to distinguish a false peace from a genuine one; for one can never touch it nor taste it; and one learns the difference when one is cheated and lost. ignorant people think peace negotiations as simple as a private lawsuit. many sensible persons even think that; the enemy once recognising us for a free, sovereign state, we shall be in the same position as england and france, which powers have lately made peace with the archdukes and with spain. but we shall find a mighty difference. moreover, in those kingdoms the spanish king has since the peace been ever busy corrupting their officers of state and their subjects, and exciting rebellion and murder within their realms, as all the world must confess. and the english merchants complain that they have suffered more injustice, violence, and wrong from the spaniards since the peace than they did during the war." the advocate also reminded his countrymen that the archduke, being a vassal of spain, could not bind that power by his own signature, and that there was no proof that the king would renounce his pretended rights to the provinces. if he affected to do so, it would only be to put the republic to sleep. he referred, with much significance, to the late proceedings of the admiral of arragon at emmerich, who refused to release that city according to his plighted word, saying roundly that whatever he might sign and seal one day he would not hesitate absolutely to violate on the next if the king's service was thereby to be benefited. with such people, who had always learned law-doctors and ghostly confessors to strengthen and to absolve them, they could never expect anything but broken faith and contempt for treaties however solemnly ratified. should an armistice be agreed upon and negotiations begun, the advocate urged that the work of corruption and bribery would not be a moment delayed, and although the netherlanders were above all nations a true and faithful race, it could hardly be hoped that no individuals would be gained over by the enemy. "for the whole country," said barneveld, "would swarm with jesuits, priests, and monks, with calumnies and corruptions--the machinery by which the enemy is wont to produce discord, relying for success upon the well-known maxim of philip of macedon, who considered no city impregnable into which he could send an ass laden with gold." the advocate was charged too with being unfriendly to the india trade, especially to the west india company. he took the opportunity, however, to enlarge with emphasis and eloquence upon that traffic as constituting the very lifeblood of the country. "the commerce with the east indies is going on so prosperously," he said, "that not only our own inhabitants but all strangers are amazed. the west india company is sufficiently prepared, and will cost the commonwealth so little, that the investment will be inconsiderable in comparison with the profits. and all our dangers and difficulties have nearly vanished since the magnificent victory of gibraltar, by which the enemy's ships, artillery, and sailors have been annihilated, and proof afforded that the spanish galleys are not so terrible as they pretend to be. by means of this trade to both the indies, matters will soon be brought into such condition that the spaniards will be driven out of all those regions and deprived of their traffic. thus will the great wolf's teeth be pulled out, and we need have no farther fear of his biting again. then we may hope for a firm and assured peace, and may keep the indies, with the whole navigation thereon depending, for ourselves, sharing it freely and in common with our allies." certainly no statesman could more strongly depict the dangers of a pusillanimous treaty, and the splendid future of the republic, if she held fast to her resolve for political independence, free religion, and free trade, than did the great advocate at this momentous epoch of european history. had he really dreamed of surrendering the republic to spain, that republic whose resistance ever since the middle of the previous century had been all that had saved europe, in the opinion of learned and experienced thinkers, from the universal empire of spain--had the calumnies, or even a thousandth part of the calumnies, against him been true--how different might have been the history of human liberty! soon afterwards, in accordance with the suggestions of the french king and with their own previous intentions, a special legation was despatched by the states to england, in order to notify the approaching conferences to the sovereign of that country, and to invite his participation in the proceedings. the states' envoys were graciously received by james, who soon appointed richard spencer and ralph winwood as commissioners to the hague, duly instructed to assist at the deliberations, and especially to keep a sharp watch upon french intrigues. there were also missions and invitations to denmark and to the electors palatine and of brandenburg, the two latter potentates having, during the past three years, assisted the states with a hundred thousand florins annually. the news of the great victory at gibraltar had reached the netherlands almost simultaneously with the arrival of the french commissioners. it was thought probable that john neyen had received the weighty intelligence some days earlier, and the intense eagerness of the archdukes and of the spanish government to procure the recal of the dutch fleet was thus satisfactorily explained. very naturally this magnificent success, clouded though it was by the death of the hero to whom it was due, increased the confidence of the states in the justice of their cause and the strength of their position. once more, it is not entirely idle to consider the effect of scientific progress on the march of human affairs, as so often exemplified in history. whether that half-century of continuous war would have been possible with the artillery, means of locomotion, and other machinery of destruction and communication now so terribly familiar to the world, can hardly be a question. the preterhuman prolixity of negotiation which appals us in the days when steam and electricity had not yet annihilated time and space, ought also to be obsolete. at a period when the news of a great victory was thirty days on its travels from gibraltar to flushing, aged counsellors justified themselves in a solemn consumption of time such as might have exasperated jared or methuselah in his boyhood. men fought as if war was the normal condition of humanity, and negotiated as if they were all immortal. but has the art political kept pace with the advancement of physical science? if history be valuable for the examples it furnishes both for imitation and avoidance, then the process by which these peace conferences were initiated and conducted may be wholesome food for reflection. john neyen, who, since his secret transactions already described at the hague and fort lillo, had been speeding back and forth between brussels, london, and madrid, had once more returned to the netherlands, and had been permitted to reside privately at delft until the king's ratification should arrive from spain. while thus established, the industrious friar had occupied his leisure in studying the situation of affairs. especially he had felt inclined to renew some of those little commercial speculations which had recently proved so comfortable in the case of dirk van der does. recorder cornelius aerssens came frequently to visit him, with the private consent of the government, and it at once struck the friar that cornelius would be a judicious investment. so he informed the recorder that the archdukes had been much touched with his adroitness and zeal in facilitating the entrance of their secret agent into the presence of the prince and the advocate. cruwel, in whose company the disguised neyen had made his first journey to the hague, was a near relative of aerssena, the honest monk accordingly, in recognition of past and expected services, begged one day the recorder's acceptance of a bill, drawn by marquis spinola on henry beckman, merchant of amsterdam, for eighty thousand ducats. he also produced a diamond ring, valued at ten thousand florins, which he ventured to think worthy the acceptance of madame aerssens. furthermore, he declared himself ready to pay fifteen thousand crowns in cash, on account of the bill, whenever it might be, desired, and observed that the archdukes had ordered the house which the recorder had formerly occupied in brussels to be reconveyed to him. other good things were in store, it was delicately hinted, as soon as they had been earned. aerssens expressed his thanks for the house, which, he said, legally belonged to him according to the terms of the surrender of brussels. he hesitated in regard to the rest, but decided finally to accept the bill of exchange and the diamond, apprising prince maurice and olden- barneveld of the fact, however, on his return to the hague. being subsequently summoned by neyen to accept the fifteen thousand crowns, he felt embarrassed at the compromising position in which he had placed himself. he decided accordingly to make a public statement of the affair to the states-general. this was done, and the states placed the ring and the bill in the hands of their treasurer, joris de bie. the recorder never got the eighty thousand ducats, nor his wife the diamond; but although there had been no duplicity on his part, he got plenty of slander. his evil genius had prompted him, not to listen seriously to the temptings of the monk, but to deal with him on his own terms. he was obliged to justify himself against public suspicion with explanations and pamphlets, but some taint of the calumny stuck by him to the last. meantime, the three months allotted for the reception of philip's ratification had nearly expired. in march, the royal government had expressly consented that the archdukes should treat with the rebels on the ground of their independence. in june that royal permission had been withdrawn, exactly because the independence could never be acknowledged. albert, naturally enough indignant at such double-dealing, wrote to the king that his disapprobation was incomprehensible, as the concession of independence had been made by direct command of philip. "i am much amazed," he said, "that, having treated with the islanders on condition of leaving them free, by express order of your majesty (which you must doubtless very well remember), your majesty now reproves my conduct, and declares your dissatisfaction." at last, on the rd july, spinola requested a safe conduct for louis verreyken, auditor of the council at brussels, to come to the hague. on the rd of july that functionary accordingly arrived. he came before prince maurice and fifty deputies of the states-general, and exhibited the document. at the same time he urged them, now that the long-desired ratification had been produced, to fulfil at once their promise, and to recal their fleet from the coast of spain. verreyken was requested to withdraw while the instrument was examined. when recalled, he was informed that the states had the most staight- forward intention to negotiate, but that the royal document did not at all answer their expectation. as few of the delegates could read spanish, it would first of all be necessary to cause it to be translated. when that was done they would be able to express their opinion concerning it and come to a decision in regard to the recal of the fleet. this ended the proceedings on that occasion. next day prince maurice invited verreyken and others to dine. after dinner the stadholder informed him that the answer of the states might soon be expected; at the same time expressing his regret that the king should have sent such an instrument. it was very necessary, said the prince, to have plain speaking, and he, for one, had never believed that the king would send a proper ratification. the one exhibited was not at all to the purpose. the king was expected to express himself as clearly as the archdukes had done in their instrument. he must agree to treat with the states-general as with people entirely free, over whom he claimed no authority. if the king should refuse to make this public declaration, the states would at once break off all negotiations. three days afterwards, seven deputies conferred with verreyken. barneveld, as spokesman, declared that, so far as the provinces were concerned, the path was plain and open to an honest, ingenuous, lasting peace, but that the manner of dealing on the other side was artificial and provocative of suspicion. a most important line, which had been placed by the states at the very beginning of the form suggested by them, was wanting in the ratification now received. this hardly seemed an accidental omission. the whole document was constrained and defective. it was necessary to deal with netherlanders in clear and simple language. the basis of any possible negotiation was that the provinces were to be treated with as and called entirely free. unless this was done negotiations were impossible. the states-general were not so unskilled in affairs as to be ignorant that the king and the archdukes were quite capable, at a future day, of declaring themselves untrammelled by any conditions. they would boast that conventions with rebels and pledges to heretics were alike invalid. if verreyken had brought no better document than the one presented, he had better go at once. his stay in the provinces was superfluous. at a subsequent interview barneveld informed verreyken that the king's confirmation had been unanimously rejected by the states-general as deficient both in form and substance. he added that the people of the provinces were growing very lukewarm in regard to peace, that prince maurice opposed it, that many persons regretted the length to which the negotiations had already gone. difficult as it seemed to be to recede, the archdukes might be certain that a complete rupture was imminent. all these private conversations of barneveld, who was known to be the chief of the peace party, were duly reported by verreyken in secret notes to the archduke and to spinola. of course they produced their effect. it surely might have been seen that the tricks and shifts of an antiquated diplomacy were entirely out of place if any wholesome result were desired. but the habit of dissimulation was inveterate. that the man who cannot dissemble is unfit to reign, was perhaps the only one of his father's golden rules which philip iii. could thoroughly comprehend, even if it be assumed that the monarch was at all consulted in regard to this most important transaction of his life. verreyken and the friar knew very well when they brought the document that it would be spurned by the states, and yet they were also thoroughly aware that it was the king's interest to, begin the negotiations as soon as possible. when thus privately and solemnly assured by the advocate that they were really wasting their time by being the bearers of these royal evasions, they learned therefore nothing positively new, but were able to assure their employers that to thoroughly disgust the peace party was not precisely the mode of terminating the war. verreyken now received public and formal notification that a new instrument must be procured from the king. in the ratification which had been sent, that monarch spoke of the archdukes as princes and sovereign proprietors of all the netherlands. the clause by which, according to the form prescribed by the states, and already adopted by the archdukes, the united provinces were described as free countries over which no authority was claimed had been calmly omitted, as if, by such a subterfuge, the independence of the republic could be winked out of existence. furthermore, it was objected that the document was in spanish, that it was upon paper instead of parchment, that it was not sealed with the great, but with the little seal, and that it was subscribed. "i the king." this signature might be very appropriate for decrees issued by a monarch to his vassals, but could not be rightly appended, it was urged, to an instrument addressed to a foreign power. potentates, treating with the states-general of the united provinces, were expected to sign their names. whatever may be thought of the technical requirements in regard to the parchment, the signature, and the seal, it would be difficult to characterize too strongly the polity of the spanish government in the most essential point. to seek relief from the necessity of recognising- at least in the sense of similitude, according to the subtlety of bentivoglio--the freedom of the provinces, simply by running the pen through the most important line of a most important document, was diplomacy in its dotage. had not marquis spinola, a man who could use his brains and his pen as well as his sword, expressly implored the politicians of madrid not to change even a comma in the form of ratification which he sent to spain? verreyken, placed face to face with plain-spoken, straightforward, strong-minded men, felt the dreary absurdity of the position. he could only stammer a ridiculous excuse about the clause, having been accidentally left out by a copying secretary. to represent so important an omission as a clerical error was almost as great an absurdity as the original device; but it was necessary for verreyken to say something. he promised, however, that the form prescribed by the states should be again transmitted to madrid, and expressed confidence that the ratification would now be sent as desired. meantime he trusted that the fleet would be at once recalled. this at once created a stormy debate which lasted many days, both within the walls of the house of assembly and out of doors. prince maurice bitterly denounced the proposition, and asserted the necessity rather of sending out more ships than of permitting their cruisers to return. it was well known that the spanish government, since the destruction of avila's fleet, had been straining every nerve to procure and equip other war-vessels, and that even the duke of lerma had offered a small portion of his immense plunderings to the crown in aid of naval armaments. on the other hand, barneveld urged that the states, in the preliminary armistice, had already agreed to send no munitions nor reinforcements to the fleet already cruising on the coasts of the peninsula. it would be better, therefore, to recal those ships than to leave them where they could not be victualled nor strengthened without a violation of good faith. these opinions prevailed, and on the th august, verreyken was summoned before the assembly, and informed by barneveld that the states had decided to withdraw the fleet, and to declare invalid all prizes made six weeks after that date. this was done, it was said, out of respect to the archdukes, to whom no blame was imputed for the negligence displayed in regard to the ratification. furthermore, the auditor was requested to inform his masters that the documents brought from spain were not satisfactory, and he was furnished with a draught, made both in latin and french. with this form, it was added, the king was to comply within six weeks, if he desired to proceed further in negotiations with the states. verreyken thanked the states-general, made the best of promises, and courteously withdrew. next day, however, just as his preparations for departure had been made, he was once more summoned before the assembly to meet with a somewhat disagreeable surprise. barneveld, speaking as usual in behalf of the states-general, publicly produced spinola's bill of exchange for eighty thousand ducats, the diamond ring intended for madame aerssens, and the gold chain given to dirk van der does, and expressed the feelings of the republican government in regard to those barefaced attempts of friar john at bribery and corruption, in very scornful language? netherlanders were not to be bought--so the agent of spain and of the archdukes was informed--and, even if the citizens were venal, it would be necessary in a popular government to buy up the whole nation. "it is not in our commonwealth as in despotisms," said the advocate, "where affairs of state are directed by the nod of two or three individuals, while the rest of the inhabitants are a mob of slaves. by turns, we all govern and are governed. this great council, this senate--should it seem not sufficiently fortified against your presents-could easily be enlarged. here is your chain, your ring, your banker's draught. take them all back to your masters. such gifts are not necessary to ensure a just peace, while to accept them would be a crime against liberty, which we are incapable of committing." verreyken, astonished and abashed, could answer little save to mutter a few words about the greediness of monks, who, judging everyone else by themselves, thought no one inaccessible to a bribe. he protested the innocence of the archdukes in the matter, who had given no directions to bribe, and who were quite ignorant that the attempt had been made. he did not explain by whose authority the chain, the ring, and the draught upon beckman had been furnished to the friar. meantime that ecclesiastic was cheerfully wending his way to spain in search of the new ratification, leaving his colleague vicariously to bide the pelting of the republican storm, and to return somewhat weather-beaten to brussels. during the suspension, thus ridiculously and gratuitously caused, of preliminaries which had already lasted the better portion of a year, party-spirit was rising day by day higher, and spreading more widely throughout the provinces. opinions and sentiments were now sharply defined and loudly announced. the clergy, from a thousand pulpits, thundered against the peace, exposing the insidious practices, the faithless promises, the monkish corruptions, by which the attempt was making to reduce the free republic once more into vassalage to spain. the people everywhere listened eagerly and applauded. especially the mariners, cordwainers, smiths, ship-chandlers, boatmen, the tapestry weavers, lace-manufacturers, shopkeepers, and, above all, the india merchants and stockholders in the great commercial companies for the east and west, lifted up their voices for war. this was the party of prince maurice, who made no secret of his sentiments, and opposed, publicly and privately, the resumption of negotiations. doubtless his adherents were the most numerous portion of the population. barneveld, however, was omnipotent with the municipal governments, and although many individuals in those bodies were deeply interested in the india navigation and the great corporations, the advocate turned them as usual around his finger. ever since the memorable day of nieuport there had been no love lost between the stadholder and the advocate. they had been nominally reconciled to each other, and had, until lately, acted with tolerable harmony, but each was thoroughly conscious of the divergence of their respective aims. exactly at this period the long-smothered resentment of maurice against his old preceptor, counsellor, and, as he believed, betrayer, flamed forth anew. he was indignant that a man, so infinitely beneath him in degree, should thus dare to cross his plans, to hazard, as he believed, the best interests of the state, and to interfere with the course of his legitimate ambition. there was more glory for a great soldier to earn in future battle-fields, a higher position before the world to be won. he had a right by birth, by personal and family service, to claim admittance among the monarchs of europe. the pistol of balthasar gerard had alone prevented the elevation of his father to the sovereignty of the provinces. the patents, wanting only a few formalities, were still in possession of the son. as the war went on--and nothing but blind belief in spanish treachery could cause the acceptance of a peace which would be found to mean slavery--there was no height to which he might not climb. with the return of peace and submission, his occupation would be gone, obscurity and poverty the sole recompense for his life long services and the sacrifices of his family. the memory of the secret movements twice made but a few years before to elevate him to the sovereignty, and which he believed to have been baffled by the advocate, doubtless rankled in his breast. he did not forget that when the subject had been discussed by the favourers of the scheme in barneveld's own house, barneveld himself had prophesied that one day or another "the rights would burst out which his excellency had to become prince of the provinces, on strength of the signed and sealed documents addressed to the late prince of orange; that he had further alluded to the efforts then on foot to make him duke of gelderland; adding with a sneer, that zeeland was all agog on the subject, while in that province there were individuals very desirous of becoming children of zebedee." barneveld, on his part, although accustomed to speak in public of his excellency prince maurice in terms of profoundest respect, did not fail to communicate in influential quarters his fears that the prince was inspired by excessive ambition, and that he desired to protract the war, not for the good of the commonwealth, but for the attainment of greater power in the state. the envoys of france, expressly instructed on that subject by the king, whose purposes would be frustrated if the ill-blood between these eminent personages could not be healed, did their best to bring about a better understanding, but with hardly more than an apparent success. once more there were stories flying about that the stadholder had called the advocate liar, and that he had struck him or offered to strike him-- tales as void of truth, doubtless, as those so rife after the battle of nieuport, but which indicated the exasperation which existed. when the news of the rejection of the king's ratification reached madrid, the indignation of the royal conscience-keepers was vehement. that the potentate of so large a portion of the universe should be treated by those lately his subjects with less respect than that due from equals to equals, seemed intolerable. so thoroughly inspired, however, was the king by the love of religion and the public good--as he informed marquis spinola by letter--and so intense was his desire for the termination of that disastrous war, that he did not hesitate indulgently to grant what had been so obstinately demanded. little was to be expected, he said, from the stubbornness of the provinces, and from their extraordinary manner of transacting business, but looking, nevertheless, only to divine duty, and preferring its dictates to a selfish regard for his own interests, he had resolved to concede that liberty to the provinces which had been so importunately claimed. he however imposed the condition that the states should permit free and public exercise of the catholic religion throughout their territories, and that so long as such worship was unobstructed, so long and no longer should the liberty now conceded to the provinces endure. "thus did this excellent prince," says an eloquent jesuit, "prefer obedience to the church before subjection to himself, and insist that those, whom he emancipated from his own dominions, should still be loyal to the sovereignty of the pope." friar john, who had brought the last intelligence from the netherlands, might have found it difficult, if consulted, to inform the king how many bills of exchange would be necessary to force this wonderful condition on the government of the provinces. that the republic should accept that liberty as a boon which she had won with the red right hand, and should establish within her domains as many agents for spanish reaction as there were roman priests, monks, and jesuits to be found, was not very probable. it was not thus nor then that the great lesson of religious equality and liberty for all men--the inevitable result of the dutch revolt--was to be expounded. the insertion of such a condition in the preamble to a treaty with a foreign power would have been a desertion on the part of the netherlands of the very principle of religious or civil freedom. the monk, however, had convinced the spanish government that in six months after peace had been made the states would gladly accept the dominion of spain once more, or, at the very least, would annex themselves to the obedient netherlands under the sceptre of the archdukes. secondly, he assured the duke that they would publicly and totally renounce all connection with france. thirdly, he pledged himself that the exercise of the catholic religion would be as free as that of any other creed. and the duke of lerma believed it all: such and no greater was his capacity for understanding the course of events which he imagined himself to be directing. certainly friar john did not believe what he said. "master monk is not quite so sure of his stick as he pretends to be," said secretary-of-state villeroy. of course, no one knew better the absurdity of those assurances than master monk himself. "it may be that he has held such language," said jeannin, "in order to accomplish his object in spain. but 'tis all dreaming and moonshine, which one should laugh at rather than treat seriously. these people here mean to be sovereign for ever and will make no peace except on that condition. this grandeur and vanity have entered so deeply into their brains that they will be torn into little pieces rather than give it up." spinola, as acute a politician as he was a brilliant commander, at once demonstrated to his government the impotence of such senile attempts. no definite agreements could be made, he wrote, except by a general convention. before a treaty of peace, no permission would be given by the states to the public exercise of the catholic religion, for fear of giving offence to what were called the protestant powers. unless they saw the proper ratification they would enter into no negotiations at all. when the negotiations had produced a treaty, the catholic worship might be demanded. thus peace might be made, and the desired conditions secured, or all parties would remain as they had been. the spanish government replied by sending a double form of ratification. it would not have been the spanish government, had one simple, straightforward document been sent. plenty of letters came at the same time, triumphantly refuting the objections and arguments of the states- general. to sign "yo el rey" had been the custom of the king's ancestors in dealing with foreign powers. thus had philip ii. signed the treaty of vervins. thus had the reigning king confirmed the treaty of vervins. thus had he signed the recent treaty with england as well as other conventions with other potentates. if the french envoys at the hague said the contrary they erred from ignorance or from baser reasons. the provinces could not be declared free until catholic worship was conceded. the donations must be mutual and simultaneous and the states would gain a much more stable and diuturnal liberty, founded not upon a simple declaration, but lawfully granted them as a compensation for a just and pious work performed. to this end the king sent ratification number one in which his sentiments were fully expressed. if, however, the provinces were resolved not to defer the declaration so ardently desired and to refuse all negotiation until they had received it, then ratification number two, therewith sent and drawn up in the required form, might be used. it was, however, to be exhibited but not delivered. the provinces would then see the clemency with which they were treated by the king, and all the world might know that it was not his fault if peace were not made. thus the politicians of madrid; speaking in the name of their august sovereign and signing "yo el rey" for him without troubling him even to look at the documents. when these letters arrived, the time fixed by the states for accepting the ratification had run out, and their patience was well-nigh exhausted. the archduke held council with spinola, verreyken, richardot, and others, and it was agreed that ratification number two, in which the catholic worship was not mentioned, should be forthwith sent to the states. certainly no other conclusion could have been reached, and it was fortunate that a lucid interval in the deliberations of the 'lunati ceat' madrid had furnished the archduke with an alternative. had it been otherwise and had number one been presented, with all the accompanying illustrations, the same dismal comedy might have gone on indefinitely until the dutchmen hissed it away and returned to their tragic business once more. on the th october, friar john and verreyken came before the states- general, more than a hundred members being present, besides prince maurice and count lewis william. the monk stated that he had faithfully represented to his majesty at madrid the sincere, straightforward, and undissembling proceedings of their lordships in these negotiations. he had also explained the constitution of their government and had succeeded in obtaining from his royal majesty the desired ratification, after due deliberation with the council. this would now give the assurance of a firm and durable peace, continued neyen, even if his majesty should come one day to die--being mortal. otherwise, there might be inconveniences to fear. now, however, the document was complete in all its parts, so far as regarded what was principal and essential, and in conformity with the form transmitted by the states-general. "god the omnipotent knows," proceeded the friar, "how sincere is my intention in this treaty of peace as a means of delivering the netherlands from the miseries of war, as your lordships will perceive by the form of the agreement, explaining itself and making manifest its pure and undissembling intentions, promising nothing and engaging to nothing which will not be effectually performed. this would not be the case if his majesty were proceeding by finesse or deception. the ratification might be nakedly produced as demanded, without any other explanation. but his majesty, acting in good faith, has now declared his last determination in order to avoid anything that might be disputed at some future day, as your lordships will see more amply when the auditor has exhibited the document." when the friar had finished verreyken spoke. he reminded them of the proofs already given by the archdukes of their sincere desire to change the long and sanguinary war into a good and assured peace. their lordships the states had seen how liberally, sincerely, and roundly their highnesses had agreed to all demands and had procured the ratification of his majesty, even although nothing had been proposed in that regard at the beginning of the negotiations. he then produced the original document, together with two copies, one in french the other in flemish, to be carefully collated by the states. "it is true," said the auditor, "that the original is not made out in latin nor in french as your lordships demanded, but in spanish, and in the same form and style as used by his majesty in treating with all the kings, potentates, and republics of christendom. to tell you the truth, it has seemed strange that there should be a wish to make so great and puissant a king change his style, such demand being contrary to all reason and equity, and more so as his majesty is content with the style which your lordships have been pleased to adopt." the ratification was then exhibited. it set forth that don philip, by grace of god king of castile, leon, arragon, the two sicilies, portugal, navarre, and of fourteen or fifteen other european realms duly enumerated; king of the eastern and western indies and of the continents on terra firma adjacent, king of jerusalem, archduke of antioch, duke of burgundy, and king of the ocean, having seen that the archdukes were content to treat with the states-general of the united provinces in quality of, and as holding them for, countries, provinces, and free states over which they pretended to no authority; either by way of a perpetual peace or for a truce or suspension of arms for twelve, fifteen, or twenty years, at the choice of the said states, and knowing that the said most serene archdukes had promised to deliver the king's ratification; had, after ripe deliberation with his council, and out of his certain wisdom and absolute royal power, made the present declarations, similar to the one made by the archdukes, for the accomplishment of the said promise so far as it concerned him: "and we principally declare," continued the king of spain, jerusalem, america, india, and the ocean, "that we are content that in our name, and on our part, shall be treated with the said states in the quality of, and as held by us for, free countries, provinces, and states, over which we make no pretensions. thus we approve and ratify every point of the said agreement, promising on faith and word of a king to guard and accomplish it as entirely as if we had consented to it from the beginning." "but we declare," said the king, in conclusion, "that if the treaty for a peace or a truce of many years, by which the pretensions of both parties are to be arranged--as well in the matter of religion as all the surplus --shall not be concluded, then this ratification shall be of no effect and as if it never had been made and, in virtue of it, we are not to lose a single point of our right, nor the united provinces to acquire one, but things are to remain, so far as regards the rights of the two parties, exactly as they what to each shall seem best." such were the much superfluous verbiage lopped away--which had been signed "i the king" at madrid on the th september, and the two copies of which were presented to the states-general on the th october, the commissioners retaining the original. the papers were accepted, with a few general commonplaces by barneveld meaning nothing, and an answer was promised after a brief delay. a committee of seven, headed by the advocate as chairman and spokesman, held a conference with the ambassadors of france and england, at four o'clock in the afternoon of the same day and another at ten o'clock next morning. the states were not very well pleased with the ratification. what especially moved their discontent was the concluding clause, according to which it was intimated that if the pretensions of spain in regard to religion were not fulfilled in the final treaty, the ratification was waste-paper and the king would continue to claim all his rights. how much more loudly would they have vociferated, could they have looked into friar john's wallet and have seen ratification number one! then they would have learned that, after nearly a year of what was called negotiation, the king had still meant to demand the restoration of the catholic worship before he would even begin to entertain the little fiction that the provinces were free. as to the signature, the paper, and the spanish language, those were minor matters. indeed, it is difficult to say why the king of spain should not issue a formal document in spanish. it is doubtful whether, had he taken a fancy to read it, he could have understood it in any other tongue. moreover, spanish would seem the natural language for spanish state-papers. had he, as king of jerusalem, america, or india, chosen the hebrew, aztec, or sanscrit, in his negotiations with the united provinces, there might have been more cause for dissatisfaction. jeannin, who was of course the leading spirit among the foreign members of the conference, advised the acceptance of the ratification. notwithstanding the technical objections to its form, he urged that in substance it was in sufficient conformity to the draught furnished by the states. nothing could be worse, in his opinion, for the provinces than to remain any longer suspended between peace and war. they would do well, therefore, to enter upon negotiations so soon as they had agreed among themselves upon three points. they must fix the great indispensable terms which they meant to hold, and from which no arguments would ever induce them to recede. thus they would save valuable time and be spared much frivolous discourse. next, they ought to establish a good interior government. thirdly, they should at once arrange their alliances and treaties with foreign powers, in order to render the peace to be negotiated a durable one. as to the first and second of these points, the netherlanders needed no prompter. they had long ago settled the conditions without which they would make no treaty at all, and certainly it was not the states-general that had thus far been frivolously consuming time. as to the form of government, defective though it was, the leaders of the republic knew very well in whose interests such sly allusions to their domestic affairs were repeatedly ventured by the french envoys. in regard to treaties with foreign powers it was, of course, most desirable for the republic to obtain the formal alliance of france and england. jeannin and his colleagues were ready to sign such a treaty, offensive and defensive, at once, but they found it impossible to induce the english ambassadors, with whom there was a conference on the th october, to come into any written engagement on the subject. they expressed approbation of the plan individually and in words, but deemed it best to avoid any protocol, by which their sovereign could be implicated in a promise. should the negotiations for peace be broken off, it would be time enough to make a treaty to protect the provinces. meantime, they ought to content themselves with the general assurance, already given them, that in case of war the monarchs of france and england would not abandon them, but would provide for their safety, either by succour or in some other way, so that they would be placed out of danger. such promises were vague without being magnificent, and, as james had never yet lifted his finger to assist the provinces, while indulging them frequently with oracular advice, it could hardly be expected that either the french envoys or the states-general would reckon very confidently on assistance from great britain, should war be renewed with spain. on the whole, it was agreed to draw up a paper briefly stating the opinion of the french and english plenipotentiaries that the provinces would do well to accept the ratification. the committee of the states, with barneveld as chairman, expressed acquiescence, but urged that they could not approve the clause in that document concerning religion. it looked as if the king of spain wished to force them to consent by treaty that the catholic religion should be re-established in their country. as they were free and sovereign, however, and so recognised by himself, it was not for him to meddle with such matters. they foresaw that this clause would create difficulties when the whole matter should be referred to the separate provinces, and that it would, perhaps, cause the entire rejection of the ratification. the envoys, through the voice of jeannin, remonstrated against such a course. after all, the objectionable clause, it was urged, should be considered only as a demand which the king was competent to make and it was not reasonable, they said, for the states to shut his mouth and prevent him from proposing what he thought good to propose. on the other hand, they were not obliged to acquiesce in the proposition. in truth, it would be more expedient that the states themselves should grant this grace to the catholics, thus earning their gratitude, rather than that it should be inserted in the treaty. a day or two later there was an interview between the french envoys and count lewis william, for whose sage, dispassionate, and upright character they had all a great respect. it was their object--in obedience to the repeated instructions of the french king--to make use of his great influence over prince maurice in favour of peace. it would be better, they urged, that the stadholder should act more in harmony with the states than he had done of late, and should reflect that, the ratification being good, there was really no means of preventing a peace, except in case the king of spain should refuse the conditions necessary for securing it. the prince would have more power by joining with the states than in opposing them. count lewis expressed sympathy with these views, but feared that maurice would prefer that the ratification should not be accepted until the states of the separate provinces had been heard; feeling convinced that several of those bodies would reject that instrument on account of the clause relating to religion. jeannin replied that such a course would introduce great discord into the provinces, to the profit of the enemy, and that the king of france himself--so far from being likely to wish the ratification rejected because of the clause--would never favour the rupture of negotiations if it came on account of religion. he had always instructed them to use their efforts to prevent any division among the states, as sure to lead to their ruin. he would certainly desire the same stipulation as the one made by the king of spain, and would support rather than oppose the demand thus made, in order to content the catholics. to be sure, he would prefer that the states should wisely make this provision of their own accord rather than on the requisition of spain, but a rupture of the pending negotiations from the cause suggested would be painful to him and very damaging to his character at rome. on the nd november the states-general gave their formal answer to the commissioners, in regard to the ratification. that instrument, they observed, not only did not agree with the form as promised by the archdukes in language and style, but also in regard to the seal, and to the insertion and omission of several words. on this account, and especially by reason of the concluding clause, there might be inferred the annulment of the solemn promise made in the body of the instrument. the said king and archdukes knew very well that these states-general of free countries and provinces, over which the king and archdukes pretended to no authority, were competent to maintain order in all things regarding the good constitution and government of their land and its inhabitants. on this subject, nothing could be pretended or proposed on the part of the king and archdukes without, violation of formal and solemn promises. "nevertheless," continued the states-general, "in order not to retard a good work, already begun, for the purpose of bringing the united provinces out of a long and bloody war into a christian and assured peace, the letters of ratification will be received in respect that they contain the declaration, on part of both the king and the archdukes, that they will treat for a peace or a truce of many years with the states-general of the united provinces, in quality of, and as holding them to be, free countries, provinces, and states, over which they make no pretensions." it was further intimated, however, that the ratification was only received for reference to the estates of each of the provinces, and it was promised that, within six weeks, the commissioners should be informed whether the provinces would consent or refuse to treat. it was moreover declared that, neither at that moment nor at any future time, could any point in the letters of ratification be accepted which, directly or indirectly, might be interpreted as against that essential declaration and promise in regard to the freedom of the provinces. in case the decision should be taken to enter into negotiation upon the basis of that ratification, or any other that might meantime arrive from spain, then firm confidence was expressed by the states that, neither on the part of the king nor that of the archdukes would there be proposed or pretended, in contravention of that promise, any point touching the good constitution, welfare, state, or government of the united provinces, and of the inhabitants. the hope was furthermore expressed that, within ten days after the reception of the consent of the states to treat, commissioners would be sent by the archdukes to the hague, fully authorised and instructed to declare, roundly their intentions, in order to make short work of the whole business. in that case, the states would duly authorize and instruct commissioners to act in their behalf. thus in the answer especial warning was given against any possible attempt to interfere with the religious question. the phraseology could not be mistaken. at this stage of the proceedings, the states demanded that the original instrument of ratification should be deposited with them. the two commissioners declared that they were without power to consent to this. hereupon the assembly became violent, and many members denounced the refusal as equivalent to breaking off the negotiations. everything indicated, so it was urged, a desire on the spanish side to spin delays out of delays, and, meantime, to invent daily some new trap for deception. such was the vehemence upon this point that the industrious franciscan posted back to brussels, and returned with the archduke's permission to deliver the document. three conditions, however, were laid down. the states must give a receipt for the ratification. they must say in that receipt that the archdukes, in obtaining the paper from spain, had fulfilled their original promise. if peace should not be made, they were to return the document. when these conditions were announced, the indignation of the republican government at the trifling of their opponents was fiercer than ever. the discrepancies between the form prescribed and the ratification obtained had always been very difficult of digestion, but, although willing to pass them by, the states stoutly refused to accept the document on these conditions. tooth and nail verreyken and neyen fought out the contest and were worsted. once more the nimble friar sped back and forth between the hague and his employer's palace, and at last, after tremendous discussions in cabinet council, the conditions were abandoned. "nobody can decide," says the jesuit historian, "which was greater--the obstinacy of the federal government in screwing out of the opposite party everything it deemed necessary, or the indulgence of the archdukes in making every possible concession." had these solemn tricksters of an antiquated school perceived that, in dealing with men who meant what they said and said what they meant, all these little dilatory devices were superfluous, perhaps the wholesome result might have sooner been reached. in a contest of diplomacy against time it generally happens that time is the winner, and on this occasion, time and the republic were fighting on the same side. on the th december the states-general re-assembled at the hague, the separate provinces having in the interval given fresh instructions to their representatives. it was now decided that no treaty should be made, unless the freedom of the commonwealth was recognized in phraseology which, after consultation with the foreign ambassadors, should be deemed satisfactory. farther it was agreed that, neither in ecclesiastical nor secular matters, should any conditions be accepted which could be detrimental to freedom. in case the enemy should strive for the contrary, the world would be convinced that he alone was responsible for the failure of the peace negotiations. then, with the support of other powers friendly to the republic, hostilities could be resumed in such a manner as to ensure a favourable issue for an upright cause. the armistice, begun on the th of may, was running to an end, and it was now renewed at the instance of the states. that government, moreover, on the rd december formally notified to the archdukes that, trusting to their declarations, and to the statements of neyen and verreyken, it was willing to hold conferences for peace. their highnesses were accordingly invited to appoint seven or eight commissioners at once, on the same terms as formally indicated. the original understanding had been that no envoys but netherlanders should come from brussels for these negotiations. barneveld and the peace party, however, were desirous that spinola, who was known to be friendly to a pacific result, should be permitted to form part of the mission. accordingly the letters, publicly drawn up in the assembly, adhered to the original arrangement, but barneveld, with the privity of other leading personages, although without the knowledge of maurice, lewis william, and the state-council, secretly enclosed a little note in the principal despatch to neyen and verreyken. in this billet it was intimated that, notwithstanding the prohibition in regard to foreigners, the states were willing--it having been proposed that one or two who were not netherlanders should be sent--that a single spaniard, provided he were not one of the principal military commanders, should make part of the embassy. the phraseology had a double meaning. spinola was certainly the chief military commander, but he was not a spaniard. this eminent personage might be supposed to have thus received permission to come to the netherlands, despite all that had been urged by the war-party against the danger incurred, in case of a renewal of hostilities, by admitting so clear-sighted an enemy into the heart of the republic. moreover, the terms of the secret note would authorize the appointment of another foreigner--even a spaniard--while the crafty president richardot might creep into the commission, on the ground that, being a burgundian, he might fairly call himself a netherlander. and all this happened. thus, after a whole year of parley, in which the states-general had held firmly to their original position, while the spanish government had crept up inch by inch, and through countless windings and subterfuges, to the point on which they might have all stood together at first, and thus have saved a twelvemonth, it was finally settled that peace conferences should begin. barneveld had carried the day. maurice and his cousin lewis william had uniformly, deliberately, but not factiously, used all their influence against any negotiations. the prince had all along loudly expressed his conviction that neither the archdukes nor spain would ever be brought to an honourable peace. the most to be expected of them was a truce of twelve or fifteen years, to which his consent at least should never be given, and during which cessation of hostilities, should it be accorded, every imaginable effort would be made to regain by intrigue what the king had lost by the sword. as for the king of england and his counsellors, maurice always denounced them as more spanish than spaniards, as doing their best to put themselves on the most intimate terms with his catholic majesty, and as secretly desirous--insane policy as it seemed--of forcing the netherlands back again under the sceptre of that monarch. he had at first been supported in his position by the french ambassadors, who had felt or affected disinclination for peace, but who had subsequently, thrown the whole of their own and their master's influence on the side of barneveld. they had done their best--and from time to time they had been successful--to effect at least a superficial reconciliation between those two influential personages. they had employed all the arguments at their disposal to bring the prince over to the peace party. especially they had made use of the 'argumentum ad crumenam,' which that veteran broker in politics, jeannin, had found so effective in times past with the great lords of the league. but maurice showed himself so proof against the golden inducements suggested by the president that he and his king both arrived at the conclusion that there were secret motives at work, and that maurice was not dazzled by the brilliant prospects held out to him by henry, only because his eyes were stedfastly fixed upon some unknown but splendid advantage, to be gained through other combinations. it was naturally difficult for henry to imagine the possibility of a man, playing a first part in the world's theatre, being influenced by so weak a motive as conviction. lewis william too--that "grave and wise young man," as lord leicester used to call him twenty years before--remained steadily on the side of the prince. both in private conversation and in long speeches to the states-general, he maintained that the spanish court was incapable of sincere negotiations with the commonwealth, that to break faith with heretics and rebels would always prove the foundation of its whole policy, and that to deceive them by pretences of a truce or a treaty, and to triumph afterwards over the results of its fraud, was to be expected as a matter of course. sooner would the face of nature be changed than the cardinal maxim of catholic statesmanship be abandoned. but the influence of the nassaus, of the province of zeeland, of the clergy, and of the war-party in general, had been overbalanced by barneveld and the city corporations, aided by the strenuous exertions of the french ambassadors. the decision of the states-general was received with sincere joy at brussels. the archdukes had something to hope from peace, and little but disaster and ruin to themselves from a continuance of the war. spinola too was unaffectedly in favour of negotiations. he took the ground that the foreign enemies of spain, as well as her pretended friends, agreed in wishing her to go on with the war, and that this ought to open her eyes as to the expediency of peace. while there was a general satisfaction in europe that the steady exhaustion of her strength in this eternal contest made her daily less and less formidable to other nations, there were on the other hand puerile complaints at court that the conditions prescribed by impious and insolent rebels to their sovereign were derogatory to the dignity of monarchy. the spectacle of spain sending ambassadors to the hague to treat for peace, on the basis of netherland independence, would be a humiliation such as had never been exhibited before. that the haughty confederation should be allowed thus to accomplish its ends, to trample down all resistance to its dictation, and to defy the whole world by its insults to the church and to the sacred principle, of monarchy, was most galling to spanish pride. spinola, as a son of italy, and not inspired by the fervent hatred to protestantism which was indigenous to the other peninsula, steadily resisted those arguments. none knew better than he the sternness of the stuff out of which that republic was made, and he felt that now or never was the time to treat, even as, five years before, 'jam ant nunquam' had been inscribed on his banner outside ostend. but he protested that his friends gave him even harder work than his enemies had ever done, and he stoutly maintained that a peace against which all the rivals of spain seemed to have conspired from fear of seeing her tranquil and disembarrassed, must be advantageous to spain. the genial and quick-wined genoese could not see and hear all the secret letters and private conversations of henry and james and their ambassadors, and he may be pardoned for supposing that, notwithstanding all the crooked and incomprehensible politics of greenwich and paris, the serious object of both england and france was to prolong the war. in his most private correspondence he expressed great doubts as to a favourable issue to the pending conferences, but avowed his determination that if they should fail it would be from no want of earnest effort on his part to make them succeed. it should never be said that he preferred his own private advantage to the duty of serving the best interests of the crown. meantime the india trade, which was to form the great bone of contention in the impending conferences, had not been practically neglected of late by the enterprising hollanders. peter verhoeff, fresh from the victory of gibraltar, towards which he had personally so much contributed by the splendid manner in which he had handled the aeolus after the death of admiral heemskerk, was placed in command of a fleet to the east indies, which was to sail early in the spring. admiral matelieff, who had been cruising in those seas during the three years past, was now on his way home. his exploits had been worthy the growing fame of the republican navy. in the summer of he had laid siege to the town and fortress of malacca, constructed by the portuguese at the southmost extremity of the malay peninsula. andreas hurtado de mendoza commanded the position, with a force of three thousand men, among whom were many indians. the king or sultan of johore, at the south- eastern extremity of the peninsula, remained faithful to his dutch allies, and accepted the proposition of matelieff to take part in the hostilities now begun. the admiral's fleet consisted of eleven small ships, with fourteen hundred men. it was not exactly a military expedition. to the sailors of each ship were assigned certain shares of the general profits, and as it was obvious that more money was likely to be gained by trade with the natives, or by the capture of such stray carracks and other, merchantmen of the enemy as were frequently to be met in these regions, the men were not particularly eager to take part in sieges of towns or battles with cruisers. matelieff, however, had sufficient influence over his comrades to inflame their zeal on this occasion for the fame of the republic, and to induce them to give the indian princes and the native soldiery a lesson in batavian warfare. a landing was effected on the peninsula, the sailors and guns were disembarked, and an imposing auxiliary force, sent, according to promise, after much delay, by the sultan of johore, proceeded to invest malacca. the ground proved wet, swampy, and impracticable for trenches, galleries, covered ways, and all the other machinery of a regular siege. matelieff was not a soldier nor a naval commander by profession, but a merchant- skipper, like so many other heroes whose achievements were to be the permanent glory of their fatherland. he would not, however, have been a netherlander had he not learned something of the science which prince maurice had so long been teaching, not only to his own countrymen but to the whole world. so moveable turrets, constructed of the spice-trees which grew in rank luxuriance all around, were filled with earth and stones, and advanced towards the fort. had the natives been as docile to learn as the hollanders were eager to teach a few easy lessons in the military art, the doom of andreas hurtado de mendoza would have been sealed. but the great truths which those youthful pedants, maurice and lewis william, had extracted twenty years before from the works of the emperor leo and earlier pagans, amid the jeers of veterans, were not easy to transplant to the malayan peninsula. it soon proved that those white-turbaned, loose-garmented, supple jointed, highly-picturesque troops of the sultan were not likely to distinguish themselves for anything but wonderful rapidity in retreat. not only did they shrink from any advance towards the distant forts, but they were incapable of abiding an attack within or behind their towers, and, at every random shot from the enemy's works, they threw down their arms and fled from their stations in dismay. it was obvious enough that the conquest and subjugation of such feeble warriors by the portuguese and spaniards were hardly to be considered brilliant national trophies. they had fallen an easy prey to the first european invader. they had no discipline, no obedience, no courage; and matelieff soon found that to attempt a scientific siege with such auxiliaries against a well- constructed stone fortress, garrisoned with three thousand troops, under an experienced spanish soldier, was but midsummer madness. fevers and horrible malaria, bred by the blazing sun of the equator out of those pestilential jungles, poisoned the atmosphere. his handful of troops, amounting to not much more than a hundred men to each of his ships, might melt away before his eyes. nevertheless, although it was impossible for him to carry the place by regular approach, he would not abandon the hope of reducing it by famine. during four months long, accordingly, he kept every avenue by land or sea securely invested. in august, however, the spanish viceroy of india, don alphonso de castro, made his appearance on the scene. coming from goa with a splendid fleet, numbering fourteen great galleons, four galleys, and sixteen smaller vessels, manned by three thousand seven hundred portuguese and other europeans, and an equal number of native troops, he had at first directed his course towards atchen, on the north-west point of sumatra. here, with the magnificent arrogance which spanish and portuguese viceroys were accustomed to manifest towards the natives of either india, he summoned the king to surrender his strongholds, to assist in constructing a fortress for the use of his conquerors, to deliver up all the netherlanders within his domains, and to pay the expenses of the expedition which had thus been sent to chastise him. but the king of atchen had not sent ambassadors into the camp of prince maurice before the city of grave in vain. he had learned that there were other white skins besides the spaniards at the antipodes, and that the republic whose achievements in arts and arms were conspicuous trophies of western civilization, was not, as it had been represented to him, a mere nest of pirates. he had learned to prefer an alliance with holland to slavery under spain. moreover, he had dutch engineers and architects in his service, and a well-constructed system of dutch fortifications around his capital. to the summons to surrender himself and his allies he returned a defiant answer. the viceroy ordered an attack upon the city. one fort was taken. from before the next he was repulsed with great loss. the sumatrans had derived more profit from intercourse with europeans than the inhabitants of johore or the moluccas had done. de castro abandoned the siege. he had received intelligence of the dangerous situation of malacca, and moved down upon the place with his whole fleet. admiral matelieff, apprised by scouts of his approach, behaved with the readiness and coolness of a veteran campaigner. before de castro could arrive in the roadstead of malacca, he had withdrawn all his troops from their positions, got all his artillery reshipped, and was standing out in the straits, awaiting the enemy. on the th august, the two fleets, so vastly disproportionate in number, size, equipment, and military force--eighteen galleons and galleys, with four or five thousand fighting men, against eleven small vessels and twelve or fourteen hundred sailors--met in that narrow sea. the action lasted all day. it was neither spirited nor sanguinary. it ought to have been within the power of the spaniard to crush his diminutive adversary. it might have seemed a sufficient triumph for matelieff to manoeuvre himself out of harm's way. no vessel on either side was boarded, not one surrendered, but two on each side were set on fire and destroyed. eight of the dutchmen were killed--not a very sanguinary result after a day's encounter with so imposing an armada. de castro's losses were much greater, but still the battle was an insignificant one, and neither fleet gained a victory. night put an end to the cannonading, and the spaniards withdrew to malacca, while matelieff bore away to johore. the siege of malacca was relieved, and the netherlanders now occupied themselves with the defence of the feeble sovereign at the other point of the peninsula. matelieff lay at johore a month, repairing damages and laying in supplies. while still at the place, he received information that a large part of the spanish armada had sailed from malacca. several of his own crew, who had lost their shares in the adventure by the burning of the ships to which they belonged in the action of th august, were reluctant and almost mutinous when their admiral now proposed to them a sudden assault on the portion of the spanish fleet still remaining within reach. they had not come forth for barren glory, many protested, but in search of fortune; they were not elated by the meagre result of the expedition. matelieff succeeded, however, at last in inspiring all the men of his command with an enthusiasm superior to sordid appeals, and made a few malcontents. on the st september, he sailed to malacca, and late in the afternoon again attacked the spaniards. their fleet consisted of seven great galleons and three galleys lying in a circle before the town. the outermost ship, called the st. nicholas, was boarded by men from three of the dutch galleots with sudden and irresistible fury. there was a brief but most terrible action, the netherlanders seeming endowed with superhuman vigour. so great was the panic that there was hardly an effort at defence, and within less than an hour nearly every spaniard on board the st. nicholas had been put to the sword. the rest of the armada engaged the dutch fleet with spirit, but one of the great galleons was soon set on fire and burned to the water's edge. another, dismasted and crippled, struck her flag, and all that remained would probably have been surrendered or destroyed had not the sudden darkness of a tropical nightfall put an end to the combat at set of sun. next morning another galleon, in a shattered and sinking condition, was taken possession of and found filled with dead and dying. the rest of the spanish ships made their escape into the harbour of malacca. matelieff stood off and on in the straits for a day or two, hesitating for fear of shallows to follow into the roadstead. before he could take a decision, he had the satisfaction of seeing the enemy, panic-struck, save him any further trouble. not waiting for another attack, the spaniards set fire to every one of their ships, and retired into their fortress, while matelieff and his men enjoyed the great conflagration as idle spectators. thus the enterprising dutch admiral had destroyed ten great war-ships of the enemy, and, strange to relate, had scarcely lost one man of his whole squadron. rarely had a more complete triumph been achieved on the water than in this battle in the straits of malacca. matelieff had gained much glory but very little booty. he was also encumbered with a great number of prisoners. these he sent to don alphonso, exchanging them for a very few netherlanders then in spanish hands, at the rate of two hundred spaniards for ten dutchmen--thus showing that he held either the enemy very cheap, or his own countrymen very dear. the captured ships he burned as useless to him, but retained twenty-four pieces of artillery. it was known to matelieff that the spanish viceroy had received instructions to inflict chastisement on all the oriental potentates and their subjects who had presumed of late to trade and to form alliances with the netherlanders. johore, achem, paham, patane, amboyna, and bantam, were the most probable points of attack. johore had now been effectually defended, achem had protected itself. the dutch fleet proceeded at first to bantams for refreshment, and from this point matelieff sent three of his ships back to holland. with the six remaining to him, he sailed for the moluccas, having heard of various changes which had taken place in that important archipelago. pausing at the great emporium of nutmegs and all-spice, amboyna, he took measures for strengthening the fortifications of the place, which was well governed by frederick houtman, and then proceeded to ternate and tidor. during the absence of the netherlanders, after the events on those islands recorded in a previous chapter, the spaniards had swept down upon them from the philippines with a fleet of thirty-seven ships, and had taken captive the sultan of ternate; while the potentate of tidor, who had been left by stephen van der hagen in possession of his territories on condition of fidelity to the dutch, was easily induced to throw aside the mask, and to renew his servitude to spain. thus both the coveted clove-islands had relapsed into the control of the enemy. matelieff found it dangerous, on account of quicksands and shallows, to land on tydore, but he took very energetic measures to recover possession of ternate. on the southern side of the island, the spaniards had built a fort and a town. the dutch admiral disembarked upon the northern side, and, with assistance of the natives, succeeded in throwing up substantial fortifications at a village called malaya. the son of the former sultan, who was a spanish prisoner at the philippines, was now formally inducted into his father's sovereignty, and matelieff established at malaya for his protection a garrison of forty-five hollanders and a navy of four small yachts. such were the slender means with which oriental empires were founded in those days by the stout-hearted adventurers of the little batavian republic. with this miniature army and navy, and by means of his alliance with the distant commonwealth, of whose power this handful of men was a symbol, the king of ternate was thenceforth to hold his own against the rival potentate on the other island, supported by the spanish king. the same convention of commerce and amity was made with the ternatians as the one which stephen van der hagen had formerly concluded with the bandians; and it was agreed that the potentate should be included in any treaty of peace that might be made between the republic and spain. matelieff, with three ships and a cutter, now sailed for china, but lost his time in endeavouring to open trade with the celestial empire. the dilatory mandarins drove him at last out of all patience, and, on turning his prows once more southward, he had nearly brought his long expedition to a disastrous termination. six well-armed, well-equipped portuguese galleons sailed out of macao to assail him. it was not matelieff's instinct to turn his back on a foe, however formidable, but on this occasion discretion conquered instinct. his three ships were out of repair; he had a deficiency of powder; he was in every respect unprepared for a combat; and he reflected upon the unfavourable impression which would be made on the chinese mind should the hollanders, upon their first appearance in the flowery regions, be vanquished by the portuguese. he avoided an encounter, therefore, and, by skilful seamanship, eluded all attempts of the foe at pursuit. returning to ternate, he had the satisfaction to find that during his absence the doughty little garrison of malaya had triumphantly defeated the spaniards in an assault on the fortifications of the little town. on the other hand, the king of johore, panic-struck on the departure of his dutch protectors, had burned his own capital, and had betaken himself with all his court into the jungle. commending the one and rebuking the other potentate, the admiral provided assistance for both, some dutch trading, vessels having meantime arrived in the archipelago. matelieff now set sail for holland, taking with him some ambassadors from the king of siam and five ships well laden with spice. on his return he read a report of his adventures to the states- general, and received the warm commendations of their high mightinesses. before his departure from the tropics, paul van kaarden, with eight war- ships, had reached bantam. on his arrival in holland the fleet of peter ver hoef was busily fitting out for another great expedition to the east. this was the nation which spanish courtiers thought to exclude for ever from commerce with india and america, because the pope a century before had divided half the globe between ferdinand the catholic and emmanuel the fortunate. it may be supposed that the results of matelieff's voyage were likely to influence the pending negotiations for peace. etext editor's bookmarks: a sovereign remedy for the disease of liberty all the ministers and great functionaries received presents because he had been successful (hated) but the habit of dissimulation was inveterate by turns, we all govern and are governed contempt for treaties however solemnly ratified despised those who were grateful idiotic principle of sumptuary legislation indulging them frequently with oracular advice justified themselves in a solemn consumption of time man who cannot dissemble is unfit to reign men fought as if war was the normal condition of humanity men who meant what they said and said what they meant negotiated as if they were all immortal philip of macedon, who considered no city impregnable to negotiate was to bribe right and left, and at every step unwise impatience for peace this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, - chapter xlv. preparations for the campaign of --diminution of maurice's popularity--quarrel between the pope and the venetian republic-- surprise of sluys by du terrail--dilatoriness of the republic's operations--movements of spinola--influence of the weather on the military transactions of the year--endeavours of spinola to obtain possession of the waal and yssel--surrender of lochem to spinola-- siege of groll--siege and loss of rheinberg--mutiny in the catholic army--recovery of lochem by maurice--attempted recovery of groll-- sudden appearance of the enemy--withdrawal of the besieging army close of the campaign--end of the war of independence--motives of the prince in his actions before groll--cruise of admiral haultain to the coast of spain and portugal--his encounter with the war-- ships of fazardo--courageous conduct of the vice-admiral--deaths of justus lipsius, hohenlo, and count john of nassau. after the close of the campaign of spinola had gone once more to spain. on his passage through paris he had again been received with distinguished favour by that warm ally of the dutch republic, henry iv., and on being questioned by that monarch as to his plans for the next campaign had replied that he intended once more to cross the rhine, and invade friesland. henry, convinced that the genoese would of course not tell him the truth on such an occasion, wrote accordingly to the states- general that they might feel safe as to their eastern frontier. whatever else might happen, friesland and the regions adjacent would be safe next year from attack. the immediate future was to show whether the subtle italian had not compassed as neat a deception by telling the truth as coarser politicians could do by falsehood. spinola found the royal finances in most dismal condition. three hundred thousand dollars a month were the least estimate of the necessary expenses for carrying on the netherland war, a sum which could not possibly be spared by lerma, uceda, the marquis of the seven churches, and other financiers then industriously occupied in draining dry the exchequer for their own uses. once more the general aided his sovereign with purse and credit, as well as with his sword. once more the exchange at genoa was glutted with the acceptances of marquis spinola. here at least was a man of a nature not quite so depraved as that of the parasites bred out of the corruption of a noble but dying commonwealth, and doubtless it was with gentle contempt that the great favourite and his friends looked at the military and financial enthusiasm of the volunteer. it was so much more sagacious to make a princely fortune than to sacrifice one already inherited, in the service of one's country. spinola being thus ready not only to fight but to help to pay for the fighting, found his plans of campaigns received with great benignity by the king and his ministers. meantime there was much delay. the enormous labours thus devolved upon one pair of shoulders by the do-nothing king and a mayor of the palace whose soul was absorbed by his own private robberies, were almost too much for human strength. on his return to the netherlands spinola fell dangerously ill in genoa. meantime, during his absence and the enforced idleness of the catholic armies, there was an opportunity for the republicans to act with promptness and vigour. they displayed neither quality. never had there been so much sluggishness as in the preparations for the campaign of . the states' exchequer was lower than it had been for years. the republic was without friends. left to fight their battle for national existence alone, the hollanders found themselves perpetually subjected to hostile censure from their late allies, and to friendly advice still more intolerable. there were many brave englishmen and frenchmen sharing in the fatigues of the dutch war of independence, but the governments of henry and of james were as protective, as severely virtuous, as offensive, and, in their secret intrigues with the other belligerent, as mischievous as it was possible for the best-intentioned neutrals to be. the fame and the popularity of the stadholder had been diminished by the results of the past campaign. the states-general were disappointed, dissatisfied, and inclined to censure very unreasonably the public servant who had always obeyed their decrees with docility. while henry iv. was rapidly transferring his admiration from maurice to spinola, the disagreements at home between the advocate and the stadholder were becoming portentous. there was a want of means and of soldiers for the new campaign. certain causes were operating in europe to the disadvantage of both belligerents. in the south, venice had almost drawn her sword against the pope in her settled resolution to put down the jesuits and to clip the wings of the church party, before, with bequests and donations, votive churches and magnificent monasteries, four-fifths of the domains of the republic should fall into mortmain, as was already the case in brabant. naturally there was a contest between the ex-huguenot, now eldest son of the church, and the most catholic king, as to who should soonest defend the pope. henry offered thorough protection to his holiness, but only under condition that he should have a monopoly of that protection. he lifted his sword, but meantime it was doubtful whether the blow was to descend upon venice or upon spain. the spanish levies, on their way to the netherlands, were detained in italy by this new exigency. the states-general offered the sister republic their maritime assistance, and notwithstanding their own immense difficulties, stood ready to send a fleet to the mediterranean. the offer was gratefully declined, and the quarrel with the pope arranged, but the incident laid the foundation of a lasting friendship between the only two important republics then existing. the issue of the gunpowder plot, at the close of the preceding year, had confirmed james in his distaste for jesuits, and had effected that which all the eloquence of the states-general and their ambassador had failed to accomplish, the prohibition of spanish enlistments in his kingdom. guido fawkes had served under the archduke in flanders. here then were delays additional to that caused by spinola's illness. on the other hand, the levies of the republic were for a season paralysed by the altercation, soon afterwards adjusted, between henry iv. and the duke of bouillon, brother-in-law of the stadholder and of the palatine, and by the petty war between the duke and hanseatic city of brunswick, in which ernest of nassau was for a time employed. during this period of almost suspended animation the war gave no signs of life, except in a few spasmodic efforts on the part of the irrepressible du terrail. early in the spring, not satisfied with his double and disastrous repulse before bergen-op-zoom, that partisan now determined to surprise sluy's. that an attack was impending became known to the governor of that city, the experienced colonel van der noot. not dreaming, however, that any mortal--even the most audacious of frenchmen and adventurers--would ever think of carrying a city like sluy's by surprise, defended as it was by a splendid citadel and by a whole chain of forts and water-batteries, and capable of withstanding three months long, as it had so recently done, a siege in form by the acknowledged master of the beleaguering science, the methodical governor event calmly to bed one fine night in june. his slumbers were disturbed before morning by the sound of trumpets sounding spanish melodies in the streets, and by a, great uproar and shouting. springing out of bed, he rushed half-dressed to the rescue. less vigilant than paul bax had been the year before in bergen, he found that du terrail had really effected a surprise. at the head of twelve hundred walloons and irishmen, that enterprising officer had waded through the drowned land of cadzand, with the promised support of a body of infantry under frederic van den berg, from damm, had stolen noiselessly by the forts of that island unchallenged and unseen, had effected with petards a small breach through the western gate of the city, and with a large number of his followers, creeping two and two through the gap, had found himself for a time master of sluys. the profound silence of the place had however somewhat discouraged the intruders. the whole population were as sound asleep as was the excellent commandant, but the stillness in the deserted streets suggested an ambush, and they moved stealthily forward, feeling their way with caution towards the centre of the town. it so happened, moreover, that the sacristan had forgotten to wind up the great town clock. the agreement with the party first entering and making their way to the opposite end of the city, had been that at the striking of a certain hour after midnight they should attack simultaneously and with a great outcry all the guardhouses, so that the garrison might be simultaneously butchered. the clock never struck, the signal was never given, and du terrail and his immediate comrades remained near the western gate, suspicious and much perplexed. the delay was fatal. the guard, the whole garrison, and the townspeople flew to arms, and half- naked, but equipped with pike and musket, and led on by van der noot in person, fell upon the intruders. a panic took the place of previous audacity in the breasts of du terrail's followers. thinking only of escape, they found the gap by which they had crept into the town much less convenient as a means of egress in the face of an infuriated multitude. five hundred of them were put to death in a very few minutes. almost as many were drowned or suffocated in the marshes, as they attempted to return by the road over which they had come. a few stragglers june, of the fifteen hundred were all that were left to tell the tale. it would seem scarcely worth while to chronicle such trivial incidents in this great war--the all-absorbing drama of christendom--were it not that they were for the moment the whole war. it might be thought that hostilities were approaching their natural termination, and that the war was dying of extreme old age, when the quixotic pranks of a du terrail occupied so large a part of european attention. the winter had passed, another spring had come and gone, and maurice had in vain attempted to obtain sufficient means from the states to take the field in force. henry, looking on from the outside, was becoming more and more exasperated with the dilatoriness which prevented the republic from profiting by the golden moments of spinola's enforced absence. yet the best that could be done seemed to be to take measures for defensive operations. spinola never reached brussels until the beginning of june, yet, during all the good campaigning weather which had been fleeting away, not a blow had been struck, nor a wholesome counsel taken by the stadholder or the states. it was midsummer before the armies were in the field. the plans of the catholic general however then rapidly developed themselves. having assembled as large a force as had ever been under his command, he now divided it into two nearly equal portions. bucquoy, with ten thousand foot, twelve hundred cavalry, and twelve guns, arrived on the th july at nook, on the meuse. spinola, with eleven thousand infantry, two thousand horse, and eight guns, crossed the rhine at the old redoubts of ruhrort, and on the same th july took position at goor, in overyssel. the first plan of the commander-in-chief was to retrace exactly his campaign of the previous year, even as he had with so much frankness stated to henry. but the republic, although deserted by her former friends, and looked upon askance by the monarch of britain, and by the most christian king, had this year a most efficient ally in the weather. jupiter pluvius had descended from on high to the rescue of the struggling commonwealth, and his decrees were omnipotent as to the course of the campaign. the seasons that year seemed all fused into one. it was difficult to tell on midsummer day whether it were midwinter, spring, or autumn. the rain came down day after day, week after week, as if the contending armies and the very country which was to be invaded and defended were to be all washed out of existence together. friesland resolved itself into a vast quagmire; the roads became fluid, the rivers lakes. spinola turned his face from the east, and proceeded to carry out a second plan which he had long meditated, and even a more effective one, in the west. the waal and the yssel formed two sides of a great quadrilateral; and furnished for the natural fortress, thus enclosed, two vast and admirable moats. within lay good-meadow and foul-meadow--bet-uwe and vel-uwe--one, the ancient batavian island which from time immemorial had given its name to the commonwealth, the other, the once dismal swamp which toil and intelligence had in the course of centuries transformed into the wealthy and flowery land of gueldres. beyond, but in immediate proximity, lay the ancient episcopal city and province of utrecht, over which lay the road to the adjacent holland and zeeland. the very heart of the republic would be laid bare to the conqueror's sword if he could once force the passage, and obtain the control of these two protecting streams. with utrecht as his base, and all brabant and flanders--obedient provinces--at his back, spinola might accomplish more in one season than alva, don john, and alexander farnese had compassed in forty years, and destroy at a blow what was still called the netherland rebellion. the passage of the rivers once effected, the two enveloping wings would fold themselves together, and the conquest would be made. thus reasoned the brilliant young general, and his projects, although far-reaching, did not seem wild. the first steps were, however, the most important as well as the most difficult, and he had to reckon with a wary and experienced antagonist. maurice had at last collected and reviewed at arnhem an army of nearly fifteen thousand men, and was now watching closely from doesburg and deventer every movement of the foe. having been forced to a defensive campaign, in which he was not likely at best to gain many additional laurels, he was the more determined to lay down his own life, and sacrifice every man he could bring into the field, before spinola should march into the cherished domains of utrecht and holland. meantime the rain, which had already exerted so much influence on the military movements of the year, still maintained the supremacy over human plans. the yssel and the waal, always deep, broad, sluggish, but dangerous rivers--the rhine in its old age--were swollen into enormous proportions, their currents flowing for the time with the vigour of their far away youth. maurice had confided the defence of the waal to warner du bois, under whose orders he placed a force of about seven thousand men, and whose business it was to prevent bucquoy's passage. his own task was to baffle spinola. bucquoy's ambition was to cross the waal at a point as near as possible to the fork of that stream with the true rhine, seize the important city of nymegen, and then give the hand to spinola, so soon as he should be on the other side of the yssel. at the village of spardorp or kekerdom, he employed pompeio giustiniani to make a desperate effort, having secured a large number of barges in which he embarked his troops. as the boatmen neared the opposite bank, however, they perceived that warner du bois had made effective preparations for their reception. they lost heart, and, on pretence that the current of the river was too rapid to allow them to reach the point proposed for their landing, gradually dropped down the stream, and, in spite of the remonstrances of the commanders, pushed their way back to the shore which they had left. from that time forth, the states' troops, in efficient numbers, fringed the inner side of the waal, along the whole length of the batavian island, while armed vessels of the republic patrolled the stream itself. in vain count bucquoy watched an opportunity, either by surprise or by main strength, to effect a crossing. the waal remained as impassable as if it were a dividing ocean. on the other side of the quadrilateral, maurice's dispositions were as effective as those of his lieutenant on the waal. the left shore of the yssel, along its whole length, from arnhem and doesburg quite up to zwoll and campen, where the river empties itself into the zuyder zee, was now sprinkled thickly with forts, hastily thrown up, but strong enough to serve the temporary purpose of the stadholder. in vain the fleet-footed and audacious spinola moved stealthily or fiercely to and fro, from one point to another, seeking an opening through which to creep, or a weak spot where he might dash himself against the chain. the whole line was securely guarded. the swollen river, the redoubts, and the musketeers of maurice, protected the heart of the republic from the impending danger. wearied of this fruitless pacing up and down, spinola, while apparently intending an assault upon deventer, and thus attracting his adversary's attention to that important city, suddenly swerved to the right, and came down upon lochem. the little town, with its very slender garrison, surrendered at once. it was not a great conquest, but it might possibly be of use in the campaign. it was taken before the stadholder could move a step to its assistance, even had he deemed it prudent to leave yssel- side for an hour. the summer was passing away, the rain was still descending, and it was the st of august before spinola left lochem. he then made a rapid movement to the north, between zwoll and hasselt, endeavouring to cross the blackwater, and seize geelmuyden, on the zuyder zee. had he succeeded, he might have turned maurice's position. but the works in that direction had been entrusted to an experienced campaigner, warmelo, sheriff of zalant, who received the impetuous spinola and his lieutenant, count solre, so warmly, that they reeled backwards at last, after repeated assaults and great loss of men, and never more attempted to cross the yssel. obviously, the campaign had failed. utrecht and holland were as far out of the catholic general's reach as the stars in the sky, but at least, with his large armies, he could earn a few trophies, barren or productive, as it might prove, before winter, uniting with the deluge, should drive him from the field. on the rd august, he laid siege to groll (or groenlo), a fortified town of secondary importance in the country of zutphen, and, squandering his men with much recklessness, in his determination not to be baffled, reduced the place in eleven days. here he paused for a breathing spell, and then, renouncing all his schemes upon the inner defences of the republic, withdrew once more to the rhine and laid siege to rheinberg. this frontier place had been tossed to and fro so often between the contending parties in the perpetual warfare, that its inhabitants must have learned to consider themselves rather as a convenient circulating medium for military operations than as burghers who had any part in the ordinary business of life. it had old-fashioned defences of stones which, during the recent occupation by the states, had been much improved, and had been strengthened with earthworks. before it was besieged, maurice sent his brother frederic henry, with some picked companies, into the place, so that the garrison amounted to three thousand effective men. the prince de soubise, brother of the duc de rohan, and other french volunteers of quality, also threw themselves into the place, in order to take lessons in the latest methods of attack and defence. it was now admitted that no more accomplished pupil of the stadholder in the beleaguering art had appeared in europe than his present formidable adversary. on this occasion, however, there was no great display of science. maurice obstinately refused to move to the relief of the place, despite all the efforts of a deputation of the states-general who visited his camp in september, urging him strenuously to take the chances of a stricken field. nothing could induce the stadholder, who held an observing position at wesel, with his back against the precious watery quadrilateral, to risk the defence of those most vital lines of the yssel and the waal. while attempting to save rheinberg, he felt it possible that he might lose nymegen, or even utrecht. the swift but wily genoese was not to be trifled with or lost sight of an instant. the road to holland might still be opened, and the destiny of the republic might hang on the consequences of a single false move. that destiny, under god, was in his hands alone, and no chance of winning laurels, even from his greatest rival's head, could induce him to shrink from the path of duty, however obscure it might seem. there were a few brilliant assaults and sorties, as in all sieges, the french volunteers especially distinguishing themselves; but the place fell at the end of forty days. the garrison marched out with the honours of war. in the modern practice, armies were rarely captured in strongholds, nor were the defenders, together with the population, butchered. the loss, after a six weeks' siege, of rheinberg, which six years before, with far inferior fortifications, had held out a much longer time against the states, was felt as a bitter disappointment throughout the republic. frederic henry, on leaving the place, made a feeble and unsuccessful demonstration against yenlo, by which the general dissatisfaction was not diminished. soon afterwards, the war became more languid than ever. news arrived of a great crisis on the genoa exchange. a multitude of merchants, involved in pecuniary transactions with spinola, fell with one tremendous crash. the funds of the catholic commander-in-chief were already exhausted, his acceptances could no longer be negotiated. his credit was becoming almost as bad as the king's own. the inevitable consequence of the want of cash and credit followed. mutiny, for the first time in spinola's administration, raised its head once more, and stalked about defiant. six hundred veterans marched to breda, and offered their services to justinus of nassau. the proposal was accepted. other bands, established their quarters in different places, chose their elettos and lesser officers, and enacted the scenes which have been so often depicted in these pages. the splendid army of spinola melted like april snow. by the last week of october there hardly seemed a catholic army in the field. the commander-in-chief had scattered such companies as could still be relied upon in the villages of the friendly arch- episcopate of cologne, and had obtained, not by murders and blackmail-- according to the recent practice of the admiral of arragon, at whose grim name the whole country-side still shuddered--but from the friendship of the leading inhabitants and by honest loans, a sufficient sum to put bread into the mouths of the troops still remaining faithful to him. the opportunity had at last arrived for the stadholder to strike a blow before the season closed. bankruptcy and mutiny had reduced his enemy to impotence in the very season of his greatest probable success. on the th october maurice came before lochem, which he recaptured in five days. next in the order of spinola's victories was groll, which the stadholder at once besieged. he had almost fifteen thousand infantry and three thousand horse. a career of brief triumph before winter should close in upon those damping fields, seemed now assured. but the rain, which during nearly the whole campaign had been his potent ally, had of late been playing him false. the swollen yssel, during a brief period of dry weather, had sunk so low in certain shallows as not to be navigable for his transports, and after his trains of artillery and munitions had been dragged wearily overland as far as groll, the deluge had returned in such force, that physical necessity as well as considerations of humanity compelled him to defer his entrenching operations until the weather should moderate. as there seemed no further danger to be apprehended from the broken, mutinous, and dispersed forces of the enemy, the siege operations were conducted in a leisurely manner. what was the astonishment, therefore, among the soldiers, when a rumour flew about the camp in the early days of november that the indomitable spinola was again advancing upon them! it was perfectly true. with extraordinary perseverance he had gathered up six or seven thousand infantry and twelve companies of horse--all the remnants of the splendid armies with which he had taken the field at midsummer--and was now marching to the relief of groll, besieged as it was by a force at least doubly as numerous as his own. it was represented to the stadholder, however, that an impassable morass lay between him and the enemy, and that there would therefore be time enough to complete his entrenchments before spinola could put his foolhardy attempt into execution. but the catholic general, marching faster than rumour itself, had crossed the impracticable swamp almost before a spadeful of earth had been turned in the republican camp. his advance was in sight even while the incredulous were sneering at the absurdity of his supposed project. informed by scouts of the weakest point in the stadholder's extended lines, spinola was directing himself thither with beautiful precision. maurice hastily contracted both his wings, and concentrated himself in the village of lebel. at last the moment had come for a decisive struggle. there could be little doubt of the result. all the advantage was with the republican army. the catholics had arrived in front of the enemy fatigued by forced marches through quagmires, in horrible weather, over roads deemed impassable. the states' troops were fresh, posted on ground of their own choosing, and partially entrenched. to the astonishment, even to the horror of the most eager portion of the army, the stadholder deliberately, and despite the groans of his soldiers, refused the combat, and gave immediate orders for raising the siege and abandoning the field. on the th of november he broke up his camp and withdrew to a village called zelem. on the same day the marquis, having relieved the city, without paying the expected price, retired in another direction, and established what was left of his army in the province of munster. the campaign was closed. and thus the great war which had run its stormy course for nearly forty years, dribbled out of existence, sinking away that rainy november in the dismal fens of zutphen. the long struggle for independence had come, almost unperceived, to an end. peace had not arrived, but the work of the armies was over for many a long year. freedom and independence were secured. a deed or two, never to be forgotten by netherland hearts, was yet to be done on the ocean, before the long and intricate negotiations for peace should begin, and the weary people permit themselves to rejoice; but the prize was already won. meantime, the conduct of prince maurice in these last days of the campaign was the subject of biting censure by friend and foe. the military fame of spinola throughout europe grew apace; and the fame of his great rival seemed to shrink in the same proportion. henry of france was especially indignant at what he considered the shortcomings of the republic and of its chief. already, before the close of the summer, the agent aerssens had written from paris that his majesty was very much displeased with spinola's prosperity, ascribing it to the want of good councils on the part of the states' government that so fine an army should lie idle so long, without making an attempt to relieve the beleaguered places, so that spinola felt assured of taking anything as soon as he made his appearance. "your mightinesses cannot believe," continued the agent, "what a trophy is made by the spanish ministers out of these little exploits, and they have so much address at this court, that if such things continue they may produce still greater results." in december he wrote that the king was so malcontent concerning the siege of groll as to make it impossible to answer him with arguments, that he openly expressed regret at not having employed the money lent to the states upon strengthening his own frontiers, so distrustful was he of their capacity for managing affairs, and that he mentioned with disgust statements received from his ambassador at brussels and from the duc de rohan, to the effect that spinola had between five and six thousand men only at the relief of groll, against twelve thousand in the stadholder's army. the motives of the deeds and the omissions of the prince at this supreme moment must be pondered with great caution. the states-general had doubtless been inclined for vigorous movements, and olden-barneveld, with some of his colleagues, had visited the camp late in september to urge the relief of rheinberg. maurice was in daily correspondence with the government, and regularly demanded their advice, by which, on many former occasions, he had bound himself, even when it was in conflict with his own better judgment. but throughout this campaign, the responsibility was entirely, almost ostentatiously, thrown by the states-general upon their commander-in- chief, and, as already indicated, their preparations in the spring and early summer had been entirely inadequate. should he lose the army with which he had so quietly but completely checked spinola in all his really important moves during the summer and autumn, he might despair of putting another very soon into the field. that his force in that november week before groll was numerically far superior to the enemy is certain, but he had lost confidence in his cavalry since their bad behaviour at mulheim the previous year, and a very large proportion of his infantry was on the sick-list at the moment of spinola's approach. "lest the continual bad weather should entirely consume the army," he said, "we are resolved, within a day or two after we have removed the sick who are here in great numbers, to break up, unless the enemy should give us occasion to make some attempt upon him." maurice was the servant of a small republic, contending single-handed against an empire still considered the most formidable power in the world. his cue was not necessarily to fight on all occasions; for delay often fights better than an army against a foreign invader. when a battle and a victory were absolutely necessary we have seen the magnificent calmness which at nieuport secured triumph under the shadow of death. had he accepted spinola's challenge in november, he would probably have defeated him and have taken groll. he might not, however, have annihilated his adversary, who, even when worsted, would perhaps have effected his escape. the city was of small value to the republic. the principal advantage of a victory would have been increased military renown for himself. viewed in this light, there is something almost sublime in the phlegmatic and perfectly republican composure with which he disdained laurels, easily enough, as it would stem, to have been acquired, and denied his soldiers the bloodshed and the suffering for which they were clamouring. and yet, after thoroughly weighing and measuring all these circumstances, it is natural to regret that he did not on that occasion rise upon spinola and smite him to the earth. the lord had delivered him into his hands. the chances of his own defeat were small, its probable consequences, should it occur, insignificant. it is hardly conceivable that he could have been so completely overthrown as to allow the catholic commander to do in november what he had tried all summer in vain to accomplish, cross the yssel and the waal, with the dregs of his army, and invade holland and zeeland in midwinter, over the prostrate bodies of maurice and all his forces. on the other hand, that the stadholder would have sent the enemy reeling back to his bogs, with hardly the semblance of an army at his heels, was almost certain: the effect of such a blow upon impending negotiations, and especially upon the impressible imagination of henry and the pedantic shrewdness of james, would have been very valuable. it was not surprising that the successful soldier who sat on the french throne, and who had been ever ready to wager life and crown on the results of a stricken field, should be loud in his expressions of disapprobation and disgust. yet no man knew better than the sagacious gascon that fighting to win a crown, and to save a republic, were two essentially different things. in the early summer of this year admiral haultain, whom we lately saw occupied with tossing sarmiento's spanish legion into the sea off the harbour of dover, had been despatched to the spanish coast on a still more important errand. the outward bound portuguese merchantmen and the home returning fleets from america, which had been absent nearly two years, might be fallen in with at any moment, in the latitude of - deg. the admiral, having received orders, therefore, to cruise carefully in those regions, sailed for the shores of portugal with a squadron of twenty-four war-ships. his expedition was not very successful. he picked up a prize or two here and there, and his presence on the coast prevented the merchant-fleet from sailing out of lisbon for the east indies, the merchandise already on board being disembarked and the voyage postponed to a more favourable opportunity. he saw nothing, however, of the long-expected ships from the golden west indies--as mexico, peru, and brazil were then indiscriminately called-- and after parting company with six of his own ships, which were dispersed and damaged in a gale, and himself suffering from a dearth of provisions, he was forced to return without much gain or glory. in the month of september he was once more despatched on the same service. he had nineteen war-galleots of the first class, and two yachts, well equipped and manned. vice-admiral of the fleet was regnier klaaszoon (or nicholson), of amsterdam, a name which should always be held fresh in remembrance, not only by mariners and netherlanders, but by all men whose pulses can beat in sympathy with practical heroism. the admiral coasted deliberately along the shores of spain and portugal. it seemed impossible that the golden fleets, which, as it was ascertained, had not yet arrived, could now escape the vigilance of the dutch cruisers. an occasional merchant-ship or small war-galley was met from time to time and chased into the harbours. a landing was here and there effected and a few villages burned. but these were not the prizes nor the trophies sought. on the th september a storm off the portuguese coast scattered the fleet; six of the best and largest ships being permanently lost sight of and separated from the rest. with the other thirteen haultain now cruised off cape st. vincent directly across the ordinary path of the homeward-bound treasure ships. on the th october many sails were descried in the distance, and the longing eyes of the hollanders were at last gratified with what was supposed to be the great west india commercial squadrons. the delusion was brief. instead of innocent and richly freighted merchantmen, the new comers soon proved to be the war-ships of admiral dan luis de fazardo, eighteen great galleons and eight galleys strong, besides lesser vessels --the most formidable fleet that for years had floated in those waters. there had been time for admiral haultain to hold but a very brief consultation with his chief officers. as it was manifest that the hollanders were enormously over-matched, it was decided to manoeuvre as well as possible for the weather-gage, and then to fight or to effect an escape, as might seem most expedient after fairly testing the strength of the enemy. it was blowing a fresh gale, and the netherland fleet had as much as they could stagger with under close-reefed topsails. the war- galleys, fit only for fair weather, were soon forced to take refuge under the lee of the land, but the eighteen galleons, the most powerful vessels then known to naval architecture, were bearing directly down, full before the wind, upon the dutch fleet. it must be admitted that admiral haultain hardly displayed as much energy now as he had done in the straits of dover against the unarmed transports the year before. his ships were soon scattered, right and left, and the manoeuvres for the weather-gage resolved themselves into a general scramble for escape. vice-admiral klaaszoon alone held firm, and met the onset of the first comers of the spanish fleet. a fierce combat, yard- arm to yard-arm, ensued. klaaszoon's mainmast went by the board, but haultain, with five ships, all that could be rallied, coming to the rescue, the assailants for a moment withdrew. five dutch vessels of moderate strength were now in action against the eighteen great galleons of fazardo. certainly it was not an even game, but it might have been played with more heart and better skill. there was but a half-hour of daylight left when klaaszoon's crippled ship was again attacked. this time there was no attempt to offer him assistance; the rest of the dutch fleet crowding all the sails their masts would bear, and using all the devices of their superior seamanship, not to harass the enemy, but to steal as swiftly as possible out of his way. honestly confessing that they dared not come into the fight, they bore away for dear life in every direction. night came on, and the last that the fugitives knew of the events off cape st. vincent was that stout regnier klaaszoon had been seen at sunset in the midst of the spanish fleet; the sound of his broadsides saluting their ears as they escaped. left to himself, alone in a dismasted ship, the vice-admiral never thought of yielding to the eighteen spanish galleons. to the repeated summons of don luis fazardo that he should surrender he remained obstinately deaf. knowing that it was impossible for him to escape, and fearing that he might blow up his vessel rather than surrender, the enemy made no attempt to board. spanish chivalry was hardly more conspicuous on this occasion than dutch valour, as illustrated by admiral haultain. two whole days and nights klaaszoon drifted about in his crippled ship, exchanging broadsides with his antagonists, and with his colours flying on the stump of his mast. the fact would seem incredible, were it not attested by perfectly trustworthy contemporary accounts. at last his hour seemed to have come. his ship was sinking; a final demand for surrender, with promise of quarter, was made. out of his whole crew but sixty remained alive; many of them badly wounded. he quietly announced to his officers and men his decision never to surrender, in which all concurred. they knelt together upon the deck, and the admiral made a prayer, which all fervently joined. with his own hand klaaszoon then lighted the powder magazine, and the ship was blown into the air. two sailors, all that were left alive, were picked out of the sea by the spaniards and brought on board one of the vessels of the fleet. desperately mutilated, those grim dutchmen lived a few minutes to tell the tale, and then died defiant on the enemy's deck. yet it was thought that a republic, which could produce men like regnier klaaszoon and his comrades, could be subjected again to despotism, after a war for independence of forty years, and that such sailors could be forbidden to sail the eastern and western seas. no epigrammatic phrase has been preserved of this simple regnier, the son of nicholas. he only did what is sometimes talked about in phraseology more or less melo- dramatic, and did it in a very plain way. such extreme deeds may have become so much less necessary in the world, that to threaten them is apt to seem fantastic. exactly at that crisis of history, however, and especially in view of the dutch admiral commanding having refused a combat of one to three, the speechless self- devotion of the vice-admiral was better than three years of eloquent arguments and a ship-load of diplomatic correspondence, such as were already impending over the world. admiral haultain returned with all his ships uninjured--the six missing vessels having found their way at last safely back to the squadron--but with a very great crack to his reputation. it was urged very justly, both by the states-general and the public, that if one ship under a determined commander could fight the whole spanish fleet two days and nights, and sink unconquered at last, ten ships more might have put the enemy to flight, or at least have saved the vice-admiral from destruction. but very few days after the incidents just described, the merchant fleet which, instead of don luis fazardo's war galleons, admiral haultain had so longed to encounter, arrived safely at san lucar. it was the most splendid treasure-fleet that had ever entered a spanish port, and the dutch admiral's heart might well have danced for joy, had he chanced to come a little later on the track. there were fifty ships, under charge of general alonzo de ochares galindo and general ganevaye. they had on board, according to the registers, , , dollars worth of bullion for the king, and , , dollars for merchants, or , , dollars in all, besides rich cargoes of silk, cochineal, sarsaparilla, indigo, brazil wood, and hides; the result of two years of pressure upon peruvians, mexicans, and brazilians. never had spanish finances been at so low an ebb. never was so splendid an income more desirable. the king's share of the cargo was enough to pay half the arrearages due to his mutinous troops; and for such housekeeping this was to be in funds. there were no further exploits on land or sea that year. there were, however, deaths of three personages often mentioned in this history. the learned justus lipsius died in louvain, a good editor and scholar, and as sincere a catholic at last as he had been alternately a bigoted calvinist and an earnest lutheran. his reputation was thought to have suffered by his later publications, but the world at large was occupied with sterner stuff than those classic productions, and left the final decision to posterity. a man of a different mould, the turbulent, high-born, hard fighting, hard-drinking hohenlo, died also this year, brother-in-law and military guardian, subsequently rival and political and personal antagonist, of prince maurice. his daring deeds and his troublesome and mischievous adventures have been recounted in these pages. his name will be always prominent in the history of the republic, to which he often rendered splendid service, but he died, as he had lived, a glutton and a melancholy sot. the third remarkable personage who passed away was one whose name will be remembered as long as the netherlands have a history, old count john of nassau, only surviving brother of william the silent. he had been ever prominent and deeply interested in the great religious and political movements of upper and lower germany, and his services in the foundation of the dutch commonwealth were signal, and ever generously acknowledged. at one period, as will be recollected, he was stadholder of gelderland, and he was ever ready with sword, purse, and counsel to aid in the great struggle for independence. chapter xlvi. general desire for peace--political aspect of europe--designs of the kings of england, france, and spain concerning the united provinces --matrimonial schemes of spain--conference between the french ministers and the dutch envoy--confidential revelations--henry's desire to annex the netherlands to france--discussion of the subject--artifice of barneveld--impracticability of a compromise between the provinces and spain--formation of a west india company-- secret mission from the archdukes to the hague--reply of the states- general--return of the archdukes' envoy--arrangement of an eight months' armistice. the general tendency towards a pacification in europe at the close of the year could hardly be mistaken. the languor of fatigue, rather than any sincere desire for peace seemed to make negotiations possible. it was not likely that great truths would yet be admitted, or that ruling individuals or classes would recognise the rise of a new system out of the rapidly dissolving elements of the one which had done its work. war was becoming more and more expensive, while commerce, as the world slowly expanded itself, and manifested its unsuspected resources, was becoming more and more lucrative. it was not, perhaps, that men hated each other less, but that they had for a time exhausted their power and their love for slaughter. meanwhile new devices for injuring humanity and retarding its civilization were revealing themselves out of that very intellectual progress which ennobled the new era. although war might still be regarded as the normal condition of the civilized world, it was possible for the chosen ones to whom the earth and its fulness belonged, to inflict general damage otherwise than by perpetual battles. in the east, west, north, and south of europe peace was thrusting itself as it were uncalled for and unexpected upon the general attention. charles and his nephew sigismund, and the false demetrius, and the intrigues of the jesuits, had provided too much work for sweden, poland, and russia to leave those countries much leisure for mingling in the more important business of europe at this epoch, nor have their affairs much direct connection with this history. venice, in its quarrels with the jesuits, had brought spain, france, and all italy into a dead lock, out of which a compromise had been made not more satisfactory to the various parties than compromises are apt to prove. the dutch republic still maintained the position which it had assumed, a quarter of a century before, of actual and legal independence; while spain, on the other hand, still striving after universal monarchy, had not, of course, abated one jot of its pretensions to absolute dominion over its rebellious subjects in the netherlands. the holy roman and the sublime ottoman empires had also drifted into temporary peace; the exploits of the persians and other asiatic movements having given ahmed more work than was convenient on his eastern frontier, while stephen botshkay had so completely got the better of rudolph in transylvania as to make repose desirable. so there was a treaty between the great turk and the great christian on the basis of what each possessed; stephen botshkay was recognized as prince of transylvania with part of hungary, and, when taken off soon afterwards by family poison, he recommended on his death-bed the closest union between hungary and transylvania, as well as peace with the emperor, so long as it might be compatible with the rights of the magyars. france and england, while suspecting each other, dreading each other, and very sincerely hating each other, were drawn into intimate relations by their common detestation of spain, with which power both had now formal treaties of alliance and friendship. this was the result of their mighty projects for humbling the house of austria and annihilating its power. england hated the netherlands because of the injuries she had done them, the many benefits she had conferred upon them, and more than all on account of the daily increasing commercial rivalry between the two most progressive states in christendom, the two powers which, comparatively weak as they were in territory, capital, and population, were most in harmony with the spirit of the age. the government of england was more hostile than its people to the united provinces. james never spoke of the netherlanders but as upstarts and rebels, whose success ought to be looked upon with horror by the lord's anointed everywhere. he could not shut his eyes to the fact that, with the republic destroyed, and a spanish sacerdotal despotism established in holland and zeeland, with jesuit seminaries in full bloom in amsterdam and the hague, his own rebels in ireland might prove more troublesome than ever, and gunpowder plots in london become common occurrences. the earl of tyrone at that very moment was receiving enthusiastic hospitality at the archduke's court, much to the disgust of the presbyterian sovereign of the united kingdom, who nevertheless, despite his cherished theology, was possessed with an unconquerable craving for a close family alliance with the most catholic king. his ministers were inclined to spain, and the british government was at heart favourable to some kind of arrangement by which the netherlands might be reduced to the authority of their former master, in case no scheme could be carried into, effect for acquiring a virtual sovereignty over those provinces by the british crown. moreover, and most of all, the king of france being supposed to contemplate the annexation of the netherlands to his own dominions, the jealousy excited by such ambition made it even possible for james's government to tolerate the idea of dutch independence. thus the court and cabinet of england were as full of contradictory hopes and projects as a madman's brain. the rivalry between the courts of england and france for the spanish marriages and by means of them to obtain ultimately the sovereignty of all the netherlands, was the key to most of the diplomacy and interpalatial intrigue of the several first years of the century. the negotiations of cornwallis at madrid were almost simultaneous with the schemes of villeroy and rosny at paris. a portion of the english government, so soon as its treaty with spain had been signed, seemed secretly determined to do as much injury to the republic as might lie in its power. while at heart convinced that the preservation of the netherlands was necessary for england's safety, it was difficult for james and the greater part of his advisers to overcome their repugnance to the republic, and their jealousy of the great commercial successes which the republic had achieved. it was perfectly plain that a continuance of the war by england and the netherlands united would have very soon ended in the entire humiliation of spain. now that peace had been made, however, it was thought possible that england might make a bargain with her late enemy for destroying the existence and dividing the territory of her late ally. accordingly the spanish cabinet lost no time in propounding, under seal of secrecy, and with even more mystery than was usually employed by the most catholic court, a scheme for the marriage of the prince of wales with the infanta; the bridal pair, when arrived at proper age, to be endowed with all the netherlands, both obedient and republican, in full sovereignty. one thing was necessary to the carrying out of this excellent plot, the reduction of the republic into her ancient subjection to spain before her territory could be transferred to the future princess of wales. it was proposed by the spanish government that england should undertake this part of the job, and that king james for such service should receive an annual pension of one million ducats a year. it was also stipulated that certain cities in the republican dominions should be pledged to him as security for the regular payment of that stipend. sir charles cornwallis, english ambassador in spain, lent a most favourable ear to these proposals, and james eagerly sanctioned them so soon as they were secretly imparted to that monarch. "the king here," said cornwallis, "hath need of the king of great britain's arm. our king . . . hath good occasion to use the help of the king of spain's purse. the assistance of england to help that nation out of that quicksand of the low countries, where so long they have struggled to tread themselves out, and by proof find that deeper in, will be a sovereign medicine to the malady of this estate. the addition of a million of ducats to the revenue of our sovereign will be a good help to his estate." the spanish government had even the effrontery to offer the english envoy a reward of two hundred thousand crowns if the negotiations should prove successful. care was to be taken however that great britain, by this accession of power, both present and in prospect, should not grow too great, spain reserving to herself certain strongholds and maritime positions in the netherlands, for the proper security of her european and indian commerce. it was thought high time for the bloodshed to cease in the provinces; and as england, by making a treaty of peace with spain when spain was at the last gasp, had come to the rescue of that power, it was logical that she should complete the friendly work by compelling the rebellious provinces to awake from their dream of independence. if the statesmen of holland believed in the possibility of that independence, the statesmen of england knew better. if the turbulent little republic was not at last convinced that it had no right to create so much turmoil and inconvenience for its neighbours and for christendom in general in order to maintain its existence, it should be taught its duty by the sovereigns of spain and britain. it was observed, however, that the more greedily james listened day after day to the marriage propositions, the colder became the spanish cabinet in regard to that point, the more disposed to postpone those nuptials "to god's providence and future event." the high hopes founded on these secret stratagems were suddenly dashed to the earth before the end of the year; the explosion of the gunpowder plot blowing the castles in spain into the air. of course the spanish politicians vied with each other in expressions of horror and indignation at the plot, and the wicked contrivers thereof, and suggested to cornwallis that the king of france was probably at the bottom of it. they declined to give up owen and baldwin, however, and meantime the negotiations for the marriage of the prince of wales and the infanta, the million ducats of yearly pension for the needy james, and the reduction of the dutch republic to its ancient slavery to spain "under the eye and arm of britain," faded indefinitely away. salisbury indeed was always too wise to believe in the possibility of the schemes with which james and some of his other counsellors had been so much infatuated. it was almost dramatic that these plottings between james and the catholic king against the life of the republic should have been signally and almost simultaneously avenged by the conspiracy of guido fawkes. on the other hand, rosny had imparted to the dutch envoy the schemes of henry and his ministers in regard to the same object, early in . "spain is more tired of the war," said he to aerssens, under seal of absolute secrecy, "than you are yourselves. she is now negotiating for a marriage between the dauphin and the infanta, and means to give her the united provinces, as at present constituted, for a marriage portion. villeroy and sillery believe the plan feasible, but demand all the netherlands together. as for me i shall have faith in it if they send their infanta hither at once, or make a regular cession of the territory. do you believe that my lords the states will agree to the proposition?" it would be certainly difficult to match in history the effrontery of such a question. the republican envoy was asked point blank whether his country would resign her dearly gained liberty and give herself as a dowry for philip the second's three-years-old grand daughter. aerssens replied cautiously that he had never heard the matter discussed in the provinces. it had always been thought that the french king had no pretensions to their territory, but had ever advocated their independence. he hinted that such a proposition was a mere apple of discord thrown between two good allies by spain. rosny admitted the envoy's arguments, and said that his majesty would do nothing without the consent of the dutch government, and that he should probably be himself sent ere long to the hague to see if he could not obtain some little recognition from the states. thus it was confidentially revealed to the agent of the republic that her candid adviser and ally was hard at work, in conjunction with her ancient enemy, to destroy her independence, annex her territory, and appropriate to himself all the fruits of her great war, her commercial achievements, and her vast sacrifices; while, as we have just seen, english politicians at the same moment were attempting to accomplish the same feat for england's supposed advantage. all that was wished by henry to begin with was a little, a very little, recognition of his sovereignty. "you will do well to reflect on this delicate matter in time," wrote aerssens to the advocate; "i know that the king of spain is inclined to make this offer, and that they are mad enough in this place to believe the thing feasible. for me, i reject all such talk until they have got the infanta--that is to say, until the greek kalends. i am ashamed that they should believe it here, and fearful that there is still more evil concealed than i know of." towards the close of the year the french government became still more eager to carry out their plans of alliance and absorption. aerssens, who loved a political intrigue better than became a republican envoy, was perfectly aware of henry's schemes. he was disposed to humour them, in order to make sure of his military assistance, but with the secret intention of seeing them frustrated by the determined opposition of the states. the french ministers, by command of their sovereign, were disposed to deal very plainly. they informed the dutch diplomatist, with very little circumlocution, that if the republic wished assistance from france she was to pay a heavy price for it. not a pound of flesh only, but the whole body corporate, was to be surrendered if its destruction was to be averted by french arms. "you know," said sillery, "that princes in all their actions consider their interests, and his majesty has not so much affection for your conservation as to induce him to resign his peaceful position. tell me, i pray you, what would you do for his majesty in case anything should be done for you? you were lately in holland. do you think that they would give themselves to the king if he assisted them? do you not believe that prince maurice has designs on the sovereignty, and would prevent the fulfilment of the king's hopes? what will you do for us in return for our assistance?" aerssens was somewhat perplexed, but he was cunning at fence. "we will do all we can," said he, "for any change is more supportable than the yoke of spain." "what can you do then?" persisted sillery. "give us your opinion in plain french, i beg of you, and lay aside all passion; for we have both the same object--your preservation. besides interest, his majesty has affection for you. let him only see some advantage for himself to induce to assist you more powerfully. suppose you should give us what you have and what you may acquire in flanders with the promise to treat secretly with us when the time comes. could you do that?" the envoy replied that this would be tearing the commonwealth in pieces. if places were given away, the jealousy of the english would be excited. certainly it would be no light matter to surrender sluys, the fruit of maurice's skill and energy, the splendidly earned equivalent for the loss of ostend. "as to sluys and other places in flanders," said aerssens, "i don't know if towns comprised in our union could be transferred or pledged without their own consent and that of the states. should such a thing get wind we might be ruined. nevertheless i will write to learn what his majesty may hope." "the people," returned sillery, "need know nothing of this transfer; for it might be made secretly by prince maurice, who could put the french quietly into sluys and other flemish places. meantime you had best make a journey to holland to arrange matters so that the deputies, coming hither, may be amply instructed in regard to sluys, and no time be lost. his majesty is determined to help you if you know how to help yourselves." the two men then separated, sillery enjoining it upon the envoy to see the king next morning, "in order to explain to his majesty, as he had just been doing to himself, that this sovereignty could not be transferred, without the consent of the whole people, nor the people be consulted in secret." "it is necessary therefore to be armed," continued henry's minister very significantly, "before aspiring to the sovereignty." thus there was a faint glimmer of appreciation at the french court of the meaning of popular sovereignty. it did not occur to the minister that the right of giving consent was to be respected. the little obstacle was to be overcome by stratagem and by force. prince maurice was to put french garrisons stealthily into sluys and other towns conquered by the republic in flanders. then the magnanimous ally was to rise at the right moment and overcome all resistance by force of arms. the plot was a good one. it is passing strange, however, that the character of the nassaus and of the dutch nation should after the last fifty years have been still so misunderstood. it seemed in france possible that maurice would thus defile his honour and the netherlanders barter their liberty, by accepting a new tyrant in place of the one so long ago deposed. "this is the marrow of our conference," said aerssens to barneveld, reporting the interview, "and you may thus perceive whither are tending the designs of his majesty. it seems that they are aspiring here to the sovereignty, and all my letters have asserted the contrary. if you will examine a little more closely, however, you will find that there is no contradiction. this acquisition would be desirable for france if it could be made peacefully. as it can only be effected by war you may make sure that it will not be attempted; for the great maxim and basis of this kingdom is to preserve repose, and at the same time give such occupation to the king of spain that his means shall be consumed and his designs frustrated. all this will cease if we make peace. "thus in treating with the king we must observe two rules. the first is that we can maintain ourselves no longer unless powerfully assisted, and that, the people inclining to peace, we shall be obliged to obey the people. secondly, we must let no difficulty appear as to the desire expressed by his majesty to have the sovereignty of these provinces. we ought to let him hope for it, but to make him understand that by ordinary and legitimate means he cannot aspire to it. we will make him think that we have an equal desire with himself, and we shall thus take from those evil-disposed counsellors the power to injure us who are always persuading him that he is only making us great for ourselves, and thus giving us the power to injure him. in short, the king can hope nothing from us overtly, and certainly nothing covertly. by explaining to him that we require the authorization of the people, and by showing ourselves prompt to grant his request, he will be the very first to prevent us from taking any steps, in order that his repose may not be disturbed. i know that france does not wish to go to war with spain. let us then pretend that we wish to be under the dominion of france, and that we will lead our people to that point if the king desires it, but that it cannot be done secretly. believe me, he will not wish it on such conditions, while we shall gain much by this course. would to god that we could engage france in war with spain. all the utility would be ours; and the accidents of arms would so press them to spain, italy, and other places, that they would have little leisure to think of us. consider all this and conceal it from buzanval." buzanval, it is well known, was the french envoy at the hague, and it must be confessed that these schemes and paltry falsehoods on the part of the dutch agent were as contemptible as any of the plots contrived every day in paris or madrid. such base coin as this was still circulating in diplomacy as if fresh from the machiavellian mint; but the republican agent ought to have known that his government had long ago refused to pass it current. soon afterwards this grave matter was discussed at the hague between henry's envoy and barneveld. it was a very delicate negotiation. the advocate wished to secure the assistance of a powerful but most unscrupulous ally, and at the same time to conceal his real intention to frustrate the french design upon the independence of the republic. disingenuous and artful as his conduct unquestionably was, it may at least be questioned whether in that age of deceit any other great statesman would have been more frank. if the comparatively weak commonwealth, by openly and scornfully refusing all the insidious and selfish propositions of the french king, had incurred that monarch's wrath, it would have taken a noble position no doubt, but it would have perhaps been utterly destroyed. the advocate considered himself justified in using the artifices of war against a subtle and dangerous enemy who wore the mask of a friend. when the price demanded for military protection was the voluntary abandonment of national independence in favour of the protector, the man who guided the affairs of the netherlands did not hesitate to humour and to outwit the king who strove to subjugate the republic. at the same time--however one may be disposed to censure the dissimulation from the standing-ground of a lofty morality--it should not be forgotten that barneveld never hinted at any possible connivance on his part with an infraction of the laws. whatever might be the result of time, of persuasion, of policy, he never led henry or his ministers to believe that the people of the netherlands could be deprived of their liberty by force or fraud. he was willing to play a political game, in which he felt himself inferior to no man, trusting to his own skill and coolness for success. if the tyrant were defeated, and at the same time made to serve the cause of the free commonwealth, the advocate believed this to be fair play. knowing himself surrounded by gamblers and tricksters, he probably did not consider himself to be cheating because he did not play his cards upon the table. so when buzanval informed him early in october that the possession of sluys and other flemish towns would not be sufficient for the king, but that they must offer the sovereignty on even more favourable conditions than had once been proposed to henry iii., the advocate told him roundly that my lords the states were not likely to give the provinces to any man, but meant to maintain their freedom and their rights. the envoy replied that his majesty would be able to gain more favour perhaps with the common people of the country. when it is remembered that the states had offered the sovereignty of the provinces to henry iii., abjectly and as it were without any conditions at all, the effrontery of henry iv. may be measured, who claimed the same sovereignty, after twenty years of republican independence, upon even more favourable terms than those which his predecessor had rejected. barneveld, in order to mitigate the effect of his plump refusal of the royal overtures, explained to buzanval, what buzanval very well knew, that the times had now changed; that in those days, immediately after the death of william the silent, despair and disorder had reigned in the provinces, "while that dainty delicacy--liberty--had not so long been sweetly tickling the appetites of the people; that the english had not then acquired their present footing in the country, nor the house of nassau the age, the credit, and authority to which it had subsequently attained." he then intimated--and here began the deception, which certainly did not deceive buzanval--that if things were handled in the right way, there was little doubt as to the king's reaching the end proposed, but that all depended on good management. it was an error, he said, to suppose that in one, two, or three months, eight provinces and their principal members, to wit, forty good cities all enjoying liberty and equality, could be induced to accept a foreign sovereign. such language was very like irony, and probably not too subtle to escape the fine perception of the french envoy. the first thing to be done, continued the advocate, is to persuade the provinces to aid the king with all their means to conquer the disunited provinces--to dispose of the archdukes, in short, and to drive the spaniards from the soil--and then, little by little, to make it clear that there could be no safety for the states except in reducing the whole body of the netherlands under the authority of the king. let his majesty begin by conquering and annexing to his crown the provinces nearest him, and he would then be able to persuade the others to a reasonable arrangement. whether the advocate's general reply was really considered by buzanval as a grave sarcasm, politely veiled, may be a question. that envoy, however, spoke to his government of the matter as surrounded with difficulties, but not wholly desperate. barneveld was, he said, inclined to doubt whether the archdukes would be able, before any negotiations were begun, to comply with the demand which he had made upon them to have a declaration in writing that the united provinces were to be regarded as a free people over whom they pretended to no authority. if so, the french king would at once be informed of the fact. meantime the envoy expressed the safe opinion that, if prince maurice and the advocate together should take the matter of henry's sovereignty in hand with zeal, they might conduct the bark to the desired haven. surely this was an 'if' with much virtue in it. and notwithstanding that he chose to represent barneveld as, rich, tired, at the end of his latin, and willing enough to drop his anchor in a snug harbour, in order to make his fortune secure, it was obvious enough that buzanval had small hope at heart of seeing his master's purpose accomplished. as to prince maurice, the envoy did not even affect to believe him capable of being made use of, strenuous as the efforts of the french government in that direction had been. "he has no private designs that i can find out," said buzanval, doing full justice to the straightforward and sincere character of the prince. "he asks no change for himself or for his country." the envoy added, as a matter of private opinion however, that if an alteration were to be made in the constitution of the provinces, maurice would prefer that it should be made in favour of france than of any other government. he lost no opportunity, moreover, of impressing it upon his government that if the sovereignty were to be secured for france at all, it could only be done by observing great caution, and by concealing their desire to swallow the republic of which they were professing themselves the friends. the jealousy of england was sure to be awakened if france appeared too greedy at the beginning. on the other hand, that power "might be the more easily rocked into a profound sleep if france did not show its appetite at the very beginning of the banquet." that the policy of france should be steadily but stealthily directed towards getting possession of as many strong places as possible in the netherlands had long been his opinion. "since we don't mean to go to war," said he a year before to villeroy, "let us at least follow the example of the english, who have known how to draw a profit out of the necessities of this state. why should we not demand, or help ourselves to, a few good cities. sluys, for example, would be a security for us, and of great advantage." suspicion was rife on this subject at the court of spain. certainly it would be less humiliating to the catholic crown to permit the independence of its rebellious subjects than to see them incorporated into the realms of either france or england. it is not a very striking indication of the capacity of great rulers to look far into the future that both, france and england should now be hankering after the sovereignty of those very provinces, the solemn offer of which by the provinces themselves both france and england had peremptorily and almost contemptuously refused. in spain itself the war was growing very wearisome. three hundred thousand dollars a month could no longer be relied upon from the royal exchequer, or from the american voyages, or from the kite-flying operations of the merchant princes on the genoa exchange. a great fleet, to be sure, had recently arrived, splendidly laden, from the west indies, as already stated. pagan slaves, scourged to their dreadful work, continued to supply to their christian taskmasters the hidden treasures of the new world in exchange for the blessings of the evangel as thus revealed; but these treasures could never fill the perpetual sieve of the netherland war, rapidly and conscientiously as they were poured into it, year after year. the want of funds in the royal exchequer left the soldiers in flanders unpaid, and as an inevitable result mutiny admirably organized and calmly defiant was again established throughout the obedient provinces. this happened regularly once a year, so that it seemed almost as business-like a proceeding for an eletto to proclaim mutiny as for a sovereign to declare martial law. should the whole army mutiny at once, what might become of the kingdom of spain? moreover, a very uneasy feeling was prevalent that, as formerly, the turks had crossed the hellespont into europe by means of a genoese alliance and genoese galleys, so now the moors were contemplating the reconquest of granada, and of their other ancient possessions in spain, with the aid of the dutch republic and her powerful fleets.--[grotius, xv. ] the dutch cruisers watched so carefully on the track of the homeward- bound argosies, that the traffic was becoming more dangerous than lucrative, particularly since the public law established by admiral fazardo, that it was competent for naval commanders to hang, drown, or burn the crews of the enemy's merchantmen. the portuguese were still more malcontent than the spaniards. they had gained little by the absorption of their kingdom by spain, save participation in the war against the republic, the result of which had been to strip them almost entirely of the conquests of vasco de gama and his successors, and to close to them the ports of the old world and the new. in the republic there was a party for peace, no doubt, but peace only with independence. as for a return to their original subjection to spain they were unanimously ready to accept forty years more of warfare rather than to dream of such a proposition. there were many who deliberately preferred war to peace. bitter experience had impressed very deeply on the netherlanders the great precept that faith would never be kept with heretics. the present generation had therefore been taught from their cradles to believe that the word peace in spanish mouths simply meant the holy inquisition. it was not unnatural, too, perhaps, that a people who had never known what it was to be at peace might feel, in regard to that blessing, much as the blind or the deaf towards colour or music; as something useful and agreeable, no doubt, but with which they might the more cheerfully dispense, as peculiar circumstances had always kept them in positive ignorance of its nature. the instinct of commercial greediness made the merchants of holland and zeeland, and especially those of amsterdam, dread the revival of antwerp in case of peace, to the imagined detriment of the great trading centres of the republic. it was felt also to be certain that spain, in case of negotiations, would lay down as an indispensable preliminary the abstinence on the part of the netherlanders from all intercourse with the indies, east or west; and although such a prohibition would be received by those republicans with perfect contempt, yet the mere discussion of the subject moved their spleen. they had already driven the portuguese out of a large portion of the field in the east, and they were now preparing by means of the same machinery to dispute the monopoly of the spaniards in the west. to talk of excluding such a people as this from intercourse with any portion of the old world or the new was the mumbling of dotage; yet nothing could be more certain than that such would be the pretensions of spain. as for the stadholder, his vocation was war, his greatness had been derived from war, his genius had never turned itself to pacific pursuits. should a peace be negotiated, not only would his occupation be gone, but he might even find himself hampered for means. it was probable that his large salaries, as captain and admiral-general of the forces of the republic, would be seriously curtailed, in case his services in the field were no longer demanded, while such secret hopes as he might entertain of acquiring that sovereign power which barneveld had been inclined to favour, were more likely to be fulfilled if the war should be continued. at the same time, if sovereignty were to be his at all, he was distinctly opposed to such limitations of his authority as were to have been proposed by the states to his father. rather than reign on those conditions, he avowed that he would throw himself head foremost from the great tower of hague castle. moreover, the prince was smarting under the consciousness of having lost military reputation, however undeservedly, in the latter campaigns, and might reasonably hope to gain new glory in the immediate future. thus, while his great rival, marquis spinola, whose fame had grown to so luxuriant a height in so brief a period, had many reasons to dread the results of future campaigning, maurice seemed to have personally much to lose and nothing to hope for in peace. spinola was over head and ears in debt. in the past two years he had spent millions of florins out of his own pocket. his magnificent fortune and boundless credit were seriously compromised. he had found it an easier task to take ostend and relieve grol than to bolster up the finances of spain. his acceptances were becoming as much a drug upon the exchanges of antwerp, genoa, or augsburg, as those of the most catholic king or their highnesses the archdukes. ruin stared him in the face, notwithstanding the deeds with which he had startled the world, and he was therefore sincerely desirous of peace, provided, of course, that all those advantages for which the war had been waged in vain could now be secured by negotiation. there had been, since the arrival of the duke of alva in the netherlands, just forty years of fighting. maurice and the war had been born in the same year, and it would be difficult for him to comprehend that his whole life's work had been a superfluous task, to be rubbed away now with a sponge. yet that spain, on the entrance to negotiations, would demand of the provinces submission to her authority, re-establishment of the catholic religion, abstinence from oriental or american commerce, and the toleration of spanish soldiers over all the netherlands, seemed indubitable. it was equally unquestionable that the seven provinces would demand recognition of their national independence by spain, would refuse public practice of the roman religion within their domains, and would laugh to scorn any proposed limitations to their participation in the world's traffic. as to the presence of spanish troops on their soil, that was, of course, an inconceivable idea. where, then, could even a loophole be found through which the possibility of a compromise could be espied? the ideas of the contending parties were as much opposed to each other as fire and snow. nevertheless, the great forces of the world seemed to have gradually settled into such an equilibrium as to make the continuance of the war for the present impossible. accordingly, the peace-party in brussels had cautiously put forth its tentacles late in , and again in the early days of the new year. walrave van wittenhorst and doctor gevaerts had been allowed to come to the hague, ostensibly on private business, but with secret commission from the archdukes to feel and report concerning the political atmosphere. they found that it was a penal offence in the republic to talk of peace or of truce. they nevertheless suspected that there might be a more sympathetic layer beneath the very chill surface which they everywhere encountered. having intimated in the proper quarters that the archdukes would be ready to receive or to appoint commissioners for peace or armistice, if becoming propositions should be made, they were allowed on the th of january, , to make a communication to the states- general. they indulged in the usual cheap commonplaces on the effusion of blood, the calamities of war, and the blessings of peace, and assured the states of the very benignant disposition of their highnesses at brussels. the states-general, in their reply, seventeen days afterwards, remarking that the archdukes persisted in their unfounded pretensions of authority over them, took occasion to assure their highnesses that they had no chance to obtain such authority except by the sword. whether they were like to accomplish much in that way the history of the past might sufficiently indicate, while on the other hand the states would always claim the right, and never renounce the hope, of recovering those provinces which had belonged to their free commonwealth since the union of utrecht, and which force and fraud had torn away. during twenty-five years that union had been confirmed as a free state by solemn decrees, and many public acts and dealings with the mightiest potentates of europe, nor could any other answer now be made to the archdukes than the one always given to his holy roman imperial majesty, and other princes, to wit, that no negotiations could be had with powers making any pretensions in conflict with the solemn decrees and well- maintained rights of the united netherlands. it was in this year that two words became more frequent in the mouths of men than they had ever been before; two words which as the ages rolled on were destined to exercise a wider influence over the affairs of this planet than was yet dreamed of by any thinker in christendom. those words were america and virginia. certainly both words were known before, although india was the more general term for these auriferous regions of the west, which, more than a century long, had been open to european adventure, while the land, baptized in honour of the throned vestal, had been already made familiar to european ears by the exploits of raleigh. but it was not till that jamestown was founded, that captain john smith's adventures with powhattan, "emperor of virginia," and his daughter the princess pocahontas, became fashionable topics in england, that the english attempts to sail up the chickahominy to the pacific ocean--as abortive as those of the netherlanders to sail across the north pole to cathay--were creating scientific discussion in europe, and that the first cargo of imaginary gold dust was exported from the james river. with the adventurous minds of england all aflame with enthusiasm for those golden regions, with the thick-coming fancies for digging, washing, refining the precious sands of virginia rivers, it was certain that a great rent was now to be made in the borgian grant. it was inevitable that the rivalry of the netherlanders should be excited by the achievements and the marvellous tales of englishmen beyond the atlantic, and that they too should claim their share of traffic with that golden and magnificent unknown which was called america. the rivalry between england and holland, already so conspicuous in the spicy archipelagos of the east, was now to be extended over the silvery regions of the west. the two leading commercial powers of the old world were now to begin their great struggle for supremacy in the western hemisphere. a charter for what was called a west india company was accordingly granted by the states-general. west india was understood to extend from the french settlements in newfoundland or acadia, along the american coast to the straits of magellan, and so around to the south sea, including the atlantic and pacific oceans, besides all of africa lying between the tropic of cancer and the cape of good hope. at least, within those limits the west india company was to have monopoly of trade, all other netherlanders being warned off the precincts. nothing could be more magnificent, nor more vague. the charter was for thirty-six years. the company was to maintain armies and fleets, to build forts and cities, to carry on war, to make treaties of peace and of commerce. it was a small peripatetic republic of merchants and mariners, evolved out of the mother republic--which had at last established its position among the powers of christendom--and it was to begin its career full grown and in full armour. the states-general were to furnish the company at starting with one million of florins and with twenty ships of war. the company was to add twenty other ships. the government was to consist of four chambers of directors. one-half the capital was to be contributed by the chamber of amsterdam, one-quarter by that of zeeland, one-eighth respectively by the chambers of the meuse and of north holland. the chambers of amsterdam, of zeeland, of the meuse, and of north holland were to have respectively thirty, eighteen, fifteen, and fifteen directors. of these seventy- eight, one-third were to be replaced every sixth year by others, while from the whole number seventeen persons were to be elected as a permanent board of managers. dividends were to be made as soon as the earnings amounted to ten per cent. on the capital. maritime judges were to decide upon prizes, the proceeds of which were not to be divided for six years, in order that war might be self-sustaining. afterwards, the treasury of the united provinces should receive one-tenth, prince maurice one- thirtieth, and the merchant stockholders the remainder. governors and generals were to take the oath of fidelity to the states-general. the merchandize of the company was to be perpetually free of taxation, so far as regarded old duties, and exempt from war-taxes for the first twenty years. very violent and conflicting were the opinions expressed throughout the republic in regard to this project. it was urged by those most in favour of it that the chief sources of the greatness of spain would be thus transferred to the states-general; for there could be no doubt that the hollanders, unconquerable at sea, familiar with every ocean-path, and whose hardy constitutions defied danger and privation and the extremes of heat and cold, would easily supplant the more delicately organized adventurers from southern europe, already enervated by the exhausting climate of america. moreover, it was idle for spain to attempt the defence of so vast a portion of the world. every tribe over which she had exercised sway would furnish as many allies for the dutch company as it numbered men; for to obey and to hate the tyrannical spaniard were one. the republic would acquire, in reality, the grandeur which with spain was but an empty boast, would have the glory of transferring the great war beyond the limits of home into those far distant possessions, where the enemy deemed himself most secure, and would teach the true religion to savages sunk in their own superstitions, and still further depraved by the imported idolatries of rome. commerce was now world- wide, and the time had come for the netherlanders, to whom the ocean belonged, to tear out from the pompous list of the catholic king's titles his appellation of lord of the seas. there were others, however, whose language was not so sanguine. they spoke with a shiver of the inhabitants of america, who hated all men, simply because they were men, or who had never manifested any love for their species except as an article of food. to convert such cannibals to christianity and calvinism would be a hopeless endeavour, and meanwhile the spaniards were masters of the country. the attempt to blockade half the globe with forty galleots was insane; for, although the enemy had not occupied the whole territory, he commanded every harbour and position of vantage. men, scarcely able to defend inch by inch the meagre little sandbanks of their fatherland, who should now go forth in hopes to conquer the world, were but walking in their sleep. they would awake to the consciousness of ruin. thus men in the united provinces spake of america. especially barneveld had been supposed to be prominent among the opponents of the new company, on the ground that the more violently commercial ambition excited itself towards wider and wilder fields of adventure, the fainter grew inclinations for peace. the advocate, who was all but omnipotent in holland and zeeland, subsequently denied the imputation of hostility to the new corporation, but the establishment of the west india company, although chartered, was postponed. the archdukes had not been discouraged by the result of their first attempts at negotiation, for wittenhorst had reported a disposition towards peace as prevalent in the rebellious provinces, so far as he had contrived, during his brief mission, to feel the public pulse. on the th february, , werner cruwel, an insolvent tradesman of brussels, and a relative of recorder aerssens, father of the envoy at paris, made his appearance very unexpectedly at the house of his kinsman at the hague. sitting at the dinner-table, but neither eating nor drinking, he was asked by his host what troubled him. he replied that he had a load on his breast. aerssens begged him, if it was his recent bankruptcy that oppressed him, to use philosophy and patience. the merchant answered that he who confessed well was absolved well. he then took from his pocket-book a letter from president richardot, and said he would reveal what he had to say after dinner. the cloth being removed, and the wife and children of aerssens having left the room, cruwel disclosed that he had been sent by richardot and father neyen on a secret mission. the recorder, much amazed and troubled, refused to utter a word, save to ask if cruwel would object to confer with the advocate. the merchant expressing himself as ready for such an interview, the recorder, although it was late, immediately sent a message to the great statesman. barneveld was in bed and asleep, but was aroused to receive the communication of aerssens. "we live in such a calumnious time," said the recorder, "that many people believe that you and i know more of the recent mission of wittenhorst than we admit. you had best interrogate cruwel in the presence of witnesses. i know not the man's humour, but it seems to me since his failure, that, in spite of his shy and lumpish manner, he is false and cunning." the result was a secret interview, on the th february, between prince maurice, barneveld, and the recorder, in which cruwel was permitted to state the object of his mission. he then produced a short memorandum, signed by spinola and by father neyen, to the effect that the archdukes were willing to treat for a truce of ten or twelve years, on the sole condition that the states would abstain from the india navigation. he exhibited also another paper, signed only by neyen, in which that friar proposed to come secretly to the hague, no one in brussels to know of the visit save the archdukes and spinola; and all in the united provinces to be equally ignorant except the prince, the advocate, and the recorder. cruwel was then informed that if neyen expected to discuss such grave matters with the prince, he must first send in a written proposal that could go on all fours and deserve attention. a week afterwards cruwel came back with a paper in which neyen declared himself authorized by the archdukes to treat with the states on the basis of their liberty and independence, and to ask what they would give in return for so great a concession as this renunciation of all right to "the so-called united provinces." this being a step in advance, it was decided to permit the visit of neyen. it was, however, the recorded opinion of the distinguished personages to whom the proposal was made that it was a trick and a deception. the archdukes would, no doubt, it was said, nominally recognise the provinces as a free state, but without really meaning it. meantime, they would do their best to corrupt the government and to renew the war after the republic had by this means been separated from its friends. john neyen, father commissary of the franciscans, who had thus invited himself to the momentous conference, was a very smooth flemish friar, who seemed admirably adapted, for various reasons, to glide into the rebel country and into the hearts of the rebels. he was a netherlander, born at antwerp, when antwerp was a portion of the united commonwealth, of a father who had been in the confidential service of william the silent. he was eloquent in the dutch language, and knew the character of the dutch people. he had lived much at court, both in madrid and brussels, and was familiar with the ways of kings and courtiers. he was a holy man, incapable of a thought of worldly advancement for himself, but he was a master of the logic often thought most conclusive in those days; no man insinuating golden arguments more adroitly than he into half- reluctant palms. blessed with a visage of more than flemish frankness, he had in reality a most wily and unscrupulous disposition. insensible to contumely, and incapable of accepting a rebuff, he could wind back to his purpose when less supple negotiators would have been crushed. he was described by his admirers as uniting the wisdom of the serpent with the guilelessness of the dove. who better than he then, in this double capacity, to coil himself around the rebellion, and to carry the olive-branch in his mouth? on the th february the monk, disguised in the dress of a burgher, arrived at ryswick, a village a mile and a half from the hague. he was accompanied on the journey by cruwel, and they gave themselves out as travelling tradesmen. after nightfall, a carriage having been sent to the hostelry, according to secret agreement, by recorder aerssens, john neyen was brought to the hague. the friar, as he was driven on through these hostile regions, was somewhat startled, on looking out, to find himself accompanied by two mounted musketeers on each side of the carriage, but they proved to have been intended as a protective escort. he was brought to the recorder's house, whence, after some delay, he was conveyed to the palace. here he was received by an unknown and silent attendant, who took him by the hand and led him through entirely deserted corridors and halls. not a human being was seen nor a sound heard until his conductor at last reached the door of an inner apartment through which he ushered him, without speaking a syllable. the monk then found himself in the presence of two personages, seated at a table covered with books and papers. one was in military undress, with an air about him of habitual command, a fair-complexioned man of middle age, inclining to baldness, rather stout, with a large blue eye, regular features, and a mouse-coloured beard. the other was in the velvet cloak and grave habiliments of a civil functionary, apparently sixty years of age, with a massive features, and a shaggy beard. the soldier was maurice of nassau, the statesman was john of olden-barneveld. both rose as the friar entered, and greeted him with cordiality. "but," said the prince, "how did you dare to enter the hague, relying only on the word of a beggar?" "who would not confide," replied neyen, "in the word of so exalted, so respectable a beggar as you, o most excellent prince?" with these facetious words began the negotiations through which an earnest attempt was at last to be made for terminating a seemingly immortal war. the conversation, thus begun, rolled amicably and informally along. the monk produced letters from the archdukes, in which, as he stated, the truly royal soul of the writers shone conspicuously forth. without a thought for their own advantage, he observed, and moved only by a contemplation of the tears shed by so many thousands of beings reduced to extreme misery, their highnesses, although they were such exalted princes, cared nothing for what would be said by the kings of europe and all the potentates of the universe about their excessive indulgence." "what indulgence do you speak of?" asked the stadholder. "does that seem a trifling indulgence," replied john neyen, "that they are willing to abandon the right which they inherited from their ancestors over these provinces, to allow it so easily to slip from their fingers, to declare these people to be free, over whom, as their subjects refusing the yoke, they have carried on war so long?" "it is our right hands that have gained this liberty," said maurice, "not the archdukes that have granted it. it has been acquired by our treasure, poured forth how freely! by the price of our blood, by so many thousands of souls sent to their account. alas, how dear a price have we paid for it! all the potentates of christendom, save the king of spain alone, with his relatives the archdukes, have assented to our independence. in treating for peace we ask no gift of freedom from the archdukes. we claim to be regarded by them as what we are--free men. if they are unwilling to consider us as such, let them subject us to their dominion if they can. and as we have hitherto done, we shall contend more fiercely for liberty than for life." with this, the tired monk was dismissed to sleep off the effects of his journey and of the protracted discussion, being warmly recommended to the captain of the citadel, by whom he was treated with every possible consideration. several days of private discussion ensued between neyen and the leading personages of the republic. the emissary was looked upon with great distrust. all schemes of substantial negotiation were regarded by the public as visions, while the monk on his part felt the need of all his tact and temper to wind his way out of the labyrinth into which he felt that he had perhaps too heedlessly entered. a false movement on his part would involve himself and his masters in a hopeless maze of suspicion, and make a pacific result impossible. at length, it having been agreed to refer the matter to the states- general, recorder aerssens waited upon neyen to demand his credentials for negotiation. he replied that he had been forbidden to deliver his papers, but that he was willing to exhibit them to the states-general. he came accordingly to that assembly, and was respectfully received. all the deputies rose, and he was placed in a seat near the presiding officer. olden-barneveld then in a few words told him why he had been summoned. the monk begged that a want of courtesy might not be imputed to him, as he had been sent to negotiate with three individuals, not with a great assembly. thus already the troublesome effect of publicity upon diplomacy was manifesting itself. the many-headed, many-tongued republic was a difficult creature to manage, adroit as the negotiator had proved himself to be in gliding through the cabinets and council-chambers of princes and dealing with the important personages found there. the power was, however, produced, and handed around the assembly, the signature and seals being duly inspected by the members. neyen was then asked if he had anything to say in public. he replied in the negative, adding only a few vague commonplaces about the effusion of blood and the desire of the archdukes for the good of mankind. he was then dismissed. a few days afterwards a committee of five from the states-general, of which barneveld was chairman, conferred with neyen. he was informed that the paper exhibited by him was in many respects objectionable, and that they had therefore drawn up a form which he was requested to lay before the archdukes for their guidance in making out a new power. he was asked also whether the king of spain was a party to these proposals for negotiation. the monk answered that he was not informed of the fact, but that he considered it highly probable. john neyen then departed for brussels with the form prescribed by the states-general in his pocket. nothing could exceed the indignation with which the royalists and catholics at the court of the archdukes were inspired by the extreme arrogance and obstinacy thus manifested by the rebellious heretics. that the offer on the part of their master to negotiate should be received by them with cavils, and almost with contempt, was as great an offence as their original revolt. that the servant should dare to prescribe a form for the sovereign to copy seemed to prove that the world was coming to an end. but it was ever thus with the vulgar, said the courtiers and church dignitaries, debating these matters. the insanity of plebeians was always enormous, and never more so than when fortune for a moment smiled. full of arrogance and temerity when affairs were prosperous, plunged in abject cowardice when dangers and reverses came--such was the people--such it must ever be. thus blustered the priests and the parasites surrounding the archduke, nor need their sentiments amaze us. could those honest priests and parasites have ever dreamed, before the birth of this upstart republic, that merchants, manufacturers, and farmers, mechanics and advocates--the people, in short--should presume to meddle with affairs of state? their vocation had been long ago prescribed--to dig and to draw, to brew and to bake, to bear burdens in peace and to fill bloody graves in war--what better lot could they desire? meantime their superiors, especially endowed with wisdom by the omnipotent, would direct trade and commerce, conduct war and diplomacy, make treaties, impose taxes, fill their own pockets, and govern the universe. was not this reasonable and according to the elemental laws? if the beasts of the field had been suddenly gifted with speech, and had constituted themselves into a free commonwealth for the management of public affairs, they would hardly have caused more profound astonishment at brussels and madrid than had been excited by the proceedings of the rebellious dutchmen. yet it surely might have been suggested, when the lament of the courtiers over the abjectness of the people in adversity was so emphatic, that dorp and van loon, berendrecht and gieselles, with the men under their command, who had disputed every inch of little troy for three years and three months, and had covered those fatal sands with a hundred thousand corpses, had not been giving of late such evidence of the people's cowardice in reverses as theory required. the siege of ostend had been finished only three years before, and it is strange that its lessons should so soon have been forgotten. it was thought best, however, to dissemble. diplomacy in those days-- certainly the diplomacy of spain and rome--meant simply dissimulation. moreover, that solid apothegm, 'haereticis non servanda fides,' the most serviceable anchor ever forged for true believers, was always ready to be thrown out, should storm or quicksand threaten, during the intricate voyage to be now undertaken. john neyen soon returned to the hague, having persuaded his masters that it was best to affect compliance with the preliminary demand of the states. during the discussions in regard to peace, it would not be dangerous to treat with the rebel provinces as with free states, over which the archdukes pretended to no authority, because--so it was secretly argued--this was to be understood with a sense of similitude. "we will negotiate with them as if they were free," said the greyfriar to the archduke and his counsellors, "but not with the signification of true and legitimate liberty. they have laid down in their formula that we are to pretend to no authority over them. very well. for the time being we will pretend that we do not pretend to any such authority. to negotiate with them as if they were free will not make them free. it is no recognition by us that they are free. their liberty could never be acquired by their rebellion. this is so manifest that neither the king nor the archdukes can lose any of their rights over the united provinces, even should they make this declaration." thus the hair-sputters at brussels--spinning a web that should be stout enough to entrap the noisy, blundering republicans at the hague, yet so delicate as to go through the finest dialectical needle. time was to show whether subtilty or bluntness was the best diplomatic material. the monk brought with him three separate instruments or powers, to be used according to his discretion. admitted to the assembly of the states-general, he produced number one. it was instantly rejected. he then offered number two, with the same result. he now declared himself offended, not on his own account, but for the sake of his masters, and asked leave to retire from the assembly, leaving with them the papers which had been so benignantly drawn up, and which deserved to be more carefully studied. the states, on their parts, were sincerely and vehemently indignant. what did all this mean, it was demanded, this producing one set of propositions after another? why did the archdukes not declare their intentions openly and at once? let the states depart each to the several provinces, and let john neyen be instantly sent out of the country. was it thought to bait a trap for the ingenuous netherlanders, and catch them little by little, like so many wild animals? this was not the way the states dealt with the archdukes. what they meant they put in front-- first, last, and always. now and in the future they said and they would say exactly what they wished, candidly and seriously. those who pursued another course would never come into negotiation with them. the monk felt that he had excited a wrath which it would be difficult to assuage. he already perceived the difference between a real and an affected indignation, and tried to devise some soothing remedy. early next morning he sent a petition in writing to the states for leave to make an explanation to the assembly. barneveld and recorder aerssens, in consequence, came to him immediately, and heaped invectives upon his head for his duplicity. evidently it was a different matter dealing with this many-headed roaring beast, calling itself a republic, from managing the supple politicians with whom he was more familiar. the noise and publicity of these transactions were already somewhat appalling to the smooth friar who was accustomed to negotiate in comfortable secrecy. he now vehemently protested that never man was more sincere than he, and implored for time to send to brussels for another power. it is true that number three was still in his portfolio, but he had seen so much indignation on the production of number two as to feel sure that the fury of the states would know no bounds should he now confess that he had come provided with a third. it was agreed accordingly to wait eight days, in which period he might send for and receive the new power already in his possession. these little tricks were considered masterly diplomacy in those days, and by this kind of negotiators; and such was the way in which it was proposed to terminate a half century of warfare. [the narrative is the monk's own, as preserved by his admirer, the jesuit gallucci, (ubi sup.)] the friar wrote to his masters, not of course to ask for a new power, but to dilate on the difficulties to be anticipated in procuring that which the losing party is always most bent upon in circumstances like these, and which was most ardently desired by the archdukes--an armistice. he described prince maurice as sternly opposed to such a measure, believing that temporary cessation of hostilities was apt to be attended with mischievous familiarity between the opposing camps, with relaxation of discipline, desertion, and various kinds of treachery, and that there was no better path to peace than that which was trampled by contending hosts. seven days passed, and then neyen informed the states that he had at last received a power which he hoped would prove satisfactory. being admitted accordingly to the assembly, he delivered an eloquent eulogy upon the sincerity of the archdukes, who, with perhaps too little regard for their own dignity and authority, had thus, for the sake of the public good, so benignantly conceded what the states had demanded. barneveld, on receiving the new power, handed to neyen a draught of an agreement which he was to study at his leisure, and in which he might suggest alterations. at the same time it was demanded that within three months the written consent of the king of spain to the proposed negotiations should be produced. the franciscan objected that it did not comport with the dignity of the archdukes to suppose the consent of any other sovereign needful to confirm their acts. barneveld insisted with much vehemence on the necessity of this condition. it was perfectly notorious, he said, that the armies commanded by the archdukes were subject to the king of spain, and were called royal armies. prince maurice observed that all prisoners taken by him had uniformly called themselves soldiers of the crown, not of the archdukes, nor of marquis spinola. barneveld added that the royal power over the armies in the netherlands and over the obedient provinces was proved by the fact that all commanders of regiments, all governors of fortresses, especially of antwerp, ghent, cambray, and the like, were appointed by the king of spain. these were royal citadels with royal garrisons. that without the knowledge and consent of the king of spain it would be impossible to declare the united provinces free, was obvious; for in the cession by philip ii. of all the netherlands it was provided that, without the consent of the king, no part of that territory could be ceded, and this on pain of forfeiting all the sovereignty. to treat without the king was therefore impossible. the franciscan denied that because the sovereigns of spain sent funds and auxiliary troops to flanders, and appointed military commanders there of various degrees, the authority of the archdukes was any the less supreme. philip ii. had sent funds and troops to sustain the league, but he was not king of france. barneveld probably thought it not worth his while to reply that philip, with those funds and those troops, had done his best to become king of france, and that his failure proved nothing for the argument either way. neyen then returned once more to brussels, observing as he took leave that the decision of the archdukes as to the king's consent was very doubtful, although he was sure that the best thing for all parties would be to agree to an armistice out of hand. this, however, was far from being the opinion of the states or the stadholder. after conferring with his masters, the monk came down by agreement from antwerp to the dutch ships which lay in the, scheld before fort lillo. on board one of these, dirk van der does had been stationed with a special commission from the states to compare documents. it was expressly ordered that in these preliminary negotiations neither party was to go on shore. on a comparison of the agreement brought by neyen from brussels with the draught furnished by barneveld, of which van der does had a copy, so many discrepancies appeared that the document of the archdukes was at once rejected. but of course the monk had a number two, and this, after some trouble, was made to agree with the prescribed form. brother john then, acting upon what he considered the soundest of principles--that no job was so difficult as not to be accomplished with the help of the precious metals--offered his fellow negotiator a valuable gold chain as a present from the archdukes. dirk van der does accepted the chain, but gave notice of the fact to his government. the monk now became urgent to accompany his friend to the hague, but this had been expressly forbidden by the states. neyen felt sure, he said, of being able by arguments, which he could present by word of mouth, to overcome the opposition to the armistice were he once more to be admitted to the assembly. van der does had already much overstaid his appointed time, bound to the spot, as it were, by the golden chain thrown around him by the excellent friar, and he now, in violation of orders, wrote to the hague for leave to comply with this request. pending the answer, the persuasive neyen convinced him, much against his will, that they might both go together as far as delft. to delft they accordingly went; but, within half a league of that place, met a courier with strict orders that the monk was at once to return to brussels. brother john was in great agitation. should he go back, the whole negotiation might come to nought; should he go on, he might be clapped into prison as a spy. being conscious, however, that his services as a spy were intended to be the most valuable part of his mission, he resolved to proceed in that capacity. so he persuaded his friend dirk to hide him in the hold of a canal-boat. van der does was in great trepidation himself, but on reaching the hague and giving up his gold chain to barneveld, he made his peace, and obtained leave for the trembling but audacious friar to come out of his hiding-place. appearing once more before the states-general on the afternoon of th may, neyen urged with much eloquence the propriety of an immediate armistice both by sea and land, insisting that it would be a sanguinary farce to establish a cessation of hostilities upon one element while blood and treasure were profusely flowing on the oceans. there were potent reasons for this earnestness on the part of the monk to procure a truce to maritime operations, as very soon was to be made evident to the world. meantime, on this renewed visit, the negotiator expressed himself as no longer doubtful in regard to the propriety of requesting the spanish king's consent to the proposed negotiations. that consent, however, would in his opinion depend upon the earnestness now to be manifested by the states in establishing the armistice by sea and land, and upon their promptness in recalling the fleets now infesting the coast of spain. no immediate answer was given to these representations, but neyen was requested to draw up his argument in writing, in order that it might be duly pondered by the states of the separate provinces. the radical defect of the dutch constitution--the independent sovereignty claimed by each one of the provinces composing the confederation, each of those provinces on its part being composed of cities, each again claiming something very like sovereignty for itself--could not fail to be manifested whenever, great negotiations with foreign powers were to be undertaken. to obtain the unanimous consent of seven independent little republics was a work of difficulty, requiring immense expenditure of time in comparatively unimportant contingencies. how intolerable might become the obstructions, the dissensions, and the delays, now that a series of momentous and world-wide transactions was beginning, on the issue of which the admission of a new commonwealth into the family of nations, the international connections of all the great powers of christendom, the commerce of the world, and the peace of europe depended. yet there was no help for it but to make the best present use of the institutions which time and great events had bestowed upon the young republic, leaving to a more convenient season the task of remodelling the law. meanwhile, with men who knew their own minds, who meant to speak the truth, and who were resolved to gather in at last the harvest honestly and bravely gained by nearly a half-century of hard fighting, it would be hard for a legion of friars, with their heads full of quirks and their wallets full of bills of exchange, to carry the day for despotism. barneveld was sincerely desirous of peace. he was well aware that his province of holland, where he was an intellectual autocrat, was staggering under the burden of one half the expenses of the whole republic. he knew that holland in the course of the last nine years, notwithstanding the constantly heightened rate of impost on all objects of ordinary consumption, was twenty-six millions of florins behindhand, and that she had reason therefore to wish for peace. the great advocate, than whom no statesman in europe could more accurately scan the world's horizon, was convinced that the propitious moment for honourable straightforward negotiations to secure peace, independence, and free commerce, free religion and free government, had come, and he had succeeded in winning the reluctant maurice into a partial adoption, at least, of his opinions. the franciscan remained at delft, waiting, by direction of the states, for an answer to his propositions, and doing his best according to the instructions of his own government to espy the condition and sentiments of the enemy. becoming anxious after the lapse of a fortnight, he wrote to barneveld. in reply the advocate twice sent a secret messenger, urging, him to be patient, assuring him that the affair was working well; that the opposition to peace came chiefly from zeeland and from certain parties in amsterdam vehemently opposed to peace or truce; but that the rest of holland was decidedly in favour of the negotiations. a few days passed, and neyen was again summoned before the assembly. barneveld now informed him that the dutch fleet would be recalled from the coast of spain so soon as the consent of his catholic majesty to the negotiations arrived, but that it would be necessary to confine the cessation of naval warfare within certain local limits. both these conditions were strenuously opposed by the franciscan, who urged that the consent of the spanish king was certain, but that this new proposition to localize the maritime armistice would prove to be fraught with endless difficulties and dangers. barneveld and the states remaining firm, however, and giving him a formal communication of their decision in writing, neyen had nothing for it but to wend his way back rather malcontent to brussels. it needed but a brief deliberation at the court of the archdukes to bring about the desired arrangement. the desire for an armistice, especially for a cessation of hostilities by sea, had been marvellously stimulated by an event to be narrated in the next chapter. meantime, more than the first three months of the year had been passed in these secret preliminary transactions, and so softly had the stealthy friar sped to and fro between brussels and the hague, that when at last the armistice was announced it broke forth like a sudden flash of fine weather in the midst of a raging storm. no one at the archduke's court knew of the mysterious negotiations save the monk himself, spinola, richardot, verreycken, the chief auditor, and one or two others. the great belgian nobles, from whom everything had been concealed, were very wroth, but the belgian public was as much delighted as amazed at the prospects of peace. in the united provinces opinions were conflicting, but doubtless joy and confidence were the prevailing emotions. towards the middle of april the armistice was publicly announced. it was to last for eight months from the th of may. during this period no citadels were to be besieged, no camps brought near a city, no new fortifications built, and all troops were to be kept carefully within walls. meantime commissioners were to be appointed by the archdukes to confer with an equal number of deputies of the united provinces for peace or for a truce of ten, fifteen, or twenty years, on the express ground that the archdukes regarded the united provinces as free countries, over which their highnesses pretended to no authority. the armistice on land was absolute. on sea, hostilities were to cease in the german ocean and in the channel between england and france, while it was also provided that the netherland fleet should, within a certain period, be recalled from the spanish coast. a day of public fast, humiliation, thanksgiving, and prayer was ordered throughout the republic for the th of may, in order to propitiate the favour of heaven on the great work to be undertaken; and, as a further precaution, prince maurice ordered all garrisons in the strong places to be doubled, lest the slippery enemy should take advantage of too much confidence reposed in his good faith. the preachers throughout the commonwealth, each according to his individual bias, improved the occasion by denouncing the spaniard from their pulpits and inflaming the popular hatred against the ancient enemy, or by dilating on the blessings of peace and the horrors of war. the peace party and the war party, the believers in barneveld and the especial adherents of prince maurice, seemed to divide the land in nearly equal portions. while the netherlands, both rebellious and obedient, were filled with these various emotions, the other countries of europe were profoundly amazed at the sudden revelation. it was on the whole regarded as a confession of impotence on the part of spain that the archdukes should now prepare to send envoys to the revolted provinces as to a free and independent people. universal monarchy, brought to such a pass as this, was hardly what had been expected after the tremendous designs and the grandiloquent language on which the world had so long been feeding as its daily bread. the spectacle of anointed monarchs thus far humbling themselves to the people of rebellion dictating terms, instead of writhing in dust at the foot of the throne--was something new in history. the heavens and earth might soon be expected to pass away, now that such a catastrophe was occurring. the king of france had also been kept in ignorance of these events. it was impossible, however, that the negotiations could go forward without his consent and formal participation. accordingly on receiving the news he appointed an especial mission to the hague--president jeannin and de russy, besides his regular resident ambassador buzanval. meantime startling news reached the republic in the early days of may. etext editor's bookmarks: a penal offence in the republic to talk of peace or of truce accepting a new tyrant in place of the one so long ago deposed as if they were free will not make them free as neat a deception by telling the truth cargo of imaginary gold dust was exported from the james river delay often fights better than an army against a foreign invader diplomacy of spain and rome--meant simply dissimulation draw a profit out of the necessities of this state england hated the netherlands friendly advice still more intolerable haereticis non servanda fides he who confessed well was absolved well insensible to contumely, and incapable of accepting a rebuff languor of fatigue, rather than any sincere desire for peace much as the blind or the deaf towards colour or music subtle and dangerous enemy who wore the mask of a friend word peace in spanish mouths simply meant the holy inquisition this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, - chapter xliii. policy of the king of france--operations of prince maurice--plans for a flemish campaign--passage into flanders--fort st. catharine-- flight of its garrison, and occupation by maurice--surrender of ysendyke and aardenburg--skirmish at stamper's hook--siege of sluys by prince maurice--ineffectual attempt of spinola to relieve the town--its capitulation and restoration to the states--death of lewis gunther of nassau--operations at ostend--surrender of the garrison-- desolation of the scene after its evacuation. the states-general had begun to forget the severe lesson taught them in the nieuport campaign. being determined to hold ostend, they became very impatient, in the early part of the present year, that maurice should once more invade flanders, at the head of a relieving army, and drive the archdukes from before the town. they were much influenced in this policy by the persistent advice of the french king. to the importunities of their envoy at paris, henry had, during the past eighteen months, replied by urging the states to invade flanders and seize its ports. when they had thus something to place as pledges in his hands, he might accede to their clamour and declare war against spain. but he scarcely concealed his intention, in such case, to annex both the obedient and the united netherlands to his own dominions. meantime, before getting into the saddle, he chose to be guaranteed against loss. "assure my lords the states that i love them," he said, "and shall always do my best for them." his affection for the territory of my lords was even warmer than the sentiments he entertained for themselves. moreover, he grudged the preliminary expenses which would be necessary even should he ultimately make himself sovereign of the whole country. rosny assured the envoy that he was mistaken in expecting a declaration of war against spain. "not that he does not think it useful and necessary," said the minister, "but he wishes to have war and peace both at once--peace because he wishes to make no retrenchments in his pleasures of women, dogs, and buildings, and so war would be very inopportune. in three months he would be obliged to turn tail for want of means (to use his own words), although i would furnish him funds enough, if he would make the use of them that he ought." the queen of england, who, with all her parsimony and false pretences, never doubted in her heart that perpetual hostility to spain was the chief bulwark of her throne, and that the republic was fighting her battles as well as its own, had been ready to make such a lively war in conjunction with france as would drive the spaniard out of all the netherlands. but henry was not to be moved. "i know that if i should take her at her word," said he, "she would at once begin to screw me for money. she has one object, i another." villeroy had said plainly to aerssens, in regard to the prevalent system of englishmen, spaniards, and frenchmen being at war with each other, while the governments might be nominally at peace, "let us take off our masks. if the spaniard has designs against our state, has he not cause? he knows the aid we are giving you, and resents it. if we should abstain, he would leave us in peace. if the queen of england expects to draw us into a league, she is mistaken. look to yourselves and be on your guard. richardot is intriguing with cecil. you give the queen securities, fortresses, seats in your council. the king asks nothing but communication of your projects." in short, all the comfort that aerssens had been able to derive from his experiences at the french court in the autumn of , was that the republic could not be too suspicious both of england and france. rosny especially he considered the most dangerous of all the politicians in france. his daughter was married to the prince of espinoy, whose , livres a year would be safer the more the archduke was strengthened. "but for this he would be stiffer," said aerssens. nevertheless there were strong motives at work, pressing france towards the support of the states. there were strong political reasons, therefore, why they should carry the war into flanders, in conformity with the wishes of the king. the stadholder, after much argument, yielded as usual to the authority of the magistrates, without being convinced as to the sagacity of their plans. it was arranged that an army should make a descent upon the flemish coast in the early spring, and make a demonstration upon sluys. the effect of this movement, it was thought, would be to draw the enemy out of his entrenchments, in which case it would be in the power of maurice to put an end at once to the siege. it is unquestionable that the better alternative, in the judgment of the prince, was to take possession; if possible, of sluys itself. his preparations were, however, made with a view to either event, and by the middle of april he had collected at willemstad a force of fifteen thousand foot and three thousand horse. as on the former memorable expedition, he now again insisted that a considerable deputation of the states and of the states' council should accompany the army. his brother henry, and his cousins lewis william, lewis gunther, and ernest casimir, were likewise with him, as well as the prince of anhalt and other distinguished personages. on the th april the army, having crossed the mouth of the west scheld, from zeeland, in numberless vessels of all sizes and degrees, effected their debarkation on the island of cadzand. in the course of two days they had taken possession of the little town, and all the forts of that island, having made their entrance through what was called the black channel. had they steered boldly through the swint or sluys channel at once, it is probable that they might have proceeded straight up to sluy's, and taken the place by surprise. maurice's habitual caution was, perhaps, on this occasion, a disadvantage to him, but he would have violated the rules of war, and what seemed the dictates of common sense, had he not secured a basis of operations, and a possibility of retreat, before plunging with his army into the heart of a hostile country. the republic still shuddered at the possible catastrophe of four years before, when circumstances had forced him to take the heroic but dangerous resolution of sending off his ships from nieuport. before he had completed his arrangements for supplies on the island of cadzand, he learned from scouts and reconnoitring parties that spinola had sent a thousand infantry, besides five hundred cavalry, under trivulzio, to guard the passage across the swint. maurice was thus on the wrong side of the great channel by which sluy's communicated with the sea? the town of sluy's and its situation have been described in a former chapter. as a port, it was in those days considered a commodious and important one, capable of holding five hundred ships. as a town, it was not so insignificant as geographical and historical changes have since made it, and was certainly far superior to ostend, even if ostend had not been almost battered out of existence. it had spacious streets and squares, and excellent fortifications in perfectly good condition. it was situate in a watery labyrinth, many slender streams from the interior and several saltwater creeks being complicated around it, and then flowing leisurely, in one deep sluggish channel, to the sea. the wrath of leicester, when all his efforts to relieve the place had been baffled by the superior skill of alexander farnese, has been depicted, and during the seventeen years which had elapsed since its capture, the republic had not ceased to deplore that disaster. obviously if the present expedition could end in the restoration of sluy's to its rightful owners, it would be a remarkable success, even if ostend should fall. sluy's and its adjacent domains formed a natural portion of the zeeland archipelago, the geographical counterpart of flushing. with both branches of the stately scheld in its control, the republic would command the coast, and might even dispense with ostend, which, in the judgment of maurice, was an isolated and therefore not a desirable military possession. the states- general were of a different opinion. they much desired to obtain sluy's, but they would not listen to the abandonment of ostend. it was expected of the stadholder, therefore, that he should seize the one and protect the other. the task was a difficult one. a less mathematical brain than that of maurice of nassau would have reeled at the problem to be solved. to master such a plexus of canals, estuaries, and dykes, of passages through swamps, of fords at low water which were obliterated by flood- tide; to take possession of a series of redoubts built on the only firm points of land, with nothing but quaking morass over which to manoeuvre troops or plant batteries against them, would be a difficult study, even upon paper. to accomplish it in the presence of a vigilant and anxious foe seemed bewildering enough. at first it was the intention of the stadholder, disappointed at learning the occupation of the swint, to content himself with fortifying cadzand, in view of future operations at some more favourable moment? so meagre a result would certainly not have given great satisfaction to the states, nor added much to the military reputation of maurice. while he hesitated between plunging without a clue into the watery maze around him, and returning discomfited from the expedition on which such high hopes had been built, a flemish boor presented himself. he offered to guide the army around the east and south of sluy's, and to point out passages where it would be possible to cross the waters, which, through the care of spinola, now seemed to forbid access to the place. maurice lingered no longer. on the th april, led by the friendly boor, he advanced towards oostburg. next morning a small force of the enemy's infantry and cavalry was seen, showing that there must be foothold in that direction. he sent out a few companies to skirmish with those troops, who fled after a very brief action, and, in flying, showed their pursuers the road. maurice marched in force, straight through the waters, on the track of the retreating foe. they endeavoured to rally at the fort of coxie, which stood upon and commanded a dyke, but the republicans were too quick for them, and drove them out of the place." the stadholder, thus obtaining an unexpected passage into flanders, conceived strong hopes of success, despite the broken nature of the ground. continuing to feel his way cautiously through the wilderness of quagmire, he soon came upon a very formidable obstacle. the well-built and well-equipped redoubt of st. catharine rose frowning before him, overshadowing his path, and completely prohibiting all further progress. plainly it would be necessary to reduce this work at once, unless he were willing to abandon his enterprise. he sent back to cadzand for artillery, but it was flood- tide, the waters were out, and it was not till late in the afternoon that nine pieces arrived. the stadholder ordered a cannonade, less with the hope of producing an impression by such inadequate means on so strong a work, than with the intention of showing the enemy that he had brought field-guns with him, and was not merely on an accidental foray. at the same time, having learned that the garrison, which was commanded by trivulzio, was composed of only a few regular troops, and a large force of guerillas, he gave notice that such combatants were not entitled to quarter, and that if captured they would be all put to the sword. the reply to this threat was not evacuation but defiance. especially a volunteer ensign mounted upon a rampart, and danced about, waving his flag gaily in the face of the assailants. maurice bitterly remarked to his staff that such a man alone was enough to hold the fort. as it was obvious that the place would require a siege in form, and that it would be almost impossible to establish batteries upon that quaking soil, where there was no dry land for cavalry or artillery to move, maurice ordered the nine guns to be carried back to cadzand that night, betaking himself, much disappointed, in the same direction." yet it so happened that the cannoneers, floundering through the bogs, made such an outcry--especially when one of their guns became so bemired that it was difficult for them to escape the disgrace of losing it--that the garrison, hearing a great tumult, which they could not understand, fell into one of those panics to which raw and irregular troops are liable. nothing would convince them that fresh artillery had not arrived, that the terrible stadholder with an immense force was not creating invincible batteries, and that they should be all butchered in cold blood, according to proclamation, before the dawn of day. they therefore evacuated the place under cover of the night, so that this absurd accident absolutely placed maurice in possession of the very fort--without striking a blow--which he was about to abandon in despair, and which formed the first great obstacle to his advance. having occupied st. catharine's, he moved forward to ysendyke, a strongly fortified place three leagues to the eastward of sluys and invested it in form. meantime a great danger was impending over him. a force of well- disciplined troops, to the number of two thousand, dropped down in boats from sluy's to cadzand, for the purpose of surprising the force left to guard that important place. the expedition was partially successful. six hundred landed; beating down all opposition. but a few scotch companies held firm, and by hard fighting were able at last to drive the invaders back to their sloops, many of which were sunk in the affray, with all on board. the rest ignominiously retreated. had the enterprise been as well executed as it was safely planned, it would have gone hard with the stadholder and his army. it is difficult to see in what way he could have extricated himself from such a dilemma, being thus cut off from his supplies and his fleet, and therefore from all possibility of carrying out his design or effecting his escape to zeeland. certainly thus far, fortune had favoured his bold adventure. he now sent his own trumpeter, master hans, to summon ysendyke to a surrender. the answer was a bullet which went through the head of unfortunate master hans. maurice, enraged at this barbarous violation of the laws of war, drew his lines closer. next day the garrison, numbering six hundred, mostly italians, capitulated, and gave up the musketeer who had murdered the trumpeter. two days later the army appeared before aardenburg, a well-fortified town four miles south of sluys. it surrendered disgracefully, without striking a blow. the place was a most important position for the investment of sluys. four or five miles further towards the west, two nearly parallel streams, both navigable, called the sweet and the salt, ran from dam to sluys. it was a necessary but most delicate operation, to tie up these two important arteries. an expedition despatched in this direction came upon trivulzio with a strong force of cavalry, posted at a pass called stamper's hook, which controlled the first of these streams. the narrowness of the pathway gave the advantage to the italian commander. a warm action took place, in which the republican cavalry were worsted, and paul bax severely wounded. maurice coming up with the infantry at a moment when the prospect was very black, turned defeat into victory and completely routed the enemy, who fled from the precious position with a loss of five hundred killed and three hundred prisoners, eleven officers among them. the sweet was now in the stadholder's possession. next day he marched against the salt, at a pass where fourteen hundred spaniards were stationed. making very ostentatious preparations for an attack upon this position, he suddenly fell backwards down the stream to a point which he had discovered to be fordable at low water, and marched his whole army through the stream while the skirmishing was going on a few miles farther up. the spaniards, discovering their error, and fearing to be cut off, scampered hastily away to dam. both streams were now in the control of the republican army, while the single fort of st. joris was all that was now interposed between maurice and the much- coveted swint. this redoubt, armed with nine guns, and provided with a competent, garrison, was surrendered on the rd may. the swint, or great sea-channel of sluys, being now completely in the possession of the stadholder, he deliberately proceeded to lay out his lines, to make his entrenched camp, and to invest his city with the beautiful neatness which ever characterized his sieges. a groan came from the learned lipsius, as he looked from the orthodox shades of louvain upon the progress of the heretic prince. "would that i were happier," he cried, "but things are not going on in flanders as i could wish. how easy it would have been to save sluys, which we are now trying so hard to do, had we turned our attention thither in time! but now we have permitted the enemy to entrench and fortify himself, and we are the less excusable because we know to our cost how felicitously he fights with the spade, and that he builds works like an ancient roman . . . . . should we lose sluys, which god forbid, how much strength and encouragement will be acquired by the foe, and by all who secretly or openly favour him! our neighbours are all straining their eyes, as from a watch-tower, eager to see the result of all these doings. but what if they too should begin to move? where should we be? i pray god to have mercy on the netherlanders, whom he has been so many years chastising with heavy whips." it was very true. the man with the spade had been allowed to work too long at his felicitous vocation. there had been a successful effort made to introduce reinforcements to the garrison. troops, to the number of fifteen hundred, had been added to those already shut up there, but the attempts to send in supplies were not so fortunate. maurice had completely invested the town before the end of may, having undisputed possession of the harbour and of all the neighbouring country. he was himself encamped on the west side of the swint; charles van der noot lying on the south. the submerged meadows, stretching all around in the vicinity of the haven, he had planted thickly with gunboats. scarcely a bird or a fish could go into or out of the place. thus the stadholder exhibited to the spaniards who, fifteen miles off towards the west, had been pounding and burrowing three years long before ostend without success, what he understood by a siege. on the nd of may a day of solemn prayer and fasting was, by command of maurice, celebrated throughout the besieging camp. in order that the day should be strictly kept in penance, mortification, and thanksgiving, it was ordered, on severe penalties, that neither the commissaries nor sutlers should dispense any food whatever, throughout the twenty-four hours. thus the commander-in-chief of the republic prepared his troops for the work before them. in the very last days of may the experiment was once more vigorously tried to send in supplies. a thousand galley-slaves, the remnant of frederic spinola's unlucky naval forces, whose services were not likely very soon to be required at sea, were sent out into the drowned land, accompanied by five hundred infantry. simultaneously count berlaymont, at the head of four thousand men, conveying a large supply of provisions and munitions, started from dam. maurice, apprised of the adventure, sallied forth with two thousand troops to meet them. near stamper's hook he came upon a detachment of berlaymont's force, routed them, and took a couple of hundred prisoners. learning from them that berlaymont himself, with the principal part of his force, had passed farther on, he started off in pursuit; but, unfortunately taking a different path through the watery wilderness from the one selected by the flying foe, he was not able to prevent his retreat by a circuitous route to dam. from the prisoners, especially from the galley-slaves, who had no reason for disguising the condition of the place, he now learned that there were plenty of troops in sluys, but that there was already a great lack of provisions. they had lost rather than gained by their success in introducing reinforcements without supplies. upon this information maurice now resolved to sit quietly down and starve out the garrison. if spinola, in consequence, should raise the siege of ostend, in order to relieve a better town, he was prepared to give him battle. if the marquis held fast to his special work, sluys was sure to surrender. this being the position of affairs, the deputies of the states-general took their leave of the stadholder, and returned to the hague. two months passed. it was midsummer, and the famine in the beleaguered town had become horrible. the same hideous spectacle was exhibited as on all occasions where thousands of human beings are penned together without food. they ate dogs, cats, and rats, the weeds from the churchyards, old saddles, and old shoes, and, when all was gone, they began to eat each other. the small children diminished rapidly in numbers, while beacons and signals of distress were fired day and night, that the obdurate spinola, only a few miles off, might at last move to their relief. the archdukes too were beginning to doubt whether the bargain were a good one. to give a strong, new, well-fortified city, with the best of harbours, in exchange for a heap of rubbish which had once been ostend, seemed unthrifty enough. moreover, they had not got ostend, while sure to lose sluys. at least the cardinal could no longer afford to dispense with the service of his beat corps of veterans who had demanded their wages so insolently, and who had laughed at his offer of excommunication by way of payment so heartily. flinging away his pride, he accordingly made a treaty with the mutinous "squadron" at grave, granting an entire pardon for all their offences, and promising full payment of their arrears. until funds should be collected sufficient for this purpose, they were to receive twelve stivers a day each foot-soldier, and twenty- four stivers each cavalryman, and were to have the city of roermond in pledge. the treaty was negotiated by guerrera, commandant of ghent citadel, and by the archbishop of roermond, while three distinguished hostages were placed in the keeping of the mutineers until the contract should be faithfully executed: guerrera himself, count fontenoy, son of marquis d'havre, and avalos, commander of a spanish legion. thus, after making a present of the services of these veterans for a twelvemonth to the stadholder, and after employing a very important portion of his remaining forces in a vain attempt to reduce their revolt, the archduke had now been fain to purchase their submission by conceding all their demands. it would have been better economy perhaps to come to this conclusion at an earlier day. it would likewise have been more judicious, according to the lamentations of justus lipsius, had the necessity of saving sluys been thought of in time. now that it was thoroughly enclosed, so that a mouse could scarce creep through the lines, the archduke was feverish to send in a thousand wagon loads of provisions. spinola, although in reality commander-in- chief of a spanish army, and not strictly subject to the orders of the flemish sovereigns, obeyed the appeal of the archduke, but he obeyed most reluctantly. two-thirds of ostend had been effaced, and it was hard to turn even for a moment from the spot until all should have been destroyed. leaving rivas and bucquoy to guard the entrenchments, and to keep steadily to the work, spinola took the field with a large force of all arms, including the late mutineers and the troops of count trivulzio. on the th august he appeared in the neighbourhood of the salt and sweet streams, and exchanged a few cannon-shots with the republicans. next day he made a desperate assault with three thousand men and some companies of cavalry, upon lewis william's quarters, where he had reason to believe the lines were weakest. he received from that most vigilant commander a hearty welcome, however, and after a long skirmish was obliged to withdraw, carrying off his dead and wounded, together with a few cart- horses which had been found grazing outside the trenches. not satisfied with these trophies or such results, he remained several days inactive, and then suddenly whirled around aardenburg with his whole army, directly southward of sluys, seized the forts of st. catharine and st. philip, which had been left with very small garrisons, and then made a furious attempt to break the lines at oostburg, hoping to cross the fords at that place, and thus push his way into the isle of cadzand. the resistance to his progress was obstinate, the result for a time doubtful. after severe fighting however he crossed the waters of oostburg in the face of the enemy. maurice meantime had collected all his strength at the vital position of cadzand, hoping to deal, or at least to parry, a mortal blow. on the th, on cadzand dyke, between two redoubts, spinola again met lewis william, who had been transferred to that important position. a severe struggle ensued. the spaniards were in superior force, and lewis william, commanding the advance only of the states troops, was hard pressed. moving always in the thickest of the fight, he would probably have that day laid down his life, as so many of his race had done before in the cause of the republic, had not colonel van dorp come to his rescue, and so laid about him with a great broad sword, that the dyke was kept until maurice arrived with eytzinga's frisian regiment and other reserves. van dorp then fell covered with wounds. here was the decisive combat. the two commanders-in-chief met face to face for the first time, and could spinola have gained the position of cadzand the fate of maurice must have been sealed. but all his efforts were vain. the stadholder, by coolness and promptness, saved the day, and inflicted a bloody repulse upon the catholics. spinola had displayed excellent generalship, but it is not surprising that the young volunteer should have failed upon his first great field day to defeat maurice of nassau and his cousin lewis william. he withdrew discomfited at last, leaving several hundred dead upon the field, definitely renouncing all hope of relieving sluys, and retiring by way of dam to his camp before ostend. next day the town capitulated. the garrison were allowed to depart with the honours of war, and the same terms were accorded to the inhabitants, both in secular and religious matters, as were usual when maurice re-occupied any portion of the republic. between three and four thousand creatures, looking rather like ghosts from the churchyards than living soldiers, marched out, with drums beating, colours displayed, matches lighted, and bullet in mouth. sixty of them fell dead before the dismal procession had passed out of the gates. besides these troops were nearly fifteen hundred galley-slaves, even more like shadows than the rest, as they had been regularly sent forth during the latter days of the siege to browse upon soutenelle in the submerged meadows, or to drown or starve if unable to find a sufficient supply of that weed. these unfortunate victims of mahometan and christian tyranny were nearly all turks, and by the care of the dutch government were sent back by sea to their homes. a few of them entered the service of the states. the evacuation of sluys by governor serrano and his garrison was upon the th august. next day the stadholder took possession, bestowing the nominal government of the place upon his brother frederic henry. the atmosphere, naturally enough, was pestiferous, and young count lewis gunther of nassau, who had so brilliantly led the cavalry on the famous day of nieuport, died of fever soon after entering the town infinitely regretted by every one who wished well to the republic. thus an important portion of zeeland was restored, to its natural owners. a seaport which in those days was an excellent one, and more than a compensation for the isolated fishing village already beleaguered for upwards of three years, had been captured in three months. the states- general congratulated their stadholder on such prompt and efficient work, while the garrison of ostend, first learning the authentic news seven days afterwards, although at a distance of only fourteen miles, had cause to go upon their knees and sing praises to the most high. the question now arose as to the relief of ostend. maurice was decidedly opposed to any such scheme. he had got a better ostend in slays, and he saw no motive for spending money and blood in any further attempt to gain possession of a ruin, which, even if conquered, could only with extreme difficulty be held. the states were of a diametrically opposite opinion. they insisted that the stadholder, so soon he could complete his preparations, should march straight upon spinola's works and break up the siege, even at the risk of a general action. they were willing once more to take the terrible chance of a defeat in flanders. maurice, with a heavy heart, bowed to their decision, showing by his conduct the very spirit of a republican soldier, obeying the civil magistrate, even when that obedience was like to bring disaster upon the commonwealth. but much was to be done before he could undertake this new adventure. meantime the garrison in ostend were at their last gasp. on being asked by the states-general whether it was possible to hold out for twenty days longer, marquette called a council of officers, who decided that they would do their best, but that it was impossible to fix a day or hour when resistance must cease. obviously, however, the siege was in its extreme old age. the inevitable end was approaching. before the middle of september the enemy was thoroughly established in possession of the new hell's mouth, the new porcupine, and all the other bastions of the new entrenchment. on the th of that month the last supreme effort was made, and the sand hill, that all-important redoubt, which during these three dismal years had triumphantly resisted every assault, was at last carried by storm. the enemy had now gained possession of the whole town except little troy. the new harbour would be theirs in a few hours, and as for troy itself, those hastily and flimsily constructed ramparts were not likely to justify the vaunts uttered when they were thrown up nor to hold out many minutes before the whole artillery of spinola. plainly on this last morsel of the fatal sandbank the word surrender must be spoken, unless the advancing trumpets of maurice should now be heard. but there was no such welcome sound in the air. the weather was so persistently rainy and stormy that the roads became impassable, and maurice, although ready and intending to march towards spinola to offer him battle, was unable for some days to move. meantime a council, summoned by marquette, of all the officers, decided that ostend must be abandoned now that ostend had ceased to exist. on the th september the accord was signed with spinola. the garrison were to march out with their arms. they were to carry off four cannon but no powder. all clerical persons were to leave the place, with their goods and chattels. all prisoners taken on both sides during the siege were to be released. burghers, sutlers, and others, to go whither they would, undisturbed. and thus the archdukes, after three years and seventy-seven days of siege, obtained their prize. three thousand men, in good health, marched out of little troy with the honours of war. the officers were entertained by spinola and his comrades at a magnificent banquet, in recognition of the unexampled heroism with which the town had been defended. subsequently the whole force marched to the headquarters of the states' army in and about sluys. they were received by prince maurice, who stood bareheaded and surrounded by his most distinguished officers; to greet them and to shake them warmly by the hand. surely no defeated garrison ever deserved more respect from friend or foe. the archduke albert and the infants isabella entered the place in triumph, if triumph it could be called. it would be difficult to imagine a more desolate scene. the artillery of the first years of the seventeenth century was not the terrible enginry of destruction that it has become in the last third of the nineteenth, but a cannonade, continued so steadily and so long, had done its work. there were no churches, no houses, no redoubts, no bastions, no walls, nothing but a vague and confused mass of ruin. spinola conducted his imperial guests along the edge of extinct volcanoes, amid upturned cemeteries, through quagmires which once were moats, over huge mounds of sand, and vast shapeless masses of bricks and masonry, which had been forts. he endeavoured to point out places where mines had been exploded, where ravelins had been stormed, where the assailants had been successful, and where they had been bloodily repulsed. but it was all loathsome, hideous rubbish. there were no human habitations, no hovels, no casemates. the inhabitants had burrowed at last in the earth, like the dumb creatures of the swamps and forests. in every direction the dykes had burst, and the sullen wash of the liberated waves, bearing hither and thither the floating wreck of fascines and machinery, of planks and building materials, sounded far and wide over what should have been dry land. the great ship channel, with the unconquered half-moon upon one side and the incomplete batteries and platforms of bucquoy on the other, still defiantly opened its passage to the sea, and the retiring fleets of the garrison were white in the offing. all around was the grey expanse of stormy ocean, without a cape or a headland to break its monotony, as the surges rolled mournfully in upon a desolation more dreary than their own. the atmosphere was mirky and surcharged with rain, for the wild equinoctial storm which had held maurice spell-bound had been raging over land and sea for many days. at every step the unburied skulls of brave soldiers who had died in the cause of freedom grinned their welcome to the conquerors. isabella wept at the sight. she had cause to weep. upon that miserable sandbank more than a hundred thousand men had laid down their lives by her decree, in order that she and her husband might at last take possession of a most barren prize. this insignificant fragment of a sovereignty which her wicked old father had presented to her on his deathbed--a sovereignty which he had no more moral right or actual power to confer than if it had been in the planet saturn--had at last been appropriated at the cost of all this misery. it was of no great value, although its acquisition had caused the expenditure of at least eight millions of florins, divided in nearly equal proportions between the two belligerents. it was in vain that great immunities were offered to those who would remain, or who would consent to settle in the foul golgotha. the original population left the place in mass. no human creatures were left save the wife of a freebooter and her paramour, a journeyman blacksmith. this unsavoury couple, to whom entrance into the purer atmosphere of zeeland was denied, thenceforth shared with the carrion crows the amenities of ostend. chapter xliv. equation between the contending powers--treaty of peace between king james and the archdukes and the king of spain--position of the provinces--states envoy in england to be styled ambassador--protest of the spanish ambassador--effect of james's peace-treaty on the people of england--public rejoicings for the victory at sluys-- spinola appointed commander-in-chief of the spanish forces-- preparations for a campaign against the states--seizure of dutch cruisers--international discord--destruction of sarmiento's fleet by admiral haultain--projected enterprise against antwerp--descent of spinola on the netherland frontier--oldenzaal and lingen taken-- movements of prince maurice--encounter of the two armies--panic of the netherlanders--consequent loss and disgrace--wachtendonk and cracow taken by spinola--spinola's reception in spain--effect of his victories--results of the struggle between freedom and absolutism-- affairs in the east--amboyna taken by van der hagen--contest for possession of the clove islands--commercial treaty between the states and the king of ternate--hostilities between the kings of ternate and tydor--expulsion of the portuguese from the moluccas-- du terrail's attempted assault on bergen-op-zoom--attack on the dunkirk pirate fleet--practice of executing prisoners captured at sea. i have invited the reader's attention to the details of this famous siege because it was not an episode, but almost the sum total, of the great war during the period occupied by its events. the equation between the contending forces indicated the necessity of peace. that equation seemed for the time to have established itself over all europe. france had long since withdrawn from the actual strife, and kept its idle thunders in a concealed although ever threatening hand. in the east the pacha of buda had become pacha of pest. even gran was soon to fall before the turk, whose advancing horse-tails might thus almost be descried from the walls of vienna. stephen botschkay meantime had made himself master of transylvania, concluded peace with ahmet, and laughed at the emperor rudolph for denouncing him as a rebel. between spain and england a far different result had been reached than the one foreshadowed in the portentous colloquies between king james and maximilian de bethune. those conferences have been purposely described with some minuteness, in order that the difference often existing between vast projects and diametrically opposed and very insignificant conclusions might once more be exhibited. in the summer of it had been firmly but mysteriously arranged between the monarchs of france and great britain that the house of austria should be crushed, its territories parcelled out at the discretion of those two potentates, the imperial crown taken from the habsburgs, the spaniards driven out of the netherlands, an alliance offensive and defensive made with the dutch republic, while the east and west indies were, to be wrested by main force of the allies, from spain, whose subjects were thenceforth to be for ever excluded from those lucrative regions. as for the jesuits, who were to james as loathsome as were the puritans to elizabeth, the british sovereign had implored the ambassador of his royal brother, almost with tears, never to allow that pestilential brood to regain an entrance into his dominions. in the summer of king james made a treaty of peace and amity with the archdukes and with the monarch of spain, thus extending his friendly relations with the doomed house of austria. the republic of the netherlands was left to fight her battles alone; her imaginary allies looking down upon her struggle with benevolent indifference. as for the indies, not a syllable of allusion in the treaty was permitted by spain to that sacred subject; the ambassador informing the british government that he gave them access to twelve kingdoms and two seas, while spain acquired by the treaty access only to two kingdoms and one sea. the new world, however, east or west, from the antilles to the moluccas, was the private and indefeasible property of his catholic majesty. on religious matters, it was agreed that english residents in spain should not be compelled to go to mass, but that they should kneel in the street to the host unless they could get out of the ways. in regard to the netherlands, it was agreed by the two contracting powers that one should never assist the rebels or enemies of the other. with regard to the cities and fortresses of brill, flushing, rammekens, and other cautionary places, where english garrisons were maintained, and which king james was bound according to the contracts of queen elizabeth never to restore except to those who had pledged them to the english crown--the king would uphold those contracts. he would, however, endeavour to make an arrangement with the states by which they should agree within a certain period to make their peace with spain. should they refuse or fail, he would then consider himself liberated from these previous engagements and free to act concerning those cities in an honourable and reasonable manner, as became a friendly king? meantime the garrisons should not in any way assist the hollanders in their hostilities with spain. english subjects were forbidden to carry into spain or the obedient netherlands any property or merchandize belonging to the hollanders, or to make use of dutch vessels in their trade with spain. both parties agreed to do their best to bring about a pacification in the netherlands. no irony certainly could be more exquisite that this last-named article. this was the end of that magnificent conception, the great anglo-french league against the house of austria. king james would combine his efforts with king philip to pacify the netherlands. the wolf and the watchdog would unite to bring back the erring flock to the fold. meantime james would keep the cautionary towns in his clutches, not permitting their garrisons or any of his subjects to assist the rebels on sea or shore. as for the jesuits, their triumphant re-appearance in france, and the demolition of the pyramid raised to their dishonour on the site of the house where john castel, who had stabbed henry iv., had resided, were events about to mark the opening year. plainly enough secretary cecil had out-generalled the french party. the secret treaty of hampton court, the result of the efforts of rosny and olden-barneveld in july of the previous year, was not likely to be of much service in protecting the republic. james meant to let the dead treaties bury their dead, to live in peace with all the world, and to marry his sons and daughters to spanish infantes and infantas. meantime, although he had sheathed the sword which elizabeth had drawn against the common enemy, and had no idea of fighting or spending money for the states, he was willing that their diplomatic agent should be called ambassador. the faithful and much experienced noel de caron coveted that distinction, and moved thereby the spleen of henry's envoy at the hague, buzanval, who probably would not have objected to the title himself. "'twill be a folly," he said, "for him to present himself on the pavement as a prancing steed, and then be treated like a poor hack. he has been too long employed to put himself in such a plight. but there are lunatics everywhere and of all ages." never had the advocate seemed so much discouraged. ostend had fallen, and the defection of the british sovereign was an off-set for the conquest of sluys. he was more urgent with the french government for assistance than he had ever been before. "a million florins a year from france," he said "joined to two millions raised in the provinces, would enable them to carry on the war. the ship was in good condition," he added, "and fit for a long navigation without danger of shipwreck if there were only biscuit enough on board." otherwise she was lost. before that time came he should quit the helm which he had been holding the more resolutely since the peace of vervins because the king had told him, when concluding it, that if three years' respite should be given him he would enter into the game afresh, and take again upon his shoulders the burthen which inevitable necessity had made him throw down. "but," added olden-barneveld, bitterly, "there is little hope of it now, after his neglect of the many admirable occasions during the siege of ostend." so soon as the spanish ambassador learned that caron was to be accepted into the same diplomatic rank as his own, he made an infinite disturbance, protested moat loudly and passionately to the king at the indignity done to his master by this concession to the representative of a crew of traitors and rebels, and demanded in the name of the treaty just concluded that caron should be excluded in such capacity from all access to court. as james was nearly forty years of age, as the hollanders had been rebels ever since he was born, and as the king of spain had exercised no sovereignty over them within his memory, this was naturally asking too much of him in the name of his new-born alliance with spain. so he assumed a position of great dignity, notwithstanding the constable's clamour, and declared his purpose to give audience to the agents of the states by whatever title they presented themselves before him. in so doing he followed the example, he said, of others who (a strange admission on his part) were as wise as himself. it was not for him to censure the crimes and faults of the states, if such they had committed. he had not been the cause of their revolt from spanish authority, and it was quite sufficient that he had stipulated to maintain neutrality between the two belligerents's. and with this the ambassador of his catholic majesty, having obtained the substance of a very advantageous treaty, was fain to abandon opposition to the shadowy title by which james sought to indemnify the republic for his perfidy. the treaty of peace with spain gave no pleasure to the english public. there was immense enthusiasm in london at the almost simultaneous fall of sluys, but it was impossible for the court to bring about a popular demonstration of sympathy with the abandonment of the old ally and the new-born affection for the ancient enemy. "i can assure your mightinesses," wrote caron, "that no promulgation was ever received in london with more sadness. no mortal has shown the least satisfaction in words or deeds, but, on the contrary, people have cried out openly, 'god save our good neighbours the states of holland and zeeland, and grant them victory!' on sunday, almost all the preachers gave thanks from their pulpits for the victory which their good neighbours had gained at sluys, but would not say a word about the peace. the people were admonished to make bonfires, but you may be very sure not a bonfire was to be seen. but, in honour of the victory, all the vessels in st. catharine's docks fired salutes at which the spaniards were like to burst with spite. the english clap their hands and throw their caps in the air when they hear anything published favourable to us, but, it must be confessed, they are now taking very dismal views of affairs. 'vox populi vox dei.'" the rejoicing in paris was scarcely less enthusiastic or apparently less sincere than in london. "the news of the surrender of sluys," wrote aerasens, "is received with so much joy by small and great that one would have said it was their own exploit. his majesty has made such demonstrations in his actions and discourse that he has not only been advised by his council to dissemble in the matter, but has undergone reproaches from the pope's nuncius of having made a league with your mightinesses to the prejudice of the king of spain. his majesty wishes your mightinesses prosperity with all his heart, yea so that he would rather lose his right arm than see your mightinesses in danger. be assured that he means roundly, and we should pray god for his long life; for i don't see that we can expect anything from these regions after his death." it was ere long to be seen, however, roundly as the king meant it, that the republic was to come into grave peril without causing him to lose his right arm, or even to wag his finger, save in reproach of their mightinesses. the republic, being thus left to fight its battles alone, girded its loins anew for the conflict. during the remainder of the year , however, there were no military operations of consequence. both belligerents needed a brief repose. the siege of ostend had not been a siege. it was a long pitched battle between the new system and the old, between absolutism and the spirit of religious, political and mercantile freedom. absolutism had gained the lists on which the long duel had been fought, but the republic had meantime exchanged that war-blasted spot for a valuable and commodious position. it was certainly an advantage, as hostilities were necessarily to have continued somewhere during all that period, that all the bloodshed and desolation had been concentrated upon one insignificant locality, and one more contiguous to the enemy's possessions than to those of the united states. it was very doubtful, however, whether all that money and blood might not have been expended in some other manner more beneficial to the cause of the archdukes. at least it could hardly be maintained that they took anything by the capitulation of ostend but the most barren and worthless of trophies. eleven old guns, partly broken, and a small quantity of ammunition, were all the spoils of war found in the city after its surrender. the marquis spinola went to spain. on passing through paris he was received with immense enthusiasm by henry iv., whose friendship for the states, and whose desperate designs against the house of austria, did not prevent him from warmly congratulating the great spanish general on his victory. it was a victory, said henry, which he could himself have never achieved, and, in recognition of so great a triumph, he presented spinola with a beautiful thracian horse, valued at twelve hundred ducats. arriving in spain, the conqueror found himself at once the object of the open applause and the scarcely concealed hatred of the courtiers and politicians. he ardently desired to receive as his guerdon the rank of grandee of spain. he met with a refusal. to keep his hat on his head in presence of the sovereign was the highest possible reward. should that be bestowed upon him now, urged lerma, what possible recompense could be imagined for the great services which all felt confident that he was about to render in the future? he must continue to remove his hat in the monarch's company. meantime, if he wished the title of prince, with considerable revenues attached to his principality, this was at his disposal. it must be confessed that in a monarchy where the sentiment of honour was supposed to be the foundation of the whole structure there is something chivalrous and stimulating to the imagination in this preference by the great general of a shadowy but rare distinction to more substantial acquisitions. nevertheless, as the grandeeship was refused, it is not recorded that he was displeased with the principality. meantime there was a very busy intrigue to deprive him of the command-in-chief of the catholic forces in flanders, and one so nearly successful that mexia, governor of antwerp citadel, was actually appointed in spinola's stead. it was only after long and anxious conferences at valladolid with the king and the duke of lerma, and after repeated statements in letters from the archdukes that all their hopes of victory depended on retaining the genoese commander-in-chief, that the matter was finally arranged. mexia received an annual pension of eight thousand ducats, and to spinola was assigned five hundred ducats monthly, as commander-in-chief under the archduke, with an equal salary as agent for the king's affairs in flanders. early in the spring he returned to brussels, having made fresh preparations for the new campaign in which he was to measure himself before the world against maurice of nassau. spinola had removed the thorn from the belgic lion's foot: "ostendae erasit fatalis spinola spinam." and although it may be doubted whether the relief was as thorough as had been hoped, yet a freedom of movement had unquestionably been gained. there was now at least what for a long time had not existed, a possibility for imagining some new and perhaps more effective course of campaigning. the young genoese commander-in- chief returned from spain early in may, with the golden fleece around his neck, and with full powers from the catholic king to lay out his work, subject only to the approbation of the archduke. it was not probable that albert, who now thoroughly admired and leaned upon the man of whom he had for a time been disposed to be jealous, would interfere with his liberty of action. there had also been--thanks to spinola's influence with the cabinet at madrid and the merchants of genoa--much more energy in recruiting and in providing the necessary sinews of war. moreover it had been resolved to make the experiment of sending some of the new levies by sea, instead of subjecting them all to the long and painful overland march through spain, italy, and germany. a terzo of infantry was on its way from naples, and two more were expected from milan, but it was decided that the spanish troops should be embarked on board a fleet of transports, mainly german and english, and thus carried to the shores of the obedient netherlands. the states-general got wind of these intentions, and set vice-admiral haultain upon the watch to defeat the scheme. that well-seasoned mariner accordingly, with a sufficient fleet of war-galleots, cruised thenceforth with great assiduity in the chops of the channel. already the late treaty between spain and england had borne fruits of bitterness to the republic. the spanish policy had for the time completely triumphed in the council of james. it was not surprising therefore that the partisans of that policy should occasionally indulge in manifestations of malevolence towards the upstart little commonwealth which had presumed to enter into commercial rivalry with the british realm, and to assert a place among the nations of the earth. an order had just been issued by the english government that none of its subjects should engage in the naval service of any foreign power. this decree was a kind of corollary to the spanish treaty, was levelled directly against the hollanders, and became the pretext of intolerable arrogance, both towards their merchantmen and their lesser war-vessels. admiral monson, an especial partisan of spain, was indefatigable in exercising the right he claimed of visiting foreign vessels off the english coast, in search of english sailors violating the proclamation of neutrality. on repeated occasions prizes taken by dutch cruisers from the spaniards, and making their way with small prize crews to the ports of the republic, were overhauled, visited, and seized by the english admiral, who brought the vessels into the harbours of his own country, liberated the crews, and handed ships and cargoes over to the spanish ambassador. thus prizes fairly gained by nautical skill and hard fighting, off spain, portugal, brazil, or even more distant parts of the world, were confiscated almost in sight of port, in utter disregard of public law or international decency. the states-general remonstrated with bitterness. their remonstrances were answered by copious arguments, proving, of course, to the entire satisfaction of the party who had done the wrong, that no practice could be more completely in harmony with reason and justice. meantime the spanish ambassador sold the prizes, and appropriated the proceeds towards carrying on the war against the republic; the dutch sailors, thus set ashore against their will and against law on the neutral coast of england, being left to get home as they could, or to starve if they could do no better. as for the states, they had the legal arguments of their late ally to console them for the loss of their ships. simultaneously with these events considerable levies of troops were made in england by the archduke, in spite of all the efforts of the dutch ambassador to prevent this one-sided; neutrality, while at the other ends of the world mercantile jealousy in both the indies was fast combining with other causes already rife to increase the international discord. out of all this fuel it was fated that a blaze of hatred between the two leading powers of the new era, the united kingdom and the united republic, should one day burst forth, which was to be fanned by passion, prejudice, and a mistaken sentiment of patriotism and self-interest on both sides, and which not all the bloodshed of more than one fierce war could quench. the traces of this savage sentiment are burnt deeply into the literature, language, and traditions of both countries; and it is strange enough that the epoch at which chronic wrangling and international coolness changed into furious antipathy between the two great protestant powers of europe--for great they already both were, despite the paucity of their population and resources, as compared with nations which were less influenced by the spirit of the age or had less aptness in obeying its impulse--should be dated from the famous year of guy fawkes. meantime the spanish troops, embarked in eight merchant ships and a few pinnaces, were slowly approaching their destination. they had been instructed, in case they found it impracticable to enter a flemish port, to make for the hospitable shores of england, the spanish ambassador and those whom he had bribed at the court of james having already provided for their protection. off dover admiral haultain got sight of sarmiento's little fleet. he made short work with it. faithfully carrying out the strenuous orders of the states-general, he captured some of the ships, burned one, and ran others aground after a very brief resistance. some of the soldiers and crews were picked up by english vessels cruising in the neighbourhood and narrowly watching the conflict. a few stragglers escaped by swimming, but by far, the greater proportion of the newly-arrived troops were taken prisoners, tied together two and two, and then, at a given signal from the admiral's ship, tossed into the sea. not peter titelmann, nor julian romero, nor the duke of alva himself, ever manifested greater alacrity in wholesale murder than was shown by this admiral of the young republic in fulfilling the savage decrees of the states-general. thus at least one-half of the legion perished. the pursuit of the ships was continued within english waters, when the guns of dover castle opened vigorously upon the recent allies of england, in order to protect her newly-found friends in their sore distress. doubtless in the fervour of the work the dutch admiral had violated the neutral coast of england, so that the cannonade from the castle waw technically justified. it was however a biting satire upon the proposed protestant league against spain and universal monarchy in behalf of the dutch republic, that england was already doing her best to save a spanish legion and to sink a dutch fleet. the infraction of english sovereignty was unquestionable if judged by the more scrupulous theory of modern days, but it was well remarked by the states-general, in answer to the remonstrances of james's government, that the dutch admiral, knowing that the pirates of dunkirk roamed at will through english waters in search of their prey, might have hoped for some indulgence of a similar character to the ships of the republic. thus nearly the whole of the spanish legion perished. the soldiers who escaped to the english coast passed the winter miserably in huts, which they were allowed to construct on the sands, but nearly all, including the lieutenant-colonel commanding, pedro cubiera, died of famine or of wounds. a few small vessels of the expedition succeeded in reaching the flemish coast, and landing a slight portion of the terzo. the campaign of opened but languidly. the strain upon the resources of the netherlands, thus unaided, was becoming severe, although there is no doubt that, as the india traffic slowly developed itself, the productive force of the commonwealth visibly increased, while the thrifty habits of its citizens, and their comparative abstinence from unproductive consumption, still enabled it to bear the tremendous burthen of the war. a new branch of domestic industry had grown out of the india trade, great quantities of raw silk being now annually imported from the east into holland, to be wrought into brocades, tapestries, damasks, velvets, satins, and other luxurious fabrics for european consumption. it is a curious phenomenon in the history of industry that while at this epoch holland was the chief seat of silk manufactures, the great financier of henry iv. was congratulating his sovereign and himself that natural causes had for ever prevented the culture or manufacture of silk in france. if such an industry were possible, he was sure that the decline of martial spirit in france and an eternal dearth of good french soldiers would be inevitable, and he even urged that the importation of such luxurious fabrics should be sternly prohibited, in order to preserve the moral health of the people. the practical hollanders were more inclined to leave silk farthingales and brocaded petticoats to be dealt with by thunderers from the pulpit or indignant fathers of families. meantime the states-general felt instinctively that the little commonwealth grew richer, the more useful or agreeable things its burghers could call into existence out of nothingness, to be exchanged for the powder and bullets, timber and cordage, requisite for its eternal fight with universal monarchy, and that the richer the burghers grew the more capable they were of paying their taxes. it was not the fault of the states that the insane ambition of spain and the archdukes compelled them to exhaust themselves annually by the most unproductive consumption that man is ever likely to devise, that of scientifically slaughtering his brethren, because to practise economy in that regard would be to cease to exist, or to accept the most intolerable form of slavery. the forces put into the field in the spring of were but meagre. there was also, as usual, much difference of opinion between maurice and barneveld as to the most judicious manner of employing them, and as usual the docile stadholder submitted his better judgment to the states. it can hardly be too much insisted upon that the high-born maurice always deported himself in fact, and as it were unconsciously, as the citizen soldier of a little republic, even while personally invested with many of the attributes of exalted rank, and even while regarded by many of his leading fellow-citizens as the legitimate and predestined sovereign of the newly-born state. early in the spring a great enterprise against antwerp was projected. it failed utterly. maurice, at bergen-op-zoom, despatched seven thousand troops up the scheld, under command of ernest casimir. the flotilla was a long time getting under weigh, and instead of effecting a surprise, the army, on reaching the walls of antwerp, found the burghers and garrison not in the least astonished, but on the contrary entirely prepared. ernest returned after a few insignificant skirmishes, having accomplished nothing. maurice next spent a few days in reducing the castle of wouda, not far from bergen, and then, transporting his army once more to the isle of cadzand, he established his headquarters at watervliet, near ysendyke. spinola followed him, having thrown a bridge across the scheld. maurice was disposed to reduce a fort, well called patience, lying over against the isle of walcheren. spinola took up a position by which he defended the place as with an impenetrable buckler. a game of skill now began. between these two adepts in the art of war, for already the volunteer had taken rank among the highest professors of the new school. it was the object of maurice, who knew himself on the whole outnumbered, to divine his adversary's intentions. spinola was supposed to be aiming at sluys, at grave, at bergen-op-zoom, possibly even at some more remote city, like rheinberg, while rumours as to his designs, flying directly from his camp, were as thick as birds in the air. they were let loose on purpose by the artful genoese, who all the time had a distinct and definite plan which was not yet suspected. the dilatoriness of the campaign was exasperating. it might be thought that the war was to last another half century, from the excessive inertness of both parties. the armies had all gone into winter quarters in the previous november, spinola had spent nearly six months in spain, midsummer had came and gone, and still maurice was at watervliet, guessing at his adversary's first move. on the whole, he had inclined to suspect a design upon rheinberg, and had accordingly sent his brother henry with a detachment to strengthen the garrison of that place. on the st of august however he learned that spinola had crossed the meuse and the rhine, with ten thousand foot and three thousand horse, and that leaving count bucquoy with six thousand foot and one thousand five hundred horse in the neighbourhood of the rhine, to guard a couple of redoubts which had been constructed for a basis at kaiserswerth, he was marching with all possible despatch towards friesland and groningen. the catholic general had concealed his design in a masterly manner. he had detained maurice in the isle of cadzand, the states still dreaming of a victorious invasion on their part of obedient flanders, and the stadholder hesitating to quit his position of inactive observation, lest the moment his back was turned the rapid spinola might whirl down upon sluys, that most precious and skilfully acquired possession of the republic, when lo! his formidable antagonist was marching in force upon what the prince well knew to be her most important and least guarded frontier. on the th august the catholic general was before olden-zaal which he took in three days, and then advanced to lingen. should that place fall --and the city was known to be most inadequately garrisoned and supplied --it would be easy for the foe to reduce coeworden, and so seize the famous pass over the bourtanger morass, march straight to embden--then in a state of municipal revolution on account of the chronic feuds between its counts and the population, and therefore an easy prey--after which all friesland and groningen would be at his mercy, and his road open to holland and utrecht; in short, into the very bowels of the republic. on the th august maurice broke up his camp in flanders, and leaving five thousand men under colonel van der noot, to guard the positions there, advanced rapidly to deventer, with the intention of saving lingen. it was too late. that very important place had been culpably neglected. the garrison consisted of but one cannoneer, and he had but one arm. a burgher guard, numbering about three hundred, made such resistance as they could, and the one-armed warrior fired a shot or two from a rusty old demi-cannon. such opposition to the accomplished italian was naturally not very effective. on the th august the place capitulated. maurice, arriving at deventer, and being now strengthened by his cousin lewis william with such garrison troops as could be collected, learned the mortifying news with sentiments almost akin to despair. it was now to be a race for coeworden, and the fleet-footed spinola was a day's march at least in advance of his competitor. the key to the fatal morass would soon be in his hands. to the inexpressible joy of the stadholder, the genoese seemed suddenly struck with blindness. the prize was almost in his hands and he threw away all his advantages. instead of darting at once upon coeworden he paused for nearly a month, during which period he seemed intoxicated with a success so rapidly achieved, and especially with his adroitness in outwitting the great stadholder. on the th september he made a retrograde movement towards the rhine, leaving two thousand five hundred men in lingen. maurice, giving profound thanks to god for his enemy's infatuation, passed by lingen, and having now, with his cousin's reinforcements, a force of nine thousand foot and three thousand horse, threw himself into coeworden, strengthened and garrisoned that vital fortress which spinola would perhaps have taken as easily as he had done lingen, made all the neighbouring positions secure, and then fell back towards wesel on the rhine, in order to watch his antagonist. spinola had established his headquarters at ruhrort, a place where the river ruhr empties into the rhine. he had yielded to the remonstrances of the archbishop of cologne, to whom kaiserwerth belonged, and had abandoned the forts which bucquoy, under his directions, had constructed at that place. the two armies now gazed at each other, at a respectful distance, for a fortnight longer, neither commander apparently having any very definite purpose. at last, maurice having well reconnoitred his enemy, perceived a weak point in his extended lines. a considerable force of italian cavalry, with some infantry, was stationed at the village of mulheim, on the ruhr, and apparently out of convenient supporting distance from spinola's main army. the stadholder determined to deliver a sudden blow upon this tender spot, break through the lines, and bring on a general action by surprise. assembling his well-seasoned and veteran troopers in force, he divided them into two formidable bands, one under the charge of his young brother frederic henry, the other under that most brilliant of cavalry officers, marcellus bax, hero of turnhout and many another well-fought field. the river ruhr was a wide but desultory stream, easily fordable in many places. on the opposite bank to mulheim was the castle of brock, and some hills of considerable elevation. bax was ordered to cross the river and seize the castle and the heights, count henry to attack the enemy's camp in front, while maurice himself, following rapidly with the advance of infantry and wagons, was to sustain the assault. marcellus bax, rapid and dashing as usual, crossed the ruhr, captured broek castle with ease, and stood ready to prevent the retreat of the spaniards. taken by surprise in front, they would naturally seek refuge on the other side of the river. that stream was not difficult for infantry, but as the banks were steep, cavalry could not easily extricate themselves from the water, except at certain prepared landings. bax waited however for some time in vain for the flying spaniards. it was not destined that the stadholder should effect many surprises that year. the troopers under frederic henry had made their approaches through an intricate path, often missing their way, and in far more leisurely fashion than was intended, so that outlying scouts had brought in information of the coming attack. as count henry approached the village, trivulzio's cavalry was found drawn up in battle array, formidable in numbers, and most fully prepared for their visitors from wesel. the party most astonished was that which came to surprise. in an instant one of those uncontrollable panics broke out to which even veterans are as subject as to dysentery or scurvy. the best cavalry of maurice's army turned their backs at the very sight of the foe, and galloped off much faster than they had come. meantime, marcellus bax was assaulted, not only by his late handful of antagonists, who had now rallied, but by troops from mulheim, who began to wade across the stream. at that moment he was cheered by the sight of count henry coming on with a very few of his troopers who had stood to their colours. a simultaneous charge from both banks at the enemy floundering in the river was attempted. it might have been brilliantly successful, but the panic had crossed the river faster than the spaniards could do, and the whole splendid picked cavalry force of the republic, commanded by the youngest son of william the silent, and by the favourite cavalry commander of her armies, was, after a hot but brief action, in disgraceful and unreasonable flight. the stadholder reached the bank of that fatal stream only to witness this maddening spectacle, instead of the swift and brilliant triumph which he was justified in expecting. he did his best to stem the retreating tide. he called upon the veterans, by the memory of turnhout and nieuport, and so many other victories, to pause and redeem their name before it was too late. he taunted them with their frequent demands to be led to battle, and their expressed impatience at enforced idleness. he denounced them as valiant only for plundering defenceless peasants, and as cowards against armed men; as trusting more to their horses' heels than to their own right hands. he invoked curses upon them for deserting his young brother, who, conspicuous among them by his gilded armour, the orange-plumes upon his calque, and the bright orange-scarf across his shoulders, was now sorely pressed in the struggling throng. it was all in vain. could maurice have thrown himself into the field, he might, as in the crisis of the republic's fate at nieuport, have once more converted ruin into victory by the magic of his presence. but the river was between him and the battle, and he was an enforced spectator of his country's disgrace. for a few brief moments his demeanour, his taunts, and his supplications had checked the flight of his troops. a stand was made by a portion of the cavalry and a few detached but fierce combats took place. count frederic henry was in imminent danger. leading a mere handful of his immediate retainers, he threw himself into the thickest of the fight, with the characteristic audacity of his house. a spanish trooper aimed his carbine full at his face. it missed fire, and henry, having emptied his own pistol, was seized by the floating scarf upon his breast by more than one enemy. there was a brief struggle, and death or capture seemed certain; when an unknown hand laid his nearest antagonist low, and enabled him to escape from over powering numbers. the soldier, whose devotion thus saved the career of the youngest orange-nassau destined to be so long and so brilliant, from being cut off so prematurely, was never again heard of, and doubtless perished in the fray. meantime the brief sparkle of valour on the part of the states' troops had already vanished. the adroit spinola, hurrying personally to the front, had caused such a clangor from all the drums and trumpets in broek and its neighbourhood to be made as to persuade the restive cavalry that the whole force of the enemy was already upon them. the day was obviously lost, and maurice, with a heavy heart, now him self gave the signal to retreat. drawing up the greater part of his infantry in solid mass upon the banks to protect the passage, he sent a force to the opposite side, horace vere being the first to wade the stream. all that was then possible to do was accomplished, and the panic flight converted into orderly retreat, but it was a day of disaster and disgrace for the republic. about five hundred of the best states' cavalry were left dead on the field, but the stain upon his almost unsullied flag was more cutting to the stadholder's heart than the death of his veterans. the material results were in truth almost even. the famous cavalry general, count trivulzio, with at least three hundred spaniards, fell in the combat, but the glory of having defeated the best cavalry of europe in a stricken field and under the very eyes of the stadholder would have been sufficient compensation to spinola for much greater losses. maurice withdrew towards wesel, sullen but not desponding. his forces were meagre, and although he had been out-generalled, out-marched, and defeated in the open field, at least the genoese had not planted the blow which he had meditated in the very heart of the republic. autumn was now far advanced, and dripping with rain. the roads and fields were fast becoming impassable sloughs, and no further large operations could be expected in this campaign. yet the stadholder's cup was not full, and he was destined to witness two more triumphs of his rival, now fast becoming famous, before this year of disasters should close. on the th october, spinola took the city of wachtendonk, after ten days' siege, and on the th of november the strong place of cracow. maurice was forced to see these positions captured almost under his eyes, being now quite powerless to afford relief. his troops had dwindled by sickness and necessary detachments for garrison-work to a comparatively, insignificant force, and very soon afterwards both armies went into winter quarters. the states were excessively disappointed at the results of the year's work, and deep if not loud were the reproaches cast upon the stadholder. certainly his military reputation had not been augmented by this campaign. he had lost many places, and had not gained an inch of ground anywhere. already the lustre of sluys, of nieuport, and turnhout were growing dim, for maurice had so accustomed the republic to victories that his own past triumphs seemed now his greatest enemies. moreover he had founded a school out of which apt pupils had already graduated, and it would seem that the genoese volunteer had rapidly profited by his teachings as only a man endowed with exquisite military genius could have done. yet, after all, it seems certain that, with the stadholder's limited means, and with the awful consequences to the country of a total defeat in the open field, the fabian tactics, which he had now deliberately adopted, were the most reasonable. the invader of foreign domains, the suppressor of great revolts, can indulge in the expensive luxury of procrastination only at imminent peril. for the defence, it is always possible to conquer by delay, and it was perfectly understood between spinola and his ablest advisers at the spanish court that the blows must be struck thick and fast, and at the most vulnerable places, or that the victory would be lost. time was the ally not of the spanish invaders, who came from afar, but of the dutch burghers, who remained at home. "jam aut nunquam," was the motto upon the italian's banners. in proportion to the depression in the republic at the results of this year's campaigning was the elation at the spanish court. bad news and false news had preceded the authentic intelligence of spinola's victories. the english envoy had received unquestionable information that the catholic general had sustained an overwhelming defeat at the close of the campaign, with a loss of three thousand five hundred men. the tale was implicitly believed by king and cabinet, so that when, very soon afterwards, the couriers arrived bringing official accounts of the victory gained over the veteran cavalry of the states in the very presence of the stadholder, followed by the crowning triumph of wachtendonk, the demonstrations of joy were all the more vivacious in consequence of the previous gloom. spinola himself followed hard upon the latest messengers, and was received with ovations. never, since the days of alexander farnese, had a general at the spanish court been more cordially caressed or hated. had philip the prudent been still upon the throne, he would have felt it his duty to make immediate arrangements for poisoning him. certainly his plans and his popularity would have been undermined in the most artistic manner. but philip iii., more dangerous to rabbits than to generals, left the genoese to settle the plans of his next campaign with lerma and his parasites. the subtle spinola, having, in his despatches, ascribed the chief merit of the victories to louis velasco, a spaniard, while his own original conception of transferring the war to friesland was attributed by him with magnificent effrontery to lerma and to the king--who were probably quite ignorant of the existence of that remote province--succeeded in maintaining his favourable position at court, and was allowed, by what was called the war-council, to manage matters nearly at his pleasure. it is difficult however to understand how so much clamour should have been made over such paltry triumphs. all europe rang with a cavalry fight in which less than a thousand saddles on both sides had been emptied, leading to no result, and with the capture of a couple of insignificant towns, of which not one man in a thousand had ever heard. spinola had doubtless shown genius of a subtle and inventive order, and his fortunate audacity in measuring himself, while a mere apprentice, against the first military leader living had been crowned with wonderful success. he had nailed the stadholder fast to the island of cadzand, while he was perfecting his arrangements and building boats on the rhine; he had propounded riddles which maurice had spent three of the best campaigning months in idle efforts to guess, and when he at last moved, he had swept to his mark with the swiftness and precision of a bird of prey. yet the greatest of all qualities in a military commander, that of deriving substantial fruits from victory instead of barren trophies, he had not manifested. if it had been a great stroke of art to seize reach deventer, it was an enormous blunder, worthy of a journeyman soldier, to fail to seize the bourtange marshes, and drive his sword into the fiery vitals of the republic, thus placed at his mercy. meantime, while there had been all these rejoicings and tribulations at the great doings on the rhine and the shortcoming in friesland, the real operations of the war had been at the antipodes. it is not a very unusual phenomenon in history that the events, upon whose daily development the contemporary world hangs with most palpitating interest, are far inferior in permanent influence upon the general movement of humanity to a series of distant and apparently commonplace transactions. empires are built up or undermined by the ceaseless industry of obscure multitudes often slightly observed, or but dimly comprehended. battles and sieges, dreadful marches, eloquent debates, intricate diplomacy--from time to time but only perhaps at rare intervals--have decided or modified the destiny of nations, while very often the clash of arms, the din of rhetoric, the whiz of political spindles, produce nothing valuable for human consumption, and made the world no richer. if the age of heroic and religious passion was rapidly fading away before the gradual uprising of a politico-mercantile civilization--as it certainly was--the most vital events, those in which the fate of coming generations was most deeply involved, were those inspired by the spirit of commercial-enterprise. nor can it be denied that there is often a genial and poetic essence even among things practical or of almost vulgar exterior. in those early expeditions of the hollanders to the flaming lands of the equator there is a rhythm and romance of historical movement not less significant than in their unexampled defence of fatherland and of the world's liberty against the great despotism of the age. universal monarchy was baffled by the little republic, not within its own populous cities only, or upon its own barren sands. the long combat between freedom and absolutism had now become as wide as the world. the greatest european states had been dragged by the iron chain of necessity into a conflict from which they often struggled to escape, and on every ocean, and on almost every foot of soil, where the footsteps of mankind had as yet been imprinted, the fierce encounters were every day renewed. in the east and the west, throughout that great vague new world, of which geographers had hardly yet made a sketch, which comprised both the americas and something called the east indies, and which spain claimed as her private property, those humbly born and energetic adventurers were rapidly creating a symmetrical system out of most dismal chaos. the king of spain warned all nations from trespassing upon those outlying possessions. his edicts had not however prevented the english in moderate numbers, and the hollanders in steadily increasing swarms, from enlarging and making profitable use of these new domains of the world's commerce. the days were coming when the people was to have more to say than the pope in regard to the disposition and arrangements of certain large districts of this planet. while the world-empire, which still excited so much dismay, was yielding to constant corrosion, another empire, created by well-directed toil and unflinching courage, was steadily rising out of the depths. it has often been thought amazing that the little republic should so long and so triumphantly withstand the enormous forces brought forward for her destruction. it was not, however, so very surprising. foremost among nations, and in advance of the age, the republic had found the strength which comes from the spirit of association. on a wider scale than ever before known, large masses of men, with their pecuniary means, had been intelligently banded together to advance material interests. when it is remembered that, in addition to this force, the whole commonwealth was inspired by the divine influence of liberty, her power will no longer seem so wonderful. a sinister event in the isle of ceylon had opened the series of transactions in the east, and had cast a gloom over the public sentiment at home. the enterprising voyager, sebald de weerdt, one of the famous brotherhood of the invincible lion which had wintered in the straits of magellan, had been murdered through the treachery of the king of candy. his countrymen had not taken vengeance on his assassins. they were perhaps too fearful of losing their growing trade in those lucrative regions to take a becoming stand in that emergency. they were also not as yet sufficiently powerful there. the east india company had sent out in may of this year its third fleet of eleven large ships, besides some smaller vessels, under the general superintendence of matelieff de jonghe, one of the directors. the investments for the voyage amounted to more than nineteen hundred thousand florins. meantime the preceding adventurers under stephen van der hagen, who had sailed at the end of , had been doing much thorough work. a firm league had been made with one of the chief potentates of malabar, enabling them to build forts and establish colonies in perpetual menace of goa, the great oriental capital of the portuguese. the return of the ambassadors sent out from astgen to holland had filled not only the island of sumatra but the moluccas, and all the adjacent regions, with praises of the power, wealth, and high civilization of that distant republic so long depicted by rivals as a nest of uncouth and sanguinary savages. the fleet now proceeded to amboyna, a stronghold of the spanish-portuguese, and the seat of a most lucrative trade. on the arrival of those foreign well-armed ships under the guns of the fortress, the governor sent to demand, with castilian arrogance, who the intruders were, and by whose authority and with what intent they presumed to show themselves in those waters. the reply was that they came in the name and by the authority of their high mightinesses the states-general, and their stadholder the prince of orange; that they were sworn enemies of the king of spain and all his subjects, and that as to their intent, this would soon be made apparent. whereupon, without much more ado, they began a bombardment of the fort, which mounted thirty-six guns. the governor, as often happened in those regions, being less valiant against determined european foes than towards the feebler oriental races on which he had been accustomed to trample, succumbed with hardly an effort at resistance. the castle and town and whole island were surrendered to the fleet, and thenceforth became virtually a colony of the republic with which, nominally, treaties of alliance and defence were, negotiated. thence the fleet, after due possession had been taken of these new domains, sailed partly to bands and partly to two small but most important islands of the moluccas. in that multitude of islands which make up the eastern archipelago there were but five at that period where grew the clove--ternate, tydor, motiel, makian, and bacia. pepper and ginger, even nutmegs, cassia, and mace, were but vulgar drugs, precious as they were already to the world and the world's commerce, compared with this most magnificent spice. it is wonderful to reflect upon the strange composition of man. the world had lived in former ages very comfortably without cloves. but by the beginning of the seventeenth century that odoriferous pistil had been the cause of so many pitched battles and obstinate wars, of so much vituperation, negotiation, and intriguing, that the world's destiny seemed to have almost become dependent upon the growth of a particular gillyflower. out of its sweetness had grown such bitterness among great nations as not torrents of blood could wash away. a commonplace condiment enough it seems to us now, easily to be dispensed with, and not worth purchasing at a thousand human lives or so the cargo, but it was once the great prize to be struggled for by civilized nations. from that fervid earth, warmed from within by volcanic heat, and basking ever beneath the equatorial sun, arose vapours as deadly to human life as the fruits were exciting and delicious to human senses. yet the atmosphere of pestiferous fragrance had attracted, rather than repelled. the poisonous delights of the climate, added to the perpetual and various warfare for its productions, spread a strange fascination around those fatal isles. especially ternate and tydor were objects of unending strife. chinese, malays, persians, arabs, had struggled centuries long for their possession; those races successively or simultaneously ruling these and adjacent portions of the archipelago. the great geographical discoveries at the close of the fifteenth century had however changed the aspect of india and of the world. the portuguese adventurers found two rival kings--in the two precious islands, and by ingeniously protecting one of these potentates and poisoning the other, soon made themselves masters of the field. the clove trade was now entirely in the hands of the strangers from the antipodes. goa became the great mart of the lucrative traffic, and thither came chinese, arabs, moors, and other oriental traders to be supplied from the portuguese monopoly: two-thirds of the spices however found their way directly to europe. naturally enough, the spaniards soon penetrated into these seas, and claimed their portion of the spice trade. they insisted that the coveted islands were included in their portion of the great borgian grant. as there had hardly yet been time to make a trigonometrical survey of an unknown world, so generously divided by the pope, there was no way of settling disputed boundary questions save by apostolic blows. these were exchanged with much earnestness, year after year, between spaniards, portuguese, and all who came in their way. especially the unfortunate natives, and their kings most of all, came in for a full share. at last charles v. sold out his share of the spice islands to his portuguese rival and co-proprietor, for three hundred and fifty thousand ducats. the emperor's very active pursuits caused him to require ready money more than cloves. yet john iii. had made an excellent bargain, and the monopoly thenceforth brought him in at least two hundred thousand ducats annually. goa became more flourishing, the natives more wretched, the portuguese more detested than ever. occasionally one of the royal line of victims would consent to put a diadem upon his head, but the coronation was usually the prelude to a dungeon or death. the treaties of alliance, which these unlucky potentates had formed with their powerful invaders, were, as so often is the case, mere deeds to convey themselves and their subjects into slavery. spain and portugal becoming one, the slender weapon of defence which these weak but subtle orientals sometimes employed with success--the international and commercial jealousy between their two oppressors--was taken away. it was therefore with joy that zaida, who sat on the throne of ternate at the end of the sixteenth century, saw the sails of a dutch fleet arriving in his harbours. very soon negotiations were opened, and the distant republic undertook to protect the mahometan king against his catholic master. the new friendship was founded upon trade monopoly, of course, but at that period at least the islanders were treated with justice and humanity by their republican allies. the dutch undertook to liberate their friends from bondage, while the king of ternate, panting under portuguese oppression, swore to have no traffic, no dealings of any kind, with any other nation than holland; not even with the english. the dutch, they declared, were the liberators of themselves, of their friends, and of the seas. the international hatred, already germinating between england and holland, shot forth in these flaming regions like a tropical plant. it was carefully nurtured and tended by both peoples. freedom of commerce, freedom of the seas, meant that none but the dutch east india company-- so soon as the portuguese and spaniards were driven out--should trade in cloves and nutmegs. decrees to that effect were soon issued, under very heavy penalties, by the states-general to the citizens of the republic and to the world at large. it was natural therefore that the english traders should hail the appearance of the dutch fleets with much less enthusiasm than was shown by the king of ternate. on the other hand, the king of tydor, persisting in his oriental hatred towards the rival potentate in the other island, allowed the portuguese to build additional citadels, and generally to strengthen their positions within his dominions. thus when cornelius sebastian, with his division of ver hagen's fleet, arrived in the moluccas in the summer of , he found plenty of work prepared for him. the peace recently concluded by james with philip and the archdukes placed england in a position of neutrality in the war now waging in the clove islands between spain and the republic's east india company. the english in those regions were not slow to avail themselves of the advantage. the portuguese of tydor received from neutral sympathy a copious supply of powder and of pamphlets. the one explosive material enabled them to make a more effective defence of their citadel against the dutch fleet; the other revealed to the portuguese and their mussulman allies that "the netherlanders could not exist without english protection, that they were the scum of nations, and that if they should get possession of this clove monopoly, their insolence would become intolerable." samples of polite literature such as these, printed but not published, flew about in volleys. it was an age of pamphleteering, and neither the english nor the dutch were behind their contemporaries in the science of attack and self-defence. nevertheless cornelius sebastian was not deterred by paper pellets, nor by the guns of the citadel, from carrying out his purpose. it was arranged with king zaida that the islanders of ternate should make a demonstration against tydor, being set across the strait in dutch vessels. sebastian, however, having little faith in oriental tenacity, entrusted the real work of storming the fortress to his own soldiers and sailors. on a fine morning in may the assault was delivered in magnificent style. the resistance was obstinate; many of the assailants fell, and captain mol, whom we have once before seen as master of the tiger, sinking the galleys of frederic spinola off the gat of sluys, found himself at the head of only seven men within the interior defences of the citadel. a spanish soldier, torre by name, rushed upon him with a spear. avoiding the blow, mol grappled with his antagonist, and both rolled to the ground. a fortunate carbine-shot from one of the dutch captain's comrades went through the spaniard's head. meantime the little band, so insignificant in numbers, was driven out of the citadel. mol fell to the ground with a shattered leg, and reproached his companions, who sought to remove him, for neglecting their work in order to save his life. let them take the fort, he implored them, and when that was done they might find leisure to pick him up if they chose. while he was speaking the principal tower of the fortress blew up, and sixty of the garrison were launched into the air. a well-directed shot had set fire to the magazine. the assault was renewed with fresh numbers, and the dutch were soon masters of the place. never was a stronghold more audaciously or more successfully stormed. the garrison surrendered. the women and children, fearing to be at the mercy of those who had been depicted to them as cannibals, had already made their escape, and were scrambling like squirrels among the volcanic cliffs. famine soon compelled them to come down, however, when they experienced sufficiently kind treatment, but were all deported in dutch vessels to the philippine islands. the conquerors not only spared the life of the king of tydor, but permitted him to retain his crown. at his request the citadel was razed to the ground. it would have been better perhaps to let it stand, and it was possible that in the heart of the vanquished potentate some vengeance was lurking which might bear evil fruit at a later day. meantime the portuguese were driven entirely out of the moluccas, save the island of timos, where they still retained a not very important citadel. the east india company was now in possession of the whole field. the moluccas and the clove trade were its own, and the dutch republic had made manifest to the world that more potent instruments had now been devised for parcelling out the new world than papal decrees, although signed by the immaculate hand of a borgia. during the main operations already sketched in the netherlands, and during those vastly more important oriental movements to which the reader's attention has just been called, a detached event or two deserves notice. twice during the summer campaign of this year du terrail, an enterprising french refugee in the service of the archdukes, had attempted to surprise the important city of bergen-op-zoom. on the st august the intended assault had been discovered in time to prevent any very serious conflict on, either side. on the th september the experiment was renewed at an hour after midnight. du terrail, having arranged the attack at three different points, had succeeded in forcing his way across the moat and through one of the gates. the trumpets of the foremost spaniards already sounded in, the streets. it was pouring with rain; the town was pitch dark. but the energetic paul bax was governor of the place, a man who was awake at any hour of the twenty-four, and who could see in the darkest night. he had already informed himself of the enemy's project, and had strengthened his garrison by a large intermixture of the most trustworthy burgher guards, so that the advance of du terrail at the southern gate was already confronted by a determined band. a fierce battle began in the darkness. meantime paul bax, galloping through the city, had aroused the whole population for the defence. at the steinberg gate, where the chief assault had been prepared, bax had caused great fires of straw and pitch barrels to be lighted, so that the invaders, instead of finding, as they expected, a profound gloom through the streets, saw themselves approaching a brilliantly illuminated city, fully prepared to give their uninvited guests a warm reception. the garrison, the townspeople, even the women, thronged to the ramparts, saluting the spaniards with a rain of bullets, paving-stones, and pitch hoops, and with a storm of gibes and taunts. they were asked why they allowed their cardinal thus to send them to the cattle market, and whether our lady of hall, to whom isabella was so fond of making pilgrimages, did not live rather too far off to be of much use just then to her or to them. catholics and protestants all stood shoulder to shoulder that night to defend their firesides against the foreign foe, while mothers laid their sleeping children on the ground that they might fill their cradles with powder and ball, which they industriously brought to the soldiers. the less energetic women fell upon their knees in the street, and prayed aloud through the anxious night. the attack was splendidly repulsed. as morning dawned the enemy withdrew, leaving one hundred dead outside the walls or in the town, and carrying off thirty-eight wagon loads of wounded. du terrail made no further attempts that summer, although the list of his surprises was not yet full. he was a good engineer, and a daring partisan officer. he was also inspired by an especial animosity to the states-general, who had refused the offer of his services before he made application to the archdukes. at sea there was no very important movement in european waters, save that lambert heinrichzoon, commonly called pretty lambert, a rotterdam skipper, whom we have seen the sea-fights with frederic spinola, of the dunkirk pirate fleet, adrian dirkzoon. it was a desperate fight.--pretty lambent, sustained at a distance by rear-admiral gerbrantzon, laid himself yard-arm to yard-arm alongside the pirate vessel, boarded her, and after beating down all resistance made prisoners such of the crew as remained alive, and carried them into rotterdam. next day they were hanged, to the number of sixty. a small number were pardoned on account of their youth, and a few individuals who effected their escape when led to the gallows, were not pursued. the fact that the townspeople almost connived at the escape of these desperadoes showed that there had been a surfeit of hangings in rotterdam. it is moreover not easy to distinguish with exactness the lines which in those days separated regular sea belligerents, privateers, and pirates from each other. it had been laid down by the archdukes that there was no military law at sea, and that sick soldiers captured on the water should be hanged. accordingly they were hanged. admiral fazardo, of the spanish royal navy, not only captured all the enemy's merchant vessels which came in his way, but hanged, drowned, and burned alive every man found on board. admiral haultain, of the republican navy, had just been occupied in drowning a whole regiment of spanish soldiers, captured in english and german transports. the complaints brought against the english cruisers by the hollanders for capturing and confiscating their vessels, and banging, maiming, and torturing their crews--not only when england was neutral, but even when she was the ally of the republic--had been a standing topic for diplomatic discussion, and almost a standing joke. why, therefore, these dunkirk sea-rovers should not on the same principle be allowed to rush forth from their very convenient den to plunder friend and foe, burn ships, and butcher the sailors at pleasure, seems difficult to understand. to expect from the inhabitants of this robbers' cave-- this "church on the downs"--a code of maritime law so much purer and sterner than the system adopted by the english, the spaniards, and the dutch, was hardly reasonable. certainly the dunkirkers, who were mainly netherlanders--rebels to the republic and partisans of the spanish crown --did their best to destroy the herring fishery and to cut the throats of the fishermen, but perhaps they received the halter more often than other mariners who had quite as thoroughly deserved it. and this at last appeared the prevailing opinion in rotterdam. etext editor's bookmarks: abstinence from unproductive consumption defeated garrison ever deserved more respect from friend or foe his own past triumphs seemed now his greatest enemies hundred thousand men had laid down their lives by her decree john castel, who had stabbed henry iv. looking down upon her struggle with benevolent indifference no retrenchments in his pleasures of women, dogs, and buildings sick soldiers captured on the water should be hanged the small children diminished rapidly in numbers when all was gone, they began to eat each other this ebook was produced by david widger [note: there is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an entire meal of them. d.w.] history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, chapter, xxxviii. military events--aggressive movement of the netherlanders--state of the archdukes provinces--mutiny of the spanish forces--proposed invasion of flanders by the states-general--disembarkation of the troops on the spanish coasts--capture of oudenburg and other places --surprise of nieuport--conduct of the archduke--oudenburg and the other forts re-taken--dilemma of the states' army--attack of the archduke on count ernest's cavalry--panic and total overthrow of the advance-guard of the states' army--battle of nieuport--details of the action--defeat of the spanish army--results of the whole expedition. the effect produced in the republic by the defensive and uneventful campaigning of the year had naturally been depressing. there was murmuring at the vast amount of taxation, especially at the new imposition of one-half per cent. upon all property, and two-and-a-half per cent. on all sales, which seemed to produce so few results. the successful protection of the isle of bommel and the judicious purchase of the two forts of crevecoeur and st. andrew; early in the following year, together with their garrisons, were not military events of the first magnitude, and were hardly enough to efface the mortification felt at the fact that the enemy had been able so lately to construct one of those strongholds within the territory of the commonwealth. it was now secretly determined to attempt an aggressive movement on a considerable scale, and to carry the war once for all into the heart of the obedient provinces. it was from flanders that the spanish armies drew a great portion of their supplies. it was by the forts erected on the coast of flanders in the neighbourhood of ostend that this important possession of the states was rendered nearly valueless. it was by privateers swarming from the ports of flanders, especially from nieuport and dunkirk, that the foreign trade of the republic was crippled, and its intercommunications by river and estuary rendered unsafe. dunkirk was simply a robbers' cave, a station from which an annual tax was levied upon the commerce of the netherlands, almost sufficient, had it been paid to the national treasury instead of to the foreign freebooters, to support the expenses of a considerable army. on the other hand the condition of the archdukes seemed deplorable. never had mutiny existed before in so well-organised and definite a form even in the spanish netherlands. besides those branches of the "italian republic," which had been established in the two fortresses of crevecoeur and st. andrew, and which had already sold themselves to the states, other organisations quite as formidable existed in various other portions of the obedient provinces. especially at diest and thionville the rebellious spaniards and italians were numbered by thousands, all veterans, well armed, fortified in strong cities; and supplying themselves with perfect regularity by contributions levied upon the peasantry, obeying their eletto and other officers with exemplary promptness; and paying no more heed to the edicts or the solicitations of the archduke than if he had been the duke of muscovy. the opportunity seemed tempting to strike a great blow. how could albert and isabella, with an empty exchequer and a mutinous army, hope either to defend their soil from attack or to aim a counter blow at the republic, even if, the republic for a season should be deprived of a portion of its defenders? the reasoning was plausible, the prize tempting. the states-general, who habitually discountenanced rashness, and were wont to impose superfluous restraints upon the valiant but discreet lewis william, and upon the deeply pondering but energetic maurice, were now grown as ardent as they had hitherto been hesitating. in the early days of june it was determined in secret session to organize a great force in holland and zeeland, and to embark suddenly for nieuport, to carry that important position by surprise or assault, and from that basis to redeem dunkirk. the possession of these two cities, besides that of ostend, which had always been retained by the republic, would ensure the complete subjugation of flanders. the trifling force of two thousand men under rivas--all that the archduke then had in that province--and the sconces and earthworks which had been constructed around ostend to impede the movements and obstruct the supplies of the garrison, would be utterly powerless to prevent the consummation of the plan. flanders once subjugated, it would not be long before the spaniards were swept from the obedient netherlands as thoroughly as they had been from the domains of the commonwealth, and all the seventeen provinces, trampling out every vestige of a hated foreign tyranny, would soon take their natural place as states of a free; prosperous, and powerful union. but maurice of nassau did not share the convictions of the states- general. the unwonted ardour of barneveld did not inflame his imagination. he urged that the enterprise was inexcusably rash; that its execution would require the whole army of the states, except the slender garrisons absolutely necessary to protect important places from surprise; that a defeat would not be simply disaster, but annihilation; that retreat without absolute triumph would be impossible, and that amid such circumstances the archduke, in spite of his poverty and the rebellious condition of his troops, would doubtless assemble a sufficient force to dispute with reasonable prospects of victory, this invasion of his territory. sir francis vere, too, was most decidedly opposed to the plan. he pointed out with great clearness its dangerous and possibly fatal character; assuring the staten that, within a fortnight after the expedition had begun, the archduke would follow upon their heels with an army fully able to cope with the best which they could put into the field. but besides this experienced and able campaigner, who so thoroughly shared the opinions of prince maurice, every military man in the provinces of any consideration, was opposed to, the scheme. especially lewis william--than whom no more sagacious military critic or accomplished strategist existed in europe, denounced it with energy and even with indignation. it was, in the opinion of the young stadholder of friesland, to suspend the existence of the whole commonwealth upon a silken thread. even success, he prophesied, would bring no permanent, fruits, while the consequences of an overthrow, were fearful to contemplate. the immediate adherents and most trusted counsellors of william lewis were even more unmeasured in their denunciations than he was himself. "'tis all the work of barneveld and the long-gowns," cried everard van reyd. "we are led into a sack from which there is no extrication. we are marching to the caudine forks." certainly it is no small indication of the vast influence and the indomitable resolution of barneveld that he never faltered in this storm of indignation. the advocate had made up his mind to invade flanders and to capture nieuport; and the decree accordingly went forth, despite all opposition. the states-general were sovereign, and the advocate and the states-general were one. it was also entirely characteristic of maurice that he should submit his judgment on this great emergency to that of olden-barneveld. it was difficult for him to resist the influence of the great intellect to which he had always willingly deferred in affairs of state, and from which; even in military matters, it was hardly possible for him to escape. yet in military matters maurice was a consummate professor, and the advocate in comparison but a school-boy. the ascendency of barneveld was the less wholesome, therefore, and it might have been better had the stadholder manifested more resolution. but maurice had not a resolute character. thorough soldier as he was, he was singularly vacillating, at times almost infirm of purpose, but never before in his career had this want of decision manifested itself in so striking a manner. accordingly the states-general, or in other words john of olden-barneveld proposed to invade flanders, and lay siege, to nieuport. the states- general were sovereign, and maurice bowed to their authority. after the matter had been entirely decided upon the state-council was consulted, and the state-council attempted no opposition to the project. the preparations were made with matchless energy and extraordinary secrecy. lewis william, who meanwhile was to defend the eastern frontier of the republic against any possible attack, sent all the troops that it was possible to spare; but he sent, them with a heavy heart. his forebodings were dismal. it seemed to him that all was about to be staked upon a single cast of the dice. moreover it was painful to him while the terrible game, was playing to be merely a looker on and a prophet of evil from a distance, forbidden to contribute by his personal skill and experience to a fortunate result. hohenlo too was appointed to protect the southern border, and was excluded from, all participation in the great expedition. as to the enemy, such rumors as might came to them from day to day of mysterious military, preparations on the part of the rebels only served to excite suspicion in others directions. the archduke was uneasy in, regard to the rhine and the gueldrian; quarter, but never dreamt of a hostile descent upon the flemish coast. meantime, on the th june maurice of nassau made his appearance at castle rammekens, not far from flushing, at the mouth of the scheld, to superintend the great movement. so large a fleet as was there assembled had never before been seen or heard of in christendom. of war-ships, transports, and flat-bottomed barges there were at least thirteen hundred. many eye-witnesses, who counted however with their imaginations, declared that there were in all at least three thousand vessels, and the statement has been reproduced by grave and trustworthy chroniclers. as the number of troops to be embarked upon the enterprise certainly did not exceed fourteen thousand, this would have been an allowance of one vessel to every five soldiers, besides the army munitions and provisions--a hardly reasonable arrangement. twelve thousand infantry and sixteen hundred cavalry, the consummate flower of the states' army, all well-paid, well-clad, well-armed, well- disciplined veterans, had been collected in this place of rendezvous and were ready to embark. it would be unjust to compare the dimensions of this force and the preparations for ensuring the success of the enterprise with the vast expeditions and gigantic armaments of later times, especially with the tremendous exhibitions of military and naval energy with which our own civil war has made us familiar. maurice was an adept in all that science and art had as yet bequeathed to humanity for the purpose of human' destruction, but the number of his troops was small compared to the mighty hosts which the world since those days has seen embattled. war, as a trade, was then less easily learned. it was a guild in which apprenticeship was difficult, and in which enrolment was usually for life. a little republic of scarce three million souls, which could keep always on foot a regular well-appointed army of twenty-five thousand men and a navy of one or two hundred heavily armed cruisers, was both a marvel and a formidable element in the general polity of the world. the lesson to be derived both in military and political philosophy from the famous campaign of nieuport does not depend for its value on the numbers of the ships or soldiers engaged in the undertaking. otherwise, and had it been merely a military expedition like a thousand others which have been made and forgotten, it would not now deserve more than a momentary attention. but the circumstances were such as to make the issue of the impending battle one of the most important in human history. it was entirely possible that an overwhelming defeat of the republican forces on this foreign expedition would bring with it an absolute destruction of the republic, and place spain once more in possession of the heretic "islands," from which basis she would menace the very existence of england more seriously than she had ever done before. who could measure the consequences to christendom of such a catastrophe? the distance from the place where the fleet and army were assembled to nieuport--the objective point of the enterprise--was but thirty-five miles as the crow flies. and the crow can scarcely fly in a straighter line than that described by the coast along which the ships were to shape their course. and here it is again impossible not to reflect upon the change which physical science has brought over the conduct of human affairs. we have seen in a former chapter a most important embassy sent forth from the states for the purpose of preventing the consummation of a peace between their ally and their enemy. celerity was a vital element in the success of such a mission; for the secret negotiations which it was intended to impede were supposed to be near their termination. yet months were consumed in a journey which in our day would have been accomplished in twenty-four hours. and now in this great military expedition the essential and immediate purpose was to surprise a small town almost within sight from the station at which the army was ready to embark. such a midsummer voyage in this epoch of steam-tugs and transports would require but a few hours. yet two days long the fleet lay at anchor while a gentle breeze blew persistently from the south-west. as there seemed but little hope that the wind would become more favourable, and as the possibility of surprise grew fainter with every day's delay, it was decided to make a landing upon the nearest point of flemish coast placed by circumstances within their reach: count ernest of nassau; with the advance-guard, was accordingly, despatched on the st june to the neighbourhood of the sas-of ghent, where he seized a weakly guarded fort, called philippine, and made thorough preparations, for the arrival of the whole army. on the following day the rest of the troops made their appearance, and in the course of five hours were safely disembarked. the army, which consisted of zeelanders, frisians, hollanders, walloons, germans, english, and scotch, was divided into three corps. the advance was under the command of count ernest, the battalia under that of count george everard solms, while the rear-guard during the march was entrusted to that experienced soldier sir francis vere. besides prince maurice, there were three other members of the house of nassau serving in the expedition--his half-brother frederic henry, then a lad of sixteen, and the two brothers of the frisian stadholder, ernest and lewis gunther, whom lewis william had been so faithfully educating in the arts of peace and war both by precept and example. lewis gunther, still a mere youth, but who had been the first to scale the fort of cadiz, and to plant on its height the orange banner of the murdered rebel, and whose gallantry during the whole expedition had called forth the special commendations of queen elizabeth--expressed in energetic and affectionate terms to his father--now commanded all the cavalry. certainly if the doctrine of primordial selection could ever be accepted among human creatures, the race of nassau at that day might have seemed destined to be chiefs of the netherland soil. old john of nassau, ardent and energetic as ever in the cause of the religious reformation of germany and the liberation of holland, still watched from his retirement the progress of the momentous event. four of his brethren, including the great founder of the republic, had already laid down their lives for the sacred cause. his son philip had already fallen under the banner in the fight of bislich, and three other sons were serving the republic day and night, by sea and land, with sword, and pen, and purse, energetically, conscientiously, and honourably. of the stout hearts and quick intellects on which the safety of the commonwealth then depended, none was more efficient or true than the accomplished soldier and statesman lewis william. thoroughly disapproving of the present invasion of flanders, he was exerting himself, now that it had been decided upon by his sovereigns the states- generals, with the same loyalty as that of maurice, to bring it to a favourable issue, although not personally engaged in the adventure. so soon as the troops had been landed the vessels were sent off as expeditiously as possible, that none might fall into, the enemy's hands; the transports under a strong convoy of war-ships having been directed to proceed as fast as the wind would permit in the direction of nieuport. the march then began. on the rd they advanced a league and halted for the night at assenede. the next day brought them three leagues further, to a place called eckerloo. on the th they marched to male, a distance of three leagues and a half, passing close to the walls of bruges, in which they had indulged faint hopes of exciting an insurrection, but obtained nothing but a feeble cannonade from the fortifications which did no damage except the killing of one muleteer. the next night was passed at jabbeke, four leagues from male, and on the th, after marching another league, they came before the fort of oudenburg. this important post on the road which the army would necessarily traverse in coming from the interior to the coast was easily captured and then strongly garrisoned. maurice with the main army spent the two following days at the fortress, completing his arrangements. solms was sent forward to seize the sconces and redoubts of the enemy around ostend, at breedene, snaaskerk, plassendaal, and other points, and especially to occupy the important fort called st. albert, which was in the downs at about a league from that city. all this work was thoroughly accomplished; little or no resistance having been made to the occupation of these various places. meantime the states-general, who at the special request of maurice were to accompany the expedition in order to observe the progress of events for which they were entirely responsible, and to aid the army when necessary by their advice and co-operation, had assembled to the number of thirteen in ostend. solms having strengthened the garrison of that place then took up his march along the beach to nieuport. during the progress of the army through holland and zeeland towards its place of embarkation there had been nothing but dismal prognostics, with expressions of muttered indignation, wherever the soldiers passed. it seemed to the country people, and to the inhabitants of every town and village, that their defenders were going to certain destruction; that the existence of the commonwealth was hanging by a thread soon to be snapped asunder. as the forces subsequently marched from the sas of ghent towards the flemish coast there was no rising of the people in their favour, and although maurice had issued distinct orders that the peasantry were to be dealt with gently and justly, yet they found neither peasants nor villagers to deal with at all. the whole population on their line of march had betaken themselves to the woods, except the village sexton of jabbeke and his wife, who were too old to run. lurking in the thickets and marshes, the peasants fell upon all stragglers from the army and murdered them without mercy--so difficult is it in times of civil war to make human brains pervious to the light of reason. the stadholder and his soldiers came to liberate their brethren of the same race, and speaking the same language, from abject submission to a foreign despotism. the flemings had but to speak a word, to lift a finger, and all the netherlands, self-governed, would coalesce into one independent confederation of states, strong enough to defy all the despots of europe. alas! the benighted victims of superstition hugged their chains, and preferred the tyranny under which their kindred had been tortured, burned, and buried alive for half-a-century long, to the possibility of a single calvinistic conventicle being opened in any village of obedient flanders. so these excellent children of philip and the pope, whose language was as unintelligible to them as it was to peruvians or iroquois, lay in wait for the men who spoke their own mother tongue, and whose veins were filled with their own blood, and murdered them, as a sacred act of duty. retaliation followed as a matter of course, so that the invasion of flanders, in this early stage of its progress, seemed not likely to call forth very fraternal feelings between the two families of netherlanders. the army was in the main admirably well supplied, but there was a deficiency of drink. the water as they advanced became brackish and intolerably bad, and there was great difficulty in procuring any substitute. at male three cows were given for a pot of beer, and more of that refreshment might have been sold at the same price, had there been any sellers. on the th june maurice marched from oudenburg, intending to strike a point called niewendam--a fort in the neighbourhood of nieuport--and so to march along the walls of that city and take up his position immediately in its front. he found the ground, however, so marshy and impracticable as he advanced, that he was obliged to countermarch, and to spend that night on the downs between forts isabella and st. albert. on the st july he resumed his march, and passing a bridge over a small stream at a place called leffingen, laying down a road as he went with sods and sand, and throwing bridges over streams and swamps, he arrived in the forenoon before nieuport. the, fleet had reached the roadstead the same morning. this was a strong, well-built, and well-fortified little city, situate half-a-league from the sea coast on low, plashy ground. at high water it was a seaport, for a stream or creek of very insignificant dimensions was then sufficiently filled by the tide to admit vessels of considerable burthen. this haven was immediately taken possession of by the stadholder, and two-thirds of his army were thrown across to the western side of the water, the troops remaining on the ostend side being by a change of arrangement now under command of count ernest. thus the army which had come to surprise nieuport had, after accomplishing a distance of nearly forty miles in thirteen days, at last arrived before that place. yet there was no more expeditious or energetic commander in christendom than maurice, nor troops better trained in marching and fighting than his well-disciplined army. it is now necessary to cast a glance towards the interior of flanders, in order to observe how the archduke conducted himself in this emergency. so soon as the news of the landing of the states' army at the port of ghent reached the sovereign's ears, he awoke from the delusion that danger was impending on his eastern border, and lost no time in assembling such troops as could be mustered from far and near to protect the western frontier. especially he despatched messengers well charged with promises, to confer with the authorities of the "italian republic" at diest and thionville. he appealed to them in behalf of the holy catholic religion, he sought to arouse their loyalty to himself and the infanta isabella--daughter of the great and good philip ii., once foremost of earthly potentates, and now eminent among the saints of heaven--by whose fiat he and his wife had now become legitimate sovereigns of all the netherlands. and those mutineers responded with unexpected docility. eight hundred foot soldiers and six hundred cavalry men came forth at the first summons, making but two conditions in addition to the stipulated payment when payment should be possible--that they should be commanded by their own chosen officers, and that they should be placed in the first rank in the impending conflict. the example spread. other detachments of mutineers in various strongholds, scenting the battle from afar, came in with offers to serve in the campaign on similar terms. before the last week of june the archduke had a considerable army on foot. on the th of that month, accompanied by the infanta, he reviewed a force of ten thousand foot and nearly two thousand cavalry in the immediate vicinity of ghent. he addressed them in a few stirring words, reminding them of their duty to the church and to himself, and assuring them--as commanders of every nation and every age are wont to assure their troops at the eve of every engagement--that the cause in which they were going forth to battle was the most sacred and inspiring for which human creatures could possibly lay down their lives. isabella, magnificently attired, and mounted on a white palfrey, galloped along the lines, and likewise made an harangue. she spoke to the soldiers as "her lions," promised them boundless rewards in this world and the next, as the result of the great victory which they were now about to gain over the infidels; while as to their wages, she vowed that, rather than they should remain unpaid, she would sacrifice all her personal effects, even to the plate from which she ate her daily bread, and to the jewels which she wore in her ears. thousands of hoarse voices greeted the eloquence of the archdukes with rude acclamations, while the discharge of arquebus and volleys of cannon testified to the martial ardour with which the troops were inspired; none being more enthusiastic than the late mutineers. the army marched at once, under many experienced leaders--villars, zapena, and avalos among the most conspicuous. the command of the artillery was entrusted to velasco; the marshal-general of the camp was frederic van den berg, in place of the superannuated peter ernest; while the admiral of arragon, francisco de mendoza, "terror of germany and of christendom," a little man with flowing locks, long hooked nose, and a sinister glance from his evil black eyes, was general of the cavalry. the admiral had not displayed very extraordinary genius in his recent campaigning in the rhenish duchies, but his cruelty had certainly been conspicuous. not even alva could have accomplished more murders and other outrages in the same space of time than had been perpetrated by the spanish troops during the infamous winter of - . the assassination of count broeck at his own castle had made more stir than a thousand other homicides of nameless wretches at the same period had done, because the victim had been a man of rank and large possessions, but it now remained to be seen whether mendoza was to gain fresh laurels of any kind in the battle which was probably impending. on the st of july the archduke came before oudenburg. not a soul within that fortress nor in ostend dreamed of an enemy within twenty miles of them, nor had it been supposed possible that a spanish army could take the field for many weeks to come. the states-general at ostend were complacently waiting for the first bulletin from maurice announcing his capture of nieuport and his advance upon dunkirk, according to the program so succinctly drawn up for him, and meantime were holding meetings and drawing up comfortable protocols with great regularity. colonel piron, on his part, who had been left with several companies of veterans to hold oudenburg and the other forts, and to protect the rear of the invading army, was accomplishing that object by permitting a large portion of his force to be absent on foraging parties and general marauding. when the enemy came before oudenburg they met with no resistance. the fort was surrendered at once, and with it fell the lesser sconces of breedene, snaaskerk, and plassendaal--all but the more considerable fort st. albert. the archduke, not thinking it advisable to delay his march by the reduction of this position, and having possession of all the other fortifications around ostend, determined to push forward next morning at daybreak. he had granted favourable terms of surrender to the various garrisons, which, however, did not prevent them from being dearly--every man of them immediately butchered in cold blood. thus were these strong and well-manned redoubts, by which prince maurice had hoped to impede for many days the march of a spanish army--should a spanish army indeed be able to take the field at all--already swept off in an hour. great was the dismay in ostend when colonel piron and a few stragglers brought the heavy news of discomfiture and massacre to the high and mighty states-general in solemn meeting assembled. meanwhile, the states' army before nieuport, not dreaming of any pending interruption to their labours, proceeded in a steady but leisurely manner to invest the city. maurice occupied himself in tracing the lines of encampment and entrenchment, and ordered a permanent bridge to be begun across the narrowest part of the creek, in order that the two parts of his army might not be so dangerously divided from each other as they now were, at high water, by the whole breadth and depth of the harbour. evening came on before much had been accomplished on this first day of the siege. it was scarcely dusk when a messenger, much exhausted and terrified, made his appearance at count ernest's tent. he was a straggler who had made his escape from oudenburg, and he brought the astounding intelligence that the archduke had already possession of that position and of all the other forts. ernest instantly jumped into a boat and had himself rowed, together with the messenger, to the headquarters of prince maurice on the other side of the river. the news was as unexpected as it was alarming. here was the enemy, who was supposed incapable of mischief for weeks to come, already in the field, and planted directly on their communications with ostend. retreat, if retreat were desired, was already impossible, and as to surprising the garrison of nieuport and so obtaining that stronghold as a basis for further aggressive operations, it is very certain that if any man in flanders was more surprised than another at that moment it was prince maurice himself. he was too good a soldier not to see at a glance that if the news brought by the straggler were true, the whole expedition was already a failure, and that, instead of a short siege and an easy victory, a great battle was to be fought upon the sands of nieuport, in which defeat was destruction of the whole army of the republic, and very possibly of the republic itself. the stadholder hesitated. he was prone in great emergencies to hesitate at first, but immovable when his resolution was taken. vere, who was asleep in his tent, was sent for and consulted. most of the generals were inclined to believe that the demonstrations at oudenburg, which had been so successful, were merely a bravado of rivas, the commander of the permanent troops in that district, which were comparatively insignificant in numbers. vere thought otherwise. he maintained that the archduke was already in force within a few hours' march of them, as he had always supposed would be the case. his opinion was not shared by the rest, and he went back to his truckle-bed, feeling that a brief repose was necessary for the heavy work which would soon be upon him. at midnight the englishman was again called from his slumbers. another messenger, sent directly from the states-general at ostend, had made his way to the stadholder. this time there was no possibility of error, for colonel piron had sent the accord with the garrison commanders of the forts which had been so shamefully violated, and which bore the signature of the archduke. it was now perfectly obvious that a pitched battle was to be fought before another sunset, and most anxious were the deliberations in that brief midsummer's night. the dilemma was as grave a one as commander-in- chief had ever to solve in a few hours. a portentous change had come over the prospects of the commonwealth since the arrival of these despatches. but a few hours before, and never had its destiny seemed so secure, its attitude more imposing. the little republic, which spain had been endeavouring forty years long to subjugate, had already swept every spanish soldier out of its territory, had repeatedly carried fire and sword into spain itself, and even into its distant dependencies, and at that moment--after effecting in a masterly manner the landing of a great army in the very face of the man who claimed to be sovereign of all the netherlands, and after marching at ease through the heart of his territory--was preparing a movement, with every prospect of success, which should render the hold of that sovereign on any portion of netherland soil as uncertain and shifting as the sands on which the states army was now encamped. the son of the proscribed and murdered rebel stood at the head of as powerful and well-disciplined an army as had ever been drawn up in line of battle on that blood-stained soil. the daughter of the man who had so long oppressed the provinces might soon be a fugitive from the land over which she had so recently been endowed with perpetual sovereignty. and now in an instant these visions were fading like a mirage. the archduke, whom poverty and mutiny were to render powerless against invasion, was following close up upon the heels of the triumphant army of the stadholder. a decision was immediately necessary. the siege of nieuport was over before it had begun. surprise had failed, assault for the moment was impossible, the manner how best to confront the advancing foe the only question. vere advised that the whole army should at once be concentrated and led without delay against the archduke before he should make further progress. the advice involved an outrageous impossibility, and it seems incredible that it could have been given in good faith; still more amazing that its rejection by maurice should have been bitterly censured. two-thirds of the army lay on the other side of the harbour, and it was high water at about three o'clock. while they were deliberating, the sea was rising, and, so soon as daybreak should make any evolutions possible, they would be utterly prohibited during several hours by the inexorable tide. more time would be consumed by the attempt to construct temporary bridges (for of course little progress had been made in the stone bridge hardly begun) or to make use of boats than in waiting for the falling of the water, and, should the enemy make his appearance while they were engaged in such confusing efforts, the army would be hopelessly lost. maurice, against the express advice of vere, decided to send his cousin ernest, with the main portion of the force established on the right bank of the harbour, in search of the archduke, for the purpose of holding him in check long enough to enable the rest of the army to cross the water when the tide should serve. the enemy, it was now clear, would advance by precisely the path over which the states' army had marched that morning. ernest was accordingly instructed to move with the greatest expedition in order to seize the bridge at leffingen before the archduke should reach the deep, dangerous, and marshy river, over which it was the sole passage to the downs. two thousand infantry, being the scotch regiment of edmonds and the zeelanders of van der noot, four squadrons of dutch cavalry, and two pieces of artillery composed the force with which ernest set forth at a little before dawn on his hazardous but heroic enterprise. with a handful of troops he was to make head against an army, and the youth accepted the task in the cheerful spirit of self-sacrifice which characterized his house. marching as rapidly as the difficult ground would permit, he had the disappointment, on approaching the fatal point at about eight o'clock, to see the bridge at leffingen in the possession of the enemy. maurice had sent off a messenger early that morning with a letter marked post haste (cito, cito) to ostend ordering up some four hundred cavalry-men then stationed in that city under piron and bruges, to move up to the support of ernest, and to destroy the bridge and dams at leffingen before the enemy should arrive. that letter, which might have been so effective, was delivered, as it subsequently appeared, exactly ten days after it was written. the states, of their own authority, had endeavoured to send out those riders towards the scene of action, but it was with great difficulty that they could be got into the saddle at all, and they positively refused to go further than st. albert fort. what course should he now pursue? he had been sent to cut the archduke's road. he had failed. had he remained in his original encampment his force would have been annihilated by the overwhelming numbers of the enemy so soon as they reached the right bank of nieuport haven, while maurice could have only looked hopelessly on from the opposite shore. at least nothing worse than absolute destruction could befal him now. should he accept a combat of six or eight to one the struggle would be hopeless, but the longer it was protracted the better it would be for his main army, engaged at that very moment as he knew in crossing the haven with the ebbing tide. should he retreat, it might be possible for him to escape into fort albert or even ostend, but to do so would be to purchase his own safety and that of his command at the probable sacrifice of the chief army of the republic. ernest hesitated but an instant. coming within carbine-shot of the stream, where he met his cavalry which had been sent forward at full speed, in the vain hope of seizing or destroying the bridge before it should be too late, he took up a position behind a dyke, upon which he placed his two field-pieces, and formed his troops in line of battle exactly across the enemy's path. on the right he placed the regiment of scots. on the left was van der noot's zeeland infantry, garnished with four companies of riders under risoir, which stood near st. mary's church. the passage from the stream to the downs was not more than a hundred yards wide, being skirted on both sides by a swamp. here ernest with his two thousand men awaited the onset of the archduke's army. he was perfectly aware that it was a mere question of time, but he was sure that his preparations must interpose a delay to the advance of the spaniards, should his troops, as he felt confident, behave themselves as they had always done, and that the delay would be of inestimable value to his friends at the haven of nieuport. the archduke paused; for he, too, could not be certain, on observing the resolute front thus presented to him, that he was not about to engage the whole of the states' army. the doubt was but of short duration, however, and the onset was made. ernest's artillery fired four volleys into the advancing battalions with such effect as to stagger them for a moment, but they soon afterwards poured over the dyke in over whelming numbers, easily capturing the cannon. the attack began upon ernest's left, and risoir's cavalry, thinking that they should be cut off from all possibility of retreat into fort st. albert, turned their backs in the most disgraceful manner, without even waiting for the assault. galloping around the infantry on the left they infected the zeelanders with their own cowardice. scarcely a moment passed before van der noot's whole regiment was running away as fast as the troopers, while the scots on the right hesitated not for an instant to follow their example. even before the expected battle had begun, one of those hideous and unaccountable panics which sometimes break out like a moral pestilence to destroy all the virtue of an army, and to sweep away the best-considered schemes of a general, had spread through ernest's entire force. so soon as the demi-cannon had discharged their fourth volley, scots, zeelanders, walloons, pikemen, musketeers, and troopers, possessed by the demon of cowardice, were running like a herd of swine to throw themselves into the sea. had they even kept the line of the downs in the direction of the fort many of them might have saved their lives, although none could have escaped disgrace. but the scots, in an ecstasy of fear, throwing away their arms as they fled, ran through the waters behind the dyke, skimmed over the sands at full speed, and never paused till such as survived the sabre and musket of their swift pursuers had literally drowned themselves in the ocean. almost every man of them was slain or drowned. all the captains--stuart, barclay, murray, kilpatrick, michael, nesbit--with the rest of the company officers, doing their best to rally the fugitives, were killed. the zeelanders, more cautious in the midst of their panic, or perhaps knowing better the nature of the country, were more successful in saving their necks. not more than a hundred and fifty of van der noot's regiment were killed, while such of the cavalry of bruges and piron as had come to the neighbourhood of fort albert, not caring to trust themselves to the shelter of that redoubt, now fled as fast as their horses' legs would carry them, and never pulled bridle till they found themselves in ostend. and so beside themselves with panic were these fugitives, and so virulent was the contagion, that it was difficult to prevent the men who had remained in the fort from joining in the flight towards ostend. many of them indeed threw themselves over the walls and were sabred by the enemy when they might have been safe within the fortifications. had these cavalry companies of bruges and piron been even tolerably self-possessed, had they concentrated themselves in the fort instead of yielding to the delirium which prompted them to participate in their comrades' flight, they would have had it entirely in their power, by making an attack, or even the semblance of an attack, by means of a sudden sally from the fort, to have saved, not the battle indeed, but a large number of lives. but the panic was hopeless and universal, and countless fugitives scrambling by the fort were shot in a leisurely manner by a comparative few of the enemy as easily as the rabbits which swarmed in those sands were often knocked down in multitudes by half-a-dozen sportsmen. and thus a band of patriots, who were not cowards by nature, and who had often played the part of men, had horribly disgraced themselves, and were endangering the very existence of their country, already by mistaken councils brought within the jaws of death. the glory of thermopyla; might have hung for ever over that bridge of leffingen. it was now a pass of infamy, perhaps of fatal disaster. the sands were covered with weapons-sabre, pike, and arquebus--thrown away by almost every soldier as he fled to save the life which after all was sacrificed. the artillery, all the standards and colours, all the baggage and ammunition, every thing was lost. no viler panic, no more complete defeat was ever recorded. such at half-past eight in the morning was that memorable sunday of the nd july, , big with the fate of the dutch republic --the festival of the visitation of the virgin mary, always thought of happy augury for spanish arms. thus began the long expected battle of nieuport. at least a thousand of the choicest troops of the stadholder were slain, while the spanish had hardly lost a man. the archduke had annihilated his enemy, had taken his artillery and thirty flags. in great exultation he despatched a messenger to the infanta at ghent, informing her that he had entirely defeated the advance-guard of the states' army, and that his next bulletin would announce his complete triumph and the utter overthrow of maurice, who had now no means of escape. he stated also that he would very soon send the rebel stadholder himself to her as a prisoner. the infanta, much pleased with the promise, observed to her attendants that she was curious to see how nassau would conduct himself when he should be brought a captive into her presence. as to the catholic troops, they were informed by the archduke that after the complete victory which they were that day to achieve, not a man should be left alive save maurice and his brother frederic henry. these should be spared to grace the conqueror's triumph, but all else should be put to the sword. meantime artillery thundered, bonfires blazed, and bells rang their merriest peals in ghent, bruges, and the other obedient cities as the news of the great victory spread through the land. when the fight was done the archduke called a council of war. it was a grave question whether the army should at once advance in order to complete the destruction of the enemy that day, or pause for an interval that the troops fatigued with hard marching and with the victorious combat in which they just had been engaged, should recover their full strength. that the stadholder was completely in their power was certain. the road to ostend was barred, and nieuport would hold him at bay, now that the relieving army was close upon his heels. all that was necessary in order to annihilate his whole force, was that they should entrench themselves for the night on the road which he must cross. he would then be obliged to assault their works with troops inferior in number to theirs and fatigued by the march. should he remain where he was he would soon be starved into submission, and would be obliged to surrender his whole army. on the other hand, by advancing now, in the intolerable heat of a july sun over the burning and glaring sands, the troops already wearied would arrive on the field of battle utterly exhausted, and would be obliged to attack an enemy freshly and cheerfully awaiting them on ground of his own selection. moreover it was absolutely certain that fort albert would not hold an hour if resolutely assaulted in the midst of the panic of ernest's defeat, and, with its capture, the annihilalation of maurice was certain. meantime the three thousand men under velasco, who had been detached to protect the rear, would arrive to reinforce the archduke's main army, should he pause until the next day. these arguments, which had much logic in them, were strongly urged by zapena, a veteran marshal of the camp who had seen much service, and whose counsels were usually received with deference. but on this occasion commanders and soldiers were hot for following up their victory. they cared nothing for the numbers of their enemy, they cried, "the more infidels the greater glory in destroying them." delay might after all cause the loss of the prize, it was eagerly shouted. the archduke ought to pray that the sun might stand still for him that morning, as for joshua in the vale of ajalon. the foe seeing himself entrapped, with destruction awaiting him, was now skulking towards his ships, which still offered him the means of escape. should they give him time he would profit by their negligence, and next morning when they reached nieuport, the birds would be flown. especially the leaders of the mutineers of diest and thionville were hoarse with indignation at the proposed delay. they had not left their brethren, they shouted, nor rallied to the archduke's banner in order to sit down and dig in the sand like ploughmen. there was triumph for the holy church, there was the utter overthrow of the heretic army, there was rich booty to be gathered, all these things were within their reach if they now advanced and smote the rebels while, confused and panic-stricken, they were endeavouring to embark in their ships. while these vehement debates were at the hottest, sails were descried in the offing; for the archduke's forces already stood upon the edge of the downs. first one ship, then another and another, moved steadily along the coast, returning from nieuport in the direction of ostend. this was more than could be borne. it was obvious that the rebels were already making their escape, and it was urged upon the cardinal that probably prince maurice and the other chieftains were on board one of those very vessels, and were giving him the slip. with great expedition it would still be possible to overtake them before the main body could embark, and the attack might yet be made at the most favourable moment. those white sails gleaming in the distance were more eloquent than zapena or any other advocate of delay, and the order was given to advance. and it was exactly at this period that it still lay within the power of the states' cavalry at ostend to partially redeem their character, and to render very effective service. had four or five hundred resolute troopers hung upon the rear of the spanish army now, as it moved toward nieuport, they might, by judiciously skirmishing, advancing and retreating according to circumstances, have caused much confusion, and certainly have so harassed the archduke as to compel the detachment of a very considerable force of his own cavalry to protect himself against such assaults. but the terror was an enduring one. those horsemen remained paralyzed and helpless, and it was impossible for the states, with all their commands or entreaties, to induce them to mount and ride even a half mile beyond the city gates. while these events had been occurring in the neighbourhood of ostend, maurice had not been idle at nieuport. no sooner had ernest been despatched on his desperate errand than his brother lewis gunther was ordered by the stadholder to get on horseback and ride through the quarters of the army. on the previous afternoon there had been so little thought of an enemy that large foraging parties had gone out from camp in all directions, and had not returned. lewis gave notice that a great battle was to be expected on the morrow, instead of the tranquil commencement of a leisurely siege, and that therefore no soul was henceforth to leave the camp, while a troop of horse was despatched at the first gleam of daylight to scour the country in search of all the stragglers. maurice had no thought of retreating, and his first care was to bring his army across the haven. the arrangements were soon completed, but it was necessary to wait until nearly low water. soon after eight o'clock count lewis began to cross with eight squadrons of cavalry, and partly swimming, partly wading, effected the passage in safety. the advanced guard of infantry, under sir francis vere-- consisting of two thousand six hundred englishmen, and two thousand eight hundred frisians, with some companies of horse, followed by the battalia under solms, and the rearguard under tempel--then slowly and with difficulty moved along the same dangerous path with the water as high as their armpits, and often rising nearly over their heads. had the archduke not been detained near the bridge of leffingen by ernest's scotchmen and zeelanders during three or four precious hours that morning; had he arrived, as he otherwise might have done, just as the states' army--horse, foot, and artillery--was floundering through that treacherous tide, it would have fared ill for the stadholder and the republic. but the devotion of ernest had at least prevented the attack of the archduke until maurice and his men stood on dry land. dripping from head to foot, but safe and sound, the army had at last reached the beach at nieuport. vere had refused his soldiers permission to denude themselves in crossing of their shoes and lower garments. there was no time for that, he said, and they would either earn new clothes for themselves that day, or never need doublet and hose again any more in the world. some hours had elapsed before the tedious and difficult crossing of infantry, cavalry, artillery, and munition trains had been accomplished. lewis gunther, with eight squadrons of picked cavalry, including his own company, maurice's own, frederic henry's own, with batenburg's arquebus- men, and other veterans, was first to place himself in battle order on the beach. his squadrons in iron corslet and morion, and armed with lances, carbines, and sabres, stretched across from the water to the downs. he had not been long stationed there when he observed that far away in the direction of ostend the beach was growing black with troops. he believed them at first to be his brother ernest and his forces returning victorious from their hazardous expedition, but he was soon undeceived. a couple of troopers from ostend came spurring full gallop along the strand, and almost breathless with dismay, announced that it was the whole army of the archduke advancing in line of battle. they were instantly sent to the rear, without being allowed to speak further, in order that they might deliver their message in private to the commander- in-chief. and most terrible were the tidings to which maurice now listened in very secret audience. ernest was utterly defeated, his command cut to pieces, the triumphant foe advancing rapidly, and already in full sight. the stadholder heard the tale without flinching, and having quietly ordered the messengers upon their lives not to open their lips on the subject to living soul, sent them securely guarded in a boat on board one of the war-ships in the offing. with perfect cheerfulness he then continued his preparations, consulting with vere, on whom he mainly relied for the marshalling of the army in the coming conflict. undecided as he had sometimes shown himself, he was resolute now. he called no council of war, for he knew not how much might be known or suspected of the disaster already sustained, and he had fully made up his mind as to the course to be pursued. he had indeed taken a supreme resolution. entirely out of his own breast, without advising with any man, he calmly gave directions that every war-ship, transport, barge, or wherry should put to sea at once. as the tide had now been long on the flood, the few vessels that had been aground--within the harbour were got afloat, and the whole vast, almost innumerable armada, was soon standing out to sea. no more heroic decision was ever taken by fighting man. sir francis gave advice that entrenchments should be thrown up on the north-east, and that instead of advancing towards the enemy they should await his coming, and refuse the battle that day if possible. the englishman, not aware of the catastrophe at leffingen, which maurice had locked up in his own breast, was now informed by the stadholder that there were to be no entrenchments that day but those of pike and arquebus. it was not the fault of maurice that the fate of the commonwealth had been suspended on a silken thread that morning, but he knew that but one of two issues was possible. they must fight their way through the enemy back to ostend, or perish, every man of them. the possibility of surrender did not enter his mind, and he felt that it was better to hasten the action before the news of ernest's disaster should arrive to chill the ardour of the troops. meantime lewis gunther and his cavalry had been sitting motionless upon their horses on the beach. the enemy was already in full view, and the young general, most desirous to engage in a preliminary skirmish, sent repeated messages to the stadholder for permission to advance. presently sir francis vere rode to the front, to whom he eagerly urged his request that the infantry of the vanguard might be, brought up at once to support him. on the contrary the english general advised that the cavalry should fall back to the infantry, in order to avoid a premature movement. lewis strongly objected to this arrangement, on the ground that the mere semblance of retreat, thus upon the eve of battle, would discourage all the troops. but he was over-ruled, for maurice had expressly enjoined upon his cousin that morning to defer in all things to the orders of vere. these eight squadrons of horse accordingly shifted their position, and were now placed close to the edge of the sea, on the left flank of the vanguard, which vere had drawn up across the beach and in the downs. on the edge of the downs, on the narrow slip of hard sand above high- water mark, and on vere's right, maurice had placed a battery of six demi-cannon. behind the advance was the battalia, or centre, under command of that famous fighter, george everard solms, consisting of germans, swiss, french, and walloons. the "new beggars," as the walloons were called, who had so recently surrendered the forts of crevecoeur and st. andrew, and gone over from the archduke's service to the army of the states, were included in this division, and were as eager to do credit to their new chief as were the mutineers in the archduke's army to merit the approbation of their sovereign. the rearguard under tempel was made up, like the other divisions, of the blended nationalities of german, briton, hollander, and walloon, and, like the others, was garnished at each flank with heavy cavalry. the spanish army, after coming nearly within cannon-shot of their adversary, paused. it was plain that the states' troops were not in so great a panic as the more sanguine advisers of the archduke had hoped. they were not cowering among the shipping, preparing to escape. still less had any portion of them already effected their retreat in those vessels, a few of which had so excited the enemy's ardour when they came in sight. it was obvious that a great struggle, in which the forces were very evenly balanced, was now to be fought out upon those sands. it was a splendid tournament--a great duel for life and death between the champions of the papacy and of protestantism, of the republic and of absolutism, that was to be fought out that midsummer's day. the lists were closed. the trumpet signal for the fray would soon be blown. the archduke, in milanese armour, on a wonderfully beautiful snow-white spanish stallion, moved in the centre of his army. he wore no helmet, that his men might the more readily recognize him as he rode gallantly to and fro, marshalling, encouraging, exhorting the troops. never before had he manifested such decided military talent, combined with unquestionable personal valour, as he had done since this campaign began. friend and foe agreed that day that albert fought like a lion. he was at first well seconded by mendoza, who led the van, and by villars, la bourlotte, avalos, zapena, and many other officers of note. the mutinous spanish and italian cavalry, combined with a few choice squadrons of walloon and german horse, were placed in front and on the flanks. they were under the special supervision of the admiral, who marshalled their squadrons and directed their charging, although mounted on a hackney himself, and not intending to participate in the action. then came the battalia and rear, crowding very closely upon each other. face to face with them stood the republican host, drawn up in great solid squares of infantry, their standards waving above each closely planted clump of pikemen, with the musketeers fringing their skirts, while the iron-clad ponderous cavalry of count lewis and marcellus bax, in black casque and, corslet, were in front, restlessly expecting the signal for the onset. the volunteers of high rank who were then serving on the staff of the stadholder--the duke of holstein, the prince of anhalt, two young counts solms, and others--had been invited and even urged to abandon the field while there was yet time for setting them on board the fleet. especially it was thought desirable that young frederic henry, a mere boy, on whom the hopes of the orange-nassau house would rest if maurice fell in the conflict, should be spared the fate which seemed hanging over the commonwealth and her defenders. but the son of william the silent implored his brother with clasped hands not to send him from his side at that moment, so that maurice granted his prayer, and caused him to be provided with a complete suit of armour. thus in company with young coligny--a lad of his own age, and like himself a grandson of the great admiral--the youth who was one day to play so noble a part on the stage of the world's affairs was now to be engaged in his first great passage of arms. no one left the field but sir robert sidney, who had come over from ostend, from irrepressible curiosity to witness the arrangements, but who would obviously have been guilty of unpardonable negligence had he been absent at such a crisis from the important post of which he was governor for the queen. the arena of the conflict seemed elaborately prepared by the hand of nature. the hard, level, sandy beach, swept clean and smooth by the ceaseless action of the tides, stretched out far as the eye could reach in one long, bold, monotonous line. like the whole coast of flanders and of holland, it seemed drawn by a geometrical rule, not a cape, cove, or estuary breaking the perfect straightness of the design. on the right, just beyond high-water mark, the downs, fantastically heaped together like a mimic mountain chain, or like tempestuous ocean-waves suddenly changed to sand, rolled wild and confused, but still in a regularly parallel course with the line of the beach. they seemed a barrier thrown up to protect the land from being bitten quite away by the ever-restless and encroaching sea. beyond the downs, which were seven hundred yards in width; extended a level tract of those green fertile meadows, artificially drained, which are so characteristic a feature of the netherland landscapes, the stream which ran from ostend towards the town of nieuport flowing sluggishly through them. it was a bright warm midsummer day. the waves of the german ocean came lazily rolling in upon the crisp yellow sand, the surf breaking with its monotonous music at the very feet of the armies. a gentle south-west breeze was blowing, just filling the sails of more than a thousand ships in the offing, which moved languidly along the sparkling sea. it was an atmosphere better befitting a tranquil holiday than the scene of carnage which seemed approaching. maurice of nassau, in complete armour, rapier in hand, with the orange- plumes waving from his helmet and the orange-scarf across his breast, rode through the lines, briefly addressing his soldiers with martial energy. pointing to the harbour of nieuport behind them, now again impassable with the flood, to the ocean on the left where rode the fleet, carrying with it all hope of escape by sea, and to the army of the archduke in front, almost within cannon-range, he simply observed that they had no possible choice between victory and death. they must either utterly overthrow the spanish army, he said, or drink all the waters of the sea. either drowning or butchery was their doom if they were conquered, for no quarter was to be expected from their unscrupulous and insolent foe. he was there to share their fate, to conquer or to perish with them, and from their tried valour and from the god of battles he hoped a more magnificent victory than had ever before been achieved in this almost perpetual war for independence. the troops, perfectly enthusiastic, replied with a shout that they were ready to live or die with their chieftain, and eagerly demanded to be led upon the foe. whether from hope or from desperation they were confident and cheerful. some doubt was felt as to the walloons, who had so lately transferred themselves from the archduke's army, but their commander, marquette, made them all lift up their hands, and swear solemnly to live or die that day at the feet of prince maurice. two hours long these two armies had stood looking each other in the face. it was near two o'clock when the arch duke at last gave the signal to advance. the tide was again almost at the full. maurice stood firm, awaiting the assault; the enemy slowly coming nearer, and the rising tide as steadily lapping away all that was left of the hard beach which fringed the rugged downs. count lewis chafed with impatience as it became each moment more evident that there would be no beach left for cavalry fighting, while in the downs the manoeuvring of horse was entirely impossible. meantime, by command of vere, all those sandy hillocks and steeps had been thickly sown with musketeers and pikemen. arquebus-men and carabineers were planted in every hollow, while on the highest and most advantageous elevation two pieces of cannon had been placed by the express direction of maurice. it seemed obvious that the battle would, after all, be transferred to the downs. not long before the action began, a private of the enemy's cavalry was taken, apparently with his own consent, in a very trifling preliminary skirmish. he bragged loudly of the immense force of the archduke, of the great victory already gained over ernest, with the utter annihilation of his forces, and of the impending destruction of the whole states' army. strange to say, this was the first intimation received by count lewis of that grave disaster, although it had been for some hours known to maurice. the prisoner was at once gagged, that he might spread his disheartening news no further, but as he persisted by signs and gestures in attempting to convey the information which he had evidently been sent forward to impart, he was shot by command of the stadholder, and so told no further tales. the enemy had now come very close, and it was the desire of count lewis that a couple of companies of horse, in accordance with the commands of maurice, should charge the cavalry in front, and that after a brief skirmish they should retreat as if panic-stricken behind the advance column, thus decoying the spanish vanguard in hot pursuit towards the battery upon the edge of the downs. the cannon were then suddenly to open upon them, and during the confusion sure to be created in their ranks, the musketeers, ambushed among the hollows, were to attack them in flank, while the cavalry in one mass should then make a concentrated charge in front. it seemed certain that the effect of this movement would be to hurl the whole of the enemy's advance, horse and foot, back upon his battalia, and thus to break up his army in irretrievable rout. the plan was a sensible one, but it was not ingeniously executed. before the handful of cavalry had time to make the proposed feint the cannoneers, being unduly excited, and by express command of sir francis vere, fired a volley into the advancing columns of the archduke. this precipitated the action; almost in an instant changed its whole character, and defeated the original plan of the republican leader. the enemy's cavalry broke at the first discharge from the battery, and wheeled in considerable disorder, but without panic, quite into and across the downs. the whole army of the archduke, which had already been veering in the same direction, as it advanced, both because the tide was so steadily devouring the even surface of the sands, and because the position of a large portion of the states' forces among the hillocks exposed him to an attack in flank, was now rapidly transferred to the downs. it was necessary for that portion of maurice's army which still stood on what remained of the beach to follow this movement. a rapid change of front was then undertaken, and--thanks to the careful system of wheeling, marching, and counter-marching in which the army had been educated by william lewis and maurice--was executed with less confusion than might have been expected. but very few companies of infantry now remained on the strip of beach still bare of the waves, and in the immediate vicinity of the artillery planted high and dry beyond their reach. the scene was transformed as if by magic, and the battle was now to be fought out in those shifting, uneven hills and hollows, where every soldier stood mid-leg deep in the dry and burning sand. fortunately for the states' army, the wind was in its back, blowing both sand and smoke into the faces of its antagonists, while the already weltering sun glared fiercely in their eyes. maurice had skilfully made use of the great advantage which accident had given him that day, and his very refusal to advance and to bring on a premature struggle thus stood him in stead in a variety of ways lewis gunther was now ordered, with marcellus bax and six squadrons of horse, to take position within the belt of pasture land on the right of the downs. when he arrived there the van of the archduke's infantry had already charged the states' advance under vere, while just behind and on the side of the musketeers and pikemen a large portion of the enemy's cavalry was standing stock still on the green. without waiting for instructions lewis ordered a charge. it was brilliantly successful. unheeding a warm salutation in flank from the musketeers as they rode by them, and notwithstanding that they were obliged to take several ditches as they charged, they routed the enemy's cavalry at the first onset, and drove them into panic-stricken flight. some fled for protection quite to the rear of their infantry, others were hotly pursued across the meadows till they took refuge under the walls of nieuport. the very success of the attack was nearly fatal however to count lewis; for, unable to restrain the ardour of his troopers in the chase, he found himself cut off from the army with only ten horsemen to support him, and completely enveloped by the enemy. fortunately prince maurice had foreseen the danger, and had ordered all the cavalry to the meadows so soon as the charge was made. captain kloet, with a fresh company of mounted carabineers, marked the little squad of states' cavalry careering about in the midst of the catholics, recognized their leader by the orange-plumes on his calque, and dashed forward to the rescue. lewis again found himself at the head of his cavalry, but was obliged to wait a long time for the return of the stragglers. while this brilliant diversion had been enacting as it were on the fringe of the battle, its real bustle and business had been going on in the downs. just as lewis made his charge in the pastures, the infantry of the archduke and the advance guard of the republicans met in deadly shock. more than an hour long they contended with varying success. musketeers, pikemen, arquebusmen, swordmen, charged, sabred, or shot each other from the various hollows or heights of vantage, plunging knee-deep in the sand, torn and impeded by the prickly broom-plant which grew profusely over the whole surface, and fighting breast to breast and hand to hand in a vast series of individual encounters. thrice were the spaniards repulsed in what for a moment seemed absolute rout, thrice they rallied and drove their assailants at push of pike far beyond their original position; and again the conquered republicans recovered their energy and smote their adversaries as if the contest were just begun. the tide of battle ebbed and flowed like the waves of the sea, but it would be mere pedantry to affect any technical explanation of its various changes. it was a hot struggle of twenty thousand men, pent up in a narrow space, where the very nature of the ground had made artistic evolutions nearly impracticable. the advance, the battalia, even the rearguard on both sides were mixed together pell-mell, and the downs were soon covered at every step with the dead and dying-briton, hollander, spaniard, italian, frisian, frenchman, walloon, fighting and falling together, and hotly contesting every inch of those barren sands. it seemed, said one who fought there, as if the last day of the world had come. political and religious hatred, pride of race, remembrance of a half- century of wrongs, hope, fury, and despair; these were the real elements contending with each other that summer's day. it was a mere trial of ferocity and endurance, not more scientific than a fight between packs of wolves and of bloodhounds. no doubt the brunt of the conflict fell upon vere, with his englishmen and frisians, for this advance-guard made up nearly one-half of the states' army actually engaged. and most nobly, indefatigably, did the hardy veteran discharge his duty. having personally superintended almost all the arrangements in the morning, he fought all day in the front, doing the work both of a field-marshal and a corporal. he was twice wounded, shot each time through the same leg, yet still fought on as if it were some one else's blood and not his own that was flowing from "those four holes in his flesh." he complained that he was not sufficiently seconded, and that the reserves were not brought up rapidly enough to his support. he was manifestly unjust, for although it could not be doubted that the english and the frisians did their best, it was equally certain that every part of the army was as staunch as the vanguard. it may be safely asserted that it would not have benefited the cause of the states, had every man been thrown into the fight at one and the same moment. during this "bloody bit," as vere called it, between the infantry on both sides, the little battery of two field-pieces planted on the highest hillock of the downs had been very effective. meantime, while the desperate and decisive struggle had been going on, lewis gunther, in the meadow, had again rallied all the cavalry, which, at the first stage of the action, had been dispersed in pursuit of the enemy's horse. gathering them together in a mass, he besought prince maurice to order him to charge. the stadholder bade him pause yet a little longer. the aspect of the infantry fight was not yet, in his opinion, sufficiently favourable. again and again lewis sent fresh entreaties, and at last received the desired permission. placing three picked squadrons in front, the young general made a furious assault upon the catholic cavalry, which had again rallied and was drawn up very close to the musketeers. fortune was not so kind to him as at the earlier stage of the combat. the charge was received with dauntless front by the spanish and italian horse, while at the same moment the infantry poured a severe fire into their assailants. the advancing squadrons faltered, wheeled back upon the companies following them, and the whole mass of the republican cavalry broke into wild and disorderly retreat. at the same moment the archduke, observing his advantage, threw in his last reserves of infantry, and again there was a desperate charge upon vere's wearied troops, as decisive as the counter charge of lewis's cavalry had been unsuccessful. the english and frisians, sorely tried during those hours of fighting with superior numbers in the intolerable heat, broke at last and turned their backs upon the foe. some of them fled panic-stricken quite across the downs and threw themselves into the sea, but the mass retreated in a comparatively orderly manner, being driven from one down to another, and seeking a last refuge behind the battery placed on the high-water line of the beach. in the confusion and panic sir francis vere went down at last. his horse, killed by a stray shot fell with and upon him, and the heroic englishman would then and there have finished his career--for he would hardly have found quarter from the spaniards-- had not sir robert drury, riding by in the tumult, observed him as he lay almost exhausted in the sand. by his exertion and that of his servant higham, vere was rescued from his perilous situation, placed on the crupper of sir robert's horse, and so borne off the field. the current of the retreating and pursuing hosts swept by the spot where maurice sat on horseback, watching and directing the battle. his bravest and best general, the veteran vere, had fallen; his cousin lewis was now as utterly overthrown as his brother ernest had been but a few hours before at the fatal bridge of leffingen; the whole army, the only army, of the states was defeated, broken, panic-struck; the spanish shouts of victory rang on every side. plainly the day was lost, and with it the republic. in the blackest hour that the netherland commonwealth had ever known, the fortitude of the stadholder did not desert him. immoveable as a rock in the torrent he stemmed the flight of his troops. three squadrons of reserved cavalry, balen's own, vere's own, and cecil's, were all that was left him, and at the head of these he essayed an advance. he seemed the only man on the field not frightened; and menacing, conjuring, persuading the fugitives for the love of fatherland, of himself and his house, of their own honour, not to disgrace and destroy themselves for ever; urging that all was not yet lost, and beseeching them at least to take despair for their master, and rather to die like men on the field than to drown like dogs in the sea, he succeeded in rallying a portion of those nearest him. the enemy paused in their mad pursuit, impressed even more than were the states' troops at the dauntless bearing of the prince. it was one of those supreme moments in battle and in history which are sometimes permitted to influence the course of events during a long future. the archduke and his generals committed a grave error in pausing for an instant in their career. very soon it was too late to repair the fault, for the quick and correct eye of the stadholder saw the point to which the whole battle was tending, and he threw his handful of reserved cavalry, with such of the fugitives as had rallied, straight towards the battery on the beach. it was arranged that balen should charge on the strand, horace vere through the upper downs, and cecil along the margin of the beach. balen rode slowly through the heavy sand, keeping his horses well in wind, and at the moment he touched the beach, rushed with fury upon the enemy's foot near the battery. the moment was most opportune, for the last shot had been fired from the guns, and they had just been nearly abandoned in despair. the onset of balen was successful: the spanish infantry, thus suddenly attached, were broken, and many were killed and taken. cecil and vere were equally fortunate, so that the retreating english and frisians began to hold firm again. it was the very crisis of the battle, which up to that instant seemed wholly lost by the republic, so universal was the overthrow and the flight. some hundred and fifty frisian pikemen now rallied from their sullen retreat, and drove the enemy off one hillock or dune. foiled in their attempt to intercept the backward movement of the states' army and to seize this vital point and the artillery with it, the spaniards hesitated and were somewhat discouraged. some zeeland sailors, who had stuck like wax to those demi-cannon during the whole conflict, now promptly obeyed orders to open yet once more upon the victorious foe. at the first volley the spaniards were staggered, and the sailors with a lively shout of "ian-fall on," inspired the defeated army with a portion of their own cheerfulness. others vehemently shouted victory without any reason whatever. at that instant maurice ordered a last charge by those few cavalry squadrons, while the enemy was faltering under the play of the artillery. it was a forlorn hope, yet such was the shifting fortune of that memorable day that the charge decided the battle. the whole line of the enemy broke, the conquered became the victors, the fugitives quickly rallying and shouting victory almost before they had turned their faces to the foe, became in their turn the pursuers. the catholic army could no longer be brought to a stand, but fled wildly in every direction, and were shot and stabbed by the republicans as they fled. the admiral of arragon fell with his hackney in this last charge. unwounded, but struggling to extricate himself from his horse that had been killed, he was quickly surrounded by the enemy. two spaniards, mendo and villalobos by name, who had recently deserted to the states, came up at the moment and recognised the fallen admiral. they had reason to recognise him, for both had been in his service, and one of them, who was once in immediate household attendance upon him, bore the mark of a wound which he had received from his insolent master. "admiral, look at this," cried villalobos, pointing to the scar on his face. the admiral looked and knew his old servants, and gave his scarf to the one and the hanger of his sword-belt to the other, as tokens that he was their prisoner. thus his life was saved for heavy ransom, of which those who had actually captured him would receive a very trifling portion. the great prisoner was carried to the rear, where he immediately asked for food and drink, and fell to with an appetite, while the pursuit and slaughter went on in all directions. the archduke, too, whose personal conduct throughout the day was admirable, had been slightly wounded by a halberd stroke on the ear. this was at an earlier stage of the action, and he had subsequently mounted another horse, exchanged his splendid armour for a plain black harness, over which he wore a shabby scarf. in the confusion of the rout he was hard beset. "surrender, scoundrel!" cried a walloon pikeman, seizing his horse by the bridle. but a certain flemish captain kabbeljaw recognising his sovereign and rushing to his rescue, slew his assailant and four others with his own hand. he was at last himself killed, but albert escaped, and, accompanied by the duke of aumale, who was also slightly wounded, by colonel la bourlotte, and half a dozen troopers rode for their life in the direction of bruges. when they reached the fatal bridge of leffingen, over which the archduke had marched so triumphantly but a few hours before to annihilate count ernest's division, he was nearly taken prisoner. a few soldiers, collected from the scattered garrisons, had occupied the position, but knowing nothing of the result of the action in the downs, took to their heels and fled as the little party of cavaliers advanced. had the commander at ostend or the states- general promptly sent out a company or two so soon as the news of the victory reached them to seize this vital point, the doom of the archduke would have been sealed. nothing then could have saved him from capture. fortunately escaping this danger, he now pushed on, and never pulled bridle till he reached bruges. thence without pausing he was conveyed to ghent, where he presented himself to the infanta. he was not accompanied by the captive maurice of nassau, and the curiosity of the princess to know how that warrior would demean himself as a prisoner was not destined on this occasion to be gratified. isabella bore the disappointment and the bitter intelligence of the defeat with a stoicism worthy of her departed father. she had already had intimations that the day was going against her army, and had successively received tidings that her husband was killed, was dangerously wounded, was a prisoner; and she was now almost relieved to receive him, utterly defeated, but still safe and sound. meantime the mad chase continued along the beach and through the downs. never was a rout more absolute than that of albert's army. never had so brilliant a victory been achieved by hollander or spaniard upon that great battleground of europe--the netherlands. maurice, to whom the chief credit of the victory was unquestionably due, had been firm and impassive during the various aspects of the battle, never losing his self-command when affairs seemed blackest. so soon, however, as the triumph, after wavering so long, was decided in his favour--the veteran legions of spain and italy, the picked troops of christendom, all flying at last before his troops--the stadholder was fairly melted. dismounting from his horse, he threw himself on his knees in the sand, and with streaming eyes and uplifted hands exclaimed, "o god, what are we human creatures to whom thou hast brought such honour, and to whom thou hast vouchsafed such a victory!" the slaughter went on until nightfall, but the wearied conquerors were then obliged to desist from the pursuit. three thousand spaniards were slain and about six hundred prisoners were taken. the loss of the states' army; including the affair in the morning at leffingen, was about two thousand killed. maurice was censured for not following up his victory more closely, but the criticism seems unjust. the night which followed the warm summer's day was singularly black and cloudy, the army was exhausted, the distance for the enemy to traverse before they found themselves safe within their own territory was not great. in such circumstances the stadholder might well deem himself sufficiently triumphant to have plucked a splendid victory out of the very jaws of death. all the artillery of the archduke--seven pieces besides the two captured from ernest in the morning--one hundred and twenty standards, and a long list of distinguished prisoners, including the admiral zapena and many other officers of note, were the trophies of the conqueror. maurice passed the night on the battle-field; the admiral supping with him in his tent. next morning he went to ostend, where a great thanksgiving was held, uytenbogart preaching an eloquent sermon on the th psalm. afterwards there was a dinner at the house of the states- general, in honour of the stadholder, to which the admiral of arragon was likewise bidden. that arrogant but discomfited personage was obliged to listen to many a rough martial joke at his disaster as they sat at table, but he bore the brunt of the encounter with much fortitude. "monsieur the admiral of arragon," said the stadholder in french, "is more fortunate than many of his army. he has been desiring these four years to see holland. now he will make his entrance there without striking a blow." the gibe was perhaps deficient in delicacy towards a fallen foe, but a man who had passed a whole winter in murdering his prisoners in cold blood might be satisfied if he were stung only by a sharp sarcasm or two, when he had himself become a captive. others asked him demurely what he thought of these awkward apprentices of holland and zeeland, who were good enough at fighting behind dykes and ramparts of cities, but who never ventured to face a spanish army in the open field. mendoza sustained himself with equanimity however, and found plenty of answers. he discussed the battle with coolness, blamed the archduke for throwing the whole of his force prematurely into the contest, and applauded the prudence of maurice in keeping his reserves in hand. he ascribed a great share of the result to the states' artillery, which had been well placed upon wooden platforms and well served, while the archduke's cannon, sinking in the sands, had been of comparatively little use. especially he expressed a warm admiration for the heroism of maurice in sending away his ships, and in thus leaving himself and his soldiers no alternative but death or triumph. while they still sat at table many of the standards taken from the enemy were brought in and exhibited; the stadholder and others amusing themselves with reading the inscriptions and devices emblazoned upon them. and thus on the nd july, , the army of the states-general, led by maurice of nassau, had utterly defeated albert of austria. ["enfin l'affaire vint auix mains et fut combattu bien furieusement de deux costes l'espace de deux heures. enfin dieu par sa grace voulut que la victoire demeura de more coste." such were the simple words in which maurice announced to his cousin lewis william his victory in the most important battle that had been fought for half a century. not even general ulysses grant could be more modest in the hour of immense triumph.] strange to say--on another nd july, three centuries and two years before, a former albert of austria had overthrown the emperor adolphus of nassau, who had then lost both crown and life in the memorable battle of worms. the imperial shade of maurice's ancestor had been signally appeased. in ostend, as may well be imagined, ineffable joy had succeeded to the horrible gloom in which the day had been passed, ever since the tidings had been received of ernest's overthrow. those very cavalry men, who had remained all day cowering behind the walls of the city, seeing by the clouds of dust which marked the track of the fugitives that the battle had been won by the comrades whom they had so basely deserted in the morning, had been eager enough to join in the pursuit. it was with difficulty that the states, who had been unable to drive them out of the town while the fight was impending or going on, could keep enough of them within the walls to guard the city against possible accident, now that the work was done. even had they taken the field a few hours earlier, without participating in the action, or risking their own lives, they might have secured the pass of leffingen, and made the capture of the archduke or his destruction inevitable. the city, which had seemed deserted, swarmed with the garrison and with the lately trembling burghers, for it seemed to all as if they had been born again. even the soldiers on the battle-field had embraced each other like comrades who had met in another world. "blessed be his holy name," said the stadholder's chaplain, "for his right hand has led us into hell and brought us forth again. i know not," he continued, "if i am awake or if i dream, when i think how god has in one moment raised us from the dead." lewis gunther, whose services had been so conspicuous, was well rewarded. "i hope," said that general, writing to his brother lewis william, "that this day's work will not have been useless to me, both for what i have learned in it and for another thing. his excellency has done me the honour to give me the admiral for my prisoner." and equally characteristic was the reply of the religious and thrifty stadholder of friesland. "i thank god," he said, "for his singular grace in that he has been pleased to make use of your person as the instrument of so renowned and signal a victory, for which, as you have derived therefrom not mediocre praise, and acquired a great reputation, it should be now your duty to humble yourself before god, and to acknowledge that it is he alone who has thus honoured you . . . . you should reverence him the more, that while others are admonished of their duty by misfortunes and miseries, the good god invites you to his love by benefits and honours . . . . i am very glad, too, that his excellency has given you the admiral for your prisoner, both because of the benefit to you, and because it is a mark of your merit on that day. knowing the state of our affairs, you will now be able to free your patrimony from encumbrances, when otherwise you would have been in danger of remaining embarrassed and in the power of others. it will therefore be a perpetual honour to you that you, the youngest of us all, have been able by your merits to do more to raise up our house out of its difficulties than your predecessors or myself have been able to do." the beautiful white horse which the archduke had ridden during the battle fell into the hands of lewis gunther, and was presented by him to prince maurice, who had expressed great admiration of the charger. it was a spanish horse, for which the archduke had lately paid eleven hundred crowns. a white hackney of the infanta had also been taken, and became the property of count ernest. the news of the great battle spread with unexampled rapidity, not only through the netherlands but to neighbouring countries. on the night of the th july (n.s.) five days after the event, envoy caron, in england, received intimations of the favourable news from the french ambassador, who had received a letter from the governor of calais. next morning, very early, he waited on sir robert cecil at greenwich, and was admitted to his chamber, although the secretary was not yet out of bed. he, too, had heard of the battle, but richardot had informed the english ambassador in paris that the victory had been gained, not by the stadholder, but by the archduke. while they were talking, a despatch- bearer arrived with letters from vere to cecil, and from the states- general to caron, dated on the rd july. there could no longer be any doubt on the subject, and the envoy of the republic had now full details of the glorious triumph which the spanish agent in paris had endeavoured for a time to distort into a defeat. while the two were conversing, the queen, who had heard of caron's presence in the palace, sent down for the latest intelligence. cecil made notes of the most important points in the despatches to be forthwith conveyed to her majesty. the queen, not satisfied however, sent for caron himself. that diplomatist, who had just ridden down from london in foul weather, was accordingly obliged to present himself--booted and spurred and splashed with mud from head to foot--before her majesty. elizabeth received him with such extraordinary manifestations of delight at the tidings that he was absolutely amazed, and she insisted upon his reading the whole of the letter just received from olden-barneveld, her majesty listening very patiently as he translated it out of dutch into french. she then expressed unbounded admiration of the states-general and of prince maurice. the sagacious administration of the states' government is so full of good order and policy," she said, "as to far surpass in its wisdom the intelligence of all kings and potentates." we kings," she said, "understand nothing of such affairs in comparison, but require, all of us, to go to school to the states-general." she continued to speak in terms of warm approbation of the secrecy and discretion with which the invasion of flanders had been conducted, and protested that she thanked god on both knees for vouchsafing such a splendid victory to the united provinces. yet after all, her majesty, as mankind in general, both wise and simple, are apt to do, had judged only according to the result, and the immediate result. no doubt john of barneveld was second to no living statesman in breadth of view and adroitness of handling, yet the invasion of flanders, which was purely his work, was unquestionably a grave mistake, and might easily have proved a fatal one. that the deadly peril was escaped was due, not to his prudence, but to the heroism of maurice, the gallantry of vere, count lewis gunther, and the forces under them, and the noble self- devotion of ernest. and even, despite the exertions of these brave men, it seems certain that victory would have been impossible had the archduke possessed that true appreciation of a situation which marks the consummate general. surely the lord seemed to have delivered the enemy into his hands that morning. maurice was shut in between nieuport on one side and the archduke's army on the other, planted as it was on the only road of retreat. had albert entrenched himself, maurice must either have attacked at great disadvantage or attempted embarkation in the face of his enemy. to stay indefinitely where he was would have proved an impossibility, and amid the confusion necessary to the shipping of his army, how could he have protected himself by six demi-cannon placed on the sea-beach? that maurice was able to extricate himself from the horrible dilemma in which he had been placed, through no fault of his own, and to convert imminent disaster into magnificent victory, will always redound to his reputation as a great military chief. and this was all the fruit of the expedition, planned, as elizabeth thought, with so much secrecy and discretion. three days after the battle the stadholder came again before nieuport, only to find the garrison strengthened meantime by la bourlotte to three thousand men. a rainy week succeeded, and maurice then announced to the states-general the necessity of abandoning an enterprise, a successful issue to which was in his opinion impossible. the states-general, grown more modest in military matters, testified their willingness to be governed by his better judgment, and left ostend for the hague on the th july. maurice, after a little skirmishing with some of the forts around that city, in one of which the archduke's general la bourlotte was killed, decided to close the campaign, and he returned with his whole army on the last day of july into holland. the expedition was an absolute failure, but the stadholder had gained a great victory. the effect produced at home and abroad by this triumphant measuring of the republican forces, horse, foot, and artillery, in a pitched battle and on so conspicuous an arena, with the picked veterans of spain and italy, was perhaps worth the cost, but no other benefit was derived from the invasion of flanders. the most healthy moral to be drawn from this brief but memorable campaign is that the wisest statesmen are prone to blunder in affairs of war, success in which seems to require a special education and a distinct genius. alternation between hope and despair, between culpable audacity and exaggerated prudence, are but too apt to mark the warlike counsels of politicians who have not been bred soldiers. this, at least, had been eminently the case with barneveld and his colleagues of the states- general. etext editor's bookmarks: alas! the benighted victims of superstition hugged their chains culpable audacity and exaggerated prudence the wisest statesmen are prone to blunder in affairs of war beautiful europe belgium by joseph e. morris i. it needs, indeed, an effort of the imagination at the moment of writing to think of belgium as in any sense a component part of "beautiful europe." the unhappy "cockpit" of the continent at the actual hour is again in process of accomplishing its frightful destiny--no treaty, or "scrap of paper," is potent to preserve this last, and weakest, of all the nations of western europe from drinking to the dregs the cup of ruin and desolation. tragic indeed in the profoundest sense--in the sense of aristotle--more tragic than the long ruin of the predestined house of oedipus--is this accumulated tragedy of a small and helpless people, whose sole apparent crime is their stern determination to cling at any cost to their plighted word of honour. i have been lately glancing into a little book published about five years ago, in which a view is taken of the belgian character that no one could term indulgent. "it is curious," says the writer in one place, "how few belgians, old or young, rich or poor, consider the feelings or convenience of others. they are intensely selfish, and this is doubtless caused by the way in which they are brought up." and, again, in another chapter, he insinuates a doubt as to whether the belgians, if ever called on, would even prove good soldiers. "but whether the people of a neutral state are ever likely to be brave and self-sacrificing is another thing." such a writer certainly does not shrink--as burke, we know, once shrank--from framing an indictment against an entire people. whether belgium, as a nation, is self-sacrificing and brave may safely be left to the judgment of posterity. there is a passage in one of mr. lecky's books--i cannot put my finger on the exact reference--in which he pronounces that the sins of france, which are many, are forgiven her, because, like the woman in the gospels, she has loved much. it is not our business now, if indeed at any time, to appraise the sins of belgium; but surely her love, in anguish, is manifest and supreme. when we contemplate these firstfruits of german "kultur"--this deluge of innocent blood, and this wreckage of ancient monuments--who can hesitate for a moment to belaud this little people, which has flung itself thus gallantly, in the spirit of purest sacrifice, in front of the onward progress of this new and frightful juggernaut? rather one recalls that old persistent creed, exemplified perhaps in the mysteries, now of the greek adonis, now of persian mithras, and now of the roman priest of the nennian lake, that it is only through the gates of sacrifice and death that the world moves on triumphant to rejuvenation and life. is it, in truth, through the blood of a bruised and prostrate belgium that the purple hyacinth of a rescued european civilization will spring presently from the soaked and untilled soil? yet even if german "kultur" in the end sweep wholly into ruin the long accumulated treasures of belgian architecture, sculpture, and painting--if bruges, which to-day stands still intact, shall to-morrow be reckoned with dinant and louvain--yet it would still be worth while to set before a few more people this record of vanished splendour, that they may better appreciate what the world has lost through lust of brutal ambition, and better be on guard in the future to protect what wreckage is left. all these treasures were bequeathed to us--not to belgium alone, but to the whole world--by the diligence and zeal of antiquity; and we have seen this goodly heritage ground in a moment into dust beneath the heel of an insolent and degraded militancy. belgium, in very truth, in guarding the civilization and inheritance of other nations, has lavishly wrecked her own. "they made me keeper of the vineyards; but my own vineyard have i not kept." luckily, however, it is not yet quite clear that the "work of waste and ruin" is wholly irreparable. one sees in the illustrated english papers pictures of the great thirteenth-century churches at dixmude, dinant, and louvain, made evidently from photographs, that suggest at least that it is not impossible still to rebuild the walls of jerusalem. dixmude, indeed--i judge from an interior view--is possibly shattered past hope; but dinant and st. pierre, at louvain, so far at least as their fabrics are concerned, seem to lack little but the woodwork of their roofs. it is only a few years ago since the writer stood in the burnt-out shell of selby abbey; yet the selby abbey of to-day, though some ancient fittings of inestimable value have irreparably perished, is in some ways not less magnificent, and is certainly more complete, than its imperfect predecessor. one takes comfort, again, in the thought of york minster in the conflagration caused by the single madman martin in , and of the collapse of the blazing ceilings in nave and chancel, whilst the great gallery of painted glass, by some odd miracle, escaped. is it too much to hope that this devil's work of a million madmen at dixmude or nieuport may prove equally incomplete? in the imperfect sketch that follows i write of the aspect of belgium--of its cities, that were formerly the most picturesque in europe; of its landscapes, that range from the level fens of flanders to the wooded limestone wolds of the ardennes--as i knew these, and loved them, in former years, before hell was let loose in europe. and perhaps, the picture here presented will in time be not altogether misrepresentative of the regenerated belgium that will certainly some day arise. ii. it is not merely in its quality of unredeemed and absolute flatness that the great fen country of flanders is so strongly reminiscent of the great fen country of the holland parts of lincolnshire. each of these vast levels is equally distinguished by the splendour and conspicuousness of its ancient churches. travelling by railway between nieuport and dixmude, you have on every side of you, if the day be clear, a prospect of innumerable towers and spires, just as you have if you travel by railway between spalding and sleaford, or between spalding and king's lynn. the difference, perhaps, is that the lincolnshire churches present finer architectural feature, and are built of stone, floated down in barges, by dyke or fen, from the famous inland quarries of barnack, in northamptonshire; whilst most of those in flanders are built of local brick, though the drums of the piers and the arches are often of blue limestone. it is remarkable, certainly, that these soaring spires should thus chiefly rise to eminence in a setting of dead, flat plain. it may well be, indeed, as some have suggested, that the character of architecture is unconsciously determined by the type of surrounding scenery; that men do not build spires in the midst of mountains to compete with natural sublimity that they cannot hope to emulate, but are emboldened to express in stone and mortar their own heavenward aspirations in countries where nature seems to express herself in less spiritual, or at any rate in less ambitious, mood. as we cross the level prairie between these two little towns of west flanders (we hope to visit them presently), a group of lofty roofs and towers is seen grandly towards the west, dominating the fenland with hardly less insistency than boston "stump," in lincolnshire, as seen across wash and fen. this is the little town of furnes, than which one can hardly imagine a quainter place in belgium, or one more entirely fitted as a doorway by which to enter a new land. coming straight from england by way of calais and dunkirk, the first sight of this ancient flemish market-place, with its unbroken lines of old white-brick houses, many of which have crow-stepped gables; with the two great churches of st. nicholas, with its huge square tower, and of st. walburge, with its long ridge of lofty roof; and with its hotel de ville and palais de justice of about the dawn of the seventeenth century, is a revelation, in its atmosphere of sleepy evening quiet, to those who rub their eyes with wonder, and find it hard to credit that london, "with its unutterable, external hideousness," was actually left behind them only that very morning, and is actually at present not two hundred miles distant. furnes, in short, is an epitome, and i think a very charming one, of all that is most characteristic in flanders; and not the less charming because here the strong currents of modern life that throb through ghent and antwerp extend only to its threshold in the faintest of dying ripples, and because you do not need to be told that in its town hall may still be seen hangings of old spanish leather, and that the members of the inquisition used to meet in the ante-chamber of the first floor of its palais de justice, in order to throw yourself back in memory to those old days of lowland greatness from whose struggles holland emerged victorious, but into which belgium, for the time, sank back oppressed. furnes--in flemish veurne--is an excellent centre from which to explore the extreme west point of belgian flanders, which is also the extreme west point of belgium as a whole. flanders, be it always remembered, does not terminate with mere, present-day, political divisions, but spreads with unbroken character to the very gateways of calais and lille. hazebrouck, for example, is a thoroughly flemish town, though nearly ten miles, in a beeline, inside the french border--flemish not merely, like dunkirk, in the architecture of its great brick church, but also actually flemish in language, and in the names that one reads above its shop doors. in particular, excursions may be pleasantly made from furnes--whose principal inn, the noble rose, is again a quaint relic of the sixteenth century--to the two delightful little market-towns of dixmude and nieuport-ville: i write, as always, of what was recently, and of what i have seen myself; to-day they are probably heaps of smoking ruin, and sanguinary altars to german "kultur." nieuport-ville, so called in distinction from its dull little watering-place understudy, nieuport-les-bains, which lies a couple of miles to the west of it, among the sand-dunes by the mouth of the yser, and is hardly worth a visit unless you want to bathe--nieuport-ville, in addition to its old yellow-brick halles, or cloth hall, and its early tour des templiers, is remarkable for its possession of a fascinating church, the recent restoration of which has been altogether conservative and admirable. standing here, in this rich and picturesque interior, you realize strongly the gulf in this direction between belgium and france, in which latter country, in these days of ecclesiastical poverty, loving restoration of the kind here seen is rare, and whose often neglected village churches seldom, or never, exhibit that wealth of marble rood-screen and sculptured woodwork--of beaten brass and hammered iron--that distinguishes belgian church interiors from perhaps all others on earth. the church has also some highly important brasses, another detail, common of course in most counties of england, that is now never, or hardly ever, found in france. chief, perhaps, among these is the curious, circular brass--i hope it has escaped--with figures of husband, wife, and children, on a magnificently worked background, that is now suspended on the northwest pier of the central crossing. very belgian, too, in character is the rood-beam, with its three figures of our lord in crucifixion, of the virgin, and of st. john; and the striking renaissance rood-screen in black and white marble, though not as fine as some that are found in other churches. rood-screens of this exact sort are almost limited to belgium, though there is one, now misplaced in the west end of the nave, and serving as an organ-loft, in the church of st. gery at cambrai--another curious link between french and belgian flanders. dixmude (in flemish diksmuide), nine and a half miles south from nieuport, is an altogether bigger and more important place, with a larger and more important church, of st. nicholas, to match. my recollection of this last, on a saturday afternoon of heavy showers towards the close of march, is one of a vast interior thronged with men and women in the usual dismal, black flemish cloaks, kneeling in confession, or waiting patiently for their turn to confess, in preparation for the easter mass. here the best feature, till lately, was the glorious flamboyant rood-screen, recalling those at albi and the church of brou, in france; and remarkable in belgium as one of the very few examples of its sort (there is, or was, another in st. pierre, at louvain) of so early a period, in a land where rood-screens, as a body, are generally much later in date. it is difficult, in dealing with flanders, to avoid a certain amount of architectural description, for architecture, after all, is the chief attraction of the country, save perhaps in ghent and bruges, where we have also noble pictures. even those who do not care to study this architecture in detail will be gratified to stroll at leisure through the dim vastness of the great flemish churches, where the eye is satisfied everywhere with the wealth of brass and iron work, and where the belgian passion for wood-carving displays itself in lavish prodigality. such wealth, indeed, of ecclesiastical furniture you will hardly find elsewhere in western europe--font covers of hammered brass, like those at hal and tirlemont; stalls and confessionals and pulpits, new and old, that are mere masses of sculptured wood-work; tall tabernacles for the reception of the sacred host, like those at louvain and leau, that tower towards the roof by the side of the high altars. most of this work, no doubt, is post-gothic, except the splendid stalls and canopies (i wonder, do they still survive) at the church of st. gertrude at louvain; for belgium presents few examples of mediaeval wood-work like the gorgeous stalls at amiens, or like those in half a hundred churches in our own land. much, in fact, of these splendid fittings is more or less contemporary with the noble masterpieces of rubens and vandyck, and belongs to the same great wave of artistic enthusiasm that swept over the netherlands in the seventeenth century. belgian pulpits, in particular, are probably unique, and certainly, to my knowledge, without parallel in italy, england, or france. sometimes they are merely adorned, like the confessionals at st. charles, at antwerp, and at tirlemont, with isolated figures; but often these are grouped into some vivid dramatic scene, such as the miraculous draught of fishes, at st. andrew's, at antwerp, or the conversion of st. norbert, in the cathedral at malines. certainly the fallen horseman in the latter, if not a little ludicrous, is a trifle out of place. from furnes to ypres it is a pleasant journey across country by one of those strange steam-trams along the road, so common in belgium and holland, and not unknown in france, that wind at frequent intervals through village streets so narrow, that you have only to put out your hand in passing to touch the walls of houses. this is a very leisurely mode of travelling, and the halts are quite interminable in their frequency and length; but the passenger is allowed to stand on the open platform at the end of the carriage--though sometimes nearly smothered with thick, black smoke--and certainly no better method exists of exploring the short stretches of open country that lie between town and town. belgian towns, remember, lie mostly thick on the ground--you are hardly out of brussels before you come to malines, and hardly out of malines ere you sight the spire of antwerp. in no part of europe, perhaps, save in parts of lancashire and yorkshire, do you find so many big towns in so limited a space; yet the strips of country that lie between, though often intolerably dull, are (unlike the strips in yorkshire) intensely rural in character. belgian towns do not sprawl in endless, untidy suburbs, as sheffield sprawls out towards rotherham, and bradford towards leeds. belgian towns, moreover--again unlike our own big cities in england--are mostly extremely handsome, and generally contrive, however big, to retain, at any rate in their heart, as at antwerp, or in the grande place at brussels, a striking air of antiquity; whilst some fairly big towns, such as malines and bruges, are mediaeval from end to end. this, of course, is not true of belgian luxembourg and the region of the ardennes, where the population is much more sparse; where we do not stumble, about every fifteen miles or so, on some big town of historic name; and where the endless chessboard of little fields that lies, for example, between ghent and oudenarde, or between malines and louvain, is replaced by long contours of sweeping limestone wold, often covered with rolling wood. ypres is distinguished above all cities in belgium by the huge size and stately magnificence of its lordly cloth hall, or halles des drapiers. so vast, indeed, is this huge building, and so flat the surrounding plain, that it is said that it is possible from the strangely isolated hill of cassel, which lies about eighteen miles away to the west, just over the border, in france, on a really clear day--i have only climbed it myself, unluckily, in a fog of winter mist--to distinguish in a single view, by merely turning the head, the clustering spires of laon, the white chalk cliffs of kent, and this vast pile of building, like a ship at sea, that seems to lie at anchor in the heart of the "sounding plain." nothing, perhaps, in europe is so strangely significant of vanished greatness--not even rome, with its shattered forum, or venice, with a hundred marble palaces--as this huge fourteenth-century building, with a facade that is four hundred and thirty-six feet long, and with its lofty central tower, that was built for the pride and need of ypres, and as a market for the barter of its priceless linens, at a time when ypres numbered a population of two hundred thousand souls (almost as big as leicester at the present day), and was noisy with four thousand busy looms; whereas now it has but a beggarly total of less than seventeen thousand souls (about as big as guildford), and is only a degree less sleepy than malines or bruges-la-morte. ypres, again, like arras, has lent its name to commerce, if diaper be really rightly derived from the expression "linen of ypres." the cloth hall fronts on to the grande place, and, indeed, forms virtually one side of it; and behind, in the petite place, is the former cathedral of st. martin. this is another fine building, though utterly eclipsed by its huge secular rival, that was commenced in the thirteenth century, and is typically belgian, as opposed to french, in the character of its architecture, and not least in its possession of a single great west tower. this last feature is characteristic of every big church in belgium--one can add them up by the dozen: bruges, ghent, louvain (though ruined, or never completed), oudenarde, malines, mons--save brussels, where the church of ste. gudule, called persistently, but wrongly, the cathedral, has the full complement of two, and antwerp, where two were intended, though only one has been actually raised. this tower at ypres, however, fails to illustrate--perhaps because it is earlier, and therefore in better taste--that astounding disproportion in height that is so frequently exhibited by belgian towers, as at malines, or in the case of the famous belfry in the market-place at bruges, when considered with reference to the church, or town hall, below. in front of the high altar, in the pavement, is an inconspicuous square of white stone, which marks the burial-place of cornelius jansen, who died of the plague, as bishop of ypres, in . the monument, if you can call it monument, is scarcely less insignificant than the simple block, in the cemetery of plainpalais at geneva, that is traditionally said to mark the resting-place of calvin. yet jansen, in his way, proved almost a second calvin in his death, and menaced the church from his grave with a second reformation. he left behind in manuscript a book called "augustinus," the predestinarian tenor of which was condemned finally, though nearly a century later, by pope clement xi., in , in the bull called unigenitus. jansenism, however, had struck deep its roots in france, and still survives in holland at the present day, at utrecht, as a sect that is small, indeed, but not altogether obscure. jansen himself, it may be noted, was a hollander by birth, having been born in at akkoi in that kingdom. if ypres is to be praised appropriately as a still delightful old city that has managed to retain to a quite singular degree the outward aspect and charm of the middle ages, one feels that one has left one's self without any proper stock of epithets with which to appraise at its proper value the charm and romance of bruges. of late years, it is true, this world-famed capital of west flanders has lost something of its old somnolence and peace. malines, in certain quarters, is now much more dead-alive, and wordsworth, who seems to have visualized bruges in his mind as a network of deserted streets, "whence busy life hath fled," might perhaps be tempted now to apply to it the same prophetic outlook that he imagined for pendragon castle: "viewing as in a dream her own renewing." one hopes, indeed, that the renewing of bruges will not proceed too zealously, even if bruges come safely through its present hour of crisis. perhaps there is no big city in the world--and bruges, though it has shrunk pitiably, like ypres, from its former great estate in the middle ages, has still more than forty thousand souls--that remains from end to end, in every alley, and square, and street, so wholly unspoilt and untouched by what is bad in the modern spirit, or that presents so little unloveliness and squalor in its more out-of-the-way corners as bruges. bruges, of course, like venice, and half a dozen towns in holland, is a strangely amphibious city that is intersected in every direction, though certainly less persistently than venice, by a network of stagnant canals. on the other hand, if it never rises to the splendour of the better parts of venice--the piazza and the grand canal--and lacks absolutely that charm of infinitely varied, if somewhat faded or even shabby, colour that characterizes the "queen of the adriatic," there is yet certainly nothing monotonous in her monotone of mellow red-brick; and certainly nothing so dilapidated, and tattered, and altogether poverty-stricken as one stumbles against in venice in penetrating every narrow lane, and in sailing up almost every canal. of venice we may perhaps say, what byron said of greece, that "hers is the loveliness in death that parts not quite with parting breath"; whilst in bruges we recognize gladly, not death or decay at all, but the serene and gracious comeliness of a dignified and vital old age. we cannot, of course, attempt, in a mere superficial sketch like this, even to summarize briefly the wealth of objects of interest in bruges, or to guide the visitor in detail through its maze of winding streets. two great churches, no doubt, will be visited by everyone--the cathedral of st. sauveur and the church of notre dame--both of which, in the usual delightful belgian fashion, are also crowded picture-galleries of the works of great flemish masters. the see of bruges, however, dates only from ; and even after that date the bishop had his stool in the church of st. donatian, till this was destroyed by the foolish revolutionaries in . in a side-chapel of notre dame, and carefully boarded up for no reason in the world save to extort a verger's fee for their exhibition, are the splendid black marble monuments, with recumbent figures in copper gilt, of charles the bold, who fell at nancy in (but lives for ever, with louis xi. of france, in the pages of "quentin durward"), and of his daughter, mary, the wife of the emperor maximilian, of austria, who was killed by being thrown from her horse whilst hunting in . these two tombs are of capital interest to those who are students of belgian history, for charles the bold was the last male of the house of burgundy, and it was by the marriage of his daughter that the netherlands passed to the house of hapsburg, and thus ultimately fell under the flail of religious persecution during the rule of her grandson, spanish philip. close to notre dame, in the rue st. catherine, is the famous old hospital of st. jean, the red-brick walls of which rise sleepily from the dull waters of the canal, just as queens' college, or st. john's, at cambridge, rise from the sluggish cam. here is preserved the rich shrine, or chasse, "resembling a large noah's ark," of st. ursula, the sides of which are painted with scenes from the virgin's life by hans memling, who, though born in the neighbourhood of mayence, and thus really by birth a german, lived for nearly a quarter of a century or more of his life in bruges, and is emphatically connected, like his master roger van der weyden and the brothers van eyck, with the charming early flemish school. there is a story that he was wounded under charles le temeraire on the stricken field of nancy, and painted these gemlike pictures in return for the care and nursing that he received in the hospital of st. jean, but "this story," says professor anton springer, "may be placed in the same category as those of durer's malevolent spouse, and of the licentiousness of the later dutch painters." these scenes from the life of st. ursula are hardly less delightfully quaint than the somewhat similar series that was painted by carpaccio for the scuola of the saint at venice, and that are now preserved in the accademia. early flemish painting, in fact, in addition to its own peculiar charm of microscopic delicacy of finish, is hardly inferior, in contrast with the later strong realism and occasional coarseness of rubens or rembrandt, to the tender poetic dreaminess of the primitive italians. certainly these pictures, though finished to the minutest and most delicate detail, are lacking in realism actually to a degree that borders on a delicious absurdity. st. ursula and her maidens--whether really eleven thousand or eleven--in the final scene of martyrdom await the stroke of death with the stoical placidity of a regiment of dolls. "all the faces are essentially flemish, and some of the virgins display to great advantage the pretty national feature of the slight curl in one or in both lips." a little farther along the same street is the city picture gallery, with a small but admirable collection, one of the gems of which is a splendid st. christopher, with kneeling donors, with their patron saints on either side, that was also painted by memling in , and ranks as one of his best efforts. notice also the portrait of the canon van de paelen, painted by jan van eyck in , and representing an old churchman with a typically heavy flemish face; and the rather unpleasant picture by gerard david of the unjust judge sisamnes being flayed alive by order of king cambyses. by a turning to the right out of the rue st. catherine, you come to the placid minne water, or lac d'amour, not far from the shores of which is one of those curious beguinages that are characteristic of flanders, and consist of a number of separate little houses, grouped in community, each of which is inhabited by a beguine, or less strict kind of nun. in the house of the lady superior is preserved the small, but very splendid, memorial brass of a former inmate, who died at about the middle of the fifteenth century. wander where you will in the ancient streets of bruges, and you will not fail to discover everywhere some delightful relic of antiquity, or to stumble at every street corner on some new and charming combination of old houses, with their characteristic crow-stepped, or corbie, gables. new houses, i suppose, there must really be by scores; but these, being built with inherent good taste (whether unconscious or conscious i do not know) in the traditional style of local building, and with brick that from the first is mellow in tint and harmonizes with its setting, assimilate at once with their neighbours to right and left, and fail to offend the eye by any patchy appearance or crudeness. hardly a single street in bruges is thus without old-world charm; but the architectural heart of the city must be sought in its two market-places, called respectively the grande place and the place du bourg. in the former are the brick halles, with their famous belfry towering above the structure below it, with true belgian disregard for proportion in height. it looks, indeed, like tower piled on tower, till one is almost afraid lest the final octagon should be going to topple over! in the place du bourg is a less aspiring group, consisting of the hotel de ville, the chapelle du saint sang, the maison de l'ancien greffe, and the palais de justice--all very flemish in character, and all, in combination, elaborately picturesque. in the chapel of the holy blood is preserved the crystal cylinder that is said to enshrine certain drops of the blood of our saviour that were brought from the holy land in by theodoric, count of flanders, and installed in the romanesque chapel that he built for their reception, and the crypt of which remains, though the upper chapel has long since been rebuilt, in the fifteenth century. at certain stated times the relic is exhibited to a crowd of devotees, who file slowly past to kiss it. some congealed blood of our lord is also said to be preserved, after remarkable vicissitudes of loss and recovery, in the norman abbey of fecamp; and mediaeval gloucestershire once boasted as big a treasure, which brought great concourse and popularity to the cistercian house of hayles. pass beneath the archway of the maison de l'ancien greffe, cross the sluggish canal, and turn sharply to the left, and follow, first the cobbled quai des marbriers, and afterwards its continuation, the quai vert. pacing these silent promenades, which are bordered by humble cottages, you have opposite, across the water, as also from the adjacent quai du rosaire, grand groupings of pinnacle, tower, and gable, more delightful even, in perfection of combination and in mellow charm of colour, than those "domes and towers" of oxford whose presence wordsworth confessed, in a very indifferent sonnet, to overpower his "soberness of reason." "in brussels," he says elsewhere in his journal, "the modern taste in costume, architecture, etc., has got the mastery; in ghent there is a struggle; but in bruges old images are still paramount, and an air of monastic life among the quiet goings-on of a thinly-peopled city is inexpressibly soothing. a pensive grace seems to be cast over all, even the very children." this estimate, after the lapse of considerably more than half a century, still, on the whole, stands good. "in ghent there is a struggle." approaching ghent, indeed, by railway from bruges, and with our heads full of old-world romance of philip van artevelte, and of continually insurgent burghers (for whom ghent was rather famous), and of how roland, "my horse without peer," "brought good news from ghent," one is rather shocked at first, as we circle round the suburbs, at the rows of aggressive new houses, and rather tempted to conclude that the struggle has now ended, and that modernity, as at brussels, has won the day at ghent. luckily the doubt is dissipated as we quit the splendid sud station--and belgium, one may add in parenthesis, has some of the most palatial railway-stations in the world--and find ourselves once again enmeshed in a network of ancient thoroughfares, which, if they lack wholly the absolute quiet, and in part the architectural charm, of bruges, yet confront us at every corner with abundance of old-world charm. i suppose the six great things to be seen in ghent are the cathedral of st. bavon (and in the cathedral the great picture of the "adoration of the lamb," by hubert and jan van eyck); the churches of st. michel, with a "crucifixion" by van dyck, and st. nicholas; the wonderful old houses on the quai des herbes; the splendidly soaring belfry; and possibly the grande beguinage, on the outskirts of the town. the cathedral has the usual solitary west tower, as at ely, that we have now come to associate--at ypres and bruges--with typical belgian churches. the great van eyck is hung in a chapel on the south of the choir, and the services of the verger must be sought for its exhibition. the paintings on the shutters are merely copies by coxie, six of the originals being in the picture gallery in berlin. their restoration to ghent, one hopes, will form a fractional discharge of the swiftly accumulating debt that germany owes to belgium. the four main panels, however, are genuine work of the early fifteenth century, the reredos as a whole having been begun by hubert, and finished by jan van eyck in . the centre-piece is in illustration of the text in the apocalypse (v. ): "worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing." one may question, indeed, if figurative language of the kind in question can ever be successfully transferred to canvas; whether this literal lamb, on its red-damasked table, in the midst of these carefully marshalled squadrons of apostles, popes, and princes, can ever quite escape a hint of something ludicrous. one may question all this, yet still admire to the full both the spirit of devotion that inspired this marvellous picture and its miracle of minute and jewel-like execution. there are scores of other good pictures in ghent, including (not even to go outside st. bavon's) the "christ among the doctors" by francis pourbus, into which portraits of philip ii. of spain, the emperor charles v., and the infamous duke of alva--names of terrible import in the sixteenth-century history of the netherlands--are introduced among the bystanders; whilst to the left of philip is pourbus himself, "with a greyish cap on which is inscribed franciscus pourbus, ." but it is always to the "adoration of the mystic lamb" that our steps are first directed, and to which they always return. it is hard, indeed, that necessities of space should compel us to pass so lightly over other towns in flanders--over courtrai, with its noble example of a fortified bridge, and with its great picture, by van dyck, of the "raising of the cross" that was stolen mysteriously a few years ago from the church of notre dame, but has since, like the joconde at the louvre, been recovered and replaced; over oudenarde, with its two fine churches, and its small town hall that is famous for its splendour even in a country the hotels de ville of which are easily the most elaborate (if not always the most chaste or really beautiful) in europe; and over certain very minor places, such as damme, to the north-east of bruges, whose silent, sunny streets, and half-deserted churches, seem to breathe the very spirit of flemish mediaevalism. of the short strip of flemish coast, from near knocke, past the fashionable modern bathing-places of heyst, blankenberghe, and ostende, to a point beyond la panne--from border to border it measures roughly only some forty miles, and is almost absolutely straight--i willingly say little, for it seems to me but a little thing when compared with this glorious inland wealth of architecture and painting. recently it has developed in every direction, and is now almost continuously a thin, brilliantly scarlet line of small bungalows, villas, and lodging-houses, linked up along the front by esplanades and casinos, where only a few years ago the fenland met the sea in a chain of rolling sand-dunes that were peopled only by rabbits, and carpeted only with rushes and coarse grass. about tastes there is no disputing; and there are people, no doubt, who, for some odd reason, find this kind of aggressive modernity in some way more attractive in belgium than in kent. for myself, i confess, it hardly seems worth while to incur the penalty of sea-sickness merely to play golf on the ruined shore of flanders. iii. of brussels i do not propose to say very much, because brussels, although the brightest and gayest town in belgium, and although retaining in its grande place, and in the buildings that immediately surround this last, as well as in its great church of st. gudule (which, in spite of popular usage, is not, and never was, in the proper sense a cathedral), relics of antiquity of the very highest value and interest, yet brussels, as a whole, is so distinctively a modern, and even cosmopolitan city, and has so much general resemblance to paris (though its site is far more picturesque, and though the place, to my mind at least, just because it is smaller and more easily comprehensible, is a much more agreeable spot to stay in), that it seems better in a sketch that is principally devoted to what is old and nationally characteristic in belgium to give what limited space one has to a consideration rather of towns like louvain or malines, in which the special belgian flavour is not wholly overwhelmed by false and extraneous influences. st. gudule, of course, should certainly be visited, not only for the sake of the general fabric, which, notwithstanding its possession of two west towers, is typically belgian in its general character, but also for the sake of its magnificent sixteenth and seventeenth century glass, and especially for the sake of the five great windows in the chapelle du saint sacrement, which illustrate in a blaze of gorgeous colour the story of how jonathan the jew bribed jeanne de louvain to steal the three consecrated wafers, from which oozed, when sacrilegiously stabbed by the sceptical jew, the sacred blood of a world's redemption. this story is told again--or rather, perhaps, a similar story--in the splendid painted glass from the church of st. eloi that is now preserved at rouen in the archaeological museum. as for the grande place, or original market-place of the city, which is bounded on one side by the magnificent hotel de ville, on the opposite side by the rather heavy, rebuilt maison du roi, and on the remaining two sides chiefly by the splendid old seventeenth-century corporation houses of the various ancient city guilds--le renard, the house of the silk-mercers and haberdashers; maison cornet, the house of the boatmen, or "batelliers"; la louvre, the house of the archers; la brouette, the house of the carpenters; le sac, the house of the printers and booksellers; the cygne, the house of the butchers; and other houses that need not be specified at any greater length, of the tailors, painters, and brewers--this is probably the completest and most splendid example of an ancient city market-square that now remains in europe, and absolutely without rival even in belgium itself, though similar old guild-houses, in the same delightful flemish fashion, may still be found (though in this case with admixture of many modern buildings) in the grande place at antwerp. it was in this splendid square at brussels that the unhappy counts of egmont and horn were brutally done to death, to glut the sinister tyranny of spanish philip, on june , . also, in addition to these two superlative antiquities, two modern buildings in brussels, though for widely different reasons, can hardly be passed over under plea of lack of space. crowning the highest point of the city, and towering itself towards heaven in a stupendous pile of masonry, is the enormous new palais de justice, probably the most imposing law courts in the world. english law undoubtedly is housed with much greater modesty, though not without due magnificence, in the altogether humbler levels of the strand. also in the high town--which is the modern quarter of brussels, in contrast with the mediaeval low town, which lies in the flat below--is the royal museum of ancient paintings, which probably divides honours with the picture gallery at antwerp as the finest and most representative collection of pictures of the netherlandish school in the world. here you may revel by the hour in a candlelight effect by gerard dow; in the poultry of melchior d'hondecoeter; in a pigsty of paul potter's; in landscapes by meindert hobbema; in a moonlight landscape of van der neer's; in a village scene by jan steen; in the gallant world of teniers; and in the weird imaginings of pieter brueghel the younger. the greatest pictures in the whole collection, i suppose, are those by rubens, though he has nothing here that is comparable for a moment with those in the picture gallery and cathedral at antwerp. very magnificent, however, is the "woman taken in adultery," the "adoration of the magi," the "interceder interceded" (the virgin, at the prayer of st. francis d'assisi, restrains the angry saviour from destroying a wicked world), and the "martyrdom of st. livinius." this last, however--like the "crucifixion" in the antwerp gallery; like van dyck's picture in this collection of the drunken silenus supported by a fawn; and like rubens' own disgusting silenus in our national gallery at home--illustrates unpleasantly the painful flemish facility to condescend to details, or even whole conceptions, the realism of which is unnecessarily deliberate and coarse. here, in this death of st. livinius, the executioner is shown in the act of presenting to a dog with pincers the bleeding tongue that he has just cut out of the mouth of the dying priest. brussels itself, as already intimated, is an exceedingly pleasant city for a more or less prolonged stay; and, owing at once to the admirable system of "rundreise" tickets that are issued by the state railways at an uncommonly low price, to the rather dubious quality of the hotels in some of the smaller towns, and to the cardinal fact that brussels is a centre from which most of the other great cities of belgium--malines, ghent, antwerp, and liege, not to mention smaller towns of absorbing interest, such as mons, namur, hal, tirlemont, leau, and soignies--may be easily visited, more or less completely, in the course of a single day--owing to all these facts many people will be glad to make this pleasant city their centre, or headquarters, for the leisurely exploration of most of belgium, with the exception of the more distant and out-of-the-way districts of west flanders and the ardennes. all the places enumerated are thoroughly worth visiting, but obviously only the more important can be dealt with more than just casually here. mons, on a hill overlooking the great coalfield of the borinage, with its strange pyramidal spoil-heaps, is itself curiously free from the dirt and squalor of an english colliery town; and equally worth visiting for the sake of its splendid cathedral of st. wandru, the richly polychromatic effect of whose interior, due to the conjunction of deep red-brick vaulting with the dark blue of its limestone capitals and piers, illustrates another pleasant phase of belgian ecclesiastical architecture, as well as for the sake of a contest, almost of yesterday, that has added new and immortal laurels to the genius of british battle. tournai, on the upper scheldt, or escaut, is remarkable for the heavy romanesque nave of its cathedral, which is built of the famous local black marble, as well as for its remarkable central cluster of five great towers. soignies (in flemish zirick), roughly half-way between mons and brussels, and probably little visited, has a sombre old abbey church, of st. vincent maldegaire, that was built in the twelfth century, and that is enriched inside with such a collection of splendidly carved classical woodwork--stalls, misericordes, and pulpit--as you will scarcely find elsewhere even in belgium. the pulpit in particular is wonderful, with its life-sized girl supporters, with their graceful and lightly poised figures, and pure and lovely faces. namur, strangely enough, has really nothing of antiquity outside the doors of its archaeological museum, but is worth a visit if only for the pleasure of promenading streets which, if almost wholly modern, are unusually clean and bright. tirlemont, again, has two old churches that will not delay you long, though notre dame de lac has remarkably fine confessionals of the dawn of the seventeenth century, and though the splendid brass-work of the font and baptistery lectern at st. germains would alone be worth a visit; but leau, for which tirlemont is the junction, is so quaint and curious a little town, and comes so much in the guise of a pleasant discovery--since baedeker barely mentions it--that, even apart from its perfect wealth of wood and brass work in the fine thirteenth-century church of st. leonhard, it might anyhow be thought to justify a visit to this little visited corner of south brabant. i do not know that the brass-work could be easily matched elsewhere: the huge standard candelabrum to the north of the altar, with its crowning crucifixion; the lectern, with its triumphant eagle and prostrate dragon; the font, with its cover, and the holy-water stoup almost as big as a small font (in brittany i have seen them as big as a bath); and the beautiful brass railings that surround the splendid tabernacle that was executed in by cornelius de vriendt, the brother of the painter frans floris, and that towers high into the vaulting to a height of fifty-two feet. one realizes more completely in a quiet village church like this the breadth and intensity of the wave of artistic impulse that swept through the lowlands in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries than is possible in half a dozen hurried visits to a picture gallery at antwerp or brussels. finally hal, to conclude our list of minor places, has a grand fourteenth-century church, with a miracle-working virgin, and a little red-brick town hall of characteristically picturesque aspect. the railway journey from brussels to antwerp traverses a typical bit of belgian landscape that is as flat as a pancake; and the monotony is only relieved, first by the little town of vilvoorde, where william tyndale was burnt at the stake on october , , though not alive, having first been mercifully strangled, and afterwards by the single, huge, square tower of malines (or mechlin) cathedral, which dominates the plain from enormous distances, like the towers of ely or lincoln, though not, like these last, by virtue of position on a hill, but solely by its own vast height and overwhelming massiveness. malines, though certainly containing fewer objects of particular interest than bruges, and though certainly on the whole a less beautiful city, strikes one as hardly less dead-and-alive, and altogether may fairly claim second place among the larger belgian cities (it houses more than fifty thousand souls) in point of mediaeval character. the great thirteenth and fourteenth century cathedral of st. rombaut has been the seat of an archbishopric since the sixteenth century, and is still the metropolitan church of belgium. externally the body, like the market-hall at bruges, is almost entirely crushed into insignificance by the utterly disproportionate height and bulk of the huge west tower, the top of which, even in its present unfinished state (one almost hopes that it may never be finished), is actually three hundred and twenty-four feet high. boston "stump" is only two hundred and eighty feet to the top of the weather vane, but infinitely slimmer in proportion; whilst even salisbury spire is only about four hundred odd feet. immediately below the parapet is the enormous skeleton clock-face, the proportions of which are reproduced on the pavement of the market-place below. the carillons in this tower are an extravagant example of the belgian passion for chiming bells. once safely inside the church, and the monster tower forgotten, and we are able to admire its delicate internal proportions, and the remarkable ornament of the spandrels in the great main arcades of the choir. unfortunately, much of this interior, like that of st. pierre at louvain, is smothered under half an inch of plaster; but where this has been removed in tentative patches, revealing the dark blue "drums" of the single, circular columns of the arcades, the general effect is immensely improved. one would also like to send to the scrap-heap the enormous seventeenth-century figures of the apostles on their consoles on the piers, which form so bad a disfigurement in the nave. the treasure of the church is the great "crucifixion" by van dyck, which is hung in the south transept, but generally kept covered. to see other stately pictures you must go to the church of st. jean, where is a splendid altar triptych by rubens, the centre panel of which is the "adoration of the magi"; or to the fifteenth-century structure of notre dame au dela de la dyle (the clumsy title is used, i suppose, for the sake of distinction from the classical notre dame d'hanswyck), where rubens' "miraculous draught of fishes" is sometimes considered the painter's masterpiece. it is not yet clear whether this noble picture has been destroyed in the recent bombardment. even to those who care little for art, a stroll to these two old churches through the sleepy back-streets of malines, with their white and sunny houses, can hardly fail to gratify. if malines is a backwater of the middle time, as somnolent or as dull (so some, i suppose, would call it) as the strange dead towns of the zuyder zee, or as coggeshall or thaxted in our own green essex, antwerp, at any rate, which lies only some fifteen miles or so to the north of it, is very much awake, and of aspect mostly modern, though not without some very curious and charming relics of antiquity embedded in the heart of much recent stone and mortar. perhaps it will be well to visit one of these at once, taking the tram direct from the magnificent gare de l'est (no lesser epithet is just) to the place verte, which may be considered the real centre of the city; and making our way thence by a network of quieter back-streets to the musee plantin-moretus, which is the goal of our immediate ambition. i bring you here at once, not merely because the place itself is quite unique and of quite exceptional interest, but because it strikes precisely that note of real antiquity that underlies the modern din and bustle of antwerp, though apt to be obscured unless we listen needfully. happy, indeed, was the inspiration that moved the city to buy this house from its last private possessor, edward moretus, in . to step across this threshold is to step directly into the merchant atmosphere of the sixteenth century. the once great printing house of plantin-moretus was founded by the frenchman, christopher plantin, who was born at st. aventin, near tours, in , and began his business life as a book-binder at rouen. in he removed to antwerp, and was there innocently involved one night in a riot in the streets, which resulted in an injury that incapacitated him for his former trade, and necessitated his turning to some new employment. he now set up as printer, with remarkable success, and was a sufficiently important citizen at the date of his death, in , to be buried in his own vault under a chapel in the cathedral. the business passed, on his decease, to his son-in-law, jean moertorf, who had married his daughter, martine, in , and had latinized his surname to moretus in accordance with the curious custom that prevailed among scholars of the sixteenth century. thus servetus was really miguel servete, and thomas erastus was thomas lieber. the foundation of the fortunes of the house was undoubtedly its monopoly--analogous to that enjoyed by the english house of spottiswoode, and by the two elder universities--of printing the liturgical works--missals, antiphons, psalters, breviaries, etc.--that were used throughout the spanish dominions. no attempt, however, seems to have been made in the later stages of the history of the house to adopt improved machinery, or to reconstruct the original, antiquated buildings. the establishment, accordingly, when it was taken over by the city in , retained virtually the same aspect as it had worn in the seventeenth century, and remains to the present day perhaps the best example in the world of an old-fashioned city business house of the honest time when merchant-princes were content to live above their office, instead of seeking solace in smug suburban villas. the place has been preserved exactly as it stood, and even the present attendants are correctly clad in the sober brown garb of the servants of three hundred years since. it is interesting, not only in itself, but as an excellent example of how business and high culture were successfully combined under the happier economic conditions of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. the plantin-moretus family held a high position in the civic life of antwerp, and mixed in the intellectual and artistic society for which antwerp was famed in the seventeenth century--the antwerp of rubens (though not a native) and van dyck, of jordaens, of the two teniers, of grayer, zegers, and snyders. printing, indeed, in those days was itself a fine art, and the glories of the house of plantin-moretus rivalled those of the later chiswick press, and of the goodly chaucers edited in our own time by professor skeat, and printed by william morris. proof-reading was then an erudite profession, and francois ravelingen, who entered plantin's office as proof-reader in , and assisted arias montanus in revising the sheets of the polyglot bible, is said to have been a great greek and oriental scholar, and crowned a career of honourable toil, like hogarth's industrious apprentice, by marrying his master's eldest daughter, marguerite, in . the room in which these scholars worked remains much in its old condition, with the table at which they sat, and some of their portraits on the wall. everything here, in short, is interesting: the press-room, which was used almost continuously and practically without change--two of the antiquated presses of plantin's own time remain--for nearly three centuries; the great and little libraries, with their splendid collection of books; the archive room, with its long series of business accounts and ledgers; the private livingrooms of the moretus family; and last, but not least, the modest little shop, where books still repose upon the shelves, which looks as though the salesman might return at any moment to his place behind the counter. england has certainly nothing like it, though london had till recently in crosby hall a great merchant's house of the fifteenth century, though stripped of all internal fittings and propriety. luckily this last has been re-erected at chelsea, though robbed by the change of site of half its authenticity and value. i have chosen to dwell on this strange museum at length that seems disproportionate, not merely because of its unique character, but because it seems to me full of lessons and reproach for an age that has subordinated honest workmanship to cheap and shoddy productiveness, and has sacrificed the workman to machinery. certainly no one who visits antwerp can afford to overlook it; but probably most people will first bend their steps towards the more popular shrine of the great cathedral. here i confess myself utter heretic: to call this church, as i have seen it called, "one of the grandest in europe," seems to me pure philistinism--the cult of the merely big and obvious, to the disregard of delicacy and beauty. big it is assuredly, and superficially astonishing; but anything more barn-like architecturally, or spiritually unexalting, i can hardly call to memory. outside it lacks entirely all shadow of homogeneity; the absence of a central tower, felt perhaps even in the great cathedrals of picardy and the ile de france, just as it is felt in westminster and in beverley minster, is here actually accentuated by the hideous little cupola--i hardly know how properly to call it--that squats, as though in derision, above the crossing; whilst even the natural meeting and intersection at this point of high roofs, which in itself would rise to dignity, is wantonly neglected to make way for this monstrosity. the church, in fact, looks, when viewed externally, more like four separate churches than one; and when we step inside, with all the best will in the world to make the best of it, it is hard to find, much to admire, and anything at all to love, in these acres of dismally whitewashed walls, and long, feeble lines of arcades without capitals. the inherent vice of belgian architecture--its lack of really beautiful detail, and its fussy superfluity of pinnacle and panelling--seems to me here to culminate. belgium has really beautiful churches--not merely of the thirteenth century, when building was lovely everywhere, but later buildings, like mons, and st. pierre at louvain; but antwerp is not of this category. architecturally, perhaps, the best feature of the whole church is the lofty spire (over four hundred feet), which curiously resembles in general outline that of the hotel de ville at brussels (three hundred and seventy feet), and dates from about the same period (roughly the middle of the fifteenth century). as usual in belgium, it is quite out of scale; it is lucky, indeed, that the corresponding south-west tower has never been completed, for the combination of the two would be almost overwhelming. it is curious and interesting as an example of a tower tapering upwards to a point in a succession of diminishing stages, in contrast with tower and spire. france has something like it, though far more beautiful, in the thirteenth-century tower at senlis; but england affords no parallel. i am not sure who invented the quite happy phrase, "confectioner's gothic," but this tower at antwerp is not badly described by it. it is altogether too elaborate and florid, like the sugar pinnacle of a wedding-cake. this cathedral of antwerp, however, though at the time that it was built a mere collegiate church of secular canons, and only first exalted to cathedral rank in , is one of the largest churches in superficial area in the world, a result largely due to its possession, uniquely, of not less than six aisles, giving it a total breadth of one hundred and seventy feet. hung in the two transepts respectively are the two great pictures by rubens--the "elevation of the cross" and the "descent from the cross"--that are described at such length, and with so much critical enthusiasm, by sir joshua reynolds in his "journey to flanders and holland." the "descent from the cross," painted by rubens in , when he was only thirty-five years old, is perhaps the more splendid, and is specially remarkable for the daring with which the artist has successfully ventured (what "none but great colourists can venture") "to paint pure white linen near flesh." his christ, continues sir joshua, "i consider as one of the finest figures that ever was invented: it is most correctly drawn, and i apprehend in an attitude of the utmost difficulty to execute. the hanging of the head on his shoulder, and the falling of the body on one side, gives such an appearance of the heaviness of death, that nothing can exceed it." antwerp, of course, is full of magnificent paintings by rubens, though unfortunately the house in which he lived in the place de meir (which is traversed by the tram on its way from the est station to the place verte), which was built by him in , and in which he died in , was almost entirely rebuilt in . there is another great crucifixion by the master in the picture gallery, or palais des beaux arts, which illustrates his exceptional power as well as his occasional brutality." the centurion, with his hands on the nape of his horse's neck, is gazing with horror at the writhings of the impenitent thief, whose legs are being broken with an iron bar, which has so tortured the unhappy man that in his agony he has torn his left foot from the nail." it is questionable whether any splendour of success can ever justify a man in thus condescending to draw inspiration from the torture-room or shambles. one would gladly spend more time in this antwerp gallery, which exceeds, i think, in general magnificence the collections at brussels and amsterdam; and gladly would one visit the great fifteenth and sixteenth century churches of st. jacques, st. andre, and st. paul, which not merely form together architecturally an important group of a strongly localized character, but are also, like the cathedral, veritable museums or picture galleries. it is necessary, however, to conclude this section, to say a few words about louvain, which, lying as it does on the main route from brussels to liege, may naturally be considered on our way to the northern ardennes. louvain, on the whole, has been much more modernized than other belgian cities of corresponding bulk, such as bruges or malines. the road from the railway-station to the centre of the town is commonplace indeed in its lack of picturesque flemish house-fronts or stepped, "corbie," flemish gables. louvain, in fact, unlike the two "dead" cities of west flanders and brabant, wears a briskly business-like aspect, and pulses with modern life. i suppose that i ought properly to have written all this in the past tense, for louvain is now a heap of smoking cinders. the famous town hall has, indeed, so far been spared by ruffians who would better have spared the magnificent cloth hall at ypres; between these two great buildings, the products respectively of the belgian genius of the fifteenth and thirteenth centuries, "culture" could hardly hesitate. the hotel-de-ville at louvain is, indeed, an astonishing structure, just as the cathedral at antwerp is astonishing; but one has to be very indulgent, or very forgetful of better models, not to deprecate this absolutely wanton riot of overladened panelling and bulging, top-heavy pinnacles. the expiring throes of belgian gothic were a thousand degrees less chaste than the classicism of the early renaissance: few, perhaps, will prefer the lacelike over-richness of this midfifteenth century town hall at louvain to the restraint of the charming sixteenth-century facade of the hotel de ville at leiden. opposite the town hall is the huge fifteenth-century church of st. pierre, the interior of which, still smothered in whitewash in , was remarkable for its florid gothic rood-screen and soaring tabernacle, or ciborium. the stumpy fragment of tower at the west end is said once to have been five hundred and thirty feet high! it is not surprising to read that this last, and crowning, manifestation of a familiar belgian weakness was largely wrecked by a hurricane in . iv. one has left oneself all too little space to say what ought to be said of the belgian ardennes. personally i find them a trifle disappointing; they come, no doubt, as a welcome relief after the rest of belgian landscape, which i have heard described, not altogether unjustly, as the ugliest in the world; but the true glory and value of belgium will always be discovered in its marvellously picturesque old towns, and in its unrivalled wealth of painting, brass-work, and wood-carving. compared with these last splendours the low, wooded wolds of the ardennes, with their narrow limestone valleys, seem a little thing indeed. dinant, no doubt, and rochefort would be pleasant places enough if one were not always harking back in memory to malines and ypres, or longing to be once more in ghent or bruges. the traveller by railway between brussels and liege passes, soon after leaving the station of ans, a point of great significance in the study of belgian landscape. hitherto from brussels, or for that matter from bruges and ostend, the country, though studded at frequent intervals with cities and big towns, has been curiously and intensely rural in the tracts that lie between; but now, as we descend the steep incline into the valley of the meuse, we enter on a scene of industrial activity which, if never quite as bad as our own black country at home, is sufficiently spoilt and irritating to all who love rustic grace. the redeeming point, as always, is that infinitely superior good taste which presents us, in the midst of coal-mines and desolation, not with our own unspeakably squalid sheffields or rotherhams, but with a queenly city, with broad and handsome streets, with a wealth of public gardens, and with many stately remnants of the renaissance and middle time. it is possible in liege to forget--or rather impossible to recall--the soiled and grimy country that stretches from its gates in the direction of seraing. even under the sway of the spanish tyranny this was an independent state under the rule of a bishop prince, who was also an elector of the holy roman empire. its original cathedral, indeed, has vanished, like those at cambrai and bruges, in the insensate throes of the french revolution; and the existing church of st. paul, though dating in part from the thirteenth century, and a fine enough building in its way, is hardly the kind of structure that one would wish to associate with the seat of a bishopric that is still so historic, and was formerly so important and even quasi-regal. here, however, you should notice, just as in the great neighbour church of st. jacques, the remarkable arabesque-pattern painting of the severies of the vault, and the splendour of the sixteenth-century glass. st. jacques, i think, on the whole is the finer church of the two, and remarkable for the florid ornament of its spandrels, and for the elaborate, pendent cusping of the soffits of its arches--features that lend it an almost barbaric magnificence that reminds one of rosslyn chapel. liege, built as it is exactly on the edge of the ardennes, is far the most finely situated of any great city in belgium. to appreciate this properly you should not fail to climb the long flight of steps--in effect they seem interminable, but they are really about six hundred--that mounts endlessly from near the cellular prison to a point by the side of the citadelle pierreuse. looking down hence on the city, especially under certain atmospheric conditions--i am thinking of a showery day at easter--one is reminded of the lines by poor john davidson: "the adventurous sun took heaven by storm; clouds scattered largesses of rain; the sounding cities, rich and warm, smouldered and glittered in the plain." it is not often that one is privileged to look down so directly, and from so commanding a natural height, on to so vast and busy a city--those who like this kind of comparison have styled it the belgian birmingham--lying unrolled so immediately, like a map, beneath our feet. from liege, if you like, you may penetrate the ardennes--i do not know whether shakespeare was thinking in "as you like it" of this woodland or of his own warwickshire forest of arden; perhaps he thought of both--immediately by way of spa and the valley of the vesdre, or by the valleys of the ourthe and of its tributary the ambleve; or you may still cling for a little while to the fringe of the ardennes, which is also the fringe of the industrial country, and explore the valley of the meuse westward, past huy and namur, to dinant. huy has a noble collegiate church of notre dame, the chancel towers of which (found again as far away as como) are suggestive of rhenish influence, but strikes one as rather dusty and untidy in itself. namur, on the contrary, we have already noted with praise, though it has nothing of real antiquity. the valley of the meuse is graced everywhere at intervals with fantastic piles of limestone cliff, and certainly, in a proper light, is pretty; but there is far too much quarrying and industrialism between liege and namur, and far too many residential villas along the banks between namur and dinant, altogether to satisfy those who have high ideals of scenery. wordsworth, in a prefatory note to a sonnet that was written in , and at a date when these signs of industrialism were doubtless less obtrusive, says: "the scenery on the meuse pleases one more, upon the whole, than that of the rhine, though the river itself is much inferior in grandeur"; but even he complains that the scenery is "in several places disfigured by quarries, whence stones were taken for the new fortifications." dinant, in particular, has an exceptionally grand cliff; but the summit is crowned (or was) by an ugly citadel, and the base is thickly clustered round with houses (not all, by any means, mediaeval and beautiful) in a way that calls to mind the high tor at matlock bath. dinant, in short, is a kind of belgian matlock, and appeals as little as matlock to the "careful student" of nature. if at dinant, however, you desert the broad valley of the meuse for the narrow and secluded limestone glen of the lesse, with its clear and sparkling stream, you will sample at once a kind of scenery that reminds you of what is best in derbyshire, and is also best and most characteristic in the belgian ardennes. the walk up the stream from dinant to houyet, where the valley of the lesse becomes more open and less striking, is mostly made by footpath; and the pellucid river is crossed, and recrossed, and crossed again, by a constant succession of ferries. sometimes the white cliff rises directly from the water, sheer and majestic, like that which is crowned by the romantic chateau walzin; sometimes it is more broken, and rises amidst trees from a broad plinth of emerald meadow that is interposed between its base and the windings of the river. sometimes we thread the exact margin of the stream, or traverse in the open a scrap of level pasture; sometimes we clamber steeply by a stony path along the sides of an abrupt and densely wooded hillside, where the thicket is yellow in spring with anemone ranunculoides, or starred with green herb paris. this is the kind of glen scenery that is found along the courses of the semois, lesse, and ourthe, recalling, with obvious differences, that of monsal dale or dovedale, but always, perhaps, without that subtle note of wildness that robes even the mild splendours of derbyshire with a suggestion of mountain dignity. the ardennes, in short--and this is their scenic weakness--never attain to the proper mountain spirit. there is a further point, however, in which they also recall derbyshire, but in which they are far preeminent. this is the vast agglomeration of caves and vertical potholes--like those in craven, but here called etonnoirs--that riddle the rolling wolds in all directions. chief among these is the mammoth cave of han, the mere perambulation of which is said to occupy more than two hours. i have never penetrated myself into its sombre and dank recesses, but something may be realized of its character and scale merely by visiting its gaping mouth at eprave. this is the exit of the lesse, which, higher up the vale, at the curious perte de lesse, swerves suddenly from its obvious course, down the bright and cheerful valley, to plunge noisily through a narrow slit in the rock-- "where alph, the sacred river, ran through caverns measureless to man down to a sunless sea." rochefort, which itself has a considerable cave, is a pleasant centre for the exploration of these subterranean marvels. altogether this limestone region of the ardennes, though certainly not remarkable for mountain or forest splendour, comes as a somewhat welcome relief after the interminable levels and chessboard fields of east and west flanders, or of the provinces of limburgh and antwerp. this ebook was produced by david widger, widger@cecomet.net book ii. cardinal granvella. anthony perenot, bishop of arras, subsequently archbishop of malines, and metropolitan of all the netherlands, who, under the name of cardinal granvella, has been immortalized by the hatred of his contemporaries, was born in the year , at besancon in burgundy. his father, nicolaus perenot, the son of a blacksmith, had risen by his own merits to be the private secretary of margaret, duchess of savoy, at that time regent of the netherlands. in this post he was noticed for his habits of business by charles v., who took him into his own service and employed him in several important negotiations. for twenty years he was a member of the emperor's cabinet, and filled the offices of privy counsellor and keeper of the king's seal, and shared in all the state secrets of that monarch. he acquired a large fortune. his honors, his influence, and his political knowledge were inherited by his son, anthony perenot, who in his early years gave proofs of the great capacity which subsequently opened to him so distinguished a career. anthony had cultivated at several colleges the talents with which nature had so lavishly endowed him, and in some respects had an advantage over his father. he soon showed that his own abilities were sufficient to maintain the advantageous position which the merits of another had procured him. he was twenty-four years old when the emperor sent him as his plenipotentiary to the ecclesiastical council of trent, where he delivered the first specimen of that eloquence which in the sequel gave him so complete an ascendancy over two kings. charles employed him in several difficult embassies, the duties of which he fulfilled to the satisfaction of his sovereign, and when finally that emperor resigned the sceptre to his son he made that costly present complete by giving him a minister who could help him to wield it. granvella opened his new career at once with the greatest masterpiece of political genius, in passing so easily from the favor of such a father into equal consideration with such a son. and he soon proved himself deserving of it. at the secret negotiations of which the duchess of lorraine had, in , been the medium between the french and spanish ministers at peronne, he planned, conjointly with the cardinal of lorraine, that conspiracy against the protestants which was afterwards matured, but also betrayed, at chateau-cambray, where perenot likewise assisted in effecting the so-called peace. a deeply penetrating, comprehensive intellect, an unusual facility in conducting great and intricate affairs, and the most extensive learning, were wonderfully united in this man with persevering industry and never- wearying patience, while his enterprising genius was associated with thoughtful mechanical regularity. day and night the state found him vigilant and collected; the most important and the most insignificant things were alike weighed by him with scrupulous attention. not unfrequently he employed five secretaries at one time, dictating to them in different languages, of which he is said to have spoken seven. what his penetrating mind had slowly matured acquired in his lips both force and grace, and truth, set forth by his persuasive eloquence, irresistibly carried away all hearers. he was tempted by none of the passions which make slaves of most men. his integrity was incorruptible. with shrewd penetration he saw through the disposition of his master, and could read in his features his whole train of thought, and, as it were, the approaching form in the shadow which outran it. with an artifice rich in resources he came to the aid of philip's more inactive mind, formed into perfect thought his master's crude ideas while they yet hung on his lips, and liberally allowed him the glory of the invention. granvella understood the difficult and useful art of depreciating his own talents; of making his own genius the seeming slave of another; thus he ruled while he concealed his sway. in this manner only could philip ii. be governed. content with a silent but real power, granvella did not grasp insatiably at new and outward marks of it, which with lesser minds are ever the most coveted objects; but every new distinction seemed to sit upon him as easily as the oldest. no wonder if such extraordinary endowments had alone gained him the favor of his master; but a large and valuable treasure of political secrets and experiences, which the active life of charles v. had accumulated, and had deposited in the mind of this man, made him indispensable to his successor. self-sufficient as the latter was, and accustomeded to confide in his own understanding, his timid and crouching policy was fain to lean on a superior mind, and to aid its own irresolution not only by precedent but also by the influence and example of another. no political matter which concerned the royal interest, even when philip himself was in the netherlands, was decided without the intervention of granvella; and when the king embarked for spain he made the new regent the same valuable present of the minister which he himself had received from the emperor, his father. common as it is for despotic princes to bestow unlimited confidence on the creatures whom they have raised from the dust, and of whose greatness they themselves are, in a measure, the creators, the present is no ordinary instance; pre-eminent must have been the qualities which could so far conquer the selfish reserve of such a character as philip's as to gain his confidence, nay, even to win him into familiarity. the slightest ebullition of the most allowable self-respect, which might have tempted him to assert, however slightly, his claim to any idea which the king had once ennobled as his own, would have cost him his whole influence. he might gratify without restraint the lowest passions of voluptuousness, of rapacity, and of revenge, but the only one in which he really took delight, the sweet consciousness of his own superiority and power, he was constrained carefully to conceal from the suspicious glance of the despot. he voluntarily disclaimed all the eminent qualities, which were already his own, in order, as it were, to receive them a second time from the generosity of the king. his happiness seemed to flow from no other source, no other person could have a claim upon his gratitude. the purple, which was sent to him from rome, was not assumed until the royal permission reached him from spain; by laying it down on the steps of the throne he appeared, in a measure, to receive it first from the hands of majesty. less politic, alva erected a trophy in antwerp, and inscribed his own name under the victory, which he had won as the servant of the crown--but alva carried with him to the grave the displeasure of his master. he had invaded with audacious hand the royal prerogative by drawing immediately at the fountain of immortality. three times granvella changed his master, and three times he succeeded in rising to the highest favor. with the same facility with which he had guided the settled pride of an autocrat, and the sly egotism of a despot, he knew how to manage the delicate vanity of a woman. his business between himself and the regent, even when they were in the same house, was, for the most part, transacted by the medium of notes, a custom which draws its date from the times of augustus and tiberius. when the regent was in any perplexity these notes were interchanged from hour to hour. he probably adopted this expedient in the hope of eluding the watchful jealousy of the nobility, and concealing from them, in part at least, his influence over the regent. perhaps, too, he also believed that by this means his advice would become more permanent; and, in case of need, this written testimoney would be at hand to shield him from blame. but the vigilance of the nobles made this caution vain, and it was soon known in all the provinces that nothing was determined upon without the minister's advice. granvella possessed all the qualities requisite for a perfect statesman in a monarchy governed by despotic principles, but was absolutely unqualified for republics which are governed by kings. educated between the throne and the confessional, he knew of no other relation between man and man than that of rule and subjection; and the innate consciousness of his own superiority gave him a contempt for others. his policy wanted pliability, the only virtue which was here indispensable to its success. he was naturally overbearing and insolent, and the royal authority only gave arms to the natural impetuosity of his disposition and the imperiousness of his order. he veiled his own ambition beneath the interests of the crown, and made the breach between the nation and the king incurable, because it would render him indispensable to the latter. he revenged on the nobility the lowliness of his own origin; and, after the fashion of all those who have risen by their own merits, he valued the advantages of birth below those by which he had raised himself to distinction. the protestants saw in him their most implacable foe; to his charge were laid all the burdens which oppressed the country, and they pressed the more heavily because they came from him. nay, he was even accused of having brought back to severity the milder sentiments to which the urgent remonstrances of the provinces had at last disposed the monarch. the netherlands execrated him as the most terrible enemy of their liberties, and the originator of all the misery which subsequently came upon them. . philip had evidently left the provinces too soon. the new measures of the government were still strange to the people, and could receive sanction and authority from his presence alone; the new machines which he had brought into play required to be kept in motion by a dreaded and powerful hand, and to have their first movements watched and regulated. he now exposed his minister to all the angry passions of the people, who no longer felt restrained by the fetters of the royal presence; and he delegated to the weak arm of a subject the execution of projects in which majesty itself, with all its powerful supports, might have failed. the land, indeed, flourished; and a general prosperity appeared to testify to the blessings of the peace which had so lately been bestowed upon it. an external repose deceived the eye, for within raged all the elements of discord. if the foundations of religion totter in a country they totter not alone; the audacity which begins with things sacred ends with things profane. the successful attack upon the hierarchy had awakened a spirit of boldness, and a desire to assail authority in general, and to test laws as well as dogmas--duties as well as opinions. the fanatical boldness with which men had learned to discuss and decide upon the affairs of eternity might change its subject matter; the contempt for life and property which religious enthusiasm had taught could metamorphose timid citizens into foolhardy rebels. a female government of nearly forty years had given the nation room to assert their liberty; continual wars, of which the netherlands had been the theatre, had introduced a license with them, and the right of the stronger had usurped the place of law and order. the provinces were filled with foreign adventurers and fugitives; generally men bound by no ties of country, family, or property, who had brought with them from their unhappy homes the seeds of insubordination and rebellion. the repeated spectacles of torture and of death had rudely burst the tenderer threads of moral feeling, and had given an unnatural harshness to the national character. still the rebellion would have crouched timorously and silently on the ground if it had not found a support in the nobility. charles v. had spoiled the flemish nobles of the netherlands by making them the participators of his glory, by fostering their national pride, by the marked preference he showed for them over the castilian nobles, and by opening an arena to their ambition in every part of his empire. in the late war with france they had really deserved this preference from philip; the advantages which the king reaped from the peace of chateau- cambray were for the most part the fruits of their valor, and they now sensibly missed the gratitude on which they had so confidently reckoned. moreover, the separation of the german empire from the spanish monarchy, and the less warlike spirit of the new government, had greatly narrowed their sphere of action, and, except in their own country, little remained for them to gain. and philip now appointed his spaniards where charles v. had employed the flemings. all the passions which the preceding government had raised and kept employed still survived in peace; and in default of a legitimate object these unruly feelings found, unfortunately, ample scope in the grievances of their country. accordingly, the claims and wrongs which had been long supplanted by new passions were now drawn from oblivion. by his late appointments the king had satisfied no party; for those even who obtained offices were not much more content than those who were entirely passed over, because they had calculated on something better than they got. william of orange had received four governments (not to reckon some smaller dependencies which, taken together, were equivalent to a fifth), but william had nourished hopes of flanders and brabant. he and count egmont forgot what had really fallen to their share, and only remembered that they had lost the regency. the majority of the nobles were either plunged into debt by their own extravagance, or had willingly enough been drawn into it by the government. now that they were excluded from the prospect of lucrative appointments, they at once saw themselves exposed to poverty, which pained them the more sensibly when they contrasted the splendor of the affluent citizens with their own necessities. in the extremities to which they were reduced many would have readily assisted in the commission even of crimes; how then could they resist the seductive offers of the calvinists, who liberally repaid them for their intercession and protection? lastly, many whose estates were past redemption placed their last hope in a general devastation, and stood prepared at the first favorable moment to cast the torch of discord into the republic. this threatening aspect of the public mind was rendered still more alarming by the unfortunate vicinity of france. what philip dreaded for the provinces was there already accomplished. the fate of that kingdom prefigured to him the destiny of his netherlands, and the spirit of rebellion found there a seductive example. a similar state of things had under francis i. and henry ii. scattered the seeds of innovation in that kingdom; a similar fury of persecution and a like spirit of faction had encouraged its growth. now huguenots and catholics were struggling in a dubious contest; furious parties disorganized the whole monarchy, and were violently hurrying this once-powerful state to the brink of destruction. here, as there, private interest, ambition, and party feeling might veil themselves under the names of religion and patriotism, and the passions of a few citizens drive the entire nation to take up arms. the frontiers of both countries merged in walloon flanders; the rebellion might, like an agitated sea, cast its waves as far as this: would a country be closed against it whose language, manners, and character wavered between those of france and belgium? as yet the government had taken no census of its protestant subjects in these countries, but the new sect, it was aware, was a vast, compact republic, which extended its roots through all the monarchies of christendom, and the slighest disturbance in any of its most distant members vibrated to its centre. it was, as it were, a chain of threatening volcanoes, which, united by subterraneous passages, ignite at the same moment with alarming sympathy. the netherlands were, necessarily, open to all nations, because they derived their support from all. was it possible for philip to close a commercial state as easily as he could spain? if he wished to purify these provinces from heresy it was necessary for him to commence by extirpating it in france. it was in this state that granvella found the netherlands at the beginning of his administration ( ). to restore to these countries the uniformity of papistry, to break the co-ordinate power of the nobility and the states, and to exalt the royal authority on the ruins of republican freedom, was the great object of spanish policy and the express commission of the new minister. but obstacles stood in the way of its accomplishment; to conquer these demanded the invention of new resources, the application of new machinery. the inquisition, indeed, and the religious edicts appeared sufficient to check the contagion of heresy; but the latter required superintendence, and the former able instruments for its now extended jurisdiction. the church constitution continued the same as it had been in earlier times, when the provinces were less populous, when the church still enjoyed universal repose, and could be more easily overlooked and controlled. a succession of several centuries, which changed the whole interior form of the provinces, had left the form of the hierarchy unaltered, which, moreover, was protected from the arbitrary will of its ruler by the particular privileges of the provinces. all the seventeen provinces were parcelled out under four bishops, who had their seats at arras, tournay, cambray, and utrecht, and were subject to the primates of rheims and cologne. philip the good, duke of burgundy, had, indeed, meditated an increase in the number of bishops to meet the wants of the increasing population; but, unfortunately, in the excitement of a life of pleasure had abandoned the project. ambition and lust of conquest withdrew the mind of charles the bold from the internal concerns of his kingdom, and maximilian had already too many subjects of dispute with the states to venture to add to their number by proposing this change. a stormy reign prevented charles v. from the execution of this extensive plan, which philip ii. now undertook as a bequest from all these princes. the moment had now arrived when the urgent necessities of the church would excuse the innovation, and the leisure of peace favored its accomplishment. with the prodigious crowd of people from all the countries of europe who were crowded together in the towns of the netherlands, a multitude of religious opinions had also grown up; and it was impossible that religion could any longer be effectually superintended by so few eyes as were formerly sufficient. while the number of bishops was so small their districts must, of necessity, have been proportionally extensive, and four men could not be adequate to maintain the purity of the faith through so wide a district. the jurisdiction which the archbishops of cologne and rheims exercised over the netherlands had long been a stumbling-block to the government, which could not look on this territory as really its own property so long as such an important branch of power was still wielded by foreign hands. to snatch this prerogative from the alien archbishops; by new and active agents to give fresh life and vigor to the superintendence of the faith, and at the same time to strengthen the number of the partisans of government at the diet, no more effectual means could be devised than to increase the number of bishops. resolved upon doing this philip ii. ascended the throne; but he soon found that a change in the hierarchy would inevitably meet with warm opposition from the provinces, without whose consent, nevertheless, it would be vain to attempt it. philip foresaw that the nobility would never approve of a measure which would so strongly augment the royal party, and take from the aristocracy the preponderance of power in the diet. the revenues, too, for the maintenance of these new bishops must be diverted from the abbots and monks, and these formed a considerable part of the states of the realm. he had, besides, to fear the opposition of the protestants, who would not fail to act secretly in the diet against him. on these accounts the whole affair was discussed at rome with the greatest possible secrecy. instructed by, and as the agent of, granvella, francis sonnoi, a priest of louvain, came before paul iv. to inform him how extensive the provinces were, how thriving and populous, how luxurious in their prosperity. but, he continued, in the immoderate enjoyment of liberty the true faith is neglected, and heretics prosper. to obviate this evil the romish see must have recourse to extraordinary measures. it was not difficult to prevail on the romish pontiff to make a change which would enlarge the sphere of his own jurisdiction. paul iv. appointed a tribunal of seven cardinals to deliberate upon this important matter; but death called him away, and he left to his successor, pius iv., the duty of carrying their advice into execution. the welcome tidings of the pope's determination reached the king in zealand when he was just on the point of setting sail for spain, and the minister was secretly charged with the dangerous reform. the new constitution of the hierarchy was published in ; in addition to the then existing four bishoprics thirteen new ones were established, according to the number of seventeen provinces, and four of them were raised into archbishoprics. six of these episcopal sees, viz., in antwerp, herzogenbusch, ghent, bruges, ypres, and ruremonde, were placed under the archbishopric of malines; five others, haarlem, middelburg, leuwarden, deventer, and groningen, under the archbishopric of utrecht; and the remaining four, arras, tournay, st. omer, and namur, which lie nearest to france, and have language, character, and manners in common with that country, under the archbishopric of cambray. malines, situated in the middle of brabant and in the centre of all the seventeen provinces, was made the primacy of all the rest, and was, with several rich abbeys, the reward of granvella. the revenues of the new bishoprics were provided by an appropriation of the treasures of the cloisters and abbeys which had accumulated from pious benefactions during centuries. some of the abbots were raised to the episcopal throne, and with the possession of their cloisters and prelacies retained also the vote at the diet which was attached to them. at the same time to every bishopric nine prebends were attached, and bestowed on the most learned juris-consultists and theologians, who were to support the inquisition and the bishop in his spiritual office. of these, the two who were most deserving by knowledge, experience, and unblemished life were to be constituted actual inquisitors, and to have the first voice in the synods. to the archbishop of malines, as metropolitan of all the seventeen provinces, the full authority was given to appoint, or at discretion depose, archbishops and bishops; and the romish see was only to give its ratification to his acts. at any other period the nation would have received with gratitude and approved of such a measure of church reform since it was fully called for by circumstances, was conducive to the interests of religion, and absolutely indispensable for the moral reformation of the monkhood. now the temper of the times saw in it nothing but a hateful change. universal was the indignation with which it was received. a cry was raised that the constitution was trampled under foot, the rights of the nation violated, and that the inquisition was already at the door, and would soon open here, as in spain, its bloody tribunal. the people beheld with dismay these new servants of arbitrary power and of persecution. the nobility saw in it nothing but a strengthening of the royal authority by the addition of fourteen votes in the states' assembly, and a withdrawal of the firmest prop of their freedom, the balance of the royal and the civil power. the old bishops complained of the diminution of their incomes and the circumscription of their sees; the abbots and monks had not only lost power and income, but had received in exchange rigid censors of their morals. noble and simple, laity and clergy, united against the common foe, and while all singly struggled for some petty private interest, the cry appeared to come from the formidable voice of patriotism. among all the provinces brabant was loudest in its opposition. the inviolability of its church constitution was one of the important privileges which it had reserved in the remarkable charter of the "joyful entry,"--statutes which the sovereign could not violate without releasing the nation from its allegiance to him. in vain did the university of louvain assert that in disturbed times of the church a privilege lost its power which had been granted in the period of its tranquillity. the introduction of the new bishoprics into the constitution was thought to shake the whole fabric of liberty. the prelacies, which were now transferred to the bishops, must henceforth serve another rule than the advantage of the province of whose states they had been members. the once free patriotic citizens were to be instruments of the romish see and obedient tools of the archbishop, who again, as first prelate of brabant, had the immediate control over them. the freedom of voting was gone, because the bishops, as servile spies of the crown, made every one fearful. "who," it was asked, "will after this venture to raise his voice in parliament before such observers, or in their presence dare to protect the rights of the nation against the rapacious hands of the government? they will trace out the resources of the provinces, and betray to the crown the secrets of our freedom and our property. they will obstruct the way to all offices of honor; we shall soon see the courtiers of the king succeed the present men; the children of foreigners will, for the future, fill the parliament, and the private interest of their patron will guide their venal votes." "what an act of oppression," rejoined the monks, "to pervert to other objects the pious designs of our holy institutions, to contemn the inviolable wishes of the dead, and to take that which a devout charity had deposited in our chests for the relief of the unfortunate and make it subservient to the luxury of the bishops, thus inflating their arrogant pomp with the plunder of the poor?" not only the abbots and monks, who really did suffer by this act of appropriation, but every family which could flatter itself with the slightest hope of enjoying, at some time or other, even in the most remote posterity, the benefit of this monastic foundation, felt this disappointment of their distant expectations as much as if they had suffered an actual injury, and the wrongs of a few abbot-prelates became the concern of a whole nation. historians have not omitted to record the covert proceedings of william of orange during this general commotion, who labored to conduct to one end these various and conflicting passions. at his instigation the people of brabant petitioned the regent for an advocate and protector, since they alone, of all his flemish subjects, had the misfortune to unite, in one and the same person, their counsel and their ruler. had the demand been granted, their choice could fall on no other than the prince of orange. but granvella, with his usual presence of mind, broke through the snare. "the man who receives this office," he declared in the state council, "will, i hope, see that he divides brabant with the king!" the long delay of the papal bull, which was kept back by a misunderstanding between the romish and spanish courts, gave the disaffected an opportunity to combine for a common object. in perfect secrecy the states of brabant despatched an extraordinary messenger to pins iv. to urge their wishes in rome itself. the ambassador was provided with important letters of recommendation from the prince of orange, and carried with him considerable sums to pave his way to the father of the church. at the same time a public letter was forwarded from the city of antwerp to the king of spain containing the most urgent representations, and supplicating him to spare that flourishing commercial town from the threatened innovation. they knew, it was stated, that the intentions of the monarch were the best, and that the institution of the new bishops was likely to be highly conducive to the maintenance of true religion; but the foreigners could not be convinced of this, and on them depended the prosperity of their town. among them the most groundless rumors would be as perilous as the most true. the first embassy was discovered in time, and its object disappointed by the prudence of the regent; by the second the town of antwerp gained so far its point that it was to remain without a bishop, at least until the personal arrival of the king, which was talked of. the example and success of antwerp gave the signal of opposition to all the other towns for which a new bishop was intended. it is a remarkable proof of the hatred to the inquisition and the unanimity of the flemish towns at this date that they preferred to renounce all the advantages which the residence of a bishop would necessarily bring to their local trade rather than by their consent promote that abhorred tribunal, and thus act in opposition to the interests of the whole nation. deventer, ruremond, and leuwarden placed themselves in determined opposition, and ( ) successfully carried their point; in the other towns the bishops were, in spite of all remonstrances, forcibly inducted. utrecht, haarlem, st. omer, and middelburg were among the first which opened their gates to them; the remaining towns followed their example; but in malines and herzogenbusch the bishops were received with very little respect. when granvella made his solemn entry into the former town not a single nobleman showed himself, and his triumph was wanting in everything that could make it real, because those remained away over whom it was meant to be celebrated. in the meantime, too, the period had elapsed within which the spanish troops were to have left the country, and as yet there was no appearance of their being withdrawn. people perceived with terror the real cause of the delay, and suspicion lent it a fatal connection with the inquisition. the detention of these troops, as it rendered the nation more vigilant and distrustful, made it more difficult for the minister to proceed with the other innovations, and yet he would fain not deprive himself of this powerful and apparently indispensable aid in a country where all hated him, and in the execution of a commission to which all were opposed. at last, however, the regent saw herself compelled by the universal murmurs of discontent, to urge most earnestly upon the king the necessity of the withdrawal of the troops. "the provinces," she writes to madrid, "have unanimously declared that they would never again be induced to grant the extraordinary taxes required by the government as long as word was not kept with them in this matter. the danger of a revolt was far more imminent than that of an attack by the french protestants, and if a rebellion was to take place in the netherlands these forces would be too weak to repress it, and there was not sufficient money in the treasury to enlist new." by delaying his answer the king still sought at least to gain time, and the reiterated representations of the regent would still have remained ineffectual, if, fortunately for the provinces, a loss which he had lately suffered from the turks had not compelled him to employ these troops in the mediterranean. he, therefore, at last consented to their departure: they were embarked in in zealand, and the exulting shouts of all the provinces accompanied their departure. meanwhile granvella ruled in the council of state almost uncontrolled. all offices, secular and spiritual, were given away through him; his opinion prevailed against the unanimous voice of the whole assembly. the regent herself was governed by him. he had contrived to manage so that her appointment was made out for two years only, and by this expedient he kept her always in his power. it seldom happened that any important affair was submitted to the other members, and if it really did occur it was only such as had been long before decided, to which it was only necessary for formality's sake to gain their sanction. whenever a royal letter was read viglius received instructions to omit all such passages as were underlined by the minister. it often happened that this correspondence with spain laid open the weakness of the government, or the anxiety felt by the regent, with which it was not expedient to inform the members, whose loyalty was distrusted. if again it occurred that the opposition gained a majority over the minister, and insisted with determination on an article which he could not well put off any longer, he sent it to the ministry at madrid for their decision, by which he at least gained time, and in any case was certain to find support.--with the exception of the count of barlaimont, the president viglius, and a few others, all the other counsellors were but superfluous figures in the senate, and the minister's behavior to them marked the small value which he placed upon their friendship and adherence. no wonder that men whose pride had been so greatly indulged by the flattering attentions of sovereign princes, and to whom, as to the idols of their country, their fellow-citizens paid the most reverential submission, should be highly indignant at this arrogance of a plebeian. many of them had been personally insulted by granvella. the prince of orange was well aware that it was he who had prevented his marriage with the princess of lorraine, and that he had also endeavored to break off the negotiations for another alliance with the princess of savoy. he had deprived count horn of the government of gueldres and zutphen, and had kept for himself an abbey which count egmont had in vain exerted himself to obtain for a relation. confident of his superior power, he did not even think it worth while to conceal from the nobility his contempt for them, and which, as a rule, marked his whole administration; william of orange was the only one with whom be deemed it advisable to dissemble. although he really believed himself to be raised far above all the laws of fear and decorum, still in this point, however, his confident arrogance misled him, and he erred no less against policy than he shined against propriety. in the existing posture of affairs the government could hardly have adopted a worse measure than that of throwing disrespect on the nobility. it had it in its power to flatter the prejudices and feelings of the aristocracy, and thus artfully and imperceptibly win them over to its plans, and through them subvert the edifice of national liberty. now it admonished them, most inopportunely, of their duties, their dignity, and their power; calling upon them even to be patriots, and to devote to the cause of true greatness an ambition which hitherto it had inconsiderately repelled. to carry into effect the ordinances it required the active co-operation of the lieutenant-governors; no wonder, however, that the latter showed but little zeal to afford this assistance. on the contrary, it is highly probable that they silently labored to augment the difficulties of the minister, and to subvert his measures, and through his ill-success to diminish the king's confidence in him, and expose his administration to contempt. the rapid progress which in spite of those horrible edicts the reformation made during granvella's administration in the netherlands, is evidently to be ascribed to the lukewarmness of the nobility in opposing it. if the minister had been sure of the nobles he might have despised the fury of the mob, which would have impotently dashed itself against the dreaded barriers of the throne. the sufferings of the citizens lingered long in tears and sighs, until the arts and the example of the nobility called forth a louder expression of them. meanwhile the inquisitions into religion were carried on with renewed vigor by the crowd of new laborers ( , ), and the edicts against heretics were enforced with fearful obedience. but the critical moment when this detestable remedy might have been applied was allowed to pass by; the nation had become too strong and vigorous for such rough treatment. the new religion could now be extirpated only by the death of all its professors. the present executions were but so many alluring exhibitions of its excellence, so many scenes of its triumphs and radiant virtue. the heroic greatness with which the victims died made converts to the opinions for which they perished. one martyr gained ten new proselytes. not in towns only, or villages, but on the very highways, in the boats and public carriages disputes were held touching the dignity of the pope, the saints, purgatory, and indulgences, and sermons were preached and men converted. from the country and from the towns the common people rushed in crowds to rescue the prisoners of the holy tribunal from the hands of its satellites, and the municipal officers who ventured to support it with the civil forces were pelted with stones. multitudes accompanied the protestant preachers whom the inquisition pursued, bore them on their shoulders to and from church, and at the risk of their lives concealed them from their persecutors. the first province which was seized with the fanatical spirit of rebellion was, as had been expected, walloon flanders. a french calvinist, by name lannoi, set himself up in tournay as a worker of miracles, where he hired a few women to simulate diseases, and to pretend to be cured by him. he preached in the woods near the town, drew the people in great numbers after him, and scattered in their minds the seeds of rebellion. similar teachers appeared in lille and valenciennes, but in the latter place the municipal functionaries succeeded in seizing the persons of these incendiaries; while, however, they delayed to execute them their followers increased so rapidly that they became sufficiently strong to break open the prisons and forcibly deprive justice of its victims. troops at last were brought into the town and order restored. but this trifling occurrence had for a moment withdrawn the veil which had hitherto concealed the strength of the protestant party, and allowed the minister to compute their prodigious numbers. in tournay alone five thousand at one time had been seen attending the sermons, and not many less in valenciennes. what might not be expected from the northern provinces, where liberty was greater, and the seat of government more remote, and where the vicinity of germany and denmark multiplied the sources of contagion? one slight provocation had sufficed to draw from its concealment so formidable a multitude. how much greater was, perhaps, the number of those who in their hearts acknowledged the new sect, and only waited for a favorable opportunity to publish their adhesion to it. this discovery greatly alarmed the regent. the scanty obedience paid to the edicts, the wants of the exhausted treasury, which compelled her to impose new taxes, and the suspicious movements of the huguenots on the french frontiers still further increased her anxiety. at the same time she received a command from madrid to send off two thousand flemish cavalry to the army of the queen mother in france, who, in the distresses of the civil war, had recourse to philip ii. for assistance. every affair of faith, in whatever land it might be, was made by philip his own business. he felt it as keenly as any catastrophe which could befall his own house, and in such cases always stood ready to sacrifice his means to foreign necessities. if it were interested motives that here swayed him they were at least kingly and grand, and the bold support of his principles wins our admiration as much as their cruelty withholds our esteem. the regent laid before the council of state the royal will on the subject of these troops, but with a very warm opposition on the part of the nobility. count egmont and the prince of orange declared that the time was illchosen for stripping the netherlands of troops, when the aspect of affairs rendered rather the enlistment of new levies advisable. the movements of the troops in france momentarily threatened a surprise, and the commotions within the provinces demanded, more than ever, the utmost vigilance on the part of the government. hitherto, they said, the german protestants had looked idly on during the struggles of their brethren in the faith; but will they continue to do so, especially when we are lending our aid to strengthen their enemy? by thus acting shall we not rouse their vengeance against us, and call their arms into the northern netherlands? nearly the whole council of state joined in this opinion; their representations were energetic and not to be gainsaid. the regent herself, as well as the minister, could not but feel their truth, and their own interests appeared to forbid obedience to the royal mandate. would it not be impolitic to withdraw from the inquisition its sole prop by removing the larger portion of the army, and in a rebellious country to leave themselves without defence, dependent on the arbitrary will of an arrogant aristocracy? while the regent, divided between the royal commands, the urgent importunity of her council, and her own fears, could not venture to come to a decision, william of orange rose and proposed the assembling of the states general. but nothing could have inflicted a more fatal blow on the supremacy of the crown than by yielding to this advice to put the nation in mind of its power and its rights. no measure could be more hazardous at the present moment. the danger which was thus gathering over the minister did not escape him; a sign from him warned the regent to break off the consultation and adjourn the council. "the government," he writes to madrid, "can do nothing more injurious to itself than to consent to the assembling of the states. such a step is at all times perilous, because it tempts the nation to test and restrict the rights of the crown; but it is many times more objectionable at the present moment, when the spirit of rebellion is already widely spread amongst us; when the abbots, exasperated at the loss of their income, will neglect nothing to impair the dignity of the bishops; when the whole nobility and all the deputies from the towns are led by the arts of the prince of orange, and the disaffected can securely reckon on the assistance of the nation." this representation, which at least was not wanting in sound sense, did not fail in having the desired effect on the king's mind. the assembling of the states was rejected once and forever, the penal statutes against the heretics were renewed in all their rigor, and the regent was directed to hasten the despatch of the required auxiliaries. but to this the council of state would not consent. all that she obtained was, instead of the troops, a supply of money for the queen mother, which at this crisis was still more welcome to her. in place, however, of assembling the states, and in order to beguile the nation with, at least, the semblance of republican freedom, the regent summoned the governors of the provinces and the knights of the golden fleece to a special congress at brussels, to consult on the present dangers and necessities of the state. when the president, viglius, had laid before them the matters on which they were summoned to deliberate, three days were given to them for consideration. during this time the prince of orange assembled them in his palace, where he represented to them the necessity of coming to some unanimous resolution before the next sitting, and of agreeing on the measures which ought to be followed in the present dangerous state of affairs. the majority assented to the propriety of this course; only barlaimont, with a few of the dependents of the cardinal, had the courage to plead for the interests of the crown and of the minister. "it did not behoove them," he said, "to interfere in the concerns of the government, and this previous agreement of votes was an illegal and culpable assumption, in the guilt of which he would not participate;"--a declaration which broke up the meeting without any conclusion being come to. the regent, apprised of it by the count barlaimont, artfully contrived to keep the knights so well employed during their stay in the town that they could find no time for coming to any further secret understanding; in this session, however, it was arranged, with their concurrence, that florence of montmorency, lord of montigny, should make a journey to spain, in order to acquaint the king with the present posture of affairs. but the regent sent before him another messenger to madrid, who previously informed the king of all that had been debated between the prince of orange and the knights at the secret conference. the flemish ambassador was flattered in madrid with empty protestations of the king's favor and paternal sentiments towards the netherlands, while the regent was commanded to thwart, to the utmost of her power, the secret combinations of the nobility, and, if possible, to sow discord among their most eminent members. jealousy, private interest, and religious differences had long divided many of the nobles; their share in the common neglect and contempt with which they were treated, and a general hatred of the minister had again united them. so long as count egmont and the prince of orange were suitors for the regency it could not fail but that at times their competing claims should have brought them into collision. both had met each other on the road to glory and before the throne; both again met in the republic, where they strove for the same prize, the favor of their fellow-citizens. such opposite characters soon became estranged, but the powerful sympathy of necessity as quickly reconciled them. each was now indispensable to the other, and the emergency united these two men together with a bond which their hearts would never have furnished. but it was on this very uncongeniality of disposition that the regent based her plans; if she could fortunately succeed in separating them she would at the same time divide the whole flemish nobility into two parties. through the presents and small attentions by which she exclusively honored these two she also sought to excite against them the envy and distrust of the rest, and by appearing to give count egmont a preference over the prince of orange she hoped to make the latter suspicious of egmont's good faith. it happened that at this very time she was obliged to send an extraordinary ambassador to frankfort, to be present at the election of a roman emperor. she chose for this office the duke of arschot, the avowed enemy of the prince, in order in some degree to show in his case how splendid was the reward which hatred against the latter might look for. the orange faction, however, instead of suffering any diminution, had gained an important accession in count horn, who, as admiral of the flemish marine, had convoyed the king to biscay, and now again took his seat in the council of state. horn's restless and republican spirit readily met the daring schemes of orange and egmont, and a dangerous triumvirate was soon formed by these three friends, which shook the royal power in the netherlands, but which terminated very differently for each of its members. ( .) meanwhile montigny had returned from his embassy, and brought back to the council of state the most gracious assurance of the monarch. but the prince of orange had, through his own secret channels of intelligence, received more credible information from madrid, which entirely contradicted this report. by these means be learnt all the ill services which granvella had done him and his friends with the king, and the odious appellations which were there applied to the flemish nobility. there was no help for them so long as the minister retained the helm of government, and to procure his dismissal was the scheme, however rash and adventurous it appeared, which wholly occupied the mind of the prince. it was agreed between him and counts horn and egmont to despatch a joint letter to the king, and, in the name of the whole nobility, formally to accuse the minister, and press energetically for his removal. the duke of arschot, to whom this proposition was communicated by count egmont, refused to concur in it, haughtily declaring that he was not disposed to receive laws from egmont and orange; that he had no cause of complaint against granvella, and that he thought it very presumptuous to prescribe to the king what ministers he ought to employ. orange received a similar answer from the count of aremberg. either the seeds of distrust which the regent had scattered amongst the nobility had already taken root, or the fear of the minister's power outweighed the abhorrence of his measures; at any rate, the whole nobility shrunk back timidly and irresolutely from the proposal. this disappointment did not, however, discourage them. the letter was written and subscribed by all three ( ). in it granvella was represented as the prime cause of all the disorders in the netherlands. so long as the highest power should be entrusted to him it would, they declared, be impossible for them to serve the nation and king effectually; on the other hand, all would revert to its former tranquillity, all opposition be discontinued, and the government regain the affections of the people as soon as his majesty should be pleased to remove this man from the helm of the state. in that case, they added, neither exertion nor zeal would be wanting on their part to maintain in these countries the dignity of the king and the purity of the faith, which was no less sacred to them than to the cardinal, granvella. secretly as this letter was prepared still the duchess was informed of it in sufficient time to anticipate it by another despatch, and to counteract the effect which it might have had on the king's mind. some months passed ere an answer came from madrid. it was mild, but vague. "the king," such was its import, "was not used to condemn his ministers unheard on the mere accusations of their enemies. common justice alone required that the accusers of the cardinal should descend from general imputations to special proofs, and if they were not inclined to do this in writing, one of them might come to spain, where he should be treated with all respect." besides this letter, which was equally directed to all three, count egmont further received an autograph letter from the king, wherein his majesty expressed a wish to learn from him in particular what in the common letter had been only generally touched upon. the regent, also, was specially instructed how she was to answer the three collectively, and the count singly. the king knew his man. he felt it was easy to manage count egmont alone; for this reason he sought to entice him to madrid, where he would be removed from the commanding guidance of a higher intellect. in distinguishing him above his two friends by so flattering a mark of his confidence, he made a difference in the relation in which they severally stood to the throne; how could they, then, unite with equal zeal for the same object when the inducements were no longer the same? this time, indeed, the vigilance of orange frustrated the scheme; but the sequel of the history will show that the seed which was now scattered was not altogether lost. ( .) the king's answer gave no satisfaction to the three confederates; they boldly determined to venture a second attempt. "it had," they wrote, "surprised them not a little, that his majesty had thought their representations so unworthy of attention. it was not as accusers of the minister, but as counsellors of his majesty, whose duty it was to inform their master of the condition of his states, that they had despatched that letter to him. they sought not the ruin of the minister, indeed it would gratify them to see him contented and happy in any other part of the world than here in the netherlands. they were, however, fully persuaded of this, that his continued presence there was absolutely incompatible with the general tranquillity. the present dangerous condition of their native country would allow none of them to leave it, much less to take so long a journey as to spain on granvella's account. if, therefore, his majesty did not please to comply with their written request, they hoped to be excused for the future from attendance in the senate, where they were only exposed to the mortification of meeting the minister, and where they could be of no service either to the king or the state, but only appeared contemptible in their own sight. in conclusion, they begged his majesty would not take ill the plain simplicity of their languge, since persons of their character set more value on acting well than on speaking finely." to the same purport was a separate letter from count egmont, in which he returned thanks for the royal autograph. this second address was followed by an answer to the effect that "their representations should be taken into consideration, meanwhile they were requested to attend the council of state as heretofore." it was evident that the monarch was far from intending to grant their request; they, therefore, from this tune forth absented themselves from the state council, and even left brussels. not having succeeded in removing the minister by lawful means they sought to accomplish this end by a new mode from which more might be expected. on every occasion they and their adherents openly showed the contempt which they felt for him, and contrived to throw ridicule on everything he undertook. by this contemptuous treatment they hoped to harass the haughty spirit of the priest, and to obtain through his mortified self-love what they had failed in by other means. in this, indeed, they did not succeed; but the expedient on which they had fallen led in the end to the ruin of the minister. the popular voice was raised more loudly against him so soon as it was perceived that be had forfeited the good opinion of the nobles, and that men whose sentiments they had been used blindly to echo preceded them in detestation of him. the contemptuous manner in which the nobility now treated him devoted him in a measure to the general scorn and emboldened calumny which never spares even what is holiest and purest, to lay its sacrilegious hand on his honor. the new constitution of the church, which was the great grievance of the nation, had been the basis of his fortunes. this was a crime that could not be forgiven. every fresh execution--and with such spectacles the activity of the inquisitors was only too liberal--kept alive and furnished dreadful exercise to the bitter animosity against him, and at last custom and usage inscribed his name on every act of oppression. a stranger in a land into which he had been introduced against its will; alone among millions of enemies; uncertain of all his tools; supported only by the weak arm of distant royalty; maintaining his intercourse with the nation, which he had to gain, only by means of faithless instruments, all of whom made it their highest object to falsify his actions and misrepresent his motives; lastly, with a woman for his coadjutor who could not share with him the burden of the general execration--thus he stood exposed to the wantonness, the ingratitude, the faction, the envy, and all the evil passions of a licentious, insubordinate people. it is worthy of remark that the hatred which he had incurred far outran the demerits which could be laid to his charge; that it was difficult, nay impossible, for his accusers to substantiate by proof the general condemnation which fell upon him from all sides. before and after him fanaticism dragged its victims to the altar; before and after him civil blood flowed, the rights of men were made a mock of, and men themselves rendered wretched. under charles v. tyranny ought to have pained more acutely through its novelty; under the duke of alva it was carried to far more unnatural lengths, insomuch that granvella's administration, in comparison with that of his successor, was even merciful; and yet we do not find that his contemporaries ever evinced the same degree of personal exasperation and spite against the latter in which they indulged against his predecessor. to cloak the meanness of his birth in the splendor of high dignities, and by an exalted station to place him if possible above the malice of his enemies, the regent had made interest at rome to procure for him the cardinal's hat; but this very honor, which connected him more closely with the papal court, made him so much the more an alien in the provinces. the purple was a new crime in brussels, and an obnoxious, detested garb, which in a measure publicly held forth to view the principles on which his future conduct would be governed. neither his honorable rank, which alone often consecrates the most infamous caitiff, nor his talents, which commanded esteem, nor even his terrible omnipotence, which daily revealed itself in so many bloody manifestations, could screen him from derision. terror and scorn, the fearful and the ludicruous, were in his instance unnaturally blended. [the nobility, at the suggestion of count egmont, caused their servants to wear a common livery, on which was embroidered a fool's cap. all brussels interpreted it for the cardinal's hat, and every appearance of such a servant renewed their laughter; this badge of a fool's cap, which was offensive to the court, was subsequently changed into a bundle of arrows--an accidental jest which took a very serious end, and probably was the origin of the arms of the republic. vit. vigl. t. ii. thuan. . the respect for the cardinal sunk at last so low that a caricature was publicly placed in his own hand, in which he was represented seated on a heap of eggs, out of which bishops were crawling. over him hovered a devil with the inscription--"this is my son, hear ye him!"] odious rumors branded his honor; murderous attempts on the lives of egmont and orange were ascribed to him; the most incredible things found credence; the most monstrous, if they referred to him or were said to emanate from him, surprised no longer. the nation had already become uncivilized to that degree where the most contradictory sentiments prevail side by side, and the finer boundary lines of decorum and moral feeling are erased. this belief in extraordinary crimes is almost invariably their immediate precursor. but with this gloomy prospect the strange destiny of this man opens at the same time a grander view, which impresses the unprejudiced observer with pleasure and admiration. here he beholds a nation dazzled by no splendor, and restrained by no fear, firmly, inexorably, and unpremeditatedly unanimous in punishing the crime which had been committed against its dignity by the violent introduction of a stranger into the heart of its political constitution. we see him ever aloof and ever isolated, like a foreign hostile body hovering over a surface which repels its contact. the strong hand itself of the monarch, who was. his friend and protector, could not support him against the antipathies of the nation which had once resolved to withhold from him all its sympathy. the voice of national hatred was all powerful, and was ready to forego even private interest, its certain gains; his alms even were shunned, like the fruit of an accursed tree. like pestilential vapor, the infamy of universal reprobation hung over him. in his case gratitude believed itself absolved from its duties; his adherents shunned him; his friends were dumb in his behalf. so terribly did the people avenge the insulted majesty of their nobles and their nation on the greatest monarch of the earth. history has repeated this memorable example only once, in cardinal mazarin; but the instance differed according to the spirit of the two periods and nations. the highest power could not protect either from derision; but if france found vent for its indignation in laughing at its pantaloon, the netherlands hurried from scorn to rebellion. the former, after a long bondage under the vigorous administration of richelieu, saw itself placed suddenly in unwonted liberty; the latter had passed from ancient hereditary freedom into strange and unusual servitude; it was as natural that the fronde should end again in subjection as that the belgian troubles should issue in republican independence. the revolt of the parisians was the offspring of poverty; unbridled, but not bold, arrogant, but without energy, base and plebeian, like the source from which it sprang. the murmur of the netherlands was the proud and powerful voice of wealth. licentiousness and hunger inspired the former; revenge, life, property, and religion were the animating motives of the latter. rapacity was mazarin's spring of action; granvella's lust of power. the former was humane and mild; the latter harsh, imperious, cruel. the french minister sought in the favor of his queen an asylum from the hatred of the magnates and the fury of the people; the netherlandish minister provoked the hatred of a whole nation in order to please one man. against mazarin were only a few factions and the mob they could arm; an entire and united nation against granvella. under the former parliament attempted to obtain, by stealth, a power which did not belong to them; under the latter it struggled for a lawful authority which he insidiously had endeavored to wrest from them. the former had to contend with the princes of the blood and the peers of the realm, as the latter had with the native nobility and the states, but instead of endeavoring, like the former, to overthrow the common enemy, in the hope of stepping themselves into his place, the latter wished to destroy the place itself, and to divide a power which no single man ought to possess entire. while these feelings were spreading among the people the influence of the minister at the court of the regent began to totter. the repeated complaints against the extent of his power must at last have made her sensible how little faith was placed in her own; perhaps, too, she began to fear that the universal abhorrence which attached to him would soon include herself also, or that his longer stay would inevitably provoke the menaced revolt. long intercourse with him, his instruction and example, had qualified her to govern without him. his dignity began to be more oppressive to her as he became less necessary, and his faults, to which her friendship had hitherto lent a veil, became visible as it was withdrawn. she was now as much disposed to search out and enumerate these faults as she formerly had been to conceal them. in this unfavorable state of her feelings towards the cardinal the urgent and accumulated representations of the nobles began at last to find access to her mind, and the more easily, as they contrived to mix up her own fears with their own. "it was matter of great astonishment," said count egmont to her, "that to gratify a man who was not even a fleming, and of whom, therefore, it must be well known that his happiness could not be dependent on the prosperity of this country, the king could be content to see all his netherlandish subjects suffer, and this to please a foreigner, who if his birth made him a subject of the emperor, the purple had made a creature of the court of rome." "to the king alone," added the count, "was granvella indebted for his being still among the living; for the future, however, he would leave that care of him to the regent, and he hereby gave her warning." as the majority of the nobles, disgusted with the contemptuous treatment which they met with in the council of state, gradually withdrew from it, the arbitrary proceedings of the minister lost the last semblance of republican deliberation which had hitherto softened the odious aspect, and the empty desolation of the council chamber made his domineering rule appear in all its obnoxiousness. the regent now felt that she had a master over her, and from that moment the banishment of the minister was decided upon. with this object she despatched her private secretary, thomas armenteros, to spain, to acquaint the king with the circumstances in which the cardinal was placed, to apprise him of the intimations she had received of the intentions of the nobles, and in this manner to cause the resolution for his recall to appear to emanate from the king himself. what she did not like to trust to a letter armenteros was ordered ingeniously to interweave in the oral communication which the king would probably require from him. armenteros fulfilled his commission with all the ability of a consummate courtier; but an audience of four hours could not overthrow the work of many years, nor destroy in philip's mind his opinion of his minister, which was there unalterably established. long did the monarch hold counsel with his policy and his interest, until granvella himself came to the aid of his wavering resolution and voluntarily solicited a dismissal, which, he feared, could not much longer be deferred. what the detestation of all the netherlands could not effect the contemptuous treatment of the nobility accomplished; he was at last weary of a power which was no longer feared, and exposed him less to envy than to infamy. perhaps as some have believed he trembled for his life, which was certainly in more than imaginary danger; perhaps he wished to receive his dismissal from the king under the shape of a boon rather than of a sentence, and after the example of the romans meet with dignity a fate which he could no longer avoid. philip too, it would appear, preferred generously to accord to the nation a request rather than to yield at a later period to a demand, and hoped at least to merit their thanks by voluntarily conceding now what necessity would ere long extort. his fears prevailed over his obstinacy, and prudence overcame pride. granvella doubted not for a moment what the decision of the king would be. a few days after the return of armenteros he saw humility and flattery disappear from the few faces which had till then servilely smiled upon him; the last small crowd of base flatterers and eyeservants vanished from around his person; his threshold was forsaken; he perceived that the fructifying warmth of royal favor had left him. detraction, which had assailed him during his whole administration, did not spare him even in the moment of resignation. people did not scruple to assert that a short time before he laid down his office he had expressed a wish to be reconciled to the prince of orange and count egmont, and even offered, if their forgiveness could be hoped for on no other terms, to ask pardon of them on his knees. it was base and contemptible to sully the memory of a great and extraordinary man with such a charge, but it is still more so to hand it down uncontradicted to posterity. granvella submitted to the royal command with a dignified composure. already had he written, a few months previously, to the duke of alva in spain, to prepare him a place of refuge in madrid, in case of his having to quit the netherlands. the latter long bethought himself whether it was advisable to bring thither so dangerous a rival for the favor of his king, or to deny so important a friend such a valuable means of indulging his old hatred of the flemish nobles. revenge prevailed over fear, and he strenuously supported granvella's request with the monarch. but his intercession was fruitless. armenteros had persuaded the king that the minister's residence in madrid would only revive, with increased violence, all the complaints of the belgian nation, to which his ministry had been sacrificed; for then, he said, he would be suspected of poisoning the very source of that power, whose outlets only he had hitherto been charged with corrupting. he therefore sent him to burgundy, his native place, for which a decent pretext fortunately presented itself. the cardinal gave to his departure from brussels the appearance of an unimportant journey, from which he would return in a few days. at the same time, however, all the state counsellors, who, under his administration, had voluntarily excluded themselves from its sittings, received a command from the court to resume their seats in the senate at brussels. although the latter circumstance made his return not very credible, nevertheless the remotest possibility of it sobered the triumph which celebrated his departure. the regent herself appears to have been undecided what to think about the report; for, in a fresh letter to the king, she repeated all the representations and arguments which ought to restrain him from restoring this minister. granvella himself, in his correspondence with barlaimont and viglius, endeavored to keep alive this rumor, and at least to alarm with fears, however unsubstantial, the enemies whom he could no longer punish by his presence. indeed, the dread of the influence of this extraordinary man was so exceedingly great that, to appease it, he was at last driven even from his home and his country. after the death of pius iv., granvella went to rome, to be present at the election of a new pope, and at the same time to discharge some commissions of his master, whose confidence in him remained unshaken. soon after, philip made him viceroy of naples, where he succumbed to the seductions of the climate, and the spirit which no vicissitudes could bend voluptuousness overcame. he was sixty-two years old when the king allowed him to revisit spain, where he continued with unlimited powers to administer the affairs of italy. a gloomy old age, and the self- satisfied pride of a sexagenarian administration made him a harsh and rigid judge of the opinions of others, a slave of custom, and a tedious panegyrist of past times. but the policy of the closing century had ceased to be the policy of the opening one. a new and younger ministry were soon weary of so imperious a superintendent, and philip himself began to shun the aged counsellor, who found nothing worthy of praise but the deeds of his father. nevertheless, when the conquest of portugal called philip to lisbon, he confided to the cardinal the care of his spanish territories. finally, on an italian tour, in the town of mantua, in the seventy-third year of his life, granvella terminated his long existence in the full enjoyment of his glory, and after possessing for forty years the uninterrupted confidence of his king. ( .) immediately upon the departure of the minister, all the happy results which were promised from his withdrawal were fulfilled. the disaffected nobles resumed their seats in the council, and again devoted themselves to the affairs of the state with redoubled zeal, in order to give no room for regret for him whom they had driven away, and to prove, by the fortunate administration of the state, that his services were not indispensable. the crowd round the duchess was great. all vied with one another in readiness, in submission, and zeal in her service; the hours of night were not allowed to stop the transaction of pressing business of state; the greatest unanimity existed between the three councils, the best understanding between the court and the states. from the obliging temper of the flemish nobility everything was to be had, as soon as their pride and self-will was flattered by confidence and obliging treatment. the regent took advantage of the first joy of the nation to beguile them into a vote of certain taxes, which, under the preceding administration, she could not have hoped to extort. in this, the great credit of the nobility etfectually supported her, and she soon learned from this nation the secret, which had been so often verified in the german diet--that much must be demanded in order to get a little. with pleasure did the regent see herself emancipated from her long thraldom; the emulous industry of the nobility lightened for her the burden of business, and their insinuating humility allowed her to feel the full sweetness of power. ( ). granvella had been overthrown, but his party still remained. his policy lived in his creatures, whom he left behind him in the privy council and in the chamber of finance. hatred still smouldered amongst the factious long after the leader was banished, and the names of the orange and royalist parties, of the patriots and cardinalists still continued to divide the senate and to keep up the flames of discord. viglius van zuichem van aytta, president of the privy council, state counsellor and keeper of the seal, was now looked upon as the most important person in the senate, and the most powerful prop of the crown and the tiara. this highly meritorious old man, whom we have to thank for some valuable contributions towards the history of the rebellion of the low countries, and whose confidential correspondence with his friends has generally been the guide of our narrative, was one of the greatest lawyers of his time, as well as a theologian and priest, and had already, under the emperor, filled the most important offices. familiar intercourse with the learned men who adorned the age, and at the head of whom stood erasmus of rotterdam, combined with frequent travels in the imperial service, had extended the sphere of his information and experience, and in many points raised him in his principles and opinions above his contemporaries. the fame of his erudition filled the whole century in which he lived, and has handed his name down to posterity. when, in the year , the connection of the netherlands with the german empire was to be settled at the diet of augsburg, charles v. sent hither this statesman to manage the interests of the provinces; and his ability principally succeeded in turning the negotiations to the advantage of the netherlands. after the death of the emperor, viglius was one of the many eminent ministers bequeathed to philip by his father, and one of the few in whom be honored his memory. the fortune of the minister, granvella, with whom he was united by the ties of an early acquaintance, raised him likewise to greatness; but he did not share the fall of his patron, because he had not participated in his lust of power; nor, consequently, the hatred which attached to him. a residence of twenty years in the provinces, where the most important affairs were entrusted to him, approved loyalty to his king, and zealous attachment to the roman catholic tenets, made him one of the most distinguished instruments of royalty in the netherlands. viglius was a man of learning, but no thinker; an experienced statesman, but without an enlightened mind; of an intellect not sufficiently powerful to break, like his friend erasmus, the fetters of error, yet not sufficiently bad to employ it, like his predecessor, granvella, in the service of his own passions. too weak and timid to follow boldly the guidance of his reason, he preferred trusting to the more convenient path of conscience; a thing was just so soon as it became his duty; he belonged to those honest men who are indispensable to bad ones; fraud reckoned on his honesty. half a century later he would have received his immortality from the freedom which he now helped to subvert. in the privy council at brussels he was the servant of tyranny; in the parliament in london, or in the senate at amsterdam, he would have died, perhaps, like thomas more or olden barneveldt. in the count barlaimont, the president of the council of finance, the opposition had a no less formidable antagonist than in viglius. historians have transmitted but little information regarding the services and the opinions of this man. in the first part of his career the dazzling greatness of cardinal granvella seems to have cast a shade over him; after the latter had disappeared from the stage the superiority of the opposite party kept him down, but still the little that we do find respecting him throws a favorable light over his character. more than once the prince of orange exerted himself to detach him from the interests of the cardinal, and to join him to his own party--sufficient proof that he placed a value on the prize. all his efforts failed, which shows that he had to do with no vacillating character. more than once we see him alone, of all the members of the council, stepping forward to oppose the dominant faction, and protecting against universal opposition the interests of the crown, which were in momentary peril of being sacrificed. when the prince of orange had assembled the knights of the golden fleece in his own palace, with a view to induce them to come to a preparatory resolution for the abolition of the inquisition, barlaimont was the first to denounce the illegality of this proceeding and to inform the regent of it. some time after the prince asked him if the regent knew of that assembly, and barlaitnont hesitated not a moment to avow to him the truth. all the steps which have been ascribed to him bespeak a man whom neither influence nor fear could tempt, who, with a firm courage and indomitable constancy, remained faithful to the party which he had once chosen, but who, it must at the same time be confessed, entertained too proud and too despotic notions to have selected any other. amongst the adherents of the royal party at brussels, we have, further, the names of the duke of arschot, the counts of mansfeld, megen, and aremberg--all three native netherlanders; and therefore, as it appeared, bound equally with the whole netherlandish nobility to oppose the hierarchy and the royal power in their native country. so much the more surprised must we feel at their contrary behavior, and which is indeed the more remarkable, since we find them on terms of friendship with the most eminent members of the faction, and anything but insensible to the common grievances of their country. but they had not self-confidence or heroism enough to venture on an unequal contest with so superior an antagonist. with a cowardly prudence they made their just discontent submit to the stern law of necessity, and imposed a hard sacrifice on their pride because their pampered vanity was capable of nothing better. too thrifty and too discreet to wish to extort from the justice or the fear of their sovereign the certain good which they already possessed from his voluntary generosity, or to resign a real happiness in order to preserve the shadow of another, they rather employed the propitious moment to drive a traffic with their constancy, which, from the general defection of the nobility, had now risen in value. caring little for true glory, they allowed their ambition to decide which party they should take; for the ambition of base minds prefers to bow beneath the hard yoke of compulsion rather than submit to the gentle sway of a superior intellect. small would have been the value of the favor conferred had they bestowed themselves on the prince of orange; but their connection with royalty made them so much the more formidable as opponents. there their names would have been lost among his numerous adherents and in the splendor of their rival. on the almost deserted side of the court their insignificant merit acquired lustre. the families of nassau and croi (to the latter belonged the duke of arschot) had for several reigns been competitors for influence and honor, and their rivalry had kept up an old feud between their families, which religious differences finally made irreconcilable. the house of croi from time immemorial had been renowned for its devout and strict observance of papistic rites and ceremonies; the counts of nassau had gone over to the new sect--sufficient reasons why philip of croi, duke of arschot, should prefer a party which placed him the most decidedly in opposition to the prince of orange. the court did not fail to take advantage of this private feud, and to oppose so important an enemy to the increasing influence of the house of nassau in the republic. the counts mansfeld and megen had till lately been the confidential friends of count egmont. in common with him they had raised their voice against the minister, had joined him in resisting the inquisition and the edicts, and had hitherto held with him as far as honor and duty would permit. but at these limits the three friends now separated. egmont's unsuspecting virtue incessantly hurried him forwards on the road to ruin; mansfeld and megen, admonished of the danger, began in good time to think of a safe retreat. there still exist letters which were interchanged between the counts egmont and mansfeld, and which, although written at a later period, give us a true picture of their former friendship. "if," replied count mansfeld to his friend, who in an amicable manner had reproved him for his defection to the king, "if formerly i was of opinion that the general good made the abolition of the inquisition, the mitigation of the edicts, and the removal of the cardinal granvella necessary, the king has now acquiesced in this wish and removed the cause of complaint. we have already done too much against the majesty of the sovereign and the authority of the church; it is high time for us to turn, if we would wish to meet the king, when he comes, with open brow and without anxiety. as regards my own person, i do not dread his vengeance; with confident courage i would at his first summons present myself in spain, and boldly abide my sentence from his justice and goodness. i do not say this as if i doubted whether count egrnont can assert the same, but he will act prudently in looking more to his own safety, and in removing suspicion from his actions. if i hear," he says, in conclusion, "that he has allowed my admonitions to have their due weight, our friendship continues; if not, i feel myself in that case strong enough to sacrifice all human ties to my duty and to honor." the enlarged power of the nobility exposed the republic to almost a greater evil than that which it had just escaped by the removal of the minister. impoverished by long habits of luxury, which at the same time had relaxed their morals, and to which they were now too much addicted to be able to renounce them, they yielded to the perilous opportunity of indulging their ruling inclination, and of again repairing the expiring lustre of their fortunes. extravagance brought on the thirst for gain, and this introduced bribery. secular and ecclesiastical offices were publicly put up to sale; posts of honor, privileges, and patents were sold to the highest bidder; even justice was made a trade. whom the privy council had condemned was acquitted by the council of state, and what the former refused to grant was to be purchased from the latter. the council of state, indeed, subsequently retorted the charge on the two other councils, but it forgot that it was its own example that corrupted them. the shrewdness of rapacity opened new sources of gain. life, liberty, and religion were insured for a certain sum, like landed estates; for gold, murderers and malefactors were free, and the nation was plundered by a lottery. the servants and creatures of the state, counsellors and governors of provinces, were, without regard to rank or merit, pushed into the most important posts; whoever had a petition to present at court had to make his way through the governors of provinces and their inferior servants. no artifice of seduction was spared to implicate in these excesses the private secretary of the duchess, thomas armenteros, a man up to this time of irreproachable character. by pretended professions of attachment and friendship a successful attempt was made to gain his confidence, and by luxurious entertainments to undermine his principles; the seductive example infected his morals, and new wants overcame his hitherto incorruptible integrity. he was now blind to abuses in which he was an accomplice, and drew a veil over the crimes of others in order at the same time to cloak his own. with his knowledge the royal exchequer was robbed, and the objects of the government were defeated through a corrupt administration of its revenues. meanwhile the regent wandered on in a fond dream of power and activity, which the flattery of the nobles artfully knew how to foster. the ambition of the factious played with the foibles of a woman, and with empty signs and an humble show of submission purchased real power from her. she soon belonged entirely to the faction, and had imperceptibly changed her principles. diametrically opposing all her former proceedings, even in direct violation of her duty, she now brought before the council of state, which was swayed by the faction, not only questions which belonged to the other councils, but also the suggestions which viglius had made to her in private, in the same way as formerly, under granvella's administration, she had improperly neglected to consult it at all. nearly all business and all influence were now diverted to the governors of provinces. all petitions were directed to them, by them all lucrative appointments were bestowed. their usurpations were indeed carried so far that law proceedings were withdrawn from the municipal authorities of the towns and brought before their own tribunals. the respectability of the provincial courts decreased as theirs extended, and with the respectability of the municipal functionaries the administration of justice and civil order declined. the smaller courts soon followed the example of the government of the country. the spirit which ruled the council of state at brussels soon diffused itself through the provinces. bribery, indulgences, robbery, venality of justice, were universal in the courts of judicature of the country; morals degenerated, and the new sects availed themselves of this all-pervading licentiousness to propagate their opinions. the religious indifference or toleration of the nobles, who, either themselves inclined to the side of the innovators, or, at least, detested the inquisition as an instrument of despotism, had mitigated the rigor of the religious edicts, and through the letters of indemnity, which were bestowed on many protestants, the holy office was deprived of its best victims. in no way could the nobility more agreeably announce to the nation its present share in the government of the country than by sacrificing to it the hated tribunal of the inquisition--and to this inclination impelled them still more than the dictates of policy. the nation passed in a moment from the most oppressive constraint of intolerance into a state of freedom, to which, however, it had already become too unaccustomed to support it with moderation. the inquisitors, deprived of the support of the municipal authorities, found themselves an object of derision rather than of fear. in bruges the town council caused even some of their own servants to be placed in confinement, and kept on bread and water, for attempting to lay hands upon a supposed heretic. about this very time the mob in antwerp, having made a futile, attempt to rescue a person charged with heresy from the holy office, there was placarded in the public market- place an inscription, written in blood, to the effect that a number of persons had bound themselves by oath to avenge the death of that innocent person. from the corruption which pervaded the whole council of state, the privy council, and the chamber of finance, in which viglius and barlaimont were presidents, had as yet, for the most part, kept themselves pure. as the faction could not succeed in insinuating their adherents into those two councils the only course open to them was, if possible, to render both inefficient, and to transfer their business to the council of state. to carry out this design the prince of orange sought to secure the co-operation of the other state counsellors. "they were called, indeed, senators," he frequently declared to his adherents, "but others possessed the power. if gold was wanted to pay the troops, or when the question was how the spreading heresy was to be repressed, or the people kept in order, then they were consulted; although in fact they were the guardians neither of the treasury nor of the laws, but only the organs through which the other two councils operated on the state. and yet alone they were equal to the whole administration of the country, which had been uselessly portioned out amongst three separate chambers. if they would among themselves only agree to reunite to the council of state these two important branches of government, which had been dissevered from it, one soul might animate the whole body." a plan was preliminarily and secretly agreed on, in accordance with which twelve new knights of the fleece were to be added to the council of state, the administration of justice restored to the tribunal at malines, to which it originally belonged, the granting of letters of grace, patents, and so forth, assigned to the president, viglius, while the management of the finances should be committed to it. all the difficulties, indeed, which the distrust of the court and its jealousy of the increasing power of the nobility would oppose to this innovation were foreseen and provided against. in order to constrain the regent's assent, some of the principal officers of the army were put forward as a cloak, who were to annoy the court at brussels with boisterous demands for their arrears of pay, and in case of refusal to threaten a rebellion. it was also contrived to have the regent assailed with numerous petitions and memorials complaining of the delays of justice, and exaggerating the danger which was to be apprehended from the daily growth of heresy. nothing was omitted to darken the picture of the disorganized state of society, of the abuse of justice, and of the deficiency in the finances, which was made so alarming that she awoke with terror from the delusion of prosperity in which she had hitherto cradled herself. she called the three councils together to consult them on the means by which these disorders were to be remedied. the majority was in favor of sending an extraordinary ambassador to spain, who by a circumstantial and vivid delineation should make the king acquainted with the true position of affairs, and if possible prevail on him to adopt efficient measures of reform. this proposition was opposed by viglius, who, however, had not the slighest suspicion of the secret designs of the faction. "the evil complained of," he said, "is undoubtedly great, and one which can no longer be neglected with impunity, but it is not irremediable by ourselves. the administration of justice is certainly crippled, but the blame of this lies with the nobles themselves; by their contemptuous treatment they have thrown discredit on the municipal authorities, who, moreover, are very inadequately supported by the governors of provinces. if heresy is on the increase it is because the secular arm has deserted the spiritual judges, and because the lower orders, following the example of the nobles, have thrown off all respect for those in authority. the provinces are undoubtedly oppressed by a heavy debt, but it has not been accumulated, as alleged, by any malversation of the revenues, but by the expenses of former wars and the king's present exigences; still wise and prudent measures of finance might in a short time remove the burden. if the council of state would not be so profuse of its indulgences, its charters of immunity, and its exemptions; if it would commence the reformation of morals with itself, show greater respect to the laws, and do what lies in its power to restore to the municipal functionaries their former consideration; in short, if the councils and the governors of provinces would only fulfil their own duties the present grounds of complaint would soon be removed. why, then, send an ambassador to spain, when as yet nothing has occurred to justify so extraordinary an expedient? if, however, the council thinks otherwise, he would not oppose the general voice; only he must make it a condition of his concurrence that the principal instruction of the envoy should be to entreat the king to make them a speedy visit." there was but one voice as to the choice of an envoy. of all the flemish nobles count egmont was the only one whose appointment would give equal satisfaction to both parties. his hatred of the inquisition, his patriotic and liberal sentiments, and the unblemished integrity of his character, gave to the republic sufficient surety for his conduct, while for the reasons already mentioned he could not fail to be welcome to the king. moreover, egmont's personal figure and demeanor were calculated on his first appearance to make that favorable impression which goes co far towards winning the hearts of princes; and his engaging carriage would come to the aid of his eloquence, and enforce his petition with those persuasive arts which are indispensable to the success of even the most trifling suits to royalty. egmont himself, too, wished for the embassy, as it would afford him the opportunity of adjusting, personally, matters with his sovereign. about this time the council, or rather synod, of trent closed its sittings, and published its decrees to the whole of christendom. but these canons, far from accomplishing the object for which the synod was originally convened, and satisfying the expectation of religious parties, had rather widened the breach between them, and made the schism irremediable and eternal. the labors of the synod instead of purifying the romish church from its corruptions had only reduced the latter to greater definiteness and precision, and invested them with the sanction of authority. all the subtilties of its teaching, all the arts and usurpations of the roman see, which had hitherto rested more on arbitrary usage, were now passed into laws and raised into a system. the uses and abuses which during the barbarous times of ignorance and superstition had crept into christianity were now declared essential parts of its worship, and anathemas were denounced upon all who should dare to contradict the dogmas or neglect the observances of the romish communion. all were anathematized who should either presume to doubt the miraculous power of relics, and refuse to honor the bones of martyrs, or should be so bold as to doubt the availing efficacy of the intercession of saints. the power of granting indulgences, the first source of the defection from the see of rome, was now propounded in an irrefragable article of faith; and the principle of monasticism sanctioned by an express decree of the synod, which allowed males to take the vows at sixteen and females at twelve. and while all the opinions of the protestants were, without exception, condemned, no indulgence was shown to their errors or weaknesses, nor a single step taken to win them back by mildness to the bosom of the mother church. amongst the protestants the wearisome records of the subtle deliberations of the synod, and the absurdity of its decisions, increased, if possible, the hearty contempt which they had long entertained for popery, and laid open to their controversialists new and hitherto unnoticed points of attack. it was an ill-judged step to bring the mysteries of the church too close to the glaring torch of reason, and to fight with syllogisms for the tenets of a blind belief. moreover, the decrees of the council of trent were not satisfactory even to all the powers in communion with rome. france rejected them entirely, both because she did not wish to displease the huguenots, and also because she was offended by the supremacy which the pope arrogated to himself over the council; some of the roman catholic princes of germany likewise declared against it. little, however, as philip ii. was pleased with many of its articles, which trenched too closely upon his own rights, for no monarch was ever more jealous of his prerogative; highly as the pope's assumption of control over the council, and its arbitrary, precipitate dissolution had offended him; just as was his indignation at the slight which the pope had put upon his ambassador; he nevertheless acknowedged the decrees of the synod, even in its present form, because it favored his darling object--the extirpation of heresy. political considerations were all postponed to this one religious object, and he commanded the publication and enforcement of its canons throughout his dominions. the spirit of revolt, which was diffused through the belgian provinces, scarcely required this new stimulus. there the minds of men were in a ferment, and the character of the romish church had sunk almost to the lowest point of contempt in the general opinion. under such circumstances the imperious and frequently injudicious decrees of the council could not fail of being highly offensive; but philip ii. could not belie his religious character so far as to allow a different religion to a portion of his subjects, even though they might live on a different soil and under different laws from the rest. the regent was strictly enjoined to exact in the netherlands the same obedience to the decrees of trent which was yielded to them in spain and italy. they met, however, with the warmest opposition in the council of state at brussels. "the nation," william of orange declared, "neither would nor could acknowledge them, since they were, for the most part, opposed to the fundamental principles of their constitution; and, for similar reasons, they had even been rejected by several roman catholic princes." the whole council nearly was on the side of orange; a decided majority were for entreating the king either to recall the decrees entirely or at least to publish them under certain limitations. this proposition was resisted by viglius, who insisted on a strict and literal obedience to the royal commands. "the church," he said, "had in all ages maintained the purity of its doctrines and the strictness of its discipline by means of such general councils. no more efficacious remedy could be opposed to the errors of opinion which had so long distracted their country than these very decrees, the rejection of which is now urged by the council of state. even if they are occasionally at variance with the constitutional rights of the citizens this is an evil which can easily be met by a judicious and temperate application of them. for the rest it redounds to the honor of our sovereign, the king of spain, that he alone, of all the princes of his time, refuses to yield his better judgment to necessity, and will not, for any fear of consequences, reject measures which the welfare of the church demands, and which the happiness of his subjects makes a duty." but the decrees also contained several matters which affected the rights of the crown itself. occasion was therefore taken of this fact to propose that these sections at least should be omitted from the proclimation. by this means the king might, it was argued, be relieved from these obnoxious and degrading articles by a happy expedient; the national liberties of the netherlands might be advanced as the pretext for the omission, and the name of the republic lent to cover this encroachment on the authority of the synod. but the king had caused the decrees to be received and enforced in his other dominions unconditionally; and it was not to be expected that he would give the other roman catholic powers such an example of opposition, and himself undermine the edifice whose foundation he had been so assiduous in laying. count egmont in spain. count egmont was despatched to spain to make a forcible representation to the king on the subject of these decrees; to persuade him, if possible, to adopt a milder policy towards his protestant subjects, and to propose to him the incorporation of the three councils, was the commission he received from the malcontents. by the regent he was charged to apprise the monarch of the refractory spirit of the people; to convince him of the impossibility of enforcing these edicts of religion in their full severity; and lastly to acquaint him with the bad state of the military defences and the exhausted condition of the exchequer. the count's public instructions were drawn up by the president viglius. they contained heavy complaints of the decay of justice, the growth of heresy, and the exhaustion of the treasury. he was also to press urgently a personal visit from the king to the netherlands. the rest was left to the eloquence of the envoy, who received a hint from the regent not to let so fair an opportunity escape of establishing himself in the favor of his sovereign. the terms in which the count's instructions and the representations which he was to make to the king were drawn up appeared to the prince of orange far too vague and general. "the president's statement," he said, "of our grievances comes very far short of the truth. how can the king apply the suitable remedies if we conceal from him the full extent of the evil? let us not represent the numbers of the heretics inferior to what it is in reality. let us candidly acknowledge that they swarm in every province and in every hamlet, however small. neither let us disguise from him the truth that they despise the penal statutes and entertain but little reverence for the government. what good can come of this concealment? let us rather openly avow to the king that the republic cannot long continue in its present condition. the privy council indeed will perhaps pronounce differently, for to them the existing disorders are welcome. for what else is the source of the abuse of justice and the universal corruption of the courts of law but its insatiable rapacity? how otherwise can the pomp and scandalous luxury of its members, whom we have seen rise from the dust, be supported if not by bribery? do not the people daily complain that no other key but gold can open an access to them; and do not even their quarrels prove how little they are swayed by a care for the common weal? are they likely to consult the public good who are the slaves of their private passions? do they think forsooth that we, the governors of the provinces are, with our soldiers, to stand ready at the beck and call of an infamous lictor? let them set bounds to their indulgences and free pardons which they so lavishly bestow on the very persons to whom we think it just and expedient to deny them. no one can remit the punishment of a crime without sinning against the society and contributing to the increase of the general evil. to my mind, and i have no hesitation to avow it, the distribution amongst so many councils of the state secrets and the affairs of government has always appeared highly objectionable. the council of state is sufficient for all the duties of the administration; several patriots have already felt this in silence, and i now openly declare it. it is my decided conviction that the only sufficient remedy for all the evils complained of is to merge the other two chambers in the council of state. this is the point which we must endeavor to obtain from the king, or the present embassy, like all others, will be entirely useless and ineffectual." the prince now laid before the assembled senate the plan which we have already described. viglius, against whom this new proposition was individually and mainly directed, and whose eyes were now suddenly opened, was overcome by the violence of his vexation. the agitation of his feelings was too much for his feeble body, and he was found, on the following morning, paralyzed by apoplexy, and in danger of his life. his place was supplied by jaachim hopper, a member of the privy council at brussels, a man of old-fashioned morals and unblemished integrity, the president's most trusted and worthiest friend. [vita vigl. . the person from whose memoirs i have already drawn so many illustrations of the times of this epoch. his subsequent journey to spain gave rise to the correspondence between him and the president, which is one of the most valuable documents for our history.] to meet the wishes of the orange party he made some additions to the instructions of the ambassador, relating chiefly to the abolition of the inquisition and the incorporation of the three councils, not so much with the consent of the regent as in the absence of her prohibition. upon count egmont taking leave of the president, who had recovered from his attack, the latter requested him to procure in spain permission to resign his appointment. his day, he declared, was past; like the example of his friend and predecessor, granvella, he wished to retire into the quiet of private life, and to anticipate the uncertainty of fortune. his genius warned him of impending storm, by which he could have no desire to be overtaken. count egmont embarked on his journey to spain in january, , and was received there with a kindness and respect which none of his rank had ever before experienced. the nobles of castile, taught by the king's example to conquer their feelings, or rather, true to his policy, seemed to have laid aside their ancient grudge against the flemish nobility, and vied with one another in winning his heart by their affability. all his private matters were immediately settled to his wishes by the king, nay, even his expectations exceeded; and during the whole period of his stay he had ample cause to boast of the hospitality of the monarch. the latter assured him in the strongest terms of his love for his belgian subjects, and held out hopes of his acceding eventually to the general wish, and remitting somewhat of the severity of the religious edicts. at the same time, however, he appointed in madrid a commission of theologians to whom he propounded the question, "is it necessary to grant to the provinces the religious toleration they demand?" as the majority of them were of opinion that the peculiar constitution of the netherlands, and the fear of a rebellion might well excuse a degree of forbearance in their case, the question was repeated more pointedly. "he did not seek to know," he said, "if he might do so, but if he must." when the latter question was answered in the negative, he rose from his seat, and kneeling down before a crucifix prayed in these words: "almighty majesty, suffer me not at any time to fall so low as to consent to reign over those who reject thee!" in perfect accordance with the spirit of this prayer were the measures which he resolved to adopt in the netherlands. on the article of religion this monarch had taken his resolution once forever; urgent necessity might, perhaps, have constrained him temporarily to suspend the execution of the penal statutes, but never, formally, to repeal them entirely, or even to modify them. in vain did egmont represent to him that the public execution of the heretics daily augmented the number of their followers, while the courage and even joy with which they met their death filled the spectators with the deepest admiration, and awakened in them high opinions of a doctrine which could make such heroes of its disciples. this representation was not indeed lost upon the king, but it had a very different effect from what it was intended to produce. in order to prevent these seductive scenes, without, however, compromising the severity of the edicts, he fell upon an expedient, and ordered that in future the executions should take place in private. the answer of the king on the subject of the embassy was given to the count in writing, and addressed to the regent. the king, when he granted him an audience to take leave, did not omit to call him to account for his behavior to granvella, and alluded particularly to the livery invented in derision of the cardinal. egmmont protested that the whole affair had originated in a convivial joke, and nothing was further from their meaning than to derogate in the least from the respect that was due to royalty. "if he knew," he said, "that any individual among them had entertained such disloyal thoughts be himself would challenge him to answer for it with his life." at his departure the monarch made him a present of fifty thousand florins, and engaged, moreover, to furnish a portion for his daughter on her marriage. he also consigned to his care the young farnese of parma, whom, to gratify the regent, his mother, he was sending to brussels. the king's pretended mildness, and his professions of regard for the belgian nation, deceived the open-hearted fleming. happy in the idea of being the bearer of so much felicity to his native country, when in fact it was more remote than ever, he quitted madrid satisfied beyond measure to think of the joy with which the provinces would welcome the message of their good king; but the opening of the royal answer in the council of state at brussels disappointed all these pleasing hopes. "although in regard to the religious edicts," this was its tenor, "his resolve was firm and immovable, and he would rather lose a thousand lives than consent to alter a single letter of it, still, moved by the representations of count egmont, he was, on the other hand, equally determined not to leave any gentle means untried to guard the people against the delusions of heresy, and so to avert from them that punishment which must otherwise infallibly overtake them. as he had now learned from the count that the principal source of the existing errors in the faith was in the moral depravity of the clergy, the bad instruction and the neglected education of the young, he hereby empowered the regent to appoint a special commission of three bishops, and a convenient number of learned theologians, whose business it should be to consult about the necessary reforms, in order that the people might no longer be led astray through scandal, nor plunge into error through ignorance. as, moreover, he had been informed that the public executions of the heretics did but afford them an opportunity of boastfully displaying a foolhardy courage, and of deluding the common herd by an affectation of the glory of martyrdom, the commission was to devise means for putting in force the final sentence of the inquisition with greater privacy, and thereby depriving condemned heretics of the honor of their obduracy." in order, however, to provide against the commission going beyond its prescribed limits philip expressly required that the bishop of ypres, a man whom he could rely on as a determined zealot for the romish faith, should be one of the body. their deliberaations were to be conducted, if possible, in secrecy, while the object publicly assigned to them should be the introduction of the tridentine decrees. for this his motive seems to have been twofold; on the one hand, not to alarm the court of rome by the assembling of a private council; nor, on the other, to afford any encouragement to the spirit of rebellion in the provinces. at its sessions the duchess was to preside, assisted by some of the more loyally disposed of her counsellors, and regularly transmit to philip a written account of its transactions. to meet her most pressing wants he sent her a small supply in money. he also gave her hopes of a visit from himself; first, however, it was necessary that the war with the turks, who were then expected in hostile force before malta, should be terminated. as to the proposed augmentation of the council of state, and its union with the privy council and chamber of finance, it was passed over in perfect silence. the duke of arschot, however, who is already known to us as a zealous royalist, obtained a voice and seat in the latter. viglius, indeed, was allowed to retire from the presidency of the privy council, but he was obliged, nevertheless, to continue to discharge its duties for four more years, because his successor, carl tyssenaque, of the council for netherlandish affairs in madrid, could not sooner be spared. severer religious edicts--universal opposition of the nation. scarcely was egmont returned when severer edicts against heretics, which, as it were, pursued him from spain, contradicted the joyful tidings which he had brought of a happy change in the sentiments of the monarch. they were at the same time accompanied with a transcript of the decrees of trent, as they were acknowledged in spain, and were now to be proclaimed in the netherlands also; with it came likewise the death warrants of some anabaptists and other kinds of heretics. "the count has been beguiled," william the silent was now heard to say, "and deluded by spanish cunning. self-love and vanity have blinded his penetration; for his own advantage he has forgotten the general welfare." the treachery of the spanish ministry was now exposed, and this dishonest proceeding roused the indignation of the noblest in the land. but no one felt it more acutely than count egmont, who now perceived himself to have been the tool of spanish duplicity, and to have become unwittingly the betrayer of his own country. "these specious favors then," he exclaimed, loudly and bitterly, "were nothing but an artifice to expose me to the ridicule of my fellow-citizens, and to destroy my good name. if this is the fashion after which the king purposes to keep the promises which he made to me in spain, let who will take flanders; for my part, i will prove by my retirement from public business that i have no share in this breach of faith." in fact, the spanish ministry could not have adopted a surer method of breaking the credit of so important a man--than by exhibiting him to his fellow citizens, who adored him, as one whom they had succeeded in deluding. meanwhile the commission had been appointed, and had unanimously come to the following decision: "whether for the moral reformation of the clergy, or for the religious instruction of the people, or for the education of youth, such abundant provision had already been made in the decrees of trent that nothing now was requisite but to put these decrees in force as speedily as possible. the imperial edicts against the heretics already ought on no account to be recalled or modified; the courts of justice, however, might be secretly instructed to punish with death none but obstinate heretics or preachers, to make a difference between the different sects, and to show consideration to the age, rank, sex, or disposition of the accused. if it were really the case that public executions did but inflame fanaticism, then, perhaps, the unheroic, less observed, but still equally severe punishment of the galleys, would be well-adapted to bring down all high notions of martyrdom. as to the delinquencies which might have arisen out of mere levity, curiosity, and thoughtlessness it would perhaps be sufficient to punish them by fines, exile, or even corporal chastisement." during these deliberations, which, moreover, it was requisite to submit to the king at madrid, and to wait for the notification of his approval of them, the time passed away unprofitably, the proceedings against the sectaries being either suspended, or at least conducted very supinely. since the recall of granvella the disunion which prevailed in the higher councils, and from thence had extended to the provincial courts of justice, combined with the mild feelings generally of the nobles on the subject of religion, had raised the courage of the sects, and allowed free scope to the proselytizing mania of their apostles. the inquisitors, too, had fallen into contempt in consequence of the secular arm withdrawing its support, and in many places even openly taking their victims under its protection. the roman catholic part of the nation. had formed great expectations from the decrees of the synod of trent, as well as from egmont's embassy to spain; but in the latter case their hopes had scarcely been justified by the joyous tidings which the count had brought back, and, in the integrity of his heart, left nothing undone to make known as widely as possible. the more disused the nation had become to severity in matters pertaining to religion the more acutely was it likely to feel the sudden adoption of even still more rigorous measures. in this position of affairs the royal rescript arrived from spain in answer to the proposition of the bishops and the last despatches of the regent. "whatever interpretation (such was its tenor) count egmont may have given to the king's verbal communications, it had never in the remotest manner entered his mind to think of altering in the slightest degree the penal statutes which the emperor, his father, had five-and-thirty years ago published in the provinces. these edicts he therefore commanded should henceforth be carried rigidly into effect, the inquisition should receive the most active support from the secular arm, and the decrees of the council of trent be irrevocably and unconditionally acknowledged in all the provinces of his netherlands. he acquiesced fully in the opinion of the bishops and canonists as to the sufficiency of the tridentine decrees as guides in all points of reformation of the clergy or instruction of the people; but he could not concur with them as to the mitigation of punishment which they proposed in consideration either of the age, sex, or character of individuals, since he was of opinion that his edicts were in no degree wanting in moderation. to nothing but want of zeal and disloyalty on the part of judges could he ascribe the progress which heresy had already made in the country. in future, therefore, whoever among them should be thus wanting in zeal must be removed from his office and make room for a more honest judge. the inquisition ought to pursue its appointed path firmly, fearlessly, and dispassionately, without regard to or consideration of human feelings, and was to look neither before nor behind. he would always be ready to approve of all its measures however extreme if it only avoided public scandal." this letter of the king, to which the orange party have ascribed all the subsequent troubles of the netherlands, caused the most violent excitement amongst the state counsellors, and the expressions which in society they either accidentally or intentionally let fall from them with regard to it spread terror and alarm amongst the people. the dread of the spanish inquisition returned with new force, and with it came fresh apprehensions of the subversion of their liberties. already the people fancied they could hear prisons building, chains and fetters forging, and see piles of fagots collecting. society was occupied with this one theme of conversation, and fear kept no longer within bounds. placards were affixed to houses of the nobles in which they were called upon, as formerly rome called on her brutus, to come forward and save expiring freedom. biting pasquinades were published against the new bishops--tormentors as they were called; the clergy were ridiculed in comedies, and abuse spared the throne as little as the romish see. terrified by the rumors which were afloat, the regent called together all the counsellors of state to consult them on the course she ought to adopt in this perilous crisis. opinion varied and disputes were violent. undecided between fear and duty they hesitated to come to a conclusion, until at last the aged senator, viglius, rose and surprised the whole assembly by his opinion. "it would," he said, "be the height of folly in us to think of promulgating the royal edict at the present moment; the king must be informed of the reception which, in all probability, it will now meet. in the meantime the inquisitors must be enjoined to use their power with moderation, and to abstain from severity." but if these words of the aged president surprised the whole assembly, still greater was the astonishment when the prince of orange stood up and opposed his advice. "the royal will," he said, "is too clearly and too precisely stated; it is the result of too long and too mature deliberation for us to venture to delay its execution without bringing on ourselves the reproach of the most culpable obstinacy." "that i take on myself," interrupted viglius; "i oppose myself to, his displeasure. if by this delay we purchase for him the peace of the netherlands our opposition will eventually secure for us the lasting gratitude of the king." the regent already began to incline to the advice of viglius, when the prince vehemently interposing, "what," he demanded," what have the many representations which we have already made effected? of what avail was the embassy we so lately despatched? nothing! and what then do we wait for more? shall we, his state counsellors, bring upon ourselves the whole weight of his displeasure by determining, at our own peril, to render him a service for which he will never thank us?" undecided and uncertain the whole assembly remained silent; but no one had courage enough to assent to or reply to him. but the prince had appealed to the fears of the regent, and these left her no choice. the consequences of her unfortunate obedience to the king's command will soon appear. but, on the other hand, if by a wise disobedience she had avoided these fatal consequences, is it clear that the result would not have been the same? however she had adopted the most fatal of the two counsels: happen what would the royal ordinance was to be promulgated. this time, therefore, faction prevailed, and the advice of the only true friend of the government, who, to serve his monarch, was ready to incur his displeasure, was disregarded. with this session terminated the peace of the regent: from this day the netherlands dated all the trouble which uninterruptedly visited their country. as the counsellors separated the prince of orange said to one who stood nearest to him, "now will soon be acted a great tragedy." [the conduct of the prince of orange in this meeting of the council has been appealed to by historians of the spanish party as a proof of his dishonesty, and they have availed themselves over and over again to blacken his character. "he," say they, "who had, invariably up to this period, both by word and deed, opposed the measures of the court so long as he had any ground to fear that the king's measures could be successfully carried out, supported them now for the first time when he was convinced that a scrupulous obedience to the royal orders would inevitably prejudice him. in order to convince the king of his folly in disregarding his warnings; in order to be able to boast, 'this i foresaw,' and 'i foretold that,' he was willing to risk the welfare of his nation, for which alone he had hitherto professed to struggle. the whole tenor of his previous conduct proved that he held the enforcement of the edicts to be an evil; nevertheless, he at once becomes false to his own convictions and follows an opposite course; although, so far as the nation was concerned, the same grounds existed as had dictated his former measures; and he changed his conduct simply that the result might be different to the king." "it is clear, therefore," continue his adversaries, "that the welfare of the nation had less weight with him than his animosity to his sovereign. in order to gratify his hatred to the latter he does not hesitate to sacrifice the former." but is it then true that by calling for the promulgation of these edicts he sacrificed the nation? or, to speak more correctly, did he carry the edicts into effect by insisting on their promulgation? can it not, on the contrary, be shown with far more probability that this was really the only way effectually to frustrate them? the nation was in a ferment, and the indignant people would (there was reason to expect, and as viglius himself seems to have apprehended) show so decided a spirit of opposition as must compel the king to yield. "now," says orange, "my country feels all the impulse necessary for it to contend successfully with tyranny! if i neglect the present moment the tyrant will, by secret negotiation and intrigue, find means to obtain by stealth what by open force he could not. the some object will be steadily pursued, only with greater caution and forbearance; but extremity alone can combine the people to unity of purpose, and move them to bold measures." it is clear, therefore, that with regard to the king the prince did but change his language only; but that as far as the people was concerned his conduct was perfectly consistent. and what duties did he owe the king apart from those he owed the republic? was he to oppose an arbitary act in the very moment when it was about to entail a just retribution on its author? would he have done his duty to his country if he had deterred its oppressor from a precipitate step which alone could save it from its otherwise unavoidable misery?] an edict, therefore, was issued to all the governors of provinces, commanding them rigorously to enforce the mandates of the emperor against heretics, as well as those which had been passed under the present government, the decrees of the council of trent, and those of the episcopal commission, which had lately sat to give all the aid of the civil force to the inquisition, and also to enjoin a similar line of conduct on the officers of government under them. more effectually to secure their object, every governor was to select from his own council an efficient officer who should frequently make the circuit of the province and institute strict inquiries into the obedience shown by the inferior officers to these commands, and then transmit quarterly, to the capital an exact report of their visitation. a copy of the tridentine decrees, according to the spanish original, was also sent to the archbishops and bishops, with an intimation that in case of their needing the assistance of the secular power, the governors of their diocese, with their troops, were placed at their disposal. against these decrees no privilege was to avail; however, the king willed and commanded that the particular territorial rights of the provinces and towns should in no case be infringed. these commands, which were publicly read in every town by a herald, produced an effect on the people which in the fullest manner verified the fears of the president viglius and the hopes of the prince of orange. nearly all the governors of provinces refused compliance with them, and threatened to throw up their appointments if the attempt should be made to compel their obedience. "the ordinance," they wrote back, "was based on a statement of the numbers of the sectaries, which was altogether false." [the number of the heretics was very unequally computed by the two parties according as the interests and passions of either made its increase or diminution desirable, and the same party often contradicted itself when its interest changed. if the question related to new measures of oppression, to the introduction of the inquisitional tribunals, etc., the numbers of the protestants were countless and interminable. if, on the other hand, the question was of lenity towards them, of ordinances to their advantage, they were now reduced to such an insignificant number that it would not repay the trouble of making an innovation for this small body of ill-minded people.] "justice was appalled at the prodigious crowd of victims which daily accumulated under its hands; to destroy by the flames fifty thousand or sixty thousand persons from their districts was no commission for them." the inferior clergy too, in particular, were loud in their outcries against the decrees of trent, which cruelly assailed their ignorance and corruption, and which moreover threatened them with a reform they so much detested. sacrificing, therefore, the highest interests of their church to their own private advantage, they bitterly reviled the decrees and the whole council, and with liberal hand scattered the seeds of revolt in the minds of the people. the same outcry was now revived which the monks had formerly raised against the new bishops. the archbishop of cambray succeeded at last, but not without great opposition, in causing the decrees to be proclaimed. it cost more labor to effect this in malines and utrect, where the archbishops were at strife with their clergy, who, as they were accused, preferred to involve the whole church in ruin rather than submit to a reformation of morals. of all the provinces brabant raised its voice the loudest. the states of this province appealed to their great privilege, which protected their members from being brought before a foreign court of justice. they spoke loudly of the oath by which the king had bound himself to observe all their statutes, and of the conditions under which they alone had sworn allegiance to him. louvain, antwerp, brussels, and herzogenbusch solemnly protested against the decrees, and transmitted their protests in distinct memorials to the regent. the latter, always hesitating and wavering, too timid to obey the king, and far more afraid to disobey him, again summoned her council, again listened to the arguments for and against the question, and at last again gave her assent to the opinion which of all others was the most perilous for her to adopt. a new reference to the king in spain was proposed; the next moment it was asserted that so urgent a crisis did not admit of so dilatory a remedy; it was necessary for the regent to act on her own responsibility, and either defy the threatening aspect of despair, or to yield to it by modifying or retracting the royal ordinance. she finally caused the annals of brabant to be examined in order to discover if possible a precedent for the present case in the instructions of the first inquisitor whom charles v. had appointed to the province. these instructions indeed did not exactly correspond with those now given; but had not the king declared that he introduced no innovation? this was precedent enough, and it was declared that the new edicts must also be interpreted in accordance with the old and existing statutes of the province. this explanation gave indeed no satisfaction to the states of brabant, who had loudly demanded the entire abolition of the inquisition, but it was an encouragement to the other provinces to make similar protests and an equally bold opposition. without giving the duchess time to decide upon their remonstrances they, on their own authority, ceased to obey the inquisition, and withdrew their aid from it. the inquisitors, who had so recently been expressly urged to a more rigid execution of their duties now saw themselves suddenly deserted by the secular arm, and robbed of all authority, while in answer to their application for assistance the court could give them only empty promises. the regent by thus endeavoring to satisfy all parties had displeased all. during these negotiations between the court, the councils, and the states a universal spirit of revolt pervaded the whole nation. men began to investigate the rights of the subject, and to scrutinize the prerogative of kings. "the netherlanders were not so stupid," many were heard to say with very little attempt at secrecy, "as not to know right well what was due from the subject to the sovereign, and from the king to the subject; and that perhaps means would yet be found to repel force with force, although at present there might be no appearance of it." in antwerp a placard was set up in several places calling upon the town council to accuse the king of spain before the supreme court at spires of having broken his oath and violated the liberties of the country, for, brabant being a portion of the burgundian circle, was included in the religious peace of passau and augsburg. about this time too the calvinists published their confession of faith, and in a preamble addressed to the king, declared that they, although a hundred thousand strong, kept themselves nevertheless quiet, and like the rest of his subjects, contributed to all the taxes of the country; from which it was evident, they added, that of themselves they entertained no ideas of insurrection. bold and incendiary writings were publicly disseminated, which depicted the spanish tyranny in the most odious colors, and reminded the nation of its privileges, and occasionally also of its powers. [the regent mentioned to the king a number (three thousand) of these writings. strada . it is remarkable how important a part printing, and publicity in general, played in the rebellion of the netherlands. through this organ one restless spirit spoke to millions. besides the lampoons, which for the most part were composed with all the low scurrility and brutality which was the distinguishing character of most of the protestant polemical writings of the time, works were occasionally published which defended religious liberty in the fullest sense of the word.] the warlike preparations of philip against the porte, as well as those which, for no intelligible reason, eric, duke of brunswick, about this time made in the vicinity, contributed to strengthen the general suspicion that the inquisition was to be forcibly imposed on the netherlands. many of the most eminent merchants already spoke of quitting their houses and business to seek in some other part of the world the liberty of which they were here deprived; others looked about for a leader, and let fall hints of forcible resistance and of foreign aid. that in this distressing position of affairs the regent might be left entirely without an adviser and without support, she was now deserted by the only person who was at the present moment indispensable to her, and who had contributed to plunge her into this embarrassment. "without kindling a civil war," wrote to her william of orange, "it was absolutely impossible to comply now with the orders of the king. if, however, obedience was to be insisted upon, he must beg that his place might be supplied by another who would better answer the expectations of his majesty, and have more power than he had over the minds of the nation. the zeal which on every other occasion he had shown in the service of the crown, would, he hoped, secure his present proceeding from misconstruction; for, as the case now stood, he had no alternative between disobeying the king and injuring his country and himself." from this time forth william of orange retired from the council of state to his town of breda, where in observant but scarcely inactive repose lie watched the course of affairs. count horn followed his example. egmont, ever vacillating between the republic and the throne, ever wearying himself in the vain attempt to unite the good citizen with the obedient subject--egmont, who was less able than the rest to dispense with the favor of the monarch, and to whom, therefore, it was less an object of indifference, could not bring himself to abandon the bright prospects which were now opening for him at the court of the regent. the prince of orange had, by his supeirior intellect, gained an influence over the regent--which great minds cannot fail to command from inferior spirits. his retirement had opened a void in her confidence which count egmont was now to fill by virtue of that sympathy which so naturally subsists between timidity, weakness, and good-nature. as she was as much afraid of exasperating the people by an exclusive confidence in the adherents to the crown, as she was fearful of displeasing the king by too close an understanding with the declared leaders of the faction, a better object for her confidence could now hardly be presented than this very count egmont, of whom it could not be said that he belonged to either of the two conflicting parties. this ebook was produced by david widger, widger@cecomet.net the works of frederick schiller translated from the german illustrated preface to the edition. the present is the best collected edition of the important works of schiller which is accessible to readers in the english language. detached poems or dramas have been translated at various times since the first publication of the original works; and in several instances these versions have been incorporated into this collection. schiller was not less efficiently qualified by nature for an historian than for a dramatist. he was formed to excel in all departments of literature, and the admirable lucidity of style and soundness and impartiality of judgment displayed in his historical writings will not easily be surpassed, and will always recommend them as popular expositions of the periods of which they treat. since the publication of the first english edition many corrections and improvements have been made, with a view to rendering it as acceptable as possible to english readers; and, notwithstanding the disadvantages of a translation, the publishers feel sure that schiller will be heartily acceptable to english readers, and that the influence of his writings will continue to increase. the history of the revolt of the netherlands was translated by lieut. e. b. eastwick, and originally published abroad for students' use. but this translation was too strictly literal for general readers. it has been carefully revised, and some portions have been entirely rewritten by the rev. a. j. w. morrison, who also has so ably translated the history of the thirty years war. the camp of wallenstein was translated by mr. james churchill, and first appeared in "frazer's magazine." it is an exceedingly happy version of what has always been deemed the most untranslatable of schiller's works. the piccolomini and death of wallenstein are the admirable version of s. t. coleridge, completed by the addition of all those passages which he has omitted, and by a restoration of schiller's own arrangement of the acts and scenes. it is said, in defence of the variations which exist between the german original and the version given by coleridge, that he translated from a prompter's copy in manuscript, before the drama had been printed, and that schiller himself subsequently altered it, by omitting some passages, adding others, and even engrafting several of coleridge's adaptations. wilhelm tell is translated by theodore martin, esq., whose well-known position as a writer, and whose special acquaintance with german literature make any recommendation superfluous. don carlos is translated by r. d. boylan, esq., and, in the opinion of competent judges, the version is eminently successful. mr. theodore martin kindly gave some assistance, and, it is but justice to state, has enhanced the value of the work by his judicious suggestions. the translation of mary stuart is that by the late joseph mellish, who appears to have been on terms of intimate friendship with schiller. his version was made from the prompter's copy, before the play was published, and, like coleridge's wallenstein, contains many passages not found in the printed edition. these are distinguished by brackets. on the other hand, mr. mellish omitted many passages which now form part of the printed drama, all of which are now added. the translation, as a whole, stands out from similar works of the time ( ) in almost as marked a degree as coleridge's wallenstein, and some passages exhibit powers of a high order; a few, however, especially in the earlier scenes, seemed capable of improvement, and these have been revised, but, in deference to the translator, with a sparing hand. the maid of orleans is contributed by miss anna swanwick, whose translation of faust has since become well known. it has been. carefully revised, and is now, for the first time, published complete. the bride of messina, which has been regarded as the poetical masterpiece of schiller, and, perhaps of all his works, presents the greatest difficulties to the translator, is rendered by a. lodge, esq., m. a. this version, on its first publication in england, a few years ago, was received with deserved eulogy by distinguished critics. to the present edition has been prefixed schiller's essay on the use of the chorus in tragedy, in which the author's favorite theory of the "ideal of art" is enforced with great ingenuity and eloquence. the history of the revolt of the netherlands. contents. author's preface introduction book i.----earlier history of the netherlands up to the sixteenth century book ii.---cardinal granvella book iii.--conspiracy of the nobles book iv.---the iconoclasts trial and execution of counts egmont and horn siege of antwerp by the prince of parma, in the years and the author's preface. many years ago, when i read the history of the belgian revolution in watson's excellent work, i was seized with an enthusiasm which political events but rarely excite. on further reflection i felt that this enthusiastic feeling had arisen less from the book itself than from the ardent workings of my own imagination, which had imparted to the recorded materials the particular form that so fascinated me. these imaginations, therefore, i felt a wish to fix, to multiply, and to strengthen; these exalted sentiments i was anxious to extend by communicating them to others. this was my principal motive for commencing the present history, my only vocation to write it. the execution of this design carried me farther than in the beginning i had expected. a closer acquaintance with my materials enabled me to discover defects previously unnoticed, long waste tracts to be filled up, apparent contradictions to be reconciled, and isolated facts to be brought into connection with the rest of the subject. not so much with the view of enriching my history with new facts as of seeking a key to old ones, i betook myself to the original sources, and thus what was originally intended to be only a general outline expanded under my hands into an elaborate history. the first part, which concludes with the duchess of parma's departure from the netherlands, must be looked upon only as the introduction to the history of the revolution itself, which did not come to an open outbreak till the government of her successor. i have bestowed the more care and attention upon this introductory period the more the generality of writers who had previously treated of it seemed to me deficient in these very qualities. moreover, it is in my opinion the more important as being the root and source of all the subsequent events. if, then, the first volume should appear to any as barren in important incident, dwelling prolixly on trifles, or, rather, should seem at first sight profuse of reflections, and in general tediously minute, it must be remembered that it was precisely out of small beginnings that the revolution was gradually developed; and that all the great results which follow sprang out of a countless number of trifling and little circumstances. a nation like the one before us invariably takes its first steps with doubts and uncertainty, to move afterwards only the more rapidly for its previous hesitation. i proposed, therefore, to follow the same method in describing this rebellion. the longer the reader delays on the introduction the more familiar he becomes with the actors in this history, and the scene in which they took a part, so much the more rapidly and unerringly shall i be able to lead him through the subsequent periods, where the accumulation of materials will forbid a slowness of step or minuteness of attention. as for the authorities of our history there is not so much cause to complain of their paucity as of their extreme abundance, since it is indispensable to read them all to obtain that clear view of the whole subject to which the perusal of a part, however large, is always prejudicial. from the unequal, partial, and often contradictory narratives of the same occurrences it is often extremely difficult to seize the truth, which in all is alike partly concealed and to be found complete in none. in this first volume, besides de thou, strada, reyd, grotius, meteren, burgundius, meursius, bentivoglio, and some moderns, the memoirs of counsellor hopper, the life and correspondence of his friend viglius, the records of the trials of the counts of hoorne and egmont, the defence of the prince of orange, and some few others have been my guides. i must here acknowledge my obligations to a work compiled with much industry and critical acumen, and written with singular truthfulness and impartiality. i allude to the general history of the united netherlands which was published in holland during the present century. besides many original documents which i could not otherwise have had access to, it has abstracted all that is valuable in the excellent works of bos, hooft, brandt, le clerc, which either were impossible for me to procure or were not available to my use, as being written in dutch, which i do not understand. an otherwise ordinary writer, richard dinoth, has also been of service to me by the many extracts he gives from the pamphlets of the day, which have been long lost. i have in vain endeavored to procure the correspondence of cardinal granvella, which also would no doubt have thrown much light upon the history of these times. the lately published work on the spanish inquisition by my excellent countryman, professor spittler of gottingen, reached me too late for its sagacious and important contents to be available for my purpose. the more i am convinced of the importance of the french history, the more i lament that it was not in my power to study, as i could have wished, its copious annals in the original sources and contemporary documents, and to reproduce it abstracted of the form in which it was transmitted to me by the more intelligent of my predecessors, and thereby emancipate myself from the influence which every talented author exercises more or less upon his readers. but to effect this the work of a few years must have become the labor of a life. my aim in making this attempt will be more than attained if it should convince a portion of the reading public of the possibility of writing a history with historic truth without making a trial of patience to the reader; and if it should extort from another portion the confession that history can borrow from a cognate art without thereby, of necessity, becoming a romance. weimar, michaelmas fair, . introduction. of those important political events which make the sixteenth century to take rank among the brightest of the world's epochs, the foundation of the freedom of the netherlands appears to me one of the most remarkable. if the glittering exploits of ambition and the pernicious lust of power claim our admiration, how much more so should an event in which oppressed humanity struggled for its noblest rights, where with the good cause unwonted powers were united, and the resources of resolute despair triumphed in unequal contest over the terrible arts of tyranny. great and encouraging is the reflection that there is a resource left us against the arrogant usurpations of despotic power; that its best- contrived plans against the liberty of mankind may be frustrated; that resolute opposition can weaken even the outstretched arm of tyranny; and that heroic perseverance can eventually exhaust its fearful resources. never did this truth affect me so sensibly as in tracing the history of that memorable rebellion which forever severed the united netherlands from the spanish crown. therefore i thought it not unworth the while to attempt to exhibit to the world this grand memorial of social union, in the hope that it may awaken in the breast of my reader a spirit-stirring consciousness of his own powers, and give a new and irrefragible example of what in a good cause men may both dare and venture, and what by union they may accomplish. it is not the extraordinary or heroic features of this event that induce me to describe it. the annals of the world record perhaps many similar enterprises, which may have been even bolder in the conception and more brilliant in the execution. some states have fallen after a nobler struggle; others have risen with more exalted strides. nor are we here to look for eminent heroes, colossal talents, or those marvellous exploits which the history of past times presents in such rich abundance. those times are gone; such men are no more. in the soft lap of refinement we have suffered the energetic powers to become enervate which those ages called into action and rendered indispensable. with admiring awe we wonder at these gigantic images of the past as a feeble old man gazes on the athletic sports of youth. not so, however, in the history before us. the people here presented to our notice were the most peaceful in our quarter of the globe, and less capable than their neighbors of that heroic spirit which stamps a lofty character even on the most insignificant actions. the pressure of circumstances with its peculiar influence surprised them and forced a transitory greatness upon them, which they never could have possessed and perhaps will never possess again. it is, indeed, exactly this want of heroic grandeur which renders this event peculiarly instructive; and while others aim at showing the superiority of genius over chance, i shall here paint a scene where necessity creates genius and accident makes heroes. if in any case it be allowable to recognize the intervention of providence in human affairs it is certainly so in the present history, its course appears so contradictory to reason and experience. philip ii., the most powerful sovereign of his line--whose dreaded supremacy menaced the independence of europe--whose treasures surpassed the collective wealth of all the monarchs of christendom besides--whose ambitious projects were backed by numerous and well-disciplined armies --whose troops, hardened by long and bloody wars, and confident in past victories and in the irresistible prowess of this nation, were eager for any enterprise that promised glory and spoil, and ready to second with prompt obedience the daring genius of their leaders--this dreaded potentate here appears before us obstinately pursuing one favorite project, devoting to it the untiring efforts of a long reign, and bringing all these terrible resources to bear upon it; but forced, in the evening of his reign, to abandon it--here we see the mighty philip ii. engaging in combat with a few weak and powerless adversaries, and retiring from it at last with disgrace. and with what adversaries? here, a peaceful tribe of fishermen and shepherds, in an almost-forgotten corner of europe, which with difficulty they had rescued from the ocean; the sea their profession, and at once their wealth and their plague; poverty with freedom their highest blessing, their glory, their virtue. there, a harmless, moral, commercial people, revelling in the abundant fruits of thriving industry, and jealous of the maintenance of laws which had proved their benefactors. in the happy leisure of affluence they forsake the narrow circle of immediate wants and learn to thirst after higher and nobler gratifications. the new views of truth, whose benignant dawn now broke over europe, cast a fertilizing beam on this favored clime, and the free burgher admitted with joy the light which oppressed and miserable slaves shut out. a spirit of independence, which is the ordinary companion of prosperity and freedom, lured this people on to examine the authority of antiquated opinions and to break an ignominious chain. but the stern rod of despotism was held suspended over them; arbitrary power threatened to tear away the foundation of their happiness; the guardian of their laws became their tyrant. simple in their statecraft no less than in their manners, they dared to appeal to ancient treaties and to remind the lord of both indies of the rights of nature. a name decides the whole issue of things. in madrid that was called rebellion which in brussels was simply styled a lawful remonstrance. the complaints of brabant required a prudent mediator; philip ii. sent an executioner. the signal for war was given. an unparalleled tyranny assailed both property and life. the despairing citizens, to whom the choice of deaths was all that was left, chose the nobler one on the battle-field. a wealthy and luxurious nation loves peace, but becomes warlike as soon as it becomes poor. then it ceases to tremble for a life which is deprived of everything that had made it desirable. in an instant the contagion of rebellion seizes at once the most distant provinces; trade and commerce are at a standstill, the ships disappear from the harbors, the artisan abandons his workshop, the rustic his uncultivated fields. thousands fled to distant lands, a thousand victims fell on the bloody field, and fresh thousands pressed on. divine, indeed, must that doctrine be for which men could die so joyfully. all that was wanting was the last finishing hand, the enlightened, enterprising spirit, to seize on this great political crisis and to mould the offspring of chance into the ripe creation of wisdom. william the silent, like a second brutus, devoted himself to the great cause of liberty. superior to all selfishness, he resigned honorable offices which entailed on him obectionable duties, and, magnanimously divesting himself of all his princely dignities, he descended to a state of voluntary poverty, and became but a citizen of the world. the cause of justice was staked upon the hazardous game of battle; but the newly-raised levies of mercenaries and peaceful husbandmen were unable to withstand the terrible onset of an experienced force. twice did the brave william lead his dispirited troops against the tyrant. twice was he abandoned by them, but not by his courage. philip ii. sent as many reinforcements as the dreadful importunity of his viceroy demanded. fugitives, whom their country rejected, sought a new home on the ocean, and turned to the ships of their enemy to satisfy the cravings both of vengeance and of want. naval heroes were now formed out of corsairs, and a marine collected out of piratical vessels; out of morasses arose a republic. seven provinces threw off the yoke at the same time, to form a new, youthful state, powerful by its waters and its union and despair. a solemn decree of the whole nation deposed the tyrant, and the spanish name was erased from all its laws. for such acts no forgiveness remained; the republic became formidable only because it was impossible for her to retrace her steps. but factions distracted her within; without, her terrible element, the sea itself, leaguing with her oppressors, threatened her very infancy with a premature grave. she felt herself succumb to the superior force of the enemy, and cast herself a suppliant before the most powerful thrones of europe, begging them to accept a dominion which she herself could no longer protect. at last, but with difficulty--so despised at first was this state that even the rapacity of foreign monarchs spurned her opening bloom--a stranger deigned to accept their importunate offer of a dangerous crown. new hopes began to revive her sinking courage; but in this new father of his country destiny gave her a traitor, and in the critical emergency, when the foe was in full force before her very gates, charles of anjou invaded the liberties which he had been called to protect. in the midst of the tempest, too, the assassin's hand tore the steersman from the helm, and with william of orange the career of the infant republic was seemingly at an end, and all her guardian angels fled. but the ship continued to scud along before the storm, and the swelling canvas carried her safe without the pilot's help. philip ii. missed the fruits of a deed which cost him his royal honor, and perhaps, also, his self-respect. liberty struggled on still with despotism in obstinate and dubious contest; sanguinary battles were fought; a brilliant array of heroes succeeded each other on the field of glory, and flanders and brabant were the schools which educated generals for the coming century. a long, devastating war laid waste the open country; victor and vanquished alike waded through blood; while the rising republic of the waters gave a welcome to fugitive industry, and out of the ruins of despotism erected the noble edifice of its own greatness. for forty years lasted the war whose happy termination was not to bless the dying eye of philip; which destroyed one paradise in europe to form a new one out of its shattered fragments; which destroyed the choicest flower of military youth, and while it enriched more than a quarter of the globe impoverished the possessor of the golden peru. this monarch, who could expend nine hundred tons of gold without oppressing his subjects, and by tyrannical measures extorted far more, heaped, moreover, on his exhausted people a debt of one hundred and forty millions of ducats. an implacable hatred of liberty swallowed up all these treasures, and consumed on the fruitless task the labor of a royal life. but the reformation throve amidst the devastations of the sword, and over the blood of her citizens the banner of the new republic floated victorious. this improbable turn of affairs seems to border on a miracle; many circumstances, however, combined to break the power of philip, and to favor the progress of the infant state. had the whole weight of his power fallen on the united provinces there had been no hope for their religion or their liberty. his own ambition, by tempting him to divide his strength, came to the aid of their weakness. the expensive policy of maintaining traitors in every cabinet of europe; the support of the league in france; the revolt of the moors in granada; the conquest of portugal, and the magnificent fabric of the escurial, drained at last his apparently inexhaustible treasury, and prevented his acting in the field with spirit and energy. the german and italian troops, whom the hope of gain alone allured to his banner, mutinied when he could no longer pay them, and faithlessly abandoned their leaders in the decisive moment of action. these terrible instruments of oppression now turned their dangerous power against their employer, and wreaked their vindictive rage on the provinces which remained faithful to him. the unfortunate armament against england, on which, like a desperate gamester, he had staked the whole strength of his kingdom, completed his ruin; with the armada sank the wealth of the two indies, and the flower of spanish chivalry. but in the very same proportion that the spanish power declined the republic rose in fresh vigor. the ravages which the fanaticism of the new religion, the tyranny of the inquisition, the furious rapacity of the soldiery, and the miseries of a long war unbroken by any interval of peace, made in the provinces of brabant, flanders, and hainault, at once the arsenals and the magazines of this expensive contest, naturally rendered it every year more difficult to support and recruit the royal armies. the catholic netherlands had already lost a million of citizens, and the trodden fields maintained their husbandmen no longer. spain itself had but few more men to spare. that country, surprised by a sudden affluence which brought idleness with it, had lost much of its population, and could not long support the continual drafts of men which were required both for the new world and the netherlands. of these conscripts few ever saw their country again; and these few having left it as youths returned to it infirm and old. gold, which had become more common, made soldiers proportionately dearer; the growing charm of effeminacy enhanced the price of the opposite virtues. wholly different was the posture of affairs with the rebels. the thousands whom the cruelty of the viceroy expelled from the southern netherlands, the huguenots whom the wars of persecution drove from france, as well as every one whom constraint of conscience exiled from the other parts of europe, all alike flocked to unite themselves with the belgian insurgents. the whole christian world was their recruiting ground. the fanaticism both of the persecutor and the persecuted worked in their behalf. the enthusiasm of a doctrine newly embraced, revenge, want, and hopeless misery drew to their standard adventurers from every part of europe. all whom the new doctrine had won, all who had suffered, or had still cause of fear from despotism, linked their own fortunes with those of the new republic. every injury inflicted by a tyrant gave a right of citizenship in holland. men pressed towards a country where liberty raised her spirit-stirring banner, where respect and security were insured to a fugitive religion, and even revenge on the oppressor. if we consider the conflux in the present day of people to holland, seeking by their entrance upon her territory to be reinvested in their rights as men, what must it have been at a time when the rest of europe groaned under a heavy bondage, when amsterdam was nearly the only free port for all opinions? many hundred families sought a refuge for their wealth in a land which the ocean and domestic concord powerfully combined to protect. the republican army maintained its full complement without the plough being stripped of hands to work it. amid the clash of arms trade and industry flourished, and the peaceful citizen enjoyed in anticipation the fruits of liberty which foreign blood was to purchase for them. at the very time when the republic of holland was struggling for existence she extended her dominions beyond the ocean, and was quietly occupied in erecting her east indian empire. moreover, spain maintained this expensive war with dead, unfructifying gold, that never returned into the hand which gave it away, while it raised to her the price of every necessary. the treasuries of the republic were industry and commerce. time lessened the one whilst it multiplied the other, and exactly in the same proportion that the resources of the spanish government became exhausted by the long continuance of the war the republic began to reap a richer harvest. its field was sown sparingly with the choice seed which bore fruit, though late, yet a hundredfold; but the tree from which philip gathered fruit was a fallen trunk which never again became verdant. philip's adverse destiny decreed that all the treasures which he lavished for the oppression of the provinces should contribute to enrich them. the continual outlay of spanish gold had diffused riches and luxury throughout europe; but the increasing wants of europe were supplied chiefly by the netherlanders, who were masters of the commerce of the known world, and who by their dealings fixed the price of all merchandise. even during the war philip could not prohibit his own subjects from trading with the republic; nay, he could not even desire it. he himself furnished the rebels with the means of defraying the expenses of their own defence; for the very war which was to ruin them increased the sale of their goods. the enormous suns expended on his fleets and armies flowed for the most part into the exchequer of the republic, which was more or less connected with the commercial places of flanders and brabant. whatever philip attempted against the rebels operated indirectly to their advantage. the sluggish progress of this war did the king as much injury as it benefited the rebels. his army was composed for the most part of the remains of those victorious troops which had gathered their laurels under charles v. old and long services entitled them to repose; many of them, whom the war had enriched, impatiently longed for their homes, where they might end in ease a life of hardship. their former zeal, their heroic spirit, and their discipline relaxed in the same proportion as they thought they had fully satisfied their honor and their duty, and as they began to reap at last the reward of so many battles. besides, the troops which had been accustomed by their irresistible impetuosity to vanquish all opponents were necessarily wearied out by a war which was carried on not so much against men as against the elements; which exercised their patience more than it gratified their love of glory; and where there was less of danger than of difficulty and want to contend with. neither personal courage nor long military experience was of avail in a country whose peculiar features gave the most dastardly the advantage. lastly, a single discomfiture on foreign ground did them more injury than any victories gained over an enemy at home could profit them. with the rebels the case was exactly the reverse. in so protracted a war, in which no decisive battle took place, the weaker party must naturally learn at last the art of defence from the stronger; slight defeats accustomed him to danger; slight victories animated his confidence. at the beginning of the war the republican army scarcely dared to show itself in the field; the long continuance of the struggle practised and hardened it. as the royal armies grew wearied of victory, the confidence of the rebels rose with their improved discipline and experience. at last, at the end of half a century, master and pupil separated, unsubdued, and equal in the fight. again, throughout the war the rebels acted with more concord and unanimity than the royalists. before the former had lost their first leader the government of the netherlands had passed through as many as five hands. the duchess of parma's indecision soon imparted itself to the cabinet of madrid, which in a short time tried in succession almost every system of policy. duke alva's inflexible sternness, the mildness of his successor requescens, don john of austria's insidious cunning, and the active and imperious mind of the prince of parma gave as many opposite directions to the war, while the plan of rebellion remained the same in a single head, who, as he saw it clearly, pursued it with vigor. the king's greatest misfortune was that right principles of action generally missed the right moment of application. in the commencement of the troubles, when the advantage was as yet clearly on the king's side, when prompt resolution and manly firmness might have crushed the rebellion in the cradle, the reigns of government were allowed to hang loose in the hands of a woman. after the outbreak had come to an open revolt, and when the strength of the factious and the power of the king stood more equally balanced, and when a skilful flexible prudence could alone have averted the impending civil war, the government devolved on a man who was eminently deficient in this necessary qualification. so watchful an observer as william the silent failed not to improve every advantage which the faulty policy of his adversary presented, and with quiet silent industry he slowly but surely pushed on the great enterprise to its accomplishment. but why did not philip ii. himself appear in the netherlands? why did he prefer to employ every other means, however improbable, rather than make trial of the only remedy which could insure success? to curb the overgrown power and insolence of the nobility there was no expedient more natural than the presence of their master. before royalty itself all secondary dignities must necessarily have sunk in the shade, all other splendor be dimmed. instead of the truth being left to flow slowly and obscurely through impure channels to the distant throne, so that procrastinated measures of redress gave time to ripen ebullitions of the moment into acts of deliberation, his own penetrating glance would at once have been able to separate truth from error; and cold policy alone, not to speak of his humanity, would have saved the land a million citizens. the nearer to their source the more weighty would his edicts have been; the thicker they fell on their objects the weaker and the more dispirited would have become the efforts of the rebels. it costs infinitely more to do an evil to an enemy in his presence than in his absence. at first the rebellion appeared to tremble at its own name, and long sheltered itself under the ingenious pretext of defending the cause of its sovereign against the arbitrary assumptions of his own viceroy. philip's appearance in brussels would have put an end at once to this juggling. in that case, the rebels would have been compelled to act up to their pretence, or to cast aside the mask, and so, by appearing in their true shape, condemn themselves. and what a relief for the netherlands if the king's presence had only spared them those evils which were inflicted upon them without his knowledge, and contrary to his will. [ ] what gain, too, even if it had only enabled him to watch over the expenditure of the vast sums which, illegally raised on the plea of meeting the exigencies of the war, disappeared in the plundering hands of his deputies. what the latter were compelled to extort by the unnatural expedient of terror, the nation would have been disposed to grant to the sovereign majesty. that which made his ministers detested would have rendered the monarch feared; for the abuse of hereditary power is less painfully oppressive than the abuse of delegated authority. his presence would have saved his exchequer thousands had he been nothing more than an economical despot; and even had he been less, the awe of his person would have preserved a territory which was lost through hatred and contempt for his instruments. in the same manner, as the oppression of the people of the netherlands excited the sympathy of all who valued their own rights, it might have been expected that their disobedience and defection would have been a call to all princes to maintain their own prerogatives in the case of their neighbors. but jealousy of spain got the better of political sympathies, and the first powers of europe arranged themselves more or less openly on the side of freedom. although bound to the house of spain by the ties of relationship, the emperor maximilian ii. gave it just cause for its charge against him of secretly favoring the rebels. by the offer of his mediation he implicitly acknowledged the partial justice of their complaints, and thereby encouraged them to a resolute perseverance in their demands. under an emperor sincerely devoted to the interests of the spanish house, william of orange could scarcely have drawn so many troops and so much money from germany. france, without openly and formally breaking the peace, placed a prince of the blood at the head of the netherlandish rebels; and it was with french gold and french troops that the operations of the latter were chiefly conducted. [ ] elizabeth of england, too, did but exercise a just retaliation and revenge in protecting the rebels against their legitimate sovereign; and although her meagre and sparing aid availed no farther than to ward off utter ruin from the republic, still even this was infinitely valuable at a moment when nothing but hope could have supported their exhausted courage. with both these powers philip at the time was at peace, but both betrayed him. between the weak and the strong honesty often ceases to appear a virtue; the delicate ties which bind equals are seldom observed towards him whom all men fear. philip had banished truth from political intercourse; he himself had dissolved all morality between kings, and had made artifice the divinity of cabinets. without once enjoying the advantages of his preponderating greatness, he had, throughout life, to contend with the jealousy which it awakened in others. europe made him atone for the possible abuses of a power of which in fact he never had the full possession. if against the disparity between the two combatants, which, at first sight, is so astounding, we weigh all the incidental circumstances which were adverse to spain, but favorable to the netherlands, that which is supernatural in this event will disappear, while that which is extraordinary will still remain--and a just standard will be furnished by which to estimate the real merit of these republicans in working out their freedom. it must not, however, be thought that so accurate a calculation of the opposing forces could have preceded the undertaking itself, or that, on entering this unknown sea, they already knew the shore on which they would ultimately be landed. the work did not present itself to the mind of its originator in the exact form which it assumed when completed, any more than the mind of luther foresaw the eternal separation of creeds when he began to oppose the sale of indulgences. what a difference between the modest procession of those suitors in brussels, who prayed for a more humane treatment as a favor, and the dreaded majesty of a free state, which treated with kings as equals, and in less than a century disposed of the throne of its former tyrant. the unseen hand of fate gave to the discharged arrow a higher flight, and quite a different direction from that which it first received from the bowstring. in the womb of happy brabant that liberty had its birth which, torn from its mother in its earliest infancy, was to gladden the so despised holland. but the enterprise must not be less thought of because its issue differed from the first design. man works up, smooths, and fashions the rough stone which the times bring to him; the moment and the instant may belong to him, but accident develops the history of the world. if the passions which co-operated actively in bringing about this event were only not unworthy of the great work to which they were unconsciously subservient--if only the powers which aided in its accomplishment were intrinsically noble, if only the single actions out of whose great concatenation it wonderfully arose were beautiful then is the event grand, interesting, and fruitful for us, and we are at liberty to wonder at the bold offspring of chance, or rather offer up our admiration to a higher intelligence. the history of the world, like the laws of nature, is consistent with itself, and simple as the soul of man. like conditions produce like phenomena. on the same soil where now the netherlanders were to resist their spanish tyrants, their forefathers, the batavi and belgee, fifteen centuries before, combated against their roman oppressors. like the former, submitting reluctantly to a haughty master, and misgoverned by rapacious satraps, they broke off their chain with like resolution, and tried their fortune in a similar unequal combat. the same pride of conquest, the same national grandeur, marked the spaniard of the sixteenth century and the roman of the first; the same valor and discipline distinguished the armies of both, their battle array inspired the same terror. there as here we see stratagem in combat with superior force, and firmness, strengthened by unanimity, wearying out a mighty power weakened by division; then as now private hatred armed a whole nation; a single man, born for his times, revealed to his fellow-slaves the dangerous secret of their power, and brought their mute grief to a bloody announcement. "confess, batavians," cries claudius civilis to his countrymen in the sacred grove, "we are no longer treated, as formerly, by these romans as allies, but rather as slaves. we are handed over to their prefects and centurions, who, when satiated with our plunder and with our blood, make way for others, who, under different names, renew the same outrages. if even at last rome deigns to send us a legate, he oppresses us with an ostentatious and costly retinue, and with still more intolerable pride. the levies are again at hand which tear forever children from their parents, brothers from brothers. now, batavians, is our time. never did rome lie so prostrate as now. let not their names of legions terrify you. there is nothing in their camps but old men and plunder. our infantry and horsemen are strong; germany is allied to us by blood, and gaul is ready to throw off its yoke. let syria serve them, and asia and the east, who are used to bow before kings; many still live who were born among us before tribute was paid to the romans. the gods are ever with the brave." solemn religious rites hallowed this conspiracy, like the league of the gueux; like that, it craftily wrapped itself in the veil of submissiveness, in the majesty of a great name. the cohorts of civilis swear allegiance on the rhine to vespasian in syria, as the league did to philip ii. the same arena furnished the same plan of defence, the same refuge to despair. both confided their wavering fortunes to a friendly element; in the same distress civilis preserves his island, as fifteen centuries after him william of orange did the town of leyden--through an artificial inundation. the valor of the batavi disclosed the impotency of the world's ruler, as the noble courage of their descendants revealed to the whole of europe the decay of spanish greatness. the same fecundity of genius in the generals of both times gave to the war a similarly obstinate continuance, and nearly as doubtful an issue; one difference, nevertheless, distinguishes them: the romans and batavians fought humanely, for they did not fight for religion. [ ] more modern historians, with access to the records of the spanish inquisition and the private communications between phillip ii. and his various appointees to power in the netherlands, rebut shiller's kind but naive thought. to the contrary, phillip ii. was most critical of his envoys lack of severity. see in particular the "rise of the dutch republic" and the other works of john motley on the history of the netherlands all of which are available at project gutenberg.--d.w. [ ] a few french generals who were by and large ineffective; and many promises of gold which were undelivered.--d.w. book i. earlier history of the netherlands up to the sixteenth century. before we consider the immediate history of this great revolution, it will be advisable to go a few steps back into the ancient records of the country, and to trace the origin of that constitution which we find it possessed of at the time of this remarkable change. the first appearance of this people in the history of the world is the moment of its fall; their conquerors first gave them a political existence. the extensive region which is bounded by germany on the east, on the south by france, on the north and northwest by the north sea, and which we comprehend under the general name of the netherlands, was, at the time when the romans invaded gaul, divided amongst three principal nations, all originally of german descent, german institutions, and german spirit. the rhine formed its boundaries. on the left of the river dwelt the belgae, on its right the frisii, and the batavi on the island which its two arms then formed with the ocean. all these several nations were sooner or later reduced into subjection by the romans, but the conquerors themselves give us the most glorious testimony to their valor. the belgae, writes caesar, were the only people amongst the gauls who repulsed the invasion of the teutones and cimbri. the batavi, tacitus tells us, surpassed all the tribes on the rhine in bravery. this fierce nation paid its tribute in soldiers, and was reserved by its conquerors, like arrow and sword, only for battle. the romans themselves acknowledged the batavian horsemen to be their best cavalry. like the swiss at this day, they formed for a long time the body-guard of the roman emperor; their wild courage terrified the dacians, as they saw them, in full armor, swimming across the danube. the batavi accompanied agricola in his expedition against britain, and helped him to conquer that island. the frieses were, of all, the last subdued, and the first to regain their liberty. the morasses among which they dwelt attracted the conquerors later, and enhanced the price of conquest. the roman drusus, who made war in these regions, had a canal cut from the rhine into the flevo, the present zuyder zee, through which the roman fleet penetrated into the north sea, and from thence, entering the mouths of the ems and the weser, found an easy passage into the interior of germany. through four centuries we find batavian troops in the roman armies, but after the time of honorius their name disappears from history. presently we discover their island overrun by the franks, who again lost themselves in the adjoining country of belgium. the frieses threw off the yoke of their distant and powerless rulers, and again appearad as a free, and even a conquering people, who governed themselves by their own customs and a remnant of roman laws, and extended their limits beyond the left bank of the rhine. of all the provinces of the netherlands, friesland especially had suffered the least from the irruptions of strange tribes and foreign customs, and for centuries retained traces of its original institutions, of its national spirit and manners, which have not, even at the present day, entirely disappeared. the epoch of the immigration of nations destroyed the original form of most of these tribes; other mixed races arose in their place, with other constitutions. in the general irruption the towns and encampments of the romans disappeared, and with them the memorials of their wise government, which they had employed the natives to execute. the neglected dikes once more yielded to the violence of the streams and to the encroachments of the ocean. those wonders of labor, and creations of human skill, the canals, dried up, the rivers changed their course, the continent and the sea confounded their olden limits, and the nature of the soil changed with its inhabitants. so, too, the connection of the two eras seems effaced, and with a new race a new history commences. the monarchy of the franks, which arose out of the ruins of roman gaul, had, in the sixth and seventh centuries, seized all the provinces of the netherlands, and planted there the christian faith. after an obstinate war charles martel subdued to the french crown friesland, the last of all the free provinces, and by his victories paved a way for the gospel. charlemagne united all these countries, and formed of them one division of the mighty empire which he had constructed out of germany, france, and lombardy. as under his descendants this vast dominion was again torn into fragments, so the netherlands became at times german, at others french, or then again lotheringian provinces; and at last we find them under both the names of friesland and lower lotheringia. with the franks the feudal system, the offspring of the north, also came into these lands, and here, too, as in all other countries, it degenerated. the more powerful vassals gradually made themselves independent of the crown, and the royal governors usurped the countries they were appointed to govern. but the rebellions vassals could not maintain their usurpations without the aid of their own dependants, whose assistance they were compelled to purchase by new concessions. at the same time the church became powerful through pious usurpations and donations, and its abbey lands and episcopal sees acquired an independent existence. thus were the netherlands in the tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries split up into several small sovereignties, whose possessors did homage at one time to the german emperor, at another to the kings of france. by purchase, marriages, legacies, and also by conquest, several of these provinces were often united under one suzerain, and thus in the fifteenth century we see the house of burgundy in possession of the chief part of the netherlands. with more or less right philip the good, duke of burgundy, had united as many as eleven provinces under his authority, and to these his son, charles the bold, added two others, acquired by force of arms. thus imperceptibly a new state arose in europe, which wanted nothing but the name to be the most flourishing kingdom in this quarter of the globe. these extensive possessions made the dukes of burgundy formidable neighbors to france, and tempted the restless spirit of charles the bold to devise a scheme of conquest, embracing the whole line of country from the zuyder zee and the mouth of the rhine down to alsace. the almost inexhaustible resources of this prince justify in some measure this bold project. a formidable army threatened to carry it into execution. already switzerland trembled for her liberty; but deceitful fortune abandoned him in three terrible battles, and the infatuated hero was lost in the melee of the living and the dead. [a page who had seen him fall a few days after the battle conducted the victors to the spot, and saved his remains from an ignominious oblivion. his body was dragged from out of a pool, in which it was fast frozen, naked, and so disfigured with wounds that with great difficulty he was recognized, by the well-known deficiency of some of his teeth, and by remarkably long finger-nails. but that, notwithstanding the marks, there were still incredulous people who doubted his death, and looked for his reappearance, is proved by the missive in which louis xi. called upon the burgundian states to return to their allegiance to the crown of france. "if," the passage runs, "duke charles should still be living, you shall be released from your oath to me." comines, t. iii., preuves des memoires, , .] the sole heiress of charles the bold, maria, at once the richest princess and the unhappy helen of that time, whose wooing brought misery on her inheritance, was now the centre of attraction to the whole known world. among her suitors appeared two great princes, king louis xi. of france, for his son, the young dauphin, and maximilian of austria, son of the emperor frederic iii. the successful suitor was to become the most powerful prince in europe; and now, for the first time, this quarter of the globe began to fear for its balance of power. louis, the more powerful of the two, was ready to back his suit by force of arms; but the people of the netherlands, who disposed of the hand of their princess, passed by this dreaded neighbor, and decided in favor of maximilian, whose more remote territories and more limited power seemed less to threaten the liberty of their country. a deceitful, unfortunate policy, which, through a strange dispensation of heaven, only accelerated the melancholy fate which it was intended to prevent. to philip the fair, the son of maria and maximilian, a spanish bride brought as her portion that extensive kingmdom which ferdinand and isabella had recently founded; and charles of austria, his son, was born lord of the kingdoms of spain, of the two sicilies, of the new world, and of the netherlands. in the latter country the commonalty emancipated themselves much earlier than in other; feudal states, and quickly attained to an independent political existence. the favorable situation of the country on the north sea and on great navigable rivers early awakened the spirit of commerce, which rapidly peopled the towns, encouraged industry and the arts, attracted foreigners, and diffused prosperity and affluence among them. however contemptuously the warlike policy of those times looked down upon every peaceful and useful occupation, the rulers of the country could not fail altogether to perceive the essential advantages they derived from such pursuits. the increasing population of their territories, the different imposts which they extorted from natives and foreigners under the various titles of tolls, customs, highway rates, escort money, bridge tolls, market fees, escheats, and so forth, were too valuable considerations to allow them to remain indifferent to the sources from which they were derived.. their own rapacity made them promoters of trade, and, as often happens, barbarism itself rudely nursed it, until at last a healthier policy assumed its place. in the course of time they invited the lombard merchants to settle among them, and accorded to the towns some valuable privileges and an independent jurisdiction, by which the latter acquired uncommon extraordinary credit and influence. the numerous wars which the counts and dukes carried on with one another, or with their neighbors, made them in some measure dependent on the good-will of the towns, who by their wealth obtained weight and consideration, and for the subsidies which they afforded failed not to extort important privileges in return. these privileges of the commonalties increased as the crusades with their expensive equipment augumented the necessities of the nobles; as a new road to europe was opened for the productions of the east, and as wide-spreading luxury created new wants to their princes. thus as early as the eleventh and twelfth centuries we find in these lands a mixed form of governmeut, in which the prerogative of the sovereign is greatly limited by the privileges of the estates; that is to say, of the nobility, the clergy, and the municipalities. these, under the name of states, assembled as often as the wants of the province required it. without their consent no new laws were valid, no war could be carried on, and no taxes levied, no change made in the coinage, and no foreigner admitted to any office of government. all the provinces enjoyed these privileges in common; others were peculiar to the various districts. the supreme government was hereditary, but the son did not enter on the rights of his father before he had solemnly sworn to maintain the existing constitution. necessity is the first lawgiver; all the wants which had to be met by this constitution were originally of a commercial nature. thus the whole constitution was founded on commerce, and the laws of the nation were adapted to its pursuits. the last clause, which excluded foreigners from all offices of trust, was a natural consequence of the preceding articles. so complicated and artificial a relation between the sovereign and his people, which in many provinces was further modified according to the peculiar wants of each, and frequently of some single city, required for its maintenance the liveliest zeal for the liberties of the country, combined with an intimate acquaintance with them. from a foreigner neither could well be expected. this law, besides, was enforced reciprocally in each particular province; so that in brabant no fleming, in zealand no hollander, could hold office; and it continued in force even after all these provinces were united under one government. above all others, brabant enjoyed the highest degree of freedom. its privileges were esteemed so valuable that many mothers from the adjacent provinces removed thither about the time of their accouchment, in order to entitle their children to participate, by birth, in all the immunities of that favored country; just as, says strada, one improves the plants of a rude climate by removing them to the soil of a milder. after the house of burgundy had united several provinces under its dominion, the separate provincial assemblies which, up to that time, had been independent tribunals, were made subject to a supreme court at malines, which incorporated the various judicatures into one body, and decided in the last resort all civil and criminal appeals. the separate independence of the provinces was thus abolished, and the supreme power vested in the senate at malines. after the death of charles the bold the states did not neglect to avail themselves of the embarassment of their duchess, who, threatened by france, was consequently in their power. holland and zealand compelled her to sign a great charter, which secured to them the most important sovereign rights. the people of ghent carried their insolence to such a pitch that they arbitrarily dragged the favorites of maria, who had the misfortune to displease them, before their own tribunals, and beheaded them before the eyes of that princess. during the short government of the duchess maria, from her father's death to her marriage, the commons obtained powers which few free states enjoyed. after her death her husband, maximilian, illegally assumed the government as guardian of his son. offended by this invasion of their rights, the estates refused to acknowledge his authority, and could only be brought to receive him as a viceroy for a stated period, and under conditions ratified by oath. maximilian, after he became roman emperor, fancied that he might safely venture to violate the constitution. he imposed extraordinary taxes on the provinces, gave official appointments to burgundians and germans, and introduced foreign troops into the provinces. but the jealousy of these republicans kept pace with the power of their regent. as he entered bruges with a large retinue of foreigners, the people flew to arms, made themselves masters of his person, and placed him in confinement in the castle. in spite of the intercession of the imperial and roman courts, he did not again obtain his freedom until security had been given to the people on all the disputed points. the security of life and property arising from mild laws, and, an equal administration of justice, had encouraged activity and industry. in continual contest with the ocean and rapid rivers, which poured their violence on the neighboring lowlands, and whose force it was requisite to break by embankments and canals, this people had early learned to observe the natural objects around them; by industry and perseverance to defy an element of superior power; and like the egyptian, instructed by his nile, to exercise their inventive genius and acuteness in self- defence. the natural fertility of their soil, which favored agriculture and the breeding of cattle, tended at the same time to increase the population. their happy position on the sea and the great navigable rivers of germany and france, many of which debouched on their coasts; the numerous artificial canals which intersected the land in all directions, imparted life to navigation; and the facility of internal communication between the provinces, soon created and fostered a commercial spirit among these people. the neighboring coasts, denmark and britain, were the first visited by their vessels. the english wool which they brought back employed thousands of industrious hands in bruges, ghent, and antwerp; and as early as the middle of the twelfth century cloths of flanders were extensively worn in france and germany. in the eleventh century we find ships of friesland in the belt, and even in the levant. this enterprising people ventured, without a compass, to steer under the north pole round to the most northerly point of russia. from the wendish towns the netherlands received a share in the levant trade, which, at that time, still passed from the black sea through the russian territories to the baltic. when, in the thirteenth century, this trade began to decline, the crusades having opened a new road through the mediterranean for indian merchandise, and after the italian towns had usurped this lucrative branch of commerce, and the great hanseatic league had been formed in germany, the netherlands became the most important emporium between the north and south. as yet the use of the compass was not general, and the merchantmen sailed slowly and laboriously along the coasts. the ports on the baltic were, during the winter months, for the most part frozen and inaccessible. ships, therefore, which could not well accomplish within the year the long voyage from the mediterranean to the belt, gladly availed theniselves of harbors which lay half-way between the two, with an immense continent behind them with which navigable streams kept up their communication, and towards the west and north open to the ocean by commodious harbors, this country appeared to be expressly formed for a place of resort for different nations, and for a centre of commerce. the principal towns of the netherlands were established marts. portuguese, spaniards, italians, french, britons, germans, danes, and swedes thronged to them with the produce of every country in the world. competition insured cheapness; industry was stimulated as it found a ready market for its productions. with the necessary exchange of money arose the commerce in bills, which opened a new and fruitful source of wealth. the princes of the country, acquainted at last with their true interest, encouraged the merchant by important immunities, and neglected not to protect their commerce by advantageous treaties with foreign powers. when, in the fifteenth century, several provinces were united under one rule, they discontinued their private wars, which had proved so injurious, and their separate interests were now more intimately connected by a common government. their commerce and affluence prospered in the lap of a long peace, which the formidable power of their princes extorted from the neighboring monarchs. the burgundian flag was feared in every sea, the dignity of their sovereign gave support to their undertakings, and the enterprise of a private individual became the affair of a powerful state. such vigorous protection soon placed them in a position even to renounce the hanseatic league, and to pursue this daring enemy through every sea. the hanseatic merchants, against whom the coasts of spain were closed, were compelled at last, however reluctantly, to visit the flemish fairs, and purchase their spanish goods in the markets of the netherlands. bruges, in flanders, was, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the central point of the whole commerce of europe, and the great market of all nations. in the year a hundred and fifty merchant vessels were counted entering the harbor of sluys it one time. besides the rich factories of the hanseatic league, there were here fifteen trading companies, with their countinghouses, and many factories and merchants' families from every european country. here was established the market of all northern products for the south, and of all southern and levantine products for the north. these passed through the sound, and up the rhine, in hanseatic vessels to upper germany, or were transported by landcarriage to brunswick and luneburg. as in the common course of human affairs, so here also a licentious luxury followed prosperity. the seductive example of philip the good could not but accelerate its approach. the court of the burgundian dukes was the most voluptuous and magnificent in europe, italy itself not excepted. the costly dress of the higher classes, which afterwards served as patterns to the spaniards, and eventually, with other burgundian customs, passed over to the court of austria, soon descended to the lower orders, and the meanest citizen nursed his person in velvet and silk. [philip the good was too profuse a prince to amass treasures; nevertheless charles the bold found accumulated among his effects, a greater store of table services, jewels, carpets, and linen than three rich princedoms of that time together possessed, and over and above all a treasure of three hundred thousand dollars in ready money. the riches of this prince, and of the burgundian people, lay exposed on the battle-fields of granson, murten and nancy. here a swiss soldier drew from the finger of charles the bold, that celebrated diamond which was long esteemed the largest in europe, which even now sparkles in the crown of france as the second in size, but which the unwitting finder sold for a florin. the swiss exchanged the silver they found for tin, and the gold for copper, and tore into pieces the costly tents of cloth of gold. the value of the spoil of silver, gold, and jewels which was taken has been estimated at three millions. charles and his army had advanced to the combat, not like foes who purpose battle, but like conquerors who adorn themselves after victory.] comines, an author who travelled through the netherlands about the middle of the fifteenth century, tells us that pride had already attended their prosperity. the pomp and vanity of dress was carried by both sexes to extravagance. the luxury of the table had never reached so great a height among any other people. the immoral assemblage of both sexes at bathing-places, and such other places of reunion for pleasure and enjoyment, had banished all shame--and we are not here speaking of the usual luxuriousness of the higher ranks; the females of the common class abandoned themselves to such extravagances without limit or measure. but how much more cheering to the philanthropist is this extravagance than the miserable frugality of want, and the barbarous virtues of ignorance, which at that time oppressed nearly the whole of europe! the burgundian era shines pleasingly forth from those dark ages, like a lovely spring day amid the showers of february. but this flourishing condition tempted the flemish towns at last to their ruin; ghent and bruges, giddy with liberty and success, declared war against philip the good, the ruler of eleven provinces, which ended as unfortunately as it was presumptuously commenced. ghent alone lost many thousand men in an engagement near havre, and was compelled to appease the wrath of the victor by a contribution of four hundred thousand gold florins. all the municipal functionaries, and two thousand of the principal citizens, went, stripped to their shirts, barefooted, and with heads uncovered, a mile out of the town to meet the duke, and on their knees supplicated for pardon. on this occasion they were deprived of several valuable privileges, all irreparable loss for their future commerce. in the year they engaged in a war, with no better success, against maximilian of austria, with a view to, deprive him of the guardianship of his son, which, in contravention of his charter, he had unjustly assumed. in the town of bruges placed the archduke himself in confinement, and put some of his most eminent ministers to death. to avenge his son the emperor frederic iii. entered their territory with an army, and, blockading for ten years the harbor of sluys, put a stop to their entire trade. on this occasion amsterdam and antwerp, whose jealousy had long been roused by the flourishing condition of the flemish towns, lent him the most important assistance. the italians began to bring their own silk-stuffs to antwerp for sale, and the flemish cloth-workers likewise, who had settled in england, sent their goods thither; and thus the town of bruges lost two important branches of trade. the hanseatic league had long been offended at their overweening pride; and it now left them and removed its factory to antwerp. in the year all the foreign merchants left the town except only a few spaniards; but its prosperity faded as slowly as it had bloomed. antwerp received, in the sixteenth century, the trade which the luxuriousness of the flemish towns had banished; and under the government of charles v. antwerp was the most stirring and splendid city in the christian world. a stream like the scheldt, whose broad mouth, in the immediate vicinity, shared with the north sea the ebb and flow of the tide, and could carry vessels of the largest tonnage under the walls of antwerp, made it the natural resort for all vessels which visited that coast. its free fairs attracted men of business from all countries. [two such fairs lasted forty days, and all the goods sold there were duty free.] the industry of the nation had, in the beginning of this century, reached its greatest height. the culture of grain, flax, the breeding of cattle, the chase, and fisheries, enriched the peasant; arts, manufactures, and trade gave wealth to the burghers. flemish and brabantine manufactures were long to be seen in arabia, persia, and india. their ships covered the ocean, and in the black sea contended with the genoese for supremacy. it was the distinctive characteristic of the seaman of the netherlands that he made sail at all seasons of the year, and never laid up for the winter. when the new route by the cape of good hope was discovered, and the east india trade of portugal undermined that of the levant, the netherlands did not feel the blow which was inflicted on the italian republics. the portuguese established their mart in brabant, and the spices of calicut were displayed for sale in the markets of antwerp. hither poured the west indian merchandise, with which the indolent pride of spain repaid the industry of the netherlands. the east indian market attracted the most celebrated commercial houses from florence, lucca, and genoa; and the fuggers and welsers from augsburg. here the hanse towns brought the wares of the north, and here the english company had a factory. here art and nature seemed to expose to view all their riches; it was a splendid exhibition of the works of the creator and of the creature. their renown soon diffused itself through the world. even a company of turkish merchants, towards the end of this century, solicited permission to settle here, and to supply the products of the east by way of greece. with the trade in goods they held also the exchange of money. their bills passed current in the farthest parts of the globe. antwerp, it is asserted, then transacted more extensive and more important business in a single month than venice, at its most flourishing period, in two whole years. in the year the hanseatic league held its solemn meetings in this town, which had formerly assembled in lubeck alone. in the exchange was erected, at that time the most splendid in all europe, and which fulfilled its proud inscription. the town now reckoned one hundred thousand inhabitants. the tide of human beings, which incessantly poured into it, exceeds all belief. between two hundred and two hundred and fifty ships were often seen loading at one time in its harbor; no day passed on which the boats entering inwards and outwards did not amount to more than five hundred; on market days the number amounted to eight or nine hundred. daily more than two hundred carriages drove through its gates; above two thousand loaded wagons arrived every week from germany, france, and lorraine, without reckoning the farmers' carts and corn-vans, which were seldom less than ten thousand in number. thirty thousand hands were employed by the english company alone. the market dues, tolls, and excise brought millions to the government annually. we can form some idea of the resources of the nation from the fact that the extraordinary taxes which they were obliged to pay to charles v. towards his numerous wars were computed at forty millions of gold ducats. for this affluence the netherlands were as much indebted to their liberty as to the natural advantages of their country. uncertain laws and the despotic sway of a rapacious prince would quickly have blighted all the blessings which propitious nature had so abundantly lavished on them. the inviolable sanctity of the laws can alone secure to the citizen the fruits of his industry, and inspire him with that happy confidence which is the soul of all activity. the genius of this people, developed by the spirit of commerce, and by the intercourse with so many nations, shone in useful inventions; in the lap of abundance and liberty all the noble arts were carefully cultivated and carried to perfection. from italy, to which cosmo de medici had lately restored its golden age, painting, architecture, and the arts of carving and of engraving on copper, were transplanted into the netherlands, where, in a new soil, they flourished with fresh vigor. the flemish school, a daughter of the italian, soon vied with its mother for the prize; and, in common with it, gave laws to the whole of europe in the fine arts. the manufactures and arts, on which the netherlanders principally founded their prosperity, and still partly base it, require no particular enumeration. the weaving of tapestry, oil painting, the art of painting on glass, even pocketwatches and sun-dials were, as guicciardini asserts, originally invented in the netherlands. to them we are indebted for the improvement of the compass, the points of which are still known by flemish names. about the year the invention of typography is ascribed to laurence koster, of haarlem; and whether or not he is entitled to this honorable distinction, certain it is that the dutch were among the first to engraft this useful art among them; and fate ordained that a century later it should reward its country with liberty. the people of the netherlands united with the most fertile genius for inventions a happy talent for improving the discoveries of others; there are probably few mechanical arts and manufactures which they did not either produce or at least carry to a higher degree of perfection. up to this time these provinces had formed the most enviable state in europe. not one of the burgundian dukes had ventured to indulge a thought of overturning the constitution; it had remained sacred even to the daring spirit of charles the bold, while he was preparing fetters for foreign liberty. all these princes grew up with no higher hope than to be the heads of a republic, and none of their territories afforded them experience of a higher authority. besides, these princes possessed nothing but what the netherlands gave them; no armies but those which the nation sent into the field; no riches but what the estates granted to them. now all was changed. the netherlands had fallen to a master who had at his command other instruments and other resources, who could arm against them a foreign power. [the unnatural union of two such different nations as the belgians and spaniards could not possibly be prosperous. i cannot here refrain from quoting the comparison which grotius, in energetic language, has drawn between the two. "with the neighboring nations," says he, "the people of the netherlands could easily maintain a good understanding, for they were of a similar origin with themselves, and had grown up in the same manner. but the people of spain and of the netherlands differed in almost every respect from one another, and therefore, when they were brought together clashed the more violently. both had for many centuries been distinguished in war, only the latter had, in luxurious repose, become disused to arms, while the former had been inured to war in the italian and african campaigns; the desire of gain made the belgians more inclined to peace, but not less sensitive of offence. no people were more free from the lust of conquest, but none defended its own more zealously. hence the numerous towns, closely pressed together in a confined tract of country; densely crowded with a foreign and native population; fortified near the sea and the great rivers. hence for eight centuries after the northern immigration foreign arms could not prevail against them. spain, on the contrary, often changed its masters; and when at last it fell into the hands of the goths, its character and its manners had suffered more or less from each new conqueror. the people thus formed at last out of these several admixtures is described as patient in labor, imperturbable in danger, equally eager for riches and honor, proud of itself even to contempt of others, devout and grateful to strangers for any act of kindness, but also revengeful, and of such ungovernable passions in victory as so regard neither conscience nor honor in the case of an enemy. all this is foreign to the character of the belgian, who is astute but not insidious, who, placed midway between france and germany, combines in moderation the faults and good qualities of both. he is not easily to be imposed upon, nor is he to be insulted with impunity. in veneration for the deity, too, he does not yield to the spaniard; the arms of the northmen could not make him apostatize from christianity when he had once professed it. no opinion which the church condemns had, up to this time, empoisoned the purity of his faith. nay, his pious extravagance went so far that it became requisite to curb by laws the rapacity of his clergy. in both people loyalty to their rulers is equally innate, with this difference, that the belgian places the law above kings. of all the spaniards the castilians require to be, governed with the most caution; but the liberties which they arrogate for themselves they do not willingly accord to others. hence the difficult task to their common ruler, so to distribute his attention, and care between the two nations that neither the preference shown to the castilian should offend the belgian, nor the equal treatment of the belgian affront the haughty spirit of the castilian."--grotii annal. belg. l. . . . seq.] charles v. was an absolute monarch in his spanish dominions; in the netherlands he was no more than the first citizen. in the southern portion of his empire he might have learned contempt for the rights of individuals; here he was taught to respect them. the more he there tasted the pleasures of unlimited power, and the higher he raised his opinion of his own greatness, the more reluctant he must have felt to descend elsewhere to the ordinary level of humanity, and to tolerate any check upon his arbitrary authority. it requires, indeed, no ordinary degree of virtue to abstain from warring against the power which imposes a curb on our most cherished wishes. the superior power of charles awakened at the same time in the netherlands that distrust which always accompanies inferiority. never were they so alive to their constitutional rights, never so jealous of the royal prerogative, or more observant in their proceedings. under, his reign we see the most violent outbreaks of republican spirit, and the pretensions of the people carried to an excess which nothing but the increasing encroachments of the royal power could in the least justify. a sovereign will always regard the freedom of the citizen as an alienated fief, which he is bound to recover. to the citizen the authority of a sovereign is a torrent, which, by its inundation, threatens to sweep away his rights. the belgians sought to protect themselves against the ocean by embankments, and against their princes by constitutional enactments. the whole history of the world is a perpetually recurring struggle between liberty and the lust of power and possession; as the history of nature is nothing but the contest of the elements and organic bodies for space. the netherlands soon found to their cost that they had become but a province of a great monarchy. so long as their former masters had no higher aim than to promote their prosperity, their condition resembled the tranquil happiness of a secluded family, whose head is its ruler. charles v. introduced them upon the arena of the political world. they now formed a member of that gigantic body which the ambition of an individual employed as his instrument. they ceased to have their own good for their aim; the centre of their existence was transported to the soul of their ruler. as his whole government was but one tissue of plans and manoeuvres to advance his power, so it was, above all things, necessary that he should be completely master of the various limbs of his mighty empire in order to move them effectually and suddenly. it was impossible, therefore, for him to embarrass himself with the tiresome mechanism of their interior political organization, or to extend to their peculiar privileges the conscientious respect which their republican jealousy demanded. it was expedient for him to facilitate the exercise of their powers by concentration and unity. the tribunal at malines had been under his predecessor an independent court of judicature; he subjected its decrees to the revision of a royal council, which he established in brussels, and which was the mere organ of his will. he introduced foreigners into the most vital functions of their constitution, and confided to them the most important offices. these men, whose only support was the royal favor, would be but bad guardians of privileges which, moreover, were little known to them. the ever-increasing expenses of his warlike government compelled him as steadily to augment his resources. in disregard of their most sacred privileges he imposed new and strange taxes on the provinces. to preserve their olden consideration the estates were forced to grant what he had been so modest as not to extort; the whole history of the government of this monarch in the netherlands is almost one continued list of imposts demanded, refused, and finally accorded. contrary to the constitution, he introduced foreign troops into their territories, directed the recruiting of his armies in the provinces, and involved them in wars, which could not advance even if they did not injure their interest, and to which they had not given their consent. he punished the offences of a free state as a monarch; and the terrible chastisement of ghent announced to the other provinces the great change which their constitution had already undergone. the welfare of the country was so far secured as was necessary to the political schemes of its master; the intelligent policy of charles would certainly not violate the salutary regiment of the body whose energies he found himself necessitated to exert. fortunately, the opposite pursuits of selfish ambition, and of disinterested philanthropy, often bring about the same end; and the well-being of a state, which a marcus aurelius might propose to himself as a rational object of pursuit, is occasionally promoted by an augustus or a louis. charles v. was perfectly aware that commerce was the strength of the nation, and that the foundation of their commerce was liberty. he spared its liberty because he needed its strength. of greater political wisdom, though not more just than his son, he adapted his principles to the exigencies of time and place, and recalled an ordinance in antwerp and in madrid which he would under other circumstances have enforced with all the terrors of his power. that which makes the reign of charles v. particularly remarkable in regard to the netherlands is the great religious revolution which occurred under it; and which, as the principal cause of the subsequent rebellion, demands a somewhat circumstantial notice. this it was that first brought arbitrary power into the innermost sanctuary of the constitution; taught it to give a dreadful specimen of its might; and, in a measure, legalized it, while it placed republican spirit on a dangerous eminence. and as the latter sank into anarchy and rebellion monarchical power rose to the height of despotism. nothing is more natural than the transition from civil liberty to religious freedom. individuals, as well as communities, who, favored by a happy political constitution, have become acquainted with the rights of man, and accustomed to examine, if not also to create, the law which is to govern them; whose minds have been enlightened by activity, and feelings expanded by the enjoyments of life; whose natural courage has been exalted by internal security and prosperity; such men will not easily surrender themselves to the blind domination of a dull arbitrary creed, and will be the first to emancipate themselves from its yoke. another circumstance, however, must have greatly tended to diffuse the new religion in these countries. italy, it might be objected, the seat of the greatest intellectual culture, formerly the scene of the most violent political factions, where a burning climate kindles the blood with the wildest passions--italy, among all the european countries, remained the freest from this change. but to a romantic people, whom a warm and lovely sky, a luxurious, ever young and ever smiling nature, and the multifarious witcheries of art, rendered keenly susceptible of sensuous enjoyment, that form of religion must naturally have been better adapted, which by its splendid pomp captivates the senses, by its mysterious enigmas opens an unbounded range to the fancy; and which, through the most picturesque forms, labors to insinuate important doctrines into the soul. on the contrary, to a people whom the ordinary employments of civil life have drawn down to an unpoetical reality, who live more in plain notions than in images, and who cultivate their common sense at the expense of their imagination--to such a people that creed will best recommend itself which dreads not investigation, which lays less stress on mysticism than on morals, and which is rather to be understood then to be dwelt upon in meditation. in few words, the roman catholic religion will, on the whole, be found more adapted to a nation of artists, the protestant more fitted to a nation of merchants. on this supposition the new doctrines which luther diffused in germany, and calvin in switzerland, must have found a congenial soil in the netherlands. the first seeds of it were sown in the netherlands by the protestant merchants, who assembled at amsterdam and antwerp. the german and swiss troops, which charles introduced into these countries, and the crowd of french, german, and english fugitives who, under the protection of the liberties of flanders, sought to escape the sword of persecution which threatened them at home, promoted their diffusion. a great portion of the belgian nobility studied at that time at geneva, as the university of louvain was not yet in repute, and that of douai not yet founded. the new tenets publicly taught there were transplanted by the students to their various countries. in an isolated people these first germs might easily have been crushed; but in the market-towns of holland and brabant, the resort of so many different nations, their first growth would escape the notice of government, and be accelerated under the veil of obscurity. a difference in opinion might easily spring up and gain ground amongst those who already were divided in national character, in manners, customs, and laws. moreover, in a country where industry was the most lauded virtue, mendicity the most abhorred vice, a slothful body of men, like that of the monks, must have been an object of long and deep aversion. hence, the new religion, which opposed these orders, derived an immense advantage from having the popular opinion on its side. occasional pamphlets, full of bitterness and satire, to which the newly-discovered art of printing secured a rapid circulation, and several bands of strolling orators, called rederiker, who at that time made the circuit of the provinces, ridiculing in theatrical representations or songs the abuses of their times, contributed not a little to diminish respect for the romish church, and to prepare the people for the reception of the new dogmas. the first conquests of this doctrine were astonishingly rapid. the number of those who in a short time avowed themselves its adherents, especially in the northern provinces, was prodigious; but among these the foreigners far outnumbered the natives. charles v., who, in this hostile array of religious tenets, had taken the side which a despot could not fail to take, opposed to the increasing torrent of innovation the most effectual remedies. unhappily for the reformed religion political justice was on the side of its persecutor. the dam which, for so many centuries, had repelled human understanding from truth was too suddenly torn away for the outbreaking torrent not to overflow its appointed channel. the reviving spirit of liberty and of inquiry, which ought to have remained within the limits of religious questions, began also to examine into the rights of kings. while in the commencement iron fetters were justly broken off, a desire was eventually shown to rend asunder the most legitimate and most indispensable of ties. even the holy scriptures, which were now circulated everywhere, while they imparted light and nurture to the sincere inquirer after truth, were the source also whence an eccentric fanaticism contrived to extort the virulent poison. the good cause had been compelled to choose the evil road of rebellion, and the result was what in such cases it ever will be so long as men remain men. the bad cause, too, which had nothing in common with the good but the employment of illegal means, emboldened by this slight point of connection, appeared in the same company, and was mistaken for it. luther had written against the invocation of saints; every audacious varlet who broke into the churches and cloisters, and plundered the altars, called himself lutheran. faction, rapine, fanaticism, licentiousness robed themselves in his colors; the most enormous offenders, when brought before the judges, avowed themselves his followers. the reformation had drawn down the roman prelate to a level with fallible humanity; an insane band, stimulated by hunger and want, sought to annihilate all distinction of ranks. it was natural that a doctrine, which to the state showed itself only in its most unfavorable aspect, should not have been able to reconcile a monarch who had already so many reasons to extirpate it; and it is no wonder, therefore, that be employed against it the arms it had itself forced upon him. charles must already have looked upon himself as absolute in the netherlands since he did not think it necessary to extend to these countries the religious liberty which be had accorded to germany. while, compelled by the effectual resistance of the german princes, he assured to the former country a free exercise of the new religion, in the latter he published the most cruel edicts for its repression. by these the reading of the evangelists and apostles; all open or secret meetings to which religion gave its name in ever so slight a degree; all conversations on the subject, at home or at the table, were forbidden under severe penalties. in every province special courts of judicature were established to watch over the execution of the edicts. whoever held these erroneous opinions was to forfeit his office without regard to his rank. whoever should be convicted of diffusing heretical doctrines, or even of simply attending the secret meetings of the reformers, was to be condemned to death, and if a male, to be executed by the sword, if a female, buried alive. backsliding heretics were to be committed to the flames. not even the recantation of the offender could annul these appalling sentences. whoever abjured his errors gained nothing by his apostacy but at farthest a milder kind of death. the fiefs of the condemned were also confiscated, contrary to the privileges of the nation, which permitted the heir to redeem them for a trifling fine; and in defiance of an express and valuable privilege of the citizens of holland, by which they were not to be tried out of their province, culprits were conveyed beyond the limits of the native judicature, and condemned by foreign tribunals. thus did religion guide the hand of despotism to attack with its sacred weapon, and without danger or opposition, the liberties which were inviolable to the secular arm. charles v., emboldened by the fortunate progress of his arms in germany, thought that he might now venture on everything, and seriously meditated the introduction of the spanish inquisition in the netherlands. but the terror of its very name alone reduced commerce in antwerp to a standstill. the principal foreign merchants prepared to quit the city. all buying and selling ceased, the value of houses fell, the employment of artisans stopped. money disappeared from the hands of the citizen. the ruin of that flourishing commercial city was inevitable had not charles v. listened to the representations of the duchess of parma, and abandoned this perilous resolve. the tribunal, therefore, was ordered not to interfere with the foreign merchants, and the title of inquisitor was changed unto the milder appellation of spiritual judge. but in the other provinces that tribunal proceeded to rage with the inhuman despotism which has ever been peculiar to it. it has been computed that during the reign of charles v. fifty thousand persons perished by the hand of the executioner for religion alone. when we glance at the violent proceedings of this monarch we are quite at a loss to comprehend what it was that kept the rebellion within bounds during his reign, which broke out with so much violence under his successor. a closer investigation will clear up this seeming anomaly. charles's dreaded supremacy in europe had raised the commerce of the netherlands to a height which it had never before attained. the majesty of his name opened all harbors, cleared all seas for their vessels, and obtained for them the most favorable cornmercial treaties with foreign powers. through him, in particular, they destroyed the dominion of the hanse towns in the baltic. through him, also, the new world, spain, italy, germany, which now shared with them a common ruler, were, in a measure, to be considered as provinces of their own country, and opened new channels for their commerce. he had, moreover, united the remaining six provinces with the hereditary states of burgundy, and thus given to them an extent and political importance which placed them by the side of the first kingdoms of europe. [he had, too, at one time the intention of raising it to a kingdom; but the essential points of difference between the provinces, which extended from constitution and manners to measures and weights, soon made him abandon this design. more important was the service which he designed them in the burgundian treaty, which settled its relation to the german empire. according to this treaty the seventeen provinces were to contribute to the common wants of the german empire twice as much as an electoral prince; in case of a turkish war three times as much; in return for which, however, they were to enjoy the powerful protection of this empire, and not to be injured in any of their various privileges. the revolution, which under charles' son altered the political constitution of the provinces, again annulled this compact, which, on account of the trifling advantage that it conferred, deserves no further notice.] by all this he flattered the national pride of this people. moreover, by the incorporation of gueldres, utrecht, friesland, and groningen with these provinces, he put an end to the private wars which had so long disturbed their commerce; an unbroken internal peace now allowed them to enjoy the full fruits of their industry. charles was therefore a benefactor of this people. at the same time, the splendor of his victories dazzled their eyes; the glory of their sovereign, which was reflected upon them also, had bribed their republican vigilance; while the awe-inspiring halo of invincibility which encircled the conqueror of germany, france, italy, and africa terrified the factious. and then, who knows not on how much may venture the man, be he a private individual or a prince, who has succeeded in enchaining the admiration of his fellow-creatures! his repeated personal visits to these lands, which he, according to his own confession, visited as often as ten different times, kept the disaffected within bounds; the constant exercise of severe and prompt justice maintained the awe of the royal power. finally, charles was born in the netherlands, and loved the nation in whose lap he had grown up. their manners pleased him, the simplicity of their character and social intercourse formed for him a pleasing recreation from the severe spanish gravity. he spoke their language, and followed their customs in his private life. the burdensome ceremonies which form the unnatural barriers between king and people were banished from brussels. no jealous foreigner debarred natives from access to their prince; their way to him was through their own countrymen, to whom he entrusted his person. he spoke much and courteously with them; his deportment was engaging, his discourse obliging. these simple artifices won for him their love, and while his armies trod down their cornfields, while his rapacious imposts diminished their property, while his governors oppressed, his executioners slaughtered, he secured their hearts by a friendly demeanor. gladly would charles have seen this affection of the nation for himself descend upon his son. on this account he sent for him in his youth from spain, and showed him in brussels to his future subjects. on the solemn day of his abdication he recommended to him these lands as the richest jewel in his crown, and earnestly exhorted him to respect their laws and privileges. philip ii. was in all the direct opposite of his father. as ambitious as charles, but with less knowledge of men and of the rights of man, he had formed to himself a notion of royal authority which regarded men as simply the servile instruments of despotic will, and was outraged by every symptom of liberty. born in spain, and educated under the iron discipline of the monks, he demanded of others the same gloomy formality and reserve as marked his own character. the cheerful merriment of his flemish subjects was as uncongenial to his disposition and temper as their privileges were offensive to his imperious will. he spoke no other language but the spanish, endured none but spaniards about his person, and obstinately adhered to all their customs. in vain did the loyal ingenuity of the flemish towns through which he passed vie with each other in solemnizing his arrival with costly festivities. [the town of antwerp alone expended on an occasion of this kind two hundred and sixty thousand gold florins.] philip's eye remained dark; all the profusion of magnificence, all the loud and hearty effusions of the sincerest joy could not win from him one approving smile. charles entirely missed his aim by presenting his son to the flemings. they might eventually have endured his yoke with less impatience if he had never set his foot in their land. but his look forewarned them what they had to expect; his entry into brussels lost him all hearts. the emperor's gracious affability with his people only served to throw a darker shade on the haughty gravity of his son. they read in his countenance the destructive purpose against their liberties which, even then, he already revolved in his breast. forewarned to find in him a tyrant they were forearmed to resist him. the throne of the netherlands was the first which charles v. abdicated. before a solemn convention in brussels he absolved the states-general of their oath, and transferred their allegiance to king philip, his son. "if my death," addressing the latter, as he concluded, "had placed you in possession of these countries, even in that case so valuable a bequest would have given me great claims on your gratitude. but now that of my free will i transfer them to you, now that i die in order to hasten your enjoyment of them, i only require of you to pay to the people the increased obligation which the voluntary surrender of my dignity lays upon you. other princes esteem it a peculiar felicity to bequeath to their children the crown which death is already ravishing from then. this happiness i am anxious to enjoy during my life. i wish to be a spectator of your reign. few will follow my example, as few have preceded me in it. but this my deed will be praised if your future life should justify my expectations, if you continue to be guided by that wisdom which you have hitherto evinced, if you remain inviolably attached to the pure faith which is the main pillar of your throne. one thing more i have to add: may heaven grant you also a son, to whom you may transmit your power by choice, and not by necessity." after the emperor had concluded his address philip kneeled down before him, kissed his hand, and received his paternal blessing. his eyes for the last time were moistened with a tear. all present wept. it was an hour never to be forgotten. this affecting farce was soon followed by another. philip received the homage of the assembled states. he took the oath administered in the following words: "i, philip, by the grace of god, prince of spain, of the two sicilies, etc., do vow and swear that i will be a good and just lord in these countries, counties, and duchies, etc.; that i will well and truly hold, and cause to be held, the privileges and liberties of all the nobles, towns, commons, and subjects which have been conferred upon them by my predecessors, and also the customs, usages and rights which they now have and enjoy, jointly and severally, and, moreover, that i will do all that by law and right pertains to a good and just prince and lord, so help me god and all his saints." the alarm which the arbitrary government of the emperor had inspired, and the distrust of his son, are already visible in the formula of this oath, which was drawn up in far more guarded and explicit terms than that which had been administered to charles v. himself and all the dukes in burgundy. philip, for instance, was compelled to swear to the maintenance of their customs and usages, what before his time had never been required. in the oath which the states took to him no other obedience was promised than such as should be consistent with the privileges of the country. his officers then were only to reckon on submission and support so long as they legally discharged the duties entrusted to them. lastly, in this oath of allegiance, philip is simply styled the natural, the hereditary prince, and not, as the emperor had desired, sovereign or lord; proof enough how little confidence was placed in the justice and liberality of the new sovereign. philip ii., ruler of the netherlands. philip ii. received the lordship of the netherlands in the brightest period of their prosperity. he was the first of their princes who united them all under his authority. they now consisted of seventeen provinces; the duchies of brabant, limburg, luxembourg, and gueldres, the seven counties of artois, hainault, flanders, namur, zutphen, holland, and zealand, the margravate of antwerp, and the five lordships of friesland, mechlin (malines), utrecht, overyssel, and groningen, which, collectively, formed a great and powerful state able to contend with monarchies. higher than it then stood their commerce could not rise. the sources of their wealth were above the earth's surface, but they were more valuable and inexhaustible and richer than all the mines in america. these seventeen provinces which, taken together, scarcely comprised the fifth part of italy, and do not extend beyond three hundred flemish miles, yielded an annual revenue to their lord, not much inferior to that which britain formerly paid to its kings before the latter had annexed so many of the ecclesiastical domains to their crown. three hundred and fifty cities, alive with industry and pleasure, many of them fortified by their natural position and secure without bulwarks or walls; six thousand three hundred market towns of a larger size; smaller villages, farms, and castles innumerable, imparted to this territory the aspect of one unbroken flourishing landscape. the nation had now reached the meridian of its splendor; industry and abundance had exalted the genius of the citizen, enlightened his ideas, ennobled his affections; every flower of the intellect had opened with the flourishing condition of the country. a happy temperament under a severe climate cooled the ardor of their blood, and moderated the rage of their passions; equanimity, moderation, and enduring patience, the gifts of a northern clime; integrity, justice, and faith, the necessary virtues of their profession; and the delightful fruits of liberty, truth, benevolence, and a patriotic pride were blended in their character, with a slight admixture of human frailties. no people on earth was more easily governed by a prudent prince, and none with more difficulty by a charlatan or a tyrant. nowhere was the popular voice so infallible a test of good government as here. true statesmanship could be tried in no nobler school, and a sickly artificial policy had none worse to fear. a state constituted like this could act and endure with gigantic energy whenever pressing emergencies called forth its powers and a skilful and provident administration elicited its resources. charles v. bequeathed to his successor an authority in these provinces little inferior to that of a limited monarchy. the prerogative of the crown had gained a visible ascendancy over the republican spirit, and that complicated machine could now be set in motion, almost as certainly and rapidly as the most absolutely governed nation. the numerous nobility, formerly so powerful, cheerfully accompanied their sovereign in his wars, or, on the civil changes of the state, courted the approving smile of royality. the crafty policy of the crown had created a new and imaginary good, of which it was the exclusive dispenser. new passions and new ideas of happiness supplanted at last the rude simplicity of republican virtue. pride gave place to vanity, true liberty to titles of honor, a needy independence to a luxurious servitude. to oppress or to plunder their native land as the absolute satraps of an absolute lord was a more powerful allurement for the avarice and ambition of the great, than in the general assembly of the state to share with the monarch a hundredth part of the supreme power. a large portion, moreover, of the nobility were deeply sunk in poverty and debt. charles v. had crippled all the most dangerous vassals of the crown by expensive embassies to foreign courts, under the specious pretext of honorary distinctions. thus, william of orange was despatched to germany with the imperial crown, and count egmont to conclude the marriage contract between philip and queen mary. both also afterwards accompanied the duke of alva to france to negotiate the peace between the two crowns, and the new alliance of their sovereign with madame elizabeth. the expenses of these journeys amounted to three hundred thousand florins, towards which the king did not contribute a single penny. when the prince of orange was appointed generalissimo in the place of the duke of savoy he was obliged to defray all the necessary expenses of his office. when foreign ambassadors or princes came to brussels it was made incumbent on the nobles to maintain the honor of their king, who himself always dined alone, and never kept open table. spanish policy had devised a still more ingenious contrivance gradually to impoverish the richest families of the land. every year one of the castilian nobles made his appearance in brussels, where he displayed a lavish magnificence. in brussels it was accounted an indelible disgrace to be distanced by a stranger in such munificence. all vied to surpass him, and exhausted their fortunes in this costly emulation, while the spaniard made a timely retreat to his native country, and by the frugality of four years repaired the extravagance of one year. it was the foible of the netherlandish nobility to contest with every stranger the credit of superior wealth, and of this weakness the government studiously availed itself. certainly these arts did not in the sequel produce the exact result that had been calculated on; for these pecuniary burdens only made the nobility the more disposed for innovation, since he who has lost all can only be a gainer in the general ruin. the roman church had ever been a main support of the royal power, and it was only natural that it should be so. its golden time was the bondage of the human intellect, and, like royalty, it had gained by the ignorance and weakness of men. civil oppression made religion more necessary and more dear; submission to tyrannical power prepares the mind for a blind, convenient faith, and the hierarchy repaid with usury the services of despotism. in the provinces the bishops and prelates were zealous supporters of royalty, and ever ready to sacrifice the welfare of the citizen to the temporal advancement of the church and the political interests of the sovereign. numerous and brave garrisons also held the cities in awe, which were at the same time divided by religious squabbles and factions, and consequently deprived of their strongest support--union among themselves. how little, therefore, did it require to insure this preponderance of philip's power, and how fatal must have been the folly by which it was lost. but philip's authority in these provinces, however great, did not surpass the influence which the spanish monarchy at that time enjoyed throughout europe. no state ventured to enter the arena of contest with it. france, its most dangerous neighbor, weakened by a destructive war, and still more by internal factions, which boldly raised their heads during the feeble government of a child, was advancing rapidly to that unhappy condition which, for nearly half a century, made it a theatre of the most enormous crimes and the most fearful calamities. in england elizabeth could with difficulty protect her still tottering throne against the furious storms of faction, and her new church establishment against the insidious arts of the romanists. that country still awaited her mighty call before it could emerge from a humble obscurity, and had not yet been awakened by the faulty policy of her rival to that vigor and energy with which it finally overthrew him. the imperial family of germany was united with that of spain by the double ties of blood and political interest; and the victorious progress of soliman drew its attention more to the east than to the west of europe. gratitude and fear secured to philip the italian princes, and his creatures ruled the conclave. the monarchies of the north still lay in barbarous darkness and obscurity, or only just began to acquire form and strength, and were as yet unrecognized in the political system of europe. the most skilful generals, numerous armies accustomed to victory, a formidable marine, and the golden tribute from the west indies, which now first began to come in regularly and certainly--what terrible instruments were these in the firm and steady hand of a talented prince under such auspicious stars did king philip commence his reign. before we see him act we must first look hastily into the deep recesses of his soul, and we shall there find a key to his political life. joy and benevolence were wholly wanting in the composition of his character. his temperament, and the gloomy years of his early childhood, denied him the former; the latter could not be imparted to him by men who had renounced the sweetest and most powerful of the social ties. two ideas, his own self and what was above that self, engrossed his narrow and contracted mind. egotism and religion were the contents and the title- page of the history of his whole life. he was a king and a christian, and was bad in both characters; he never was a man among men, because he never condescended but only ascended. his belief was dark and cruel; for his divinity was a being of terror, from whom he had nothing to hope but everything to fear. to the ordinary man the divinity appears as a comforter, as a saviour; before his mind it was set up as an image of fear, a painful, humiliating check to his human omnipotence. his veneration for this being was so much the more profound and deeply rooted the less it extended to other objects. he trembled servilely before god because god was the only being before whom he had to tremble. charles v. was zealous for religion because religion promoted his objects. philip was so because he had real faith in it. the former let loose the fire and the sword upon thousands for the sake of a dogma, while be himself, in the person of the pope, his captive, derided the very doctrine for which he had sacrificed so much human blood. it was only with repugnance and scruples of conscience that philip resolved on the most just war against the pope, and resigned all the fruits of his victory as a penitent malefactor surrenders his booty. the emperor was cruel from calculation, his son from impulse. the first possessed a strong and enlightened spirit, and was, perhaps, so much the worse as a man; the second was narrow-minded and weak, but the more upright. both, however, as it appears to me, might have been better men than they actually were, and still, on the whole, have acted on the very same principles. what we lay to the charge of personal character of an individual is very often the infirmity, the necessary imperfection of universal human nature. a monarchy so great and so powerful was too great a trial for human pride, and too mighty a charge for human power. to combine universal happiness with the highest liberty of the individual is the sole prerogative of infinite intelligence, which diffuses itself omnipresently over all. but what resource has man when placed in the position of omnipotence? man can only aid his circumscribed powers by classification; like the naturalist, he establishes certain marks and rules by which to facilitate his own feeble survey of the whole, to which all individualities must conform. all this is accomplished for him by religion. she finds hope and fear planted in every human breast; by making herself mistress of these emotions, and directing their affections to a single object, she virtually transforms millions of independent beings into one uniform abstract. the endless diversity of the human will no longer embarrasses its ruler--now there exists one universal good, one universal evil, which he can bring forward or withdraw at pleasure, and which works in unison with himself even when absent. now a boundary is established before which liberty must halt; a venerable, hallowed line, towards which all the various conflicting inclinations of the will must finally converge. the common aim of despotism and of priestcraft is uniformity, and uniformity is a necessary expedient of human poverty and imperfection. philip became a greater despot than his father because his mind was more contracted, or, in other words, he was forced to adhere the more scrupulously to general rules the less capable he was of descending to special and individual exceptions. what conclusion could we draw from these principles but that philip ii. could not possibly have any higher object of his solicitude than uniformity, both in religion and in laws, because without these he could not reign? and yet he would have shown more mildness and forbearance in his government if he had entered upon it earlier. in the judgment which is usually formed of this prince one circumstance does not appear to be sufficiently considered in the history of his mind and heart, which, however, in all fairness, ought to be duly weighed. philip counted nearly thirty years when he ascended the spanish throne, and the early maturity of his understanding had anticipated the period of his majority. a mind like his, conscious of its powers, and only too early acquainted with his high expectations, could not brook the yoke of childish subjection in which he stood; the superior genius of the father, and the absolute authority of the autocrat, must have weighed heavily on the self-satisfied pride of such a son. the share which the former allowed him in the government of the empire was just important enough to disengage his mind from petty passions and to confirm the austere gravity of his character, but also meagre enough to kindle a fiercer longing for unlimited power. when he actually became possessed of uncontrolled authority it had lost the charm of novelty. the sweet intoxication of a young monarch in the sudden and early possession of supreme power; that joyous tumult of emotions which opens the soul to every softer sentiment, and to which humanity has owed so many of the most valuable and the most prized of its institutions; this pleasing moment had for him long passed by, or had never existed. his character was already hardened when fortune put him to this severe test, and his settled principles withstood the collision of occasonal emotion. he had had time, during fifteen years, to prepare himself for the change; and instead of youthful dallying with the external symbols of his new station, or of losing the morning of his government in the intoxication of an idle vanity, he remained composed and serious enough to enter at once on the full possession of his power so as to revenge himself through the most extensive employment of it for its having been so long withheld from him. the tribunal of the inquisition philip ii. no sooner saw himself, through the peace of chateau-cambray, in undisturbed enjoyment of his immense territory than he turned his whole attention to the great work of purifying religion, and verified the fears of his netherlandish subjects. the ordinances which his father had caused to be promulgated against heretics were renewed in all their rigor, and terrible tribunals, to whom nothing but the name of inquisition was wanting, were appointed to watch over their execution. but his plan appeared to him scarcely more than half-fulfilled so long as he could not transplant into these countries the spanish inquisition in its perfect form--a design in which the emperor had already suffered shipwreck. the spanish inquisition is an institution of a new and peculiar kind, which finds no prototype in the whole course of time, and admits of comparison with no ecclesiastical or civil tribunal. inquisition had existed from the time when reason meddled with what is holy, and from the very commencement of scepticism and innovation; but it was in the middle of the thirteenth century, after some examples of apostasy had alarmed the hierarchy, that innocent iii. first erected for it a peculiar tribunal, and separated, in an unnatural manner, ecclesiastical superintendence and instruction from its judicial and retributive office. in order to be the more sure that no human sensibilities or natural tenderness should thwart the stern severity of its statutes, he took it out of the hands of the bishops and secular clergy, who, by the ties of civil life, were still too much attached to humanity for his purpose, and consigned it to those of the monks, a half-denaturalized race of beings who had abjured the sacred feelings, of nature, and were the servile tools of the roman see. the inquisition was received in germany, italy, spain, portugal, and france; a franciscan monk sat as judge in the terrible court, which passed sentence on the templars. a few states succeeded either in totally excluding or else in subjecting it to civil authority. the netherlands had remained free from it until the government of charles v.; their bishops exercised the spiritual censorship, and in extraordinary cases reference was made to foreign courts of inquisition; by the french provinces to that of paris, by the germans to that of cologne. but the inquisition which we are here speaking of came from the west of europe, and was of a different origin and form. the last moorish throne in granada had fallen in the fifteenth century, and the false faith of the saracens had finally succumbed before the fortunes of christianity. but the gospel was still new, and but imperfectly established in this youngest of christian kingdoms, and in the confused mixture of heterogeneous laws and manners the religions had become mixed. it is true the sword of persecution had driven many thousand families to africa, but a far larger portion, detained by the love of climate and home, purchased remission from this dreadful necessity by a show of conversion, and continued at christian altars to serve mohammed and moses. so long as prayers were offered towards mecca, granada was not subdued; so long as the new christian, in the retirement of his house, became again a jew or a moslem, he was as little secured to the throne as to the romish see. it was no longer deemed sufficient to compel a perverse people to adopt the exterior forms of a new faith, or to wed it to the victorious church by the weak bands of ceremonials; the object now was to extirpate the roots of an old religion, and to subdue an obstinate bias which, by the slow operation of centuries, had been implanted in their manners, their language, and their laws, and by the enduring influence of a paternal soil and sky was still maintained in its full extent and vigor. if the church wished to triumph completely over the opposing worship, and to secure her new conquest beyond all chance of relapse, it was indispensable that she should undermine the foundation itself on which the old religion was built. it was necessary to break to pieces the entire form of moral character to which it was so closely and intimately attached. it was requisite to loosen its secret roots from the hold they had taken in. the innermost depths of the soul; to extinguish all traces of it, both in domestic life and in the civil world; to cause all recollection of it to perish; and, if possible, to destroy the very susceptibility for its impressions. country and family, conscience and honor, the sacred feelings of society and of nature, are ever the first and immediate ties to which religion attaches itself; from these it derives while it imparts strength. this connection was now to be dissolved; the old religion was violently to be dissevered from the holy feelings of nature, even at the expense of the sanctity itself of these emotions. thus arose that inquisition which, to distinguish it from the more humane tribunals of the same name, we usually call the spanish. its founder was cardinal ximenes, a dominican monk. torquemada was the first who ascended its bloody throne, who established its statutes, and forever cursed his order with this bequest. sworn to the degradation of the understanding and the murder of intellect, the instruments it employed were terror and infamy. every evil passion was in its pay; its snare was set in every joy of life. solitude itself was not safe from it; the fear of its omnipresence fettered the freedom of the soul in its inmost and deepest recesses. it prostrated all the instincts of human nature before it yielded all the ties which otherwise man held most sacred. a heretic forfeited all claims upon his race; the most trivial infidelity to his mother church divested him of the rights of his nature. a modest doubt in the infallibility of the pope met with the punishment of parricide and the infamy of sodomy; its sentences resembled the frightful corruption of the plague, which turns the most healthy body into rapid putrefaction. even the inanimate things belonging to a heretic were accursed. no destiny could snatch the victim of the inquisition from its sentence. its decrees were carried in force on corpses and on pictures, and the grave itself was no asylum from its tremendous arm. the presumptuous arrogance of its decrees could only be surpassed by the inhumanity which executed them. by coupling the ludicrous with the terrible, and by amusing the eye with the strangeness of its processions, it weakened compassion by the gratification of another feeling; it drowned sympathy in derision and contempt. the delinquent was conducted with solemn pomp to the place of execution, a blood-red flag was displayed before him, the universal clang of all the bells accompanied the procession. first came the priests, in the robes of the mass and singing a sacred hymn; next followed the condemned sinner, clothed in a yellow vest, covered with figures of black devils. on his head he wore a paper cap, surmounted by a human figure, around which played lambent flames of fire, and ghastly demons flitted. the image of the crucified saviour was carried before, but turned away from the eternally condemned sinner, for whom salvation was no longer available. his mortal body belonged to the material fire, his immortal soul to the flames of bell. a gag closed his mouth, and prevented him from alleviating his pain by lamentations, from awakening compassion by his affecting tale, and from divulging the secrets of the holy tribunal. he was followed by the clergy in festive robes, by the magistrates, and the nobility; the fathers who had been his judges closed the awful procession. it seemed like a solemn funeral procession, but on looking for the corpse on its way to the grave, behold! it was a living body whose groans are now to afford such shuddering entertainment to the people. the executions were generally held on the high festivals, for which a number of such unfortunate sufferers were reserved in the prisons of the holy house, in order to enhance the rejoicing by the multitude of the victims, and on these occasions the king himself was usually present. he sat with uncovered head, on a lower chair than that of the grand inquisitor, to whom, on such occasions, he yielded precedence; who, then, would not tremble before a tribunal at which majesty must humble itself? the great revolution in the church accomplished by luther and calvin renewed the causes to which this tribunal owed its first origin; and that which, at its commencement, was invented to clear the petty kingdom of granada from the feeble remnant of saracens and jews was now required for the whole of christendom. all the inquisitions in portugal, italy, germany, and france adopted the form of the spanish; it followed europeans to the indies, and established in goa a fearful tribunal, whose inhuman proceedings make us shudder even at the bare recital. wherever it planted its foot devastation followed; but in no part of the world did it rage so violently as in spain. the victims are forgotten whom it immolated; the human race renews itself, and the lands, too, flourish again which it has devastated and depopulated by its fury; but centuries will elapse before its traces disappear from the spanish character. a generous and enlightened nation has been stopped by it on its road to perfection; it has banished genius from a region where it was indigenous, and a stillness like that which hangs over the grave has been left in the mind of a people who, beyond most others of our world, were framed for happiness and enjoyment. the first inquisitor in brabant was appointed by charles v. in the year . some priests were associated with him as coadjutors; but he himself was a layman. after the death of adrian vi., his successor, clement vii., appointed three inquisitors for all the netherlands; and paul iii. again reduced them to two, which number continued until the commencement of the troubles. in the year , with the aid and approbation of the states, the edicts against heretics were promulgated, which formed the foundation of all that followed, and in which, also, express mention is made of the inquisition. in the year , in consequence of the rapid increase of sects, charles v. was under the necessity of reviving and enforcing these edicts, and it was on this occasion that the town of antwerp opposed the establishment of the inquisition, and obtained an exemption from its jurisdiction. but the spirit of the inquisition in the netherlands, in accordance with the genius of the country, was more humane than in spain, and as yet had never been administered by a foreigner, much less by a dominican. the edicts which were known to everybody served it as the rule of its decisions. on this very account it was less obnoxious; because, however severe its sentence, it did not appear a tool of arbitrary power, and it did not, like the spanish inquisition, veil itself in secrecy. philip, however, was desirous of introducing the latter tribunal into the netherlands, since it appeared to him the instrument best adapted to destroy the spirit of this people, and to prepare them for a despotic government. he began, therefore, by increasing the rigor of the religious ordinances of his father; by gradually extending the power of the inquisitors; by making the proceedings more arbitrary, and more independent of the civil jurisdiction. the tribunal soon wanted little more than the name and the dominicans to resemble in every point the spanish inquisition. bare suspicion was enough to snatch a citizen from the bosom of public tranquillity, and from his domestic circle; and the weakest evidence was a sufficient justification for the use of the rack. whoever fell into its abyss returned no more to the world. all the benefits of the laws ceased for him; the maternal care of justice no longer noticed him; beyond the pale of his former world malice and stupidity judged him according to laws which were never intended for man. the delinquent never knew his accuser, and very seldom his crime, --a flagitious, devilish artifice which constrained the unhappy victim to guess at his error, and in the delirium of the rack, or in the weariness of a long living interment, to acknowledge transgressions which, perhaps, had never been committed, or at least had never come to the knowledge of his judges. the goods of the condemned were confiscated, and the informer encouraged by letters of grace and rewards. no privilege, no civil jurisdiction was valid against the holy power; the secular arm lost forever all whom that power had once touched. its only share in the judicial duties of the latter was to execute its sentences with humble submissiveness. the consequences of such an institution were, of necessity, unnatural and horrible; the whole temporal happiness, the life itself, of an innocent man was at the mercy of any worthless fellow. every secret enemy, every envious person, had now the perilous temptation of an unseen and unfailing revenge. the security of property, the sincerity of intercourse were gone; all the ties of interest were dissolved; all of blood and of affection were irreparably broken. an infectious distrust envenomed social life; the dreaded presence of a spy terrified the eye from seeing, and choked the voice in the midst of utterance. no one believed in the existence of an honest man, or passed for one himself. good name, the ties of country, brotherhood, even oaths, and all that man holds sacred, were fallen in estimation. such was the destiny to which a great and flourishing commercial town was subjected, where one hundred thousand industrious men had been brought together by the single tie of mutual confidence,--every one indispensable to his neighbor, yet every one distrusted and distrustful,--all attracted by the spirit of gain, and repelled from each other by fear,--all the props of society torn away, where social union was the basis of all life and all existence. other encroachments on the constitution of the netherlands. no wonder if so unnatural a tribunal, which had proved intolerable even to the more submissive spirit of the spaniard, drove a free state to rebellion. but the terror which it inspired was increased by the spanish troops, which, even after the restoration of peace, were kept in the country, and, in violation of the constitution, garrisoned border towns. charles v. had been forgiven for this introduction of foreign troops so long as the necessity of it was evident, and his good intentions were less distrusted. but now men saw in these troops only the alarming preparations of oppression and the instruments of a detested hierarchy. moreover, a considerable body of cavalry, composed of natives, and fully adequate for the protection of the country, made these foreigners superfluous. the licentiousness and rapacity, too, of the spaniards, whose pay was long in arrear, and who indemnified themselves at the expense of the citizens, completed the exasperation of the people, and drove the lower orders to despair. subsequently, when the general murmur induced the government to move them from the frontiers and transport them into the islands of zealand, where ships were prepared for their deportation, their excesses were carried to such a pitch that the inhabitants left off working at the embankments, and preferred to abandon their native country to the fury of the sea rather than to submit any longer to the wanton brutality of these lawless bands. philip, indeed, would have wished to retain these spaniards in the country, in order by their presence to give weight to his edicts, and to support the innovations which he had resolved to make in the constitution of the netherlands. he regarded them as a guarantee for the submission of the nation and as a chain by which he held it captive. accordingly, he left no expedient untried to evade the persevering importunity of the states, who demanded the withdrawal of these troops; and for this end he exhausted all the resources of chicanery and persuasion. at one time he pretended to dread a sudden invasion by france, although, torn by furious factions, that country could scarce support itself against a domestic enemy; at another time they were, he said, to receive his son, don carlos, on the frontiers; whom, however, he never intended should leave castile. their maintenance should not be a burden to the nation; he himself would disburse all their expenses from his private purse. in order to detain them with the more appearance of reason he purposely kept back from them their arrears of pay; for otherwise he would assuredly have preferred them to the troops of the country, whose demands he fully satisfied. to lull the fears of the nation, and to appease the general discontent, he offered the chief command of these troops to the two favorites of the people, the prince of orange and count egmont. both, however, declined his offer, with the noble-minded declaration that they could never make up their minds to serve contrary to the laws of the country. the more desire the king showed to have his spaniards in the country the more obstinately the states insisted on their removal. in the following diet at ghent he was compelled, in the very midst of his courtiers, to listen to republican truth. "why are foreign hands needed for our defence?" demanded the syndic of ghent. "is it that the rest of the world should consider us too stupid, or too cowardly, to protect ourselves? why have we made peace if the burdens of war are still to oppress us? in war necessity enforced endurance; in peace our patience is exhausted by its burdens. or shall we be able to keep in order these licentious bands which thine own presence could not restrain? here, cambray and antwerp cry for redress; there, thionville and marienburg lie waste; and, surely, thou hast not bestowed upon us peace that our cities should become deserts, as they necessarily must if thou freest them not from these destroyers? perhaps then art anxious to guard against surprise from our neighbors? this precaution is wise; but the report of their preparations will long outrun their hostilities. why incur a heavy expense to engage foreigners who will not care for a country which they must leave to-morrow? hast thou not still at thy command the same brave netherlanders to whom thy father entrusted the republic in far more troubled times? why shouldest thou now doubt their loyalty, which, to thy ancestors, they have preserved for so many centuries inviolate? will not they be sufficient to sustain the war long enough to give time to thy confederates to join their banners, or to thyself to send succor from the neighboring country?" this language was too new to the king, and its truth too obvious for him to be able at once to reply to it. "i, also, am a foreigner," he at length exclaimed, "and they would like, i suppose, to expel me from the country!" at the same time he descended from the throne, and left the assembly; but the speaker was pardoned for his boldness. two days afterwards he sent a message to the states that if he had been apprised earlier that these troops were a burden to them he would have immediately made preparation to remove them with himself to spain. now it was too late, for they would not depart unpaid; but he pledged them his most sacred promise that they should not be oppressed with this burden more than four months. nevertheless, the troops remained in this country eighteen months instead of four; and would not, perhaps, even then have left it so soon if the exigencies of the state had not made their presence indispensable in another part of the world. the illegal appointment of foreigners to the most important offices of the country afforded further occasion of complaint against the government. of all the privileges of the provinces none was so obnoxious to the spaniards as that which excluded strangers from office, and none they had so zealously sought to abrogate. italy, the two indies, and all the provinces of this vast empire, were indeed open to their rapacity and ambition; but from the richest of them all an inexorable fundamental law excluded them. they artfully persuaded their sovereign that his power in these countries would never be firmly established so long as he could not employ foreigners as his instruments. the bishop of arras, a burgundian by birth, had already been illegally forced upon the flemings; and now the count of feria, a castilian, was to receive a seat and voice in the council of state. but this attempt met with a bolder resistance than the king's flatterers had led him to expect, and his despotic omnipotence was this time wrecked by the politic measures of william of orange and the firmness of the states. william of orange and count egmont. by such measures, did philip usher in his government of the netherlands, and such were the grievances of the nation when he was preparing to leave them. he had long been impatient to quit a country where he was a stranger, where there was so much that opposed his secret wishes, and where his despotic mind found such undaunted monitors to remind him of the laws of freedom. the peace with france at last rendered a longer stay unnecessary; the armaments of soliman required his presence in the south, and the spaniards also began to miss their long-absent king. the choice of a supreme stadtholder for the netherlands was the principal matter which still detained him. emanuel philibert, duke of savoy, had filled this place since the resignation of mary, queen of hungary, which, however, so long as the king himself was present, conferred more honor than real influence. his absence would make it the most important office in the monarchy, and the most splendid aim for the ambition of a subject. it had now become vacant through the departure of the duke, whom the peace of chateau-cambray had restored to his dominions. the almost unlimited power with which the supreme statholder would be entrusted, the capacity and experience which so extensive and delicate an appointment required, but, especially, the daring designs which the government had in contemplation against the freedom of the country, the execution of which would devolve on him, necessarily embarrassed the choice. the law, which excluded all foreigners from office, made an exception in the case of the supreme stadtholder. as he could not be at the same time a native of all the provinces, it was allowable for him not to belong to any one of them; for the jealousy of the man of brabant would concede no greater right to a fleming, whose home was half a mile from his frontier, than to a sicilian, who lived in another soil and under a different sky. but here the interests of the crown itself seemed to favor the appointment of a native. a brabanter, for instance, who enjoyed the full confidence of his countrymen if he were a traitor would have half accomplished his treason before a foreign governor could have overcome the mistrust with which his most insignificant measures would be watched. if the government should succeed in carrying through its designs in one province, the opposition of the rest would then be a temerity, which it would be justified in punishing in the severest manner. in the common whole which the provinces now formed their individual constitutions were, in a measure, destroyed; the obedience of one would be a law for all, and the privilege, which one knew not how to preserve, was lost for the rest. among the flemish nobles who could lay claim to the chief stadtholdership, the expectations and wishes of the nation were divided between count egmont and the prince of orange, who were alike qualified for this high dignity by illustrious birth and personal merits, and by an equal share in the affections of the people. their high rank placed them both near to the throne, and if the choice of the monarch was to rest on the worthiest it must necessarily fall upon one of these two. as, in the course of our history, we shall often have occasion to mention both names, the reader cannot be too early made acquainted with their characters. william i., prince of orange, was descended from the princely german house of nassau, which had already flourished eight centuries, had long disputed the preeminence with austria, and had given one emperor to germany. besides several extensive domains in the netherlands, which made him a citizen of this republic and a vassal of the spanish monarchy, he possessed also in france the independent princedom of orange. william was born in the year , at dillenburg, in the country of nassau, of a countess stolberg. his father, the count of nassau, of the same name, had embraced the protestant religion, and caused his son also to be educated in it; but charles v., who early formed an attachment for the boy, took him when quite young to his court, and had him brought up in the romish church. this monarch, who already in the child discovered the future greatness of the man, kept him nine years about his person, thought him worthy of his personal instruction in the affairs of government, and honored him with a confidence beyond his years. he alone was permitted to remain in the emperor's presence when he gave audience to foreign ambassadors--a proof that, even as a boy, he had already begun to merit the surname of the silent. the emperor was not ashamed even to confess openly, on one occasion, that this young man had often made suggestions which would have escaped his own sagacity. what expectations might not be formed of the intellect of a man who was disciplined in such a school. william was twenty-three years old when charles abdicated the government, and had already received from the latter two public marks of the highest esteem. the emperor had entrusted to him, in preference to all the nobles of his court, the honorable office of conveying to his brother ferdinand the imperial crown. when the duke of savoy, who commanded the imperial army in the netherlands, was called away to italy by the exigency of his domestic affairs, the emperor appointed him commander-in-chief against the united representations of his military council, who declared it altogether hazardous to oppose so young a tyro in arms to the experienced generals of france. absent, and unrecommended by any, he was preferred by the monarch to the laurel- crowned band of his heroes, and the result gave him no cause to repent of his choice. the marked favor which the prince had enjoyed with the father was in itself a sufficient ground for his exclusion from the confidence of the son. philip, it appears, had laid it down for himself as a rule to avenge the wrongs of the spanish nobility for the preference which charles v. had on all important occasions shown to his flemish nobles. still stronger, however, were the secret motives which alienated him from the prince. william of orange was one of those lean and pale men who, according to caesar's words, "sleep not at night, and think too much," and before whom the most fearless spirits quail. the calm tranquillity of a never-varying countenance concealed a busy, ardent soul, which never ruffled even the veil behind which it worked, and was alike inaccessible to artifice and love; a versatile, formidable, indefatigable mind, soft, and ductile enough to be instantaneously moulded into all forms; guarded enough to lose itself in none; and strong enough to endure every vicissitude of fortune. a greater master in reading and in winning men's hearts never existed than william. not that, after the fashion of courts, his lips avowed a servility to which his proud heart gave the lie; but because he was neither too sparing nor too lavish of the marks of his esteem, and through a skilful economy of the favors which mostly bind men, he increased his real stock in them. the fruits of his meditation were as perfect as they were slowly formed; his resolves were as steadily and indomitably accomplished as they were long in maturing. no obstacles could defeat the plan which he had once adopted as the best; no accidents frustrated it, for they all had been foreseen before they actually occurred. high as his feelings were raised above terror and joy, they were, nevertheless, subject in the same degree to fear; but his fear was earlier than the danger, and he was calm in tumult because he had trembled in repose. william lavished his gold with a profuse hand, but he was a niggard of his movements. the hours of repast were the sole hours of relaxation, but these were exclusively devoted to his heart, his family, and his friends; this the modest deduction he allowed himself from the cares of his country. here his brow was cleared with wine, seasoned by temperance and a cheerful disposition; and no serious cares were permitted to enter this recess of enjoyment. his household was magnificent; the splendor of a numerous retinue, the number and respectability of those who surrounded his person, made his habitation resemble the court of a sovereign prince. a sumptuous hospitality, that master-spell of demagogues, was the goddess of his palace. foreign princes and ambassadors found here a fitting reception and entertainment, which surpassed all that luxurious belgium could elsewhere offer. a humble submissiveness to the government bought off the blame and suspicion which this munificence might have thrown on his intentions. but this liberality secured for him the affections of the people, whom nothing gratified so much as to see the riches of their country displayed before admiring foreigners, and the high pinnacle of fortune on which he stood enhanced the value of the courtesy to which he condescended. no one, probably, was better fitted by nature for the leader of a conspiracy than william the silent. a comprehensive and intuitive glance into the past, the present, and the future; the talent for improving every favorable opportunity; a commanding influence over the minds of men, vast schemes which only when viewed from a distance show form and symmetry; and bold calculations which were wound up in the long chain of futurity; all these faculties he possessed, and kept, moreover, under the control of that free and enlightened virtue which moves with firm step even on the very edge of the abyss. a man like this might at other times have remained unfathomed by his whole generation; but not so by the distrustful spirit of the age in which he lived. philip ii. saw quickly and deeply into a character which, among good ones, most resembled his own. if he had not seen through him so clearly his distrust of a man, in whom were united nearly all the qualities which he prized highest and could best appreciate, would be quite inexplicable. but william had another and still more important point of contact with philip ii. he had learned his policy from the same master, and had become, it was to be feared, a more apt scholar. not by making machiavelli's 'prince' his study, but by having enjoyed the living instruction of a monarch who reduced the book to practice, had he become versed in the perilous arts by which thrones rise and fall. in him philip had to deal with an antagonist who was armed against his policy, and who in a good cause could also command the resources of a bad one. and it was exactly this last circumstance which accounts for his having hated this man so implacably above all others of his day, and his having had so supernatural a dread of him. the suspicion which already attached to the prince was increased by the doubts which were entertained of his religious bias. so long as the emperor, his benefactor, lived, william believed in the pope; but it was feared, with good ground, that the predilection for the reformed religion, which had been imparted into his young heart, had never entirely left it. whatever church he may at certain periods of his life have preferred each might console itself with the reflection that none other possessed him more entirely. in later years he went over to calvinism with almost as little scruple as in his early childhood he deserted the lutheran profession for the romish. he defended the rights of the protestants rather than their opinions against spanish oppression; not their faith, but their wrongs, had made him their brother. these general grounds for suspicion appeared to be justified by a discovery of his real intentions which accident had made. william had remained in france as hostage for the peace of chateau-cambray, in concluding which he had borne a part; and here, through the imprudence of henry ii., who imagined he spoke with a confidant of the king of spain, he became acquainted with a secret plot which the french and spanish courts had formed against protestants of both kingdoms. the prince hastened to communicate this important discovery to his friends in brussels, whom it so nearly concerned, and the letters which he exchanged on the subject fell, unfortunately, into the hands of the king of spain. philip was less surprised at this decisive disclosure of william's sentiments than incensed at the disappointment of his scheme; and the spanish nobles, who had never forgiven the prince that moment, when in the last act of his life the greatest of emperors leaned upon his shoulders, did not neglect this favorable opportunity of finally ruining, in the good opinion of their king, the betrayer of a state secret. of a lineage no less noble than that of william was lamoral, count egmont and prince of gavre, a descendant of the dukes of gueldres, whose martial courage had wearied out the arms of austria. his family was highly distinguished in the annals of the country; one of his ancestors, had, under maximilian, already filled the office of stadtholder over holland. egmont's marriage with the duchess sabina of bavaria reflected additional lustre on the splendor of his birth, and made him powerful through the greatness of this alliance. charles v. had, in the year , conferred on him at utrecht the order of the golden fleece; the wars of this emperor were the school of his military genius, and the battle of st. quentin and gravelines made him the hero of his age. every blessing of peace, for which a commercial people feel most grateful, brought to mind the remembrance of the victory by which it was accelerated, and flemish pride, like a fond mother, exulted over the illustrious son of their country, who had filled all europe with admiration. nine children who grew up under the eyes of their fellow- citizens, multiplied and drew closer the ties between him and his fatherland, and the people's grateful affection for the father was kept alive by the sight of those who were dearest to him. every appearance of egmont in public was a triumphal procession; every eye which was fastened upon him recounted his history; his deeds lived in the plaudits of his companions-in-arms; at the games of chivalry mothers pointed him out to their children. affability, a noble and courteous demeanor, the amiable virtues of chivalry, adorned and graced his merits. his liberal soul shone forth on his open brow; his frank-heartedness managed his secrets no better than his benevolence did his estate, and a thought was no sooner his than it was the property of all. his religion was gentle and humane, but not very enlightened, because it derived its light from the heart and not from, his understanding. egmont possessed more of conscience than of fixed principles; his head had not given him a code of its own, but had merely learnt it by rote; the mere name of any action, therefore, was often with him sufficient for its condemnation. in his judgment men were wholly bad or wholly good, and had not something bad or something good; in this system of morals there was no middle term between vice and virtue; and consequently a single good trait often decided his opinion of men. egmont united all the eminent qualities which form the hero; he was a better soldier than the prince of orange, but far inferior to him as a statesman; the latter saw the world as it really was; egmont viewed it in the magic mirror of an imagination that embellished all that it reflected. men, whom fortune has surprised with a reward for which they can find no adequate ground in their actions, are, for the most part, very apt to forget the necessary connection between cause and effect, and to insert in the natural consequences of things a higher miraculous power to which, as caesar to his fortune, they at last insanely trust. such a character was egmont. intoxicated with the idea of his own merits, which the love and gratitude of his fellow-citizens had exaggerated, he staggered on in this sweet reverie as in a delightful world of dreams. he feared not, because he trusted to the deceitful pledge which destiny had given him of her favor, in the general love of the people; and he believed in its justice because he himself was prosperous. even the most terrible experience of spanish perfidy could not afterwards eradicate this confidence from his soul, and on the scaffold itself his latest feeling was hope. a tender fear for his family kept his patriotic courage fettered by lower duties. because he trembled for property and life he could not venture much for the republic. william of orange broke with the throne because its arbitrary power was offensive to his pride; egmont was vain, and therefore valued the favors of the monarch. the former was a citizen of the world; egmont had never been more than a fleming. philip ii. still stood indebted to the hero of st. quentin, and the supreme stadtholdership of the netherlands appeared the only appropriate reward for such great services. birth and high station, the voice of the nation and personal abilities, spoke as loudly for egmont as for orange; and if the latter was to be passed by it seemed that the former alone could supplant him. two such competitors, so equal in merit, might have embarrassed philip in his choice if he had ever seriously thought of selecting either of them for the appointment. but the pre-eminent qualities by which they supported their claim to this office were the very cause of their rejection; and it was precisely the ardent desire of the nation for their election to it that irrevocably annulled their title to the appointment. philip's purpose would not be answered by a stadtholder in the netherlands who could command the good-will and the energies of the people. egmont's descent from the duke of gueldres made him an hereditary foe of the house of spain, and it seemed impolitic to place the supreme power in the hands of a man to whom the idea might occur of revenging on the son of the oppressor the oppression of his ancestor. the slight put on their favorites could give no just offence either to the nation or to themselves, for it might be pretended that the king passed over both because he would not show a preference to either. the disappointment of his hopes of gaining the regency did not deprive the prince of orange of all expectation of establishing more firmly his influence in the netherlands. among the other candidates for this office was also christina, duchess of lorraine, and aunt of the king, who, as mediatrix of the peace of chateau-cambray, had rendered important service to the crown. william aimed at the hand of her daughter, and he hoped to promote his suit by actively interposing his good offices for the mother; but he did not reflect that through this very intercession he ruined her cause. the duchess christina was rejected, not so much for the reason alleged, namely, the dependence of her territories on france made her an object of suspicion to the spanish court, as because she was acceptable to the people of the netherlands and the prince of orange. margaret of parma regent of the netherlands. while the general expectation was on the stretch as to whom the fature destines of the provinces would be committed, there appeared on the frontiers of the country the duchess margaret of parma, having been summoned by the king from italy to assume the government. margaret was a natural daughter of charles v. and of a noble flemish lady named vangeest, and born in . out of regard for the honor of her mother's house she was at first educated in obscurity; but her mother, who possessed more vanity than honor, was not very anxious to preserve the secret of her origin, and a princely education betrayed the daughter of the emperor. while yet a child she was entrusted to the regent margaret, her great-aunt, to be brought up at brussels under her eye. this guardian she lost in her eighth year, and the care of her education devolved on queen mary of hungary, the successor of margaret in the regency. her father had already affianced her, while yet in her fourth year, to a prince of ferrara; but this alliance being subsequently dissolved, she was betrothed to alexander de medicis, the new duke of florence, which marriage was, after the victorious return of the emperor from africa, actually consummated in naples. in the first year of this unfortunate union, a violent death removed from her a husband who could not love her, and for the third time her hand was disposed of to serve the policy of her father. octavius farnese, a prince of thirteen years of age and nephew of paul iii., obtained, with her person, the duchies of parma and piacenza as her portion. thus, by a strange destiny, margaret at the age of maturity was contracted to a boy, as in the years of infancy she had been sold to a nman. her disposition, which was anything but feminine, made this last alliance still more unnatural, for her taste and inclinations were masculine, and the whole tenor of her life belied her sex. after the example of her instructress, the queen of hungary, and her great-aunt, the duchess mary of burgundy, who met her death in this favorite sport, she was passionately fond of hunting, and had acquired in this pursuit such bodily vigor that few men were better able to undergo its hardships and fatigues. her gait itself was so devoid of grace that one was far more tempted to take her for a disguised man than for a masculine woman; and nature, whom she had derided by thus transgressing the limits of her sex, revenged itself finally upon her by a disease peculiar to men--the gout. these unusual qualities were crowned by a monkish superstition which was infused into her mind by ignatius loyola, her confessor and teacher. among the charitable works and penances with which she mortified her vanity, one of the most remarkable was that, during passion-week she yearly washed, with her own hands, the feet of a number of poor men (who were most strictly forbidden to cleanse themselves beforehand), waited on them at table like a servant, and sent them away with rich presents. nothing more is requisite than this last feature in her character to account for the preference which the king gave her over all her rivals; but his choice was at the same time justified by excellent reasons of state. margaret was born and also educated in the netherlands. she had spent her early youth among the people, and had acquired much of their national manners. two regents (duchess margaret and queen mary of hungary), under whose eyes she had grown up, had gradually initiated her into the maxims by which this peculiar people might be most easily governed; and they would also serve her as models. she did not want either in talents; and possessed, moreover, a particular turn for business, which she had acquired from her instructors, and had afterwards carried to greater perfection in the italian school. the netherlands had been for a number of years accustomed to female government; and philip hoped, perhaps, that the sharp iron of tyranny which he was about to use against them would cut more gently if wielded by the hands of a woman. some regard for his father, who at the time was still living, and was much attached to margaret, may have in a measure, as it is asserted, influenced this choice; as it is also probable that the king wished to oblige the duke of parma, through this mark of attention to his wife, and thus to compensate for denying a request which he was just then compelled to refuse him. as the territories of the duchess were surrounded by philip's italian states, and at all times exposed to his arms, he could, with the less danger, entrust the supreme power into her hands. for his full security her son, alexander farnese, was to remain at his court as a pledge for her loyalty. all these reasons were alone sufficiently weighty to turn the king's decision in her favor; but they became irresistible when supported by the bishop of arras and the duke of alva. the latter, as it appears, because he hated or envied all the other competitors, the former, because even then, in all probability, he anticipated from the wavering disposition of this princess abundant gratification for his ambition. philip received the new regent on the frontiers with a splendid cortege, and conducted her with magnificent pomp to ghent, where the states general had been convoked. as he did not intend to return soon to the netherlands, he desired, before he left them, to gratify the nation for once by holding a solemn diet, and thus giving a solemn sanction and the force of law to his previous regulations. for the last time he showed himself to his netherlandish people, whose destinies were from henceforth to be dispensed from a mysterious distance. to enhance the splendor of this solemn day, philip invested eleven knights with the order of the golden fleece, his sister being seated on a chair near himself, while he showed her to the nation as their future ruler. all the grievances of the people, touching the edicts, the inquisition, the detention of the spanish troops, the taxes, and the illegal introduction of foreigners into the offices and administration of the country were brought forward in this diet, and were hotly discussed by both parties; some of them were skilfully evaded, or apparently removed, others arbitrarily repelled. as the king was unacquainted with the language of the country, he addressed the nation through the mouth of the bishop of arras, recounted to them with vain-glorious ostentation all the benefits of his government, assured them of his favor for the future, and once more recommended to the estates in the most earnest manner the preservation of the catholic faith and the extirpation of heresy. the spanish troops, he promised, should in a few months evacuate the netherlands, if only they would allow him time to recover from the numerous burdens of the last war, in order that he might be enabled to collect the means for paying the arrears of these troops; the fundamental laws of the nation should remain inviolate, the imposts should not be grievously burdensome, and the inquisition should administer its duties with justice and moderation. in the choice of a supreme stadtholder, he added, he had especially consulted the wishes of the nation, and had decided for a native of the country, who had been brought up in their manners and customs, and was attached to them by a love to her native land. he exhorted them, therefore, to show their gratitude by honoring his choice, and obeying his sister, the duchess, as himself. should, he concluded, unexpected obstacles oppose his return, he would send in his place his son, prince charles, who should reside in brussels. a few members of this assembly, more courageous than the rest, once more ventured on a final effort for liberty of conscience. every people, they argued, ought to be treated according to their natural character, as every individual must in accordance to his bodily constitution. thus, for example, the south may be considered happy under a certain degree of constraint which would press intolerably on the north. never, they added, would the flemings consent to a yoke under which, perhaps, the spaniards bowed with patience, and rather than submit to it would they undergo any extremity if it was sought to force such a yoke upon them. this remonstrance was supported by some of the king's counsellors, who strongly urged the policy of mitigating the rigor of religious edicts. but philip remained inexorable. better not reign at all, was his answer, than reign over heretics! according to an arrangement already made by charles v., three councils or chambers were added to the regent, to assist her in the administration of state affairs. as long as philip was himself present in the netherlands these courts had lost much of their power, and the functions of the first of them, the state council, were almost entirely suspended. now that he quitted the reins of government, they recovered their former importance. in the state council, which was to deliberate upon war and peace, and security against external foes, sat the bishop of arras, the prince of orange, count egmont, the president of the privy council, viglius van zuichem van aytta, and the count of barlaimont, president of the chamber of finance. all knights of the golden fleece, all privy counsellors and counsellors of finance, as also the members of the great senate at malines, which had been subjected by charles v. to the privy council in brussels, had a seat and vote in the council of state, if expressly invited by the regent. the management of the royal revenues and crown lands was vested in the chamber of finance, and the privy council was occupied with the administration of justice, and the civil regulation of the country, and issued all letters of grace and pardon. the governments of the provinces which had fallen vacant were either filled up afresh or the former governors were confirmed. count egmont received flanders and artois; the prince of orange, holland, zealand, utrecht, and west friesland; the count of aremberg, east friesland, overyssel, and groningen; the count of mansfeld, luxemburg; barlaimont, namur; the marquis of bergen, hainault, chateau-cambray, and valenciennes; the baron of montigny, tournay and its dependencies. other provinces were given to some who have less claim to our attention. philip of montmorency, count of hoorn, who had been succeeded by the count of megen in the government of gueldres and ziitphen, was confirmed as admiral of the belgian navy. every governor of a province was at the same time a knight of the golden fleece and member of the council of state. each had, in the province over which he presided, the command of the military force which protected it, the superintendence of the civil administration and the judicature; the governor of flanders alone excepted, who was not allowed to interfere with the administration of justice. brabant alone was placed under the immediate jurisdiction of the regent, who, according to custom, chose brussels for her constant residence. the induction of the prince of orange into his governments was, properly speaking, an infraction of the constitution, since he was a foreigner; but several estates which he either himself possessed in the provinces, or managed as guardian of his son, his long residence in the country, and above all the unlimited confidence the nation reposed in him, gave him substantial claims in default of a real title of citizenship. the military force of the low countries consisted, in its full complement, of three thousand horse. at present it did not much exceed two thousand, and was divided into fourteen squadrons, over which, besides the governors of the provinces, the duke of arschot, the counts of hoogstraten, bossu, roeux, and brederode held the chief command. this cavalry, which was scattered through all the seventeen provinces, was only to be called out on sudden emergencies. insufficient as it was for any great undertaking, it was, nevertheless, fully adequate for the maintenance of internal order. its courage had been approved in former wars, and the fame of its valor was diffused through the whole of europe. in addition to this cavalry it was also proposed to levy a body of infantry, but hitherto the states had refused their consent to it. of foreign troops there were still some german regiments in the service, which were waiting for their pay. the four thousand spaniards, respecting whom so many complaints had been made, were under two spanish generals, mendoza and romero, and were in garrison in the frontier towns. among the belgian nobles whom the king especially distinguished in these new appointments, the names of count egmont and william of orange stand conspicuous. however inveterate his hatred was of both, and particularly of the latter, philip nevertheless gave them these public marks of his favor, because his scheme of vengeance was not yet fully ripe, and the people were enthusiastic in their devotion to them. the estates of both were declared exempt from taxes, the most lucrative governments were entrusted to them, and by offering them the command of the spaniards whom he left behind in the country the king flattered them with a confidence which he was very far from really reposing in them. but at the very time when he obliged the prince with these public marks of his esteem he privately inflicted the most cruel injury on him. apprehensive lest an alliance with the powerful house of lorraine might encourage this suspected vassal to bolder measures, he thwarted the negotiation for a marriage between him and a princess of that family, and crushed his hopes on the very eve of their accomplishment,--an injury which the prince never forgave. nay, his hatred to the prince on one occasion even got completely the better of his natural dissimulation, and seduced him into a step in which we entirely lose sight of philip ii. when he was about to embark at flushing, and the nobles of the country attended him to the shore, he so far forgot himself as roughly to accost the prince, and openly to accuse him of being the author of the flemish troubles. the prince answered temperately that what had happened had been done by the provinces of their own suggestion and on legitimate grounds. no, said philip, seizing his hated, and shaking it violently, not the provinces, but you! you! you! the prince stood mute with astonishment, and without waiting for the king's embarkation, wished him a safe journey, and went back to the town. thus the enmity which william had long harbored in his breast against the oppressor of a free people was now rendered irreconcilable by private hatred; and this double incentive accelerated the great enterprise which tore from the spanish crown seven of its brightest jewels. philip had greatly deviated from his true character in taking so gracious a leave of the netherlands. the legal form of a diet, his promise to remove the spaniards from the frontiers, the consideration of the popular wishes, which had led him to fill the most important offices of the country with the favorites of the people, and, finally, the sacrifice which he made to the constitution in withdrawing the count of feria from the council of state, were marks of condescension of which his magnanimity was never again guilty. but in fact he never stood in greater need of the good-will of the states, that with their aid he might, if possible, clear off the great burden of debt which was still attached to the netherlands from the former war. he hoped, therefore, by propitiating them through smaller sacrifices to win approval of more important usurpations. he marked his departure with grace, for he knew in what hands he left them. the frightful scenes of death which he intended for this unhappy people were not to stain the splendor of majesty which, like the godhead, marks its course only with beneficence; that terrible distinction was reserved for his representatives. the establishment of the council of state was, however, intended rather to flatter the vanity of the belgian nobility than to impart to them any real influence. the historian strada (who drew his information with regard to the regent from her own papers) has preserved a few articles of the secret instructions which the spanish ministry gave her. amongst other things it is there stated if she observed that the councils were divided by factions, or, what would be far worse, prepared by private conferences before the session, and in league with one another, then she was to prorogue all the chambers and dispose arbitrarily of the disputed articles in a more select council or committee. in this select committee, which was called the consulta, sat the archbishop of arras, the president viglius, and the count of barlaimont. she was to act in the same manner if emergent cases required a prompt decision. had this arrangement not been the work of an arbitrary despotism it would perhaps have been justified by sound policy, and republican liberty itself might have tolerated it. in great assemblies where many private interests and passions co-operate, where a numerous audience presents so great a temptation to the vanity of the orator, and parties often assail one another with unmannerly warmth, a decree can seldom be passed with that sobriety and mature deliberation which, if the members are properly selected, a smaller body readily admits of. in a numerous body of men, too, there is, we must suppose, a greater number of limited than of enlightened intellects, who through their equal right of vote frequently turn the majority on the side of ignorance. a second maxim which the regent was especially to observe, was to select the very members of council who had voted against any decree to carry it into execution. by this means not only would the people be kept in ignorance of the originators of such a law, but the private quarrels also of the members would be restrained, and a greater freedom insured in voting in compliance with the wishes of the court. in spite of all these precautions philip would never have been able to leave the netherlands with a quiet mind so long as he knew that the chief power in the council of state, and the obedience of the provinces, were in the hands of the suspected nobles. in order, therefore, to appease his fears from this quarter, and also at the same time to assure himself of the fidelity of the regent, be subjected her, and through her all the affairs of the judicature, to the higher control of the bishop of arras. in this single individual he possessed an adequate counterpoise to the most dreaded cabal. to him, as to an infallible oracle of majesty, the duchess was referred, and in him there watched a stern supervisor of her administration. among all his contemporaries granvella was the only one whom philip ii. appears to have excepted from his universal distrust; as long as he knew that this man was in brussels he could sleep calmly in segovia. he left the netherlands in september, , was saved from a storm which sank his fleet, and landed at laredo in biscay, and in his gloomy joy thanked the deity who had preserved him by a detestable vow. in the hands of a priest and of a woman was placed the dangerous helm of the netherlands; and the dastardly tyrant escaped in his oratory at madrid the supplications, the complaints, and the curses of the people. history of the united netherlands, - , complete from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce volume i. by john lothrop motley preface. the indulgence with which the history of the rise of the dutch republic was received has encouraged me to prosecute my task with renewed industry. a single word seems necessary to explain the somewhat increased proportions which the present work has assumed over the original design. the intimate connection which was formed between the kingdom of england and the republic of holland, immediately after the death of william the silent, rendered the history and the fate of the two commonwealths for a season almost identical. the years of anxiety and suspense during which the great spanish project for subjugating england and reconquering the netherlands, by the same invasion, was slowly matured, were of deepest import for the future destiny of those two countries, and for the cause of national liberty. the deep-laid conspiracy of spain and rome against human rights deserves to be patiently examined, for it is one of the great lessons of history. the crisis was long and doubtful, and the health--perhaps the existence--of england and holland, and, with them, of a great part of christendom, was on the issue. history has few so fruitful examples of the dangers which come from superstition and despotism, and the blessings which flow from the maintenance of religious and political freedom, as those afforded by the struggle between england and holland on the one side, and spain and rome on the other, during the epoch which i have attempted to describe. it is for this reason that i have thought it necessary to reveal, as minutely as possible, the secret details of this conspiracy of king and priest against the people, and to show how it was baffled at last by the strong self-helping energy of two free nations combined. the period occupied by these two volumes is therefore a short one, when counted by years, for it begins in and ends with the commencement of . when estimated by the significance of events and their results for future ages, it will perhaps be deemed worthy of the close examination which it has received. with the year the crisis was past; england was safe, and the new dutch commonwealth was thoroughly organized. it is my design, in two additional volumes, which, with the two now published, will complete the present work, to carry the history of the republic down to the synod of dort. after this epoch the thirty years' war broke out in germany; and it is my wish, at a future day, to retrace the history of that eventful struggle, and to combine with it the civil and military events in holland, down to the epoch when the thirty years' war and the eighty years' war of the netherlands were both brought to a close by the peace of westphalia. the materials for the volumes now offered to the public were so abundant that it was almost impossible to condense them into smaller compass without doing injustice to the subject. it was desirable to throw full light on these prominent points of the history, while the law of historical perspective will allow long stretches of shadow in the succeeding portions, in which less important objects may be more slightly indicated. that i may not be thought capable of abusing the reader's confidence by inventing conversations, speeches, or letters, i would take this opportunity of stating--although i have repeated the remark in the foot-notes--that no personage in these pages is made to write or speak any words save those which, on the best historical evidence, he is known to have written or spoken. a brief allusion to my sources of information will not seem superfluous: i have carefully studied all the leading contemporary chronicles and pamphlets of holland, flanders, spain, france, germany, and england; but, as the authorities are always indicated in the notes, it is unnecessary to give a list of them here. but by far my most valuable materials are entirely unpublished ones. the archives of england are especially rich for the history of the sixteenth century; and it will be seen, in the course of the narrative, how largely i have drawn from those mines of historical wealth, the state paper office and the ms. department of the british museum. although both these great national depositories are in admirable order, it is to be regretted that they are not all embraced in one collection, as much trouble might then be spared to the historical student, who is now obliged to pass frequently from the one place to the other, in order to, find different portions of the same correspondence. from the royal archives of holland i have obtained many most important, entirely unpublished documents, by the aid of which i have endeavoured to verify, to illustrate, or sometimes to correct, the recitals of the elder national chroniclers; and i have derived the greatest profit from the invaluable series of archives and correspondence of the orange-nassau family, given to the world by m. groen van prinsterer. i desire to renew to that distinguished gentleman, and to that eminent scholar m. bakhuyzen van den brink, the expression of my gratitude for their constant kindness and advice during my residence at the hague. nothing can exceed the courtesy which has been extended to me in holland, and i am deeply grateful for the indulgence with which my efforts to illustrate the history of the country have been received where that history is best known. i have also been much aided by the study of a portion of the archives of simancas, the originals of which are in the archives de l'empire in paris, and which were most liberally laid before me through the kindness of m. le comte de la borde. i have, further; enjoyed an inestimable advantage in the perusal of the whole correspondence between philip ii., his ministers, and governors, relating to the affairs of the netherlands, from the epoch at which this work commences down to that monarch's death. copies of this correspondence have been carefully made from the originals at simancas by order of the belgian government, under the superintendence of the eminent archivist m. gachard, who has already published a synopsis or abridgment of a portion of it in a french translation. the translation and abridgment of so large a mass of papers, however, must necessarily occupy many years, and it may be long, therefore, before the whole of the correspondence--and particularly that portion of it relating to the epoch occupied by these volumes sees the light. it was, therefore, of the greatest importance for me to see the documents themselves unabridged and untranslated. this privilege has been accorded me, and i desire to express my thanks to his excellency m. van de weyer, the distinguished representative of belgium at the english court, to whose friendly offices i am mainly indebted for the satisfaction of my wishes in this respect. a letter from him to his excellency m. rogier, minister of the interior in belgium--who likewise took the most courteous interest in promoting my views--obtained for me the permission thoroughly to study this correspondence; and i passed several months in brussels, occupied with reading the whole of it from the year to the end of the reign of philip ii. i was thus saved a long visit to the archives of simancas, for it would be impossible conscientiously to write the history of the epoch without a thorough examination of the correspondence of the king and his ministers. i venture to hope, therefore--whatever judgment may be passed upon my own labours--that this work may be thought to possess an intrinsic value; for the various materials of which it is composed are original, and--so far as i am aware--have not been made use of by any historical writer. i would take this opportunity to repeat my thanks to m. gachard, archivist of the kingdom of belgium, for the uniform courtesy and kindness which i have received at his-hands, and to bear my testimony to the skill and critical accuracy with which he has illustrated so many passages of belgian and spanish history. , hertford-street, may-fair, november llth . the united netherlands. chapter i. murder of orange--extension of protestantism--vast power of spain-- religious origin of the revolt--disposal of the sovereignty--courage of the estates of holland--children of william the silent-- provisional council of state--firm attitude of holland and zeeland-- weakness of flanders--fall of ghent--adroitness of alexander farnese. william the silent, prince of orange, had been murdered on the th of july, . it is difficult to imagine a more universal disaster than the one thus brought about by the hand of a single obscure fanatic. for nearly twenty years the character of the prince had been expanding steadily as the difficulties of his situation increased. habit, necessity, and the natural gifts of the man, had combined to invest him at last with an authority which seemed more than human. there was such general confidence in his sagacity, courage, and purity, that the nation had come to think with his brain and to act with his hand. it was natural that, for an instant, there should be a feeling as of absolute and helpless paralysis. whatever his technical attributes in the polity of the netherlands--and it would be difficult to define them with perfect accuracy--there is no doubt that he stood there, the head of a commonwealth, in an attitude such as had been maintained by but few of the kings, or chiefs, or high priests of history. assassination, a regular and almost indispensable portion of the working machinery of philip's government, had produced, in this instance, after repeated disappointments, the result at last which had been so anxiously desired. the ban of the pope and the offered gold of the king had accomplished a victory greater than any yet achieved by the armies of spain, brilliant as had been their triumphs on the blood-stained soil of the netherlands. had that "exceeding proud, neat, and spruce" doctor of laws, william parry, who had been busying himself at about the same time with his memorable project against the queen of england, proved as successful as balthazar gerard, the fate of christendom would have been still darker. fortunately, that member of parliament had made the discovery in time--not for himself, but for elizabeth--that the "lord was better pleased with adverbs than nouns;" the well-known result being that the traitor was hanged and the sovereign saved. yet such was the condition of europe at that day. a small, dull, elderly, imperfectly-educated, patient, plodding invalid, with white hair and protruding under jaw, and dreary visage, was sitting day after day; seldom speaking, never smiling, seven or eight hours out of every twenty-four, at a writing table covered with heaps of interminable despatches, in a cabinet far away beyond the seas and mountains, in the very heart of spain. a clerk or two, noiselessly opening and shutting the door, from time to time, fetching fresh bundles of letters and taking away others--all written and composed by secretaries or high functionaries--and all to be scrawled over in the margin by the diligent old man in a big schoolboy's hand and style--if ever schoolboy, even in the sixteenth century, could write so illegibly or express himself so awkwardly; couriers in the court-yard arriving from or departing for the uttermost parts of earth-asia, africa america, europe-to fetch and carry these interminable epistles which contained the irresponsible commands of this one individual, and were freighted with the doom and destiny of countless millions of the world's inhabitants--such was the system of government against which the netherlands had protested and revolted. it was a system under which their fields had been made desolate, their cities burned and pillaged, their men hanged, burned, drowned, or hacked to pieces; their women subjected to every outrage; and to put an end to which they had been devoting their treasure and their blood for nearly the length of one generation. it was a system, too, which, among other results, had just brought about the death of the foremost statesman of europe, and had nearly effected simultaneously the murder of the most eminent sovereign in the world. the industrious philip, safe and tranquil in the depths of the escorial, saying his prayers three times a day with exemplary regularity, had just sent three bullets through the body of william the silent at his dining-room door in delft. "had it only been done two years earlier," observed the patient old man, "much trouble might have been spared me; but 'tis better late than never." sir edward stafford, english envoy in paris, wrote to his government--so soon as the news of the murder reached him--that, according to his information out of the spanish minister's own house, "the same practice that had been executed upon the prince of orange, there were practisers more than two or three about to execute upon her majesty, and that within two months." without vouching for the absolute accuracy of this intelligence, he implored the queen to be more upon her guard than ever. "for there is no doubt," said the envoy, "that she is a chief mark to shoot at; and seeing that there were men cunning enough to inchant a man and to encourage him to kill the prince of orange, in the midst of holland, and that there was a knave found desperate enough to do it, we must think hereafter that anything may be done. therefore god preserve her majesty." invisible as the grand lama of thibet, clothed with power as extensive and absolute as had ever been wielded by the most imperial caesar, philip the prudent, as he grew older and feebler in mind and body seemed to become more gluttonous of work, more ambitious to extend his sceptre over lands which he had never seen or dreamed of seeing, more fixed in his determination to annihilate that monster protestantism, which it had been the business of his life to combat, more eager to put to death every human creature, whether anointed monarch or humble artizan, that defended heresy or opposed his progress to universal empire. if this enormous power, this fabulous labour, had, been wielded or performed with a beneficent intention; if the man who seriously regarded himself as the owner of a third of the globe, with the inhabitants thereof, had attempted to deal with these extensive estates inherited from his ancestors with the honest intention of a thrifty landlord, an intelligent slave-owner, it would have yet been possible for a little longer to smile at the delusion, and endure the practice. but there was another old man, who lived in another palace in another remote land, who, in his capacity of representative of saint peter, claimed to dispose of all the kingdoms of the earth--and had been willing to bestow them upon the man who would go down and worship him. philip stood enfeoffed, by divine decree, of all america, the east indies, the whole spanish peninsula, the better portion of italy, the seventeen netherlands, and many other possessions far and near; and he contemplated annexing to this extensive property the kingdoms of france, of england, and ireland. the holy league, maintained by the sword of guise, the pope's ban, spanish ducats, italian condottieri, and german mercenaries, was to exterminate heresy and establish the spanish dominion in france. the same machinery, aided by the pistol or poniard of the assassin, was to substitute for english protestantism and england's queen the roman catholic religion and a foreign sovereign. "the holy league," said duplessis-mornay, one of the noblest characters of the age, "has destined us all to the name sacrifice. the ambition of the spaniard, which has overleaped so many lands and seas, thinks nothing inaccessible." the netherland revolt had therefore assumed world-wide proportions. had it been merely the rebellion of provinces against a sovereign, the importance of the struggle would have been more local and temporary. but the period was one in which the geographical land-marks of countries were almost removed. the dividing-line ran through every state, city, and almost every family. there was a country which believed in the absolute power of the church to dictate the relations between man and his maker, and to utterly exterminate all who disputed that position. there was another country which protested against that doctrine, and claimed, theoretically or practically, a liberty of conscience. the territory of these countries was mapped out by no visible lines, but the inhabitants of each, whether resident in france, germany, england, or flanders, recognised a relationship which took its root in deeper differences than those of race or language. it was not entirely a question of doctrine or dogma. a large portion of the world had become tired of the antiquated delusion of a papal supremacy over every land, and had recorded its determination, once for all, to have done with it. the transition to freedom of conscience became a necessary step, sooner or later to be taken. to establish the principle of toleration for all religions was an inevitable consequence of the dutch revolt; although thus far, perhaps only one conspicuous man in advance of his age had boldly announced that doctrine and had died in its defence. but a great true thought never dies--though long buried in the earth--and the day was to come, after long years, when the seed was to ripen into a harvest of civil and religious emancipation, and when the very word toleration was to sound like an insult and an absurdity. a vast responsibility rested upon the head of a monarch, placed as philip ii. found himself, at this great dividing point in modern history. to judge him, or any man in such a position, simply from his own point of view, is weak and illogical. history judges the man according to its point of view. it condemns or applauds the point of view itself. the point of view of a malefactor is not to excuse robbery and murder. nor is the spirit of the age to be pleaded in defence of the evil-doer at a time when mortals were divided into almost equal troops. the age of philip ii. was also the age of william of orange and his four brethren, of sainte aldegonde, of olden-barneveldt, of duplessis-mornay, la noue, coligny, of luther, melancthon, and calvin, walsingham, sidney, raleigh, queen elizabeth, of michael montaigne, and william shakspeare. it was not an age of blindness, but of glorious light. if the man whom the maker of the universe had permitted to be born to such boundless functions, chose to put out his own eyes that he might grope along his great pathway of duty in perpetual darkness, by his deeds he must be judged. the king perhaps firmly believed that the heretics of the netherlands, of france, or of england, could escape eternal perdition only by being extirpated from the earth by fire and sword, and therefore; perhaps, felt it his duty to devote his life to their extermination. but he believed, still more firmly, that his own political authority, throughout his dominions, and his road to almost universal empire, lay over the bodies of those heretics. three centuries have nearly past since this memorable epoch; and the world knows the fate of the states which accepted the dogma which it was philip's life-work to enforce, and of those who protested against the system. the spanish and italian peninsulas have had a different history from that which records the career of france, prussia, the dutch commonwealth, the british empire, the transatlantic republic. yet the contest between those seven meagre provinces upon the sand-banks of the north sea, and--the great spanish empire, seemed at the moment with which we are now occupied a sufficiently desperate one. throw a glance upon the map of europe. look at the broad magnificent spanish peninsula, stretching across eight degrees of latitude and ten of longitude, commanding the atlantic and the mediterranean, with a genial climate, warmed in winter by the vast furnace of africa, and protected from the scorching heats of summer by shady mountain and forest, and temperate breezes from either ocean. a generous southern territory, flowing with wine and oil, and all the richest gifts of a bountiful nature-splendid cities--the new and daily expanding madrid, rich in the trophies of the most artistic period of the modern world--cadiz, as populous at that day as london, seated by the straits where the ancient and modern systems of traffic were blending like the mingling of the two oceans--granada, the ancient wealthy seat of the fallen moors--toledo, valladolid, and lisbon, chief city of the recently-conquered kingdom of portugal, counting, with its suburbs, a larger population than any city, excepting paris, in europe, the mother of distant colonies, and the capital of the rapidly-developing traffic with both the indies--these were some of the treasures of spain herself. but she possessed sicily also, the better portion of italy, and important dependencies in africa, while the famous maritime discoveries of the age had all enured to her aggrandizement. the world seemed suddenly to have expanded its wings from east to west, only to bear the fortunate spanish empire to the most dizzy heights of wealth and power. the most accomplished generals, the most disciplined and daring infantry the world has ever known, the best-equipped and most extensive navy, royal and mercantile, of the age, were at the absolute command of the sovereign. such was spain. turn now to the north-western corner of europe. a morsel of territory, attached by a slight sand-hook to the continent, and half-submerged by the stormy waters of the german ocean--this was holland. a rude climate, with long, dark, rigorous, winters, and brief summers, a territory, the mere wash of three great rivers, which had fertilized happier portions of europe only to desolate and overwhelm this less-favoured land, a soil so ungrateful, that if the whole of its four hundred thousand acres of arable land had been sowed with grain, it could not feed the labourers alone, and a population largely estimated at one million of souls--these were the characteristics of the province which already had begun to give its name to the new commonwealth. the isles of zeeland--entangled in the coils of deep slow-moving rivers, or combating the ocean without--and the ancient episcopate of utrecht, formed the only other provinces that had quite shaken off the foreign yoke. in friesland, the important city of groningen was still held for the king, while bois-le-duc, zutphen, besides other places in gelderland and north brabant, also in possession of the royalists, made the position of those provinces precarious. the limit of the spanish or "obedient" provinces, on the one hand, and of the united provinces on the other, cannot, therefore, be briefly and distinctly stated. the memorable treason--or, as it was called, the "reconciliation" of the walloon provinces in the year - --had placed the provinces of hainault, arthois, douay, with the flourishing cities arran, valenciennes, lille, tournay, and others--all celtic flanders, in short-in the grasp of spain. cambray was still held by the french governor, seigneur de balagny, who had taken advantage of the duke of anjou's treachery to the states, to establish himself in an unrecognized but practical petty sovereignty, in defiance both of france and spain; while east flanders and south brabant still remained a disputed territory, and the immediate field of contest. with these limitations, it may be assumed, for general purposes, that the territory of the united states was that of the modern kingdom of the netherlands, while the obedient provinces occupied what is now the territory of belgium. such, then, were the combatants in the great eighty years' war for civil and religious liberty; sixteen of which had now passed away. on the one side, one of the most powerful and, populous world-empires of history, then in the zenith of its prosperity; on the other hand, a slender group of cities, governed by merchants and artisans, and planted precariously upon a meagre, unstable soil. a million and a half of souls against the autocrat of a third part of the known world. the contest seemed as desperate as the cause was certainly sacred; but it had ceased to be a local contest. for the history which is to occupy us in these volumes is not exclusively the history of holland. it is the story of the great combat between despotism, sacerdotal and regal, and the spirit of rational human liberty. the tragedy opened in the netherlands, and its main scenes were long enacted there; but as the ambition of spain expanded, and as the resistance to the principle which she represented became more general, other nations were, of necessity, involved in the struggle. there came to be one country, the citizens of which were the leaguers; and another country, whose inhabitants were protestants. and in this lay the distinction between freedom and absolutism. the religious question swallowed all the others. there was never a period in the early history of the dutch revolt when the provinces would not have returned to their obedience, could they have been assured of enjoying liberty of conscience or religious peace; nor was there ever a single moment in philip ii.'s life in which he wavered in his fixed determination never to listen to such a claim. the quarrel was in its nature irreconcilable and eternal as the warfare between wrong and right; and the establishment of a comparative civil liberty in europe and america was the result of the religious war of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. the struggle lasted eighty years, but the prize was worth the contest. the object of the war between the netherlands and spain was not, therefore, primarily, a rebellion against established authority for the maintenance of civil rights. to preserve these rights was secondary. the first cause was religion. the provinces had been fighting for years against the inquisition. had they not taken arms, the inquisition would have been established in the netherlands, and very probably in england, and england might have become in its turn a province of the spanish empire. the death of william the silent produced a sudden change in the political arrangements of the liberated netherlands. during the year , the united provinces had elected francis, duke of anjou, to be duke of brabant and sovereign of the whole country, under certain constitutional provisions enumerated in articles of solemn compact. that compact had been grossly violated. the duke had made a treacherous attempt to possess himself of absolute power and to seize several important cities. he had been signally defeated in antwerp, and obliged to leave the country, covered with ignominy. the states had then consulted william of orange as to the course to be taken in the emergency. the prince had told them that their choice was triple. they might reconcile themselves with spain, and abandon the contest for religious liberty which they had so long been waging; they might reconcile themselves with anjou, notwithstanding that he had so utterly forfeited all claims to their consideration; or they might fight the matter out with spain single-handed. the last course was, in his opinion, the most eligible one, and he was ready to sacrifice his life to its furtherance. it was, however, indispensable, should that policy be adopted, that much larger supplies should be voted than had hitherto been raised, and, in general, that a much more extensive and elevated spirit of patriotism should manifest itself than had hitherto been displayed. it was, on the whole, decided to make a second arrangement with the duke of anjou, queen elizabeth warmly urging that course. at the same time, however, that articles of agreement were drawn up for the installation of anjou as sovereign of the united provinces, the prince had himself consented to accept the title of count of holland, under an ample constitutional charter, dictated by his own lips. neither anjou nor orange lived to be inaugurated into the offices thus bestowed upon them. the duke died at chateau-thierry on the th june, and the prince was assassinated a month later at delft. what now was the political position of the united provinces at this juncture? the sovereignty which had been held by the estates, ready to be conferred respectively upon anjou and orange, remained in the hands of the estates. there was no opposition to this theory. no more enlarged view of the social compact had yet been taken. the people, as such, claimed no sovereignty. had any champion claimed it for them they would hardly have understood him. the nation dealt with facts. after abjuring philip in --an act which had been accomplished by the estates--the same estates in general assembly had exercised sovereign power, and had twice disposed of that sovereign power by electing a hereditary ruler. their right and their power to do this had been disputed by none, save by the deposed monarch in spain. having the sovereignty to dispose of, it seemed logical that the estates might keep it, if so inclined. they did keep it, but only in trust. while orange lived, he might often have been elected sovereign of all the provinces, could he have been induced to consent. after his death, the estates retained, ex necessitate, the sovereignty; and it will soon be related what they intended to do with it. one thing is very certain, that neither orange, while he lived, nor the estates, after his death, were actuated in their policy by personal ambition. it will be seen that the first object of the estates was to dispossess themselves of the sovereignty which had again fallen into their hands. what were the estates? without, at the present moment, any farther inquiries into that constitutional system which had been long consolidating itself, and was destined to exist upon a firmer basis for centuries longer, it will be sufficient to observe, that the great characteristic of the netherland government was the municipality. each province contained a large number of cities, which were governed by a board of magistrates, varying in number from twenty to forty. this college, called the vroedschap (assembly of sages), consisted of the most notable citizens, and was a self-electing body--a close corporation--the members being appointed for life, from the citizens at large. whenever vacancies occurred from death or loss of citizenship, the college chose new members--sometimes immediately, sometimes by means of a double or triple selection of names, the choice of one from among which was offered to the stadtholder of the province. this functionary was appointed by the count, as he was called, whether duke of bavaria or of burgundy, emperor, or king. after the abjuration of philip, the governors were appointed by the estates of each province. the sage-men chose annually a board of senators, or schepens, whose functions were mainly judicial; and there were generally two, and sometimes three, burgomasters, appointed in the same way. this was the popular branch of the estates. but, besides this body of representatives, were the nobles, men of ancient lineage and large possessions, who had exercised, according to the general feudal law of europe, high, low, and intermediate jurisdiction upon their estates, and had long been recognized as an integral part of the body politic, having the right to appear, through delegates of their order, in the provincial and in the general assemblies. regarded as a machine for bringing the most decided political capacities into the administration of public affairs, and for organising the most practical opposition to the system of religious tyranny, the netherland constitution was a healthy, and, for the age, an enlightened one. the officeholders, it is obvious, were not greedy for the spoils of office; for it was, unfortunately, often the case that their necessary expenses in the service of the state were not defrayed. the people raised enormous contributions for carrying on the war; but they could not afford to be extremely generous to their faithful servants. thus constituted was the commonwealth upon the death of william the silent. the gloom produced by that event was tragical. never in human history was a more poignant and universal sorrow for the death of any individual. the despair was, for a brief season, absolute; but it was soon succeeded by more lofty sentiments. it seemed, after they had laid their hero in the tomb, as though his spirit still hovered above the nation which he had loved so well, and was inspiring it with a portion of his own energy and wisdom. even on the very day of the murder, the estates of holland, then sitting at delft, passed a resolution "to maintain the good cause, with god's help, to the uttermost, without sparing gold or blood." this decree was communicated to admiral de warmont, to count hohenlo, to william lewis of nassau, and to other commanders by land and sea. at the same time, the sixteen members--for no greater number happened to be present at the session--addressed letters to their absent colleagues, informing them of the calamity which had befallen them, summoning them at once to conference, and urging an immediate convocation of the estates of all the provinces in general assembly. they also addressed strong letters of encouragement, mingled with manly condolence, upon the common affliction, to prominent military and naval commanders and civil functionaries, begging them to "bear themselves manfully and valiantly, without faltering in the least on account of the great misfortune which had occurred, or allowing themselves to be seduced by any one from the union of the states." among these sixteen were van zuylen, van nyvelt, the seigneur de warmont, the advocate of holland, paul buys, joost de menin, and john van olden-barneveldt. a noble example was thus set at once to their fellow citizens by these their representatives--a manful step taken forward in the path where orange had so long been leading. the next movement, after the last solemn obsequies had been rendered to the prince was to provide for the immediate wants of his family. for the man who had gone into the revolt with almost royal revenues, left his estate so embarrassed that his carpets, tapestries, household linen--nay, even his silver spoons, and the very clothes of his wardrobe were disposed of at auction for the benefit of his creditors. he left eleven children--a son and daughter by the first wife, a son and daughter by anna of saxony, six daughters by charlotte of bourbon, and an infant, frederic henry, born six months before his death. the eldest son, philip william, had been a captive in spain for seventeen years, having been kidnapped from school, in leyden, in the year . he had already become so thoroughly hispaniolized under the masterly treatment of the king and the jesuits, that even his face had lost all resemblance to the type of his heroic family, and had acquired a sinister, gloomy, forbidding expression, most painful to contemplate. all of good that he had retained was a reverence for his father's name--a sentiment which he had manifested to an extravagant extent on a memorable occasion in madrid, by throwing out of window, and killing on the spot a spanish officer who had dared to mention the great prince with insult. the next son was maurice, then seventeen years of age, a handsome youth, with dark blue eyes, well-chiselled features, and full red lips, who had already manifested a courage and concentration of character beyond his years. the son of william the silent, the grandson of maurice of saxony, whom he resembled in visage and character, he was summoned by every drop of blood in his veins to do life-long battle with the spirit of spanish absolutism, and he was already girding himself for his life's work. he assumed at once for his device a fallen oak, with a young sapling springing from its root. his motto, "tandem fit surculus arbor," "the twig shall yet become a tree"--was to be nobly justified by his career. the remaining son, then a six months' child, was also destined to high fortunes, and to win an enduring name in his country's history. for the present he remained with his mother, the noble louisa de coligny, who had thus seen, at long intervals, her father and two husbands fall victims to the spanish policy; for it is as certain that philip knew beforehand, and testified his approbation of, the massacre of st. bartholomew, as that he was the murderer of orange. the estates of holland implored the widowed princess to remain in their territority, settling a liberal allowance upon herself and her child, and she fixed her residence at leyden. but her position was most melancholy. married in youth to the seigneur de teligny, a young noble of distinguished qualities, she had soon become both a widow and an orphan in the dread night of st. bartholomew. she had made her own escape to switzerland; and ten years afterwards she had united herself in marriage with the prince of orange. at the age of thirty-two, she now found herself desolate and wretched in a foreign land, where she had never felt thoroughly at home. the widow and children of william the silent were almost without the necessaries of life. "i hardly know," wrote the princess to her brother-in-law, count john, "how the children and i are to maintain ourselves according to the honour of the house. may god provide for us in his bounty, and certainly we have much need of it." accustomed to the more luxurious civilisation of france, she had been amused rather than annoyed, when, on her first arrival in holland for her nuptials, she found herself making the journey from rotterdam to delft in an open cart without springs, instead of the well-balanced coaches to which she had been used, arriving, as might have been expected, "much bruised and shaken." such had become the primitive simplicity of william the silent's household. but on his death, in embarrassed circumstances, it was still more straightened. she had no cause either to love leyden, for, after the assassination of her husband, a brutal preacher, hakkius by name, had seized that opportunity for denouncing the french marriage, and the sumptuous christening of the infant in january, as the deeds which had provoked the wrath of god and righteous chastisement. to remain there in her widowhood, with that six months' child, "sole pledge of her dead lord, her consolation and only pleasure," as she pathetically expressed herself, was sufficiently painful, and she had been inclined to fix her residence in flushing, in the edifice which had belonged to her husband, as marquis of vere. she had been persuaded, however, to remain in holland, although "complaining, at first, somewhat of the unkindness of the people." a small well-formed woman, with delicate features, exquisite complexion, and very beautiful dark eyes, that seemed in after-years, as they looked from beneath her coif, to be dim with unshed tears; with remarkable powers of mind, angelic sweetness of disposition, a winning manner, and a gentle voice, louisa de coligny became soon dear to the rough hollanders, and was ever a disinterested and valuable monitress both to her own child and to his elder brother maurice. very soon afterwards the states general established a state council, as a provisional executive board, for the term of three months, for the provinces of holland, zeeland, utrecht, friesland, and such parts of flanders and brabant as still remained in the union. at the head of this body was placed young maurice, who accepted the responsible position, after three days' deliberation. the young man had been completing his education, with a liberal allowance from holland and zeeland, at the university of leyden; and such had been their tender care for the child of so many hopes, that the estates had given particular and solemn warning, by resolution, to his governor during the previous summer, on no account to allow him to approach the sea-shore, lest he should be kidnapped by the prince of parma, who had then some war-vessels cruising on the coast. the salary of maurice was now fixed at thirty thousand florins a year, while each of the councillors was allowed fifteen hundred annually, out of which stipend he was to support at least one servant; without making any claim for travelling or other incidental expenses. the council consisted of three members from brabant, two from flanders, four from holland, three from zeeland, two from utrecht, one from mechlin, and three from friesland--eighteen in all. they were empowered and enjoined to levy troops by land and sea, and to appoint naval and military officers; to establish courts of admiralty, to expend the moneys voted by the states, to maintain the ancient privileges of the country, and to see that all troops in service of the provinces made oath of fidelity to the union. diplomatic relations, questions of peace and war, the treaty-making power, were not entrusted to the council, without the knowledge and consent of the states general, which body was to be convoked twice a year by the state council. thus the provinces in the hour of danger and darkness were true to themselves, and were far from giving way to a despondency which under the circumstances would not have been unnatural. for the waves of bitterness were rolling far and wide around them. a medal, struck in holland at this period, represented a dismasted hulk reeling through the tempest. the motto, "incertum quo fate ferent" (who knows whither fate is sweeping her?) expressed most vividly the ship wrecked condition of the country. alexander of parma, the most accomplished general and one of the most adroit statesmen of the age, was swift to take advantage of the calamity which had now befallen the rebellious provinces. had he been better provided with men and money, the cause of the states might have seemed hopeless. he addressed many letters to the states general, to the magistracies of various cities, and to individuals, affecting to consider that with the death of orange had died all authority, as well as all motive for continuing the contest with spain. he offered easy terms of reconciliation with the discarded monarch--always reserving, however, as a matter of course, the religious question--for it was as well known to the states as to parma that there was no hope of philip making concessions upon that important point. in holland and zeeland the prince's blandishments were of no avail. his letters received in various towns of those provinces, offered, said one who saw them, "almost every thing they would have or demand, even till they should repent." but the bait was not taken. individuals and municipalities were alike stanch, remembering well that faith was not to be kept with heretics. the example was followed by the estates of other provinces, and all sent in to the general assembly, soon in session at delft, "their absolute and irrevocable authority to their deputies to stand to that which they, the said states general, should dispose of as to their persons, goods and country; a resolution and agreement which never concurred before among them, to this day, in what age or government soever." it was decreed that no motion of agreement "with the tyrant of spain" should be entertained either publicly or privately, "under pain to be reputed ill patriots." it was also enacted in the city of dort that any man that brought letter or message from the enemy to any private person "should be forthwith hanged." this was expeditious and business-like. the same city likewise took the lead in recording its determination by public act, and proclaiming it by sound of trumpet, "to live and die in the cause now undertaken." in flanders and brabant the spirit was less noble. those provinces were nearly lost already. bruges seconded parma's efforts to induce its sister-city ghent to imitate its own baseness in surrendering without a struggle; and that powerful, turbulent, but most anarchical little commonwealth was but too ready to listen to the voice of the tempter. "the ducats of spain, madam, are trotting about in such fashion," wrote envoy des pruneaux to catherine de medici, "that they have vanquished a great quantity of courages. your majesties, too, must employ money if you wish to advance one step." no man knew better than parma how to employ such golden rhetoric to win back a wavering rebel to his loyalty, but he was not always provided with a sufficient store of those practical arguments. he was, moreover, not strong in the field, although he was far superior to the states at this contingency. he had, besides his garrisons, something above , men. the provinces had hardly foot and horse, and these were mostly lying in the neighbourhood of zutphen. alexander was threatening at the same time ghent, dendermonde, mechlin, brussels, and antwerp. these five powerful cities lie in a narrow circle, at distances varying from six miles to thirty, and are, as it were, strung together upon the scheldt, by which river, or its tributary, the senne, they are all threaded. it would have been impossible for parma, with , men at his back, to undertake a regular and simultaneous siege of these important places. his purpose was to isolate them from each other and from the rest of the country, by obtaining the control of the great river, and so to reduce them by famine. the scheme was a masterly one, but even the consummate ability of farnese would have proved inadequate to the undertaking, had not the preliminary assassination of orange made the task comparatively easy. treason, faint-heartedness, jealousy, were the fatal allies that the governor-general had reckoned upon, and with reason, in the council-rooms of these cities. the terms he offered were liberal. pardon, permission for soldiers to retreat with technical honour, liberty to choose between apostacy to the reformed religion or exile, with a period of two years granted to the conscientious for the winding up of their affairs; these were the conditions, which seemed flattering, now that the well-known voice which had so often silenced the flemish palterers and intriguers was for ever hushed. upon the th august ( ) dendermonde surrendered, and no lives were taken save those of two preachers, one of whom was hanged, while the other was drowned. upon the th september vilvoorde capitulated, by which event the water-communication between brussels and antwerp was cut off. ghent, now thoroughly disheartened, treated with parma likewise; and upon the th september made its reconciliation with the king. the surrender of so strong and important a place was as disastrous to the cause of the patriots as it was disgraceful to the citizens themselves. it was, however, the result of an intrigue which had been long spinning, although the thread had been abruptly, and, as it was hoped, conclusively, severed several months before. during the early part of the year, after the reconciliation of bruges with the king--an event brought about by the duplicity and adroitness of prince chimay--the same machinery had been diligently and almost successfully employed to produce a like result in ghent. champagny, brother of the famous cardinal granvelle, had been under arrest for six years in that city. his imprisonment was not a strict one however; and he avenged himself for what he considered very unjust treatment at the hands of the patriots, by completely abandoning a cause which he had once begun to favour. a man of singular ability, courage, and energy, distinguished both for military and diplomatic services, he was a formidable enemy to the party from which he was now for ever estranged. as early as april of this year, secret emissaries of parma, dealing with champagny in his nominal prison, and with the disaffected burghers at large, had been on the point of effecting an arrangement with the royal governor. the negotiation had been suddenly brought to a close by the discovery of a flagrant attempt by imbue, one of the secret adherents of the king, to sell the city of dendermonde, of which he was governor, to parma. for this crime he had been brought to ghent for trial, and then publicly beheaded. the incident came in aid of the eloquence of orange, who, up to the latest moment of his life, had been most urgent in his appeals to the patriotic hearts of ghent, not to abandon the great cause of the union and of liberty. william the silent knew full well, that after the withdrawal of the great keystone-city of ghent, the chasm between the celtic-catholic and the flemish-calvinist netherlands could hardly be bridged again. orange was now dead. the negotiations with france, too, on which those of the ghenters who still held true to the national cause had fastened their hopes, had previously been brought to a stand-still by the death of anjou; and champagny, notwithstanding the disaster to imbize, became more active than ever. a private agent, whom the municipal government had despatched to the french court for assistance, was not more successful than his character and course of conduct would have seemed to warrant; for during his residence in paris, he had been always drunk, and generally abusive. this was not good diplomacy, particularly on the part of an agent from a weak municipality to a haughty and most undecided government. "they found at this court," wrote stafford to walsingham, "great fault with his manner of dealing that was sent from gaunt. he was scarce sober from one end of the week to the other, and stood so much on his tiptoes to have present answer within three days, or else that they of gaunt could tell where to bestow themselves. they sent him away after keeping him three weeks, and he went off in great dudgeon, swearing by yea and nay that he will make report thereafter." accordingly, they of ghent did bestow themselves very soon thereafter upon the king of spain. the terms were considered liberal, but there was, of course, no thought of conceding the great object for which the patriots were contending--religious liberty. the municipal privileges--such as they might prove to be worth under the interpretation of a royal governor and beneath the guns of a citadel filled with spanish troops--were to be guaranteed; those of the inhabitants who did not choose to go to mass were allowed two years to wind up their affairs before going into perpetual exile, provided they behaved themselves "without scandal;" while on the other hand, the king's authority as count of flanders was to be fully recognised, and all the dispossessed monks and abbots to be restored to their property. accordingly, champagny was rewarded for his exertions by being released from prison and receiving the appointment of governor of the city: and, after a very brief interval, about one-half of the population, the most enterprising of its merchants and manufacturers, the most industrious of its artizans, emigrated to holland and zeeland. the noble city of ghent--then as large as paris, thoroughly surrounded with moats, and fortified with bulwarks, ravelins, and counterscarps, constructed of earth, during the previous two years, at great expense, and provided with bread and meat, powder and shot, enough to last a year--was ignominiously surrendered. the population, already a very reduced and slender one for the great extent of the place and its former importance, had been estimated at , . the number of houses was , , so that as the inhabitants were soon farther reduced to one-half, there remained but one individual to each house. on the other hand, the twenty-five monasteries and convents in the town were repeopled--with how much advantage as a set-off to the thousands of spinners and weavers who had wandered away, and who in the flourishing days of ghent had sent gangs of workmen through the streets "whose tramp was like that of an army"--may be sufficiently estimated by the result. the fall of brussels was deferred till march, and that of mechlin ( th july, ) and of antwerp ( th august, ), till midsummer of the following year; but, the surrender of ghent ( th march ) foreshadowed the fate of flanders and brabant. ostend and sluys, however, were still in the hands of the patriots, and with them the control of the whole flemish coast. the command of the sea was destined to remain for centuries with the new republic. the prince of parma, thus encouraged by the great success of his intrigues, was determined to achieve still greater triumphs with his arms, and steadily proceeded with his large design of closing the scheldt--and bringing about the fall of antwerp. the details of that siege-one of the most brilliant military operations of the age and one of the most memorable in its results--will be given, as a connected whole, in a subsequent series of chapters. for the present, it will be better for the reader who wishes a clear view of european politics at this epoch, and of the position of the netherlands, to give his attention to the web of diplomatic negotiation and court-intrigue which had been slowly spreading over the leading states of christendom, and in which the fate of the world was involved. if diplomatic adroitness consists mainly in the power to deceive, never were more adroit diplomatists than those of the sixteenth century. it would, however, be absurd to deny them a various range of abilities; and the history of no other age can show more subtle, comprehensive, indefatigable--but, it must also be added, often unscrupulous--intellects engaged in the great game of politics in which the highest interests of millions were the stakes, than were those of several leading minds in england, france, germany, and spain. with such statesmen the burgher-diplomatists of the new-born commonwealth had to measure themselves; and the result was to show whether or not they could hold their own in the cabinet as on the field. for the present, however, the new state was unconscious of its latent importance, the new-risen republic remained for a season nebulous, and ready to unsphere itself so soon as the relative attraction of other great powers should determine its absorption. by the death of anjou and of orange the united netherlands had became a sovereign state, an independent republic; but they stood with that sovereignty in their hands, offering it alternately, not to the highest bidder, but to the power that would be willing to accept their allegiance, on the sole condition of assisting them in the maintenance of their religious freedom. chapter ii. relations of the republic to france--queen's severity towards catholics and calvinists--relative positions of england and france-- timidity of germany--apathy of protestant germany--indignation of the netherlanders--henry iii. of france--the king and his minions-- henry of guise--henry of navarre--power of france--embassy of the states to france--ignominious position of the envoys--views of the french huguenots--efforts to procure annexation--success of des pruneaux. the prince of orange had always favoured a french policy. he had ever felt a stronger reliance upon the support of france than upon that of any other power. this was not unreasonable, and so long as he lived, the tendency of the netherlands had been in that direction. it had never been the wish of england to acquire the sovereignty of the provinces. in france on the contrary, the queen dowager, catharine de' medici had always coveted that sovereignty for her darling francis of alencon; and the design had been favoured, so far as any policy could be favoured, by the impotent monarch who occupied the french throne. the religion of the united netherlands was calvinistic. there were also many anabaptists in the country. the queen of england hated anabaptists, calvinists, and other sectarians, and banished them from her realms on pain of imprisonment and confiscation of property. as firmly opposed as was her father to the supremacy of the bishop of rome, she felt much of the paternal reluctance to accept the spirit of the reformation. henry tudor hanged the men who believed in the pope, and burnt alive those who disbelieved in transubstantiation, auricular confession, and the other 'six articles.' his daughter, whatever her secret religious convictions, was stanch in her resistance to rome, and too enlightened a monarch not to see wherein the greatness and glory of england were to be found; but she had no thought of tolerating liberty of conscience. all opposed to the church of england, whether papists or puritans, were denounced as heretics, and as such imprisoned or banished. "to allow churches with contrary rites and ceremonies," said elizabeth, "were nothing else but to sow religion out of religion, to distract good men's minds, to cherish factious men's humours, to disturb religion and commonwealth, and mingle divine and human things; which were a thing in deed evil, in example worst of all; to our own subjects hurtful, and to themselves--to whom it is granted, neither greatly commodious, nor yet at all safe."--[camden] the words were addressed, it is true, to papists, but there is very little doubt that anabaptists or any other heretics would have received a similar reply, had they, too, ventured to demand the right of public worship. it may even be said that the romanists in the earlier days of elizabeth's reign fared better than the calvinists. the queen neither banished nor imprisoned the catholics. she did not enter their houses to disturb their private religious ceremonies, or to inquire into their consciences. this was milder treatment than the burning alive, burying alive, hanging, and drowning, which had been dealt out to the english and the netherland heretics by philip and by mary, but it was not the spirit which william the silent had been wont to manifest in his measures towards anabaptists and papists alike. moreover, the prince could hardly forget that of the nine thousand four hundred catholic ecclesiastics who held benefices at the death of queen mary, all had renounced the pope on the accession of queen elizabeth, and acknowledged her as the head of the church, saving only one hundred and eighty-nine individuals. in the hearts of the nine thousand two hundred and eleven others, it might be thought perhaps that some tenderness for the religion from which they had so suddenly been converted, might linger, while it could hardly be hoped that they would seek to inculcate in the minds of their flocks or of their sovereign any connivance with the doctrines of geneva. when, at a later period, the plotting of catholics, suborned by the pope and philip, against the throne and person of the queen, made more rigorous measures necessary; when it was thought indispensable to execute as traitors those roman seedlings--seminary priests and their disciples--who went about preaching to the queen's subjects the duty of carrying out the bull by which the bishop of rome had deposed and excommunicated their sovereign, and that "it was a meritorious act to kill such princes as were excommunicate," even then, the men who preached and practised treason and murder experienced no severer treatment than that which other "heretics" had met with at the queen's hands. jesuits and popish priests were, by act of parliament, ordered to depart the realm within forty days. those who should afterwards return to the kingdom were to be held guilty of high treason. students in the foreign seminaries were commanded to return within six months and recant, or be held guilty of high treason. parents and guardians supplying money to such students abroad were to incur the penalty of a preamunire--perpetual exile, namely, with loss of all their goods. many seminary priests and others were annually executed in england under these laws, throughout the queen's reign, but nominally at least they were hanged not as papists, but as traitors; not because they taught transubstantiation, ecclesiastical celibacy, auricular confession, or even papal supremacy, but because they taught treason and murder--because they preached the necessity of killing the queen. it was not so easy, however, to defend or even comprehend the banishment and imprisonment of those who without conspiring against the queen's life or throne, desired to see the church of england reformed according to the church of geneva. yet there is no doubt that many sectaries experienced much inhuman treatment for such delinquency, both in the early and the later years of elizabeth's reign. there was another consideration, which had its due weight in this balance, and that was the respective succession to the throne in the two kingdoms of france and england. mary stuart, the catholic, the niece of the guises, emblem and exponent of all that was most roman in europe, the sworn friend of philip, the mortal foe to all heresy, was the legitimate successor to elizabeth. although that sovereign had ever refused to recognize that claim; holding that to confirm mary in the succession was to "lay her own winding sheet before her eyes, yea, to make her, own grave, while she liveth and looketh on;" and although the unfortunate claimant of two thrones was a prisoner in her enemy's hands, yet, so long as she lived, there was little security for protestantism, even in elizabeth's lifetime, and less still in case of her sudden death. on the other hand, not only were the various politico-religious forces of france kept in equilibrium by their action upon each other--so that it was reasonable to believe that the house of valois, however catholic itself, would be always compelled by the fast-expanding strength of french calvinism, to observe faithfully a compact to tolerate the netherland churches--but, upon the death of henry iii. the crown would be legitimately placed upon the head of the great champion and chief of the huguenots, henry of navarre. it was not unnatural, therefore, that the prince of orange, a calvinist himself, should expect more sympathy with the netherland reformers in france than in england. a large proportion of the population of that kingdom, including an influential part of the nobility, was of the huguenot persuasion, and the religious peace, established by royal edict, had endured so long, that the reformers of france and the netherlands had begun to believe in the royal clemency, and to confide in the royal word. orange did not live to see the actual formation of the holy league, and could only guess at its secrets. moreover, it should be remembered that france at that day was a more formidable state than england, a more dangerous enemy, and, as it was believed, a more efficient protector. the england of the period, glorious as it was for its own and all future ages, was, not the great british empire of to-day. on the contrary, it was what would now be considered, statistically speaking, a rather petty power. the england of elizabeth, walsingham, burghley, drake, and raleigh, of spenser and shakspeare, hardly numbered a larger population than now dwells in its capital and immediate suburbs. it had neither standing army nor considerable royal navy. it was full of conspirators, daring and unscrupulous, loyal to none save to mary of scotland, philip of spain, and the pope of rome, and untiring in their efforts to bring about a general rebellion. with ireland at its side, nominally a subject province, but in a state of chronic insurrection--a perpetual hot-bed for spanish conspiracy and stratagem; with scotland at its back, a foreign country, with half its population exasperated enemies of england, and the rest but doubtful friends, and with the legitimate sovereign of that country, "the daughter of debate, who discord still did sow,"--[sonnet by queen elizabeth.]--a prisoner in elizabeth's hands, the central point around which treason was constantly crystallizing itself, it was not strange that with the known views of the queen on the subject of the reformed dutch religion, england should seem less desirable as a protector for the netherlands than the neighbouring kingdom of france. elizabeth was a great sovereign, whose genius orange always appreciated, in a comparatively feeble realm. henry of valois was the contemptible monarch of a powerful state, and might be led by others to produce incalculable mischief or considerable good. notwithstanding the massacre of st. bartholomew, therefore, and the more recent "french fury" of antwerp, orange had been willing to countenance fresh negociations with france. elizabeth, too, it should never be forgotten, was, if not over generous, at least consistent and loyal in her policy towards the provinces. she was not precisely jealous of france, as has been unjustly intimated on distinguished authority, for she strongly advocated the renewed offer of the sovereignty to anjou, after his memorable expulsion from the provinces. at that period, moreover, not only her own love-coquetries with anjou were over, but he was endeavouring with all his might, though in secret, to make a match with the younger infanta of spain. elizabeth furthered the negociation with france, both publicly and privately. it will soon be narrated how those negociations prospered. if then england were out of the question, where, except in france, should the netherlanders, not deeming themselves capable of standing alone, seek for protection and support? we have seen the extensive and almost ubiquitous power of spain. where she did not command as sovereign, she was almost equally formidable as an ally. the emperor of germany was the nephew and the brother-in-law of philip, and a strict catholic besides. little aid was to be expected from him or the lands under his control for the cause of the netherland revolt. rudolph hated his brother-in-law, but lived in mortal fear of him. he was also in perpetual dread of the grand turk. that formidable potentate, not then the "sick man" whose precarious condition and territorial inheritance cause so much anxiety in modern days, was, it is true, sufficiently occupied for the moment in persia, and had been sustaining there a series of sanguinary defeats. he was all the more anxious to remain upon good terms with philip, and had recently sent him a complimentary embassy, together with some rather choice presents, among which were "four lions, twelve unicorns, and two horses coloured white, black, and blue." notwithstanding these pacific manifestations towards the west, however, and in spite of the truce with the german empire which the turk had just renewed for nine years,--rudolph and his servants still trembled at every report from the east. "he is much deceived," wrote busbecq, rudolph's ambassador in paris, "who doubts that the turk has sought any thing by this long persian war, but to protect his back, and prepare the way, after subduing that enemy, to the extermination of all christendom, and that he will then, with all his might, wage an unequal warfare with us, in which the existence of the empire will be at stake." the envoy expressed, at the same period, however, still greater awe of spain. "it is to no one," he wrote, "endowed with good judgment, in the least obscure, that the spanish nation, greedy of empire, will never be quiet, even with their great power, but will seek for the dominion of the rest of christendom. how much remains beyond what they have already acquired? afterwards, there will soon be no liberty, no dignity, for other princes and republics. that single nation will be arbiter of all things, than which nothing can be more miserable, nothing more degrading. it cannot be doubted that all kings, princes, and states, whose safety or dignity is dear to them, would willingly associate in arms to extinguish the common conflagration. the death of the catholic king would seem the great opportunity 'miscendis rebus'." unfortunately neither busbecq's master nor any other king or prince manifested any of this commendable alacrity to "take up arms against the conflagration." germany was in a shiver at every breeze from east or west-trembling alike before philip and amurath. the papists were making rapid progress, the land being undermined by the steady and stealthy encroachments of the jesuits. lord burghley sent many copies of his pamphlet, in latin, french, and italian, against the seminaries, to gebhard truchsess; and the deposed archbishop made himself busy in translating that wholesome production into german, and in dispersing it "all germany over." the work, setting duly forth "that the executions of priests in england were not for religion but for treason," was "marvellously liked" in the netherlands. "in uttering the truth," said herle, "'tis likely to do great good;" and he added, that duke augustus of saxony "did now see so far into the sect of jesuits, and to their inward mischiefs, as to become their open enemy, and to make friends against them in the empire." the love of truchsess for agnes mansfeld had created disaster not only for himself but for germany. the whole electorate of cologne had become the constant seat of partisan warfare, and the resort of organised bands of brigands. villages were burned and rifled, highways infested, cities threatened, and the whole country subjected to perpetual black mail (brandschatzung)--fire-insurance levied by the incendiaries in person--by the supporters of the rival bishops. truchsess had fled to delft, where he had been countenanced and supported by orange. two cities still held for him, rheinberg and neuss. on the other hand, his rival, ernest of bavaria; supported by philip ii., and the occasional guest of alexander of parma, had not yet succeeded in establishing a strong foothold in the territory. two pauper archbishops, without men or means of their own, were thus pushed forward and back, like puppets, by the contending highwaymen on either side; while robbery and murder, under the name of protestantism or catholicism, were for a time the only motive or result of the contest. thus along the rhine, as well as the maas and the scheldt, the fires of civil war were ever burning. deeper within the heart of germany, there was more tranquillity; but it was the tranquillity rather of paralysis than of health. a fearful account was slowly accumulating, which was evidently to be settled only by one of the most horrible wars which history has ever recorded. meantime there was apathy where there should have been enthusiasm; parsimony and cowardice where generous and combined effort were more necessary than ever; sloth without security. the protestant princes, growing fat and contented on the spoils of the church, lent but a deaf ear to the moans of truchsess, forgetting that their neighbour's blazing roof was likely soon to fire their own. "they understand better, 'proximus sum egomet mild'," wrote lord willoughby from kronenburg, "than they have learned, 'humani nihid a me alienum puto'. these german princes continue still in their lethargy, careless of the state of others, and dreaming of their ubiquity, and some of them, it is thought, inclining to be spanish or popish more of late than heretofore." the beggared archbishop, more forlorn than ever since the death of his great patron, cried woe from his resting-place in delft, upon protestant germany. his tones seemed almost prophetic of the thirty years' wrath to blaze forth in the next generation. "courage is wanting to the people throughout germany," he wrote to william lewis of nassau. "we are becoming the laughing-stock of the nations. make sheep of yourselves, and the wolf will eat you. we shall find our destruction in our immoderate desire for peace. spain is making a papistical league in germany. therefore is assonleville despatched thither, and that's the reason why our trash of priests are so insolent in the empire. 'tis astonishing how they are triumphing on all sides. god will smite them. thou dear god! what are our evangelists about in germany? asleep on both ears. 'dormiunt in utramque aurem'. i doubt they will be suddenly enough awakened one day, and the cry will be, 'who'd have thought it?' then they will be for getting oil for the lamp, for shutting the stable-door when the steed is stolen," and so on, with a string of homely proverbs worthy of sancho panza, or landgrave william of hesse. in truth, one of the most painful features is the general aspect of affairs was the coldness of the german protestants towards the netherlands. the enmity between lutherans and calvinists was almost as fatal as that between protestants and papists. there was even a talk, at a little later period, of excluding those of the "reformed" church from the benefits of the peace of passau. the princes had got the augsburg confession and the abbey-lands into the bargain; the peasants had got the augsburg confession without the abbey-lands, and were to believe exactly what their masters believed. this was the german-lutheran sixteenth-century idea of religious freedom. neither prince nor peasant stirred in behalf of the struggling christians in the united provinces, battling, year after year, knee-deep in blood, amid blazing cities and inundated fields, breast to breast with the yellow jerkined pikemen of spain and italy, with the axe and the faggot and the rack of the holy inquisition distinctly visible behind them. such were the realities which occupied the netherlanders in those days, not watery beams of theological moonshine, fantastical catechism-making, intermingled with scenes of riot and wantonness, which drove old john of nassau half frantic; with banquetting and guzzling, drinking and devouring, with unchristian flaunting and wastefulness of apparel, with extravagant and wanton dancing, and other lewd abominations; all which, the firm old reformer prophesied, would lead to the destruction of germany. for the mass, slow moving but apparently irresistible, of spanish and papistical absolutism was gradually closing over christendom. the netherlands were the wedge by which alone the solid bulk could be riven asunder. it was the cause of german, of french, of english liberty, for which the provinces were contending. it was not surprising that they were bitter, getting nothing in their hour of distress from the land of luther but dogmas and augsburg catechisms instead of money and gunpowder, and seeing german reiters galloping daily to reinforce the army of parma in exchange for spanish ducats. brave old la noue, with the iron arm, noblest of frenchmen and huguenots--who had just spent five years in spanish bondage, writing military discourses in a reeking dungeon, filled with toads and vermin, after fighting the battle of liberty for a life-time, and with his brave son already in the netherlands emulating his father's valour on the same field--denounced at a little later day, the lukewarmness of protestant germany with whimsical vehemence:--"i am astounded," he cried, "that these princes are not ashamed of themselves; doing nothing while they see the oppressed cut to pieces at their gates. when will god grant me grace to place me among those who are doing their duty, and afar from those who do nothing, and who ought to know that the cause is a common one. if i am ever caught dancing the german cotillon, or playing the german flute, or eating pike with german sauce, i hope it may be flung in my teeth." the great league of the pope and philip was steadily consolidating itself, and there were but gloomy prospects for the counter-league in germany. there was no hope but in england and france. for the reasons already indicated, the prince of orange, taking counsel with the estates, had resolved to try the french policy once more. the balance of power in europe, which no man in christendom so well understood as he, was to be established by maintaining (he thought) the equilibrium between france and spain. in the antagonism of those two great realms lay the only hope for dutch or european liberty. notwithstanding the treason of anjou, therefore, it had been decided to renew negociations with that prince. on the death of the duke, the envoys of the states were accordingly instructed to make the offer to king henry iii. which had been intended for his brother. that proposition was the sovereignty of all the netherlands, save holland and zeeland, under a constitution maintaining the reformed religion and the ancient laws and privileges of the respective provinces. but the death of francis of anjou had brought about a considerable change in french policy. it was now more sharply defined than ever, a right-angled triangle of almost mathematical precision. the three henrys and their partizans divided the realm into three hostile camps--threatening each other in simulated peace since the treaty of fleig ( ), which had put an end to the "lover's war" of the preceding year,--henry of valois, henry of guise, and henry of navarre. henry iii., last of the valois line, was now thirty-three years of age. less than king, less even than man, he was one of those unfortunate personages who seem as if born to make the idea of royalty ridiculous, and to test the capacity of mankind to eat and drink humiliation as if it were wholesome food. it proved how deeply engraved in men's minds of that century was the necessity of kingship, when the hardy netherlanders, who had abjured one tyrant, and had been fighting a generation long rather than return to him, were now willing to accept the sovereignty of a thing like henry of valois. he had not been born without natural gifts, such as heaven rarely denies to prince or peasant; but the courage which he once possessed had been exhausted on the field of moncontour, his manhood had been left behind him at venice, and such wit as heaven had endowed him withal was now expended in darting viperous epigrams at court-ladies whom he was only capable of dishonouring by calumny, and whose charms he burned to outrival in the estimation of his minions. for the monarch of france was not unfrequently pleased to attire himself like a woman and a harlot. with silken flounces, jewelled stomacher, and painted face, with pearls of great price adorning his bared neck and breast, and satin-slippered feet, of whose delicate shape and size he was justly vain, it was his delight to pass his days and nights in a ceaseless round of gorgeous festivals, tourneys, processions; masquerades, banquets, and balls, the cost of which glittering frivolities caused the popular burthen and the popular execration to grow, from day to day, more intolerable and more audible. surrounded by a gang of "minions," the most debauched and the most desperate of france, whose bedizened dresses exhaled perfumes throughout paris, and whose sanguinary encounters dyed every street in blood, henry lived a life of what he called pleasure, careless of what might come after, for he was the last of his race. the fortunes of his minions rose higher and higher, as their crimes rendered them more and more estimable in the eyes of a king who took a woman's pride in the valour of such champions to his weakness, and more odious to a people whose miserable homes were made even more miserable, that the coffers of a few court-favourites might be filled: now sauntering, full-dressed, in the public promenades, with ghastly little death's heads strung upon his sumptuous garments, and fragments of human bones dangling among his orders of knighthood--playing at cup and ball as he walked, and followed by a few select courtiers who gravely pursued the same exciting occupation--now presiding like a queen of beauty at a tournament to assign the prize of valour, and now, by the advice of his mother, going about the streets in robes of penitence, telling his beads as he went, that the populace might be edified by his piety, and solemnly offering up prayers in the churches that the blessing of an heir might be vouchsafed to him,--henry of valois seemed straining every nerve in order to bring himself and his great office into contempt. as orthodox as he was profligate, he hated the huguenots, who sought his protection and who could have saved his throne, as cordially as he loved the jesuits, who passed their lives in secret plottings against his authority and his person, or in fierce denunciations from the paris pulpits against his manifold crimes. next to an exquisite and sanguinary fop, he dearly loved a monk. the presence of a friar, he said, exerted as agreeable an effect upon his mind as the most delicate and gentle tickling could produce upon his body; and he was destined to have a fuller dose of that charming presence than he coveted. his party--for he was but the nominal chief of a faction, 'tanquam unus ex nobis'--was the party in possession--the office-holders' party; the spoilsmen, whose purpose was to rob the exchequer and to enrich themselves. his minions--for the favourites were called by no other name--were even more hated, because less despised than the king. attired in cloth of gold--for silk and satin were grown too coarse a material for them--with their little velvet porringer-caps stuck on the sides of their heads, with their long hair stiff with pomatum, and their heads set inside a well-starched ruff a foot wide, "like st. john's head in a charger," as a splenetic contemporary observed, with a nimbus of musk and violet-powder enveloping them as they passed before vulgar mortals, these rapacious and insolent courtiers were the impersonation of extortion and oppression to the parisian populace. they were supposed, not unjustly, to pass their lives in dancing, blasphemy, dueling, dicing, and intrigue, in following the king about like hounds, fawning at his feet, and showing their teeth to all besides; and for virtues such as these they were rewarded by the highest offices in church, camp, and state, while new taxes and imposts were invented almost daily to feed their avarice and supply their extravagance. france, doomed to feel the beak and talons of these harpies in its entrails, impoverished by a government that robbed her at home while it humiliated her abroad, struggled vainly in its misery, and was now on the verge of another series of internecine combats--civil war seeming the only alternative to a voluptuous and licentious peace. "we all stood here at gaze," wrote ambassador stafford to walsingham, "looking for some great matter to come of this sudden journey to lyons; but, as far as men can find, 'parturient montes', for there hath been nothing but dancing and banquetting from one house to another, bravery in apparel, glittering like the sun." he, mentioned that the duke of epernon's horse, taking fright at a red cloak, had backed over a precipice, breaking his own neck, while his master's shoulder merely was put out of joint. at the same time the duke of joyeuse, coming over mount cenis, on his return from savoy, had broken his wrist. the people, he said, would rather they had both broken their necks "than any other joint, the king having racked the nation for their sakes, as he hath-done." stafford expressed much compassion for the french in the plight in which they found themselves. "unhappy people!" he cried, "to have such a king, who seeketh nothing but to impoverish them to enrich a couple, and who careth not what cometh after his death, so that he may rove on while he liveth, and careth neither for doing his own estate good nor his neighbour's state harm." sir edward added, however, in a philosophizing vein, worthy of corporal nym, that, "seeing we cannot be so happy as to have a king to concur with us to do us any good, yet we are happy to have one that his humour serveth him not to concur with others to do us harm; and 'tis a wisdom for us to follow these humours, that we may keep him still in that humour, and from hearkening to others that may egg him on to worse." it was a dark hour for france, and rarely has a great nation been reduced to a lower level by a feeble and abandoned government than she was at that moment under the distaff of henry iii. society was corrupted to its core. "there is no more truth, no more justice, no more mercy," moaned president l'etoile. "to slander, to lie, to rob, to wench, to steal; all things are permitted save to do right and to speak the truth." impiety the most cynical, debauchery the most unveiled, public and unpunished homicides, private murders by what was called magic, by poison, by hired assassins, crimes natural, unnatural, and preternatural, were the common characteristics of the time. all posts and charges were venal. great offices of justice were sold to the highest bidder, and that which was thus purchased by wholesale was retailed in the same fashion. unhappy the pauper client who dreamed of justice at the hands of law. the great ecclesiastical benefices were equally matter of merchandise, and married men, women, unborn children, enjoyed revenues as dignitaries of the church. infants came into the world, it was said, like the mitre-fish, stamped with the emblems of place. "'twas impossible," said l'etoile, "to find a crab so tortuous and backsliding as the government." this was the aspect of the first of the three factions in france. such was the henry at its head, the representative of royalty. henry with the scar, duke of guise, the well-known chief of the house of lorraine, was the chief of the extreme papistical party. he was now thirty-four years of age, tall, stately, with a dark, martial face and dangerous eyes, which antonio moro loved to paint; a physiognomy made still more expressive by the arquebus-shot which had damaged his left cheek at the fight near chateau-thierry and gained him his name of balafre. although one of the most turbulent and restless plotters of that plotting age, he was yet thought more slow and heavy in character than subtle, teutonic rather than italian. he was the idol of the parisian burghers. the grocers, the market-men, the members of the arquebus and crossbow clubs, all doated on him. the fishwomen worshipped him as a god. he was the defender of the good old religion under which paris and the other cities of france had thriven, the uncompromising opponent of the new-fangled doctrines which western clothiers, and dyers, and tapestry-workers, had adopted, and which the nobles of the mountain-country, the penniless chevaliers of bearn and gascony and guienne, were ceaselessly taking the field and plunging france into misery and bloodshed to support. but for the balafre and madam league--as the great spanish catholic conspiracy against the liberties of france, and of england, and of all europe, was affectionately termed by the paris populace--honest catholics would fare no better in france than they did in england, where, as it was well known, they were every day subjected to fearful tortures: the shopwindows were filled with coloured engravings, representing, in exaggerated fashion, the sufferings of the english catholics under bloody elizabeth, or jezebel, as she was called; and as the gaping burghers stopped to ponder over these works of art, there were ever present, as if by accident, some persons of superior information who would condescendingly explain the various pictures, pointing out with a long stick the phenomena most worthy of notice. these caricatures proving highly successful, and being suppressed by order of government, they were repeated upon canvas on a larger scale, in still more conspicuous situations, as if in contempt of the royal authority, which sullied itself by compromise with calvinism! the pulpits, meanwhile, thundered denunciations on the one hand against the weak and wicked king, who worshipped idols, and who sacrificed the dearly-earned pittance of his subjects to feed the insolent pomp of his pampered favourites; and on the other, upon the arch-heretic, the arch-apostate, the bearnese huguenot, who, after the death of the reigning monarch, would have the effrontery to claim his throne, and to introduce into france the persecutions and the horrors under which unhappy england was already groaning. the scarce-concealed instigator of these assaults upon the royal and upon the huguenot faction was, of course, the duke of guise,--the man whose most signal achievement had been the massacre of st. bartholomew--all the preliminary details of that transaction having been arranged by his skill. so long as charles ix. was living, the balafre had created the confusion which was his element, by entertaining and fomenting the perpetual intrigues of anjou and alencon against their brother; while the altercations between them and the queen mother and the furious madman who then sat upon the throne, had been the cause of sufficient disorder and calamity for france. on the death of charles ix. guise had sought the intimacy of henry of navarre, that by his means he might frustrate the hopes of alencon for the succession. during the early period of the bearnese's residence at the french court the two had been inseparable, living together, going to the same festivals, tournaments, and masquerades, and even sleeping in the same bed. "my master," was ever guise's address to henry; "my gossip," the young king of navarre's reply. but the crafty bearnese had made use of the intimacy only to read the secrets of the balafre's heart; and on navarre's flight from the court, and his return to huguenotism, guise knew that he had been played upon by a subtler spirit than his own. the simulated affection was now changed into undisguised hatred. moreover, by the death of alencon, navarre now stood next the throne, and guise's plots became still more extensive and more open as his own ambition to usurp the crown on the death of the childless henry iii. became more fervid. thus, by artfully inflaming the populace of paris, and through his organized bands of confederates--that of all the large towns of france, against the huguenots and their chief, by appeals to the religious sentiment; and at the same time by stimulating the disgust and indignation of the tax-payers everywhere at the imposts and heavy burthens which the boundless extravagance of the court engendered, guise paved the way for the advancement of the great league which he represented. the other two political divisions were ingeniously represented as mere insolent factions, while his own was the true national and patriotic party, by which alone the ancient religion and the cherished institutions of france could be preserved. and the great chief of this national patriotic party was not henry of guise, but the industrious old man who sat writing despatches in the depths of the escorial. spanish counsels, spanish promises, spanish ducats--these were the real machinery by which the plots of guise against the peace of france and of europe were supported. madam league was simply philip ii. nothing was written, officially or unofficially, to the french government by the spanish court that was not at the same time communicated to "mucio"--as the duke of guise was denominated in the secret correspondence of philip, and mucio was in philip's pay, his confidential agent, spy, and confederate, long before the actual existence of the league was generally suspected. the queen-mother, catharine de' medici, played into the duke's hands. throughout the whole period of her widowhood, having been accustomed to govern her sons, she had, in a certain sense, been used to govern the kingdom. by sowing dissensions among her own children, by inflaming party against party, by watching with care the oscillations of france--so than none of the great divisions should obtain preponderance--by alternately caressing and massacring the huguenots, by cajoling or confronting philip, by keeping, as she boasted, a spy in every family that possessed the annual income of two thousand livres, by making herself the head of an organized system of harlotry, by which the soldiers and politicians of france were inveigled, their secrets faithfully revealed to her by her well-disciplined maids of honour, by surrounding her unfortunate sons with temptation from earliest youth, and plunging them by cold calculation into deepest debauchery, that their enervated faculties might be ever forced to rely in political affairs on the maternal counsel, and to abandon the administration to the maternal will; such were the arts by which catharine had maintained her influence, and a great country been governed for a generation--machiavellian state-craft blended with the more simple wiles of a procuress. now that alencon was dead, and henry iii. hopeless of issue, it was her determination that the children of her daughter, the duchess of lorraine, should succeed to the throne. the matter was discussed as if the throne were already vacant, and guise and the queen-mother, if they agreed in nothing else, were both cordial in their detestation of henry of navarre. the duke affected to support the schemes in favour of his relatives, the princes of lorraine, while he secretly informed the spanish court that this policy was only a pretence. he was not likely, he said, to advance the interests of the younger branch of a house of which he was himself the chief, nor were their backs equal to the burthen. it was necessary to amuse the old queen, but he was profoundly of opinion that the only sovereign for france, upon the death of henry, was philip ii. himself. this was the duke's plan of arriving, by means of spanish assistance, at the throne of france; and such was henry le balafre, chief of the league. and the other henry, the huguenot, the bearnese, henry of bourbon, henry of navarre, the chieftain of the gascon chivalry, the king errant, the hope and the darling of the oppressed protestants in every land--of him it is scarce needful to say a single word. at his very name a figure seems to leap forth from the mist of three centuries, instinct with ruddy vigorous life. such was the intense vitality of the bearnese prince, that even now he seems more thoroughly alive and recognizable than half the actual personages who are fretting their hour upon the stage. we see, at once, a man of moderate stature, light, sinewy, and strong; a face browned with continual exposure; small, mirthful, yet commanding blue eyes, glittering from beneath an arching brow, and prominent cheekbones; a long hawk's nose, almost resting upon a salient chin, a pendent moustache, and a thick, brown, curly beard, prematurely grizzled; we see the mien of frank authority and magnificent good humour, we hear the ready sallies of the shrewd gascon mother-wit, we feel the electricity which flashes out of him, and sets all hearts around him on fire, when the trumpet sounds to battle. the headlong desperate charge, the snow-white plume waving where the fire is hottest, the large capacity for enjoyment of the man, rioting without affectation in the 'certaminis gaudia', the insane gallop, after the combat, to lay its trophies at the feet of the cynthia of the minute, and thus to forfeit its fruits; all are as familiar to us as if the seven distinct wars, the hundred pitched battles, the two hundred sieges; in which the bearnese was personally present, had been occurrences of our own day. he at least was both king and man, if the monarch who occupied the throne was neither. he was the man to prove, too, for the instruction of the patient letter-writer of the escorial, that the crown of france was to be won with foot in stirrup and carbine in hand, rather than to be caught by the weaving and casting of the most intricate nets of diplomatic intrigue, though thoroughly weighted with mexican gold. the king of navarre was now thirty-one years old; for the three henrys were nearly of the same age. the first indications of his existence had been recognized amid the cannon and trumpets of a camp in picardy, and his mother had sung a gay bearnese song as he was coming into the world at pau. thus, said his grandfather, henry of navarre, thou shalt not bear to us a morose and sulky child. the good king, without a kingdom, taking the child, as soon as born, in the lappel of his dressing-gown, had brushed his infant lips with a clove of garlic, and moistened them with a drop of generous gascon wine. thus, said the grandfather again, shall the boy be both merry and bold. there was something mythologically prophetic in the incidents of his birth. the best part of navarre had been long since appropriated by ferdinand of aragon. in france there reigned a young and warlike sovereign with four healthy boys. but the new-born infant had inherited the lilies of france from st. louis, and a later ancestor had added to the escutcheon the motto "espoir." his grandfather believed that the boy was born to revenge upon spain the wrongs of the house of albret, and henry's nature seemed ever pervaded with robert of clermont's device. the same sensible grandfather, having different views on the subject of education from those manifested by catherine de medici towards her children, had the boy taught to run about bare-headed and bare-footed, like a peasant, among the mountains and rocks of bearn, till he became as rugged as a young bear, and as nimble as a kid. black bread, and beef, and garlic, were his simple fare; and he was taught by his mother and his grandfather to hate lies and liars, and to read the bible. when he was fifteen, the third religious war broke out. both his father and grandfather were dead. his mother, who had openly professed the reformed faith, since the death of her husband, who hated it, brought her boy to the camp at rochelle, where he was received as the chief of the huguenots. his culture was not extensive. he had learned to speak the truth, to ride, to shoot, to do with little sleep and less food. he could also construe a little latin, and had read a few military treatises; but the mighty hours of an eventful life were now to take him by the hand, and to teach him much good and much evil, as they bore him onward. he now saw military treatises expounded practically by professors, like his uncle condo, and admiral coligny, and lewis nassau, in such lecture-rooms as laudun, and jarnac, and montcontour, and never was apter scholar. the peace of arnay-le-duc succeeded, and then the fatal bartholomew marriage with the messalina of valois. the faith taught in the mountains of bearn was no buckler against the demand of "the mass or death," thundered at his breast by the lunatic charles, as he pointed to thousands of massacred huguenots. henry yielded to such conclusive arguments, and became a catholic. four years of court imprisonment succeeded, and the young king of navarre, though proof to the artifices of his gossip guise, was not adamant to the temptations spread for him by catherine de' medici. in the harem entertained for him in the louvre many pitfalls entrapped him; and he became a stock-performer in the state comedies and tragedies of that plotting age. a silken web of palace-politics, palace-diplomacy, palace revolutions, enveloped him. schemes and counter-schemes, stratagems and conspiracies, assassinations and poisonings; all the state-machinery which worked so exquisitely in fair ladies' chambers, to spread havoc and desolation over a kingdom, were displayed before his eyes. now campaigning with one royal brother against huguenots, now fighting with another on their side, now solicited by the queen-mother to attempt the life of her son, now implored by henry iii. to assassinate his brother, the bearnese, as fresh antagonisms, affinities; combinations, were developed, detected, neutralized almost daily, became rapidly an adept in medicean state-chemistry. charles ix. in his grave, henry iii. on the throne, alencon in the huguenot camp--henry at last made his escape. the brief war and peace of monsieur succeeded, and the king of navarre formally abjured the catholic creed. the parties were now sharply defined. guise mounted upon the league, henry astride upon the reformation, were prepared to do battle to the death. the temporary "war of the amorous" was followed by the peace of fleix. four years of peace again; four fat years of wantonness and riot preceding fourteen hungry famine-stricken years of bloodiest civil war. the voluptuousness and infamy of the louvre were almost paralleled in vice, if not in splendour, by the miniature court at pau. henry's spartan grandfather would scarce have approved the courses of the youth, whose education he had commenced on so simple a scale. for margaret of valois, hating her husband, and living in most undisguised and promiscuous infidelity to him, had profited by her mother's lessons. a seraglio of maids of honour ministered to henry's pleasures, and were carefully instructed that the peace and war of the kingdom were playthings in their hands. while at paris royalty was hopelessly sinking in a poisonous marsh, there was danger that even the hardy nature of the bearnese would be mortally enervated by the atmosphere in which he lived. the unhappy henry iii., baited by the guises, worried by alencon and his mother, implored the king of navarre to return to paris and the catholic faith. m. de segur, chief of navarre's council, who had been won over during a visit to the capital, where he had made the discovery that "henry iii. was an angel, and his ministers devils," came back to pau, urging his master's acceptance of the royal invitation. henry wavered. bold d'aubigne, stanchest of huguenots, and of his friends, next day privately showed segur a palace-window opening on a very steep precipice over the bayae, and cheerfully assured him that he should be flung from it did he not instantly reverse his proceedings, and give his master different advice. if i am not able to do the deed myself, said d'aubigne, here are a dozen more to help me. the chief of the council cast a glance behind him, saw a number of grim puritan soldiers, with their hats plucked down upon their brows, looking very serious; so made his bow, and quite changed his line of conduct. at about the same time, philip ii. confidentially offered henry of navarre four hundred thousand crowns in hand, and twelve hundred thousand yearly, if he would consent to make war upon henry iii. mucio, or the duke of guise, being still in philip's pay, the combination of leaguers and huguenots against the unfortunate valois would, it was thought, be a good triangular contest. but henry--no longer the unsophisticated youth who had been used to run barefoot among the cliffs of coarasse--was grown too crafty a politician to be entangled by spanish or medicean wiles. the duke of anjou was now dead. of all the princes who had stood between him and the throne, there was none remaining save the helpless, childless, superannuated youth, who was its present occupant. the king of navarre was legitimate heir to the crown of france. "espoir" was now in letters of light upon his shield, but he knew that his path to greatness led through manifold dangers, and that it was only at the head of his huguenot chivalry that he could cut his way. he was the leader of the nobles of gascony, and dauphins, and guienne, in their mountain fastnesses, of the weavers, cutlers, and artizans, in their thriving manufacturing and trading towns. it was not spanish gold, but carbines and cutlasses, bows and bills, which could bring him to the throne of his ancestors. and thus he stood the chieftain of that great austere party of huguenots, the men who went on, their knees before the battle, beating their breasts with their iron gauntlets, and singing in full chorus a psalm of david, before smiting the philistines hip and thigh. their chieftain, scarcely their representative--fit to lead his puritans on the battle-field, was hardly a model for them elsewhere. yet, though profligate in one respect, he was temperate in every other. in food, wine, and sleep, he was always moderate. subtle and crafty in self-defence, he retained something of his old love of truth, of his hatred for liars. hardly generous perhaps, he was a friend of justice, while economy in a wandering king, like himself, was a necessary virtue, of which france one day was to feel the beneficent action. reckless and headlong in appearance, he was in truth the most careful of men. on the religious question, most cautious of all, he always left the door open behind him, disclaimed all bigotry of opinion, and earnestly implored the papists to seek, not his destruction, but his instruction. yet prudent as he was by nature in every other regard, he was all his life the slave of one woman or another, and it was by good luck rather than by sagacity that he did not repeatedly forfeit the fruits of his courage and conduct, in obedience to his master-passion. always open to conviction on the subject of his faith, he repudiated the appellation of heretic. a creed, he said, was not to be changed like a shirt, but only on due deliberation, and under special advice. in his secret heart he probably regarded the two religions as his chargers, and was ready to mount alternately the one or the other, as each seemed the more likely to bear him safely in the battle. the bearnese was no puritan, but he was most true to himself and to his own advancement. his highest principle of action was to reach his goal, and to that principle he was ever loyal. feeling, too, that it was the interest of france that he should succeed, he was even inspired--compared with others on the stage--by an almost lofty patriotism. amiable by nature and by habit, he had preserved the most unimpaired good-humour throughout the horrible years which succeeded st. bartholomew, during which he carried his life in his hand, and learned not to wear his heart upon his sleeve. without gratitude, without resentment, without fear, without remorse, entirely arbitrary, yet with the capacity to use all men's judgments; without convictions, save in regard to his dynastic interests, he possessed all the qualities, necessary to success. he knew how to use his enemies. he knew how to use his friends, to abuse them, and to throw them away. he refused to assassinate francis alencon at the bidding of henry iii., but he attempted to procure the murder of the truest of his own friends, one of the noblest characters of the age--whose breast showed twelve scars received in his services--agrippa d'aubigne, because the honest soldier had refused to become his pimp--a service the king had implored upon his knees. beneath the mask of perpetual careless good-humour, lurked the keenest eye, a subtle, restless, widely combining brain, and an iron will. native sagacity had been tempered into consummate elasticity by the fiery atmosphere in which feebler natures had been dissolved. his wit was as flashing and as quickly unsheathed as his sword. desperate, apparently reckless temerity on the battle-field was deliberately indulged in, that the world might be brought to recognise a hero and chieftain in a king. the do-nothings of the merovingian line had been succeeded by the pepins; to the effete carlovingians had come a capet; to the impotent valois should come a worthier descendant of st. louis. this was shrewd gascon calculation, aided by constitutional fearlessness. when despatch-writing, invisible philips, stargazing rudolphs, and petticoated henrys, sat upon the thrones of europe, it was wholesome to show the world that there was a king left who could move about in the bustle and business of the age, and could charge as well as most soldiers at the head of his cavalry; that there was one more sovereign fit to reign over men, besides the glorious virgin who governed england. thus courageous, crafty, far-seeing, consistent, untiring, imperturbable, he was born to command, and had a right to reign. he had need of the throne, and the throne had still more need of him. this then was the third henry, representative of the third side of the triangle, the reformers of the kingdom. and before this bubbling cauldron of france, where intrigues, foreign and domestic, conflicting ambitions, stratagems, and hopes, were whirling in never-ceasing tumult, was it strange if the plain netherland envoys should stand somewhat aghast? yet it was necessary that they should ponder well the aspect of affairs; for all their hopes, the very existence of themselves and of their religion, depended upon the organization which should come of this chaos. it must be remembered, however, that those statesmen--even the wisest or the best-informed of them--could not take so correct a view of france and its politics as it is possible for us, after the lapse of three centuries, to do. the interior leagues, subterranean schemes, conflicting factions, could only be guessed at; nor could the immediate future be predicted, even by such far-seeing politicians as william of orange; at a distance, or henry of navarre, upon the spot. it was obvious to the netherlanders that france, although torn by faction, was a great and powerful realm. there had now been, with the brief exception of the lovers' war in , a religious peace of eight years' duration. the huguenots had enjoyed tranquil exercise of their worship during that period, and they expressed perfect confidence in the good faith of the king. that the cities were inordinately taxed to supply the luxury of the court could hardly be unknown to the netherlanders. nevertheless they knew that the kingdom was the richest and most populous of christendom, after that of spain. its capital, already called by contemporaries the "compendium of the world," was described by travellers as "stupendous in extent and miraculous for its numbers." it was even said to contain eight hundred thousand souls; and although, its actual population did not probably exceed three hundred and twenty thousand, yet this was more than double the number of london's inhabitants, and thrice as many as antwerp could then boast, now that a great proportion of its foreign denizens had been scared away. paris was at least by one hundred thousand more populous than any city of europe, except perhaps the remote and barbarous moscow, while the secondary cities of france, rouen in the north, lyons in the centre, and marseilles in the south, almost equalled in size, business, wealth, and numbers, the capitals of other countries. in the whole kingdom were probably ten or twelve millions of inhabitants, nearly as many as in spain, without her colonies, and perhaps three times the number that dwelt in england. in a military point of view, too, the alliance of france was most valuable to the contiguous netherlands. a few regiments of french troops, under the command of one of their experienced marshals, could block up the spaniards in the walloon provinces, effectually stop their operations against ghent, antwerp, and the other great cities of flanders and brabant, and, with the combined action of the united provinces on the north, so surround and cripple the forces of parma, as to reduce the power of philip, after a few vigorous and well-concerted blows, to an absolute nullity in, the low countries. as this result was of as vital importance to the real interests of france and of europe, whether protestant or catholic, as it was to the provinces, and as the french government had privately manifested a strong desire to oppose the progress of spain towards universal empire, it was not surprising that the states general, not feeling capable of standing alone, should make their application to france. this they had done with the knowledge and concurrence of the english government. what lay upon the surface the netherland statesmen saw and pondered well. what lurked beneath, they surmised as shrewdly as they could, but it was impossible, with plummet and fathom-line ever in hand, to sound the way with perfect accuracy, where the quicksands were ever shifting, and the depth or shallowness of the course perpetually varying. it was not easy to discover the intentions of a government which did not know its own intentions, and whose changing policy was controlled by so many hidden currents. moreover, as already indicated, the envoys and those whom they represented had not the same means of arriving at a result as are granted to us. thanks to the liberality of many modern governments of europe, the archives where the state-secrets of the buried centuries have so long mouldered, are now open to the student of history. to him who has patience and industry many mysteries are thus revealed, which no political sagacity or critical acumen could have divined. he leans over the shoulder of philip the second at his writing-table, as the king spells patiently out, with cipher-key in hand, the most concealed hieroglyphics of parma or guise or mendoza. he reads the secret thoughts of "fabius,"--[the name usually assigned to philip himself in the paris-simancas correspondence.]--as that cunctative roman scrawls his marginal apostilles on each despatch; he pries into all the stratagems of camillus, hortensius, mucius, julius, tullius, and the rest of those ancient heroes who lent their names to the diplomatic masqueraders of the th century; he enters the cabinet of the deeply-pondering burghley, and takes from the most private drawer the memoranda which record that minister's unutterable doubtings; he pulls from the dressing-gown folds of the stealthy, softly-gliding walsingham the last secret which he has picked from the emperor's pigeon-holes, or the pope's pocket, and which, not hatton, nor buckhurst, nor leicester, nor the lord treasurer, is to see; nobody but elizabeth herself; he sits invisible at the most secret councils of the nassaus and barneveldt and buys, or pores with farnese over coming victories, and vast schemes of universal conquest; he reads the latest bit of scandal, the minutest characteristic of king or minister, chronicled by the gossiping venetians for the edification of the forty; and, after all this prying and eavesdropping, having seen the cross-purposes, the bribings, the windings, the fencings in the dark, he is not surprised, if those who were systematically deceived did not always arrive at correct conclusions. noel de caron, seigneur de schoneval, had been agent of the states at the french court at the time of the death of the duke of anjou. upon the occurrence of that event, la mouillerie and asseliers were deputed by the provinces to king henry iii., in order to offer him the sovereignty, which they had intended to confer upon his brother. meantime that brother, just before his death, and with the privity of henry, had been negotiating for a marriage with the younger daughter of philip ii.--an arrangement somewhat incompatible with his contemporaneous scheme to assume the sovereignty of philip's revolted provinces. an attempt had been made at the same time to conciliate the duke of savoy, and invite him to the french court; but the duc de joyeuse, then on his return from turin, was bringing the news, not only that the match with anjou was not favored--which, as anjou was dead, was of no great consequence--but that the duke of savoy was himself to espouse the infanta, and was therefore compelled to decline the invitation to paris, for fear of offending his father-in-law. other matters were in progress, to be afterwards indicated, very much interfering with the negotiations of the netherland envoys. when la mouillerie and asseliers arrived at rouen, on their road from dieppe to paris, they received a peremptory order from the queen-mother to proceed no farther. this prohibition was brought by an unofficial personage, and was delivered, not to them, but to des pruneaux, french envoy to the states general, who had accompanied the envoys to france. after three weeks' time, during which they "kept themselves continually concealed in rouen," there arrived in that city a young nephew of secretary brulart, who brought letters empowering him to hear what they had in charge for the king. the envoys, not much flattered by such cavalier treatment on the part of him to, whom they were offering a crown, determined to digest the affront as they best might, and, to save time, opened the whole business to this subordinate stripling. he received from them accordingly an ample memoir to be laid before his majesty, and departed by the post the same night. then they waited ten days longer, concealed as if they had been thieves or spies, rather than the representatives of a friendly power, on a more than friendly errand. at last, on the th july , after the deputies had been thus shut up a whole month, secretary brulart himself arrived from fontainebleau. he stated that the king sent his royal thanks to the states for the offer which they had made him, and to the deputies in particular for taking the trouble of so long a journey; but that he did not find his realm in condition to undertake a foreign war so inopportunely. in every other regard, his majesty offered the states "all possible favours and pleasures." certainly, after having been thus kept in prison for a month, the ambassadors had small cause to be contented with this very cold communication. to be forbidden the royal presence, and to be turned out of the country without even an official and accredited answer to a communication in which they had offered the sovereignty of their fatherland, was not flattering to their dignity. "we little thought," said they to brulart, after a brief consultation among themselves, "to receive such a reply as this. it displeases us infinitely that his majesty will not do us the honour to grant us an audience. we must take the liberty of saying, that 'tis treating the states, our masters, with too much contempt. who ever heard before of refusing audience to public personages? kings often grant audience to mere letter-carriers. even the king of spain never refused a hearing to the deputies from the netherlands when they came to spain to complain of his own government. the states general have sent envoys to many other kinds and princes, and they have instantly granted audience in every case. his majesty, too, has been very ill-informed of the contracts which we formerly made with the duke of anjou, and therefore a personal interview is the more necessary." as the envoys were obstinate on the point of paris, brulart said "that the king, although he should himself be at lyons, would not prevent any one from going to the capital on his own private affairs; but would unquestionably take it very ill if, they should visit that city in a public manner, and as deputies." des pruneaux professed himself "very grievous at this result, and desirous of a hundred deaths in consequence." they stated that they should be ready within a month to bring an army of , horse and , foot into the field for the relief of ghent, besides their military operations against zutphen; and that the enemy had recently been ignominiously defeated in his attack upon fort lille, and had lost , of his best soldiers. here were encouraging facts; and it certainly was worth the while of the french sovereign to pause a moment before rejecting without a hearing, the offer of such powerful and conveniently-situated provinces. des pruneaux, a man of probity and earnestness, but perhaps of insufficient ability to deal with such grave matters as now fell almost entirely upon his shoulders, soon afterwards obtained audience of the king. being most sincerely in favour of the annexation of the netherlands to france, and feeling that now or never was the opportunity of bringing it about, he persuaded the king to send him back to the provinces, in order to continue the negotiation directly with the states general. the timidity and procrastination of the court could be overcome no further. the two dutch envoys, who had stolen secretly to paris, were indulged in a most barren and unmeaning interview with the queen-mother. before their departure from france, however, they had the advantage of much conversation with leading members of the royal council, of the parliaments of paris and rouen, and also with various persons professing the reformed religion. they endeavoured thus to inform themselves, as well as they could, why the king made so much difficulty in accepting their propositions, and whether, and by what means, his majesty could be induced to make war in their behalf upon the king of spain. they were informed that, should holland and zeeland unite with the rest of the netherlands, the king "without any doubt would undertake the cause most earnestly." his councillors, also--even those who had been most active in dissuading his majesty from such a policy--would then be unanimous in supporting the annexation of the provinces and the war with spain. in such a contingency, with the potent assistance of holland and zeeland, the king would have little difficulty, within a very short time, in chasing every single spaniard out of the netherlands. to further this end, many leading personages in france avowed to the envoys their determination "to venture their lives and their fortunes, and to use all the influence which they possessed at court." the same persons expressed their conviction that the king, once satisfied by the provinces as to conditions and reasons, would cheerfully go into the war, without being deterred by any apprehension as to the power of spain. it was, however, fitting that each province should chaffer as little as possible about details, but should give his majesty every reasonable advantage. they should remember that they were dealing with "a great, powerful monarch, who was putting his realm in jeopardy, and not with a duke of anjou, who had every thing to gain and nothing to lose." all the huguenots, with whom the envoys conversed, were excessively sanguine. could the king be once brought they said, to promise the netherlands his protection, there was not the least fear but that he would keep his word. he would use all the means within his power; "yea, he would take the crown from his head," rather than turn back. although reluctant to commence a war with so powerful a sovereign, having once promised his help, he would keep his pledge to the utmost, "for he was a king of his word," and had never broken and would never break his faith with those of the reformed religion. thus spoke the leading huguenots of france, in confidential communication with the netherland envoys, not many months before the famous edict of extermination, published at nemours. at that moment the reformers were full of confidence; not foreseeing the long procession of battles and sieges which was soon to sweep through the land. notwithstanding the urgency of the papists for their extirpation, they extolled loudly the liberty of religious worship which calvinists, as well as catholics, were enjoying in france, and pointed to the fact that the adherents of both religions were well received at court, and that they shared equally in offices of trust and dignity throughout the kingdom. the netherland envoys themselves bore testimony to the undisturbed tranquillity and harmony in which the professors of both religions were living and worshipping side by side "without reproach or quarrel" in all the great cities which they had visited. they expressed the conviction that the same toleration would be extended to all the provinces when under french dominion; and, so far as their ancient constitutions and privileges were concerned, they were assured that the king of france would respect and maintain them with as much fidelity as the states could possibly desire. des pruneaux, accompanied by the two states' envoys, departed forthwith for the netherlands. on the th august, he delivered a discourse before the states general, in which he disclosed, in very general terms, the expectations of henry iii., and intimated very clearly that the different provinces were to lose no time in making an unconditional offer to that monarch. with regard to holland and zeeland he observed that he was provided with a special commission to those estates. it was not long before one province after the other came to the conclusion to offer the sovereignty to the king without written conditions, but with a general understanding that their religious freedom and their ancient constitutions were to be sacredly respected. meantime, des pruneaux made his appearance in holland and zeeland, and declared the king's intentions of espousing the cause of the states, and of accepting the sovereignty of all the provinces. he distinctly observed, however, that it was as sovereign, not as protector, that his majesty must be recognised in holland and zeeland, as well as in the rest of the country. upon this grave question there was much debate and much difference of opinion. holland and zeeland had never contemplated the possibility of accepting any foreign sovereignty, and the opponents of the present scheme were loud and angry, but very reasonable in their remarks. the french, they said, were no respecters of privileges nor of persons. the duke of anjou had deceived william of orange and betrayed the provinces. could they hope to see farther than that wisest and most experienced prince? had not the stout hearts of the antwerp burghers proved a stronger defence to brabant liberties than the "joyous entry" on the dread day of the "french fury," it would have fared ill then and for ever with the cause of freedom and religion in the netherlands. the king of france was a papist, a jesuit. he was incapable of keeping his pledges. should they make the arrangement now proposed and confer the sovereignty upon him, he would forthwith make peace with spain, and transfer the provinces back to that crown in exchange for the duchy of milan, which france had ever coveted. the netherlands, after a quarter of a century of fighting in defence of their hearths and altars, would find themselves handed over again, bound and fettered, to the tender mercies of the spanish inquisition. the kings of france and of spain always acted in concert, for religion was the most potent of bonds. witness the sacrifice of thousands of french soldiers to alva by their own sovereign at mons, witness the fate of genlis, witness the bloody night of st. bartholomew, witness the antwerp fury. men cited and relied upon the advice of william of orange as to this negotiation with france. but orange never dreamed of going so far as now proposed. he was ever careful to keep the provinces of holland and zeeland safe from every foreign master. that spot was to be holy ground. not out of personal ambition. god forbid that they, should accuse his memory of any such impurity, but because he wished one safe refuge for the spirit of freedom. many years long they had held out by land and sea against the spaniards, and should they now, because this des pruneaux shrugged his shoulders, be so alarmed as to open the door to the same spaniard wearing the disguise of a frenchman? prince maurice also made a brief representation to the states' assembly of holland, in which, without distinctly opposing the negotiation with france, he warned them not to proceed too hastily with so grave a matter. he reminded them how far they had gone in the presentation of the sovereignty to his late father, and requested them, in their dealings with france, not to forget his interests and those of his family. he reminded them of the position of that family, overladen with debt contracted in their service alone. he concluded by offering most affectionately his service in any way in which he, young and inexperienced as he knew himself to be, might be thought useful; as he was long since resolved to devote his life to the welfare of his country. these passionate appeals were answered with equal vehemence by those who had made up their minds to try the chances of the french sovereignty. des pruneaux, meanwhile, was travelling from province to province, and from city to city, using the arguments which have already been sufficiently indicated, and urging a speedy compliance with the french king's propositions. at the same time, in accordance with his instructions, he was very cautious to confine himself to generalities, and to avoid hampering his royal master with the restrictions which had proved so irksome to the duke of anjou. "the states general demanded a copy of my speech," he wrote the day after that harangue had been delivered, "but i only gave them a brief outline; extending myself [ th august, ] as little as i possibly could, according to the intention and command of your majesty. when i got here, i found them without hope of our assistance, and terribly agitated by the partizans of spain. there was some danger of their going over in a panic to the enemy. they are now much changed again, and the spanish partizans are beginning to lose their tongues. i invite them, if they intend to address your majesty, to proceed as they ought towards a veritably grand monarch, without hunting up any of their old quibbles, or reservations of provinces, or any thing else which could inspire suspicion. i have sent into gelderland and friesland, for i find i must stay here in holland and zeeland myself. these two provinces are the gates and ramparts through which we must enter. 'tis, in my opinion, what could be called superb, to command all the sea, thus subject to the crown of france. and france, too, with assistance of this country, will command the land as well. they are much astonished here, however, that i communicate nothing of the intention of your majesty. they say that if your majesty does not accept this offer of their country, your majesty puts the rope around their necks." the french envoy was more and more struck with the brilliancy of the prize offered to his master. "if the king gets these provinces," said he to catharine, "'t will be the most splendid inheritance which prince has ever conquered." in a very few weeks the assiduity of the envoy and of the french party was successful. all the other provinces had very soon repeated the offer which they had previously made through asseliers and la mouillerie. by the beginning of october the opposition of holland was vanquished. the estates of that province--three cities excepted, however--determined "to request england and france to assume a joint protectorate over the netherlands. in case the king of france should refuse this proposition, they were then ready to receive him as prince and master, with knowledge and consent of the queen of england, and on such conditions as the united states should approve." immediately afterwards, the general assembly of all the states determined to offer the sovereignty to king henry "on conditions to be afterwards settled." des pruneaux, thus triumphant, received a gold chain of the value of two thousand florins, and departed before the end of october for france. the departure of the solemn embassy to that country, for the purpose of offering the sovereignty to the king, was delayed till the beginning of january. meantime it is necessary to cast a glance at the position of england in relation to these important transactions. etext editor's bookmarks: diplomatic adroitness consists mainly in the power to deceive enmity between lutherans and calvinists find our destruction in our immoderate desire for peace german-lutheran sixteenth-century idea of religious freedom intentions of a government which did not know its own intentions lord was better pleased with adverbs than nouns make sheep of yourselves, and the wolf will eat you necessity of kingship neighbour's blazing roof was likely soon to fire their own nor is the spirit of the age to be pleaded in defence pauper client who dreamed of justice at the hands of law seem as if born to make the idea of royalty ridiculous shutting the stable-door when the steed is stolen string of homely proverbs worthy of sancho panza the very word toleration was to sound like an insult there was apathy where there should have been enthusiasm tranquillity rather of paralysis than of health write so illegibly or express himself so awkwardly history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, - chapter iii. policy of england--schemes of the pretender of portugal--hesitation of the french court--secret wishes of france--contradictory views as to the opinions of netherlanders--their love for england and elizabeth--prominent statesmen of the provinces--roger williams the welshman views of walsingham, burghley, and the queen--an embassy to holland decided upon--davison at the hague--cautious and secret measures of burghley--consequent dissatisfaction of walsingham-- english and dutch suspicion of france--increasing affection of holland for england. the policy of england towards the provinces had been somewhat hesitating, but it had not been disloyal. it was almost inevitable that there should be timidity in the councils of elizabeth, when so grave a question as that of confronting the vast power of spain was forcing itself day by day more distinctly upon the consideration of herself and her statesmen. it was very clear, now that orange was dead, that some new and decided step would be taken. elizabeth was in favour of combined action by the french and english governments, in behalf of the netherlands--a joint protectorate of the provinces, until such time as adequate concessions on the religious question could be obtained from spain. she was unwilling to plunge into the peril and expense of a war with the strongest power in the world. she disliked the necessity under which she should be placed of making repeated applications to her parliament, and of thus fostering the political importance of the commons; she was reluctant to encourage rebellious subjects in another land, however just the cause of their revolt. she felt herself vulnerable in ireland and on the scottish border. nevertheless, the spanish power was becoming so preponderant, that if the netherlands were conquered, she could never feel a moment's security within her own territory. if the provinces were annexed to france, on the other hand, she could not contemplate with complacency the increased power thus placed in the hands of the treacherous and jesuitical house of valois. the path of the queen was thickly strewed with peril: her advisers were shrewd, far-seeing, patriotic, but some of them were perhaps over cautious. the time had, however, arrived when the danger was to be faced, if the whole balance of power in europe were not to come to an end, and weak states, like england and the netherlands, to submit to the tyranny of an overwhelming absolutism. the instinct of the english sovereign, of english statesmen, of the english nation, taught them that the cause of the netherlands was their own. nevertheless, they were inclined to look on yet a little longer, although the part of spectator had become an impossible one. the policy of the english government was not treacherous, although it was timid. that of the french court was both the one and the other, and it would have been better both for england and the provinces, had they more justly appreciated the character of catharine de' medici and her son. the first covert negotiations between henry and the states had caused much anxiety among the foreign envoys in france. don bernardino de mendoza, who had recently returned from spain after his compulsory retreat from his post of english ambassador, was now established in paris, as representative of philip. he succeeded tasais--a netherlander by birth, and one of the ablest diplomatists in the spanish service--and his house soon became the focus of intrigue against the government to which he was accredited--the very head-quarters of the league. his salary was large, his way of living magnificent, his insolence intolerable. "tassis is gone to the netherlands," wrote envoy busbecq to the emperor, "and thence is to proceed to spain. don bernardino has arrived in his place. if it be the duty of a good ambassador to expend largely, it would be difficult to find a better one than he; for they say 'tis his intention to spend sixteen thousand dollars yearly in his embassy. i would that all things were in correspondence; and that he were not in other respects so inferior to tassis." it is, however, very certain that mendoza was not only a brave soldier, but a man of very considerable capacity in civil affairs, although his inordinate arrogance interfered most seriously with his skill as a negotiator. he was, of course, watching with much fierceness the progress of these underhand proceedings between the french court and the rebellious subjects of his master, and using threats and expostulations in great profusion. "mucio," too, the great stipendiary of philip, was becoming daily more dangerous, and the adherents of the league were multiplying with great celerity. the pretender of portugal, don antonio, prior of crato, was also in paris; and it was the policy of both the french and the english governments to protect his person, and to make use of him as a rod over the head of philip. having escaped, after the most severe sufferings, in the mountains of spain, where he had been tracked like a wild beast, with a price of thirty thousand crowns placed upon his head, he was now most anxious to stir the governments of europe into espousing his cause, and into attacking spain through the recently acquired kingdom of portugal. meantime, he was very desirous of some active employment, to keep himself from starving, and conceived the notion, that it would be an excellent thing for the netherlands and himself, were he to make good to them the loss of william the silent. "don antonio," wrote stafford, "made a motion to me yesterday, to move her majesty, that now upon the prince of orange's death, as it is a necessary thing for them to have a governor and head, and him to be at her majesty's devotion, if her majesty would be at the means to work it for him, she should be assured nobody should be more faithfully tied in devotion to her than he. truly you would pity the poor man's case, who is almost next door to starving in effect." a starving condition being, however, not the only requisite in a governor and head to replace the prince of orange, nothing came of this motion. don antonio remained in paris, in a pitiable plight, and very much environed by dangers; for the duke of guise and his brother had undertaken to deliver him into the hands of philip the second, or those of his ministers, before the feast of st. john of the coming year. fifty thousand dollars were to be the reward of this piece of work, combined with other services; "and the sooner they set about it the better," said philip, writing a few months later, "for the longer they delay it, the less easy will they find it."' the money was never earned, however, and meantime don antonio made himself as useful as he could, in picking up information for sir edward stafford and the other opponents of spanish policy in paris. the english envoy was much embarrassed by the position of affairs. he felt sure that the french monarch would never dare to enter the lists against the king of spain, yet he was accurately informed of the secret negotiations with the netherlands, while in the dark as to the ultimate intentions of his own government. "i was never set to school so much," he wrote to walsingham ( th july, ), "as i have been to decipher the cause of the deputies of the low countries coming hither, the offers that they made the king here, and the king's manner of dealing with them!" he expressed great jealousy at the mystery which enveloped the whole transaction; and much annoyance with noel de caron, who "kept very secret, and was angry at the motion," when he endeavoured to discover the business in which they were engaged. yet he had the magnanimity to request walsingham not to mention the fact to the queen, lest she should be thereby prejudiced against the states. "for my part," said he, "i would be glad in any thing to further them, rather than to hinder them--though they do not deserve it--yet for the good the helping them at this time may bring ourselves." meantime, the deputies went away from france, and the king went to lyons, where he had hoped to meet both the duke of savoy and the king of navarre. but joyeuse, who had been received at chambery with "great triumphs and tourneys," brought back only a broken wrist, without bringing the duke of savoy; that potentate sending word that the "king of spain had done him the honour to give him his daughter, and that it was not fit for him to do any thing that might bring jealousy." henry of navarre also, as we have seen, declined the invitation sent him, m. de segur not feeling disposed for the sudden flight out of window suggested by agrippa d' aubigne; so that, on the whole, the king and his mother, with all the court, returned from lyons in marvellous ill humour. "the king storms greatly," said stafford, "and is in a great dump." it was less practicable than ever to discover the intentions of the government; for although it was now very certain that active exertions were making by des pruneaux in the provinces, it was not believed by the most sagacious that a serious resolution against spain had been taken in france. there was even a talk of a double matrimonial alliance, at that very moment, between the two courts. "it is for certain here said," wrote stafford, "that the king of spain doth presently marry the dowager of france, and 'tis thought that if the king of spain marry, he will not live a year. whensoever the marriage be," added the envoy, "i would to god the effect were true, for if it be not by some such handy work of god, i am afraid things will not go so well as i could wish." there was a lull on the surface of affairs, and it was not easy to sound the depths of unseen combinations and intrigues. there was also considerable delay in the appointment and the arrival of the new deputies from the netherlands; and stafford was as doubtful as ever as to the intentions of his own government. "they look daily here for the states," he wrote to walsingham ( th dec. ), "and i pray that i may hear from you as soon as you may, what course i shall take when they be here, either hot or cold or lukewarm in the matter, and in what sort i shall behave myself. some badly affected have gone about to put into the king's head, that they never meant to offer the sovereignty, which, though the king be not thoroughly persuaded of, yet so much is won by this means that the king hearkeneth to see the end, and then to believe as he seeth cause, and in the meantime to speak no more of any such matter than if it had never been moved." while his majesty was thus hearkening in order to see more, according to sir edward's somewhat hibernian mode of expressing himself, and keeping silent that he might see the better, it was more difficult than ever for the envoy to know what course to pursue. some persons went so far as to suggest that the whole negotiation was a mere phantasmagoria devised by queen elizabeth--her purpose being to breed a quarrel between henry and philip for her own benefit; and "then, seeing them together by the ears, as her accustomed manner was, to let them go alone, and sit still to look on." the king did not appear to be much affected by these insinuations against elizabeth; but the doubt and the delay were very harrassing. "i would to god," wrote the english envoy, "that if the states mean to do anything here with the king, and if her. majesty and the council think it fit, they would delay no time, but go roundly either to an agreement or to a breach with the king. otherwise, as the matter now sleepeth, so it will die, for the king must be taken in his humour when he begins to nibble at any bait, for else he will come away, and never bite a full bite while he liveth." there is no doubt that the bait, at which henry nibbled with much avidity, was the maritime part of the netherlands. holland and zeeland in the possession of either england or spain, was a perpetual inconvenience to france. the king, or rather the queen-mother and her advisers--for henry himself hardly indulged in any profound reflections on state-affairs,--desired and had made a sine qua non of those provinces. it had been the french policy, from the beginning, to delay matters, in order to make the states feel the peril of their position to the full. "the king, differing and temporising," wrote herle to the queen, "would have them fall into that necessity and danger, as that they should offer unto him simply the possession of all their estates. otherwise, they were to see, as in a glass, their evident and hasty ruin." even before the death of orange, henry had been determined, if possible, to obtain possession of the island of walcheren, which controlled the whole country. "to give him that," said herle, "would be to turn the hot end of the poker towards themselves, and put the cold part in the king's hand. he had accordingly made a secret offer to william of orange, through the princess, of two millions of livres in ready money, or, if he preferred it, one hundred thousand livres yearly of perpetual inheritance, if he would secure to him the island of walcheren. in that case he promised to declare war upon the king of spain, to confirm to the states their privileges, and to guarantee to the prince the earldoms of holland and zeeland, with all his other lands and titles." it is superfluous to say that such offers were only regarded by the prince as an affront. it was, however, so necessary, in his opinion; to maintain the cause of the reformed churches in france, and to keep up the antagonism between that country and spain, that the french policy was not abandoned, although the court was always held in suspicion. but on the death of william, there was a strong reaction against france and in favour of england. paul buys, one of the ablest statesmen of the netherlands, advocate of holland, and a confidential friend of william the silent up to the time of his death, now became the leader of the english party, and employed his most strenuous efforts against the french treaty-having "seen the scope of that court." with regard to the other leading personages, there was a strong inclination in favour of queen elizabeth, whose commanding character inspired great respect. at the same time warmer sentiments of adhesion seem to have been expressed towards the french court, by the same individuals, than the mere language of compliment justified. thus, the widowed princess of orange was described by des pruneaux to his sovereign, as "very desolate, but nevertheless doing all in her power to advance his interests; the count maurice, of gentle hopes, as also most desirous of remaining his majesty's humble servant, while elector truchsess was said to be employing himself, in the same cause, with very great affection." a french statesman resident in the provinces, whose name has not been preserved, but who was evidently on intimate terms with many eminent netherlanders, declared that maurice, "who had a mind entirely french, deplored infinitely the misfortunes of france, and regretted that all the provinces could not be annexed to so fair a kingdom. i do assure you," he added, "that he is in no wise english." of count hohenlo, general-in-chief of the states' army under prince maurice, and afterwards his brother-in-law, the same gentleman spoke with even greater confidence. "count d'oloc," said he (for by that ridiculous transformation of his name the german general was known to french and english), "with whom i have passed three weeks on board the fleet of the states, is now wholly french, and does not love the english at all. the very first time i saw him, he protested twice or thrice, in presence of members of the states general and of the state council, that if he had no frenchmen he could never carry on the war. he made more account," he said, "of two thousand french than of six thousand others, english, or germans." yet all these distinguished persons--the widowed princess of orange, count maurice, ex-elector truchsess, count holenlo--were described to queen elizabeth by her confidential agent, then employed in the provinces, as entirely at that sovereign's devotion. "count maurice holds nothing of the french, nor esteems them," said herle, "but humbly desired me to signify unto your majesty that he had in his mind and determination faithfully vowed his service to your majesty, which should be continued in his actions with all duty, and sealed with his blood; for he knew how much his father and the cause were beholden ever to your highness's goodness." the princess, together with her sister-in-law countess schwartzenburg, and the young daughters of the late prince were described on the same occasion "as recommending their service unto her majesty with a most tender affection, as to a lady of all ladies." "especially," said herle, "did the two princesses in most humble and wise sort, express a certain fervent devotion towards your majesty." elector truchsess was spoken of as "a prince well qualified and greatly devoted to her majesty; who, after many grave and sincere words had of her majesty's virtue, calling her 'la fille unique de dieu, and le bien heureuse princesse', desired of god that he might do her service as she merited." and, finally, count hollock--who seemed to "be reformed in sundry things, if it hold" (a delicate allusion to the count's propensity for strong potations), was said "to desire humbly to be known for one that would obey the commandment of her majesty more than of any earthly prince living besides." there can be no doubt that there was a strong party in favour of an appeal to england rather than to france. the netherlanders were too shrewd a people not to recognize the difference between the king of a great realm, who painted his face and wore satin petticoats, and the woman who entertained ambassadors, each in his own language, on gravest affairs of state, who matched in her wit and wisdom the deepest or the most sparkling intellects of her council, who made extemporaneous latin orations to her universities, and who rode on horseback among her generals along the lines of her troops in battle-array, and yet was only the unmarried queen of a petty and turbulent state. "the reverend respect that is borne to your majesty throughout these countries is great," said william herle. they would have thrown themselves into her arms, heart and soul, had they been cordially extended at that moment of their distress; but she was coy, hesitating, and, for reasons already sufficiently indicated, although not so conclusive as they seemed, disposed to temporize and to await the issue of the negotiations between the provinces and france. in holland and zeeland especially, there was an enthusiastic feeling in favour of the english alliance. "they recommend themselves," said herleo "throughout the country in their consultations and assemblies, as also in their common and private speeches, to the queen of england's only favour and goodness, whom they call their saviour, and the princess of greatest perfection in wisdom and sincerity that ever governed. notwithstanding their treaty now on foot by their deputies with france, they are not more disposed to be governed by the french than to be tyrannized over by the spaniard; concluding it to be alike; and even 'commutare non sortem sed servitutem'." paul buys was indefatigable in his exertions against the treaty with france, and in stimulating the enthusiasm for england and elizabeth. he expressed sincere and unaffected devotion to the queen on all occasions, and promised that no negotiations should take place, however secret and confidential, that were not laid before her majesty. "he has the chief administration among the states," said herle, "and to his credit and dexterity they attribute the despatch of most things. he showed unto me the state of the enemy throughout the provinces, and of the negotiation in france, whereof he had no opinion at all of success, nor any will of his own part but to please the prince of orange in his life-time." it will be seen in the sequel whether or not the views of this experienced and able statesman were lucid and comprehensive. it will also be seen whether his strenuous exertions in favour of the english alliance were rewarded as bountifully as they deserved, by those most indebted to him. meantime he was busily employed in making the english government acquainted with the capacity, disposition, and general plans of the netherlanders. "they have certain other things in consultation amongst the states to determine of," wrote herle, "which they were sworn not to reveal to any, but buys protested that nothing should pass but to your liking and surety, and the same to be altered and disposed as should seem good to your highness's own authority; affirming to me sincerely that holland and zeeland, with the rest of the provinces, for the estimation they had of your high virtue and temperancy, would yield themselves absolutely to your majesty and crown for ever, or to none other (their liberties only reserved), whereof you should have immediate possession, without reservation of place or privilege." the important point of the capability of the provinces to defend themselves, about which elizabeth was most anxious to be informed, was also fully elucidated by the advocate. "the means should be such, proceeding from the provinces," said he, "as your majesty might defend your interest therein with facility against the whole world." he then indicated a plan, which had been proposed by the states of brabant to the states general, according to which they were to keep on foot an army of , foot and horse, with which they should be able, "to expulse the enemy and to reconquer their towns and country lost, within three months." of this army they hoped to induce the queen to furnish english footmen and horse, to be paid monthly by a treasurer of her own; and for the assistance thus to be furnished they proposed to give ostend and sluys as pledge of payment. according to this scheme the elector palatine, john casimir, had promised to furnish, equip, and pay cavalry, taking the town of maestricht and the country of limburg, when freed from the enemy, in pawn for his disbursements; while antwerp and brabant had agreed to supply , crowns in ready money for immediate use. many powerful politicians opposed this policy, however, and urged reliance upon france, "so that this course seemed to be lame in many parts."--[letter of herle]. agents had already been sent both to england and france, to procure, if possible, a levy of troops for immediate necessity. the attempt was unsuccessful in france, but the dutch community of the reformed religion in london subscribed nine thousand and five florins. this sum, with other contributions, proved sufficient to set morgan's regiment on foot, which soon after began to arrive in the netherlands by companies. "but if it were all here at once," said stephen le sieur, "'t would be but a breakfast for the enemy." the agent for the matter in england was de griyse, formerly bailiff of bruges; and although tolerably successful in his mission, he was not thought competent for so important a post, nor officially authorised for the undertaking. while procuring this assistance in english troops he had been very urgent with the queen to further the negotiations between the states and france; and paul buys was offended with him as a mischief-maker and an intriguer. he complained of him as having "thrust himself in, to deal and intermeddle in the affairs of the low countries unavowed," and desired that he might be closely looked after. after the advocate, the next most important statesman in the provinces was, perhaps, meetkerk, president of the high court of flanders, a man of much learning, sincerity, and earnestness of character; having had great experience in the diplomatic service of the country on many important occasions. "he stands second in reputation here," said herle, "and both buys and he have one special care in all practises that are discovered, to examine how near anything may concern your person or kingdom, whereof they will advertise as matter shall fall out in importance." john van olden-barneveldt, afterwards so conspicuous in the history of the country, was rather inclined, at this period, to favour the french party; a policy which was strenuously furthered by villiers and by sainte aldegonde. besides the information furnished to the english government, as to the state of feeling and resources of the netherlands, by buys, meetkerk, and william herle, walsingham relied much upon the experienced eye and the keen biting humour of roger williams. a frank open-hearted welshman, with no fortune but his sword, but as true as its steel, he had done the states much important service in the hard-fighting days of grand commander requesens and of don john of austria. with a shrewd welsh head under his iron morion, and a stout welsh heart under his tawny doublet, he had gained little but hard knocks and a dozen wounds in his campaigning, and had but recently been ransomed, rather grudgingly by his government, from a spanish prison in brabant. he was suffering in health from its effects, but was still more distressed in mind, from his sagacious reading of the signs of the times. fearing that england was growing lukewarm, and the provinces desperate, he was beginning to find himself out of work, and was already casting about him for other employment. poor, honest, and proud, he had repeatedly declined to enter the spanish service. bribes, such as at a little later period were sufficient to sully conspicuous reputations and noble names, among his countrymen in better circumstances than his own, had been freely but unsuccessfully offered him. to serve under any but the english or states' flag in the provinces he scorned; and he thought the opportunity fast slipping away there for taking the papistical party in europe handsomely by the beard. he had done much manful work in the netherlands, and was destined to do much more; but he was now discontented, and thought himself slighted. in more remote regions of the world, the thrifty soldier thought that there might be as good harvesting for his sword as in the thrice-trampled stubble of flanders. "i would refuse no hazard that is possible to be done in the queen's service," he said to walsingham; "but i do persuade myself she makes no account of me. had it not been for the duty that nature bound me towards her and my country, i needed not to have been in that case that i am in. perhaps i could have fingered more pistoles than mr. newell, the late latiner, and had better usage and pension of the spaniards than he. some can tell that i refused large offers, in the misery of alost, of the prince of parma. last of all, verdugo offered me very fair, being in loccum, to quit the states' service, and accept theirs, without treachery or betraying of place or man." not feeling inclined to teach latin in spain, like the late mr. newell, or to violate oaths and surrender fortresses, like brave soldiers of fortune whose deeds will be afterwards chronicled, he was disposed to cultivate the "acquaintance of divers pollacks," from which he had received invitations. "find i nothing there," said he, "duke matthias has promised me courtesy if i would serve in hungary. if not, i will offer service to one of the turk's bashaws against the persians." fortunately, work was found for the trusty welshman in the old fields. his brave honest face often reappeared; his sharp sensible tongue uttered much sage counsel; and his ready sword did various solid service, in leaguer, battle-field, and martial debate, in flanders, holland, spain, and france. for the present, he was casting his keen glances upon the negotiations in progress, and cavilling at the general policy which seemed predominant. he believed that the object of the french was to trifle with the states, to protract interminably their negotiations, to prevent the english government from getting any hold upon the provinces, and then to leave them to their fate. he advised walsingham to advance men and money, upon the security of sluys and ostend. "i dare venture my life," said he, with much energy, "that were norris, bingham, yorke, or carlisle, in those ports, he would keep them during the spanish king's life." but the true way to attack spain--a method soon afterwards to be carried into such brilliant effect by the naval heroes of england and the netherlands--the long-sighted welshman now indicated; a combined attack, namely, by sea upon the colonial possessions of philip. "i dare be bound," said he, "if you join with treslong, the states admiral, and send off, both, three-score sail into his indies, we will force him to retire from conquering further, and to be contented to let other princes live as well as he." in particular, williams urged rapid action, and there is little doubt, that had the counsels of prompt, quick-witted, ready-handed soldiers like himself, and those who thought with him, been taken; had the stealthy but quick-darting policy of walsingham prevailed over the solemn and stately but somewhat ponderous proceedings of burghley, both ghent and antwerp might have been saved, the trifling and treacherous diplomacy of catharine de' medici neutralized, and an altogether more fortunate aspect given at once to the state of protestant affairs. "if you mean to do anything," said he, "it is more than time now. if you will send some man of credit about it, will it please your honour, i will go with him, because i know the humour of the people, and am acquainted with a number of the best. i shall be able to show him a number of their dealings, as well with the french as in other affairs, and perhaps will find means to send messengers to ghent, and to other places, better than the states; for the message of one soldier is better than twenty boors." it was ultimately decided--as will soon be related--to send a man of credit to the provinces. meantime, the policy of england continued to be expectant and dilatory, and advocate buys, after having in vain attempted to conquer the french influence, and bring about the annexation of the provinces to england, threw down his office in disgust, and retired for a time from the contest. he even contemplated for a moment taking service in denmark, but renounced the notion of abandoning his country, and he will accordingly be found, at a later period, conspicuous in public affairs. the deliberations in the english councils were grave and anxious, for it became daily more obvious that the netherland question was the hinge upon which the whole fate of christendom was slowly turning. to allow the provinces to fall back again into the grasp of philip, was to offer england herself as a last sacrifice to the spanish inquisition. this was felt by all the statesmen in the land; but some of them, more than the rest, had a vivid perception of the danger, and of the necessity of dealing with it at once. to the prophetic eye of walsingham, the mists of the future at times were lifted; and the countless sails of the invincible armada, wafting defiance and destruction to england, became dimly visible. he felt that the great netherland bulwark of protestantism and liberty was to be defended at all hazards, and that the death-grapple could not long be deferred. burghley, deeply pondering, but less determined, was still disposed to look on and to temporize. the queen, far-seeing and anxious, but somewhat hesitating, still clung to the idea of a joint protectorate. she knew that the reestablishment of spanish authority in the low countries would be fatal to england, but she was not yet prepared to throw down the gauntlet to philip. she felt that the proposed annexation of the provinces to france would be almost as formidable; yet she could not resolve, frankly and fearlessly, to assume, the burthen of their protection. under the inspiration of burghley, she was therefore willing to encourage the netherlanders underhand; preventing them at every hazard from slackening in their determined hostility to spain; discountenancing, without absolutely forbidding, their proposed absorption by france; intimating, without promising, an ultimate and effectual assistance from herself. meantime, with something of feline and feminine duplicity, by which the sex of the great sovereign would so often manifest itself in the most momentous affairs, she would watch and wait, teasing the provinces, dallying with the danger, not quite prepared as yet to abandon the prize to henry or philip, or to seize it herself. the situation was rapidly tending to become an impossible one. late in october a grave conference was held council, "upon the question whether her majesty should presently relieve the states of the low countries." it was shown, upon one side, that the "perils to the queen and to the realm were great, if the king of spain should recover holland and zeeland, as he had the other countries, for lack of succour in seasonable time, either by the french king or the queen's majesty." on the other side, the great difficulties in the way of effectual assistance by england, were "fully remembered." "but in the end, and upon comparison made," said lord burghley, summing up, "betwixt the perils on the one part, and the difficulties on the other," it was concluded that the queen would be obliged to succumb to the power of spain, and the liberties of england be hopelessly lost, if philip were then allowed to carry out his designs, and if the provinces should be left without succour at his mercy. a "wise person" was accordingly to be sent into holland; first, to ascertain whether the provinces had come to an actual agreement with the king of france, and, if such should prove to be the case, to enquire whether that sovereign had pledged himself to declare war upon philip. in this event, the wise person was to express her majesty's satisfaction that the provinces were thus to be "relieved from the tyranny of the king of spain." on the other hand, if it should appear that no such conclusive arrangements had been made, and that the provinces were likely to fall again victims to the "spanish tyranny," her majesty would then "strain herself as far as, with preservation of her own estate, she might, to succour them at this time." the agent was then to ascertain "what conditions the provinces would require" upon the matter of succour, and, if the terms seemed reasonable, he would assure them that "they should not be left to the cruelties of the spaniards." and further, the wise person, "being pressed to answer, might by conference of speeches and persuasions provoke them to offer to the queen the ports of flushing and middelburg and the brill, wherein she meant not to claim any property, but to hold them as gages for her expenses, and for performances of their covenants." he was also to make minute inquiries as to the pecuniary resources of the provinces, the monthly sums which they would be able to contribute, the number of troops and of ships of war that they would pledge themselves to maintain. these investigations were very important, because the queen, although very well disposed to succour them, "so nevertheless she was to consider how her power might be extended, without ruin or manifest peril to her own estate." it was also resolved, in the same conference, that a preliminary step of great urgency was to "procure a good peace with the king of scots." whatever the expense of bringing about such a pacification might be, it was certain that a "great deal more would be expended in defending the realm against scotland," while england was engaged in hostilities with spain. otherwise, it was argued that her majesty would be "so impeached by scotland in favour of the king of spain, that her action against that king would be greatly weakened." other measures necessary to be taken in view of the spanish war were also discussed. the ex-elector of cologne, "a man of great account in germany," was to be assisted with money to make head against his rival supported by the troops of philip. duke casimir of the palatinate was to be solicited to make a diversion in gelderland. the king of france was to be reminded of his treaty with england for mutual assistance in case of the invasion by a foreign power of either realm, and to be informed "not only of the intentions of the spaniards to invade england, upon their conquest of the netherlands, but of their actual invasion of ireland." it was "to be devised how the king of navarre and don antonio of portugal, for their respective titles, might be induced to offend and occupy the king of spain, whereby to diminish his forces bent upon the low countries." it was also decided that parliament should be immediately summoned, in which, besides the request of a subsidy, many other necessary, provisions should be made for her majesty's safety. "the conclusions of the whole," said lord burghley, with much earnestness, "was this. although her majesty should hereby enter into a war presently, yet were she better to do it now, while she may make the same out of her realm, having the help of the people of holland, and before the king of spain shall have consummated his conquests in those countries, whereby he shall be so provoked with pride, solicited by the pope, and tempted by the queen's own subjects, and shall be so strong by sea, and so free from all other actions and quarrels,--yea, shall be so formidable to all the rest of christendom, as that her majesty shall no wise be able, with her own power, nor with aid of any other, neither by sea nor land, to withstand his attempts, but shall be forced to give place to his insatiable malice, which is most terrible to be thought of, but miserable to suffer." thus did the lord treasurer wisely, eloquently, and well, describe the danger by which england was environed. through the shield of holland the spear was aimed full at the heart of england. but was it a moment to linger? was that buckler to be suffered to fall to the ground, or to be raised only upon the arm of a doubtful and treacherous friend? was it an hour when the protection of protestantism and of european liberty against spain was to be entrusted to the hand of a feeble and priest-ridden valois? was it wise to indulge any longer in doubtings and dreamings, and in yet a little more folding of the arms to sleep, while that insatiable malice, so terrible to be thought of, so miserable to feel, was bowing hourly more formidable, and approaching nearer and nearer? early in december, william davison, gentleman-in-ordinary of her majesty's household, arrived at the hague; a man painstaking, earnest, and zealous, but who was fated, on more than one great occasion, to be made a scape-goat for the delinquencies of greater personages than himself. he had audience of the states general on the th december. he then informed that body that the queen had heard, with, sorrowful heart, of the great misfortunes which the united provinces had sustained since the death of the prince of orange; the many cities which they had lost, and the disastrous aspect of the common cause. moved by the affection which she had always borne the country, and anxious for its preservation, she had ordered her ambassador stafford to request the king of france to undertake, jointly with herself, the defence of the provinces against the king of spain. not till very lately, however, had that envoy succeeded in obtaining an audience, and he had then received "a very cold answer." it being obvious to her majesty, therefore, that the french government intended to protract these matters indefinitely, davison informed the states that she had commissioned him to offer them "all possible assistance, to enquire into the state of the country, and to investigate the proper means of making that assistance most useful." he accordingly requested the appointment of a committee to confer with him upon the subject; and declared that the queen did not desire to make herself mistress of the provinces, but only to be informed how she best could aid their cause. a committee was accordingly appointed, and a long series of somewhat concealed negotiations was commenced. as the deputies were upon the eve of their departure for france, to offer the sovereignty of the provinces to henry, these proceedings were necessarily confused, dilatory, and at tines contradictory. after the arrival of the deputies in france, the cunctative policy inspired by the lord treasurer was continued by england. the delusion of a joint protectorate was still clung to by the queen, although the conduct of france was becoming very ambiguous, and suspicion growing darker as to the ultimate and secret purport of the negotiations in progress. the anxiety and jealousy of elizabeth were becoming keener than ever. if the offers to the king were unlimited; he would accept them, and would thus become as dangerous as philip. if they were unsatisfactory, he would turn his back upon the provinces, and leave them a prey to philip. still she would not yet renounce the hope of bringing the french king over to an ingenuous course of action. it was thought, too, that something might be done with the great malcontent nobles of flanders, whose defection from the national cause had been so disastrous, but who had been much influenced in their course, it was thought, by their jealousy of william the silent. now that the prince was dead, it was thought probable that the arschots, and havres, chimays, and lalaings, might arouse themselves to more patriotic views than they had manifested when they espoused the cause of spain. it would be desirable to excite their jealousy of french influence, and, at the same time, to inspire throughout the popular mind the fear of another tyranny almost as absolute as that of spain. "and if it be objected," said burghley, "that except they shall admit the french king to the absolute dominion, he will not aid them, and they, for lack of succour, be forced to yield to the spaniard, it may be answered that rather than they should be wholly subjected to the french, or overcome by the spaniard, her majesty would yield unto them as much as, with preservation of her estate, and defence of her own country, might be demanded." the real object kept in view by the queen's government was, in short, to obtain for the provinces and for the general cause of liberty the greatest possible amount of assistance from henry, and to allow him to acquire in return the least possible amount of power. the end proposed was a reasonable one, but the means employed savoured too much of intrigue. "it may be easily made probable to the states," said the lord treasurer, "that the government of the french is likely to prove as cumbersome and perilous as that of the spaniards; and likewise it may probably be doubted how the french will keep touch and covenants with them, when any opportunity shall be offered to break them; so that her majesty thinketh no good can be looked for to those countries by yielding this large authority to the french. if they shall continue their title by this grant to be absolute lords, there is no end, for a long time, to be expected of this war; and, contrariwise, if they break off, there is an end of any good composition with the king of spain." shivering and shrinking, but still wading in deeper and deeper, inch by inch, the cautious minister was fast finding himself too far advanced to retreat. he was rarely decided, however, and never lucid; and least of all in emergencies, when decision and lucidity would have been more valuable than any other qualities. deeply doubting, painfully balancing, he at times drove the unfortunate davison almost distraught. puzzled himself and still more puzzling to others, he rarely permitted the netherlanders, or even his own agents, to perceive his drift. it was fair enough, perhaps, to circumvent the french government by its own arts, but the netherlanders meanwhile were in danger of sinking into despair. "thus," wrote the lord treasurer to the envoy, "i have discoursed to you of these uncertainties and difficulties, things not unknown to yourself, but now being imparted to you by her majesty's commandment, you are, by your wisdom, to consider with whom to deal for the stay of this french course, and yet, so to use it (as near as you may) that they of the french faction there be not able to charge you therewith, by-advertising into france. for it hath already appeared, by some speeches past between our ambassador there and des pruneaux, that you are had in some jealousy as a hinderer of this french course, and at work for her majesty to have some entrance and partage in that country. nevertheless our ambassador; by his answer, hath satisfied them to think the contrary." they must have been easily satisfied, if they knew as much of the dealings of her majesty's government as the reader already knows. to inspire doubt of the french, to insinuate the probability of their not "keeping touch and covenant," to represent their rule as "cumbersome and perilous," was wholesome conduct enough towards the netherlanders--and still more so, had it been accompanied with frank offers of assistance--but it was certainly somewhat to "hinder the courses of the french." but in truth all parties were engaged for a season in a round game of deception, in which nobody was deceived. walsingham was impatient, almost indignant at this puerility. "your doings, no doubt of it," he wrote to davison, "are observed by the french faction, and therefore you cannot proceed so closely but it will be espied. howsoever it be, seeing direction groweth from hence, we cannot but blame ourselves, if the effects thereof do not fall out to our liking." that sagacious statesman was too well informed, and too much accustomed to penetrate the designs of his antagonists, to expect anything from the present intrigues. to loiter thus, when mortal blows should be struck, was to give the spanish government exactly that of which it was always most gluttonous--time; and the netherlanders had none of it to spare. "with time and myself, there are two of us," was philip ii.'s favourite observation; and the prince of parma was at this moment sorely perplexed by the parsimony and the hesitations of his own government, by which his large, swift and most creative genius was so often hampered. thus the spanish soldiers, deep in the trenches, went with bare legs and empty stomachs in january; and the dutchmen, among their broken dykes, were up to their ears in mud and water; and german mercenaries, in the obedient provinces, were burning the peasants' houses in order to sell the iron to buy food withal; while grave-visaged statesmen, in comfortable cabinets, wagged their long white beards at each other from a distance, and exchanged grimaces and protocols which nobody heeded. walsingham was weary of this solemn trifling. "i conclude," said he to davison, "that her majesty--with reverence be it spoken--is ill advised, to direct you in a course that is like to work so great peril. i know you will do your best endeavour to keep all things upright, and yet it is hard--the disease being now come to this state, or, as the physicians term it, crisis--to carry yourself in such sort, but that it will, i fear, breed a dangerous alteration in the cause." he denounced with impatience, almost with indignation, the insincerity and injustice of these intolerable hesitations. "sorry am i," said he, "to see the course that is taken in this weighty cause, for we will neither help those poor countries ourselves, nor yet suffer others to do it. i am not ignorant that in time to come the annexing of these countries to the crown of france may prove prejudicial to england, but if france refuse to deal with them, and the rather for that we shall minister some cause of impediment by a kind of dealing underhand, then shall they be forced to return into the hands of spain, which is like to breed such a present peril towards her majesty's self, as never a wise man that seeth it, and loveth her, but lamenteth it from the bottom of his heart." walsingham had made up his mind that it was england, not france, that should take up the cause of the provinces, and defend them at every hazard. he had been overruled, and the queen's government had decided to watch the course of the french negotiation, doing what it could, underhand, to prevent that negotiation from being successful. the secretary did not approve of this disingenuous course. at the same time he had no faith in the good intentions of the french court. "i could wish," said he, "that the french king were carried with that honourable mind into the defence of these countries that her majesty is, but france has not been used to do things for god's sake; neither do they mean to use our advice or assistance in making of the bargain. for they still hold a jealous conceit that when spain and they are together by the ears, we will seek underhand to work our own peace." walsingham, therefore, earnestly deprecated the attitude provisionally maintained by england. meantime, early in january, (jan. , ) the deputation from the provinces had arrived in france. the progress of their negotiation will soon be related, but, before its result was known, a general dissatisfaction had already manifested itself in the netherlands. the factitious enthusiasm which had been created in favour of france, as well as the prejudice against england, began to die out. it became probable in the opinion of those most accustomed to read the signs of the times, that the french court was acting in connivance with philip, and that the negotiation was only intended to amuse the netherlanders, to circumvent the english, and to gain time both for france and spain. it was not believed that the character of henry or the policy of his mother was likely to the cause of any substantial aid to the cause of civil liberty or protestant principles. "they look for no better fruit from the commission to france," wrote davison, who surveyed the general state of affairs with much keenness and breadth of vision, "than a dallying entertainment of the time, neither leaving them utterly hopeless, nor at full liberty to seek for relief elsewhere, especially in england, or else some pleasing motion of peace, wherein the french king will offer his mediation with spain. meantime the people, wearied with the troubles, charges, and hazard of the war, shall be rocked asleep, the provision for their defence neglected, some provinces nearest the danger seduced, the rest by their defection astonished, and the enemy by their decay and confusions, strengthened. this is the scope whereto the doings of the french king, not without intelligence with the spanish sovereign, doth aim, whatever is pretended." there was a wide conviction that the french king was dealing falsely with the provinces. it seemed certain that he must be inspired by intense jealousy of england, and that he was unlikely, for the sake of those whose "religion, popular liberty, and rebellion against their sovereign," he could not but disapprove, to allow queen elizabeth to steal a march upon him, and "make her own market with spain to his cost and disadvantage." in short, it was suspected--whether justly or not will be presently shown--that henry iii. "was seeking to blear the eyes of the world, as his brother charles did before the massacre of st. bartholomew." as the letters received from the dutch envoys in france became less and less encouraging, and as the queen was informed by her ambassador in paris of the tergiversations in paris, she became the more anxious lest the states should be driven to despair. she therefore wrote to davison, instructing him "to nourish in them underhand some hope--as a thing proceeding from himself--that though france should reject them, yet she would not abandon them." he was directed to find out, by circuitous means, what towns they would offer to her as security for any advances she might be induced to make, and to ascertain the amount of monthly contributions towards the support of the war that they were still capable of furnishing. she was beginning to look with dismay at the expatriation of wealthy merchants and manufacturers going so rapidly forward, now that ghent had fallen and brussels and antwerp were in such imminent peril. she feared that, while so much valuable time had been thrown away, the provinces had become too much impoverished to do their own part in their own defence; and she was seriously alarmed at rumours which had become prevalent of a popular disposition towards treating for a peace at any price with spain. it soon became evident that these rumours were utterly without foundation, but the other reasons for elizabeth's anxiety were sufficiently valid. on the whole, the feeling in favour of england was rapidly gaining ground. in holland especially there was general indignation against the french party. the letters of the deputies occasioned "murmur and mislike" of most persons, who noted them to contain "more ample report of ceremonies and compliments than solid argument of comfort." sir edward stafford, who looked with great penetration into the heart of the mysterious proceedings at paris, assured his government that no better result was to be looked for, "after long dalliance and entertainment, than either a flat refusal or such a masked embracing of their cause, as would rather tend to the increasing of their miseries and confusion than relief for their declining estate." while "reposing upon a broken reed," they were, he thought, "neglecting other means more expedient for their necessities." this was already the universal opinion in holland. men now remembered, with bitterness, the treachery of the duke of anjou, which they had been striving so hard to forget, but which less than two years ago had nearly proved fatal to the cause of liberty in the provinces. a committee of the states had an interview with the queen's envoy at the hague; implored her majesty through him not to abandon their cause; expressed unlimited regret for the course which had been pursued, and avowed a determination "to pluck their heads out of the collar," so soon as the opportunity should offer. they stated, moreover, that they had been directed by the assembly to lay before him the instructions for the envoys to france, and the articles proposed for the acceptance of the king. the envoy knew his business better than not to have secretly provided himself with copies of these documents, which he had already laid before his own government. he affected, however, to feel hurt that he had been thus kept in ignorance of papers which he really knew by heart. "after some pretended quarrel," said he, "for their not acquainting me therewith sooner, i did accept them, as if i had before neither seen nor heard of them." this then was the aspect of affairs in the provinces during the absence of the deputies in france. it is now necessary to shift the scene to that country. chapter iv. reception of the dutch envoys at the louvre--ignominious result of the embassy--secret influences at work--bargaining between the french and spanish courts--claims of catharine de' medici upon portugal--letters of henry and catharine--secret proposal by france to invade england--states' mission to henry of navarre--subsidies of philip to guise--treaty of joinville--philip's share in the league denied by parma--philip in reality its chief--manifesto of the league--attitude of henry iii. and of navarre--the league demands a royal decree--designs of france and spain against england --secret interview of mendoza and villeroy--complaints of english persecution--edict of nemours--excommunication of navarre and his reply. the king, notwithstanding his apparent reluctance, had, in sir edward stafford's language, "nibbled at the bait." he had, however, not been secured at the first attempt, and now a second effort was to be made, under what were supposed to be most favourable circumstances. in accordance with his own instructions, his envoy, des pruneaux, had been busily employed in the states, arranging the terms of a treaty which should be entirely satisfactory. it had been laid down as an indispensable condition that holland and zeeland should unite in the offer of sovereignty, and, after the expenditure of much eloquence, diplomacy, and money, holland and zeeland had given their consent. the court had been for some time anxious and impatient for the arrival of the deputies. early in december, des pruneaux wrote from paris to count maurice, urging with some asperity, the necessity of immediate action. "when i left you," he said, "i thought that performance would follow promises. i have been a little ashamed, as the time passed by, to hear nothing of the deputies, nor of any excuse on the subject. it would seem as though god had bandaged the eyes of those who have so much cause to know their own adversity." to the states his language was still more insolent. "excuse me, gentlemen," he said, "if i tell you that i blush at hearing nothing from you. i shall have the shame and you the damage. i regret much the capture of de teligny, and other losses which are occasioned by your delays and want of resolution." thus did the french court, which a few months before had imprisoned, and then almost ignominiously dismissed the envoys who came to offer the sovereignty of the provinces, now rebuke the governments which had ever since been strenuously engaged in removing all obstacles to the entire fulfillment of the king's demands. the states were just despatching a solemn embassy to renew that offer, with hardly any limitation as to terms. the envoys arrived on january rd, , at boulogne, after a stormy voyage from brielle. yet it seems incredible to relate, that, after all the ignominy heaped upon the last, there was nothing but solemn trifling in reserve for the present legation; although the object of both embassies was to offer a crown. the deputies were, however, not kept in prison, upon this occasion, nor treated like thieves or spies. they were admirably lodged, with plenty of cooks and lacqueys to minister to them; they fared sumptuously every day, at henry's expense, and, after they had been six weeks in the kingdom, they at last succeeded in obtaining their first audience. on the th february the king sent five "very splendid, richly-gilded, court-coach-waggons" to bring the envoys to the palace. at one o'clock they arrived at the louvre, and were ushered through four magnificent antechambers into the royal cabinet. the apartments through which they passed swarmed with the foremost nobles, court-functionaries, and ladies of france, in blazing gala costume, who all greeted the envoys with demonstrations of extreme respect: the halls and corridors were lined with archers, halbardiers, swiss guards, and grooms "besmeared with gold," and it was thought that all this rustle of fine feathers would be somewhat startling to the barbarous republicans, fresh from the fens of holland. henry received them in his cabinet, where he was accompanied only by the duke of joyeuse--his foremost and bravest "minion"--by the count of bouscaige, m. de valette, and the count of chateau vieux. the most christian king was neatly dressed, in white satin doublet and hose, and well-starched ruff, with a short cloak on his shoulders, a little velvet cap on the side of his head, his long locks duly perfumed and curled, his sword at his side, and a little basket, full of puppies, suspended from his neck by a broad ribbon. he held himself stiff and motionless, although his face smiled a good-humoured welcome to the ambassadors; and he moved neither foot, hand, nor head, as they advanced. chancellor leoninus, the most experienced, eloquent, and tedious of men, now made an interminable oration, fertile in rhetoric and barren in facts; and the king made a short and benignant reply, according to the hallowed formula in such cases provided. and then there was a presentation to the queen, and to the queen-mother, when leoninus was more prolix than before, and catharine even more affectionate than her son; and there were consultations with chiverny and villeroy, and brulart and pruneaux, and great banquets at the royal expense, and bales of protocols, and drafts of articles, and conditions and programmes and apostilles by the hundred weight, and at last articles of annexation were presented by the envoys, and pruneaux looked at and pronounced them "too raw and imperative," and the envoys took them home again, and dressed them and cooked them till there was no substance left in them; for whereas the envoys originally offered the crown of their country to france, on condition that no religion but the reformed religion should be tolerated there, no appointments made but by the states, and no security offered for advances to be made by the christian king, save the hearts and oaths of his new subjects--so they now ended by proposing the sovereignty unconditionally, almost abjectly; and, after the expiration of nearly three months, even these terms were absolutely refused, and the deputies were graciously permitted to go home as they came. the annexation and sovereignty were definitely declined. henry regretted and sighed, catharine de' medici wept--for tears were ever at her command--chancellor chiverny and secretary brulart wept likewise, and pruneaux was overcome with emotion at the parting interview of the ambassadors with the court, in which they were allowed a last opportunity for expressing what was called their gratitude. and then, on the lath march, m. d'oignon came to them, and presented, on the part of the king, to each of the envoys a gold chain weighing twenty-one ounces and two grains. des pruneaux, too--des pruneaux who had spent the previous summer in the netherlands, who had travelled from province to province, from city to city, at the king's command, offering boundless assistance, if they would unanimously offer their sovereignty; who had vanquished by his importunity the resistance of the stern hollanders, the last of all the netherlanders to yield to the royal blandishments--des pruneaux, who had "blushed"--des pruneaux who had wept--now thought proper to assume an airy tone, half encouragement, half condolence. "man proposes, gentlemen," said he "but god disposes. we are frequently called on to observe that things have a great variety of times and terms. many a man is refused by a woman twice, who succeeds the third time," and so on, with which wholesome apothegms des pruneaux faded away then and for ever from the page of netherland history. in a few days afterwards the envoys took shipping at dieppe, and arrived early in april at the hague. and thus terminated the negotiation of the states with france. it had been a scene of elaborate trifling on the king's part from beginning to end. yet the few grains of wheat which have thus been extracted from the mountains of diplomatic chaff so long mouldering in national storehouses, contain, however dry and tasteless, still something for human nourishment. it is something to comprehend the ineffable meanness of the hands which then could hold the destiny of mighty empires. here had been offered a magnificent prize to france; a great extent of frontier in the quarter where expansion was most desirable, a protective network of towns and fortresses on the side most vulnerable, flourishing, cities on the sea-coast where the marine traffic was most lucrative, the sovereignty of a large population, the most bustling, enterprising, and hardy in europe--a nation destined in a few short years to become the first naval and commercial power in the world--all this was laid at the feet of henry valois and catharine de' medici, and rejected. the envoys, with their predecessors, had wasted eight months of most precious time; they had heard and made orations, they had read and written protocols, they had witnessed banquets, masquerades, and revels of stupendous frivolity, in honour of the english garter, brought solemnly to the valois by lord derby, accompanied by one hundred gentlemen "marvellously, sumptuously, and richly accoutred," during that dreadful winter when the inhabitants of brussels, antwerp, mechlin--to save which splendid cities and to annex them to france, was a main object of the solemn embassy from the netherlands--were eating rats, and cats, and dogs, and the weeds from the pavements, and the grass from the churchyards; and were finding themselves more closely pressed than ever by the relentless genius of farnese; and in exchange for all these losses and all this humiliation, the ambassadors now returned to their constituents, bringing an account of chiverny's magnificent banquets and long orations, of the smiles of henry iii., the tears of catharine de' medici, the regrets of m. des pruneaux, besides sixteen gold chains, each weighing twenty-one ounces and two grains. it is worth while to go for a moment behind the scene; we have seen the actors, with mask and cothurn and tinsel crown, playing their well-conned parts upon the stage. let us hear them threaten, and whimper, and chaffer among themselves. so soon as it was intimated that henry iii. was about to grant the netherland, envoys an audience, the wrath of ambassador mendoza was kindled. that magniloquent spaniard instantly claimed an interview with the king, before whom, according to the statement of his colleagues, doing their best to pry into these secrets, he blustered and bounced, and was more fantastical in his insolence than even spanish envoy had ever been before. "he went presently to court," so walsingham was informed by stafford, "and dealt very passionately with the king and queen-mother to deny them audience, who being greatly offended with his presumptuous and malapert manner of proceeding, the king did in choler and with some sharp speeches, let him plainly understand that he was an absolute king, bound to yield account of his doings to no man, and that it was lawful for him to give access to any man within his own realm. the queen-mother answered him likewise very roundly, whereupon he departed for the time, very much discontented." brave words, on both sides, if they had ever been spoken, or if there had been any action corresponding to their spirit. but, in truth, from the beginning, henry and his mother saw in the netherland embassy only the means of turning a dishonest penny. since the disastrous retreat of anjou from the provinces, the city of cambray had remained in the hands of the seigneur de balagny, placed there by the duke. the citadel, garrisoned by french troops, it was not the intention of catharine de' medici to restore to philip, and a truce on the subject had been arranged provisionally for a year. philip, taking parma's advice to prevent the french court, if possible, from "fomenting the netherland rebellion," had authorized the prince to conclude that truce, as if done on his own responsibility, and not by royal order. meantime, balagny was gradually swelling into a petty potentate, on his own account, making himself very troublesome to the prince of parma, and requiring a great deal of watching. cambray was however apparently acquired for france. but, besides this acquisition, there was another way of earning something solid, by turning this netherland matter handsomely to account. philip ii. had recently conquered portugal. among the many pretensions to that crown, those of catherine de' medici had been put forward, but had been little heeded. the claim went back more than three hundred years, and to establish its validity would have been to convert the peaceable possession of a long line of sovereigns into usurpation. to ascend to alphonso iii. was like fetching, as it was said, a claim from evander's grandmother. nevertheless, ever since philip had been upon the portuguese throne, catherine had been watching the opportunity, not of unseating that sovereign, but of converting her claim into money. the netherland embassy seemed to offer the coveted opportunity. there was, therefore, quite as much warmth at the outset, on the part of mendoza, in that first interview after the arrival of the deputies, as had been represented. there was however less dignity and more cunning on the part of henry and catherine than was at all suspected. even before that conference the king had been impatiently expecting overtures from the spanish envoy, and had been disappointed. "he told me," said henry, "that he would make proposals so soon as tassis should be gone, but he has done nothing yet. he said to gondi that all he meant was to get the truce of cambray accomplished. i hope, however, that my brother, the king of spain, will do what is right in regard to madam my mother's pretensions. 'tis likely that he will be now incited thereto, seeing that the deputies of all the netherland provinces are at present in my kingdom, to offer me carte blanche. i shall hear what they have to say, and do exactly what the good of my own affairs shall seem to require. the queen of england, too, has been very pressing and urgent with me for several months on this subject. i shall hear, too, what she has to say, and i presume, if the king of spain will now disclose himself, and do promptly what he ought, that we may set christendom at rest." henry then instructed his ambassador in spain to keep his eyes wide open, in order to penetrate the schemes of philip, and to this end ordered him an increase of salary by a third, that he might follow that monarch on his journey to arragon. meanwhile mendoza had audience of his majesty. "he made a very pressing remonstrance," said the king, "concerning the arrival of these deputies, urging me to send them back at once; denouncing them as disobedient rebels and heretics. i replied that my kingdom was free, and that i should hear from them all that they had to say, because i could not abandon madam my mother in her pretensions, not only for the filial obedience which i owe her, but because i am her only heir. mendoza replied that he should go and make the same remonstrance to the queen-mother, which he accordingly did, and she will herself write you what passed between them. if they do not act up to their duty down there i know how to take my revenge upon them." this is the king's own statement--his veriest words--and he was surely best aware of what occurred between himself and mendoza, under their four eyes only. the ambassador is not represented as extremely insolent, but only pressing; and certainly there is little left of the fine periods on henry's part about listening to the cry of the oppressed, or preventing the rays of his ancestors' diadem from growing pale, with which contemporary chronicles are filled. there was not one word of the advancement and glory of the french nation; not a hint of the fame to be acquired by a magnificent expansion of territory, still less of the duty to deal generously or even honestly with an oppressed people, who in good faith were seeking an asylum in exchange for offered sovereignty, not a syllable upon liberty of conscience, of religious or civil rights; nothing but a petty and exclusive care for the interests of his mother's pocket, and of his own as his mother's heir. this farthing-candle was alone to guide the steps of "the high and mighty king," whose reputation was perpetually represented as so precious to him in all the conferences between his ministers and the netherland deputies. was it possible for those envoys to imagine the almost invisible meanness of such childish tricks? the queen-mother was still more explicit and unblushing throughout the whole affair. "the ambassador of spain," she said, "has made the most beautiful remonstrances he could think of about these deputies from the netherlands. all his talk, however, cannot persuade me to anything else save to increase my desire to have reparation for the wrong that has been done me in regard to my claims upon portugal, which i am determined to pursue by every means within my power. nevertheless i have told don bernardino that i should always be ready to embrace any course likely to bring about a peaceful conclusion. he then entered into a discussion of my rights, which, he said, were not thought in spain to be founded in justice. but when i explained to him the principal points (of which i possess all the pieces of evidence and justification), he hardly knew what to say, save that he was astounded that i had remained so long without speaking of my claims. in reply, i told him ingenuously the truth." the truth which the ingenuous catharine thus revealed was, in brief, that all her predecessors had been minors, women, and persons in situations not to make their rights valid. finding herself more highly placed, she had advanced her claims, which had been so fully recognized in portugal, that she had been received as infanta of the kingdom. all pretensions to the throne being now through women only, hers were the best of any. at all this don bernardino expressed profound astonishment, and promised to send a full account to his master of "the infinite words" which had passed between them at this interview! "i desire," said catharine, "that the lord king of spain should open his mind frankly and promptly upon the recompense which he is willing to make me for portugal, in order that things may pass rather with gentleness than otherwise." it was expecting a great deal to look for frankness and promptness from the lord king of spain, but the queen-mother considered that the netherland envoys had put a whip into her hand. she was also determined to bring philip up to the point, without showing her own game. "i will never say," said catharine--ingenuous no longer--"i will never say how much i ask, but, on the contrary, i shall wait for him to make the offer. i expect it to be reasonable, because he has seen fit to seize and occupy that which i declare to be my property." this is the explanation of all the languor and trifling of the french court in the netherland negotiation. a deep, constant, unseen current was running counter to all the movement which appeared upon the surface. the tergiversations of the spanish cabinet in the portugal matter were the cause of the shufflings of the french ministers on the subject of the provinces. "i know well," said henry a few days later, "that the people down there, and their ambassador here, are leading us on with words, as far as they can, with regard to the recompense of madam my mother for her claims upon portugal. but they had better remember (and i think they will), that out of the offers which these sixteen deputies of the netherlands are bringing me--and i believe it to be carte blanche--i shall be able to pay myself. 'twill be better to come promptly to a good bargain and a brief conclusion, than to spin the matter out longer." "don bernardino," said the queen-mother on the same day, "has been keeping us up to this hour in hopes of a good offer, but 'tis to be feared, for the good of christendom, that 'twill be too late. the deputies are come, bringing carte blanche. nevertheless, if the king of spain is willing to be reasonable, and that instantly, it will be well, and it would seem as if god had been pleased to place this means in our hands." after the conferences had been fairly got under way between the french government and the envoys, the demands upon philip for a good bargain and a handsome offer became still more pressing. "i have given audience to the deputies from the provinces," wrote henry, "and the queen-mother has done the same. chancellor chiverny, villequier, bellievre, and brulart, will now confer with them from day today. i now tell you that it will be well, before things go any farther, for the king of spain to come to reason about the pretensions of madam mother. this will be a means of establishing the repose of christendom. i shall be very willing to concur in such an arrangement, if i saw any approximation to it on the part of the king or his ministers. but i fear they will delay too long, and so you had better tell them. push them to the point as much as possible, without letting them suspect that i have been writing about it, for that would make them rather draw back than come forward." at the same time, during this alternate threatening and coaxing between the french and the spanish court, and in the midst of all the solemn and tedious protocolling of the ministry and the dutch envoys, there was a most sincere and affectionate intercourse maintained between henry iii. and the prince of parma. the spanish governor-general was assured that nothing but the warmest regard was entertained for him and his master on the part of the french court. parma had replied, however, that so many french troops had in times past crossed the frontier to assist the rebels, that he hardly knew what to think. he expressed the hope, now that the duke of anjou was dead, that his christian majesty would not countenance the rebellion, but manifest his good-will. "how can your highness doubt it," said malpierre, henry's envoy, "for his majesty has given proof enough of his good will, having prevented all enterprises in this regard, and preferred to have his own subjects cut into pieces rather than that they should carry out their designs. had his majesty been willing merely to connive at these undertakings, 'tis probable that the affairs of your highness would not have succeeded so well as they have done." with regard to england, also, the conduct of henry and his mother in these negotiations was marked by the same unfathomable duplicity. there was an appearance of cordiality on the surface; but there was deep plotting, and bargaining, and even deadly hostility lurking below. we have seen the efforts which elizabeth's government had been making to counteract the policy which offered the sovereignty of the provinces to the french monarch. at the same time there was at least a loyal disposition upon the queen's part to assist the netherlands, in concurrence with henry. the demeanour of burghley and his colleagues was frankness itself, compared with the secret schemings of the valois; for at least peace and good-will between the "triumvirate" of france, england and the netherlands, was intended, as the true means of resisting the predominant influence of spain. yet very soon after the solemn reception by henry of the garter brought by lord derby, and in the midst of the negotiations between the french court and the united provinces, the french king was not only attempting to barter the sovereignty offered him by the netherlanders against a handsome recompense for the portugal claim, but he was actually proposing to the king of spain to join with him in an invasion of england! even philip himself must have admired and respected such a complication of villany on the part of his most christian brother. he was, however, not disposed to put any confidence in his schemes. "with regard to the attempt against england," wrote philip to mendoza, "you must keep your eyes open--you must look at the danger of letting them, before they have got rid of their rivals and reduced their heretics, go out of their own house and kingdom, and thus of being made fools of when they think of coming back again. let them first exterminate the heretics of france, and then we will look after those of england; because 'tis more important to finish those who are near than those afar off. perhaps the queen-mother proposes this invasion in order to proceed more feebly with matters in her own kingdom; and thus mucio (duke of guise) and his friends will not have so safe a game, and must take heed lest they be deceived." thus it is obvious that henry and catharine intended, on the whole, to deceive the english and the netherlanders, and to get as good a bargain and as safe a friendship from philip as could be manufactured out of the materials placed in the french king's hands by the united provinces. elizabeth honestly wished well to the states, but allowed burghley and those who acted with him to flatter themselves with the chimera that henry could be induced to protect the netherlands without assuming the sovereignty of that commonwealth. the provinces were fighting for their existence, unconscious of their latent strength, and willing to trust to france or to england, if they could only save themselves from being swallowed by spain. as for spain itself, that country was more practised in duplicity even than the government of the medici-valois, and was of course more than a match at the game of deception for the franker politicians of england and holland. the king of navarre had meanwhile been looking on at a distance. too keen an observer, too subtle a reasoner to doubt the secret source of the movements then agitating france to its centre, he was yet unable to foresee the turn that all these intrigues were about to take. he could hardly doubt that spain was playing a dark and desperate game with the unfortunate henry iii.; for, as we have seen, he had himself not long before received a secret and liberal offer from philip ii., if he would agree to make war upon the king. but the bearnese was not the man to play into the hands of spain, nor could he imagine the possibility of the valois or even of his mother taking so suicidal a course. after the netherland deputies had received their final dismissal from the king, they sent calvart, who had been secretary to their embassy, on a secret mission to henry of navarre, then resident at chartres. the envoy communicated to the huguenot chief the meagre result of the long negotiation with the french court. henry bade him be of good cheer, and assured him of his best wishes for their cause. he expressed the opinion that the king of france would now either attempt to overcome the guise faction by gentle means, or at once make war upon them. the bishop of acqs had strongly recommended the french monarch to send the king of navarre, with a strong force, to the assistance of the netherlands, urging the point with much fervid eloquence and solid argument. henry for a moment had seemed impressed, but such a vigorous proceeding was of course entirely beyond his strength, and he had sunk back into his effeminate languor so soon as the bold bishop's back was turned. the bearnese had naturally conceived but little hope that such a scheme would be carried into effect; but he assured calvart, that nothing could give him greater delight than to mount and ride in such a cause. "notwithstanding," said the bearnese, "that the villanous intentions of the guises are becoming plainer and plainer, and that they are obviously supplied with spanish dollars, i shall send a special envoy to the most christian king, and, although 'tis somewhat late, implore him to throw his weight into the scale, in order to redeem your country from its misery. meantime be of good heart, and defend as you have done your hearths, your liberty, and the honour of god." he advised the states unhesitatingly to continue their confidence in the french king, and to keep him informed of their plans and movements; expressing the opinion that these very intrigues of the guise party would soon justify or even force henry iii. openly to assist the netherlands. so far, at that very moment, was so sharp a politician as the bearnese from suspecting the secret schemes of henry of valois. calvart urged the king of navarre to assist the states at that moment with some slight subsidy. antwerp was in such imminent danger as to fill the hearts of all true patriots with dismay; and a timely succour, even if a slender one, might be of inestimable value. henry expressed profound regret that his own means were so limited, and his own position so dangerous, as to make it difficult for him to manifest in broad daylight the full affection which he bore the provinces. "to my sorrow," said he, "your proposition is made in the midst of such dark and stormy weather, that those who have clearest sight are unable to see to what issue these troubles of france are tending." nevertheless, with much generosity and manliness, he promised calvart to send two thousand soldiers, at his own charges, to the provinces without delay; and authorised that envoy to consult with his agent at the court of the french king, in order to obtain the royal permission for the troops to cross the frontier. the crownless and almost houseless king had thus, at a single interview, and in exchange for nothing but good wishes, granted what the most christian monarch of france had refused, after months of negotiation, and with sovereignty as the purchase-money. the envoy, well pleased, sped as swiftly as possible to paris; but, as may easily be imagined, henry of valois forbade the movement contemplated by henry of navarre. "his majesty," said villeroy, secretary of state, "sees no occasion, in so weighty a business, thus suddenly to change his mind; the less so, because he hopes to be able ere long to smooth over these troubles which have begun in france. should the king either openly or secretly assist the netherlands or allow them to be assisted, 'twould be a reason for all the catholics now sustaining his majesty's party to go over to the guise faction. the provinces must remain firm, and make no pacification with the enemy. meantime the queen of england is the only one to whom god has given means to afford you succour. one of these days, when the proper time comes, his majesty will assist her in affording you relief." calvart, after this conference with the king of navarre, and subsequently with the government, entertained a lingering hope that the french king meant to assist the provinces. "i know well who is the author of these troubles," said the unhappy monarch, who never once mentioned the name of guise in all those conferences, "but, if god grant me life, i will give him as good as he sends, and make him rue his conduct." they were not aware after how many strange vacillations henry was one day to wreak this threatened vengeance. as for navarre, he remained upon the watch, good humoured as ever, more merry and hopeful as the tempest grew blacker; manifesting the most frank and friendly sentiments towards the provinces, and writing to queen elizabeth in the chivalrous style so dear to the heart of that sovereign, that he desired nothing better than to be her "servant and captain-general against the common enemy." but, indeed, the french king was not so well informed as he imagined himself to be of the authorship of these troubles. mucio, upon whose head he thus threatened vengeance, was but the instrument. the concealed hand that was directing all these odious intrigues, and lighting these flames of civil war which were so long to make france a scene of desolation, was that of the industrious letter-writer in the escorial. that which henry of navarre shrewdly suspected, when he talked of the spanish dollars in the balafre's pocket, that which was dimly visible to the bishop of acqs when he told henry iii. that the "tagus had emptied itself into the seine and loire, and that the gold of mexico was flowing into the royal cabinet," was much more certain than they supposed. philip, in truth, was neglecting his own most pressing interests that he might direct all his energies towards entertaining civil war in france. that france should remain internally at peace was contrary to all his plans. he had therefore long kept guise and his brother, the cardinal de lorraine, in his pay, and he had been spending large sums of money to bribe many of the most considerable functionaries in the kingdom. the most important enterprises in the netherlands were allowed to languish, that these subterranean operations of the "prudent" monarch of spain should be pushed forward. the most brilliant and original genius that philip had the good fortune to have at his disposal, the genius of alexander farnese, was cramped and irritated almost to madness, by the fetters imposed upon it, by the sluggish yet obstinate nature of him it was bound to obey. farnese was at that moment engaged in a most arduous military undertaking, that famous siege of antwerp, the details of which will be related in future chapters, yet he was never furnished with men or money enough to ensure success to a much more ordinary operation. his complaints, subdued but intense, fell almost unheeded on his master's ear. he had not "ten dollars at his command," his cavalry horses were all dead of hunger or had been eaten by their riders, who were starving to death themselves, his army had dwindled to a "handful," yet he still held on to his purpose, in spite of famine, the desperate efforts of indefatigable enemies, and all the perils and privations of a deadly winter. he, too, was kept for a long time in profound ignorance of philip's designs. meantime, while the spanish soldiers were starving in flanders, philip's dollars were employed by mucio and his adherents in enlisting troops in switzerland and germany, in order to carry on the civil war in france. the french king was held systematically up to ridicule or detestation in every village-pulpit in his own kingdom, while the sister of mucio, the duchess of montpensier, carried the scissors at her girdle, with which she threatened to provide henry with a third crown, in addition to those of france and poland, which he had disgraced--the coronal tonsure of a monk. the convent should be, it was intimated, the eventual fate of the modern childeric, but meantime it was more important than ever to supersede the ultimate pretensions of henry of navarre. to prevent that heretic of heretics, who was not to be bought with spanish gold, from ever reigning, was the first object of philip and mucio. accordingly, on the last day of the year , a secret treaty had been signed at joinville between henry of guise and his brother the duc de mayenne, holding the proxies of their brother the cardinal and those of their uncles, aumale and elbeuf, on the one part, and john baptist tassis and commander moreo, on the other, as representatives of philip. this transaction, sufficiently well known now to the most superficial student of history, was a profound mystery then, so far as regarded the action of the spanish king. it was not a secret, however, that the papistical party did not intend that the bearnese prince should ever come to the throne, and the matter of the succession was discussed, precisely as if the throne had been vacant. it was decided that charles, paternal uncle to henry of navarre, commonly called the cardinal bourbon, should be considered successor to the crown, in place of henry, whose claim was forfeited by heresy. moreover, a great deal of superfluous money and learning was expended in ordering some elaborate legal arguments to be prepared by venal jurisconsults, proving not only that the uncle ought to succeed before the nephew, but that neither the one nor the other had any claim to succeed at all. the pea having thus been employed to do the work which the sword alone could accomplish, the poor old cardinal was now formally established by the guise faction as presumptive heir to the crown. a man of straw, a superannuated court-dangler, a credulous trifler, but an earnest papist as his brother antony had been, sixty-six years old, and feeble beyond his years, who, his life long, had never achieved one manly action, and had now one foot in the grave; this was the puppet placed in the saddle to run a tilt against the bearnese, the man with foot ever in the stirrup, with sword rarely in its sheath. the contracting parties at joinville agreed that the cardinal should succeed on the death of the reigning king, and that no heretic should ever ascend the throne, or hold the meanest office in the kingdom. they agreed further that all heretics should be "exterminated" without distinction throughout france and the netherlands. in order to procure the necessary reforms among the clergy, the council of trent was to be fully carried into effect. philip pledged himself to furnish at least fifty thousand crowns monthly, for the advancement of this holy league, as it was denominated, and as much more as should prove necessary. the sums advanced were to be repaid by the cardinal on his succeeding to the throne. all the great officers of the crown, lords and gentlemen, cities, chapters, and universities, all catholics, in short, in the kingdom, were deemed to be included in the league. if any foreign catholic prince desired to enter the union, he should be admitted with the consent of both parties. neither his catholic majesty nor the confederated princes should treat with the most christian king, either directly or indirectly. the compact was to remain strictly secret--one copy of it being sent to philip, while the other was to be retained by cardinal bourbon and his fellow leaguers. and now--in accordance with this program--philip proceeded stealthily and industriously to further the schemes of mucio, to the exclusion of more urgent business. noiseless and secret himself, and delighting in clothing so much as to glide, as it were, throughout europe, wrapped in the mantle of invisibility, he was perpetually provoked by the noise, the bombast, and the bustle, which his less prudent confederates permitted themselves. while philip for a long time hesitated to confide the secret of the league to parma, whom it most imported to understand these schemes of his master, the confederates were openly boasting of the assistance which they were to derive from parma's cooperation. even when the prince had at last been informed as to the state of affairs, he stoutly denied the facts of which the leaguers made their vaunt; thus giving to mucio and his friends a lesson in dissimulation. "things have now arrived at a point," wrote philip to tassis, th march, , "that this matter of the league cannot and ought not to be concealed from those who have a right to know it. therefore you must speak clearly to the prince of parma, informing him of the whole scheme, and enjoining the utmost secrecy. you must concert with him as to the best means of rendering aid to this cause, after having apprised him of the points which regarded him, and also that of the security of cardinal de bourbon, in case of necessity." the prince was anything but pleased, in the midst of his anxiety and his almost superhuman labour in the antwerp siege, to be distracted, impoverished, and weakened, in order to carry out these schemes against france; but he kept the secret manfully. to malpierre, the french envoy in brussels--for there was the closest diplomatic communication between henry iii. and philip, while each was tampering with the rebellious subjects of the other--to malpierre parma flatly contradicted all complicity on the part of the spanish king or himself with the holy league, of which he knew philip to be the originator and the chief. "if i complain to the prince of parma," said the envoy, "of the companies going from flanders to assist the league, he will make me no other reply than that which the president has done--that there is nothing at all in it--until they are fairly arrived in france. the president (richardot) said that if the catholic king belonged to the league, as they insinuate, his majesty would declare the fact openly." and a few days later, the prince himself averred, as malpierre had anticipated, that "as to any intention on the part of himself or his catholic majesty, to send succour to the league, according to the boast of these gentlemen, he had never thought of such a thing, nor had received any order on the subject from his master. if the king intended to do anything of the kind, he would do it openly. he protested that he had never seen anything, or known anything of the league." here was a man who knew how to keep a secret, and who had no scruples in the matter of dissimulation, however enraged he might be at seeing men and money diverted from his own masterly combinations in order to carry out these schemes of his master. mucio, on the contrary, was imprudent and inclined to boast. his contempt for henry iii, made him blind to the dangers to be apprehended from henry of navarre. he did little, but talked a great deal. philip was very anxious that the work should be done both secretly and thoroughly. "let the business be finished before saint john's day," said he to tassis, when sending fifty thousand dollars for the use of the brothers guise. "tell iniquez to warn them not to be sluggish. let them not begin in a lukewarm manner, but promise them plenty of assistance from me, if they conduct themselves properly. let them beware of wavering, or of falling into plans of conciliation. if they do their duty, i will do mine." but the guise faction moved slowly despite of philip's secret promptings. the truth is, that the means proposed by the spanish monarch were ludicrously inadequate to his plans, and it was idle to suppose that the world was to be turned upside down for his benefit, at the very low price which he was prepared to pay. nothing less than to exterminate all the heretics in christendom, to place himself on the thrones of france and of england, and to extinguish the last spark of rebellion in the netherlands, was his secret thought, and yet it was very difficult to get fifty thousand dollars from him from month to month. procrastinating and indolent himself, he was for ever rebuking the torpid movements of the guises. "let mucio set his game well at the outset," said he; "let him lay the axe to the root of the tree, for to be wasting time fruitlessly is sharpening the knife for himself." this was almost prophetic. when after so much talking and tampering, there began to be recrimination among the leaguers, philip was very angry with his subordinate. "here is mucio," said he, "trying to throw the blame of all the difficulties, which have arisen, upon us. not hastening, not keeping his secret, letting the execution of the enterprise grow cold, and lending an ear to suggestions about peace, without being sure of its conclusion, he has turned his followers into cowards, discredited his cause, and given the king of france opportunity to strengthen his force and improve his party. these are all very palpable things. i am willing to continue my friendship for them, but not, if, while they accept it, they permit themselves to complain, instead of manifesting gratitude." on the whole, however, the affairs of the league seemed prosperous. there was doubtless too much display among the confederates, but there was a growing uneasiness among the royalists. cardinal bourbon, discarding his ecclesiastical robes and scarlet stockings, paraded himself daily in public, clothed in military costume, with all the airs of royalty. many persons thought him mad. on the other hand, epergnon, the haughty minion-in-chief, who governed henry iii., and insulted all the world, was becoming almost polite. "the progress of the league," said busbecq, "is teaching the duc d' epergnon manners. 'tis a youth of such insolence, that without uncovering he would talk with men of royal descent, while they were bareheaded. 'tis a common jest now that he has found out where his hat is." thus, for a long time, a network of secret political combinations had been stretching itself over christendom. there were great movements of troops throughout germany, switzerland, the netherlands, slowly concentrating themselves upon france; yet, on the whole, the great mass of the populations, the men and women who were to pay, to fight, to starve, to be trampled upon, to be outraged, to be plundered, to be burned out of houses and home, to bleed, and to die, were merely ignorant, gaping spectators. that there was something very grave in prospect was obvious, but exactly what was impending they knew no more than the generation yet unborn. very noiselessly had the patient manager who sat in the escorial been making preparations for that european tragedy in which most of the actors had such fatal parts assigned them, and of which few of the spectators of its opening scenes were doomed to witness the conclusion. a shifting and glancing of lights, a vision of vanishing feet, a trampling and bustling of unseen crowds, movements of concealed machinery, a few incoherent words, much noise and confusion vague and incomprehensible, till at last the tinkling of a small bell, and a glimpse of the modest manager stealing away as the curtain was rising--such was the spectacle presented at midsummer . and in truth the opening picture was effective. sixteen black-robed, long-bearded netherland envoys stalking away, discomfited and indignant upon one side; catharine de' medici on the other, regarding them with a sneer, painfully contorted into a pathetic smile; henry the king, robed in a sack of penitence, trembling and hesitating, leaning on the arm of epergnon, but quailing even under the protection of that mighty swordsman; mucio, careering, truncheon in hand, in full panoply, upon his war-horse, waving forward a mingled mass of german lanzknechts, swiss musketeers, and lorraine pikemen; the redoubtable don bernardino de mendoza, in front, frowning and ferocious, with his drawn sword in his hand; elizabeth of england, in the back ground, with the white-bearded burghley and the monastic walsingham, all surveying the scene with eyes of deepest meaning; and, somewhat aside, but in full view, silent, calm, and imperturbably good-humoured, the bold bearnese, standing with a mischievous but prophetic smile glittering through his blue eyes and curly beard--thus grouped were the personages of the drama in the introductory scenes. the course of public events which succeeded the departure of the netherland deputies is sufficiently well known. the secret negotiations and intrigues, however, by which those external facts were preceded or accompanied rest mainly in dusty archives, and it was therefore necessary to dwell somewhat at length upon them in the preceding pages. the treaty of joinville was signed on the last day of the year . we have seen the real nature of the interview of ambassador mendoza with henry iii. and his mother, which took place early in january, . immediately after that conference, don bernardino betook himself to the duke of guise, and lost no time in stimulating his confederate to prompt but secret action. the netherland envoys had their last audience on the th march, and their departure and disappointment was the signal for the general exhibition and explosion. the great civil war began, and the man who refused to annex the netherlands to the french kingdom soon ceased to be regarded as a king. on the st march, the heir presumptive, just manufactured by the guises, sent forth his manifesto. cardinal bourbon, by this document, declared that for twenty-four years past no proper measures had been taken to extirpate the heresy by which france was infested. there was no natural heir to the king. those who claimed to succeed at his death had deprived themselves, by heresy, of their rights. should they gain their ends, the ancient religion would be abolished throughout the kingdom, as it had been in england, and catholics be subjected to the same frightful tortures which they were experiencing there. new men, admitted to the confidence of the crown, clothed with the highest honours, and laden with enormous emoluments, had excluded the ancient and honoured functionaries of the state, who had been obliged to sell out their offices to these upstart successors. these new favourites had seized the finances of the kingdom, all of which were now collected into the private coffers of the king, and shared by him with his courtiers. the people were groaning under new taxes invented every day, yet they knew nothing of the distribution of the public treasure, while the king himself was so impoverished as to be unable to discharge his daily debts. meantime these new advisers of the crown had renewed to the protestants of the kingdom the religious privileges of which they had so justly been deprived, yet the religious peace which had followed had not brought with it the promised diminution of the popular burthens. never had the nation been so heavily taxed or reduced to such profound misery. for these reasons, he, cardinal bourbon, with other princes of the blood, peers, gentlemen, cities, and universities, had solemnly bound themselves by oath to extirpate heresy down to the last root, and to save the people from the dreadful load under which they were languishing. it was for this that they had taken up arms, and till that purpose was accomplished they would never lay them down. the paper concluded with the hope that his majesty would not take these warlike demonstrations amiss; and a copy of the document was placed in the royal hands. it was very obvious to the most superficial observer, that the manifesto was directed almost as much against the reigning sovereign as against henry of navarre. the adherents of the guise faction, and especially certain theologians in their employ, had taken very bold grounds upon the relations between king and subjects, and had made the public very familiar with their doctrines. it was a duty, they said, "to depose a prince who did not discharge his duty. authority ill regulated was robbery, and it was as absurd to call him a king who knew not how to govern, as it was to take a blind man for a guide, or to believe that a statue could influence the movements of living men." yet to the faction, inspired by such rebellious sentiments, and which was thundering in his face such tremendous denunciations, the unhappy henry could not find a single royal or manly word of reply. he threw himself on his knees, when, if ever, he should have assumed an attitude of command. he answered the insolence of the men, who were parading their contempt for his authority, by humble excuses, and supplications for pardon. he threw his crown in the dust before their feet, as if such humility would induce them to place it again upon his head. he abandoned the minions who had been his pride, his joy, and his defence, and deprecated, with an abject whimper, all responsibility for the unmeasured ambition and the insatiable rapacity of a few private individuals. he conjured the party-leaders, who had hurled defiance in his face, to lay down their arms, and promised that they should find in his wisdom and bounty more than all the advantages which they were seeking to obtain by war. henry of navarre answered in a different strain. the gauntlet had at last been thrown down to him, and he came forward to take it up; not insolently nor carelessly, but with the cold courtesy of a christian knight and valiant gentleman. he denied the charge of heresy. he avowed detestation of all doctrines contrary to the word of god, to the decrees of the fathers of the church, or condemned by the councils. the errors and abuses which had from time to time crept into the church, had long demanded, in the opinion of all pious persons, some measures of reform. after many bloody wars, no better remedy had been discovered to arrest the cause of these dire religious troubles, whether in france or germany, than to permit all men to obey the dictates of their own conscience. the protestants had thus obtained in france many edicts by which the peace of the kingdom had been secured. he could not himself be denounced as a heretic, for he had always held himself ready to receive instruction, and to be set right where he had erred. to call him "relapsed" was an outrage. were it true, he were indeed unworthy of the crown, but the world knew that his change at the massacre of st. bartholomew had been made under duresse, and that he had returned to the reformed faith when he had recovered his liberty. religious toleration had been the object of his life. in what the tyranny of the popes and the violence of the spaniards had left him of his kingdom of navarre, catholics and protestants enjoyed a perfect religious liberty. no man had the right, therefore, to denounce him as an enemy of the church, or a disturber of the public repose, for he had ever been willing to accept all propositions of peace which left the rights of conscience protected. he was a frenchman, a prince of france, a living member of the kingdom; feeling with its pains, and bleeding with its wounds. they who denounced him were alien to france, factitious portions of her body, feeling no suffering, even should she be consuming with living fire. the leaguers were the friends and the servants of the spaniards, while he had been born the enemy, and with too good reason, of the whole spanish race. "let the name of papist and of huguenot," he said, "be heard no more among us. those terms were buried in the edict of peace. let us speak only of frenchmen and of spaniards. it is the counter-league which we must all unite to form, the natural union of the head with all its members." finally, to save the shedding of so much innocent blood, to spare all the countless miseries of civil war, he implored the royal permission to terminate this quarrel in person, by single combat with the duke of guise, one to one, two to two, or in as large a number as might be desired, and upon any spot within or without the kingdom that should be assigned. "the duke of guise," said henry of navarre, "cannot but accept my challenge as an honour, coming as it does from a prince infinitely his superior in rank; and thus, may god defend the right." this paper, drawn up by the illustrious duplessis-mornay, who was to have been the second of the king of navarre in the proposed duel, was signed june . the unfortunate henry iii., not so dull as to doubt that the true object of the guise party was to reduce him to insignificance, and to open their own way to the throne, was too impotent of purpose to follow the dictates which his wisest counsellors urged and his own reason approved. his choice had lain between open hostility with his spanish enemy and a more terrible combat with that implacable foe wearing the mask of friendship. he had refused to annex to his crown the rich and powerful netherlands, from dread of a foreign war; and he was now about to accept for himself and kingdom all the horrors of a civil contest, in which his avowed antagonist was the first captain of the age, and his nominal allies the stipendiaries of philip ii. villeroy, his prime minister, and catharine de' medici, his mother, had both devoted him to disgrace and ruin. the deputies from the netherlands had been dismissed, and now, notwithstanding the festivities and exuberant demonstrations of friendship with which the earl of derby's splendid embassy had been greeted, it became necessary to bind henry hand and foot to the conspirators, who had sworn the destruction of that queen, as well as his own, and the extirpation of heresy and heretics in every realm of christendom. on the th june the league demanded a royal decree, forbidding the practice of all religion but the roman catholic, on pain of death. in vain had the clear-sighted bishop of acqs uttered his eloquent warnings. despite such timely counsels, which he was capable at once of appreciating and of neglecting, henry followed slavishly the advice of those whom he knew in his heart to be his foes, and authorised the great conspiracy against elizabeth, against protestantism, and against himself. on the th june villeroy had expressed a wish for a very secret interview with mendoza, on the subject of the invasion of england. "it needed not this overture," said that magniloquent spaniard, "to engender in a person of my talents, and with the heart of a mendoza, venom enough for vengeance. i could not more desire than i did already to assist in so holy a work; nor could i aspire to greater honour than would be gained in uniting those crowns (of france and spain) in strict friendship, for the purpose of extirpating heresy throughout europe, and of chastising the queen of england--whose abominations i am never likely to forget, having had them so long before my eyes--and of satisfying my just resentment for the injuries she has inflicted on myself. it was on this subject," continued the ambassador, "that monsieur de villeroy wished a secret interview with me, pledging himself--if your majesty would deign to unite yourself with this king, and to aid him with your forces--to a successful result." mendoza accordingly expressed a willingness to meet the ingenuous secretary of state--who had so recently been assisting at the banquets and rejoicings with lord derby and his companions, which had so much enlivened the french capital--and assured him that his most catholic majesty would be only too glad to draw closer the bonds of friendship with the most christian king, for the service of god and the glory of his church. the next day the envoy and the secretary of state met, very secretly, in the house of the signor gondi. villeroy commenced his harangue by an allusion to the current opinion, that mendoza had arrived in france with a torch in his hand, to light the fires of civil war in that kingdom, as he had recently done in england. "i do not believe," replied mendoza, "that discreet and prudent persons in france attribute my actions to any such motives. as for the ignorant people of the kingdom, they do not appal me, although they evidently imagine that i have imbibed, during my residence in england, something of the spirit of the enchanter merlin, that, by signs and cabalistic words alone, i am thought capable of producing such commotions." after this preliminary flourish the envoy proceeded to complain bitterly of the most christian king and his mother, who, after the propositions which they had made him, when on his way to spain, had, since his return, become so very cold and dry towards him. and on this theme he enlarged for some time. villeroy replied, by complaining, in his turn, about the dealings of the most catholic king, with the leaguers and the rebels of france; and mendoza rejoined by an intimation that harping upon past grievances and suspicions was hardly the way to bring about harmony in present matters. struck with the justice of this remark, the french secretary of state entered at once upon business. he made a very long speech upon the tyranny which "that englishwoman" was anew inflicting upon the catholics in her kingdom, upon the offences which she had committed against the king of spain, and against the king of france and his brothers, and upon the aliment which she had been yielding to the civil war in the netherlands and in france for so many years. he then said that if mendoza would declare with sincerity, and "without any of the duplicity of a minister"--that philip would league himself with henry for the purpose of invading england, in order to reduce the three kingdoms to the catholic faith, and to place their crowns on the head of the queen of scotland, to whom they of right belonged; then that the king, his master, was most ready to join in so holy an enterprise. he begged mendoza to say with what number of troops the invasion could be made; whether philip could send any from flanders or from spain; how many it would be well to send from france, and under what chieftain; in what manner it would be best to communicate with his most catholic majesty; whether it were desirable to despatch a secret envoy to him, and of what quality such agent ought to be. he also observed that the most christian king could not himself speak to mendoza on the subject before having communicated the matter to the queen-mother, but expressed a wish that a special carrier might be forthwith despatched to spain; for he might be sure that, on an affair of such weight, he would not have permitted himself to reveal the secret wishes of his master, except by his commands. mendoza replied, by enlarging with much enthusiasm on the facility with which england could be conquered by the combined power of france and spain. if it were not a very difficult matter before--even with the jealousy between the two crowns--how much less so, now that they could join their fleets and armies; now that the arming by the one prince would not inspire the other with suspicion; now that they would be certain of finding safe harbour in each other's kingdoms, in case of unfavourable weather and head-winds, and that they could arrange from what ports to sail, in what direction, and under what commanders. he disapproved, however, of sending a special messenger to spain, on the ground of wishing to keep the matter entirely secret, but in reality--as he informed philip--because he chose to keep the management in his own hands; because he could always let slip mucio upon them, in case they should play him false; because he feared that the leaking out of the secret might discourage the leaguers, and because he felt that the bolder and more lively were the cardinal of bourbon and his confederates, the stronger was the party of the king, his master, and the more intimidated and dispirited would be the mind and the forces of the most christian king. "and this is precisely the point," said the diplomatist, "at which a minister of your majesty should aim at this season." thus the civil war in france--an indispensable part of philip's policy--was to be maintained at all hazards; and although the ambassador was of opinion that the most christian king was sincere in his proposition to invade england, it would never do to allow any interval of tranquillity to the wretched subjects of that christian king. "i cannot doubt," said mendoza, "that the making of this proposal to me with so much warmth was the especial persuasion of god, who, hearing the groans of the catholics of england, so cruelly afflicted, wished to force the french king and his minister to feel, in the necessity which surrounds them, that the offending him, by impeding the grandeur of your majesty, would be their total ruin, and that their only salvation is to unite in sincerity and truth with your majesty for the destruction of the heretics." therefore, although judging from the nature of the french--he might imagine that they were attempting to put him to sleep, mendoza, on the whole, expressed a conviction that the king was in earnest, having arrived at the conclusion that he could only get rid of the guise faction by sending them over to england. "seeing that he cannot possibly eradicate the war from his kingdom," said the envoy, "because of the boldness with which the leaguers maintain it, with the strong assistance of your majesty, he has determined to embrace with much fervour, and without any deception at all, the enterprise against england, as the only remedy to quiet his own dominions. the subjugation of those three kingdoms, in order to restore them to their rightful owner, is a purpose so holy, just, and worthy of your majesty, and one which you have had so constantly in view, that it is superfluous for me to enlarge upon the subject. your majesty knows that its effects will be the tranquillity and preservation of all your realms. the reasons for making the attempt, even without the aid of france, become demonstrations now that she is unanimously in favour of the scheme. the most christian king is resolutely bent--so far as i can comprehend the intrigues of villeroy--to carry out this project on the foundation of a treaty with the guise party. it will not take much time, therefore, to put down the heretics here; nor will it consume much more to conquer england with the armies of two such powerful princes. the power of that island is of little moment, there being no disciplined forces to oppose us, even if they were all unanimous in its defence; how much less then, with so many catholics to assist the invaders, seeing them so powerful. if your majesty, on account of your netherlands, is not afraid of putting arms into the hands of the guise family in france, there need be less objection to sending one of that house into england, particularly as you will send forces of your own into that kingdom, by the reduction of which the affairs of flanders will be secured. to effect the pacification of the netherlands the sooner, it would be desirable to conquer england as early as october." having thus sufficiently enlarged upon the sincerity of the french king and his prime minister, in their dark projects against a friendly power, and upon the ease with which that friendly power could be subjected, the ambassador begged for a reply from his royal master without delay. he would be careful, meantime, to keep the civil war alive in france--thus verifying the poetical portrait of himself, the truth of which he had just been so indignantly and rhetorically denying--but it was desirable that the french should believe that this civil war was not philip's sole object. he concluded by drawing his master's attention to the sufferings of the english catholics. "i cannot refrain," he said, "from placing before your eyes the terrible persecutions which the catholics are suffering in england; the blood of the martyrs flowing in so many kinds of torments; the groans of the prisoners, of the widows and orphans; the general oppression and servitude, which is the greatest ever endured by a people of god, under any tyrant whatever. your majesty, into whose hands god is now pleased to place the means, so long desired, of extirpating and totally destroying the heresies of our time, can alone liberate them from their bondage." the picture of these kings, prime ministers, and ambassadors, thus plotting treason, stratagem, and massacre, is a dark and dreary one. the description of english sufferings for conscience' sake, under the protestant elizabeth, is even more painful; for it had unfortunately too much, of truth, although as wilfully darkened and exaggerated as could be done by religious hatred and spanish bombast. the queen was surrounded by legions of deadly enemies. spain, the pope, the league, were united in one perpetual conspiracy against her; and they relied on the cooperation of those subjects of hers whom her own cruelty was converting into traitors. we read with a shudder these gloomy secrets of conspiracy and wholesale murder, which make up the diplomatic history of the sixteenth century, and we cease to wonder that a woman, feeling herself so continually the mark at which all the tyrants and assassins of europe were aiming--although not possessing perhaps the evidences of her peril so completely as they have been revealed to us--should come to consider every english papist as a traitor and an assassin. it was unfortunate that she was not able to rise beyond the vile instincts of the age, and by a magnanimous and sublime toleration, to convert her secret enemies into loyal subjects. and now henry of valois was to choose between league and counter-league, between henry of guise and henry of navarre, between france and spain. the whole chivalry of gascony and guienne, the vast swarm of industrious and hardy huguenot artisans, the netherland rebels, the great english queen, stood ready to support the cause of french nationality, and of all nationalities, against a threatening world-empire, of religious liberty against sacerdotal absolutism, and the crown of a king, whose only merit had hitherto been to acquiesce in a religious toleration dictated to him by others, against those who derided his authority and insulted his person. the bold knight-errant of christendom, the champion to the utterance against spain, stood there with lance in rest, and the king scarcely hesitated. the league, gliding so long unheeded, now reared its crest in the very palace of france, and full in the monarch's face. with a single shudder the victim fell into its coils. the choice was made. on the th of july ( ) the edict of nemours was published, revoking all previous edicts by which religious peace had been secured. death and confiscation of property were now proclaimed as the penalty of practising any religious rites save those of the roman catholic church. six months were allowed to the nonconformists to put their affairs in order, after which they were to make public profession of the catholic religion, with regular attendance upon its ceremonies, or else go into perpetual exile. to remain in france without abjuring heresy was thenceforth a mortal crime, to be expiated upon the gallows. as a matter of course, all huguenots were instantaneously incapacitated from public office, the mixed chambers of justice were abolished, and the cautionary towns were to be restored. on the other hand, the guise faction were to receive certain cities into their possession, as pledges that this sanguinary edict should be fulfilled. thus did henry iii. abjectly kiss the hand which smote him. his mother, having since the death of anjou no further interest in affecting to favour the huguenots, had arranged the basis of this treaty with the spanish party. and now the unfortunate king had gone solemnly down to the parliament of paris, to be present at the registration of the edict. the counsellors and presidents were all assembled, and as they sat there in their crimson robes, they seemed, to the excited imagination of those who loved their country, like embodiments of the impending and most sanguinary tragedy. as the monarch left the parliament-house a faint cry of 'god save the king' was heard in the street. henry hung his head, for it was long since that cry had met his ears, and he knew that it was a false and languid demonstration which had been paid for by the leaguers. and thus was the compact signed--an unequal compact. madam league was on horseback, armed in proof, said a contemporary; the king was on foot, and dressed in a shirt of penitence. the alliance was not an auspicious one. not peace, but a firebrand--'facem, non pacem'--had the king held forth to his subjects. when the news came to henry of navarre that the king had really promulgated this fatal edict, he remained for a time, with amazement and sorrow, leaning heavily upon a table, with his face in his right hand. when he raised his head again--so he afterwards asserted--one side of his moustachio had turned white. meantime gregory xiii., who had always refused to sanction the league, was dead, and cardinal peretti, under the name of sixtus v., now reigned in his place. born of an illustrious house, as he said--for it was a house without a roof--this monk of humble origin was of inordinate ambition. feigning a humility which was but the cloak to his pride, he was in reality as grasping, self-seeking, and revengeful, as he seemed gentle and devout. it was inevitable that a pontiff of this character should seize the opportunity offered him to mimic hildebrand, and to brandish on high the thunderbolts of the church. with a flaming prelude concerning the omnipotence delegated by almighty god to st. peter and his successors--an authority infinitely superior to all earthly powers--the decrees of which were irresistible alike by the highest and the meanest, and which hurled misguided princes from their thrones into the abyss, like children of beelzebub, the pope proceeded to fulminate his sentence of excommunication against those children of wrath, henry of navarre and henry of conde. they were denounced as heretics, relapsed, and enemies of god ( th aug. ). the king was declared dispossessed of his principality of bearne, and of what remained to him of navarre. he was stripped of all dignities, privileges, and property, and especially proclaimed incapable of ever ascending the throne of france. the bearnese replied by a clever political squib. a terse and spirited paper found its way to rome, and was soon affixed, to the statutes of pasquin and marforio, and in other public places of that city, and even to the gates of the papal palace. without going beyond his own doors, his holiness had the opportunity of reading, to his profound amazement, that mr. sixtus, calling himself pope, had foully and maliciously lied in calling the king of navarre a heretic. this henry offered to prove before any free council legitimately chosen. if the pope refused to submit to such decision, he was himself no better than excommunicate and antichrist, and the king of navarre thereby declared mortal and perpetual war upon him. the ancient kings of france had known how to chastise the insolence of former popes, and he hoped, when he ascended the throne, to take vengeance on mr. sixtus for the insult thus offered to all the kings of christendom--and so on, in a vein which showed the bearnese to be a man rather amused than blasted by these papal fireworks. sixtus v., though imperious, was far from being dull. he knew how to appreciate a man when he found one, and he rather admired the cheerful attitude maintained by navarre, as he tossed back the thunderbolts. he often spoke afterwards of henry with genuine admiration, and declared that in all the world he knew but two persons fit to wear a crown--henry of navarre and elizabeth of england. "'twas pity," he said, "that both should be heretics." and thus the fires of civil war had been lighted throughout christendom, and the monarch of france had thrown himself head foremost into the flames. etext editor's bookmarks: hibernian mode of expressing himself his inordinate arrogance his insolence intolerable humility which was but the cloak to his pride longer they delay it, the less easy will they find it oration, fertile in rhetoric and barren in facts round game of deception, in which nobody was deceived wasting time fruitlessly is sharpening the knife for himself with something of feline and feminine duplicity 'twas pity, he said, that both should be heretics history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history of the united netherlands, alexander farnese, the duke of parma chapter v., part . position and character of farnese--preparations for antwerp siege-- its characteristics--foresight of william the silent--sainte aldegonde, the burgomaster--anarchy in antwerp--character of sainte aldegonde--admiral treslong--justinus de nassau--hohenlo--opposition to the plan of orange--liefkenshoek--head--quarters of parma at kalloo--difficulty of supplying the city--results of not piercing the dykes--preliminaries of the siege--successes of the spaniards-- energy of farnese with sword and pen--his correspondence with the antwerpers--progress of the bridge--impoverished condition of parma --patriots attempt bois-le-duc--their misconduct--failure of the enterprise--the scheldt bridge completed--description of the structure the negotiations between france and the netherlands have been massed, in order to present a connected and distinct view of the relative attitude of the different countries of europe. the conferences and diplomatic protocolling had resulted in nothing positive; but it is very necessary for the reader to understand the negative effects of all this dissimulation and palace-politics upon the destiny of the new commonwealth, and upon christendom at large. the league had now achieved a great triumph; the king of france had virtually abdicated, and it was now requisite for the king of navarre, the netherlands, and queen elizabeth, to draw more closely together than before, if the last hope of forming a counter-league were not to be abandoned. the next step in political combination was therefore a solemn embassy of the states-general to england. before detailing those negotiations, however, it is proper to direct attention to the external public events which had been unrolling themselves in the provinces, contemporaneously with the secret history which has been detailed in the preceding chapters. by presenting in their natural groupings various distinct occurrences, rather than by detailing them in strict chronological order, a clearer view of the whole picture will be furnished than could be done by intermingling personages, transactions, and scenery, according to the arbitrary command of time alone. the netherlands, by the death of orange, had been left without a head. on the other hand, the spanish party had never been so fortunate in their chief at any period since the destiny of the two nations had been blended with each other. alexander farnese, prince of parma, was a general and a politician, whose character had been steadily ripening since he came into the command of the country. he was now thirty-seven years of age--with the experience of a sexagenarian. no longer the impetuous, arbitrary, hot-headed youth, whose intelligence and courage hardly atoned for his insolent manner and stormy career, he had become pensive, modest, almost gentle. his genius was rapid in conception, patient in combination, fertile in expedients, adamantine in the endurance or suffering; for never did a heroic general and a noble army of veterans manifest more military virtue in the support of an infamous cause than did parma and his handful of italians and spaniards. that which they considered to be their duty they performed. the work before them they did with all their might. alexander had vanquished the rebellion in the celtic provinces, by the masterly diplomacy and liberal bribery which have been related in a former work. artois, hainault, douay, orchies, with the rich cities of lille, tournay, valenciennes, arras, and other important places, were now the property of philip. these unhappy and misguided lands, however, were already reaping the reward of their treason. beggared, trampled upon, plundered, despised, they were at once the prey of the spaniards, and the cause that their sister-states, which still held out, were placed in more desperate condition than ever. they were also, even in their abject plight, made still more forlorn by the forays of balagny, who continued in command of cambray. catharine de' medici claimed that city as her property, by will of the duke of anjou. a strange title--founded upon the treason and cowardice of her favourite son--but one which, for a time, was made good by the possession maintained by balagny. that usurper meantime, with a shrewd eye to his own interests, pronounced the truce of cambray, which was soon afterwards arranged, from year to year, by permission of philip, as a "most excellent milch-cow;" and he continued to fill his pails at the expense of the "reconciled" provinces, till they were thoroughly exhausted. this large south-western section of the netherlands being thus permanently re-annexed to the spanish crown, while holland, zeeland, and the other provinces, already constituting the new dutch republic, were more obstinate in their hatred of philip than ever, there remained the rich and fertile territory of flanders and brabant as the great debateable land. here were the royal and political capital, brussels, the commercial capital, antwerp, with mechlin, dendermonde, vilvoorde, and other places of inferior importance, all to be struggled for to the death. with the subjection of this district the last bulwark between the new commonwealth and the old empire would be overthrown, and spain and holland would then meet face to face. if there had ever been a time when every nerve in protestant christendom should be strained to weld all those provinces together into one great commonwealth, as a bulwark for european liberty, rather than to allow them to be broken into stepping-stones, over which absolutism could stride across france and holland into england, that moment had arrived. every sacrifice should have been cheerfully made by all netherlanders, the uttermost possible subsidies and auxiliaries should have been furnished by all the friends of civil and religious liberty in every land to save flanders and brabant from their impending fate. no man felt more keenly the importance of the business in which he was engaged than parma. he knew his work exactly, and he meant to execute it thoroughly. antwerp was the hinge on which the fate of the whole country, perhaps of all christendom, was to turn. "if we get antwerp," said the spanish soldiers--so frequently that the expression passed into a proverb--"you shall all go to mass with us; if you save antwerp, we will all go to conventicle with you." alexander rose with the difficulty and responsibility of his situation. his vivid, almost poetic intellect formed its schemes with perfect distinctness. every episode in his great and, as he himself termed it, his "heroic enterprise," was traced out beforehand with the tranquil vision of creative genius; and he was prepared to convert his conceptions into reality, with the aid of an iron nature that never knew fatigue or fear. but the obstacles were many. alexander's master sat in his cabinet with his head full of mucio, don antonio, and queen elizabeth; while alexander himself was left neglected, almost forgotten. his army was shrinking to a nullity. the demands upon him were enormous, his finances delusive, almost exhausted. to drain an ocean dry he had nothing but a sieve. what was his position? he could bring into the field perhaps eight or ten thousand men over and above the necessary garrisons. he had before him brussels, antwerp, mechlin, ghent, dendermonde, and other powerful places, which he was to subjugate. here was a problem not easy of solution. given an army of eight thousand, more or less, to reduce therewith in the least possible time, half-a-dozen cities; each containing fifteen or twenty thousand men able to bear arms. to besiege these places in form was obviously a mere chimera. assault, battery, and surprises--these were all out of the question. yet alexander was never more truly heroic than in this position of vast entanglement. untiring, uncomplaining, thoughtful of others, prodigal of himself, generous, modest, brave; with so much intellect and so much devotion to what he considered his duty, he deserved to be a patriot and a champion of the right, rather than an instrument of despotism. and thus he paused for a moment--with much work already accomplished, but his hardest life-task before him; still in the noon of manhood, a fine martial figure, standing, spear in hand, full in the sunlight, though all the scene around him was wrapped in gloom--a noble, commanding shape, entitled to the admiration which the energetic display of great powers, however unscrupulous, must always command. a dark, meridional physiognomy, a quick; alert, imposing head; jet black, close-clipped hair; a bold eagle's face, with full, bright, restless eye; a man rarely reposing, always ready, never alarmed; living in the saddle, with harness on his back--such was the prince of parma; matured and mellowed, but still unharmed by time. the cities of flanders and brabant he determined to reduce by gaining command of the scheldt. the five principal ones ghent, dendermonde, mechlin, brussels antwerp, lie narrow circle, at distances from each other varying from five miles to thirty, and are all strung together by the great netherland river or its tributaries. his plan was immensely furthered by the success of balthasar gerard, an ally whom alexander had despised and distrusted, even while he employed him. the assassination of orange was better to parma than forty thousand men. a crowd of allies instantly started up for him, in the shape of treason, faintheartedness, envy, jealousy, insubordination, within the walls of every beleaguered city. alexander knew well how to deal with those auxiliaries. letters, artfully concocted, full of conciliation and of promise, were circulated in every council-room, in almost every house. the surrender of ghent--brought about by the governor's eloquence, aided by the golden arguments which he knew so well how to advance--had by the middle of september ( th sept. ), put him in possession of west flanders, with the important exception of the coast. dendermonde capitulated at a still earlier day; while the fall of brussels, which held out till many persons had been starved to death, was deferred till the th march of the following year, and that of mechlin till midsummer. the details of the military or political operations, by which the reduction of most of these places were effected, possess but little interest. the siege of antwerp, however, was one of the most striking events of the age; and although the change in military tactics and the progress of science may have rendered this leaguer of less technical importance than it possessed in the sixteenth century, yet the illustration that it affords of the splendid abilities of parma, of the most cultivated mode of warfare in use at that period, and of the internal politics by which the country was then regulated, make it necessary to dwell upon the details of an episode which must ever possess enduring interest. it is agreeable to reflect, too, that the fame of the general is not polluted with the wholesale butchery, which has stained the reputation of other spanish commanders so indelibly. there was no killing for the mere love of slaughter. with but few exceptions, there was no murder in cold blood; and the many lives that were laid down upon those watery dykes were sacrificed at least in bold, open combat; in a contest, the ruling spirits of which were patriotism, or at least honour. it is instructive, too, to observe the diligence and accuracy with which the best lights of the age were brought to bear upon the great problem which parma had undertaken to solve. all the science then at command was applied both by the prince and by his burgher antagonists to the advancement of their ends. hydrostatics, hydraulics, engineering, navigation, gunnery, pyrotechnics, mining, geometry, were summoned as broadly, vigorously, and intelligently to the destruction or preservation of a trembling city, as they have ever been, in more commercial days, to advance a financial or manufacturing purpose. land converted into water, and water into land, castles built upon the breast of rapid streams, rivers turned from their beds and taught new courses; the distant ocean driven across ancient bulwarks, mines dug below the sea, and canals made to percolate obscene morasses--which the red hand of war, by the very act, converted into blooming gardens--a mighty stream bridged and mastered in the very teeth of winter, floating ice-bergs, ocean-tides, and an alert and desperate foe, ever ready with fleets and armies and batteries--such were the materials of which the great spectacle was composed; a spectacle which enchained the attention of europe for seven months, and on the result of which, it was thought, depended the fate of all the netherlands, and perhaps of all christendom. antwerp, then the commercial centre of the netherlands and of europe, stands upon the scheldt. the river, flowing straight, broad, and full along the verge of the city, subtends the arc into which the place arranges itself as it falls back from the shore. two thousand ships of the largest capacity then known might easily find room in its ample harbours. the stream, nearly half a mile in width, and sixty feet in depth, with a tidal rise and fall of eleven feet, moves, for a few miles, in a broad and steady current between the provinces of brabant and flanders. then, dividing itself into many ample estuaries, and gathering up the level isles of zeeland into its bosom, it seems to sweep out with them into the northern ocean. here, at the junction of the river and the sea, lay the perpetual hope of antwerp, for in all these creeks and currents swarmed the fleets of the zeelanders, that hardy and amphibious race, with which few soldiers or mariners could successfully contend, on land or water. even from the beginning of the year parma had been from time to time threatening antwerp. the victim instinctively felt that its enemy was poising and hovering over head, although he still delayed to strike. early in the summer sainte aldegonde, recorder martini, and other official personages, were at delft, upon the occasion of the christening ceremonies of frederic henry, youngest child of orange. the prince, at that moment, was aware of the plans of parma, and held a long conversation with his friends upon the measures which he desired to see immediately undertaken. unmindful of his usual hospitality, he insisted that these gentlemen should immediately leave for antwerp. alexander farnese, he assured them, had taken the firm determination to possess himself of that place, without further delay. he had privately signified his purpose of laying the axe at once to the root of the tree, believing that with the fall of the commercial capital the infant confederacy of the united states would fall likewise. in order to accomplish this object, he would forthwith attempt to make himself master of the banks of the scheldt, and would even throw a bridge across the stream, if his plans were not instantly circumvented. william of orange then briefly indicated his plan; adding that he had no fears for the result; and assuring his friends, who expressed much anxiety on the subject, that if parma really did attempt the siege of antwerp it should be his ruin. the plan was perfectly simple. the city stood upon a river. it was practicable, although extremely hazardous, for the enemy to bridge that river, and by so doing ultimately to reduce the place. but the ocean could not be bridged; and it was quite possible to convert antwerp, for a season, into an ocean-port. standing alone upon an island, with the sea flowing around it, and with full and free marine communication with zeeland and holland, it might safely bid defiance to the land-forces, even of so great a commander as parma. to the furtherance of this great measure of defence, it was necessary to destroy certain bulwarks, the chief of ( th june, ) which was called the blaw-garen dyke; and sainte aldegonde was therefore requested to return to the city, in order to cause this task to be executed without delay. nothing could be more judicious than this advice. the low lands along the scheldt were protected against marine encroachments, and the river itself was confined to its bed, by a magnificent system of dykes, which extended along its edge towards the ocean, in parallel lines. other barriers of a similar nature ran in oblique directions, through the wide open pasture lands, which they maintained in green fertility, against the ever-threatening sea. the blaw-garen, to which the prince mainly alluded, was connected with the great dyke upon the right bank of the scheldt. between this and the city, another bulwark called the kowenstyn dyke, crossed the country at right angles to the river, and joined the other two at a point, not very far from lillo, where the states had a strong fortress. the country in this neighbourhood was low, spongy, full of creeks, small meres, and the old bed of the scheldt. orange, therefore, made it very clear, that by piercing the great dyke just described, such a vast body of water would be made to pour over the land as to submerge the kowenstyn also, the only other obstacle in the passage of fleets from zeeland to antwerp. the city would then be connected with the sea and its islands, by so vast an expanse of navigable water, that any attempt on parma's part to cut off supplies and succour would be hopeless. antwerp would laugh the idea of famine to scorn; and although this immunity would be purchased by the sacrifice of a large amount of agricultural territory the price so paid was but a slender one, when the existence of the capital, and with it perhaps of the whole confederacy was at stake. sainte aldegonde and martini suggested, that, as there would be some opposition to the measure proposed, it might be as well to make a similar attempt on the flemish side, in preference, by breaking through the dykes in the neighbourhood of saftingen. orange replied, by demonstrating that the land in the region which he had indicated was of a character to ensure success, while in the other direction there were certain very unfavourable circumstances which rendered the issue doubtful. the result was destined to prove the sagacity of the prince, for it will be shown in the sequel, that the saftingen plan, afterwards really carried out, was rather advantageous than detrimental to the enemy's projects. sainte aldegonde, accordingly, yielded to the arguments and entreaties of his friend, and repaired without delay to antwerp. the advice of william the silent--as will soon be related--was not acted upon; and, within a few weeks after it had been given, he was in his grave. nowhere was his loss more severely felt than in antwerp. it seemed, said a contemporary, that with his death had died all authority. the prince was the only head which the many-membered body of that very democratic city ever spontaneously obeyed. antwerp was a small republic--in time of peace intelligently and successfully administered--which in the season of a great foreign war, amid plagues, tumults, famine, and internal rebellion, required the firm hand and the clear brain of a single chief. that brain and hand had been possessed by orange alone. before his death he had desired that sainte aldegonde should accept the office of burgomaster of the city. nominally, the position was not so elevated as were many of the posts which that distinguished patriot had filled. in reality, it was as responsible and arduous a place as could be offered to any man's acceptance throughout the country. sainte aldegonde consented, not without some reluctance. he felt that there was odium to be incurred; he knew that much would be expected of him, and that his means would be limited. his powers would be liable to a constant and various restraint. his measures were sure to be the subject of perpetual cavil. if the city were besieged, there were nearly one hundred thousand mouths to feed, and nearly one hundred thousand tongues to dispute about furnishing the food. for the government of antwerp had been degenerating from a well-organised municipal republicanism into anarchy. the clashing of the various bodies exercising power had become incessant and intolerable. the burgomaster was charged with the chief executive authority, both for peace and war. nevertheless he had but a single vote in the board of magistrates, where a majority decided. moreover, he could not always attend the sessions, because he was also member of the council of brabant. important measures might therefore be decided by the magistracy, not only against his judgment, but without his knowledge. then there was a variety of boards or colleges, all arrogating concurrent--which in truth was conflicting-authority. there was the board of militia-colonels, which claimed great powers. here, too, the burgomaster was nominally the chief, but he might be voted down by a majority, and of course was often absent. then there were sixteen captains who came into the colonels' sessions whenever they liked, and had their word to say upon all subjects broached. if they were refused a hearing, they were backed by eighty other captains, who were ready at any moment to carry every disputed point before the "broadcouncil." there were a college of ward-masters, a college of select men, a college of deacons, a college of ammunition, of fortification, of ship-building, all claiming equal authority, and all wrangling among themselves; and there was a college of "peace-makers," who wrangled more than all the rest together. once a week there was a session of the board or general council. dire was the hissing and confusion, as the hydra heads of the multitudinous government were laid together. heads of colleges, presidents of chambers, militia-chieftains; magistrates, ward-masters, deans of fishmongers, of tailors, gardeners, butchers, all met together pell-mell; and there was no predominant authority. this was not a convenient working machinery for a city threatened with a siege by the first captain of the age. moreover there was a deficiency of regular troops: the burgher-militia were well trained and courageous, but not distinguished for their docility. there was also a regiment of english under colonel morgan, a soldier of great experience, and much respected; but, as stephen le sieur said, "this force, unless seconded with more, was but a breakfast for the enemy." unfortunately, too, the insubordination, which was so ripe in the city, seemed to affect these auxiliaries. a mutiny broke out among the english troops. many deserted to parma, some escaped to england, and it was not until morgan had beheaded captain lee and captain powell, that discipline could be restored. and into this scene of wild and deafening confusion came philip de marnix, lord of sainte aldegonde. there were few more brilliant characters than he in all christendom. he was a man, of a most rare and versatile genius. educated in geneva at the very feet of calvin, he had drunk, like mother's milk, the strong and bitter waters of the stern reformer's, creed; but he had in after life attempted, although hardly with success, to lift himself to the height of a general religious toleration. he had also been trained in the severe and thorough literary culture which characterised that rigid school. he was a scholar, ripe and rare; no holiday trifler in the gardens of learning. he spoke and wrote latin like his native tongue. he could compose poignant greek epigrams. he was so familiar with hebrew, that he had rendered the psalms of david out of the original into flowing flemish verse, for the use of the reformed churches. that he possessed the modern tongues of civilized europe, spanish, italian, french, and german, was a matter of course. he was a profound jurisconsult, capable of holding debate against all competitors upon any point of theory or practice of law, civil, municipal, international. he was a learned theologian, and had often proved himself a match for the doctors, bishops, or rabbin of europe, in highest argument of dogma, creed, or tradition. he was a practised diplomatist, constantly employed in delicate and difficult negotiations by william the silent, who ever admired his genius, cherished his friendship, and relied upon his character. he was an eloquent orator, whose memorable harangue, beyond all his other efforts, at the diet of worms, had made the german princes hang their heads with shame, when, taking a broad and philosophical view of the netherland matter, he had shown that it was the great question of europe; that nether germany was all germany; that protestantism could not be unravelled into shreds; that there was but one cause in christendom--that of absolutism against national liberty, papacy against the reform; and that the seventeen provinces were to be assisted in building themselves into an eternal barrier against spain, or that the "burning mark of shame would be branded upon the forehead of germany;" that the war, in short, was to be met by her on the threshold; or else that it would come to seek her at home--a prophecy which the horrible thirty years' war was in after time most signally to verify. he was a poet of vigour and originality, for he had accomplished what has been achieved by few; he had composed a national hymn, whose strophes, as soon as heard, struck a chord in every netherland heart, and for three centuries long have rung like a clarion wherever the netherland tongue is spoken. "wilhelmus van nassouwe," regarded simply as a literary composition, has many of the qualities which an ode demands; an electrical touch upon the sentiments, a throb of patriotism, sympathetic tenderness, a dash of indignation, with rhythmical harmony and graceful expression; and thus it has rung from millions of lips, from generation to generation. he was a soldier, courageous, untiring, prompt in action, useful in council, and had distinguished himself in many a hard-fought field. taken prisoner in the sanguinary skirmish at maaslandssluys, he had been confined a year, and, for more than three months, had never laid his head, as he declared, upon the pillow without commending his soul as for the last time to his maker, expecting daily the order for his immediate execution, and escaping his doom only because william the silent proclaimed that the proudest head among the spanish prisoners should fall to avenge his death; so that he was ultimately exchanged against the veteran mondragon. from the incipient stages of the revolt he had been foremost among the patriots. he was supposed to be the author of the famous "compromise of the nobles," that earliest and most conspicuous of the state-papers of the republic, and of many other important political documents; and he had contributed to general literature many works of european celebrity, of which the 'roman bee-hive' was the most universally known. scholar, theologian, diplomatist, swordsman, orator, poet, pamphleteer, he had genius for all things, and was eminent in all. he was even famous for his dancing, and had composed an intelligent and philosophical treatise upon the value of that amusement, as an agent of civilisation, and as a counteractor of the grosser pleasures of the table to which upper and nether germans were too much addicted. of ancient savoyard extraction, and something of a southern nature, he had been born in brussels, and was national to the heart's core. a man of interesting, sympathetic presence; of a physiognomy where many of the attaching and attractive qualities of his nature revealed themselves; with crisp curling hair, surmounting a tall, expansive forehead--full of benevolence, idealism, and quick perceptions; broad, brown, melancholy eyes, overflowing with tenderness; a lean and haggard cheek, a rugged flemish nose; a thin flexible mouth; a slender moustache, and a peaked and meagre beard; so appeared sainte aldegonde in the forty-seventh year of his age, when he came to command in antwerp. yet after all--many-sided, accomplished, courageous, energetic, as he was--it may be doubted whether he was the man for the hour or the post. he was too impressionable; he had too much of the temperament of genius. without being fickle, he had, besides his versatility of intellect, a character which had much facility in turning; not, indeed, in the breeze of self-interest, but because he seemed placed in so high and clear an atmosphere of thought that he was often acted upon and swayed by subtle and invisible influences. at any rate his conduct was sometimes inexplicable. he had been strangely fascinated by the ignoble duke of anjou, and, in the sequel, it will be found that he was destined to experience other magnetic or magical impulses, which were once thought suspicious, and have remained mysterious even to the present day. he was imaginative. he was capable of broad and boundless hopes. he was sometimes prone to deep despair. his nature was exquisitely tempered; too fine and polished a blade to be wielded among those hydra-heads by which he was, now surrounded; and for which the stunning sledgehammer of arbitrary force was sometimes necessary. he was perhaps deficient in that gift, which no training and no culture can bestow, and which comes from above alone by birth-right divine--that which men willingly call master, authority; the effluence which came so naturally from the tranquil eyes of william the silent. nevertheless, sainte aldegonde was prepared to do his best, and all his best was to be tasked to the utmost. his position was rendered still more difficult by the unruly nature of some of his coordinates. "from the first day to the last," said one who lived in antwerp during the siege, "the mistakes committed in the city were incredible." it had long been obvious that a siege was contemplated by parma. a liberal sum of money had been voted by the states-general, of which holland and zeeland contributed a very large proportion (two hundred thousand florins); the city itself voted another large subsidy, and an order was issued to purchase at once and import into the city at least a year's supply of every kind of provisions of life and munitions of war. william de blois, lord of treslong, admiral of holland and zeeland, was requested to carry out this order, and superintend the victualling of antwerp. but treslong at once became troublesome. he was one of the old "beggars of the sea," a leader in the wild band who had taken possession of the brill, in the teeth of alva, and so laid the foundation of the republic. an impetuous noble, of wealthy family, high connections, and refractory temper--a daring sailor, ever ready for any rash adventure, but possessed of a very moderate share of prudence or administrative ability, he fell into loose and lawless courses on the death of orange, whose firm hand was needed to control him. the french negotiation had excited his profound disgust, and knowing sainte aldegonde to be heart and soul in favour of that alliance, he was in no haste whatever to carry out his orders with regard to antwerp. he had also an insignificant quarrel with president meetkerk. the prince of parma--ever on the watch for such opportunities--was soon informed of the admiral's discontent, and had long been acquainted with his turbulent character. alexander at once began to inflame his jealousy and soothe his vanity by letters and messengers, urging upon him the propriety of reconciling himself with the king, and promising him large rewards and magnificent employments in the royal service. even the splendid insignia of the golden fleece were dangled before his eyes. it is certain that the bold hollander was not seduced by these visions, but there is no doubt that he listened to the voice of the tempter. he unquestionably neglected his duty. week after week he remained, at ostend, sneering at the french and quaffing huge draughts in honour of queen elizabeth. at last, after much time had elapsed, he agreed to victual antwerp if he could be furnished with thirty krom-stevens,--a peculiar kind of vessel, not to be found in zeeland. the krom-stevens were sent to him from holland. then, hearing that his negligence had been censured by the states-general, he became more obstinate than ever, and went up and down proclaiming that if people made themselves disagreeable to him he would do that which should make all the women and children in the netherlands shriek and tremble. what this nameless horror was to be he never divulged, but meantime he went down to middelburg, and swore that not a boat-load of corn should go up to antwerp until two members of the magistracy, whom he considered unpleasant, had been dismissed from their office. wearied with all this bluster, and imbued with grave suspicion as to his motives, the states at last rose upon their high admiral and threw him into prison. he was accused of many high crimes and misdemeanours, and, it was thought, would be tried for his life. he was suspected and even openly accused of having been tampered with by spain, but there was at any rate a deficiency of proof. "treslong is apprehended," wrote davison to burghley, "and, is charged to have been the cause that the fleet passed not up to antwerp. he is suspected to have otherwise forgotten himself, but whether justly or not will appear by his trial. meantime he is kept in the common prison of middelburg, a treatment which it is thought they would not offer him if they had not somewhat of importance against him." he was subsequently released at the intercession of queen elizabeth, and passed some time in england. he was afterwards put upon trial, but no accuser appearing to sustain the charges against him, he was eventually released. he never received a command in the navy again, but the very rich sinecures of grand falconer and chief forester of holland were bestowed upon him, and he appears to have ended his days in peace and plenty. he was succeeded in the post of admiral of holland and zeeland by justinus de nassau, natural son of william the silent, a young man of much promise but of little experience. general count hohenlo, too, lieutenant for young maurice, and virtual commander-in-chief of the states' forces, was apt to give much trouble. a german noble, of ancient descent and princely rank; brave to temerity, making a jest of danger; and riding into a foray as if to a merry-making; often furiously intoxicated, and always turbulent and uncertain; a handsome, dissipated cavalier, with long curls floating over his shoulders, an imposing aristocratic face, and a graceful, athletic figure, he needed some cool brain and steady hand to guide him--valuable as he was to fulfil any daring project but was hardly willing to accept the authority of a burgomaster. while the young maurice yet needed tutelage, while "the sapling was growing into the tree," hohenlo was a dangerous chieftain and a most disorderly lieutenant. with such municipal machinery and such coadjutors had sainte aldegonde to deal, while, meantime, the delusive french negociation was dragging its slow length along, and while parma was noiselessly and patiently proceeding with his preparations. the burgomaster--for sainte aldegonde, in whom vulgar ambition was not a foible, had refused the dignity and title of margrave of antwerp, which had been tendered him--had neglected no effort towards carrying into effect the advice of orange, given almost with his latest breath. the manner in which that advice was received furnished a striking illustration of the defective machinery which has been pourtrayed. upon his return from delft, sainte aldegonde had summoned a meeting of the magistracy of antwerp. he laid before the board the information communicated by orange as to parma's intentions. he also explained the scheme proposed for their frustration, and urged the measures indicated with so much earnestness that his fellow-magistrates were convinced. the order was passed for piercing the blauw-garen dyke, and sainte aldegonde, with some engineers, was requested to view the locality, and to take order for the immediate fulfilment of the plan. unfortunately there were many other boards in session besides that of the schepens, many other motives at work besides those of patriotism. the guild of butchers held a meeting, so soon as the plan suggested was known, and resolved with all their strength to oppose its execution. the butchers were indeed furious. twelve thousand oxen grazed annually upon the pastures which were about to be submerged, and it was represented as unreasonable that all this good flesh and blood should be sacrificed. at a meeting of the magistrates on the following day, sixteen butchers, delegates from their guild, made their appearance, hoarse with indignation. they represented the vast damage which would be inflicted upon the estates of many private individuals by the proposed inundation, by this sudden conversion of teeming meadows, fertile farms, thriving homesteads, prolific orchards, into sandy desolation. above all they depicted, in glowing colours and with natural pathos, the vast destruction of beef which was imminent, and they urged--with some show of reason--that if parma were really about to reduce antwerp by famine, his scheme certainly would not be obstructed by the premature annihilation of these wholesome supplies. that the scheldt could be, closed in any manner was, however, they said, a preposterous conception. that it could be bridged was the dream of a lunatic. even if it were possible to construct a bridge, and probable that the zeelanders and antwerpers would look on with folded arms while the work proceeded, the fabric, when completed, would be at the mercy of the ice-floods of the winter and the enormous power of the ocean-tides. the prince of orange himself, on a former occasion, when antwerp was spanish, had attempted to close the river with rafts, sunken piles, and other obstructions, but the whole had been swept away, like a dam of bulrushes, by the first descent of the ice-blocks of winter. it was witless to believe that parma contemplated any such measure, and utterly monstrous to believe in its success. thus far the butchers. soon afterwards came sixteen colonels of militia, as representatives of their branch of the multiform government. these personages, attended by many officers of inferior degree, sustained the position of the butchers with many voluble and vehement arguments. not the least convincing of their conclusions was the assurance that it would be idle for the authorities to attempt the destruction of the dyke, seeing that the municipal soldiery itself would prevent the measure by main force, at all hazards, and without regard to their own or others' lives. the violence of this opposition, and the fear of a serious internecine conflict at so critical a juncture, proved fatal to the project. much precious time was lost, and when at last the inhabitants of the city awoke from their delusion, it was to find that repentance, as usual, had come many hours too late. for parma had been acting while his antagonists had been wrangling. he was hampered in his means, but he was assisted by what now seems the incredible supineness of the netherlanders. even sainte aldegonde did not believe in the possibility of erecting the bridge; not a man in antwerp seemed to believe it. "the preparations," said one who lived in the city, "went on before our very noses, and every one was ridiculing the spanish commander's folly." a very great error was, moreover, committed in abandoning herenthals to the enemy. the city of antwerp governed brabant, and it would have been far better for the authorities of the commercial capital to succour this small but important city, and, by so doing, to protract for a long time their own defence. mondragon saw and rejoiced over the mistake. "now 'tis easy to see that the prince of orange is dead," said the veteran, as he took possession, in the icing's name, of the forsaken herenthals. early in the summer, parma's operations had been, of necessity, desultory. he had sprinkled forts up and down the scheldt, and had gradually been gaining control of the navigation upon that river. thus ghent and dendermonde, vilvoorde, brussels, and antwerp, had each been isolated, and all prevented from rendering mutual assistance. below antwerp, however, was to be the scene of the great struggle. here, within nine miles of the city, were two forts belonging to the states, on opposite sides of the stream, lille, and liefkenshoek. it was important for the spanish commander to gain possession of both; before commencing his contemplated bridge. unfortunately for the states, the fortifications of liefkenshoek, on the flemish side of the river, had not been entirely completed. eight hundred men lay within it, under colonel john pettin of arras, an old patriotic officer of much experience. parma, after reconnoitring the place in person, despatched the famous viscount of ghent--now called marquis of roubaix and richebourg--to carry it by assault. the marquis sent one hundred men from his walloon legion, under two officers, in whom he had confidence, to attempt a surprise, with orders, if not successful, to return without delay. they were successful. the one hundred gained entrance into the fort at a point where the defences had not been put into sufficient repair. they were immediately followed by richebourg, at the head of his regiment. the day was a fatal one. it was the th july, and william of orange was falling at delft by the hand of balthazar gerard. liefkenshoek was carried at a blow. of the eight hundred patriots in the place, scarcely a man escaped. four hundred were put to the sword, the others were hunted into the river, when nearly all were drowned. of the royalists a single man was killed, and two or three more were wounded. "our lord was pleased," wrote parma piously to philip, that we "should cut the throats of four hundred of them in a single instant, and that a great many more should be killed upon the dykes; so that i believe very few to have escaped with life. we lost one man, besides two or three wounded." a few were taken prisoners, and among them was the commander john pettin. he was at once brought before richebourg, who was standing in the presence of the prince of parma. the marquis drew his sword, walked calmly up to the captured colonel, and ran him through the body. pettin fell dead upon the spot. the prince was displeased. "too much choler, marquis, too much choler,"--said he reprovingly. "troppa colera, signor marchese, a questa." but richebourg knew better. he had, while still viscount of ghent, carried on a year previously a parallel intrigue with the royalists and the patriots. the prince of parma had bid highest for his services, and had, accordingly, found him a most effectual instrument in completing the reduction of the walloon provinces. the prince was not aware, however, that his brave but venal ally had, at the very same moment, been secretly treating with william of orange; and as it so happened that colonel pettin had been the agent in the unsuccessful negotiation, it was possible that his duplicity would now be exposed. the marquis had, therefore, been prompt to place his old confederate in the condition wherein men tell no tales, and if contemporary chronicles did not bely him, it was not the first time that he had been guilty of such cold-blooded murder. the choler had not been superfluous. the fortress of lille was garrisoned by the antwerp volunteers, called the "young bachelors." teligny, the brave son of the illustrious "iron-armed" la none, commanded in chief: and he had, besides the militia, a company of french under captain gascoigne, and four hundred scotchmen under colonel morgan--perhaps two thousand men in all. mondragon, hero of the famous submarine expeditions of philipsland and zierickzee, was ordered by parma to take the place at every hazard. with five thousand men--a large proportion of the spanish effective force at that moment--the veteran placed himself before the fort, taking possession, of the beautiful country-house and farm of lille, where he planted his batteries, and commenced a regular cannonade. the place was stronger than liefkenshoek, however, and teligny thoroughly comprehended the importance of maintaining it for the states. mondragon dug mines, and teligny countermined. the spanish daily cannonade was cheerfully responded to by the besieged, and by the time mondragon had shot away fifty thousand pounds of powder, he found that he had made no impression upon the fortress, while the number of his troops had been diminishing with great rapidity. mondragon was not so impetuous as he had been on many former occasions. he never ventured an assault. at last teligny made a sortie at the head of a considerable force. a warm action succeeded, at the conclusion of which, without a decided advantage on either side, the sluice-gate in the fortress was opened, and the torrent of the scheldt, swollen by a high tide, was suddenly poured upon the spaniards. assailed at once by the fire from the lillo batteries, and by the waters of the river, they were forced to a rapid retreat. this they effected with great loss, but with signal courage; struggling breast high in the waves, and bearing off their field-pieces in their arms in the very face of the enemy. three weeks long mondragon had been before fort lille, and two thousand of his soldiers had been slain in the trenches. the attempt was now abandoned. parma directed permanent batteries to be established at lillo-house, at oordam, and at other places along the river, and proceeded quietly with his carefully-matured plan for closing the river. his own camp was in the neighbourhood of the villages of beveren, kalloo, and borght. of the ten thousand foot and seventeen hundred horse, which composed at the moment his whole army, about one-half lay with him, while the remainder were with count peter ernest mansfield, in the neighbourhood of stabroek. thus the prince occupied a position on the left bank of the scheldt, nearly opposite antwerp, while mansfield was stationed upon the right bank, and ten miles farther down the river. from a point in the neighbourhood of kalloo, alexander intended to throw a fortified bridge to the opposite shore. when completed, all traffic up the river from zeeland would be cut off; and as the country on the land-side; abut antwerp, had been now reduced, the city would be effectually isolated. if the prince could hold his bridge until famine should break the resistance of the burghers, antwerp would fall into his hands. his head-quarters were at kalloo, and this obscure spot soon underwent a strange transformation. a drowsy placid little village--with a modest parish spire peeping above a clump of poplars, and with half a dozen cottages, with storks nests on their roofs, sprinkled here and there among pastures and orchards--suddenly saw itself changed as it were into a thriving bustling town; for, saving the white tents which dotted the green turf in every direction, the aspect of the scene was, for a time, almost pacific. it was as if, some great manufacturing enterprise had been set on foot, and the world had suddenly awoke to the hidden capabilities of the situation. a great dockyard and arsenal suddenly revealed themselves--rising like an exhalation--where ship-builders, armourers, blacksmiths, joiners, carpenters, caulkers, gravers, were hard at work all day long. the din and hum of what seemed a peaceful industry were unceasing. from kalloo, parma dug a canal twelve miles long to a place called steeken, hundreds of pioneers being kept constantly at work with pick and spade till it was completed. through this artificial channel--so soon as ghent and dendermonde had fallen--came floats of timber, fleets of boats laden with provisions of life and munitions of death, building-materials, and every other requisite for the great undertaking, all to be disembarked at kalloo. the object was a temporary and destructive one, but it remains a monument of the great general's energy and a useful public improvement. the amelioration of the fenny and barren soil, called the waesland, is dated from that epoch; and the spot in europe which is the most prolific, and which nourishes the largest proportion of inhabitants to the square mile, is precisely the long dreary swamp which the prince thus drained for military purposes, and converted into a garden. drusus and corbulo, in the days of the roman empire, had done the same good service for their barbarian foes. at kalloo itself, all the shipwrights, cutlers, masons, brass-founders, rope-makers, anchor-forgers, sailors, boatmen, of flanders and brabant, with a herd of bakers, brewers, and butchers, were congregated by express order of parma. in the little church itself the main workshop was established, and all day long, week after week, month after month, the sound of saw and hammer, adze and plane, the rattle of machinery, the cry of sentinels, the cheers of mariners, resounded, where but lately had been heard nothing save the drowsy homily and the devout hymn of rustic worship. nevertheless the summer and autumn wore on, and still the bridge was hardly commenced. the navigation of the river--although impeded and rendered dangerous by the forts which parma held along the banks--was still open; and, so long as the price of corn in antwerp remained three or four times as high as the sum for which it could be purchased in holland and zeeland, there were plenty of daredevil skippers ready to bring cargoes. fleets of fly-boats, convoyed by armed vessels, were perpetually running the gauntlet. sharp actions on shore between the forts of the patriots and those of parma, which were all intermingled promiscuously along the banks, and amphibious and most bloody encounters on ship-board, dyke, and in the stream itself, between the wild zeelanders and the fierce pikemen of italy and spain, were of repeated occurrence. many a lagging craft fell into the enemy's hands, when, as a matter of course, the men, women, and children, on board, were horribly mutilated by the spaniards, and were then sent drifting in their boat with the tide--their arms, legs, and ears lopped off up to the city, in order that--the dangerous nature of this provision-trade might be fully illustrated. yet that traffic still went on. it would have continued until antwerp had been victualled for more than a year, had not the city authorities, in the plentitude of their wisdom, thought proper to issue orders for its regulation. on the th october ( ) a census was taken, when the number of persons inside the walls was found to be ninety thousand. for this population it was estimated that , veertell, or about , bushels of corn, would be required annually. the grain was coming in very fast, notwithstanding the perilous nature of the trade; for wheat could be bought in holland for fifty florins the last, or about fifteen pence sterling the bushel, while it was worth five or six florins the veertel, or about four shillings the bushel, in antwerp. the magistrates now committed a folly more stupendous than it seemed possible for human creatures, under such circumstances, to compass. they established a maximum upon corn. the skippers who had run their cargoes through the gauntlet, all the way from flushing to antwerp, found on their arrival, that, instead of being rewarded, according to the natural laws of demand and supply, they were required to exchange their wheat, rye, butter, and beef, against the exact sum which the board of schepens thought proper to consider a reasonable remuneration. moreover, in order to prevent the accumulation of provisions in private magazines, it was enacted, that all consumers of grain should be compelled to make their purchases directly from the ships. these two measures were almost as fatal as the preservation of the blaw-garen dyke, in the interest of the butchers. winter and famine were staring the city in the face, and the maximum now stood sentinel against the gate, to prevent the admission of food. the traffic ceased without a struggle. parma himself could not have better arranged the blockade. meantime a vast and almost general inundation had taken place. the aspect of the country for many miles around was strange and desolate. the sluices had been opened in the neighbourhood of saftingen, on, the flemish side, so that all the way from hulst the waters were out, and flowed nearly to the gates of antwerp. a wide and shallow sea rolled over the fertile plains, while church-steeples, the tops of lofty trees, and here and there the turrets of a castle, scarcely lifted themselves above the black waters; the peasants' houses, the granges, whole rural villages, having entirely disappeared. the high grounds of doel, of kalloo, and beveren, where alexander was established, remained out of reach of the flood. far below, on the opposite side of the river, other sluices had been opened, and the sea had burst over the wide, level plain. the villages of wilmerdonk, orderen, ekeren, were changed to islands in the ocean, while all the other hamlets, for miles around, were utterly submerged. still, however, the blaw-garen dyke and its companion the kowenstyn remained obstinately above the waters, forming a present and more fatal obstruction to the communication between antwerp and zeeland than would be furnished even by the threatened and secretly-advancing bridge across the scheldt. had orange's prudent advice been taken, the city had been safe. over the prostrate dykes, whose destruction he had so warmly urged, the ocean would have rolled quite to the gates of antwerp, and it would have been as easy to bridge the north sea as to control the free navigation of the patriots over so wide a surface. when it was too late, the butchers, and colonels, and captains, became penitent enough. an order was passed, by acclamation, in november, to do what orange had recommended in june. it was decreed that the blaw-garen and the kowenstyn should be pierced. alas, the hour had long gone by. alexander of parma was not the man to undertake the construction of a bridge across the river, at a vast expense, and at the same time to permit the destruction of the already existing barrier. there had been a time for such a deed. the seigneur de kowenstyn, who had a castle and manor on and near the dyke which bore his name, had repeatedly urged upon the antwerp magistracy the propriety of piercing this bulwark, even after their refusal to destroy the outer barrier. sainte aldegonde, who vehemently urged the measure, protested that his hair had stood on end, when he found, after repeated entreaty, that the project was rejected. the seigneur de kowenstyn, disgusted and indignant, forswore his patriotism, and went over to parma. the dyke fell into the hands of the enemy. and now from stabroek, where old mansfeid lay with his army, all the way across the flooded country, ran the great bulwark, strengthened with new palisade-work and block-houses, bristling with spanish cannon, pike, and arquebus, even to the bank of the scheldt, in the immediate vicinity of fort lille. at the angle of its junction with the main dyke of the river's bank, a strong fortress called holy cross (santa cruz) had been constructed. that fortress and the whole line of the kowenstyn were held in the iron grip of mondragon. to wrench it from him would be no child's play. five new strong redoubts upon the dyke, and five or six thousand spaniards established there, made the enterprise more formidable than it would have been in june. it had been better to sacrifice the twelve thousand oxen. twelve thousand hollanders might now be slaughtered, and still the dyke remain above the waves. here was the key to the fate of antwerp. on the other hand, the opening of the saftingen sluice had done parma's work for him. even there, too, orange had been prophetic. kalloo was high and dry, but alexander had experienced some difficulty in bringing a fleet of thirty vessels, laden with cannon and other valuable materials, from ghent along the scheldt, into his encampment, because it was necessary for them, before reaching their destination, to pass in front of antwerp. the inundation, together with a rupture in the dyke of borght, furnished him with a watery road; over which his fleet completely avoided the city, and came in triumph to kalloo. sainte aldegonde, much provoked by this masterly movement on the part of parma, had followed the little squadron closely with some armed vessels from the city. a sharp action had succeeded, in which the burgomaster, not being properly sustained by the zeeland ships on which he relied, had been defeated. admiral jacob jacobzoon behaved with so little spirit on the occasion that he acquired with the antwerp populace the name of "run-away jacob," "koppen gaet loppen;" and sainte aldegonde declared, that, but for his cowardice, the fleet of parma would have fallen into their hands. the burgomaster himself narrowly escaped becoming a prisoner, and owed his safety only to the swiftness of his barge, which was called the "flying devil." the patriots, in order to counteract similar enterprises in future, now erected a sconce, which they called fort teligny; upon the ruptured dyke of borght, directly in front of the borght blockhouse, belonging to the spaniards, and just opposite fort hoboken. here, in this narrow passage, close under the walls of antwerp, where friends and foes were brought closely, face to face, was the scene of many a sanguinary skirmish, from the commencement of the siege until its close. still the bridge was believed to be a mere fable, a chimaera. parma, men said, had become a lunatic from pride. it was as easy to make the netherlands submit to the yoke of the inquisition as to put a bridle on the scheldt. its depth; breadth, the ice-floods of a northern winter, the neighbourhood of the zeeland fleets, the activity of the antwerp authorities, all were pledges that the attempt would be signally frustrated. and they should have been pledges--more than enough. unfortunately, however, there was dissension within, and no chieftain in the field, no sage in the council, of sufficient authority to sustain the whole burthen of the war, and to direct all the energies of the commonwealth. orange was dead. his son, one day to become the most illustrious military commander in europe, was a boy of seventeen, nominally captain-general, but in reality but a youthful apprentice to his art. hohenlo was wild, wilful, and obstinate. young william lewis nassau, already a soldier of marked abilities, was fully occupied in friesland, where he was stadholder, and where he had quite enough to do in making head against the spanish governor and general, the veteran verdugo: military operations against zutphen distracted the attention of the states, which should have been fixed upon antwerp. admiral treslong, as we have seen, was refractory, the cause of great delinquency on the part of the fleets, and of infinite disaster to the commonwealth. more than all, the french negotiation was betraying the states into indolence and hesitation; and creating a schism between the leading politicians of the country. several thousand french troops, under monsieur d'allaynes, were daily expected, but never arrived; and thus, while english and french partisans were plotting and counter-plotting, while a delusive diplomacy was usurping the place of lansquenettes and gun-boats--the only possible agents at that moment to preserve antwerp--the bridge of parma was slowly advancing. before the winter had closed in, the preparatory palisades had been finished. between kalloo and ordam, upon the opposite side, a sandbar had been discovered in the river's bed, which diminished the depth of the stream, and rendered the pile-driving comparatively easy. the breadth of the scheldt at this passage was twenty-four hundred feet; its depth, sixty feet. upon the flemish side, near kalloo, a strong fort was erected, called saint mary, in honour of the blessed virgin, to whom the whole siege of antwerp had been dedicated from the beginning. on the opposite bank was a similar fort, flamed philip, for the king. from each of these two points, thus fortified, a framework of heavy timber, supported upon huge piles, had been carried so far into the stream on either side that the distance between the ends had at last been reduced to thirteen hundred feet. the breadth of the roadway--formed of strong sleepers firmly bound together--was twelve feet, along which block-houses of great thickness were placed to defend the whole against assault. thus far the work had been comparatively easy. to bridge the remaining open portion of the river, however, where its current was deepest and strongest, and where the action of tide, tempest, and icebergs, would be most formidable, seemed a desperate undertaking; for as the enterprise advanced, this narrow open space became the scene of daily amphibious encounters between the soldiers and sailors of parma and the forces of the states. unfortunately for the patriots, it was only skirmishing. had a strong, concerted attack, in large force, from holland and zeeland below and from the city above, been agreed upon, there was hardly a period, until very late in the winter, when it might not have had the best chances of success. with a vigorous commander against him, parma, weak in men, and at his wits' end for money, might, in a few hours, have seen the labour of several months hopelessly annihilated. on the other hand, the prince was ably seconded by his lieutenant, marquis richebourg, to whom had been delegated the immediate superintendence of the bridge-building in its minutest details. he was never idle. audacious, indefatigable, ubiquitous, he at least atoned by energy and brilliant courage for his famous treason of the preceding year, while his striking and now rapidly approaching doom upon the very scene of his present labours, made him appear to have been building a magnificent though fleeting monument to his own memory. sainte aldegonde, shut up in antwerp, and hampered by dissension within and obstinate jealousy without the walls, did all in his power to frustrate the enemy's enterprise and animate the patriots. through the whole of the autumn and early winter, he had urged the states of holland and zeeland to make use of the long winter nights, when moonless and stormy, to attempt the destruction of parma's undertaking, but the fatal influences already indicated were more efficient against antwerp than even the genius of farnese; and nothing came of the burgomaster's entreaties save desultory skirmishing and unsuccessful enterprises. an especial misfortune happened in one of these midnight undertakings. teligny ventured forth in a row-barge, with scarcely any companions, to notify the zeelanders of a contemplated movement, in which their co-operation was desired. it was proposed that the antwerp troops should make a fictitious demonstration upon fort ordam, while at the same moment the states' troops from fort lillo should make an assault upon the forts on kowenstyn dyke; and in this important enterprise the zeeland vessels were requested to assist. but the brave teligny nearly forfeited his life by his rashness, and his services were, for a long time, lost to the cause of liberty. it had been better to send a less valuable officer upon such hazardous yet subordinate service. the drip of his oars was heard in the darkness. he was pursued by a number of armed barges, attacked, wounded severely in the shoulder, and captured. he threw his letters overboard, but they were fished out of the water, carried to parma, and deciphered, so that the projected attack upon the kowenstyn was discovered, and, of necessity, deferred. as for teligny, he was taken, as a most valuable prize, into the enemy's camp, and was soon afterwards thrust into prison at tournay, where he remained six years--one year longer than the period which his illustrious father had been obliged to consume in the infamous dungeon at mons. few disasters could have been more keenly felt by the states than the loss of this brilliant and devoted french chieftain, who, young as he was, had already become very dear to the republic; and sainte aldegonde was severely blamed for sending so eminent a personage on that dangerous expedition, and for sending him, too, with an insufficient convoy. still alexander felt uncertain as to the result. he was determined to secure antwerp, but he yet thought it possible to secure it by negotiation. the enigmatical policy maintained by france perplexed him; for it did not seem possible that so much apparent solemnity and earnestness were destined to lead to an impotent and infamous conclusion. he was left, too, for a long time in ignorance of his own master's secret schemes, he was at liberty to guess, and to guess only, as to the projects of the league, he was without adequate means to carry out to a certain triumph his magnificent enterprise, and he was in constant alarm lest he should be suddenly assailed by an overwhelming french force. had a man sat upon the throne of henry iii., at that moment, parma's bridge-making and dyke-fortifying skilful as they were--would have been all in vain. meantime, in uncertainty as to the great issue, but resolved to hold firmly to his purpose, he made repeated conciliatory offers to the states with one hand, while he steadily prosecuted his aggressive schemes with the other. parma had become really gentle, almost affectionate, towards the netherlanders. he had not the disposition of an alva to smite and to blast, to exterminate the rebels and heretics with fire and sword, with the axe, the rack, and the gallows. provided they would renounce the great object of the contest, he seemed really desirous that they should escape further chastisement; but to admit the worship of god according to the reformed creed, was with him an inconceivable idea. to do so was both unrighteous and impolitic. he had been brought up to believe that mankind could be saved from eternal perdition only by believing in the infallibility of the bishop of rome; that the only keys to eternal paradise were in the hands of st. peter's representative. moreover, he instinctively felt that within this religious liberty which the netherlanders claimed was hidden the germ of civil liberty; and though no bigger than a grain of mustard-seed, it was necessary to destroy it at once; for of course the idea of civil liberty could not enter the brain of the brilliant general of philip ii. on the th of november he addressed a letter to the magistracy and broad-council of antwerp. he asserted that the instigators of the rebellion were not seeking to further the common weal, but their own private ends. especially had this been the ruling motive with the prince of orange and the duke of anjou, both of whom god had removed from the world, in order to manifest to the states their own weakness, and the omnipotence of philip, whose prosperity the lord was constantly increasing. it was now more than time for the authorities of the country to have regard for themselves, and for the miseries of the poor people. the affection which he had always felt for the provinces from which he had himself sprung and the favours which he had received from them in his youth, had often moved him to propose measures, which, before god and his conscience, he believed adequate to the restoration of peace. but his letters had been concealed or falsely interpreted by the late prince of orange, who had sought nothing but to spread desolation over the land, and to shed the blood of the innocent. he now wrote once more, and for the last time, in all fervour and earnestness, to implore them to take compassion on their own wives and children and forlorn fatherland, to turn their eyes backward on the peace and prosperity which they had formerly enjoyed when obedient to his majesty, and to cast a glance around them upon the miseries which were so universal since the rebellion. he exhorted them to close their ears to the insidious tongues of those who were leading them into delusion as to the benevolence and paternal sweetness of their natural lord and master, which were even now so boundless that he did not hesitate once more to offer them his entire forgiveness. if they chose to negotiate, they would find everything granted that with right and reason could be proposed. the prince concluded by declaring that he made these advances not from any doubt as to the successful issue of the military operations in which he was engaged, but simply out of paternal anxiety for the happiness of the provinces. did they remain obstinate, their ultimate conditions would be rendered still more severe, and themselves, not he, would be responsible for the misery and the bloodshed to ensue. ten days afterwards, the magistrates, thus addressed--after communication with the broad-council--answered parma's. rd nov., letter manfully, copiously, and with the customary but superfluous historical sketch. they begged leave to entertain a doubt as to the paternal sweetness of a king who had dealt so long in racks and gibbets. with parma's own mother, as they told the prince, the netherlanders had once made a treaty, by which the right to worship god according to their consciences had been secured; yet for maintaining that treaty they had been devoted to indiscriminate destruction, and their land made desolate with fire and sword. men had been massacred by thousands, who had never been heard in their own defence, and who had never been accused of any crime, "save that they had assembled together in the name of god, to pray to him through their only mediator and advocate jesus christ, according to his command." the axis of the revolt was the religious question; and it was impossible to hope anything from a monarch who was himself a slave of the inquisition, and who had less independence of action than that enjoyed by jews and turks, according to the express permission of the pope. therefore they informed parma that they had done with philip for ever, and that in consequence of the extraordinary wisdom, justice, and moderation, of the french king, they had offered him the sovereignty of their land, and had implored his protection. they paid a tribute to the character of farnese, who after gaining infinite glory in arms, had manifested so much gentleness and disposition to conciliate. they doubted not that he would, if he possessed the power, have guided the royal councils to better and more generous results, and protested that they would not have delayed to throw themselves into his arms, had they been assured that he was authorized to admit that which alone could form the basis of a successful negotiation--religious freedom. they would in such case have been willing to close with him, without talking about other conditions than such as his highness in his discretion and sweetness might think reasonable. moreover, as they observed in conclusion, they were precluded, by their present relations with france, from entering into any other negotiation; nor could they listen to any such proposals without deserving to be stigmatized as the most lewd, blasphemous, and thankless mortals, that ever cumbered the earth. being under equal obligations both to the union and to france, they announced that parma's overtures would be laid before the french government and the assembly of the states-general. a day was to come, perhaps, when it would hardly seem lewdness and blasphemy for the netherlanders to doubt the extraordinary justice and wisdom of the french king. meantime, it cannot be denied that they were at least loyal to their own engagements, and long-suffering where they had trusted and given their hearts. parma replied by another letter, dated december rd. he assured the citizens that henry iii. was far too discreet, and much too good a friend to philip ii., to countenance this rebellion. if he were to take up their quarrel, however, the king of spain had a thousand means of foiling all his attempts. as to the religious question--which they affirmed to be the sole cause of the war--he was not inclined to waste words upon that subject; nevertheless, so far as he in his simplicity could understand the true nature of a christian, he could not believe that it comported with the doctrines of jesus, whom they called their only mediator, nor with the dictates of conscience, to take up arms against their lawful king, nor to burn, rob, plunder, pierce dykes, overwhelm their fatherland, and reduce all things to misery and chaos, in the name of religion. thus moralizing and dogmatizing, the prince concluded his letter, and so the correspondence terminated. this last despatch was communicated at once both to the states-general and to the french government, and remained unanswered. soon afterwards the netherlands and england, france and spain, were engaged in that vast game of delusion which has been described in the preceding chapters. meantime both antwerp and parma remained among the deluded, and were left to fight out their battle on their own resources. having found it impossible to subdue antwerp by his rhetoric, alexander proceeded with his bridge. it is impossible not to admire the steadiness and ingenuity with which the prince persisted in his plans, the courage with which he bore up against the parsimony and neglect of his sovereign, the compassionate tenderness which he manifested for his patient little army. so much intellectual energy commands enthusiasm, while the supineness on the other side sometimes excites indignation. there is even a danger of being entrapped into sympathy with tyranny, when the cause of tyranny is maintained by genius; and of being surprised into indifference for human liberty, when the sacred interests of liberty are endangered by self-interest, perverseness, and folly. even sainte aldegonde did not believe that the bridge could be completed. his fears were that the city would be ruined rather by the cessation of its commerce than by want of daily food. already, after the capture of liefkenshoek and the death of orange, the panic among commercial people had been so intense that seventy or eighty merchants, representing the most wealthy mercantile firms in antwerp, made their escape from the place, as if it had been smitten with pestilence, or were already in the hands of parma. all such refugees were ordered to return on peril of forfeiting their property. few came back, however, for they had found means of converting and transferring their funds to other more secure places, despite the threatened confiscation. it was insinuated that holland and zeeland were indifferent to the fate of antwerp, because in the sequel the commercial cities of those provinces succeeded to the vast traffic and the boundless wealth which had been forfeited by the brabantine capital. the charge was an unjust one. at the very commencement of the siege the states of holland voted two hundred thousand florins for its relief; and, moreover, these wealthy refugees were positively denied admittance into the territory of the united states, and were thus forced to settle in germany or england. this cessation of traffic was that which principally excited the anxiety of aldegonde. he could not bring himself to believe in the possibility of a blockade, by an army of eight or ten thousand men, of a great and wealthy city, where at least twenty thousand citizens were capable of bearing arms. had he thoroughly understood the deprivations under which alexander was labouring, perhaps he would have been even more confident as to the result. "with regard to the affair of the river scheldt," wrote parma to philip, "i should like to send your majesty a drawing of the whole scheme; for the work is too vast to be explained by letters. the more i examine it, the more astonished i am that it should have been conducted to this point; so many forts, dykes, canals, new inventions, machinery, and engines, have been necessarily required." he then proceeded to enlighten the king--as he never failed to do in all his letters--as to his own impoverished, almost helpless condition. money, money, men! this was his constant cry. all would be in vain, he said, if he were thus neglected. "'tis necessary," said he, "for your majesty fully to comprehend, that henceforth the enterprise is your own. i have done my work faithfully thus far; it is now for your majesty to take it thoroughly to heart; and embrace it with the warmth with which an affair involving so much of your own interests deserves to be embraced." he avowed that without full confidence in his sovereign's sympathy he would never have conceived the project. "i confess that the enterprise is great," he said, "and that by many it will be considered rash. certainly i should not have undertaken it, had i not felt certain of your majesty's full support." but he was already in danger of being forced to abandon the whole scheme--although so nearly carried into effect--for want of funds. "the million promised," he wrote, "has arrived in bits and morsels, and with so many ceremonies, that i haven't ten crowns at my disposal. how i am to maintain even this handful of soldiers--for the army is diminished to such a mere handful that it would astonish your majesty--i am unable to imagine. it would move you to witness their condition. they have suffered as much as is humanly possible." many of the troops, indeed, were deserting, and making their escape, beggared and desperate, into france, where, with natural injustice, they denounced their general, whose whole heart was occupied with their miseries, for the delinquency of his master, whose mind was full of other schemes. "there past this way many spanish soldiers," wrote stafford from paris, "so poor and naked as i ever saw any. there have been within this fortnight two hundred at a time in this town, who report the extremity of want of victuals in their camp, and that they have been twenty-four months without pay. they exclaim greatly upon the prince of parma. mendoza seeks to convey them away, and to get money for them by all means he can." stafford urged upon his government the propriety of being at least as negligent as philip had showed himself to be of the spaniards. by prohibiting supplies to the besieging army, england might contribute, negatively, if not otherwise, to the relief of antwerp. "there is no place," he wrote to walsingham, "whence the spaniards are so thoroughly victualled as from us. english boats go by sixteen and seventeen into dunkirk, well laden with provisions." this was certainly not in accordance with the interests nor the benevolent professions of the english ministers. these supplies were not to be regularly depended upon however. they were likewise not to be had without paying a heavy price for them, and the prince had no money in his coffer. he lived from hand to mouth, and was obliged to borrow from every private individual who had anything to lend. merchants, nobles, official personages, were all obliged to assist in eking out the scanty pittance allowed by the sovereign. "the million is all gone," wrote parma to his master; "some to verdugo in friesland; some to repay the advances of marquis richebourg and other gentlemen. there is not a farthing for the garrisons. i can't go on a month longer, and, if not supplied, i shall be obliged to abandon the work. i have not money enough to pay my sailors, joiners, carpenters, and other mechanics, from week to week, and they will all leave me in the lurch, if i leave them unpaid. i have no resource but to rely on your majesty. otherwise the enterprise must wholly fail." in case it did fail, the prince wiped his hands of the responsibility. he certainly had the right to do so. one of the main sources of supply was the city of hertogenbosch, or bois-le-duc. it was one of the four chief cities of brabant, and still held for the king, although many towns in its immediate neighbourhood had espoused the cause of the republic. the states had long been anxious to effect a diversion for the relief of antwerp, by making an attack on bois-le-duc. could they carry the place, parma would be almost inevitably compelled to abandon the siege in which he was at present engaged, and he could moreover spare no troops for its defence. bois-le-duc was a populous, wealthy, thriving town, situate on the deeze, two leagues above its confluence with the meuse, and about twelve leagues from antwerp. it derived its name of `duke's wood' from a magnificent park and forest, once the favourite resort and residence of the old dukes of brabant, of which some beautiful vestiges still remained. it was a handsome well-built city, with two thousand houses of the better class, besides more humble tenements. its citizens were celebrated for their courage and belligerent skill, both on foot and on horseback. they were said to retain more of the antique belgic ferocity which caesar had celebrated than that which had descended to most of their kinsmen. the place was, moreover, the seat of many prosperous manufactures. its clothiers sent the products of their looms over all christendom, and its linen and cutlery were equally renowned. it would be a most fortunate blow in the cause of freedom to secure so, thriving and conspicuous a town, situated thus in the heart of what seemed the natural territory of the united states; and, by so doing, to render nugatory the mighty preparations of parma against antwerp. moreover, it was known that there was no spanish or other garrison within its walls, so that there was no opposition to be feared, except from the warlike nature of the citizens. count hohenlo was entrusted, early in january, with this important enterprise. he accordingly collected a force of four thousand infantry, together with two hundred mounted lancers; having previously reconnoitered the ground. he relied very much, for the success of the undertaking, on captain kleerhagen, a brussels nobleman, whose wife was a native of bois-le-duc, and who was thoroughly familiar with the locality. one dark winter's night, kleerhagen, with fifty picked soldiers, advanced to the antwerp gate of bois-le-duc, while hohenlo, with his whole force, lay in ambuscade as near as possible to the city. between the drawbridge and the portcullis were two small guard-houses, which, very carelessly, had been left empty. kleerhagen, with his fifty followers, successfully climbed into these lurking-places, where they quietly ensconced themselves for the night. at eight o'clock of the following morning ( th january) the guards of the gate drew up the portcullis, and reconnoitered. at the same instant, the ambushed fifty sprang from their concealment, put them to the sword, and made themselves masters of the gate. none of the night-watch escaped with life, save one poor old invalided citizen, whose business had been to draw up the portcullis, and who was severely wounded, and left for dead. the fifty immediately summoned all of rohenlo's ambuscade that were within hearing, and then, without waiting for them, entered the town pell-mell in the best of spirits, and shouting victory! victory! till they were hoarse. a single corporal, with two men, was left to guard the entrance. meantime, the old wounded gate-opener, bleeding and crippled, crept into a dark corner, and laid himself down, unnoticed, to die. soon afterwards hohenlo galloped into the town, clad in complete armour, his long curls floating in the wind, with about two hundred troopers clattering behind him, closely followed by five hundred pike-men on foot. very brutally, foolishly, and characteristically, he had promised his followers the sacking of the city so soon as it should be taken. they accordingly set about the sacking, before it was taken. hardly had the five or six hundred effected their entrance, than throwing off all control, they dispersed through the principal streets, and began bursting open the doors of the most opulent households. the cries of "victory!" "gained city!" "down with the spaniards!" resounded on all sides. many of the citizens, panic-struck, fled from their homes, which they thus abandoned to pillage, while, meantime, the loud shouts of the assailants reached the ears of the sergeant and his two companies who had been left in charge of the gate. fearing that they should be cheated of their rightful share in the plunder, they at once abandoned their post, and set forth after their comrades, as fast as their legs could carry them. now it so chanced--although there was no garrison in the town--that forty burgundian and italian lancers, with about thirty foot-soldiers, had come in the day before to escort a train of merchandise. the seigneur de haultepenne, governor of breda, a famous royalist commander--son of old count berlaymont, who first gave the name of "beggars" to the patriots-had accompanied them in the expedition. the little troop were already about to mount their horses to depart, when they became aware of the sudden tumult. elmont, governor of the city, had also flown to the rescue, and had endeavoured to rally the burghers. not unmindful of their ancient warlike fame, they had obeyed his entreaties. elmont, with a strong party of armed citizens, joined himself to haultepenne's little band of lancers. they fired a few shots at straggling parties of plunderers, and pursued others up some narrow streets. they were but an handful in comparison with the number of the patriots, who had gained entrance to the city. they were, however, compact, united, and resolute. the assailants were scattered, disorderly, and bent only upon plunder. when attacked by an armed and regular band, they were amazed. they had been told that there was no garrison; and behold a choice phalanx of spanish lancers, led on by one of the most famous of philip's netherland chieftains. they thought themselves betrayed by kleerhagen, entrapped into a deliberately arranged ambush. there was a panic. the soldiers, dispersed and doubtful, could not be rallied. hohenlo, seeing that nothing was to be done with his five hundred, galloped furiously out of the gate, to bring in the rest of his troops who had remained outside the walls. the prize of the wealthy city of bois-le-duc was too tempting to be lightly abandoned; but he had much better have thought of making himself master of it himself before he should present it as a prey to his followers. during his absence the panic spread. the states' troops, bewildered, astonished, vigorously assaulted, turned their backs upon their enemies, and fled helter-skelter towards the gates, through which they had first gained admittance. but unfortunately for them, so soon as the corporal had left his position, the wounded old gate-opener, in a dying condition, had crawled forth on his hands and knees from a dark hole in the tower, cut, with a pocket-knife, the ropes of the portcullis, and then given up the ghost. most effective was that blow struck by a dead man's hand. down came the portcullis. the flying plunderers were entrapped. close behind them came the excited burghers--their antique belgic ferocity now fully aroused--firing away with carbine and matchlock, dealing about them with bludgeon and cutlass, and led merrily on by haultepenne and elmont armed in proof, at the head of their squadron of lancers. the unfortunate patriots had risen very early in the morning only to shear the wolf. some were cut to pieces in the streets; others climbed the walls, and threw themselves head foremost into the moat. many were drowned, and but a very few effected their escape. justinus de nassau sprang over the parapet, and succeeded in swimming the ditch. kleerhagen, driven into the holy cross tower, ascended to its roof, leaped, all accoutred as he was, into the river, and with the assistance of a scotch soldier, came safe to land. ferdinand truchsess, brother of the ex-elector of cologne, was killed. four or five hundred of the assailants--nearly all who had entered the city--were slain, and about fifty of the burghers. hohenlo soon came back, with colonel ysselstein, and two thousand fresh troops. but their noses, says a contemporary, grew a hundred feet long with surprise when they saw the gate shut in their faces. it might have occurred to the count, when he rushed out of the town for reinforcements, that it would be as well to replace the guard, which--as he must have seen--had abandoned their post. cursing his folly, he returned, mavellously discomfited, and deservedly censured, to gertruydenberg. and thus had a most important enterprise; which had nearly been splendidly successful, ended in disaster and disgrace. to the recklessness of the general, to the cupidity which he had himself awakened in his followers, was the failure alone to be attributed. had he taken possession of the city with a firm grasp at the head of his four thousand men, nothing could have resisted him; haultepenne, and his insignificant force, would have been dead, or his prisoners; the basis of parma's magnificent operations would have been withdrawn; antwerp would have been saved. "infinite gratitude," wrote parma to philip, "should be rendered to the lord. great thanks are also due to haultepenne. had the rebels succeeded in their enterprise against bolduc, i should have been compelled to abandon the siege of antwerp. the town; by its strength and situation, is of infinite importance for the reduction both of that place and of brussels, and the rebels in possession of bolduc would have cut off my supplies." the prince recommended haultepenne most warmly to the king as deserving of a rich "merced." the true hero of the day, however--at least the chief agent in the victory was the poor, crushed, nameless victim who had cut the ropes of the portcullis at the antwerp gate. hohenlo was deeply stung by the disgrace which he had incurred. for a time he sought oblivion in hard drinking; but--brave and energetic, though reckless--he soon became desirous of retrieving his reputation by more successful enterprises. there was no lack of work, and assuredly his hands were rarely idle. "hollach (hohenlo) is gone from hence on friday last," wrote davison to walsingham, "he will do what he may to recover his reputation lost in the attempt, of bois-le-duc; which, for the grief and trouble he hath conceived thereof, hath for the time greatly altered him." meantime the turbulent scheldt, lashed by the storms of winter, was becoming a more formidable enemy to parma's great enterprise than the military demonstrations of his enemies, or the famine which was making such havoc, with his little army. the ocean-tides were rolling huge ice-blocks up and down, which beat against his palisade with the noise of thunder, and seemed to threaten its immediate destruction. but the work stood firm. the piles supporting the piers, which had been thrust out from each bank into the stream, had been driven fifty feet into the river's bed, and did their duty well. but in the space between, twelve hundred and forty feet in width, the current was too deep for pile-driving and a permanent bridge was to be established upon boats. and that bridge was to be laid across the icy and tempestuous flood, in the depth of winter, in the teeth of a watchful enemy, with the probability of an immediate invasion from france, where the rebel envoys were known to be negotiating on express invitation of the king--by half-naked, half-starving soldiers and sailors, unpaid for years, and for the sake of a master who seemed to have forgotten their existence. "thank god," wrote alexander, "the palisade stands firm in spite of the ice. now with the favour of the lord, we shall soon get the fruit we have been hoping, if your majesty is not wanting in that to which your grandeur, your great christianity, your own interests, oblige you. in truth 'tis a great and heroic work, worthy the great power of your majesty." "for my own part," he continued, "i have done what depended upon me. from your own royal hand must emanate the rest;--men, namely, sufficient to maintain the posts, and money enough to support them there." he expressed himself in the strongest language concerning the danger to the royal cause from the weak and gradually sinking condition of the army. even without the french intrigues with the rebels, concerning which, in his ignorance of the exact state of affairs, he expressed much anxiety, it would be impossible, he said, to save the royal cause without men and money. "i have spared myself," said the prince, "neither day nor night. let not your majesty impute the blame to me if we fail. verdugo also is uttering a perpetual cry out of friesland for men--men and money." yet, notwithstanding all these obstacles, the bridge was finished at last. on the th february, ( ) the day sacred to saint matthew, and of fortunate augury to the emperor charles, father of philip and grandfather of alexander, the scheldt was closed. as already stated, from fort saint mary on the kalloo side, and from fort philip, not far from ordain on the brabant shore of the scheldt, strong structures, supported upon piers, had been projected, reaching, respectively, five hundred feet into the stream. these two opposite ends were now connected by a permanent bridge of boats. there were thirty-two of these barges, each of them sixty-two feet in length and twelve in breadth, the spaces between each couple being twenty-two feet wide, and all being bound together, stem, stern, and midships, by quadruple hawsers and chains. each boat was anchored at stem and stern with loose cables. strong timbers, with cross rafters, were placed upon the boats, upon which heavy frame-work the planked pathway was laid down. a thick parapet of closely-fitting beams was erected along both the outer edges of the whole fabric. thus a continuous and well-fortified bridge, two thousand four hundred feet in length, was stretched at last from shore to shore. each of the thirty-two boats on which the central portion of the structure reposed, was a small fortress provided with two heavy pieces of artillery, pointing, the one up, the other down the stream, and manned by thirty-two soldiers and four sailors, defended by a breastwork formed of gabions of great thickness. the forts of saint philip and st. mary, at either end of the bridge, had each ten great guns, and both were filled with soldiers. in front of each fort, moreover, was stationed a fleet of twenty armed vessels, carrying heavy pieces of artillery; ten anchored at the angle towards antwerp, and as many looking down the river. one hundred and seventy great guns, including the armaments of the boats under the bridge of the armada and the forts, protected the whole structure, pointing up and down the stream. but, besides these batteries, an additional precaution had been taken. on each side, above and below the bridge, at a moderate distance--a bow shot--was anchored a heavy, raft floating upon empty barrels. each raft was composed of heavy timbers, bound together in bunches of three, the spaces between being connected by ships' masts and lighter spar-work, and with a tooth-like projection along the whole outer edge, formed of strong rafters, pointed and armed with sharp prongs and hooks of iron. thus a serried phalanx, as it were, of spears stood ever on guard to protect the precious inner structure. vessels coming from zeeland or antwerp, and the floating ice-masses, which were almost as formidable, were obliged to make their first attack upon these dangerous outer defences. each raft; floating in the middle of the stream, extended twelve hundred, and fifty-two feet across, thus protecting the whole of the bridge of boats and a portion of that resting upon piles. such was the famous bridge of parma. the magnificent undertaking has been advantageously compared with the celebrated rhine-bridge of julius caesar. when it is remembered; however; that the roman work was performed in summer, across a river only half as broad as the scheldt, free from the disturbing, action of the tides; and flowing through an unresisting country; while the whole character of the structure; intended only to, serve for the single passage of an army, was far inferior to the massive solidity of parma's bridge; it seems not unreasonable to assign the superiority to the general who had surmounted all the obstacles of a northern winter, vehement ebb and flow from the sea, and enterprising and desperate enemies at every point. when the citizens, at last, looked upon the completed fabric, converted from the "dream," which they had pronounced it to be, into a terrible reality; when they saw the shining array of spanish and italian legions marching and counter-marching upon their new road; and trampling, as it were; the turbulent river beneath their feet; when they witnessed the solemn military spectacle with which the governor-general celebrated his success, amid peals of cannon and shouts of triumph from his army, they bitterly bewailed their own folly. yet even then they could hardly believe that the work had been accomplished by human agency, but they loudly protested that invisible demons had been summoned to plan and perfect this fatal and preter-human work. they were wrong. there had been but one demon--one clear, lofty intelligence, inspiring a steady and untiring hand. the demon was the intellect of alexander farnese; but it had been assisted in its labour by the hundred devils of envy, covetousness, jealousy, selfishness, distrust, and discord, that had housed, not, in his camp, but in the ranks of those who were contending for their hearths and altars. and thus had the prince arrived at success in spite of every obstacle. he took a just pride in the achievement, yet he knew by how many dangers he was still surrounded, and he felt hurt at his sovereign's neglect. "the enterprise at antwerp," he wrote to philip on the day the bridge was completed, "is so great and heroic that to celebrate it would require me to speak more at large than i like, to do, for fear of being tedious to your majesty. what i will say, is that the labours and difficulties have been every day so, great, that if your majesty knew them, you would estimate, what we have done more highly than-you do; and not forget us so utterly, leaving us to die of hunger." he considered the fabric in itself almost impregnable, provided he were furnished with the means to maintain what he had so painfully constructed. "the whole is in such condition," said he, "that in opinion of all competent military judges it would stand though all holland and zeeland should come to destroy our palisades. their attacks must be made at immense danger, and disadvantage, so severely can we play upon them with our artillery and musketry. every boat is, garnished with the most dainty captains and soldiers, so that if the enemy should attempt to assail us now, they would come back with broken heads." yet in the midst of his apparent triumph he had, at times, almost despair in his heart. he felt really at the last gasp. his troops had dwindled to the mere shadow of an army, and they were forced to live almost upon air. the cavalry had nearly vanished. the garrisons in the different cities were starving. the burghers had no food for the soldiers nor for themselves. "as for the rest of the troops," said alexander, "they are stationed where they have nothing to subsist upon, save salt water and the dykes, and if the lord does not grant a miracle, succour, even if sent by your majesty, will arrive too late." he assured his master, that he could not go on more than five or six days longer, that he had been feeding his soldiers for a long time from hand to mouth, and that it would soon be impossible for him to keep his troops together. if he did not disband them they would run away. his pictures were most dismal, his supplications for money very moving but he never alluded to himself. all his anxiety, all his tenderness, were for his soldiers. "they must have food," he said: "'tis impossible to sustain them any longer by driblets, as i have done for a long time. yet how can i do it without money? and i have none at all, nor do i see where to get a single florin." but these revelations were made only to his master's most secret ear. his letters, deciphered after three centuries, alone make manifest the almost desperate condition in which the apparently triumphant general was placed, and the facility with which his antagonists, had they been well guided and faithful to themselves, might have driven him into the sea. but to those adversaries he maintained an attitude of serene and smiling triumph. a spy, sent from the city to obtain intelligence for the anxious burghers, had gained admission into his lines, was captured and brought before the prince. he expected, of course, to be immediately hanged. on the contrary, alexander gave orders that he should be conducted over every part of the encampment. the forts, the palisades, the bridge, were all to be carefully exhibited and explained to him as if he had been a friendly visitor entitled to every information. he was requested to count the pieces of artillery in the forts, on the bridge, in the armada. after thoroughly studying the scene he was then dismissed with a safe-conduct to the city. "go back to those who sent you," said the prince. "convey to them the information in quest of which you came. apprize them of every thing which you have inspected, counted, heard explained. tell them further, that the siege will never be abandoned, and that this bridge will be my sepulcher or my pathway into antwerp." and now the aspect of the scene was indeed portentous. the chimera had become a very visible bristling reality. there stood the bridge which the citizens had ridiculed while it was growing before their faces. there scowled the kowenstyn--black with cannon, covered all over with fortresses which the butchers had so sedulously preserved. from parma's camp at beveren and kalloo a great fortified road led across the river and along the fatal dyke all the way to the entrenchments at stabroek, where mansfeld's army lay. grim mondragon held the "holy cross" and the whole kowenstyn in his own iron grasp. a chain of forts, built and occupied by the contending hosts of the patriots and the spaniards, were closely packed together along both banks of the scheldt, nine miles long from antwerp to lillo, and interchanged perpetual cannonades. the country all around, once fertile as a garden, had been changed into a wild and wintry sea where swarms of gun-boats and other armed vessels manoeuvred and contended with each other over submerged villages and orchards, and among half-drowned turrets and steeples. yet there rose the great bulwark--whose early destruction would have made all this desolation a blessing--unbroken and obstinate; a perpetual obstacle to communication between antwerp and zeeland. the very spirit of the murdered prince of orange seemed to rise sadly and reproachfully out of the waste of waters, as if to rebuke the men who had been so deaf to his solemn warnings. brussels, too, wearied and worn, its heart sick with hope deferred, now fell into despair as the futile result of the french negotiation became apparent. the stately and opulent city had long been in a most abject condition. many of its inhabitants attempted to escape from the horrors of starving by flying from its walls. of the fugitives, the men were either scourged back by the spaniards into the city, or hanged up along the road-side. the women were treated, leniently, even playfully, for it was thought an excellent jest to cut off the petticoats of the unfortunate starving creatures up to their knees, and then command them to go back and starve at home with their friends and fellow-citizens. a great many persons literally died of hunger. matrons with large families poisoned their children and themselves to avoid the more terrible death by starving. at last, when vilvoorde was taken, when the baseness of the french king was thoroughly understood, when parma's bridge was completed and the scheldt bridled, brussels capitulated on as favourable terms as could well have been expected. etext editor's bookmarks: college of "peace-makers," who wrangled more than all military virtue in the support of an infamous cause not distinguished for their docility repentance, as usual, had come many hours too late history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, alexander farnese, the duke of parma chapter v., part . position of alexander and his army--la motte attempts in vain ostend--patriots gain liefkenshoek--projects of gianibelli--alarm on the bridge--the fire ships--the explosion--its results--death of the viscount of ghent--perpetual anxiety of farnese--impoverished state of the spaniards--intended attack of the kowenstyn--second attack of the kowenstyn--a landing effected--a sharp combat--the dyke pierced --rally of the spaniards--parma comes to the rescue--fierce struggle on the dyke--the spaniards successful--premature triumph at antwerp --defeat of the patriots--the ship war's end--despair of the citizens notwithstanding these triumphs, parma was much inconvenienced by not possessing the sea-coast of flanders. ostend was a perpetual stumbling-block to him. he therefore assented, with pleasure to a proposition made by la motte, one of the most experienced and courageous of the walloon royalist, commanders, to attempt the place by surprise. and la motte; at the first blow; was more than half successful. on the night of the th march, ( ) with two thousand foot and twelve hundred cavalry, he carried the whole of the old port of ostend. leaving a walloon officer, in whom he had confidence, to guard the position already gained, he went back in person for reinforcements. during his advance, the same ill luck attended his enterprise which had blasted hohenlo's achievement at bois-le-duc. the soldiers he left behind him deserted their posts for the sake of rifling the town. the officer in command, instead of keeping them to their duty, joined in the chase. the citizens roused themselves, attacked their invaders, killed many of them, and put the rest to flight. when la motte returned; he found the panic general. his whole force, including the fresh soldiers just brought to the rescue, were beside themselves with fear. he killed several with his own hand, but the troops were not to be rallied. his quick triumph was changed into an absolute defeat. parma, furious at the ignominious result of a plan from which so much had been expected, ordered the walloon captain, from whose delinquency so much disaster had resulted, to be forthwith hanged. "such villainy," said he, "must never go unpunished." it was impossible for the prince to send a second expedition to attempt the reduction of ostend, for the patriots were at last arousing themselves to the necessity of exertion. it was very obvious--now that the bridge had been built, and the kowenstyn fortified--that one or the other was to be destroyed, or antwerp abandoned to its fate. the patriots had been sleeping, as it were, all the winter, hugging the delusive dream of french sovereignty and french assistance. no language can exaggerate the deadly effects from the slow poison of that negotiation. at any rate, the negotiation was now concluded. the dream was dispelled. antwerp must now fall, or a decisive blow must be struck by the patriots themselves, and a telling blow had been secretly and maturely meditated. certain preparatory steps were however necessary. the fort of liefkenshoek, "darling's corner," was a most important post. the patriots had never ceased to regret that precious possession, lost, as we have seen, in so tragical a manner on the very day of orange's death. fort lillo, exactly opposite, on the brabant shore of the scheldt, had always been securely held by them; and was their strongest position. were both places in their power, the navigation of the river, at least as far as the bridge, would be comparatively secure. a sudden dash was made upon liefkenshoek. a number of armed vessels sailed up from zeeland, under command of justinus de nassau. they were assisted from fort lillo by a detachment headed by count hohenlo. these two officers were desirous of retrieving the reputation which they had lost at bois-le-duc. they were successful, and the "darling" fort was carried at a blow. after a brief cannonade, the patriots made a breach, effected a landing, and sprang over the ramparts. the walloons and spaniards fled in dismay; many of them were killed in the fort, and along the dykes; others were hurled into the scheldt. the victors followed up their success by reducing, with equal impetuosity, the fort of saint anthony, situate in the neighbourhood farther down the river. they thus gained entire command of all the high ground, which remained in that quarter above the inundation, and was called the doel. the dyke, on which liefkenshoek stood, led up the river towards kalloo, distant less than a league. there were parma's head-quarters and the famous bridge. but at fort saint mary; where the flemish head of that bridge rested, the dyke was broken. upon that broken end the commanders of the expedition against liefkenshoek were ordered to throw up an entrenchment, without loss of a moment, so soon as they should have gained the fortresses which they were ordered first to assault. sainte aldegonde had given urgent written directions to this effect. from a redoubt situated thus, in the very face of saint mary's, that position, the palisade-work, the whole bridge, might be battered with all the artillery that could be brought from zeeland. but parma was beforehand with them. notwithstanding his rage and mortification that spanish soldiers should have ignominiously lost the important fortress which richebourg had conquered so brilliantly nine months before, he was not the man to spend time in unavailing regrets. his quick eye instantly, detected the flaw which might soon be fatal. in the very same night of the loss of liefkenshoek, he sent as strong a party as could be spared, with plenty of sappers and miners, in flat-bottomed boats across from kalloo. as the morning dawned, an improvised fortress, with the spanish flag waving above its bulwarks, stood on the broken end of the dyke. that done, he ordered one of the two captains who had commanded in liefkenshoek and saint anthony to be beheaded on the same dyke. the other was dismissed with ignominy. ostend was, of course, given up; "but it was not a small matter," said parma, "to fortify ourselves that very night upon the ruptured place, and so prevent the rebels from doing it, which would have been very mal-a-propos." nevertheless, the rebels had achieved a considerable success; and now or never the telling blow, long meditated, was to be struck. there lived in antwerp a subtle mantuan, gianibelli by name, who had married and been long settled in the city. he had made himself busy with various schemes for victualling the place. he had especially urged upon the authorities, at an early period of the siege, the propriety of making large purchases of corn and storing it in magazines at a time when famine-price had by no means been reached. but the leading men had then their heads full of a great ship, or floating castle, which they were building, and which they had pompously named the 'war's end,' 'fin de la guerre.' we shall hear something of this phenomenon at a later period. meanwhile, gianibelli, who knew something of shipbuilding, as he did of most other useful matters, ridiculed the design, which was likely to cost, in itself before completion, as much money as would keep the city in bread for a third of a year. gianibelli was no patriot. he was purely a man of science and of great acquirements, who was looked upon by the ignorant populace alternately as a dreamer and a wizard. he was as indifferent to the cause of freedom as of despotism, but he had a great love for chemistry. he was also a profound mechanician, second to no man of his age in theoretic and practical engineering. he had gone from italy to spain that he might offer his services to philip, and give him the benefit of many original and ingenious inventions. forced to dance attendance, day after day, among sneering courtiers and insolent placemen, and to submit to the criticism of practical sages and philosophers of routine, while, he was constantly denied an opportunity of explaining his projects, the quick-tempered italian had gone away at last, indignant. he had then vowed revenge upon the dulness by which his genius had been slighted, and had sworn that the next time the spaniards heard the name of the man whom they had dared to deride, they should hear it with tears. he now laid before the senate of antwerp a plan for some vessels likely to prove more effective than the gigantic 'war's end,' which he had prophesied would prove a failure. with these he pledged himself to destroy the bridge. he demanded three ships which he had selected from the city fleet; the 'orange,' the 'post,' and the 'golden lion,' measuring, respectively, one hundred and fifty, three hundred and fifty, and five hundred tons. besides these, he wished sixty flat-bottomed scows, which he proposed to send down the river, partially submerged, disposed in the shape of a half moon, with innumerable anchors and grapnel's thrusting themselves out of the water at every point. this machine was intended to operate against the raft. ignorance and incredulity did their work, as usual, and gianbelli's request was refused. as a quarter-measure, nevertheless, he was allowed to take two smaller vessels of seventy and eighty tons. the italian was disgusted with parsimony upon so momentous an occasion, but he at the same time determined, even with these slender materials, to give an exhibition of his power. not all his the glory, however, of the ingenious project. associated with him were two skilful artizans of antwerp; a clockmaker named bory, and a mechanician named timmerman--but gianibelli was the chief and superintendent of the whole daring enterprise. he gave to his two ships the cheerful names of the 'fortune' and the 'hope,' and set himself energetically to justify their titles by their efficiency. they were to be marine volcanos, which, drifting down the river with tide, were to deal destruction where the spaniards themselves most secure. in the hold of each vessel, along the whole length, was laid down a solid flooring of brick and mortar, one foot thick and five feet wide. upon this was built a chamber of marble mason-work, forty feet long, three and a half feet broad, as many high, and with side-walks [walls? d.w.] five feet in thickness. this was the crater. it was filled with seven thousand of gunpowder, of a kind superior to anything known, and prepared by gianibelli himself. it was covered with a roof, six feet in thickness, formed of blue tombstones, placed edgewise. over this crater, rose a hollow cone, or pyramid, made of heavy marble slabs, and filled with mill-stones, cannon balls, blocks of marble, chain-shot, iron hooks, plough-coulters, and every dangerous missile that could be imagined. the spaces between the mine and the sides of each ship were likewise filled with paving stones, iron-bound stakes, harpoons, and other projectiles. the whole fabric was then covered by a smooth light flooring of planks and brick-work, upon which was a pile of wood: this was to be lighted at the proper time, in order that the two vessels might present the appearance of simple fire-ships, intended only to excite a conflagration of the bridge. on the 'fortune' a slow match, very carefully prepared, communicated with the submerged mine, which was to explode at a nicely-calculated moment. the eruption of the other floating volcano was to be regulated by an ingenious piece of clock-work, by which, at the appointed time, fire, struck from a flint, was to inflame the hidden mass of gunpowder below. in addition to these two infernal machines, or "hell-burners," as they were called, a fleet of thirty-two smaller vessels was prepared. covered with tar, turpentine, rosin, and filled with inflammable and combustible materials, these barks were to be sent from antwerp down the river in detachments of eight every half hour with the ebb tide. the object was to clear the way, if possible, of the raft, and to occupy the attention of the spaniards, until the 'fortune' and the `hope' should come down upon the bridge. the th april, ( ) being the day following that on which the successful assault upon liefkenshoek and saint anthony had taken place, was fixed for the descent of the fire-ships. so soon as it should be dark, the thirty-two lesser burning-vessels, under the direction of admiral jacob jacobzoon, were to be sent forth from the neighborhood of the 'boor's sconce'--a fort close to the city walls--in accordance with the italian's plan. "run-a-way jacob," however, or "koppen loppen," had earned no new laurels which could throw into the shade that opprobrious appellation. he was not one of holland's naval heroes, but, on the whole, a very incompetent officer; exactly the man to damage the best concerted scheme which the genius of others could invent. accordingly, koppen-loppen began with a grave mistake. instead of allowing the precursory fire-ships to drift down the stream, at the regular intervals agreed upon, he despatched them all rapidly, and helter skelter, one after another, as fast as they could be set forth on their career. not long afterwards, he sent the two "hellburners," the 'fortune' and the 'hope,' directly in their wake. thus the whole fiery fleet had set forth, almost at once, upon its fatal voyage. it was known to parma that preparations for an attack were making at antwerp, but as to the nature of the danger he was necessarily in the dark. he was anticipating an invasion by a fleet from the city in combination with a squadron of zeelanders coming up from below. so soon as the first vessels, therefore, with their trains not yet lighted, were discovered bearing down from the city, he was confirmed in his conjecture. his drama and trumpets instantly called to arms, and the whole body of his troops was mustered upon the bridge; the palisades, and in the nearest forts. thus the preparations to avoid or to contend with the danger, were leading the spaniards into the very jaws of destruction. alexander, after crossing and recrossing the river, giving minute directions for repelling the expected assault, finally stationed himself in the block-house at the point of junction, on the flemish aide, between the palisade and the bridge of boats. he was surrounded by a group of superior officers, among whom richebourg, billy, gaetano, cessis, and the englishman sir rowland yorke, were conspicuous. it was a dark, mild evening of early spring. as the fleet of vessels dropped slowly down the river, they suddenly became luminous, each ship flaming out of the darkness, a phantom of living fire. the very waves of the scheldt seemed glowing with the conflagration, while its banks were lighted up with a preternatural glare. it was a wild, pompous, theatrical spectacle. the array of soldiers on both aides the river, along the dykes and upon the bridge, with banners waving, and spear and cuirass glancing in the lurid light; the demon fleet, guided by no human hand, wrapped in flames, and flitting through the darkness, with irregular movement; but portentous aspect, at the caprice of wind and tide; the death-like silence of expectation, which had succeeded the sound of trumpet and the shouts of the soldiers; and the weird glow which had supplanted the darkness-all combined with the sense of imminent and mysterious danger to excite and oppress the imagination. presently, the spaniards, as they gazed from the bridge, began to take heart again. one after another, many of the lesser vessels drifted blindly against the raft, where they entangled themselves among the hooks and gigantic spearheads, and burned slowly out without causing any extensive conflagration. others grounded on the banks of the river, before reaching their destination. some sank in the stream. last of all came the two infernal ships, swaying unsteadily with the current; the pilots of course, as they neared the bridge, having noiselessly effected their escape in the skiffs. the slight fire upon the deck scarcely illuminated the dark phantom-like hulls. both were carried by the current clear of the raft, which, by a great error of judgment, as it now appeared, on the part of the builders, had only been made to protect the floating portion of the bridge. the 'fortune' came first, staggering inside the raft, and then lurching clumsily against the dyke, and grounding near kalloo, without touching the bridge. there was a moment's pause of expectation. at last the slow match upon the deck burned out, and there was a faint and partial explosion, by which little or no damage was produced. parma instantly called for volunteers to board the mysterious vessel. the desperate expedition was headed by the bold roland york, a londoner, of whom one day there was more to be heard in netherland history. the party sprang into the deserted and now harmless volcano, extinguishing the slight fires that were smouldering on the deck, and thrusting spears and long poles into the hidden recesses of the hold. there was, however, little time to pursue these perilous investigations, and the party soon made their escape to the bridge. the troops of parma, crowding on the palisade, and looking over the parapets, now began to greet the exhibition with peals of derisive laughter. it was but child's play, they thought, to threaten a spanish army, and a general like alexander farnese, with such paltry fire-works as these. nevertheless all eyes were anxiously fixed upon the remaining fire-ship, or "hell-burner," the 'hope,' which had now drifted very near the place of its destination. tearing her way between the raft and the shore, she struck heavily against the bridge on the kalloo side, close to the block-house at the commencement of the floating portion of the bridge. a thin wreath of smoke was seen curling over a slight and smouldering fire upon her deck. marquis richebourg, standing on the bridge, laughed loudly at the apparently impotent conclusion of the whole adventure. it was his last laugh on earth. a number of soldiers, at parma's summons, instantly sprang on board this second mysterious vessel, and occupied themselves, as the party on board the 'fortune' had done, in extinguishing, the flames, and in endeavoring to ascertain the nature of the machine. richebourg boldly directed from the bridge their hazardous experiments. at the same moment a certain ensign de vega, who stood near the prince of parma, close to the block-house, approached him with vehement entreaties that he should retire. alexander refused to stir from the spot, being anxious to learn the result of these investigations. vega, moved by some instinctive and irresistible apprehension, fell upon his knees, and plucking the general earnestly by the cloak, implored him with such passionate words and gestures to leave the place, that the prince reluctantly yielded. it was not a moment too soon. the clockwork had been better adjusted than the slow match in the 'fortune.' scarcely had alexander reached the entrance of saint mary's fort, at the end of the bridge, when a horrible explosion was heard. the 'hope' disappeared, together with the men who had boarded her, and the block-house, against which she had struck, with all its garrison, while a large portion of the bridge, with all the troops stationed upon it, had vanished into air. it was the work of a single instant. the scheldt yawned to its lowest depth, and then cast its waters across the dykes, deep into the forts, and far over the land. the earth shook as with the throb of a volcano. a wild glare lighted up the scene for one moment, and was then succeeded by pitchy darkness. houses were toppled down miles away, and not a living thing, even in remote places, could keep its feet. the air was filled with a rain of plough-shares, grave-stones, and marble balls, intermixed with the heads, limbs, and bodies, of what had been human beings. slabs of granite, vomited by the flaming ship, were found afterwards at a league's distance, and buried deep in the earth. a thousand soldiers were destroyed in a second of time; many of them being torn to shreds, beyond even the semblance of humanity. richebourg disappeared, and was not found until several days later, when his body was discovered; doubled around an iron chain, which hung from one of the bridge-boats in the centre of the river. the veteran robles, seigneur de billy, a portuguese officer of eminent service and high military rank, was also destroyed. months afterwards, his body was discovered adhering to the timber-work of the bridge, upon the ultimate removal of that structure, and was only recognized by a peculiar gold chain which he habitually wore. parma himself was thrown to the ground, stunned by a blow on the shoulder from a flying stake. the page, who was behind him, carrying his helmet, fell dead without a wound, killed by the concussion of the air. several strange and less tragical incidents occurred. the viscomte de bruxelles was blown out of a boat on the flemish side, and descended safe and, sound into another in the centre of the stream. captain tucci, clad in complete armour, was whirled out of a fort, shot perpendicularly into the air, and then fell back into the river. being of a cool temperament, a good swimmer, and very pious, he skilfully divested himself of cuirass and helmet, recommended himself to the blessed virgin, and swam safely ashore. another young officer of parma's body-guard, francois de liege by name, standing on the kalloo end of the bridge, rose like a feather into the clouds, and, flying quite across the river, alighted on the opposite bank with no further harm than a contused shoulder. he imagined himself (he said afterwards) to have been changed into a cannon-ball, as he rushed through the pitchy atmosphere, propelled by a blast of irresistible fury. [the chief authorities used in the foregoing account of this famous enterprise are those already cited on a previous page, viz.: the ms. letters of the prince of parma in the archives of simancas; bor, ii. , ; strada, h. seq.; meteren, xii. ; hoofd vervolgh, ; baudartii polemographia, ii. - ; bentivoglio, etc., i have not thought it necessary to cite them step by step; for all the accounts, with some inevitable and unimportant discrepancies, agree with each other. the most copious details are to be found in strada and in bor.] it had been agreed that admiral jacobzoon should, immediately after the explosion of the fire-ships, send an eight-oared barge to ascertain the amount of damage. if a breach had been effected, and a passage up to the city opened, he was to fire a rocket. at this signal, the fleet stationed at lillo, carrying a heavy armament, laden with provisions enough to relieve antwerp from all anxiety, and ready to sail on the instant, was at once to force its way up the river. the deed was done. a breach, two hundred feet in width was made. had the most skilful pilot in zeeland held the helm of the 'hope,' with a choice crew obedient to his orders, he could not have guided her more carefully than she had been directed by wind and tide. avoiding the raft which lay in her way, she had, as it were, with the intelligence of a living creature, fulfilled the wishes of the daring genius that had created her; and laid herself alongside the bridge, exactly at the most telling point. she had then destroyed herself, precisely at the right moment. all the effects, and more than all, that had been predicted by the mantuan wizard had come to pass. the famous bridge was cleft through and through, and a thousand picked men--parma's very "daintiest"--were blown out of existence. the governor-general himself was lying stark and stiff upon the bridge which he said should be his triumphal monument or his tomb. his most distinguished officers were dead, and all the survivors were dumb and blind with astonishment at the unheard of, convulsion. the passage was open for the fleet, and the fleet, lay below with sails spread, and oars in the rowlocks, only waiting for the signal to bear up at once to the scene of action, to smite out of existence all that remained of the splendid structure, and to carry relief and triumph into antwerp. not a soul slept in the city. the explosion had shook its walls, and thousands of people thronged the streets, their hearts beating high with expectation. it was a moment of exquisite triumph. the 'hope,' word of happy augury, had not been relied upon in vain, and parma's seven months of patient labour had been annihilated in a moment. sainte aldegonde and gianibelli stood in the 'boors' sconce' on the edge of the river. they had felt and heard the explosion, and they were now straining their eyes through the darkness to mark the flight of the welcome rocket. that rocket never rose. and it is enough, even after the lapse of three centuries, to cause a pang in every heart that beats for human liberty to think of the bitter disappointment which crushed these great and legitimate hopes. the cause lay in the incompetency and cowardice of the man who had been so unfortunately entrusted with a share in a noble enterprise. admiral jacobzoon, paralyzed by the explosion, which announced his own triumph, sent off the barge, but did not wait for its return. the boatmen, too, appalled by the sights and sounds which they had witnessed, and by the murky darkness which encompassed them, did not venture near the scene of action, but, after rowing for a short interval hither and thither, came back with the lying report that nothing had been accomplished, and that the bridge remained unbroken. sainte aldegonde and gianibelli were beside themselves with rage, as they surmised the imbecility of the admiral, and devoted him in their hearts to the gallows, which he certainly deserved. the wrath of the keen italian may be conceived, now that his ingenious and entirely successful scheme was thus rendered fruitless by the blunders of the incompetent fleming. on the other side, there was a man whom no danger could appall. alexander had been thought dead, and the dismay among his followers was universal. he was known to have been standing an instant before the explosion on the very block-house where the 'hope' had struck. after the first terrible moments had passed, his soldiers found their general lying, as if in a trance, on the threshold of st. mary's fort, his drawn sword in his hand, with cessis embracing his knees, and gaetano extended at his side, stunned with a blow upon the head. recovering from his swoon, parma was the first to spring to his feet. sword in hand, he rushed at once upon the bridge to mark the extent of the disaster. the admirable structure, the result of so much patient and intelligent energy, was fearfully shattered; the bridge, the river, and the shore, strewed with the mangled bodies of his soldiers. he expected, as a matter of certainty, that the fleet from below would instantly force its passage, destroy, the remainder of his troops-stunned as they were with the sudden catastrophe complete the demolition of the bridge, and then make its way to antwerp, with ample reinforcements and supplies. and alexander saw that the expedition would be successful. momently expecting the attack, he maintained his courage and semblance of cheerfulness, with despair in his heart. his winter's work seemed annihilated, and it was probable that he should be obliged to raise the siege. nevertheless, he passed in person from rank to rank, from post to post, seeing that the wounded were provided for, encouraging those that remained unhurt, and endeavouring to infuse a portion of his own courage into the survivors of his panic-stricken army. nor was he entirely unsuccessful, as the night wore on and the expected assault was still delayed. without further loss of time, he employed his men to collect the drifting boats, timber, and spar-work, and to make a hasty and temporary restoration--in semblance at least--of the ruined portion of his bridge. and thus he employed himself steadily all the night, although expecting every instant to hear the first broadside of the zeeland cannon. when morning broke, and it became obvious that the patriots were unable or unwilling to follow up their own success, the governor-general felt as secure as ever. he at once set about the thorough repairs of his great work, and--before he could be again molested--had made good the damage which it had sustained. it was not till three days afterwards that the truth was known in antwerp. hohenlo then sent down a messenger, who swam, under the bridge, ascertained the exact state of affairs, and returned, when it was too late, with the first intelligence of the triumph which had been won and lost. the disappointment and mortification were almost intolerable. and thus had. run-a-way jacob, 'koppen loppen,' blasted the hopes of so many wiser and braver spirits than his own. the loss to parma and to the royalist cause in marquis richebourg, was very great. the death of de billy, who was a faithful, experienced, and courageous general, was also much lamented. "the misfortune from their death," said parma, "is not to be exaggerated. each was ever ready to do his duty in your majesty's service, and to save me much fatigue in all my various affairs. nevertheless," continued the prince, with great piety, "we give the lord thanks for all, and take as a favour everything which comes from his hand." alexander had indeed reason to deplore the loss of robert de melun, viscount of ghent, marquis of roubaix and richebourg. he was a most valuable officer. his wealth was great. it had been recently largely increased by the confiscation of his elder brother's estates for his benefit, a measure which at parma's intercession had been accorded by the king. that brother was the patriotic prince of espinoy, whom we have recently seen heading the legation of the states to france. and richebourg was grateful to alexander, for besides these fraternal spoils, he had received two marquisates through his great patron, in addition to the highest military offices. insolent, overbearing, truculent to all the world, to parma he was ever docile, affectionate, watchful, obsequious. a man who knew not fatigue, nor fear, nor remorse, nor natural affection, who could patiently superintend all the details of a great military work, or manage a vast political intrigue by alternations of browbeating and bribery, or lead a forlorn hope, or murder a prisoner in cold blood, or leap into the blazing crater of what seemed a marine volcano, the marquis of richebourg had ever made himself most actively and unscrupulously useful to his master. especially had he rendered invaluable services in the reduction, of the walloon provinces, and in the bridging of the scheldt, the two crowning triumphs of alexander's life. he had now passed from the scene where he had played so energetic and dazzling a part, and lay doubled round an iron cable beneath the current of the restless river. and in this eventful night, parma, as always, had been true to himself and to his sovereign. "we expected," said he, "that the rebels would instantly attack us on all sides after the explosion. but all remained so astonished by the unheard-of accident, that very few understood what was going on. it seemed better that i--notwithstanding the risk of letting myself be seen--should encourage the people not to run away. i did so, and remedied matters a little but not so much as that--if the enemy had then attacked us--we should not have been in the very greatest risk and peril. i did not fail to do what i am obliged to do, and always hope to do; but i say no more of what passed, or what was done by myself, because it does not become me to speak of these things." notwithstanding this discomfiture, the patriots kept up heart, and were incessantly making demonstrations against parma's works. their proceedings against the bridge, although energetic enough to keep the spanish commander in a state of perpetual anxiety, were never so efficient however as on the memorable occasion when the mantuan engineer and the dutch watchmaker had exhausted all their ingenuity. nevertheless, the rebel barks swarmed all over the submerged territory, now threatening this post, and now that, and effecting their retreat at pleasure; for nearly the whole of parma's little armada was stationed at the two extremities of his bridge. many fire-ships were sent down from time to time, but alexander had organized a systematic patrol of a few sentry-boats, armed with scythes and hooks, which rowed up and down in front of the rafts, and protected them against invasion. some little effect was occasionally produced, but there was on the whole more anxiety excited than damage actually inflicted. the perturbation of spirit among the spaniards when any of these 'demon fine-ships,' as they called them, appeared bearing down upon their bridge, was excessive. it could not be forgotten, that the `hope' had sent into space a thousand of the best soldiers of the little army within one moment of time. such rapid proceedings had naturally left an uneasy impression on the minds of the survivors. the fatigue of watching was enormous. hardly an officer or soldier among the besieging forces knew what it was to sleep. there was a perpetual exchanging of signals and beacon-fires and rockets among the patriots--not a day or night, when a concerted attack by the antwerpers from above, and the hollanders from below, with gun-boats and fire-ships, and floating mines, and other devil's enginry, was not expected. "we are always upon the alert," wrote parma, "with arms in our hands. every one must mount guard, myself as well as the rest, almost every night, and the better part of every day." he was quite aware that something was ever in preparation; and the nameless, almost sickening apprehension which existed among his stout-hearted veterans, was a proof that the mantuan's genius--notwithstanding the disappointment as to the great result--had not been exercised entirely in vain. the image of the antwerp devil-ships imprinted itself indelibly upon the spanish mind, as of something preternatural, with which human valour could only contend at a disadvantage; and a day was not very far distant--one of the memorable days of the world's history, big with the fate of england, spain, holland, and all christendom--when the sight of a half-dozen blazing vessels, and the cry of "the antwerp fireships," was to decide the issue of a most momentous enterprise. the blow struck by the obscure italian against antwerp bridge, although ineffective then, was to be most sensibly felt after a few years had passed, upon a wider field. meantime the uneasiness and the watchfulness in the biesieging army were very exhausting. "they are never idle in the city," wrote parma. "they are perpetually proving their obstinacy and pertinacity by their industrious genius and the machines which they devise. every day we are expecting some new invention. on our side we endeavour to counteract their efforts by every human means in our power. nevertheless, i confess that our merely human intellect is not competent to penetrate the designs of their diabolical genius. certainly, most wonderful and extraordinary things have been exhibited, such as the oldest soldiers here have never before witnessed." moreover, alexander saw himself growing weaker and weaker. his force had dwindled to a mere phantom of an army. his soldiers, ill-fed, half-clothed, unpaid, were fearfully overworked. he was obliged to concentrate all the troops at his disposal around antwerp. diversions against ostend, operations in friesland and gelderland, although most desirable, had thus been rendered quite impossible. "i have recalled my cavalry and infantry from ostend," he wrote, "and don juan de manrique has fortunately arrived in stabroek with a thousand good german folk. the commissary-general of the cavalry has come in, too, with a good lot of the troops that had been encamped in the open country. nevertheless, we remain wretchedly weak--quite insufficient to attempt what ought to be done. if the enemy were more in force, or if the french wished to make trouble, your majesty would see how important it had been to provide in time against such contingencies. and although our neighbours, crestfallen, and rushing upon their own destruction, leave us in quiet, we are not without plenty of work. it would be of inestimable advantage to make diversions in gelderland and friesland, because, in that case, the hollanders, seeing the enemy so near their own borders, would be obliged to withdraw their assistance from antwerp. 'tis pity to see how few spaniards your majesty has left, and how diminished is our army. now, also, is the time to expect sickness, and this affair of antwerp is obviously stretching out into large proportions. unless soon reinforced, we must inevitably go to destruction. i implore your majesty to ponder the matter well, and not to defer the remedy." his majesty was sure to ponder the matter well, if that had been all. philip was good at pondering; but it was equally certain that the remedy would be deferred. meantime alexander and his starving but heroic little army were left to fight their battles as they could. his complaints were incessant, most reasonable, but unavailing. with all the forces he could muster, by withdrawing from the neighbourhood of ghent, brussels, vilvoorde, and from all the garrisons, every man that could be spared, he had not strength enough to guard his own posts. to attempt to win back the important forts recently captured by the rebels on the doel, was quite out of the question. the pictures he painted of his army were indeed most dismal. the spaniards were so reduced by sickness that it was pitiful to see them. the italians were not in much better condition, nor the germans. "as for the walloons," said he, "they are deserting, as they always do. in truth, one of my principal dangers is that the french civil wars are now tempting my soldiers across the frontier; the country there is so much richer, and offers so much more for the plundering." during the few weeks which immediately followed them famous descent of the 'hope' and the 'fortune,' there had accordingly been made a variety of less elaborate, but apparently mischievous, efforts against the bridge. on the whole, however, the object was rather to deceive and amuse the royalists, by keeping their attention fixed in that quarter, while a great attack was, in reality, preparing against the kowenstyn. that strong barrier, as repeatedly stated, was even a more formidable obstacle than the bridge to the communication between the beleagured city and their allies upon the outside. its capture and demolition, even at this late period, would open the navigation to all the fleets of zeeland. in the undertaking of the th of april all had been accomplished that human ingenuity could devise; yet the triumph had been snatched away even at the very moment when it was complete. a determined and vigorous effort was soon to be made upon the kowenstyn, in the very face of parma; for it now seemed obvious that the true crisis was to come upon that fatal dyke. the great bulwark was three miles long. it reached from stabroek in brabant, near which village mansfeld's troops were encamped, across the inundated country, up to the line of the scheldt. thence, along the river-dyke, and across the bridge to kalloo and beveren, where parma's forces lay, was a continuous fortified road some three leagues in length; so that the two divisions of the besieging army, lying four leagues apart, were all connected by this important line. could the kowenstyn be pierced, the water, now divided by that great bulwark into two vast lakes, would flow together in one continuous sea. moreover the scheldt, it was thought, would, in that case, return to its own cannel through brabant, deserting its present bed, and thus leaving the famous bridge high and dry. a wide sheet of navigable water would then roll between antwerp and the zeeland coasts, and parma's bridge, the result of seven months' labour, would become as useless as a child's broken toy. alexander had thoroughly comprehended the necessity of maintaining the kowenstyn. all that it was possible to do with the meagre forces at his disposal, he had done. he had fringed both its margins, along its whole length, with a breastwork of closely-driven stakes. he had strengthened the whole body of the dyke with timber-work and piles. upon its river-end, just at the junction with the great scheldt dyke, a strong fortress, called the holy cross, had been constructed, which was under the special command of mondragon. besides this, three other forts had been built, at intervals of about a mile, upon the dyke. the one nearest to mondragon was placed at the kowenstyn manor-house, and was called saint james. this was entrusted to camillo bourbon del monte, an italian officer, who boasted the blood royal of france in his veins, and was disposed on all occasions to vindicate that proud pedigree by his deeds. the next fort was saint george's, sometimes called the black sconce. it had been built by la motte, but it was now in command of the spanish officer, benites. the third was entitled the fort of the palisades, because it had been necessary to support it by a stockade-work in the water, there being absolutely not earth enough to hold the structure. it was placed in the charge of captain gamboa. these little castles had been created, as it were, out of water and upon water, and under a hot fire from the enemy's forts and fleets, which gave the pioneers no repose. "'twas very hard work," said parma, "our soldiers are so exposed during their labour, the rebels playing upon them perpetually from their musket-proof vessels. they fill the submerged land with their boats, skimming everywhere as they like, while we have none at all. we have been obliged to build these three forts with neither material nor space; making land enough for the foundation by bringing thither bundles of hurdles and of earth. the fatigue and anxiety are incredible. not a man can sleep at night; not an officer nor soldier but is perpetually mounting guard. but they are animated to their hard work by seeing that i share in it, like one of themselves. we have now got the dyke into good order, so far as to be able to give them a warm reception, whenever they choose to come." quite at the farther or land end of the kowenstyn, was another fort, called the stabroek, which commanded and raked the whole dyke, and was in the neighbourhood of mansfeld's head-quarters. placed as were these little citadels upon a slender, and--at brief distance--invisible thread of land, with the dark waters rolling around them far and near, they presented an insubstantial dream-like aspect, seeming rather like castles floating between air and ocean than actual fortifications--a deceptive mirage rather than reality. there was nothing imaginary, however, in the work which they were to perform. a series of attacks, some serious, others fictitious, had been made, from time to time, upon both bridge and dyke; but alexander was unable to inspire his soldiers with his own watchfulness. upon the th of may a more determined attempt was made upon the kowenstyn, by the fleet from lillo. hohenlo and colonel ysselstein conducted the enterprise. the sentinels at the point selected--having recently been so often threatened by an enemy, who most frequently made a rapid retreat, as to have grown weary and indifferent-were surprised, at dawn of day, and put to the sword. "if the truth must be told," said parma, "the sentries were sound asleep." five hundred zeelanders, with a strong party of sappers and miners, fairly established themselves upon the dyke, between st. george's and fort palisade. the attack, although spirited at its commencement, was doomed to be unsuccessful. a co-operation, agreed upon by the fleet from antwerp, failed through a misunderstanding. sainte aldegonde had stationed certain members of the munition-chamber in the cathedral tower, with orders to discharge three rockets, when they should perceive a beacon-fire which he should light in fort tholouse. the watchmen mistook an accidental camp-fire in the neighbourhood for the preconcerted signal, and sent up the rockets. hohenlo understanding, accordingly, that the expedition was on the point of starting from antwerp, hastened to perform his portion of the work, and sailed up from lillo. he did his duty faithfully and well, and established himself upon the dyke, but found himself alone and without sufficient force to maintain his position. the antwerp fleet never sailed. it was even whispered that the delinquency was rather intended than accidental; the antwerpers being supposed desirous to ascertain the result of hohenlo's attempt before coming forth to share his fate. such was the opinion expressed by farnese in his letters to philip, but it seems probable that he was mistaken. whatever the cause, however, the fact of the zeelanders' discomfiture was certain. the st. george battery and that of the palisade were opened at once upon them, the balls came plunging among the sappers and miners before they had time to throw up many spade-fulls of earth, and the whole party were soon dead or driven from the dyke. the survivors effected their retreat as they best could, leaving four of their ships behind them and three or four hundred men. "forty rebels lay dead on the dyke," said parma, "and one hundred and fifty more, at least, were drowned. the enemy confess a much larger loss than the number i state, but i am not a friend of giving details larger than my ascertained facts; nor do i know how many were killed in the boats." this enterprise was but a prelude, however, to the great undertaking which had now been thoroughly matured. upon the th may, another and most determined attack was to be made upon the kowenstyn, by the antwerpers and hollanders acting in concert. this time, it was to be hoped, there would be no misconception of signals. "it was a determination," said parma, "so daring and desperate that there was no substantial reason why we should believe they would carry it out; but they were at last solemnly resolved to die or to effect their purpose." two hundred ships in all had been got ready, part of them under hohenlo and justinus de nassau, to sail up from zeeland; the others to advance from antwerp under sainte aldegonde. their destination was the kowenstyn dyke. some of the vessels were laden with provisions, others with gabions, hurdles, branches, sacks of sand and of wool, and with other materials for the rapid throwing up of fortifications. it was two o'clock, half an hour before the chill dawn of a may morning, sunday, the th of the month. the pale sight of a waning moon was faintly perceptible in the sky. suddenly the sentinels upon the kowenstyn--this time not asleep--descried, as they looked towards lillo, four fiery apparitions gliding towards them across the waves. the alarm was given, and soon afterwards the spaniards began to muster, somewhat reluctantly, upon the dyke, filled as they always were with the mysterious dread which those demon-vessels never failed to inspire. the fire-ships floated slowly nearer, and at last struck heavily against the stockade-work. there, covered with tar, pitch, rosin, and gunpowder, they flamed, flared, and exploded, during a brief period, with much vigour, and then burned harmlessly out. one of the objects for which they had been sent--to set fire to the palisade--was not accomplished. the other was gained; for the enemy, expecting another volcanic shower of tombstones and plough-coulters, and remembering the recent fate of their comrades on the bridge, had retired shuddering into the forts. meantime, in the glare of these vast torches, a great swarm of gunboats and other vessels, skimming across the leaden-coloured waters, was seen gradually approaching the dyke. it was the fleet of hohenlo and justinus de nassau, who had been sailing and rowing since ten o'clock of the preceding night. the burning ships lighted them on their way, while it had scared the spaniards from their posts. the boats ran ashore in the mile-long space between forts st. george and the palisade, and a party of zeelanders, admiral haultain, governor of walcheren, at their head, sprang upon the dyke. meantime, however, the royalists, finding that the fire-ships had come to so innocent an end, had rallied and emerged from their forts. haultain and his zeelanders, by the time they had fairly mounted the dyke, found themselves in the iron embrace of several hundred spaniards. after a brief fierce struggle, face to face, and at push of pike, the patriots reeled backward down the bank, and took refuge in their boats. admiral haultain slipped as he left the shore, missed a rope's end which was thrown to him, fell into the water, and, borne down by the weight of his armour, was drowned. the enemy, pursuing them, sprang to the waist in the ooze on the edge of the dyke, and continued the contest. the boats opened a hot fire, and there was a severe skirmish for many minutes, with no certain result. it was, however, beginning to go hard with the zeelanders, when, just at the critical moment, a cheer from the other side of the dyke was heard, and the antwerp fleet was seen coming swiftly to the rescue. the spaniards, taken between the two bands of assailants, were at a disadvantage, and it was impossible to prevent the landing of these fresh antagonists. the antwerpers sprang ashore. among the foremost was sainte aldegonde, poet, orator, hymn-book maker, burgomaster, lawyer, polemical divine--now armed to the teeth and cheering on his men, in the very thickest of the fight. the diversion was successful, and sainte aldegonde gallantly drove the spaniards quite off the field. the whole combined force from antwerp and zeeland now effected their landing. three thousand men occupied all the space between fort george and the palisade. with sainte aldegonde came the unlucky koppen loppen, and all that could be spared of the english and scotch troops in antwerp, under balfour and morgan. with hohenlo and justinus de nassau came reinier kant, who had just succeeded paul buys as advocate of holland. besides these came two other men, side by side, perhaps in the same boat, of whom the world was like to hear much, from that time forward, and whose names are to be most solemnly linked together, so long as netherland history shall endure; one, a fair-faced flaxen-haired boy of eighteen, the other a square-visaged, heavy-browed man of forty--prince maurice and john of olden-barneveldt. the statesman had been foremost to urge the claim of william the silent's son upon the stadholderate of holland and zeeland, and had been, as it were, the youth's political guardian. he had himself borne arms more than once before, having shouldered his matchlock under batenburg, and marched on that officer's spirited but disastrous expedition for the relief of haarlem. but this was the life of those dutch rebels. quill-driving, law-expounding, speech-making, diplomatic missions, were intermingled with very practical business in besieged towns or open fields, with italian musketeers and spanish pikemen. and here, too, young maurice was taking his first solid lesson in the art of which he was one day to be so distinguished a professor. it was a sharp beginning. upon this ribband of earth, scarce six paces in breadth, with miles of deep water on both sides--a position recently fortified by the first general of the age, and held by the famous infantry of spain and italy--there was likely to be no prentice-work. to assault such a position was in truth, as alexander had declared it to be, a most daring and desperate resolution on the part of the states. "soldiers, citizens, and all," said parma, "they are obstinate as dogs to try their fortune." with wool-sacks, sand-bags, hurdles, planks, and other materials brought with them, the patriots now rapidly entrenched themselves in the position so brilliantly gained; while, without deferring for an instant the great purpose which they had come to effect, the sappers and miners fastened upon the ironbound soil of the dyke, tearing it with pick, mattock, and shovel, digging, delving, and throwing up the earth around them, busy as human beavers, instinctively engaged in a most congenial task. but the beavers did not toil unmolested. the large and determined force of antwerpers and english, hollanders and zeelanders, guarded the fortifications as they were rapidly rising, and the pioneers as they were so manfully delving; but the enemy was not idle. from fort saint james, next beyond saint george, camillo del monte led a strong party to the rescue. there was a tremendous action, foot to foot, breast to breast, with pike and pistol, sword and dagger. never since the beginning of the war had there been harder fighting than now upon that narrow isthmus. "'twas an affair of most brave obstinacy on both sides," said parma, who rarely used strong language. "soldiers, citizens, and all--they were like mad bulldogs." hollanders, italians, scotchmen, spaniards, englishmen, fell thick and fast. the contest was about the entrenchments before they were completed, and especially around the sappers and miners, in whose picks and shovels lay the whole fate of antwerp. many of the dyke-breakers were digging their own graves, and rolled, one after another, into the breach which they were so obstinately creating. upon that slender thread of land the hopes of many thousands were hanging. to tear it asunder, to roll the ocean-waves up to antwerp, and thus to snatch the great city triumphantly from the grasp of philip--to accomplish this, the three thousand had come forth that may morning. to prevent it, to hold firmly that great treasure entrusted to them, was the determination of the spaniards. and so, closely pent and packed, discharging their carbines into each other's faces, rolling, coiled together, down the slimy sides of the dyke into the black waters, struggling to and fro, while the cannon from the rebel fleet and from the royal forts mingled their roar with the sharp crack of the musketry, catholics and patriots contended for an hour, while still, through all the confusion and uproar, the miners dug and delved. at last the patriots were victorious. they made good their entrenchments, drove the spaniards, after much slaughter, back to the fort of saint george on the one side, and of the palisade on the other, and cleared the whole space between the two points. the centre of the dyke was theirs; the great kowenstyn, the only key by which the gates of antwerp could be unlocked, was in the deliverers' hands. they pursued their victory, and attacked the palisade fort. gamboa, its commandant, was severely wounded; many other officers dead or dying; the outworks were in the hands of the hollanders; the slender piles on which the fortress rested in the water were rudely shaken; the victory was almost complete. and now there was a tremendous cheer of triumph. the beavers had done their work, the barrier was bitten through and through, the salt water rushed like a river through the ruptured dyke. a few moments later, and a zeeland barge, freighted with provisions, floated triumphantly into the waters beyond, now no longer an inland sea. the deed was done--the victory achieved. nothing more was necessary than to secure it, to tear the fatal barrier to fragments, to bury it, for its whole length, beneath the waves. then, after the isthmus had been utterly submerged, when the scheldt was rolled back into its ancient bed, when parma's famous bridge had become useless, when the maritime communication between antwerp and holland had been thoroughly established, the spaniards would have nothing left for it but to drown like rats in their entrenchments or to abandon the siege in despair. all this was in the hands of the patriots. the kowenstyn was theirs. the spaniards were driven from the field, the batteries of their forts silenced. for a long period the rebels were unmolested, and felt themselves secure. "we remained thus some three hours," says captain james, an english officer who fought in the action, and described it in rough, soldierly fashion to walsingham the same day, "thinking all things to be secure." yet in the very supreme moment of victory, the leaders, both of the hollanders and of the antwerpers, proved themselves incompetent to their position. with deep regret it must be admitted, that not only the reckless hohenlo, but the all-accomplished sainte aldegonde, committed the gravest error. in the hour of danger, both had comported themselves with perfect courage and conduct. in the instant of triumph, they gave way to puerile exultation. with a celerity as censurable as it seems incredible, both these commanders sprang into the first barge which had thus floated across the dyke, in order that they might, in person, carry the news of the victory to antwerp, and set all the bells ringing and the bonfires blazing. they took with them ferrante spinola, a mortally-wounded italian officer of rank, as a trophy of their battle, and a boatload of beef and flour, as an earnest of the approaching relief. while the conquerors were thus gone to enjoy their triumph, the conquered, though perplexed and silenced, were not yet disposed to accept their defeat. they were even ignorant that they were conquered. they had been forced to abandon the field, and the patriots had entrenched themselves upon the dyke, but neither fort saint george nor the palisade had been carried, although the latter was in imminent danger. old count peter ernest mansfeld--a grizzled veteran, who had passed his childhood, youth, manhood, and old age, under fire--commanded at the land-end of the dyke, in the fortress of stabroek, in which neighbourhood his whole division was stationed. seeing how the day was going, he called a council of war. the patriots had gained a large section of the dyke. so much was certain. could they succeed in utterly demolishing that bulwark in the course of the day? if so, how were they to be dislodged before their work was perfected? it was difficult to assault their position. three thousand hollanders, antwerpers, englishmen--"mad bulldogs all," as parma called them--showing their teeth very mischievously, with one hundred and sixty zeeland vessels throwing in their broadsides from both margins of the dyke, were a formidable company to face. "oh for one half hour of alexander in the field!" sighed one of the spanish officers in council. but alexander was more than four leagues away, and it was doubtful whether he even knew of the fatal occurrence. yet how to send him a messenger. who could reach him through that valley of death? would it not be better to wait till nightfall? under the cover of darkness something might be attempted, which in the daylight would be hopeless. there was much anxiety, and much difference of opinion had been expressed, when camillo capizucca, colonel of the italian legion, obtained a hearing. a man bold in words as in deeds, he vehemently denounced the pusillanimity which would wait either for parma or for nightfall. "what difference will it make," he asked, "whether we defer our action until either darkness or the general arrives? in each case we give the enemy time enough to destroy the dyke, and thoroughly to relieve the city. that done, what good can be accomplished by our arms? then our disheartened soldiers will either shrink from a fruitless combat or march to certain death." having thus, very warmly but very sagaciously, defined the position in which all were placed, he proceeded to declare that he claimed, neither for himself nor for his legion, any superiority over the rest of the army. he knew not that the italians were more to be relied upon than others in the time of danger, but this he did know, that no man in the world was so devoted as he was to the prince of parma. to show that devotion by waiting with folded arms behind a wall until the prince should arrive to extricate his followers, was not in his constitution. he claimed the right to lead his italians against the enemy at once--in the front rank, if others chose to follow; alone, if the rest preferred to wait till a better leader should arrive. the words of the italian colonel sent a thrill through all who heard him. next in command under capizucca was his camp-marshal, an officer who bore the illustrious name of piccolomini--father of the duke ottavio, of whom so much was to be heard at a later day throughout the fell scenes of that portion of the eighty years' tragedy now enacting, which was to be called the thirty years' war of germany. the camp-marshal warmly seconded the proposition of his colonel. mansfeld, pleased with such enthusiasm among his officers, yielded to their wishes, which were, in truth, his own. six companies of the italian legion were in his encampment while the remainder were stationed, far away, upon the bridge, under command of his son, count charles. early in the morning, before the passage across the dyke had been closed the veteran condottiere, pricking his ears as he snuffed the battle from afar, had contrived to send a message to his son. "charles, my boy," were his words, "to-day we must either beat them or burst." old peter ernest felt that the long-expected, long-deferred assault was to be made that morning in full force, and that it was necessary for the royalists, on both bridge and dyke, to hold their own. piccolomini now drew up three hundred of his italians, picked veterans all, and led them in marching order to mansfeld. that general at the same moment, received another small but unexpected reinforcement. a portion of the spanish legion, which had long been that of pedro pacchi, lay at the extreme verge of the stabroek encampment, several miles away. aroused by the distant cannonading, and suspecting what had occurred, don juan d'aquila, the colonel in command, marched without a moment's delay to mansfeld's head-quarters, at the head of all the force he could muster--about two hundred strong. with him came cardona, gonzales de castro, toralva, and other distinguished officers. as they arrived, capizucca was just setting forth for the field. there arose a dispute for precedence between the italians and the spaniards. capizucca had first demanded the privilege of leading what seemed a forlorn hope, and was unwilling to yield his claim to the new comer. on the other hand, the spaniards were not disposed to follow where they felt entitled to lead. the quarrel was growing warm, when aquila, seizing his italian rival by the hand, protested that it was not a moment for friends to wrangle for precedence. "shoulder to shoulder," said he, "let us go into this business, and let our blows rather fall on our enemies' heads than upon each other's." this terminated the altercation. the italians and spaniards--in battle array as they were--all dropped on their knees, offered a brief prayer to the holy virgin, and then, in the best possible spirits, set forth along the dyke. next to fort stabroek--whence they issued--was the palisade fort, nearly a mile removed, which the patriots had nearly carried, and between which and st. george, another mile farther on, their whole force was established. the troops under capizucca and aquila soon reached the palisade, and attacked the besiegers, while the garrison, cheered by the unexpected relief, made a vigorous sortie. there was a brief sharp contest, in which many were killed on both sides; but at last the patriots fell back upon their own entrenchments, and the fort was saved. its name was instantly changed to fort victory, and the royalists then prepared to charge the fortified camp of the rebels, in the centre of which the dyke-cutting operations were still in progress. at the same moment, from the opposite end of the bulwark, a cry was heard along the whole line of the dyke. from fort holy cross, at the scheldt end, the welcome intelligence was suddenly communicated--as if by a magnetic impulse--that alexander was in the field! it was true. having been up half the night, as usual, keeping watch along his bridge, where he was ever expecting a fatal attack, he had retired for a few hours' rest in his camp at beveren. aroused at day-break by the roar of the cannon, he had hastily thrown on his armour, mounted his horse, and, at the head of two hundred pikemen, set forth for the scene of action. detained on the bridge by a detachment of the antwerp fleet, which had been ordered to make a diversion in that quarter, he had, after beating off their vessels with his boat-artillery, and charging count charles mansfeld to heed well the brief injunction of old peter ernest, made all the haste he could to the kowenstyn. arriving at fort holy cross, he learned from mondragon how the day was going. three thousand rebels, he learned, were established on the dyke, fort palisade was tottering, a fleet from both sides was cannonading the spanish entrenchments, the salt water was flowing across the breach already made. his seven months' work, it seemed, had come to nought. the navigation was already open from the sea to antwerp, the lowenstyn was in the rebels' hands. but alexander was not prone to premature despair. "i arrived," said he to philip in a letter written on the same evening, "at the very nick of time." a less hopeful person might have thought that he had arrived several hours too late. having brought with him every man that could be spared from beveren and from the bridge, he now ordered camillo del monte to transport some additional pieces of artillery from holy cross and from saint james to fort saint georg. at the same time a sharp cannonade was to be maintained upon the rebel fleet from all the forts. mondragon, with a hundred musketeers and pikemen, was sent forward likewise as expeditiously as possible to saint george. no one could be more alert. the battered veteran, hero of some of the most remarkable military adventures that history has ever recorded,' fought his way on foot, in the midst of the fray, like a young ensign who had his first laurels to win. and, in truth, the day was not one for cunning manoeuvres, directed, at a distance, by a skillful tactician. it was a brisk close contest, hand to hand and eye to eye--a homeric encounter, in which the chieftains were to prove a right to command by their personal prowess. alexander, descending suddenly--dramatically, as it were--when the battle seemed lost--like a deity from the clouds-was to justify, by the strength of his arm, the enthusiasm which his name always awakened. having, at a glance, taken in the whole situation, he made his brief arrangements, going from rank to rank, and disposing his troops in the most effective manner. he said but few words, but his voice had always a telling effect. "the man who refuses, this day, to follow me," he said, "has never had regard to his own honour, nor has god's cause or the king's ever been dear to his heart." his disheartened spaniards and italians--roused as by a magic trumpet--eagerly demanded to be led against the rebels. and now from each end of the dyke, the royalists were advancing toward the central position occupied by the patriots. while capizucca and aquila were occupied at fort victory, parma was steadily cutting his way from holy cross to saint george. on foot, armed with sword and shield, and in coat of mail, and marching at the head of his men along the dyke, surrounded by bevilacqua, bentivoglio, manriquez, sforza, and other officers of historic name and distinguished courage, now upon the summit of the causeway, now on its shelving banks, now breast-high in the waters, through which lay the perilous path, contending at every inch with the scattered bands of the patriots, who slowly retired to their entrenched camp, and with the antwerp and zeeland vessels, whose balls tore through the royalist ranks, the general at last reached saint george. on the preservation of that post depended the whole fortune of the day, for parma had already received the welcome intelligence that the palisade--now fort victory--had been regained. he instantly ordered an outer breast-work of wool-sacks and sand-bags to be thrown up in front of saint george, and planted a battery to play point-blank at the enemy's entrenchments. here the final issue was to be made. the patriots and spaniards were thus all enclosed in the mile-long space between st. george and the palisade. upon that narrow strip of earth, scarce six paces in width, more than five thousand men met in mortal combat--a narrow arena for so many gladiators, hemmed in on both sides by the sea. the patriots had, with solemn ceremony, before starting upon their enterprise, vowed to destroy the dyke and relieve antwerp, or to perish in the attempt. they were true to their vow. not the ancient batavians or nervii had ever manifested more tenacity against the roman legions than did their descendants against the far-famed spanish infantry upon this fatal day. the fight on the kowenstyn was to be long remembered in the military annals of spain and holland. never, since the curtain first rose upon the great netherland tragedy, had there been a fiercer encounter. flinching was impossible. there was scant room for the play of pike and dagger, and, close packed as were the combatants, the dead could hardly fall to the ground. it was a mile-long series of separate mortal duels, and the oozy dyke was soon slippery with blood. from both sides, under capizucca and aquila on the one band, and under alexander on the other, the entrenchments of the patriots were at last assaulted, and as the royalists fell thick and fast beneath the breast-work which they were storming, their comrades clambered upon their bodies, and attempted, from such vantage-ground, to effect an entrance. three times the invaders were beaten back with heavy loss, and after each repulse the attack was renewed with fresh vigour, while within the entrenchments the pioneers still plied the pick and shovel, undismayed by the uproar around them. a fourth assault, vigorously made, was cheerfully repelled by the antwerpers and hollanders, clustering behind their breast-works, and looking steadily into their enemies' eyes. captain heraugiere--of whom more was to be heard one day--had led two hundred men into action, and now found himself at the head of only thirteen. the loss had been as severe among many other patriot companies, as well as in the spanish ranks, and again the pikemen of spain and italy faltered before the iron visages and cordial blows of the hollanders. this work had lasted a good hour and a half, when at last, on the fifth assault, a wild and mysterious apparition renewed the enthusiasm of the spaniards. the figure of the dead commander of the old spanish legion, don pedro pacchi, who had fallen a few months before at the siege of dendermonde was seen charging in front of his regiment, clad in his well-known armour, and using the gestures which had been habitual with him in life. no satisfactory explanation was ever made of this singular delusion, but it was general throughout the ranks, and in that superstitious age was as effective as truth. the wavering spaniards rallied once more under the guidance of their phantom leader, and again charged the breast-work of the patriots. toralva, mounting upon the back of one of his soldiers, was first to vault into the entrenchments. at the next instant he lay desperately wounded on the ground, but was close followed by capizucca, sustained by a determined band. the entrenchment was carried, but the furious conflict still continued. at nearly the same moment, however, several of the patriot vessels were observed to cast off their moorings, and to be drifting away from the dyke. a large number of the rest had been disabled by the hot fire, which by alexander's judicious orders had been directed upon the fleet. the ebbing tide left no choice to the commander of the others but to retreat or to remain and fall into the enemy's hands, should he gain the day. had they risked the dangerous alternative, it might have ensured the triumph of the whole enterprise, while their actual decision proved most disastrous in the end. "we have conquered," cried alexander, stretching his arm towards the receding waters. "the sea deserts the impious heretics. strike from them now their last hope, and cut off their retreat to the departing ships." the spaniards were not slow to perceive their advantage, while the courage of the patriots at last began to ebb with the tide. the day was lost. in the hour of transitory triumph the leaders of the expedition had turned their backs on their followers, and now, after so much heroism had been exhibited, fortune too had averted her face. the grim resistance changed to desperate panic, and a mad chase began along the blood-stained dyke. some were slain with spear and bullet, others were hunted into the sea, many were smothered in the ooze along the edge of the embankment. the fugitives, making their way to the retreating vessels, were pursued by the spaniards, who swam after them, with their swords in their teeth, and engaged them in mortal combat in the midst of the waves. "and so we cut all their throats," said parma, "the rebels on every side remaining at our mercy, and i having no doubt that my soldiers would avenge the loss of their friends." the english and the scotch, under balfour and morgan, were the very last to abandon the position which they had held so manfully seven hours long. honest captain james, who fought to the last, and described the action the same night in the fewest possible words, was of opinion that the fleet had moved away only to obtain a better position. "they put off to have more room to play on the enemy," said he; "but the hollanders and zeelanders, seeing the enemy come on so hotly, and thinking our galleys would leave them, abandoned their string. the scots, seeing them to retire, left their string. the enemy pursued very hotly; the englishmen stood to repulse, and are put most to the sword. in this shameful retreat there were slain or drowned to the number of two thousand." the blunt englishman was justly indignant that an enterprise, so nearly successful, had been ruined by the desertion of its chiefs. "we had cut the dyke in three places," said he; "but left it most shamefully for want of commandment." poor koppen loppen--whose blunders on former occasions had caused so much disaster--was now fortunate enough to expiate them by a soldier's death. admiral haultain had, as we have seen, been drowned at the commencement of the action. justinus de nassau, at its close, was more successful in his retreat to the ships. he, too, sprang into the water when the overthrow was absolute; but, alighting in some shallows, was able to conceal himself among weeds and waterlilies till he had divested himself of his armour, when he made his escape by swimming to a boat, which conveyed him to lillo. roelke van deest, an officer of some note, was so horribly wounded in the face, that he was obliged to wear a mask for the remainder of his life. parma, overjoyed at his victory, embraced capizucca before the whole army, with warm expressions of admiration for his conduct. both the italian colonel and his spanish rival aquila were earnestly recommended to philip for reward and promotion. the wounded toralva was carried to alexander's own quarters, and placed in alexander's own bed, where he remained till his recovery, and was then presented--a distinction which he much valued--with the armour which the prince had worn on the day of the battle. parma himself, so soon as the action was concluded, went with his chief officers straight from the field to the little village-church of stabroek, where he fell upon his knees and offered up fervent thanks for his victory. he next set about repairing the ruptured dyke, damaged in many places but not hopelessly ruined, and for this purpose the bodies of the rebels, among other materials, were cast by hundreds into the ditches which their own hands had dug. thus ended the eight hours' fight on the kowenstyn. "the feast lasted from seven to eight hours," said parma, "with the most brave obstinacy on both sides that has been seen for many a long day." a thousand royalists were killed and twice as many patriots, and the issue of the conflict was most uncertain up to the very last. "our loss is greater than i wish it was," wrote alexander to philip: "it was a very close thing, and i have never been more anxious in my life as to the result for your majesty's service. the whole fate of the battle was hanging all the time by a thread." more than ever were reinforcements necessary, and it was only by a miracle that the victory had at last been gained with such slender resources. "'tis a large, long, laborious, expensive, and most perilous war," said parma, when urging the claims of capizucca and aquila, "for we have to fight every minute; and there are no castles and other rewards, so that if soldiers are not to have promotion, they will lose their spirit." thirty-two of the rebel vessels grounded, and fell into the hands of the spaniards, who took from them many excellent pieces of artillery. the result was most conclusive and most disheartening for the patriots. meantime--as we have seen--hohenlo and sainte aldegonde had reached antwerp in breathless haste to announce their triumph. they had been met on the quay by groups of excited citizens, who eagerly questioned the two generals arriving thus covered with laurels from the field of battle, and drank with delight all the details of the victory. the poor dying spinola was exhibited in triumph, the boat-load of breadstuffs received with satisfaction, and vast preparations were made to receive, on wharves and in storehouses, the plentiful supplies about to arrive. beacons and bonfires were lighted, the bells from all the steeples rang their merriest peals, cannon thundered in triumph not only in antwerp itself, but subsequently at amsterdam and other more distant cities. in due time a magnificent banquet was spread in the town-house to greet the conquering hohenlo. immense gratification was expressed by those of the reformed religion; dire threats were uttered against the catholics. some were for hanging them all out of hand, others for throwing them into the scheldt; the most moderate proposed packing them all out of town so soon as the siege should be raised--an event which could not now be delayed many days longer. hohenlo, placed on high at the head of the banquet-table, assumed the very god of war. beside and near him sat the loveliest dames of antwerp, rewarding his bravery with their brightest smiles. the count drained huge goblets to their health, to the success of the patriots, and to the confusion of the royalists, while, as he still drank and feasted, the trumpet, kettle-drum, and cymbal, and merry peal of bell without, did honour to his triumph. so gay and gallant was the victor, that he announced another banquet on the following day, still further to celebrate the happy release of antwerp, and invited the fair ladies around him again to grace the board. it is recorded that the gentlewoman next him responded with a sigh, that, if her presentiments were just, the morrow would scarcely be so joyful as the present day had been, and that she doubted whether the triumph were not premature. hardly had she spoken when sinister sounds were heard in the streets. the first few stragglers, survivors of the deadly fight, had arrived with the fatal news that all was lost, the dyke regained, the spaniards victorious, the whole band of patriots cut to pieces. a few frightfully-wounded and dying sufferers were brought into the banqueting-hall. hohenlo sprang from the feast--interrupted in so ghastly a manner--pursued by shouts and hisses. howls of execration, saluted him in the streets, and he was obliged to conceal himself for a time, to escape the fury of the populace. on the other hand, parma was, not unnaturally, overjoyed at the successful issue to the combat, and expressed himself on the subject in language of (for him) unusual exultation. "to-day, sunday, th of june," said he, in a letter to philip, despatched by special courier on the very same night, "the lord has been pleased to grant to your majesty a great and most signal victory. in this conjuncture of so great importance it may be easily conceived that the best results that can be desired will be obtained if your majesty is now ready to do what is needful. i congratulate your majesty very many times on this occasion, and i desire to render infinite thanks to divine providence." he afterwards proceeded, in a rapid and hurried manner, to give his majesty the outlines of the battle, mentioning, with great encomium, capizucca and aquila, mondragon and vasto, with many other officers, and recommending them for reward and promotion; praising, in short, heartily and earnestly, all who had contributed to the victory, except himself, to whose personal exertions it was chiefly due. "as for good odd mansfeld," said he, "he bore himself like the man he is, and he deserves that your majesty should send him a particular mark of your royal approbation, writing to him yourself pleasantly in spanish, which is that which will be most highly esteemed by him." alexander hinted also that philip would do well to bestow upon mansfeld the countship of biart, as a reward for his long years of faithful service! this action on the kowenstyn terminated the effective resistance of antwerp. a few days before, the monster-vessel, in the construction of which so much time and money had been consumed, had at last been set afloat. she had been called the war's end, and, so far as antwerp was concerned, the fates that presided over her birth seemed to have been paltering in a double sense when the ominous name was conferred. she was larger than anything previously known in naval architecture; she had four masts and three helms. her bulwarks were ten feet thick; her tops were musket-proof. she had twenty guns of largest size, besides many other pieces of artillery of lesser calibre, the lower tier of which was almost at the water's level. she was to carry one thousand men, and she was so supported on corks and barrels as to be sure to float under any circumstances. thus she was a great swimming fortress which could not be sunk, and was impervious to shot. unluckily, however, in spite of her four masts and three helms, she would neither sail nor steer, and she proved but a great, unmanageable and very ridiculous tub, fully justifying all the sarcasms that had been launched upon her during the period of her construction, which had been almost as long as the siege itself. the spaniards called her the bugaboo--a monster to scare children withal. the patriots christened her the elephant, the antwerp folly, the lost penny, with many similar appellations. a small army might have been maintained for a month, they said, on the money she had cost, or the whole city kept in bread for three months. at last, late in may, a few days before the battle of the kowenstyn, she set forth from antwerp, across the submerged land, upon her expedition to sweep all the spanish forts out of existence, and to bring the war to its end. she came to her own end very briefly, for, after drifting helplessly about for an hour, she stuck fast in the sand in the neighbourhood of ordam, while the crew and soldiers made their escape, and came back to the city to share in the ridicule which, from first to last, had attached itself to the monster-ship. two days after the kowenstyn affair, alexander sent an expedition under count charles mansfeld to take possession of the great bugaboo. the boat, in which were count charles, count aremberg, his brother de barbancon, and other noble volunteers, met with an accident: a keg of gun powder accidentally exploding, blowing aremberg into the water, whence he escaped unharmed by swimming, and frightfully damaging mansfeld in the face. this indirect mischief--the only injury ever inflicted by the war's end upon the enemy--did not prevent the rest of the party in the boats from taking possession of the ship, and bringing her in triumph to the prince of parma. after being thoroughly examined and heartily laughed at by the spaniards, she was broken up--her cannon, munitions, and other valuable materials, being taken from her--and then there was an end of the war's end. this useless expenditure-against the judgment and entreaties of many leading personages--was but a type of the difficulties with which sainte aldegonde had been obliged to contend from the first day of the siege to the last. every one in the city had felt himself called on to express an opinion as to the proper measures for defence. diversity of humours, popular license, anarchy, did not constitute the best government for a city beleagured by alexander farnese. we have seen the deadly injury inflicted upon the cause at the outset by the brutality of the butchers, and the manful struggle which sainte aldegonde had maintained against their cupidity and that of their friends. he had dealt with the thousand difficulties which rose up around him from day to day, but his best intentions were perpetually misconstrued, his most strenuous exertions steadily foiled. it was a city where there was much love of money, and where commerce--always timid by nature, particularly when controlled by alien residents--was often the cause of almost abject cowardice. from time to time there had been threatening demonstrations made against the burgomaster, who, by protracting the resistance of antwerp, was bringing about the absolute destruction of a worldwide trade, and the downfall of the most opulent capital in christendom. there were also many popular riots--very easily inflamed by the catholic portion of the inhabitants--for bread. "bread, bread, or peace!" was hoarsely shouted by ill-looking mischievous crowds, that dogged the steps and besieged the doors of sainte aldegonde; but the burgomaster had done his best by eloquence of tongue and personal courage, both against mobs and against the enemy, to inspire the mass of his fellow-citizens with his own generous spirit. he had relied for a long time on the negotiation with france, and it would be difficult to exaggerate the disastrous effects produced by the treachery of the valois court. the historian le petit, a resident of antwerp at the time of the siege, had been despatched on secret mission to paris, and had communicated to the states' deputies sainte aldegonde's earnest adjurations that they should obtain, if possible, before it should be too late, an auxiliary force and a pecuniary subsidy. an immediate assistance, even if slight, might be sufficient to prevent antwerp and its sister cities from falling into the hands of the enemy. on that messenger's return, the burgomaster, much encouraged by his report, had made many eloquent speeches in the senate, and for a long time sustained the sinking spirits of the citizens. the irritating termination to the triumph actually achieved against the bridge, and the tragical result to the great enterprise against the kowenstyn, had now thoroughly broken the heart of antwerp. for the last catastrophe sainte aldegonde himself was highly censurable, although the chief portion of the blame rested on the head of hohenlo. nevertheless the states of holland were yet true to the cause of the union and of liberty. notwithstanding their heavy expenditures, and their own loss of men, they urged warmly and earnestly the continuance of the resistance, and promised, within at latest three months' time, to raise an army of twelve thousand foot and seven thousand horse, with which they pledged themselves to relieve the city, or to perish in the endeavour. at the same time, the legation, which had been sent to england to offer the sovereignty to queen elizabeth, sent encouraging despatches to antwerp, assuring the authorities that arrangements for an auxiliary force had been effected; while elizabeth herself wrote earnestly upon the subject with her own hand. "i am informed," said that princess, "that through the closing of the scheldt you are likely to enter into a treaty with the prince of parma, the issue of which is very much to be doubted, so far as the maintenance of your privileges is concerned. remembering the warm friendship which has ever existed between this crown and the house of burgundy, in the realms of which you are an important member, and considering that my subjects engaged in commerce have always met with more privilege and comity in the netherlands than in any other country, i have resolved to send you at once, assistance, comfort, and aid. the details of the plan will be stated by your envoys; but be assured that by me you will never be forsaken or neglected." the negotiations with queen elizabeth--most important for the netherlands, for england, and for the destinies of europe--which succeeded the futile diplomatic transactions with france, will be laid before the reader in a subsequent chapter. it is proper that they should be massed by themselves, so that the eye can comprehend at a single glance their whole progress and aspect, as revealed both by public and official, and by secret and hitherto unpublished records. meantime, so far as regards antwerp, those negotiations had been too deliberately conducted for the hasty and impatient temper of the citizens. the spirit of the commercial metropolis, long flagging, seemed at last broken. despair was taking possession of all hearts. the common people did nothing but complain, the magistrates did nothing but wrangle. in the broad council the debates and dissensions were discouraging and endless. six of the eight militia-colonels were for holding out at all hazards, while a majority of the eighty captains were for capitulation. the populace was tumultuous and threatening, demanding peace and bread at any price. holland sent promises in abundance, and holland was sincere; but there had been much disappointment, and there was now infinite bitterness. it seemed obvious that a crisis was fast approaching, and--unless immediate aid should come from holland or from england--that a surrender was inevitable. la none, after five years' imprisonment, had at last been exchanged against count philip egmont. that noble, chief of an ancient house, cousin of the queen of france, was mortified at being ransomed against a simple huguenot gentleman--even though that gentleman was the illustrious "iron-armed" la noue--but he preferred to sacrifice his dignity for the sake of his liberty. he was still more annoyed that one hundred thousand crowns as security were exacted from la noue--for which the king of navarre became bondsman--that he would never again bear arms in the netherlands except in obedience to the french monarch, while no such pledges were required of himself. la none visited the prince of parma at antwerp, to take leave, and was received with the courtesy due to his high character and great distinction. alexander took pleasure in showing him all his fortifications, and explaining to him the whole system of the siege, and la noue was filled with honest amazement. he declared afterwards that the works were superb and impregnable; and that if he had been on the outside at the head of twelve thousand troops, he should have felt obliged to renounce the idea of relieving the city. "antwerp cannot escape you," confessed the veteran huguenot, "but must soon fall into your hands. and when you enter, i would counsel you to hang up your sword at its gate, and let its capture be the crowning trophy in your list of victories." "you are right," answered parma, "and many of my friends have given me the same advice; but how am i to retire, engaged as i am for life in the service of my king?" such was the opinion of la none, a man whose love for the reformed religion and for civil liberty can be as little doubted as his competency to form an opinion upon great military subjects. as little could he be suspected just coming as he did from an infamous prison, whence he had been at one time invited by philip ii. to emerge, on condition of allowing his eyes to be put out--of any partiality for that monarch or his representative. moreover, although the states of holland and the english government were earnestly desirous of relieving the city, and were encouraging the patriots with well-founded promises, the zeeland authorities were lukewarm. the officers of the zeeland navy, from which so much was expected, were at last discouraged. they drew up, signed, and delivered to admiral justinus de nassau, a formal opinion to the effect that the scheldt had now so many dry and dangerous places, and that the tranquil summer-nights--so different from those long, stormy ones of winter--were so short as to allow of no attempt by water likely to be successful to relieve the city. here certainly was much to discourage, and sainte aldegonde was at length discouraged. he felt that the last hope of saving antwerp was gone, and with it all possibility of maintaining the existence of a united netherland commonwealth. the walloon provinces were lost already; ghent, brussels, mechlin, had also capitulated, and, with the fall of antwerp, flanders and brabant must fall. there would be no barrier left even to save holland itself. despair entered the heart of the burgomaster, and he listened too soon to its treacherous voice. yet while he thought a free national state no longer a possibility, he imagined it practicable to secure religious liberty by negotiation with philip ii. he abandoned with a sigh one of the two great objects for which he had struggled side by side with orange for twenty years, but he thought it possible to secure the other. his purpose was now to obtain a favourable capitulation for antwerp, and at the same time to bring about the submission of holland, zeeland, and the other united provinces, to the king of spain. here certainly was a great change of face on the part of one so conspicuous, and hitherto so consistent, in the ranks of netherland patriots, and it is therefore necessary, in order thoroughly to estimate both the man and the crisis, to follow carefully his steps through the secret path of negotiation into which he now entered, and in which the antwerp drama was to find its conclusion. in these transactions, the chief actors are, on the one side, the prince of parma, as representative of absolutism and the papacy; on the other, sainte aldegonde, who had passed his life as the champion of the reformation. no doubt the pressure upon the burgomaster was very great. tumults were of daily occurrence. crowds of rioters beset his door with cries of denunciations and demands for bread. a large and turbulent mob upon one occasion took possession of the horse-market, and treated him with personal indignity and violence, when he undertook to disperse them. on the other hand, parma had been holding out hopes of pardon with more reasonable conditions than could well be expected, and had, with a good deal of art, taken advantage of several trivial circumstances to inspire the burghers with confidence in his good-will. thus, an infirm old lady in the city happened to imagine herself so dependent upon asses milk as to have sent her purveyor out of the city, at the peril of his life, to procure a supply from the neighbourhood. the young man was captured, brought to alexander, from whose hands he very naturally expected the punishment of a spy. the prince, however, presented him, not only with his liberty, but with a she-ass; and loaded the animal with partridges and capons, as a present for the invalid. the magistrates, hearing of the incident, and not choosing to be outdone in courtesy, sent back a waggon-load of old wine and remarkable confectionary as an offering to alexander, and with this interchange of dainties led the way to the amenities of diplomacy. etext editor's bookmarks: courage and semblance of cheerfulness, with despair in his heart demanding peace and bread at any price not a friend of giving details larger than my ascertained facts history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, v , alexander farnese, the duke of parma chapter v., part . sainte aldegonde discouraged--his critical position--his negotiations with the enemy--correspondence with richardot-- commotion in the city--interview of marnix with parma--suspicious conduct of marnix--deputation to the prince--oration of marnix-- private views of parma--capitulation of antwerp--mistakes of marnix --philip on the religious question--triumphal entrance of alexander-- rebuilding of the citadel--gratification of philip--note on sainte aldegonde sainte aldegonde's position had become a painful one. the net had been drawn closely about the city. the bridge seemed impregnable, the great kowenstyn was irrecoverably in the hands of the enemy, and now all the lesser forts in the immediate vicinity of antwerp-borght, hoboken, cantecroix, stralen, berghen, and the rest--had likewise fallen into his grasp. an account of grain, taken on the st of june, gave an average of a pound a-head for a month long, or half a pound for two months. this was not the famine-point, according to the standard which had once been established in leyden; but the courage of the burghers had been rapidly oozing away, under the pressure of their recent disappointments. it seemed obvious to the burgomaster, that the time for yielding had arrived. "i had maintained the city," he said, "for a long period, without any excessive tumult or great effusion of blood--a city where there was such a multitude of inhabitants, mostly merchants or artisans deprived of all their traffic, stripped of their manufactures, destitute of all commodities and means of living. i had done this in the midst of a great diversity of humours and opinions, a vast popular license, a confused anarchy, among a great number of commanders, most of them inexperienced in war; with very little authority of my own, with slender forces of ships, soldiers, and sailors; with alight appearance of support from king or prince without, or of military garrison within; and under all these circumstances i exerted myself to do my uttermost duty in preserving the city, both in regard to its internal government, and by force of arms by land and sea, without sparing myself in any labour or peril. "i know very well that there are many persons, who, finding themselves quite at their ease, and far away from the hard blows that are passing, are pleased to exhibit their wisdom by sitting in judgment upon others, founding their decision only upon the results. but i demand to be judged by equity and reason, when passion has been set aside. i claim that my honour shall be protected against my calumniators; for all should remember that i am not the first man, nor shall i be the last, that has been blamed unjustly. all persons employed in public affairs are subject to such hazards, but i submit myself to him who knows all hearts, and who governs all. i take him to witness that in the affair of antwerp, as in all my other actions since my earliest youth, i have most sincerely sought his glory and the welfare of his poor people, without regard to my own private interests." for it is not alone the fate of antwerp that is here to be recorded. the fame of sainte aldegonde was now seriously compromised. the character of a great man must always be closely scanned and scrutinised; protected, if needful, against calumny, but always unflinchingly held up to the light. names illustrious by genius and virtue are history's most precious treasures, faithfully to be guarded by her, jealously to be watched; but it is always a misfortune when her eyes are deceived by a glitter which is not genuine. sainte aldegonde was a man of unquestionable genius. his character had ever been beyond the reproach of self-seeking or ignoble ambition. he had multiplied himself into a thousand forms to serve the cause of the united netherland states, and the services so rendered had been brilliant and frequent. a great change in his conduct and policy was now approaching, and it is therefore the more necessary to examine closely at this epoch his attitude and his character. early in june, richardot, president of the council of artois, addressed a letter to sainte aldegonde, by command of alexander of parma, suggesting a secret interview between the burgomaster and the prince. on the th of june, sainte aldegonde replied, in favourable terms, as to the interview; but observed, that, as he was an official personage, it was necessary for him to communicate the project to the magistracy of the city. he expressed likewise the hope that parma would embrace the present opportunity for making a general treaty with all the provinces. a special accord with antwerp, leaving out holland and zeeland, would, he said, lead to the utter desolation of that city, and to the destruction of its commerce and manufactures, while the occasion now presented itself to the prince of "winning praise and immortal glory by bringing back all the country to a voluntary and prompt obedience to his majesty." he proposed, that, instead of his coming alone, there should be a number of deputies sent from antwerp to confer with alexander. on the th june, richardot replied by expressing, his own regrets and those of the prince, that the interview could not have been with the burgomaster alone, but acknowledging the weight of his reasons, and acquiescing in the proposition to send a larger deputation. three days afterwards, sainte aldegonde, on private consultation with some confidential personages, changed his ground; announced his preference for a private interview, under four eyes, with parma; and requested that a passport might be sent. the passport was accordingly forwarded the same day, with an expression of alexander's gratification, and with the offer, on the part of richardot, to come himself to antwerp as hostage during the absence of the burgomaster in parma's camp at beveren. sainte aldegonde was accordingly about to start on the following day ( th of june), but meantime the affair had got wind. a secret interview, thus projected, was regarded by the citizens as extremely suspicious. there was much bitter insinuation against the burgomaster--many violent demonstrations. "aldegonde, they say, is going to see parma," said one of the burghers, "which gives much dissatisfaction, because, 'tis feared that he will make a treaty according to the appetite and pleasure of his highness, having been gained over to the royal cause by money. he says that it would be a misfortune to send a large number of burghers. last sunday ( th june) there was a meeting of the broad council. the preachers came into the assembly and so animated the citizens by demonstrations of their religion, that all rushed from the council-house, crying with loud voices that they did not desire peace but war." this desire was a healthy and a reasonable one; but, unfortunately, the antwerpers had not always been so vigorous or so united in their resistance to parma. at present, however, they were very furious, so soon as the secret purpose of sainte aldegonde became generally known. the proposed capitulation, which great mobs had been for weeks long savagely demanding at the hands of the burgomaster, was now ascribed to the burgomaster's unblushing corruption. he had obviously, they thought, been purchased by spanish ducats to do what he had hitherto been so steadily refusing. a certain van werne had gone from antwerp into holland a few days before upon his own private affairs, with a safe-conduct from parma. sainte aldegonde had not communicated to him the project then on foot, but he had permitted him to seek a secret interview with count mansfeld. if that were granted, van werne was to hint that in case the provinces could promise themselves a religious peace it would be possible, in the opinion of sainte aldegonde, to induce holland and zealand and all the rest of the united provinces, to return to their obedience. van werne, on his return to antwerp, divulged these secret negotiations, and so put a stop to sainte aldegonde's scheme of going alone to parma. "this has given a bad suspicion to the people," wrote the burgomaster to richardot, "so much so that i fear to have trouble. the broad council has been in session, but i don't know what has taken place there, and i do not dare to ask." sainte aldegonde's motive, as avowed by himself, for seeking a private interview, was because he had received no answer to the main point in his first letter, as to the proposition for a general accord. in order therefore to make the deliberations more rapid, he had been disposed to discuss that preliminary question in secret. "but now," said he to richardot, "as the affair had been too much divulged, as well by diverse reports and writings sown about, very inopportunely, as by the arrival of m. van werne, i have not found it practicable to set out upon my road, without communication with the members of the government. this has been done, however, not in the way of consultation, but as the announcement of a thing already resolved upon." he proceeded to state, that great difficulties had arisen, exactly as he had foreseen. the magistrates would not hear of a general accord, and it was therefore necessary that a delay should be interposed before it would be possible for him to come. he begged richardot to persuade alexander, that he was not trifling with him. "it is not," said he, "from lightness, or any other passion, that i am retarding this affair. i will do all in my power to obtain leave to make a journey to the camp of his highness, at whatever price it may cost and i hope before long to arrive at my object. if i fail, it must be ascribed to the humours of the people; for my anxiety to restore all the provinces to obedience to his majesty is extreme." richardot, in reply, the next day, expressed regret, without astonishment, on the part of alexander and himself, at the intelligence thus received. people had such difference of humour, he said, and all men were not equally capable of reason. nevertheless the citizens were warned not to misconstrue parma's gentleness, because he was determined to die, with his whole army, rather than not take antwerp. "as for the king," said richardot, "he will lay down all his crowns sooner than abandon this enterprise." van werne was represented as free from blame, and sincerely desirous of peace. richardot had only stated to him, in general terms, that letters had been received from sainte aldegonde, expressing an opinion in favour of peace. as for the royalists, they were quite innocent of the reports and writings that had so inopportunely been circulated in the city. it was desirable, however, that the negotiation should not too long be deferred, for otherwise antwerp might perish, before a general accord with holland and zeeland could be made. he begged sainte aldegonde to banish all anxiety as to parma's sentiments towards himself or the community. "put yourself, sir, quite at your ease," said he. "his highness is in no respects dissatisfied with you, nor prone to conceive any indignation against this poor people." he assured the burgomaster that he was not suspected of lightness, nor of a wish to delay matters, but he expressed solicitude with regard to the threatening demonstrations which had been made against him in antwerp. "for," said he, "popular governments are full of a thousand hazards, and it would be infinitely painful to me, if you should come to harm." thus it would appear that it was sainte aldegonde who was chiefly anxious to effect the reconciliation of holland and zeeland with the king. the initiative of this project to include all the united provinces in one scheme with the reduction of antwerp came originally from him, and was opposed, at the outset, by the magistrates of that city, by the prince of parma and his councillors, and, by the states of holland and zeeland. the demonstrations on the part of the preachers, the municipal authorities, and the burghers, against sainte aldegonde and his plan for a secret interview, so soon as it was divulged, made it impossible to carry that project into effect. "aldegonde, who governs antwerp," wrote parma to philip, "was endeavouring, eight days ago, to bring about some kind of negotiation for an accord. he manifested a desire to come hither for the sake of a personal interview with me, which i permitted. it was to have taken place last sunday, th of this month, but by reason of a certain popular tumult, which arose out of these circumstances, it has been necessary to defer the meeting." there was much disappointment felt by the royalist at this unsatisfactory result. "these bravadoes and impertinent demonstrations on the part of some of your people," wrote richardot, ten days later, "will be the destruction of the whole country, and will convert the prince's gentleness into anger. 'tis these good and zealous patriots, trusting to a little favourable breeze that blew for a few days past, who have been the cause of all this disturbance, and who are ruining their miserable country--miserable, i say, for having produced such abortions as themselves." notwithstanding what had passed, however, richardot intimated that alexander was still ready to negotiate. "and if you, sir," he concluded, in his letter to aldegonde, "concerning whom many of our friends have at present a sinister opinion, as if your object was to circumvent us, are willing to proceed roundly and frankly, as i myself firmly believe that you will do, we may yet hope for a favourable issue." thus the burgomaster was already the object of suspicion to both parties. the antwerpers denounced him as having been purchased by spanish gold; the royalists accused him of intending to overreach the king. it was not probable therefore that all were correct in their conjectures. at last it was arranged that deputies should be appointed by the broad council to commence a negotiation with parma. sainte aldegonde informed richardot, that he would ( th july, ) accompany them, if his affairs should permit. he protested his sincerity and frankness throughout the whole affair. "they try to calumniate me," he said, "as much on one side as on the other, but i will overcome by my innocence all the malice of my slanderers. if his highness should be pleased to grant us some liberty for our religion, i dare to promise such faithful service as will give very great satisfaction." four days later, sainte aldegonde himself, together with m. de duffel, m. de schoonhoven, and adrian hesselt, came to parma's camp at beveren, as deputies on the part of the antwerp authorities. they were courteously received by the prince, and remained three days as his guests. during the period of this visit, the terms of a capitulation were thoroughly discussed, between alexander and his councillors upon one part, and the four deputies on the other. the envoys endeavoured, with all the arguments at their command, to obtain the consent of the prince to three preliminary points which they laid down as indispensable. religious liberty must be granted, the citadel must not be reconstructed, a foreign garrison must not be admitted; they said. as it was the firm intention of the king, however, not to make the slightest concession on any one of these points, the discussion was not a very profitable one. besides the public interviews at which all the negotiators were present, there was a private conference between parma and sainte aldegonde which lasted more than four hours, in which each did his best to enforce his opinions upon the other. the burgomaster endeavoured to persuade the prince with all the eloquence for which he was so renowned, that the hearts not of the antwerpers only, but of the hollanders and zeelanders, were easily to be won at that moment. give them religious liberty, and attempt to govern them by gentleness rather than by spanish garrisons, and the road was plain to a complete reconciliation of all the provinces with his majesty. alexander, who knew his master to be inexorable upon these three points, was courteous but peremptory in his statements. he recommended that the rebels should take into consideration their own declining strength, the inexhaustible resources of the king, the impossibility of obtaining succour from france, and the perplexing dilatoriness of england, rather than waste their time in idle expectations of a change in the spanish policy. he also intimated, obliquely but very plainly, to sainte aldegonde, that his own fortune would be made, and that he had everything to hope from his majesty's bounty, if he were now willing to make himself useful in carrying into effect the royal plans. the prince urged these views with so much eloquence, that he seemed, in his own words, to have been directly inspired by the lord for this special occasion! sainte aldegonde, too, was signally impressed by alexander's language, and thoroughly fascinated-magnetized, as it were--by his character. he subsequently declared, that he had often conversed familiarly with many eloquent personages, but that he had never known a man more powerful or persuasive than the prince of parma. he could honestly say of him--as hasdrubal had said of scipio--that farnese was even more admirable when seen face to face, than he had seemed when one only heard of his glorious achievements. "the burgomaster and three deputies," wrote parma to philip, "were here until the th july. we discussed ( th july, ) the points and form of a capitulation, and they have gone back thoroughly satisfied. sainte aldegonde especially was much pleased with the long interview which he had with me, alone, and which lasted more than three hours. i told him, as well as my weakness and suffering from the tertian fever permitted, all that god inspired me to say on our behalf." nevertheless, if sainte aldegonde and his colleagues went away thoroughly satisfied, they had reason, soon after their return, to become thoroughly dejected. the magistrates and burghers would not listen to a proposition to abandon the three points, however strongly urged to do so by arguments drawn from the necessity of the situation, and by representations of parma's benignity. as for the burgomaster, he became the target for calumny, so soon as his three hours' private interview became known; and the citizens loudly declared that his head ought to be cut off, and sent in a bag, as a present, to philip, in order that the traitor might meet the sovereign with whom he sought a reconciliation, face to face, as soon as possible. the deputies, immediately after their return, made their report to the magistrates, as likewise to the colonels and captains, and to the deans of guilds. next day, although it was sunday, there was a session of the broad council, and sainte aldegonde made a long address, in which--as he stated in a letter to richardot--he related everything that had passed in his private conversation with alexander. an answer was promised to parma on the following tuesday, but the burgomaster spoke very discouragingly as to the probability of an accord. "the joy with which our return was greeted," he said, "was followed by a general disappointment and sadness, so soon as the result was known. the want of a religious toleration, as well as the refusal to concede on the other two points, has not a little altered the hearts of all, even of the catholics. a citadel and a garrison are considered ruin and desolation to a great commercial city. i have done what i can to urge the acceptance of such conditions as the prince is willing to give, and have spoken in general terms of his benign intentions. the citizens still desire peace. had his highness been willing to take both religions under his protection, he might have won all hearts, and very soon all the other provinces would have returned to their obedience, while the clemency and magnanimity of his majesty would thus have been rendered admirable throughout the world." the power to form an accurate conception as to the nature of philip and of other personages with whom he was dealing, and as to the general signs of his times, seems to have been wanting in the character of the gifted aldegonde. he had been dazzled by the personal presence of parma, and he now spoke of philip ii., as if his tyranny over the netherlands--which for twenty years had been one horrible and uniform whole--were the accidental result of circumstances, not the necessary expression of his individual character, and might be easily changed at will--as if nero, at a moment's warning, might transform himself into trajan. it is true that the innermost soul of the spanish king could by no possibility be displayed to any contemporary, as it reveals itself, after three centuries, to those who study the record of his most secret thoughts; but, at any rate, it would seem that his career had been sufficiently consistent, to manifest the amount of "clemency and magnanimity" which he might be expected to exercise. "had his majesty," wrote sainte aldegonde, "been willing, since the year sixty-six, to pursue a course of toleration, the memory of his reign would have been sacred to all posterity, with an immortal praise of sapience, benignity, and sovereign felicity." this might be true, but nevertheless a tolerating philip, in the year , ought to have seemed to sainte aldegonde an impossible idea. "the emperors," continued the burgomaster, "who immediately succeeded tiberius were the cause of the wisdom which displayed itself in the good trajan--also a spaniard--and in antoninus, verus, and the rest: if you think that this city, by the banishment of a certain number of persons, will be content to abandon the profession of the reformed faith, you are much mistaken. you will see, with time, that the exile of this religion will be accompanied by a depopulation and a sorrowful ruin and desolation of this flourishing city. but this will be as it pleases god. meantime i shall not fail to make all possible exertions to induce the citizens to consent to a reconciliation with his majesty. the broad council will soon give their answer, and then we shall send a deputation. we shall invite holland and zeeland to join with us, but there is little hope of their consent." certainly there was little hope of their consent. sainte aldegonde was now occupied in bringing about the capitulation of antwerp, without any provision for religious liberty--a concession which parma had most distinctly refused--and it was not probable that holland and zeeland, after twenty years of hard fighting, and with an immediate prospect of assistance from england--could now be induced to resign the great object of the contest without further struggle. it was not until a month had elapsed that the authorities of antwerp sent their propositions to the prince of parma. on the th august, however, sainte aldegonde, accompanied by the same three gentlemen who had been employed on the first mission, and by seventeen others besides, proceeded with safe-conduct to the camp at beveren. here they were received with great urbanity, and hospitably entertained by alexander, who received their formal draft of articles for a capitulation, and referred it to be reported upon to richardot, pamel, and vanden burgh. meantime there were many long speeches and several conferences, sometimes between all the twenty-one envoys and the prince together; on other occasions, more secret ones, at which only aldegonde and one or two of his colleagues were present. it had been obvious, from the date of the first interview, in the preceding month, that the negotiation would be of no avail until the government of antwerp was prepared to abandon all the conditions which they had originally announced as indispensable. alexander had not much disposition and no authority whatever to make concessions. "so far as i can understand," parma had written on the th july, "they are very far from a conclusion. they have most exorbitant ideas, talking of some kind of liberty of conscience, besides refusing on any account to accept of garrisons, and having many reasons to allege on such subjects." the discussions, therefore, after the deputies had at last arrived, though courteously conducted, could scarcely be satisfactory to both parties. "the articles were thoroughly deliberated upon," wrote alexander, "by all the deputies, nor did i fail to have private conferences with aldegonde, that most skilful and practised lawyer and politician, as well as with two or three of the others. i did all in my power to bring them to a thorough recognition of their errors, and to produce a confidence in his majesty's clemency, in order that they might concede what was needful for the interests of the catholic religion and the security of the city. they heard all i had to say without exasperating themselves, and without interposing any strong objections, except in the matter of religion, and, still more, in the matter of the citadel and the garrison. aldegonde took much pains to persuade me that it would be ruinous for a great, opulent, commercial city to submit to a foreign military force. even if compelled by necessity to submit now, the inhabitants would soon be compelled by the same necessity to abandon the place entirely, and to leave in ruins one of the most splendid and powerful cities in the world, and in this opinion catholics and heretics unanimously concurred. the deputies protested, with one accord, that so pernicious and abominable a thing as a citadel and garrison could not even be proposed to their constituents. i answered, that, so long as the rebellion of holland and zeeland lasted, it would be necessary for your majesty to make sure of antwerp, by one or the other of those means, but promised that the city should be relieved of the incumbrance so soon as those islands should be reduced. "sainte aldegonde was not discouraged by this statement, but in the hope of convincing others, or with the wish of showing that he had tried his best, desired that i would hear him before the council of state. i granted the request, and sainte aldegonde then made another long and very elegant oration, intended to divert me from my resolution." it must be confessed--if the reports, which have come down to us of that long and elegant oration be correct--that the enthusiasm of the burgomaster for alexander was rapidly degenerating into idolatry. "we are not here, o invincible prince," he said, "that we may excuse, by an anxious legation, the long defence which we have made of our homes. who could have feared any danger to the most powerful city in the netherlands from so moderate a besieging force? you would yourself have rather wished for, than approved of, a greater facility on our part, for the brave cannot love the timid. we knew the number of your troops, we had discovered the famine in your camp, we were aware of the paucity of your ships, we had heard of the quarrels in your army, we were expecting daily to hear of a general mutiny among your soldiers. were we to believe that with ten or eleven thousand men you would be able to block up the city by land and water, to reduce the open country of brabant, to cut off all aid as well from the neighbouring towns as from the powerful provinces of holland and zeeland, to oppose, without a navy, the whole strength of our fleets, directed against the dyke? truly, if you had been at the head of fifty thousand soldiers, and every soldier had possessed one hundred hands, it would have seemed impossible for you to meet so many emergencies in so many places, and under so many distractions. what you have done we now believe possible to do, only because we see that it has been done. you have subjugated the scheldt, and forced it to bear its bridge, notwithstanding the strength of its current, the fury of the ocean-tides, the tremendous power of the icebergs, the perpetual conflicts with our fleets. we destroyed your bridge, with great slaughter of your troops. rendered more courageous by that slaughter, you restored that mighty work. we assaulted the great dyke, pierced it through and through, and opened a path for our ships. you drove us off when victors, repaired the ruined bulwark, and again closed to us the avenue of relief. what machine was there that we did not employ? what miracles of fire did we not invent? what fleets and floating cidadels did we not put in motion? all that genius, audacity, and art, could teach us we have executed, calling to our assistance water, earth, heaven, and hell itself. yet with all these efforts, with all this enginry, we have not only failed to drive you from our walls, but we have seen you gaining victories over other cities at the same time. you have done a thing, o prince, than which there is nothing greater either in ancient or modern story. it has often occurred, while a general was besieging one city that he lost another situate farther off. but you, while besieging antwerp, have reduced simultaneously dendermonde, ghent, nymegen, brussels, and mechlin." all this, and much more, with florid rhetoric, the burgomaster pronounced in honour of farnese, and the eulogy was entirely deserved. it was hardly becoming, however, for such lips, at such a moment, to sound the praise of him whose victory had just decided the downfall of religious liberty, and of the national independence of the netherlands. his colleagues certainly must have winced, as they listened to commendations so lavishly bestowed upon the representative of philip, and it is not surprising that sainte aldegonde's growing unpopularity should, from that hour, have rapidly increased. to abandon the whole object of the siege, when resistance seemed hopeless, was perhaps pardonable, but to offer such lip-homage to the conqueror was surely transgressing the bounds of decorum. his conclusion, too, might to alexander seem as insolent as the whole tenor of his address had been humble; for, after pronouncing this solemn eulogy upon the conqueror, he calmly proposed that the prize of the contest should be transferred to the conquered. "so long as liberty of religion, and immunity from citadel and garrison can be relied upon," he said, "so long will antwerp remain the most splendid and flourishing city in christendom; but desolation will ensue if the contrary policy is to prevail." but it was very certain that liberty of religion, as well as immunity from citadel and garrison, were quite out of the question. philip and parma had long been inexorably resolved upon all the three points. "after the burgomaster had finished his oration," wrote alexander to his sovereign, "i discussed the matter with him in private, very distinctly and minutely." the religious point was soon given up, sainte aldegonde finding it waste of breath to say anything more about freedom of conscience. a suggestion was however made on the subject of the garrison, which the prince accepted, because it contained a condition which it would be easy to evade. "aldegonde proposed," said parma, "that a garrison might be admissible if i made my entrance into the city merely with infantry and cavalry of nations which were acceptable--walloons, namely, and germans--and in no greater numbers than sufficient for a body-guard. i accepted, because, in substance, this would amount to a garrison, and because, also, after the magistrates shall have been changed, i shall have no difficulty in making myself master of the people, continuing the garrison, and rebuilding the citadel." the prince proceeded to give his reasons why he was willing to accept the capitulation on what he considered so favourable terms to the besieged. autumn was approaching. already the fury of the storms had driven vessels clean over the dykes; the rebels in holland and zeeland were preparing their fleets--augmented by many new ships of war and fire-machines--for another desperate attack upon the palisades, in which there was great possibility of their succeeding; an auxiliary force from england was soon expected; so that, in view of all these circumstances, he had resolved to throw himself at his majesty's feet and implore his clemency. "if this people of antwerp, as the head, is gained," said he, "there will be tranquillity in all the members." these reasons were certainly conclusive; nor is it easy to believe, that, under the circumstances thus succinctly stated by alexander, it would have been impossible for the patriots to hold out until the promised succour from holland and from england should arrive. in point of fact, the bridge could not have stood the winter which actually ensued; for it was the repeatedly expressed opinion of the spanish officers in antwerp, that the icebergs which then filled the scheldt must inevitably have shattered twenty bridges to fragments, had there been so many. it certainly was superfluous for the prince to make excuses to philip for accepting the proposed capitulation. all the prizes of victory had been thoroughly secured, unless pillage, massacre, and rape, which had been the regular accompaniments of alva's victories, were to be reckoned among the indispensable trophies of a spanish triumph. nevertheless, the dearth in the city had been well concealed from the enemy; for, three days after the surrender, not a loaf of bread was to be had for any money in all antwerp, and alexander declared that he would never have granted such easy conditions had he been aware of the real condition of affairs. the articles of capitulation agreed upon between parma and the deputies were brought before the broad council on the th august. there was much opposition to them, as many magistrates and other influential personages entertained sanguine expectations from the english negotiation, and were beginning to rely with confidence upon the promises of queen elizabeth. the debate was waxing warm, when some of the councillors, looking out of window of the great hall, perceived that a violent mob had collected in the streets. furious cries for bread were uttered, and some meagre-looking individuals were thrust forward to indicate the famine which was prevailing, and the necessity of concluding the treaty without further delay. thus the municipal government was perpetually exposed to democratic violence, excited by diametrically opposite influences. sometimes the burgomaster was denounced for having sold himself and his country to the spaniards, and was assailed with execrations for being willing to conclude a sudden and disgraceful peace. at other moments he was accused of forging letters containing promises of succour from the queen of england and from the authorities of holland, in order to protract the lingering tortures of the war. upon this occasion the peace-mob carried its point. the councillors, looking out of window, rushed into the hall with direful accounts of the popular ferocity; the magistrates and colonels who had been warmest in opposition suddenly changed their tone, and the whole body of the broad council accepted the articles of capitulation by a unanimous vote. the window was instantly thrown open, and the decision publicly announced. the populace, wild with delight, rushed through the streets, tearing down the arms of the duke of anjou, which had remained above the public edifices since the period of that personage's temporary residence in the netherlands, and substituting, with wonderful celerity, the escutcheon of philip the second. thus suddenly could an antwerp mob pass from democratic insolence to intense loyalty. the articles, on the whole, were as liberal as could have been expected. the only hope for antwerp and for a great commonwealth of all the netherlands was in holding out, even to the last gasp, until england and holland, now united, had time to relieve the city. this was, unquestionably, possible. had antwerp possessed the spirit of leyden, had william of orange been alive, that spanish escutcheon, now raised with such indecent haste, might have never been seen again on the outside wall of any netherland edifice. belgium would have become at once a constituent portion of a great independent national realm, instead of languishing until our own century, the dependency of a distant and a foreign metropolis. nevertheless, as the antwerpers were not disposed to make themselves martyrs, it was something that they escaped the nameless horrors which had often alighted upon cities subjected to an enraged soldiery. it redounds to the eternal honour of alexander farnese--when the fate of naarden and haarlem and maestricht, in the days of alva, and of antwerp itself in the horrible "spanish fury," is remembered--that there were no scenes of violence and outrage in the populous and wealthy city, which was at length at his mercy after having defied him so long. civil and religious liberty were trampled in the dust, commerce and manufactures were destroyed, the most valuable portion of the citizens sent into hopeless exile, but the remaining inhabitants were not butchered in cold blood. the treaty was signed on the th august. antwerp was to return to its obedience. there was to be an entire amnesty and oblivion for the past, without a single exception. royalist absentees were to be reinstated in their possessions. monasteries, churches, and the king's domains were to be restored to their former proprietors. the inhabitants of the city were to practise nothing but the catholic religion. those who refused to conform were allowed to remain two years for the purpose of winding up their affairs and selling out their property, provided that during that period they lived "without scandal towards the ancient religion"--a very vague and unsatisfactory condition. all prisoners were to be released excepting teligny. four hundred thousand florins were to be paid by the authorities as a fine. the patriot garrison was to leave the city with arms and baggage and all the honours of war. this capitulation gave more satisfaction to the hungry portion of the antwerpers than to the patriot party of the netherlands. sainte aldegonde was vehemently and unsparingly denounced as a venal traitor. it is certain, whatever his motives, that his attitude had completely changed. for it was not antwerp alone that he had reconciled or was endeavouring to reconcile with the king of spain, but holland and zeeland as well, and all the other independent provinces. the ancient champion of the patriot army, the earliest signer of the 'compromise,' the bosom friend of william the silent, the author of the 'wilhelmus' national song, now avowed his conviction, in a published defence of his conduct against the calumnious attacks upon it, "that it was impossible, with a clear conscience, for subjects, under any circumstances, to take up arms against philip, their king." certainly if he had always entertained that opinion he must have suffered many pangs of remorse during his twenty years of active and illustrious rebellion. he now made himself secretly active in promoting the schemes of parma and in counteracting the negotiation with england. he flattered himself, with an infatuation which it is difficult to comprehend, that it would be possible to obtain religious liberty for the revolting provinces, although he had consented to its sacrifice in antwerp. it is true that he had not the privilege of reading philip's secret letters to parma, but what was there in the character of the king--what intimation had ever been given by the governor-general--to induce a belief in even the possibility of such a concession? whatever sainte aldegonde's opinions, it is certain that philip had no intention of changing his own policy. he at first suspected the burgomaster of a wish to protract the negotiations for a perfidious purpose. "necessity has forced antwerp," he wrote on the th of august--the very day on which the capitulation was actually signed--"to enter into negotiation. i understand the artifice of aldegonde in seeking to prolong and make difficult the whole affair, under pretext of treating for the reduction of holland and zeeland at the same time. it was therefore very adroit in you to defeat this joint scheme at once, and urge the antwerp matter by itself, at the same time not shutting the door on the others. with the prudence and dexterity with which this business has thus far been managed i am thoroughly satisfied." the king also expressed his gratification at hearing from parma that the demand for religious liberty in the netherlands would soon be abandoned. "in spite of the vehemence," he said, "which they manifest in the religious matter, desiring some kind of liberty, they will in the end, as you say they will, content themselves with what the other cities, which have returned to obedience, have obtained. this must be done in all cases without flinching, and without permitting any modification." what "had been obtained" by brussels, mechlin, ghent, was well known. the heretics had obtained the choice of renouncing their religion or of going into perpetual exile, and this was to be the case "without flinching" in holland and zeeland, if those provinces chose to return to obedience. yet sainte aldegonde deluded himself with the thought of a religious peace. in another and very important letter of the same date philip laid down his policy very distinctly. the prince of parma, by no means such a bigot as his master, had hinted at the possibility of tolerating the reformed religion in the places recovered from the rebels, sub silentio, for a period not defined, and long enough for the heretics to awake from their errors. "you have got an expression of opinion, i see," wrote the king to alexander, "of some grave men of wisdom and conscience, that the limitation of time, during which the heretics may live without scandal, may be left undefined; but i feel very keenly the danger of such a proposition. with regard to holland and zeeland, or any other provinces or towns, the first step must be for them to receive and maintain alone the exercise of the catholic religion, and to subject themselves to the roman church, without tolerating the exercise of any other religion, in city, village, farm-house, or building thereto destined in the fields, or in any place whatsoever; and in this regulation there is to be no flaw, no change, no concession by convention or otherwise of a religious peace, or anything of the sort. they are all to embrace the roman catholic religion, and the exercise of that is alone to be permitted." this certainly was distinct enough, and nothing had been ever said in public to induce a belief in any modification of the principles on which philip had uniformly acted. that monarch considered himself born to suppress heresy, and he had certainly been carrying out this work during his whole lifetime. the king was willing, however, as alexander had intimated in his negotiations with antwerp, and previously in the capitulation of brussels, ghent, and other places, that there should be an absence of investigation into the private chambers of the heretics, during the period allotted them for choosing between the papacy and exile. "it may be permitted," said philip, "to abstain from inquiring as to what the heretics are doing within their own doors, in a private way, without scandal, or any public exhibition of their rites during a fixed time. but this connivance, and the abstaining from executing the heretics, or from chastising them, even although they may be living very circumspectly, is to be expressed in very vague terms." being most anxious to provide against a second crop of heretics to succeed the first, which he was determined to uproot, he took pains to enjoin with his own hand upon parma the necessity of putting in catholic schoolmasters and mistresses to the exclusion of reformed teachers into all the seminaries of the recovered provinces, in order that all the boys and girls might grow up in thorough orthodoxy. yet this was the man from whom sainte aldegonde imagined the possibility of obtaining a religious peace. ten days after the capitulation, parma made his triumphal entrance into antwerp; but, according to his agreement, he spared the citizens the presence of the spanish and italian soldiers, the military procession being composed of the germans and walloons. escorted by his body-guard, and surrounded by a knot of magnates and veterans, among whom the duke of arschot, the prince of chimay, the counts mansfeld, egmont, and aremberg, were conspicuous, alexander proceeded towards the captured city. he was met at the keyser gate by a triumphal chariot of gorgeous workmanship, in which sat the fair nymph antwerpia, magnificently bedizened, and accompanied by a group of beautiful maidens. antwerpia welcomed the conqueror with a kiss, recited a poem in his honour, and bestowed upon him the keys of the city, one of which was in gold. this the prince immediately fastened to the chain around his neck, from which was suspended the lamb of the golden fleece, with which order he had just been, amid great pomp and ceremony, invested. on the public square called the mere, the genoese merchants had erected two rostral columns, each surmounted by a colossal image, representing respectively alexander of macedon and alexander of parma. before the house of portugal was an enormous phoenix, expanding her wings quite across the street; while, in other parts of the town, the procession was met by ships of war, elephants, dromedaries, whales, dragons, and other triumphal phenomena. in the market-place were seven statues in copper, personifying the seven planets, together with an eighth representing bacchus; and perhaps there were good mythological reasons why the god of wine, together with so large a portion of our solar system, should be done in copper by jacob jongeling, to honour the triumph of alexander, although the key to the enigma has been lost. the cathedral had been thoroughly fumigated with frankincense, and besprinkled with holy water, to purify the sacred precincts from their recent pollution by the reformed rites; and the protestant pulpits which had been placed there, had been soundly beaten with rods, and then burned to ashes. the procession entered within its walls, where a magnificent te deum was performed, and then, after much cannon-firing, bell-ringing, torch-light exhibition, and other pyrotechnics, the prince made his way at last to the palace provided for him. the glittering display, by which the royalists celebrated their triumph, lasted three days' long, the city being thronged from all the country round with eager and frivolous spectators, who were never wearied with examining the wonders of the bridge and the forts, and with gazing at the tragic memorials which still remained of the fight on the kowenstyn. during this interval, the spanish and italian soldiery, not willing to be outdone in demonstrations of respect to their chief, nor defrauded of their rightful claim to a holiday amused themselves with preparing a demonstration of a novel character. the bridge, which, as it was well known, was to be destroyed within a very few days, was adorned with triumphal arches, and decked with trees and flowering plants; its roadway was strewed with branches; and the palisades, parapets, and forts, were garnished with wreaths, emblems, and poetical inscriptions in honour of the prince. the soldiers themselves, attired in verdurous garments of foliage and flower-work, their swart faces adorned with roses and lilies, paraded the bridge and the dyke in fantastic procession with clash of cymbal and flourish of trumpet, dancing, singing, and discharging their carbines, in all the delirium of triumph. nor was a suitable termination to the festival wanting, for alexander, pleased with the genial character of these demonstrations, repaired himself to the bridge, where he was received with shouts of rapture by his army, thus whimsically converted into a horde of fauns and satyrs. afterwards, a magnificent banquet was served to the soldiers upon the bridge. the whole extent of its surface, from the flemish to the brabant shore--the scene so lately of deadly combat, and of the midnight havoc caused by infernal enginery--was changed, as if by the stroke of a wand, into a picture of sylvan and arcadian merry-making, and spread with tables laden with delicate viands. here sat that host of war--bronzed figures, banqueting at their ease, their heads crowned with flowers, while the highest magnates of the army, humouring them in their masquerade, served them with dainties, and filled their goblets with wine. after these festivities had been concluded, parma set himself to practical business. there had been a great opposition, during the discussion of the articles of capitulation to the reconstruction of the famous citadel. that fortress had been always considered, not as a defence of the place against a foreign enemy, but as an instrument to curb the burghers themselves beneath a hostile power. the city magistrates, however, as well as the dean and chief officers in all the guilds and fraternities, were at once changed by parma--catholics being uniformly substituted for heretics. in consequence, it was not difficult to bring about a change of opinion in the broad council. it is true that neither papists nor calvinists regarded with much satisfaction the prospect of military violence being substituted for civic rule, but in the first effusion of loyalty, and in the triumph of the ancient religion, they forgot the absolute ruin to which their own action was now condemning their city. champagny, who had once covered himself with glory by his heroic though unsuccessful efforts to save antwerp from the dreadful "spanish fury" which had descended from that very citadel, was now appointed governor of the town, and devoted himself to the reconstruction of the hated fortress. "champagny has particularly aided me," wrote parma, "with his rhetoric and clever management, and has brought the broad council itself to propose that the citadel should be rebuilt. it will therefore be done, as by the burghers themselves, without your majesty or myself appearing to desire it." this was, in truth, a triumph of "rhetoric and clever management," nor could a city well abase itself more completely, kneeling thus cheerfully at its conqueror's feet, and requesting permission to put the yoke upon its own neck. "the erection of the castle has thus been determined upon," said parma, "and i am supposed to know nothing of the resolution." a little later he observed that they, were "working away most furiously at the citadel, and that within a month it would be stronger than it ever had been before." the building went on, indeed, with astonishing celerity, the fortress rising out of its ruins almost as rapidly, under the hands of the royalists, as it had been demolished, but a few years before, by the patriots. the old foundations still remained, and blocks of houses, which had been constructed out of its ruins, were thrown down that the materials might be again employed in its restoration. the citizens, impoverished and wretched, humbly demanded that the expense of building the citadel might be in part defrayed by the four hundred thousand florins in which they had been mulcted by the capitulation. "i don't marvel at this," said parma, "for certainly the poor city is most forlorn and poverty-stricken, the heretics having all left it." it was not long before it was very satisfactorily established, that the presence of those same heretics and liberty of conscience for all men, were indispensable conditions for the prosperity of the great capital. its downfall was instantaneous. the merchants and industrious artisans all wandered away from the place which had been the seat of a world-wide traffic. civilisation and commerce departed, and in their stead were the citadel and the jesuits. by express command of philip, that order, banished so recently, was reinstated in antwerp, as well as throughout the obedient provinces; and all the schools and colleges were placed under its especial care. no children could be thenceforth instructed except by the lips of those fathers. here was a curb more efficacious even than the citadel. that fortress was at first garrisoned with walloons and germans. "i have not yet induced the citizens," said parma, "to accept a spanish garrison, nor am i surprised; so many of them remembering past events (alluding to the 'spanish fury,' but not mentioning it by name), and observing the frequent mutinies at the present time. before long, i expect, however, to make the spaniards as acceptable and agreeable as the inhabitants of the country themselves." it may easily be supposed that philip was pleased with the triumphs that had thus been achieved. he was even grateful, or affected to be grateful, to him who had achieved them. he awarded great praise to alexander for his exertions, on the memorable occasions of the attack upon the bridge, and the battle of the kowenstyn; but censured him affectionately for so rashly exposing his life. "i have no words," he said, "to render the thanks which are merited for all that you have been doing. i recommend you earnestly however to have a care for the security of your person, for that is of more consequence than all the rest." after the news of the reduction of the city, he again expressed gratification, but in rather cold language. "from such obstinate people," said he, "not more could be extracted than has been extracted; therefore the capitulation is satisfactory." what more he wished to extract it would be difficult to say, for certainly the marrow had been extracted from the bones, and the dead city was thenceforth left to moulder under the blight of a foreign garrison and an army of jesuits. "perhaps religious affairs will improve before long," said philip. they did improve very soon, as he understood the meaning of improvement. a solitude of religion soon brought with it a solitude in every other regard, and antwerp became a desert, as sainte aldegonde had foretold would be the case. the king had been by no means so calm, however, when the intelligence of the capitulation first reached him at madrid. on the contrary, his oldest courtiers had never seen him exhibit such marks of hilarity. when he first heard of the glorious victory at lepanto, his countenance had remained impassive, and he had continued in the chapel at the devotional exercises which the messenger from don john had interrupted. only when the news of the massacre of st. bartholomew first reached him, had he displayed an amount of cheerfulness equal to that which he manifested at the fall of antwerp. "never," said granvelle, "had the king been so radiant with joy as when he held in his hand the despatches which announced the capitulation." the letters were brought to him after he had retired to rest, but his delight was so great that he could not remain in his bed. rushing from his chamber, so soon as he had read them, to that of his dearly-beloved daughter, clara isabella, he knocked loudly at the door, and screaming through the keyhole the three words, "antwerp is ours," returned precipitately again to his own apartment. it was the general opinion in spain, that the capture of this city had terminated the resistance of the netherlands. holland and zeeland would, it was thought, accept with very little hesitation the terms which parma had been offering, through the agency of sainte aldegonde; and, with the reduction of those two provinces, the spanish dominion over the whole country would of course become absolute. secretary idiaquez observed, on drawing up instructions for carlo coloma, a spanish financier then departing on special mission for the provinces, that he would soon come back to spain, for the prince of parma was just putting an end to the whole belgic war. time was to show whether holland and zeeland were as malleable as antwerp, and whether there would not be a battle or two more to fight before that belgic war would come to its end. meantime antwerp was securely fettered, while the spirit of commerce--to which its unexampled prosperity had been due--now took its flight to the lands where civil and religious liberty had found a home. ===================================== note on marnix de sainte aldegonde. as every illustration of the career and character of this eminent personage excites constant interest in the netherlands, i have here thrown together, in the form of an appendix, many important and entirely unpublished details, drawn mainly from the archives of simancas, and from the state paper office and british museum in london. the ex-burgomaster seemed determined to counteract the policy of those netherlanders who wished to offer the sovereignty of the provinces to the english queen. he had been earnestly in favour of annexation to france, for his sympathies and feelings were eminently french. he had never been a friend to england, and he was soon aware that a strong feeling of indignation--whether just or unjust--existed against him both in that country and in the netherlands, on account of the surrender of antwerp. "i have had large conference with villiers," wrote sir john norris to walsingham, "he condemneth ste. aldegonde's doings, but will impute it to fear and not to malice. ste. aldegonde, notwithstanding that he was forbidden to come to holland, and laid for at the fleet, yet stole secretly to dort, where they say he is staid, but i doubt he will be heard speak, and then assuredly he will do great hurt." it was most certainly sainte aldegonde's determination, so soon as the capitulation of antwerp had been resolved upon, to do his utmost to restore all the independent provinces to their ancient allegiance. rather spanish than english was his settled resolution. liberty of religion, if possible--that was his cherished wish--but still more ardently, perhaps, did he desire to prevent the country from falling into the hands of elizabeth. "the prince of parma hath conceived such an assured hope of the fidelity of aldegonde," wrote one of walsingham's agents, richard tomson, "in reducing the provinces, yet enemies, into a perfect subjection, that the spaniards are so well persuaded of the man as if he had never been against them. they say, about the middle of this month, he departed for zeeland and holland, to prosecute the effect of his promises, and i am the more induced to believe that he is become altogether spanish, for that the common bruit goeth that he hastened the surrendering of the town of antwerp, after he had intelligence of the coming of the english succours." there was naturally much indignation felt in the independent provinces, against all who had been thought instrumental in bringing about the reduction of the great cities of flanders. famars, governor of mechlin, van den tympel, governor of brussels, martini, who had been active in effecting the capitulation of antwerp, were all arrested in holland. "from all that i can hear," said parma, "it is likely that they will be very severely handled, which is the reason why ste. aldegonde, although he sent his wife and children to holland, has not ventured thither himself: it appears that they threaten him there, but he means now to go, under pretext of demanding to justify himself from the imputations against him. although he tells me freely that, without some amplification of the concessions hitherto made on the point of religion, he hopes for no good result, yet i trust that he will do good offices in the meantime, in spite of the difficulties which obstruct his efforts. on my part, every exertion will be made, and not without hope of some fruit, if not before, at least after, these people have become as tired of the english as they were of the french." of this mutual ill-feeling between the english and the burgomaster, there can be no doubt whatever. the queen's government was fully aware of his efforts to counteract its negotiation with the netherlands, and to bring about their reconciliation with spain. when the earl of leicester--as will soon be related--arrived in the provinces, he was not long in comprehending his attitude and his influence. "i wrote somewhat of sir aldegonde in putting his case," wrote leicester, "but this is certain, i have the copy of his very letters sent hither to practise the peace not two days before i came, and this day one hath told me that loves him well, that he hates our countrymen unrecoverably. i am sorry for it." on the other hand, the queen was very indignant with the man whom she looked upon as the paid agent of spain. she considered him a renegade, the more dangerous because his previous services had been so illustrious. "her majesty's mislike towards ste. aldegonde continueth," wrote walsingham to leicester, "and she taketh offence that he was not restrained of his liberty by your lordship's order." it is unquestionable that the exburgomaster intended to do his best towards effecting the reconciliation of all the provinces with spain; and it is equally certain that the king had offered to pay him well, if he proved successful in his endeavours. there is no proof, however, and no probability that sainte aldegonde ever accepted or ever intended to accept the proffered bribe. on the contrary, his whole recorded career ought to disprove the supposition. yet it is painful, to find him, at this crisis, assiduous in his attempts to undo the great work of his own life, and still more distressing to find that great rewards were distinctly offered to him for such service. immense promises had been frequently made no doubt to william the silent; nor could any public man, in such times, be so pure that an attempt to tamper with him might not be made: but when the personage, thus solicited, was evidently acting in the interests of the tempters, it is not surprising that he should become the object of grave suspicion. "it does not seem to me bad," wrote philip to parma, "this negotiation which you have commenced with ste. aldegonde, in order to gain him, and thus to employ his services in bringing about a reduction of the islands (holland and zeeland). in exchange for this work, any thing which you think proper to offer to him as a reward, will be capital well invested; but it must not be given until the job is done." but the job was hard to do, and sainte aldegonde cared nothing for the offered bribe. he was, however, most strangely confident of being able to overcome, on the one hand, the opposition of holland and zeeland to the hated authority of spain, and, on the other, the intense abhorrence entertained by philip to liberty of conscience. soon after the capitulation, he applied for a passport to visit those two provinces. permission to come was refused him. honest men from antwerp, he was informed, would be always welcome, but there was no room for him. there was, however--or parma persuaded himself that there was--a considerable party in those countries in favour of reconciliation with spain. if the ex-burgomaster could gain a hearing, it was thought probable that his eloquence would prove very effective. "we have been making efforts to bring about negotiations with holland and zeeland," wrote alexander to philip. "gelderland and overyssel likewise show signs of good disposition, but i have not soldiers enough to animate the good and terrify the bad. as for holland and zeeland, there is a strong inclination on the part of the people to a reconciliation, if some concession could be made on the religious question, but the governors oppose it, because they are perverse, and are relying on assistance from england. could this religious concession be made, an arrangement could, without doubt, be accomplished, and more quickly than people think. nevertheless, in such a delicate matter, i am obliged to await your majesty's exact instructions and ultimatum." he then proceeded to define exactly the position and intentions of the burgomaster. "the government of holland and zeeland," he said, "have refused a passport to ste. aldegonde, and express dissatisfaction with him for having surrendered antwerp so soon. they know that he has much credit with the people and with the ministers of the sects, and they are in much fear of him because he is inclined for peace, which is against their interests. they are, therefore, endeavouring to counteract my negotiations with him. these have been, thus far, only in general terms. i have sought to induce him to perform the offices required, without giving him reason to expect any concession as to the exercise of religion. he persuades himself that, in the end, there will be some satisfaction obtained upon this point, and, under this impression he considers the peace as good as concluded, there remaining no doubt as to other matters. he has sent his wife to zeeland, and is himself going to germany, where, as he says, he will do all the good service that he can. he hopes that very shortly the provinces will not only invite, but implore him to come to them; in which case, he promises me to perform miracles." alexander then proceeded to pay a distinct tribute to sainte aldegonde's motives; and, when it is remembered that the statement thus made is contained in a secret despatch, in cipher, to the king, it may be assumed to convey the sincere opinion of the man most qualified to judge correctly as to this calumniated person's character. "ste. aldegonde offers me wonders," he said, "and i have promised him that he shall be recompensed very largely; yet, although he is poor, i do not find him influenced by mercenary or selfish considerations, but only very set in opinions regarding his religion." the prince had however no doubt of sainte aldegonde's sincerity, for sincerity was a leading characteristic of the man. his word, once given, was sacred, and he had given his word to do his best towards effecting a reconciliation of the provinces with spain, and frustrating the efforts of england. "through the agency of ste. aldegonde and that of others" wrote parma, "i shall watch, day and night, to bring about a reduction of holland and zeeland, if humanly possible. i am quite persuaded that they will soon be sick of the english, who are now arriving, broken down, without arms or money, and obviously incapable of holding out very long. doubtless, however, this english alliance, and the determination of the queen to do her utmost against us, complicates matters, and assists the government of holland and zeeland in opposing the inclinations of their people." nothing ever came of these intended negotiations. the miracles were never wrought, and even had sainte aldegonde been as venal as he was suspected of being--which we have thus proof positive that he was not--he never could have obtained the recompense, which, according to philip's thrifty policy, was not to be paid until it had been earned. sainte aldegonde's hands were clean. it is pity that we cannot render the same tribute to his political consistency of character. it is also certain that he remained--not without reason--for a long time under a cloud. he became the object of unbounded and reckless calumny. antwerp had fallen, and the necessary consequence of its reduction was the complete and permanent prostration of its commerce and manufactures. these were transferred to the new, free, national, independent, and prosperous commonwealth that had risen in the "islands" which parma and sainte aldegonde had vainly hoped to restore to their ancient servitude. in a very few years after the subjugation of antwerp, it appeared by statistical documents that nearly all the manufactures of linen, coarse and fine cloths, serges, fustians, tapestry, gold-embroidery, arms-work, silks, and velvets, had been transplanted to the towns of holland and zeeland, which were flourishing and thriving, while the flemish and brabantine cities had become mere dens of thieves and beggars. it was in the mistaken hope of averting this catastrophe--as melancholy as it was inevitable and in despair of seeing all the netherlands united, unless united in slavery, and in deep-rooted distrust of the designs and policy of england, that this statesman, once so distinguished, had listened to the insidious tongue of parma. he had sought to effect a general reconciliation with spain, and the only result of his efforts was a blight upon his own illustrious name. he published a defence of his conduct, and a detailed account of the famous siege. his apology, at the time, was not considered conclusive, but his narrative remains one of the clearest and most trustworthy sources for the history of these important transactions. he was never brought to trial, but he discovered, with bitterness, that he had committed a fatal error, and that his political influence had passed away. he addressed numerous private epistles to eminent persons, indignantly denying the imputations against his character, and demanding an investigation. among other letters he observed in one to count hohenlo, that he was astonished and grieved to find that all his faithful labours and sufferings in the cause of his fatherland had been forgotten in an hour. in place of praise and gratitude, he had reaped nothing but censure and calumny; because men ever judged, not by the merits, but by the issue. that common people should be so unjust, he said, was not to be wondered at, but of men like hohenlo be had hoped better things. he asserted that he had saved antwerp from another "spanish fury," and from impending destruction--a city in which there was not a single regular soldier, and in which his personal authority was so slight that he was unable to count the number of his masters. if a man had ever performed a service to his country, he claimed to have done so in this capitulation. nevertheless, he declared that he was the same philip marnix, earnestly devoted to the service of god, the true religion, and the fatherland; although he avowed himself weary of the war, and of this perpetual offering of the netherland sovereignty to foreign potentates. he was now going, he said, to his estates in zeeland; there to turn farmer again; renouncing public affairs, in the administration of which he had experienced so much ingratitude from his countrymen. count maurice and the states of holland and zeeland wrote to him, however, in very plain language, describing the public indignation as so strong as to make it unsafe for him to visit the country. the netherlands and england--so soon as they were united in policy--were, not without reason, indignant with the man who had made such strenuous efforts to prevent that union. the english were, in truth, deeply offended. he had systematically opposed their schemes, and to his prejudice against their country, and distrust of their intentions, they attributed the fall of antwerp. envoy davison, after his return to holland, on the conclusion of the english treaty, at once expressed his suspicions of the ex-burgomaster, and the great dangers to be apprehended from his presence in the free states. "here is some working underhand," said he to walsingham, "to draw hither sainte aldegonde, under a pretext of his justification, which--as it has hitherto been denied him--so is the sequel suspected, if he should obtain it before they were well settled here, betwixt her majesty and them, considering the manifold presumptions that the subject of his journey should be little profitable or advantageous to the state of these poor countries, as tending, at the best, to the propounding of some general reconcilement." it was certainly not without substantial grounds that the english and hollanders, after concluding their articles of alliance, felt uneasy at the possibility of finding their plans reversed by the intrigues of a man whom they knew to be a mediator between spain and her revolted provinces, and whom they suspected of being a venal agent of the catholic king. it was given out that philip had been induced to promise liberty of religion, in case of reconciliation. we have seen that parma was at heart in favour of such a course, and that he was very desirous of inducing marnix to believe in the possibility of obtaining such a boon, however certain the prince had been made by the king's secret letters, that such a belief was a delusion. "martini hath been examined," wrote davison, "who confesseth both for himself and others, to become hither by direction of the prince of parma and intelligence of sainte aldegonde, from whom he was first addressed by villiers and afterwards to others for advice and assistance. that the scope of this direction was to induce them here to hearken to a peace, wherein the prince of parma promiseth them toleration of religion, although he confesseth yet to have no absolute power in that behalf, but hath written thereof to the king expressly, and holdeth himself assured thereof by the first post, as i have likewise been advertised from rowland york, which if it had been propounded openly here before things had been concluded with her majesty, and order taken for her assurance, your honour can judge what confusion it must of necessity have brought forth." at last, when marnix had become convinced that the toleration would not arrive "by the very next mail from spain," and that, in truth, such a blessing was not to be expected through the post-office at all, he felt an inward consciousness of the mistake which he had committed. too credulously had he inclined his ear to the voice of parma; too obstinately had he steeled his heart against elizabeth, and he was now the more anxious to clear himself at least from the charges of corruption so clamorously made against him by holland and by england. conscious of no fault more censurable than credulity and prejudice, feeling that his long fidelity to the reformed religion ought to be a defence for him against his calumniators, he was desirous both to clear his own honour, and to do at least a tardy justice to england. he felt confident that loyal natures, like those of davison and his colleagues at home, would recognize his own loyalty. he trusted, not without cause, to english honour, and coming to his manor-house of zoubourg, near flushing, he addressed a letter to the ambassador of elizabeth, in which the strong desire to vindicate his aspersed integrity is quite manifest. "i am very joyous," said he, "that coming hither in order to justify myself against the false and malignant imputations with which they charge me, i have learned your arrival here on the part of her majesty, as well as the soon expected coming of the earl of leicester. i see, in truth, that the lord god is just, and never abandons his own. i have never spared myself in the service of my country, and i would have sacrificed my life, a thousand times, had it been possible, in her cause. now, i am receiving for all this a guerdon of blame and calumny, which is cast upon me in order to cover up faults which have been committed by others in past days. i hope, however, to come soon to give you welcome, and to speak more particularly to you of all these things. meantime demanding my justification before these gentlemen, who ought to have known me better than to have added faith to such villanous imputations, i will entreat you that my definite justification, or condemnation, if i have merited it, may be reserved till the arrival of lord leicester." this certainly was not the language of a culprit, nevertheless, his words did not immediately make a deep impression on the hearts of those who heard him. he had come secretly to his house at zoubourg, having previously published his memorable apology; and in accordance with the wishes of the english government, he was immediately confined to his own house. confidence in the intention of a statesman, who had at least committed such grave errors of judgment, and who had been so deeply suspected of darker faults, was not likely very soon to revive. so far from shrinking from an investigation which would have been dangerous, even to his life, had the charges against his honour been founded in fact, he boldly demanded to be confronted with his accusers, in order that he might explain his conduct before all the world. "sir, yesternight, at the shutting of the gates," wrote davison to walsingham, transmitting the little note from marnix, which has just been cited--"i was advertised that ste. aldegonde was not an hour before secretly landed at the head on the other side the rammekens, and come to his house at zoubourg, having prepared his way by an apology, newly published in his defence, whereof i have as yet recovered one only copy, which herewith i send your honour. this day, whilst i was at dinner, he sent his son unto me, with a few lines, whereof i send you the copy, advertising me of his arrival (which he knew i understood before), together with the desire he had to see me, and speak with me, if the states, before whom he was to come to purge himself of the crimes wherewith he stood, as he with, unjustly charged, would vouchsafe him so much liberty. the same morning, the council of zeeland, taking knowledge of his arrival, sent unto him the pensioner of middelburgh and this town, to sound the causes of his coming, and to will him, in their behalf, to keep his house, and to forbear all meddling by word or writing, with any whatsoever, till they should further advise and determine in his cause. in defence thereof, he fell into large and particular discourse with the deputies, accusing his enemies of malice and untruth, offering himself to any trial, and to abide what punishment the laws should lay upon him, if he were found guilty of the crimes imputed to him. touching the cause of his coming, he pretended and protested that he had no other end than his simple justification, preferring any hazard he might incur thereby, to his honour and good fame." as to the great question at issue, marnix had at last become conscious that he had been a victim to spanish dissimulation, and that alexander fainese was in reality quite powerless to make that concession of religious liberty, without which a reconciliation between holland and philip was impossible. "whereas," said davison, "it was supposed that ste. aldegonde had commission from the prince of parma to make some offer of peace, he assured them of the contrary as a thing which neither the prince had any power to yield unto with the surety of religion, or himself would, in conscience, persuade without it; with a number of other particularities in his excuse; amongst the rest, allowing and commending in his speech, the course they had taken with her majesty, as the only safe way of deliverance for these afflicted countries--letting them understand how much the news thereof--specially since the entry of our garrison into this place (which before they would in no sort believe), hath troubled the enemy, who doth what he may to suppress the bruit thereof, and yet comforteth himself with the hope that between the factions and partialities nourished by his industry, and musters among the towns, especially in holland and zeeland (where he is persuaded to find some pliable to a reconcilement) and the disorders and misgovernment of our people, there will be yet occasion offered him to make his profit and advantage. i find that the gentleman hath here many friends indifferently persuaded of his innocency, notwithstanding the closing up of his apology doth make but little for him. howsoever it be, it falleth out the better that the treaty with her majesty is finished, and the cautionary towns assured before his coming, which, if he be ill affected, will i hope either reform his judgment or restrain his will. i will not forget to do the best i can to sift and decipher him yet more narrowly and particularly." thus, while the scales had at length fallen from the eyes of marnix, it was not strange that the confidence which he now began to entertain in the policy of england, should not be met, at the outset, with a corresponding sentiment on the part of the statesman by whom that policy was regulated. "howsoever ste. aldegonde would seem to purge himself," said davison, "it is suspected that his end is dangerous. i have done what i may to restrain him, so nevertheless as it may not seem to come from me." and again--"ste. aldegonde," he wrote, "contimieth still our neighbor at his house between this and middelburg; yet unmolested. he findeth many favourers, and, i fear, doth no good offices. he desireth to be reserved till the coming of my lord of leicester, before whom he pretends a desired trial." this covert demeanour on the part of the ambassador was in accordance with, the wishes of his government. it was thought necessary that sainte aldegonde should be kept under arrest until the arrival of the earl, but deemed preferable that the restraint should proceed from the action of the states rather than from the order of the queen. davison was fulfilling orders in attempting, by underhand means, to deprive marnix, for a time, of his liberty. "let him, i pray you, remain in good safety in any wise," wrote leicester, who was uneasy at the thought of so influential, and, as he thought, so ill-affected a person being at large, but at the same time disposed to look dispassionately upon his past conduct, and to do justice, according to the results of an investigation. "it is thought meet," wrote walsingham to davison, "that you should do your best endeavour to procure that ste. aldegonde may be restrained, which in mine opinion were fit to be handled in such sort, as the restraint might rather proceed from themselves than by your solicitation. and yet rather than he should remain at liberty to practise underhand, whereof you seem to stand in great doubt, it is thought meet that you should make yourself a partizan, to seek by all the means that you may to have him restrained under the guard of some well affected patriot until the earl's coming, at what time his cause may receive examination." this was, however, a result somewhat difficult to accomplish; for twenty years of noble service in the cause of liberty had not been utterly in vain, and there were many magnanimous spirits to sympathize with a great man struggling thus in the meshes of calumny. that the man who challenged rather than shunned investigation, should be thrown into prison, as if he were a detected felon upon the point of absconding, seemed a heartless and superfluous precaution. yet davison and others still feared the man whom they felt obliged to regard as a baffled intriguer. "touching the restraint of ste. aldegonde," wrote davison to lord burghley, "which i had order from mr. secretary to procure underhand, i find the difficulty will be great in regard of his many friends and favourers, preoccupied with some opinion of his innocence, although i have travailled with divers of them underhand, and am promised that some order shall be taken in that behalf, which i think will be harder to execute as long as count maurice is here. for ste. aldegonde's affection, i find continual matter to suspect it inclined to a peace, and that as one notably prejudging our scope and proceeding in this cause, doth lie in wait for an occasion to set it forward, being, as it seems, fed with a hope of 'telle quelle liberte de conscience,' which the prince of parma and others of his council have, as he confesseth, earnestly solicited at the king's hands. this appeareth, in truth, the only apt and easy way for them to prevail both against religion and the liberty of these poor countries, having thereby once recovered the authority which must necessarily follow a peace, to renew and alter the magistrates of the particular towns, which, being at their devotion, may turn, as we say, all upside down, and so in an instant being under their servitude, if not wholly, at the least in a great part of the country, leaving so much the less to do about the rest, a thing confessed and looked for of all men of any judgment here, if the drift of our peace-makers may take effect." sainte aldegonde had been cured of his suspicions of england, and at last the purity of his own character shone through the mists. one winter's morning, two days after christmas, , colonel morgan, an ingenuous welshman, whom we have seen doing much hard fighting on kowenstyn dyke, and at other places, and who now commanded the garrison at flushing, was taking a walk outside the gates, and inhaling the salt breezes from the ocean. while thus engaged he met a gentleman coming along, staff in hand, at a brisk pace towards the town, who soon proved to be no other than the distinguished and deeply suspected sainte aldegonde. the two got at once into conversation. "he began," said morgan, "by cunning insinuations, to wade into matters of state, and at the last fell to touching the principal points, to wit, her majesty's entrance into the cause now in hand, which, quoth he, was an action of high importance, considering how much it behoved her to go through the same, as well in regard of the hope that thereby was given to the distressed people of these parts, as also in consideration of that worthy personage whom she hath here placed, whose estate and credit may not be suffered to quail, but must be upholden as becometh the lieutenant of such a princess as her majesty." "the opportunity thus offered," continued honest morgan, "and the way opened by himself, i thought good to discourse with him to the full, partly to see the end and drift of his induced talk, and consequently to touch his quick in the suspected cause of antwerp." and thus, word for word, taken down faithfully the same day, proceeded the dialogue that wintry morning, near three centuries ago. from that simple record--mouldering unseen and unthought of for ages, beneath piles of official dust--the forms of the illustrious fleming and the bold welsh colonel, seem to start, for a brief moment, out of the three hundred years of sleep which have succeeded their energetic existence upon earth. and so, with the bleak winds of december whistling over the breakers of the north sea, the two discoursed together, as they paced along the coast. morgan.--"i charge you with your want of confidence in her majesty's promised aid. 'twas a thing of no small moment had it been embraced when it was first most graciously offered." sainte aldegonde.--"i left not her prince-like purpose unknown to the states, who too coldly and carelessly passed over the benefit thereof, until it was too late to put the same in practice. for my own part, i acknowledge that indeed i thought some further advice would either alter or at least detract from the accomplishment of her determination. i thought this the rather because she had so long been wedded to peace, and i supposed it impossible to divorce her from so sweet a spouse. but, set it down that she were resolute, yet the sickness of antwerp was so dangerous, as it was to be doubted the patient would be dead before the physician could come. i protest that the state of the town was much worse than was known to any but myself and some few private persons. the want of victuals was far greater than they durst bewray, fearing lest the common people, perceiving the plague of famine to be at hand, would rather grow desperate than patiently expect some happy event. for as they were many in number, so were they wonderfully divided: some being martinists, some papists, some neither the one nor the other, but generally given to be factious, so that the horror at home was equal to the hazard abroad." morgan.--"but you forget the motion made by the martial men for putting out of the town such as were simple artificers, with women and children, mouths that consumed meat, but stood in no stead for defence." sainte aldegonde.--"alas, alas! would you have had me guilty of the slaughter of so many innocents, whose lives were committed to my charge, as well as the best? or might i have answered my god when those massacred creatures should have stood up against me, that the hope of antwerp's deliverance was purchased with the blood of so many simple souls? no, no. i should have found my conscience such a hell and continual worm as the gnawing thereof would have been more painful and bitter than the possession of the whole world would have been pleasant." morgan continued to press the various points which had created suspicion as to the character and motives of marnix, and point by point marnix answered his antagonist, impressing him, armed as he had been in distrust, with an irresistible conviction as to the loftiness of the nature which had been so much calumniated. sainte aldegonde (with vehemence).--"i do assure you, in conclusion, that i have solemnly vowed service and duty to her majesty, which i am ready to perform where and when it may best like her to use the same. i will add moreover that i have oftentimes determined to pass into england to make my own purgation, yet fearing lest her highness would mislike so bold a resolution, i have checked that purpose with a resolution to tarry the lord's leisure, until some better opportunity might answer my desire. for since i know not how i stand in her grace, unwilling i am to attempt her presence without permission; but might it please her to command my attendance, i should not only most joyfully accomplish the same, but also satisfy her of and in all such matters as i stand charged with, and afterwards spend life, land, and goods, to witness my duty towards her highness." morgan.--"i tell you plainly, that if you are in heart the same man that you seem outwardly to be, i doubt not but her majesty might easily be persuaded to conceive a gracious opinion of you. for mine own part, i will surely advertise sir francis walsingham of as much matter as this present conference hath ministered. "hereof," said the colonel--when, according to his promise, faithfully recording the conversation in all its details for mr. secretary's benefit, "he seemed not only content but most glad. therefore i beseech your honour to vouchsafe some few lines herein, that i may return him some part of your mind. i have already written thereof to sir philip sidney, lord governor of flushing, with request that his excellency the earl of leicester may presently be made acquainted with the cause." indeed the brave welshman was thoroughly converted from his suspicions by the earnest language and sympathetic presence of the fallen statesman. this result of the conference was creditable to the ingenuous character of both personages. "thus did he," wrote morgan to sir francis, "from point to point, answer all objections from the first to the last, and that in such sound and substantial manner, with a strong show of truth, as i think his very enemies, having heard his tale, would be satisfied. and truly, sir, as heretofore i have thought hardly of him, being led by a superficial judgment of things as they stood in outward appearance; so now, having pierced deep, and weighed causes by a sounder and more deliberate consideration, i find myself somewhat changed in conceit--not so much carried away by the sweetness of his speech, as confirmed by the force of his religious profession, wherein he remaineth constant, without wavering--an argument of great strength to set him free from treacherous attempts; but as i am herein least able and most unworthy to yield any censure, much less to give advice, so i leave the man and the matter to your honour's opinion. only (your graver judgment reserved) thus i think, that it were good either to employ him as a friend, or as an enemy to remove him farther from us, being a man of such action as the world knoweth he is. and to conclude," added morgan, "this was the upshot between us." nevertheless, he remained in this obscurity for a long period. when, towards the close of the year , the english government was established in holland, he was the object of constant suspicion. "here is aldegonde," wrote sir philip sidney to lord leicester from flushing, "a man greatly suspected, but by no man charged. he lives restrained to his own house, and for aught i can find, deals with nothing, only desiring to have his cause wholly referred to your lordship, and therefore, with the best heed i can to his proceedings, i will leave him to his clearing or condemning, when your lordship shall hear him." in another letter, sir philip again spoke of sainte aldegonde as "one of whom he kept a good opinion, and yet a suspicious eye." leicester himself was excessively anxious on the subject, deeply fearing the designs of a man whom he deemed so mischievous, and being earnestly desirous that he should not elude the chastisement which he seemed to deserve. "touching ste. aldegonde," he wrote to davison, "i grieve that he is at his house without good guard. i do earnestly pray you to move such as have power presently to commit a guard about him, for i know he is a dangerous and a bold man, and presumes yet to carry all, for he hath made many promises to the prince of parma. i would he were in fort rammekyns, or else that mr. russell had charge of him, with a recommendation from me to russell to look well to him till i shall arrive. you must have been so commanded in this from her majesty, for she thinks he is in close and safe guard. if he is not, look for a turn of all things, for he hath friends, i know." but very soon after his arrival, the earl, on examining into the matter, saw fit to change his opinions and his language. persuaded, in spite of his previous convictions, even as the honest welsh colonel had been, of the upright character of the man, and feeling sure that a change had come over the feelings of marnix himself in regard to the english alliance, leicester at once interested himself in removing the prejudices entertained towards him by the queen. "now a few words for ste. aldegonde," said he in his earliest despatches from holland; "i will beseech her majesty to stay her judgment till i write next. if the man be as he now seemeth, it were pity to lose him, for he is indeed marvellously friended. her majesty will think, i know, that i am easily pacified or led in such a matter, but i trust so to deal as she shall give me thanks. once if he do offer service it is sure enough, for he is esteemed that way above all the men in this country for his word, if he give it. his worst enemies here procure me to win him, for sure, just matter for his life there is none. he would fain come into england, so far is he come already, and doth extol her majesty for this work of hers to heaven, and confesseth, till now an angel could not make him believe it." here certainly was a noble tribute paid unconsciously, as it were, to the character of the maligned statesman. "above all the men in the country for his word, if he give it." what wonder that orange had leaned upon him, that alexander had sought to gain him, and how much does it add to our bitter regret that his prejudices against england should not have been removed until too late for antwerp and for his own usefulness. had his good angel really been present to make him believe in that "work of her majesty," when his ear was open to the seductions of parma, the destiny of belgium and his own subsequent career might have been more fortunate than they became. the queen was slow to return from her prejudices. she believed--not without reason--that the opposition of ste. aldegonde to her policy had been disastrous to the cause both of england and the netherlands; and it had been her desire that he should be imprisoned, and tried for his life. her councillors came gradually to take a more favourable view of the case, and to be moved by the pathetic attitude of the man who had once been so conspicuous. "i did acquaint sir christopher hatton," wrote walsingham to leicester, "with the letter which ste. aldegonde wrote to your lordship, which, carrying a true picture of an afflicted mind, cannot but move an honest heart, weighing the rare parts the gentleman is endowed withal, to pity his distressed estate, and, to procure him relief and comfort, which mr. vice-chamberlain (hatton) bath promised on his part to perform. i thought good to send ste. aldegonde's letter unto the lord treasurer (burghley), who heretofore has carried a hard conceit of the gentleman, hoping that the view of his letter will breed some remorse towards him. i have also prayed his lordship, if he see cause, to acquaint her majesty with the said letter." but his high public career was closed. he lived down calumny; and put his enemies to shame, but the fatal error which he had committed, in taking the side of spain rather than of england at so momentous a crisis, could never be repaired. he regained the good opinion of the most virtuous and eminent personages in europe, but in the noon of life he voluntarily withdrew from public affairs. the circumstances just detailed had made him impossible as a political leader, and it was equally impossible for him to play a secondary part. he occasionally consented to be employed in special diplomatic missions, but the serious avocations of his life now became theological and literary. he sought--in his own words--to penetrate himself still more deeply than ever with the spirit of the reformation, and to imbue the minds of the young with that deep love for the reformed religion which had been the guiding thought of his own career. he often spoke with a sigh of his compulsory exile from the field where he had been so conspicuous all his lifetime; he bitterly lamented the vanished dream of the great national union between belgium and holland, which had flattered his youth and his manhood; and he sometimes alluded with bitterness to the calumny which had crippled him of his usefulness. he might have played a distinguished part in that powerful commonwealth which was so steadily and splendidly arising out of the lagunes of zeeland and holland, but destiny and calumny and his own error had decided otherwise. "from the depth of my exile--" he said, "for i am resolved to retire, i know not where, into germany, perhaps into sarmatia, i shall look from afar upon the calamities of my country. that which to me is most mournful is no longer to be able to assist my fatherland by my counsels and my actions." he did not go into exile, but remained chiefly at his mansion of zoubourg, occupied with agriculture and with profound study. many noble works conspicuous in the literature of the epoch--were the results of his learned leisure; and the name of marnix of sainte aldegonde will be always as dear to the lovers of science and letters as to the believers in civil and religious liberty. at the request of the states of holland he undertook, in , a translation of the scriptures from the original, and he was at the same time deeply engaged with a history of christianity, which he intended for his literary master-piece. the man whose sword had done knightly service on many a battle-field for freedom, whose tongue had controlled mobs and senates, courts and councils, whose subtle spirit had metamorphosed itself into a thousand shapes to do battle with the genius of tyranny, now quenched the feverish agitation of his youth and manhood in hebrew and classical lore. a grand and noble figure always: most pathetic when thus redeeming by vigorous but solitary and melancholy hard labor, the political error which had condemned him to retirement. to work, ever to work, was the primary law of his nature. repose in the other world, "repos ailleurs" was the device which he assumed in earliest youth, and to which he was faithful all his days. a great and good man whose life had been brim-full of noble deeds, and who had been led astray from the path, not of virtue, but of sound policy, by his own prejudices and by the fascination of an intellect even more brilliant than his own, he at least enjoyed in his retirement whatever good may come from hearty and genuine labor, and from the high regard entertained for him by the noblest spirits among his contemporaries. "they tell me," said la noue, "that the seigneur de ste. aldegonde has been suspected by the hollanders and the english. i am deeply grieved, for 'tis a personage worthy to be employed. i have always known him to be a zealous friend of his religion and his country, and i will bear him this testimony, that his hands and his heart are clean. had it been otherwise, i must have known it. his example has made me regret the less the promise i was obliged to make, never to bear arms again in the netherlands. for i have thought that since this man, who has so much credit and authority among your people, after having done his duty well, has not failed to be calumniated and ejected from service, what would they have done with me, who am a stranger, had i continued in their employment? the consul terentius varro lost, by his fault, the battle of canna; nevertheless, when he returned to rome, offering the remainder of his life in the cause of his republic reduced to extremity, he was not rejected, but well received, because he hoped well for the country. it is not to be imputed as blame to ste. aldegonde that he lost antwerp, for he surrendered when it could not be saved. what i now say is drawn from me by the compassion i feel when persons of merit suffer without cause at the hands of their fellow citizens. in these terrible tempests, as it is a duty rigorously to punish the betrayers of their country, even so it is an obligation upon us to honor good patriots, and to support them in venial errors, that we may all encourage each other to do the right." strange too as it may now seem to us, a reconciliation of the netherlands with philip was not thought an impossibility by other experienced and sagacious patriots, besides marnix. even olden-barneveld, on taking office as holland's advocate, at this period, made it a condition that his service was to last only until the reunion of the provinces with spain. there was another illustrious personage in a foreign land who ever rendered homage to the character of the retired netherland statesman. amid the desolation of france, duplessis mornay often solaced himself by distant communion with that kindred and sympathizing spirit. "plunged in public annoyances," he wrote to sainte aldegonde, "i find no consolation, except in conference with the good, and among the good i hold you for one of the best. with such men i had rather sigh profoundly than laugh heartily with others. in particular, sir, do me the honor to love me, and believe that i honor you singularly. impart to me something from your solitude, for i consider your deserts to be more fruitful and fertile than our most cultivated habitations. as for me, think of me as of a man drowning in the anxieties of the time, but desirous, if possible, of swimming to solitude." thus solitary, yet thus befriended,--remote from public employment, yet ever employed, doing his daily work with all his soul and strength, marnix passed the fifteen years yet remaining to him. death surprised him at last, at leyden, in the year , while steadily laboring upon his flemish translation of the old testament, and upon the great political, theological, controversial, and satirical work on the differences of religion, which remains the most stately, though unfinished, monument of his literary genius. at the age of sixty he went at last to the repose which he had denied to himself on earth. "repos ailleurs." etext editor's bookmarks: honor good patriots, and to support them in venial errors possible to do, only because we see that it has been done repose in the other world, "repos ailleurs" soldiers enough to animate the good and terrify the bad to work, ever to work, was the primary law of his nature when persons of merit suffer without cause history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter vi., part . policy of england--diplomatic coquetry--dutch envoys in england-- conference of ortel and walsingham--interview with leicester-- private audience of the queen--letters of the states--general-- ill effects of gilpin's despatch--close bargaining of the queen and states--guarantees required by england--england's comparative weakness--the english characterised--paul hentzner--the envoys in london--their characters--olden-barneveldt described--reception at greenwich--speech of menin--reply of the queen--memorial of the envoys--discussions with the ministers--second speech of the queen --third speech of the queen england as we have seen--had carefully watched the negotiations between france and the netherlands. although she had--upon the whole, for that intriguing age--been loyal in her bearing towards both parties, she was perhaps not entirely displeased with the result. as her cherished triumvirate was out of the question, it was quite obvious that, now or never, she must come forward to prevent the provinces from falling back into the hands of spain. the future was plainly enough foreshadowed, and it was already probable, in case of a prolonged resistance on the part of holland, that philip would undertake the reduction of his rebellious subjects by a preliminary conquest of england. it was therefore quite certain that the expense and danger of assisting the netherlands must devolve upon herself, but, at the same time it was a consolation that her powerful next-door neighbour was not to be made still more powerful by the annexation to his own dominion of those important territories. accordingly, so soon as the deputies in france had received their definite and somewhat ignominious repulse from henry iii. and his mother, the english government lost no time in intimating to the states that they were not to be left without an ally. queen elizabeth was however resolutely averse from assuming that sovereignty which she was not unwilling to see offered for her acceptance; and her accredited envoy at the hague, besides other more secret agents, were as busily employed in the spring of --as des pruneaux had been the previous winter on the part of france--to bring about an application, by solemn embassy, for her assistance. there was, however, a difference of view, from the outset, between the leading politicians of the netherlands and the english queen. the hollanders were extremely desirous of becoming her subjects; for the united states, although they had already formed themselves into an independent republic, were quite ignorant of their latent powers. the leading personages of the country--those who were soon to become the foremost statesmen of the new commonwealth--were already shrinking from the anarchy which was deemed inseparable from a non-regal form of government, and were seeking protection for and against the people under a foreign sceptre. on the other hand, they were indisposed to mortgage large and important fortified towns, such as flushing, brill, and others, for the repayment of the subsidies which elizabeth might be induced to advance. they preferred to pay in sovereignty rather than in money. the queen, on the contrary, preferred money to sovereignty, and was not at all inclined to sacrifice economy to ambition. intending to drive a hard bargain with the states, whose cause was her own, and whose demands for aid she; had secretly prompted, she meant to grant a certain number of soldiers for as brief a period as possible, serving at her expense, and to take for such outlay a most ample security in the shape of cautionary towns. too intelligent a politician not to feel the absolute necessity of at last coming into the field to help the netherlanders to fight her own battle, she was still willing, for a season longer, to wear the mask of coyness and coquetry, which she thought most adapted to irritate the netherlanders into a full compliance with her wishes. her advisers in the provinces were inclined to take the same view. it seemed obvious, after the failure in france, that those countries must now become either english or spanish; yet elizabeth, knowing the risk of their falling back, from desperation, into the arms of her rival, allowed them to remain for a season on the edge of destruction--which would probably have been her ruin also--in the hope of bringing them to her feet on her own terms. there was something of feminine art in this policy, and it was not without the success which often attends such insincere manoeuvres. at the same time, as the statesmen of the republic knew that it was the queen's affair, when so near a neighbour's roof was blazing, they entertained little doubt of ultimately obtaining her alliance. it was pity--in so grave an emergency--that a little frankness could not have been substituted for a good deal of superfluous diplomacy. gilpin, a highly intelligent agent of the english government in zeeland, kept sir francis walsingham thoroughly informed of the sentiments entertained by the people of that province towards england. mixing habitually with the most influential politicians, he was able to render material assistance to the english council in the diplomatic game which had been commenced, and on which a no less important stake than the crown of england was to be hazarded. "in conference," he said, "with particular persons that bear any rule or credit, i find a great inclination towards her majesty, joined notwithstanding with a kind of coldness. they allege that matters of such importance are to be maturely and thoroughly pondered, while some of them harp upon the old string, as if her majesty, for the security of her own estate, was to have the more care of theirs here." he was also very careful to insinuate the expediency of diplomatic coquetry into the mind of a princess who needed no such prompting. "the less by outward appearance," said he, "this people shall perceive that her majesty can be contented to take the protection of them upon her, the forwarder they will be to seek and send unto her, and the larger conditions in treaty may be required. for if they see it to come from herself, then do they persuade themselves that it is for the greater security of our own country and her highness to fear the king of spain's greatness. but if they become seekers unto her majesty, and if they may, by outward show, deem that she accounteth not of the said king's might, but able and sufficient to defend her own realms, then verily i think they may be brought to whatsoever points her majesty may desire." certainly it was an age of intrigue, in which nothing seemed worth getting at all unless it could be got by underhand means, and in which it was thought impossible for two parties to a bargain to meet together except as antagonists, who believed that one could not derive a profit from the transaction unless the other had been overreached. this was neither good morality nor sound diplomacy, and the result of such trifling was much loss of time and great disaster. in accordance with this crafty system, the agent expressed the opinion that it would "be good and requisite for the english government somewhat to temporise," and to dally for a season longer, in order to see what measures the states would take to defend themselves, and how much ability and resources they would show for belligerent purposes. if the queen were too eager, the provinces would become jealous, "yielding, as it were, their power, and yet keeping the rudder in their own hands." at the same time gilpin was favourably impressed with the character both of the country and the nation, soon to be placed in such important relations with england. "this people," he said, "is such as by fair means they will be won to yield and grant any reasonable motion or demand. what these islands of zeeland are her majesty and all my lords of her council do know. yet for their government thus much i must write; that during these troubles it never was better than now. they draw, in a manner, one line, long and carefully in their resolution; but the same once taken and promises made, they would perform them to the uttermost." such then was the character of the people, for no man was better enabled to form an opinion on the subject than was gilpin. had it not been as well, then, for englishmen--who were themselves in that age, as in every other, apt to "perform to the uttermost promises once taken and made," and to respect those endowed with the same wholesome characteristic--to strike hands at once in a cause which was so vital to both nations? so soon as the definite refusal of henry iii, was known in england, leicester and walsingham wrote at once to the netherlands. the earl already saw shining through the distance a brilliant prize for his own ambition, although he was too haughty, perhaps too magnanimous, but certainly far too crafty, to suffer such sentiments as yet to pierce to the surface. "mr. davison," he wrote, "you shall perceive by mr. secretary's letters how the french have dealt with these people. they are well enough served; but yet i think, if they will heartily and earnestly seek it, the lord hath appointed them a far better defence. but you must so use the matter as that they must seek their own good, although we shall be partakers thereof also. they may now, if they will effectually and liberally deal, bring themselves to a better end than ever france would have brought them." at that moment there were two diplomatic agents from the states resident in england--jacques de gryze; whom paul buys had formerly described as having thrust himself head and shoulders into the matter without proper authority, and joachim ortel, a most experienced and intelligent man, speaking and writing english like a native, and thoroughly conversant with english habits and character. so soon as the despatches from france arrived, walsingham, th march, , sent for ortel, and the two held a long conference. walsingham.--"we have just received letters from lord derby and sir edward stafford, dated the th march. they inform us that your deputies--contrary to all expectation and to the great hopes that had been hold out to them--have received, last sunday, their definite answer from the king of france. he tells them, that, considering the present condition of his kingdom, he is unable to undertake the protection of the netherlands; but says that if they like, and if the queen of england be willing to second his motion, he is disposed to send a mission of mediation to spain for the purpose of begging the king to take the condition of the provinces to heart, and bringing about some honourable composition, and so forth, and so forth. "moreover the king of france has sent monsieur de bellievre to lord derby and mr. stafford, and bellievre has made those envoys a long oration. he explained to them all about the original treaty between the states and monsieur, the king's brother, and what had taken place from that day to this, concluding, after many allegations and divers reasons, that the king could not trouble himself with the provinces at present; but hoped her majesty would make the best of it, and not be offended with him. "the ambassadors say further, that they have had an interview with your deputies, who are excessively provoked at this most unexpected answer from the king, and are making loud complaints, being all determined to take themselves off as fast as possible. the ambassadors have recommended that some of the number should come home by the way of england." ortel.--"it seems necessary to take active measures at once, and to leave no duty undone in this matter. it will be advisable to confer, so soon as may be, with some of the principal counsellors of her majesty, and recommend to them most earnestly the present condition of the provinces. they know the affectionate confidence which the states entertain towards england, and must now, remembering the sentiments of goodwill which they have expressed towards the netherlands, be willing to employ their efforts with her majesty in this emergency." walsingham (with much show of vexation).--"this conduct on the part of the french court has been most pernicious. your envoys have been delayed, fed with idle hopes, and then disgracefully sent away, so that the best part of the year has been consumed, and it will be most difficult now, in a great hurry, to get together a sufficient force of horse and foot folk, with other necessaries in abundance. on the contrary, the enemy, who knew from the first what result was to be expected in france, has been doing his best to be beforehand with you in the field: add, moreover, that this french negotiation has given other princes a bad taste in their mouths. this is the case with her majesty. the queen is, not without reason, annoyed that the states have not only despised her friendly and good-hearted offers, but have all along been endeavouring to embark her in this war, for the defence of the provinces, which would have cost her several millions, without offering to her the slightest security. on the contrary, others, enemies of the religion, who are not to be depended upon--who had never deserved well of the states or assisted them in their need, as she has done--have received this large offer of sovereignty without any reserve whatever." ortel (not suffering himself to be disconcerted at this unjust and somewhat insidious attack).--"that which has been transacted with france was not done except with the express approbation and full foreknowledge of her majesty, so far back as the lifetime of his excellency (william of orange), of high and laudable memory. things had already gone so far, and the provinces had agreed so entirely together, as to make it inexpedient to bring about a separation in policy. it was our duty to hold together, and, once for all, thoroughly to understand what the king of france, after such manifold presentations through monsieur des pruneaulx and others, and in various letters of his own, finally intended to do. at the same time, notwithstanding these negotiations, we had always an especial eye upon her majesty. we felt a hopeful confidence that she would never desert us, leaving us without aid or counsel, but would consider that these affairs do not concern the provinces alone or even especially, but are just as deeply important to her and to all other princes of the religion." after this dialogue, with much more conversation of a similar character, the secretary and the envoy set themselves frankly and manfully to work. it was agreed between them that every effort should be made with the leading members of the council to induce the queen "in this terrible conjuncture, not to forsake the provinces, but to extend good counsel and prompt assistance to them in their present embarrassments." there was, however, so much business in parliament just then, that it was impossible to obtain immediately the desired interviews. on the th, ortel and de gryze had another interview with walsingham at the palace of greenwich. the secretary expressed the warmest and most sincere affection for the provinces, and advised that one of the two envoys should set forth at once for home in order to declare to the states, without loss of time, her majesty's good inclination to assume the protection of the land, together with the maintenance of the reformed religion and the ancient privileges. not that she was seeking her own profit, or wished to obtain that sovereignty which had just been offered to another of the contrary religion, but in order to make manifest her affectionate solicitude to preserve the protestant faith and to support her old allies and neighbours. nevertheless, as she could not assume this protectorate without embarking in a dangerous war with the king of spain, in which she would not only be obliged to spend the blood of her subjects, but also at least two millions of gold, there was the more reason that the states should give her certain cities as security. those cities would be held by certain of her gentlemen, nominated thereto, of quality, credit, and religion, at the head of good, true, and well-paid garrisons, who should make oath never to surrender them to the king of spain or to any one else without consent of the states. the provinces were also reciprocally to bind themselves by oath to make no treaty with the king, without the advice and approval of her majesty. it was likewise thoroughly to be understood that such cautionary towns should be restored to the states so soon as payment should be made of all moneys advanced during the war. next day the envoys had an interview with the earl of leicester, whom they found as amicably disposed towards their cause as secretary walsingham had been. "her majesty," said the earl, "is excessively indignant with the king of france, that he should so long have abused the provinces, and at last have dismissed their deputies so contemptuously. nevertheless," he continued, "'tis all your own fault to have placed your hopes so entirely upon him as to entirely forget other princes, and more especially her majesty. notwithstanding all that has passed, however, i find her fully determined to maintain the cause of the provinces. for my own part, i am ready to stake my life, estates, and reputation, upon this issue, and to stand side by side with other gentlemen in persuading her majesty to do her utmost for the assistance of your country." he intimated however, as walsingham had done, that the matter of cautionary towns would prove an indispensable condition, and recommended that one of the two envoys should proceed homeward at once, in order to procure, as speedily as possible, the appointment of an embassy for that purpose to her majesty. "they must bring full powers," said the earl, "to give her the necessary guarantees, and make a formal demand for protection; for it would be unbecoming, and against her reputation, to be obliged to present herself, unsought by the other party." in conclusion, after many strong expressions of good-will, leicester promised to meet them next day at court, where he would address the queen personally on the subject, and see that they spoke with her as well. meantime he sent one of his principal gentlemen to keep company with the envoys, and make himself useful to them. this personage, being "of good quality and a member of parliament," gave them much useful information, assuring them that there was a strong feeling in england in favour of the netherlands, and that the matter had been very vigorously taken up in the national legislature. that assembly had been strongly encouraging her majesty boldly to assume the protectorate, and had manifested a willingness to assist her with the needful. "and if," said he, "one subsidy should not be enough, she shall have three, four, five, or six, or as much as may be necessary." the same day, the envoys had an interview with lord treasurer burghley, who held the same language as walsingham and leicester had done. "the queen, to his knowledge," he said, "was quite ready to assume the protectorate; but it was necessary that it should be formally offered, with the necessary guarantees, and that without further loss of time." on the nd march, according to agreement, ortel and de gryze went to the court at greenwich. while waiting there for the queen, who had ridden out into the country, they had more conversation with walsingham, whom they found even more energetically disposed in their favour than ever, and who assured them that her majesty was quite ready to assume the protectorate so soon as offered. "within a month," he said, "after the signing of a treaty, the troops would be on the spot, under command of such a personage of quality and religion as would be highly satisfactory." while they were talking, the queen rode into the court-yard, accompanied by the earl of leicester and other gentlemen. very soon afterwards the envoys were summoned to her presence, and allowed to recommend the affairs of the provinces to her consideration. she lamented the situation of their country, and in a few words expressed her inclination to render assistance, provided the states would manifest full confidence in her. they replied by offering to take instant measures to gratify all her demands, so soon as those demands should be made known; and the queen finding herself surrounded by so many gentlemen and by a crowd of people, appointed them accordingly to come to her private apartments the same afternoon. at that interview none were present save walsingham and lord chamberlain howard. the queen showed herself "extraordinarily resolute" to take up the affairs of the provinces. "she had always been sure," she said, "that the french negotiation would have no other issue than the one which they had just seen. she was fully aware what a powerful enemy she was about to make--one who could easily create mischief for her in scotland and ireland; but she was nevertheless resolved, if the states chose to deal with her frankly and generously, to take them under her protection. she assured the envoys that if a deputation with full powers and reasonable conditions should be immediately sent to her, she would not delay and dally with them, as had been the case in france, but would despatch them back again at the speediest, and would make her good inclination manifest by deeds as well as words. as she was hazarding her treasure together with the blood and repose of her subjects, she was not at liberty to do this except on receipt of proper securities." accordingly de gryze went to the provinces, provided with complimentary and affectionate letters from the queen, while ortel remained in england. so far all was plain and above-board; and walsingham, who, from the first, had been warmly in favour of taking up the netherland cause, was relieved by being able to write in straightforward language. stealthy and subtle, where the object was to get within the guard of an enemy who menaced a mortal blow, he was, both by nature and policy, disposed to deal frankly with those he called his friends. "monsieur de gryze repaireth presently," he wrote to davison, "to try if he can induce the states to send their deputies hither, furnished with more ample instructions than they had to treat with the french king, considering that her majesty carryeth another manner of princely disposition than that sovereign. meanwhile, for that she doubteth lest in this hard estate of their affairs, and the distrust they have conceived to be relieved from hence, they should from despair throw themselves into the course of spain, her pleasure therefore is--though by burnham i sent you directions to put them in comfort of relief, only as of yourself--that you shall now, as it were, in her name, if you see cause sufficient, assure some of the aptest instruments that you shall make choice of for that purpose, that her majesty, rather than that they should perish, will be content to take them under her protection." he added that it was indispensable for the states, upon their part, to offer "such sufficient cautions and assurances as she might in reason demand." matters were so well managed that by the nd april the states-general addressed a letter to the queen, in which they notified her, that the desired deputation was on the point of setting forth. "recognizing," they said, "that there is no prince or potentate to whom they are more obliged than they are to your majesty, we are about to request you very humbly to accept the sovereignty of these provinces, and the people of the same for your very humble vassals and subjects." they added that, as the necessity of the case was great, they hoped the queen would send, so soon as might be, a force of four or five thousand men for the purpose of relieving the siege of antwerp. a similar letter was despatched by the same courier to the earl of leicester. on the st of may, ortel had audience of the queen, to deliver the letters from the states-general. he found that despatches, very encouraging and agreeable in their tenor, had also just arrived from davison. the queen was in good humour. she took the letter from ortel, read it attentively, and paused a good while. then she assured him that her good affection towards the provinces was not in the least changed, and that she thanked the states for the confidence in her that they were manifesting. "it is unnecessary," said the queen, "for me to repeat over and over again sentiments which i have so plainly declared. you are to assure the states that they shall never be disappointed in the trust that they have reposed in my good intentions. let them deal with me sincerely, and without holding open any back-door. not that i am seeking the sovereignty of the provinces, for i wish only to maintain their privileges and ancient liberties, and to defend them in this regard against all the world. let them ripely consider, then, with what fidelity i am espousing their cause, and how, without fear of any one, i am arousing most powerful enemies." ortel had afterwards an interview with leicester, in which the earl assured him that her majesty had not in the least changed in her sentiments towards the provinces. "for myself," said he, "i am ready, if her majesty choose to make use of me, to go over there in person, and to place life, property, and all the assistance i can gain from my friends, upon the issue. yea, with so good a heart, that i pray the lord may be good to me, only so far as i serve faithfully in this cause." he added a warning that the deputies to be appointed should come with absolute powers, in order that her majesty's bountiful intentions might not be retarded by their own fault. ortel then visited walsingham at his house, barn-elms, where he was confined by illness. sir francis assured the envoy that he would use every effort, by letter to her majesty and by verbal instructions to his son-in-law, sir philip sidney, to further the success of the negotiation, and that he deeply regretted his enforced absence from the court on so important an occasion. matters were proceeding most favourably, and the all-important point of sending an auxiliary force of englishmen to the relief of antwerp--before it should be too late, and in advance of the final conclusion of the treaty between the countries-had been nearly conceded. just at that moment, however, "as ill-luck would have it," said ortel, "came a letter from gilpin. i don't think he meant it in malice, but the effect was most pernicious. he sent the information that a new attack was to be made by the th may upon the kowenstyn, that it was sure to be successful, and that the siege of antwerp was as good as raised. so lord burghley informed me, in presence of lord leicester, that her majesty was determined to await the issue of this enterprise. it was quite too late to get troops in readiness; to co-operate with the states' army, so soon as the th may, and as antwerp was so sure to be relieved, there was no pressing necessity for haste. i uttered most bitter complaints to these lords and to other counsellors of the queen, that she should thus draw back, on account of a letter from a single individual, without paying sufficient heed to the despatches from the states-general, who certainly knew their own affairs and their own necessities better than any one else could do, but her majesty sticks firm to her resolution." here were immense mistakes committed on all sides. the premature shooting up of those three rockets from the cathedral-tower, on the unlucky th may, had thus not only ruined the first assault against the kowenstyn, but also the second and the more promising adventure. had the four thousand bold englishmen there enlisted, and who could have reached the provinces in time to cooperate in that great enterprise, have stood side by side with the hollanders, the zeelanders, and the antwerpers, upon that fatal dyke, it is almost a certainty that antwerp would have been relieved, and the whole of flanders and brabant permanently annexed to the independent commonwealth, which would have thus assumed at once most imposing proportions. it was a great blunder of sainte aldegonde to station in the cathedral, on so important an occasion, watchmen in whose judgment he could not thoroughly rely. it was a blunder in gilpin, intelligent as he generally showed himself, to write in such sanguine style before the event. but it was the greatest blunder of all for queen elizabeth to suspend her cooperation at the very instant when, as the result showed, it was likely to prove most successful. it was a chapter of blunders from first to last, but the most fatal of all the errors was the one thus prompted by the great queen's most traitorous characteristic, her obstinate parsimony. and now began a series of sharp chafferings on both sides, not very much to the credit of either party. the kingdom of england, and the rebellious provinces of spain, were drawn to each other by an irresistible law of political attraction. their absorption into each other seemed natural and almost inevitable; and the weight of the strong protestant organism, had it been thus completed, might have balanced the great catholic league which was clustering about spain. it was unfortunate that the two governments of england and the netherlands should now assume the attitude of traders driving a hard bargain with each other, rather than that of two important commonwealths, upon whose action, at that momentous epoch, the weal and wo of christendom was hanging. it is quite true that the danger to england was great, but that danger in any event was to be confronted--philip was to be defied, and, by assuming the cause of the provinces to be her own, which it unquestionably was, elizabeth was taking the diadem from her head--as the king of sweden well observed--and adventuring it upon the doubtful chance of war. would it not have been better then--her mind being once made up--promptly to accept all the benefits, as well as all the hazards, of the bold game to which she was of necessity a party? but she could not yet believe in the incredible meanness of henry iii. "i asked her majesty" ( rd may, ), said ortel, "whether, in view of these vast preparations in france, it did not behove her to be most circumspect and upon her guard. for, in the opinion of many men, everything showed one great scheme already laid down--a general conspiracy throughout christendom against the reformed religion. she answered me, that thus far she could not perceive this to be the case; 'nor could she believe,' she said, 'that the king of france could be so faint-hearted as to submit to such injuries from the guises.'" time was very soon to show the nature of that unhappy monarch with regard to injuries, and to prove to elizabeth the error she had committed in doubting his faint-heartedness. meanwhile, time was passing, and the netherlands were shivering in the storm. they, needed the open sunshine which her caution kept too long behind the clouds. for it was now enjoined upon walsingham to manifest a coldness upon the part of the english government towards the states. davison was to be allowed to return; "but," said sir francis, "her majesty would not have you accompany the commissioners who are coming from the low countries; but to come over, either before them or after them, lest it be thought they come over by her majesty's procurement." as if they were not coming over by her majesty's most especial procurement, and as if it would matter to philip--the union once made between england and holland--whether the invitation to that union came first from the one party or the other! "i am retired for my health from the court to mine own house," said walsingham, "but i find those in whose judgment her majesty reposeth greatest trust so coldly affected unto the cause, as i have no great hope of the matter; and yet, for that the hearts of princes are in the hands of god, who both can will and dispose them at his pleasure, i would be loath to hinder the repair of the commissioners." here certainly, had the sun gone most suddenly into a cloud. sir francis would be loath to advise the commissioners to stay at home, but he obviously thought them coming on as bootless an errand as that which had taken their colleagues so recently into france. the cause of the trouble was flushing. hence the tears, and the coldness, and the scoldings, on the part of the imperious and the economical queen. flushing was the patrimony--a large portion of that which was left to him--of count maurice. it was deeply mortgaged for the payment of the debts of william the silent, but his son maurice, so long as the elder brother philip william remained a captive in spain, wrote himself marquis of flushing and kampveer, and derived both revenue and importance from his rights in that important town. the states of zeeland, while desirous of a political fusion of the two countries, were averse from the prospect of converting, by exception, their commercial, capital into an english city, the remainder of the provinces remaining meanwhile upon their ancient footing. the negociations on the subject caused a most ill-timed delay. the states finding the english government cooling, affected to grow tepid themselves. this was the true mercantile system, perhaps, for managing a transaction most thriftily, but frankness and promptness would have been more statesmanlike at such a juncture. "i am sorry to understand," wrote walsingham, "that the states are not yet grown to a full resolution for the delivering of the town of flushing into her majesty's hands. the queen finding the people of that island so wavering and inconstant, besides that they can hardly, after the so long enjoying a popular liberty, bear a regal authority, would be loath to embark herself into so dangerous a war without some sufficient caution received from them. it is also greatly to be doubted, that if, by practice and corruption, that town might be recovered by the spaniards, it would put all the rest of the country in peril. i find her majesty, in case that town may be gotten, fully resolved to receive them into her protection, so as it may also be made probable unto her that the promised three hundred thousand guilders the month will be duly paid." a day or two after writing this letter, walsingham sent one afternoon, in a great hurry, for ortel, and informed him very secretly, that, according to information just received, the deputies from the states were coming without sufficient authority in regard to this very matter. thus all the good intentions of the english government were likely to be frustrated, and the provinces to be reduced to direful extremity. "what can we possibly advise her majesty to do?" asked walsingham, "since you are not willing to put confidence in her intentions. you are trying to bring her into a public war, in which she is to risk her treasure and the blood of her subjects against the greatest potentates of the world, and you hesitate meantime at giving her such security as is required for the very defence of the provinces themselves. the deputies are coming hither to offer the sovereignty to her majesty, as was recently done in france, or, if that should not prove acceptable, they are to ask assistance in men and money upon a mere 'taliter qualiter' guaranty. that's not the way. and there are plenty of ill-disposed persons here to take advantage of this position of affairs to ruin the interest of the provinces now placed on so good a footing. moreover, in this perpetual sending of despatches back and forth, much precious time is consumed; and this is exactly what our enemies most desire." in accordance with walsingham's urgent suggestions, ortel wrote at once to his constituents, imploring them to remedy this matter. "do not allow," he said, "any, more time to be wasted. let us not painfully, build a wall only to knock our own heads against it, to the dismay of our friends and the gratification of our enemies." it was at last arranged that an important blank should be left in the articles to be brought by the deputies, upon which vacant place the names of certain cautionary towns, afterwards to be agreed upon, were to be inscribed by common consent. meantime the english ministers were busy in preparing to receive the commissioners, and to bring the netherland matter handsomely before the legislature. the integrity, the caution, the thrift, the hesitation, which characterized elizabeth's government, were well pourtrayed in the habitual language of the lord treasurer, chief minister of a third-rate kingdom now called on to play a first-rate part, thoroughly acquainted with the moral and intellectual power of the nation whose policy he directed, and prophetically conscious of the great destinies which were opening upon her horizon. lord burghley could hardly be censured--least of all ridiculed--for the patient and somewhat timid attributes of his nature: the ineffable ponderings, which might now be ludicrous, on the part of a minister of the british empire, with two hundred millions of subjects and near a hundred millions of revenue, were almost inevitable in a man guiding a realm of four millions of people with half a million of income. it was, on the whole, a strange negotiation, this between england and holland. a commonwealth had arisen, but was unconscious of the strength which it was to find in the principle of states' union, and of religious equality. it sought, on the contrary, to exchange its federal sovereignty for provincial dependence, and to imitate, to a certain extent, the very intolerance by which it had been driven into revolt. it was not unnatural that the netherlanders should hate the roman catholic religion, in the name of which they had endured such infinite tortures, but it is, nevertheless, painful to observe that they requested queen elizabeth, whom they styled defender, not of "the faith" but of the "reformed religion," to exclude from the provinces, in case she accepted the sovereignty, the exercise of all religious rites except those belonging to the reformed church. they, however, expressly provided against inquisition into conscience. private houses were to be sacred, the papists free within their own walls, but the churches were to be closed to those of the ancient faith. this was not so bad as to hang, burn, drown, and bury alive nonconformists, as had been done by philip and the holy inquisition in the name of the church of rome; nor is it very surprising that the horrible past should have caused that church to be regarded with sentiments of such deep-rooted hostility as to make the hollanders shudder at the idea of its re-establishment. yet, no doubt, it was idle for either holland or england, at that day, to talk of a reconciliation with rome. a step had separated them, but it was a step from a precipice. no human power could bridge the chasm. the steep contrast between the league and the counter-league, between the systems of philip and mucio, and that of elizabeth and olden-barneveld, ran through the whole world of thought, action, and life. but still the negociation between holland and england was a strange one. holland wished to give herself entirely, and england feared to accept. elizabeth, in place of sovereignty, wanted mortgages; while holland was afraid to give a part, although offering the whole. there was no great inequality between the two countries. both were instinctively conscious, perhaps, of standing on the edge of a vast expansion. both felt that they were about to stretch their wings suddenly for a flight over the whole earth. yet each was a very inferior power, in comparison with the great empires of the past or those which then existed. it is difficult, without a strong effort of the imagination, to reduce the english empire to the slender proportions which belonged to her in the days of elizabeth. that epoch was full of light and life. the constellations which have for centuries been shining in the english firmament were then human creatures walking english earth. the captains, statesmen, corsairs, merchant-adventurers, poets, dramatists, the great queen herself, the cecils, raleigh, walsingham, drake, hawkins, gilbert, howard, willoughby, the norrises, essex, leicester, sidney, spenser, shakspeare and the lesser but brilliant lights which surrounded him; such were the men who lifted england upon an elevation to which she was not yet entitled by her material grandeur. at last she had done with rome, and her expansion dated from that moment. holland and england, by the very condition of their existence, were sworn foes to philip. elizabeth stood excommunicated of the pope. there was hardly a month in which intelligence was not sent by english agents out of the netherlands and france, that assassins, hired by philip, were making their way to england to attempt the life of the queen. the netherlanders were rebels to the spanish monarch, and they stood, one and all, under death-sentence by rome. the alliance was inevitable and wholesome. elizabeth was, however, consistently opposed to the acceptance of a new sovereignty. england was a weak power. ireland was at her side in a state of chronic rebellion--a stepping-stone for spain in its already foreshadowed invasion. scotland was at her back with a strong party of catholics, stipendiaries of philip, encouraged by the guises and periodically inflamed to enthusiasm by the hope of rescuing mary stuart from her imprisonment, bringing her rival's head to the block, and elevating the long-suffering martyr upon the throne of all the british islands. and in the midst of england itself, conspiracies were weaving every day. the mortal duel between the two queens was slowly approaching its termination. in the fatal form of mary was embodied everything most perilous to england's glory and to england's queen. mary stuart meant absolutism at home, subjection to rome and spain abroad. the uncle guises were stipendiaries of philip, philip was the slave of the pope. mucio had frightened the unlucky henry iii. into submission, and there was no health nor hope in france. for england, mary stuart embodied the possible relapse into sloth, dependence, barbarism. for elizabeth, mary stuart embodied sedition, conspiracy, rebellion, battle, murder, and sudden death. it was not to be wondered at that the queen thus situated should be cautious, when about throwing down the gauntlet to the greatest powers of the earth. yet the commissioners from the united states were now on their way to england to propose the throwing of that gauntlet. what now was that england? its population was, perhaps, not greater than the numbers which dwell to-day within its capital and immediate suburbs. its revenue was perhaps equal to the sixtieth part of the annual interest on the present national debt. single, highly-favoured individuals, not only in england but in other countries cis-and trans-atlantic, enjoy incomes equal to more than half the amount of elizabeth's annual budget. london, then containing perhaps one hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants, was hardly so imposing a town as antwerp, and was inferior in most material respects to paris and lisbon. forty-two hundred children were born every year within its precincts, and the deaths were nearly as many. in plague years, which were only too frequent, as many as twenty and even thirty thousand people had been annually swept away. at the present epoch there are seventeen hundred births every week, and about one thousand deaths. it is instructive to throw a glance at the character of the english people as it appeared to intelligent foreigners at that day; for the various parts of the world were not then so closely blended, nor did national colours and characteristics flow so liquidly into each other, as is the case in these days of intimate juxta-position. "the english are a very clever, handsome, and well-made people," says a learned antwerp historian and merchant, who had resided a long time in london, "but, like all islanders, by nature weak and tender. they are generally fair, particularly the women, who all--even to the peasant women--protect their complexions from the sun with fans and veils, as only the stately gentlewomen do in germany and the netherlands. as a people they are stout-hearted, vehement, eager, cruel in war, zealous in attack, little fearing: death; not revengeful, but fickle, presumptuous, rash, boastful, deceitful, very suspicious, especially of strangers, whom they despise. they are full of courteous and hypocritical gestures and words, which they consider to imply good manners, civility, and wisdom. they are well spoken, and very hospitable. they feed well, eating much meat, which-owing to the rainy climate and the ranker character of the grass--is not so firm and succulent as the meat of france and the netherlands. the people are not so laborious as the french and hollanders, preferring to lead an indolent life, like the spaniards. the most difficult and ingenious of the handicrafts are in the hands of foreigners, as is the case with the lazy inhabitants of spain. they feed many sheep, with fine wool, from which, two hundred years ago, they learned to make cloth. they keep many idle servants, and many wild animals for their pleasure, instead of cultivating the sail. they have many ships, but they do not even catch fish enough for their own consumption, but purchase of their neighbours. they dress very elegantly. their costume is light and costly, but they are very changeable and capricious, altering their fashions every year, both the men and the women. when they go away from home, riding or travelling, they always wear their best clothes, contrary to the habit of other nations. the english language is broken dutch, mixed with french and british terms and words, but with a lighter pronunciation. they do not speak from the chest, like the germans, but prattle only with the tongue." here are few statistical facts, but certainly it is curious to see how many national traits thus photographed by a contemporary, have quite vanished, and have been exchanged for their very opposites. certainly the last physiological criticism of all would indicate as great a national metamorphosis, during the last three centuries, as is offered by many other of the writer's observations. "with regard to the women," continues the same authority, "they are entirely in the power of the men, except in matters of life and death, yet they are not kept so closely and strictly as in spain and elsewhere. they are not locked up, but have free management of their household, like the netherlanders and their other neighbours. they are gay in their clothing, taking well their ease, leaving house-work to the servant-maids, and are fond of sitting, finely-dressed, before their doors to see the passers-by and to be seen of them. in all banquets and dinner-parties they have the most honour, sitting at the upper end of the board, and being served first. "their time is spent in riding, lounging, card-playing, and making merry with their gossips at child-bearings, christenings, churchings, and buryings; and all this conduct the men wink at, because such are the customs of the land. they much commend however the industry and careful habits of the german and netherland women, who do the work which in england devolves upon the men. hence, england is called the paradise of married women, for the unmarried girls are kept much more strictly than upon the continent. the women are, handsome, white, dressy, modest; although they go freely about the streets without bonnet, hood, or veil; but lately learned to cover their faces with a silken mask or vizard with a plumage of feathers, for they change their fashions every year, to the astonishment of many." paul hentzner, a tourist from germany at precisely the same epoch, touches with equal minuteness on english characteristics. it may be observed, that, with some discrepancies, there is also much similarity, in the views of the two critics. "the english," says the whimsical paul, are serious, like the germans, lovers of show, liking to be followed, wherever they go, by troops of servants, who wear their master's arms, in silver, fastened to their left sleeves, and are justly ridiculed for wearing tails hanging down their backs. they excel in dancing and music, for they are active and lively, although they are of thicker build than the germans. they cut their hair close on the forehead, letting it hang down on either side. they are good sailors, and better pirates, cunning, treacherous, thievish. three hundred and upwards are hanged annually in london. hawking is the favourite sport of the nobility. the english are more polite in eating than the french, devouring less bread, but more meat, which they roast in perfection. they put a great deal of sugar in their drink. their beds are covered with tapestry, even those of farmers. they are powerful in the field, successful against their enemies, impatient of anything like slavery, vastly fond of great ear-filling noises, such as cannon-firing, drum-beating, and bell-ringing; so that it is very common for a number of them, when they have got a cup too much in their heads, to go up to some belfry, and ring the bells for an hour together, for the sake of the amusement. if they see a foreigner very well made or particularly handsome, they will say "'tis pity he is not an englishman." it is also somewhat amusing, at the present day, to find a german elaborately explaining to his countrymen the mysteries of tobacco-smoking, as they appeared to his unsophisticated eyes in england. "at the theatres and everywhere else," says the traveller, "the english are constantly smoking tobacco in the following manner. they have pipes, made on purpose, of clay. at the further end of these is a bowl. into the bowl they put the herb, and then setting fire to it, they draw the smoke into their mouths, which they puff out again through their nostrils, like funnels," and so on; conscientious explanations which a german tourist of our own times might think it superfluous to offer to his compatriots. it is also instructive to read that the light-fingered gentry of the metropolis were nearly as adroit in their calling as they are at present, after three additional centuries of development for their delicate craft; for the learned tobias salander, the travelling companion of paul hentzner, finding himself at a lord mayor's show, was eased of his purse, containing nine crowns, as skilfully as the feat could have been done by the best pickpocket of the nineteenth century, much to that learned person's discomfiture. into such an england and among such english the netherland envoys had now been despatched on their most important errand. after twice putting back, through stress of weather, the commissioners, early in july, arrived at london, and were "lodged and very worshipfully appointed at charges of her majesty in the clothworkers' hall in pynchon-lane, near tower-street." about the tower and its faubourgs the buildings were stated to be as elegant as they were in the city itself, although this was hardly very extravagant commendation. from this district a single street led along the river's strand to westminster, where were the old and new palaces, the famous hall and abbey, the parliament chambers, and the bridge to southwark, built of stone, with twenty arches, sixty feet high, and with rows of shops and dwelling-houses on both its sides. thence, along the broad and beautiful river, were dotted here and there many stately mansions and villas, residences of bishops and nobles, extending farther and farther west as the city melted rapidly into the country. london itself was a town lying high upon a hill--the hill of lud--and consisted of a coil of narrow, tortuous, unseemly streets, each with a black, noisome rivulet running through its centre, and with rows of three-storied, leaden-roofed houses, built of timber-work filled in with lime, with many gables, and with the upper stories overhanging and darkening the basements. there were one hundred and twenty-one churches, small and large, the most conspicuous of which was the cathedral. old saint paul's was not a very magnificent edifice--but it was an extremely large one, for it was seven hundred and twenty feet long, one hundred and thirty broad, and had a massive quadrangular tower, two hundred and sixty feet high. upon this tower had stood a timber-steeple, rising, to a height of five hundred and thirty-four feet from the ground, but it had been struck by lightning in the year , and consumed to the stone-work. the queen's favourite residence was greenwich palace, the place of her birth, and to this mansion, on the th of july, the netherland envoys were conveyed, in royal barges, from the neighbourhood of pynchon-lane, for their first audience. the deputation was a strong one. there was falck of zeeland, a man of consummate adroitness, perhaps not of as satisfactory integrity; "a shrewd fellow and a fine," as lord leicester soon afterwards characterised him. there was menin, pensionary of dort, an eloquent and accomplished orator, and employed on this occasion as chief spokesman of the legation--"a deeper man, and, i think, an honester," said the same personage, adding, with an eye to business, "and he is but poor, which you must consider, but with great secrecy." there was paul buys, whom we have met with before; keen, subtle, somewhat loose of life, very passionate, a most most energetic and valuable friend to england, a determined foe to france, who had resigned the important post of holland's advocate, when the mission offering sovereignty to henry iii. had been resolved upon, and who had since that period been most influential in procuring the present triumph of the english policy. through his exertions the province of holland had been induced at an early moment to furnish the most ample instructions to the commissioners for the satisfaction of queen elizabeth in the great matter of the mortgages. "judge if this paul buys has done his work well," said a french agent in the netherlands, who, despite the infamous conduct of his government towards the provinces, was doing his best to frustrate the subsequent negotiation with england, "and whether or no he has holland under his thumb." the same individual had conceived hopes from falck of zeeland. that province, in which lay the great bone of contention between the queen and the states--the important town of flushing--was much slower than holland to agree to the english policy. it is to be feared that falck was not the most ingenuous and disinterested politician that could be found even in an age not distinguished for frankness or purity; for even while setting forth upon the mission to elizabeth, he was still clingihg, or affecting to cling, to the wretched delusion of french assistance. "i regret infinitely," said falck to the french agent just mentioned, "that i am employed in this affair, and that it is necessary in our present straits to have recourse to england. there is--so to speak--not a person in our province that is inclined that way, all recognizing very well that france is much more salutary for us, besides that we all bear her a certain affection. indeed, if i were assured that the king still felt any goodwill towards us, i would so manage matters that neither the queen of england, nor any other prince whatever except his most christian-majesty should take a bite at this country, at least at this province, and with that view, while waiting for news from france, i will keep things in suspense, and spin them out as long as it is possible to do." the news from france happened soon to be very conclusive, and it then became difficult even for falek to believe--after intelligence received of the accord between henry iii. and the guises--that his christian majesty, would be inclined for a bite at the netherlands. this duplicity on the part of so leading a personage furnishes a key to much of the apparent dilatoriness on the part of the english government: it has been seen that elizabeth, up to the last moment, could not fairly comprehend the ineffable meanness of the french monarch. she told ortel that she saw no reason to believe in that great catholic conspiracy against herself and against all protestantism which was so soon to be made public by the king's edict of july, promulgated at the very instant of the arrival in england of the netherland envoys. then that dread fiat had gone forth, the most determined favourer of the french alliance could no longer admit its possibility, and falck became the more open to that peculiar line of argument which leicester had suggested with regard to one of the other deputies. "i will do my best," wrote walsingham, "to procure that paul buys and falck shall receive underhand some reward." besides menin, falck, and buys, were noel de caron, an experienced diplomatist; the poet-soldier, van der does; heroic defender of leyden; de gryze, hersolte, francis maalzoon, and three legal frisians of pith and substance, feitsma, aisma, and jongema; a dozen dutchmen together--as muscular champions as ever little republic sent forth to wrestle with all comers in the slippery ring of diplomacy. for it was instinctively felt that here were conclusions to be tried with a nation of deep, solid thinkers, who were aware that a great crisis in the world's history had occurred, and would put forth their most substantial men to deal with it: burghley and walsingham, the great queen herself, were no feather-weights like the frivolous henry iii., and his minions. it was pity, however, that the discussions about to ensue presented from the outset rather the aspect of a hard hitting encounter of antagonists than that of a frank and friendly congress between two great parties whose interests were identical. since the death of william the silent, there was no one individual in the netherlands to impersonate the great struggle of the provinces with spain and rome, and to concentrate upon his own head a poetical, dramatic, and yet most legitimate interest. the great purpose of the present history must be found in its illustration of the creative power of civil and religious freedom. here was a little republic, just born into the world, suddenly bereft of its tutelary saint, left to its own resources, yet already instinct with healthy vigorous life, and playing its difficult part among friends and enemies with audacity, self-reliance, and success. to a certain extent its achievements were anonymous, but a great principle manifested itself through a series of noble deeds. statesmen, soldiers, patriots, came forward on all sides to do the work which was to be done, and those who were brought into closest contact with the commonwealth acknowledged in strongest language the signal ability with which, self-guided, she steered her course. nevertheless, there was at this moment one netherlander, the chief of the present mission to england, already the foremost statesman of his country, whose name will not soon be effaced from the record of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. that man was john of olden-barneveld. he was now in his thirty-eighth year, having been born at amersfoot on the th of september, . he bore an imposing name, for the olden-barnevelds of gelderland were a race of unquestionable and antique nobility. his enemies, however, questioned his right to the descent which he claimed. they did not dispute that the great grandfather, class van olden-barneveld, was of distinguished lineage and allied to many illustrious houses, but they denied that class was really the great grandfather of john. john's father, gerritt, they said, was a nameless outcast, a felon, a murderer, who had escaped the punishment due to his crimes, but had dragged out a miserable existence in the downs, burrowing like a rabbit in the sand. they had also much to say in disparagement of all john's connections. not only was his father a murderer, but his wife, whom he had married for money, was the child of a most horrible incest, his sisters were prostitutes, his sons and brothers were debauchees and drunkards, and, in short, never had a distinguished man a more uncomfortable and discreditable family-circle than that which surrounded barneveld, if the report of his enemies was to be believed. yet it is agreeable to reflect that, with all the venom which they had such power of secreting, these malignant tongues had been unable to destroy the reputation of the man himself. john's character was honourable and upright, his intellectual power not disputed even by those who at a later period hated him the most bitterly. he had been a profound and indefatigable student from his earliest youth. he had read law at leyden, in france, at heidelberg. here, in the head-quarters of german calvinism, his youthful mind had long pondered the dread themes of foreknowledge, judgment absolute, free will, and predestination: to believe it worth the while of a rational and intelligent deity to create annually several millions of thinking beings, who were to struggle for a brief period on earth, and to consume in perpetual brimstone afterwards, while others were predestined to endless enjoyment, seemed to him an indifferent exchange for a faith in the purgatory and paradise of rome. perplexed in the extreme, the youthful john bethought himself of an inscription over the gateway of his famous but questionable great grandfather's house at amersfort--'nil scire tutissima fides.' he resolved thenceforth to adopt a system of ignorance upon matters beyond the flaming walls of the world; to do the work before him manfully and faithfully while he walked the earth, and to trust that a benevolent creator would devote neither him nor any other man to eternal hellfire. for this most offensive doctrine he was howled at by the strictly pious, while he earned still deeper opprobrium by daring to advocate religious toleration: in face of the endless horrors inflicted by the spanish inquisition upon his native land, he had the hardihood--although a determined protestant himself--to claim for roman catholics the right to exercise their religion in the free states on equal terms with those of the reformed faith. "anyone," said his enemies, "could smell what that meant who had not a wooden nose." in brief, he was a liberal christian, both in theory and practice, and he nobly confronted in consequence the wrath of bigots on both sides. at a later period the most zealous calvinists called him pope john, and the opinions to which he was to owe such appellations had already been formed in his mind. after completing his very thorough legal studies, he had practised as an advocate in holland and zeeland. an early defender of civil and religious freedom, he had been brought at an early day into contact with william the silent, who recognized his ability. he had borne a snap-hance on his shoulder as a volunteer in the memorable attempt to relieve haarlem, and was one of the few survivors of that bloody night. he had stood outside the walls of leyden in company of the prince of orange when that magnificent destruction of the dykes had taken place by which the city had been saved from the fate impending over it. at a still more recent period we have seen him landing from the gun-boats upon the kowenstyn, on the fatal th may. these military adventures were, however, but brief and accidental episodes in his career, which was that of a statesman and diplomatist. as pensionary of rotterdam, he was constantly a member of the general assembly, and had already begun to guide the policy of the new commonwealth. his experience was considerable, and he was now in the high noon of his vigour and his usefulness. he was a man of noble and imposing presence, with thick hair pushed from a broad forehead rising dome-like above a square and massive face; a strong deeply-coloured physiognomy, with shaggy brow, a chill blue eye, not winning but commanding, high cheek bones, a solid, somewhat scornful nose, a firm mouth and chin, enveloped in a copious brown beard; the whole head not unfitly framed in the stiff formal ruff of the period; and the tall stately figure well draped in magisterial robes of velvet and sable--such was john of olden-barneveld. the commissioners thus described arrived at greenwich stairs, and were at once ushered into the palace, a residence which had been much enlarged and decorated by henry viii. they were received with stately ceremony. the presence-chamber was hung with gobelin tapestry, its floor strewn with rushes. fifty-gentlemen pensioners, with gilt battle-ages, and a throng of 'buffetiers', or beef-eaters, in that quaint old-world garb which has survived so many centuries, were in attendance, while the counsellors of the queen, in their robes of state, waited around the throne. there, in close skull-cap and dark flowing gown, was the subtle, monastic-looking walsingham, with long, grave, melancholy face and spanish eyes. there too, white staff in hand, was lord high treasurer burghley, then sixty-five years of age, with serene blue eye, large, smooth, pale, scarce-wrinkled face and forehead; seeming, with his placid, symmetrical features, and great velvet bonnet, under which such silver hairs as remained were soberly tucked away, and with his long dark robes which swept the ground, more like a dignified gentlewoman than a statesman, but for the wintery beard which lay like a snow-drift on his ancient breast. the queen was then in the fifty-third year of her age, and considered herself in the full bloom of her beauty. her, garments were of satin and velvet, with fringes of pearl as big as beans. a small gold crown was upon her head, and her red hair, throughout its multiplicity of curls, blazed with diamonds and emeralds. her forehead was tall, her face long, her complexion fair, her eyes small, dark, and glittering, her nose high and hooked, her lips thin, her teeth black, her bosom white and liberally exposed. as she passed through the ante-chamber to the presence-hall, supplicants presented petitions upon their knees. wherever she glanced, all prostrated themselves on the ground. the cry of "long live queen elizabeth" was spontaneous and perpetual; the reply; "i thank you, my good people," was constant and cordial. she spoke to various foreigners in their respective languages, being mistress, besides the latin and greek, of french, spanish, italian, and german. as the commissioners were presented to her by lord buckhurst it was observed that she was perpetually gloving and ungloving, as if to attract attention to her hand, which was esteemed a wonder of beauty. she spoke french with purity and elegance, but with a drawling, somewhat affected accent, saying "paar maa foi; paar le dieeu vivaant," and so forth, in a style which was ridiculed by parisians, as she sometimes, to her extreme annoyance, discovered. joos de menin, pensionary of dort, in the name of all the envoys, made an elaborate address. he expressed the gratitude which the states entertained for her past kindness, and particularly for the good offices rendered by ambassador davison after the death of the prince of orange, and for the deep regret expressed by her majesty for their disappointment in the hopes they had founded upon france. "since the death of the prince of orange," he said, "the states have lost many important cities, and now, for the preservation of their existence, they have need of a prince and sovereign lord to defend them against the tyranny and iniquitous oppression of the spaniards and their adherents, who are more and more determined utterly to destroy their country, and reduce the poor people to a perpetual slavery worse than that of indians, under the insupportable and detestable yoke of the spanish inquisition. we have felt a confidence that your majesty will not choose to see us perish at the hands of the enemy against whom we have been obliged to sustain this long and cruel war. that war we have undertaken in order to preserve for the poor people their liberty, laws, and franchises, together with the exercise of the true christian religion, of which your majesty bears rightfully the title of defender, and against which the enemy and his allies have made so many leagues and devised so many ambushes and stratagems, besides organizing every day so many plots against the life of your majesty and the safety of your realms--schemes which thus far the good god has averted for the good of christianity and the maintenance of his churches. for these reasons, madam, the states have taken a firm resolution to have recourse to your majesty, seeing that it is an ordinary thing for all oppressed nations to apply in their calamity to neighbouring princes, and especially to such as are endowed with piety, justice, magnanimity, and other kingly virtues. for this reason we have been deputed to offer to your majesty the sovereignty over these provinces, under certain good and equitable conditions, having reference chiefly to the maintenance of the reformed religion and of our ancient liberties and customs. and although, in the course of these long and continued wars, the enemy has obtained possession of many cities and strong places within our couniry, nevertheless the provinces of holland, zeeland, utrecht, and friesland, are, thank god, still entire. and in those lands are many large and stately cities, beautiful and deep rivers, admirable seaports, from which your majesty and your successors can derive much good fruit and commodity, of which it is scarcely, necessary to make a long recital. this point, however, beyond the rest, merits a special consideration; namely, that the conjunction of those provinces of holland, zeeland, utrecht, and friesland, together with the cities of sluys and ostend, with the kingdoms of your majesty, carries with it the absolute empire of the great ocean, and consequently an assurance of perpetual felicity for your subjects. we therefore humbly entreat you to agree to our conditions, to accept the sovereign seignory of these provinces, and consequently to receive the people of the same as your very humble and obedient subjects, under the perpetual safeguard of your crown--a people certainly as faithful and loving towards their princes and sovereign lords, to speak without boasting, as any in all christendom. "so doing, madam, you will preserve many beautiful churches which it has pleased god to raise up in these lands, now much afflicted and shaken, and you will deliver this country and people--before the iniquitous invasion of the spaniards, so rich and flourishing by the great commodity of the sea, their ports and rivers, their commerce and manufactures, for all which they have such natural advantages--from ruin and perpetual slavery of body and soul. this will be a truly excellent work, agreeable to god, profitable to christianity, worthy of immortal praise, and comporting with the heroic virtues of your majesty, and ensuring the prosperity of your country and people. with this we present to your majesty our articles and conditions, and pray that the king of kings may preserve you from all your enemies and ever have you in his holy keeping." the queen listened intently and very courteously to the delivery of this address, and then made answer in french to this effect:--"gentlemen,--had i a thousand tongues i should not be able to express my obligation to you for the great and handsome offers which you have just made. i firmly believe that this proceeds from the true zeal, devotion, and affection, which you have always borne me, and i am certain that you have ever preferred me to all the princes and potentates in the world. even when you selected the late duke of anjou, who was so dear to me, and to whose soul i hope that god has been merciful, i know that you would sooner have offered your country to me if i had desired that you should do so. certainly i esteem it a great thing that you wish to be governed by me, and i feel so much obliged to you in consequence that i will never abandon you, but, on the contrary, assist you till the last sigh of my life. i know very well that your princes have treated you ill, and that the spaniards are endeavouring to ruin you entirely; but i will come to your aid, and i will consider what i can do, consistently with my honour, in regard to the articles which you have brought me. they shall be examined by the members of my council, and i promise that i will not keep you three or four months, for i know very well that your affairs require haste, and that they will become ruinous if you are not assisted. it is not my custom to procrastinate, and upon this occasion i shall not dally, as others have done, but let you have my answer very soon." certainly, if the provinces needed a king, which they had most unequivocally declared to be the case, they might have wandered the whole earth over, and, had it been possible, searched through the whole range of history, before finding a monarch with a more kingly spirit than the great queen to whom they had at last had recourse. unfortunately, she was resolute in her refusal to accept the offered sovereignty. the first interview terminated with this exchange of addresses, and the deputies departed in their barges for their lodgings in pynchon-lane. the next two days were past in perpetual conferences, generally at lord burghley's house, between the envoys and the lords of the council, in which the acceptance of the sovereignty was vehemently urged on the part of the netherlanders, and steadily declined in the name of her majesty. "her highness," said burghley, "cannot be induced, by any writing or harangue that you can make, to accept the principality or proprietorship as sovereign, and it will therefore be labour lost for you to exhibit any writing for the purpose of changing her intention. it will be better to content yourselves with her majesty's consent to assist you, and to take you under her protection." nevertheless, two days afterwards, a writing was exhibited, drawn up by menin, in which another elaborate effort was made to alter the queen's determination. this anxiety, on the part of men already the principal personages in a republic, to merge the independent existence of their commonwealth in another and a foreign political organism, proved, at any rate; that they were influenced by patriotic motives alone. it is also instructive to observe the intense language with which the necessity of a central paramount sovereignty for all the provinces, and the inconveniences of the separate states' right principle were urged by a deputation, at the head of which stood olden-barneveld. "although it is not becoming in us," said they, "to enquire into your majesty's motives for refusing the sovereignty of our country, nevertheless, we cannot help observing that your consent would be most profitable, as well to your majesty, and your successors, as to the provinces themselves. by your acceptance of the sovereignty the two peoples would be, as it were, united in one body. this would cause a fraternal benevolence between them, and a single reverence, love, and obedience to your majesty.--the two peoples being thus under the government of the same sovereign prince, the intrigues and practices which the enemy could attempt with persons under a separate subjection, would of necessity surcease. moreover, those provinces are all distinct duchies, counties, seignories, governed by their own magistrates, laws, and ordinances; each by itself, without any authority or command to be exercised by one province over another. to this end they have need of a supreme power and of one sovereign prince or seignor, who may command all equally, having a constant regard to the public weal--considered as a generality, and not with regard to the profit of the one or the other individual province--and, causing promptly and universally to be executed such ordinances as may be made in the matter of war or police, according to various emergencies. each province, on the contrary, retaining its sovereignty over its own inhabitants, obedience will not be so promptly and completely rendered to the commands of the lieutenant-general of your majesty, and many, a good enterprise and opportunity, will be lost. where there is not a single authority it is always found that one party endeavours to usurp power over another, or to escape doing his duty so thoroughly as the others. and this has notoriously been the case in the matter of contributions, imposts, and similar matters." thus much, and more of similar argument, logically urged, made it sufficiently evident that twenty years of revolt and of hard fighting against one king, had not destroyed in the minds of the leading netherlanders their conviction of the necessity of kingship. if the new commonwealth was likely to remain a republic, it was, at that moment at any rate, because they could not find a king. certainly they did their best to annex themselves to england, and to become loyal subjects of england's elizabeth. but the queen, besides other objections to the course proposed by the provinces, thought that she could do a better thing in the way of mortgages. in this, perhaps, there was something of the penny-wise policy, which sprang from one great defect in her character. at any rate much mischief was done by the mercantile spirit which dictated the hard chaffering on both sides the channel at this important juncture; for during this tedious flint-paring, antwerp, which might have been saved, was falling into the hands of philip. it should never be forgotten, however, that the queen had no standing army, and but a small revenue. the men to be sent from england to the netherland wars were first to be levied wherever it was possible to find them. in truth, many were pressed in the various wards of london, furnished with red coats and matchlocks at the expense of the citizens, and so despatched, helter-skelter, in small squads as opportunity offered. general sir john norris was already superintending these operations, by command of the queen, before the present formal negotiation with the states had begun. subsequently to the th july, on which day the second address had been made to elizabeth, the envoys had many conferences with leicester, burghley, walsingham, and other councillors, without making much progress. there was perpetual wrangling about figures and securities. "what terms will you pledge for the repayment of the monies to be advanced?" asked burghley and walsingham. "but if her majesty takes the sovereignty," answered the deputies, "there will be no question of guarantees. the queen will possess our whole land, and there will be no need of any repayment." "and we have told you over and over again," said the lord treasurer, "that her majesty will never think of accepting the sovereignty. she will assist you in money and men, and must be repaid to the last farthing when the war is over; and, until that period, must have solid pledges in the shape of a town in each province." then came interrogatories as to the amount of troops and funds to be raised respectively by the queen and the states for the common cause. the provinces wished her majesty to pay one-third of the whole expense, while her majesty was reluctant to pay one-quarter. the states wished a permanent force to be kept on foot in the netherlands of thirteen thousand infantry and two thousand cavalry for the field, and twenty-three thousand for garrisons. the councillors thought the last item too much. then there were queries as to the expense of maintaining a force in the provinces. the envoys reckoned one pound sterling, or ten florins, a month for the pay of each foot soldier, including officers; and for the cavalry, three times as much. this seemed reasonable, and the answers to the inquiries touching the expense of the war-vessels and sailors were equally satisfactory. nevertheless it was difficult to bring the queen up to the line to which the envoys had been limited by their instructions. five thousand foot and one thousand horse serving at the queen's expense till the war should be concluded, over and above the garrisons for such cautionary towns as should be agreed upon; this was considered, by the states, the minimum. the queen held out for giving only four thousand foot and four hundred horse, and for deducting the garrisons even from this slender force. as guarantee for the expense thus to be incurred, she required that flushing and brill should be placed in her hands. moreover the position of antwerp complicated the negotiation. elizabeth, fully sensible of the importance of preserving that great capital, offered four thousand soldiers to serve until that city should be relieved, requiring repayment within three months after the object should have been accomplished. as special guarantee for such repayment she required sluys and ostend. this was sharp bargaining, but, at any rate, the envoys knew that the queen, though cavilling to the ninth-part of a hair, was no trifler, and that she meant to perform whatever she should promise. there was another exchange of speeches at the palace of nonesuch, on the th august; and the position of affairs and the respective attitudes of the queen and envoys were plainly characterized by the language then employed. after an exordium about the cruelty of the spanish tyranny and the enormous expense entailed by the war upon the netherlands, menin, who, as usual, was the spokesman, alluded to the difficulty which the states at last felt in maintaining themselves. "five thousand foot and one thousand horse," he said, "over and above the maintenance of garrisons in the towns to be pledged as security to your majesty, seemed the very least amount of succour that would be probably obtained from your royal bounty. considering the great demonstrations of affection and promises of support, made as well by your majesty's own letters as by the mouth of your ambassador davison, and by our envoys de gryse and ortel, who have all declared publicly that your majesty would never forsake us, the states sent us their deputies to this country in full confidence that such reasonable demands as we had been authorized to make would be satisfied." the speaker then proceeded to declare that the offer made by the royal councillors of four thousand foot and four hundred horse, to serve during the war, together with a special force of four thousand for the relief of antwerp, to be paid for within three months after the siege should be raised, against a concession of the cities of flushing, brill, sluys, and ostend, did not come within the limitations of the states-general. they therefore begged the queen to enlarge her offer to the number of five thousand foot and one thousand horse, or at least to allow the envoys to conclude the treaty provisionally, and subject to approval of their constituents. so soon as menin had concluded his address, her majesty instantly replied, with much earnestness and fluency of language. "gentlemen," she said, "i will answer you upon the first point, because it touches my honour. you say that i promised you, both by letters and through my agent davison, and also by my own lips, to assist you and never to abandon you, and that this had moved you to come to me at present. very well, masters, do you not think i am assisting you when i am sending you four thousand foot and four hundred horse to serve during the war? certainly, i think yes; and i say frankly that i have never been wanting to my word. no man shall ever say, with truth, that the queen of england had at any time and ever so slightly failed in her promises, whether to the mightiest monarch, to republics, to gentlemen, or even to private persons of the humblest condition. am i, then, in your opinion, forsaking you when i send you english blood, which i love, and which is my own blood, and which i am bound to defend? it seems to me, no. for my part i tell you again that i will never forsake you. "'sed de modo?' that is matter for agreement. you are aware, gentlemen, that i have storms to fear from many quarters--from france, scotland, ireland, and within my own kingdom. what would be said if i looked only on one side, and if on that side i employed all my resources. no, i will give my subjects no cause for murmuring. i know that my counsellors desire to manage matters with prudence; 'sed aetatem habeo', and you are to believe, that, of my own motion, i have resolved not to extend my offer of assistance, at present, beyond the amount already stated. but i don't say that at another time i may not be able to do more for you. for my intention is never to abandon your cause, always to assist you, and never more to suffer any foreign nation to have dominion over you. "it is true that you present me with two places in each of your provinces. i thank you for them infinitely, and certainly it is a great offer. but it will be said instantly, the queen of england wishes to embrace and devour everything; while, on the contrary, i only wish to render you assistance. i believe, in truth, that if other monarchs should have this offer, they would not allow such an opportunity to escape. i do not let it slip because of fears that i entertain for any prince whatever. for to think that i am not aware--doing what i am doing--that i am embarking in a war against the king of spain, is a great mistake. i know very well that the succour which i am affording you will offend him as much as if i should do a great deal more. but what care i? let him begin, i will answer him. for my part, i say again, that never did fear enter my heart. we must all die once. i know very well that many princes are my enemies, and are seeking my ruin; and that where malice is joined with force, malice often arrives at its ends. but i am not so feeble a princess that i have not the means and the will to defend myself against them all. they are seeking to take my life, but it troubles me not. he who is on high has defended me until this hour, and will keep me still, for in him do i trust. "as to the other point, you say that your powers are not extensive enough to allow your acceptance of the offer i make you. nevertheless, if i am not mistaken, i have remarked in passing--for princes look very close to words--that you would be content if i would give you money in place of men, and that your powers speak only of demanding a certain proportion of infantry and another of cavalry. i believe this would be, as you say, an equivalent, 'secundum quod'. but i say this only because you govern yourselves so precisely by the measure of your instructions. nevertheless i don't wish to contest these points with you. for very often 'dum romae disputatur saguntum perit.' nevertheless, it would be well for you to decide; and, in any event, i do not think it good that you should all take your departure, but that, on the contrary, you should leave some of your number here. otherwise it would at once be said that all was broken off, and that i had chosen to nothing for you; and with this the bad would comfort themselves, and the good would be much discouraged. "touching the last point of your demand--according to which you desire a personage of quality--i know, gentlemen, that you do not always agree very well among yourselves, and that it would be good for you to have some one to effect such agreement. for this reason i have always intended, so soon as we should have made our treaty, to send a lord of name and authority to reside with you, to assist you in governing, and to aid, with his advice, in the better direction of your affairs. "would to god that antwerp were relieved! certainly i should be very glad, and very well content to lose all that i am now expending if that city could be saved. i hope, nevertheless, if it can hold out six weeks longer, that we shall see something good. already the two thousand men of general norris have crossed, or are crossing, every day by companies. i will hasten the rest as much as possible; and i assure you, gentlemen, that i will spare no diligence. nevertheless you may, if you choose, retire with my council, and see if together you can come to some good conclusion." thus spoke elizabeth, like the wise, courageous, and very parsimonious princess that she was. alas, it was too true, that saguntum was perishing while the higgling went on at rome. had those two thousand under sir john norris and the rest of the four thousand but gone a few weeks earlier, how much happier might have been the result! nevertheless, it was thought in england that antwerp would still hold out; and, meantime, a treaty for its relief, in combination with another for permanent assistance to the provinces, was agreed upon between the envoys and the lords of council. on the th august, menin presented himself at nonesuch at the head of his colleagues, and, in a formal speech, announced the arrangement which had thus been entered into, subject to the approval of the states. again elizabeth, whose "tongue," in the homely phrase of the netherlanders, "was wonderfully well hung," replied with energy and ready eloquence. "you see, gentlemen," she said, "that i have opened the door; that i am embarking once for all with you in a war against the king of spain. very well, i am not anxious about the matter. i hope that god will aid us, and that we shall strike a good blow in your cause. nevertheless, i pray you, with all my heart, and by the affection you bear me, to treat my soldiers well; for they are my own englishmen, whom i love as i do myself. certainly it would be a great cruelty, if you should treat them ill, since they are about to hazard their lives so freely in your defence, and i am sure that my request in this regard will be received by you as it deserves. "in the next place, as you know that i am sending, as commander of these english troops, an honest gentleman, who deserves most highly for his experience in arms, so i am also informed that you have on your side a gentleman of great valour. i pray you, therefore, that good care be taken lest there be misunderstanding between these two, which might prevent them from agreeing well together, when great exploits of war are to be taken in hand. for if that should happen--which god forbid--my succour would be rendered quite useless to you. i name count hohenlo, because him alone have i heard mentioned. but i pray you to make the same recommendation to all the colonels and gentlemen in your army; for i should be infinitely sad, if misadventures should arise from such a cause, for your interest and my honour are both at stake. "in the third place, i beg you, at your return, to make a favourable report of me, and to thank the states, in my behalf, for their great offers, which i esteem so highly as to be unable to express my thanks. tell them that i shall remember them for ever. i consider it a great honour, that from the commencement, you have ever been so faithful to me, and that with such great constancy you have preferred me to all other princes, and have chosen me for your queen. and chiefly do i thank the gentlemen of holland and zeeland, who, as i have been informed, were the first who so singularly loved me. and so on my own part i will have a special care of them, and will do my best to uphold them by every possible means, as i will do all the rest who have put their trust in me. but i name holland and zeeland more especially, because they have been so constant and faithful in their efforts to assist the rest in shaking off the yoke of the enemy. "finally, gentlemen, i beg you to assure the states that i do not decline the sovereignty of your country from any dread of the king of spain. for i take god to witness that i fear him not; and i hope, with the blessing of god, to make such demonstrations against him, that men shall say the queen of england does not fear the spaniards." elizabeth then smote herself upon the breast, and cried, with great energy, "'illa que virgo viri;' and is it not quite the same to you, even if i do not assume the sovereignty, since i intend to protect you, and since therefore the effects will be the same? it is true that the sovereignty would serve to enhance my grandeur, but i am content to do without it, if you, upon your own part, will only do your duty. "for myself, i promise you, in truth, that so long as i live, and even to my last sigh, i will never forsake you. go home and tell this boldly to the states which sent you hither." menin then replied with fresh expressions of thanks and compliments, and requested, in conclusion, that her majesty would be pleased to send, as soon as possible, a personage of quality to the netherlands. "gentlemen," replied elizabeth, "i intend to do this, so soon as our treaty shall be ratified, for, in contrary case, the king of spain, seeing your government continue on its present footing, would do nothing but laugh at us. certainly i do not mean this year to provide him with so fine a banquet." etext editor's bookmarks: anarchy which was deemed inseparable from a non-regal form dismay of our friends and the gratification of our enemies her teeth black, her bosom white and liberally exposed (eliz.) holland was afraid to give a part, although offering the whole resolved thenceforth to adopt a system of ignorance say "'tis pity he is not an englishman" seeking protection for and against the people three hundred and upwards are hanged annually in london we must all die once wrath of bigots on both sides history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter vi., part . sir john norris sent to holland--parsimony of elizabeth--energy of davison--protracted negotiations--friendly sentiments of count maurice--letters from him and louisa de coligny--davison vexed by the queen's caprice--dissatisfaction of leicester--his vehement complaints--the queen's avarice--perplexity of davison--manifesto of elizabeth--sir philip sidney--his arrival at flushing. the envoys were then dismissed, and soon afterwards a portion of the deputation took their departure from the netherlands with the proposed treaty. it was however, as we know, quite too late for saguntum. two days after the signing of the treaty, the remaining envoys were at the palace of nonesuch, in conference with the earl of leicester, when a gentleman rushed suddenly into the apartment, exclaiming with great manifestations of anger: "antwerp has fallen! a treaty has been signed with the prince of parma. aldegonde is the author of it all. he is the culprit, who has betrayed us;" with many more expressions of vehement denunciation. the queen was disappointed, but stood firm. she had been slow in taking her resolution, but she was unflinching when her mind was made up. instead of retreating from her, position, now that it became doubly dangerous, she advanced several steps nearer towards her allies. for it was obvious, if more precious time should be lost, that holland and zeeland would share the fate of antwerp. already the belief, that, with the loss of that city, all had been lost, was spreading both in the provinces and in england, and elizabeth felt that the time had indeed come to confront the danger. meantime the intrigues of the enemy in the independent provinces were rife. blunt roger williams wrote in very plain language to walsingham, a very few days after the capitulation of antwerp: "if her majesty means to have holland and zeeland," said he, "she must resolve presently. aldegonde hath promised the enemy to bring them to compound. here arrived already his ministers which knew all his dealings about antwerp from first to last. count maurice is governed altogether by villiers, and villiers was never worse for the english than at this hour. to be short, the people say in general, they will accept a peace, unless her majesty do sovereign them presently. all the men of war will be at her highness' devotion, if they be in credit in time. what you do, it must be done presently, for i do assure your honour there is large offers presented unto them by the enemies. if her majesty deals not roundly and resolutely with them now, it will be too late two months hence." her majesty meant to deal roundly and resolutely. her troops had already gone in considerable numbers. she wrote encouraging letters with her own hand to the states, imploring them not to falter now, even though the great city had fallen. she had long since promised never to desert them, and she was, if possible, more determined than ever to redeem her pledge. she especially recommended to their consideration general norris, commander of the forces that had been despatched to the relief of antwerp. a most accomplished officer, sprung of a house renowned for its romantic valour, sir john was the second of the six sons of lord norris of rycot, all soldiers of high reputation, "chickens of mars," as an old writer expressed himself. "such a bunch of brethren for eminent achievement," said he, "was never seen. so great their states and stomachs that they often jostled with others." elizabeth called their mother, "her own crow;" and the darkness of her hair and visage was thought not unbecoming to her martial issue, by whom it had been inherited. daughter of lord williams of tame, who had been keeper of the tower in the time of elizabeth's imprisonment, she had been affectionate and serviceable to the princess in the hour of her distress, and had been rewarded with her favour in the days of her grandeur. we shall often meet this crow-black norris, and his younger brother sir edward--the most daring soldiers of their time, posters of sea and land--wherever the buffeting was closest, or adventure the wildest on ship-board or shore, for they were men who combined much of the knight-errantry of a vanishing age with the more practical and expansive spirit of adventure that characterized the new epoch. nor was he a stranger in the netherlands. "the gentleman to whom we have committed the government of the forces going to the relief of antwerp," said elizabeth, "has already given you such proofs of his affection by the good services he has rendered you, that without recommendation on our part, he should stand already recommended. nevertheless, in respect for his quality, the house from which he is descended, and the valour which he has manifested in your own country, we desire to tell you that we hold him dear, and that he deserves also to be dear to you." when the fall of antwerp was certain, the queen sent davison, who had been for a brief period in england, back again to his post. "we have learned," she said in the letter which she sent by that envoy; "with very great regret of the surrender of antwerp. fearing lest some apprehension should take possession of the people's mind in consequence, and that some dangerous change might ensue, we send you our faithful and well-beloved davison to represent to you how much we have your affairs at heart, and to say that we are determined to forget nothing that may be necessary to your preservation. assure yourselves that we shall never fail to accomplish all that he may promise you in our behalf." yet, notwithstanding the gravity of the situation, the thorough discussion that had taken place of the whole matter, and the enormous loss which had resulted from the money-saving insanity upon both sides, even then the busy devil of petty economy was not quite exorcised. several precious weeks were wasted in renewed chafferings. the queen was willing that the permanent force should now be raised to five thousand foot and one thousand horse--the additional sixteen, hundred men being taken from the antwerp relieving-force--but she insisted that the garrisons for the cautionary towns should be squeezed out of this general contingent. the states, on the contrary, were determined to screw these garrisons out of her grip, as an additional subsidy. each party complained with reason of the other's closeness. no doubt the states were shrewd bargainers, but it would have been difficult for the sharpest hollander that ever sent a cargo of herrings to cadiz, to force open elizabeth's beautiful hand when she chose to shut it close. walsingham and leicester were alternately driven to despair by the covetousness of the one party or the other. it was still uncertain what "personage of quality" was to go to the netherlands in the queen's name, to help govern the country. leicester had professed his readiness to risk his life, estates, and reputation, in the cause, and the states particularly desired his appointment. "the name of your excellency is so very agreeable to this people," said they in a letter to the earl, "as to give promise of a brief and happy end to this grievous and almost immortal war." the queen was, or affected to be, still undecided as to the appointment. while waiting week after week for the ratifications of the treaty from holland, affairs were looking gloomy at home, and her majesty was growing very uncertain in her temper. "i see not her majesty disposed to use the service of the earl of leicester," wrote walsingham. "i suppose the lot of government will light on lord gray. i would to god the ability of his purse were answerable to his sufficiency otherwise." this was certainly a most essential deficiency on the part of lord gray, and it will soon be seen that the personage of quality to be selected as chief in the arduous and honourable enterprise now on foot, would be obliged to rely quite as much on that same ability of purse as upon the sufficiency of his brain or arm. the queen did not mean to send her favourite forth to purchase anything but honour in the netherlands; and it was not the provinces only that were likely to struggle against her parsimony. yet that parsimony sprang from a nobler motive than the mere love of pelf. dangers encompassed her on every side, and while husbanding her own exchequer, she was saving her subjects' resources. "here we are but book-worms," said walsingham, "yet from sundry quarters we hear of great practices against this poor crown. the revolt in scotland is greatly feared, and that out of hand." scotland, france, spain, these were dangerous enemies and neighbours to a maiden queen, who had a rebellious ireland to deal with on one side the channel, and alexander of parma on the other. davison experienced great inconvenience and annoyance before the definite arrangements could be made. there is no doubt that the spanish party had made great progress since the fall of antwerp. roger williams was right in advising the queen to deal "roundly and resolutely" with the states, and to "sovereign them presently." they had need of being sovereigned, for it must be confessed that the self-government which prevailed at that moment was very like no government. the death of orange, the treachery of henry iii., the triumphs of parma, disastrous facts, treading rapidly upon each other, had produced a not very unnatural effect. the peace-at-any-price party was struggling hard for the ascendancy, and the spanish partizans were doing their best to hold up to suspicion the sharp practice of the english queen. she was even accused of underhand dealing with spain, to the disadvantage of the provinces; so much had slander, anarchy, and despair, been able to effect. the states were reluctant to sign those articles with elizabeth which were absolutely necessary to their salvation. "in how doubtful and uncertain terms i found things at my coming hither," wrote davison to burghley, "how thwarted and delayed since for a resolution, and with what conditions, and for what reasons i have been finally drawn to conclude with them as i have done, your lordship may perceive by that i have written to mr. secretary. the chief difficulty has rested upon the point of entertaining the garrisons within the towns of assurance, over and besides the five thousand footmen and one thousand horse." this, as davison proceeded to observe, was considered a 'sine qua non' by the states, so that, under the perilous circumstances in which both countries were placed, he had felt it his duty to go forward as far as possible to meet their demands. davison always did his work veraciously, thoroughly, and resolutely; and it was seldom that his advice, in all matters pertaining to netherland matters, did not prove the very best that could be offered. no man knew better than he the interests and the temper of both countries. the imperious elizabeth was not fond of being thwarted, least of all by any thing savouring of the democratic principle, and already there was much friction between the tudor spirit of absolutism and the rough "mechanical" nature with which it was to ally itself in the netherlands. the economical elizabeth was not pleased at being overreached in a bargain; and, at a moment when she thought herself doing a magnanimous act, she was vexed at the cavilling with which her generosity was received. "'tis a manner of proceeding," said walsingham, "not to be allowed of, and may very well be termed mechanical, considering that her majesty seeketh no interest in that country--as monsieur and the french king did--but only their good and benefit, without regard had of the expenses of her treasure and the hazard of her subjects' lives; besides throwing herself into a present war for their sakes with the greatest prince and potentate in europe. but seeing the government of those countries resteth in the hands of merchants and advocates--the one regarding profit, the other standing upon vantage of quirks--there is no better fruit to be looked to from them." yet it was, after all, no quirk in those merchants and advocates to urge that the queen was not going to war with the great potentate for their sakes alone. to elizabeth's honour, she did thoroughly comprehend that the war of the netherlands was the war of england, of protestantism, and of european liberty, and that she could no longer, without courting her own destruction, defer taking a part in active military operations. it was no quirk, then, but solid reasoning, for the states to regard the subject in the same light. holland and england were embarked in one boat, and were to sink or swim together. it was waste of time to wrangle so fiercely over pounds and shillings, but the fault was not to be exclusively imputed to the one side or the other. there were bitter recriminations, particularly on the part of elizabeth, for it was not safe to touch too closely either the pride or the pocket of that frugal and despotic heroine. "the two thousand pounds promised by the states to norris upon the muster of the two thousand volunteers," said walsingham, "were not paid. her majesty is not a little offended therewith, seeing how little care they have to yield her satisfaction, which she imputeth to proceed rather from contempt, than from necessity. if it should fall out, however, to be such as by them is pretended, then doth she conceive her bargain to be very ill made, to join her fortune with so weak and broken an estate." already there were indications that the innocent might be made to suffer for the short-comings of the real culprits; nor would it be, the first time, or by any means the last, for davison to appear in the character of a scape-goat. "surely, sir," continued mr. secretary, "it is a thing greatly to be feared that the contributions they will yield will fall not more true in paper than in payment; which if it should so happen, it would turn some to blame, whereof you among others are to bear your part." and thus the months of september and of october wore away, and the ratifications of the treaty had not arrived from the netherlands. elizabeth became furious, and those of the netherland deputation who had remained in england were at their wits' end to appease her choler. no news arrived for many weeks. those were not the days of steam and magnetic telegraphs--inventions by which the nature of man and the aspect of history seem altered--and the queen had nothing for it but to fret, and the envoys to concert with her ministers expedients to mitigate her spleen. towards the end of the month, the commissioners chartered a vessel which they despatched for news to holland. on his way across the sea the captain was hailed on the th october by a boat, in which one hans wyghans was leisurely proceeding to england with netherland despatches dated on the th of the same month. this was the freshest intelligence that had yet been received. so soon as the envoys were put in possession of the documents, they obtained an audience of the queen. this was the last day of october. elizabeth read her letters, and listened to the apologies made by the deputies for the delay with anything but a benignant countenance. then, with much vehemence of language, and manifestations of ill-temper, she expressed her displeasure at the dilatoriness of the states. having sent so many troops, and so many gentlemen of quality, she had considered the whole affair concluded. "i have been unhandsomely treated," she said, "and not as comports with a prince of my quality. my inclination for your support--because you show yourselves unworthy of so great benefits--will be entirely destroyed, unless you deal with me and mine more worthily for the future than you have done in the past. through my great and especial affection for your welfare, i had ordered the earl of leicester to proceed to the netherlands, and conduct your affairs; a man of such quality as all the world knows, and one whom i love, as if he were my own brother. he was getting himself ready in all diligence, putting himself in many perils through the practices of the enemy, and if i should have reason to believe that he would not be respected there according to his due, i should be indeed offended. he and many others are not going thither to advance their own affairs, to make themselves rich, or because they have not means enough to live magnificently at home. they proceed to the netherlands from pure affection for your cause. this is the case, too, with many other of my subjects, all dear to me, and of much worth. for i have sent a fine heap of folk thither--in all, with those his excellency is taking with him, not under ten thousand soldiers of the english nation. this is no small succour, and no little unbaring of this realm of mine, threatened as it is with war from many quarters. yet i am seeking no sovereignty, nor anything else prejudicial to the freedom of your country. i wish only, in your utmost need, to help you out of this lamentable war, to maintain for you liberty of conscience, and to see that law and justice are preserved." all this, and more, with great eagerness of expression and gesture, was urged by the queen, much to the discomfiture of the envoys. in vain they attempted to modify and to explain. their faltering excuses were swept rapidly away upon the current of royal wrath; until at last elizabeth stormed herself into exhaustion and comparative tranquillity. she then dismissed them with an assurance that her goodwill towards the states was not diminished, as would be found to be the case, did they not continue to prove themselves unworthy of her favour that a permanent force of five thousand foot and one thousand horse should serve in the provinces at the queen's expense; and that the cities of flushing and brill should be placed in her majesty's hands until the entire reimbursement of the debt thus incurred by the states. elizabeth also--at last overcoming her reluctance--agreed that the force necessary to garrison these towns should form an additional contingent, instead of being deducted from the general auxiliary force. count maurice of nassau had been confirmed by the states of holland and zeeland as permanent stadholder of those provinces. this measure excited some suspicion on the part of leicester, who, as it was now understood, was the "personage of quality" to be sent to the netherlands as representative of the queen's authority. "touching the election of count maurice," said the earl, "i hope it will be no impairing of the authority heretofore allotted to me, for if it will be, i shall tarry but awhile." nothing, however, could be more frank or chivalrously devoted than the language of maurice to the queen. "madam, if i have ever had occasion," he wrote, "to thank god for his benefits, i confess that it was when, receiving in all humility the letters with which it pleased your majesty to honour me, i learned that the great disaster of my lord and father's death had not diminished the debonaire affection and favour which it has always pleased your majesty to manifest to my father's house. it has been likewise grateful to me to learn that your majesty, surrounded by so many great and important affairs, had been pleased to approve the command which the states-general have conferred upon me. i am indeed grieved that my actions cannot correspond with the ardent desire which i feel to serve your majesty and these provinces, for which i hope that my extreme youth will be accepted as an excuse. and although i find myself feeble enough for the charge thus imposed upon me, yet god will assist my efforts to supply by diligence and sincere intention the defect of the other qualities requisite for my thorough discharge of my duty to the contentment of your majesty. to fulfil these obligations, which are growing greater day by day, i trust to prove by my actions that i will never spare either my labour or life." when it was found that the important town of flushing was required as part of the guaranty to the queen, maurice, as hereditary seignor and proprietor of the place--during the captivity of his elder brother in spain--signified his concurrence in the transfer, together with the most friendly feelings towards the earl of leicester, and to sir philip sidney, appointed english governor of the town. he wrote to davison, whom he called "one of the best and most certain friends that the house of nassau possessed in england," begging that he would recommend the interests of the family to the queen, "whose favour could do more than anything else in the world towards maintaining what remained of the dignity of their house." after solemn deliberation with his step-mother, louisa de coligny, and the other members of his family, he made a formal announcement of adhesion on the part of the house of nassau to the arrangements concluded with the english government, and asked the benediction of god upon the treaty. while renouncing, for the moment, any compensation for his consent to the pledging of flushing his "patrimonial property, and a place of such great importance"--he expressed a confidence that the long services of his father, as well as those which he himself hoped to render, would meet in time with "condign recognition." he requested the earl of leicester to consider the friendship which had existed between himself and the late prince of orange, as an hereditary affection to be continued to the children, and he entreated the earl to do him the honour in future to hold him as a son, and to extend to him counsel and authority; declaring, on his part, that he should ever deem it an honour to be allowed to call him father. and in order still more strongly to confirm his friendship, he begged sir philip sidney to consider him as his brother, and as his companion in arms, promising upon his own part the most faithful friendship. in the name of louisa de coligny, and of his whole family, he also particularly recommended to the queen the interests of the eldest brother of the house, philip william, "who had been so long and so iniquitously detained captive in spain," and begged that, in case prisoners of war of high rank should fall into the hands of the english commanders, they might be employed as a means of effecting the liberation of that much-injured prince. he likewise desired the friendly offices of the queen to protect the principality of orange against the possible designs of the french monarch, and intimated that occasions might arise in which the confiscated estates of the family in burgundy might be recovered through the influence of the swiss cantons, particularly those of the grisons and of berne. and, in conclusion, in case the queen should please--as both count maurice and the princess of orange desired with all their hearts--to assume the sovereignty of these provinces, she was especially entreated graciously to observe those suggestions regarding the interests of the house of nassau, which had been made in the articles of the treaty. thus the path had been smoothed, mainly through the indefatigable energy of davison. yet that envoy was not able to give satisfaction to his imperious and somewhat whimsical mistress, whose zeal seemed to cool in proportion to the readiness with which the obstacles to her wishes were removed. davison was, with reason, discontented. he had done more than any other man either in england or the provinces, to bring about a hearty cooperation in the common cause, and to allay mutual heart-burnings and suspicions. he had also, owing to the negligence of the english treasurer for the netherlands, and the niggardliness of elizabeth, been placed in a position, of great financial embarrassment. his situation was very irksome. "i mused at the sentence you sent me," he wrote, "for i know no cause her majesty hath to shrink at her charges hitherto. the treasure she hath yet disbursed here is not above five or six thousand pounds, besides that which i have been obliged to take up for the saving of her honour, and necessity of her service, in danger otherwise of some notable disgrace. i will not, for shame, say how i have been left here to myself." the delay in the formal appointment of leicester, and, more particularly, of the governors for the cautionary towns, was the cause of great confusion and anarchy in the transitional condition of the country. "the burden i am driven to sustain," said davison, "doth utterly weary me. if sir philip sidney were here, and if my lord of leicester follow not all the sooner, i would use her majesty's liberty to return home. if her majesty think me worthy the reputation of a poor, honest, and loyal servant, i have that contents me. for the rest, i wish 'vivere sine invidia, mollesque inglorius annos egigere, amicitias et mihi jungere pares.'" there was something almost prophetic in the tone which this faithful public servant--to whom, on more than one occasion, such hard measure was to be dealt--habitually adopted in his private letters and conversation. he did his work, but he had not his reward; and he was already weary of place without power, and industry without recognition. "for mine own particular," he said, "i will say with the poet, 'crede mihi, bene qui latuit bene vixit, et intra fortunam debet quisque manere suam.'" for, notwithstanding the avidity with which elizabeth had sought the cautionary towns, and the fierceness with which she had censured the tardiness of the states, she seemed now half inclined to drop the prize which she had so much coveted, and to imitate the very languor which she had so lately rebuked. "she hath what she desired," said davison, "and might yet have more, if this content her not. howsoever you value the places at home, they are esteemed here, by such as know them best, no little increase to her majesty's honour, surety, and greatness, if she be as careful to keep them as happy in getting them. of this, our cold beginning doth already make me jealous." sagacious and resolute princess as she was, she showed something of feminine caprice upon this grave occasion. not davison alone, but her most confidential ministers and favourites at home, were perplexed and provoked by her misplaced political coquetries. but while the alternation of her hot and cold fits drove her most devoted courtiers out of patience, there was one symptom that remained invariable throughout all her paroxysms, the rigidity with which her hand was locked. walsingham, stealthy enough when an advantage was to be gained by subtlety, was manful and determined in his dealings with his friends; and he had more than once been offended with elizabeth's want of frankness in these transactions. "i find you grieved, and not without cause," he wrote to davison, "in respect to the over thwart proceedings as well there as here. the disorders in those countries would be easily redressed if we could take a thoroughly resolute course here--a matter that men may rather pray for than hope for. it is very doubtful whether the action now in hand will be accompanied by very hard success, unless they of the country there may be drawn to bear the greatest part of the burden of the wars." and now the great favourite of all had received the appointment which he coveted. the earl of leicester was to be commander-in-chief of her majesty's forces in the netherlands, and representative of her authority in those countries, whatever that office might prove to be. the nature of his post was anomalous from the beginning. it was environed with difficulties, not the least irritating of which proceeded from the captious spirit of the queen. the earl was to proceed in great pomp to holland, but the pomp was to be prepared mainly at his own expense. besides the auxiliary forces that had been shipped during the latter period of the year, leicester was raising a force of lancers, from four to eight hundred in number; but to pay for that levy he was forced to mortgage his own property, while the queen not only refused to advance ready money, but declined endorsing his bills. it must be confessed that the earl's courtship of elizabeth was anything at that moment but a gentle dalliance. in those thorny regions of finance were no beds of asphodel or amaranthine bowers. there was no talk but of troopers, saltpetre, and sulphur, of books of assurance, and bills of exchange; and the aspect of elizabeth, when the budget was under discussion, must effectually have neutralized for the time any very tender sentiment. the sharpness with which she clipped leicester's authority, when authority was indispensable to his dignity, and the heavy demands upon his resources that were the result of her avarice, were obstacles more than enough to the calm fruition of his triumphs. he had succeeded, in appearance at least, in the great object of his ambition, this appointment to the netherlands; but the appointment was no sinecure, and least of all a promising pecuniary speculation. elizabeth had told the envoys, with reason, that she was not sending forth that man--whom she loved as a brother--in order that he might make himself rich. on the contrary, the earl seemed likely to make himself comparatively poor before he got to the provinces, while his political power, at the moment, did not seem of more hopeful growth. leicester had been determined and consistent in this great enterprize from the beginning. he felt intensely the importance of the crisis. he saw that the time had come for swift and uncompromising action, and the impatience with which he bore the fetters imposed upon him may be easily conceived. "the cause is such," he wrote to walsingham, "that i had as lief be dead as be in the case i shall be in if this restraint hold for taking the oath there, or if some more authority be not granted than i see her majesty would i should have. i trust you all will hold hard for this, or else banish me england withal. i have sent you the books to be signed by her majesty. i beseech you return them with all haste, for i get no money till they be under seal." but her majesty would not put them under her seal, much to the favourite's discomfiture. "your letter yieldeth but cold answer," he wrote, two days afterwards. "above all things yet that her majesty doth stick at, i marvel most at her refusal to sign my book of assurance; for there passeth nothing in the earth against her profit by that act, nor any good to me but to satisfy the creditors, who were more scrupulous than needs. i did complain to her of those who did refuse to lend me money, and she was greatly offended with them. but if her majesty were to stay this, if i were half seas over, i must of necessity come back again, for i may not go without money. i beseech, if the matter be refused by her, bestow a post on me to harwich. i lie this night at sir john peters', and but for this doubt i had been to-morrow at harwich. i pray god make you all that be counsellors plain and direct to the furtherance of all good service for her majesty and the realm; and if it be the will of god to plague us that go, and you that tarry, for our sins, yet let us not be negligent to seek to please the lord." the earl was not negligent at any rate in seeking to please the queen, but she was singularly hard to please. she had never been so uncertain in her humours as at this important crisis. she knew, and had publicly stated as much, that she was "embarking in a war with the greatest potentate in europe;" yet now that the voyage had fairly commenced, and the waves were rolling around her, she seemed anxious to put back to the shore. for there was even a whisper of peace-negotiations, than which nothing could have been more ill-timed. "i perceive by your message," said leicester to walsingham, "that your peace with spain will go fast on, but this is not the way." unquestionably it was not the way, and the whisper was, for the moment at least, suppressed. meanwhile leicester had reached harwich, but the post "bestowed on him," contained, as usual, but cold comfort. he was resolved, however, to go manfully forward, and do the work before him, until the enterprise should prove wholly impracticable. it is by the light afforded by the secret never-published correspondence of the period with which we are now occupied, that the true characteristics of elizabeth, the earl of leicester, and other prominent personages, must be scanned, and the study is most important, for it was by those characteristics, in combination with other human elements embodied in distant parts of christendom, that the destiny of the world was determined. in that age, more than in our own perhaps, the influence of the individual was widely and intensely felt. historical chymistry is only rendered possible by a detection of the subtle emanations, which it was supposed would for ever elude analysis, but which survive in those secret, frequently ciphered intercommunications. philip ii., william of orange, queen elizabeth, alexander farnese, robert dudley, never dreamed--when disclosing their inmost thoughts to their trusted friends at momentous epochs--that the day would come on earth when those secrets would be no longer hid from the patient enquirer after truth. well for those whose reputations before the judgment-seat of history appear even comparatively pure, after impartial comparison of their motives with their deeds. "for mine own part, mr. secretary," wrote leicester, "i am resolved to do that which shall be fit for a poor man's honour, and honestly to obey her majesty's commandment. let the rest fall out to others, it shall not concern me. i mean to assemble myself to the camp, where my authority must wholly lie, and will there do that which in good reason and duty i shall be bound to do. i am sorry that her majesty doth deal in this sort, and if content to overthrow so willingly her own cause. if there can be means to salve this sore, i will. if not,--i tell you what shall become of me, as truly as god lives." yet it is remarkable, that, in spite of this dark intimation, the earl, after all, did not state what was to become of him if the sore was not salved. he was, however, explicit enough as to the causes of his grief, and very vehement in its manifestations. "another matter which shall concern me deeply," he said, "and all the subjects there, is now by you to be carefully considered, which is--money. i find that the money is already gone, and this now given to the treasurer will do no more than pay to the end of the month. i beseech you look to it, for by the lord! i will bear no more so miserable burdens; for if i have no money to pay them, let them come home, or what else. i will not starve them, nor stay them. there was never gentleman nor general so sent out as i am; and if neither queen nor council care to help it, but leave men desperate, as i see men shall be, that inconvenience will follow which i trust in the lord i shall be free of." he then used language about himself, singularly resembling the phraseology employed by elizabeth concerning him, when she was scolding the netherland commissioners for the dilatoriness and parsimony of the states. "for mine own part," he said, "i have taken upon me this voyage, not as a desperate nor forlorn man, but as one as well contented with his place and calling at home as any subject was ever. my cause was not, nor is, any other than the lord's and the queen's. if the queen fail, yet must i trust in the lord, and on him, i see, i am wholly to depend. i can say no more, but pray to god that her majesty never send general again as i am sent. and yet i will do what i can for her and my country." the earl had raised a choice body of lancers to accompany him to the netherlands, but the expense of the levy had come mainly upon his own purse. the queen had advanced five thousand pounds, which was much less than the requisite amount, while for the balance required, as well as for other necessary expenses, she obstinately declined to furnish leicester with funds, even refusing him, at last, a temporary loan. she violently accused him of cheating her, reclaimed money which he had wrung from her on good security, and when he had repaid the sum, objected to give him a discharge. as for receiving anything by way of salary, that was quite out of the question. at that moment he would have been only too happy to be reimbursed for what he was already out of pocket. whether elizabeth loved leicester as a brother, or better than a brother, may be a historical question, but it is no question at all that she loved money better than she did leicester. unhappy the man, whether foe or favourite, who had pecuniary transactions with her highness. "i am sorry," said the earl, "that her majesty hath so hard a conceit of me, that i should go about to cozen her, as though i had got a fee simple from her, and had it not before, or that i had not had her full release for payment of the money i borrowed. i pray god, any that did put such scruple in her, have not deceived her more than i have done. i thank god i have a clear conscience for deceiving her, and for money matters. i think i may justly say i have been the only cause of more gain to her coffers than all her chequer-men have been. but so is the hap of some, that all they do is nothing, and others that do nothing, do all, and have all the thanks. but i would this were all the grief i carry with me; but god is my comfort, and on him i cast all, for there is no surety in this world beside. what hope of help can i have, finding her majesty so strait with myself as she is? i did trust that--the cause being hers and this realm's--if i could have gotten no money of her merchants, she would not have refused to have lent money on so easy prized land as mine, to have been gainer and no loser by it. her majesty, i see, will make trial of me how i love her, and what will discourage me from her service. but resolved am i that no worldly respect shall draw me back from my faithful discharge of my duty towards her, though she shall show to hate me, as it goeth very near; for i find no love or favour at all. and i pray you to remember that i have not had one penny of her majesty towards all these charges of mine--not one penny-and, by all truth, i have already laid out above five thousand pounds. her majesty appointed eight thousand pounds for the levy, which was after the rate of four hundred horse, and, upon my fidelity, there is shipped, of horse of service, eight hundred, so that there ought eight thousand more to have been paid me. no general that ever went that was not paid to the uttermost of these things before he went, but had cash for his provision, which her majesty would not allow me--not one groat. well, let all this go, it is like i shall be the last shall bear this, and some must suffer for the people. good mr. secretary, let her majesty know this, for i deserve god-a-mercy, at the least." leicester, to do him justice, was thoroughly alive to the importance of the crisis. on political principle, at any rate, he was a firm supporter of protestantism, and even of puritanism; a form of religion which elizabeth detested, and in which, with keen instinct, she detected a mutinous element against the divine right of kings. the earl was quite convinced of the absolute necessity that england should take up the netherland matter most vigorously, on pain of being herself destroyed. all the most sagacious counsellors of elizabeth were day by day more and more confirmed in this opinion, and were inclined heartily to support the new lieutenant-general. as for leicester himself, while fully conscious of his own merits, and of his firm intent to do his duty, he was also grateful to those who were willing to befriend him in his arduous enterprise. "i have received a letter from my lord willoughby," he said, "to my seeming, as wise a letter as i have read a great while, and not unfit for her majesty's sight. i pray god open her eyes, that they may behold her present estate indeed, and the wonderful means that god doth offer unto her. if she lose these opportunities, who can look for other but dishonour and destruction? my lord treasurer hath also written me a most hearty and comfortable letter touching this voyage, not only in showing the importance of it, both for her majesty's own safety and the realm's, but that the whole state of religion doth depend thereon, and therefore doth faithfully promise his whole and best assistance for the supply of all wants. i was not a little glad to receive such a letter from him at this time." and from on board the 'amity,' ready to set sail, he expressed his thanks to burghley, at finding him so "earnestly bent for the good supply and maintenance of us poor men sent in her majesty's service and our country's." as for walsingham, earnestly a defender of the netherland cause from the beginning, he was wearied and disgusted with fighting against the queen's parsimony and caprice. "he is utterly discouraged," said leicester to burghley, "to deal any more in these causes. i pray god your lordship grow not so too; for then all will to the ground; on my poor side especially." and to sir francis himself, he wrote, even as his vessel was casting off her moorings:--"i am sorry, mr. secretary," he said, "to find you so discouraged, and that her majesty doth deem you so partial. and yet my suits to her majesty have not of late been so many nor great, while the greatest, i am sure, are for her majesty's own service. for my part, i will discharge my duty as far as my poor ability and capacity shall serve, and if i shall not have her gracious and princely support and supply, the lack will be to us, for the present, but the shame and dishonour will be hers." and with these parting words the earl committed himself to the december seas. davison had been meantime doing his best to prepare the way in the netherlands for the reception of the english administration. what man could do, without money and without authority, he had done. the governors for flushing and the brill, sir philip sidney and sir thomas cecil, eldest son of lord burghley, had been appointed, but had not arrived. their coming was anxiously looked for, as during the interval the condition of the garrisons was deplorable. the english treasurer--by some unaccountable and unpardonable negligence, for which it is to be feared the queen was herself to blame--was not upon the spot, and davison was driven out of his wits to devise expedients to save the soldiers from starving. "your lordship has seen by my former letters," wrote the ambassador to burghley from flushing, "what shift i have been driven to for the relief of this garrison here, left 'a l'abandon;' without which means they had all fallen into wild and shameful disorder, to her majesty's great disgrace and overthrow of her service. i am compelled, unless i would see the poor men famish, and her majesty dishonoured, to try my poor credit for them." general sir john norris was in the betuwe, threatening nvymegen, a town which he found "not so flexible as he had hoped;" and, as he had but two thousand men, while alexander farnese was thought to be marching upon him with ten thousand, his position caused great anxiety. meantime, his brother, sir edward, a hot-headed and somewhat wilful young man, who "thought that all was too little for him," was giving the sober davison a good deal of trouble. he had got himself into a quarrel, both with that envoy and with roger williams, by claiming the right to control military matters in flushing until the arrival of sidney. "if sir thomas and sir philip," said davison, "do not make choice of more discreet, staid, and expert commanders than those thrust into these places by mr. norris, they will do themselves a great deal of worry, and her majesty a great deal of hurt." as might naturally be expected, the lamentable condition of the english soldiers, unpaid and starving--according to the report of the queen's envoy himself--exercised anything but a salutary influence upon the minds of the netherlanders and perpetually fed the hopes of the spanish partizans that a composition with philip and parma would yet take place. on the other hand, the states had been far more liberal in raising funds than the queen had shown herself to be, and were somewhat indignant at being perpetually taunted with parsimony by her agents. davison was offended by the injustice of norris in this regard. "the complaints which the general hath made of the states to her majesty," said he, "are without cause, and i think, when your lordship shall examine it well, you will find it no little sum they have already disbursed unto him for their part. wherein, nevertheless, if they had been looked into, they were somewhat the more excusable, considering how ill our people at her majesty's entertainment were satisfied hitherto--a thing that doth much prejudice her reputation, and hurt her service." at last, however, the die had been cast. the queen, although rejecting the proposed sovereignty of the netherlands, had espoused their cause, by solemn treaty of alliance, and thereby had thrown down the gauntlet to spain. she deemed it necessary, therefore, out of respect for the opinions of mankind, to issue a manifesto of her motives to the world. the document was published, simultaneously in dutch, french, english, and italian. in this solemn state-paper she spoke of the responsibility of princes to the almighty, of the ancient friendship between england and the netherlands, of the cruelty and tyranny of the spaniards, of their violation of the liberties of the provinces, of their hanging, beheading, banishing without law and against justice, in the space of a few months, so many of the highest nobles in the land. although in the beginning of the cruel persecution, the pretext had been the maintenance of the catholic religion, yet it was affirmed they had not failed to exercise their barbarity upon catholics also, and even upon ecclesiastics. of the principal persons put to death, no one, it was asserted, had been more devoted to the ancient church than was the brave count egmont, who, for his famous victories in the service of spain, could never be forgotten in veracious history any more than could be the cruelty of his execution. the land had been made desolate, continued the queen, with fire, sword, famine, and murder. these misfortunes had ever been bitterly deplored by friendly nations, and none could more truly regret such sufferings than did the english, the oldest allies, and familiar neighbours of the provinces, who had been as close to them in the olden time by community of connexion and language, as man and wife. she declared that she had frequently, by amicable embassies, warned her brother of spain--speaking to him like a good, dear sister and neighbour--that unless he restrained the cruelty of his governors and their soldiers, he was sure to force his provinces into allegiance to some other power. she expressed the danger in which she should be placed if the spaniards succeeded in establishing their absolute government in the netherlands, from which position their attacks upon england would be incessant. she spoke of the enterprise favoured and set on foot by the pope and by spain, against the kingdom of ireland. she alluded to the dismissal of the spanish envoy, don bernardino de mendoza, who had been treated by her with great regard for a long time, but who had been afterwards discovered in league with certain ill-disposed and seditious subjects of hers, and with publicly condemned traitors. that envoy had arranged a plot according to which, as appeared by his secret despatches, an invasion of england by a force of men, coming partly from spain, and partly from the netherlands, might be successfully managed, and he had even noted down the necessary number of ships and men, with various other details. some of the conspirators had fled, she observed, and were now consorting with mendoza, who, after his expulsion from england, had been appointed ambassador in paris; while some had been arrested, and had confessed the plot. so soon as this envoy had been discovered to be the chief of a rebellion and projected invasion, the queen had requested him, she said, to leave the kingdom within a reasonable time, as one who was the object of deadly hatred to the english people. she had then sent an agent to spain, in order to explain the whole transaction. that agent had not been allowed even to deliver despatches to the king. when the french had sought, at a previous period, to establish their authority in scotland, even as the spaniards had attempted to do in the netherlands, and through the enormous ambition of the house of guise, to undertake the invasion of her kingdom, she had frustrated their plots, even as she meant to suppress these spanish conspiracies. she spoke of the prince of parma as more disposed by nature to mercy and humanity, than preceding governors had been, but as unable to restrain the blood-thirstiness of spaniards, increased by long indulgence. she avowed, in assuming the protection of the netherlands, and in sending her troops to those countries, but three objects: peace, founded upon the recognition of religious freedom in the provinces, restoration of their ancient political liberties, and security for england. never could there be tranquillity, for her own realm until these neighbouring countries were tranquil. these were her ends and aims, despite all that slanderous tongues might invent. the world, she observed, was overflowing with blasphemous libels, calumnies, scandalous pamphlets; for never had the devil been so busy in supplying evil tongues with venom against the professors of the christian religion. she added that in a pamphlet, ascribed to the archbishop of milan, just published, she had been accused of ingratitude to the king of spain, and of plots to take the life of alexander farnese. in answer to the first charge, she willingly acknowledged her obligations to the king of spain during the reign of her sister. she pronounced it, however, an absolute falsehood that he had ever saved her life, as if she had ever been condemned to death. she likewise denied earnestly the charge regarding the prince of parma. she protested herself incapable of such a crime, besides declaring that he had never given her offence. on the contrary, he was a man whom she had ever honoured for the rare qualities that she had noted in him, and for which he had deservedly acquired a high reputation. such, in brief analysis, was the memorable declaration of elizabeth in favour of the netherlands--a document which was a hardly disguised proclamation of war against philip. in no age of the world could an unequivocal agreement to assist rebellious subjects, with men and money, against their sovereign, be considered otherwise than as a hostile demonstration. the king of spain so regarded the movement, and forthwith issued a decree, ordering the seizure of all english as well as all netherland vessels within his ports, together with the arrest of persons, and confiscation of property. subsequently to the publication of the queen's memorial, and before the departure of the earl of leicester, sir philip sidney, having received his appointment, together with the rank of general of cavalry, arrived in the isle of walcheren, as governor of flushing, at the head of a portion of the english contingent. it is impossible not to contemplate with affection so radiant a figure, shining through the cold mists of that zeeland winter, and that distant and disastrous epoch. there is hardly a character in history upon which the imagination can dwell with more unalloyed delight. not in romantic fiction was there ever created a more attractive incarnation of martial valour, poetic genius, and purity of heart. if the mocking spirit of the soldier of lepanto could "smile chivalry away," the name alone of his english contemporary is potent enough to conjure it back again, so long as humanity is alive to the nobler impulses. "i cannot pass him over in silence," says a dusty chronicler, "that glorious star, that lively pattern of virtue, and the lovely joy of all the learned sort. it was god's will that he should be born into the world, even to show unto our age a sample of ancient virtue." the descendant of an ancient norman race, and allied to many of the proudest nobles in england, sidney himself was but a commoner, a private individual, a soldier of fortune. he was now in his thirty second year, and should have been foremost among the states men of elizabeth, had it not been, according to lord bacon, a maxim of the cecils, that "able men should be by design and of purpose suppressed." whatever of truth there may have been in the bitter remark, it is certainly strange that a man so gifted as sidney--of whom his father-in-law walsingham had declared, that "although he had influence in all countries, and a hand upon all affairs, his philip did far overshoot him with his own bow"--should have passed so much of his life in retirement, or in comparatively insignificant employments. the queen, as he himself observed, was most apt to interpret everything to his disadvantage. among those who knew him well, there seems never to have been a dissenting voice. his father, sir henry sidney, lord-deputy of ireland, and president of wales, a states man of accomplishments and experience, called him "lumen familiae suae," and said of him, with pardonable pride, "that he had the most virtues which he had ever found in any man; that he was the very formular that all well-disposed young gentlemen do form their manners and life by." the learned hubert languet, companion of melancthon, tried friend of william the silent, was his fervent admirer and correspondent. the great prince of orange held him in high esteem, and sent word to queen elizabeth, that having himself been an actor in the most important affairs of europe, and acquainted with her foremost men, he could "pledge his credit that her majesty had one of the ripest and greatest councillors of state in sir philip sidney that lived in europe." the incidents of his brief and brilliant life, up to his arrival upon the fatal soil of the netherlands, are too well known to need recalling. adorned with the best culture that, in a learned age, could be obtained in the best seminaries of his native country, where, during childhood and youth, he had been distinguished for a "lovely and familiar gravity beyond his years," he rapidly acquired the admiration of his comrades and the esteem of all his teachers. travelling for three years, he made the acquaintance and gained the personal regard of such opposite characters as charles ix. of france, henry of navarre, don john of austria, and william of orange, and perfected his accomplishments by residence and study, alternately, in courts, camps, and learned universities. he was in paris during the memorable days of august, , and narrowly escaped perishing in the st. bartholomew massacre. on his return, he was, for a brief period, the idol of the english court, which, it was said, "was maimed without his company." at the age of twenty-one he was appointed special envoy to vienna, ostensibly for the purpose of congratulating the emperor rudolph upon his accession, but in reality that he might take the opportunity of sounding the secret purposes of the protestant princes of germany, in regard to the great contest of the age. in this mission, young as he was, he acquitted himself, not only to the satisfaction, but to the admiration of walsingham, certainly a master himself in that occult science, the diplomacy of the sixteenth century. "there hath not been," said he, "any gentleman, i am sure, that hath gone through so honourable a charge with as great commendations as he." when the memorable marriage-project of queen elizabeth with anjou seemed about to take effect, he denounced the scheme in a most spirited and candid letter, addressed to her majesty; nor is it recorded that the queen was offended with his frankness. indeed we are informed that "although he found a sweet stream of sovereign humours in that well-tempered lady to run against him, yet found he safety in herself against that selfness which appeared to threaten him in her." whatever this might mean, translated out of euphuism into english, it is certain that his conduct was regarded with small favour by the court-grandees, by whom "worth, duty, and justice, were looked upon with no other eyes than lamia's." the difficulty of swimming against that sweet stream of sovereign humours in the well-tempered elizabeth, was aggravated by his quarrel, at this period, with the magnificent oxford. a dispute at a tennis-court, where many courtiers and foreigners were looking on, proceeded rapidly from one extremity to another. the earl commanded sir philip to leave the place. sir philip responded, that if he were of a mind that he should go, he himself was of a mind that he should remain; adding that if he had entreated, where he had no right to command, he might have done more than "with the scourge of fury."--"this answer," says fulke greville, in a style worthy of don adriano de armado, "did, like a bellows, blowing up the sparks of excess already kindled, make my lord scornfully call sir philip by the name of puppy. in which progress of heat, as the tempest grew more and more vehement within, so did their hearts breathe out their perturbations in a more loud and shrill accent;" and so on; but the impending duel was the next day forbidden by express command of her majesty. sidney, not feeling the full force of the royal homily upon the necessity of great deference from gentlemen to their superiors in rank, in order to protect all orders from the insults of plebeians, soon afterwards retired from the court. to his sylvan seclusion the world owes the pastoral and chivalrous romance of the 'arcadia' and to the pompous earl, in consequence, an emotion of gratitude. nevertheless, it was in him to do, rather than to write, and humanity seems defrauded, when forced to accept the 'arcadia,' the `defence of poesy,' and the 'astrophel and stella,' in discharge of its claims upon so great and pure a soul. notwithstanding this disagreeable affair, and despite the memorable letter against anjou, sir philip suddenly flashes upon us again, as one of the four challengers in a tournament to honour the duke's presence in england. a vision of him in blue gilded armour--with horses caparisoned in cloth of gold, pearl-embroidered, attended by pages in cloth of silver, venetian hose, laced hats, and by gentlemen, yeomen, and trumpeters, in yellow velvet cassocks, buskins, and feathers--as one of "the four fostered children of virtuous desire" (to wit, anjou) storming "the castle of perfect beauty" (to wit, queen elizabeth, aetatis ) rises out of the cloud-dusts of ancient chronicle for a moment, and then vanishes into air again. "having that day his hand, his horse, his lance, guided so well that they attained the prize both in the judgment of our english eyes, but of some sent by that sweet enemy, france," as he chivalrously sings, he soon afterwards felt inclined for wider fields of honourable adventure. it was impossible that knight-errant so true should not feel keenest sympathy with an oppressed people struggling against such odds, as the netherlanders were doing in their contest with spain. so soon as the treaty with england was arranged, it was his ambition to take part in the dark and dangerous enterprise, and, being son-in-law to walsingham and nephew to leicester, he had a right to believe that his talents and character would, on this occasion, be recognised. but, like his "very friend," lord willoughby, he was "not of the genus reptilia, and could neither creep nor crouch," and he failed, as usual, to win his way to the queen's favour. the governorship of flushing was denied him, and, stung to the heart by such neglect, he determined to seek his fortune beyond the seas. "sir philip hath taken a very hard resolution," wrote walsingham to davison, "to accompany sir francis drake in this voyage, moved thereto for that he saw her majesty disposed to commit the charge of flushing unto some other; which he reputed would fall out greatly to his disgrace, to see another preferred before him, both for birth and judgment inferior unto him. the despair thereof and the disgrace that he doubted he should receive have carried him into a different course." the queen, however, relenting at last, interfered to frustrate his design. having thus balked his ambition in the indian seas, she felt pledged to offer him the employment which he had originally solicited, and she accordingly conferred upon him the governorship of flushing, with the rank of general of horse, under the earl of leicester. in the latter part of november, he cast anchor, in the midst of a violent storm, at rammekins, and thence came to the city of his government. young, and looking even younger than his years--"not only of an excellent wit, but extremely beautiful of face"--with delicately chiselled anglo-norman features, smooth fair cheek, a faint moustache, blue eyes, and a mass of amber-coloured hair; such was the author of 'arcadia' and the governor of flushing. and thus an anglo-norman representative of ancient race had come back to the home of his ancestors. scholar, poet, knight-errant, finished gentleman, he aptly typified the result of seven centuries of civilization upon the wild danish pirate. for among those very quicksands of storm-beaten walachria that wondrous normandy first came into existence whose wings were to sweep over all the high places of christendom. out of these creeks, lagunes, and almost inaccessible sandbanks, those bold freebooters sailed forth on their forays against england, france, and other adjacent countries, and here they brought and buried the booty of many a wild adventure. here, at a later day, rollo the dane had that memorable dream of leprosy, the cure of which was the conversion of north gaul into normandy, of pagans into christians, and the subsequent conquest of every throne in christendom from ultima thule to byzantium. and now the descendant of those early freebooters had come back to the spot, at a moment when a wider and even more imperial swoop was to be made by their modern representatives. for the sea-kings of the sixteenth century--the drakes, hawkinses, frobishers, raleighs, cavendishes--the de moors, heemskerks, barendts--all sprung of the old pirate-lineage, whether called englanders or hollanders, and instinct with the same hereditary love of adventure, were about to wrestle with ancient tyrannies, to explore the most inaccessible regions, and to establish new commonwealths in worlds undreamed of by their ancestors--to accomplish, in short, more wondrous feats than had been attempted by the knuts, and rollos, rurics, ropers, and tancreds, of an earlier age. the place which sidney was appointed to govern was one of great military and commercial importance. flushing was the key to the navigation of the north seas, ever since the disastrous storm of a century before, in which a great trading city on the outermost verge of the island had been swallowed bodily by the ocean. the emperor had so thoroughly recognized its value, as to make special mention of the necessity for its preservation, in his private instructions to philip, and now the queen of england had confided it to one who was competent to appreciate and to defend the prize. "how great a jewel this place (flushing) is to the crown of england," wrote sidney to his uncle leicester, "and to the queen's safety, i need not now write it to your lordship, who knows it so well. yet i must needs say, the better i know it, the more i find the preciousness of it." he did not enter into his government, however, with much pomp and circumstance, but came afoot into flushing in the midst of winter and foul weather. "driven to land at rammekins," said he, "because the wind began to rise in such sort as from thence our mariners durst not enter the town, i came with as dirty a walk as ever poor governor entered his charge withal." but he was cordially welcomed, nor did he arrive by any means too soon. "i find the people very glad of our coming," he said, "and promise myself as much surety in keeping this town, as popular good-will, gotten by light hopes, and by as slight conceits, may breed; for indeed the garrison is far too weak to command by authority, which is pity . . . . i think, truly, that if my coming had been longer delayed, some alteration would have followed; for the truth is, this people is weary of war, and if they do not see such a course taken as may be likely to defend them, they will in a sudden give over the cause. . . . all will be lost if government be not presently used." he expressed much anxiety for the arrival of his uncle, with which sentiments he assured the earl that the netherlanders fully sympathized. "your lordship's coming," he said, "is as much longed for as messias is of the jews. it is indeed most necessary that your lordship make great speed to reform both the dutch and english abuses." etext editor's bookmarks: able men should be by design and of purpose suppressed he did his work, but he had not his reward matter that men may rather pray for than hope for not of the genus reptilia, and could neither creep nor crouch others that do nothing, do all, and have all the thanks peace-at-any-price party the busy devil of petty economy thought that all was too little for him weary of place without power history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , - chapter vii., part . the earl of leicester--his triumphal entrance into holland--english spies about him--importance of holland to england--spanish schemes for invading england--letter of the grand commander--perilous position of england--true nature of the contest--wealth and strength of the provinces--power of the dutch and english people--affection of the hollanders for the queen--secret purposes of leicester-- wretched condition of english troops--the nassaus and hohenlo--the earl's opinion of them--clerk and killigrew--interview with the states government general offered to the earl--discussions on the subject--the earl accepts the office--his ambition and mistakes--his installation at the hague--intimations of the queen's displeasure-- deprecatory letters of leicester--davison's mission to england-- queen's anger and jealousy--her angry letters to the earl and the states--arrival of davison--stormy interview with the queen--the second one is calmer--queen's wrath somewhat mitigated--mission of heneago to the states--shirley sent to england by the earl--his interview with elizabeth at last the earl of leicester came. embarking at harwich, with a fleet of fifty ships, and attended "by the flower and chief gallants of england"--the lords sheffield, willoughby, north, burroughs, sir gervase clifton, sir william russell, sir robert sidney, and others among the number--the new lieutenant-general of the english forces in the netherlands arrived on the th december, , at flushing. his nephew, sir philip sidney, and count maurice of nassau, with a body of troops and a great procession of civil functionaries; were in readiness to receive him, and to escort him to the lodgings prepared for him. robert dudley, earl of leicester, was then fifty-four years of age. there are few personages in english history whose adventures, real or fictitious, have been made more familiar to the world than his have been, or whose individuality has been presented in more picturesque fashion, by chronicle, tragedy, or romance. born in the same day of the month and hour of the day with the queen, but two years before her birth, the supposed synastry of their destinies might partly account, in that age of astrological superstition, for the influence which he perpetually exerted. they had, moreover, been fellow-prisoners together, in the commencement of the reign of mary, and it is possible that he may have been the medium through which the indulgent expressions of philip ii. were conveyed to the princess elizabeth. his grandfather, john dudley, that "caterpillar of the commonwealth," who lost his head in the first year of henry viii. as a reward for the grist which he brought to the mill of henry vii.; his father, the mighty duke of northumberland, who rose out of the wreck of an obscure and ruined family to almost regal power, only to perish, like his predecessor, upon the scaffold, had bequeathed him nothing save rapacity, ambition, and the genius to succeed. but elizabeth seemed to ascend the throne only to bestow gifts upon her favourite. baronies and earldoms, stars and garters, manors and monopolies, castles and forests, church livings and college chancellorships, advowsons and sinecures, emoluments and dignities, the most copious and the most exalted, were conferred upon him in breathless succession. wine, oil, currants, velvets, ecclesiastical benefices, university headships, licences to preach, to teach, to ride, to sail, to pick and to steal, all brought "grist to his mill." his grandfather, "the horse leach and shearer," never filled his coffers more rapidly than did lord robert, the fortunate courtier. of his early wedlock with the ill-starred amy robsart, of his nuptial projects with the queen, of his subsequent marriages and mock-marriages with douglas sheffield and lettice of essex, of his plottings, poisonings, imaginary or otherwise, of his countless intrigues, amatory and political--of that luxuriant, creeping, flaunting, all-pervading existence which struck its fibres into the mould, and coiled itself through the whole fabric, of elizabeth's life and reign--of all this the world has long known too much to render a repetition needful here. the inmost nature and the secret deeds of a man placed so high by wealth and station, can be seen but darkly through the glass of contemporary record. there was no tribunal to sit upon his guilt. a grandee could be judged only when no longer a favourite, and the infatuation of elizabeth for leicester terminated only with his life. he stood now upon the soil of the netherlands in the character of a "messiah," yet he has been charged with crimes sufficient to send twenty humbler malefactors to the gibbet. "i think," said a most malignant arraigner of the man, in a published pamphlet, "that the earl of leicester hath more blood lying upon his head at this day, crying for vengeance, than ever had private man before, were he never so wicked." certainly the mass of misdemeanours and infamies hurled at the head of the favourite by that "green-coated jesuit," father parsons, under the title of 'leycester's commonwealth,' were never accepted as literal verities; yet the value of the precept, to calumniate boldly, with the certainty that much of the calumny would last for ever, was never better illustrated than in the case of robert dudley. besides the lesser delinquencies of filling his purse by the sale of honours and dignities, by violent ejectments from land, fraudulent titles, rapacious enclosures of commons, by taking bribes for matters of justice, grace, and supplication to the royal authority, he was accused of forging various letters to the queen, often to ruin his political adversaries, and of plottings to entrap them into conspiracies, playing first the comrade and then the informer. the list of his murders and attempts to murder was almost endless. "his lordship hath a special fortune," saith the jesuit, "that when he desireth any woman's favour, whatsoever person standeth in his way hath the luck to die quickly." he was said to have poisoned alice drayton, lady lennox, lord sussex, sir nicholas throgmorton, lord sheffield, whose widow he married and then poisoned, lord essex, whose widow he also married, and intended to poison, but who was said to have subsequently poisoned him--besides murders or schemes for murder of various other individuals, both french and english. "he was a rare artist in poison," said sir robert naunton, and certainly not caesar borgia, nor his father or sister, was more accomplished in that difficult profession than was dudley, if half the charges against him could be believed. fortunately for his fame, many of them were proved to be false. sir henry sidney, lord deputy of ireland, at the time of the death of lord essex, having caused a diligent inquiry to be made into that dark affair, wrote to the council that it was usual for the earl to fall into a bloody flux when disturbed in his mind, and that his body when opened showed no signs of poison. it is true that sir henry, although an honourable man, was leicester's brother-in-law, and that perhaps an autopsy was not conducted at that day in ireland on very scientific principles. his participation in the strange death of his first wife was a matter of current belief among his contemporaries. "he is infamed by the death of his wife," said burghley, and the tale has since become so interwoven with classic and legendary fiction, as well as with more authentic history, that the phantom of the murdered amy robsart is sure to arise at every mention of the earl's name. yet a coroner's inquest--as appears from his own secret correspondence with his relative and agent at cumnor--was immediately and persistently demanded by dudley. a jury was impaneled--every man of them a stranger to him, and some of them enemies. antony forster, appleyard, and arthur robsart, brother-in-law and brother of the lady, were present, according to dudley's special request; "and if more of her friends could have been sent," said he, "i would have sent them;" but with all their minuteness of inquiry, "they could find," wrote blount, "no presumptions of evil," although he expressed a suspicion that "some of the jurymen were sorry that they could not." that the unfortunate lady was killed by a fall down stairs was all that could be made of it by a coroner's inquest, rather hostile than otherwise, and urged to rigorous investigation by the supposed culprit himself. nevertheless, the calumny has endured for three centuries, and is likely to survive as many more. whatever crimes dudley may have committed in the course of his career, there is no doubt whatever that he was the most abused man in europe. he had been deeply wounded by the jesuit's artful publication, in which all the misdeeds with which he was falsely or justly charged were drawn up in awful array, in a form half colloquial, half judicial. "you had better give some contentment to my lord leicester," wrote the french envoy from london to his government, "on account of the bitter feelings excited in him by these villainous books lately written against him." the earl himself ascribed these calumnies to the jesuits, to the guise faction, and particularly to--the queen of scots. he was said, in consequence, to have vowed an eternal hatred to that most unfortunate and most intriguing princess. "leicester has lately told a friend," wrote charles paget, "that he will persecute you to the uttermost, for that he supposeth your majesty to be privy to the setting forth of the book against him." nevertheless, calumniated or innocent he was at least triumphant over calumny. nothing could shake his hold upon elizabeth's affections. the queen scorned but resented the malignant attacks upon the reputation of her favourite. she declared "before god and in her conscience, that she knew the libels against him to be most scandalous, and such as none but an incarnate devil himself could dream to be true." his power, founded not upon genius nor virtue, but upon woman's caprice, shone serenely above the gulf where there had been so many shipwrecks. "i am now passing into another world," said sussex, upon his death-bed, to his friends, "and i must leave you to your fortunes; but beware of the gipsy, or he will be too hard for you. you know not the beast so well as i do." the "gipsy," as he had been called from his dark complexion, had been renowned in youth for the beauty of his person, being "tall and singularly well-featured, of a sweet aspect, but high foreheaded, which was of no discommendation," according to naunton. the queen, who had the passion of her father for tall and proper men, was easier won by externals, from her youth even to the days of her dotage, than befitted so very sagacious a personage. chamberlains, squires of the body, carvers, cup-bearers, gentlemen-ushers, porters, could obtain neither place nor favour at court, unless distinguished for stature, strength, or extraordinary activity. to lose a tooth had been known to cause the loss of a place, and the excellent constitution of leg which helped sir christopher hatton into the chancellorship, was not more remarkable perhaps than the success of similar endowments in other contemporaries. leicester, although stately and imposing, had passed his summer solstice. a big bulky man, with a long red face, a bald head, a defiant somewhat sinister eye, a high nose, and a little torrent of foam-white curly beard, he was still magnificent in costume. rustling in satin and feathers, with jewels in his ears, and his velvet toque stuck as airily as ever upon the side of his head, he amazed the honest hollanders, who had been used to less gorgeous chieftains. "every body is wondering at the great magnificence and splendour of his clothes," said the plain chronicler of utrecht. for, not much more than a year before, fulke greville had met at delft a man whose external adornments were simpler; a somewhat slip-shod personage, whom he thus pourtrayed: "his uppermost garment was a gown," said the euphuistic fulke, "yet such as, i confidently affirm, a mean-born student of our inns of court would not have been well disposed to walk the streets in. unbuttoned his doublet was, and of like precious matter and form to the other. his waistcoat, which showed itself under it, not unlike the best sort of those woollen knit ones which our ordinary barge-watermen row us in. his company about him, the burgesses of that beerbrewing town. no external sign of degree could have discovered the inequality of his worth or estate from that multitude. nevertheless, upon conversing with him, there was an outward passage of inward greatness." of a certainty there must have been an outward passage of inward greatness about him; for the individual in unbuttoned doublet and bargeman's waistcoat, was no other than william the silent. a different kind of leader had now descended among those rebels, yet it would be a great mistake to deny the capacity or vigorous intentions of the magnificent earl, who certainly was like to find himself in a more difficult and responsible situation than any he had yet occupied. and now began a triumphal progress through the land, with a series of mighty banquets and festivities, in which no man could play a better part than leicester. from flushing he came to middelburg, where, upon christmas eve (according to the new reckoning), there was an entertainment, every dish of which has been duly chronicled. pigs served on their feet, pheasants in their feathers, and baked swans with their necks thrust through gigantic pie-crust; crystal castles of confectionery with silver streams flowing at their base, and fair virgins leaning from the battlements, looking for their new english champion, "wine in abundance, variety of all sorts, and wonderful welcomes "--such was the bill of fare. the next day the lieutenant-general returned the compliment to the magistrates of middelburg with a tremendous feast. then came an interlude of unexpected famine; for as the earl sailed with his suite in a fleet of two hundred vessels for dort--a voyage of not many hours' usual duration--there descended a mighty frozen fog upon the waters, and they lay five whole days and nights in their ships, almost starved with hunger and cold--offering in vain a "pound of silver for a pound of bread." emerging at last from this dismal predicament, he landed at dort, and so went to rotterdam and delft, everywhere making his way through lines of musketeers and civic functionaries, amid roaring cannon, pealing bells, burning cressets, blazing tar-barrels, fiery winged dragons, wreaths of flowers, and latin orations. the farther he went the braver seemed the country, and the better beloved his. lordship. nothing was left undone, in the language of ancient chronicle, to fill the bellies and the heads of the whole company. at the close of the year he came to the hague, where the festivities were unusually magnificent. a fleet of barges was sent to escort him. peter, james, and john, met him upon the shore, while the saviour appeared walking upon the waves, and ordered his disciples to cast their nets, and to present the fish to his excellency. farther on, he was confronted by mars and bellona, who recited latin odes in his honour. seven beautiful damsels upon a stage, representing the united states, offered him golden keys; seven others equally beautiful, embodying the seven sciences, presented him with garlands, while an enthusiastic barber adorned his shop with seven score of copper basins, with a wax-light in each, together with a rose, and a latin posy in praise of queen elizabeth. then there were tiltings in the water between champions mounted upon whales, and other monsters of the deep-representatives of siege, famine, pestilence, and murder--the whole interspersed with fireworks, poetry, charades, and matthias, nor anjou, nor king philip, nor the emperor charles, in their triumphal progresses, had been received with more spontaneous or more magnificent demonstrations. never had the living pictures been more startling, the allegories more incomprehensible, the banquets more elaborate, the orations more tedious. beside himself with rapture, leicester almost assumed the god. in delft, a city which he described as "another london almost for beauty and fairness," he is said so far to have forgotten himself as to declare that his family had--in the person of lady jane grey, his father, and brother--been unjustly deprived of the crown of england; an indiscretion which caused a shudder in all who heard him. it was also very dangerous for the lieutenant-general to exceed the bounds of becoming modesty at that momentous epoch. his power, as we shall soon have occasion to observe, was anomalous, and he was surrounded by enemies. he was not only to grapple with a rapidly developing opposition in the states, but he was surrounded with masked enemies, whom he had brought with him from england. every act and word of his were liable to closest scrutiny, and likely to be turned against him. for it was most characteristic of that intriguing age, that even the astute walsingham, who had an eye and an ear at every key-hole in europe, was himself under closest domestic inspection. there was one poley, a trusted servant of lady sidney, then living in the house of her father walsingham, during sir philip's absence, who was in close communication with lord montjoy's brother, blount, then high in favour of queen elizabeth--"whose grandmother she might be for his age and hers"--and with another brother christopher blount, at that moment in confidential attendance upon lord leicester in holland. now poley, and both the blounts, were, in reality, papists, and in intimate correspondence with the agents of the queen of scots, both at home and abroad, although "forced to fawn upon leicester, to see if they might thereby live quiet." they had a secret "alphabet," or cipher, among them, and protested warmly, that they "honoured the ground whereon queen mary trod better than leicester with all his generation; and that they felt bound to serve her who was the only saint living on the earth." it may be well understood then that the earl's position was a slippery one, and that great assumption might be unsafe. "he taketh the matter upon him," wrote morgan to the queen of scots, "as though he were an absolute king; but he hath many personages about him of good place out of england, the best number whereof desire nothing more than his confusion. some of them be gone with him to avoid the persecution for religion in england. my poor advice and labour shall not be wanting to give leicester all dishonour, which will fall upon him in the end with shame enough; though for the present he be very strong." many of these personages of good place, and enjoying "charge and credit" with the earl had very serious plans in their heads. some of them meant "for the service of god, and the advantage of the king of spain, to further the delivery of some notable towns in holland and zeeland to the said king and his ministers," and we are like to hear of these individuals again. meantime, the earl of leicester was at the hague. why was he there? what was his work? why had elizabeth done such violence to her affection as to part with her favourite-in-chief; and so far overcome her thrift, as to furnish forth, rather meagrely to be sure, that little army of englishmen? why had the flower of england's chivalry set foot upon that dark and bloody ground where there seemed so much disaster to encounter, and so little glory to reap? why had england thrown herself so heroically into the breach, just as the last bulwarks were falling which protected holland from the overwhelming onslaught of spain? it was because holland was the threshold of england; because the two countries were one by danger and by destiny; because the naval expedition from spain against england was already secretly preparing; because the deposed tyrant of spain intended the provinces, when again subjugated, as a steppingstone to the conquest of england; because the naval and military forces of holland--her numerous ships, her hardy mariners, her vast wealth, her commodious sea-ports, close to the english coast--if made spanish property would render philip invincible by sea and land; and because the downfall of holland and of protestantism would be death to elizabeth, and annihilation to england. there was little doubt on the subject in the minds of those engaged in this expedition. all felt most keenly the importance of the game, in which the queen was staking her crown, and england its national existence. "i pray god," said wilford, an officer much in walsingham's confidence, "that i live not to see this enterprise quail, and with it the utter subversion of religion throughout all christendom. it may be i may be judged to be afraid of my own shadow. god grant it be so. but if her majesty had not taken the helm in hand, and my lord of leicester sent over, this country had been gone ere this. . . . this war doth defend england. who is he that will refuse to spend his life and living in it? if her majesty consume twenty thousand men in the cause, the experimented men that will remain will double that strength to the realm." this same wilford commanded a company in ostend, and was employed by leicester in examining the defences of that important place. he often sent information to the secretary, "troubling him with the rude stile of a poor soldier, being driven to scribble in haste." he reiterated, in more than one letter, the opinion, that twenty thousand men consumed in the war would be a saving in the end, and his own determination--although he had intended retiring from the military profession--to spend not only his life in the cause, but also the poor living that god had given him. "her highness hath now entered into it," he said; "the fire is kindled; whosoever suffers it to go out, it will grow dangerous to that side. the whole state of religion is in question, and the realm of england also, if this action quail. god grant we never live to see that doleful day. her majesty hath such footing now in these parts, as i judge it impossible for the king to weary her out, if every man will put to the work his helping hand, whereby it may be lustily followed, and the war not suffered to cool. the freehold of england will be worth but little, if this action quail, and therefore i wish no subject to spare his purse towards it." spain moved slowly. philip the prudent was not sudden or rash, but his whole life had proved, and was to prove, him inflexible in his purposes, and patient in his attempts to carry them into effect, even when the purposes had become chimerical, and the execution impossible. before the fall of antwerp he had matured his scheme for the invasion of england, in most of its details--a necessary part of which was of course the reduction of holland and zeeland. "surely no danger nor fear of any attempt can grow to england," wrote wilford, "so long as we can hold this country good." but never was honest soldier more mistaken than he, when he added:--"the papists will make her highness afraid of a great fleet now preparing in spain. we hear it also, but it is only a scare-crow to cool the enterprise here." it was no scare-crow. on the very day on which wilford was thus writing to walsingham, philip the second was writing to alexander farnese. "the english," he said, "with their troops having gained a footing in the islands (holland and zeeland) give me much anxiety. the english catholics are imploring me with much importunity to relieve them from the persecution they are suffering. when you sent me a plan, with the coasts, soundings, quicksands, and ports of england, you said that the enterprise of invading that country should be deferred till we had reduced the isles; that, having them, we could much more conveniently attack england; or that at least we should wait till we had got antwerp. as the city is now taken, i want your advice now about the invasion of england. to cut the root of the evils constantly growing up there, both for god's service and mine, is desirable. so many evils will thus be remedied, which would not be by only warring with the islands. it would be an uncertain and expensive war to go to sea for the purpose of chastising the insolent english corsairs, however much they deserve chastisement. i charge you to be secret, to give the matter your deepest attention, and to let me have your opinions at once." philip then added a postscript, in his own hand, concerning the importance of acquiring a sea-port in holland, as a basis of operations against england. "without a port," he said, "we can do nothing whatever." a few weeks later, the grand commander of castile, by philip's orders, and upon subsequent information received from the prince of parma, drew up an elaborate scheme for the invasion of england, and for the government of that country afterwards; a program according to which the king was to shape his course for a long time to come. the plot was an excellent plot. nothing could be more artistic, more satisfactory to the prudent monarch; but time was to show whether there might not be some difficulty in the way of its satisfactory development. "the enterprise," said the commander, "ought certainly to be undertaken as serving the cause of the lord. from the pope we must endeavour to extract a promise of the largest aid we can get for the time when the enterprise can be undertaken. we must not declare that time however, in order to keep the thing a secret, and because perhaps thus more will be promised, under the impression that it will never take effect. he added that the work could not well be attempted before august or september of the following year; the only fear of such delay being that the french could hardly be kept during all that time in a state of revolt." for this was a uniform portion of the great scheme. france was to be kept, at philip's expense, in a state of perpetual civil war; its every city and village to be the scene of unceasing conflict and bloodshed--subjects in arms against king, and family against family; and the netherlands were to be ravaged with fire and sword; all this in order that the path might be prepared for spanish soldiers into the homes of england. so much of misery to the whole human race was it in the power of one painstaking elderly valetudinarian to inflict, by never for an instant neglecting the business of his life. troops and vessels for the english invasion ought, in the commander's opinion, to be collected in flanders, under colour of an enterprise against holland and zeeland, while the armada to be assembled in spain, of galleons, galeazas, and galleys, should be ostensibly for an expedition to the indies. then, after the conquest, came arrangements for the government of england. should philip administer his new kingdom by a viceroy, or should he appoint a king out of his own family? on the whole the chances for the prince of parma seemed the best of any. "we must liberate the queen of scotland," said the grand commander, "and marry her to some one or another, both in order to put her out of love with her son, and to conciliate her devoted adherents. of course the husband should be one of your majesty's nephews, and none could be so appropriate as the prince of parma, that great captain, whom his talents, and the part he has to bear in the business, especially indicate for that honour." then there was a difficulty about the possible issue of such a marriage. the farneses claimed portugal; so that children sprung from the bloodroyal of england blended with that of parma, might choose to make those pretensions valid. but the objection was promptly solved by the commander:--"the queen of scotland is sure to have no children," he said. that matter being adjusted, parma's probable attitude as king of england was examined. it was true his ambition might cause occasional uneasiness, but then he might make himself still more unpleasant in the netherlands. "if your majesty suspects him," said the commander, "which, after all, is unfair, seeing the way, in which he has been conducting himself--it is to be remembered that in flanders are similar circumstances and opportunities, and that he is well armed, much beloved in the country, and that the natives are of various humours. the english plan will furnish an honourable departure for him out of the provinces; and the principle of loyal obligation will have much influence over so chivalrous a knight as he, when he is once placed on the english throne. moreover, as he will be new there, he will have need of your majesty's favour to maintain himself, and there will accordingly be good correspondence with holland and the islands. thus your majesty can put the infanta and her husband into full possession of all the netherlands; having provided them with so excellent a neighbour in england, and one so closely bound and allied to them. then, as he is to have no english children" (we have seen that the commander had settled that point) "he will be a very good mediator to arrange adoptions, especially if you make good provision for his son rainuccio in italy. the reasons in favour of this plan being so much stronger than those against it, it would be well that your majesty should write clearly to the prince of parma, directing him to conduct the enterprise" (the english invasion), "and to give him the first offer for this marriage (with queen mary) if he likes the scheme. if not, he had better mention which of the archdukes should be substituted in his place." there happened to be no lack of archdukes at that period for anything comfortable that might offer--such as a throne in england, holland, or france--and the austrian house was not remarkable for refusing convenient marriages; but the immediate future only could show whether alexander i. of the house of farnese was to reign in england, or whether the next king of that country was to be called matthias, maximilian, or ernest of hapsburg. meantime the grand commander was of opinion that the invasion-project was to be pushed forward as rapidly and as secretly as possible; because, before any one of philip's nephews could place himself upon the english throne, it was first necessary to remove elizabeth from that position. before disposing of the kingdom, the preliminary step of conquering it was necessary. afterwards it would be desirable, without wasting more time than was requisite, to return with a large portion of the invading force out of england, in order to complete the conquest of holland. for after all, england was to be subjugated only as a portion of one general scheme; the main features of which were the reannexation of holland and "the islands," and the acquisition of unlimited control upon the seas. thus the invasion of england was no "scarecrow," as wilford imagined, but a scheme already thoroughly matured. if holland and zeeland should meantime fall into the hands of philip, it was no exaggeration on that soldier's part to observe that the "freehold of england would be worth but little." to oppose this formidable array against the liberties of europe stood elizabeth tudor and the dutch republic. for the queen, however arbitrary her nature, fitly embodied much of the nobler elements in the expanding english national character. she felt instinctively that her reliance in the impending death-grapple was upon the popular principle, the national sentiment, both in her own country and in holland. that principle and that sentiment were symbolized in the netherland revolt; and england, although under a somewhat despotic rule, was already fully pervaded with the instinct of self-government. the people held the purse and the sword. no tyranny could be permanently established so long as the sovereign was obliged to come every year before parliament to ask for subsidies; so long as all the citizens and yeomen of england had weapons in their possession, and were carefully trained to use them; so long, in short, as the militia was the only army, and private adventurers or trading companies created and controlled the only navy. war, colonization, conquest, traffic, formed a joint business and a private speculation. if there were danger that england, yielding to purely mercantile habits of thought and action, might degenerate from the more martial standard to which she had been accustomed, there might be virtue in that netherland enterprise, which was now to call forth all her energies. the provinces would be a seminary for english soldiers. "there can be no doubt of our driving the enemy out of the country through famine and excessive charges," said the plain-spoken english soldier already quoted, who came out with leicester, "if every one of us will put our minds to go forward without making a miserable gain by the wars. a man may see, by this little progress journey, what this long peace hath wrought in us. we are weary of the war before we come where it groweth, such a danger hath this long peace brought us into. this is, and will be, in my opinion, a most fit school and nursery to nourish soldiers to be able to keep and defend our country hereafter, if men will follow it." wilford was vehement in denouncing the mercantile tendencies of his countrymen, and returned frequently to that point in his communications with walsingham and other statesmen. "god hath stirred up this action," he repeated again, "to be a school to breed up soldiers to defend the freedom of england, which through these long times of peace and quietness is brought into a most dangerous estate, if it should be attempted. our delicacy is such that we are already weary, yet this journey is naught in respect to the misery and hardship that soldiers must and do endure." he was right in his estimate of the effect likely to be produced by the war upon the military habits of englishmen; for there can be no doubt that the organization and discipline of english troops was in anything but a satisfactory state at that period. there was certainly vast room for improvement. nevertheless he was wrong in his views of the leading tendencies of his age. holland and england, self-helping, self-moving, were already inaugurating a new era in the history of the world. the spirit of commercial maritime enterprise--then expanding rapidly into large proportions--was to be matched against the religious and knightly enthusiasm which had accomplished such wonders in an age that was passing away. spain still personified, and had ever personified, chivalry, loyalty, piety; but its chivalry, loyalty, and piety, were now in a corrupted condition. the form was hollow, and the sacred spark had fled. in holland and england intelligent enterprise had not yet degenerated into mere greed for material prosperity. the love of danger, the thirst for adventure, the thrilling sense of personal responsibility and human dignity--not the base love for land and lucre--were the governing sentiments which led those bold dutch and english rovers to circumnavigate the world in cockle-shells, and to beard the most potent monarch on the earth, both at home and abroad, with a handful of volunteers. this then was the contest, and this the machinery by which it was to be maintained. a struggle for national independence, liberty of conscience, freedom of the seas, against sacerdotal and world-absorbing tyranny; a mortal combat of the splendid infantry of spain and italy, the professional reiters of germany, the floating castles of a world-empire, with the militiamen and mercantile-marine of england and holland united. holland had been engaged twenty years long in the conflict. england had thus far escaped it; but there was no doubt, and could be none, that her time had come. she must fight the battle of protestantism on sea and shore, shoulder to shoulder, with the netherlanders, or await the conqueror's foot on her own soil. what now was the disposition and what the means of the provinces to do their part in the contest? if the twain as holland wished, had become of one flesh, would england have been the loser? was it quite sure that elizabeth--had she even accepted the less compromising title which she refused--would not have been quite as much the protected as the "protectress?" it is very certain that the english, on their arrival in the provinces, were singularly impressed by the opulent and stately appearance of the country and its inhabitants. notwithstanding the tremendous war which the hollanders had been waging against spain for twenty years, their commerce had continued to thrive, and their resources to increase. leicester was in a state of constant rapture at the magnificence which surrounded him, from his first entrance into the country. notwithstanding the admiration expressed by the hollanders for the individual sumptuousness of the lieutenant-general; his followers, on their part, were startled by the general luxury of their new allies. "the realm is rich and full of men," said wilford, "the sums men exceed in apparel would bear the brunt of this war;" and again, "if the excess used in sumptuous apparel were only abated, and that we could convert the same to these wars, it would stop a great gap." the favourable view taken by the english as to the resources and inclination of the netherland commonwealth was universal. "the general wish and desire of these countrymen," wrote sir thomas shirley, "is that the amity begun between england and this nation may be everlasting, and there is not any of our company of judgment but wish the same. for all they that see the goodliness and stateliness of these towns, strengthened both with fortification and natural situation, all able to defend themselves with their own abilities, must needs think it too fair a prey to be let pass, and a thing most worthy to be embraced." leicester, whose enthusiasm continued to increase as rapidly as the queen's zeal seemed to be cooling, was most anxious lest the short-comings of his own government should work irreparable evil. "i pray you, my lord," he wrote to burghley, "forget not us poor exiles; if you do, god must and will forget you. and great pity it were that so noble provinces and goodly havens, with such infinite ships and mariners, should not be always as they may now easily be, at the assured devotion of england. in my opinion he can neither love queen nor country that would not wish and further it should be so. and seeing her majesty is thus far entered into the cause, and that these people comfort themselves in full hope of her favour, it were a sin and a shame it should not be handled accordingly, both for honour and surety." sir john conway, who accompanied the earl through the whole of his "progress journey," was quite as much struck as he by the flourishing aspect and english proclivities of the provinces. "the countries which we have passed," he said, "are fertile in their nature; the towns, cities, buildings, of snore state and beauty, to such as have travelled other countries, than any they have ever seen. the people the most industrious by all means to live that be in the world, and, no doubt, passing rich. they outwardly show themselves of good heart, zeal, and loyalty, towards the queen our mistress. there is no doubt that the general number of them had rather come under her majesty's regiment, than to continue under the states and burgomasters of their country. the impositions which they lay in defence of their state is wonderful. if her highness proceed in this beginning, she may retain these parts hers, with their good love, and her great glory and gain. i would she might as perfectly see the whole country, towns, profits, and pleasures thereof, in a glass, as she may her own face; i do then assure myself she would with careful consideration receive them, and not allow of any man's reason to the contrary . . . . the country is worthy any prince in the world, the people do reverence the queen, and in love of her do so believe that the grace of leicester is by god and her sent among them for her good. and they believe in him for the redemption of their bodies, as they do in god for their souls. i dare pawn my soul, that if her majesty will allow him the just and rightful mean to manage this cause, that he will so handle the manner and matter as shall highly both please and profit her majesty, and increase her country, and his own honour." lord north, who held a high command in the auxiliary force, spoke also with great enthusiasm. "had your lordship seen," he wrote to burghley, "with what thankful hearts these countries receive all her majesty's subjects, what multitudes of people they be, what stately cities and buildings they have, how notably fortified by art, how strong by nature, flow fertile the whole country, and how wealthy it is, you would, i know, praise the lord that opened your lips to undertake this enterprise, the continuance and good success whereof will eternise her majesty, beautify her crown, with the most shipping, with the most populous and wealthy countries, that ever prince added to his kingdom, or that is or can be found in europe. i lack wit, good my lord, to dilate this matter." leicester, better informed than some of those in his employment, entertained strong suspicions concerning philip's intentions with regard to england; but he felt sure that the only way to laugh at a spanish invasion was to make holland and england as nearly one as it was possible to do. "no doubt that the king of spain's preparations by sea be great," he, said; "but i know that all that he and his friends can make are not able to match with her majesty's forces, if it please her to use the means that god hath given her. but besides her own, if she need; i will undertake to furnish her from hence, upon two months' warning, a navy for strong and tall ships, with their furniture and mariners, that the king of spain, and all that he can make, shall not be able to encounter with them. i think the bruit of his preparations is made the greater to terrify her majesty and this country people. but, thanked be god, her majesty hath little cause to fear him. and in this country they esteem no more of his power by sea than i do of six fisher-boats off rye." thus suggestive is it to peep occasionally behind the curtain. in the calm cabinet of the escorial, philip and his comendador mayor are laying their heads together, preparing the invasion of england; making arrangements for king alexander's coronation in that island, and--like sensible, farsighted persons as they are--even settling the succession to the throne after alexander's death, instead of carelessly leaving such distant details to chance, or subsequent consideration. on the other hand, plain dutch sea-captains, grim beggars of the sea, and the like, denizens of a free commonwealth and of the boundless ocean-men who are at home on blue water, and who have burned gunpowder against those prodigious slave-rowed galleys of spain--together with their new allies, the dauntless mariners of england--who at this very moment are "singeing the king of spain's beard," as it had never been singed before--are not so much awestruck with the famous preparations for invasion as was perhaps to be expected. there may be a delay, after all, before parma can be got safely established in london, and elizabeth in orcus, and before the blood-tribunal of the inquisition can substitute its sway for that of the "most noble, wise, and learned united states." certainly, philip the prudent would have been startled, difficult as he was to astonish, could he have known that those rebel hollanders of his made no more account of his slowly-preparing invincible armada than of six fisher-boats off rye. time alone could show where confidence had been best placed. meantime it was certain, that it well behoved holland and england to hold hard together, nor let "that enterprise quail." the famous expedition of sir francis drake was the commencement of a revelation. "that is the string," said leicester, "that touches the king indeed." it was soon to be made known to the world that the ocean was not a spanish lake, nor both the indies the private property of philip. "while the riches of the indies continue," said leicester, "he thinketh he will be able to weary out all other princes; and i know, by good means, that he more feareth this action of sir francis than he ever did anything that has been attempted against him." with these continued assaults upon the golden treasure-houses of spain, and by a determined effort to maintain the still more important stronghold which had been wrested from her in the netherlands, england might still be safe. "this country is so full of ships and mariners," said leicester, "so abundant in wealth, and in the means to make money, that, had it but stood neutral, what an aid had her majesty been deprived of. but if it had been the enemy's also, i leave it to your consideration what had been likely to ensue. these people do now honour and love her majesty in marvellous sort." there was but one feeling on this most important subject among the english who went to the netherlands. all held the same language. the question was plainly presented to england whether she would secure to herself the great bulwark of her defence, or place it in the hands of her mortal foe? how could there be doubt or supineness on such a momentous subject? "surely, my lord," wrote richard cavendish to burghley, "if you saw the wealth, the strength, the shipping, and abundance of mariners, whereof these countries stand furnished, your heart would quake to think that so hateful an enemy as spain should again be furnished with such instruments; and the spaniards themselves do nothing doubt upon the hope of the consequence hereof, to assure themselves of the certain ruin of her majesty and the whole estate." and yet at the very outset of leicester's administration, there was a whisper of peace-overtures to spain, secretly made by elizabeth in her own behalf, and in that of the provinces. we shall have soon occasion to examine into the truth of these rumours, which, whether originating in truth or falsehood, were most pernicious in their effects. the hollanders were determined never to return to slavery again, so long as they could fire a shot in their own defence. they earnestly wished english cooperation, but it was the cooperation of english matchlocks and english cutlasses, not english protocols and apostilles. it was military, not diplomatic machinery that they required. if they could make up their minds to submit to philip and the inquisition again, philip and the holy office were but too ready to receive the erring penitents to their embrace without a go-between. it was war, not peace, therefore, that holland meant by the english alliance. it was war, not peace, that philip intended. it was war, not peace, that elizabeth's most trusty counsellors knew to be inevitable. there was also, as we have shown, no doubt whatever as to the good disposition, and the great power of the republic to bear its share in the common cause. the enthusiasm of the hollanders was excessive. "there was such a noise, both in delft, rotterdam, and dort," said leicester, "in crying 'god save the queen!' as if she had been in cheapside." her own subjects could not be more loyal than were the citizens and yeomen of holland. "the members of the states dare not but be queen elizabeth's," continued the earl, "for by the living god! if there should fall but the least unkindness through their default, the people would kill them. all sorts of people, from highest to lowest, assure themselves, now that they have her majesty's good countenance, to beat all the spaniards out of their country. never was there people in such jollity as these be. i could be content to lose a limb, could her majesty see these countries and towns as i have done." he was in truth excessively elated, and had already, in imagination, vanquished alexander farnese, and eclipsed the fame of william the silent. "they will serve under me," he observed, "with a better will than ever they served under the prince of orange. yet they loved him well, but they never hoped of the liberty of this country till now." thus the english government had every reason to be satisfied with the aspect of its affairs in the netherlands. but the nature of the earl's authority was indefinite. the queen had refused the sovereignty and the protectorate. she had also distinctly and peremptorily forbidden leicester to assume any office or title that might seem at variance with such a refusal on her part. yet it is certain that, from the very first, he had contemplated some slight disobedience to these prohibitions. "what government is requisite"--wrote he in a secret memorandum of "things most necessary to understand"--"to be appointed to him that shall be their governor? first, that he have as much authority as the prince of orange, or any other governor or captain-general, hath had heretofore." now the prince of orange hath been stadholder of each of the united provinces, governor-general, commander-in-chief, count of holland in prospect, and sovereign, if he had so willed it. it would doubtless have been most desirable for the country, in its confused condition, had there been a person competent to wield, and willing to accept, the authority once exercised by william i. but it was also certain that this was exactly the authority which elizabeth had forbidden leicester to assume. yet it is difficult to understand what position the queen intended that her favourite should maintain, nor how he was to carry out her instructions, while submitting to her prohibitions. he was directed to cause the confused government of the provinces to be redressed, and a better form of polity to be established. he was ordered, in particular, to procure a radical change in the constitution, by causing the deputies to the general assembly to be empowered to decide upon important matters, without, as had always been the custom, making direct reference to the assemblies of the separate provinces. he was instructed to bring about, in some indefinite way, a complete reform in financial matters, by compelling the states-general to raise money by liberal taxation, according to the "advice of her majesty, delivered unto them by her lieutenant." and how was this radical change in the institutions of the provinces to be made by an english earl, whose only authority was that of commander-in-chief over five thousand half-starved, unpaid, utterly-forlorn english troops? the netherland envoys in england, in their parting advice, most distinctly urged him "to hale authority with the first, to declare himself chief head and governor-general" of the whole country,--for it was a political head that was wanted in order to restore unity of action--not an additional general, where there were already generals in plenty. sir john norris, valiant, courageous, experienced--even if not, as walsingham observed, a "religious soldier," nor learned in anything "but a kind of licentious and corrupt government"--was not likely to require the assistance of the new lieutenant-general in field operations nor could the army be brought into a state of thorough discipline and efficiency by the magic of leicester's name. the rank and file of the english army--not the commanders-needed strengthening. the soldiers required shoes and stockings, bread and meat, and for these articles there were not the necessary funds, nor would the title of lieutenant-general supply the deficiency. the little auxiliary force was, in truth, in a condition most pitiable to behold: it was difficult to say whether the soldiers who had been already for a considerable period in the netherlands, or those who had been recently levied in the purlieus of london, were in the most unpromising plight. the beggarly state in which elizabeth had been willing that her troops should go forth to the wars was a sin and a disgrace. well might her lieutenant-general say that her "poor subjects were no better than abjects." there were few effective companies remaining of the old force. "there is but a small number of the first bands left," said sir john conway, "and those so pitiful and unable ever to serve again, as i leave to speak further of theirs, to avoid grief to your heart. a monstrous fault there hath been somewhere." leicester took a manful and sagacious course at starting. those who had no stomach for the fight were ordered to depart. the chaplain gave them sermons; the lieutenant-general, on st. stephen's day, made them a "pithy and honourable" oration, and those who had the wish or the means to buy themselves out of the adventure, were allowed to do so: for the earl was much disgusted with the raw material out of which he was expected to manufacture serviceable troops. swaggering ruffians from the disreputable haunts of london, cockney apprentices, brokendown tapsters, discarded serving men; the bardolphs and pistols, mouldys, warts, and the like--more at home in tavern-brawls or in dark lanes than on the battle-field--were not the men to be entrusted with the honour of england at a momentous crisis. he spoke with grief and shame of the worthless character and condition of the english youths sent over to the netherlands. "believe me," said he, "you will all repent the cockney kind of bringing up at this day of young men. they be gone hence with shame enough, and too many, that i will warrant, will make as many frays with bludgeons and bucklers as any in london shall do; but such shall never have credit with me again. our simplest men in show have been our best men, and your gallant blood and ruffian men the worst of all others." much winnowed, as it was, the small force might in time become more effective; and the earl spent freely of his own substance to supply the wants of his followers, and to atone for the avarice of his sovereign. the picture painted however by muster-master digger of the plumed troops that had thus come forth to maintain the honour of england and the cause of liberty, was anything but imposing. none knew better than digges their squalid and slovenly condition, or was more anxious to effect a reformation therein. "a very wise, stout fellow he is," said the earl, "and very careful to serve thoroughly her majesty." leicester relied much upon his efforts. "there is good hope," said the muster-master, "that his excellency will shortly establish such good order for the government and training of our nation, that these weak, bad-furnished, ill-armed, and worse-trained bands, thus rawly left unto him, shall within a few months prove as well armed, trained, complete, gallant companies as shall be found elsewhere in europe." the damage they were likely to inflict upon the enemy seemed very problematical, until they should have been improved by some wholesome ball-practice. "they are so unskilful," said digger, "that if they should be carried to the field no better trained than yet they are, they would prove much more dangerous to their own leaders and companies than any ways serviceable on their enemies. the hard and miserable estate of the soldiers generally, excepting officers, hath been such, as by the confessions of the captains themselves, they have been offered by many of their soldiers thirty and forty pounds a piece to be dismissed and sent away; whereby i doubt not the flower of the pressed english bands are gone, and the remnant supplied with such paddy persons as commonly, in voluntary procurements, men are glad to accept." even after the expiration of four months the condition of the paddy persons continued most destitute. the english soldiers became mere barefoot starving beggars in the streets, as had never been the case in the worst of times, when the states were their paymasters. the little money brought from the treasury by the earl, and the large sums which he had contributed out of his own pocket, had been spent in settling, and not fully settling, old scores. "let me entreat you," wrote leicester to walsingham, "to be a mean to her majesty, that the poor soldiers be not beaten for my sake. there came no penny of treasure over since my coming hither. that which then came was most part due before it came. there is much still due. they cannot get a penny, their credit is spent, they perish for want of victuals and clothing in great numbers. the whole are ready to mutiny. they cannot be gotten out to service, because they cannot discharge the debts they owe in the places where they are. i have let of my own more than i may spare."--"there was no soldier yet able to buy himself a pair of hose," said the earl again, "and it is too, too great shame to see how they go, and it kills their hearts to show themselves among men." there was no one to dispute the earl's claims. the nassau family was desperately poor, and its chief, young maurice, although he had been elected stadholder of holland and zeeland, had every disposition--as sir philip upon his arrival in flushing immediately informed his uncle--to submit to the authority of the new governor. louisa de coligny, widow of william the silent, was most anxious for the english alliance, through which alone she believed that the fallen fortunes of the family could be raised. it was thus only, she thought, that the vengeance for which she thirsted upon the murderers of her father and her husband could be obtained. "we see now," she wrote to walsingham, in a fiercer strain than would seem to comport with so gentle a nature--deeply wronged as the daughter of coligny and the wife of orange had been by papists--"we see now the effects of our god's promises. he knows when it pleases him to avenge the blood of his own; and i confess that i feel most keenly the joy which is shared in by the whole church of god. there is none that has received more wrong from these murderers than i have done, and i esteem myself happy in the midst of my miseries that god has permitted me to see some vengeance. these beginnings make me hope that i shall see yet more, which will be not less useful to the good, both in your country and in these isles." there was no disguise as to the impoverished condition to which the nassau family had been reduced by the self-devotion of its chief. they were obliged to ask alms of england, until the "sapling should become a tree."--"since it is the will of god," wrote the princess to davison, "i am not ashamed to declare the necessity of our house, for it is in his cause that it has fallen. i pray you, sir, therefore to do me and these children the favour to employ your thoughts in this regard." if there had been any strong french proclivities on their part--as had been so warmly asserted--they were likely to disappear. villiers, who had been a confidential friend of william the silent, and a strong favourer of france, in vain endeavoured to keep alive the ancient sentiments towards that country, although he was thought to be really endeavouring to bring about a submission of the nassaus to spain. "this villiers," said leicester, "is a most vile traitorous knave, and doth abuse a young nobleman here extremely, the count maurice. for all his religion, he is a more earnest persuader secretly to have him yield to a reconciliation than sainte aldegonde was. he shall not tarry ten days neither in holland nor zeeland. he is greatly hated here of all sorts, and it shall go hard but i will win the young count." as for hohenlo, whatever his opinions might once have been regarding the comparative merits of frenchmen and englishmen, he was now warmly in favour of england, and expressed an intention of putting an end to the villiers' influence by simply drowning villiers. the announcement of this summary process towards the counsellor was not untinged with rudeness towards the pupil. "the young count," said leicester, "by villiers' means, was not willing to have flushing rendered, which the count hollock perceiving, told the count maurice, in a great rage, that if he took any course than that of the queen of england, and swore by no beggars, he would drown his priest in the haven before his face, and turn himself and his mother-in-law out of their house there, and thereupon went with mr. davison to the delivery of it." certainly, if hohenlo permitted himself such startling demonstrations towards the son and widow of william the silent, it must have been after his habitual potations had been of the deepest. nevertheless it was satisfactory for the new chieftain to know that the influence of so vehement a partisan was secured for england. the count's zeal deserved gratitude upon leicester's part, and leicester was grateful. "this man must be cherished," said the earl; "he is sound and faithful, and hath indeed all the chief holds in his hands, and at his commandment. ye shall do well to procure him a letter of thanks, taking knowledge in general of his good-will to her majesty. he is a right almayn in manner and fashion, free of his purse and of his drink, yet do i wish him her majesty's pensioner before any prince in germany, for he loves her and is able to serve her, and doth desire to be known her servant. he hath been laboured by his nearest kinsfolk and friends in germany to have left the states and to have the king of spain's pension and very great reward; but he would not. i trust her majesty will accept of his offer to be her servant during his life, being indeed a very noble soldier." the earl was indeed inclined to take so cheerful view of matters as to believe that he should even effect a reform in the noble soldier's most unpleasant characteristic. "hollock is a wise gallant gentleman," he said, "and very well esteemed. he hath only one fault, which is drinking; but good hope that he will amend it. some make me believe that i shall be able to do much with him, and i mean to do my best, for i see no man that knows all these countries, and the people of all sorts, like him, and this fault overthrows all." accordingly, so long as maurice continued under the tutelage of this uproarious cavalier--who, at a later day, was to become his brother-in-law-he was not likely to interfere with leicester's authority. the character of the young count was developing slowly. more than his father had ever done, he deserved the character of the taciturn. a quiet keen observer of men and things, not demonstrative nor talkative, nor much given to writing--a modest, calm, deeply-reflecting student of military and mathematical science--he was not at that moment deeply inspired by political ambition. he was perhaps more desirous of raising the fallen fortunes of his house than of securing the independence of his country. even at that early age, however, his mind was not easy to read, and his character was somewhat of a puzzle to those who studied it. "i see him much discontented with the states," said leicester; "he hath a sullen deep wit. the young gentleman is yet to be won only to her majesty, i perceive, of his own inclination. the house is marvellous poor and little regarded by the states, and if they get anything it is like to be by her majesty, which should be altogether, and she may easily, do for him to win him sure. i will undertake it." yet the earl was ever anxious about some of the influences which surrounded maurice, for he thought him more easily guided than he wished him to be by any others but himself. "he stands upon making and marring," he said, "as he meets with good counsel." and at another time he observed, "the young gentleman hath a solemn sly wit; but, in troth, if any be to be doubted toward the king of spain, it is he and his counsellors, for they have been altogether, so far, french, and so far in mislike with england as they cannot almost hide it." and there was still another member of the house of nassau who was already an honour to his illustrious race. count william lewis, hardly more than a boy in years, had already served many campaigns, and had been desperately wounded in the cause for which so much of the heroic blood of his race had been shed. of the five nassau brethren, his father count john was the sole survivor, and as devoted as ever to the cause of netherland liberty. the other four had already laid down their lives in its defence. and william lewis, was worthy to be the nephew of william and lewis, henry and adolphus, and the son of john. not at all a beautiful or romantic hero in appearance, but an odd-looking little man, with a round bullet-head, close-clipped hair, a small, twinkling, sagacious eye, rugged, somewhat puffy features screwed whimsically awry, with several prominent warts dotting, without ornamenting, all that was visible of a face which was buried up to the ears in a furzy thicket of yellow-brown beard, the tough young stadholder of friesland, in his iron corslet, and halting upon his maimed leg, had come forth with other notable personages to the hague. he wished to do honour heartily and freely to queen elizabeth and her representative. and leicester was favourably impressed with his new acquaintance. "here is another little fellow," he said, "as little as may be, but one of the gravest and wisest young men that ever i spake withal; it is the count guilliam of nassau. he governs friesland; i would every province had such another." thus, upon the great question which presented itself upon the very threshold--the nature and extent of the authority to be exercised by leicester--the most influential netherlanders were in favour of a large and liberal interpretation of his powers. the envoys in england, the nassau family hohenlo, the prominent members of the states, such as the shrewd, plausible menin, the "honest and painful" falk, and the chancellor of gelderland--"that very great, wise, old man leoninus," as leicester called him,--were all desirous that he should assume an absolute governor-generalship over the whole country. this was a grave and a delicate matter, and needed to be severely scanned, without delay. but besides the natives, there were two englishmen--together with ambassador davison--who were his official advisers. bartholomew clerk, ll.d., and sir henry killigrew had been appointed by the queen to be members of the council of the united states, according to the provisions of the august treaty. the learned bartholomew hardly seemed equal to his responsible position among those long-headed dutch politicians. philip sidney--the only blemish in whose character was an intolerable tendency to puns--observed that "doctor clerk was of those clerks that are not always the wisest, and so my lord too late was finding him." the earl himself, who never undervalued the intellect of the netherlanders whom he came to govern, anticipated but small assistance from the english civilian. "i find no great stuff in my little colleague," he said, "nothing that i looked for. it is a pity you have no more of his profession, able men to serve. this man hath good will, and a pretty scholar's wit; but he is too little for these big fellows, as heavy as her majesty thinks them to be. i would she had but one or two, such as the worst of half a score be here." the other english statecounsellor seemed more promising. "i have one here," said the earl, "in whom i take no small comfort; that is little hal killigrew. i assure you, my lord, he is a notable servant, and more in him than ever i heretofore thought of him, though i always knew him to be an honest man and an able." but of all the men that stood by leicester's side, the most faithful, devoted, sagacious, experienced, and sincere of his counsellors, english or flemish, was envoy davison. it is important to note exactly the opinion that had been formed of him by those most competent to judge, before events in which he was called on to play a prominent and responsible though secondary part, had placed him in a somewhat false position. "mr. davison," wrote sidney, "is here very careful in her majesty's causes, and in your lordship's. he takes great pains and goes to great charges for it." the earl himself was always vehement in his praise. "mr. davison," said he at another time, "has dealt most painfully and chargeably in her majesty's service here, and you shall find him as sufficiently able to deliver the whole state of this country as any man that ever was in it, acquainted with all sorts here that are men of dealing. surely, my lord, you shall do a good deed that he may be remembered with her majesty's gracious consideration, for his being here has been very chargeable, having kept a very good countenance, and a very good table, all his abode here, and of such credit with all the chief sort, as i know no stranger in any place hath the like. as i am a suitor to you to be his good friend to her majesty, so i must heartily pray you, good my lord, to procure his coming hither shortly to me again, for i know not almost how to do without him. i confess it is a wrong to the gentleman, and i protest before god, if it were for mine own particular respect, i would not require it for l . but your lordship doth little think how greatly i have to do, as also how needful for her majesty's service his being here will, be. wherefore, good my lord, if it may not offend her majesty, be a mean for this my request, for her own service' sake wholly." such were the personages who surrounded the earl on his arrival in the netherlands, and such their sentiments respecting the position that it was desirable for him to assume. but there was one very important fact. he had studiously concealed from davison that the queen had peremptorily and distinctly forbidden his accepting the office of governor-general. it seemed reasonable, if he came thither at all, that he should come in that elevated capacity. the staten wished it. the earl ardently longed for it. the ambassador, who knew more of netherland politics and netherland humours than any man did, approved of it. the interests of both england and holland seemed to require it. no one but leicester knew that her majesty had forbidden it. accordingly, no sooner had the bell-ringing, cannon-explosions, bonfires, and charades, come to an end, and the earl got fairly housed in the hague, than the states took the affair of government seriously in hand. on the th january, chancellor leoninus and paul buys waited upon davison, and requested a copy of the commission granted by the queen to the earl. the copy was refused, but the commission was read; by which it appeared that he had received absolute command over her majesty's forces in the netherlands by land and sea, together with authority to send for all gentlemen and other personages out of england that he might think useful to him. on the th the states passed a resolution to offer him the governor-generalship over all the provinces. on the same day another committee waited upon his "excellency"--as the states chose to denominate the earl, much to the subsequent wrath of the queen--and made an appointment for the whole body to wait upon him the following morning. upon that day accordingly--new year's day, by the english reckoning, th january by the new style--the deputies of all the states at an early hour came to his lodgings, with much pomp, preceded by a herald and trumpeters. leicester, not expecting them quite so soon, was in his dressing-room, getting ready for the solemn audience, when, somewhat to his dismay, a flourish of trumpets announced the arrival of the whole body in his principal hall of audience. hastening his preparations as much as possible, he descended to that apartment, and was instantly saluted by a flourish of rhetoric still more formidable; for that "very great, and wise old leoninus," forthwith began an oration, which promised to be of portentous length and serious meaning. the earl was slightly flustered, when, fortunately; some one whispered in his ear that they had come to offer him the much-coveted prize of the stadholderate-general. thereupon he made bold to interrupt the flow of the chancellor's eloquence in its first outpourings. "as this is a very private matter," said he, "it will be better to treat of it in a more private place i pray you therefore to come into my chamber, where these things may be more conveniently discussed." "you hear what my lord says," cried leoninus, turning to his companions; "we are to withdraw into his chamber." accordingly they withdrew, accompanied by the earl, and by five or six select counsellors, among whom were davison and dr. clerk. then the chancellor once more commenced his harangue, and went handsomely through the usual forms of compliment, first to the queen, and then to her representative, concluding with an earnest request that the earl--although her majesty had declined the sovereignty "would take the name and place of absolute governor and general of all their forces and soldiers, with the disposition of their whole revenues and taxes." so soon as the oration was concluded, leicester; who did not speak french, directed davison to reply in that language. the envoy accordingly, in name of the earl, expressed the deepest gratitude for this mark of the affection and confidence of the states-general towards the queen. he assured them that the step thus taken by them would be the cause of still more favour and affection on the part of her majesty, who would unquestionably, from day to day, augment the succour that she was extending to the provinces in order to relieve men from their misery. for himself, the earl protested that he could never sufficiently recompense the states for the honour which had thus been conferred upon him, even if he should live one hundred lives. although he felt himself quite unable to sustain the weight of so great an office, yet he declared that they might repose with full confidence on his integrity and good intentions. nevertheless, as the authority thus offered to him was very arduous, and as the subject required deep deliberation, he requested that the proposition should be reduced to writing, and delivered into his hands. he might then come to a conclusion thereupon, most conducive to the glory of god and the welfare of the land. three days afterwards, th january, the offer, drawn up formally in writing, was presented to envoy davison, according to the request of leicester. three days latter, th january, his excellency having deliberated upon the proposition, requested a committee of conference. the conference took place the same day, and there was some discussion upon matters of detail, principally relating to the matter of contributions. the earl, according to the report of the committee, manifested no repugnance to the acceptance of the office, provided these points could be satisfactorily adjusted. he seemed, on the contrary, impatient, rather than reluctant; for, on the day following the conference, he sent his secretary gilpin with a somewhat importunate message. "his excellency was surprised," said the secretary, "that the states were so long in coming to a resolution on the matters suggested by him in relation to the offer of the government-general; nor could his excellency imagine the cause of the delay." for, in truth, the delay was caused by an excessive, rather than a deficient, appetite for power on the part of his excellency. the states, while conferring what they called the "absolute" government, by which it afterwards appeared that they meant absolute, in regard to time, not to function--were very properly desirous of retaining a wholesome control over that government by means of the state-council. they wished not only to establish such a council, as a check upon the authority of the new governor, but to share with him at least in the appointment of the members who were to compose the board. but the aristocratic earl was already restive under the thought of any restraint--most of all the restraint of individuals belonging to what he considered the humbler classes. "cousin, my lord ambassador," said he to davison, "among your sober companions be it always remembered, i beseech you, that your cousin have no other alliance but with gentle blood. by no means consent that he be linked in faster bonds than their absolute grant may yield him a free and honourable government, to be able to do such service as shall be meet for an honest man to perform in such a calling, which of itself is very noble. but yet it is not more to be embraced, if i were to be led in alliance by such keepers as will sooner draw my nose from the right scent of the chace, than to lead my feet in the true pace to pursue the game i desire to reach. consider, i pray you, therefore, what is to be done, and how unfit it will be in respect of my poor self, and how unacceptable to her majesty, and how advantageous to enemies that will seek holes in my coat, if i should take so great a name upon me, and so little power. they challenge acceptation already, and i challenge their absolute grant and offer to me, before they spoke of any instructions; for so it was when leoninus first spoke to me with them all on new years day, as you heard--offering in his speech all manner of absolute authority. if it please them to confirm this, without restraining instructions, i will willingly serve the states, or else, with such advising instructions as the dowager of hungary had." this was explicit enough, and davison, who always acted for leicester in the negotiations with the states, could certainly have no doubt as to the desires of the earl, on the subject of "absolute" authority. he did accordingly what he could to bring the states to his excellency's way of thinking; nor was he unsuccessful. on the nd january, a committee of conference was sent by the states to leyden, in which city leicester was making a brief visit. they were instructed to procure his consent, if possible, to the appointment, by the states themselves, of a council consisting of members from each province. if they could not obtain this concession, they were directed to insist as earnestly as possible upon their right to present a double. list of candidates, from which he was to make nominations. and if the one and the other proposition should be refused, the states were then to agree that his excellency should freely choose and appoint a council of state, consisting of native residents from every province, for the period of one year. the committee was further authorised to arrange the commission for the governor, in accordance with these points; and to draw up a set of instructions for the state-council, to the satisfaction of his excellency. the committee was also empowered to conclude the matter at once, without further reference to the states. certainly a committee thus instructed was likely to be sufficiently pliant. it had need to be, in order to bend to the humour of his excellency, which was already becoming imperious. the adulation which he had received; the triumphal marches, the latin orations, the flowers strewn in his path, had produced their effect, and the earl was almost inclined to assume the airs of royalty. the committee waited upon him at leyden. he affected a reluctance to accept the "absolute" government, but his coyness could not deceive such experienced statesmen as the "wise old leoliinus," or menin, maalzoon, florin thin, or aitzma, who composed the deputation. it was obvious enough to them that it was not a king log that had descended among them, but it was not a moment for complaining. the governor elect insisted, of course, that the two englishmen, according to the treaty with her majesty, should be members of, the council. he also, at once, nominated leoninus, meetkerk, brederode, falck, and paul buys, to the same office; thinking, no doubt, that these were five keepers--if keepers he must have--who would not draw his nose off the scent, nor prevent his reaching the game he hunted, whatever that game might be. it was reserved for the future, however, to show, whether, the five were like to hunt in company with him as harmoniously as he hoped. as to the other counsellors, he expressed a willingness that candidates should be proposed for him, as to whose qualifications he would make up his mind at leisure. this matter being satisfactorily adjusted-and certainly unless the game pursued by the earl was a crown royal, he ought to have been satisfied with his success--the states received a letter from their committee at leyden, informing them that his excellency, after some previous protestations, had accepted the government ( th january, ). it was agreed that he should be inaugurated governor-general of the united provinces of gelderland and zutphen, flanders, holland, zeeland, utrecht, friesland, and all others in confederacy with them. he was to have supreme military command by land and sea. he was to exercise supreme authority in matters civil and political, according to the customs prevalent in the reign of the emperor charles v. all officers, political, civil, legal, were to be appointed by him out of a double or triple nomination made by the states of the provinces in which vacancies might occur. the states-general were to assemble whenever and wherever he should summon them. they were also--as were the states of each separate province--competent to meet together by their own appointment. the governor-general was to receive an oath of fidelity from the states, and himself to swear the maintenance of the ancient laws, customs, and privileges of the country. the deed was done. in vain had an emissary of the french court been exerting his utmost to prevent the consummation of this close alliance. for the wretched government of henry iii., while abasing itself before philip ii., and offering the fair cities and fertile plains of france as a sacrifice to that insatiable ambition which wore the mask of religious bigotry, was most anxious that holland and england should not escape the meshes by which it was itself enveloped. the agent at the hague came nominally upon some mercantile affairs, but in reality, according to leicester, "to impeach the states from binding themselves to her majesty." but he was informed that there was then no leisure for his affairs; "for the states would attend to the service of the queen of england, before all princes in the world." the agent did not feel complimented by the coolness of this reception; yet it was reasonable enough, certainly, that the hollanders should remember with bitterness the contumely, which they had experienced the previous year in france. the emissary was; however, much disgusted. "the fellow," said leicester, "took it in such snuff, that he came proudly to the states and offered his letters, saying; 'now i trust you have done all your sacrifices to the queen of england, and may yield me some leisure to read my masters letters.'"--"but they so shook him, up," continued the earl, "for naming her majesty in scorn--as they took it--that they hurled him his letters; and bid him content himself;" and so on, much to the agent's discomfiture, who retired in greater "snuff" than ever. so much for the french influence. and now leicester had done exactly what the most imperious woman in the world, whose favour was the breath of his life, had expressly forbidden him to do. the step having been taken, the prize so tempting to his ambition having been snatched, and the policy which had governed the united action of the states and himself seeming so sound, what ought he to have done in order to avert the tempest which he must have foreseen? surely a man who knew so much of woman's nature and of elizabeth's nature as he did, ought to have attempted to conciliate her affections, after having so deeply wounded her pride. he knew his power. besides the graces of his person and manner--which few women, once impressed by them, could ever forget--he possessed the most insidious and flattering eloquence, and, in absence, his pen was as wily as his tongue. for the earl was imbued with the very genius of courtship. none was better skilled than he in the phrases of rapturous devotion, which were music to the ear both of the woman and the queen; and he knew his royal mistress too well not to be aware that the language of passionate idolatry, however extravagant, had rarely fallen unheeded upon her soul. it was strange therefore, that in this emergency, he should not at once throw himself upon her compassion without any mediator. yet, on the contrary, he committed the monstrous error of entrusting his defence to envoy davison, whom he determined to despatch at once with instructions to the queen, and towards whom he committed the grave offence of concealing from him her previous prohibitions. but how could the earl fail to perceive that it was the woman, not the queen, whom he should have implored for pardon; that it was robert dudley, not william davison, who ought to have sued upon his knees. this whole matter of the netherland sovereignty and the leicester stadholderate, forms a strange psychological study, which deserves and requires some minuteness of attention; for it was by the characteristics of these eminent personages that the current history was deeply stamped. certainly, under the peculiar circumstances of the case, the first letter conveying intelligence so likely to pique the pride of elizabeth, should have been a letter from leicester. on the contrary, it proved to be a dull formal epistle from the states. and here again the assistance of the indispensable davison was considered necessary. on the rd february the ambassador--having announced his intention of going to england, by command of his excellency, so soon as the earl should have been inaugurated, for the purpose of explaining all these important transactions to her majesty--waited upon the states with the request that they should prepare as speedily as might be their letter to the queen, with other necessary documents, to be entrusted to his care. he also suggested that the draft or minute of their proposed epistle should be submitted to him for advice--"because the humours of her majesty were best known to him." now the humours of her majesty were best known to leicester of all men in the whole world, and it is inconceivable that he should have allowed so many days and weeks to pass without taking these humours properly into account. but the earl's head was slightly turned by his sudden and unexpected success. the game that he had been pursuing had fallen into his grasp, almost at the very start, and it is not astonishing that he should have been somewhat absorbed in the enjoyment of his victory. three days later ( th february) the minute of a letter to elizabeth, drawn up by menin, was submitted to the ambassador; eight days after that ( th february) mr. davison took leave of the states, and set forth for the brill on his way to england; and three or four days later yet, he was still in that sea-port, waiting for a favourable wind. thus from the th january, n.s., upon which day the first offer of the absolute government had been made to leicester, nearly forty days had elapsed, during which long period the disobedient earl had not sent one line, private or official, to her majesty on this most important subject. and when at last the queen was to receive information of her favourite's delinquency, it was not to be in his well-known handwriting and accompanied by his penitent tears and written caresses, but to be laid before her with all the formality of parchment and sealingwax, in the stilted diplomatic jargon of those "highly-mighty, very learned, wise, and very foreseeing gentlemen, my lords the states-general." nothing could have been managed with less adroitness. meantime, not heeding the storm gathering beyond the narrow seas, the new governor was enjoying the full sunshine of power. on the th february the ceremony of his inauguration took place, with great pomp and ceremony at the hague. the beautiful, placid, village-capital of holland wore much the same aspect at that day as now. clean, quiet, spacious streets, shaded with rows of whispering poplars and umbrageous limes, broad sleepy canals--those liquid highways alone; which glided in phantom silence the bustle, and traffic, and countless cares of a stirring population--quaint toppling houses, with tower and gable; ancient brick churches, with slender spire and musical chimes; thatched cottages on the outskirts, with stork-nests on the roofs--the whole without fortification save the watery defences which enclosed it with long-drawn lines on every side; such was the count's park, or 's graven haage, in english called the hague. it was embowered and almost buried out of sight by vast groves of oaks and beeches. ancient badahuennan forests of sanguinary druids, the "wild wood without mercy" of saxon savages, where, at a later period, sovereign dirks and florences, in long succession of centuries, had ridden abroad with lance in rest, or hawk on fist; or under whose boughs, in still nearer days, the gentle jacqueline had pondered and wept over her sorrows, stretched out in every direction between the city and the neighbouring sea. in the heart of the place stood the ancient palace of the counts, built in the thirteenth century by william ii. of holland, king of the romans, with massive brick walls, cylindrical turrets, pointed gable and rose-shaped windows, and with spacious coup-yard, enclosed by feudal moat, drawbridge, and portcullis. in the great banqueting-hall of the ancient palace, whose cedarn-roof of magnificent timber-work, brought by crusading counts from the holy land, had rung with the echoes of many a gigantic revel in the days of chivalry--an apartment one hundred and fifty feet long and forty feet high--there had been arranged an elevated platform, with a splendid chair of state for the "absolute" governor, and with a great profusion of gilding and velvet tapestry, hangings, gilt emblems, complimentary devices, lions, unicorns, and other imposing appurtenances. prince maurice, and all the members of his house, the states-general in full costume, and all the great functionaries, civil and military, were assembled. there was an elaborate harangue by orator menin, in which it was proved; by copious citations from holy writ and from ancient chronicle, that the lord never forsakes his own; so that now, when the provinces were at their last gasp by the death of orange and the loss of antwerp, the queen of england and the earl of leicester had suddenly descended, as if from heaven; to their rescue. then the oaths of mutual fidelity were exchanged between the governor and the states, and, in conclusion, dr. bartholomew clerk ventured to measure himself with the "big fellows," by pronouncing an oration which seemed to command universal approbation. and thus the earl was duly installed governor-general of the united states of the netherlands. but already the first mutterings of the storm were audible. a bird in the air had whispered to the queen that her favourite was inclined to disobedience. "some flying tale hath been told me here," wrote leicester to walsingham, "that her majesty should mislike my name of excellency. but if i had delighted, or would have received titles, i refused a title higher than excellency, as mr. davison, if you ask him, will tell you; and that i, my own self, refused most earnestly that, and, if i might have done it, this also." certainly, if the queen objected to this common form of address, which had always been bestowed upon leicester, as he himself observed, ever since she had made him an earl, it might be supposed that her wrath would mount high when she should hear of him as absolute governor-general. it is also difficult to say what higher title he had refused, for certainly the records show that he had refused nothing, in the way of power and dignity, that it was possible for him to obtain. but very soon afterwards arrived authentic intelligence that the queen had been informed of the proposition made on new year's-day (o.s.), and that, although she could not imagine the possibility of his accepting, she was indignant that he had not peremptorily rejected the offer. "as to the proposal made to you," wrote burghley, "by the mouth of leoninus, her majesty hath been informed that you had thanked them in her name, and alledged that there was no such thing in the contract, and that therefore you could not accept nor knew how to answer the same." now this information was obviously far from correct, although it had been furnished by the earl himself to burghley. we have seen that leicester had by no means rejected, but very gratefully entertained, the proposition as soon as made. nevertheless the queen was dissatisfied, even without suspecting that she had been directly disobeyed. "her majesty," continued the lord-treasurer; "is much offended with this proceeding. she allows not that you should give them thanks, but findeth it very strange that you did not plainly declare to them that they did well know how often her majesty had refused to have any one for her take any such government there, and that she had always so answered peremptorily. therefore there might be some suspicion conceived that by offering on their part, and refusal on hers, some further mischief might be secretly hidden by some odd person's device to the hurt of the cause. but in that your lordship did not flatly say to them that yourself did know her majesty's mind therein, that she never meant, in this sort, to take the absolute government, she is offended considering, as she saith, that none knew her determination therein better than yourself. for at your going hence, she did peremptorily charge you not to accept any such title and office; and therefore her straight commandment now is that you shall not accept the same, for she will never assent thereto, nor avow you with any such title." if elizabeth was so wrathful, even while supposing that the offer had been gratefully declined, what were likely to be her emotions when she should be informed that it had been gratefully accepted. the earl already began to tremble at the probable consequences of his mal-adroitness. grave was the error he had committed in getting himself made governor-general against orders; graver still, perhaps fatal, the blunder of not being swift to confess his fault, and cry for pardon, before other tongues should have time to aggravate his offence. yet even now he shrank from addressing the queen in person, but hoped to conjure the rising storm by means of the magic wand of the lord-treasurer. he implored his friend's interposition to shield him in the emergency, and begged that at least her majesty and the lords of council would suspend their judgment until mr. davison should deliver those messages and explanations with which, fully freighted, he was about to set sail from the brill. "if my reasons seem to your wisdoms," said he, "other than such as might well move a true and a faithful careful man to her majesty to do as i have done, i do desire, for my mistaking offence, to bear the burden of it; to be disavowed with all displeasure and disgrace; a matter of as great reproach and grief as ever can happen to any man." he begged that another person might be sent as soon as possible in his place-protesting, however, by his faith in christ, that he had done only what he was bound to do by his regard for her majesty's service--and that when he set foot in the country he had no more expected to be made governor of the netherlands than to be made king of spain. certainly he had been paying dear for the honour, if honour it was, and he had not intended on setting forth for the provinces to ruin himself, for the sake of an empty title. his motives--and he was honest, when he so avowed them--were motives of state at least as much as of self-advancement. "i have no cause," he said, "to have played the fool thus far for myself; first, to have her majesty's displeasure, which no kingdom in the world could make me willingly deserve; next, to undo myself in my later days; to consume all that should have kept me all my life in one half year. but i must thank god for all, and am most heartily grieved at her majesty's heavy displeasure. i neither desire to live, nor to see my country with it." and at this bitter thought, he began to sigh like furnace, and to shed the big tears of penitence. "for if i have not done her majesty good service at this time," he said, "i shall never hope to do her any, but will withdraw me into some out-corner of the world, where i will languish out the rest of my few-too many-days, praying ever for her majesty's long and prosperous life, and with this only comfort to live an exile, that this disgrace hath happened for no other cause but for my mere regard for her majesty's estate." having painted this dismal picture of the probable termination to his career--not in the hope of melting burghley but of touching the heart of elizabeth--he proceeded to argue the point in question with much logic and sagacity. he had satisfied himself on his arrival in the provinces, that, if he did not take the governor-generalship some other person would; and that it certainly was for the interest of her majesty that her devoted servant, rather than an indifferent person, should be placed in that important position. he maintained that the queen had intimated, to him, in private, her willingness that he should accept the office in question provided the proposition should come from the states and not from her; he reasoned that the double nature of his functions--being general and counsellor for her, as well as general and counsellor for the provinces--made his acceptance of the authority conferred on him almost indispensable; that for him to be merely commander over five thousand english troops, when an abler soldier than himself, sir john norris, was at their head, was hardly worthy her majesty's service or himself, and that in reality the queen had lost nothing, by his appointment, but had gained much benefit and honour by thus having the whole command of the provinces, of their forces by land and sea, of their towns and treasures, with knowledge of all their secrets of state. then, relapsing into a vein of tender but reproachful melancholy, he observed, that, if it had been any man but himself that had done as he had done, he would have been thanked, not censured. "but such is now my wretched case," he said, "as for my faithful, true, and loving heart to her majesty and my country, i have utterly undone myself. for favour, i have disgrace; for reward, utter spoil and ruin. but if this taking upon me the name of governor is so evil taken as it hath deserved dishonour, discredit, disfavour, with all griefs that may be laid upon a man, i must receive it as deserved of god and not of my queen, whom i have reverenced with all humility, and whom i have loved with all fidelity." this was the true way, no doubt, to reach the heart of elizabeth, and leicester had always plenty of such shafts in his quiver. unfortunately he had delayed too long, and even now he dared not take a direct aim. he feared to write to the queen herself, thinking that his so doing, "while she had such conceipts of him, would only trouble her," and he therefore continued to employ the lord-treasurer and mr. secretary as his mediators. thus he committed error upon error. meantime, as if there had not been procrastination enough, davison was loitering at the brill, detained by wind and weather. two days after the letter, just cited, had been despatched to walsingham, leicester sent an impatient message to the envoy. "i am heartily sorry, with all my heart," he said, "to hear of your long stay at brill, the wind serving so fair as it hath done these two days. i would have laid any wager that you had been in england ere this. i pray you make haste, lest our cause take too great a prejudice there ere you come, although i cannot fear it, because it is so good and honest. i pray you imagine in what care i dwell till i shall hear from you, albeit some way very resolute." thus it was obvious that he had no secret despair of his cause when it should be thoroughly laid before the queen. the wonder was that he had added the offence of long silence to the sin of disobedience. davison had sailed, however, before the receipt of the earl's letter. he had been furnished with careful instructions upon the subject of his mission. he was to show how eager the states had been to have leicester for their absolute governor--which was perfectly true--and how anxious the earl had been to decline the proffered honour--which was certainly false, if contemporary record and the minutes of the states-general are to be believed. he was to sketch the general confusion which had descended upon the country, the quarrelling of politicians, and the discontent of officers and soldiers, from out of all which chaos one of two results was sure to arise: the erection of a single chieftain, or a reconciliation of the provinces with spain. that it would be impossible for the earl to exercise the double functions with which he was charged--of general of her majesty's forces, and general and chief counsellor of the states--if any other man than himself should be appointed governor; was obvious. it was equally plain that the provinces could only be kept at her majesty's disposition by choosing the course which, at their own suggestion, had been adopted. the offer of the government by the states, and its acceptance by the earl, were the logical consequence of the step which the queen had already taken. it was thus only that england could retain her hold upon the country, and even upon the cautionary towns. as to a reconciliation of the provinces with spain--which would have been the probable result of leicester's rejection of the proposition made by the stateait was unnecessary to do more than allude to such a catastrophe. no one but a madman could doubt that, in such an event, the subjugation of england was almost certain. but before the arrival of the ambassador, the queen had been thoroughly informed as to the whole extent of the earl's delinquency. dire was the result. the wintry gales which had been lashing the north sea, and preventing the unfortunate davison from setting forth on his disastrous mission, were nothing to the tempest of royal wrath which had been shaking the court-world to its centre. the queen had been swearing most fearfully ever since she read the news, which leicester had not dared to communicate directly, to herself. no one was allowed to speak a word in extenuation of the favourite's offence. burghley, who lifted up his voice somewhat feebly to appease her wrath, was bid, with a curse, to hold his peace. so he took to his bed-partly from prudence, partly from gout--and thus sheltered himself for a season from the peltings of the storm. walsingham, more manful, stood to his post, but could not gain a hearing. it was the culprit that should have spoken, and spoken in time. "why, why did you not write yourself?" was the plaintive cry of all the earl's friends, from highest to humblest. "but write to her now," they exclaimed, "at any rate; and, above all, send her a present, a love-gift." "lay out two or three hundred crowns in some rare thing, for a token to her majesty," said christopher hatton. strange that his colleagues and his rivals should have been obliged to advise leicester upon the proper course to pursue; that they--not himself--should have been the first to perceive that it was the enraged woman, even more than the offended sovereign, who was to be propitiated and soothed. in truth, all the woman had been aroused in elizabeth's bosom. she was displeased that her favourite should derive power and splendour from any source but her own bounty. she was furious that his wife, whom she hated, was about to share in his honours. for the mischievous tongues of court-ladies had been collecting or fabricating many unpleasant rumours. a swarm of idle but piquant stories had been buzzing about the queen's ears, and stinging her into a frenzy of jealousy. the countess--it was said--was on the point of setting forth for the netherlands, to join the earl, with a train of courtiers and ladies, coaches and side-saddles, such as were never seen before--where the two were about to establish themselves in conjugal felicity, as well as almost royal state. what a prospect for the jealous and imperious sovereign! "coaches and side-saddles! she would show the upstarts that there was one queen, and that her name was elizabeth, and that there was no court but hers." and so she continued to storm and swear, and threaten unutterable vengeance, till all her courtiers quaked in their shoes. thomas dudley, however, warmly contradicted the report, declaring, of his own knowledge, that the countess had no wish to go to the provinces, nor the earl any intention of receiving her there. this information was at once conveyed to the queen, "and," said dudley, "it did greatly pacify her stomach." his friends did what they could to maintain the governor's cause; but burghley, walsingham, hatton, and the rest of them, were all "at their wits end," and were nearly distraught at the delay in davison's arrival. meantime the queen's stomach was not so much pacified but that she was determined to humiliate the earl with the least possible delay. having waited sufficiently long for his explanations, she now appointed sir thomas heneage as special commissioner to the states, without waiting any longer. her wrath vented itself at once in the preamble to the instructions for this agent. "whereas," she said, "we have been given to understand that the earl of leicester hath in a very contemptuous sort--contrary to our express commandment given unto him by ourself, accepted of an offer of a more absolute government made by the states unto him, than was agreed on between us and their commissioners--which kind of contemptible manner of proceeding giveth the world just cause to think that there is not that reverent respect carried towards us by our subjects as in duty appertaineth; especially seeing so notorious a contempt committed by one whom we have raised up and yielded in the eye of the world, even from the beginning of our reign, as great portion of our favour as ever subject enjoyed at any prince's hands; we therefore, holding nothing dearer than our honour, and considering that no one thing could more touch our reputation than to induce so open and public a faction of a prince, and work a greater reproach than contempt at a subject's hand, without reparation of our honour, have found it necessary to send you unto him, as well to charge him with the said contempt, as also to execute such other things as we think meet to be done, for the justifying of ourselves to the world, as the repairing of the indignity cast upon us by his undutiful manner of proceeding towards us. . . . and for that we find ourselves also not well dealt withal by the states, in that they have pressed the said earl, without our assent or privity, to accept of a more absolute government than was agreed on between us and their commissioners, we have also thought meet that you shall charge them therewith, according to the directions hereafter ensuing. and to the end there may be no delay used in the execution of that which we think meet to be presently done, you shall charge the said states, even as they tender the continuance of our good-will towards them, to proceed to the speedy execution of our request." after this trumpet-like preamble it may be supposed that the blast which followed would be piercing and shrill. the instructions, in truth, consisted in wild, scornful flourishes upon one theme. the word contempt had occurred five times in the brief preamble. it was repeated in almost every line of the instructions. "you shall let the earl" (our cousin no longer) "understand," said the queen, "how highly and justly we are offended with his acceptation of the government, which we do repute to be a very great and strange contempt, least looked for at our hands, being, as he is, a creature of our own." his omission to acquaint her by letter with the causes moving him "so contemptuously to break" her commandment, his delay in sending davison "to answer the said contempt," had much "aggravated the fault," although the queen protested herself unable to imagine any "excuse for so manifest a contempt." the states were to be informed that she "held it strange" that "this creature of her own" should have been pressed by them to "commit so notorious a contempt" against her, both on account of this very exhibition of contempt on leicester's part, and because they thereby "shewed themselves to have a very slender and weak conceit of her judgment, by pressing a minister of hers to accept that which she had refused, as: though her long experience in government had not taught her to discover what was fit to do in matters of state." as the result of such a proceeding would be to disgrace her in the eyes of mankind, by inducing an opinion that her published solemn declaration on this great subject had been intended to abuse the world, he was directed--in order to remove the hard conceit justly to be taken by the world, "in consideration of the said contempt,"--to make a public and open resignation of the government in the place where he had accepted the same. thus it had been made obvious to the unlucky "creature of her own," that the queen did not easily digest "contempt." nevertheless these instructions to heneage were gentle, compared with the fierce billet which she addressed directly to the earl: it was brief, too, as the posy of a ring; and thus it ran: "to my lord of leicester, from the queen, by sir thomas heneage. how contemptuously we conceive ourself to have been used by you, you shall by this bearer understand, whom we have expressly sent unto you to charge you withal. we could never have imagined, had we not seen it fall out in experience, that a man raised up by ourself, and extraordinarily favoured by us above any other subject of this land, would have, in so contemptible a sort, broken our commandment, in a cause that so greatly toucheth us in honour; whereof, although you have showed yourself to make but little account, in most undutiful a sort, you may not therefore think that we have so little care of the reparation thereof as we mind to pass so great a wrong in silence unredressed. and therefore our express pleasure and commandment is, that--all delays and excuses laid apart--you do presently, upon the duty of your allegiance, obey and fulfil whatsoever the bearer hereof shall direct you to do in our name. whereof fail not, as you will answer the contrary at your uttermost peril." here was no billing and cooing, certainly, but a terse, biting phraseology, about which there could be no misconception. by the same messenger the queen also sent a formal letter to the states-general; the epistle--'mutatis mutandis'--being also addressed to the state-council. in this document her majesty expressed her great surprise that leicester should have accepted their offer of the absolute government, "both for police and war," when she had so expressly rejected it herself. "to tell the truth," she observed, "you seem to have treated us with very little respect, and put a too manifest insult upon us, in presenting anew to one of, our subjects the same proposition which we had already declined, without at least waiting for our answer whether we should like it or no; as if we had not sense enough to be able to decide upon what we ought to accept or refuse." she proceeded to express her dissatisfaction with the course pursued, because so repugnant to her published declaration, in which she had stated to the world her intention of aiding the provinces, without meddling in the least with the sovereignty of the country. "the contrary would now be believed," she said, "at least by those who take the liberty of censuring, according to their pleasure, the actions of princes." thus her honour was at stake. she signified her will, therefore, that, in order to convince the world of her sincerity, the authority conferred should be revoked, and that "the earl," whom she had decided to recall very soon, should, during his brief residence there, only exercise the power agreed upon by the original contract. she warmly reiterated her intention, however, of observing inviolably the promise of assistance which she had given to the states. "and if," she said, "any malicious or turbulent spirits should endeavour, perchance, to persuade the people that this our refusal proceeds from lack of affection or honest disposition to assist you--instead of being founded only on respect for our honour, which is dearer to us than life--we beg you, by every possible means, to shut their mouths, and prevent their pernicious designs." thus, heavily laden with the royal wrath, heneage was on the point of leaving london for the netherlands, on the very day upon which davison arrived, charged with deprecatory missives from that country. after his long detention he had a short passage, crossing from the brill to margate in a single night. coming immediately to london, he sent to walsingham to inquire which way the wind was blowing at court, but received a somewhat discouraging reply. "your long detention by his lordship," said the secretary, "has wounded the whole cause;" adding, that he thought her majesty would not speak with him. on the other hand, it seemed indispensable for him to go to the court, because if the queen should hear of his arrival before he had presented himself, she was likely to be more angry than ever. so, the same afternoon, davison waited upon walsingham, and found him in a state of despondency. "she takes his lordship's acceptance of the government most haynously," said sir francis, "and has resolved to send sir thomas heneage at once, with orders for him to resign the office. she has been threatening you and sir philip sidney, whom she considers the chief actors and persuaders in the matter, according to information received from some persons about my lord of leicester." davison protested himself amazed at the secretary's discourse, and at once took great pains to show the reasons by which all parties had been influenced in the matter of the government. he declared roundly that if the queen should carry out her present intentions, the earl would be most unworthily disgraced, the cause utterly overthrown, the queen's honour perpetually stained, and that her kingdom would incur great disaster. directly after this brief conversation, walsingham went up stairs to the queen, while davison proceeded to the apartments of sir christopher hatton. thence he was soon summoned to the royal presence, and found that he had not been misinformed as to the temper of her majesty. the queen was indeed in a passion, and began swearing at davison so soon as he got into the chamber; abusing leicester for having accepted the offer of the states, against her many times repeated commandment, and the ambassador for not having opposed his course. the thing had been done, she said, in contempt of her, as if her consent had been of no consequence, or as if the matter in no way concerned her. so soon as she paused to take breath, the envoy modestly, but firmly, appealed to her reason, that she would at any rate lend him a patient and favourable ear, in which case he doubted not that she would form a more favourable opinion of the case than she had hitherto done: he then entered into a long discourse upon the state of the netherlands before the arrival of leicester, the inclination in many quarters for a peace, the "despair that any sound and good fruit would grow of her majesty's cold beginning," the general unpopularity of the states' government, the "corruption, partiality, and confusion," which were visible everywhere, the perilous condition of the whole cause, and the absolute necessity of some immediate reform. "it was necessary," said davison, "that some one person of wisdom and authority should take the helm. among the netherlanders none was qualified for such a charge. lord maurice is a child, poor, and of but little respect among them. elector truchsess, count hohenlo, meurs, and the rest, strangers and incapable of the burden. these considerations influenced the states to the step which had been taken; without which all the rest of her benevolence was to little purpose." although the contract between the commissioners and the queen had not literally provided for such an arrangement, yet it had always been contemplated by the states, who had left themselves without a head until the arrival of the earl. "under one pretext or another," continued the envoy, "my lord of leicester had long delayed to satisfy them,"--(and in so stating he went somewhat further in defence of his absent friend than the facts would warrant), "for he neither flatly refused it, nor was willing to accept, until your majesty's pleasure should be known." certainly the records show no reservation of his acceptance until the queen had been consulted; but the defence by davison of the offending earl was so much the more courageous. "at length, wearied by their importunity, moved with their reasons, and compelled by necessity, he thought it better to take the course he did," proceeded the diplomatist, "for otherwise he must have been an eye-witness of the dismemberment of the whole country, which could not be kept together but by a reposed hope in her majesty's found favour, which had been utterly despaired of by his refusal. he thought it better by accepting to increase the honour, profit; and surety, of her majesty, and the good of the cause, than, by refusing, to utterly hazard the one, and overthrow the other." to all this and more, well and warmly urged by davison; the queen listened by fits and starts, often interrupting his discourse by violent abuse of leicester, accusing him of contempt for her, charging him with thinking more of his own particular greatness than of her honour and service, and then "digressing into old griefs," said the envoy, "too long and tedious to write." she vehemently denounced davison also for dereliction of duty in not opposing the measure; but he manfully declared that he never deemed so meanly of her majesty or of his lordship as to suppose that she would send him, or that he would go to the provinces, merely, "to take command of the relics of mr. norris's worn and decayed troops." such a change, protested davison, was utterly unworthy a person of the earl's quality, and utterly unsuited to the necessity of the time and state. but davison went farther in defence of leicester. he had been present at many of the conferences with the netherland envoys during the preceding summer in england, and he now told the queen stoutly to her face that she herself, or at any rate one of her chief counsellors, in her hearing and his, had expressed her royal determination not to prevent the acceptance of whatever authority the states might choose to confer, by any one whom she might choose to send. she had declined to accept it in person, but she had been willing that it should be wielded by her deputy; and this remembrance of his had been confirmed by that of one of the commissioners since their return. she had never--davison maintained--sent him one single line having any bearing on the subject. under such circumstances, "i might have been accused of madness,", said he, "to have dissuaded an action in my poor opinion so necessary and expedient for your majesty's honour, surety, and greatness." if it were to do over again, he avowed, and "were his opinion demanded, he could give no other advice than that which he had given, having received no contrary, commandment from her highness." and so ended the first evening's long and vehement debate, and davison departed, "leaving her," as he said, "much qualified, though in many points unsatisfied." she had however, absolutely refused to receive a letter from leicester, with which he had been charged, but which, in her opinion, had better have been written two months before. the next day, it seemed, after all, that heneage was to be despatched, "in great heat," upon his mission. davison accordingly requested an immediate audience. so soon as admitted to the presence he burst into tears, and implored the queen to pause before she should inflict the contemplated disgrace on one whom she had hitherto so highly esteemed, and, by so doing, dishonour herself and imperil both countries. but the queen was more furious than ever that morning, returning at every pause in the envoy's discourse to harp upon the one string--"how dared he come to such a decision without at least imparting it to me?"--and so on, as so many times before. and again davison, with all the eloquence and with every soothing art he had at command; essayed to pour oil upon the waves. nor was he entirely unsuccessful; for presently the queen became so calm again that he ventured once more to present the rejected letter of the earl. she broke the seal, and at sight of the well-known handwriting she became still more gentle; and so soon as she had read the first of her favourite's honied phrases she thrust the precious document into her pocket, in order to read it afterwards, as davison observed, at her leisure. the opening thus successfully made, and the envoy having thus, "by many insinuations," prepared her to lend him a "more patient and willing ear than she had vouchsafed before," he again entered into a skilful and impassioned argument to show the entire wisdom of the course pursued by the earl. it is unnecessary to repeat the conversation. since to say that no man could have more eloquently and faithfully supported an absent friend under difficulties than davison now defended the earl. the line of argument is already familiar to the reader, and, in truth, the queen had nothing to reply, save to insist upon the governor's delinquency in maintaining so long and inexplicable a silence. and--at this thought, in spite of the envoy's eloquence, she went off again in a paroxysm of anger, abusing the earl, and deeply censuring davison for his "peremptory and partial dealing." "i had conceived a better opinion of you," she said, "and i had intended more good to you than i now find you worthy of." "i humbly thank your highness," replied the ambassador, "but i take yourself to witness that i have never affected or sought any such grace at your hands. and if your majesty persists in the dangerous course on which you are now entering, i only pray your leave, in recompense for all my travails, to retire myself home, where i may spend the rest of my life in praying for you, whom salvation itself is not able to save, if these purposes are continued. henceforth, madam, he is to be deemed happiest who is least interested in the public service." and so ended the second day's debate. the next day the lord-treasurer, who, according to davison, employed himself diligently--as did also walsingham and hatton--in dissuading the queen from the violent measures which she had resolved upon, effected so much of a change as to procure the insertion of those qualifying clauses in heneage's instructions which had been previously disallowed. the open and public disgrace of the earl, which was to have been peremptorily demanded, was now to be deferred, if such a measure seemed detrimental to the public service. her majesty, however, protested herself as deeply offended as ever, although she had consented to address a brief, somewhat mysterious, but benignant letter of compliment to the states. soon after this davison retired for a few days from the court, having previously written to the earl that "the heat of her majesty's offence to his lordship was abating every day somewhat, and that she was disposed both to hear and to speak more temperately of him." he implored him accordingly to a "more diligent entertaining of her by wise letters and messages, wherein his slackness hitherto appeared to have bred a great part of this unkindness." he observed also that the "traffic of peace was still going on underhand; but whether to use it as a second string to our bow, if the first should fail, or of any settled inclination thereunto, he could not affirm." meantime sir thomas heneage was despatched on his mission to the staten, despite all the arguments and expostulations of walsingham, burghley, hatton, and davison. all the queen's counsellors were unequivocally in favour of sustaining leicester; and heneage was not a little embarrassed as to the proper method of conducting the affair. everything, in truth, was in a most confused condition. he hardly understood to what power he was accredited. "heneage writes even now unto me," said walsingham to davison, "that he cannot yet receive any information who be the states, which he thinketh will be a great maimer unto him in his negotiation. i have told him that it is an assembly much like that of our burgesses that represent the state, and that my lord of leicester may cause some of them to meet together, unto whom he may deliver his letters and messages." thus the new envoy was to request the culprit to summon the very assembly by which his downfall and disgrace were to be solemnized, as formally as had been so recently his elevation to the height of power. the prospect was not an agreeable one, and the less so because of his general want of familiarity with the constitutional forms of the country he was about to visit. davison accordingly, at the request of sir francis, furnished heneage with much valuable information and advice upon the subject. thus provided with information, forewarned of danger, furnished with a double set of letters from the queen to the states--the first expressed in language of extreme exasperation, the others couched in almost affectionate terms--and laden with messages brimfull of wrathful denunciation from her majesty to one who was notoriously her majesty's dearly-beloved, sir thomas heneage set forth on his mission. these were perilous times for the davisons and the heneages, when even leicesters and burghleys were scarcely secure. meantime the fair weather at court could not be depended upon from one day to another, and the clouds were perpetually returning after the rain. "since my second and third day's audience," said davison, "the storms i met with at my arrival have overblown and abated daily. on saturday again she fell into some new heat, which lasted not long. this day i was myself at the court, and found her in reasonable good terms, though she will not yet seem satisfied to me either with the matter or manner of your proceeding, notwithstanding all the labour i have taken in that behalf. yet i find not her majesty altogether so sharp as some men look, though her favour has outwardly cooled in respect both of this action and of our plain proceeding with her here in defence thereof." the poor countess--whose imaginary exodus, with the long procession of coaches and side-saddles, had excited so much ire--found herself in a most distressing position. "i have not seen my lady these ten or twelve days," said davison. "to-morrow i hope to do my duty towards her. i found her greatly troubled with tempestuous news she received from court, but somewhat comforted when she understood how i had proceeded with her majesty . . . . but these passions overblown, i hope her majesty will have a gracious regard both towards myself and the cause." but the passions seemed not likely to blow over so soon as was desirable. leicester's brother the earl of warwick took a most gloomy view of the whole transaction, and hoarser than the raven's was his boding tone. "well, our mistress's extreme rage doth increase rather than diminish," he wrote, "and she giveth out great threatening words against you. therefore make the best assurance you can for yourself, and trust not her oath, for that her malice is great and unquenchable in the wisest of their opinions here, and as for other friendships, as far as i can learn, it is as doubtful as the other. wherefore, my good brother, repose your whole trust in god, and he will defend you in despite of all your enemies. and let this be a great comfort to you, and so it is likewise to myself and all your assured friends, and that is, that you were never so honoured and loved in your life amongst all good people as you are at this day, only for dealing so nobly and wisely in this action as you have done; so that, whatsoever cometh of it, you have done your part. i praise god from my heart for it. once again, have great care of yourself, i mean for your safety, and if she will needs revoke you, to the overthrowing of the cause, if i were as you, if i could not be assured there, i would go to the farthest part of christendom rather than ever come into england again. take heed whom you trust, for that you have some false boys about you." and the false boys were busy enough, and seemed likely to triumph in the result of their schemes. for a glance into the secret correspondence of mary of scotland has already revealed the earl to us constantly surrounded by men in masks. many of those nearest his person, and of highest credit out of england, were his deadly foes, sworn to compass his dishonour, his confusion, and eventually his death, and in correspondence with his most powerful adversaries at home and abroad. certainly his path was slippery and perilous along those icy summits of power, and he had need to look well to his footsteps. before heneage had arrived in the netherlands, sir thomas shirley, despatched by leicester to england with a commission to procure supplies for the famishing soldiers, and, if possible, to mitigate the queen's wrath, had, been admitted more than once to her majesty's presence. he had fought the earl's battle as manfully as davison had done, and, like that envoy, had received nothing in exchange for his plausible arguments but bitter words and big oaths. eight days after his arrival he was introduced by hatton into the privy chamber, and at the moment of his entrance was received with a volley of execrations. "i did expressly and peremptorily forbid his acceptance of the absolute government, in the hearing of divers of my council," said the queen. shirley.--"the necessity of the case was imminent, your highness. it was his lordship's intent to do all for your majesty's service. those countries did expect him as a governor at his first landing, and the states durst do no other than satisfy the people also with that opinion. the people's mislike of their present government is such and so great as that the name of states is grown odious amongst them. therefore the states, doubting the furious rage of the people, conferred the authority upon his lordship with incessant suit to him to receive it. notwithstanding this, however, he did deny it until he saw plainly both confusion and ruin of that country if he should refuse. on the other hand, when he had seen into their estates, his lordship found great profit and commodity like to come unto your majesty by your acceptance of it. your highness may now have garrisons of english in as many towns as pleaseth you, without any more charge than you are now at. nor can any peace be made with spain at any time hereafter, but through you: and by you. your majesty should remember, likewise, that if a man of another nation had been chosen governor it might have wrought great danger. moreover it would have been an indignity that your lieutenant-general should of necessity be under him that so should have been elected. finally, this is a stop to any other that may affect the place of government there." queen (who has manifested many signs of impatience during this discourse).--"your speech is all in vain. his lordship's proceeding is sufficient to make me infamous to all princes, having protested the contrary, as i have done, in a book which is translated into divers and sundry languages. his lordship, being my servant, a creature of my own, ought not, in duty towards me, have entered into this course without my knowledge and good allowance." shirley.--"but the world hath conceived a high judgment of your majesty's great wisdom and providence; shown by your assailing the king of spain at one time both in the low countries and also by sir francis drake. i do assure myself that the same judgment which did first cause you to take this in hand must continue a certain knowledge in your majesty that one of these actions must needs stand much better by the other. if sir frances do prosper, then all is well. and though he should not prosper, yet this hold that his lordship hath taken for you on the low countries must always assure an honourable peace at your highness's pleasure. i beseech your majesty to remember that to the king of spain the government of his lordship is no greater matter than if he were but your lieutenant-general there; but the voyage of sir francis is of much greater offence than all." queen (interrupting).--"i can very well answer for sir francis. moreover, if need be, the gentleman careth not if i should disavow him." shirley.--"even so standeth my lord, if your disavowing of him may also stand with your highness's favour towards him. nevertheless; should this bruit of your mislike of his lordship's authority there come unto the ears of those people; being a nation both sudden and suspicious, and having been heretofore used to stratagem--i fear it may work some strange notion in them, considering that, at this time, there is an increase of taxation raised upon them, the bestowing whereof perchance they know not of. his lordship's giving; up of the government may leave them altogether without government, and in worse case than they were ever in before. for now the authority of the states is dissolved, and his lordship's government is the only thing that holdeth them together. i do beseech your highness, then, to consider well of it, and if there be any private cause for which you take grief against his lordship, nevertheless, to have regard unto the public cause, and to have a care of your own safety, which in many wise men's opinions, standeth much upon the good maintenance and upholding of this matter." queen.--"i believe nothing of, what you say concerning the dissolving of the authority of the states. i know well enough that the states do remain states still. i mean not to do harm to the cause, but only to reform that which his lordship hath done beyond his warrant from me." and with this the queen swept suddenly from the apartment. sir thomas, at different stages of the conversation, had in vain besought her to accept a letter from the earl which had been entrusted to his care. she obstinately refused to touch it. shirley had even had recourse to stratagem: affecting ignorance on many points concerning which the queen desired information, and suggesting that doubtless she would find those matters fully explained in his lordship's letter. the artifice was in vain, and the discussion was, on the whole, unsatisfactory. yet there is no doubt that the queen had had the worst of the argument, and she was far too sagacious a politician not to feel the weight of that which had been urged so often in defence of the course pursued. but it was with her partly a matter of temper and offended pride, perhaps even of wounded affection. on the following morning shirley saw the queen walking in the garden of the palace, and made bold to accost her. thinking, as he said, "to test her affection to lord leicester by another means," the artful sir thomas stepped up to her, and observed that his lordship was seriously ill. "it is feared," he said, "that the earl is again attacked by the disease of which dr. goodrowse did once cure him. wherefore his lordship is now a humble suitor to your highness that it would please you to spare goodrowse, and give him leave to go thither for some time." the queen was instantly touched. "certainly--with all my heart, with all my heart, he shall have him," she replied, "and sorry i am that his lordship hath that need of him." "and indeed," returned sly sir thomas, "your highness is a very gracious prince, who are pleased not to suffer his lordship to perish in health, though otherwise you remain deeply offended with him." "you know my mind," returned elizabeth, now all the queen again, and perhaps suspecting the trick; "i may not endure that any man should alter my commission and the authority that i gave him, upon his own fancies and without me." with this she instantly summoned one of her gentlemen, in order to break off the interview, fearing that shirley was about to enter again upon a discussion of the whole subject, and again to attempt the delivery of the earl's letter. in all this there was much of superannuated coquetry, no doubt, and much of tudor despotism, but there was also a strong infusion of artifice. for it will soon be necessary to direct attention to certain secret transactions of an important nature in which the queen was engaged, and which were even hidden from the all-seeing eye of walsingham--although shrewdly suspected both by that statesman and by leicester--but which were most influential in modifying her policy at that moment towards the netherlands. there could be no doubt, however, of the stanch and strenuous manner in which the delinquent earl was supported by his confidential messengers and by some of his fellow-councillors. his true friends were urgent that the great cause in which he was engaged should be forwarded sincerely and without delay. shirley had been sent for money; but to draw money from elizabeth was like coining her life-blood, drachma by drachma. "your lordship is like to have but a poor supply of money at this time," said sir thomas. "to be plain with you, i fear she groweth weary of the charge, and will hardly be brought to deal thoroughly in the action." he was also more explicit than he might have been--had he been better informed as to the disposition of the chief personages of the court, concerning whose temper the absent earl was naturally anxious. hatton was most in favour at the moment, and it was through hatton that the communications upon netherland matters passed; "for," said shirley, "she will hardly endure mr. secretary (walsingham) to speak unto her therein." "and truly, my lord," he continued, "as mr. secretary is a noble, good, and true friend unto you, so doth mr. vice-chamberlain show himself an honourable, true, and faithful gentleman, and doth carefully and most like a good friend for your lordship." and thus very succinctly and graphically had the envoy painted the situation to his principal. "your lordship now sees things just as they stand," he moralized. "your lordship is exceeding wise. you know the queen and her nature best of any man. you know all men here. your lordship can judge the sequel by this that you see: only this i must tell your lordship, i perceive that fears and doubts from thence are like to work better effects here than comforts and assurance. i think it my part to send your lordship this as it is, rather than to be silent." and with these rather ominous insinuations the envoy concluded for the time his narrative. etext editor's bookmarks: intolerable tendency to puns new years day in england, th january by the new style peace and quietness is brought into a most dangerous estate history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter vii., part . leicester's letters to his friends--paltry conduct of the earl to davison--he excuses himself at davison's expense--his letter to burghley--effect of the queen's letters to the states--suspicion and discontent in holland--states excuse their conduct to the queen-- leicester discredited in holland--evil consequences to holland and england--magic: effect of a letter from leicester--the queen appeased--her letters to the states and the earl--she permits the granted authority----unhappy results of the queen's course--her variable moods--she attempts to deceive walsingham--her injustice to heneage--his perplexity and distress--humiliating position of leicester--his melancholy letters to the queen--he receives a little consolation--and writes more cheerfully--the queen is more benignant--the states less contented than the earl--his quarrels with them begin. while these storms were blowing and "overblowing" in england, leicester remained greatly embarrassed and anxious in holland. he had sown the wind more extensively than he had dreamed of when accepting the government, and he was now awaiting, with much trepidation, the usual harvest: and we have seen that it was rapidly ripening. meantime, the good which he had really effected in the provinces by the course he had taken was likely to be neutralized by the sinister rumours as to his impending disgrace, while the enemy was proportionally encouraged. "i understand credibly," he said, "that the prince of parma feels himself in great jollity that her majesty doth rather mislike than allow of our doings here, which; if it be true, let her be sure her own sweet self shall first smart." moreover; the english troops were, as we have seen, mere shoeless, shivering, starving vagabonds. the earl had generously advanced very large sums of money from his own pocket to relieve their necessity. the states, on the other hand, had voluntarily increased the monthly contribution of , florins, to which their contract with elizabeth obliged them, and were more disposed than ever they had been since the death of orange to proceed vigorously and harmoniously against the common enemy of christendom. under such circumstances it may well be imagined that there was cause on leicester's part for deep mortification at the tragical turn which the queen's temper seemed to be taking. "i know not," he said, "how her majesty doth mean to dispose of me. it hath grieved me more than i can express that for faithful and good service she should so deeply conceive against me. god knows with what mind i have served her highness, and perhaps some others might have failed. yet she is neither tied one jot by covenant or promise by me in any way, nor at one groat the more charges, but myself two or three thousand pounds sterling more than now is like to be well spent. i will desire no partial speech in my favour. if my doings be ill for her majesty and the realm, let me feel the smart of it. the cause is now well forward; let not her majesty suffer it to quail. if you will have it proceed to good effect, send away sir william pelham with all the haste you can. i mean not to complain, but with so weighty a cause as this is, few men have been so weakly assisted. her majesty hath far better choice for my place, and with any that may succeed me let sir william pelham be first that may come. i speak from my soul for her majesty's service. i am for myself upon an hour's warning to obey her good pleasure." thus far the earl had maintained his dignity. he had yielded to the solicitations of the states, and had thereby exceeded his commission, and gratified his ambition, but he had in no wise forfeited his self-respect. but--so soon as the first unquestionable intelligence of the passion to which the queen had given way at his misdoings reached him--he began to whimper, the straightforward tone which davison had adopted in his interviews with elizabeth, and the firmness with which he had defended the cause of his absent friend, at a moment when he had plunged himself into disgrace, was worthy of applause. he deserved at least a word of honest thanks. ignoble however was the demeanor of the earl towards the man--for whom he had but recently been unable to invent eulogies sufficiently warm--so soon as he conceived the possibility of sacrificing his friend as the scape-goat for his own fault. an honest schoolboy would have scorned to leave thus in the lurch a comrade who had been fighting his battles so honestly. "how earnest i was," he wrote to the lords of the council, th march, , "not only to acquaint her majesty, but immediately upon the first motion made by the states, to send mr. davison over to her with letters, i doubt not but he will truly affirm for me; yea, and how far against my will it was, notwithstanding any reasons delivered me, that he and others persisted in, to have me accept first of this place. . . . the extremity of the case, and my being persuaded that mr. davison might have better satisfied her majesty, than i perceive he can, caused, me-neither arrogantly nor contemptuously, but even merely and faithfully--to do her majesty the best service." he acknowledged, certainly, that davison had been influenced by honest motives, although his importunities had been the real cause of the earl's neglect of his own obligations. but he protested that he had himself, only erred through an excessive pliancy to the will of others. "my yielding was my own fault," he admitted, "whatsoever his persuasions; but far from a contemptuous heart, or else god pluck out both heart and bowels with utter shame." so soon as sir thomas heneage had presented himself, and revealed the full extent of the queen's wrath, the earl's disposition to cast the whole crime on the shoulders of davison became quite undisguised. "i thank you for your letters," wrote leicester to walsingham, "though you can send me no comfort. her majesty doth deal hardly to believe so ill of me. it is true i faulted, but she doth not consider what commodities she hath withal, and herself no way engaged for it, as mr. davison might have better declared it, if it had pleased him. and i must thank him only for my blame, and so he will confess to you, for, i protest before god, no necessity here could have made me leave her majesty unacquainted with the cause before i would have accepted of it, but only his so earnest pressing me with his faithfull assured promise to discharge me, however her majesty should take it. for you all see there she had no other cause to be offended but this, and, by the lord, he was the only cause; albeit it is no sufficient allegation, being as i am . . . . . he had, i think, saved all to have told her, as he promised me. but now it is laid upon me, god send the cause to take no harm, my grief must be the less. "how far mr. heneage's commission shall deface me i know not. he is wary to observe his commission, and i consent withal. i know the time will be her majesty will be sorry for it. in the meantime i am too, too weary of the high dignity. i would that any that could serve her majesty were placed in it, and i to sit down with all my losses." in more manful strain he then alluded to the sufferings of his army. "whatsoever become of me," he said, "give me leave to speak for the poor soldiers. if they be not better maintained, being in this strange country, there will be neither good service done, nor be without great dishonour to her majesty. . . . well, you see the wants, and it is one cause that will glad me to be rid of this heavy high calling, and wish me at my poor cottage again, if any i shall find. but let her majesty pay them well, and appoint such a man as sir william pelham to govern them, and she never wan more honour than these men here will do, i am persuaded." that the earl was warmly urged by all most conversant with netherland politics to assume the government was a fact admitted by all. that he manifested rather eagerness than reluctance on the subject, and that his only hesitation arose from the proposed restraints upon the power, not from scruples about accepting the power, are facts upon record. there is nothing save his own assertion to show any backwardness on his part to snatch the coveted prize; and that assertion was flatly denied by davison, and was indeed refuted by every circumstance in the case. it is certain that he had concealed from davison the previous prohibitions of the queen. he could anticipate much better than could davison, therefore, the probable indignation of the queen. it is strange then that he should have shut his eyes to it so wilfully, and stranger still that he should have relied on the envoy's eloquence instead of his own to mitigate that emotion. had he placed his defence simply upon its true basis, the necessity of the case, and the impossibility of carrying out the queen's intentions in any other way, it would be difficult to censure him; but that he should seek to screen himself by laying the whole blame on a subordinate, was enough to make any honest man who heard him hang his head. "i meant not to do it, but davison told me to do it, please your majesty, and if there was naughtiness in it, he said he would make it all right with your majesty." such, reduced to its simplest expression, was the defence of the magnificent earl of leicester. and as he had gone cringing and whining to his royal mistress, so it was natural that he should be brutal and blustering to his friend. "by your means," said he, "i have fallen into her majesty's deep displeasure . . . . if you had delivered to her the truth of my dealing, her highness never could have conceived, as i perceive she doth . . . . nor doth her majesty know how hardly i was drawn to accept this place before i had acquainted her--as to which you promised you would not only give her full satisfaction, but would, procure me great thanks. . . . you did chiefly persuade me to take this charge upon me . . . . you can remember how many treaties you and others had with the states, before i agreed; for all yours and their persuasion to take it. . . . you gave me assurance to satisfy her majesty, but i see not that you have done anything . . . . i did not hide from you the doubt i had of her majesty's ill taking it . . . . you chiefly brought me into it . . . . and it could no way have been heavy to you, though you had told the uttermost of your own doing, as you faithfully promised you would . . . . i did very unwillingly come into the matter, doubting that to fall out which is come to pass . . . . and it doth so fall out by your negligent carelessness, whereof i many hundred times told you that you would both mar the goodness of the matter, and breed me her majesty's displeasure. . . . thus fare you well, and except your embassages have better success, i shall have no cause to commend them." and so was the unfortunate davison ground into finest dust between the upper and lower millstones of royal wrath and loyal subserviency. meantime the other special envoy had made his appearance in the netherlands; the other go-between between the incensed queen and the backsliding favourite. it has already been made sufficiently obvious, by the sketch given of his instructions, that his mission was a delicate one. in obedience to those instructions, heneage accordingly made his appearance before the council, and, in leicester's presence, delivered to them the severe and biting reprimand which elizabeth had chosen to inflict upon the states and upon the governor. the envoy performed his ungracious task as daintily, as he could, and after preliminary consultation with leicester; but the proud earl was deeply mortified. "the fourteenth day of this month of march," said he, "sir thomas heneage delivered a very sharp letter from her majesty to the council of estate, besides his message--myself being, present, for so was her majesty's pleasure, as he said, and i do think he did but as he was commanded. how great a grief it must be to an honest heart and a true, faithful servant, before his own face, to a company of very wise and grave counsellors, who had conceived a marvellous opinion before of my credit with her majesty, to be charged now with a manifest and wilful contempt! matter enough to have broken any man's heart, that looked rather for thanks, as god doth know i did when i first heard of mr. heneage's arrival--i must say to your lordship, for discharge of my duty, i can be no fit man to serve here--my disgrace is too great--protesting to you that since that day i cannot find it in my heart to come into that place, where, by my own sufferings torn, i was made to be thought so lewd a person." he then comforted himself--as he had a right to do--with the reflection that this disgrace inflicted was more than he deserved, and that such would be the opinion of those by whom he was surrounded. "albeit one thing," he said, "did greatly comfort me, that they all best knew the wrong was great i had, and that her majesty was very wrongfully informed of the state of my cause. i doubt not but they can and will discharge me, howsoever they shall satisfy her majesty. and as i would rather wish for death than justly to deserve her displeasure; so, good my lord, this disgrace not coming for any ill service to her, pray procure me a speedy resolution, that i may go hide me and pray for her. my heart is broken, though thus far i can quiet myself, that i know i have done her majesty as faithful and good service in these countries as ever she had done her since she was queen of england . . . . under correction, my good lord, i have had halifax law--to be condemned first and inquired upon after. i pray god that no man find this measure that i have done, and deserved no worse." he defended himself--as davison had already defended him--upon the necessities of the case. "i, a poor gentleman," he said, "who have wholly depended upon herself alone--and now, being commanded to a service of the greatest importance that ever her majesty employed any servant in, and finding the occasion so serving me, and the necessity of time such as would not permit such delays, flatly seeing that if that opportunity were lost, the like again for her service and the good of the realm was never, to be looked for, presuming upon the favour of my prince, as many servants have done, exceeding somewhat thereupon, rather than breaking any part of my commission, taking upon me a place whereby i found these whole countries could be held at her best devotion, without binding her majesty to any such matter as she had forbidden to the states before finding, i say, both the time and opportunity to serve, and no lack but to trust to her gracious acceptation, i now feel that how good, how honourable, how profitable soever it be, it is turned to a worse part than if i had broken all her commissions and commandments, to the greatest harm, and dishonour, and danger, that may be imagined against her person, state, and dignity." he protested, not without a show of reason, that he was like to be worse punished "for well-doing than any man that had committed a most heinous or traitorous offence," and he maintained that if he had not accepted the government, as he had done, "the whole state had been gone and wholly lost." all this--as we have seen--had already been stoutly urged by davison, in the very face of the tempest, but with no result, except to gain the enmity of both parties to the quarrel. the ungrateful leicester now expressed confidence that the second go-between would be more adroit than the first had proved. "the causes why," said he, "mr. davison could have told--no man better--but mr. heneage can now tell, who hath sought to the uttermost the bottom of all things. i will stand to his report, whether glory or vain desire of title caused me to step one foot forward in the matter. my place was great enough and high enough before, with much less trouble than by this, besides the great indignation of her majesty . . . . if i had overslipt the good occasion then in danger, i had been worthy to be hanged, and to be taken for a most lewd servant to her majesty, and a dishonest wretch to my country." but diligently as heneage had sought to the bottom of all things, he had not gained the approbation of sidney. sir philip thought that the new man had only ill botched a piece of work that had been most awkwardly contrived from the beginning. "sir thomas heneage," said he, "hath with as much honesty, in my opinion done as much hurt as any man this twelve-month hath done with naughtiness. but i hope in god, when her majesty finds the truth of things, her graciousness will not utterly, overthrow a cause so behooveful and costly unto her." he briefly warned the government that most disastrous effects were likely to ensue, if the earl should be publicly disgraced, and the recent action of the states reversed. the penny-wise economy, too, of the queen, was rapidly proving a most ruinous extravagance. "i only cry for flushing;" said sidney, "but, unless the monies be sent over, there will some terrible accident follow, particularly to the cautionary towns, if her majesty mean to have them cautions." the effect produced by the first explosion of the queen's wrath was indeed one of universal suspicion and distrust. the greatest care had been taken, however, that the affair should be delicately handled, for heneage, while, doing as much hurt by honesty as, others by naughtiness, had modified his course as much as he dared in deference to the opinions of the earl himself, and that of his english counsellors. the great culprit himself, assisted by his two lawyers, clerk and killigrew--had himself drawn the bill of his own indictment. the letters of the queen to the states, to the council, and to the earl himself, were, of necessity, delivered, but the reprimand which heneage had been instructed to fulminate was made as harmless as possible. it was arranged that he should make a speech before the council; but abstain from a protocol. the oration was duly pronounced, and it was, of necessity, stinging. otherwise the disobedience to the queen, would have been flagrant. but the pain inflicted was to disappear with the first castigation. the humiliation was to be public and solemn, but it was not to be placed on perpetual record. "we thought best," said leicester, heneage, clerk, and killigrew--"in according to her majesty's secret instructions--to take that course which might least endanger the weak estate of the provinces--that is to say, to utter so much in words as we hoped might satisfy her excellent majesty's expectation, and yet leave them nothing in writing to confirm that which was secretly spread in many places to the hindrance of the good course of settling these affairs. which speech, after sir thomas heneage had devised, and we both perused and allowed, he, by our consent and advice, pronounced to the council of state. this we did think needful--especially because every one of the council that was present at the reading of her majesty's first letters, was of the full mind, that if her majesty should again show the least mislike of the present government, or should not by her next letters confirm it, they, were all undone--for that every man would cast with himself which way to make his peace." thus adroitly had the "poor gentleman, who could not find it in his heart to come again into the place, where--by his own sufferings torn--he was made to appear so lewd a person"--provided that there should remain no trace of that lewdness and of his sovereign's displeasure, upon the record of the states. it was not long, too, before the earl was enabled to surmount his mortification; but the end was not yet. the universal suspicion, consequent on these proceedings, grew most painful. it pointed to one invariable quarter. it was believed by all that the queen was privately treating for peace, and that the transaction was kept a secret not only from the states but from her own most trusted counsellors also. it would be difficult to exaggerate the pernicious effects of this suspicion. whether it was a well-grounded one or not, will be shown in a subsequent chapter, but there is no doubt that the vigour of the enterprise was thus sapped at a most critical moment. the provinces had never been more heartily banded together since the fatal th of july, , than they were in the early spring of . they were rapidly organizing their own army, and, if the queen had manifested more sympathy with her own starving troops, the united englishmen and hollanders would have been invincible even by alexander farnese. moreover, they had sent out nine war-vessels to cruise off the cape verd islands for the homeward-bound spanish treasure fleet from america, with orders, if they missed it, to proceed to the west indies; so that, said leicester, "the king of spain will have enough to do between these men and drake." all parties had united in conferring a generous amount of power upon the earl, who was, in truth, stadholder-general, under grant from the states--and both leicester and the provinces themselves were eager and earnest for the war. in war alone lay the salvation of england and holland. peace was an impossibility. it seemed to the most experienced statesmen of both countries even an absurdity. it may well be imagined, therefore, that the idea of an underhand negotiation by elizabeth would cause a frenzy in the netherlands. in leicester's opinion, nothing short of a general massacre of the english would be the probable consequence. "no doubt," said he, "the very way it is to put us all to the sword here. for mine own part it would be happiest for me, though i wish and trust to lose my life in better sort." champagny, however, was giving out mysterious hints that the king of spain could have peace with england when he wished for it. sir thomas cecil, son of lord burghley, on whose countenance the states especially relied, was returning on sick-leave from his government of the brill, and this sudden departure of so eminent a personage, joined with the public disavowal of the recent transaction between leicester and the provinces, was producing a general and most sickening apprehension as to the queen's good faith. the earl did not fail to urge these matters most warmly on the consideration of the english council, setting forth that the states were stanch for the war, but that they would be beforehand with her if she attempted by underhand means to compass a peace. "if these men once smell any such matter," wrote leicester to burghley, "be you sure they will soon come before you, to the utter overthrow of her majesty and state for ever." the earl was suspecting the "false boys," by whom he was surrounded, although it was impossible for him to perceive, as we have been enabled to do, the wide-spread and intricate meshes by which he was enveloped. "your papists in england," said he, "have sent over word to some in this company, that all that they ever hoped for is come to pass; that my lord of leicester shall be called away in greatest indignation with her majesty, and to confirm this of champagny, i have myself seen a letter that her majesty is in hand with a secret peace. god forbid! for if it be so, her majesty, her realm, and we, are all undone." the feeling in the provinces was still sincerely loyal towards england. "these men," said leicester, "yet honour and most dearly love her majesty, and hardly, i know, will be brought to believe ill of her any way." nevertheless these rumours, to the discredit of her good faith, were doing infinite harm; while the earl, although keeping his eyes and ears wide open, was anxious not to compromise himself any further with his sovereign, by appearing himself to suspect her of duplicity. "good, my lord," he besought burghley, "do not let her majesty know of this concerning champagny as coming from me, for she will think it is done for my own cause, which, by the lord god, it is not, but even on the necessity of the case for her own safety, and the realm, and us all. good my lord, as you will do any good in the matter, let not her majesty understand any piece of it to come from me." the states-general, on the th march, n.s., addressed a respectful letter to the queen, in reply to her vehement chidings. they expressed their deep regret that her majesty should be so offended with the election of the earl of leicester as absolute governor. they confessed that she had just cause of displeasure, but hoped that when she should be informed of the whole matter she would rest better satisfied with their proceedings. they stated that the authority was the same which had been previously bestowed upon governors-general; observing that by the word "absolute," which had been used in designation of that authority, nothing more had been intended than to give to the earl full power to execute his commission, while the sovereignty of the country was reserved to the people. this commission, they said, could not be without danger revoked. and therefore they most humbly besought her majesty to approve what had been done, and to remember its conformity with her own advice to them, that a multitude of heads, whereby confusion in the government is bred, should be avoided. leicester, upon the same occasion, addressed a letter to burghley and walsingham, expressing himself as became a crushed and contrite man, never more to raise his drooping head again, but warmly and manfully urging upon the attention of the english government--for the honour and interest of the queen herself--"the miserable state of the poor soldiers." the necessity of immediate remittances in order to keep them from starving, was most imperious. for himself, he was smothering his wretchedness until he should learn her majesty's final decision, as to what was to become of him. "meantime," said he, "i carry my grief inward, and will proceed till her majesty's full pleasure come with as little discouragement to the cause as i can. i pray god her majesty may do that may be best for herself. for my own part my heart is broken, but not by the enemy." there is no doubt that the public disgrace thus inflicted upon the broken-hearted governor, and the severe censure administered to the states by the queen were both ill-timed and undeserved. whatever his disingenuousness towards davison, whatever his disobedience to elizabeth, however ambitious his own secret motives may, have been, there is no doubt at all that thus far he had borne himself well in his great office. richard cavendish--than whom few had better opportunities of judging--spoke in strong language on the subject. "it is a thing almost incredible," said he, "that the care and diligence of any, one man living could, in so small time; have so much repaired so disjointed and loose an estate as my lord found this country, in. but lest he should swell in pride of that his good success, your lordship knoweth that god hath so tempered the cause with the construction thereof, as may well hold him in good consideration of human things." he alluded with bitterness--as did all men in the netherlands who were not open or disguised papists--to the fatal rumours concerning the peace-negotiation in connection with the recall of leicester. "there be here advertisements of most fearful instance," he said, "namely, that champagny doth not spare most liberally to bruit abroad that he hath in his hands the conditions of peace offered by her majesty unto the king his master, and that it is in his power to conclude at pleasure--which fearful and mischievous plot, if in time it be not met withal by some notable encounter, it cannot but prove the root of great ruin." the "false boys" about leicester were indefatigable in spreading these rumours, and in taking advantage--with the assistance of the papists in the obedient provinces and in england--of the disgraced condition in which the queen had placed the favourite. most galling to the haughty earl--most damaging to the cause of england, holland, and, liberty--were the tales to his discredit, which circulated on the bourse at antwerp, middelburg, amsterdam, and in all the other commercial centres. the most influential bankers and merchants, were assured--by a thousand chattering--but as it were invisible--tongues, that the queen had for a long time disliked leicester; that he was a man of no account among the statesmen of england; that he was a beggar and a bankrupt; that, if he had waited two months longer, he would have made his appearance in the provinces with one man and one boy for his followers; that the queen had sent him thither to be rid of him; that she never intended him to have more authority than sir john norris had; that she could not abide the bestowing the title of excellency upon him, and that she had not disguised her fury at his elevation to the post of governor-general. all who attempted a refutation of these statements were asked, with a sneer, whether her majesty had ever written a line to him, or in commendation of him, since his arrival. minute inquiries were made by the dutch merchants of their commercial correspondents, both in their own country and in england, as to leicester's real condition and character. at home. what was his rank, they asked, what his ability, what: his influence at court? why, if he were really of so high quality as had been reported, was he thus neglected, and at last disgraced? had he any landed property in england? had he really ever held any other office but that of master of the horse? "and then," asked one particular busy body, who made himself very unpleasant on the amsterdam exchange, "why has her majesty forbidden all noblemen and gentlemen from coming hither, as was the case at the beginning? is it because she is hearkening to a peace? and if it be so, quoth he, we are well handled; for if her majesty hath sent a disgraced man to amuse us, while she is secretly working a peace for herself, when we--on the contrary--had broken off all our negotiations, upon confidence of her majesty's goodness; such conduct will be remembered to the end of the world, and the hollanders will never abide the name of england again." on such a bed of nettles there was small chance of repose for the governor. some of the rumours were even more stinging. so incomprehensible did it seem that the proud sovereign of england should send over her subjects to starve or beg in the streets of flushing and ostend, that it was darkly intimated that leicester had embezzled the funds, which, no doubt, had been remitted for the poor soldiers. this was the most cruel blow of all. the earl had been put to enormous charges. his household at the hague cost him a thousand pounds a month. he had been paying and furnishing five hundred and fifty men out of his own purse. he had also a choice regiment of cavalry, numbering seven hundred and fifty horse; three hundred and fifty of which number were over and above those allowed for by the queen, and were entirely at his expense. he was most liberal in making presents of money to every gentleman in his employment. he had deeply mortgaged his estates in order to provide for these heavy demands upon him, and professed his willingness "to spend more, if he might have got any more money for his land that was left;" and in the face of such unquestionable facts--much to the credit certainly of his generosity--he was accused of swindling a queen whom neither jew nor gentile had ever yet been sharp enough to swindle; while he was in reality plunging forward in a course of reckless extravagance in order to obviate the fatal effects of her penuriousness. yet these sinister reports were beginning to have a poisonous effect. already an alteration of mien was perceptible in the states-general. "some buzzing there is amongst them," said leicester, "whatsoever it be. they begin to deal very strangely within these few days." moreover the industry of the poleys, blunts, and pagets, had turned these unfavourable circumstances to such good account that a mutiny had been near breaking out among the english troops. "and, before the lord i speak it," said the earl, "i am sure some of these good towns had been gone ere this, but for my money. as for the states, i warrant you, they see day at a little hole. god doth know what a forward and a joyful country here was within a month. god send her majesty to recover it so again, and to take care of it, on the condition she send me after sir francis drake to the indies, my service here being no more acceptable." such was the aspect of affairs in the provinces after the first explosion of the queen's anger had become known. meanwhile the court-weather was very changeable in england, being sometimes serene, sometimes cloudy,--always treacherous. mr. vavasour, sent by the earl with despatches to her majesty and the council, had met with a sufficiently benignant reception. she accepted the letters, which, however, owing to a bad cold with a defluxion in the eyes, she was unable at once to read; but she talked ambiguously with the messenger. yavasour took pains to show the immediate necessity of sending supplies, so that the armies in the netherlands might take the field at the earliest possible moment. "and what," said she, "if a peace should come in the mean time?" "if your majesty desireth a convenient peace," replied vavasour, "to take the field is the readiest way to obtain it; for as yet the king of spain hath had no reason to fear you. he is daily expecting that your own slackness may give your majesty an overthrow. moreover, the spaniards are soldiers, and are not to be moved by-shadows." but the queen had no ears for these remonstrances, and no disposition to open her coffers. a warrant for twenty-four thousand pounds had been signed by her at the end of the month of march, and was about to be sent, when vavasour arrived; but it was not possible for him, although assisted by the eloquence of walsingham and burghley, to obtain an enlargement of the pittance. "the storms are overblown," said walsingham, "but i fear your lordship shall receive very scarce measure from hence. you will not believe how the sparing humour doth increase upon us." nor were the storms so thoroughly overblown but that there were not daily indications of returning foul weather. accordingly--after a conference with vavasour--burghley, and walsingham had an interview with the queen, in which the lord treasurer used bold and strong language. he protested to her that he was bound, both by his duty to himself and his oath as her councillor, to declare that the course she was holding to lord leicester was most dangerous to her own honour, interest and safety. if she intended to continue in this line of conduct, he begged to resign his office of lord treasurer; wishing; before god and man, to wash his bands of the shame and peril which he saw could not be avoided. the queen, astonished at the audacity of burghley's attitude and language, hardly knew whether to chide him for his presumption or to listen to his arguments. she did both. she taxed him with insolence in daring to address her so roundly, and then finding he was speaking even in 'amaritudine animae' and out of a clear conscience, she became calm again, and intimated a disposition to qualify her anger against the absent earl. next day, to their sorrow, the two councillors found that the queen had again changed her mind--"as one that had been by some adverse counsel seduced." she expressed the opinion that affairs would do well enough in the netherlands, even though leicester were displaced. a conference followed between walsingham, hatton, and burghley, and then the three went again to her majesty. they assured her that if she did not take immediate steps to satisfy the states and the people of the provinces, she would lose those countries and her own honour at the same time; and that then they would prove a source of danger to her instead of protection and glory. at this she was greatly troubled, and agreed to do anything they might advise consistently with her honour. it was then agreed that leicester should be continued in the government which he had accepted until the matter should be further considered, and letters to that effect were at once written. then came messenger from sir thomas heneage, bringing despatches from that envoy, and a second and most secret one from the earl himself. burghley took the precious letter which the favourite had addressed to his royal mistress, and had occasion to observe its magical effect. walsingham and the lord treasurer had been right in so earnestly remonstrating with him on his previous silence. "she read your letter," said burghley, "and, in very truth, i found her princely heart touched with favourable interpretation of your actions; affirming them to be only offensive to her, in that she was not made privy to them; not now misliking that you had the authority." such, at fifty-three, was elizabeth tudor. a gentle whisper of idolatry from the lips of the man she loved, and she was wax in his hands. where now were the vehement protestations of horror that her public declaration of principles and motives had been set at nought? where now were her vociferous denunciations of the states, her shrill invectives against leicester, her big oaths, and all the 'hysterica passio,' which had sent poor lord burghley to bed with the gout, and inspired the soul of walsingham with dismal forebodings? her anger had dissolved into a shower of tenderness, and if her parsimony still remained it was because that could only vanish when she too should cease to be. and thus, for a moment, the grave diplomatic difference between the crown of england and their high mightinesses the united states--upon the solution of which the fate of christendom was hanging--seemed to shrink to the dimensions of a lovers' quarrel. was it not strange that the letter had been so long delayed? davison had exhausted argument in defence of the acceptance by the earl of the authority conferred by the states and had gained nothing by his eloquence, save abuse from the queen, and acrimonious censure from the earl. he had deeply offended both by pleading the cause of the erring favourite, when the favourite should have spoken for himself. "poor mr. davison," said walsingham, "doth take it very grievously that your lordship should conceive so hardly of him as you do. i find the conceit of your lordship's disfavour hath greatly dejected him. but at such time as he arrived her majesty was so incensed, as all the arguments and orators in the world could not have wrought any satisfaction." but now a little billet-doux had done what all the orators in the world could not do. the arguments remained the same, but the queen no longer "misliked that leicester should have the authority." it was natural that the lord treasurer should express his satisfaction at this auspicious result. "i did commend her princely nature," he said, "in allowing your good intention, and excusing you of any spot of evil meaning; and i thought good to hasten her resolution, which you must now take to come from a favourable good mistress. you must strive with your nature to throw over your shoulder that which is past." sir walter raleigh, too, who had been "falsely and pestilently" represented to the earl as an enemy, rather than what he really was, a most ardent favourer of the netherland cause, wrote at once to congratulate him on the change in her majesty's demeanour. "the queen is in very good terms with you now," he said, "and, thanks be to god, well pacified, and you are again her 'sweet robin.'" sir walter wished to be himself the bearer of the comforting despatches to leicester, on the ground that he had been represented as an "ill instrument against him," and in order that he might justify himself against the charge, with his own lips. the queen, however, while professing to make use of shirley as the messenger, bade walsingham declare to the earl, upon her honour, that raleigh had done good offices for him, and that, in the time of her anger, he had been as earnest in his defence as the best friend could be. it would have been--singular, indeed, had it been otherwise. "your lordship," said sir walter, "doth well understand my affection toward spain, and how i have consumed the best part of my fortune, hating the tyrannous prosperity of that state. it were strange and monstrous that i should now become an enemy to my country and conscience. all that i have desired at your lordship's hands is that you will evermore deal directly with me in all matters--of suspect doubleness, and so ever esteem me as you shall find me deserving good or bad. in the mean time, let no poetical scribe work your lordship by any device to doubt that i am a hollow or cold servant to the action." it was now agreed that letters should be drawn, up authorizing leicester to continue in the office which he held, until the state-council should devise some modification in his commission. as it seemed, however, very improbable that the board would devise anything of the kind, burghley expressed the belief that the country was like to continue in the earl's government without any change whatever. the lord treasurer was also of opinion that the queen's letters to leicester would convey as much comfort as he had received discomfort; although he admitted that there was a great difference: the former letters he knew had deeply wounded his heart, while the new ones could not suddenly sink so low as the wound. the despatch to the states-general was benignant, elaborate, slightly diffuse. the queen's letter to 'sweet robin' was caressing, but argumentative. "it is always thought," said she, "in the opinion of the world, a hard bargain when both parties are losers, and so doth fall out in the case between us two. you, as we hear, are greatly grieved in respect of the great displeasure you find we have conceived against you. we are no less grieved that a subject of ours of that quality that you are, a creature of our own, and one that hath always received an extraordinary portion of our favour above all our subjects, even from the beginning of our reign, should deal so carelessly, not to say contemptuously, as to give the world just cause to think that we are had in contempt by him that ought most to respect and reverence us, which, we do assure you, hath wrought as great grief in us as anyone thing that ever happened unto us. "we are persuaded that you, that have so long known us, cannot think that ever we could have been drawn to have taken so hard a course therein had we not been provoked by an extraordinary cause. but for that your grieved and wounded mind hath more need of comfort than reproof, who, we are persuaded, though the act of contempt can no ways be excused, had no other meaning and intent than to advance our service, we think meet to forbear to dwell upon a matter wherein we ourselves do find so little comfort, assuring you that whosoever professeth to love you best taketh not more comfort of your well doing, or discomfort of your evil doing than ourself." after this affectionate preface she proceeded to intimate her desire that the earl should take the matter as nearly as possible into his own hands. it was her wish that he should retain the authority of absolute governor, but--if it could be so arranged--that he should dispense with the title, retaining only that of her lieutenant-general. it was not her intention however, to create any confusion or trouble in the provinces, and she was therefore willing that the government should remain upon precisely the same footing as that on which it then stood, until circumstances should permit the change of title which she suggested. and the whole matter was referred to the wisdom of leicester, who was to advise with heneage and such others as he liked to consult, although it was expressly stated that the present arrangement was to be considered a provisional and not a final one. until this soothing intelligence could arrive in the netherlands the suspicions concerning the underhand negotiations with spain grew daily more rife, and the discredit cast upon the earl more embarrassing. the private letters which passed between the earl's enemies in holland and in england contained matter more damaging to himself and to the cause which he had at heart than the more public reports of modern days can disseminate, which, being patent to all, can be more easily contradicted. leicester incessantly warned his colleagues of her majesty's council against the malignant manufacturers of intelligence. "i pray you, my lords, as you are wise," said he, "beware of them all. you shall find them here to be shrewd pick-thinks, and hardly worth the hearkening unto." he complained bitterly of the disgrace that was heaped upon him, both publicly and privately, and of the evil consequences which were sure to follow from the course pursued. "never was man so villanously handled by letters out of england as i have been," said he, "not only advertising her majesty's great dislike with me before this my coming over, but that i was an odious man in england, and so long as i tarried here that no help was to be looked for, that her majesty would send no more men or money, and that i was used here but for a time till a peace were concluded between her majesty and the prince of parma. what the continuance of a man's discredit thus will turn out is to be thought of, for better i were a thousand times displaced than that her majesty's great advantage of so notable provinces should be hindered." as to the peace-negotiations--which, however cunningly managed, could not remain entirely concealed--the earl declared them to be as idle as they were disingenuous. "i will boldly pronounce that all the peace you can make in the world, leaving these countries," said he to burghley, "will never prove other than a fair spring for a few days, to be all over blasted with a hard storm after." two days later her majesty's comforting letters arrived, and the earl began to raise his drooping head. heneage, too, was much relieved, but he was, at the same time, not a little perplexed. it was not so easy to undo all the mischief created by the queen's petulance. the "scorpion's sting"--as her majesty expressed herself--might be balsamed, but the poison had spread far beyond the original wound. "the letters just brought in," wrote heneage to burghley, "have well relieved a most noble and sufficient servant, but i fear they will not restore the much-repaired wrecks of these far-decayed noble countries into the same state i found them in. a loose, disordered, and unknit state needs no shaking, but propping. a subtle and fearful kind of people--should not be made more distrustful, but assured." he then expressed annoyance at the fault already found with him, and surely if ever man had cause to complain of reproof administered him, in quick succession; for not obeying contradictory directions following upon each other as quickly, that man was sir thomas heneage. he had been, as he thought, over cautious in administering the rebuke to the earl's arrogance, which he had been expressly sent over to administer but scarcely had he accomplished his task, with as much delicacy as he could devise, when he found himself censured;--not for dilatoriness, but for haste. "fault i perceive," said he to burghley, "is found in me, not by your lordship, but by some other, that i did not stay proceeding if i found the public cause might take hurt. it is true i had good warrant for the manner, the place, and the persons, but, for the matter none, for done it must be. her majesty's offence must be declared. yet if i did not all i possibly could to uphold the cause, and to keep the tottering cause upon the wheels, i deserve no thanks, but reproof." certainly, when the blasts of royal rage are remembered, by which the envoy had been, as it were, blown out of england into holland, it is astonishing to find his actions censured for undue precipitancy. but it was not the first, nor was it likely to be the last time, for comparatively subordinate agents in elizabeth's government to be, distressed by, contradictory commands, when the sovereign did not know or did not chose to make known, her own mind on important occasions. "well, my lord," said plaintive sir thomas, "wiser men may serve more pleasingly and happily, but never shall any serve her majesty more, faithfully and heartily. and so i cannot be persuaded her majesty thinketh; for from herself i find nothing but most sweet and--gracious, favour, though by others' censures i may gather otherwise of her judgment; which i confess, doth cumber me." he was destined to be cumbered more than once before these negotiations should be concluded; but meantime; there was a brief gleam of sunshine. the english friends of leicester in the netherlands were enchanted with the sudden change in the queen's humour; and to lord burghley, who was not, in reality, the most stanch of the absent earl's defenders, they poured themselves out in profuse and somewhat superfluous gratitude. cavendish, in strains exultant, was sure that burghley's children, grand-children, and remotest posterity, would rejoice that their great ancestor, in such a time of need had been "found and felt to be indeed a 'pater patria,' a good-father to a happy land." and, although unwilling to "stir up the old adam" in his lordship's soul, he yet took the liberty of comparing the lord treasurer, in his old and declining years with mary magdalen; assuring him, that for ever after; when the tale of the preservation of the church of god, of her majesty; and of the netherland cause; which were all one, should be told; his name and well-doing would be held in memory also. and truly there was much of honest and generous enthusiasm, even if couched in language somewhat startling to the ears of a colder and more material age; in the hearts of these noble volunteers. they were fighting the cause of england, of the netherland republic, and of human liberty; with a valour worthy the best days of english' chivalry, against manifold obstacles, and they were certainly; not too often cheered by the beams of royal favour. it was a pity that a dark cloud was so soon again to sweep over the scene: for the temper of elizabeth at this important juncture seemed as capricious: as the april weather in which the scenes were enacting. we have seen the genial warmth of her letters and messages to leicester, to heneage,--to the states-general; on the first of the month. nevertheless it was hardly three weeks after they had been despatched when walsingham and burghley found, her majesty one morning a towering passion, because, the earl had not already laid down the government. the lord treasurer ventured to remonstrate, but was bid to bold his tongue. ever variable and mutable as woman, elizabeth was perplexing and baffling to her counsellors, at this epoch, beyond all divination. the "sparing humour" was increasing fearfully, and she thought it would be easier for her to slip out of the whole expensive enterprise, provided leicester were merely her lieutenant-general, and not stadholder for the provinces. moreover the secret negotiations for peace were producing a deleterious effect upon her mind. upon this subject, the queen and burghley, notwithstanding his resemblance to mary magdalen, were better informed than the secretary, whom, however, it had been impossible wholly to deceive. the man who could read secrets so far removed as the vatican, was not to be blinded to intrigues going on before his face. the queen, without revealing more than she could help, had been obliged to admit that informal transactions were pending, but had authorised the secretary to assure the united states that no treaty would be made without their knowledge and full concurrence. "she doth think," wrote walsingham to leicester, "that you should, if you shall see no cause to the contrary, acquaint the council of state there that certain overtures of peace are daily made unto her, but that she meaneth not to proceed therein without their good liking and privity, being persuaded that there can no peace be made profitable or sure for her that shall not also stand with their safety; and she doth acknowledge hers to be so linked with theirs as nothing can fall out to their prejudice, but she must be partaker of their harm." this communication was dated on the st april, exactly three weeks after the queen's letter to heneage, in which she had spoken of the "malicious bruits" concerning the pretended peace-negotiations; and the secretary was now confirming, by her order, what she had then stated under her own hand, that she would "do nothing that might concern them without their own knowledge and good liking." and surely nothing could be more reasonable. even if the strict letter of the august treaty between the queen and the states did not provide against any separate negotiations by the one party without the knowledge of the other, there could be no doubt at all that its spirit absolutely forbade the clandestine conclusion of a peace with spain by england alone, or by the netherlands alone, and that such an arrangement would be disingenuous, if not positively dishonourable. nevertheless it would almost seem that elizabeth had been taking advantage of the day when she was writing her letter to heneage on the st of april. never was painstaking envoy more elaborately trifled with. on the th of the month--and only five days after the communication by walsingham just noticed--the queen was furious that any admission should have been made to the states of their right to participate with her in peace-negotiations. "we find that sir thomas heneage," said she to leicester, "hath gone further--in assuring the states that we would make no peace without their privity and assent--than he had commission; for that our direction was--if our meaning had been well set down, and not mistaken by our secretary--that they should have been only let understand that in any treaty that might pass between us and spain, they might be well assured we would have no less care of their safety than of our own." secretary walsingham was not likely to mistake her majesty's directions in this or any other important affair of state. moreover, it so happened that the queen had, in her own letter to heneage, made the same statement which she now chose to disavow. she had often a convenient way of making herself misunderstood, when she thought it desirable to shift responsibility from her own shoulders upon those of others; but upon this occasion she had been sufficiently explicit. nevertheless, a scape-goat was necessary, and unhappy the subordinate who happened to be within her majesty's reach when a vicarious sacrifice was to be made. sir francis walsingham was not a man to be brow-beaten or hood-winked, but heneage was doomed to absorb a fearful amount of royal wrath. "what phlegmatical reasons soever were made you," wrote the queen, who but three weeks before had been so gentle and affectionate to her, ambassador, "how happeneth it that you will not remember, that when a man hath faulted and committed by abettors thereto, neither the one nor the other will willingly make their own retreat. jesus! what availeth wit, when it fails the owner at greatest need? do that you are bidden, and leave your considerations for your own affairs. for in some things you had clear commandment, which you did not, and in others none, and did. we princes be wary enough of our bargains. think you i will be bound by your own speech to make no peace for mine own matters without their consent? it is enough that i injure not their country nor themselves in making peace for them without their consent. i am assured of your dutiful thoughts, but i am utterly at squares with this childish dealing." blasted by this thunderbolt falling upon his head out of serenest sky, the sad. sir. thomas remained, for a time, in a state of political annihilation. 'sweet robin' meanwhile, though stunned, was unscathed--thanks to the convenient conductor at his side. for, in elizabeth's court, mediocrity was not always golden, nor was it usually the loftiest mountains that the lightnings smote. the earl was deceived by his royal mistress, kept in the dark as to important transactions, left to provide for his famishing' soldiers as he best might; but the queen at that moment, though angry, was not disposed, to trample upon him. now that his heart was known to be broken, and his sole object in life to be retirement to remote regions--india or elsewhere--there to languish out the brief remainder of his days in prayers for elizabeth's happiness, elizabeth was not inclined very bitterly to upbraid him. she had too recently been employing herself in binding up his broken heart, and pouring balm into the "scorpion's sting," to be willing so soon to deprive him of those alleviations. her tone--was however no longer benignant, and her directions were extremely peremptory. on the st of april she had congratulated leicester, heneage, the states, and all the world, that her secret commands had been staid, and that the ruin which would have followed, had, those decrees been executed according to her first violent wish, was fortunately averted. heneage was even censured, not by herself, but by courtiers in her confidence, and with her concurrence, for being over hasty in going before the state-council, as he had done, with her messages and commands. on the th of april she expressed astonishment that heneage had dared to be so dilatory, and that the title of governor had not been laid down by leicester "out of hand." she marvelled greatly, and found it very strange that "ministers in matters of moment should presume to do things of their own head without direction." she accordingly gave orders that there should be no more dallying, but that the earl should immediately hold a conference with the state-council in order to arrange a modification in his commission. it was her pleasure that he should retain all the authority granted to him by the states, but as already intimated by her, that he should abandon the title of "absolute governor," and retain only that of her lieutenant-general. was it strange that heneage, placed in so responsible a situation, and with the fate of england, of holland, and perhaps of all christendom, hanging in great measure upon this delicate negotiation, should be amazed at such contradictory orders, and grieved by such inconsistent censures? "to tell you my griefs and my lacks," said he to walsingham, "would little please you or help me. therefore i will say nothing, but think there was never man in so great a service received so little comfort and so contrarious directions. but 'dominus est adjutor in tribulationibus.' if it be possible, let me receive some certain direction, in following which i shall not offend her majesty, what good or hurt soever i do besides." this certainly seemed a loyal and reasonable request, yet it was not one likely to be granted. sir thomas, perplexed, puzzled, blindfolded, and brow-beaten, always endeavoring to obey orders, when he could comprehend them, and always hectored and lectured whether he obeyed them or not--ruined in purse by the expenses, of a mission on which he had been sent without adequate salary--appalled at the disaffection waging more formidable every hour in provinces which were recently so loyal to her majesty, but which were now pervaded by a suspicion that there was double-dealing upon her part became quite sick of his life. he fell seriously ill, and was disappointed, when, after a time, the physicians declared him convalescent. for when when he rose from his sick-bed, it was only to plunge once more, without a clue, into the labyrinth where he seemed to be losing his reason. "it is not long," said he to walsingham, "since i looked to have written you no more letters, my extremity was so great. . . but god's will is best, otherwise i could have liked better to have cumbered the earth no longer, where i find myself contemned, and which i find no reason to see will be the better in the wearing . . . it were better for her majesty's service that the directions which come were not contrarious one to another, and that those you would have serve might know what is meant, else they cannot but much deceive you, as well as displease you." public opinion concerning the political morality of the english court was not gratifying, nor was it rendered more favourable by these recent transactions. "i fear," said heneage, "that the world will judge what champagny wrote in one of his letters out of england (which i have lately seen) to be over true. his words be these, 'et de vray, c'est le plus fascheux et le plus incertain negocier de ceste court, que je pense soit au monde.'" and so "basting," as he said, "with a weak body and a willing mind; to do, he feared, no good work," he set forth from middelburgh to rejoin leicester at arnheim, in order to obey, as well as he could, the queen's latest directions. but before he could set to work there came more "contrarious" orders. the last instructions, both to leicester and himself, were that the earl should resign the post of governor absolute "out of hand," and the queen had been vehement in denouncing any delay on such an occasion. he was now informed, that, after consulting with leicester and with the state-council, he was to return to england with the result of such deliberations. it could afterwards be decided how the earl could retain all the authority of governor absolute, while bearing only the title of the queen's lieutenant general. "for her meaning is not," said walsingham, "that his lord ship should presently give it over, for she foreseeth in her princely judgment that his giving over the government upon a sudden, and leaving those countries without a head or director, cannot but breed a most dangerous alteration there." the secretary therefore stated the royal wish at present to be that the "renunciation of the title" should be delayed till heneage could visit england, and subsequently return to holland with her majesty's further directions. even the astute walsingham was himself puzzled, however, while conveying these ambiguous orders; and he confessed that he was doubtful whether he had rightly comprehended the queen's intentions. burghley, however, was better at guessing riddles than he was, and so heneage was advised to rely chiefly upon burghley. but heneage had now ceased to be interested in any enigmas that might be propounded by the english court, nor could he find comfort, as walsingham had recommended he should do, in railing. "i wish i could follow your counsel," he said, "but sure the uttering of my choler doth little ease my grief or help my case." he rebuked, however, the inconsistency and the tergiversations of the government with a good deal of dignity. "this certainly shall i tell her majesty," he said, "if i live to see her, that except a more constant course be taken with this inconstant people, it is not the blaming of her ministers will advance her highness's service, or better the state of things. and shall i tell you what they now say here of us--i fear not without some cause--even as lipsius wrote of the french, 'de gallis quidem enigmata veniunt, non veniunt, volunt, holunt, audent, timent, omnia, ancipiti metu, suspensa et suspecta.' god grant better, and ever keep you and help me." he announced to burghley that he was about to attend a meeting of the state-council the next day, for the purpose of a conference on these matters at arnheim, and that he would then set forth for england to report proceedings to her majesty. he supposed, on the whole, that this was what was expected of him, but acknowledged it hopeless to fathom the royal intentions. yet if he went wrong, he was always, sure to make mischief, and though innocent, to be held accountable for others' mistakes. "every prick i make," said he, "is made a gash; and to follow the words of my directions from england is not enough, except i likewise see into your minds. and surely mine eyesight is not so good. but i will pray to god for his help herein. with all the wit i have, i will use all the care i can--first, to satisfy her majesty, as god knoweth i have ever most desired; then, not to hurt this cause, but that i despair of." leicester, as maybe supposed, had been much discomfited and perplexed during the course of these contradictory and perverse directions. there is no doubt whatever that his position bad been made discreditable and almost ridiculous, while he was really doing his best, and spending large sums out of his private fortune to advance the true interests of the queen. he had become a suspected man in the netherlands, having been, in the beginning of the year, almost adored as a messiah. he had submitted to the humiliation which had been imposed upon him, of being himself the medium to convey to the council the severe expressions of the queen's displeasure at the joint action of the states-general and himself. he had been comforted by the affectionate expressions with which that explosion of feminine and royal wrath had been succeeded. he was now again distressed by the peremptory command to do what was a disgrace to him, and an irreparable detriment to the cause, yet he was humble and submissive, and only begged to be allowed, as a remedy for all his anguish, to return to the sunlight of elizabeth's presence. he felt that her course; if persisted in, would lead to the destruction of the netherland commonwealth, and eventually to the downfall of england; and that the provinces, believing themselves deceived by the queen; were ready to revolt against an authority to which, but a short time before, they were so devotedly loyal nevertheless, he only wished to know what his sovereign's commands distinctly were, in order to set himself to their fulfilment. he had come from the camp before nymegen in order to attend the conference with the state-council at arnheim, and he would then be ready and anxious to, despatch heneage to england, to learn her majesty's final determination. he protested to the queen that he had come upon this arduous and perilous service only, because he, considered her throne in danger, and that this was the only means of preserving it; that, in accepting the absolute government, he had been free from all ambitious motives, but deeply impressed with the idea that only by so doing could he conduct the enterprise entrusted to him to the desired consummation; and he declared with great fervour that no advancement to high office could compensate him for this enforced absence from her. to be sent back even in disgrace would still be a boon to him, for he should cease to be an exile from her sight. he knew that his enemies had been busy in defaming him, while he had been no longer there to defend himself, but his conscience acquitted him of any thought which was not for her happiness and glory. "yet grievous it is to me," said he in, a tone of tender reproach, "that having left all--yea, all that may be imagined--for you, you have left me for very little, even to the uttermost of all hard fortune. for what have i, unhappy man, to do here either with cause or country but for you?" he stated boldly that his services had not been ineffective, that the enemy had never been in worse plight than now, that he had lost at least five thousand men in divers overthrows, and that, on the other hand, the people and towns of the seven provinces had been safely preserved. "since my arrival," he said, "god hath blessed the action which you have taken in hand, and committed to the charge of me your poor unhappy servant. i have good cause to say somewhat for myself, for that i think i have as few friends to speak for me as any man." nevertheless--as he warmly protested--his only wish was to return; for the country in which he had lost her favour, which was more precious than life, had become odious to him. the most lowly office in her presence was more to be coveted than the possession of unlimited power away from her. it was by these tender and soft insinuations, as the earl knew full well, that he was sure to obtain what he really coveted--her sanction for retaining the absolute government in the provinces. and most artfully did he strike the key. "most dear and gracious lady," he cried, "my care and service here do breed me nothing but grief and unhappiness. i have never had your majesty's good favour since i came into this charge--a matter that from my first beholding your eyes hath been most dear unto me above all earthly treasures. never shall i love that place or like that soil which shall cause the lack of it. most gracious lady, consider my long, true, and faithful heart toward you. let not this unfortunate place here bereave me of that which, above all the world, i esteem there, which is your favodr and your presence. i see my service is not acceptable, but rather more and more disliketh you. here i can do your majesty no service; there i can do you some, at the least rub your horse's heels--a service which shall be much more welcome to me than this, with all that these men may give me. i do, humbly and from my heart, prostrate at your feet, beg this grace at your sacred hands, that you will be pleased to let me return to my home-service, with your favour, let the revocation be used in what sort shall please and like you. but if ever spark of favour was in your majesty toward your old servant, let me obtain this my humble suit; protesting before the majesty of all majesties, that there was no cause under heaven but his and yours, even for your own special and particular cause, i say, could have made me take this absent journey from you in hand. if your majesty shall refuse me this, i shall think all grace clean gone from me, and i know: my days will not be long." she must melt at this, thought 'sweet robin' to himself; and meantime accompanied by heneage; he proceeded with the conferences in the state-council-chamber touching the modification of the title and the confirmation of his authority. this, so far as walsingham could divine, and burghley fathom, was the present intention of the queen. he averred that he had ever sought most painfully to conform his conduct to her instructions as fast as they were received, and that he should continue so to do. on the whole it was decided by the conference to let matters stand as, they were for a little longer, and until: after heneage should have time once more to go and come. "the same manner of proceeding that was is now," said leicester, "your pleasure is declared to the council here as you have willed it. how it will fall out again in your majesty's construction, the lord knoweth." leicester might be forgiven for referring to higher powers, for any possible interpretation of her majesty's changing humour; but meantime; while sir. thomas was getting ready, for his expedition to england, the earl's heart was somewhat gladdened by more gracious messages from the queen. the alternation of emotions would however prove too much for him, he feared, and he was reluctant to open his heart to so unwonted a tenant as joy. "but that my fear is such, most dear and gracious lady," he said, "as my unfortunate destiny will hardly permit; whilst i remain here; any good-acceptation of so simple a service as, mine, i should, greatly rejoice and comfort myself with the hope of your majesty's most prayed-for favour. but of late, being by your own sacred hand lifted even up into heaven with joy of your favour, i was bye and bye without any new desert or offence at all, cast down and down: again into the depth of all grief. god doth know, my dear and dread sovereign, that after i first received your resolute pleasure by sir thomas heneage, i made neither stop nor stay nor any excuse to be rid of this place, and to satisfy your command. . . . so much i mislike this place and fortune of mine; as i desire nothing in the world so much, as to be delivered, with your favours from all charge here, fearing still some new cross of your displeasure to fall upon me, trembling continually with the fear thereof, in such sort as till i may be fully confirmed in my new regeneration of your wonted favour i cannot receive that true comfort which doth appertain to so great a hope. yet i will not only acknowledge with all humbleness and dutiful thanks the exceeding joy these last blessed lines brought to my long-wearied heart, but will, with all true loyal affection, attend that further joy from your sweet self which may utterly, extinguish all consuming fear away." poor heneage--who likewise received a kind word or two after having been so capriciously and petulantly dealt with was less extravagant in his expressions of gratitude. "the queen hath sent me a paper-plaister which must please for a time," he said. "god almighty bless her majesty ever, and best direct her." he was on the point of starting for england, the bearer of the states' urgent entreaties that leicester might retain the government, and of despatches; announcing the recent success of the allies before grave. "god prospereth the action in these countries beyond all expectation," he said, "which all amongst you will not be over glad of, for somewhat i know." the intrigues of grafigni, champagny, and bodman, with croft, burghley, and the others were not so profound a secret as they could wish. the tone adopted by leicester has been made manifest in his letters to the queen. he had held the same language of weariness and dissatisfaction in his communications to his friends. he would not keep the office, he avowed, if they should give him "all holland and zeeland, with all their appurtenances," and he was ready to resign at any moment. he was not "ceremonious for reputation," he said, but he gave warning that the netherlanders would grow desperate if they found her majesty dealing weakly or carelessly with them. as for himself he had already had enough of government. "i am weary, mr. secretary," he plaintively exclaimed, "indeed i am weary; but neither of pains nor travail. my ill hap that i can please her majesty no better hath quite discouraged me." he had recently, however--as we have seen--received some comfort, and he was still further encouraged, upon the eve of heneage's departure, by receiving another affectionate epistle from the queen. amends seemed at last to be offered for her long and angry silence, and the earl was deeply grateful. "if it hath not been, my most dear and gracious lady," said he in reply, "no small comfort to your poor old servant to receive but one line of your blessed hand-writing in many months, for the relief of a most grieved, wounded heart, how far more exceeding joy must it be, in the midst of all sorrow, to receive from the same sacred hand so many comfortable lines as my good friend mr. george hath at once brought me. pardon me, my sweet lady, if they cause me to forget myself. only this i do say, with most humble dutiful thanks, that the scope of all my service hath ever been to content and please you; and if i may do that, then is all sacrifice, either of life or whatsoever, well offered for you." the matter of the government absolute having been so fully discussed during the preceding four months, and the last opinions of the state-council having been so lucidly expounded in the despatches to be carried by heneage to england, the matter might be considered as exhausted. leicester contented himself, therefore, with once more calling her majesty's attention to the fact that if he had not himself accepted the office thus conferred upon him by the states, it would have been bestowed upon some other personage. it would hardly have comported with her dignity, if count maurice of nassau, or count william, or count moeurs, had been appointed governor absolute, for in that case the earl, as general of the auxiliary english force, would have been subject to the authority of the chieftain thus selected. it was impossible, as the state-council had very plainly shown, for leicester to exercise supreme authority, while merely holding the military office of her majesty's lieutenant-general. the authority of governor or stadholder could only be derived from the supreme power of the country. if her majesty had chosen to accept the sovereignty, as the states had ever desired, the requisite authority could then have been derived from her, as from the original fountain. as she had resolutely refused that offer however, his authority was necessarily to be drawn from the states-general, or else the queen must content herself with seeing him serve as an english military officer, only subject to the orders of the supreme power, wherever that power might reside. in short, elizabeth's wish that her general might be clothed with the privileges of her viceroy, while she declined herself to be the sovereign, was illogical, and could not be complied with. very soon after inditing these last epistles to the provinces, the queen became more reasonable on the subject; and an elaborate communication was soon received by the state-council, in which the royal acquiescence was signified to the latest propositions of the states. the various topics, suggested in previous despatches from leicester and from the council, were reviewed, and the whole subject was suddenly placed in a somewhat different light from that in which it seemed to have been previously regarded by her majesty. she alluded to the excuse, offered by the state-council, which had been drawn from the necessity of the case, and from their "great liking for her cousin of leicester," although in violation of the original contract. "as you acknowledge, however," she said, "that therein you were justly to be blamed, and do crave pardon for the same, we cannot, upon this acknowledgment of your fault, but remove our former dislike." nevertheless it would now seem that her "mistake" had proceeded, not from the excess, but from the insufficiency of the powers conferred upon the earl, and she complained, accordingly, that they had given him shadow rather than substance. simultaneously with this royal communication, came a joint letter to leicester, from burghley, walsingham; and hatton, depicting the long and strenuous conflict which they had maintained in his behalf with the rapidly varying inclinations of the queen. they expressed a warm sympathy with the difficulties of his position, and spoke in strong terms of the necessity that the netherlands and england should work heartily together. for otherwise, they said, "the cause will fall, the enemy will rise, and we must stagger." notwithstanding the secret negotiations with the enemy, which leicester and walsingham suspected, and which will be more fully examined in a subsequent chapter, they held a language on that subject, which in the secretary's mouth at least was sincere. "whatsoever speeches be blown abroad of parleys of peace," they said, "all will be but smoke, yea fire will follow." they excused themselves for their previous and enforced silence by the fact that they had been unable to communicate any tidings but messages of distress, but they now congratulated the earl that her majesty, as he would see by her letter to the council, was firmly resolved, not only to countenance his governorship, but to sustain him in the most thorough manner. it would be therefore quite out of the question for them to listen to his earnest propositions to be recalled. moreover, the lord treasurer had already apprized leicester that heneage had safely arrived in england, that he, had made his report to the queen, and that her majesty was "very well contented with him and his mission." it may be easily believed that the earl would feel a sensation of relief, if not of triumph, at this termination to the embarrassments under which he had been labouring ever since, he listened to the oration of the wise leoninus upon new years' day. at last the queen had formally acquiesced in the action of the states, and in his acceptance of their offer. he now saw himself undisputed "governor absolute," having been six months long a suspected, discredited, almost disgraced man. it was natural that he should express himself cheerfully. "my great comfort received, oh my most gracious lady," he said, "by your most favourable lines written by your own sacred hand, i did most humbly acknowledge by my former letter; albeit i can no way make testimony of enough of the great joy i took thereby. and seeing my wounded heart is by this means almost made whole, i do pray unto god that either i may never feel the like again from you, or not be suffered to live, rather than i should fall again into those torments of your displeasure. most gracious queen, i beseech you, therefore, make perfect that which you have begun. let not the common danger, nor any ill, incident to the place i serve you in, be accompanied with greater troubles and fears indeed than all the horrors of death can bring me. my strong hope doth now so assure me, as i have almost won the battle against despair, and i do arm myself with as many of those wonted comfortable conceits as may confirm my new revived spirits, reposing myself evermore under the shadow of those blessed beams that must yield the only nourishment to this disease." but however nourishing the shade of those blessed beams might prove to leicester's disease, it was not so easy to bring about a very sunny condition in the provinces. it was easier for elizabeth to mend the broken heart of the governor than to repair the damage which had been caused to the commonwealth by her caprice and her deceit. the dispute concerning the government absolute had died away, but the authority of the earl had got a "crack in it" which never could be handsomely made whole. the states, during the long period of leicester's discredit--feeling more and more doubtful as to the secret intentions of elizabeth--disappointed in the condition of the auxiliary troops and in the amount of supplies furnished from england, and, above all, having had time to regret their delegation of a power which they began to find agreeable to exercise with their own hands, became indisposed to entrust the earl with the administration and full inspection of their resources. to the enthusiasm which had greeted the first arrival of elizabeth's representative had succeeded a jealous, carping, suspicious sentiment. the two hundred thousand florins monthly were paid, according to the original agreement, but the four hundred thousand of extra service-money subsequently voted were withheld, and withheld expressly on account of heneage's original mission to disgrace the governor. "the late return of sir thomas heneage," said lord north, "hath put such busses in their heads, as they march forward with leaden heels and doubtful hearts." in truth, through the discredit cast by the queen upon the earl in this important affair, the supreme authority was forced back into the hands of the states, at the very moment when they had most freely divested themselves of power. after the queen had become more reasonable, it was too late to induce them to part, a second time, so freely with the immediate control of their own affairs. leicester had become, to a certain extent, disgraced and disliked by the estates. he thought himself, by the necessity of the case, forced to appeal to the people against their legal representatives, and thus the foundation of a nominally democratic party, in opposition to the municipal one, was already laid. nothing could be more unfortunate at that juncture; for we shall, in future, find the earl in perpetual opposition to the most distinguished statesmen in the provinces; to the very men indeed who had been most influential in offering the sovereignty to england, and in placing him in the position which he had so much coveted. no sooner therefore had he been confirmed by elizabeth in that high office than his arrogance broke forth, and the quarrels between himself and the representative body became incessant. "i stand now in somewhat better terms than i did," said he; "i was not in case till of late to deal roundly with them as i have now done. i have established a chamber of finances, against some of their wills, whereby i doubt not to procure great benefit to increase our ability for payments hereafter. the people i find still best devoted to her majesty, though of late many lewd practices have been used to withdraw their good wills. but it will not be; they still pray god that her majesty may be their sovereign. she should then see what a contribution they will all bring forth. but to the states they will never return, which will breed some great mischief, there is such mislike of the states universally. i would your lordship had seen the case i had lived in among them these four months, especially after her majesty's mislike was found. you would then marvel to see how i have waded, as i have done, through no small obstacles, without help, counsel, or assistance." thus the part which he felt at last called upon to enact was that of an aristocratic demagogue, in perpetual conflict with the burgher-representative body. it is now necessary to lift a corner of the curtain, by which some international--or rather interpalatial--intrigues were concealed, as much as possible, even from the piercing eyes of walsingham. the secretary was, however, quite aware--despite the pains taken to deceive him--of the nature of the plots and of the somewhat ignoble character of the actors concerned in them. etext editor's bookmarks: a hard bargain when both parties are losers condemned first and inquired upon after disordered, and unknit state needs no shaking, but propping upper and lower millstones of royal wrath and loyal subserviency uttering of my choler doth little ease my grief or help my case history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history of the united netherlands, volume , chapter viii. forlorn condition of flanders--parma's secret negotiations with the queen--grafigni and bodman--their dealings with english counsellors --duplicity of farnese--secret offers of the english peace-party-- letters and intrigues of de loo--drake's victories and their effect --parma's perplexity and anxiety--he is relieved by the news from england--queen's secret letters to parma--his letters and instructions to bodman--bodman's secret transactions at greenwich-- walsingham detects and exposes the plot--the intriguers baffled-- queen's letter to parma and his to the king--unlucky results of the peace--intrigues--unhandsome treatment of leicester--indignation of the earl and walsingham--secret letter of parma to philip--invasion of england recommended--details of the project. alexander farnese and his heroic little army had been left by their sovereign in as destitute a condition as that in which lord leicester and his unfortunate "paddy persons" had found themselves since their arrival in the netherlands. these mortal men were but the weapons to be used and broken in the hands of the two great sovereigns, already pitted against each other in mortal combat. that the distant invisible potentate, the work of whose life was to do his best to destroy all european nationality, all civil and religious freedom, should be careless of the instruments by which his purpose was to be effected, was but natural. it is painful to reflect that the great champion of liberty and of protestantism was almost equally indifferent to the welfare of the human creatures enlisted in her cause. spaniards and italians, english and irish, went half naked and half starving through the whole inclement winter, and perished of pestilence in droves, after confronting the less formidable dangers of battlefield and leaguer. manfully and sympathetically did the earl of leicester--while whining in absurd hyperbole over the angry demeanour of his sovereign towards himself-represent the imperative duty of an english government to succour english troops. alexander farnese was equally plain-spoken to a sovereign with whom plain-speaking was a crime. in bold, almost scornful language, the prince represented to philip the sufferings and destitution of the little band of heroes, by whom that magnificent military enterprise, the conquest of antwerp, had just been effected. "god will be weary of working miracles for us," he cried, "and nothing but miracles can save the troops from starving." there was no question of paying them their wages, there was no pretence at keeping them reasonably provided with lodging and clothing, but he asserted the undeniable proposition that they "could not pass their lives without eating," and he implored his sovereign to send at least money enough to buy the soldiers shoes. to go foodless and barefoot without complaining, on the frozen swamps of flanders, in january, was more than was to be expected from spaniards and italians. the country itself was eaten bare. the obedient provinces had reaped absolute ruin as the reward of their obedience. bruges, ghent, and the other cities of brabant and flanders, once so opulent and powerful, had become mere dens of thieves and paupers. agriculture, commerce, manufactures--all were dead. the condition of antwerp was most tragical. the city, which had been so recently the commercial centre of the earth, was reduced to absolute beggary. its world-wide traffic was abruptly terminated, for the mouth of its great river was controlled by flushing, and flushing was in the firm grasp of sir philip sidney, as governor for the english queen. merchants and bankers, who had lately been possessed of enormous resources, were stripped of all. such of the industrial classes as could leave the place had wandered away to holland and england. there was no industry possible, for there was no market for the products of industry. antwerp was hemmed in by the enemy on every side, surrounded by royal troops in a condition of open mutiny, cut off from the ocean, deprived of daily bread, and yet obliged to contribute out of its poverty to the maintenance of the spanish soldiers, who were there for its destruction. its burghers, compelled to furnish four hundred thousand florins, as the price of their capitulation, and at least six hundred thousand more for the repairs of the dykes, the destruction of which, too long deferred, had only spread desolation over the country without saving the city, and over and above all forced to rebuild, at their own expense, that fatal citadel, by which their liberty and lives were to be perpetually endangered, might now regret at leisure that they had not been as stedfast during their siege as had been the heroic inhabitants of leyden in their time of trial, twelve years before. obedient antwerp was, in truth, most forlorn. but there was one consolation for her and for philip, one bright spot in the else universal gloom. the ecclesiastics assured parma, that, notwithstanding the frightful diminution in the population of the city, they had confessed and absolved more persons that easter than they had ever done since the commencement of the revolt. great was philip's joy in consequence. "you cannot imagine my satisfaction," he wrote, "at the news you give me concerning last easter." with a ruined country, starving and mutinous troops, a bankrupt exchequer, and a desperate and pauper population, alexander farnese was not unwilling to gain time by simulated negotiations for peace. it was strange, however, that so sagacious a monarch as the queen of england should suppose it for her interest to grant at that moment the very delay which was deemed most desirable by her antagonist. yet it was not wounded affection alone, nor insulted pride, nor startled parsimony, that had carried the fury of the queen to such a height on the occasion of leicester's elevation to absolute government. it was still more, because the step was thought likely to interfere with the progress of those negotiations into which the queen had allowed herself to be drawn. a certain grafigni--a genoese merchant residing much in london and in antwerp, a meddling, intrusive, and irresponsible kind of individual, whose occupation was gone with the cessation of flemish trade--had recently made his appearance as a volunteer diplomatist. the principal reason for accepting or rather for winking at his services, seemed to be the possibility of disavowing him, on both sides, whenever it should be thought advisable. he had a partner or colleague, too, named bodman, who seemed a not much more creditable negotiator than himself. the chief director of the intrigue was, however, champagny, brother of cardinal granvelle, restored to the king's favour and disposed to atone by his exuberant loyalty for his heroic patriotism on a former and most memorable occasion. andrea de loo, another subordinate politician, was likewise employed at various stages of the negotiation. it will soon be perceived that the part enacted by burghley, hatton, croft, and other counsellors, and even by the queen herself, was not a model of ingenuousness towards the absent leicester and the states-general. the gentlemen sent at various times to and from the earl and her majesty's government; davison, shirley, vavasor, heneage, and the rest--had all expressed themselves in the strongest language concerning the good faith and the friendliness of the lord-treasurer and the vice-chamberlain, but they were not so well informed as they would have been, had they seen the private letters of parma to philip ii. walsingham, although kept in the dark as much as it was possible, discovered from time to time the mysterious practices of his political antagonists, and warned the queen of the danger and dishonour she was bringing upon herself. elizabeth, when thus boldly charged, equivocated and stormed alternately. she authorized walsingham to communicate the secrets--which he had thus surprised--to the states-general, and then denied having given any such orders. in truth, walsingham was only entrusted with such portions of the negotiations as he had been able, by his own astuteness, to divine; and as he was very much a friend to the provinces and to leicester, he never failed to keep them instructed, to the best of his ability. it must be confessed, however, that the shuffling and paltering among great men and little men, at that period, forms a somewhat painful subject of contemplation at the present day. grafigni having some merchandise to convey from antwerp to london, went early in the year to the prince of parma, at brussels, in order to procure a passport. they entered into some conversation upon the misery of the country, and particularly concerning the troubles to which the unfortunate merchants had been exposed. alexander expressed much sympathy with the commercial community, and a strong desire that the ancient friendship between his master and the queen of england might be restored. grafigni assured the prince--as the result of his own observation in england--that the queen participated in those pacific sentiments: "you are going to england," replied the prince, "and you may say to the ministers of her majesty, that, after my allegiance to my king, i am most favourably and affectionately inclined towards her. if it pleases them that i, as alexander farnese, should attempt to bring about an accord, and if our commissioners could be assured of a hearing in england, i would take care that everything should be conducted with due regard to the honour and reputation of her majesty." grafigni then asked for a written letter of credence. "that cannot be," replied alexander; "but if you return to me i shall believe your report, and then a proper person can be sent, with authority from the king to treat with her majesty." grafigni proceeded to england, and had an interview with lord cobham. a few days later that nobleman gave the merchant a general assurance that the queen had always felt a strong inclination to maintain firm friendship with the house of burgundy. nevertheless, as he proceeded to state, the bad policy of the king's ministers, and the enterprises against her majesty, had compelled her to provide for her own security and that of her realm by remedies differing in spirit from that good inclination. being however a christian princess, willing to leave vengeance to the lord and disposed to avoid bloodshed, she was ready to lend her ear to a negotiation for peace, if it were likely to be a sincere and secure one. especially she was pleased that his highness of parma should act as mediator of such a treaty, as she considered him a most just and honourable prince in all his promises and actions. her majesty would accordingly hold herself in readiness to receive the honourable commissioners alluded to, feeling sure that every step taken by his highness would comport with her honour and safety. at about the same time the other partner in this diplomatic enterprise, william bodman, communicated to alexander, the result of his observations in england. he stated that lords burghley, buckhurst, and cobham, sir christopher hatton, and comptroller croft, were secretly desirous of peace with spain and that they had seized the recent opportunity of her pique against the earl of leicester to urge forward these underhand negotiations. some progress had been made; but as no accredited commissioner arrived from the prince of parma, and as leicester was continually writing earnest letters against peace, the efforts of these counsellors had slackened. bodman found them all, on his arrival, anxious as he said, "to get their necks out of the matter;" declaring everything which had been done to be pure matter of accident, entirely without the concurrence of the queen, and each seeking to outrival the other in the good graces of her majesty. grafigni informed bodman, however, that lord cobham was quite to be depended upon in the affair, and would deal with him privately, while lord burghley would correspond with andrea de loo at antwerp. moreover, the servant of comptroller croft would direct bodman as to his course, and would give him daily instructions. now it so happened that this servant of croft, norris by name, was a papist, a man of bad character, and formerly a spy of the duke of anjou. "if your lordship or myself should use such instruments as this," wrote walsingham to leicester, "i know we should bear no small reproach; but it is the good hap of hollow and doubtful men to be best thought of." bodman thought the lords of the peace-faction and their adherents not sufficiently strong to oppose the other party with success. he assured farnese that almost all the gentlemen and the common people of england stood ready to risk their fortunes and to go in person to the field to maintain the cause of the queen and religious liberty; and that the chance of peace was desperate unless something should turn the tide, such as, for example, the defeat of drake, or an invasion by philip of ireland or scotland. as it so happened that drake was just then engaged in a magnificent career of victory, sweeping the spanish main and startling the nearest and the most remote possessions of the king with english prowess, his defeat was not one of the cards to be relied on by the peace-party in the somewhat deceptive game which they had commenced. yet, strange to say, they used, or attempted to use, those splendid triumphs as if they had been disasters. meantime there was an active but very secret correspondence between lord cobham, lord burghley, sir james croft, and various subordinate personages in england, on the one side, and champagny, president richardot, la motte, governor of gravelines, andrea de loo, grafigni, and other men in the obedient provinces, more or less in alexander's confidence, on the other side. each party was desirous of forcing or wheedling the antagonist to show his hand. "you were employed to take soundings off the english coast in the duke of norfolk's time," said cobham to la motte: "you remember the duke's fate. nevertheless, her majesty hates war, and it only depends on the king to have a firm and lasting peace." "you must tell lord cobham," said richardot to la motte, "that you are not at liberty to go into a correspondence, until assured of the intentions of queen elizabeth. her majesty ought to speak first, in order to make her good-will manifest," and so on. "the 'friend' can confer with you," said richardot to champagny; "but his highness is not to appear to know anything at all about it. the queen must signify her intentions." "you answered champagny correctly," said burghley to de loo, "as to what i said last winter concerning her majesty's wishes in regard to a pacification. the netherlands must be compelled to return to obedience to the king; but their ancient privileges are to be maintained. you omitted, however, to say a word about toleration, in the provinces, of the reformed religion. but i said then, as i say now, that this is a condition indispensable to peace." this was a somewhat important omission on the part of de loo, and gives the measure of his conscientiousness or his capacity as a negotiator. certainly for the lord-treasurer of england to offer, on the part of her majesty, to bring about the reduction of her allies under the yoke which they had thrown off without her assistance, and this without leave asked of them, and with no provision for the great principle of religious liberty, which was the cause of the revolt, was a most flagitious trifling with the honour of elizabeth and of england. certainly the more this mysterious correspondence is examined, the more conclusive is the justification of the vague and instinctive jealousy felt by leicester and the states-general as to english diplomacy during the winter and spring of . burghley summoned de loo, accordingly, to recall to his memory all that had been privately said to him on the necessity of protecting the reformed religion in the provinces. if a peace were to be perpetual, toleration was indispensable, he observed, and her majesty was said to desire this condition most earnestly. the lord-treasurer also made the not unreasonable suggestion, that, in case of a pacification, it would be necessary to provide that english subjects--peaceful traders, mariners, and the like--should no longer be shut up in the inquisition prisons of spain and portugal, and there starved to death, as, with great multitudes, had already been the case. meantime alexander, while encouraging and directing all these underhand measures, was carefully impressing upon his master that he was not, in the least degree; bound by any such negotiations. "queen elizabeth," he correctly observed to philip, "is a woman: she is also by no means fond of expense. the kingdom, accustomed to repose, is already weary of war therefore, they are all pacifically inclined." "it has been intimated to me," he said, "that if i would send a properly qualified person, who should declare that your majesty had not absolutely forbidden the coming of lord leicester, such an agent would be well received, and perhaps the earl would be recalled." alexander then proceeded, with the coolness befitting a trusted governor of philip ii., to comment upon the course which he was pursuing. he could at any time denounce the negotiations which he was secretly prompting. meantime immense advantages could be obtained by the deception practised upon an enemy whose own object was to deceive. the deliberate treachery of the scheme was cynically enlarged upon, and its possible results mathematically calculated: philip was to proceed with the invasion while alexander was going on with the negotiation. if, meanwhile, they could receive back holland and zeeland from the hands of england, that would be an immense success. the prince intimated a doubt, however, as to so fortunate a result, because, in dealing with heretics and persons of similar quality, nothing but trickery was to be expected. the chief good to be hoped for was to "chill the queen in her plots, leagues, and alliances," and during the chill, to carry forward their own great design. to slacken not a whit in their preparations, to "put the queen to sleep," and, above all, not to leave the french for a moment unoccupied with internal dissensions and civil war; such was the game of the king and the governor, as expounded between themselves. president richardot, at the same time, stated to cardinal granvelle that the english desire for peace was considered certain at brussels. grafigni had informed the prince of parma and his counsellors that the queen was most amicably disposed, and that there would be no trouble on the point of religion, her majesty not wishing to obtain more than she would herself be willing to grant. "in this," said richardot, "there is both hard and soft;" for knowing that the spanish game was deception, pure and simple, the excellent president could not bring himself to suspect a possible grain of good faith in the english intentions. much anxiety was perpetually felt in the french quarter, her majesty's government being supposed to be secretly preparing an invasion of the obedient netherlands across the french frontier, in combination, not with the bearnese, but with henry iii. so much in the dark were even the most astute politicians. "i can't feel satisfied in this french matter," said the president: "we mustn't tickle ourselves to make ourselves laugh." moreover, there was no self-deception nor self-tickling possible as to the unmitigated misery of the obedient netherlands. famine was a more formidable foe than frenchmen, hollanders, and englishmen combined; so that richardot avowed that the "negotiation would be indeed holy," if it would restore holland and zeeland to the king without fighting. the prospect seemed on the whole rather dismal to loyal netherlanders like the old leaguing, intriguing, hispamolized president of the privy council. "i confess," said he plaintively, "that england needs chastisement; but i don't see how we are to give it to her. only let us secure holland and zeeland, and then we shall always find a stick whenever we like to beat the dog." meantime andrea de loo had been bustling and buzzing about the ears of the chief counsellors at the english court during all the early spring. most busily he had been endeavouring to efface the prevalent suspicion that philip and alexander were only trifling by these informal negotiations. we have just seen whether or not there was ground for that suspicion. de loo, being importunate, however--"as he usually was," according to his own statement--obtained in burghley's hand a confirmation, by order of the queen, of de loo's--letter of the th december. the matter of religion gave the worthy merchant much difficulty, and he begged lord buckhurst, the lord treasurer, and many other counsellors, not to allow this point of toleration to ruin the whole affair; "for," said he, "his majesty will never permit any exercise of the reformed religion." at last buckhurst sent for him, and in presence of comptroller croft, gave him information that he had brought the queen to this conclusion: firstly, that she would be satisfied with as great a proportion of religious toleration for holland, zeeland, and the other united provinces, as his majesty could concede with safety to his conscience and his honour; secondly, that she required an act of amnesty; thirdly, that she claimed reimbursement by philip for the money advanced by her to the states. certainly a more wonderful claim was never made than this--a demand upon an absolute monarch for indemnity for expenses incurred in fomenting a rebellion of his own subjects. the measure of toleration proposed for the provinces--the conscience, namely, of the greatest bigot ever born into the world--was likely to prove as satisfactory as the claim for damages propounded by the most parsimonious sovereign in christendom. it was, however, stipulated that the nonconformists of holland and zeeland, who should be forced into exile, were to have their property administered by papist trustees; and further, that the spanish inquisition was not to be established in the netherlands. philip could hardly demand better terms than these last, after a career of victory. that they should be offered now by elizabeth was hardly compatible with good faith to the states. on account of lord burghley's gout, it was suggested that the negotiators had better meet in england, as it would be necessary for him to take the lead in the matters and as he was but an indifferent traveller. thus, according to de loo, the queen was willing to hand over the united provinces to philip, and to toss religious toleration to the winds, if she could only get back the seventy thousand pounds--more or less--which she had invested in an unpromising speculation. a few weeks later, and at almost the very moment when elizabeth had so suddenly overturned her last vial of wrath upon the discomfited heneage for having communicated--according to her express command--the fact of the pending negotiations to the netherland states; at that very instant parma was writing secretly, and in cipher, to philip. his communication--could sir thomas have read it--might have partly explained her majesty's rage. parma had heard, he said, through bodman, from comptroller croft, that the queen would willingly receive a proper envoy. it was very easy to see, he observed, that the english counsellors were seeking every means of entering into communication with spain, and that they were doing so with the participation of the queen! lord-treasurer burghley and comptroller croft had expressed surprise that the prince had not yet sent a secret agent to her majesty, under pretext of demanding explanations concerning lord leicester's presence in the provinces, but in reality to treat for peace. such an agent, it had been intimated, would be well received. the lord-treasurer and the comptroller would do all in their power to advance the negotiation, so that, with their aid and with the pacific inclination of the queen, the measures proposed in favour of leicester would be suspended, and perhaps the earl himself and all the english would be recalled. the queen was further represented as taking great pains to excuse both the expedition of sir francis drake to the indies, and the mission of leicester to the provinces. she was said to throw the whole blame of these enterprises upon walsingham and other ill-intentioned personages, and to avow that she now understood matters better; so that, if parma would at once send an envoy, peace would, without question, soon be made. parma had expressed his gratification at these hopeful dispositions on the part of burghley and croft, and held out hopes of sending an agent to treat with them, if not directly with her majesty. for some time past--according to the prince--the english government had not seemed to be honestly seconding the earl of leicester, nor to correspond with his desires. "this makes me think," he said, "that the counsellors before-mentioned, being his rivals, are trying to trip him up." in such a caballing, prevaricating age, it is difficult to know which of all the plotters and counterplotters engaged in these intrigues could accomplish the greatest amount of what--for the sake of diluting in nine syllables that which could be more forcibly expressed in one--was then called diplomatic dissimulation. it is to be feared, notwithstanding her frequent and vociferous denials, that the robes of the "imperial votaress" were not so unsullied as could be wished. we know how loudly leicester had complained--we have seen how clearly walsingham could convict; but elizabeth, though convicted, could always confute: for an absolute sovereign, even without resorting to philip's syllogisms of axe and faggot, was apt in the sixteenth century to have the best of an argument with private individuals. the secret statements of parma-made, not for public effect, but for the purpose of furnishing his master with the most accurate information he could gather as to english policy--are certainly entitled to consideration. they were doubtless founded upon the statements of individuals rejoicing in no very elevated character; but those individuals had no motive to deceive their patron. if they clashed with the vehement declarations of very eminent personages, it must be admitted, on the other hand, that they were singularly in accordance with the silent eloquence of important and mysterious events. as to alexander farnese--without deciding the question whether elizabeth and burghley were deceiving walsingham and leicester, or only trying to delude philip and himself--he had no hesitation, of course, on his part, in recommending to philip the employment of unlimited dissimulation. nothing could be more ingenuous than the intercourse between the king and his confidential advisers. it was perfectly understood among them that they were always to deceive every one, upon every occasion. only let them be false, and it was impossible to be wholly wrong; but grave mistakes might occur from occasional deviations into sincerity. it was no question at all, therefore, that it was parma's duty to delude elizabeth and burghley. alexander's course was plain. he informed his master that he would keep these difficulties alive as much as it was possible. in order to "put them all to sleep with regard to the great enterprise of the invasion," he would send back bodman to burghley and croft, and thus keep this unofficial negotiation upon its legs. the king was quite uncommitted, and could always disavow what had been done. meanwhile he was gaining, and his adversaries losing, much precious time. "if by this course," said parma, "we can induce the english to hand over to us the places which they hold in holland and zeeland, that will be a great triumph." accordingly he urged the king not to slacken, in the least, his preparations for invasion, and, above all, to have a care that the french were kept entangled and embarrassed among themselves, which was a most substantial point. meantime europe was ringing with the american successes of the bold corsair drake. san domingo, porto rico, santiago, cartliagena, florida, were sacked and destroyed, and the supplies drawn so steadily from the oppression of the western world to maintain spanish tyranny in europe, were for a time extinguished. parma was appalled at these triumphs of the sea-king--"a fearful man to the king of spain"--as lord burghley well observed. the spanish troops were starving in flanders, all flanders itself was starving, and philip, as usual, had sent but insignificant remittances to save his perishing soldiers. parma had already exhausted his credit. money was most difficult to obtain in such a forlorn country; and now the few rich merchants and bankers of antwerp that were left looked very black at these crushing news from america. "they are drawing their purse-strings very tight," said alexander, "and will make no accommodation. the most contemplative of them ponder much over this success of drake, and think that your majesty will forget our matters here altogether." for this reason he informed the king that it would be advisable to drop all further negotiation with england for the time, as it was hardly probable that, with such advantages gained by the queen, she would be inclined to proceed in the path which had been just secretly opened. moreover, the prince was in a state of alarm as to the intentions of france. mendoza and tassis had given him to understand that a very good feeling prevailed between the court of henry and of elizabeth, and that the french were likely to come to a pacification among themselves. in this the spanish envoys were hardly anticipating so great an effect as we have seen that they had the right to do from their own indefatigable exertions; for, thanks to their zeal, backed by the moderate subsidies furnished by their master, the civil war in france already seemed likely to be as enduring as that of the netherlands. but parma--still quite in the dark as to french politics--was haunted by the vision of seventy thousand foot and six thousand horses ready to be let slip upon him at any, moment, out of a pacified and harmonious france; while he had nothing but a few starving and crippled regiments to withstand such an invasion. when all these events should have taken place, and france, in alliance with england, should have formally declared war against spain, alexander protested that he should have learned nothing new. the prince was somewhat mistaken as to political affairs; but his doubts concerning his neighbours, blended with the forlorn condition of himself and army, about which there was no doubt at all, showed the exigencies of his situation. in the midst of such embarrassments it is impossible not to admire his heroism as a military chieftain, and his singular adroitness as a diplomatist. he had painted for his sovereign a most faithful and horrible portrait of the obedient provinces. the soil was untilled; the manufactories had all stopped; trade had ceased to exist. it was a pity only to look upon the raggedness of his soldiers. no language could describe the misery of the reconciled provinces--artois, hainault, flanders. the condition of bruges would melt the hardest heart; other cities were no better; antwerp was utterly ruined; its inhabitants were all starving. the famine throughout the obedient netherlands was such as had not been known for a century. the whole country had been picked bare by the troops, and the plough was not put into the ground. deputations were constantly with him from bruges, dendermonde, bois-le-duc, brussels, antwerp, nymegen, proving to him by the most palpable evidence that the whole population of those cities had almost literally nothing to eat. he had nothing, however, but exhortations to patience to feed them withal. he was left without a groat even to save his soldiers from starving, and he wildly and bitterly, day after day, implored his sovereign for aid. these pictures are not the sketches of a historian striving for effect, but literal transcripts from the most secret revelations of the prince himself to his sovereign. on the other hand, although leicester's complaints of the destitution of the english troops in the republic were almost as bitter, yet the condition of the united provinces was comparatively healthy. trade, external and internal, was increasing daily. distant commercial and military expeditions were fitted out, manufactures were prosperous, and the war of independence was gradually becoming--strange to say--a source of prosperity to the new commonwealth. philip--being now less alarmed than his nephew concerning french affairs, and not feeling so keenly the misery of the obedient provinces, or the wants of the spanish army--sent to alexander six hundred thousand ducats, by way of genoa. in the letter submitted by his secretary recording this remittance, the king made, however, a characteristic marginal note:--"see if it will not be as well to tell him something concerning the two hundred thousand ducats to be deducted for mucio, for fear of more mischief, if the prince should expect the whole six hundred thousand." accordingly mucio got the two hundred thousand. one-third of the meagre supply destined for the relief of the king's starving and valiant little army in the netherlands was cut off to go into the pockets of the intriguing duke of guise. "we must keep the french," said philip, "in a state of confusion at home, and feed their civil war. we must not allow them to come to a general peace, which would be destruction for the catholics. i know you will put a good face on the matter; and, after all, 'tis in the interest of the netherlands. moreover, the money shall be immediately refunded." alexander was more likely to make a wry face, notwithstanding his views of the necessity of fomenting the rebellion against the house of valois. certainly if a monarch intended to conquer such countries as france, england, and holland, without stirring from his easy chair in the escorial, it would have been at least as well--so alexander thought--to invest a little more capital in the speculation. no monarch ever dreamed of arriving at universal empire with less personal fatigue or exposure, or at a cheaper rate, than did philip ii. his only fatigue was at his writing-table. but even here his merit was of a subordinate description. he sat a great while at a time. he had a genius for sitting; but he now wrote few letters himself. a dozen words or so, scrawled in hieroglyphics at the top, bottom, or along the margin of the interminable despatches of his secretaries, contained the suggestions, more or less luminous, which arose in his mind concerning public affairs. but he held firmly to his purpose: he had devoted his life to the extermination of protestantism, to the conquest of france and england, to the subjugation of holland. these were vast schemes. a king who should succeed in such enterprises, by his personal courage and genius, at the head of his armies, or by consummate diplomacy, or by a masterly system of finance-husbanding and concentrating the resources of his almost boundless realms--might be in truth commended for capacity. hitherto however philip's triumph had seemed problematical; and perhaps something more would be necessary than letters to parma, and paltry remittances to mucio, notwithstanding alexander's splendid but local victories in flanders. parma, although in reality almost at bay, concealed his despair, and accomplished wonders in the field. the military events during the spring and summer of will be sketched in a subsequent chapter. for the present it is necessary to combine into a complete whole the subterranean negotiations between brussels and england. much to his surprise and gratification, parma found that the peace-party were not inclined to change their views in consequence of the triumphs of drake. he soon informed the king that--according to champagny and bodman--the lord treasurer, the comptroller, lord cobham, and sir christopher hatton, were more pacific than they had ever been. these four were represented by grafigni as secretly in league against leicester and walsingham, and very anxious to bring about a reconciliation between the crowns of england and spain. the merchant-diplomatist, according to his own statement, was expressly sent by queen elizabeth to the prince of parma, although without letter of credence or signed instructions, but with the full knowledge and approbation of the four counsellors just mentioned. he assured alexander that the queen and the majority of her council felt a strong desire for peace, and had manifested much repentance for what had been done. they had explained their proceedings by the necessity of self-defence. they had avowed--in case they should be made sure of peace--that they should, not with reluctance and against their will, but, on the contrary, with the utmost alacrity and at once, surrender to the king of spain the territory which they possessed in the netherlands, and especially the fortified towns in holland and zeeland; for the english object had never been conquest. parma had also been informed of the queen's strong desire that he should be employed as negotiator, on account of her great confidence in his sincerity. they had expressed much satisfaction on hearing that he was about to send an agent to england, and had protested themselves rejoiced at drake's triumphs, only because of their hope that a peace with spain would thus be rendered the easier of accomplishment. they were much afraid, according to grafigni, of philip's power, and dreaded a spanish invasion of their country, in conjunction with the pope. they were now extremely anxious that parma--as he himself informed the king--should send an agent of good capacity, in great secrecy, to england. the comptroller had said that he had pledged himself to such a result, and if it failed, that they would probably cut off his head. the four counsellors were excessively solicitous for the negotiation, and each of them was expecting to gain favour by advancing it to the best of his ability. parma hinted at the possibility that all these professions were false, and that the english were only intending to keep the king from the contemplated invasion. at the same time he drew philip's attention to the fact that burghley and his party had most evidently been doing everything in their power to obstruct leicester's progress in the netherlands and to keep back the reinforcements of troops and money which he so much required. no doubt these communications of parma to the king were made upon the faith of an agent not over-scrupulous, and of no elevated or recognised rank in diplomacy. it must be borne in mind, however, that he had been made use of by both parties; perhaps because it would be easy to throw off, and discredit, him whenever such a step should be convenient; and that, on the other hand, coming fresh from burghley and the rest into the presence of the keen-eyed farnese, he would hardly invent for his employer a budget of falsehoods. that man must have been a subtle negotiator who could outwit such a statesman as burghley--and the other counsellors of elizabeth, and a bold one who could dare to trifle on a momentous occasion with alexander of parma. leicester thought burghley very much his friend, and so thought davison and heneage; and the lord-treasurer had, in truth, stood stoutly by the earl in the affair of the absolute governorship;--"a matter more severe and cumbersome to him and others," said burghley, "than any whatsoever since he was a counsellor." but there is no doubt that these negotiations were going forward all the spring and summer, that they were most detrimental to leicester's success, and that they were kept--so far as it was possible--a profound secret from him, from walsingham, and from the states-general. nothing was told them except what their own astuteness had discovered beforehand; and the game of the counsellors--so far as their attitude towards leicester and walsingham was concerned--seems both disingenuous and impolitic. parma, it was to be feared, was more than a match for the english governor-general in the field; and it was certainly hopeless for poor old comptroller croft, even though backed by the sagacious burghley, to accomplish so great an amount of dissimulation in a year as the spanish cabinet, without effort, could compass in a week. nor were they attempting to do so. it is probable that england was acting towards philip in much better faith than he deserved, or than parma believed; but it is hardly to be wondered at that leicester should think himself injured by being kept perpetually in the dark. elizabeth was very impatient at not receiving direct letters from parma, and her anxiety on the subject explains much of her caprice during the quarrel about the governor-generalahip. many persons in the netherlands thought those violent scenes a farce, and a farce that had been arranged with leicester beforehand. in this they were mistaken; for an examination of the secret correspondence of the period reveals the motives--which to contemporaries were hidden--of many strange transactions. the queen was, no doubt, extremely anxious, and with cause, at the tempest slowly gathering over her head; but the more the dangers thickened, the more was her own official language to those in high places befitting the sovereign of england. she expressed her surprise to farnese that he had not written to her on the subject of the grafigni and bodman affair. the first, she said, was justified in all which he had narrated, save in his assertion that she had sent him. the other had not obtained audience, because he had not come provided with any credentials, direct or indirect. having now understood from andrea de loo and the seigneur de champagny that parma had the power to conclude a peace, which he seemed very much to desire, she observed that it was not necessary for him to be so chary in explaining the basis of the proposed negotiations. it was better to enter into a straightforward path, than by ambiguous words to spin out to great length matters which princes should at once conclude. "do not suppose," said the queen, "that i am seeking what belongs to others. god forbid. i seek only that which is mine own. but be sure that i will take good heed of the sword which threatens me with destruction, nor think that i am so craven-spirited as to endure a wrong, or to place myself at the mercy of my enemy. every week i see advertisements and letters from spain that this year shall witness the downfall of england; for the spaniards--like the hunter who divided, with great liberality, among his friends the body and limbs of the wolf, before it had been killed--have partitioned this kingdom and that of ireland before the conquest has been effected. but my royal heart is no whit appalled by such threats. i trust, with the help of the divine hand--which has thus far miraculously preserved me--to smite all these braggart powers into the dust, and to preserve my honour, and the kingdoms which he has given me for my heritage. "nevertheless, if you have authority to enter upon and to conclude this negotiation, you will find my ears open to hear your propositions; and i tell you further, if a peace is to be made, that i wish you to be the mediator thereof. such is the affection i bear you, notwithstanding that some letters, written by your own hand, might easily have effaced such sentiments from my mind." soon afterwards, bodman was again despatched to england, grafigni being already there. he was provided with unsigned instructions, according to which he was to say that the prince, having heard of the queen's good intentions, had despatched him and grafigni to her court. they were to listen to any suggestions made by the queen to her ministers; but they were to do nothing but listen. if the counsellors should enter into their grievances against his majesty, and ask for explanations, the agents were to say that they had no authority or instructions to speak for so great and christian a monarch. thus they were to cut the thread of any such discourse, or any other observations not to the purpose. silence, in short, was recommended, first and last, as the one great business of their mission; and it was unlucky that men whose talent for taciturnity was thus signally relied upon should be somewhat remarkable for loquacity. grafigni was also the bearer of a letter from alexander to the queen--of which bodman received a copy--but it was strictly enjoined upon them to keep the letter, their instructions, and the objects of their journey, a secret from all the world. the letter of the prince consisted mainly of complimentary flourishes. he had heard, he said, all that agostino grafigni had communicated, and he now begged her majesty to let him understand the course which it was proper to take; assuring her of his gratitude for her good opinion touching his sincerity, and his desire to save the effusion of blood, and so on; concluding of course with expressions of most profound consideration and devotion. early in july bodman arrived in london. he found grafigni in very low spirits. he had been with lord cobham, and was much disappointed with his reception, for cobham--angry that grafigni had brought no commission from the king--had refused to receive parma's letter to the queen, and had expressed annoyance that bodman should be employed on this mission, having heard that lie was very ill-tempered and passionate. the same evening, he had been sent for by lord burghley--who had accepted the letter for her majesty without saying a word--and on the following morning, he had been taken to task, by several counsellors, on the ground that the prince, in that communication, had stated that the queen had expressed a desire for peace. it has just been shown that there was no such intimation at all in the letter; but as neither grafigni nor bodman had read the epistle itself, but only the copy furnished them, they could merely say that such an assertion; if made by the prince, had been founded on no statement of theirs. bodman consoled his colleague, as well as he could, by assurances that when the letter was fairly produced, their vindication would be complete, and grafigni, upon that point, was comforted. he was, however, very doleful in general, and complained bitterly of burghley and the other english counsellors. he said that they had forced him, against his will, to make this journey to brussels, that they had offered him presents, that they would leave him no rest in his own house, but had made him neglect all his private business, and caused him a great loss of time and money, in order that he might serve them. they had manifested the strongest desire that parma should open this communication, and had led him to expect a very large recompense for his share in the transaction. "and now," said grafigni to his colleague, with great bitterness, "i find no faith nor honour in them at all. they don't keep their word, and every one of them is trying to slide out of the very business, in which each was, but the other day, striving to outrival the other, in order that it might be brought to a satisfactory conclusion." after exploding in this way to bodman, he went back to cobham, and protested, with angry vehemence, that parma had never written such a word to the queen, and that so it would prove, if the letter were produced. next day, bodman was sent for to greenwich, where her majesty was, as usual, residing. a secret pavilion was indicated to him, where he was to stay until sunset. when that time arrived, lord cobham's secretary came with great mystery, and begged the emissary to follow him, but at a considerable distance, towards the apartments of lord burghley in the palace. arriving there, they found the lord treasurer accompanied by cobham and croft. burghley instantly opened the interview by a defence of the queen's policy in sending troops to the netherlands, and in espousing their cause, and then the conversation proceeded to the immediate matter in hand. bodman (after listening respectfully to the lord-treasurer's observations).--"his highness has, however, been extremely surprised that my lord leicester should take an oath, as governor-general of the king's provinces. he is shocked likewise by the great demonstrations of hostility on the part of her majesty." burghley.--"the oath was indispensable. the queen was obliged to tolerate the step on account of the great urgency of the states to have a head. but her majesty has commanded us to meet you on this occasion, in order to hear what you have to communicate on the part of the prince of parma." bodman (after a profusion of complimentary phrases).--"i have no commission to say anything. i am only instructed to listen to anything that may be said to me, and that her majesty may be pleased to command." burghley.--"'tis very discreet to begin thus. but time is pressing, and it is necessary to be brief. we beg you therefore to communicate, without further preface, that which you have been charged to say." bodman.--"i can only repeat to your lordship, that i have been charged to say nothing." after this barmecide feast of diplomacy, to partake of which it seemed hardly necessary that the guests should have previously attired themselves in such garments of mystery, the parties separated for the night. in spite of their care, it would seem that the argus-eyed walsingham had been able to see after sunset; for, the next evening--after bodman had been introduced with the same precautions to the same company, in the same place--burghley, before a word had been spoken, sent for sir francis. bodman was profoundly astonished, for he had been expressly informed that walsingham was to know nothing of the transaction. the secretary of state could not so easily be outwitted, however, and he was soon seated at the table, surveying the scene, with his grave melancholy eyes, which had looked quite through the whole paltry intrigue. burghley.--"her majesty has commanded us to assemble together, in order that, in my presence, it may be made clear that she did not commence this negotiation. let grafigni be summoned." grafigni immediately made his appearance. burghley.--"you will please to explain how you came to enter into this business." grafigni.--"the first time i went to the states, it was on my private affairs; i had no order from any one to treat with the prince of parma. his highness, having accidentally heard, however, that i resided in england, expressed a wish to see me. i had an interview with the prince. i told him, out of my own head, that the queen had a strong inclination to hear propositions of peace, and that--as some of her counsellors were of the same opinion--i believed that if his highness should send a negotiator, some good would be effected. the prince replied that he felt by no means sure of such a result; but that, if i should come back from england, sent by the queen or her council, he would then despatch a person with a commission to treat of peace. this statement, together with other matters that had passed between us, was afterwards drawn up in writing by command of his highness." burghley.--"who bade you say, after your second return to brussels, that you came on the part of the queen? for you well know that her majesty did not send you." grafigni.--"i never said so. i stated that my lord cobham had set down in writing what i was to say to the prince of parma. it will never appear that i represented the queen as desiring peace. i said that her majesty would lend her ears to peace. bodman knows this too; and he has a copy of the letter of his highness." walsingham to bodman.--"have you the copy still?" bodman.--"yes, mr. secretary." walsingham.--"please to produce it, in order that this matter may be sifted to the bottom." bodman.--"i supplicate your lorships to pardon me, but indeed that cannot be. my instructions forbid my showing the letter." walsingham (rising).--"i will forthwith go to her majesty, and fetch the original." a pause. mr. secretary returns in a few minutes, having obtained the document, which the queen, up to that time, had kept by her, without showing it to any one. walsingham (after reading the letter attentively, and aloud).--"there is not such a word, as that her majesty is desirous of peace, in the whole paper." burghley (taking the letter, and slowly construing it out of italian into english).--"it would seem that his highness hath written this, assuming that the signor grafigni came from the queen, although he had received his instructions from my lord cobham. it is plain, however, that the negotiation was commenced accidentally." comptroller croft (nervously, and with the air of a man fearful of getting into trouble).--"you know very well, mr. bodman, that my servant came to dunkirk only to buy and truck away horses; and that you then, by chance, entered into talk with him, about the best means of procuring a peace between the two kingdoms. my servant told you of the good feeling that prevailed in england. you promised to write on the subject to the prince, and i immediately informed the lord-treasurer of the whole transaction." burghley.--"that is quite true." croft.--"my servant subsequently returned to the provinces in order to learn what the prince might have said on the subject." bodman (with immense politeness, but very decidedly).--"pardon me, mr. comptroller; but, in this matter, i must speak the truth, even if the honour and life of my father were on the issue. i declare that your servant norris came to me, directly commissioned for that purpose by yourself, and informed me from you, and upon your authority, that if i would solicit the prince of parma to send a secret agent to england, a peace would be at once negotiated. your servant entreated me to go to his highness at brussels. i refused, but agreed to consider the proposition. after the lapse of several days, the servant returned to make further enquiries. i told him that the prince had come to no decision. norris continued to press the matter. i excused myself. he then solicited and obtained from me a letter of introduction to de loo, the secretary of his highness. armed with this, he went to brussels and had an interview--as i found, four days later--with the prince. in consequence of the representations of norris, those of signor grafigni, and those by way of antwerp, his highness determined to send me to england." burghley to croft.--"did you order your servant to speak with andrea de loo?" croft.--"i cannot deny it." burghley.--"the fellow seems to have travelled a good way out of his commission. his master sends him to buy horses, and he commences a peace-negotiation between two kingdoms. it would be well he were chastised. as regards the antwerp matter, too, we have had many letters, and i have, seen one from the seigneur de champagny, the same effect as that of all the rest." walsingham.--"i see not to what end his highness of parma has sent mr. bodman hither. the prince avows that he hath no commission from spain." bodman.--"his highness was anxious to know what was her majesty's pleasure. so soon as that should be known, the prince could obtain ample authority. he would never have proceeded so far without meaning a good end." walsingham.--"very like. i dare say that his highness will obtain the commission. meantime, as prince of parma, he writes these letters, and assists his sovereign perhaps more than he doth ourselves." here the interview terminated. a few days later, bodman had another conversation with burghley and cobham. reluctantly, at their urgent request, he set down in writing all that he had said concerning his mission. the lord treasurer said that the queen and her counsellors were "ready to embrace peace when it was treated of sincerely." meantime the queen had learned that the prince had been sending letters to the cautionary towns in holland and zeeland, stating that her majesty was about to surrender them to the king of spain. these were tricks to make mischief, and were very detrimental to the queen. bodman replied that these were merely the idle stories of quidnuncs; and that the prince and all his counsellors were dealing with the utmost sincerity. burghley answered that he had intercepted the very letters, and had them in his possession. a week afterwards, bodman saw walsingham alone, and was informed by him that the queen had written an answer to parma's letter, and that negotiations for the future were to be carried on in the usual form, or not at all. walsingham, having thus got the better of his rivals, and delved below their mines, dismissed the agent with brief courtesy. afterwards the discomfited mr. comptroller wished a private interview with bodman. bodman refused to speak with him except in presence of lord cobham. this croft refused. in the same way bodman contrived to get rid, as he said, of lord burghley and lord cobham, declining to speak with either of them alone. soon afterwards he returned to the provinces! the queen's letter to parma was somewhat caustic. it was obviously composed through the inspiration of walsingham rather than that of burghley. the letter, brought by a certain grafigni and a certain bodman, she said, was a very strange one, and written under a delusion. it was a very grave error, that, in her name, without her knowledge, contrary to her disposition, and to the prejudice of her honour, such a person as this grafigni, or any one like him, should have the audacity to commence such a business, as if she had, by messages to the prince, sought a treaty with his king, who had so often returned evil for her good. grafigni, after representing the contrary to his highness, had now denied in presence of her counsellors having received any commission from the queen. she also briefly gave the result of bodman's interviews with burghley and the others, just narrated. that agent had intimated that parma would procure authority to treat for peace, if assured that the queen would lend her ear to any propositions. she replied by referring to her published declarations, as showing her powerful motives for interfering in these affairs. it was her purpose to save her own realm and to rescue her ancient neighbours from misery and from slavery. to this end she should still direct her actions, notwithstanding the sinister rumours which had been spread that she was inclined to peace before providing for the security and liberty of her allies. she was determined never to separate their cause from her own. propositions tending to the security of herself and of her neighbours would always be favourably received. parma, on his part, informed his master that there could be no doubt that the queen and the majority of her council abhorred the war, and that already much had been gained by the fictitious negotiation. lord-treasurer burghley had been interposing endless delays and difficulties in the way of every measure proposed for the relief of lord leicester, and the assistance rendered him had been most lukewarm. meantime the prince had been able, he said, to achieve much success in the field, and the english had done nothing to prevent it. since the return of grafigni and bodman, however, it was obvious that the english government had disowned these non-commissioned diplomatists. the whole negotiation and all the negotiators were now discredited, but there was no doubt that there had been a strong desire to treat, and great disappointment at the result. grafigni and andrea de loo had been publishing everywhere in antwerp that england would consider the peace as made, so soon as his majesty should be willing to accept any propositions. his majesty, meanwhile, sat in his cabinet, without the slightest intention of making or accepting any propositions save those that were impossible. he smiled benignantly at his nephew's dissimulation and at the good results which it had already produced. he approved of gaining time, he said, by fictitious negotiations and by the use of a mercantile agent; for, no doubt, such a course would prevent the proper succours from being sent to the earl of leicester. if the english would hand over to him the cautionary towns held by them in holland and zeeland, promise no longer to infest the seas, the indies, and the isles, with their corsairs, and guarantee the complete obedience to their king and submission to the holy catholic church of the rebellious provinces, perhaps something might be done with them; but, on the whole, he was inclined to think that they had been influenced by knavish and deceitful motives from the beginning. he enjoined it upon parma, therefore, to proceed with equal knavery--taking care, however, not to injure his reputation--and to enter into negotiations wherever occasion might serve, in order to put the english off their guard and to keep back the reinforcements so imperatively required by leicester. and the reinforcements were indeed kept back. had burghley and croft been in the pay of philip ii. they could hardly have served him better than they had been doing by the course pursued. here then is the explanation of the shortcomings of the english government towards leicester and the states during the memorable spring and summer of . no money, no soldiers, when most important operations in the field were required. the first general of the age was to be opposed by a man who had certainly never gained many laurels as a military chieftain, but who was brave and confident, and who, had he been faithfully supported by the government which sent him to the netherlands, would have had his antagonist at a great disadvantage. alexander had scarcely eight thousand effective men. famine, pestilence, poverty, mutiny, beset and almost paralyzed him. language could not exaggerate the absolute destitution of the country. only miracles could save the king's cause, as farnese repeatedly observed. a sharp vigorous campaign, heartily carried on against him by leicester and hohenlo, with plenty of troops and money at command, would have brought the heroic champion of catholicism to the ground. he was hemmed in upon all sides; he was cut off from the sea; he stood as it were in a narrowing circle, surrounded by increasing dangers. his own veterans, maddened by misery, stung by their king's ingratitude, naked, starving, ferocious, were turning against him. mucio, like his evil genius, was spiriting away his supplies just as they were reaching his hands; a threatening tempest seemed rolling up from france; the whole population of the provinces which he had "reconciled"--a million of paupers--were crying to him for bread; great commercial cities, suddenly blasted and converted into dens of thieves and beggars, were cursing the royal author of their ruin, and uttering wild threats against his vicegerent; there seemed, in truth, nothing left for alexander but to plunge headlong into destruction, when, lo! mr. comptroller croft, advancing out of the clouds, like a propitious divinity, disguised in the garb of a foe--and the scene was changed. the feeble old man, with his shufing, horse-trucking servant, ex-spy of monsieur, had accomplished more work for philip and alexander than many regiments of spaniards and walloons could have done. the arm of leicester was paralyzed upon the very threshold of success. the picture of these palace-intrigues has been presented with minute elaboration, because, however petty and barren in appearance, they were in reality prolific of grave results. a series of victories by parma was substituted for the possible triumphs of elizabeth and the states. the dissimulation of the spanish court was fathomless. the secret correspondence of the times reveals to us that its only purpose was to deceive the queen and her counsellors, and to gain time to prepare the grand invasion of england and subjugation of holland--that double purpose which philip could only abandon with life. there was never a thought, on his part, of honest negotiation. on the other hand, the queen was sincere; burghley and hatton and cobham were sincere; croft was sincere, so far as spain was concerned. at least they had been sincere. in the private and doleful dialogues between bodman and grafigni which we have just been overhearing, these intriguers spoke the truth, for they could have no wish to deceive each other, and no fear of eaves-droppers not to be born till centuries afterwards. these conversations have revealed to us that the lord treasurer and three of his colleagues had been secretly doing their best to cripple leicester, to stop the supplies for the netherlands, and to patch up a hurried and unsatisfactory, if not a disgraceful peace; and this, with the concurrence of her majesty. after their plots had been discovered by the vigilant secretary of state, there was a disposition to discredit the humbler instruments in the cabal. elizabeth was not desirous of peace. far from it. she was qualmish at the very suggestion. dire was her wrath against bodman, de loo, graafigni, and the rest, at their misrepresentations on the subject. but she would "lend her ear." and that royal ear was lent, and almost fatal was the distillment poured into its porches. the pith and marrow of the great netherland enterprise was sapped by the slow poison of the ill-timed negotiation. the fruit of drake's splendid triumphs in america was blighted by it. the stout heart of the vainglorious but courageous leicester was sickened by it, while, meantime, the maturing of the great armada-scheme, by which the destruction of england was to be accomplished, was furthered, through the unlimited procrastination so precious to the heart of philip. fortunately the subtle walsingham was there upon the watch to administer the remedy before it was quite too late; and to him england and the netherlands were under lasting obligations. while alexander and philip suspected a purpose on the part of the english government to deceive them, they could not help observing that the earl of leicester was both deserted and deceived. yet it had been impossible for the peace-party in the government wholly to conceal their designs, when such prating fellows as grafigni and de loo were employed in what was intended to be a secret negotiation. in vain did the friends of leicester in the netherlands endeavour to account for the neglect with which he was treated, and for the destitution of his army. hopelessly did they attempt to counteract those "advertisements of most fearful instance," as richard cavendish expressed himself, which were circulating everywhere. thanks to the babbling of the very men, whose chief instructions had been to hold their tongues, and to listen with all their ears, the secret negotiations between parma and the english counsellors became the town-talk at antwerp, the hague, amsterdam, brussels, london. it is true that it was impossible to know what was actually said and done; but that there was something doing concerning which leicester was not to be informed was certain. grafigni, during one of his visits to the obedient provinces, brought a brace of greyhounds and a couple of horses from england, as a present to alexander, and he perpetually went about, bragging to every one of important negotiations which he was conducting, and of his intimacy with great personages in both countries. leicester, on the other hand, was kept in the dark. to him grafigni made no communications, but he once sent him a dish of plums, "which," said the earl, with superfluous energy, "i will boldly say to you, by the living god, is all that i have ever had since i came into these countries." when it is remembered that leicester had spent many thousand pounds in the netherland cause, that he had deeply mortgaged his property in order to provide more funds, that he had never received a penny of salary from the queen, that his soldiers were "ragged and torn like rogues-pity to see them," and were left without the means of supporting life; that he had been neglected, deceived, humiliated, until he was forced to describe himself as a "forlorn man set upon a forlorn hope," it must be conceded that grafigni's present of a dish of plums could hardly be sufficient to make him very happy. from time to time he was enlightened by sir francis, who occasionally forced his adversaries' hands, and who always faithfully informed the earl of everything he could discover. "we are so greedy of a peace, in respect of the charges of the wars," he wrote in april, "as in the procuring thereof we weigh neither honour nor safety. somewhat here is adealing underhand, wherein there is great care taken that i should not be made acquainted withal." but with all their great care, the conspirators, as it has been seen, were sometimes outwitted by the secretary, and, when put to the blush, were forced to take him into half-confidence. "your lordship may see," he wrote, after getting possession of parma's letter to the queen, and unravelling croft's intrigues, "what effects are wrought by such weak ministers. they that have been the employers of them are ashamed of the matter." unutterable was the amazement, as we have seen, of bodman and grafigni when they had suddenly found themselves confronted in burghley's private apartments in greenwich palace, whither they had been conducted so mysteriously after dark from the secret pavilion--by the grave secretary of state, whom they had been so anxious to deceive; and great was the embarrassment of croft and cobham, and even of the imperturbable burghley. and thus patiently did walsingham pick his course, plummet in hand, through the mists and along the quicksands, and faithfully did he hold out signals to his comrade embarked on the same dangerous voyage. as for the earl himself, he was shocked at the short-sighted policy of his mistress, mortified by the neglect to which he was exposed, disappointed in his ambitious schemes. vehemently and judiciously he insisted upon the necessity of vigorous field operations throughout the spring and summer thus frittered away in frivolous negotiations. he was for peace, if a lasting and honourable peace could be procured; but he insisted that the only road to such a result was through a "good sharp war." his troops were mutinous for want of pay, so that he had been obliged to have a few of them executed, although he protested that he would rather have "gone a thousand miles a-foot" than have done so; and he was crippled by his government at exactly the time when his great adversary's condition was most forlorn. was it strange that the proud earl should be fretting his heart away when such golden chances were eluding his grasp? he would "creep upon the ground," he said, as far as his hands and knees would carry him, to have a good peace for her majesty, but his care was to have a peace indeed, and not a show of it. it was the cue of holland and england to fight before they could expect to deal upon favourable terms with their enemy. he was quick enough to see that his false colleagues at home were playing into the enemy's hands. victory was what was wanted; victory the earl pledged himself, if properly seconded, to obtain; and, braggart though he was, it is by no means impossible that he might have redeemed his pledge. "if her majesty will use her advantage," he said, "she shall bring the king, and especially this prince of parma, to seek peace in other sort than by way of merchants." of courage and confidence the governor had no lack. whether he was capable of outgeneralling alexander farnese or no, will be better seen, perhaps, in subsequent chapters; but there is no doubt that he was reasonable enough in thinking, at that juncture, that a hard campaign rather than a "merchant's brokerage" was required to obtain an honourable peace. lofty, indeed, was the scorn of the aristocratic leicester that "merchants and pedlars should be paltering in so weighty a cause," and daring to send him a dish of plums when he was hoping half a dozen regiments from the queen; and a sorry business, in truth, the pedlars had made of it. never had there been a more delusive diplomacy, and it was natural that the lieutenant-general abroad and the statesman at home should be sad and indignant, seeing england drifting to utter shipwreck while pursuing that phantom of a pacific haven. had walsingham and himself tampered with the enemy, as some counsellors he could name had done, leicester asserted that the gallows would be thought too good for them; and yet he hoped he might be hanged if the whole spanish faction in england could procure for the queen a peace fit for her to accept. certainly it was quite impossible for the spanish-faction to bring about a peace. no human power could bring it about. even if england had been willing and able to surrender holland, bound hand and foot, to philip, even then she could only have obtained a hollow armistice. philip had sworn in his inmost soul the conquest of england and the dethronement of elizabeth. his heart was fixed. it was only by the subjugation of england that he hoped to recover the netherlands. england was to be his stepping-stone to holland. the invasion was slowly but steadily maturing, and nothing could have diverted the king from his great purpose. in the very midst of all these plots and counterplots, bodmans and grafignis, english geldings and irish greyhounds, dishes of plums and autograph letters of her majesty and his highness, the prince was deliberately discussing all the details of the invasion, which, as it was then hoped, would be ready by the autumn of the year . although he had sent a special agent to philip, who was to state by word of mouth that which it was deemed unsafe to write, yet alexander, perpetually urged by his master, went at last more fully into particulars than he had ever ventured to do before; and this too at the very moment when elizabeth was most seriously "lending her ear" to negotiation, and most vehemently expressing her wrath at sir thomas heneage for dealing candidly with the states-general. the prince observed that when, two or three years before, he had sent his master an account of the coasts, anchoring-places, and harbours of england, he had then expressed the opinion that the conquest of england was an enterprise worthy of the grandeur and christianity of his majesty, and not so difficult as to be considered altogether impossible. to make himself absolutely master of the business, however, he had then thought that the king should have no associates in the scheme, and should make no account of the inhabitants of england. since that time the project had become more difficult of accomplishment, because it was now a stale and common topic of conversation everywhere--in italy, germany, and france--so that there could be little doubt that rumours on the subject were daily reaching the ears of queen elizabeth and of every one in her kingdom. hence she had made a strict alliance with sweden, denmark, the protestant princes of germany, and even with the turks and the french. nevertheless, in spite of these obstacles, the king, placing his royal hand to the work, might well accomplish the task; for the favour of the lord, whose cause it was, would be sure to give him success. being so christian and catholic a king, philip naturally desired to extend the area of the holy church, and to come to the relief of so many poor innocent martyrs in england, crying aloud before the lord for help. moreover elizabeth had fomented rebellion in the king's provinces for a long time secretly, and now, since the fall of antwerp, and just as holland and zeeland were falling into his grasp, openly. thus, in secret and in public, she had done the very worst she could do; and it was very clear that the lord, for her sins; had deprived her of understanding, in order that his majesty might be the instrument of that chastisement which she so fully deserved. a monarch of such great prudence, valour, and talent as philip, could now give all the world to understand that those who dared to lose a just and decorous respect for him, as this good lady had done, would receive such chastisement as royal power guided by prudent counsel could inflict. parma assured his sovereign, that, if the conquest of england were effected, that of the netherlands would be finished with much facility and brevity; but that otherwise, on account of the situation, strength and obstinacy of those people, it would be a very long, perilous, and at best doubtful business. "three points," he said, "were most vital to the invasion of england--secrecy, maintenance of the civil war in france, and judicious arrangement of matters in the provinces." the french, if unoccupied at home, would be sure to make the enterprise so dangerous as to become almost impossible; for it might be laid down as a general maxim that that nation, jealous of philip's power, had always done and would always do what it could to counteract his purposes. with regard to the netherlands, it would be desirable to leave a good number of troops in those countries--at least as many as were then stationed there--besides the garrisons, and also to hold many german and swiss mercenaries in "wartgeld." it would be further desirable that alexander should take most of the personages of quality and sufficiency in the provinces over with him to england, in order that they should not make mischief in his absence. with regard to the point of secrecy, that was, in parma's opinion, the most important of all. all leagues must become more or less public, particularly those contrived at or with rome. such being the case, the queen of england would be well aware of the spanish projects, and, besides her militia at home, would levy german infantry and cavalry, and provide plenty of vessels, relying therein upon holland and zeeland, where ships and sailors were in such abundance. moreover, the english and the netherlanders knew the coasts, currents, tides, shallows, quicksands, ports, better than did the pilots of any fleets that the king could send thither. thus, having his back assured, the enemy would meet them in front at a disadvantage. although, notwithstanding this inequality, the enemy would be beaten, yet if the engagement should be warm, the spaniards would receive an amount of damage which could not fail to be inconvenient, particularly as they would be obliged to land their troops, and to give battle to those who would be watching their landing. moreover the english would be provided with cavalry, of which his majesty's forces would have very little, on account of the difficulty of its embarkation. the obedient netherlands would be the proper place in which to organize the whole expedition. there the regiments could be filled up, provisions collected, the best way of effecting the passage ascertained, and the force largely increased without exciting suspicion; but with regard to the fleet, there were no ports there capacious enough for large vessels. antwerp had ceased to be a seaport; but a large number of flat-bottomed barges, hoys, and other barks, more suitable for transporting soldiers, could be assembled in dunkirk, gravelines, and newport, which, with some five-and-twenty larger vessels, would be sufficient to accompany the fleet. the queen, knowing that there were no large ships, nor ports to hold them in the obedient provinces, would be unauspicious, if no greater levies seemed to be making than the exigencies of the netherlands might apparently require. the flat-bottomed boats, drawing two or three feet of water, would be more appropriate than ships of war drawing twenty feet. the passage across, in favourable weather, might occupy from eight to twelve hours. the number of troops for the invading force should be thirty thousand infantry, besides five hundred light troopers, with saddles, bridles, and lances, but without horses, because, in alexander's opinion, it would be easier to mount them in england. of these thirty thousand there should be six thousand spaniards, six thousand italians, six thousand walloons, nine thousand germans, and three thousand burgundians. much money would be required; at least three hundred thousand dollars the month for the new force, besides the regular one hundred and fifty thousand for the ordinary provision in the netherlands; and this ordinary provision would be more necessary than ever, because a mutiny breaking forth in the time of the invasion would be destruction to the spaniards both in england and in the provinces. the most appropriate part of the coast for a landing would, in alexander's opinion, be between dover and margate, because the spaniards, having no footing in holland and zeeland, were obliged to make their starting-point in flanders. the country about dover was described by parma as populous, well-wooded, and much divided by hedges; advantageous for infantry, and not requiring a larger amount of cavalry than the small force at his disposal, while the people there were domestic in their habits, rich, and therefore less warlike, less trained to arms, and more engrossed by their occupations and their comfortable ways of life. therefore, although some encounters would take place, yet after the commanders of the invading troops had given distinct and clear orders, it would be necessary to leave the rest in the "hands of god who governs all things, and from whose bounty and mercy it was to be hoped that he would favour a cause so eminently holy, just, and his own." it would be necessary to make immediately for london, which city, not being fortified, would be very easily taken. this point gained, the whole framework of the business might be considered as well put together. if the queen should fly--as, being a woman, she probably would do--everything would be left in such confusion, as, with the blessing of god, it might soon be considered that the holy and heroic work had been accomplished: her majesty, it was suggested, would probably make her escape in a boat before she could be captured; but the conquest would be nevertheless effected. although, doubtless, some english troops might be got together to return and try their fortune, yet it would be quite useless; for the invaders would have already planted themselves upon the soil, and then, by means of frequent excursions and forays hither and thither about the island, all other places of importance would be gained, and the prosperous and fortunate termination of the adventure assured. as, however, everything was to be provided for, so, in case the secret could not be preserved, it would be necessary for philip, under pretext of defending himself against the english and french corsairs, to send a large armada to sea, as doubtless the queen would take the same measure. if the king should prefer, however, notwithstanding alexander's advice to the contrary, to have confederates in the enterprise,--then, the matter being public, it would be necessary to prepare a larger and stronger fleet than any which elizabeth, with the assistance of her french and netherland allies, could oppose to him. that fleet should be well provided with vast stores of provisions, sufficient to enable the invading force, independently of forage, to occupy three or four places in england at once, as the enemy would be able to come from various towns and strong places to attack them. as for the proper season for the expedition, it would be advisable to select the month of october of the current year, because the english barns would then be full of wheat and other forage, and the earth would have been sown for the next year--points of such extreme importance, that if the plan could not be executed at that time, it would be as well to defer it until the following october. the prince recommended that the negotiations with the league should be kept spinning, without allowing them to come to a definite conclusion; because there would be no lack of difficulties perpetually offering themselves, and the more intricate and involved the policy of france, the better it would be for the interests of spain. alexander expressed the utmost confidence that his majesty, with his powerful arm, would overcome all obstacles in the path of his great project, and would show the world that he "could do a little more than what was possible." he also assured his master, in adding in this most extravagant language, of his personal devotion, that it was unnecessary for him to offer his services in this particular enterprise, because, ever since his birth, he had dedicated and consecrated himself to execute his royal commands. he further advised that old peter ernest mansfeld should be left commander-in-chief of the forces in the netherlands during his own absence in england. "mansfeld was an honourable cavalier," he said, "and a faithful servant of the king;" and although somewhat ill-conditioned at times, yet he had essential good qualities, and was the only general fit to be trusted alone. the reader, having thus been permitted to read the inmost thoughts of philip and alexander, and to study their secret plans for conquering england in october, while their frivolous yet mischievous negotiations with the queen had been going on from april to june, will be better able than before to judge whether leicester were right or no in doubting if a good peace could be obtained by a "merchant's brokerage." and now, after examining these pictures of inter-aulic politics and back-stairs diplomacy, which represent so large and characteristic a phasis of european history during the year , we must throw a glance at the external, more stirring, but not more significant public events which were taking place during the same period. etext editor's bookmarks: could do a little more than what was possible elizabeth, though convicted, could always confute he sat a great while at a time. he had a genius for sitting mistakes might occur from occasional deviations into sincerity nine syllables that which could be more forcibly expressed in on they were always to deceive every one, upon every occasion we mustn't tickle ourselves to make ourselves laugh etext editor's bookmarks of the history of the united netherlands - a hard bargain when both parties are losers able men should be by design and of purpose suppressed anarchy which was deemed inseparable from a non-regal form college of "peace-makers," who wrangled more than all condemned first and inquired upon after could do a little more than what was possible courage and semblance of cheerfulness, with despair in his heart demanding peace and bread at any price diplomatic adroitness consists mainly in the power to deceive dismay of our friends and the gratification of our enemies disordered, and unknit state needs no shaking, but propping elizabeth, though convicted, could always confute enmity between lutherans and calvinists find our destruction in our immoderate desire for peace german-lutheran sixteenth-century idea of religious freedom he sat a great while at a time. he had a genius for sitting he did his work, but he had not his reward her teeth black, her bosom white and liberally exposed (eliz.) hibernian mode of expressing himself his inordinate arrogance his insolence intolerable holland was afraid to give a part, although offering the whole honor good patriots, and to support them in venial errors humility which was but the cloak to his pride intentions of a government which did not know its own intentions intolerable tendency to puns longer they delay it, the less easy will they find it lord was better pleased with adverbs than nouns make sheep of yourselves, and the wolf will eat you matter that men may rather pray for than hope for military virtue in the support of an infamous cause mistakes might occur from occasional deviations into sincerity necessity of kingship neighbour's blazing roof was likely soon to fire their own new years day in england, th january by the new style nine syllables that which could be more forcibly expressed in on nor is the spirit of the age to be pleaded in defence not a friend of giving details larger than my ascertained facts not of the genus reptilia, and could neither creep nor crouch not distinguished for their docility oration, fertile in rhetoric and barren in facts others that do nothing, do all, and have all the thanks pauper client who dreamed of justice at the hands of law peace and quietness is brought into a most dangerous estate peace-at-any-price party possible to do, only because we see that it has been done repentance, as usual, had come many hours too late repose in the other world, "repos ailleurs" resolved thenceforth to adopt a system of ignorance round game of deception, in which nobody was deceived seeking protection for and against the people seem as if born to make the idea of royalty ridiculous shutting the stable-door when the steed is stolen soldiers enough to animate the good and terrify the bad string of homely proverbs worthy of sancho panza the very word toleration was to sound like an insult the busy devil of petty economy there was apathy where there should have been enthusiasm they were always to deceive every one, upon every occasion thought that all was too little for him three hundred and upwards are hanged annually in london tis pity he is not an englishman to work, ever to work, was the primary law of his nature tranquillity rather of paralysis than of health twas pity, he said, that both should be heretics upper and lower millstones of royal wrath and loyal subserviency uttering of my choler doth little ease my grief or help my case wasting time fruitlessly is sharpening the knife for himself we must all die once we mustn't tickle ourselves to make ourselves laugh weary of place without power when persons of merit suffer without cause with something of feline and feminine duplicity wrath of bigots on both sides write so illegibly or express himself so awkwardly history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- volume ii. by john lothrop motley motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, chapter ix. military plans in the netherlands--the elector and electorate of cologne--martin schenk--his career before serving the states-- franeker university founded--parma attempts grave--battle on the meuse--success and vainglory of leicester--st. george's day triumphantly kept at utrecht--parma not so much appalled as it was thought--he besieges and reduces grave--and is master of the meuse-- leicester's rage at the surrender of grave--his revenge--parma on the rhine--he besieges aid assaults neusz--horrible fate of the garrison and city--which leicester was unable to relieve--asel surprised by maurice and sidney--the zeeland regiment given to sidney--condition of the irish and english troops--leicester takes the field--he reduces doesburg--he lays siege to zutphen--which parma prepares to relieve--the english intercept the convoy--battle of warnsfeld--sir philip sidney wounded--results of the encounter-- death of sidney at arnheim--gallantry of edward stanley. five great rivers hold the netherland territory in their coils. three are but slightly separated--the yssel, waal, and ancient rhine, while the scheldt and, meuse are spread more widely asunder. along each of these streams were various fortified cities, the possession of which, in those days, when modern fortification was in its infancy, implied the control of the surrounding country. the lower part of all the rivers, where they mingled with the sea and became wide estuaries, belonged to the republic, for the coasts and the ocean were in the hands of the hollanders and english. above, the various strong places were alternately in the hands of the spaniards and of the patriots. thus antwerp, with the other scheldt cities, had fallen into parma's power, but flushing, which controlled them all, was held by philip sidney for the queen and states. on the meuse, maastricht and roermond were spanish, but yenloo, grave, meghem, and other towns, held for the commonwealth. on the waal, the town of nymegen had, through the dexterity of martin schenk, been recently transferred to the royalists, while the rest of that river's course was true to the republic. the rhine, strictly so called, from its entrance into netherland, belonged to the rebels. upon its elder branch, the yssel, zutphen was in parma's hands, while, a little below, deventer had been recently and adroitly saved by leicester and count meurs from falling into the same dangerous grasp. thus the triple rhine, after it had crossed the german frontier, belonged mainly, although not exclusively, to the states. but on the edge of the batavian territory, the ancient river, just before dividing itself into its three branches, flowed through a debatable country which was even more desolate and forlorn, if possible, than the land of the obedient provinces. this unfortunate district was the archi-episcopal electorate of cologne. the city of cologne itself, neusz, and rheinberg, on the river, werll and other places in westphalia and the whole country around, were endangered, invaded, ravaged, and the inhabitants plundered, murdered, and subjected to every imaginable outrage, by rival bands of highwaymen, enlisted in the support of the two rival bishops--beggars, outcasts, but high-born and learned churchmen both--who disputed the electorate. at the commencement of the year a portion of the bishopric was still in the control of the deposed protestant elector gebhard truchsess, assisted of course by the english and the states. the city of cologne was held by the catholic elector, ernest of bavaria, bishop of liege; but neusz and rheinberg were in the hands of the dutch republic. the military operations of the year were, accordingly, along the meuse, where the main object of parma was to wrest grave from the netherlands; along the waal, where, on the other hand, the patriots wished to recover nymegen; on the yssel, where they desired to obtain the possession of zutphen; and in the cologne electorate, where the spaniards meant, if possible, to transfer neusz and rheinberg from truchsess to elector ernest. to clear the course of these streams, and especially to set free that debatable portion of the river-territory which hemmed him in from neutral germany, and cut off the supplies from his starving troops, was the immediate design of alexander farnese. nothing could be more desolate than the condition of the electorate. ever since gebhard truchsess had renounced the communion of the catholic church for the love of agnes mansfeld, and so gained a wife and lost his principality, he had been a dependant upon the impoverished nassaus, or a supplicant for alms to the thrifty elizabeth. the queen was frequently implored by leicester, without much effect, to send the ex-elector a few hundred pounds to keep him from starving, as "he had not one groat to live upon," and, a little later, he was employed as a go-between, and almost a spy, by the earl, in his quarrels with the patrician party rapidly forming against him in the states. at godesberg--the romantic ruins of which stronghold the traveller still regards with interest, placed as it is in the midst of that enchanting region where drachenfels looks down on the crumbling tower of roland and the convent of nonnenwerth--the unfortunate gebhard had sustained a conclusive defeat. a small, melancholy man, accomplished, religious, learned, "very poor but very wise," comely, but of mean stature, altogether an unlucky and forlorn individual, he was not, after all, in very much inferior plight to that in which his rival, the bavarian bishop, had found himself. prince ernest, archbishop of liege and cologne, a hangeron of his brother, who sought to shake him off, and a stipendiary of philip, who was a worse paymaster than elizabeth, had a sorry life of it, notwithstanding his nominal possession of the see. he was forced to go, disguised and in secret, to the prince of parma at brussels, to ask for assistance, and to mention, with lacrymose vehemence, that both his brother and himself had determined to renounce the episcopate, unless the forces of the spanish king could be employed to recover the cities on the rhine. if neusz and rheinberg were not wrested from the rebels; cologne itself would soon be gone. ernest represented most eloquently to alexander, that if the protestant archbishop were reinstated in the ancient see, it would be a most perilous result for the ancient church throughout all northern europe. parma kept the wandering prelate for a few days in his palace in brussels, and then dismissed him, disguised and on foot, in the dusk of the evening, through the park-gate. he encouraged him with hopes of assistance, he represented to his sovereign the importance of preserving the rhenish territory to bishop ernest and to catholicism, but hinted that the declared intention of the bavarian to resign the dignity, was probably a trick, because the archi-episcopate was no such very bad thing after all. the archi-episcopate might be no very bad thing, but it was a most uncomfortable place of residence, at the moment, for prince or peasant. overrun by hordes of brigands, and crushed almost out of existence by that most deadly of all systems of taxations, the 'brandschatzung,' it was fast becoming a mere den of thieves. the 'brandschatzung' had no name in english, but it was the well-known impost, levied by roving commanders, and even by respectable generals of all nations. a hamlet, cluster of farm-houses, country district, or wealthy city, in order to escape being burned and ravaged, as the penalty of having fallen into a conqueror's hands, paid a heavy sum of ready money on the nail at command of the conqueror. the free companions of the sixteenth century drove a lucrative business in this particular branch of industry; and when to this was added the more direct profits derived from actual plunder, sack, and ransoming, it was natural that a large fortune was often the result to the thrifty and persevering commander of free lances. of all the professors of this comprehensive art, the terrible martin schenk was preeminent; and he was now ravaging the cologne territory, having recently passed again to the service of the states. immediately connected with the chief military events of the period which now occupies us, he was also the very archetype of the marauders whose existence was characteristic of the epoch. born in of an ancient and noble family of gelderland, martin schenk had inherited no property but a sword. serving for a brief term as page to the seigneur of ysselstein, he joined, while yet a youth, the banner of william of orange, at the head of two men-at-arms. the humble knight-errant, with his brace of squires, was received with courtesy by the prince and the estates, but he soon quarrelled with his patrons. there was a castle of blyenbeek, belonging to his cousin, which he chose to consider his rightful property, because he was of the same race, and because it was a convenient and productive estate and residence, the courts had different views of public law, and supported the ousted cousin. martin shut himself up in the castle, and having recently committed a rather discreditable homicide, which still further increased his unpopularity with the patriots, he made overtures to parma. alexander was glad to enlist so bold a soldier on his side, and assisted schenk in his besieged stronghold. for years afterwards, his services under the king's banner were most brilliant, and he rose to the highest military command, while his coffers, meantime, were rapidly filling with the results of his robberies and 'brandschatzungs.' "'tis a most courageous fellow," said parma, "but rather a desperate highwayman than a valiant soldier." martin's couple of lances had expanded into a corps of free companions, the most truculent, the most obedient, the most rapacious in christendom. never were freebooters more formidable to the world at large, or more docile to their chief, than were the followers of general schenk. never was a more finished captain of highwaymen. he was a man who was never sober, yet who never smiled. his habitual intoxication seemed only to increase both his audacity and his taciturnity, without disturbing his reason. he was incapable of fear, of fatigue, of remorse. he could remain for days and nights without dismounting-eating, drinking, and sleeping in the saddle; so that to this terrible centaur his horse seemed actually a part of himself. his soldiers followed him about like hounds, and were treated by him like hounds. he habitually scourged them, often took with his own hand the lives of such as displeased him, and had been known to cause individuals of them to jump from the top of church steeples at his command; yet the pack were ever stanch to his orders, for they knew that he always led them where the game was plenty. while serving under parma he had twice most brilliantly defeated hohenlo. at the battle of hardenberg heath he had completely outgeneralled that distinguished chieftain, slaying fifteen hundred of his soldiers at the expense of only fifty or sixty of his own. by this triumph he had preserved the important city of groningen for philip, during an additional quarter of a century, and had been received in that city with rapture. several startling years of victory and rapine he had thus run through as a royalist partisan. he became the terror and the scourge of his native gelderland, and he was covered with wounds received in the king's service. he had been twice captured and held for ransom. twice he had effected his escape. he had recently gained the city of nymegen. he was the most formidable, the most unscrupulous, the most audacious netherlander that wore philip's colours; but he had received small public reward for his services, and the wealth which he earned on the high-road did not suffice for his ambition. he had been deeply disgusted, when, at the death of count renneberg, verdugo, a former stable-boy of mansfeld, a spaniard who had risen from the humblest rank to be a colonel and general, had been made governor of friesland. he had smothered his resentment for a time however, but had sworn within himself to desert at the most favourable opportunity. at last, after he had brilliantly saved the city of breda from falling into the hands of the patriots, he was more enraged than he had ever been before, when haultepenne, of the house of berlapmont, was made governor of that place in his stead. on the th of may, , at an hour after midnight, he had a secret interview with count meurs, stadholder for the states of gelderland, and agreed to transfer his mercenary allegiance to the republic. he made good terms. he was to be lieutenant-governor of gelderland, and he was to have rank as marshal of the camp in the states' army, with a salary of twelve hundred and fifty guilders a month. he agreed to resign his famous castle of blyenbeek, but was to be reimbursed with estates in holland and zeeland, of the annual value of four thousand florins. after this treaty, martin and his free lances served the states faithfully, and became sworn foes to parma and the king. he gave and took no quarter, and his men, if captured, "paid their ransom with their heads." he ceased to be the scourge of gelderland, but he became the terror of the electorate. early in , accompanied by herman kloet, the young and daring dutch commandant of neusz, he had swept down into the westphalian country, at the head of five hundred foot and five hundred horse. on the th of march he captured the city of werll by a neat stratagem. the citizens, hemmed in on all sides by marauders, were in want of many necessaries of life, among other things, of salt. martin had, from time to time, sent some of his soldiers into the place, disguised as boors from the neighbourhood, and carrying bags of that article. a pacific trading intercourse had thus been established between the burghers within and the banditti without the gates. agreeable relations were formed within the walls, and a party of townsmen had agreed to cooperate with the followers of schenk. one morning a train of waggons laden with soldiers neatly covered with salt, made their appearance at the gate. at the same time a fire broke out most opportunely within the town. the citizens busily employed themselves in extinguishing the flames. the salted soldiers, after passing through the gateway, sprang from the waggons, and mastered the watch. the town was. carried at a blow. some of the inhabitants were massacred as a warning to the rest; others were taken prisoners and held for ransom; a few, more fortunate, made their escape to the citadel. that fortress was stormed in vain, but the city was thoroughly sacked. every house was rifled of its contents. meantime haultepenne collected a force of nearly four thousand men, boors, citizens, and soldiers, and came to besiege schenk in the town, while, at the same time, attacks were made upon him from the castle. it was impossible for him to hold the city, but he had completely robbed it of every thing valuable. accordingly he loaded a train of waggons with his booty, took with him thirty of the magistrates as hostages, with other wealthy citizens, and marching in good order against haultepenne, completely routed him, killing a number variously estimated at from five hundred to two thousand, and effected his retreat, desperately wounded in the thigh, but triumphant, and laden with the spoils to venlo on the meuse, of which city he was governor. "surely this is a noble fellow, a worthy fellow," exclaimed leicester, who was filled with admiration at the bold marauder's progress, and vowed that he was "the only soldier in truth that they had, for he was never idle, and had succeeded hitherto very happily." and thus, at every point of the doomed territory of the little commonwealth, the natural atmosphere in which the inhabitants existed was one of blood and rapine. yet during the very slight lull, which was interposed in the winter of - to the eternal clang of arms in friesland, the estates of that province, to their lasting honour, founded the university of franeker. a dozen years before, the famous institution at leyden had been established, as a reward to the burghers for their heroic defence of the city. and now this new proof was given of the love of netherlanders, even in the midst of their misery and their warfare, for the more humane arts. the new college was well endowed from ancient churchlands, and not only was the education made nearly gratuitous, while handsome salaries were provided for the professors, but provision was made by which the poorer scholars could be fed and boarded at a very moderate expense. there was a table provided at an annual cost to the student of but fifty florins, and a second and third table at the very low price of forty and thirty florins respectively. thus the sum to be paid by the poorer class of scholars for a year's maintenance was less than three pounds sterling a year [ exchange rate d.w.]. the voice with which this infant seminary of the muses first made itself heard above the din of war was but feeble, but the institution was destined to thrive, and to endow the world, for many successive generations, with the golden fruits of science and genius. early in the spring, the war was seriously taken in hand by farnese. it has already been seen that the republic had been almost entirely driven out of flanders and brabant. the estates, however, still held grave, megem, batenburg, and venlo upon the meuse. that river formed, as it were, a perfect circle of protection for the whole province of brabant, and farnese determined to make himself master of this great natural moat. afterwards, he meant to possess himself of the rhine, flowing in a parallel course, about twenty-five miles further to the east. in order to gain and hold the meuse, the first step was to reduce the city of grave. that town, upon the left or brabant bank, was strongly fortified on its land-side, where it was surrounded by low and fertile pastures, while, upon the other, it depended upon its natural toss, the river. it was, according to lord north and the earl of leicester, the "strongest town in all the low countries, though but a little one." baron hemart, a young gueldrian noble, of small experience in military affairs, commanded in the city, his garrison being eight hundred soldiers, and about one thousand burgher guard. as early as january, farnese had ordered count mansfeld to lay siege to the place. five forts had accordingly been constructed, above and below the town, upon the left bank of the river, while a bridge of boats thrown across the stream led to a fortified camp on the opposite side. mansfeld, mondragon, bobadil, aquila, and other distinguished veterans in philip's service, were engaged in the enterprise. a few unimportant skirmishes between schenk and the spaniards had taken place, but the city was already hard pressed, and, by the series of forts which environed it, was cut off from its supplies. it was highly important, therefore, that grave should be relieved, with the least possible delay. early in easter week, a force of three thousand men, under hohenlo and sir john norris, was accordingly despatched by leicester, with orders, at every hazard, to throw reinforcements and provisions into the place. they took possession, at once, of a stone sconce, called the mill-fort, which was guarded by fifty men, mostly boors of the country. these were nearly all hanged for "using malicious words," and for "railing against queen elizabeth," and--a sufficient number of men being left to maintain the fort--the whole relieving force marched with great difficulty--for the river was rapidly rising, and flooding the country--along the right bank of the meuse, taking possession of batenburg and ravenstein castles, as they went. a force of four or five hundred englishmen was then pushed forward to a point almost exactly opposite grave, and within an english mile of the head of the bridge constructed by the spaniards. here, in the night of easter tuesday, they rapidly formed an entrenched camp, upon the dyke along the river, and, although molested by some armed vessels, succeeded in establishing themselves in a most important position. on the morning of easter wednesday, april , mansfeld, perceiving that the enemy had thus stolen a march upon him, ordered one thousand picked troops, all spaniards, under aquila, casco and other veterans, to assault this advanced post. a reserve of two thousand was placed in readiness to support the attack. the spaniards slowly crossed the bridge, which was swaying very dangerously with the current, and then charged the entrenched camp at a run. a quarrel between the different regiments as to the right of precedence precipitated the attack, before the reserve, consisting of some picked companies of mondragon's veterans, had been able to arrive. coming in breathless and fatigued, the first assailants were readily repulsed in their first onset. aquila then opportunely made his appearance, and the attack was renewed with great vigour: the defenders of the camp yielded at the third charge and fled in dismay, while the spaniards, leaping the barriers, scattered hither and thither in the ardour of pursuit. the routed englishmen fled swiftly along the oozy dyke, in hopes of joining the main body of the relieving party, who were expected to advance, with the dawn, from their position six miles farther down the river. two miles long the chace lasted, and it seemed probable that the fugitives would be overtaken and destroyed, when, at last, from behind a line of mounds which stretched towards batenburg and had masked their approach, appeared count hohenlo and sir john norris, at the head of twenty-five hundred englishmen and hollanders. this force, advanced as rapidly as the slippery ground and the fatigue of a two hours' march would permit to the rescue of their friends, while the retreating english rallied, turned upon their pursuers, and drove them back over the path along which they had just been charging in the full career of victory. the fortune of the day was changed, and in a few minutes hohenlo and norris would have crossed the river and entered grave, when the spanish companies of bobadil and other commanders were seen marching along the quaking bridge. three thousand men on each side now met at push of pike on the bank of the meuse. the rain-was pouring in torrents, the wind was blowing a gale, the stream was rapidly rising, and threatening to overwhelm its shores. by a tacit and mutual consent, both armies paused for a few moments in full view of each other. after this brief interval they closed again, breast to breast, in sharp and steady conflict. the ground, slippery with rain and with blood, which was soon flowing almost as fast as the rain, afforded an unsteady footing to the combatants. they staggered like drunken men, fell upon their knees, or upon their backs, and still, kneeling or rolling prostrate, maintained the deadly conflict. for the space of an hour and a half the fierce encounter of human passion outmastered the fury of the elements. norris and hohenlo fought at the head of their columns, like paladins of old. the englishman was wounded in the mouth and breast, the count was seen to gallop past one thousand musketeers and caliver-men of the enemy, and to escape unscathed. but as the strength of the soldiers exhausted itself, the violence of the tempest increased. the floods of rain and the blasts of the hurricane at last terminated the affray. the spaniards, fairly conquered, were compelled to a retreat, lest the rapidly rising river should sweep away the frail and trembling bridge, over which they had passed to their unsuccessful assault. the english and netherlanders remained masters of the field. the rising flood, too, which was fast converting the meadows into a lake, was as useful to the conquerors as it was damaging to the spaniards. in the course of the few following days, a large number of boats was despatched before the very eyes of parma, from batenburg into grave; hohenlo, who had "most desperately adventured his person" throughout the whole affair, entering the town himself. a force of five hundred men, together with provisions enough to last a year, was thrown into the city, and the course of the meuse was, apparently, secured to the republic. in this important action about one hundred and fifty dutch and english were killed, and probably four hundred spaniards, including several distinguished officers. the earl of leicester was incredibly elated so soon as the success of this enterprise was known. "oh that her majesty knew," he cried, "how easy a match now she hath with the king of spain, and what millions of aficted people she hath relieved in these, countries. this summer, this summer, i say, would make an end to her immortal glory." he was no friend to his countryman, the gallant sir john norris--whom, however, he could not help applauding on this occasion,--but he was in raptures with hohenlo. next to god, he assured the queen's government that the victory was owing to the count. "he is both a valiant man and a wise man, and the painfullest that ever i knew," he said; adding--as a secret--that "five hundred englishmen of the best flemish training had flatly and shamefully run away," when the fight had been renewed by hohenlo and norris. he recommended that her majesty should, send her picture to the count, worth two hundred pounds, which he would value at more than one thousand pounds in money, and he added that "for her sake the count had greatly left his drinking." as for the prince of parma, leicester looked upon him as conclusively beaten. he spoke of him as "marvellously appalled" by this overthrow of his forces; but he assured the government that if the prince's "choler should press him to seek revenge," he should soon be driven out of the country. the earl would follow him "at an inch," and effectually frustrate all his undertakings. "if the spaniard have such a may as he has had an april," said lord north, "it will put water in his wine." meantime, as st. george's day was approaching, and as the earl was fond of banquets and ceremonies, it was thought desirable to hold a great triumphal feast at utrecht. his journey to that city from the hague was a triumphal procession. in all the towns through which he passed he was entertained with military display, pompous harangues, interludes, dumb shows, and allegories. at amsterdam--a city which he compared to venice for situation and splendour, and where one thousand ships were constantly lying--he was received with "sundry great whales and other fishes of hugeness," that gambolled about his vessel, and convoyed him to the shore. these monsters of the deep presented him to the burgomaster and magistrates who were awaiting him on the quay. the burgomaster made him a latin oration, to which dr. bartholomew clerk responded, and then the earl was ushered to the grand square, upon which, in his honour, a magnificent living picture was exhibited, in which he figured as moses, at the head of the israelites, smiting the philistines hip and thigh. after much mighty banqueting in amsterdam, as in the other cities, the governor-general came to utrecht. through the streets of this antique and most picturesque city flows the palsied current of the rhine, and every barge and bridge were decorated with the flowers of spring. upon this spot, where, eight centuries before the anglo-saxon, willebrod had first astonished the wild frisians with the pacific doctrines of jesus, and had been stoned to death as his reward, stood now a more arrogant representative of english piety. the balconies were crowded with fair women, and decorated with scarves and banners. from the earl's residence--the ancient palace of the knights of rhodes--to the cathedral, the way was lined with a double row of burgher guards, wearing red roses on their arms, and apparelled in the splendid uniforms for which the netherlanders were celebrated. trumpeters in scarlet and silver, barons, knights, and great officers, in cloth of gold and silks of all colours; the young earl of essex, whose career was to be so romantic, and whose fate so tragic; those two ominous personages, the deposed little archbishop-elector of cologne, with his melancholy face, and the unlucky don antonio, pretender of portugal, for whom, dead or alive, thirty thousand crowns and a dukedom were perpetually offered by philip ii.; young maurice of nassau, the future controller of european destinies; great counsellors of state, gentlemen, guardsmen, and portcullis-herald, with the coat of arms of elizabeth, rode in solemn procession along. then great leicester himself, "most princelike in the robes of his order," guarded by a troop of burghers, and by his own fifty halberd-men in scarlet cloaks trimmed with white and purple velvet, pranced gorgeously by. the ancient cathedral, built on the spot where saint willebrod had once ministered, with its light, tapering, brick tower, three hundred and sixty feet in height, its exquisitely mullioned windows, and its elegantly foliaged columns, soon received the glittering throng. hence, after due religious ceremonies, and an english sermon from master knewstubs, leicester's chaplain, was a solemn march back again to the palace, where a stupendous banquet was already laid in the great hall. on the dais at the upper end of the table, blazing with plate and crystal, stood the royal chair, with the queen's plate and knife and fork before it, exactly as if she had been present, while leicester's trencher and stool were set respectfully quite at the edge of the board. in the neighbourhood of this post of honour sat count maurice, the elector, the pretender, and many illustrious english personages, with the fair agnes mansfeld, princess chimay, the daughters of william the silent, and other dames of high degree. before the covers were removed, came limping up to the dais grim-visaged martin schenk, freshly wounded, but triumphant, from the sack of werll, and black john norris, scarcely cured of the spearwounds in his face and breast received at the relief of grave. the sword of knighthood was laid upon the shoulder of each hero, by the earl of leicester, as her majesty's vicegerent; and then the ushers marshalled the mighty feast. meats in the shape of lions, tigers, dragons, and leopards, flanked by peacocks, swans, pheasants, and turkeys "in their natural feathers as in their greatest pride," disappeared, course after course, sonorous metal blowing meanwhile the most triumphant airs. after the banquet came dancing, vaulting, tumbling; together with the "forces of hercules, which gave great delight to the strangers," after which the company separated until evensong. then again, "great was the feast," says the chronicler,--a mighty supper following hard upon the gigantic dinner. after this there was tilting at the barriers, the young earl of essex and other knights bearing themselves more chivalrously than would seem to comport with so much eating and drinking. then, horrible to relate, came another "most sumptuous banquet of sugar-meates for the men-at-arms and the ladies," after which, it being now midnight, the lord of leicester bade the whole company good rest, and the men-at-arms and ladies took their leave. but while all this chivalrous banqueting and holiday-making was in hand, the prince of parma was in reality not quite so much "appalled" by the relief of grave as his antagonist had imagined. the earl, flushed with the success of hohenlo, already believed himself master of the country, and assured his government, that, if he should be reasonably well supplied, he would have antwerp back again and bruges besides before mid june. never, said he, was "the prince of parma so dejected nor so melancholy since he came into these countries, nor so far out of courage." and it is quite true that alexander had reason to be discouraged. he had but eight or nine thousand men, and no money to pay even this little force. the soldiers were perishing daily, and nearly all the survivors were described by their chief, as sick or maimed. the famine in the obedient provinces was universal, the whole population was desperate with hunger; and the merchants, frightened by drake's successes, and appalled by the ruin all around them, drew their purse-strings inexorably. "i know not to what saint to devote myself," said alexander. he had been compelled, by the movement before grave, to withdraw haultepenne from the projected enterprise against neusz, and he was quite aware of the cheerful view which leicester was inclined to take of their relative positions. "the english think they are going to do great things," said he; "and consider themselves masters of the field." nevertheless, on the th may, the dejected melancholy man had left brussels, and joined his little army, consisting of three thousand spaniards and five thousand of all other nations. his veterans, though unpaid; ragged, and half-starved were in raptures to, have their idolized commander among them again, and vowed that under his guidance there was nothing which they could not accomplish. the king's honour, his own, that of the army, all were pledged to take the city. on the success of, that enterprise, he said, depended all his past conquests, and every hope for the future. leicester and the english, whom he called the head and body of the rebel forces, were equally pledged to relieve the place, and were bent upon meeting him in the field. the earl had taken some forts in the batavia--betuwe; or "good meadow," which he pronounced as fertile and about as large as herefordshire,--and was now threatening nymegen, a city which had been gained for philip by the last effort of schenk, on the royalist side. he was now observing alexander's demonstrations against grave; but, after the recent success in victualling that place, he felt a just confidence in its security. on the st may the trenches were commenced, and on the th june the batteries were opened. the work went rapidly forward when farnese was in the field. "the prince of parma doth batter it like a prince," said lord north, admiring the enemy with the enthusiasm of an honest soldier: on the th of june, as alexander rode through the camp to reconnoitre, previous to an attack. a well-directed cannon ball carried away the hinder half, of his horse. the prince fell to the ground, and, for a moment, dismay was in the spanish ranks. at the next instant, though somewhat bruised, he was on his feet again, and, having found the breach sufficiently promising, he determined on the assault. as a preliminary measure, he wished to occupy a tower which had been battered nearly to ruins, situate near the river. captain de solis was ordered, with sixty veterans, to take possession of this tower, and to "have a look at the countenance of the enemy, without amusing himself with anything else." the tower was soon secured, but solis, in disobedience to his written instructions led his men against the ravelin, which was still in a state of perfect defence. a musket-ball soon stretched him dead beneath the wall, and his followers, still attempting to enter the impracticable breach, were repelled by a shower of stones and blazing pitch-hoops. hot sand; too, poured from sieves and baskets, insinuated itself within the armour of the spaniards, and occasioned such exquisite suffering, that many threw themselves into the river to allay the pain. emerging refreshed, but confused, they attempted in vain to renew the onset. several of the little band were slain, the assault was quite unsuccessful, and the trumpet sounded a recal. so completely discomfited were the spaniards by this repulse, and so thoroughly at their ease were the besieged, that a soldier let himself down from the ramparts of the town for the sake of plundering the body of captain solis, who was richly dressed, and, having accomplished this feat, was quietly helped back again by his comrades from above. to the surprise of the besiegers, however, on the very next morning came a request from the governor of the city, baron hemart, to negotiate for a surrender. alexander was, naturally, but too glad to grant easy terms, and upon the th of june the garrison left the town with colours displayed and drums beating, and the prince of parma marched into it, at the head of his troops. he found a year's provision there for six thousand men, while, at the same time, the walls had suffered so little, that he must have been obliged to wait long for a practicable breach. "there was no good reason even for women to have surrendered the place," exclaimed leicester, when he heard the news. and the earl had cause to be enraged at such a result. he had received a letter only the day before, signed by hemart himself and by all the officers in grave, asserting their determination and ability to hold the place for a good five months, or for an indefinite period, and until they should be relieved. and indeed all the officers, with three exceptions, had protested against the base surrender. but at the bottom of the catastrophe--of the disastrous loss of the city and the utter ruin of young hemart--was a woman. the governor was governed by his mistress, a lady of good family in the place, but of spanish inclinations, and she, for some mysterious reasons, had persuaded him thus voluntarily to capitulate. parma lost no time, however, in exulting over his success. upon the same day the towns of megen and batenburg surrendered to him, and immediately afterwards siege was laid to venlo, a town of importance, lying thirty miles farther up the meuse. the wife and family of martin schenk were in the city, together with two hundred horses, and from forty to one hundred thousand crowns in money, plate; and furniture belonging to him. that bold partisan, accompanied by the mad welshman, roger williams, at the head of one hundred and thirty english lances and thirty of schenk's men, made a wild nocturnal attempt to cut their way through the besieging force, and penetrate to the city. they passed through the enemy's lines, killed all the corps-de-garde, and many spanish troopers--the terrible martin's own hand being most effective in this midnight slaughter--and reached the very door of parma's tent, where they killed his secretary and many of his guards. it was even reported; and generally believed, that farnese himself had been in imminent danger, that schenk had fired his pistol at him unsuccessfully, and had then struck him on the head with its butt-end, and that the prince had only saved his life by leaping from his horse, and scrambling through a ditch. but these seem to have been fables. the alarm at last became general, the dawn of a summer's day was fast approaching; the drums beat to arms, and the bold marauders were obliged to effect their retreat, as they best might, hotly pursued by near two thousand men. having slain many of, the spanish army, and lost nearly half their own number, they at last obtained shelter in wachtendonk. soon afterwards the place capitulated without waiting for a battery, upon moderate terms. schenk's wife was sent away ( june ) courteously with her family, in a coach and four, and with as much "apparel" as might be carried with her. his property was confiscated, for "no fair wars could be made with him." thus, within a few weeks after taking the field, the "dejected, melancholy" man, who was so "out of courage," and the soldiers who were so "marvellously beginning to run away"--according to the earl of leicester--had swept their enemy from every town on the meuse. that river was now, throughout its whole course, in the power of the spaniards. the province of brabant became thoroughly guarded again by its foes, and the enemy's road was opened into the northern provinces. leicester, meantime, had not distinguished himself. it must be confessed that he had been sadly out-generalled. the man who had talked of following the enemy inch by inch, and who had pledged himself not only to protect grave, and any other place that might be attacked, but even to recover antwerp and bruges within a few weeks, had wasted the time in very desultory operations. after the st. george feasting, knewstub sermons, and forces of hercules, were all finished, the earl had taken the field with five thousand foot and fifteen hundred horse. his intention was to clear the yssel; by getting possession of doesburg and zutphen, but, hearing of parma's demonstrations upon grave, he abandoned the contemplated siege of those cities, and came to arnheim. he then crossed the rhine into the isle of batavia, and thence, after taking a few sconces of inferior importance--while schenk, meanwhile, was building on the island of gravenweert, at the bifurcation of the rhine and waal, the sconce so celebrated a century later as 'schenk's fort' (schenkenschans)---he was preparing to pass the waal in order to attack farnese, when he heard to his astonishment, of the surrender of grave. he could therefore--to his chagrin--no longer save that important city, but he could, at least, cut off the head of the culprit. leicester was in bommel when he heard of baron hemart's faint-heartedness or treachery, and his wrath was extravagant in proportion to the exultation with which his previous success had inspired him. he breathed nothing but revenge against the coward and the traitor, who had delivered up the town in "such lewd and beastly sort." "i will never depart hence," he said, "till by the goodness of god i be satisfied someway of this villain's treachery." there could be little doubt that hemart deserved punishment. there could be as little that leicester would mete it out to him in ample measure. "the lewd villain who gave up grave," said he, "and the captains as deep in fault as himself, shall all suffer together." hemart came boldly to meet him. "the honest man came to me at bommel," said leicester, and he assured the government that it was in the hope of persuading the magistrates of that and other towns to imitate his own treachery. but the magistrates straightway delivered the culprit to the governor-general, who immediately placed him under arrest. a court-martial was summoned, th of june, at utrecht, consisting of hohenlo, essex, and other distinguished officers. they found that the conduct of the prisoner merited death, but left it to the earl to decide whether various extenuating circumstances did not justify a pardon. hohenlo and norris exerted themselves to procure a mitigation of the young man's sentence, and they excited thereby the governor's deep indignation. norris, according to leicester, was in love with the culprit's aunt, and was therefore especially desirous of saving his life. moreover, much use was made of the discredit which had been thrown by the queen on the earl's authority, and it was openly maintained, that, being no longer governor-general, he had no authority to order execution upon a netherland officer. the favourable circumstances urged in the case, were, that hemart was a young man, without experience in military matters, and that he had been overcome by the supplications and outcries of the women, panic-struck after the first assault. there were no direct proofs of treachery, or even of personal cowardice. he begged hard for a pardon, not on account of his life, but for the sake of his reputation. he earnestly implored permission to serve under the queen of england, as a private soldier, without pay, on land or sea, for as many years as she should specify, and to be selected for the most dangerous employments, in order that, before he died, he might wipe out the disgrace, which, through his fault, in an hour of weakness, had come upon an ancient and honourable house. much interest was made for him--his family connection being powerful--and a general impression prevailing that he had erred through folly rather than deep guilt. but leicester beating himself upon the breast--as he was wont when excited--swore that there should be no pardon for such a traitor. the states of holland and zeeland, likewise, were decidedly in favour of a severe example. hemart was accordingly led to the scaffold on the th june. he spoke to the people with great calmness, and, in two languages, french and flemish, declared that he was guiltless of treachery, but that the terror and tears of the women, in an hour of panic, had made a coward of him. he was beheaded, standing. the two captains, du ban and koeboekum, who had also been condemned, suffered with him. a third captain, likewise convicted, was, "for very just cause,", pardoned by leicester. the earl persisted in believing that hemart had surrendered the city as part of a deliberate plan, and affirmed that in such a time, when men had come to think no more of giving up a town than of abandoning a house, it was highly necessary to afford an example to traitors and satisfaction to the people. and the people were thoroughly satisfied, according to the governor, and only expressed their regret that three or four members of the states-general could not have their heads cut off as well, being as arrant knaves as henlart; "and so i think they be," added leicester. parma having thus made himself master of the meuse, lost no time in making a demonstration upon the parallel course of the rhine, thirty miles farther east. schenk, kloet; and other partisans, kept that portion of the archi-episcopate and of westphalia in a state of perpetual commotion. early in the preceding year, count de meurs had, by a fortunate stratagem, captured the town of neusz for the deposed elector, and herman kloet, a young and most determined geldrian soldier, now commanded in the place. the elector ernest had made a visit in disguise to the camp of parma, and had represented the necessity of recovering the city. it had become the stronghold of heretics, rebels, and banditti. the rhine was in their hands, and with it the perpetual power of disturbing the loyal netherlands. it was as much the interest of his catholic majesty as that of the archbishop that neusz should be restored to its lawful owner. parma had felt the force of this reasoning, and had early in the year sent haultepenne to invest the city. he had been obliged to recal that commander during the siege of grave. the place being reduced, alexander, before the grass could grow beneath his feet advanced to the rhine in person. early in july he appeared before the walls of neusz with eight thousand foot and two thousand horse. the garrison under kloet numbered scarcely more than sixteen hundred effective soldiers, all netherlanders and germans, none being english. the city is twenty-miles below cologne. it was so well fortified that a century before it had stood a year's siege from the famous charles the bold, who, after all, had been obliged to retire. it had also resisted the strenuous efforts of charles the fifth; and was now stronger than it ever had been. it was thoroughly well provisioned, so that it was safe enough "if those within it," said leicester, "be men." the earl expressed the opinion, however, that "those fellows were not good to defend towns, unless the besiegers were obliged to swim to the attack." the issue was to show whether the sarcasm were just or not. meantime the town was considered by the governor-general to be secure, "unless towns were to be had for the asking." neusz is not immediately upon the rhine, but that river, which sweeps away in a north-easterly direction from the walls, throws out an arm which completely encircles the town. a part of the place, cut into an island by the erpt, was strengthened by two redoubts. this island was abandoned, as being too weak to hold, and the spaniards took possession of it immediately. there were various preliminary and sanguinary sorties and skirmishes, during which the spaniards after having been once driven from the island, again occupied that position. archbishop ernest came into the camp, and, before proceeding to a cannonade, parma offered to the city certain terms of capitulation, which were approved by that prelate. kloet replied to this proposal, that he was wedded to the town and to his honour, which were as one. these he was incapable of sacrificing, but his life he was ready to lay down. there was, through some misapprehension, a delay in reporting this answer to farnese. meantime that general became impatient, and advanced to the battery of the italian regiment. pretending to be a plenipotentiary from the commander-in-chief, he expostulated in a loud voice at the slowness of their counsels. hardly had he begun to speak, when a shower of balls rattled about him. his own soldiers were terrified at his danger, and a cry arose in the town that "holofernese"--as the flemings and germans were accustomed to nickname farnese--was dead. strange to relate, he was quite unharmed, and walked back to his tent with dignified slowness and a very frowning face. it was said that this breach of truce had been begun by the spaniards, who had fired first, and had been immediately answered by the town. this was hotly denied, and parma sent colonel tasais with a flag of truce to the commander, to rebuke and to desire an explanation of this dishonourable conduct. the answer given, or imagined, was that commander kloet had been sound asleep, but that he now much regretted this untoward accident. the explanation was received with derision, for it seemed hardly probable that so young and energetic a soldier would take the opportunity to refresh himself with slumber at a moment when a treaty for the capitulation of a city under his charge was under discussion. this terminated the negotiation. a few days afterwards, the feast of st james was celebrated in the spanish camp, with bonfires and other demonstrations of hilarity. the townsmen are said to have desecrated the same holiday by roasting alive in the market-place two unfortunate soldiers, who had been captured in a sortie a few days before; besides burning the body of the holy saint quirinus, with other holy relics. the detestable deed was to be most horribly avenged. a steady cannonade from forty-five great guns was kept up from a.m. of july until the dawn of the following day; the cannoneers--being all provided with milk and vinegar to cool the pieces. at daybreak the assault was ordered. eight separate attacks were made with the usual impetuosity of spaniards, and were steadily repulsed. at the ninth, the outer wall was carried, and the spaniards shouting "santiago" poured over it, bearing back all resistance. an italian knight of the sepulchre, cesar guidiccioni by name, and a spanish ensign, one alphonao de mesa, with his colours in one hand and a ladder in the other, each claimed the honour of having first mounted the breach. both being deemed equally worthy of reward, parma, after the city had been won, took from his own cap a sprig of jewels and a golden wheat-ear ornamented with a gem, which he had himself worn in place of a plume, and thus presented each with a brilliant token of his regard. the wall was then strengthened against the inner line of fortification, and all night long a desperate conflict was maintained in the dark upon the narrow space between the two barriers. before daylight kloet, who then, as always, had led his men in the moat desperate adventures, was carried into the town, wounded in five places, and with his leg almost severed at the thigh. "'tis the bravest man," said the enthusiastic lord north, "that was ever heard of in the world."--"he is but a boy," said alexander farnese, "but a commander of extraordinary capacity and valour." early in the morning, when this mishap was known, an officer was sent to the camp of the besiegers to treat. the soldiers received him with furious laughter, and denied him access to the general. "commander kloet had waked from his nap at a wrong time," they said, "and the prince of parma was now sound asleep, in his turn." there was no possibility of commencing a negotiation. the spaniards, heated by the conflict, maddened by opposition, and inspired by the desire to sack a wealthy city, overpowered all resistance. "my little soldiers were not to be restrained," said farnese, and so compelling a reluctant consent on the part of the commander-in-chief to an assault, the italian and spanish legions poured into the town at two opposite gates; which were no longer strong enough to withstand the enemy. the two streams met in the heart of the place, and swept every living thing in their path out of existence. the garrison was butchered to a man, and subsequently many of the inhabitants--men, women, and children-also, although the women; to the honour of alexander, had been at first secured from harm in some of the churches, where they had been ordered to take refuge. the first blast of indignation was against the commandant of the place. alexander, who had admired, his courage, was not unfavourably disposed towards him, but archbishop ernest vehemently, demanded his immediate death, as a personal favour to himself. as the churchman was nominally sovereign of the city although in reality a beggarly dependant on philip's alms, farnese felt bound to comply. the manner in which it was at first supposed that the bishop's christian request had; been complied, with, sent a shudder through every-heart in the netherlands. "they took kloet, wounded as he was," said lord north, "and first strangled, him, then smeared him with pitch, and burnt him with gunpowder; thus, with their holiness, they, made a tragical end of an heroical service. it is wondered that the prince would suffer so great an outrage to be done to so noble a soldier, who did but his duty." but this was an error. a jesuit priest was sent to the house of the commandant, for a humane effort was thought necessary in order to save the soul of the man whose life was forfeited for the crime of defending his city. the culprit was found lying in bed. his wife, a woman of remarkable beauty, with her sister, was in attendance upon him. the spectacle of those two fair women, nursing a wounded soldier fallen upon the field of honour, might have softened devils with sympathy. but the jesuit was closely followed by a band of soldiers, who, notwithstanding the supplications of the women, and the demand of kloet to be indulged with a soldier's death, tied a rope round the commandant's necks dragged him from his bed, and hanged him from his own window. the calvinist clergyman, fosserus of oppenheim, the deacons of the congregation, two military officers, and--said parma--"forty other rascals," were murdered in the same way at the same time. the bodies remained at the window till they were devoured by the flames, which soon consumed the house. for a vast conflagration, caused none knew whether by accident, by the despair of the inhabitants; by the previous, arrangements of the commandant, by the latest-arrived bands of the besiegers enraged that the italians and spaniards had been beforehand with them in the spoils, or--as farnese more maturely believed--by the special agency of the almighty, offended with the burning of saint quirinus,--now came to complete the horror of the scene. three-quarters of the town were at once in a blaze. the churches, where the affrighted women had been cowering during the sack and slaughter, were soon on fire, and now, amid the crash of falling houses and the uproar of the drunken soldiery, those unhappy victims were seen flitting along the flaming streets; seeking refuge against the fury of the elements in the more horrible cruelty of man. the fire lasted all day and night, and not one stone would have been left upon another, had not the body of a second saint, saved on a former occasion from the heretics by the piety of a citizen, been fortunately deposited in his house. at this point the conflagration was stayed--for the flames refused to consume these holy relics--but almost the whole of the town was destroyed, while at least four thousand people, citizens and soldiers, had perished by sword or fire. three hundred survivors of the garrison took refuge in a tower. its base was surrounded, and, after brief parley, they descended as prisoners. the prince and haultepenne attempted in vain to protect them against the fury of the soldiers, and every man of them was instantly put to death. the next day, alexander gave orders that the wife and sister of the commandant should be protected--for they had escaped, as if by miracle, from all the horrors of that day and night--and sent, under escort, to their friends! neusz had nearly ceased to exist, for according to contemporaneous accounts, but eight houses had escaped destruction. and the reflection was most painful to leicester and to every generous englishman or netherlander in the country, that this important city and its heroic defenders might have been preserved, but for want of harmony and want of money. twice had the earl got together a force of four thousand men for the relief of the place, and twice had he been obliged to disband them again for the lack of funds to set them in the field. he had pawned his plate and other valuables, exhausted his credit, and had nothing for it but to wait for the queen's tardy remittances, and to wrangle with the states; for the leaders of that body were unwilling to accord large supplies to a man who had become personally suspected by them, and was the representative of a deeply-suspected government. meanwhile, one-third at least of the money which really found its way from time to time out of england, was filched from the "poor starved wretches," as leicester called his soldiers, by the dishonesty of norris, uncle of sir john and army-treasurer. this man was growing so rich on his peculations, on his commissions, and on his profits from paying the troops in a depreciated coin, that leicester declared the whole revenue of his own landed estates in england to be less than that functionary's annual income. thus it was difficult to say whether the "ragged rogues" of elizabeth or the maimed and neglected soldiers of philip were in the more pitiable plight. the only consolation in the recent reduction of neusz was to be found in the fact that parma had only gained a position, for the town had ceased to exist; and in the fiction that he had paid for his triumph by the loss of six thousand soldiers, killed and wounded. in reality not more than five hundred of farnese's army lost their lives, and although the town, excepting some churches, had certainly been destroyed; yet the prince was now master of the rhine as far as cologne, and of the meuse as far as grave. the famine which pressed so sorely upon him, might now be relieved, and his military communications with germany be considered secure. the conqueror now turned his attention to rheinberg, twenty-five miles farther down the river. sir philip sidney had not been well satisfied by the comparative idleness in which, from these various circumstances; he had been compelled to remain. early in the spring he had been desirous of making an attack upon flanders by capturing the town of steenberg. the faithful roger williams had strongly seconded the proposal. "we wish to show your excellency," said he to leicester, "that we are not sound asleep." the welshman was not likely to be accused of somnolence, but on this occasion sidney and himself had been overruled. at a later moment, and during the siege of neusz, sir philip had the satisfaction of making a successful foray into flanders. the expedition had been planned by prince maurice of nassau, and was his. earliest military achievement. he proposed carrying by surprise, the city of axel, a well-built, strongly-fortified town on the south-western edge of the great scheldt estuary, and very important from its position. its acquisition would make the hold of the patriots and the english upon sluys and ostend more secure, and give them many opportunities of annoying the enemy in flanders. early in july, maurice wrote to the earl of leicester, communicating the particulars of his scheme, but begging that the affair might be "very secretly handled," and kept from every one but sidney. leicester accordingly sent his nephew to maurice that they might consult together upon the enterprise, and make sure "that there was no ill intent, there being so much treachery in the world." sidney found no treachery in young maurice, but only, a noble and intelligent love of adventure, and the two arranged their plans in harmony. leicester, then, in order to deceive the enemy, came to bergen-op-zoom, with five hundred men, where he remained two days, not sleeping a wink, as he averred, during the whole time. in the night of tuesday, th of july, the five hundred english soldiers were despatched by water, under charge of lord willoughby, "who," said the earl, "would needs go with them." young hatton, too, son of sir christopher, also volunteered on the service, "as his first nursling." sidney had, five hundred of his own zeeland regiment in readiness, and the rendezvous was upon the broad waters of the scheldt, opposite flushing. the plan was neatly carried out, and the united flotilla, in a dark, calm, midsummer's night, rowed across the smooth estuary and landed at ter neuse, about a league from axel. here they were joined by maurice with some netherland companies, and the united troops, between two and three thousand strong, marched at once to the place proposed. before two in the morning they had reached axel, but found the moat very deep. forty soldiers immediately plunged in, however, carrying their ladders with them, swam across, scaled the rampart, killed, the guard, whom they found asleep in their beds, and opened the gates for their comrades. the whole force then marched in, the dutch companies under colonel pyion being first, lord willoughby's men being second, and sir philip with his zeelanders bringing up the rear. the garrison, between five and six hundred in number, though surprised, resisted gallantly, and were all put to the sword. of the invaders, not a single man lost his life. sidney most generously rewarded from his own purse the adventurous soldiers who had swum the moat; and it was to his care and intelligence that the success of prince maurice's scheme was generally attributed. the achievement was hailed with great satisfaction, and it somewhat raised the drooping spirits of the patriots after their severe losses at grave and venlo. "this victory hath happened in good time," wrote thomas cecil to his father, "and hath made us somewhat to lift up our heads." a garrison of eight hundred, under colonel pyron, was left in axel, and the dykes around were then pierced. upwards of two millions' worth of property in grass, cattle, corn, was thus immediately destroyed in the territory of the obedient netherlands. after an unsuccessful attempt to surprise gravelines, the governor of which place, the veteran la motte, was not so easily taken napping; sir philip having gained much reputation by this conquest of axel, then joined the main body of the army, under leicester, at arnheim. yet, after all, sir philip had not grown in favour with her majesty during his service in the low countries. he had also been disappointed in the government of zeeland, to which post his uncle had destined him. the cause of leicester's ambition had been frustrated by the policy of barneveld and buys, in pursuance of which count or prince maurice--as he was now purposely designated, in order that his rank might surpass that of the earl--had become stadholder and captain general both of holland and zeeland. the earl had given his nephew, however, the colonelcy of the zeeland regiment, vacant by the death of admiral haultain on the kowenstyn dyke. this promotion had excited much anger among the high officers in the netherlands who, at the instigation of count hohenlo, had presented a remonstrance upon the subject to the governor-general. it had always been the custom, they said, with the late prince of orange, to confer promotion according to seniority, without regard to social rank, and they were therefore unwilling that a young foreigner, who had just entered the service; should thus be advanced over the heads of veterans who had been campaigning there so many weary years. at the same time the gentlemen who signed the paper protested to sir philip, in another letter, "with all the same hands," that they had no personal feeling towards him, but, on the contrary, that they wished him all honour. young maurice himself had always manifested the most friendly feelings toward sidney, although influenced in his action by the statesmen who were already organizing a powerful opposition to leicester. "count maurice showed himself constantly, kind in the matter of the regiment," said sir philip, "but mr. paul buss has so many busses in his head, such as you shall find he will be to god and man about one pitch. happy is the communication of them that join in the fear of god." hohenlo, too, or hollock, as he was called by the french and english, was much governed by buys and olden-barneveld. reckless and daring, but loose of life and uncertain of purpose, he was most dangerous, unless under safe guidance. roger williams--who vowed that but for the love he bore to sidney and leicester, he would not remain ten days in the netherlands--was much disgusted by hohenlo's conduct in regard to the zeeland regiment. "'tis a mutinous request of hollock," said he, "that strangers should not command netherlanders. he and his alemaynes are farther born from zeeland than sir philip is. either you must make hollock assured to you, or you must disgrace him. if he will not be yours, i will show you means to disinherit him of all his commands at small danger. what service doth he, count solms, count overatein, with their almaynes, but spend treasure and consume great contributions?" it was, very natural that the chivalrous sidney, who had come to the netherlands to win glory in the field, should be desirous of posts that would bring danger and distinction with them. he was not there merely that he might govern flushing, important as it was, particularly as the garrison was, according to his statement, about as able to maintain the town, "as the tower was to answer for london." he disapproved of his wife's inclination to join him in holland, for he was likely--so he wrote to her father, walsingham--"to run such a course as would not be fit for any of the feminine gender." he had been, however; grieved to the heart, by the spectacle which was perpetually exhibited of the queen's parsimony, and of the consequent suffering of the soldiers. twelve or fifteen thousand englishmen were serving in the netherlands--more than two thirds of them in her majesty's immediate employment. no troops had ever fought better, or more honourably maintained the ancient glory of england. but rarely had more ragged and wretched warriors been seen than they, after a few months' campaigning. the irish kernes--some fifteen hundred of whom were among the auxiliaries--were better off, for they habitually dispensed with clothing; an apron from waist to knee being the only protection of these wild kelts, who fought with the valour, and nearly, in the costume of homeric heroes. fearing nothing, needing nothing, sparing nothing, they stalked about the fens of zeeland upon their long stilts, or leaped across running rivers, scaling ramparts, robbing the highways, burning, butchering, and maltreating the villages and their inhabitants, with as little regard for the laws of christian warfare as for those of civilized costume. other soldiers, more sophisticated as to apparel, were less at their ease. the generous sidney spent all his means, and loaded himself with debt, in order to relieve the necessities of the poor soldiers. he protested that if the queen would not pay her troops, she would lose her troops, but that no living man should say the fault was in him. "what relief i can do them i will," he wrote to his father-in-law; "i will spare no danger, if occasion serves. i am sure that no creature shall lay injustice to my charge." very soon it was discovered that the starving troops had to contend not only with the queen's niggardliness but with the dishonesty of her agents. treasurer norris was constantly accused by leicester and sidney of gross peculation. five per cent., according to sir philip, was lost to the zeeland soldiers in every payment, "and god knows," he said, "they want no such hindrance, being scarce able to keep life with their entire pay. truly it is but poor increase to her majesty, considering what loss it is to the miserable soldier." discipline and endurance were sure to be sacrificed, in the end, to such short-sighted economy. "when soldiers," said sidney, "grow to despair, and give up towns, then it is too late to buy with hundred thousands what might have been saved with a trifle." this plain dealing, on the part of sidney, was anything but agreeable to the queen, who was far from feeling regret that his high-soaring expectations had been somewhat blighted in the provinces. he often expressed his mortification that her majesty was disposed to interpret everything to, his disadvantage. "i understand," said he, "that i am called ambitious, and very proud at home, but certainly, if they knew my heart, they would not altogether so judge me." elizabeth had taken part with hohenlo against sir philip in the matter of the zeeland regiment, and in this perhaps she was not entirely to be blamed. but she inveighed needlessly against his ambitious seeking of the office, and--as walsingham observed--"she was very apt, upon every light occasion, to find fault with him." it is probable that his complaints against the army treasurer, and his manful defence of the "miserable soldiers," more than counterbalanced, in the queen's estimation, his chivalry in the field. nevertheless he had now the satisfaction of having gained an important city in flanders; and on subsequently joining the army under his uncle, he indulged the hope of earning still greater distinction. martin schenk had meanwhile been successfully defending rheinberg, for several weeks, against parma's forces. it was necessary, however, that leicester, notwithstanding the impoverished condition of his troops, should make some diversion, while his formidable antagonist was thus carrying all before him. he assembled, accordingly, in the month of august, all the troops that could be brought into the field, and reviewed them, with much ceremony, in the neighbourhood of arnheim. his army--barely numbered seven thousand foot and two thousand horse, but he gave out, very extensively, that he had fourteen thousand under his command, and he was moreover expecting a force of three thousand reiters, and as many pikemen recently levied in germany. lord essex was general of the cavalry, sir william pelham--a distinguished soldier, who had recently arrived out of england, after the most urgent solicitations to the queen, for that end, by leicester--was lord-marshal of the camp, and sir john norris was colonel-general of the infantry. after the parade, two sermons were preached upon the hillside to the soldiers, and then there was a council of war: it was decided--notwithstanding the earl's announcement of his intentions to attack parma in person--that the condition of the army did not warrant such an enterprise. it was thought better to lay siege to zutphen. this step, if successful, would place in the power of the republic and her ally a city of great importance and strength. in every event the attempt would probably compel farnese to raise the siege of berg. leicester, accordingly, with "his brave troop of able and likely men"--five thousand of the infantry being english--advanced as far as doesburg. this city, seated at the confluence of the ancient canal of drusus and the yssel, five miles above zutphen, it was necessary, as a preliminary measure, to secure. it was not a very strong place, being rather slightly walled with brick, and with a foss drawing not more than three feet of water. by the th august it had been completely invested. on the same night, at ten o'clock, sir william pelham, came to the earl to tell him "what beastly pioneers the dutchmen were." leicester accordingly determined, notwithstanding the lord-marshal's entreaties, to proceed to the trenches in person. there being but faint light, the two lost their way, and soon found themselves nearly, at the gate of the town. here, while groping about in the dark; and trying to effect their retreat, they were saluted with a shot, which struck sir william in the stomach. for an instant; thinking himself mortally injured, he expressed his satisfaction that he had been, between the commander-in-chief and the blow, and made other "comfortable and resolute speeches." very fortunately, however, it proved that the marshal was not seriously hurt, and, after a few days, he was about his work as usual, although obliged--as the earl of leicester expressed it--"to carry a bullet in his belly as long as he should live." roger williams, too, that valiant adventurer--"but no, more valiant than wise, and worth his weight in gold," according to the appreciative leicester--was shot through the arm. for the dare-devil welshman, much to the earl's regret, persisted in running up and down the trenches "with a great plume of feathers in his gilt morion," and in otherwise making a very conspicuous mark of himself "within pointblank of a caliver." notwithstanding these mishaps, however, the siege went successfully forward. upon the nd september the earl began to batter, and after a brisk cannonade, from dawn till two in the afternoon, he had considerably damaged the wall in two places. one of the breaches was eighty feet wide, the other half as large, but the besieged had stuffed them full of beds, tubs, logs of wood, boards, and "such like trash," by means whereof the ascent was not so easy as it seemed. the soldiers were excessively eager for the assault. sir john norris came to leicester to receive his orders as to the command of the attacking party. the earl referred the matter to him. "there is no man," answered sir john, "fitter for that purpose than myself; for i am colonel-general of the infantry." but leicester, not willing to indulge so unreasonable a proposal, replied that he would reserve him for service of less hazard and greater importance. norris being, as usual, "satis prodigus magnae animae," was out of humour at the refusal, and ascribed it to the earl's persistent hostility to him and his family. it was then arranged that the assault upon the principal breach should be led by younger officers, to be supported by sir john and other veterans. the other breach was assigned to the dutch and scotch-black norris scowling at them the while with jealous eyes; fearing that they might get the start of the english party, and be first to enter the town. a party of noble volunteers clustered about sir john-lord burgh, sir thomas cecil, sir philip sidney, and his brother robert among the rest--most impatient for the signal. the race was obviously to be a sharp one. the governor-general forbade these violent demonstrations, but lord burgh, "in a most vehement passion, waived the countermand," and his insubordination was very generally imitated. before the signal was given, however, leicester sent a trumpet to summon the town to surrender, and could with difficulty restrain his soldiers till the answer should be returned. to the universal disappointment, the garrison agreed to surrender. norris himself then stepped forward to the breach, and cried aloud the terms, lest the returning herald, who had been sent back by leicester, should offer too favourable a capitulation. it was arranged that the soldiers should retire without arms, with white wands in their hands--the officers remaining prisoners--and that the burghers, their lives, and property, should be at leicester's disposal. the earl gave most peremptory orders that persons and goods should be respected, but his commands were dis obeyed. sir william stanley's men committed frightful disorders, and thoroughly, rifled the town." "and because," said norris, "i found fault herewith, sir william began to quarrel with me, hath braved me extremely, refuseth to take any direction from me, and although i have sought for redress, yet it is proceeded in so coldly, that he taketh encouragement rather to increase the quarrel than to leave it." notwithstanding therefore the decree of leicester, the expostulations and anger of norris, and the energetic efforts of lord essex and other generals, who went about smiting the marauders on the head, the soldiers sacked the city, and committed various disorders, in spite of the capitulation. doesburg having been thus reduced, the earl now proceeded toward the more important city which he had determined to besiege. zutphen, or south-fen, an antique town of wealth and elegance, was the capital of the old landgraves of zutphen. it is situate on the right bank of the yssel, that branch of the rhine which flows between gelderland and overyssel into the zuyder-zee. the ancient river, broad, deep, and languid, glides through a plain of almost boundless extent, till it loses itself in the flat and misty horizon. on the other side of the stream, in the district called the veluwe, or bad meadow, were three sconces, one of them of remarkable strength. an island between the city and the shore was likewise well fortified. on the landward side the town was protected by a wall and moat sufficiently strong in those infant days of artillery. near the hospital-gate, on the east, was an external fortress guarding the road to warnsfeld. this was a small village, with a solitary slender church-spire, shooting up above a cluster of neat one-storied houses. it was about an english mile from zutphen, in the midst of a wide, low, somewhat fenny plain, which, in winter, became so completely a lake, that peasants were not unfrequently drowned in attempting to pass from the city to the village. in summer, the vague expanse of country was fertile and cheerful of aspect. long rows of poplars marking the straight highways, clumps of pollard willows scattered around the little meres, snug farm-houses, with kitchen-gardens and brilliant flower-patches dotting the level plain, verdant pastures sweeping off into seemingly infinite distance, where the innumerable cattle seemed to swarm like insects, wind-mills swinging their arms in all directions, like protective giants, to save the country from inundation, the lagging sail of market-boats shining through rows of orchard trees--all gave to the environs of zutphen a tranquil and domestic charm. deventer and kampen, the two other places on the river, were in the hands of the states. it was, therefore, desirable for the english and the patriots, by gaining possession of zutphen, to obtain control of the yssel; driven, as they had been, from the meuse and rhine. sir john norris, by leicester's direction, took possession of a small rising-ground, called 'gibbet dill' on the land-side; where he established a fortified camp, and proceeded to invest the city. with him were count lewis william of nassau, and sir philip sidney, while the earl himself, crossing the yssel on a bridge of boats which he had constructed, reserved for himself the reduction of the forts upon the veluwe side. farnese, meantime, was not idle; and leicester's calculations proved correct. so soon as the prince was informed of this important demonstration of the enemy he broke up--after brief debate with his officers--his camp before rheinberg, and came to wesel. at this place he built a bridge over the rhine, and fortified it with two block-houses. these he placed under command of claude berlot, who was ordered to watch strictly all communication up the river with the city of rheinberg, which he thus kept in a partially beleaguered state. alexander then advanced rapidly by way of groll and burik, both which places he took possession of, to the neighbourhood of zutphen. he was determined, at every hazard, to relieve that important city; and although, after leaving necessary detachments on the way; he had but five thousand men under his command, besides fifteen hundred under verdugo--making sixty-five hundred in all--he had decided that the necessity of the case, and his own honour; required him to seek the enemy, and to leave, as he said, the issue with the god of battles, whose cause it was. tassis, lieutenant-governor of gelderland, was ordered into the city with two cornets of horse and six hundred foot. as large a number, had already been stationed there. verdugo, who had been awaiting the arrival of the prince at borkelo, a dozen miles from zutphen, with four hundred foot and two hundred horse, now likewise entered the city. on the night of th august alexander himself entered zutphen for the purpose of encouraging the garrison by promise of-relief, and of ascertaining the position of the enemy by personal observation. his presence as it always did, inspired the soldiers with enthusiasm, so that they could with difficulty be restrained from rushing forth to assault the besiegers. in regard to the enemy he found that gibbet hill was still occupied by sir john norris, "the best soldier, in his opinion, that they had," who had entrenched himself very strongly, and was supposed to have thirty-five hundred men under his command. his position seemed quite impregnable. the rest of the english were on the other side of the river, and alexander observed, with satisfaction, that they had abandoned a small redoubt, near the leper-house, outside the loor-gate, through which the reinforcements must enter the city. the prince determined to profit by this mistake, and to seize the opportunity thus afforded of sending those much needed supplies. during the night the enemy were found to be throwing up works "most furiously," and skirmishing parties were sent out of the town to annoy them. in the darkness nothing of consequence was effected, but a scotch officer was captured, who informed the spanish commander that the enemy was fifteen thousand strong--a number which was nearly double that of leicester's actual force. in the morning alexander returned to his camp at borkelo--leaving tassis in command of the veluwe forts, and verdugo in the city itself--and he at once made rapid work in collecting victuals. he had soon wheat and other supplies in readiness, sufficient to feed four thousand mouths for three months, and these he determined to send into the city immediately, and at every hazard. the great convoy which was now to be despatched required great care and a powerful escort. twenty-five hundred musketeers and pikemen, of whom one thousand were spaniards, and six hundred cavalry, epirotes; spaniards, and italians, under hannibal gonzaga, george crescia, bentivoglio, sesa, and others, were accordingly detailed for this expedition. the marquis del vasto, to whom was entrusted the chief command, was ordered to march from borkelo at midnight on wednesday, october (st. nov.) [n.s.]. it was calculated that he would reach a certain hillock not far from warnsfeld by dawn of day. here he was to pause, and send forward an officer towards the town, communicating his arrival, and requesting the cooperation of verdugo, who was to make a sortie with one thousand men, according to alexander's previous arrangements. the plan was successfully carried out. the marquis arrived by daybreak at the spot indicated, and despatched captain de vega who contrived to send intelligence of the fact. a trooper, whom parma had himself sent to verdugo with earlier information of the movement, had been captured on the way. leicester had therefore been apprized, at an early moment, of the prince's intentions, but he was not aware that the convoy would be accompanied by so strong a force as had really been detailed. he had accordingly ordered sir john norris, who commanded on the outside of the town near the road which the spaniards must traverse, to place an ambuscade in his way. sir john, always ready for adventurous enterprises, took a body of two hundred cavalry, all picked men, and ordered sir william stanley, with three hundred pikemen, to follow. a much stronger force of infantry was held in reserve and readiness, but it was not thought that it would be required. the ambuscade was successfully placed, before the dawn of thursday morning, in the neighbourhood of warnsfeld church. on the other hand, the earl of leicester himself, anxious as to the result, came across the river just at daybreak. he was accompanied by the chief gentlemen in his camp, who could never be restrained when blows were passing current. the business that morning was a commonplace and practical though an important, one--to "impeach" a convoy of wheat and barley, butter, cheese, and beef--but the names of those noble and knightly volunteers, familiar throughout christendom, sound like the roll-call for some chivalrous tournament. there were essex and audley, stanley, pelham, russell, both the sidneys, all the norrises, men whose valour had been. proved on many a hard-fought battle-field. there, too, was the famous hero of british ballad whose name was so often to ring on the plains of the netherlands-- "the brave lord willoughby, of courage fierce and fell, who would not give one inch of way for all the devils in hell." twenty such volunteers as these sat on horseback that morning around the stately earl of leicester. it seemed an incredible extravagance to send a handful of such heroes against an army. but the english commander-in-chief had been listening to the insidious tongue of roland york--that bold, plausible, unscrupulous partisan, already twice a renegade, of whom more was ere long to be heard in the netherlands and england. of the man's courage there could be no doubt, and he was about to fight that morning in the front rank at the head of his company. but he had, for some mysterious reason, been bent upon persuading the earl that the spaniards were no match for englishmen at a hand-to-hand contest. when they could ride freely up and down, he said, and use their lances as they liked, they were formidable. but the english were stronger men, better riders, better mounted, and better armed. the spaniards hated helmets and proof armour, while the english trooper, in casque, cuirass, and greaves, was a living fortress impregnable to spanish or italian light horsemen. and leicester seemed almost convinced by his reasoning. it was five o'clock of a chill autumn morning. it was time for day to break, but the fog was so thick that a man at the distance of five yards was quite invisible. the creaking of waggon-wheels and the measured tramp of soldiers soon became faintly audible however to sir john norris and his five hundred as they sat there in the mist. presently came galloping forward in hot haste those nobles and gentlemen, with their esquires, fifty men in all--sidney, willoughby, and the rest--whom leicester had no longer been able to restrain from taking part in the adventure. a force of infantry, the amount of which cannot be satisfactorily ascertained, had been ordered by the earl to cross the bridge at a later moment. sidney's cornet of horse was then in deventer, to which place it had been sent in order to assist in quelling an anticipated revolt, so that he came, like most of his companions, as a private volunteer and knight-errant. the arrival of the expected convoy was soon more distinctly heard, but no scouts or outposts had been stationed to give timely notice, of the enemy's movements. suddenly the fog, which had shrouded the scene so closely, rolled away like a curtain, and in the full light of an october morning the englishmen found themselves face to face with a compact body of more than three thousand men. the marquis del vasto rode at the head of the forces surrounded by a band of mounted arquebus men. the cavalry, under the famous epirote chief george crescia, hannibal gonzaga, bentivoglio, sesa, conti, and other distinguished commanders, followed; the columns of pikemen and musketeers lined the hedge-rows on both sides the causeway; while between them the long train of waggons came slowly along under their protection. the whole force had got in motion after having sent notice of their arrival to verdugo, who, with one or two thousand men, was expected to sally forth almost immediately from the city-gate. there was but brief time for deliberation. notwithstanding the tremendous odds there was no thought of retreat. black norris called to sir william stanley, with whom he had been at variance so lately at doesburg. "there hath been ill-blood between us," he said. "let us be friends together this day, and die side by side, if need be, in her majesty's cause." "if you see me not serve my prince with faithful courage now," replied stanley, "account, me for ever a coward. living or dying i will stand err lie by you in friendship." as they were speaking these words the young earl of essex, general of the horse, cried to his, handful of troopers: "follow me, good fellows, for the honour of england and of england's queen!" as he spoke he dashed, lance in rest, upon the enemy's cavalry, overthrew the foremost man, horse and rider, shivered his own spear to splinters, and then, swinging his cartel-axe, rode merrily forward. his whole little troop, compact, as an arrow-head, flew with an irresistible shock against the opposing columns, pierced clean through them, and scattered them in all directions. at the very first charge one hundred english horsemen drove the spanish and albanian cavalry back upon the musketeers and pikemen. wheeling with rapidity, they retired before a volley of musket-shot, by which many horses and a few riders were killed; and then formed again to renew the attack. sir philip sidney, an coming to the field, having met sir william pelham, the veteran lord marshal, lightly armed, had with chivalrous extravagance thrown off his own cuishes, and now rode to the battle with no armour but his cuirass. at the second charge his horse was shot under him, but, mounting another, he was seen everywhere, in the thick of the fight, behaving himself with a gallantry which extorted admiration even from the enemy. for the battle was a series of personal encounters in which high officers were doing the work of private, soldiers. lord north, who had been lying "bed-rid" with a musket-shot in the leg, had got himself put on horseback, and with "one boot on and one boot off," bore himself, "most lustily" through the whole affair. "i desire that her majesty may know;" he said, "that i live but to, serve her. a better barony than i have could not hire the lord north to live, on meaner terms." sir william russell laid about him with his curtel-axe to such purpose that the spaniards pronounced him a devil and not a man. "wherever," said an eye-witness, "he saw five or six of the enemy together; thither would he, and with his hard knocks soon separated their friendship." lord willoughby encountered george crescia, general of the famed albanian cavalry, unhorsed him at the first shock, and rolled him into the ditch. "i yield me thy prisoner," called out the epirote in french, "for thou art a 'preux chevalier;'" while willoughby, trusting to his captive's word, galloped onward, and with him the rest of the little troop, till they seemed swallowed up by the superior numbers of the enemy. his horse was shot under him, his basses were torn from his legs, and he was nearly taken a prisoner, but fought his way back with incredible strength and good fortune. sir william stanley's horse had seven bullets in him, but bore his rider unhurt to the end of the battle. leicester declared sir william and "old reads" to be "worth their weight in pearl." hannibal gonzaga, leader of the spanish cavalry, fell mortally wounded a the marquis del vasto, commander of the expedition, nearly met the same fate. an englishman was just cleaving his head with a battle-axe, when a spaniard transfixed the soldier with his pike. the most obstinate struggle took place about the train of waggons. the teamsters had fled in the beginning of the action, but the english and spanish soldiers, struggling with the horses, and pulling them forward and backward, tried in vain to get exclusive possession of the convoy which was the cause of the action. the carts at last forced their way slowly nearer and nearer to the town, while the combat still went on, warm as ever, between the hostile squadrons. the action, lasted an hour and a half, and again and again the spanish horsemen wavered and broke before the handful of english, and fell back upon their musketeers. sir philip sidney, in the last charge, rode quite through the enemy's ranks till he came upon their entrenchments, when a musket-ball from the camp struck him upon the thigh, three inches above the knee. although desperately wounded in a part which should have been protected by the cuishes which he had thrown aside, he was not inclined to leave the field; but his own horse had been shot under him at the-beginning of the action, and the one upon which he was now mounted became too restive for him, thus crippled, to control. he turned reluctantly away, and rode a mile and a half back to the entrenchments, suffering extreme pain, for his leg was dreadfully shattered. as he past along the edge of the battle-field his attendants brought him a bottle of water to quench his raging thirst. at, that moment a wounded english soldier, "who had eaten his last at the same feast," looked up wistfully, in his face, when sidney instantly handed him the flask, exclaiming, "thy necessity is even greater than mine." he then pledged his dying comrade in a draught, and was soon afterwards met by his uncle. "oh, philip," cried leicester, in despair, "i am truly grieved to see thee in this plight." but sidney comforted him with manful words, and assured him that death was sweet in the cause of his queen and country. sir william russell, too, all blood-stained from the fight, threw his arms around his friend, wept like a child, and kissing his hand, exclaimed, "oh! noble sir philip, never did man attain hurt so honourably or serve so valiantly as you." sir william pelham declared "that sidney's noble courage in the face of our enemies had won him a name of continuing honour." the wounded gentleman was borne back to the camp, and thence in a barge to arnheim. the fight was over. sir john norris bade lord leicester "be merry, for," said he, "you have had the honourablest day. a handful of men has driven the enemy three times to retreat." but, in truth, it was now time for the english to retire in their turn. their reserve never arrived. the whole force engaged against the thirty-five hundred spaniards had never exceeded two hundred and fifty horse and three hundred foot, and of this number the chief work had beer done by the fifty or sixty volunteers and their followers. the heroism which had been displayed was fruitless, except as a proof--and so leicester wrote to the palatine john casimir--"that spaniards were not invincible." two thousand men now sallied from the loor gate under verdugo and tassis, to join the force under vasto, and the english were forced to retreat. the whole convoy was then carried into the city, and the spaniards remained masters of the field. thirteen troopers and twenty-two foot soldiers; upon the english side, were killed. the enemy lost perhaps two hundred men. they were thrice turned from their position, and thrice routed, but they succeeded at last in their attempt to carry their convoy into zutphen. upon that day, and the succeeding ones, the town was completely victualled. very little, therefore, save honour, was gained by the display of english valour against overwhelming numbers; five hundred against, near, four thousand. never in the whole course of the war had there been such fighting, for the troops upon both sides were picked men and veterans. for a long time afterwards it was the custom of spaniards and netherlanders, in characterising a hardly-contested action, to call it as warm as the fight at zutphen. "i think i may call it," said leicester, "the most notable encounter that hath been in our age, and it will remain to our posterity famous." nevertheless it is probable that the encounter would have been forgotten by posterity but for the melancholy close upon that field to sidney's bright career. and perhaps the queen of england had as much reason to blush for the incompetency of her general and favourite as to be proud. of the heroism displayed by her officers and soldiers. "there were too many indeed at this skirmish of the better sort," said leicester; "only a two hundred and fifty horse, and most of them the best of this camp, and unawares to me. i was offended when i knew it, but could not fetch them back; but since they all so well escaped (save my dear nephew), i would not for ten thousand pounds but they had been there, since they have all won that honour they have. your lordship never heard of such desperate charges as they gave upon the enemies in the face of their muskets." he described sidney's wound as "very dangerous, the bone being broken in pieces;" but said that the surgeons were in good hope. "i pray god to save his life," said the earl, "and i care not how lame he be." sir philip was carried to arnheim, where the best surgeons were immediately in attendance upon him. he submitted to their examination and the pain which they inflicted, with great cheerfulness, although himself persuaded that his wound was mortal. for many days the result was doubtful, and messages were sent day by day to england that he was convalescent--intelligence which was hailed by the queen and people as a matter not of private but of public rejoicing. he soon began to fail, however. count hohenlo was badly wounded a few days later before the great fort of zutphen. a musket-ball entered his mouth; and passed through his cheek, carrying off a jewel which hung in his ear. notwithstanding his own critical condition, however, hohenlo sent his surgeon, adrian van den spiegel, a man of great skill, to wait upon sir philip, but adrian soon felt that the case was hopeless. meantime fever and gangrene attacked the count himself; and those in attendance upon him, fearing for his life, sent for his surgeon. leicester refused to allow adrian to depart, and hohenlo very generously acquiescing in the decree, but, also requiring the surgeon's personal care, caused himself to be transported in a litter to arnheim. sidney was first to recognise the symptoms of mortification, which made a fatal result inevitable. his demeanour during his sickness and upon his death-bed was as beautiful as his life. he discoursed with his friends concerning the immortality of the soul, comparing the doctrines of plato and of other ancient philosophers, whose writings were so familiar to him, with the revelations of scripture and with the dictates of natural religion. he made his will with minute and elaborate provisions, leaving bequests, remembrances, and rings, to all his friends. then he indulged himself with music, and listened particularly to a strange song which he had himself composed during his illness, and which he had entitled 'la cuisse rompue.' he took leave of the friends around him with perfect calmness; saying to his brother robert, "love my memory. cherish my friends. above all, govern your will and affections by the will and word of your creator; in me beholding the end of this world with all her vanities." and thus this gentle and heroic spirit took its flight. parma, after thoroughly victualling zutphen, turned his attention to the german levies which leicester was expecting under the care of count meurs. "if the enemy is reinforced by these six thousand fresh troops," said alexander; "it will make him master of the field." and well he might hold this opinion, for, in the meagre state of both the spanish and the liberating armies, the addition of three thousand fresh reiters and as many infantry would be enough to turn the scale. the duke of parma--for, since the recent death of his father, farnese had succeeded to his title--determined in person to seek the german troops, and to destroy them if possible. but they never gave him the chance. their muster-place was bremen, but when they heard that the terrible 'holofernese' was in pursuit of them, and that the commencement of their service would be a pitched battle with his spaniards and italians, they broke up and scattered about the country. soon afterwards the duke tried another method of effectually dispersing them, in case they still retained a wish to fulfil their engagement with leicester. he sent a messenger to treat with them, and in consequence two of their rittmeisters; paid him a visit. he offered to give them higher pay, and "ready money in place of tricks and promises." the mercenary heroes listened very favourably to his proposals, although they had already received--besides the tricks and promises--at least one hundred thousand florins out of the states' treasury. after proceeding thus far in the negotiation, however, parma concluded, as the season was so far advanced, that it was sufficient to have dispersed them, and to have deprived the english and patriots of their services. so he gave the two majors a gold chain a-piece, and they went their way thoroughly satisfied. "i have got them away from the enemy for this year," said alexander; "and this i hold to be one of the best services that has been rendered for many a long day to your majesty." during the period which intervened between the action at warnsfeld and the death of sidney, the siege-operations before zutphen had been continued. the city, strongly garrisoned and well supplied with provisions, as it had been by parma's care, remained impregnable; but the sconces beyond the river and upon the island fell into leicester's hands. the great fortress which commanded the veluwe, and which was strong enough to have resisted count hohenlo on a former, occasion for nearly a whole year, was the scene of much hard fighting. it was gained at last by the signal valour of edward stanley, lieutenant to sir william. that officer, at the commencement of an assault upon a not very practicable breach, sprang at the long pike of a spanish soldier, who was endeavoring to thrust him from the wall, and seized it with both hands. the spaniard struggled to maintain his hold of the weapon, stanley to wrest it from his grasp. a dozen other soldiers broke their pikes upon his cuirass or shot at him with their muskets. conspicuous by his dress, being all in yellow but his corslet, he was in full sight of leicester and of fire thousand men. the earth was so shifty and sandy that the soldiers who were to follow him were not able to climb the wall. still stanley grasped his adversary's pike, but, suddenly changing his plan, he allowed the spaniard to lift him from the ground. then, assisting himself with his feet against the wall, he, much to the astonishment of the spectators, scrambled quite over the parapet, and dashed sword in hand among the defenders of the fort. had he been endowed with a hundred lives it seemed impossible for him to escape death. but his followers, stimulated by his example, made ladders for themselves of each others' shoulders, clambered at last with great exertion over the broken wall, overpowered the garrison, and made themselves masters of the sconce. leicester, transported with enthusiasm for this noble deed of daring, knighted edward stanley upon the spot, besides presenting him next day with forty pounds in gold and an annuity of one hundred marks, sterling for life. "since i was born, i did never see any man behave himself as he did," said the earl. "i shall never forget it, if i live a thousand year, and he shall have a part of my living for it as long as i live." the occupation of these forts terminated the military operations of the year, for the rainy season, precursor of the winter, had now set in. leicester, leaving sir william stanley, with twelve hundred english and irish horse, in command of deventer; sir john burrowes, with one thousand men, in doesburg; and sir robert yorke, with one thousand more, in the great sconce before zutphen; took his departure for the hague. zutphen seemed so surrounded as to authorize the governor to expect ere long its capitulation. nevertheless, the results of the campaign had not been encouraging. the states had lost ground, having been driven from the meuse and rhine, while they had with difficulty maintained themselves on the flemish coast and upon the yssel. it is now necessary to glance at the internal politics of the republic during the period of leicester's administration and to explain the position in which he found himself at the close of the year. etext editor's bookmarks: and thus this gentle and heroic spirit took its flight five great rivers hold the netherland territory in their coils high officers were doing the work of private, soldiers i did never see any man behave himself as he did there is no man fitter for that purpose than myself history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history of the united netherlands, volume , chapter x. should elizabeth accept the sovereignty?--the effects of her anger-- quarrels between the earl and the staten--the earl's three counsellors--leicester's finance--chamber--discontent of the mercantile classes--paul buys and the opposition--been insight of paul buys--truchsess becomes a spy upon him--intrigues of buys with denmark--his imprisonment--the earl's unpopularity--his quarrels with the states--and with the norrises--his counsellors wilkes and clerke--letter from the queen to leicester--a supper party at hohenlo's--a drunken quarrel--hohenlo's assault upon edward norris-- ill effects of the riot. the brief period of sunshine had been swiftly followed by storms. the governor absolute had, from the outset, been placed in a false position. before he came to the netherlands the queen had refused the sovereignty. perhaps it was wise in her to decline so magnificent an offer; yet certainly her acceptance would have been perfectly honourable. the constituted authorities of the provinces formally made the proposition. there is no doubt whatever that the whole population ardently desired to become her subjects. so far as the netherlands were concerned, then, she would have been fully justified in extending her sceptre over a free people, who, under no compulsion and without any, diplomatic chicane, had selected her for their hereditary chief. so far as regarded england, the annexation to that country of a continental cluster of states, inhabited by a race closely allied to it by blood, religion, and the instinct for political freedom, seemed, on the whole, desirable. in a financial point of view, england would certainly lose nothing by the union. the resources of the provinces were at leant equal to her own. we have seen the astonishment which the wealth and strength of the netherlands excited in their english visitors. they were amazed by the evidences of commercial and manufacturing prosperity, by the spectacle of luxury and advanced culture, which met them on every side. had the queen--as it had been generally supposed--desired to learn whether the provinces were able and willing to pay the expenses of their own defence before she should definitely decide on, their offer of sovereignty, she was soon thoroughly enlightened upon the subject. her confidential agents all--held one language. if she would only, accept the sovereignty, the amount which the provinces would pay was in a manner boundless. she was assured that the revenue of her own hereditary realm was much inferior to that of the possessions thus offered to her sway. in regard to constitutional polity, the condition of the netherlands was at least, as satisfactory as that of england. the great amount of civil freedom enjoyed by those countries--although perhaps an objection--in the eyes of elizabeth tudor--should certainly have been a recommendation to her liberty-loving subjects. the question of defence had been satisfactorily answered. the provinces, if an integral part of the english empire, could protect themselves, and would become an additional element of strength--not a troublesome encumbrance. the difference of language was far, less than that which already existed between the english and their irish fellow-subjects, while it was counterbalanced by sympathy, instead of being aggravated by mutual hostility in the matter of religion. with regard to the great question of abstract sovereignty, it was certainly impolitic for an absolute monarch to recognize the right of a nation to repudiate its natural allegiance. but elizabeth had already countenanced that step by assisting the rebellion against philip. to allow the rebels to transfer their obedience from the king of spain to herself was only another step in the same direction. the queen, should she annex the provinces, would certainly be accused by the world of ambition; but the ambition was a noble one, if, by thus consenting to the urgent solicitations of a free people, she extended the region of civil and religious liberty, and raised up a permanent bulwark against sacerdotal and royal absolutism. a war between herself and spain was inevitable if she accepted the sovereignty, but peace had been already rendered impossible by the treaty of alliance. it is true that the queen imagined the possibility of combining her engagements towards the states with a conciliatory attitude towards their ancient master, but it was here that she committed the gravest error. the negotiations of parma and his sovereign with the english court were a masterpiece of deceit on the part of spain. we have shown, by the secret correspondence, and we shall in the sequel make it still clearer, that philip only intended to amuse his antagonists; that he had already prepared his plan for the conquest of england, down to the minutest details; that the idea of tolerating religious liberty had never entered his mind; and that his fixed purpose was not only thoroughly to chastise the dutch rebels, but to deprive the heretic queen who had fostered their rebellion both of throne and life. so far as regarded the spanish king, then, the quarrel between him and elizabeth was already mortal; while in a religious, moral, political, and financial point of view, it would be difficult to show that it was wrong, or imprudent for england to accept the sovereignty over his ancient subjects. the cause of human, freedom seemed likely to gain by the step, for the states did not consider themselves strong enough to maintain the independent republic which had already risen. it might be a question whether, on the whole, elizabeth made a mistake in declining the sovereignty. she was certainly wrong, however, in wishing the lieutenant-general of her six thousand auxiliary troops to be clothed, as such, with vice-regal powers. the states-general, in a moment of enthusiasm, appointed him governor absolute, and placed in his hands, not only the command of the forces, but the entire control of their revenues, imposts, and customs, together with the appointment of civil and military officers. such an amount of power could only be delegated by the sovereign. elizabeth had refused the sovereignty: it then rested with the states. they only, therefore, were competent to confer the power which elizabeth wished her favourite to exercise simply as her lieutenant-general. her wrathful and vituperative language damaged her cause and that of the netherlands more severely than can now be accurately estimated. the earl was placed at once in a false, a humiliating, almost a ridiculous position. the authority which the states had thus a second time offered to england was a second time and most scornfully thrust back upon them. elizabeth was indignant that "her own man" should clothe himself in the supreme attributes which she had refused. the states were forced by the violence of the queen to take the authority into their own hands again, and leicester was looked upon as a disgraced man. then came the neglect with which the earl was treated by her majesty and her ill-timed parsimony towards the cause. no letters to him in four months, no remittances for the english troops, not a penny of salary for him. the whole expense of the war was thrown for the time upon their hands, and the english soldiers seemed only a few thousand starving, naked, dying vagrants, an incumbrance instead of an aid. the states, in their turn, drew the purse-strings. the two hundred thousand florins monthly were paid. the four hundred thousand florins which had been voted as an additional supply were for a time held back, as leicester expressly stated, because of the discredit which had been thrown upon him from home. [strangely enough, elizabeth was under the impression that the extra grant of , florins (l , ) for four months was four hundred thousand pounds sterling. "the rest that was granted by the states, as extraordinary to levy an army, which was , florins, not pounds, as i hear your majesty taketh it. it is forty thousand pounds, and to be paid in march, april, may, and june last," &c. leicester to the queen, oct. . (s. p. office ms.)] the military operations were crippled for want of funds, but more fatal than everything else were the secret negotiations for peace. subordinate individuals, like grafigni and de loo, went up and down, bringing presents out of england for alexander farnese, and bragging that parma and themselves could have peace whenever they liked to make it, and affirming that leicester's opinions were of no account whatever. elizabeth's coldness to the earl and to the netherlands was affirmed to be the prince of parma's sheet-anchor; while meantime a house was ostentatiously prepared in brussels by their direction for the reception of an english ambassador, who was every moment expected to arrive. under such circumstances it was in, vain for the governor-general to protest that the accounts of secret negotiations were false, and quite natural that the states should lose their confidence in the queen. an unfriendly and suspicious attitude towards her representative was a necessary result, and the demonstrations against the common enemy became still more languid. but for these underhand dealings, grave, venlo, and neusz, might have been saved, and the current 'of the meuse and rhine have remained in the hands of the patriots. the earl was industrious, generous, and desirous of playing well his part. his personal courage was undoubted, and, in the opinion of his admirers--themselves, some of them, men of large military experience--his ability as a commander was of a high order. the valour displayed by the english nobles and gentlemen who accompanied him was magnificent, worthy the descendants of the victors at crecy, poitiers, and agincourt; and the good behaviour of their followers--with a few rare exceptions--had been equally signal. but now the army was dwindling to a ghastly array of scarecrows, and the recruits, as they came from england, were appalled by the spectacle presented by their predecessors. "our old ragged rogues here have so discouraged our new men," said leicester; "as i protest to you they look like dead men." out of eleven hundred freshly-arrived englishmen, five hundred ran away in two days. some were caught and hanged, and all seemed to prefer hanging to remaining in the service, while the earl declared that he would be hanged as well rather than again undertake such a charge without being assured payment for his troops beforehand! the valour of sidney and essex, willoughby and pelham, roger williams and martin schenk, was set at nought by such untoward circumstances. had not philip also left his army to starve and alexander farnese to work miracles, it would have fared still worse with holland and england, and with the cause of civil and religious liberty in the year . the states having resumed, as much as possible; their former authority, were on very unsatisfactory terms with the governor-general. before long, it was impossible for the twenty or thirty individuals called the states to be in the same town with the man whom, at the commencement of the year, they had greeted so warmly. the hatred between the leicester faction and the municipalities became intense, for the foundation of the two great parties which were long to divide the netherland commonwealth was already laid. the mercantile patrician interest, embodied in the states of holland and zeeland and inclined to a large toleration in the matter of religion, which afterwards took the form of arminianism, was opposed by a strict calvinist party, which desired to subject the political commonwealth to the reformed church; which nevertheless indulged in very democratic views of the social compact; and which was controlled by a few refugees from flanders and brabant, who had succeeded in obtaining the confidence of leicester. thus the earl was the nominal head of the calvinist democratic party; while young maurice of nassau; stadholder of holland and zeeland, and guided by barneveld, buys, and other leading statesmen of these provinces; was in an attitude precisely the reverse of the one which he was destined at a later and equally memorable epoch to assume. the chiefs of the faction which had now succeeded in gaining the confidence of leicester were reingault, burgrave, and deventer, all refugees. the laws of holland and of the other united states were very strict on the subject of citizenship, and no one but a native was competent to hold office in each province. doubtless, such regulations were narrow-spirited; but to fly in the face of them was the act of a despot, and this is what leicester did. reingault was a fleming. he was a bankrupt merchant, who had been taken into the protection of lamoral egmont, and by that nobleman recommended to granvelle for an office under the cardinal's government. the refusal of this favour was one of the original causes of egmont's hostility to granvelle. reingault subsequently entered the service of the cardinal, however, and rewarded the kindness of his former benefactor by great exertions in finding, or inventing, evidence to justify the execution of that unfortunate nobleman. he was afterwards much employed by the duke of alva and by the grand commander requesens; but after the pacification of ghent he had been completely thrown out of service. he had recently, in a subordinate capacity, accompanied the legations of the states to france and to england, and had now contrived to ingratiate himself with the earl of leicester. he affected great zeal for the calvinistic religion--an exhibition which, in the old servant of granvelle and alva, was far from edifying--and would employ no man or maid-servant in his household until their religious principles had been thoroughly examined by one or two clergymen. in brief, he was one of those, who, according to a homely flemish proverb, are wont to hang their piety on the bell-rope; but, with the exception of this brief interlude in his career, he lived and died a papist. gerard proninck, called deventer, was a respectable inhabitant of bois-le-duc, who had left that city after it had again become subject to the authority of spain. he was of decent life and conversation, but a restless and ambitious demagogue. as a brabantine, he was unfit for office; and yet, through leicester's influence and the intrigues of the democratic party, he obtained the appointment of burgomaster in the city of utrecht. the states-general, however, always refused to allow him to appear at their sessions as representative of that city. daniel de burgrave was a flemish mechanic, who, by the exertion of much energy and talent, had risen to the poet of procureur-general of flanders. after the conquest of the principal portion of that province by parma, he had made himself useful to the english governor-general in various ways, and particularly as a linguist. he spoke english--a tongue with which few netherlanders of that day were familiar--and as the earl knew no other, except (very imperfectly) italian, he found his services in speaking and writing a variety of languages very convenient. he was the governor's private secretary, and, of course, had no entrance to the council of state, but he was accused of frequently thrusting himself into their hall of sessions, where, under pretence of arranging the earl's table, or portfolio, or papers, he was much addicted to whispering into his master's ear, listening to conversation,--to eaves-dropping; in short, and general intrusiveness. "a most faithful, honest servant is burgrave," said leicester; "a substantial, wise man. 'tis as sufficient a man as ever i met withal of any nation; very well learned, exceeding wise, and sincere in religion. i cannot commend the man too much. he is the only comfort i have had of any of this nation." these three personages were the leaders of the leicester faction. they had much, influence with all the refugees from flanders, brabant, and the walloon provinces. in utrecht, especially, where the earl mainly resided, their intrigues were very successful. deventer was appointed, as already stated, to the important post of burgomaster; many, of the influential citizens were banished, without cause or, trial; the upper branch of the municipal government, consisting of the clerical delegates of the colleges, was in an arbitrary manner abolished; and, finally, the absolute sovereignty of, the province, without condition, was offered to the queen, of england. leicester was now determined to carry out one of the great objects which the queen had in view when she sent him to the netherlands. she desired thoroughly to ascertain the financial resources of the provinces, and their capacity to defend themselves. it was supposed by the states, and hoped by the earl and by a majority of the netherland people, that she would, in case the results were satisfactory, accept, after all, the sovereignty. she certainly was not to be blamed that she wished to make this most important investigation, but it was her own fault that any new machinery had been rendered necessary. the whole control of the finances had, in the beginning of the year, been placed in the earl's hands, and it was only by her violently depriving him of his credit and of the confidence of the country that he had not retained it. he now established a finance-chamber, under the chief control of reingault, who promised him mountains of money, and who was to be chief treasurer. paul buys was appointed by leicester to fill a subordinate position in the new council. he spurned the offer with great indignation, saying that reingault was not fit to be his clerk, and that he was not likely himself, therefore, to accept a humble post under the administration of such an individual. this scornful refusal filled to the full the hatred of leicester against the ex-advocate of holland. the mercantile interest at once took the alarm, because it was supposed that the finance-chamber, was intended to crush the merchants. early in april an act had been passed by the state-council, prohibiting commerce with the spanish possessions. the embargo was intended to injure the obedient provinces and their sovereign, but it was shown that its effect would be to blast the commerce of holland. it forbade the exportation from the republic not only of all provisions and munitions of war, but of all goods and merchandize whatever, to spain, portugal, the spanish netherlands, or any other of philip's territories, either in dutch or neutral vessel. it would certainly seem, at first sight, that such an act was reasonable, although the result would really be, not to deprive the enemy of supplies, but to throw the whole baltic trade into the hands of the bremen, hamburg, and "osterling" merchants. leicester expected to derive a considerable revenue by granting passports and licenses to such neutral traders, but the edict became so unpopular that it was never thoroughly enforced, and was before long rescinded. the odium of the measure was thrown upon the governor-general, yet he had in truth opposed it in the state-council, and was influential in procuring its repeal. another important act had been directed against the mercantile interest, and excited much general discontent. the netherlands wished the staple of the english cloth manufacture to be removed from emden--the petty, sovereign of which place was the humble servant of spain--to amsterdam or delft. the desire was certainly, natural, and the dutch merchants sent a committee to confer with leicester. he was much impressed with their views, and with the sagacity of their chairman, one mylward, "a wise fellow and well languaged, an ancient man and very, religious," as the earl pronounced him to be. notwithstanding the wisdom however, of this well-languaged fellow, the queen, for some strange reason, could not be induced to change the staple from emden, although it was shown that the public revenue of the netherlands would gain twenty thousand pounds a year by the measure. "all holland will cry out for it," said leicester; "but i had rather they cried than that england should weep." thus the mercantile community, and especially the patrician families of holland and zeeland, all engaged in trade, became more and more hostile to the governor-general and to his financial trio, who were soon almost as unpopular as the famous consults of cardinal granvelle had been. it was the custom of the states to consider the men who surrounded the earl as needy and unprincipled renegades and adventurers. it was the policy of his advisers to represent the merchants and the states--which mainly consisted of, or were controlled by merchants--as a body of corrupt, selfish, greedy money-getters. the calumnies put in circulation against the states by reingault and his associates grew at last so outrageous, and the prejudice created in the mind of leicester and his immediate english adherents so intense, that it was rendered necessary for the states, of holland and zeeland to write to their agent ortell in london, that he might forestall the effect of these perpetual misrepresentations on her majesty's government. leicester, on the other hand, under the inspiration; of his artful advisers, was vehement in his entreaties that ortell should be sent away from england. the ablest and busiest of the opposition-party, the "nimblest head" in the states-general was the ex-advocate of holland; paul buys. this man was then the foremost statesman in, the netherlands. he had been the firmest friend to the english alliance; he had resigned his office when the states were-offering the sovereignty to france, and had been on the point of taking service in denmark. he had afterwards been prominent in the legation which offered the sovereignty to elizabeth, and, for a long time, had been the most firm, earnest, and eloquent advocate of the english policy. leicester had originally courted him, caressed him, especially recommended him to the queen's favour, given him money--as he said, "two hundred pounds sterling thick at a time"--and openly pronounced him to be "in ability above all men." "no man hath ever sought a man," he said, "as i have sought p. b." the period of their friendship was, however, very brief. before many weeks had passed there was no vituperative epithet that leicester was not in the daily habit of bestowing upon paul. the earl's vocabulary of abuse was not a limited one, but he exhausted it on the head of the advocate. he lacked at last words and breath to utter what was like him. he pronounced his former friend "a very dangerous man, altogether hated of the people and the states;"--"a lewd sinner, nursled in revolutions; a most covetous, bribing fellow, caring for nothing but to bear the sway and grow rich;"--"a man who had played many parts, both lewd and audacious;"--"a very knave, a traitor to his country;"--"the most ungrateful wretch alive, a hater of the queen and of all the english; a most unthankful man to her majesty; a practiser to make himself rich and great, and nobody else;"--"among all villains the greatest;"--"a bolsterer of all papists and ill men, a dissembler, a devil, an atheist," a "most naughty man, and a most notorious drunkard in the worst degree." where the earl hated, his hatred was apt to be deadly, and he was determined, if possible, to have the life of the detested paul. "you shall see i will do well enough with him, and that shortly," he said. "i will course him as he was not so this twenty year. i will warrant him hanged and one or two of his fellows, but you must not tell your shirt of this yet;" and when he was congratulating the government on his having at length procured the execution of captain hemart, the surrenderer of grave, he added, pithily, "and you shall hear that mr. p. b. shall follow." yet the earl's real griefs against buys may be easily summed up. the lewd sinner, nursled in revolutions, had detected the secret policy of the queen's government, and was therefore perpetually denouncing the intrigues going on with spain. he complained that her majesty was tired of having engaged in the netherland enterprise; he declared that she would be glad to get fairly out of it; that her reluctance to spend a farthing more in the cause than she was obliged to do was hourly increasing upon her; that she was deceiving and misleading the states-general; and that she was hankering after a peace. he said that the earl had a secret intention to possess himself of certain towns in holland, in which case the whole question of peace and war would be in the hands of the queen, who would also have it thus in her power to reimburse herself at once for all expenses that she had incurred. it would be difficult to show that there was anything very calumnious in these charges, which, no doubt, paul was in the habit of making. as to the economical tendencies of her majesty, sufficient evidence has been given already from leicester's private letters. "rather than spend one hundred pounds," said walsingham, "she can be content to be deceived of five thousand." that she had been concealing from the staten, from walsingham, from leicester, during the whole summer, her secret negotiations with spain, has also been made apparent. that she was disgusted with the enterprise in which she had embarked, walsingham, burghley, hatton, and all the other statesmen of england, most abundantly testified. whether leicester had really an intention to possess himself of certain cities in holland--a charge made by paul buys, and denounced as especially slanderous by the earl--may better appear from his own private statements. "this i will do," he wrote to the queen, "and i hope not to fail of it, to get into my hands three or four most principal places in north holland; which will be such a strength and assurance for your majesty, as you shall see you shall both rule these men and make war or peace as you list, always provided--whatsoever you hear, or is--part not with the brill; and having these places in your hands, whatsoever should chance to these countries, your majesty, i will warrant sure enough to make what peace you will in an hour, and to have your debts and charges readily answered." at a somewhat later moment it will be seen what came of these secret designs. for the present, leicester was very angry with paul for daring to suspect him of such treachery. the earl complained, too, that the influence of buys with hohenlo and young maurice of nassau was most pernicious. hohenlo had formerly stood high in leicester's opinion. he was a "plain, faithful soldier, a most valiant gentleman," and he was still more important, because about to marry mary of nassau; eldest slaughter, of william the silent, and coheiress with philip william, to the buren property. but he had been tampered with by the intriguing paul buys, and had then wished to resign his office under leicester. being pressed for reasons, he had "grown solemn," and withdrawn himself almost entirely. maurice; with his "solemn, sly wit," also gave the earl much trouble, saying little; but thinking much, and listening to the insidious paul. he "stood much on making or marring," so leicester thought, "as he met with good counsel." he had formerly been on intimate terms with the governor-general, who affected to call him his son; but he had subsequently kept aloof, and in three months had not come near him. the earl thought that money might do much, and was anxious for sir francis drake to come home from the indies with millions of gold, that the queen might make both hohenlo and maurice a handsome present before it should be too late. meantime he did what he could with elector truchsess to lure them back again. that forlorn little prelate was now poorer and more wretched than ever. he was becoming paralytic, though young, and his heart was broken through want. leicester, always generous as the sun, gave him money, four thousand florins at a time, and was most earnest that the queen should put him on her pension list. "his wisdom, his behaviour, his languages, his person," said the earl, "all would like her well. he is in great melancholy for his town of neusz, and for his poverty, having a very noble mind. if, he be lost, her majesty had better lose a hundred thousand pounds." the melancholy truchsess now became a spy and a go-between. he insinuated himself into the confidence of paul buys, wormed his secrets from him, and then communicated them to hohenlo and to leicester; "but he did it very wisely," said the earl, "so that he was not mistrusted." the governor always affected, in order to screen the elector from suspicion, to obtain his information from persons in utrecht; and he had indeed many spies in that city; who diligently reported paul's table-talk. nevertheless, that "noble gentleman, the elector," said leicester, "hath dealt most deeply with him, to seek out the bottom." as the ex-advocate of holland was very communicative in his cups, and very bitter against the governor-general, there was soon such a fund of information collected on the subject by various eaves-droppers, that leicester was in hopes of very soon hanging mr. paul buys, as we have already seen. the burthen of the charges against the culprit was his statement that the provinces would be gone if her majesty did not declare herself, vigorously and generously, in their favour; but, as this was the perpetual cry of leicester himself, there seemed hardly hanging matter in that. that noble gentleman, the elector, however, had nearly saved the hangman his trouble, having so dealt with hohenlo as to "bring him into as good a mind as ever he was;" and the first fruits of this good mind were, that the honest count--a man of prompt dealings--walked straight to paul's house in order to kill him on the spot. something fortunately prevented the execution of this plan; but for a time at least the energetic count continued to be "governed greatly" by the ex-archbishop, and "did impart wholly unto him his most secret heart." thus the "deep wise truxy," as leicester called him, continued to earn golden opinions, and followed up his conversion of hohenlo by undertaking to "bring maurice into tune again also," and the young prince was soon on better terms with his "affectionate father" than he had ever been before. paul buys was not so easily put down, however, nor the two magnates so thoroughly gained over. before the end of the season maurice stood in his old position, the nominal head of the holland or patrician party, chief of the opposition to leicester, while hohenlo had become more bitter than ever against the earl. the quarrel between himself and edward norris, to which allusion will soon be made, tended to increase the dissatisfaction, although he singularly misunderstood leicester's sentiments throughout the whole affair. hohenlo recovered of his wound before zutphen; but, on his recovery, was more malcontent than ever. the earl was obliged at last to confess that "he was a very dangerous man, inconstant, envious; and hateful to all our nation, and a very traitor to the cause. there is no dealing to win him," he added, "i have sought it to my cost. his best friends tell me he is not to be trusted." meantime that lewd sinner, the indefatigable paul, was plotting desperately--so leicester said and believed--to transfer the sovereignty of the provinces to the king of denmark. buys, who was privately of opinion that the states required an absolute head, "though it were but an onion's head," and that they would thankfully continue under leicester as governor absolute if elizabeth would accept the sovereignty, had made up his mind that the queen would never take that step. he was therefore disposed to offer the crown to the king of denmark, and was believed to have brought maurice--who was to espouse that king's daughter--to the same way of thinking. young count rantzan, son of a distinguished danish statesman, made a visit to the netherlands in order to confer with buys. paul was also anxious to be appointed envoy to denmark, ostensibly to arrange for the two thousand cavalry, which the king had long before promised for the assistance of the provinces, but in reality, to examine the details of this new project; and leicester represented to the queen very earnestly how powerful the danish monarch would become, thus rendered master of the narrow seas, and how formidable to england. in the midst of these plottings, real or supposed, a party of armed men, one fine summer's morning, suddenly entered paul's bedroom as he lay asleep at the house of the burgomaster, seized his papers, and threw him: into prison in the wine-cellar of the town-house. "oh my papers, oh my papers!" cried the unfortunate politician, according to leicester's statement, "the queen of england will for ever hate me." the earl disavowed all, participation in the arrest; but he was not believed. he declared himself not sorry that the measure had been taken, and promised that he would not "be hasty to release him," not doubting that "he would be found faulty enough." leicester maintained that there was stuff enough discovered to cost paul his head; but he never lost his head, nor was anything treasonable or criminal ever found against him. the intrigue with denmark--never proved--and commenced, if undertaken at all, in utter despair of elizabeth's accepting the sovereignty, was the gravest charge. he remained, however, six months in prison, and at the beginning of was released, without trial or accusation, at the request of the english queen. the states could hardly be blamed for their opposition to the earl's administration, for he had thrown himself completely into the arms of a faction, whose object was to vilipend and traduce them, and it was now difficult for him to recover the functions of which the queen had deprived him. "the government they had given from themselves to me stuck in their stomachs always," he said. thus on the one side, the states were, "growing more stately than ever," and were-always "jumbling underhand," while the aristocratic earl, on, his part, was resolute not to be put down by "churls and tinkers." he was sure that the people were with him, and that, "having always been governed by some prince, they, never did nor could consent to be ruled by bakers, brewers, and hired advocates. i know they hate them," said this high-born tribune of the people. he was much disgusted with the many-headed chimaera, the monstrous republic, with which he found himself in such unceasing conflict, and was disposed to take a manful stand. "i have been fain of late," he said, "to set the better leg foremost, to handle some of my masters somewhat plainly; for they thought i would droop; and whatsoever becomes of me, you shall hear i will keep my reputation, or die for it." but one great accusation, made against the churls and tinkers, and bakers and hired advocates, and mr. paul buys at their head, was that they were liberal towards the papists. they were willing that catholics should remain in the country and exercise the rights of citizens, provided they, conducted themselves like good citizens. for this toleration--a lesson which statesmen like buys and barneveld had learned in the school of william the silent--the opposition-party were denounced as bolsterers of papists, and papists themselves at heart, and "worshippers of idolatrous idols." from words, too, the government of leicester passed to acts. seventy papists were banished from the city of utrecht at the time of the arrest of buys. the queen had constantly enforced upon leicester the importance of dealing justly with the catholics in the netherlands, on the ground that they might be as good patriots and were as much interested in the welfare of their country as were the protestants; and he was especially enjoined "not to meddle in matters of religion." this wholesome advice it would have been quite impossible for the earl, under the guidance of reingault, burgrave, and stephen perret, to carry out. he protested that he should have liked to treat papists and calvinists "with indifference," but that it had proved impossible; that the catholics were perpetually plotting with the spanish faction, and that no towns were safe except those in which papists had been excluded from office. "they love the pope above all," he said, "and the prince of parma hath continual intelligence with them." nor was it catholics alone who gave the governor trouble. he was likewise very busy in putting down other denominations that differed from the calvinists. "your majesty will not believe," he said, "the number of sects that are in most towns; especially anabaptists, families of love, georgians; and i know not what. the godly and good ministers were molested by them in many places, and ready to give over; and even such diversities grew among magistrates in towns, being caused by some sedition-sowers here." it is however, satisfactory to reflect that the anabaptists and families of love, although discouraged and frowned upon, were not burned alive, buried alive, drowned in dungeons, and roasted at slow fires, as had been the case with them and with every other species of protestants, by thousands and tens of thousands, so long as charles v. and philip ii. had ruled the territory of that commonwealth. humanity had acquired something by the war which the netherlanders had been waging for twenty years, and no man or woman was ever put to death for religious causes after the establishment of the republic. with his hands thus full of business, it was difficult for the earl to obey the queen's command not to meddle in religious matters; for he was not of the stature of william the silent, and could not comprehend that the great lesson taught by the sixteenth century was that men were not to meddle with men in matters of religion. but besides his especial nightmare--mr. paul buys--the governor-general had a whole set of incubi in the norris family. probably no two persons ever detested each other more cordially than did leicester and sir john norris. sir john had been commander of the forces in the netherlands before leicester's arrival, and was unquestionably a man of larger experience than the earl. he had, however, as walsingham complained, acquired by his services in "countries where neither discipline military nor religion carried any sway," a very rude and licentious kind of government. "would to god," said the secretary, "that, with his value and courage, he carried the mind and reputation of a religious soldier." but that was past praying for. sir john was proud, untractable, turbulent, very difficult to manage. he hated leicester, and was furious with sir william pelham, whom leicester had made marshal of the camp. he complained, not unjustly, that from the first place in the army, which he had occupied in the netherlands, he had been reduced to the fifth. the governor-general--who chose to call sir john the son of his ancient enemy, the earl of sussex--often denounced him in good set terms. "his brother edward is as ill as he," he said, "but john is right the late earl of sussex' son; he will so dissemble and crouch, and so cunningly carry his doings, as no man living would imagine that there were half the malice or vindictive mind that plainly his words prove to be." leicester accused him of constant insubordination, insolence, and malice, complained of being traduced by him everywhere in the netherlands and in england, and declared that he was followed about by "a pack of lewd audacious fellows," whom the earl vowed he would hang, one and all, before he had done with them. he swore openly, in presence of all his camp, that he would hang sir john likewise; so that both the brothers, who had never been afraid of anything since they had been born into the world, affected to be in danger of their lives. the norrises were on bad terms with many officers--with sir william pelham of course, with "old reade," lord north, roger williams, hohenlo, essex, and other nobles--but with sir philip sidney, the gentle and chivalrous, they were friends. sir john had quarrelled in former times--according to leicester--with hohenlo and even with the "good and brave" la none, of the iron arm; "for his pride," said the earl, "was the spirit of the devil." the governor complained every day of his malignity, and vowed that he "neither regarded the cause of god, nor of his prince, nor country." he consorted chiefly with sir thomas cecil, governor of brill, son of lord burghley, and therefore no friend to leicester; but the earl protested that "master thomas should bear small rule," so long as he was himself governor-general. "now i have pelham and stanley, we shall do well enough," he said, "though my young master would countenance him. i will be master while i remain here, will they, nill they." edward norris, brother of sir john, gave the governor almost as much trouble as he; but the treasurer norris, uncle to them both, was, if possible, more odious to him than all. he was--if half leicester's accusations are to be believed--a most infamous peculator. one-third of the money sent by the queen for the soldiers stuck in his fingers. he paid them their wretched four-pence a-day in depreciated coin, so that for their "naughty money they could get but naughty ware." never was such "fleecing of poor soldiers," said leicester. on the other hand, sir john maintained that his uncle's accounts were always ready for examination, and earnestly begged the home-government not to condemn that functionary without a hearing. for himself, he complained that he was uniformly kept in the background, left in ignorance of important enterprises, and sent on difficult duty with inadequate forces. it was believed that leicester's course was inspired by envy, lest any military triumph that might be gained should redound to the glory of sir john, one of the first commanders of the age, rather than to that of the governor-general. he was perpetually thwarted, crossed, calumniated, subjected to coarse and indecent insults, even from such brave men as lord north and roger williams, and in the very presence of the commander-in-chief, so that his talents were of no avail, and he was most anxious to be gone from the country. thus with the tremendous opposition formed to his government in the states-general, the incessant bickerings with the norrises, the peculations of the treasurer, the secret negotiations with spain, and the impossibility of obtaining money from home for himself or for his starving little army, the earl was in anything but a comfortable position. he was severely censured in england; but he doubted, with much reason, whether there were many who would take his office, and spend twenty thousand pounds sterling out of their own pockets, as he had done. the earl was generous and brave as man could be, full of wit, quick of apprehension; but inordinately vain, arrogant, and withal easily led by designing persons. he stood up manfully for the cause in which he was embarked, and was most strenuous in his demands for money. "personally he cared," he said, "not sixpence for his post; but would give five thousand sixpences, and six thousand shillings beside, to be rid of it;" but it was contrary to his dignity to "stand bucking with the states" for his salary. "is it reason," he asked, "that i, being sent from so great a prince as our sovereign is, must come to strangers to beg my entertainment: if they are to pay me, why is there no remembrance made of it by her majesty's letters, or some of the lords?" the earl and those around him perpetually and vehemently urged upon the queen to reconsider her decision, and accept the sovereignty of the provinces at once. there was no other remedy for the distracted state of the country--no other safeguard for england. the netherland people anxiously, eagerly desired it. her majesty was adored by all the inhabitants, who would gladly hang the fellows called the states. lord north was of this opinion--so was cavendish. leicester had always held it. "sure i am," he said, "there is but one way for our safety, and that is, that her majesty may take that upon her which i fear she will not." thomas wilkes, who now made his appearance on the scene, held the same language. this distinguished civilian had been sent by the queen, early in august, to look into the state of netherland affairs. leicester having expressly urged the importance of selecting as wise a politician as could be found--because the best man in england would hardly be found a match for the dullards and drunkards, as it was the fashion there to call the dutch statesmen--had selected wilkes. after fulfilling this important special mission, he was immediately afterwards to return to the netherlands as english member of the state-council, at forty shillings a-day, in the place of "little hal killigrew," whom leicester pronounced a "quicker and stouter fellow" than he had at first taken him for, although he had always thought well of him. the other english counsellor, dr. bartholomew clerk, was to remain, and the earl declared that he too, whom he had formerly undervalued, and thought to have "little stuff in him," was now "increasing greatly in understanding." but notwithstanding this intellectual progress, poor bartholomew, who was no beginner, was most anxious to retire. he was a man of peace, a professor, a doctor of laws, fonder of the learned leisure and the trim gardens of england than of the scenes which now surrounded him. "i beseech your good lordship to consider," he dismally observed to burghley, "what a hard case it is for a man that these fifteen years hath had vitam sedentariam, unworthily in a place judicial, always in his long robe, and who, twenty-four years since, was a public reader in the university (and therefore cannot be young), to come now among guns and drums, tumbling up and down, day and night, over waters and banks, dykes and ditches, upon every occasion that falleth out; hearing many insolences with silence, bearing many hard measures with patience--a course most different from my nature, and most unmeet for him that hath ever professed learning." wilkes was of sterner stuff. always ready to follow the camp and to face the guns and drums with equanimity, and endowed beside with keen political insight, he was more competent than most men to unravel the confused skein of netherland politics. he soon found that the queen's secret negotiations with spain, and the general distrust of her intentions in regard to the provinces, were like to have fatal consequences. both he and leicester painted the anxiety of the netherland people as to the intention of her majesty in vivid colours. the queen could not make up her mind--in the very midst of the greenwich secret conferences, already described--to accept the netherland sovereignty. "she gathereth from your letter," wrote walsingham, "that the only salve for this sore is to make herself proprietary of the country, and to put in such an army as may be able to make head to the enemy. these two things being so contrary to her majesty's disposition--the one, for that it breedeth a doubt of a perpetual war, the other, for that it requireth an increase of charges--do marvellously distract her, and make her repent that ever she entered into the action." upon the great subject of the sovereignty, therefore, she was unable to adopt the resolution so much desired by leicester and by the people of the provinces; but she answered the earl's communications concerning maurice and hohenlo, sir john norris and the treasurer, in characteristic but affectionate language. and thus she wrote: "rob, i am afraid you will suppose, by my wandering writings, that a midsummer's moon hath taken large possession of my brains this month; but you must needs take things as they come in my head, though order be left behind me. when i remember your request to have a discreet and honest man that may carry my mind, and see how all goes there, i have chosen this bearer (thomas wilkes), whom you know and have made good trial of. i have fraught him full of my conceipts of those country matters, and imparted what way i mind to take and what is fit for you to use. i am sure you can credit him, and so i will be short with these few notes. first, that count maurice and count hollock (hohenlo) find themselves trusted of you, esteemed of me, and to be carefully regarded, if ever peace should happen, and of that assure them on my word, that yet never deceived any. and for norris and other captains that voluntarily, without commandment, have many years ventured their lives and won our nation honour and themselves fame, let them not be discouraged by any means, neither by new-come men nor by old trained soldiers elsewhere. if there be fault in using of soldiers, or making of profit by them, let them hear of it without open shame, and doubt not i will well chasten them therefore. it frets me not a little that the poor soldiers that hourly venture life should want their due, that well deserve rather reward; and look, in whom the fault may truly be proved, let them smart therefore. and if the treasurer be found untrue or negligent, according to desert he shall be used. but you know my old wont, that love not to discharge from office without desert. god forbid! i pray you let this bearer know what may be learned herein, and for the treasure i have joined sir thomas shirley to see all this money discharged in due sort, where it needeth and behoveth. "now will i end, that do imagine i talk still with you, and therefore loathly say farewell one hundred thousand times; though ever i pray god bless you from all harm, and save you from all foes. with my million and legion of thanks for all your pains and cares, "as you know ever the same, "e. r. "p. s. let wilkes see that he is acceptable to you. if anything there be that w. shall desire answer of be such as you would have but me to know, write it to myself. you know i can keep both others' counsel and mine own. mistrust not that anything you would have kept shall be disclosed by me, for although this bearer ask many things, yet you may answer him such as you shall think meet, and write to me the rest." thus, not even her favourite leicester's misrepresentations could make the queen forget her ancient friendship for "her own crow;" but meantime the relations between that "bunch of brethren," black norris and the rest, and pelham, hollock, and other high officers in leicester's army, had grown worse than ever. one august evening there was a supper-party at count hollock's quarters in gertruydenberg. a military foray into brabant had just taken place, under the lead of the count, and of the lord marshal, sir william pelham. the marshal had requested lord willoughby, with his troop of horse and five hundred foot, to join in the enterprise, but, as usual, particular pains had been taken that sir john norris should know nothing of the affair. pelham and hollock--who was "greatly in love with mr. pelham"--had invited several other gentlemen high in leicester's confidence to accompany the expedition; and, among the rest, sir philip sidney, telling him that he "should see some good service." sidney came accordingly, in great haste, from flushing, bringing along with him edward norris--that hot-headed young man, who, according to leicester, "greatly governed his elder brother"--but they arrived at gertruydenberg too late. the foray was over, and the party--"having burned a village, and killed some boors"--were on their return. sidney, not perhaps much regretting the loss of his share in this rather inglorious shooting party, went down to the water-side, accompanied by captain norris, to meet hollock and the other commanders. as the count stepped on shore he scowled ominously, and looked very much out of temper. "what has come to hollock?" whispered captain patton, a scotchman, to sidney. "has he a quarrel with any of the party? look at his face! he means mischief to somebody." but sidney was equally amazed at the sudden change in the german general's countenance, and as unable to explain it. soon afterwards, the whole party, hollock, lewis william of nassau, lord carew, lord essex, lord willoughby, both the sidneys, roger williams, pelham, edward norris, and the rest, went to the count's lodgings, where they supped, and afterwards set themselves seriously to drinking. norris soon perceived that he was no welcome guest; for he was not--like sidney--a stranger to the deep animosity which had long existed between sir john norris and sir william pelham and his friends. the carouse was a tremendous one, as usually was the case where hollock was the amphitryon, and, as the potations grew deeper, an intention became evident on the part of some of the company to behave unhandsomely to norris. for a time the young captain ostentatiously restrained himself, very much after the fashion of those meek individuals who lay their swords on the tavern-table, with "god grant i may have no need of thee!" the custom was then prevalent at banquets for the revellers to pledge each other in rotation, each draining a great cup, and exacting the same feat from his neighbour, who then emptied his goblet as a challenge to his next comrade. the lord marshal took a beaker, and called out to edward norris. "i drink to the health of my lord norris, and of my lady; your mother." so saying, he emptied his glass. the young man did not accept the pledge. "your lordship knows," he said somewhat sullenly, "that i am not wont to drink deep. mr. sidney there can tell you that, for my health's sake, i have drank no wine these eight days. if your lordship desires the pleasure of seeing me drunk, i am not of the same mind. i pray you at least to take a smaller glass." sir william insisted on the pledge. norris then, in no very good humour, emptied his cup to the earl of essex. essex responded by draining a goblet to count hollock. "a norris's father," said the young earl; as he pledged the count, who was already very drunk, and looking blacker than ever. "an 'orse's father--an 'orse's father!" growled' hollock; "i never drink to horses, nor to their fathers either:" and with this wonderful witticism he declined the pledge. essex explained that the toast was lord norris, father of the captain; but the count refused to understand, and held fiercely, and with damnable iteration, to his jest. the earl repeated his explanation several times with no better success. norris meanwhile sat swelling with wrath, but said nothing. again the lord marshal took the same great glass, and emptied it to the young captain. norris, not knowing exactly what course to take, placed the glass at the side of his plate, and glared grimly at sir william. pelham was furious. reaching over the table, he shoved the glass towards norris with an angry gesture. "take your glass, captain norris," he cried; "and if you have a mind to jest, seek other companions. i am not to be trifled with; therefore, i say, pledge me at once." "your lordship shall not force me to drink more wine than i list," returned the other. "it is your pleasure to take advantage of your military rank. were we both at home, you would be glad to be my companion." norris was hard beset, and although his language was studiously moderate, it was not surprising that his manner should be somewhat insolent. the veteran lord marshal, on the other hand, had distinguished himself on many battle-fields, but his deportment at this banqueting-table was not much to his credit. he paused a moment, and norris, too, held his peace, thinking that his enemy would desist. it was but for a moment. "captain norris," cried pelham, "i bid you pledge me without more ado. neither you nor your best friends shall use me as you list. i am better born than you and your brother, the colonel-general, and the whole of you." "i warn you to say nothing disrespectful against my brother," replied the captain. "as for yourself, i know how to respect your age and superior rank." "drink, drink, drink!" roared the old marshal. "i tell you i am better born than the best of you. i have advanced you all too, and you know it; therefore drink to me." sir william was as logical as men in their cups are prone to be. "indeed, you have behaved well to my brother thomas," answered norris, suddenly becoming very courteous, "and for this i have ever loved your lordship, and would, do you any service." "well, then," said the marshal, becoming tender in his turn, "forget what hath past this night, and do as you would have done before." "very well said, indeed!" cried sir philip sidney, trying to help the natter into the smoother channel towards which it was tending. norris, seeing that the eyes of the whole company were upon them; took the glass accordingly, and rose to his feet. "my lord marshal," he said, "you have done me more wrong this night than you can easily make satisfaction for. but i am unwilling that any trouble or offence should grow through me. therefore once more i pledge you." he raised the cup to his lips. at that instant hollock, to whom nothing had been said, and who had spoken no word since his happy remark about the horse's father, suddenly indulged in a more practical jest; and seizing the heavy gilt cover of a silver vase, hurled it at the head of norris. it struck him full on the forehead, cutting him to the bone. the captain, stunned for a moment, fell back in his chair, with the blood running down his eyes and face. the count, always a man of few words, but prompt in action, now drew his dagger, and strode forward, with the intention of despatching him upon the spot. sir philip sidney threw his arms around hollock, however, and, with the assistance of others in the company, succeeded in dragging him from the room. the affair was over in a few seconds. norris, coming back to consciousness, sat for a moment as one amazed, rubbing the blood out of his eyes; then rose from the table to seek his adversary; but he was gone. soon afterwards he went to his lodgings. the next morning he was advised to leave the town as speedily as possible; for as it was under the government of hollock, and filled with his soldiers, he was warned that his life would not be safe there an hour. accordingly he went to his boat, accompanied only by his man and his page, and so departed with his broken head, breathing vengeance against hollock, pelham, leicester, and the whole crew, by whom he had been thus abused. the next evening there was another tremendous carouse at the count's, and, says the reporter of the preceding scene, "they were all on such good terms, that not one of the company had falling band or ruff left about his neck. all were clean torn away, and yet there was no blood drawn." edward norris--so soon as might be afterwards--sent a cartel to the count, demanding mortal combat with sword and dagger. sir philip sidney bore the message. sir john norris, of course warmly and violently espoused the cause of his brother, and was naturally more incensed against the lord marshal than ever, for sir william pelham was considered the cause of the whole affray. "even if the quarrel is to be excused by drink," said an eye-witness, "'tis but a slender defence for my lord to excuse himself by his cups; and often drink doth bewray men's humours and unmask their malice. certainly the count hollock thought to have done a pleasure to the company in killing him." nothing could be more ill-timed than this quarrel, or more vexatious to leicester. the count--although considering himself excessively injured at being challenged by a simple captain and an untitled gentleman, whom he had attempted to murder--consented to waive his privilege, and grant the meeting. leicester interposed, however, to delay, and, if possible, to patch up the affair. they were on the eve of active military operations, and it was most vexatious for the commander-in-chief to see, as he said, "the quarrel with the enemy changed to private revenge among ourselves." the intended duel did not take place; for various influential personages succeeded in deferring the meeting. then came the battle of zutphen. sidney fell, and hollock was dangerously wounded in the attack which was soon afterwards made upon the fort. he was still pressed to afford the promised satisfaction, however, and agreed to do so whenever he should rise from his bed. strange to say, the count considered leicester, throughout the whole business, to have taken part against him. yet there is no doubt whatever that the earl--who detested the norrises, and was fonder of pelham than of any man living--uniformly narrated the story most unjustly, to the discredit of the young captain. he considered him extremely troublesome, represented him as always quarrelling with some one--with colonel morgan, roger williams, old reade, and all the rest--while the lord marshal, on the contrary, was depicted as the mildest of men. "this i must say," he observed, "that all present, except my two nephews (the sidneys), who are not here yet, declare the greatest fault to be in edward norris, and that he did most arrogantly use the marshal." it is plain, however, that the old marshal, under the influence of wine, was at least quite as much to blame as the young captain; and sir philip sidney sufficiently showed his sense of the matter by being the bearer of edward norris's cartel. after sidney's death, sir john norris, in his letter of condolence to walsingham for the death of his illustrious son-in-law, expressed the deeper regret at his loss because sir philip's opinion had been that the norrises were wronged. hollock had conducted himself like a lunatic, but this he was apt to do whether in his cups or not. he was always for killing some one or another on the slightest provocation, and, while the dog-star of was raging, it was not his fault if he had not already despatched both edward norris and the objectionable "mr. p. b." for these energetic demonstrations against leicester's enemies he considered himself entitled to the earl's eternal gratitude, and was deeply disgusted at his apparent coldness. the governor was driven almost to despair by these quarrels. his colonel-general, his lord marshal, his lieutenant-general, were all at daggers drawn. "would god i were rid of this place!" he exclaimed. "what man living would go to the field and have his officers divided almost into mortal quarrel? one blow but by any of their lackeys brings us altogether by the ears." it was clear that there was not room enough on the netherland soil for the earl of leicester and the brothers norris. the queen, while apparently siding with the earl, intimated to sir john that she did not disapprove his conduct, that she should probably recall him to england, and that she should send him back to the provinces after the earl had left that country. such had been the position of the governor-general towards the queen, towards the states-general, and towards his own countrymen, during the year . etext editor's bookmarks: are wont to hang their piety on the bell-rope arminianism as logical as men in their cups are prone to be tolerating religious liberty had never entered his mind history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter. xi drake in the netherlands--good results of his visit--the babington conspiracy--leicester decides to visit england--exchange of parting compliments. late in the autumn of the same year an englishman arrived in the netherlands, bearer of despatches from the queen. he had been entrusted by her majesty with a special mission to the states-general, and he had soon an interview with that assembly at the hague. he was a small man, apparently forty-five years of age, of a fair but somewhat weather-stained complexion, with light-brown, closely-curling hair, an expansive forehead, a clear blue eye, rather commonplace features, a thin, brown, pointed beard, and a slight moustache. though low of stature, he was broad-chested, with well-knit limbs. his hands, which were small and nervous, were brown and callous with the marks of toil. there was something in his brow and glance not to be mistaken, and which men willingly call master; yet he did not seem, to have sprung of the born magnates of the earth. he wore a heavy gold chain about his neck, and it might be observed that upon the light full sleeves of his slashed doublet the image of a small ship on a terrestrial globe was curiously and many times embroidered. it was not the first time that he had visited the netherlands. thirty years before the man had been apprentice on board a small lugger, which traded between the english coast and the ports of zeeland. emerging in early boyhood from his parental mansion--an old boat, turned bottom upwards on a sandy down he had naturally taken to the sea, and his master, dying childless not long afterwards, bequeathed to him the lugger. but in time his spirit, too much confined by coasting in the narrow seas, had taken a bolder flight. he had risked his hard-earned savings in a voyage with the old slave-trader, john hawkins--whose exertions, in what was then considered an honourable and useful vocation, had been rewarded by queen elizabeth with her special favour, and with a coat of arms, the crest whereof was a negro's head, proper, chained--but the lad's first and last enterprise in this field was unfortunate. captured by spaniards, and only escaping with life, he determined to revenge himself on the whole spanish nation; and this was considered a most legitimate proceeding according to the "sea divinity" in which he, had been schooled. his subsequent expeditions against the spanish possessions in the west indies were eminently successful, and soon the name of francis drake rang through the world, and startled philip in the depths of his escorial. the first englishman, and the second of any nation, he then ploughed his memorable "furrow round the earth," carrying amazement and, destruction to the spaniards as he sailed, and after three years brought to the queen treasure enough, as it was asserted, to maintain a war with the spanish king for seven years, and to pay himself and companions, and the merchant-adventurers who had participated in his enterprise, forty-seven pounds sterling for every pound invested in the voyage. the speculation had been a fortunate one both, for himself and for the kingdom. the terrible sea-king was one of the great types of the sixteenth century. the self-helping private adventurer, in his little vessel the 'golden hind,' one hundred tons burthen, had waged successful war against a mighty empire, and had shown england how to humble philip. when he again set foot on his native soil he was followed by admiring crowds, and became the favourite hero of romance and ballad; for it was not the ignoble pursuit of gold alone, through toil and peril, which had endeared his name to the nation. the popular instinct recognized that the true means had been found at last for rescuing england and protestantism from the overshadowing empire of spain. the queen visited him in his 'golden hind,' and gave him the honour of knighthood. the treaty between the united netherlands and england had been followed by an embargo upon english vessels, persons, and property, in the ports of spain; and after five years of unwonted repose, the privateersman again set forth with twenty-five small vessels--of which five or six only were armed--under his command, conjoined with that of general carlisle. this time the voyage was undertaken with full permission and assistance of the queen who, however, intended to disavow him, if she should find such a step convenient. this was the expedition in which philip sidney had desired to take part. the queen watched its result with intense anxiety, for the fate of her netherland adventure was thought to be hanging on the issue. "upon drake's voyage, in very truth, dependeth the life and death of the cause, according to man's judgment," said walsingham. the issue was encouraging, even, if the voyage--as a mercantile speculation--proved not so brilliant as the previous enterprises of sir francis had been. he returned in the midsummer of , having captured and brandschatzed st. domingo and carthagena; and burned st. augustine. "a fearful man to the king of spain is sir francis drake," said lord burghley. nevertheless, the queen and the lord-treasurer--as we have shown by the secret conferences at greenwich--had, notwithstanding these successes, expressed a more earnest desire for peace than ever. a simple, sea-faring englishman, with half-a-dozen miserable little vessels, had carried terror, into the spanish possessions all over the earth: but even then the great queen had not learned to rely on the valour of her volunteers against her most formidable enemy. drake was, however, bent on another enterprise. the preparations for philip's great fleet had been going steadily forward in lisbon, cadiz, and other ports of spain and portugal, and, despite assurances to the contrary, there was a growing belief that england was to be invaded. to destroy those ships before the monarch's face, would be, indeed, to "singe his beard." but whose arm was daring enough for such a stroke? whose but that of the devonshire skipper who had already accomplished so much? and so sir francis, "a man true to his word, merciful to those under him, and hating nothing so much as idleness," had come to the netherlands to talk over his project with the states-general, and with the dutch merchants and sea-captains. his visit was not unfruitful. as a body the assembly did nothing; but they recommended that in every maritime city of holland and zeeland one or two ships should be got ready, to participate in all the future enterprises of sir francis and his comrades. the martial spirit of volunteer sailors, and the keen instinct of mercantile speculation, were relied upon--exactly as in england--to furnish men, ships, and money, for these daring and profitable adventures. the foundation of a still more intimate connection between england and holland was laid, and thenceforth dutchmen and englishmen fought side by side, on land and sea, wherever a blow was to be struck in the cause of human freedom against despotic spain. the famous babington conspiracy, discovered by walsingham's "travail and cost," had come to convince the queen and her counsellors--if further proof were not superfluous--that her throne and life were both incompatible with philip's deep designs, and that to keep that monarch out of the netherlands, was as vital to her as to keep him out of england. "she is forced by this discovery to countenance the cause by all outward means she may," said walsingham, "for it appeareth unto her most plain, that unless she had entered into the action, she had been utterly undone, and that if she do not prosecute the same she cannot continue." the secretary had sent leicester information at an early day of the great secret, begging his friend to "make the letter a heretic after he had read the same," and expressing the opinion that "the matter, if well handled, would break the neck of all dangerous practices during her majesty's reign." the tragedy of mary stuart--a sad but inevitable portion of the vast drama in which the emancipation of england and holland, and, through them, of half christendom, was accomplished--approached its catastrophe; and leicester could not restrain his anxiety for her immediate execution. he reminded walsingham that the great seal had been put upon a warrant for her execution for a less crime seventeen years before, on the occasion of the northumberland and westmorland rebellion. "for who can warrant these villains from her," he said, "if that person live, or shall live any time? god forbid! and be you all stout and resolute in this speedy execution, or be condemned of all the world for ever. it is most. certain, if you will have your majesty safe, it must be done, for justice doth crave it beside policy." his own personal safety was deeply compromised. "your lordship and i," wrote burghley, "were very great motes in the traitors' eyes; for your lordship there and i here should first, about one time, have been killed. of your lordship they thought rather of poisoning than slaying. after us two gone, they purposed her majesty's death." but on this great affair of state the earl was not swayed by such personal considerations. he honestly thought--as did all the statesmen who governed england--that english liberty, the very existence of the english commonwealth, was impossible so long as mary stuart lived. under these circumstances he was not impatient, for a time at least, to leave the netherlands. his administration had not been very successful. he had been led away by his own vanity, and by the flattery of artful demagogues, but the immense obstacles with which he had to contend in the queen's wavering policy, and in the rivalry of both english and dutch politicians have been amply exhibited. that he had been generous, courageous, and zealous, could not be denied; and, on the whole, he had accomplished as much in the field as could have been expected of him with such meagre forces, and so barren an exchequer. it must be confessed, however, that his leaving the netherlands at that moment was a most unfortunate step, both for his own reputation and for the security of the provinces. party-spirit was running high, and a political revolution was much to be dreaded in so grave a position of affairs, both in england and holland. the arrangements--and particularly the secret arrangements which he made at his departure--were the most fatal measures of all; but these will be described in the following chapter. on the st october; the earl announced to the state-council his intention of returning to england, stating, as the cause of this sudden determination, that he had been summoned to attend the parliament then sitting in westminster. wilkes, who was of course present, having now succeeded killigrew as one of the two english members, observed that "the states and council used but slender entreaty to his excellency for his stay and countenance there among them, whereat his excellency and we that were of the council for her majesty did not a little marvel." some weeks later, however, upon the st november, leicester summoned barneveld, and five other of the states general, to discuss the necessary measures for his departure, when those gentlemen remonstrated very earnestly upon the step, pleading the danger and confusion of affairs which must necessarily ensue. the earl declared that he was not retiring from the country because he was offended, although he had many causes for offence: and he then alluded to the navigation act, to the establishment council, and spoke of the finance of burgrave and reingault, for his employment of which individuals so much obloquy had been heaped upon his, head. burgrave he pronounced, as usual, a substantial, wise, faithful, religious personage, entitled to fullest confidence; while reingault--who had been thrown into prison by the states on charges of fraud, peculation, and sedition--he declared to be a great financier, who had promised, on penalty of his head, to bring "great sums into the treasury for carrying on the war, without any burthen to the community." had he been able to do this, he had certainly claim to be considered the greatest of financiers; but the promised "mountains of gold" were never discovered, and reingault was now awaiting his trial. the deputies replied that the concessions upon the navigation act had satisfied the country, but that reingault was a known instrument of the spaniards, and burgrave a mischief-making demagogue, who consorted with malignants, and sent slanderous reports concerning the states and the country to her majesty. they had in consequence felt obliged to write private despatches to envoy ortel in england, not because they suspected the earl, but in order to counteract the calumnies of his chief advisers. they had urged the agent to bring the imprisonment of paul buys before her majesty, but for that transaction leicester boldly disclaimed all responsibility. it was agreed between the earl and the deputies that, during his absence, the whole government, civil and military, should devolve upon the state-council, and that sir john norris should remain in command of the english forces. two days afterwards leicester, who knew very well that a legation was about to proceed to england, without any previous concurrence on his part, summoned a committee of the states-general, together with barneveld, into the state-council. counsellor wilkes on his behalf then made a speech, in which he observed that more ample communications on the part of the states were to be expected. they had in previous colloquies touched upon comparatively unimportant matters, but he now begged to be informed why these commissioners were proceeding to england, and what was the nature of their instructions. why did not they formally offer the sovereignty of the provinces to the queen without conditions? that step had already been taken by utrecht. the deputies conferred apart for a little while, and then replied that the proposition made by utrecht was notoriously factious, illegal, and altogether futile. without the sanction of all the united states, of what value was the declaration of utrecht? moreover the charter of that province had been recklessly violated, its government overthrown, and its leading citizens banished. the action of the province under such circumstances was not deserving of comment; but should it appear that her majesty was desirous of assuming the sovereignty of the provinces upon reasonable conditions, the states of holland and of zeeland would not be found backward in the business. leicester proposed that prince maurice of nassau should go with him to england, as nominal chief of the embassy, and some of the deputies favoured the suggestion. it was however, vigorously and successfully opposed by barneveld, who urged that to leave the country without a head in such a dangerous position of affairs, would be an act of madness. leicester was much annoyed when informed of this decision. he was suspected of a design, during his absence, of converting maurice entirely to his own way of thinking. if unsuccessful, it was believed by the advocate and by many others that the earl would cause the young prince to be detained in england as long as philip william, his brother, had been kept in spain. he observed peevishly that he knew how it had all been brought about. words, of course, and handsome compliments were exchanged between the governor and the states-general on his departure. he protested that he had never pursued any private ends during his administration, but had ever sought to promote the good of the country and the glory of the queen, and that he had spent three hundred thousand florins of his own money in the brief period of his residence there. the advocate, on part of the states, assured him that they were all aware that in the friendship of england lay their only chance of salvation, but that united action was the sole means by which that salvation could be effected, and the one which had enabled the late prince of orange to maintain a contest unequalled by anything recorded in history. there was also much disquisition on the subject of finance--the advocate observing that the states now raised as much in a month as the provinces in the time of the emperor used to levy in a year--and expressed the hope that the queen would increase her contingent to ten thousand foot, and two thousand horse. he repudiated, in the name of the states-general and his own, the possibility of peace-negotiations; deprecated any allusion to the subject as fatal to their religion, their liberty, their very existence, and equally disastrous to england and to protestantism, and implored the earl, therefore, to use all his influence in opposition to any pacific overtures to or from spain. on the th november, acts were drawn up and signed by the earl, according to which the supreme government of the united netherlands was formally committed to the state-council during his absence. decrees were to be pronounced in the name of his excellency, and countersigned by maurice of nassau. on the following day, leicester, being somewhat indisposed, requested a deputation of the states-general to wait upon him in his own house. this was done, and a formal and affectionate farewell was then read to him by his secretary, mr. atye. it was responded to in complimentary fashion by advocate barneveld, who again took occasion at this parting interview to impress upon the governor the utter impossibility, in his own opinion and that of the other deputies, of reconciling the provinces with spain. leicester received from the states--as a magnificent parting present--a silver gilt vase "as tall as a man," and then departed for flushing to take shipping for england. chapter xii. ill-timed interregnum in the provinces--firmness of the english and dutch people--factions during leicester's government--democratic theories of the leicestriana--suspicions as to the earl's designs-- extreme views of the calvinists--political ambition of the church-- antagonism of the church and states--the states inclined to tolerance--desolation of the obedient provinces--pauperism and famine--prosperity of the republic--the year of expectation. it was not unnatural that the queen should desire the presence of her favourite at that momentous epoch, when the dread question, "aut fer aut feri," had at last demanded its definite solution. it was inevitable, too, that leicester should feel great anxiety to be upon the spot where the great tragedy, so full of fate to all christendom, and in which his own fortunes were so closely involved, was to be enacted. but it was most cruel to the netherlands--whose well-being was nearly as important to elizabeth as that of her own realm--to plunge them into anarchy at such a moment. yet this was the necessary result of the sudden retirement of leicester. he did not resign his government. he did not bind himself to return. the question of sovereignty was still unsettled, for it was still hoped by a large and influential party, that the english queen would accept the proposed annexation. it was yet doubtful, whether, during the period of abeyance, the states-general or the states-provincial, each within their separate sphere, were entitled to supreme authority. meantime, as if here were not already sufficient elements of dissension and doubt, came a sudden and indefinite interregnum, a provisional, an abnormal, and an impotent government. to the state-council was deputed the executive authority. but the state-council was a creature of the states-general, acting in concert with the governor-general, and having no actual life of its own. it was a board of consultation, not of decision, for it could neither enact its own decrees nor interpose a veto upon the decrees of the governor. certainly the selection of leicester to fill so important a post had not been a very fortunate one; and the enthusiasm which had greeted him, "as if he had been a messiah," on his arrival, had very rapidly dwindled away, as his personal character became known. the leading politicians of the country had already been aware of the error which they had committed in clothing with almost sovereign powers the delegate of one who had refused the sovereignty. they, were too adroit to neglect the opportunity, which her majesty's anger offered them, of repairing what they considered their blunder. when at last the quarrel, which looked so much like a lovers' quarrel, between elizabeth and 'sweet robin,' had been appeased to the satisfaction of robin, his royal mistress became more angry with the states for circumscribing than she had before been for their exaggeration of his authority. hence the implacable hatred of leicester to paul buys and barneveld. those two statesmen, for eloquence, learning, readiness, administrative faculty, surpassed by few who have ever wielded the destinies of free commonwealths, were fully equal to the task thrown upon their hands by the progress of events. that task was no slight one, for it was to the leading statesmen of holland and england, sustained by the indomitable resistance to despotism almost universal in the english and dutch nations, that the liberty of europe was entrusted at that, momentous epoch. whether united under one crown, as the netherlands ardently desired, or closely allied for aggression and defence, the two peoples were bound indissolubly together. the clouds were rolling up from the fatal south, blacker and more portentous than ever; the artificial equilibrium of forces, by which the fate of france was kept in suspense, was obviously growing every day more uncertain; but the prolonged and awful interval before the tempest should burst over the lands of freedom and protestantism, gave at least time for the prudent to prepare. the armada was growing every day in the ports of spain and portugal, and walsingham doubted, as little as did buys or barneveld, toward what shores that invasion was to be directed. england was to be conquered in order that the rebellious netherlands might be reduced; and 'mucio' was to be let slip upon the unhappy henry iii. so soon as it was thought probable that the bearnese and the valois had sufficiently exhausted each other. philip was to reign in paris, amsterdam, london, and edinburgh, without stirring from the escorial. an excellent programme, had there not been some english gentlemen, some subtle secretaries of state, some devonshire skippers, some dutch advocates and merchants, some zeeland fly-boatsmen, and six million men, women, and children, on the two sides of the north sea, who had the power of expressing their thoughts rather bluntly than otherwise, in different dialects of old anglo-saxon speech. certainly it would be unjust and ungracious to disparage the heroism of the great queen when the hour of danger really came, nor would it be legitimate for us, who can scan that momentous year of expectation, , by the light of subsequent events and of secret contemporaneous record, to censure or even sharply to criticise the royal hankering for peace, when peace had really become impossible. but as we shall have occasion to examine rather closely the secrets of the spanish, french, english, and dutch councils, during this epoch, we are likely to find, perhaps, that at least as great a debt is due to the english and dutch people, in mass, for the preservation of european liberty at that disastrous epoch as to any sovereign, general, or statesman. for it was in the great waters of the sixteenth century that the nations whose eyes were open, discovered the fountain of perpetual youth, while others, who were blind, passed rapidly onward to decrepitude. england was, in many respects, a despotism so far as regarded governmental forms; and no doubt the catholics were treated with greater rigour than could be justified even by the perpetual and most dangerous machinations of the seminary priests and their instigators against the throne and life of elizabeth. the word liberty was never musical in tudor ears, yet englishmen had blunt tongues and sharp weapons which rarely rusted for want of use. in the presence of a parliament, and the absence of a standing army, a people accustomed to read the bible in the vernacular, to handle great questions of religion and government freely, and to bear arms at will, was most formidable to despotism. there was an advance on the olden time. a francis drake, a john hawkins, a roger williams, might have been sold, under the plantagenets, like an ox or an ass. a 'female villain' in the reign of henry iii. could have been purchased for eighteen shillings--hardly the price of a fatted pig, and not one-third the value of an ambling palfrey--and a male villain, such an one as could in elizabeth's reign circumnavigate the globe in his own ship, or take imperial field-marshals by the beard, was worth but two or three pounds sterling in the market. here was progress in three centuries, for the villains were now become admirals and generals in england and holland, and constituted the main stay of these two little commonwealths, while the commanders who governed the 'invincible' fleets and armies of omnipotent spain, were all cousins of emperors, or grandees of bluest blood. perhaps the system of the reformation would not prove the least effective in the impending crisis. it was most important, then, that these two nations should be united in council, and should stand shoulder to shoulder as their great enemy advanced. but this was precisely what had been rendered almost impossible by the course of events during leicester's year of administration, and by his sudden but not final retirement at its close. the two great national parties which had gradually been forming, had remained in a fluid state during the presence of the governor-general. during his absence they gradually hardened into the forms which they were destined to retain for centuries. in the history of civil liberty, these incessant contests, these oral and written disquisitions, these sharp concussions of opinion, and the still harder blows, which, unfortunately, were dealt on a few occasions by the combatants upon each other, make the year a memorable one. the great questions of the origin of government, the balance of dynastic forces, the distribution of powers, were dealt with by the ablest heads, both dutch and english, that could be employed in the service of the kingdom and republic. it was a war of protocols, arguments, orations, rejoinders, apostilles, and pamphlets; very wholesome for the cause of free institutions and the intellectual progress of mankind. the reader may perhaps be surprised to see with how much vigour and boldness the grave questions which underlie all polity, were handled so many years before the days of russell and sidney, of montesquieu and locke, franklin, jefferson, rousseau, and voltaire; and he may be even more astonished to find exceedingly democratic doctrines propounded, if not believed in, by trained statesmen of the elizabethan school. he will be also apt to wonder that a more fitting time could not be found for such philosophical debate than the epoch at which both the kingdom and the republic were called upon to strain every sinew against the most formidable and aggressive despotism that the world had known since the fall of the roman empire. the great dividing-line between the two parties, that of leicester and that of holland, which controlled the action of the states-general, was the question of sovereignty. after the declaration of independence and the repudiation of philip, to whom did the sovereignty belong? to the people, said the leicestrians. to the states-general and the states-provincial, as legitimate representatives of the people, said the holland party. without looking for the moment more closely into this question, which we shall soon find ably discussed by the most acute reasoners of the time, it is only important at present to make a preliminary reflection. the earl of leicester, of all men is the world, would seem to have been precluded by his own action, and by the action of his queen, from taking ground against the states. it was the states who, by solemn embassy, had offered the sovereignty to elizabeth. she had not accepted the offer, but she had deliberated on the subject, and certainly she had never expressed a doubt whether or not the offer had been legally made. by the states, too, that governor-generalship had been conferred upon the earl, which had been so thankfully and eagerly accepted. it was strange, then, that he should deny the existence of the power whence his own authority was derived. if the states were not sovereigns of the netherlands, he certainly was nothing. he was but general of a few thousand english troops. the leicester party, then, proclaimed extreme democratic principles as to the origin of government and the sovereignty of the people. they sought to strengthen and to make almost absolute the executive authority of their chief, on the ground that such was the popular will; and they denounced with great acrimony the insolence of the upstart members of the states, half a dozen traders, hired advocates, churls, tinkers, and the like--as leicester was fond of designating the men who opposed him--in assuming these airs of sovereignty. this might, perhaps, be philosophical doctrine, had its supporters not forgotten that there had never been any pretence at an expression of the national will, except through the mouths of the states. the states-general and the states-provincial, without any usurpation, but as a matter of fact and of great political convenience, had, during fifteen years, exercised the authority which had fallen from philip's hands. the people hitherto had acquiesced in their action, and certainly there had not yet been any call for a popular convention, or any other device to ascertain the popular will. it was also difficult to imagine what was the exact entity of this abstraction called the "people" by men who expressed such extreme contempt for "merchants, advocates, town-orators, churls, tinkers, and base mechanic men, born not to command but to obey." who were the people when the educated classes and the working classes were thus carefully eliminated? hardly the simple peasantry--the boors--who tilled the soil. at that day the agricultural labourers less than all others dreamed of popular sovereignty, and more than all others submitted to the mild authority of the states. according to the theory of the netherland constitutions, they were supposed--and they had themselves not yet discovered the fallacies to which such doctrines could lead--to be represented by the nobles and country-squires who maintained in the states of each province the general farming interests of the republic. moreover, the number of agricultural peasants was comparatively small. the lower classes were rather accustomed to plough the sea than the land, and their harvests were reaped from that element, which to hollanders and zeelanders was less capricious than the solid earth. almost every inhabitant of those sea-born territories was, in one sense or another, a mariner; for every highway was a canal; the soil was percolated by rivers and estuaries, pools and meres; the fisheries were the nurseries in which still more daring navigators rapidly learned their trade, and every child took naturally to the ocean as to its legitimate home. the "people," therefore, thus enthroned by the leicestrians over all the inhabitants of the country, appeared to many eyes rather a misty abstraction, and its claim of absolute sovereignty a doctrine almost as fantastic as that of the divine right of kings. the netherlanders were, on the whole, a law-abiding people, preferring to conduct even a revolution according to precedent, very much attached to ancient usages and traditions, valuing the liberties, as they called them, which they had wrested from what had been superior force, with their own right hands, preferring facts to theories, and feeling competent to deal with tyrants in the concrete rather than to annihilate tyranny in the abstract by a bold and generalizing phraseology. moreover the opponents of the leicester party complained that the principal use to which this newly discovered "people" had been applied, was to confer its absolute sovereignty unconditionally upon one man. the people was to be sovereign in order that it might immediately abdicate in favour of the earl. utrecht, the capital of the leicestrians, had already been deprived of its constitution. the magistracy was, according to law, changed every year. a list of candidates was furnished by the retiring board, an equal number of names was added by the governor of the province, and from the catalogue thus composed the governor with his council selected the new magistrates for the year. but de villiers, the governor of the province, had been made a prisoner by the enemy in the last campaign; count moeurs had been appointed provisional stadholder by the states; and, during his temporary absence on public affairs, the leicestrians had seized upon the government, excluded all the ancient magistrates, banished many leading citizens from the town, and installed an entirely new board, with gerard proninck, called deventer, for chief burgomaster, who was a brabantine refugee just arrived in the province, and not eligible to office until after ten years' residence. it was not unnatural that the netherlanders, who remembered the scenes of bloodshed and disorder produced by the memorable attempt of the duke of anjou to obtain possession of antwerp and other cities, should be suspicious of leicester. anjou, too, had been called to the provinces by the voluntary action of the states. he too had been hailed as a messiah and a deliverer. in him too had unlimited confidence been reposed, and he had repaid their affection and their gratitude by a desperate attempt to obtain the control of their chief cities by the armed hand, and thus to constitute himself absolute sovereign of the netherlands. the inhabitants had, after a bloody contest, averted the intended massacre and the impending tyranny; but it was not astonishing that--so very, few years having elapsed since those tragical events--they should be inclined to scan severely the actions of the man who had already obtained by unconstitutional means the mastery of a most important city, and was supposed to harbour designs upon all the cities. no, doubt it was a most illiberal and unwise policy for the inhabitants of the independent states to exclude from office the wanderers, for conscience' sake, from the obedient provinces. they should have been welcomed heart and hand by those who were their brethren in religion and in the love of freedom. moreover, it was notorious that hohenlo, lieutenant-general under maurice of nassau, was a german, and that by the treaty with england, two foreigners sat in the state council, while the army swarmed with english, irish, end german officers in high command. nevertheless, violently to subvert the constitution of a province, and to place in posts of high responsibility men who were ineligible--some whose characters were suspicious, and some who were known to be dangerous, and to banish large numbers of respectable burghers--was the act of a despot. besides their democratic doctrines, the leicestrians proclaimed and encouraged an exclusive and rigid calvinism. it would certainly be unjust and futile to detract from the vast debt which the republic owed to the geneva church. the reformation had entered the netherlands by the walloon gate. the earliest and most eloquent preachers, the most impassioned converts, the sublimest martyrs, had lived, preached, fought, suffered, and died with the precepts of calvin in their hearts. the fire which had consumed the last vestige of royal and sacerdotal despotism throughout the independent republic, had been lighted by the hands of calvinists. throughout the blood-stained soil of france, too, the men who were fighting the same great battle as were the netherlanders against philip ii. and the inquisition, the valiant cavaliers of dauphiny and provence, knelt on the ground, before the battle, smote their iron breasts with their mailed hands, uttered a calvinistic prayer, sang a psalm of marot, and then charged upon guise, or upon joyeuse, under the white plume of the bearnese. and it was on the calvinist weavers and clothiers of rochelle that the great prince relied in the hour of danger as much as on his mountain chivalry. in england too, the seeds of liberty, wrapped up in calvinism and hoarded through many trying years, were at last destined to float over land and sea, and to bear large harvests of temperate freedom for great commonwealths, which were still unborn. nevertheless there was a growing aversion in many parts of the states for the rigid and intolerant spirit of the reformed religion. there were many men in holland who had already imbibed the true lesson--the only, one worth learning of the reformation--liberty of thought; but toleration in the eyes of the extreme calvinistic party was as great a vice as it could be in the estimation of papists. to a favoured few of other habits of thought, it had come to be regarded as a virtue; but the day was still far distant when men were to scorn the very word toleration as an insult to the dignity of man; as if for any human being or set of human beings, in caste, class, synod, or church, the right could even in imagination be conceded of controlling the consciences of their fellow-creatures. but it was progress for the sixteenth century that there were individuals, and prominent individuals, who dared to proclaim liberty of conscience for all. william of orange was a calvinist, sincere and rigid, but he denounced all oppression of religion, and opened wide the doors of the commonwealth to papists, lutherans, and anabaptists alike. the earl of leicester was a calvinist, most rigid in tenet, most edifying of conversation, the acknowledged head of the puritan party of england, but he was intolerant and was influenced only by the most intolerant of his sect. certainly it would have required great magnanimity upon his part to assume a friendly demeanour towards the papists. it is easier for us, in more favoured ages, to rise to the heights of philosophical abstraction, than for a man, placed as was leicester, in the front rank of a mighty battle, in which the triumph of either religion seemed to require the bodily annihilation of all its adversaries. he believed that the success of a catholic conspiracy against the life of elizabeth or of a spanish invasion of england, would raise mary to the throne and consign himself to the scaffold. he believed that the subjugation of the independent netherlands would place the spaniards instantly in england, and he frequently received information, true or false, of popish plots that were ever hatching in various parts of the provinces against the english queen. it was not surprising, therefore, although it was unwise, that he should incline his ear most seriously to those who counselled severe measures not only against papists, but against those who were not persecutors of papists, and that he should allow himself to be guided by adventurers, who wore the mask of religion only that they might plunder the exchequer and rob upon the highway. under the administration of this extreme party, therefore, the papists were maltreated, disfranchised, banished, and plundered. the distribution of the heavy war-taxes, more than two-thirds of which were raised in holland only, was confided to foreigners, and regulated mainly at utrecht, where not one-tenth part of the same revenue was collected. this naturally excited the wrath of the merchants and manufacturers of holland and the other provinces, who liked not that these hard-earned and lavishly-paid subsidies should be meddled with by any but the cleanest hands. the clergy, too, arrogated a direct influence in political affairs. their demonstrations were opposed by the anti-leicestrians, who cared not to see a geneva theocracy in the place of the vanished papacy. they had as little reverence in secular affairs for calvinistic deacons as for the college of cardinals, and would as soon accept the infallibility of sixtus v. as that of herman modet. the reformed clergy who had dispossessed and confiscated the property of the ancient ecclesiastics who once held a constitutional place in the estates of utrecht--although many of those individuals were now married and had embraced the reformed religion who had demolished, and sold at public auction, for , florins, the time-honoured cathedral where the earliest christians of the netherlands had worshipped, and st. willibrod had ministered, were roundly rebuked, on more than one occasion, by the blunt matters beyond their sphere. the party of the states-general, as opposed to the leicester party, was guided by the statesmen of holland. at a somewhat later period was formed the states-right party, which claimed sovereignty for each province, and by necessary consequence the hegemony throughout the confederacy, for holland. at present the doctrine maintained was that the sovereignty forfeited by philip had naturally devolved upon the states-general. the statesmen of this party repudiated the calumny that it had therefore lapsed into the hands of half a dozen mechanics and men of low degree. the states of each province were, they maintained, composed of nobles and country-gentlemen, as representing the agricultural interest, and of deputies from the 'vroedschappen,' or municipal governments, of every city and smallest town. such men as adrian van der werff, the heroic burgomaster of leyden during its famous siege, john van der does, statesman, orator, soldier, poet, adolphus meetkerke, judge, financier, politician, carl roorda, noel de carom diplomatist of most signal ability, floris thin, paul buys, and olden-barneveld, with many others, who would have done honour to the legislative assemblies and national councils in any country or any age, were constantly returned as members of the different vroedschaps in the commonwealth. so far from its being true then that half a dozen ignorant mechanics had usurped the sovereignty of the provinces, after the abjuration of the spanish king, it may be asserted in general terms, that of the eight hundred thousand inhabitants of holland at least eight hundred persons were always engaged in the administration of public affairs, that these individuals were perpetually exchanged for others, and that those whose names became most prominent in the politics of the day were remarkable for thorough education, high talents, and eloquence with tongue and pen. it was acknowledged by the leading statesmen of england and france, on repeated occasions throughout the sixteenth century, that the diplomatists and statesmen of the netherlands were even more than a match for any politicians who were destined to encounter them, and the profound respect which leicester expressed for these solid statesmen, these "substantial, wise, well-languaged" men, these "big fellows," so soon as he came in contact with them, and before he began to hate them for outwitting him, has already appeared. they were generally men of the people, born without any of the accidents of fortune; but, the leaders had studied in the common schools, and later in the noble universities of a land where to be learned and eloquent was fast becoming almost as great an honour as to be wealthy or high born. the executive, the legislative, and the judiciary departments were more carefully and scientifically separated than could perhaps have been expected in that age. the lesser municipal courts, in which city-senators presided, were subordinate to the supreme court of holland, whose officers were appointed by the stadholders and council; the supplies were in the hands of the states-provincial, and the supreme administrative authority was confided to a stadholder appointed by the states. the states-general were constituted of similar materials to those of which the states-provincial were constructed, and the same individuals were generally prominent in both. they were deputies appointed by the provincial estates, were in truth rather more like diplomatic envoys than senators, were generally bound very strictly by instructions, and were often obliged, by the jealousy springing from the states-right principle, to refer to their constituents, on questions when the times demanded a sudden decision, and when the necessary delay was inconvenient and dangerous. in religious matters, the states-party, to their honour, already leaned to a wide toleration. not only catholics were not burned, but they were not banished, and very large numbers remained in the territory, and were quite undisturbed in religious matters, within their own doors. there were even men employed in public affairs who were suspected of papistical tendencies, although their hostility, to spain and their attachment to their native land could not fairly be disputed. the leaders of the states-party had a rooted aversion to any political influence on the part of the clergy of any denomination whatever. disposed to be lenient to all forms of worship, they were disinclined to an established church, but still more opposed to allowing church-influence in secular affairs. as a matter of course, political men with such bold views in religious matters were bitterly assailed by their rigid opponents. barneveld, with his "nil scire tutissima fides," was denounced as a disguised catholic or an infidel, and as for paul buys, he was a "bolsterer of papists, an atheist, a devil," as it has long since been made manifest. nevertheless these men believed that they understood the spirit of their country and of the age. in encouragement to an expanding commerce, the elevation and education of the masses, the toleration of all creeds, and a wide distribution of political functions and rights, they looked for the salvation of their nascent republic from destruction, and the maintenance of the true interests of the people. they were still loyal to queen elizabeth, and desirous that she should accept the sovereignty of the provinces. but they were determined that the sovereignty should be a constitutional one, founded upon and limited by the time-honoured laws and traditions of their commonwealth; for they recognised the value of a free republic with an hereditary chief, however anomalous it might in theory appear. they knew that in utrecht the leicestrian party were about to offer the queen the sovereignty of their province, without conditions, but they were determined that neither queen elizabeth nor any other monarch should ever reign in the netherlands, except under conditions to be very accurately defined and well secured. thus, contrasted, then, were the two great parties in the netherlands, at the conclusion of leicester's first year of administration. it may easily be understood that it was not an auspicious moment to leave the country without a chief. the strength of the states-party lay in holland, zeeland, friesland. the main stay of the democratic or leicester faction was in the city of utrecht, but the earl had many partizans in gelderland, friesland, and in overyssel, the capital of which province, the wealthy and thriving deventer, second only in the republic to amsterdam for commercial and political importance, had been but recently secured for the provinces by the vigorous measures of sir william pelham. the condition of the republic and of the spanish provinces was, at that moment, most signally contrasted. if the effects of despotism and of liberty could ever be exhibited at a single glance, it was certainly only necessary to look for a moment at the picture of the obedient and of the rebel netherlands. since the fall of antwerp, the desolation of brabant, flanders, and of the walloon territories had become complete. the king had recovered the great commercial capital, but its commerce was gone. the scheldt, which, till recently, had been the chief mercantile river in the world, had become as barren as if its fountains had suddenly dried up. it was as if it no longer flowed to the ocean, for its mouth was controlled by flushing. thus antwerp was imprisoned and paralyzed. its docks and basins, where ships had once been counted, were empty, grass was growing in its streets, its industrious population had vanished, and the jesuits had returned in swarms. and the same spectacle was presented by ghent, bruges, valenciennes, tournay, and those other fair cities, which had once been types of vigorous industry and tumultuous life. the sea-coast was in the hands of two rising commercial powers, the great and free commonwealths of the future. those powers were acting in concert, and commanding the traffic of the world, while the obedient provinces were excluded from all foreign intercourse and all markets, as the result of their obedience. commerce, manufactures, agriculture; were dying lingering deaths. the thrifty farms, orchards, and gardens, which had been a proverb and wonder of industry were becoming wildernesses. the demand for their produce by the opulent and thriving cities, which had been the workshops of the world, was gone. foraging bands of spanish and italian mercenaries had succeeded to the famous tramp of the artizans and mechanics, which had often been likened to an army, but these new customers were less profitable to the gardeners and farmers. the clothiers, the fullers, the tapestry-workers, the weavers, the cutlers, had all wandered away, and the cities of holland, friesland, and of england, were growing skilful and rich by the lessons and the industry of the exiles to whom they afforded a home. there were villages and small towns in the spanish netherlands that had been literally depopulated. large districts of country had gone to waste, and cane-brakes and squalid morasses usurped the place of yellow harvest-fields. the fog, the wild boar, and the wolf, infested the abandoned homes of the peasantry; children could not walk in safety in the neighbourhood even of the larger cities; wolves littered their young in the deserted farm-houses; two hundred persons, in the winter of - , were devoured by wild beasts in the outskirts of ghent. such of the remaining labourers and artizans as had not been converted into soldiers, found their most profitable employment as brigands, so that the portion of the population spared by war and emigration was assisting the enemy in preying upon their native country. brandschatzung, burglary, highway-robbery, and murder, had become the chief branches of industry among the working classes. nobles and wealthy burghers had been changed to paupers and mendicants. many a family of ancient lineage, and once of large possessions, could be seen begging their bread, at the dusk of evening, in the streets of great cities, where they had once exercised luxurious hospitality; and they often begged in vain. for while such was the forlorn aspect of the country--and the portrait, faithfully sketched from many contemporary pictures, has not been exaggerated in any of its dark details--a great famine smote the land with its additional scourge. the whole population, soldiers and brigands, spaniards and flemings, beggars and workmen, were in danger of perishing together. where the want of employment had been so great as to cause a rapid depopulation, where the demand for labour had almost entirely ceased, it was a necessary result, that during the process, prices should be low, even in the presence of foreign soldiery, and despite the inflamed' profits, which such capitalists as remained required, by way not only of profit but insurance, in such troublous times. accordingly, for the last year or two, the price of rye at antwerp and brussels had been one florin for the veertel (three bushels) of one hundred and twenty pounds; that of wheat, about one-third of a florin more. five pounds of rye, therefore, were worth, one penny sterling, reckoning, as was then usual, two shillings to the florin. a pound weight of wheat was worth about one farthing. yet this was forty-one years after the discovery of the mines of potosi (a.d. ), and full sixteen years after the epoch; from which is dated that rapid fall in the value of silver, which in the course of seventy years, caused the average price of corn and of all other commodities, to be tripled or even quadrupled. at that very moment the average cost of wheat in england was sixty-four shillings the quarter, or about seven and sixpence sterling the bushel, and in the markets of holland, which in truth regulated all others, the same prices prevailed. a bushel of wheat in england was equal therefore to eight bushels in brussels. thus the silver mines, which were the spanish king's property, had produced their effect everywhere more signally than within the obedient provinces. the south american specie found its way to philip's coffers, thence to the paymasters of his troops in flanders, and thence to the commercial centres of holland and england. those countries, first to feel and obey the favourable expanding impulse of the age, were moving surely and steadily on before it to greatness. prices were rising with unexampled rapidity, the precious metals were comparatively a drug, a world-wide commerce, such as had never been dreamed of, had become an every-day concern, the arts and sciences and a most generous culture in famous schools and universities, which had been founded in the midst of tumult and bloodshed, characterized the republic, and the golden age of english poetry, which was to make the elizabethan era famous through all time, had already begun. in the spanish netherlands the newly-found treasure served to pay the only labourers required in a subjugated and almost deserted country, the pikemen of spain and italy, and the reiters of germany. prices could not sustain themselves in the face of depopulation. where there was no security for property, no home-market, no foreign intercourse, industrial pursuits had become almost impossible. the small demand for labour had caused it, as it were, to disappear, altogether. all men had become beggars, brigands, or soldiers. a temporary reaction followed. there were no producers. suddenly it was discovered that no corn had been planted, and that there was no harvest. a famine was the inevitable result. prices then rose with most frightful rapidity. the veertel of rye, which in the previous year had been worth one florin at brussels and antwerp, rose in the winter of - to twenty, twenty-two, and even twenty-four florins; and wheat advanced from one and one-third florin to thirty-two florins the veertel. other articles were proportionally increased in market-value; but it is worthy of remark that mutton was quoted in the midst of the famine at nine stuyvers (a little more than ninepence sterling) the pound, and beef at fivepence, while a single cod-fish sold for twenty-two florins. thus wheat was worth sixpence sterling the pound weight (reckoning the veertel of one hundred and twenty pounds at thirty florins), which was a penny more than the price of a pound of beef; while an ordinary fish was equal in value to one hundred and six pounds of beef. no better evidence could be given that the obedient provinces were relapsing into barbarism, than that the only agricultural industry then practised was to allow what flocks and herds were remaining to graze at will over the ruined farms and gardens, and that their fishermen were excluded from the sea. the evil cured itself, however, and, before the expiration of another year, prices were again at their previous level. the land was sufficiently cultivated to furnish the necessaries of life for a diminishing population, and the supply of labour was more than enough, for the languishing demand. wheat was again at tenpence the bushel, and other commodities valued in like proportion, and far below the market-prices in holland and england. on the other, hand, the prosperity of the republic was rapidly increasing. notwithstanding the war, which had beer raging for a terrible quarter of a century without any interruption, population was increasing, property rapidly advancing in value, labour in active demand. famine was impossible to a state which commanded the ocean. no corn grew in holland and zeeland, but their ports were the granary of the world. the fisheries were a mine of wealth almost equal to the famous potosi, with which the commercial world was then ringing. their commerce with the baltic nations was enormous. in one month eight hundred vessels left their havens for the eastern ports alone. there was also no doubt whatever--and the circumstance was a source of constant complaint and of frequent ineffective legislation--that the rebellious provinces were driving a most profitable trade with spain and the spanish possessions, in spite of their revolutionary war. the mines of peru and mexico were as fertile for the hollanders and zeelanders as for the spaniards themselves. the war paid for the war, one hundred large frigates were constantly cruising along the coasts to protect the fast-growing traffic, and an army of twenty thousand foot soldiers and two thousand cavalry were maintained on land. there were more ships and sailors at that moment in holland and zeeland than in the whole kingdom of england. while the sea-ports were thus rapidly increasing in importance, the towns in the interior were advancing as steadily. the woollen manufacture, the tapestry, the embroideries of gelderland, and friesland, and overyssel, were becoming as famous as had been those of tournay, ypres, brussels, and valenciennes. the emigration from the obedient provinces and from other countries was very great. it was difficult to obtain lodgings in the principal cities; new houses, new streets, new towns, were rising every day. the single province of holland furnished regularly, for war-expenses alone, two millions of florins (two hundred thousand pounds) a year, besides frequent extraordinary grants for the same purpose, yet the burthen imposed upon the vigorous young commonwealth seemed only to make it the more elastic. "the coming generations may see," says a contemporary historian, "the fortifications erected at that epoch in the cities, the costly and magnificent havens, the docks, the great extension of the cities; for truly the war had become a great benediction to the inhabitants." such a prosperous commonwealth as this was not a prize to be lightly thrown away. there is no doubt whatever that a large majority of the inhabitants, and of the states by whom the people were represented, ardently and affectionately desired to be annexed to the english crown. leicester had become unpopular, but elizabeth was adored, and there was nothing unreasonable in the desire entertained by the provinces of retaining their ancient constitutions, and of transferring their allegiance to the english queen. but the english queen could not resolve to take the step. although the great tragedy which was swiftly approaching its inevitable catastrophe, the execution of the scottish queen, was to make peace with philip impossible--even if it were imaginable before--elizabeth, during the year , was earnestly bent on peace. this will be made manifest in subsequent pages, by an examination of the secret correspondence of the court. her most sagacious statesmen disapproved her course, opposed it, and were often overruled, although never convinced; for her imperious will would have its way. the states-general loathed the very name of peace with spain. the people loathed it. all knew that peace with spain meant the exchange of a thriving prosperous commonwealth, with freedom of religion, constitutional liberty, and self-government, for provincial subjection to the inquisition and to despotism: to dream of any concession from philip on the religious point was ridiculous. there was a mirror ever held up before their eyes by the obedient provinces, in which they might see their own image, should, they too return to obedience. and there was never a pretence, on the part of any honest adviser of queen elizabeth in the netherlands, whether englishman or hollander, that the idea of peace-negotiation could be tolerated for a moment by states or people. yet the sum of the queen's policy, for the year , may be summed up in one word--peace; peace for the provinces, peace for herself, with their implacable enemy. in france, during the same year of expectation, we shall see the long prologue to the tragic and memorable slowly enacting; the same triangular contest between the three henrys and their partizans still proceeding. we shall see the misguided and wretched valois lamenting over his victories, and rejoicing over his defeats; forced into hollow alliance with his deadly enemy; arrayed in arms against his only protector and the true champion of the realm; and struggling vainly in the toils of his own mother and his own secretary of state, leagued with his most powerful foes. we shall see 'mucio,' with one 'hand extended in mock friendship toward the king, and with the other thrust backward to grasp the purse of , crowns held forth to aid his fellow-conspirator's dark designs against their common victim; and the bearnese, ever with lance in rest, victorious over the wrong antagonist, foiled of the fruits of victory, proclaiming himself the english queen's devoted knight, but railing at her parsimony; always in the saddle, always triumphant, always a beggar, always in love, always cheerful, and always confident to outwit the guises and philip, parma and the pope. and in spain we shall have occasion to look over the king's shoulder, as he sits at his study-table, in his most sacred retirement; and we shall find his policy for the year summed up in two words--invasion of england. sincerely and ardently as elizabeth meant peace with philip, just so sincerely did philip intend war with england, and the dethronement and destruction of the queen. to this great design all others were now subservient, and it was mainly on account of this determination that there was sufficient leisure in the republic for the leicestrians and the states-general to fight out so thoroughly their party-contests. etext editor's bookmarks: acknowledged head of the puritan party of england (leicester) geneva theocracy in the place of the vanished papacy hankering for peace, when peace had really become impossible hating nothing so much as idleness mirror ever held up before their eyes by the obedient provinces rigid and intolerant spirit of the reformed religion scorn the very word toleration as an insult the word liberty was never musical in tudor ears history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter xiii. barneveld's influence in the provinces--unpopularity of leicester intrigues--of his servants--gossip of his secretary-- its mischievous effects--the quarrel of norris and hollock-- the earl's participation in the affair--his increased animosity to norris--seizure of deventer--stanley appointed its governor--york and stanley--leicester's secret instructions--wilkes remonstrates with stanley--stanley's insolence and equivocation--painful rumours as to him and york--duplicity of york--stanley's banquet at deventer--he surrenders the city to tassis--terms of the bargain-- feeble defence of stanley's conduct--subsequent fate of stanley and york--betrayal of gelder to parma--these treasons cast odium on the english--miserable plight of the english troops--honesty and energy of wilkes--indignant discussion in the assembly. the government had not been laid down by leicester on his departure. it had been provisionally delegated, as already mentioned to the state-council. in this body-consisting of eighteen persons--originally appointed by the earl, on nomination by the states, several members were friendly to the governor, and others were violently opposed to him. the staten of holland, by whom the action of the states-general was mainly controlled, were influenced in their action by buys and barneveld. young maurice of nassau, nineteen years of age, was stadholder of holland and zeeland. a florid complexioned, fair-haired young man, of sanguine-bilious temperament; reserved, quiet, reflective, singularly self-possessed; meriting at that time, more than his father had ever done, the appellation of the taciturn; discreet, sober, studious. "count maurice saith but little, but i cannot tell what he thinketh," wrote leicester's eaves-dropper-in-chiefs. mathematics, fortification, the science of war--these were his daily pursuits. "the sapling was to become the tree," and meantime the youth was preparing for the great destiny which he felt, lay before him. to ponder over the works and the daring conceptions of stevinus, to build up and to batter the wooden blocks of mimic citadels; to arrange in countless combinations, great armies of pewter soldiers; these were the occupations of his leisure-hours. yet he was hardly suspected of bearing within him the germs of the great military commander. "small desire hath count maurice to follow the wars," said one who fancied himself an acute observer at exactly this epoch. "and whereas it might be supposed that in respect to his birth and place, he would affect the chief military command in these countries, it is found by experience had of his humour, that there is no chance of his entering into competition with the others." a modest young man, who could bide his time--but who, meanwhile, under the guidance of his elders, was doing his best, both in field and cabinet, to learn the great lessons of the age--he had already enjoyed much solid practical instruction, under such a desperate fighter as hohenlo, and under so profound a statesman as barneveld. for at this epoch olden-barneveld was the preceptor, almost the political patron of maurice, and maurice, the official head of the holland party, was the declared opponent of the democratic-calvinist organization. it is not necessary, at this early moment, to foreshadow the changes which time was to bring. meantime it would be seen, perhaps ere long, whether or no, it would be his humour to follow the wars. as to his prudent and dignified deportment there was little doubt. "count maurice behaveth himself very discreetly all this while," wrote one, who did not love him, to leicester, who loved him less: "he cometh every day to the council, keeping no company with count hollock, nor with any of them all, and never drinks himself full with any of them, as they do every day among themselves." certainly the most profitable intercourse that maurice could enjoy with hohenlo was upon the battle-field. in winter-quarters, that hard-fighting, hard-drinking, and most turbulent chieftain, was not the best mentor for a youth whose destiny pointed him out as the leader of a free commonwealth. after the campaigns were over--if they ever could be over--the count and other nobles from the same country were too apt to indulge in those mighty potations, which were rather characteristic of their nation and the age. "since your excellency's departure," wrote leicester's secretary, "there hath been among the dutch counts nothing but dancing and drinking, to the grief of all this people; which foresee that there can come no good of it. specially count hollock, who hath been drunk almost a fortnight together." leicester had rendered himself unpopular with the states-general, and with all the leading politicians and generals; yet, at that moment, he had deeply mortgaged his english estates in order to raise funds to expend in the netherland cause. thirty thousand pounds sterling--according to his own statement--he was already out of pocket, and, unless the queen would advance him the means to redeem his property; his broad lands were to be brought to the hammer. but it was the queen, not the states-general, who owed the money; for the earl had advanced these sums as a portion of the royal contingent. five hundred and sixty thousand pounds sterling had been the cost of one year's war during the english governor's administration; and of this sum one hundred and forty thousand had been paid by england. there was a portion of the sum, over and above their monthly levies; for which the states had contracted a debt, and they were extremely desirous to obtain, at that moment, an additional loan of fifty thousand pounds from elizabeth; a favour which--elizabeth was very firmly determined not to grant. it was this terror at the expense into which the netherland war was plunging her, which made the english sovereign so desirous for peace, and filled the anxious mind of walsingham with the most painful forebodings. leicester, in spite of his good qualities--such as they were--had not that most necessary gift for a man in his position, the art of making friends. no man made so many enemies. he was an excellent hater, and few men have been more cordially hated in return. he was imperious, insolent, hot-tempered. he could brook no equal. he had also the fatal defect of enjoying the flattery, of his inferiors in station. adroit intriguers burned incense to him as a god, and employed him as their tool. and now he had mortally offended hohenlo, and buys, and barneveld, while he hated sir john norris with a most passionate hatred. wilkes, the english representative, was already a special object of his aversion. the unvarnished statements made by the stiff counsellor, of the expense of the past year's administration, and the various errors committed, had inspired leicester with such ferocious resentment, that the friends of wilkes trembled for his life. ["it is generally bruited here," wrote henry smith to his brother- in-law wilkes, "of a most heavy displeasure conceived by my lord of leicester against you, and it is said to be so great as that he hath protested to be revenged of you; and to procure you the more enemies, it is said he hath revealed to my lord treasurer, and secretary davison some injurious speeches (which i cannot report) you should have used of them to him at your last being with him. furthermore some of the said lord's secretaries have reported here that it were good for you never to return hither, or, if their lord be appointed to go over again, it will be too hot for you to tarry there. these things thus coming to the ears of your friends have stricken a great fear and grief into the minds of such as love you, lest the wonderful force and authority of this man being bent against you, should do you hurt, while there is none to answer for you." smith to wilkes, jan. . (s. p. office ms.)] cordiality between the governor-general and count maurice had become impossible. as for willoughby and sir william pelham, they were both friendly to him, but willoughby was a magnificent cavalry officer, who detested politics, and cared little for the netherlands, except as the best battle-field in europe, and the old marshal of the camp--the only man that leicester ever loved--was growing feeble in health, was broken down by debt, and hardly possessed, or wished for, any general influence. besides deventer of utrecht, then, on whom, the earl chiefly relied during his, absence, there were none to support him cordially, except two or three members of the state-council. "madame de brederode hath sent unto you a kind of rose," said his intelligencer, "which you have asked for, and beseeches you to command anything she has in her garden, or whatsoever. m. meetkerke, m. brederode, and mr. dorius, wish your return with all, their hearts. for the rest i cannot tell, and will not swear. but mr. barneveld is not your very great friend, whereof i can write no more at this time." this certainly was a small proportion out of a council of eighteen, when all the leading politicians of the country were in avowed hostility to the governor. and thus the earl was, at this most important crisis, to depend upon the subtle and dangerous deventer, and upon two inferior personages, the "fellow junius" and a non-descript, whom hohenlo characterized as a "long lean englishman, with a little black beard." this meagre individual however seems to have been of somewhat doubtful nationality. he called himself otheman, claimed to be a frenchman, had lived much in england, wrote with great fluency and spirit, both in french and english, but was said, in reality, to be named robert dale. it was not the best policy for the representative of the english queen to trust to such counsellors at a moment when the elements of strife between holland and england were actively at work; and when the safety, almost the existence, of the two commonwealths depended upon their acting cordially in concert. "overyssel, utrecht, friesland, and gelderland, have agreed to renew the offer of sovereignty to her majesty," said leicester. "i shall be able to make a better report of their love and good inclination than i can of holland." it was thought very desirable by the english government that this great demonstration should be made once more, whatever might be the ultimate decision of her majesty upon so momentous a measure. it seemed proper that a solemn embassy should once more proceed to england in order to confer with elizabeth; but there was much delay in regard to the step, and much indignation, in consequence, on the part of the earl. the opposition came, of course, from the barneveld party. "they are in no great haste to offer the sovereignty," said wilkes. "first some towns of holland made bones thereat, and now they say that zeeland is not resolved." the nature and the causes of the opposition offered by barneveld and the states of holland have been sufficiently explained. buys, maddened by his long and unjustifiable imprisonment, had just been released by the express desire of hohenlo; and that unruly chieftain, who guided the german and dutch magnates; such as moeurs and overstein, and who even much influenced maurice and his cousin count lewis william, was himself governed by barneveld. it would have been far from impossible for leicester, even then, to conciliate the whole party. it was highly desirable that he should do so, for not one of the provinces where he boasted his strength was quite secure for england. count moeurs, a potent and wealthy noble, was governor of utrecht and gelderland, and he had already begun to favour the party in holland which claimed for that province a legal jurisdiction over the whole ancient episcopate. under these circumstances common prudence would have suggested that as good an understanding as possible might be kept up with the dutch and german counts, and that the breach might not be rendered quite irreparable. yet, as if there had not been administrative blunders enough committed in one year, the unlucky lean englishman, with the black beard, who was the earl's chief representative, contrived--almost before his master's back was turned--to draw upon himself the wrath of all the fine ladies in holland. that this should be the direful spring of unutterable disasters, social and political, was easy to foretell. just before the governor's departure otheman came to pay his farewell respects, and receive his last commands. he found leicester seated at chess with sir francis drake. "i do leave you here, my poor otheman," said the earl, "but so soon as i leave you i know very well that nobody will give you a good look." "your excellency was a true prophet," wrote the secretary a few weeks later, "for, my good lord, i have been in as great danger of my life as ever man was. i have been hunted at delft from house to house, and then besieged in my lodgings four or five hours, as though i had been the greatest thief, murderer, and traitor in the land." and why was the unfortunate otheman thus hunted to his lair? because he had chosen to indulge in 'scandalum magnatum,' and had thereby excited the frenzy of all the great nobles whom it was most important for the english party to conciliate. there had been gossip about the princess of chimay and one calvaert, who lived in her house, much against the advice of all her best friends. one day she complained bitterly to master otheman of the spiteful ways of the world. "i protest," said she, "that i am the unhappiest lady upon earth to have my name thus called in question." so said otheman, in order to comfort her: "your highness is aware that such things are said of all. i am sure i hear every day plenty of speeches about lords and ladies, queens and princesses. you have little cause to trouble yourself for such matters, being known to live honestly, and like a good christian lady. your highness is not the only lady spoken of." the princess listened with attention. "think of the stories about the queen of england and my lord of leicester!" said otheman, with infinite tact. "no person is exempted from the tongues of evil, speakers; but virtuous and godly men do put all such foolish matter under their feet. then there is the countess of hoeurs, how much evil talk does one hear about her!" the princess seemed still more interested and even excited; and the adroit otheman having thus, as he imagined, very successfully smoothed away her anger, went off to have a little more harmless gossip about the princess and the countess, with madame de meetkerke, who had sent leicester the rose from her garden. but, no sooner, had he gone, than away went her highness to madame de moeurs, "a marvellous wise and well-spoken gentlewoman and a grave," and informed her and the count, with some trifling exaggeration, that the vile englishman, secretary to the odious leicester, had just been there, abusing and calumniating the countess in most lewd and abominable fashion. he had also, she protested, used "very evil speeches of all the ladies in the country." for her own part the princess avowed her determination to have him instantly murdered. count moeurs was quite of the same mind, and desired nothing better than to be one of his executioners. accordingly, the next sunday, when the babbling secretary had gone down to delft to hear the french sermon, a select party, consisting of moeurs, lewis william of nassau, count overstein, and others, set forth for that city, laid violent hands on the culprit, and brought him bodily before princess chimay. there, being called upon to explain his innuendos, he fell into much trepidation, and gave the names of several english captains, whom he supposed to be at that time in england. "for if i had denied the whole matter," said he, "they would have given me the lie, and used me according to their evil mind." upon this they relented, and released their prisoner, but, the next day they made another attack upon him, hunted him from house to house, through the whole city of delft, and at last drove him to earth in his own lodgings, where they kept him besieged several hours. through the intercession of wilkes and the authority of the council of state, to which body he succeeded in conveying information of his dangerous predicament, he was, in his own language, "miraculously preserved," although remaining still in daily danger of his life. "i pray god keep me hereafter from the anger of a woman," he exclaimed, "quia non est ira supra iram mulieris." he was immediately examined before the council, and succeeded in clearing and justifying himself to the satisfaction of his friends. his part was afterwards taken by the councillors, by all the preachers and godly men, and by the university of leyden. but it was well understood that the blow and the affront had been levelled at the english governor and the english nation. "all your friends do see," said otheman, "that this disgrace is not meant so much to me as to your excellency; the dutch earls having used such speeches unto me, and against all law, custom, and reason, used such violence to me, that your excellency shall wonder to hear of it." now the princess chimay, besides being of honourable character, was a sincere and exemplary member of the calvinist church, and well inclined to the leicestrians. she was daughter of count meghem, one of the earliest victims of philip ii., in the long tragedy of netherland independence, and widow of lancelot berlaymont. count moeurs was governor of utrecht, and by no means, up to that time, a thorough supporter of the holland party; but thenceforward he went off most abruptly from the party of england, became hand and glove with hohenlo, accepted the influence of barneveld, and did his best to wrest the city of utrecht from english authority. such was the effect of the secretary's harmless gossip. "i thought count moeurs and his wife better friends to your excellency than i do see them to be," said otheman afterwards. "but he doth now disgrace the english nation many ways in his speeches--saying that they are no soldiers, that they do no good to this country, and that these englishmen that are at arnheim have an intent to sell and betray the town to the enemy." but the disgraceful squabble between hohenlo and edward norris had been more unlucky for leicester than any other incident during the year, for its result was to turn the hatred of both parties against himself. yet the earl of all men, was originally least to blame for the transaction. it has been seen that sir philip sidney had borne norris's cartel to hohenlo, very soon after the outrage had been committed. the count had promised satisfaction, but meantime was desperately wounded in the attack on fort zutphen. leicester afterwards did his best to keep edward norris employed in distant places, for he was quite aware that hohenlo, as lieutenant-general and count of the empire, would consider himself aggrieved at being called to the field by a simple english captain, however deeply he might have injured him. the governor accordingly induced the queen to recall the young man to england, and invited him--much as he disliked his whole race--to accompany him on his departure for that country. the captain then consulted with his brother sir john, regarding the pending dispute with hohenlo. his brother advised that the count should be summoned to keep his promise, but that lord leicester's permission should previously be requested. a week before the governor's departure, accordingly, edward norris presented himself one morning in the dining-room, and, finding the earl reclining on a window-seat, observed to him that "he desired his lordship's favour towards the discharging of his reputation." "the count hollock is now well," he proceeded, "and is fasting and banqueting in his lodgings, although he does not come abroad." "and what way will you take?" inquired leicester, "considering that he keeps his house." "'twill be best, i thought," answered norris, "to write unto him, to perform his promise he made me to answer me in the field." "to whom did he make that promise?" asked the earl. "to sir philip sidney," answered the captain. "to my nephew sidney," said leicester, musingly; "very well; do as you think best, and i will do for you what i can." and the governor then added many kind expressions concerning the interest he felt in the young man's reputation. passing to other matters, morris then spoke of the great charges he had recently been put to by reason of having exchanged out of the states' service in order to accept a commission from his lordship to levy a company of horse. this levy had cost him and his friends three hundred pounds, for which he had not been able to "get one groat." "i beseech your lordship to stand good for me," said he; "considering the meanest captain in all the country hath as good entertainment as i." "i can do but little for you before my departure," said leicester; "but at my return i will advise to do more." after this amicable conversation morris thanked his lordship, took his leave, and straightway wrote his letter to count hollock. that personage, in his answer, expressed astonishment that norris should summon him, in his "weakness and indisposition;" but agreed to give him the desired meeting; with sword and dagger, so soon as he should be sufficiently recovered. morris, in reply, acknowledged his courteous promise, and hoped that he might be speedily restored to health. the state-council, sitting at the hague, took up the matter at once however, and requested immediate information of the earl. he accordingly sent for norris and his brother sir john, who waited upon him in his bed-chamber, and were requested to set down in writing the reasons which had moved them in the matter. this statement was accordingly furnished, together with a copy of the correspondence. the earl took the papers, and promised to allow most honourably of it in the council. such is the exact narrative, word for word, as given by sir john and edward norris, in a solemn memorial to the lords of her majesty's privy council, as well as to the state-council of the united provinces. a very few days afterwards leicester departed for england, taking edward norris with him. count hohenlo was furious at the indignity, notwithstanding the polite language in which he had accepted the challenge. "'t was a matter punishable with death," he said, "in all kingdoms and countries, for a simple captain to send such a summons to a man of his station, without consent of the supreme authority. it was plain," he added, "that the english governor-general had connived at the affront," for norris had been living in his family and dining at his table. nay, more, lord leicester had made him a knight at flushing just before their voyage to england. there seems no good reason to doubt the general veracity of the brothers norris, although, for the express purpose of screening leicester, sir john represented at the time to hohenlo and others that the earl had not been privy to the transaction. it is very certain, however, that so soon as the general indignation of hohenlo and his partizans began to be directed against leicester, he at once denied, in passionate and abusive language, having had any knowledge whatever of norris's intentions. he protested that he learned, for the first time, of the cartel from information furnished to the council of state. the quarrel between hohenlo and norris was afterwards amicably arranged by lord buckhurst, during his embassy to the states, at the express desire of the queen. hohenlo and sir john norris became very good friends, while the enmity between them and leicester grew more deadly every day. the earl was frantic with rage whenever he spoke of the transaction, and denounced sir john norris as "a fool, liar, and coward" on all occasions, besides overwhelming his brother, buckhurst, wilkes, and every other person who took their part, with a torrent of abuse; and it is well known that the earl was a master of billingsgate. "hollock says that i did procure edward norris to send him his cartel," observed leicester on one occasion, "wherein i protest before the lord, i was as ignorant as any man in england. his brother john can tell whether i did not send for him to have committed him for it; but that, in very truth, upon the perusing of it" (after it had been sent), "it was very reasonably written, and i did consider also the great wrong offered him by the count, and so forbore it. i was so careful for the count's safety after the brawl between him and norris, that i charged sir john, if any harm came to the count's person by any of his or under him, that he should answer it. therefore, i take the story to be bred in the bosom of some much like a thief or villain, whatsoever he were." and all this was doubtless true so far as regarded the earl's original exertions to prevent the consequences of the quarrel, but did not touch the point of the second correspondence preceded by the conversation in the dining-room, eight days before the voyage to england. the affair, in itself of slight importance, would not merit so much comment at this late day had it not been for its endless consequences. the ferocity with which the earl came to regard every prominent german, hollander, and englishman, engaged in the service of the states, sprang very much from the complications of this vulgar brawl. norris, hohenlo, wilkes, buckhurst, were all denounced to the queen as calumniators, traitors, and villains; and it may easily be understood how grave and extensive must have been the effects of such vituperation upon the mind of elizabeth, who, until the last day of his life, doubtless entertained for the earl the deepest affection of which her nature was susceptible. hohenlo, with count maurice, were the acknowledged chiefs of the anti-english party, and the possibility of cordial cooperation between the countries may be judged of by the entanglement which had thus occurred. leicester had always hated sir john norris, but he knew that the mother had still much favour with the queen, and he was therefore the more vehement in his denunciations of the son the more difficulty he found in entirely destroying his character, and the keener jealousy he felt that any other tongue but his should influence her majesty. "the story of john norris about the cartel is, by the lord god, most false," he exclaimed; "i do beseech you not to see me so dealt withal, but that especially her majesty may understand these untruths, who perhaps, by the mother's fair speeches and the son's smooth words, may take some other conceit of my doings than i deserve." he was most resolute to stamp the character of falsehood upon both the brothers, for he was more malignant towards sir john than towards any man in the world, not even excepting wilkes. to the queen, to the lords of the privy council, to walsingham, to burghley, he poured forth endless quantities of venom, enough to destroy the characters of a hundred honest men. "the declaration of the two norrises for the cartel is most false, as i am a christian," he said to walsingham. "i have a dozen witnesses, as good and some better than they, who will testify that they were present when i misliked the writing of the letter before ever i saw it. and by the allegiance i owe to her majesty, i never knew of the letter, nor gave consent to it, nor heard of it till it was complained of from count hollock. but, as they are false in this, so you will find j. n. as false in his other answers; so that he would be ashamed, but that his old conceit hath made him past shame, i fear. his companions in ireland, as in these countries, report that sir john norris would often say that he was but an ass and a fool, who, if a lie would serve his turn, would spare it. i remember i have heard that the earl of sussex would say so; and indeed this gentleman doth imitate him in divers things." but a very grave disaster to holland and england was soon the fruit of the hatred borne by leicester to sir john norris. immediately after the battle of zutphen and the investment of that town by the english and netherlanders, great pains were taken to secure the city of deventer. this was, after amsterdam and antwerp, the most important mercantile place in all the provinces. it was a large prosperous commercial and manufacturing capital, a member of the hanseatic league, and the great centre of the internal trade of the netherlands with the baltic nations. there was a strong catholic party in the town, and the magistracy were disposed to side with parma. it was notorious that provisions and munitions were supplied from thence to the beleaguered zutphen; and leicester despatched sir william pelham, accordingly, to bring the inhabitants to reason. the stout marshal made short work of it. taking sir william stanley and the greater part of his regiment with him, he caused them, day by day, to steal into the town, in small parties of ten and fifteen. no objection was made to this proceeding on the part of the city government. then stanley himself arrived in the morning, and the marshal in the evening, of the th of october. pelham ordered the magistrates to present themselves forthwith at his lodgings, and told them, with grim courtesy, that the earl of leicester excused himself from making them a visit, not being able, for grief at the death of sir philip sidney, to come so soon near the scene of his disaster. his excellency had therefore sent him to require the town to receive an english garrison. "so make up your minds, and delay not," said pelham; "for i have many important affairs on my hands, and must send word to his excellency at once. to-morrow morning, at eight o'clock, i shall expect your answer." next day, the magistrates were all assembled in the townhouse before six. stanley had filled the great square with his troops, but he found that the burghers-five thousand of whom constituted the municipal militia--had chained the streets and locked the gates. at seven o'clock pelham proceeded, to the town-house, and, followed by his train, made his appearance before the magisterial board. then there was a knocking at the door, and sir william stanley entered, having left a strong guard of soldiers at the entrance to the hall. "i am come for an answer," said the lord marshal; "tell me straight." the magistrates hesitated, whispered, and presently one of them slipped away. "there's one of you gone," cried the marshal. "fetch him straight back; or, by the living god, before whom i stand, there is not one of you shall leave this place with life." so the burgomasters sent for the culprit, who returned. "now, tell me," said pelham, "why you have, this night, chained your streets and kept such strong watch while your friends and defenders were in the town? do you think we came over here to spend our lives and our goods, and to leave all we have, to be thus used and thus betrayed by you? nay, you shall find us trusty to our friends, but as politic as yourselves. now, then; set your hands to this document," he proceeded, as he gave them a new list of magistrates, all selected from stanch protestants. "give over your government to the men here nominated, straight; dally not!" the burgomasters signed the paper. "now," said pelham, "let one of you go to the watch, discharge the guard, bid them unarm, and go home to their lodgings." a magistrate departed on the errand. "now fetch me the keys of the gate," said pelham, "and that straightway, or, before god, you shall die." the keys were brought, and handed to the peremptory old marshal. the old board of magistrates were then clapped into prison, the new ones installed, and deventer was gained for the english and protestant party. there could be no doubt that a city so important and thus fortunately secured was worthy to be well guarded. there could be no doubt either that it would be well to conciliate the rich and influential papists in the place, who, although attached to the ancient religion, were not necessarily disloyal to the republic; but there could be as little that, under the circumstances of this sudden municipal revolution, it would be important to place a garrison of protestant soldiers there, under the command of a protestant officer of known fidelity. to the astonishment of the whole commonwealth, the earl appointed sir william stanley to be governor of the town, and stationed in it a garrison of twelve hundred wild irishmen. sir william was a cadet of one of the noblest english houses. he was the bravest of the brave. his gallantry at the famous zutphen fight had attracted admiration, where nearly all had performed wondrous exploits, but he was known to be an ardent papist and a soldier of fortune, who had fought on various sides, and had even borne arms in the netherlands under the ferocious alva. was it strange that there should be murmurs at the appointment of so dangerous a chief to guard a wavering city which had so recently been secured? the irish kernes--and they are described by all contemporaries, english and flemish, in the same language--were accounted as the wildest and fiercest of barbarians. there was something grotesque, yet appalling, in the pictures painted of these rude, almost naked; brigands, who ate raw flesh, spoke no intelligible language, and ranged about the country, burning, slaying, plundering, a terror to the peasantry and a source of constant embarrassment to the more orderly troops in the service of the republic. "it seemed," said one who had seen them, "that they belonged not to christendom, but to brazil." moreover, they were all papists, and, however much one might be disposed to censure that great curse of the age, religious intolerance--which was almost as flagrant in the councils of queen elizabeth as in those of philip--it was certainly a most fatal policy to place such a garrison, at that critical juncture, in the newly-acquired city. yet leicester, who had banished papists from utrecht without cause and without trial, now placed most notorious catholics in deventer. zutphen, which was still besieged by the english and the patriots, was much crippled by the loss of the great fort, the capture of which, mainly through the brilliant valour of stanley's brother edward, has already been related. the possession of deventer and of this fort gave the control of the whole north-eastern territory to the patriots; but, as if it were not enough to place deventer in the hands of sir william stanley, leicester thought proper to confide the government of the fort to roland york. not a worse choice could be made in the whole army. york was an adventurer of the most audacious and dissolute character. he was a londoner by birth, one of those "ruing blades" inveighed against by the governor-general on his first taking command of the forces. a man of desperate courage, a gambler, a professional duellist, a bravo, famous in his time among the "common hacksters and swaggerers" as the first to introduce the custom of foining, or thrusting with the rapier in single combats--whereas before his day it had been customary among the english to fight with sword and shield, and held unmanly to strike below the girdle--he had perpetually changed sides, in the netherland wars, with the shameless disregard to principle which characterized all his actions. he had been lieutenant to the infamous john van imbyze, and had been concerned with him in the notorious attempt to surrender dendermonde and ghent to the enemy, which had cost that traitor his head. york had been thrown into prison at brussels, but there had been some delay about his execution, and the conquest of the city by parma saved him from the gibbet. he had then taken service under the spanish commander-in-chief, and had distinguished himself, as usual, by deeds of extraordinary valour, having sprung on board the burning volcano-ship at the siege of antwerp. subsequently returning to england, he had, on leicester's appointment, obtained the command of a company in the english contingent, and had been conspicuous on the field of warnsveld; for the courage which he always displayed under any standard was only equalled by the audacity with which he was ever ready to desert from it. did it seem credible that the fort of zutphen should be placed in the hands of roland york? remonstrances were made by the states-general at once. with regard to stanley, leicester maintained that he was, in his opinion, the fittest man to take charge of the whole english army, during his absence in england. in answer to a petition made by the states against the appointment of york, "in respect to his perfidious dealings before," the earl replied that he would answer for his fidelity as for his own brother; adding peremptorily--"do you trust me? then trust york." but, besides his other qualifications for high command, stanley possessed an inestimable one in leicester's eyes. he was, or at least had been, an enemy of sir john norris. to be this made a papist pardonable. it was even better than to be a puritan. but the earl did more than to appoint the traitor york and the papist stanley to these important posts. on the very day of his departure, and immediately after his final quarrel with sir john about the hohenlo cartel, which had renewed all the ancient venom, he signed a secret paper, by which he especially forbade the council of state to interfere with or set aside any appointments to the government of towns or forts, or to revoke any military or naval commissions, without his consent. now supreme executive authority had been delegated to the state-council by the governor-general during his absence. command in chief over all the english forces, whether in the queen's pay or the state's pay, had been conferred upon norris, while command over the dutch and german troops belonged to hohenlo; but, by virtue of the earl's secret paper, stanley and york were now made independent of all authority. the evil consequences natural to such a step were not slow in displaying themselves. stanley at once manifested great insolence towards norris. that distinguished general was placed in a most painful position. a post of immense responsibility was confided to him. the honour of england's queen and of england's soldiers was entrusted to his keeping; at a moment full of danger, and in a country where every hour might bring forth some terrible change; yet he knew himself the mark at which the most powerful man in england was directing all his malice, and that the queen, who was wax in her great favourite's hands, was even then receiving the most fatal impressions as to his character and conduct. "well i know," said he to burghley, "that the root of the former malice borne me is not withered, but that i must look for like fruits therefrom as before;" and he implored the lord-treasurer, that when his honour and reputation should be called in question, he might be allowed to return to england and clear himself. "for myself," said he, "i have not yet received any commission, although i have attended his lordship of leicester to his ship. it is promised to be sent me, and in the meantime i understand that my lord hath granted separate commissions to sir william stanley and roland york, exempting them from obeying of me. if this be true, 'tis only done to nourish factions, and to interrupt any better course in our doings than before hath been." he earnestly requested to be furnished with a commission directly from her majesty. "the enemy is reinforcing," he added. "we are very weak, our troops are unpaid these three months, and we are grown odious, to our friends." honest councillor wilkes, who did his best to conciliate all parties, and to do his duty to england and holland, to leicester and to norris, had the strongest sympathy with sir john. "truly, besides the value, wisdom, and many other good parts that are in him," he said, "i have noted wonderful patience and modesty in the man, in bearing many apparent injuries done unto him, which i have known to be countenanced and nourished, contrary to all reason, to disgrace him. please therefore continue your honourable opinion of him in his absence, whatsoever may be maliciously reported to his disadvantage, for i dare avouch, of my own poor skill, that her majesty hath not a second subject of his place and quality able to serve in those countries as he . . . . i doubt not god will move her majesty, in despite of the devil, to respect him as he deserves." sir john disclaimed any personal jealousy in regard to stanley's appointment, but, within a week or two of the earl's departure, he already felt strong anxiety as to its probable results. "if it prove no hindrance to the service," he said, "it shall nothing trouble me. i desire that my doings may show what i am; neither will i seek, by indirect means to calumniate him or any other, but will let them show themselves." early in december he informed the lord-treasurer that stanley's own men were boasting that their master acknowledged no superior authority to his own, and that he had said as much himself to the magistracy of deventer. the burghers had already complained, through the constituted guardians of their liberties, of his insolence and rapacity, and of the turbulence of his troops, and had appealed to sir john; but the colonel-general's remonstrances had been received by sir william with contumely and abuse, and by daunt that he had even a greater commission than any he had yet shown. "three sheep, an ox, and a whole hog," were required weekly of the peasants for his table, in a time of great scarcity, and it was impossible to satisfy the rapacious appetites of the irish kernes. the paymaster-general of the english forces was daily appealed to by stanley for funds--an application which was certainly not unreasonable, as her majesty's troops had not received any payment for three months--but there "was not a denier in the treasury," and he was therefore implored to wait. at last the states-general sent him a month's pay for himself and all his troops, although, as he was in the queen's service, no claim could justly be made upon them. wilkes, also, as english member of the state council, faithfully conveyed to the governor-general in england the complaints which came up to all the authorities of the republic, against sir william stanley's conduct in deventer. he had seized the keys of the gates, he kept possession of the towers and fortifications, he had meddled with the civil government, he had infringed all their privileges. yet this was the board of magistrates, expressly set up by leicester, with the armed hand, by the agency of marshal pelham and this very colonel stanley--a board of calvinist magistrates placed but a few weeks before in power to control a city of catholic tendencies. and here was a papist commander displaying leicester's commission in their faces, and making it a warrant for dealing with the town as if it were under martial law, and as if he were an officer of the duke of parma. it might easily be judged whether such conduct were likely to win the hearts of netherlanders to leicester and to england. "albeit, for my own part," said wilkes, "i do hold sir william stanley to be a wise and a discreet gent., yet when i consider that the magistracy is such as was established by your lordship, and of the religion, and well affected to her majesty, and that i see how heavily the matter is conceived of here by the states and council, i do fear that all is not well. the very bruit of this doth begin to draw hatred upon our nation. were it not that i doubt some dangerous issue of this matter, and that i might be justly charged with negligence, if i should not advertise you beforehand, i would, have forborne to mention this dissension, for the states are about to write to your lordship and to her majesty for reformation in this matter." he added that he had already written earnestly to sir william, "hoping to persuade him to carry a mild hand over the people." thus wrote councillor wilkes, as in duty bound, to lord leicester, so early as the th december, and the warning voice of norris had made itself heard in england quite as soon. certainly the governor-general, having, upon his own responsibility; and prompted, it would seem, by passion more than reason, made this dangerous appointment, was fortunate in receiving timely and frequent notice of its probable results. and the conscientious wilkes wrote most earnestly, as he said he had done, to the turbulent stanley. "good sir william," said he, "the magistrates and burgesses of deventer complain to this council, that you have by violence wrested from them the keys of one of their gates, that you assemble your garrison in arms to terrify them, that you have seized one of their forts, that the irish soldiers do commit many extortions and exactions upon the inhabitants, that you have imprisoned their burgesses, and do many things against their laws and privileges, so that it is feared the best affected, of the inhabitants towards her majesty will forsake the town. whether any of these things be true, yourself doth best know, but i do assure you that the apprehension thereof here doth make us and our government hateful. for mine own part, i have always known you for a gentleman of value, wisdom; and judgment, and therefore should hardly believe any such thing. . . . . i earnestly require you to take heed of consequences, and to be careful of the honour of her majesty and the reputation of our nation. you will consider that the gaining possession of the town grew by them that are now in office, who being of the religion, and well affected to his excellency's government, wrought his entry into the same . . . . i know that lord leicester is sworn to maintain all the inhabitants of the provinces in their ancient privileges and customs. i know further that your commission carreeth no authority to warrant you to intermeddle any further than with the government of the soldiers and guard of the town. well, you may, in your own conceipt, confer some words to authorize you in some larger sort, but, believe me, sir, they will not warrant you sufficiently to deal any further than i have said, for i have perused a copy of your commission for that purpose. i know the name itself of a governor of a town is odious to this people, and hath been ever since the remembrance of the spanish government, and if we, by any lack of foresight, should give the like occasion, we should make ourselves as odious as they are; which god forbid. "you are to consider that we are not come into these countries for their defence only, but for the defence of her majesty and our own native country, knowing that the preservation of both dependeth altogether upon the preserving of these. wherefore i do eftsoons intreat and require you to forbear to intermeddle any further. if there shall follow any dangerous effect of your proceedings, after this my friendly advice, i shall be heartily sorry for your sake, but i shall be able to testify to her majesty that i have done my duty in admonishing you." thus spake the stiff councillor, earnestly and well, in behalf of england's honour and the good name of england's queen. but the brave soldier, whose feet were fast sliding into the paths of destruction, replied, in a tone of indignant innocence, more likely to aggravate than to allay suspicion. "finding," said stanley, "that you already threaten, i have gone so far as to scan the terms of my commission, which i doubt not to execute, according to his excellency's meaning and mine honour. first, i assure you that i have maintained justice, and that severely; else hardly would the soldiers have been contented with bread and bare cheese." he acknowledged possessing himself of the keys of the town, but defended it on the ground of necessity; and of the character of the people, "who thrust out the spaniards and almaynes, and afterwards never would obey the prince and states." "i would be," he said, "the sorriest man that lives, if by my negligence the place should be lost. therefore i thought good to seize the great tower and ports. if i meant evil, i needed no keys, for here is force enough." with much effrontery, he then affected to rely for evidence of his courteous and equitable conduct towards the citizens, upon the very magistrates who had been petitioning the states-general, the state-council, and the english queen, against his violence: "for my courtesy and humanity," he said, "i refer me unto the magistrates themselves. but i think they sent rhetoricians, who could, allege of little grief, and speak pitiful, and truly i find your ears have been as pitiful in so timorously condemning me. i assure you that her majesty hath not a better servant than i nor a more faithful in these parts. this i will prove with my flesh and blood. although i know there be divers flying reports spread by my enemies, which are come to my ears, i doubt not my virtue and truth will prove them calumniators and men of little. so, good mr. wilkes, i pray you, consider gravely, give ear discreetly, and advertise into england soundly. for me, i have been and am your friend, and glad to hear any admonition from one so wise as yourself." he then alluded ironically to the "good favour and money" with which he had been so contented of late, that if mr. wilkes would discharge him of his promise to lord leicester, he would take his leave with all his heart. captain, officers, and soldiers, had been living on half a pound of cheese a day. for himself, he had received but one hundred and twenty pounds in five months, and was living at three pounds by the day. "this my wealth will not long hold out," he observed, "but yet i will never fail of my promise to his excellency, whatsoever i endure. it is for her majesty's service and for the love i bear to him." he bitterly complained of the unwillingness of the country-people to furnish vivers, waggons, and other necessaries, for the fort before zutphen. "had it not been," he said, "for the travail extraordinary of myself, and patience of my brother, yorke, that fort would have been in danger. but, according to his desire and forethought, i furnished that place with cavalry and infantry; for i know the troops there be marvellous weak." in reply, wilkes stated that the complaints had been made "by no rhetorician," but by letter from the magistrates themselves (on whom he relied so confidently) to the state-council. the councillor added, rather tartly, that since his honest words of defence and of warning, had been "taken in so scoffing a manner," sir william might be sure of not being troubled with any more of his letters. but, a day or two before thus addressing him, he had already enclosed to leicester very important letters addressed by the council of gelderland to count moeurs, stadholder of the province, and by him forwarded to the state-council. for there were now very grave rumours concerning the fidelity of "that patient and foreseeing brother york," whom stanley had been so generously strengthening in fort zutphen. the lieutenant of york, a certain mr. zouch, had been seen within the city of zutphen, in close conference with colonel tassis, spanish governor of the place. moreover there had been a very frequent exchange of courtesies--by which the horrors of war seemed to be much mitigated--between york on the outside and tassis within. the english commander sent baskets of venison, wild fowl, and other game, which were rare in the market of a besieged town. the spanish governor responded with baskets of excellent wine and barrels of beer. a very pleasant state of feeling, perhaps, to contemplate--as an advance in civilization over the not very distant days of the haarlem and leyden sieges, when barrels of prisoners' heads, cut off, a dozen or two at a time, were the social amenities usually exchanged between spaniards and dutchmen--but somewhat suspicious to those who had grown grey in this horrible warfare. the irish kernes too, were allowed to come to mass within the city, and were received there with as much fraternity by, the catholic soldiers of tassis as the want of any common dialect would allow--a proceeding which seemed better perhaps for the salvation of their souls, than--for the advancement of the siege. the state-council had written concerning these rumours to roland york, but the patient man had replied in a manner which wilkes characterized as "unfit to have been given to such as were the executors of the earl of leicester's authority." the councillor implored the governor-general accordingly to send some speedy direction in this matter, as well to roland york as to sir william stanley; for he explicitly and earnestly warned him, that those personages would pay no heed to the remonstrances of the state-council. thus again and again was leicester--on whose head rested, by his own deliberate act, the whole responsibility--forewarned that some great mischief was impending. there was time enough even then--for it was but the th december--to place full powers in the hands of the state-council, of norris, or of hohenlo, and secretly and swiftly to secure the suspected persons, and avert the danger. leicester did nothing. how could he acknowledge his error? how could he manifest confidence in the detested norris? how appeal to the violent and deeply incensed hohenlo? three weeks more rolled by, and the much-enduring roland york was still in confidential correspondence with leicester and walsingham, although his social intercourse with the spanish governor of zutphen continued to be upon the most liberal and agreeable footing. he was not quite satisfied with the general, aspect of the queen's cause in the netherlands, and wrote to the secretary of state in a tone of despondency, and mild expostulation. walsingham would have been less edified by these communications, had he been aware that york, upon first entering leicester's service, had immediately opened a correspondence with the duke of parma, and had secretly given him to understand that his object was to serve the cause of spain. this was indeed the fact, as the duke informed the king, "but then he is such a scatter-brained, reckless dare-devil," said parma, "that i hardly expected much of him." thus the astute sir francis had been outwitted, by the adventurous roland, who was perhaps destined also to surpass the anticipations of the spanish commander-in-chief. meantime york informed his english patrons, on the th january, that matters were not proceeding so smoothly in the political world as he could wish. he had found "many cross and indirect proceedings," and so, according to lord leicester's desire, he sent him a "discourse" on the subject, which he begged sir francis to "peruse, add to, or take away from," and then to inclose to the earl. he hoped he should be forgiven if the style of the production was not quite satisfactory; for, said he, "the place where i am doth too much torment my memory, to call every point to my remembrance." it must, in truth, have been somewhat a hard task upon his memory, to keep freshly in mind every detail of the parallel correspondence which he was carrying on with the spanish and with the english government. even a cool head like roland's might be forgiven for being occasionally puzzled. "so if there be anything hard to be understood," he observed to walsingham, "advertise me, and i will make it plainer." nothing could be more ingenuous. he confessed, however, to being out of pocket. "please your honour," said he, "i have taken great pains to make a bad place something, and it has cost me all the money i had, and here i can receive nothing but discontentment. i dare not write you all lest you should think it impossible," he added--and it is quite probable that even walsingham would have been astonished, had roland written all. the game playing by york and stanley was not one to which english gentlemen were much addicted. "i trust the bearer, edward stanley; a discreet, brave gentleman," he said, "with details." and the remark proves that the gallant youth who had captured this very fort zutphen in, so brilliant a manner was not privy to the designs of his brother and of york; for the object of the "discourse" was to deceive the english government. "i humbly beseech that you will send for me home," concluded roland, "for true as i humbled my mind to please her majesty, your honour, and the dead, now am i content to humble myself lower to please myself, for now, since his, excellency's departure, there is no form of proceeding neither honourably nor honestly." three other weeks passed over, weeks of anxiety and dread throughout the republic. suspicion grew darker than ever, not only as to york and stanley, but as to all the english commanders, as to the whole english nation. an anjou plot, a general massacre, was expected by many, yet there were no definite grounds for such dark anticipations. in vain had painstaking, truth-telling wilkes summoned stanley to his duty, and called on leicester, time after time, to interfere. in vain did sir john norris, sir john conway, the members of the state-council, and all others who should have had authority, do their utmost to avert a catastrophe. their hands were all tied by the fatal letter of the th november. most anxiously did all implore the earl of leicester to return. never was a more dangerous moment than this for a country to be left to its fate. scarcely ever in history was there a more striking exemplification of the need of a man--of an individual--who should embody the powers and wishes, and concentrate in one brain and arm, the whole energy, of a commonwealth. but there was no such man, for the republic had lost its chief when orange died. there was much wisdom and patriotism now. olden-barneveld was competent, and so was buys, to direct the councils of the republic, and there were few better soldiers than norris and hohenlo to lead her armies against spain. but the supreme authority had been confided to leicester. he had not perhaps proved himself extraordinarily qualified for his post, but he was the governor-in-chief, and his departure, without resigning his powers, left the commonwealth headless, at a moment when singleness of action was vitally important. at last, very late in january, one hugh overing, a haberdasher from ludgate hill, was caught at rotterdam, on his way to ireland, with a bundle of letters from sir william stanley, and was sent, as a suspicious character, to the state-council at the hague. on the same day, another englishman, a small youth, "well-favoured," rejoicing in a "very little red beard, and in very ragged clothes," unknown by name; but ascertained to be in the service of roland york and to have been the bearer of letters to brussels, also passed through rotterdam. by connivance of the innkeeper, one joyce, also an englishman, he succeeded in making his escape. the information contained in the letters thus intercepted was important, but it came too late, even if then the state-council could have acted without giving mortal offence to elizabeth and to leicester. on the evening of th january (n. s.), sir william stanley entertained the magistrates of deventer at a splendid banquet. there was free conversation at table concerning the idle suspicions which had been rife in the provinces as to his good intentions and the censures which had been cast upon him for the repressive measures which he had thought necessary to adopt for the security of the city. he took that occasion to assure his guests that the queen of england had not a more loyal subject than himself, nor the netherlands a more devoted friend. the company expressed themselves fully restored to confidence in his character and purposes, and the burgomasters, having exchanged pledges of faith and friendship with the commandant in flowing goblets, went home comfortably to bed, highly pleased with their noble entertainer and with themselves. very late that same night, stanley placed three hundred of his wild irish in the noorenberg tower, a large white structure which commanded the zutphen gate, and sent bodies of chosen troops to surprise all the burgher-guards at their respective stations. strong pickets of cavalry were also placed in all the principal thoroughfares of the city. at three o'clock in the following morning he told his officers that he was about to leave deventer for a few hours, in order to bring in some reinforcements for which he had sent, as he had felt much anxiety for some time past as to the disposition of the burghers. his officers, honest englishmen, suspecting no evil and having confidence in their chief, saw nothing strange in this proceeding, and sir william rode deliberately out of zutphen. after he had been absent an hour or two, the clatter of hoofs and the tramp of infantry was heard without, and presently the commandant returned, followed by a thousand musketeers and three or four hundred troopers. it was still pitch dark; but, dimly lighted by torches, small detachments of the fresh troops picked their way through the black narrow streets, while the main body poured at once upon the brink, or great square. here, quietly and swiftly, they were marshalled into order, the cavalry, pikemen, and musketeers, lining all sides of the place, and a chosen band--among whom stood sir william stanley, on foot, and an officer of high rank on horseback--occupying the central space immediately in front of the town-house. the drums then beat, and proclamation went forth through the city that all burghers, without any distinction--municipal guards and all--were to repair forthwith to the city-hall, and deposit their arms. as the inhabitants arose from their slumbers, and sallied forth into the streets to inquire the cause of the disturbance, they soon discovered that they had, in some mysterious manner, been entrapped. wild irishmen, with uncouth garb, threatening gesture, and unintelligible jargon, stood gibbering at every corner, instead of the comfortable flemish faces of the familiar burgher-guard. the chief burgomaster, sleeping heavily after sir william's hospitable banquet, aroused himself at last, and sent a militia-captain to inquire the cause of the unseasonable drum-beat and monstrous proclamation. day was breaking as the trusty captain made his way to the scene of action. the wan light of a cold, drizzly january morning showed him the wide, stately square--with its leafless lime-trees and its tall many storied, gable-ended houses rising dim and spectral through the mist-filled to overflowing with troops, whose uniforms and banners resembled nothing that he remembered in dutch and english regiments. fires were lighted at various corners, kettles were boiling, and camp-followers and sutlers were crouching over them, half perished with cold--for it had been raining dismally all night--while burghers, with wives and children, startled from their dreams by the sudden reveillee, stood gaping about, with perplexed faces and despairing gestures. as he approached the town-house--one of those magnificent, many-towered, highly-decorated, municipal palaces of the netherlands--he found troops all around it; troops guarding the main entrance, troops on the great external staircase leading to the front balcony, and officers, in yellow jerkin and black bandoleer, grouped in the balcony itself. the flemish captain stood bewildered, when suddenly the familiar form of stanley detached itself from the central group and advanced towards him. taking him by the hand with much urbanity, sir william led the militia-man through two or three ranks of soldiers, and presented him to the strange officer on horseback. "colonel tassis," said he, "i recommend to you a very particular friend of mine. let me bespeak your best offices in his behalf." "ah god!" cried the honest burgher, "tassis! tassis! then are we indeed most miserably betrayed." even the spanish colonel who was of flemish origin, was affected by the despair of the netherlander. "let those look to the matter of treachery whom it concerns," said he; "my business here is to serve the king, my master." "render unto caesar the things which are caesar's, and unto god the things which are god's," said stanley, with piety. the burgher-captain was then assured that no harm was intended to the city, but that it now belonged to his most catholic majesty of spain--colonel stanley, to whom its custody had been entrusted, having freely and deliberately restored it to its lawful owner. he was then bid to go and fetch the burgomasters and magistrates. presently they appeared--a dismal group, weeping and woe-begone--the same board of strict calvinists forcibly placed in office but three months before by leicester, through the agency of this very stanley, who had so summarily ejected their popish predecessors, and who only the night before had so handsomely feasted themselves. they came forward, the tears running down their cheeks, crying indeed so piteously that even stanley began to weep bitterly himself. "i have not done this," he sobbed, "for power or pelf. not the hope of reward, but the love of god hath moved me." presently some of the ex-magistrates made their appearance, and a party of leading citizens went into a private house with tassis and stanley to hear statements and explanations--as if any satisfactory ones were possible. sir william, still in a melancholy tone, began to make a speech, through an interpreter, and again to protest that he had not been influenced by love of lucre. but as he stammered and grew incoherent as he approached the point, tassis suddenly interrupted the conference. "let us look after our soldiers," said he, "for they have been marching in the foul weather half the night." so the spanish troops, who had been, standing patiently to be rained upon after their long march, until the burghers had all deposited their arms in the city-hall, were now billeted on the townspeople. tassis gave peremptory orders that no injury should be offered to persons or property on pain of death; and, by way of wholesome example, hung several hibernians the same day who had been detected in plundering the inhabitants. the citizens were, as usual in such cases, offered the choice between embracing the catholic religion or going into exile, a certain interval being allowed them to wind up their affairs. they were also required to furnish stanley and his regiment full pay for the whole period of their service since coming to the provinces, and to tassis three months' wages for his spaniards in advance. stanley offered his troops the privilege of remaining with him in the service of spain, or of taking their departure unmolested. the irish troops were quite willing to continue under their old chieftain, particularly as it was intimated to them that there was an immediate prospect of a brisk campaign in their native island against the tyrant elizabeth, under the liberating banners of philip. and certainly, in an age where religion constituted country, these fervent catholics could scarcely be censured for taking arms against the sovereign who persecuted their religion and themselves. these honest barbarians had broken no oath, violated no trust, had never pretended sympathy with freedom; or affection for their queen. they had fought fiercely under the chief who led them into battle--they had robbed and plundered voraciously as opportunity served, and had been occasionally hanged for their exploits; but deventer and fort zutphen had not been confided to their keeping; and it was a pleasant thought to them, that approaching invasion of ireland. "i will ruin the whole country from holland to friesland," said stanley to captain newton, "and then i will play such a game in ireland as the queen has never seen the like all the days of her life." newton had already been solicited by roland york to take service under parma, and had indignantly declined. sir edmund carey and his men, four hundred in all, refused, to a man, to take part in the monstrous treason, and were allowed to leave the city. this was the case with all the english officers. stanley and york were the only gentlemen who on this occasion sullied the honour of england. captain henchman, who had been taken prisoner in a skirmish a few days before the surrender of deventer, was now brought to that city, and earnestly entreated by tassis and by stanley to seize this opportunity of entering the service of spain. "you shall have great advancement and preferment," said tassis. "his catholic majesty has got ready very many ships for ireland, and sir william stanley is to be general of the expedition." "and you shall choose your own preferment," said stanley, "for i know you to be a brave man." "i would rather," replied henchman, "serve my prince in loyalty as a beggar, than to be known and reported a rich traitor, with breach of conscience." "continue so," replied stanley, unabashed; "for this is the very principle of my own enlargement: for, before, i served the devil, and now i am serving god." the offers and the arguments of the spaniard and the renegade were powerless with the blunt captain, and notwithstanding "divers other traitorous alledgements by sir william for his most vile facts," as henchman expressed it, that officer remained in poverty and captivity until such time as he could be exchanged. stanley subsequently attempted in various ways to defend his character. he had a commission from leicester, he said, to serve whom he chose--as if the governor-general had contemplated his serving philip ii. with that commission; he had a passport to go whither he liked--as if his passport entitled him to take the city of deventer along with him; he owed no allegiance to the states; he was discharged from his promise to the earl; he was his own master; he wanted neither money nor preferment; he had been compelled by his conscience and his duty to god to restore the city to its lawful master, and so on, and so on. but whether he owed the states allegiance or not, it is certain that he had accepted their money to relieve himself and his troops eight days before his treason. that leicester had discharged him from his promises to such an extent as to justify his surrendering a town committed to his honour for safe keeping, certainly deserved no answer; that his duty to conscience required him to restore the city argued a somewhat tardy awakening of that monitor in the breast of the man who three months before had wrested the place with the armed hand from men suspected of catholic inclinations; that his first motive however was not the mere love of money, was doubtless true. attachment to his religion, a desire to atone for his sins against it, the insidious temptings of his evil spirit, york, who was the chief organizer of the conspiracy, and the prospect of gratifying a wild and wicked ambition--these were the springs that moved him. sums--varying from l , to a pension of pistolets a year--were mentioned, as the stipulated price of his treason, by norris, wilkes, conway, and others; but the duke of parma, in narrating the whole affair in a private letter to the king, explicitly stated that he had found stanley "singularly disinterested." "the colonel was only actuated by religious motives," he said, "asking for no reward, except that he might serve in his majesty's army thenceforth--and this is worthy to be noted." at the same time it appears from this correspondence, that the duke, recommended, and that the king bestowed, a "merced," which stanley did not refuse; and it was very well known that to no persons in, the world was philip apt to be so generous as to men of high rank, flemish, walloon, or english, who deserted the cause of his rebellious subjects to serve under his own banners. yet, strange to relate, almost at the very moment that stanley was communicating his fatal act of treason, in order that he might open a high career for his ambition, a most brilliant destiny was about to dawn upon him. the queen had it in contemplation, in recompense for his distinguished services, and by advice of leicester, to bestow great honors and titles upon him, and to appoint him viceroy of ireland--of that very country which he was now proposing, as an enemy to his sovereign and as the purchased tool of a foreign despot, to invade. stanley's subsequent fate was obscure. a price of florins was put by the states upon his head and upon that of york. he went to spain, and afterwards returned to the provinces. he was even reported to have become, through the judgment of god, a lunatic, although the tale wanted confirmation; and it is certain that at the close of the year he had mustered his regiment under farnese, prepared to join the duke in the great invasion of england. roland york, who was used to such practices, cheerfully consummated his crime on the same day that witnessed the surrender of deventer. he rode up to the gates of that city on the morning of the th january, inquired quietly whether tassis was master of the place, and then galloped furiously back the ten miles to his fort. entering, he called his soldiers together, bade them tear in pieces the colours of england, and follow him into the city of zutphen. two companies of states' troops offered resistance, and attempted to hold the place; but they were overpowered by the english and irish, assisted by a force of spaniards, who, by a concerted movement, made their appearance from the town. he received a handsome reward, having far surpassed the duke of parma's expectations, when he made his original offer of service. he died very suddenly, after a great banquet at deventer, in the course of the sane year, not having succeeded in making his escape into spain to live at ease on his stipend. it was supposed that he was poisoned; but the charge in those days was a common one, and nobody cared to investigate the subject. his body was subsequently exhumed when deventer came into the hands of the patriots--and with impotent and contemptible malice hanged upon a gibbet. this was the end of roland york. parma was highly gratified, as may be imagined, at such successful results. "thus fort zutphen," said he, "about which there have been so many fisticuffs, and deventer--which was the real object of the last campaign, and which has cost the english so much blood and money, and is the safety of groningen and of all those provinces--is now your majesty's. moreover, the effect of this treason must be to sow great distrust between the english and the rebels, who will henceforth never know in whom they can confide." parma was very right in this conjuncture. moreover, there was just then a fearful run against the states. the castle of wauw, within a league of bergen-op-zoom, which had been entrusted to one le marchand, a frenchman in the service of the republic, was delivered by him to parma for , florins. "'tis a very important post," said the duke, "and the money was well laid out." the loss of the city of gelder, capital of the province of the same name, took place in the summer. this town belonged to the jurisdiction of martin schenk, and was, his chief place of deposit for the large and miscellaneous property acquired by him during his desultory, but most profitable, freebooting career. the famous partisan was then absent, engaged in a lucrative job in the way of his profession. he had made a contract--in a very-business-like way--with the states, to defend the city of rheinberg and all the country, round against the duke of parma, pledging himself to keep on foot for that purpose an army of foot and horse. for this extensive and important operation, he was to receive , florins a month from the general exchequer; and in addition he was to be allowed the brandschatz--the black-mail, that is to say--of the whole country-side, and the taxation upon all vessels going up and down the river before rheinberg; an ad valorem duty, in short, upon all river-merchandise, assessed and collected in summary fashion. a tariff thus enforced was not likely to be a mild one; and although the states considered that they had got a "good penny-worth" by the job, it was no easy thing to get the better, in a bargain, of the vigilant martin, who was as thrifty a speculator as he was a desperate fighter. a more accomplished highwayman, artistically and enthusiastically devoted to his pursuit, never lived. nobody did his work more thoroughly--nobody got himself better paid for his work--and thomas wilkes, that excellent man of business, thought the states not likely to make much by their contract. nevertheless, it was a comfort to know that the work would not be neglected. schenk was accordingly absent, jobbing the rheinberg siege, and in his place one aristotle patton, a scotch colonel in the states' service, was commandant of gelders. now the thrifty scot had an eye to business, too, and was no more troubled with qualms of conscience than rowland york himself. moreover, he knew himself to be in great danger of losing his place, for leicester was no friend to him, and intended to supersede him. patton had also a decided grudge against schenk, for that truculent personage had recently administered to him a drubbing, which no doubt he had richly deserved. accordingly, when; the duke of parma made a secret offer to him of , florins if he would quietly surrender the city entrusted to him, the colonel jumped at so excellent an opportunity of circumventing leicester, feeding his grudge against martin, and making a handsome fortune for himself. he knew his trade too well, however, to accept the offer too eagerly, and bargained awhile for better terms, and to such good purpose, that it was agreed he should have not only the , florins, but all the horses, arms, plate, furniture, and other moveables in the city belonging to schenk, that he could lay his hands upon. here were revenge and solid damages for the unforgotten assault and battery--for schenk's property alone made no inconsiderable fortune--and accordingly the city, towards midsummer, was surrendered to the seigneur d'haultepenne. moreover, the excellent patton had another and a loftier motive. he was in love. he had also a rival. the lady of his thoughts was the widow of pontus de noyelle, seigneur de bours, who had once saved the citadel of antwerp, and afterwards sold that city and himself. his rival was no other than the great seigneur de champagny, brother of cardinal granvelle, eminent as soldier, diplomatist, and financier, but now growing old, not in affluent circumstances, and much troubled with the gout. madame de bours had, however, accepted his hand, and had fixed the day for the wedding, when the scotchman, thus suddenly enriched, renewed a previously unsuccessful suit. the widow then, partially keeping her promise, actually celebrated her nuptials on the appointed evening; but, to the surprise of the provinces, she became not the 'haulte et puissante dame de champagny,' but mrs. aristotle patton. for this last treason neither leicester nor the english were responsible. patton was not only a scot, but a follower of hohenlo, as leicester loudly protested. le merchant was a frenchman. but deventer and zutphen were places of vital importance, and stanley an englishman of highest consideration, one who had been deemed worthy of the command in chief in leicester's absence. moreover, a cornet in the service of the earl's nephew, sir robert sidney, had been seen at zutphen in conference with tassis; and the horrible suspicion went abroad that even the illustrious name of sidney was to be polluted also. this fear was fortunately false, although the cornet was unquestionably a traitor, with whom the enemy had been tampering; but the mere thought that sir robert sidney could betray the trust reposed in him was almost enough to make the still unburied corpse of his brother arise from the dead. parma was right when he said that all confidence of the netherlanders in the englishmen would now be gone, and that the provinces would begin to doubt their best friends. no fresh treasons followed, but they were expected every day. an organized plot to betray the country was believed in, and a howl of execration swept through the land. the noble deeds of sidney and willoughby, and norris and pelham, and roger williams, the honest and valuable services of wilkes, the generosity and courage of leicester, were for a season forgotten. the english were denounced in every city and village of the netherlands as traitors and miscreants. respectable english merchants went from hostelry to hostelry, and from town to town, and were refused a lodging for love or money. the nation was put under ban. a most melancholy change from the beginning of the year, when the very men who were now loudest in denunciation and fiercest in hate, had been the warmest friends of elizabeth, of england, and of leicester. at hohenlo's table the opinion was loudly expressed, even in the presence of sir roger williams, that it was highly improbable, if a man like stanley, of such high rank in the kingdom of england, of such great connections and large means, could commit such a treason, that he could do so without the knowledge and consent of her majesty. barneveld, in council of state, declared that leicester, by his restrictive letter of th november, had intended to carry the authority over the republic into england, in order to dispose of everything at his pleasure, in conjunction with the english cabinet-council, and that the country had never been so cheated by the french as it had now been by the english, and that their government had become insupportable. councillor carl roorda maintained at the table of elector truchsess that the country had fallen 'de tyrannide in tyrrannidem;' and--if they had spurned the oppression of the spaniards and the french--that it was now time to, rebel against the english. barneveld and buys loudly declared that the provinces were able to protect themselves without foreign assistance, and that it was very injurious to impress a contrary opinion upon the public mind. the whole college of the states-general came before the state-council, and demanded the name of the man to whom the earl's restrictive letter had been delivered--that document by which the governor had dared surreptitiously to annul the authority which publicly he had delegated to that body, and thus to deprive it of the power of preventing anticipated crimes. after much colloquy the name of brackel was given, and, had not the culprit fortunately been absent, his life might have, been in danger, for rarely had grave statesmen been so thoroughly infuriated. no language can exaggerate the consequences of this wretched treason. unfortunately, too; the abject condition to which the english troops had been reduced by the niggardliness of their sovereign was an additional cause of danger. leicester was gone, and since her favourite was no longer in the netherlands, the queen seemed to forget that there was a single englishman upon that fatal soil. in five months not one penny had been sent to her troops. while the earl had been there one hundred and forty thousand pounds had been sent in seven or eight months. after his departure not five thousand pounds were sent in one half year. the english soldiers, who had fought so well in every flemish battle-field of freedom, had become--such as were left of them--mere famishing half naked vagabonds and marauders. brave soldiers had been changed by their sovereign into brigands, and now the universal odium which suddenly attached itself to the english name converted them into outcasts. forlorn and crippled creatures swarmed about the provinces, but were forbidden to come through the towns, and so wandered about, robbing hen-roosts and pillaging the peasantry. many deserted to the enemy. many begged their way to england, and even to the very gates of the palace, and exhibited their wounds and their misery before the eyes of that good queen bess who claimed to be the mother of her subjects,--and begged for bread in vain. the english cavalry, dwindled now to a body of five hundred, starving and mutinous, made a foray into holland, rather as highwaymen than soldiers. count maurice commanded their instant departure, and hohenlo swore that if the order were not instantly obeyed, he would put himself at the head of his troops and cut every man of them to pieces. a most painful and humiliating condition for brave men who had been fighting the battles of their queen and of the republic, to behold themselves--through the parsimony of the one and the infuriated sentiment of the other--compelled to starve, to rob, or to be massacred by those whom they had left their homes to defend. at last, honest wilkes, ever watchful of his duty, succeeded in borrowing eight hundred pounds sterling for two months, by "pawning his own carcase" as he expressed himself. this gave the troopers about thirty shillings a man, with which relief they became, for a time, contented and well disposed. is this picture exaggerated? is it drawn by pencils hostile to the english nation or the english queen? it is her own generals and confidential counsellors who have told a story in all its painful details, which has hardly found a place in other chronicles. the parsimony of the great queen must ever remain a blemish on her character, and it was never more painfully exhibited than towards her brave soldiers in flanders in the year . thomas wilkes, a man of truth, and a man of accounts, had informed elizabeth that the expenses of one year's war, since leicester had been governor-general, had amounted to exactly five hundred and seventy-nine thousand three hundred and sixty pounds and nineteen shillings, of which sum one hundred and forty-six thousand three hundred and eighty-six pounds and eleven shillings had been spent by her majesty, and the balance had been paid, or was partly owing by the states. these were not agreeable figures, but the figures of honest accountants rarely flatter, and wilkes was not one of those financiers who have the wish or the gift to make things pleasant. he had transmitted the accounts just as they had been delivered, certified by the treasurers of the states and by the english paymasters, and the queen was appalled at the sum-totals. she could never proceed with such a war as that, she said, and she declined a loan of sixty thousand pounds which the states requested, besides stoutly refusing to advance her darling robin a penny to pay off the mortgages upon two-thirds of his estates, on which the equity of redemption was fast expiring, or to give him the slightest help in furnishing him forth anew for the wars. yet not one of her statesmen doubted that these netherland battles were english battles, almost as much as if the fighting-ground had been the isle of wight or the coast of kent, the charts of which the statesmen and generals of spain were daily conning. wilkes, too, while defending leicester stoutly behind his back, doing his best, to explain his short-comings, lauding his courage and generosity, and advocating his beloved theory of popular sovereignty with much ingenuity and eloquence, had told him the truth to his face. although assuring him that if he came back soon, he might rule the states "as a schoolmaster doth his boys," he did not fail to set before him the disastrous effects of his sudden departure and of his protracted absence; he had painted in darkest colours the results of the deventer treason, he had unveiled the cabals against his authority, he had repeatedly and vehemently implored his return; he had, informed the queen, that notwithstanding some errors of, administration, he was much the fittest man to represent her in the netherlands, and, that he could accomplish, by reason of his experience, more in three months than any other man could do in a year. he bad done his best to reconcile the feuds which existed between him and important personages in the netherlands, he had been the author of the complimentary letters sent to him in the name of the states-general--to the great satisfaction of the queen--but he had not given up his friendship with sir john norris, because he said "the virtues of the man made him as worthy of love as any one living, and because the more he knew him, the more he had cause to affect and to admire him." this was the unpardonable offence, and for this, and for having told the truth about the accounts, leicester denounced wilkes to the queen as a traitor and a hypocrite, and threatened repeatedly to take his life. he had even the meanness to prejudice burghley against him--by insinuating to the lord-treasurer that he too had been maligned by wilkes--and thus most effectually damaged the character of the plain-spoken councillor with the queen and many of her advisers; notwithstanding that he plaintively besought her to "allow him to reiterate his sorry song, as doth the cuckoo, that she would please not condemn her poor servant unheard." immediate action was taken on the deventer treason, and on the general relations between the states-general and the english government. barneveld immediately drew up a severe letter to the earl of leicester. on the nd february wilkes came by chance into the assembly of the states-general, with the rest of the councillors, and found barneveld just demanding the public reading of that document. the letter was read. wilkes then rose and made a few remarks. "the letter seems rather sharp upon his excellency," he observed. "there is not a word in it," answered barneveld curtly, "that is not perfectly true;" and with this he cut the matter short, and made a long speech upon other matters which were then before the assembly. wilkes, very anxious as to the effect of the letter, both upon public feeling in england and upon his own position as english councillor, waited immediately upon count maurice, president van der myle, and upon villiers the clergyman, and implored their interposition to prevent the transmission of the epistle. they promised to make an effort to delay its despatch or to mitigate its tone. a fortnight afterwards, however, wilkes learned with dismay, that the document (the leading passages of which will be given hereafter) had been sent to its destination. meantime, a consultation of civilians and of the family council of count maurice was held, and it was determined that the count should assume the title of prince more formally than he had hitherto done, in order that the actual head of the nassaus might be superior in rank to leicester or to any man who could be sent from england. maurice was also appointed by the states, provisionally, governor-general, with hohenlo for his lieutenant-general. that formidable personage, now fully restored to health, made himself very busy in securing towns and garrisons for the party of holland, and in cashiering all functionaries suspected of english tendencies. especially he became most intimate with count moeurs, stadholder of utrecht--the hatred of which individual and his wife towards leicester and the english nation; springing originally from the unfortunate babble of otheman, had grown more intense than ever,--"banquetting and feasting" with him all day long, and concocting a scheme; by which, for certain considerations, the province of utrecht was to be annexed to holland under the perpetual stadholderate of prince maurice. etext editor's bookmarks: defect of enjoying the flattery, of his inferiors in station the sapling was to become the tree history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter xiv. leicester in england--trial of the queen of scots--fearful perplexity at the english court--infatuation and obstinacy of the queen--netherland envoys in england--queen's bitter invective against them--amazement of the envoys--they consult with her chief councillors--remarks of burghley and davison--fourth of february letter from the states--its severe language towards leicester-- painful position of the envoys at court--queen's parsimony towards leicester. the scene shifts, for a brief interval, to england. leicester had reached the court late in november. those "blessed beams," under whose shade he was wont to find so much "refreshment and nutrition," had again fallen with full radiance upon him. "never since i was born," said he, "did i receive a more gracious welcome."--[leicester to 'wilkes, dec. . (s. p. office ms)]--alas, there was not so much benignity for the starving english soldiers, nor for the provinces, which were fast growing desperate; but although their cause was so intimately connected with the "great cause," which then occupied elizabeth, almost to the exclusion of other matter, it was, perhaps, not wonderful, although unfortunate, that for a time the netherlands should be neglected. the "daughter of debate" had at last brought herself, it was supposed, within the letter of the law, and now began those odious scenes of hypocrisy on the part of elizabeth, that frightful comedy--more melancholy even than the solemn tragedy which it preceded and followed--which must ever remain the darkest passage in the history of the queen. it is unnecessary, in these pages, to make more than a passing allusion to the condemnation and death of the queen of scots. who doubts her participation in the babington conspiracy? who doubts that she was the centre of one endless conspiracy by spain and rome against the throne and life of elizabeth? who doubts that her long imprisonment in england was a violation of all law, all justice, all humanity? who doubts that the fineing, whipping, torturing, hanging, embowelling of men, women, and children, guilty of no other crime than adhesion to the catholic faith, had assisted the pope and philip, and their band of english, scotch, and irish conspirators, to shake elizabeth's throne and endanger her life? who doubts that; had the english sovereign been capable of conceiving the great thought of religious toleration, her reign would have been more glorious than, it was, the cause of protestantism and freedom more triumphant, the name of elizabeth tudor dearer to human hearts? who doubts that there were many enlightened and noble spirits among her protestant subjects who lifted up their voices, over and over again, in parliament and out of it, to denounce that wicked persecution exercised upon their innocent catholic brethren, which was fast converting loyal englishmen, against their will, into traitors and conspirators? yet who doubts that it would have required, at exactly that moment, and in the midst of that crisis; more elevation of soul than could fairly be predicated of any individual, for elizabeth in to pardon mary, or to relax in the severity of her legislation towards english papists? yet, although a display of sublime virtue, such as the world has rarely seen, was not to be expected, it was reasonable to look for honest and royal dealing, from a great sovereign, brought at last face to face with a great event. the "great cause" demanded, a great, straightforward blow. it was obvious, however, that it would be difficult, in the midst of the tragedy and the comedy, for the netherland business to come fairly before her majesty. "touching the low country causes," said leicester; "very little is done yet, by reason of the continued business we have had about the queen of scots' matters. all the speech i have had with her majesty hitherto touching those causes hath been but private."--[leicester to wilkes, des . (s. p. office ms.)]--walsingham, longing for retirement, not only on account of his infinite grief for the death of sir philip sidney, "which hath been the cause;" he said, "that i have ever since betaken myself into solitariness, and withdrawn; from public affairs," but also by reason of the perverseness an difficulty manifested in the gravest affairs by the sovereign he so faithfully served, sent information, that, notwithstanding the arrival of some of the states' deputies, leicester was persuading her majesty to proceed first in the great cause. "certain principal persons, chosen as committees," he said, "of both houses are sent as humble suitors, to her majesty to desire that she would be pleased to give order for the execution of the scottish queen. her majesty made answer that she was loath to proceed in so violent a course against the said queen; as the taking away of her life, and therefore prayed them to think of some other way which might be for her own and their safety. they replied, no other way but her execution. her majesty, though she yielded no answer to this their latter reply, is contented to give order that the proclamation be published, and so also it is hoped that she, will be moved by this, their earnest instance to proceed to the thorough ending of the cause." and so the cause went slowly on to its thorough ending. and when "no other way" could be thought of but to take mary's life, and when "no other way of taking that life could be devised," at elizabeth's suggestion, except by public execution, when none of the gentlemen "of the association," nor paulet, nor drury--how skilfully soever their "pulses had been felt" by elizabeth's command--would commit assassination to serve a queen who was capable of punishing them afterwards for the murder, the great cause came to its inevitable conclusion, and mary stuart was executed by command of elizabeth tudor. the world may continue to differ as to the necessity of the execution but it has long since pronounced a unanimous verdict as to the respective display of royal dignity by the two queens upon that great occasion. during this interval the netherland matter, almost as vital to england as the execution of mary, was comparatively neglected. it was not absolutely in abeyance, but the condition of the queen's mind coloured every state-affair with its tragic hues. elizabeth, harassed, anxious, dreaming dreams, and enacting a horrible masquerade, was in the worst possible temper to be approached by the envoys. she was furious with the netherlanders for having maltreated her favourite. she was still more furious because their war was costing so much money. her disposition became so uncertain, her temper so ungovernable, as to drive her counsellors to their wit's ends. burghley confessed himself "weary of his miserable life," and protested "that the only desire he had in the world was to be delivered from the ungrateful burthen of service, which her majesty laid upon him so very heavily." walsingham wished himself "well established in basle." the queen set them all together by the ears. she wrangled spitefully over the sum-totals from the netherlands; she worried leicester, she scolded burghley for defending leicester, and leicester abused burghley for taking part against him. the lord-treasurer, overcome with "grief which pierced both his body and his heart," battled his way--as best he could--through the throng of dangers which beset the path of england in that great crisis. it was most obvious to every statesman in the realm that this was not the time--when the gauntlet had been thrown full in the face of philip and sixtus and all catholicism, by the condemnation of mary--to leave the netherland cause "at random," and these outer bulwarks of her own kingdom insufficiently protected. "your majesty will hear," wrote parma to philip, "of the disastrous, lamentable, and pitiful end of the poor queen of scots. although for her it will be immortal glory, and she will be placed among the number of the many martyrs whose blood has been shed in the kingdom of england, and be crowned in heaven with a diadem more precious than the one she wore on earth, nevertheless one cannot repress one's natural emotions. i believe firmly that this cruel deed will be the concluding crime of the many which that englishwoman has committed, and that our lord will be pleased that she shall at last receive the chastisement which she has these many long years deserved, and which has been reserved till now, for her greater ruin and confusion."--[parma to philip il, march. . (arch. de simancas, ms.)]--and with this, the duke proceeded to discuss the all important and rapidly-preparing invasion of england. farnese was not the man to be deceived by the affected reluctance of elizabeth before mary's scaffold, although he was soon to show that he was himself a master in the science of grimace. for elizabeth--more than ever disposed to be friends with spain and rome, now that war to the knife was made inevitable--was wistfully regarding that trap of negotiation, against which all her best friends were endeavouring to warn her. she was more ill-natured than ever to the provinces, she turned her back upon the warnese, she affronted henry iii. by affecting to believe in the fable of his envoy's complicity in the stafford conspiracy against her life. "i pray god to open her eyes," said walsingham, "to see the evident peril of the course she now holdeth . . . . if it had pleased her to have followed the advice given her touching the french ambassador, our ships had been released . . . . but she has taken a very strange course by writing a very sharp letter unto the french king, which i fear will cause him to give ear to those of the league, and make himself a party with them, seeing so little regard had to him here. your lordship may see that our courage doth greatly increase, for that we make no difficulty to fall out with all the world . . . . i never saw her worse affected to the poor king of navarre, and yet doth she seek in no sort to yield contentment to the french king. if to offend all the world;" repeated the secretary bitterly, "be it good cause of government, then can we not do amiss . . . . i never found her less disposed to take a course of prevention of the approaching mischiefs toward this realm than at this present. and to be plain with you, there is none here that hath either credit or courage to deal effectually with her in any of her great causes." thus distracted by doubts and dangers, at war with her best friends, with herself, and with all-the world, was elizabeth during the dark days and months which, preceded and followed the execution of the scottish queen. if the great fight was at last to be fought triumphantly through, it was obvious that england was to depend upon englishmen of all ranks and classes, upon her prudent and far-seeing statesmen, upon her nobles and her adventurers, on her anglo-saxon and anglo-norman blood ever mounting against, oppression, on howard and essex, drake and williams, norris, and willoughby, upon high-born magnates, plebeian captains, london merchants, upon yeomen whose limbs were made in england, and upon hollanders and zeelanders whose fearless mariners were to swarm to the protection of her coasts, quite as much in that year of anxious expectation as upon the great queen herself. unquestionable as were her mental capacity and her more than woman's courage, when fairly, brought face, to face with the danger, it was fortunately not on one man or woman's brain and arm that england's salvation depended in that crisis of her fate. as to the provinces, no one ventured to speak very boldly in their defence. "when i lay before her the peril," said walsingham, "she scorneth at it. the hope of a peace with spain has put her into a most dangerous security." nor would any man now assume responsibility. the fate of davison--of the man who had already in so detestable a manner been made the scape-goat for leicester's sins in the netherlands, and who had now been so barbarously sacrificed by the queen for faithfully obeying her orders in regard to the death-warrant, had sickened all courtiers and counsellors for the time. "the late severe, dealing used by her highness towards mr. secretary davison," said walsingham to wilkes, "maketh us very circumspect and careful not to proceed in anything but wherein we receive direction from herself, and therefore you must not find it strange if we now be more sparing than heretofore hath been accustomed." such being the portentous state of the political atmosphere, and such the stormy condition of the royal mind, it may be supposed that the interviews of the netherland envoys with her majesty during this period were not likely to be genial. exactly at the most gloomy moment--thirteen days before the execution of mary--they came first into elizabeth's presence at greenwich. the envoys were five in number, all of them experienced and able statesmen--zuylen van nyvelt, joos de menyn, nicasius de silla, jacob valck, and vitus van kammings. the queen was in the privy council-chamber, attended by the admiral of england, lord thomas howard, lord hunsdon, great-chamberlain, sir christopher hatton, vice-chamberlain, secretary davison, and many other persons of distinction. the letters of credence were duly presented, but it was obvious from the beginning of the interview that the queen was ill-disposed toward the deputies, and had not only been misinformed as to matters of fact, but as to the state of feeling of the netherlanders and of the states-general towards herself. menyu, however, who was an orator by profession--being pensionary of dort--made, in the name of his colleagues, a brief but pregnant speech, to which the queen listened attentively, although, with frequent indications of anger and impatience. he commenced by observing that the united provinces still entertained the hope that her majesty would conclude, upon further thoughts, to accept the sovereignty over them, with reasonable conditions; but the most important passages of his address were those relating to the cost of the war. "besides our stipulated contributions," said the pensionary, "of , florins the month, we have furnished , as an extraordinary grant; making for the year , , florins, and this over and above the particular and special expenditures of the provinces, and other sums for military purposes. we confess, madam, that the succour of your majesty is a truly royal one, and that there have been few princes in history who have given such assistance to their neighbours unjustly oppressed. it is certain that by means of that help, joined with the forces of the united provinces, the earl of leicester has been able to arrest the course of the duke of parma's victories and to counteract his designs. nevertheless, it appears, madam, that these forces have not been sufficient to drive the enemy out of the country. we are obliged, for regular garrison work and defence of cities, to keep; up an army of at least , foot and horse. of this number your majesty pays foot and horse, and we are now commissioned, madam, humbly to request an increase of your regular succour during the war to , foot and horse. we also implore the loan of l , sterling, in order to assist us in maintaining for the coming season a sufficient force in the field." such, in brief, was the oration of pensionary menyn, delivered in the french language. he had scarcely concluded, when the queen--evidently in a great passion--rose to her feet, and without any hesitation, replied in a strain of vehement eloquence in the same tongue. "now i am not deceived, gentlemen," she said, "and that which i have been fearing has occurred. our common adage, which we have in england, is a very good one. when one fears that an evil is coming, the sooner it arrives the better. here is a quarter of a year that i have been expecting you, and certainly for the great benefit i have conferred on you, you have exhibited a great ingratitude, and i consider myself very ill treated by you. 'tis very strange that you should begin by soliciting still greater succour without rendering me any satisfaction for your past actions, which have been so extraordinary, that i swear by the living god i think it impossible to find peoples or states more ungrateful or ill-advised than yourselves. "i have sent you this year fifteen, sixteen, aye seventeen or eighteen thousand men. you have left them without payment, you have let some of them die of hunger, driven others to such desperation that they have deserted to the enemy. is it not mortifying for the english nation and a great shame for you that englishmen should say that they have found more courtesy from spaniards than from netherlanders? truly, i tell you frankly that i will never endure such indignities. rather will i act according to my will, and you may do exactly, as you think best. "if i chose, i could do something very good without you, although some persons are so fond of saying that it was quite necessary for the queen of england to do what she does for her own protection. no, no! disabuse yourselves of that impression. these are but false persuasions. believe boldly that i can play an excellent game without your assistance, and a better one than i ever did with it! nevertheless, i do not choose to do that, nor do i wish you so much harm. but likewise do i not choose that you should hold such language to me. it is true that i should not wish the spaniard so near me if he should be my enemy. but why should i not live in peace, if we were to be friends to each other? at the commencement of my reign we lived honourably together, the king of spain and i, and he even asked me to, marry him, and, after that, we lived a long time very peacefully, without any attempt having been made against my life. if we both choose, we can continue so to do. "on the other hand, i sent you the earl of leicester, as lieutenant of my forces, and my intention was that he should have exact knowledge of your finances and contributions. but, on the contrary, he has never known anything about them, and you have handled them in your own manner and amongst yourselves. you have given him the title of governor, in order, under this name, to cast all your evils on his head. that title he accepted against my will, by doing which he ran the risk of losing his life, and his estates, and the grace and favour of his princess, which was more important to him than all. but he did it in order to maintain your tottering state. and what authority, i pray you, have you given him? a shadowy authority, a purely imaginary one. this is but mockery. he is, at any rate, a gentleman, a man of honour and of counsel. you had no right to treat him thus. if i had accepted the title which you wished to give me, by the living god, i would not have suffered you so to treat me. "but you are so badly advised that when there is a man of worth who discovers your tricks you wish him ill, and make an outcry against him; and yet some of you, in order to save your money, and others in the hope of bribes, have been favouring the spaniard, and doing very wicked work. no, believe me that god will punish those who for so great a benefit wish to return me so much evil. believe, boldly too, that the king of spain will never trust men who have abandoned the party to which they belonged, and from which they have received so many benefits, and will never believe a word of what they promise him. yet, in order to cover up their filth, they spread the story that the queen of england is thinking of treating for peace without their knowledge. no, i would rather be dead than that any one should have occasion to say that i had not kept my promise. but princes must listen to both sides, and that can be done without breach of faith. for they transact business in a certain way, and with a princely intelligence, such as private persons cannot imitate. "you are states, to be sure, but private individuals in regard to princes. certainly, i would never choose to do anything without your knowledge, and i would never allow the authority which you have among yourselves, nor your privileges, nor your statutes, to be infringed. nor will i allow you to be perturbed in your consciences. what then would you more of me? you have issued a proclamation in your country that no one is to talk of peace. very well, very good. but permit princes likewise to do as they shall think best for the security of their state, provided it does you no injury. among us princes we are not wont to make such long orations as you do, but you ought to be content with the few words that we bestow upon you, and make yourself quiet thereby. "if i ever do anything for you again, i choose to be treated more honourably. i shall therefore appoint some personages of my council to communicate with you. and in the first place i choose to hear and see for myself what has taken place already, and have satisfaction about that, before i make any reply to what you have said to me as to greater assistance. and so i will leave you to-day, without troubling you further." with this her majesty swept from the apartment, leaving the deputies somewhat astounded at the fierce but adroit manner in which the tables had for a moment been turned upon them. it was certainly a most unexpected blow, this charge of the states having left the english soldiers--whose numbers the queen had so suddenly multiplied by three--unpaid and unfed. those englishmen who, as individuals, had entered the states' service, had been--like all the other troops regularly paid. this distinctly appeared from the statements of her own counsellors and generals. on the other hand, the queen's contingent, now dwindled to about half their original number, had been notoriously unpaid for nearly six months. this has already been made sufficiently clear from the private letters of most responsible persons. that these soldiers were starving, deserting; and pillaging, was, alas! too true; but the envoys of the states hardly expected to be censured by her majesty, because she had neglected to pay her own troops. it was one of the points concerning which they had been especially enjoined to complain, that the english cavalry, converted into highwaymen by want of pay, had been plundering the peasantry, and we have seen that thomas wilkes had "pawned his carcase" to provide for their temporary relief. with regard to the insinuation that prominent personages in the country had been tampered with by the enemy, the envoys were equally astonished by such an attack. the great deventer treason had not yet been heard of in england for it had occurred only a week before this first interview--but something of the kind was already feared; for the slippery dealings of york and stanley with tassis and parma, had long been causing painful anxiety, and had formed the subject of repeated remonstrances on the part of the 'states' to leicester and to the queen. the deputies were hardly, prepared therefore to defend their own people against dealing privately with the king of spain. the only man suspected of such practices was leicester's own favourite and financier, jacques ringault, whom the earl had persisted in employing against the angry remonstrances of the states, who believed him to be a spanish spy; and the man was now in prison, and threatened with capital punishment. to suppose that buys or barneveld, roorda, meetkerk, or any other leading statesman in the netherlands, was contemplating a private arrangement with philip ii., was as ludicrous a conception as to imagine walsingham a pensioner of the pope, or cecil in league with the duke of guise. the end and aim of the states' party was war. in war they not only saw the safety of the reformed religion, but the only means of maintaining the commercial prosperity of the commonwealth. the whole correspondence of the times shows that no politician in the country dreamed of peace, either by public or secret negotiation. on the other hand--as will be made still clearer than ever--the queen was longing for peace, and was treating for peace at that moment through private agents, quite without the knowledge of the states, and in spite of her indignant disavowals in her speech to the envoys. yet if elizabeth could have had the privilege of entering--as we are about to do--into the private cabinet of that excellent king of spain, with whom, she had once been such good friends, who had even sought her hand in marriage, and with whom she saw no reason whatever why she should not live at peace, she might have modified her expressions an this subject. certainly, if she could have looked through the piles of papers--as we intend to do--which lay upon that library-table, far beyond the seas and mountains, she would have perceived some objections to the scheme of living at peace with that diligent letter-writer. perhaps, had she known how the subtle farnese was about to express himself concerning the fast-approaching execution of mary, and the as inevitably impending destruction of "that englishwoman" through the schemes of his master and himself, she would have paid less heed to the sentiments couched in most exquisite italian which alexander was at the same time whispering in her ear, and would have taken less offence at the blunt language of the states-general. nevertheless, for the present, elizabeth would give no better answer than the hot-tempered one which had already somewhat discomfited the deputies. two days afterwards, the five envoys had an interview with several members of her majesty's council, in the private apartment of the lord-treasurer in greenwich palace. burghley, being indisposed, was lying upon his bed. leicester, admiral lord howard, lord hunsden, sir christopher hatton, lord buckhurst, and secretary davison, were present, and the lord-treasurer proposed that the conversation should be in latin, that being the common language most familiar to them all. then, turning over the leaves of the report, a copy of which lay on his bed, he asked the envoys, whether, in case her majesty had not sent over the assistance which she had done under the earl of leicester, their country would not have been utterly ruined. "to all appearance, yes," replied menyn. "but," continued burghley, still running through the pages of the document, and here and there demanding an explanation of an obscure passage or two, "you are now proposing to her majesty to send , foot and horse, and to lend l , . this is altogether monstrous and excessive. nobody will ever dare even to speak to her majesty on the subject. when you first came in , you asked for , men, but you were fully authorized to accept . no doubt that is the case now." "on that occasion," answered menyn, "our main purpose was to induce her majesty to accept the sovereignty, or at least the perpetual protection of our country. failing in that we broached the third point, and not being able to get , soldiers we compounded for , the agreement being subject to ratification by our principals. we gave ample security in shape of the mortgaged cities. but experience has shown us that these forces and this succour are insufficient. we have therefore been sent to beg her majesty to make up the contingent to the amount originally requested." "but we are obliged to increase the garrisons in the cautionary towns," said one of the english councillors, "as men in a city like flushing are very little." "pardon me," replied valck, "the burghers are not enemies but friends to her majesty and to the english nation. they are her dutiful subjects like all the inhabitants of the netherlands." "it is quite true," said burghley, after having made some critical remarks upon the military system of the provinces, "and a very common adage, 'quod tunc tua res agitur, paries cum proximus ardet,' but, nevertheless, this war principally concerns you. therefore you are bound to do your utmost to meet its expenses in your own country, quite as much as a man who means to build a house is expected to provide the stone and timber himself. but the states have not done their best. they have not at the appointed time come forward with their extraordinary contributions for the last campaign. how many men," he asked, "are required for garrisons in all the fortresses and cities, and for the field?" "but," interposed lord hunsden, "not half so many men are needed in the garrisons; for the burghers ought to be able to defend their own cities. moreover it is probable that your ordinary contributions might be continued and doubled and even tripled." "and on the whole," observed the lord admiral, "don't you think that the putting an army in the field might be dispensed with for this year? her majesty at present must get together and equip a fleet of war vessels against the king of spain, which will be an excessively large pennyworth, besides the assistance which she gives her neighbours." "yes, indeed," said secretary davison, "it would be difficult to exaggerate the enormous expense which her majesty must encounter this year for defending and liberating her own kingdoms against the king of spain. that monarch is making great naval preparations, and is treating all englishmen in the most hostile manner. we are on the brink of declared war with spain, with the french king, who is arresting all english persons and property within his kingdom, and with scotland, all which countries are understood to have made a league together on account of the queen of scotland, whom it will be absolutely necessary to put to death in order to preserve the life of her majesty, and are about to make war upon england. this matter then will cost us, the current year, at least eight hundred thousand pounds sterling. nevertheless her majesty is sure to assist you so far as her means allow; and i, for my part, will do my best to keep her majesty well disposed to your cause, even as i have ever done, as you well know." thus spoke poor davison, but a few days before the fatal th of february, little dreaming that the day for his influencing the disposition of her majesty would soon be gone, and that he was himself to be crushed for ever by the blow which was about to destroy the captive queen. the political combinations resulting from the tragedy were not to be exactly as he foretold, but there is little doubt that in him the netherlands, and leicester, and the queen of england, were to lose an honest, diligent, and faithful friend. "well, gentlemen," said the lord-treasurer, after a few more questions concerning the financial abilities of the states had been asked and answered, "it is getting late into the evening, and time for you all to get back to london. let me request you, as soon as may be, to draw up some articles in writing, to which we will respond immediately." menyn then, in the name of the deputies, expressed thanks for the urbanity shown them in the conference, and spoke of the deep regret with which they had perceived, by her majesty's answer two days before, that she was so highly offended with them and with the states-general. he then, notwithstanding burghley's previous hint as to the lateness of the hour, took up the queen's answer, point by point, contradicted all its statements, appealing frequently to lord leicester for confirmation of what he advanced, and concluded by begging the councillors to defend the cause of the netherlands to her majesty, burghley requested them to make an excuse or reply to the queen in writing, and send it to him to present. thus the conference terminated, and the envoys returned to london. they were fully convinced by the result of, these interviews, as they told their constituents, that her majesty, by false statements and reports of persons either grossly ignorant or not having the good of the commonwealth before their eyes, had been very incorrectly informed as to the condition of the provinces, and of the great efforts made by the states-general to defend their country against the enemy: it was obvious, they said, that their measures had been exaggerated in order to deceive the queen and her council. and thus statements and counter-statements, protocols and apostilles, were glibly exchanged; the heap of diplomatic rubbish was rising higher and higher, and the councillors and envoys, pleased with their work, were growing more and more amicable, when the court was suddenly startled by the news of the deventer and zutphen treason. the intelligence was accompanied by the famous th of february letter, which descended, like a bombshell, in the midst of the decorous council-chamber. such language had rarely been addressed to the earl of leicester, and; through him; to the imperious sovereign herself, as the homely truths with which barneveld, speaking with the voice of the states-general, now smote the delinquent governor. "my lord," said he, "it is notorious; and needs no illustration whatever, with what true confidence and unfeigned affection we received your excellency in our land; the states-general, the states-provincial, the magistrates, and the communities of the chief cities in the united provinces, all uniting to do honour to her serene majesty of england and to yourself, and to confer upon you the government-general over us. and although we should willingly have placed some limitations upon the authority thus bestowed on you; in, order that by such a course your own honour and the good and constitutional condition of the country might be alike preserved, yet finding your excellency not satisfied with those limitations, we postponed every objection, and conformed ourselves to your pleasure. yet; before coming to that decision, we had well considered that by doing so we might be opening a door to many ambitious, avaricious, and pernicious persons, both of these countries and from other nations, who might seize the occasion to advance their own private profits, to the detriment of the country and the dishonour of your excellency. "and, in truth, such persons have done their work so efficiently as to inspire you with distrust against the most faithful and capable men in the provinces, against the estates general and provincial, magistrates, and private persons, knowing very well that they could never arrive at their own ends so long as you were guided by the constitutional authorities of the country. and precisely upon the distrust; thus created as a foundation, they raised a back-stairs council, by means of which they were able to further their ambitious, avaricious, and seditious practices, notwithstanding the good advice and remonstrances of the council of state, and the states general and provincial." he proceeded to handle the subjects of the english rose-noble; put in circulation by leicester's finance or back-stairs council at two florins above its value, to the manifest detriment of the provinces, to the detestable embargo which had prevented them from using the means bestowed upon them by god himself to defend their country, to the squandering and embezzlement of the large sums contributed by the province; and entrusted to the earl's administration; to the starving condition of the soldiers; maltreated by government, and thus compelled to prey upon the inhabitants--so that troops in the states' service had never been so abused during the whole war, although the states had never before voted such large contributions nor paid them so promptly--to the placing in posts of high honour and trust men of notoriously bad character and even spanish spies; to the taking away the public authority from those to whom it legitimately belonged, and conferring it on incompetent and unqualified persons; to the illegal banishment of respectable citizens, to the violation of time-honoured laws and privileges, to the shameful attempts to repudiate the ancient authority of the states, and to usurp a control over the communities and nobles by them represented, and to the perpetual efforts to foster dissension, disunion, and rebellion among the inhabitants. having thus drawn up a heavy bill of indictment, nominally against the earl's illegal counsellors, but in reality against the earl himself, he proceeded to deal with the most important matter of all. "the principal cities and fortresses in the country have been placed in hands of men suspected by the states on legitimate grounds, men who had been convicted of treason against these provinces, and who continued to be suspected, notwithstanding that your excellency had pledged your own honour for their fidelity. finally, by means of these scoundrels, it was brought to pass, that the council of state having been invested by your excellency with supreme authority during your absence--a secret document, was brought to light after your departure, by which the most substantial matters, and those most vital to the defence of the country, were withdrawn from the disposition of that council. and now, alas, we see the effects of these practices! "sir william stanley, by you appointed governor of deventer, and rowland york, governor of fort zutphen, have refused, by virtue of that secret document, to acknowledge any authority in this country. and notwithstanding that since your departure they and their soldiers have been supported at our expense, and had just received a full month's pay from the states, they have traitorously and villainously delivered the city and the fortress to the enemy, with a declaration made by stanley that he did the deed to ease his conscience, and to render to the king of spain the city which of right was belonging to him. and this is a crime so dishonourable, scandalous, ruinous, and treasonable, as that, during this, whole war, we have never seen the like. and we are now, in daily fear lest the english commanders in bergen-op-zoom, ostend, and other cities, should commit the same crime. and although we fully suspected the designs of stanley and york, yet your excellency's secret document had deprived us of the power to act. "we doubt not that her majesty and your excellency will think this strange language. but we can assure you, that we too think it strange and grievous that those places should have been confided to such men, against our repeated remonstrances, and that, moreover, this very stanley should have been recommended by your excellency for general of all the forces. and although we had many just and grave reasons for opposing your administration--even as our ancestors were often wont to rise against the sovereigns of the country--we have, nevertheless, patiently suffered for a long time, in order not to diminish your authority, which we deemed so important to our welfare, and in the hope that you would at last be moved by the perilous condition of the commonwealth, and awake to the artifices of your advisers. "but at last-feeling that the existence of the state can no longer be preserved without proper authority, and that the whole community is full of emotion and distrust, on account of these great treasons--we, the states-general, as well as the states-provincial, have felt constrained to establish such a government as we deem meet for the emergency. and of this we think proper to apprize your excellency." he then expressed the conviction that all these evil deeds had been accomplished against the intentions of the earl and the english government, and requested his excellency so to deal with her majesty that the contingent of horse and foot hitherto accorded by her "might be maintained in good order, and in better pay." here, then, was substantial choleric phraseology, as good plain speaking as her majesty had just been employing, and with quite as sufficient cause. here was no pleasant diplomatic fencing, but straightforward vigorous thrusts. it was no wonder that poor wilkes should have thought the letter "too sharp," when he heard it read in the assembly, and that he should have done his best to prevent it from being despatched. he would have thought it sharper could he have seen how the pride of her majesty and of leicester was wounded by it to the quick. her list of grievances against the states seem to vanish into air. who had been tampering with the spaniards now? had that "shadowy and imaginary authority" granted to leicester not proved substantial enough? was it the states-general, the state-council, or was it the "absolute governor"--who had carried off the supreme control of the commonwealth in his pocket--that was responsible for the ruin effected by englishmen who had scorned all "authority" but his own? the states, in another blunt letter to the queen herself, declared the loss of deventer to be more disastrous to them than even the fall of antwerp had been; for the republic had now been split asunder, and its most ancient and vital portions almost cut away. nevertheless they were not "dazzled nor despairing," they said, but more determined than ever to maintain their liberties, and bid defiance to the spanish tyrant. and again they demanded of, rather than implored; her majesty to be true to her engagements with them. the interviews which followed were more tempestuous than ever. "i had intended that my lord of leicester should return to you," she said to the envoys. "but that shall never be. he has been treated with gross ingratitude, he has served the provinces with ability, he has consumed his own property there, he has risked his life, he has lost his near kinsman, sir philip sidney, whose life i should be glad to purchase with many millions, and, in place of all reward, he receives these venomous letters, of which a copy has been sent to his sovereign to blacken him with her." she had been advising him to return, she added, but she was now resolved that he should "never set foot in the provinces again." here the earl, who, was present, exclaimed--beating himself on the breast--"a tali officio libera nos, domine!" but the states, undaunted by these explosions of wrath, replied that it had ever been their custom, when their laws and liberties were invaded, to speak their mind boldly to kings and governors, and to procure redress of their grievances, as became free men. during that whole spring the queen was at daggers drawn with all her leading counsellors, mainly in regard to that great question of questions--the relations of england with the netherlands and spain. walsingham--who felt it madness to dream of peace, and who believed it the soundest policy to deal with parma and his veterans upon the soil of flanders, with the forces of the republic for allies, rather than to await his arrival in london--was driven almost to frenzy by what he deemed the queen's perverseness. "our sharp words continue," said the secretary, "which doth greatly disquiet her majesty, and discomfort her poor servants that attend her. the lord-treasurer remaineth still in disgrace, and, behind my back, her majesty giveth out very hard speeches of myself, which i the rather credit, for that i find, in dealing with her, i am nothing gracious; and if her majesty could be otherwise served, i know i should not be used . . . . . her majesty doth wholly lend herself to devise some further means to disgrace her poor council, in respect whereof she neglecteth all other causes . . . . the discord between her majesty and her council hindereth the necessary consultations that were to be destined for the preventing of the manifold perils that hang over this realm. . . . sir christopher hatton hath dealt very plainly and dutifully with her, which hath been accepted in so evil part as he is resolved to retire for a time. i assure you i find every man weary of attendance here. . . . i would to god i could find as good resolution in her majesty to proceed in a princely course in relieving the united provinces, as i find an honorable disposition in your lordship to employ yourself in their service." the lord-treasurer was much puzzled, very wretched, but philosophically resigned. "why her majesty useth me thus strangely, i know not," he observed. "to some she saith that she meant not i should have gone from the court; to some she saith, she may not admit me, nor give me contentment. i shall dispose myself to enjoy god's favour, and shall do nothing to deserve her disfavour. and if i be suffered to be a stranger to her affairs, i shall have a quieter life." leicester, after the first burst of his anger was over, was willing to return to the provinces. he protested that he had a greater affection for the netherland people--not for the governing powers--even than he felt for the people of england.--"there is nothing sticks in my stomach," he said, "but the good-will of that poor afflicted people, for whom, i take god to record, i could be content to lose any limb i have to do them good." but he was crippled with debt, and the queen resolutely refused to lend him a few thousand pounds, without which he could not stir. walsingham in vain did battle with her parsimony, representing how urgently and vividly the necessity of his return had been depicted by all her ministers in both countries, and how much it imported to her own safety and service. but she was obdurate. "she would rather," he said bitterly to leicester, "hazard the increase of confusion there--which may put the whole country in peril--than supply your want. the like course she holdeth in the rest of her causes, which maketh me to wish myself from the helm." at last she agreed to advance him ten thousand pounds, but on so severe conditions, that the earl declared himself heart-broken again, and protested that he would neither accept the money, nor ever set foot in the netherlands. "let norris stay there," he said in a fury; "he will do admirably, no doubt. only let it not be supposed that i can be there also. not for one hundred thousand pounds would i be in that country with him." meantime it was agreed that lord buckhurst should be sent forth on what wilkes termed a mission of expostulation, and a very ill-timed one. this new envoy was to inquire into the causes of the discontent, and to do his best to remove them: as if any man in england or in holland doubted as to the causes, or as to the best means of removing them; or as if it were not absolutely certain that delay was the very worst specific that could be adopted--delay--which the netherland statesmen, as well as the queen's wisest counsellors, most deprecated, which alexander and philip most desired, and by indulging in which her majesty was most directly playing into her adversary's hand. elizabeth was preparing to put cards upon the table against an antagonist whose game was close, whose honesty was always to be suspected, and who was a consummate master in what was then considered diplomatic sleight of hand. so lord buckhurst was to go forth to expostulate at the hague, while transports were loading in cadiz and lisbon, reiters levying in germany, pikemen and musketeers in spain and italy, for a purpose concerning which walsingham and barneveld had for a long time felt little doubt. meantime lord leicester went to bath to drink the waters, and after he had drunk the waters, the queen, ever anxious for his health, was resolved that he should not lose the benefit of those salubrious draughts by travelling too soon, or by plunging anew into the fountains of bitterness which flowed perennially in the netherlands. chapter xv. buckhurst sent to the netherlands--alarming state of affairs on his arrival--his efforts to conciliate--democratic theories of wilkes-- sophistry of the argument--dispute between wilkes and barneveld-- religious tolerance by the states--their constitutional theory-- deventer's bad counsels to leicester--their pernicious effect--real and supposed plots against hohenlo--mutual suspicion and distrust-- buckhurst seeks to restore good feeling--the queen angry and vindictive--she censures buckhurst's course--leicester's wrath at hohenlo's charges of a plot by the earl to murder him--buckhurst's eloquent appeals to the queen--her perplexing and contradictory orders--despair of wilkes--leicester announces his return--his instructions--letter to junius--barneveld denounces him in the states. we return to the netherlands. if ever proof were afforded of the influence of individual character on the destiny of nations and of the world, it certainly was seen in the year . we have lifted the curtain of the secret council-chamber at greenwich. we have seen all elizabeth's advisers anxious to arouse her from her fatal credulity, from her almost as fatal parsimony. we have seen leicester anxious to return, despite all fancied indignities, walsingham eager to expedite the enterprise, and the queen remaining obdurate, while month after month of precious time was melting away. in the netherlands, meantime, discord and confusion had been increasing every day; and the first great cause of such a dangerous condition of affairs was the absence of the governor. to this all parties agreed. the leicestrians, the anti-leicestriana, the holland party, the utrecht party, the english counsellors, the english generals, in private letter, in solemn act, all warned the queen against the lamentable effects resulting from leicester's inopportune departure and prolonged absence. on the first outbreak of indignation after the deventer affair, prince maurice was placed at the head of the general government, with the violent hohenlo as his lieutenant. the greatest exertions were made by these two nobles and by barneveld, who guided the whole policy of the party, to secure as many cities as possible to their cause. magistrates and commandants of garrisons in many towns willingly gave in their adhesion to the new government; others refused; especially diedrich sonoy, an officer of distinction, who was governor of enkhuyzen, and influential throughout north holland, and who remained a stanch partisan of leicester. utrecht, the stronghold of the leicestrians, was wavering and much torn by faction; hohenlo and moeurs had "banquetted and feasted" to such good purpose that they had gained over half the captains of the burgher-guard, and, aided by the branch of nobles, were making a good fight against the leicester magistracy and the clerical force, enriched by the plunder of the old catholic livings, who denounced as papistical and hispaniolized all who favoured the party of maurice and barneveld. by the end of march the envoys returned from london, and in their company came lord buckhurst, as special ambassador from the queen. thomas sackville, lord buckhurst--afterwards earl of dorset and lord-treasurer--was then fifty-one years of age. a man of large culture-poet, dramatist, diplomatist-bred to the bar; afterwards elevated to the peerage; endowed with high character and strong intellect; ready with tongue and pen; handsome of person, and with a fascinating address, he was as fit a person to send on a mission of expostulation as any man to be found in england. but the author of the 'induction to the mirror for magistrates' and of 'gorboduc,' had come to the netherlands on a forlorn hope. to expostulate in favour of peace with a people who knew that their existence depended on war, to reconcile those to delay who felt that delay was death, and to, heal animosities between men who were enemies from their cradles to their graves, was a difficult mission. but the chief ostensible object of buckhurst was to smooth the way for leicester, and, if possible, to persuade the netherlanders as to the good inclinations of the english government. this was no easy task, for they knew that their envoys had been dismissed, without even a promise of subsidy. they had asked for twelve thousand soldiers and sixty thousand pounds, and had received a volley of abuse. over and over again, through many months, the queen fell into a paroxysm of rage when even an allusion was made to the loan of fifty or sixty thousand pounds; and even had she promised the money, it would have given but little satisfaction. as count moeurs observed, he would rather see one english rose-noble than a hundred royal promises. so the hollanders and zeelanders--not fearing leicester's influence within their little morsel of a territory--were concentrating their means of resistance upon their own soil, intending to resist spain, and, if necessary, england, in their last ditch, and with the last drop of their blood. while such was the condition of affairs, lord buckhurst landed at flushing--four months after the departure of leicester--on the th march, having been tossing three days and nights at sea in a great storm, "miserably sick and in great danger of drowning." sir william russell, governor of flushing, informed him of the progress making by prince maurice in virtue of his new authority. he told him that the zeeland regiment, vacant by sidney's death, and which the queen wished bestowed upon russell himself, had been given to count solms; a circumstance which was very sure to exite her majesty's ire; but that the greater number, and those of the better sort; disliked the alteration of government, and relied entirely upon the queen. sainte aldegonde visited him at middelburgh, and in a "long discourse" expressed the most friendly sentiments towards england, with free offers of personal service. "nevertheless," said buckhurst, cautiously, "i mean to trust the effect, not his words, and so i hope he will not much deceive me. his opinion is that the earl of leicester's absence hath chiefly caused this change, and that without his return it will hardly be restored again, but that upon his arrival all these clouds will prove but a summershower." as a matter of course the new ambassador lifted up his voice, immediately after setting foot on shore, in favour of the starving soldiers of his queen. "'tis a most lamentable thing," said he, "to hear the complaints of soldiers and captains for want of pay." . . . . whole companies made their way into his presence, literally crying aloud for bread. "for jesus' sake," wrote buckhurst, "hasten to send relief with all speed, and let such victuallers be appointed as have a conscience not to make themselves rich with the famine of poor soldiers. if her majesty send not money, and that with speed, for their payment, i am afraid to think what mischief and miseries are like to follow." then the ambassador proceeded to the hague, holding interviews with influential personages in private, and with the states-general in public. such was the charm of his manner, and so firm the conviction of sincerity and good-will which he inspired, that in the course of a fortnight there was already a sensible change in the aspect of affairs. the enemy, who, at the time of their arrival, had been making bonfires and holding triumphal processions for joy of the great breach between holland and england, and had been "hoping to swallow them all up, while there were so few left who knew how to act," were already manifesting disappointment. in a solemn meeting of the states-general with the state-council, buckhurst addressed the assembly upon the general subject of her majesty's goodness to the netherlands. he spoke of the gracious assistance rendered by her, notwithstanding her many special charges for the common cause, and of the mighty enmities which she had incurred for their sake. he sharply censured the hollanders for their cruelty to men who had shed their blood in their cause, but who were now driven forth from their towns; and left to starve on the highways, and hated for their nation's sake; as if the whole english name deserved to be soiled "for the treachery of two miscreants." he spoke strongly of their demeanour towards the earl of leicester, and of the wrongs they had done him, and told them, that, if they were not ready to atone to her majesty for such injuries, they were not to wonder if their deputies received no better answer at her hands. "she who embraced your cause," he said, "when other mighty princes forsook you, will still stand fast unto you, yea, and increase her goodness, if her present state may suffer it." after being addressed in this manner the council of state made what counsellor clerk called a "very honest, modest, and wise answer;" but the states-general, not being able "so easily to discharge that which had so long boiled within them," deferred their reply until the following day. they then brought forward a deliberate rejoinder, in which they expressed themselves devoted to her majesty, and, on the whole, well disposed to the earl. as to the th february letter, it had been written "in amaritudine cordis," upon hearing the treasons of york and stanley, and in accordance with "their custom and liberty used towards all princes, whereby they had long preserved their estate," and in the conviction that the real culprits for all the sins of his excellency's government were certain "lewd persons who sought to seduce his lordship, and to cause him to hate the states." buckhurst did not think it well to reply, at that moment, on the ground that there had been already crimination and recrimination more than enough, and that "a little bitterness more had rather caused them to determine dangerously than solve for the best." they then held council together--the envoys and the state-general, as to the amount of troops absolutely necessary--casting up the matter "as pinchingly as possibly might be." and the result was, that , foot and horse for garrison work, and an army of , foot, horse, and pioneers, for a campaign of five or six months, were pronounced indispensable. this would require all their l , sterling a-year, regular contribution, her majesty's contingent of l , , and an extra sum of l , sterling. of this sum the states requested her majesty should furnish two-thirds, while they agreed to furnish the other third, which would make in all l , for the queen, and l , for the states. as it was understood that the english subsidies were only a loan, secured by mortgage of the cautionary towns, this did not seem very unreasonable, when the intimate blending of england's welfare with that of the provinces was considered. thus it will be observed that lord buckhurst--while doing his best to conciliate personal feuds and heart-burnings--had done full justice to the merits of leicester, and had placed in strongest light the favours conferred by her majesty. he then proceeded to utrecht, where he was received with many demonstrations of respect, "with solemn speeches" from magistrates and burgher-captains, with military processions, and with great banquets, which were, however, conducted with decorum, and at which even count moeurs excited universal astonishment by his sobriety. it was difficult, however, for matters to go very smoothly, except upon the surface. what could be more disastrous than for a little commonwealth--a mere handful of people, like these netherlanders, engaged in mortal combat with the most powerful monarch in the world, and with the first general of the age, within a league of their borders--thus to be deprived of all organized government at a most critical moment, and to be left to wrangle with their allies and among themselves, as to the form of polity to be adopted, while waiting the pleasure of a capricious and despotic woman? and the very foundation of the authority by which the spanish yoke had been abjured, the sovereignty offered to elizabeth, and the government-general conferred on leicester, was fiercely assailed by the confidential agents of elizabeth herself. the dispute went into the very depths of the social contract. already wilkes, standing up stoutly for the democratic views of the governor, who was so foully to requite him, had assured the english government that the "people were ready to cut the throats" of the staten-general at any convenient moment. the sovereign people, not the deputies, were alone to be heeded, he said, and although he never informed the world by what process he had learned the deliberate opinion of that sovereign, as there had been no assembly excepting those of the states-general and states-provincial--he was none the less fully satisfied that the people were all with leicester, and bitterly opposed to the states. "for the sovereignty, or supreme authority," said he, through failure of a legitimate prince, belongs to the people, and not to you, gentlemen, who are only servants, ministers, and deputies of the people. you have your commissions or instructions surrounded by limitations--which conditions are so widely different from the power of sovereignty, as the might of the subject is in regard to his prince, or of a servant in, respect to his master. for sovereignty is not limited either as to power or as to time. still less do you represent the sovereignty; for the people, in giving the general and absolute government to the earl of leicester, have conferred upon him at once the exercise of justice, the administration of polity, of naval affairs, of war, and of all the other points of sovereignty. of these a governor-general is however only the depositary or guardian, until such time as it may please the prince or people to revoke the trust; there being no other in this state who can do this; seeing that it was the people, through the instrumentality of your offices--through you as its servants--conferred on his excellency, this power, authority, and government. according to the common rule law, therefore, 'quo jure quid statuitur, eodem jure tolli debet.' you having been fully empowered by the provinces and cities, or, to speak more correctly, by your masters and superiors, to confer the government on his excellency, it follows that you require a like power in order to take it away either in whole or in part. if then you had no commission to curtail his authority, or even that of the state-council, and thus to tread upon and usurp his power as governor general and absolute, there follows of two things one: either you did not well understand what you were doing, nor duly consider how far that power reached, or--much more probably--you have fallen into the sin of disobedience, considering how solemnly you swore allegiance to him. thus subtly and ably did wilkes defend the authority of the man who had deserted his post at a most critical moment, and had compelled the states, by his dereliction, to take the government into their own hands. for, after all, the whole argument of the english counsellor rested upon a quibble. the people were absolutely sovereign, he said, and had lent that sovereignty to leicester. how had they made that loan? through the machinery of the states-general. so long then as the earl retained the absolute sovereignty, the states were not even representatives of the sovereign people. the sovereign people was merged into one english earl. the english earl had retired--indefinitely--to england. was the sovereign people to wait for months, or years, before it regained its existence? and if not, how was it to reassert its vitality? how but through the agency of the states-general, who--according to wilkes himself--had been fully empowered by the provinces and cities to confer the government on the earl? the people then, after all, were the provinces and cities. and the states-general were at that moment as much qualified to represent those provinces and cities as they ever had been, and they claimed no more. wilkes, nor any other of the leicester party, ever hinted at a general assembly of the people. universal suffrage was not dreamed of at that day. by the people, he meant, if he meant anything, only that very small fraction of the inhabitants of a country, who, according to the english system, in the reign of elizabeth, constituted its commons. he chose, rather from personal and political motives than philosophical ones, to draw a distinction between the people and the states, but it is quite obvious, from the tone of his private communications, that by the 'states' he meant the individuals who happened, for the time-being, to be the deputies of the states of each province. but it was almost an affectation to accuse those individuals of calling or considering themselves 'sovereigns;' for it was very well known that they sat as envoys, rather than as members of a congress, and were perpetually obliged to recur to their constituents, the states of each province, for instructions. it was idle, because buys and barneveld, and roorda, and other leaders, exercised the influence due to their talents, patriotism, and experience, to stigmatize them as usurpers of sovereignty, and to hound the rabble upon them as tyrants and mischief-makers. yet to take this course pleased the earl of leicester, who saw no hope for the liberty of the people, unless absolute and unconditional authority over the people, in war, naval affairs, justice, and policy, were placed in his hands. this was the view sustained by the clergy of the reformed church, because they found it convenient, through such a theory, and by leicester's power, to banish papists, exercise intolerance in matters of religion, sequestrate for their own private uses the property of the catholic church, and obtain for their own a political power which was repugnant to the more liberal ideas of the barneveld party. the states of holland--inspired as it were by the memory of that great martyr to religious and political liberty, william the silent--maintained freedom of conscience. the leicester party advocated a different theory on the religious question. they were also determined to omit no effort to make the states odious. "seeing their violent courses," said wilkes to leicester, "i have not been negligent, as well by solicitations to the ministers, as by my letters to such as have continued constant in affection to your lordship, to have the people informed of the ungrateful and dangerous proceedings of the states. they have therein travailed with so good effect, as the people are now wonderfully well disposed, and have delivered everywhere in speeches, that if, by the overthwart dealings of the states, her majesty shall be drawn to stay her succours and goodness to them, and that thereby your lordship be also discouraged to return, they will cut their throats." who the "people" exactly were, that had been so wonderfully well disposed to throat-cutting by the ministers of the gospel, did not distinctly appear. it was certain, however, that they were the special friends of leicester, great orators, very pious, and the sovereigns of the country. so much could not be gainsaid. "your lordship would wonder," continued the councillor, "to see the people--who so lately, by the practice of the said states and the accident of deventer, were notably alienated--so returned to their former devotion towards her majesty, your lordship, and our nation." wilkes was able moreover to gratify the absent governor-general with the intelligence--of somewhat questionable authenticity however--that the states were very "much terrified with these threats of the people." but barneveld came down to the council to inquire what member of that body it was who had accused the states of violating the earl's authority. "whoever he is," said the advocate, "let him deliver his mind frankly, and he shall be answered." the man did not seem much terrified by the throat-cutting orations. "it is true," replied wilkes, perceiving himself to be the person intended, "that you have very injuriously, in many of your proceedings, derogated from and trodden the authority of his lordship and of this council under your feet." and then he went into particulars, and discussed, 'more suo,' the constitutional question, in which various leicestrian counsellors seconded him. but barneveld grimly maintained that the states were the sovereigns, and that it was therefore unfit that the governor, who drew his authority from them, should call them to account for their doings. "it was as if the governors in the time of charles v.," said the advocate, "should have taxed that emperor for any action of his done in the government." in brief, the rugged barneveld, with threatening voice, and lion port, seemed to impersonate the staten, and to hold reclaimed sovereignty in his grasp. it seemed difficult to tear it from him again. "i did what i could," said wilkes, "to beat them from this humour of their sovereignty, showing that upon that error they had grounded the rest of their wilful absurdities." next night, he drew up sixteen articles, showing the disorders of the states, their breach of oaths, and violations of the earl's authority; and with that commenced a series of papers interchanged by the two parties, in which the topics of the origin of government and the principles of religious freedom were handled with much ability on both sides, but at unmerciful length. on the religious question, the states-general, led by barneveld and by francis franck, expressed themselves manfully, on various occasions, during the mission of buckhurst. "the nobles and cities constituting the states," they said, "have been denounced to lord leicester as enemies of religion, by the self-seeking mischief-makers who surround him. why? because they had refused the demand of certain preachers to call a general synod, in defiance of the states-general, and to introduce a set of ordinances, with a system of discipline, according to their arbitrary will. this the late prince of orange and the states-general had always thought detrimental both to religion and polity. they respected the difference in religious opinions, and leaving all churches in their freedom, they chose to compel no man's conscience--a course which all statesmen, knowing the diversity of human opinions, had considered necessary in order to maintain fraternal harmony." such words shine through the prevailing darkness of the religious atmosphere at that epoch, like characters of light. they are beacons in the upward path of mankind. never before, had so bold and wise a tribute to the genius of the reformation been paid by an organized community. individuals walking in advance of their age had enunciated such truths, and their voices had seemed to die away, but, at last, a little, struggling, half-developed commonwealth had proclaimed the rights of conscience for all mankind--for papists and calvinists, jews and anabaptists--because "having a respect for differences in religious opinions, and leaving all churches in their freedom, they chose to compel no man's conscience." on the constitutional question, the states commenced by an astounding absurdity. "these mischief-makers, moreover," said they, "have not been ashamed to dispute, and to cause the earl of leicester to dispute, the lawful constitution of the provinces; a matter which has not been disputed for eight hundred years." this was indeed to claim a respectable age for their republic. eight hundred years took them back to the days of charlemagne, in whose time it would have been somewhat difficult to detect a germ of their states-general and states-provincial. that the constitutional government--consisting of nobles and of the vroedschaps of chartered cities--should have been in existence four hundred and seventeen years before the first charter had ever been granted to a city, was a very loose style of argument. thomas wilkes, in reply; might as well have traced the english parliament to hengist and horsa. "for eight hundred years;" they said, "holland had been governed by counts and countesses, on whom the nobles and cities, as representing the states, had legally conferred sovereignty." now the first incorporated city of holland and zeeland that ever existed was middelburg, which received its charter from count william i. of holland and countess joan of flanders; in the year . the first count that had any legal recognized authority was dirk the first to whom charles the simple presented the territory of holland, by letters-patent, in . yet the states-general, in a solemn and eloquent document, gravely dated their own existence from the year , and claimed the regular possession and habitual delegation of sovereignty from that epoch down! after this fabulous preamble, they proceeded to handle the matter of fact with logical precision. it was absurd, they said, that mr. wilkes and lord leicester should affect to confound the persons who appeared in the assembly with the states themselves; as if those individuals claimed or exercised sovereignty. any man who had observed what had been passing during the last fifteen years, knew very well that the supreme authority did not belong to the thirty or forty individuals who came to the meetings . . . . the nobles, by reason of their ancient dignity and splendid possessions, took counsel together over state matters, and then, appearing at the assembly, deliberated with the deputies of the cities. the cities had mainly one form of government--a college of counsellors; or wise men, , , , or in number, of the most respectable out of the whole community. they were chosen for life, and vacancies were supplied by the colleges themselves out of the mass of citizens. these colleges alone governed the city, and that which had been ordained by them was to be obeyed by all the inhabitants--a system against which there had never been any rebellion. the colleges again, united with those of the nobles, represented the whole state, the whole body of the population; and no form of government could be imagined, they said, that could resolve, with a more thorough knowledge of the necessities of the country, or that could execute its resolves with more unity of purpose and decisive authority. to bring the colleges into an assembly could only be done by means of deputies. these deputies, chosen by their colleges, and properly instructed, were sent to the place of meeting. during the war they had always been commissioned to resolve in common on matters regarding the liberty of the land. these deputies, thus assembled, represented, by commission, the states; but they are not, in their own persons, the states; and no one of them had any such pretension. "the people of this country," said the states, "have an aversion to all ambition; and in these disastrous times, wherein nothing but trouble and odium is to be gathered by public employment, these commissions are accounted 'munera necessaria'. . . . this form of government has, by god's favour, protected holland and zeeland, during this war, against a powerful foe, without lose of territory, without any popular outbreak, without military mutiny, because all business has been transacted with open doors; and because the very smallest towns are all represented, and vote in the assembly." in brief, the constitution of the united provinces was a matter of fact. it was there in good working order, and had, for a generation of mankind, and throughout a tremendous war, done good service. judged by the principles of reason and justice, it was in the main a wholesome constitution, securing the independence and welfare of the state, and the liberty and property of the individual, as well certainly as did any polity then existing in the world. it seemed more hopeful to abide by it yet a little longer than to adopt the throat-cutting system by the people, recommended by wilkes and leicester as an improvement on the old constitution. this was the view of lord buckhurst. he felt that threats of throat-cutting were not the best means of smoothing and conciliating, and he had come over to smooth and conciliate. "to spend the time," said he, "in private brabbles and piques between the states and lord leicester, when we ought to prepare an army against the enemy, and to repair the shaken and torn state, is not a good course for her majesty's service." letters were continually circulating from hand to hand among the antagonists of the holland party, written out of england by leicester, exciting the ill-will of the populace against the organized government. "by such means to bring the states into hatred," said buckhurst, "and to stir up the people against them; tends to great damage and miserable end. this his lordship doth full little consider, being the very way to dissolve all government, and so to bring all into confusion, and open the door for the enemy. but oh, how lamentable a thing it is, and how doth my lord of leicester abuse her majesty, making her authority the means to uphold and justify, and under her name to defend and maintain, all his intolerable errors. i thank god that neither his might nor his malice shall deter me from laying open all those things which my conscience knoweth, and which appertaineth to be done for the good of this cause and of her majesty's service. herein, though i were sure to lose my life, yet will i not offend neither the one nor the other, knowing very well that i must die; and to die in her majesty's faithful service, and with a good conscience, is far more happy than the miserable life that i am in. if leicester do in this sort stir up the people against the states to follow his revenge against them, and if the queen do yield no better aid, and the minds of count maurice and hohenlo remain thus in fear and hatred of him, what good end or service can be hoped for here?"--[buckhurst to walsingham, th june, . (brit. mus. galba, d. i. p. , ms.)] buckhurst was a man of unimpeached integrity and gentle manners. he had come over with the best intentions towards the governor-general, and it has been seen that he boldly defended him in, his first interviews with the states. but as the intrigues and underhand plottings of the earl's agents were revealed to him, he felt more and more convinced that there was a deep laid scheme to destroy the government, and to constitute a virtual and absolute sovereignty for leicester. it was not wonderful that the states were standing vigorously on the defensive. the subtle deventer, leicester's evil genius, did not cease to poison the mind of the governor, during his protracted absence, against all persons who offered impediments to the cherished schemes of his master and himself. "your excellency knows very well," he said, "that the state of this country is democratic, since, by failure of a prince, the sovereign disposition of affairs has returned to the people. that same people is everywhere so incredibly affectionate towards you that the delay in your return drives them to extreme despair. any one who would know the real truth has but to remember the fine fear the states-general were in when the news of your displeasure about the th february letter became known." had it not been for the efforts of lord buckhurst in calming the popular rage, deventer assured the earl that the writers of the letter would "have scarcely saved their skins;" and that they had always continued in great danger. he vehemently urged upon leicester, the necessity of his immediate return--not so much for reasons drawn from the distracted state of the country, thus left to a provisional government and torn by faction--but because of the facility with which he might at once seize upon arbitrary power. he gratified his master by depicting in lively colours the abject condition into which barneveld, maurice, hohenlo, and similar cowards, would be thrown by his sudden return. "if," said he, "the states' members and the counts, every one of them, are so desperately afraid of the people, even while your excellency is afar off, in what trepidation will they be when you are here! god, reason, the affection of the sovereign people, are on your side. there needs, in a little commonwealth like ours, but a wink of the eye, the slightest indication of dissatisfaction on your part, to take away all their valour from men who are only brave where swords are too short. a magnanimous prince like yourself should seek at once the place where such plots are hatching, and you would see the fury of the rebels change at once to cowardice. there is more than one man here in the netherlands that brags of what he will do against the greatest and most highly endowed prince in england, because he thinks he shall never see him again, who, at the very first news of your return, my lord, would think only of packing his portmanteau, greasing his boots, or, at the very least, of sneaking back into his hole." but the sturdy democrat was quite sure that his excellency, that most magnanimous prince of england would not desert his faithful followers--thereby giving those "filthy rascals," his opponents, a triumph, and "doing so great an injury to the sovereign people, who were ready to get rid of them all at a single blow, if his excellency would but say the word." he then implored the magnanimous prince to imitate the example of moses, joshua, david, and that of all great emperors and captains, hebrew, greek, and roman, to come at once to the scene of action, and to smite his enemies hip and thigh. he also informed his excellency, that if the delay should last much longer, he would lose all chance of regaining power, because the sovereign people had quite made up their mind to return to the dominion of spain within three months, if they could not induce his excellency to rule over them. in that way at least, if in no other, they could circumvent those filthy rascals whom they so much abhorred, and frustrate the designs of maurice, hohenlo, and sir john norris, who were represented as occupying the position of the triumvirs after the death of julius caesar. to place its neck under the yoke of philip ii. and the inquisition, after having so handsomely got rid of both, did not seem a sublime manifestation of sovereignty on the part of the people, and even deventer had some misgivings as to the propriety of such a result. "what then will become of our beautiful churches?" he cried, "what will princes say, what will the world in general say, what will historians say, about the honour of the english nation?" as to the first question, it is probable that the prospect of the reformed churches would not have been cheerful, had the inquisition been re-established in holland and utrecht, three months after that date. as to the second, the world and history were likely to reply, that the honour of the english nation was fortunately not entirely, entrusted at that epoch to the "magnanimous prince" of leicester, and his democratic, counsellor-in-chief, burgomaster deventer. these are but samples of the ravings which sounded incessantly in the ears of the governor-general. was it strange that a man, so thirsty for power, so gluttonous of flattery, should be influenced by such passionate appeals? addressed in strains of fulsome adulation, convinced that arbitrary power was within his reach, and assured that he had but to wink his eye to see his enemies scattered before him, he became impatient of all restraint; and determined, on his return, to crush the states into insignificance. thus, while buckhurst had been doing his best as a mediator to prepare the path for his return, leicester himself end his partisans had been secretly exerting themselves to make his arrival the signal for discord; perhaps of civil war. the calm, then, immediately succeeding the mission of buckhurst was a deceitful one, but it seemed very promising. the best feelings were avowed and perhaps entertained. the states professed great devotion to her majesty and friendly regard for the governor. they distinctly declared that the arrangements by which maurice and hohenlo had been placed in their new positions were purely provisional ones, subject to modifications on the arrival of the earl. "all things are reduced to a quiet calm," said buckhurst, "ready to receive my lord of leicester and his authority, whenever he cometh." the quarrel of hohenlo with sir edward norris had been, by the exertions of buckhurst, amicably arranged: the count became an intimate friend of sir john, "to the gladding of all such as wished well to, the country;" but he nourished a deadly hatred to the earl. he ran up and down like a madman whenever his return was mentioned. "if the queen be willing to take the sovereignty," he cried out at his own dinner-table to a large company, "and is ready to proceed roundly in this action, i will serve her to the last drop of my blood; but if she embrace it in no other sort than hitherto she hath done, and if leicester is to return, then am i as good a man as leicester, and will never be commanded by him. i mean to continue on my frontier, where all who love me can come and find me." he declared to several persons that he had detected a plot on the part of leicester to have him assassinated; and the assertion seemed so important, that villiers came to councillor clerk to confer with him on the subject. the worthy bartholomew, who had again, most reluctantly, left his quiet chambers in the temple to come again among the guns and drums, which his soul abhorred, was appalled by such a charge. it was best to keep it a secret, he said, at least till the matter could be thoroughly investigated. villiers was of the same opinion, and accordingly the councillor, in the excess of his caution, confided the secret only--to whom? to mr. atye, leicester's private secretary. atye, of course, instantly told his master--his master in a frenzy of rage, told the queen, and her majesty, in a paroxysm of royal indignation at this new insult to her favourite, sent furious letters to her envoys, to the states-general, to everybody in the netherlands--so that the assertion of hohenlo became the subject of endless recrimination. leicester became very violent, and denounced the statement as an impudent falsehood, devised wilfully in order to cast odium upon him and to prevent his return. unquestionably there was nothing in the story but table-talk; but the count would have been still more ferocious towards leicester than he was, had he known what was actually happening at that very moment. while buckhurst was at utrecht, listening to the "solemn-speeches" of the militia-captains and exchanging friendly expressions at stately banquets with moeurs, he suddenly received a letter in cipher from her majesty. not having the key, he sent to wilkes at the hague. wilkes was very ill; but the despatch was marked pressing and immediate, so he got out of bed and made the journey to utrecht. the letter, on being deciphered, proved to be an order from the queen to decoy hohenlo into some safe town, on pretence of consultation and then to throw him into prison, on the ground that he had been tampering with the enemy, and was about to betray the republic to philip. the commotion which would have been excited by any attempt to enforce this order, could be easily imagined by those familiar with hohenlo and with the powerful party in the netherlands of which he was one of the chiefs. wilkes stood aghast as he deciphered the letter. buckhurst felt the impossibility of obeying the royal will. both knew the cause, and both foresaw the consequences of the proposed step. wilkes had heard some rumours of intrigues between parma's agents at deventer and hohenlo, and had confided them to walsingham, hoping that the secretary would keep the matter in his own breast, at least till further advice. he was appalled at the sudden action proposed on a mere rumour, which both buckhurst and himself had begun to consider an idle one. he protested, therefore, to walsingham that to comply with her majesty's command would not only be nearly impossible, but would, if successful, hazard the ruin of the republic. wilkes was also very anxious lest the earl of leicester should hear of the matter. he was already the object of hatred to that powerful personage, and thought him capable of accomplishing his destruction in any mode. but if leicester could wreak his vengeance upon his enemy wilkes by the hand of his other deadly enemy hohenlo, the councillor felt that this kind of revenge would have a double sweetness for him. the queen knows what i have been saying, thought wilkes, and therefore leicester knows it; and if leicester knows it, he will take care that hohenlo shall hear of it too, and then wo be unto me. "your honour knoweth," he said to walsingham, "that her majesty can hold no secrets, and if she do impart it to leicester, then am i sped." nothing came of it however, and the relations of wilkes and buckhurst with hohenlo continued to be friendly. it was a lesson to wilkes to be more cautious even with the cautious walsingham. "we had but bare suspicions," said buckhurst, "nothing fit, god knoweth, to come to such a reckoning. wilkes saith he meant it but for a premonition to you there; but i think it will henceforth be a premonition to himself--there being but bare presumptions, and yet shrewd presumptions." here then were deventer and leicester plotting to overthrow the government of the states; the states and hohenlo arming against leicester; the extreme democratic party threatening to go over to the spaniards within three months; the earl accused of attempting the life of hohenlo; hohenlo offering to shed the last drop of his blood for queen elizabeth; queen elizabeth giving orders to throw hohenlo into prison as a traitor; councillor wilkes trembling for his life at the hands both of leicester and hohenlo; and buckhurst doing his best to conciliate all parties, and imploring her majesty in vain to send over money to help on the war, and to save her soldiers from starving. for the queen continued to refuse the loan of fifty thousand pounds which the provinces solicited, and in hope of which the states had just agreed to an extra contribution of a million florins (l , ), a larger sum than had been levied by a single vote since the commencement of the war. it must be remembered, too, that the whole expense of the war fell upon holland and zeeland. the province of utrecht, where there was so strong a disposition to confer absolute authority upon leicester, and to destroy the power of the states-general contributed absolutely nothing. since the loss of deventer, nothing could be raised in the provinces of utrecht, gelderland or overyssel; the spaniards levying black mail upon the whole territory, and impoverishing the inhabitants till they became almost a nullity. was it strange then that the states of holland and zeeland, thus bearing nearly the whole; burden of the war, should be dissatisfied with the hatred felt toward them by their sister provinces so generously protected by them? was it unnatural that barneveld, and maurice, and hohenlo, should be disposed to bridle the despotic inclinations of leicester, thus fostered by those who existed, as it were, at their expense? but the queen refused the l , , although holland and zeeland had voted the l , . "no reason that breedeth charges," sighed walsingham, "can in any sort be digested." it was not for want of vehement entreaty on the part of the secretary of state and of buckhurst that the loan was denied. at least she was entreated to send over money for her troops, who for six months past were unpaid. "keeping the money in your coffers," said buckhurst, "doth yield no interest to you, and--which is above all earthly, respects--it shall be the means of preserving the lives of many of your faithful subjects which otherwise must needs, daily perish. their miseries, through want of meat and money, i do protest to god so much moves, my soul with commiseration of that which is past, and makes my heart tremble to think of the like to come again, that i humbly beseech your majesty, for jesus christ sake, to have compassion on their lamentable estate past, and send some money to prevent the like hereafter." these were moving words,--but the money did not come--charges could not be digested. "the eternal god," cried buckhurst, "incline your heart to grant the petition of the states for the loan of the l , , and that speedily, for the dangerous terms of the state here and the mighty and forward preparation of the enemy admit no minute of delay; so that even to grant it slowly is to deny it utterly." he then drew a vivid picture of the capacity of the netherlands to assist the endangered realm of england, if delay were not suffered to destroy both commonwealths, by placing the provinces in an enemy's hand. "their many and notable good havens," he said, "the great number of ships and mariners, their impregnable towns, if they were in the hands of a potent prince that would defend them, and, lastly, the state of this shore; so near and opposite unto the land and coast of england--lo, the sight of all this, daily in mine eye, conjoined with the deep, enrooted malice of that your so mighty enemy who seeketh to regain them; these things entering continually into the meditations of my heart--so much do they import the safety of yourself and your estate--do enforce me, in the abundance of my love and duty to your majesty, most earnestly to speak, write, and weep unto you, lest when the occasion yet offered shall be gone by, this blessed means of your defence, by god's provident goodness thus put into your hand, will then be utterly lost, lo; never, never more to be recovered again." it was a noble, wise, and eloquent appeal, but it was muttered in vain. was not leicester--his soul filled with petty schemes of reigning in utrecht, and destroying the constitutional government of the provinces--in full possession of the royal ear? and was not the same ear lent, at most critical moment, to the insidious alexander farnese, with his whispers of peace, which were potent enough to drown all the preparations for the invincible armada? six months had rolled away since leicester had left the netherlands; six months long, the provinces, left in a condition which might have become anarchy, had been saved by the wise government of the states-general; six months long the english soldiers had remained unpaid by their sovereign; and now for six weeks the honest, eloquent, intrepid, but gentle buckhurst had done his best to conciliate all parties, and to mould the netherlanders into an impregnable bulwark for the realm of england. but his efforts were treated with scorn by the queen. she was still maddened by a sense of the injuries done by the states to leicester. she was indignant that her envoy should have accepted such lame apologies for the th of february letter; that he should have received no better atonement for their insolent infringements of the earl's orders during his absence; that he should have excused their contemptuous proceedings and that, in short, he should have been willing to conciliate and forgive when he should have stormed and railed. "you conceived, it seemeth," said her majesty, "that a more sharper manner of proceeding would have exasperated matters to the prejudice of the service, and therefore you did think it more fit to wash the wounds rather with water than vinegar, wherein we would rather have wished, on the other side, that you had better considered that festering wounds had more need of corrosives than lenitives. your own judgment ought to have taught that such a alight and mild kind of dealing with a people so ingrate and void of consideration as the said estates have showed themselves toward us, is the ready way to increase their contempt." the envoy might be forgiven for believing that at any rate there would be no lack of corrosives or vinegar, so long as the royal tongue or pen could do their office, as the unfortunate deputies had found to their cost in their late interviews at greenwich, and as her own envoys in the netherlands were perpetually finding now. the queen was especially indignant that the estates should defend the tone of their letters to the earl on the ground that he had written a piquant epistle to them. "but you can manifestly see their untruths in naming it a piquant letter," said elizabeth, "for it has no sour or sharp word therein, nor any clause or reprehension, but is full of gravity and gentle admonition. it deserved a thankful answer, and so you may maintain it to them to their reproof." the states doubtless thought that the loss of deventer and, with it, the almost ruinous condition of three out of the seven provinces, might excuse on their part a little piquancy of phraseology, nor was it easy for them to express gratitude to the governor for his grave and gentle admonitions, after he had, by his secret document of th november, rendered himself fully responsible for the disaster they deplored. she expressed unbounded indignation with hohenlo, who, as she was well aware, continued to cherish a deadly hatred for leicester. especially she was exasperated, and with reason, by the assertion the count had made concerning the governor's murderous designs upon him. "'tis a matter," said the queen, "so foul and dishonourable that doth not only touch greatly the credit of the earl, but also our own honour, to have one who hath been nourished and brought up by us, and of whom we have made show to the world to have extraordinarily favoured above any other of our own subjects, and used his service in those countries in a place of that reputation he held there, stand charged with so horrible and unworthy a crime. and therefore our pleasure is, even as you tender the continuance of our favour towards you, that you seek, by all the means you may, examining the count hollock, or any other party in this matter, to discover and to sift out how this malicious imputation hath been wrought; for we have reason to think that it hath grown out of some cunning device to stay the earl's coming, and to discourage him from the continuance of his service in those countries." and there the queen was undoubtedly in the right. hohenlo was resolved, if possible, to make the earl's government of the netherlands impossible. there was nothing in the story however; and all that by the most diligent "sifting" could ever be discovered, and all that the count could be prevailed upon to confess, was an opinion expressed by him that if he had gone with leicester to england, it might perhaps have fared ill with him. but men were given to loose talk in those countries. there was great freedom of tongue and pen; and as the earl, whether with justice or not, had always been suspected of strong tendencies to assassination, it was not very wonderful that so reckless an individual as hohenlo should promulgate opinions on such subjects, without much reserve. "the number of crimes that have been imputed to me," said leicester, "would be incomplete, had this calumny not been added to all preceding ones." it is possible that assassination, especially poisoning, may have been a more common-place affair in those days than our own. at any rate, it is certain that accusations of such crimes were of ordinary occurrence. men were apt to die suddenly if they had mortal enemies, and people would gossip. at the very same moment, leicester was deliberately accused not only of murderous intentions towards hohenlo, but towards thomas wilkes and count lewis william of nassau likewise. a trumpeter, arrested in friesland, had just confessed that he had been employed by the spanish governor of that province, colonel verdugo, to murder count lewis, and that four other persons had been entrusted with the same commission. the count wrote to verdugo, and received in reply an indignant denial of the charge. "had i heard of such a project," said the spaniard, "i would, on the contrary, have given you warning. and i give you one now." he then stated, as a fact known to him on unquestionable authority, that the earl of leicester had assassins at that moment in his employ to take the life of count lewis, adding that as for the trumpeter, who had just been hanged for the crime suborned by the writer, he was a most notorious lunatic. in reply, lewis, while he ridiculed this plea of insanity set up for a culprit who had confessed his crime succinctly and voluntarily, expressed great contempt for the counter-charge against leicester. "his excellency," said the sturdy little count, "is a virtuous gentleman, the most pious and god-fearing i have ever known. i am very sure that he could never treat his enemies in the manner stated, much less his friends. as for yourself, may god give me grace, in requital of your knavish trick, to make such a war upon you as becomes an upright soldier and a man of honour." thus there was at least one man--and a most important, one--in the opposition--party who thoroughly believed in the honour of the governor-general. the queen then proceeded to lecture lord buckhurst very severely for having tolerated an instant the states' proposition to her for a loan of l , . "the enemy," she observed, "is quite unable to attempt the siege of any town." buckhurst was, however, instructed, in case the states' million should prove insufficient to enable the army to make head against the enemy, and in the event of "any alteration of the good-will of the people towards her, caused by her not yielding, in this their necessity, some convenient support," to let them then understand, "as of himself, that if they would be satisfied with a loan of ten or fifteen thousand pounds, he, would do his best endeavour to draw her majesty to yield unto the furnishing of such a sum, with assured hope to obtaining the same at her hands." truly walsingham was right in saying that charges of any kind were difficult of digestion: yet, even at that moment, elizabeth had no more attached subjects in england than sere the burghers of the netherlands; who were as anxious ever to annex their territory to her realms. 'thus, having expressed an affection for leicester which no one doubted, having once more thoroughly brow-beaten the states, and having soundly lectured buckhurst--as a requital for his successful efforts to bring about a more wholesome condition of affairs--she gave the envoy a parting stab, with this postscript;--"there is small disproportion," she said "twist a fool who useth not wit because he hath it not, and him that useth it not when it should avail him." leicester, too, was very violent in his attacks upon buckhurst. the envoy had succeeded in reconciling hohenlo with the brothers norris, and had persuaded sir john to offer the hand of friendship to leicester, provided it were sure of being accepted. yet in this desire to conciliate, the earl found renewed cause for violence. "i would have had more regard of my lord of buckhurst," he said, "if the case had been between him and norris, but i must regard my own reputation the more that i see others would impair it. you have deserved little thanks of me, if i must deal plainly, who do equal me after this sort with him, whose best place is colonel under me, and once my servant, and preferred by me to all honourable place he had." and thus were enterprises of great moment, intimately affecting the safety of holland, of england, of all protestantism, to be suspended between triumph and ruin, in order that the spleen of one individual--one queen's favourite--might be indulged. the contempt of an insolent grandee for a distinguished commander--himself the son, of a baron, with a mother the dear friend of her sovereign--was to endanger the existence of great commonwealths. can the influence of the individual, for good or bad, upon the destinies of the race be doubted, when the characters and conduct of elizabeth and leicester, burghley and walsingham, philip and parma, are closely scrutinized and broadly traced throughout the wide range of their effects? "and i must now, in your lordship's sight," continued leicester, "be made a counsellor with this companion, who never yet to this day hath done so much as take knowledge of my mislike of him; no, not to say this much, which i think would well become his better, that he was sorry, to hear i had mislike to him, that he desired my suspension till he might either speak with me, or be charged from me, and if then he were not able to satisfy me, he would acknowledge his fault, and make me any honest satisfaction. this manner of dealing would have been no disparagement to his better. and even so i must think that your lordship doth me wrong, knowing what you do, to make so little difference between john norris, my man not long since, and now but my colonel under me, as though we were equals. and i cannot but more than marvel at this your proceeding, when i remember your promises of friendship, and your opinions resolutely set down . . . . you were so determined before you went hence, but must have become wonderfully enamoured of those men's unknown virtues in a few days of acquaintance, from the alteration that is grown by their own commendations of themselves. you know very well that all the world should not make me serve with john norris. your sudden change from mislike to liking has, by consequence, presently cast disgrace upon me. but all is not gold that glitters, nor every shadow a perfect representation . . . . you knew he should not serve with me, but either you thought me a very inconstant man, or else a very simple soul, resolving with you as i did, for you to take the course you have done." he felt, however, quite strong in her majesty's favour. he knew himself her favourite, beyond all chance or change, and was sure, so long as either lived, to thrust his enemies, by her aid, into outer darkness. woe to buckhurst, and norris, and wilkes, and all others who consorted with his enemies. let them flee from the wrath to come! and truly they were only too anxious to do so, for they knew that leicester's hatred was poisonous. "he is not so facile to forget as ready to revenge," said poor wilkes, with neat alliteration. "my very heavy and mighty adversary will disgrace and undo me. "it sufficeth," continued leicester, "that her majesty both find my dealings well enough, and so, i trust will graciously use me. as for the reconciliations and love-days you have made there, truly i have liked well of it; for you did sow me your disposition therein before, and i allowed of it, and i had received letters both from count maurice and hohenlo of their humility and kindness, but now in your last letters you say they have uttered the cause of their mislike towards me, which you forbear to write of, looking so speedily for my return." but the earl knew well enough what the secret was, for had it not been specially confided by the judicious bartholomew to atye, who had incontinently told his master? "this pretense that i should kill hohenlo," cried leicester, "is a matter properly foisted in to bring me to choler. i will not suffer it to rest, thus. its authors shall be duly and severely punished. and albeit i see well enough the plot of this wicked device, yet shall it not work the effect the devisers have done it for. no, my lord, he is a villain and a false lying knave whosoever he be, and of what, nation soever that hath forged this device. count hohenlo doth know i never gave him cause to fear me so much. there were ways and means offered me to have quitted him of the country if i had so liked. this new monstrous villany which is now found out i do hate and detest, as i would look for the right judgment of god to fall upon myself, if i had but once imagined it. all this makes good proof of wilkes's good dealing with me, that hath heard of so vile and villainous a reproach of me, and never gave me knowledge. but i trust your lordship shall receive her majesty's order for this, as for a matter that toucheth herself in honour, and me her poor servant and minister, as dearly as any matter can do; and i will so take it and use it to the uttermost." we have seen how anxiously buckhurst had striven to do his duty upon a most difficult mission. was it unnatural that so fine a nature as his should be disheartened, at reaping nothing but sneers and contumely from the haughty sovereign he served, and from the insolent favourite who controlled her councils? "i beseech your lordship," he said to burghley, "keep one ear for me, and do not hastily condemn me before you hear mine answer. for if i ever did or shall do any acceptable service to her majesty, it was in, the stay and appeasing of these countries, ever ready at my coming to have cast off all good respect towards us, and to have entered even into some desperate cause. in the meantime i am hardly thought of by her majesty, and in her opinion condemned before mine answer be understood. therefore i beseech you to help me to return, and not thus to lose her majesty's favour for my good desert, wasting here my mind, body, my wits, wealth, and all; with continual toils, taxes, and troubles, more than i am able to endure." but besides his instructions to smooth and expostulate, in which he had succeeded so well, and had been requited so ill; buckhurst had received a still more difficult commission. he had been ordered to broach the subject of peace, as delicately as possible, but without delay; first sounding the leading politicians, inducing them to listen to the queen's suggestions on the subject, persuading them that they ought to be satisfied with the principles of the pacification of ghent, and that it was hopeless for the provinces to continue the war with their mighty adversary any longer. most reluctantly had buckhurst fulfilled his sovereign's commands in this disastrous course. to talk to the hollanders of the ghent pacification seemed puerile. that memorable treaty, ten years before, had been one of the great landmarks of progress, one of the great achievements of william the silent. by its provisions, public exercise of the reformed religion had been secured for the two provinces of holland and zeeland, and it had been agreed that the secret practice of those rites should be elsewhere winked at, until such time as the states-general, under the auspices of philip ii., should otherwise ordain. but was it conceivable that now, after philip's authority had been solemnly abjured, and the reformed worship had become the public, dominant religion, throughout all the provinces,--the whole republic should return to the spanish dominion, and to such toleration as might be sanctioned by an assembly professing loyalty to the most catholic king? buckhurst had repeatedly warned the queen, in fervid and eloquent language, as to the intentions of spain. "there was never peace well made," he observed, "without a mighty war preceding, and always, the sword in hand is the best pen to write the conditions of peace." "if ever prince had cause," he continued, "to think himself beset with doubt and danger, you, sacred queen, have most just cause not only to think it, but even certainly to believe it. the pope doth daily plot nothing else but how he may bring to pass your utter overthrow; the french king hath already sent you threatenings of revenge, and though for that pretended cause i think little will ensue, yet he is blind that seeth not the mortal dislike that boileth deep in his heart for other respects against you. the scottish king, not only in regard of his future hope, but also by reason of some over conceit in his heart, may be thought a dangerous neighbour to you. the king of spain armeth and extendeth all his power to ruin both you and your estate. and if the indian gold have corrupted also the king of denmark, and made him likewise spanish, as i marvellously fear; why will not your majesty, beholding the flames of your enemies on every side kindling around, unlock all your coffers and convert your treasure for the advancing of worthy men, and for the arming of ships and men-of-war that may defend you, since princes' treasures serve only to that end, and, lie they never so fast or so full in their chests, can no ways so defend them? "the eternal god, in whose hands the hearts of kings do rest, dispose and guide your sacred majesty to do that which may be most according to his blessed will, and best for you, as i trust he will, even for his mercy's sake, both toward your majesty and the whole realm of england, whose desolation is thus sought and compassed." was this the language of a mischievous intriguer, who was sacrificing the true interest of his country, and whose proceedings were justly earning for him rebuke and disgrace at the hands of his sovereign? or was it rather the noble advice of an upright statesman, a lover of his country, a faithful servant of his queen, who had looked through the atmosphere of falsehood in which he was doing his work, and who had detected, with rare sagacity, the secret purposes of those who were then misruling the world? buckhurst had no choice, however, but to obey. his private efforts were of course fruitless, but he announced to her majesty that it was his intention very shortly to bring the matter--according to her wish--before the assembly. but elizabeth, seeing that her counsel had been unwise and her action premature, turned upon her envoy, as she was apt to do, and rebuked him for his obedience, so soon as obedience had proved inconvenient to herself. "having perused your letters," she said, "by which you at large debate unto us what you have done in the matter of peace . . . . we find it strange that you should proceed further. and although we had given you full and ample direction to proceed to a public dealing in that cause, yet our own discretion, seeing the difficulties and dangers that you yourself saw in the propounding of the matter, ought to have led you to delay till further command from us." her majesty then instructed her envoy, in case he had not yet "propounded the matter in the state-house to the general assembly," to pause entirely until he heard her further pleasure. she concluded, as usual, with a characteristic postcript in her own hand. "oh weigh deeplier this matter," she said, "than, with so shallow a judgment, to spill the cause, impair my honour, and shame yourself, with all your wit, that once was supposed better than to lose a bargain for the handling." certainly the sphinx could have propounded no more puzzling riddles than those which elizabeth thus suggested to buckhurst. to make war without an army, to support an army without pay, to frame the hearts of a whole people to peace who were unanimous for war, and this without saying a word either in private or public; to dispose the netherlanders favourably to herself and to leicester, by refusing them men and money, brow-beating them for asking for it, and subjecting them to a course of perpetual insults, which she called "corrosives," to do all this and more seemed difficult. if not to do it, were to spill the cause and to lose the bargain, it was more than probable that they would be spilt and lost. but the ambassador was no oedipus--although a man of delicate perceptions and brilliant intellect--and he turned imploringly to a wise counsellor for aid against the tormentor who chose to be so stony-faced and enigmatical. "touching the matter of peace," said he to walsingham, "i have written somewhat to her majesty in cipher, so as i am sure you will be called for to decipher it. if you did know how infinitely her majesty did at my departure and before--for in this matter of peace she hath specially used me this good while--command me, pray me, and persuade me to further and hasten the same with all the speed possible that might be, and how, on the other side, i have continually been the man and the mean that have most plainly dehorted her from such post-haste, and that she should never make good peace without a puissant army in the field, you would then say that i had now cause to fear her displeasure for being too slow, and not too forward. and as for all the reasons which in my last letters are set down, her majesty hath debated them with me many times." and thus midsummer was fast approaching, the commonwealth was without a regular government, leicester remained in england nursing his wrath and preparing his schemes, the queen was at greenwich, corresponding with alexander farnese, and sending riddles to buckhurst, when the enemy--who, according to her majesty, was "quite unable to attempt the siege of any town" suddenly appeared in force in flanders, and invested sluy's. this most important seaport, both for the destiny of the republic and of england at that critical moment, was insufficiently defended. it was quite time to put an army in the field, with a governor-general to command it. on the th june there was a meeting of the state-council at the hague. count maurice, hohenlo, and moeurs were present, besides several members of the states-general. two propositions were before the council. the first was that it was absolutely necessary to the safety of the republic, now that the enemy had taken the field, and the important city of sluy's was besieged, for prince maurice to be appointed captain-general, until such time as the earl of leicester or some other should be sent by her majesty. the second was to confer upon the state-council the supreme government in civil affairs, for the same period, and to repeal all limitations and restrictions upon the powers of the council made secretly by the earl. chancellor leoninus, "that grave, wise old man," moved the propositions. the deputies of the states were requested to withdraw. the vote of each councillor was demanded. buckhurst, who, as the queen's representative--together with wilkes and john norris--had a seat in the council, refused to vote. "it was a matter," he discreetly observed with which "he had not been instructed by her majesty to intermeddle." norris and wilkes also begged to be excused from voting, and, although earnestly urged to do so by the whole council, persisted in their refusal. both measures were then carried. no sooner was the vote taken, than an english courier entered the council-chamber, with pressing despatches from lord leicester. the letters were at once read. the earl announced his speedy arrival, and summoned both the states-general and the council to meet him at dort, where his lodgings were already taken. all were surprised, but none more than buckhurst, wilkes, and norris; for no intimation of this sudden resolution had been received by them, nor any answer given to various propositions, considered by her majesty as indispensable preliminaries to the governor's visit. the council adjourned till after dinner, and buckhurst held conference meantime with various counsellors and deputies. on the reassembling of the board, it was urged by barneveld, in the name of the states, that the election of prince maurice should still hold good. "although by these letters," said he, "it would seem that her majesty had resolved upon the speedy return of his excellency, yet, inasmuch as the counsels and resolutions of princes are often subject to change upon new occasion, it does not seem fit that our late purpose concerning prince maurice should receive any interruption." accordingly, after brief debate, both resolutions, voted in the morning, were confirmed in the afternoon. "so now," said wilkes, "maurice is general of all the forces, 'et quid sequetur nescimus.'" but whatever else was to follow, it was very certain that wilkes would not stay. his great enemy had sworn his destruction, and would now take his choice, whether to do him to death himself, or to throw him into the clutch of the ferocious hohenlo. "as for my own particular," said the counsellor, "the word is go, whosoever cometh or cometh not," and he announced to walsingham his intention of departing without permission, should he not immediately receive it from england. "i shall stay to be dandled with no love-days nor leave-takings," he observed. but leicester had delayed his coming too long. the country felt that it-had been trifled with by his: absence--at so critical a period--of seven months. it was known too that the queen was secretly treating with the enemy, and that buckhurst had been privately sounding leading personages upon that subject, by her orders. this had caused a deep, suppressed indignation. over and over again had the english government been warned as to the danger of delay. "your length in resolving;" wilkes had said, "whatsoever your secret purposes may be--will put us to new plunges before long." the mission of buckhurst was believed to be "but a stale, having some other intent than was expressed." and at last, the new plunge had been fairly taken. it seemed now impossible for leicester to regain the absolute authority, which he coveted; and which he had for a brief season possessed. the states-general, under able leaders, had become used to a government which had been forced upon them, and which they had wielded with success. holland and zeeland, paying the whole expense of the war, were not likely to endure again the absolute sovereignty of a foreigner, guided by a back stairs council of reckless politicians--most of whom were unprincipled, and some of whom had been proved to be felons--and established, at utrecht, which contributed nothing to the general purse. if leicester were really-coming, it seemed certain that he would be held to acknowledge the ancient constitution, and to respect the sovereignty of the states-general. it was resolved that he should be well bridled. the sensations of barneveld and his party may therefore be imagined, when a private letter of leicester, to his secretary "the fellow named junius," as hohenlo called him--having been intercepted at this moment, gave them an opportunity of studying the earl's secret thoughts. the earl informed his correspondent that he was on the point of starting for the netherlands. he ordered him therefore to proceed at once to reassure those whom he knew well disposed as to the good intentions of her majesty and of the governor-general. and if, on the part of lord buckhurst or others, it should be intimated that the queen was resolved to treat for peace with the king of spain; and wished to have the opinion of the netherlanders on that subject, he was to say boldly that lord buckhurst never had any such charge, and that her majesty had not been treating at all. she had only been attempting to sound the king's intentions towards the netherlands, in case of any accord. having received no satisfactory assurance on the subject, her majesty was determined to proceed with the defence of these countries. this appeared by the expedition of drake against spain, and by the return of the earl, with a good cumber of soldiers paid by her majesty, over and above her ordinary subsidy. "you are also;" said the earl, "to tell those who have the care of the people" (the ministers of the reformed church and others), "that i am returning, in the confidence that they will, in future, cause all past difficulties to cease, and that they will yield to me a legitimate authority, such as befits for administering the sovereignty of the provinces, without my being obliged to endure all the oppositions and counter-minings of the states, as in times past. the states must content themselves with retaining the power which they claim to have exercised under the governors of the emperor and the king--without attempting anything farther during my government--since i desire to do nothing of importance without the advice of the council, which will be composed legitimately of persons of the country. you will also tell them that her majesty commands me to return unless i can obtain from the states the authority which is necessary, in order not to be governor in appearance only and on paper. and i wish that those who are good may be apprized of all this, in order that nothing may happen to their prejudice and ruin, and contrary to their wishes." there were two very obvious comments to be made upon this document. firstly, the states--de jure, as they claimed, and de facto most unquestionably--were in the position of the emperor and king. they were the sovereigns. the earl wished them to content themselves with the power which they exercised under the emperor's governors. this was like requesting the emperor, when in the netherlands, to consider himself subject to his own governor. the second obvious reflection was that the earl, in limiting his authority by a state-council, expected, no doubt, to appoint that body himself--as he had done before--and to allow the members only the right of talking, and of voting,--without the power of enforcing their decisions. in short, it was very plain that leicester meant to be more absolute than ever. as to the flat contradiction given to buckhurst's proceedings in the matter of peace, that statement could scarcely deceive any one who had seen her majesty's letters and instructions to her envoy. it was also a singularly deceitful course to be adopted by leicester towards buckhurst and towards the netherlands, because his own private instructions, drawn up at the same moment, expressly enjoined him to do exactly what buckhurst had been doing. he was most strictly and earnestly commanded to deal privately with all such persons as bad influence with the "common sort of people," in order that they should use their influence with those common people in favour of peace, bringing vividly before them the excessive burthens of the war, their inability to cope with so potent a prince as philip, and the necessity the queen was under of discontinuing her contributions to their support. he was to make the same representations to the states, and he was further most explicitly to inform all concerned, that, in case they were unmoved by these suggestions, her majesty had quite made up her mind to accept the handsome offers of peace held out by the king of spain, and to leave them to their fate. it seemed scarcely possible that the letter to junius and the instructions for the earl should have been dated the same week, and should have emanated from the same mind; but such was the fact. he was likewise privately to assure maurice and hohenlo--in order to remove their anticipated opposition to the peace--that such care should be taken in providing for them, as that "they should have no just cause to dislike thereof, but to rest satisfied withal." with regard to the nature of his authority, he was instructed to claim a kind of dictatorship in everything regarding the command of the forces, and the distribution of the public treasure. all offices were to be at his disposal. every florin contributed by the states was to be placed in his hands, and spent according to his single will. he was also to have plenary power to prevent the trade in victuals with the enemy by death and confiscation. if opposition to any of these proposals were made by the states-general, he was to appeal to the states of each province; to the towns and communities, and in case it should prove impossible for him "to be furnished with the desired authority," he was then instructed to say that it was "her majesty's meaning to leave them to their own counsel and defence, and to withdraw the support that she had yielded to them: seeing plainly that the continuance of the confused government now reigning among them could not but work their ruin." both these papers came into barneveld's hands, through the agency of ortel, the states' envoy in england, before the arrival of the earl in the netherlands. of course they soon became the topics of excited conversation and of alarm in every part of the country. buckhurst, touched to the quick by the reflection upon those--proceedings of his which had been so explicitly enjoined upon him, and so reluctantly undertaken--appealed earnestly to her majesty. he reminded her, as delicately as possible, that her honour, as well as his own, was at stake by leicester's insolent disavowals of her authorized ambassador. he besought her to remember "what even her own royal hand had written to the duke of parma;" and how much his honour was interested "by the disavowing of his dealings about the peace begun by her majesty's commandment." he adjured her with much eloquence to think upon the consequences of stirring up the common and unstable multitude against their rulers; upon the pernicious effects of allowing the clergy to inflame the passions of the people against the government. "under the name of such as have charge over the people," said buckhurst, "are understood the ministers and chaplains of the churches in every town, by the means of whom it, seems that his lordship tendeth his whole purpose to attain to his desire of the administration of the sovereignty." he assured the queen that this scheme of leicester to seize virtually upon that sovereignty, would be a disastrous one. "the states are resolved," said he, "since your majesty doth refuse the sovereignty, to lay it upon no creature else, as a thing contrary to their oath and allegiance to their country." he reminded her also that the states had been dissatisfied with the earl's former administration, believing that he had exceeded his commission, and that they were determined therefore to limit his authority at his return. "your sacred majesty may consider," he said, "what effect all this may work among the common and ignorant people, by intimating that, unless they shall procure him the administration of such a sovereignty as he requireth, their ruin may ensue." buckhurst also informed her that he had despatched councillor wilkes to england, in order that he might give more ample information on all these affairs by word of mouth than could well be written. it need hardly be stated that barneveld came down to the states'-house with these papers in his hand, and thundered against the delinquent and intriguing governor till the general indignation rose to an alarming height. false statements of course were made to leicester as to the substance of the advocate's discourse. he was said to have charged upon the english government an intention to seize forcibly upon their cities, and to transfer them to spain on payment of the sums due to the queen from the states, and to have declared that he had found all this treason in the secret instructions of the earl. but barneveld had read the instructions, to which the attention of the reader has just been called, and had strictly stated the truth which was damaging enough, without need of exaggeration. etext editor's bookmarks: all business has been transacted with open doors beacons in the upward path of mankind been already crimination and recrimination more than enough casting up the matter "as pinchingly as possibly might be" disposed to throat-cutting by the ministers of the gospel during this, whole war, we have never seen the like even to grant it slowly is to deny it utterly evil is coming, the sooner it arrives the better fool who useth not wit because he hath it not guilty of no other crime than adhesion to the catholic faith individuals walking in advance of their age never peace well made, he observed, without a mighty war rebuked him for his obedience respect for differences in religious opinions sacrificed by the queen for faithfully obeying her orders succeeded so well, and had been requited so ill sword in hand is the best pen to write the conditions of peace their existence depended on war they chose to compel no man's conscience torturing, hanging, embowelling of men, women, and children universal suffrage was not dreamed of at that day waiting the pleasure of a capricious and despotic woman who the "people" exactly were history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter xvi. situation of sluys--its dutch and english garrison--williams writes from sluys to the queen--jealousy between the earl and states-- schemes to relieve sluys--which are feeble and unsuccessful--the town capitulates--parma enters--leicester enraged--the queen angry with the anti-leicestrians--norris, wilkes, and buckhurst punished-- drake sails for spain--his exploits at cadiz and lisbon--he is rebuked by elizabeth. when dante had passed through the third circle of the inferno--a desert of red-hot sand, in which lay a multitude of victims of divine wrath, additionally tortured by an ever-descending storm of fiery flakes--he was led by virgil out of this burning wilderness along a narrow causeway. this path was protected, he said, against the showers of flame, by the lines of vapour which rose eternally from a boiling brook. even by such shadowy bulwarks, added the poet, do the flemings between kadzand and bruges protect their land against the ever-threatening sea. it was precisely among these slender dykes between kadzand and bruges that alexander farnese had now planted all the troops that he could muster in the field. it was his determination to conquer the city of sluys; for the possession of that important sea-port was necessary for him as a basis for the invasion of england, which now occupied all the thoughts of his sovereign and himself. exactly opposite the city was the island of kadzand, once a fair and fertile territory, with a city and many flourishing villages upon its surface, but at that epoch diminished to a small dreary sand-bank by the encroachments of the ocean. a stream of inland water, rising a few leagues to the south of sluys, divided itself into many branches just before reaching the city, converted the surrounding territory into a miniature archipelago--the islands of which were shifting treacherous sand-banks at low water, and submerged ones at flood--and then widening and deepening into a considerable estuary, opened for the city a capacious harbour, and an excellent although intricate passage to the sea. the city, which was well built and thriving, was so hidden in its labyrinth of canals and streamlets, that it seemed almost as difficult a matter to find sluys as to conquer it. it afforded safe harbour for five hundred large vessels; and its possession, therefore, was extremely important for parma. besides these natural defences, the place was also protected by fortifications; which were as well constructed as the best of that period. there was a strong rampire and many towers. there was also a detached citadel of great strength, looking towards the sea, and there was a ravelin, called st. anne's, looking in the direction of bruges. a mere riband of dry land in that quarter was all of solid earth to be found in the environs of sluys. the city itself stood upon firm soil, but that soil had been hollowed into a vast system of subterranean magazines, not for warlike purposes, but for cellars, as sluys had been from a remote period the great entrepot of foreign wines in the netherlands. while the eternal disputes between leicester and the states were going on both in holland and in england, while the secret negotiations between alexander farnese and queen slowly proceeding at brussels and greenwich, the duke, notwithstanding the destitute condition of his troops, and the famine which prevailed throughout the obedient provinces, had succeeded in bringing a little army of five thousand foot, and something less than one thousand horse, into the field. a portion of this force he placed under the command of the veteran la motte. that distinguished campaigner had assured the commander-in-chief that the reduction of the city would be an easy achievement. alexander soon declared that the enterprise was the most difficult one that he had ever undertaken. yet, two years before, he had carried to its triumphant conclusion the famous siege of antwerp. he stationed his own division upon the isle of kadzand, and strengthened his camp by additionally fortifying those shadowy bulwarks, by which the island, since the age of dante, had entrenched itself against the assaults of ocean. on the other hand, la motte, by the orders of his chief, had succeeded, after a sharp struggle, in carrying the fort of st. anne. a still more important step was the surprising of blankenburg, a small fortified place on the coast, about midway between ostend and sluys, by which the sea-communications with the former city for the relief of the beleaguered town were interrupted. parma's demonstrations against sluys had commenced in the early days of june. the commandant of the place was arnold de groenevelt, a dutch noble of ancient lineage and approved valour. his force was, however, very meagre, hardly numbering more than eight hundred, all netherlanders, but counting among its officers several most distinguished personages-nicholas de maulde, adolphus de meetkerke and his younger brother, captain heraugiere, and other well-known partisans. on the threatening of danger the commandant had made application to sir william russell, the worthy successor of sir philip sidney in the government of flushing. he had received from him, in consequence, a reinforcement of eight hundred english soldiers, under several eminent chieftains, foremost among whom were the famous welshman roger williams, captain huntley, baskerville, sir francis vere, ferdinando gorges, and captain hart. this combined force, however, was but a slender one; there being but sixteen hundred men to protect two miles and a half of rampart, besides the forts and ravelins. but, such as it was, no time was lost in vain regrets. the sorties against the besiegers were incessant and brilliant. on one occasion sir francis vere--conspicuous in the throng, in his red mantilla, and supported only by one hundred englishmen and dutchmen, under captain baskerville--held at bay eight companies of the famous spanish legion called the terzo veijo, at push of pike, took many prisoners, and forced the spaniards from the position in which they were entrenching themselves. on the other hand, farnese declared that he had never in his life witnessed anything so unflinching as the courage of his troops; employed as they were in digging trenches where the soil was neither land nor water, exposed to inundation by the suddenly-opened sluices, to a plunging fire from the forts, and to perpetual hand-to-hand combats with an active and fearless foe, and yet pumping away in the coffer-dams-which they had invented by way of obtaining a standing-ground for their operations--as steadily and sedately as if engaged in purely pacific employments. the besieged here inspired by a courage equally remarkable. the regular garrison was small enough, but the burghers were courageous, and even the women organized themselves into a band of pioneers. this corps of amazons, led by two female captains, rejoicing in the names of 'may in the heart' and 'catherine the rose,' actually constructed an important redoubt between the citadel and the rampart, which received, in compliment to its builders, the appellation of 'fort venus.' the demands of the beleaguered garrison, however, upon the states and upon leicester were most pressing. captain hart swam thrice out of the city with letters to the states, to the governor-general, and to queen elizabeth; and the same perilous feat was performed several times by a netherland officer. the besieged meant to sell their lives dearly, but it was obviously impossible for them, with so slender a force, to resist a very long time. "our ground is great and our men not so many," wrote roger williams to his sovereign, "but we trust in god and our valour to defend it. . . . we mean, with god's help, to make their downs red and black, and to let out every acre of our ground for a thousand of their lives, besides our own." the welshman was no braggart, and had proved often enough that he was more given to performances than promises. "we doubt not your majesty will succour us," he said, "for our honest mind and plain dealing toward your royal person and dear country;" adding, as a bit of timely advice, "royal majesty, believe not over much your peacemakers. had they their mind, they will not only undo your friend's abroad, but, in the end, your royal estate." certainly it was from no want of wholesome warning from wise statesmen and blunt soldiers that the queen was venturing into that labyrinth of negotiation which might prove so treacherous. never had been so inopportune a moment for that princess to listen to the voice of him who was charming her so wisely, while he was at the same moment battering the place, which was to be the basis of his operations against her realm. her delay in sending forth leicester, with at least a moderate contingent, to the rescue, was most pernicious. the states--ignorant of the queen's exact relations with spain, and exaggerating her disingenuousness into absolute perfidy became on their own part exceedingly to blame. there is no doubt whatever that both hollanders and english men were playing into the hands of parma as adroitly as if he had actually directed their movements. deep were the denunciations of leicester and his partisans by the states' party, and incessant the complaints of the english and dutch troops shut up in sluys against the inactivity or treachery of maurice and hohenlo. "if count maurice and his base brother, the admiral (justinus de nassau), be too young to govern, must holland and zeeland lose their countries and towns to make them expert men of war?" asked roger williams.' a pregnant question certainly, but the answer was, that by suspicion and jealousy, rather than by youth and inexperience, the arms were paralyzed which should have saved the garrison. "if these base fellows (the states) will make count hollock their instrument," continued the welshman; "to cover and maintain their folly and lewd dealing, is it necessary for her royal majesty to suffer it? these are too great matters to be rehearsed by me; but because i am in the town, and do resolve to, sign with my blood my duty in serving my sovereign and country, i trust her majesty will pardon me." certainly the gallant adventurer on whom devolved at least half the work of directing the defence of the city, had a right to express his opinions. had he known the whole truth, however, those opinions would have been modified. and he wrote amid the smoke and turmoil of daily and nightly battle. "yesterday was the fifth sally we made," he observed: "since i followed the wars i never saw valianter captains, nor willinger soldiers. at eleven o'clock the enemy entered the ditch of our fort, with trenches upon wheels, artillery-proof. we sallied out, recovered their trenches, slew the governor of dam, two spanish captains, with a number of others, repulsed them into their artillery, kept the ditch until yesternight, and will recover it, with god's help, this night, or else pay dearly for it. . . . i care not what may become of me in this world, so that her majesty's honour,--with the rest of honourable good friends, will think me an honest man." no one ever doubted the simple-hearted welshman's honesty, any more than his valour; but he confided in the candour of others who were somewhat more sophisticated than himself. when he warned her, royal majesty against the peace-makers, it was impossible for him to know that the great peace-maker was elizabeth herself. after the expiration of a month the work had become most fatiguing. the enemy's trenches had been advanced close to the ramparts, and desperate conflicts were of daily occurrence. the spanish mines, too, had been pushed forward towards the extensive wine-caverns below the city, and the danger of a vast explosion or of a general assault from beneath their very feet, seemed to the inhabitants imminent. eight days long, with scarcely an intermission, amid those sepulchral vaults, dimly-lighted with torches, dutchmen, englishmen, spaniards, italians, fought hand to hand, with pike, pistol, and dagger, within the bowels of the earth. meantime the operations of the states were not commendable. the ineradicable jealousy between the leicestrians and the barneveldians had done its work. there was no hearty effort for the relief of sluys. there were suspicions that, if saved, the town would only be taken possession of by the earl of leicester, as an additional vantage-point for coercing the country into subjection to his arbitrary authority. perhaps it would be transferred to philip by elizabeth as part of the price for peace. there was a growing feeling in holland and zeeland that as those provinces bore all the expense of the war, it was an imperative necessity that they should limit their operations to the defence of their own soil. the suspicions as to the policy of the english government were sapping the very foundations of the alliance, and there was small disposition on the part of the hollanders, therefore, to protect what remained of flanders, and thus to strengthen the hands of her whom they were beginning to look upon as an enemy. maurice and hohenlo made, however, a foray into brabant, by way of diversion to the siege of sluys, and thus compelled farnese to detach a considerable force under haultepenne into that country, and thereby to weaken himself. the expedition of maurice was not unsuccessful. there was some sharp skirmishing between hohenlo and haultepenne, in which the latter, one of the most valuable and distinguished generals on the royal side, was defeated and slain; the fort of engel, near bois-le-duc, was taken, and that important city itself endangered; but, on the other hand, the contingent on which leicester relied from the states to assist in relieving sluys was not forthcoming. for, meantime, the governor-general had at last been sent back by his sovereign to the post which he had so long abandoned. leaving leicester house on the th july (n. s.), he had come on board the fleet two days afterwards at margate. he was bringing with him to the netherlands three thousand fresh infantry, and thirty thousand pounds, of which sum fifteen thousand pounds had been at last wrung from elizabeth as an extra loan, in place of the sixty thousand pounds which the states had requested. as he sailed past ostend and towards flushing, the earl was witness to the constant cannonading between the besieged city and the camp of farnese, and saw that the work could hardly be more serious; for in one short day more shots were fired than had ever been known before in a single day in all parma's experience. arriving at flushing, the governor-general was well received by the inhabitants; but the mischief, which had been set a-foot six months before, had done its work. the political intrigues, disputes, and the conflicting party-organizations, have already been set in great detail before the reader, in order that their effect might now be thoroughly understood without--explanation. the governor-general came to flushing at a most critical moment. the fate of all the spanish netherlands, of sluys, and with it the whole of philip and parma's great project, were, in farnese's own language, hanging by a thread. it would have been possible--had the transactions of the past six months, so far as regarded holland and england, been the reverse of what they had been--to save the city; and, by a cordial and united effort, for the two countries to deal the spanish power such a blow, that summer, as would have paralyzed it for a long time to come, and have placed both commonwealths in comparative security. instead of all this, general distrust and mutual jealousy prevailed. leicester had, previously to his departure from england, summoned the states to meet him at dort upon his arrival. not a soul appeared. such of the state-councillors as were his creatures came to him, and count maurice made a visit of ceremony. discussions about a plan for relieving the siege became mere scenes of bickering and confusion. the officers within sluys were desirous that a fleet should force its way into the harbour, while, at the same time, the english army, strengthened by the contingent which leicester had demanded from the states, should advance against the duke of parma by land. it was, in truth, the only way to succour the place. the scheme was quite practicable. leicester recommended it, the hollanders seemed to favour it, commandant groenevelt and roger williams urged it. "i do assure you," wrote the honest welshman to leicester, "if you will come afore this town, with as many galliots and as many flat-bottomed boats as can cause two men-of-war to enter, they cannot stop their passage, if, your mariners will do a quarter of their duty, as i saw them do divers times. before, they make their entrance, we will come with our boats, and fight with the greatest part, and show them there is no such great danger. were it not for my wounded arm, i would be, in your first boat to enter. notwithstanding, i and other englishmen will approach their boats in such sort, that we will force them to give their saker of artillery upon us. if, your excellency will give ear unto those false lewd fellows (the captain meant the states-general), you shall lose great opportunity. within ten or twelve days the enemy will make his bridge from kadzand unto st. anne, and force you to hazard battle before you succour this town. let my lord willoughby and sir william russell land at terhoven, right against kadzand, with , and entrench hard by the waterside, where their boats can carry them victual and munition. they may approach by trenches without engaging any dangerous fight . . . . we dare not show the estate of this town more than we have done by captain herte. we must fight this night within our rampart in the fort. you may sure the world here are no hamerts, but valiant captains and valiant soldiers, such as, with god's help, had rather be buried in the place than be disgraced in any point that belongs to such a number of men-of-war." but in vain did the governor of the place, stout arnold froenevelt, assisted by the rough and direct eloquence of roger williams, urge upon the earl of leicester and the states-general the necessity and the practicability of the plan proposed. the fleet never entered the harbour. there was no william of orange to save antwerp and sluys, as leyden had once been saved, and his son was not old enough to unravel the web of intrigue by which he was surrounded, or to direct the whole energies of the commonwealth towards an all-important end. leicester had lost all influence, all authority, nor were his military abilities equal to the occasion, even if he had been cordially obeyed. ten days longer the perpetual battles on the ramparts and within the mines continued, the plans conveyed by the bold swimmer, captain hart, for saving the place were still unattempted, and the city was tottering to its fall. "had captain hart's words taken place," wrote williams, bitterly, "we had been succoured, or, if my letters had prevailed, our pain had been, no peril: all wars are best executed in sight of the enemy . . . . the last night of june ( th july, n. s.) the enemy entered the ditches of our fort in three several places, continuing in fight in mine and on rampart for the space of eight nights. the ninth; he battered us furiously, made a breach of five score paces suitable for horse and man. that day be attempted us in all, places with a general, assault for the space of almost five hours." the citadel was now lost. it had been gallantly defended; and it was thenceforth necessary to hold the town itself, in the very teeth of an overwhelming force. "we were forced to quit the fort," said-sir roger, "leaving nothing behind us but bare earth. but here we do remain resolutely to be buried, rather than to be dishonoured in the least point." it was still possible for the fleet to succour the city. "i do assure you," said-williams, "that your captains and mariners do not their duty unless they enter with no great loss; but you must consider that no wars may be made without danger. what you mean to do, we beseech you to do with expedition, and persuade yourself that we will die valiant, honest-men. your excellency will do well to thank the old president de meetkerk far the honesty and valour of his son." count maurice and his natural brother, the admiral, now undertook the succour by sea; but, according to the leicestrians, they continued dilatory and incompetent. at any rate, it is certain that they did nothing. at last, parma had completed the bridge; whose construction, was so much dreaded: the haven was now enclosed by a strong wooden structure, resting an boats, on a plan similar to that of the famous bridge with which he had two years before bridled the scheldt, and sluys was thus completely shut in from the sea. fire-ships were now constructed, by order of leicester--feeble imitations: of the floating volcanoes of gianihelli--and it was agreed that they should be sent against the bridge with the first flood-tide. the propitious moment never seemed to arrive, however, and, meantime, the citizens of flushing, of their own accord, declared that they would themselves equip and conduct a fleet into the harbour of sluys. but the nassaus are said to have expressed great disgust that low-born burghers should presume to meddle with so important an enterprise, which of right belonged to their family. thus, in the midst of these altercations and contradictory schemes; the month of july wore away, and the city was reduced to its last gasp. for the cannonading had thoroughly done its work. eighteen days long the burghers and what remained of the garrison had lived upon the ramparts, never leaving their posts, but eating, sleeping, and fighting day and night. of the sixteen hundred dutch and english but seven hundred remained. at last a swimming messenger was sent out by the besieged with despatches for the states, to the purport that the city could hold out no longer. a breach in the wall had been effected wide enough to admit a hundred men abreast. sluys had, in truth, already fallen, and it was hopeless any longer to conceal the fact. if not relieved within a day or two, the garrison would be obliged to surrender; but they distinctly stated, that they had all pledged themselves, soldiers and burghers, men, women, and all, unless the most honourable terms were granted, to set fire to the city in a hundred places, and then sally, in mass, from the gates, determined to fight their way through, or be slain in the attempt. the messenger who carried these despatches was drowned, but the letters were saved, and fell into parma's hands. at the same moment, leicester was making, at last, an effort to raise the siege. he brought three or four thousand men from flushing, and landed them at ostend; thence he marched to blanckenburg. he supposed that if he could secure that little port, and thus cut the duke completely off from the sea, he should force the spanish commander to raise (or at least suspend) the siege in order to give him battle. meantime, an opportunity would be afforded for maurice and hohenlo to force an entrance into the harbour of sluys, in this conjecture he was quite correct; but unfortunately he did not thoroughly carry out his own scheme. if the earl had established himself at blanckenburg, it would have been necessary for parma--as he himself subsequently declared-to raise the siege. leicester carried the outposts of the place successfully; but, so soon as farnese was aware of this demonstration, he detached a few companies with orders to skirmish with the enemy until the commander-in-chief, with as large a force as he could spare, should come in person to his support. to the unexpected gratification of farnese, however, no sooner did the advancing spaniards come in sight, than the earl, supposing himself invaded by the whole of the duke's army, under their famous general, and not feeling himself strong enough for such an encounter, retired, with great precipitation, to his boats, re-embarked his troops with the utmost celerity, and set sail for ostend. the next night had been fixed for sending forth the fireships against the bridge, and for the entrance of the fleet into the harbour. one fire-ship floated a little way towards the bridge and exploded ingloriously. leicester rowed in his barge about the fleet, superintending the soundings and markings of the channel, and hastening the preparations; but, as the decisive moment approached, the pilots who had promised to conduct the expedition came aboard his pinnace and positively refused to have aught to do with the enterprise, which they now declared an impossibility. the earl was furious with the pilots, with maurice, with hohenlo, with admiral de nassau, with the states, with all the world. he stormed and raged and beat his breast, but all in vain. his ferocity would have been more useful the day before, in face of the spaniards, than now, against the zeeland mariners: but the invasion by the fleet alone, unsupported by a successful land-operation, was pronounced impracticable, and very soon the relieving fleet was seen by the distressed garrison sailing away from the neighbourhood, and it soon disappeared beneath the horizon. their fate was sealed. they entered into treaty with parma, who, secretly instructed, as has been seen, of their desperate intentions, in case any but the most honourable conditions were offered, granted those conditions. the garrison were allowed to go out with colours displayed, lighted matches, bullet in mouth, and with bag and baggage. such burghers as chose to conform to the government of spain and the church of rome; were permitted to remain. those who preferred to depart were allowed reasonable time to make their necessary arrangements. "we have hurt and slain very near eight hundred," said sir roger williams. "we had not powder to fight two hours. there was a breach of almost four hundred paces, another of three score, another of fifty, saltable for horse and men. we had lain continually eighteen nights all on the breaches. he gave us honourable composition. had the state of england lain on it, our lives could not defend the place, three hours, for half the rampires were his, neither had we any pioneers but ourselves. we were sold by their negligence who are now angry with us." on the th august parma entered the city. roger williams with his gilt morion rather battered, and his great plume of feathers much bedraggled-was a witness to the victor's entrance. alexander saluted respectfully an officer so well known to him by reputation, and with some complimentary remarks urged him to enter the spanish service, and to take the field against the turks. "my sword," replied the doughty welshman, "belongs to her royal majesty, queen elizabeth, above and before all the world. when her highness has no farther use for it, it is at the service of the king of navarre." considering himself sufficiently answered, the duke then requested sir roger to point out captain baskerville--very conspicuous by a greater plume of feathers than even that of the welshman himself--and embraced that officer; when presented to him, before all his staff. "there serves no prince in europe a braver man than this englishman," cried alexander, who well knew how to appreciate high military qualities, whether in his own army or in that of his foes. the garrison then retired, sluy's became spanish, and a capacious harbour, just opposite the english coast, was in parma's hands. sir roger williams was despatched by leicester to bear the melancholy tidings to his government, and the queen was requested to cherish the honest welshman, and at least to set him on horseback; for he was of himself not rich enough to buy even a saddle. it is painful to say that the captain did not succeed in getting the horse. the earl was furious in his invectives against hohenlo, against maurice, against the states, uniformly ascribing the loss of sluy's to negligence and faction. as for sir john norris, he protested that his misdeeds in regard to this business would, in king henry viii.'s time, have "cost him his pate." the loss of sluys was the beginning and foreshadowed the inevitable end of leicester's second administration. the inaction of the states was one of the causes of its loss. distrust of leicester was the cause of the inaction. sir william russell, lord willoughby, sir william pelham, and other english officers, united in statements exonerating the earl from all blame for the great failure to relieve the place. at the same time, it could hardly be maintained that his expedition to blanckenburg and his precipitate retreat on the first appearance of the enemy were proofs of consummate generalship. he took no blame to himself for the disaster; but he and his partisans were very liberal in their denunciations of the hollanders, and leicester was even ungrateful enough to censure roger williams, whose life had been passed, as it were, at push of pike with the spaniards, and who was one of his own most devoted adherents. the queen was much exasperated when informed of the fall of the city. she severely denounced the netherlanders, and even went so far as to express dissatisfaction with the great leicester himself. meantime, farnese was well satisfied with his triumph, for he had been informed that "all england was about to charge upon him," in order to relieve the place. all england, however, had been but feebly represented by three thousand raw recruits with a paltry sum of l , to help pay a long bill of arrears. wilkes and norris had taken their departure from the netherlands before the termination of the siege, and immediately after the return of leicester. they did not think it expedient to wait upon the governor before leaving the country, for they had very good reason to believe that such an opportunity of personal vengeance would be turned to account by the earl. wilkes had already avowed his intention of making his escape without being dandled with leave-takings, and no doubt he was right. the earl was indignant when he found that they had given him the slip, and denounced them with fresh acrimony to the queen, imploring her to wreak full measure of wrath upon their heads; and he well knew that his entreaties would meet with the royal attention. buckhurst had a parting interview with the governor-general, at which killigrew and beale, the new english counsellors who had replaced wilkes and clerk, were present. the conversation was marked by insolence on the part of leicester, and by much bitterness on that of buckhurst. the parting envoy refused to lay before the earl a full statement of the grievances between the states-general and the governor, on the ground that leicester had no right to be judge in his own cause. the matter, he said, should be laid before the queen in council, and by her august decision he was willing to abide. on every other subject he was ready to give any information in his power. the interview lasted a whole forenoon and afternoon. buckhurst, according to his own statement, answered, freely all questions put to him by leicester and his counsellors; while, if the report of those personages is to be trusted, he passionately refused to make any satisfactory communication. under the circumstances, however, it may well be believed that no satisfactory communication was possible. on arriving in england, sir john norris was forbidden to come into her majesty's presence, wilkes was thrown into the fleet prison, and buckhurst was confined in his own country house. norris had done absolutely nothing, which, even by implication, could be construed into a dereliction of duty; but it was sufficient that he was hated by leicester, who had not scrupled, over and over again, to denounce this first general of england as a fool, a coward, a knave, and a liar. as for wilkes, his only crime was a most conscientious discharge of his duty, in the course of which he had found cause to modify his abstract opinions in regard to the origin of sovereignty, and had come reluctantly to the conviction that leicester's unpopularity had made perhaps another governor-general desirable. but this admission had only been made privately and with extreme caution; while, on the other hand, he had constantly defended the absent earl, with all the eloquence at his command. but the hatred cf leicester was sufficient to consign this able and painstaking public servant to a prison; and thus was a man of worth, honour, and talent, who had been placed in a position of grave responsibility and immense fatigue, and who had done his duty like an upright, straight-forward englishman, sacrificed to the wrath of a favourite. "surely, mr. secretary," said the earl, "there was never a falser creature, a more seditious wretch, than wilkes. he is a villain, a devil, without faith or religion." as for buckhurst himself, it is unnecessary to say a word in his defence. the story of his mission has been completely detailed from the most authentic and secret documents, and there is not a single line written to the queen, to her ministers, to the states, to any public body or to any private friend, in england or elsewhere, that does not reflect honour on his name. with sagacity, without passion, with unaffected sincerity, he had unravelled the complicated web of netherland politics, and, with clear vision, had penetrated the designs of the mighty enemy whom england and holland had to encounter in mortal combat. he had pointed out the errors of the earl's administration--he had fearlessly, earnestly, but respectfully deplored the misplaced parsimony of the queen--he had warned her against the delusions which had taken possession of her keen intellect--he had done--his best to place the governor-general upon good terms with the states and with his sovereign; but it had been impossible for him to further his schemes for the acquisition of a virtual sovereignty over the netherlands, or to extinguish the suspicions of the states that the queen was secretly negotiating with the spaniard, when he knew those suspicions to be just. for deeds, such as these, the able and high-minded ambassador, the accomplished statesman and poet, was forbidden to approach his sovereign's presence, and was ignominiously imprisoned in his own house until the death of leicester. after that event, buckhurst emerged from confinement, received the order of the garter and the earldom of dorset, and on the death of burghley succeeded that statesman in the office of lord-treasurer. such was the substantial recognition of the merits of a man who was now disgraced for the conscientious discharge of the most important functions that had yet been confided to him. it would be a thankless and superfluous task to give the details of the renewed attempt, during a few months, made by leicester to govern the provinces. his second administration consisted mainly of the same altercations with the states, on the subject of sovereignty, the same mutual recriminations and wranglings, that had characterized the period of his former rule. he rarely met the states in person, and almost never resided at the hague, holding his court at middleburg, dort, or utrecht, as his humour led him. the one great feature of the autumn of was the private negotiation between elizabeth and the duke of parma. before taking a glance at the nature of those secrets, however, it is necessary to make a passing allusion to an event which might have seemed likely to render all pacific communications with spain, whether secret or open, superfluous. for while so much time had been lost in england and holland, by misunderstandings and jealousies, there was one englishman who had not been losing time. in the winter and early spring of , the devonshire skipper had organized that expedition which he had come to the netherlands, the preceding autumn, to discuss. he meant to aim a blow at the very heart of that project which philip was shrouding with so much mystery, and which elizabeth was attempting to counteract by so much diplomacy. on the nd april, francis drake sailed from plymouth with four ships belonging to the queen, and with twenty-four furnished by the merchants of london, and other private individuals. it was a bold buccaneering expedition--combining chivalrous enterprise with the chance of enormous profit--which was most suited to the character of english adventurers at that expanding epoch. for it was by england, not by elizabeth, that the quarrel with spain was felt to be a mortal one. it was england, not its sovereign, that was instinctively arming, at all points, to grapple with the great enemy of european liberty. it was the spirit of self-help, of self-reliance, which was prompting the english nation to take the great work of the age into its own hands. the mercantile instinct of the nation was flattered with the prospect of gain, the martial quality of its patrician and of its plebeian blood was eager to confront danger, the great protestant mutiny. against a decrepit superstition in combination with an aggressive tyranny, all impelled the best energies of the english people against spain, as the embodiment of all which was odious and menacing to them, and with which they felt that the life and death struggle could not long be deferred. and of these various tendencies, there were no more fitting representatives than drake and frobisher, hawkins and essex, cavendish and grenfell, and the other privateersmen of the sixteenth century. the same greed for danger, for gold, and for power, which, seven centuries before, had sent the norman race forth to conquer all christendom, was now sending its anglo-saxon and anglo-norman kindred to take possession of the old world and the new. "the wind commands me away," said drake on the nd april, ; "our ship is under sail. god grant that we may so live in his fear, that the enemy may have cause to say that god doth fight for her majesty abroad as well as at home." but he felt that he was not without enemies behind him, for the strong influence brought to bear against the bold policy which walsingham favoured, was no secret to drake. "if we deserve ill," said he, "let us be punished. if we discharge our duty, in doing our best, it is a hard measure to be reported ill by those who will either keep their fingers out of the fire; or who too well affect that alteration in our government which i hope in god they shall never live to see." in latitude deg. he spoke two zeeland ships, homeward bound, and obtained information of great warlike stores accumulating in cadiz and lisbon. his mind was instantly made up. fortunately, the pinnace which the queen despatched with orders to stay his hand in the very act of smiting her great adversary, did not sail fast enough to overtake the swift corsair and his fleet. sir francis had too promptly obeyed the wind, when it "commanded him away," to receive the royal countermand. on the th april, the english ships entered the harbour of cadiz, and destroyed ten thousand tons of shipping, with their contents, in the very face of a dozen great galleys, which the nimble english vessels soon drove under their forts for shelter. two nights and a day, sir francis, that "hater of idleness," was steadily doing his work; unloading, rifling, scuttling, sinking, and burning those transportships which contained a portion of the preparations painfully made by philip for his great enterprise. pipe-staves and spikes, horse-shoes and saddles, timber and cutlasses, wine, oil, figs, raisins, biscuits, and flour, a miscellaneous mass of ingredients long brewing for the trouble of england, were emptied into the harbour, and before the second night, the blaze of a hundred and fifty burning vessels played merrily upon the grim walls of philip's fortresses. some of these ships were of the largest size then known. there was one belonging to marquis santa cruz of tons, there was a biscayan of , there were several others of , , and of nearly equal dimensions. thence sailing for lisbon, sir francis, captured and destroyed a hundred vessels more, appropriating what was portable of the cargoes, and annihilating the rest. at lisbon, marquis santa cruz, lord high admiral of spain and generalissimo of the invasion, looked on, mortified and amazed, but offering no combat, while the plymouth privateersman swept the harbour of the great monarch of the world. after thoroughly accomplishing his work, drake sent a message to santa cruz, proposing to exchange his prisoners for such englishmen as might then be confined in spain. but the marquis denied all prisoners. thereupon sir francis decided to sell his captives to the moors, and to appropriate the proceeds of the sale towards the purchase of english slaves put of the same bondage. such was the fortune of war in the sixteenth century. having dealt these great blows, drake set sail again from lisbon, and, twenty leagues from st. michaels, fell in with one of those famous spanish east indiamen, called carracks, then the great wonder of the seas. this vessel, san felipe by name, with a cargo of extraordinary value, was easily captured, and sir francis now determined to return. he had done a good piece of work in a few weeks, but he was by no means of opinion that he had materially crippled the enemy. on the contrary, he gave the government warning as to the enormous power and vast preparations of spain. "there would be forty thousand men under way ere long," he said, "well equipped and provisioned;" and he stated, as the result of personal observation, that england could not be too energetic in, its measures of resistance. he had done something with his little fleet, but he was no braggart, and had no disposition to underrate the enemy's power. "god make us all thankful again and again," he observed, "that we have, although it be little, made a beginning upon the coast of spain." and modestly as he spoke of what he had accomplished, so with quiet self-reliance did he allude to the probable consequences. it was certain, he intimated, that the enemy would soon seek revenge with all his strength, and "with all the devices and traps he could devise." this was a matter which could not be doubted. "but," said sir francis, "i thank them much that they have staid so long, and when they come they shall be but the sons of mortal men." perhaps the most precious result of the expedition, was the lesson which the englishmen had thus learned in handling the great galleys of spain. it might soon stand them in stead. the little war-vessels which had come from plymouth, had sailed round and round these vast unwieldy hulks, and had fairly driven them off the field, with very slight damage to themselves. sir francis had already taught the mariners of england, even if he had done nothing else by this famous cadiz expedition, that an armada, of spain might not be so invincible as men imagined. yet when the conqueror returned from his great foray, he received no laurels. his sovereign met him, not with smiles, but with frowns and cold rebukes. he had done his duty, and helped to save her endangered throne, but elizabeth was now the dear friend of alexander farnese, and in amicable correspondence with his royal master. this "little" beginning on the coast of spain might not seem to his catholic majesty a matter to be thankful for, nor be likely to further a pacification, and so elizabeth hastened to disavow her plymouth captain.' ["true it is, and i avow it on my faith, her majesty did send a ship expressly before he went to cadiz with a message by letters charging sir francis drake not to show any act of hostility, which messenger by contrary winds could never come to the place where he was, but was constrained to come home, and hearing of sir f. drake's actions, her majesty commanded the party that returned to have been punished, but that he acquitted himself by the oaths of himself and all his company. and so unwitting yea unwilling to her majesty those actions were committed by sir f. drake, for the which her majesty is as yet greatly offended with him." burghley to andreas de loo, july, . flanders correspondence.' (s. p. office ms.)] etext editor's bookmarks: the blaze of a hundred and fifty burning vessels we were sold by their negligence who are now angry with us history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter xvii. secret treaty between queen and parma--excitement and alarm in the states--religious persecution in england--queen's sincerity toward spain--language and letters of parma--negotiations of de loo-- english commissioners appointed--parma's affectionate letter to the queen--philip at his writing-table--his plots with parma against england--parma's secret letters to the king--philip's letters to parma wonderful duplicity of philip--his sanguine views as to england--he is reluctant to hear of the obstacles--and imagines parma in england--but alexander's difficulties are great--he denounces philip's wild schemes--walsingham aware of the spanish plot--which the states well understand--leicester's great unpopularity--the queen warned against treating--leicester's schemes against barneveld--leicestrian conspiracy at leyden--the plot to seize the city discovered--three ringleaders sentenced to death-- civil war in france--victory gained by navarre, and one by guise-- queen recalls leicester--who retires on ill terms with the states-- queen warned as to spanish designs--result's of leicester's administration. the course of elizabeth towards the provinces, in the matter of the peace, was certainly not ingenuous, but it was not absolutely deceitful. she concealed and denied the negotiations, when the netherland statesmen were perfectly aware of their existence, if not of their tenour; but she was not prepared, as they suspected, to sacrifice their liberties and their religion, as the price of her own reconciliation with spain. her attitude towards the states was imperious, over-bearing, and abusive. she had allowed the earl of leicester to return, she said, because of her love for the poor and oppressed people, but in many of her official and in all her private communications, she denounced the men who governed that people as ungrateful wretches and impudent liars! these were the corrosives and vinegar which she thought suitable for the case; and the earl was never weary in depicting the same statesmen as seditious, pestilent, self-seeking, mischief-making traitors. these secret, informal negotiations, had been carried on during most of the year . it was the "comptroller's peace;", as walsingham contemptuously designated the attempted treaty; for it will be recollected that sir james croft, a personage of very mediocre abilities, had always been more busy than any other english politician in these transactions. he acted; however, on the inspiration of burghley, who drew his own from the fountainhead. but it was in vain for the queen to affect concealment. the states knew everything which was passing, before leicester knew. his own secret instructions reached the netherlands before he did. his secretary, junius, was thrown into prison, and his master's letter taken from him, before there had been any time to act upon its treacherous suggestions. when the earl wrote letters with, his own hand to his sovereign, of so secret a nature that he did not even retain a single copy for himself, for fear of discovery, he found, to his infinite disgust, that the states were at once provided with an authentic transcript of every line that he had written. it was therefore useless, almost puerile, to deny facts which were quite as much within the knowledge of the netherlanders as of himself. the worst consequence of the concealment was, that a deeper treachery was thought possible than actually existed. "the fellow they call barneveld," as leicester was in the habit of designating one of the first statesmen in europe, was perhaps justified, knowing what he did, in suspecting more. being furnished with a list of commissioners, already secretly agreed upon between the english and spanish governments, to treat for peace, while at the same time the earl was beating his breast, and flatly denying that there was any intention of treating with parma at all, it was not unnatural that he should imagine a still wider and deeper scheme than really existed, against the best interests of his country. he may have expressed, in private conversation, some suspicions of this nature, but there is direct evidence that he never stated in public anything which was not afterwards proved to be matter of fact, or of legitimate inference from the secret document which had come into his hands. the queen exhausted herself in opprobious language against those who dared to impute to her a design to obtain possession of the cities and strong places of the netherlands, in order to secure a position in which to compel the provinces into obedience to her policy. she urged, with much logic, that as she had refused the sovereignty of the whole country when offered to her, she was not likely to form surreptitious schemes to make herself mistress of a portion of it. on the other hand, it was very obvious, that to accept the sovereignty of philip's rebellious provinces, was to declare war upon philip; whereas, had she been pacifically inclined towards that sovereign, and treacherously disposed towards the netherlands, it would be a decided advantage to her to have those strong places in her power. but the suspicions as to her good faith were exaggerated. as to the intentions of leicester, the states were justified in their almost unlimited distrust. it is very certain that both in , and again, at this very moment, when elizabeth was most vehement in denouncing such aspersions on her government, he had unequivocally declared to her his intention of getting possession, if possible, of several cities, and of the whole island of walcheren, which, together with the cautionary towns already in his power, would enable the queen to make good terms for herself with spain, "if the worst came to the worst." it will also soon be shown that he did his best to carry these schemes into execution. there is no evidence, however, and no probability, that he had received the royal commands to perpetrate such a crime. the states believed also, that in those secret negotiations with parma the queen was disposed to sacrifice the religious interests of the netherlands. in this they were mistaken. but they had reason for their mistake, because the negotiator de loo, had expressly said, that, in her overtures to farnese, she had abandoned that point altogether. if this had been so, it would have simply been a consent on the part of elizabeth, that the catholic religion and the inquisition should be re-established in the provinces, to the exclusion of every other form of worship or polity. in truth, however, the position taken by her majesty on the subject was as fair as could be reasonably expected. certainly she was no advocate for religious liberty. she chose that her own subjects should be protestants, because she had chosen to be a protestant herself, and because it was an incident of her supremacy, to dictate uniformity of creed to all beneath her sceptre. no more than her father, who sent to the stake or gallows heretics to transubstantiation as well as believers in the pope, had elizabeth the faintest idea of religious freedom. heretics to the english church were persecuted, fined, imprisoned, mutilated, and murdered, by sword, rope, and fire. in some respects, the practice towards those who dissented from elizabeth was more immoral and illogical, even if less cruel, than that to which those were subjected who rebelled against sixtus. the act of uniformity required papists to assist at the protestant worship, but wealthy papists could obtain immunity by an enormous fine. the roman excuse to destroy bodies in order to save souls, could scarcely be alleged by a church which might be bribed into connivance at heresy, and which derived a revenue from the very nonconformity for which humbler victims were sent to the gallows. it would, however, be unjust in the extreme to overlook the enormous difference in the amount of persecution, exercised respectively by the protestant and the roman church. it is probable that not many more than two hundred catholics were executed as such, in elizabeth's reign, and this was ten score too many. but what was this against eight hundred heretics burned, hanged, and drowned, in one easter week by alva, against the eighteen thousand two hundred went to stake and scaffold, as he boasted during his administration, against the vast numbers of protestants, whether they be counted by tens or by hundreds of thousands, who perished by the edicts of charles v., in the netherlands, or in the single saint bartholomew massacre in france? moreover, it should never be forgotten--from undue anxiety for impartiality--that most of the catholics who were executed in england, suffered as conspirators rather than as heretics. no foreign potentate, claiming to be vicegerent of christ, had denounced philip as a bastard and, usurper, or had, by means of a blasphemous fiction, which then was a terrible reality, severed the bonds of allegiance by which his subjects were held, cut him off from all communion with his fellow-creatures, and promised temporal rewards and a crown of glory in heaven to those who should succeed in depriving him of throne and life. yet this was the position of elizabeth. it was war to the knife between her and rome, declared by rome itself; nor was there any doubt whatever that the seminary priests--seedlings transplanted from foreign nurseries, which were as watered gardens for the growth of treason--were a perpetually organized band of conspirators and assassins, with whom it was hardly an act of excessive barbarity to deal in somewhat summary fashion. doubtless it would have been a more lofty policy, and a far more intelligent one, to extend towards the catholics of england, who as a body were loyal to their country, an ample toleration. but it could scarcely be expected that elizabeth tudor, as imperious and absolute by temperament as her father had ever been, would be capable of embodying that great principle. when, in the preliminaries to the negotiations of , therefore, it was urged on the part of spain, that the queen was demanding a concession of religious liberty from philip to the netherlanders which she refused to english heretics, and that he only claimed the same right of dictating a creed to his subjects which she exercised in regard to her own, lord burghley replied that the statement was correct. the queen permitted--it was true--no man to profess any religion but the one which she professed. at the same time it was declared to be unjust, that those persons in the netherlands who had been for years in the habit of practising protestant rites, should be suddenly compelled, without instruction, to abandon that form of worship. it was well known that many would rather die than submit to such oppression, and it was affirmed that the exercise of this cruelty would be resisted by her to the uttermost. there was no hint of the propriety--on any logical basis--of leaving the question of creed as a matter between man and his maker, with which any dictation on the part of crown or state was an act of odious tyranny. there was not even a suggestion that the protestant doctrines were true, and the catholic doctrines false. the matter was merely taken up on the 'uti possidetis' principle, that they who had acquired the fact of protestant worship had a right to retain it, and could not justly be deprived of it, except by instruction and persuasion. it was also affirmed that it was not the english practice to inquire into men's consciences. it would have been difficult, however, to make that very clear to philip's comprehension, because, if men, women, and children, were scourged with rods, imprisoned and hanged, if they refused to conform publicly to a ceremony at which their consciences revolted-unless they had money enough to purchase non-conformity--it seemed to be the practice to inquire very effectively into their consciences. but if there was a certain degree of disingenuousness on the part of elizabeth towards the states, her attitude towards parma was one of perfect sincerity. a perusal of the secret correspondence leaves no doubt whatever on that point. she was seriously and fervently desirous of peace with spain. on the part of farnese and his master, there was the most unscrupulous mendacity, while the confiding simplicity and truthfulness of the queen in these negotiations was almost pathetic. especially she declared her trust in the loyal and upright character of parma, in which she was sure of never being disappointed. it is only doing justice to alexander to say that he was as much deceived by her frankness as she by his falsehood. it never entered his head that a royal personage and the trusted counsellors of a great kingdom could be telling the truth in a secret international transaction, and he justified the industry with which his master and himself piled fiction upon fiction, by their utter disbelief in every word which came to them from england. the private negotiations had been commenced, or rather had been renewed, very early in february of this year. during the whole critical period which preceded and followed the execution of mary, in the course of which the language of elizabeth towards the states had been so shrewish, there had been the gentlest diplomatic cooing between farnese and herself. it was--dear cousin, you know how truly i confide in your sincerity, how anxious i am that this most desirable peace should be arranged; and it was--sacred majesty, you know how much joy i feel in your desire for the repose of the world, and for a solid peace between your highness and the king my master; how much i delight in concord--how incapable i am by ambiguous words of spinning out these transactions, or of deceiving your majesty, and what a hatred i feel for steel, fire, and blood.' four or five months rolled on, during which leicester had been wasting time in england, farnese wasting none before sluys, and the states doing their best to counteract the schemes both of their enemy and of their ally. de loo made a visit, in july, to the camp of the duke of parma, and received the warmest assurances of his pacific dispositions. "i am much pained," said alexander, "with this procrastination. i am so full of sincerity myself, that it seems to me a very strange matter, this hostile descent by drake upon the coasts of spain. the result of such courses will be, that the king will end by being exasperated, and i shall be touched in my honour--so great is the hopes i have held out of being able to secure a peace. i have ever been and i still am most anxious for concord, from the affection i bear to her sacred majesty. i have been obliged, much against my will, to take the field again. i could wish now that our negotiations might terminate before the arrival of my fresh troops, namely, spaniards and italians, which, with walloons, germans, and lorrainers, will give me an effective total of , soldiers. of this i give you my word as a gentleman. go, then, andrew de loo," continued the duke, "write to her sacred majesty, that i desire to make peace; and to serve her faithfully; and that i shall not change my mind, even in case of any great success, for i like to proceed rather by the ways of love than of rigour and effusion of bleed." "i can assure you, oh, most serene duke," replied andrew, "that the most serene queen is in the very same dispositions with yourself." "excellent well then," said the duke, "we shall come to an agreement at once, and the sooner the deputies on both sides are appointed the better." a feeble proposition was then made, on the part of the peace-loving andrew, that the hostile operations against sluy's should be at once terminated. but this did not seem so clear to the most serene duke. he had gone to great expense in that business; and he had not built bridges, erected forts, and dug mines, only to abandon them for a few fine words, fine words were plenty, but they raised no sieges. meantime these pacific and gentle murmurings from farnese's camp had lulled the queen into forgetfulness of roger williams and arnold groenevelt and their men, fighting day and night in trench and mine during that critical midsummer. the wily tongue of the duke had been more effective than his batteries in obtaining the much-coveted city. the queen obstinately held back her men and money, confident of effecting a treaty, whether sluys fell or not. was it strange that the states should be distrustful of her intentions, and, in their turn, become neglectful of their duty? and thus summer wore into autumn, sluys fell, the states and their governor-general were at daggers-drawn, the netherlanders were full of distrust with regard to england, alexander hinted doubts as to the queen's sincerity; the secret negotiations, though fertile in suspicions, jealousies, delays, and such foul weeds, had produced no wholesome fruit, and the excellent de loo became very much depressed. at last a letter from burghley relieved his drooping spirits. from the most disturbed and melancholy man in the world, he protested, he had now become merry and quiet. he straightway went off to the duke of parma, with the letter in his pocket, and translated it to him by candlelight, as he was careful to state, as an important point in his narrative. and farnese was fuller of fine phrases than ever. "there is no cause whatever," said he, in a most loving manner, "to doubt my sincerity. yet the lord-treasurer intimates that the most serene queen is disposed so to do. but if i had not the very best intentions, and desires for peace, i should never have made the first overtures. if i did not wish a pacific solution, what in the world forced me to do what i have done? on the contrary, it is i that have reason to suspect the other parties with their long delays, by which they have made me lose the best part of the summer." he then commented on the strong expressions in the english letters, as to the continuance of her majesty in her pious resolutions; observed that he was thoroughly advised of the disputes between the earl of leicester and the states; and added that it was very important for the time indicated by the queen. "whatever is to be done," said he, in conclusion, "let it be done quickly;" and with that he said he would go and eat a bit of supper. "and may i communicate lord burghley's letter to any one else?" asked de loo. "yes, yes, to the seigneur de champagny, and to my secretary cosimo," answered his highness. so the merchant negotiator proceeded at once to the mansion of champagny, in company with the secretary cosimo. there was a long conference, in which de loo was informed of many things which he thoroughly believed, and faithfully transmitted to the court of elizabeth. alexander had done his best, they said, to delay the arrival of his fresh troops. he had withdrawn from the field, on various pretexts, hoping, day after day, that the english commissioners would arrive, and that a firm and perpetual peace would succeed to the miseries of war. but as time wore away, and there came no commissioners, the duke had come to the painful conclusion that he had been trifled with. his forces would now be sent into holland to find something to eat; and this would ensure the total destruction of all that territory. he had also written to command all the officers of the coming troops to hasten their march, in order that he might avoid incurring still deeper censure. he was much ashamed, in truth, to have been wheedled into passing the whole fine season in idleness. he had been sacrificing himself for her sacred majesty, and to, serve her best interests; and now he found himself the object of her mirth. those who ought to be well informed had assured him that the queen was only waiting to see how the king of navarre was getting on with the auxiliary force just, going to him from germany, that she had no intention whatever to make peace, and that, before long, he might expect all these german mercenaries upon his shoulders in the netherlands. nevertheless he was prepared to receive them with , good infantry, a splendid cavalry force, and plenty of money.' all this and more did the credulous andrew greedily devour; and he lost no time in communicating the important intelligence to her majesty and the lord-treasurer. he implored her, he said, upon his bare knees, prostrate on the ground, and from the most profound and veritable centre of his heart and with all his soul and all his strength, to believe in the truth of the matters thus confided to him. he would pledge his immortal soul, which was of more value to him--as he correctly observed--than even the crown of spain, that the king, the duke, and his counsellors, were most sincerely desirous of peace, and actuated by the most loving and benevolent motives. alexander farnese was "the antidote to the duke of alva," kindly sent by heaven, 'ut contraria contrariis curenter,' and if the entire security of the sacred queen were not now obtained, together with a perfect reintegration of love between her majesty and the king of spain, and with the assured tranquillity and perpetual prosperity of the netherlands, it would be the fault of england; not of spain. and no doubt the merchant believed all that was told him, and--what was worse--that he fully impressed his own convictions upon her majesty and lord burghley, to say nothing of the comptroller, who, poor man, had great facility in believing anything that came from the court of the most catholic king: yet it is painful to reflect, that in all these communications of alexander and his agents, there was not one single word of truth.--it was all false from beginning to end, as to the countermanding of the troops,--as to the pacific intentions of the king and duke, and as to the proposed campaign in friesland, in case of rupture; and all the rest. but this will be conclusively proved a little later. meantime the conference had been most amicable and satisfactory. and when business was over, champagny--not a whit the worse for the severe jilting which he had so recently sustained from the widow de bours, now mrs. aristotle patton--invited de loo and secretary cosimo to supper. and the three made a night of it, sitting up late, and draining such huge bumpers to the health of the queen of england, that--as the excellent andrew subsequently informed lord burghley--his head ached most bravely next morning. and so, amid the din of hostile preparation not only in cadiz and lisbon, but in ghent and sluys and antwerp, the import of which it seemed difficult to mistake, the comedy of, negotiation was still rehearsing, and the principal actors were already familiar with their respective parts. there were the earl of derby, knight of the garter, and my lord cobham; and puzzling james croft, and other englishmen, actually believing that the farce was a solemn reality. there was alexander of parma thoroughly aware of the contrary. there was andrew de loo, more talkative, more credulous, more busy than ever, and more fully impressed with the importance of his mission, and there was the white-bearded lord-treasurer turning complicated paragraphs; shaking his head and waving his wand across the water, as if, by such expedients, the storm about to burst over england could, be dispersed. the commissioners should come, if only the duke of parma would declare on his word of honour, that these hostile preparations with which all christendom was ringing; were not intended against england; or if that really were the case--if he would request his master to abandon all such schemes, and if philip in consequence would promise on the honour of a prince, to make no hostile attempts against that country. there would really seem an almost arcadian simplicity in such demands, coming from so practised a statesman as the lord-treasurer, and from a woman of such brilliant intellect as elizabeth unquestionably possessed. but we read the history of , not only by the light of subsequent events, but by the almost microscopic revelations of sentiments and motives, which a full perusal of the secret documents in those ancient cabinets afford. at that moment it was not ignorance nor dulness which was leading england towards the pitfall so artfully dug by spain. there was trust in the plighted word of a chivalrous soldier like alexander farnese, of a most religious and anointed monarch like philip ii. english frankness, playing cards upon the table, was no match for italian and spanish legerdemain, a system according to which, to defraud the antagonist by every kind of falsehood and trickery was the legitimate end of diplomacy and statesmanship. it was well known that there were great preparations in spain, portugal, and the obedient netherlands, by land and sea. but sir robert sidney was persuaded that the expedition was intended for africa; even the pope was completely mystified--to the intense delight of philip--and burghley, enlightened by the sagacious de loo, was convinced, that even in case of a rupture, the whole strength of the spanish arms was to be exerted in reducing friesland and overyssel. but walsingham was never deceived; for he had learned from demosthenes a lesson with which william the silent, in his famous apology, had made the world familiar, that the only citadel against a tyrant and a conqueror was distrust. alexander, much grieved that doubts should still be felt as to his sincerity, renewed the most exuberant expressions of that sentiment, together with gentle complaints against the dilatoriness which had proceeded from the doubt. her majesty had long been aware, he said, of his anxiety to bring about a perfect reconciliation; but he had waited, month after month, for her commissioners, and had waited in vain. his hopes had been dashed to the ground. the affair had been indefinitely spun out, and he could not resist the conviction that her majesty had changed her mind. nevertheless, as andrew de loo was again proceeding to england, the duke seized the opportunity once more to kiss her hand, and--although he had well nigh resolved to think no more on the subject--to renew his declarations, that, if the much-coveted peace were not concluded, the blame could not be imputed to him, and that he should stand guiltless before god and the world. he had done, and was still ready to do, all which became a christian and a man desirous of the public welfare and tranquillity. when burghley read these fine phrases, he was much impressed; and they were pronounced at the english court to be "very princely and christianly." an elaborate comment too was drawn up by the comptroller on every line of the letter. "these be very good words," said the comptroller. but the queen was even more pleased with the last proof of the duke's sincerity, than even burghley and croft had been. disregarding all the warnings of walsingham, she renewed her expressions of boundless confidence in the wily italian. "we do assure you," wrote the lords, "and so you shall do well to avow it to the duke upon our honours, that her majesty saith she thinketh both their minds to accord upon one good and christian meaning, though their ministers may perchance sound upon a discord." and she repeated her resolution to send over her commissioners, so soon as the duke had satisfied her as to the hostile preparations. we have now seen the good faith of the english queen towards the spanish government. we have seen her boundless trust in the sincerity of farnese and his master. we have heard the exuberant professions of an honest intention to bring about a firm and lasting peace, which fell from the lips of farnese and of his confidential agents. it is now necessary to glide for a moment into the secret cabinet of philip, in order to satisfy ourselves as to the value of all those professions. the attention of the reader is solicited to these investigations, because the year was a most critical period in the history of english, dutch, and european liberty. the coming year had been long spoken of in prophecy, as the year of doom, perhaps of the destruction of the world, but it was in , the year of expectation and preparation, that the materials were slowly combining out of which that year's history was to be formed. and there sat the patient letter-writer in his cabinet, busy with his schemes. his grey head was whitening fast. he was sixty years of age. his frame was slight, his figure stooping, his digestion very weak, his manner more glacial and sepulchral than ever; but if there were a hard-working man in europe, that man was philip ii. and there he sat at his table, scrawling his apostilles. the fine innumerable threads which stretched across the surface of christendom, and covered it as with a net, all converged in that silent cheerless cell. france was kept in a state of perpetual civil war; the netherlands had been converted into a shambles; ireland was maintained in a state of chronic rebellion; scotland was torn with internal feuds, regularly organized and paid for by philip; and its young monarch--"that lying king of scots," as leicester called him--was kept in a leash ready to be slipped upon england, when his master should give the word; and england herself was palpitating with the daily expectation of seeing a disciplined horde of brigands let loose upon her shores; and all this misery, past, present, and future, was almost wholly due to the exertions of that grey-haired letter-writer at his peaceful library-table. at the very beginning of the year the king of denmark had made an offer to philip of mediation. the letter, entrusted to a young count de rantzan, had been intercepted by the states--the envoy not having availed himself, in time, of his diplomatic capacity, and having in consequence been treated, for a moment, like a prisoner of war. the states had immediately addressed earnest letters of protest to queen elizabeth, declaring that nothing which the enemy could do in war was half so horrible to them as the mere mention of peace. life, honour, religion, liberty, their all, were at stake, they said, and would go down in one universal shipwreck, if peace should be concluded; and they implored her majesty to avert the proposed intercession of the danish king. wilkes wrote to walsingham denouncing that monarch and his ministers as stipendiaries of spain, while, on the other hand, the duke of parma, after courteously thanking the king for his offer of mediation, described him to philip as such a dogged heretic, that no good was to be derived from him, except by meeting his fraudulent offers with an equally fraudulent response. there will be nothing lost, said alexander, by affecting to listen to his proposals, and meantime your majesty must proceed with the preparations against england. this was in the first week of the year . in february, and almost on the very day when parma was writing those affectionate letters to elizabeth, breathing nothing but peace, he was carefully conning philip's directions in regard to the all-important business of the invasion. he was informed by his master, that one hundred vessels, forty of them of largest size, were quite ready, together with , spanish infantry, including of the old legion, and that there were volunteers more than enough. philip had also taken note, he said, of alexander's advice as to choosing the season when the crops in england had just been got in, as the harvest of so fertile a country would easily support an invading force; but he advised nevertheless that the army should be thoroughly victualled at starting. finding that alexander did not quite approve of the irish part of the plan, he would reconsider the point, and think more of the isle of wight; but perhaps still some other place might be discovered, a descent upon which might inspire that enemy with still greater terror and confusion. it would be difficult for him, he said, to grant the men asked for by the scotch malcontents, without seriously weakening his armada; but there must be no positive refusal, for a concerted action with the scotch lords and their adherents was indispensable. the secret, said the king, had been profoundly kept, and neither in spain nor in rome had anything been allowed to transpire. alexander was warned therefore to do his best to maintain the mystery, for the enemy was trying very hard to penetrate their actions and their thoughts. and certainly alexander did his best. he replied to his master, by transmitting copies of the letters he had been writing with his own hand to the queen, and of the pacific messages he had sent her through champagny and de loo. she is just now somewhat confused, said he, and those of her counsellors who desire peace, are more eager, than ever for negotiation. she is very much afflicted with the loss of deventer, and is quarrelling with the french ambassador about the new conspiracy for her assassination. the opportunity is a good one, and if she writes an answer to my letter, said alexander, we can keep the negotiation, alive, while, if she does not, 'twill be a proof that she has contracted leagues with other parties. but, in any event, the duke fervently implored philip not to pause in his preparations for the great enterprise which he had conceived in his royal breast. so urgent for the invasion was the peace-loving general. he alluded also to the supposition that the quarrel between her majesty and the french envoy was a mere fetch, and only one of the results of bellievre's mission. whether that diplomatist had been sent to censure, or in reality to approve, in the name of his master, of the scottish queen's execution, alexander would leave to be discussed by don bernardino de mendoza, the spanish ambassador in paris; but he was of opinion that the anger of the queen with france was a fiction, and her supposed league with france and germany against spain a fact. upon this point, as it appears from secretary walsingham's lamentations, the astute farnese was mistaken. in truth he was frequently, led into error to the english policy the same serpentine movement and venomous purpose which characterized his own; and we have already seen; that elizabeth was ready, on the contrary, to quarrel with the states, with france, with all the world, if she could only secure the good-will of philip. the french-matter, indissolubly connected in that monarch's schemes, with his designs upon england and holland, was causing alexander much anxiety. he foresaw great difficulty in maintaining that, indispensable civil war in france, and thought that a peace might, some fine day, be declared between henry iii. and the huguenots, when least expected. in consequence, the duke of guise was becoming very importunate for philip's subsidies. "mucio comes begging to me," said parma, "with the very greatest earnestness, and utters nothing but lamentations and cries of misery. he asked for , of the , ducats promised him. i gave them. soon afterwards he writes, with just as much anxiety, for , more. these i did not give; firstly, because i had them not," (which would seem a sufficient reason) "and secondly, because i wished to protract matters as much as possible. he is constantly reminding me of your majesty's promise of , ducats, in case he comes to a rupture with the king of france, and i always assure him that your majesty will keep all promises." philip, on his part, through the months of spring, continued to assure his generalissimo of his steady preparations--by sea and land. he had ordered mendoza to pay the scotch lords the sum demanded by them, but not till after they had done the deed as agreed upon; and as to the men, he felt obliged, he said, to defer that matter for the moment; and to leave the decision upon it to the duke. farnese kept his sovereign minutely informed of the negociations carried on through champagny and de loo, and expressed his constant opinion that the queen was influenced by motives as hypocritical as his own. she was only seeking, he said, to deceive, to defraud, to put him to sleep, by those feigned negotiations, while, she was making her combinations with france and germany, for the ruin of spain. there was no virtue to be expected from her, except she was compelled thereto by pure necessity. the english, he said, were hated and abhorred by the natives of holland and zeeland, and it behoved philip to seize so favourable an opportunity for urging on his great plan with all the speed in the world. it might be that the queen, seeing these mighty preparations, even although not suspecting that she herself was to be invaded, would tremble for her safety, if the netherlands should be crushed. but if she succeeded in deceiving spain, and putting philip and parma to sleep, she might well boast of having made fools of them all. the negotiations for peace and the preparations for the invasion should go simultaneously forward therefore, and the money would, in consequence, come more sparingly to the provinces from the english coffers, and the disputes between england and the states would be multiplied. the duke also begged to be informed whether any terms could be laid down, upon which the king really would conclude peace; in order that he might make no mistake for want of instructions or requisite powers. the condition of france was becoming more alarming every day, he said. in other words, there was an ever-growing chance of peace for that distracted country. the queen of england was cementing a strong league between herself, the french king, and the huguenots; and matters were looking very serious. the impending peace in france would never do, and philip should prevent it in time, by giving mucio his money. unless the french are entangled and at war among themselves, it is quite clear, said alexander, that we can never think of carrying out our great scheme of invading england. the king thoroughly concurred in all that was said and done by his faithful governor and general. he had no intention of concluding a peace on any terms whatever, and therefore could name no conditions; but he quite approved of a continuance of the negotiations. the english, he was convinced, were utterly false on their part, and the king of denmark's proposition to-mediate was part and parcel of the same general fiction. he was quite sensible of the necessity of giving mucio the money to prevent a pacification in france, and would send letters of exchange on agostino spinola for the , ducats. meantime farnese was to go on steadily with his preparations for the invasion. the secretary-of-state, don juan de idiaquez, also wrote most earnestly on the great subject to the duke. "it is not to be exaggerated", he said, "how set his majesty is in the all-important business. if you wish to manifest towards him the most flattering obedience on earth, and to oblige him as much as you could wish, give him this great satisfaction this year. since you have money, prepare everything out there, conquer all difficulties, and do the deed so soon as the forces of spain and italy arrive, according to the plan laid down by your excellency last year. make use of the negotiations for peace for this one purpose, and no more, and do the business like the man you are. attribute the liberty of this advice to my desire to serve you more than any other, to my knowledge of how much you will thereby gratify his majesty, and to my fear of his resentment towards you, in the contrary case." and, on the same day, in order that there might be no doubt of the royal sentiments, philip expressed himself at length on the whole subject. the dealings of farnese with the english, and his feeding them with hopes of peace, would have given him more satisfaction, he observed, if it had caused their preparations to slacken; but, on the contrary, their boldness had increased. they had perpetrated the inhuman murder of the queen of scots, and moreover, not content with their piracies at sea and in the indies, they had dared to invade the ports of spain, as would appear in the narrative transmitted to farnese of the late events at cadiz. and although that damage was small, said philip; there resulted a very great obligation to take them 'seriously in hand.' he declined sending fill powers for treating; but in order to make use of the same arts employed by the english, he preferred that alexander should not undeceive them, but desired him to express, as out of his own head; to the negotiators, his astonishment that while they were holding such language they should commit such actions. even their want of prudence in thus provoking the king; when their strength was compared to his, should be spoken of by farnese as--wonderful, and he was to express the opinion that his majesty would think him much wanting in circumspection, should he go on negotiating while they were playing such tricks. "you must show yourself very sensitive, about this event," continued philip, "and you must give them to understand that i am quite as angry as you. you must try to draw from them some offer of satisfaction--however false it will be in reality--such as a proposal to recall the fleet, or an assertion that the deeds of drake in cadiz were without the knowledge and contrary to the will of the queen, and that she very much regrets them, or something of that sort." it has already been shown that farnese was very successful in eliciting from the queen, through the mouth of lord' burghley, as ample a disavowal and repudiation of sir francis drake as the king could possibly desire. whether it would have the desired effect--of allaying the wrath of philip; might have been better foretold, could the letter, with which we are now occupied, have been laid upon the greenwich council-board. "when you have got, such a disavowal," continued his majesty, "you are to act as if entirely taken in and imposed upon by them, and, pretending to believe everything they tell you, you must renew the negotiations, proceed to name commissioners, and propose a meeting upon neutral territory. as for powers; say that you, as my governor-general, will entrust them to your deputies, in regard to the netherlands. for all other matters, say that you have had full powers for many months, but that you cannot exhibit them until conditions worthy of my acceptance have been offered.--say this only for the sake of appearance. this is the true way to take them in, and so the peace-commissioners may meet. but to you only do i declare that my intention is that this shall never lead to any result, whatever conditions maybe offered by them. on the contrary, all this is done--just as they do--to deceive them, and to cool them in their preparations for defence, by inducing them to believe that such preparations will be unnecessary. you are well aware that the reverse of all this is the truth, and that on our part there is to be no slackness, but the greatest diligence in our efforts for the invasion of england, for which we have already made the most abundant provision in men, ships, and money, of which you are well aware." is it strange that the queen of england was deceived? is it matter of surprise, censure, or shame, that no english statesman was astute enough or base enough to contend with such diplomacy, which seemed inspired only by the very father of lies? "although we thus enter into negotiations," continued the king--unveiling himself, with a solemn indecency, not agreeable to contemplate--"without any intention of concluding them, you can always get out of them with great honour, by taking umbrage about the point of religion and about some other of the outrageous propositions which they are like to propose, and of which there are plenty, in the letters of andrew de loo. your commissioners must be instructed; to refer all important matters to your personal decision. the english will be asking for damages for money, spent in assisting my rebels; your commissioners will contend that damages are rather due to me. thus, and in other ways, time will be agent. your own envoys are not to know the secret any more than the english themselves. i tell it to you only. thus you will proceed with the negotiations, now, yielding on one point, and now insisting on another, but directing all to the same object--to gain time while proceeding with the preparation for the invasion, according to the plan already agreed upon." certainly the most catholic king seemed, in this remarkable letter to have outdone himself; and farnese--that sincere farnese, in whose loyal, truth-telling, chivalrous character, the queen and her counsellors placed such implicit reliance--could thenceforward no longer be embarrassed as to the course he was to adopt. to lie daily, through, thick, and thin, and with every variety of circumstance and detail which; a genius fertile in fiction could suggest, such was the simple rule prescribed by his sovereign. and the rule was implicitly obeyed, and the english sovereign thoroughly deceived. the secret confided only, to the faithful breast of alexander was religiously kept. even the pope was outwitted. his holiness proposed to, philip the invasion of england, and offered a million to further the plan. he was most desirous to be informed if the project was, resolved upon, and, if so, when it was to be accomplished. the king took the pope's million, but refused the desired information. he answered evasively. he had a very good will to invade the country, he said, but there were great difficulties in the way. after a time, the pope again tried to pry into the matter, and again offered the million which philip had only accepted for the time when it might be wanted; giving him at the same time, to understand that it was not necessary at that time, because there were then great impediments. "thus he is pledged to give me the subsidy, and i am not pledged for the time," said philip, "and i keep my secret, which is the most important of all." yet after all, farnese did not see his way clear towards the consummation of the plan. his army had wofully dwindled, and before he could seriously set about ulterior matters, it would be necessary to take the city of sluys. this was to prove--as already seen--a most arduous enterprise. he complained to philip' of his inadequate supplies both in men and money. the project conceived in the royal breast was worth spending millions for, he said, and although by zeal and devotion he could accomplish something, yet after all he was no more than a man, and without the necessary means the scheme could not succeed. but philip, on the contrary, was in the highest possible spirits. he had collected more money, he declared than had ever been seen before in the world. he had two million ducats in reserve, besides the pope's million; the french were in a most excellent state of division, and the invasion should be made this year without fail. the fleet would arrive in the english channel by the end of the summer; which would be exactly in conformity with alexander's ideas. the invasion was to be threefold: from scotland, under the scotch earls and their followers, with the money and troops furnished by philip; from the netherlands, under parma; and by the great spanish armada itself, upon the isle of wight. alexander must recommend himself to god, in whose cause he was acting, and then do his duty; which lay very plain before him. if he ever wished to give his sovereign satisfaction in his life; he was to do the deed that year, whatever might betide. never could there be so fortunate a conjunction of circumstances again. france was in a state of revolution, the german levies were weak, the turk was fully occupied in persia, an enormous mass of money, over and above the pope's million, had been got together, and although the season was somewhat advanced, it was certain that the duke would conquer all impediments, and be the instrument by which his royal master might render to god that service which he was so anxious to perform. enthusiastic, though gouty, philip grasped the pen in order to scrawl a few words with his own royal hand. "this business is of such importance," he said, "and it is so necessary that it should not be delayed, that i cannot refrain from urging it upon you as much as i can. i should do it even more amply; if this hand would allow me, which has been crippled with gout these several days, and my feet as well, and although it is unattended with pain, yet it is an impediment to writing." struggling thus against his own difficulties, and triumphantly, accomplishing a whole paragraph with disabled hand, it was natural that the king should expect alexander, then deep in the siege of sluy's, to vanquish all his obstacles as successfully; and to effect the conquest of england so soon as the harvests of that kingdom should be garnered. sluy's was surrendered at last, and the great enterprise seemed opening from hour to hour. during the months of autumn; upon the very days when those loving messages, mixed with gentle reproaches, were sent by alexander to elizabeth, and almost at the self-same hours in which honest andrew de loo was getting such head-aches by drinking the queen's health with cosimo, and champagny, the duke and philip were interchanging detailed information as to the progress of the invasion. the king calculated that by the middle of september alexander would have , men in the netherlands ready for embarcation.--marquis santa cruz was announced as nearly ready to, sail for the english channel with , more, among whom were to be , seasoned spanish infantry. the marquis was then to extend the hand to parma, and protect that passage to england which the duke was at once to effect. the danger might be great for so large a fleet to navigate the seas at so late a season of the year; but philip was sure that god, whose cause it was, would be pleased to give good weather. the duke was to send, with infinite precautions of secrecy, information which the marquis would expect off ushant, and be quite ready to act so soon as santa cruz should arrive. most earnestly and anxiously did the king deprecate any, thought of deferring the expedition to another year. if delayed, the obstacles of the following summer--a peace in france, a peace between the turk and persia, and other contingencies--would cause the whole project to fail, and philip declared, with much iteration, that money; reputation, honour, his own character and that of farnese, and god's service, were all at stake. he was impatient at suggestions of difficulties occasionally, ventured by the duke, who was reminded that he had been appointed chief of the great enterprise by the spontaneous choice of his master, and that all his plans had been minutely followed. "you are the author of the whole scheme," said philip, "and if it, is all to vanish into space, what kind of a figure shall we cut the coming year?" again and again he referred to the immense sum collected--such as never before had been seen since the world was made-- , , ducats with , , in reserve, of which he was authorized to draw for , in advance, to say nothing of the pope's million. but alexander, while straining every nerve to obey his master's wishes about the invasion, and to blind the english by the fictitious negotiations, was not so sanguine as his sovereign. in truth, there was something puerile in the eagerness which philip manifested. he had made up his mind that england was to be conquered that autumn, and had endeavoured--as well as he could--to comprehend, the plans which his illustrious general had laid down for accomplishing that purpose. of, course; to any man of average intellect, or, in truth, to any man outside a madhouse; it would seem an essential part of the conquest that the armada should arrive. yet--wonderful to relate-philip, in his impatience, absolutely suggested that the duke might take possession of england without waiting for santa cruz and his armada. as the autumn had been wearing away, and there had been unavoidable delays about the shipping in spanish ports, the king thought it best not to defer matters till, the winter. "you are, doubtless, ready," he said to farnese. "if you think you can make the passage to england before the fleet from spain arrives, go at once. you maybe sure that it will come ere long to support, you. but if, you prefer, to wait, wait. the dangers of winter, to the fleet and to your own person are to be regretted; but god, whose cause it is; will protect you." it was, easy to sit quite out of harm's way, and to make such excellent, arrangements for smooth weather in the wintry channel, and for the conquest of a maritime and martial kingdom by a few flat bottoms. philip had little difficulty on that score, but the affairs of france were not quite to his mind. the battle of coutras, and the entrance of the german and swiss mercenaries into that country, were somewhat perplexing. either those auxiliaries of the huguenots would be defeated, or they would be victorious, or both parties would come to an agreement. in the first event, the duke, after sending a little assistance to mucio, was to effect his passage to england at once. in the second case, those troops, even though successful, would doubtless be so much disorganized that it might be still safe for farnese to go on. in the third contingency--that of an accord--it would be necessary for him to wait till the foreign troops had disbanded and left france. he was to maintain all his forces in perfect readiness, on pretext of the threatening aspect of french matters and, so soon as the swiss and germane were dispersed, he was to proceed to business without delay. the fleet would be ready in spain in all november, but as sea-affairs were so doubtful, particularly in winter, and as the armada could not reach the channel till mid-winter; the duke was not to wait for its arrival. "whenever you see a favourable opportunity," said philip, "you must take care not to lose it, even if the fleet has not made its appearance. for you may be sure that it will soon come to give you assistance, in one way or another." farnese had also been strictly enjoined to deal gently with the english, after the conquest, so that they would have cause to love their new master. his troops were not to forget discipline after victory. there was to be no pillage or rapine. the catholics were to be handsomely rewarded and all the inhabitants were to be treated with so much indulgence that, instead of abhorring parma and his soldiers, they would conceive a strong affection for them all, as the source of so many benefits. again the duke was warmly commended for the skill with which he had handled the peace negotiation. it was quite right to appoint commissioners, but it was never for an instant to be forgotten that the sole object of treating was to take the english unawares. "and therefore do you guide them to this end," said the king with pious unction, "which is what you owe to god, in whose service i have engaged in this enterprise, and to whom i have dedicated the whole." the king of france, too--that unfortunate henry iii., against whose throne and life philip maintained in constant pay an organized band of conspirators--was affectionately adjured, through the spanish envoy in paris, mendoza,--to reflect upon the advantages to france of a catholic king and kingdom of england, in place of the heretics now in power. but philip, growing more and more sanguine, as those visions of fresh crowns and conquered kingdoms rose before him in his solitary cell, had even persuaded himself that the deed was already done. in the early days of december, he expressed a doubt whether his th november letter had reached the duke, who by that time was probably in england. one would have thought the king addressing a tourist just starting on a little pleasure-excursion. and this was precisely the moment when alexander had been writing those affectionate phrases to the queen which had been considered by the counsellors at greenwich so "princely and christianly," and which croft had pronounced such "very good words." if there had been no hostile, fleet to prevent, it was to be hoped, said philip, that, in the name of god, the passage had been made. "once landed there," continued the king, "i am persuaded that you will give me a good account of yourself, and, with the help of our lord, that you will do that service which i desire to render to him, and that he will guide our cause, which is his own, and of such great importance to his church." a part of the fleet would soon after arrive and bring six thousand spaniards, the pope's million, and other good things, which might prove useful to parma, presupposing that they would find him established on the enemy's territory. this conviction that the enterprise had been already accomplished grew stronger in the king's breast every day. he was only a little disturbed lest farnese should have misunderstood that th november letter. philip--as his wont was--had gone into so many petty and puzzling details, and had laid down rules of action suitable for various contingencies, so easy to put comfortably upon paper, but which might become perplexing in action, that it was no wonder he should be a little anxious. the third contingency suggested by him had really occurred. there had been a composition between the foreign mercenaries and the french king. nevertheless they had also been once or twice defeated, and this was contingency number two. now which of the events would the duke consider as having really occurred. it was to be hoped that he would have not seen cause for delay, for in truth number three was not exactly the contingency which existed. france was still in a very satisfactory state of discord and rebellion. the civil war was by no means over. there was small fear of peace that winter. give mucio his pittance with frugal hand, and that dangerous personage would ensure tranquillity for philip's project, and misery for henry iii. and his subjects for an indefinite period longer. the king thought it improbable that farnese could have made any mistake. he expressed therefore a little anxiety at having received no intelligence from him, but had great confidence that, with the aid of the lord and of with his own courage he had accomplished the great exploit. philip had only, recommended delay in event of a general peace in france--huguenots, royalists, leaguers, and all. this had not happened. "therefore, i trust," said the king; "that you--perceiving that this is not contingency number three which was to justify a pause--will have already executed the enterprise, and fulfilled my desire. i am confident that the deed is done, and that god has blessed it, and i am now expecting the news from hour to hour." but alexander had not yet arrived in england. the preliminaries for the conquest caused him more perplexity than the whole enterprise occasioned to philip. he was very short of funds. the five millions were not to be touched, except for the expenses of the invasion. but as england was to be subjugated, in order that rebellious holland might be recovered, it was hardly reasonable to go away leaving such inadequate forces in the netherlands as to ensure not only independence to the new republic, but to hold out temptation for revolt to the obedient provinces. yet this was the dilemma in which the duke was placed. so much money had been set aside for the grand project that there was scarcely anything for the regular military business. the customary supplies had not been sent. parma had leave to draw for six hundred thousand ducats, and he was able to get that draft discounted on the antwerp exchange by consenting to receive five hundred thousand, or sacrificing sixteen per cent. of the sum. a good number of transports, and scows had been collected, but there had been a deficiency of money for their proper equipment, as the five millions had been very slow in coming, and were still upon the road. the whole enterprise was on the point of being sacrificed, according to farnese, for want of funds. the time for doing the deed had arrived, and he declared himself incapacitated by poverty. he expressed his disgust and resentment in language more energetic than courtly; and protested that he was not to blame. "i always thought," said he bitterly, "that your majesty would provide all that was necessary even in superfluity, and not limit me beneath the ordinary. i did not suppose, when it was most important to have ready money, that i should be kept short, and not allowed to draw certain sums by anticipation, which i should have done had you not forbidden." this was, through life, a striking characteristic of philip. enormous schemes were laid out with utterly inadequate provision for their accomplishment, and a confident expectation entertained that wild, visions were; in some indefinite way, to be converted into substantial realities, without fatigue or personal exertion on his part, and with a very trifling outlay of ready money. meantime the faithful farnese did his best. he was indefatigable night and day in getting his boats together and providing his munitions of war. he dug a canal from sas de gand--which was one of his principal depots--all the way to sluys, because the water-communication between those two points was entirely in the hands of the hollanders and zeelanders. the rebel cruisers swarmed in the scheldt, from, flushing almost to antwerp, so that it was quite impossible for parma's forces to venture forth at all; and it also seemed hopeless to hazard putting to sea from sluys. at the same, time he had appointed his, commissioners to treat with the english envoys already named by the queen. there had been much delay in the arrival of those deputies, on account of the noise raised by barneveld and his followers; but burghley was now sanguine that the exposure of what he called the advocate's seditious, false, and perverse proceedings, would enable leicester to procure the consent of the states to a universal peace. and thus, with these parallel schemes of invasion and negotiation, spring; summer, and autumn, had worn away. santa cruz was still with his fleet in lisbon, cadiz, and the azores; and parma was in brussels, when philip fondly imagined him established in greenwich palace. when made aware of his master's preposterous expectations, alexander would have been perhaps amused, had he not been half beside himself with indignation. such folly seemed incredible. there was not the slightest appearance of a possibility of making a passage without the protection of the spanish fleet, he observed. his vessels were mere transport-boats, without the least power of resisting an enemy. the hollanders and zeelanders, with one hundred and forty cruisers, had shut him up in all directions. he could neither get out from antwerp nor from sluys. there were large english ships, too, cruising in the channel, and they were getting ready in the netherlands and in england "most furiously." the delays had been so great, that their secret had been poorly kept, and the enemy was on his guard. if santa cruz had come, alexander declared that he should have already been in england. when he did come he should still be prepared to make the passage; but to talk of such an attempt without the armada was senseless, and he denounced the madness of that proposition to his majesty in vehement and unmeasured terms. his army, by sickness and other causes, had been reduced to one-half the number considered necessary for the invasion, and the rebels had established regular squadrons in the scheldt, in the very teeth of the forts, at lillo, liefkenshoek, saftingen, and other points close to antwerp. there were so many of these war-vessels, and all in such excellent order, that they were a most notable embarrassment to him, he observed, and his own flotilla would run great risk of being utterly destroyed. alexander had been personally superintending matters at sluys, ghent, and antwerp, and had strengthened with artillery the canal which he had constructed between sas and sluys. meantime his fresh troops had been slowly arriving, but much sickness prevailed among them. the italians were dying fast, almost all the spaniards were in hospital, and the others were so crippled and worn out that it was most pitiable to behold them; yet it was absolutely necessary that those who were in health should accompany him to england, since otherwise his spanish force would be altogether too weak to do the service expected. he had got together a good number of transports. not counting his antwerp fleet--which could not stir from port, as he bitterly complained, nor be of any use, on account of the rebel blockade--he had between dunkerk and newport seventy-four vessels of various kinds fit for sea-service, one hundred and fifty flat-bottoms (pleytas), and seventy riverhoys, all which were to be assembled at sluys, whence they would--so soon as santa cruz should make his appearance--set forth for england. this force of transports he pronounced sufficient, when properly protected by the spanish armada, to carry himself and his troops across the channel. if, therefore, the matter did not become publicly known, and if the weather proved favourable, it was probable that his majesty's desire would soon be fulfilled according to the plan proposed. the companies of light horse and of arquebusmen, with which he meant to make his entrance into london, had been clothed, armed, and mounted, he said, in a manner delightful to contemplate, and those soldiers at least might be trusted--if they could only effect their passage--to do good service, and make matters quite secure. but craftily as the king and duke had been dealing, it had been found impossible to keep such vast preparations entirely secret. walsingham was in full possession of their plans down to the most minute details. the misfortune was that he was unable to persuade his sovereign, lord burghley, and others of the peace-party, as to the accuracy of his information. not only was he thoroughly instructed in regard to the number of men, vessels, horses, mules, saddles, spurs, lances, barrels of beer and tons of biscuit, and other particulars of the contemplated invasion, but he had even received curious intelligence as to the gorgeous equipment of those very troops, with which the duke was just secretly announcing to the king his intention of making his triumphal entrance into the english capital. sir francis knew how many thousand yards of cramoisy velvet, how many hundredweight of gold and silver embroidery, how much satin and feathers, and what quantity of pearls and diamonds; farnese had been providing himself withal. he knew the tailors, jewellers, silversmiths, and haberdashers, with whom the great alexander--as he now began to be called--had been dealing; but when he spoke at the council-board, it was to ears wilfully deaf. ["there is provided for lights a great number of torches, and so tempered that no water can put them out. a great number of little mills for grinding corn, great store of biscuit baked and oxen salted, great number of saddles and boots also there is made pair of velvet shoes-red, crimson velvet, and in every cloister throughout the country great quantity of roses made of silk, white and red, which are to be badges for divers of his gentlemen. by reason of these roses it is expected he is going for england. there is sold to the prince by john angel, pergaman, ten hundred-weight of velvet, gold and silver to embroider his apparel withal. the covering to his mules is most gorgeously embroidered with gold and silver, which carry his baggage. there is also sold to him by the italian merchants at least pieces of velvet to apparel him and his train. every captain has received a gift from the prince to make himself brave, and for captain corralini, an italian, who hath one cornet of horse, i have seen with my eyes a saddle with the trappings of his horse, his coat and rapier and dagger, which cost , french crowns. (!!) all their lances are painted of divers colours, blue and white, green and white, and most part blood-red-- so there is as great preparation for a triumph as for war. a great number of english priests come to antwerp from all places. the commandment is given to all the churches to read the litany daily for the prosperity of the prince in his enterprise." john giles to walsingham, dec. .(s. p. office ms.) the same letter conveyed also very detailed information concerning the naval preparations by the duke, besides accurate intelligence in regard to the progress of the armada in cadiz and lisbon. sir william russet wrote also from flushing concerning these preparations in much the same strain; but it is worthy of note that he considered farnese to be rather intending a movement against france. "the prince of parma," he said, "is making great preparations for war, and with all expedition means to march a great army, and for a triumph, the coats and costly, apparel for his own body doth exceed for embroidery, and beset with jewels; for all the embroiderers and diamond-cutters work both night and day, such haste is made. five hundred velvet coats of one sort for lances, and a great number of brave new coats made for horsemen; , men are ready, and gather in brabant and flanders. it is said that there shall be in two days , to do some great exploit in these parts, and , to march with the prince into france, and for certain it is not known what way or how they shall march, but all are ready at an hour's warning -- , saddles, lances. , pairs of boots, , barrels of beer, biscuit sufficient for a camp of , men, &c. the prince hath received a marvellous costly garland or crown from the pope, and is chosen chief of the holy league..."] nor was much concealed from the argus-eyed politicians in the republic. the states were more and more intractable. they knew nearly all the truth with regard to the intercourse between the queen's government and farnese, and they suspected more than the truth. the list of english commissioners privately agreed upon between burghley and de loo was known to barneveld, maurice, and hohenlo, before it came to the ears of leicester. in june, buckhurst had been censured by elizabeth for opening the peace matter to members of the states, according to her bidding, and in july leicester was rebuked for exactly the opposite delinquency. she was very angry that he had delayed the communication of her policy so long, but she expressed her anger only when that policy had proved so transparent as to make concealment hopeless. leicester, as well as buckhurst, knew that it was idle to talk to the netherlanders of peace, because of their profound distrust in every word that came from spanish or italian lips; but leicester, less frank than buckhurst, preferred to flatter his sovereign, rather than to tell her unwelcome truths. more fortunate than buckhurst, he was rewarded for his flattery by boundless affection, and promotion to the very highest post in england when the hour of england's greatest peril had arrived, while the truth-telling counsellor was consigned to imprisonment and disgrace. when the queen complained sharply that the states were mocking her, and that she was touched in honour at the prospect of not keeping her plighted word to farnese, the earl assured her that the netherlanders were fast changing their views; that although the very name of peace had till then been odious and loathsome, yet now, as coming from her majesty, they would accept it with thankful hearts. the states, or the leading members of that assembly, factious fellows, pestilent and seditious knaves, were doing their utmost, and were singing sirens' songs' to enchant and delude the people, but they were fast losing their influence--so warmly did the country desire to conform to her majesty's pleasure. he expatiated, however, upon the difficulties in his path. the knowledge possessed by the pestilent fellows as to the actual position of affairs, was very mischievous. it was honey to maurice and hohenlo, he said, that the queen's secret practices with farnese had thus been discovered. nothing could be more marked than the jollity with which the ringleaders hailed these preparations for peace-making, for they now felt certain that the government of their country had been fixed securely in their own hands. they were canonized, said the earl, for their hostility to peace. should not this conviction, on the part of men who had so many means of feeling the popular pulse, have given the queen's government pause? to serve his sovereign in truth, leicester might have admitted a possibility at least of honesty on the part of men who were so ready to offer up their lives for their country. for in a very few weeks he was obliged to confess that the people were no longer so well disposed to acquiesce in her majesty's policy. the great majority, both of the states and the people, were in favour, he agreed, of continuing the war. the inhabitants of the little province of holland alone, he said, had avowed their determination to maintain their rights--even if obliged to fight single-handed--and to shed the last drop in their veins, rather than to submit again to spanish tyranny. this seemed a heroic resolution, worthy the sympathy of a brave englishman, but the earl's only comment upon it was, that it proved the ringleaders "either to be traitors or else the most blindest asses in the world." he never scrupled, on repeated occasions, to insinuate that barneveld, hohenlo, buys, roorda, sainte aldegonde, and the nassaus, had organized a plot to sell their country to spain. of this there was not the faintest evidence, but it was the only way in which he chose to account for their persistent opposition to the peace-negotiations, and to their reluctance to confer absolute power on himself. "'tis a crabbed, sullen, proud kind of people," said he, "and bent on establishing a popular government,"--a purpose which seemed somewhat inconsistent with the plot for selling their country to spain, which he charged in the same breath on the same persons. early in august, by the queen's command, he had sent a formal communication respecting the private negotiations to the states, but he could tell them no secret. the names of the commissioners, and even the supposed articles of a treaty already concluded, were flying from town to town, from mouth to mouth, so that the earl pronounced it impossible for one, not on the spot, to imagine the excitement which existed. he had sent a state-counsellor, one bardesius, to the hague, to open the matter; but that personage had only ventured to whisper a word to one or two members of the states, and was assured that the proposition, if made, would raise such a tumult of fury, that he might fear for his life. so poor bardesius came back to leicester, fell on his knees, and implored him; at least to pause in these fatal proceedings. after an interval, he sent two eminent statesmen, valk and menin, to lay the subject before the assembly. they did so, and it was met by fierce denunciation. on their return, the earl, finding that so much violence had been excited, pretended that they had misunderstood his meaning, and that he had never meant to propose peace-negotiations. but valk and menin were too old politicians to be caught in such a trap, and they produced a brief, drawn up in italian--the foreign language best understood by the earl--with his own corrections and interlineations, so that he was forced to admit that there had been no misconception. leicester at last could no longer doubt that he was universally odious in the provinces. hohenlo, barneveld, and the rest, who had "championed the country against the peace," were carrying all before them. they had persuaded the people, that the "queen was but a tickle stay for them," and had inflated young maurice with vast ideas of his importance, telling him that he was "a natural patriot, the image of his noble father, whose memory was yet great among them, as good reason, dying in their cause, as he had done." the country was bent on a popular government, and on maintaining the war. there was no possibility, he confessed, that they would ever confer the authority on him which they had formerly bestowed. the queen had promised, when he left england the second time, that his absence should be for but three months, and he now most anxiously claimed permission to depart. above all things, he deprecated being employed as a peace-commissioner. he was, of all men, the most unfit for such a post. at the same time he implored the statesmen at home to be wary in selecting the wisest persons for that arduous duty, in order that the peace might be made for queen elizabeth, as well as for king philip. he strongly recommended, for that duty, beale, the councillor, who with killigrew had replaced the hated wilkes and the pacific bartholomew clerk. "mr. beale, brother-in-law to walsingham, is in my books a prince," said the earl. "he was drowned in england, but most useful in the netherlands. without him i am naked." and at last the governor told the queen what buckhurst and walsingham had been perpetually telling her, that the duke of parma meant mischief; and he sent the same information as to hundreds of boats preparing, with six thousand shirts for camisados, pairs of wading boots, and saddles, stirrups, and spurs, enough for a choice band of men. a shrewd troop, said the earl, of the first soldiers in christendom, to be landed some fine morning in england. and he too had heard of the jewelled suits of cramoisy velvet, and all the rest of the finery with which the triumphant alexander was intending to astonish london. "get horses enough, and muskets enough in england," exclaimed leicester, "and then our people will not be beaten, i warrant you, if well led." and now, the governor--who, in order to soothe his sovereign and comply with her vehement wishes, had so long misrepresented the state of public feeling--not only confessed that papists and protestants, gentle and simple, the states and the people, throughout the republic, were all opposed to any negotiation with the enemy, but lifted up his own voice, and in earnest language expressed his opinion of the queen's infatuation. "oh, my lord, what a treaty is this for peace," said he to burghley, "that we must treat, altogether disarmed and weakened, and the king having made his forces stronger than ever he had known in these parts, besides what is coming out, of spain, and yet we will presume of good conditions. it grieveth me to the heart. but i fear you will all smart for it, and i pray god her majesty feel it not, if it be his blessed will. she meaneth well and sincerely to have peace, but god knows that this is not the way. well, god almighty defend us and the realm, and especially her majesty. but look for a sharp war, or a miserable peace, to undo others and ourselves after." walsingham, too, was determined not to act as a commissioner. if his failing health did not serve as an excuse, he should be obliged to refuse, he said, and so forfeit her majesty's favour, rather than be instrumental in bringing about her ruin, and that of his country. never for an instant had the secretary of state faltered in his opposition to the timid policy of burghley. again and again he had detected the intrigues of the lord-treasurer and sir james croft, and ridiculed the "comptroller's peace." and especially did walsingham bewail the implicit confidence which the queen placed in the sugary words of alexander, and the fatal parsimony which caused her to neglect defending herself against scotland; for he was as well informed as was farnese himself of philip's arrangements with the scotch lords, and of the subsidies in men and money by which their invasion of england was to be made part of the great scheme. "no one thing," sighed walsingham, "doth more prognosticate an alteration of this estate, than that a prince of her majesty's judgment should neglect, in respect of a little charges, the stopping of so dangerous a gap. . . . the manner of our cold and careless proceeding here, in this time of peril, maketh me to take no comfort of my recovery of health, for that i see, unless it shall please god in mercy and miraculously to preserve us, we cannot long stand." leicester, finding himself unable to counteract the policy of barneveld and his party, by expostulation or argument, conceived a very dangerous and criminal project before he left the country. the facts are somewhat veiled in mystery; but he was suspected, on weighty evidence, of a design to kidnap both maurice and barneveld, and carry them off to england. of this intention, which was foiled at any rate, before it could be carried into execution, there is perhaps not conclusive proof, but it has already been shown, from a deciphered letter, that the queen had once given buckhurst and wilkes peremptory orders to seize the person of hohenlo, and it is quite possible that similar orders may have been received at a later moment with regard to the young count and the advocate. at any rate, it is certain that late in the autumn, some friends of barneveld entered his bedroom, at the hague, in the dead of night, and informed him that a plot was on foot to lay violent hands upon him, and that an armed force was already on its way to execute this purpose of leicester, before the dawn of day. the advocate, without loss of time, took his departure for delft, a step which was followed, shortly afterwards, by maurice. nor was this the only daring--stroke which the earl had meditated. during the progress of the secret negotiations with parma, he had not neglected those still more secret schemes to which he had occasionally made allusion. he had determined, if possible, to obtain possession of the most important cities in holland and zeeland. it was very plain to him, that he could no longer hope, by fair means, for the great authority once conferred upon him by the free will of the states. it was his purpose, therefore, by force and stratagem to recover his lost power. we have heard the violent terms in which both the queen and the earl denounced the men who accused the english government of any such intention. it had been formally denied by the states-general that barneveld had ever used the language in that assembly with which he had been charged. he had only revealed to them the exact purport of the letter to junius, and of the queen's secret instructions to leicester. whatever he may have said in private conversation, and whatever deductions he may have made among his intimate friends, from the admitted facts in the case, could hardly be made matters of record. it does not appear that he, or the statesmen who acted with him, considered the earl capable of a deliberate design to sell the cities, thus to be acquired, to spain, as the price of peace for england. certainly elizabeth would have scorned such a crime, and was justly indignant at rumours prevalent to that effect; but the wrath of the queen and of her favourite were, perhaps, somewhat simulated, in order to cover their real mortification at the discovery of designs on the part of the earl which could not be denied. not only had they been at last compelled to confess these negotiations, which for several months had been concealed and stubbornly denied, but the still graver plots of the earl to regain his much-coveted authority had been, in a startling manner, revealed. the leaders of the states-general had a right to suspect the english earl of a design to reenact the part of the duke of anjou, and were justified in taking stringent measures to prevent a calamity, which, as they believed, was impending over their little commonwealth. the high-handed dealings of leicester in the city of utrecht have been already described. the most respectable and influential burghers of the place had been imprisoned and banished, the municipal government wrested from the hands to which it legitimately belonged, and confided to adventurers, who wore the cloak of calvinism to conceal their designs, and a successful effort had been made, in the name of democracy, to eradicate from one ancient province the liberty on which it prided itself. in the course of the autumn, an attempt was made to play the same game at amsterdam. a plot was discovered, before it was fairly matured, to seize the magistrates of that important city, to gain possession of the arsenals, and to place the government in the hands of well-known leicestrians. a list of fourteen influential citizens, drawn up in the writing of burgrave, the earl's confidential secretary, was found, all of whom, it was asserted, had been doomed to the scaffold. the plot to secure amsterdam had failed, but, in north holland, medenblik was held firmly for leicester, by diedrich sonoy, in the very teeth of the states. the important city of enkhuyzen, too, was very near being secured for the earl, but a still more significant movement was made at leyden. that heroic city, ever since the famous siege of , in which the spaniard had been so signally foiled, had distinguished itself by great liberality of sentiment in religious matters. the burghers were inspired by a love of country, and a hatred of oppression, both civil and, ecclesiastical; and papists and protestants, who had fought side by side against the common foe, were not disposed to tear each other to pieces, now that he had been excluded from their gates. meanwhile, however, refugee flemings and brabantines had sought an asylum in the city, and being, as usual, of the strictest sect of the calvinists were shocked at the latitudinarianism which prevailed. to the honour of the city--as it seems to us now--but, to their horror, it was even found that one or two papists had seats in the magistracy. more than all this, there was a school in the town kept by a catholic, and adrian van der werff himself--the renowned burgomaster, who had sustained the city during the dreadful leaguer of , and who had told the famishing burghers that they might eat him if they liked, but that they should never surrender to the spaniards while he remained alive--even adrian van der werff had sent his son to this very school? to the clamour made by the refugees against this spirit of toleration, one of the favourite preachers in the town, of arminian tendencies, had declared in the pulpit, that he would as lieve see the spanish as the calvinistic inquisition established over his country; using an expression, in regard to the church of geneva, more energetic than decorous. it was from leyden that the chief opposition came to a synod, by which a great attempt was to be made towards subjecting the new commonwealth to a masked theocracy; a scheme which the states of holland had resisted with might and main. the calvinistic party, waxing stronger in leyden, although still in a minority, at last resolved upon a strong effort to place the city in the hands of that great representative of calvinism, the earl of leicester. jacques volmar, a deacon of the church, cosmo de pescarengis, a genoese captain of much experience in the service of the republic, adolphus de meetkerke, former president of flanders, who had been, by the states, deprived of the seat in the great council to which the earl had appointed him; doctor saravia, professor of theology in the university, with other deacons, preachers, and captains, went at different times from leyden to utrecht, and had secret interviews with leicester. a plan was at last agreed upon, according to which, about the middle of october, a revolution should be effected in leyden. captain nicholas de maulde, who had recently so much distinguished himself in the defence of sluys, was stationed with two companies of states' troops in the city. he had been much disgusted--not without reason--at the culpable negligence through which the courageous efforts of the sluys garrison had been set at nought, and the place sacrificed, when it might so easily have been relieved; and he ascribed the whole of the guilt to maurice, hohenlo, and the states, although it could hardly be denied that at least an equal portion belonged to leicester and his party. the young captain listened, therefore, to a scheme propounded to him by colonel cosine, and deacon volmar, in the name of leicester. he agreed, on a certain day, to muster his company, to leave the city by the delft gate--as if by command of superior authority--to effect a junction with captain heraugiere, another of the distinguished malcontent defenders of sluys, who was stationed, with his command, at delft, and then to re-enter leyden, take possession of the town-hall, arrest all the magistrates, together with adrian van der werff, ex-burgomaster, and proclaim lord leicester, in the name of queen elizabeth, legitimate master of the city. a list of burghers, who were to be executed, was likewise agreed upon, at a final meeting of the conspirators in a hostelry, which bore the ominous name of 'the thunderbolt.' a desire had been signified by leicester, in the preliminary interviews at utrecht, that all bloodshed, if possible, should be spared, but it was certainly an extravagant expectation, considering the temper, the political convictions, and the known courage of the leyden burghers, that the city would submit, without a struggle, to this invasion of all their rights. it could hardly be doubted that the streets would run red with blood, as those of antwerp had done, when a similar attempt, on the part of anjou, had been foiled. unfortunately for the scheme, a day or two before the great stroke was to be hazarded, cosmo de pescarengis had been accidentally arrested for debt. a subordinate accomplice, taking alarm, had then gone before the magistrate and revealed the plot. volmar and de maulde fled at once, but were soon arrested in the neighbourhood. president de meetkerke, professor saravia, the preacher van der wauw, and others most compromised, effected their escape. the matter was instantly laid before the states of holland by the magistracy of leyden, and seemed of the gravest moment. in the beginning of the year, the fatal treason of york and stanley had implanted a deep suspicion of leicester in the hearts of almost all the netherlanders, which could not be eradicated. the painful rumours concerning the secret negotiations with spain, and the design falsely attributed to the english queen, of selling the chief cities of the republic to philip as the price of peace, and of reimbursement for expenses incurred by her, increased the general excitement to fever. it was felt by the leaders of the states that as mortal a combat lay before them with the earl of leicester, as with the king of spain, and that it was necessary to strike a severe blow, in order to vindicate their imperilled authority. a commission was appointed by the high court of holland, acting in conjunction with the states of the provinces, to try the offenders. among the commissioners were adrian van der werff, john van der does, who had been military commandant of leyden during the siege, barneveld, and other distinguished personages, over whom count maurice presided. the accused were subjected to an impartial trial. without torture, they confessed their guilt. it is true, however, that cosmo was placed within sight of the rack. he avowed that his object had been to place the city under the authority of leicester, and to effect this purpose, if possible, without bloodshed. he declared that the attempt was to be made with the full knowledge and approbation of the earl, who had promised him the command of a regiment of twelve companies, as a recompense for his services, if they proved successful. leicester, said cosmo, had also pledged himself, in case the men, thus executing his plans, should be discovered and endangered, to protect and rescue them, even at the sacrifice of all his fortune, and of the office he held. when asked if he had any written statement from his excellency to that effect, cosmo replied, no, nothing but his princely word which he had voluntarily given. volmar made a similar confession. he, too, declared that he had acted throughout the affair by express command of the earl of leicester. being asked if he had any written evidence of the fact, he, likewise, replied in the negative. "then his excellency will unquestionably deny your assertion," said the judges. "alas, then am i a dead man," replied volmar, and the unfortunate deacon never spoke truer words. captain de maulde also confessed his crime. he did not pretend, however, to have had any personal communication with leicester, but said that the affair had been confided to him by colonel cosmo, on the express authority of the earl, and that he had believed himself to be acting in obedience to his excellency's commands. on the th october, after a thorough investigation, followed by a full confession on the part of the culprits, the three were sentenced to death. the decree was surely a most severe one. they had been guilty of no actual crime, and only in case of high treason could an intention to commit a crime be considered, by the laws of the state, an offence punishable with death. but it was exactly because it was important to make the crime high treason that the prisoners were condemned. the offence was considered as a crime not against leyden, but as an attempt to levy war upon a city which was a member of the states of holland and of the united states. if the states were sovereign, then this was a lesion of their sovereignty. moreover, the offence had been aggravated by the employment of united states' troops against the commonwealth of the united states itself. to cut off the heads of these prisoners was a sharp practical answer to the claims of sovereignty by leicester, as representing the people, and a terrible warning to all who might, in future; be disposed to revive the theories of deventer and burgrave. in the case of de maulde the punishment seemed especially severe. his fate excited universal sympathy, and great efforts were made to obtain his pardon. he was a universal favourite; he was young; he was very handsome; his manners were attractive; he belonged to an ancient and honourable race. his father, the seigneur de mansart, had done great services in the war of independence, had been an intimate friend of the great prince of orange, and had even advanced large sums of money to assist his noble efforts to liberate the country. two brothers of the young captain had fallen in the service of the republic. he, too, had distinguished himself at ostend, and his gallantry during the recent siege of sluys had been in every mouth, and had excited the warm applause of so good a judge of soldiership as the veteran roger williams. the scars of the wounds received in the desperate conflicts of that siege were fresh upon his breast. he had not intended to commit treason, but, convinced by the sophistry of older soldiers than himself, as well as by learned deacons and theologians, he had imagined himself doing his duty, while obeying the earl of leicester. if there were ever a time for mercy, this seemed one, and young maurice of nassau might have remembered, that even in the case of the assassins who had attempted the life of his father, that great-hearted man had lifted up his voice--which seemed his dying one--in favour of those who had sought his life. but they authorities were inexorable. there was no hope of a mitigation of punishment, but a last effort was made, under favour of a singular ancient custom, to save the life of de maulde. a young lady of noble family in leyden--uytenbroek by name--claimed the right of rescuing the condemned malefactor, from the axe, by appearing upon the scaffold, and offering to take him for her husband. intelligence was brought to the prisoner in his dungeon, that the young, lady had made the proposition, and he was told to be of good cheer: but he refused to be comforted. he was slightly acquainted with the gentle-woman, he observed; and doubted much whether her request would be granted. moreover if contemporary chronicle can be trusted he even expressed a preference for the scaffold, as the milder fate of the two. the lady, however, not being aware of those uncomplimentary sentiments, made her proposal to the magistrates, but was dismissed with harsh rebukes. she had need be ashamed, they said; of her willingness to take a condemned traitor for her husband. it was urged, in her behalf, that even in the cruel alva's time, the ancient custom had been respected, and that victims had been saved from the executioners, on a demand in marriage made even by women of abandoned character. but all was of no avail. the prisoners were executed on the th october, the same day on which the sentence had been pronounced. the heads of volmar and cosmo were exposed on one of the turrets of the city. that of maulde was interred with his body. the earl was indignant when he heard of the event. as there had been no written proof of his complicity in the conspiracy, the judges had thought it improper to mention his name in the sentences. he, of course, denied any knowledge of the plot, and its proof rested therefore only on the assertion of the prisoners themselves, which, however, was circumstantial, voluntary, and generally believed! france, during the whole of this year of expectation, was ploughed throughout its whole surface by perpetual civil war. the fatal edict of june, , had drowned the unhappy land in blood. foreign armies, called in by the various contending factions, ravaged its-fair territory, butchered its peasantry, and changed its fertile plains to a wilderness. the unhappy creature who wore the crown of charlemagne and of hugh capet, was but the tool in the hands of the most profligate and designing of his own subjects, and of foreigners. slowly and surely the net, spread by the hands of his own mother, of his own prime minister, of the duke of guise, all obeying the command and receiving the stipend of philip, seemed closing over him. he was without friends, without power to know his friends, if he had them. in his hatred to the reformation, he had allowed himself to be made the enemy of the only man who could be his friend, or the friend of france. allied with his mortal foe, whose armies were strengthened by contingents from parma's forces, and paid for by spanish gold, he was forced to a mock triumph over the foreign mercenaries who came to save his crown, and to submit to the defeat of the flower of his chivalry, by the only man who could rescue france from ruin, and whom france could look up to with respect. for, on the th october, henry of navarre had at last gained a victory. after twenty-seven years of perpetual defeat, during which they had been growing stronger and stronger, the protestants had met the picked troops of henry iii., under the due de joyeuse, near the burgh of contras. his cousins conde and soissons each commanded a wing in the army of the warnese. "you are both of my family," said henry, before the engagement, "and the lord so help me, but i will show you that i am the eldest born." and during that bloody day the white plume was ever tossing where the battle, was fiercest. "i choose to show myself. they shall see the bearnese," was his reply to those who implored him to have a care for his personal safety. and at last, when the day was done, the victory gained, and more french nobles lay dead on the field, as catharine de' medici bitterly declared, than had fallen in a battle for twenty years; when two thousand of the king's best troops had been slain, and when the bodies of joyeuse and his brother had been laid out in the very room where the conqueror's supper, after the battle, was served, but where he refused, with a shudder, to eat, he was still as eager as before--had the wretched valois been possessed of a spark of manhood, or of intelligence--to shield him and his kingdom from the common enemy.' for it could hardly be doubtful, even to henry iii., at that moment, that philip ii. and his jackal, the duke of guise, were pursuing him to the death, and that, in his breathless doublings to escape, he had been forced to turn upon his natural protector. and now joyeuse was defeated and slain. "had it been my brother's son," exclaimed cardinal de bourbon, weeping and wailing, "how much better it would have been." it was not easy to slay the champion of french protestantism; yet, to one less buoyant, the game, even after the brilliant but fruitless victory of contras, might have seemed desperate. beggared and outcast, with literally scarce a shirt to his back, without money to pay a corporal's guard, how was he to maintain an army? but 'mucio' was more successful than joyeuse had been, and the german and swiss mercenaries who had come across the border to assist the bearnese, were adroitly handled by philip's great stipendiary. henry of valois, whose troops had just been defeated at contras, was now compelled to participate in a more fatal series of triumphs. for alas, the victim had tied himself to the apron-string of "madam league," and was paraded by her, in triumph, before the eyes of his own subjects and of the world. the passage of the loire by the auxiliaries was resisted; a series of petty victories was gained by guise, and, at last, after it was obvious that the leaders of the legions had been corrupted with spanish ducats, henry allowed them to depart, rather than give the balafre opportunity for still farther successes. then came the triumph in paris--hosannahs in the churches, huzzas in the public places--not for the king, but for guise. paris, more madly in love with her champion than ever, prostrated herself at his feet. for him paeans as to a deliverer. without him the ark would have fallen into the hands of the philistines. for the valois, shouts of scorn from the populace, thunders from the pulpit, anathemas from monk and priest, elaborate invectives from all the pedants of the sorbonne, distant mutterings of excommunication from rome--not the toothless beldame of modern days, but the avenging divinity of priest-rid monarchs. such were the results of the edicts of june. spain and the pope had trampled upon france, and the populace in her capital clapped their hands and jumped for joy. "miserable country miserable king," sighed an illustrious patriot, "whom his own countrymen wish rather to survive, than to die to defend him! let the name of huguenot and of papist be never heard of more. let us think only of the counter-league. is france to be saved by opening all its gates to spain? is france to be turned out of france, to make a lodging for the lorrainer and the spaniard?" pregnant questions, which could not yet be answered, for the end was not yet. france was to become still more and more a wilderness. and well did that same brave and thoughtful lover, of his: country declare, that he who should suddenly awake from a sleep of twenty-five years, and revisit that once beautiful land, would deem himself transplanted to a barbarous island of cannibals.--[duplessis mornay, 'mem.' iv. - .] it had now become quite obvious that the game of leicester was played out. his career--as it has now been fully exhibited--could have but one termination. he had made himself thoroughly odious to the nation whom he came to govern. he had lost for ever the authority once spontaneously bestowed; and he had attempted in vain, both by fair means and foul, to recover that power. there was nothing left him but retreat. of this he was thoroughly convinced. he was anxious to be gone, the republic most desirous to be rid of him, her majesty impatient to have her favourite back again. the indulgent queen, seeing nothing to blame in his conduct, while her indignation, at the attitude maintained by the provinces was boundless, permitted him, accordingly, to return; and in her letter to the states, announcing this decision, she took a fresh opportunity of emptying her wrath upon their heads. she told them, that, notwithstanding her frequent messages to them, signifying her evil contentment with their unthankfulness for her exceeding great benefits, and with their gross violations of their contract with herself and with leicester, whom they had, of their own accord, made absolute governor without her instigation; she had never received any good answer to move, her to commit their sins to oblivion, nor had she remarked, any amendment in their conduct. on the contrary, she complained: that they daily increased their offences, most notoriously in the sight of--the world and in so many points that she lacked words to express them in one letter. she however thought it worth while to allude to some of their transgressions. she, declared that their sinister, or rather barbarous interpretation of her conduct had been notorious in perverting and falsifying her princely and christian intentions; when she imparted to them the overtures that had been made to her for a treaty of peace for herself and for them with the king of spain. yet although she had required their allowance, before she would give her assent, she had been grieved that the world should see what impudent untruths had been forged upon her, not only by their sufferance; but by their special permission for her christian good meaning towards them. she denounced the statements as to her having concluded a treaty, not only without their knowledge; but with the sacrifice of their liberty and religion, as utterly false, either for anything done in act, or intended in thought, by her. she complained that upon this most false ground had been heaped a number of like untruths and malicious slanders against her cousin leicester, who had hazarded his life, spend his substance, left his native country, absented himself from her, and lost his time, only for their service. it had been falsely stated among them, she said, that the earl had come over the last time, knowing that peace had been secretly concluded. it was false that he had intended to surprise divers of their towns, and deliver them to the king of spain. all such untruths contained matter so improbable, that it was most, strange that any person; having any sense, could imagine them correct. having thus slightly animadverted upon their wilfulness, unthankfulness, and bad government, and having, in very plain english, given them the lie, eight distinct and separate times upon a single page, she proceeded to inform them that she had recalled her cousin leicester, having great cause to use his services in england, and not seeing how, by his tarrying there, he could either profit them or herself. nevertheless she protested herself not void of compassion for their estate, and for the pitiful condition of the great multitude of kind and godly people, subject to the miseries which, by the states government, were like to fall upon them, unless god should specially interpose; and she had therefore determined, for the time, to continue her subsidies, according to the covenant between them. if, meantime, she should conclude a peace with spain, she promised to them the same care for their country as for her own. accordingly the earl, after despatching an equally ill-tempered letter to the states, in which he alluded, at unmerciful length, to all the old grievances, blamed them for the loss of sluys, for which place he protested that they had manifested no more interest than if it had been san domingo in hispaniola, took his departure for flushing. after remaining there, in a very moody frame of mind, for several days, expecting that the states would, at least, send a committee to wait upon him and receive his farewells, he took leave of them by letter. "god send me shortly a wind to blow me from them all," he exclaimed--a prayer which was soon granted--and before the end of the year he was safely landed in england. "these legs of mine," said he, clapping his hands upon them as he sat in his chamber at margate, "shall never go again into holland. let the states get others to serve their mercenary turn, for me they shall not have." upon giving up the government, he caused a medal to be struck in his own honour. the device was a flock of sheep watched by an english mastiff. two mottoes--"non gregem aed ingratos," and "invitus desero"--expressed his opinion of dutch ingratitude and his own fidelity. the hollanders, on their part, struck several medals to commemorate the same event, some of which were not destitute of invention. upon one of them, for instance, was represented an ape smothering her young ones to death in her embrace, with the device, "libertas ne its chara ut simiae catuli;" while upon the reverse was a man avoiding smoke and falling into the fire, with the inscription, "fugiens fumum, incidit in ignem." leicester found the usual sunshine at greenwich. all the efforts of norris, wilkes, and buckhurst, had been insufficient to raise even a doubt in elizabeth's mind as to the wisdom and integrity by which his administration of the provinces had been characterised from beginning to end. those who had appealed from his hatred to the justice of their sovereign, had met with disgrace and chastisement. but for the great earl; the queen's favour was a rock of adamant. at a private interview he threw himself at her feet, and with tears and sobs implored her not to receive him in disgrace whom she had sent forth in honour. his blandishments prevailed, as they had always done. instead, therefore, of appearing before the council, kneeling, to answer such inquiries as ought surely to have been instituted, he took his seat boldly among his colleagues, replying haughtily to all murmurs by a reference to her majesty's secret instructions. the unhappy english soldiers, who had gone forth under his banner in midsummer, had been returning, as they best might, in winter, starving, half-naked wretches, to beg a morsel of bread at the gates of greenwich palace, and to be driven away as vagabonds, with threats of the stock. this was not the fault of the earl, for he had fed them with his own generous hand in the netherlands, week after week, when no money for their necessities could be obtained from the paymasters. two thousand pounds had been sent by elizabeth to her soldiers when sixty-four thousand pounds arrearage were due, and no language could exaggerate the misery to which these outcasts, according to eye-witnesses of their own nation, were reduced. lord willoughby was appointed to the command, of what remained of these unfortunate troops, upon--the earl's departure. the sovereignty of the netherlands remained undisputed with the states. leicester resigned his, commission by an instrument dated / december, which, however, never reached the netherlands till april of the following year. from that time forth the government of the republic maintained the same forms which the assembly had claimed for it in the long controversy with the governor-general, and which have been sufficiently described. meantime the negotiations for a treaty, no longer secret, continued. the queen; infatuated as ever, still believed in the sincerity of farnese, while that astute personage and his master were steadily maturing their schemes. a matrimonial alliance was secretly projected between the king of scots and philip's daughter, the infants isabella, with the consent of the pope and the whole college of cardinals; and james, by the whole force of the holy league, was to be placed upon the throne of elizabeth. in the case of his death, without issue, philip was to succeed quietly to the crowns of england, scotland, and ireland. nothing could be simpler or more rational, and accordingly these arrangements were the table-talk at rome, and met with general approbation. communications to this effect; coming straight from the colonna palace, were thought sufficiently circumstantial to be transmitted to the english government. maurice of nassau wrote with his own hand to walsingham, professing a warm attachment to the cause in which holland and england were united, and perfect personal devotion to the english queen. his language, was not that of a youth, who, according to leicester's repeated insinuations, was leagued with the most distinguished soldiers and statesmen of the netherlands to sell their country to spain. but elizabeth was not to be convinced. she thought it extremely probable that the provinces would be invaded, and doubtless felt some anxiety for england. it was unfortunate that the possession of sluys had given alexander such a point of vantage; and there was moreover, a fear that he might take possession of ostend. she had, therefore, already recommended that her own troops should be removed from that city, that its walls should be razed; its marine bulwarks destroyed, and that the ocean. should be let in to swallow the devoted city forever--the inhabitants having been previously allowed to take their departure. for it was assumed by her majesty that to attempt resistance would be idle, and that ostend could never stand a siege. the advice was not taken; and before the end of her reign elizabeth was destined to see this indefensible city--only fit, in her judgment, to be abandoned to the waves--become memorable; throughout all time, for the longest; and, in many respects, the most remarkable siege which modern history has recorded, the famous leaguer, in which the first european captains of the coming age were to take their lessons, year after year, in the school of the great dutch soldier, who was now but a "solemn, sly youth," just turned of twenty. the only military achievement which characterized the close of the year, to the great satisfaction of the provinces and the annoyance of parma, was the surprise of the city of bonn. the indefatigable martin schenk--in fulfilment of his great contract with the states-general, by which the war on the rhine had been farmed out to him on such profitable terms:--had led his mercenaries against this important town. he had found one of its gates somewhat insecurely guarded, placed a mortar under it at night, and occupied a neighbouring pig-stye with a number of his men, who by chasing, maltreating, and slaughtering the swine, had raised an unearthly din, sufficient to drown the martial operations at the gate. in brief, the place was easily mastered, and taken possession of by martin, in the name of the deposed elector, gebhard truchsess--the first stroke of good fortune which had for a long time befallen that melancholy prelate. the administration of leicester has been so minutely pictured, that it would be superfluous to indulge in many concluding reflections. his acts and words have been made to speak for themselves. his career in the country has been described with much detail, because the period was a great epoch of transition. the republic of the netherlands, during those years, acquired consistency and permanent form. it seemed possible, on the earl's first advent, that the provinces might become part and parcel of the english realm. whether such a consummation would have been desirable or not, is a fruitless enquiry. but it is certain that the selection of such a man as leicester made that result impossible. doubtless there were many errors committed by all parties. the queen was supposed by the netherlands to be secretly desirous of accepting the sovereignty of the provinces, provided she were made sure, by the earl's experience, that they were competent to protect themselves. but this suspicion was unfounded. the result of every investigation showed the country so full of resources, of wealth, and of military and naval capabilities, that, united with england, it would have been a source of great revenue and power, not a burthen and an expense. yet, when convinced of such facts, by the statistics which were liberally laid before her by her confidential agents, she never manifested, either in public or private, any intention of accepting the sovereignty. this being her avowed determination, it was an error on the part of the states, before becoming thoroughly acquainted with the man's character, to confer upon leicester the almost boundless authority which they granted on, his first arrival. it was a still graver mistake, on the part of elizabeth, to give way to such explosions of fury, both against the governor and the states, when informed of the offer and acceptance of that authority. the earl, elevated by the adulation of others, and by his own vanity, into an almost sovereign attitude, saw himself chastised before the world, like an aspiring lackey, by her in whose favour he had felt most secure. he found, himself, in an instant, humbled and ridiculous. between himself and the queen it was, something of a lovers' quarrel, and he soon found balsam in the hand that smote him. but though reinstated in authority, he was never again the object of reverence in the land he was attempting to rule. as he came to know the netherlanders better, he recognized the great capacity which their statesmen concealed under a plain and sometimes a plebeian exterior, and the splendid grandee hated, where at first he had only despised. the netherlanders, too, who had been used to look up almost with worship to a plain man of kindly manners, in felt hat and bargeman's woollen jacket, whom they called "father william," did not appreciate, as they ought, the magnificence of the stranger who had been sent to govern them. the earl was handsome, quick-witted, brave; but he was, neither wise in council nor capable in the field. he was intolerably arrogant, passionate, and revengeful. he hated easily, and he hated for life. it was soon obvious that no cordiality of feeling or of action could exist between him and the plain, stubborn hollanders. he had the fatal characteristic of loving only the persons who flattered him. with much perception of character, sense of humour, and appreciation of intellect, he recognized the power of the leading men in the nation, and sought to gain them. so long as he hoped success, he was loud in their praises. they were all wise, substantial, well-languaged, big fellows, such as were not to be found in england or anywhere else. when they refused to be made his tools, they became tinkers, boors, devils, and atheists. he covered them with curses and devoted them to the gibbet. he began by warmly commending buys and barneveld, hohenlo and maurice, and endowing them with every virtue. before he left the country he had accused them of every crime, and would cheerfully, if he could, have taken the life of every one of them. and it was quite the same with nearly every englishman who served with or under him. wilkes and buckhurst, however much the objects of his previous esteem; so soon as they ventured to censure or even to criticise his proceedings, were at once devoted to perdition. yet, after minute examination of the record, public and private, neither wilkes nor buckhurst can be found guilty of treachery or animosity towards him, but are proved to have been governed, in all their conduct, by a strong sense of duty to their sovereign, the netherlands, and leicester himself. to sir john norris, it must be allowed, that he was never fickle, for he had always entertained for that distinguished general an honest, unswerving, and infinite hatred, which was not susceptible of increase or diminution by any act or word. pelham, too, whose days were numbered, and who was dying bankrupt and broken-hearted, at the close of the earl's administration, had always been regarded by him with tenderness and affection. but pelham had never thwarted him, had exposed his life for him, and was always proud of being his faithful, unquestioning, humble adherent. with perhaps this single exception, leicester found himself at the end of his second term in the provinces, without a single friend and with few respectable partisans. subordinate mischievous intriguers like deventer, junius, and otheman, were his chief advisers and the instruments of his schemes. with such qualifications it was hardly possible--even if the current of affairs had been flowing smoothly--that he should prove a successful governor of the new republic. but when the numerous errors and adventitious circumstances are considered--for some of which he was responsible, while of others he was the victim--it must be esteemed fortunate that no great catastrophe occurred. his immoderate elevation; his sudden degradation, his controversy in regard to the sovereignty, his abrupt departure for england, his protracted absence, his mistimed return, the secret instructions for his second administration, the obstinate parsimony and persistent ill-temper of the queen--who, from the beginning to the end of the earl's government, never addressed a kindly word to the netherlanders, but was ever censuring and brow beating them in public state-papers and private epistles--the treason of york and stanley, above all, the disastrous and concealed negotiations with parma, and the desperate attempts upon amsterdam and leyden--all placed him in a most unfortunate position from first to last. but he was not competent for his post under any circumstances. he was not the statesman to deal in policy with buys, barneveld, ortel, sainte aldegonde; nor the soldier to measure himself against alexander farnese. his administration was a failure; and although he repeatedly hazarded his life, and poured out his wealth in their behalf with an almost unequalled liberality, he could never gain the hearts of the netherlanders. english valour, english intelligence, english truthfulness, english generosity, were endearing england more and more to holland. the statesmen of both countries were brought into closest union, and learned to appreciate and to respect each other, while they recognized that the fate of their respective commonwealths was indissolubly united. but it was to the efforts of walsingham, drake, raleigh, wilkes, buckburst, norris, willoughby, williams, vere, russell, and the brave men who fought under their banners or their counsels, on every battle-field, and in every beleaguered town in the netherlands, and to the universal spirit and sagacity of the english nation, in this grand crisis of its fate, that these fortunate results were owing; not to the earl of leicester, nor--during the term of his administration--to queen elizabeth herself. in brief, the proper sphere of this remarkable personage, and the one in which he passed the greater portion of his existence, was that of a magnificent court favourite, the spoiled darling, from youth to his death-bed, of the great english queen; whether to the advantage or not of his country and the true interests of his sovereign, there can hardly be at this day any difference of opinion. etext editor's bookmarks: act of uniformity required papists to assist as lieve see the spanish as the calvinistic inquisition elizabeth (had not) the faintest idea of religious freedom god, whose cause it was, would be pleased to give good weather heretics to the english church were persecuted look for a sharp war, or a miserable peace loving only the persons who flattered him not many more than two hundred catholics were executed only citadel against a tyrant and a conqueror was distrust stake or gallows (for) heretics to transubstantiation states were justified in their almost unlimited distrust undue anxiety for impartiality wealthy papists could obtain immunity by an enormous fine history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter xviii. part . prophecies as to the year --distracted condition of the dutch republic--willoughby reluctantly takes command--english commissioners come to ostend--secretary gamier and robert cecil-- cecil accompanies dale to ghent--and finds the desolation complete-- interview of dale and cecil with parma--his fervent expressions in favour of peace--cecil makes a tour in flanders--and sees much that is remarkable--interviews of dr. rogers with parma--wonderful harangues of the envoy--extraordinary amenity of alexander--with which rogers is much touched--the queen not pleased with her envoy-- credulity of the english commissioners--ceremonious meeting of all the envoys--consummate art in wasting time--long disputes about commissions--the spanish commissions meant to deceive--disputes about cessation of arms--spanish duplicity and procrastination-- pedantry and credulity of dr. dale--the papal bull and dr. allen's pamphlet--dale sent to ask explanations--parma denies all knowledge of either--croft believes to the last in alexander. the year had at last arrived--that fatal year concerning which the german astrologers--more than a century before had prognosticated such dire events. as the epoch approached it was firmly believed by many that the end of the world was at hand, while the least superstitious could not doubt that great calamities were impending over the nations. portents observed during the winter and in various parts of europe came to increase the prevailing panic. it rained blood in sweden, monstrous births occurred in france, and at weimar it was gravely reported by eminent chroniclers that the sun had appeared at mid-day holding a drawn sword in his mouth--a warlike portent whose meaning could not be mistaken. but, in truth, it needed no miracles nor prophecies to enforce the conviction that a long procession of disasters was steadily advancing. with france rent asunder by internal convulsions, with its imbecile king not even capable of commanding a petty faction among his own subjects, with spain the dark cause of unnumbered evils, holding italy in its grasp, firmly allied with the pope, already having reduced and nearly absorbed france, and now, after long and patient preparation, about to hurl the concentrated vengeance and hatred of long years upon the little kingdom of england, and its only ally--the just organized commonwealth of the netherlands--it would have been strange indeed if the dullest intellect had not dreamed of tragical events. it was not encouraging that there should be distraction in the counsels of the two states so immediately threatened; that the queen of england should be at variance with her wisest and most faithful statesmen as to their course of action, and that deadly quarrels should exist between the leading men of the dutch republic and the english governor, who had assumed the responsibility of directing its energies against the common enemy. the blackest night that ever descended upon the netherlands--more disappointing because succeeding a period of comparative prosperity and triumph--was the winter of - , when leicester had terminated his career by his abrupt departure for england, after his second brief attempt at administration. for it was exactly at this moment of anxious expectation, when dangers were rolling up from the south till not a ray of light or hope could pierce the universal darkness, that the little commonwealth was left without a chief. the english earl departed, shaking the dust from his feet; but he did not resign. the supreme authority--so far as he could claim it--was again transferred,--with his person, to england. the consequences were immediate and disastrous. all the leicestrians refused to obey the states-general. utrecht, the stronghold of that party, announced its unequivocal intention to annex itself, without any conditions whatever, to the english crown, while, in holland, young maurice was solemnly installed stadholder, and captain-general of the provinces, under the guidance of hohenlo and barneveld. but his authority was openly defied in many important cities within his jurisdiction by military chieftains who had taken the oaths of allegiance to leicester as governor, and who refused to renounce fidelity to the man who had deserted their country, but who had not resigned his authority. of these mutineers the most eminent was diedrich sonoy, governor of north holland, a soldier of much experience, sagacity, and courage, who had rendered great services to the cause of liberty and protestantism, and had defaced it by acts of barbarity which had made his name infamous. against this refractory chieftain it was necessary for hohenlo and maurice to lead an armed force, and to besiege him in his stronghold--the important city of medenblik--which he resolutely held for leicester, although leicester had definitely departed, and which he closed against maurice, although maurice was the only representative of order and authority within the distracted commonwealth. and thus civil war had broken out in the little scarcely-organized republic, as if there were not dangers and bloodshed enough impending over it from abroad. and the civil war was the necessary consequence of the earl's departure. the english forces--reduced as they were by sickness, famine, and abject poverty--were but a remnant of the brave and well-seasoned bands which had faced the spaniards with success on so many battle-fields. the general who now assumed chief command over them--by direction of leicester, subsequently confirmed by the queen--was lord willoughby. a daring, splendid dragoon, an honest, chivalrous, and devoted servant of his queen, a conscientious adherent of leicester, and a firm believer in his capacity and character, he was, however, not a man of sufficient experience or subtlety to perform the various tasks imposed upon him by the necessities of such a situation. quick-witted, even brilliant in intellect, and the bravest of the brave on the battle-field, he was neither a sagacious administrator nor a successful commander. and he honestly confessed his deficiencies, and disliked the post to which he had been elevated. he scorned baseness, intrigue, and petty quarrels, and he was impatient of control. testy, choleric, and quarrelsome, with a high sense of honour, and a keen perception of insult, very modest and very proud, he was not likely to feed with wholesome appetite upon the unsavoury annoyances which were the daily bread of a chief commander in the netherlands. "i ambitiously affect not high titles, but round dealing," he said; "desiring rather to be a private lance with indifferent reputation, than a colonel-general spotted or defamed with wants." he was not the politician to be matched against the unscrupulous and all-accomplished farnese; and indeed no man better than willoughby could illustrate the enormous disadvantage under which englishmen laboured at that epoch in their dealings with italians and spaniards. the profuse indulgence in falsehood which characterized southern statesmanship, was more than a match for english love of truth. english soldiers and negotiators went naked into a contest with enemies armed in a panoply of lies. it was an unequal match, as we have already seen, and as we are soon more clearly to see. how was an english soldier who valued his knightly word--how were english diplomatists--among whom one of the most famous--then a lad of twenty, secretary to lord essex in the netherlands--had poetically avowed that "simple truth was highest skill,"--to deal with the thronging spanish deceits sent northward by the great father of lies who sat in the escorial? "it were an ill lesson," said willoughby, "to teach soldiers the dissimulations of such as follow princes' courts, in italy. for my own part, it is my only end to be loyal and dutiful to my sovereign, and plain to all others that i honour. i see the finest reynard loses his best coat as well as the poorest sheep." he was also a strong leicestrian, and had imbibed much of the earl's resentment against the leading politicians of the states. willoughby was sorely in need of council. that shrewd and honest welshman--roger williams--was, for the moment, absent. another of the same race and character commanded in bergen-op-zoom, but was not more gifted with administrative talent than the general himself. "sir thomas morgan is a very sufficient, gallant gentleman," said willoughby, "and in truth a very old soldier; but we both have need of one that can both give and keep counsel better than ourselves. for action he is undoubtedly very able, if there were no other means to conquer but only to give blows." in brief, the new commander of the english forces in the netherlands was little satisfied with the states, with the enemy, or with himself; and was inclined to take but a dismal view of the disjointed commonwealth, which required so incompetent a person as he professed himself to be to set it right. "'tis a shame to show my wants," he said, "but too great a fault of duty that the queen's reputation be frustrate. what is my slender experience! what an honourable person do i succeed! what an encumbered popular state is left! what withered sinews, which it passes my cunning to restore! what an enemy in head greater than heretofore! and wherewithal should i sustain this burthen? for the wars i am fitter to obey than to command. for the state, i am a man prejudicated in their opinion, and not the better liked of them that have earnestly followed the general, and, being one that wants both opinion and experience with them i have to deal, and means to win more or to maintain that which is left, what good may be looked for?" the supreme authority--by the retirement of leicester--was once more the subject of dispute. as on his first departure, so also on this his second and final one, he had left a commission to the state-council to act as an executive body during his absence. but, although he--nominally still retained his office, in reality no man believed in his return; and the states-general were ill inclined to brook a species of guardianship over them, with which they believed themselves mature enough to dispense. moreover the state-council, composed mainly of leicestrians, would expire, by limitation of its commission, early in february of that year. the dispute for power would necessarily terminate, therefore, in favour of the states-general. meantime--while this internal revolution was taking place in the polity of the commonwealth-the gravest disturbances were its natural consequence. there were mutinies in the garrisons of heusden, of gertruydenberg, of medenblik, as alarming, and threatening to become as chronic in their character, as those extensive military rebellions which often rendered the spanish troops powerless at the most critical epochs. the cause of these mutinies was uniformly, want of pay, the pretext, the oath to the earl of leicester, which was declared incompatible with the allegiance claimed by maurice in the name of the states-general. the mutiny of gertruydenberg was destined to be protracted; that of medenblik, dividing, as it did, the little territory of holland in its very heart, it was most important at once to suppress. sonoy, however--who was so stanch a leicestrian, that his spanish contemporaries uniformly believed him to be an englishman--held out for a long time, as will be seen, against the threats and even the armed demonstrations of maurice and the states. meantime the english sovereign, persisting in her delusion, and despite the solemn warnings of her own wisest counsellors; and the passionate remonstrances of the states-general of the netherlands, sent her peace-commissioners to the duke of parma. the earl of derby, lord cobham, sir james croft, valentine dale, doctor of laws, and former ambassador at vienna, and dr. rogers, envoys on the part of the queen, arrived in the netherlands in february. the commissioners appointed on the part of farnese were count aremberg, champagny, richardot, jacob maas, and secretary garnier. if history has ever furnished a lesson, how an unscrupulous tyrant, who has determined upon enlarging his own territories at the expense of his neighbours, upon oppressing human freedom wherever it dared to manifest itself, with fine phrases of religion and order for ever in his mouth, on deceiving his friends and enemies alike, as to his nefarious and almost incredible designs, by means of perpetual and colossal falsehoods; and if such lessons deserve to be pondered, as a source of instruction and guidance for every age, then certainly the secret story of the negotiations by which the wise queen of england was beguiled, and her kingdom brought to the verge of ruin, in the spring of , is worthy of serious attention. the english commissioners arrived at ostend. with them came robert cecil, youngest son of lord-treasurer burghley, then twenty-five years of age.--he had no official capacity, but was sent by his father, that he might improve his diplomatic talents, and obtain some information as to the condition of the netherlands. a slight, crooked, hump-backed young gentleman, dwarfish in stature, but with a face not irregular in feature, and thoughtful and subtle in expression, with reddish hair, a thin tawny beard, and large, pathetic, greenish-coloured eyes, with a mind and manners already trained to courts and cabinets, and with a disposition almost ingenuous, as compared to the massive dissimulation with which it was to be contrasted, and with what was, in aftertimes, to constitute a portion of his own character, cecil, young as he was, could not be considered the least important of the envoys. the queen, who loved proper men, called him "her pigmy;" and "although," he observed with whimsical courtliness, "i may not find fault with the sporting name she gives me, yet seem i only not to mislike it, because she gives it." the strongest man among them was valentine dale, who had much shrewdness, experience, and legal learning, but who valued himself, above all things, upon his latinity. it was a consolation to him, while his adversaries were breaking priscian's head as fast as the duke, their master, was breaking his oaths, that his own syntax was as clear as his conscience. the feeblest commissioner was james-a-croft, who had already exhibited himself with very anile characteristics, and whose subsequent manifestations were to seem like dotage. doctor rogers, learned in the law, as he unquestionably was, had less skill in reading human character, or in deciphering the physiognomy of a farnese, while lord derby, every inch a grandee, with lord cobham to assist him, was not the man to cope with the astute richardot, the profound and experienced champagny, or that most voluble and most rhetorical of doctors of law, jacob maas of antwerp. the commissioners, on their arrival, were welcomed by secretary garnier, who had been sent to ostend to greet them. an adroit, pleasing, courteous gentleman, thirty-six years of age, small, handsome, and attired not quite as a soldier, nor exactly as one of the long robe, wearing a cloak furred to the knee, a cassock of black velvet, with plain gold buttons, and a gold chain about his neck, the secretary delivered handsomely the duke of parma's congratulations, recommended great expedition in the negotiations, and was then invited by the earl of derby to dine with the commissioners. he was accompanied by a servant in plain livery, who--so soon as his master had made his bow to the english envoys--had set forth for a stroll through the town. the modest-looking valet, however, was a distinguished engineer in disguise, who had been sent by alexander for the especial purpose of examining the fortifications of ostend--that town being a point much coveted, and liable to immediate attack by the spanish commander. meanwhile secretary gamier made himself very agreeable, showing wit, experience, and good education; and, after dinner, was accompanied to his lodgings by dr. rogers and other gentlemen, with whom--especially with cecil--he held much conversation. knowing that this young gentleman "wanted not an honourable father," the secretary was very desirous that he should take this opportunity to make a tour through the provinces, examine the cities, and especially "note the miserable ruins of the poor country and people." he would then feelingly perceive how much they had to answer for, whose mad rebellion against their sovereign lord and master had caused so great an effusion of blood, and the wide desolation of such goodly towns and territories. cecil probably entertained a suspicion that the sovereign lord and master, who had been employed, twenty years long, in butchering his subjects and in ravaging their territory to feed his executioners and soldiers, might almost be justified in treating human beings as beasts and reptiles, if they had not at last rebelled. he simply and diplomatically answered, however, that he could not but concur with the secretary in lamenting the misery of the provinces and people so utterly despoiled and ruined, but, as it might be matter of dispute; "from what head this fountain of calamity was both fed and derived, he would not enter further therein, it being a matter much too high for his capacity." he expressed also the hope that the king's heart might sympathize with that of her majesty, in earnest compassion for all this suffering, and in determination to compound their differences. on the following day there was some conversation with gamier, on preliminary and formal matters, followed in the evening by a dinner at lord cobham's lodgings--a banquet which the forlorn condition of the country scarcely permitted to be luxurious. "we rather pray here for satiety," said cecil, "than ever think of variety." it was hoped by the englishmen that the secretary would take his departure after dinner; for the governor of ostend, sir john conway, had an uneasy sensation, during his visit, that the unsatisfactory condition of the defences would attract his attention, and that a sudden attack by farnese might be the result. sir john was not aware however, of the minute and scientific observations then making at the very moment when mr. garnier was entertaining the commissioners with his witty and instructive conversation--by the unobtrusive menial who had accompanied the secretary to ostend. in order that those observations might be as thorough as possible, rather than with any view to ostensible business, the envoy of parma now declared that--on account of the unfavourable state of the tide--he had resolved to pass another night at ostend. "we could have spared his company," said cecil, "but their lordships considered it convenient that he should be used well." so mr. comptroller croft gave the affable secretary a dinner-invitation for the following day. here certainly was a masterly commencement on the part of the spanish diplomatists. there was not one stroke of business during the visit of the secretary. he had been sent simply to convey a formal greeting, and to take the names of the english commissioners--a matter which could have been done in an hour as well as in a week. but it must be remembered, that, at that very moment, the duke was daily expecting intelligence of the sailing of the armada, and that philip, on his part, supposed the duke already in england, at the head of his army. under these circumstances, therefore--when the whole object of the negotiation, so far as parma and his master were, concerned, was to amuse and to gain time--it was already ingenious in garnier to have consumed several days in doing nothing; and to have obtained plans and descriptions of ostend into the bargain. garnier--when his departure could no longer, on any pretext, be deferred--took his leave, once more warmly urging robert cecil to make a little tour in the obedient netherlands, and to satisfy himself, by personal observation, of their miserable condition. as dr. dale purposed making a preliminary visit to the duke of parma at ghent, it was determined accordingly that he should be accompanied by cecil. that young gentleman had already been much impressed by the forlorn aspect of the country about ostend--for, although the town was itself in possession of the english, it was in the midst of the enemy's territory. since the fall of sluys the spaniards were masters of all flanders, save this one much-coveted point. and although the queen had been disposed to abandon that city, and to suffer the ocean to overwhelm it, rather than that she should be at charges to defend it, yet its possession was of vital consequence to the english-dutch cause, as time was ultimately to show. meanwhile the position was already a very important one, for--according to the predatory system of warfare of the day--it was an excellent starting-point for those marauding expeditions against persons and property, in which neither the dutch nor english were less skilled than the flemings or spaniards. "the land all about here," said cecil, "is so devastated, that where the open country was wont to be covered with kine and sheep, it is now fuller of wild boars and wolves; whereof many come so nigh the town that the sentinels--three of whom watch every night upon a sand-hill outside the gates--have had them in a dark night upon them ere they were aware." but the garrison of ostend was quite as dangerous to the peasants and the country squires of flanders, as were the wolves or wild boars; and many a pacific individual of retired habits, and with a remnant of property worth a ransom, was doomed to see himself whisked from his seclusion by conway's troopers, and made a compulsory guest at the city. prisoners were brought in from a distance of sixty miles; and there was one old gentlemen, "well-languaged," who "confessed merrily to cecil, that when the soldiers fetched him out of his own mansion-house, sitting safe in his study, he was as little in fear of the garrison of ostend as he was of the turk or the devil." [and doctor rogers held very similar language: "the most dolorous and heavy sights in this voyage to ghent, by me weighed," he said; "seeing the countries which, heretofore; by traffic of merchants, as much as any other i have seen flourish, now partly drowned, and, except certain great cities, wholly burned, ruined, and desolate, possessed i say, with wolves, wild boars, and foxes--a great, testimony of the wrath of god," &c. &c. dr. rogers to the queen,- april, . (s. p. office ms.)] three days after the departure of garnier, dr. dale and his attendants started upon their expedition from ostend to ghent--an hour's journey or so in these modern times.--the english envoys, in the sixteenth century, found it a more formidable undertaking. they were many hours traversing the four miles to oudenburg, their first halting-place; for the waters were out, there having been a great breach of the sea-dyke of ostend, a disaster threatening destruction to town and country. at oudenburg, a "small and wretched hole," as garnier had described it to be, there was, however, a garrison of three thousand spanish soldiers, under the marquis de renti. from these a convoy of fifty troopers was appointed to protect the english travellers to bruges. here they arrived at three o'clock, were met outside the gates by the famous general la motte, and by him escorted to their lodgings in the "english house," and afterwards handsomely entertained at supper in his own quarters. the general's wife; madame de la motte, was, according to cecil, "a fair gentlewoman of discreet and modest behaviour, and yet not unwilling sometimes to hear herself speak;" so that in her society, and in that of her sister--"a nun of the order of the mounts, but who, like the rest of the sisterhood, wore an ordinary dress in the evening, and might leave the convent if asked in marriage"--the supper passed off very agreeably. in the evening cecil found that his father had formerly occupied the same bedroom of the english hotel in which he was then lodged; for he found that lord burghley had scrawled his name in the chimney-corner--a fact which was highly gratifying to the son. the next morning, at seven o'clock, the travellers set forth for ghent. the journey was a miserable one. it was as cold and gloomy weather as even a flemish month of march could furnish. a drizzling rain was falling all day long, the lanes were foul and miry, the frequent thickets which overhung their path were swarming with the freebooters of zeeland, who were "ever at hand," says cecil, "to have picked our purses, but that they descried our convoy, and so saved themselves in the woods." sitting on horseback ten hours without alighting, under such circumstances as these, was not luxurious for a fragile little gentleman like queen elizabeth's "pigmy;" especially as dr. dale and himself had only half a red herring between them for luncheon, and supped afterwards upon an orange. the envoy protested that when they could get a couple of eggs a piece, while travelling in flanders, "they thought they fared like princes." nevertheless cecil and himself fought it out manfully, and when they reached ghent, at five in the evening, they were met by their acquaintance garnier, and escorted to their lodgings. here they were waited upon by president richardot, "a tall gentleman," on behalf of the duke of parma, and then left to their much-needed repose. nothing could be more forlorn than the country of the obedient netherlands, through which their day's journey had led them. desolation had been the reward of obedience. "the misery of the inhabitants," said cecil, "is incredible, both without the town, where all things are wasted, houses spoiled, and grounds unlaboured, and also, even in these great cities, where they are for the most part poor beggars even in the fairest houses." and all this human wretchedness was the elaborate work of one man--one dull, heartless bigot, living, far away, a life of laborious ease and solemn sensuality; and, in reality, almost as much removed from these fellow-creatures of his, whom he called his subjects, as if he had been the inhabitant of another planet. has history many more instructive warnings against the horrors of arbitrary government--against the folly of mankind in ever tolerating the rule of a single irresponsible individual, than the lesson furnished by the life-work of that crowned criminal, philip the second? the longing for peace on the part of these unfortunate obedient flemings was intense. incessant cries for peace reached the ears of the envoys on every side. alas, it would have been better for these peace-wishers, had they stood side by side with their brethren, the noble hollanders and zeelanders, when they had been wresting, if not peace, yet independence and liberty, from philip, with their own right hands. now the obedient flemings were but fuel for the vast flame which the monarch was kindling for the destruction of christendom--if all christendom were not willing to accept his absolute dominion. the burgomasters of ghent--of ghent, once the powerful, the industrious, the opulent, the free, of all cities in the world now the most abject and forlorn--came in the morning to wait upon elizabeth's envoy, and to present him, according to ancient custom, with some flasks of wine. they came with tears streaming down their cheeks, earnestly expressing the desire of their hearts for peace, and their joy that at least it had now "begun to be thought on." "it is quite true," replied dr. dale, "that her excellent majesty the queen--filled with compassion for your condition, and having been informed that the duke of parma is desirous of peace--has vouchsafed to make this overture. if it take not the desired effect, let not the blame rest upon her, but upon her adversaries." to these words the magistrates all said amen, and invoked blessings on her majesty. and most certainly, elizabeth was sincerely desirous of peace; even at greater sacrifices than the duke could well have imagined; but there was something almost diabolic in the cold dissimulation by which her honest compassion was mocked, and the tears of a whole people in its agony made the laughingstock of a despot and his tools. on saturday morning, richardot and garnier waited upon the envoy to escort him to the presence of the duke. cecil, who accompanied him, was not much impressed with the grandeur of alexander's lodgings; and made unfavourable and rather unreasonable comparisons between them and the splendour of elizabeth's court. they passed through an ante-chamber into a dining-room, thence into an inner chamber, and next into the duke's room. in the ante-chamber stood sir william stanley, the deventer traitor, conversing with one mockett, an englishman, long resident in flanders. stanley was meanly dressed, in the spanish fashion, and as young cecil, passing through the chamber, looked him in the face, he abruptly turned from him, and pulled his hat over his eyes. "'twas well he did so," said that young gentleman, "for his taking it off would hardly have cost me mine." cecil was informed that stanley was to have a commandery of malta, and was in good favour with the duke, who was, however, quite weary of his mutinous and disorderly irish regiment. in the bed-chamber, farnese--accompanied by the marquis del guasto, the marquis of renty, the prince of aremberg, president richardot, and secretary cosimo--received the envoy and his companion. "small and mean was the furniture of the chamber," said cecil; "and although they attribute this to his love of privacy, yet it is a sign that peace is the mother of all honour and state, as may best be perceived by the court of england, which her majesty's royal presence doth so adorn, as that it exceedeth this as far as the sun surpasseth in light the other stars of the firmament." here was a compliment to the queen and her upholsterers drawn in by the ears. certainly, if the first and best fruit of the much-longed-for peace were only to improve the furniture of royal and ducal apartments, it might be as well perhaps for the war to go on, while the queen continued to outshine all the stars in the firmament. but the budding courtier and statesman knew that a personal compliment to elizabeth could never be amiss or ill-timed. the envoy delivered the greetings of her majesty to the duke, and was heard with great attention. alexander attempted a reply in french, which was very imperfect, and, apologizing, exchanged that tongue for italian. he alluded with great fervour to the "honourable opinion concerning his sincerity and word," expressed to him by her majesty, through the mouth of her envoy. "and indeed," said he, "i have always had especial care of keeping my word. my body and service are at the commandment of the king, my lord and master, but my honour is my own, and her majesty may be assured that i shall always have especial regard of my word to so great and famous a queen as her majesty." the visit was one of preliminaries and of ceremony. nevertheless farnese found opportunity to impress the envoy and his companions with his sincerity of heart. he conversed much with cecil, making particular and personal inquiries, and with appearance of deep interest, in regard to queen elizabeth. "there is not a prince in the world--" he said, "reserving all question between her majesty and my royal master--to whom i desire more to do service. so much have i heard of her perfections, that i wish earnestly that things might so fall out, as that it might be my fortune to look upon her face before my return to my own country. yet i desire to behold her, not as a servant to him who is not able still to maintain war, or as one that feared any harm that might befall him; for in such matters my account was made long ago, to endure all which god may send. but, in truth, i am weary to behold the miserable estate of this people, fallen upon them through their own folly, and methinks that he who should do the best offices of peace would perform a 'pium et sanctissimum opus.' right glad am i that the queen is not behind me in zeal for peace." he then complimented cecil in regard to his father, whom he understood to be the principal mover in these negotiations. the young man expressed his thanks, and especially for the good affection which the duke had manifested to the queen and in the blessed cause of peace. he was well aware that her majesty esteemed him a prince of great honour and virtue, and that for this good work, thus auspiciously begun, no man could possibly doubt that her majesty, like himself, was most zealously affected to bring all things to a perfect peace. the matters discussed in this first interview were only in regard to the place to be appointed for the coming conferences, and the exchange of powers. the queen's commissioners had expected to treat at ostend. alexander, on the contrary, was unable to listen to such a suggestion, as it would be utter dereliction of his master's dignity to send envoys to a city of his own, now in hostile occupation by her majesty's forces. the place of conference, therefore, would be matter of future consideration. in respect to the exchange of powers, alexander expressed the hope that no man would doubt as to the production on his commissioners' part of ample authority both from himself and from the king. yet it will be remembered, that, at this moment, the duke had not only no powers from the king, but that philip had most expressly refused to send a commission, and that he fully expected the negotiation to be superseded by the invasion, before the production of the powers should become indispensable. and when farnese was speaking thus fervently in favour of peace, and parading his word and his honour, the letters lay in his cabinet in that very room, in which philip expressed his conviction that his general was already in london, that the whole realm of england was already at the mercy of a spanish soldiery, and that the queen, upon whose perfection alexander had so long yearned to gaze, was a discrowned captive, entirely in her great enemy's power. thus ended the preliminary interview. on the following monday, th march, dr. dale and his attendants made the best of their way back to ostend, while young cecil, with a safe conduct from champagny, set forth on a little tour in flanders. the journey from ghent to antwerp was easy, and he was agreeably surprised by the apparent prosperity of the country. at intervals of every few miles; he was refreshed with the spectacle of a gibbet well garnished with dangling freebooters; and rejoiced, therefore, in comparative security. for it seemed that the energetic bailiff of waasland had levied a contribution upon the proprietors of the country, to be expended mainly in hanging brigands; and so well had the funds been applied, that no predatory bands could make their appearance but they were instantly pursued by soldiers, and hanged forthwith, without judge or trial. cecil counted twelve such places of execution on his road between ghent and antwerp. on his journey he fell in with an italian merchant,--lanfranchi by name, of a great commercial house in antwerp, in the days when antwerp had commerce, and by him, on his arrival the same evening in that town, he was made an honoured guest, both for his father's sake and his queen's. "'tis the pleasantest city that ever i saw," said cecil, "for situation and building; but utterly left and abandoned now by those rich merchants that were wont to frequent the place." his host was much interested in the peace-negotiations, and indeed, through his relations with champagny and andreas de loo, had been one of the instruments by which it had been commenced. he inveighed bitterly against the spanish captains and soldiers, to whose rapacity and ferocity he mainly ascribed the continuance of the war;--and he was especially incensed with stanley and other--english renegades, who were thought fiercer haters of england than were the spaniards themselves: even in the desolate and abject condition of antwerp and its neighbourhood, at that moment, the quick eye of cecil detected the latent signs of a possible splendour. should peace be restored, the territory once more be tilled, and the foreign merchants attracted thither again, he believed that the governor of the obedient netherlands might live there in more magnificence than the king of spain himself, exhausted as were his revenues by the enormous expense of this protracted war: eight hundred thousand dollars monthly; so lanfranchi informed cecil, were the costs of the forces on the footing then established. this, however, was probably an exaggeration, for the royal account books showed a less formidable sum, although a sufficiently large one to appal a less obstinate bigot than philip. but what to him were the ruin of the netherlands; the impoverishment of spain, and the downfall of her ancient grandeur compared to the glory of establishing the inquisition in england and holland? while at dinner in lanfranchi's house; cecil was witness to another characteristic of the times, and one which afforded proof of even more formidable freebooters abroad than those for whom the bailiff of waasland had erected his gibbets. a canal-boat had left antwerp for brussels that morning, and in the vicinity of the latter city had been set upon by a detachment from the english garrison of bergen-op-zoom, and captured, with twelve prisoners and a freight of , florins in money. "this struck the company at the dinner-table all in a dump;" said cecil. and well it might; for the property mainly belonged to themselves, and they forthwith did their best to have the marauders waylaid on their return. but cecil, notwithstanding his gratitude for the hospitality of lanfranchi, sent word next day to the garrison of bergen of the designs against them, and on his arrival at the place had the satisfaction of being informed by lord willoughby that the party had got safe home with their plunder. "and, well worthy they are of it," said young robert, "considering how far they go for it." the traveller, on, leaving antwerp, proceeded down the river to bergen-op-zoom, where he was hospitably entertained by that doughty old soldier sir william reade, and met lord willoughby, whom he accompanied to brielle on a visit to the deposed elector truchsess, then living in that neighbourhood. cecil--who was not passion's slave--had small sympathy with the man who could lose a sovereignty for the sake of agnes mansfeld. "'tis a very goodly gentleman," said he, "well fashioned, and of good speech, for which i must rather praise him than for loving a wife better than so great a fortune as he lost by her occasion." at brielle he was handsomely entertained by the magistrates, who had agreeable recollections of his brother thomas, late governor of that city. thence he proceeded by way of delft--which, like all english travellers, he described as "the finest built town that ever he saw"--to the hague, and thence to fushing, and so back by sea to ostend.--he had made the most of his three weeks' tour, had seen many important towns both in the republic and in the obedient netherlands, and had conversed with many "tall gentlemen," as he expressed himself, among the english commanders, having been especially impressed by the heroes of sluys, baskerville and that "proper gentleman francis vere." he was also presented by lord willoughby to maurice of nassau, and was perhaps not very benignantly received by the young prince. at that particular moment, when leicester's deferred resignation, the rebellion of sonoy in north holland, founded on a fictitious allegiance to the late governor-general, the perverse determination of the queen to treat for peace against the advice of all the leading statesmen of the netherlands, and the sharp rebukes perpetually administered by her, in consequence, to the young stadholder and all his supporters, had not tended to produce the most tender feelings upon their part towards the english government, it was not surprising that the handsome soldier should look askance at the crooked little courtier, whom even the great queen smiled at while she petted him. cecil was very angry with maurice. "in my life i never saw worse behaviour," he said, "except it were in one lately come from school. there is neither outward appearance in him of any noble mind nor inward virtue." although cecil had consumed nearly the whole month of march in his tour, he had been more profitably employed than were the royal commissioners during the same period at ostend. never did statesmen know better how not to do that which they were ostensibly occupied in doing than alexander farnese and his agents, champagny, richardot, jacob maas, and gamier. the first pretext by which much time was cleverly consumed was the dispute as to the place of meeting. doctor dale had already expressed his desire for ostend as the place of colloquy. "'tis a very slow old gentleman, this doctor dale," said alexander; "he was here in the time of madam my mother, and has also been ambassador at vienna. i have received him and his attendants with great courtesy, and held out great hopes of peace. we had conversations about the place of meeting. he wishes ostend: i object. the first conference will probably be at some point between that place and newport." the next opportunity for discussion and delay was afforded by the question of powers. and it must be ever borne in mind that alexander was daily expecting the arrival of the invading fleets and armies of spain, and was holding himself in readiness to place himself at their head for the conquest of england. this was, of course, so strenuously denied by himself and those under his influence, that queen elizabeth implicitly. believed him, burghley was lost in doubt, and even the astute walsingham began to distrust his own senses. so much strength does a falsehood acquire in determined and skilful hands. "as to the commissions, it will be absolutely necessary for, your majesty to send them," wrote alexander at the moment when he was receiving the english envoy at ghent, "for unless the armada arrive soon--it will be indispensable for me, to have them, in order to keep the negotiation alive. of course they will never broach the principal matters without exhibition of powers. richardot is aware of the secret which your majesty confided to me, namely, that the negotiations are only intended to deceive the queen and to gain time for the fleet; but the powers must be sent in order that we may be able to produce them; although your secret intentions will be obeyed." the duke commented, however, on the extreme difficulty of carrying out the plan, as originally proposed. "the conquest of england would have been difficult," he said, "even although the country had been taken by surprise. now they are strong and armed; we are comparatively weak. the danger and the doubt are great; and the english deputies, i think, are really desirous of peace. nevertheless i am at your majesty's disposition--life and all--and probably, before the answer arrives to this letter, the fleet will have arrived, and i shall have undertaken the passage to england." after three weeks had thus adroitly been frittered away, the english commissioners became somewhat impatient, and despatched doctor rogers to the duke at ghent. this was extremely obliging upon their part, for if valentine dale were a "slow old gentleman," he was keen, caustic, and rapid, as compared to john rogers. a formalist and a pedant, a man of red tape and routine, full of precedents and declamatory commonplaces which he mistook for eloquence, honest as daylight and tedious as a king, he was just the time-consumer for alexander's purpose. the wily italian listened with profound attention to the wise saws in which the excellent diplomatist revelled, and his fine eyes often filled with tears at the doctor's rhetoric. three interviews--each three mortal hours long--did the two indulge in at ghent, and never, was high-commissioner better satisfied with himself than was john rogers upon those occasions. he carried every point; he convinced, he softened, he captivated the great duke; he turned the great duke round his finger. the great duke smiled, or wept, or fell into his arms, by turns. alexander's military exploits had rung through the world, his genius for diplomacy and statesmanship had never been disputed; but his talents as a light comedian were, in these interviews, for the first time fully revealed. on the th march the learned doctor made his first bow and performed his first flourish of compliments at ghent. "i assure your majesty," said he, "his highness followed my compliments of entertainment with so much honour, as that--his highness or i, speaking of the queen of england--he never did less than uncover his head; not covering the same, unless i was covered also." and after these salutations had at last been got through with, thus spake the doctor of laws to the duke of parma:-- "almighty god, the light of lights, be pleased to enlighten the understanding of your alteza, and to direct the same to his glory, to the uniting of both their majesties and the finishing of these most bloody wars, whereby these countries, being in the highest degree of misery desolate, lie as it were prostrate before the wrathful presence of the most mighty god, most lamentably beseeching his divine majesty to withdraw his scourge of war from them, and to move the hearts of princes to restore them unto peace, whereby they might attain unto their ancient flower and dignity. into the hands of your alteza are now the lives of many thousands, the destruction of cities, towns, and countries, which to put to the fortune of war how perilous it were, i pray consider. think ye, ye see the mothers left alive tendering their offspring in your presence, 'nam matribus detestata bells,'" continued the orator. "think also of others of all sexes, ages, and conditions, on their knees before your alteza, most humbly praying and crying most dolorously to spare their lives, and save their property from the ensanguined scourge of the insane soldiers," and so on, and so on. now philip ii. was slow in resolving, slower in action. the ponderous three-deckers of biscay were notoriously the dullest sailers ever known, nor were the fettered slaves who rowed the great galleys of portugal or of andalusia very brisk in their movements; and yet the king might have found time to marshal his ideas and his squadrons, and the armada had leisure to circumnavigate the globe and invade england afterwards, if a succession of john rogerses could have entertained his highness with compliments while the preparations were making. but alexander--at the very outset of the doctor's eloquence--found it difficult to suppress his feelings. "i can assure your majesty," said rogers, "that his eyes--he has a very large eye--were moistened. sometimes they were thrown upward to heaven, sometimes they were fixed full upon me, sometimes they were cast downward, well declaring how his heart was affected." honest john even thought it necessary to mitigate the effect of his rhetoric, and to assure his highness that it was, after all, only he doctor rogers, and not the minister plenipotentiary of the queen's most serene majesty, who was exciting all this emotion. "at this part of my speech," said he, "i prayed his highness not to be troubled, for that the same only proceeded from doctor rogers, who, it might please him to know, was so much moved with the pitiful case of these countries, as also that which of war was sure to ensue, that i wished, if my body were full of rivers of blood, the same to be poured forth to satisfy any that were blood-thirsty, so there might an assured peace follow." his highness, at any rate, manifesting no wish to drink of such sanguinary streams--even had the doctor's body contained them--rogers became calmer. he then descended from rhetoric to jurisprudence and casuistry, and argued at intolerable length the propriety of commencing the conferences at ostend, and of exhibiting mutually the commissions. it is quite unnecessary to follow him as closely as did farnese. when he had finished the first part of his oration, however, and was "addressing himself to the second point," alexander at last interrupted the torrent of his eloquence. "he said that my divisions and subdivisions," wrote the doctor, "were perfectly in his remembrance, and that he would first answer the first point, and afterwards give audience to the second, and answer the same accordingly." accordingly alexander put on his hat, and begged the envoy also to be covered. then, "with great gravity, as one inwardly much moved," the duke took up his part in the dialogue. "signor ruggieri," said he, "you have propounded unto me speeches of two sorts: the one proceeds from doctor ruggieri, the other from the lord ambassador of the most serene queen of england. touching the first, i do give you my hearty thanks for your godly speeches, assuring you that though, by reason i have always followed the wars, i cannot be ignorant of the calamities by you alleged, yet you have so truly represented the same before mine eyes as to effectuate in me at this instant, not only the confirmation of mine own disposition to have peace, but also an assurance that this treaty shall take good and speedy end, seeing that it hath pleased god to raise up such a good instrument as you are." "many are the causes," continued the duke, "which, besides my disposition, move me to peace. my father and mother are dead; my son is a young prince; my house has truly need of my presence. i am not ignorant how ticklish a thing is the fortune of war, which--how victorious soever i have been--may in one moment not only deface the same, but also deprive me of my life. the king, my master, is now, stricken in years, his children are young, his dominions in trouble. his desire is to live, and to leave his posterity in quietness. the glory of god, the honor of both their majesties, and the good of these countries, with the stay of the effusion of christian blood, and divers other like reasons, force him to peace." thus spoke alexander, like an honest christian gentleman, avowing the most equitable and pacific dispositions on the part of his master and himself. yet at that moment he knew that the armada was about to sail, that his own nights and days were passed in active preparations for war, and that no earthly power could move philip by one hair's-breadth from his purpose to conquer england that summer. it would be superfluous to follow the duke or the doctor through their long dialogue on the place of conference, and the commissions. alexander considered it "infamy" on his name if he should send envoys to a place of his master's held by the enemy. he was also of opinion that it was unheard of to exhibit commissions previous to a preliminary colloquy. both propositions were strenuously contested by rogers. in regard to the second point in particular, he showed triumphantly, by citations from the "polonians, prussians, and lithuanians," that commissions ought to be previously exhibited. but it was not probable that even the doctor's learning and logic would persuade alexander to produce his commission; because, unfortunately, he had no commission to produce. a comfortable argument on the subject, however, would, none the less, consume time. three hours of this work brought them, exhausted and hungry; to the hour of noon and of dinner alexander, with profuse and smiling thanks for the envoy's plain dealing and eloquence, assured him that there would have been peace long ago "had doctor rogers always been the instrument," and regretted that he was himself not learned enough to deal creditably with him. he would, however, send richardot to bear him company at table, and chop logic with him afterwards. next day, at the same, hour, the duke and doctor had another encounter. so soon as the envoy made his appearance, he found himself "embraced most cheerfully and familiarly by his alteza," who, then entering at once into business, asked as to the doctor's second point. the doctor answered with great alacrity. "certain expressions have been reported to her majesty," said he, "as coming both from your highness and from richardot, hinting at a possible attempt by the king of spain's forces against the queen. her majesty, gathering that you are going about belike to terrify her, commands me to inform you very clearly and very expressly that she does not deal so weakly in her government, nor so improvidently, but that she is provided for anything that might be attempted against her by the king, and as able to offend him as he her majesty." alexander--with a sad countenance, as much offended, his eyes declaring miscontentment--asked who had made such a report. "upon the honour of a gentleman," said he, "whoever has said this has much abused me, and evil acquitted himself. they who know me best are aware that it is not my manner to let any word pass my lips that might offend any prince." then, speaking most solemnly, he added, "i declare really and truly (which two words he said in spanish), that i know not of any intention of the king of spain against her majesty or her realm." at that moment the earth did not open--year of portents though it was--and the doctor, "singularly rejoicing" at this authentic information from the highest source, proceeded cheerfully with the conversation. "i hold myself," he exclaimed, "the man most satisfied in the world, because i may now write to her majesty that i have heard your highness upon your honour use these words." "upon my honour, it is true," repeated the duke; "for so honourably do i think of her majesty, as that, after the king, my master, i would honour and serve her before any prince in christendom." he added many earnest asseverations of similar import. "i do not deny, however," continued alexander, "that i have heard of certain ships having been armed by the king against that draak"--he pronounced the "a" in drake's name very broadly, or "doric"--"who has committed so many outrages; but i repeat that i have never heard of any design against her majesty or against england." the duke then manifested much anxiety to know by whom he had been so misrepresented. "there has been no one with me but dr. dale," said, he, "and i marvel that he should thus wantonly have injured me." "dr. dale," replied ropers, "is a man of honour, of good years, learned, and well experienced; but perhaps he unfortunately misapprehended some of your alteza's words, and thought himself bound by his allegiance strictly to report them to her majesty." "i grieve that i should be misrepresented and injured," answered farnese, "in a manner so important to my honour. nevertheless, knowing the virtues with which her majesty is endued, i assure myself that the protestations i am now making will entirely satisfy her." he then expressed the fervent hope that the holy work of negotiation now commencing would result in a renewal of the ancient friendship between the houses of burgundy and of england, asserting that "there had never been so favourable a time as the present." under former governments of the netherlands there had been many mistakes and misunderstandings. "the duke of alva," said he, "has learned by this time, before the judgment-seat of god, how he discharged his functions, succeeding as he did my mother, the duchess of parma who left the provinces in so flourishing a condition. of this, however, i will say no more, because of a feud between the houses of farnese and of alva. as for requesens, he was a good fellow, but didn't understand his business. don john of austria again, whose soul i doubt not is in heaven, was young and poor, and disappointed in all his designs; but god has never offered so great a hope of assured peace as might now be accomplished by her majesty." finding the duke in so fervent and favourable a state of mind, the envoy renewed his demand that at least the first meeting of the commissioners might be held at ostend. "her majesty finds herself so touched in honour upon this point, that if it be not conceded--as i doubt not it will be, seeing the singular forwardness of your highness"--said the artful doctor with a smile, "we are no less than commanded to return to her majesty's presence." "i sent richardot to you yesterday," said alexander; "did he not content you?" "your highness, no," replied ropers. "moreover her majesty sent me to your alteza, and not to richardot. and the matter is of such importance that i pray you to add to all your graces and favours heaped upon me, this one of sending your commissioners to ostend." his highness could hold out no longer; but suddenly catching the doctor in his arms, and hugging him "in most honourable and amiable manner," he cried-- "be contented, be cheerful; my lord ambassador. you shall be satisfied upon this point also." "and never did envoy depart;" cried the lord ambassador, when he could get his breath, "more bound to you; and more resolute to speak honour of your highness than i do." "to-morrow we will ride together towards bruges;" said the duke, in conclusion. "till then farewell." upon, this he again heartily embraced the envoy, and the friends parted for the day. next morning; th march, the duke, who was on his way to bruges and sluys to look after his gun-boats, and, other naval, and military preparations, set forth on horseback, accompanied by the marquis del vasto, and, for part of the way, by rogers. they conversed on the general topics of the approaching negotiations; the duke, expressing the opinion that the treaty of peace would be made short work with; for it only needed to renew the old ones between the houses of england and burgundy. as for the hollanders and zeelanders, and their accomplices, he thought there would be no cause of stay on their account; and in regard to the cautionary towns he felt sure that her majesty had never had any intention of appropriating them to herself, and would willingly surrender them to the king. rogers thought it a good opportunity to put in a word for the dutchmen; who certainly, would not have thanked him for his assistance at that moment. "not, to give offence to your highness," he said, "if the hollanders and zeelanders, with their confederates, like to come into this treaty, surely your highness would not object?" alexander, who had been riding along quietly during this conversation; with his right, hand, on, his hip, now threw out his arm energetically: "let them come into it; let them treat, let them conclude," he exclaimed, "in the name of almighty god! i have always been well disposed to peace, and am now more so than ever. i could even, with the loss of my life, be content to have peace made at this time." nothing more, worthy of commemoration, occurred during this concluding interview; and the envoy took his leave at bruges, and returned to ostend. i have furnished the reader with a minute account of these conversations, drawn entirely, from the original records; not so much because the interviews were in themselves of vital importance; but because they afford a living and breathing example--better than a thousand homilies--of the easy victory which diplomatic or royal mendacity may always obtain over innocence and credulity. certainly never was envoy more thoroughly beguiled than the excellent john upon this occasion. wiser than a serpent, as he imagined himself to be, more harmless than a dove; as alexander found him, he could not, sufficiently congratulate himself upon the triumphs of his eloquence and his adroitness; and despatched most glowing accounts of his proceedings to the queen. his ardour was somewhat damped, however, at receiving a message from her majesty in reply, which was anything but benignant. his eloquence was not commended; and even his preamble, with its touching allusion to the live mothers tendering their offspring--the passage: which had brought the tears into the large eyes of alexander--was coldly and cruelly censured. "her majesty can in no sort like such speeches"--so ran the return-despatch--"in which she is made to beg for peace. the king of spain standeth in as great need of peace as her self; and she doth greatly mislike the preamble of dr. rogers in his address to the duke at ghent, finding it, in very truth quite fond and vain. i am commanded by a particular letter to let him understand how much her majesty is offended with him." alexander, on his part, informed his royal master of these interviews, in which there had been so much effusion of sentiment, in very brief fashion. "dr. rogers, one of the queen's commissioners, has been here," he said, "urging me with all his might to let all your majesty's deputies go, if only for one hour, to ostend. i refused, saying, i would rather they should go to england than into a city of your majesty held by english troops. i told him it ought to be satisfactory that i had offered the queen, as a lady, her choice of any place in the provinces, or on neutral ground. rogers expressed regret for all the bloodshed and other consequences if the negotiations should fall through for so trifling a cause; the more so as in return for this little compliment to the queen she would not only restore to your majesty everything that she holds in the netherlands, but would assist you to recover the part which remains obstinate. to quiet him and to consume time, i have promised that president richardot shall go and try to satisfy them. thus two or three weeks more will be wasted. but at last the time will come for exhibiting the powers. they are very anxious to see mine; and when at last they find i have none, i fear that they will break off the negotiations." could the queen have been informed of this voluntary offer on the part of her envoy to give up the cautionary towns, and to assist in reducing the rebellion, she might have used stronger language of rebuke. it is quite possible, however, that farnese--not so attentively following the doctor's eloquence as he had appeared to do-had somewhat inaccurately reported the conversations, which, after all, he knew to be of no consequence whatever, except as time-consumers. for elizabeth, desirous of peace as she was, and trusting to farnese's sincerity as she was disposed to do, was more sensitive than ever as to her dignity. "we charge you all," she wrote with her own hand to the commissioners, "that no word he overslipt by them, that may, touch our honour and greatness, that be not answered with good sharp words. i am a king that will be ever known not to fear any but god." it would have been better, however, had the queen more thoroughly understood that the day for scolding had quite gone by, and that something sharper than the sharpest words would soon be wanted to protect england and herself from impending doom. for there was something almost gigantic in the frivolities with which weeks and months of such precious time were now squandered. plenary powers--"commission bastantissima"--from his sovereign had been announced by alexander as in his possession; although the reader has seen that he had no such powers at all. the mission of rogers had quieted the envoys at ostend for a time, and they waited quietly for the visit of richardot to ostend, into which the promised meeting of all the spanish commissioners in that city had dwindled. meantime there was an exchange of the most friendly amenities between the english and their mortal enemies. hardly a day passed that la motte, or renty, or aremberg, did not send lord derby, or cobham, or robert cecil, a hare, or a pheasant, or a cast of hawks, and they in return sent barrel upon barrel of ostend oysters, five or six hundred at a time. the englishmen, too; had it in their power to gratify alexander himself with english greyhounds, for which he had a special liking. "you would wonder," wrote cecil to his father, "how fond he is of english dogs." there was also much good preaching among other occupations, at ostend. "my lord of derby's two chaplains," said cecil, "have seasoned this town better with sermons than it had been before for a year's apace." but all this did not expedite the negotiations, nor did the duke manifest so much anxiety for colloquies as for greyhounds. so, in an unlucky hour for himself, another "fond and vain" old gentleman--james croft, the comptroller who had already figured, not much to his credit, in the secret negotiations between the brussels and english courts--betook himself, unauthorized and alone; to the duke at bruges. here he had an interview very similar in character to that in which john rogers had been indulged, declared to farnese that the queen was most anxious for peace, and invited him to send a secret envoy to england, who would instantly have ocular demonstration of the fact. croft returned as triumphantly as the excellent doctor had done; averring that there was no doubt as to the immediate conclusion of a treaty. his grounds of belief were very similar to those upon which rogers had founded his faith. "tis a weak old man of seventy," said parma, "with very little sagacity. i am inclined to think that his colleagues are taking him in, that they may the better deceive us. i will see that they do nothing of the kind." but the movement was purely one of the comptroller's own inspiration; for sir james had a singular facility for getting himself into trouble, and for making confusion. already, when he had been scarcely a day in ostend, he had insulted the governor of the place, sir john conway, had given him the lie in the hearing of many of his own soldiers, had gone about telling all the world that he had express authority from her majesty to send him home in disgrace, and that the queen had called him a fool, and quite unfit for his post. and as if this had not been mischief-making enough, in addition to the absurd de loo and bodman negotiations of the previous year, in which he had been the principal actor, he had crowned his absurdities by this secret and officious visit to ghent. the queen, naturally very indignant at this conduct, reprehended him severely, and ordered him back to england. the comptroller was wretched. he expressed his readiness to obey her commands, but nevertheless implored his dread sovereign to take merciful consideration of the manifold misfortunes, ruin, and utter undoing, which thereby should fall upon him and his unfortunate family. all this he protested he would "nothing esteem if it tended to her majesty's pleasure or service," but seeing it should effectuate nothing but to bring the aged carcase of her poor vassal to present decay, he implored compassion upon his hoary hairs, and promised to repair the error of his former proceedings. he avowed that he would not have ventured to disobey for a moment her orders to return, but "that his aged and feeble limbs did not retain sufficient force, without present death, to comply with her commandment." and with that he took to his bed, and remained there until the queen was graciously pleased to grant him her pardon. at last, early in may--instead of the visit of richardot--there was a preliminary meeting of all the commissioners in tents on the sands; within a cannon-shot of ostend, and between that place and newport. it was a showy and ceremonious interview, in which no business was transacted. the commissioners of philip were attended by a body of one hundred and fifty light horse, and by three hundred private gentlemen in magnificent costume. la motte also came from newport with one thousand walloon cavalry while the english commissioners, on their part were escorted from ostend by an imposing array of english and dutch troops.' as the territory was spanish; the dignity of the king was supposed to be preserved, and alexander, who had promised dr. rogers that the first interview should take place within ostend itself, thought it necessary to apologize to his sovereign for so nearly keeping his word as to send the envoys within cannon-shot of the town. "the english commissioners," said he, "begged with so much submission for this concession, that i thought it as well to grant it." the spanish envoys were despatched by the duke of parma, well provided with full powers for himself, which were not desired by the english government, but unfurnished with a commission from philip, which had been pronounced indispensable. there was, therefore, much prancing of cavalry, flourishing of trumpets, and eating of oysters; at the first conference, but not one stroke of business. as the english envoys had now been three whole months in ostend, and as this was the first occasion on which they had been brought face to face with the spanish commissioners, it must be confessed that the tactics of farnese had been masterly. had the haste in the dock-yards of lisbon and cadiz been at all equal to the magnificent procrastination in the council-chambers of bruges and ghent, medina sidonia might already have been in the thames. but although little ostensible business was performed, there was one man who had always an eye to his work. the same servant in plain livery, who had accompanied secretary garnier, on his first visit to the english commissioners at ostend, had now come thither again, accompanied by a fellow-lackey. while the complimentary dinner, offered in the name of the absent farnese to the queen's representatives, was going forward, the two menials strayed off together to the downs, for the purpose of rabbit-shooting. the one of them was the same engineer who had already, on the former occasion, taken a complete survey of the fortifications of ostend; the other was no less a personage than the duke of parma himself. the pair now made a thorough examination of the town and its neighbourhood, and, having finished their reconnoitring, made the best of their way back to bruges. as it was then one of alexander's favourite objects to reduce the city of ostend, at the earliest possible moment, it must be allowed that this preliminary conference was not so barren to himself as it was to the commissioners. philip, when informed of this manoeuvre, was naturally gratified at such masterly duplicity, while he gently rebuked his nephew for exposing his valuable life; and certainly it would have been an inglorious termination to the duke's splendid career; had he been hanged as a spy within the trenches of ostend. with the other details of this first diplomatic colloquy philip was delighted. "i see you understand me thoroughly," he said. "keep the negotiation alive till my armada appears, and then carry out my determination, and replant the catholic religion on the soil of england." the queen was not in such high spirits. she was losing her temper very fast, as she became more and more convinced that she had been trifled with. no powers had been yet exhibited, no permanent place of conference fixed upon, and the cessation of arms demanded by her commissioners for england, spain, and all the netherlands, was absolutely refused. she desired her commissioners to inform the duke of parma that it greatly touched his honour--as both before their coming and afterwards, he had assured her that he had 'comision bastantissima' from his sovereign--to clear himself at once from the imputation of insincerity. "let not the duke think," she wrote with her own hand, "that we would so long time endure these many frivolous and unkindly dealings, but that we desire all the world to know our desire of a kingly peace, and that we will endure no more the like, nor any, but will return you from your charge." accordingly--by her majesty's special command--dr. dale made another visit to bruges, to discover, once for all, whether there was a commission from philip or not; and, if so, to see it with his own eyes. on the th may he had an interview with the duke. after thanking his highness for the honourable and stately manner in which the conferences had been, inaugurated near ostend, dale laid very plainly before him her majesty's complaints of the tergiversations and equivocations concerning the commission, which had now lasted three months long. in answer, alexander made a complimentary harangue; confining himself entirely to the first part of the envoy's address, and assuring him in redundant phraseology, that he should hold himself very guilty before the world, if he had not surrounded the first colloquy between the plenipotentiaries of two such mighty princes, with as much pomp as the circumstances of time and place would allow. after this superfluous rhetoric had been poured forth, he calmly dismissed the topic which dr. dale had come all the way from. ostend to discuss, by carelessly observing that president richardot would confer with him on the subject of the commission. "but," said the envoy, "tis no matter of conference or dispute. i desire simply to see the commission." "richardot and champagny shall deal with you in the afternoon," repeated alexander; and with this reply, the doctor was fair to be contented. dale then alluded to the point of cessation of arms. "although," said he, "the queen might justly require that the cessation should be general for all the king's dominion, yet in order not to stand on precise points, she is content that it should extend no further than to the towns of flushing; brief, ostend, and bergen-op-zoom." "to this he said nothing," wrote the envoy, "and so i went no further." in the afternoon dale had conference with champagny and richardot. as usual, champagny was bound hand and foot by the gout, but was as quick-witted and disputatious as ever. again dale made an earnest harangue, proving satisfactorily--as if any proof were necessary on such a point--that a commission from philip ought to be produced, and that a commission had been promised, over and over again. after a pause, both the representatives of parma began to wrangle with the envoy in very insolent fashion. "richardot is always their mouth-piece," said dale, "only champagny choppeth in at every word, and would do so likewise in ours if we would suffer it." "we shall never have done with these impertinent demands," said the president. "you ought to be satisfied with the duke's promise of ratification contained in his commission. we confess what you say concerning the former requisitions and promises to be true, but when will you have done? have we not showed it to mr. croft, one of your own colleagues? and if we show it you now, another may come to-morrow, and so we shall never have an end." "the delays come from yourselves," roundly replied the englishman, "for you refuse to do what in reason and law you are bound to do. and the more demands the more 'mora aut potius culpa' in you. you, of all men, have least cause to hold such language, who so confidently and even disdainfully answered our demand for the commission, in mr. cecil's presence, and promised to show a perfect one at the very first meeting. as for mr. comptroller croft, he came hither without the command of her majesty and without the knowledge of his colleagues." richardot then began to insinuate that, as croft had come without authority, so--for aught they could tell--might dale also. but champagny here interrupted, protested that the president was going too far, and begged him to show the commission without further argument. upon this richardot pulled out the commission from under his gown, and placed it in dr. dale's hands! it was dated th april, , signed and sealed by the king, and written in french, and was to the effect, that as there had been differences between her majesty and himself; as her majesty had sent ambassadors into the netherlands, as the duke of parma had entered into treaty with her majesty, therefore the king authorised the duke to appoint commissioners to treat, conclude, and determine all controversies and misunderstandings, confirmed any such appointments already made, and promised to ratify all that might be done by them in the premises.' dr. dale expressed his satisfaction with the tenor of this document, and begged to be furnished with a copy of it, but his was peremptorily refused. there was then a long conversation--ending, as usual, in nothing--on the two other points, the place for the conferences, namely, and the cessation of arms. nest morning dale, in taking leave of the duke of parma, expressed the gratification which he felt, and which her majesty was sure to feel at the production of the commission. it was now proved, said the envoy, that the king was as earnestly in favour of peace as the duke was himself. dale then returned, well satisfied, to ostend. in truth the commission had arrived just in time. "had i not received it soon enough to produce it then," said alexander, "the queen would have broken off the negotiations. so i ordered richardot, who is quite aware of your majesty's secret intentions, from which we shall not swerve one jot, to show it privately to croft, and afterwards to dr. dale, but without allowing a copy of it to be taken." "you have done very well," replied philip, "but that commission is, on no account, to be used, except for show. you know my mind thoroughly." thus three months had been consumed, and at last one indispensable preliminary to any negotiation had, in appearance, been performed. full powers on both sides had been exhibited. when the queen of england gave the earl of derby and his colleagues commission to treat with the king's envoys, and pledged herself beforehand to, ratify all their proceedings, she meant to perform the promise to which she had affixed her royal name and seal. she could not know that the spanish monarch was deliberately putting his name to a lie, and chuckling in secret over the credulity of his english sister, who was willing to take his word and his bond. of a certainty the english were no match for southern diplomacy. but elizabeth was now more impatient than ever that the other two preliminaries should be settled, the place of conferences, and the armistice. "be plain with the duke," she wrote to her envoys, "that we have tolerated so many weeks in tarrying a commission, that i will never endure more delays. let him know he deals with a prince who prizes her honour more than her life: make yourselves such as stand of your reputations." sharp words, but not sharp enough to prevent a further delay of a month; for it was not till the th june that the commissioners at last came together at bourbourg, that "miserable little hole," on the coast between ostend and newport, against which gamier had warned them. and now there was ample opportunity to wrangle at full length on the next preliminary, the cessation of arms. it would be superfluous to follow the altercations step by step--for negotiations there were none--and it is only for the sake of exhibiting at full length the infamy of diplomacy, when diplomacy is unaccompanied by honesty, that we are hanging up this series of pictures at all. those bloodless encounters between credulity and vanity upon one side, and gigantic fraud on the other, near those very sands of newport, and in sight of the northern ocean, where, before long, the most terrible battles, both by land and sea, which the age had yet witnessed, were to occur, are quite as full of instruction and moral as the most sanguinary combats ever waged. at last the commissioners exchanged copies of their respective powers. after four months of waiting and wrangling, so much had been achieved--a show of commissions and a selection of the place for conference. and now began the long debate about the cessation of arms. the english claimed an armistice for the whole dominion of philip and elizabeth respectively, during the term of negotiation, and for twenty days after. the spanish would grant only a temporary truce, terminable at six days' notice, and that only for the four cautionary towns of holland held by the queen. thus philip would be free to invade england at his leisure out of the obedient netherlands or spain. this was inadmissible, of course, but a week was spent at the outset in reducing the terms to writing; and when the duke's propositions were at last produced in the french tongue, they were refused by the queen's commissioners, who required that the documents should be in latin. great was the triumph of dr. dale, when, after another interval, he found their latin full of barbarisms and blunders, at which a school-boy would have blushed. the king's commissioners, however, while halting in their syntax, had kept steadily to their point. "you promised a general cessation of aims at our coming," said dale, at a conference on the / june, "and now ye have lingered five times twenty days, and nothing done at all. the world may see the delays come of you and not of us, and that ye are not so desirous of peace as ye pretend." "but as far your invasion of england," stoutly observed the earl of derby, "ye shall find it hot coming thither. england was never so ready in any former age,--neither by sea nor by land; but we would show your unreasonableness in proposing a cessation of arms by which ye would bind her majesty to forbear touching all the low countries, and yet leave yourselves at liberty to invade england." while they were thus disputing, secretary gamier rushed into the room, looking very much frightened, and announced that lord henry seymour's fleet of thirty-two ships of war was riding off gravelines, and that he had sent two men on shore who were now waiting in the ante-chamber. the men being accordingly admitted, handed letters to the english commissioners from lord henry, in which he begged to be informed in what terms they were standing, and whether they needed his assistance or countenance in the cause in which they were engaged. the envoys found his presence very "comfortable," as it showed the spanish commissioners that her majesty was so well provided as to make a cessation of arms less necessary to her than it was to the king. they therefore sent their thanks to the lord admiral, begging him to cruise for a time off dunkirk and its neighbourhood, that both their enemies and their friends might have a sight of the english ships. great was the panic all along the coast at this unexpected demonstration. the king's commissioners got into their coaches, and drove down to the coast to look at the fleet, and--so soon as they appeared--were received with such a thundering cannonade an hour long, by way of salute, as to convince them, in the opinion of the english envoys, that the queen had no cause to be afraid of any enemies afloat or ashore. but these noisy arguments were not much more effective than the interchange of diplomatic broadsides which they had for a moment superseded. the day had gone by for blank cartridges and empty protocols. nevertheless lord henry's harmless thunder was answered, the next day, by a "quintuplication" in worse latin than ever, presented to dr. dale and his colleagues by richardot and champagny, on the subject of the armistice. and then there was a return quintuplication, in choice latin, by the classic dale, and then there was a colloquy on the quintuplication, and everything that had been charged, and truly charged, by the english; was now denied by the king's commissioners; and champagny--more gouty and more irascible than ever--"chopped in" at every word spoken by king's envoys or queen's, contradicted everybody, repudiated everything said or done by andrew de loo, or any of the other secret negotiators during the past year, declared that there never had been a general cessation of arms promised, and that, at any rate, times were now changed, and such an armistice was inadmissible! then the english answered with equal impatience, and reproached the king's representatives with duplicity and want of faith, and censured them for their unseemly language, and begged to inform champagny and richardot that they had not then to deal with such persons as they might formerly have been in the habit of treating withal, but with a "great prince who did justify the honour of her actions," and they confuted the positions now assumed by their opponents with official documents and former statements from those very opponents' lips. and then, after all this diplomatic and rhetorical splutter, the high commissioners recovered their temper and grew more polite, and the king's "envoys excused themselves in a mild, merry manner," for the rudeness of their speeches, and the queen's envoys accepted their apologies with majestic urbanity, and so they separated for the day in a more friendly manner than they had done the day before.' "you see to what a scholar's shift we have been driven for want of resolution," said valentine dale. "if we should linger here until there should be broken heads, in what case we should be god knoweth. for i can trust champagny and richardot no farther than i can see them." and so the whole month of june passed by; the english commissioners "leaving no stone unturned to get a quiet cessation of arms in general terms," and being constantly foiled; yet perpetually kept in hope that the point would soon be carried. at the same time the signs of the approaching invasion seemed to thicken. "in my opinion," said dale, "as phormio spake in matters of wars, it were very requisite that my lord harry should be always on this coast, for they will steal out from hence as closely as they can, either to join with the spanish navy or to land, and they may be very easily scattered, by god's grace." and, with the honest pride of a protocol-maker, he added, "our postulates do trouble the king's commissioners very much, and do bring them to despair." the excellent doctor had not even yet discovered that the king's commissioners were delighted with his postulates; and that to have kept them postulating thus five months in succession, while naval and military preparations were slowly bringing forth a great event--which was soon to strike them with as much amazement as if the moon had fallen out of heaven--was one of the most decisive triumphs ever achieved by spanish diplomacy. but the doctor thought that his logic had driven the king of spain to despair. at the same time he was not insensible to the merits of another and more peremptory style of rhetoric,--"i pray you," said he to walsingham, "let us hear some arguments from my lord harry out of her majesty's navy now and then. i think they will do more good than any bolt that we can shoot here. if they be met with at their going out, there is no possibility for them to make any resistance, having so few men that can abide the sea; for the rest, as you know, must be sea-sick at first." but the envoys were completely puzzled. even at the beginning of july, sir james croft was quite convinced of the innocence of the king and the duke; but croft was in his dotage. as for dale, he occasionally opened his eyes, and his ears, but more commonly kept them well closed to the significance of passing events; and consoled himself with his protocols and his classics, and the purity of his own latin. "'tis a very wise saying of terence," said he, "omnibus nobis ut res dant sese; ita magni aut humiles sumus.' when the king's commissioners hear of the king's navy from spain, they are in such jollity that they talk loud. . . . in the mean time--as the wife of bath sath in chaucer by her husband, we owe them not a word. if we should die tomorrow; i hope her majesty will find by our writings that the honour of the cause, in the opinion of the world, must be with her majesty; and that her commissioners are, neither of such imperfection in their reasons, or so barbarous in language, as they who fail not, almost in every line, of some barbarism not to be borne in a grammar-school, although in subtleness and impudent affirming of untruths and denying of truths, her commissioners are not in any respect to match with champagny and richardot, who are doctors in that faculty." it might perhaps prove a matter of indifference to elizabeth and to england, when the queen should be a state-prisoner in spain and the inquisition quietly established in her kingdom, whether the world should admit or not, in case of his decease, the superiority of dr. dale's logic and latin to those of his antagonists. and even if mankind conceded the best of the argument to the english diplomatists, that diplomacy might seem worthless which could be blind to the colossal falsehoods growing daily before its eyes. had the commissioners been able to read the secret correspondence between parma and his master--as we have had the opportunity of doing--they would certainly not have left their homes in february, to be made fools of until july; but would, on their knees, have implored their royal mistress to awake from her fatal delusion before it should be too late. even without that advantage, it seems incredible that they should have been unable to pierce through the atmosphere of duplicity which surrounded them, and to obtain one clear glimpse of the destruction so, steadily advancing upon england. for the famous bull of sixtus v. had now been fulminated. elizabeth had bean again denounced as a bastard and usurper, and her kingdom had been solemnly conferred upon philip, with title of defender of the christian, faith, to have and to hold as tributary and feudatory of rome. the so-called queen had usurped the crown contrary to the ancient treaties between the apostolic stool and the kingdom of england, which country, on its reconciliation with the head of the church after the death of st. thomas of canterbury, had recognised the necessity of the pope's consent in the succession to its throne; she had deserved chastisement for the terrible tortures inflicted by her upon english catholics and god's own saints; and it was declared an act of virtue, to be repaid with plenary indulgence and forgiveness of all sins, to lay violent hands on the usurper, and deliver her into the hands of the catholic party. and of the holy league against the usurper, philip was appointed the head, and alexander of parma chief commander. this document was published in large numbers in antwerp in the english tongue. the pamphlet of dr. allen, just named cardinal, was also translated in the same city, under the direction of the duke of parma, in-order to be distributed throughout england, on the arrival in that kingdom of the catholic troops. the well-known 'admonition to the nobility and people of england and ireland' accused the queen of every crime and vice which can pollute humanity; and was filled with foul details unfit for the public eye in these more decent days. so soon as the intelligence of these publications reached england, the queen ordered her commissioners at bourbourg to take instant cognizance of them, and to obtain a categorical explanation on the subject from alexander himself: as if an explanation were possible, as if the designs of sixtus, philip, and alexander, could any longer be doubted, and as if the duke were more likely now than before to make a succinct statement of them for the benefit of her majesty. "having discovered," wrote elizabeth on the th july (n.s.), "that this treaty of peace is entertained only to abuse us, and being many ways given to understand that the preparations which have so long been making, and which now are consummated, both in spain and the low countries, are purposely to be employed against us and our country; finding that, for the furtherance of these exploits, there is ready to be published a vile, slanderous, and blasphemous book, containing as many lies as lines, entitled, 'an admonition,' &c., and contrived by a lewd born-subject of ours, now become an arrant traitor, named dr. allen, lately made, a cardinal at rome; as also a bull of the pope, whereof we send you a copy, both very lately brought into those low countries, the one whereof is already printed at antwerp, in a great multitude; in the english tongue, and the other ordered to be printed, only to stir up our subjects, contrary to the laws of god and their allegiance, to join with such foreign purposes as are prepared against us and our realm, to come out of those low countries and out of spain; and as it appears by the said bull that the duke of parma is expressly named and chosen by the pope and the king of spain to be principal executioner of these intended enterprises, we cannot think it honourable for us to continue longer the treaty of peace with them that, under colour of treaty, arm themselves with all the power they can to a bloody war." accordingly the queen commanded dr. dale, as one of the commissioners, to proceed forthwith to the duke, in order to obtain explanations as to his contemplated conquest of her realm, and as to his share in the publication of the bull and pamphlet, and to "require him, as he would be accounted a prince of honour, to let her plainly understand what she might think thereof." the envoy was to assure him that the queen would trust implicitly to his statement, to adjure him to declare the truth, and, in case he avowed the publications and the belligerent intentions suspected, to demand instant safe-conduct to england for her commissioners, who would, of course, instantly leave the netherlands. on the other hand, if the duke disavowed those infamous documents, he was to be requested to punish the printers, and have the books burned by the hangman? dr. dale, although suffering from cholic, was obliged to set forth, at once upon what he felt would be a bootless journey. at his return--which was upon the nd of july (n.s.)the shrewd old gentleman had nearly arrived at the opinion that her majesty might as well break off the negotiations. he had a "comfortless voyage and a ticklish message;" found all along the road signs of an approaching enterprise, difficult to be mistaken; reported , veteran spaniards, to which force stanley's regiment was united; italians, germans, all with pikes, corselets, and slash swords complete; besides , walloons. the transports for the cavalry at gravelingen he did not see, nor was he much impressed with what he heard as to the magnitude of the naval preparations at newport. he was informed that the duke was about making a foot-pilgrimage from brussels to our lady of halle, to implore victory for his banners, and had daily evidence of the soldier's expectation to invade and to "devour england." all this had not tended to cure him of the low spirits with which he began the journey. nevertheless, although he was unable--as will be seen--to report an entirely satisfactory answer from farnese to the queen upon the momentous questions entrusted to him, he, at least, thought of a choice passage in 'the aeneid,' so very apt to the circumstances, as almost to console him for the "pangs of his cholic" and the terrors of the approaching invasion. "i have written two or three verses out of virgil for the queen to read," said he, "which i pray your lordship to present unto her. god grant her to weigh them. if your lordship do read the whole discourse of virgil in that place, it will make your heart melt. observe the report of the ambassadors that were sent to diomedes to make war against the trojans, for the old hatred that he, being a grecian, did bear unto them; and note the answer of diomedes dissuading them from entering into war with the trojans, the perplexity of the king, the miseries of the country, the reasons of drances that spake against them which would have war, the violent persuasions of turnus to war; and note, i pray you; one word, 'nec te ullius violentia frangat.' what a lecture could i make with mr. cecil upon that passage in virgil!" the most important point for the reader to remark is the date of this letter. it was received in the very last days of the month of july. let him observe--as he will soon have occasion to do--the events which were occurring on land and sea, exactly at the moment when this classic despatch reached its destination, and judge whether the hearts of the queen and lord burghley would be then quite at leisure to melt at the sorrows of the trojan war. perhaps the doings of drake and howard, medina sidonia, and ricalde, would be pressing as much on their attention as the eloquence of diomede or the wrath of turnus. yet it may be doubted whether the reports of these grecian envoys might not in truth, be almost as much to the purpose as the despatches of the diplomatic pedant, with his virgil and his cholic, into whose hands grave matters of peace and war were entrusted in what seemed the day of england's doom. "what a lecture i could make with mr. cecil on the subject!--" an english ambassador, at the court of philip ii.'s viceroy, could indulge himself in imaginary prelections on the aeneid, in the last days of july, of the year of our lord ! the doctor, however--to do him justice--had put the questions categorically, to his highness as he had been instructed to do. he went to bruges so mysteriously; that no living man, that side the sea, save lord derby and lord cobham, knew the cause of his journey. poor-puzzling james croft, in particular, was moved almost to tears, by being kept out of the secret. on the / july dale had audience of the duke at bruges. after a few commonplaces, he was invited by the duke to state what special purpose had brought him to bruges. "there is a book printed at antwerp," said dale, "and set forth by a fugitive from england, who calleth himself a cardinal." upon this the duke began diligently to listen. "this book," resumed dale, "is an admonition to the nobility and people of england and ireland touching the execution of the sentence of the pope against the queen which the king catholic hath entrusted to your highness as chief of the enterprise. there is also a bull of the pope declaring my sovereign mistress illegitimate and an usurper, with other matters too odious for any prince or gentleman to name or hear. in this bull the pope saith that he hath dealt with the most catholic king to employ all the means in his power to the deprivation and deposition of my sovereign, and doth charge her subjects to assist the army appointed by the king catholic for that purpose, under the conduct of your highness. therefore her majesty would be satisfied from your highness in that point, and will take satisfaction of none other; not doubting but that as you are a prince of word and credit; you will deal plainly with her majesty. whatsoever it may be, her majesty will not take it amiss against your highness, so she may only be informed by you of the truth. wherefore i do require you to satisfy the queen." "i am glad," replied the duke, "that her majesty and her commissioners do take in good part my good-will towards them. i am especially touched by the good opinion her majesty hath of my sincerity, which i should be glad always to maintain. as to the book to which you refer, i have never read it, nor seen it, nor do i take heed of it. it may well be that her majesty, whom it concerneth, should take notice of it; but, for my part, i have nought to do with it, nor can i prevent men from writing or printing at their pleasure. i am at the commandment of my master only." as alexander made no reference to the pope's bull, dr. dale observed, that if a war had been, of purpose, undertaken at the instance of the pope, all this negotiation had been in vain, and her majesty would be obliged to withdraw her commissioners, not doubting that they would receive safe-conduct as occasion should require. "yea, god forbid else," replied alexander; "and further, i know nothing of any bull of the pope, nor do i care for any, nor do i undertake anything for him. but as for any misunderstanding (mal entendu) between my master and her majesty, i must, as a soldier, act at the command of my sovereign. for my part, i have always had such respect for her majesty, being so noble a queen, as that i would never hearken to anything that might be reproachful to her. after my master, i would do most to serve your queen, and i hope she will take my word for her satisfaction on that point. and for avoiding of bloodshed and the burning of houses and such other calamities as do follow the wars, i have been a petitioner to my sovereign that all things might be ended quietly by a peace. that is a thing, however," added the duke; "which you have more cause to desire than we; for if the king my master, should lose a battle, he would be able to recover it well enough, without harm to himself, being far enough off in spain, while, if the battle be lost on your side, you may lose kingdom and all." "by god's sufferance," rejoined the doctor, "her majesty is not without means to defend her crown, that hath descended to her from so long a succession of ancestors. moreover your highness knows very well that one battle cannot conquer a kingdom in another country." "well," said the duke, "that is in god's hand." "so it is," said the doctor. "but make an end of it," continued alexander quietly, "and if you have anything to put into writing; you will do me a pleasure by sending it to me." dr. valentine dale was not the man to resist the temptation to make a protocol, and promised one for the next day. "i am charged only to give your highness satisfaction," he said, "as to her majesty's sincere intentions, which have already been published to the world in english, french, and italian, in the hope that you may also satisfy the queen upon this other point. i am but one of her commissioners, and could not deal without my colleagues. i crave leave to depart to-morrow morning, and with safe-convoy, as i had in coming." after the envoy had taken leave, the duke summoned andrea de loo, and related to him the conversation which had taken place. he then, in the presence of that personage, again declared--upon his honour and with very constant affirmations, that he had never seen nor heard of the book--the 'admonition' by cardinal allen--and that he knew nothing of any bull, and had no regard to it.' the plausible andrew accompanied the doctor to his lodgings, protesting all the way of his own and his master's sincerity, and of their unequivocal intentions to conclude a peace. the next day the doctor, by agreement, brought a most able protocol of demands in the name of all the commissioners of her majesty; which able protocol the duke did not at that moment read, which he assuredly never read subsequently, and which no human soul ever read afterwards. let the dust lie upon it, and upon all the vast heaps of protocols raised mountains high during the spring and summer of . "dr. dale has been with me two or three, times," said parma, in giving his account of these interviews to philip. "i don't know why he came, but i think he wished to make it appear, by coming to bruges, that the rupture, when it occurs, was caused by us, not by the english. he has been complaining of cardinal allen's book, and i told him that i didn't understand a word of english, and knew nothing whatever of the matter." it has been already seen that the duke had declared, on his word of honour, that he had never heard of the famous pamphlet. yet at that very moment letters were lying in his cabinet, received more than a fortnight before from philip, in which that monarch thanked alexander for having had the cardinal's book translated at antwerp! certainly few english diplomatists could be a match for a highness so liberal of his word of honour. but even dr. dale had at last convinced himself--even although the duke knew nothing of bull or pamphlet--that mischief was brewing against england. the sagacious man, having seen large bodies of spaniards and walloons making such demonstrations of eagerness to be led against his country, and "professing it as openly as if they were going to a fair or market," while even alexander himself could "no more hide it than did henry viii. when he went to boulogne," could not help suspecting something amiss. his colleague, however, comptroller croft, was more judicious, for he valued himself on taking a sound, temperate, and conciliatory view of affairs. he was not the man to offend a magnanimous neighbour--who meant nothing unfriendly by regarding his manoeuvres with superfluous suspicion. so this envoy wrote to lord burghley on the nd august (n.s.)--let the reader mark the date--that, "although a great doubt had been conceived as to the king's sincerity, . . . . yet that discretion and experience induced him--the envoy--to think, that besides the reverent opinion to be had of princes' oaths, and the general incommodity which will come by the contrary, god had so balanced princes' powers in that age, as they rather desire to assure themselves at home, than with danger to invade their neighbours." perhaps the mariners of england--at that very instant exchanging broadsides off the coast of devon and dorset with the spanish armada, and doing their best to protect their native land from the most horrible calamity which had ever impended over it--had arrived at a less reverent opinion of princes' oaths; and it was well for england in that supreme hour that there were such men as howard and drake, and winter and frobisher, and a whole people with hearts of oak to defend her, while bungling diplomatists and credulous dotards were doing their best to imperil her existence. etext editor's bookmarks: bungling diplomatists and credulous dotards fitter to obey than to command full of precedents and declamatory commonplaces i am a king that will be ever known not to fear any but god infamy of diplomacy, when diplomacy is unaccompanied by honesty mendacity may always obtain over innocence and credulity never did statesmen know better how not to do pray here for satiety, (said cecil) than ever think of variety simple truth was highest skill strength does a falsehood acquire in determined and skilful hand that crowned criminal, philip the second history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter xviii. part . dangerous discord in north holland--leicester's resignation arrives --enmity of willoughby and maurice--willoughby's dark picture of affairs--hatred between states and leicestrians--maurice's answer to the queen's charges--end of sonoy's rebellion--philip foments the civil war in france--league's threats and plots against henry--mucio arrives in paris--he is received with enthusiasm--the king flies, and spain triumphs in paris--states expostulate with the queen-- english statesmen still deceived--deputies from netherland churches --hold conference with the queen--and present long memorials--more conversations with the queen--national spirit of england and holland--dissatisfaction with queen's course--bitter complaints of lord howard--want of preparation in army and navy--sanguine statements of leicester--activity of parma--the painful suspense continues. but it is necessary-in order to obtain a complete picture of that famous year , and to understand the cause from which such great events were springing--to cast a glance at the internal politics of the states most involved in philip's meshes. certainly, if there had ever been a time when the new commonwealth of the netherlands should be both united in itself and on thoroughly friendly terms with england, it was exactly that epoch of which we are treating. there could be no reasonable doubt that the designs of spain against england were hostile, and against holland revengeful. it was at least possible that philip meant to undertake the conquest of england, and to undertake it as a stepping-stone to the conquest of holland. both the kingdom and the republic should have been alert, armed, full of suspicion towards the common foe, full of confidence in each other. what decisive blows might have been struck against parma in the netherlands, when his troops were starving, sickly, and mutinous, if the hollanders and englishmen had been united under one chieftain, and thoroughly convinced of the impossibility of peace! could the english and dutch statesmen of that day have read all the secrets of their great enemy's heart, as it is our privilege at this hour to do, they would have known that in sudden and deadly strokes lay their best chance of salvation. but, without that advantage, there were men whose sagacity told them that it was the hour for deeds and not for dreams. for to leicester and walsingham, as well as to paul buys and barneveld, peace with spain seemed an idle vision. it was unfortunate that they were overruled by queen elizabeth and burghley, who still clung to that delusion; it was still more disastrous that the intrigues of leicester had done so much to paralyze the republic; it was almost fatal that his departure, without laying down his authority, had given the signal for civil war. during the winter, spring, and summer of , while the duke--in the face of mighty obstacles--was slowly proceeding with his preparations in flanders, to co-operate with the armaments from spain, it would have been possible by a combined movement to destroy his whole plan, to liberate all the netherlands, and to avert, by one great effort, the ruin impending over england. instead of such vigorous action, it was thought wiser to send commissioners, to make protocols, to ask for armistices, to give profusely to the enemy that which he was most in need of--time. meanwhile the hollanders and english could quarrel comfortably among themselves, and the little republic, for want of a legal head, could come as near as possible to its dissolution. young maurice--deep thinker for his years and peremptory in action--was not the man to see his great father's life-work annihilated before his eyes, so long as he had an arm and brain of his own. he accepted his position at the head of the government of holland and zeeland, and as chief of the war-party. the council of state, mainly composed of leicester's creatures, whose commissions would soon expire by their own limitation, could offer but a feeble resistance to such determined individuals as maurice, buys, and barneveld. the party made rapid progress. on the other hand, the english leicestrians did their best to foment discord in the provinces. sonoy was sustained in his rebellion in north holland, not only by the earl's partizans, but by elizabeth herself. her rebukes to maurice, when maurice was pursuing the only course which seemed to him consistent with honour and sound policy, were sharper than a sword. well might duplessis mornay observe, that the commonwealth had been rather strangled than embraced by the english queen. sonoy, in the name of leicester, took arms against maurice and the states; maurice marched against him; and lord willoughby, commander-in-chief of the english forces, was anxious to march against maurice. it was a spectacle to make angels weep, that of englishmen and hollanders preparing to cut each other's throats, at the moment when philip and parma were bending all their energies to crush england and holland at once. indeed, the interregnum between the departure of leicester and his abdication was diligently employed by his more reckless partizans to defeat and destroy the authority of the states. by prolonging the interval, it was hoped that no government would be possible except the arbitrary rule of the earl, or of a successor with similar views: for a republic--a free commonwealth--was thought an absurdity. to entrust supreme power to advocates; merchants, and mechanics, seemed as hopeless as it was vulgar. willoughby; much devoted to leicester and much detesting barneveld, had small scruple in fanning the flames of discord. there was open mutiny against the states by the garrison of gertruydenberg, and willoughby's brother-in-law, captain wingfield, commanded in gertruydenberg. there were rebellious demonstrations in naarden, and willoughby went to naarden. the garrison was troublesome, but most of the magistrates were firm. so willoughby supped with the burgomasters, and found that paul buys had been setting the people against queen elizabeth, leicester, and the whole english nation, making them all odious. colonel dorp said openly that it was a shame for the country to refuse their own natural-born count for strangers. he swore that he would sing his song whose bread he had eaten. a "fat militia captain" of the place, one soyssons, on the other hand, privately informed willoughby that maurice and barneveld were treating underhand with spain. willoughby was inclined to believe the calumny, but feared that his corpulent friend would lose his head for reporting it. meantime the english commander did his best to strengthen the english party in their rebellion against the states. "but how if they make war upon us?" asked the leicestrians. "it is very likely," replied willoughby, "that if they use violence you will have her majesty's assistance, and then you who continue constant to the end will be rewarded accordingly. moreover, who would not rather be a horse-keeper to her majesty, than a captain to barneveld or buys?" when at last the resignation of leicester--presented to the states by killegrew on the st march--seemed to promise comparative repose to the republic, the vexation of the leicestrians was intense. their efforts to effect a dissolution of the government had been rendered unsuccessful, when success seemed within their grasp. "albeit what is once executed cannot be prevented," said captain champernoun; "yet 'tis thought certain that if the resignation of lord leicester's commission had been deferred yet some little time; the whole country and towns would have so revolted and mutinied against the government and authority of the states, as that they should have had no more credit given them by the people than pleased her majesty. most part of the people could see--in consequence of the troubles, discontent, mutiny of garrisons, and the like, that it was most necessary for the good success of their affairs that the power of the states should be abolished, and the whole government of his excellency erected. as these matters were busily working into the likelihood of some good effect, came the resignation of his excellency's commission and authority, which so dashed the proceedings of it, as that all people and commanders well affected unto her majesty and my lord of leicester are utterly discouraged. the states, with their adherents, before they had any lord's resignations were much perplexed what course to take, but now begin to hoist their heads." the excellent leicestrian entertained hopes, however; that mutiny and intrigue might still carry the day. he had seen the fat militiaman of naarden and other captains, and, hoped much mischief from their schemes. "the chief mutineers of gertruydenberg," he said, "maybe wrought to send unto 'the states, that if they do not procure them some english governor, they will compound with the enemy, whereon the states shall be driven to request her majesty to accept the place, themselves entertaining the garrison. i know certain captains discontented with the states for arrears of pay, who will contrive to get into naarden with their companies, with the states consent, who, once entered, will keep the place for their satisfaction, pay their soldiers out of the contributions of the country; and yet secretly hold the place at her majesty's command." this is not an agreeable picture; yet it is but one out of many examples of the intrigues by which leicester and his party were doing their best to destroy the commonwealth of the netherlands at a moment when its existence was most important to that of england. to foment mutiny in order to subvert the authority of maurice, was not a friendly or honourable course of action either towards holland or england; and it was to play into the hands of philip as adroitly as his own stipendiaries could have done. with mischief-makers like champernoun in every city, and with such diplomatists at ostend as croft and ropers and valentine dale, was it wonderful that the king and the duke of parma found time to mature their plans for the destruction of both countries? lord willoughby, too, was extremely dissatisfied with his own position. he received no commission from the queen for several months. when it at last reached him, it seemed inadequate, and he became more sullen than ever. he declared that he would rather serve the queen as a private soldier, at his own expense--"lean as his purse was"--than accept the limited authority conferred on him. he preferred to show his devotion "in a beggarly state, than in a formal show." he considered it beneath her majesty's dignity that he should act in the field under the states, but his instructions forbade his acceptance of any office from that body but that of general in their service. he was very discontented, and more anxious than ever to be rid of his functions. without being extremely ambitious, he was impatient of control. he desired not "a larger-shaped coat," but one that fitted him better. "i wish to shape my garment homely, after my cloth," he said, "that the better of my parish may not be misled by my sumptuousness. i would live quietly, without great noise, my poor roof low and near the ground, not subject to be overblown with unlooked-for storms, while the sun seems most shining." being the deadly enemy of the states and their leaders, it was a matter of course that he should be bitter against maurice. that young prince, bold, enterprising, and determined, as he was, did not ostensibly meddle with political affairs more than became his years; but he accepted the counsels of the able statesmen in whom his father had trusted. riding, hunting, and hawking, seemed to be his chief delight at the hague, in the intervals of military occupations. he rarely made his appearance in the state-council during the winter, and referred public matters to the states-general, to the states of holland, to barneveld, buys, and hohenlo. superficial observers like george gilpin regarded him as a cipher; others, like robert cecil, thought him an unmannerly schoolboy; but willoughby, although considering him insolent and conceited, could not deny his ability. the peace partisans among the burghers--a very small faction--were furious against him, for they knew that maurice of nassau represented war. they accused of deep designs against the liberties of their country the youth who was ever ready to risk his life in their defence. a burgomaster from friesland, who had come across the zuyder zee to intrigue against the states' party, was full of spleen at being obliged to dance attendance for a long time at the hague. he complained that count maurice, green of years, and seconded by greener counsellors, was meditating the dissolution of the state-council, the appointment of a new board from his own creatures, the overthrow of all other authority, and the assumption of the sovereignty of holland and zeeland, with absolute power. "and when this is done;" said the rueful burgomaster, "he and his turbulent fellows may make what terms they like with spain, to the disadvantage of the queen and of us poor wretches." but there was nothing farther from the thoughts of the turbulent fellows than any negotiations with spain. maurice was ambitious enough, perhaps, but his ambition ran in no such direction. willoughby knew better; and thought that by humouring the petulant young man it might be possible to manage him. "maurice is young," he said, "hot-headed; coveting honour. if we do but look at him through our fingers, without much words, but with providence enough, baiting his hook a little to his appetite, there is no doubt but he might be caught and kept in a fish-pool; while in his imagination he may judge it a sea. if not, 'tis likely he will make us fish in troubled waters." maurice was hardly the fish for a mill-pond even at that epoch, and it might one day be seen whether or not he could float in the great ocean of events. meanwhile, he swam his course without superfluous gambols or spoutings. the commander of her majesty's forces was not satisfied with the states, nor their generals, nor their politicians. "affairs are going 'a malo in pejus,'" he said. "they embrace their liberty as apes their young. to this end are counts hollock and maurice set upon the stage to entertain the popular sort. her majesty and my lord of leicester are not forgotten. the counts are in holland, especially hollock, for the other is but the cipher. and yet i can assure you maurice hath wit and spirit too much for his time." as the troubles of the interregnum increased willoughby was more dissatisfied than ever with the miserable condition of the provinces, but chose to ascribe it to the machinations of the states' party, rather than to the ambiguous conduct of leicester. "these evils," he said, "are especially, derived from the childish ambition of the young count maurice, from the covetous and furious counsels of the proud hollanders, now chief of the states-general, and, if with pardon it may be said, from our slackness and coldness to entertain our friends. the provident and wiser sort--weighing what a slender ground the appetite of a young man is, unfurnished with the sinews of war to manage so great a cause--for a good space after my lord of leicester's departure, gave him far looking on, to see him play has part on the stage." willoughby's spleen caused him to mix his metaphors more recklessly than strict taste would warrant, but his violent expressions painted the relative situation of parties more vividly than could be done by a calm disquisition. maurice thus playing his part upon the stage--as the general proceeded to observe--"was a skittish horse, becoming by little and little assured of what he had feared, and perceiving the harmlessness thereof; while his companions, finding no safety of neutrality in so great practices, and no overturning nor barricado to stop his rash wilded chariot, followed without fear; and when some of the first had passed the bog; the rest, as the fashion is, never started after. the variable democracy; embracing novelty, began to applaud their prosperity; the base and lewdest sorts of men, to whom there is nothing more agreeable than change of estates, is a better monture to degrees than their merit, took present hold thereof. hereby paul buys, barneveld, and divers others, who were before mantled with a tolerable affection, though seasoned with a poisoned intention, caught the occasion, and made themselves the beelzebubs of all these mischiefs, and, for want of better angels, spared not to let fly our golden-winged ones in the name of guilders, to prepare the hearts and hands that hold money more dearer than honesty, of which sort, the country troubles and the spanish practices having suckled up many, they found enough to serve their purpose. as the breach is safely saltable where no defence is made, so they, finding no head, but those scattered arms that were disavowed, drew the sword with peter, and gave pardon with the pope, as you shall plainly perceive by the proceedings at horn. thus their force; fair words, or corruption, prevailing everywhere, it grew to this conclusion--that the worst were encouraged with their good success, and the best sort assured of no fortune or favour." out of all this hubbub of stage-actors, skittish horses, rash wilded chariots, bogs, beelzebubs, and golden-winged angels, one truth was distinctly audible; that beelzebub, in the shape of barneveld, had been getting the upper hand in the netherlands, and that the lecestrians were at a disadvantage. in truth those partisans were becoming extremely impatient. finding themselves deserted by their great protector, they naturally turned their eyes towards spain, and were now threatening to sell themselves to philip. the earl, at his departure, had given them privately much encouragement. but month after month had passed by while they were waiting in vain for comfort. at last the "best"--that is to say, the unhappy leicestrians--came to willoughby, asking his advice in their "declining and desperate cause." "well nigh a month longer," said that general, "i nourished them with compliments, and assured them that my lord of leicester would take care of them." the diet was not fattening. so they began to grumble more loudly than ever, and complained with great bitterness of the miserable condition in which they had been left by the earl, and expressed their fears lest the queen likewise meant to abandon them. they protested that their poverty, their powerful foes, and their slow friends, would compel them either to make their peace with the states' party, or "compound with the enemy." it would have seemed that real patriots, under such circumstances, would hardly hesitate in their choice, and would sooner accept the dominion of "beelzebub," or even paul buys, than that of philip ii. but the leicestrians of utrecht and friesland--patriots as they were--hated holland worse than they hated the inquisition. willoughby encouraged them in that hatred. he assured him of her majesty's affection for them, complained of the factious proceedings of the states, and alluded to the unfavourable state of the weather, as a reason why--near four months long--they had not received the comfort out of england which they had a right to expect. he assured them that neither the queen nor leicester would conclude this honourable action, wherein much had been hazarded, "so rawly and tragically" as they seemed to fear, and warned them, that "if they did join with holland, it would neither ease nor help them, but draw them into a more dishonourable loss of their liberties; and that, after having wound them in, the hollanders would make their own peace with the enemy." it seemed somewhat unfair-while the queen's government was straining every nerve to obtain a peace from philip, and while the hollanders were obstinately deaf to any propositions for treating--that willoughby should accuse them of secret intentions to negotiate. but it must be confessed that faction has rarely worn a more mischievous aspect than was presented by the politics of holland and england in the winter and spring of . young maurice was placed in a very painful position. he liked not to be "strangled in the great queen's embrace;" but he felt most keenly the necessity of her friendship, and the importance to both countries of a close alliance. it was impossible for him, however, to tolerate the rebellion of sonoy, although sonoy was encouraged by elizabeth, or to fly in the face of barneveld, although barneveld was detested by leicester. so with much firmness and courtesy, notwithstanding the extravagant pictures painted by willoughby, he suppressed mutiny in holland, while avowing the most chivalrous attachment to the sovereign of england. her majesty expressed her surprise and her discontent, that, notwithstanding his expressions of devotion to herself, he should thus deal with sonoy, whose only crime was an equal devotion. "if you do not behave with more moderation in future," she said, "you may believe that we are not a princess of so little courage as not to know how to lend a helping hand to those who are unjustly oppressed. we should be sorry if we had cause to be disgusted with your actions, and if we were compelled to make you a stranger to the ancient good affection which we bore to your late father, and have continued towards yourself." but maurice maintained a dignified attitude, worthy of his great father's name. he was not the man to crouch like leicester, when he could no longer refresh himself in the "shadow of the queen's golden beams," important as he knew her friendship to be to himself and his country. so he defended himself in a manly letter to the privy council against the censures of elizabeth. he avowed his displeasure, that, within his own jurisdiction, sonoy should give a special oath of obedience to leicester; a thing never done before in the country, and entirely illegal. it would not even be tolerated in england, he said, if a private gentleman should receive a military appointment in warwickshire or norfolk without the knowledge of the lord-lieutenant of the shire. he had treated the contumacious sonoy with mildness during a long period, but without effect. he had abstained from violence towards him, out of reverence to the queen, under whose sacred name he sheltered himself. sonoy had not desisted, but had established himself in organized rebellion at medenblik, declaring that he would drown the whole country, and levy black-mail upon its whole property, if he were not paid one hundred thousand crowns. he had declared that he would crush holland like a glass beneath his feet. having nothing but religion in his mouth, and protecting himself with the queen's name, he had been exciting all the cities of north holland to rebellion, and bringing the poor people to destruction. he had been offered money enough to satisfy the most avaricious soldier in the world, but he stood out for six years' full pay for his soldiers, a demand with which it was impossible to comply. it was necessary to prevent him from inundating the land and destroying the estates of the country gentlemen and the peasants. "this gentlemen," said maurice, "is the plain truth; nor do i believe that you will sustain against me a man who was under such vast obligations to my late father, and who requites his debt by daring to speak of myself as a rascal; or that you will countenance his rebellion against a country to which he brought only, his cloak and sword, and, whence he has filched one hundred thousand crowns. you will not, i am sure, permit a simple captain, by his insubordination to cause such mischief, and to set on fire this and other provinces. "if, by your advice," continued the count; "the queen should appoint fitting' personages to office here--men who know what honour is; born of illustrious and noble-race, or who by their great virtue have been elevated to the honours of the kingdom--to them i will render an account of my actions. and it shall appear that i have more ability and more desire to do my duty, to her majesty than those who render her lip-service only, and only make use of her sacred name to fill their purses, while i and, mine have been ever ready to employ our lives, and what remains of our fortunes, in the cause of god, her majesty, and our country." certainly no man had a better right: to speak with consciousness of the worth of race than the son of william the silent, the nephew of lewis, adolphus, and henry of nassau, who had all laid down their lives for the liberty of their country. but elizabeth continued to threaten the states-general, through the mouth of willoughby, with the loss of her protection, if they should continue thus to requite her favours with ingratitude and insubordination: and maurice once more respectfully but firmly replied that sonoy's rebellion could not and would not be tolerated; appealing boldly to her sense of justice, which was the noblest attribute of kings. at last the queen informed willoughby, that--as the cause of sonoy's course seemed to be his oath of obedience to leicester, whose resignation of office had not yet been received in the netherlands--she had now ordered councillor killigrew to communicate the fact of that resignation. she also wrote to sonoy, requiring him to obey the states and count maurice, and to accept a fresh commission from them, or at least to surrender medenblik, and to fulfil all their orders with zeal and docility. this act of abdication by leicester, which had been received on the nd of january by the english envoy, herbert, at the moment of his departure from the netherlands, had been carried back by him to england, on the ground that its communication to the states at that moment would cause him inconveniently to postpone his journey. it never officially reached the states-general until the st of march, so that this most dangerous crisis was protracted nearly five months long--certainly without necessity or excuse--and whether through design, malice, wantonness, or incomprehensible carelessness, it is difficult to say. so soon as the news reached sonoy, that contumacious chieftain found his position untenable, and he allowed the states' troops to take possession of medenblik, and with it the important territory of north holland. maurice now saw himself undisputed governor. sonoy was in the course of the summer deprived of all office, and betook himself to england. here he was kindly received by the queen, who bestowed upon him a ruined tower, and a swamp among the fens of lincolnshire. he brought over some of his countrymen, well-skilled in such operations, set himself to draining and dyking, and hoped to find himself at home and comfortable in his ruined tower. but unfortunately, as neither he nor his wife, notwithstanding their english proclivities, could speak a word of the language; they found their social enjoyments very limited. moreover, as his work-people were equally without the power of making their wants understood, the dyking operations made but little progress. so the unlucky colonel soon abandoned his swamp, and retired to east friesland, where he lived a morose and melancholy life on a pension of one thousand florins, granted him by the states of holland, until the year , when he lost his mind, fell into the fire, and thus perished. and thus; in the netherlands, through hollow negotiations between enemies and ill-timed bickerings among friends, the path of philip and parma had been made comparatively smooth during the spring and early summer of . what was the aspect of affairs in germany and france? the adroit capture of bonn by martin schenk had given much trouble. parma was obliged to detach a strong force; under prince chimay, to attempt the recovery of that important place, which--so long as it remained in the power of the states--rendered the whole electorate insecure and a source of danger to the spanish party. farnese endeavoured in vain to win back the famous partizan by most liberal offers, for he felt bitterly the mistake he had made in alienating so formidable a freebooter. but the truculent martin remained obdurate and irascible. philip, much offended that the news of his decease had proved false, ordered rather than requested the emperor rudolph to have a care that nothing was done in germany to interfere with the great design upon england. the king gave warning that he would suffer no disturbance from that quarter, but certainly the lethargic condition of germany rendered such threats superfluous. there were riders enough, and musketeers enough, to be sold to the highest bidder. german food for powder was offered largely in the market to any foreign consumer, for the trade in their subjects', lives was ever a prolific source of revenue to the petty sovereigns--numerous as the days of the year--who owned germany and the germans. the mercenaries who had so recently been, making their inglorious campaign in france had been excluded from that country at the close of , and furious were the denunciations of the pulpits and the populace of paris that the foreign brigands who had been devastating the soil of france, and attempting to oppose the decrees of the holy father of rome, should; have made their escape so easily. rabid lincestre and other priests and monks foamed with rage, as they execrated and anathematized the devil-worshipper henry of valois, in all the churches of that monarch's capital. the spanish ducats were flying about, more profusely than ever, among the butchers and porters, and fishwomen, of the great city; and madam league paraded herself in the day-light with still increasing insolence. there was scarcely a pretence at recognition of any authority, save that of philip and sixtus. france had become a wilderness--an uncultivated, barbarous province of spain. mucio--guise had been secretly to rome, had held interviews with the pope and cardinals, and had come back with a sword presented by his holiness, its hilt adorned with jewels, and its blade engraved with tongues of fire. and with this flaming sword the avenging messenger of the holy father was to smite the wicked, and to drive them into outer darkness. and there had been fresh conferences among the chiefs of the sacred league within the lorraine territory, and it was resolved to require of the valois an immediate extermination of heresy and heretics throughout the kingdom, the publication of the council of trent, and the formal establishment of the holy inquisition in every province of france. thus, while doing his spanish master's bidding, the great lieutenant of the league might, if he was adroit enough, to outwit philip, ultimately carve out a throne for himself. yet philip felt occasional pangs of uneasiness lest there should, after all, be peace in france, and lest his schemes against holland and england might be interfered with from that quarter. even farnese, nearer the scene, could, not feel completely secure that a sudden reconciliation among contending factions might not give rise to a dangerous inroad across the flemish border. so guise was plied more vigourously than ever by the duke with advice and encouragement, and assisted with such walloon carabineers as could be spared, while large subsidies and larger promises came from philip, whose prudent policy was never to pay excessive sums, until the work contracted for was done. "mucio must do the job long since agreed upon," said philip to farnese, "and you and mendoza must see that he prevents the king of france from troubling me in my enterprize against england." if the unlucky henry iii. had retained one spark of intelligence, he would have seen that his only chance of rescue lay in the arm of the bearnese, and in an honest alliance with england. yet so strong was his love for the monks, who were daily raving against him, that he was willing to commit any baseness, in order to win back their affection. he was ready to exterminate heresy and to establish the inquisition, but he was incapable of taking energetic measures of any kind, even when throne and life were in imminent peril. moreover, he clung to epernon and the 'politiques,' in whose swords he alone found protection, and he knew that epernon and the 'politiques' were the objects of horror to paris and to the league. at the same time he looked imploringly towards england and towards the great huguenot chieftain, elizabeth's knight-errant. he had a secret interview with sir edward stafford, in the garden of the bernardino convent, and importuned that envoy to implore the queen to break off her negotiations with philip, and even dared to offer the english ambassador a large reward, if such a result could be obtained. stafford was also earnestly, requested to beseech the queen's influence with henry of navarre, that he should convert himself to catholicism, and thus destroy the league. on the other hand, the magniloquent mendoza, who was fond of describing himself as "so violent and terrible to the french that they wished to be rid of him," had--as usual--been frightening the poor king, who, after a futile attempt at dignity, had shrunk before the blusterings of the ambassador. "this king," said don bernardino, "thought that he could impose, upon me and silence me, by talking loud, but as i didn't talk softly to him, he has undeceived himself . . . . i have had another interview with him, and found him softer than silk, and he made me many caresses, and after i went out, he said that i was a very skilful minister." it was the purpose of the league to obtain possession of the king's person, and, if necessary, to dispose of the 'politiques' by a general massacre, such as sixteen years before had been so successful in the case of coligny and the huguenots. so the populace--more rabid than ever--were impatient that their adored balafre should come to paris and begin the holy work. he came as far as gonesse to do the job he had promised to philip, but having heard that henry had reinforced himself with four thousand swiss from the garrison of lagny, he fell back to soissons. the king sent him a most abject message, imploring him not to expose his sovereign to so much danger, by setting his foot at that moment in the capital. the balafre hesitated, but the populace raved and roared for its darling. the queen-mother urged her unhappy son to yield his consent, and the montpensier--fatal sister of guise, with the famous scissors ever at her girdle--insisted that her brother had as good a right as any man to come to the city. meantime the great chief of the 'politiques,' the hated and insolent epernon, had been appointed governor of normandy, and henry had accompanied his beloved minion a part of the way towards rouen. a plot contrived by the montpensier to waylay the monarch on his return, and to take him into the safe-keeping of the league, miscarried, for the king reentered the city before the scheme was ripe. on the other hand, nicholas poulain, bought for twenty thousand crowns by the 'politiques,' gave the king and his advisers-full information of all these intrigues, and, standing in henry's cabinet, offered, at peril of his life, if he might be confronted with the conspirators--the leaders of the league within the city--to prove the truth of the charges which he had made. for the whole city was now thoroughly organized. the number of its districts had been reduced from sixteen to five, the better to bring it under the control of the league; and, while it could not be denied that mucio, had, been doing his master's work very thoroughly, yet it was still in the power of the king--through the treachery of poulain--to strike a blow for life and freedom, before he was quite, taken in the trap. but he stood helpless, paralyzed, gazing in dreamy stupor--like one fascinated at the destruction awaiting him. at last, one memorable may morning, a traveller alighted outside the gate of saint martin, and proceeded on foot through the streets of paris. he was wrapped in a large cloak, which he held carefully over his face. when he had got as far as the street of saint denis, a young gentleman among the passers by, a good leaguer, accosted the stranger, and with coarse pleasantry, plucked the cloak from his face, and the hat from his head. looking at the handsome, swarthy features, marked with a deep scar, and the dark, dangerous eyes which were then revealed, the practical jester at once recognized in the simple traveller the terrible balafre, and kissed the hem of his garments with submissive rapture. shouts of "vive guise" rent the air from all the bystanders, as the duke, no longer affecting concealment, proceeded with a slow and stately step toward the residence of catharine de' medici.' that queen of compromises and of magic had been holding many a conference with the leaders of both parties; had been increasing her son's stupefaction by her enigmatical counsels; had been anxiously consulting her talisman of goat's and human blood, mixed with metals melted under the influence of the star of her nativity, and had been daily visiting the wizard ruggieri, in whose magic circle--peopled with a thousand fantastic heads--she had held high converse with the world of spirits, and derived much sound advice as to the true course of action to be pursued between her son and philip, and between the politicians and the league. but, in spite of these various sources of instruction, catharine--was somewhat perplexed, now that decisive action seemed necessary--a dethronement and a new massacre impending, and judicious compromise difficult. so after a hurried conversation with mucio, who insisted on an interview with the king, she set forth for the louvre, the duke lounging calmly by the aide of her, sedan chair, on foot, receiving the homage of the populace, as men, women, and children together, they swarmed around him as he walked, kissing his garments, and rending the air with their shouts. for that wolfish mob of paris, which had once lapped the blood of ten thousand huguenots in a single night, and was again rabid with thirst, was most docile and fawning to the great balafre. it grovelled before him, it hung upon his look, it licked his hand, and, at the lifting of his finger, or the glance of his eye, would have sprung at the throat of king or queen-mother, minister, or minion, and devoured them all before his eyes. it was longing for the sign, for, much as paris adored and was besotted with guise and the league, even more, if possible, did it hate those godless politicians, who had grown fat on extortions from the poor, and who had converted their substance into the daily bread of luxury. nevertheless the city was full of armed men, swiss and german mercenaries, and burgher guards, sworn to fidelity to the throne. the place might have been swept clean, at that moment, of rebels who were not yet armed or fortified in their positions. the lord had delivered guise into henry's hands. "oh, the madman!"--cried sixtus v., when he heard that the duke had gone to paris, "thus to put himself into the clutches of the king whom he had so deeply offended!" and, "oh, the wretched coward, the imbecile?" he added, when he heard how the king had dealt with his great enemy. for the monarch was in his cabinet that may morning, irresolutely awaiting the announced visit of the duke. by his aide stood alphonse corse, attached as a mastiff to his master, and fearing not guise nor leaguer, man nor devil. "sire, is the duke of guise your friend or enemy?" said alphonse. the king answered by an expressive shrug. "say the word, sire," continued alphonse, "and i pledge myself to bring his head this instant, and lay it at your feet." and he would have done it. even at the side of catharine's sedan chair, and in the very teeth of the worshipping mob, the corsican would have had the balafre's life, even though he laid down his own. but henry--irresolute and fascinated--said it was not yet time for such a blow. soon afterward; the duke was announced. the chief of the league and the last of the valois met, face to face; but not for the last time. the interview--was coldly respectful on the part of mucio, anxious and embarrassed on that of the king. when the visit, which was merely one of ceremony, was over, the duke departed as he came, receiving the renewed homage of the populace as he walked to his hotel. that night precautions were taken. all the guards were doubled around the palace and through the streets. the hotel de ville and the place de la greve were made secure, and the whole city was filled with troops. but the place maubert was left unguarded, and a rabble rout--all night long--was collecting in that distant spot. four companies of burgher-guards went over to the league at three o'clock in the morning. the rest stood firm in the cemetery of the innocents, awaiting the orders of the king. at day-break on the th the town was still quiet. there was an awful pause of expectation. the shops remained closed all the morning, the royal troops were drawn up in battle-array, upon the greve and around the hotel de ville, but they stood motionless as statues, until the populace began taunting them with cowardice, and then laughing them to scorn. for their sovereign lord and master still sat paralyzed in his palace. the mob had been surging through all the streets and lanes, until, as by a single impulse, chains were stretched across the streets, and barricades thrown up in all the principal thoroughfares. about noon the duke of guise, who had been sitting quietly in his hotel, with a very few armed followers, came out into the street of the hotel montmorency, and walked calmly up and down, arm-in-aim with the archbishop of lyons, between a double hedge-row of spectators and admirers, three or four ranks thick. he was dressed in a white slashed doublet and hose, and wore a very large hat. shouts of triumph resounded from a thousand brazen throats, as he moved calmly about, receiving, at every instant, expresses from the great gathering in the place maubert. "enough, too much, my good friends," he said, taking off the great hat--("i don't know whether he was laughing in it," observed one who was looking on that day)--"enough of 'long live guise!' cry 'long live the king!'" there was no response, as might be expected, and the people shouted more hoarsely than ever for madam league and the balafre. the duke's face was full of gaiety; there was not a shadow of anxiety upon it in that perilous and eventful moment. he saw that the day was his own. for now, the people, ripe, ready; mustered, armed, barricaded; awaited but a signal to assault the king's mercenaries, before rushing to the palace: on every house-top missiles were provided to hurl upon their heads. there seemed no escape for henry or his germans from impending doom, when guise, thoroughly triumphant, vouchsafed them their lives. "you must give me these soldiers as a present, my friends," said he to the populace. and so the armed swiss, french, and german troopers and infantry, submitted to be led out of paris, following with docility the aide-de-camp of guise, captain st. paul, who walked quietly before them, with his sword in its scabbard, and directing their movements with a cane. sixty of them were slain by the mob, who could not, even at the command of their beloved chieftain, quite forego their expected banquet. but this was all the blood shed on the memorable day of barricades, when another bartholomew massacre had been, expected. meantime; while guise was making his promenade through the city, exchanging embraces with the rabble; and listening to the coarse congratulations and obscene jests of the porters and fishwomen, the poor king sat crying all day long in the louvre. the queen-mother was with him, reproaching him bitterly with his irresolution and want of confidences in her, and scolding him for his tears. but the unlucky henry only wept the more as he cowered in a corner. "these are idle tears," said catherine. "this is no time for crying. and for myself, though women weep so easily; i feel my heart too deeply wrung for tears. if they came to my eyes they would be tears of blood." next day the last valois walked-out, of the louvre; as if for a promenade in, the tuileries, and proceeded straightway to the stalls, where his horse stood saddled. du halde, his equerry, buckled his master's spurs on upside down. "no; matter;" said henry; "i am not riding to see my mistress. i have a longer journey before me." and so, followed by a rabble rout of courtiers, without boots or cloaks; and mounted on, sorry hacks--the king-of france rode forth from his capital post-haste, and turning as he left the gates, hurled back impotent imprecations upon paris and its mob. thenceforth, for a long interval, there: was no king in that country. mucio had done his work, and earned his wages, and philip ii. reigned in paris. the commands of the league were now complied with. heretics were doomed to extermination. the edict of th july, , was published with the most exclusive and stringent provisions that the most bitter romanist could imagine, and, as a fair beginning; two young girls, daughters of jacques forcade, once 'procureur au parlement,' were burned in paris, for the crime, of protestantism. the duke of guise was named generalissimo of the kingdom ( th august, ). henry gave in his submission to the council of trent, the edicts, the inquisition, and the rest of the league's infernal machinery, and was formally reconciled to guise, with how much sincerity time was soon to show. [the king bound himself by oath to extirpate heresy, to remove all persons suspected of that crime from office, and never to lay down arms so long as a single, heretic remained. by secret articles,'two armies against the huguenots were agreed upon, one under the duke of mayenne, the other under some general to be appointed by the grog. the council of trent was forthwith to be proclaimed, and by a refinement of malice the league stipulated that all officers appointed in paris by the duke of guise on the day after the barricades should resign their powers, and be immediately re-appointed by the king himself (dethou, x. . , pp. - .)] meantime philip, for whom and at whose expense all this work had been done by he hands of the faithful mucio, was constantly assuring his royal brother of france, through envoy longlee, at madrid, of his most affectionate friendship, and utterly repudiating all knowledge of these troublesome and dangerous plots. yet they had been especially organized--as we have seen--by himself and the balafre, in order that france might be kept a prey to civil war, and thus rendered incapable of offering any obstruction to his great enterprise against england. any complicity of mendoza, the spanish ambassador in paris, or, of the duke of parma, who were important agents in all these proceedings, with the duke of guise, was strenuously--and circumstantially--denied; and the balafre, on the day of the barricades, sent brissac to elizabeth's envoy, sir edward stafford, to assure him as to his personal safety; and as to the deep affection with which england and its queen were regarded by himself and all his friends. stafford had also been advised to accept a guard for his house of embassy. his reply was noble. "i represent the majesty of england," he said, "and can take no safeguard from a subject of the sovereign to whom i am accredited." to the threat of being invaded, and to the advice to close his gates, he answered, "do you see these two doors? now, then, if i am attacked, i am determined to defend myself to the last drop of my blood, to serve as an example to the universe of the law of nations, violated in my person. do not imagine that i shall follow your advice. the gates of an ambassador shall be open to all the world." brissac returned with this answer to guise, who saw that it was hopeless to attempt making a display in the eyes of queen elizabeth, but gave private orders that the ambassador should not be molested. such were the consequences of the day of the barricades--and thus the path of philip was cleared of all obstructions on, the part of france. his mucio was now, generalissimo. henry was virtually deposed. henry of navarre, poor and good-humoured as ever, was scarcely so formidable at that moment as he might one day become. when the news of the day of barricades was brought at night to that cheerful monarch, he started from his couch. "ha," he exclaimed with a laugh, "but they havn't yet caught the bearnese!" and it might be long before the league would catch the bearnese; but, meantime, he could render slight assistance to queen elizabeth. in england there had been much fruitless negotiation between the government of that country and the commissioners from the states-general. there was perpetual altercation on the subject of utrecht, leyden, sonoy, and the other causes of contention; the queen--as usual--being imperious and choleric, and the envoys, in her opinion, very insolent. but the principal topic of discussion was the peace-negotiations, which the states-general, both at home and through their delegation in england, had been doing their best to prevent; steadily refusing her majesty's demand that commissioners, on their part, should be appointed to participate in the conferences at ostend. elizabeth promised that there should be as strict regard paid to the interests of holland as to those of england, in case of a pacification, and that she would never forget her duty to them, to herself, and to the world, as the protectress of the reformed religion. the deputies, on the other hand, warned her that peace with spain was impossible; that the intention of the spanish court was to deceive her, while preparing her destruction and theirs; that it was hopeless to attempt the concession of any freedom of conscience from philip ii.; and that any stipulations which might be made upon that, or any other subject, by the spanish commissioners, would be tossed to the wind. in reply to the queen's loud complaints that the states had been trifling with her, and undutiful to her, and that they had kept her waiting seven months long for an answer to her summons to participate in the negotiations, they replied, that up to the th october of the previous year, although there had been flying rumours of an intention on the part of her majesty's government to open those communications with the enemy, it had, "nevertheless been earnestly and expressly, and with high words and oaths, denied that there was any truth in those rumours." since that time the states had not once only, but many times, in private letters, in public documents, and in conversations with lord leicester and other eminent personages, deprecated any communications whatever with spain, asserting uniformly their conviction that such proceedings would bring ruin on their country, and imploring her majesty not to give ear to any propositions whatever. and not only were the envoys, regularly appointed by the states-general, most active in england, in their attempts to prevent the negotiations, but delegates from the netherland churches were also sent to the queen, to reason with her on the subject, and to utter solemn warnings that the cause of the reformed religion would be lost for ever, in case of a treaty on her part with spain. when these clerical envoys reached england the queen was already beginning to wake from her delusion; although her commissioners were still--as we have seen--hard at work, pouring sand through their sieves at ostend, and although the steady protestations, of the duke of parma, and the industrious circulation of falsehoods by spanish emissaries, had even caused her wisest statesmen, for a time, to participate in that delusion. for it is not so great an impeachment on the sagacity of the great queen of england, as it would now appear to those who judge by the light of subsequent facts, that she still doubted whether the armaments, notoriously preparing in spain and flanders, were intended against herself; and that even if such were the case--she still believed in the possibility of averting the danger by negotiation. so late as the beginning of may, even the far-seeing and anxious walsingham could say, that in england "they were doing nothing but honouring st. george, of whom the spanish armada seemed to be afraid. we hear," he added, "that they will not be ready to set forward before the midst of may, but i trust that it will be may come twelve months. the king of spain is too old and too sickly to fall to conquer kingdoms. if he be well counselled, his best course will be to settle his own kingdoms in his own hands." and even much later, in the middle of july--when the mask was hardly, maintained--even then there was no certainty as to the movements of the armada; and walsingham believed, just ten days before the famous fleet was to appear off plymouth, that it had dispersed and returned to spain, never to re-appear. as to parma's intentions, they were thought to lie rather in the direction: of ostend than of england; and elizabeth; on the th july, was more anxious for that city than for her own kingdom. "mr. ned, i am persuaded," she wrote to morris, "that if a spanish fleet break, the prince of parma's enterprise for england will fall to the ground, and then are you to look to ostend. haste your works." all through the spring and early summer, stafford, in paris, was kept in a state of much perplexity as to the designs of spain--so contradictory were the stories circulated--and so bewildering the actions of men known to be hostile to england. in, the last days of april he intimated it as a common opinion in paris, that these naval preparations of philip were an elaborate farce; "that the great elephant would bring forth but a mouse--that the great processions, prayers, and pardons, at rome, for the prosperous success of the armada against england; would be of no effect; that the king of spain was laughing in his sleeve at the pope, that he could make such a fool of him; and that such an enterprise was a thing the king never durst think of in deed, but only in show to feed the world." thus, although furnished with minute details as to these, armaments, and as to the exact designs of spain against his country, by the ostentatious statements of the spanish ambassador in paris himself, the english, envoy was still inclined to believe that these statements were a figment, expressly intended to deceive. yet he was aware that lord westmoreland, lord paget, sir charles paget, morgan, and other english refugees, were constantly meeting with mendoza, that they were told to get themselves in readiness, and to go down--as well appointed as might be--to the duke of parma; that they had been "sending for their tailor to make them apparel, and to put themselves in equipage;" that, in particular, westmoreland had been assured of being restored by philip to his native country in better condition than before. the catholic and spanish party in paris were however much dissatisfied with the news from scotland, and were getting more and more afraid that king james would object to the spaniards getting a foot-hold in his country, and that "the scots would soon be playing them a scottish trick." stafford was plunged still more inextricably into doubt by the accounts from longlee in madrid. the diplomatist, who had been completely convinced by philip as to his innocence of any participation in the criminal enterprise of guise against henry iii., was now almost staggered by the unscrupulous mendacity of that monarch with regard to any supposed designs against england. although the armada was to be ready by the th may, longlee was of opinion--notwithstanding many bold announcements of an attack upon elizabeth--that the real object of the expedition was america. there had recently been discovered, it was said, "a new country, more rich in gold and silver than any yet found, but so full of stout people that they could not master them." to reduce these stout people beyond the atlantic, therefore, and to get possession of new gold mines, was the real object at which philip was driving, and longlee and stafford were both very doubtful whether it were worth the queen's while to exhaust her finances in order to protect herself against an imaginary invasion. even so late as the middle of july, six to one was offered on the paris exchange that the spanish fleet would never be seen in the english seas, and those that offered the bets were known to be well-wishers to the spanish party. thus sharp diplomatists and statesmen like longlee, stafford, and walsingham, were beginning to lose their fear of the great bugbear by which england had so long been haunted. it was, therefore no deep stain on the queen's sagacity that she, too, was willing to place credence in the plighted honour of alexander farnese, the great prince who prided himself on his sincerity, and who, next to the king his master, adored the virgin queen of england. the deputies of the netherland churches had come, with the permission of count maurice and of the states general; but they represented more strongly than any other envoys could do, the english and the monarchical party. they were instructed especially to implore the queen to accept the sovereignty of their country; to assure her that the restoration of philip--who had been a wolf instead of a shepherd to his flock--was an impossibility, that he had been solemnly and for ever deposed, that under her sceptre only could the provinces ever recover their ancient prosperity; that ancient and modern history alike made it manifest that a free republic could never maintain itself, but that it must, of necessity, run its course through sedition, bloodshed, and anarchy, until liberty was at last crushed by an absolute despotism; that equality of condition, the basis of democratic institutions, could never be made firm; and that a fortunate exception, like that of switzerland, whose historical and political circumstances were peculiar, could never serve as a model to the netherlands, accustomed as those provinces had ever been to a monarchical form of government; and that the antagonism of aristocratic and democratic elements in the states had already produced discord, and was threatening destruction to the whole country. to avert such dangers the splendour of royal authority was necessary, according to the venerable commands of holy writ; and therefore the netherland churches acknowledged themselves the foster-children of england, and begged that in political matters also the inhabitants of the provinces might be accepted as the subjects of her majesty. they also implored the queen to break off these accursed negotiations with spain, and to provide that henceforth in the netherlands the reformed religion might be freely exercised, to the exclusion of any other. thus it was very evident that these clerical envoys, although they were sent by permission of the states, did not come as the representatives of the dominant party. for that 'beelzebub,' barneveld, had different notions from theirs as to the possibility of a republic, and as to the propriety of tolerating other forms of worship than his own. but it was for such pernicious doctrines, on religious matters in particular, that he was called beelzebub, pope john, a papist in disguise, and an atheist; and denounced, as leading young maurice and the whole country to destruction. on the basis of these instructions, the deputies drew up a memorial of pitiless length, filled with astounding parallels between their own position and that of the hebrews, assyrians, and other distinguished nations of antiquity. they brought it to walsingham on the th july, , and the much enduring man heard it read from beginning to end. he expressed his approbation of its sentiments, but said it was too long. it must be put on one sheet of paper, he said, if her majesty was expected to read it. "moreover," said the secretary of state, "although your arguments are full of piety, and your examples from holy writ very apt, i must tell you the plain truth. great princes are not always so zealous in religious matters as they might be. political transactions move them more deeply, and they depend too much on worldly things. however there is no longer much danger, for our envoys will return from flanders in a few days." "but," asked a deputy, "if the spanish fleet does not succeed in its enterprise, will the peace-negotiations be renewed?" "by no means," said walsingham; "the queen can never do that, consistently with her honour. they have scattered infamous libels against her--so scandalous, that you would be astounded should you read them. arguments drawn from honour are more valid with princes than any other." he alluded to the point in their memorial touching the free exercise of the reformed religion in the provinces. "'tis well and piously said," he observed; "but princes and great lords are not always very earnest in such matters. i think that her majesty's envoys will not press for the free exercise of the religion so very much; not more than for two or three years. by that time--should our negotiations succeed--the foreign troops will have evacuated the netherlands on condition that the states-general shall settle the religious question." "but," said daniel de dieu, one of the deputies, "the majority of the states is popish." "be it so," replied sir francis; "nevertheless they will sooner permit the exercise of the reformed religion than take up arms and begin the war anew." he then alluded to the proposition of the deputies to exclude all religious worship but that of the reformed church--all false religion--as they expressed themselves. "her majesty," said he, "is well disposed to permit some exercise of their religion to the papists. so far as regards my own feelings, if we were now in the beginning, of the reformation, and the papacy were still entire, i should willingly concede such exercise; but now that the papacy has been overthrown, i think it would not be safe to give such permission. when we were disputing, at the time of the pacification of ghent, whether the popish religion should be partially permitted, the prince of orange was of the affirmative opinion; but i, who was then at antwerp, entertained the contrary conviction." "but," said one of the deputies--pleased to find that walsingham was more of their way of thinking on religious toleration than the great prince of orange had been, or than maurice and barneveld then were--"but her majesty will, we hope, follow the advice of her good and faithful counsellors." "to tell you the truth," answered sir francis, "great princes are not always inspired with a sincere and upright zeal;"--it was the third time he had made this observation"--although, so far as regards the maintenance of the religion in the netherlands, that is a matter of necessity. of that there is no fear, since otherwise all the pious would depart, and none would remain but papists, and, what is more, enemies of england. therefore the queen is aware that the religion must be maintained." he then advised the deputies to hand in the memorial to her majesty, without any long speeches, for which there was then no time or opportunity; and it was subsequently arranged that they should be presented to the queen as she would be mounting her horse at st. james's to ride to richmond. accordingly on the th july, as her majesty came forth at the gate, with a throng of nobles and ladies--some about to accompany her and some bidding her adieu--the deputies fell on their knees before her. notwithstanding the advice of walsingham, daniel de dieu was bent upon an oration. "oh illustrious queen!" he began, "the churches of the united netherlands----" he had got no further, when the queen, interrupting, exclaimed, "oh! i beg you--at another time--i cannot now listen to a speech. let me see the memorial." daniel de dieu then humbly presented that document, which her majesty graciously received, and then, getting on horseback, rode off to richmond.' the memorial was in the nature of an exhortation to sustain the religion, and to keep clear of all negotiations with idolaters and unbelievers; and the memorialists supported themselves by copious references to deuteronomy, proverbs, isaiah, timothy, and psalms, relying mainly on the case of jehosaphat, who came to disgrace and disaster through his treaty with the idolatrous king ahab. with regard to any composition with spain, they observed, in homely language, that a burnt cat fears the fire; and they assured the queen that, by following their advice, she would gain a glorious and immortal name, like those of david, ezekiel, josiah, and others, whose fragrant memory, even as precious incense from the apothecary's, endureth to the end of the world. it was not surprising that elizabeth, getting on horseback on the th july, , with her head full of tilbury fort and medina sidonia, should have as little relish for the affairs of ahab and jehosophat, as for those melting speeches of diomede and of turnus, to which dr. valentine dale on his part was at that moment invoking her attention. on the th july, the deputies were informed by leicester that her majesty would grant them an interview, july , and that they must come into his quarter of the palace and await her arrival. between six and seven in the evening she came into the throne-room, and the deputies again fell on their knees before her. she then seated herself--the deputies remaining on their knees on her right side and the earl of leicester standing at her left--and proceeded to make many remarks touching her earnestness in the pending negotiations to provide for their religious freedom. it seemed that she must have received a hint from walsingham on the subject. "i shall provide," she said, "for the maintenance of the reformed worship." de dieu--"the enemy will never concede it." the queen.--"i think differently." de dieu.--"there is no place within his dominions where he has permitted the exercise of the pure religion. he has never done so." the queen.--"he conceded it in the pacification of ghent." de dieu.--"but he did not keep his agreement. don john had concluded with the states, but said he was not held to his promise, in case he should repent; and the king wrote afterwards to our states, and said that he was no longer bound to his pledge." the queen.--"that is quite another thing." de dieu.--"he has very often broken his faith." the queen.--"he shall no longer be allowed to do so. if he does not keep his word, that is my affair, not yours. it is my business to find the remedy. men would say, see in what a desolation the queen of england has brought this poor people. as to the freedom of worship, i should have proposed three or four years' interval--leaving it afterwards to the decision of the states." de dieu.--"but the majority of the states is popish." the queen.--"i mean the states-general, not the states of any particular province." de dieu.--"the greater part of the states-general is popish." the queen.--"i mean the three estates--the clergy, the nobles, and the cities." the queen--as the deputies observed--here fell into an error. she thought that prelates of the reformed church, as in england, had seats in the states-general. daniel de dieu explained that they had no such position. the queen.--"then how were you sent hither?" de dieu.--"we came with the consent of count maurice of nassau." the queen.--"and of the states?" de dieu.--"we came with their knowledge." the queen.--"are you sent only from holland and zeeland? is there no envoy from utrecht and the other provinces?" helmichius.--"we two," pointing to his colleague sossingius, "are from utrecht." the queen.--"what? is this young man also a minister?" she meant helmichius, who had a very little beard, and looked young. sossingius.--"he is not so young as he looks." the queen.--"youths are sometimes as able as old men." de dieu.--"i have heard our brother preach in france more than fourteen years ago." the queen.--"he must have begun young. how old were you when you first became a preacher?" helmichius.--"twenty-three or twenty-four years of age." the queen.--"it was with us, at first, considered a scandal that a man so young as that should be admitted to the pulpit. our antagonists reproached us with it in a book called 'scandale de l'angleterre,' saying that we had none but school-boys for ministers. i understand that you pray for me as warmly as if i were your sovereign princess. i think i have done as much for the religion as if i were your queen." helmichius.--"we are far from thinking otherwise. we acknowledge willingly your majesty's benefits to our churches." the queen.--"it would else be ingratitude on your part." helmichius.--"but the king of spain will never keep any promise about the religion." the queen.--"he will never come so far: he does nothing but make a noise on all sides. item, i don't think he has much confidence in himself." de dieu.--"your majesty has many enemies. the lord hath hitherto supported you, and we pray that he may continue to uphold your majesty." the queen.--"i have indeed many enemies; but i make no great account of them. is there anything else you seek?" de dieu.--"there is a special point: it concerns our, or rather your majesty's, city of flushing. we hope that russelius--(so he called sir william russell)--may be continued in its government, although he wishes his discharge." "aha!" said the queen, laughing and rising from her seat, "i shall not answer you; i shall call some one else to answer you." she then summoned russell's sister, lady warwick. "if you could speak french," said the queen to that gentlewoman, "i should bid you reply to these gentlemen, who beg that your brother may remain in flushing, so very agreeable has he made himself to them." the queen was pleased to hear this good opinion of sir william, and this request that he might continue to be governor of flushing, because he had uniformly supported the leicester party, and was at that moment in high quarrel with count maurice and the leading members of the states. as the deputies took their leave, they requested an answer to their memorial, which was graciously promised. three days afterwards, walsingham gave them a written answer to their memorial--conceived in the same sense as had been the expressions of her majesty and her counsellors. support to the netherlands and stipulations for the free exercise of their religion were promised; but it was impossible for these deputies of the churches to obtain a guarantee from england that the popish religion should be excluded from the provinces, in case of a successful issue to the queen's negotiation with spain. and thus during all those eventful days-the last weeks of july and the first weeks of august--the clerical deputation remained in england, indulging in voluminous protocols and lengthened conversations with the queen and the principal members of her government. it is astonishing, in that breathless interval of history, that so much time could be found for quill-driving and oratory. nevertheless, both in holland and england, there had been other work than protocolling. one throb of patriotism moved the breast of both nations. a longing to grapple, once for all, with the great enemy of civil and religious liberty inspired both. in holland, the states-general and all the men to whom the people looked for guidance, had been long deprecating the peace-negotiations. extraordinary supplies--more than had ever been granted before--were voted for the expenses of the campaign; and maurice of nassau, fitly embodying the warlike tendencies of his country and race, had been most importunate with queen elizabeth that she would accept his services and his advice. armed vessels of every size, from the gun-boat to the galleon of tons--then the most imposing ship in those waters--swarmed in all the estuaries and rivers, and along the dutch and flemish coast, bidding defiance to parma and his armaments; and offers of a large contingent from the fleets of jooat de moor and justinua de nassau, to serve under seymour and howard, were freely made to the states-general. it was decided early in july, by the board of admiralty, presided over by prince maurice, that the largest square-rigged vessels of holland and zeeland should cruise between england and the flemish coast, outside the banks; that a squadron of lesser ships should be stationed within the banks; and that a fleet of sloops and fly-boats should hover close in shore, about flushing and rammekens. all the war-vessels of the little republic were thus fully employed. but, besides this arrangement, maurice was empowered to lay an embargo--under what penalty he chose and during his pleasure--on all square-rigged vessels over tons, in order that there might be an additional supply in case of need. ninety ships of war under warmond, admiral, and van der does, vice-admiral of holland; and justinus de nassau, admiral, and joost de moor, vice-admiral of zeeland; together with fifty merchant-vessels of the best and strongest, equipped and armed for active service, composed a formidable fleet. the states-general, a month before, had sent twenty-five or thirty good ships, under admiral rosendael, to join lord henry seymour, then cruising between dover and calais. a tempest, drove them back, and their absence from lord henry's fleet being misinterpreted by the english, the states were censured for ingratitude and want of good faith. but the injustice of the accusation was soon made manifest, for these vessels, reinforcing the great dutch fleet outside the banks, did better service than they could have done; in the straits. a squadron of strong well-armed vessels, having on board, in addition to their regular equipment, a picked force of twelve hundred musketeers, long accustomed to this peculiar kind of naval warfare, with crews of, grim zeelanders, who had faced alva, and valdez in their day, now kept close watch over farnese, determined that he should never thrust his face out of any haven or nook on the coast so long as they should be in existence to prevent him. and in england the protracted diplomacy at ostend, ill-timed though it was, had not paralyzed the arm or chilled the heart of the nation. when the great queen, arousing herself from the delusion in which the falsehoods of farnese and of philip had lulled her, should once more. represent--as no man or woman better than elizabeth tudor could represent--the defiance of england to foreign insolence; the resolve of a whole people to die rather than yield; there was a thrill of joy through the national heart. when the enforced restraint was at last taken off, there was one bound towards the enemy. few more magnificent spectacles have been seen in history than the enthusiasm which pervaded the country as the great danger, so long deferred, was felt at last to be closely approaching. the little nation of four millions, the merry england of the sixteenth century, went forward to the death-grapple with its gigantic antagonist as cheerfully as to a long-expected holiday. spain was a vast empire, overshadowing the world; england, in comparison, but a province; yet nothing could surpass the steadiness with which the conflict was awaited. for, during all the months of suspense; the soldiers and sailors, and many statesman of england, had deprecated, even as the hollanders had been doing, the dangerous delays of ostend. elizabeth was not embodying the national instinct, when she talked of peace; and shrank penuriously from the expenses of war. there was much disappointment, even indignation, at the slothfulness with which the preparations for defence went on, during the period when there was yet time to make them. it was feared with justice that england, utterly unfortified as were its cities, and defended only by its little navy without, and by untaught enthusiasm within, might; after all, prove an easier conquest than holland and zeeland, every town, in whose territory bristled with fortifications. if the english ships--well-trained and swift sailors as they were--were unprovided with spare and cordage, beef and biscuit, powder and shot, and the militia-men, however enthusiastic, were neither drilled nor armed, was it so very certain, after all, that successful resistance would be made to the great armada, and to the veteran pikemen and musketeers of farnese, seasoned on a hundred, battlefields, and equipped as for a tournament? there was generous confidence and chivalrous loyalty on the part of elizabeth's naval and military commanders; but there had been deep regret and disappointment at her course. hawkins was anxious, all through the winter and spring, to cruise with a small squadron off the coast of spain. with a dozen vessels he undertook to "distress anything that went through the seas." the cost of such a squadron, with eighteen hundred men, to be relieved every four months, he estimated at two thousand seven hundred pounds sterling the month, or a shilling a day for each man; and it would be a very unlucky month, he said, in which they did not make captures to three times that amount; for they would see nothing that would not be presently their own. "we might have peace, but not with god," said the pious old slave-trader; "but rather than serve baal, let us die a thousand deaths. let us have open war with these jesuits, and every man will contribute, fight, devise, or do, for the liberty of our country." and it was open war with the jesuits for which those stouthearted sailors longed. all were afraid of secret mischief. the diplomatists--who were known to be flitting about france, flanders, scotland, and england--were birds of ill omen. king james was beset by a thousand bribes and expostulations to avenge his mother's death; and although that mother had murdered his father, and done her best to disinherit himself, yet it was feared that spanish ducats might induce him to be true to his mother's revenge, and false to the reformed religion. nothing of good was hoped for from france. "for my part," said lord admiral howard, "i have made of the french king, the scottish king, and the king of spain, a trinity that i mean never to trust to be saved by, and i would that others were of my opinion." the noble sailor, on whom so much responsibility rested, yet who was so trammelled and thwarted by the timid and parsimonious policy of elizabeth and of burghley, chafed and shook his chains like a captive. "since england was england," he exclaimed, "there was never such a stratagem and mask to deceive her as this treaty of peace. i pray god that we do not curse for this a long grey beard with a white head witless, that will make all the world think us heartless. you know whom i mean." and it certainly was not difficult to understand the allusion to the pondering lord-treasurer. "'opus est aliquo daedalo,' to direct us out of the maze," said that much puzzled statesman; but he hardly seemed to be making himself wings with which to lift england and himself out of the labyrinth. the ships were good ships, but there was intolerable delay in getting a sufficient number of them as ready for action as was the spirit of their commanders. "our ships do show like gallants here," said winter; "it would do a man's heart good to behold them. would to god the prince of parma were on the seas with all his forces, and we in sight of them. you should hear that we would make his enterprise very unpleasant to him." and howard, too, was delighted not only with his own little flag-ship the ark-royal--"the odd ship of the world for all conditions,"--but with all of his fleet that could be mustered. although wonders were reported, by every arrival from the south, of the coming armada, the lord-admiral was not appalled. he was perhaps rather imprudent in the defiance he flung to the enemy. "let me have the four great ships and twenty hoys, with but twenty men a-piece, and each with but two iron pieces, and her majesty shall have a good account of the spanish forces; and i will make the king wish his galleys home again. few as we are, if his forces be not hundreds, we will make good sport with them." but those four great ships of her majesty, so much longed for by howard, were not forthcoming. he complained that the queen was "keeping them to protect chatham church withal, when they should be serving their turn abroad." the spanish fleet was already reported as numbering from sail, with , men,' to or ships, and , soldiers and mariners; and yet drake was not ready with his squadron. "the fault is not in him," said howard, "but i pray god her majesty do not repent her slack dealing. we must all lie together, for we shall be stirred very shortly with heave ho! i fear ere long her majesty will be sorry she hath believed some so much as she hath done." howard had got to sea, and was cruising all the stormy month of march in the channel with his little unprepared squadron; expecting at any moment--such was the profound darkness which, enveloped the world at that day--that the sails of the armada might appear in the offing. he made a visit to the dutch coast, and was delighted with the enthusiasm with which he was received. five thousand people a day came on board his ships, full of congratulation and delight; and he informed the queen that she was not more assured of the isle of sheppey than of walcheren. nevertheless time wore on, and both the army and navy of england were quite unprepared, and the queen was more reluctant than ever to incur the expense necessary to the defence of her kingdom. at least one of those galleys, which, as howard bitterly complained, seemed destined to defend chatham church, was importunately demanded; but it was already easter-day ( th april), and she was demanded in vain. "lord! when should she serve," said the admiral, "if not at such a time as this? either she is fit now to serve, or fit for the fire. i hope never in my time to see so great a cause for her to be used. i dare say her majesty will look that men should fight for her, and i know they will at this time. the king of spain doth not keep any ship at home, either of his own or any other, that he can get for money. well, well, i must pray heartily for peace," said howard with increasing spleen, "for i see the support of an honourable, war will never appear. sparing and war have no affinity together." in truth elizabeth's most faithful subjects were appalled at the ruin which she seemed by her mistaken policy to be rendering inevitable. "i am sorry," said the admiral, "that her majesty is so careless of this most dangerous time. i fear me much, and with grief i think it, that she relieth on a hope that will deceive her, and greatly endanger her, and then it will not be her money nor her jewels that will help; for as they will do good in time, so they will help nothing for the redeeming of time." the preparations on shore were even more dilatory than those on the sea. we have seen that the duke of parma, once landed, expected to march directly upon london; and it was notorious that there were no fortresses to oppose a march of the first general in europe and his veterans upon that unprotected and wealthy metropolis. an army had been enrolled--a force of , foot, and , cavalry; but it was an army on paper merely. even of the , , only , were set down as trained; and it is certain that the training had been of the most meagre and unsatisfactory description. leicester was to be commander-in-chief; but we have already seen that nobleman measuring himself, not much to his advantage, with alexander farnese, in the isle of bommel, on the sands of blankenburg, and at the gates of sluys. his army was to consist of , infantry, and horse; yet at midsummer it had not reached half that number. lord chamberlain hunsdon was to protect the queen's person with another army of , ; but this force, was purely an imaginary one; and the lord-lieutenant of each county was to do his best with the militia. but men were perpetually escaping out of the general service, in order to make themselves retainers for private noblemen, and be kept at their expense. "you shall hardly believe," said leicester, "how many new liveries be gotten within these six weeks, and no man fears the penalty. it would be better that every nobleman did as lord dacres, than to take away from the principal service such as are set down to serve." of enthusiasm and courage, then, there was enough, while of drill and discipline, of powder and shot, there was a deficiency. no braver or more competent soldier could be found than sir edward stanley--the man whom we have seen in his yellow jerkin, helping himself into fort zutphen with the spanish soldier's pike--and yet sir edward stanley gave but a sorry account of the choicest soldiers of chester and lancashire, whom he had been sent to inspect. "i find them not," he said, "according to your expectation, nor mine own liking. they were appointed two years past to have been trained six days by the year or more, at the discretion of the muster-master, but, as yet, they have not been trained one day, so that they have benefited nothing, nor yet know their leaders. there is now promise of amendment, which, i doubt, will be very slow, in respect to my lord derby's absence." my lord derby was at that moment, and for many months afterwards, assisting valentine dale in his classical prolusions on the sands of bourbourg. he had better have been mustering the trainbands of lancashire. there was a general indisposition in the rural districts to expend money and time in military business, until the necessity should become imperative. professional soldiers complained bitterly of the canker of a long peace. "for our long quietness, which it hath pleased god to send us," said stanley, "they think their money very ill bestowed which they expend on armour or weapon, for that they be in hope they shall never have occasion to use it, so they may pass muster, as they have done heretofore. i want greatly powder, for there is little or none at all." the day was fast approaching when all the power in england would be too little for the demand. but matters had not very much mended even at midsummer. it is true that leicester, who was apt to be sanguine-particularly in matters under his immediate control--spoke of the handful of recruits assembled at his camp in essex, as "soldiers of a year's experience, rather than a month's camping;" but in this opinion he differed from many competent authorities, and was somewhat in contradiction to himself. nevertheless he was glad that the queen had determined to visit him, and encourage his soldiers. "i have received in secret," he said, "those news that please me, that your majesty doth intend to behold the poor and bare company that lie here in the field, most willingly to serve you, yea, most ready to die for you. you shall, dear lady, behold as goodly, loyal, and as able men as any prince christian can show you, and yet but a handful of your own, in comparison of the rest you have. what comfort not only these shall receive who shall be the happiest to behold yourself i cannot express; but assuredly it will give no small comfort to the rest, that shall be overshined with the beams of so gracious and princely a party, for what your royal majesty shall do to these will be accepted as done to all. good sweet queen, alter not your purpose, if god give you health. it will be your pain for the time, but your pleasure to behold such people. and surely the place must content you, being as fair a soil and as goodly a prospect as may be seen or found, as this extreme weather hath made trial, which doth us little annoyance, it is so firm and dry a ground. your usher also liketh your lodging--a proper, secret, cleanly house. your camp is a little mile off, and your person will be as sure as at st. james's, for my life." but notwithstanding this cheerful view of the position expressed by the commander-in-chief, the month of july had passed, and the early days of august had already arrived; and yet the camp was not formed, nor anything more than that mere handful of troops mustered about tilbury, to defend the road from dover to london. the army at tilbury never, exceeded sixteen or seventeen thousand men. the whole royal navy-numbering about thirty-four vessels in all--of different sizes, ranging from and tons to , had at last been got ready for sea. its aggregate tonnage was , ; not half so much as at the present moment--in the case of one marvellous merchant-steamer--floats upon a single keel. these vessels carried. guns and men. but the navy was reinforced by the patriotism and liberality of english merchants and private gentlemen. the city of london having been requested to furnish ships of war and men, asked two days for deliberation, and then gave ships and , men of which number were seamen. other cities, particularly plymouth, came forward with proportionate liberality, and private individuals, nobles, merchants, and men of humblest rank, were enthusiastic in volunteering into the naval service, to risk property and life in defence of the country. by midsummer there had been a total force of vessels manned, and partially equipped, with an aggregate of , tons, and , seamen. of this fleet a very large number were mere coasters of less than tons each; scarcely ten ships were above , and but one above tons--the triumph, captain frobisher, of tons, guns, and sailors. lord howard of effingham, lord high-admiral of england, distinguished for his martial character, public spirit, and admirable temper, rather than for experience or skill as a seaman, took command of the whole fleet, in his "little odd ship for all conditions," the ark-royal, of tons, sailors, and guns. next in rank was vice-admiral drake, in the revenge, of tons, men and guns. lord henry seymour, in the rainbow, of precisely the same size and strength, commanded the inner squadron, which cruised in the neighbourhood of the french and flemish coast. the hollanders and zeelanders had undertaken to blockade the duke of parma still more closely, and pledged themselves that he should never venture to show himself upon the open sea at all. the mouth of the scheldt, and the dangerous shallows off the coast of newport and dunkirk, swarmed with their determined and well-seasoned craft, from the flybooter or filibuster of the rivers, to the larger armed vessels, built to confront every danger, and to deal with any adversary. farnese, on his part, within that well-guarded territory, had, for months long, scarcely slackened in his preparations, day or night. whole forests had been felled in the land of waas to furnish him with transports and gun-boats, and with such rapidity, that--according to his enthusiastic historiographer--each tree seemed by magic to metamorphose itself into a vessel at the word of command. shipbuilders, pilots, and seamen, were brought from the baltic, from hamburgh, from genoa. the whole surface of the obedient netherlands, whence wholesome industry had long been banished, was now the scene of a prodigious baleful activity. portable bridges for fording the rivers of england, stockades for entrenchments, rafts and oars, were provided in vast numbers, and alexander dug canals and widened natural streams to facilitate his operations. these wretched provinces, crippled, impoverished, languishing for peace, were forced to contribute out of their poverty, and to find strength even in their exhaustion, to furnish the machinery for destroying their own countrymen, and for hurling to perdition their most healthful neighbour. and this approaching destruction of england--now generally believed in--was like the sound of a trumpet throughout catholic europe. scions of royal houses, grandees of azure blood, the bastard of philip ii., the bastard of savoy, the bastard of medici, the margrave of burghaut, the archduke charles, nephew of the emperor, the princes of ascoli and of melfi, the prince of morocco, and others of illustrious name, with many a noble english traitor, like paget, and westmoreland, and stanley, all hurried to the camp of farnese, as to some famous tournament, in which it was a disgrace to chivalry if their names were not enrolled. the roads were trampled with levies of fresh troops from spain, naples, corsica, the states of the church, the milanese, germany, burgundy. blas capizucca was sent in person to conduct reinforcements from the north of italy. the famous terzio of naples, under carlos pinelo, arrived strong--the most splendid regiment ever known in the history of war. every man had an engraved corslet and musket-barrel, and there were many who wore gilded armour, while their waving plumes and festive caparisons made them look like holiday-makers, rather than real campaigners, in the eyes of the inhabitants of the various cities through which their road led them to flanders. by the end of april the duke of parma saw himself at the head of , men, at a monthly expense of , crowns or dollars. yet so rapid was the progress of disease--incident to northern climates--among those southern soldiers, that we shall find the number woefully diminished before they were likely to set foot upon the english shore. thus great preparations, simultaneously with pompous negotiations, had been going forward month after month, in england, holland, flanders. nevertheless, winter, spring, two-thirds of summer, had passed away, and on the th july, , there remained the same sickening uncertainty, which was the atmosphere in which the nations had existed for a twelvemonth. howard had cruised for a few weeks between england and spain, without any results, and, on his return, had found it necessary to implore her majesty, as late as july, to "trust no more to judas' kisses, but to her sword, not her enemy's word." etext editor's bookmarks: a burnt cat fears the fire a free commonwealth--was thought an absurdity baiting his hook a little to his appetite canker of a long peace englishmen and hollanders preparing to cut each other's throats faction has rarely worn a more mischievous aspect hard at work, pouring sand through their sieves she relieth on a hope that will deceive her sparing and war have no affinity together the worst were encouraged with their good success trust her sword, not her enemy's word history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter xix. part . philip second in his cabinet--his system of work and deception--his vast but vague schemes of conquest--the armada sails--description of the fleet--the junction with parma unprovided for--the gale off finisterre--exploits of david gwynn--first engagements in the english channel--considerable losses of the spaniards--general engagement near portland--superior seamanship of the english it is now time to look in upon the elderly letter-writer in the escorial, and see how he was playing his part in the drama. his counsellors were very few. his chief advisers were rather like private secretaries than cabinet ministers; for philip had been withdrawing more and more into seclusion and mystery as the webwork of his schemes multiplied and widened. he liked to do his work, assisted by a very few confidential servants. the prince of eboli, the famous ruy gomez, was dead. so was cardinal granvelle. so were erasso and delgado. his midnight council--junta de noche--for thus, from its original hour of assembling, and the all of secrecy in which it was enwrapped, it was habitually called--was a triumvirate. don juan de idiaquez was chief secretary of state and of war; the count de chinchon was minister for the household, for italian affairs, and for the kingdom of aragon; don cristoval de moura, the monarch's chief favourite, was at the head of the finance department, and administered the affairs of portugal and castile! the president of the council of italy, after granvelle's death, was quiroga, cardinal of toledo, and inquisitor-general. enormously long letters, in the king's: name, were prepared chiefly by the two secretaries, idiaquez and moura. in their hands was the vast correspondence with mendoza and parma, and olivarez at rome, and with mucio; in which all the stratagems for the subjugation of protestant europe were slowly and artistically contrived. of the great conspiracy against human liberty, of which the pope and philip were the double head, this midnight triumvirate was the chief executive committee. these innumerable despatches, signed by philip, were not the emanations of his own mind. the king had a fixed purpose to subdue protestantism and to conquer the world; but the plans for carrying the purpose into effect were developed by subtler and more comprehensive minds than his own. it was enough for him to ponder wearily over schemes which he was supposed to dictate, and to give himself the appearance of supervising what he scarcely comprehended. and his work of supervision was often confined to pettiest details. the handwriting of spain and italy at that day was beautiful, and in our modern eyes seems neither antiquated nor ungraceful. but philip's scrawl was like that of 'a' clown just admitted to a writing-school, and the whole margin of a fairly penned despatch perhaps fifty pages long; laid before him for comment and signature by idiaquez or moura, would be sometimes covered with a few awkward sentences, which it was almost impossible to read, and which, when deciphered, were apt to reveal suggestions of astounding triviality. thus a most important despatch--in which the king, with his own hand, was supposed to be conveying secret intelligence to mendoza concerning the armada, together with minute directions for the regulation of guise's conduct at the memorable epoch of the barricades--contained but a single comment from the monarch's own pen. "the armada has been in lisbon about a month--quassi un mes"--wrote the secretary. "there is but one s in quasi," said philip. again, a despatch of mendoza to the king contained the intelligence that queen elizabeth was, at the date of the letter, residing at st. james's. philip, who had no objection to display his knowledge of english affairs--as became the man who had already been almost sovereign of england, and meant to be entirely so--supplied a piece of information in an apostille to this despatch. "st. james is a house of recreation," he said, "which was once a monastery. there is a park between it, and the palace which is called huytal; but why it is called huytal, i am sure i don't know." his researches in the english language had not enabled him to recognize the adjective and substantive out of which the abstruse compound white-hall (huyt-al), was formed. on another occasion, a letter from england containing important intelligence concerning the number of soldiers enrolled in that country to resist the spanish invasion, the quantity of gunpowder and various munitions collected, with other details of like nature, furnished besides a bit of information of less vital interest. "in the windows of the queen's presence-chamber they have discovered a great quantity of lice, all clustered together," said the writer. such a minute piece of statistics could not escape the microscopic eye of philip. so, disregarding the soldiers and the gunpowder, he commented only on this last-mentioned clause of the letter; and he did it cautiously too, as a king surnamed the prudent should:-- "but perhaps they were fleas," wrote philip. such examples--and many more might be given--sufficiently indicate the nature of the man on whom such enormous responsibilities rested, and who had been, by the adulation of his fellow-creatures, elevated into a god. and we may cast a glance upon him as he sits in his cabinet-buried among those piles of despatches--and receiving methodically, at stated hours, idiaquez, or moura, or chincon, to settle the affairs of so many millions of the human race; and we may watch exactly the progress of that scheme, concerning which so many contradictory rumours were circulating in europe. in the month of april a walsingham could doubt, even in august an ingenuous comptroller could disbelieve, the reality of the great project, and the pope himself, even while pledging himself to assistance, had been systematically deceived. he had supposed the whole scheme rendered futile by the exploit of drake at cadiz, and had declared that "the queen of england's distaff was worth more than philip's sword, that the king was a poor creature, that he would never be able to come to a resolution, and that even if he should do so, it would be too late;" and he had subsequently been doing his best, through his nuncio in france, to persuade the queen to embrace the catholic religion, and thus save herself from the impending danger. henry iii. had even been urged by the pope to send a special ambassador to her for this purpose--as if the persuasions of the wretched valois were likely to be effective with elizabeth tudor--and burghley had, by means of spies in rome, who pretended to be catholics, given out intimations that the queen was seriously contemplating such a step. thus the pope, notwithstanding cardinal allan, the famous million, and the bull, was thought by mendoza to be growing lukewarm in the spanish cause, and to be urging upon the "englishwoman" the propriety of converting herself, even at the late hour of may, . but philip, for years, had been maturing his scheme, while reposing entire confidence--beyond his own cabinet doors--upon none but alexander farnese; and the duke--alone of all men--was perfectly certain that the invasion would, this year, be attempted. the captain-general of the expedition was the marquis of santa cruz, a man of considerable naval experience, and of constant good fortune, who, in thirty years, had never sustained a defeat. he had however shown no desire to risk one when drake had offered him the memorable challenge in the year , and perhaps his reputation of the invincible captain had been obtained by the same adroitness on previous occasions. he was no friend to alexander farnese, and was much disgusted when informed of the share allotted to the duke in the great undertaking. a course of reproach and perpetual reprimand was the treatment to which he was, in consequence, subjected, which was not more conducive to the advancement of the expedition than it was to the health of the captain-general. early in january the cardinal archduke was sent to lisbon to lecture him, with instructions to turn a deaf ear to all his remonstrances, to deal with him peremptorily, to forbid his writing letters on the subject to his majesty, and to order him to accept his post or to decline it without conditions, in which latter contingency he was to be informed that his successor was already decided upon. this was not the most eligible way perhaps for bringing the captain-general into a cheerful mood; particularly as he was expected to be ready in january to sail to the flemish coast. nevertheless the marquis expressed a hope to accomplish his sovereign's wishes; and great had been the bustle in all the dockyards of naples, sicily, and spain; particularly in the provinces of guipuzcoa, biscay, and andalusia, and in the four great cities of the coast. war-ships of all dimensions, tenders, transports, soldiers, sailors, sutlers, munitions of war, provisions, were all rapidly concentrating in lisbon as the great place of rendezvous; and philip confidently believed, and as confidently informed the duke of parma, that he, might be expecting the armada at any time after the end of january. perhaps in the history of mankind there has never been a vast project of conquest conceived and matured in so protracted and yet so desultory a manner, as was this famous spanish invasion. there was something almost puerile in the whims rather than schemes of philip for carrying out his purpose. it was probable that some resistance would be offered, at least by the navy of england, to the subjugation of that country, and the king had enjoyed an opportunity, the preceding summer, of seeing the way in which english sailors did their work. he had also appeared to understand the necessity of covering the passage of farnese from the flemish ports into the thames, by means of the great spanish fleet from lisbon. nevertheless he never seemed to be aware that farnese could not invade england quite by himself, and was perpetually expecting to hear that he had done so. "holland and zeeland," wrote alexander to philip, "have been arming with their accustomed promptness; england has made great preparations. i have done my best to make the impossible possible; but your letter told me to wait for santa cruz, and to expect him very shortly. if, on the contrary, you had told me to make the passage without him, i would have made the attempt, although we had every one of us perished. four ships of war could sink every one of my boats. nevertheless i beg to be informed of your majesty's final order. if i am seriously expected to make the passage without santa cruz, i am ready to do it, although i should go all alone in a cock-boat." but santa cruz at least was not destined to assist in the conquest of england; for, worn out with fatigue and vexation, goaded by the reproaches and insults of philip, santa cruz was dead. he was replaced in the chief command of the fleet by the duke of medina sidonia, a grandee of vast wealth, but with little capacity and less experience. to the iron marquis it was said that a golden duke had succeeded; but the duke of gold did not find it easier to accomplish impossibilities than his predecessor had done. day after day, throughout the months of winter and spring, the king had been writing that the fleet was just on the point of sailing, and as frequently he had been renewing to alexander farnese the intimation that perhaps, after all, he might find an opportunity of crossing to england, without waiting for its arrival. and alexander, with the same regularity, had been informing his master that the troops in the netherlands had been daily dwindling from sickness and other causes, till at last, instead of the , effective infantry, with which it had been originally intended to make the enterprise, he had not more than , in the month of april. the spaniards, whom he was to receive from the fleet of medina sidonia, would therefore be the very mainspring of his army. after leaving no more soldiers in the netherlands than were absolutely necessary for the defence of the obedient provinces against the rebels, he could only take with him to england , men, even after the reinforcements from medina. "when we talked of taking england by surprise," said alexander, "we never thought of less than , . now that she is alert and ready for us, and that it is certain we must fight by sea and by land, , would be few." he almost ridiculed the king's suggestion that a feint might be made by way of besieging some few places in holland or zeeland. the whole matter in hand, he said, had become as public as possible, and the only efficient blind was the peace-negotiation; for many believed, as the english deputies were now treating at ostend, that peace would follow. at last, on the th, th, and th may, , the fleet, which had been waiting at lisbon more than a month for favourable weather, set sail from that port, after having been duly blessed by the cardinal archduke albert, viceroy of portugal. there were rather more than one hundred and thirty ships in all, divided into ten squadrons. there was the squadron of portugal, consisting of ten galleons, and commanded by the captain-general, medina sidonia. in the squadron of castile were fourteen ships of various sizes, under general diego flores de valdez. this officer was one of the most experienced naval officers in the spanish service, and was subsequently ordered, in consequence, to sail with the generalissimo in his flag-ship. in the squadron of andalusia were ten galleons and other vessels, under general pedro de valdez. in the squadron of biscay were ten galleons and lesser ships, under general juan martinet de recalde, upper admiral of the fleet. in the squadron of guipuzcoa were ten galleons, under general miguel de oquendo. in the squadron of italy were ten ships, under general martin de bertendona. in the squadron of urcas, or store-ships, were twenty-three sail, under general juan gomez de medina. the squadron of tenders, caravels, and other vessels, numbered twenty-two sail, under general antonio hurtado de mendoza. the squadron of four galeasses was commanded by don hugo de moncada. the squadron of four galeras, or galleys, was in charge of captain diego de medrado. next in command to medina sidonia was don alonzo de leyva, captain-general of the light horse of milan. don francisco de bobadilla was marshal-general of the camp. don diego de pimentel was marshal of the camp to the famous terzio or legion of sicily. the total tonnage of the fleet was , : the number of guns was . of spanish troops there were , on board: there were sailors and galley-slaves. besides these, there was a force of noble volunteers, belonging to the most illustrious houses of spain, with their attendants amounting to nearly in all. there was also don martin alaccon, administrator and vicar-general of the holy inquisition, at the head of some monks of the mendicant orders, priests and familiars. the grand total of those embarked was about , . the daily expense of the fleet was estimated by don diego de pimentel at , ducats a-day, and the daily cost of the combined naval and military force under farnese and medina sidonia was stated at , ducats. the size of the ships ranged from tons to . the galleons, of which there were about sixty, were huge round-stemmed clumsy vessels, with bulwarks three or four feet thick, and built up at stem and stern, like castles. the galeasses of which there were four--were a third larger than the ordinary galley, and were rowed each by three hundred galley-slaves. they consisted of an enormous towering fortress at the stern; a castellated structure almost equally massive in front, with seats for the rowers amidships. at stem and stern and between each of the slaves' benches were heavy cannon. these galeasses were floating edifices, very wonderful to contemplate. they were gorgeously decorated. there were splendid state-apartments, cabins, chapels, and pulpits in each, and they were amply provided with awnings, cushions, streamers, standards, gilded saints, and bands of music. to take part in an ostentatious pageant, nothing could be better devised. to fulfil the great objects of a war-vessel--to sail and to fight--they were the worst machines ever launched upon the ocean. the four galleys were similar to the galeasses in every respect except that of size, in which they were by one-third inferior. all the ships of the fleet--galeasses, galleys, galleons, and hulks--were so encumbered with top-hamper, so overweighted in proportion to their draught of water, that they could bear but little canvas, even with smooth seas and light and favourable winds. in violent tempests, therefore, they seemed likely to suffer. to the eyes of the th century these vessels seemed enormous. a ship of tons was then a monster rarely seen, and a fleet, numbering from to sail, with an aggregate tonnage of , , seemed sufficient to conquer the world, and to justify the arrogant title, by which it had baptized itself, of the invincible. such was the machinery which philip had at last set afloat, for the purpose of dethroning elizabeth and establishing the inquisition in england. one hundred and forty ships, eleven thousand spanish veterans, as many more recruits, partly spanish, partly portuguese, grandees, as many galley-slaves, and three hundred barefooted friars and inquisitors. the plan was simple. medina sidonia was to proceed straight from lisbon to calais roads: there he was to wait: for the duke of parma, who was to come forth from newport, sluys, and dunkerk, bringing with him his , veterans, and to assume the chief command of the whole expedition. they were then to cross the channel to dover, land the army of parma, reinforced with spaniards from the fleet, and with these , men alexander was to march at once upon london. medina sidonia was to seize and fortify the isle of wight, guard the entrance of the harbours against any interference from the dutch and english fleets, and--so soon as the conquest of england had been effected--he was to proceed to ireland. it had been the wish of sir william stanley that ireland should be subjugated first, as a basis of operations against england; but this had been overruled. the intrigues of mendoza and farnese, too, with the catholic nobles of scotland, had proved, after all, unsuccessful. king james had yielded to superior offers of money and advancement held out to him by elizabeth, and was now, in alexander's words, a confirmed heretic. there was no course left, therefore, but to conquer england at once. a strange omission had however been made in the plan from first to last. the commander of the whole expedition was the duke of parma: on his head was the whole responsibility. not a gun was to be fired--if it could be avoided--until he had come forth with his veterans to make his junction with the invincible armada off calais. yet there was no arrangement whatever to enable him to come forth--not the slightest provision to effect that junction. it would almost seem that the letter-writer of the escorial had been quite ignorant of the existence of the dutch fleets off dunkerk, newport, and flushing, although he had certainly received information enough of this formidable obstacle to his plan. "most joyful i shall be," said farnese--writing on one of the days when he had seemed most convinced by valentine dale's arguments, and driven to despair by his postulates--"to see myself with these soldiers on english ground, where, with god's help, i hope to accomplish your majesty's demands." he was much troubled however to find doubts entertained at the last moment as to his spaniards; and certainly it hardly needed an argument to prove that the invasion of england with but , soldiers was a somewhat hazardous scheme. yet the pilot moresini had brought him letters from medina sidonia, in which the duke expressed hesitation about parting with these veterans; unless the english fleet should have been previously destroyed, and had also again expressed his hope that parma would be punctual to the rendezvous. alexander immediately combated these views in letters to medina and to the king. he avowed that he would not depart one tittle from the plan originally laid down. the men, and more if possible, were to be furnished him, and the spanish armada was to protect his own flotilla, and to keep the channel clear of enemies. no other scheme was possible, he said, for it was clear that his collection of small flat-bottomed river-boats and hoys could not even make the passage, except in smooth weather. they could not contend with a storm, much less with the enemy's ships, which would destroy them utterly in case of a meeting, without his being able to avail himself of his soldiers--who would be so closely packed as to be hardly moveable--or of any human help. the preposterous notion that he should come out with his flotilla to make a junction with medina off calais, was over and over again denounced by alexander with vehemence and bitterness, and most boding expressions were used by him as to the probable result, were such a delusion persisted in. every possible precaution therefore but one had been taken. the king of france--almost at the same instant in which guise had been receiving his latest instructions from the escorial for dethroning and destroying that monarch--had been assured by philip of his inalienable affection; had been informed of the object of this great naval expedition--which was not by any means, as mendoza had stated to henry, an enterprise against france or england, but only a determined attempt to clear the sea, once for all, of these english pirates who had done so much damage for years past on the high seas--and had been requested, in case any spanish ship should be driven by stress of weather into french ports, to afford them that comfort and protection to which the vessels of so close and friendly an ally were entitled. thus there was bread, beef, and powder enough--there were monks and priests enough--standards, galley-slaves, and inquisitors enough; but there were no light vessels in the armada, and no heavy vessels in parma's fleet. medina could not go to farnese, nor could farnese come to medina. the junction was likely to be difficult, and yet it had never once entered the heads of philip or his counsellors to provide for that difficulty. the king never seemed to imagine that farnese, with , or , soldiers in the netherlands, a fleet of transports, and power to dispose of very large funds for one great purpose, could be kept in prison by a fleet of dutch skippers and corsairs. with as much sluggishness as might have been expected from their clumsy architecture, the ships of the armada consumed nearly three weeks in sailing from lisbon to the neighbourhood of cape finisterre. here they were overtaken by a tempest, and were scattered hither and thither, almost at the mercy of the winds and waves; for those unwieldy hulks were ill adapted to a tempest in the bay of biscay. there were those in the armada, however, to whom the storm was a blessing. david gwynn, a welsh mariner, had sat in the spanish hulks a wretched galley-slave--as prisoner of war for more than eleven years, hoping, year after year, for a chance of escape from bondage. he sat now among the rowers of the great galley, the trasana, one of the humblest instruments by which the subjugation of his native land to spain and rome was to be effected. very naturally, among the ships which suffered most in the gale were the four huge unwieldy galleys--a squadron of four under don diego de medrado--with their enormous turrets at stem and stern, and their low and open waists. the chapels, pulpits, and gilded madonnas proved of little avail in a hurricane. the diana, largest of the four, went down with all hands; the princess was labouring severely in the trough of the sea, and the trasana was likewise in imminent danger. so the master of this galley asked the welsh slave, who had far more experience and seamanship than he possessed himself, if it were possible to save the vessel. gwynn saw an opportunity for which he had been waiting eleven years. he was ready to improve it. he pointed out to the captain the hopelessness of attempting to overtake the armada. they should go down, he said, as the diana had already done, and as the princess was like at any moment to do, unless they took in every rag of sail, and did their best with their oars to gain the nearest port. but in order that the rowers might exert themselves to the utmost, it was necessary that the soldiers, who were a useless incumbrance on deck, should go below. thus only could the ship be properly handled. the captain, anxious to save his ship and his life, consented. most of the soldiers were sent beneath the hatches: a few were ordered to sit on the benches among the slaves. now there had been a secret understanding for many days among these unfortunate men, nor were they wholly without weapons. they had been accustomed to make toothpicks and other trifling articles for sale out of broken sword-blades and other refuse bits of steel. there was not a man among them who had not thus provided himself with a secret stiletto. at first gwynn occupied himself with arrangements for weathering the gale. so soon however as the ship had been made comparatively easy, he looked around him, suddenly threw down his cap, and raised his hand to the rigging. it was a preconcerted signal. the next instant he stabbed the captain to the heart, while each one of the galley-slaves killed the soldier nearest him; then, rushing below, they surprised and overpowered the rest of the troops, and put them all to death. coming again upon deck, david gwynn descried the fourth galley of the squadron, called the royal, commanded by commodore medrado in person, bearing down upon them, before the wind. it was obvious that the vasana was already an object of suspicion. "comrades," said gwynn, "god has given us liberty, and by our courage we must prove ourselves worthy of the boon." as he spoke there came a broadside from the galley royal which killed nine of his crew. david, nothing daunted; laid his ship close alongside of the royal, with such a shock that the timbers quivered again. then at the head of his liberated slaves, now thoroughly armed, he dashed on board the galley, and, after a furious conflict, in which he was assisted by the slaves of the royal, succeeded in mastering the vessel, and putting all the spanish soldiers to death. this done, the combined rowers, welcoming gwynn as their deliverer from an abject slavery which seemed their lot for life, willingly accepted his orders. the gale had meantime abated, and the two galleys, well conducted by the experienced and intrepid welshman, made their way to the coast of france, and landed at bayonne on the st, dividing among them the property found on board the two galleys. thence, by land, the fugitives, four hundred and sixty-six in number--frenchmen, spaniards, englishmen, turks, and moors, made their way to rochelle. gwynn had an interview with henry of navarre, and received from that chivalrous king a handsome present. afterwards he found his way to england, and was well commended by the queen. the rest of the liberated slaves dispersed in various directions. this was the first adventure of the invincible armada. of the squadron of galleys, one was already sunk in the sea, and two of the others had been conquered by their own slaves. the fourth rode out the gale with difficulty, and joined the rest of the fleet, which ultimately re-assembled at coruna; the ships having, in distress, put in at first at vivera, ribadeo, gijon, and other northern ports of spain. at the groyne--as the english of that day were accustomed to call coruna--they remained a month, repairing damages and recruiting; and on the nd of july (n.s.) the armada set sail: six days later, the spaniards took soundings, thirty leagues from the scilly islands, and on--friday, the th of july, off the lizard, they had the first glimpse of the land of promise presented them by sixtus v., of which they had at last come to take possession. [the dates in the narrative will be always given according to the new style, then already adopted by spain, holland, and france, although not by england. the dates thus given are, of course, ten days later than they appear in contemporary english records.] on the same day and night the blaze and smoke of ten thousand beacon-fires from the land's end to margate, and from the isle of wight to cumberland, gave warning to every englishman that the enemy was at last upon them. almost at that very instant intelligence had been brought from the court to the lord-admiral at plymouth, that the armada, dispersed and shattered by the gales of june, was not likely to make its appearance that year; and orders had consequently been given to disarm the four largest ships, and send them into dock. even walsingham, as already stated, had participated in this strange delusion. before howard had time to act upon this ill-timed suggestion--even had he been disposed to do so--he received authentic intelligence that the great fleet was off the lizard. neither he nor francis drake were the men to lose time in such an emergency, and before that friday, night was spent, sixty of the best english ships had been warped out of plymouth harbour. on saturday, th july, the wind was very light at southwest, with a mist and drizzling rain, but by three in the afternoon the two fleets could descry and count each other through the haze. by nine o'clock, st july, about two miles from looe, on the cornish coast, the fleets had their first meeting. there were sail of the spaniards, of which ninety were large ships, and sixty-seven of the english. it was a solemn moment. the long-expected armada presented a pompous, almost a theatrical appearance. the ships seemed arranged for a pageant, in honour of a victory already won. disposed in form of a crescent, the horns of which were seven miles asunder, those gilded, towered, floating castles, with their gaudy standards and their martial music, moved slowly along the channel, with an air of indolent pomp. their captain-general, the golden duke, stood in his private shot-proof fortress, on the--deck of his great galleon the saint martin, surrounded by generals of infantry, and colonels of cavalry, who knew as little as he did himself of naval matters. the english vessels, on the other hand--with a few exceptions, light, swift, and easily handled--could sail round and round those unwieldy galleons, hulks, and galleys rowed by fettered slave-gangs. the superior seamanship of free englishmen, commanded by such experienced captains as drake, frobisher, and hawkins--from infancy at home on blue water--was manifest in the very, first encounter. they obtained the weather-gage at once, and cannonaded the enemy at intervals with considerable effect, easily escaping at will out of range of the sluggish armada, which was incapable of bearing sail in pursuit, although provided with an armament which could sink all its enemies at close quarters. "we had some small fight with them that sunday afternoon," said hawkins. medina sidonia hoisted the royal standard at the fore, and the whole fleet did its utmost, which was little, to offer general battle. it was in vain. the english, following at the heels of the enemy, refused all such invitations, and attacked only the rear-guard of the armada, where recalde commanded. that admiral, steadily maintaining his post, faced his nimble antagonists, who continued to teaze, to maltreat, and to elude him, while the rest of the fleet proceeded slowly up the channel closely, followed by the enemy. and thus the running fight continued along the coast, in full view of plymouth, whence boats with reinforcements and volunteers were perpetually arriving to the english ships, until the battle had drifted quite out of reach of the town. already in this first "small fight" the spaniards had learned a lesson, and might even entertain a doubt of their invincibility. but before the sun set there were more serious disasters. much powder and shot had been expended by the spaniards to very little purpose, and so a master-gunner on board admiral oquendo's flag-ship was reprimanded for careless ball-practice. the gunner, who was a fleming, enraged with his captain, laid a train to the powder-magazine, fired it, and threw himself into the sea. two decks blew up. the into the clouds, carrying with it the paymaster-general of the fleet, a large portion of treasure, and nearly two hundred men.' the ship was a wreck, but it was possible to save the rest of the crew. so medina sidonia sent light vessels to remove them, and wore with his flag-ship, to defend oquendo, who had already been fastened upon by his english pursuers. but the spaniards, not being so light in hand as their enemies, involved themselves in much embarrassment by this manoeuvre; and there was much falling foul of each other, entanglement of rigging, and carrying away of yards. oquendo's men, however, were ultimately saved, and taken to other ships. meantime don pedro de valdez, commander of the andalusian squadron, having got his galleon into collision with two or three spanish ships successively, had at last carried away his fore-mast close to the deck, and the wreck had fallen against his main-mast. he lay crippled and helpless, the armada was slowly deserting him, night was coming on, the sea was running high, and the english, ever hovering near, were ready to grapple with him. in vain did don pedro fire signals of distress. the captain-general, even as though the unlucky galleon had not been connected with the catholic fleet--calmly fired a gun to collect his scattered ships, and abandoned valdez to his fate. "he left me comfortless in sight of the whole fleet," said poor pedro, "and greater inhumanity and unthankfulness i think was never heard of among men." yet the spaniard comported himself most gallantly. frobisher, in the largest ship of the english fleet, the triumph, of tons, and hawkins in the victory, of , cannonaded him at a distance, but, night coming on, he was able to resist; and it was not till the following morning that he surrendered to the revenge. drake then received the gallant prisoner on board his flagship--much to the disgust and indignation of frobisher and hawkins, thus disappointed of their prize and ransom-money--treated him with much courtesy, and gave his word of honour that he and his men should be treated fairly like good prisoners of war. this pledge was redeemed, for it was not the english, as it was the spanish custom, to convert captives into slaves, but only to hold them for ransom. valdez responded to drake's politeness by kissing his hand, embracing him, and overpowering him with magnificent compliments. he was then sent on board the lord-admiral, who received him with similar urbanity, and expressed his regret that so distinguished a personage should have been so coolly deserted by the duke of medina. don pedro then returned to the revenge, where, as the guest of drake, he was a witness to all subsequent events up to the th of august, on which day he was sent to london with some other officers, sir francis claiming his ransom as his lawful due. here certainly was no very triumphant beginning for the invincible armada. on the very first day of their being in presence of the english fleet--then but sixty-seven in number, and vastly their inferior in size and weight of metal--they had lost the flag ships of the guipuzcoan and of the andalusian squadrons, with a general-admiral, officers and, men, and some , ducats of treasure. they had been out-manoeuvred, out-sailed, and thoroughly maltreated by their antagonists, and they had been unable to inflict a single blow in return. thus the "small fight" had been a cheerful one for the opponents of the inquisition, and the english were proportionably encouraged. on monday, st of august, medina sidonia placed the rear-guard-consisting of the galeasses, the galleons st. matthew, st. luke, st. james, and the florence and other ships, forty-three in all--under command of don antonio de leyva. he was instructed to entertain the enemy--so constantly hanging on the rear--to accept every chance of battle, and to come to close quarters whenever it should be possible. the spaniards felt confident of sinking every ship in the english navy, if they could but once come to grappling; but it was growing more obvious every hour that the giving or withholding battle was entirely in the hands of their foes. meantime--while the rear was thus protected by leyva's division--the vanguard and main body of the armada, led by the captain-general, would steadily pursue its way, according to the royal instructions, until it arrived at its appointed meeting-place with the duke of parma. moreover, the duke of medina--dissatisfied with the want of discipline and of good seamanship hitherto displayed in his fleet--now took occasion to send a serjeant-major, with written sailing directions, on board each ship in the armada, with express orders to hang every captain, without appeal or consultation, who should leave the position assigned him; and the hangmen were sent with the sergeant-majors to ensure immediate attention to these arrangements. juan gil was at the name time sent off in a sloop to the duke of parma, to carry the news of the movements of the armada, to request information as to the exact spot and moment of the junction, and to beg for pilots acquainted with the french and flemish coasts. "in case of the slightest gale in the world," said medina, "i don't know how or where to shelter such large ships as ours." disposed in this manner; the spaniards sailed leisurely along the english coast with light westerly breezes, watched closely by the queen's fleet, which hovered at a moderate distance to windward, without offering, that day, any obstruction to their course. by five o'clock on tuesday morning, nd of august, the armada lay between portland bill and st. albans' head, when the wind shifted to the north-east, and gave the spaniards the weather-gage. the english did their beat to get to windward, but the duke, standing close into the land with the whole armada, maintained his advantage. the english then went about, making a tack seaward, and were soon afterwards assaulted by the spaniards. a long and spirited action ensued. howard in his little ark-royal--"the odd ship of the world for all conditions"--was engaged at different times with bertendona, of the italian squadron, with alonzo de leyva in the batta, and with other large vessels. he was hard pressed for a time, but was gallantly supported by the nonpareil, captain tanner; and after a long and confused combat, in which the st. mark, the st. luke, the st. matthew, the st. philip, the st. john, the st. james, the st. john baptist, the st. martin, and many other great galleons, with saintly and apostolic names, fought pellmell with the lion, the bear, the bull, the tiger, the dreadnought, the revenge, the victory, the triumph, and other of the more profanely-baptized english ships, the spaniards were again baffled in all their attempts to close with, and to board, their ever-attacking, ever-flying adversaries. the cannonading was incessant. "we had a sharp and a long fight," said hawkins. boat-loads of men and munitions were perpetually arriving to the english, and many, high-born volunteers--like cumberland, oxford, northumberland, raleigh, brooke, dudley, willoughby, noel, william hatton, thomas cecil, and others--could no longer restrain their impatience, as the roar of battle sounded along the coasts of dorset, but flocked merrily on board the ships of drake,--hawkins, howard, and frobisher, or came in small vessels which they had chartered for themselves, in order to have their share in the delights of the long-expected struggle. the action, irregular, desultory, but lively, continued nearly all day, and until the english had fired away most of their powder and shot. the spaniards, too, notwithstanding their years of preparation, were already sort of light metal, and medina sidonia had been daily sending to parma for a supply of four, six, and ten pound balls. so much lead and gunpowder had never before been wasted in a single day; for there was no great damage inflicted on either side. the artillery-practice was certainly not much to the credit of either nation. "if her majesty's ships had been manned with a full supply of good gunners," said honest william thomas, an old artilleryman, "it would have been the woefullest time ever the spaniard took in hand, and the most noble victory ever heard of would have been her majesty's. but our sins were the cause that so much powder and shot were spent, so long time in fight, and in comparison so little harm done. it were greatly to be wished that her majesty were no longer deceived in this way." yet the english, at any rate, had succeeded in displaying their seamanship, if not their gunnery, to advantage. in vain the unwieldly hulks and galleons had attempted to grapple with their light-winged foes, who pelted them, braved them, damaged their sails and gearing; and then danced lightly off into the distance; until at last, as night fell, the wind came out from the west again, and the english regained and kept the weather-gage. the queen's fleet, now divided into four squadrons, under howard, drake, hawkins, and frobisher, amounted to near one hundred sail, exclusive of lord henry seymour's division, which was cruising in the straits of dover. but few of all this number were ships of war however, and the merchant vessels; although zealous and active enough, were not thought very effective. "if you had seen the simple service done by the merchants and coast ships," said winter, "you would have said we had been little holpen by them, otherwise than that they did make a show." all night the spaniards, holding their course towards calais, after the long but indecisive conflict had terminated, were closely pursued by their wary antagonists. on wednesday, rd of august, there was some slight cannonading, with but slender results; and on thursday, the th, both fleets were off dunnose, on the isle of wight. the great hulk santana and a galleon of portugal having been somewhat damaged the previous day, were lagging behind the rest of the armada, and were vigorously attacked by the triumph, and a few other vessels. don antonio de leyva, with some of the galeasses and large galleons, came to the rescue, and frobisher, although in much peril, maintained an unequal conflict, within close range, with great spirit. seeing his danger, the lord admiral in the ark-royal, accompanied by the golden lion; the white bear, the elizabeth, the victory, and the leicester, bore boldly down into the very midst of the spanish fleet, and laid himself within three or four hundred yards of medina's flag ship, the st. martin, while his comrades were at equally close quarters with vice-admiral recalde and the galleons of oquendo, mexia, and almanza. it was the hottest conflict which had yet taken place. here at last was thorough english work. the two, great fleets, which were there to subjugate and to defend the realm of elizabeth, were nearly yard-arm and yard-arm together--all england on the lee. broadside after broadside of great guns, volley after volley of arquebusry from maintop and rigging, were warmly exchanged, and much damage was inflicted on the spaniards, whose gigantic ships, were so easy a mark to aim at, while from their turreted heights they themselves fired for the most part harmlessly over the heads of their adversaries. the leaders of the armada, however, were encouraged, for they expected at last to come to even closer quarters, and there were some among the english who were mad enough to wish to board. but so soon as frobisher, who was the hero of the day, had extricated himself from his difficulty, the lord-admiral--having no intention of risking the existence of his fleet, and with it perhaps of the english crown, upon the hazard of a single battle, and having been himself somewhat damaged in the fight--gave the signal for retreat, and caused the ark-royal to be towed out of action. thus the spaniards were frustrated of their hopes, and the english; having inflicted much. punishment at comparatively small loss to themselves, again stood off to windward; and the armada continued its indolent course along the cliffs of freshwater and blackgang. on friday; th august, the english, having received men and munitions from shore, pursued their antagonists at a moderate distance; and the lord-admiral; profiting by the pause--for, it was almost a flat calm--sent for martin frobisher, john hawkins, roger townsend, lord thomas howard, son of the duke of norfolk, and lord edmund sheffield; and on the deck of the royal ark conferred the honour of knighthood on each for his gallantry in the action of the previous day. medina sidonia, on his part, was again despatching messenger after messenger to the duke of parma, asking for small shot, pilots, and forty fly-boats, with which to pursue the teasing english clippers. the catholic armada, he said, being so large and heavy, was quite in the power of its adversaries, who could assault, retreat, fight, or leave off fighting, while he had nothing for it but to proceed, as expeditiously as might be; to his rendezvous in calais roads. etext editor's bookmarks: inquisitors enough; but there were no light vessels in the armada history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , both fleets off calais--a night of anxiety--project of howard and winter--impatience of the spaniards--fire-ships sent against the armada--a great galeasse disabled--attacked and captured by english boats--general engagement of both fleets--loss of several spanish ships--armada flies, followed by the english--english insufficiently provided--are obliged to relinquish the chase--a great storm disperses the armada--great energy of parma made fruitless by philip's dulness--england readier at sea than on shore--the lieutenant--general's complaints--his quarrels with norris and williams--harsh statements as to the english troops--want of organization in england--royal parsimony and delay--quarrels of english admirals--england's narrow escape from great peril--various rumours as to the armada's fate--philip for a long time in doubt--he believes himself victorious--is tranquil when undeceived. chapter xix. part . and in calais roads the great fleet--sailing slowly all next day in company with the english, without a shot being fired on either side--at last dropped anchor on saturday afternoon, august th. here then the invincible armada had arrived at its appointed resting-place. here the great junction--of medina sidonia with the duke of parma was to be effected; and now at last the curtain was to rise upon the last act of the great drama so slowly and elaborately prepared. that saturday afternoon, lord henry seymour and his squadron of sixteen lay between dungeness and folkestone; waiting the approach of the two fleets. he spoke several-coasting vessels coming from the west; but they could give him no information--strange to say--either of the spaniards or, of his own countrymen,--seymour; having hardly three days' provision in his fleet, thought that there might be time to take in supplies; and so bore into the downs. hardly had he been there half an hour; when a pinnace arrived from the lord-admiral; with orders for lord henry's squadron to hold itself in readiness. there was no longer time for victualling, and very soon afterwards the order was given to make sail and bear for the french coast. the wind was however so light; that the whole day was spent before seymour with his ships could cross the channel. at last, towards seven in the evening; he saw the great spanish armada, drawn up in a half-moon, and riding at anchor--the ships very near each other--a little to the eastward of calais, and very near the shore. the english, under howard drake, frobisher, and hawkins, were slowly following, and--so soon as lord henry, arriving from the opposite shore; had made his junction with them--the whole combined fleet dropped anchor likewise very near calais, and within one mile and a half of the spaniards. that invincible force had at last almost reached its destination. it was now to receive the cooperation of the great farnese, at the head of an army of veterans, disciplined on a hundred battle-fields, confident from countless victories, and arrayed, as they had been with ostentatious splendour, to follow the most brilliant general in christendom on his triumphal march into the capital of england. the long-threatened invasion was no longer an idle figment of politicians, maliciously spread abroad to poison men's minds as to the intentions of a long-enduring but magnanimous, and on the whole friendly sovereign. the mask had been at last thrown down, and the mild accents of philip's diplomatists and their english dupes, interchanging protocols so decorously month after month on the sands of bourbourg, had been drowned by the peremptory voice of english and spanish artillery, suddenly breaking in upon their placid conferences. it had now become supererogatory to ask for alexander's word of honour whether he had, ever heard of cardinal allan's pamphlet, or whether his master contemplated hostilities against queen elizabeth. never, since england was england, had such a sight been seen as now revealed itself in those narrow straits between dover and calais. along that long, low, sandy shore, and quite within the range of the calais fortifications, one hundred and thirty spanish ships--the greater number of them the largest and most heavily armed in the world lay face to face, and scarcely out of cannon-shot, with one hundred and fifty english sloops and frigates, the strongest and swiftest that the island could furnish, and commanded by men whose exploits had rung through the world. farther along the coast, invisible, but known to be performing a post perilous and vital service, was a squadron of dutch vessels of all sizes, lining both the inner and outer edges of the sandbanks off the flemish coasts, and swarming in all the estuaries and inlets of that intricate and dangerous cruising-ground between dunkerk and walcheren. those fleets of holland and zeeland, numbering some one hundred and fifty galleons, sloops, and fly-boats, under warmond, nassau, van der does, de moor, and rosendael, lay patiently blockading every possible egress from newport, or gravelines; or sluys, or flushing, or dunkerk, and longing to grapple with the duke of parma, so soon as his fleet of gunboats and hoys, packed with his spanish and italian veterans, should venture to set forth upon the sea for their long-prepared exploit. it was a pompous spectacle, that midsummer night, upon those narrow seas. the moon, which was at the full, was rising calmly upon a scene of anxious expectation. would she not be looking, by the morrow's night, upon a subjugated england, a re-enslaved holland--upon the downfall of civil and religious liberty? those ships of spain, which lay there with their banners waving in the moonlight, discharging salvoes of anticipated triumph and filling the air with strains of insolent music; would they not, by daybreak, be moving straight to their purpose, bearing the conquerors of the world to the scene of their cherished hopes? that english fleet, too, which rode there at anchor, so anxiously on the watch--would that swarm of, nimble, lightly-handled, but slender vessels,--which had held their own hitherto in hurried and desultory skirmishes--be able to cope with their great antagonist now that the moment had arrived for the death grapple? would not howard, drake, frobisher, seymour, winter, and hawkins, be swept out of the straits at last, yielding an open passage to medina, oquendo, recalde, and farnese? would those hollanders and zeelanders, cruising so vigilantly among their treacherous shallows, dare to maintain their post, now that the terrible 'holofernese,' with his invincible legions, was resolved to come forth? so soon as he had cast anchor, howard despatched a pinnace to the vanguard, with a message to winter to come on board the flag-ship. when sir william reached the ark, it was already nine in the evening. he was anxiously consulted by the lord-admiral as to the course now to be taken. hitherto the english had been teasing and perplexing an enemy, on the retreat, as it were, by the nature of his instructions. although anxious to give battle, the spaniard was forbidden to descend upon the coast until after his junction with parma. so the english had played a comparatively easy game, hanging upon their enemy's skirts, maltreating him as they doubled about him, cannonading him from a distance, and slipping out of his reach at their pleasure. but he was now to be met face to face, and the fate of the two free commonwealths of the world was upon the issue of the struggle, which could no longer be deferred. winter, standing side by aide with the lord-admiral on the deck of the little ark-royal, gazed for the first time on those enormous galleons and galleys with which his companion, was already sufficiently familiar. "considering their hugeness," said he, "twill not be possible to remove them but by a device." then remembering, in a lucky moment, something that he had heard four years before of the fire ships sent by the antwerpers against parma's bridge--the inventor of which, the italian gianibelli, was at that very moment constructing fortifications on the thames to assist the english against his old enemy farnese--winter suggested that some stratagem of the same kind should be attempted against the invincible armada. there was no time nor opportunity to prepare such submarine volcanoes as had been employed on that memorable occasion; but burning ships at least might be sent among the fleet. some damage would doubtless be thus inflicted by the fire, and perhaps a panic, suggested by the memories of antwerp and by the knowledge that the famous mantuan wizard was then a resident of england, would be still more effective. in winter's opinion, the armada might at least be compelled to slip its cables, and be thrown into some confusion if the project were fairly carried out. howard approved of the device, and determined to hold, next morning, a council of war for arranging the details of its execution. while the two sat in the cabin, conversing thus earnestly, there had well nigh been a serious misfortune. the ship, white bear, of tons burthen, and three others of the english fleet, all tangled together, came drifting with the tide against the ark. there were many yards carried away; much tackle spoiled, and for a time there was great danger; in the opinion of winter, that some of the very best ships in the fleet would be crippled and quite destroyed on the eve of a general engagement. by alacrity and good handling, however, the ships were separated, and the ill-consequences of an accident--such as had already proved fatal to several spanish vessels--were fortunately averted. next day, sunday, th august, the two great fleets were still lying but a mile and a half apart, calmly gazing at each other, and rising and falling at their anchors as idly as if some vast summer regatta were the only purpose of that great assemblage of shipping. nothing as yet was heard of farnese. thus far, at least, the hollanders had held him at bay, and there was still breathing-time before the catastrophe. so howard hung out his signal for council early in the morning, and very soon after drake and hawkins, seymour, winter, and the rest, were gravely consulting in his cabin. it was decided that winter's suggestion should be acted upon, and sir henry palmer was immediately despatched in a pinnace to dover, to bring off a number of old vessels fit to be fired, together with a supply of light wood, tar, rosin, sulphur, and other combustibles, most adapted to the purpose.' but as time wore away, it became obviously impossible for palmer to return that night, and it was determined to make the most of what could be collected in the fleet itself. otherwise it was to be feared that the opportunity might be for ever lost. parma, crushing all opposition, might suddenly appear at any moment upon the channel; and the whole spanish armada, placing itself between him and his enemies, would engage the english and dutch fleets, and cover his passage to dover. it would then be too late to think of the burning ships. on the other hand, upon the decks of the armada, there was an impatience that night which increased every hour. the governor of calais; m. de gourdon, had sent his nephew on board the flag-ship of medina sidonia, with courteous salutations, professions of friendship, and bountiful refreshments. there was no fear--now that mucio was for the time in the ascendency--that the schemes of philip would be interfered with by france. the governor, had, however, sent serious warning of--the dangerous position in which the armada had placed itself. he was quite right. calais roads were no safe anchorage for huge vessels like those of spain and portugal; for the tides and cross-currents to which they were exposed were most treacherous. it was calm enough at the moment, but a westerly gale might, in a few hours, drive the whole fleet hopelessly among the sand-banks of the dangerous flemish coast. moreover, the duke, although tolerably well furnished with charts and pilots for the english coast, was comparatively unprovided against the dangers which might beset him off dunkerk, newport, and flushing. he had sent messengers, day after day, to farnese, begging for assistance of various kinds, but, above all, imploring his instant presence on the field of action. it was the time and, place for alexander to assume the chief command. the armada was ready to make front against the english fleet on the left, while on the right, the duke, thus protected, might proceed across the channel and take possession of england. and the impatience of the soldiers and sailors on board the fleet was equal to that of their commanders. there was london almost before their eyes--a huge mass of treasure, richer and more accessible than those mines beyond the atlantic which had so often rewarded spanish chivalry with fabulous wealth. and there were men in those galleons who remembered the sack of antwerp, eleven years before--men who could tell, from personal experience, how helpless was a great commercial city, when once in the clutch of disciplined brigands--men who, in that dread 'fury of antwerp,' had enriched themselves in an hour with the accumulations of a merchant's life-time, and who had slain fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, brides and bridegrooms, before each others' eyes, until the number of inhabitants butchered in the blazing streets rose to many thousands; and the plunder from palaces and warehouses was counted by millions; before the sun had set on the 'great fury.' those spaniards, and italians, and walloons, were now thirsting for more gold, for more blood; and as the capital of england was even more wealthy and far more defenceless than the commercial metropolis of the netherlands had been, so it was resolved that the london 'fury' should be more thorough and more productive than the 'fury' of antwerp, at the memory--of which the world still shuddered. and these professional soldiers had been taught to consider the english as a pacific, delicate, effeminate race, dependent on good living, without experience of war, quickly fatigued and discouraged, and even more easily to be plundered and butchered than were the excellent burghers of antwerp. and so these southern conquerors looked down from their great galleons and galeasses upon the english vessels. more than three quarters of them were merchantmen. there was no comparison whatever between the relative strength of the fleets. in number they were about equal being each from one hundred and thirty to one hundred and fifty strong--but the spaniards had twice the tonnage of the english, four times the artillery, and nearly three times the number of men. where was farnese? most impatiently the golden duke paced the deck of the saint martin. most eagerly were thousands of eyes strained towards the eastern horizon to catch the first glimpse of parma's flotilla. but the day wore on to its close, and still the same inexplicable and mysterious silence prevailed. there was utter solitude on the waters in the direction of gravelines and dunkerk--not a sail upon the sea in the quarter where bustle and activity had been most expected. the mystery was profound, for it had never entered the head of any man in the armada that alexander could not come out when he chose. and now to impatience succeeded suspicion and indignation; and there were curses upon sluggishness and upon treachery. for in the horrible atmosphere of duplicity, in which all spaniards and italians of that epoch lived, every man: suspected his brother, and already medina sidonia suspected farnese of playing him false. there were whispers of collusion between the duke and the english commissioners at bourbourg. there were hints that alexander was playing his own game, that he meant to divide the sovereignty of the netherlands with the heretic elizabeth, to desert his great trust, and to effect, if possible, the destruction of his master's armada, and the downfall of his master's sovereignty in the north. men told each other, too, of a vague rumour, concerning which alexander might have received information, and in which many believed, that medina sidonia was the bearer of secret orders to throw farnese into bondage, so soon as he should appear, to send him a disgraced captive back to spain for punishment, and to place the baton of command in the hand of the duke of pastrana, philip's bastard by the eboli. thus, in the absence of alexander, all was suspense and suspicion. it seemed possible that disaster instead of triumph was in store for them through the treachery of the commander-in-chief. four and twenty hours and more, they had been lying in that dangerous roadstead, and although the weather had been calm and the sea tranquil, there seemed something brooding in the atmosphere. as the twilight deepened, the moon became totally obscured, dark cloud-masses spread over the heavens, the sea grew black, distant thunder rolled, and the sob of an approaching tempest became distinctly audible. such indications of a westerly gale, were not encouraging to those cumbrous vessels, with the treacherous quicksands of flanders under their lee. at an hour past midnight, it was so dark that it was difficult for the most practiced eye to pierce far into the gloom. but a faint drip of oars now struck the ears of the spaniards as they watched from the decks. a few moments afterwards the sea became, suddenly luminous, and six flaming vessels appeared at a slight distance, bearing steadily down upon them before the wind and tide. there were men in the armada who had been at the siege of antwerp only three years before. they remembered with horror the devil-ships of gianibelli, those floating volcanoes, which had seemed to rend earth and ocean, whose explosion had laid so many thousands of soldiers dead at a blow, and which had shattered the bridge and floating forts of farnese, as though they had been toys of glass. they knew, too, that the famous engineer was at that moment in england. in a moment one of those horrible panics, which spread with such contagious rapidity among large bodies of men, seized upon the spaniards. there was a yell throughout the fleet--"the fire-ships of antwerp, the fire-ships of antwerp!" and in an instant every cable was cut, and frantic attempts were made by each galleon and galeasse to escape what seemed imminent destruction. the confusion was beyond description. four or five of the largest ships became entangled with each other. two others were set on fire by the flaming--vessels, and were consumed. medina sidonia, who had been warned, even, before his departure from spain, that some such artifice would probably be attempted, and who had even, early that morning, sent out a party of sailors in a pinnace to search for indications of the scheme, was not surprised or dismayed. he gave orders--as well as might be that every ship, after the danger should be passed, was to return to its post, and, await his further orders. but it was useless, in that moment of unreasonable panic to issue commands. the despised mantuan, who had met with so many rebuffs at philip's court, and who--owing to official incredulity had been but partially successful in his magnificent enterprise at antwerp, had now; by the mere terror of his name, inflicted more damage on philip's armada than had hitherto been accomplished by howard and drake, hawkins and frobisher, combined. so long as night and darkness lasted, the confusion and uproar continued. when the monday morning dawned, several of the spanish vessels lay disabled, while the rest of the fleet was seen at a distance of two leagues from calais, driving towards the flemish coast. the threatened gale had not yet begun to blow, but there were fresh squalls from the w.s.w., which, to such awkward sailers as the spanish vessels; were difficult to contend with. on the other hand, the english fleet were all astir; and ready to pursue the spaniards, now rapidly drifting into the north sea. in the immediate neighbourhood of calais, the flagship of the squadron of galeasses, commanded by don hugo de moncada, was discovered using her foresail and oars, and endeavouring to enter the harbour. she had been damaged by collision with the st. john of sicily and other ships, during the night's panic, and had her rudder quite torn away. she was the largest and most splendid vessel in the armada--the show-ship of the fleet,--"the very glory and stay of the spanish navy," and during the previous two days she had been visited and admired by great numbers of frenchmen from the shore. lord admiral howard bore dawn upon her at once, but as she was already in shallow water, and was rowing steadily towards the town, he saw that the ark could not follow with safety. so he sent his long-boat to cut her out, manned with fifty or sixty volunteers, most of them "as valiant in courage as gentle in birth"--as a partaker in the adventure declared. the margaret and joan of london, also following in pursuit, ran herself aground, but the master despatched his pinnace with a body of musketeers, to aid in the capture of the galeasse. that huge vessel failed to enter the harbour, and stuck fast upon the bar. there was much dismay on board, but don hugo prepared resolutely to defend himself. the quays of calais and the line of the french shore were lined with thousands of eager spectators, as the two boats-rowing steadily toward a galeasse, which carried forty brass pieces of artillery, and was manned with three hundred soldiers and four hundred and fifty slaves--seemed rushing upon their own destruction. of these daring englishmen, patricians and plebeians together, in two open pinnaces, there were not more than one hundred in number, all told. they soon laid themselves close to the capitana, far below her lofty sides, and called on don hugo to surrender. the answer was, a smile of derision from the haughty spaniard, as he looked down upon them from what seemed an inaccessible height. then one wilton, coxswain of the delight; of winter's squadron, clambered up to the enemy's deck and fell dead the same instant. then the english volunteers opened a volley upon the spaniards; "they seemed safely ensconced in their ships," said bold dick tomson, of the margaret and joan, "while we in our open pinnaces, and far under them, had nothing to shroud and cover us." moreover the numbers were, seven hundred and fifty to one hundred. but, the spaniards, still quite disconcerted by the events of the preceding night, seemed under a spell. otherwise it would have been an easy matter for the great galeasse to annihilate such puny antagonists in a very short space of time. the english pelted the spaniards quite cheerfully, however, with arquebus shot, whenever they showed themselves above the bulwarks, picked off a considerable number, and sustained a rather severe loss themselves, lieutenant preston of the ark-royal, among others, being dangerously wounded. "we had a pretty skirmish for half-an-hour," said tomson. at last don hugo de moncada, furious at the inefficiency of his men, and leading them forward in person, fell back on his deck with a bullet through both eyes. the panic was instantaneous, for, meantime, several other english boats--some with eight, ten; or twelve men on board--were seen pulling--towards the galeasse; while the dismayed soldiers at once leaped overboard on the land side, and attempted to escape by swimming and wading to the shore. some of them succeeded, but the greater number were drowned. the few who remained--not more, than twenty in all--hoisted two handkerchiefs upon two rapiers as a signal of truce. the english, accepting it as a signal of defeat; scrambled with great difficulty up the lofty sides of the capitana, and, for an hour and a half, occupied themselves most agreeably in plundering the ship and in liberating the slaves. it was their intention, with the flood-tide, to get the vessel off, as she was but slightly damaged, and of very great value. but a serious obstacle arose to this arrangement. for presently a boat came along-side, with young m. de gourdon and another french captain, and hailed the galeasse. there was nobody on board who could speak french but richard tomson. so richard returned the hail, and asked their business. they said they came from the governor. "and what is the--governor's pleasure?" asked tomson, when they had come up the side. "the governor has stood and beheld your fight, and rejoiced in your victory," was the reply; "and he says that for your prowess and manhood you well deserve the pillage of the galeasse. he requires and commands you, however, not to attempt carrying off either the ship or its ordnance; for she lies a-ground under the battery of his castle, and within his jurisdiction, and does of right appertain to him." this seemed hard upon the hundred volunteers, who, in their two open boats, had so manfully carried a ship of tons, guns, and men; but richard answered diplomatically. "we thank m. de gourdon," said he, "for granting the pillage to mariners and soldiers who had fought for it, and we acknowledge that without his good-will we cannot carry away anything we have got, for the ship lies on ground directly under his batteries and bulwarks. concerning the ship and ordnance, we pray that he would send a pinnace to my lord admiral howard, who is here in person hard by, from whom he will have an honourable and friendly answer, which we shall all-obey." with this--the french officers, being apparently content, were about to depart, and it is not impossible that the soft answer might have obtained the galeasse and the ordnance, notwithstanding the arrangement which philip ii. had made with his excellent friend henry iii. for aid and comfort to spanish vessels in french ports. unluckily, however, the inclination for plunder being rife that morning, some of the englishmen hustled their french visitors, plundered them of their rings and jewels, as if they had been enemies, and then permitted them to depart. they rowed off to the shore, vowing vengeance, and within a few minutes after their return the battery of the fort was opened upon the english, and they were compelled to make their escape as they could with the plunder already secured, leaving the galeasse in the possession of m. de gourdon. this adventure being terminated, and the pinnaces having returned to the fleet, the lord-admiral, who had been lying off and on, now bore away with all his force in pursuit of the spaniards. the invincible armada, already sorely crippled, was standing n.n.e. directly before a fresh topsail-breeze from the s.s.w. the english came up with them soon after nine o'clock a.m. off gravelines, and found them sailing in a half-moon, the admiral and vice-admiral in the centre, and the flanks protected by the three remaining galeasses and by the great galleons of portugal. seeing the enemy approaching, medina sidonia ordered his whole fleet to luff to the wind, and prepare for action. the wind shifting a few points, was now at w.n.w., so that the english had both the weather-gage and the tide in their favour. a general combat began at about ten, and it was soon obvious to the spaniards that their adversaries were intending warm work. sir francis drake in the revenge, followed by, frobisher in the triumph, hawkins in the victory, and some smaller vessels, made the first attack upon the spanish flagships. lord henry in the rainbow, sir henry palmer in the antelope, and others, engaged with three of the largest galleons of the armada, while sir william winter in the vanguard, supported by most of his squadron, charged the starboard wing. the portion of the fleet thus assaulted fell back into the main body. four of the ships ran foul of each other, and winter, driving into their centre, found himself within musket-shot of many of their most formidable' ships. "i tell you, on the credit of a poor gentleman," he said, "that there were five hundred discharges of demi-cannon, culverin, and demi-culverin, from the vanguard; and when i was farthest off in firing my pieces, i was not out of shot of their harquebus, and most time within speech, one of another." the battle lasted six hours long, hot and furious; for now there was no excuse for retreat on the part of the spaniards, but, on the contrary, it was the intention of the captain-general to return to his station off calais, if it were within his power. nevertheless the english still partially maintained the tactics which had proved so successful, and resolutely refused the fierce attempts of the spaniards to lay themselves along-side. keeping within musket-range, the well-disciplined english mariners poured broadside after broadside against the towering ships of the armada, which afforded so easy a mark; while the spaniards, on their part, found it impossible, while wasting incredible quantities of powder and shot, to inflict any severe damage on their enemies. throughout the action, not an english ship was destroyed, and not a hundred men were killed. on the other hand, all the best ships of the spaniards were riddled through and through, and with masts and yards shattered, sails and rigging torn to shreds, and a north-went wind still drifting them towards the fatal sand-batiks of holland, they, laboured heavily in a chopping sea, firing wildly, and receiving tremendous punishment at the hands of howard drake, seymour, winter, and their followers. not even master-gunner thomas could complain that day of "blind exercise" on the part of the english, with "little harm done" to the enemy. there was scarcely a ship in the armada that did not suffer severely; for nearly all were engaged in that memorable action off the sands of gravelines. the captain-general himself, admiral recalde, alonzo de leyva, oquendo, diego flores de valdez, bertendona, don francisco de toledo, don diego de pimentel, telles enriquez, alonzo de luzon, garibay, with most of the great galleons and galeasses, were in the thickest of the fight, and one after the other each of those huge ships was disabled. three sank before the fight was over, many others were soon drifting helpless wrecks towards a hostile shore, and, before five o'clock, in the afternoon, at least sixteen of their best ships had been sacrificed, and from four to five thousand soldiers killed. ["god hath mightily preserved her majesty's forces with the least losses that ever hath been heard of, being within the compass of so great volleys of shot, both small and great. i verily believe there is not threescore men lost of her majesty's forces." captain j. fenner to walsingham, / aug. . (s. p. office ms.)] nearly all the largest vessels of the armada, therefore, having, been disabled or damaged--according to a spanish eye-witness--and all their small shot exhausted, medina sidonia reluctantly gave orders to retreat. the captain-general was a bad sailor; but he was, a chivalrous spaniard of ancient gothic blood, and he felt deep mortification at the plight of his invincible fleet, together with undisguised: resentment against alexander farnese, through whose treachery and incapacity, he considered. the great catholic cause to have been, so foully sacrificed. crippled, maltreated, and diminished in number, as were his ships; he would have still faced, the enemy, but the winds and currents were fast driving him on, a lee-shore, and the pilots, one and all, assured him that it would be inevitable destruction to remain. after a slight and very ineffectual attempt to rescue don diego de pimentel in the st. matthew--who refused to leave his disabled ship--and don francisco de toledo; whose great galleon, the st. philip, was fast driving, a helpless wreck, towards zeeland, the armada bore away n.n.e. into the open sea, leaving those, who could not follow, to their fate. the st. matthew, in a sinking condition, hailed a dutch fisherman, who was offered a gold chain to pilot her into newport. but the fisherman, being a patriot; steered her close to the holland fleet, where she was immediately assaulted by admiral van der does, to whom, after a two hours' bloody fight, she struck her flag. don diego, marshal of the camp to the famous legion of sicily, brother, of the marquis of tavera, nephew of the viceroy of sicily, uncle to the viceroy of naples, and numbering as many titles, dignities; and high affinities as could be expected of a grandee of the first class, was taken, with his officers, to the hague. "i was the means," said captain borlase, "that the best sort were saved, and the rest were cast overboard and slain at our entry. he, fought with us two hours; and hurt divers of our men, but at, last yielded." john van der does, his captor; presented the banner; of the saint matthew to the great church of leyden, where--such was its prodigious length--it hung; from floor to ceiling without being entirely unrolled; and there hung, from generation to generation; a worthy companion to the spanish flags which had been left behind when valdez abandoned the siege of that heroic city fifteen years before. the galleon st. philip, one of the four largest ships in the armada, dismasted and foundering; drifted towards newport, where camp-marshal don francisco de toledo hoped in, vain for succour. la motte made a feeble attempt at rescue, but some vessels from the holland fleet, being much more active, seized the unfortunate galleon, and carried her into flushing. the captors found forty-eight brass cannon and other things of value on board, but there were some casks of ribadavia wine which was more fatal to her enemies than those pieces of artillery had proved. for while the rebels were refreshing themselves, after the fatigues of the capture, with large draughts of that famous vintage, the st. philip, which had been bored through and through with english shot, and had been rapidly filling with water, gave a sudden lurch, and went down in a moment, carrying with her to the bottom three hundred of those convivial hollanders. a large biscay galleon, too, of recalde's squadron, much disabled in action, and now, like many others, unable to follow the armada, was summoned by captain cross of the hope, guns, to surrender. although foundering, she resisted, and refused to strike her flag. one of her officers attempted to haul down her colours, and was run through the body by the captain, who, in his turn, was struck dead by a brother of the officer thus slain. in the midst of this quarrel the ship went down with all her crew. six hours and more, from ten till nearly five, the fight had lasted--a most cruel battle, as the spaniard declared. there were men in the armada who had served in the action of lepanto, and who declared that famous encounter to have been far surpassed in severity and spirit by this fight off gravelines. "surely every man in our fleet did well," said winter, "and the slaughter the enemy received was great." nor would the spaniards have escaped even worse punishment, had not, most unfortunately, the penurious policy of the queen's government rendered her ships useless at last, even in this supreme moment. they never ceased cannonading the discomfited enemy until the ammunition was exhausted. "when the cartridges were all spent," said winter, "and the munitions in some vessels gone altogether, we ceased fighting, but followed the enemy, who still kept away." and the enemy--although still numerous, and seeming strong enough, if properly handled, to destroy the whole english fleet--fled before them. there remained more than fifty spanish vessels, above six hundred tons in size, besides sixty hulks and other vessels of less account; while in the whole english navy were but thirteen ships of or above that burthen. "their force is wonderful great and strong," said howard, "but we pluck their feathers by little and little." for medina sidonia had now satisfied himself that he should never succeed in boarding those hard-fighting and swift-sailing craft, while, meantime, the horrible panic of sunday night and the succession of fights throughout the following day, had completely disorganized his followers. crippled, riddled, shorn, but still numerous, and by no means entirely vanquished, the armada was flying with a gentle breeze before an enemy who, to save his existence; could not have fired a broadside. "though our powder and shot was well nigh spent," said the lord-admiral, "we put on a brag countenance and gave them chase, as though we had wanted nothing." and the brag countenance was successful, for that "one day's service had much appalled the enemy" as drake observed; and still the spaniards fled with a freshening gale all through the monday night. "a thing greatly to be regarded," said fenner, of the nonpariel, "is that that the almighty had stricken them with a wonderful fear. i have hardly, seen any of their companies succoured of the extremities which befell them after their fights, but they have been left, at utter ruin, while they bear as much sail as ever they possibly can." on tuesday morning, th august, the english ships were off the isle of walcheren, at a safe distance from the shore. "the wind is hanging westerly," said richard tomson, of the margaret and joan, "and we drive our enemies apace, much marvelling in what port they will direct themselves. those that are left alive are so weak and heartless that they could be well content to lose all charges and to be at home, both rich and poor." "in my conscience," said sir william winter, "i think the duke would give his dukedom to be in spain again." the english ships, one-hundred and four in number, being that morning half-a-league to windward, the duke gave orders for the whole armada to lay to and, await their approach. but the english had no disposition to engage, for at, that moment the instantaneous destruction of their enemies seemed inevitable. ill-managed, panic-struck, staggering before their foes, the spanish fleet was now close upon the fatal sands of zeeland. already there were but six and a-half fathoms of water, rapidly shoaling under their keels, and the pilots told medina that all were irretrievably lost, for the freshening north-welter was driving them steadily upon the banks. the english, easily escaping the danger, hauled their wind, and paused to see the ruin of the proud armada accomplished before their eyes. nothing but a change of wind at the instant could save them from perdition. there was a breathless shudder of suspense, and then there came the change. just as the foremost ships were about to ground on the ooster zand, the wind suddenly veered to the south-west, and the spanish ships quickly squaring their sails to the new impulse, stood out once more into the open sea. all that day the galleons and galeasses, under all the canvas which they dared to spread, continued their flight before the south-westerly breeze, and still the lord-admiral, maintaining the brag countenance, followed, at an easy distance, the retreating foe. at p. m., howard fired a signal gun, and ran up a flag of council. winter could not go, for he had been wounded in action, but seymour and drake, hawkins, frobisher, and the rest were present, and it was decided that lord henry should return, accompanied by winter and the rest of the inner, squadron, to guard the thames mouth against any attempt of the duke of parma, while the lord admiral and the rest of the navy should continue the pursuit of the armada. very wroth was lord henry at being deprived of his share in the chase. "the lord-admiral was altogether desirous to have me strengthen him," said he, "and having done so to the utmost of my good-will and the venture of my life, and to the distressing of the spaniards, which was thoroughly done on the monday last, i now find his lordship jealous and loath to take part of the honour which is to come. so he has used his authority to command me to look to our english coast, threatened by the duke of parma. i pray god my lord admiral do not find the lack of the rainbow and her companions, for i protest before god i vowed i would be as near or nearer with my little ship to encounter our enemies as any of the greatest ships in both armies." there was no insubordination, however, and seymour's squadron; at twilight of tuesday evening, august th--according to orders, so that the enemy might not see their departure--bore away for margate. but although winter and seymour were much disappointed at their enforced return, there was less enthusiasm among the sailors of the fleet. pursuing the spaniards without powder or fire, and without beef and bread to eat, was not thought amusing by the english crews. howard had not three days' supply of food in his lockers, and seymour and his squadron had not food for one day. accordingly, when seymour and winter took their departure, "they had much ado," so winter said; "with the staying of many ships that would have returned with them, besides their own company." had the spaniards; instead of being panic-struck, but turned on their pursuers, what might have been the result of a conflict with starving and unarmed men? howard, drake, and frobisher, with the rest of the fleet, followed the armada through the north sea from tuesday night ( th august) till friday (the th), and still, the strong southwester swept the spaniards before them, uncertain whether to seek refuge, food, water, and room to repair damages, in the realms of the treacherous king of scots, or on the iron-bound coasts of norway. medina sidonia had however quite abandoned his intention of returning to england, and was only anxious for a safe return: to spain. so much did he dread that northern passage; unpiloted, around the grim hebrides, that he would probably have surrendered, had the english overtaken him and once more offered battle. he was on the point of hanging out a white flag as they approached him for the last time--but yielded to the expostulations of the ecclesiastics on board the saint martin, who thought, no doubt, that they had more to fear from england than from the sea, should they be carried captive to that country, and who persuaded him that it would be a sin and a disgrace to surrender before they had been once more attacked. on the other hand, the devonshire skipper, vice-admiral drake, now thoroughly in his element, could not restrain his hilarity, as he saw the invincible armada of the man whose beard he had so often singed, rolling through the german ocean, in full flight from the country which was to have been made, that week, a spanish province. unprovided as were his ships, he was for risking another battle, and it is quite possible that the brag countenance might have proved even more successful than howard thought. "we have the army of spain before us," wrote drake, from the revenge, "and hope with the grace of god to wrestle a pull with him. there never was any thing pleased me better than seeing the enemy flying with a southerly wind to the northward. god grant you have a good eye to the duke of parma, for with the grace of god, if we live, i doubt not so to handle the matter with the duke of sidonia as he shall wish himself at st. mary's port among his orange trees." but howard decided to wrestle no further pull. having followed the spaniards till friday, th of august, as far as the latitude of d. ' the lord admiral called a council. it was then decided, in order to save english lives and ships, to put into the firth of forth for water and provisions, leaving two "pinnaces to dog, the fleet until it should be past the isles of scotland." but the next day, as the wind shifted to the north-west, another council decided to take advantage of the change, and bear away for the north foreland, in order to obtain a supply of powder, shot, and provisions. up to this period, the weather, though occasionally threatening, had been moderate. during the week which succeeded the eventful night off. calais, neither the 'armada nor the english ships had been much impeded in their manoeuvres by storms of heavy seas. but on the following sunday, th of august, there was a change. the wind shifted again to the south-west, and, during the whole of that day and the monday, blew a tremendous gale. "'twas a more violent storm," said howard, "than was ever seen before at this time of the year." the retreating english fleet was, scattered, many ships were in peril, "among the ill-favoured sands off norfolk," but within four or five days all arrived safely in margate roads. far different was the fate of the spaniards. over their invincible armada, last seen by the departing english midway between the coasts of scotland and denmark, the blackness of night seemed suddenly to descend. a mystery hung for a long time over their fate. damaged, leaking, without pilots, without a competent commander, the great fleet entered that furious storm, and was whirled along the iron crags of norway and between the savage rocks of faroe and the hebrides. in those regions of tempest the insulted north wreaked its full vengeance on the insolent spaniards. disaster after disaster marked their perilous track; gale after gale swept them hither and thither, tossing them on sandbanks or shattering them against granite cliffs. the coasts of norway, scotland, ireland, were strewn with the wrecks of that pompous fleet, which claimed the dominion of the seas with the bones of those invincible legions which were to have sacked london and made england a spanish vice-royalty. through the remainder of the month of august there, was a succession of storms. on the nd september a fierce southwester drove admiral oquendo in his galleon, together with one of the great galeasses, two large venetian ships, the ratty and the balauzara, and thirty-six other vessels, upon the irish coast, where nearly every soul on board perished, while the few who escaped to the shore--notwithstanding their religious affinity with the inhabitants--were either butchered in cold blood, or sent coupled in halters from village to village, in order to be shipped to england. a few ships were driven on the english coast; others went ashore near rochelle. of the four galeasses and four galleys, one of each returned to spain. of the ninety-one great galleons and hulks, fifty-eight were lost and thirty-three returned. of the tenders and zabras, seventeen were lost. and eighteen returned. of one hundred and, thirty-four vessels, which sailed from corona in july, but fifty-three, great and small, made their escape to spain, and these were so damaged as to be, utterly worthless. the invincible armada had not only been vanquished but annihilated. of the , men who sailed in the fleet; it is probable that not more than , ever saw their native land again. most of the leaders of the expedition lost their lives. medina sidonia reached santander in october, and, as philip for a moment believed, "with the greater part of the armada," although the king soon discovered his mistake. recalde, diego flores de valdez, oquendo, maldonado, bobadilla, manriquez, either perished at sea, or died of exhaustion immediately after their return. pedro de valdez, vasco de silva, alonzo de sayas, piemontel, toledo, with many other nobles, were prisoners in england and holland. there was hardly a distinguished family in spain not placed in mourning, so that, to relieve the universal gloom, an edict was published, forbidding the wearing of mourning at all. on the other hand, a merchant of lisbon, not yet reconciled to the spanish conquest of his country, permitted himself some tokens of hilarity at the defeat of the armada, and was immediately hanged by express command of philip. thus--as men said--one could neither cry nor laugh within the spanish dominions. this was the result of the invasion, so many years preparing, and at an expense almost incalculable. in the year alone, the cost of philip's armaments for the subjugation of england could not have been less than six millions of ducats, and there was at least as large a sum on board the armada itself, although the pope refused to pay his promised million. and with all this outlay, and with the sacrifice of so many thousand lives, nothing had been accomplished, and spain, in a moment, instead of seeming terrible to all the world, had become ridiculous. "beaten and shuffled together from the lizard to calais, from calais driven with squibs from their anchors, and chased out of sight of england about scotland and ireland," as the devonshire skipper expressed himself, it must be confessed that the spaniards presented a sorry sight. "their invincible and dreadful navy," said drake, "with all its great and terrible ostentation, did not in all their sailing about england so much as sink or take one ship, bark, pinnace, or cock-boat of ours, or even burn so much as one sheep-tote on this land." meanwhile farnese sat chafing under the unjust reproaches heaped upon him, as if he, and not his master, had been responsible for the gigantic blunders of the invasion. "as for the prince of parma," said drake, "i take him to be as a bear robbed of her whelps." the admiral was quite right. alexander was beside himself with rage. day after day, he had been repeating to medina sidonia and to philip that his flotilla and transports could scarcely live in any but the smoothest sea, while the supposition that they could serve a warlike purpose he pronounced absolutely ludicrous. he had always counselled the seizing of a place like flushing, as a basis of operations against england, but had been overruled; and he had at least reckoned upon the invincible armada to clear the way for him, before he should be expected to take the sea. with prodigious energy and at great expense he had constructed or improved internal water-communications from ghent to sluy's, newport, and dunkerk. he had, thus transported all his hoys, barges, and munitions for the invasion, from all points of the obedient netherlands to the sea-coast, without coming within reach of the hollanders and zeelanders, who were keeping close watch on the outside. but those hollanders and zeelanders, guarding every outlet to the ocean, occupying every hole and cranny of the coast, laughed the invaders of england to scorn, braving them, jeering them, daring them to come forth, while the walloons and spaniards shrank before such amphibious assailants, to whom a combat on the water was as natural as upon dry land. alexander, upon one occasion, transported with rage, selected a band of one thousand musketeers, partly spanish, partly irish, and ordered an assault upon those insolent boatmen. with his own hand--so it was related--he struck dead more than one of his own officers who remonstrated against these commands; and then the attack was made by his thousand musketeers upon the hollanders, and every man of the thousand was slain. he had been reproached for not being ready, for not having embarked his men; but he had been ready for a month, and his men could be embarked in a single day. "but it was impossible," he said, "to keep them long packed up on board vessels, so small that there was no room to turn about in the people would sicken, would rot, would die." so soon as he had received information of the arrival of the fleet before calais--which was on the th august--he had proceeded the same night to newport and embarked , men, and before dawn he was at dunkerk, where the troops stationed in that port were as rapidly placed on board the transports. sir william stanley, with his irish kernes, were among the first shipped for the enterprise. two-days long these regiments lay heaped together, like sacks of corn, in the boats--as one of their officers described it--and they lay cheerfully hoping that the dutch fleet would be swept out of the sea by the invincible armada, and patiently expecting the signal for setting sail to england. then came the prince of ascoli, who had gone ashore from the spanish fleet at calais, accompanied by serjeant-major gallinato and other messengers from medina sidonia, bringing the news of the fire-ships and the dispersion and flight of the armada. "god knows," said alexander, "the distress in which this event has plunged me, at the very moment when i expected to be sending your majesty my congratulations on the success of the great undertaking. but these are the works of the lord, who can recompense your majesty by giving you many victories, and the fulfilment of your majesty's desires, when he thinks the proper time arrived. meantime let him be praised for all, and let your majesty take great care of your health, which is the most important thing of all." evidently the lord did not think the proper time yet arrived for fulfilling his majesty's desires for the subjugation of england, and meanwhile the king might find what comfort he could in pious commonplaces and in attention to his health. but it is very certain that, of all the high parties concerned, alexander farnese was the least reprehensible for the over-throw of philips hopes. no man could have been more judicious--as it has been sufficiently made evident in the course of this narrative--in arranging all the details of the great enterprise, in pointing out all the obstacles, in providing for all emergencies. no man could have been more minutely faithful to his master, more treacherous to all the world beside. energetic, inventive, patient, courageous; and stupendously false, he had covered flanders with canals and bridges, had constructed flotillas, and equipped a splendid army, as thoroughly as he had puzzled comptroller croft. and not only had that diplomatist and his wiser colleagues been hoodwinked, but elizabeth and burghley, and, for a moment, even walsingham, were in the dark, while henry iii. had been his passive victim, and the magnificent balafre a blind instrument in his hands. nothing could equal alexander's fidelity, but his perfidy. nothing could surpass his ability to command but his obedience. and it is very possible that had philip followed his nephew's large designs, instead of imposing upon him his own most puerile schemes; the result far england, holland, and, all christendom might have been very different from the actual one. the blunder against which farnese had in vain warned his master, was the stolid ignorance in which the king and all his counsellors chose to remain of the holland and zeeland fleet. for them warmond and nassau, and van der does and joost de moor; did not exist, and it was precisely these gallant sailors, with their intrepid crews, who held the key to the whole situation. to the queen's glorious naval-commanders, to the dauntless mariners of england, with their well-handled vessels; their admirable seamanship, their tact and their courage, belonged the joys of the contest, the triumph, and the glorious pursuit; but to the patient hollanders and zeelanders, who, with their hundred vessels held farneae, the chief of the great enterprise, at bay, a close prisoner with his whole army in his own ports, daring him to the issue, and ready--to the last plank of their fleet and to the last drop of their blood--to confront both him and the duke of medina sidona, an equal share of honour is due. the safety of the two free commonwealths of the world in that terrible contest was achieved by the people and the mariners of the two states combined. great was the enthusiasm certainly of the english people as the volunteers marched through london to the place of rendezvous, and tremendous were the cheers when the brave queen rode on horseback along the lines of tilbury. glowing pictures are revealed to us of merry little england, arising in its strength, and dancing forth to encounter the spaniards, as if to a great holiday. "it was a pleasant sight," says that enthusiastic merchant-tailor john stowe, "to behold the cheerful countenances, courageous words, and gestures, of the soldiers, as they marched to tilbury, dancing, leaping wherever they came, as joyful at the news of the foe's approach as if lusty giants were to run a race. and bellona-like did the queen infuse a second spirit of loyalty, love, and resolution, into every soldier of her army, who, ravished with their sovereign's sight, prayed heartily that the spaniards might land quickly, and when they heard they were fled, began to lament." but if the spaniards had not fled, if there had been no english navy in the channel, no squibs at calais, no dutchmen off dunkerk, there might have been a different picture to paint. no man who has, studied the history of those times, can doubt the universal and enthusiastic determination of the english nation to repel the invaders. catholics and protestants felt alike on the great subject. philip did not flatter, himself with assistance from any english papists, save exiles and renegades like westmoreland, paget, throgmorton, morgan, stanley, and the rest. the bulk of the catholics, who may have constituted half the population of england, although malcontent, were not rebellious; and notwithstanding the precautionary measures taken by government against them, elizabeth proudly acknowledged their loyalty. but loyalty, courage, and enthusiasm, might not have sufficed to supply the want of numbers and discipline. according to the generally accepted statement of contemporary chroniclers, there were some , men under arms: , along the southern coast, , under leicester, and , under lord chamberlain hunsdon, for the special defence of the queen's person. but it would have been very difficult, in the moment of danger, to bring anything like these numbers into the field. a drilled and disciplined army--whether of regulars or of militia-men--had no existence whatever. if the merchant vessels, which had been joined to the royal fleet, were thought by old naval commanders to be only good to make a show, the volunteers on land were likely to be even less effective than the marine militia, so much more accustomed than they to hard work. magnificent was the spirit of the great feudal lords as they rallied round their queen. the earl of pembroke offered to serve at the head of three hundred horse and five hundred footmen, armed at his own cost, and all ready to "hazard the blood of their hearts" in defence of her person. "accept hereof most excellent sovereign," said the earl, "from a person desirous to live no longer than he may see your highness enjoy your blessed estate, maugre the beards of all confederated leaguers." the earl of shrewsbury, too, was ready to serve at the head of his retainers, to the last drop of his blood. "though i be old," he said, "yet shall your quarrel make me young again. though lame in body, yet lusty in heart to lend your greatest enemy one blow, and to stand near your defence, every way wherein your highness shall employ me." but there was perhaps too much of this feudal spirit. the lieutenant-general complained bitterly that there was a most mischievous tendency among all the militia-men to escape from the queen's colours, in order to enrol themselves as retainers to the great lords. this spirit was not favourable to efficient organization of a national army. even, had the commander-in-chief been a man, of genius and experience it would have been difficult for him, under such circumstances, to resist a splendid army, once landed, and led by alexander farnese, but even leicester's most determined flatterers hardly ventured to compare him in-military ability with that first general of his age. the best soldier in england was un-questionably sir john norris, and sir john was now marshal of the camp to leicester. the ancient quarrel between the two had been smoothed over, and--as might be expected--the earl hated norris more bitterly than before, and was perpetually vituperating him, as he had often done in the netherlands. roger william, too, was entrusted with the important duties of master of the horse, under the lieutenant-general, and leicester continued to bear the grudge towards that honest welshman, which had begun in holland. these were not promising conditions in a camp, when an invading army was every day expected; nor was the completeness or readiness of the forces sufficient to render harmless the quarrels of the commanders. the armada had arrived in calais roads on saturday afternoon; the th august. if it had been joined on that day, or the next--as philip and medina sidonia fully expected--by the duke of parma's flotilla, the invasion would have been made at once. if a spanish army had ever landed in england at all, that event would have occurred on the th august. the weather was not unfavourable; the sea was smooth, and the circumstances under which the catastrophe of the great drama was that night accomplished, were a profound mystery to every soul in england. for aught that leicester, or burghley, or queen elizabeth, knew at the time, the army of farnese might, on monday, have been marching upon london. now, on that monday morning, the army of lord hunsdon was not assembled at all, and leicester with but four thousand men, under his command, was just commencing his camp at tilbury. the "bellona-like" appearance of the queen on her white palfrey,--with truncheon in hand, addressing her troops, in that magnificent burst of eloquence which has so often been repeated, was not till eleven days afterwards; not till the great armada, shattered and tempest-tossed, had been, a week long, dashing itself against the cliffs of norway and the faroes, on, its forlorn retreat to spain. leicester, courageous, self-confident, and sanguine as ever; could not restrain his indignation at the parsimony with which his own impatient spirit had to contend. "be you assured," said he, on the rd august, when the armada was off the isle of wight, "if the spanish fleet arrive safely in the narrow seas, the duke of parma will join presently with all his forces, and lose no time in invading this realm. therefore i beseech you, my good lords, let no man, by hope or other abuse; prevent your speedy providing defence against, this mighty enemy now knocking at our gate." for even at this supreme moment doubts were entertained at court as to the intentions of the spaniards: next day he informed walsingham that his four thousand men had arrived. "they be as forward men and willing to meet the enemy as i ever saw," said he. he could not say as much in, praise of the commissariat: "some want the captains showed," he observed, "for these men arrived without one meal of victuals so that on their-arrival, they had not one barrel of beer nor loaf of bread--enough after twenty miles' march to have discouraged them, and brought them to mutiny. i see many causes to increase my former opinion of the dilatory wants you shall find upon all sudden hurley burleys. in no former time was ever so great a cause, and albeit her majesty hath appointed an army to resist her enemies if they land, yet how hard a matter it will be to gather men together, i find it now. if it will be five days to gather these countrymen, judge what it will be to look in short space for those that dwell forty, fifty, sixty miles off." he had immense difficulty in feeding even this slender force. "i made proclamation," said he, "two days ago, in all market towns, that victuallers should come to the camp and receive money for their provisions, but there is not one victualler come in to this hour. i have sent to all the justices of peace about it from place to place. i speak it that timely consideration be had of these things, and that they be not deferred till the worst come. let her majesty not defer the time, upon any supposed hope, to assemble a convenient force of horse and foot about her. her majesty cannot be strong enough too soon, and if her navy had not been strong and abroad as it is, what care had herself and her whole realm been in by this time! and what care she will be in if her forces be not only assembled, but an army presently dressed to withstand the mighty enemy that is to approach her gates." "god doth know, i speak it not to bring her to charges. i would she had less cause to spend than ever she had, and her coffers fuller than ever they were; but i will prefer her life and safety, and the defence of the realm, before all sparing of charges in the present danger." thus, on the th august, no army had been assembled--not even the body-guard of the queen--and leicester, with four thousand men, unprovided with a barrel of beer or a loaf of bread, was about commencing his entrenched camp at tilbury. on the th august the armada was in calais roads, expecting alexander farnese to lead his troops upon london! norris and williams, on the news of medina sidonia's approach, had rushed to dover, much to the indignation of leicester, just as the earl was beginning his entrenchments at tilbury. "i assure you i am angry with sir john norris and sir roger williams," he said. "i am here cook, caterer, and huntsman. i am left with no one to supply sir john's place as marshal, but, for a day or two, am willing to work the harder myself. i ordered them both to return this day early, which they faithfully promised. yet, on arriving this morning, i hear nothing of either, and have nobody to marshal the camp either for horse or foot. this manner of dealing doth much mislike me in them both. i am ill-used. 'tis now four o'clock, but here's not one of them. if they come not this night, i assure you i will not receive them into office, nor bear such loose careless dealing at their hands. if you saw how weakly i am assisted you would be sorry to think that we here, should be the front against the enemy that is so mighty, if he should land here. and seeing her majesty hath appointed me her lieutenant-general, i look that respect be used towards me, such as is due to my place." thus the ancient grudge--between leicester and the earl of sussex's son was ever breaking forth, and was not likely to prove beneficial at this eventful season. next day the welshman arrived, and sir john promised to come back in the evening. sir roger brought word from the coast that lord henry seymour's fleet was in want both of men and powder. "good lord!" exclaimed leicester, "how is this come to pass, that both he and, my lord-admiral are so weakened of men. i hear they be running away. i beseech you, assemble your forces, and play not away this kingdom by delays. hasten our horsemen hither and footmen: . . . . if the spanish fleet come to the narrow seas the prince of parma will play another part than is looked for." as the armada approached calais, leicester was informed that the soldiers at dover began to leave the coast. it seemed that they were dissatisfied with the penuriousness of the government. "our soldiers do break away at dover, or are not pleased. i assure you, without wages, the people will not tarry, and contributions go hard with them. surely i find that her majesty must needs deal liberally, and be at charges to entertain her subjects that have chargeably, and liberally used, themselves to serve her." the lieutenant-general even thought it might be necessary for him to proceed to dover in person, in order to remonstrate with these discontented troops; for it was possible that those ill-paid, undisciplined, and very meagre forces, would find much difficulty in opposing alexander's march, to london, if he should once succeed in landing. leicester had a very indifferent opinion too of the train-bands of the metropolis. "for your londoners," he said, "i see their service will be little, except they have their own captains, and having them, i look for none at all by them, when we shall meet the enemy." this was not complimentary, certainly, to the training of the famous artillery garden, and furnished a still stronger motive for defending the road over which the capital was to be approached. but there was much jealousy, both among citizens and nobles, of any authority entrusted to professional soldiers. "i know what burghers be, well enough," said the earl, "as brave and well-entertained as ever the londoners were. if they should go forth from the city they should have good leaders. you know the imperfections of the time, how few-leaders you have, and the gentlemen of the counties are very loth to have any captains placed with them. so that the beating out of our best captains is like to be cause of great danger." sir john smith, a soldier of experience, employed to drill and organize some of the levies, expressed still more disparaging opinions than those of leicester concerning the probable efficiency in the field of these english armies. the earl was very angry with the knight, however, and considered, him incompetent, insolent, and ridiculous. sir john seemed, indeed, more disposed to keep himself out of harm's way, than to render service to the queen by leading awkward recruits against alexander farnese. he thought it better to nurse himself. "you would laugh to see how sir john smith has dealt since my coming," said leicester. "he came to me, and told me that his disease so grew upon him as he must needs go to the baths. i told him i would not be against his health, but he saw what the time was, and what pains he had taken with his countrymen, and that i had provided a good place for him. next day he came again, saying little to my offer then, and seemed desirous, for his health, to be gone. i told him what place i did appoint, which was a regiment of a great part of his countrymen. he said his health was dear to him, and he desired to take leave of me, which i yielded unto. yesterday, being our muster-day, he came again to me to dinner; but such foolish and vain-glorious paradoxes he burst withal, without any cause offered, as made all that knew anything smile and answer little, but in sort rather to satisfy men present than to argue with him." and the knight went that day to review leicester's choice troops--the four thousand men of essex--but was not much more deeply impressed with their proficiency than he had been with that of his own regiment. he became very censorious. "after the muster," said the lieutenant-general, "he entered again into such strange cries for ordering of men, and for the fight with the weapon, as made me think he was not well. god forbid he should have charge of men that knoweth so little, as i dare pronounce that he doth." yet the critical knight was a professional--campaigner, whose opinions were entitled to respect; and the more so, it would seem, because they did not materially vary from those which leicester himself was in the habit of expressing. and these interior scenes of discord, tumult, parsimony, want of organization, and unsatisfactory mustering of troops, were occurring on the very saturday and sunday when the armada lay in sight of dover cliffs, and when the approach of the spaniards on the dover road might at any moment be expected. leicester's jealous and overbearing temper itself was also proving a formidable obstacle to a wholesome system of defence. he was already displeased with the amount of authority entrusted to lord hunsdon, disposed to think his own rights invaded; and desirous that the lord chamberlain should accept office under himself. he wished saving clauses as to his own authority inserted in hunsdon's patent. "either it must be so, or i shall have wrong," said he, "if he absolutely command where my patent doth give me power. you may easily conceive what absurd dealings are likely to fall out, if you allow two absolute commanders." looking at these pictures of commander-in-chief, officers, and rank and file--as painted by themselves--we feel an inexpressible satisfaction that in this great crisis of england's destiny, there were such men as howard, drake, frobisher, hawkins, seymour, winter, fenner, and their gallant brethren, cruising that week in the channel, and that nassau and warmond; de moor and van der does, were blockading the flemish coast. there was but little preparation to resist the enemy once landed. there were no fortresses, no regular army, no population trained to any weapon. there were patriotism, loyalty, courage, and enthusiasm, in abundance; but the commander-in-chief was a queen's favourite, odious to the people, with very moderate abilities, and eternally quarrelling with officers more competent than himself; and all the arrangements were so hopelessly behind-hand, that although great disasters might have been avenged, they could scarcely have been avoided. remembering that the invincible armada was lying in calais roads on the th of august, hoping to cross to dover the next morning, let us ponder the words addressed on that very day to queen elizabeth by the lieutenant-general of england. "my most dear and gracious lady," said the earl, "it is most true that those enemies that approach your kingdom and person are your undeserved foes, and being so, and hating you for a righteous cause, there is the less fear to be had of their malice or their forces; for there is a most just god that beholdeth the innocence of that heart. the cause you are assailed for is his and his church's, and he never failed any that faithfully do put their chief trust in his goodness. he hath, to comfort you withal, given you great and mighty means to defend yourself, which means i doubt not but your majesty will timely and princely use them, and your good god that ruleth all will assist you and bless you with victory." he then proceeded to give his opinion on two points concerning which the queen had just consulted him--the propriety of assembling her army, and her desire to place herself at the head of it in person. on the first point one would have thought discussion superfluous on the th of august. "for your army, it is more than time it were gathered and about you," said leicester, "or so near you as you may have the use of it at a few hours' warning. the reason is that your mighty enemies are at hand, and if god suffers them to pass by your fleet, you are sure they will attempt their purpose of landing with all expedition. and albeit your navy be very strong, but, as we have always heard, the other is not only far greater, but their forces of men much beyond yours. no doubt if the prince of parma come forth, their forces by sea shall not only be greatly, augmented, but his power to land shall the easier take effect whensoever he shall attempt it. therefore it is most requisite that your majesty at all events have as great a force every way as you can devise; for there is no dalliance at such a time, nor with such an enemy. you shall otherwise hazard your own honour, besides your person and country, and must offend your gracious god that gave you these forces and power, though you will not use them when you should." it seems strange enough that such phrases should be necessary when the enemy was knocking at the gate; but it is only too, true that the land-forces were never organized until the hour, of danger had, most fortunately and unexpectedly, passed by. suggestions at this late moment were now given for the defence of the throne, the capital, the kingdom, and the life of the great queen, which would not have seemed premature had they been made six months before, but which, when offered in august, excite unbounded amazement. alexander would have had time to, march from dover to duxham before these directions, now leisurely stated with all the air of novelty, could be carried into effect. "now for the placing of your army," says the lieutenant-general on the memorable saturday, th of august, "no doubt but i think about london the meetest, and i suppose that others will be of the same mind. and your majesty should forthwith give the charge thereof to some special nobleman about you, and likewise place all your chief officers that every man may know what he shall do, and gather as many good horse above all things as you can, and the oldest, best, and assuredest captains to lead; for therein will consist the greatest hope of good success under god. and so soon as your army is assembled, let them by and by be exercised, every man to know his weapon, and that there be all other things prepared in readiness, for your army, as if they should march upon a day's warning, especially carriages, and a commissary of victuals, and a master of ordnance." certainly, with alexander of parma on his way to london, at the head of his italian pikemen, his spanish musketeers, his famous veteran legion--"that nursing mother of great soldiers"--it was indeed more than time that every man should know what he should do, that an army of englishmen should be-assembled, and that every man should know his weapon. "by and by" was easily said, and yet, on the th of august it was by and by that an army, not yet mustered, not yet officered, not yet provided with a general, a commissary of victuals, or a master of ordinance, was to be exercised, "every man to know his weapon." english courage might ultimately triumph over, the mistakes of those who governed the country, and over those disciplined brigands by whom it was to be invaded. but meantime every man of those invaders had already learned on a hundred battle-fields to know his weapon. it was a magnificent determination on the part of elizabeth to place herself at the head of her troops; and the enthusiasm which her attitude inspired, when she had at last emancipated herself from the delusions of diplomacy and the seductions of thrift, was some recompense at least for the perils caused by her procrastination. but leicester could not approve of this hazardous though heroic resolution. the danger passed away. the invincible armada was driven out of the channel by the courage; the splendid seamanship, and the enthusiasm of english sailors and volunteers. the duke of parma was kept a close prisoner by the fleets of holland and zeeland; and the great storm of the th and th of august at last completed the overthrow of the spaniards. it was, however, supposed for a long time that they would come back, for the disasters which had befallen them in the north were but tardily known in england. the sailors, by whom england had been thus defended in her utmost need, were dying by hundreds, and even thousands, of ship-fever, in the latter days of august. men sickened one day, and died the next, so that it seemed probable that the ten thousand sailors by whom the english ships of war were manned, would have almost wholly disappeared, at a moment when their services might be imperatively required. nor had there been the least precaution taken for cherishing and saving these brave defenders of their country. they rotted in their ships, or died in the streets of the naval ports, because there were no hospitals to receive them. "'tis a most pitiful sight," said the lord-admiral, "to see here at margate how the men, having no place where they can be received, die in, the streets. i am driven of force myself to come on land to see them bestowed in some lodgings; and the best i can get is barns and such outhouses, and the relief is small that i can provide for them here. it would grieve any man's heart to see men that have served so valiantly die so miserably." the survivors, too, were greatly discontented; for, after having been eight months at sea, and enduring great privations, they could not get their wages. "finding it to come thus scantily," said howard, "it breeds a marvellous alteration among them." but more dangerous than the pestilence or the discontent was the misunderstanding which existed at the moment between the leading admirals of the english fleet. not only was seymour angry with howard, but hawkins and frobisher were at daggers drawn with drake; and sir martin--if contemporary, affidavits can be trusted--did not scruple to heap the most virulent abuse upon sir francis, calling him, in language better fitted for the forecastle than the quarter-deck, a thief and a coward, for appropriating the ransom for don pedro valdez in which both frobisher and hawkins claimed at least an equal share with himself. and anxious enough was the lord-admiral with his sailors perishing by pestilence, with many of his ships so weakly manned that as lord henry seymour declared there were not mariners enough to weigh the anchors, and with the great naval heroes, on whose efforts the safety of the realm depended, wrangling like fisherwomen among themselves, when rumours came, as they did almost daily, of the return of the spanish armada, and of new demonstrations on the part of farnese. he was naturally unwilling that the fruits of english valour on the seas should now be sacrificed by the false economy of the government. he felt that, after all that had been endured and accomplished, the queen and her counsellors were still capable of leaving england at the mercy of a renewed attempt, "i know not what you think at the court," said he; "but i think, and so do all here, that there cannot be too great forces maintained for the next five or six weeks. god knoweth whether the spanish fleet will not, after refreshing themselves in norway; denmark, and the orkneys, return. i think they dare not go back to sprain with this, dishonour, to their king and overthrow of the pope's credit. sir, sure bind, sure find. a kingdom is a grand wager. security is dangerous; and, if god had not been our best friend; we should have found it so." [howard to walsingham, aug. / . (s. p. office ms.)] ["some haply may say that winter cometh on apace," said drake, "but my poor opinion is that i dare not advise her majesty to hazard a kingdom with the saving of a little charge." (drake to walsingham, aug. / .)] nothing could be more replete, with sound common sense than this simple advice, given as it was in utter ignorance of the fate of the armada; after it had been lost sight of by the english vessels off the firth of forth, and of the cold refreshment which: it had found in norway and the orkneys. but, burghley had a store of pithy apophthegms, for which--he knew he could always find sympathy in the queen's breast, and with which he could answer these demands of admirals and generals. "to spend in time convenient is wisdom;" he observed--"to continue charges without needful cause bringeth, repentance;"--"to hold on charges without knowledge of the certainty thereof and of means how to support them, is lack of wisdom;" and so on. yet the spanish fleet might have returned into the channel for ought the lord-treasurer on the nd august knew--or the dutch fleet might have relaxed, in its vigilant watching of farnese's movements. it might have then seemed a most plentiful lack of wisdom to allow english sailors to die of plague in the streets for want of hospitals; and to grow mutinous for default of pay. to have saved under such circumstances would, perhaps have brought repentance. the invasion of england by spain had been most portentous. that the danger was at last averted is to be ascribed to the enthusiasm of the english, nation--both patricians and plebeians--to the heroism of the little english fleet, to the spirit of the naval commanders and volunteers, to the stanch, and effective support of the hollanders; and to the hand of god shattering the armada at last; but very little credit can be conscientiously awarded to the diplomatic or the military efforts of the queen's government. miracles alone, in the opinion of roger williams, had saved england on this occasion from perdition. towards the end of august, admiral de nassau paid a visit to dover with forty ships, "well appointed and furnished." he dined and conferred with seymour, palmer, and other officers--winter being still laid up with his wound--and expressed the opinion that medina sidonia would hardly return to the channel, after the banquet he had received from her majesty's navy between calais and gravelines. he also gave the information that the states had sent fifty dutch vessels in pursuit of the spaniards, and had compelled all the herring-fishermen for the time to serve in the ships of war, although the prosperity of the country depended on that industry. "i find the man very wise, subtle, and cunning," said seymour of the dutch admiral, "and therefore do i trust him." nassau represented the duke of parma as evidently discouraged, as having already disembarked his troops, and as very little disposed to hazard any further enterprise against england. "i have left twenty-five kromstevens," said he, "to prevent his egress from sluys, and i am immediately returning thither myself. the tide will not allow his vessels at present to leave dunkerk, and i shall not fail--before the next full moon--to place myself before that place, to prevent their coming out, or to have a brush with them if they venture to put to sea." but after the scenes on which the last full moon had looked down in those waters, there could be no further pretence on the part of farnese to issue from sluys and dunkerk, and england and holland were thenceforth saved from all naval enterprises on the part of spain. meantime, the same uncertainty which prevailed in england as to the condition and the intentions of the armada was still more remarkable elsewhere. there was a systematic deception practised not only upon other governments; but upon the king of spain as well. philip, as he sat at his writing-desk, was regarding himself as the monarch of england, long after his armada had been hopelessly dispersed. in paris, rumours were circulated during the first ten days of august that england was vanquished, and that the queen was already on her way to rome as a prisoner, where she was to make expiation, barefoot, before his holiness. mendoza, now more magnificent than ever--stalked into notre dame with his drawn sword in his hand, crying out with a loud voice, "victory, victory!" and on the th of august ordered bonfires to be made before his house; but afterwards thought better of that scheme. he had been deceived by a variety of reports sent to him day after day by agents on the coast; and the king of france--better informed by stafford, but not unwilling thus to feed his spite against the insolent ambassador--affected to believe his fables. he even confirmed them by intelligence, which he pretended to have himself received from other sources, of the landing of the spaniards in england without opposition, and of the entire subjugation of that country without the striking of a blow. hereupon, on the night of august th, the envoy--"like a wise man," as stafford observed--sent off four couriers, one after another, with the great news to spain, that his master's heart might be rejoiced, and caused a pamphlet on the subject to be printed and distributed over paris! "i will not waste a large sheet of paper to express the joy which we must all feel," he wrote to idiaquez, "at this good news. god be praised for all, who gives us small chastisements to make us better, and then, like a merciful father, sends us infinite rewards." and in the same strain he wrote; day after day, to moura and idiaquez, and to philip himself. stafford, on his side, was anxious to be informed by his government of the exact truth, whatever it were, in order that these figments of mendoza might be contradicted. "that which cometh from me," he said, "will be believed; for i have not been used to tell lies, and in very truth i have not the face to do it." and the news of the calais squibs, of the fight off gravelines, and the retreat of the armada towards the north; could not be very long concealed. so soon, therefore, as authentic intelligence reached, the english envoy of those events--which was not however for nearly ten days after their--occurrence--stafford in his turn wrote a pamphlet, in answer to that of mendoza, and decidedly the more successful one of the two. it cost him but five crowns, he said, to print 'four hundred copies of it; but those in whose name it was published got one hundred crowns by its sale. the english ambassador was unwilling to be known as the author--although "desirous of touching up the impudence of the spaniard"--but the king had no doubt of its origin. poor henry, still smarting under the insults of mendoza and 'mucio,--was delighted with this blow to philip's presumption; was loud in his praises of queen elizabeth's valour, prudence, and marvellous fortune, and declared that what she had just done could be compared to the greatest: exploits of the most illustrious men in history. "so soon as ever he saw the pamphlet," said stafford; "he offered to lay a wager it was my doing; and laughed at it heartily." and there were malicious pages about the french; court; who also found much amusement in writing to the ambassador, begging his interest with the duke of parma that they might obtain from that conqueror some odd-refuse town or so in: england, such as york, canterbury, london, or the like--till the luckless don bernardino was ashamed to show his face. a letter, from farnese, however, of th august, apprized philip before the end of august of the calais disasters and caused him great uneasiness, without driving him to despair. "at the very moment," wrote the king to medina sidonia; "when i was expecting news of the effect hoped for from my armada, i have learned the retreat from before calais, to which it was compelled by the weather; [!] and i have received a very great shock which keeps, me in anxiety not to be exaggerated. nevertheless i hope in our lord that he will have provided a remedy; and that if it was possible for you to return upon the enemy to come back to the appointed posts and to watch an opportunity for the great stroke; you will have done as the case required; and so i am expecting with solicitude, to hear what has happened, and please god it may be that which is so suitable for his service." his spanish children the sacking of london, and the butchering of the english nation-rewards and befits similar to those which they bad formerly enjoyed in the netherlands. and in the same strain, melancholy yet hopeful, were other letters despatched on that day to the duke of parma. "the satisfaction caused by your advices on the th august of the arrival of the armada near calais, and of your preparations to embark your troops, was changed into a sentiment which you can imagine, by your letter of the th. the anxiety thus occasioned it would be impossible to exaggerate, although the cause being such as it is--there is no ground for distrust. perhaps the armada, keeping together, has returned upon the enemy, and given a good account of itself, with the help of the lord. so i still promise myself that you will have performed your part in the enterprise in such wise as that the service intended to the lord may have been executed, and repairs made to the reputation of all; which has been so much compromised." and the king's drooping spirits were revived by fresh accounts which reached him in september, by way of france. he now learned that the armada had taken captive four dutch men-of-war and many english ships; that, after the spaniards had been followed from calais roads by the enemy's fleet, there had been an action, which the english had attempted in vain to avoid; off newcastle; that medina sidonia had charged upon them so vigorously, as to sink twenty of their ships, and to capture twenty-six others, good and sound; that the others, to escape perdition, had fled, after suffering great damage, and had then gone to pieces, all hands perishing; that the armada had taken a port in scotland, where it was very comfortably established; that the flag-ship of lord-admiral howard, of drake; and of that "distinguished mariner hawkins," had all been sunk in action, and that no soul had been saved except drake, who had escaped in a cock-boat. "this is good news," added the writer; "and it is most certain." the king pondered seriously over these conflicting accounts, and remained very much in the dark. half, the month of september went by, and he had heard nothing--official since the news of the calais catastrophe. it may be easily understood that medina sidonia, while flying round the orkneys had not much opportunity for despatching couriers to spain, and as farnese had not written since the th august, philip was quite at a loss whether to consider himself triumphant or defeated. from the reports by way of calais, dunkerk, and rouen, he supposed that the armada, had inflicted much damage on the enemy. he suggested accordingly, on the rd september, to the duke of parma, that he might now make the passage to england, while the english fleet, if anything was left of it was repairing its damages. "'twill be easy enough to conquer the country," said philip, "so soon as you set foot on the soil. then perhaps our armada can come back and station itself in the thames to support you." nothing could be simpler. nevertheless the king felt a pang of doubt lest affairs, after all, might not be going on so swimmingly; so he dipped his pen in the inkstand again, and observed with much pathos, "but if this hope must be given up, you must take the isle of walcheren: something must be done to console me." and on the th september he was still no wiser. "this business of the armada leaves me no repose," he said; "i can think of nothing else. i don't content myself with what i have written, but write again and again, although in great want of light. i hear that the armada has sunk and captured many english ships, and is refitting in a scotch pert. if this is in the territory, of lord huntley, i hope he will stir up the catholics of that country." and so, in letter after letter, philip clung to the delusion that alexander could yet, cross to england, and that the armada might sail up the thames. the duke was directed to make immediate arrangements to that effect with medina sidonia, at the very moment when that tempest-tossed grandee was painfully-creeping back towards the bay of biscay, with what remained of his invincible fleet. sanguine and pertinacious, the king refused to believe in, the downfall of his long-cherished scheme; and even when the light was at last dawning upon him, he was like a child, crying for a fresh toy, when the one which had long amused him had been broken. if the armada were really very much damaged, it was easy enough, he thought, for the duke of parma to make him a new one, while the old, one was repairing. "in case the armada is too much shattered to come out," said philip, "and winter compels it to stay in that port, you must cause another armada to be constructed at emden and the adjacent towns, at my expense, and, with the two together, you will certainly be able to conquer england." and he wrote to medina sidonia in similar terms. that naval commander was instructed to enter the thames at once, if strong enough. if not, he was to winter in the scotch port which he was supposed to have captured. meantime farnese would build a new fleet at emden, and in the spring the two dukes would proceed to accomplish the great purpose. but at last the arrival of medina sidonia at santander dispelled these visions, and now the king appeared in another attitude. a messenger, coming post-haste from the captain-general, arrived in the early days of october at the escorial. entering the palace he found idiaquez and moura pacing up and down the corridor, before the door of philip's cabinet, and was immediately interrogated by those counsellors, most anxious, of course, to receive authentic intelligence at last as to the fate, of the armada. the entire overthrow of the great project was now, for the first time, fully revealed in spain; the fabulous victories over the english, and the annihilation of howard and all his ships, were dispersed in air. broken, ruined, forlorn, the invincible armada--so far as it still existed--had reached a spanish port. great was the consternation of idiaquez and moura, as they listened to the tale, and very desirous was each of the two secretaries that the other should, discharge the unwelcome duty of communicating the fatal intelligence to the king. at last moura consented to undertake the task, and entering the cabinet, he found philip seated at his desk. of course he was writing letters. being informed of the arrival of a messenger from the north, he laid down his pen, and inquired the news. the secretary replied that the accounts, concerning the armada were by no means so favourable as, could be wished. the courier was then introduced, and made his dismal report. the king did not change countenance. "great thanks," he observed, "do i render to almighty god, by whose generous hand i am gifted with such power, that i could easily, if i chose, place another fleet upon the seas. nor is it of very great importance that a running stream should be sometimes intercepted, so long as the fountain from which it flows remains inexhaustible." so saying he resumed his pen, and serenely proceeded with his letters. christopher moura stared with unaffected amazement at his sovereign, thus tranquil while a shattered world was falling on his head, and then retired to confer with his colleague. "and how did his majesty receive the blow?" asked idiaquez. "his majesty thinks nothing of the blow," answered moura, "nor do i, consequently, make more of this great calamity than does his majesty." so the king--as fortune flew away from him, wrapped himself in his virtue; and his counsellors, imitating their sovereign, arrayed themselves in the same garment. thus draped, they were all prepared to bide the pelting of the storm which was only beating figuratively on their heads, while it had been dashing the king's mighty galleons on the rocks, and drowning by thousands the wretched victims of his ambition. soon afterwards, when the particulars of the great disaster were thoroughly known, philip ordered a letter to be addressed in his name to all the bishops of spain, ordering a solemn thanksgiving to the almighty for the safety of that portion of the invincible armada which it had pleased him to preserve. and thus, with the sound of mourning throughout spain--for there was scarce a household of which some beloved member had not perished in the great catastrophe--and with the peals of merry bells over all england and holland, and with a solemn 'te deum' resounding in every church, the curtain fell upon the great tragedy of the armada. etext editor's bookmarks: forbidding the wearing of mourning at all hardly a distinguished family in spain not placed in mourning invincible armada had not only been vanquished but annihilated nothing could equal alexander's fidelity, but his perfidy one could neither cry nor laugh within the spanish dominions security is dangerous sixteen of their best ships had been sacrificed sure bind, sure find history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , - chapter xx. alexander besieges bergen-op-zoom--pallavicini's attempt to seduce parma--alexander's fury--he is forced to raise the siege, of bergen --gertruydenberg betrayed to parma--indignation of the states-- exploits, of schenk--his attack on nymegen--he is defeated and drowned--english-dutch expedition to spain--its meagre results-- death of guise and of the queen--mother--combinations after the murder of henry iii.--tandem fit surculus arbor. the fever of the past two years was followed by comparative languor. the deadly crisis was past, the freedom of europe was saved, holland and england breathed again; but tension now gave place to exhaustion. the events in the remainder of the year , with those of --although important in themselves--were the immediate results of that history which has been so minutely detailed in these volumes, and can be indicated in a very few pages. the duke of parma, melancholy, disappointed, angry stung to the soul by calumnies as stupid as they were venomous, and already afflicted with a painful and lingering disease, which his friends attributed to poison administered by command of the master whom he had so faithfully served--determined, if possible, to afford the consolation which that master was so plaintively demanding at his hands. so alexander led the splendid army which had been packed in, and unpacked from, the flat boats of newport and dunkerk, against bergen-op-zoom, and besieged that city in form. once of great commercial importance, although somewhat fallen away from its original prosperity, bergen was well situate on a little stream which connected it with the tide-waters of the scheldt, and was the only place in brabant, except willemstad, still remaining to the states. opposite lay the isle of tholen from which it was easily to be supplied and reinforced. the vosmeer, a branch of the scheldt, separated the island from the main, and there was a path along the bed of that estuary, which, at dead low-water, was practicable for wading. alexander, accordingly, sent a party of eight hundred pikemen, under montigny, marquis of renty, and ottavio mansfeld, supported on the dyke by three thousand musketeers, across; the dangerous ford, at ebb-tide, in order to seize this important island. it was an adventure similar to those, which, in the days of the grand commander, and under the guidance of mondragon; had been on two occasions so brilliantly successful. but the isle of tholen was now defended by count solms and a garrison of fierce amphibious zeelanders--of those determined bands which had just been holding farnese and his fleet in prison, and daring him to the issue--and the invading party, after fortunately accomplishing their night journey along the bottom of the vosmeer, were unable to effect a landing, were driven with considerable loss into the waves again, and compelled to find their way back as best they could, along their dangerous path, and with a rapidly rising tide. it was a blind and desperate venture, and the vosmeer soon swallowed four hundred of the spaniards. the rest, half-drowned or smothered, succeeded in reaching the shore--the chiefs of the expedition, renty and mansfeld, having been with difficulty rescued by their followers, when nearly sinking in the tide. the duke continued the siege, but the place was well defended by an english and dutch garrison, to the number of five thousand, and commanded by colonel morgan, that bold and much experienced welshman, so well known in the netherland wars. willoughby and maurice of nassau, and olden-barneveld were, at different times, within the walls; for the duke had been unable to invest the place so closely as to prevent all communications from without; and, while maurice was present, there were almost daily sorties from the town, with many a spirited skirmish, to give pleasure to the martial young prince. the english, officers, vere and baskerville, and two netherland colonels, the brothers bax, most distinguished themselves on these occasions. the siege was not going on with the good fortune which had usually attended the spanish leaguer of dutch cities, while, on the th september, a personal incident came to increase alexander's dissatisfaction and melancholy. on that day the duke was sitting in his tent, brooding, as he was apt to do, over the unjust accusations which had been heaped upon him in regard to the failure of the armada, when a stranger was announced. his name, he said, was giacomo morone, and he was the bearer of a letter from sir horace pallavicini, a genoese gentleman long established in london; and known to be on confidential terms with the english government. alexander took the letter, and glancing at the bottom of the last page, saw that it was not signed. "how dare you bring me a dispatch without a signature?" he exclaimed. the messenger, who was himself a genoese, assured the duke that the letter was most certainly written by pallavicini--who had himself placed it, sealed, in his hands--and that he had supposed it signed, although he had of course, not seen the inside. alexander began to read the note, which was not a very long one, and his brow instantly darkened. he read a line or two more, when, with an exclamation of fury, he drew his dagger, and, seizing the astonished genoese by the throat, was about to strike him dead. suddenly mastering his rage, however, by a strong effort, and remembering that the man might be a useful witness; he flung morone from him. "if i had pallavicini here," he said, "i would treat, him as i have just refrained from using you. and if i had any suspicion that you were aware of the contents of this letter, i would send you this instant to be hanged." the unlucky despatch-bearer protested his innocence of all complicity with pallavicini, and his ignorance of the tenor of the communication by which the duke's wrath had been so much excited. he was then searched and cross-examined most carefully by richardot and other counsellors, and his innocence being made apparent-he was ultimately discharged. the letter of pallavicini was simply an attempt to sound farnese as to his sentiments in regard to a secret scheme, which could afterwards be arranged in form, and according, to which he was to assume the sovereignty of the netherlands himself, to the exclusion of his king, to guarantee to england the possession of the cautionary towns, until her advances to the states should be refunded, and to receive the support and perpetual alliance of the queen in his new and rebellious position. here was additional evidence, if any were wanting, of the universal belief in his disloyalty; and alexander, faithful, if man ever were to his master--was cut to the heart, and irritated almost to madness, by such insolent propositions. there is neither proof nor probability that the queen's government was implicated in this intrigue of pallavicini, who appears to have been inspired by the ambition of achieving a bit of machiavellian policy, quite on his own account. nothing came of the proposition, and the duke; having transmitted to the king a minute narrative of, the affair, together with indignant protestations of the fidelity, which all the world seemed determined to dispute, received most affectionate replies from that monarch, breathing nothing but unbounded confidence in his nephew's innocence and devotion. such assurances from any other man in the world might have disarmed suspicion, but alexander knew his master too well to repose upon his word, and remembered too bitterly the last hours of don john of austria --whose dying pillow he had soothed, and whose death had been hastened, as he knew, either by actual poison or by the hardly less fatal venom of slander--to regain tranquillity as to his own position. the king was desirous that pallavicini should be invited over to flanders, in order that alexander, under pretence of listening to his propositions, might draw from the genoese all the particulars of his scheme, and then, at leisure, inflict the punishment which he had deserved. but insuperable obstacles presented themselves, nor was alexander desirous of affording still further pretexts for his slanderers. very soon after this incident--most important as showing the real situation of various parties, although without any immediate result--alexander received a visit in his tent from another stranger. this time the visitor was an englishman, one lieutenant grimstone, and the object of his interview with the duke was not political, but had, a direct reference to the siege of bergen. he was accompanied by a countryman of his own, redhead by name, a camp-suttler by profession. the two represented themselves as deserters from the besieged city, and offered, for a handsome reward, to conduct a force of spaniards, by a secret path, into one of the gates. the duke questioned them narrowly, and being satisfied with their intelligence and coolness, caused them to take an oath on the evangelists, that they were not playing him false. he then selected a band of one hundred musketeers, partly spaniards, partly walloons--to be followed at a distance by a much, more considerable force; two thousand in number, under sancho de leyva: and the marquis of renti--and appointed the following night for an enterprise against the city, under the guidance of grimstone. it was a wild autumnal night, moonless, pitch-dark, with a storm of wind and rain. the waters were out--for the dykes had been cut in all 'directions by the defenders of the city--and, with exception of some elevated points occupied by parma's forces, the whole country was overflowed. before the party set forth on their daring expedition, the two englishmen were tightly bound with cords, and led, each by two soldiers, instructed to put them to instant death if their conduct should give cause for suspicion. but both grimstone and redhead preserved a cheerful countenance, and inspired a strong confidence in their honest intention to betray their countrymen. and thus the band of bold adventurers plunged at once into the darkness, and soon found themselves contending with the tempest, and wading breast high in the black waters of the scheldt. after a long and perilous struggle, they at length reached the appointed gate, the external portcullis was raised and the fifteen foremost of the band rushed into the town. at the next moment, lord willoughby, who had been privy to the whole scheme, cut with his own hand the cords which, held the portcullis, and entrapped the leaders of the expedition, who were all, at once put to the sword, while their followers were thundering at the gate. the lieutenant and suttler who had thus overreached that great master of dissimulation; alexander farnese; were at the same time unbound by their comrades, and rescued from the fate intended for them. notwithstanding the probability--when the portcullis fell--that the whole party, had been deceived by an artifice of war the adventurers, who had come so far, refused to abandon the enterprise, and continued an impatient battery upon the gate. at last it was swung wide open, and a furious onslaught was made by the garrison upon the spaniards. there was--a fierce brief struggle, and then the assailants were utterly routed. some were killed under the walls, while the rest were hunted into the waves. nearly every one of the expedition (a thousand in number) perished. it had now become obvious to the duke that his siege must be raised. the days were gone when the walls of dutch towns seemed to melt before the first scornful glance of the spanish invader; and when a summons meant a surrender, and a surrender a massacre. now, strong in the feeling of independence, and supported by the courage and endurance of their english allies, the hollanders had learned to humble the pride of spain as it had never been humbled before. the hero of a hundred battle-fields, the inventive and brilliant conqueror of antwerp, seemed in the deplorable issue of the english invasion to have lost all his genius, all his fortune. a cloud had fallen upon his fame, and he now saw himself; at the head of the best army in europe, compelled to retire, defeated and humiliated, from the walls of bergen. winter was coming on apace; the country was flooded; the storms in that-bleak region and inclement season were incessant; and he was obliged to retreat before his army should be drowned. on the night of - november he set fire to his camp; and took his departure. by daybreak he was descried in full retreat, and was hotly pursued by the english and dutch from the city, who drove the great alexander and his legions before them in ignominious flight. lord willoughby, in full view of the retiring enemy, indulged the allied forces with a chivalrous spectacle. calling a halt, after it had become obviously useless, with their small force of cavalry; to follow any longer, through a flooded country, an enemy who had abandoned his design, he solemnly conferred the honour of knighthood, in the name of queen elizabeth, on the officers who had most distinguished themselves during the siege, francis vere, baskerville, powell, parker, knowles, and on the two netherland brothers, paul and marcellus bax. the duke of parma then went into winter quarters in brabant, and, before the spring, that obedient province had been eaten as bare as flanders had already been by the friendly spaniards. an excellent understanding between england and holland had been the result of their united and splendid exertions against the invincible armada. late in the year sir john norris had been sent by the queen to offer her congratulations and earnest thanks to the states for their valuable assistance in preserving her throne, and to solicit their cooperation in some new designs against the common foe. unfortunately, however, the epoch of good feeling was but of brief duration. bitterness and dissension seemed the inevitable conditions of the english-dutch alliance. it will be, remembered, that, on the departure of leicester, several cities had refused to acknowledge the authority of count maurice and the states; and that civil war in the scarcely-born commonwealth had been the result. medenblik, naarden, and the other contumacious cities, had however been reduced to obedience after the reception of the earl's resignation, but the important city of gertruydenberg had remained in a chronic state of mutiny. this rebellion had been partially appeased during the year by the efforts of willoughby, who had strengthened, the garrison by reinforcements of english troops under command of his brother-in-law, sir john wingfield. early in however, the whole garrison became rebellious, disarmed and maltreated the burghers, and demanded immediate payment of the heavy arrearages still due to the troops. willoughby, who--much disgusted with his career in the netherlands--was about leaving for england, complaining that the states had not only left him without remuneration for his services, but had not repaid his own advances, nor even given him a complimentary dinner, tried in vain to pacify them. a rumour became very current, moreover, that the garrison had opened negotiations with alexander farnese, and accordingly maurice of nassau--of whose patrimonial property the city of gertruydenberg made a considerable proportion, to the amount of eight thousand pounds sterling a years--after summoning the garrison, in his own name and that of the states, to surrender, laid siege to the place in form. it would have been cheaper, no doubt, to pay the demands of the garrison in full, and allow them to depart. but maurice considered his honour at stake. his letters of summons, in which he spoke of the rebellious commandant and his garrison as self-seeking foreigners and mercenaries, were taken in very ill part. wingfield resented the statement in very insolent language, and offered to prove its falsehood with his sword against any man and in any place whatever. willoughby wrote to his brother-in-law, from flushing, when about to embark, disapproving of his conduct and of his language; and to maurice, deprecating hostile measures against a city under the protection of queen elizabeth. at any rate, he claimed that sir john wingfield and his wife, the countess of kent, with their newly-born child, should be allowed to depart from the place. but wingfield expressed great scorn at any suggestion of retreat, and vowed that he would rather surrender the city to the spaniards than tolerate the presumption of maurice and the states. the young prince accordingly, opened his batteries, but before an entrance could be effected into the town, was obliged to retire at the approach of count mansfield with a much superior force. gertruydenberg was now surrendered to the spaniards in accordance with a secret negotiation which had been proceeding all the spring, and had been brought to a conclusion at last. the garrison received twelve months' pay in full and a gratuity of five months in addition, and the city was then reduced into obedience to spain and rome on the terms which had been usual during the government of farnese. the loss of this city was most severe to the republic, for the enemy had thus gained an entrance into the very heart of holland. it was a more important acquisition to alexander than even bergen-op-zoom would have been, and it was a bitter reflection that to the treachery of netherlanders and of their english allies this great disaster was owing. all the wrath aroused a year before by the famous treason of york and stanley, and which had been successfully extinguished, now flamed forth afresh. the states published a placard denouncing the men who had thus betrayed the cause of freedom, and surrendered the city of gertruydenberg to the spaniards, as perjured traitors whom it was made lawful to hang, whenever or wherever caught, without trial or sentence, and offering fifty florins a-head for every private soldier and one hundred florins for any officer of the garrison. a list of these englishmen and netherlanders, so far as known, was appended to the placard, and the catalogue was headed by the name of sir john wingfield. thus the consequences of the fatal event were even more deplorable than the loss of the city itself. the fury of olden-barneveld at the treason was excessive, and the great advocate governed the policy of the republic, at this period, almost like a dictator. the states, easily acknowledging the sway of the imperious orator, became bitter--and wrathful with the english, side by side with whom they had lately been so cordially standing. willoughby, on his part, now at the english court, was furious with the states, and persuaded the leading counsellors of the queen as well as her majesty herself, to adopt his view of the transaction. wingfield, it was asserted, was quite innocent in the matter; he was entirely ignorant of the french language, and therefore was unable to read a word of the letters addressed to him by maurice and the replies which had been signed by himself. whether this strange excuse ought to be accepted or not, it is quite certain that he was no traitor like york and stanley, and no friend to spain; for he had stipulated for himself the right to return to england, and had neither received nor desired any reward. he hated maurice and he hated the states, but he asserted that he had been held in durance, that the garrison was mutinous, and that he was no more responsible for the loss of the city than sir francis vere had been, who had also been present, and whose name had been subsequently withdrawn, in honourable fashion from the list of traitors, by authority of the states. his position--so far as he was personally concerned--seemed defensible, and the queen was thoroughly convinced of his innocence. willoughby complained that the republic was utterly in the hands of barneveld, that no man ventured to lift his voice or his eyes in presence of the terrible advocate who ruled every netherlander with a rod of iron, and that his violent and threatening language to wingfield and himself at the dinner-table in bergen-op-zoom on the subject of the mutiny (when one hundred of the gertruydenberg garrison were within sound of his voice) had been the chief cause of the rebellion. inspired by these remonstrances, the queen once more emptied the vials of her wrath upon the united netherlands. the criminations and recriminations seemed endless, and it was most fortunate that spain had been weakened, that alexander, a prey to melancholy and to lingering disease, had gone to the baths of spa to recruit his shattered health, and that his attention and the schemes of philip for the year and the following period were to be directed towards france. otherwise the commonwealth could hardly have escaped still more severe disasters than those already experienced in this unfortunate condition of its affairs, and this almost hopeless misunderstanding with its most important and vigorous friend. while these events had been occurring in the heart of the republic, martin schenk, that restless freebooter, had been pursuing a bustling and most lucrative career on its outskirts. all the episcopate of cologne--that debatable land of the two rival paupers, bavarian ernest and gebhard truchsess--trembled before him. mothers scared their children into quiet with the terrible name of schenk, and farmers and land-younkers throughout the electorate and the land of berg, cleves, and juliers, paid their black-mail, as if it were a constitutional impost, to escape the levying process of the redoubtable partisan. but martin was no longer seconded, as he should have been, by the states, to whom he had been ever faithful since he forsook the banner of spain for their own; and he had even gone to england and complained to the queen of the short-comings of those who owed him so much. his ingenious and daring exploit--the capture of bonn--has already been narrated, but the states had neglected the proper precautions to secure that important city. it had consequently, after a six months' siege, been surrendered to the spaniards under prince chimay, on the th of september; while, in december following, the city of wachtendonk, between the rhine and meuse, had fallen into mansfeld's hands. rheinberg, the only city of the episcopate which remained to the deposed truchsess, was soon afterwards invested by the troops of parma, and schenk in vain summoned the states-general to take proper measures for its defence. but with the enemy now eating his way towards the heart of holland, and with so many dangers threatening them on every side, it was thought imprudent to go so far away to seek the enemy. so gebhard retired in despair into germany, and martin did what he could to protect rheinberg, and to fill his own coffers at the expense of the whole country side. he had built a fort, which then and long afterwards bore his name-schenken schans, or schenk's sconce--at that important point where the rhine, opening its two arms to enclose the "good meadow" island of batavia, becomes on the left the waal, while on the right it retains its ancient name; and here, on the outermost edge of the republic, and looking straight from his fastness into the fruitful fields of munster, westphalia, and the electorate, the industrious martin devoted himself with advantage to his favourite pursuits. on the th of august, on the heath of lippe, he had attacked a body of spanish musketeers, more than a thousand strong, who were protecting a convoy of provisions, treasure, and furniture, sent by farnese to verdugo, royal governor of friesland. schenk, without the loss of a single man, had put the greater part of these spaniards and walloons to the sword, and routed the rest. the leader of the expedition, colonel aristotle patton, who had once played him so foul a trick in the surrender of gelder, had soon taken to flight, when he found his ancient enemy upon him, and, dashing into the lippe, had succeeded, by the strength and speed of his horse, in gaining the opposite bank, and effecting his escape. had he waited many minutes longer it is probable that the treacherous aristotle would have passed a comfortless half-hour with his former comrade. treasure to the amount of seven thousand crowns in gold, five hundred horses, with jewels, plate, and other articles of value, were the fruit of this adventure, and schenk returned with his followers, highly delighted, to schenkenschans, and sent the captured spanish colours to her majesty of england as a token. a few miles below his fortress was nymegen, and towards that ancient and wealthy city schenk had often cast longing eyes. it still held for the king, although on the very confines of batavia; but while acknowledging the supremacy of philip, it claimed the privileges of the empire. from earliest times it had held its head very high among imperial towns, had been one of the three chief residences of the emperor. charlemagne, and still paid the annual tribute of a glove full of pepper to the german empire. on the evening of the th of august, , there was a wedding feast in one of the splendid mansions of the stately city. the festivities were prolonged until deep in the midsummer's night, and harp and viol were still inspiring the feet of the dancers, when on a sudden, in the midst of the holiday-groups, appeared the grim visage of martin schenk, the man who never smiled. clad in no wedding-garment, but in armour of proof, with morion on head, and sword in hand, the great freebooter strode heavily through the ball-room, followed by a party of those terrible musketeers who never gave or asked for quarter, while the affrighted revellers fluttered away before them. taking advantage of a dark night, he had just dropped down the river from his castle, with five-and-twenty barges, had landed with his most trusted soldiers in the foremost vessels, had battered down the gate of st. anthony, and surprised and slain the guard. without waiting for the rest of his boats, he had then stolen with his comrades through the silent streets, and torn away the lattice-work, and other slight defences on the rear of the house which they had now entered, and through which they intended to possess themselves of the market-place. martin had long since selected this mansion as a proper position for his enterprise, but he had not been bidden to the wedding, and was somewhat disconcerted when he found himself on the festive scene which he had so grimly interrupted. some of the merry-makers escaped from the house, and proceeded to alarm the town; while schenk hastily fortified his position; and took possession of the square. but the burghers and garrison were soon on foot, and he was driven back into the house. three times he recovered the square by main strength of his own arm, seconded by the handful of men whom he had brought with him, and three times he was beaten back by overwhelming numbers into the wedding mansion. the arrival of the greater part of his followers, with whose assistance he could easily have mastered the city in the first moments of surprise, was mysteriously delayed. he could not account for their prolonged, absence, and was meanwhile supported only by those who had arrived with him in the foremost barges. the truth--of which he was ignorant--was, that the remainder of the flotilla, borne along by the strong and deep current of the waal, then in a state of freshet, had shot past the landing-place, and had ever since been vainly struggling against wind and tide to force their way back to the necessary point. meantime schenk and his followers fought desperately in the market-place, and desperately in the house which he had seized. but a whole garrison, and a town full of citizens in arms proved too much for him, and he was now hotly besieged in the mansion, and at last driven forth into the streets. by this time day was dawning, the whole population, soldiers and burghers, men, women, and children, were thronging about the little band of marauders, and assailing them with every weapon and every missile to be found. schenk fought with his usual ferocity, but at last the musketeers, in spite of his indignant commands, began rapidly to retreat towards the quay. in vain martin stormed and cursed, in vain with his own hand he struck more than one of his soldiers dead. he was swept along with the panic-stricken band, and when, shouting and gnashing his teeth with frenzy, he reached the quay at last, he saw at a glance why his great enterprise had failed. the few empty barges of his own party were moored at the steps; the rest were half a mile off, contending hopelessly against the swollen and rapid waal. schenk, desperately wounded, was left almost alone upon the wharf, for his routed followers had plunged helter skelter into the boats, several of which, overladen in the panic, sank at once, leaving the soldiers to drown or struggle with the waves. the game was lost. nothing was left the freebooter but retreat. reluctantly turning his back on his enemies, now in full cry close behind him, schenk sprang into the last remaining boat just pushing from the quay. already overladen, it foundered with his additional weight, and martin schenk, encumbered with his heavy armour, sank at once to the bottom of the waal. some of the fugitives succeeded in swimming down the stream, and were picked up by their comrades in the barges below the town, and so made their escape. many were drowned with their captain. a few days afterwards, the inhabitants of nymegen fished up the body of the famous partisan. he was easily recognized by his armour, and by his truculent face, still wearing the scowl with which he had last rebuked his followers. his head was taken off at once, and placed on one of the turrets of the town, and his body, divided in four, was made to adorn other portions of the battlements; so that the burghers were enabled to feast their eyes on the remnants of the man at whose name the whole country had so often trembled. this was the end of sir martin schenk of niddegem, knight, colonel, and brigand; save that ultimately his dissevered limbs were packed in a chest, and kept in a church tower, until maurice of nassau, in course of time becoming master of nymegen, honoured the valiant and on the whole faithful freebooter with a christian and military burial. a few months later (october, ) another man who had been playing an important part in the netherlands' drama lost his life. count moeurs and niewenaar, stadholder of utrecht, gelderland, and overysael, while inspecting some newly-invented fireworks, was suddenly killed by their accidental ignition and explosion. his death left vacant three great stadholderates, which before long were to be conferred upon a youth whose power henceforth was rapidly to grow greater. the misunderstanding between holland and england continuing, olden-barneveld, aerssens, and buys, refusing to see that they had done wrong in denouncing the dutch and english traitors who had sold gertruydenberg to the enemy, and the queen and her counsellors persisting in their anger at so insolent a proceeding, it may easily be supposed that there was no great heartiness in the joint expedition against spain, which had been projected in the autumn of , and was accomplished in the spring and summer of . nor was this well-known enterprise fruitful of any remarkable result. it had been decided to carry the war into spain itself, and don antonio, prior of crato, bastard of portugal, and pretender to its crown, had persuaded himself and the english government that his name would be potent to conjure with in that kingdom, hardly yet content with the spanish yoke. supported by a determined force of english and dutch adventurers, he boasted that he should excite a revolution by the magic of his presence, and cause philip's throne to tremble, in return for the audacious enterprise of that monarch against england. if a foray were to be made into spain, no general and no admiral could be found in the world so competent to the adventure as sir john norris and sir francis drake. they were accompanied, too, by sir edward norris, and another of those 'chickens of mars,' henry norris; by the indomitable and ubiquitous welshman, roger williams, and by the young earl of essex, whom the queen in vain commanded to remain at home, and who, somewhat to the annoyance of the leaders of the expedition, concealed himself from her majesty's pursuit, and at last embarked in a vessel which he had equipped, in order not to be cheated of his share in the hazard and the booty. "if i speed well," said the spendthrift but valiant youth; "i will adventure to be rich; if not, i will never live, to see the end of my poverty." but no great riches were to be gathered in the expedition. with some fourteen thousand men, and one hundred and sixty vessels--of which six were the queen's ships of war, including the famous revenge and the dreadnought, and the rest armed merchantmen, english, and forty hollanders--and with a contingent of fifteen hundred dutchmen under nicolas van meetkerke and van laen, the adventurers set sail from plymouth on the th of april, . they landed at coruna--at which place they certainly could not expect to create a portuguese revolution, which was the first object of the expedition--destroyed some shipping in the harbour, captured and sacked the lower town, and were repulsed in the upper; marched with six thousand men to burgos, crossed the bridge at push of pike, and routed ten thousand spaniards under andrada and altamira--edward norris receiving a desperate blow on the head at the passage' of the bridge, and being rescued from death by his brother john--took sail for the south after this action, in which they had killed a thousand spaniards, and had lost but two men of their own; were joined off cape finisterre by essex; landed a force at peniche, the castle of which place surrendered to them, and acknowledged the authority of don antonio; and thence marched with the main body of the troops, under sir john norris, forty-eight miles to lisbon, while drake, with the fleet, was to sail up the tagus. nothing like a revolution had been effected in portugal. no one seemed to care for the pretender, or even to be aware that he had ever existed, except the governor of peniche castle, a few ragged and bare-footed peasants, who, once upon the road, shouted "viva don antonio," and one old gentleman by the way side, who brought him a plate of plums. his hopes of a crown faded rapidly, and when the army reached lisbon it had dwindled to not much more than four thousand effective men--the rest being dead of dysentery, or on the sick-list from imprudence in eating and drinking--while they found that they had made an unfortunate omission in their machinery for assailing the capital, having not a single fieldpiece in the whole army. moreover, as drake was prevented by bad weather and head-winds from sailing up the tagus, it seemed a difficult matter to carry the city. a few cannon, and the co-operation of the fleet, were hardly to be dispensed with on such an occasion. nevertheless it would perhaps have proved an easier task than it appeared--for so great was the panic within the place that a large number of the inhabitants had fled, the cardinal viceroy archduke albert had but a very insufficient guard, and there were many gentlemen of high station who were anxious to further the entrance of the english, and who were afterwards hanged or garotted for their hostile sentiments to the spanish government. while the leaders were deliberating what course to take, they were informed that count fuentes and henriquez de guzman, with six thousand men, lay at a distance of two miles from lisbon, and that they had been proclaiming by sound of trumpet that the english had been signally defeated before lisbon, and that they were in full retreat. fired at this bravado, norris sent a trumpet to fuentes and guzman, with a letter signed and sealed, giving them the lie in plainest terms, appointing the next day for a meeting of the two forces, and assuring them that when the next encounter should take place, it should be seen whether a spaniard or an englishman would be first to fly; while essex, on his part, sent a note, defying either or both those boastful generals to single combat. next day the english army took the field, but the spaniards retired before them; and nothing came of this exchange of cartels, save a threat on the part of fuentes to hang the trumpeter who had brought the messages. from the execution of this menace he refrained, however, on being assured that the deed would be avenged by the death of the spanish prisoner of highest rank then in english hands, and thus the trumpeter escaped. soon afterwards the fleet set sail from the tagus, landed, and burned vigo on their way homeward, and returned to plymouth about the middle of july. of the thirteen thousand came home six thousand, the rest having perished of dysentery and other disorders. they had braved and insulted spain, humbled her generals, defied her power, burned some defenceless villages, frightened the peasantry, set fire to some shipping, destroyed wine, oil, and other merchandize, and had divided among the survivors of the expedition, after landing in england, five shillings a head prize-money; but they had not effected a revolution in portugal. don antonio had been offered nothing by his faithful subjects but a dish of plums--so that he retired into obscurity from that time forward--and all this was scarcely a magnificent result for the death of six or seven thousand good english and dutch soldiers, and the outlay of considerable treasure. as a free-booting foray--and it was nothing else--it could hardly be thought successful; although it was a splendid triumph compared with the result of the long and loudly heralded invincible armada. in france, great events during the remainder of and the following year, and which are well known even to the most superficial student of history, had much changed the aspect of european affairs. it was fortunate for the two commonwealths of holland and england, engaged in the great struggle for civil and religious liberty, and national independence, that the attention of philip became more and more absorbed-as time wore on--with the affairs of france. it seemed necessary for him firmly to establish his dominion in that country before attempting once more the conquest of england, or the recovery of the netherlands. for france had been brought more nearly to anarchy and utter decomposition than ever. henry iii., after his fatal forgiveness of the deadly offence of guise, felt day by day more keenly that he had transferred his sceptre--such as it was--to that dangerous intriguer. bitterly did the king regret having refused the prompt offer of alphonse corse on the day of the barricades; for now, so long as the new generalissimo should live, the luckless henry felt himself a superfluity in his own realm. the halcyon days were for ever past, when, protected by the swords of joyeuse and of epernon, the monarch of france could pass his life playing at cup and ball, or snipping images out of pasteboard, or teaching his parrots-to talk, or his lap-dogs to dance. his royal occupations were gone, and murder now became a necessary preliminary to any future tranquillity or enjoyment. discrowned as he felt himself already, he knew that life or liberty was only held by him now at the will of guise. the assassination of the duke in december was the necessary result of the barricades in may; and accordingly that assassination was arranged with an artistic precision of which the world had hardly suspected the valois to be capable, and which philip himself might have envied. the story of the murders of blois--the destruction of guise and his brother the cardinal, and the subsequent imprisonment of the archbishop of lyons, the cardinal bourbon, and the prince de joinville, now, through the death of his father, become the young duke of guise--all these events are too familiar in the realms of history, song, romance, and painting, to require more than this slight allusion here. never had an assassination been more technically successful; yet its results were not commensurate with the monarch's hopes. the deed which he had thought premature in may was already too late in december. his mother denounced his cruelty now, as she had, six months before, execrated his cowardice. and the old queen, seeing that her game was played out--that the cards had all gone against her--that her son was doomed, and her own influence dissolved in air, felt that there was nothing left for her but to die. in a week she was dead, and men spoke no more of catharine de' medici, and thought no more of her than if--in the words of a splenetic contemporary--"she had been a dead she-goat." paris howled with rage when it learned the murders of blois, and the sixteen quarters became more furious than ever against the valois. some wild talk there was of democracy and republicanism after the manner of switzerland, and of dividing france into cantons--and there was an earnest desire on the part of every grandee, every general, every soldier of fortune, to carve out a portion of french territory with his sword, and to appropriate it for himself and his heirs. disintegration was making rapid progress, and the epoch of the last valois seemed mare dark and barbarous than the times of the degenerate carlovingians had been. the letter-writer of the escorial, who had earnestly warned his faithful mucio, week after week, that dangers were impending over him, and that "some trick would be played upon him," should he venture into the royal presence, now acquiesced in his assassination, and placidly busied himself with fresh combinations and newer tools. baked, hunted, scorned by all beside, the luckless henry now threw himself into the arms of the bearnese--the man who could and would have protected him long before, had the king been capable of understanding their relative positions and his own true interests. could the valois have conceived the thought of religious toleration, his throne even then might have been safe. but he preferred playing the game of the priests and bigots, who execrated his name and were bent upon his destruction. at last, at plessis les tours, the bearnese, in his shabby old chamois jacket and his well-dinted cuirass took the silken henry in his arms, and the two--the hero and the fribble--swearing eternal friendship, proceeded to besiege paris. a few weeks later, the dagger of jacques clement put an end for ever to, the line of valois. luckless henry iii. slept with his forefathers, and henry of bourbon and navarre proclaimed himself king of france. catharine and her four sons had all past away at last, and it would be a daring and a dexterous schemer who should now tear the crown, for which he had so long and so patiently waited, from the iron grasp of the bearnese. philip had a more difficult game than ever to play in france. it would be hard for him to make valid the claims of the infanta and any husband he might select for her to the crown of her grandfather henry ii. it seemed simple enough for him, while waiting the course of events, to set up a royal effigy before the world in the shape of an effete old cardinal bourbon, to pour oil upon its head and to baptize it charles x.; but meantime the other bourbon was no effigy, and he called himself henry iv. it was easy enough for paris, and madam league, and philip the prudent, to cry wo upon the heretic; but the cheerful leader of the huguenots was a philosopher, who in the days of st. bartholomew had become orthodox to save his life, and who was already "instructing himself" anew in order to secure his crown. philip was used to deal with fanatics, and had often been opposed by a religious bigotry as fierce as his own; but he might perhaps be baffled by a good-humoured free-thinker, who was to teach him a lesson in political theology of which he had never dreamed. the leaguers were not long in doubt as to the meaning of "instruction," and they were thoroughly persuaded that--so soon as henry iv. should reconcile himself with rome--their game was likely to become desperate. nevertheless prudent philip sat in his elbow-chairs writing his apostilles, improving himself and his secretaries in orthography, but chiefly confining his attention to the affairs of france. the departed mucio's brother mayenne was installed as chief stipendiary of spain and lieutenant-general for the league in france, until philip should determine within himself in what form to assume the sovereignty of that kingdom. it might be questionable however whether that corpulent duke, who spent more time in eating than henry iv. did in sleeping, and was longer in reading a letter than henry in winning a battle, were likely to prove a very dangerous rival even with all spain at his back--to the lively bearnese. but time would necessarily be consumed before the end was reached, and time and philip were two. henry of navarre and france was ready to open his ears to instruction; but even he had declared, several years before, that "a religion was not to be changed like a shirt." so while the fresh garment was airing for him at rome, and while he was leisurely stripping off the old, he might perhaps be taken at a disadvantage. fanaticism on both sides, during this process of instruction, might be roused. the huguenots on their part might denounce the treason of their great chief, and the papists, on theirs, howl at the hypocrisy of the pretended conversion. but henry iv. had philosophically prepared himself for the denunciations of the protestants, while determined to protect them against the persecutions of the romanism to which he meant to give his adhesion. while accepting the title of renegade, together with an undisputed crown, he was not the man to rekindle those fires of religious bigotry which it was his task to quench, now that they had lighted his way to the throne. the demands of his catholic supporters for the exclusion from the kingdom of all religions but their own, were steadily refused. and thus the events of and indicated that the great game of despotism against freedom would be played, in the coming years, upon the soil of france. already elizabeth had furnished the new king with l , in gold--a larger sum; as he observed, than he had ever seen before in his life, and the states of the netherlands had provided him with as much more. willoughby too, and tough roger williams, and baskerville, and umpton, and vere, with english pikemen at their back, had already made a brief but spirited campaign in france; and the duke of parma, after recruiting his health; so, far as it was possible; at spa, was preparing himself to measure swords with that great captain of huguenots; who now assumed the crown of his ancestors, upon the same ground. it seemed probable that for the coming years england would be safe from spanish invasion, and that holland would have a better opportunity than it had ever enjoyed before of securing its liberty and perfecting its political organization. while parma, philip; and mayenne were fighting the bearnese for the crown of france, there might be a fairer field for the new commonwealth of the united netherlands. and thus many of the personages who have figured in these volumes have already passed away. leicester had died just after the defeat of the armada, and the thrifty queen, while dropping a tear upon the grave of 'sweet robin,' had sold his goods at auction to defray his debts to herself; and moeurs, and martin schenk, and 'mucio,' and henry iii., and catharine de' medici, were all dead. but philip the prudent remained, and elizabeth of england, and henry of france and navarre, and john of olden-barneveld; and there was still another personage, a very young man still, but a deep-thinking, hard-working student, fagging steadily at mathematics and deep in the works of stevinus, who, before long, might play a conspicuous part in the world's great drama. but, previously to , maurice of nassau seemed comparatively insignificant, and he could be spoken of by courtiers as a cipher, and as an unmannerly boy just let loose from school. etext editor's bookmarks: i will never live, to see the end of my poverty religion was not to be changed like a shirt tension now gave place to exhaustion etext editor's bookmarks, entire - united netherlands: a burnt cat fears the fire a free commonwealth--was thought an absurdity act of uniformity required papists to assist all business has been transacted with open doors and thus this gentle and heroic spirit took its flight are wont to hang their piety on the bell-rope arminianism as lieve see the spanish as the calvinistic inquisition as logical as men in their cups are prone to be baiting his hook a little to his appetite beacons in the upward path of mankind been already crimination and recrimination more than enough bungling diplomatists and credulous dotards canker of a long peace casting up the matter "as pinchingly as possibly might be" defect of enjoying the flattery, of his inferiors in station disposed to throat-cutting by the ministers of the gospel during this, whole war, we have never seen the like elizabeth (had not) the faintest idea of religious freedom englishmen and hollanders preparing to cut each other's throats even to grant it slowly is to deny it utterly evil is coming, the sooner it arrives the better faction has rarely worn a more mischievous aspect fitter to obey than to command five great rivers hold the netherland territory in their coils fool who useth not wit because he hath it not forbidding the wearing of mourning at all full of precedents and declamatory commonplaces god, whose cause it was, would be pleased to give good weather guilty of no other crime than adhesion to the catholic faith hard at work, pouring sand through their sieves hardly a distinguished family in spain not placed in mourning heretics to the english church were persecuted high officers were doing the work of private, soldiers i did never see any man behave himself as he did i am a king that will be ever known not to fear any but god i will never live, to see the end of my poverty individuals walking in advance of their age infamy of diplomacy, when diplomacy is unaccompanied by honesty inquisitors enough; but there were no light vessels in the armada invincible armada had not only been vanquished but annihilated look for a sharp war, or a miserable peace loving only the persons who flattered him mendacity may always obtain over innocence and credulity never peace well made, he observed, without a mighty war never did statesmen know better how not to do not many more than two hundred catholics were executed nothing could equal alexander's fidelity, but his perfidy one could neither cry nor laugh within the spanish dominions only citadel against a tyrant and a conqueror was distrust pray here for satiety, (said cecil) than ever think of variety rebuked him for his obedience religion was not to be changed like a shirt respect for differences in religious opinions sacrificed by the queen for faithfully obeying her orders security is dangerous she relieth on a hope that will deceive her simple truth was highest skill sixteen of their best ships had been sacrificed sparing and war have no affinity together stake or gallows (for) heretics to transubstantiation states were justified in their almost unlimited distrust strength does a falsehood acquire in determined and skilful hand succeeded so well, and had been requited so ill sure bind, sure find sword in hand is the best pen to write the conditions of peace tension now gave place to exhaustion that crowned criminal, philip the second the worst were encouraged with their good success the blaze of a hundred and fifty burning vessels the sapling was to become the tree their existence depended on war there is no man fitter for that purpose than myself they chose to compel no man's conscience tolerating religious liberty had never entered his mind torturing, hanging, embowelling of men, women, and children trust her sword, not her enemy's word undue anxiety for impartiality universal suffrage was not dreamed of at that day waiting the pleasure of a capricious and despotic woman we were sold by their negligence who are now angry with us wealthy papists could obtain immunity by an enormous fine who the "people" exactly were history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley volume iii. motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, - , complete chapter xxi. effect of the assassination of henry iii.--concentration of forces for the invasion of france--the netherlands determine on striking a blow for freedom--organization of a dutch army--stratagem to surprise the castle of breda--intrepidity and success of the enterprise. the dagger of jacques clement had done much, and was likely to do more, to change the face of europe. another proof was afforded that assassination had become a regular and recognised factor in the political problems of the sixteenth century. another illustration was exhibited of the importance of the individual--even although that individual was in himself utterly despicable--to the working out of great historical results. it seemed that the murder of henry iii.--that forlorn caricature of kingship and of manhood--was likely to prove eminently beneficial to the cause of the netherland commonwealth. five years earlier, the murder of william the silent had seemed to threaten its very existence. for philip the prudent, now that france was deprived of a head, conceived that the time had arrived when he might himself assume the sovereignty of that kingdom. while a thing of straw, under the name of charles x. and shape of a cardinal bourbon, was set up to do battle with that living sovereign and soldier, the heretic bearnese, the duke of parma was privately ordered to bend all his energies towards the conquest of the realm in dispute, under pretence of assisting the holy league. accordingly, early in the year , alexander concentrated a considerable force on the french frontier in artois and hainault, apparently threatening bergen-op-zoom and other cities in south holland, but in reality preparing to invade france. the duke of mayenne, who had assumed the title of lieutenant-general of that kingdom, had already visited him at brussels in order to arrange the plan of the campaign. while these measures were in preparation, an opportunity was likely to be afforded to the netherlanders of striking a blow or two for liberty and independence; now that all the force that possibly could be spared was to be withdrawn by their oppressors and to be used for the subjugation of their neighbours. the question was whether there would be a statesman and a soldier ready to make use of this golden opportunity. there was a statesman ripe and able who, since the death of the taciturn, had been growing steadily in the estimation of his countrymen and who already was paramount in the councils of the states-general. there was a soldier, still very young, who was possessed of the strongest hereditary claims to the confidence and affection of the united provinces and who had been passing a studious youth in making himself worthy of his father and his country. fortunately, too, the statesman and the soldier were working most harmoniously together. john of olden-barneveld, with his great experience and vast and steady intellect, stood side by side with young maurice of nassau at this important crisis in the history of the new commonwealth. at length the twig was becoming the tree--'tandem fit surculus arbor'--according to the device assumed by the son of william the silent after his father's death. the netherlands had sore need of a practical soldier to contend with the scientific and professional tyrants against whom they had so long been struggling, and maurice, although so young, was pre-eminently a practical man. he was no enthusiast; he was no poet. he was at that period certainly no politician. not often at the age of twenty has a man devoted himself for years to pure mathematics for the purpose of saving his country. yet this was maurice's scheme. four years long and more, when most other youths in his position and at that epoch would have been alternating between frivolous pleasures and brilliant exploits in the field, the young prince had spent laborious days and nights with the learned simon stevinus of bruges. the scientific work which they composed in common, the credit of which the master assigned to the pupil, might have been more justly attributed perhaps to the professor than to the prince, but it is certain that maurice was an apt scholar. in that country, ever held in existence by main human force against the elements, the arts of engineering, hydrostatics and kindred branches were of necessity much cultivated. it was reserved for the young mathematician to make them as potent against a human foe. moreover, there were symptoms that the military discipline, learning and practical skill, which had almost made spain the mistress of the world, were sinking into decay. farnese, although still in the prime of life, was broken in health, and there seemed no one fit to take the place of himself and his lieutenants when they should be removed from the scene where they had played their parts so consummately. the army of the netherlands was still to be created. thus far the contest had been mainly carried on by domestic militia and foreign volunteers or hirelings. the train-bands of the cities were aided in their struggles against spanish pikemen and artillerists, italian and albanian cavalry by the german riders, whom every little potentate was anxious to sell to either combatant according to the highest bid, and by english mercenaries, whom the love of adventure or the hope of plunder sent forth under such well-seasoned captains as williams and morgan, vere and the norrises, baskerville and willoughby. but a dutch army there was none and maurice had determined that at last a national force should be created. in this enterprise he was aided and guided by his cousin lewis william, stadtholder of friesland--the quaint, rugged little hero, young in years but almost a veteran in the wars of freedom, who was as genial and intellectual in council as he was reckless and impulsive in the field. lewis william had felt that the old military art was dying out and that--there was nothing to take its place. he was a diligent student of antiquity. he had revived in the swamps of friesland the old manoeuvres, the quickness of wheeling, the strengthening, without breaking ranks or columns, by which the ancient romans had performed so much excellent work in their day, and which seemed to have passed entirely into oblivion. old colonels and rittmasters, who had never heard of leo the thracian nor the macedonian phalanx, smiled and shrugged their shoulders, as they listened to the questions of the young count, or gazed with profound astonishment at the eccentric evolutions to which he was accustoming his troops. from the heights of superior wisdom they looked down with pity upon these innovations on the good old battle order. they were accustomed to great solid squares of troops wheeling in one way, steadily, deliberately, all together, by one impulse and as one man. it was true that in narrow fields, and when the enemy was pressing, such stately evolutions often became impossible or ensured defeat; but when the little stadtholder drilled his soldiers in small bodies of various shapes, teaching them to turn, advance; retreat; wheel in a variety of ways, sometimes in considerable masses, sometimes man by man, sending the foremost suddenly to the rear, or bringing the hindmost ranks to the front, and began to attempt all this in narrow fields as well as in wide ones, and when the enemy was in sight, men stood aghast at his want of reverence, or laughed at him as a pedant. but there came a day when they did not laugh, neither friends nor enemies. meantime the two cousins, who directed all the military operations in the provinces, understood each other thoroughly and proceeded to perfect their new system, to be adopted at a later period by all civilized nations. the regular army of the netherlands was small in number at that moment--not more than twenty thousand foot with two thousand horse--but it was well disciplined, well equipped, and, what was of great importance, regularly paid. old campaigners complained that in the halcyon days of paper enrolments, a captain could earn more out of his company than a colonel now received for his whole regiment. the days when a thousand men were paid for, with a couple of hundred in the field, were passing away for the united provinces and existed only for italians and spaniards. while, therefore, mutiny on an organised and extensive scale seemed almost the normal condition of the unpaid legions of philip, the little army of maurice was becoming the model for europe to imitate. the united provinces were as yet very far from being masters of their own territory. many of their most important cities still held for the king. in brabant, such towns as breda with its many dependencies and gertruydenberg; on the waal, the strong and wealthy nymegen which martin schenk had perished in attempting to surprise; on the yssel, the thriving city of zutphen, whose fort had been surrendered by the traitor york, and the stately deventer, which had been placed in philip's possession by the treachery of sir william stanley; on the borders of drenthe, the almost impregnable koevorden, key to the whole zwollian country; and in the very heart of ancient netherland, groningen, capital of the province of the same name, which the treason of renneberg had sold to the spanish tyrant; all these flourishing cities and indispensable strongholds were garrisoned by foreign troops, making the idea of dutch independence a delusion. while alexander of parma, sorely against his will and in obedience to what, he deemed the insane suggestions of his master, was turning his back on the netherlands in order to relieve paris, now hard pressed by the bearnese, an opportunity offered itself of making at least a beginning in the great enterprise of recovering these most valuable possessions. the fair and pleasant city of breda lies on the merk, a slender stream, navigable for small vessels, which finds its way to the sea through the great canal of the dintel. it had been the property of the princes of orange, barons of breda, and had passed with the other possessions of the family to the house of chalons-nassau. henry of nassau had, half a century before, adorned and strengthened it by a splendid palace-fortress which, surrounded by a deep and double moat, thoroughly commanded the town. a garrison of five companies of italian infantry and one of cavalry lay in this castle, which was under the command of edward lanzavecchia, governor both of breda and of the neighbouring gertruydenberg. breda was an important strategical position. it was moreover the feudal superior of a large number of adjacent villages as well as of the cities osterhout, steenberg and rosendaal. it was obviously not more desirable for maurice of nassau to recover his patrimonial city than it was for the states-general to drive the spaniards from so important a position! in the month of february, , maurice, being then at the castle of voorn in zeeland, received a secret visit from a boatman, adrian van der berg by name, who lived at the village of leur, eight or ten miles from breda, and who had long been in the habit of supplying the castle with turf. in the absence of woods and coal mines, the habitual fuel of the country was furnished by those vast relics of the antediluvian forests which abounded in the still partially submerged soil. the skipper represented that his vessel had passed so often into and out of the castle as to be hardly liable to search by the guard on its entrance. he suggested a stratagem by which it might be possible to surprise the stronghold. the prince approved of the scheme and immediately consulted with barneveld. that statesman at once proposed, as a suitable man to carry out the daring venture, captain charles de heraugiere, a nobleman of cambray, who had been long in the service of the states, had distinguished himself at sluys and on other occasions, but who had been implicated in leicester's nefarious plot to gain possession of the city of leyden a few years before. the advocate expressed confidence that he would be grateful for so signal an opportunity of retrieving a somewhat damaged reputation. heraugiere, who was with his company in voorn at the moment, eagerly signified his desire to attempt the enterprise as soon as the matter was communicated to him; avowing the deepest devotion to the house of william the silent and perfect willingness to sacrifice his life, if necessary, in its cause and that of the country. philip nassau, cousin of prince maurice and brother of lewis william, governor of gorcum, dorcum, and lowenstein castle and colonel of a regiment of cavalry, was also taken into the secret, as well as count hohenlo, president van der myle and a few others; but a mystery was carefully spread and maintained over the undertaking. heraugiere selected sixty-eight men, on whose personal daring and patience he knew that he could rely, from the regiments of philip nassau and of famars, governor of the neighbouring city of heusden, and from his own company. besides himself, the officers to command the party were captains logier and fervet, and lieutenant matthew held. the names of such devoted soldiers deserve to be commemorated and are still freshly remembered by their countrymen. on the th of february, maurice and his staff went to willemstad on the isle of klundert, it having been given out on his departure from the hague that his destination was dort. on the same night at about eleven o'clock, by the feeble light of a waning moon, heraugiere and his band came to the swertsenburg ferry, as agreed upon, to meet the boatman. they found neither him nor his vessel, and they wandered about half the night, very cold, very indignant, much perplexed. at last, on their way back, they came upon the skipper at the village of terheyde, who made the extraordinary excuse that he had overslept himself and that he feared the plot had been discovered. it being too late to make any attempt that night, a meeting was arranged for the following evening. no suspicion of treachery occurred to any of the party, although it became obvious that the skipper had grown faint-hearted. he did not come on the next night to the appointed place but he sent two nephews, boatmen like himself, whom he described as dare-devils. on monday night, the th of february, the seventy went on board the vessel, which was apparently filled with blocks of turf, and packed themselves closely in the hold. they moved slowly during a little time on their perilous voyage; for the winter wind, thick with fog and sleet, blew directly down the river, bringing along with it huge blocks of ice and scooping the water out of the dangerous shallows, so as to render the vessel at any moment liable to be stranded. at last the navigation became impossible and they came to a standstill. from monday night till thursday morning those seventy hollanders lay packed like herrings in the hold of their little vessel, suffering from hunger, thirst, and deadly cold; yet not one of them attempted to escape or murmured a wish to abandon the enterprise. even when the third morning dawned there was no better prospect of proceeding; for the remorseless east wind still blew a gale against them, and the shoals which beset their path had become more dangerous than ever. it was, however, absolutely necessary to recruit exhausted nature, unless the adventurers were to drop powerless on the threshold when they should at last arrive at their destination. in all secrecy they went ashore at a lonely castle called nordam, where they remained to refresh themselves until about eleven at night, when one of the boatmen came to them with the intelligence that the wind had changed and was now blowing freshly in from the sea. yet the voyage of a few leagues, on which they were embarked, lasted nearly two whole days longer. on saturday afternoon they passed through the last sluice, and at about three o'clock the last boom was shut behind them. there was no retreat possible for them now. the seventy were to take the strong castle and city of breda or to lay down their lives, every man of them. no quarter and short shrift--such was their certain destiny, should that half-crippled, half-frozen little band not succeed in their task before another sunrise. they were now in the outer harbour and not far from the watergate which led into the inner castle-haven. presently an officer of the guard put off in a skiff and came on board the vessel. he held a little conversation with the two boatmen, observed that the castle was--much in want of full, took a survey of the turf with which the ship was apparently laden, and then lounged into the little cabin. here he was only separated by a sliding trap-door from the interior of the vessel. those inside could hear and see his every movement. had there been a single cough or sneeze from within, the true character of the cargo, then making its way into the castle, would have been discovered and every man would within ten minutes have been butchered. but the officer, unsuspecting, soon took his departure, saying that he would send some men to warp the vessel into the castle dock. meantime, as the adventurers were making their way slowly towards the watergate, they struck upon a hidden obstruction in the river and the deeply laden vessel sprang a leak. in a few minutes those inside were sitting up to their knees in water--a circumstance which scarcely improved their already sufficiently dismal condition. the boatmen vigorously plied the pumps to save the vessel from sinking outright; a party of italian soldiers soon arrived on the shore, and in the course of a couple of hours they had laboriously dragged the concealed hollanders into the inner harbour and made their vessel fast, close to the guard-house of the castle. and now a crowd of all sorts came on board. the winter nights had been long and fearfully cold, and there was almost a dearth of fuel both in town and fortress. a gang of labourers set to work discharging the turf from the vessel with such rapidity that the departing daylight began to shine in upon the prisoners much sooner than they wished. moreover, the thorough wetting, to which after all their other inconveniences they had just been exposed in their narrow escape from foundering, had set the whole party sneezing and coughing. never was a catarrh so sudden, so universal, or so ill-timed. lieutenant held, unable to control the violence of his cough, drew his dagger and eagerly implored his next neighbour to stab him to the heart, lest his infirmity should lead to the discovery of the whole party. but the calm and wary skipper who stood on the deck instantly commanded his companion to work at the pump with as much clatter as possible, assuring the persons present that the hold was nearly full of water. by this means the noise of the coughing was effectually drowned. most thoroughly did the bold boatman deserve the title of dare-devil, bestowed by his more fainthearted uncle. calmly looking death in the face, he stood there quite at his ease, exchanging jokes with his old acquaintances, chaffering with the eager purchasers of peat shouting most noisy and superfluous orders to the one man who composed his crew, doing his utmost, in short, to get rid of his customers and to keep enough of the turf on board to conceal the conspirators. at last, when the case seemed almost desperate, he loudly declared that sufficient had been unladen for that evening and that it was too dark and he too tired for further work. so, giving a handful of stivers among the workmen, he bade them go ashore at once and have some beer and come next morning for the rest of the cargo. fortunately, they accepted his hospitable proposition and took their departure. only the servant of the captain of the guard lingered behind, complaining that the turf was not as good as usual and that his master would never be satisfied with it. "ah!" returned the cool skipper, "the best part of the cargo is underneath. this is expressly reserved for the captain. he is sure to get enough of it to-morrow." thus admonished, the servant departed and the boatman was left to himself. his companion had gone on shore with secret orders to make the best of his way to prince maurice, to inform him of the arrival of the ship within the fortress, and of the important fact which they had just learned, that governor lanzavecchia, who had heard rumours of some projected enterprise and who suspected that the object aimed at was gertruydenberg, had suddenly taken his departure for that city, leaving as his lieutenant his nephew paolo, a raw lad quite incompetent to provide for the safety of breda. a little before midnight, captain heraugiere made a brief address to his comrades in the vessel, telling them that the hour for carrying out their undertaking had at length arrived. retreat was impossible, defeat was certain death, only in complete victory lay their own safety and a great advantage for the commonwealth. it was an honor to them to be selected for such an enterprise. to show cowardice now would be an eternal shame for them, and he would be the man to strike dead with his own hand any traitor or poltroon. but if, as he doubted not, every one was prepared to do his duty, their success was assured, and he was himself ready to take the lead in confronting every danger. he then divided the little band into two companies, one under himself to attack the main guard-house, the other under fervet to seize the arsenal of the fortress. noiselessly they stole out of the ship where they had so long been confined, and stood at last on the ground within the precincts of the castle. heraugiere marched straight to the guard-house. "who goes there?" cried a sentinel, hearing some movement in the darkness. "a friend," replied the captain, seizing him, by the throat, and commanding him, if he valued his life, to keep silence except when addressed and then to speak in a whisper. "how many are there in the garrison?" muttered heraugiere. "three hundred and fifty," whispered the sentinel. "how many?" eagerly demanded the nearest followers, not hearing the reply. "he says there are but fifty of them," said heraugiere, prudently suppressing the three hundred, in order to encourage his comrades. quietly as they had made their approach, there was nevertheless a stir in the guard-house. the captain of the watch sprang into the courtyard. "who goes there?" he demanded in his turn. "a friend," again replied heraugiere, striking him dead with a single blow as he spoke. others emerged with torches. heraugiere was slightly wounded, but succeeded, after a brief struggle, in killing a second assailant. his followers set upon the watch who retreated into the guard-house. heraugiere commanded his men to fire through the doors and windows, and in a few minutes every one of the enemy lay dead. it was not a moment for making prisoners or speaking of quarter. meantime fervet and his band had not been idle. the magazine-house of the castle was seized, its defenders slain. young lanzavecchia made a sally from the palace, was wounded and driven back together with a few of his adherents. the rest of the garrison fled helter-skelter into the town. never had the musketeers of italy--for they all belonged to spinola's famous sicilian legion--behaved so badly. they did not even take the precaution to destroy the bridge between the castle and the town as they fled panic-stricken before seventy hollanders. instead of encouraging the burghers to their support they spread dismay, as they ran, through every street. young lanzavecchia, penned into a corner of the castle; began to parley; hoping for a rally before a surrender should be necessary. in the midst of the negotiation and a couple of hours before dawn, hohenlo; duly apprised by the boatman, arrived with the vanguard of maurice's troops before the field-gate of the fort. a vain attempt was made to force this portal open, but the winter's ice had fixed it fast. hohenlo was obliged to batter down the palisade near the water-gate and enter by the same road through which the fatal turf-boat had passed. soon after he had marched into the town at the head of a strong detachment, prince maurice himself arrived in great haste, attended by philip nassau, the admiral justinus nassau, count solms, peter van der does, and sir francis vere, and followed by another body of picked troops; the musicians playing merrily that national air, then as now so dear to netherlanders-- "wilhelmus van nassouwen ben ick van duytaem bloed." the fight was over. some forty of the garrison had been killed, but not a man of the attacking party. the burgomaster sent a trumpet to the prince asking permission to come to the castle to arrange a capitulation; and before sunrise, the city and fortress of breda had surrendered to the authority of the states-general and of his excellency. the terms were moderate. the plundering was commuted for the payment of two months' wages to every soldier engaged in the affair. burghers who might prefer to leave the city were allowed to do so with protection to life, and property. those who were willing to remain loyal citizens were not to be molested, in their consciences or their households, in regard to religion. the public exercise of catholic rites was however suspended until the states-general should make some universal provision on this subject. subsequently, it must be allowed, the bargain of commutation proved a bad one for the burghers. seventy men had in reality done the whole work, but so many soldiers, belonging to the detachments who marched in after the fortress had been taken, came forward to claim their months' wages as to bring the whole amount required above one hundred thousand florins. the spaniards accordingly reproached prince maurice with having fined his own patrimonial city more heavily than alexander farnese had mulcted antwerp, which had been made to pay but four hundred thousand florins, a far less sum in proportion to the wealth and importance of the place. already the prince of parma, in the taking of breda, saw verified his predictions of the disasters about to fall on the spanish interests in the netherlands, by reason of philip's obstinate determination to concentrate all his energies on the invasion of france. alexander had been unable, in the midst of preparations for his french campaign, to arrest this sudden capture, but his italian blood was on fire at the ignominy which had come upon the soldiership of his countrymen. five companies of foot and one of horse-picked troops of spain and italy--had surrendered a wealthy, populous town and a well-fortified castle to a mud-scow, and had fled shrieking in dismay from the onset of seventy frost-bitten hollanders. it was too late to save the town, but he could punish, as it deserved, the pusillanimity of the garrison. three captains--one of them rejoicing in the martial name of cesar guerra--were publicly beheaded in brussels. a fourth, ventimiglia, was degraded but allowed to escape with life, on account of his near relationship to the duke of terranova, while governor lanzavecchia was obliged to resign the command of gertruydenberg. the great commander knew better than to encourage the yielding up of cities and fortresses by a mistaken lenity to their unlucky defenders. prince maurice sent off letters the same night announcing his success to the states-general. hohenlo wrote pithily to olden-barneveld--"the castle and town of breda are ours, without a single man dead on our side. the garrison made no resistance but ran distracted out of the town." the church bells rang and bonfires blazed and cannon thundered in every city in the united provinces to commemorate this auspicious event. olden-barneveld, too, whose part in arranging the scheme was known to have been so valuable, received from the states-general a magnificent gilded vase with sculptured representations of the various scenes in the drama, and it is probable that not more unmingled satisfaction had been caused by any one event of the war than by this surprise of breda. the capture of a single town, not of first-rate importance either, would hardly seem too merit so minute a description as has been given in the preceding pages. but the event, with all its details, has been preserved with singular vividness in netherland story. as an example of daring, patience, and complete success, it has served to encourage the bold spirits of every generation and will always inspire emulation in patriotic hearts of every age and clime, while, as the first of a series of audacious enterprises by which dutch victories were to take the place of a long procession of spanish triumphs on the blood-stained soil of the provinces, it merits, from its chronological position, a more than ordinary attention. in the course of the summer prince maurice, carrying out into practice the lessons which he had so steadily been pondering, reduced the towns and strong places of heyl, flemert, elshout, crevecoeur, hayden, steenberg, rosendaal, and osterhout. but his time, during the remainder of the year , was occupied with preparations for a campaign on an extended scale and with certain foreign negotiations to which it will soon be necessary to direct the reader's attention. chapter xxii. struggle of the united provinces against philip of spain--progress of the republic--influence of geographical position on the fate of the netherlands--contrast offered by america--miserable state of the so--called "obedient" provinces--prosperity of the commonwealth--its internal government--tendency to provincialism--quibbles of the english members of the council, wilkes and bodley--exclusion of olden-barneveld from the state council--proposals of philip for mediation with the united provinces--the provinces resolutely decline all proffers of intervention. the united provinces had now been engaged in unbroken civil war for a quarter of a century. it is, however, inaccurate to designate this great struggle with tyranny as a civil war. it was a war for independence, maintained by almost the whole population of the united provinces against a foreigner, a despot, alien to their blood, ignorant of their language, a hater of their race, a scorner of their religion, a trampler upon their liberties, their laws, and institutions--a man who had publicly declared that he would rather the whole nation were exterminated than permitted to escape from subjection to the church of rome. liberty of speech, liberty of the press, liberty of thought on political, religious, and social questions existed within those dutch pastures and frisian swamps to a far greater degree than in any other part of the world at that day; than in very many regions of christendom in our own time. personal slavery was unknown. in a large portion of their territory it had never existed. the free frisians, nearest blood-relations of, in this respect, the less favoured anglo-saxons, had never bowed the knee to the feudal system, nor worn nor caused to be worn the collar of the serf. in the battles for human liberty no nation has stood with cleaner hands before the great tribunal, nor offered more spotless examples of patriotism to be emulated in all succeeding ages, than the netherlanders in their gigantic struggle with philip of spain. it was not a class struggling for their own privileges, but trampling on their fellow-men in a lower scale of humanity. kings and aristocrats sneered at the vulgar republic where hans miller, hans baker, and hans brewer enjoyed political rights end prated of a sovereignty other than that of long-descended races and of anointed heads. yet the pikemen of spain and the splendid cavalry and musketeers of italy and burgundy, who were now beginning to show their backs both behind entrenchments and in the open field to their republican foes, could not deny the valour with which the battles of liberty were fought; while elizabeth of england, maintainer, if such ever were, of hereditary sovereignty and hater of popular freedom, acknowledged that for wisdom in council, dignity and adroitness in diplomatic debate, there were none to surpass the plain burgher statesmen of the new republic. and at least these netherlanders were consistent with themselves. they had come to disbelieve in the mystery of kingcraft, in the divine speciality of a few transitory mortals to direct the world's events and to dictate laws to their fellow-creatures. what they achieved was for the common good of all. they chose to live in an atmosphere of blood and fire for generation after generation rather than flinch from their struggle with despotism, for they knew that, cruel as the sea, it would swallow them all at last in one common destruction if they faltered or paused. they fought for the liberty of all. and it is for this reason that the history of this great conflict deserved to be deeply pondered by those who have the instinct of human freedom. had the hollanders basely sunk before the power of spain, the proud history of england, france, and germany would have been written in far different terms. the blood and tears which the netherlanders caused to flow in their own stormy days have turned to blessings for remotest climes and ages. a pusillanimous peace, always possible at any period of their war, would have been hailed with rapture by contemporary statesmen, whose names have vanished from the world's memory; but would have sown with curses and misery the soil of europe for succeeding ages. the territory of the netherlands is narrow and meagre. it is but a slender kingdom now among the powers of the earth. the political grandeur of nations is determined by physical causes almost as much as by moral ones. had the cataclysm which separated the fortunate british islands from the mainland happened to occur, instead, at a neighbouring point of the earth's crust; had the belgian, dutch, german and danish netherland floated off as one island into the sea, while that famous channel between two great rival nations remained dry land, there would have been a different history of the world. but in the th century the history of one country was not an isolated chapter of personages and events. the history of the netherlands is history of liberty. it was now combined with the english, now with french, with german struggles for political and religious freedom, but it is impossible to separate it from the one great complex which makes up the last half of the sixteenth and the first half of the seventeenth centuries. at that day the netherland republic was already becoming a power of importance in the political family of christendom. if, in spite of her geographical disadvantages, she achieved so much, how much vaster might her power have grown, how much stronger through her example might popular institutions throughout the world have become, and how much more pacific the relations of european tribes, had nature been less niggard in her gifts to the young commonwealth. on the sea she was strong, for the ocean is the best of frontiers; but on land her natural boundaries faded vaguely away, without strong physical demarcations and with no sharply defined limits of tongue, history or race. accident or human caprice seemed to have divided german highland from german netherland; belgic gaul from the rest of the gallic realm. and even from the slender body, which an arbitrary destiny had set off for centuries into a separate organism, tyranny and religious bigotry had just hewn another portion away. but the commonwealth was already too highly vitalized to permit peaceful dismemberment. only the low organisms can live in all their parts after violent separations. the trunk remained, bleeding but alive and vigorous, while the amputated portion lay for centuries in fossilized impotence. never more plainly than in the history of this commonwealth was the geographical law manifested by which the fate of nations is so deeply influenced. courage, enterprise amounting almost to audacity, and a determined will confronted for a long lapse of time the inexorable, and permitted a great empire to germinate out of a few sand-banks held in defiance of the ocean, and protected from human encroachments on the interior only by the artificial barrier of custom-house and fort. thus foredoomed at birth, it must increase our admiration of human energy and of the sustaining influence of municipal liberty that the republic, even if transitory, should yet have girdled the earth with its possessions and held for a considerable period so vast a portion of the world in fee. what a lesson to our transatlantic commonwealth, whom bountiful nature had blessed at her birth beyond all the nations of history and seemed to speed upon an unlimited career of freedom and peaceful prosperity, should she be capable at the first alarm on her track to throw away her inestimable advantages! if all history is not a mockery and a fable, she may be sure that the nation which deliberately carves itself in pieces and, substitutes artificial boundaries for the natural and historic ones, condemns itself either to extinction or to the lower life of political insignificance and petty warfare, with the certain loss of liberty and national independence at last. better a terrible struggle, better the sacrifice of prosperity and happiness for years, than the eternal setting of that great popular hope, the united american republic. i speak in this digression only of the relations of physical nature to liberty and nationality, making no allusion to the equally stringent moral laws which no people can violate and yet remain in health and vigour. despite a quarter of a century of what is commonly termed civil war, the united netherlands were prosperous and full of life. it was in the provinces which had seceded from the union of utrecht that there was silence as of the grave, destitution, slavery, abject submission to a foreign foe. the leaders in the movement which had brought about the scission of --commonly called the 'reconciliation'--enjoyed military and civil posts under a foreign tyrant, but were poorly rewarded for subserviency in fighting against their own brethren by contumely on the part of their masters. as for the mass of the people it would be difficult to find a desolation more complete than that recorded of the "obedient" provinces. even as six years before, wolves littered their whelps in deserted farmhouses, cane-brake and thicket usurped the place of cornfield and, orchard, robbers swarmed on the highways once thronged by a most thriving population, nobles begged their bread in the streets of cities whose merchants once entertained emperors and whose wealth and traffic were the wonder of the world, while the spanish viceroy formally permitted the land in the agricultural districts to be occupied and farmed by the first comer for his own benefit, until the vanished proprietors of the soil should make their re-appearance. "administered without justice or policy," said a netherlander who was intensely loyal to the king and a most uncompromising catholic, "eaten up and abandoned for that purpose to the arbitrary will of foreigners who suck the substance and marrow of the land without benefit to the king, gnaw the obedient cities to the bones, and plunder the open defenceless country at their pleasure, it may be imagined how much satisfaction these provinces take in their condition. commerce and trade have ceased in a country which traffic alone has peopled, for without it no human habitation could be more miserable and poor than our land."--[discours du seigneur de champagny sur les affaires des pays bas, dec. . bibl. de bourgogne, ms. no. , .] nothing could be more gloomy than the evils thus described by the netherland statesman and soldier, except the remedy which he suggested. the obedient provinces, thus scourged and blasted for their obedience, were not advised to improve their condition by joining hands with their sister states, who had just constituted themselves by their noble resistance to royal and ecclesiastical tyranny into a free and powerful commonwealth. on the contrary, two great sources of regeneration and prosperity were indicated, but very different ones from those in which the republic had sought and found her strength. in the first place, it was suggested as indispensable that the obedient provinces should have more jesuits and more friars. the mendicant orders should be summoned to renewed exertions, and the king should be requested to send seminary priests to every village in numbers proportionate to the population, who should go about from house to house, counting the children, and seeing that they learned their catechism if their parents did not teach them, and, even in case they did, examining whether it was done thoroughly and without deception. in the second place it was laid down as important that the bishops should confirm no one who had not been sufficiently catechized. "and if the mendicant orders," said champagny, "are not numerous enough for these catechizations, the jesuits might charge themselves therewith, not more and not less than the said mendicants, some of each being deputed to each parish. to this end it would be well if his majesty should obtain from the pope a command to the jesuits to this effect, since otherwise they might not be willing to comply. it should also be ordered that all jesuits, natives of these provinces, should return hither, instead of wandering about in other regions as if their help were not so necessary here."--[ibid.] it was also recommended that the mendicant friars should turn their particular attention to antwerp, and that one of them should preach in french, another in german, another in english, every day at the opening of the exchange. with these appliances it was thought that antwerp would revive out of its ruins and, despite the blockade of its river, renew its ancient commercial glories. founded on the substantial rocks of mendicancy and jesuitism, it might again triumph over its rapidly rising rival, the heretic amsterdam, which had no better basis for its grandeur than religious and political liberty, and uncontrolled access to the ocean. such were the aspirations of a distinguished and loyal netherlander for the regeneration of his country. such were his opinions as to the true sources of the wealth and greatness of nations. can we wonder that the country fell to decay, or that this experienced, statesman and brave soldier should himself, after not many years, seek to hide his dishonoured head under the cowl of a monk? the coast of the obedient provinces was thoroughly blockaded. the united provinces commanded the sea, their cruisers, large and small, keeping diligent watch off every port and estuary of the flemish coast, so that not a herringboat could enter without their permission. antwerp, when it fell into the hands of the spaniard, sank for ever from its proud position. the city which venetians but lately had confessed with a sigh to be superior in commercial grandeur to their own magnificent capital, had ceased to be a seaport. shut in from the ocean by flushing--firmly held by an english garrison as one of the cautionary towns for the queen's loan--her world-wide commerce withered before men's eyes. her population was dwindling to not much more than half its former numbers, while ghent, bruges, and other cities were diminished by two-thirds. on the other hand, the commerce and manufactures of the united republic had enormously augmented. its bitterest enemies bore witness to the sagacity and success by which its political affairs were administered, and to its vast superiority in this respect over the obedient provinces. "the rebels are not ignorant of our condition," said champagny, "they are themselves governed with consummate wisdom, and they mock at those who submit themselves to the duke of parma. they are the more confirmed in their rebellion, when they see how many are thronging from us to them, complaining of such bad government, and that all take refuge in flight who can from the misery and famine which it has caused throughout these provinces!" the industrial population had flowed from the southern provinces into the north, in obedience to an irresistible law. the workers in iron, paper, silk, linen, lace, the makers of brocade, tapestry, and satin, as well as of all the coarser fabrics, had fled from the land of oppression to the land of liberty. never in the history of civilisation had there been a more rapid development of human industry than in holland during these years of bloodiest warfare. the towns were filled to overflowing. amsterdam multiplied in wealth and population as fast as antwerp shrank. almost as much might be said of middelburg, enkhuyzen, horn, and many other cities. it is the epoch to which the greatest expansion of municipal architecture is traced. warehouses, palaces, docks, arsenals, fortifications, dykes, splendid streets and suburbs, were constructed on every side, and still there was not room for the constantly increasing population, large numbers of which habitually dwelt in the shipping. for even of that narrow span of earth called the province of holland, one-third was then interior water, divided into five considerable lakes, those of harlem, schermer, beemster, waert, and purmer. the sea was kept out by a magnificent system of dykes under the daily superintendence of a board of officers, called dyke-graves, while the rain-water, which might otherwise have drowned the soil thus painfully reclaimed, was pumped up by windmills and drained off through sluices opening and closing with the movement of the tides. the province of zeeland was one vast "polder." it was encircled by an outer dyke of forty dutch equal to one hundred and fifty english, miles in extent, and traversed by many interior barriers. the average cost of dyke-building was sixty florins the rod of twelve feet, or , florins the dutch mile. the total cost of the zeeland dykes was estimated at , , florins, besides the annual repairs. but it was on the sea that the netherlanders were really at home, and they always felt it in their power--as their last resource against foreign tyranny--to bury their land for ever in the ocean, and to seek a new country at the ends of the earth. it has always been difficult to doom to political or personal slavery a nation accustomed to maritime pursuits. familiarity with the boundless expanse of ocean, and the habit of victoriously contending with the elements in their stormy strength, would seem to inspire a consciousness in mankind of human dignity and worth. with the exception of spain, the chief seafaring nations of the world were already protestant. the counter-league, which was to do battle so strenuously with the holy confederacy, was essentially a maritime league. "all the maritime heretics of the world, since heresy is best suited to navigators, will be banded together," said champagny, "and then woe to the spanish indies, which england and holland are already threatening." the netherlanders had been noted from earliest times for a free-spoken and independent personal demeanour. at this epoch they were taking the lead of the whole world in marine adventure. at least three thousand vessels of between one hundred and four hundred tons, besides innumerable doggers, busses, cromstevens, and similar craft used on the rivers and in fisheries, were to be found in the united provinces, and one thousand, it was estimated, were annually built. they traded to the baltic regions for honey, wax, tallow, lumber, iron, turpentine, hemp. they brought from farthest indies and from america all the fabrics of ancient civilisation, all the newly discovered products of a virgin soil, and dispensed them among the less industrious nations of the earth. enterprise, led on and accompanied by science, was already planning the boldest flights into the unknown yet made by mankind, and it will soon be necessary to direct attention to those famous arctic voyages, made by hollanders in pursuit of the north-west passage to cathay, in which as much heroism, audacity, and scientific intelligence were displayed as in later times have made so many men belonging to both branches of the anglo-saxon race illustrious. a people, engaged in perennial conflict with a martial and sacerdotal despotism the most powerful in the world, could yet spare enough from its superfluous energies to confront the dangers of the polar oceans, and to bring back treasures of science to enrich the world. such was the spirit of freedom. inspired by its blessed influence this vigorous and inventive little commonwealth triumphed over all human, all physical obstacles in its path. it organised armies on new principles to drive the most famous legions of history from its soil. it built navies to help rescue, at critical moments, the cause of england, of protestantism, of civil liberty, and even of french nationality. more than all, by its trade with its arch-enemy, the republic constantly multiplied its resources for destroying his power and aggrandizing its own. the war navy of the united provinces was a regular force of one hundred ships--large at a period when a vessel of thirteen hundred tons was a monster--together with an indefinite number of smaller craft, which could be put into the public service on short notice? in those days of close quarters and light artillery a merchant ship was converted into a cruiser by a very simple, process. the navy was a self-supporting one, for it was paid by the produce of convoy fees and licenses to trade. it must be confessed that a portion of these revenues savoured much of black-mail to be levied on friend and foe; for the distinctions between, freebooter, privateer, pirate, and legitimate sea-robber were not very closely drawn in those early days of seafaring. prince maurice of nassau was lord high admiral, but he was obliged to listen to the counsels of various provincial boards of admiralty, which often impeded his action and interfered with his schemes. it cannot be denied that the inherent vice of the netherland polity was already a tendency to decentralisation and provincialism. the civil institutions of the country, in their main characteristics, have been frequently sketched in these pages. at this period they had entered almost completely into the forms which were destined to endure until the commonwealth fell in the great crash of the french revolution. their beneficial effects were more visible now--sustained and bound together as the nation was by the sense of a common danger, and by the consciousness of its daily developing strength--than at a later day when prosperity and luxury had blunted the fine instincts of patriotism. the supreme power, after the deposition of philip, and the refusal by france and by england to accept the sovereignty of the provinces, was definitely lodged in the states-general. but the states-general did not technically represent the people. its members were not elected by the people. it was a body composed of, delegates from each provincial assembly, of which there were now five: holland, zeeland, friesland, utrecht, and gelderland. each provincial assembly consisted again of delegates, not from the inhabitants of the provinces, but from the magistracies of the cities. those, magistracies, again, were not elected by the citizens. they elected themselves by renewing their own vacancies, and were, in short, immortal corporations. thus, in final analysis, the supreme power was distributed and localised among the mayors and aldermen of a large number of cities, all independent alike of the people below and of any central power above. it is true that the nobles, as, a class, had a voice in the provincial and, in the general assembly, both for themselves and as technical representatives of the smaller towns and of the rural population. but, as a matter of fact, the influence of this caste had of late years very rapidly diminished, through its decrease in numbers, and the far more rapid increase in wealth and power of the commercial and manufacturing classes. individual nobles were constantly employed in the military, civil, and diplomatic service of the republic, but their body had ceased to be a power. it had been the policy of william the silent to increase the number of cities entitled to send deputies to the states; for it was among the cities that his resistance to the tyranny of spain, and his efforts to obtain complete independence for his country, had been mainly supported. many of the great nobles, as has been seen in these pages, denounced the liberator and took sides with the tyrant. lamoral egmont had walked to the scaffold to which philip had condemned him, chanting a prayer for philip's welfare. egmont's eldest son was now foremost in the spanish army, doing battle against his own country in behalf of the tyrant who had taken his father's life. aremberg and ligny, arachot, chimay, croy, caprea, montigny, and most of the great patrician families of the netherlands fought on the royal side. the revolution which had saved the country from perdition and created the great netherland republic was a burgher revolution, and burgher statesmen now controlled the state. the burgher class of europe is not the one that has been foremost in the revolutionary movements of history, or that has distinguished itself--especially in more modern times--by a passionate love of liberty. it is always easy to sneer at hans miller and hans baker, and at the country where such plebeians are powerful. yet the burghers played a prominent part in the great drama which forms my theme, and there has rarely been seen a more solid or powerful type of their class than the burgher statesman, john of olden-barneveld, who, since the death of william the silent and the departure of lord leicester, had mainly guided the destinies of holland. certainly no soldier nor statesman who ever measured intellects with that potent personage was apt to treat his genius otherwise than with profound respect. but it is difficult to form a logical theory of government except on the fiction of divine right as a basis, unless the fact of popular sovereignty, as expressed by a majority, be frankly accepted in spite of philosophical objections. in the netherlands there was no king, and strictly speaking no people. but this latter and fatal defect was not visible in the period of danger and of contest. the native magistrates of that age were singularly pure, upright, and patriotic. of this there is no question whatever. and the people acquiesced cheerfully in their authority, not claiming a larger representation than such as they virtually possessed in the multiple power exercised over them, by men moving daily among them, often of modest fortunes and of simple lives. two generations later, and in the wilderness of massachusetts, the early american colonists voluntarily placed in the hands of their magistrates, few in number, unlimited control of all the functions of government, and there was hardly an instance known of an impure exercise of authority. yet out of that simple kernel grew the least limited and most powerful democracy ever known. in the later days of netherland history a different result became visible, and with it came the ruin of the state. the governing class, of burgher origin, gradually separated itself from the rest of the citizens, withdrew from commercial pursuits, lived on hereditary fortunes in the exercise of functions which were likewise virtually hereditary, and so became an oligarchy. this result, together with the physical causes already indicated, made the downfall of the commonwealth probable whenever it should be attacked by an overwhelming force from without. the states-general, however, at this epoch--although they had in a manner usurped the sovereignty, which in the absence of a feudal lord really belonged to the whole people, and had silently repossessed themselves of those executive functions which they had themselves conferred upon the state council--were at any rate without self-seeking ambition. the hollanders, as a race, were not office seekers, but were singularly docile to constituted authority, while their regents--as the municipal magistrates were commonly called--were not very far removed above the mass by birth or habitual occupation. the republic was a social and political fact, against which there was no violent antagonism either of laws or manners, and the people, although not technically existing, in reality was all in all. in netherland story the people is ever the true hero. it was an almost unnoticed but significant revolution--that by which the state council was now virtually deprived of its authority. during leicester's rule it had been a most important college of administration. since his resignation it had been entrusted by the states-general with high executive functions, especially in war matters. it was an assembly of learned counsellors appointed from the various provinces for wisdom and experience, usually about eighteen in number, and sworn in all things to be faithful to the whole republic. the allegiance of all was rendered to the nation. each individual member was required to "forswear his native province in order to be true to the generality." they deliberated in common for the general good, and were not hampered by instructions from the provincial diets, nor compelled to refer to those diets for decision when important questions were at issue. it was an independent executive committee for the whole republic. but leicester had made it unpopular. his intrigues, in the name of democracy, to obtain possession of sovereign power, to inflame the lower classes against the municipal magistracies, and to excite the clergy to claim a political influence to which they were not entitled and which was most mischievous in its effects, had exposed the state council, with which he had been in the habit of consulting, to suspicion. the queen of england, by virtue of her treaty had the right to appoint two of her subjects to be members of the council. the governor of her auxiliary forces was also entitled to a seat there. since the malpractices of leicester and the danger to which the country had been, subjected in consequence had been discovered, it was impossible that there should be very kindly feeling toward england in the public mind, however necessary a sincere alliance between the two countries was known to be for the welfare of both. the bickering of the two english councillors, wilkes and bodley, and of the governor of the english contingent with the hollanders, was incessant. the englishmen went so far as to claim the right of veto upon all measures passed by the council, but the states-general indignantly replied that the matters deliberated and decided upon by that board were their own affairs, not the state affairs of england. the two members and the military officer who together represented her majesty were entitled to participate in the deliberations and to vote with their brother members. for them to claim the right, however, at will to annul the proceedings was an intolerable assumption, and could not be listened to for a moment. certainly it would have been strange had two dutchmen undertaken to veto every measure passed by the queen's council at richmond or windsor, and it was difficult to say on what article of the contract this extraordinary privilege was claimed by englishmen at the hague. another cause of quarrel was the inability of the englishmen to understand the language in which the debates of the state council were held. according to a custom not entirely unexampled in parliamentary history the members of assembly and council made use of their native tongue in discussing the state affairs of their native land. it was however considered a grievance by the two english members that the dutchmen should speak dutch, and it was demanded in the queen's name that they should employ some other language which a foreigner could more easily understand. the hollanders however refused this request, not believing that in a reversed case her majesty's council or houses of parliament would be likely or competent to carry on their discussions habitually in italian or latin for the benefit of a couple of strangers who might not be familiar with english. the more natural remedy would have been for the foreigners to take lessons in the tongue of the country, or to seek for an interpreter among their colleagues; especially as the states, when all the netherlands were but provinces, had steadily refused to adopt any language but their mother tongue, even at the demand of their sovereign prince. at this moment, sir thomas bodley was mainly entrusted with her majesty's affairs at the hague, but his overbearing demeanour, intemperate language, and passionate style of correspondence with the states and with the royal government, did much injury to both countries. the illustrious walsingham--whose death in the spring of this year england had so much reason to deplore--had bitterly lamented, just before his death, having recommended so unquiet a spirit for so important a place. ortel, envoy of the states to london, expressed his hopes that affairs would now be handled more to the satisfaction of the states; as bodley would be obliged, since the death of sir francis, to address his letters to the lord high treasurer, with whom it would be impossible for him to obtain so much influence as he had enjoyed with the late secretary of state. moreover it was exactly at this season that the advocate of holland, olden-barneveld, was excluded from the state council. already the important province of holland was dissatisfied with its influence in that body. bearing one-half of the whole burthen of the war it was not content with one-quarter of the council vote, and very soon it became the custom for the states-general to conduct all the most important affairs of the republic. the state council complained that even in war matters it was not consulted, and that most important enterprises were undertaken by prince maurice without its knowledge, and on advice of the advocate alone. doubtless this was true, and thus, most unfortunately, the commonwealth was degraded to a confederacy instead of becoming an incorporate federal state. the members of the states-general--as it has been seen were responsible only to their constituents, the separate provinces. they avowed allegiance, each to his own province, none to the central government. moreover they were not representatives, but envoys, appointed by petty provinces, bound by written orders, and obliged to consult at every step with their sovereigns at home. the netherland polity was thus stamped almost at its birth with a narrow provincialism: delay and hesitation thus necessarily engendered were overcome in the days of danger by patriotic fervour. the instinct of union for the sake of the national existence was sufficiently strong, and the robust, practical common sense of the people sufficiently enlightened to prevent this weakness from degenerating into impotence so long as the war pressure remained to mould them into a whole. but a day was to come for bitterly rueing this paralysis of the imperial instincts of the people, this indefinite decentralisation of the national strength. for the present, the legislative and executive body was the states-general. but the states-general were in reality the states provincial, and the states provincial were the city municipalities, among which the magistracies of holland were preponderant. ere long it became impossible for an individual to resist the decrees of the civic authorities. in , the states-general passed a resolution by which these arrogant corporations virtually procured their exemption from any process at the suit of a private person to be placed on record. so far could the principle of sovereignty be pulverized. city council boards had become supreme. it was naturally impossible during the long continuance of this great struggle, that neutral nations should not be injuriously affected by it in a variety of ways. and as a matter of course neutral nations were disposed to counsel peace. peace, peace; peace was the sigh of the bystanders whose commerce was impeded, whose international relations. were complicated, and whose own security was endangered in the course of the bloody conflict. it was however not very much the fashion of that day for governments to obtrude advice upon each other; or to read to each other moral lectures. it was assumed that when the expense and sacrifice of war had been incurred, it was for cause, and the discovery had not yet been made that those not immediately interested in the fray were better acquainted with its merits than, the combatants themselves, and were moreover endued with, superhuman wisdom to see with perfect clearness that future issue which to the parties themselves was concealed. cheap apothegms upon the blessings of peace and upon the expediency of curbing the angry passions, uttered by the belligerents of yesterday to the belligerents of to-day, did not then pass current for profound wisdom. still the emperor rudolph, abstaining for a time from his star-gazing, had again thought proper to make a feeble attempt at intervention in those sublunary matters which were supposed to be within his sphere. it was perfectly well known that philip was incapable of abating one jot of his pretensions, and that to propose mediation to the united provinces was simply to request them, for the convenience of other powers, to return to the slavery out of which, by the persistent efforts of a quarter of a century, they had struggled. nevertheless it was formally proposed to re-open those lukewarm fountains of diplomatic commonplace in which healing had been sought during the peace negotiations of cologne in the year . but the states-general resolutely kept them sealed. they simply answered his imperial majesty by a communication of certain intercepted correspondence between--the king of spain and his ambassador at vienna, san clemente, through which it was satisfactorily established that any negotiation would prove as gigantic a comedy on the part of spain as had been the memorable conferences at ostend, by which the invasion of england had been masked. there never was a possibility of mediation or of compromise except by complete submission on the part of the netherlanders to crown and church. both in this, as well as in previous and subsequent attempts at negotiations, the secret instructions of philip forbade any real concessions on his side. he was always ready to negotiate, he was especially anxious to obtain a suspension of arms from the rebels during negotiation; but his agents were instructed to use great dexterity and dissimulation in order that the proposal for such armistice, as well as for negotiation at all, should appear to proceed, not from himself as was the fact, but from the emperor as a neutral potentate. the king uniformly proposed three points; firstly, that the rebels should reconvert themselves to the catholic religion; secondly, that they should return to their obedience to himself; thirdly, that they should pay the expenses of the war. number three was, however, usually inserted in order that, by conceding it subsequently, after much contestation, he might appear conciliatory. it was a vehicle of magnanimity towards men grown insolent with temporary success. numbers one and two were immutable. especially upon number one was concession impossible. "the catholic religion is the first thing," said philip, "and although the rebels do not cease to insist that liberty of conscience should be granted them, in order that they may preserve that which they have had during these past years, this is never to be thought of in any event." the king always made free use of the terrible weapon which the protestant princes of germany had placed in his hands. for indeed if it were right that one man, because possessed of hereditary power over millions of his fellow creatures, should compel them all to accept the dogmas of luther or of calvin because agreeable to himself, it was difficult to say why another man, in a similarly elevated position, might not compel his subjects to accept the creed of trent, or the doctrines of mahomet or confucius. the netherlanders were fighting--even more than they knew-for liberty of conscience, for equality of all religions; not for moses, nor for melancthon; for henry, philip, or pius; while philip justly urged that no prince in christendom permitted license. "let them well understand," said his majesty, "that since others who live in error, hold the opinion that vassals are to conform to the religion of their master, it is insufferable that it should be proposed to me that my vassals should have a different religion from mine--and that too being the true religion, proved by so many testimonies and miracles, while all others are deception. this must be arranged with the authority of the commissioners of the emperor, since it is well understood by them that the vassal is never to differ from the opinion of his master." certainly it was worth an eighty years' war to drive such blasphemous madness as this out of human heads, whether crowned or shaven. there was likewise a diet held during the summer of this year, of the circles of the empire nearest to the netherlands--westphalia, cleves, juliers, and saxony--from which commissioners were deputed both to brussels and to the hague, to complain of the misfortunes suffered by neutral and neighbouring nations in consequence of the civil war. they took nothing by their mission to the duke of parma. at the hague the deputies were heard on the nd august, . they complained to the states-general of "brandschatting" on the border, of the holding of forts beyond the lines, and of other invasions of neutral territory, of the cruising of the war-vessels of the states off the shores and on the rivers, and of their interference with lawful traders. threats were made of forcible intervention and reprisals. the united states replied on the th september. expressing deep regret that neutral nations should suffer, they pronounced it to be impossible but that some sparks from the great fire, now desolating their land, should fly over into their neighbours' ground. the states were fighting the battle of liberty against slavery, in which the future generations of germany, as well as of the netherlands were interested. they were combating that horrible institution, the holy inquisition. they were doing their best to strike down the universal monarchy of spain, which they described as a bloodthirsty, insatiable, insolent, absolute dominion of saracenic, moorish christians. they warred with a system which placed inquisitors on the seats of judges, which made it unlawful to read the scriptures, which violated all oaths, suppressed all civic freedom, trampled, on all laws and customs, raised inordinate taxes by arbitrary decree, and subjected high and low to indiscriminate murder. spain had sworn the destruction of the provinces and their subjugation to her absolute dominion, in order to carry out her scheme of universal empire. these were the deeds and designs against which the states were waging that war, concerning some inconvenient results of which their neighbours, now happily neutral, were complaining. but the cause of the states was the cause of humanity itself. this saracenic, moorish, universal monarchy had been seen by germany to murder, despoil, and trample upon the netherlands. it had murdered millions of innocent indians and granadians. it had kept naples and milan in abject slavery. it had seized portugal. it had deliberately planned and attempted an accursed invasion of england and ireland. it had overrun and plundered many cities of the empire. it had spread a web of secret intrigue about scotland. at last it was sending great armies to conquer france and snatch its crown. poor france now saw the plans of this spanish tyranny and bewailed her misery. the subjects of her lawful king were ordered to rise against him, on account of religion and conscience. such holy pretexts were used by these saracenic christians in order to gain possession of that kingdom. for all these reasons, men should not reproach the inhabitants of the netherlands, because seeing the aims of this accursed tyranny, they had set themselves to resist it. it was contrary to reason to consider them as disturbers of the general peace, or to hold them guilty of violating their oaths or their duty to the laws of the holy empire. the states-general were sure that they had been hitherto faithful and loyal, and they were resolved to continue in that path. as members of the holy empire, in part--as of old they were considered to be--they had rather the right to expect, instead of reproaches, assistance against the enormous power and inhuman oppression of their enemies. they had demanded it heretofore by their ambassadors, and they still continued to claim it. they urged that, according to the laws of the empire, all foreign soldiers, spaniards, saracens, and the like should be driven out of the limits of the empire. through these means the german highland and the german netherland might be restored once more to their old friendship and unity, and might deal with each other again in amity and commerce. if, however, such requests could not be granted they at least begged his electoral highness and the other dukes, lords, and states to put on the deeds of netherlanders in this laborious and heavy war the best interpretation, in order that they might, with the better courage and resolution, bear those inevitable burthens which were becoming daily heavier in this task of resistance and self-protection; in order that the provinces might not be utterly conquered, and serve, with their natural resources and advantageous situation, as 'sedes et media belli' for the destruction of neighbouring states and the building up of the contemplated universal, absolute monarchy. the united provinces had been compelled by overpowering necessity to take up arms. that which had resulted was and remained in 'terminis defensionis.' their object was to protect what belonged to them, to recover that which by force or fraud had been taken from them. in regard to excesses committed by their troops against neutral inhabitants on the border, they expressed a strong regret, together with a disposition to make all proper retribution and to cause all crimes to be punished. they alluded to the enormous sins of this nature practised by the enemy against neutral soil. they recalled to mind that the spaniards paid their troops ill or not at all, and that they allowed them to plunder the innocent and the neutral, while the united states had paid their troops better wages, and more punctually, than had ever been done by the greatest potentates of europe. it was true that the states kept many cruisers off the coasts and upon the rivers, but these were to protect their own citizens and friendly traders against pirates and against the common foe. germany derived as much benefit from this system as did the provinces themselves. thus did the states-general, respectfully but resolutely, decline all proffers of intervention, which, as they were well aware, could only enure to the benefit of the enemy. thus did they avoid being entrapped into negotiations which could only prove the most lamentable of comedies. etext editor's bookmarks: a pusillanimous peace, always possible at any period at length the twig was becoming the tree being the true religion, proved by so many testimonies certainly it was worth an eighty years' war chief seafaring nations of the world were already protestant conceding it subsequently, after much contestation fled from the land of oppression to the land of liberty german highland and the german netherland little army of maurice was becoming the model for europe luxury had blunted the fine instincts of patriotism maritime heretics portion of these revenues savoured much of black-mail the divine speciality of a few transitory mortals the history of the netherlands is history of liberty the nation which deliberately carves itself in pieces they had come to disbelieve in the mystery of kingcraft worn nor caused to be worn the collar of the serf history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter xxiii. philip's scheme of aggrandizement--projected invasion of france-- internal condition of france--character of henry of navarre-- preparation for action--battle of ivry--victory of the french king over the league--reluctance of the king to attack the french capital--siege of paris--the pope indisposed towards the league-- extraordinary demonstration of ecclesiastics--influence of the priests--extremities of the siege--attempted negotiation--state of philip's army--difficult position of farnese--march of the allies to the relief of paris--lagny taken and the city relieved--desertion of the king's army--siege of corbeil--death of pope sixtus v.-- re-capture of lagny and corbeil--return of parma to the netherlands --result of the expedition. the scene of the narrative shifts to france. the history of the united netherlands at this epoch is a world-history. were it not so, it would have far less of moral and instruction for all time than it is really capable of affording. the battle of liberty against despotism was now fought in the hop-fields of brabant or the polders of friesland, now in the narrow seas which encircle england, and now on the sunny plains of dauphiny, among the craggy inlets of brittany, or along the high roads and rivers which lead to the gates of paris. but everywhere a noiseless, secret, but ubiquitous negotiation was speeding with never an instant's pause to accomplish the work which lansquenettes and riders, pikemen and carabineers were contending for on a hundred battle-fields and amid a din of arms which for a quarter of a century had been the regular hum of human industry. for nearly a generation of mankind, germans and hollanders, englishmen, frenchmen, scotchmen, irishmen, spaniards and italians seemed to be born into the world mainly to fight for or against a system of universal monarchy, conceived for his own benefit by a quiet old man who passed his days at a writing desk in a remote corner of europe. it must be confessed that philip ii. gave the world work enough. whether--had the peoples governed themselves--their energies might not have been exerted in a different direction, and on the whole have produced more of good to the human race than came of all this blood and awoke, may be questioned. but the divine right of kings, associating itself with the power supreme of the church, was struggling to maintain that old mastery of mankind which awakening reason was inclined to dispute. countries and nations being regarded as private property to be inherited or bequeathed by a few favoured individuals--provided always that those individuals were obedient to the chief-priest--it had now become right and proper for the spanish monarch to annex scotland, england, and france to the very considerable possessions which were already his own. scotland he claimed by virtue of the expressed wish of mary to the exclusion of her heretic son. france, which had been unjustly usurped by another family in times past to his detriment, and which only a mere human invention--a "pleasantry" as alva had happily termed it, called the "salic law"--prevented from passing quietly to his daughter, as heiress to her mother, daughter of henry ii., he was now fully bent upon making his own without further loss of time. england, in consequence of the mishap of the year eighty-eight, he was inclined to defer appropriating until the possession of the french coasts, together with those of the netherlands, should enable him to risk the adventure with assured chances of success. the netherlands were fast slipping beyond his control, to be sure, as he engaged in these endless schemes; and ill-disposed people of the day said that the king was like aesop's dog, lapping the river dry in order to get at the skins floating on the surface. the duke of parma was driven to his wits' ends for expedients, and beside himself with vexation, when commanded to withdraw his ill-paid and mutinous army from the provinces for the purpose of invading france. most importunate were the appeals and potent the arguments by which he attempted to turn philip from his purpose. it was in vain. spain was the great, aggressive, overshadowing power at that day, before whose plots and whose violence the nations alternately trembled, and it was france that now stood in danger of being conquered or dismembered by the common enemy of all. that unhappy kingdom, torn by intestine conflict, naturally invited the ambition and the greediness of foreign powers. civil war had been its condition, with brief intervals, for a whole generation of mankind. during the last few years, the sword had been never sheathed, while "the holy confederacy" and the bearnese struggled together for the mastery. religion was the mantle under which the chiefs on both sides concealed their real designs as they led on their followers year after year to the desperate conflict. and their followers, the masses, were doubtless in earnest. a great principle--the relation of man to his maker and his condition in a future world as laid down by rival priesthoods--has in almost every stage of history had power to influence the multitude to fury and to deluge the world in blood. and so long as the superstitious element of human nature enables individuals or combinations of them to dictate to their fellow-creatures those relations, or to dogmatize concerning those conditions--to take possession of their consciences in short, and to interpose their mummeries between man and his creator--it is, probable that such scenes as caused the nations to shudder, throughout so large a portion of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries will continue to repeat themselves at intervals in various parts of the earth. nothing can be more sublime than the self-sacrifice, nothing more demoniac than the crimes, which human creatures have seemed always ready to exhibit under the name of religion. it was and had been really civil war in france. in the netherlands it had become essentially a struggle for independence against a foreign monarch; although the germ out of which both conflicts had grown to their enormous proportions was an effort of the multitude to check the growth of papacy. in france, accordingly, civil war, attended by that gaunt sisterhood, murder, pestilence, and famine, had swept from the soil almost everything that makes life valuable. it had not brought in its train that extraordinary material prosperity and intellectual development at which men wondered in the netherlands, and to which allusion has just been made. but a fortunate conjunction of circumstances had now placed henry of navarre in a position of vantage. he represented the principle of nationality, of french unity. it was impossible to deny that he was in the regular line of succession, now that luckless henry of valois slept with his fathers, and the principle of nationality might perhaps prove as vital a force as attachment to the roman church. moreover, the adroit and unscrupulous bearnese knew well how to shift the mantle of religion from one shoulder to the other, to serve his purposes or the humours of those whom he addressed. "the king of spain would exclude me from the kingdom and heritage of my father because of my religion," he said to the duke of saxony; "but in that religion i am determined to persist so long as i shall live." the hand was the hand of henry, but it was the voice of duplessis mornay. "were there thirty crowns to win," said he, at about the same time to the states of france, "i would not change my religion on compulsion, the dagger at my throat. instruct me, instruct me, i am not obstinate." there spoke the wily freethinker, determined not to be juggled out of what he considered his property by fanatics or priests of either church. had henry been a real devotee, the fate of christendom might have been different. the world has long known how much misery it is in the power of crowned bigots to inflict. on the other hand, the holy league, the sacred confederacy, was catholic or nothing. already it was more papist than the pope, and loudly denounced sixtus v. as a huguenot because he was thought to entertain a weak admiration both for henry the heretic and for the jezebel of england. but the holy confederacy was bent on destroying the national government of france, and dismembering the national domain. to do this the pretext of trampling out heresy and indefinitely extending the power of rome, was most influential with the multitude, and entitled the leaders to enjoy immense power for the time being, while maturing their schemes for acquiring permanent possession of large fragments of the national territory. mayenne, nemours, aumale, mercoeur longed to convert temporary governments into independent principalities. the duke of lorraine looked with longing eyes on verdun, sedan, and, the other fair cities within the territories contiguous--to his own domains. the reckless house of savoy; with whom freebooting and landrobbery seemed geographical, and hereditary necessities, was busy on the southern borders, while it seemed easy enough for philip, ii., in right of his daughter, to secure at least the duchy of brittany before entering on the sovereignty of the whole kingdom. to the eyes of the world at large: france might well seem in a condition of hopeless disintegration; the restoration of its unity and former position among the nations, under the government of a single chief, a weak and wicked dream. furious and incessant were the anathemas hurled on the head of the bearnese for his persistence in drowning the land in blood in the hope of recovering a national capital which never could be his, and of wresting from the control of the confederacy that power. which, whether usurped or rightful, was considered, at least by the peaceably inclined, to have become a solid fact. the poor puppet locked in the tower of fontenay, and entitled charles x.; deceived and scared no one. such money as there was might be coined, in its name, but madam league reigned supreme in paris. the confederates, inspired by the eloquence of a cardinal legate, and supplied with funds by the faithful, were ready to dare a thousand deaths rather than submit to the rule of a tyrant and heretic. what was an authority derived from the laws of the land and the history of the race compared with the dogmas of rome and the trained veterans of spain? it remained to be seen whether nationality or bigotry would triumph. but in the early days of the prospects of nationality were not encouraging. francois de luxembourg, due de pincey, was in rome at that moment, deputed by such catholic nobles of france as were friendly to henry of navarre. sixtus might perhaps be influenced as to the degree of respect to be accorded to the envoy's representations by the events of the campaign about to open. meantime the legate gaetano, young, rich, eloquent, unscrupulous, distinguished alike for the splendour of his house and the brilliancy of his intellect, had arrived in paris. followed by a great train of adherents he had gone down to the house of parliament, and was about to seat himself under the dais reserved for the king, when brisson, first president of parliament, plucked him back by the arm, and caused him to take a seat immediately below his own. deeply was the bold president to expiate this defence of king and law against the holy league. for the moment however the legate contented himself with a long harangue, setting forth the power of rome, while brisson replied by an oration magnifying the grandeur of france. soon afterwards the cardinal addressed himself to the counteraction of henry's projects of conversion. for, well did the subtle priest understand that in purging himself of heresy, the bearnese was about to cut the ground from beneath his enemies' feet. in a letter to the archbishops and bishops of france, he argued the matter at length. especially he denied the necessity or the legality of an assembly of all the prelates of france, such as henry desired to afford him the requisite "instruction" as to the respective merits of the roman and the reformed church. certainly, he urged, the prince of bearne could hardly require instruction as to the tenets of either, seeing that at different times he had faithfully professed both. but while benches of bishops and doctors of the sorbonne were burnishing all the arms in ecclesiastical and legal arsenals for the approaching fray, the sound of louder if not more potent artillery began to be heard in the vicinity of paris. the candid henry, while seeking ghostly instruction with eagerness from his papistical patrons, was equally persevering in applying for the assistance of heretic musketeers and riders from his protestant friends in england, holland, germany, and switzerland. queen elizabeth and the states-general vied with each other in generosity to the great champion of protestantism, who was combating the holy league so valiantly, and rarely has a great historical figure presented itself to the world so bizarre of aspect, and under such shifting perplexity of light and shade, as did the bearnese in the early spring of . the hope of a considerable portion of the catholic nobility of his realm, although himself an excommunicated heretic; the mainstay of calvinism while secretly bending all his energies to effect his reconciliation with the pope; the idol of the austere and grimly puritanical, while himself a model of profligacy; the leader of the earnest and the true, although false as water himself in every relation in which human beings can stand to each other; a standardbearer of both great branches of the christian church in an age when religion was the atmosphere of men's daily lives, yet finding his sincerest admirer, and one of his most faithful allies, in the grand turk, [a portion of the magnificently protective letter of sultan amurath, in which he complimented henry on his religious stedfastness, might almost have made the king's cheek tingle.] the representative of national liberty and human rights against regal and sacerdotal absolutism, while himself a remorseless despot by nature and education, and a believer in no rights of the people save in their privilege to be ruled by himself; it seems strange at first view that henry of navarre should have been for centuries so heroic and popular an image. but he was a soldier, a wit, a consummate politician; above all, he was a man, at a period when to be a king was often to be something much less or much worse. to those accustomed to weigh and analyse popular forces it might well seem that he was now playing an utterly hopeless game. his capital garrisoned by the pope and the king of spain, with its grandees and its populace scoffing at his pretence of authority and loathing his name; with an exchequer consisting of what he could beg or borrow from queen elizabeth--most parsimonious of sovereigns reigning over the half of a small island--and from the states-general governing a half-born, half-drowned little republic, engaged in a quarter of a century's warfare with the greatest monarch in the world; with a wardrobe consisting of a dozen shirts and five pocket-handkerchiefs, most of them ragged, and with a commissariat made up of what could be brought in the saddle-bags of his huguenot cavaliers who came to the charge with him to-day, and to-morrow were dispersed again to their mountain fastnesses; it did not seem likely on any reasonable theory of dynamics that the power of the bearnese was capable of outweighing pope and spain, and the meaner but massive populace of france, and the sorbonne, and the great chiefs of the confederacy, wealthy, long descended, allied to all the sovereigns of christendom, potent in territorial possessions and skilful in wielding political influences. "the bearnese is poor but a gentleman of good family," said the cheerful henry, and it remained to-be seen whether nationality, unity, legitimate authority, history, and law would be able to neutralise the powerful combination of opposing elements. the king had been besieging dreux and had made good progress in reducing the outposts of the city. as it was known that he was expecting considerable reinforcements of english ships, netherlanders, and germans, the chiefs of the league issued orders from paris for an attack before he should thus be strengthened. for parma, unwillingly obeying the stringent commands of his master, had sent from flanders eighteen hundred picked cavalry under count philip egmont to join the army of mayenne. this force comprised five hundred belgian heavy dragoons under the chief nobles of the land, together with a selection, in even proportions, of walloon, german, spanish, and italian troopers. mayenne accordingly crossed the seine at mantes with an army of ten thousand foot, and, including egmont's contingent, about four thousand horse. a force under marshal d'aumont, which lay in ivry at the passage of the eure, fell back on his approach and joined the remainder of the king's army. the siege of dreux was abandoned; and henry withdrew to the neighbourhood of nonancourt. it was obvious that the duke meant to offer battle, and it was rare that the king under any circumstances could be induced to decline a combat. on the night of the th- th march, henry occupied saint andre, a village situated on an elevated and extensive plain four leagues from nonancourt, in the direction of ivry, fringed on three sides by villages and by a wood, and commanding a view of all the approaches from the country between the seine and eure. it would have been better had mayenne been beforehand with him, as the sequel proved; but the duke was not famed for the rapidity of his movements. during the greater part of the night, henry was employed in distributing his orders for that conflict which was inevitable on the following day. his army was drawn up according to a plan prepared by himself, and submitted to the most experienced of his generals for their approval. he then personally visited every portion of the encampment, speaking words of encouragement to his soldiers, and perfecting his arrangements for the coming conflict. attended by marshals d'aumont and biron he remained on horseback during a portion of the night, having ordered his officers to their tents and reconnoitred as well as he could the position of the enemy. towards morning he retired to his headquarters at fourainville, where he threw himself half-dressed on his truckle bed, and although the night was bitterly cold, with no covering but his cloak. he was startled from his slumber before the dawn by a movement of lights in the enemy's camp, and he sprang to his feet supposing that the duke was stealing a march upon him despite all his precautions. the alarm proved to be a false one, but henry lost no time in ordering his battle. his cavalry he divided in seven troops or squadrons. the first, forming the left wing, was a body of three hundred under marshal d'aumont, supported by two regiments of french infantry. next, separated by a short interval, was another troop of three hundred under the duke of montpensier, supported by two other regiments of foot, one swiss and one german. in front of montpensier was baron biron the younger, at the head of still another body of three hundred. two troops of cuirassiers, each four hundred strong, were on biron's left, the one commanded by the grand prior of france, charles d'angouleme, the other by monsieur de givry. between the prior and givry were six pieces of heavy artillery, while the battalia, formed of eight hundred horse in six squadrons, was commanded by the king in person, and covered on both sides by english and swiss infantry, amounting to some four thousand in all. the right wing was under the charge of old marshal biron, and comprised three troops of horse, numbering one hundred and fifty each, two companies of german riders, and four regiments of french infantry. these numbers, which are probably given with as much accuracy as can be obtained, show a force of about three thousand horse and twelve thousand foot. the duke of mayenne, seeing too late the advantage of position which he might have easily secured the day before, led his army forth with the early light, and arranged it in an order not very different from that adopted by the king, and within cannon-shot of his lines. the right wing under marshal de la chatre consisted of three regiments of french and one of germans, supporting three regiments of spanish lancers, two cornets of german riders under the bastard of brunswick, and four hundred cuirassiers. the battalia, which was composed of six hundred splendid cavalry, all noblemen of france, guarding the white banner of the holy league, and supported by a column of three thousand swiss and two thousand french infantry, was commanded by mayenne in person, assisted by his half-brother, the duke of nemours. in front of the infantry was a battery of six cannon and three culverines. the left wing was commanded by marshal de rene, with six regiments of french and lorrainers, two thousand germans, six hundred french cuirassiers, and the mounted troopers of count egmont. it is probable that mayenne's whole force, therefore, amounted to nearly four thousand cavalry and at least thirteen thousand foot. very different was the respective appearance of the two armies, so far, especially, as regarded the horsemen on both sides. gay in their gilded armour and waving plumes, with silken scarves across their shoulders, and the fluttering favours of fair ladies on their arms or in their helmets, the brilliant champions of the holy catholic confederacy clustered around the chieftains of the great house of guise, impatient for the conflict. it was like a muster for a brilliant and chivalrous tournament. the walloon and flemish nobles, outrivalling even the self-confidence of their companions in arms, taunted them with their slowness. the impetuous egmont, burning to eclipse the fame of his ill-fated father at gravelines and st. quintin in the same holy cause, urged on the battle with unseemly haste, loudly proclaiming that if the french were faint-hearted he would himself give a good account of the navarrese prince without any assistance from them. a cannon-shot away, the grim puritan nobles who had come forth from their mountain fastnesses to do battle for king and law and for the rights of conscience against the holy league--men seasoned in a hundred battle-fields, clad all in iron, with no dainty ornaments nor holiday luxury of warfare--knelt on the ground, smiting their mailed breasts with iron hands, invoking blessings on themselves and curses and confusion on their enemies in the coming conflict, and chanting a stern psalm of homage to the god of battles and of wrath. and henry of france and navarre, descendant of lewis the holy and of hugh the great, beloved chief of the calvinist cavaliers, knelt among his heretic brethren, and prayed and chanted with them. but not the staunchest huguenot of them all, not duplessis, nor d'aubigne, nor de la noue with the iron arm, was more devoted on that day to crown and country than were such papist supporters of the rightful heir as had sworn to conquer the insolent foreigner on the soil of france or die. when this brief prelude was over, henry made an address to his soldiers, but its language has not been preserved. it is known, however, that he wore that day his famous snow-white plume, and that he ordered his soldiers, should his banner go down in the conflict, to follow wherever and as long as that plume should be seen waving on any part of the field. he had taken a position by which his troops had the sun and wind in their backs, so that the smoke rolled toward the enemy and the light shone in their eyes. the combat began with the play of artillery, which soon became so warm that egmont, whose cavalry--suffering and galled--soon became impatient, ordered a charge. it was a most brilliant one. the heavy troopers of flanders and hainault, following their spirited chieftain, dashed upon old marshal biron, routing his cavalry, charging clean up to the huguenot guns and sabring the cannoneers. the shock was square, solid, irresistible, and was followed up by the german riders under eric of brunswick, who charged upon the battalia of the royal army, where the king commanded in person. there was a panic. the whole royal cavalry wavered, the supporting infantry recoiled, the day seemed lost before the battle was well begun. yells of "victory! victory! up with the holy league, down with the heretic bearnese," resounded through the catholic squadrons. the king and marshal biron, who were near each other, were furious with rage, but already doubtful of the result. they exerted themselves to rally the troops under their immediate command, and to reform the shattered ranks. the german riders and french lancers under brunswick and bassompierre had, however, not done their work as thoroughly as egmont had done. the ground was so miry and soft that in the brief space which separated the hostile lines they had not power to urge their horses to full speed. throwing away their useless lances, they came on at a feeble canter, sword in hand, and were unable to make a very vigorous impression on the more heavily armed troopers opposed to them. meeting with a firm resistance to their career, they wheeled, faltered a little and fell a short distance back. many of the riders being of the reformed religion, refused moreover to fire upon the huguenots, and discharged their carbines in the air. the king, whose glance on the battle-field was like inspiration, saw the blot and charged upon them in person with his whole battalia of cavalry. the veteran biron followed hard upon the snow-white plume. the scene was changed, victory succeeded to impending defeat, and the enemy was routed. the riders and cuirassiers, broken into a struggling heap of confusion, strewed the ground with their dead bodies, or carried dismay into the ranks of the infantry as they strove to escape. brunswick went down in the melee, mortally wounded as it was believed. egmont renewing the charge at the head of his victorious belgian troopers, fell dead with a musket-ball through his heart. the shattered german and walloon cavalry, now pricked forward by the lances of their companions, under the passionate commands of mayenne and aumale, now fading back before the furious charges of the huguenots, were completely overthrown and cut to pieces. seven times did henry of navarre in person lead his troopers to the charge; but suddenly, in the midst of the din of battle and the cheers of victory, a message of despair went from lip to lip throughout the royal lines. the king had disappeared. he was killed, and the hopes of protestantism and of france were fallen for ever with him. the white standard of his battalia had been seen floating wildly and purposelessly over the field; for his bannerman, pot de rhodes, a young noble of dauphiny, wounded mortally in the head, with blood streaming over his face and blinding his sight, was utterly unable to control his horse, who gallopped hither and thither at his own caprice, misleading many troopers who followed in his erratic career. a cavalier, armed in proof, and wearing the famous snow-white plume, after a hand-to-hand struggle with a veteran of count bossu's regiment, was seen to fall dead by the side of the bannerman: the fleming, not used to boast, loudly asserted that he had slain the bearnese, and the news spread rapidly over the battle-field. the defeated confederates gained new courage, the victorious royalists were beginning to waver, when suddenly, between the hostile lines, in the very midst of the battle, the king gallopped forward, bareheaded, covered with blood and dust, but entirely unhurt. a wild shout of "vive le roi!" rang through the air. cheerful as ever, he addressed a few encouraging words to his soldiers, with a smiling face, and again led a charge. it was all that was necessary to complete the victory. the enemy broke and ran away on every side in wildest confusion, followed by the royalist cavalry, who sabred them as they fled. the panic gained the foot-soldiers, who should have supported the cavalry, but had not been at all engaged in the action. the french infantry threw away their arms as they rushed from the field and sought refuge in the woods. the walloons were so expeditious in the race, that they never stopped till they gained their own frontier. the day was hopelessly lost, and although mayenne had conducted himself well in the early part of the day, it was certain that he was excelled by none in the celerity of his flight when the rout had fairly begun. pausing to draw breath as he gained the wood, he was seen to deal blows with his own sword among the mob of fugitives, not that he might rally them to their flag and drive them back to another encounter, but because they encumbered his own retreat. the walloon carbineers, the german riders, and the french lancers, disputing as to the relative blame to be attached to each corps, began shooting and sabring each other, almost before they were out of the enemy's sight. many were thus killed. the lansquenets were all put to the sword. the swiss infantry were allowed to depart for their own country on pledging themselves not again to bear arms against henry iv. it is probable that eight hundred of the leaguers were either killed on the battle-field or drowned in the swollen river in their retreat. about one-fourth of that number fell in the army of the king. it is certain that of the contingent from the obedient netherlands, two hundred and seventy, including their distinguished general, lost their lives. the bastard of brunswick, crawling from beneath a heap of slain, escaped with life. mayenne lost all his standards and all the baggage of his army, while the army itself was for a time hopelessly dissolved. few cavalry actions have attained a wider celebrity in history than the fight of ivry. yet there have been many hard-fought battles, where the struggle was fiercer and closer, where the issue was for a longer time doubtful, where far more lives on either side were lost, where the final victory was immediately productive of very much greater results, and which, nevertheless, have sunk into hopeless oblivion. the personal details which remain concerning the part enacted by the adventurous king at this most critical period of his career, the romantic interest which must always gather about that ready-witted, ready-sworded gascon, at the moment when, to contemporaries, the result of all his struggles seemed so hopeless or at best so doubtful; above all, the numerous royal and princely names which embellished the roll-call of that famous passage of arms, and which were supposed, in those days at least, to add such lustre to a battle-field, as humbler names, however illustrious by valour or virtue, could never bestow, have made this combat for ever famous. yet it is certain that the most healthy moral, in military affairs, to be derived from the event, is that the importance of a victory depends less upon itself than on the use to be made of it. mayenne fled to mantes, the duke of nemours to chartres, other leaders of the league in various directions, mayenne told every body he met that the bearnese was killed, and that although his own army was defeated, he should soon have another one on foot. the same intelligence was communicated to the duke of parma, and by him to philip. mendoza and the other spanish agents went about paris spreading the news of henry's death, but the fact seemed woefully to lack confirmation, while the proofs of the utter overthrow and shameful defeat of the leaguers were visible on every side. the parisians--many of whom the year before had in vain hired windows in the principal streets, in order to witness the promised entrance of the bearnese, bound hand and foot, and with a gag in his mouth, to swell the triumph of madam league--were incredulous as to the death now reported to them of this very lively heretic, by those who had fled so ignominiously from his troopers. de la none and the other huguenot chieftains, earnestly urged upon henry the importance of advancing upon paris without an instant's delay, and it seems at least extremely probable that, had he done so, the capital would have fallen at once into his hands. it is the concurrent testimony of contemporaries that the panic, the destitution, the confusion would have made resistance impossible had a determined onslaught been made. and henry had a couple of thousand horsemen flushed with victory, and a dozen thousand foot who had been compelled to look upon a triumph in which they had no opportunity of sharing: success and emulation would have easily triumphed over dissension and despair. but the king, yielding to the councils of biron and other catholics, declined attacking the capital, and preferred waiting the slow, and in his circumstances eminently hazardous, operations of a regular siege. was it the fear of giving a signal triumph to the cause of protestantism that caused the huguenot leader--so soon to become a renegade--to pause in his career? was it anxiety lest his victorious entrance into paris might undo the diplomacy of his catholic envoys at rome? or was it simply the mutinous condition of his army, especially of the swiss mercenaries, who refused to advance a step unless their arrears of pay were at once furnished them out of the utterly empty exchequer of the king? whatever may have been the cause of the delay, it is certain that the golden fruit of victory was not plucked, and that although the confederate army had rapidly dissolved, in consequence of their defeat, the king's own forces manifested as little cohesion. and now began that slow and painful siege, the details of which are as terrible, but as universally known, as those of any chapters in the blood-stained history of the century. henry seized upon the towns guarding the rivers seine and marne, twin nurses of paris. by controlling the course of those streams as well as that of the yonne and oise--especially by taking firm possession of lagny on the marne, whence a bridge led from the isle of france to the brie country--great thoroughfare of wine and corn--and of corbeil at the junction of the little river essonne with the seine-it was easy in that age to stop the vital circulation of the imperial city. by midsummer, paris, unquestionably the first city of europe at that day, was in extremities, and there are few events in history in which our admiration is more excited by the power of mankind to endure almost preternatural misery, or our indignation more deeply aroused by the cruelty with which the sublimest principles of human nature may be made to serve the purposes of selfish ambition and grovelling superstition, than this famous leaguer. rarely have men at any epoch defended their fatherland against foreign oppression with more heroism than that which was manifested by the parisians of in resisting religious toleration, and in obeying a foreign and priestly despotism. men, women, and children cheerfully laid down their lives by thousands in order that the papal legate and the king of spain might trample upon that legitimate sovereign of france who was one day to become the idol of paris and of the whole kingdom. a census taken at the beginning of the siege had showed a populace of two hundred thousand souls, with a sufficiency of provisions, it was thought, to last one month. but before the terrible summer was over--so completely had the city been invested--the bushel of wheat was worth three hundred and sixty crowns, rye and oats being but little cheaper. indeed, grain might as well have cost three thousand crowns the bushel, for the prices recorded placed it beyond the reach of all but the extremely wealthy. the flesh of horses, asses, dogs, cats, rats had become rare luxuries. there was nothing cheap, said a citizen bitterly, but sermons. and the priests and monks of every order went daily about the streets, preaching fortitude in that great resistance to heresy, by which paris was earning for itself a crown of glory, and promising the most direct passage to paradise for the souls of the wretched victims who fell daily, starved to death, upon the pavements. and the monks and priests did their work nobly, aiding the general resolution by the example of their own courage. better fed than their fellow citizens, they did military work in trench, guard-house and rampart, as the population became rapidly unfit, from physical exhaustion, for the defence of the city. the young duke of nemours, governor of the place, manifested as much resolution and conduct in bringing his countrymen to perdition as if the work in which he was engaged had been the highest and holiest that ever tasked human energies. he was sustained in his task by that proud princess, his own and mayenne's mother, by madame montpensier, by the resident triumvirate of spain, mendoza, commander moreo, and john baptist tasais, by the cardinal legate gaetano, and, more than all, by the sixteen chiefs of the wards, those municipal tyrants of the unhappy populace. pope sixtus himself was by no means eager for the success of the league. after the battle of ivry, he had most seriously inclined his ear to the representations of henry's envoy, and showed much willingness to admit the victorious heretic once more into the bosom of the church. sixtus was not desirous of contributing to the advancement of philip's power. he feared his designs on italy, being himself most anxious at that time to annex naples to the holy see. he had amassed a large treasure, but he liked best to spend it in splendid architecture, in noble fountains, in magnificent collections of art, science, and literature, and, above all, in building up fortunes for the children of his sister the washerwoman, and in allying them all to the most princely houses of italy, while never allowing them even to mention the name of their father, so base was his degree; but he cared not to disburse from his hoarded dollars to supply the necessities of the league. but gaetano, although he could wring but fifty thousand crowns from his holiness after the fatal fight of ivry, to further the good cause, was lavish in expenditures from his own purse and from other sources, and this too at a time when thirty-three per cent. interest was paid to the usurers of antwerp for one month's loan of ready money. he was indefatigable, too, and most successful in his exhortations and ghostly consolations to the people. those proud priests and great nobles were playing a reckless game, and the hopes of mankind beyond the grave were the counters on their table. for themselves there were rich prizes for the winning. should they succeed in dismembering the fair land where they were enacting their fantastic parts, there were temporal principalities, great provinces, petty sovereignties, to be carved out of the heritage which the bearnese claimed for his own. obviously then, their consciences could never permit this shameless heretic, by a simulated conversion at the critical moment, to block their game and restore the national unity and laws. and even should it be necessary to give the whole kingdom, instead of the mere duchy of brittany, to philip of spain, still there were mighty guerdons to be bestowed on his supporters before the foreign monarch could seat himself on the throne of henry's ancestors. as to the people who were fighting, starving, dying by thousands in this great cause, there were eternal rewards in another world profusely promised for their heroism instead of the more substantial bread and beef, for lack of which they were laying down their lives. it was estimated that before july twelve thousand human beings in paris had died, for want of food, within three months. but as there were no signs of the promised relief by the army of parma and mayenne, and as the starving people at times appeared faint-hearted, their courage was strengthened one day by a stirring exhibition. an astonishing procession marched through the streets of the city, led by the bishop of senlis and the prior of chartreux, each holding a halberd in one hand and a crucifix in the other, and graced by the presence of the cardinal-legate, and of many prelates from italy. a lame monk, adroitly manipulating the staff of a drum major, went hopping and limping before them, much to the amazement of the crowd. then came a long file of monks-capuchins, bernardists, minimes, franciscans, jacobins, carmelites, and other orders--each with his cowl thrown back, his long robes trussed up, a helmet on his head, a cuirass on his breast, and a halberd in his hand. the elder ones marched first, grinding their teeth, rolling their eyes, and making other ferocious demonstrations. then came the younger friars, similarly attired, all armed with arquebusses, which they occasionally and accidentally discharged to the disadvantage of the spectators, several of whom were killed or wounded on the spot. among others a servant of cardinal gaetano was thus slain, and the even caused much commotion, until the cardinal proclaimed that a man thus killed in so holy a cause had gone straight to heaven and had taken his place among the just. it was impossible, thus argued the people in their simplicity, that so wise and virtuous a man as the cardinal should not know what was best. the procession marched to the church of our lady of loretto, where they solemnly promised to the blessed virgin a lamp and ship of gold--should she be willing to use her influence in behalf of the suffering city--to be placed on her shrine as soon as the siege should be raised. but these demonstrations, however cheering to the souls, had comparatively little effect upon the bodies of the sufferers. it was impossible to walk through the streets of paris without stumbling over the dead bodies of the citizens. trustworthy eye-witnesses of those dreadful days have placed the number of the dead during the summer at thirty thousand. a tumultuous assemblage of the starving and the forlorn rushed at last to the municipal palace, demanding peace or bread. the rebels were soon dispersed however by a charge, headed by the chevalier d'aumale, and assisted by the chiefs of the wards, and so soon as the riot was quelled, its ringleader, a leading advocate, renaud by name, was hanged. still, but for the energy of the priests, it is doubtful whether the city could have been held by the confederacy. the duke of nemours confessed that there were occasions when they never would have been able to sustain a determined onslaught, and they were daily expecting to see the prince of bearne battering triumphantly at their gates. but the eloquence of the preachers, especially of the one-eyed father boucher, sustained the fainting spirits of the people, and consoled the sufferers in their dying agonies by glimpses of paradise. sublime was that devotion, superhuman that craft; but it is only by weapons from the armoury of the unseen that human creatures can long confront such horrors in a wicked cause. superstition, in those days at least, was a political force absolutely without limitation, and most adroitly did the agents of spain and rome handle its tremendous enginery against unhappy france. for the hideous details of the most dreadful sieges recorded in ancient or modern times were now reproduced in paris. not a revolutionary circumstance, at which the world had shuddered in the accounts of the siege of jerusalem, was spared. men devoured such dead vermin as could be found lying in the streets. they crowded greedily around stalls in the public squares where the skin, bones, and offal of such dogs, cats and unclean beasts as still remained for the consumption of the wealthier classes were sold to the populace. over the doorways of these flesh markets might be read "haec runt munera pro iis qui vitam pro philippo profuderunt." men stood in archways and narrow passages lying in wait for whatever stray dogs still remained at large, noosed them, strangled them, and like savage beasts of prey tore them to pieces and devoured them alive. and it sometimes happened, too, that the equally hungry dog proved the more successful in the foul encounter, and fed upon the man. a lady visiting the duchess of nemours--called for the high pretensions of her sons by her two marriages the queen-mother--complained bitterly that mothers in paris had been compelled to kill their own children outright to save them from starving to death in lingering agony. "and if you are brought to that extremity," replied the duchess, "as for the sake of our holy religion to be forced to kill your own children, do you think that so great a matter after all? what are your children made of more than other people's children? what are we all but dirt and dust?" such was the consolation administered by the mother of the man who governed paris, and defended its gates against its lawful sovereign at the command of a foreigner; while the priests in their turn persuaded the populace that it was far more righteous to kill their own children, if they had no food to give them, than to obtain food by recognising a heretic king. it was related too, and believed, that in some instances mothers had salted the bodies of their dead children and fed upon them, day by day, until the hideous repast would no longer support their own life. they died, and the secret was revealed by servants who had partaken of the food. the spanish ambassador, mendoza, advised recourse to an article of diet which had been used in some of the oriental sieges. the counsel at first was rejected as coming from the agent of spain, who wished at all hazards to save the capital of france from falling out of the hands of his master into those of the heretic. but dire necessity prevailed, and the bones of the dead were taken in considerable quantities from the cemeteries, ground into flour, baked into bread, and consumed. it was called madame montpensier's cake, because the duchess earnestly proclaimed its merits to the poor parisians. "she was never known to taste it herself, however," bitterly observed one who lived in paris through that horrible summer. she was right to abstain, for all who ate of it died, and the montpensier flour fell into disuse. lansquenets and other soldiers, mad with hunger and rage, when they could no longer find dogs to feed on, chased children through the streets, and were known in several instances to kill and devour them on the spot. to those expressing horror at the perpetration of such a crime, a leading personage, member of the council of nine, maintained that there was less danger to one's soul in satisfying one's hunger with a dead child, in case of necessity, than in recognizing the heretic bearnese, and he added that all the best theologians and doctors of paris were of his opinion. as the summer wore on to its close, through all these horrors, and as there were still no signs of mayenne and parma leading their armies to the relief of the city, it became necessary to deceive the people by a show of negotiation with the beleaguering army. accordingly, the spanish ambassador, the legate, and the other chiefs of the holy league appointed a deputation, consisting of the cardinal gondy, the archbishop of lyons, and the abbe d'elbene, to henry. it soon became evident to the king, however, that these commissioners were but trifling with him in order to amuse the populace. his attitude was dignified and determined throughout the interview. the place appointed was st. anthony's abbey, before the gates of paris. henry wore a cloak and the order of the holy ghost, and was surrounded by his council, the princes of the blood, and by more than four hundred of the chief gentlemen of his army. after passing the barricade, the deputies were received by old marshal biron, and conducted by him to the king's chamber of state. when they had made their salutations, the king led the way to an inner cabinet, but his progress was much impeded by the crowding of the nobles about him. wishing to excuse this apparent rudeness, he said to the envoys: "gentlemen, these men thrust me on as fast to the battle against the foreigner as they now do to my cabinet. therefore bear with them." then turning to the crowd, he said: "room, gentlemen, for the love of me," upon which they all retired. the deputies then stated that they had been sent by the authorities of paris to consult as to the means of obtaining a general peace in france. they expressed the hope that the king's disposition was favourable to this end, and that he would likewise permit them to confer with the duke of mayenne. this manner of addressing him excited his choler. he told cardinal gondy, who was spokesman of the deputation, that he had long since answered such propositions. he alone could deal with his subjects. he was like the woman before solomon; he would have all the child or none of it. rather than dismember his kingdom he would lose the whole. he asked them what they considered him to be. they answered that they knew his rights, but that the parisians had different opinions. if paris would only acknowledge him to be king there could be no more question of war. he asked them if they desired the king of spain or the duke of mayenne for their king, and bade them look well to themselves. the king of spain could not help them, for he had too much business on hand; while mayenne had neither means nor courage, having been within three leagues of them for three weeks doing nothing. neither king nor duke should have that which belonged to him, of that they might be assured. he told them he loved paris as his capital, as his eldest daughter. if the parisians wished to see the end of their miseries it was to him they should appeal, not to the spaniard nor to the duke of mayenne. by the grace of god and the swords of his brave gentlemen he would prevent the king of spain from making a colony of france as he had done of brazil. he told the commissioners that they ought to die of shame that they, born frenchmen, should have so forgotten their love of country and of liberty as thus to bow the head to the spaniard, and--while famine was carrying off thousands of their countrymen before their eyes--to be so cowardly as not to utter one word for the public welfare from fear of offending cardinal. gaetano, mendoza, and moreo. he said that he longed for a combat to decide the issue, and that he had charged count de brissac to tell mayenne that he would give a finger of his right hand for a battle, and two for a general peace. he knew and pitied the sufferings of paris, but the horrors now raging there were to please the king of spain. that monarch had told the duke of parma to trouble himself but little about the netherlands so long as he could preserve for him his city of paris. but it was to lean on a broken reed to expect support from this old, decrepit king, whose object was to dismember the flourishing kingdom of france, and to divide it among as many tyrants as he had sent viceroys to the indies. the crown was his own birthright. were it elective he should receive the suffrages of the great mass of the electors. he hoped soon to drive those red-crossed foreigners out of his kingdom. should he fail, they would end by expelling the duke of mayenne and all the rest who had called them in, and paris would become the theatre of the bloodiest tragedy ever yet enacted. the king then ordered sir roger williams to see that a collation was prepared for the deputies, and the veteran welshman took occasion to indulge in much blunt conversation with the guests. he informed them that he, mr. sackville, and many other strangers were serving the king from the hatred they bore the spaniards and mother league, and that his royal mistress had always englishmen ready to maintain the cause. while the conferences were going on, the officers and soldiers of the besieging army thronged to the gate, and had much talk with the townsmen. among others, time-honoured la none with the iron arm stood near the gate and harangued the parisians. "we are here," said he, "five thousand gentlemen; we desire your good, not your ruin. we will make you rich: let us participate in your labour and industry. undo not yourselves to serve the ambition of a few men." the townspeople hearing the old warrior discoursing thus earnestly, asked who he was. when informed that it was la noue they cheered him vociferously, and applauded his speech with the greatest vehemence. yet la noue was the foremost huguenot that the sun shone upon, and the parisians were starving themselves to death out of hatred to heresy. after the collation the commissioners were permitted to go from the camp in order to consult mayenne. such then was the condition of paris during that memorable summer of tortures. what now were its hopes of deliverance out of this gehenna? the trust of frenchmen was in philip of spain, whose legions, under command of the great italian chieftain, were daily longed for to save them from rendering obedience to their lawful prince. for even the king of straw--the imprisoned cardinal--was now dead, and there was not even the effigy of any other sovereign than henry of bourbon to claim authority in france. mayenne, in the course of long interviews with the duke of parma at conde and brussels, had expressed his desire to see philip king of france, and had promised his best efforts to bring about such a result. in that case he stipulated for the second place in the kingdom for himself, together with a good rich province in perpetual sovereignty, and a large sum of money in hand. should this course not run smoothly, he would be willing to take the crown himself, in which event he would cheerfully cede to philip the sovereignty of brittany and burgundy, besides a selection of cities to be arranged for at a later day. although he spoke of himself with modesty, said alexander, it was very plain that he meant to arrive at the crown himself: well had the bearnese alluded to the judgment of solomon. were not children, thus ready to dismember their mother, as foul and unnatural as the mother who would divide her child? and what was this dependence on a foreign tyrant really worth? as we look back upon those dark days with the light of what was then the almost immediate future turned full and glaring upon them, we find it difficult to exaggerate the folly of the chief actors in those scenes of crime. did not the penniless adventurer, whose keen eyesight and wise recklessness were passing for hallucination and foolhardiness in the eyes of his contemporaries, understand the game he was playing better than did that profound thinker, that mysterious but infallible politician, who sat in the escorial and made the world tremble at every hint of his lips, every stroke of his pen? the netherlands--that most advanced portion of philip's domain, without the possession of which his conquest of england and his incorporation of france were but childish visions, even if they were not monstrous chimeras at best--were to be in a manner left to themselves, while their consummate governor and general was to go forth and conquer france at the head of a force with which he had been in vain attempting to hold those provinces to their obedience. at that very moment the rising young chieftain of the netherlands was most successfully inaugurating his career of military success. his armies well drilled, well disciplined, well paid, full of heart and of hope, were threatening their ancient enemy in every quarter, while the veteran legions of spain and italy, heroes of a hundred flemish and frisian battle-fields, were disorganised, starving, and mutinous. the famous ancient legion, the terzo viejo, had been disbanded for its obstinate and confirmed unruliness. the legion of manrique, sixteen hundred strong, was in open mutiny at courtray. farnese had sent the prince of ascoli to negotiate with them, but his attempts were all in vain. two years' arrearages--to be paid, not in cloth at four times what the contractors had paid for it, but in solid gold--were their not unreasonable demands after years of as hard fighting and severe suffering as the world has often seen. but philip, instead of ducats or cloth, had only sent orders to go forth and conquer a new kingdom for him. verdugo, too, from friesland was howling for money, garrotting and hanging his mutinous veterans every day, and sending complaints and most dismal forebodings as often as a courier could make his way through the enemy's lines to farnese's headquarters. and farnese, on his part, was garrotting and hanging the veterans. alexander did not of course inform his master that he was a mischievous lunatic, who upon any healthy principle of human government ought long ago to have been shut up from all communion with his species. it was very plain, however, from his letters, that such was his innermost, thought, had it been safe, loyal, or courteous to express it in plain language. he was himself stung almost to madness moreover by the presence of commander moreo, who hated him, who was perpetually coming over from france to visit him, who was a spy upon all his actions, and who was regularly distilling his calumnies into the ears of secretary idiaquez and of philip himself. the king was informed that farnese was working for his own ends, and was disgusted with his sovereign; that there never had been a petty prince of italy that did not wish to become a greater one, or that was not jealous of philip's power, and that there was not a villain in all christendom but wished for philip's death. moreo followed the prince about to antwerp, to brussels, to spa, whither he had gone to drink the waters for his failing health, pestered him, lectured him, pried upon him, counselled him, enraged him. alexander told him at last that he cared not if the whole world came to an end so long as flanders remained, which alone had been entrusted to him, and that if he was expected to conquer france it would be as well to give him the means of performing that exploit. so moreo told the king that alexander was wasting time and wasting money, that he was the cause of egmont's overthrow, and that he would be the cause of the loss of paris and of the downfall of the whole french scheme; for that he was determined to do nothing to assist mayenne, or that did not conduce to his private advantage. yet farnese had been not long before informed in sufficiently plain language, and by personages of great influence, that in case he wished to convert his vice-royalty of the netherlands into a permanent sovereignty, he might rely on the assistance of henry of navarre, and perhaps of queen elizabeth. the scheme would not have been impracticable, but the duke never listened to it for a moment. if he were slow in advancing to the relief of starving, agonising paris, there were sufficient reasons for his delay. most decidedly and bitterly, but loyally, did he denounce the madness of his master's course in all his communications to that master's private ear. he told him that the situation in which he found himself was horrible. he had no money for his troops, he had not even garrison bread to put in their mouths. he had not a single stiver to advance them on account. from friesland, from the rhine country, from every quarter, cries of distress were rising to heaven, and the lamentations were just. he was in absolute penury. he could not negotiate a bill on the royal account, but had borrowed on his own private security a few thousand crowns which he had given to his soldiers. he was pledging his jewels and furniture like a bankrupt, but all was now in vain to stop the mutiny at courtray. if that went on it would be of most pernicious example, for the whole army was disorganised, malcontent, and of portentous aspect. "these things," said he, "ought not to surprise people of common understanding, for without money, without credit, without provisions, and in an exhausted country, it is impossible to satisfy the claims, or even to support the life of the army." when he sent the flemish cavalry to mayenne in march, it was under the impression that with it that prince would have maintained his reputation and checked the progress of the bearnese until greater reinforcements could be forwarded. he was now glad that no larger number had been sent, for all would have been sacrificed on the fatal field of ivry. the country around him was desperate, believed itself abandoned, and was expecting fresh horrors everyday. he had been obliged to remove portions of the garrisons at deventer and zutphen purely to save them from starving and desperation. every day he was informed by his garrisons that they could feed no longer on fine words or hopes, for in them they found no sustenance. but philip told him that he must proceed forthwith to france, where he was to raise the siege of paris, and occupy calais and boulogne in order to prevent the english from sending succour to the bearnese, and in order to facilitate his own designs on england. every effort was to be made before the bearnese climbed into the seat. the duke of parma was to talk no more of difficulties, but to conquer them; a noble phrase on the battle field, but comparatively easy of utterance at the writing-desk! at last, philip having made some remittances, miserably inadequate for the necessities of the case, but sufficient to repress in part the mutinous demonstrations throughout the army, farnese addressed himself with a heavy heart to the work required of him. he confessed the deepest apprehensions of the result both in the netherlands and in france. he intimated a profound distrust of the french, who had, ever been philip's enemies, and dwelt on the danger of leaving the provinces, unable to protect themselves, badly garrisoned, and starving. "it grieves me to the soul, it cuts me to the heart," he said, "to see that your majesty commands things which are impossible, for it is our lord alone that can work miracles. your majesty supposes that with the little money you have sent me, i can satisfy all the soldiers serving in these provinces, settle with the spanish and the german mutineers--because, if they are to be used in the expedition, they must at least be quieted--give money to mayenne and the parisians, pay retaining wages (wartgeld) to the german riders for the protection of these provinces, and make sure of the maritime places where the same mutinous language is held as at courtray. the poverty, the discontent, and the desperation of this unhappy country," he added, "have, been so often described to your majesty that i have nothing to add. i am hanging and garrotting my veterans everywhere, only because they have rebelled for want of pay without committing any excess. yet under these circumstances i am to march into france with twenty thousand troops--the least number to effect anything withal. i am confused and perplexed because the whole world is exclaiming against me, and protesting that through my desertion the country entrusted to my care will come to utter perdition. on the other hand, the french cry out upon me that i am the cause that paris is going to destruction, and with it the catholic cause in france. every one is pursuing his private ends. it is impossible to collect a force strong enough for the necessary work. paris has reached its extreme unction, and neither mayenne nor any one of the confederates has given this invalid the slightest morsel to support her till your majesty's forces should arrive." he reminded his sovereign that the country around paris was eaten bare of food and forage, and yet that it was quite out of the question for him to undertake the transportation of supplies for his army all the way--supplies from the starving netherlands to starving france. since the king was so peremptory, he had nothing for it but to obey, but he vehemently disclaimed all responsibility for the expedition, and, in case of his death, he called on his majesty to vindicate his honour, which his enemies were sure to assail. the messages from mayenne becoming daily more pressing, farnese hastened as much as possible those preparations which at best were so woefully inadequate, and avowed his determination not to fight the bearnese if it were possible to avoid an action. he feared, however, that with totally insufficient forces he should be obliged to accept the chances of an engagement. with twelve thousand foot and three thousand horse farnese left the netherlands in the beginning of august, and arrived on the rd of that month at valenciennes. his little army, notwithstanding his bitter complaints, was of imposing appearance. the archers and halberdiers of his bodyguard were magnificent in taffety and feathers and surcoats of cramoisy velvet. four hundred nobles served in the cavalry. arenberg and barlaymont and chimay, and other grandees of the netherlands, in company with ascoli and the sons of terranova and pastrana, and many more great lords of italy and spain were in immediate attendance on the illustrious captain. the son of philip's secretary of state, idiaquez, and the nephew of the cardinal-legate, gaetano, were among the marshals of the camp. alexander's own natural authority and consummate powers of organisation had for the time triumphed over the disintegrating tendencies which, it had been seen, were everywhere so rapidly destroying the foremost military establishment of the world. nearly half his forces, both cavalry and infantry, were netherlanders; for--as if there were not graves enough in their own little territory--those flemings, walloons, and hollanders were destined to leave their bones on both sides of every well-stricken field of that age between liberty and despotism. and thus thousands of them had now gone forth under the banner of spain to assist their own tyrant in carrying out his designs upon the capital of france, and to struggle to the death with thousands of their own countrymen who were following the fortunes of the bearnese. truly in that age it was religion that drew the boundary line between nations. the army was divided into three portions. the vanguard was under the charge of the netherland general, marquis of renty. the battalia was commanded by farnese in person, and the rearguard was entrusted to that veteran netherlander, la motte, now called the count of everbeck. twenty pieces of artillery followed the last division. at valenciennes farnese remained eight days, and from this place count charles mansfeld took his departure in a great rage--resigning his post as chief of artillery because la motte had received the appointment of general-marshal of the camp--and returned to his father, old peter ernest mansfeld, who was lieutenant-governor of the netherlands in parma's absence. leaving valenciennes on the th, the army proceeded by way of quesney, guise, soissons, fritemilon to meaux. at this place, which is ten leagues from paris, farnese made his junction, on the nd of august, with mayenne, who was at the head of six thousand infantry--one half of them germans under cobalto, and the other half french--and of two thousand horse. on arriving at meaux, alexander proceeded straightway to the cathedral, and there, in presence of all, he solemnly swore that he had not come to france in order to conquer that kingdom or any portion of it, in the interests of his master, but only to render succour to the catholic cause and to free the friends and confederates of his majesty from violence and heretic oppression. time was to show the value of that oath. here the deputation from paris--the archbishop of lyons and his colleagues, whose interview with henry has just been narrated--were received by the two dukes. they departed, taking with them promises of immediate relief for the starving city. the allies remained five days at meaux, and leaving that place on the th, arrived in the neighbourhood of chelles, on the last day but one of the summer. they had a united force of five thousand cavalry and eighteen thousand foot. the summer of horrors was over, and thus with the first days of autumn there had come a ray of hope for the proud city which was lying at its last gasp. when the allies, came in sight of the monastery of chellea they found themselves in the immediate neighbourhood of the bearnese. the two great captains of the age had at last met face to face. they were not only the two first commanders of their time, but there was not a man in europe at that day to be at all compared with either of them. the youth, concerning whose earliest campaign an account will be given in the following chapter, had hardly yet struck his first blow. whether that blow was to reveal the novice or the master was soon to be seen. meantime in it would have been considered a foolish adulation to mention the name of maurice of nassau in the same breath with that of navarre or of farnese. the scientific duel which was now to take place was likely to task the genius and to bring into full display the peculiar powers and defects of the two chieftains of europe. each might be considered to be still in the prime of life, but alexander, who was turned of forty-five, was already broken in health, while the vigorous henry was eight years younger, and of an iron constitution. both had passed then lives in the field, but the king, from nature, education, and the force of circumstances, preferred pitched battles to scientific combinations, while the duke, having studied and practised his art in the great spanish and italian schools of warfare, was rather a profound strategist than a professional fighter, although capable of great promptness and intense personal energy when his judgment dictated a battle. both were born with that invaluable gift which no human being can acquire, authority, and both were adored and willingly obeyed by their soldiers, so long as those soldiers were paid and fed. the prize now to be contended for was a high one. alexander's complete success would tear from henry's grasp the first city of christendom, now sinking exhausted into his hands, and would place france in the power of the holy league and at the feet of philip. another ivry would shatter the confederacy, and carry the king in triumph to his capital and his ancestral throne. on the approach of the combined armies under parma and mayenne, the king had found himself most reluctantly compelled to suspend the siege of paris. his army, which consisted of sixteen thousand foot and five thousand horse, was not sufficiently numerous to confront at the same time the relieving force and to continue the operations before the city. so long, however, as he held the towns and bridges on the great rivers, and especially those keys to the seine and marne, corbeil and lagny, he still controlled the life-blood of the capital, which indeed had almost ceased to flow. on the st august he advanced towards the enemy. sir edward stafford, queen elizabeth's ambassador, arrived at st. denis in the night of the th august. at a very early hour next morning he heard a shout under his window, and looking down beheld king henry at the head of his troops, cheerfully calling out to his english friend as he passed his door. "welcoming us after his familiar manner," said stafford, "he desired us, in respect of the battle every hour expected, to come as his friends to see and help him, and not to treat of anything which afore, we meant, seeing the present state to require it, and the enemy so near that we might well have been interrupted in half-an-hour's talk, and necessity constrained the king to be in every corner, where for the most part we follow him." that day henry took up his headquarters at the monastery of chelles, a fortified place within six leagues of paris, on the right bank of the marne. his army was drawn up in a wide valley somewhat encumbered with wood and water, extending through a series of beautiful pastures towards two hills of moderate elevation. lagny, on the left bank of the river, was within less than a league of him on his right hand. on the other side of the hills, hardly out of cannon-shot, was the camp of the allies. henry, whose natural disposition in this respect needed no prompting, was most eager for a decisive engagement. the circumstances imperatively required it of him. his infantry consisted of frenchmen, netherlanders, english, germans, scotch; but of his cavalry four thousand were french nobles, serving at their own expense, who came to a battle as to a banquet, but who were capable of riding off almost as rapidly, should the feast be denied them. they were volunteers, bringing with them rations for but a few days, and it could hardly be expected that they would remain as patiently as did parma's veterans, who, now that their mutiny had been appeased by payment of a portion of their arrearages, had become docile again. all the great chieftains who surrounded henry, whether catholic or protestant--montpensier, nevers, soissons, conti, the birons, lavradin, d'aumont, tremouille, turenne, chatillon, la noue--were urgent for the conflict, concerning the expediency of which there could indeed be no doubt, while the king was in raptures at the opportunity of dealing a decisive blow at the confederacy of foreigners and rebels who had so long defied his authority and deprived him of his rights. stafford came up with the king, according to his cordial invitation, on the same day, and saw the army all drawn up in battle array. while henry was "eating a morsel in an old house," turenne joined him with six or seven hundred horsemen and between four and five thousand infantry. "they were the likeliest footmen," said stafford, "the best countenanced, the best furnished that ever i saw in my life; the best part of them old soldiers that had served under the king for the religion all this while." the envoy was especially enthusiastic, however, in regard to the french cavalry. "there are near six thousand horse," said he, "whereof gentlemen above four thousand, about twelve hundred other french, and eight hundred reiters. i never saw, nor i think never any man saw, in prance such a company of gentlemen together so well horsed and so well armed." henry sent a herald to the camp of the allies, formally challenging them to a general engagement, and expressing a hope that all differences might now be settled by the ordeal of battle, rather than that the sufferings of the innocent people should be longer protracted. farnese, on arriving at meaux, had resolved to seek the enemy and take the hazards of a stricken field. he had misgivings as to the possible result, but he expressly announced this intention in his letters to philip, and mayenne confirmed him in his determination. nevertheless, finding the enemy so eager and having reflected more maturely, he saw no reason for accepting the chivalrous cartel. as commanderin-chief--for mayenne willingly conceded the supremacy which it would have been absurd in him to dispute--he accordingly replied that it was his custom to refuse a combat when a refusal seemed advantageous to himself, and to offer battle whenever it suited his purposes to fight. when that moment should arrive the king would find him in the field. and, having sent this courteous, but unsatisfactory answer to the impatient bearnese, he gave orders to fortify his camp, which was already sufficiently strong. seven days long the two armies lay face to face--henry and his chivalry chafing in vain for the longed-for engagement--and nothing occurred between those forty or fifty thousand mortal enemies, encamped within a mile or two of each other, save trifling skirmishes leading to no result. at last farnese gave orders for an advance. renty, commander of the vanguard, consisting of nearly all the cavalry, was instructed to move slowly forward over the two hills, and descending on the opposite side, to deploy his forces in two great wings to the right and left. he was secretly directed in this movement to magnify as much as possible the apparent dimensions of his force. slowly the columns moved over the hills. squadron after squadron, nearly all of them lancers, with their pennons flaunting gaily in the summer wind, displayed themselves deliberately and ostentatiously in the face of the royalists. the splendid light-horse of basti, the ponderous troopers of the flemish bands of ordnance under chimay and berlaymont, and the famous albanian and italian cavalry, were mingled with the veteran leaguers of france who had fought under the balafre, and who now followed the fortunes of his brother mayenne. it was an imposing demonstration. henry could hardly believe his eyes as the much-coveted opportunity, of which he had been so many days disappointed, at last presented itself, and he waited with more than his usual caution until the plan of attack should be developed by his great antagonist. parma, on his side, pressed the hand of mayenne as he watched the movement, saying quietly, "we have already fought our battle and gained the victory." he then issued orders for the whole battalia--which, since the junction, had been under command of mayenne, farnese reserving for himself the superintendence of the entire army--to countermarch rapidly towards the marne and take up a position opposite lagny. la motte, with the rearguard, was directed immediately to follow. the battalia had thus become the van, the rearguard the battalia, while the whole cavalry corps by this movement had been transformed from the vanguard into the rear. renty was instructed to protect his manoeuvres, to restrain the skirmishing as much as possible, and to keep the commander-in-chief constantly informed of every occurrence. in the night he was to entrench and fortify himself rapidly and thoroughly, without changing his position. under cover of this feigned attack, farnese arrived at the river side on the th september, seized an open village directly opposite lagny, which was connected with it by a stone bridge, and planted a battery of nine pieces of heavy artillery directly opposite the town. lagny was fortified in the old-fashioned manner, with not very thick walls, and without a terreplain. its position, however, and its command of the bridge, seemed to render an assault impossible, and de la fin, who lay there with a garrison of twelve hundred french, had no fear for the security of the place. but farnese, with the precision and celerity which characterized his movements on special occasions, had thrown pontoon bridges across the river three miles above, and sent a considerable force of spanish and walloon infantry to the other side. these troops were ordered to hold themselves ready for an assault, so soon as the batteries opposite should effect a practicable breach. the next day henry, reconnoitering the scene, saw, with intense indignation, that he had been completely out-generalled. lagny, the key to the marne, by holding which he had closed the door on nearly all the food supplies for paris, was about to be wrested from him. what should he do? should he throw himself across the river and rescue the place before it fell? this was not to be thought of even by the audacious bearnese. in the attempt to cross the river, under the enemy's fire, he was likely to lose a large portion of his army. should he fling himself upon renty's division which had so ostentatiously offered battle the day before? this at least might be attempted, although not so advantageously as would have been the case on the previous afternoon. to undertake this was the result of a rapid council of generals. it was too late. renty held the hills so firmly entrenched and fortified that it was an idle hope to carry them by assault. he might hurl column after column against those heights, and pass the day in seeing his men mowed to the earth without result. his soldiers, magnificent in the open field, could not be relied upon to carry so strong a position by sudden storm; and there was no time to be lost. he felt the enemy a little. there was some small skirmishing, and while it was going on, farnese opened a tremendous fire across the river upon lagny. the weak walls soon crumbled; a breach was effected, the signal for assault was given, and the troops posted on the other side, after a brief but sanguinary straggle, overcame all, resistance, and were masters of the town. the whole garrison, twelve hundred strong, was butchered, and the city thoroughly sacked; for farnese had been brought up in the old-fashioned school of alva; and julian romero and com-. wander requesens. thus lagny was seized before the eyes of henry, who was forced to look helplessly on his great antagonist's triumph. he had come forth in full panoply and abounding confidence to offer battle. he was foiled of his combat; and he had lost the prize. never was blow more successfully parried, a counter-stroke more ingeniously planted. the bridges of charenton and st. maur now fell into farnese's hands without a contest. in an incredibly short space of time provisions and munitions were poured into the starving city; two thousand boat-loads arriving in a single day. paris was relieved. alexander had made his demonstration, and solved the problem. he had left the netherlands against his judgment, but he had at least accomplished his french work as none but he could have done it. the king was now in worse plight than ever. his army fell to pieces. his cavaliers, cheated of their battle; and having neither food nor forage, rode off by hundreds every day. "our state is such," said stafford; on the th september, "and so far unexpected and wonderful, that i am almost ashamed to write, because methinks everybody should think i dream. myself seeing of it methinketh that i dream. for, my lord, to see an army such a one i think as i shall never see again--especially for horsemen and gentlemen to take a mind to disband upon the taking of such a paltry thing as lagny, a town no better indeed than rochester, it is a thing so strange to me that seeing of it i can scarce believe it. they make their excuses of their want, which i know indeed is great--for there were few left with one penny in their purses--but yet that extremity could not be such but that they might have tarried ten days or fifteen at the most that the king desired of them. . . . from six thousand horse that we were and above, we are come to two thousand and i do not see an end of our leave-takers, for those be hourly. "the most i can see we can make account of to tarry are the viscount turenne's troops, and monsieur de chatillon's, and our switzers, and lanaquenettes, which make very near five thousand. the first that went away, though he sent word to the king an hour before he would tarry, was the count soissons, by whose parting on a sudden and without leave-taking we judge a discontentment." the king's army seemed fading into air. making virtue of necessity he withdrew to st. denis, and decided to disband his forces, reserving to himself only a flying camp with which to harass the enemy as often as opportunity should offer. it must be confessed that the bearnese had been thoroughly out-generalled. "it was not god's will," said stafford, who had been in constant attendance upon henry through the whole business; "we deserved it not; for the king might as easily have had paris as drunk, four or five times. and at the last, if he had not committed those faults that children would not have done, only with the desire to fight and give the battle (which the other never meant), he had had it in the duke of parma's eight as he took lagny in ours." he had been foiled of the battle on which he had set his heart, and, in which he felt confident of overthrowing the great captain of the age, and trampling the league under his feet. his capital just ready to sink exhausted into his hands had been wrested from his grasp, and was alive with new hope and new defiance. the league was triumphant, his own army scattering to the four winds. even a man of high courage and sagacity might have been in despair. yet never were the magnificent hopefulness, the wise audacity of henry more signally manifested than now when he seemed most blundering and most forlorn. his hardy nature ever met disaster with so cheerful a smile as almost to perplex disaster herself. unwilling to relinquish his grip without a last effort, he resolved on a midnight assault upon paris. hoping that the joy at being relieved, the unwonted feasting which had succeeded the long fasting, and the conciousness of security from the presence of the combined armies of the victorious league, would throw garrison and citizens off their guard, he came into the neighbourhood of the faubourgs st. jacques, st. germain, st. marcel, and st. michel on the night of th september. a desperate effort was made to escalade the walls between st. jacques and st. germain. it was foiled, not by the soldiers nor the citizens, but by the sleepless jesuits, who, as often before during this memorable siege, had kept guard on the ramparts, and who now gave the alarm. the first assailants were hurled from their ladders, the city was roused, and the duke of nemours was soon on the spot, ordering burning pitch hoops, atones, and other missiles to be thrown down upon the invaders. the escalade was baffled; yet once more that night, just before dawn, the king in person renewed the attack on the faubourg st. germain. the faithful stafford stood by his side in the trenches, and was witness to his cool determination, his indomitable hope. la none too was there, and was wounded in the leg--an accident the results of which were soon to cause much weeping through christendom. had one of those garlands of blazing tar which all night had been fluttering from the walls of paris alighted by chance on the king's head there might have been another history of france. the ladders, too, proved several feet too short, and there were too few, of them. had they been more numerous and longer, the tale might have been a different one. as it was, the king was forced to retire with the approaching daylight. the characteristics of the great commander of the huguenots and of the leaguers' chieftain respectively were well illustrated in several incidents of this memorable campaign. farnese had been informed by scouts and spies of this intended assault by henry on the walls of paris. with his habitual caution he discredited the story. had he believed it, he might have followed the king in overwhelming force and taken him captive. the penalty of henry's unparalleled boldness was thus remitted by alexander's exuberant discretion. soon afterwards farnese laid siege to corbeil. this little place--owing to the extraordinary skill and determination of its commandant, rigaut, an old huguenot officer, who had fought with la noue in flanders--resisted for nearly four weeks. it was assaulted at last, rigaut killed, the garrison of one thousand french soldiers put to the sword, and the town sacked. with the fall of corbeil both the seine and marne were re-opened. alexander then made a visit to paris, where he was received with great enthusiasm. the legate, whose efforts and whose money had so much contributed to the successful defence of the capital had returned to italy to participate in the election of a new pope. for the "huguenot pope," sixtus v., had died at the end of august, having never bestowed on the league any of his vast accumulated treasures to help it in its utmost need. it was not surprising that philip was indignant, and had resorted to menace of various kinds against the holy father, when he found him swaying so perceptibly in the direction of the hated bearnese. of course when he died his complaint was believed to be spanish poison. in those days, none but the very obscure were thought capable of dying natural deaths, and philip was esteemed too consummate an artist to allow so formidable an adversary as sixtus to pass away in god's time only. certainly his death was hailed as matter of great rejoicing by the spanish party in rome, and as much ignominy bestowed upon his memory as if he had been a heretic; while in paris his decease was celebrated with bonfires and other marks of popular hilarity. to circumvent the great huguenot's reconciliation with the roman church was of course an indispensable portion of philip's plan; for none could be so dull as not to perceive that the resistance of paris to its heretic sovereign would cease to be very effective, so soon as the sovereign had ceased to be heretic. it was most important therefore that the successor of sixtus should be the tool of spain. the leading confederates were well aware of henry's intentions to renounce the reformed faith, and to return to the communion of rome whenever he could formally accomplish that measure. the crafty bearnese knew full well that the road to paris lay through the gates of rome. yet it is proof either of the privacy with which great public matters were then transacted, or of the extraordinary powers of deceit with which henry was gifted, that the leaders of protestantism were still hoodwinked in regard to his attitude. notwithstanding the embassy of luxembourg, and the many other indications of the king's intentions, queen elizabeth continued to regard him as the great champion of the reformed faith. she had just sent him an emerald, which she had herself worn, accompanied by the expression of her wish that the king in wearing it might never strike a blow without demolishing an enemy, and that in his farther progress he might put all his enemies to rout and confusion. "you will remind the king, too," she added, "that the emerald has this virtue, never to break so long as faith remains entire and firm." and the shrewd stafford, who was in daily attendance upon him, informed his sovereign that there were no symptoms of wavering on henry's part. "the catholics here," said he, "cry hard upon the king to be a catholic or else that he is lost, and they would persuade him that for all their calling in the spaniards, both paris and all other towns will yield to him, if he will but assure them that he will become a catholic. for my part, i think they would laugh at him when he had done so, and so i find he believeth the same, if he had mind to it, which i find no disposition in him unto it." the not very distant future was to show what the disposition of the bold gascon really was in this great matter, and whether he was likely to reap nothing but ridicule from his apostasy, should it indeed become a fact. meantime it was the opinion of the wisest sovereign in europe, and of one of the most adroit among her diplomatists, that there was really nothing in the rumours as to the king's contemplated conversion. it was, of course, unfortunate for henry that his staunch friend and admirer sixtus was no more. but english diplomacy could do but little in rome, and men were trembling with apprehension lest that arch-enemy of elizabeth, that devoted friend of philip, the english cardinal allen, should be elected to the papal throne. "great ado is made in rome," said stafford, "by the spanish ambassador, by all corruptions and ways that may be, to make a pope that must needs depend and be altogether at the king of spain's devotion. if the princes of italy put not their hands unto it, no doubt they will have their wills, and i fear greatly our villainous allen, for, in my judgment, i can comprehend no man more with reason to be tied altogether to the king of spain's will than he. i pray god send him either to god or the devil first. an evil-minded englishman, tied to the king of spain by necessity, finding almost four millions of money, is a dangerous beast for a pope in this time." cardinal allen was doomed to disappointment. his candidacy was not successful, and, after the brief reign--thirteen days long--of urban vii, sfondrato wore the triple tiara with the title of gregory xiv. before the year closed, that pontiff had issued a brief urging the necessity of extirpating heresy in france, and of electing a catholic king, and asserting his determination to send to paris--that bulwark of the catholic faith--not empty words alone but troops, to be paid fifteen thousand crowns of gold each month, so long as the city should need assistance. it was therefore probable that the great leader of the huguenots, now that he had been defeated by farnese, and that his capital was still loyal to the league, would obtain less favour--however conscientiously he might instruct himself--from gregory xiv. than he had begun to find in the eyes of sixtus after the triumph of ivry. parma refreshed his army by a fortnight's repose, and early in november determined on his return to the netherlands. the leaguers were aghast at his decision, and earnestly besought him to remain. but the duke had given them back their capital, and although this had been accomplished without much bloodshed in their army or his own, sickness was now making sad ravages among his troops, and there was small supply of food or forage for such large forces as had now been accumulated, in the neighbourhood of paris. moreover, dissensions were breaking out between the spaniards, italians, and netherlanders of the relieving army with their french allies. the soldiers and peasants hated the foreigners who came there as victors, even although to assist the leaguers in overthrowing the laws, government, and nationality of france. the stragglers and wounded on farnese's march were killed by the country people in considerable numbers, and it was a pure impossibility for him longer to delay his return to the provinces which so much against his will he had deserted. he marched back by way of champagne rather than by that of picardy, in order to deceive the king. scarcely had he arrived in champagne when he heard of the retaking of lagny and corbeil. so soon as his back was turned, the league thus showed its impotence to retain the advantage which his genius had won. corbeil, which had cost him a month of hard work, was recaptured in two days. lagny fell almost as quickly. earnestly did the confederates implore him to return to their rescue, but he declined almost contemptuously to retrace his steps. his march was conducted in the same order and with the same precision which--had marked his advance. henry, with his flying camp, hung upon his track, harassing him now in front, now in rear, now in flank. none of the skirmishes were of much military importance. a single cavalry combat, however, in which old marshal biron was nearly surrounded and was in imminent danger of death or capture, until chivalrously rescued by the king in person at the head of a squadron of lancers, will always possess romantic interest. in a subsequent encounter, near baroges on the yesle, henry had sent biron forward with a few companies of horse to engage some five hundred carabineers of farnese on their march towards the frontier, and had himself followed close upon the track with his usual eagerness to witness or participate in every battle. suddenly alphonse corse, who rode at henry's aide, pointed out to him, not more than a hundred paces off, an officer wearing a felt hat, a great ruff, and a little furred cassock, mounted on a horse without armour or caparisons, galloping up and down and brandishing his sword at the carabineers to compel them to fall back. this was the duke of parma, and thus the two great champions of the huguenots and of the leaguers--the two foremost captains of the age--had met face to face. at that moment la noue, riding up, informed the king that he had seen the whole of the enemy's horse and foot in battle array, and henry, suspecting the retreat of farnese to be a feint for the purpose of luring him on with his small force to an attack, gave orders to retire as soon as possible. at guise, on the frontier, the duke parted with mayenne, leaving with him an auxiliary force of four thousand foot and five hundred horse, which he could ill spare. he then returned to brussels, which city he reached on the th december, filling every hotel and hospital with his sick soldiers, and having left one-third of his numbers behind him. he had manifested his own military skill in the adroit and successful manner in which he had accomplished the relief of paris, while the barrenness of the result from the whole expedition vindicated the political sagacity with which he had remonstrated against his sovereign's infatuation. paris, with the renewed pressure on its two great arteries at lagny and corbeil, soon fell into as great danger as before; the obedient netherlands during the absence of farnese had been sinking rapidly to ruin, while; on the other hand, great progress and still greater preparations in aggressive warfare had been made by the youthful general and stadtholder of the republic. etext editor's bookmarks: alexander's exuberant discretion divine right of kings ever met disaster with so cheerful a smile future world as laid down by rival priesthoods invaluable gift which no human being can acquire, authority king was often to be something much less or much worse magnificent hopefulness myself seeing of it methinketh that i dream nothing cheap, said a citizen bitterly, but sermons obscure were thought capable of dying natural deaths philip ii. gave the world work enough righteous to kill their own children road to paris lay through the gates of rome shift the mantle of religion from one shoulder to the other thirty-three per cent. interest was paid (per month) under the name of religion (so many crimes) history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , - chapter xxiv. prince maurice--state of the republican army--martial science of the period--reformation of the military system by prince maurice--his military genius--campaign in the netherlands--the fort and town of zutphen taken by the states' forces--attack upon deventer--its capitulation--advance on groningen, delfzyl, opslag, yementil, steenwyk, and other places--farnese besieges fort knodsenburg-- prince maurice hastens to its relief--a skirmish ensues resulting in the discomfiture of the spanish and italian troops--surrender of hulat and nymegen--close of military, operations of the year. while the events revealed in the last chapter had been occupying the energies of farnese and the resources of his sovereign, there had been ample room for prince maurice to mature his projects, and to make a satisfactory beginning in the field. although alexander had returned to the netherlands before the end of the year , and did not set forth on his second french campaign until late in the following year, yet the condition of his health, the exhaustion of his funds, and the dwindling of his army, made it impossible for him to render any effectual opposition to the projects of the youthful general. for the first time maurice was ready to put his theories and studies into practice on an extensive scale. compared with modern armaments, the warlike machinery to be used for liberating the republic from its foreign oppressors would seem almost diminutive. but the science and skill of a commander are to be judged by the results he can work out with the materials within reach. his progress is to be measured by a comparison with the progress of his contemporaries--coheirs with him of what time had thus far bequeathed. the regular army of the republic, as reconstructed, was but ten thousand foot and two thousand horse, but it was capable of being largely expanded by the trainbands of the cities, well disciplined and enured to hardship, and by the levies of german reiters and other, foreign auxiliaries in such numbers as could be paid for by the hard-pressed exchequer of the provinces. to the state-council, according to its original constitution, belonged the levying and disbanding of troops, the conferring of military offices, and the supervision of military operations by sea and land. it was its duty to see that all officers made oath of allegiance to the united provinces. the course of leicester's administration, and especially the fatal treason of stanley and of york, made it seem important for the true lovers of their country to wrest from the state-council, where the english had two seats, all political and military power. and this, as has been seen, was practically but illegally accomplished. the silent revolution by which at this epoch all the main attributes of government passed into the hands of the states-general-acting as a league of sovereignties--has already been indicated. the period during which the council exercised functions conferred on it by the states-general themselves was brief and evanescent. the jealousy of the separate provinces soon prevented the state-council--a supreme executive body entrusted with the general defence of the commonwealth--from causing troops to pass into or out of one province or another without a patent from his excellency the prince, not as chief of the whole army, but as governor and captain-general of holland, or gelderland, or utrecht, as the case might be. the highest military office in the netherlands was that of captain-general or supreme commander. this quality was from earliest times united to that of stadholder, who stood, as his title implied, in the place of the reigning sovereign, whether count, duke, king, or emperor. after the foundation of the republic this dynastic form, like many others, remained, and thus prince maurice was at first only captain-general of holland and zeeland, and subsequently of gelderland, utrecht, and overyssel, after he had been appointed stadholder of those three provinces in on the death of count nieuwenaar. however much in reality he was general-in-chief of the army, he never in all his life held the appointment of captain-general of the union. to obtain a captain's commission in the army, it was necessary to have served four years, while three years' service was the necessary preliminary to the post of lieutenant or ensign. three candidates were presented by the province for each office, from whom the stadholder appointed one.--the commissions, except those of the highest commanders, were made out in the name of the states-general, by advice and consent of the council of state. the oath of allegiance, exacted from soldiers as well as officers; mentioned the name of the particular province to which they belonged, as well as that of the states-generals. it thus appears that, especially after maurice's first and successful campaigns; the supreme authority over the army really belonged to the states-general, and that the powers of the state-council in this regard fell, in the course of four years, more and more into the back-ground, and at last disappeared almost entirely. during the active period of the war, however; the effect of this revolution was in fact rather a greater concentration of military power than its dispersion, for the states-general meant simply the province of holland. holland was the republic. the organisation of the infantry was very simple. the tactical unit was the company. a temporary combination of several companies--made a regiment, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant-colonel, but for such regiments there was no regular organisation. sometimes six or seven companies were thus combined, sometimes three times that number, but the strength of a force, however large, was always estimated by the number of companies, not of regiments. the normal strength of an infantry company, at the beginning of maurice's career, may be stated at one hundred and thirteen, commanded by one captain, one lieutenant, one ensign, and by the usual non-commissioned officers. each company was composed of musketeers, harquebusseers, pikemen, halberdeers, and buckler-men. long after, portable firearms had come into use, the greater portion of foot soldiers continued to be armed with pikes, until the introduction of the fixed bayonet enabled the musketeer to do likewise the duty of pikeman. maurice was among the first to appreciate the advantage of portable firearms, and he accordingly increased the proportion of soldiers armed with the musket in his companies. in a company of a hundred and thirteen, including officers, he had sixty-four armed with firelocks to thirty carrying pikes and halberds. as before his time the proportion between the arms had been nearly even; he thus more than doubled the number of firearms. of these weapons there were two sorts, the musket and the harquebus. the musket was a long, heavy, unmanageable instrument. when fired it was-placed upon an iron gaffle or fork, which: the soldier carried with him, and stuck before him into the ground. the bullets of the musket were twelve to the pound. the harquebus--or hak-bus, hook-gun, so called because of the hook in the front part of the barrel to give steadiness in firing--was much lighter, was discharged from the hand; and carried bullets of twenty-four to the pound. both weapons had matchlocks. the pike was eighteen feet long at least, and pikemen as well as halberdsmen carried rapiers. there were three buckler-men to each company, introduced by maurice for the personal protection of the leader of the company. the prince was often attended by one himself, and, on at least one memorable occasion, was indebted to this shield for the preservation of his life. the cavalry was divided into lancers and carabineers. the unit was the squadron, varying in number from sixty to one hundred and fifty, until the year , when the regular complement of the squadron was fixed at one hundred and twenty. as the use of cavalry on the battle-field at that day, or at least in the netherlands, was not in rapidity of motion, nor in severity of shock--the attack usually taking place on a trot--maurice gradually displaced the lance in favour of the carbine. his troopers thus became rather mounted infantry than regular cavalry. the carbine was at least three feet long, with wheel-locks, and carried bullets of thirty to the pound. the artillery was a peculiar organisation. it was a guild of citizens, rather than a strictly military force like the cavalry and infantry. the arm had but just begun to develop itself, and it was cultivated as a special trade by the guild of the holy barbara existing in all the principal cities. thus a municipal artillery gradually organised itself, under the direction of the gun-masters (bus-meesters), who in secret laboured at the perfection of their art, and who taught it to their apprentices and journeymen; as the principles of other crafts were conveyed by master to pupil. this system furnished a powerful element of defence at a period when every city had in great measure to provide for its own safety. in the earlier campaigns of maurice three kinds of artillery were used; the whole cannon (kartow) of forty-eight pounds; the half-cannon, or twenty-four pounder, and the field-piece carrying a ball of twelve pounds. the two first were called battering pieces or siege-guns. all the guns were of bronze. the length of the whole cannon was about twelve feet; its weight one hundred and fifty times that of the ball, or about seven thousand pounds. it was reckoned that the whole kartow could fire from eighty to one hundred shots in an hour. wet hair cloths were used to cool the piece after every ten or twelve discharges. the usual charge was twenty pounds of powder. the whole gun was drawn by thirty-one horses, the half-cannon by twenty-three. the field-piece required eleven horses, but a regular field-artillery, as an integral part of the army, did not exist, and was introduced in much later times. in the greatest pitched battle ever fought by maurice, that of nieuport, he had but six field-pieces. the prince also employed mortars in his sieges, from which were thrown grenades, hot shot, and stones; but no greater distance was reached than six hundred yards. bomb-shells were not often used although they had been known for a century. before the days of maurice a special education for engineers had never been contemplated. persons who had privately acquired a knowledge of fortification and similar branches of the science were employed, upon occasion, but regular corps of engineers there were none. the prince established a course of instruction in this profession at the university of leyden, according to a system drawn up by the celebrated stevinus. doubtless the most important innovation of the prince, and the one which required the most energy to enforce, was the use of the spade. his soldiers were jeered at by the enemy as mere boors and day labourers who were dishonouring themselves and their profession by the use of that implement instead of the sword. such a novelty was a shock to all the military ideas of the age, and it was only the determination and vigour of the prince and of his cousin lewis william that ultimately triumphed over the universal prejudice. the pay of the common soldier varied from ten to twenty florins the month, but every miner had eighteen florins, and, when actually working in the mines, thirty florins monthly. soldiers used in digging trenches received, over and above their regular pay, a daily wage of from ten to fifteen styvers, or nearly a shilling sterling. another most wholesome improvement made by the prince was in the payment of his troops. the system prevailing in every european country at that day, by which governments were defrauded and soldiers starved, was most infamous. the soldiers were paid through the captain, who received the wages of a full company, when perhaps not one-third of the names on the master-roll were living human beings. accordingly two-thirds of all the money stuck to the officer's fingers, and it was not thought a disgrace to cheat the government by dressing and equipping for the day a set of ragamuffins, caught up in the streets for the purpose, and made to pass muster as regular soldiers. these parse-volants, or scarecrows, were passed freely about from one company to another, and the indecency of the fraud was never thought a disgrace to the colours of the company. thus, in the armada year, the queen had demanded that a portion of her auxiliary force in the netherlands should be sent to england. the states agreed that three thousand of these english troops, together with a few cavalry companies, should go, but stipulated that two thousand should remain in the provinces. the queen accepted the proposal, but when the two thousand had been counted out, it appeared that there was scarcely a man left for the voyage to england. yet every one of the english captains had claimed full pay for his company from her majesty's exchequer. against this tide of peculation and corruption the strenuous maurice set himself with heart and soul, and there is no doubt that to his reformation in this vital matter much of his military success was owing. it was impossible that roguery and venality should ever furnish a solid foundation for the martial science. to the student of military history the campaigns and sieges of maurice, and especially the earlier: ones, are of great importance. there is no doubt whatever, that the youth who now, after deep study and careful preparation, was measuring himself against the first captains of the age, was founding the great modern school of military science. it was in this netherland academy, and under the tuition of its consummate professor, that the commanders of the seventeenth century not only acquired the rudiments, but perfected themselves in the higher walks of their art. therefore the siege operations, in which all that had been invented by modern genius, or rescued from the oblivion which had gathered over ancient lore during the more vulgar and commonplace practice of the mercenary commanders of the day was brought into successful application, must always engage the special attention of the military student. to the general reader, more interested in marking the progress of civilisation and the advance of the people in the path of development and true liberty, the spectacle of the young stadholder's triumphs has an interest of another kind. at the moment when a thorough practical soldier was most needed by the struggling little commonwealth, to enable it to preserve liberties partially secured by its unparalleled sacrifices of blood and treasure during a quarter of a century, and to expel the foreign invader from the soil which he had so long profaned, it was destined that a soldier should appear. spade in hand, with his head full of roman castrametation and geometrical problems, a prince, scarce emerged from boyhood, presents himself on that stage where grizzled mansfelds, drunken hohenlos, and truculent verdugos have been so long enacting, that artless military drama which consists of hard knocks and wholesale massacres. the novice is received with universal hilarity. but although the machinery of war varies so steadily from age to age that a commonplace commander of to-day, rich in the spoils of preceding time, might vanquish the alexanders, and caesars, and frederics, with their antiquated enginery, yet the moral stuff out of which great captains, great armies, great victories are created, is the simple material it was in the days of sesostris or cyrus. the moral and physiological elements remain essentially the same as when man first began to walk up and down the earth and destroy his fellow-creatures. to make an army a thorough mowing-machine, it then seemed necessary that it should be disciplined into complete mechanical obedience. to secure this, prompt payment of wages and inexorable punishment of delinquencies were indispensable. long arrearages were now converting farnese's veterans into systematic marauders; for unpaid soldiers in every age and country have usually degenerated into highwaymen, and it is an impossibility for a sovereign, with the strictest intentions, to persist in starving his soldiers and in killing them for feeding themselves. in maurice's little army, on the contrary, there were no back-wages and no thieving. at the siege of delfzyl maurice hung two of his soldiers for stealing, the one a hat and the other a poniard, from the townsfolk, after the place had capitulated. at the siege of hulst he ordered another to be shot, before the whole camp, for robbing a woman. this seems sufficiently harsh, but war is not a pastime nor a very humane occupation. the result was, that robbery disappeared, and it is better for all that enlisted men should be soldiers rather than thieves. to secure the ends which alone can justify war--and if the netherlanders engaged in defending national existence and human freedom against foreign tyranny were not justifiable then a just war has never been waged--a disciplined army is vastly more humane in its operations than a band of brigands. swift and condign punishments by the law-martial, for even trifling offences, is the best means of discipline yet devised. to bring to utmost perfection the machinery already in existence, to encourage invention, to ponder the past with a practical application to the present, to court fatigue, to scorn pleasure, to concentrate the energies on the work in hand, to cultivate quickness of eye and calmness of nerve in the midst of danger, to accelerate movements, to economise blood even at the expense of time, to strive after ubiquity and omniscience in the details of person and place, these were the characteristics of maurice, and they have been the prominent traits of all commanders who have stamped themselves upon their age. although his method of war-making differed as far as possible from that quality in common, of the bearnese, yet the two had one personal insensibility to fear. but in the case of henry, to confront danger for its own sake was in itself a pleasure, while the calmer spirit of maurice did not so much seek the joys of the combat as refuse to desist from scientific combinations in the interests of his personal safety. very frequently, in the course of his early campaigns, the prince was formally and urgently requested by the states-general not to expose his life so recklessly, and before he had passed his twenty-fifth year he had received wounds which, but for fortunate circumstances, would have proved mortal, because he was unwilling to leave special operations on which much was depending to other eyes than his own. the details of his campaigns are, of necessity, the less interesting to a general reader from their very completeness. desultory or semi-civilised warfare, where the play of the human passions is distinctly visible, where individual man, whether in buff jerkin or milan coat of proof, meets his fellow man in close mortal combat, where men starve by thousands or are massacred by town-fulls, where hamlets or villages blaze throughout whole districts or are sunk beneath the ocean--scenes of rage, hatred, vengeance, self-sacrifice, patriotism, where all the virtues and vices of which humanity is capable stride to and fro in their most violent colours and most colossal shape where man in a moment rises almost to divinity, or sinks beneath the beasts of the field--such tragical records of which the sanguinary story of mankind is full--and no portion of them more so than the netherland chronicles appeal more vividly to the imagination than the neatest solution of mathematical problems. yet, if it be the legitimate end of military science to accomplish its largest purposes at the least expense of human suffering; if it be progress in civilisation to acquire by scientific combination what might be otherwise attempted, and perhaps vainly attempted, by infinite carnage, then is the professor with his diagrams, standing unmoved amid danger, a more truly heroic image than coeur-de-lion with his battle-axe or alva with his truncheon. the system--then a new one--which maurice introduced to sustain that little commonwealth from sinking of which he had become at the age of seventeen the predestined chief, was the best under the circumstances that could have been devised. patriotism the most passionate, the most sublime, had created the republic. to maintain its existence against perpetual menace required the exertion of perpetual skill. passionless as algebra, the genius of maurice was ready for the task. strategic points of immense value, important cities and fortresses, vital river-courses and communications--which foreign tyranny had acquired during the tragic past with a patient iniquity almost without a parallel, and which patriotism had for years vainly struggled to recover--were the earliest trophies and prizes of his art. but the details of his victories may be briefly indicated, for they have none of the picturesqueness of crime. the sieges of naarden, harlem, leyden, were tragedies of maddening interest, but the recovery of zutphen, deventer, nymegen, groningen, and many other places--all important though they were--was accomplished with the calmness of a consummate player, who throws down on the table the best half dozen invincible cards which it thus becomes superfluous to play. there were several courses open to the prince before taking the field. it was desirable to obtain control of the line of the waal, by which that heart of the republic--holland--would be made entirely secure. to this end, gertruydenberg--lately surrendered to the enemy by the perfidy of the englishman wingfield, to whom it had been entrusted--bois le duc, and nymegen were to be wrested from spain. it was also important to hold the yssel, the course of which river led directly through the united netherlands, quite to the zuyder zee, cutting off friesland, groningen, and gelderland from their sister provinces of holland and zeeland. and here again the keys to this river had been lost by english treason. the fort of zutphen and the city of deventer had been transferred to the spaniard by roland york and sir william stanley, in whose honour the republic had so blindly confided, and those cities it was now necessary to reduce by regular siege before the communications between the eastern and western portions of the little commonwealth could ever be established. still farther in the ancient frisian depths, the memorable treason of that native netherlander, the high-born renneberg, had opened the way for the spaniard's foot into the city of groningen. thus this whole important province--with its capital--long subject to the foreign oppressor, was garrisoned with his troops. verdugo, a veteran officer of portuguese birth, who had risen from the position of hostler to that of colonel and royal stadholder, commanded in friesland. he had in vain demanded reinforcements and supplies from farnese, who most reluctantly was obliged to refuse them in order that he might obey his master's commands to neglect everything for the sake of the campaign in france. and verdugo, stripped of all adequate forces to protect his important province, was equally destitute of means for feeding the troops that were left to him. "i hope to god that i may do my duty to the king and your highness," he cried, "but i find myself sold up and pledged to such an extent that i am poorer than when i was a soldier at four crowns a month. and everybody in the town is as desperate as myself." maurice, after making a feint of attacking gertruydenberg and bois le duc, so that farnese felt compelled, with considerable difficulty, to strengthen the garrison of those places, came unexpectedly to arnhem with a force of nine thousand foot and sixteen hundred horse. he had previously and with great secrecy sent some companies of infantry under sir francis vere to doesburg. on the rd may ( ) five peasants and six peasant women made their appearance at dawn of day before the chief guard-house of the great fort in the badmeadow (vel-uwe), opposite zutphen, on the west side of the yssel. it was not an unusual occurrence. these boors and their wives had brought baskets of eggs, butter, and cheese, for the garrison, and they now set themselves quietly down on the ground before the gate, waiting for the soldiers of the garrison to come out and traffic with them for their supplies. very soon several of the guard made their appearance, and began to chaffer with the peasants, when suddenly one of the women plucked a pistol from under her petticoats and shot dead the soldier who was cheapening her eggs. the rest of the party, transformed in an instant from boors to soldiers, then sprang upon the rest of the guard, overpowered and bound them, and took possession of the gate. a considerable force, which had been placed in ambush by prince maurice near the spot, now rushed forward, and in a few minutes the great fort of zutphen was mastered by the states' forces without loss of a man. it was a neat and perfectly successful stratagem. next day maurice began the regular investment of the city. on the th, count lewis william arrived with some frisian companies. on the th, maurice threw a bridge of boats from the badmeadow side, across the river to the weert before the city. on the th he had got batteries, mounting thirty-two guns, into position, commanding the place at three points. on the th the town capitulated. thus within exactly one week from the firing of the pistol shot by the supposed butterwoman, this fort and town, which had so long resisted the efforts of the states, and were such important possessions of the spaniards, fell into the hands of maurice. the terms of surrender were easy. the city being more important than its garrison, the soldiers were permitted to depart with bag and baggage. the citizens were allowed three days to decide whether to stay under loyal obedience to the states-general, or to take their departure. those who chose to remain were to enjoy all the privileges of citizens of the united provinces. but very few substantial citizens were left, for such had been the tyranny, the misery, and the misrule during the long occupation by a foreign soldiery of what was once a thriving dutch town, that scarcely anybody but paupers and vagabonds were left. one thousand houses were ruined and desolate. it is superfluous to add that the day of its restoration to the authority of the union was the beginning of its renewed prosperity. maurice, having placed a national garrison in the place, marched the same evening straight upon deventer, seven miles farther down the river, without pausing to sleep upon his victory. his artillery and munitions were sent rapidly down the yssel. within five days he had thoroughly invested the city, and brought twenty-eight guns to bear upon the weakest part of its defences. it was a large, populous, well-built town, once a wealthy member of the hanseatic league, full of fine buildings, both public and private, the capital of the rich and fertile province of overyssel, and protected by a strong wall and moat--as well-fortified a place as could be found in the netherlands. the garrison consisted of fourteen hundred spaniards and walloons, under the command of count herman van den berg, first cousin of prince maurice. no sooner had the states army come before the city than a spanish captain observed--"we shall now have a droll siege--cousins on the outside, cousins on the inside. there will be a sham fight or two, and then the cousins will make it up, and arrange matters to suit themselves." such hints had deeply wounded van den berg, who was a fervent catholic, and as loyal a servant to philip ii. as he could have been, had that monarch deserved, by the laws of nature and by his personal services and virtues, to govern all the swamps of friesland. he slept on the gibe, having ordered all the colonels and captains of the garrison to attend at solemn mass in the great church the next morning. he there declared to them all publicly that he felt outraged at the suspicions concerning his fidelity, and after mass he took the sacrament, solemnly swearing never to give up the city or even to speak of it until he had made such resistance that he must be carried from the breach. so long as he could stand or sit he would defend the city entrusted to his care. the whole council who had come from zutphen to maurice's camp were allowed to deliberate concerning the siege. the enemy had been seen hovering about the neighbourhood in considerable numbers, but had not ventured an attempt to throw reinforcements into the place. many of the counsellors argued against the siege. it was urged that the resistance would be determined and protracted, and that the duke of parma was sure to take the field in person to relieve so important a city, before its reduction could be effected. but maurice had thrown a bridge across the yssel above, and another below the town, had carefully and rapidly taken measures in the success of which he felt confident, and now declared that it would be cowardly and shameful to abandon an enterprise so well begun. the city had been formally summoned to surrender, and a calm but most decided refusal had been returned. on the th june the batteries began playing, and after four thousand six hundred shots a good breach had been effected in the defences along the kaye--an earthen work lying between two strong walls of masonry. the breach being deemed practicable, a storm was ordered. to reach the kaye it was necessary to cross a piece of water called the haven, over which a pontoon bridge was hastily thrown. there was now a dispute among the english, scotch, and netherlanders for precedence in the assault. it was ultimately given to the english, in order that the bravery of that nation might now on the same spot wipe out the disgrace inflicted upon its name by the treason of sir william stanley. the english did their duty well and rushed forward merrily, but the bridge proved too short. some sprang over and pushed boldly for the breach. some fell into the moat and were drowned. others, sustained by the netherlanders under solms, meetkerke, and brederode, effected their passage by swimming, leaping, or wading, so that a resolute attack was made. herman van den berg met them in the breach at the head of seven companies. the defenders were most ferocious in their resistance. they were also very drunk. the count had placed many casks of rhenish and of strong beer within reach, and ordered his soldiers to drink their fill as they fought. he was himself as vigorous in his potations as he was chivalrous with sword and buckler. two pages and two lieutenants fell at his side, but still he fought at the head of his men with a desperation worthy of his vow, until he fell wounded in the eye and was carried from the place. notwithstanding this disaster to the commander of the town, the assailants were repulsed, losing two hundred-and twenty-five in killed and wounded--colonel meetkerke and his brother, two most valuable dutch officers, among them. during the whole of the assault, a vigorous cannonade had been kept up upon other parts of the town, and houses and church-towers were toppling down in all directions. meanwhile the inhabitants--for it was sunday--instead of going to service were driven towards the breach by the serjeant-major, a truculent spaniard, next in command to van den berg, who ran about the place with a great stick, summoning the dutch burghers to assist the spanish garrison on the wall. it was thought afterwards that this warrior would have been better occupied among the soldiers, at the side of his commander. a chivalrous incident in the open field occurred during the assault. a gigantic albanian cavalry officer came prancing out of deventer into the spaces between the trenches, defying any officer in the states' army to break a lance with him. prince maurice forbade any acceptance of the challenge, but lewis van der cathulle, son of the famous ryhove of ghent, unable to endure the taunts and bravado of this champion, at last obtained permission to encounter him in single combat. they met accordingly with much ceremony, tilted against each other, and shivered their lances in good style, but without much effect. the albanian then drew a pistol. cathulle had no weapon save a cutlass, but with this weapon he succeeded in nearly cutting off the hand which held the pistol. he then took his enemy prisoner, the vain-glorious challenger throwing his gold chain around his conqueror's neck in token of his victory. prince maurice caused his wound to be bound up and then liberated him, sending him into the city with a message to the governor. during the following night the bridge, over which the assailants had nearly forced their way into the town, was vigorously attacked by the garrison, but count lewis william, in person, with a chosen band defended it stoutly till morning, beating back the spaniards with heavy loss in a sanguinary midnight contest. next morning there was a unanimous outcry on the part of the besieged for a capitulation. it was obvious that, with the walls shot to ruins as they had been, the place was no longer tenable against maurice's superior forces. a trumpet was sent to the prince before the dawn of day, and on the th of june, accordingly, the place capitulated. it was arranged that the garrison should retire with arms and baggage whithersoever they chose. van den berg stipulated nothing in favour of the citizens, whether through forgetfulness or spite does not distinctly appear. but the burghers were received like brothers. no plunder was permitted, no ransom demanded, and the city took its place among its sisterhood of the united provinces. van den berg himself was received at the prince's head, quarters with much cordiality. he was quite blind; but his wound seemed to be the effect of exterior contusions, and he ultimately recovered the sight of one eye. there was mach free conversation between himself and his cousins during the brief interval in which he was their guest. "i've often told verdugo," said he, "that the states had no power to make a regular siege, nor to come with proper artillery into the field, and he agreed with me. but we were both wrong, for i now see the contrary." to which count lewis william replied with a laugh: "my dear cousin, i've observed that in all your actions you were in the habit of despising us beggars, and i have said that you would one day draw the shortest straw in consequence. i'm glad to hear this avowal from your own lips." herman attempted no reply but let the subject drop, seeming to regret having said so much. soon afterwards he was forwarded by maurice in his own coach to ulff, where he was attended by the prince's body physician till he was re-established in health. thus within ten days of his first appearance before its walls, the city of deventer, and with it a whole province, had fallen into the hands of maurice. it began to be understood that the young pedant knew something about his profession, and that he had not been fagging so hard at the science of war for nothing. the city was in a sorry plight when the states took possession of it. as at zutphen, the substantial burghers had wandered away, and the foreign soldiers bivouacking there so long had turned the stately old hanseatic city into a brick and mortar wilderness. hundreds of houses had been demolished by the garrison, that the iron might be sold and the woodwork burned for fuel; for the enemy had conducted himself as if feeling in his heart that the occupation could not be a permanent one, and as if desirous to make the place as desolate as possible for the beggars when they should return. the dead body of the traitor york, who had died and been buried in deventer, was taken from the tomb, after the capture of the city, and with the vulgar ferocity so characteristic of the times, was hung, coffin and all, on the gibbet for the delectation of the states' soldiery. maurice, having thus in less than three weeks recovered two most important cities, paused not an instant in his career but moved at once on groningen. there was a strong pressure put upon him to attempt the capture of nymegen, but the understanding with the frisian stadholders and his troops had been that the enterprise upon groningen should follow the reduction of deventer. on the th june maurice appeared before groningen. next day, as a precautionary step, he moved to the right and attacked the strong city of delfzyl. this place capitulated to him on the nd july. the fort of opslag surrendered on the th july. he then moved to the west of groningen, and attacked the forts of yementil and lettebaest, which fell into his hands on the th july. he then moved along the nyenoort through the seven wolds and drenthe to steenwyk, before which strongly fortified city he arrived on the th july. meantime, he received intercepted letters from verdugo to the duke of parma, dated th june from groningen. in these, the spanish stadholder informed farnese that the enemy was hovering about his neighbourhood, and that it would be necessary for the duke to take the field in person in considerable force, or that groningen would be lost, and with it the spanish forces in the province. he enclosed a memorial of the course proper to be adopted by the duke for his relief. notwithstanding the strictness by which philip had tied his great general's hands, farnese felt the urgency of the situation. by the end of june, accordingly, although full of his measures for marching to the relief of the leaguers in normandy, he moved into gelderland, coming by way of xanten, rees, and neighbouring places. here he paused for a moment perplexed, doubting whether to take the aggressive in gelderland or to march straight to the relief of groningen. he decided that it was better for the moment to protect the line of the waal. shipping his army accordingly into the batavian island or good-meadow (bet-uwe), which lies between the two great horns of the rhine, he laid siege to fort knodsenburg, which maurice had built the year before, on the right bank of the waal for the purpose of attacking nymegen. farnese, knowing that the general of the states was occupied with his whole army far away to the north, and separated from him by two great rivers, wide and deep, and by the whole breadth of that dangerous district called the foul-meadow (vel-uwe), and by the vast quagmire known as the rouvenian morass, which no artillery nor even any organised forces had ever traversed since the beginning of the world, had felt no hesitation in throwing his army in boats across the waal. he had no doubt of reducing a not very powerful fortress long before relief could be brought to it, and at the same time of disturbing by his presence in batavia the combinations of his young antagonist in friesland and groningen. so with six thousand foot and one thousand horse, alexander came before knodsenburg. the news reached maurice at steenwyk on the th july. instantly changing his plans, the prince decided that farnese must be faced at once, and, if possible, driven from the ground, thinking it more important to maintain, by concentration, that which had already been gained, than to weaken and diffuse his forces in insufficient attempts to acquire more. before two days had passed, he was on the march southward, having left lewis william with a sufficient force to threaten groningen. coming by way of hasselt zwol to deventer, he crossed the yssel on a bridge of boats on the th of july, and proceeded to arnhem. his army, although excessively fatigued by forced marches in very hot weather, over nearly impassable roads, was full of courage and cheerfulness, having learned implicit confidence in their commander. on the th he was at arnhem. on the nd his bridge of boats was made, and he had thrown his little army across the rhine into batavia, and entrenched himself with his six thousand foot and fourteen hundred horse in the immediate neighbourhood of farnese--foul-meadow and good-meadow, dyke, bog, wold, and quagmire, had been successfully traversed, and within one week of his learning that the great viceroy of philip had reached the batavian island, maurice stood confronting that famous chieftain in battle-array. on the nd july, farnese, after firing two hundred and eighty-five shots at fort knodsenburg, ordered an assault, expecting that so trifling a work could hardly withstand a determined onslaught by his veterans. to his surprise they were so warmly received that two hundred of the assailants fell at the first onset, and the attack was most conclusively repulsed. and now maurice had appeared upon the scene, determined to relieve a place so important for his ulterior designs. on the th july he sent out a small but picked force of cavalry to reconnoitre the enemy. they were attacked by a considerable body of italian and spanish horse from the camp before knodsenburg, including alexander's own company of lancers under nicelli. the states troops fled before them in apparent dismay for a little distance, hotly pursued by the royalists, until, making a sudden halt, they turned to the attack, accompanied by five fresh companies of cavalry and a thousand musketeers, who fell upon the foe from all directions. it was an ambush, which had been neatly prepared by maurice in person, assisted by sir francis vere. sixty of the spaniards and italians were killed and one hundred and fifty prisoners, including captain nicelli, taken, while the rest of the party sought safety in ignominious flight. this little skirmish, in which ten companies of the picked veterans of alexander farnese had thus been utterly routed before his eyes, did much to inspire the states troops with confidence in themselves and their leader. parma was too experienced a campaigner, and had too quick an eye, not to recognise the error which he had committed in placing the dangerous river waal, without a bridge; between himself and his supplies. he had not dreamed that his antagonist would be capable of such celerity of movement as he had thus displayed, and his first business now was to extricate himself from a position which might soon become fatal. without hesitation, he did his best to amuse the enemy in front of the fort, and then passed the night in planting batteries upon the banks of the river, under cover of which he succeeded next day in transporting in ferry-boats his whole force, artillery and: baggage, to the opposite shore, without loss, and with his usual skill. he remained but a short time in nymegen, but he was hampered by the express commands of the king. moreover, his broken health imperatively required that he should once more seek the healing influence of the waters of spa, before setting forth on his new french expedition. meanwhile, although he had for a time protected the spanish possessions in the north by his demonstration in gelderland, it must be confessed that the diversion thus given to the plans of maurice was but a feeble one. having assured the inhabitants of nymegen that he would watch over the city like the apple of, his eye, he took his departure on the th of august for spa. he was accompanied on his journey by his son, prince ranuccio, just arrived from italy. after the retreat of farnese, maurice mustered his forces at arnhem, and found himself at the head of seven thousand foot and fifteen hundred horse. it was expected by all the world that, being thus on the very spot, he would forthwith proceed to reduce the ancient, wealthy, imperial city of nynegen. the garrison and burghers accordingly made every preparation to resist the attack, disconcerted as they were, however, by the departure of parma, and by the apparent incapacity of verdugo to bring them effectual relief. but to the surprise of all men, the states forces suddenly disappeared from the scene, having been, as it were, spirited away by night-time, along those silent watery highways and crossways of canal, river, and estuary--the military advantages of which to the netherlands, maurice was the first thoroughly to demonstrate. having previously made great preparations of munitions and provisions in zeeland, the young general, who was thought hard at work in gelderland, suddenly presented himself on the th september, before the gates of hulst, on the border of zeeland and brabant. it was a place of importance from its situation, its possession by the enemy being a perpetual thorn in the side of the states, and a constant obstacle to the plans of maurice. his arrangements having been made with the customary, neatness, celerity, and completeness, he received the surrender of the city on the fifth day after his arrival. its commander, castillo, could offer no resistance; and was subsequently, it is said, beheaded by order of the duke of parma for his negligence. the place is but a dozen miles from antwerp, which city was at the very, moment keeping great holiday and outdoing itself in magnificent festivals in honour of young ranuccio. the capture of hulst before his eyes was a demonstration quite unexpected by the prince, and great was the wrath of old mondragon, governor of antwerp, thus bearded in his den. the veteran made immediate preparations for chastising the audacious beggars of zeeland and their pedantic young commander, but no sooner had the spaniards taken the field than the wily foe had disappeared as magically as he had come. the flemish earth seemed to have bubbles as the water hath, and while mondragon was beating the air in vain on the margin of the scheld, maurice was back again upon the waal, horse, foot, and artillery, bag, baggage, and munition, and had fairly set himself down in earnest to besiege nymegen, before the honest burghers and the garrison had finished drawing long breaths at their recent escape. between the th and th october he had bridged the deep, wide, and rapid river, had transported eight thousand five hundred infantry and, sixteen companies of cavalry to the southern side, had entrenched his camp and made his approaches, and had got sixty-eight pieces of artillery into three positions commanding the weakest part of the defences of the city between the falcon tower and the hoender gate. the fort of knodsenburg was also ready to throw hot shot across the river into the town. not a detail in all these preparations escaped the vigilant eye of the commander-in-chief, and again and again was he implored not so recklessly to expose a life already become precious to his country. on the th october, maurice sent to demand the surrender of the city. the reply was facetious but decisive. the prince was but a young suitor, it was said, and the city a spinster not so lightly to be won. a longer courtship and more trouble would be necessary. whereupon the suitor opened all his batteries without further delay, and the spinster gave a fresh example of the inevitable fate of talking castles and listening ladies. nymegen, despite her saucy answer on the th, surrendered on the st. relief was impossible. neither parma, now on his way to france, nor verdugo, shut up in friesland, could come to the rescue of the place, and the combinations of maurice were an inexorable demonstration. the terms of the surrender were similar to those accorded to zutphen and deventer. in regard to the religious point it was expressly laid down by maurice that the demand for permission to exercise publicly the roman catholic religion should be left to the decision of the states-general. and thus another most important city had been added to the domains of the republic. another triumph was inscribed on the record of the young commander. the exultation was very great throughout the united netherlands, and heartfelt was the homage rendered by all classes of his countrymen to the son of william the silent. queen elizabeth wrote to congratulate him in warmest terms on his great successes, and even the spaniards began to recognise the merits of the new chieftain. an intercepted letter from verdugo, who had been foiled in his efforts to arrest the career of maurice, indicated great respect for his prowess. "i have been informed," said the veteran, "that count maurice of nassau wishes to fight me. had i the opportunity i assure you that i should not fail him, for even if ill luck were my portion, i should at least not escape the honour of being beaten by such a personage. i beg you to tell him so with my affectionate compliments. yours, francis verdugo." these chivalrous sentiments towards prince maurice had not however prevented verdugo from doing his best to assassinate count lewis william. two spaniards had been arrested in the states camp this summer, who came in as deserters, but who confessed "with little, or mostly without torture," that they had been sent by their governor and colonel with instructions to seize a favourable opportunity to shoot lewis william and set fire to his camp. but such practices were so common on the part of the spanish commanders as to occasion no surprise whatever. it will be remembered that two years before, the famous martin schenk had come to a tragic end at nymegen. he had been drowned, fished up, hanged, drawn, and quartered; after which his scattered fragments, having been exposed on all the principal towers of the city, had been put in pickle and deposited in a chest. they were now collected and buried triumphantly in the tomb of the dukes of gelderland. thus the shade of the grim freebooter was at last appeased. the government of the city was conferred upon count lewis william, with gerard de jonge as his lieutenant. a substantial garrison was placed in the city, and, the season now far advanced maurice brought the military operations of the year, saving a slight preliminary demonstration against gertruydenberg, to a close. he had deserved and attained--considerable renown. he had astonished the leisurely war-makers and phlegmatic veterans of the time, both among friends and foes, by the unexampled rapidity of his movements and the concentration of his attacks. he had carried great waggon trains and whole parks of siege artillery--the heaviest then known--over roads and swamps which had been deemed impassable even for infantry. he had traversed the length and breadth of the republic in a single campaign, taken two great cities in overyssel, picked up cities and fortresses in the province of groningen, and threatened its capital, menaced steenwyk, relieved knodsenburg though besieged in person by the greatest commander of the age, beaten the most famous cavalry of spain and italy under the eyes of their chieftain, swooped as it were through the air upon brabant, and carried off an important city almost in the sight of antwerp, and sped back again in the freezing weather of early autumn, with his splendidly served and invincible artillery, to the imperial city of nymegen, which farnese had sworn to guard like the apple of his eye, and which, with consummate skill, was forced out of his grasp in five days. "some might attribute these things to blind fortune," says an honest chronicler who had occupied important posts in the service of the prince and of his cousin lewis william, "but they who knew the prince's constant study and laborious attention to detail, who were aware that he never committed to another what he could do himself, who saw his sobriety, vigilance, his perpetual study and holding of council with count lewis william (himself possessed of all these good gifts, perhaps even in greater degree), and who never found him seeking, like so many other commanders, his own ease and comfort, would think differently." chapter xxv. war in brittany and normandy--death of la noue--religious and political persecution in paris--murder of president brisson, larcher, and tardif--the sceptre of france offered to philip--the duke of mayenne punishes the murderers of the magistrates--speech of henry's envoy to the states-general--letter of queen elizabeth to henry--siege of rouen--farnese leads an army to its relief--the king is wounded in a skirmish--siege of rue by farnese--henry raises the siege of rouen--siege of caudebec--critical position of farnese and his army--victory of the duke of mercoeur in brittany. again the central point towards which the complicated events to be described in this history gravitate is found on the soil of france. movements apparently desultory and disconnected--as they may have seemed to the contemporaneous observer, necessarily occupied with the local and daily details which make up individual human life--are found to be necessary parts of a whole, when regarded with that breadth and clearness of vision which is permitted to human beings only when they can look backward upon that long sequence of events which make up the life of nations and which we call the past. it is only by the anatomical study of what has ceased to exist that we can come thoroughly to comprehend the framework and the vital conditions of that which lives. it is only by patiently lifting the shroud from the past that we can enable ourselves to make even wide guesses at the meaning of the dim present and the veiled future. it is only thus that the continuity of human history reveals itself to us as the most important of scientific facts. if ever commonwealth was apparently doomed to lose that national existence which it had maintained for a brief period at the expense of infinite sacrifice of blood and treasure, it was the republic of the united netherlands in the period immediately succeeding the death of william the silent. domestic treason, secession of important provinces, religious-hatred, foreign intrigue, and foreign invasion--in such a sea of troubles was the republic destined generations long to struggle. who but the fanatical, the shallow-minded, or the corrupt could doubt the inevitable issue of the conflict? did not great sages and statesmen whose teachings seemed so much wiser in their generation than the untaught impulses of the great popular heart, condemn over and over again the hopeless struggles and the atrocious bloodshed which were thought to disgrace the age, and by which it was held impossible that the cause of human liberty should ever be advanced? to us who look back from the vantage summit which humanity has reached--thanks to the toil and sacrifices of those who have preceded us--it may seem doubtful whether premature peace in the netherlands, france, and england would have been an unmitigated blessing, however easily it might have been purchased by the establishment all over europe of that holy institution called the inquisition, and by the tranquil acceptance of the foreign domination of spain. if, too; ever country seemed destined to the painful process of national vivisection and final dismemberment, it was france: its natural guardians and masters, save one, were in secret negotiation with foreign powers to obtain with their assistance a portion of the national territory under acknowledgment of foreign supremacy. there was hardly an inch of french soil that had not two possessors. in burgundy baron biron was battling against the viscount tavannes; in the lyonese and dauphiny marshal des digiueres was fighting with the dukes of savoy and nemours; in provence, epernon was resisting savoy; in languedoc, constable montmorency contended with the duke of joyeuse; in brittany, the prince of dombes was struggling with the duke of mercoeur. but there was one adventurer who thought he could show a better legal title to the throne of france than all the doctors of the sorbonne could furnish to philip ii. and his daughter, and who still trusted, through all the disasters which pursued him, and despite the machinations of venal warriors and mendicant princes, to his good right and his good sword, and to something more potent than both, the cause of national unity. his rebuke to the intriguing priests at the interview of st. denis, and his reference to the judgment of solomon, formed the text to his whole career. the brunt of the war now fell upon brittany and normandy. three thousand spaniards under don john de aquila had landed in the port of blavet which they had fortified, as a stronghold on the coast. and thither, to defend the integrity of that portion of france, which, in spanish hands, was a perpetual menace to her realm, her crown, even to her life, queen elizabeth had sent some three thousand englishmen, under commanders well known to france and the netherlands. there was black norris again dealing death among the spaniards and renewing his perpetual squabbles with sir roger williams. there was that doughty welshman himself, truculent and caustic as ever--and as ready with sword or pen, foremost in every mad adventure or every forlorn hope, criticising with sharpest tongue the blunders and shortcomings of friend and foe, and devoting the last drop in his veins with chivalrous devotion to his queen. "the world cannot deny," said he, "that any carcase living ventured himself freer and oftener for his prince, state, and friends than i did mine. there is no more to be had of a poor beast than his skin, and for want of other means i never respected mine in the least respect towards my sovereign's service, or country." and so passing his life in the saddle and under fire, yet finding leisure to collect the materials for, and to complete the execution of, one of the most valuable and attractive histories of the age, the bold welshman again and again appears, wearing the same humorous but truculent aspect that belonged to him when he was wont to run up and down in a great morion and feathers on flemish battlefields, a mark for the spanish sharpshooters. there, too, under the banner of the bearnese, that other historian of those sanguinary times, who had fought on almost every battle-field where tyranny and liberty had sought to smite each other dead, on french or flemish soil, and who had prepared his famous political and military discourses in a foul dungeon swarming with toads and rats and other villainous reptiles to which the worse than infernal tyranny of philip ii. had consigned him for seven years long as a prisoner of war--the brave and good la noue, with the iron arm, hero of a hundred combats, was fighting his last fight. at the siege of lamballe in brittany, he had taken off his calque and climbed a ladder to examine the breach effected by the batteries. an arquebus shot from the town grazed his forehead, and, without inflicting a severe wound, stunned him so much that he lost his balance and fell head foremost towards the ground; his leg, which had been wounded at the midnight assault upon paris, where he stood at the side of king henry, caught in the ladder and held him suspended. his head was severely bruised, and the contusions and shock to his war-worn frame were so great that he died after lingering eighteen days. his son de teligny; who in his turn had just been exchanged and released from the prison where he had lain since his capture before antwerp, had hastened with joy to join his father in the camp, but came to close his eyes. the veteran caused the chapter in job on the resurrection of the body to be read to him on his death-bed, and died expressing his firm faith in a hereafter. thus passed away, at the age of sixty, on the th august, , one of the most heroic spirits of france. prudence, courage, experience, military knowledge both theoretic and practical, made him one of the first captains of the age, and he was not more distinguished for his valour than for the purity of his life, and the moderation, temperance, and justice of his character. the prince of dombes, in despair at his death, raised the siege of lamballe. there was yet another chronicler, fighting among the spaniards, now in brittany, now in normandy, and now in flanders, and doing his work as thoroughly with his sword as afterwards with his pen, don carlos coloma, captain of cavalry, afterwards financier, envoy, and historian. for it was thus that those writers prepared themselves for their work. they were all actors in the great epic, the episodes of which they have preserved. they lived and fought, and wrought and suffered and wrote. rude in tongue; aflame with passion, twisted all awry by prejudice, violent in love and hate, they have left us narratives which are at least full of colour and thrilling with life. thus netherlanders, englishmen, and frenchmen were again mingling their blood and exhausting their energies on a hundred petty battle-fields of brittany and normandy; but perhaps to few of those hard fighters was it given to discern the great work which they were slowly and painfully achieving. in paris the league still maintained its ascendancy. henry, having again withdrawn from his attempts to reduce the capital, had left the sixteen tyrants who governed it more leisure to occupy themselves with internal politics. a network of intrigue was spread through the whole atmosphere of the place. the sixteen, sustained by the power of spain and rome, and fearing nothing so much as the return of peace, by which their system of plunder would come to an end, proceeded with their persecution of all heretics, real or supposed, who were rich enough to offer a reasonable chance of spoil. the soul of all these intrigues was the new legate, sego, bishop of piacenza. letters from him to alexander farnese, intercepted by henry, showed a determination to ruin the duke of mayenne and count belin governor of paris, whom he designated as colossus and renard, to extirpate the magistrates, and to put spanish partizans in their places, and in general to perfect the machinery by which the authority of philip was to be established in france. he was perpetually urging upon that monarch the necessity of spending more money among his creatures in order to carry out these projects. accordingly the attention of the sixteen had been directed to president brisson, who had already made himself so dangerously conspicuous by his resistance to the insolent assumption of the cardinal-legate. this eminent juris-consult had succeeded pomponne de bellievre as first president of the parliament of paris. he had been distinguished for talent, learning, and eloquence as an advocate; and was the author of several important legal works. his ambition to fill the place of first president had caused him to remain in paris after its revolt against henry iii. he was no leaguer; and, since his open defiance of the ultra-catholic party, he had been a marked man--doomed secretly by the confederates who ruled the capital. he had fondly imagined that he could govern the parisian populace as easily as he had been in the habit of influencing the parliament or directing his clients. he expected to restore the city to its obedience to the constituted authorities. he hoped to be himself the means of bringing henry iv. in triumph to the throne of his ancestors. he found, however, that a revolution was more difficult to manage than a law case; and that the confederates of the holy league were less tractable than his clients had usually been found. on the night of the th november; ; he was seized on the bridge st. michel, while on his way to parliament, and was told that he was expected at the hotel de ville. he was then brought to the prison of the little chatelet. hardly had he been made secure in the dimly-lighted dungeon, when crome, a leader among the parisian populacey made his appearance, accompanied by some of his confederates, and dressed in a complete suit of mail. he ordered the magistrate to take off his hat and to kneel. he then read a sentence condemning him to death. profoundly astonished, brisson demanded to know of what crime he was accused; and under what authority. the answer was a laugh; and an assurance that he had no time to lose. he then begged that at least he might be imprisoned long enough to enable him to complete a legal work on which he was engaged, and which, by his premature death, would be lost to the commonwealth. this request produced no doubt more merriment than his previous demands. his judges were inflexible; and allowed him hardly time to confess himself. he was then hanged in his dungeon. two other magistrates, larcher and tardif, were executed in the same way, in the same place, and on the same night. the crime charged against them was having spoken in a public assembly somewhat freely against the sixteen, and having aided in the circulation in paris of a paper drawn up by the duke of nevers, filled with bitterness against the lorraine princes and the league, and addressed to the late pope sixtus. the three bodies were afterwards gibbeted on the greve in front of the hotel de ville, and exposed for two days to the insults and fury of the populace. this was the culminating point of the reign of terror in paris. never had the sixteen tyrants; lords of the market halls, who governed the capital by favour of and in the name of the populace, seemed more omnipotent. as representatives or plenipotentiaries of madam league they had laid the crown at the feet of the king of spain, hoping by still further drafts on his exchequer and his credulity to prolong indefinitely their own ignoble reign. the extreme democratic party, which had hitherto supported the house of lorraine and had seemed to idolize that family in the person of the great balafre, now believed themselves possessed of sufficient power to control the duke of mayenne and all his adherents. they sent the jesuit claude mathieu with a special memorial to philip ii. that monarch was implored to take, the sceptre of france, and to reign over them, inasmuch as they most willingly threw themselves into his arms? they assured him that all reasonable people, and especially the holy league, wished him to take the reins of government, on condition of exterminating heresy throughout the kingdom by force of arms, of publishing the council of trent, and of establishing everywhere the holy inquisition--an institution formidable only to the wicked and desirable for the good. it was suggested that philip should not call himself any longer king of spain nor adopt the title of king of france, but that he should proclaim himself the great king, or make use of some similar designation, not indicating any specialty but importing universal dominion. should philip, however, be disinclined himself to accept the monarchy, it was suggested that the young duke of guise, son of the first martyr of france, would be the most appropriate personage to be honoured with the hand of the legitimate queen of france, the infanta clara isabella. but the sixteen were reckoning without the duke of mayenne. that great personage, although an indifferent warrior and an utterly unprincipled and venal statesman, was by no means despicable as a fisherman in the troubled waters of revolution. he knew how to manage intrigues with both sides for his own benefit. had he been a bachelor he might have obtained the infanta and shared her prospective throne. being encumbered with a wife he had no hope of becoming the son-in-law of philip, and was determined that his nephew guise should not enjoy a piece of good fortune denied to himself. the escape of the young duke from prison had been the signal for the outbreak of jealousies between uncle and nephew, which parma and other agents had been instructed by their master to foster to the utmost. "they must be maintained in such disposition in regard to me," he said, "that the one being ignorant of my relations to the other, both may without knowing it do my will." but mayenne, in this grovelling career of self-seeking, in this perpetual loading of dice and marking of cards, which formed the main occupation of so many kings and princes of the period, and which passed for machiavellian politics, was a fair match for the spanish king and his italian viceroy. he sent president jeannin on special mission to philip, asking for two armies, one to be under his command, the other under that of farnese, and assured him that he should be king himself, or appoint any man he liked to the vacant throne. thus he had secured one hundred thousand crowns a month to carry on his own game withal. "the maintenance of these two armies costs me , crowns a month," said philip to his envoy ybarra. and what was the result of all this expenditure of money, of all this lying and counter-lying, of all this frantic effort on the part of the most powerful monarch of the age to obtain property which did not belong to him--the sovereignty of a great kingdom, stocked with a dozen millions of human beings--of all this endless bloodshed of the people in the interests of a high-born family or two, of all this infamous brokerage charged by great nobles for their attempts to transfer kingdoms like private farms from one owner to another? time was to show. meanwhile men trembled at the name of philip ii., and grovelled before him as the incarnation of sagacity, high policy, and king-craft. but mayenne, while taking the brokerage, was less anxious about the transfer. he had fine instinct enough to suspect that the bearnese, outcast though he seemed, might after all not be playing so desperate a game against the league as it was the fashion to suppose. he knew whether or not henry was likely to prove a more fanatical huguenot in than he bad shown himself twenty years before at the bartholomew festival. and he had wit enough to foresee that the "instruction" which the gay free-thinker held so cautiously in his fingers might perhaps turn out the trump card. a bold, valorous frenchman with a flawless title, and washed whiter than snow by the freshet of holy water, might prove a more formidable claimant to the allegiance of frenchmen than a foreign potentate, even though backed by all the doctors of the sorbonne. the murder of president brisson and his colleagues by the confederates of the sixteen quarters, was in truth the beginning of the end. what seemed a proof of supreme power was the precursor of a counter-revolution, destined ere long to lead farther than men dreamed. the sixteen believed themselves omnipotent. mayenne being in their power, it was for them to bestow the crown at their will, or to hold it suspended in air as long as seemed best to them. they felt no doubt that all the other great cities in the kingdom would follow the example of paris. but the lieutenant-general of the realm felt it time for him to show that his authority was not a shadow--that he was not a pasteboard functionary like the deceased cardinal-king, charles x. the letters entrusted by the sixteen to claude mathieu were intercepted by henry, and, very probably, an intimation of their contents was furnished to mayenne. at any rate, the duke, who lacked not courage nor promptness when his own interests were concerned, who felt his authority slipping away from him, now that it seemed the object of the spaniards to bind the democratic party to themselves by a complicity in crime, hastened at once to paris, determined to crush these intrigues and to punish the murderers of the judges. the spanish envoy ybarra, proud, excitable, violent, who had been privy to the assassinations, and was astonished that the deeds had excited indignation and fury instead of the terror counted upon, remonstrated with mayenne, intimating that in times of civil commotion it was often necessary to be blind and deaf. in vain. the duke carried it with a high and firm hand. he arrested the ringleaders, and hanged four of them in the basement of the louvre within twenty days after the commission of their crime. the energy was well-timed and perfectly successful. the power of the sixteen was struck to the earth at a blow. the ignoble tyrants became in a moment as despicable as they had been formidable and insolent. crome, more fortunate than many of his fellows, contrived to make his escape out of the kingdom. thus mayenne had formally broken with the democratic party, so called-with the market-halls oligarchy. in thus doing, his ultimate rupture with the spaniards was foreshadowed. the next combination for him to strive for would be one to unite the moderate catholics and the bearnese. ah! if henry would but "instruct" himself out of hand, what a game the duke might play! the burgess-party, the mild royalists, the disgusted portion of the leaguers, coalescing with those of the huguenots whose fidelity might prove stanch even against the religious apostasy contemplated by their chief--this combination might prove an over-match for the ultra-leaguers, the democrats, and the spaniards. the king's name would be a tower of strength for that "third party," which began to rear its head very boldly and to call itself "politica." madam league might succumb to this new rival in the fickle hearts of the french. at the beginning of the year ; buzanval had presented his credentials to the states-general at the hague as envoy of henry iv. in the speech which he made on this occasion he expressed the hope that the mission of the viscount turenne, his majesty's envoy to england and to the netherlands, had made known the royal sentiments towards the states and the great satisfaction of the king with their energetic sympathy and assistance. it was notorious, said buzanval, that the king of spain for many years had been governed by no other motive than to bring all the rest of christendom under his dominion, while at the same time he forced upon those already placed under his sceptre a violent tyranny, passing beyond all the bounds that god, nature, and reason had set to lawful forms of government. in regard to nations born under other laws than his, he had used the pretext of religion for reducing them to servitude. the wars stirred up by his family in germany, and his recent invasion of england, were proofs of this intention, still fresh in the memory of all men. still more flagrant were his machinations in the present troubles of france. of his dealings with his hereditary realms, the condition of the noble provinces of the netherlands, once so blooming under reasonable laws, furnished, a sufficient illustration. you see, my masters, continued the envoy, the subtle plans of the spanish king and his counsellors to reach with certainty the object of their ambition. they have reflected that spain, which is the outermost corner of europe, cannot conveniently make war upon other christian realms. they have seen that a central position is necessary to enable them to stretch their arms to every side. they have remembered that princes who in earlier days were able to spread their wings over all christendom had their throne in france, like charles the great and his descendants. therefore the king is now earnestly bent on seizing this occasion to make himself master of france. the death of the late king (henry iii.) had no sooner occurred, than--as the blood through great terror rushes from the extremities and overflows the heart--they here also, fearing to lose their opportunity and astonished at the valour of our present king, abandoned all their other enterprises in order to pour themselves upon france. buzanval further reminded the states that henry had received the most encouraging promises from the protestant princes of germany, and that so great a personage as the viscount turenne, who had now gone thither to reap the fruit of those promises, would not have been sent on such a mission except that its result was certain. the queen of england, too, had promised his majesty most liberal assistance. it was not necessary to argue as to the close connection between the cause of the netherlands and that of france. the king had beaten down the mutiny of his own subjects, and repulsed the invasion of the dukes of savoy and of lorraine. in consideration of the assistance promised by germany and england--for a powerful army would be at the command of henry in the spring--it might be said that the netherlands might repose for a time and recruit their exhausted energies, under the shadow of these mighty preparations. "i do not believe, however," said the minister, "that you will all answer me thus. the faint-hearted and the inexperienced might flatter themselves with such thoughts, and seek thus to cover their cowardice, but the zealous and the courageous will see that it is time to set sail on the ship, now that the wind is rising so freshly and favourably. "for there are many occasions when an army might be ruined for want of twenty thousand crowns. what a pity if a noble edifice, furnished to the roof-tree, should fall to decay for want of a few tiles. no doubt your own interests are deeply connected with our own. men may say that our proposals should be rejected on the principle that the shirt is nearer to the skin than the coat, but it can be easily proved that our cause is one. the mere rumour of this army will prevent the duke of parma from attacking you. his forces will be drawn to france. he will be obliged to intercept the crash of this thunderbolt. the assistance of this army is worth millions to you, and has cost you nothing. to bring france into hostility with spain is the very policy that you have always pursued and always should pursue in order to protect your freedom. you have always desired a war between france and spain, and here is a fierce and cruel one in which you have hazarded nothing. it cannot come to an end without bringing signal advantages to yourselves. "you have always desired an alliance with a french sovereign, and here is a firm friendship offered you by our king, a natural alliance. "you know how unstable are most treaties that are founded on shifting interests, and do not concern the freedom of bodies and souls. the first are written with pen upon paper, and are generally as light as paper. they have no roots in the heart. those founded on mutual assistance on trying occasions have the perpetual strength of nature. they bring always good and enduring fruit in a rich soil like the heart of our king; that heart which is as beautiful and as pure from all untruth as the lily upon his shield. "you will derive the first profits from the army thus raised. from the moment of its mustering under a chief of such experience as turenne, it will absorb the whole attention of spain, and will draw her thoughts from the netherlands to france." all this and more in the same earnest manner did the envoy urge upon the consideration of the states-general, concluding with a demand of , florins as their contribution towards the french campaign. his eloquence did not fall upon unwilling ears; for the states-general, after taking time to deliberate, replied to the propositions by an expression of the strongest sympathy with, and admiration for, the heroic efforts of the king of france. accordingly, notwithstanding their own enormous expenses, past and present, and their strenuous exertions at that very moment to form an army of foot and horse for the campaign, the brilliant results of which have already been narrated, they agreed to furnish the required loan of , florins to be repaid in a year, besides six or seven good ships of war to co-operate with the fleets of england and france upon the coasts of normandy. and the states were even better than their word. before the end of autumn of the year , henry had laid siege to rouen, then the second city of the kingdom. to leave much longer so important a place--dominating, as it did, not only normandy but a principal portion of the maritime borders of france--under the control of the league and of spain was likely to be fatal to henry's success. it was perfectly sound in queen elizabeth to insist as she did, with more than her usual imperiousness towards her excellent brother, that he should lose no more time before reducing that city. it was obvious that rouen in the hands of her arch-enemy was a perpetual menace to the safety of her own kingdom. it was therefore with correct judgment, as well as with that high-flown gallantry so dear to the heart of elizabeth, that her royal champion and devoted slave assured her of his determination no longer to defer obeying her commands in this respect. the queen had repeatedly warned him of the necessity of defending the maritime frontier of his kingdom, and she was not sparing of her reproaches that the large sums which she expended in his cause had been often ill bestowed. her criticisms on what she considered his military mistakes were not few, her threats to withdraw her subsidies frequent. "owning neither the east nor the west indies," she said, "we are unable to supply the constant demands upon us; and although we have the reputation of being a good housewife, it does not follow that we can be a housewife for all the world." she was persistently warning the king of an attack upon dieppe, and rebuking him for occupying himself with petty enterprises to the neglect of vital points. she expressed her surprise that after the departure of parma, he had not driven the spaniards out of brittany, without allowing them to fortify themselves in that country. "i am astonished," she said to him, "that your eyes are so blinded as not to see this danger. remember, my dear brother," she frankly added, "that it is not only france that i am aiding, nor are my own natural realms of little consequence to me. believe me, if i see that you have no more regard to the ports and maritime places nearest to us, it will be necessary that my prayers should serve you in place of any other assistance, because it does not please me to send my people to the shambles where they may perish before having rendered you any assistance. i am sure the spaniards will soon besiege dieppe. beware of it, and excuse my bluntness, for if in the beginning you had taken the maritime forts, which are the very gates of your kingdom, paris would not have been so well furnished, and other places nearer the heart of the kingdom would not have received so much foreign assistance, without which the others would have soon been vanquished. pardon my simplicity as belonging to my own sex wishing to give a lesson to one who knows better, but my experience in government makes me a little obstinate in believing that i am not ignorant of that which belongs to a king, and i persuade myself that in following my advice you will not fail to conquer your assailants." before the end of the year henry had obtained control of the seine, both above and below the city, holding pont de l'arche on the north--where was the last bridge across the river; that of rouen, built by the english when they governed normandy, being now in ruins--and caudebec on the south in an iron grasp. several war-vessels sent by the hollanders, according to the agreement with buzanval, cruised in the north of the river below caudebec, and rendered much service to the king in cutting off supplies from the beleaguered place, while the investing army of henry, numbering twenty-five thousand foot--inclusive of the english contingent, and three thousand netherlanders--and ten thousand cavalry, nearly all french, was fast reducing the place to extremities. parma, as usual, in obedience to his master's orders, but entirely against his own judgment, had again left the rising young general of the netherlands to proceed from one triumph to another, while he transferred beyond the borders of that land which it was his first business to protect, the whole weight of his military genius and the better portion of his well disciplined forces. most bitterly and indignantly did he express himself, both at the outset and during the whole progress of the expedition, concerning the utter disproportions between the king's means and aims. the want of money was the cause of wholesale disease, desertion, mutiny, and death in his slender army. such great schemes as his master's required, as he perpetually urged, liberality of expenditure and measures of breadth. he protested that he was not to blame for the ruin likely to come upon the whole enterprise. he had besought, remonstrated, reasoned with the king in vain. he had seen his beard first grow, he said, in the king's service, and he had grown gray in that service, but rather than be kept longer in such a position, without money, men, or means to accomplish the great purposes on which he was sent, he protested that he would "abandon his office and retire into the woods to feed on roots." repeatedly did he implore his master for a large and powerful army; for money and again money. the royal plans should be enforced adequately or abandoned entirely. to spend money in small sums, as heretofore, was only throwing it into the sea. it was deep in the winter however before he could fairly come to the rescue of the besieged city. towards the end of january, , he moved out of hainault, and once more made his junction at guise with the duke of mayenne. at a review of his forces on th january, , alexander found himself at the head of thirteen thousand five hundred and sixteen infantry and four thousand and sixty-one cavalry. the duke of mayenne's army, for payment of which that personage received from philip , dollars a month, besides , dollars a month for his own pocket, ought to have numbered ten thousand foot and three thousand horse, according to contract, but was in reality much less. the duke of montemarciano, nephew of gregory xiv., had brought two thousand swiss, furnished by the pontiff to the cause of the league, and the duke of lorraine had sent his kinsmen, the counts chaligny and vaudemont, with a force of seven hundred lancers and cuirassiers. the town of fere was assigned in pledge to farnese to hold as a convenient: mustering-place and station in proximity to his own borders, and, as usual, the chief command over the united armies was placed in his hands. these arrangements concluded, the allies moved slowly forward much in the same order as in the previous year. the young duke of guise, who had just made his escape from the prison of tours, where he had been held in durance since the famous assassination of his father and uncle, and had now come to join his uncle mayenne, led the vanguard. ranuccio, son of the duke, rode also in the advance, while two experienced commanders, vitry and de la chatre, as well as the famous marquis del vasto, formerly general of cavalry in the netherlands, who had been transferred to italy but was now serving in the league's army as a volunteer, were associated with the young princes. parma, mayenne, and montemarciano rode in the battalia, the rear being under command of the duke of aumale and the count chaligny. wings of cavalry protected the long trains of wagons which were arranged on each flank of the invading army. the march was very slow, a farnese's uniform practice to guard himself scrupulously against any possibility of surprise and to entrench himself thoroughly at nightfall. by the middle of february they reached the vicinity of aumale in picardy. meantime henry, on the news of the advance of the relieving army, had again the same problem to solve that had been presented to him before paris in the summer of . should he continue in the trenches, pressing more and more closely the city already reduced to great straits? should he take the open field against the invaders and once more attempt to crush the league and its most redoubtable commander in a general engagement? biron strenuously advised the continuance of the siege. turenne, now, through his recent marriage with the heiress, called duc de bouillon, great head of the huguenot party in france, counselled as warmly the open attack. henry, hesitating more than was customary with him, at last decided on a middle course. the resolution did not seem a very wise one, but the king, who had been so signally out-generalled in the preceding campaign by the great italian, was anxious to avoid his former errors, and might perhaps fall into as great ones by attempting two inconsistent lines of action. leaving biron in command of the infantry and a portion of the horse to continue the siege, he took the field himself with the greater part of the cavalry, intending to intercept and harass the enemy and to prevent his manifest purpose of throwing reinforcements and supplies into the invested city. proceeding to neufchatel and aumale, he soon found himself in the neighbourhood of the leaguers, and it was not long before skirmishing began. at this time, on a memorable occasion, henry, forgetting as usual, in his eagerness for the joys of the combat that he was not a young captain of cavalry with his spurs to win by dashing into every mad adventure that might present itself, but a king fighting for his crown, with the welfare of a whole people depending on his fortunes, thought proper to place himself at the head of a handful of troopers to reconnoitre in person the camp of the leaguers. starting with five hundred horse, and ordering lavardin and givry to follow with a larger body, while the dukes of nevers and longueville were to move out, should it prove necessary, in force, the king rode forth as merrily as to a hunting party, drove in the scouts and pickets of the confederated armies, and, advancing still farther in his investigations, soon found himself attacked by a cavalry force of the enemy much superior to his own. a skirmish began, and it was necessary for the little troop to beat a hasty retreat, fighting as it ran. it was not long before henry was recognised by the enemy, and the chase became all the more lively; george basti, the famous albanian trooper, commanding the force which pressed most closely upon the king. the news spread to the camp of the league that the bearnese was the leader of the skirmishers. mayenne believed it, and urged the instant advance of the flying squadron and of the whole vanguard. farnese refused. it was impossible that the king should be there, he said, doing picket duty at the head of a company. it was a clumsy ambush to bring on a general engagement in the open field, and he was not to be drawn out of his trenches into a trap by such a shallow device. a french captain, who by command of henry had purposely allowed himself to be taken, informed his captors that the skirmishers were in reality supported by a heavy force of infantry. this suggestion of the ready bearnese confirmed the doubts of alexander. meantime the skirmishing steeplechase went on before his eyes. the king dashing down a hill received an arquebus shot in his side, but still rode for his life. lavardin and givry came to the rescue, but a panic seized their followers as the rumour flew that the king was mortally wounded--was already dead--so that they hardly brought a sufficient force to beat back the leaguers. givry's horse was soon killed under him, and his own thigh crushed; lavardin was himself dangerously wounded. the king was more hard pressed than ever, men were falling on every side of him, when four hundred french dragoons--as a kind of musketeers who rode on hacks to the scene of action but did their work on foot, were called at that day--now dismounted and threw themselves between henry and his pursuers. nearly every man of them laid down his life, but they saved the king's. their vigorous hand to hand fighting kept off the assailants until nevers and longueville received the king at the gates of aumale with a force before which the leaguers were fain to retreat as rapidly as they had come. in this remarkable skirmish of aumale the opposite qualities of alexander and of henry were signally illustrated. the king, by his constitutional temerity, by his almost puerile love of confronting danger for the danger's sake, was on the verge of sacrificing himself with all the hopes of his house and of the nobler portion of his people for an absolute nothing; while the duke, out of his superabundant caution, peremptorily refused to stretch out his hand and seize the person of his great enemy when directly within his, grasp. dead or alive, the bearnese was unquestionably on that day in the power of farnese, and with him the whole issue of the campaign and of the war. never were the narrow limits that separate valour on the one side and discretion on the other from unpardonable lunacy more nearly effaced than on that occasion.' when would such an opportunity occur again? the king's wound proved not very dangerous, although for many days troublesome, and it required, on account of his general state of health, a thorough cure. meantime the royalists fell back from aumale and neufchatel, both of which places were at once occupied by the leaguers: in pursuance of his original plan, the duke of parma advanced with his customary steadiness and deliberation towards rouen. it was his intention to assault the king's army in its entrenchments in combination with a determined sortie to be made by the besieged garrison. his preparations for the attack were ready on the th february, when he suddenly received a communication from de villars, who had thus far most ably and gallantly conducted the defence of the place, informing him that it was no longer necessary to make a general attack. on the day before he had made a sally from the four gates of the city, had fallen upon the besiegers in great force, had wounded biron and killed six hundred of his soldiers, had spiked several pieces of artillery and captured others which he had successfully brought into the town, and had in short so damaged the enemy's works and disconcerted him in all his plans, that he was confident of holding the place longer than the king could afford to stay in front of him. all he wished was a moderate reinforcement of men and munitions. farnese by no means sympathized with the confident tone of villars nor approved of his proposition. he had come to relieve rouen and to raise the siege, and he preferred to do his work thoroughly. mayenne was however most heartily in favour of taking the advice of villars. he urged that it was difficult for the bearnese to keep an army long in the field, still more so in the trenches. let them provide for the immediate wants of the city; then the usual process of decomposition would soon be witnessed in the ill-paid, ill-fed, desultory forces of the heretic pretender. alexander deferred to the wishes of mayenne, although against his better judgment. eight hundred infantry, were successfully sent into rouen. the army of the league then countermarched into picardy near the confines of artois. they were closely followed by henry at the head of his cavalry, and lively skirmishes were of frequent occurrence. in a military point of view none of these affairs were of consequence, but there was one which partook at once of the comic and the pathetic. for it chanced that in a cavalry action of more than common vivacity the count chaligny found himself engaged in a hand to hand conflict with a very dashing swordsman, who, after dealing and receiving many severe blows, at last succeeded in disarming the count and taking him prisoner. it was the fortune of war, and, but a few days before, might have been the fate of the great henry himself. but chaligny's mortification at his captivity became intense when he discovered that the knight to whom he had surrendered was no other than the king's jester. that he, a chieftain of the holy league, the long-descended scion of the illustrious house of lorraine, brother of the great duke of mercoeur, should become the captive of a huguenot buffoon seemed the most stinging jest yet perpetrated since fools had come in fashion. the famous chicot--who was as fond of a battle as of a gibe, and who was almost as reckless a rider as his master--proved on this occasion that the cap and bells could cover as much magnanimity as did the most chivalrous crest. although desperately wounded in the struggle which had resulted in his triumph, he generously granted to the count his freedom without ransom. the proud lorrainer returned to his leaguers and the poor fool died afterwards of his wounds. the army of the allies moved through picardy towards the confines of artois, and sat down leisurely to beleaguer rue, a low-lying place on the banks and near the mouth of the somme, the only town in the province which still held for the king. it was sufficiently fortified to withstand a good deal of battering, and it certainly seemed mere trifling for the great duke of parma to leave the netherlands in such confusion, with young maurice of nassau carrying everything before him, and to come all the way into normandy in order, with the united armies of spain and the league, to besiege the insignificant town of rue. and this was the opinion of farnese, but he had chosen throughout the campaign to show great deference to the judgment of mayenne. meantime the month of march wore away, and what had been predicted came to pass. henry's forces dwindled away as usual. his cavaliers rode off to forage for themselves, when their battles were denied them, and the king was now at the head of not more than sixteen thousand foot and five thousand horse. on the other hand the leaguers' army had been melting quite as rapidly. with the death of pope sfondrato, his nephew montemarciano had disappeared with his two thousand swiss; while the french cavalry and infantry, ill-fed and uncomfortable, were diminishing daily. especially the walloons, flemings, and other netherlanders of parma's army, took advantage of their proximity to the borders and escaped in large numbers to their own homes. it was but meagre and profitless campaigning on both sides during those wretched months of winter and early spring, although there was again an opportunity for sir roger williams, at the head of two hundred musketeers and one hundred and fifty pikemen, to make one of his brilliant skirmishes under the eye of the bearnese. surprised and without armour, he jumped, in doublet and hose, on horseback, and led his men merrily against five squadrons of spanish and italian horse, and six companies of spanish infantry; singled out and unhorsed the leader of the spanish troopers, and nearly cut off the head, of the famous albanian chief george basti with one swinging blow of his sword. then, being reinforced by some other english companies, he succeeded in driving the whole body of italians and spaniards, with great loss, quite into their entrenchments. "the king doth commend him very highly," said umton, "and doth more than wonder at the valour of our nation. i never heard him give more honour to any service nor to any man than he doth to sir roger williams and the rest, whom he held as lost men, and for which he has caused public thanks to be given to god." at last villars, who had so peremptorily rejected assistance at the end of february, sent to say that if he were not relieved by the middle of april he should be obliged to surrender the city. if the siege were not raised by the twentieth of the month he informed parma, to his profound astonishment, that rouen would be in henry's hands. in effecting this result the strict blockade maintained by the dutch squadron at the mouth of the river, and the resolute manner in which those cruisers dashed at every vessel attempting to bring relief to rouen, were mainly instrumental. as usual with the stern hollanders and zeelanders when engaged at sea with the spaniards, it was war to the knife. early in april twelve large vessels, well armed and manned, attempted to break the blockade. a combat ensued, at the end of which eight of the spanish ships were captured, two were sunk, and two were set on fire in token of victory, every man on board of all being killed and thrown into the sea. queen elizabeth herself gave the first news of this achievement to the dutch envoy in london. "and in truth," said he, "her majesty expressed herself, in communicating these tidings, with such affection and extravagant joy to the glory and honour of our nation and men-of-war's-men, that it wonderfully delighted me, and did me good into my very heart to hear it from her." instantly farnese set himself to the work which, had he followed his own judgment, would already have been accomplished. henry with his cavalry had established himself at dieppe and arques, within a distance of five or six leagues from the infantry engaged in the siege of rouen. alexander saw the profit to be derived from the separation between the different portions of the enemy's forces, and marched straight upon the enemy's entrenchments. he knew the disadvantage of assailing a strongly fortified camp, but believed that by a well-concerted, simultaneous assault by villars from within and the leaguers from without, the king's forces would be compelled to raise the siege or be cut up in their trenches. but henry did not wait for the attack. he had changed his plan, and, for once in his life, substituted extreme caution for his constitutional temerity. neither awaiting the assault upon his entrenchments nor seeking his enemy in the open field, he ordered the whole camp to be broken up, and on the th of april raised the siege. farnese marched into rouen, where the leaguers were received with tumultuous joy, and this city, most important for the purposes of the league and for philip's ulterior designs, was thus wrested from the grasp just closing upon it. henry's main army now concentrated itself in the neighbourhood of dieppe, but the cavalry under his immediate superintendence continued to harass the leaguers. it was now determined to lay siege to caudebec, on the right bank of the seine, three leagues below rouen; the possession of this place by the enemy being a constant. danger and difficulty to rouen, whose supplies by the seine were thus cut off. alexander, as usual, superintended the planting of the batteries against the place. he had been suffering during the whole campaign with those dropsical ailments which were making life a torture to him; yet his indomitable spirit rose superior to his physical disorders, and he wrought all day long on foot or on horseback, when he seemed only fit to be placed on his bed as a rapid passage to his grave. on this occasion, in company with the italian engineer properzio, he had been for some time examining with critical nicety the preliminaries, for the siege, when it was suddenly observed by those around him that he was growing pale. it then appeared that he had received a musket-ball between the wrist and the elbow, and had been bleeding profusely; but had not indicated by a word or the movement of a muscle that he had been wounded, so intent was he upon carrying out the immediate task to which he had set himself. it was indispensable, however, that he should now take to his couch. the wound was not trifling, and to one in his damaged and dropsical condition it was dangerous. fever set in, with symptoms of gangrene, and it became necessary to entrust the command of the league to mayenne. but it was hardly concealed from parma that the duke was playing a double game. prince ranuccio, according to his father's express wish, was placed provisionally at the head of the flemish forces. this was conceded; however, with much heart-burning, and with consequences easily to be imagined. meantime caudebec fell at once. henry did nothing to relieve it, and the place could offer but slight resistance to the force arrayed against it. the bulk of the king's army was in the neighbourhood of dieppe, where they had been recently strengthened by twenty companies of netherlanders and scotchmen brought by count philip nassau. the league's headquarters were in the village of yvetot, capital of the realm of the whimsical little potentate so long renowned under that name. the king, in pursuance of the plan he had marked out for himself, restrained his skirmishing more than was his wont. nevertheless he lay close to yvetot. his cavalry, swelling and falling as usual like an alpine torrent, had now filled up its old channels again, for once more the mountain chivalry had poured themselves around their king. with ten thousand horsemen he was now pressing the leaguers, from time to time, very hard, and on one occasion the skirmishing became so close and so lively that a general engagement seemed imminent. young ranuccio had a horse shot under him, and his father--suffering as he was--had himself dragged out of bed and brought on a litter into the field, where he was set on horseback, trampling on wounds and disease, and, as it were, on death itself, that he might by his own unsurpassed keenness of eye and quickness of resource protect the army which had been entrusted to his care. the action continued all day; young bentivoglio, nephew of the famous cardinal, historian and diplomatist, receiving a bad wound in the leg, as he fought gallantly at the side of ranuccio. carlo coloma also distinguished himself in the engagement. night separated the combatants before either side had gained a manifest advantage, and on the morrow it seemed for the interest of neither to resume the struggle. the field where this campaign was to be fought was a narrow peninsula enclosed between the sea and the rivers seine and dieppe. in this peninsula, called the land of caux, it was henry's intention to shut up his enemy. farnese had finished the work that he had been sent to do, and was anxious, as henry was aware, to return to the netherlands. rouen was relieved, caudebec had fallen. there was not food or forage enough in the little peninsula to feed both the city and the whole army of the league. shut up in this narrow area, alexander must starve or surrender. his only egress was into picardy and so home to artois, through the base of the isosceles triangle between the two rivers and on the borders of picardy. on this base henry had posted his whole army. should farnese assail him, thus provided with a strong position and superiority of force, defeat was certain. should he remain where he was, he must inevitably starve. he had no communications with the outside. the hollanders lay with their ships below caudebec, blockading the river's mouth and the coast. his only chance of extrication lay across the seine. but alexander was neither a bird nor a fish, and it was necessary, so henry thought, to be either the one or the other to cross that broad, deep, and rapid river, where there were no bridges, and where the constant ebb and flow of the tide made transportation almost impossible in face of a powerful army in rear and flank. farnese's situation seemed, desperate; while the shrewd bearnese sat smiling serenely, carefully watching at the mouth of the trap into which he had at last inveigled his mighty adversary. secure of his triumph, he seemed to have changed his nature, and to have become as sedate and wary as, by habit, he was impetuous and hot. and in truth farnese found himself in very narrow quarters. there was no hay for his horses, no bread for his men. a penny loaf was sold for two shillings. a jug of water was worth a crown. as for meat or wine, they were hardly to be dreamed of. his men were becoming furious at their position. they had enlisted to fight, not to starve, and they murmured that it was better for an army to fall with weapons in its hands than to drop to pieces hourly with the enemy looking on and enjoying their agony. it was obvious to farnese that there were but two ways out of his dilemma. he might throw himself upon henry--strongly entrenched as he was, and with much superior forces to his own, upon ground deliberately chosen for himself--defeat him utterly, and march over him back to the netherlands. this would be an agreeable result; but the undertaking seemed difficult, to say the least. or he might throw his army across the seine and make his escape through the isle of france and southern picardy back to the so-called obedient provinces. but it seemed, hopeless without bridges or pontoons to attempt the passage of the seine. there was; however, no time left, for hesitation. secretly he took his resolution and communicated it in strict confidence to mayenne, to ranuccio, and to one or two other chiefs. he came to caudebec, and there, close to the margin of the river, he threw up a redoubt. on the opposite bank, he constructed another. on both he planted artillery, placing a force of eight hundred netherlanders under count bossu in the one, and an equal number of the same nation, walloons chiefly, under barlotte in the other. he collected all the vessels, flatboats,--wherries,--and rafts that could be found or put together at rouen, and then under cover of his forts he transported all the flemish infantry, and the spanish, french, and italian cavalry, during the night of nd may to the may, opposite bank of the seine. next morning he sent up all the artillery together with the flemish cavalry to rouen, where, making what use he could by temporary contrivances of the broken arches of the broken bridge, in order to shorten the distance from shore to shore, he managed to convey his whole army with all its trains across the river. a force was left behind, up to the last moment, to engage in the customary skirmishes, and to display themselves as largely as possible for the purpose of imposing upon the enemy. the young prince of parma had command of this rearguard. the device was perfectly successful. the news of the movement was not brought to the ears of henry until after it had been accomplished. when the king reached the shore of the seine, he saw to his infinite chagrin and indignation that the last stragglers of the army, including the garrison of the fort on the right bank, were just ferrying themselves across under command of ranuccio. furious with disappointment, he brought some pieces of artillery to bear upon the triumphant fugitives. not a shot told, and the leaguers had the satisfaction of making a bonfire in the king's face of the boats which had brought them over. then, taking up their line of march rapidly inland, they placed themselves completely out of the reach of the huguenot guns. henry had a bridge at pont de l'arche, and his first impulse was to pursue with his cavalry, but it was obvious that his infantry could never march by so circuitous a route fast enough to come up with the enemy, who had already so prodigious a stride in advance. there was no need to disguise it to himself. henry saw himself for the second time out-generalled by the consummate farnese. the trap was broken, the game had given him the slip. the manner in which the duke had thus extricated himself from a profound dilemma; in which his fortunes seemed hopelessly sunk, has usually been considered one of the most extraordinary exploits of his life. precisely at this time, too, ill news reached henry from brittany and the neighbouring country. the princes conti and dombes had been obliged, on the th may, , to raise the siege of craon, in consequence of the advance of the duke of mercoeur, with a force of seven thousand men. they numbered, including lanzknechts and the english contingent, about half as many, and before they could effect their retreat, were attacked by mercoeur, and utterly routed. the english, who alone stood to their colours, were nearly all cut to pieces. the rest made a disorderly retreat, but were ultimately, with few exceptions, captured or slain. the duke, following up his victory, seized chateau gontier and la val, important crossing places on the river mayenne, and laid siege to mayenne, capital city of that region. the panic, spreading through brittany and maine, threatened the king's cause there with complete overthrow, hampered his operations in normandy, and vastly encouraged the leaguers. it became necessary for henry to renounce his designs upon rouen, and the pursuit of parma, and to retire to vernon, there to occupy himself with plans for the relief of brittany. in vain had the earl of essex, whose brother had already been killed in the campaign, manifested such headlong gallantry in that country as to call forth the sharpest rebukes from the admiring but anxious elizabeth. the handful of brave englishmen who had been withdrawn from the netherlands, much to the dissatisfaction of the states-general, in order to defend the coasts of brittany, would have been better employed under maurice of nassau. so soon as the heavy news reached the king, the faithful umton was sent for. "he imparted the same unto me," said the envoy, "with extraordinary passion and discontent. he discoursed at large of his miserable estate, of the factions of his servants, and of their ill-dispositions, and then required my opinion touching his course for brittan, as also what further aid he might expect from her majesty; alleging that unless he were presently strengthened by england it was impossible for him, longer to resist the greatness of the king of spain, who assailed his country by brittany, languedoc, the low countries by the duke of saxony and the duke of lorraine, and so ended his speech passionately." thus adjured, sir henry spoke to the king firmly but courteously, reminding him how, contrary to english advice, he had followed other counsellors to the neglect of brittany, and had broken his promises to the queen. he concluded by urging him to advance into that country in person, but did not pledge himself on behalf of her majesty to any further assistance. "to this," said umton, "the king gave a willing ear, and replied, with many thanks, and without disallowing of anything that i alleged, yielding many excuses of his want of means, not of disposition, to provide a remedy, not forgetting to acknowledge her majesty's care of him and his country, and especially of brittany, excusing much the bad disposition of his counsellors, and inclining much to my motion to go in person thither, especially because he might thereby give her majesty better satisfaction; . . . . and protesting that he would either immediately himself make war there in those parts or send an army thither. i do not doubt," added the ambassador, "but with good handling her majesty may now obtain any reasonable matter for the conservation of brittany, as also for a place of retreat for the english, and i urge continually the yielding of brest into her majesty's hands, whereunto i find the king well inclined, if he might bring it to pass." alexander passed a few days in paris, where he was welcomed with much cordiality, recruiting his army for a brief period in the land of brie, and then--broken in health but entirely successful--he dragged himself once more to spa to drink the waters. he left an auxiliary force with mayenne, and promised--infinitely against his own wishes--to obey his master's commands and return again before the winter to do the league's work. and thus alexander had again solved a difficult problem. he had saved for his master and for the league the second city of france and the whole coast of normandy. rouen had been relieved in masterly manner even as paris had been succoured the year before. he had done this, although opposed by the sleepless energy and the exuberant valour of the quick-witted navarre, and although encumbered by the assistance of the ponderous duke of mayenne. his military reputation, through these two famous reliefs and retreats, grew greater than ever. no commander of the age was thought capable of doing what he had thus done. yet, after all, what had he accomplished? did he not feel in his heart of hearts that he was but a strong and most skilful swimmer struggling for a little while against an ocean-tide which was steadily sweeping him and his master and all their fortunes far out into the infinite depths? something of this breathed ever in his most secret utterances. but, so long as life was in him, his sword and his genius were at the disposal of his sovereign, to carry out a series of schemes as futile as they were nefarious. for us, looking back upon the past, which was then the future, it is easy to see how remorselessly the great current of events was washing away the system and the personages seeking to resist its power and to oppose the great moral principles by which human affairs in the long run are invariably governed. spain and rome were endeavouring to obliterate the landmarks of race, nationality, historical institutions, and the tendencies of awakened popular conscience, throughout christendom, and to substitute for them a dead level of conformity to one regal and sacerdotal despotism. england, holland, the navarre party in france, and a considerable part of germany were contending for national unity and independence, for vested and recorded rights. much farther than they themselves or their chieftains dreamed those millions of men were fighting for a system of temperate human freedom; for that emancipation under just laws from arbitrary human control, which is the right--however frequently trampled upon--of all classes, conditions, and races of men; and for which it is the instinct of the human race to continue to struggle under every disadvantage, and often against all hope, throughout the ages, so long as the very principle of humanity shall not be extinguished in those who have been created after their maker's image. it may safely be doubted whether the great queen, the bearnese, alexander farnese, or his master, with many of their respective adherents, differed very essentially from each other in their notions of the right divine and the right of the people. but history has shown us which of them best understood the spirit of the age, and had the keenest instinct to keep themselves in the advance by moving fastest in the direction whither it was marshalling all men. there were many, earnest, hard-toiling men in those days, men who believed in the work to which they devoted their lives. perhaps, too, the devil-worshippers did their master's work as strenuously and heartily as any, and got fame and pelf for their pains. fortunately, a good portion of what they so laboriously wrought for has vanished into air; while humanity has at least gained something from those who deliberately or instinctively conformed themselves to her eternal laws. etext editor's bookmarks: anatomical study of what has ceased to exist artillery bomb-shells were not often used although known for a century court fatigue, to scorn pleasure for us, looking back upon the past, which was then the future hardly an inch of french soil that had not two possessors holy institution called the inquisition inevitable fate of talking castles and listening ladies life of nations and which we call the past often necessary to be blind and deaf picturesqueness of crime royal plans should be enforced adequately or abandoned entirely toil and sacrifices of those who have preceded us use of the spade utter disproportions between the king's means and aims valour on the one side and discretion on the other walk up and down the earth and destroy his fellow-creatures we have the reputation of being a good housewife weapons history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter xxvi. return of prince maurice to the siege of steenwyck--capitulation of the besieged--effects of the introduction of mining operations-- maurice besieges coeworden--verdugo attempts to relieve the city, but fails--the city capitulates, and prince maurice retreats into winter quarters. while farnese had thus been strengthening the bulwarks of philip's universal monarchy in that portion of his proposed french dominions which looked towards england, there had been opportunity for prince maurice to make an assault upon the frisian defences of this vast realm. it was difficult to make half europe into one great spanish fortification, guarding its every bastion and every point of the curtain, without far more extensive armaments than the "great king," as the leaguers proposed that philip should entitle himself, had ever had at his disposal. it might be a colossal scheme to stretch the rod of empire over so large a portion of the earth, but the dwarfish attempts to carry the design into execution hardly reveal the hand of genius. it is astonishing to contemplate the meagre numbers and the slender funds with which this world-empire was to be asserted and maintained. the armies arrayed at any important point hardly exceeded a modern division or two; while the resources furnished for a year would hardly pay in later days for a few weeks' campaign. when alexander, the first commander of his time, moved out of flanders into france with less than twenty thousand men, he left most vital portions of his master's hereditary dominions so utterly unprotected that it was possible to attack them with a handful of troops. the young disciple of simon stevinus now resumed that practical demonstration of his principles which had been in the previous year so well begun. on the th may, , maurice, taking the field with six thousand foot and two thousand horse, came once more before steenwyck. it will be remembered that he had been obliged to relinquish the siege of this place in order to confront the duke of parma in july, , at nymegen. the city--very important from its position, being the key to the province of drenthe as well as one of the safeguards of friesland--had been besieged in vain by count renneberg after his treasonable surrender of groningen, of which he was governor, to the spaniards, but had been subsequently surprised by tassis. since that time it had held for the king. its fortifications were strong, and of the best description known at that day. its regular garrison was sixteen companies of foot and some cavalry under antoine de quocqueville, military governor. besides these troops were twelve hundred walloon infantry, commanded by lewis, youngest count van den berg, a brave lad of eighteen years, with whom were the lord of waterdyck and other netherland nobles. to the military student the siege may possess importance as marking a transitional epoch in the history of the beleaguering science. to the general reader, as in most of the exploits of the young poliorcetes, its details have but slender interest. perhaps it was here that the spade first vindicated its dignity, and entitled itself to be classed as a military weapon of value along with pike and arquebus. it was here that the soldiers of maurice, burrowing in the ground at ten stuyvers a day, were jeered at by the enemy from the battlements as boors and ditchers, who had forfeited their right to be considered soldiers--but jeered at for the last time. from th may to th june the prince was occupied in throwing up earthworks on the low grounds in order to bring his guns into position. on the th june he began to batter with forty-five pieces, but effected little more than to demolish some of the breast-works. he threw hot shot into the town very diligently, too, but did small damage. the cannonading went on for nearly a week, but the practice was so very indifferent--notwithstanding the protection of the blessed barbara and the tuition of the busmasters--that the besieged began to amuse themselves with these empty and monotonous salvos of the honourable artillery guild. when all this blazing and thundering had led to no better result than to convert a hundred thousand good flemish florins into noise and smoke, the thrifty netherlanders on both sides of the walls began to disparage the young general's reputation. after all, they said, the spaniards were right when they called artillery mere 'espanta-vellacos' or scare-cowards. this burrowing and bellowing must at last give place to the old-fashioned push of pike, and then it would be seen who the soldiers were. observations like these were freely made under a flag of truce; for on the th june--notwithstanding their contempt for the 'espanta-vellacos'--the besieged had sent out a deputation to treat for an honourable surrender. maurice entertained the negotiators hospitably in his own tent, but the terms suggested to him were inadmissible. nothing came of the conference therefore but mutual criticisms, friendly enough, although sufficiently caustic. maurice now ceased cannonading, and burrowed again for ten days without interruption. four mines, leading to different points of the defences, were patiently constructed, and two large chambers at the terminations, neatly finished off and filled respectively with five thousand and twenty-five hundred pounds of powder, were at last established under two of the principal bastions. during all this digging there had been a couple of sorties in which the besieged had inflicted great damage on their enemy, and got back into the town with a few prisoners, having lost but six of their own men. sir francis vere had been severely wounded in the leg, so that he was obliged to keep his bed during the rest of the siege. verdugo, too, had made a feeble attempt to reinforce the place with three hundred men, sixty or seventy of whom had entered, while the rest had been killed or captured. on such a small scale was philip's world-empire contended for by his stadholder in friesland; yet it was certainly not the fault of the stout old portuguese. verdugo would rather have sent thirty thousand men to save the front door of his great province than three hundred. but every available man--and few enough of them they were--had been sent out of the netherlands, to defend the world-empire in its outposts of normandy and brittany. this was philip the prudent's system for conquering the world, and men looked upon him as the consummation of kingcraft. on the rd july maurice ordered his whole force to be in readiness for the assault. the mines were then sprung. the bastion of the east gate was blown to ruins. the mine under the gast-huys bulwark, burst outwardly, and buried alive many hollanders standing ready for the assault. at this untoward accident maurice hesitated to give the signal for storming the breach, but the panic within the town was so evident that lewis william lost no time in seizing the overthrown eastern bulwark, from the ruins of which he looked over the whole city. the other broken bastion was likewise easily mastered, and the besieged, seeing the storm about to burst upon them with irresistible fury, sent a trumpet. meantime maurice, inspecting the effects of the explosion and preparing for the assault, had been shot through the left cheek. the wound was not dangerous, and the prince extracted the bullet with his own hand, but the change of half an inch would have made it fatal. he was not incapacitated--after his wound had been dressed, amidst the remonstrances of his friends for his temerity-from listening to the propositions of the city. they were refused, for the prince was sure of having his town on his own terms. next day he permitted the garrison to depart; the officers and soldiers promising not to serve the king of spain on the netherland side of the rhine for six months. they were to take their baggage, but to leave arms, flags, munitions, and provisions. both maurice and lewis william were for insisting on sterner conditions, but the states' deputies and members of the council who were present, as usual, in camp urged the building of the golden bridge. after all, a fortified city, the second in importance after groningen of all those regions, was the real prize contended for. the garrison was meagre and much reduced during the siege. the fortifications, of masonry and earthwork combined, were nearly as strong as ever. saint barbara had done them but little damage, but the town itself was in a sorry plight. churches and houses were nearly all shot to pieces, and the inhabitants had long been dwelling in the cellars. two hundred of the garrison remained, severely wounded, in the town; three hundred and fifty had been killed, among others the young cousin of the nassaus, count lewis van den berg. the remainder of the royalists marched out, and were treated with courtesy by maurice, who gave them an escort, permitting the soldiers to retain their side-arms, and furnishing horses to the governor. in the besieging army five or six hundred had been killed and many wounded, but not in numbers bearing the same proportion to the slain as in modern battles. the siege had lasted forty-four days. when it was over, and men came out from the town to examine at leisure the prince's camp and his field of operations, they were astounded at the amount of labor performed in so short a time. the oldest campaigners confessed that they never before had understood what a siege really was, and they began to conceive a higher respect for the art of the engineer than they had ever done before. "even those who were wont to rail at science and labour," said one who was present in the camp of maurice, "declared that the siege would have been a far more arduous undertaking had it not been for those two engineers, joost matthes of alost, and jacob kemp of gorcum. it is high time to take from soldiers the false notion that it is shameful to work with the spade; an error which was long prevalent among the netherlanders, and still prevails among the french, to the great detriment of the king's affairs, as may be seen in his sieges." certainly the result of henry's recent campaign before rouen had proved sufficiently how much better it would have been for him had there been some dutch joosts and jacobs with their picks and shovels in his army at that critical period. they might perhaps have baffled parma as they had done verdugo. without letting the grass grow under his feet, maurice now led his army from steenwyck to zwol and arrived on the th july before coeworden. this place, very strong by art and still stronger by-nature, was the other key to all north netherland--friesland, groningen, and drenthe. should it fall into the hands of the republic it would be impossible for the spaniards to retain much longer the rich and important capital of all that country, the city of groningen. coeworden lay between two vast morasses, one of which--the bourtange swamp--extended some thirty miles to the bay of the dollart; while the other spread nearly as far in a westerly direction to the zuyder zee. thus these two great marshes were a frame--an almost impassable barrier--by which the northern third of the whole territory of the republic was encircled and defended. throughout this great morass there was not a hand-breadth of solid ground--not a resting-place for a human foot, save the road which led through coeworden. this passage lay upon a natural deposit of hard, dry sand, interposed as if by a caprice of nature between the two swamps; and was about half a mile in width. the town itself was well fortified, and verdugo had been recently strengthening the position with additional earthworks. a thousand veterans formed the garrison under command of another van den berg, the count frederic. it was the fate of these sister's-children of the great founder of the republic to serve the cause of foreign despotism with remarkable tenacity against their own countrymen, and against their nearest blood relations. on many conspicuous occasions they were almost as useful to spain and the inquisition as the son and nearly all the other kinsmen of william the silent had rendered themselves to the cause of holland and of freedom. having thoroughly entrenched his camp before coeworden and begun the regular approaches, maurice left his cousin lewis william to superintend the siege operations for the moment, and advanced towards ootmarsum, a frontier town which might give him trouble if in the hands of a relieving force. the place fell at once, with the loss of but one life to the states army, but that a very valuable one; general de famars, one of the original signers of the famous compromise; and a most distinguished soldier of the republic, having been killed before the gates. on the st july, maurice returned to his entrenchments. the enemy professed unbounded confidence; van den berg not doubting that he should be relieved by verdugo, and verdugo being sure that van den berg would need no relief. the portuguese veteran indeed was inclined to wonder at maurice's presumption in attacking so impregnable a fortress. "if coeworden does not hold," said he, "there is no place in the world that can hold." count peter ernest, was still acting as governor-general for alexander farnese, on returning from his second french campaign, had again betaken himself, shattered and melancholy, to the waters of spa, leaving the responsibility for netherland affairs upon the german octogenarian. to him; and to the nonagenarian mondragon at antwerp, the veteran verdugo now called loudly for aides against the youthful pedant, whom all men had been laughing at a twelvemonth or so before. the macedonian phalanx, simon stevinus and delving dutch boors--unworthy of the name of soldiers--seemed to be steadily digging the ground from under philip's feet in his hereditary domains. what would become of the world-empire, where was the great king--not of spain alone, nor of france alone--but the great monarch of all christendom, to plant his throne securely, if his frisian strongholds, his most important northern outposts, were to fall before an almost beardless youth at the head of a handful of republican militia? verdugo did his best, but the best was little. the spanish and italian legions had been sent out of the netherlands into france. many had died there, many were in hospital after their return, nearly all the rest were mutinous for want of pay. on the th august, maurice formally summoned coeworden to surrender. after the trumpeter had blown thrice; count van den berg, forbidding all others, came alone upon the walls and demanded his message. "to claim this city in the name of prince maurice of nassau and of the states-general," was the reply. "tell him first to beat down my walls as flat as the ditch," said van den berg, "and then to bring five or six storms. six months after that i will think whether i will send a trumpet." the prince proceeded steadily with his approaches, but he was infinitely chagrined by the departure out of his camp of sir francis vere with his english contingent of three regiments, whom queen elizabeth had peremptorily ordered to the relief of king henry in brittany. nothing amazes the modern mind so much as the exquisite paucity of forces and of funds by which the world-empire was fought for and resisted in france, holland, spain, and england. the scenes of war were rapidly shifted--almost like the slides of a magic-lantern--from one country to another; the same conspicuous personages, almost the same individual armies, perpetually re-appearing in different places, as if a wild phantasmagoria were capriciously repeating itself to bewilder the imagination. essex, and vere, and roger williams, and black norris-van der does, and admiral nassau, the meetkerks and count philip-farnese and mansfeld, george basti, arenberg, berlaymont, la none and teligny, aquila and coloma--were seen alternately fighting, retreating, triumphant, beleaguering, campaigning all along the great territory which extends from the bay of biscay to the crags of brittany, and across the narrow seas to the bogs of ireland, and thence through the plains of picardy and flanders to the swamps of groningen and the frontiers of the rhine. this was the arena in which the great struggle was ever going on, but the champions were so few in number that their individual shapes become familiar to us like the figures of an oft-repeated pageant. and now the withdrawal of certain companies of infantry and squadrons of cavalry from the spanish armies into france, had left obedient netherland too weak to resist rebellious netherland, while, on the other hand, the withdrawal of some twenty or thirty companies of english auxiliaries--most hard-fighting veterans it is true, but very few in number--was likely to imperil the enterprise of maurice in friesland. the removal of these companies from the low countries to strengthen the bearnese in the north of france, formed the subject of much bitter diplomatic conference between the states and england; the order having been communicated by the great queen herself in many a vehement epistle and caustic speech, enforced by big, manly oaths. verdugo, although confident in the strength of the place, had represented to parma and to mansfeld the immense importance of relieving coeworden. the city, he said, was more valuable than all the towns taken the year before. all friesland hung upon it, and it would be impossible to save groningen should coeworden fall. meantime count philip nassau arrived from the campaign in france with his three regiments which he threw into garrison, and thus set free an equal number of fresh troops, which were forthwith sent to the camp of maurice. the prince at the same time was made aware that verdugo was about to receive important succour, and he was advised by the deputies of the states-general present at his headquarters to send out his german reiters to intercept them. maurice refused. should his cavalry be defeated, he said, his whole army would be endangered. he determined to await within his fortified camp the attack of the relieving force. during the whole month of august he proceeded steadily with his sapping and mining. by the middle of the month his lines had come through the ditch, which he drained of water into the counterscarp. by the beginning of september he had got beneath the principal fort, which, in the course of three or four days, he expected to blow into the air. the rainy weather had impeded his operations and the march of the relieving army. nevertheless that army was at last approaching. the regiments of mondragon, charles mansfeld, gonzaga, berlaymont, and arenberg had been despatched to reinforce verdugo. on the rd august, having crossed the rhine at rheinberg, they reached olfen in the country of benthem, ten miles from coeworden. here they threw up rockets and made other signals that relief was approaching the town. on the rd of september verdugo, with the whole force at his disposal, amounting to four thousand foot and eighteen hundred horse, was at the village of emblichen, within a league of the besieged city. that night a peasant was captured with letters from verdugo to the governor of coeworden, giving information that he intended to make an assault on the besiegers on the night of th- th september. thus forewarned, maurice took the best precautions and calmly within his entrenchments awaited the onslaught. punctual to his appointment, verdugo with his whole force, yelling "victoria! victoria!" made a shirt-attack, or camiciata--the men wearing their shirts outside their armour to distinguish each other in the darkness--upon that portion of the camp which was under command of hohenlo. they were met with determination and repulsed, after fighting all night, with a loss of three hundred killed and a proportionate number of wounded. the netherlanders had but three killed and six wounded. among the latter, however, was lewis william, who received a musket-ball in the belly, but remained on the ground until the enemy had retreated. it was then discovered that his wound was not mortal--the intestines not having been injured--and he was soon about his work again. prince maurice, too, as usual, incurred the remonstrances of the deputies and others for the reckless manner in which he exposed himself wherever the fire was hottest he resolutely refused, however, to permit his cavalry to follow the retreating enemy. his object was coeworden--a prize more important than a new victory over the already defeated spaniards would prove--and this object he kept ever before his eyes. this was verdugo's first and last attempt to relieve the city. he had seen enough of the young prince's tactics and had no further wish to break his teeth against those scientific entrenchments. the spaniards at last, whether they wore their shirts inside or outside their doublets, could no longer handle the dutchmen at pleasure. that people of butter, as the iron duke of alva was fond of calling the netherlanders, were grown harder with the pressure of a twenty-five years' war. five days after the sanguinary 'camiciata' the besieged offered to capitulate. the trumpet at which the proud van den berg had hinted for six months later arrived on the th september. maurice was glad to get his town. his "little soldiers" did not insist, as the spaniards and italians were used to do in the good old days, on unlimited murder, rape, and fire, as the natural solace and reward of their labours in the trenches. civilization had made some progress, at least in the netherlands. maurice granted good terms, such as he had been in the habit of conceding to all captured towns. van den berg was courteously received by his cousins, as he rode forth from the place at the head of what remained of his garrison, five hundred in number, with colours flying, matches burning, bullet in mouth, and with all their arms and baggage except artillery and ammunition, and the heroic little lewis, notwithstanding the wound in his belly, got on horseback and greeted him with a cousinly welcome in the camp. the city was a most important acquisition, as already sufficiently set forth, but queen elizabeth, much misinformed on this occasion, was inclined to undervalue it. she wrote accordingly to the states, reproaching them for using all that artillery and that royal force against a mere castle and earthheap, instead of attempting some considerable capital, or going in force to the relief of brittany. the day was to come when she would acknowledge the advantage of not leaving this earth-heap in the hands of the spaniard. meantime, prince maurice--the season being so far advanced--gave the world no further practical lessons in the engineering science, and sent his troops into winter quarters. these were the chief military phenomena in france and flanders during three years of the great struggle to establish philip's universal dominion. chapter xxvii. negotiations between queen elizabeth and the states--aspect of affair between england and the netherlands--complaints of the hollanders on the piratical acts of the english--the dutch envoy and the english government--caron's interview with elizabeth--the queen promises redress of grievances. it is now necessary to cast a glance at certain negotiations on delicate topics which had meantime been occurring between queen elizabeth and the states. england and the republic were bound together by ties so close that it was impossible for either to injure the other without inflicting a corresponding damage on itself. nevertheless this very community of interest, combined with a close national relationship--for in the european family the netherlanders and english were but cousins twice removed--with similarity of pursuits, with commercial jealousy, with an intense and ever growing rivalry for that supremacy on the ocean towards which the monarchy and the republic were so earnestly struggling, with a common passion for civil and religious freedom, and with that inveterate habit of self-assertion--the healthful but not engaging attribute of all vigorous nations--which strongly marked them both, was rapidly producing an antipathy between the two countries which time was likely rather to deepen than efface. and the national divergences were as potent as the traits of resemblance in creating this antagonism. the democratic element was expanding itself in the republic so rapidly as to stifle for a time the oligarchical principle which might one day be developed out of the same matrix; while, despite the hardy and adventurous spirit which characterised the english nation throughout all its grades, there was never a more intensely aristocratic influence in the world than the governing and directing spirit of the england of that age. it was impossible that the courtiers of elizabeth and the burgher-statesmen of holland and friesland should sympathize with each other in sentiment or in manner. the republicans in their exuberant consciousness of having at last got rid of kings and kingly paraphernalia in their own, land--for since the rejection of the sovereignty offered to france and england in this feeling had become so predominant as to make it difficult to believe that those offers had been in reality so recent--were insensibly adopting a frankness, perhaps a roughness, of political and social demeanour which was far from palatable to the euphuistic formalists of other, countries. especially the english statesmen, trained to approach their sovereign with almost oriental humility, and accustomed to exact for themselves a large amount of deference, could ill brook the free and easy tone occasionally adopted in diplomatic and official intercourse by these upstart republicans. [the venetian ambassador contarin relates that in the reign of james i. the great nobles of england were served at table by lackeys on they knees.] a queen, who to loose morals, imperious disposition, and violent temper united as inordinate a personal vanity as was ever vouchsafed to woman, and who up to the verge of decrepitude was addressed by her courtiers in the language of love-torn swain to blooming shepherdess, could naturally find but little to her taste in the hierarchy of hans brewer and hans baker. thus her majesty and her courtiers, accustomed to the faded gallantries with which the serious affairs of state were so grotesquely intermingled, took it ill when they were bluntly informed, for instance, that the state council of the netherlands, negotiating on netherland affairs, could not permit a veto to the representatives of the queen, and that this same body of dutchmen discussing their own business insisted upon talking dutch and not latin. it was impossible to deny that the young stadholder was a gentleman of a good house, but how could the insolence of a common citizen like john of olden-barneveld be digested? it was certain that behind those shaggy, overhanging brows there was a powerful brain stored with legal and historic lore, which supplied eloquence to an ever-ready tongue and pen. yet these facts, difficult to gainsay, did not make the demands so frequently urged by the states-general upon the english government for the enforcement of dutch rights and the redress of english wrongs the more acceptable. bodley, gilpin, and the rest were in a chronic state of exasperation with the hollanders, not only because of their perpetual complaints, but because their complaints were perpetually just. the states-general were dissatisfied, all the netherlanders were dissatisfied--and not entirely without reason--that the english, with whom the republic was on terms not only of friendship but of alliance, should burn their ships on the high seas, plunder their merchants, and torture their sea-captains in order to extort information as to the most precious portions of their cargoes. sharp language against such malpractices was considered but proof of democratic vulgarity. yet it would be hard to maintain that martin frobisher, mansfield, grenfell, and the rest of the sea-kings, with all their dash and daring and patriotism, were not as unscrupulous pirates as ever sailed blue water, or that they were not apt to commit their depredations upon friend and foe alike. on the other hand; by a liberality of commerce in extraordinary contrast with the practice of modern times, the netherlanders were in the habit of trading directly with the arch-enemy of both holland and england, even in the midst of their conflict with him, and it was complained of that even the munitions of war and the implements of navigation by which spain had been enabled to effect its foot-hold in brittany, and thus to threaten the english coast, were derived from this very traffic. the hollanders replied, that, according to their contract with england, they were at liberty to send as many as forty or fifty vessels at a time to spain and portugal, that they had never exceeded the stipulated number, that england freely engaged in the same traffic herself with the common enemy, that it was not reasonable to consider cordage or dried fish or shooks and staves, butter, eggs, and corn as contraband of war, that if they were illegitimate the english trade was vitiated to the same degree, and that it would be utterly hopeless for the provinces to attempt to carry on the war, except by enabling themselves, through the widest and most unrestricted foreign commerce, even including the enemy's realms, to provide their nation with the necessary wealth to sustain so gigantic a conflict. here were ever flowing fountains of bitterest discussion and recrimination. it must be admitted however that there was occasionally an advantage in the despotic and summary manner in which the queen took matters into her own hands. it was refreshing to see this great sovereign--who was so well able to grapple with questions of state, and whose very imperiousness of temper impelled her to trample on shallow sophistries and specious technicalities--dealing directly with cases of piracy and turning a deaf ear to the counsellors, who in that, as in every age, were too prone to shove by international justice in order to fulfil municipal forms. it was, however, with much difficulty that the envoy of the republic was able to obtain a direct hearing from her majesty in order to press the long list of complaints on account of the english piratical proceedings upon her attention. he intimated that there seemed to be special reasons why the great ones about her throne were disposed to deny him access to the queen, knowing as they did in what intent he asked for interviews. they described in strong language the royal wrath at the opposition recently made by the states to detaching the english auxiliaries in the netherlands for the service of the french king in normandy, hoping thereby to deter him from venturing into her presence with a list of grievances on the part of his government. "i did my best to indicate the danger incurred by such transferring of troops at so critical a moment," said noel de canon, "showing that it was directly in opposition to the contract made with her majesty. but i got no answer save very high words from the lord treasurer, to the effect that the states-general were never willing to agree to any of her majesty's prepositions, and that this matter was as necessary to the states' service as to that of the french king. in effect, he said peremptorily that her majesty willed it and would not recede from her resolution." the envoy then requested an interview with the queen before her departure into the country. next day, at noon, lord burghley sent word that she was to leave between five and six o'clock that evening, and that the minister would be welcome meantime at any hour. "but notwithstanding that i presented myself," said caron, "at two o'clock in the afternoon, i was unable to speak to her majesty until a moment before she was about to mount her horse. her language was then very curt. she persisted in demanding her troops, and strongly expressed her dissatisfaction that we should have refused them on what she called so good an occasion for using them. i was obliged to cut my replies very short, as it was already between six and seven o'clock, and she was to ride nine english miles to the place where she was to pass the night. i was quite sensible, however; that the audience was arranged to be thus brief, in order that i should not be able to stop long enough to give trouble, and perhaps to find occasion to renew our complaints touching the plunderings and robberies committed upon us at sea. this is what some of the great personages here, without doubt, are afraid of, for they were wonderfully well overhauled in my last audience. i shall attempt to speak to her again before she goes very deep into the country." it was not however before the end of the year, after caron had made a voyage to holland and had returned, that he nov. was able to bring the subject thoroughly before her majesty. on the th november he had preliminary interviews with the lord high admiral and the lord treasurer at hampton court, where the queen was then residing. the plundering business was warmly discussed between himself and the admiral, and there was much quibbling and special pleading in defence of the practices which had created so much irritation and pecuniary loss in holland. there was a good deal of talk about want of evidence and conflict of evidence, which, to a man who felt as sure of the facts and of the law as the dutch envoy did--unless it were according to public law for one friend and, ally to plunder and burn the vessels of another friend and ally--was not encouraging as to the probable issue of his interview with her majesty. it would be tedious to report the conversation as fully as it was laid by noel de caron before the states-general; but at last the admiral expressed a hope that the injured parties would be able to make good their case. at any rate he assured the envoy that he would take care of captain mansfield for the present, who was in prison with two other captains, so that proceedings might be had against them if it was thought worth while. caron answered with dutch bluntness. "i recommended him very earnestly to do this," he said, "and told him roundly that this was by all means necessary for the sake of his own honour. otherwise no man could ever be made to believe that his excellency was not seeking to get his own profit out of the affair. but he vehemently swore and protested that this was not the case." he then went to the lord treasurer's apartment, where a long and stormy interview followed on the subject of the withdrawal of the english troops. caron warmly insisted that the measure had been full of danger, for the states; that they had been ordered out of prince maurice's camp at a most critical moment; that; had it not, been for the stallholder's promptness and military skill; very great disasters to the common cause must have ensued; and that, after all, nothing had been done by the contingent in any other field, for they had been for six months idle and sick, without ever reaching brittany at all. "the lord treasurer, who, contrary to his custom," said the envoy, "had been listening thus long to what i had to say, now observed that the states had treated her majesty very ill, that they had kept her running after her own troops nearly half a year, and had offered no excuse for their proceedings." it would be superfluous to repeat the arguments by which caron endeavoured to set forth that the english troops, sent to the netherlands according to a special compact, for a special service, and for a special consideration and equivalent, could not honestly be employed, contrary to the wishes of the states-general, upon a totally different service and in another country. the queen willed it, he was informed, and it was ill-treatment of her majesty on the part of the hollanders to oppose her will. this argument was unanswerable. soon afterwards, caron was admitted to the presence of elizabeth. he delivered, at first, a letter from the states-general, touching the withdrawal of the troops. the queen, instantly broke the seal and read the letter to the end. coming to the concluding passage, in which the states observed that they had great and just cause highly to complain on that subject, she paused, reading the sentences over twice or thrice, and then remarked: "truly these are comical people. i have so often been complaining that they refused to send my troops, and now the states complain that they are obliged to let them go. yet my intention is only to borrow them for a little while, because i can give my brother of france no better succour than by sending him these soldiers, and this i consider better than if i should send him four thousand men. i say again, i am only borrowing them, and surely the states ought never to make such complaints, when the occasion was such a favourable one, and they had received already sufficient aid from these troops, and had liberated their whole country. i don't comprehend these grievances. they complain that i withdraw my people, and meantime they are still holding them and have brought them ashore again. they send me frivolous excuses that the skippers don't know the road to my islands, which is, after all, as easy to find as the way to caen, for it is all one. i have also sent my own pilots; and i complain bitterly that by making this difficulty they will cause the loss of all brittany. they run with their people far away from me, and meantime they allow the enemy to become master of all the coasts lying opposite me. but if it goes badly with me they will rue it deeply themselves." there was considerable reason, even if there were but little justice, in this strain of remarks. her majesty continued it for some little time longer, and it is interesting to see the direct and personal manner in which this great princess handled the weightiest affairs of state. the transfer of a dozen companies of english infantry from friesland to brittany was supposed to be big with the fate of france, england, and the dutch republic, and was the subject of long and angry controversy, not as a contested point of principle, in regard to which numbers, of course, are nothing, but as a matter of practical and pressing importance. "her majesty made many more observations of this nature," said caron, "but without getting at all into a passion, and, in my opinion, her discourse was sensible, and she spoke with more moderation than she is wont at other times." the envoy then presented the second letter from the states-general in regard to the outrages inflicted on the dutch merchantmen. the queen read it at once, and expressed herself as very much displeased with her people. she said that she had received similar information from counsellor bodley, who had openly given her to understand that the enormous outrages which her people were committing at sea upon the netherlanders were a public scandal. it had made her so angry, she said, that she knew not which way to turn. she would take it in hand at once, for she would rather make oath never more to permit a single ship of war to leave her ports than consent to such thieveries and villanies. she told caron that he would do well to have his case in regard to these matters verified, and then to give it into her own hands, since otherwise it would all be denied her and she would find herself unable to get at the truth. "i have all the proofs and documents of the merchants by me," replied the envoy, "and, moreover, several of the sea-captains who have been robbed and outraged have come over with me, as likewise some merchants who were tortured by burning of the thumbs and other kinds of torments." this disturbed the queen very much, and she expressed her wish that caron should not allow himself to be put off with, delays by the council, but should insist upon all due criminal punishment, the infliction of which she promised in the strongest terms to order; for she could never enjoy peace of mind, she said; so long as such scoundrels were tolerated in her kingdom. the envoy had brought with him a summary of the cases, with the names of all the merchants interested, and a list of all the marks on the sacks of money which had been stolen. the queen looked over it very carefully, declaring it to be her intention that there should be no delays interposed in the conduct of this affair by forms of special pleading, but that speedy cognizance should be taken of the whole, and that the property should forthwith be restored. she then sent for sir robert cecil, whom she directed to go at once and tell his father, the lord treasurer, that he was to assist caron in this affair exactly as if it were her own. it was her intention, she said, that her people were in no wise to trouble the hollanders in legitimate mercantile pursuits. she added that it was not enough for her people to say that they had only been seizing spaniards' goods and money, but she meant that they should prove it, too, or else they should swing for it. caron assured her majesty that he had no other commission from his masters than to ask for justice, and that he had no instructions to claim spanish property or enemy's goods. he had brought sufficient evidence with him, he said, to give her majesty entire satisfaction. it is not necessary to pursue the subject any farther. the great nobles still endeavoured to interpose delays, and urged the propriety of taking the case before the common courts of law. carom strong in the support of the queen, insisted that it should be settled, as her majesty had commanded, by the council, and it was finally arranged that the judge of admiralty should examine the evidence on both sides, and then communicate the documents at once to the lord treasurer. meantime the money was to be deposited with certain aldermen of london, and the accused parties kept in prison. the ultimate decision was then to be made by the council, "not by form of process but by commission thereto ordained." in the course of the many interviews which followed between the dutch envoy and the privy counsellors, the lord admiral stated that an english merchant residing in the netherlands had sent to offer him a present of two thousand pounds sterling, in case the affair should be decided against the hollanders. he communicated the name of the individual to caron, under seal of secrecy, and reminded the lord treasurer that he too had seen the letter of the englishman. lord burghley observed that he remembered the fact that certain letters had been communicated to him by the lord admiral, but that he did not know from whence they came, nor anything about the person of the writer. the case of the plundered merchants was destined to drag almost as slowly before the council as it might have done in the ordinary tribunals, and caron was "kept running," as he expressed it, "from the court to london, and from london to the court," and it was long before justice was done to the sufferers. yet the energetic manner in which the queen took the case into her own hands, and the intense indignation with which she denounced the robberies and outrages which had been committed by her subjects upon her friends and allies, were effective in restraining such wholesale piracy in the future. on the whole, however, if the internal machinery is examined by which the masses of mankind were moved at epoch in various parts of christendom, we shall not find much reason to applaud the conformity of governments to the principles of justice, reason, or wisdom. etext editor's bookmarks: accustomed to the faded gallantries conformity of governments to the principles of justice considerable reason, even if there were but little justice disciple of simon stevinus self-assertion--the healthful but not engaging attribute history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , - chapter xxviii. influence of the rule and character of philip ii.--heroism of the sixteenth century--contest for the french throne--character and policy of the duke of mayenne--escape of the duke of guise from castle tours--propositions for the marriage of the infanta--plotting of the catholic party--grounds of philip's pretensions to the crown of france--motives of the duke of parma maligned by commander moreo --he justifies himself to the king--view of the private relations between philip and the duke of mayenne and their sentiments towards each other--disposition of the french politicians and soldiers towards philip--peculiar commercial pursuits of philip--confused state of affairs in france--treachery of philip towards the duke of parma--recall of the duke to spain--his sufferings and death. the people--which has been generally regarded as something naturally below its rulers, and as born to be protected and governed, paternally or otherwise, by an accidental selection from its own species, which by some mysterious process has shot up much nearer to heaven than itself--is often described as brutal, depraved, self-seeking, ignorant, passionate, licentious, and greedy. it is fitting, therefore, that its protectors should be distinguished, at great epochs of the world's history, by an absence of such objectionable qualities. it must be confessed, however, that if the world had waited for heroes--during the dreary period which followed the expulsion of something that was called henry iii. of france from the gates of his capital, and especially during the time that followed hard upon the decease of that embodiment of royalty--its axis must have ceased to turn for a long succession of years. the bearnese was at least alive, and a man. he played his part with consummate audacity and skill; but alas for an epoch or a country in which such a shape--notwithstanding all its engaging and even commanding qualities--looked upon as an incarnation of human greatness! but the chief mover of all things--so far as one man can be prime mover--was still the diligent scribe who lived in the escorial. it was he whose high mission it was to blow the bellows of civil war, and to scatter curses over what had once been the smiling abodes of human creatures, throughout the leading countries of christendom. the throne of france was vacant, nominally as well as actually, since--the year . during two-and-twenty years preceding that epoch he had scourged the provinces, once constituting the richest and most enlightened portions of his hereditary domains, upon the theory that without the spanish inquisition no material prosperity was possible on earth, nor any entrance permitted to the realms of bliss beyond the grave. had every netherlander consented to burn his bible, and to be burned himself should he be found listening to its holy precepts if read to him in shop, cottage, farm-house, or castle; and had he furthermore consented to renounce all the liberal institutions which his ancestors had earned, in the struggle of centuries, by the sweat of their brows and the blood of, their hearts; his benignant proprietor and master, who lived at the ends of the earth, would have consented at almost any moment to peace. his arms were ever open. let it not be supposed that this is the language of sarcasm or epigram. stripped of the decorous sophistication by which human beings are so fond of concealing their naked thoughts from each other, this was the one simple dogma always propounded by philip. grimace had done its worst, however, and it was long since it had exercised any power in the netherlands. the king and the dutchmen understood each other; and the plain truths with which those republicans answered the imperial proffers of mediation, so frequently renewed, were something new, and perhaps not entirely unwholesome in diplomacy. it is not an inviting task to abandon the comparatively healthy atmosphere of the battle-field, the blood-stained swamp, the murderous trench--where human beings, even if communing only by bullets and push of pike, were at least dealing truthfully with each other--and to descend into those subterranean regions where the effluvia of falsehood becomes almost too foul for ordinary human organisation. heroes in those days, in any country, there were few. william the silent was dead. de la noue was dead. duplessis-mornay was living, but his influence over his royal master was rapidly diminishing. cecil, hatton, essex, howard, raleigh, james croft, valentine dale, john norris, roger williams, the "virgin queen" herself--does one of these chief agents in public affairs, or do all of them together, furnish a thousandth part of that heroic whole which the england of the sixteenth century presents to every imagination? maurice of nassau-excellent soldier and engineer as he had already proved himself--had certainly not developed much of the heroic element, although thus far he was walking straightforward like a man, in the path of duty, with the pithy and substantial lewis william ever at his side. olden-barneveld--tough burgher-statesman, hard-headed, indomitable man of granite--was doing more work, and doing it more thoroughly, than any living politician, but he was certainly not of the mythological brotherhood who inhabit the serene regions of space beyond the moon. he was not the son of god or goddess, destined, after removal from this sphere, to shine with planetary lustre, among other constellations, upon the scenes of mortal action. those of us who are willing to rise-or to descend if the phrase seems wiser--to the idea of a self-governing people must content ourselves, for this epoch, with the fancy of a hero-people and a people-king. a plain little republic, thrusting itself uninvited into the great political family-party of heaven-anointed sovereigns and long-descended nobles, seemed a somewhat repulsive phenomenon. it became odious and dangerous when by the blows it could deal in battle, the logic it could chop in council, it indicated a remote future for the world, in which right divine and regal paraphernalia might cease to be as effective stage-properties as they had always been considered. yet it will be difficult for us to find the heroic individualised very perceptibly at this period, look where we may. already there seemed ground for questioning the comfortable fiction that the accidentally dominant families and castes were by nature wiser, better, braver than that much-contemned entity, the people. what if the fearful heresy should gain ground that the people was at least as wise, honest, and brave as its masters? what if it should become a recognised fact that the great individuals and castes, whose wealth and station furnished them with ample time and means for perfecting themselves in the science of government, were rather devoting their leisure to the systematic filling of their own pockets than to the hiving up of knowledge for the good of their fellow creatures? what if the whole theory of hereditary superiority should suddenly exhale? what if it were found out that we were all fellow-worms together, and that those which had crawled highest were not necessarily the least slimy? meantime it will be well for us, in order to understand what is called the past, to scrutinise somewhat closely that which was never meant to be revealed. to know the springs which once controlled the world's movements, one must ponder the secret thoughts, purposes, aspirations, and baffled attempts of the few dozen individuals who once claimed that world in fee-simple. such researches are not in a cheerful field; for the sources of history are rarely fountains of crystal, bubbling through meadows of asphodel. vast and noisome are the many sewers which have ever run beneath decorous christendom. some of the leading military events in france and flanders, patent to all the world, which grouped themselves about the contest for the french throne, as the central point in the history of philip's proposed world-empire, have already been indicated. it was a species of triangular contest--so far as the chief actors were concerned--for that vacant throne. philip, mayenne, henry of navarre, with all the adroitness which each possessed, were playing for the splendid prize. of philip it is not necessary to speak. the preceding volumes of this work have been written in vain, if the reader has not obtained from irrefragable testimony--the monarch's own especially--a sufficient knowledge of that human fetish before which so much of contemporary humanity grovelled. the figure of navarre is also one of the most familiar shapes in history. as for the duke of mayenne, he had been, since the death of his brother the balafre, ostensible leader of the league, and was playing, not without skill, a triple game. firstly, he hoped for the throne for himself. secondly, he was assisting the king of spain to obtain that dignity. thirdly, he was manoeuvring in dull, dumb, but not ineffective manner, in favour of navarre. so comprehensive and self-contradictory a scheme would seem to indicate an elasticity of principle and a fertility of resource not often vouchsafed to man. certainly one of the most pregnant lessons of history is furnished in the development of these cabals, nor is it, in this regard, of great importance whether the issue was to prove them futile or judicious. it is sufficient for us now, that when those vanished days constituted the present--the vital atmosphere of christendom--the world's affairs were controlled by those plotters and their subordinates, and it is therefore desirable for us to know what manner of men they were, and how they played their parts. nor should it ever be forgotten that the leading motive with all was supposed to be religion. it was to maintain the supremacy of the roman church, or to vindicate, to a certain extent, liberty of conscience, through the establishment of a heterodox organisation, that all these human beings of various lineage and language throughout christendom had been cutting each other's throats for a quarter of a century. mayenne was not without courage in the field when he found himself there, but it was observed of him that he spent more time at table than the bearnese in sleep, and that he was so fat as to require the assistance of twelve men to put him in the saddle again whenever he fell from his horse. yet slow fighter as he was, he was a most nimble intriguer. as for his private character, it was notoriously stained with every vice, nor was there enough of natural intelligence or superior acquirement to atone for his, crapulous; licentious, shameless life. his military efficiency at important emergencies was impaired and his life endangered by vile diseases. he was covetous and greedy beyond what was considered decent even in that cynical age. he received subsidies and alms with both hands from those who distrusted and despised him, but who could not eject him from his advantageous position. he wished to arrive at the throne of france. as son of francis of guise, as brother of the great balafre, he considered himself entitled to the homage of the fishwomen and the butchers' halls. the constitution of the country in that age making a people impossible, the subtle connection between a high-born intriguer and the dregs of a populace, which can only exist in societies of deep chasms and precipitous contrasts, was easily established. the duke's summary dealing with the sixteen tyrants of paris in the matter of the president's murder had, however, loosened his hold on what was considered the democracy; but this was at the time when his schemes were silently swinging towards the protestant aristocracy; at the moment when politica was taking the place of madam league in his secret affections. nevertheless, so long as there seemed a chance, he was disposed to work the mines for his own benefit. his position as lieutenant-general gave him an immense advantage for intriguing with both sides, and--in case his aspirations for royalty were baffled--for obtaining the highest possible price for himself in that auction in which philip and the bearnese were likely to strain all their resources in outbidding each other. on one thing his heart was fixed. his brother's son should at least not secure the golden prize if he could prevent it. the young duke of guise, who had been immured in castle tours since the famous murder of his father and uncle, had made his escape by a rather neat stratagem. having been allowed some liberty for amusing himself in the corridors in the neighbourhood of his apartment, he had invented a game of hop, skip, and jump up stairs and down, which he was wont to play with the soldiers of the guard, as a solace to the tediousness of confinement. one day he hopped and skipped up the staircase with a rapidity which excited the admiration of the companions of his sport, slipped into his room, slammed and bolted the doors, and when the guard, after in vain waiting a considerable tine for him to return and resume the game, at last forced an entrance, they found the bird flown out of window. rope-ladders, confederates, fast-galloping post-horses did the rest, and at last the young duke joined his affectionate uncle in camp, much to that eminent relative's discomfiture. philip gave alternately conflicting instructions to farnese--sometimes that he should encourage the natural jealousy between the pair; sometimes that he should cause them to work harmoniously together for the common good--that common good being the attainment by the king of spain of the sovereignty of france. but it was impossible, as already intimated, for mayenne to work harmoniously with his nephew. the duke of guise might marry with the infanta and thus become king of france by the grace of god and philip. to such a consummation in the case of his uncle there stood, as we know, an insuperable obstacle in the shape of the duchess of mayenne. should it come to this at last, it was certain that the duke would make any and every combination to frustrate such a scheme. meantime he kept his own counsel, worked amiably with philip, parma, and the young duke, and received money in overflowing measure, and poured into his bosom from that spanish monarch whose veterans in the netherlands were maddened by starvation into mutiny. philip's plans were a series of alternatives. france he regarded as the property of his family. of that there could be no doubt at all. he meant to put the crown upon his own head, unless the difficulties in the way should prove absolutely insuperable. in that case he claimed france and all its inhabitants as the property of his daughter. the salic law was simply a pleasantry, a bit of foolish pedantry, an absurdity. if clara isabella, as daughter of isabella of france, as grandchild of henry ii., were not manifestly the owner of france--queen-proprietary, as the spanish doctors called it--then there was no such thing, so he thought, as inheritance of castle, farm-house, or hovel--no such thing as property anywhere in the world. if the heiress of the valois could not take that kingdom as her private estate, what security could there ever be for any possessions public or private? this was logical reasoning enough for kings and their counsellors. there was much that might be said, however, in regard to special laws. there was no doubt that great countries, with all their livestock--human or otherwise--belonged to an individual, but it was not always so clear who that individual was. this doubt gave much work and comfortable fees to the lawyers. there was much learned lore concerning statutes of descent, cutting off of entails, actions for ejectment, difficulties of enforcing processes, and the like, to occupy the attention of diplomatists, politicians and other sages. it would have caused general hilarity, however, could it have been suggested that the live-stock had art or part in the matter; that sheep, swine, or men could claim a choice of their shepherds and butchers. philip--humbly satisfied, as he always expressed himself, so long as the purity of the roman dogmas and the supremacy of the romish church over the whole earth were maintained--affected a comparative indifference as to whether he should put the crown of st. louis and of hugh capet upon his own grey head or whether he should govern france through his daughter and her husband. happy the man who might exchange the symbols of mutual affection with philip's daughter. the king had various plans in regard to the bestowal of the hand thus richly endowed. first and foremost it was suggested--and the idea was not held too monstrous to be even believed in by some conspicuous individuals--that he proposed espousing his daughter himself. the pope was to be relied on, in this case, to give a special dispensation. such a marriage, between parties too closely related to be usually united in wedlock, might otherwise shock the prejudices of the orthodox. his late niece and wife was dead, so that there was no inconvenience on that score, should the interests of his dynasty, his family, and, above all, of the church, impel him, on mature reflection, to take for his fourth marriage one step farther within the forbidden degrees than he had done in his third. here is the statement, which, if it have no other value, serves to show the hideous designs of which the enemies of philip sincerely believed that monarch capable. "but god is a just god," wrote sir edward stafford, "and if with all things past, that be true that the king ('videlicet' henry iv.) yesterday assured me to be true, and that both his ambassador from venice writ to him and monsieur de luxembourg from rome, that the count olivarez had made a great instance to the pope (sixtus v.) a little afore his death, to permit his master to marry his daughter, no doubt god will not leave it long unpunished." such was the horrible tale which was circulated and believed in by henry the great of france and by eminent nobles and ambassadors, and at least thought possible by the english envoy. by such a family arrangement it was obvious that the conflicting claims of father and daughter to the proprietorship of france would be ingeniously adjusted, and the children of so well assorted a marriage might reign in undisputed legitimacy over france and spain, and the rest of the world-monarchy. should the king decide on the whole against this matrimonial project, should innocent or clement prove as intractable as sixtus, then it would be necessary to decide among various candidates for the infanta's hand. in mayenne's opinion the duke of guise was likely to be the man; but there is little doubt that philip, in case these more cherished schemes should fail, had made up his mind--so far as he ever did make up his mind upon anything--to select his nephew the archduke ernest, brother of the emperor rudolph, for his son-in-law. but it was not necessary to make an immediate choice. his quiver was full of archdukes, any one of whom would be an eligible candidate, while not one of them would be likely to reject the infanta with france on her wedding-finger. meantime there was a lion in the path in the shape of henry of navarre. those who disbelieve in the influence of the individual on the fate of mankind may ponder the possible results to history and humanity, had the dagger of jacques clement entered the stomach of henry iv. rather than of henry iii. in the summer of , or the perturbations in the world's movements that might have puzzled philosophers had there been an unsuspected mass of religious conviction revolving unseen in the mental depths of the bearnese. conscience, as it has from time to time exhibited itself on this planet of ours, is a powerful agent in controlling political combinations; but the instances are unfortunately not rare, so far as sublunary progress is concerned, in which the absence of this dominant influence permits a prosperous rapidity to individual careers. eternal honour to the noble beings, true chieftains among men, who have forfeited worldly power or sacrificed life itself at the dictate of religious or moral conviction--even should the basis of such conviction appear to some of us unsafe or unreal. shame on the tongue which would malign or ridicule the martyr or the honest convert to any form of christian faith! but who can discover aught that is inspiring to the sons of men in conversions--whether of princes or of peasants--wrought, not at risk of life and pelf, but for the sake of securing and increasing the one and the other? certainly the bearnese was the most candid of men. it was this very candour, this freedom from bigotry, this want of conviction, and this openness to conviction, that made him so dangerous and caused so much anxiety to philip. the roman church might or might not be strengthened by the re-conversion of the legitimate heir of france, but it was certain that the claims of philip and the infanta to the proprietorship of that kingdom would be weakened by the process. while the spanish king knew himself to be inspired in all his actions by a single motive, the maintenance of the supremacy of the roman church, he was perfectly aware that the prince of bearne was not so single-hearted nor so conscientious as himself. the prince of bearne--heretic, son of heretics, great chieftain of heretics--was supposed capable of becoming orthodox whenever the pope would accept his conversion. against this possibility philip struggled with all his strength. since pope sixtus v., who had a weakness for henry, there had been several popes. urban vii., his immediate successor, had reigned but thirteen days. gregory xiv. (sfondrato) had died th october, , ten months after his election. fachinetti, with the title of innocent ix., had reigned two months, from th october to th december, . he died of "spanish poison," said envoy umton, as coolly as if speaking of gout, or typhus, or any other recognised disorder. clement viii. (aldobrandini) was elected th january, . he was no lover of henry, and lived in mortal fear of philip, while it must be conceded that the spanish ambassador at rome was much given to brow-beating his holiness. should he dare to grant that absolution which was the secret object of the bearnese, there was no vengeance, hinted the envoy, that philip would not wreak on the holy father. he would cut off his supplies from naples and sicily, and starve him and all-his subjects; he would frustrate all his family schemes, he would renounce him, he would unpope him, he would do anything that man and despot could do, should the great shepherd dare to re-admit this lost sheep, and this very black sheep, into the fold of the faithful. as for henry himself, his game--for in his eyes it was nothing but a game--lay every day plainer and plainer before him. he was indispensable to the heretics. neither england, nor holland, nor protestant germany, could renounce him, even should he renounce "the religion." nor could the french huguenots exist without that protection which, even although catholic, he could still extend to them when he should be accepted as king by the catholics. hereditary monarch by french law and history, released from his heresy by the authority that could bind and loose, purged as with hyssop and washed whiter than snow, it should go hard with him if philip, and farnese, and mayenne, and all the pikemen and reiters they might muster, could keep him very long from the throne of his ancestors. nothing could match the ingenuousness with which he demanded the instruction whenever the fitting time for it should arrive; as if, instead of having been a professor both of the calvinist and catholic persuasion, and having relapsed from both, he had been some innocent peruvian or hindoo, who was invited to listen to preachings and to examine dogmas for the very first time in his life. yet philip had good grounds for hoping a favourable result from his political and military manoeuvre. he entertained little doubt that france belonged to him or to his daughter; that the most powerful party in the country was in favour of his claims, provided he would pay the voters liberally enough for their support, and that if the worst came to the worst it would always be in his power to dismember the kingdom, and to reserve the lion's share for himself, while distributing some of the provinces to the most prominent of his confederates. the sixteen tyrants of paris had already, as we have seen, urged the crown upon him, provided he would establish in france the inquisition, the council of trent, and other acceptable institutions, besides distributing judiciously a good many lucrative offices among various classes of his adherents. the duke of mayenne, in his own name and that of all the catholics of france, formally demanded of him to maintain two armies, forty thousand men in all, to be respectively under command of the duke himself and of alexander farnese, and regularly to pay for them. these propositions, as has been seen, were carried into effect as nearly as possible, at enormous expense to philip's exchequer, and he naturally expected as good faith on the part of mayenne. in the same paper in which the demand was made philip was urged to declare himself king of france. he was assured that the measure could be accomplished "by freely bestowing marquisates, baronies, and peerages, in order to content the avarice and ambition of many persons, without at the same time dissipating the greatness from which all these members depended. pepin and charlemagne," said the memorialists, "who were foreigners and saxons by nation, did as much in order to get possession of a kingdom to which they had no other right except that which they acquired there by their prudence and force, and after them hugh capet, much inferior to them in force and authority, following their example, had the same good fortune for himself and his posterity, and one which still endures. "if the authority of the holy see could support the scheme at the same time," continued mayenne and friends, "it would be a great help. but it being perilous to ask for that assistance before striking the blow, it would be better to obtain it after the execution." that these wholesome opinions were not entirely original on the part of mayenne, nor produced spontaneously, was plain from the secret instructions given by philip to his envoys, don bernardino de mendoza, john baptist de tassis, and the commander moreo, whom he had sent soon after the death of henry iii. to confer with cardinal gaetano in paris. they were told, of course, to do everything in their power to prevent the election of the prince of bearne, "being as he was a heretic, obstinate and confirmed, who had sucked heresy with his mother's milk." the legate was warned that "if the bearnese should make a show of converting himself, it would be frigid and fabricated." if they were asked whom philip desired for king--a question which certainly seemed probable under the circumstances--they were to reply that his foremost wish was to establish the catholic religion in the kingdom, and that whatever was most conducive to that end would be most agreeable to him. "as it is however desirable, in order to arrange matters, that you should be informed of everything," said his majesty, "it is proper that you should know that i have two kinds of right to all that there is over there. firstly, because the crown of france has been usurped from me, my ancestors having been unjustly excluded by foreign occupation of it; and secondly, because i claim the same crown as first male of the house of valois." here certainly were comprehensive pretensions, and it was obvious that the king's desire for the establishment of the catholic religion must have been very lively to enable him to invent or accept such astonishing fictions. but his own claims were but a portion of the case. his daughter and possible spouse had rights of her own, hard, in his opinion, to be gainsaid. "over and above all this," said philip, "my eldest daughter, the infanta, has two other rights; one to all the states which as dower-property are joined by matrimony and through females to this crown, which now come to her in direct line, and the other to the crown itself, which belongs directly to the said infanta, the matter of the salic law being a mere invention." thus it would appear that philip was the legitimate representative, not only of the ancient races of french monarchs--whether merovingians, carlovingians, or otherwise was not stated but also of the usurping houses themselves, by whose intrusion those earlier dynasties had been ejected, being the eldest male heir of the extinct line of valois, while his daughter was, if possible, even more legitimately the sovereign and proprietor of france than he was himself. nevertheless in his magnanimous desire for the peace of the world and the advancement of the interests of the church, he was, if reduced to extremities, willing to forego his own individual rights--when it should appear that they could by no possibility be enforced--in favour of his daughter and of the husband whom he should select for her. "thus it may be seen," said the self-denying man, "that i know how, for the sake of the public repose, to strip myself of my private property." afterwards, when secretly instructing the duke of feria, about to proceed to paris for the sake of settling the sovereignty of the kingdom, he reviewed the whole subject, setting forth substantially the same intentions. that the prince of bearne could ever possibly succeed to the throne of his ancestors was an idea to be treated only with sublime scorn by all right-minded and sensible men. "the members of the house of bourbon," said he, "pretend that by right of blood the crown belongs to them, and hence is derived the pretension made by the prince of bearne; but if there were wanting other very sufficient causes to prevent this claim--which however are not wanting--it is quite enough that he is a relapsed heretic, declared to be such by the apostolic see, and pronounced incompetent, as well as the other members of his house, all of them, to say the least, encouragers of heresy; so that not one of them can ever be king of france, where there have been such religious princes in time past, who have justly merited the name of most christian; and so there is no possibility of permitting him or any of his house to aspire to the throne, or to have the subject even treated of in the estates. it should on the contrary be entirely excluded as prejudicial to the realm and unworthy to be even mentioned among persons so catholic as those about to meet in that assembly." the claims of the man whom his supporters already called henry the fourth of france being thus disposed of, philip then again alluded with his usual minuteness to the various combinations which he had formed for the tranquillity and good government of that kingdom and of the other provinces of his world-empire. it must moreover be never forgotten that what he said passed with his contemporaries almost for oracular dispensations. what he did or ordered to be done was like the achievements or behests of a superhuman being. time, as it rolls by, leaves the wrecks of many a stranded reputation to bleach in the sunshine of after-ages. it is sometimes as profitable to learn what was not done by the great ones of the earth, in spite of all their efforts, as to ponder those actual deeds which are patent to mankind. the past was once the present, and once the future, bright with rainbows or black with impending storm; for history is a continuous whole of which we see only fragments. he who at the epoch with which we are now occupied was deemed greatest and wisest among the sons of earth, at whose threats men quailed, at whose vast and intricate schemes men gasped in palefaced awe, has left behind him the record of his interior being. let us consider whether he was so potent as his fellow mortals believed, or whether his greatness was merely their littleness; whether it was carved out, of the inexhaustible but artificial quarry of human degradation. let us see whether the execution was consonant with the inordinate plotting; whether the price in money and blood--and certainly few human beings have squandered so much of either as did philip the prudent in his long career--was high or low for the work achieved. were after generations to learn, only after curious research, of a pretender who once called himself, to the amusement of his contemporaries, henry the fourth of france; or was the world-empire for which so many armies were marshalled, so many ducats expended, so many falsehoods told, to prove a bubble after all? time was to show. meantime wise men of the day who, like the sages of every generation, read the future like a printed scroll, were pitying the delusion and rebuking the wickedness of henry the bearnese; persisting as he did in his cruel, sanguinary, hopeless attempt to establish a vanished and impossible authority over a land distracted by civil war. nothing could be calmer or more reasonable than the language of the great champion of the inquisition. "and as president jeannin informs me," he said, "that the catholics have the intention of electing me king, that appearing to them the gentlest and safest method to smooth all rivalries likely to arise among the princes aspiring to the crown, i reply, as you will see by the copy herewith sent. you will observe that after not refusing myself to that which may be the will of our lord, should there be no other mode of serving him, above all i desire that which concerns my daughter, since to her belongs the kingdom. i desire nothing else nor anything for myself, nor for anybody else, except as a means for her to arrive at her right." he had taken particular pains to secure his daughter's right in brittany, while the duchess of mercoeur, by the secret orders of her husband, had sent a certain ecclesiastic to spain to make over the sovereignty of this province to the infanta. philip directed that the utmost secrecy should be observed in regard to this transaction with the duke and duchess, and promised the duke, as his reward for these proposed services in dismembering his country, the government of the province for himself and his heirs. for the king was quite determined--in case his efforts to obtain the crown for himself or for his daughter were unsuccessful--to dismember france, with the assistance of those eminent frenchmen who were now so industriously aiding him in his projects. "and in the third place," said he, in his secret instructions to feria, "if for the sins of all, we don't manage to make any election, and if therefore the kingdom (of france) has to come to separation and to be divided into many hands; in this case we must propose to the duke of mayenne to assist him in getting possession of normandy for himself, and as to the rest of the kingdom, i shall take for myself that which seems good to me--all of us assisting each other." but unfortunately it was difficult for any of these fellow-labourers to assist each other very thoroughly, while they detested each other so cordially and suspected each other with such good reason. moreo, ybarra, feria, parma, all assured their master that mayenne was taking spanish money as fast as he could get it, but with the sole purpose of making himself king. as to any of the house of lorraine obtaining the hand of the infanta and the throne with it, feria assured philip that mayenne "would sooner give the crown to the grand turk." nevertheless philip thought it necessary to continue making use of the duke. both were indefatigable therefore in expressing feelings of boundless confidence each in the other. it has been seen too how entirely the king relied on the genius and devotion of alexander farnese to carry out his great schemes; and certainly never had monarch a more faithful, unscrupulous, and dexterous servant. remonstrating, advising, but still obeying--entirely without conscience, unless it were conscience to carry out his master's commands, even when most puerile or most diabolical--he was nevertheless the object of philip's constant suspicion, and felt himself placed under perpetual though secret supervision. commander moreo was unwearied in blackening the duke's character, and in maligning his every motive and action, and greedily did the king incline his ear to the calumnies steadily instilled by the chivalrous spy. "he has caused all the evil we are suffering," said moreo. "when he sent egmont to france 'twas without infantry, although egmont begged hard for it, as did likewise the legate, don bernardino, and tassis. had he done this there is no doubt at all that the catholic cause in france would have been safe, and your majesty would now have the control over that kingdom which you desire. this is the opinion of friends and foes. i went to the duke of parma and made free to tell him that the whole world would blame him for the damage done to christianity, since your majesty had exonerated yourself by ordering him to go to the assistance of the french catholics with all the zeal possible. upon this he was so disgusted that he has never shown me a civil face since. i doubt whether he will send or go to france at all, and although the duke of mayenne despatches couriers every day with protestations and words that would soften rocks, i see no indications of a movement." thus, while the duke was making great military preparations far invading france without means; pawning his own property to get bread for his starving veterans, and hanging those veterans whom starving had made. mutinous, he was depicted, to the most suspicious and unforgiving mortal that ever wore a crown, as a traitor and a rebel, and this while he was renouncing his own judicious and well-considered policy in obedience to the wild schemes of his master. "i must make bold to remind your majesty," again whispered the spy, "that there never was an italian prince who failed to pursue his own ends, and that there are few in the world that are not wishing to become greater than they are. this man here could strike a greater blow than all the rest of them put together. remember that there is not a villain anywhere that does not desire the death of your majesty. believe me, and send to cut off my head if it shall be found that i am speaking from passion, or from other motive than pure zeal for your royal service." the reader will remember into what a paroxysm of rage alexander was thrown on, a former occasion, when secretly invited to listen to propositions by which the sovereignty over the netherlands was to be secured to himself, and how near he was to inflicting mortal punishment with his own hand on the man who had ventured to broach that treasonable matter. such projects and propositions were ever floating, as it were, in the atmosphere, and it was impossible for the most just men to escape suspicion in the mind of a king who fed upon suspicion as his daily bread. yet nothing could be fouler or falser than the calumny which described alexander as unfaithful to philip. had he served his god as he served his master perhaps his record before the highest tribunal would have been a clearer one. and in the same vein in which he wrote to the monarch in person did the crafty moreo write to the principal secretary of state, idiaquez, whose mind, as well as his master's, it was useful to poison, and who was in daily communication with philip. "let us make sure of flanders," said he, "otherwise we shall all of us be well cheated. i will tell you something of that which i have already told his majesty, only not all, referring you to tassis, who, as a personal witness to many things, will have it in his power to undeceive his majesty, i have seen very clearly that the duke is disgusted with his majesty, and one day he told me that he cared not if the whole world went to destruction, only not flanders." "another day he told me that there was a report abroad that his majesty was sending to arrest him, by means of the duke of pastrana, and looking at me he said: 'see here, seignior commander, no threats, as if it were in the power of mortal man to arrest me, much less of such fellows as these.'" "but this is but a small part of what i could say," continued the detective knight-commander, "for i don't like to trust these ciphers. but be certain that nobody in flanders wishes well to these estates or to the catholic cause, and the associates of the duke of parma go about saying that it does not suit the italian potentates to have his majesty as great a monarch as he is trying to be." this is but a sample of the dangerous stuff with which the royal mind was steadily drugged, day after day, by those to whom farnese was especially enjoined to give his confidence. later on it will be seen how-much effect was thus produced both upon the king and upon the duke. moreo, mendoza, and tasais were placed about the governor-general, nominally as his counsellors, in reality as police-officers. "you are to confer regularly with mendoza, tassis, and moreo," said philip to farnese. "you are to assist, correspond, and harmonize in every way with the duke of parma," wrote philip to mendoza, tassis, and moreo. and thus cordially and harmoniously were the trio assisting and corresponding with the duke. but moreo was right in not wishing to trust the ciphers, and indeed he had trusted them too much, for farnese was very well aware of his intrigues, and complained bitterly of them to the king and to idiaquez. most eloquently and indignantly did he complain of the calumnies, ever renewing themselves, of which he was the subject. "'tis this good moreo who is the author of the last falsehoods," said he to the secretary; "and this is but poor payment for my having neglected my family, my parents and children for so many years in the king's service, and put my life ever on the hazard, that these fellows should be allowed to revile me and make game of me now, instead of assisting me." he was at that time, after almost superhuman exertions, engaged in the famous relief of paris. he had gone there, he said, against his judgment and remonstrating with his majesty on the insufficiency of men and money for such an enterprise. his army was half-mutinous and unprovided with food, artillery, or munitions; and then he found himself slandered, ridiculed, his life's life lied away. 'twas poor payment for his services, he exclaimed, if his majesty should give ear to these calumniators, and should give him no chance of confronting his accusers and clearing his reputation. moreo detested him, as he knew, and prince doria said that the commander once spoke so ill of farnese in genoa that he was on the point of beating him; while moreo afterwards told the story as if he had been maltreated because of defending farnese against doria's slanders. and still more vehemently did he inveigh against moreo in his direct appeals to philip. he had intended to pass over his calumnies, of which he was well aware, because he did not care to trouble the dead--for moreo meantime had suddenly died, and the gossips, of course, said it was of farnese poison--but he had just discovered by documents that the commander had been steadily and constantly pouring these his calumnies into the monarch's ears. he denounced every charge as lies, and demanded proof. moreo had further been endeavouring to prejudice the duke of mayenne against the king of spain and himself, saying that he, farnese, had been commissioned to take mayenne into custody, with plenty of similar lies. "but what i most feel," said alexander, with honest wrath, "is to see that your majesty gives ear to them without making the demonstration which my services merit, and has not sent to inform me of them, seeing that they may involve my reputation and honour. people have made more account of these calumnies than of my actions performed upon the theatre of the world. i complain, after all my toils and dangers in your majesty's service, just when i stood with my soul in my mouth and death in my teeth, forgetting children, house, and friends, to be treated thus, instead of receiving rewards and honour, and being enabled to leave to my children, what was better than all the riches the royal hand could bestow, an unsullied and honourable name." he protested that his reputation had so much suffered that he would prefer to retire to some remote corner as a humble servant of the king, and leave a post which had made him so odious to all. above all, he entreated his majesty to look upon this whole affair "not only like a king but like a gentleman." philip answered these complaints and reproaches benignantly, expressed unbounded confidence in the duke, assured him that the calumnies of his supposed enemies could produce no effect upon the royal mind, and coolly professed to have entirely forgotten having received any such letter as that of which his nephew complained. "at any rate i have mislaid it," he said, "so that you see how much account it was with me." as the king was in the habit of receiving such letters every week, not only from the commander, since deceased, but from ybarra and others, his memory, to say the least, seemed to have grown remarkably feeble. but the sequel will very soon show that he had kept the letters by him and pondered them to much purpose. to expect frankness and sincerity from him, however, even in his most intimate communications to his most trusted servants, would have been to "swim with fins of lead." such being the private relations between the conspirators, it is instructive to observe how they dealt with each other in the great game they were playing for the first throne in christendom. the military events have been sufficiently sketched in the preceding pages, but the meaning and motives of public affairs can be best understood by occasional glances behind the scenes. it is well for those who would maintain their faith in popular governments to study the workings of the secret, irresponsible, arbitrary system; for every government, as every individual, must be judged at last by those moral laws which no man born of woman can evade. during the first french expedition-in the course of which farnese had saved paris from falling into, the hands of henry, and had been doing his best to convert it prospectively into the capital of his master's empire--it was his duty, of course, to represent as accurately as possible the true state of france. he submitted his actions to his master's will, but he never withheld from him the advantage that he might have derived, had he so chosen, from his nephew's luminous intelligence and patient observation. with the chief personage he had to deal with he professed himself, at first, well satisfied. "the duke of mayenne," said he to philip, "persists in desiring your majesty only as king of france, and will hear of no other candidate, which gives me satisfaction such as can't be exaggerated." although there were difficulties in the way, farnese thought that the two together with god's help might conquer them. "certainly it is not impossible that your majesty may succeed," he said, "although very problematical; and in case your majesty does succeed in that which we all desire and are struggling for, mayenne not only demands the second place in the kingdom for himself, but the fief of some great province for his family." should it not be possible for philip to obtain the crown, farnese was, on the whole, of opinion that mayenne had better be elected. in that event he would make over brittany and burgundy to philip, together with the cities opposite the english coast. if they were obliged to make the duke king, as was to be feared, they should at any rate exclude the prince of bearne, and secure, what was the chief point, the catholic religion. "this," said alexander, "is about what i can gather of mayenne's views, and perhaps he will put them down in a despatch to your majesty." after all, the duke was explicit enough. he was for taking all he could get--the whole kingdom if possible--but if foiled, then as large a slice of it as philip would give him as the price of his services. and philip's ideas were not materially different from those of the other conspirator. both were agreed on one thing. the true heir must be kept out of his rights, and the catholic religion be maintained in its purity. as to the inclination of the majority of the inhabitants, they could hardly be in the dark. they knew that the bearnese was instinctively demanded by the nation; for his accession to the throne would furnish the only possible solution to the entanglements which had so long existed. as to the true sentiments of the other politicians and soldiers of the league with whom bearnese came in contact in france, he did not disguise from his master that they were anything but favourable. "that you may know, the humour of this kingdom," said he, "and the difficulties in which i am placed, i must tell you that i am by large experience much confirmed in that which i have always suspected. men don't love nor esteem the royal name of your majesty, and whatever the benefits and assistance they get from you they have no idea of anything redounding to your benefit and royal service, except so far as implied in maintaining the catholic religion and keeping out the bearne. these two things, however, they hold to be so entirely to your majesty's profit, that all you are doing appears the fulfilment of a simple obligation. they are filled with fear, jealousy, and suspicion of your majesty. they dread your acquiring power here. whatever negotiations they pretend in regard to putting the kingdom or any of their cities under your protection, they have never had any real intention of doing it, but their only object is to keep up our vain hopes while they are carrying out their own ends. if to-day they seem to have agreed upon any measure, tomorrow they are sure to get out of it again. this has always been the case, and all your majesty's ministers that have had dealings here would say so, if they chose to tell the truth. men are disgusted with the entrance of the army, and if they were not expecting a more advantageous peace in the kingdom with my assistance than without it, i don't know what they would do; for i have heard what i have heard and seen what i have seen. they are afraid of our army, but they want its assistance and our money." certainly if philip desired enlightenment as to the real condition of the country he had determined to, appropriate; and the true sentiments of its most influential inhabitants, here, was the man most competent of all the world to advise him; describing the situation for him, day by day, in the most faithful manner. and at every step the absolutely puerile inadequacy of the means, employed by the king to accomplish his gigantic purposes became apparent. if the crime of subjugating or at least dismembering the great kingdom of france were to, be attempted with any hope of success, at least it might have been expected that the man employed to consummate the deed would be furnished with more troops and money than would be required to appropriate a savage island off the caribbean, or a german principality. but philip expected miracles to be accomplished by the mere private assertion of his will. it was so easy to conquer realms the writing table. "i don't say," continued farnese, "if i could have entered france with a competent army, well paid and disciplined, with plenty of artillery, and munitions, and with funds enough to enable mayenne to buy up the nobles of his party, and to conciliate the leaders generally with presents and promises, that perhaps they might not have softened. perhaps interest and fear would have made that name agreeable which pleases them so little, now that the very reverse of all this has occurred. my want of means is causing a thousand disgusts among the natives of the country, and it is this penury that will be the chief cause of the disasters which may occur." here was sufficiently plain speaking. to conquer a war-like nation without an army; to purchase a rapacious nobility with an empty purse, were tasks which might break the stoutest heart. they were breaking alexander's. yet philip had funds enough, if he had possessed financial ability himself, or any talent for selecting good financiers. the richest countries of the old world and the new were under his sceptre; the mines of peru and mexico; the wealth of farthest ind, were at his disposition; and moreover he drove a lucrative traffic in the sale of papal bulls and massbooks, which were furnished to him at a very low figure, and which he compelled the wild indians of america and the savages of the pacific to purchase of him at an enormous advance. that very year, a spanish carrack had been captured by the english off the barbary coast, with an assorted cargo, the miscellaneous nature of which gives an idea of royal commercial pursuits at that period. besides wine in large quantities there were fourteen hundred chests of quicksilver, an article indispensable to the working of the silver mines, and which no one but the king could, upon pain of death, send to america. he received, according to contract; for every pound of quicksilver thus delivered a pound of pure silver, weight for weight. the ship likewise contained ten cases of gilded mass-books and papal bulls. the bulls, two million and seventy thousand in number, for the dead and the living, were intended for the provinces of new spain, yucatan, guatemala, honduras, and the philippines. the quicksilver and the bulls cost the king three hundred thousand florins, but he sold them for five million. the price at, which the bulls were to be sold varied-according to the letters of advice found in the ships--from two to four reals a piece, and the inhabitants of those conquered regions were obliged to buy them. "from all this," says a contemporary chronicler; "is to be seen what a thrifty trader was the king." the affairs of france were in such confusion that it was impossible for them, according to farnese, to remain in such condition much longer without bringing about entire decomposition. every man was doing as he chose--whether governor of a city, commander of a district, or gentleman in his castle. many important nobles and prelates followed the bearnese party, and mayenne was entitled to credit for doing as well as he did. there was no pretence, however, that his creditable conduct was due to anything but the hope of being well paid. "if your majesty should decide to keep mayenne," said alexander, "you can only do it with large: sums of money. he is a good catholic and very firm in his purpose, but is so much opposed by his own party, that if i had not so stimulated him by hopes of his own grandeur, he would have grown desperate--such small means has he of maintaining his party--and, it is to be feared, he would have made arrangements with bearne, who offers him carte-blanche." the disinterested man had expressed his assent to the views of philip in regard to the assembly of the estates and the election of king, but had claimed the sum of six hundred thousand dollars as absolutely necessary to the support of himself and followers until those events should occur. alexander not having that sum at his disposal was inclined to defer matters, but was more and more confirmed in his opinion that the duke was a "man of truth, faith, and his word." he had distinctly agreed that no king should be elected, not satisfactory to philip, and had "stipulated in return that he should have in this case, not only the second place in the kingdom, but some very great and special reward in full property." thus the man of truth, faith, and his word had no idea of selling himself cheap, but manifested as much commercial genius as the fuggers themselves could have displayed, had they been employed as brokers in these mercantile transactions. above all things, alexander implored the king to be expeditious, resolute, and liberal; for, after all, the bearnese might prove a more formidable competitor than he was deemed. "these matters must be arranged while the iron is hot," he said, "in order that the name and memory of the bearne and of all his family may be excluded at once and forever; for your majesty must not doubt that the whole kingdom inclines to him, both because he is natural successor, to the crowns and because in this way the civil war would cease. the only thing that gives trouble is the religions defect, so that if this should be remedied in appearance, even if falsely, men would spare no pains nor expense in his cause." no human being at that moment, assuredly, could look into the immediate future accurately enough to see whether the name and memory of the man, whom his adherents called henry the fourth of france, and whom spaniards, legitimists and enthusiastic papists, called the prince of bearne, were to be for ever excluded from the archives of france; whether henry, after spending the whole of his life as a pretender, was destined to bequeath the same empty part to his descendants, should they think it worth their while to play it. meantime the sages smiled superior at his delusion; while alexander farnese, on the contrary, better understanding the chances of the great game which they were all playing, made bold to tell his master that all hearts in france were inclining to their natural lord. "differing from your majesty," said he, "i am of opinion that there is no better means of excluding him than to make choice of the duke of mayenne, as a person agreeable to the people, and who could only reign by your permission and support." thus, after much hesitation and circumlocution, the nephew made up his mind to chill his uncle's hopes of the crown, and to speak a decided opinion in behalf of the man of his word, faith and truth. and thus through the whole of the two memorable campaigns made by alexander in france, he never failed to give his master the most accurate pictures of the country, and an interior view of its politics; urging above all the absolute necessity of providing much more liberal supplies for the colossal adventure in which he was engaged. "money and again money is what is required," he said. "the principal matter is to be accomplished with money, and the particular individuals must be bought with money. the good will of every french city must be bought with money. mayenne must be humoured. he is getting dissatisfied. very probably he is intriguing with bearne. everybody is pursuing his private ends. mayenne has never abandoned his own wish to be king, although he sees the difficulties in the way; and while he has not the power to do us as much good as is thought, it is certainly in his hands to do us a great deal of injury." when his army was rapidly diminishing by disease, desertion, mutiny, and death, he vehemently and perpetually denounced the utter inadequacy of the king's means to his vast projects. he protested that he was not to blame for the ruin likely to come upon the whole enterprise. he had besought, remonstrated, reasoned with philip--in vain. he assured his master that in the condition of weakness in which they found themselves, not very triumphant negotiations could be expected, but that he would do his best. "the frenchmen," he said, "are getting tired of our disorders, and scandalized by our weakness, misery, and poverty. they disbelieve the possibility of being liberated through us." he was also most diligent in setting before the king's eyes the dangerous condition of the obedient netherlands, the poverty of the finances, the mutinous degeneration of the once magnificent spanish army, the misery of the country, the ruin of the people, the discontent of the nobles, the rapid strides made by the republic, the vast improvement in its military organization, the rising fame of its young stadholder, the thrift of its exchequer, the rapid development of its commerce, the menacing aspect which it assumed towards all that was left of spanish power in those regions. moreover, in the midst of the toils and anxieties of war-making and negotiation, he had found time to discover and to send to his master the left leg of the glorious apostle st. philip, and the head of the glorious martyr st. lawrence, to enrich his collection of relics; and it may be doubted whether these treasures were not as welcome to the king as would have been the news of a decisive victory. during the absence of farnese in his expeditions against the bearnese, the government of his provinces was temporarily in the hands of peter ernest mansfeld. this grizzled old fighter--testy, choleric, superannuated--was utterly incompetent for his post. he was a mere tool in the hands of his son. count charles hated parma very cordially, and old count peter was made to believe himself in danger of being poisoned or poniarded by the duke. he was perpetually wrangling with, importuning and insulting him in consequence, and writing malicious letters to the king in regard to him. the great nobles, arschot, chimay, berlaymont, champagny, arenberg, and the rest, were all bickering among themselves, and agreeing in nothing save in hatred to farnese. a tight rein, a full exchequer, a well-ordered and well-paid army, and his own constant patience, were necessary, as alexander too well knew, to make head against the republic, and to hold what was left of the netherlands. but with a monthly allowance, and a military force not equal to his own estimates for the netherland work, he was ordered to go forth from the netherlands to conquer france--and with it the dominion of the world--for the recluse of the escorial. very soon it was his duty to lay bare to his master, still more unequivocally than ever, the real heart of mayenne. no one could surpass alexander in this skilful vivisection of political characters; and he soon sent the information that the duke was in reality very near closing his bargain with the bearnese, while amusing philip and drawing largely from his funds. thus, while faithfully doing his master's work with sword and pen, with an adroitness such as no other man could have matched, it was a necessary consequence that philip should suspect, should detest, should resolve to sacrifice him. while assuring his nephew, as we have seen, that elaborate, slanderous reports and protocols concerning him, sent with such regularity by the chivalrous moreo and the other spies, had been totally disregarded, even if they had ever met his eye, he was quietly preparing--in the midst of all these most strenuous efforts of alexander, in the field at peril of his life, in the cabinet at the risk of his soul--to deprive him of his office, and to bring him, by stratagem if possible, but otherwise by main force, from the netherlands to spain. this project, once-resolved upon, the king proceeded to execute with that elaborate attention to detail, with that feline stealth which distinguished him above all kings or chiefs of police that have ever existed. had there been a murder at the end of the plot, as perhaps there was to be--philip could not have enjoyed himself more. nothing surpassed the industry for mischief of this royal invalid. the first thing to be done was of course the inditing of a most affectionate epistle to his nephew. "nephew," said he, "you know the confidence which i have always placed in you and all that i have put in your hands, and i know how much you are to me, and how earnestly you work in my service, and so, if i could have you at the same time in several places, it would be a great relief to me. since this cannot be however, i wish to make use of your assistance, according to the times and occasions, in order that i may have some certainty as to the manner in which all this business is to be managed, may see why the settlement of affairs in france is thus delayed, and what the state of things in christendom generally is, and may consult with, you about an army which i am getting levied here, and about certain schemes now on foot in regard to the remedy for all this; all which makes me desire your presence here for some time, even if a short time, in order to resolve upon and arrange with the aid of your advice and opinion, many affairs concerning the public good and facilitate their execution by means of your encouragement and presence, and to obtain the repose which i hope for in putting them into your hands. and so i charge and command you that, if you desire to content me, you use all possible diligence to let me see you here as soon as possible, and that you start at once for genoa." he was further directed to leave count mansfeld at the head of affairs during this temporary absence, as had been the case so often before, instructing him to make use of the marquis of cerralbo, who was already there, to lighten labours that might prove too much for a man of mansfeld's advanced age. "i am writing to the marquis," continued the king, "telling him that he is to obey all your orders. as to the reasons of your going away, you will give out that it is a decision of your own, founded on good cause, or that it is a summons of mine, but full of confidence and good will towards you, as you see that it is." the date of this letter was th february, . the secret instructions to the man who was thus to obey all the duke's orders were explicit enough upon that point, although they were wrapped in the usual closely-twisted phraseology which distinguished philip's style when his purpose was most direct. cerralbo was entrusted with general directions as to the french matter, and as to peace negotiations with "the islands;" but the main purport of his mission was to remove alexander farnese. this was to be done by fair means, if possible; if not, he was to be deposed and sent home by force. this was to be the reward of all the toil and danger through which he had grown grey and broken in the king's service. "when you get to the netherlands" (for the instructions were older than the letter to alexander just cited), "you are," said the king, "to treat of the other two matters until the exact time arrives for the third, taking good care not to, cut the thread of good progress in the affairs of france if by chance they are going on well there. "when the time arrives to treat of commission number three," continued his majesty, "you will take occasion of the arrival of the courier of th february, and will give with much secrecy the letter of that date to the duke; showing him at the same time the first of the two which you will have received." if the duke showed the letter addressed to him by his uncle--which the reader has already seen--then the marquis was to discuss with him the details of the journey, and comment upon the benefits and increased reputation which would be the result of his return to spain. "but if the duke should not show you the letter," proceeded philip, "and you suspect that he means to conceal and equivocate about the particulars of it, you can show him your letter number two, in which it is stated that you have received a copy of the letter to the duke. this will make the step easier." should the duke declare himself ready to proceed to spain on the ground indicated--that the king had need of his services--the marquis was then to hasten his departure as earnestly as possible. every pains were to be taken to overcome any objections that might be made by the duke on the score of ill health, while the great credit which attached to this summons to consult with the king in such arduous affairs was to be duly enlarged upon. should count mansfeld meantime die of old age, and should farnese insist the more vehemently, on that account, upon leaving his son the prince ranuccio in his post as governor, the marquis was authorised to accept the proposition for the moment--although secretly instructed that such an appointment was really quite out of the question--if by so doing the father could be torn from the place immediately. but if all would not do, and if it should become certain that the duke would definitively refuse to take his departure, it would then become necessary to tell him clearly, but secretly, that no excuse would be accepted, but that go he must; and that if he did not depart voluntarily within a fixed time, he would be publicly deprived of office and conducted to spain by force. but all these things were to be managed with the secrecy and mystery so dear to the heart of philip. the marquis was instructed to go first to the castle of antwerp, as if upon financial business, and there begin his operations. should he find at last all his private negotiations and coaxings of no avail, he was then to make use of his secret letters from the king to the army commanders, the leading nobles of the country, and of the neighbouring princes, all of whom were to be undeceived in regard to the duke, and to be informed of the will of his majesty. the real successor of farnese was to be the archduke albert, cardinal of austria, son of archduke ferdinand, and the letters on this subject were to be sent by a "decent and confidential person" so soon as it should become obvious that force would be necessary in order to compel the departure of alexander. for if it came to open rupture, it would be necessary to have the cardinal ready to take the place. if the affair were arranged amicably, then the new governor might proceed more at leisure. the marquis was especially enjoined, in case the duke should be in france, and even if it should be necessary for him to follow him there on account of commissions number one and two, not to say a word to him then of his recall, for fear of damaging matters in that kingdom. he was to do his best to induce him to return to flanders, and when they were both there, he was to begin his operations. thus, with minute and artistic treachery, did philip provide for the disgrace and ruin of the man who was his near blood relation, and who had served him most faithfully from earliest youth. it was not possible to carry out the project immediately, for, as it has already been narrated, farnese, after achieving, in spite of great obstacles due to the dulness of the king alone, an extraordinary triumph, had been dangerously wounded, and was unable for a brief interval to attend to public affairs. on the conclusion of his rouen campaign he had returned to the netherlands, almost immediately betaking himself to the waters of spa. the marquis de cerralbo meanwhile had been superseded in his important secret mission by the count of fuentes, who received the same instructions as had been provided for the marquis. but ere long it seemed to become unnecessary to push matters to extremities. farnese, although nominally the governor, felt himself unequal to take the field against the vigorous young commander who was carrying everything before him in the north and east. upon the mansfelds was the responsibility for saving steenwyk and coeworden, and to the mansfelds did verdugo send piteously, but in vain, for efficient help. for the mansfelds and other leading personages in the obedient netherlands were mainly occupied at that time in annoying farnese, calumniating his actions, laying obstacles in the way of his administration, military and civil, and bringing him into contempt with the populace. when the weary soldier--broken in health, wounded and harassed with obtaining triumphs for his master such as no other living man could have gained with the means placed at his disposal--returned to drink the waters, previously to setting forth anew upon the task of achieving the impossible, he was made the mark of petty insults on the part of both the mansfelds. neither of them paid their respects to him; ill as he was, until four days after his arrival. when the duke subsequently called a council; count peter refused to attend it on account of having slept ill the night before. champagny; who was one of, the chief mischief-makers, had been banished by parma to his house in burgundy. he became very much alarmed, and was afraid of losing his head. he tried to conciliate the duke, but finding it difficult he resolved to turn monk, and so went to the convent of capuchins, and begged hard to be admitted a member. they refused him on account of his age and infirmities. he tried a franciscan monastery with not much better success, and then obeyed orders and went to his burgundy mansion; having been assured by farnese that he was not to lose his head. alexander was satisfied with that arrangement, feeling sure, he said, that so soon as his back was turned champagny would come out of his convent before the term of probation had expired, and begin to make mischief again. a once valiant soldier, like champagny, whose conduct in the famous "fury of antwerp" was so memorable; and whose services both in field and-cabinet had, been so distinguished, fallen so low as to, be used as a tool by the mansfelds against a man like farnese; and to be rejected as unfit company by flemish friars, is not a cheerful spectacle to contemplate. the walls of the mansfeld house and gardens, too, were decorated by count charles with caricatures, intending to illustrate the indignities put upon his father: and himself. among others, one picture represented count peter lying tied hand and foot, while people were throwing filth upon him; count charles being pourtrayed as meantime being kicked away from the command of a battery of cannon by, de la motte. it seemed strange that the mansfelds should, make themselves thus elaborately ridiculous, in order to irritate farnese; but thus it was. there was so much stir, about these works of art that alexander transmitted copies of them to the king, whereupon charles mansfeld, being somewhat alarmed, endeavoured to prove that they had been entirely misunderstood. the venerable personage lying on the ground, he explained, was not his father, but socrates. he found it difficult however to account for the appearance of la motte, with his one arm wanting and with artillery by his side, because, as farnese justly remarked, artillery had not been invented in the time of socrates, nor was it recorded that the sage had lost an arm. thus passed the autumn of , and alexander, having as he supposed somewhat recruited his failing strength, prepared, according to his master's orders for a new campaign in france. for with almost preterhuman malice philip was employing the man whom he had doomed to disgrace, perhaps to death, and whom he kept under constant secret supervision, in those laborious efforts to conquer without an army and to purchase a kingdom with an empty purse, in which, as it was destined, the very last sands of parma's life were to run away. suffering from a badly healed wound, from water on the chest, degeneration of the heart, and gout in the limbs, dropsical, enfeebled, broken down into an old man before his time, alexander still confronted disease and death with as heroic a front as he had ever manifested in the field to embattled hollanders and englishmen, or to the still more formidable array of learned pedants and diplomatists in the hall of negotiation. this wreck of a man was still fitter to lead armies and guide councils than any soldier or statesman that philip could call into his service, yet the king's cruel hand was ready to stab the dying man in the dark. nothing could surpass the spirit with which the soldier was ready to do battle with his best friend, coming in the guise of an enemy. to the last moment, lifted into the saddle, he attended personally as usual to the details of his new campaign, and was dead before he would confess himself mortal. on the rd of december, , in the city of arran, he fainted after retiring at his usual hour to bed, and thus breathed his last. according to the instructions in his last will, he was laid out barefoot in the robe and cowl of a capuchin monk. subsequently his remains were taken to parma, and buried under the pavement of the little franciscan church. a pompous funeral, in which the italians and spaniards quarrelled and came to blows for precedence, was celebrated in brussels, and a statue of the hero was erected in the capitol at rome. the first soldier and most unscrupulous diplomatist of his age, he died when scarcely past his prime, a wearied; broken-hearted old man. his triumphs, military and civil, have been recorded in these pages, and his character has been elaborately pourtrayed. were it possible to conceive of an italian or spaniard of illustrious birth in the sixteenth century, educated in the school of machiavelli, at the feet of philip, as anything but the supple slave of a master and the blind instrument of a church, one might for a moment regret that so many gifts of genius and valour had been thrown away or at least lost to mankind. could the light of truth ever pierce the atmosphere in which such men have their being; could the sad music of humanity ever penetrate to their ears; could visions of a world--on this earth or beyond it--not exclusively the property of kings and high-priests be revealed to them, one might lament that one so eminent among the sons of women had not been a great man. but it is a weakness to hanker for any possible connection between truth and italian or spanish statecraft of that day. the truth was not in it nor in him, and high above his heroic achievements, his fortitude, his sagacity, his chivalrous self-sacrifice, shines forth the baleful light of his perpetual falsehood. [i pass over, as beneath the level of history, a great variety of censorious and probably calumnious reports as to the private character of farnese, with which the secret archives of the times are filled. especially champagny, the man by whom the duke was most hated and feared, made himself busy in compiling the slanderous chronicle in which the enemies of farnese, both in spain and the netherlands, took so much delight. according to the secret history thus prepared for the enlightenment of the king and his ministers, the whole administration of the netherlands--especially the financial department, with the distribution of offices--was in the hands of two favourites, a beardless secretary named cosmo e massi, and a lady of easy virtue called franceline, who seems to have had a numerous host of relatives and friends to provide for at the public expense. towards the latter end of the duke's life, it was even said that the seal of the finance department was in the hands of his valet-de-chambre, who, in his master's frequent absences, was in the habit of issuing drafts upon the receiver-general. as the valet- dechambre was described as an idiot who did not know how to read, it may be believed that the finances fell into confusion. certainly, if such statements were to be accepted, it would be natural enough that for every million dollars expended by the king in the provinces, not more than one hundred thousand were laid out for the public service; and this is the estimate made by champagny, who, as a distinguished financier and once chief of the treasury in the provinces, might certainly be thought to know something of the subject. but champagny was beside himself with rage, hatred.] chapter xxix. effect of the death of farnese upon philip's schemes--priestly flattery and counsel--assembly of the states-general of france-- meeting of the leaguers at the louvre--conference at surene between the chiefs of the league and the "political" leaders--henry convokes an assembly of bishops, theologians, and others--strong feeling on all sides on the subject of the succession--philip commands that the infanta and the duke of guise be elected king and queen of france-- manifesto of the duke of mayenne--formal re-admission of henry to the roman faith--the pope refuses to consent to his reconciliation with the church--his consecration with the sacred oil--entry of the king into paris--departure of the spanish garrison from the capital --dissimulation of the duke of mayenne--he makes terms with henry-- grief of queen elizabeth on receipt of the communications from france. during the past quarter of a century there had been tragic scenes enough in france, but now the only man who could have conducted philip's schemes to a tragic if not a successful issue was gone. friendly death had been swifter than philip, and had removed alexander from the scene before his master had found fitting opportunity to inflict the disgrace on which he was resolved. meantime, charles mansfeld made a feeble attempt to lead an army from the netherlands into france, to support the sinking fortunes of the league; but it was not for that general-of-artillery to attempt the well-graced part of the all-accomplished farnese with much hope of success. a considerable force of spanish infantry, too, had been sent to paris, where they had been received with much enthusiasm; a very violent and determined churchman, sega, archbishop of piacenza, and cardinal-legate, having arrived to check on the part of the holy father any attempt by the great wavering heretic to get himself readmitted into the fold of the faithful. the king of spain considered it his duty, as well as his unquestionable right, to interfere in the affairs of france, and to save the cause of religion, civilization and humanity, in the manner so dear to the civilization-savers, by reducing that distracted country--utterly unable to govern itself--under his sceptre. to achieve this noble end no bribery was too wholesale, no violence too brutal, no intrigue too paltry. it was his sacred and special mission to save france from herself. if he should fail, he could at least carve her in pieces, and distribute her among himself and friends. frenchmen might assist him in either of these arrangements, but it was absurd to doubt that on him devolved the work and the responsibility. yet among his advisers were some who doubted whether the purchase of the grandees of france was really the most judicious course to pursue. there was a general and uneasy feeling that the grandees were making sport of the spanish monarch, and that they would be inclined to remain his stipendiaries for an indefinite period, without doing their share of the work. a keen jesuit, who had been much in france, often whispered to philip that he was going astray. "those who best understand the fit remedy for this unfortunate kingdom, and know the tastes and temper of the nation," said he, "doubt giving these vast presents and rewards in order that the nobles of france may affect your cause and further your schemes. it is the greatest delusion, because they love nothing but their own interest, and for this reason wish for no king at all, but prefer that the kingdom should remain topsy-turvy in order that they may enjoy the spanish doubloons, as they say themselves almost publicly, dancing and feasting; that they may take a castle to-day, and to-morrow a city, and the day, after a province, and so on indefinitely. what matters it to them that blood flows, and that the miserable people are destroyed, who alone are good for anything?" "the immediate cause of the ruin of france," continued the jesuit, "comes from two roots which must be torn up; the one is the extreme ignorance and scandalous life of the ecclesiastics, the other is the tyranny and the abominable life of the nobility, who with sacrilege and insatiable avarice have entered upon the property of the church. this nobility is divided into three factions. the first, and not the least, is heretic; the second and the most pernicious is politic or atheist; the third and last is catholic. all these, although they differ in opinion, are the same thing in corruption of life and manners, so that there is no choice among them." he then proceeded to set forth how entirely, the salvation of france depended on the king of spain. "morally speaking," he said, "it is impossible for any frenchman to apply the remedy. for this two things are wanting; intense zeal for the honour of god, and power. i ask now what frenchman: has both these, or either of them. no one certainly that we know. it is the king of spain who alone in the world has the zeal and the power. no man who knows the insolence and arrogance of the french nature will believe that even if a king should be elected out of france he would be obeyed by the others. the first to oppose him would be mayenne; even if a king were chosen from his family, unless everything should be given him that he asked; which would be impossible." thus did the wily priest instil into the ready ears of philip additional reasons for believing himself the incarnate providence of god. when were priestly flatterers ever wanting to pour this poison into the souls of tyrants? it is in vain for us to ask why it is permitted that so much power for evil should be within the grasp of one wretched human creature, but it is at least always instructive to ponder the career of these crowned conspirators, and sometimes consoling to find its conclusion different from the goal intended. so the jesuit advised the king not to be throwing away his money upon particular individuals, but with the funds which they were so unprofitably consuming to form a jolly army ('gallardo egercito') of fifteen thousand foot, and five thousand-horse, all spaniards, under a spanish general--not a frenchman being admitted into it--and then to march forward, occupy all the chief towns, putting spanish garrisons into them, but sparing the people, who now considered the war eternal, and who were eaten up by both armies. in a short time the king might accomplish all he wished, for it was not in the power of the bearnese to make considerable resistance for any length of time. this was the plan of father odo for putting philip on the throne of france, and at the same time lifting up the downtrodden church, whose priests, according to his statement, were so profligate, and whose tenets were rejected by all but a small minority of the governing classes of the country. certainly it did not lack precision, but it remained to be seen whether the bearnese was to prove so very insignificant an antagonist as the sanguine priest supposed. for the third party--the moderate catholics--had been making immense progress in france, while the diplomacy of philip had thus far steadily counteracted their efforts at rome. in vain had the marquis pisani, envoy of the politicians' party, endeavoured to soften the heart of clement towards henry. the pope lived in mortal fear of spain, and the duke of sessa, philip's ambassador to the holy see, denouncing all these attempts on the part of the heretic, and his friends, and urging that it was much better for rome that the pernicious kingdom of france should be dismembered and subdivided, assured his holiness that rome should be starved, occupied, annihilated, if such abominable schemes should be for an instant favoured. clement took to his bed with sickness brought on by all this violence, but had nothing for it but to meet pisani and other agents of the same cause with a peremptory denial, and send most, stringent messages to his legate in paris, who needed no prompting. there had already been much issuing of bulls by the pope, and much burning of bulls by the hangman, according to decrees of the parliament of chalons and other friendly tribunals, and burning of chalons decrees by paris hangmen, and edicts in favour of protestants at nantz and other places--measures the enactment, repeal, and reenactment of which were to mark the ebb and flow of the great tide of human opinion on the most important of subjects, and the traces of which were to be for a long time visible on the shores of time. early in mayenne, yielding to the pressure of the spanish party, reluctantly consented to assemble the states-general of france, in order that a king might be chosen. the duke, who came to be thoroughly known to alexander farnese before the death of that subtle italian, relied on his capacity to outwit all the other champions of the league and agents of philip now that the master-spirit had been removed. as firmly opposed as ever to the election of any other candidate but himself, or possibly his son, according to a secret proposition which he had lately made to the pope, he felt himself obliged to confront the army of spanish diplomatists, roman prelates, and learned doctors, by whom it was proposed to exclude the prince of bearne from his pretended rights. but he did not, after all, deceive them as thoroughly as he imagined. the spaniards shrewdly suspected the french tactics, and the whole business was but a round game of deception, in which no one was much deceived, who ever might be destined ultimately, to pocket the stakes: "i know from a very good source," said fuentes, "that mayenne, guise, and the rest of them are struggling hard in order not to submit to bearne, and will suffer everything your majesty may do to them, even if you kick them in the mouth, but still there is no conclusion on the road we are travelling, at least not the one which your majesty desires. they will go on procrastinating and gaining time, making authority for themselves out of your majesty's grandeur, until the condition of things comes which they are desiring. feria tells me that they are still taking your majesty's money, but i warn your majesty that it is only to fight off bearne, and that they are only pursuing their own ends at your majesty's expense." perhaps mayenne had already a sufficiently clear insight into the not far-distant future, but he still presented himself in spanish cloak and most ultramontane physiognomy. his pockets were indeed full of spanish coin at that moment, for he had just claimed and received eighty-eight thousand-nine hundred dollars for back debts, together with one hundred and eighty, thousand dollars more to distribute among the deputies of the estates. "all i can say about france," said fuentes, "is that it is one great thirst for money. the duke of feria believes in a good result, but i think that mayenne is only trying to pocket as much money as he can." thus fortified, the duke of mayenne issued the address to the states-general of the kingdom, to meet at an early day in order to make arrangements to secure religion and peace, and to throw off the possible yoke of the heretic pretender. the great seal affixed to the document represented an empty throne, instead of the usual effigy of a king. the cardinal-legate issued a thundering manifesto at the same time sustaining mayenne and virulently denouncing the bearnese. the politicians' party now seized the opportunity to impress upon henry that the decisive moment was come. the spaniard, the priest; and the league, had heated the furnace. the iron was at a white heat. now was the time to strike. secretary of state revol gaspar de schomberg, jacques auguste de thou, the eminent historian, and other influential personages urged the king to give to the great question the only possible solution. said the king with much meekness, "if i am in error, let those who attack me with so much fury instruct me, and show me the way of salvation. i hate those who act against their conscience. i pardon all those who are inspired by truly religious motives, and i am ready to receive all into favour whom the love of peace, not the chagrin of ill-will, has disgusted with the war." there was a great meeting of leaguers at the louvre, to listen to mayenne, the cardinal-legate, cardinal pelleve, the duke of guise, and other chieftains. the duke of feria made a long speech in latin, setting forth the spanish policy, veiled as usual, but already sufficiently well known, and assuring the assembly that the king of spain desired nothing so much as the peace of france and of all the world, together with the supremacy of the roman church. whether these objects could best be attained by the election of philip or of his daughter, as sovereign, with the archduke ernest as king-consort, or with perhaps the duke of guise or some other eligible husband, were fair subjects for discussion. no selfish motive influenced the king, and he placed all his wealth and all his armies at the disposal of the league to carry out these great projects. then there was a conference at surene between the chiefs the league and the "political" leaders; the archbishop of lyons, the cardinal-legate, villars, admiral of france and defender of rouen, belin, governor of paris, president jeannin, and others upon one side; upon the other, the archbishop of bourges, bellievre, schomberg, revol, and de thou. the archbishop of lyons said that their party would do nothing either to frustrate or to support the mission of pisani, and that the pope would, as ever, do all that could be done to maintain the interests of the true religion. the archbishop of bourges, knowing well the meaning of such fine phrases, replied that he had much respect for the holy father, but that popes had now, become the slaves and tools of the king of spain, who, because he was powerful, held them subject to his caprice. at an adjourned meeting at the same place, the archbishop of lyons said that all questions had been asked and answered. all now depended on the pope, whom the league would always obey. if the pope would accept the reconciliation of the prince of bearne it was well. he, hoped that his conversion would be sincere. the political archbishop (of bourges) replied to the league's archbishop, that there was no time for delays, and for journeys by land and sea to rome. the least obstruction might prove fatal to both parties. let the leaguers now show that the serenity of their faces was but the mirror of their minds. but the leaguers' archbishop said that he could make no further advances. so ended the conference.' the chiefs of the politicians now went to the king and informed him that the decisive moment had arrived. henry had preserved: his coolness throughout. amid all the hubbub of learned doctors of law, archbishops-leaguer and political-sorbonne pedants, solemn grandees from spain with latin orations in their pockets, intriguing guises, huckstering mayennes, wrathful huguenots, sanguinary cardinal-legates, threatening world-monarchs--heralded by spanish musketeers, italian lancers, and german reiters--shrill screams of warning from the english queen, grim denunciations from dutch calvinists, scornful repulses from the holy father; he kept his temper and his eye-sight, as perfectly as he had ever done through the smoke and din of the wildest battle-field. none knew better than he how to detect the weakness of the adversary, and to sound the charge upon his wavering line. he blew the blast--sure that loyal catholics and protestants alike would now follow him pell-mell. on the th, may, , he gave notice that he consented to get himself instructed, and that he summoned an assembly at mantes on the th july, of bishops, theologians, princes, lords, and courts of parliament to hold council, and to advise him what was best to do for religion and the state. meantime he returned to the siege of dreux, made an assault on the place, was repulsed, and then hung nine prisoners of war in full sight of the garrison as a punishment for their temerity in resisting him. the place soon after capitulated ( th july, ). the interval between the summons and the assembling of the clerical and lay notables at mantes was employed by the leaguers in frantic and contradictory efforts to retrieve a game which the most sagacious knew to be lost. but the politicians were equal to the occasion, and baffled them at every point. the leaguers' archbishop inveighed bitterly against the abominable edicts recently issued in favour of the protestants. the political archbishop (of bourges) replied not by defending; but by warmly disapproving, those decrees of toleration, by excusing the king for having granted them for a temporary purpose, and by asserting positively that, so soon as the king should be converted, he would no longer countenance such measures. it is superfluous to observe that very different language was held on the part of henry to the english and dutch protestants, and to the huguenots of his own kingdom. and there were many meetings of the leaguers in paris, many belligerent speeches by the cardinal legate, proclaiming war to the knife rather than that the name of henry the heretic should ever be heard of again as candidate for the throne, various propositions spasmodically made in full assembly by feria, ybarra, tassis, the jurisconsult mendoza, and other spanish agents in favour of the infanta as queen of france, with archduke ernest or the duke of guise, or any other eligible prince, for her husband. the league issued a formal and furious invective in answer to henry's announcement; proving by copious citations from jeremiah, st. epiphany; st. jerome, st. cyprian, and st. bernard, that it was easier for a leopard to change his spots or for a blackamoor to be washed white; than for a heretic to be converted, and that the king was thinking rather of the crown of france than of a heavenly crown, in his approaching conversion--an opinion which there were few to gainsay. and the duke of nemours wrote to his half-brother, the duke of mayenne; offering to use all his influence to bring about mayenne's election as king on condition that if these efforts failed, mayenne should do his best to procure the election of nemours. and the parliament of paris formally and prospectively proclaimed any election of a foreigner null and void, and sent deputies to mayenne urging him never to consent to the election of the infanta. what help, said they, can the league expect from the old and broken philip; from a king who in thirty years has not been able, with all the resources of his kingdoms, to subdue the revolted provinces of the netherlands? how can he hope to conquer france? pay no further heed to the legate, they said, who is laughing in his sleeve at the miseries and distractions of our country. so spake the deputies of the league-parliament to the great captain of the league, the duke of mayenne. it was obvious that the "great and holy confederacy" was becoming less confident of its invincibility. madame league was suddenly grown decrepit in the eyes of her adorers. mayenne was angry at the action of the parliament, and vehemently swore that he would annul their decree. parliament met his threats with dignity, and resolved to stand by the decree, even if they all died in their places. at the same time the duke of feria suddenly produced in full assembly of leaguers a written order from philip that the duke of guise and the infanta should at once be elected king and queen. taken by surprise, mayenne dissembled his rage in masterly-fashion, promised feria to support the election, and at once began to higgle for conditions. he stipulated that he should have for himself the governments of champagne, burgundy, and la brie, and that they should be hereditary in his family: he furthermore demanded that guise should cede to him the principality of joinville, and that they should pay him on the spot in hard money two hundred thousand crowns in gold, six hundred thousand more in different payments, together with an annual payment of fifty thousand crowns. it was obvious that the duke did not undervalue himself; but he had after all no intention of falling into the trap set for him. "he has made these promises (as above given) in writing," said the duke of savoy's envoy to his master, "but he will never keep them. the duchess of mayenne could not help telling me that her husband will never consent that the duke of guise should have the throne." from this resolve he had never wavered, and was not likely to do so now. accordingly the man "of his word, of faith, and truth," whom even the astute farnese had at times half believed in, and who had received millions of philip's money, now thought it time to break with philip. he issued a manifesto, in which he observed that the states-general of france had desired that philip should be elected king of france, and carry out his design of a universal monarchy, as the only-means of ensuring the safety of the catholic religion and the pacification of the world. it was feared, however, said mayenne; that the king might come to the same misfortunes which befell his father, who, when it was supposed that he was inspired only by private ambition; and by the hope of placing a hereditary universal crown in his family, had excited the animosity of the princes of the empire. "if a mere suspicion had caused so great a misfortune in the empire," continued the man of his word, "what will the princes of all europe do when they find his majesty elected king of france, and grown by increase of power so formidable to the world? can it be doubted that they will fly to arms at once, and give all their support to the king of navarre, heretic though he be? what motive had so many princes to traverse philip's designs in the netherlands, but desire to destroy the enormous power which they feared? therefore had the queen, of england, although refusing the sovereignty, defended the independence of the netherlands these fifteen years. "however desirable," continued mayenne, "that this universal monarchy, for which the house of austria has so long been working, should be established, yet the king is too prudent not to see the difficulties in his way. although he has conquered portugal, he is prevented by the fleets of holland and england from taking possession of the richest of the portuguese possessions, the islands and the indies. he will find in france insuperable objections to his election as king, for he could in this case well reproach the leaguers with having been changed from frenchmen into spaniards. he must see that his case is hopeless in france, he who for thirty years has been in vain endeavouring to re-establish his authority in the netherlands. it would be impossible in the present position of affairs to become either the king or the protector of france. the dignity of france allows it not." mayenne then insisted on the necessity of a truce with the royalists or politicians, and, assembling the estates at the louvre on the th july, he read a written paper declining for the moment to hold an election for king. john baptist tassis, next day, replied by declaring that in this case philip would send no more succours of men or money; for that the only effectual counter-poison to the pretended conversion of the prince of bearne was the immediate election of a king. thus did mayenne escape from the snare in which the spaniards thought to catch the man who, as they now knew, was changing every day, and was true to nothing save his own interests. and now the great day had come. the conversion of henry to the roman faith, fixed long before for--the rd july,-- , formally took place at the time appointed. from six in the morning till the stroke of noon did henry listen to the exhortations and expoundings of the learned prelates and doctors whom he had convoked, the politic archbishop of bourges taking the lead in this long-expected instruction. after six mortal hours had come to an end, the king rose from his knees, somewhat wearied, but entirely instructed and convinced. he thanked the bishops for having taught him that of which he was before quite ignorant, and assured them that; after having invoked the light, of the holy ghost upon his musings, he should think seriously over what they had just taught him, in order to come to a resolution salutary to himself and to the state. nothing could be more candid. next day, at eight in the morning, there was a great show in the cathedral of saint denis, and the population of paris, notwithstanding the prohibition of the league authorities, rushed thither in immense crowds to witness the ceremony of the reconciliation of the king. henry went to the church, clothed as became a freshly purified heretic, in white satin doublet and hose, white silk stockings, and white silk shoes with white roses in them; but with a black hat and a black mantle. there was a great procession with blare of trumpet and beat of drum. the streets were strewn with flowers. as henry entered the great portal of the church, he found the archbishop of bourges, seated in state, effulgent in mitre and chasuble, and surrounded by other magnificent prelates in gorgeous attire. "who are you, and what do you want?" said the arch-bishop. "i am the king," meekly replied henry, "and i demand to be received into the bosom of the roman catholic church." "do you wish it sincerely?" asked the prelate. "i wish it with all my heart," said the king. then throwing himself on his knees, the bearne--great champion of the huguenots--protested before god that he would live and die in the catholic faith, and that he renounced all heresy. a passage was with difficulty opened through the crowd, and he was then led to the high altar, amid the acclamations of the people. here he knelt devoutly and repeated his protestations. his unction and contrition were most impressive, and the people, of course, wept piteously. the king, during the progress of the ceremony, with hands clasped together and adoring the eucharist with his eyes, or, as the host was elevated, smiting himself thrice upon the breast, was a model of passionate devotion. afterwards he retired to a pavilion behind the altar, where the archbishop confessed and absolved him. then the te deum sounded, and high mass was celebrated by the bishop of nantes. then, amid acclamations and blessings, and with largess to the crowd, the king returned to the monastery of saint denis, where he dined amid a multitude of spectators, who thronged so thickly around him that his dinner-table was nearly overset. these were the very parisians, who, but three years before, had been feeding on rats and dogs and dead men's bones, and the bodies of their own children, rather than open their gates to this same prince of bearne. now, although mayenne had set strong guards at those gates, and had most strictly prohibited all egress, the city was emptied of its populace, which pressed in transports of adoration around the man so lately the object of their hate. yet few could seriously believe that much change had been effected in the inner soul of him, whom the legate, and the spaniard, and the holy father at rome still continued to denounce as the vilest of heretics and the most infamous of impostors. the comedy was admirably played out and was entirely successful. it may be supposed that the chief actor was, however, somewhat wearied. in private, he mocked at all this ecclesiastical mummery, and described himself as heartily sick of the business. "i arrived here last evening," he wrote to the beautiful gabrielle, "and was importuned with 'god save you' till bed-time. in regard to the leaguers i am of the order of st. thomas. i am beginning to-morrow morning to talk to the bishops, besides those i told you about yesterday. at this moment of writing i have a hundred of these importunates on my shoulders, who will make me hate saint denis as much as you hate mantes. 'tis to-morrow that i take the perilous leap. i kiss a million times the beautiful hands of my angel and the mouth of my dear mistress." a truce--renewed at intervals--with the leaguers lasted till the end of the year. the duke of nevers was sent on special mission to rome to procure the holy father's consent to the great heretic's reconciliation to the church, and he was instructed to make the king's submission in terms so wholesale and so abject that even some of the life-long papists of france were disgusted, while every honest protestant in europe shrank into himself for shame. but clement, overawed by philip and his ambassador, was deaf to all the representations of the french envoy. he protested that he would not believe in the sincerity of the bearne's conversion unless an angel from heaven should reveal it to him. so nevers left rome, highly exasperated, and professing that he would rather have lost a leg, that he would rather have been sewn in a sack and tossed into the tiber, than bear back such a message. the pope ordered the prelates who had accompanied nevers to remain in rome and be tried by the inquisition for misprision of heresy, but the duke placed them by his side and marched out of the porta del popolo with them, threatening to kill any man who should attempt to enforce the command. meantime it became necessary to follow up the st. denis comedy with a still more exhilarating popular spectacle. the heretic had been purified, confessed, absolved. it was time for a consecration. but there was a difficulty. although the fever of loyalty to the ancient house of bourbon, now redeemed from its worship of the false gods, was spreading contagiously through the provinces; although all the white silk in lyons had been cut into scarves and banners to celebrate the reconciliation of the candid king with mother church; although that ancient city was ablaze with bonfires and illuminations, while its streets ran red, with blood no longer, but with wine; and although madam league, so lately the object of fondest adoration, was now publicly burned in the effigy of a grizzly hag; yet paris still held for that decrepit beldame, and closed its gates to the bearnese. the city of rheims, too, had not acknowledged the former huguenot, and it was at rheims, in the church of st. remy, that the holy bottle was preserved. with what chrism, by what prelate, should the consecration of henry be performed? five years before, the league had proposed in the estates of blois to place among the fundamental laws of the kingdom that no king should be considered a legitimate sovereign whose head had not been anointed by the bishop at rheims with oil from that holy bottle. but it was now decided that to ascribe a monopoly of sanctity to that prelate and to that bottle would be to make a schism in the church. moreover it was discovered that there was a chrism in existence still more efficacious than the famous oil of st. remy. one hundred and twelve years before the baptism of clovis, st. martin had accidentally tumbled down stairs, and lay desperately bruised and at the point of death. but, according to sulpicius severus, an angel had straightway descended from heaven, and with a miraculous balsam had anointed the contusions of the saint, who next day felt no farther inconveniences from his fall. the balsam had ever since been preserved in the church of marmoutier near tours. here, then, was the most potent of unguents brought directly from heaven. to mix a portion thereof with the chrism of consecration was clearly more judicious than to make use of the holy bottle, especially as the holy bottle was not within reach. the monks of marmoutier consented to lend the sacred phial containing the famous oil of st. martin for the grand occasion of the royal consecration. accompanied by a strong military escort provided by giles de souvri, governor of touraine, a deputation of friars brought the phial to chartres, where the consecration was to take place. prayers were offered up, without ceasing, in the monastery during their absence that no mishap should befal the sacred treasure. when the monks arrived at chartres, four young barons of the first nobility were assigned to them as hostages for the safe restoration of the phial, which was then borne in triumph to the cathedral, the streets through which it was carried being covered with tapestry. there was a great ceremony, a splendid consecration; six bishops, with mitres on their heads and in gala robes, officiating; after which the king knelt before the altar and took the customary oath. thus the champion of the fierce huguenots, the well-beloved of the dead la noue and the living duplessis mornay, the devoted knight of the heretic queen elizabeth, the sworn ally of the stout dutch calvinists, was pompously reconciled to that rome which was the object of their hatred and their fear. the admirably arranged spectacles of the instruction at st. denis and the consecration at chartres were followed on the day of the vernal equinox by a third and most conclusive ceremony: a secret arrangement had been made with de cosse-brissac, governor of paris, by the king, according to which the gates of paris were at last to be opened to him. the governor obtained a high price for his services--three hundred thousand livres in hard cash, thirty thousand a year for his life, and the truncheon of marshal of france. thus purchased, brissac made his preparations with remarkable secrecy and skill. envoy ybarra, who had scented something suspicious in the air, had gone straight to the governor for information, but the keen spaniard was thrown out by the governor's ingenuous protestations of ignorance. the next morning, march nd, was stormy and rainy, and long before daylight ybarra, still uneasy despite the statements of brissac, was wandering about the streets of paris when he became the involuntary witness of an extraordinary spectacle. through the wind and the rain came trampling along the dark streets of the capital a body of four thousand troopers and lansquenettes. many torch-bearers attended on the procession, whose flambeaux threw a lurid light upon the scene. there, surrounded by the swart and grizzly bearded visages of these strange men-at-arms, who were discharging their arquebuses, as they advanced upon any bystanders likely to oppose their progress; in the very midst of this sea of helmed heads, the envoy was enabled to recognise the martial figure of the prince of bearne. armed to the teeth, with sword in hand and dagger at side, the hero of ivry rode at last through the barriers which had so long kept him from his capital. "'twas like enchantment," said ybarra. the first bourbon entered the city through the same gate out of which the last valois had, five years before, so ignominiously fled. it was a midnight surprise, although not fully accomplished until near the dawn of day. it was not a triumphal entrance; nor did henry come as the victorious standard-bearer of a great principle. he had defeated the league in many battle-fields, but the league still hissed defiance at him from the very hearthstone of his ancestral palace. he had now crept, in order to conquer, even lower than the league itself; and casting off his huguenot skin at last, he had soared over the heads of all men, the presiding genius of the holy catholic church. twenty-one years before, he had entered the same city on the conclusion of one of the truces which had varied the long monotony of the religious wars of france. the youthful son of antony bourbon and joan of albret had then appeared as the champion and the idol of the huguenots. in the same year had come the fatal nuptials with the bride of st. bartholomew, the first catholic conversion of henry and the massacre at which the world still shudders. now he was chief of the "politicians," and sworn supporter of the council of trent. earnest huguenots were hanging their heads in despair. he represented the principle of national unity against national dismemberment by domestic treason and foreign violence. had that principle been his real inspiration, as it was in truth his sole support, history might judge him more leniently. had he relied upon it entirely it might have been strong enough to restore him to the throne of his ancestors, without the famous religious apostacy with which his name is for ever associated. it is by no means certain that permanent religious toleration might not have been the result of his mounting the throne, only when he could do so without renouncing the faith of his fathers. a day of civilization may come perhaps, sooner or later, when it will be of no earthly cousequence to their fellow creatures to what creed, what christian church, what religious dogma kings or humbler individuals may be partial; when the relations between man and his maker shall be undefiled by political or social intrusion. but the day will never come when it will be otherwise than damaging to public morality and humiliating to human dignity to forswear principle for a price, and to make the most awful of mysteries the subject of political legerdemain and theatrical buffoonery. the so-called conversion of the king marks an epoch in human history. it strengthened the roman church and gave it an indefinite renewal of life; but it sapped the foundations of religious faith. the appearance of henry the huguenot as the champion of the council of trent was of itself too biting an epigram not to be extensively destructive. whether for good or ill, religion was fast ceasing to be the mainspring of political combinations, the motive of great wars and national convulsions. the age of religion was to be succeeded by the age of commerce. but the king was now on his throne. all paris was in rapture. there was te deum with high mass in notre dame, and the populace was howling itself hoarse with rapture in honour of him so lately the object of the general curse. even the sorbonne declared in favour of the reclaimed heretic, and the decision of those sages had vast influence with less enlightened mortals. there was nothing left for the duke of feria but to take himself off and make latin orations in favour of the infanta elsewhere, if fit audience elsewhere could be found. a week after the entrance of henry, the spanish garrison accordingly was allowed to leave paris with the honours of war. "we marched out at p.m.," wrote the duke to his master, "with closed ranks, colours displayed, and drums beating. first came the italians and then the spaniards, in the midst of whom was myself on horseback, with the walloons marching near me. the prince of bearne"--it was a solace to the duke's heart, of which he never could be deprived, to call the king by that title--"was at a window over the gate of st. denis through which we took our departure. he was dressed in light grey, with a black hat surmounted by a great white feather. our displayed standards rendered him no courteous salute as we passed." here was another solace! thus had the game been lost and won, but philip as usual did not acknowledge himself beaten. mayenne, too, continued to make the most fervent promises to all that was left of the confederates. he betook himself to brussels, and by the king's orders was courteously received by the spanish authorities in the netherlands. in the midst of the tempest now rapidly destroying all rational hopes, philip still clung to mayenne as to a spar in the shipwreck. for the king ever possessed the virtue, if it be one, of continuing to believe himself invincible and infallible, when he had been defeated in every quarter, and when his calculations had all proved ridiculous mistakes. when his famous armada had been shattered and sunk, have we not seen him peevishly requiring alexander farnese to construct a new one immediately and to proceed therewith to conquer england out of hand? was it to be expected that he would renounce his conquest of france, although the legitimate king had entered his capital, had reconciled himself to the church, and was on the point of obtaining forgiveness of the pope? if the prince of bearne had already destroyed the holy league, why should not the duke of mayenne and archduke ernest make another for him, and so conquer france without further delay? but although it was still possible to deceive the king, who in the universality of his deceptive powers was so prone to delude himself, it was difficult even for so accomplished an intriguer as mayenne to hoodwink much longer the shrewd spaniards who were playing so losing a game against him. "our affairs in france," said ybarra, "are in such condition that we are losing money and character there, and are likely to lose all the provinces here, if things are not soon taken up in a large and energetic manner. money and troops are what is wanted on a great scale for france. the king's agents are mightily discontented with mayenne, and with reason; but they are obliged to dissimulate and to hold their tongues. we can send them no assistance from these regions, unless from down yonder you send us the cloth and the scissors to cut it with." and the archduke ernest, although he invited mayenne to confer with him at brussels, under the impression that he could still keep him and the duke of guise from coming to an arrangement with bearne, hardly felt more confidence in the man than did feria or ybarra. "since the loss of paris," said ernest, "i have had a letter from mayenne, in which, deeply affected by that event, he makes me great offers, even to the last drop of his blood, vowing never to abandon the cause of the league. but of the intentions and inner mind of this man i find such vague information, that i don't dare to expect more stability from him than may be founded upon his own interest." and so mayenne came to brussels and passed three days with the archduke. "he avows himself ready to die in our cause," said ernest. "if your majesty will give men and money enough, he will undertake so to deal with bearne that he shall not think himself safe in his own house." the archduke expressed his dissatisfaction to mayenne that with the money he had already received, so little had been accomplished, but he still affected a confidence which he was far from feeling, "because," said he, "it is known that mayenne is already treating with bearne. if he has not concluded those arrangements, it is because bearne now offers him less money than before." the amount of dissimulation, politely so-called, practised by the grandees of that age, to say nothing of their infinite capacity for pecuniary absorption, makes the brain reel and enlarges one's ideas of the human faculties as exerted in certain directions. it is doubtful whether plain hans miller or hans baker could have risen to such level. feria wrote a despatch to the king, denouncing mayenne as false, pernicious to the cause of spain and of catholicism, thoroughly self-seeking and vile, and as now most traitorous to the cause of the confederacy, engaged in surrendering its strong places to the enemy, and preparing to go over to the prince of bearne. "if," said he, "i were to recount all his base tricks, i should go on till midnight, and perhaps till to-morrow morning." this letter, being intercepted, was sent with great glee by henry iv., not to the royal hands for which it was destined, but to the duke of mayenne. great was the wrath of that injured personage as he read such libellous truths. he forthwith fulminated a scathing reply, addressed to philip ii., in which he denounced the duke of feria as "a dirty ignoramus, an impudent coward, an impostor, and a blind thief;" adding, after many other unsavoury epithets, "but i will do him an honour which he has not merited, proving him a liar with my sword; and i humbly pray your majesty to grant me this favour and to pardon my just grief, which causes me to depart from the respect due to your majesty, when i speak of this impostor who has thus wickedly torn my reputation." his invectives were, however, much stronger than his arguments in defence of that tattered reputation. the defiance to mortal combat went for nothing; and, in the course of the next year, the injured mayenne turned his back on philip and his spaniards, and concluded his bargain with the prince of bearne. he obtained good terms: the government of burgundy, payment of his debts, and a hundred and twenty thousand crowns in hard cash. it is not on record that the man of his word, of credit, and of truth, ever restored a penny of the vast sums which he had received from philip to carry on the business of the league. subsequently the duke came one very hot summer's-day to monceaux to thank the king, as he expressed it, for "delivering him from spanish arrogance and italian wiles;" and having got with much difficulty upon his knees, was allowed to kiss the royal hand. henry then insisted upon walking about with him through the park at a prodigious rate, to show him all the improvements, while the duke panted, groaned, and perspired in his vain efforts to keep pace with his new sovereign. "if i keep this fat fellow walking about in the sun much longer," whispered the king to de bethune, who was third in the party, "i shall be sufficiently avenged for all the mischief he has done us." at last, when the duke was forced to admit himself to be on the point of expiring with fatigue, he was dismissed to the palace with orders to solace himself with a couple of bottles of excellent wine of arbois, expressly provided for him by the king's direction. and this was all the punishment ever inflicted by the good-humoured monarch on the corpulent conspirator. the duke of guise made his arrangements with the ex-huguenot on even better terms and at a still earlier day; while joyeuse and mercoeur stood out a good while and higgled hard for conditions. "these people put such a high price on themselves," said one of henry's diplomatists, "that one loses almost more than one gains in buying them. they strip and plunder us even in our nakedness, and we are obliged, in order to conciliate such harpies, to employ all that we can scrape out of our substance and our blood. i think, however, that we ought to gain them by whatever means and at whatever price." thus henry iv., the man whom so many contemporary sages had for years been rebuking or ridiculing for his persistency in a hopeless attempt to save his country from dismemberment, to restore legitimate authority, and to resist the "holy confederacy" of domestic traitors, aided by foreign despots and sympathizers, was at last successful, and the fratricidal war in france was approaching its only possible conclusion. but, alas! the hopes of those who loved the reformed church as well as they loved their country were sadly blasted by the apostasy of their leader. from the most eminent leaders of the huguenots there came a wail, which must have penetrated even to the well-steeled heart of the cheerful gascon. "it will be difficult," they said, "to efface very soon from your memory the names of the men whom the sentiment of a common religion, association in the same perils and persecutions, a common joy in the same deliverance, and the long experience of so many faithful services, have engraved there with a pencil of diamond. the remembrance of these things pursues you and accompanies you everywhere; it interrupts your most important affairs, your most ardent pleasures, your most profound slumber, to represent to you, as in a picture, yourself to yourself: yourself not as you are to-day, but such as you were when, pursued to the death by the greatest princes of europe, you went on conducting to the harbour of safety the little vessel against which so many tempests were beating." the states of the dutch republic, where the affair of henry's conversion was as much a matter of domestic personal interest as it could be in france--for religion up to that epoch was the true frontier between nation and nation--debated the question most earnestly while it was yet doubtful. it was proposed to send a formal deputation to the king, in order to divert him, if possible, from the fatal step which he was about to take. after ripe deliberation however, it was decided to leave the matter "in the hands of god almighty, and to pray him earnestly to guide the issue to his glory and the welfare of the churches." the queen of england was, as might be supposed, beside herself with indignation, and, in consequence of the great apostasy, and of her chronic dissatisfaction with the manner in which her contingent of troops had been handled in france, she determined to withdraw every english soldier from the support of henry's cause. the unfortunate french ambassador in london was at his wits' ends. he vowed that he could not sleep of nights, and that the gout and the cholic, to which he was always a martyr, were nothing to the anguish which had now come upon his soul and brain, such as he had never suffered since the bloody day of st. bartholomew. "ah, my god!" said he to burghley, "is it possible that her just choler has so suddenly passed over the great glory which she has acquired by so many benefits and liberalities?" but he persuaded himself that her majesty would after all not persist in her fell resolution. to do so, he vowed, would only be boiling milk for the french papists, who would be sure to make the most of the occasion in order to precipitate the king into the abyss, to the border of which they had already brought him. he so dreaded the ire of the queen that he protested he was trembling all over merely to see the pen of his secretary wagging as he dictated his despatches. nevertheless it was his terrible duty to face her in her wrath, and he implored the lord treasurer to accompany him and to shield him at the approaching interview. "protect me," he cried, "by your wisdom from the ire of this great princess; for by the living god, when i see her enraged against any person whatever i wish myself in calcutta, fearing her anger like death itself." when all was over, henry sent de morlans as special envoy to communicate the issue to the governments of england and of holland. but the queen, although no longer so violent, was less phlegmatic than the states-general, and refused to be comforted. she subsequently receded, however, from her determination to withdraw her troops from france. "ah! what grief; ah! what regrets; ah! what groans, have i felt in my soul," she wrote, "at the sound of the news brought to me by morlans! my god! is it possible that any wordly respect can efface the terror of divine wrath? can we by reason even expect a good sequel to such iniquitous acts? he who has maintained and preserved you by his mercy, can you imagine that he permits you to walk alone in your utmost need? 'tis bad to do evil that good may come of it. meantime i shall not cease to put you in the first rank of my devotions, in order that the hands of esau may not spoil the blessings of jacob. as to your promises to me of friendship and fidelity, i confess to have dearly deserved them, nor do i repent, provided you do not change your father--otherwise i shall be your bastard sister by the father's side--for i shall ever love a natural better than an adopted one. i desire that god may guide you in a straight road and a better path. your most sincere sister in the old fashion. as to the new, i have nothing to do with it. elizabeth r." etext editor's bookmarks: all fellow-worms together continuing to believe himself invincible and infallible he spent more time at table than the bearnese in sleep henry the huguenot as the champion of the council of trent highest were not necessarily the least slimy his invectives were, however, much stronger than his arguments history is a continuous whole of which we see only fragments infinite capacity for pecuniary absorption leading motive with all was supposed to be religion past was once the present, and once the future sages of every generation, read the future like a printed scroll sewers which have ever run beneath decorous christendom wrath of that injured personage as he read such libellous truths history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter xxx. prince maurice lays siege to gertruydenberg--advantages of the new system of warfare--progress of the besieging operations--superiority of maurice's manoeuvres--adventure of count philip of nassau-- capitulation of gertruydenberg--mutiny among the spanish troops-- attempt of verdugo to retake coeworden--suspicions of treason in the english garrison at ostend--letter of queen elizabeth to sir edward norris on the subject--second attempt on coeworden--assault on groningen by maurice--second adventure of philip of nassau--narrow escape of prince maurice--surrender of groningen--particulars of the siege--question of religious toleration--progress of the united netherlands--condition of the "obedient" netherlands--incompetency of peter mansfeld as governor--archduke ernest, the successor of farnese--difficulties of his position--his unpopularity--great achievements of the republicans--triumphal entry of ernest into brussels and antwerp--magnificence of the spectacle--disaffection of the spanish troops--great military rebellion--philip's proposal to destroy the english fleet--his assassination plans--plot to poison queen elizabeth--conspiracies against prince maurice--futile attempts at negotiation--proposal of a marriage between henry and the infanta--secret mission from henry to the king of spain--special dispatch to england and the staten--henry obtains further aid from queen elizabeth and the states--council--anxiety of the protestant countries to bring about a war with spain--aspect of affairs at the close of the year . while philip's world-empire seemed in one direction to be so rapidly fading into cloudland there were substantial possessions of the spanish crown which had been neglected in brabant and friesland. two very important cities still held for the king of spain within the territories of what could now be fairly considered the united dutch republic--st. gertruydenberg and groningen. early in the spring of , maurice had completed his preparations for a siege, and on the th march appeared before gertruydenberg. it was a stately, ancient city, important for its wealth, its strength, and especially for its position. for without its possession even the province of holland could hardly consider itself mistress of its own little domains. it was seated on the ancient meuse, swollen as it approached the sea almost to the dimension of a gulf, while from the south another stream, called the donge, very brief in its course, but with considerable depth of water, came to mingle itself with the meuse, exactly under the walls of the city. the site of the place was so low that it was almost hidden and protected by its surrounding dykes. these afforded means of fortification, which had been well improved. both by nature and art the city was one of the strongholds of the netherlands. maurice had given the world a lesson in the beleaguering science at the siege of steenwyk, such as had never before been dreamt of; but he was resolved that the operations before gertruydenberg should constitute a masterpiece. nothing could be more beautiful as a production of military art, nothing, to the general reader, more insipid than its details. on the land side, hohenlo's headquarters were at ramsdonck, a village about a german mile to the east of gertruydenberg. maurice himself was established on the west side of the city. two bridges constructed across the donge facilitated the communications between the two camps, while great quantities of planks and brush were laid down across the swampy roads to make them passable for waggon-trains and artillery. the first care of the young general, whose force was not more than twenty thousand men, was to protect himself rather than to assail the town. his lines extended many miles in a circuit around the place, and his forts, breastworks, and trenches were very numerous. the river was made use of as a natural and almost impassable ditch of defence, and windmills were freely employed to pump water into the shallows in one direction, while in others the outer fields, in quarters whence a relieving force might be expected, were turned into lakes by the same machinery. farther outside, a system of palisade work of caltrops and man-traps--sometimes in the slang of the day called turkish ambassadors--made the country for miles around impenetrable or very disagreeable to cavally. in a shorter interval than would have seemed possible, the battlements and fortifications of the besieging army had risen like an exhalation out of the morass. the city of gertruydenberg was encompassed by another city as extensive and apparently as impregnable as itself. then, for the first time in that age, men thoroughly learned the meaning of that potent implement the spade. three thousand pioneers worked night and day with pickaxe and shovel. the soldiers liked the business; for every man so employed received his ten stivers a day additional wages, punctually paid, and felt moreover that every stioke was bringing the work nearer to its conclusion. the spaniards no longer railed at maurice as a hedger and ditcher. when he had succeeded in bringing a hundred great guns to bear upon the beleaguered city they likewise ceased to sneer at heavy artillery. the kartowen and half kartowen were no longer considered "espanta vellacos." meantime, from all the country round, the peasants flocked within the lines. nowhere in europe were provisions so plentiful and cheap as in the dutch camp. nowhere was a readier market for agricultural products, prompter payment, or more perfect security for the life and property of non-combatants. not so much as a hen's egg was taken unlawfully. the country people found themselves more at ease within maurice's lines than within any other part of the provinces, obedient or revolted. they ploughed and sowed and reaped at their pleasure, and no more striking example was ever afforded of the humanizing effect of science upon the barbarism of war, than in this siege of gertruydenberg. certainly it was the intention of the prince to take his city, and when he fought the enemy it was his object to kill; but, as compared with the bloody work which alva, and romero, and requesens, and so many others had done in those doomed provinces, such war-making as this seemed almost like an institution for beneficent and charitable purposes. visitors from the neighbourhood, from other provinces, from foreign countries, came to witness the extraordinary spectacle, and foreign generals repaired to the camp of maurice to take practical lessons in the new art of war. old peter ernest mansfeld, who was nominal governor of the spanish netherlands since the death of farnese, rubbed his eyes and stared aghast when the completeness of the preparations for reducing the city at last broke in upon his mind. count fuentes was the true and confidential regent however until the destined successor to parma should arrive; but fuentes, although he had considerable genius for assassination, as will hereafter appear, and was an experienced and able commander of the old-fashioned school, was no match for maurice in the scientific combinations on which the new system was founded. in vain did the superannuated peter call aloud upon his sofa and governor, count charles, to assist him in this dire dilemma. that artillery general had gone with a handful of germans, walloons; and other obedient netherlanders--too few to accomplish anything abroad, too many to be spared from the provinces--to besiege noyon in france. but what signified the winning or losing of such a place as noyon at exactly the moment when the prince of bearne, assisted by the able generalship of the archbishop of bourges, had just executed those famous flanking movements in the churches of st. denis and chartres, by which the world-empire had been effectually shattered, and philip and the pope completely out-manoeuvred. better that the five thousand fighters under charles mansfeld had been around gertruydenberg. his aged father did what he could. as many men as could be spared from the garrison of antwerp and its neighbourhood were collected; but the spaniards were reluctant to march, except under old mondragon. that hero, who had done much of the hardest work, and had fought in most of the battles of the century, was nearly as old as the century. being now turned of ninety, he thought best to keep house in antwerp castle: accordingly twelve thousand foot and three thousand horse took the field under the more youthful peter ernest? but peter ernest, when his son was not there to superintend his operations, was nothing but a testy octogenarian, while the two together were not equal to the little finger of farnese, whom philip would have displaced, had he not fortunately died. "nothing is to be expected out of this place but toads and poison," wrote ybarra in infinite disgust to the two secretaries of state at madrid. "i have done my best to induce fuentes to accept that which the patent secured him, and count peter is complaining that fuentes showed him the patent so late only to play him a trick. there is a rascally pack of meddlers here, and the worst of them all are the women, whom i particularly give to the devil. there is no end to the squabbles as to who shall take the lead in relieving gertruydenberg." mansfeld at last came ponderously up in the neighbourhood of turnhout. there was a brilliant little skirmish, in the neighbourhood of this place, in which a hundred and fifty dutch cavalry under the famous brothers bax defeated four hundred picked lancers of spain and italy. but mansfeld could get nothing but skirmishes. in vain he plunged about among the caltrops and man-traps. in vain he knocked at the fortifications of hohenlo on the east and of maurice on the west. he found them impracticable, impregnable, obdurate. it was maurice's intention to take his town at as small sacrifice of life as possible. a trumpet was sent on some trifling business to mansfeld, in reply to a communication made by the general to maurice. "why does your master," said the choleric veteran to the trumpeter, "why does prince maurice, being a lusty young commander as he is, not come out of his trenches into the open field and fight me like a man, where honour and fame await him?" "because my master," answered the trumpeter, "means to live to be a lusty old commander like your excellency, and sees no reason to-day to give you an advantage." at this the bystanders laughed, rather at the expense of the veteran. meantime there were not many incidents within the lines or within the city to vary the monotony of the scientific siege. on the land side, as has been seen, the city was enclosed and built out of human sight by another gertruydenberg. on the wide estuary of the meuse, a chain of war ships encircled the sea-front, in shape of a half moon, lying so close to each other that it was scarcely possible even for a messenger to swim out of a dark night. the hardy adventurers who attempted that feat with tidings of despair were almost invariably captured. this blockading fleet took regular part in the daily cannonade; while, on the other hand, the artillery practice from the landbatteries of maurice and hohenlo was more perfect than anything ever known before in the netherlands or france. and the result was that in the course of the cannonade which lasted nearly ninety days, not more than four houses in the city escaped injury. the approaches were brought, every hour, nearer and nearer to the walls. with subterranean lines converging in the form of the letter y, the prince had gradually burrowed his way beneath the principal bastion. hohenlo, representative of the older school of strategy, had on one occasion ventured to resist the authority of the commander-in-chief. he had constructed a fort at ramsdonck. maurice then commanded the erection of another, fifteen hundred yards farther back. it was as much a part of his purpose to defend himself against the attempts of mansfeld's relieving force, as to go forward against the city. hohenlo objected that it would be impossible to sustain himself against a sudden attack in so isolated a position. maurice insisted. in the midst of the altercation hohenlo called to the men engaged in throwing up the new fortifications: "here, you captains and soldiers," he cried, "you are delivered up here to be butchered. you may drop work and follow me to the old fort." "and i swear to you," said maurice quietly, "that the first man who moves from this spot shall be hanged." no one moved. the fort was completed and held to the and; hohenlo sulkily acquiescing in the superiority which this stripling--his former pupil--had at last vindicated over all old-fashioned men-at-arms. from the same cause which was apt to render hohenlo's services inefficient, the prince was apt to suffer inconvenience in the persons placed in still nearer relation to himself. count philip of nassau, brother of the wise and valiant lewis william, had already done much brilliant campaigning against the spaniards both in france and the provinces. unluckily, he was not only a desperate fighter but a mighty drinker, and one day, after a dinner-party and potent carouse at colonel brederode's quarters, he thought proper, in doublet and hose, without armour of any kind, to mount his horse, in order to take a solitary survey of the enemy's works. not satisfied with this piece of reconnoitering--which he effected with much tipsy gravity, but probably without deriving any information likely to be of value to the commanding general--he then proceeded to charge in person a distant battery. the deed was not commendable in a military point of view. a fire was opened upon him at long range so soon as he was discovered, and at the same time the sergeant-major of his regiment and an equerry of prince maurice started in pursuit, determined to bring him off if possible, before his life had been thus absurdly sacrificed. fortunately for him they came to the rescue in time, pulled him from his horse, and succeeded in bringing him away unharmed. the sergeant-major, however, sinisky by name, while thus occupied in preserving the count's life, was badly wounded in the leg by a musket-shot from the fort; which casualty was the only result of this after-dinner assault. as the siege proceeded, and as the hopes of relief died away, great confusion began to reign within the city. the garrison, originally of a thousand veterans, besides burgher militia, had been much diminished. two commandants of the place, one after another, had lost their lives. on the st of june, governor de masieres, captain mongyn, the father-confessor of the garrison, and two soldiers, being on the top of the great church tower taking observations, were all brought down with one cannon-shot. thus the uses of artillery were again proved to be something more than to scare cowards. the final result seemed to have been brought about almost by accident, if accident could be admitted as a factor in such accurate calculations as those of maurice. on the th june captains haen and bievry were relieving watch in the trenches near the great north ravelin of the town--a bulwark which had already been much undermined from below and weakened above. being adventurous officers, it occurred to them suddenly to scale the wall of the fort and reconnoitre what was going on in the town. it was hardly probable that they would come back alive from the expedition, but they nevertheless threw some planks across the ditch, and taking a few soldiers with them, climbed cautiously up. somewhat to his own surprise, still more to that of the spanish sentinels, bievry in a few minutes found himself within the ravelin. he was closely followed by captain haen, captain kalf, and by half a company of soldiers. the alarm was given. there was a fierce hand-to-hand struggle. sixteen of the bold stormers fell, and nine of the garrison of the fort. the rest fled into the city. the governor of the place, captain gysant, rushing to the rescue without staying to put on his armour, was killed. count solms, on the other hand, came from the besieging camp into the ravelin to investigate the sudden uproar. to his profound astonishment he was met there, after a brief interval, by a deputation from the city, asking for terms of surrender. the envoys had already been for some little time looking in vain for a responsible person with whom to treat. when maurice was informed of the propositions he thought it at first a trick; for he had known nothing of the little adventure of the three captains. soon afterwards he came into a battery whither the deputies had been brought, and the terms of capitulation were soon agreed upon. next day the garrison were allowed to go out with sidearms and personal baggage, and fifty waggons were lent them by the victor to bring their wounded men to antwerp. thus was gertruydenberg surrendered in the very face of peter mansfeld, who only became aware of the fact by the salvos of artillery fired in honour of the triumph, and by the blaze of illumination which broke forth over camp and city. the sudden result was an illustration of the prince's perfect arrangements. when maurice rode into the town, he found it strong enough and sufficiently well provisioned to have held out many a long day. but it had been demonstrated to the besieged that relief was impossible, and that the surrender on one day or another, after the siege operations should be brought to their close, was certain. the inexorable genius of the commander--skilled in a science which to the coarser war-makers of that age seemed almost superhuman--hovered above them like a fate. it was as well to succumb on the th june as to wait till the th july. moreover the great sustaining principle--resistance to the foreigner--which had inspired the deeds of daring, the wonders of endurance, in the dutch cities beleaguered so remorselessly by the spaniard twenty years earlier in the century, was wanting. in surrendering to the born netherlander--the heroic chieftain of the illustrious house of nassau--these netherlanders were neither sullying their flag nor injuring their country. enough had been done for military honour in the gallant resistance, in which a large portion of the garrison had fallen. nor was that religious superstition so active within the city, which three years before had made miracles possible in paris when a heretic sovereign was to be defied by his own subjects. it was known that even if the public ceremonies of the catholic church were likely to be suspended for a time after the surrender, at least the rights of individual conscience and private worship within individual households would be tolerated, and there was no papal legate with fiery eloquence persuading a city full of heroic dupes that it was more virtuous for men or women to eat their own children than to forego one high mass, or to wink at a single conventicle. after all, it was no such bitter hardship for the citizens of gertruydenberg to participate in the prosperity of the rising and thriving young republic, and to enjoy those municipal and national liberties which her sister cities had found so sweet. nothing could be calmer or more reasonable than such a triumph, nothing less humiliating or less disastrous than such a surrender. the problem was solved, the demonstration was made. to open their gates to the soldiers of the union was not to admit the hordes of a spanish commander with the avenging furies of murder, pillage, rape, which ever followed in their train over the breach of a captured city. to an enemy bated or dreaded to the uttermost mortal capacity, that well-fortified and opulent city might have held out for months, and only when the arms and the fraud of the foe without, and of famine within, had done their work, could it have bowed its head to the conqueror, and submitted to the ineffable tortures which would be the necessary punishment of its courage. four thousand shots had been fired from the siege-guns upon the city, and three hundred upon the relieving force. the besieging army numbered in all nine thousand one hundred and fifty men of all arms, and they lost during the eighty-five days' siege three hundred killed and four hundred wounded. after the conclusion of these operations, and the thorough remodelling of the municipal government of the important city thus regained to the republic, maurice occupied himself with recruiting and refreshing his somewhat exhausted little army. on the other hand, old count mansfeld, dissatisfied with the impotent conclusion to his attempts, retired to brussels to be much taunted by the insolent fuentes. he at least escaped very violent censure on the part of his son charles, for that general, after his superfluous conquest of noyon, while returning towards the netherlands, far too tardily to succour gertruydenberg, had been paralyzed in all his movements by a very extensive mutiny which broke out among the spanish troops in the province of artois. the disorder went through all its regular forms. a town was taken, an eletto was appointed. the country-side was black-mailed or plundered, and the rebellion lasted some thirteen months. before it was concluded there was another similar outbreak among the italians, together with the walloons and other obedient netherlanders in hainault, who obliged the city of mons to collect nine hundred florins a day for them. the consequence of these military rebellions was to render the spanish crown almost powerless during the whole year, within the provinces nominally subject to its sway. the cause--as always--was the non-payment of these veterans' wages, year after year. it was impossible for philip, with all the wealth of the indies and mexico pouring through the danaid sieve of the holy league in france, to find the necessary funds to save the bronzed and war-worn instruments of his crimes in the netherlands from starving and from revolt. meantime there was much desultory campaigning in friesland. verdugo and frederic van den berg picked up a few cities, and strong places which had thrown off their allegiance september, to the king--auerzyl, schlochteren, winschoten, wedde, ootmarzum--and invested the much more important town of coeworden, which maurice had so recently reduced to the authority of the union. verdugo's force was insufficient, however, and he had neither munitions nor provisions for a long siege. winter was coming on; and the states, aware that he would soon be obliged to retire from before the well-garrisoned and fortified place, thought it unnecessary to interfere with him. after a very brief demonstration the portuguese veteran was obliged to raise the siege. there were also certain vague attempts made by the enemy to re-possess himself of those most important seaports which had been pledged to the english queen. on a previous page the anxiety has been indicated with which sir robert sydney regarded the withdrawal of the english troops in the netherlands for the sake of assisting the french king. this palpable breach of the treaty had necessarily weakened england's hold on the affections of the netherlanders, and awakened dark suspicions that treason might be impending at flushing or ostend. the suspicions were unjust--so far as the governors of those places were concerned--for sydney and norris were as loyal as they were intelligent and brave; but the trust in their characters was not more implicit than it had been in that of sir william stanley before the commission of his crime. it was now believed that the enemy was preparing for a sudden assault upon ostend, with the connivance, it was feared, of a certain portion of the english garrison. the intelligence was at once conveyed to her majesty's government by sir edward norris, and they determined to take a lesson from past experience. norris was at once informed that in view of the attack which he apprehended, his garrison should be strengthened by five hundred men under sir conyers clifford from certain companies in flushing, and that other reinforcements should be sent from the english troops in normandy. the governor was ordered to look well after his captains and soldiers, to remind them, in the queen's name, of their duty to herself and to the states, to bid all beware of sullying the english name, to make close investigations into any possible intrigues of the garrison with the enemy, and, should any culprits be found, to bring them at once to condign punishment. the queen, too, determined that there should be no blighting of english honour, if she could prevent it by her warnings, indited with her own hand a characteristic letter to sir edward norris, to accompany the more formal despatch of lord burghley. thus it ran "ned!-- "though you have some tainted sheep among your flock, let not that serve for excuse for the rest. we trust you are so carefully regarded as nought shall be left for your excuses, but either ye lack heart or want will; for of fear we will not make mention, as that our soul abhors, and we assure ourselves you will never discern suspicion of it. now or never let for the honour of us and our nation, each man be so much of bolder heart as their cause is good, and their honour must be according, remembering the old goodness of our god, who never yet made us fail his needful help, who ever bless you as i with my prince's hand beseech him." the warnings and preparations proved sufficiently effective, and the great schemes with which the new royal governor of the netherlands was supposed to be full--a mere episode in which was the conquest of ostend--seemed not so formidable as their shadows had indicated. there was, in the not very distant future, to be a siege of ostend, which the world would not soon forget, but perhaps the place would not yield to a sudden assault. its resistance, on the contrary, might prove more protracted than was then thought possible. but the chronicle of events must not be anticipated. for the present, ostend was safe. early in the following spring, verdugo again appeared before coeworden in force. it was obvious that the great city of groningen, the mistress of all the north-eastern provinces, would soon be attacked, and coeworden was the necessary base of any operations against the place. fortunately for the states, william lewis had in the preceding autumn occupied and fortified the only avenue through the bourtange morass, so that when verdugo sat down before coeworden, it was possible for maurice, by moving rapidly, to take the royal governor at a disadvantage. verdugo had eight thousand picked troops, including two thousand walloon cavalry, troopers who must have been very formidable, if they were to be judged by the prowess of one of their captains, gaucier by name. this obedient netherlander was in the habit of boasting that he had slain four hundred and ten men with his own hand, including several prisoners and three preachers; but the rest of those warriors were not so famed for their martial achievements. the peril, however, was great, and prince maurice, trifling not a moment, threw himself with twelve thousand infantry, germans, frisians, scotch, english, and hollanders, and nearly two thousand horse, at once upon the road between the vecht and the bourtange morass. on the th of may, verdugo found the states' commander-in-chief trenched and impregnable, squarely established upon his line of communications. he reconnoitred, called a council of war, and decided that to assail him were madness; to remain, destruction. on the night of the th of may, he broke up his camp and stole away in the darkness, without sound of drum or trumpet, leaving all his fortifications and burning all his huts. thus had maurice, after showing the world how strong places were to be reduced, given a striking exhibition of the manner in which they were to be saved. coeworden, after thirty-one weeks' investment, was relieved. the stadholder now marched upon groningen. this city was one of the most splendid and opulent of all the netherland towns. certainly it should have been one of the most ancient in europe, since it derived its name--according to that pains-taking banker, francis guicciardini--"from grun, a trojan gentleman," who, nevertheless, according to munster, was "a frenchman by birth."--"both theories, however, might be true," added the conscientious florentine, "as the french have always claimed to be descended from the relics of troy." a simpler-minded antiquary might have babbled of green fields, since 'groenighe,' or greenness, was a sufficiently natural appellation for a town surrounded as was groningen on the east and west by the greenest and fattest of pastures. in population it was only exceeded by antwerp and amsterdam. situate on the line where upper and nether germany blend into one, the capital of a great province whose very name was synonymous with liberty, and whose hardy sons had clone fierce battle with despotism in every age, so long as there had been human record of despotism and of battles, groningen had fallen into the hands of the foreign foe, not through the prowess of the spaniard but the treason of the netherlander. the baseness of the brilliant, trusted, valiant, treacherous young renneberg has been recorded on a previous page of these volumes. for thirteen years long the republic had chafed at this acquisition of the hated enemy within its very heart. and now the day had come when a blow should be struck for its deliverance by the ablest soldier that had ever shown himself in those regions, one whom the commonwealth had watched over from his cradle. for in groningen there was still a considerable party in favour of the union, although the treason of renneberg had hitherto prevented both city and province from incorporating themselves in the body politic of the united netherlands. within the precincts were five hundred of verdugo's veterans under george lanckema, stationed at a faubourg called schuytendiess. in the city there was, properly speaking, no garrison, for the citizens in the last few years had come to value themselves on their fidelity to church and king, and to take a sorry pride in being false to all that was noble in their past. their ancestors had wrested privilege after privilege at the sword's point from the mailed hands of dukes and emperors, until they were almost a self-governing republic; their courts of justice recognizing no appeal to higher powers, even under the despotic sway of charles v. and now, under the reign of his son, and in the feebler days of that reign, the capital of the free frisians--the men whom their ancient pagan statutes had once declared to be "free so long as the wind blew out of the clouds"--relied upon the trained bands of her burghers enured to arms and well-provided with all munitions of war to protect her, not against foreign tyranny nor domestic sedition, but against liberty and against law. for the representative of the most ancient of the princely houses of europe, a youth whose ancestors had been emperors when the forefathers of philip, long-descended as he was, were but country squires, was now knocking at their gates. not as a conqueror and a despot, but as the elected first magistrate and commander-in-chief of the freest commonwealth in the world, maurice of nassau, at the head of fifteen thousand netherlanders, countrymen of their own, now summoned the inhabitants of the town and province to participate with their fellow citizens in all the privileges and duties of the prosperous republic. it seemed impossible that such an appeal could be resisted by force of arms. rather it would seem that the very walls should have fallen at his feet at the first blast of the trumpet; but there was military honour, there was religious hatred, there was the obstinacy of party. more than all, there were half a dozen jesuits within the town, and to those ablest of generals in times of civil war it was mainly owing that the siege of groningen was protracted longer than under other circumstances would have been possible. it is not my purpose to describe in detail the scientific operations during the sixty-five days between the th may and the th july. again the commander-in-chief enlightened the world by an exhibition of a more artistic and humane style of warfare than previously to his appearance on the military stage had been known. but the daily phenomena of the leaguer--although they have been minutely preserved by most competent eyewitnesses--are hardly entitled to a place except in special military histories where, however, they should claim the foremost rank. the fortifications of the city were of the most splendid and substantial character known to the age. the ditches, the ravelins, the curtains, the towers were as thoroughly constructed as the defences of any place in europe. it was therefore necessary that maurice and his cousin lewis should employ all their learning, all their skill, and their best artillery to reduce this great capital of the eastern netherlands. again the scientific coil of approaches wound itself around and around the doomed stronghold; again were constructed the galleries, the covered ways, the hidden mines, where soldiers, transformed to gnomes, burrowed and fought within the bowels of the earth; again that fatal letter y advanced slowly under ground, stretching its deadly prongs nearer and nearer up to the walls; and again the system of defences against a relieving force was so perfectly established that verdugo or mansfield, with what troops they could muster, seemed as powerless as the pewter soldiers with which maurice in his boyhood--not yet so long passed away--was wont to puzzle over the problems which now practically engaged his early manhood. again, too, strangely enough, it is recorded that philip nassau, at almost the same period of the siege as in that of gertruydenberg, signalized himself by a deed of drunken and superfluous daring. this time the dinner party was at the quarters of count solms, in honour of the prince of anhalt, where, after potations pottle deep, count philip rushed from the dinner-table to the breach, not yet thoroughly practicable, of the north ravelin, and, entirely without armour, mounted pike in hand to the assault, proposing to carry the fort by his own unaided exertions. another officer, one captain vaillant, still more beside himself than was the count, inspired him to these deeds of valour by assuring him that the mine was to be sprung under the ravelin that afternoon, and that it was a plot on the part of the holland boatmen to prevent the soldiers who had been working so hard and so long in the mines from taking part in the honours of the assault. the count was with difficulty brought off with a whole skin and put to bed. yet despite these disgraceful pranks there is no doubt that a better and braver officer than he was hardly to be found even among the ten noble nassaus who at that moment were fighting for the cause of dutch liberty--fortunately with more sobriety than he at all times displayed. on the following day, prince maurice, making a reconnoissance of the works with his usual calmness, yet with the habitual contempt of personal danger which made so singular a contrast with the cautious and painstaking characteristics of his strategy, very narrowly escaped death. a shot from the fort struck so hard upon the buckler under cover of which he was taking his observations as to fell him to the ground. sir francis vere, who was with the prince under the same buckler, likewise measured his length in the trench, but both escaped serious injury. pauli, one of the states commissioners present in the camp, wrote to barneveld that it was to be hoped that the accident might prove a warning to his excellency. he had repeatedly remonstrated with him, he said, against his reckless exposure of himself to unnecessary danger, but he was so energetic and so full of courage that it was impossible to restrain him from being everywhere every day. three days later, the letter y did its work. at ten o'clock july, of the night of the th july, prince maurice ordered the mines to be sprung, when the north ravelin was blown into the air, and some forty of the garrison with it. two of them came flying into the besiegers' camp, and, strange to say, one was alive and sound. the catastrophe finished the sixty-five days' siege, the breach was no longer defensible, the obstinacy of the burghers was exhausted, and capitulation followed. in truth, there had been a subterranean intrigue going on for many weeks, which was almost as effective as the mine. a certain jan to boer had been going back and forth between camp and city, under various pretexts and safe-conducts, and it had at last appeared that the jesuits and the five hundred of verdugo's veterans were all that prevented groningen from returning to the union. there had been severe fighting within the city itself, for the jesuits had procured the transfer of the veterans from the faubourg to the town itself, and the result of all these operations, political, military, and jesuitical, was that on nd july articles of surrender were finally agreed upon between maurice and a deputation from the magistrates, the guilds, and commander lanckema. the city was to take its place thenceforth as a member of the union. william lewis, already stadholder of friesland for the united states, was to be recognised as chief magistrate of the whole province, which was thus to retain all its ancient privileges, laws, and rights of self-government, while it exchanged its dependence on a distant, foreign, and decaying despotism for incorporation with a young and vigorous commonwealth. it was arranged that no religion but the reformed religion, as then practised in the united republic, should be publicly exercised in the province, but that no man should be questioned as to his faith, or troubled in his conscience: cloisters and ecclesiastical property were to remain 'in statu quo,' until the states-general should come to a definite conclusion on these subjects. universal amnesty was proclaimed for all offences and quarrels. every citizen or resident foreigner was free to remain in or to retire from the town or province, with full protection to his person and property, and it was expressly provided in the articles granted to lanckema that his soldiers should depart with arms and baggage, leaving to prince maurice their colours only, while the prince furnished sufficient transportation for their women and their wounded. the property of verdugo, royal stadholder of the province, was to be respected, and to remain in the city, or to be taken thence under safe conduct, as might be preferred. ten thousand cannon-shot had been fired against the city. the cost of powder and shot consumed was estimated at a hundred thousand florins. four hundred of the besiegers had been killed, and a much larger number wounded. the army had been further weakened by sickness and numerous desertions. of the besieged, three hundred soldiers in all were killed, and a few citizens. thirty-six cannon were taken, besides mortars, and it was said that eight hundred tons of powder, and plenty of other ammunition and provisions were found in the place. on the rd july maurice and william lewis entered the city. some of the soldiers were disappointed at the inexorable prohibition of pillage; but it was the purpose of maurice, as of the states-general, to place the sister province at once in the unsullied possession of the liberty and the order for which the struggle with spain had, been carried on so long. if the limitation of public religious worship seemed harsh, it should be remembered that romanism in a city occupied by spanish troops had come to mean unmitigated hostility to the republic. in the midst of civil war, the hour for that religious liberty which was the necessary issue of the great conflict had not yet struck. it was surely something gained for humanity that no man should be questioned at all as to his creed in countries where it was so recently the time-honoured practice to question him on the rack, and to burn him if the answer was objectionable to the inquirer. it was something that the holy inquisition had been for ever suppressed in the land. it must be admitted, likewise, that the terms of surrender and the spectacle of re-established law and order which succeeded the capture of groningen furnished a wholesome contrast to the scenes of ineffable horror that had been displayed whenever a dutch town had fallen into the hands of philip. and thus the commonwealth of the united netherlands, through the practical military genius and perseverance of maurice and lewis william, and the substantial statesmanship of barneveld and his colleagues, had at last rounded itself into definite shape; while in all directions toward which men turned their eyes, world-empire, imposing and gorgeous as it had seemed for an interval, was vanishing before its votaries like a mirage. the republic, placed on the solid foundations of civil liberty, self-government, and reasonable law, was steadily consolidating itself. no very prominent movements were undertaken by the forces of the union during the remainder of the year. according to the agreements with henry iv. it had been necessary to provide that monarch with considerable assistance to carry on his new campaigns, and it was therefore difficult for maurice to begin for the moment upon the larger schemes which he had contemplated. meantime the condition of the obedient netherlands demands a hasty glance. on the death of brother alexander the capuchin, fuentes produced a patent by which peter ernest mansfeld was provisionally appointed governor, in case the post should become vacant. during the year which followed, that testy old campaigner had indulged himself in many petty feuds with all around him, but had effected, as we have seen, very little to maintain the king's authority either in the obedient or disobedient provinces. his utter incompetency soon became most painfully apparent. his more than puerile dependence upon his son, and the more than paternal severity exercised over him by count charles, were made manifest to all the world. the son ruled the trembling but peevish old warrior with an iron rod, and endless was their wrangling with fuentes and all the other spaniards. between the querulousness of the one and the ferocity of the other, poor fuentes became sick of his life. "'tis a diabolical genius, this count charles," said ybarra, "and so full of ambition that he insists on governing everybody just as he rules his father. as for me, until the archduke comes i am a fish out of water." the true successor to farnese was to be, the archduke ernest, one of the many candidates for the hand of the infanta, and for the throne of that department of the spanish dominions which was commonly called france. should philip not appropriate the throne without further scruple, in person, it was on the whole decided that his favorite nephew should be the satrap of that outlying district of the spanish empire. in such case obedient france might be annexed to obedient netherlands, and united under the sway of archduke ernest. but these dreams had proved in the cold air of reality but midsummer madness. when the name of the archduke was presented to the estates as king ernest i. of france, even the most unscrupulous and impassioned leaguers of that country fairly hung their heads. that a foreign prince, whose very name had never been before heard of by the vast bulk of the french population, should be deliberately placed upon the throne of st. louis and hugh capet, was a humiliation hard to defend, profusely as philip had scattered the peruvian and mexican dollars among the great ones of the nation, in order to accomplish his purpose. so archduke ernest, early in the year , came to brussels, but he came as a gloomy, disappointed man. to be a bachelor-governor of the impoverished, exhausted, half-rebellious, and utterly forlorn little remnant of the spanish netherlands, was a different position from that of husband of clara isabella and king of france, on which his imagination had been feeding so long. for nearly the whole twelvemonth subsequent to the death of farnese, the spanish envoy to the imperial court had been endeavouring to arrange for the departure of the archduke to his seat of government in the netherlands. the prince himself was willing enough, but there were many obstacles on the part of the emperor and his advisers. "especially there is one very great impossibility," said san clemente, "and that is the poverty of his highness, which is so great that my own is not greater in my estate. so i don't see how he can stir a step without money. here they'll not furnish him with a penny, and for himself he possesses nothing but debts." the emperor was so little pleased with the adventure that in truth, according to the same authority, he looked upon the new viceroy's embarrassments with considerable satisfaction, so that it was necessary for philip to provide for his travelling expenses. ernest was next brother of the emperor rudolph, and as intensely devoted to the interests of the roman church as was that potentate himself, or even his uncle philip. he was gentle, weak, melancholy, addicted to pleasure, a martyr to the gout. he brought no soldiers to the provinces, for the emperor, threatened with another world-empire on his pagan flank, had no funds nor troops to send to the assistance of his christian brother-in-law and uncle. moreover, it may be imagined that rudolph, despite the bonds of religion and consanguinity, was disposed to look coldly on the colossal projects of philip. so ernest brought no troops, but he brought six hundred and seventy gentlemen, pages, and cooks, and five hundred and thirty-four horses, not to charge upon the rebellious dutchmen withal, but to draw coaches and six. there was trouble enough prepared for the new governor at his arrival. the great flemish and walloon nobles were quarrelling fiercely with the spaniards and among themselves for office and for precedence. arschot and his brother havre both desired the government of flanders; so did arenberg. all three, as well as other gentlemen, were scrambling for the majordomo's office in ernest's palace. havre wanted the finance department as well, but ybarra, who was a financier, thought the public funds in his hands would be in a perilous condition, inasmuch as he was provinces was accounted the most covetous man in all the provinces. so soon as the archduke was known to be approaching the capital there was a most ludicrous race run by all these grandees, in order to be the first to greet his highness. while mansfeld and fuentes were squabbling, as usual, arschot got the start of both, and arrived at treves. then the decrepit peter ernest struggled as far as luxembourg, while fuentes posted on to namur. the archduke was much perplexed as to the arranging of all these personages on the day of his entrance into brussels. in the council of state it was still worse. arschot claimed the first place as duke and as senior member, peter ernest demanded it as late governor-general and because of his grey hairs. never was imperial highness more disturbed, never was clamour for loaves and fishes more deafening. the caustic financier--whose mind was just then occupied with the graver matter of assassination on a considerable scale--looked with profound contempt at the spectacle thus presented to him. "there has been the devil's own row," said he, "between these counts about offices, and also about going out to receive the most serene archduke. i have had such work with them that by the salvation of my soul i swear if it were to last a fortnight longer i would go off afoot to spain, even if i were sure of dying in jail after i got there. i have reconciled the two counts (fuentes and mansfeld) with each other a hundred times, and another hundred times they have fallen out again, and behaved themselves with such vulgarity that i blushed for them. they are both to blame, but at any rate we have now got the archduke housed, and he will get us out of this embarrassment." the archduke came with rather a prejudice against the spaniards--the result doubtless of his disappointment in regard to france--and he manifested at first an extreme haughtiness to those of that nation with whom he came in contact. a castilian noble of high rank, having audience with him on one occasion, replaced his hat after salutation, as he had been accustomed to do--according to the manner of grandees of spain--during the government of farnese. the hat was rudely struck from his head by the archduke's chamberlain, and he was himself ignominiously thrust out of the presence. at another time an interview was granted to two spanish gentlemen who had business to transact. they made their appearance in magnificent national costume, splendidly embroidered in gold. after a brief hearing they were dismissed, with appointment of another audience for a few days later. when they again presented themselves they found the archduke with his court jester standing at his side, the buffoon being attired in a suit precisely similar to their own, which in the interval had been prepared by the court tailor. such amenities as these did not increase the popularity of ernest with the high-spirited spaniards, nor was it palatable to them that it should be proposed to supersede the old fighting portuguese, verdugo, as governor and commander-in-chief for the king in friesland, by frederic van den berg, a renegade netherlander, unworthy cousin of the nassaus, who had never shown either military or administrative genius. nor did he succeed in conciliating the flemings or the germans by these measures. in truth he was, almost without his own knowledge, under the controlling influence of fuentes, the most unscrupulous and dangerous spaniard of them all, while his every proceeding was closely watched not only by diego and stephen ybarra, but even by christoval de moura, one of philip's two secretaries of state who at this crisis made a visit to brussels. these men were indignant at the imbecility of the course pursued in the obedient provinces. they knew that the incapacity of the government to relieve the sieges of gertruydenberg and groningen had excited the contempt of europe, and was producing a most damaging effect an spanish authority throughout christendom. they were especially irritated by the presence of the arch-intrigues, mayenne, in brussels, even after all his double dealings had been so completely exposed that a blind man could have read them. yet there was mayenne, consorting with the archduke, and running up a great bill of sixteen thousand florins at the hotel, which the royal paymaster declined to settle for want of funds, notwithstanding ernest's order to that effect, and there was no possibility of inducing the viceroy to arrest him, much as he had injured and defrauded the king. how severely ybarra and feria denounced mayenne has been seen; but remonstrances about this and other grave mistakes of administration were lost upon ernest, or made almost impossible by his peculiar temper. "if i speak of these things to his highness," said ybarra, "he will begin to cry, as he always does." ybarra, however, thought it his duty secretly to give the king frequent information as to the blasted and forlorn condition of the provinces. "this sick man will die in our arms," he said, "without our wishing to kill him." he also left no doubt in the royal mind as to the utter incompetency of the archduke for his office. although he had much christianity, amiability, and good intentions, he was so unused to business, so slow and so lazy, so easily persuaded by those around him, as to be always falling into errors. he was the servant of his own servants, particularly of those least disposed to the king's service and most attentive to their own interests. he had endeavoured to make himself beloved by the natives of the country, while the very reverse of this had been the result. "as to his agility and the strength of his body," said the spaniard, as if he were thinking of certain allegories which were to mark the archduke's triumphal entry, "they are so deficient as to leave him unfit for arms. i consider him incapable of accompanying an army to the field, and we find him so new to all such affairs as constitute government and the conduct of warlike business, that he could not steer his way without some one to enlighten and direct him." it was sometimes complained of in those days--and the thought has even prolonged itself until later times--that those republicans of the united netherlands had done and could do great things; but that, after all, there was no grandeur about them. certainly they had done great things. it was something to fight the ocean for ages, and patiently and firmly to shut him out from his own domain. it was something to extinguish the spanish inquisition--a still more cruel and devouring enemy than the sea. it was something that the fugitive spirit of civil and religious liberty had found at last its most substantial and steadfast home upon those storm-washed shoals and shifting sandbanks. it was something to come to the rescue of england in her great agony, and help to save her from invasion. it was something to do more than any nation but england, and as much as she, to assist henry the huguenot to the throne of his ancestors and to preserve the national unity of france which its own great ones had imperilled. it was something to found two magnificent universities, cherished abodes of science and of antique lore, in the midst of civil commotions and of resistance to foreign oppression. it was something, at the same period, to lay the foundation of a systew of common schools--so cheap as to be nearly free--for rich and poor alike, which, in the words of one of the greatest benefactors to the young republic, "would be worth all the soldiers, arsenals, armouries, munitions, and alliances in the world." it was something to make a revolution, as humane as it was effective, in military affairs, and to create an army whose camps were european academies. it was something to organize, at the same critical period, on the most skilful and liberal scale, to carry out with unexampled daring, sagacity, and fortitude, great voyages of discovery to the polar regions, and to open new highways for commerce, new treasures for science. many things of this nature had been done by the new commonwealth; but, alas! she did not drape herself melodramatically, nor stalk about with heroic wreath and cothurn. she was altogether without grandeur. when alva had gained his signal victories, and followed them up by those prodigious massacres which, but for his own and other irrefragable testimony, would seem too monstrous for belief, he had erected a colossal statue to himself, attired in the most classical of costumes, and surrounded with the most mythological of attributes. here was grandeur. but william the silent, after he had saved the republic, for which he had laboured during his whole lifetime and was destined to pour out his heart's blood, went about among the brewers and burghers with unbuttoned doublet and woollen bargeman's waistcoat. it was justly objected to his clothes, by the euphuistic fulke greville, that a meanborn student of the inns of court would have been ashamed to walk about london streets in them. and now the engineering son of that shabbily-dressed personage had been giving the whole world lessons in the science of war, and was fairly perfecting the work which william and his great contemporaries had so well begun. but if all this had been merely doing great things without greatness, there was one man in the netherlands who knew what grandeur was. he was not a citizen of the disobedient republic, however, but a loyal subject of the obedient provinces, and his name was john baptist houwaerts, an eminent schoolmaster of brussels. he was still more eminent as a votary of what was called "rhetoric" and as an arranger of triumphal processions and living pictures. the arrival of archduke ernest at the seat of the provincial government offered an opportunity, which had long been wanting, for a display of john baptist's genius. the new viceroy was in so shattered a condition of health, so crippled with the gout, as to be quite unable to stand, and it required the services of several lackeys to lift him into and out of his carriage. a few days of repose therefore were indispensable to him before he could make his "joyous entrance" into the capital. but the day came at last, and the exhibition was a masterpiece. it might have seemed that the abject condition of the spanish provinces--desolate, mendicant, despairing--would render holiday making impossible. but although almost every vestige of the ancient institutions had vanished from the obedient netherlands as a reward for their obedience; although to civil and religious liberty, law, order, and a thriving commercial and manufacturing existence, such as had been rarely witnessed in the world, had succeeded the absolute tyranny of jesuits, universal beggary, and a perennial military mutiny--setting government at defiance and plundering the people--there was one faithful never deserted belgica, and that was rhetoric. neither the magnificence nor the pedantry of the spectacles by which the entry of the mild and inefficient ernest into brussels and antwerp was now solemnized had ever been surpassed. the town councils, stimulated by hopes absolutely without foundation as to great results to follow the advent of the emperor's brother, had voted large sums and consumed many days in anxious deliberation upon the manner in which they should be expended so as most to redound to the honour of ernest and the reputation of the country. in place of the "bloody tragedies of burning, murdering, and ravishing," of which the provinces had so long been the theatre, it was resolved that, "rhetoric's sweet comedies, amorous jests, and farces," should gladden all eyes and hearts. a stately procession of knights and burghers in historical and mythological costumes, followed by ships, dromedaries, elephants, whales, giants, dragons, and other wonders of the sea and shore, escorted the archduke into the city. every street and square was filled with triumphal arches, statues and platforms, on which the most ingenious and thoroughly classical living pictures were exhibited. there was hardly an eminent deity of olympus, or hero of ancient history, that was not revived and made visible to mortal eyes in the person of ernestus of austria. on a framework fifty-five feet high and thirty-three feet in breadth he was represented as apollo hurling his darts at an enormous python, under one of whose fore-paws struggled an unfortunate burgher, while the other clutched a whole city; tellus, meantime, with her tower on her head, kneeling anxious and imploring at the feet of her deliverer. on another stage ernest assumed the shape of perseus; belgica that of the bound and despairing andromeda. on a third, the interior of etna was revealed, when vulcan was seen urging his cyclops to forge for ernest their most tremendous thunderbolts with which to smite the foes of the provinces, those enemies being of course the english and the hollanders. venus, the while, timidly presented an arrow to her husband, which he was requested to sharpen, in order that when the wars were over cupid, therewith might pierce the heart of some beautiful virgin, whose charms should reward ernest--fortunately for the female world, still a bachelor--for his victories and his toils. the walls of every house were hung with classic emblems and inscribed with latin verses. all the pedagogues of brussels and antwerp had been at work for months, determined to amaze the world with their dithyrambics and acrostics, and they had outdone themselves. moreover, in addition to all these theatrical spectacles and pompous processions--accompanied as they were by blazing tar-barrels, flying dragons, and leagues of flaring torches--john baptist, who had been director-in-chief of all the shows successively arranged to welcome don john of austria, archduke matthias, francis of alengon, and even william of orange, into the capital, had prepared a feast of a specially intellectual character for the new governor-general. the pedant, according to his own account, so soon as the approach of ernest had been announced, fell straightway into a trance. while he was in that condition, a beautiful female apparition floated before his eyes, and, on being questioned, announced her name to be moralization. john baptist begged her to inform him whether it were true, as had been stated, that jupiter had just sent mercury to the netherlands. the phantom, correcting his mistake, observed that the king of gods and men had not sent hermes but the archduke ernestus, beloved of the three graces, favourite of the nine muses, and, in addition to these advantages, nephew and brother-in-law of the king of spain, to the relief of the suffering provinces. the netherlands, it was true, for their religious infidelity, had justly incurred great disasters and misery; but benignant jove, who, to the imagination of this excited fleming, seemed to have been converted to catholicism while still governing the universe, had now sent them in mercy a deliverer. the archduke would speedily relieve "bleeding belgica" from her sufferings, bind up her wounds, and annihilate her enemies. the spirit further informed the poet that the forests of the low countries--so long infested by brigands, wood-beggars, and malefactors of all kinds--would thenceforth swarm with "nymphs, rabbits, hares, and animals of that nature." a vision of the conquering ernest, attended by "eight-and-twenty noble and pleasant females, marching two and two, half naked, each holding a torch in one hand and a laurel-wreath in the other," now swept before the dreamer's eyes. he naturally requested the "discreet spirit" to mention the names of this bevy of imperfectly attired ladies thronging so lovingly around the fortunate archduke, and was told that "they were the eight-and-twenty virtues which chiefly characterized his serene highness." prominent in this long list, and they were all faithfully enumerated, were "philosophy, audacity, acrimony, virility, equity, piety, velocity, and alacrity." the two last-mentioned qualities could hardly be attributed to the archduke in his decrepit condition, except in an intensely mythological sense. certainly, they would have been highly useful virtues to him at that moment. the prince who had just taken gertruydenberg, and was then besieging groningen, was manifesting his share of audacity, velocity, and other good gifts on even a wider platform than that erected for ernest by john baptist houwaerts; and there was an admirable opportunity for both to develope their respective characteristics for the world's judgment. meantime the impersonation of the gentle and very gouty invalid as apollo, as perseus, as the feather-heeled mercury, was highly applauded by the burghers of brussels. and so the dreamer dreamed on, and the discreet nymph continued to discourse, until john baptist, starting suddenly from his trance beheld that it was all a truth and no vision. ernest was really about to enter the netherlands, and with him the millennium. the pedant therefore proceeded to his desk, and straightway composed the very worst poem that had ever been written in any language, even flemish. there were thousands of lines in it, and not a line without a god or a goddess. mars, nemesis, and ate, pluto, rhadamanthus, and minos, the fates and the furies, together with charon, calumnia, bellona, and all such objectionable divinities, were requested to disappear for ever from the low countries; while in their stead were confidently invoked jupiter, apollo, triptolemus, and last, though not least, rhetorica. enough has been said of this raree-show to weary the reader's patience, but not more than enough to show the docile and enervated nature of this portion of a people who had lost everything for which men cherish their fatherland, but who could still find relief--after thirty years of horrible civil war in painted pageantry, latin versification, and the classical dictionary. yet there was nothing much more important achieved by the archduke in the brief period for which his administration was destined to endure. three phenomena chiefly marked his reign, but his own part in the three was rather a passive than an active one--mutiny, assassination, and negotiation--the two last attempted on a considerable scale but ending abortively. it is impossible to exaggerate the misery of the obedient provinces at this epoch. the insane attempt of the king of spain, with such utterly inadequate machinery, to conquer the world has been sufficiently dilated upon. the spanish and italian and walloon soldiers were starving in brabant and flanders in order that spanish gold might be poured into the bottomless pit of the holy league in france. the mutiny that had broken forth the preceding year in artois and hamault was now continued on a vast scale in brabant. never had that national institution--a spanish mutiny--been more thoroughly organized, more completely carried out in all its details. all that was left of the famous spanish discipline and military science in this their period of rapid decay, seemed monopolized by the mutineers. some two thousand choice troops (horse and foot), italians and spanish, took possession of two considerable cities, sichem and arschot, and ultimately concentrated themselves at sichem, which they thoroughly fortified. having chosen their eletto and other officers they proceeded regularly to business. to the rallying point came disaffected troops of all nations from far and near. never since the beginning of the great war had there been so extensive a military rebellion, nor one in which so many veteran officers, colonels, captains, and subalterns took part. the army of philip had at last grown more dangerous to himself than to the hollanders. the council at brussels deliberated anxiously upon the course to be pursued, and it was decided at last to negotiate with instead of attacking them. but it was soon found that the mutineers were as hard to deal with as were the republicans on the other side the border. they refused to hear of anything short of complete payment of the enormous arrears due to them, with thorough guarantees and hostages that any agreement made between themselves and the archduke should be punctually carried out. meanwhile they ravaged the country far and near, and levied their contributions on towns and villages, up to the very walls of brussels, and before the very eyes of the viceroy. moreover they entered into negotiation with prince maurice of nassau, not offering to enlist under his flag, but asking for protection against the king in exchange for a pledge meanwhile not to serve his cause. at last the archduke plucked up a heart and sent some troops against the rebels, who had constructed two forts on the river demer near the city of sichem. in vain velasco, commander of the expedition, endeavoured to cut off the supplies for these redoubts. the vigour and audacity of the rebel cavalry made the process impossible. velasco then attempted to storm the lesser stronghold of the two, but was repulsed with the loss of two hundred killed. among these were many officers, one of whom, captain porto carrero, was a near relative of fuentes. after a siege, velasco, who was a marshal of the camp of considerable distinction, succeeded in driving the mutineers out of the forts; who, finding their position thus weakened, renewed their negotiations with maurice. they at last obtained permission from the prince to remain under the protection of gertruydenberg and breda until they could ascertain what decision the archduke would take. more they did not ask of maurice, nor did he require more of them. the mutiny, thus described in a few lines, had occupied nearly a year, and had done much to paralyze for that period all the royal operations in the netherlands. in december the rebellious troops marched out of sichem in perfect order, and came to langstraet within the territory of the republic. the archduke now finding himself fairly obliged to treat with them sent an offer of the same terms which had been proposed to mutineers on previous occasions. at first they flatly refused to negotiate at all, but at last, with the permission of maurice, who conducted himself throughout with scrupulous delicacy, and made no attempts to induce them to violate their allegiance to the king, they received count belgioso, the envoy of the archduke. they held out for payment of all their arrears up to the last farthing, and insisted on a hostage of rank until the debt should be discharged. full forgiveness of their rebellious proceedings was added as a matter of course. their terms were accepted, and francisco padiglia was assigned as a hostage. they then established themselves, according to agreement, at tirlemont, which they were allowed to fortify at the expense of the province and to hold until the money for their back wages could be scraped together. meantime they received daily wages and rations from the government at brussels, including thirty stivers a day for each horseman, thirteen crowns a day for the eletto, and ten crowns a day for each counsellor, making in all five hundred crowns a day. and here they remained, living exceedingly at their ease and enjoying a life of leisure for eighteen months, and until long after the death of the archduke, for it was not until the administration of cardinal albert that the funds, amounting to three hundred and sixty thousand crowns, could be collected. these were the chief military exploits of the podagric perseus in behalf of the flemish andromeda. a very daring adventure was however proposed to the archduke. philip calmly suggested that an expedition should be rapidly fitted out in dunkirk, which should cross the channel, ascend the thames as far as rochester, and burn the english fleet. "i am informed by persons well acquainted with the english coast," said the king, "that it would be an easy matter for a few quick-sailing vessels to accomplish this. two or three thousand soldiers might be landed at rochester who might burn or sink all the unarmed vessels they could find there, and the expedition could return and sail off again before the people of the country could collect in sufficient numbers to do them any damage." the archduke was instructed to consult with fuentes and ybarra as to whether this little matter, thus parenthetically indicated, could be accomplished without too much risk and trouble. certainly it would seem as if the king believed in the audacity, virility, velocity, alacrity, and the rest of the twenty-eight virtues of his governor-general, even more seriously than did john baptist houwaerts. the unfortunate archduke would have needed to be, in all earnestness, a mythological demigod to do the work required of him. with the best part of his army formally maintained by him in recognised mutiny, with the great cities of the netherlands yielding themselves to the republic with hardly an attempt on the part of the royal forces to relieve them, and with the country which he was supposed to govern, the very centre of the obedient provinces, ruined, sacked, eaten up by the soldiers of spain; villages, farmhouses, gentlemen's castles, churches plundered; the male population exposed to daily butchery, and the women to outrages worse than death; it seemed like the bitterest irony to propose that he should seize that moment to outwit the english and dutch sea-kings who were perpetually cruising in the channel, and to undertake a "beard-singeing" expedition such as even the dare-devil drake would hardly have attempted. such madcap experiments might perhaps one day, in the distant future, be tried with reasonable success, but hardly at the beck of a spanish king sitting in his easy chair a thousand miles off, nor indeed by the servants of any king whatever. the plots of murder arranged in brussels during this administration were on a far more extensive scale than were the military plans. the count of fuentes, general superintendant of foreign affairs, was especially charged with the department of assassination. this office was no sinecure; for it involved much correspondence, and required great personal attention to minute details. philip, a consummate artist in this branch of industry, had laid out a good deal of such work which he thought could best be carried out in and from the netherlands. especially it was desirable to take off, by poison or otherwise, henry iv., queen elizabeth, maurice of nassau, olden-barneveld, st. aldegonde, and other less conspicuous personages. henry's physician-in-chief, de la riviere, was at that time mainly occupied with devising antidotes to poison, which he well knew was offered to his master on frequent occasions, and in the most insidious ways. andrada, the famous portuguese poisoner, amongst others is said, under direction of fuentes and ybarra, to have attempted his life by a nosegay of roses impregnated with so subtle a powder that its smell alone was relied upon to cause death, and de la riviere was doing his best to search for a famous saxon drug, called fable-powder, as a counter-poison. "the turk alarms us, and well he may," said a diplomatic agent of henry, "but the spaniard allows us not to think of the turk. and what a strange manner is this to exercise one's enmities and vengeance by having recourse to such damnable artifices, after force and arms have not succeeded, and to attack the person of princes by poisonings and assassinations." a most elaborate attempt upon the life of queen elizabeth early in this year came near being successful. a certain portuguese jew, dr. lopez, had for some time been her physician-in-ordinary. he had first been received into her service on the recommendation of don antonio, the pretender, and had the reputation of great learning and skill. with this man count fuentes and stephen ybarra, chief of the financial department at brussels, had a secret understanding. their chief agent was emanuel andrada, who was also in close communication with bernardino de mendoza and other leading personages of the spanish court. two years previously, philip, by the hands of andrada, had sent a very valuable ring of rubies and diamonds as a present to lopez, and the doctor had bound himself to do any service for the king of spain that might be required of him. andrada accordingly wrote to mendoza that he had gained over this eminent physician, but that as lopez was poor and laden with debt, a high price would be required for his work. hereupon fuentes received orders from the king of spain to give the jew all that he could in reason demand, if he would undertake to poison the queen. it now became necessary to handle the matter with great delicacy, and fuentes and ybarra entered accordingly into a correspondence, not with lopez, but with a certain ferrara de gama. these letters were entrusted to one emanuel lewis de tinoco, secretly informed of the plot, for delivery to ferrara. fuentes charged tinoco to cause ferrara to encourage lopez to poison her majesty of england, that they might all have "a merry easter." lopez was likewise requested to inform the king of spain when he thought he could accomplish the task. the doctor ultimately agreed to do the deed for fifty thousand crowns, but as he had daughters and was an affectionate parent, he stipulated for a handsome provision in marriage for those young ladies. the terms were accepted, but lopez wished to be assured of the money first. "having once undertaken the work," said lord burghley, if he it were, "he was so greedy to perform it that he would ask ferrara every day, 'when will the money come? i am ready to do the service if the answer were come out of spain.'" but philip, as has been often seen, was on principle averse to paying for work before it had been done. some delay occurring, and the secret, thus confided to so many, having floated as it were imperceptibly into the air, tinoco was arrested on suspicion before he had been able to deliver the letters of fuentes and ybarra to ferrara, for ferrara, too, had been imprisoned before the arrival of tinoco. the whole correspondence was discovered, and both ferrara and tinoco confessed the plot. lopez, when first arrested, denied his guilt very stoutly, but being confronted with ferrara, who told the whole story to his face in presence of the judges, he at last avowed the crime. they were all condemned, executed, and quartered at london in the spring of . the queen wished to send a special envoy to the archduke at brussels, to complain that secretary of state cristoval de moura, count fuentes, and finance minister ybarra--all three then immediately about his person--were thus implicated in the plot against her life, to demand their punishment, or else, in case of refusals to convict the king and the archduke as accomplices in the crime. safe conduct was requested for such an envoy, which was refused by ernest as an insulting proposition both to his uncle and himself. the queen accordingly sent word to president richardot by one of her council, that the whole story would be published, and this was accordingly done. early in the spring of this same year, a certain renichon, priest and schoolmaster of namur, was summoned from his school to a private interview with count berlaymont. that nobleman very secretly informed the priest that the king of, spain wished to make use of him in an affair of great importance, and one which would be very profitable to himself. the pair then went together to brussels, and proceeded straightway to the palace. they were secretly admitted to the apartments of the archduke, but the priest, meaning to follow his conductor into the private chamber, where he pretended to recognize the person of ernest, was refused admittance. the door was, however, not entirely closed, and he heard, as he declared, the conversation between his highness and berlaymont, which was carried on partly in latin and partly in spanish. he heard them discussing the question--so he stated--of the recompense to be awarded for the business about to be undertaken, and after a brief conversation, distinctly understood the archduke to say, as the count was approaching the door, "i will satisfy him abundantly and with interest." berlaymont then invited his clerical guest to supper--so ran his statement--and, after that repast was finished, informed him that he was requested by the archduke to kill prince maurice of nassau. for this piece of work he was to receive one hundred philip-dollars in hand, and fifteen thousand more, which were lying ready for him, so soon as the deed should be done. the schoolmaster at first objected to the enterprise, but ultimately yielded to the persuasions of the count. he was informed that maurice was a friendly, familiar gentleman, and that there would be opportunities enough for carrying out the project if he took his time. he was to buy a good pair of pistols and remove to the hague, where he was to set up a school, and wait for the arrival of his accomplices, of whom there were six. berlaymont then caused to be summoned and introduced to the pedagogue a man whom he described as one of the six. the new comer, hearing that renichon had agreed to the propositions made to him, hailed him cordially as comrade and promised to follow him very soon into holland. berlaymont then observed that there were several personages to be made away with, besides prince maurice--especially barneveld, and st. aldegonde and that the six assassins had, since the time of the duke of parma, been kept in the pay of the king of spain as nobles, to be employed as occasion should serve. his new comrade accompanied renichon to the canal boat, conversing by the way, and informed him that they were both to be sent to leyden in order to entice away and murder the young brother of maurice, frederic henry, then at school at that place, even as philip william, eldest of all the brothers, had been kidnapped five-and-twenty years before from the same town. renichon then disguised himself as a soldier, proceeded to antwerp, where he called himself michael de triviere, and thence made his way to breda, provided with letters from berlaymont. he was, however, arrested on suspicion not long after his arrival there, and upon trial the whole plot was discovered. having unsuccessfully attempted to hang himself, he subsequently, without torture, made a full and minute confession, and was executed on the rd june, . later in the year, one pierre du four, who had been a soldier both in the states and the french service, was engaged by general la motte and counsellor assonleville to attempt the assassination of prince maurice. la motte took the man to the palace, and pretended at least to introduce him to the chamber of the archduke, who was said to be lying ill in bed. du four was advised to enrol himself in the body-guard at the hague, and to seek an opportunity when the prince went hunting, or was mounting his horse, or was coming from church, or at some such unguarded moment, to take a shot at him. "will you do what i ask," demanded from the bed the voice of him who was said to be ernest, "will you kill this tyrant?"--"i will," replied the soldier. "then my son," was the parting benediction of the supposed archduke, "you will go straight to paradise." afterwards he received good advice from assonleville, and was assured that if he would come and hear a mass in the royal chapel next morning, that religious ceremony would make him invisible when he should make his attempt on the life of maurice, and while he should be effecting his escape. the poor wretch accordingly came next morning to chapel, where this miraculous mass was duly performed, and he then received a certain portion of his promised reward in ready money. he was also especially charged, in case he should be arrested, not to make a confession--as had been done by those previously employed in such work--as all complicity with him on part of his employers would certainly be denied. the miserable dupe was arrested, convicted, executed; and of course the denial was duly made on the part of the archduke, la motte, and assonleville. it was also announced, on behalf of ernest, that some one else, fraudulently impersonating his highness, had lain in the bed to which the culprit had been taken, and every one must hope that the statement was a true one. enough has been given to show the peculiar school of statesmanship according to the precepts of which the internal concerns and foreign affairs of the obedient netherlands were now administered. poison and pistols in the hands of obscure priests and deserters were relied on to bring about great political triumphs, while the mutinous royal armies, entrenched and defiant, were extorting capitulations from their own generals and their own sovereign upon his own soil. such a record as this seems rather like the exaggeration of a diseased fancy, seeking to pander to a corrupt public taste which feeds greedily upon horrors; but, unfortunately, it is derived from the register of high courts of justice, from diplomatic correspondence, and from the confessions, without torture or hope of free pardon, of criminals. for a crowned king and his high functionaries and generals to devote so much of their time, their energies, and their money to the murder of brother and sister sovereigns, and other illustrious personages, was not to make after ages in love with the monarchic and aristocratic system, at least as thus administered. popular governments may be deficient in polish, but a system resting for its chief support upon bribery and murder cannot be considered lovely by any healthy mind. and this is one of the lessons to be derived from the history of philip ii. and of the holy league. but besides mutiny and assassination there were also some feeble attempts at negotiation to characterize the ernestian epoch at brussels. the subject hardly needs more than a passing allusion. two flemish juris-consults, otto hertius and jerome comans, offered their services to the archduke in the peacemaking department. ernest accepted the proposition,--although it was strongly opposed by fuentes, who relied upon the more practical agency of dr. lopez, andrada, renichon, and the rest--and the peace-makers accordingly made their appearance at the hague, under safe conduct, and provided with very conciliatory letters from his highness to the states-general. in all ages and under all circumstances it is safe to enlarge, with whatever eloquence may be at command, upon the blessings of peace and upon the horrors of war; for the appeal is not difficult to make, and a response is certain in almost every human breast. but it is another matter to descend from the general to the particular, and to demonstrate how the desirable may be attained and the horrible averted. the letters of ernest were full of benignity and affection, breathing a most ardent desire that the miserable war, now a quarter of a century old, should be then and there terminated. but not one atom of concession was offered, no whisper breathed that the republic, if it should choose to lay down its victorious arms, and renounce its dearly gained independence, should share any different fate from that under which it saw the obedient provinces gasping before its eyes. to renounce religious and political liberty and self-government, and to submit unconditionally to the authority of philip ii. as administered by ernest and fuentes, was hardly to be expected as the result of the three years' campaigns of maurice of nassau. the two doctors of law laid the affectionate common-places of the archduke before the states-general, each of them making, moreover, a long and flowery oration in which the same protestations of good will and hopes of future good-fellowship were distended to formidable dimensions by much windy rhetoric. the accusations which had been made against the government of brussels of complicity in certain projects of assassination were repelled with virtuous indignation. the answer of the states-general was wrathful and decided. they informed the commissioners that they had taken up arms for a good cause and meant to retain them in their hands. they expressed their thanks for the expressions of good will which had been offered, but avowed their right to complain before god and the world of those who under pretext of peace were attempting to shed the innocent blood of christians, and to procure the ruin and destruction of the netherlands. to this end the state-council of spain was more than ever devoted, being guilty of the most cruel and infamous proceedings and projects. they threw out a rapid and stinging summary of their wrongs; and denounced with scorn the various hollow attempts at negotiation during the preceding twenty-five years. coming down to the famous years and , they alluded in vehement terms to the fraudulent peace propositions which had been thrown as a veil over the spanish invasion of england and the armada; and they glanced at the mediation-projects of the emperor in at the desire of spain, while armies were moving in force from germany, italy, and the netherlands to crush the king of france, in order that philip might establish his tyranny over all kings, princes, provinces, and republics. that the spanish government was secretly dealing with the emperor and other german potentates for the extension of his universal empire appeared from intercepted letters of the king--copies of which were communicated--from which it was sufficiently plain that the purpose of his majesty was not to bestow peace and tranquillity upon the netherlands. the names of fuentes, clemente, ybarra, were sufficient in themselves to destroy any such illusion. they spoke in blunt terms of the attempt of dr. lopez to poison queen elizabeth, at the instigation of count fuentes for fifty thousand crowns to be paid by the king of spain: they charged upon the same fuentes and upon ybarra that they had employed the same andrada to murder the king of france with a nosegay of roses; and they alluded further to the revelations of michael renichon, who was to murder maurice of nassau and kidnap frederic william, even as their father and brother had been already murdered and kidnapped. for such reasons the archduke might understand by what persons and what means the good people of the netherlands were deceived, and how difficult it was for the states to forget such lessons, or to imagine anything honest in the present propositions. the states declared themselves, on the contrary, more called upon than ever before to be upon the watch against the stealthy proceedings of the spanish council of state--bearing in mind the late execrable attempts at assassination, and the open war which was still carried on against the king of france. and although it was said that his highness was displeased with such murderous and hostile proceedings, still it was necessary for the states to beware of the nefarious projects of the king of spain and his council. after the conversion of henry iv. to the roman church had been duly accomplished that monarch had sent a secret envoy to spain. the mission of this agent--de varenne by name--excited intense anxiety and suspicion in england and holland and among the protestants of france and germany. it was believed that henry had not only made a proposition of a separate peace with philip, but that he had formally but mysteriously demanded the hand of the infanta in marriage. such a catastrophe as this seemed to the heated imaginations of the great body of calvinists throughout europe, who had so faithfully supported the king of navarre up to the moment of his great apostasy, the most cruel and deadly treachery of all. that the princess with the many suitors should come to reign over france after all--not as the bride of her own father, not as the queen-consort of ernest the habsburger or of guise the lorrainer, but as the lawful wife of henry the huguenot--seemed almost too astounding for belief, even amid the chances and changes of that astonishing epoch. yet duplessis mornay avowed that the project was entertained, and that he had it from the very lips of the secret envoy who was to negotiate the marriage. "la varenne is on his way to spain," wrote duplessis to the duke of bouillon, "in company with a gentleman of don bernardino de mendoza, who brought the first overtures. he is to bring back the portrait of the infanta. 'tis said that the marriage is to be on condition that the queen and the netherlands are comprised in the peace, but you know that this cannot be satisfactorily arranged for those two parties. all this was once guess-work, but is now history." that eminent diplomatist and soldier mendoza had already on his return from france given the king of spain to understand that there were no hopes of his obtaining the french crown either for himself or for his daughter, that all the money lavished on the chiefs of the league was thrown away, and that all their promises were idle wind. mendoza in consequence had fallen into contempt at court, but philip, observing apparently that there might have been something correct in his statements, had recently recalled him, and, notwithstanding his blindness and other infirmities, was disposed to make use of him in secret negotiations. mendoza had accordingly sent a confidential agent to henry iv. offering his good offices, now that the king had returned to the bosom of the church. this individual, whose name was nunez, was admitted by de bethune (afterwards the famous due de sully) to the presence of the king, but de bethune, believing it probable that the spaniard had been sent to assassinate henry, held both the hands of the emissary during the whole interview, besides subjecting him to a strict personal visitation beforehand. nunez stated that he was authorized to propose to his majesty a marriage with the infanta clara isabella, and henry, much to the discontent of de bethune, listened eagerly to the suggestion, and promised to send a secret agent to spain to confer on the subject with mendoza. the choice he made of la varenne, whose real name was guillaume fouquet, for this mission was still more offensive to de bethune. fouquet had originally been a cook in the service of madame catherine, and was famous for his talent for larding poultry, but he had subsequently entered the household of henry, where he had been employed in the most degrading service which one man can render to another. ["la varenne," said madame catherine on one occasion "tu as plus gagne ti porter les poulets de men frere, qu'a piquer les miens." memoires de sully, liv. vi. p. , note . he accumulated a large fortune in these dignified pursuits--having, according to winwood, landed estates to the annual amount of sixty thousand francs a-year --and gave large dowries to his daughters, whom he married into noblest families; "which is the more remarkable," adds winwood, "considering the services wherein he is employed about the king, which is to be the mezzano for his loves; the place from whence he came, which is out of the kitchen of madame the king's sister."-- memorials, i. .] on his appointment to this office of secret diplomacy he assumed all the airs of an ambassador, while henry took great pains to contradict the reports which were spread as to the true nature of this mission to spain. duplessis was, in truth, not very far wrong in his conjectures, but, as might be supposed, henry was most anxious to conceal these secret negotiations with his catholic majesty from the huguenot chiefs whom he had so recently deserted. "this is all done without the knowledge of the duke of bouillon," said calvaert, "or at least under a very close disguise, as he, himself keenly feels and confesses to me." the envoy of the republic, as well as the leaders of the protestant party in france, were resolved if possible to break off these dark and dangerous intrigues, the nature of which they so shrewdly suspected, and to substitute for them an open rupture of henry with the king of spain, and a formal declaration of war against him. none of the diplomatists or political personages engaged in these great affairs, in which the whole world was so deeply interested, manifested more sagacity and insight on this occasion than did the dutch statesmen. we have seen that even sir edward stafford was deceived up to a very late moment, as to the rumoured intentions of henry to enter the catholic church. envoy edmonds was now equally and completely in the dark as to the mission of varenne, and informed his government that the only result of it was that the secret agent to spain was favoured, through the kindness of mendoza, with a distant view of philip ii. with his son and daughter at their devotions in the chapel of the escorial. this was the tale generally recounted and believed after the agent's return from spain, so that varenne was somewhat laughed at as having gone to spain on a fool's errand, and as having got nothing from mendoza but a disavowal of his former propositions. but the shrewd calvaert, who had entertained familiar relations with la varenne, received from that personage after his return a very different account of his excursion to the escorial from the one generally circulated. "coming from monceaus to paris in his company," wrote calvaert in a secret despatch to the states, "i had the whole story from him. the chief part of his negotiations with don bernardino de mendoza was that if his majesty (the french king) would abandon the queen of england and your highnesses (the states of the netherlands), there were no conditions that would be refused the king, including the hand of the infanta, together with a good recompense for the kingdom of navarre. la varenne maintained that the king of spain had caused these negotiations to be entered upon at this time with him in the certain hope and intention of a definite conclusion, alleging to me many pertinent reasons, and among others that he, having been lodged at madrid, through the adroitness of don bernardino, among all the agents of the league, and hearing all their secrets and negotiations, had never been discovered, but had always been supposed to be one of the league himself. he said also that he was well assured that the infanta in her heart had an affection for the french king, and notwithstanding any resolutions that might be taken (to which i referred, meaning the projects for bestowing her on the house of austria) that she with her father's consent or in case of his death would not fail to carry out this marriage. you may from all this, even out of the proposal for compensation for the kingdom of navarre (of which his majesty also let out something to me inadvertently); collect the reasons why such feeble progress is made in so great an occasion as now presents itself for a declaration of war and an open alliance with your highnesses. i shall not fail to watch these events, even in case of the progress of the said resolutions, notwithstanding the effects of which it is my opinion that this secret intrigue is not to be abandoned. to this end, besides the good intelligence which one gets by means of good friends, a continual and agreeable presentation of oneself to his majesty, in order to see and hear everything, is necessary." certainly, here were reasons more than sufficient why henry should be making but feeble preparations for open war in alliance with england and the republic against philip, as such a step was hardly compatible with the abandonment of england and the republic and the espousal of philip's daughter--projects which henry's commissioner had just been discussing with philip's agent at madrid and the escorial. truly it was well for the republican envoy to watch events as closely as possible, to make the most of intelligence from his good friends, and to present himself as frequently and as agreeably as possible to his majesty, that he might hear and see everything. there was much to see and to hear, and it needed adroitness and courage, not to slip or stumble in such dark ways where the very ground seemed often to be sliding from beneath the feet. to avoid the catastrophe of an alliance between henry, philip, and the pope against holland and england, it was a pressing necessity for holland and england to force henry into open war against philip. to this end the dutch statesmen were bending all their energies. meantime elizabeth regarded the campaign in artois and hainault with little favour. as he took leave on departing for france, la varenne had requested mendoza to write to king henry, but the spaniard excused himself--although professing the warmest friendship for his majesty--on the ground of the impossibility of addressing him correctly. "if i call him here king of navarre, i might as well put my head on the block at once," he observed; "if i call him king of france, my master has not yet recognized him as such; if i call him anything else, he will himself be offended." and the vision of philip in black on his knees, with his children about him, and a rapier at his side, passed with the contemporary world as the only phenomenon of this famous secret mission. but henry, besides this demonstration towards spain, lost no time in despatching a special minister to the republic and to england, who was instructed to make the most profuse, elaborate, and conciliatory explanations as to his recent conversion and as to his future intentions. never would he make peace, he said, with spain without the full consent of the states and of england; the dearest object of his heart in making his peace with rome having been to restore peace to his own distracted realm, to bring all christians into one brotherhood, and to make a united attack upon the grand turk--a vision which the cheerful monarch hardly intended should ever go beyond the ivory gate of dreams, but which furnished substance enough for several well-rounded periods in the orations of de morlans. that diplomatist, after making the strongest representations to queen elizabeth as to the faithful friendship of his master, and the necessity he was under of pecuniary and military assistance, had received generous promises of aid both in men and money--three thousand men besides the troops actually serving in brittany--from that sagacious sovereign, notwithstanding the vehement language in which she had rebuked her royal brother's apostasy. he now came for the same purpose to the hague, where he made very eloquent harangues to the states-general, acknowledging that the republic had ever been the most upright, perfect, and undisguised friend to his master and to france in their darkest days and deepest affliction; that she had loved the king and kingdom for themselves, not merely hanging on to their prosperity, but, on the contrary, doing her best to produce that prosperity by her contributions in soldiers, ships, and subsidies. "the king," said de morlans, "is deeply grieved that he can prove his gratitude only in words for so many benefits conferred, which are absolutely without example, but he has commissioned me to declare that if god should ever give him the occasion, he will prove how highly he places your friendship." the envoy assured the states that all fears entertained by those of the reformed religion on account of the conversion of his majesty were groundless. nothing was farther from the king's thoughts than to injure those noble spirits with whom his soul had lived so long, and whom he so much loved and honoured. no man knew better than the king did, the character of those who professed the religion, their virtue, valour, resolution, and patience in adversity. their numbers had increased in war, their virtues had been purified by affliction, they had never changed their position, whether battles had been won or lost. should ever an attempt be made to take up arms against them within his realms, and should there be but five hundred of them against ten thousand, the king, remembering their faithful and ancient services, would leave the greater number in order to die at the head of his old friends. he was determined that they should participate in all the honours of the kingdom, and with regard to a peace with spain, he would have as much care for the interests of the united provinces as for his own. but a peace was impossible with that monarch, whose object was to maintain his own realms in peace while he kept france in perpetual revolt against the king whom god had given her. the king of spain had trembled at henry's cradle, at his youth, at the bloom of his manhood, and knew that he had inflicted too much injury upon him ever to be on friendly terms with him. the envoy was instructed to say that his master never expected to be in amity with one who had ruined his house confiscated his property, and caused so much misery to france; and he earnestly hoped--without presuming to dictate--that the states-general would in this critical emergency manifest their generosity. if the king were not assisted now, both king and kingdom would perish. if he were assisted, the succour would bear double fruit. the sentiments expressed on the part of henry towards his faithful subjects of the religion, the heretic queen of england, and the stout dutch calvinists who had so long stood by him, were most noble. it was pity that, at the same moment, he was proposing to espouse the infanta, and to publish the council of trent. the reply of the states-general to these propositions of the french envoy was favourable, and it was agreed that a force of three thousand foot and five hundred horse should be sent to the assistance of the king. moreover, the state-paper drawn up on this occasion was conceived with so much sagacity and expressed with so much eloquence, as particularly to charm the english queen when it was communicated to her majesty. she protested very loudly and vehemently to noel de caron, envoy from the provinces at london, that this response on the part of his government to de morlans was one of the wisest documents that she had ever seen. "in all their actions," said she, "the states-general show their sagacity, and indeed, it is the wisest government ever known among republics. i would show you," she added to the gentlemen around her, "the whole of the paper if it were this moment at hand." after some delays, it was agreed between the french government and that of the united provinces, that the king should divide his army into three parts, and renew the military operations against spain with the expiration of the truce at the end of the year ( ). one body, composed of the english contingent, together with three thousand french horse, three thousand swiss, and four thousand french harquebus-men, were to be under his own immediate command, and were to act against the enemy wherever it should appear to his majesty most advantageous. a second, army was to expel the rebels and their foreign allies from normandy and reduce rouen to obedience. a third was to make a campaign in the provinces of artois and hainault, under the duke of bouillon (more commonly called the viscount turenne), in conjunction with the forces to be supplied by the republic. "any treaty of peace on our part with the king of spain," said the states-general, "is our certain ruin. this is an axiom. that monarch's object is to incorporate into his own realms not only all the states and possessions of neighbouring kings, principalities, and powers, but also all christendom, aye, the whole world, were it possible. we joyfully concur then in your majesty's resolution to carry on the war in artois and hainault, and agree to your suggestion of diversions on our part by sieges and succour by contingents." balagny, meantime, who had so long led an independent existence at cambray, now agreed to recognise henry's authority, in consideration of sixty-seven thousand crowns yearly pension and the dignity of marshal of france. towards the end of the year , buzanval, the regular french envoy at the hague, began to insist more warmly than seemed becoming that the campaign in artois and hainault--so often the base of military operations on the part of spain against france--should begin. further achievements on the part of maurice after the fall of groningen were therefore renounced for that year, and his troops went into garrison and winter-quarters. the states-general, who had also been sending supplies, troops, and ships to brittany to assist the king, now, after soundly rebuking buzanval for his intemperate language, entrusted their contingent for the proposed frontier campaign to count philip nassau, who accordingly took the field toward the end of the year at the head of twenty-eight companies of foot and five squadrons of cavalry. he made his junction with turenne-bouillon, but the duke, although provided with a tremendous proclamation, was but indifferently supplied with troops. the german levies, long-expected, were slow in moving, and on the whole it seemed that the operations might have been continued by maurice with more effect, according to his original plan, than in this rather desultory fashion. the late winter campaign on the border was feeble and a failure. the bonds of alliance, however, were becoming very close between henry and the republic. despite the change in religion on the part of the king, and the pangs which it had occasioned in the hearts of leading netherlanders, there was still the traditional attraction between france and the states, which had been so remarkably manifested during the administration of william the silent. the republic was more restive than ever under the imperious and exacting friendship of elizabeth, and, feeling more and more its own strength, was making itself more and more liable to the charge of ingratitude; so constantly hurled in its face by the queen. and henry, now that he felt himself really king of france, was not slow to manifest a similar ingratitude or an equal love of independence. both monarch and republic, chafing under the protection of elizabeth, were drawn into so close a union as to excite her anger and jealousy--sentiments which in succeeding years were to become yet more apparent. and now; while henry still retained the chivalrous and flowery phraseology, so sweet to her ears, in his personal communications to the queen, his ministers were in the habit of using much plainer language. "mr. de sancy said to me," wrote the netherland minister in france, calvaert, "that his majesty and your highnesses (the states-general) must without long delay conclude an alliance offensive and defensive. in regard to england, which perhaps might look askance at this matter, he told me it would be invited also by his majesty into the same alliance; but if, according to custom, it shilly-shallied, and without coming to deeds or to succour should put him off with words, he should in that case proceed with our alliance without england, not doubting that many other potentates in italy and germany would join in it likewise. he said too, that he, the day before the departure of the english ambassador, had said these words to him in the presence of his majesty; namely, that england had entertained his majesty sixteen months long with far-fetched and often-repeated questions and discontents, that one had submitted to this sort of thing so long as his majesty was only king of mantes, dieppe, and louviers, but that his majesty being now king of paris would be no longer a servant of those who should advise him to suffer it any longer or accept it as good payment; that england must treat his majesty according to his quality, and with deeds, not words. he added that the ambassador had very anxiously made answer to these words, and had promised that when he got back to england he would so arrange that his majesty should be fully satisfied, insisting to the last on the alliance then proposed." in germany, meanwhile, there was much protocolling, and more hard drinking, at the diet of ratisbon. the protestant princes did little for their cause against the new designs of spain and the moribund league, while the catholics did less to assist philip. in truth, the holy roman empire, threatened with a turkish invasion, had neither power nor inclination to help the new universal empire of the west into existence. so the princes and grandees of germany, while amurath was knocking at the imperial gates, busied themselves with banquetting and other diplomatic work, but sent few reiters either to the east or west. philip's envoys were indignant at the apathy displayed towards the great catholic cause, and felt humbled at the imbecility exhibited by spain in its efforts against the netherlands and france. san clemente, who was attending the diet at ratisbon, was shocked at the scenes he witnessed. "in less than three months," said that temperate spaniard, "they have drunk more than five million florins' worth of wine, at a time when the turk has invaded the frontiers of germany; and among those who have done the most of this consumption of wine, there is not one who is going to give any assistance on the frontier. in consequence of these disorders my purse is drained so low, that unless the king helps me i am ruined. you must tell our master that the reputation of his grandeur and strength has never been so low as it is now in germany. the events in france and those which followed in the netherlands have thrown such impediments in the negotiations here, that not only our enemies make sport of marquis havre and myself, but even our friends--who are very few--dare not go to public feasts, weddings, and dinners, because they are obliged to apologize for us." truly the world-empire was beginning to crumble. "the emperor has been desiring twenty times," continued the envoy, "to get back to prague from the diet, but the people hold him fast like a steer. as i think over all that passes, i lose all judgment, for i have no money, nor influence, nor reputation. meantime, i see this rump of an empire keeping itself with difficulty upon its legs. 'tis full of wrangling and discord about religion, and yet there is the turk with two hundred thousand men besieging a place forty miles from vienna, which is the last outpost. god grant it may last!" such was the aspect of the christian world at the close of the year etext editor's bookmarks: beneficent and charitable purposes (war) chronicle of events must not be anticipated eat their own children than to forego one high mass humanizing effect of science upon the barbarism of war slain four hundred and ten men with his own hand history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter xxxi. formal declaration of war against spain--marriage festivities--death of archduke ernest--his year of government--fuentes declared governor-general--disaffection of the duke of arschot and count arenberg--death of the duke of arschot----fuentes besieges le catelet--the fortress of ham, sold to the spanish by de gomeron, besieged and taken by the duke of bouillon--execution of de gomeron--death of colonel verdugo--siege of dourlens by fuentes-- death of la motte--death of charles mansfeld--total defeat of the french--murder of admiral de pillars--dourlens captured, and the garrison and citizens put to the sword--military operations in eastern netherlands and on the rhine--maurice lays siege to groento --mondragon hastening to its relief, prince maurice raises the siege--skirmish between maurice and mondragon--death of philip of nassau--death of mondragon--bombardment and surrender of weerd castle--maurice retires into winter quarters--campaign of henry iv. --he besieges dijon--surrender of dijon--absolution granted to henry by the pope--career of balagny at cambray--progress of the siege-- capitulation of the town--suicide of the princess of cambray, wife of balagny the year opened with a formal declaration of war by the king of france against the king of spain. it would be difficult to say for exactly how many years the war now declared had already been waged, but it was a considerable advantage to the united netherlands that the manifesto had been at last regularly issued. and the manifesto was certainly not deficient in bitterness. not often in christian history has a monarch been solemnly and officially accused by a brother sovereign of suborning assassins against his life. bribery, stratagem, and murder, were, however, so entirely the commonplace machinery of philip's administration as to make an allusion to the late attempt of chastel appear quite natural in henry's declaration of war. the king further stigmatized in energetic language the long succession of intrigues by which the monarch of spain, as chief of the holy league, had been making war upon him by means of his own subjects, for the last half dozcn years. certainly there was hardly need of an elaborate statement of grievances. the deeds of philip required no herald, unless henry was prepared to abdicate his hardly-earned title to the throne of france. nevertheless the politic gascon subsequently regretted the fierce style in which he had fulminated his challenge. he was accustomed to observe that no state paper required so much careful pondering as a declaration of war, and that it was scarcely possible to draw up such a document without committing many errors in the phraseology. the man who never knew fear, despondency, nor resentment, was already instinctively acting on the principle that a king should deal with his enemy as if sure to become his friend, and with his friends as if they might easily change to foes. the answer to the declaration was delayed for two months. when the reply came it of course breathed nothing but the most benignant sentiments in regard to france, while it expressed regret that it was necessary to carry fire and sword through that country in order to avert the unutterable woe which the crimes of the heretic prince of bearne were bringing upon all mankind. it was a solace for philip to call the legitimate king by the title borne by him when heir-presumptive, and to persist in denying to him that absolution which, as the whole world was aware, the vicar of christ was at that very moment in the most solemn manner about to bestow upon him. more devoted to the welfare of france than were the french themselves, he was determined that a foreign prince himself, his daughter, or one of his nephews--should supplant the descendant of st. louis on the french throne. more catholic than the pope he could not permit the heretic, whom his holiness was just washing whiter than snow, to intrude himself into the society of christian sovereigns. the winter movements by bouillon in luxembourg, sustained by philip nassau campaigning with a meagre force on the french frontier, were not very brilliant. the netherland regiments quartered at yssoire, la ferte, and in the neighbourhood accomplished very little, and their numbers were sadly thinned by dysentery. a sudden and successful stroke, too, by which that daring soldier heraugiere, who had been the chief captor of breda, obtained possession of the town, and castle of huy, produced no permanent advantage. this place, belonging to the bishop of liege, with its stone bridge over the meuse, was an advantageous position from which to aid the operations of bouillon in luxembourg. heraugiere was, however, not sufficiently reinforced, and huy was a month later recaptured by la motte. the campaigning was languid during that winter in the united netherlands, but the merry-making was energetic. the nuptials of hohenlo with mary, eldest daughter of william the silent and own sister of the captive philip william; of the duke of bouillon with elizabeth, one of the daughters of the same illustrious prince by his third wife, charlotte of bourbon; and of count everard solms, the famous general of the zeeland troops, with sabina, daughter of the unfortunate lamoral egmont, were celebrated with much pomp during the months of february and march. the states of holland and of zeeland made magnificent presents of diamonds to the brides; the countess hohenlo receiving besides a yearly income of three thousand florins for the lives of herself and her husband. in the midst of these merry marriage bells at the hague a funeral knell was sounding in brussels. on the th february, the governor-general of the obedient netherlands, archduke ernest, breathed his last. his career had not been so illustrious as the promises of the spanish king and the allegories of schoolmaster houwaerts had led him to expect. he had not espoused the infanta nor been crowned king of france. he had not blasted the rebellious netherlands with cyclopean thunderbolts, nor unbound the belgic andromeda from the rock of doom. his brief year of government had really been as dismal as, according to the announcement of his sycophants, it should have been amazing. he had accomplished nothing, and all that was left him was to die at the age of forty-two, over head and ears in debt, a disappointed, melancholy man. he was very indolent, enormously fat, very chaste, very expensive, fond of fine liveries and fine clothes, so solemn and stately as never to be known to laugh, but utterly without capacity either as a statesman or a soldier. he would have shone as a portly abbot ruling over peaceful friars, but he was not born to ride a revolutionary whirlwind, nor to evoke order out of chaos. past and present were contending with each other in fierce elemental strife within his domain. a world was in dying agony, another world was coming, full-armed, into existence within the hand-breadth of time and of space where he played his little part, but he dreamed not of it. he passed away like a shadow, and was soon forgotten. an effort was made, during the last illness of ernest, to procure from him the appointment of the elector of cologne as temporary successor to the government, but count fuentes was on the spot and was a man of action. he produced a power in the french language from philip, with a blank for the name. this had been intended for the case of peter ernest mansfeld's possible death during his provisional administration, and fuentes now claimed the right of inserting his own name. the dying ernest consented, and upon his death fuentes was declared governor-general until the king's further pleasure should be known. pedro de guzman, count of fuentes, a spaniard of the hard and antique type, was now in his sixty-fourth year. the pupil and near relative of the duke of alva, he was already as odious to the netherlanders as might have been inferred from such education and such kin. a dark, grizzled, baldish man, with high steep forehead, long, haggard, leathern visage, sweeping beard, and large, stern, commanding, menacing eyes, with his brussels ruff of point lace and his milan coat of proof, he was in personal appearance not unlike the terrible duke whom men never named without a shudder, although a quarter of a century had passed since he had ceased to curse the netherlands with his presence. elizabeth of england was accustomed to sneer at fuentes because he had retreated before essex in that daring commander's famous foray into portugal. the queen called the spanish general a timid old woman. if her gibe were true, it was fortunate for her, for henry of france, and for the republic, that there were not many more such old women to come from spain to take the place of the veteran chieftains who were destined to disappear so rapidly during this year in flanders. he was a soldier of fortune, loved fighting, not only for the fighting's sake, but for the prize-money which was to be accumulated by campaigning, and he was wont to say that he meant to enter paradise sword in hand. meantime his appointment excited the wrath of the provincial magnates. the duke of arschot was beside himself with frenzy, and swore that he would never serve under fuentes nor sit at his council-board. the duke's brother, marquis havre, and his son-in-law, count arenberg, shared in the hatred, although they tried to mitigate the vehemence of its expression. but arschot swore that no man had the right to take precedence of him in the council of state, and that the appointment of this or any spaniard was a violation of the charters of the provinces and of the promises of his majesty. as if it were for the nobles of the obedient provinces to prate of charters and of oaths! their brethren under the banner of the republic had been teaching philip for a whole generation how they could deal with the privileges of freemen and with the perjury of tyrants. it was late in the day for the obedient netherlanders to remember their rights. havre and arenberg, dissembling their own wrath, were abused and insulted by the duke when they tried to pacify him. they proposed a compromise, according to which arschot should be allowed to preside in the council of state while fuentes should content himself with the absolute control of the army. this would be putting a bit of fat in the duke's mouth, they said. fuentes would hear of no such arrangement. after much talk and daily attempts to pacify this great netherlander, his relatives at last persuaded him to go home to his country place. he even promised arenberg and his wife that he would go to italy, in pursuance of a vow made to our lady of loretto. arenberg privately intimated to stephen ybarra that there was a certain oil, very apt to be efficacious in similar cases of irritation, which might be applied with prospect of success. if his father-in-law could only receive some ten thousand florins which he claimed as due to him from government, this would do more to quiet him than a regiment of soldiers could. he also suggested that fuentes should call upon the duke, while secretary ybarra should excuse himself by sickness for not having already paid his respects. this was done. fuentes called. the duke returned the call, and the two conversed amicably about the death of the archduke, but entered into no political discussion. arschot then invited the whole council of state, except john baptist tassis, to a great dinner. he had prepared a paper to read to them in which he represented the great dangers likely to ensue from such an appointment as this of fuentes, but declared that he washed his hands of the consequences, and that he had determined to leave a country where he was of so little account. he would then close his eyes and ears to everything that might occur, and thus escape the infamy of remaining in a country where so little account was made of him. he was urged to refrain from reading this paper and to invite tassis. after a time he consented to suppress the document, but he manfully refused to bid the objectionable diplomatist to his banquet. the dinner took place and passed off pleasantly enough. arschot did not read his manifesto, but, as he warmed with wine, he talked a great deal of nonsense which, according to stephen ybarra, much resembled it, and he vowed that thenceforth he would be blind and dumb to all that might occur. a few days later, he paid a visit to the new governor-general, and took a peaceful farewell of him. "your majesty knows very well what he is," wrote fuentes: "he is nothing but talk." before leaving the country he sent a bitter complaint to ybarra, to the effect that the king had entirely forgotten him, and imploring that financier's influence to procure for him some gratuity from his majesty. he was in such necessity, he said, that it was no longer possible for him to maintain his household. and with this petition the grandee of the obedient provinces shook the dust from his shoes, and left his natal soil for ever. he died on the th december of the same year in venice. his son the prince of chimay, his brother, and son-inlaw, and the other obedient nobles, soon accommodated themselves to the new administration, much as they had been inclined to bluster at first about their privileges. the governor soon reported that matters were proceeding very, smoothly. there was a general return to the former docility now that such a disciplinarian as fuentes held the reins. the opening scenes of the campaign between the spanish governor and france were, as usual, in picardy. the marquis of varambon made a demonstration in the neighbourhood of dourlens--a fortified town on the river authie, lying in an open plain, very deep in that province--while fuentes took the field with eight thousand men, and laid siege to le catelet. he had his eye, however, upon ham. that important stronghold was in the hands of a certain nobleman called de gomeron, who had been an energetic leaguer, and was now disposed, for a handsome consideration, to sell himself to the king of spain. in the auction of governors and generals then going on in every part of france it had been generally found that henry's money was more to be depended upon in the long run, although philip's bids were often very high, and, for a considerable period, the payments regular. gomeron's upset price for himself was twenty-five thousand crowns in cash, and a pension of eight thousand a year. upon these terms he agreed to receive a spanish garrison into the town, and to cause the french in the citadel to be sworn into the service of the spanish king. fuentes agreed to the bargain and paid the adroit tradesman, who knew so well how to turn a penny for himself, a large portion of the twenty-five thousand crowns upon the nail. de gomeron was to proceed to brussels to receive the residue. his brother-in-law, m. d'orville, commanded in the citadel, and so soon as the spanish troops had taken possession of the town its governor claimed full payment of his services. but difficulties awaited him in brussels. he was informed that a french garrison could not be depended upon for securing the fortress, but that town and citadel must both be placed in spanish hands. de gomeron loudly protesting that this was not according to contract, was calmly assured, by command of fuentes, that unless the citadel were at once evacuated and surrendered, he would not receive the balance of his twenty-five thousand crowns, and that he should instantly lose his head. here was more than de gomeron had bargained for; but this particular branch of commerce in revolutionary times, although lucrative, has always its risks. de gomeron, thus driven to the wall, sent a letter by a spanish messenger to his brother-in-law, ordering him to surrender the fortress. d'orville--who meantime had been making his little arrangements with the other party--protested that the note had been written under duress, and refused to comply with its directions. time was pressing, for the duke of bouillon and the count of st. pol lay with a considerable force in the neighbourhood, obviously menacing ham. fuentes accordingly sent that distinguished soldier and historian, don carlos coloma, with a detachment of soldiers to brussels, with orders to bring gomeron into camp. he was found seated at supper with his two young brothers, aged respectively sixteen and eighteen years, and was just putting a cherry into his mouth as coloma entered the room. he remained absorbed in thought, trifling with the cherry without eating it, which don carlos set down as a proof of guilt: the three brothers were at once put in a coach, together with their sister, a nun of the age of twenty, and conveyed to the head-quarters of fuentes, who lay before le catelet, but six leagues from ham. meantime d'orville had completed his negotiations with bouillon, and had agreed to surrender the fortress so soon as the spanish troops should be driven from the town. the duke knowing that there was no time to lose, came with three thousand men before the place. his summons to surrender was answered by a volley of cannon-shot from the town defences. an assault was made and repulsed, d'humieres, a most gallant officer and a favourite of king henry, being killed, besides at least two hundred soldiers. the next attack was successful, the town was carried, and the spanish garrison put to the sword. d'orville then, before giving up the citadel, demanded three hostages for the lives of his three brothers-in-law. the hostages availed him little. fuentes had already sent word to gomeron's mother, that if the bargain were not fulfilled he would send her the heads of her three sons on three separate dishes. the distracted woman made her way, to d'orville, and fell at his feet with tears and entreaties. it was too late, and d'orville, unable to bear her lamentations, suddenly rushed from the castle, and nearly fell into the hands of the spaniards as he fled from the scene. two of the four cuirassiers, who alone of the whole garrison accompanied him, were taken prisoners. the governor escaped to unknown regions. madame de gomeron then appeared before fuentes, and tried in vain to soften him. de gomeron was at once beheaded in the sight of the whole camp. the two younger sons were retained in prison, but ultimately set at liberty. the town and citadel were thus permanently acquired by their lawful king, who was said to be more afflicted at the death of d'humieres than rejoiced at the capture of ham. meantime colonel verdugo, royal governor of friesland, whose occupation in those provinces, now so nearly recovered by the republic, was gone, had led a force of six thousand foot, and twelve hundred horse across the french border, and was besieging la ferte on the cher. the siege was relieved by bouillon on the th may, and the spanish veteran was then ordered to take command in burgundy. but his days were numbered. he had been sick of dysentery at luxembourg during the summer, but after apparent recovery died suddenly on the nd september, and of course was supposed to have been poisoned. he was identified with the whole history of the netherland wars. born at talavera de la reyna, of noble parentage, as he asserted--although his mother was said to have sold dogs' meat, and he himself when a youth was a private soldier--he rose by steady conduct and hard fighting to considerable eminence in his profession. he was governor of harlem after the famous siege, and exerted himself with some success to mitigate the ferocity of the spaniards towards the netherlanders at that epoch. he was marshal-general of the camp under don john of austria, and distinguished himself at the battle of gemblours. he succeeded count renneberg as governor of friesland and groningen, and bore a manful part in most of the rough business that had been going on for a generation of mankind among those blood-stained wolds and morasses. he was often victorious, and quite as often soundly defeated; but he enjoyed campaigning, and was a glutton of work. he cared little for parade and ceremony, but was fond of recalling with pleasure the days when he was a soldier at four crowns a month, with an undivided fourth of one cloak, which he and three companions wore by turns on holidays. although accused of having attempted to procure the assassination of william lewis nassau, he was not considered ill-natured, and he possessed much admiration for prince maurice. an iron-clad man, who had scarcely taken harness from his back all his life, he was a type of the spanish commanders who had implanted international hatred deeply in the netherland soul, and who, now that this result and no other had been accomplished, were rapidly passing away. he had been baptised franco, and his family appellation of verdugo meant executioner. punning on these names he was wont to say, that he was frank for all good people, but a hangman for heretics; and he acted up to his gibe. foiled at ham, fuentes had returned to the siege of catelet, and had soon reduced the place. he then turned his attention again to dourlens, and invested that city. during the preliminary operations, another veteran commander in these wars, valentin pardieu de la motte, recently created count of everbecque by philip, who had been for a long time general-in-chief of the artillery, and was one of the most famous and experienced officers in the spanish service, went out one fine moonlight night to reconnoitre the enemy, and to superintend the erection of batteries. as he was usually rather careless of his personal safety, and rarely known to put on his armour when going for such purposes into the trenches, it was remarked with some surprise, on this occasion, that he ordered his page to bring his, accoutrements, and that he armed himself cap-a pie before leaving his quarters. nevertheless, before he had reached the redoubt, a bullet from the town struck him between the fold of his morion and the edge of his buckler and he fell dead without uttering a sound. here again was a great loss to the king's service. la motte, of a noble family in burgundy, had been educated in the old fierce traditions of the spanish system of warfare in the netherlands, and had been one of the very hardest instruments that the despot could use for his bloody work. he had commanded a company of horse at the famous battle of st. quintin, and since that opening event in philip's reign he had been unceasingly--engaged in the flemish wars. alva made him a colonel of a walloon regiment; the grand commander requesena appointed him governor of gravelines. on the whole he had been tolerably faithful to his colours; having changed sides but twice. after the pacification of ghent he swore allegiance to the states-general, and assisted in the bombardment of the citadel of that place. soon afterwards he went over to don john of austria, and surrendered to him the town and fortress of gravelines, of which he then continued governor in the name of the king. he was fortunate in the accumulation of office and of money; rather unlucky in his campaigning. he was often wounded in action, and usually defeated when commanding in chief. he lost an arm at the siege of sluy's, and had now lost his life almost by an accident. although twice married he left no children to inherit his great estates, while the civil and military offices left vacant by his death were sufficient to satisfy the claims of five aspiring individuals. the count of varax succeeded him as general of artillery; but it was difficult to find a man to replace la motte, possessing exactly the qualities which had made that warrior so valuable to his king. the type was rapidly disappearing, and most fortunately for humanity, if half the stories told of him by grave chroniclers, accustomed to discriminate between history and gossip, are to be believed. he had committed more than one cool homicide. although not rejoicing in the same patronymic as his spanish colleague of friesland, he too was ready on occasion to perform hangman's work. when sergeant-major in flanders, he had himself volunteered--so ran the chronicle--to do execution on a poor wretch found guilty of professing the faith of calvin; and, with his own hands, had prepared a fire of straw, tied his victim to the stake, and burned him to cinders. another netherlander for the name crime of heresy had been condemned to be torn to death by horses. no one could be found to carry out the sentence. the soldiers under la motte's command broke into mutiny rather than permit themselves to be used for such foul purposes; but the ardent young sergeant-major came forward, tied the culprit by the arms and legs to two horses, and himself whipped them to their work till it was duly accomplished. was it strange that in philip's reign such energy should be rewarded by wealth, rank, and honour? was not such a labourer in the vineyard worthy of his hire? still another eminent chieftain in the king's service disappeared at this time--one who, although unscrupulous and mischievous enough in his day, was however not stained by any suspicion of crimes like these. count charles mansfeld, tired of governing his decrepit parent peter ernest, who, since the appointment of fuentes, had lost all further chance of governing the netherlands, had now left philip's service and gone to the turkish wars. for amurath iii., who had died in the early days of the year, had been succeeded by a sultan as warlike as himself. mahomet iii., having strangled his nineteen brothers on his accession, handsomely buried them in cypress coffins by the side of their father, and having subsequently sacked and drowned ten infant princes posthumously born to amurath, was at leisure to carry the war through transylvania and hungary, up to the gates of vienna, with renewed energy. the turk, who could enforce the strenuous rules of despotism by which all secundogenitures and collateral claimants in the ottoman family were thus provided for, was a foe to be dealt with seriously. the power of the moslems at that day was a full match for the holy roman empire. the days were far distant when the grim turk's head was to become a mockery and a show; and when a pagan empire, born of carnage and barbarism, was to be kept alive in europe when it was ready to die, by the collective efforts of christian princes. charles mansfeld had been received with great enthusiasm at the court of rudolph, where he was created a prince of the empire, and appointed to the chief command of the imperial armies under the archduke matthias. but his warfare was over. at the siege of gran he was stricken with sickness and removed to comorn, where he lingered some weeks. there, on the th august, as he lay half-dozing on his couch, he was told that the siege was at last successful; upon which he called for a goblet of wine, drained it eagerly, and then lay resting his head on his hand, like one absorbed in thought. when they came to arouse him from his reverie they found that he was dead. his father still remained superfluous in the netherlands, hating and hated by fuentes; but no longer able to give that governor so much annoyance as during his son's life-time the two had been able to create for alexander farnese. the octogenarian was past work and past mischief now; but there was one older soldier than he still left upon the stage, the grandest veteran in philip's service, and now the last survivor, except the decrepit peter ernest, of the grim commanders of alva's school. christopher mondragon--that miracle of human endurance, who had been an old man when the great duke arrived in the netherlands--was still governor of antwerp citadel, and men were to speak of him yet once more before he passed from the stage. i return from this digression to the siege of dourlens. the death of la motte made no difference in the plans of fuentes. he was determined to reduce the place preparatively to more important operations. bouillon was disposed to relieve it, and to that end had assembled a force of eight thousand men within the city of amiens. by midsummer the spaniards had advanced with their mines and galleries close to the walls of the city. meantime admiral villars, who had gained so much renown by defending rouen against henry iv., and who had subsequently made such an excellent bargain with that monarch before entering his service, arrived at amiens. on the th july an expedition was sent from that city towards dourlens. bouillon and st. pol commanded in person a force of six hundred picked cavalry. pillars and sanseval each led half as many, and there was a supporting body of twelve hundred musketeers. this little army convoyed a train of wagons, containing ammunition and other supplies for the beleaguered town. but fuentes, having sufficiently strengthened his works, sallied forth with two thousand infantry, and a flying squadron of spanish horse, to intercept them. it was the eve of st. james, the patron saint of spain, at the sound, of whose name as a war-cry so many battle-fields had been won in the netherlands, so many cities sacked, so many wholesale massacres perpetrated. fuentes rode in the midst of his troops with the royal standard of spain floating above him. on the other hand yillars, glittering in magnificent armour and mounted on a superbly caparisoned charger came on, with his three hundred troopers, as if about to ride a course in a tournament. the battle which ensued was one of the most bloody for the numbers engaged, and the victory one of the most decisive recorded in this war. villars charged prematurely, furiously, foolishly. he seemed jealous of bouillon, and disposed to show the sovereign to whom he had so recently given his allegiance that an ancient leaguer and papist was a better soldier for his purpose than the most grizzled huguenot in his army. on the other hand the friends of villars accused the duke of faintheartedness, or at least of an excessive desire to save himself and his own command. the first impetuous onset of the admiral was successful, and he drove half-a-dozen companies of spaniards before him. but he had ventured too far from his supports. bouillon had only intended a feint, instead of a desperate charge; the spaniards were rallied, and the day was saved by that cool and ready soldier, carlos coloma. in less than an hour the french were utterly defeated and cut to pieces. bouillon escaped to amiens with five hundred men; this was all that was left of the expedition. the horse of villars was shot under him and the admiral's leg was broken as he fell. he was then taken prisoner by two lieutenants of carlos coloma; but while these warriors were enjoying, by anticipation, the enormous ransom they should derive from so illustrious a captive, two other lieutenants in the service of marshal de rosnes came up and claimed their share in the prize. while the four were wrangling, the admiral called out to them in excellent spanish not to dispute, for he had money enough to satisfy them all. meantime the spanish commissary--general of cavalry, contreras, came up, rebuked this unseemly dispute before the enemy had been fairly routed, and, in order to arrange the quarrel impartially, ordered his page to despatch de villars on the spot. the page, without a word, placed his arquebus to the admiral's forehead and shot him dead. so perished a bold and brilliant soldier, and a most unscrupulous politician. whether the cause of his murder was mere envy on the part of the commissary at having lost a splendid opportunity for prize-money, or hatred to an ancient leaguer thus turned renegade, it is fruitless now to enquire. villars would have paid two hundred thousand crowns for his ransom, so that the assassination was bad as a mercantile speculation; but it was pretended by the friends of contreras that rescue was at hand. it is certain, however, that nothing was attempted by the french to redeem their total overthrow. count belin was wounded and fell into the hands of coloma. sanseval was killed; and a long list of some of the most brilliant nobles in france was published by the spaniards as having perished on that bloody field. this did not prevent a large number of these victims, however, from enjoying excellent health for many long years afterwards, although their deaths have been duly recorded in chronicle from that day to our own times. but villars and sanseval were certainly slain, and fuentes sent their bodies, with a courteous letter, to the duke of nevers, at amiens, who honoured them with a stately funeral. there was much censure cast on both bouillon and villars respectively by the antagonists of each chieftain; and the contest as to the cause of the defeat was almost as animated as the skirmish itself. bouillon was censured for grudging a victory to the catholics, and thus leaving the admiral to his fate. yet it is certain that the huguenot duke himself commanded a squadron composed almost entirely of papists. villars, on the other hand, was censured for rashness, obstinacy, and greediness for distinction; yet it is probable that fuentes might have been defeated had the charges of bouillon been as determined and frequent as were those of his colleague. savigny de rosnes, too, the ancient leaguer, who commanded under fuentes, was accused of not having sufficiently followed up the victory, because unwilling that his spanish friends should entirely trample upon his own countrymen. yet there is no doubt whatever that de rosnes was as bitter an enemy to his own country as the most ferocious spaniard of them all. it has rarely been found in civil war that the man who draws his sword against his fatherland, under the banner of the foreigner, is actuated by any lingering tenderness for the nation he betrays; and the renegade frenchman was in truth the animating spirit of fuentes during the whole of his brilliant campaign. the spaniard's victories were, indeed, mainly attributable to the experience, the genius, and the rancour of de rosnes. but debates over a lost battle are apt to be barren. meantime fuentes, losing no time in controversy, advanced upon the city of dourlens, was repulsed twice, and carried it on the third assault, exactly one week after the action just recounted. the spaniards and leaguers, howling "remember ham!" butchered without mercy the garrison and all the citizens, save a small number of prisoners likely to be lucrative. six hundred of the townspeople and two thousand five hundred french soldiers were killed within a few hours. well had fuentes profited by the relationship and tuition of alva! the count of dinant and his brother de ronsoy were both slain, and two or three hundred thousand florins were paid in ransom by those who escaped with life. the victims were all buried outside of the town in one vast trench, and the effluvia bred a fever which carried off most of the surviving inhabitants. dourlens became for the time a desert. fuentes now received deputies with congratulations from the obedient provinces, especially from hainault, artois, and lille. he was also strongly urged to attempt the immediate reduction of cambray, to which end those envoys were empowered to offer contributions of four hundred and fifty thousand florins and a contingent of seven thousand infantry. berlaymont, too, bishop of tournay and archbishop of cambray, was ready to advance forty thousand florins in the same cause. fuentes, in the highest possible spirits at his success, and having just been reinforced by count bucquoy with a fresh walloon regiment of fifteen hundred foot and with eight hundred and fifty of the mutineers from tirlemont and chapelle, who were among the choicest of spanish veterans, was not disposed to let the grass grow under his feet. within four days after the sack of dourlens he broke up his camp, and came before cambray with an army of twelve thousand foot and nearly four thousand horse. but before narrating the further movements of the vigorous new governor-general, it is necessary to glance at the military operations in the eastern part of the netherlands and upon the rhine. the states-general had reclaimed to their authority nearly all that important region lying beyond the yssel--the solid frisian bulwark of the republic--but there were certain points nearer the line where upper and nether germany almost blend into one, which yet acknowledged the name of the king. the city of groenlo, or grol, not a place of much interest or importance in itself, but close to the frontier, and to that destined land of debate, the duchies of cleves, juliers, and berg, still retained its spanish garrison. on the th july prince maurice of nassau came before the city with six thousand infantry, some companies of cavalry, and sixteen pieces of artillery. he made his approaches in form, and after a week's operations he fired three volleys, according to his custom, and summoned the place to capitulate. governor jan van stirum replied stoutly that he would hold the place for god and the king to the last drop of his blood. meantime there was hope of help from the outside. maurice was a vigorous young commander, but there was a man to be dealt with who had been called the "good old mondragon" when the prince was in his cradle; and who still governed the citadel of antwerp, and was still ready for an active campaign. christopher mondragon was now ninety-two years old. not often in the world's history has a man of that age been capable of personal, participation in the joys of the battlefield, whatever natural reluctance veterans are apt to manifest at relinquishing high military control. but mondragon looked not with envy but with admiration on the growing fame of the nassau chieftain, and was disposed, before he himself left the stage, to match himself with the young champion. so soon as he heard of the intended demonstration of maurice against grol, the ancient governor of antwerp collected a little army by throwing together all the troops that could be spared from the various garrisons within his command. with two spanish regiments, two thousand swiss, the walloon troops of de grisons, and the irish regiment of stanley--in all seven thousand foot and thirteen hundred horse--mondragon marched straight across brabant and gelderland to the rhine. at kaiserworth he reviewed his forces, and announced his intention of immediately crossing the river. there was a murmur of disapprobation among officers and men at what they considered the foolhardy scheme of mad old mondragon. but the general had not campaigned a generation before, at the age of sixty-nine, in the bottom of the sea, and waded chin-deep for six hours long of an october night, in the face of a rising tide from the german ocean and of an army of zeelanders, to be frightened now at the summer aspect of the peaceful rhine. the wizened little old man, walking with difficulty by the aid of a staff, but armed in proof, with plumes waving gallantly from his iron headpiece, and with his rapier at his side, ordered a chair to be brought to the river's edge. then calmly seating himself in the presence of his host, he stated that he should not rise from that chair until the last man had crossed the river. furthermore, he observed that it was not only his purpose to relieve the city of grol, but to bring maurice to an action, and to defeat him, unless he retired. the soldiers ceased to murmur, the pontoons were laid, the river was passed, and on the th july, maurice, hearing of the veteran's approach, and not feeling safe in his position, raised the siege of the city. burning his camp and everything that could not be taken with him on his march, the prince came in perfect order to borkelo, two dutch miles from grol. here he occupied himself for some time in clearing the country of brigands who in the guise of soldiers infested that region and made the little cities of deutecom, anholt, and heerenberg unsafe. he ordered the inhabitants of these places to send out detachments to beat the bushes for his cavalry, while hohenlo was ordered to hunt the heaths and wolds thoroughly with packs of bloodhounds until every man and beast to be found lurking in those wild regions should be extirpated. by these vigorous and cruel, but perhaps necessary, measures the brigands were at last extirpated, and honest people began to sleep in their beds. on the th august maurice took up a strong position at bislich, not far from wesel, where the river lippe empties itself into the rhine. mondragon, with his army strengthened by reinforcements from garrisons in gelderland, and by four hundred men brought by frederic, van den berg from grol, had advanced to a place called walston in den ham, in the neighbourhood of wesel. the lippe flowed between the two hostile forces. although he had broken up his siege, the prince was not disposed to renounce his whole campaign before trying conclusions with his veteran antagonist. he accordingly arranged an ambush with much skill, by means of which he hoped to bring on a general engagement and destroy mondragon and his little army. his cousin and favourite lieutenant, philip nassau, was entrusted with the preliminaries. that adventurous commander, with a picked force of seven hundred cavalry, moved quietly from the camp on the evening of the st september. he took with him his two younger brothers, ernest and lewis gunther, who, as has been seen, had received the promise of the eldest brother of the family, william lewis, that they should be employed from time to time in any practical work that might be going, forward. besides these young gentlemen, several of the most famous english and dutch commanders were on, the expedition; the brothers paul and marcellus bax, captains parker, cutler, and robert vere, brother of sir francis, among the number. early in the morning of the nd september the force crossed the lippe, according to orders, keeping a pontoon across the stream to secure their retreat. they had instructions thus to feel the enemy at early dawn, and, as he was known to have foraging parties out every morning along the margin of the river, to make a sudden descent upon their pickets, and to capture those companies before they could effect their escape or be reinforced. afterwards they were to retreat across the lippe, followed, as it was hoped would be the case, by the troops: of mondragon, anxious to punish this piece of audacity. meantime maurice with five thousand infantry, the rest of his cavalry, and several pieces of artillery, awaited their coming, posted behind some hills in the neighbourhood of wesel. the plot of the young commander was an excellent one, but the ancient campaigner on the other side of the river had not come all the way from his comfortable quarters in antwerp to be caught napping on that september morning. mondragon had received accurate information from his scouts as to what was going on in the enemy's camp; and as to the exact position of maurice. he was up long before daybreak--"the good old christopher"--and himself personally arranged a counter-ambush. in the fields lying a little back from the immediate neighbourhood of, the lippe he posted the mass of his cavalry, supported by a well-concealed force of infantry. the pickets on the stream and the foraging companies were left to do their usual work as if nothing were likely to happen. philip nassau galloped cheerfully forward; according to the well-concerted plan, sending cutler and marcellus bax with a handful of troopers to pounce upon the enemy's pickets. when those officers got to the usual foraging ground they, came upon a much larger cavalry force than they had looked for; and, suspecting something wrong; dashed back--again to give information to count philip. that impatient commander, feeling sure of his game unless this foolish delay should give the foraging companies time to, escape; ordered an immediate advance with his whole cavalry force: the sheriff of zallant was ordered to lead the way. he objected that the pass, leading through a narrow lane and opening by a gate into an open field, was impassable for more than two troopers abreast; and that the enemy was in force beyond. philips scorning these words of caution, and exclaiming that seventy-five lancers were enough to put fifty carabineers to rout; put on his casque, drew his sword; and sending his brother lewis to summon kinski and donck; dashed into the pass, accompanied by the two counts and, a couple of other nobles. the sheriff, seeing this, followed him at full gallop; and after him came the troopers of barchon, of du bois, and of paul bax; riding single file but in much disorder. when they had all entered inextricably into the lane, with the foremost of the lancers already passing through the gate, they discovered the enemy's cavalry and infantry drawn up in force upon the watery, heathery pastures beyond. there was at once a scene of confusion. to use lances was impossible, while they were all struggling together through the narrow passage offering themselves an easy prey to the enemy as they slowly emerged into the gelds. the foremost defended themselves with sabre and pistol as well as they could. the hindmost did their best to escape, and rode for their lives to the other side of the river. all trampled upon each other and impeded each other's movements. there was a brief engagement, bloody, desperate, hand to hand, and many spaniards fell before the entrapped netherlanders. but there could not be a moment's doubt as to the issue. count philip went down in the beginning of the action, shot through the body by an arquebus, discharged so close to him that his clothes were set on fire. as there was no water within reach the flames could be extinguished at last only by rolling him over, and over, wounded as he was, among the sand and heather. count ernest solms was desperately wounded at the same time. for a moment both gentlemen attempted to effect their escape by mounting on one horse, but both fell to the ground exhausted and were taken prisoners. ernest nassau was also captured. his young brother, lewis gunther, saved himself by swimming the river. count kinski was mortally wounded. robert vere, too, fell into the enemy's hands, and was afterwards murdered in cold blood. marcellus bax, who had returned to the field by a circuitous path, still under the delusion that he was about handsomely to cut off the retreat of the foraging companies, saved himself and a handful of cavalry by a rapid flight, so soon as he discovered the enemy drawn up in line of battle. cutler and parker were equally fortunate. there was less than a hundred of the states' troops killed, and it is probable that a larger number of the spaniards fell. but the loss of philip nassau, despite the debauched life and somewhat reckless valour of that soldier, was a very severe one to the army and to his family. he was conveyed to rheinberg, where his wounds were dressed. as he lay dying he was courteously visited by mondragon, and by many other spanish officers, anxious to pay their respects to so distinguished and warlike a member of an illustrious house. he received them with dignity, and concealed his physical agony so as to respond to their conversation as became a nassau. his cousin, frederic van den berg, who was among the visitors, indecently taunted him with his position; asking him what he had expected by serving the cause of the beggars. philip turned from him with impatience and bade him hold his peace. at midnight he died. william of orange and his three brethren had already laid down their lives for the republic, and now his eldest brother's son had died in the same cause. "he has carried the name of nassau with honour into the grave," said his brother lewis william, to their father. ten others of the house, besides many collateral relations, were still in arms for their adopted country. rarely in history has a single noble race so entirely identified itself with a nation's record in its most heroic epoch as did that of orange-nassau with the liberation of holland. young ernest solms, brother of count everard, lay in the same chamber with philip nassau, and died on the following day. their bodies were sent by mondragon with a courteous letter to maurice at bisslich. ernest nassau was subsequently ransomed for ten thousand florins. this skirmish on the lippe has no special significance in a military point of view, but it derives more than a passing interest, not only from the death of many a brave and distinguished soldier, but for the illustration of human vigour triumphing, both physically and mentally, over the infirmities of old age, given by the achievement of christopher mondragon. alone he had planned his expedition across the country from antwerp, alone he had insisted on crossing the rhine, while younger soldiers hesitated; alone, with his own active brain and busy hands, he had outwitted the famous young chieftain of the netherlands, counteracted his subtle policy, and set the counter-ambush by which his choicest cavalry were cut to pieces, and one of his bravest generals slain. so far could the icy blood of ninety-two prevail against the vigour of twenty-eight. the two armies lay over against each other, with the river between them, for some days longer, but it was obvious that nothing further would be attempted on either side. mondragon had accomplished the object for which he had marched from brabant. he had, spoiled the autumn campaign of maurice, and, was, now disposed to return before winter to, his own quarters. he sent a trumpet accordingly to his antagonist, begging him, half in jest, to have more consideration for his infirmities than to keep him out in his old age in such foul weather, but to allow him the military honour of being last to break up camp. should maurice consent to move away, mondragon was ready to pledge himself not to pursue him, and within three days to leave his own entrenchments. the proposition was not granted, and very soon afterwards the spaniard, deciding to retire, crossed the rhine on the th october. maurice made a slight attempt at pursuit, sending count william lewis with some cavalry, who succeeded in cutting off a few wagons. the army, however, returned safely, to be dispersed into various garrisons. this was mondragon's last feat of, arms. less than three months afterwards, in antwerp citadel, as the veteran was washing his hands previously to going to the dinner-table, he sat down and died. strange to say, this man--who had spent almost a century on the battlefield, who had been a soldier in nearly every war that had been waged in any part of europe during that most belligerent age, who had come an old man to the netherlands before alva's arrival, and had ever since been constantly and personally engaged in the vast flemish tragedy which had now lasted well nigh thirty years--had never himself lost a drop of blood. his battle-fields had been on land and water, on ice, in fire, and at the bottom of the sea, but he had never received a wound. nay, more; he had been blown up in a fortress--the castle of danvilliers in luxembourg, of which he was governor--where all perished save his wife and himself, and, when they came to dig among the ruins, they excavated at last the ancient couple, protected by the framework of a window in the embrasure of which they had been seated, without a scratch or a bruise. he was a biscayan by descent, but born in medina del campo. a strict disciplinarian, very resolute and pertinacious, he had the good fortune to be beloved by his inferiors, his equals, and his superiors. he was called the father of his soldiers, the good mondragon, and his name was unstained by any of those deeds of ferocity which make the chronicles of the time resemble rather the history of wolves than of men. to a married daughter, mother of several children, he left a considerable fortune. maurice broke up his camp soon after the departure of his antagonist, and paused for a few days at arnheim to give honourable burial to his cousin philip and count solms. meantime sir francis vere was detached, with three regiments, which were to winter in overyssel, towards weerd castle, situate at a league's distance from ysselsburg, and defended by a garrison of twenty-six men under captain pruys. that doughty commandant, on being summoned to surrender, obstinately refused. vere, according to maurice's orders, then opened with his artillery against the place, which soon capitulated in great panic and confusion. the captain demanded the honours of war. vere told him in reply that the honours of war were halters for the garrison who had dared to defend such a hovel against artillery. the twenty-six were accordingly ordered to draw black and white straws. this was done, and the twelve drawing white straws were immediately hanged; the thirteenth receiving his life on consenting to act as executioner for his comrades. the commandant was despatched first of all. the rope broke, but the english soldiers held him under the water of the ditch until he was drowned. the castle was then thoroughly sacked, the women being sent unharmed to ysselsburg. maurice then shipped the remainder of his troops along the rhine and waal to their winter quarters and returned to the hague. it was the feeblest year's work yet done by the stadholder. meantime his great ally, the huguenot-catholic prince of bearne, was making a dashing, and, on the whole, successful campaign in the heart of his own kingdom. the constable of castile, don ferdinando de velasco, one of spain's richest grandees and poorest generals, had been sent with an army of ten thousand men to take the field in burgundy against the man with whom the great farnese had been measuring swords so lately, and with not unmingled success, in picardy. biron, with a sudden sweep, took possession of aussone, autun, and beaune, but on one adventurous day found himself so deeply engaged with a superior force of the enemy in the neighbourhood of fontaine francaise, or st. seine, where france's great river takes its rise, as to be nearly cut off and captured. but henry himself was already in the field, and by one of those mad, reckless impulses which made him so adorable as a soldier and yet so profoundly censurable as a commander-in-chief, he flung himself, like a young lieutenant, with a mere handful of cavalry, into the midst of the fight, and at the imminent peril of his own life succeeded in rescuing the marshal and getting off again unscathed. on other occasions henry said he had fought for victory, but on that for dear life; and, even as in the famous and foolish skirmish at aumale three years before, it was absence of enterprise or lack of cordiality on the part of his antagonists, that alone prevented a captive king from being exhibited as a trophy of triumph for the expiring league. but the constable of castile was not born to cheer the heart of his prudent master with such a magnificent spectacle. velasco fell back to gray and obstinately refused to stir from his entrenchments, while henry before his eyes laid siege to dijon. on the th june the capital of burgundy surrendered to its sovereign, but no temptations could induce the constable to try the chance of a battle. henry's movements in the interior were more successful than were the operations nearer the frontier, but while the monarch was thus cheerfully fighting for his crown in france, his envoys were winning a still more decisive campaign for him in rome. d'ossat and perron had accomplished their diplomatic task with consummate ability, and, notwithstanding the efforts and the threats of the spanish ambassador and the intrigues of his master, the absolution was granted. the pope arose early on the morning of the th august, and walked barefoot from his palace of mount cavallo to the church of maria maggiore, with his eyes fixed on the ground, weeping loudly and praying fervently. he celebrated mass in the church, and then returned as he went, saluting no one on the road and shutting himself up in his palace afterwards. the same ceremony was performed ten days later on the festival of our lady's ascension. in vain, however, had been the struggle on the part of his holiness to procure from the ambassador the deposition of the crown of france in his hands, in order that the king might receive it back again as a free gift and concession from the chief pontiff. such a triumph was not for rome, nor could even the publication of the council of trent in france be conceded except with a saving clause "as to matters which could not be put into operation without troubling the repose of the kingdom." and to obtain this clause the envoys declared "that they had been obliged to sweat blood and water." on the th day of september the absolution was proclaimed with great pomp and circumstance from the gallery of st. peter's, the holy father seated on the highest throne of majesty, with his triple crown on has head, and all his cardinals and bishops about him in their most effulgent robes. the silver trumpets were blown, while artillery roared from the castle of st. angelo, and for two successive nights rome was in a blaze of bonfires and illumination, in a whirl of bell-ringing, feasting, and singing of hosannaha. there had not been such a merry-making in the eternal city since the pope had celebrated solemn thanksgiving for the massacre of st. bartholomew. the king was almost beside himself with rapture when the great news reached him, and he straightway wrote letters, overflowing with gratitude and religious enthusiasm, to the pontiff and expressed his regret that military operations did not allow him to proceed at once to rome in person to kiss the holy father's feet. the narrative returns to fuentes, who was left before the walls of cambray. that venerable ecclesiastical city; pleasantly seated amid gardens, orchards, and green pastures, watered, by the winding scheld, was well fortified after the old manner, but it was especially defended and dominated by a splendid pentagonal citadel built by charles v. it was filled with fine churches, among which the magnificent cathedral was pre-eminent, and with many other stately edifices. the population was thrifty, active, and turbulent, like that of all those flemish and walloon cities which the spirit of mediaeval industry had warmed for a time into vehement little republics. but, as has already been depicted in these pages, the celtic element had been more apt to receive than consistent to retain the generous impress which had once been stamped on all the netherlands. the walloon provinces had fallen away from their flemish sisters and seemed likely to accept a permanent yoke, while in the territory of the united states, as john baptist tassis was at that very moment pathetically observing in a private letter to philip, "with the coming up of a new generation educated as heretics from childhood, who had never heard what the word king means, it was likely to happen at last that the king's memory, being wholly forgotten nothing would remain in the land but heresy alone." from this sad fate cambray had been saved. gavre d'inchy had seventeen years before surrendered the city to the duke of alencon during that unlucky personage's brief and base career in the netherlands, all, that was left of his visit being the semi-sovereignty which the notorious balagny had since that time enjoyed, in the archiepiscopal city. this personage, a natural son of monluc, bishop of valence, and nephew of the distinguished marshal monluci was one of the most fortunate and the most ignoble of all the soldiers of fortune who had played their part at this epoch in the netherlands. a poor creature himself, he had a heroine for a wife. renee, the sister of bussy d'amboise, had vowed to unite herself to a man who would avenge the assassination of her brother by the count montsoreau? balagny readily agreed to perform the deed, and accordingly espoused the high-born dame, but it does not appear that he ever wreaked her vengeance on the murderer. he had now governed cambray until the citizens and the whole countryside were galled and exhausted by his grinding tyranny, his inordinate pride, and his infamous extortions. his latest achievement had been to force upon his subjects a copper currency bearing the nominal value of silver, with the same blasting effects which such experiments in political economy are apt to produce on princes and peoples. he had been a royalist, a guisist, a leaguer, a dutch republican, by turns, and had betrayed all the parties, at whose expense he had alternately filled his coffers. during the past year he had made up his mind--like most of the conspicuous politicians and campaigners of france--that the moribund league was only fit to be trampled upon by its recent worshippers, and he had made accordingly one of the very best bargains with henry iv. that had yet been made, even at that epoch of self-vending grandees. henry, by treaty ratified in august, , had created him prince of cambray and marshal of france, so that the man who had been receiving up to that very moment a monthly subsidy of seven thousand two hundred dollars from the king of spain was now gratified with a pension to about the same yearly amount by the king of france. during the autumn henry had visited cambray, and the new prince had made wondrous exhibitions of loyalty to the sovereign whom he had done his best all his life to exclude from his kingdom. there had been a ceaseless round of tournaments, festivals, and masquerades in the city in honour of the huguenot chieftain, now changed into the most orthodox and most legitimate of monarchs, but it was not until midsummer of the present year that balagny was called on to defend his old possessions and his new principality against a well-seasoned army and a vigorous commander. meanwhile his new patron was so warmly occupied in other directions that it might be difficult for him to send assistance to the beleaguered city. on the th august fuentes began his siege operations. before the investment had been completed the young prince of rhetelois, only fifteen years of age, son of the duke of nevers, made his entrance into the city attended by thirty of his father's archers. de vich, too, an experienced and faithful commander, succeeded in bringing four or five hundred dragoons through the enemy's lines. these meagre reinforcements were all that reached the place; for, although the states-general sent two or three thousand scotchmen and zeelanders, under justinus of nassau, to henry, that he might be the better enabled to relieve this important frontier city, the king's movements were not sufficiently prompt to turn the force to good account balagny was left with a garrison of three thousand french and walloons in the city, besides five hundred french in the fortress. after six weeks steady drawing of parallels and digging of mines fuentes was ready to open his batteries. on the th september, the news, very much exaggerated, of mondragon's brilliant victory near wessel, and of the deaths of philip nassau and ernest solms, reached the spanish camp. immense was the rejoicing. triumphant salutes from eighty-seven cannon and many thousand muskets shook the earth and excited bewilderment and anxiety within the walls of the city. almost immediately afterwards a tremendous cannonade was begun and so vigorously sustained that the burghers, and part of the garrison, already half rebellious with hatred to balagny, began loudly to murmur as the balls came flying into their streets. a few days later an insurrection broke out. three thousand citizens, with red flags flying, and armed to the teeth were discovered at daylight drawn up in the market place. balagny came down from the citadel and endeavoured to calm the tumult, but was received with execrations. they had been promised, shouted the insurgents, that every road about cambray was to swarm with french soldiers under their formidable king, kicking the heads of the spaniards in all directions. and what had they got? a child with thirty archers, sent by his father, and half a man at the head of four hundred dragoons. to stand a siege under such circumstances against an army of fifteen thousand spaniards, and to take balagny's copper as if it were gold, was more than could be asked of respectable burghers. the allusion to the young prince rhetelois and to de vich, who had lost a leg in the wars, was received with much enthusiasm. balagny, appalled at the fury of the people, whom he had so long been trampling upon while their docility lasted, shrank back before their scornful denunciations into the citadel. but his wife was not appalled. this princess had from the beginning of the siege showed a courage and an energy worthy of her race. night and day she had gone the rounds of the ramparts, encouraging and directing the efforts of the garrison. she had pointed batteries against the enemy's works, and, with her own hands, had fired the cannon. she now made her appearance in the market-place, after her husband had fled, and did her best to assuage the tumult, and to arouse the mutineers to a sense of duty or of shame. she plucked from her bosom whole handfuls of gold which she threw among the bystanders, and she was followed by a number of carts filled with sacks of coin ready to be exchanged for the debased currency. expressing contempt for the progress made by the besieging army, and for the slight impression so far produced upon the defences of the city, she snatched a pike from a soldier and offered in person to lead the garrison to the breach. her audience knew full well that this was no theatrical display, but that the princess was ready as the boldest warrior to lead a forlorn hope or to repel the bloodiest assault. nor, from a military point of view, was their situation desperate. but their hatred and scorn for balagny could not be overcome by any passing sentiment of admiration for his valiant though imperious wife. no one followed her to the breach. exclaiming that she at least would never surrender, and that she would die a sovereign princess rather than live a subject, renee de balagny retained to the citadel. the town soon afterwards capitulated, and as the spanish soldiers, on entering, observed the slight damage that had been caused by their batteries, they were most grateful to the faint-hearted or mutinous condition by which they had been spared the expense of an assault. the citadel was now summoned to surrender; and balagny agreed, in case he should not be relieved within six days, to accept what was considered honourable terms. it proved too late to expect succour from henry, and balagny, but lately a reigning prince, was fain to go forth on the appointed day and salute his conqueror. but the princess kept her vow. she had done her best to defend her dominions and to live a sovereign, and now there was nothing left her but to die. with bitter reproaches on her husband's pusillanimity, with tears and sobs of rage and shame, she refused food, spurned the idea of capitulation, and expired before the th of october. on that day a procession moved out of the citadel gates. balagny, with a son of eleven years of age, the prince of rhetelois, the commander de vich; and many other distinguished personages, all magnificently attired, came forth at the head of what remained of the garrison. the soldiers, numbering thirteen hundred foot and two hundred and forty horse, marched with colours flying, drums beating, bullet in mouth, and all the other recognised palliatives of military disaster. last of all came a hearse, bearing the coffin of the princess of cambray. fuentes saluted the living leaders of the procession, and the dead heroine; with stately courtesy, and ordered an escort as far as peronne. balagny met with a cool reception from henry at st. quintin, but subsequently made his peace, and espoused the sister of the king's mistress, gabrielle d'estrees. the body of gavre d'inchy, which had been buried for years, was dug up and thrown into a gutter. etext editor's bookmarks: deal with his enemy as if sure to become his friend mondragon was now ninety-two years old more catholic than the pope octogenarian was past work and past mischief sacked and drowned ten infant princes strangled his nineteen brothers on his accession history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , - chapter xxxii. archduke cardinal albert appointed governor of the netherlands-- return of philip william from captivity--his adherence to the king of spain--notice of the marquis of varambon, count varax, and other new officers--henry's communications with queen elizabeth--madame de monceaux--conversation of henry with the english ambassador-- marseilles secured by the duke of guise--the fort of rysbank taken by de roane calais in the hands of the spanish--assistance from england solicited by henry--unhandsome conditions proposed by elizabeth--annexation of calais to the obedient provinces--pirates of dunkirk--uneasiness of the netherlanders with regard to the designs of elizabeth--her protestations of sincerity--expedition of dutch and english forces to spain--attack on the spanish war-ships-- victory of the allies--flag of the republic planted on the fortress of cadiz--capitulation of the city--letter of elizabeth to the dutch admirals--state of affairs in france--proposition of the duke of montpensier for the division of the kingdom--successes of the cardinal archduke in normandy--he proceeds to flanders--siege and capture of hulat--projected alliance against spain--interview of de sancy with lord burghley--diplomatic conference at greenwich-- formation of a league against spain--duplicity of the treaty-- affairs in germany--battle between the emperor and the grand turk-- endeavours of philip to counteract the influence of the league--his interference in the affairs of germany--secret intrigue of henry with spain--philip's second attempt at the conquest of england. another governor-general arrived in the early days of the year , to take charge of the obedient provinces. it had been rumoured for many months that philip's choice was at last fixed upon the archduke cardinal albert, archbishop of toledo, youngest of the three surviving brothers, of the emperor rudolph, as the candidate for many honours. he was to espouse the infanta, he was to govern the netherlands, and, as it was supposed, there were wider and wilder schemes for the aggrandizement of this fortunate ecclesiastic brooding in the mind of philip than yet had seen the light. meantime the cardinal's first care was to unfrock himself. he had also been obliged to lay down the most lucrative episcopate in christendom, that of toledo, the revenues of which amounted to the enormous sum of three hundred thousand dollars a year. of this annual income, however, he prudently reserved to himself fifty thousand dollars, by contract with his destined successor. the cardinal reached the netherlands before the end of january. he brought with him three thousand spanish infantry, and some companies of cavalry, while his personal baggage was transported on three hundred and fifty mules. of course there was a triumphal procession when, on the th february, the new satrap entered the obedient netherlands, and there was the usual amount of bell-ringing, cannon-firing, trumpet-blowing, with torch-light processions, blazing tar-barrels, and bedizened platforms, where allegory, in an advanced state of lunacy, performed its wonderful antics. it was scarcely possible for human creatures to bestow more adulation, or to abase themselves more thoroughly, than the honest citizens of brussels had so recently done in honour of the gentle, gouty ernest, but they did their best. that mythological conqueror and demigod had sunk into an unhonoured grave, despite the loud hosannaha sung to him on his arrival in belgica, and the same nobles, pedants, and burghers were now ready and happy to grovel at the feet of albert. but as it proved as impossible to surpass the glories of the holiday which had been culled out for his brother, so it would be superfluous now to recall the pageant which thus again delighted the capital. but there was one personage who graced this joyous entrance whose presence excited perhaps more interest than did that of the archduke himself. the procession was headed by three grandees riding abreast. there was the duke of aumale, pensionary of philip, and one of the last of the leaguers, who had just been condemned to death and executed in effigy at paris, as a traitor to his king and country; there was the prince of chimay, now since the recent death of his father at venice become duke of arschot; and between the two rode a gentleman forty-two years of age, whose grave; melancholy features--although wearing a painful expression of habitual restraint and distrust suggested, more than did those of the rest of his family, the physiognomy of william the silent to all who remembered that illustrious rebel. it was the eldest son of the great founder of the dutch republic. philip william, prince of orange, had at last, after twenty-eight years of captivity in spain, returned to the netherlands, whence he had been kidnapped while a school boy at louvain, by order of the duke of alva. rarely has there been a more dreary fate, a more broken existence than his. his almost life-long confinement, not close nor cruel, but strict and inexorable, together with the devilish arts of the jesuits, had produced nearly as blighting an effect upon his moral nature as a closer dungeon might have done on his physical constitution. although under perpetual arrest in madrid, he had been allowed to ride and to hunt, to go to mass, and to enjoy many of the pleasures of youth. but he had been always a prisoner, and his soul--a hopeless captive--could no longer be liberated now that the tyrant, in order to further his own secret purposes; had at last released his body from gaol. although the eldest-born of his father, and the inheritor of the great estates of orange and of buren, he was no longer a nassau except in name. the change wrought by the pressure of the spanish atmosphere was complete. all that was left of his youthful self was a passionate reverence for his father's memory, strangely combined with a total indifference to all that his father held dear, all for which his father had laboured his whole lifetime, and for which his heart's blood had been shed. on being at last set free from bondage he had been taken to the escorial, and permitted to kiss the hand of the king--that hand still reeking with his father's murder. he had been well received by the infante and the infanta, and by the empress-mother, daughter of charles v., while the artistic treasures of the palace and cloister were benignantly pointed out to him. it was also signified to him that he was to receive the order of the golden fleece, and to enter into possession of his paternal and maternal estates. and philip william had accepted these conditions as if a born loyal subject of his most catholic majesty. could better proof be wanting that in that age religion was the only fatherland, and that a true papist could sustain no injury at the hands of his most catholic majesty. if to be kidnapped in boyhood, to be imprisoned during a whole generation of mankind, to be deprived of vast estates, and to be made orphan by the foulest of assassinations, could not engender resentment against, the royal, perpetrator of these crimes in the bosom of his victim, was it strange that philip should deem himself, something far, more than man, and should placidly accept the worship rendered to him by inferior beings, as to the holy impersonation of almighty wrath? yet there is no doubt that the prince had a sincere respect for his father, and had bitterly sorrowed at his death. when a spanish officer, playing chess with him, in prison, had ventured to speak lightly of that father, philip william had seized him bodily, thrown him from the window, and thus killed him on the spot. and when on his arrival in brussels it was suggested to him by president riehardat that it was the king's intention to reinstate him in the possession of his estates, but that a rent-charge of eighteen thousand florins a year was still to be paid from them; to the heirs of balthazar gerard, his father's assassin, he flamed into a violent rage, drew his poniard, and would have stabbed the president; had not the bystanders forcibly inteferred. in consequence of this refusal--called magnanimous by contemporary writers--to accept his property under such conditions, the estates were detained from him for a considerable time longer. during the period of his captivity he had been allowed an income of fifteen thousand livres; but after his restoration his household, gentlemen, and servants alone cost him eighty thousand livres annually. it was supposed that the name of orange-nassau might now be of service to the king's designs in the netherlands. philip william had come by way of rome, where he had been allowed to kiss the pope's feet and had received many demonstrations of favour, and it was fondly thought that he would now prove an instrument with which king and pontiff might pipe back the rebellious republic to its ancient allegiance. but the dutchmen and frisians were deaf. they had tasted liberty too long, they had dealt too many hard blows on the head of regal and sacerdotal despotism, to be deceived by coarse artifices. especially the king thought that something might be done with count hohenlo. that turbulent personage having recently married the full sister of philip william, and being already at variance with count maurice, both for military and political causes, and on account of family and pecuniary disputes, might, it was thought, be purchased by the king, and perhaps a few towns and castles in the united netherlands might be thrown into the bargain. in that huckstering age, when the loftiest and most valiant nobles of europe were the most shameless sellers of themselves, the most cynical mendicants for alms and the most infinite absorbers of bribes in exchange for their temporary fealty; when mayenne, mercoeur, guise, pillars, egmont, and innumerable other possessors of ancient and illustrious names alternately and even simultaneously drew pensions from both sides in the great european conflict, it was not wonderful that philip should think that the boisterous hohenlo might be bought as well as another. the prudent king, however, gave his usual order that nothing was to be paid beforehand, but that the service was to be rendered first; and the price received afterwards. the cardinal applied himself to the task on his first arrival, but was soon obliged to report that he could make but little progress in the negotiation. the king thought, too, that heraugiere, who had commanded the memorable expedition against breda, and who was now governor of that stronghold, might be purchased, and he accordingly instructed the cardinal to make use of the prince of orange in the negotiations to be made for that purpose. the cardinal, in effect, received an offer from heraugiere in the course of a few months not only to surrender breda, without previous recompense, but likewise to place gertruydenberg, the governor of which city was his relative, in the king's possession. but the cardinal was afraid of a trick, for heraugiere was known to be as artful as he was brave, and there can be little doubt that the netherlander was only disposed to lay an ambush for the governor-general. and thus the son of william the silent made his reappearance in the streets of brussels, after twenty-eight years of imprisonment, riding in the procession of the new viceroy. the cardinal-archduke came next, with fuentes riding at his left hand. that vigorous soldier and politician soon afterwards left the netherlands to assume the government of milan. there was a correspondence between the prince of orange and the states-general, in which the republican authorities after expressing themselves towards him with great propriety, and affectionate respect, gave him plainly but delicately to understand that his presence at that time in the united provinces would neither be desirable, nor, without their passports, possible. they were quite aware of the uses to which the king was hoping to turn their reverence for the memory and the family of the great martyr, and were determined to foil such idle projects on the threshold. the archduke albert, born on rd of november, , was now in his thirty-sixth year. a small, thin, pale-faced man, with fair hair, and beard, commonplace features, and the hereditary underhanging burgundian jaw prominently developed, he was not without a certain nobility of presence. his manners were distant to haughtiness and grave to solemnity. he spoke very little and very slowly. he had resided long in spain, where he had been a favourite with his uncle--as much as any man could be a favourite with philip--and he had carefully formed himself on that royal model. he looked upon the king of spain as the greatest, wisest, and best of created beings, as the most illustrious specimen of kingcraft ever yet vouchsafed to the world. he did his best to look sombre and spanish, to turn his visage into a mask; to conceal his thoughts and emotions, not only by the expression of his features but by direct misstatements of his tongue, and in all things to present to the obedient flemings as elaborate a reproduction of his great prototype as copy can ever recall inimitable original. old men in the netherlands; who remembered in how short a time philip had succeeded, by the baleful effect of his personal presence, in lighting up a hatred which not the previous twenty years of his father's burnings, hangings, and butcherings in those provinces had been able to excite, and which forty subsequent years of bloodshed had not begun to allay, might well shake their heads when they saw this new representative of spanish authority. it would have been wiser--so many astute politicians thought--for albert to take the emperor charles for his model, who had always the power of making his tyranny acceptable to the flemings, through the adroitness with which he seemed to be entirely a fleming himself. but albert, although a german, valued himself on appearing like a spaniard. he was industrious, regular in his habits, moderate in eating and drinking, fond of giving audiences on business. he spoke german, spanish, and latin, and understood french and italian. he had at times been a student, and, especially, had some knowledge of mathematics. he was disposed to do his duty--so far as a man can do his duty, who imagines himself so entirely lifted above his fellow creatures as to owe no obligation except to exact their obedience and to personify to them the will of the almighty. to philip and the pope he was ever faithful. he was not without pretensions to military talents, but his gravity, slowness, and silence made him fitter to shine in the cabinet than in the field. henry iv., who loved his jests whether at his own expense or that of friend or foe, was wont to observe that there were three things which nobody would ever believe, and which yet were very true; that queen elizabeth deserved her title of the throned vestal, that he was himself a good catholic, and that cardinal albert was a good general. it is probable that the assertions were all equally accurate. the new governor did not find a very able group of generals or statesmen assembled about him to assist in the difficult task which he had undertaken. there were plenty of fine gentlemen, with ancient names and lofty pretensions, but the working men in field or council had mostly disappeared. mondragon, la motte, charles mansfeld, frank verdugo were all dead. fuentes was just taking his departure for italy. old peter ernest was a cipher; and his son's place was filled by the marquis of varambon; as principal commander in active military operations. this was a burgundian of considerable military ability, but with an inordinate opinion of himself and of his family. "accept the fact that his lineage is the highest possible, and that he has better connections than those of anybody else in the whole world, and he will be perfectly contented," said a sharp, splenetic spaniard in the cardinal's confidence. "'tis a faithful and loyal cavalier, but full of impertinences." the brother of varambon, count varax, had succeeded la motte as general of artillery, and of his doings there was a tale ere long to be told. on the whole, the best soldier in the archduke's service for the moment was the frenchman savigny de rosne, an ancient leaguer, and a passionate hater of the bearnese, of heretics, and of france as then constituted. he had once made a contract with henry by which he bound himself to his service; but after occasioning a good deal of injury by his deceitful attitude, he had accepted a large amount of spanish dollars, and had then thrown off the mask and proclaimed himself the deadliest foe of his lawful sovereign. "he was foremost," said carlos coloma, "among those who were successfully angled for by the commander moreo with golden hooks." although prodigiously fat, this renegade was an active and experienced campaigner; while his personal knowledge of his own country made his assistance of much value to those who were attempting its destruction. the other great nobles, who were pressing themselves about the new viceroy with enthusiastic words of welcome, were as like to give him embarrassment as support. all wanted office, emoluments, distinctions, nor could, much dependence be placed on the ability or the character of any of them. the new duke of arschot had in times past, as prince of chimay, fought against the king, and had even imagined himself a calvinist, while his wife was still a determined heretic. it is true that she was separated from her husband. he was a man of more quickness and acuteness than his father had been, but if possible more mischievous both to friend and foe; being subtle, restless, intriguing, fickle; ambitious, and deceitful. the prince of orange was considered a man of very ordinary intelligence, not more than half witted, according to queen elizabeth, and it was probable that the peculiar circumstances of his life would extinguish any influence that he might otherwise have attained with either party. he was likely to affect a neutral position and, in times of civil war, to be neutral is to be nothing. arenberg, unlike the great general on the catholic side who had made the name illustrious in the opening scenes of the mighty contest, was disposed to quiet obscurity so far as was compatible with his rank. having inherited neither fortune nor talent with his ancient name, he was chiefly occupied with providing for the wants of his numerous family. a good papist, well-inclined and docile, he was strongly recommended for the post of admiral, not because he had naval acquirements, but because he had a great many children. the marquis of havre, uncle to the duke of arschot, had played in his time many prominent parts in the long netherland tragedy. although older than he was when requesens and don john of austria had been governors, he was not much wiser, being to the full as vociferous, as false, as insolent, as self-seeking, and as mischievous as in his youth. alternately making appeals to popular passions in his capacity of high-born demagogue, or seeking crumbs of bounty as the supple slave of his sovereign, he was not more likely to acquire the confidence of the cardinal than he had done that of his predecessors. the most important and opulent grandee of all the provinces was the count de ligne, who had become by marriage or inheritance prince of espinay, seneschal of hainault, and viscount of ghent. but it was only his enormous estates that gave him consideration, for he was not thought capable of either good or bad intentions. he had, however, in times past, succeeded in the chief object of his ambition, which was to keep out of trouble, and to preserve his estates from confiscation. his wife, who governed him, and had thus far guided him safely, hoped to do so to the end. the cardinal was informed that the golden fleece would be all-sufficient to keep him upon the right track. of the egmonts, one had died on the famous field of ivry, another was an outlaw, and had been accused of participation in plots of assassination against william of orange; the third was now about the archduke's court, and was supposed, to be as dull a man--as ligne, but likely to be serviceable so long as he could keep his elder brother out of his inheritance. thus devoted to church and king were the sons of the man whose head philip had taken off on a senseless charge of treason. the two counts van den berg--frederic and herman--sons of the sister of william the silent, were, on the whole, as brave, efficient, and trustworthy servants of the king and cardinal as were to be found in the obedient, provinces. the new governor had come well provided with funds, being supplied for the first three-quarters of the year with a monthly: allowance of , , florins. for reasons soon to appear, it was not probable that the states-general would be able very, soon to make a vigorous campaign, and it was thought best for the cardinal to turn his immediate attention to france. the negotiations for, effecting an alliance offensive and defensive, between the three powers most interested in opposing the projects of spain for universal empire, were not yet begun, and will be reserved for a subsequent chapter. meantime there had been much informal discussion and diplomatic trifling between france and england for the purpose of bringing about a sincere co-operation of the two crowns against the fifth monarchy--as it was much the fashion to denominate philip's proposed dominion. henry had suggested at different times to sir robert sidney, during his frequent presence in france as special envoy for the queen, the necessity of such a step, but had not always found a hearty sympathy. but as the king began to cool in his hatred to spain, after his declaration of war against that power, it seemed desirable to elizabeth to fan his resentment afresh, and to revert to those propositions which had been so coolly received when made. sir harry umton, ambassador from her majesty, was accordingly provided with especial letters on the subject from the queen's own hand, and presented them early in the year at coucy (feb. , ). no man in the world knew better the tone to adopt in his communications with elizabeth than did the chivalrous king. no man knew better than he how impossible it was to invent terms of adulation too gross for her to accept as spontaneous and natural effusions, of the heart. he received the letters from the hands of sir henry, read them with rapture, heaved a deep sigh, and exclaimed. "ah! mr. ambassador, what shall i say to you? this letter of the queen, my sister, is full of sweetness and affection. i see that she loves me, while that i love her is not to be doubted. yet your commission shows me the contrary, and this proceeds from her, ministers. how else can these obliquities stand with her professions of love? i am forced, as a king, to take a course which, as henry, her loving brother, i could never adopt." they then walked out into the park, and the king fell into frivolous discourse, on purpose to keep the envoy from the important subject which had been discussed in the cabinet. sir henry brought him back to business, and insisted that there was no disagreement between her majesty and her counsellors, all being anxious to do what she wished. the envoy, who shared in the prevailing suspicions that henry was about to make a truce with spain, vehemently protested against such a step, complaining that his ministers, whose minds were distempered with jealousy, were inducing him to sacrifice her friendship to a false and hollow reconciliation with spain. henry protested that his preference would be for england's amity, but regretted that the english delays were so great, and that such dangers were ever impending over his head, as to make it impossible for him, as a king, to follow the inclinations of his heart. they then met madame de monceaux, the beautiful gabrielle, who was invited to join in the walk, the king saying that she was no meddler in politics, but of a tractable spirit. this remark, in sir henry's opinion, was just, for, said he to burghley, she is thought incapable of affairs, and, very simple. the duchess unmasked very graciously as the ambassador was presented; but, said the splenetic diplomatist, "i took no pleasure in it, nor held it any grace at all." "she was attired in a plain satin gown," he continued, "with a velvet hood to keep her from the weather, which became her very ill. in my opinion, she is altered very much for the worse, and was very grossly painted." the three walked together discoursing of trifles, much to the annoyance of umton. at last, a shower forced the lady into the house, and the king soon afterwards took the ambassador to his cabinet. "he asked me how i liked his mistress," wrote sir henry to burghley, "and i answered sparingly in her praise, and told him that if without offence i might speak it, i had the picture of a far more excellent mistress, and yet did her picture come far from the perfection of her beauty." "as you love me," cried the king, "show it me, if you have it about you!" "i made some difficulty," continued sir henry, "yet upon his importunity i offered it to his view very secretly, still holding it in my hand. he beheld it with passion and admiration, saying that i was in the right." "i give in," said the king, "je me rends." then, protesting that he had never seen such beauty all his life, he kissed it reverently twice or thrice, sir henry still holding the miniature firmly in his hand. the king then insisted upon seizing the picture, and there was a charming struggle between the two, ending in his majesty's triumph. he then told sir henry that he might take his leave of the portrait, for he would never give it up again for any treasure, and that to possess the favour of the original he would forsake all the world. he fell into many more such passionate and incoherent expressions of rhapsody, as of one suddenly smitten and spell-bound with hapless love, bitterly reproaching the ambassador for never having brought him any answers to the many affectionate letters which he had written to the queen, whose silence had made him so wretched. sir henry, perhaps somewhat confounded at being beaten at his own fantastic game, answered as well as he could, "but i found," said he, "that the dumb picture did draw on more speech and affection from him than all my best arguments and eloquence. this was the effect of our conference, and, if infiniteness of vows and outward professions be a strong argument of inward affection, there is good likelihood of the king's continuance of amity with her majesty; only i fear lest his necessities may inconsiderately draw him into some hazardous treaty with spain, which i hope confidently it is yet in the power of her majesty to prevent." the king, while performing these apish tricks about the picture of a lady with beady black eyes, a hooked nose, black teeth, and a red wig, who was now in the sixty-fourth year of her age, knew very well that the whole scene would be at once repeated to the fair object of his passion by her faithful envoy; but what must have been the opinion entertained of elizabeth by contemporary sovereigns and statesmen when such fantastic folly could be rehearsed and related every day in the year! and the king knew, after all, and was destined very soon to acquire proof of it which there was no gainsaying, that the beautiful elizabeth had exactly as much affection for him as he had for her, and was as capable of sacrificing his interests for her own, or of taking advantage of his direct necessities as cynically and as remorselessly, as the king of spain, or the duke of mayenne, or the pope had ever done. henry had made considerable progress in re-establishing his authority over a large portion of the howling wilderness to which forty years of civil war had reduced his hereditary kingdom. there was still great danger, however, at its two opposite extremities. calais, key to the norman gate of france, was feebly held; while marseilles, seated in such dangerous proximity to spain on the one side, and to the republic of genoa, that alert vassal of spain, on the other, was still in the possession of the league. a concerted action was undertaken by means of john andrew doria, with a spanish fleet from genoa on the outside and a well-organised conspiracy from within, to carry the city bodily over to philip. had it succeeded, this great mediterranean seaport would have become as much a spanish 'possession as barcelona or naples, and infinite might have been the damage to henry's future prospects in consequence. but there was a man in marseilles; petrus libertas by name, whose ancestors had gained this wholesome family appellation by a successful effort once made by them to rescue the little town of calvi, in corsica, from the tyranny of genoa. peter liberty needed no prompting to vindicate, on a fitting occasion, his right to his patronymic. in conjunction with men in marseilles who hated oppression, whether of kings, priests, or renegade republics, as much as he did, and with a secret and well-arranged understanding with the duke of guise, who was burning with ambition to render a signal benefit to the cause which he had just espoused, this bold tribune of the people succeeded in stirring the population to mutiny at exactly the right moment, and in opening the gates of marseilles to the duke of guise and his forces before it was possible for the leaguers to admit the fleet of doria into its harbour. thus was the capital of mediterranean france lost and won. guise gained great favour in henry's eyes; and with reason; for the son of the great balafre, who was himself the league, had now given the league the stroke of mercy. peter liberty became consul of marseilles, and received a patent of nobility. it was difficult, however, for any diploma to confer anything more noble upon him than the name which he hade inherited, and to which he had so well established his right. but while henry's cause had thus been so well served in the south, there was danger impending in the north. the king had been besieging, since autumn, the town of la fere, an important military and strategic position, which had been farnese's basis of operations during his memorable campaigns in france, and which had ever since remained in the hands of the league. the cardinal had taken the field with an army of fifteen thousand foot and three thousand horse, assembled at valenciennes, and after hesitating some time whether, or not he should attempt to relieve la fere, he decided instead on a diversion. in the second week of april; de rosne was detached at the head of four thousand men, and suddenly appeared before calais. the city had been long governed by de gordan, but this wary and experienced commander had unfortunately been for two years dead. still more unfortunately, it had been in his power to bequeath, not only his fortune, which was very large, but the government of calais, considered the most valuable command in france, to his nephew, de vidosan. he had, however, not bequeathed to him his administrative and military genius. the fortress called the risban, or rysbank, which entirely governed the harbour, and the possession of which made calais nearly impregnable, as inexhaustible supplies could thus be poured into it by sea, had fallen into comparative decay. de gordan had been occupied in strengthening the work, but since his death the nephew had entirely neglected the task. on the land side, the bridge of nivelet was the key to the place. the faubourg was held by two dutch companies, under captains le gros and dominique, who undertook to prevent the entrance of the archduke's forces. vidosan, however; ordered these faithful auxiliaries into the citadel. de rosne, acting with great promptness; seized both the bridge of nivelet and the fort of rysbank by a sudden and well-concerted movement. this having been accomplished, the city was in his power, and, after sustaining a brief cannonade, it surrendered. vidosan, with his garrison, however, retired into the citadel, and it was agreed between, himself and de rosne that unless succour should be received from the french king before the expiration of six days; the citadel should also be-evacuated. meantime henry, who was at boulogne, much disgusted at this unexpected disaster, had sent couriers to the netherlands, demanding assistance of the states-general and of the stadholder. maurice had speedily responded to the appeal. proceeding himself to zeeland, he had shipped fifteen companies of picked troops from middelburg, together with a flotilla laden with munitions and provisions enough to withstand a siege of several weeks. when the arrangements were completed, he went himself on board of a ship of war to take command of the expedition in person. on the th of april he arrived with his succours off the harbour of calais, and found to his infinite disappointment that the rysbank fort was in the hands of the enemy. as not a vessel could pass the bar without almost touching that fortress, the entrance to calais was now impossible. had the incompetent vidosan heeded the advice of his brave dutch officers; the place might still have been saved, for it had surrendered in a panic on the very day when the fleet of maurice arrived off the port. henry had lost no time in sending, also, to his english allies for succour. the possession of calais by the spaniards might well seem alarming to elizabeth, who could not well forget that up to the time of her sister this important position had been for two centuries an english stronghold. the defeat of the spanish husband of an english queen had torn from england the last trophies of the black prince, and now the prize had again fallen into the hands of spain; but of spain no longer in alliance, but at war, with england. obviously it was most dangerous to the interests and to the safety of the english realm, that this threatening position, so near the gates of london, should be in the hands of the most powerful potentate in the world and the dire enemy of england. in response to henry's appeal, the earl of essex was despatched with a force of six thousand men--raised by express command of the queen on sunday when the people were all at church--to dover, where shipping was in readiness to transport the troops at once across the channel. at the same time, the politic queen and some of her counsellors thought the opening a good one to profit by the calamity of their dear ally, certainly it was desirable to prevent calais from falling into the grasp of philip. but it was perhaps equally desirable, now that the place without the assistance of elizabeth could no longer be preserved by henry, that elizabeth, and not henry, should henceforth be its possessor. to make this proposition as clear to the french king as it seemed to the english queen, sir robert sidney was despatched in all haste to boulogne, even while the guns of de rosne were pointed at calais citadel, and while maurice's fleet, baffled by the cowardly surrender of the risban, was on its retreat from the harbour. at two o'clock in the afternoon of the st of april, sidney landed at boulogne. henry, who had been intensely impatient to hear from england, and who suspected that the delay was boding no good to his cause, went down to the strand to meet the envoy, with whom then and there he engaged instantly in the most animated discourse. as there was little time to be lost, and as sidney on getting out of the vessel found himself thus confronted with the soldier-king in person, he at once made the demand which he had been sent across the channel to make. he requested the king to deliver up the town and citadel of calais to the queen of england as soon as, with her assistance, he should succeed in recovering the place. he assigned as her majesty's reasons for this peremptory summons that she would on no other terms find it in her power to furnish the required succour. her subjects, she said, would never consent to it except on these conditions. it was perhaps not very common with the queen to exhibit so much deference to the popular will, but on this occasion the supposed inclinations of the nation furnished her with an excellent pretext for carrying out her own. sidney urged moreover that her majesty felt certain of being obliged--in case she did not take calais into her own safe-keeping and protection--to come to the rescue again within four or six months to prevent it once more from being besieged, conquered, and sacked by the enemy. the king had feared some such proposition as this, and had intimated as much to the states' envoy, calvaert, who had walked with him down to the strand, and had left him when the conference began. henry was not easily thrown from his equanimity nor wont to exhibit passion on any occasion, least of all in his discussions with the ambassadors of england, but the cool and insolent egotism of this communication was too much for him. he could never have believed, he said in reply, that after the repeated assurances of her majesty's affection for him which he had received from the late sir henry umton in their recent negotiations, her majesty would now so discourteously seek to make her profit out of his misery. he had come to boulogne, he continued, on the pledge given by the earl of essex to assist him with seven or eight thousand men in the recovery of calais. if this after all should fail him--although his own reputation would be more injured by the capture of the place thus before his eyes than if it had happened in his absence--he would rather a hundred times endure the loss of the place than have it succoured with such injurious and dishonourable conditions. after all, he said, the loss of calais was substantially of more importance to the queen than to himself. to him the chief detriment would be in the breaking up of his easy and regular communications with his neighbours through this position, and especially with her majesty. but as her affection for him was now proved to be so slender as to allow her to seek a profit from his misfortune and dishonour, it would be better for him to dispense with her friendship altogether and to strengthen his connections with truer and more honourable friends. should the worst come to the worst, he doubted not that he should be able, being what he was and much more than he was of old, to make a satisfactory arrangement with, the king of spain. he was ready to save calais at the peril of his life, to conquer it in person, and not by the hands of any of his lieutenants; but having done so, he was not willing--at so great a loss of reputation without and at so much peril within--to deliver it to her majesty or to any-one else. he would far rather see it fall into the hands of the spaniards. thus warmly and frankly did henry denounce the unhandsome proposition made in the name of the queen, while, during his vehement expostulations, sidney grew red with shame, and did not venture to look the king for one moment in the face. he then sought to mitigate the effect of his demand by intimating, with much embarrassment of demeanour, that perhaps her majesty would be satisfied with the possession of calais for her own life-time, and--as this was at once plumply refused--by the suggestion of a pledge of it for the term of one year. but the king only grew the more indignant as the bargaining became more paltry, and he continued to heap bitter reproaches upon the queen, who, without having any children or known inheritor of her possessions, should nevertheless, be so desirous of compassing his eternal disgrace and of exciting the discontent of his subjects for the sake of an evanescent gain for herself. at such a price, he avowed, he had no wish to purchase her majesty'a friendship. after this explosion the conference became more amicable. the english envoy assured the king that there could be, at all events, no doubt of the arrival of essex with eight thousand men on the following thursday to assist in the relief of the citadel; notwithstanding the answer which, he had received to the demand of her majesty. he furthermore expressed the strong desire which he felt that the king might be induced to make a personal visit to the queen at dover, whither she would gladly come to receive him, so soon as calais should have been saved. to this the king replied with gallantry, that it was one of the things in the world that he had most at heart. the envoy rejoined that her majesty would consider such a visit a special honour and favour. she had said that she could leave this world more cheerfully, when god should ordain, after she had enjoyed two hours' conversation with his majesty. sidney on taking his departure repeated the assurance that the troops under essex would arrive before calais by thursday, and that they were fast marching to the english coast; forgetting, apparently, that, at the beginning of the interview, he had stated, according to the queen's instructions, that the troops had been forbidden to march until a favourable answer had been returned by the king to her proposal. henry then retired to his headquarters for the purpose of drawing up information for his minister in england, de saucy, who had not yet been received by the queen, and who had been kept in complete ignorance of this mission of sidney and of its purport. while the king was thus occupied, the english envoy was left in the company of calvaert, who endeavoured, without much success, to obtain from him the result of the conference which had just taken place. sidney was not to be pumped by the dutch diplomatist, adroit as he unquestionably was, but, so soon as the queen's ambassador was fairly afloat again on his homeward track--which was the case within three hours after his arrival at boulogne--calvaert received from the king a minute account of the whole conversation. henry expressed unbounded gratitude to the states-general of the republic for their prompt and liberal assistance, and he eagerly contrasted the conduct of prince maurice--sailing forth in person so chivalrously to his rescue--with the sharp bargainings and shortcomings of the queen. he despatched a special messenger to convey his thanks to the prince, and he expressed his hope to calvaert that the states might be willing that their troops should return to the besieged place under the command of maurice, whose presence alone, as he loudly and publicly protested, was worth four thousand men. but it was too late. the six days were rapidly passing, away. the governor of boulogne, campagnolo, succeeded, by henry's command, in bringing a small reinforcement of two or three hundred men into the citadel of calais during the night of the nd of april. this devoted little band made their way, when the tide was low, along the flats which stretched between the fort of rysbank and the sea. sometimes wading up to the neck in water, sometimes swimming for their lives, and during a greater part of their perilous, march clinging so close to the hostile fortress as almost to touch its guns, the gallant adventurers succeeded in getting into the citadel in time to be butchered with the rest of the garrison on the following day. for so soon as the handful of men had gained admittance to the gates--although otherwise the aspect of affairs was quite unchanged--the rash and weak de vidosan proclaimed that the reinforcements stipulated in his conditional capitulation having arrived, he should now resume hostilities. whereupon he opened fire, upon the town, and a sentry was killed. de rosne, furious, at what he considered a breach of faith, directed a severe cannonade against the not very formidable walls of the castle. during the artillery engagement which ensued the prince of orange, who had accompanied de rosne to the siege, had a very narrow escape. a cannon-ball from the town took off the heads of two spaniards standing near him, bespattering him with their blood and brains. he was urged to retire, but assured those about him that he came of too good a house to be afraid. his courage was commendable, but it seems not to have occurred to him that the place for his father's son was not by the aide of the general who was doing the work of his father's murderer. while his brother maurice with a fleet of twenty dutch war-ships was attempting in vain to rescue calais from the grasp of the spanish king, philip william of nassau was looking on, a pleased and passive spectator of the desperate and unsuccessful efforts at defence. the assault was then ordered? the-first storm was repulsed, mainly by the dutch companies, who fought in the breach until most of their numbers were killed or wounded, their captains dominique and le gros having both fallen. the next attack was successful, the citadel was carried; and the whole garrison, with exception of what remained of the hollanders and zeelanders, put to the sword. de vidosan himself perished. thus calais was once more a spanish city, and was re-annexed to the obedient provinces of flanders. of five thousand persons, soldiers and citizens, who had taken refuge in the castle, all were killed or reduced to captivity.' the conversion of this important naval position into a spanish-flemish station was almost as disastrous to the republic as it was mortifying to france and dangerous to england. the neighbouring dunkirk had long been a nest of pirates, whence small, fast-sailing vessels issued, daily and nightly, to prey indiscriminately upon the commerce of all nations. these corsairs neither gave nor took quarter, and were in the habit, after they had plundered their prizes, of setting them adrift, with the sailors nailed to the deck or chained to the rigging; while the officers were held for ransom. in case the vessels themselves were wanted, the crews were indiscriminately tossed overboard; while, on the ether hand, the buccaneers rarely hesitated to blow up their own ships, when unable to escape from superior force. capture was followed by speedy execution, and it was but recently that one of these freebooters having been brought into rotterdam, the whole crew, forty-four in number, were hanged on the day of their arrival, while some five and twenty merchant-captains held for ransom by the pirates thus obtained their liberty. and now calais was likely to become a second and more dangerous sea-robbers' cave than even dunkirk had been. notwithstanding this unlucky beginning of the campaign for the three allies, it was determined to proceed with a considerable undertaking which had been arranged between england and the republic. for the time, therefore, the importunate demands of the queen for repayments by the states of her disbursements during the past ten years were suspended. it had, indeed, never been more difficult than at that moment for the republic to furnish extraordinary sums of money. the year had not been prosperous. although the general advance in commerce, manufactures, and in every department of national development had been very remark able, yet there had recently been, for exceptional causes, an apparent falling off; while, on the other hand, there had been a bad harvest in the north of europe. in holland, where no grain was grown, and which yet was the granary of the world, the prices were trebled. one hundred and eight bushels (a last) of rye, which ordinarily was worth fifty florins, now sold for one hundred and fifty florins, and other objects of consumption were equally enhanced in value. on the other hand, the expenses of the war were steadily increasing, and were fixed for this year at five millions of florins. the republic, and especially the states of holland, never hesitated to tax heroically. the commonwealth had no income except that which the several provinces chose to impose upon themselves in order to fill the quota assigned to them by the states-general; but this defect in their political organization was not sensibly felt so long as the enthusiasm for the war continued in full force. the people of the netherlands knew full well that there was no liberty for them without fighting, no fighting without an army, no army without wages, and no wages without taxation; and although by the end of the century the imposts had become so high that, in the language of that keen observer, cardinal bentivoglio; nuncio at brussels, they could scarcely be imagined higher, yet, according to the same authority, they were laid unflinchingly and paid by the people without a murmur. during this year and the next the states of holland, whose proportion often amounted to fifty per cent. of the whole contribution of the united provinces, and who ever set a wholesome example in taxation, raised the duty on imports and all internal taxes by one-eighth, and laid a fresh impost on such articles of luxury as velvets and satins, pleas and processes. starch, too, became a source of considerable revenue. with the fast-rising prosperity of the country luxury had risen likewise, and, as in all ages and countries of the world of which there is record, woman's dress signalized itself by extravagant and very often tasteless conceptions. in a country where, before the doctrine of popular sovereignty had been broached in any part of the world by the most speculative theorists, very vigorous and practical examples of democracy had been afforded to europe; in a country where, ages before the science of political economy had been dreamed of, lessons of free trade on the largest scale had been taught to mankind by republican traders instinctively breaking in many directions through the nets by which monarchs and oligarchs, guilds and corporations, had hampered the movements of commerce; it was natural that fashion should instinctively rebel against restraint. the honest burgher's vrow of middelburg or enkhuyzen claimed the right to make herself as grotesque as queen elizabeth in all her glory. sumptuary laws were an unwholesome part of feudal tyranny, and, as such, were naturally dropping into oblivion on the free soil of the netherlands. it was the complaint therefore of moralists that unproductive consumption was alarmingly increasing. formerly starch had been made of the refuse parts of corn, but now the manufacturers of that article made use of the bloom of the wheat and consumed as much of it as would have fed great cities. in the little village of wormer the starch-makers used between three and four thousand bushels a week. thus a substantial gentlewoman in fashionable array might bear the food of a parish upon her ample bosom. a single manufacturer in amsterdam required four hundred weekly bushels. such was the demand for the stiffening of the vast ruffs, the wonderful head-gear, the elaborate lace-work, stomachers and streamers, without which no lady who respected herself could possibly go abroad to make her daily purchases of eggs and poultry in the market-place. "may god preserve us," exclaimed a contemporary chronicler, unreasonably excited on the starch question, "from farther luxury and wantonness, and abuse of his blessings and good gifts, that the punishment of jeroboam, which followed upon solomon's fortunate reign and the gold-ships of ophir may not come upon us." the states of holland not confounding--as so often has been the case--the precepts of moral philosophy with those of political economy, did not, out of fear for the doom of jeroboam, forbid the use of starch. they simply laid a tax of a stiver a pound on the commodity, or about six per cent, ad valorem; and this was a more wholesome way of serving the state than by abridging the liberty of the people in the choice of personal attire. meantime the preachers were left to thunder from their pulpits upon the sinfulness of starched rues and ornamental top-knots, and to threaten their fair hearers with the wrath to come, with as much success as usually attends such eloquence. there had been uneasiness in the provinces in regard to the designs of the queen, especially since the states had expressed their inability to comply in full with her demands for repayment. spanish emissaries had been busily circulating calumnious reports that her majesty was on the eve of concluding a secret peace with philip, and that it was her intention to deliver the cautionary towns to the king. the government attached little credence to such statements, but it was natural that envoy caron should be anxious at their perpetual recurrence both in england and in the provinces. so, one day, he had a long conversation with the earl of essex on the subject; for it will be recollected that lord leicester had strenuously attempted at an earlier day to get complete possession, not only of the pledged cities but of leyden also, in order to control the whole country. essex was aflame with indignation at once, and, expressed himself with his customary recklessness. he swore that if her majesty were so far forsaken of god and so forgetful of her own glory, as through evil counsel to think of making any treaty with spain without the knowledge of the states-general and in order to cheat them, he would himself make the matter as public as it was possible to do, and would place himself in direct opposition to such a measure, so as to show the whole world that his heart and soul were foreign at least to any vile counsel of the kind that might have been given to his sovereign. caron and essex conversed much in this vein, and although the envoy, especially requested him not to do so, the earl, who was not distinguished, for his powers of dissimulation, and who suspected burleigh of again tampering, as he had often before tampered, with secret agents of philip, went straight to the queen with the story. next day, essex invited caron to dine and to go with him after dinner to the queen. this was done, and, so soon as the states' envoy was admitted to the royal presence, her majesty at once opened the subject. she had heard, she said, that the reports in question had been spread through the provinces, and she expressed much indignation in regard to them. she swore very vehemently, as usual, and protested that she had better never have been born than prove so miserable a princess as these tales would make her. the histories of england, she said, should never describe her as guilty of such falsehood. she could find a more honourable and fitting means of making peace than by delivering up cities and strongholds so sincerely and confidingly placed in her hands. she hoped to restore them as faithfully as they had loyally been entrusted to her keeping. she begged caron to acquaint the states-general with these asseverations; declaring that never since she had sent troops to the netherlands had she lent her ear to those who had made such underhand propositions. she was aware that cardinal albert had propositions to make, and that he was desirous of inducing both the french king and, herself to consent to a peace with spain: but she promised, the states' envoy solemnly before god to apprise him of any such overtures, so soon as they should be made known to herself. much more in this strain, with her usual vehemence and mighty oaths, did the great queen aver, and the republican envoy, to whom she was on this occasion very gracious, was fain to believe in her sincerity. yet the remembrance of the amazing negotiations between the queen's ministers and the agents of alexander farnese, by which the invasion of the armada had been masked; could not but have left an uneasy feeling in the mind of every dutch statesman. "i trust in god," said caron, "that he may never so abandon her as to permit her to do the reverse of what she now protests with so much passion. should it be otherwise--which god forbid--i should think that he would send such chastisement upon her and her people that other princes would see their fate therein as in a mirror, should they make and break such oaths and promises. i tell you these things as they occur, because, as i often feel uneasiness myself, i imagine that my friends on the other side the water may be subject to the same anxiety. nevertheless, beat the bush as i may, i can obtain no better information than this which i am now sending you." it had been agreed that for a time the queen should desist from her demands for repayment--which, according to the treaty of , was to be made only after conclusion of peace between spain and the provinces, but which elizabeth was frequently urging on the ground that the states could now make that peace when they chose--and in return for such remission the republic promised to furnish twenty-four ships of war and four tenders for a naval expedition which was now projected against the spanish coast. these war-ships were to be of four hundred, three hundred, and two hundred tons-eight of each dimension--and the estimated expense of their fitting out for five months was , florins. before the end of april, notwithstanding the disappointment occasioned in the netherlands by the loss of calais, which the states had so energetically striven to prevent, the fleet under admiral john of duvenwoord, seigneur of warmond, and vice-admirals jan gerbrantz and cornelius leusen, had arrived at plymouth, ready to sail with their english allies. there were three thousand sailors of holland and zeeland on board, the best mariners in the world, and two thousand two hundred picked veterans from the garrisons of the netherlands. these land-troops were english, but they belonged to the states' army, which was composed of dutch, german, walloon, scotch, and irish soldiers, and it was a liberal concession on the part of the republican government to allow them to serve on the present expedition. by the terms of the treaty the queen had no more power to send these companies to invade spain than to campaign against tyr owen in ireland, while at a moment when the cardinal archduke had a stronger and better-appointed army in flanders than had been seen for many years in the provinces, it was a most hazardous experiment for the states to send so considerable a portion of their land and naval forces upon a distant adventure. it was also a serious blow to them to be deprived for the whole season of that valiant and experienced commander, sir francis vere, the most valuable lieutenant, save lewis william, that maurice had at his disposition. yet vere was to take command of this contingent thus sent to the coast of spain, at the very moment when the republican army ought to issue from their winter quarters and begin active operations in the field. the consequence of this diminution of their strength and drain upon their resources was that the states were unable to put an army in the field during the current year, or make any attempt at a campaign. the queen wrote a warm letter of thanks to admiral warmond for the promptness and efficiency with which he had brought his fleet to the place of rendezvous, and now all was bustle and preparation in the english ports for the exciting expedition resolved upon. never during philip's life-time, nor for several years before his birth, had a hostile foot trod the soil of spain, except during the brief landing at corunna in , and, although the king's beard had been well singed ten years previously by sir francis drake, and although the coast of portugal had still more recently been invaded by essex and vere, yet the present adventure was on a larger scale, and held out brighter prospects of success than any preceding expedition had done. in an age when the line between the land and sea service, between regular campaigners and volunteers, between public and private warfare, between chivalrous knights-errant and buccaneers, was not very distinctly drawn, there could be nothing more exciting to adventurous spirits, more tempting to the imagination of those who hated the pope and philip, who loved fighting, prize-money, and the queen, than a foray into spain. it was time to return the visit of the armada. some of the sea-kings were gone. those magnificent freebooters, drake and hawkins, had just died in the west indies, and doughty sir roger williams had left the world in which he had bustled so effectively, bequeathing to posterity a classic memorial of near a half century of hard fighting, written, one might almost imagine, in his demi-pique saddle. but that most genial, valiant, impracticable, reckless, fascinating hero of romance, the earl of essex--still a youth although a veteran in service--was in the spring-tide of favour and glory, and was to command the land-forces now assembled at plymouth. that other "corsair"--as the spaniards called him--that other charming and heroic shape in england's chequered chronicle of chivalry and crime--famous in arts and arms, politics, science, literature, endowed with so many of the gifts by which men confer lustre on their age and country, whose name was already a part of england's eternal glory, whose tragic destiny was to be her undying shame--raleigh, the soldier, sailor, scholar, statesman, poet, historian, geographical discoverer, planter of empires yet unborn--was also present, helping to organize the somewhat chaotic elements of which the chief anglo-dutch enterprise for this year against--the spanish world-dominion was compounded. and, again, it is not superfluous to recal the comparatively slender materials, both in bulk and numbers, over which the vivid intelligence and restless energy of the two leading protestant powers, the kingdom and the republic, disposed. their contest against the overshadowing empire, which was so obstinately striving to become the fifth-monarchy of history, was waged by land: and naval forces, which in their aggregate numbers would scarce make a startling list of killed and wounded in a single modern battle; by ships such that a whole fleet of them might be swept out of existence with half-a-dozen modern broadsides; by weapons which would seem to modern eyes like clumsy toys for children. such was the machinery by which the world was to be lost and won, less than three centuries ago. could science; which even in that age had made gigantic strides out of the preceding darkness, have revealed its later miracles, and have presented its terrible powers to the despotism which was seeking to crush all christendom beneath its feet, the possible result might have been most tragical to humanity. while there are few inventions in morals, the demon intellect is ever at his work, knowing no fatigue and scorning contentment in his restless demands upon the infinite unknown. yet moral truth remains unchanged, gradually through the ages extending its influence, and it is only by conformity to its simple and, eternal dictates that nations, like individuals, can preserve a healthful existence. in the unending warfare between right and wrong, between liberty and despotism; evil has the advantage of rapidly assuming many shapes. it has been well said that constant vigilance is the price of liberty. the tendency of our own times, stimulated by scientific discoveries and their practical application, is to political consolidation, to the absorption of lesser communities in greater; just as disintegration was the leading characteristic of the darker ages. the scheme of charlemagne to organize europe into a single despotism was a brilliant failure because the forces which were driving human society into local and gradual reconstruction around various centres of crystallization: were irresistible to any countervailing enginry which the emperor had at his disposal. the attempt of philip, eight centuries later, at universal monarchy, was frivolous, although he could dispose of material agencies which in the hands of charlemagne might have made the dreams of charlemagne possible. it was frivolous because the rising instinct of the age was for religious, political, and commercial freedom in a far intenser degree than those who lived in that age were themselves aware. a considerable republic had been evolved as it were involuntarily out of the necessities of the time almost without self-consciousness that it was a republic, and even against the desire of many who were guiding its destinies. and it found itself in constant combination with two monarchs, despotic at heart and of enigmatical or indifferent religious convictions, who yet reigned over peoples, largely influenced by enthusiasm for freedom. thus liberty was preserved for the world; but, as the law of human progress would seem to be ever by a spiral movement, it; seems strange to the superficial observer not prone to generalizing, that calvinism, which unquestionably was the hard receptacle in which the germ of human freedom was preserved in various countries and at different epochs, should have so often degenerated into tyranny. yet notwithstanding the burning of servetus at geneva, and the hanging of mary dyer at boston, it is certain that france, england, the netherlands, and america, owe a large share of such political liberty as they have enjoyed to calvinism. it may be possible for large masses of humanity to accept for ages the idea of one infallible church, however tyrannical but the idea once admitted that there may be many churches; that what is called the state can be separated from what is called the church; the plea of infallibility and of authority soon becomes ridiculous--a mere fiction of political or fashionable quackery to impose upon the uneducated or the unreflecting. and now essex, raleigh and howard, vere, warmond and nassau were about to invade the shores of the despot who sat in his study plotting to annex england, scotland, ireland, france, the dutch republic, and the german empire to the realms of spain, portugal, naples, milan, and the eastern and western indies, over which he already reigned. the fleet consisted of fifty-seven ships of war, of which twenty-four were dutch vessels under admiral warmond, with three thousand sailors of holland and zeeland. besides the sailors, there was a force of six thousand foot soldiers, including the english veterans from the netherlands under sir francis vere. there were also fifty transports laden with ammunition and stores. the expedition was under the joint command of lord high admiral howard and of the earl of essex. many noble and knightly volunteers, both from england and the republic, were on board, including, besides those already mentioned, lord thomas howard, son of the duke of norfolk, sir john wingfield, who had commanded at gertruydenburg, when it had been so treacherously surrendered to farnese; count lewis gunther of nassau, who had so recently escaped from the disastrous fight with mondragon in the lippe, and was now continuing his education according to the plan laid down for him by his elder brother lewis william; nicolas meetkerk, peter regesmortes, don christopher of portugal, son of don antonio, and a host of other adventurers. on the last day of june the expedition arrived off cadiz. next morning they found a splendid spanish fleet in the harbour of that city, including four of the famous apostolic great galleons, st. philip, st. matthew, st. thomas, and st. andrew, with twenty or thirty great war-ships besides, and fifty-seven well-armed indiamen, which were to be convoyed on their outward voyage, with a cargo estimated at twelve millions of ducats. the st. philip was the phenomenon of naval architecture of that day, larger and stronger than any ship before known. she was two thousand tons burthen, carried eighty-two bronze cannon, and had a crew of twelve hundred men. the other three apostles carried each fifty guns and four hundred men. the armament of the other war-ships varied from fifty-two to eighteen guns each. the presence of such a formidable force might have seemed a motive for discouragement, or at least of caution. on the contrary, the adventurers dashed at once upon their prey; thus finding a larger booty than they had dared to expect. there was but a brief engagement. at the outset a dutch ship accidentally blew up, and gave much encouragement to the spaniards. their joy was but short-lived. two of the great galleons were soon captured, the other two, the st. philip and the st. thomas, were run aground and burned. the rest of the war-ships were driven within the harbour, but were unable to prevent a landing of the enemy's forces. in the eagerness of the allies to seize the city, they unluckily allowed many of the indiamen to effect their escape through the puente del zuazzo, which had not been supposed a navigable passage for ships of such burthen. nine hundred soldiers under essex, and four hundred noble volunteers under lewis gunther of nassau, now sprang on shore, and drove some eleven hundred spanish skirmishers back within the gates of the city, or into a bastion recently raised to fortify the point when the troops had landed. young nassau stormed the bulwark sword in hand, carried it at the first assault, and planted his colours on its battlement. it was the flag of william the silent; for the republican banner was composed of the family colours of the founder of the new commonwealth. the blazonry of the proscribed and assassinated rebel waved at last defiantly over one of the chief cities of spain. essex and nassau and all the rest then entered the city. there was little fighting. twenty-five english and hollanders were killed, and about as many spaniards. essex knighted about fifty gentlemen, englishmen and hollanders, in the square of cadiz for their gallantry. among the number were lewis gunther of nassau, admiral warmond, and peter regesmortes. colonel nicolas meetkerke was killed in the brief action, and sir john wingfield, who insisted in prancing about on horseback without his armour, defying the townspeople and neglecting the urgent appeal of sir francis vere, was also slain. the spanish soldiers, discouraged by the defeat of the ships on which they had relied for protection of the town, retreated with a great portion of the inhabitants into the citadel. next morning the citadel capitulated without striking a blow, although there, were six thousand able-bodied, well-armed men within its walls. it was one of the most astonishing panics ever recorded. the great fleet, making a third of the king's navy, the city of cadiz and its fortress, were surrendered to this audacious little force, which had only arrived off the harbour thirty-six hours before. the invaders had, however, committed a great mistake. they had routed, and, as it were, captured the spanish galleons, but they had not taken possession of them, such had been their eagerness to enter the city. it was now agreed that the fleet should be ransomed for two million ducats, but the proud duke of medina sidonia, who had already witnessed the destruction of one mighty armada, preferred that these splendid ships too should perish rather than that they should pay tribute to the enemy. scorning the capitulation of the commandant of the citadel, he ordered the fleet to be set on fire. thirty-two ships, most of them vessels of war of the highest class, were burned, with all their equipments. twelve hundred cannon sunk at once to the bottom of the bay of cadiz, besides arms for five or six thousand men. at least one-third of philip's effective navy was thus destroyed. the victors now sacked the city very thoroughly, but the results were disappointing. a large portion of the portable wealth of the inhabitants, their gold and their jewelry, had been so cunningly concealed that, although half a dozen persons were tortured till they should reveal hidden treasures, not more than five hundred thousand ducats worth of-plunder was obtained. another sum of equal amount having been levied upon the citizens; forty notable personages; among them eighteen ecclesiastical dignitaries, were carried off as hostages for its payment. the city was now set on fire by command of essex in four different quarters. especially the cathedral and other churches, the convents and the hospitals, were burned. it was perhaps not unnatural: that both englishmen and hollanders should be disposed to wreak a barbarous vengeance on everything representative of the church which they abhorred, and from which such endless misery had issued to the uttermost corners of their own countries. but it is at any rate refreshing to record amid these acts of pillage and destruction, in which, as must ever be the case, the innocent and the lowly were made to suffer for the crimes of crowned and mitred culprits, that not many special acts of cruelty were committed upon individuals: no man was murdered in cold blood, no woman was outraged. the beautiful city was left a desolate and blackened ruin, and a general levy of spoil was made for the benefit of the victors, but there was no infringement of the theory and practice of the laws of war as understood in that day or in later ages. it is even recorded that essex ordered one of his soldiers, who was found stealing a woman's gown, to be hanged on the spot, but that, wearied by the intercession of an ecclesiastic of cadiz, the canon quesada, he consented at last to pardon the marauder. it was the earnest desire of essex to hold cadiz instead of destroying it. with three thousand men, and with temporary supplies from the fleet, the place could be maintained against all comers; holland and england together commanding the seas. admiral warmond and all the netherlanders seconded the scheme, and offered at once to put ashore from their vessels food and munitions enough to serve two thousand men for two months. if the english admiral would do as much, the place might be afterwards supplied without limit and held till doomsday, a perpetual thorn in philip's side. sir francis vere was likewise warmly in favour of the project, but he stood alone. all the other englishmen opposed it as hazardous, extravagant, and in direct contravention of the minute instructions of the queen. with a sigh or a curse for what he considered the superfluous caution of his royal mistress, and the exaggerated docility of lord high admiral howard, essex was fain to content himself with the sack and the conflagration, and the allied fleet sailed away from cadiz. on their way towards lisbon they anchored off faro, and landed a force, chiefly of netherlanders, who expeditiously burned and plundered the place. when they reached the neighbourhood of lisbon, they received information that a great fleet of indiamen, richly laden, were daily expected from the flemish islands, as the azores were then denominated. again essex was vehemently disposed to steer at once for that station, in order to grasp so tempting a prize; again he was strenuously supported by the dutch admiral and yere, and again lord howard peremptorily interdicted the plan. it was contrary to his instructions and to his ideas of duty, he said, to risk so valuable a portion of her majesty's fleet on so doubtful a venture. his ships were not fitted for a winter's cruise, he urged. thus, although it was the very heart of midsummer, the fleet was ordered to sail homeward. the usual result of a divided command was made manifest, and it proved in the sequel that, had they sailed for the islands, they would have pounced at exactly the right moment upon an unprotected fleet of merchantmen, with cargoes valued at seven millions of ducats. essex, not being willing to undertake the foray to the azores with the dutch ships alone, was obliged to digest his spleen as: best he could. meantime the english fleet bore away for england, leaving essex in his own ship, together with the two captured spanish galleons, to his fate. that fate might, have been a disastrous one, for his prizes were not fully manned, his own vessel was far from powerful, and there were many rovers and cruisers upon the seas. the dutch admiral, with all his ships, however, remained in company, and safely convoyed him to plymouth, where they arrived only a day or two later than howard and his fleet. warmond, who had been disposed to sail up the thames in order to pay his respects to the queen, was informed that his presence would not be desirable but rather an embarrassment. he, however, received the following letter from the hand of elizabeth. monsieur duyenwoord,--the report made to me by the generals of our fleet, just happily arrived from the coast of spain, of the devoirs of those who have been partakers in so, famous a victory, ascribes so much of it to the valour, skill, and readiness exhibited by yourself and our other friends from the netherlands under your command, during the whole course of the expedition, as to fill our mind with special joy and satisfaction, and, with a desire to impart these feelings to you. no other means presenting themselves at this moment than that of a letter (in some sense darkening the picture of the conceptions of our soul), we are willing to make use of it while waiting for means more effectual. wishing thus to disburthen ourselves we find ourselves confused, not knowing where to begin, the greatness of each part exceeding the merit of the other. for, the vigour and promptness with which my lords the states-general stepped into the enterprise, made us acknowledge that the good favour, which we have always borne the united provinces and the proofs thereof which we have given in the benefits conferred by us upon them, had not been ill-bestowed. the valour, skill, and discipline manifested by you in this enterprise show that you and your whole nation are worthy the favour and protection of princes against those who wish to tyrannize over you. but the honourableness and the valour shown by you, sir admiral, towards our cousin the earl of essex on his return, when he unfortunately was cut off from the fleet, and deep in the night was deprived of all support, when you kept company with him and gave him escort into the harbour of plymouth, demonstrate on the one hand your foresight in providing thus by your pains and patience against all disasters, which through an accident falling upon one of the chiefs of our armada might have darkened the great victory; and on the other hand the fervour and fire of the affection which you bear us, increasing thus, through a double bond, the obligations we are owing you, which is so great in our hearts that we have felt bound to discharge a part of it by means of this writing, which we beg you to communicate to the whole company of our friends under your command; saying to them besides, that they may feel assured that even as we have before given proof of our goodwill to their fatherland, so henceforth--incited by their devoirs and merits--we are ready to extend our bounty and affection in all ways which may become a princess recompensing the virtues and gratitude of a nation so worthy as yours. "elizabeth r. " th august, ." this letter was transmitted by the admiral to the states-general; who, furnished him with a copy of it, but enrolled the original in their archives; recording as it did, in the hand of the great english queen, so striking a testimony to the valour and the good conduct of netherlanders. the results of this expedition were considerable, for the king's navy was crippled, a great city was destroyed, and some millions of plunder had been obtained. but the permanent possession of cadiz, which, in such case, essex hoped to exchange for calais, and the destruction of the fleet at the azores--possible achievements both, and unwisely neglected--would have been far more profitable, at least to england. it was also matter of deep regret that there was much quarrelling between the netherlanders and the englishmen as to their respective share of the spoils; the netherlanders complaining loudly that they had been defrauded. moreover the merchants of middelburg, amsterdam, and other commercial cities of holland and zeeland were, as it proved, the real owners of a large portion of the property destroyed or pillaged at cadiz; so that a loss estimated as high as three hundred thousand florins fell upon those unfortunate traders through this triumph of the allies. the internal consequences of the fall of calais had threatened at the first moment to be as disastrous as the international results of that misfortune had already proved. the hour for the definite dismemberment and partition of the french kingdom, not by foreign conquerors but among its own self-seeking and disloyal grandees, seemed to have struck. the indomitable henry, ever most buoyant when most pressed by misfortune, was on the way to his camp at la fere, encouraging the faint-hearted, and providing as well as he could for the safety of the places most menaced, when he was met at st. quentin by a solemn deputation of the principal nobles, military commanders, and provincial governors of france. the duke of montpensier was spokesman of the assembly, and, in an harangue carefully prepared for the occasion, made an elaborate proposition to the king that the provinces, districts, cities, castles; and other strong-holds throughout the kingdom should now be formally bestowed upon the actual governors and commandants thereof in perpetuity, and as hereditary property, on condition of rendering a certain military service to the king and his descendants. it seemed so amazing that this temporary disaster to the national arms should be used as a pretext for parcelling out france, and converting a great empire into a number of insignificant duchies and petty principalities; that this movement should be made, not by the partisans of spain, but by the adherents of the king; and that its leader should be his own near relative, a prince of the blood, and a possible successor to the crown, that henry was struck absolutely dumb. misinterpreting his silence, the duke proceeded very confidently with his well-conned harangue; and was eloquently demonstrating that, under such a system, henry, as principal feudal chief, would have greater military forces at his disposal whenever he chose to summon his faithful vassals to the field than could be the case while the mere shadow of royal power or dignity was allowed to remain; when the king, finding at last a tongue, rebuked his cousin; not angrily, but with a grave melancholy which was more impressive than wrath. he expressed his pity for the duke that designing intriguers should have thus taken advantage of his facility of character to cause him to enact a part so entirely unworthy a frenchman, a gentleman, and a prince of the blood. he had himself, at the outset of his career, been much farther from the throne than montpensier was at that moment; but at no period of his life would he have consented to disgrace himself by attempting the dismemberment of the realm. so far from entering for a moment into the subject-matter of the duke's discourse, he gave him and all his colleagues distinctly to understand that he would rather die a thousand deaths than listen to suggestions which would cover his family and the royal dignity with infamy. rarely has political cynicism been displayed in more revolting shape than in this deliberate demonstration by the leading patricians and generals of france, to whom patriotism seemed an unimaginable idea. thus signally was their greediness to convert a national disaster into personal profit rebuked by the king. henry was no respecter of the people, which he regarded as something immeasurably below his feet. on the contrary, he was the most sublime self-seeker of them all; but his courage, his intelligent ambition, his breadth and strength of purpose, never permitted him to doubt that his own greatness was inseparable from the greatness of france. thus he represented a distinct and wholesome principle--the national integrity of a great homogeneous people at a period when that integrity seemed, through domestic treason and foreign hatred, to be hopelessly lost. hence it is not unnatural that he should hold his place in the national chronicle as henry the great. meantime, while the military events just recorded had been occurring in the southern peninsula, the progress of the archduke and his lieutenants in the north against the king and against the republic had been gratifying to the ambition of that martial ecclesiastic. soon after the fall of calais, de rosne had seized the castles of guynes and hames, while de mexia laid siege to the important stronghold of ardres. the garrison, commanded by count belin, was sufficiently numerous and well supplied to maintain the place until henry, whose triumph at la fere could hardly be much longer delayed, should come to its relief. to the king's infinite dissatisfaction, however, precisely as don alvario de osorio was surrendering la fere to him, after a seven months' siege, ardres was capitulating to de mexia. the reproaches upon belin for cowardice, imbecility, and bad faith, were bitter and general. all his officers had vehemently protested against the surrender, and henry at first talked of cutting off his head. it was hardly probable, however--had the surrender been really the result of treachery--that the governor would have put himself, as he did at once in the king's power; for the garrison marched out of ardres with the commandant at their head, banners displayed, drums beating, matches lighted and bullet in mouth, twelve hundred fighting men strong, besides invalids. belin was possessed of too much influence, and had the means of rendering too many pieces of service to the politic king, whose rancour against spain was perhaps not really so intense as was commonly supposed, to meet with the condign punishment which might have been the fate of humbler knaves. these successes having been obtained in normandy, the cardinal with a force of nearly fifteen thousand men now took the field in flanders; and, after hesitating for a time whether he should attack breda, bergen, ostend, or gertruydenburg,--and after making occasional feints in various directions, came, towards the end of june, before hulst. this rather insignificant place, with a population of but one thousand inhabitants, was defended by a strong garrison under command of that eminent and experienced officer count everard solms. its defences were made more complete by a system of sluices, through which the country around could be laid under water; and maurice, whose capture of the town in the year had been one of his earliest military achievements, was disposed to hold it at all hazards. he came in person to inspect the fortifications, and appeared to be so eager on the subject, and so likely to encounter unnecessary hazards, that the states of holland passed a resolution imploring him "that he would not, in his heroic enthusiasm and laudable personal service, expose a life on which the country so much depended to manifest dangers." the place was soon thoroughly invested, and the usual series of minings and counter-minings, assaults, and sorties followed, in the course of which that courageous and corpulent renegade, de rosne, had his head taken off by a cannon-ball, while his son, a lad of sixteen, was fighting by his side. on the th august the cardinal formally demanded the surrender of the place, and received the magnanimous reply that hulst would be defended to the death. this did not, however, prevent the opening of negotiations the very same day. all the officers, save one, united in urging solms to capitulate; and solms, for somewhat mysterious reasons, and, as was stated, in much confusion, gave his consent. the single malcontent was the well-named matthew held, whose family name meant hero, and who had been one of the chief actors in the far-famed capture of breda. he was soon afterwards killed in an unsuccessful attack made by maurice upon venlo. hulst capitulated on the th august. the terms were honourable; but the indignation throughout the country against count solms was very great. the states of zeeland, of whose regiment he had been commander ever, since the death of sir philip sidney, dismissed him from their service, while a torrent of wrath flowed upon him from every part of the country. members of the states-general refused to salute him in the streets; eminent person, ages turned their backs upon him, and for a time there was no one willing to listen to a word in his defence. the usual reaction in such cases followed; maurice sustained the commander, who had doubtless committed a grave error, but who had often rendered honourable service to the republic, and the states-general gave him a command as important as that of which he had been relieved by the zeeland states. it was mainly on account of the tempest thus created within the netherlands, that an affair of such slight importance came to occupy so large a space in contemporary history. the defenders of solmstold wild stories about the losses of the besieging army. the cardinal, who was thought prodigal of blood, and who was often quoted as saying "his soldiers' lives belonged to god and their bodies to the king," had sacrificed, it, was ridiculously said, according to the statement of the spaniards themselves, five thousand soldiers before the walls of hulst. it was very logically deduced therefrom that the capture of a few more towns of a thousand inhabitants each would cost him his whole army. people told each other, too, that the conqueror had refused a triumph which the burghers of brussels wished to prepare for him on his entrance into the capital, and that he had administered the very proper rebuke that, if they had more money than they knew what to do with, they should expend it in aid of the wounded and of the families of the fallen, rather than in velvets and satins and triumphal arches. the humanity of the suggestion hardly tallied with the blood-thirstiness of which he was at the same time so unjustly accused--although it might well be doubted whether the commander-in-chief, even if he could witness unflinchingly the destruction of five thousand soldiers on the battle-field, would dare to confront a new demonstration of schoolmaster houwaerts and his fellow-pedants. the fact was, however, that the list of casualties in the cardinal's camp during the six weeks' siege amounted to six hundred, while the losses within the city were at least as many. there was no attempt to relieve the place; for the states, as before observed, had been too much cramped by the strain upon their resources and by the removal of so many veterans for the expedition against cadiz to be able to muster any considerable forces in the field during the whole of this year. for a vast war in which the four leading powers of the earth were engaged, the events, to modern eyes, of the campaign of seem sufficiently meagre. meantime, during all this campaigning by land and sea in the west, there had been great but profitless bloodshed in the east. with difficulty did the holy roman empire withstand the terrible, ever-renewed assaults of the unholy realm of ottoman--then in the full flush of its power--but the two empires still counterbalanced each other, and contended with each'other at the gates of vienna. as the fighting became more languid, however, in the western part of christendom, the negotiations and intrigues grew only the more active. it was most desirable for the republic to effect, if possible, a formal alliance offensive and defensive with france and england against spain. the diplomacy of the netherlands had been very efficient in bringing about the declaration of war by henry against philip, by which the current year had opened, after henry and philip had been doing their best to destroy each other and each other's subjects during the half-dozen previous years. elizabeth, too, although she had seen her shores invaded by philip with the most tremendous armaments that had ever floated on the seas, and although she had herself just been sending fire and sword into the heart of spain, had very recently made the observation that she and philip were not formally at war with each other. it seemed, therefore, desirable to the states-general that this very practical warfare should be, as it were, reduced to a theorem. in this case the position of the republic to both powers and to spain itself might perhaps be more accurately defined. calvaert, the states' envoy--to use his own words--haunted henry like his perpetual shadow, and was ever doing his best to persuade him of the necessity of this alliance. de saucy, as we have seen, had just arrived in england, when the cool proposition of the queen to rescue calais from philip on condition of keeping it for herself had been brought to boulogne by sidney. notwithstanding the indignation of the king, he had been induced directly afterwards to send an additional embassy to elizabeth, with the duke of bouillon at its head; and he had insisted upon calvaert's accompanying the mission. he had, as he frequently observed, no secrets from the states-general, or from calvaert, who had been negotiating upon these affairs for two years past and was so well acquainted with all their bearings. the dutch envoy was reluctant to go, for he was seriously ill and very poor in purse, but henry urged the point so vehemently, that calvaert found himself on board ship within six hours of the making of the proposition. the incident shows of how much account the republican diplomatist was held by so keen a judge of mankind as the bearnese; but it will subsequently appear that the candour of the king towards the states-general and their representative was by no means without certain convenient limitations. de sancy had arrived just as--without his knowledge--sidney had been despatched across the channel with the brief mission already mentioned. when he was presented to the queen, the next day, she excused herself for the propositions by which henry had been so much enraged, by assuring the envoy that it had been her intention only to keep calais out of the enemy's hand, so long as the king's forces were too much occupied at a distance to provide for its safety. as diplomatic conferences were about to begin in which--even more than in that age, at least, was usually the case--the object of the two conferring powers was to deceive each other, and at the same time still more decidedly to defraud other states, sancy accepted the royal explanation, although henry's special messenger, lomenie, had just brought him from the camp at boulogne a minute account of the propositions of sidney. the envoy had, immediately afterwards, an interview with lord burghley, and at once perceived that he was no friend to his master. cecil observed that the queen had formerly been much bound to the king for religion's sake. as this tie no longer existed, there was nothing now to unite them save the proximity of the two states to each other and their ancient alliances, a bond purely of interest which existed only so long as princes found therein a special advantage. de sancy replied that the safety of the two crowns depended upon their close alliance against a very powerful foe who was equally menacing to them both. cecil rejoined that he considered the spaniards deserving of the very highest praise for having been able to plan so important an enterprise, and to have so well deceived the king of france by the promptness and the secrecy of their operations as to allow him to conceive no suspicion as to their designs. to this not very friendly sarcasm the envoy, indignant that france should thus be insulted in her misfortunes, exclaimed that he prayed to god that the affairs of englishmen might never be reduced to such a point as to induce the world to judge by the result merely, as to the sagacity of their counsels. he added that there were many passages through which to enter france, and that it was difficult to be present everywhere, in order to defend them all against the enemy. a few days afterwards the duke of bouillon arrived in london. he had seen lord essex at dover as he passed, and had endeavoured without success to dissuade him from his expedition against the spanish coast. the conferences opened on the th may, at greenwich, between burghley, cobham, the lord chamberlain, and one or two other commissioners on the part of the queen, and bouillon, sancy, du yair, and ancel, as plenipotentiaries of henry. there was the usual indispensable series of feints at the outset, as if it were impossible for statesmen to meet around a green table except as fencers in the field or pugilists in the ring. "we have nothing to do," said burghley, "except to listen to such propositions as may be made on the part of the king, and to repeat them to her highness the queen." "you cannot be ignorant," replied bouillon, "of the purpose for which we have been sent hither by his very christian majesty. you know very well that it is to conclude a league with england. 'tis necessary, therefore, for the english to begin by declaring whether they are disposed to enter into such an alliance. this point once settled, the french can make their propositions, but it would be idle to dispute about the conditions of a treaty, if there is after all no treaty to be made." to this cecil rejoined, that, if the king were reduced to the necessity of asking succour from the queen, and of begging for her alliance, it was necessary for them, on the other hand, to see what he was ready to do for the queen in return, and to learn what advantage she could expect from the league. the duke said that the english statesmen were perfectly aware of the french intention of proposing a league against the common enemy of both nations, and that it would be unquestionably for the advantage of both to unite their forces for a vigorous attack upon spain, in which case it would be more difficult for the spanish to resist them than if each were acting separately. it was no secret that the spaniards would rather attack england than france, because their war against england, being coloured by a religious motive, would be much less odious, and would even have a specious pretext. moreover the conquest of england would give them an excellent vantage ground to recover what they had lost in the netherlands. if, on the contrary, the enemy should throw himself with his whole force upon france, the king, who would perhaps lose many places at once, and might hardly be able to maintain himself single-handed against domestic treason and a concentrated effort on the part of spain, would probably find it necessary to make a peace with that power. nothing could be more desirable for spain than such a result, for she would then be free to attack england and holland, undisturbed by any fear of france. this was a piece of advice, the duke said, which the king offered, in the most friendly spirit, and as a proof of his affection, to her majesty's earnest consideration. burghley replied that all this seemed to him no reason for making a league. "what more can the queen do," he observed, "than she is already doing? she has invaded spain by land and sea, she has sent troops to spain, france, and the netherlands; she has lent the king fifteen hundred thousand crowns in gold. in short, the envoys ought rather to be studying how to repay her majesty for her former benefits than to be soliciting fresh assistance." he added that the king was so much stronger by the recent gain of marseilles as to be easily able to bear the loss of places of far less importance, while ireland, on the contrary, was a constant danger to the queen. the country was already in a blaze, on account of the recent landing effected there by the spaniards, and it was a very ancient proverb among the english, that to attack england it was necessary to take the road of ireland. bouillon replied that in this war there was much difference between the position of france and that of england. the queen, notwithstanding hostilities, obtained her annual revenue as usual, while the king was cut off from his resources and obliged to ruin his kingdom in order to wage war. sancy added, that it must be obvious to the english ministers that the peril of holland was likewise the peril of england and of france, but that at the same time they could plainly see that the king, if not succoured, would be forced to a peace with spain. all his counsellors were urging him to this, and it was the interest of all his neighbours to prevent such a step. moreover, the proposed league could not but be advantageous to the english; whether by restraining the spaniards from entering england, or by facilitating a combined attack upon the common enemy. the queen might invade any portion of the flemish coast at her pleasure, while the king's fleet could sail with troops from his ports to prevent any attack upon her realms. at this burghley turned to his colleagues and said, in english, "the french are acting according to the proverb; they wish to sell us the bear-skin before they have killed the bear." sancy, who understood english, rejoined, "we have no bear-skin to sell, but we are giving you a very good and salutary piece of advice. it is for you to profit by it as you may." "where are these ships of war, of which you were speaking?" asked burghley. "they are at rochelle, at bordeaux, and at st. malo," replied de sancy. "and these ports are not in the king's possession," said the lord treasurer. the discussion was growing warm. the duke of bouillon, in order to, put an end to it, said that what england had most to fear was a descent by spain upon her coasts, and that the true way to prevent this was to give occupation to philip's army in flanders. the soldiers in the fleet then preparing were raw levies with which he would not venture to assail her kingdom. the veterans in flanders were the men on whom he relied for that purpose. moreover the queen, who had great influence with the states-general, would procure from them a prohibition of all commerce between the provinces and spain; all the netherlands would be lost to philip, his armies would disperse of their own accord; the princes of italy, to whom the power of spain was a perpetual menace, would secretly supply funds to the allied powers, and the germans, declared enemies of philip, would furnish troops. burghley asserted confidently that this could never be obtained from the hollanders, who lived by commerce alone. upon which saucy, wearied with all these difficulties, interrupted the lord treasurer by exclaiming, "if the king is to expect neither an alliance nor any succour on your part, he will be very much obliged to the queen if she will be good enough to inform him of the decision taken by her, in order that he may, upon his side, take the steps most suitable to the present position of his affairs." the session then terminated. two days afterwards, in another conference, burghley offered three thousand men on the part of the queen, on condition that they should be raised at the king's expense, and that they should not leave england until they had received a month's pay in advance. the duke of bouillon said this was far from being what had been expected of the generosity of her majesty, that if the king had money he would find no difficulty in raising troops in switzerland and germany, and that there was a very great difference between hired princes and allies. the english ministers having answered that this was all the queen could do, the duke and saucy rose in much excitement, saying that they had then no further business than to ask for an audience of leave, and to return to france as fast as possible. before they bade farewell to the queen, however, the envoys sent a memoir to her majesty, in which they set forth that the first proposition as to a league had been made by sir henry umton, and that now, when the king had sent commissioners to treat concerning an alliance, already recommended by the queen's ambassador in france, they had been received in such a way as to indicate a desire to mock them rather than to treat with them. they could not believe, they said, that it was her majesty's desire to use such language as had been addressed to them, and they therefore implored her plainly to declare her intentions, in order that they might waste no more time unnecessarily, especially as the high offices with which their sovereign had honoured them did not allow them to remain for a long time absent from france. the effect of this memoir upon the queen was, that fresh conferences were suggested, which took place at intervals between the th and the th of may. they were characterized by the same mutual complaints of overreachings and of shortcomings by which all the previous discussions had been distinguished. on the th may the french envoys even insisted on taking formal farewell of the queen, and were received by her majesty for that purpose at a final audience. after they had left the presence--the preparations for their homeward journey being already made--the queen sent sir robert cecil, henry brooke, son of lord cobham, and la fontaine, minister of a french church in england, to say to them how very much mortified she was that the state of her affairs did not permit her to give the king as much assistance as he desired, and to express her wish to speak to them once more before their departure. the result of the audience given accordingly to the envoys, two days later, was the communication of her decision to enter into the league proposed, but without definitely concluding the treaty until it should be ratified by the king. on the th may articles were finally agreed upon, by which the king and queen agreed to defend each other's dominions, to unite in attacking the common enemy, and to invite other princes and states equally interested with themselves in resisting the ambitious projects of spain, to join in the league. it was arranged that an army should be put in the field as soon as possible, at the expense of the king and queen, and of such other powers as should associate themselves in the proposed alliance; that this army should invade the dominions of the spanish monarch, that the king and queen were never, without each other's consent, to make peace or truce with philip; that the queen should immediately raise four thousand infantry to serve six months of every year in picardy and normandy, with the condition that they were never to be sent to a distance of more than fifty leagues from boulogna; that when the troubles of ireland should be over the queen should be at liberty to add new troops to the four thousand men thus promised by her to the league; that the queen was to furnish to these four thousand men six months' pay in advance before they should leave england, and that the king should agree to repay the amount six months afterwards, sending meanwhile four nobles to england as hostages. if the dominions of the queen should be attacked it was stipulated that, at two months' notice, the king should raise four thousand men at the expense of the queen and send them to her assistance, and that they were to serve for six months at her charge, but were not to be sent to a distance of more than fifty leagues from the coasts of france. the english were not willing that the states-general should be comprehended among the powers to be invited to join the league, because being under the protection of the queen of england they were supposed to have no will but hers. burghley insisted accordingly that, in speaking of those who were thus to be asked, no mention was to be made of peoples nor of states, for fear lest the states-general might be included under those terms. the queen was, however, brought at last to yield the point, and consented, in order to satisfy the french envoys, that to the word princes should be added the general expression orders or estates. the obstacle thus interposed to the formation of the league by the hatred of the queen and of the privileged classes of england to popular liberty, and by the secret desire entertained of regaining that sovereignty over the provinces which had been refused ten years before by elizabeth, was at length set aside. the republic, which might have been stifled at its birth, was now a formidable fact, and could neither be annexed to the english dominions nor deprived of its existence as a new member of the european family. it being no longer possible to gainsay the presence of the young commonwealth among the nations, the next best thing--so it was thought--was to defraud her in the treaty to which she was now invited to accede. this, as it will presently appear, the king of france and the queen of england succeeded in doing very thoroughly, and they accomplished it notwithstanding the astuteness and the diligence of the states' envoy, who at henry's urgent request had accompanied the french mission to england. calvaert had been very active in bringing about the arrangement, to assist in which he had, as we have seen, risen from a sick bed and made the journey to england: "the proposition for an offensive and defensive alliance was agreed to by her majesty's council, but under intolerable and impracticable conditions," said he, "and, as such, rejected by the duke and sancy, so that they took leave of her majesty. at last, after some negotiation in which, without boasting, i may say that i did some service, it was again taken in hand, and at last, thank god, although with much difficulty, the league has been concluded." when the task was finished the french envoys departed to obtain their master's ratification of the treaty. elizabeth expressed herself warmly in regard to her royal brother, inviting him earnestly to pay her a visit, in which case she said she would gladly meet him half way; for a sight of him would be her only consolation in the midst of her adversity and annoyance. "he may see other princesses of a more lovely appearance," she added, "but he will never make a visit to a more faithful friend." but the treaty thus concluded was for the public. the real agreement between france and england was made by a few days later, and reduced the ostensible arrangement to a sham, a mere decoy to foreign nations, especially to the dutch republic, to induce them to imitate england in joining the league, and to emulate her likewise in affording that substantial assistance to the league which in reality england was very far from giving. "two contracts were made," said secretary of state villeroy; "the one public, to give credit and reputation to the said league, the other secret, which destroyed the effects and the promises of the first. by the first his majesty was to be succoured by four thousand infantry, which number was limited by the second contract to two thousand, who were to reside and to serve only in the cities of boulogne and montreuil, assisted by an equal number of french, and not otherwise, and on condition of not being removed from those towns unless his majesty should be personally present in picardy with an army, in which case they might serve in picardy, but nowhere else." an english garrison in a couple of french seaports, over against the english coast, would hardly have seemed a sufficient inducement to other princes and states to put large armies in the field to sustain the protestant league, had they known that this was the meagre result of the protocolling and disputations that had been going on all the summer at greenwich. nevertheless the decoy did its work, the envoys returned to france, and it was not until three months later that the duke of bouillon again made his appearance in england, bringing the treaty duly ratified by henry. the league was then solemnized, on, the th august, by the queen with much pomp and ceremony. three peers of the realm waited upon the french ambassador at his lodgings, and escorted him and his suite in seventeen royal coaches to the tower. seven splendid barges then conveyed them along the thames to greenwich. on the pier the ambassador was received by the earl of derby at the head of a great suite of nobles and high functionaries, and conducted to the palace of nonesuch. there was a religious ceremony in the royal chapel, where a special pavilion had been constructed. standing, within this sanctuary, the queen; with her hand on her breast, swore faithfully to maintain the league just concluded. she then gave her hand to the duke of bouillon, who held it in both his own, while psalms were sung and the organ resounded through the chapel. afterwards there was a splendid banquet in the palace, the duke sitting in solitary grandeur at the royal table, being placed at a respectful distance from her majesty, and the dishes being placed on the board by the highest nobles of the realm, who, upon their knees, served the queen with wine. no one save the ambassador sat at elizabeth's table, but in the same hall was spread another, at which the earl of essex entertained many distinguished guests, young count lewis gunther of nassau among the number. in the midsummer twilight the brilliantly decorated barges were again floating on the historic river, the gaily-coloured lanterns lighting the sweep of the oars, and the sound of lute and viol floating merrily across the water. as the ambassador came into the courtyard of his house, he found a crowd of several thousand people assembled, who shouted welcome to the representative of henry, and invoked blessings on the head of queen elizabeth and of her royal brother of france. meanwhile all the bells of london were ringing, artillery was thundering, and bonfires were blazing, until the night was half spent. such was the holiday-making by which the league between the great protestant queen and the ex-chief of the huguenots of france was celebrated within a year after the pope had received him, a repentant sinner, into the fold of the church. truly it might be said that religion was rapidly ceasing to be the line of demarcation among the nations, as had been the case for the two last generations of mankind. the duke of bouillon soon afterwards departed for the netherlands, where the regular envoy to the commonwealth, paul chouart seigneur de buzanval, had already been preparing the states-general for their entrance into the league. of course it was duly impressed upon those republicans that they should think themselves highly honoured by the privilege of associating themselves with so august an alliance. the queen wrote an earnest letter to the states, urging them to join the league. "especially should you do so," she said, "on account of the reputation which you will thereby gain for your affairs with the people who are under you, seeing you thus sustained (besides the certainty which you have of our favour) by the friendship of other confederated princes, and particularly by that of the most christian king." on the st october the articles of agreement under which the republic acceded to the new confederation were signed at the hague. of course it was not the exact counterpart of the famous catholic association. madam league, after struggling feebly for the past few years, a decrepit beldame, was at last dead and buried. but there had been a time when she was filled with exuberant and terrible life. she, at least, had known the object of her creation, and never, so long as life was in her, had she faltered in her dread purpose. to extirpate protestantism, to murder protestants, to burn, hang, butcher, bury them alive, to dethrone every protestant sovereign in europe, especially to assassinate the queen of england, the prince of orange, with all his race, and henry of navarre, and to unite in the accomplishment of these simple purposes all the powers of christendom under the universal monarchy of philip of spain--for all this, blood was shed in torrents, and the precious metals of the "indies" squandered as fast as the poor savages, who were thus taking their first lessons in the doctrines of jesus of nazareth, could dig it from the mines. for this america had been summoned, as it were by almighty fiat, out of previous darkness, in order that it might furnish money with which to massacre all the heretics of the earth. for this great purpose was the sublime discovery of the genoese sailor to be turned to account. these aims were intelligible, and had in part been attained. william of orange had fallen, and a patent of nobility, with a handsome fortune, had been bestowed upon his assassin. elizabeth's life had been frequently attempted. so had those of henry, of maurice, of olden-barneveld. divine providence might perhaps guide the hand of future murderers with greater accuracy, for even if madam league were dead, her ghost still walked among the jesuits and summoned them to complete the crimes left yet unfinished. but what was the design of the new confederacy? it was not a protestant league. henry of navarre could no longer be the chief of such an association, although it was to protestant powers only that he could turn for assistance. it was to the commonwealth of the netherlands, to the northern potentates and to the calvinist and lutheran princes of germany, that the king and queen could alone appeal in their designs against philip of spain. the position of henry was essentially a false one from the beginning. he felt it to be so, and the ink was scarce dry with which he signed the new treaty before he was secretly casting about him to, make peace with that power with which he was apparently summoning all the nations of the earth to do battle. even the cautious elizabeth was deceived by the crafty bearnese, while both united to hoodwink the other states and princes. on the st october, accordingly, the states-general agreed to go into the league with england and france; "in order to resist the enterprises and ambitious designs of the king of spain against all the princes and potentates of christendom." as the queen had engaged--according to the public treaty or decoy--to furnish four thousand infantry to the league, the states now agreed to raise and pay for another four thousand to be maintained in the king's service at a cost of four hundred and fifty thousand florins annually, to be paid by the month. the king promised, in case the netherlands should be invaded by the enemy with the greater part of his force, that these four thousand soldiers should return to the netherlands. the king further bound himself to carry on a sharp offensive war in artois and hainault. the states-general would have liked a condition inserted in the treaty that no peace should be made with spain by england or france without the consent of the provinces; but this was peremptorily refused. perhaps the republic had no special reason to be grateful for the grudging and almost contemptuous manner in which it had thus been virtually admitted into the community of sovereigns; but the men who directed its affairs were far too enlightened not to see how great a step was taken when their political position, now conceded to them, had been secured. in good faith they intended to carry out the provisions of the new treaty, and they immediately turned their attention to the vital matters of making new levies and of imposing new taxes, by means of which they might render themselves useful to their new allies. meantime ancel was deputed by henry to visit the various courts of germany and the north in order to obtain, if possible, new members for the league? but germany was difficult to rouse. the dissensions among protestants were ever inviting the assaults of the papists. its multitude of sovereigns were passing their leisure moments in wrangling among themselves as usual on abstruse points of theology, and devoting their serious hours to banquetting, deep drinking, and the pleasures of the chase. the jeremiads of old john of nassau grew louder than ever, but his voice was of one crying in the wilderness. the wrath to come of that horrible thirty years' war, which he was not to witness seemed to inspire all his prophetic diatribes. but there were few to heed them. two great dangers seemed ever impending over christendom, and it is difficult to decide which fate would have been the more terrible, the establishment of the universal monarchy of philip ii., or the conquest of germany by the grand turk. but when ancel and other emissaries sought to obtain succour against the danger from the south-west, he was answered by the clash of arms and the shrieks of horror which came daily from the south-east. in vain was it urged, and urged with truth, that the alcoran was less cruel than the inquisition, that the soil of europe might be overrun by turks and tartars, and the crescent planted triumphantly in every village, with less disaster to the human race, and with better hope that the germs of civilization and the precepts of christianity might survive the invasion, than if the system of philip, of torquemada, and of alva, should become the universal law. but the turk was a frank enemy of christianity, while philip murdered christians in the name of christ. the distinction imposed upon the multitudes, with whom words were things. moreover, the danger from the young and enterprising mahomet seemed more appalling to the imagination than the menace, from which experience had taken something of its terrors, of the old and decrepit philip. the ottoman empire, in its exact discipline, in its terrible concentration of purpose, in its contempt for all arts and sciences, and all human occupation save the trade of war and the pursuit of military dominion, offered a strong contrast to the distracted condition of the holy roman empire, where an intellectual and industrious people, distracted by half a century of religious controversy and groaning under one of the most elaborately perverse of all the political systems ever invented by man, seemed to offer itself an easy prey to any conqueror. the turkish power was in the fulness of its aggressive strength, and seemed far more formidable than it would have done had there been clearer perceptions of what constitutes the strength and the wealth of nations. could the simple truth have been thoroughly, comprehended that a realm founded upon such principles was the grossest of absurdities, the eastern might have seemed less terrible than the western danger. but a great campaign, at no considerable distance from the walls of vienna, had occupied the attention of germany during the autumn. mahomet had taken the field in person with a hundred thousand men, and the emperor's brother, maximilian, in conjunction with the prince of transylvania, at the head of a force of equal magnitude, had gone forth to give him battle. between the theiss and the danube, at keveste, not far from the city of erlau, on the th october, the terrible encounter on which the fate of christendom seemed to hang at last took place, and europe held its breath in awful suspense until its fate should be decided. when the result at last became known, a horrible blending of the comic and the tragic, such as has rarely been presented in history, startled the world. seventy thousand human beings--moslems and christians--were lying dead or wounded on the banks of a nameless little stream which flows into the theisa, and the commanders-in-chief of both armies were running away as fast as horses could carry them. each army believed itself hopelessly defeated, and abandoning tents, baggage, artillery, ammunition, the remnants of each, betook themselves to panic-stricken flight. generalissimo maximilian never looked behind him as he fled, until he had taken refuge in kaschan, and had thence made his way, deeply mortified and despondent, to vienna. the prince of transylvania retreated into the depths of his own principality. mahomet, with his principal officers, shut himself up in buda, after which he returned to constantinople and abandoned himself for a time to a voluptuous ease, inconsistent with the ottoman projects of conquering the world. the turks, less prone to desperation than the christians, had been utterly overthrown in the early part of the action, but when the victors were, as usual, greedily bent upon plunder before the victory had been fairly secured, the tide of battle was turned by the famous italian renegade cicala. the turks, too, had the good sense to send two days afterwards and recover their artillery, trains, and other property, which ever since the battle had been left at the mercy of the first comers. so ended the turkish campaign of the year . ancel, accordingly, fared ill in his negotiations with germany. on the other hand mendoza, admiral of arragon, had been industriously but secretly canvassing the same regions as the representative of the spanish king. it was important for philip, who put more faith in the league of the three powers than henry himself did, to lose no time in counteracting its influence. the condition of the holy roman empire had for some time occupied his most serious thoughts. it seemed plain that rudolph would never marry. certainly he would never marry the infanta, although he was very angry that his brother should aspire to the hand which he himself rejected. in case of his death without children, philip thought it possible that there might be a protestant revolution in germany, and that the house of habsburg might lose the imperial crown altogether. it was even said that the emperor himself was of that opinion, and preferred that the empire should "end with his own life." philip considered that neither matthias nor maximilian was fit to succeed their brother, being both of them "lukewarm in the catholic faith." in other words, he chose that his destined son-in-law, the cardinal albert, should supersede them, and he was anxious to have him appointed as soon as possible king of the romans. "his holiness the pope and the king of spain," said the admiral of arragon, "think it necessary to apply most stringent measures to the emperor to compel him to appoint a successor, because, in case of his death without one, the administration during the vacancy would fall to the elector palatine,--a most perverse calvinistic heretic, and as great an enemy of the house of austria and of our holy religion as the turk himself--as sufficiently appears in those diabolical laws of his published in the palatinate a few months since. a vacancy is so dreadful, that in the north of germany the world would come to an end; yet the emperor, being of rather a timid nature than otherwise, is inclined to quiet, and shrinks from the discussions and conflicts likely to be caused by an appointment. therefore his holiness and his catholic majesty, not choosing that we should all live in danger of the world's falling in ruins, have resolved to provide the remedy. they are to permit the electors to use the faculty which they possess of suspending the emperor and depriving him of his power; there being examples of this in other times against emperors who governed ill." the admiral farther alluded to the great effort made two years before to elect the king of denmark emperor, reminding philip that in hamburg they had erected triumphal arches, and made other preparations to receive him. this year, he observed, the protestants were renewing their schemes. on the occasion of the baptism of the child of the elector palatine, the english envoy being present, and queen elizabeth being god-mother, they had agreed upon nine articles of faith much more hostile to the catholic creed than anything ever yet professed. in case of the death of the emperor, this elector palatine would of course make much trouble, and the emperor should therefore be induced, by fair means if possible, on account of the great inconvenience of forcing him, but not without a hint of compulsion, to acquiesce in the necessary measures. philip was represented as willing to assist the empire with considerable force against the turk--as there could be no doubt that hungary was in great danger--but in recompense it was necessary to elect a king of the romans in all respects satisfactory to him. there were three objections to the election of albert, whose recent victories and great abilities entitled him in philip's opinion to the crown. firstly, there was a doubt whether the kingdoms of hungary and bohemia were elective or hereditary, and it was very important that the king of the romans should succeed to those two crowns, because the electors and other princes having fiefs within those kingdoms would be unwilling to swear fealty to two suzerains, and as albert was younger than his brothers he could scarcely expect to take by inheritance. secondly, albert had no property of his own, but the admiral suggested that the emperor might be made to abandon to him the income of the tyrol. thirdly, it was undesirable for albert to leave the netherlands at that juncture. nevertheless, it was suggested by the easy-going admiral, with the same tranquil insolence which marked all his proposed arrangements, that as rudolph would retire from the government altogether, albert, as king of the romans and acting emperor, could very well take care of the netherlands as part of his whole realm. albert being moreover about to marry the infanta, the handsome dowry which he would receive with her from the king would enable him to sustain his dignity. thus did philip who had been so industrious during the many past years in his endeavours to expel the heretic queen of england and the huguenot henry from the realms of their ancestors, and to seat himself or his daughter, or one or another of his nephews, in their places, now busy himself with schemes to discrown rudolph of habsburg, and to place the ubiquitous infanta and her future husband on his throne. time would show the result. meantime, while the protestant ancel and other agents of the new league against philip were travelling about from one court of europe to another to gain adherents to their cause, the great founder of the confederacy was already secretly intriguing for a peace with that monarch. the ink was scarce dry on the treaty to which he had affixed his signature before he was closeted with the agents of the archduke albert, and receiving affectionate messages and splendid presents from that military ecclesiastic. in november, , la balvena, formerly a gentleman of the count de la fera, came to rouen. he had a very secret interview with henry iv. at three o'clock one morning, and soon afterwards at a very late hour in the night. the king asked him why the archduke was not willing to make a general peace, including england and holland. balvena replied that he had no authority to treat on that subject; it being well known, however, that the king of spain would never consent to a peace with the rebels, except on the ground of the exclusive maintenance of the catholic religion. he is taking the very course to destroy that religion, said henry. the king then avowed himself in favour of peace for the sake of the poor afflicted people of all countries. he was not tired of arms, he said, which were so familiar to him, but his wish was to join in a general crusade against the turk. this would be better for the catholic religion than the present occupations of all parties. he avowed that the queen of england was his very good friend, and said he had never yet broken his faith with her, and never would do so. she had sent him the garter, and he had accepted it, as his brother henry iii. had done before him, and he would negotiate no peace which did not include her. the not very distant future was to show how much these stout professions of sincerity were worth. meantime henry charged balvena to keep their interviews a profound secret, especially from every one in france. the king expressed great anxiety lest the huguenots should hear of it, and the agent observed that any suspicion of peace negotiations would make great disturbance among the heretics, as one of the conditions of the king's absolution by the pope was supposed to be that he should make war upon his protestant subjects. on his return from rouen the emissary made a visit to monlevet, marshal of the camp to henry iv. and a calvinist. there was much conversation about peace, in the course of which monlevet observed, "we are much afraid of you in negotiation, for we know that you spaniards far surpass us in astuteness." "nay," said balvena, "i will only repeat the words of the emperor charles v.--'the spaniards seem wise, and are madmen; the french seem madmen, and are wise.'" a few weeks later the archduke sent balvena again to rouen. he had another interview with the king, at which not only villeroy and other catholics were present, but monlevet also. this proved a great obstacle to freedom of conversation. the result was the same as before. there were strong professions of a desire on the part of the king for a peace but it was for a general peace; nothing further. on the th december balvena was sent for by the king before daylight, just as he was mounting his horse for the chase. "tell his highness," said henry, "that i am all frankness, and incapable of dissimulation, and that i believe him too much a man of honour to wish to deceive me. go tell him that i am most anxious for peace, and that i deeply regret the defeat that has been sustained against the turk. had i been there i would have come out dead or victorious. let him arrange an agreement between us, so that presto he may see me there with my brave nobles, with infantry and with plenty of switzers. tell him that i am his friend: begone. be diligent." on the last day but two of the year, the archduke, having heard this faithful report of henry's affectionate sentiments, sent him a suit of splendid armour, such as was then made better in antwerp than anywhere else, magnificently burnished of a blue colour, according to an entirely new fashion. with such secret courtesies between his most catholic majesty's vicegerent and himself was henry's league with the two protestant powers accompanied. exactly at the same epoch philip was again preparing an invasion of the queen's dominions. an armada of a hundred and twenty-eight ships, with a force of fourteen thousand infantry and three thousand horse, had been assembled during the autumn of this year at lisbon, notwithstanding the almost crushing blow that the english and hollanders had dealt the king's navy so recently at cadiz. this new expedition was intended for ireland, where it was supposed that the catholics would be easily roused. it was also hoped that the king of scots might be induced to embrace this opportunity of wreaking vengeance on his mother's destroyer. "he was on the watch the last time that my armada went forth against the english," said philip, "and he has now no reason to do the contrary, especially if he remembers that here is a chance to requite the cruelty which was practised on his mother." the fleet sailed on the th october under the command of the count santa gadea. its immediate destination was the coast of ireland, where they were to find some favourable point for disembarking the troops. having accomplished this, the ships, with the exception of a few light vessels, were to take their departure and pass the winter in ferrol. in case the fleet should be forced by stress of weather on the english coast, the port of milford haven in wales was to be seized, "because," said philip, "there are a great many catholics there well affected to our cause, and who have a special enmity to the english." in case the english fleet should come forth to give battle, philip sent directions that it was to be conquered at once, and that after the victory milford haven was to be firmly held. this was easily said. but it was not fated that this expedition should be more triumphant than that of the unconquerable armada which had been so signally conquered eight years before. scarcely had the fleet put to sea when it was overtaken by a tremendous storm, in which forty ships foundered with five thousand men. the shattered remnants took refuge in ferrol. there the ships were to refit, and in the spring the attempt was to be renewed. thus it was ever with the king of spain. there was a placid unconsciousness on his part of defeat which sycophants thought sublime. and such insensibility might have been sublimity had the monarch been in person on the deck of a frigate in the howling tempest, seeing ship after ship go down before his eyes; and exerting himself with tranquil energy and skill to encourage his followers, and to preserve what remained afloat from destruction. certainly such exhibitions of human superiority to the elements are in the highest degree inspiring. his father had shown himself on more than one occasion the master of his fate. the king of france, too, bare-headed, in his iron corslet, leading a forlorn hope, and, by the personal charm of his valour, changing fugitives into heroes and defeat into victory, had afforded many examples of sublime unconsciousness of disaster, such as must ever thrill the souls of mankind. but it is more difficult to be calm in battle and shipwreck than at the writing desk; nor is that the highest degree of fortitude which enables a monarch--himself in safety--to endure without flinching the destruction of his fellow creatures. no sooner, however, was the remnant of the tempest-tost fleet safe in ferrol than the king requested the cardinal to collect an army at calais and forthwith to invade england. he asked his nephew whether he could not manage to send his troops across the channel in vessels of light draught, such as he already had at command, together with some others which might be furnished him from spain. in this way he was directed to gain a foot-hold in england, and he was to state immediately whether he could accomplish this with his own resources or should require the assistance of the fleet at ferrol. the king further suggested that the enemy, encouraged by his success at cadiz the previous summer, might be preparing a fresh expedition against spain, in which case the invasion of england would be easier to accomplish. thus on the last day of , philip, whose fleet sent forth for the conquest of ireland and england had been too crippled to prosecute the adventure, was proposing to his nephew to conquer england without any fleet at all. he had given the same advice to alexander farnese so soon as he heard of the destruction of the invincible armada. etext editor's bookmarks: allow her to seek a profit from his misfortune burning of servetus at geneva constant vigilance is the price of liberty evil has the advantage of rapidly assuming many shapes french seem madmen, and are wise hanging of mary dyer at boston imposed upon the multitudes, with whom words were things impossible it was to invent terms of adulation too gross in times of civil war, to be neutral is to be nothing meet around a green table except as fencers in the field one-third of philip's effective navy was thus destroyed patriotism seemed an unimaginable idea placid unconsciousness on his part of defeat plea of infallibility and of authority soon becomes ridiculous religion was rapidly ceasing to be the line of demarcation so often degenerated into tyranny (calvinism) spaniards seem wise, and are madmen the alcoran was less cruel than the inquisition there are few inventions in morals to attack england it was necessary to take the road of ireland tranquil insolence unproductive consumption was alarmingly increasing upon their knees, served the queen with wine wish to sell us the bear-skin before they have killed the bear history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , - chapter xxxiii. straggle of the netherlands against spain--march to turnhout-- retreat of the spanish commander--pursuit and attack--demolition of the spanish army--surrender of the garrison of turnhout--improved military science--moral effect of the battle--the campaign in france--attack on amiens by the spaniards--sack and burning of the city--de rosny's plan for reorganization of the finances--jobbery and speculation--philip's repudiation of his debts--effects of the measure--renewal of persecution by the jesuits--contention between turk and christian--envoy from the king of poland to the hague to plead for reconciliation with philip--his subsequent presentation to queen elizabeth--military events recovery of amiens--feeble operations of the confederate powers against spain--marriage of the princess emilia, sister of maurice--reduction of the castle and town of alphen--surrender of rheinberg--capitulation of meurs--surrender of grol--storming and taking of brevoort capitulation of enschede, ootmaxsum, oldenzaal, and lingen--rebellion of the spanish garrisons in antwerp and ghent--progress of the peace movement between henry and philip--relations of the three confederate powers--henry's scheme for reconciliation with spain--his acceptance of philip's offer of peace announced to elizabeth--endeavours for a general peace. the old year had closed with an abortive attempt of philip to fulfil his favourite dream--the conquest of england. the new year opened with a spirited effort of prince maurice to measure himself in the open field with the veteran legions of spain. turnhout, in brabant, was an open village--the largest in all the netherlands lying about twenty-five english miles in almost a direct line south from gertruydenburg. it was nearly as far distant in an easterly direction from antwerp, and was about five miles nearer breda than it was to gertruydenberg. at this place the cardinal-archduke had gathered a considerable force, numbering at least four thousand of his best infantry, with several squadrons of cavalry, the whole under-command of the general-in-chief of artillery, count varax. people in the neighbourhood were growing uneasy, for it was uncertain in what direction it might be intended to use this formidable force. it was perhaps the cardinal's intention to make a sudden assault upon breda, the governor of which seemed not inclined to carry out his proposition to transfer that important city to the king, or it was thought that he might take advantage of a hard frost and cross the frozen morasses and estuaries into the land of ter tholen, where he might overmaster some of the important strongholds of zeeland. marcellus bax, that boldest and most brilliant of holland's cavalry officers, had come to maurice early in january with an urgent suggestion that no time might be lost in making an attack upon the force of turnhout, before they should succeed in doing any mischief. the prince pondered the proposition, for a little time, by himself, and then conferred very privately upon the subject with the state-council. on the th january it was agreed with that body that the enterprise should be attempted, but with the utmost secrecy. a week later the council sent an express messenger to maurice urging him not to expose his own life to peril, but to apprise them as soon as possible as to the results of the adventure. meantime, patents had been sent to the various garrisons for fifty companies of foot and sixteen squadrons of horse. on the nd january maurice came to gertruydenberg, the place of rendezvous, attended by sir francis vere and count solms. colonel kloetingen was already there with the transports of ammunition and a few pieces of artillery from zeeland, and in the course of the day the whole infantry force had assembled. nothing could have been managed with greater promptness or secrecy. next day, before dawn, the march began. the battalia was led by van der noot, with six companies of hollanders. then came vere, with eight companies of the reserve, dockray with eight companies of englishmen, murray with eight companies of scotch, and kloetingen and la corde with twelve companies of dutch and zeelanders. in front of the last troop under la corde marched the commander of the artillery, with two demi-cannon and two field-pieces, followed by the ammunition and, baggage trains. hohenlo arrived just as the march was beginning, to whom the stadholder, notwithstanding their frequent differences, communicated his plans, and entrusted the general command of the cavalry. that force met the expedition at osterhout, a league's distance from gertruydenberg, and consisted of the best mounted companies, english and dutch, from the garrisons of breda, bergen, nymegen, and the zutphen districts. it was a dismal, drizzly, foggy morning; the weather changing to steady rain as the expedition advanced. there had been alternate frost and thaw for the few previous weeks, and had that condition of the atmosphere continued the adventure could not have been attempted. it had now turned completely to thaw. the roads were all under water, and the march was sufficiently difficult. nevertheless, it was possible; so the stout hollanders, zeelanders, and englishmen struggled on manfully, shoulder to shoulder, through the mist and the mire. by nightfall the expedition had reached ravels, at less than a league's distance from turnhout, having accomplished, under the circumstances, a very remarkable march of over twenty miles. a stream of water, the neethe, one of the tributaries of the scheld, separated ravels from turnhout, and was crossed by a stone bridge. it was an anxious moment. maurice discovered by his scouts that he was almost within cannon-shot of several of the most famous regiments in the spanish army lying fresh, securely posted, and capable of making an attack at any moment. he instantly threw forward marcellus bax with four squadrons of bergen cavalry, who, jaded as they were by their day's work, were to watch the bridge that night, and to hold it against all comers and at every hazard. the spanish commander, on his part, had reconnoitred the advancing, foe, for it was impossible for the movement to have been so secret or so swift over those inundated roads as to be shrouded to the last moment in complete mystery. it was naturally to be expected therefore that those splendid legions--the famous neapolitan tercio of trevico, the veteran troops of sultz and hachicourt, the picked epirote and spanish cavalry of nicolas basta and guzman--would be hurled upon the wearied, benumbed, bemired soldiers of the republic, as they came slowly along after their long march through the cold winter's rain. varax took no such heroic resolution. had he done so that january afternoon, the career of maurice of nassau might have been brought to a sudden close, despite the affectionate warning of the state-council. certainly it was difficult for any commander to be placed in a more perilous position than that in which the stadholder found himself. he remained awake and afoot the whole night, perfecting his arrangements for the morning, and watching every indication of a possible advance on the part of the enemy. marcellus bax and his troopers remained at the bridge till morning, and were so near the spaniards that they heard the voices of their pickets, and could even distinguish in the distance the various movements in their camp. but no attack was made, and the little army of maurice was allowed to sleep off its fatigue. with the dawn of the th january, a reconnoitring party, sent out from the republican camp, discovered that varax, having no stomach for an encounter, had given his enemies the slip. long before daylight his baggage and ammunition trains had been sent off in a southerly direction, and his whole force had already left the village of turnhout. it was the intention of the commander to take refuge in the fortified city of herenthals, and there await the attack of maurice. accordingly, when the stadholder arrived on the fields beyond the immediate precincts of the village, he saw the last of the enemy's rearguard just disappearing from view. the situation was a very peculiar one. the rain and thaw, following upon frosty weather, had converted the fenny country in many directions into a shallow lake. the little river which flowed by the village had risen above its almost level banks, and could with difficulty be traversed at any point, while there was no permanent bridge, such as there was at ravels. the retreating spaniards had made their way through a narrow passage, where a roughly-constructed causeway of planks had enabled the infantry to cross the waters almost in single file, while the cavalry had floundered through as best they might. those who were acquainted with the country reported that beyond this defile there was an upland heath, a league in extent, full of furze and thickets, where it would be easy enough for varax to draw up his army in battle array, and conceal it from view. maurice's scouts, too, brought information that the spanish commander had left a force of musketeers to guard the passage at the farther end. this looked very like an ambush. in the opinion of hohenlo, of solms, and of sidney, an advance was not to be thought of; and if the adventure seemed perilous to such hardy and experienced campaigners as these three, the stadholder might well hesitate. nevertheless, maurice had made up his mind. sir francis vere and marcellus bax confirmed him in his determination, and spoke fiercely of the disgrace which would come upon the arms of the republic if now, after having made a day's march to meet the enemy, they should turn their backs upon him just as he was doing his best to escape. on leave obtained from the prince, these two champions, the englishman and the hollander, spurred their horses through the narrow pass, with the waters up to the saddle-bow, at the head of a mere handful of troopers, not more than a dozen men in all. two hundred musketeers followed, picking their way across the planks. as they emerged into the open country beyond, the spanish soldiers guarding the passage fled without firing a shot. such was already the discouraging effect produced upon veterans by the unexpected order given that morning to retreat. vere and bax sent word for all the cavalry to advance at once, and meantime hovered about the rearguard of the retreating enemy, ready to charge upon him so soon as they should be strong enough. maurice lost no time in plunging with his whole mounted force through the watery defile; directing the infantry to follow as fast as practicable. when the commander-in-chief with his eight hundred horsemen, englishmen, zeelanders, hollanders, and germans, came upon the heath, the position and purpose of the enemy were plainly visible. he was not drawn up in battle order, waiting to sweep down upon his rash assailants so soon as, after struggling through the difficult pass, they should be delivered into his hands. on the contrary, it was obvious at a glance that his object was still to escape. the heath of tiel, on which spaniards, italians, walloons, germans, dutchmen, english; scotch, and irishmen now all found themselves together, was a ridgy, spongy expanse of country, bordered on one side by the swollen river, here flowing again through steeper banks which were overgrown with alders and pollard willows. along the left of the spanish army, as they moved in the direction of herenthals, was a continuous fringe of scrub-oaks, intermixed with tall beeches, skirting the heath, and forming a leafless but almost impervious screen for the movements of small detachments of troops. quite at the termination of the open apace, these thickets becoming closely crowded, overhung another extremely narrow passage, which formed the only outlet from the plain. thus the heath of tiel, upon that winter's morning, had but a single entrance and a single exit, each very dangerous or very fortunate for those capable of taking or neglecting the advantages offered by the position. the whole force of varax, at least five thousand strong, was advancing in close marching order towards the narrow passage by which only they could emerge from the heath. should they reach this point in time, and thus effect their escape, it would be useless to attempt to follow them, for, as was the case with the first defile, it was not possible for two abreast to go through, while beyond was a swampy-country in which military operations were impossible. yet there remained less than half a league's space for the retreating soldiers to traverse, while not a single foot-soldier of maurice's army had thus far made his appearance on the heath. all were still wallowing and struggling, single file, in the marshy entrance, through which only the cavalry had forced their way. here was a dilemma. should maurice look calmly on while the enemy, whom he had made so painful a forced march to meet, moved off out of reach before his eyes? yet certainly this was no slight triumph in itself. there sat the stadholder on his horse at the head of eight hundred carabineers, and there marched four of philip's best infantry regiments, garnished with some of his most renowned cavalry squadrons, anxious not to seek but to avoid a combat. first came the germans of count sultz, the musketeers in front, and the spearsmen, of which the bulk of this and of all the regiments was composed, marching in closely serried squares, with the company standards waving over each. next, arranged in the same manner, came the walloon regiments of hachicourt and of la barlotte. fourth and last came the famous neapolitans of marquis trevico. the cavalry squadrons rode on the left of the infantry, and were commanded by nicolas basta, a man who had been trampling upon the netherlanders ever since the days of alva, with whom he had first come to the country. and these were the legions--these very men or their immediate predecessors--these italians, spaniards, germans, and walloons, who during so many terrible years had stormed and sacked almost every city of the netherlands, and swept over the whole breadth of those little provinces as with the besom of destruction. both infantry and cavalry, that picked little army of varax was of the very best that had shared in the devil's work which had been the chief industry practised for so long in the obedient netherlands. was it not madness for the stadholder, at the head of eight hundred horsemen, to assail such an army as this? was it not to invoke upon his head the swift vengeance of heaven? nevertheless, the painstaking, cautious maurice did not hesitate. he ordered hohenlo, with all the brabantine cavalry, to ride as rapidly as their horses could carry them along the edge of the plain, and behind the tangled woodland, by which the movement would be concealed. he was at all hazards to intercept the enemy's vanguard before it should reach the fatal pass. vere and marcellus bax meanwhile, supported now by edmont with the nymegen squadrons, were to threaten the spanish rear. a company of two under laurentz was kept by maurice near his person in reserve. the spaniards steadily continued their march, but as they became aware of certain slight and indefinite movements on their left, their cavalry, changing their position, were transferred from the right to the left of the line of march, and now rode between the infantry and the belt of woods. in a few minutes after the orders given to hohenlo, that dashing soldier had circumvented the spaniards, and emerged upon the plain between them and the entrance to the defile, the next instant the trumpets sounded a charge, and hohenlo fell upon the foremost regiment, that of sultz, while the rearguard, consisting of trevico's neapolitan regiment, was assailed by du bois, donck, rysoir, marcellus bax, and sir francis vere. the effect seemed almost supernatural. the spanish cavalry--those far-famed squadrons of guzman and basta--broke at the first onset and galloped off for the pass as if they had been riding a race. most of them escaped through the hollow into the morass beyond. the musketeers of sultz's regiment hardly fired a shot, and fell back in confusion upon the thickly clustered pikemen. the assailants, every one of them in complete armour, on powerful horses, and armed not with lances but with carbines, trampled over the panic-struck and struggling masses of leather jerkined pikemen and shot them at arm's length. the charge upon trevico's men at the same moment was just as decisive. in less time than it took afterwards to describe the scene, those renowned veterans were broken into a helpless mass of dying, wounded, or fugitive creatures, incapable of striking a blow. thus the germans in the front and the neapolitans in the rear had been simultaneously shattered, and rolled together upon the two other regiments, those of hachicourt and la barlotte, which were placed between them. nor did these troops offer any better resistance, but were paralysed and hurled out of existence like the rest. in less than an hour the spanish army was demolished. varax himself lay dead upon the field, too fortunate not to survive his disgrace. it was hardly more than daylight on that dull january morning; nine o'clock had scarce chimed from the old brick steeples of turnhout, yet two thousand spaniards had fallen before the blows of eight hundred netherlanders, and there were five hundred prisoners beside. of maurice's army not more than nine or ten were slain. the story sounds like a wild legend. it was as if the arm of each netherlander had been nerved by the memory of fifty years of outrage, as if the spectre of their half-century of crime had appalled the soul of every spaniard. like a thunderbolt the son of william the silent smote that army of philip, and in an instant it lay blasted on the heath of tiel. at least it could hardly be called sagacious generalship on the part of the stadholder. the chances were all against him, and if instead of varax those legions had been commanded that morning by old christopher mondragon, there might perhaps have been another tale to tell. even as it was, there had been a supreme moment when the spanish disaster had nearly been changed to victory. the fight was almost done, when a small party of staten' cavalry, who at the beginning of the action had followed the enemy's horse in its sudden retreat through the gap, came whirling back over the plain in wild confusion, pursued by about forty of the enemy's lancers. they swept by the spot where maurice, with not more than ten horsemen around him, was directing and watching the battle, and in vain the prince threw himself in front of them and strove to check their flight. they were panic-struck, and maurice would himself have been swept off the field, had not marcellus bax and edmont, with half a dozen heavy troopers, come to the rescue. a grave error had been committed by parker, who, upon being ordered by maurice to cause louis laurentz to charge, had himself charged with the whole reserve and left the stadholder almost alone upon the field. thus the culprits--who after pursuing the spanish cavalry through the pass had been plundering the enemy's baggage until they were set upon by the handful left to guard it, and had become fugitives in their turn--might possibly have caused the lose of the day after the victory had been won, had there been a man on the spanish side to take in the situation at a glance. but it is probable that the rout had been too absolute to allow of any such sudden turning to account of the serious errors of the victors. the cavalry, except this handful, had long disappeared, at least half the infantry lay dead or wounded in the field, while the remainder, throwing away pipe and matchlock, were running helter-skelter for their lives. besides prince maurice himself, to whom the chief credit of the whole expedition justly belonged, nearly all the commanders engaged obtained great distinction by their skill and valour. sir francis vere, as usual, was ever foremost in the thickest of the fray, and had a horse killed under him. parker erred by too much readiness to engage, but bore himself manfully throughout the battle. hohenlo, solma, sidney, louis laurentz, du bois, all displayed their usual prowess; but the real hero of the hour, the personal embodiment of the fortunate madness which prompted and won the battle, was undoubtedly marcellus bax. maurice remained an hour or two on the field of battle, and then, returning towards the village of turnhout, summoned its stronghold. the garrison of sixty, under captain van der delf, instantly surrendered. the victor allowed these troops to go off scot free, saying that there had been blood enough shed that day. every standard borne by the spaniards in the battle-thirty-eight in number--was taken, besides nearly all their arms. the banners were sent to the hague to be hung up in the great hall of the castle. the dead body of varax was sent to the archduke with a courteous letter, in which, however, a categorical explanation was demanded as to a statement in circulation that albert had decided to give the soldiers of the republic no quarter. no answer being immediately returned, maurice ordered the five hundred prisoners to be hanged or drowned unless ransomed within twenty days, and this horrible decree appears from official documents to be consistent with the military usages of the period. the arrival of the letter from the cardinal-archduke, who levied the money for the ransom on the villagers of brabant, prevented, however, the execution of the menace, which could hardly have been seriously intended. within a week from the time of his departure from the hague to engage in this daring adventure, the stadholder had returned to that little capital, having achieved a complete success. the enthusiastic demonstrations throughout the land on account of so signal a victory can easily be imagined. nothing like this had ever before been recorded in the archives of the young commonwealth. there had been glorious defences of beleaguered cities, where scenes of heroic endurance and self-sacrifice had been enacted, such as never can be forgotten so long as the history of human liberty shall endure, but a victory won in the open field over the most famous legions of spain and against overwhelming numbers, was an achievement entirely without example. it is beyond all doubt that the force under varax was at least four times as large as that portion of the states' army which alone was engaged; for maurice had not a foot-soldier on the field until the battle was over, save the handful of musketeers who had followed vere and bax at the beginning of the action. therefore it is that this remarkable action merits a much more attentive consideration than it might deserve, regarded purely as a military exploit. to the military student a mere cavalry affair, fought out upon an obscure brabantine heath between a party of dutch carabineers and spanish pikemen, may seem of little account--a subject fitted by picturesque costume and animated action for the pencil of a wouvermanns or a terburg, but conveying little instruction. as illustrating a period of transition in which heavy armoured troopers--each one a human iron-clad fortress moving at speed and furnished with the most formidable portable artillery then known--could overcome the resistance of almost any number of foot-soldiers in light marching gear and armed with the antiquated pike, the affair may be worthy of a moment's attention; and for this improvement--itself now as obsolete as the slings and cataphracts of roman legions--the world was indebted to maurice. but the shock of mighty armies, the manoeuvring of vast masses in one magnificent combination, by which the fate of empires, the happiness or the misery of the peoples for generations, may perhaps be decided in a few hours, undoubtedly require a higher constructive genius than could be displayed in any such hand-to-hand encounter as that of turnhout, scientifically managed as it unquestionably was. the true and abiding interest of the battle is derived from is moral effect, from its influence on the people of the netherlands. and this could scarcely be exaggerated. the nation was electrified, transformed in an instant. who now should henceforth dare to say that one spanish fighting-man was equal to five or ten hollanders? at last the days of jemmingen and mooker-heath needed no longer to be remembered by every patriot with a shudder of shame. here at least in the open field a spanish army, after in vain refusing a combat and endeavouring to escape, had literally bitten the dust before one fourth of its own number. and this effect was a permanent one. thenceforth for foreign powers to talk of mediation between the republic and the ancient master, to suggest schemes of reconciliation and of a return to obedience, was to offer gratuitous and trivial insult, and we shall very soon have occasion to mark the simple eloquence with which the thirty-eight spanish standards of turnhout, hung up in the old hall of the hague, were made to reply to the pompous rhetoric of an interfering ambassador. this brief episode was not immediately followed by other military events of importance in the provinces during what remained of the winter. very early in the spring, however, it was probable that the campaign might open simultaneously in france and on the frontiers of flanders. of all the cities in the north of france there was none, after rouen, so important, so populous, so wealthy as amiens. situate in fertile fields, within three days march of paris, with no intervening forests or other impediments of a physical nature to free communication, it was the key to the gates of the capital. it had no garrison, for the population numbered fifteen thousand men able to bear arms, and the inhabitants valued themselves on the prowess of their trained militiamen, five thousand of whom they boasted to be able to bring into the field at an hour's notice--and they were perfectly loyal to henry. one morning in march there came a party of peasants, fifteen or twenty in number, laden with sacks of chestnuts and walnuts, to the northernmost gate of the town. they offered them for sale, as usual, to the soldiers at the guard-house, and chaffered and jested--as boors and soldiers are wont to do--over their wares. it so happened that in the course of the bargaining one of the bags became untied, and its contents, much to the dissatisfaction of the proprietor, were emptied on the ground. there was a scramble for the walnuts, and much shouting, kicking, and squabbling ensued, growing almost into a quarrel between the burgher-soldiers and the peasants. as the altercation was at its height a heavy wagon, laden with long planks, came towards the gate for the use of carpenters and architects within the town. the portcullis was drawn up to admit this lumbering vehicle, but in the confusion caused by the chance medley going on at the guard-house, the gate dropped again before the wagon had fairly got through the passage, and remained resting upon the timber with which it was piled. at that instant a shrill whistle was heard; and as if by magic the twenty chestnut-selling peasants were suddenly transformed to spanish and walloon soldiers armed to the teeth, who were presently reinforced by as many more of their comrades, who sprang from beneath the plank-work by which the real contents of the wagon had thus been screened. captain dognano, his brother the sergeant-major, captain d'arco, and other officers of a walloon regiment stationed in dourlans, were the leaders of the little party, and while they were busily occupied in putting the soldiers of the watch, thus taken unawares, to death, the master-spirit of the whole adventure suddenly made his appearance and entered the city at the head of fifteen hundred men. this was an extremely small, yellow, dried up, energetic spanish captain, with a long red beard, hernan tello de porto carrero by came, governor of the neighbouring city of dourlens, who had conceived this plan for obtaining possession of amiens. having sent these disguised soldiers on before him, he had passed the night with his men in ambush until the signal should sound. the burghers of the town were mostly in church; none were dreaming of an attack, as men rarely do--for otherwise how should they ever be surprised--and in half an hour amiens was the property of philip of spain. there were not very many lives lost, for the resistance was small, but great numbers were tortured for ransom and few women escaped outrage. the sack was famous, for the city was rich and the captors were few in number, so that each soldier had two or three houses to plunder for his own profit. when the work was done, the faubourgs were all destroyed, for it was the intention of the conquerors to occupy the place, which would be a most convenient basis of operations for any attack upon paris, and it was desirable to contract the limits to be defended. fifteen hundred houses, many of them beautiful villas surrounded with orchards and pleasure gardens,--were soon in flames, and afterwards razed to the ground. the governor of the place, count st. pol, managed to effect his escape. his place was now supplied by the marquis of montenegro, an italian in the service of the spanish king. such was the fate of amiens in the month of march, ; such the result of the refusal by the citizens to accept the garrison urged upon them by henry. it would be impossible to exaggerate the consternation produced. throughout france by this astounding and altogether unlooked for event. "it seemed," said president de thou, "as if it had extinguished in a moment the royal majesty and the french name." a few nights later than the date of this occurrence, maximilian de bethune (afterwards duke of sully, but then called marquis de rosny) was asleep in his bed in paris. he had returned, at past two o'clock in the morning, from a magnificent ball given by the constable of france. the capital had been uncommonly brilliant during the winter with banquets and dances, tourneys and masquerades, as if to cast a lurid glare over the unutterable misery of the people and the complete desolation of the country; but this entertainment--given by montmorency in honour of a fair dame with whom he supposed himself desperately in love, the young bride of a very ancient courtier--surpassed in splendour every festival that had been heard of for years. de bethune had hardly lost himself in slumber when he was startled by beringen, who, on drawing his curtains in this dead hour of the night, presented such a ghastly visage that the faithful friend of henry instantly imagined some personal disaster to his well-beloved sovereign. "is the king dead?" he cried. being re-assured as to, this point and told to hasten to the louvre, rosny instantly complied with the command. when he reached the palace he was admitted at once to the royal bed-chamber, where he found the king in the most unsophisticated of costumes, striding up and down the room, with his hands clasped together behind his head, and with an expression of agony upon his face: many courtiers were assembled there, stuck all of them like images against the wall, staring before them in helpless perplexity. henry rushed forward as rosny entered, and wringing him by the hand, exclaimed, "ah, my friend, what a misfortune, amiens is taken!" "very well," replied the financier, with unperturbed visage; "i have just completed a plan which will restore to your majesty not only amiens but many other places." the king drew a great sigh of relief and asked for his project. rosny, saying that he would instantly go and fetch his papers, left the apartment for an interval, in order to give vent to the horrible agitation which he had been enduring and so bravely concealing ever since the fatal words had been spoken. that a city so important, the key to paris, without a moment's warning, without the semblance of a siege, should thus fall into the hands of the enemy, was a blow as directly to the heart of de bethune as it could have been to any other of henry's adherents. but while they had been distracting the king by unavailing curses or wailings, henry, who had received the intelligence just as he was getting into bed, had sent for support and consolation to the tried friend of years, and he now reproachfully contrasted their pusillanimity with de rosny's fortitude. a great plan for reorganising the finances of the kingdom was that very night submitted by rosny to the king, and it was wrought upon day by day thereafter until it was carried into effect. it must be confessed that the crudities and immoralities which the project revealed do not inspire the political student of modern days with so high a conception of the financial genius of the great minister as his calm and heroic deportment on trying occasions, whether on the battle-field or in the council-chamber, does of his natural authority over his fellow-men. the scheme was devised to put money in the king's coffers, which at that moment were completely empty. its chief features were to create a great many new offices in the various courts of justice and tribunals of administration, all to be disposed of by sale to the highest bidder; to extort a considerable loan from the chief courtiers and from the richest burghers in the principal towns; to compel all the leading peculators--whose name in the public service was legion--to disgorge a portion of their ill-gotten gains, on being released from prosecution; and to increase the tax upon salt. such a project hardly seems a masterpiece of ethics or political economy, but it was hailed with rapture by the needy monarch. at once there was a wild excitement amongst the jobbers and speculators in places. the creation of an indefinite number of new judgeships and magistracies, to be disposed of at auction, was a tempting opportunity even in that age of corruption. one of the most notorious traders in the judicial ermine, limping robin de tours by name, at once made a private visit to madame de rosny and offered seventy-two thousand crowns for the exclusive right to distribute these new offices. if this could be managed to his satisfaction, he promised to give her a diamond worth two thousand crowns, and another, worth six thousand, to her husband. the wife of the great minister, who did not comprehend the whole amount of the insult, presented robin to her husband. she was enlightened, however, as to the barefaced iniquity of the offer, when she heard de bethune's indignant. reply, and saw the jobber limp away, crest-fallen and amazed. that a financier or a magistrate should decline a bribe or interfere with the private sale of places, which were after all objects of merchandise, was to him incomprehensible. the industrious robin, accordingly, recovering from his discomfiture, went straightway to the chancellor, and concluded the same bargain in the council chamber which had been rejected by de bethune, with the slight difference that the distribution of the places. was assigned to the speculator for seventy-five thousand instead of seventy-two thousand crowns. it was with great difficulty that de bethune, who went at once to the king with complaints and insinuations as to the cleanness of the chancellor's hands, was able to cancel the operation. the day was fast approaching when the universal impoverishment of the great nobles and landholders--the result of the long, hideous, senseless massacres called the wars of religion--was to open the way for the labouring classes to acquire a property in the soil. thus that famous fowl in every pot was to make its appearance, which vulgar tradition ascribes to the bounty of a king who hated everything like popular rights, and loved nothing but his own glory and his own amusement. it was not until the days of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren that privilege could renew those horrible outrages on the people, which were to be avenged by a dread series of wars, massacres, and crimes, compared to which even the religious conflicts of the sixteenth century grow pale. meantime de bethune comforted his master with these financial plans, and assured him in the spirit of prophecy that the king of spain, now tottering as it was thought to his grave, would soon be glad to make a favourable peace with france even if he felt obliged to restore not only amiens but every other city or stronghold that he had ever conquered in that kingdom. time would soon show whether this prediction were correct or delusive; but while the secret negotiations between henry and the pope were vigorously proceeding for that peace with spain which the world in general and the commonwealth of the netherlands in particular thought to be farthest from the warlike king's wishes, it was necessary to set about the siege of amiens. henry assembled a force of some twelve or fifteen thousand men for that purpose, while the cardinal-archduke, upon his part, did his best to put an army in the field in order to relieve the threatened city so recently acquired by a coarse but successful artifice. but albert was in even a worse plight than that in which his great antagonist found himself. when he had first arrived in the provinces, his exchequer was overflowing, and he was even supposed to devote a considerable portion of the military funds to defray the expenses of his magnificent housekeeping at brussels. but those halcyon days were over. a gigantic fraud, just perpetrated by philip; had descended like a thunderbolt upon the provinces and upon all commercial europe, and had utterly blasted the unfortunate viceroy. in the latter days of the preceding year the king had issued a general repudiation of his debts. he did it solemnly, too, and with great religious unction, for it was a peculiarity of this remarkable sovereign that he was ever wont to accomplish his darkest crimes, whether murders or stratagems, as if they were acts of virtue. perhaps he really believed them to be such, for a man, before whom so many millions of his fellow worms had been writhing for half a century in the dust, might well imagine himself a deity. so the king, on the th november, , had publicly revoked all the assignments, mortgages, and other deeds by which the royal domains; revenues, taxes, and other public property had been transferred or pledged for moneys already advanced to merchants, banker, and other companies or individuals, and formally took them again into his own possession, on the ground that his exertions in carrying on this long war to save christianity from destruction had reduced him to beggary, while the money-lenders, by charging him exorbitant interest, had all grown rich at his expense. this was perfectly simple. there was no attempt to disguise the villany of the transaction. the massacre of so many millions of protestants, the gigantic but puerile attempts to subjugate the dutch republic, and to annex france, england, and the german empire to his hereditary dominions, had been attended with more expense than philip had calculated upon. the enormous wealth which a long series of marriages, inheritances, conquests, and maritime discoveries had heaped upon spain had been exhausted by the insane ambition of the king to exterminate heresy throughout the world, and to make himself the sovereign of one undivided, universal, catholic monarchy. all the gold and silver of america had not sufficed for this purpose, and he had seen, with an ever rising indignation, those very precious metals which, in his ignorance of the laws of trade, he considered his exclusive property flowing speedily into the coffers of the merchants of europe, especially those of the hated commonwealth of the rebellious netherlands. therefore he solemnly renounced all his contracts, and took god to witness that it was to serve his divine will. how else could he hope to continue his massacre of the protestants? the effect of the promulgation of this measure was instantaneous. two millions and a half of bills of exchange sold by the cardinal albert came back in one day protested. the chief merchants and bankers of europe suspended payment. their creditors became bankrupt. at the frankfort fair there were more failures in one day than there had ever been in all the years since frankfort existed. in genoa alone a million dollars of interest were confiscated. it was no better in antwerp; but antwerp was already ruined. there was a general howl of indignation and despair upon every exchange, in every counting-room, in every palace, in every cottage of christendom. such a tremendous repudiation of national debts was never heard of before. there had been debasements of the currency, petty frauds by kings upon their unfortunate peoples, but such a crime as this had never been conceived by human heart before. the archduke was fain to pawn his jewelry, his plate, his furniture, to support the daily expenses of his household. meantime he was to set an army in the field to relieve a city, beleaguered by the most warlike monarch in christendom. fortunately for him, that prince was in very similar straits, for the pressure upon the public swindlers and the auction sales of judicial ermine throughout his kingdom were not as rapidly productive as had been hoped. it was precisely at this moment, too, that an incident of another nature occurred in antwerp, which did not tend to make the believers in the possibility of religious or political freedom more in love with the system of spain and rome. those blood-dripping edicts against heresy in the netherlands, of which enough has been said in previous volumes of this history, and which had caused the deaths, by axe, faggot, halter, or burial alive, of at least fifty thousand human creatures--however historical scepticism may shut its eyes to evidence--had now been, dormant for twenty years. their activity had ceased with the pacification of ghent; but the devilish spirit which had inspired them still lived in the persons of the jesuits, and there were now more jesuits in the obedient provinces than there had been for years. we have seen that champagny's remedy for the ills the country was enduring was "more jesuits." and this, too, was albert's recipe. always "more jesuits." and now the time had come when the jesuits thought that they might step openly with their works into the daylight again. of late years they had shrouded themselves in comparative mystery, but from their seminaries and colleges had gone forth a plentiful company of assassins against elizabeth and henry, nassau, barneveld, and others who, whether avowedly or involuntarily, were prominent in the party of human progress. some important murders had already been accomplished, and the prospect was fair that still others might follow, if the jesuits persevered. meantime those ecclesiastics thought that a wholesome example might be by the spectacle of a public execution. two maiden ladies lived on the north rampart of antwerp. they had formerly professed the protestant religion, and had been thrown into prison for that crime; but the fear of further persecution, human weakness, or perhaps sincere conviction, had caused them to renounce the error of their ways, and they now went to mass. but they had a maidservant, forty years of age, anna van den hove by name, who was staunch in that reformed faith in which she had been born and bred. the jesuits denounced this maid-servant to the civil authority, and claimed her condemnation and execution under the edicts of , decrees which every one had supposed as obsolete as the statutes of draco, which they had so entirely put to shame. the sentence having been obtained from the docile and priest-ridden magistrates, anna van den hove was brought to brussels and informed that she was at once to be buried alive. at the same time, the jesuits told her that by converting herself to the church she might escape punishment. when king henry iv. was summoned to renounce that same huguenot faith, of which he was the political embodiment and the military champion, the candid man answered by the simple demand to be instructed. when the proper moment came, the instruction was accomplished by an archbishop with the rapidity of magic. half an hour undid the work of half a life-time. thus expeditiously could religious conversion be effected when an earthly crown was its guerdon. the poor serving-maid was less open to conviction. in her simple fanaticism she too talked of a crown, and saw it descending from heaven on her poor forlorn head as the reward, not of apostasy, but of steadfastness. she asked her tormentors how they could expect her to abandon her religion for fear of death. she had read her bible every day, she said, and had found nothing there of the pope or purgatory, masses, invocation of saints, or the absolution of sins except through the blood of the blessed redeemer. she interfered with no one who thought differently; she quarrelled with no one's religious belief. she had prayed for enlightenment from him, if she were in error, and the result was that she felt strengthened in her simplicity, and resolved to do nothing against her conscience. rather than add this sin to the manifold ones committed by her, she preferred, she said, to die the death. so anna van den hove was led, one fine midsummer morning, to the hayfield outside of brussels, between two jesuits, followed by a number of a peculiar kind of monks called love-brothers. those holy men goaded her as she went, telling her that she was the devil's carrion, and calling on her to repent at the last moment, and thus save her life and escape eternal damnation beside. but the poor soul had no ear for them, and cried out that, like stephen, she saw the heavens opening, and the angels stooping down to conduct her far away from the power of the evil one. when they came to the hay-field they found the pit already dug, and the maid-servant was ordered to descend into it. the executioner then covered her with earth up to the waist, and a last summons was made to her to renounce her errors. she refused, and then the earth was piled upon her, and the hangman jumped upon the grave till it was flattened and firm. of all the religious murders done in that hideous sixteenth century in the netherlands; the burial of the antwerp servantmaid was the last and the worst. the worst, because it was a cynical and deliberate attempt to revive the demon whose thirst for blood had been at last allayed, and who had sunk into repose. and it was a spasmodic revival only, for, in the provinces at least, that demon had finished his work. still, on the eastern borders of what was called civilization, turk and christian were contending for the mastery. the great battle of kovesd had decided nothing, and the crescent still shone over the fortified and most important hungarian stronghold of raab, within arm's length of vienna. how rapidly might that fatal and menacing emblem fill its horns, should it once be planted on the walls of the imperial capital! it was not wonderful that a sincere impatience should be felt by all the frontier states for the termination of the insurrection of the netherlands. would that rebellious and heretical republic only consent to go out of existence, again bow its stubborn knee to philip and the pope, what a magnificent campaign might be made against mahomet! the king of spain was the only potentate at all comparable in power to the grand turk. the king of france, most warlike of men, desired nothing better, as he avowed, than to lead his brave nobles into hungary to smite the unbelievers. even prince maurice, it was fondly hoped, might be induced to accept a high command in the united armies of christendom, and seek for glory by campaigning, in alliance with philip; rudolph, and henry, against the ottoman, rather than against his natural sovereign. such were the sagacity, the insight, the power of forecasting the future possessed in those days by monarchs, statesmen, and diplomatists who were imagining that they held the world's destiny in their hands. there was this summer a solemn embassy from the emperor to the states-general proposing mediation referring in the usual conventional phraseology to the right of kings to command, and to the duty of the people to submit, and urging the gentle-mindedness and readiness to forgive which characterised the sovereign of the netherlands and of spain. and the statesmen of the republic had answered as they always did, showing with courteous language, irresistible logic, and at, unmerciful length, that there never had been kings in the netherlands at all, and that the gentle-mindedness of philip had been exhibited in the massacre of a hundred thousand netherlanders in various sieges and battles, and in the murder, under the duke of alva alone, of twenty thousand human beings by the hangman. they liked not such divine right nor such gentle-mindedness. they recognised no duty on their part to consent to such a system. even the friendly king of denmark sent a legation for a similar purpose, which was respectfully but very decidedly allowed to return as it came; but the most persistent in schemes of interference for the purpose of putting an end to the effusion of blood in the netherlands was sigismund of poland. this monarch, who occupied two very incompatible positions, being sovereign at once of fanatically protestant sweden and of orthodox poland, and who was, moreover, son-in-law of archduke charles of styria whose other daughter was soon to be espoused by the prince of spain--was personally and geographically interested in liberating philip from the inconvenience of his netherland war. only thus could he hope to bring the spanish power to the rescue of christendom against the turk. troubles enough were in store for sigismund in his hereditary northern realms, and he was to learn that his intermarriage with the great catholic and imperial house did not enable him to trample out protestantism in those hardy scandinavian and flemish regions where it had taken secure root. meantime he despatched, in solemn mission to the republic and to the heretic queen, a diplomatist whose name and whose oratorical efforts have by a caprice of history been allowed to endure to our times. paul dialyn was solemnly received at the hague on the st july. a pragmatical fop, attired in a long, magnificent polish robe, covered with diamonds and other jewels, he was yet recognised by some of those present as having been several years before a student at leyden under a different name, and with far less gorgeous surroundings. he took up his position in the council-chamber, in the presence of the stadholder and the leading members of the states-general, and pronounced a long latin oration, in the manner, as it was said, of a monk delivering a sermon from the pulpit. he kept his eyes steadily fixed on the ceiling, never once looking at the men whom he was addressing, and speaking in a loud, nasal, dictatorial tone, not at all agreeable to the audience. he dwelt in terms of extravagant eulogy on the benignity and gentleness of the king of spain--qualities in which he asserted that no prince on earth could be compared to him--and he said this to the very face of maurice of nassau. that the benignant and gentle king had caused the stadholder's father to be assassinated, and that he had rewarded the murderer's family with a patent of nobility, and with an ample revenue taken from the murdered man's property, appeared of no account to the envoy in the full sweep of his rhetoric. yet the reminiscence caused a shudder of disgust in all who heard him. he then stated the wish of his master the polish king to be that, in regard to the turk, the provinces might reconcile themselves to their natural master, who was the most powerful monarch in christendom, and the only one able to make head against the common foe. they were solemnly warned of the enormous power and resources of the great king, with whom it was hopeless for them to protract a struggle sure to end at last in their uttermost destruction. it was for kings to issue commands; he said, and for the people to obey; but philip was full of sweetness, and would accord them full forgiveness for their manifold sins against him. the wish to come to the rescue of christendom, in this extreme peril from the turk, was with him paramount to all other considerations. such; in brief, was the substance of the long latin harangue by which it was thought possible to induce those sturdy republicans and calvinists to renounce their vigorous national existence and to fall on their knees before the most catholic king. this was understood to be mediation, statesmanship, diplomacy, in deference to which the world was to pause and the course of events to flow backwards. truly, despots and their lackeys were destined to learn some rude lessons from that vigorous little commonwealth in the north sea, before it should have accomplished its mission on earth. the states-general dissembled their disgust, however, for it was not desirable to make open enemies of sigismund or rudolph. they refused to accept a copy of the oration, but they promised to send him a categorical answer to it in writing. meantime the envoy had the honour of walking about the castle with the stadholder, and, in the course of their promenade, maurice pointed to the thirty-eight standards taken at the battle of turnhout, which hung from the cedarn rafters of the ancient banquetting hall. the mute eloquence of those tattered banners seemed a not illogical reply to the diplomatic paul's rhetoric in regard to the hopelessness of a contest with spanish armies. next, van der werken--pensionary of leyden, and a classical scholar--waited upon the envoy with a latin reply to his harangue, together with a courteous letter for sigismund. both documents were scathing denunciations of the policy pursued by the king of spain and by all his aiders and abettors, and a distinct but polished refusal to listen to a single word in favour of mediation or of peace. paul dialyn then received a courteous permission to leave the territory of the republic, and was subsequently forwarded in a states' vessel of war to england. his reception, about a month later, by queen elizabeth is an event on which all english historians are fond of dwelling. the pedant, on being presented to that imperious and accomplished sovereign, deported himself with the same ludicrous arrogance which had characterised him at the hague. his latin oration, which had been duly drawn up for him by the chancellor of sweden, was quite as impertinent as his harangue to the states-general had been, and was delivered with the same conceited air. the queen replied on the instant in the same tongue. she was somewhat in a passion, but spoke with majestic moderation? "oh, how i have been deceived!" she exclaimed. "i expected an ambassador, and behold a herald! in all my life i never heard of such an oration. your boldness and unadvised temerity i cannot sufficiently admire. but if the king your master has given you any such thing in charge--which i much doubt--i believe it is because, being but a young man, and lately advanced to the crown, not by ordinary succession of blood, but by election, he understandeth not yet the way of such affairs." and so on--for several minutes longer. never did envoy receive such a setting down from sovereign. "god's death, my lords!" said the queen to her ministers; as she concluded, "i have been enforced this day to scour up my old latin that hath lain long in rusting." this combination of ready wit, high spirit, and good latin, justly excited the enthusiasm of the queen's subjects, and endeared her still more to every english heart. it may, however, be doubted whether the famous reply was in reality so entirely extemporaneous as it has usually been considered. the states-general had lost no time in forwarding to england a minute account of the proceedings of paul dialyn at the hague, together with a sketch of his harangue and of the reply on behalf of the states. her majesty and her counsellors therefore, knowing that the same envoy was on his way to england with a similar errand, may be supposed to have had leisure to prepare the famous impromptu. moreover, it is difficult to understand, on the presumption that these classic utterances were purely extemporaneous, how they have kept their place in all chronicles and histories from that day to the present, without change of a word in the text. surely there was no stenographer present to take down the queen's words as they fell from her lips. the military events of the year did not testify to a much more successful activity on the part of the new league in the field than it had displayed in the sphere of diplomacy. in vain did the envoy of the republic urge henry and his counsellors to follow up the crushing blow dealt to the cardinal at turnhout by vigorous operations in conjunction with the states' forces in artois and hainault. for amiens had meantime been taken, and it was now necessary for the king to employ all his energy and all his resources to recover that important city. so much damage to the cause of the republic and of the new league had the little yellow spanish captain inflicted in an hour, with his bags of chestnuts and walnuts. the siege of amiens lasted nearly six months, and was the main event of the campaign, so far as henry was concerned. it is true--as the reader has already seen, and as will soon be more clearly developed--that henry's heart had been fixed on peace from the moment that he consented in conjunction with the republic to declare war, and that he had entered into secret and separate negotiations for that purpose with the agents of philip so soon as he had bound himself by solemn covenant with elizabeth to have no negotiations whatever with him except with her full knowledge and consent. the siege of amiens, however, was considered a military masterpiece, and its whole progress showed the revolution which the stadholder of holland had already effected in european warfare. henry iv. beleaguered amiens as if he were a pupil of maurice, and contemporaries were enthusiastic over the science, the patience, the inventive ingenuity which were at last crowned with success. the heroic hernan tello de porto carrero was killed in a sortie during the defence of the place which he had so gallantly won, and when the city was surrendered to the king on the th of september it was stipulated in the first article of the capitulation that the tomb, epitaph, and trophies, by which his memory was honoured in the principal church, should not be disturbed, and that his body might be removed whenever and whither it seemed good to his sovereign. in vain the cardinal had taken the field with an army of eighteen thousand foot and fifteen hundred light cavalry. the king had learned so well to entrench himself and to moderate his ardour for inopportune pitched battles, that the relieving force could find, no occasion to effect its purpose. the archduke retired. he came to amiens like a soldier, said henry, but he went back like a priest. moreover, he was obliged to renounce, besides the city, a most tempting prize which he thought that he had secured within the city. alexander farnese, in his last french campaign, had procured and sent to his uncle the foot of st. philip and the head of st. lawrence; but what was albert's delight when he learned that in amiens cathedral there was a large piece of the head of john the baptist! "there will be a great scandal about it in this kingdom," he wrote to philip, "if i undertake to transport it out of the country, but i will try to contrive it as your majesty desires." but the military events of the year prevented the cardinal from gratifying the king in regard to these choice curiosities. after the reduction of the city henry went a considerable distance with his army towards the frontier of flanders, in order to return, as he said, "his cousin's visit." but the recovery of amiens had placed too winning a card in the secret game which he was then playing to allow him to push his nominal adversary to extremities. the result, suspected very early in the year by the statesmen of the republic, was already very plainly foreshadowing itself as the winter advanced. nor had the other two members of the league affected much in the field. again an expedition had been fitted forth under essex against the spanish coast to return the compliment which philip had intended with the unlucky armada under santa gadea; and again sir francis vere, with two thousand veterans from the netherlands, and the dutch admirals, with ten ships of war and a large number of tenders and transports, had faithfully taken part in the adventure. the fleet was tempest-tossed for ten days, during which it reached the threatened coast and was blown off again. it returned at last into the english ports, having accomplished nothing, and having expended superfluously a considerable amount of money and trouble. essex, with a few of the vessels, subsequently made a cruise towards the azores, but, beyond the capture of a spanish merchantman or two, gained no glory and inflicted no damage. nothing could be feebler than the military operations of the three confederated powers ever since they had so solemnly confederated themselves. sick at heart with the political intrigues of his allies which had--brought a paralysis upon his arms which the blows of the enemy could hardly have effected, maurice took the field in august: for an autumnal campaign on the eastern frontier of the republic. foiled in his efforts for a combined attack by the whole force of the league upon philip's power in the west, he thought it at least expedient to liberate the rhine, to secure the important provinces of zutphen, gelderland, and overyssel from attack, and to provide against the dangerous intrigues and concealed warfare carried on by spain in the territories of the mad duke of juliers, clever and berg. for the seeds of the thirty years' war of germany were already sown broadcast in those fatal duchies, and it was the determination of the agents of spain to acquire the mastery of that most eligible military position, that excellent 'sedes belli,' whenever protestantism was to be assailed in england, the netherlands, or germany. meantime the hispaniolated counsellors of duke john had strangled--as it was strongly suspected--his duchess, who having gone to bed in perfect health one evening was found dead in her bed next morning, with an ugly mark on her throat; and it was now the purpose of these statesmen to find a new bride for their insane sovereign in the ever ready and ever orthodox house of lorrain. and the protestant brothers-in-law and nephews and nieces were making every possible combination in order to check such dark designs, and to save these important territories from the ubiquitous power of spain. the stadholder had also family troubles at this period. his sister emilia had conceived a desperate passion for don emmanuel, the pauper son of the forlorn pretender to portugal, don antonio, who had at last departed this life. maurice was indignant that a catholic, an outcast, and, as it was supposed, a bastard, should dare to mate with the daughter of william of orange-nassau; and there were many scenes of tenderness, reproaches, recriminations, and 'hysterica passio,' in which not only the lovers, the stadholder and his family, but also the high and mighty states-general, were obliged to enact their parts. the chronicles are filled with the incidents, which, however, never turned to tragedy, nor even to romance, but ended, without a catastrophe, in a rather insipid marriage. the princess emilia remained true both to her religion and her husband during a somewhat obscure wedded life, and after her death don emmanuel found means to reconcile himself with the king of spain and to espouse, in second nuptials, a spanish lady. on the th of august, maurice arrived at arnhem with a force of seven thousand foot and twelve hundred horse. hohenlo was with him, and william lewis, and there was yet another of the illustrious house of nassau in the camp, frederick henry, a boy in his thirteenth year, the youngest born of william the silent, the grandson of admiral de coligny, now about; in this his first campaign, to take the first step in a long and noble career. having reduced the town and castle of alphen, the stadholder came before rheinberg, which he very expeditiously invested. during a preliminary skirmish william lewis received a wound in the leg, while during the brief siege maurice had a narrow escape from death, a cannon-ball passing through his tent and over his head as he lay taking a brief repose upon his couch. on the th, rheinberg, the key to that portion of the river, surrendered. on the st the stadholder opened his batteries upon the city of meurs, which capitulated on the nd of september; the commandant, andrew miranda, stipulating that he should carry off an old fifty-pounder, the only piece of cannon in the place. maurice gave his permission with a laugh, begging miranda not to batter down any cities with his big gun. on the th september the stadholdet threw a bridge over the rhine, and crossing that river and the lippe, came on the th before grol. there was no christopher mondragon now in his path to check his progress and spoil his campaign, so that in seventeen days the city, being completely surrounded with galleries and covered ways up to its walls, surrendered. count van stirum, royal governor of the place, dined with the stadholder on that day, and the garrison, from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred strong; together with such of the townsfolk as chose to be subjects of philip rather than citizens of the republic, were permitted to depart in peace. on the th october the town and castle of brevoort were taken by storm and the town was burned. on the th october, maurice having summoned enschede, the commandant requested permission to examine the artillery by which it was proposed to reduce the city. leave being granted, two captains were deputed accordingly as inspectors, who reported that resistance was useless. the place accordingly capitulated at once. here, again, was an improvement on the heroic practice of alva and romero. on the st and nd october, ootmarsum and oldenzaal were taken, and on the th the little army came before lingen. this important city surrendered after a fortnight's siege. thus closed a sagacious, business-like, three-months' campaign, in the course of which the stadholder, although with a slender force, had by means of his excellent organization and his profound practical science, achieved very considerable results. he had taken nine strongly-fortified cities and five castles, opened the navigation of the rhine, and strengthened the whole eastern bulwarks of the republic. he was censured by the superficial critics of the old school for his humanity towards the conquered garrisons. at least it was thought quite superfluous to let these spanish soldiers go scot free. five thousand veterans had thus been liberated to swell the ranks of the cardinal's army, but the result soon proved the policy of maurice to be, in many ways, wholesome. the great repudiation by philip, and the consequent bankruptcy of alberta converted large numbers of the royal troops into mutineers, and these garrisons from the eastern frontier were glad to join in the game. after the successful siege of hulst in the previous year the cardinal had reduced the formidable mutiny which had organized itself at tirlemont and chapelle in the days of his luckless predecessor. those rebels had been paid off and had mainly returned to italy and other lands to spend their money. but soon a new rebellion in all the customary form's established itself in antwerp citadel during the temporary absence of mexia, the governor, and great was the misery of the unhappy burghers thus placed at the mercy of the guns of that famous pentagon. they were obliged to furnish large sums to the whole garrison, paying every common foot-soldier twelve stivers a day and the officers in proportion, while the great eletto demanded, beside his salary, a coach and six, a state bed with satin curtains and fine linen, and the materials for banquetting sumptuously every day. at the slightest demur to these demands the bombardment from the citadel would begin, and the accurate artillery practice of those experienced cannoneers soon convinced the loyal citizens of the propriety of the arrangement. the example spread. the garrison of ghent broke into open revolt, and a general military rebellion lasted for more than a year. while the loyal cities of the obedient provinces were thus enjoying the fruits of their loyalty and obedience, the rebellious capital of the republic was receiving its stadholder with exuberant demonstrations of gratitude. the year, begun with the signal victory of turnhout, had worthily terminated, so far as military events were concerned, with the autumnal campaign on the rhine, and great were the rejoicings throughout the little commonwealth. thus, with diminished resources, had the republic been doing its share of the work which the anti-spanish league had been called into existence to accomplish. but, as already intimated, this league was a mere fraud upon the netherlands, which their statesmen were not slow in discovering. of course it was the object of philip and of the pope to destroy this formidable triple alliance as soon as formed, and they found potent assistance, not only in henry's counsellors, but in the bosom of that crafty monarch himself. clement hated philip as much as he feared him, so that the prospect both of obtaining henry as a counterpoise to his own most oppressive and most catholic protector, and of breaking up the great convert's alliance with the heretic queen and the rebellious republic, was a most tempting one to his holiness. therefore he employed, indefatigably, the matchless powers of intrigue possessed by rome to effect this great purpose. as for elizabeth, she was weary of the war, most anxious to be reimbursed her advances to the states, and profoundly jealous of the rising commercial and naval greatness of the new commonwealth. if the league therefore proved impotent from the beginning, certainly it was not the fault of the united netherlands. we have seen how much the king deplored, in intimate conversation with de bethune, his formal declaration of war against spain which the dutch diplomatists had induced him to make; and indeed nothing can be more certain than that this public declaration of war, and this solemn formation of the triple alliance against philip, were instantly accompanied on henry's part by secret peace negotiations with philip's agents. villeroy, told envoy calvaert that as for himself he always trembled when he thought on what he had done, in seconding the will of his majesty in that declaration at the instance of the states-general, of which measure so many losses and such bitter fruits had been the result. he complained, too, of the little assistance or co-operation yielded by england. calvaert replied that he had nothing to say in defence of england, but that certainly the king could have no cause to censure the states. the republic, however, had good ground, he said, to complain that nothing had been done by france, that all favourable occasions had been neglected, and that there was a perpetual change of counsels. the envoy, especially, and justly, reproached the royal government for having taken no advantage of the opportunity offered by the victory of turnhout, in which the republic had utterly defeated the principal forces of the common enemy. he bluntly remarked, too, that the mysterious comings and goings of balvena had naturally excited suspicions in the netherlands, and that it would be better that all such practices should be at once abandoned. they did his majesty no service, and it was no wonder that they caused uneasiness to his allies. villeroy replied that the king had good reasons to give satisfaction to those who were yearning for peace. as henry himself was yearning in this regard as much as any of his subjects, it was natural enough that he should listen to balvena and all other informal negotiators whom cardinal ilbert might send from brussels or clement from rome. it will be recollected that henry's parting words to balvena at rouen had been: "tell the archduke that i am very much his friend. let him arrange a peace. begone. be diligent." but the king's reply to calvaert, when, after the interview with villeroy, that envoy was admitted to the royal dressing room for private conversation and took the occasion to remonstrate with his majesty on these intrigues with the spanish agent, was that he should send off balvena in such fashion that it would take from the cardinal-archduke all hope of troubling him with any further propositions. it has been seen, too, with what an outbreak of wrath the proposition, made by elizabeth through robert sydney, that she should succour calais on condition of keeping it for herself, had been received by henry. at a somewhat later moment, when calais had passed entirely into the possession of spain, the queen offered to lay siege to that city with twelve thousand men, but with the understanding that the success was to be entirely for her own profit. again the king bad expressed great astonishment and indignation at the proposition. nevertheless, after amiens had been lost, henry had sent fonquerolles on a special mission to england, asking elizabeth's assistance in the siege for its recovery, and offering that she should keep calais as a pledge for expenses thus incurred, on the same terms as those on which she held the brill and flushing in the netherlands. this proposal, however, to make a considerable campaign in picardy, and to be indemnified by henry for her trouble with the pledge of a city which was not his property, did not seem tempting to elizabeth: the mission of fonquerolles was fruitless, as might have been supposed. nothing certainly in the queen's attitude, up to that moment, could induce the supposition that she would help to reduce amiens for the sake of the privilege of conquering calais if she could. so soon as her refusal was made certain, henry dropped the mask. buzanval, the regular french envoy at the hague--even while amazing the states by rebukes for their short-comings in the field and by demands for immediate co-operation in the king's campaign, when the king was doing nothing but besiege amiens--astonished the republican statesmen still further by telling them--that his master was listening seriously to the pope's secret offers. his holiness had assured the king, through the legate at paris, that he could easily bring about a peace between him and philip, if henry would agree to make it alone, and he would so manage it that the king's name should not be mixed up with the negotiations, and that he should not appear as seeking for peace. it was to be considered however--so henry's envoy intimated both at greenwich and the hague--that if the king should accept the pope's intervention he would be obliged to exclude from a share in it the queen and all others not of the catholic religion, and it was feared that the same necessity which had compelled him to listen to these overtures would force him still further in the same path. he dreaded lest, between peace and war, he might fall into a position in which the law would be dictated to him either by the enemy or by those who had undertaken to help him out of danger. much more information to this effect did buzanval communicate to the states on the authority of a private letter from the king, telling him of the ill-success of the mission of fonquerolles. that diplomatist had brought back nothing from england, it appeared, save excuses, general phrases, and many references to the troubles in ireland and to the danger of a new spanish armada. it was now for the first time, moreover, that the states learned how they had been duped both by england and france in the matter of the league. to their surprise they were informed that while they were themselves furnishing four thousand men, according to the contract signed by the three powers, the queen had in reality only agreed to contribute two thousand soldiers, and these only for four months' service, within a very strict territorial limit, and under promise of immediate reimbursement of the expenses thus incurred. these facts, together with the avowal that their magnanimous ally had all along been secretly treating for peace with the common enemy, did not make a cheerful impression upon those plain-spoken republicans, nor was it much consolation to them to receive the assurance that "after the king's death his affection and gratitude towards the states would be found deeply engraved upon his heart." the result of such a future autopsy might seem a matter of comparative indifference, since meantime the present effect to the republic of those deep emotions was a treacherous desertion. calvaert, too, who had so long haunted the king like his perpetual shadow, and who had believed him--at least so far as the netherlands were concerned--to be almost without guile, had been destined after all to a rude awakening. sick and suffering, he did not cease, so long as life was in him, to warn the states-general of the dangers impending over them from the secret negotiations which their royal ally was doing his best to conceal from them, and as to which he had for a time succeeded so dexterously in hoodwinking their envoy himself. but the honest and energetic agent of the republic did not live to see the consummation of these manoeuvres of henry and the pope. he died in paris during the month of june of this year. certainly the efforts of spanish and papal diplomacy had not been unsuccessful in bringing about a dissolution of the bonds of amity by which the three powers seemed so lately to be drawing themselves very closely together. the republic and henry iv. were now on a most uncomfortable footing towards each other. on the other hand, the queen was in a very ill humour with the states and very angry with henry. especially the persistent manner in which the hollanders carried on trade with spain and were at the same time making fortunes for themselves and feeding the enemy, while englishmen, on pain of death, were debarred from participation in such traffic, excited great and general indignation in england. in vain was it represented that this trade, if prohibited to the commonwealth would fall into the hands of neutral powers, and that spain would derive her supplies from the baltic and other regions as regularly as ever, while the republic, whose whole life was in her foreign commerce, would not only become incapable of carrying on the war but would perish of inanition. the english statesmen threatened to declare all such trade contraband, and vessels engaging in it lawful prize to english cruisers. burghley declared, with much excitement, to canon, that he, as well as all the council, considered the conduct of the hollanders so unjustifiable as to make them regret that their princess had ever embarked with a state which chose to aid its own enemies in the destruction of itself and its allies. such conduct was so monstrous that those who were told of it would hardly believe it. the dutch envoy observed that there were thirty thousand sailors engaged in this trade, and he asked the lord treasurer whether he proposed that these people should all starve or be driven into the service of the enemy. burghley rejoined that the hollanders had the whole world beside to pursue their traffic in, that they did indeed trade over the whole world, and had thereby become so extraordinarily, monstrously rich that there was no believing it. caron declared his sincere wish that this was true, but said, on the contrary, that he knew too well what extreme trouble and labour the states-general had in providing for the expenses of the war and in extracting the necessary funds from the various communities. this would hardly be the case were such great wealth in the land as was imagined. but still the english counsellors protested that they would stop this trading with the enemy at every hazard. on the question of peace or war itself the republican diplomatists were often baffled as to the true intentions of the english government. "as the queen is fine and false," said marquis havre, observing and aiding in the various intrigues which were weaving at brussels, "and her council much the same, she is practising towards the hollanders a double stratagem. on the one hand she induces them to incline to a general peace. on the other, her adherents, ten or twelve in number of those who govern holland and have credit with the people, insist that the true. interest of the state is in a continuation of the war." but havre, adept in diplomatic chicane as he undoubtedly was, would have found it difficult to find any man of intelligence or influence in that rebellious commonwealth, of which he was once a servant, who had any doubt on that subject. it needed no english argument to persuade olden-barneveld, and the other statesmen who guided the destiny of the republic, that peace would be destruction. moreover, there is no question that both the queen and burghley would have been truly grateful had the states-general been willing to make peace and return to the allegiance which they had long since spurned. nevertheless it is difficult to say whether there were at this moment more of animosity in elizabeth's mind towards her backsliding ally, with whom she had so recently and so pompously sworn an eternal friendship, or towards her ancient enemy. although she longed for peace, she hardly saw her way to it, for she felt that the secret movements of henry had in a manner barred the path. she confessed to the states' envoy that it was as easy for her to make black white as to make peace with spain. to this caron cordially assented, saying with much energy, "there is as much chance for your majesty and for us to make peace, during the life of the present king of spain, as to find redemption in hell." to the danish ambassadors, who had come to england with proposals of mediation, the queen had replied that the king of spain had attacked her dominions many times, and had very often attempted her assassination, that after long patience she had begun to defend herself, and had been willing to show him that she had the courage and the means, not only to maintain herself against his assaults, but also to invade his realms; that, therefore, she was not disposed to speak first; nor to lay down any conditions. yet, if she saw that the king of spain had any remorse for his former offences against her, and wished to make atonement for them, she was willing to declare that her heart was not so alienated from peace; but that she could listen to propositions on the subject. she said, too, that such a peace must be a general one, including both the king of france and the states of the netherlands, for with these powers she had but lately made an offensive and defensive league against the king of spain, from which she protested that for no consideration in the world would she ever swerve one jot. certainly these were words of christian charity and good faith, but such professions are the common staple of orations and documents for public consumption. as the accounts became more and more minute, however, of henry's intrigues with albert, philip, and clement, the queen grew more angry. she told caron that she was quite aware that the king had long been in communication with the cardinal's emissaries, and that he had even sent some of his principal counsellors to confer with the cardinal himself at arras, in direct violation of the stipulations of the league. she expressed her amazement at the king's conduct; for she knew very well, she said, that the league had hardly been confirmed and sworn to, before he was treating with secret agents sent to him by the cardinal. "and now," she continued, "they propose to send an ambassador to inform me of the whole proceeding, and to ask my advice and consent in regard to negotiations which they have, perchance, entirely concluded." she further informed the republican envoy that the king had recently been taking the ground in these dealings with the common enemy; that the two kingdoms of france and england must first be provided for; that when the basis between these powers and spain had been arranged, it would be time to make arrangements for the states, and that it would probably be found advisable to obtain a truce of three or four years between them and spain, in which interval the government of the provinces might remain on its actual footing. during this armistice the king of spain was to withdraw all spanish troops from the netherlands, in consequence of which measure all distrust would by degrees vanish, and the community, becoming more and more encouraged, would in time recognise the king for their sovereign once more. this, according to the information received by elizabeth from her resident minister in france, was henry's scheme for carrying out the principles of the offensive and defensive league, which only the year before he had so solemnly concluded with the dutch republic. instead of assisting that commonwealth in waging her war of independence against spain, he would endeavour to make it easy for her to return peacefully to her ancient thraldom. the queen asked caron what he thought of the project. how could that diplomatist reply but with polite scorn? not a year of such an armistice would elapse, he said, before the spanish partisans would have it all their own way in the netherlands, and the king of spain would be master of the whole country. again and again he repeated that peace, so long as philip lived, was an impossibility for the states. no doubt that monarch would gladly consent to the proposed truce, for it, would be indeed strange if by means of it he could not so establish himself in the provinces as to easily overthrow the sovereigns who were thus helping him to so advantageous a position. the queen listened patiently to a long and earnest remonstrance in this vein made by the envoy, and assured him that not even to gain another kingdom would she be the cause of a return of the provinces to the dominion of spain. she would do her best to dissuade the king from his peace negotiations; but she would listen to de maisae, the new special envoy from henry, and would then faithfully report to caron, by word of mouth, the substance of the conversation. the states-general did not deserve to be deceived, nor would she be a party to any deception, unless she were first cheated herself. "i feel indeed," she added, "that matters are not always managed as they should be by your government, and that you have not always treated princes, especially myself, as we deserve to be treated. nevertheless, your state is not a monarchy, and so we must take all things into consideration, and weigh its faults against its many perfections." with this philosophical--and in the mouth of elizabeth tudor, surely very liberal--reflection, the queen terminated the interview with the republican envoy. meantime the conferences with the special ambassador of france proceeded. for, so soon as henry had completed all his arrangements, and taken his decision to accept the very profitable peace offered to him by spain, he assumed that air of frankness which so well became him, and candidly avowed his intention of doing what he had already done. hurault de maisse arrived in england not long before the time when the peace-commissioners were about assembling at vervins. he was instructed to inform her majesty that he had done his best to bring about a general alliance of the european powers from which alone the league concluded between england, france, and the netherlands would have derived substantial strength. but as nothing was to be hoped for from germany, as england offered but little assistance, and as france was exhausted by her perpetual conflicts, it had become necessary for the king to negotiate for a peace. he now wished to prove, therefore, to the queen, as to a sister to whom he was under such obligations, that the interests of england were as dear to him as those of france. the proof of these generous sentiments did not, however, seem so clear as could be wished, and there were very stormy debates, so soon as the ambassador found himself in conference with her majesty's counsellors. the english statesmen bitterly reproached the french for having thus lightly thrown away the alliance between the two countries, and they insisted upon the duty of the king to fulfil his solemn engagements. the reply was very frank and very decided. kings, said de maisse, never make treaties except with the tacit condition to embrace every thing that may be useful to them, and carefully to avoid every thing prejudicial to their interests. the corollary from this convenient and sweeping maxim was simple enough. the king could not be expected, by his allies to reject an offered peace which was very profitable, nor to continue a war which, was very detrimental. all that they could expect was that he should communicate his intentions to them, and this he was now very cheerfully doing. such in brief were the statements of de maisse. the english were indignant. they also said a stout word for the provinces, although it has been made sufficiently clear that they did not love that upstart republic. but the french ambassador replied that his, master really meant secretly to assist the states in carrying on the war until they should make an arrangement. he should send them very powerful succours for this purpose, and he expected confidently that england would assist him in this line of conduct. thus henry was secretly pledging himself, to make underhand but substantial war against spain, with which power he was at that instant concluding peace, while at the same time he was abandoning his warlike league with the queen and the republic, in order to affect that very pacification. truly the morality of the governing powers of the earth was not entirely according to the apostolic standard. the interviews between the queen and the new ambassador were, of course, on his part, more courteous in tone than those with the counsellors, but mainly to the same effect. de maisse stated that the spanish king had offered to restore every place that he held in france, including calais, brittany, and the marquisate of saluces, and as he likewise manifested a willingness to come to favourable terms with her majesty and with the states, it was obviously the duty of henry to make these matters known to her majesty, in whose hands was thus placed the decision between peace or continuation of the war. the queen asked what was the authority for the supposition that england was to be included by spain in the pacification. de maisse quoted president richardot. in that case, the queen remarked, it was time for her to prepare for a third spanish armada. when a former envoy from france had alluded to richardot as expressing the same friendly sentiments on the part of his sovereign and himself, she had replied by referring to the sham negotiations of bourbourg, by which the famous invasion of had been veiled, and she had intimated her expectation that another spanish fleet would soon be at her throat. and within three weeks of the utterance of her prophecy the second armada, under santa gadea, had issued from spain to assail her realms. now then, as richardot was again cited as a peace negotiator, it was time to look for a third invasion. it was an impertinence for secretary of state villeroy to send her word about richardot. it was not an impertinence in king henry, who understood war-matters better than he did affairs of state, in which kings were generally governed by their counsellors and secretaries, but it was very strange that villeroy should be made quiet with a simple declaration of richardot. the queen protested that she would never consent to a peace with spain, except with the knowledge and consent of the states. de maisse replied that the king was of the same mind, upon which her majesty remarked that in that case he had better have apprised her and the states of his intentions before treating alone and secretly with the enemy. the envoy denied that the king had been treating. he had only been listening to what the king of spain had to propose, and suggesting his own wishes and intentions. the queen rejoined that this was treating if anything was, and certainly her majesty was in the right if the term has any meaning at all. elizabeth further reproachfully observed, that although the king talked about continuing the war, he seemed really tired of that dangerous pursuit, in which he had exercised himself so many long years, and that he was probably beginning to find a quiet and agreeable life more to his taste. she expressed the hope, however, that he would acquit himself honourably towards herself and her allies, and keep the oaths which he had so solemnly sworn before god. such was the substance of the queen's conversations with de maisse, as she herself subsequently reported them to the states' envoy. the republican statesmen had certainly cause enough to suspect henry's intentions, but they did not implicitly trust elizabeth. they feared that both king and queen were heartily sick of the war, and disposed to abandon the league, while each was bent on securing better terms than the other in any negotiations for peace. barneveld--on the whole the most sagacious of the men then guiding the affairs of europe, although he could dispose of but comparatively slender resources, and was merely the chief minister of a scarcely-born little commonwealth of some three million souls--was doing his best to save the league and to divert henry from thoughts of peace. feeling that the queen, notwithstanding her professions to caron and others, would have gladly entered into negotiations with philip, had she found the door as wide open as henry had found it, he did his best to prevent both his allies from proceeding farther in that direction. he promised the french envoy at the hague that not only would the republic continue to furnish the four thousand soldiers as stipulated in the league, but that if henry would recommence active operations, a states' army of nine thousand foot and two thousand horse should at once take the field on the flemish frontier of france, and aid in the campaign to the full extent of their resources. if the king were disposed to undertake the siege of calais, the advocate engaged that he should be likewise energetically assisted in that enterprise. nor was it suggested in case the important maritime stronghold were recovered that it should be transferred, not to the sovereign of france, but to the dominions of the republic. that was the queen's method of assisting an ally, but it was not the practice of the states. buzanval, who was quite aware of his master's decision to conclude peace, suggested henry's notion of a preliminary and general truce for six months. but of course barneveld rejected the idea with horror. he felt, as every intelligent statesman of the commonwealth could not but feel, that an armistice would be a death-blow. it would be better, he said, for the states to lose one or two towns than to make a truce, for there were so many people in the commonwealth sure to be dazzled by the false show of a pacification, that they would be likely, after getting into the suburbs, to wish to enter the heart of the city. "if," said the advocate, "the french and the english know what they are doing when they are, facilitating the spanish dominion in the provinces, they would prefer to lose a third of their own kingdoms to seeing the spaniard absolute master here." it was determined, in this grave position of affairs, to send a special mission both to france and to england with the advocate as its chief. henry made no objections to this step, but, on the contrary, affected much impatience for the arrival of the envoys, and ascribed the delay to the intrigues of elizabeth. he sent word to prince maurice and to barneveld that he suspected the queen of endeavouring to get before him in negotiating with spain in order to obtain calais for herself. and, in truth, elizabeth very soon afterwards informed barneveld that she might really have had calais, and have got the better of the king in these secret transactions. meantime, while the special mission to france and england was getting ready to depart, an amateur diplomatist appeared in brussels, and made a feeble effort to effect a reconciliation between the republic and the cardinal. this was a certain van der meulen, an antwerp merchant who, for religious reasons, had emigrated to leyden, and who was now invited by the cardinal archduke to brussels to confer with his counsellors as to the possibility of the rebellious states accepting his authority. for, as will soon be indicated, philip had recently resolved on a most important step. he was about to transfer the sovereignty of all the netherlands to his daughter isabella and her destined husband, cardinal albert. it would, obviously, therefore, be an excessively advantageous arrangement for those new sovereigns if the rebellious states would join hands with the obedient provinces, accept the dominion of albert and isabella and give up their attempt to establish a republican government. accordingly the cardinal had intimated that the states would be allowed the practice of their religion, while the military and civil functionaries might retain office. he even suggested that he would appoint maurice of nassau his stadholder for the northern provinces, unless he should prefer a high position in the imperial armies. such was the general admiration felt in spain and elsewhere for the military talents of the prince, that he would probably be appointed commander-in-chief of the forces against mahomet. van der meulen duly reported all these ingenious schemes to the states, but the sturdy republicans only laughed at them. they saw clearly enough through such slight attempts to sow discord in their commonwealth, and to send their great chieftain to turkey. a most affectionate letter, written by the cardinal-archduke to the states-general, inviting them to accept his sovereignty, and another from the obedient provinces to the united states of the same purport, remained unanswered. but the antwerp merchant, in his interviews with the crafty politicians who surrounded the cardinal, was able at least to obtain some insight into the opinions prevalent at brussels; and these were undoubtedly to the effect that both england and france were willing enough to abandon the cause of the netherlands, provided only that they could obtain satisfactory arrangements for themselves. van der meulen remarked to richardot that in all their talk about a general peace nothing had been said of the queen of england, to whom the states were under so great obligations, and without whom they would never enter into any negotiations. richardot replied that the queen had very sagaciously provided for the safety of her own kingdom, and had kept up the fire everywhere else in order to shelter herself. there was more difficulty for this lady, he said, than for any of the rest. she had shown herself very obstinate, and had done them a great deal of mischief. they knew very well that the king of france did not love her. nevertheless, as they had resolved upon a general peace, they were willing to treat with her as well as with the others. etext editor's bookmarks: auction sales of judicial ermine decline a bribe or interfere with the private sale of places famous fowl in every pot fellow worms had been writhing for half a century in the dust for his humanity towards the conquered garrisons (censured) historical scepticism may shut its eyes to evidence imagining that they held the world's destiny in their hands king had issued a general repudiation of his debts loud, nasal, dictatorial tone, not at all agreeable peace would be destruction repudiation of national debts was never heard of before some rude lessons from that vigorous little commonwealth such a crime as this had never been conceived (bankruptcy) they liked not such divine right nor such gentle-mindedness whether murders or stratagems, as if they were acts of virtue history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter xxxiv. mission of the states to henry to prevent the consummation of peace with spain--proposal of henry to elevate prince maurice to the sovereignty, of the states--embarkation of the states' envoys for england--their interview with queen elizabeth--return of the envoys from england--demand of elizabeth for repayment of her advances to the republic--second embassy to england--final arrangement between the queen and the states. the great advocate was now to start on his journey in order to make a supreme effort both with henry and with elizabeth to prevent the consummation of this fatal peace. admiral justinus of nassau, natural son of william the silent, was associated with barneveld in the mission, a brave fighting man, a staunch patriot, and a sagacious counsellor; but the advocate on this occasion, as in other vital emergencies of the commonwealth, was all in all. the instructions of the envoys were simple. they were to summon the king to fulfil his solemnly sworn covenants with the league. the states-general had never doubted, they said, that so soon as the enemy had begun to feel the effects, of that league he would endeavour to make a composition with one or other of the parties in order to separate them, and to break up that united strength which otherwise he could never resist. the king was accordingly called upon to continue the war against the common enemy, and the states-general offered, over and above the four hundred and fifty thousand florins promised by them for the support of the four thousand infantry for the year , to bring their whole military power, horse and foot, into the field to sustain his majesty in the war, whether separately or in conjunction, whether in the siege of cities or in open campaigns. certainly they could hardly offer fairer terms than these. henry had complained, and not unreasonably, that elizabeth had made no offers of assistance for carrying on the war either to fonquerolles or to hurault de maisse; but he certainly could make no reproach of that nature against the republic, nor assign their lukewarmness as an excuse for his desertion. the envoys were ready to take their departure for france on the last day of january. it might be a curious subject to consider how far historical events are modified and the world's destiny affected by the different material agencies which man at various epochs has had at his disposal. the human creature in his passions and ambitions, his sensual or sordid desires, his emotional and moral nature, undergoes less change than might be hoped from age to age. the tyrant; the patriot, the demagogue, the voluptuary, the peasant, the trader, the intriguing politician, the hair-splitting diplomatist, the self-sacrificing martyr, the self-seeking courtier, present essentially one type in the twelfth, the sixteenth, the nineteenth, or any other century. the human tragi-comedy seems ever to repeat itself with the same bustle, with the same excitement for immediate interests, for the development of the instant plot or passing episode, as if the universe began and ended with each generation--as in reality it would appear to do for the great multitude of the actors. there seems but a change of masks, of costume, of phraseology, combined with a noisy but eternal monotony. yet while men are produced and are whirled away again in endless succession, man remains, and to all appearance is perpetual and immortal even on this earth. whatever science acquires man inherits. whatever steadfastness is gained for great moral truths which change not through the ages--however they may be thought, in dark or falsely brilliant epochs, to resolve themselves into elemental vapour--gives man a securer foothold in his onward and upward progress. the great, continuous history of that progress is not made up of the reigns of kings or the lives of politicians, with whose names history has often found it convenient to mark its epochs. these are but milestones on the turnpike. human progress is over a vast field, and it is only at considerable intervals that a retrospective view enables us to discern whether the movement has been slow or rapid, onward or retrograde. the record of our race is essentially unwritten. what we call history is but made up of a few scattered fragments, while it is scarcely given to human intelligence to comprehend the great whole. yet it is strange to reflect upon the leisurely manner in which great affairs were conducted in the period with which we are now occupied, as compared with the fever and whirl of our own times, in which the stupendous powers of steam and electricity are ever-ready to serve the most sublime or the most vulgar purposes of mankind. whether there were ever a critical moment in which a rapid change might have been effected in royal or national councils, had telegraphic wires and express trains been at the command of henry, or burghley, or barneveld, or the cardinal albert, need not and cannot be decided. it is almost diverting, however, to see how closely the intrigues of cabinets, the movements of armies, the plans of patriots, were once dependent on those natural elements over which man has now gained almost despotic control. here was the republic intensely eager to prevent, with all speed, the consummation of a treaty between its ally and its enemy--a step which it was feared might be fatal to its national existence, and concerning which there seemed a momentary hesitation. yet barneveld and justinus of nassau, although ready on the last day of january, were not able to sail from the brill to dieppe until the th march, on account of a persistent south-west wind. after forty-six days of waiting, the envoys, accompanied by buzanval, henry's resident at the hague, were at last, on the th march, enabled to set sail with a favourable breeze. as it was necessary for travellers in that day to provide themselves with every possible material for their journey--carriages, horses, hosts of servants, and beds, fortunate enough if they found roads and occasionally food--barneveld and nassau were furnished with three ships of war, while another legation on its way to england had embarked in two other vessels of the same class. a fleet of forty or fifty merchantmen sailed under their convoy. departing from the brill in this imposing manner, they sailed by calais, varying the monotony of the voyage by a trifling sea-fight with some cruisers from that spanish port, neither side receiving any damage. landing at dieppe on the morning of the th, the envoys were received with much ceremony at the city gates by the governor of the place, who conducted them in a stately manner to a house called the king's mansion, which he politely placed at their disposal. "as we learned, however," says barneveld, with grave simplicity; "that there was no furniture whatever in that royal abode, we thanked his excellency, and declared that we would rather go to a tavern." after three days of repose and preparation in dieppe, they started at dawn on their journey to rouen, where they arrived at sundown. on the next morning but one they set off again on their travels, and slept that night at louviers. another long day's journey brought them to evreux. on the th they came to dreux, on the th to chartres, and on the th to chateaudun. on the th, having started an hour before sunrise, they were enabled after a toilsome journey to reach blois at an hour after dark. exhausted with fatigue, they reposed in that city for a day, and on the st april proceeded, partly by the river loire and partly by the road, as far as tours. here they were visited by nobody, said barneveld, but fiddlers and drummers, and were execrably lodged. nevertheless they thought the town in other respects agreeable, and apparently beginning to struggle out of the general desolation of, france. on the end april they slept at langeais, and on the night of the rd reached saumur, where they were disappointed at the absence of the illustrious duplessis mornay, then governor of that city. a glance at any map of france will show the course of the journey taken by the travellers, which, after very hard work and great fatigue, had thus brought them from dieppe to saumur in about as much time as is now consumed by an average voyage from europe to america. in their whole journey from holland to saumur, inclusive of the waiting upon the wind and other enforced delays, more than two months had been consumed. twenty-four hours would suffice at present for the excursion. at saumur they received letters informing them that the king was "expecting them with great devotion at angiers." a despatch from cecil, who was already with henry, also apprised them that he found "matters entirely arranged for a peace." this would be very easily accomplished, he said, for france and england, but the great difficulty was for the netherlands. he had come to france principally for the sake of managing affairs for the advantage of the states, but he begged the envoys not to demean themselves as if entirely bent on war. they arrived at angiers next day before dark, and were met at a league's distance from the gates by the governor of the castle, attended by young prince frederic henry of nassau; followed by a long train of nobles and mounted troops. welcomed in this stately manner on behalf of the king, the envoys were escorted to the lodgings provided for them in the city. the same evening they waited on the widowed princess of orange, louisa of coligny, then residing temporarily with her son in angiera, and were informed by her that the king's mind was irrevocably fixed on peace. she communicated, however, the advice of her step-son in law, the duke of bouillon, that they should openly express their determination to continue the war, notwithstanding that both their majesties of england and france wished to negotiate. thus the counsels of bouillon to the envoys were distinctly opposed to those of cecil, and it was well known to them that the duke was himself sincerely anxious that the king should refuse the pacific offers of spain. next morning, th april, they were received at the gates of the castle by the governor of anjou and the commandant of the citadel of angiers, attended by a splendid retinue, and were conducted to the king, who was walking in the garden of the fortress. henry received them with great demonstrations of respect, assuring them that he considered the states-general the best and most faithful friends that he possessed in the world, and that he had always been assisted by them in time of his utmost need with resoluteness and affection. the approach of the english ambassador, accompanied by the chancellor of france and several other persons, soon brought the interview to a termination. barneveld then presented several gentlemen attached to the mission, especially his son and hugo grotius, then a lad of fifteen, but who had already gained such distinction at leyden that scaliger, pontanus; heinsius, dousa, and other professors, foretold that he would become more famous than erasmus. they were all very cordially received by the king, who subsequently bestowed especial marks of his consideration upon the youthful grotius. the same day the betrothal of monsieur caesar with the daughter of the duke of mercoeur was celebrated, and there was afterwards much dancing and banqueting at the castle. it was obvious enough to the envoys that the matter of peace and war was decided. the general of the franciscans, sent by the pope, had been flitting very busily for many months between rome, madrid, brussels, and paris, and there could be little doubt that every detail of the negotiations between france and spain had been arranged while olden-barneveld and his colleague had been waiting for the head-wind to blow itself out at the brill. nevertheless no treaty had as yet been signed, and it was the business of the republican diplomatists to prevent the signature if possible. they felt, however, that they were endeavouring to cause water to run up hill. villeroy, de maisse, and buzanval came to them to recount, by the king's order, everything that had taken place. this favour was, however, the less highly appreciated by them, as they felt that the whole world was in a very short time to be taken as well into the royal confidence. these french politicians stated that the king, after receiving the most liberal offers of peace on the part of spain, had communicated all the facts to the queen, and had proposed, notwithstanding these most profitable overtures, to continue the war as long as her majesty and the states-general would assist him in it. de maisse had been informed, however, by the queen that she had no means to assist the king withal, and was, on the contrary, very well disposed to make peace. the lord treasurer had avowed the same opinions as his sovereign, had declared himself to be a man of peace, and had exclaimed that peace once made he would sing "nunc dimitte servum tuum domine." thereupon, at the suggestion of the legate, negotiations had begun at vervins, and although nothing was absolutely concluded, yet sir robert cecil, having just been sent as special ambassador from the queen, had brought no propositions whatever of assistance in carrying on the war, but plenty of excuses about armadas, irish rebellions, and the want of funds. there was nothing in all this, they said, but want of good will. the queen had done nothing and would do nothing for the league herself, nor would she solicit for it the adherence of other kings and princes. the king, by making peace, could restore his kingdom to prosperity, relieve the distress of his subjects, and get back all his lost cities--calais, ardres, dourlens, blavet, and many more--without any expense of treasure or of blood. certainly there was cogency in this reasoning from the point of view of the french king, but it would have been as well to state, when he was so pompously making a league for offensive and defensive war, that his real interests and his real purposes were peace. much excellent diplomacy, much ringing of bells, firing of artillery, and singing of anthems in royal chapels, and much disappointment to honest dutchmen, might have thus been saved. it is also instructive to observe the difference between the accounts of de maisse's negotiations in england given by that diplomatist himself, and those rendered by the queen to the states' envoy. of course the objurgations of the hollanders that the king, in a very fallacious hope of temporary gain to himself, was about to break his solemn promises to his allies and leave them to their fate, drew but few tears down the iron cheeks of such practised diplomatists as villeroy and his friends. the envoys visited de rosuy, who assured them that he was very much their friend, but gave them to understand that there was not the slightest possibility of inducing the king to break off the negotiations. before taking final leave of his majesty they concluded, by advice of the princess of orange and of buzanval, to make the presents which they had brought with them from the states-general. accordingly they sent, through the hands of the princess, four pieces of damask linen and two pieces of fine linen to the king's sister, madame catherine, two pieces of linen to villeroy, and two to the beautiful gabrielle. the two remaining pieces were bestowed upon buzanval for his pains in accompanying them on the journey and on their arrival at court. the incident shows the high esteem in which the netherland fabrics were held at that period. there was a solemn conference at last between the leading counsellors of the king, the chancellor, the dukes of espernon and bouillon, count schomberg, and de sancy, plessis, buzanval, maisse, the dutch envoys, and the english ambassador and commissioner herbert. cecil presided, and barneveld once more went over the whole ground, resuming with his usual vigour all the arguments by which the king's interest and honour were proved to require him to desist from the peace negotiations. and the orator had as much success as is usual with those who argue against a foregone conclusion. everyone had made up his mind. everyone knew that peace was made. it is unnecessary, therefore, to repeat the familiar train of reasoning. it is superfluous to say that the conference was barren. on the same evening villeroy called on the states' envoys, and informed them plainly, on the part of the king, that his majesty had fully made up his mind. on the rd april--three mortal weeks having thus been wasted in diplomatic trilling--barneveld was admitted to his majesty's dressing-room. the advocate at the king's request came without his colleague, and was attended only by his son. no other persons were present in the chamber save buzanval and beringen. the king on this occasion confirmed what had so recently been stated by villeroy. he had thoroughly pondered, he said, all the arguments used by the states to dissuade him from the negotiation, and had found them of much weight. the necessities of his kingdom, however, compelled him to accept a period of repose. he would not, however, in the slightest degree urge the states to join in the treaty. he desired their security, and would aid in maintaining it. what had most vexed him was that the protestants with great injustice accused him of intending to make war upon them. but innumerable and amazing reports were flying abroad, both among his own subjects, the english, and the enemies' spies, as to these secret conferences. he then said that he would tell the duke of bouillon to speak with sir robert cecil concerning a subject which now for the first time he would mention privately to olden-barneveld. the king then made a remarkable and unexpected suggestion. alluding to the constitution of the netherlands, he remarked that a popular government in such emergencies as those then existing was subject to more danger than monarchies were, and he asked the advocate if he thought there was no disposition to elect a prince. barneveld replied that the general inclination was rather for a good republic. the government, however, he said, was not of the people, but aristocratic, and the state was administered according to laws and charters by the principal inhabitants, whether nobles or magistrates of cities. since the death of the late prince of orange, and the offer made to the king of france, and subsequently to the queen of england, of the sovereignty, there had been no more talk on that subject, and to discuss again so delicate a matter might cause divisions and other difficulties in the state. henry then spoke of prince maurice, and asked whether, if he should be supported by the queen of england and the king of france, it would not be possible to confer the sovereignty upon him. here certainly was an astounding question to be discharged like a pistol-shot full in the face of a republican minister. the answer of the advocate was sufficiently adroit if not excessively sincere. if your majesty, said he, together with her majesty the queen, think the plan expedient, and are both willing on this footing to continue the war, to rescue all the netherlands from the hands of the spaniards and their adherents, and thus render the states eternally obliged to the sovereigns and kingdoms of france and england, my lords the states-general would probably be willing to accept this advice. but the king replied by repeating that repose was indispensable to him. without inquiring for the present whether the project of elevating maurice to the sovereignty of the netherlands, at the expense of the republican constitution, was in harmony or not with the private opinions of barneveld at that period, it must be admitted that the condition he thus suggested was a very safe one to offer. he had thoroughly satisfied himself during the period in which he had been baffled by the southwest gales at the brill and by the still more persistent head-winds which he had found prevailing at the french court, that it was hopeless to strive for that much-desired haven, a general war. the admiral and himself might as well have endeavoured to persuade mahomet iii. and sigismund of poland to join the states in a campaign against cardinal albert, as to hope for the same good offices from elizabeth and henry. having received exactly the answer which he expected, he secretly communicated, next day, to cecil the proposition thus made by the king. subsequently he narrated the whole conversation to the queen of england. on the th april both barneveld and nassau were admitted to the royal dressing-room in nantes citadel for a final audience. here, after the usual common places concerning his affection for the netherlands, and the bitter necessity which compelled him to desert the alliance, henry again referred to his suggestion in regard to prince maurice; urging a change from a republican to a monarchical form of government as the best means of preserving the state. the envoys thanked the king for all the honours conferred upon them, but declared themselves grieved to the heart by his refusal to grant their request. the course pursued by his majesty, they said, would be found very hard of digestion by the states, both in regard to the whole force of the enemy which would now come upon their throats, and because of the bad example thus set for other powers. they then took leave, with the usual exchange of compliments. at their departure his majesty personally conducted them through various apartments until they came to the chamber of his mistress, the duchess of beaufort, then lying in childbed. here he drew wide open the bed-curtains, and bade them kiss the lady. they complied, and begging the duchess to use her influence in their behalf, respectfully bade her farewell. she promised not to forget their request, and thanked them for the presents of damask and fine linen. such was the result of the mission of the great advocate and his colleague to henry iv., from which so much had been hoped; and for anything useful accomplished, after such an expenditure of time, money, and eloquence, the whole transaction might have begun and ended in this touching interview with the beautiful gabrielle. on the th of may the envoys embarked at dieppe for england, and on the th were safely lodged with the resident minister of the republic, noel de caron, at the village of clapham. having so ill-succeeded in their attempts to prevent the treaty between france and spain, they were now engaged in what seemed also a forlorn hope, the preservation of their offensive and defensive alliance with england. they were well aware that many of the leading counsellors of elizabeth, especially burghley and buckhurst, were determined upon peace. they knew that the queen was also heartily weary of the war and of the pugnacious little commonwealth which had caused her so much expense. but they knew, too, that henry, having now secured the repose of his own kingdom, was anything but desirous that his deserted allies should enjoy the same advantage. the king did not cease to assure the states that he would secretly give them assistance in their warfare against his new ally, while secretary of state villeroy, as they knew, would place every possible impediment in the way of the queen's negotiations with spain. elizabeth, on her part, was vexed with everybody. what the states most feared was that she might, in her anger or her avarice, make use of the cautionary towns in her negotiations with philip. at any rate, said francis aerssens, then states' minister in france, she will bring us to the brink of the precipice, that we may then throw ourselves into her arms in despair. the queen was in truth resolved to conclude a peace if a peace could be made. if not, she was determined to make as good a bargain with the states as possible, in regard to the long outstanding account of her advances. certainly it was not unreasonable that she should wish to see her exchequer reimbursed by people who, as she believed, were rolling in wealth, the fruit of a contraband commerce which she denied to her own subjects, and who were in honour bound to pay their debts to her now, if they wished her aid to be continued. her subjects were impoverished and panting for peace, and although, as she remarked, "their sense of duty restrained them from the slightest disobedience to her absolute commands," still she could not forgive herself for thus exposing them to perpetual danger. she preferred on the whole, however, that the commonwealth should consent to its own dissolution; for she thought it unreasonable that--after this war of thirty years, during fifteen of which she had herself actively assisted them--these republican calvinists should, refuse to return to the dominion of their old tyrant and the pope. to barneveld, maurice of nassau, and the states-general this did not seem a very logical termination to so much hard fighting. accordingly, when on the th of may the two envoys fell on their knees--as the custom was--before the great queen, and had been raised by her to their feet again, they found her majesty in marvellously ill-humour. olden-barneveld recounted to her the results of their mission to france, and said that from beginning to end it had been obvious that there could be no other issue. the king was indifferent, he had said, whether the states preferred peace or war, but in making his treaty he knew that he had secured a profit for himself, inflicted damage on his enemy, and done no harm to his friends. her majesty then interrupted the speaker by violent invectives against the french king for his treachery. she had written with her own hand, she said, to tell him that she never had believed him capable of doing what secretaries and other servants had reported concerning him, but which had now proved true. then she became very abusive to the dutch envoys, telling them that they were quite unjustifiable in not following sir robert cecil's advice, and in not engaging with him at once in peace negotiations; at least so far as to discover what the enemy's intentions might be. she added, pettishly, that if prince maurice and other functionaries were left in the enjoyment of their offices, and if the spaniards were sent out of the country, there seemed no reason why such terms should not be accepted. barneveld replied that such accommodation was of course impossible, unless they accepted their ancient sovereign as prince. then came the eternal two points--obedience to god, which meant submission to the pope; and obedience to the king, that was to say, subjection to his despotic authority. thus the christian religion would be ruined throughout the provinces, and the whole land be made a bridge and a ladder for spanish ambition. the queen here broke forth into mighty oaths, interrupting the envoy's discourse, protesting over and over again by the living god that she would not and could not give the states any further assistance; that she would leave them to their fate; that her aid rendered in their war had lasted much longer than the siege of troy did, and swearing that she had been a fool to help them and the king of france as she had done, for it was nothing but evil passions that kept the states so obstinate. the envoy endeavoured to soothe her, urging that as she had gained the reputation over the whole world of administering her affairs with admirable, yea with almost divine wisdom, she should now make use of that sagacity in the present very difficult matter. she ought to believe that it was not evil passion, nor ambition, nor obstinacy that prevented the states from joining in these negotiations, but the determination to maintain their national existence, the christian religion, and their ancient liberties and laws. they did not pretend, he said, to be wiser than great monarch or their counsellors, but the difference between their form of government and a monarchy must be their excuse. monarchs, when they made treaties, remained masters, and could protect their realms and their subjects from danger. the states-general could not accept a prince without placing themselves under his absolute authority, and the netherlanders would never subject themselves to their deadly enemy, whom they had long ago solemnly renounced. surely these remarks of the advocate should have seemed entirely unanswerable. surely there was no politician in europe so ignorant as not to know that any treaty of peace between philip and the states meant their unconditional subjugation and the complete abolition of the protestant religion. least of all did the queen of england require information on this great matter of state. it was cruel trifling therefore, it was inhuman insolence on her part, to suggest anything like a return of the states to the dominion of spain. but her desire for peace and her determination to get back her money overpowered at that time all other considerations. the states wished to govern themselves, she said; why then could they not make arrangements against all dangers, and why could they not lay down conditions under which the king would not really be their master; especially if france and england should guarantee them against any infraction of their rights. by the living god! by the living god! by the living god! she swore over and over again as her anger rose, she would never more have anything to do with such people; and she deeply regretted having thrown away her money and the lives of her subjects in so stupid a manner. again the grave and experienced envoy of the republic strove with calm and earnest words to stay the torrent of her wrath; representing that her money and her pains had by no means been wasted, that the enemy had been brought to shame and his finances to confusion; and urging her, without paying any heed to the course pursued by the king of france, to allow the republic to make levies of troops, at its own expense, within her kingdom. but her majesty was obdurate. "how am i to defend myself?" she cried; "how are the affairs of ireland to be provided for? how am i ever to get back my money? who is to pay the garrisons of brill and flushing?" and with this she left the apartment, saying that her counsellors would confer with the envoys.' from the beginning to the end of the interview the queen was in a very evil temper, and took no pains to conceal her dissatisfaction with all the world. now there is no doubt whatever that the subsidies furnished by england to the common cause were very considerable, amounting in fourteen years, according to the queen's calculation, to nearly fourteen hundred thousand pounds sterling. but in her interviews with the republican statesmen she was too prone to forget that it was a common cause, to forget that the man who had over and over again attempted her assassination, who had repeatedly attempted the invasion of her realms with the whole strength of the most powerful military organization in the world, whose dearest wish on earth was still to accomplish her dethronement and murder, to extirpate from england the religion professed by the majority of living englishmen, and to place upon her vacant throne a spanish, german, or italian prince, was as much her enemy as he was the foe of his ancient subjects in the netherlands. at that very epoch philip was occupied in reminding the pope that the two had always agreed as to the justice of the claims of the infanta isabella to the english crown, and calling on his holiness to sustain those pretensions, now that she had been obliged, in consequence of the treaty with the prince of bearne, to renounce her right to reign over france. certainly it was fair enough for the queen and her, counsellors to stand out for an equitable arrangement of the debt; but there was much to dispute in the figures. when was ever an account of fifteen years' standing adjusted, whether between nations or individuals, without much wrangling? meantime her majesty held excellent security in two thriving and most important netherland cities. but had the states consented to re-establish the spanish authority over the whole of their little protestant republic, was there an english child so ignorant of arithmetic or of history as not to see how vast would be the peril, and how incalculable the expense, thus caused to england? yet besides the cecils and the lord high admiral, other less influential counsellors of the crown--even the upright and accomplished buckhurst, who had so often proved his friendship for the states--were in favour of negotiation. there were many conferences with meagre results. the englishmen urged that the time had come for the states to repay the queen's advances, to relieve her from future subsidies, to assume the payment of the garrisons in the cautionary towns, and to furnish a force in defence of england when attacked. such was the condition of the kingdom, they said--being, as it was, entirely without fortified cities--that a single battle would imperil the whole realm, so that it was necessary to keep the enemy out of it altogether. these arguments were not unreasonable, but the inference was surely illogical. the special envoys from the republic had not been instructed to treat about the debt. this had been the subject of perpetual negotiation. it was discussed almost every day by the queen's commissioners at the hague and by the states' resident minister at london. olden-barneveld and the admiral had been sent forth by the staten in what in those days was considered great haste to prevent a conclusion of a treaty between their two allies and the common enemy. they had been too late in france, and now, on arriving in england, they found that government steadily drifting towards what seemed the hopeless shipwreck of a general peace. what must have been the grief of olden-barneveld when he heard from the lips of the enlightened buckhurst that the treaty of had been arranged to expire--according to the original limitation--with a peace, and that as the states could now make peace and did not choose to do so, her majesty must be considered as relieved from her contract of alliance, and as justified in demanding repayment of her advances! to this perfidious suggestion what could the states' envoy reply but that as a peace such as the treaty of presupposed--to wit, with security for the protestant religion and for the laws and liberties of the provinces--was impossible, should the states now treat with the king or the cardinal? the envoys had but one more interview with, the queen, in which she was more benignant in manner but quite as peremptory in her demands. let the states either thoroughly satisfy her as to past claims and present necessities, or let them be prepared for her immediate negotiation with the enemy. should she decide to treat, she would not be unmindful of their interests, she said, nor deliver them over into the enemy's hands. she repeated, however, the absurd opinion that there were means enough of making philip nominal sovereign of all the netherlands, without allowing him to exercise any authority over them. as if the most catholic and most absolute monarch that ever breathed could be tied down by the cobwebs of constitutional or treaty stipulations; as if the previous forty years could be effaced from the record of history. she asked, too, in case the rumours of the intended transfer of the netherlands to the cardinal or the infanta should prove true, which she doubted, whether this arrangement would make any difference in the sentiments of the states. barneveld replied that the transfer was still uncertain, but that they had no more confidence in the cardinal or the infants than in the king of spain himself. on taking leave of the queen the envoys waited upon lord burghley, whom they found sitting in an arm-chair in his bedchamber, suffering from the gout and with a very fierce countenance. he made no secret of his opinions in favour of negotiation, said that the contracts made by monarchs should always be interpreted reasonably, and pronounced a warm eulogy on the course pursued by the king of france. it was his majesty's duty, he said, to seize the best opportunity for restoring repose to his subjects and his realms, and it was the duty of other sovereigns to do the same. the envoys replied that they were not disposed at that moment to sit in judgment upon the king's actions. they would content themselves with remarking that in their opinion even kings and princes were bound by their contracts, oaths, and pledges before god and man; and with this wholesome sentiment they took leave of the lord high treasurer. they left london immediately, on the last day of may, without, passports. or despatches of recal, and embarked at gravesend in the midst of a gale of wind. lord essex, the sincere friend of the republic, was both surprised and disturbed at their sudden departure, and sent a special courier, after them to express his regrets at the unsatisfactory termination to their mission: "my mistress knows very well," said he, "that she is an absolute princess, and that, when her ministers have done their extreme duty, she wills what she wills." the negotiations between england and spain were deferred, however, for a brief space, and a special message was despatched to the hague as to the arrangement of the debt. "peace at once with philip," said the queen, "or else full satisfaction of my demands." now it was close dealing between such very thrifty and acute bargainers as the queen and the netherland republic. two years before, the states had offered to pay twenty thousand pounds a year on her majesty's birthday so long as the war should last, and after a peace, eighty thousand pounds annually for four years. the queen, on her part, fixed the sum total of the debt at nearly a million and a half sterling, and required instant payment of at least one hundred thousand pounds on account, besides provision for a considerable annual refunding, assumption by the states of the whole cost of the garrisons in the cautionary towns, and assurance of assistance in case of an attack upon england. thus there was a whole ocean between the disputants. vere and gilpin were protocolling and marshalling accounts at the hague, and conducting themselves with much arrogance and bitterness, while, meantime, barneveld had hardly had time to set his foot on his native shores before he was sent back again to england at the head of another solemn legation. one more effort was to be made to arrange this financial problem and to defeat the english peace party. the offer of the year just alluded to was renewed and instantly rejected. naturally enough, the dutch envoys were disposed, in the exhausting warfare which was so steadily draining their finances, to pay down as little as possible on the nail, while providing for what they considered a liberal annual sinking fund. the english, on the contrary, were for a good round sum in actual cash, and held the threatened negotiation with spain over the heads of the unfortunate envoys like a whip. so the queen's counsellors and the republican envoys travelled again and again over the well-worn path. on the th june, buckhurst took olden-barneveld into his cabinet, and opened his heart to him, not as a servant of her majesty, he said, but as a private englishman. he was entirely for peace. now that peace was offered to her majesty, a continuance of the war was unrighteous, and the lord god's blessing could not be upon it. without god's blessing no resistance could be made by the queen nor by the states to the enemy, who was ten times more powerful than her majesty in kingdoms, provinces, number of subjects, and money. he had the pope, the emperor, the dukes of savoy and lorraine, and the republic of genoa, for his allies. he feared that the war might come upon england, and that they might be fated on one single day to win or lose all. the queen possessed no mines, and was obliged to carry on the war by taxing her people. the king had ever-flowing fountains in his mines; the queen nothing but a stagnant pool, which, when all the water was pumped out, must in the end be dry. he concluded, therefore, that as her majesty had no allies but the netherlands, peace was best for england, and advisable for the provinces. arrangements could easily be made to limit the absolute authority of spain. this highly figurative view of the subject--more becoming to the author of ferrex and porrex than to so, experienced a statesman as sackville had become since his dramatic days--did not much impress barneveld. he answered that, although the king of spain was unquestionably very powerful, the lord god was still stronger; that england and the netherlands together could maintain the empire of the seas, which was of the utmost importance, especially for england; but that if the republic were to make her submission to spain, and become incorporate with that power, the control of the seas was lost for ever to england. the advocate added the unanswerable argument that to admit philip as sovereign, and then to attempt a limitation of his despotism was a foolish dream. buckhurst repeated that the republic was the only ally of england, that there was no confidence to be placed by her in any other power, and that for himself, he was, as always, very much the friend of the states. olden-barneveld might well have prayed, however, to be delivered from such friends. to thrust one's head into the lion's mouth, while one's friends urge moderation on the noble animal, can never be considered a cheerful or prudent proceeding. at last, after all offers had been rejected which the envoys had ventured to make, elizabeth sent for olden-barneveld and caron and demanded their ultimatum within twenty-four hours. should it prove unsatisfactory, she would at once make peace with spain. on the st august the envoys accordingly proposed to cecil and the other ministers to pay thirty thousand pounds a year, instead of twenty thousand, so long as the war should last, but they claimed the right of redeeming the cautionary towns at one hundred thousand pounds each. this seemed admissible, and cecil and his colleagues pronounced the affair arranged. but they had reckoned without the queen after all. elizabeth sent for caron as soon as she heard of the agreement, flew into a great rage, refused the terms, swore that she would instantly make peace with spain, and thundered loudly against her ministers. "they were great beasts," she said, "if they had stated that she would not treat with the enemy. she had merely intended to defer the negotiations." so the whole business was to be done over again. at last the sum claimed by the queen, fourteen hundred thousand pounds, was reduced by agreement to eight hundred thousand, and one-half of this the envoys undertook on the part of the states to refund in annual payments of thirty thousand pounds, while the remaining four hundred thousand should be provided for by some subsequent arrangement. all attempts, however, to obtain a promise from the queen to restore the cautionary towns to the republic in case of a peace between spain and england remained futile. that was to be a bone of contention for many years. it was further agreed by the treaty, which was definitely signed on the th august, that, in case england were invaded by the common enemy, the states should send to the queen's assistance at least thirty ships of war, besides five thousand infantry and five squadrons of horse. chapter xxxv. negotiations between france and spain--conclusion of the treaty of peace--purchase of the allegiance of the french nobles--transfer of the netherlands to albert and isabella--marriage of the infante and the infanta--illness of philip ii.--horrible nature of his malady-- his last hours and death--review of his reign--extent of the spanish dominions--causes of the greatness of spain, and of its downfall-- philip's wars and their expenses--the crown revenues of spain-- character of the people--their inordinate self-esteem--consequent deficiency of labour--ecclesiastical government--revenues of the church--characteristics of the spanish clergy--foreign commerce of spain--governmental system of philip ii.--founded on the popular ignorance and superstition--extinction of liberty in spain--the holy inquisition--the work and character of philip. while the utterly barren conferences had been going on at angiers and nantes between henry iv. and the republican envoys, the negotiations had been proceeding at vervins. president richardot on behalf of spain, and secretary of state villeroy as commissioner of henry, were the chief negotiators. two old acquaintances, two ancient leaguers, two bitter haters of protestants and rebels, two thorough adepts in diplomatic chicane, they went into this contest like gladiators who thoroughly understood and respected each other's skill. richardot was recognized by all as the sharpest and most unscrupulous politician in the obedient netherlands. villeroy had conducted every intrigue of france during a whole generation of mankind. they scarcely did more than measure swords and test each other's objects, before arriving at a conviction as to the inevitable result of the encounter. it was obvious at once to villeroy that philip was determined to make peace with france in order that the triple alliance might be broken up. it was also known to the french diplomatist that the spanish king was ready for, almost every concession to henry, in order that this object might be accomplished. all that richardot hoped to save out of the various conquests made by spain over france was calais. but villeroy told him that it was useless to say a word on that subject. his king insisted on the restoration of the place. otherwise he would make no peace. it was enough, he said, that his majesty said nothing about navarre. richardot urged that at the time when the english had conquered calais it had belonged to artois, not to france. it was no more than equitable, then, that it should be retained by its original proprietor. the general of the franciscans, who acted as a kind of umpire in the transactions, then took each negotiator separately aside and whispered in his ear. villeroy shook his head, and said he had given his ultimatum. richardot acknowledged that he had something in reserve, upon which the monk said that it was time to make it known. accordingly--the two being all ears--richardot observed that what he was about to state he said with fear and trembling. he knew not what the king of spain would think of his proposition, but he would, nevertheless, utter the suggestion that calais should be handed over to the pope. his holiness would keep the city in pledge until the war with the rebels was over, and then there would be leisure enough to make definite arrangements on the subject. now villeroy was too experienced a practitioner to be imposed upon, by this ingenious artifice. moreover, he happened to have an intercepted letter in his possession in which philip told the cardinal that calais was to be given up if the french made its restitution a sine qua non. so villeroy did make it a sine qua non, and the conferences soon after terminated in an agreement on the part of spain to surrender all its conquests in france. certainly no more profitable peace than this could have been made by the french king under such circumstances, and philip at the last moment had consented to pay a heavy price for bringing discord between the three friends. the treaty was signed at vervins on the nd may, and contained thirty-five articles. its basis was that of the treaty of cateau cambresis of . restitution of all places conquered by either party within the dominions of the other since the day of that treaty was stipulated. henry recovered calais, ardres, dourlens, blavet, and many other places, and gave up the country of charolois. prisoners were to be surrendered on both sides without ransom, and such of those captives of war as had been enslaved at the galleys should be set free. the pope, the emperor, all states, and cities under their obedience or control, the duke of savoy, the king of poland and sweden, the kings of denmark and scotland, the dukes of lorraine and tuscany, the doge of venice, the republic of genoa, and many lesser states and potentates, were included in the treaty. the famous edict of nantes in favour of the protestant subjects of the french king was drawn up and signed in the city of which it bears the name at about the same time with these negotiations. its publication was, however, deferred until after the departure of the legate from france in the following year. the treaty of cateau cambresis had been pronounced the most disgraceful and disastrous one that had ever been ratified by a french monarch; and surely henry had now wiped away that disgrace and repaired that disaster. it was natural enough that he should congratulate himself on the rewards which he had gathered by deserting his allies. he had now sufficient occupation for a time in devising ways and means, with the aid of the indefatigable bethune, to pay the prodigious sums with which he had purchased the allegiance of the great nobles and lesser gentlemen of france. thirty-two millions of livres were not sufficient to satisfy the claims of these patriots, most of whom had been drawing enormous pensions from the king of spain up to the very moment, or beyond it, when they consented to acknowledge the sovereign of their own country. scarcely a great name in the golden book of france but was recorded among these bills of sale. mayenne, lorraine, guise, nemours, mercoeur, montpensier, joyeuse, epernon, brissac, d'arlincourt, balagny, rochefort, villeroy, villars, montespan, leviston, beauvillars, and countless others, figured in the great financier's terrible account-book, from mayenne, set down at the cool amount of three and a half millions, to beauvoir or beauvillars at the more modest price of a hundred and sixty thousand livres. "i should appal my readers," said de bethune, "if i should show to them that this sum makes but a very small part of the amounts demanded from the royal treasury, either by frenchmen or by strangers, as pay and pension, and yet the total was thirty-two millions's." and now the most catholic king, having brought himself at last to exchange the grasp of friendship with the great ex-heretic, and to recognize the prince of bearne as the legitimate successor of st. louis, to prevent which consummation he had squandered so many thousands of lives, so many millions of treasure, and brought ruin to so many prosperous countries, prepared himself for another step which he had long hesitated to take. he resolved to transfer the netherlands to his daughter isabella and to the cardinal archduke albert, who, as the king had now decided, was to espouse the infanta. the deed of cession was signed at madrid on the th may, . it was accompanied by a letter of the same date from the prince philip, heir apparent to the crown. on the th may the infanta executed a procuration by which she gave absolute authority to her future husband to rule over the provinces of the netherlands, burgundy, and charolois, and to receive the oaths of the estates and of public functionaries. [see all the deeds and documents in bor, iv. - . compare herrera, iii. - . very elaborate provisions were made in regard to the children and grand-children to spring from this marriage, but it was generally understood at the time that no issue was to be expected. the incapacity of the cardinal seems to have been revealed by an indiscretion of the general of franciscans-- diplomatist and father confessor--and was supported by much collateral evidence. hence all these careful stipulations were a solemn jest, like much of the diplomatic work of this reign.] it was all very systematically done. no transfer of real estate, no 'donatio inter vivos' of mansions and messuages, parks and farms, herds and flocks, could have been effected in a more business-like manner than the gift thus made by the most prudent king to his beloved daughter. the quit-claim of the brother was perfectly regular. so also was the power of attorney, by which the infanta authorised the middle-aged ecclesiastic whom she was about to espouse to take possession in her name of the very desirable property which she had thus acquired. it certainly never occurred, either to the giver or the receivers, that the few millions of netherlanders, male and female, inhabiting these provinces in the north sea, were entitled to any voice or opinion as to the transfer of themselves and their native land to a young lady living in a remote country. for such was the blasphemous system of europe at that day. property had rights. kings, from whom all property emanated, were enfeoffed directly from the almighty; they bestowed certain privileges on their vassals, but man had no rights at all. he was property, like the ox or the ass, like the glebe which he watered with the sweat of his brow. the obedient netherlands acquiesced obediently in these new arrangements. they wondered only that the king should be willing thus to take from his crown its choicest jewels--for it is often the vanity of colonies and dependencies to consider themselves gems. the republican netherlanders only laughed at these arrangements, and treated the invitation to transfer themselves to the new sovereigns of the provinces with silent contempt. the cardinal-archduke left brussels in september, having accomplished the work committed to him by the power of attorney, and having left cardinal andrew of austria, bishop of constantia, son of the archduke ferdinand, to administer affairs during his absence. francis de mendoza, admiral of arragon, was entrusted with the supreme military command for the same interval. the double marriage of the infante of spain with the archduchess margaret of austria, and of the unfrocked cardinal albert of austria with the infanta clara eugenia isabella, was celebrated by proxy, with immense pomp, at ferrara, the pope himself officiating with the triple crown upon his head. meantime, philip ii., who had been of delicate constitution all his life, and who had of late years been a confirmed valetudinarian, had been rapidly failing ever since the transfer of the netherlands in may. longing to be once more in his favourite retirement of the escorial, he undertook the journey towards the beginning of june, and was carried thither from madrid in a litter borne by servants, accomplishing the journey of seven leagues in six days. when he reached the palace cloister, he was unable to stand. the gout, his life-long companion, had of late so tortured him in the hands and feet that the mere touch of a linen sheet was painful to him. by the middle of july a low fever had attacked him, which rapidly reduced his strength. moreover, a new and terrible symptom of the utter disintegration of his physical constitution had presented itself. imposthumes, from which he had suffered on the breast and at the joints, had been opened after the usual ripening applications, and the result was not the hoped relief, but swarms of vermin, innumerable in quantities, and impossible to extirpate, which were thus generated and reproduced in the monarch's blood and flesh. the details of the fearful disorder may have attraction for the pathologist, but have no especial interest for the general reader. let it suffice, that no torture ever invented by torquemada or peter titelman to serve the vengeance of philip and his ancestors or the pope against the heretics of italy or flanders, could exceed in acuteness the agonies which the most catholic king was now called upon to endure. and not one of the long line of martyrs, who by decree of charles or philip had been strangled, beheaded, burned, or buried alive, ever faced a death of lingering torments with more perfect fortitude, or was sustained by more ecstatic visions of heavenly mercy, than was now the case with the great monarch of spain. that the grave-worms should do their office before soul and body were parted, was a torment such as the imagination of dante might have invented for the lowest depths of his "inferno." [a great english poet has indeed expressed the horrible thought:-- "it is as if the dead could feel the icy worm about them steal:"--byron.] on the nd july, the king asked dr. mercado if his sickness was likely to have a fatal termination. the physician, not having the courage at once to give the only possible reply, found means to evade the question. on the st august his majesty's confessor, father diego de yepes, after consultation with mercado, announced to philip that the only issue to his malady was death. already he had been lying for ten days on his back, a mass of sores and corruption, scarcely able to move, and requiring four men to turn him in his bed. he expressed the greatest satisfaction at the sincerity which had now been used, and in the gentlest and most benignant manner signified his thanks to them for thus removing all doubts from his mind, and for giving him information which it was of so much importance for his eternal welfare to possess. his first thought was to request the papal nuncio, gaetano, to despatch a special courier to rome to request the pope's benediction. this was done, and it was destined that the blessing of his holiness should arrive in time. he next prepared himself to make a general confession, which lasted three days, father diego having drawn up at his request a full and searching interrogatory. the confession may have been made the more simple, however, by the statement which he made to the priest, and subsequently repeated to the infante his son, that in all his life he had never consciously done wrong to any one. if he had ever committed an act of injustice, it was unwittingly, or because he had been deceived in the circumstances. this internal conviction of general righteousness was of great advantage to him in the midst of his terrible sufferings, and accounted in great degree for the gentleness, thoughtfulness for others, and perfect benignity, which, according to the unanimous testimony of many witnesses, characterised his conduct during this whole sickness. after he had completed his long general confession, the sacrament of the lord's supper was administered to him. subsequently, the same rites were more briefly performed every few days. his sufferings were horrible, but no saint could have manifested in them more gentle resignation or angelic patience. he moralized on the condition to which the greatest princes might thus be brought at last by the hand of god, and bade the prince observe well his father's present condition, in order that, when he too should be laid thus low, he might likewise be sustained by a conscience void of offence. he constantly thanked his assistants and nurses for their care, insisted upon their reposing themselves after their daily fatigues, and ordered others to relieve them in their task. he derived infinite consolation from the many relics of saints, of which, as has been seen, he had made plentiful prevision during his long reign. especially a bone of st. alban, presented to him by clement viii., in view of his present straits, was of great service. with this relic, and with the arm of st. vincent of ferrara, and the knee-bone of st. sebastian, he daily rubbed his sores, keeping the sacred talismans ever in his sight on the altar, which was not far from his bed. he was much pleased when the priests and other bystanders assured him that the remains of these holy men would be of special efficacy to him, because he had cherished and worshipped them in times when misbelievers and heretics had treated them with disrespect. on a sideboard in his chamber a human skull was placed, and upon this skull--in ghastly mockery of royalty, in truth, yet doubtless in the conviction that such an exhibition showed the superiority of anointed kings even over death--he ordered his servants to place a golden crown. and thus, during the whole of his long illness, the antic held his state, while the poor mortal representative of absolute power lay living still, but slowly mouldering away. with perfect composure, and with that minute attention to details which had characterised the king all his lifetime, and was now more evident than ever, he caused the provisions for his funeral obsequies to be read aloud one day by juan ruys de velasco, in order that his children, his ministers, and the great officers of state who were daily in attendance upon him, might thoroughly learn their lesson before the time came for performing the ceremony. "having governed my kingdom for forty years," said he, "i now give it back, in the seventy-first year of my age, to god almighty, to whom it belongs, recommending my soul into his blessed hands, that his divine majesty may do what he pleases therewith." he then directed that after his body should have been kept as long as the laws prescribed, it should be buried thus:-- the officiating bishop was to head the procession, bearing the crucifix, and followed by the clergy. the adelantado was to come next, trailing the royal standard along the ground. then the duke of novara was to appear, bearing the crown on an open salver, covered with a black cloth, while the marquis of avillaer carried the sword of state. the coffin was to be borne by eight principal grandees, clad in mourning habiliments, and holding lighted torches. the heir apparent was to follow, attended by don garcia de loyasa, who had just been consecrated, in the place of cardinal albert, as archbishop of toledo. the body was to be brought to the church, and placed in the stately tomb already prepared for its reception. "mass being performed," said the king, "the prelate shall place me in the grave which shall be my last house until i go to my eternal dwelling. then the prince, third king of my name, shall go into the cloister of st. jerome at madrid, where he shall keep nine days mourning. my daughter, and her aunt--my sister, the ex-empress--shall for the same purpose go to the convent of the grey sisters." the king then charged his successor to hold the infanta in especial affection and consideration; "for," said he, "she has been my mirror, yea; the light of my eyes." he also ordered that the marquis of mondejar be taken from prison and set free, on condition never to show himself at court. the wife of antonio perez was also to be released from prison, in order that she might be immured in a cloister, her property being bestowed upon her daughters. as this unfortunate lady's only crime consisted in her husband's intrigue with the king's mistress, princess eboli, in which she could scarcely be considered an accomplice, this permission to exchange one form of incarceration for another did not seem an act of very great benignity. philip further provided that thirty thousand masses should be said for his soul, five hundred slaves liberated from the galleys, and five hundred maidens provided with marriage portions. after these elaborate instructions had been read, the king ordered a certain casket to be brought to him and opened in his presence. from this he took forth a diamond of great price and gave it to the infanta, saying that it had belonged to her mother, isabella of france. he asked the prince if he consented to the gift. the prince answered in the affirmative. he next took from the coffer a written document, which he handed to his son, saying, "herein you will learn how to govern your kingdoms." then he produced a scourge, which he said was the instrument with which his father, the emperor, had been in the habit of chastising himself during his retreat at the monastery of juste. he told the by-standers to observe the imperial blood by which the lash was still slightly stained. as the days wore on he felt himself steadily sinking, and asked to receive extreme unction. as he had never seen that rite performed he chose to rehearse it beforehand, and told ruys velasco; who was in constant attendance upon him, to go for minute instructions on the subject to the archbishop of toledo. the sacrament having been duly. administered; the king subsequently, on the st september, desired to receive it once more. the archbishop, fearing that the dying monarch's strength would be insufficient for the repetition of the function, informed him that the regulations of the church required in such cases only a compliance with certain trifling forms, as the ceremony had been already once thoroughly carried out. but the king expressed himself as quite determined that the sacrament should be repeated in all its parts; that he should once more--be anointed--to use the phrase of brother francis neyen--with the oil which holy athletes require in their wrestle with death. this was accordingly done in the presence of his son and daughter, and, of his chief secretaries, christopher de moura and john de idiaquez, besides the counts chinchon, fuensalido, and several other conspicuous personages. he was especially desirous that his son should be present, in order that; when he too should come to die, he might not find himself, like his father, in ignorance of the manner in which this last sacrament was to be performed. when it was finished he described himself as infinitely consoled, and as having derived even more happiness from the rite than he had dared to anticipate. thenceforth he protested that he would talk no more of the world's affairs. he had finished with all things below, and for the days or hours still remaining to him he would keep his heart exclusively fixed upon heaven. day by day as he lay on his couch of unutterable and almost unexampled misery, his confessors and others read to him from religious works, while with perfect gentleness he would insist that one reader should relieve another, that none might be fatigued. on the th september he dictated these words to christopher de moura, who was to take them to diego de yepes, the confessor:-- "father confessor, you are in the place of god, and i protest thus before his presence that i will do all that you declare necessary for my salvation. thus upon you will be the responsibility for my omissions, because i am ready to do all." finding that the last hour was approaching, he informed don fernando de toledo where: he could find some candles of our lady of montserrat, one of which he desired to keep in his hand at the supreme moment. he also directed ruys de velasco to take from a special shrine--which he had indicated to him six years before--a crucifix which the emperor his father had held upon his death-bed. all this was accomplished according to his wish. he had already made arrangements for his funeral procession, and had subsequently provided all the details of his agony. it was now necessary to give orders as to the particulars of his burial. he knew that decomposition had made such progress even while he was still living as to render embalming impossible: he accordingly instructed don christopher to see his body wrapped in a shroud just as it lay, and to cause it to be placed in a well-soldered metallic coffin already provided. the coffin of state, in which the leaden one was to be enclosed, was then brought into the chamber by his command, that he might see if it was entirely to his taste. having examined it, he ordered that it should be lined with white satin and ornamented with gold nails and lace-work. he also described a particular brocade of black and gold, to be found in the jewelroom, which he desired for the pall. next morning he complained to don christopher that the sacrament of the lord's supper had not been administered to him for several days. it was urged that his strength was deemed insufficient, and that, as he had received that rite already four times during his illness, and extreme unction twice, it was thought that the additional fatigue might be spared him. but as the king insisted, the sacrament was once more performed and prayers were read. he said with great fervour many times, "pater, non mea voluntas, sed tux fiat." he listened, too, with much devotion to the psalm, "as the hart panteth for the water-brooks;" and he spoke faintly at long intervals of the magdalen, of the prodigal son, and of the paralytic. when these devotional exercises had been concluded, father diego expressed the hope to him that he might then pass away, for it would be a misfortune by temporary convalescence to fall from the exaltation of piety which he had then reached. the remark was heard by philip with an expression of entire satisfaction. that day both the infanta and the prince came for the last time to his bedside to receive his blessing. he tenderly expressed his regret to his daughter that he had not been permitted to witness her marriage, but charged her never to omit any exertion to augment and sustain the holy roman catholic religion in the netherlands. it was in the interest of that holy church alone that he had endowed her with those provinces, and he now urged it upon her with his dying breath to impress upon her future husband these his commands to both. his two children took leave of him with tears and sobs: as the prince left the chamber he asked don christopher who it was that held the key to the treasury. the secretary replied, "it is i, sir." the prince demanded that he should give it into his hands. but don christopher excused himself, saying that it had been entrusted to him by the king, and that without his consent he could not part with it. then the prince returned to the king's chamber, followed by the secretary, who narrated to the dying monarch what had taken place. "you have done wrong," said philip; whereupon don christopher, bowing to the earth, presented the key to the prince. the king then feebly begged those about his bedside to repeat the dying words of our saviour on the cross, in order that he might hear them and repeat them in his heart as his soul was taking flight. his father's crucifix was placed in his hands, and he said distinctly, "i die like a good catholic, in faith and obedience to the holy roman church." soon after these last words had been spoken, a paroxysm, followed by faintness, came over him, and he lay entirely still. they had covered his face with a cloth, thinking that he had already expired, when he suddenly started, with great energy, opened his eyes, seized the crucifix again from the hand of don fernando de toledo, kissed it, and fell back again into agony. the archbishop and the other priests expressed the opinion that he must have had, not a paroxysm, but a celestial vision, for human powers would not have enabled him to arouse himself so quickly and so vigorously as he had done at that crisis. he did not speak again, but lay unconsciously dying for some hours, and breathed his last at five in the morning of sunday the th september. his obsequies were celebrated according to the directions which he had so minutely given. ------------------------------------ these volumes will have been written in vain if it be now necessary to recal to my readers the leading events in the history of the man who had thus left the world where, almost invisible himself, he had so long played a leading part. it may not be entirely useless, however, to throw a parting glance at a character which it has been one of the main objects of this work, throughout its whole course, to portray. my theme has been the reign of philip ii., because, as the less is included in the greater, the whole of that reign, with the exception of a few episodes, is included in the vast movement out of which the republic of the united netherlands was born and the assailed independence of france and england consolidated. the result of philip's efforts to establish a universal monarchy was to hasten the decline of the empire which he had inherited, by aggravating the evils which had long made that downfall inevitable. it is from no abstract hatred to monarchy that i have dwelt with emphasis upon the crimes of this king, and upon the vices of the despotic system, as illustrated during his lifetime. it is not probable that the military, monarchical system--founded upon conquests achieved by barbarians and pirates of a distant epoch over an effete civilization and over antique institutions of intolerable profligacy--will soon come to an end in the older world. and it is the business of europeans so to deal with the institutions of their inheritance or their choice as to ensure their steady melioration and to provide for the highest interests of the people. it matters comparatively little by what name a government is called, so long as the intellectual and moral development of mankind, and the maintenance of justice among individuals, are its leading principles. a government, like an individual, may remain far below its ideal; but, without an ideal, governments and individuals are alike contemptible. it is tyranny only--whether individual or popular--that utters its feeble sneers at the ideologists, as if mankind were brutes to whom instincts were all in all and ideas nothing. where intellect and justice are enslaved by that unholy trinity--force; dogma, and ignorance--the tendency of governments, and of those subjected to them, must of necessity be retrograde and downward. there can be little doubt to those who observe the movements of mankind during the course of the fourteen centuries since the fall of the roman empire--a mere fragment of human history--that its progress, however concealed or impeded, and whether for weal or woe, is towards democracy; for it is the tendency of science to liberate and to equalize the physical and even the intellectual forces of humanity. a horse and a suit of armour would now hardly enable the fortunate possessor of such advantages to conquer a kingdom, nor can wealth and learning be monopolised in these latter days by a favoured few. yet veneration for a crown and a privileged church--as if without them and without their close connection with each other law and religion were impossible--makes hereditary authority sacred to great masses of mankind in the old world. the obligation is the more stringent, therefore, on men thus set apart as it were by primordial selection for ruling and instructing their fellow-creatures, to keep their edicts and their practice in harmony with divine justice. for these rules cannot be violated with impunity during along succession of years, and it is usually left for a comparatively innocent generation, to atone for the sins of their forefathers. if history does not teach this it teaches nothing, and as the rules of morality; whether for individuals or for nations, are simple and devoid of mystery; there is the less excuse for governments which habitually and cynically violate the eternal law. among self-evident truths not one is more indisputable than that which, in the immortal words of our declaration of independence, asserts the right of every human being to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; but the only happiness that can be recognised by a true statesman as the birthright of mankind is that which comes from intellectual and moral development, and from the subjugation of the brutal instincts. a system according to which clowns remain clowns through all the ages, unless when extraordinary genius or fortunate accident enables an exceptional individual to overleap the barrier of caste, necessarily retards the result to which the philosopher looks forward with perfect faith. for us, whose business it is to deal with, and, so far as human fallibility will permit, to improve our inevitable form of government-which may degenerate into the most intolerable of polities unless we are ever mindful that it is yet in its rudimental condition; that, although an immense step has been taken in the right direction by the abolition of caste, the divorce of church and state, and the limitation of intrusion by either on the domain of the individual, it is yet only a step from which, without eternal vigilance, a falling back is very easy; and that here, more than in other lands, ignorance of the scientific and moral truths on--which national happiness and prosperity depend, deserves bitter denunciation--for us it is wholesome to confirm our faith in democracy, and to justify our hope that the people will prove itself equal to the awful responsibility of self-government by an occasional study of the miseries which the opposite system is capable of producing. it is for this reason that the reign of the sovereign whose closing moments have just been recorded is especially worthy of a minute examination, and i still invite a parting glance at the spectacle thus presented, before the curtain falls. the spanish monarchy in the reign of philip ii. was not only the most considerable empire then existing, but probably the most powerful and extensive empire that had ever been known. certainly never before had so great an agglomeration of distinct and separate sovereignties been the result of accident. for it was owing to a series of accidents--in the common acceptation of that term--that philip governed so mighty a realm. according to the principle that vast tracts: of the earth's surface, with the human beings feeding upon: them, were transferable in fee-simple from one man or woman to another by marriage, inheritance, or gift, a heterogeneous collection of kingdoms, principalities, provinces, and: wildernesses had been consolidated, without geographical continuity, into an artificial union--the populations differing from each other as much as human beings can differ, in race, language, institutions, and historical traditions, and resembling each other in little, save in being the property alike of the same fortunate individual. thus the dozen kingdoms of spain, the seventeen provinces of the netherlands, the kingdoms of the two sicilies, the duchy of milan, and certain fortresses and districts of tuscany, in europe; the kingdom of barbary, the coast of guinea, and an indefinite and unmeasured expanse. of other territory, in africa; the controlling outposts and cities all along the coast of the two indian peninsulas, with as much of the country as it seemed good to occupy, the straits and the great archipelagoes, so far as they had--been visited by europeans, in asia; peru, brazil, mexico, the antilles--the whole recently discovered fourth quarter of the world in short, from the "land of fire" in the south to the frozen regions of the north--as much territory as the spanish and portuguese sea-captains could circumnavigate and the pope in the plentitude of his power and his generosity could bestow on his fortunate son, in america; all this enormous proportion of the habitable globe was the private property, of philip; who was the son of charles, who was the son of joanna, who was the daughter of isabella, whose husband was ferdinand. by what seems to us the most whimsical of political arrangements, the papuan islander, the calabrian peasant, the amsterdam merchant, the semi-civilized aztec, the moor of barbary, the castilian grandee, the roving camanche, the guinea negro, the indian brahmin, found themselves--could they but have known it--fellow-citizens of one commonwealth. statutes of family descent, aided by fraud, force, and chicane, had annexed the various european sovereignties to the crown of spain; the genius of a genoese sailor had given to it the new world, and more recently the conquest of portugal, torn from hands not strong enough to defend the national independence, had vested in the same sovereignty those oriental possessions which were due to the enterprise of vasco de gama, his comrades and successors. the voyager, setting forth from the straits of gibraltar, circumnavigating the african headlands and cape comorin, and sailing through the molucca channel and past the isles which bore the name of philip in the eastern sea, gave the hand at last to his adventurous comrade, who, starting from the same point, and following westward in the track of magellaens and under the southern cross, coasted the shore of patagonia, and threaded his path through unmapped and unnumbered clusters of islands in the western pacific; and during this spanning of the earth's whole circumference not an inch of land or water was traversed that was not the domain of philip. for the sea, too, was his as well as the dry land. from borneo to california the great ocean was but a spanish lake, as much the king's private property as his fish-ponds at the escorial with their carp and perch. no subjects but his dared to navigate those sacred waters. not a common highway of the world's commerce, but a private path for the gratification of one human being's vanity, had thus been laid out by the bold navigators of the sixteenth century. it was for the dutch rebels to try conclusions upon this point, as they had done upon so many others, with the master of the land and sea. the opening scenes therefore in the great career of maritime adventure and discovery by which these republicans were to make themselves famous will soon engage the reader's attention. thus the causes of what is called the greatness of spain are not far to seek. spain was not a nation, but a temporary and factitious conjunction of several nations, which it was impossible to fuse into a permanent whole, but over whose united resources a single monarch for a time disposed. and the very concentration of these vast and unlimited, powers, fortuitous as it was, in this single hand, inspiring the individual, not unnaturally, with a consciousness of superhuman grandeur; impelled him to those frantic and puerile efforts to achieve the impossible which resulted, in the downfall of spain. the man who inherited so much material greatness believed himself capable of destroying the invisible but omnipotent spirit of religious and political liberty in the netherlands, of trampling out the national existence of france and of england, and of annexing those realms to his empire: it has been my task to relate, with much minuteness, how miserably his efforts failed. but his resources were great. all italy was in his hands, with the single exception of the venetian republic; for the grand duke of florence and the so-called republic of genoa were little more than his vassals, the pope was generally his other self, and the duke of savoy was his son-in-law. thus his armies, numbering usually a hundred thousand men, were supplied from the best possible sources. the italians were esteemed the best soldiers for siege; assault, light skirmishing. the german heavy troopers and arquebuseers were the most effective for open field-work, and these were to be purchased at reasonable prices and to indefinite amount from any of the three or four hundred petty sovereigns to whom what was called germany belonged. the sicilian and neapolitan pikemen, the milanese light-horse, belonged exclusively to philip, and were used, year after year, for more than a generation of mankind, to fight battles in which they had no more interest than had their follow-subjects in the moluccas or in mexico, but which constituted for them personally as lucrative a trade on the whole as was afforded them at that day by any branch of industry. silk, corn, wine, and oil were furnished in profusion from these favoured regions, not that the inhabitants might enjoy life, and, by accumulating wealth, increase the stock of human comforts and contribute to intellectual and scientific advancement, but in order that the proprietor of the soil might feed those eternal armies ever swarming from the south to scatter desolation over the plains of france, burgundy, flanders, and holland, and to make the crown of spain and the office of the holy inquisition supreme over the world. from naples and sicily were derived in great plenty the best materials and conveniences for ship-building and marine equipment. the galleys and the galley-slaves furnished by these subject realms formed the principal part of the royal navy. from distant regions, a commerce which in philip's days had become oceanic supplied the crown with as much revenue as could be expected in a period of gross ignorance as to the causes of the true grandeur and the true wealth of nations. especially from the mines of mexico came an annual average of ten or twelve millions of precious metals, of which the king took twenty-five per cent. for himself. it would be difficult and almost superfluous to indicate the various resources placed in the hands of this one personage, who thus controlled so large a portion of the earth. all that breathed or grew belonged to him, and most steadily was the stream of blood and treasure poured through the sieve of his perpetual war. his system was essentially a gigantic and perpetual levy of contributions in kind, and it is only in this vague and unsatisfactory manner that the revenues of his empire can be stated. a despot really keeps no accounts, nor need to do so, for he is responsible to no man for the way in which he husbands or squanders his own. moreover, the science of statistics had not a beginning of existence in those days, and the most common facts can hardly be obtained, even by approximation. the usual standard of value, the commodity which we call money--gold or silver--is well known to be at best a fallacious guide for estimating the comparative wealth--of individuals or of nations at widely different epochs. the dollar of philip's day was essentially the same bit of silver that it is in our time in spain, naples, rome, or america, but even should an elaborate calculation be made as to the quantity of beef, or bread or broadcloth to be obtained for that bit of silver in this or that place in the middle of the sixteenth century, the result, as compared with prices now prevalent, would show many remarkable discrepancies. thus a bushel of wheat at antwerp during philip's reign might cost a quarter of a dollar, in average years, and there have been seasons in our own time when two bushels of wheat could have been bought for a quarter of a dollar in illinois. yet if, notwithstanding this, we should allow a tenfold value in exchange to the dollar of philip's day, we should be surprised at the meagreness of his revenues, of his expenditures, and of the debts which at the close of his career brought him to bankruptcy; were the sums estimated in coin. thus his income was estimated by careful contemporary statesmen at what seemed to them the prodigious annual amount of sixteen millions of dollars. he carried on a vast war without interruption during the whole of his forty-three years' reign against the most wealthy and military nations of christendom not recognising his authority, and in so doing he is said to have expended a sum total of seven hundred millions of dollars--a statement which made men's hair stand on their heads. yet the american republic, during its civil war to repress the insurrection of the slaveholders, has spent nominally as large a sum as this every year; and the british empire in time of profound peace spends half as much annually. and even if we should allow sixteen millions to have represented the value of a hundred and sixty millions--a purely arbitrary supposition--as compared with our times, what are a hundred and sixty, millions of dollars, or thirty-three millions of pounds sterling--as the whole net revenue of the greatest empire that had ever existed in the world, when compared with the accumulated treasures over which civilized and industrious countries can now dispose? thus the power of levying men and materials in kind constituted the chief part of the royal power, and, in truth, very little revenue in money was obtained from milan or naples, or from any of the outlying european possessions of the crown. eight millions a year were estimated as the revenue from the eight kingdoms incorporated under the general name of castile, while not more than six hundred thousand came from the three kingdoms which constituted arragon. the chief sources of money receipts were a tax of ten per cent. upon sales, paid by the seller, called alcavala, and the almoxarifalgo or tariff upon both imports and exports. besides these imposts he obtained about eight hundred thousand dollars a year by selling to his subjects the privilege of eating eggs upon fast-days, according to the permission granted him by the pope, in the bull called the cruzada. he received another annual million from the sussidio and the excusado. the first was a permission originally given by the popes to levy six hundred thousand dollars a year upon ecclesiastical property for equipment of a hundred war-galleys against the saracens, but which had more recently established itself as a regular tax to pay for naval hostilities against dutch and english heretics--a still more malignant species of unbelievers in the orthodox eyes of the period. the excusado was the right accorded to the king always to select from the church possessions a single benefice and to appropriate its fruit--a levy commuted generally for four hundred thousand dollars a year. besides these regular sources of income, large but irregular amounts of money were picked up by his majesty in small sums, through monks sent about the country simply as beggars, under no special license, to collect alms from rich and poor for sustaining the war against the infidels of england and holland. a certain jesuit, father sicily by name, had been industrious enough at one period in preaching this crusade to accumulate more than a million and a half, so that a facetious courtier advised his sovereign to style himself thenceforth king, not of the two, but of the three sicilies, in honour of the industrious priest. it is worthy of remark that at different periods during philip's reign, and especially towards its close, the whole of his regular revenue was pledged to pay the interest, on his debts, save only the sussidio and the cruzada. thus the master of the greatest empire of the earth had at times no income at his disposal except the alma he could solicit from his poorest subjects to maintain his warfare against foreign miscreants, the levy on the church for war-galleys; and the proceeds of his permission to eat meat on fridays. this sounds like an epigram, but it is a plain, incontestable fact. thus the revenues of his foreign dominions being nearly consumed by their necessary expenses, the measure of his positive wealth was to be found in the riches of spain. but spain at that day was not an opulent country. it was impossible that it should be rich, for nearly every law, according to which the prosperity of a country becomes progressive; was habitually violated. it is difficult to state even by approximation the amount of its population, but the kingdoms united under the crown of castile were estimated by contemporaries to contain eight millions, while the kingdom of portugal, together with those annexed to arragon and the other provinces of the realm, must have numbered half as many. here was a populous nation in a favoured land, but the foundation of all wealth was sapped by a perverted moral sentiment. labour was esteemed dishonourable. the spaniard, from highest to lowest, was proud, ignorant, and lazy. for a people endowed by nature with many noble qualities--courage, temperance, frugality, endurance, quickness of perception; a high sense of honour, a reverence for law--the course of the national history had proved as ingeniously bad a system of general education as could well be invented. the eternal contests, century after century, upon the soil of spain between the crescent and the cross, and the remembrance of the ancient days in which oriental valour and genius had almost extirpated germanic institutions and christian faith from the peninsula, had inspired one great portion of the masses with a hatred, amounting almost to insanity, towards every form of religion except the church of rome, towards every race of mankind except the goths and vandals. innate reverence for established authority had expanded into an intensity of religious emotion and into a fanaticism of loyalty which caused the anointed monarch leading true believers against infidels to be accepted as a god. the highest industrial and scientific civilization that had been exhibited upon spanish territory was that of moors and jews. when in the course of time those races had been subjugated, massacred, or driven into exile, not only was spain deprived of its highest intellectual culture and its most productive labour, but intelligence, science, and industry were accounted degrading, because the mark of inferior and detested peoples. the sentiment of self-esteem, always a national characteristic, assumed an almost ludicrous shape. not a ragged biscayan muleteer, not a swineherd of estremadura, that did not imagine himself a nobleman because he was not of african descent. not a half-starved, ignorant brigand, gaining his living on the highways and byways by pilfering or assassination, that did not kneel on the church pavement and listen to orisons in an ancient tongue, of which he understood not a syllable, with a sentiment of christian self-complacency to which godfrey of bouillon might have been a stranger. especially those born towards the northern frontier, and therefore farthest removed from moorish contamination, were proudest of the purity of their race. to be an asturian or a gallician, however bronzed by sun and wind, was to be furnished with positive proof against suspicion of moorish blood; but the sentiment was universal throughout the peninsula. it followed as a matter of course that labour of any kind was an impeachment against this gentility of descent. to work was the province of moors, jews, and other heretics; of the marani or accursed, miscreants and descendants of miscreants; of the sanbeniti or infamous, wretches whose ancestors had been convicted by the holy inquisition of listening, however secretly, to the holy scriptures as expounded by other lips than those of roman priests. and it is a remarkable illustration of this degradation of labour and of its results, that in the reign of philip twenty-five thousand individuals of these dishonoured and comparatively industrious classes, then computed at four millions in number in the castilian kingdoms alone, had united in a society which made a formal offer to the king to pay him two thousand dollars a head if the name and privileges of hidalgo could be conferred upon them. thus an inconsiderable number of this vilest and most abject of the population--oppressed by taxation which was levied exclusively upon the low, and from which not only the great nobles but mechanics and other hidalgos were, exempt--had been able to earn and to lay by enough to offer the monarch fifty millions of dollars to purchase themselves out of semi-slavery into manhood, and yet found their offer rejected by an almost insolvent king. nothing could exceed the idleness and the frivolity of the upper classes, as depicted by contemporary and not unfriendly observers. the nobles were as idle and as ignorant as their inferiors. they were not given to tournays nor to the delights of the chase and table, but were fond of brilliant festivities, dancing, gambling, masquerading, love-making, and pompous exhibitions of equipage, furniture, and dress. these diversions--together with the baiting of bulls and the burning of protestants--made up their simple round of pleasures. when they went to the wars they scorned all positions but that of general, whether by land or sea, and as war is a trade which requires an apprenticeship; it is unnecessary to observe that these grandees were rarely able to command, having never learned to obey. the poorer spaniards were most honourably employed perhaps--so far as their own mental development was concerned--when they were sent with pike and arquebus to fight heretics in france and flanders. they became brave and indomitable soldiers when exported to the seat of war, and thus afforded proof--by strenuously doing the hardest physical work that human beings can be called upon to perform, campaigning year after year amid the ineffable deprivations, dangers, and sufferings which are the soldier's lot--that it was from no want of industry or capacity that the lower masses of spaniards in that age were the idle, listless, dice-playing, begging, filching vagabonds into which cruel history and horrible institutions had converted them at home. it is only necessary to recal these well-known facts to understand why one great element of production--human labour--was but meagrely supplied. it had been the deliberate policy of the government for ages to extirpate the industrious classes, and now that a great portion of moors and jews were exiles and outcasts, it was impossible to supply their place by native workmen. even the mechanics, who condescended to work with their hands in the towns, looked down alike upon those who toiled in the field and upon those who, attempted to grow rich by traffic. a locksmith or a wheelwright who could prove four descents of western, blood called himself a son of somebody--a hidalgo--and despised the farmer and the merchant. and those very artisans were careful not to injure themselves by excessive industry, although not reluctant by exorbitant prices to acquire in one or-two days what might seem a fair remuneration for a week, and to impress upon their customers that it was rather by way of favour that they were willing to serve them at all. labour being thus deficient, it is obvious that there could hardly have been a great accumulation, according to modern ideas, of capital. that other chief element of national wealth, which is the result of generations of labour and of abstinence, was accordingly not abundant. and even those accretions of capital, which in the course of centuries had been inevitable, were as clumsily and inadequately diffused as the most exquisite human perverseness could desire. if the object of civil and political institutions had been to produce the greatest ill to the greatest number, that object had been as nearly attained at last in spain as human imperfection permits; the efforts of government and of custom coming powerfully to the aid of the historical evils already indicated. it is superfluous to say that the land belonged not to those who lived upon it--but subject to the pre-eminent right of the crown--to a small selection of the human species. moderate holdings, small farms, peasant proprietorship's, were unknown. any kind of terrestrial possession; in short, was as far beyond the reach of those men who held themselves so haughtily and esteemed themselves so inordinately, as were the mountains in the moon. the great nobles--and of real grandees of spain there were but forty-nine, although the number of titled families was much larger--owned all the country, except that vast portion of it which had reposed for ages in the dead-hand of the church. the law of primogeniture, strictly enforced, tended with every generation to narrow the basis of society. nearly every great estate was an entail, passing from eldest son to eldest son, until these were exhausted, in which case a daughter transferred the family possessions to a new house. thus the capital of the country--meagre at best in comparison with what it might have been, had industry been honoured instead of being despised, had the most intelligent and most diligent classes been cherished rather than hunted to death or into obscure dens like vermin--was concentrated in very few hands. not only was the accumulation less than it should have been, but the slenderness of its diffusion had nearly amounted to absolute stagnation. the few possessors of capital wasted their revenues in unproductive consumption. the millions of the needy never dreamed of the possibility of deriving benefit from the capital of the rich, nor would have condescended to employ it, nor known how to employ it, had its use in any form been vouchsafed to them. the surface of spain, save only around the few royal residences, exhibited no splendour of architecture, whether in town or country, no wonders of agricultural or horticultural skill, no monuments of engineering and constructive genius in roads, bridges, docks, warehouses, and other ornamental and useful fabrics, or in any of the thousand ways in which man facilitates intercourse among his kind and subdues nature to his will. yet it can never be too often repeated that it, is only the spaniard of the sixteenth century, such as extraneous circumstances had made him, that is here depicted; that he, even like his posterity and his ancestors, had been endowed by nature with some of her noblest gifts. acuteness of intellect, wealth of imagination, heroic qualities of heart, and hand, and brain, rarely surpassed in any race, and manifested on a thousand battle-fields, and in the triumphs of a magnificent and most original literature, had not been able to save a whole nation from the disasters and the degradation which the mere words philip ii, and the holy inquisition suggest to every educated mind. nor is it necessary for my purpose to measure exactly the space which separated spain from the other leading monarchies of the day. that the standard of civilization was a vastly higher one in england, holland, or even france--torn as they all were with perpetual civil war--no thinker will probably deny; but as it is rather my purpose at this moment to exhibit the evils which may spring from a perfectly bad monarchical system, as administered by a perfectly bad king, i prefer not to wander at present from the country which was ruled for almost half a century by philip ii. besides the concentration of a great part of the capital of the country in a very small number of titled families, still another immense portion of the national wealth belonged, as already intimated, to the church. there were eleven archbishops, at the head of whom stood the archbishop of toledo, with the enormous annual revenue of three hundred thousand dollars. next to him came the archbishop of seville, with one hundred and fifty thousand dollars yearly, while the income of the others varied from fifty thousand to twenty thousand dollars respectively. there were sixty-two bishops, with annual incomes ranging from fifty thousand to six thousand dollars. the churches, also, of these various episcopates were as richly endowed as the great hierarchs themselves. but without fatiguing the reader with minute details, it is sufficient to say that one-third of the whole annual income of spain and portugal belonged to the ecclesiastical body. in return for this enormous proportion of the earth's fruits, thus placed by the caprice of destiny at their disposal, these holy men did very little work in the world. they fed their flocks neither with bread nor with spiritual food. they taught little, preached little, dispensed little in charity. very few of the swarming millions of naked and hungry throughout the land were clothed or nourished out of these prodigious revenues of the church. the constant and avowed care of those prelates was to increase their worldly, possessions, to build up the fortunes of their respective families, to grow richer and richer at the expense of the people whom for centuries they had fleeced. of gross crime, of public ostentatious immorality, such as had made the roman priesthood of that and preceding ages loathsome in the sight of man and god, the spanish church-dignitaries were innocent. avarice; greediness, and laziness were their characteristics. it is almost superfluous to say that, while the ecclesiastical princes were rolling in this almost fabulous wealth, the subordinate clergy, the mob of working priests, were needy, half-starved mendicants. from this rapid survey of the condition of the peninsula it will seem less surprising than it might do at first glance that the revenue of the greatest monarch of the world was rated at the small amount--even after due allowance for the difference of general values between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries--of sixteen millions of dollars. the king of spain was powerful and redoubtable at home and abroad, because accident had placed the control of a variety of separate realms in his single hand. at the same time spain was poor and weak, because she had lived for centuries in violation of the principles on which the wealth and strength of nations depend. moreover, every one of those subject and violently annexed nations hated spain with undying fervour, while an infernal policy--the leading characteristics of which were to sow dissensions among the nobles, to confiscate their property on all convenient occasions, and to bestow it upon spaniards and other foreigners; to keep the discontented masses in poverty, but to deprive them of the power or disposition to unite with their superiors in rank in demonstrations against the crown--had sufficed to suppress any extensive revolt in the various italian states united under philip's sceptre. still more intense than the hatred of the italians was the animosity which was glowing in every portuguese breast against the spanish sway; while even the arragonese were only held in subjection by terror, which, indeed, in one form or another, was the leading instrument of philip's government. it is hardly necessary to enlarge upon the regulations of spain's foreign commerce; for it will be enough to repeat the phrase that in her eyes the great ocean from east to west was a spanish lake, sacred to the ships of the king's subjects alone. with such a simple code of navigation coming in aid of the other causes which impoverished the land, it may be believed that the maritime traffic of the country would dwindle into the same exiguous proportions which characterised her general industry. moreover, it should never be forgotten that, although the various kingdoms of spain were politically conjoined by their personal union under one despot, they were commercially distinct. a line of custom-houses separated each province from the rest, and made the various inhabitants of the peninsula practically strangers to each other. thus there was less traffic between castile, biscay, and arragon than there was between any one of them and remote foreign nations. the biscayans, for example, could even import and export commodities to and from remote countries by sea, free of duty, while their merchandize to and from castile was crushed by imposts. as this ingenious perversity of positive arrangements came to increase the negative inconveniences caused by the almost total absence of tolerable roads, canals, bridges, and other means of intercommunication, it may be imagined that internal traffic--the very life-blood of every prosperous nation--was very nearly stagnant in spain. as an inevitable result, the most thriving branch of national industry was that of the professional smuggler, who, in the pursuit of his vocation, did his best to aid government in sapping the wealth of the nation. the whole accumulated capital of spain, together with the land--in the general sense which includes not only the soil but the immovable property of a country being thus exclusively owned by the crown, the church, and a very small number of patrician families, while the supply of labour owing to the special causes which had converted the masses of the people into paupers ashamed to work but not unwilling to beg or to rob--was incredibly small, it is obvious that, so long as the same causes continued in operation, the downfall of the country was a logical result from which there was no escape. nothing but a general revolution of mind and hand against the prevalent system, nothing but some great destructive but regenerating catastrophe, could redeem the people. and it is the condition of the people which ought always to be the prominent subject of interest to those who study the records of the past. it is only by such study that we can derive instruction from history, and enable ourselves, however dimly and feebly, to cast the horoscope of younger nations. human history, so far as it has been written, is at best a mere fragment; for the few centuries or year-thousands of which there is definite record are as nothing compared to the millions of unnumbered years during which man has perhaps walked the earth. it may be as practicable therefore to derive instruction from a minute examination in detail of a very limited period of time and space, and thus to deduce general rules for the infinite future, during which our species may be destined to inhabit this planet, as by a more extensive survey, which must however be at best a limited one. men die, but man is immortal, and it would be a sufficiently forlorn prospect for humanity if we were not able to discover causes in operation which would ultimately render the system of philip ii. impossible in any part of the globe. certainly, were it otherwise, the study of human history would be the most wearisome and unprofitable of all conceivable occupations. the festivities of courts, the magnificence of an aristocracy, the sayings and doings of monarchs and their servants, the dynastic wars, the solemn treaties; the ossa upon pelion of diplomatic and legislative rubbish by which, in the course of centuries, a few individuals or combinations of individuals have been able to obstruct the march of humanity, and have essayed to suspend the operation of elemental laws--all this contains but little solid food for grown human beings. the condition of the brave and quickwitted spanish people in the latter half of the sixteenth century gives more matter for reflection and possible instruction. that science is the hope of the world, that ignorance is the real enslaver of mankind, and therefore the natural ally of every form of despotism, may be assumed as an axiom, and it was certainly the ignorance and superstition of the people upon which the philippian policy was founded. a vast mass, entirely uneducated, half fed, half clothed, unemployed; and reposing upon a still lower and denser stratum--the millions namely of the "accursed," of the africans, and last and vilest of all, the "blessed" descendants of spanish protestants whom the holy office had branded with perpetual infamy because it had burned their progenitors--this was the people; and it was these paupers and outcasts, nearly the whole nation, that paid all the imposts of which the public revenue was composed. the great nobles, priests, and even the hidalgos, were exempt from taxation. need more be said to indicate the inevitable ruin of both government and people? and it was over such a people, and with institutions like these, that philip ii. was permitted to rule during forty-three years. his power was absolute. with this single phrase one might as well dismiss any attempt at specification. he made war or peace at will with foreign nations. he had power of life and death over all his subjects. he had unlimited control of their worldly goods. as he claimed supreme jurisdiction over their religious opinions also, he was master of their minds, bodies, and estates. as a matter of course, he nominated and removed at will every executive functionary, every judge, every magistrate, every military or civil officer; and moreover, he not only selected, according to the license tacitly conceded to him by the pontiff, every archbishop, bishop, and other church dignitary, but, through his great influence at rome, he named most of the cardinals, and thus controlled the election of the popes. the whole machinery of society, political, ecclesiastical, military, was in his single hand. there was a show of provincial privilege here and there in different parts of spain, but it was but the phantom of that ancient municipal liberty which it had been the especial care of his father and his great-grandfather to destroy. most patiently did philip, by his steady inactivity, bring about the decay of the last ruins of free institutions in the peninsula. the councils and legislative assemblies were convoked and then wearied out in waiting for that royal assent to their propositions and transactions, which was deferred intentionally, year after year, and never given. thus the time of the deputies was consumed in accomplishing infinite nothing, until the moment arrived when the monarch, without any violent stroke of state, could feel safe in issuing decrees and pragmatic edicts; thus reducing the ancient legislative and consultative bodies to nullity, and substituting the will of an individual for a constitutional fabric. to criticise the expenses of government or to attempt interference with the increase of taxation became a sorry farce. the forms remained in certain provinces after the life had long since fled. only in arragon had the ancient privileges seemed to defy the absolute authority of the monarch; and it was reserved for antonio perez to be the cause of their final extirpation. the grinning skulls of the chief justice of that kingdom and of the boldest and noblest advocates and defenders of the national liberties, exposed for years in the market-place, with the record of their death-sentence attached, informed the spaniards, in language which the most ignorant could read, that the crime of defending a remnant of human freedom and constitutional law was sure to draw down condign punishment. it was the last time in that age that even the ghost of extinct liberty was destined to revisit the soil of spain. it mattered not that the immediate cause for pursuing perez was his successful amour with the king's mistress, nor that the crime of which he was formally accused was the deadly offence of calvinism, rather than his intrigue with the eboli and his assassination of escovedo; for it was in the natural and simple sequence of events that the last vestige of law or freedom should be obliterated wherever philip could vindicate his sway. it must be admitted, too, that the king seized this occasion to strike a decisive blow with a promptness very different from his usual artistic sluggishness. rarely has a more terrible epigram been spoken by man than the royal words which constituted the whole trial and sentence of the chief justice of arragon, for the crime of defending the law of his country: "you will take john of lanuza, and you will have his head cut off." this was the end of the magistrate and of the constitution which he had defended. his power, was unlimited. a man endowed with genius and virtue, and possessing the advantages of a consummate education, could have perhaps done little more than attempt to mitigate the general misery, and to remove some of its causes. for it is one of the most pernicious dogmas of the despotic system, and the one which the candid student of history soonest discovers to be false, that the masses of mankind are to look to any individual, however exalted by birth or intellect, for their redemption. woe to the world if the nations are never to learn that their fate is and ought to be in their own hands; that their institutions, whether liberal or despotic, are the result of the national biography and of the national character, not the work of a few individuals whose names have been preserved by capricious accident as heroes and legislators. yet there is no doubt that, while comparatively powerless for good, the individual despot is capable of almost infinite mischief. there have been few men known to history who have been able to accomplish by their own exertions so vast an amount of evil as the king who had just died. if philip possessed a single virtue it has eluded the conscientious research of the writer of these pages. if there are vices--as possibly there are from which he was exempt, it is because it is not permitted to human nature to attain perfection even in evil. the only plausible explanation--for palliation there is none--of his infamous career is that the man really believed himself not a king but a god. he was placed so high above his fellow-creatures as, in good faith perhaps, to believe himself incapable of doing wrong; so that, whether indulging his passions or enforcing throughout the world his religious and political dogmas, he was ever conscious of embodying divine inspirations and elemental laws. when providing for the assassination of a monarch, or commanding the massacre of a townfull of protestants; when trampling on every oath by which a human being can bind himself; when laying desolate with fire and sword, during more than a generation, the provinces which he had inherited as his private property, or in carefully maintaining the flames of civil war in foreign kingdoms which he hoped to acquire; while maintaining over all christendom a gigantic system of bribery, corruption, and espionage, keeping the noblest names of england and scotland on his pension-lists of traitors, and impoverishing his exchequer with the wages of iniquity paid in france to men of all degrees, from princes of blood like guise and mayenne down to the obscurest of country squires, he ever felt that these base or bloody deeds were not crimes, but the simple will of the godhead of which he was a portion. he never doubted that the extraordinary theological system which he spent his life in enforcing with fire and sword was right, for it was a part of himself. the holy inquisition, thoroughly established as it was in his ancestral spain, was a portion of the regular working machinery by which his absolute kingship and his superhuman will expressed themselves. a tribunal which performed its functions with a celerity, certainty, and invisibility resembling the attributes of omnipotence; which, like the pestilence, entered palace or hovel at will, and which smote the wretch guilty or suspected of heresy with a precision against which no human ingenuity or sympathy could guard--such an institution could not but be dear to his heart. it was inevitable that the extension and perpetuation of what he deemed its blessings throughout his dominions should be his settled purpose. spain was governed by an established terrorism. it is a mistake to suppose that philip was essentially beloved in his native land, or that his religious and political system was heartily accepted because consonant to the national character. on the contrary, as has been shown, a very large proportion of the inhabitants were either secretly false to the catholic faith, or descended at least from those who had expiated their hostility to it with their lives. but the grand inquisitor was almost as awful a personage; as the king or the pope. his familiars were in every village and at every fireside, and from their fangs there was no escape. millions of spaniards would have rebelled against the crown or accepted the reformed religion, had they not been perfectly certain of being burned or hanged at the slightest movement in such a direction. the popular force in the course of the political combinations of centuries seemed at last to have been eliminated. the nobles, exempt from taxation, which crushed the people to the earth, were the enemies rather than the chieftains and champions of the lower classes in any possible struggle with a crown to which they were united by ties of interest as well as of affection, while the great churchmen, too, were the immediate dependants and of course the firm supporters of the king. thus the people, without natural leaders, without organisation, and themselves divided into two mutually hostile sections, were opposed by every force in the state. crown, nobility, and clergy; all the wealth and all that there was of learning, were banded together to suppress the democratic principle. but even this would hardly have sufficed to extinguish every spark of liberty, had it not been for the potent machinery of the inquisition; nor could that perfection of terrorism have become an established institution but for the extraordinary mixture of pride and superstition of which the national character had been, in the course of the national history, compounded. the spanish portion of the people hated the nobles, whose petty exactions and oppressions were always visible; but they had a reverential fear of the unseen monarch, as the representative both of the great unsullied christian nation to which the meanest individual was proud to belong, and of the god of wrath who had decreed the extermination of all unbelievers. the "accursed" portion of the people were sufficiently disloyal at heart, but were too much crushed by oppression and contempt to imagine themselves men. as to the netherlanders, they did not fight originally for independence. it was not until after a quarter of a century of fighting that they ever thought of renouncing their allegiance to philip. they fought to protect themselves against being taxed by the king without the consent of those constitutional assemblies which he had sworn to maintain, and to save themselves and their children from being burned alive if they dared to read the bible. independence followed after nearly a half-century of fighting, but it would never have been obtained, or perhaps demanded, had those grievances of the people been redressed. of this perfect despotism philip was thus the sole administrator. certainly he looked upon his mission with seriousness, and was industrious in performing his royal functions. but this earnestness and seriousness were, in truth, his darkest vices; for the most frivolous voluptuary that ever wore a crown would never have compassed a thousandth part of the evil which was philip's life-work. it was because he was a believer in himself, and in what he called his religion, that he was enabled to perpetrate such a long catalogue of crimes. when an humble malefactor is brought before an ordinary court of justice, it is not often, in any age or country, that he escapes the pillory or the gallows because, from his own point of view, his actions, instead of being criminal, have been commendable, and because the multitude and continuity of his offences prove him to have been sincere. and because anointed monarchs are amenable to no human tribunal, save to that terrible assize which the people, bursting its chain from time to time in the course of the ages, sets up for the trial of its oppressors, and which is called revolution, it is the more important for the great interests of humanity that before the judgment-seat of history a crown should be no protection to its wearer. there is no plea to the jurisdiction of history, if history be true to itself. as for the royal criminal called philip ii., his life is his arraignment, and these volumes will have been written in vain if a specification is now required. homicide such as was hardly ever compassed before by one human being was committed by philip when in the famous edict of he sentenced every man, woman, and child in the netherlands to death. that the whole of this population, three millions or more, were not positively destroyed was because no human energy could suffice to execute the diabolical decree. but alva, toiling hard, accomplished much of this murderous work. by the aid of the "council of blood," and of the sheriffs and executioners of the holy inquisition, he was able sometimes to put eight hundred human beings to death in a single week for the crimes of protestantism or of opulence, and at the end of half a dozen years he could boast of having strangled, drowned, burned, or beheaded somewhat more than eighteen thousand of his fellow-creatures. these were some of the non-combatant victims; for of the tens of thousands who perished during his administration alone, in siege and battle, no statistical record has been preserved. in face of such wholesale crimes, of these forty years of bloodshed, it is superfluous to refer to such isolated misdeeds as his repeated attempts to procure the assassination of the prince of orange, crowned at last by the success of balthazar gerard, nor to his persistent efforts to poison the queen of england; for the enunciation of all these murders or attempts at murder would require a repetition of the story which it has been one of the main purposes of these volumes to recite. for indeed it seems like mere railing to specify his crimes. their very magnitude and unbroken continuity, together with their impunity, give them almost the appearance of inevitable phenomena. the horrible monotony of his career stupefies the mind until it is ready to accept the principle of evil as the fundamental law of the world. his robberies, like his murders, were colossal. the vast, system of confiscation set up in the netherlands was sufficient to reduce unnumbered innocent families to beggary, although powerless to break the spirit of civil and religious liberty or to pay the expenses of subjugating a people. not often in the world's history have so many thousand individual been plundered by a foreign tyrant for no crime, save that they were rich enough to be worth robbing. for it can never be too often repeated that those confiscations and extortions were perpetrated upon catholics as well as protestants, monarchists as well as rebels; the possession of property making proof of orthodoxy or of loyalty well-nigh impossible. falsehood was the great basis of the king's character, which perhaps derives its chief importance, as a political and psychological study, from this very fact. it has been shown throughout the whole course of this history, by the evidence of his most secret correspondence, that he was false, most of all, to those to whom he gave what he called his heart. granvelle, alva, don john, alexander farnese, all those, in short, who were deepest in his confidence experienced in succession his entire perfidy, while each in turn was sacrificed to his master's sleepless suspicion. the pope himself was often as much the dupe of the catholic monarch's faithlessness as the vilest heretic had ever been. could the great schoolmaster of iniquity for the sovereigns and politicians of the south have lived to witness the practice of the monarch who had most laid to heart the precepts of the "prince," he would have felt that he had not written in vain, and that his great paragon of successful falsehood, ferdinand of arragon, had been surpassed by the great grandson. for the ideal perfection of perfidy, foreshadowed by the philosopher who died in the year of philip's birth, was thoroughly embodied at last by this potentate. certainly nicholas macchiavelli could have hoped for no more docile pupil. that all men are vile, that they are liars; scoundrels, poltroons, and idiots alike--ever ready to deceive and yet easily to be duped, and that he only is fit to be king who excels his kind in the arts of deception; by this great maxim of the florentine, philip was ever guided. and those well-known texts of hypocrisy, strewn by the same hand, had surely not fallen on stony ground when received into philip's royal soul. "often it is necessary, in order to maintain power, to act contrary to faith, contrary to charity, contrary to humanity, contrary to religion. . . . a prince ought therefore to have great care that from his mouth nothing should ever come that is not filled with those five qualities, and that to see and hear him he should appear all piety, all faith, all integrity, all humanity, all religion. and nothing is more necessary than to seem to have this last-mentioned quality. every one sees what you seem, few perceive what you are." surely this hand-book of cant had been philip's 'vade mecum' through his life's pilgrimage. it is at least a consolation to reflect that a career controlled by such principles came to an ignominious close. had the mental capacity of this sovereign been equal to his criminal intent, even greater woe might have befallen the world. but his intellect was less than mediocre. his passion for the bureau, his slavery to routine, his puerile ambition personally to superintend details which could have been a thousand times better administered by subordinates, proclaimed every day the narrowness of his mind. his diligence in reading, writing, and commenting upon despatches may excite admiration only where there has been no opportunity of judging of his labours by personal inspection. those familiar with the dreary displays of his penmanship must admit that such work could have been at least as well done by a copying clerk of average capacity. his ministers were men of respectable ability, but he imagined himself, as he advanced in life, far superior to any counsellor that he could possibly select, and was accustomed to consider himself the first statesman in the world. his reign was a thorough and disgraceful failure. its opening scene was the treaty of catean cambresis, by which a triumph over france had been achieved for him by the able generals and statesmen of his father, so humiliating and complete as to make every french soldier or politician gnash his teeth. its conclusion was the treaty of vervins with the same power, by which the tables were completely turned, and which was as utterly disgraceful to spain as that of cateau cambresis had been to france. he had spent his life in fighting with the spirit of the age--that invincible power of which he had not the faintest conception--while the utter want of adaptation of his means to his ends often bordered, not on the ludicrous, but the insane. he attempted to reduce the free netherlands to slavery and to papacy. before his death they had expanded into an independent republic, with a policy founded upon religious toleration and the rights of man. he had endeavoured all his life to exclude the bearnese from his heritage and to place himself or his daughter on the vacant throne; before his death henry iv. was the most powerful and popular sovereign that had ever reigned in france. he had sought to invade and to conquer england, and to dethrone and assassinate its queen. but the queen outwitted, outgeneralled, and outlived, him; english soldiers and sailors, assisted. by their dutch comrades in arms, accomplished on the shores of spain what the invincible armada had in vain essayed against england and holland; while england, following thenceforth the opposite system to that of absolutism and the inquisition, became, after centuries of struggles towards the right, the most powerful, prosperous, and enlightened kingdom in the world. his exchequer, so full when he ascended the throne as to excite the awe of contemporary financiers, was reduced before his death to a net income of some four millions of dollars. his armies; which had been the wonder of the age in the earlier period of his reign for discipline, courage, and every quality on which military efficiency depends, were in his later years a horde of starving, rebellious brigands, more formidable to their commanders than to the foe. mutiny was the only organised military institution that was left in his dominions, while the spanish inquisition, which it was the fell purpose of his life from youth upwards to establish over the world, became a loathsome and impossible nuisance everywhere but in its natal soil. if there be such a thing as historical evidence, then is philip ii., convicted before the tribunal of impartial posterity of every crime charged in his indictment. he lived seventy-one years and three months, he reigned forty-three years. he endured the martyrdom of his last illness with the heroism of a saint, and died in the certainty of immortal bliss as the reward of his life of evil. etext editor's bookmarks: a despot really keeps no accounts, nor need to do so all italy was in his hands every one sees what you seem, few perceive what you are god of wrath who had decreed the extermination of all unbeliever had industry been honoured instead of being despised history is but made up of a few scattered fragments hugo grotius idle, listless, dice-playing, begging, filching vagabonds ignorance is the real enslaver of mankind innocent generation, to atone for the sins of their forefathers intelligence, science, and industry were accounted degrading labour was esteemed dishonourable man had no rights at all he was property matters little by what name a government is called moral nature, undergoes less change than might be hoped names history has often found it convenient to mark its epochs national character, not the work of a few individuals proceeds of his permission to eat meat on fridays rarely able to command, having never learned to obey rich enough to be worth robbing seems but a change of masks, of costume, of phraseology selling the privilege of eating eggs upon fast-days sentiment of christian self-complacency spain was governed by an established terrorism that unholy trinity--force; dogma, and ignorance the great ocean was but a spanish lake the most thriving branch of national industry (smuggler) the record of our race is essentially unwritten thirty thousand masses should be said for his soul those who argue against a foregone conclusion three or four hundred petty sovereigns (of germany) utter want of adaptation of his means to his ends while one's friends urge moderation whole revenue was pledged to pay the interest, on his debts history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , - chapter xxxvi. commercial prospects of holland--travels of john huygen van linschoten their effect on the trade and prosperity of the netherlands--progress of nautical and geographical science--maritime exploration--fantastic notions respecting the polar regions--state of nautical science--first arctic expedition--success of the voyagers--failure of the second expedition--third attempt to discover the north-east passage--discovery of spitzbergen-- scientific results of the voyage--adventures in the frozen regions-- death of william barendz--return of the voyagers to amsterdam-- southern expedition against the spanish power--disasters attendant upon it--extent of dutch discovery. during a great portion of philip's reign the netherlanders, despite their rebellion, had been permitted to trade with spain. a spectacle had thus been presented of a vigorous traffic between two mighty belligerents, who derived from their intercourse with each other the means of more thoroughly carrying on their mutual hostilities. the war fed their commerce, and commerce fed their war. the great maritime discoveries at the close of the fifteenth century had enured quite as much to the benefit of the flemings and hollanders as to that of the spaniards and portuguese, to whom they were originally due. antwerp and subsequently amsterdam had thriven on the great revolution of the indian trade which vasco de gama's voyage around the cape had effected. the nations of the baltic and of farthest ind now exchanged their products on a more extensive scale and with a wider sweep across the earth than when the mistress of the adriatic alone held the keys of asiatic commerce. the haughty but intelligent oligarchy of shopkeepers, which had grown so rich and attained so eminent a political position from its magnificent monopoly, already saw the sources of its grandeur drying up before its eyes, now that the world's trade--for the first time in human history--had become oceanic. in holland, long since denuded of forests, were great markets of timber, whither shipbuilders and architects came from all parts of the world to gather the utensils for their craft. there, too, where scarcely a pebble had been deposited in the course of the geological transformations of our planet, were great artificial quarries of granite, and marble, and basalt. wheat was almost as rare a product of the soil as cinnamon, yet the granaries of christendom, and the oriental magazines of spices and drugs, were found chiefly on that barren spot of earth. there was the great international mart where the osterling, the turk, the hindoo, the atlantic and the mediterranean traders stored their wares and negotiated their exchanges; while the curious and highly-prized products of netherland skill--broadcloths, tapestries, brocades, laces, substantial fustians, magnificent damasks, finest linens--increased the mass of visible wealth piled mountains high upon that extraordinary soil which produced nothing and teemed with everything. after the incorporation of portugal with spain however many obstacles were thrown in the way of the trade from the netherlands to lisbon and the spanish ports. loud and bitter were the railings uttered, as we know, by the english sovereign and her statesmen against the nefarious traffic which the dutch republic persisted in carrying on with the common enemy. but it is very certain that although the spanish armadas would have found it comparatively difficult to equip themselves without the tar and the timber, the cordage, the stores, and the biscuits furnished by the hollanders, the rebellious commonwealth, if excluded from the world's commerce, in which it had learned to play so controlling a part, must have ceased to exist. for without foreign navigation the independent republic was an inconceivable idea. not only would it have been incapable of continuing the struggle with the greatest monarch in the world, but it might as well have buried itself once and for ever beneath the waves from which it had scarcely emerged. commerce and holland were simply synonymous terms. its morsel of territory was but the wharf to which the republic was occasionally moored; its home was in every ocean and over all the world. nowhere had there ever existed before so large a proportion of population that was essentially maritime. they were born sailors--men and women alike--and numerous were the children who had never set foot on the shore. at the period now treated of the republic had three times as many ships and sailors as any one nation in the world. compared with modern times, and especially with the gigantic commercial strides of the two great anglo-saxon families, the statistics both of population and of maritime commerce in that famous and most vigorous epoch would seem sufficiently meagre. yet there is no doubt that in the relative estimate of forces then in activity it would be difficult to exaggerate the naval power of the young commonwealth. when therefore, towards the close of philip ii.'s reign, it became necessary to renounce the carrying trade with spain and portugal, by which the communication with india and china was effected, or else to submit to the confiscation of dutch ships in spanish ports, and the confinement of dutch sailors in the dungeons of the inquisition, a more serious dilemma was presented to the statesmen of the netherlands than they had ever been called upon to solve. for the splendid fiction of the spanish lake was still a formidable fact. not only were the portuguese and spaniards almost the only direct traders to the distant east, but even had no obstacles been interposed by government, the exclusive possession of information as to the course of trade, the pre-eminent practical knowledge acquired by long experience of that dangerous highway around the world at a time when oceanic navigation was still in its infancy, would have given a monopoly of the traffic to the descendants of the bold discoverers who first opened the great path to the world's commerce. the hollanders as a nation had never been engaged in the direct trade around the cape of good hope. fortunately however at this crisis in their commercial destiny there was a single hollander who had thoroughly learned the lesson which it was so necessary that all his countrymen should now be taught. few men of that period deserve a more kindly and more honourable remembrance by posterity for their contributions to science and the progress of civilization than john huygen van linschoten, son of a plain burgher of west friesland. having always felt a strong impulse to study foreign history and distant nations and customs; he resolved at the early age of seventeen "to absent himself from his fatherland, and from the conversation of friends and relatives," in order to gratify this inclination for self-improvement. after a residence of two years in lisbon he departed for india in the suite of the archbishop of goa, and remained in the east for nearly thirteen years. diligently examining all the strange phenomena which came under his observation and patiently recording the results of his researches day by day and year by year, he amassed a fund of information which he modestly intended for the entertainment of his friends when he should return to his native country. it was his wish that "without stirring from their firesides or counting-houses" they might participate with him in the gratification and instruction to be derived from looking upon a world then so strange, and for europeans still so new. he described the manners and customs, the laws, the religions, the social and political institutions, of the ancient races who dwelt in either peninsula of india. he studied the natural history, the botany, the geography of all the regions which he visited. especially the products which formed the material of a great traffic; the system of culture, the means of transportation, and the course of commerce, were examined by him with minuteness, accuracy, and breadth of vision. he was neither a trader nor a sailor, but a man of letters, a scientific and professional traveller. but it was obvious when he returned, rich with the spoils of oriental study during thirteen years of life, that the results of his researches were worthy of a wider circulation than that which he had originally contemplated. his work was given to the public in the year , and was studied with avidity not only by men of science but by merchants and seafarers. he also added to the record of his indian experiences a practical manual for navigators. he described the course of the voyage from lisbon to the east, the currents, the trade-winds and monsoons, the harbours, the islands, the shoals, the sunken rocks and dangerous quicksands, and he accompanied his work with various maps and charts, both general and special, of land and water, rarely delineated before his day, as well as by various astronomical and mathematical calculations. already a countryman of his own, wagenaar of zeeland, had laid the mariners of the world under special obligation by a manual which came into such universal use that for centuries afterwards the sailors of england and of other countries called their indispensable 'vade-mecum' a wagenaar. but in that text-book but little information was afforded to eastern voyagers, because, before the enterprise of linschoten, little was known of the orient except to the portuguese and spaniards, by whom nothing was communicated. the work of linschoten was a source of wealth, both from the scientific treasures which it diffused among an active and intelligent people, and the impulse which it gave to that direct trade between the netherlands and the east which had been so long deferred, and which now came to relieve the commerce of the republic, and therefore the republic itself, from the danger of positive annihilation. it is not necessary for my purpose to describe in detail the series of voyages by way of the cape of good hope which, beginning with the adventures of the brothers houtmann at this period, and with the circumnavigation of the world by olivier van noord, made the dutch for a long time the leading christian nation in those golden regions, and which carried the united netherlands to the highest point of prosperity and power. the spanish monopoly of the indian and the pacific ocean was effectually disposed of, but the road was not a new road, nor did any striking discoveries at this immediate epoch illustrate the enterprise of holland in the east. in the age just opening the homely names most dear to the young republic were to be inscribed on capes, islands, and promontories, seas, bays, and continents. there was soon to be a "staten island" both in the frozen circles of the northern and of the southern pole, as well as in that favoured region where now the mighty current of a worldwide commerce flows through the gates of that great metropolis of the western world, once called new amsterdam. those well-beloved words, orange and nassau, maurice and william, intermingled with the names of many an ancient town and village, or with the simple patronymics of hardy navigators or honoured statesmen, were to make the vernacular of the new commonwealth a familiar sound in the remotest corners of the earth; while a fifth continent, discovered by the enterprise of hollanders, was soon to be fitly baptized with the name of the fatherland. posterity has been neither just nor grateful, and those early names which dutch genius and enterprise wrote upon so many prominent points of the earth's surface, then seen for the first time by european eyes, are no longer known. the impulse given to the foreign trade of the netherlands by the publication of linschoten's work was destined to be a lasting one. meantime this most indefatigable and enterprising voyager--one of those men who had done nothing in his own estimation so long as aught remained to do--was deeply pondering the possibility of a shorter road to the opulent kingdoms of cathay and of china than the one which the genius of de gama had opened to his sovereigns. geography as a science was manifesting the highest activity at that period, but was still in a rudimentary state. to the hollanders especially much of the progress already made by it was owing. the maps of the world by mercator of leyden, published on a large scale, together with many astronomical and geographical charts, delineations of exploration, and other scientific works, at the magnificent printing establishment of william blaeuw, in amsterdam, the friend and pupil of tycho brahe, and the first in that line of typographers who made the name famous, constituted an epoch in cosmography. another ardent student of geography lived in amsterdam, peter plancius by name, a calvinist preacher, and one of the most zealous and intolerant of his cloth. in an age and a country which had not yet thoroughly learned the lesson taught by hundreds of thousands of murders committed by an orthodox church, he was one of those who considered the substitution of a new dogma and a new hierarchy, a new orthodoxy and a new church, in place of the old ones, a satisfactory result for fifty, years of perpetual bloodshed. nether torquemada nor peter titelmann could have more thoroughly abhorred a jew or a calvinist than peter plancius detested a lutheran, or any other of the unclean tribe of remonstranta. that the intolerance of himself and his comrades was confined to fiery words, and was not manifested in the actual burning alive of the heterodox, was a mark of the advance made by the mass of mankind in despite of bigotry. it was at any rate a solace to those who believed in human progress; even in matters of conscience, that no other ecclesiastical establishment was ever likely to imitate the matchless machinery for the extermination of heretical vermin which the church of rome had found in the spanish inquisition. the blasts of denunciation from the pulpit of plancius have long since mingled with empty air and been forgotten, but his services in the cause of nautical enterprise and geographical science, which formed, as it were, a relaxation to what he deemed the more serious pursuits of theology, will endear his name for ever to the lovers of civilization. plancius and dr. francis maalzoon--the enlightened pensionary of enkhuizen--had studied long and earnestly the history and aspects of the oceanic trade, which had been unfolding itself then for a whole century, but was still comparatively new, while barneveld, ever ready to assist in the advancement of science, and to foster that commerce which was the life of the commonwealth, was most favourably disposed towards projects of maritime exploration. for hitherto, although the hollanders had been among the hardiest and the foremost in the art of navigation they had contributed but little to actual discovery. a genoese had led the way to america, while one portuguese mariner had been the first to double the southern cape of africa, and another, at the opposite side of the world, had opened what was then supposed the only passage through the vast continent which, according to ideas then prevalent, extended from the southern pole to greenland, and from java to patagonia. but it was easier to follow in the wake of columbus, gama, or magellan, than to strike out new pathways by the aid of scientific deduction and audacious enterprise. at a not distant day many errors, disseminated by the boldest of portuguese navigators, were to be corrected by the splendid discoveries of sailors sent forth by the dutch republic, and a rich harvest in consequence was to be reaped both by science and commerce. it is true, too, that the netherlanders claimed to have led the way to the great voyages of columbus by their discovery of the azores. joshua van den berg, a merchant of bruges, it was vigorously maintained, had landed in that archipelago in the year . he had found there, however, no vestiges of the human race, save that upon the principal island, in the midst of the solitude, was seen--so ran the tale--a colossal statue of a man on horseback, wrapped in a cloak, holding the reins of his steed in his left hand, and solemnly extending his right arm to the west. this gigantic and solitary apparition on a rock in the ocean was supposed to indicate the existence of a new world, and the direction in which it was to be sought, but it is probable that the shipwrecked fleeting was quite innocent of any such magnificent visions. the original designation of the flemish islands, derived from their first colonization by netherlanders, was changed to azores by portuguese mariners, amazed at the myriads of hawks which they found there. but if the netherlanders had never been able to make higher claims as discoverers than the accidental and dubious landing upon an unknown shore of a tempest-tost mariner, their position in the records of geographical exploration would not be so eminent as it certainly is. meantime the eyes of linschoten, plancius, maalzoon, barneveld, and of many other ardent philosophers and patriots, were turned anxiously towards the regions of the north pole. two centuries later--and still more recently in our own day and generation--what heart has not thrilled with sympathy and with pride at the story of the magnificent exploits, the heroism, the contempt of danger and of suffering which have characterized the great navigators whose names are so familiar to the world; especially the arctic explorers of england and of our own country? the true chivalry of an advanced epoch--recognizing that there can be no sublimer vocation for men of action than to extend the boundary of human knowledge in the face of perils and obstacles more formidable and more mysterious than those encountered by the knights of old in the cause of the lord's sepulchre or the holy grail--they have thus embodied in a form which will ever awaken enthusiasm in imaginative natures, the noble impulses of our latter civilization. to win the favour of that noblest of mistresses, science; to take authoritative possession, in her name, of the whole domain of humanity; to open new pathways to commerce; to elevate and enlarge the human intellect, and to multiply indefinitely the sum of human enjoyments; to bring the inhabitants of the earth into closer and more friendly communication, so that, after some yet unimagined inventions and discoveries, and after the lapse of many years, which in the sight of the omnipotent are but as one day, the human race may form one pacific family, instead of being broken up, as are the most enlightened of peoples now, into warring tribes of internecine savages, prating of the advancement of civilization while coveting each other's possessions, intriguing against each other's interests, and thoroughly in earnest when cutting each other's throats; this is truly to be the pioneers of a possible civilization, compared to which our present culture may seem but a poor barbarism. if the triumphs and joys of the battle-field have been esteemed among the noblest themes for poet, painter, or chronicler, alike in the mists of antiquity and in the full glare of later days, surely a still more encouraging spectacle for those who believe in the world's progress is the exhibition of almost infinite valour, skill, and endurance in the cause of science and humanity. it was believed by the dutch cosmographers that some ten thousand miles of voyaging might be saved, could the passage to what was then called the kingdoms of cathay be effected by way of the north. it must be remembered that there were no maps of the unknown regions lying beyond the northern headlands of sweden. delineations of continents, islands, straits, rivers, and seas, over which every modern schoolboy pores, were not attempted even by the hand of fancy. it was perhaps easier at the end of the sixteenth century than it is now, to admit the possibility of a practical path to china and india across the pole; for delusions as to climate and geographical configuration then prevalent have long since been dispelled. while, therefore, at least as much heroism was required then as now to launch into those unknown seas, in hope to solve the dread mystery of the north; there was even a firmer hope than can ever be cherished again of deriving an immediate and tangible benefit from the enterprise. plancius and maalzoon, the states-general and prince maurice, were convinced that the true road to cathay would be found by sailing north-east. linschoten, the man who knew india and the beaten paths to india better than any other living christian, was so firmly convinced of the truth of this theory, that he volunteered to take the lead in the first expedition. many were the fantastic dreams in which even the wisest thinkers of the age indulged as to the polar regions. four straits or channels, pierced by a magic hand, led, it was thought, from the interior of muscovy towards the arctic seas. according to some speculators, however, those seas enclosed a polar continent where perpetual summer and unbroken daylight reigned, and whose inhabitants, having obtained a high degree of culture; lived in the practice of every virtue and in the enjoyment of every blessing. others peopled these mysterious regions with horrible savages, having hoofs of horses and heads of dogs, and with no clothing save their own long ears coiled closely around their limbs and bodies; while it was deemed almost certain that a race of headless men, with eyes in their breasts, were the most enlightened among those distant tribes. instead of constant sunshine, it was believed by such theorists that the wretched inhabitants of that accursed zone were immersed in almost incessant fogs or tempests, that the whole population died every winter and were only recalled to temporary existence by the advent of a tardy and evanescent spring. no doubt was felt that the voyager in those latitudes would have to encounter volcanoes of fire and mountains of ice, together with land and sea monsters more ferocious than the eye of man had ever beheld; but it was universally admitted that an opening, either by strait or sea, into the desired indian haven would reveal itself at last. the instruments of navigation too were but rude and defective compared to the beautiful machinery with which modern art and science now assist their votaries along the dangerous path of discovery. the small yet unwieldy, awkward, and, to the modern mind, most grotesque vessels in which such audacious deeds were performed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries awaken perpetual astonishment. a ship of a hundred tons burden, built up like a tower, both at stem and stern, and presenting in its broad bulbous prow, its width of beam in proportion to its length, its depression amidships, and in other sins against symmetry, as much opposition to progress over the waves as could well be imagined, was the vehicle in which those indomitable dutchmen circumnavigated the globe and confronted the arctic terrors of either pole. an astrolabe--such as martin beheim had invented for the portuguese, a clumsy astronomical ring of three feet in circumference--was still the chief machine used for ascertaining the latitude, and on shipboard a most defective one. there were no logarithms, no means of determining at sea the variations of the magnetic needle, no system of dead reckoning by throwing the log and chronicling the courses traversed. the firearms with which the sailors were to do battle with the unknown enemies that might beset their path were rude and clumsy to handle. the art of compressing and condensing provisions was unknown. they had no tea nor coffee to refresh the nervous system in its terrible trials; but there was one deficiency which perhaps supplied the place of many positive luxuries. those hollanders drank no ardent spirits. they had beer and wine in reasonable quantities, but no mention is ever made in the journals of their famous voyages of any more potent liquor; and to this circumstance doubtless the absence of mutinous or disorderly demonstrations, under the most trying circumstances, may in a great degree be attributed. thus, these navigators were but slenderly provided with the appliances with which hazardous voyages have been smoothed by modern art; but they had iron hearts, faith in themselves, in their commanders, in their republic, and in the omnipotent; perfect discipline and unbroken cheerfulness amid toil, suffering, and danger. no chapter of history utters a more beautiful homily an devotion to duty as the true guiding principle of human conduct than the artless narratives which have been preserved of many of these maritime enterprises. it is for these noble lessons that they deserve to be kept in perpetual memory. and in no individual of that day were those excellent qualities more thoroughly embodied than in william barendz, pilot and burgher of amsterdam. it was partly under his charge that the first little expedition set forth on the th of june, , towards those unknown arctic seas, which no keel from christendom had ever ploughed, and to those fabulous regions where the foot of civilized men had never trod. maalzoon, plancius, and balthaser moucheron, merchant of middelburg, were the chief directors of the enterprise; but there was a difference of opinion between them. the pensionary was firm in the faith that the true path to china would be found by steering through the passage which was known to exist between the land of nova zembla and the northern coasts of muscovy, inhabited by the savage tribes called samoyedes. it was believed that, after passing those straits, the shores of the great continent would be found to trend in a south-easterly direction, and that along that coast it would accordingly be easy to make the desired voyage to the eastern ports of china. plancius, on the contrary, indicated as the most promising passage the outside course, between the northern coast of nova zembla and the pole. three ships and a fishing yacht were provided by the cities of enkhuizen, amsterdam, and by the province of zeeland respectively. linschoten was principal commissioner on board the enkhuizen vessel, having with him an experienced mariner, brandt ijsbrantz by name, as skipper. barendz, with the amsterdam ship and the yacht, soon parted company with the others, and steered, according to the counsels of plancius and his own convictions; for the open seas of the north. and in that memorable summer, for the first time in the world's history, the whole desolate region of nova zembla was visited, investigated, and thoroughly mapped out. barendz sailed as far as latitude deg. and to the extreme north-eastern point of the island. in a tremendous storm off a cape, which he ironically christened consolationhook (troost-hoek), his ship, drifting under bare poles amid ice and mist and tempest, was nearly dashed to pieces; but he reached at last the cluster of barren islets beyond the utmost verge of nova zembla, to which he hastened to affix the cherished appellation of orange. this, however, was the limit of his voyage. his ship was ill-provisioned, and the weather had been severe beyond expectation. he turned back on the st of august, resolving to repeat his experiment early in the following year. meantime linschoten, with the ships swan and mercury, had entered the passage which they called the straits of nassau, but which are now known to all the world as the waigats. they were informed by the samoyedes of the coast that, after penetrating the narrow channel, they would find themselves in a broad and open sea. subsequent discoveries showed the correctness of the statement, but it was not permitted to the adventurers on this occasion to proceed so far. the strait was already filled with ice-drift, and their vessels were brought to a standstill, after about a hundred and fifty english miles of progress beyond the waigats; for the whole sea of tartary, converted into a mass of ice-mountains and islands, and lashed into violent agitation by a north easterly storm, seemed driving down upon the doomed voyagers. it was obvious that the sunny clime of cathay was not thus to be reached, at least upon that occasion. with difficulty they succeeded in extricating themselves from the dangers surrounding them, and emerged at last from the waigats. on the th of august, in latitude deg. ', they met the ship of barendz and returned in company to holland, reaching amsterdam on the th of september. barendz had found the seas and coasts visited by him destitute of human inhabitants, but swarming with polar bears, with seals, with a terrible kind of monsters, then seen for the first time, as large as oxen, with almost human faces and with two long tusks protruding from each grim and grotesque visage. these mighty beasts, subsequently known as walrusses or sea-horses, were found sometimes in swarms of two hundred at a time, basking in the arctic sun, and seemed equally at home on land, in the sea, and on icebergs. when aware of the approach of their human visitors, they would slide off an iceblock into the water, holding their cubs in their arms, and ducking up and down in the sea as if in sport. then tossing the young ones away, they would rush upon the boats, and endeavour to sink the strangers, whom they instinctively recognised as their natural enemies. many were the severe combats recorded by the diarist of that voyage of barendz with the walrusses and the bears. the chief result of this first expedition was the geographical investigation made, and, with unquestionable right; these earliest arctic pilgrims bestowed the names of their choice upon the regions first visited by themselves. according to the unfailing and universal impulse on such occasions, the names dear to the fatherland were naturally selected. the straits were called nassau, the island at its mouth became states or staten island; the northern coasts of tartary received the familiar appellations of new holland, new friesland, new walcheren; while the two rivers, beyond which linschoten did not advance, were designated swan and mercury respectively, after his two ships. barendz, on his part, had duly baptized every creek, bay, islet, and headland of nova zembla, and assuredly christian mariner had never taken the latitude of deg. before. yet the antiquary, who compares the maps soon afterwards published by william blaeuw with the charts now in familiar use, will observe with indignation the injustice with which the early geographical records have been defaced, and the names rightfully bestowed upon those terrible deserts by their earliest discoverers rudely torn away. the islands of orange can still be recognized, and this is almost the only vestige left of the whole nomenclature. but where are cape nassau, william's island, admiralty island, cape plancius, black-hook, cross-hook, bear's-hook, ice-hook, consolation-hook, cape desire, the straits of nassau, maurice island, staten island, enkhuizen island, and many other similar appellations. the sanguine linschoten, on his return, gave so glowing an account of the expedition that prince maurice and olden-barneveld, and prominent members of the states-general, were infected with his enthusiasm. he considered the north-east passage to china discovered and the problem solved. it would only be necessary to fit out another expedition on a larger scale the next year, provide it with a cargo of merchandize suitable for the china market, and initiate the direct polar-oriental trade without further delay. it seems amazing that so incomplete an attempt to overcome such formidable obstacles should have been considered a decided success. yet there is no doubt of the genuineness of the conviction by which linschoten was actuated. the calmer barendz, and his friend and comrade gerrit de veer, were of opinion that the philosopher had made "rather a free representation" of the enterprise of and of the prospects for the future. nevertheless, the general government, acting on linschoten's suggestion, furnished a fleet of seven ships: two from enkhuizen, two from zeeland, two from amsterdam; and a yacht which was to be despatched homeward with the news, so soon as the expedition should have passed through the straits of nassau, forced its way through the frozen gulf of tartary, doubled cape tabin, and turned southward on its direct course to china. the sublime credulity which accepted linschoten's hasty solution of the polar enigma as conclusive was fairly matched by the sedateness with which the authorities made the preparations for the new voyage. so deliberately were the broadcloths, linens, tapestries, and other assorted articles for this first great speculation to cathay, via the north pole, stowed on board the fleet, that nearly half the summer had passed before anchor was weighed in the meuse. the pompous expedition was thus predestined to an almost ridiculous failure. yet it was in the hands of great men, both on shore and sea. maurice, barneveld, and maalzoon had personally interested themselves in the details of its outfitting, linschoten sailed as chief commissioner, the calm and intrepid barendz was upper pilot of the whole fleet, and a man who was afterwards destined to achieve an immortal name in the naval history of his country, jacob heemskerk, was supercargo of the amsterdam ship. in obedience to the plans of linschoten and of maalzoon, the passage by way of the waigats was of course attempted. a landing was effected on the coast of tartary. whatever geographical information could be obtained from such a source was imparted by the wandering samoyedes. on the nd of september a party went ashore on staten island and occupied themselves in gathering some glistening pebbles which the journalist of the expedition describes with much gravity as a "kind of diamonds, very plentiful upon the island." while two of the men were thus especially engaged in a deep hollow, one of them found himself suddenly twitched from behind. "what are you pulling at me for, mate?" he said, impatiently to his comrade as he supposed. but his companion was a large, long, lean white bear, and in another instant the head of the unfortunate diamond-gatherer was off and the bear was sucking his blood. the other man escaped to his friends, and together a party of twenty charged upon the beast. another of the combatants was killed and half devoured by the hungry monster before a fortunate bullet struck him in the head. but even then the bear maintained his grip upon his two victims, and it was not until his brains were fairly beaten out with the butt end of a snaphance by the boldest of the party that they were enabled to secure the bodies of their comrades and give them a hurried kind of christian burial. they flayed the bear and took away his hide with them, and this, together with an ample supply of the diamonds of staten island, was the only merchandize obtained upon the voyage for which such magnificent preparations had been made. for, by the middle of september, it had become obviously hopeless to attempt the passage of the frozen sea that season, and the expedition returned, having accomplished nothing. it reached amsterdam upon the th of november, . the authorities, intensely disappointed at this almost ridiculous result, refused to furnish direct assistance to any farther attempts at arctic explorations. the states-general however offered a reward of twenty-five thousand florins to any navigators who might succeed in discovering the northern passage, with a proportionate sum to those whose efforts in that direction might be deemed commendable, even if not crowned with success. stimulated by the spirit of adventure and the love of science far more than by the hope of gaining a pecuniary prize, the undaunted barendz, who was firm in the faith that a pathway existed by the north of nova zembla and across the pole to farthest ind, determined to renew the attempt the following summer. the city of amsterdam accordingly, early in the year , fitted out two ships. select crews of entirely unmarried men volunteered for the enterprise. john cornelisz van der ryp, an experienced sea-captain, was placed in charge of one of the vessels, william barendz was upper pilot of the other, and heemskerk, "the man who ever steered his way through ice or iron," was skipper and supercargo. the ships sailed from the vlie on the th may. the opinions of peter plancius prevailed in this expedition at last; the main object of both ryp and barendz being to avoid the fatal, narrow, ice-clogged waigats. although identical in this determination, their views as to the configuration of the land and sea, and as to the proper course to be steered, were conflicting. they however sailed in company mainly in a n.e. by n. direction, although barendz would have steered much more to the east. on the th june the watch on deck saw, as they supposed, immense flocks of white swans swimming towards the ships, and covering the sea as far as the eye could reach. all hands came up to look at the amazing spectacle, but the more experienced soon perceived that the myriads of swans were simply infinite fields of ice, through which however they were able to steer their course without much impediment, getting into clear sea beyond about midnight, at which hour the sun was one degree above the horizon. proceeding northwards two days more they were again surrounded by ice, and, finding the "water green as grass, they believed themselves to be near greenland." on the th june they discovered an island in latitude, according to their observation, deg. ', which seemed about five miles long. in this neighbourhood they remained four days, having on one occasion a "great fight which lasted four glasses" with a polar bear, and making a desperate attempt to capture him in order to bring him as a show to holland. the effort not being successful, they were obliged to take his life to save their own; but in what manner they intended, had they secured him alive, to provide for such a passenger in the long voyage across the north pole to china, and thence back to amsterdam, did not appear. the attempt illustrated the calmness, however, of those hardy navigators. they left the island on the th june, having baptised it bear island in memory of their vanquished foe, a name which was subsequently exchanged for the insipid appellation of cherry island, in honour of a comfortable london merchant who seven years afterwards sent a ship to those arctic regions. six days later they saw land again, took the sun, and found their latitude deg. '. certainly no men had ever been within less than ten degrees of the pole before. on the longest day of the year they landed on this newly discovered country, which they at first fancied to be a part of greenland. they found its surface covered with eternal snow, broken into mighty glaciers, jagged with precipitous ice-peaks; and to this land of almost perpetual winter, where the mercury freezes during ten months in the year, and where the sun remains four months beneath the horizon, they subsequently gave the appropriate and vernacular name of spitzbergen. combats with the sole denizens of these hideous abodes, the polar bears, on the floating ice, on the water, or on land, were constantly occurring, and were the only events to disturb the monotony of that perpetual icy sunshine, where no night came to relieve the almost maddening glare. they rowed up a wide inlet on the western coast, and came upon great numbers of wild-geese sitting on their eggs. they proved to be the same geese that were in the habit of visiting holland in vast flocks every summer, and it had never before been discovered where they laid and hatched their eggs. "therefore," says the diarist of the expedition, "some voyagers have not scrupled to state that the eggs grow on trees in scotland, and that such of the fruits of those trees as fall into the water become goslings, while those which drop on the ground burst in pieces and come to nothing. we now see that quite the contrary is the case," continues de veer, with perfect seriousness, "nor is it to be wondered at, for nobody has ever been until now where those birds lay their eggs. no man, so far as known, ever reached the latitude of eighty degrees before. this land was hitherto unknown." the scientific results of this ever-memorable voyage might be deemed sufficiently meagre were the fact that the eggs of wild geese did not grow on trees its only recorded discovery. but the investigations made into the dread mysteries of the north, and the actual problems solved, were many, while the simplicity of the narrator marks the infantine character of the epoch in regard to natural history. when so illustrious a mind as grotius was inclined to believe in a race of arctic men whose heads grew beneath their shoulders; the ingenuous mariner of amsterdam may be forgiven for his earnestness in combating the popular theory concerning goslings. on the rd june they went ashore again, and occupied themselves, as well as the constant attacks of the bears would permit, in observing the variation of the needle, which they ascertained to be sixteen degrees. on the same day, the ice closing around in almost infinite masses, they made haste to extricate themselves from the land and bore southwards again, making bear island once more on the st july. here cornelius ryp parted company with heemskerk and barendz, having announced his intention to sail northward again beyond latitude deg. in search of the coveted passage. barendz, retaining his opinion that the true inlet to the circumpolar sea, if it existed, would be found n.e. of nova zembla, steered in that direction. on the th july they found themselves by observation in latitude deg., and considered themselves in the neighbourhood of sir hugh willoughby's land. four days later they were in lomms' bay, a harbour of nova zembla, so called by them from the multitude of lomms frequenting it, a bird to which they gave the whimsical name of arctic parrots. on the th july the ice obstructed their voyage; covering the sea in all directions with floating mountains and valleys, so that they came to an anchor off an islet where on a former voyage the hollanders had erected the precious emblem of christian faith, and baptised the dreary solitude cross island. but these pilgrims, as they now approached the spot, found no worshippers there, while, as if in horrible mockery of their piety, two enormous white bears had reared themselves in an erect posture, in order the better to survey their visitors, directly at the foot of the cross. the party which had just landed were unarmed, and were for making off as fast as possible to their boats. but skipper heemskerk, feeling that this would be death to all of them, said simply, "the first man that runs shall have this boat-hook of mine in his hide. let us remain together and face them off." it was done. the party moved slowly towards their boats, heemskerlk bringing up the rear, and fairly staring the polar monsters out of countenance, who remained grimly regarding them, and ramping about the cross. the sailors got into their boat with much deliberation, and escaped to the ship, "glad enough," said de veer, "that they were alive to tell the story, and that they had got out of the cat-dance so fortunately." next day they took the sun, and found their latitude deg. ', and the variation of the needle twenty-six degrees. for seventeen days more they were tossing about in mist and raging snow-storms, and amidst tremendous icebergs, some of them rising in steeples and pinnacles to a hundred feet above the sea, some grounded and stationary, others drifting fearfully around in all directions, threatening to crush them at any moment or close in about them and imprison them for ever. they made fast by their bower anchor on the evening of th august to a vast iceberg which was aground, but just as they had eaten their supper there was a horrible groaning, bursting, and shrieking all around them, an indefinite succession of awful, sounds which made their hair stand on end, and then the iceberg split beneath the water into more than four hundred pieces with a crash "such as no words could describe." they escaped any serious damage, and made their way to a vast steepled and towered block like a floating cathedral, where they again came to anchor. on the th august they reached the isles of orange, on the extreme north-eastern verge of nova zembla. here a party going ashore climbed to the top of a rising ground, and to their infinite delight beheld an open sea entirely free from ice, stretching to the s. e. and e.s.e. as far as eye could reach. at last the game was won, the passage to cathay was discovered. full of joy, they pulled back in their boat to the ship, "not knowing how to get there quick enough to tell william barendz." alas! they were not aware of the action of that mighty ocean river, the gulf-stream, which was sweeping around those regions with its warm dissolving current. three days later they returned baffled in their sanguine efforts to sail through the open sea. the ice had returned upon them, setting southwardly in obedience to the same impulse which for a moment had driven it away, and they found themselves imprisoned again near the "hook of desire." on the th august they had given up all the high hopes by which they had been so lately inspired, and, as the stream was again driving the ice from the land, they trusted to sail southward and westward back towards the waigats. having passed by nova zembla, and found no opening into the seas beyond, they were disposed in the rapidly waning summer to effect their retreat by the south side of the island, and so through the straits of nassau home. in vain. the catastrophe was upon them. as they struggled slowly past the "ice-haven," the floating mountains and glaciers, impelled by the mighty current, once more gathered around and forced them back to that horrible harbour. during the remaining days of august the ship struggled, almost like a living creature, with the perils that, beset her; now rearing in the air, her bows propped upon mighty blocks, till she absolutely sat erect upon her stern, now lying prostrate on her side, and anon righting again as the ice-masses would for a moment float away and leave her breathing space and room to move in. a blinding snow-storm was raging the while, the ice was cracking and groaning in all directions, and the ship was shrieking, so that the medley of awful sights and sounds was beyond the power of language. "'twas enough to make the hair stand on end," said gerrit de veer, "to witness the hideous spectacle." but the agony was soon over. by the st september the ship was hard and fast. the ice was as immoveable as the dry land, and she would not move again that year even if she ever floated. those pilgrims from the little republic were to spend the winter in their arctic harbour. resigning themselves without a murmur to their inevitable fate, they set about their arrangements with perfect good humour and discipline. most fortunately a great quantity of drift wood, masses of timber, and great trees torn away with their roots from distant shores, lay strewn along the coast, swept thither by the wandering currents. at once they resolved to build a house in which they might shelter themselves from the wild beasts, and from their still more cruel enemy, the cold. so thanking god for the providential and unexpected supply of building material and fuel, they lost no time in making sheds, in hauling timber, and in dragging supplies from the ship before the dayless winter should descend upon them. six weeks of steady cheerful labour succeeded. tremendous snow-storms, accompanied by hurricanes of wind, often filled the atmosphere to suffocation, so that no human being could move a ship's length without perishing; while, did any of their number venture forth, as the tempest subsided, it was often to find himself almost in the arms of a polar bear before the dangerous snow-white form could be distinguished moving sluggishly through the white chaos. for those hungry companions never left them so long as the sun remained above the horizon, swarming like insects and birds in tropical lands. when the sailors put their meat-tubs for a moment out upon the ice a bear's intrusive muzzle would forthwith be inserted to inspect the contents. maddened by hunger, and their keen scent excited by the salted provisions, and by the living flesh and blood of these intruders upon their ancient solitary domains, they would often attempt to effect their entrance into the ship. on one such occasion, when heemskerk and two companions were the whole garrison, the rest being at a distance sledding wood, the future hero of gibraltar was near furnishing a meal to his nova zembla enemies. it was only by tossing sticks and stones and marling-spikes across the ice, which the bears would instantly turn and pursue, like dogs at play with children, that the assault could be diverted until a fortunate shot was made. several were thus killed in the course of the winter, and one in particular was disembowelled and set frozen upon his legs near their house, where he remained month after month with a mass of snow and ice accumulated upon him, until he had grown into a fantastic and gigantic apparition, still wearing the semblance of their mortal foe. by the beginning of october the weather became so intensely cold that it was almost impossible to work. the carpenter died before the house was half completed. to dig a grave was impossible, but they laid him in a cleft of the ice, and he was soon covered with the snow. meantime the sixteen that were left went on as they best might with their task, and on october nd they had a house-raising. the frame-work was set up, and in order to comply with the national usage in such cases, they planted, instead of the may-pole with its fluttering streamers, a gigantic icicle before their new residence. ten days later they moved into the house and slept there for the first time, while a bear, profiting by their absence, passed the night in the deserted ship. on the th november the sun rose no more, but the moon at first shone day and night, until they were once in great perplexity to know whether it were midday or midnight. it proved to be exactly noon. the bears disappeared with the sun, but white foxes swarmed in their stead, and all day and night were heard scrambling over their roof. these were caught daily in traps and furnished them food, besides furs for raiment. the cold became appalling, and they looked in each other's faces sometimes in speechless amazement. it was obvious that the extreme limit of human endurance had been reached. their clothes were frozen stiff. their shoes were like iron, so that they were obliged to array themselves from head to foot in the skins of the wild foxes. the clocks stopped. the beer became solid. the spanish wine froze and had to be melted in saucepans. the smoke in the house blinded them. fire did not warm them, and their garments were often in a blaze while their bodies were half frozen. all through the month of december an almost perpetual snow-deluge fell from the clouds. for days together they were unable to emerge, and it was then only by most vigorous labour that they could succeed in digging a passage out of their buried house. on the night of the th december sudden death had nearly put an end to the sufferings of the whole party. having brought a quantity of seacoal from the ship, they had made a great fire, and after the smoke was exhausted, they had stopped up the chimney and every crevice of the house. each man then turned into his bunk for the night, "all rejoicing much in the warmth and prattling a long time with each other." at last an unaccustomed giddiness and faintness came over them, of which they could not guess the cause, but fortunately one of the party had the instinct, before he lost consciousness, to open the chimney, while another forced open the door and fell in a swoon upon the snow. their dread enemy thus came to their relief, and saved their lives. as the year drew to a close, the frost and the perpetual snow-tempest became, if that were possible, still more frightful. their christmas was not a merry one, and for the first few days of the new year, it was impossible for them to move from the house. on the th january, the snow-storms having somewhat abated, they once more dug themselves as it were out of their living grave, and spent the whole day in hauling wood from the shore. as their hour-glasses informed them that night was approaching, they bethought themselves that it was twelfth night, or three kings' eve. so they all respectfully proposed to skipper heemskerk, that, in the midst of their sorrow they might for once have a little diversion. a twelfth-night feast was forthwith ordained. a scanty portion of the wine yet remaining to them was produced. two pounds weight of flour, which they had brought to make paste with for cartridges, was baked into pancakes with a little oil, and a single hard biscuit was served out to each man to be sopped in his meagre allowance of wine. "we were as happy," said gerrit de veer, with simple pathos, "as if we were having a splendid banquet at home. we imagined ourselves in the fatherland with all our friends, so much did we enjoy our repast." that nothing might be omitted, lots were drawn for king, and the choice fell on the gunner, who was forthwith proclaimed monarch of nova zembla. certainly no men, could have exhibited more undaunted cheerfulness amid bears and foxes, icebergs and cold--such as christians had never conceived of before--than did these early arctic pilgrims. nor did barendz neglect any opportunity of studying the heavens. a meridian was drawn near the house, on which the compass was placed, and observations of various stars were constantly made, despite the cold, with extraordinary minuteness. the latitude, from concurrent measurement of the giant, the bull, orion, aldebaran, and other constellations--in the absence of the sun--was ascertained to be a little above seventy-six degrees, and the variations of the needle were accurately noted. on the th january it was clear weather and comparatively mild, so that heemskerk, with de veer and another, walked to the strand. to their infinite delight and surprise they again saw the disk of the sun on the edge of the horizon, and they all hastened back with the glad tidings. but barendz shook his head. many days must elapse, he said, before the declination of the sun should be once more deg., at which point in the latitude of deg. they had lost sight of the luminary on the th november, and at which only it could again be visible. this, according to his calculations, would be on the th february. two days of mirky and stormy atmosphere succeeded, and those who had wagered in support of the opinion of barendz were inclined to triumph over those who believed in the observation of heemskerk. on the th january there was, however, no mistake. the sky was bright, and the whole disk of the sun was most distinctly seen by all, although none were able to explain the phenomenon, and barendz least of all. they had kept accurate diaries ever since their imprisonment, and although the clocks sometimes had stopped, the hour-glasses had regularly noted the lapse of time. moreover, barendz knew from the ephemerides for to , published by dr. joseph scala in venice, a copy of which work he had brought with him, that on the th january, , the moon would be seen at one o'clock a.m. at venice, in conjunction with jupiter. he accordingly took as good an observation as could be done with the naked eye and found that conjunction at six o'clock a.m. of the same day, the two bodies appearing in the same vertical line in the sign of taurus. the date was thus satisfactorily established, and a calculation of the longitude of the house was deduced with an accuracy which in those circumstances was certainly commendable. nevertheless, as the facts and the theory of refraction were not thoroughly understood, nor tycho brahe's tables of refraction generally known, pilot barendz could not be expected to be wiser than his generation. the startling discovery that in the latitude of deg. the sun reappeared on the th january, instead of the th february, was destined to awaken commotion throughout the whole scientific world, and has perhaps hardly yet been completely explained. but the daylight brought no mitigation of their sufferings. the merciless cold continued without abatement, and the sun seemed to mock their misery. the foxes disappeared, and the ice-bears in their stead swarmed around the house, and clambered at night over the roof. again they constantly fought with them for their lives. daily the grave question was renewed whether the men should feed on the bears or the bears on the men. on one occasion their dead enemy proved more dangerous to them than in life, for three of their number, who had fed on bear's liver, were nearly poisoned to death. had they perished, none of the whole party would have ever left nova zembla. "it seemed," said the diarist, "that the beasts had smelt out that we meant to go away, and had just begin to have a taste for us." and thus the days wore on. the hour-glass and the almanac told them that winter had given place to spring, but nature still lay in cold obstruction. one of their number, who had long been ill, died. they hollowed a grave for him in the frozen snow, performing a rude burial service, and singing a psalm; but the cold had nearly made them all corpses before the ceremony was done. at last, on the th april, some of them climbing over the icebergs to the shore found much open sea. they also saw a small bird diving in the water, and looked upon it as a halcyon and harbinger of better fortunes. the open weather continuing, they began to hanker for the fatherland. so they brought the matter, "not mutinously but modestly and reasonably, before william barendz; that he might suggest it to heemskerk, for they were all willing to submit to his better judgment." it was determined to wait through the month of may. should they then be obliged to abandon the ship they were to make the voyage in the two open boats, which had been carefully stowed away beneath the snow. it was soon obvious that the ship was hard and fast, and that she would never float again, except perhaps as a portion of the icebergs in which she had so long been imbedded, when they should be swept off from the shore. as they now set to work repairing and making ready the frail skiffs which were now their only hope, and supplying them with provisions and even with merchandize from the ship, the ravages made by the terrible winter upon the strength of the men became painfully apparent. but heemskerk encouraged them to persevere; "for," said he, "if the boats are not got soon under way we must be content to make our graves here as burghers of nova zembla." on the th june they launched the boats, and "trusting themselves to god," embarked once more upon the arctic sea. barendz, who was too ill to walk, together with claas anderson, also sick unto death, were dragged to the strand in sleds, and tenderly placed on board. barendz had, however, despite his illness, drawn up a triple record of their voyage; one copy being fastened to the chimney of their deserted house, and one being placed in each of the boats. their voyage was full of danger as they slowly retraced their way along the track by which they reached the memorable ice haven, once more doubling the cape of desire and heading for the point of consolation--landmarks on their desolate progress, whose nomenclature suggests the immortal apologue so familiar to anglo-saxon ears. off the ice-hook, both boats came alongside each other, and skipper heemskerk called out to william barendz to ask how it was with him. "all right, mate," replied barendz, cheerfully; "i hope to be on my legs again before we reach the ward-huis." then' he begged de veer to lift him up, that he might look upon the ice-hook once more. the icebergs crowded around them, drifting this way and that, impelled by mighty currents and tossing on an agitated sea. there was "a hideous groaning and bursting and driving of the ice, and it seemed every moment as if the boats were to be dashed into a hundred pieces." it was plain that their voyage would now be finished for ever, were it not possible for some one of their number to get upon the solid ice beyond and make fast a line. "but who is to bell the cat?" said gerrit de veer, who soon, however, volunteered himself, being the lightest of all. leaping from one floating block to another at the imminent risk of being swept off into space, he at last reached a stationary island, and fastened his rope. thus they warped themselves once more into the open sea. on the th june william barendz lay in the boat studying carefully the charts which they had made of the land and ocean discovered in their voyage. tossing about in an open skiff upon a polar sea, too weak to sit upright, reduced by the unexampled sufferings of that horrible winter almost to a shadow, he still preserved his cheerfulness, and maintained that he would yet, with god's help, perform his destined task. in his next attempt he would steer north-east from the north cape, he said, and so discover the passage. while he was "thus prattling," the boatswain of the other boat came on board, and said that claas anderson would hold out but little longer. "then," said william barendz, "methinks i too shall last but a little while. gerrit, give me to drink." when he had drunk, he turned his eyes on de veer and suddenly breathed his last. great was the dismay of his companions, for they had been deceived by the dauntless energy of the man, thus holding tenaciously to his great purpose, unbaffled by danger and disappointment, even to the last instant of life. he was their chief pilot and guide, "in whom next to god they trusted." and thus the hero, who for vivid intelligence, courage, and perseverance amid every obstacle, is fit to be classed among the noblest of maritime adventurers, had ended his career. nor was it unmeet that the man who had led those three great although unsuccessful enterprises towards the north pole, should be laid at last to rest--like the soldier dying in a lost battle--upon the field of his glorious labours. nearly six weeks longer they struggled amid tempestuous seas. hugging the shore, ever in danger of being dashed to atoms by the ice, pursued by their never-failing enemies the bears, and often sailing through enormous herds of walrusses, which at times gave chase to the boats, they at last reached the schanshoek on the th july. here they met with some russian fishermen, who recognised heemskerk and de veer, having seen them on their previous voyage. most refreshing it was to see other human faces again, after thirteen months' separation from mankind, while the honest muscovites expressed compassion for the forlorn and emaciated condition of their former acquaintance. furnished by them with food and wine, the hollanders sailed in company with the russians as far as the waigats. on the th august they made candenoes, at the mouth of the white sea, and doubling that cape stood boldly across the gulf for kildin. landing on the coast they were informed by the laps that there were vessels from holland at kola. on the th august one of the party, guided by a lap, set forth on foot for that place. four days later the guide was seen returning without their comrade; but their natural suspicion was at once disarmed as the good-humoured savage straightway produced a letter which he handed to heemakerk. breaking the seal, the skipper found that his correspondent expressed great surprise at the arrival of the voyagers, as he he had supposed them all to be long since dead. therefore he was the more delighted with their coming, and promised to be with them soon, bringing with him plenty of food and drink. the letter was signed-- "by me, jan cornelisz ryp." the occurrence was certainly dramatic, but, as one might think, sufficiently void of mystery. yet, astonishing to relate, they all fell to pondering who this john ryp might be who seemed so friendly and sympathetic. it was shrewdly suggested by some that it might perhaps be the sea-captain who had parted company with them off bear island fourteen months before in order to sail north by way of spitzbergen. as his christian name and surname were signed in full to the letter, the conception did not seem entirely unnatural, yet it was rejected on the ground that they had far more reasons to believe that he had perished than he for accepting their deaths as certain. one might imagine it to have been an every day occurrence for hollanders to receive letters by a lapland penny postman in those, desolate regions. at last heemskerk bethought himself that among his papers were several letters from their old comrade, and, on comparison, the handwriting was found the same as that of the epistle just received. this deliberate avoidance of any hasty jumping at conclusions certainly inspires confidence in the general right accuracy of the adventurers, and we have the better right to believe that on the th january the sun's disk was really seen by them in the ice harbour--a fact long disputed by the learned world--when the careful weighing of evidence on the less important matter of ryp's letter is taken into account. meantime while they were slowly admitting the identity of their friend and correspondent, honest john cornelius ryp himself arrived--no fantastic fly-away hollander, but in full flesh and blood, laden with provisions, and greeting them heartily. he had not pursued his spitzbergen researches of the previous year, but he was now on a trading voyage in a stout vessel, and he conveyed them all by way of the ward-huis, where he took in a cargo, back to the fatherland. they dropped anchor in the meuse on the th october, and on the st november arrived at amsterdam. here, attired in their robes and caps of white fox-skin which they had worn while citizens of nova zembla, they were straightway brought before the magistrates to give an account of their adventures. they had been absent seventeen months, they had spent a whole autumn, winter, and spring--nearly ten months--under the latitude of deg. in a frozen desert, where no human beings had ever dwelt before, and they had penetrated beyond deg. north--a farther stride towards the pole than had ever been hazarded. they had made accurate geographical, astronomical, and meteorological observations of the regions visited. they had carefully measured latitudes and longitudes and noted the variations of the magnet. they had thoroughly mapped out, described, and designated every cape, island, hook, and inlet of those undiscovered countries, and more than all, they had given a living example of courage, endurance, patience under hardship, perfect discipline, fidelity, to duty, and trust in god, sufficient to inspire noble natures with emulation so long as history can read moral lessons to mankind. no farther attempt was made to discover the north-eastern passage. the enthusiasm of barendz had died with him, and it may be said that the stern negation by which this supreme attempt to solve the mystery of the pole was met was its best practical result. certainly all visions of a circumpolar sea blessed with a gentle atmosphere and eternal tranquillity, and offering a smooth and easy passage for the world's commerce between europe and asia, had been for ever dispelled. the memorable enterprise of barendz and heemskerk has been thought worthy of a minute description because it was a voyage of discovery, and because, however barren of immediate practical results it may, seem to superficial eyes, it forms a great landmark in the history of human progress and the advancement of science. contemporaneously with these voyages towards the north pole, the enlightened magistrates of the netherland municipalities, aided by eminent private citizens, fitted out expeditions in the opposite direction. it was determined to measure strength with the lord of the land and seas, the great potentate against whom these republicans had been so long in rebellion, in every known region of the globe. both from the newly discovered western world, and from the ancient abodes of oriental civilization, spanish monopoly had long been furnishing the treasure to support spanish tyranny, and it was the dearest object of netherland ambition to confront their enemy in both those regions, and to clip both those overshadowing wings of his commerce at once. the intelligence, enthusiasm, and tenacity in wrestling against immense obstacles manifested by the young republic at this great expanding era of the world's history can hardly be exaggerated. it was fitting that the little commonwealth, which was foremost among the nations in its hatred of tyranny, its love of maritime adventure, and its aptitude for foreign trade, should take the lead in the great commercial movements which characterized the close of the sixteenth and the commencement of the seventeenth centuries. while barendz and heemskerk were attempting to force the frozen gates which were then supposed to guard the northern highway of commerce, fleets were fitting out in holland to storm the southern pole, or at least to take advantage of the pathways already opened by the genius and enterprise of the earlier navigators of the century. linschoten had taught his countrymen the value of the technical details of the indian trade as then understood. the voyages of the brothers houtmann, - , the first dutch expeditions to reach the east by doubling the cape of good hope, were undertaken according to his precepts, and directed by the practical knowledge obtained by the houtmanns during a residence in portugal, but were not signalized by important discoveries. they are chiefly memorable as having laid the foundation of the vast trade out of which the republic was to derive so much material power, while at the same time they mark the slight beginnings of that mighty monopoly, the dutch east india company, which was to teach such tremendous lessons in commercial restriction to a still more colossal english corporation, that mercantile tyrant only in our own days overthrown. at the same time and at the other side of the world seven ships, fitted out from holland by private enterprise, were forcing their way to the south sea through the terrible strait between patagonia and fire land; then supposed the only path around the globe. for the tortuous mountain channel, filled with whirlpools and reefs, and the home of perpetual tempest, which had been discovered in the early part of the century by magellan, was deemed the sole opening pierced by nature through the mighty southern circumpolar continent. a few years later a daring hollander was to demonstrate the futility of this theory, and to give his own name to a broader pathway, while the stormy headland of south america, around which the great current of universal commerce was thenceforth to sweep, was baptized by the name of the tranquil town in west friesland where most of his ship's company were born. meantime the seven ships under command of jacob mahu, simon de cordes, and sebald de weerdt; were contending with the dangers of the older route. the expedition sailed from holland in june, , but already the custom was forming itself of directing those navigators of almost unknown seas by explicit instructions from those who remained on shore, and who had never navigated the ocean at all. the consequence on this occasion was that the voyagers towards the straits of magellan spent a whole summer on the coast of africa, amid pestiferous heats and distracting calms, and reached the straits only in april of the following year. admiral mahu and a large proportion of the crew had meantime perished of fevers contracted by following the course marked out for them by their employers, and thus diminished in numbers, half-stripped of provisions, and enfeebled by the exhausting atmosphere of the tropics, the survivors were ill prepared to confront the antarctic ordeal which they were approaching. five months longer the fleet, under command of admiral de cordes, who had succeeded to the command, struggled in those straits, where, as if in the home of eolus, all the winds of heaven seemed holding revel; but indifference to danger, discipline, and devotion to duty marked the conduct of the adventurers, even as those qualities had just been distinguishing their countrymen at the other pole. they gathered no gold, they conquered no kingdoms, they made few discoveries, they destroyed no fleets, yet they were the first pioneers on a path on which thereafter were to be many such achievements by the republic. at least one heroic incident, which marked their departure from the straits, deserves to be held in perpetual remembrance. admiral de cordes raised on the shore, at the western mouth of the channel, a rude memorial with an inscription that the netherlanders were the first to effect this dangerous passage with a fleet of heavy ships. on the following day, in commemoration of the event, he founded an order of knighthood. the chief officers of the squadron were the knights-commanders, and the most deserving of the crew were the knights-brethren. the members of the fraternity made solemn oath to de cordes, as general, and to each other, that "by no danger, no necessity, nor by the fear of death, would they ever be moved to undertake anything prejudicial to their honour, to, the welfare of the fatherland, or to the success of the enterprise in which they were engaged; pledging themselves to stake their lives in order, consistently with honour, to inflict every possible damage on the hereditary enemy, and to plant the banner of holland in all those territories whence the king of spain gathered the treasures with which he had carried on this perpetual war against the netherlands." thus was instituted on the desolate shores of fire land the order of knights of the unchained lion, with such rude solemnities as were possible in those solitudes. the harbour where the fleet was anchored was called the chevaliers' bay, but it would be in vain to look on modern maps for that heroic appellation. patagonia and tierra del fuego know the honest knights of the unchained lion no more; yet to an unsophisticated mind no stately brotherhood of sovereigns and patricians seems more thoroughly inspired with the spirit of christian chivalry than were those weather-beaten adventurers. the reefs and whirlwinds of unknown seas, polar cold, patagonian giants, spanish cruisers, a thousand real or fabulous dangers environed them. their provisions were already running near exhaustion; and they were feeding on raw seal-flesh, on snails and mussels, and on whatever the barren rocks and niggard seas would supply, to save them from absolutely perishing, but they held their resolve to maintain their honour unsullied, to be true to each other and to the republic, and to circumnavigate the globe to seek the proud enemy of their fatherland on every sea, and to do battle with him in every corner of the earth. the world had already seen, and was still to see, how nobly netherlanders could keep their own. meantime disaster on disaster descended on this unfortunate expedition. one ship after another melted away and was seen no more. of all the seven, only one, that of sebald de weerdt, ever returned to the shores of holland. another reached japan, and although the crew fell into hostile hands, the great trade with that oriental empire was begun. in a third--the blyde boodachaft, or good news--dirk gerrits sailed nearer the south pole than man had ever been before, and discovered, as he believed, a portion of the southern continent, which he called, with reason good, gerrit's land. the name in course of time faded from maps and charts, the existence of the country was disputed, until more than two centuries later the accuracy of the dutch commander was recognised. the rediscovered land however no longer bears his name, but has been baptized south shetland. thus before the sixteenth century had closed, the navigators of holland had reached almost the extreme verge of human discovery at either pole. chapter xxxvii. military operations in the netherlands--designs of the spanish commander--siege of orsoy--advance upon rheinberg--murder of the count of broeck and his garrison--capture of rees and emmerich-- outrages of the spanish soldiers in the peaceful provinces-- inglorious attempt to avenge the hostilities--state of trade in the provinces--naval expedition under van der does--arrival of albert and isabella at brussels--military operations of prince maurice-- negotiation between london and brussels--henry's determination to enact the council of trent--his projected marriage--queen elizabeth and envoy caron--peace proposals of spain to elizabeth--conferences at gertruydenberg--uncertain state of affairs. the military operations in the netherlands during the whole year were on a comparatively small scale and languidly conducted. the states were exhausted by the demands made upon the treasury, and baffled by the disingenuous policy of their allies. the cardinal-archduke, on the other hand, was occupied with the great events of his marriage, of his father-in-law's death, and of his own succession in conjunction with his wife to the sovereignty of the provinces. in the autumn, however, the admiral of arragon, who, as has been stated, was chief military commander during the absence of albert, collected an army of twenty-five thousand foot and two thousand cavalry, crossed the meuse at roermond, and made his appearance before a small town called orsoy, on the rhine. it was his intention to invade the duchies of clever, juliers, and berg, taking advantage of the supposed madness of the duke, and of the spanish inclinations of his chief counsellors, who constituted a kind of regency. by obtaining possession of these important provinces--wedged as they were between the territory of the republic, the obedient netherlands, and germany--an excellent military position would be gained for making war upon the rebellious districts from the east, for crushing protestantism in the duchies, for holding important passages of the rhine, and for circumventing the designs of the protestant sons-in-law and daughters of the old duke of cleves. of course, it was the determination of maurice and the states-general to frustrate these operations. german and dutch protestantism gave battle on this neutral ground to the omnipotent tyranny of the papacy and spain. unfortunately, maurice had but a very slender force that autumn at his command. fifteen hundred horse and six thousand infantry were all his effective troops, and with these he took the field to defend the borders of the republic, and to out-manoeuvre, so far as it might lie in his power, the admiral with his far-reaching and entirely unscrupulous designs. with six thousand spanish veterans, two thousand italians, and many walloon and german regiments under bucquoy, hachincourt, la bourlotte, stanley, and frederic van den berg, the admiral had reached the frontiers of the mad duke's territory. orsoy was garrisoned by a small company of "cocks' feathers," or country squires, and their followers. presenting himself in person before the walls of the town, with a priest at his right hand and a hangman holding a bundle of halters at the other, he desired to be informed whether the governor would prefer to surrender or to hang with his whole garrison. the cock feathers surrendered. the admiral garrisoned and fortified orsoy as a basis and advanced upon rheinberg, first surprising the count of broeck in his castle, who was at once murdered in cold blood with his little garrison. he took burik on the th october, rheinberg on the th of the same month, and compounded with wesel for a hundred and twenty thousand florins. leaving garrisons in these and a few other captured places, he crossed the lippe, came to borhold, and ravaged the whole country side. his troops being clamorous for pay were only too eager to levy black-mail on this neutral territory. the submission of the authorities to this treatment brought upon them a reproach of violation of neutrality by the states-general; the governments of munster and of the duchies being informed that, if they aided and abetted the one belligerent, they must expect to be treated as enemies by the other. the admiral took rees on the th october, and emmerich on the nd november--two principal cities of cleves. on the th november he crossed into the territory of the republic and captured deutekom, after a very short siege. maurice, by precaution, occupied sevenaer in cleves. the prince--whose difficult task was to follow up and observe an enemy by whom he was outnumbered nearly four to one, to harass him by skirmishes, to make forays on his communications, to seize important points before he could reach them, to impose upon him by an appearance of far greater force than the republican army could actually boast, to protect the cities of the frontier like zutphen, lochem, and doesburg, and to prevent him from attempting an invasion of the united provinces in force, by crossing any of the rivers, either in the autumn or after the winter's ice had made them passable for the spanish army-succeeded admirably in all his strategy. the admiral never ventured to attack him, for fear of risking a defeat of his whole army by an antagonist whom he ought to have swallowed at a mouthful, relinquished all designs upon the republic, passed into munster, cleves, and berg, and during the whole horrible winter converted those peaceful provinces into a hell. no outrage which even a spanish army could inflict was spared the miserable inhabitants. cities and villages were sacked and burned, the whole country was placed under the law of black-mail. the places of worship, mainly protestant, were all converted at a blow of the sword into catholic churches. men were hanged, butchered, tossed in sport from the tops of steeples, burned, and buried alive. women of every rank were subjected by thousands to outrage too foul and too cruel for any but fiends or spanish soldiers to imagine. such was the lot of thousands of innocent men and women at the hands of philip's soldiers in a country at peace with philip, at the very moment when that monarch was protesting with a seraphic smile on his expiring lips that he had never in his whole life done injury to a single human being. in vain did the victims call aloud upon their sovereign, the emperor rudolph. the spaniards laughed the feeble imperial mandates to scorn, and spurned the word neutrality. "oh, poor roman empire!" cried john fontanus, "how art thou fallen! thy protector has become thy despoiler, and, although thy members see this and know it, they sleep through it all. one day they may have a terrible awakening from their slumbers . . . . . . . the admiral of arragon has entirely changed the character of the war, recognizes no neutrality, saying that there must be but one god, one pope, and one king, and that they who object to this arrangement must be extirpated with fire and sword, let them be where they may." the admiral, at least, thoroughly respected the claims of the dead philip to universal monarchy. maurice gained as much credit by the defensive strategy through which he saved the republic from the horrors thus afflicting its neighbours, as he had ever done by his most brilliant victories. queen elizabeth was enchanted with the prowess of the prince, and with the sagacious administration of those republican magistrates whom she never failed to respect, even when most inclined to quarrel with them. "never before was it written or heard of," said the queen, "that so great an extent of country could be defended with so few troops, that an invasion of so superior a hostile force could be prevented, especially as it appeared that all the streams and rivers were frozen." this, she added, was owing to the wise and far-seeing counsels of the states-general, and to the faithful diligence of their military commander, who now, as she declared, deserved the title of the first captain of all christendom. a period of languor and exhaustion succeeded. the armies of the states had dwindled to an effective force of scarcely four or five thousand men, while the new levies came in but slowly. the taxation, on the other hand, was very severe. the quotas for the provinces had risen to the amount of five million eight hundred thousand florins for the year , against an income of four millions six hundred thousand, and this deficit went on increasing, notwithstanding a new tax of one-half per cent. on the capital of all estates above three thousand florins in value, and another of two and a half per cent. on all sales of real property. the finances of the obedient provinces were in a still worse condition, and during the absence of the cardinal-archduke an almost universal mutiny, occasioned by the inability of the exchequer to provide payment for the troops, established itself throughout flanders and brabant. there was much recrimination on the subject of the invasion of the rhenish duchies, and a war of pamphlets and manifestos between the archduke's government and the states-general succeeded to those active military operations by which so much misery had been inflicted on the unfortunate inhabitants of that border land. there was a slight attempt on the part of the princes of brunswick, hesse, and brandenburg to counteract and to punish the hostilities of the spanish troops committed upon german soil. an army--very slowly organized, against the wishes of the emperor, the bishops, and the catholic party--took the field, and made a feeble demonstration upon rheinberg and upon rees entirely without result and then disbanded itself ingloriously. meantime the admiral had withdrawn from german territory, and was amusing himself with a variety of blows aimed at vital points of the republic. an excursion into the isle of bommel was not crowned with much success. the assault on the city was repulsed. the fortress of crevecoeur was, however, taken, and the fort of st. andrew constructed--in spite of the attempts of the states to frustrate the design--at a point commanding the course of both the waal and the meuse. having placed a considerable garrison in each of those strongholds, the admiral discontinued his labours and went into winter-quarters. the states-general for political reasons were urgent that prince maurice should undertake some important enterprise, but the stadholder, sustained by the opinion of his cousin lewis william, resisted the pressure. the armies of the commonwealth were still too slender in numbers and too widely scattered for active service on a large scale, and the season for active campaigning was wisely suffered to pass without making any attempt of magnitude during the year. the trade of the provinces, moreover, was very much hampered, and their revenues sadly diminished by the severe prohibitions which had succeeded to the remarkable indulgence hitherto accorded to foreign commerce. edicts in the name of the king of spain and of the archdukes albert and isabella, forbidding all intercourse between the rebellious provinces and the obedient netherlands or any of the spanish possessions, were met by countervailing decrees of the states-general. free trade with its enemies and with all the world, by means of which the commonwealth had prospered in spite of perpetual war, was now for a season destroyed, and the immediate results were at once visible in its diminished resources. to employ a portion of the maritime energies of the hollanders and zeelanders, thus temporarily deprived of a sufficient field, a naval expedition of seventy-five war vessels under admiral van der does was fitted out, but met with very trifling success. they attacked and plundered the settlements and forts of the canary islands, inflicted much damage on the inhabitants, sailed thence to the isle of st. thomas, near the equator, where the towns and villages were sacked and burned, and where a contagious sickness broke out in the fleet, sweeping off in a very brief period a large proportion of the crew. the admiral himself fell a victim to the disease and was buried on the island. the fleet put to sea again under admiral storm van wena, but the sickness pursued the adventurers on their voyage towards brazil, one thousand of them dying at sea in fifteen days. at brazil they accomplished nothing, and, on their homeward voyage, not only the new commander succumbed to the same contagion, but the mortality continued to so extraordinary an extent that, on the arrival of the expedition late in the winter in holland, there were but two captains left alive, and, in many of the vessels, not more than six sound men to each. nothing could be more wretched than this termination of a great and expensive voyage, which had occasioned such high hopes throughout the provinces; nothing more dismal than the political atmosphere which surrounded the republic during the months which immediately ensued. it was obvious to barneveld and the other leading personages, in whose hands was the administration of affairs, that a great military success was absolutely indispensable, if the treacherous cry of peace, when peace was really impossible, should not become universal and fatal. meantime affairs were not much more cheerful in the obedient provinces. archduke albert arrived with his bride in the early days of september, , at brussels, and was received with great pomp and enthusiastic rejoicings. when are pomp and enthusiasm not to be obtained by imperial personages, at brief notice and in vast quantities, if managers understand their business? after all, it may be doubted whether the theatrical display was as splendid as that which marked the beginning of the ernestian era. schoolmaster houwaerts had surpassed himself on that occasion, and was no longer capable of deifying the new sovereign as thoroughly as he had deified his brother. much real discontent followed close upon the fictitious enthusiasm. the obedient provinces were poor and forlorn, and men murmured loudly at the enormous extravagance of their new master's housekeeping. there were one hundred and fifty mules, and as many horses in their sovereign's stables, while the expense of feeding the cooks; lackeys, pages, and fine gentlemen who swelled the retinue of the great household, was estimated, without, wages or salaries, at two thousand florins a day. albert had wished to be called a king, but had been unable to obtain the gratification of his wish. he had aspired to be emperor, and he was at least sufficiently imperial in his ideas of expense. the murmurers were loftily rebuked for their complaints, and reminded of the duty of obedient provinces to contribute at least as much for the defence of their masters as the rebels did in maintenance of their rebellion. the provincial estates were summoned accordingly to pay roundly for the expenses of the war as well as of the court, and to enable the new sovereigns to suppress the military mutiny, which amid the enthusiasm greeting their arrival was the one prominent and formidable fact. the archduke was now thirty-nine years of age, the infanta isabella six years younger. she was esteemed majestically beautiful by her courtiers, and cardinal bentivoglio, himself a man of splendid intellect, pronounced her a woman of genius, who had grown to be a prodigy of wisdom, under the tuition of her father, the most sagacious statesman of the age. in attachment to the roman faith and ritual, in superhuman loftiness of demeanour, and in hatred of heretics, she was at least a worthy child of that sainted sovereign. in a moral point of view she was his superior. the archdukes--so albert and isabella were always designated--were a singularly attached couple, and their household, if extravagant and imperial, was harmonious. they loved each other--so it was believed--as sincerely as they abhorred heretics and rebels, but it does not appear that they had a very warm affection for their flemish subjects. every characteristic of their court was spanish. spanish costume, spanish manners, the spanish tongue, were almost exclusively predominant, and although the festivals, dances, banquets, and tourneys, were all very magnificent, the prevailing expression of the brabantine capital resembled that of a spanish convent, so severely correct, so stately, and so grim, was the demeanour of the court. the earliest military operations of the stadholder in the first year of the new century were successful. partly by menace; but more effectually by judicious negotiation. maurice recovered crevecoeur, and obtained the surrender of st. andrew, the fort which the admiral had built the preceding year in honour of albert's uncle. that ecclesiastic, with whom mendoza had wrangled most bitterly during the whole interval of albert's absence, had already taken his departure for rome, where he soon afterwards died. the garrisons of the forts, being mostly walloon soldiers, forsook the spanish service for that of the states, and were banded together in a legion some twelve hundred strong, which became known as the "new beggars," and were placed under the nominal command of frederick henry of nassau, youngest child of william the silent. the next military event of the year was a mad combat, undertaken by formal cartel, between breaute, a young norman noble in the service of the republic, and twenty comrades, with an equal number of flemish warriors from the obedient provinces, under grobbendonck. about one half of the whole number were killed, including the leaders, but the encounter, although exciting much interest at the time, had of course no permanent importance. there was much negotiation, informal and secret, between brussels and london during this and a portion of the following year. elizabeth, naturally enough, was weary of the war, but she felt, after all, as did the government of france, that a peace between the united netherlands and spain would have for its result the restoration of the authority of his most catholic majesty over all the provinces. the statesmen of france and england, like most of the politicians of europe, had but slender belief in the possibility of a popular government, and doubted therefore the continued existence of the newly-organized republic. therefore they really deprecated the idea of a peace which should include the states, notwithstanding that from time to time the queen or some of her counsellors had so vehemently reproached the netherlanders with their unwillingness to negotiate. "at the first recognition that these people should make of the mere shadow of a prince," said buzanval, the keenly observing and experienced french envoy at the hague, "they lose the form they have. all the blood of the body would flow to the head, and the game would be who should best play the valet. . . . the house of nassau would lose its credit within a month in case of peace." as such statesmen could not imagine a republic, they ever dreaded the restoration in the united provinces of the subverted authority of spain. france and england were jealous of each other, and both were jealous of spain. therefore even if the republican element, the strength and endurance of which was so little suspected, had been as trifling a factor in the problem, as was supposed, still it would have been difficult for any one of these powers to absorb the united netherlands. as for france, she hardly coveted their possession. "we ought not to flatter ourselves," said buzanval, "that these maritime peoples will cast themselves one day into our nets, nor do i know that it would be advisable to pull in the net if they should throw themselves in." henry was full of political schemes and dreams at this moment--as much as his passion for mademoiselle d'entraigues, who had so soon supplanted the image of the dead gabrielle in his heart, would permit. he was very well disposed to obtain possession of the spanish netherlands, whenever he should see his way to such an acquisition, and was even indulging in visions of the imperial crown. he was therefore already, and for the time at least, the most intense of papists. he was determined to sacrifice the huguenot chiefs, and introduce the council of trent, in order, as he told du plessis, that all might be christians. if he still retained any remembrance of the ancient friendship between himself and the heretic republic, it was not likely to exhibit itself, notwithstanding his promises and his pecuniary liabilities to her, in anything more solid than words. "i repeat it," said the dutch envoy at paris; "this court cares nothing for us, for all its cabals tend to close union with rome, whence we can expect nothing but foul weather. the king alone has any memory of our past services." but imperturbable and self-confident as ever, henry troubled himself little with fears in regard to the papal supremacy, even when his parliament professed great anxiety in regard to the consequences of the council of trent, if not under him yet under his successors. "i will so bridle the popes," said he, cheerfully, "that they will never pass my restrictions. my children will be still more virtuous and valiant than i. if i have none, then the devil take the hindmost. nevertheless i choose that the council shall be enacted. i desire it more ardently than i pressed the edict for the protestants." such being the royal humour at the moment, it may well be believed that duplessis mornay would find but little sunshine from on high on the occasion of his famous but forgotten conferences with du perron, now archbishop of evreux, before the king and all the court at fontainebleau. it was natural enough that to please the king the king's old huguenot friend should be convicted of false citations from the fathers; but it would seem strange, were the motives unknown, that henry should have been so intensely interested in this most arid and dismal of theological controversies. yet those who had known and observed the king closely for thirty years, declared that he had never manifested so much passion, neither on the eve of battles nor of amorous assignations, as he then did for the demolition of duplessis and his deductions. he had promised the nuncius that the huguenot should be utterly confounded, and with him the whole fraternity, "for," said the king, "he has wickedly and impudently written against the pope, to whom i owe as much as i do to god." these were not times in which the hollanders, battling as stoutly against spain and the pope as they had done during the years when the republic stood shoulder to shoulder with henry the huguenot, could hope for aid and comfort from their ancient ally. it is very characteristic of that age of dissimulation and of reckless political gambling, that at the very moment when henry's marriage with marie de medicis was already arranged, and when that princess was soon expected in lyons, a cabal at the king's court was busy with absurd projects to marry their sovereign to the infanta of spain. it is true that the infanta was already the wife of the cardinal-archduke, but it was thought possible--for reasons divulged through the indiscretions or inventions of the father confessor--to obtain the pope's dispensation on the ground of the nullity of the marriage. thus there were politicians at the french court seriously occupied in an attempt to deprive the archduke of his wife, of his netherland provinces, and of the crown of, the holy roman empire, which he still hoped to inherit. yet the ink was scarcely dry with which henry had signed the treaty of amity with madrid and brussels. the queen of england, on the other hand--although often listening to secret agents from brussels and madrid who offered peace, and although perfectly aware that the great abject of spain in securing peace with england was to be able to swoop down at once upon the republic, thus deprived of any allies was beside herself with rage, whenever she suspected, with or without reason, that brussels or madrid had been sending peace emissaries to the republic. "before i could get into the room," said caron, on one such occasion, "she called out, 'have you not always told me that the states never could, would, or should treat for peace with the enemy? yet now it is plain enough that they have proceeded only too far in negotiations.' and she then swore a big oath that if the states were to deceive her she meant to take such vengeance that men should talk of it for ever and ever." it was a long time before the envoy could induce her to listen to a single word, although the perfect sincerity of the states in their attitude to the queen and to spain was unquestionable, and her ill-humour on the subject continued long after it had been demonstrated how much she had been deceived. yet it was impossible in the nature of things for the states to play her false, even if no reliance were to be placed on their sagacity and their honour. even the recent naval expedition of the republic against the distant possessions of spain--which in its result had caused so much disappointment to the states, and cost them so many lives, including that of the noble admiral whom every sailor in the netherlands adored had been of immense advantage to england. the queen acknowledged that the dutch navy had averted the storm which threatened to descend upon her kingdom out of spain, the spanish ships destined for the coast of ireland having been dispersed and drawn to the other aide of the world by these demonstrations of her ally. for this she vowed that she would be eternally grateful, and she said as much in "letters full of sugar and honey"--according to the french envoy--which she sent to the states by sir francis vere. she protested, in short, that she had been better and more promptly served in her necessities by the netherlands than by her own subjects. all this sugar and honey however did not make the mission of envoy edmonds less bitter to the states. they heard that he was going about through half the cities of the obedient netherlands in a sort of triumphal procession, and it was the general opinion of the politicians and financiers of the continent that peace between spain and england was as good as made. naturally therefore, notwithstanding the exuberant expressions of gratitude on the part of elizabeth, the republican government were anxious to know what all this parleying meant. they could not believe that people would make a raree-show of the english envoy except for sufficient reason. caron accordingly presented himself before the queen, with respectful inquiries on the subject. he found her in appearance very angry, not with him, but with edmonds, from whom she had received no advices. "i don't know what they are doing with him," said her majesty, "i hear from others that they are ringing the church bells wherever he goes, and that they have carried him through a great many more places than was necessary. i suppose that they think him a monster, and they are carrying him about to exhibit him. all this is done," she continued, "to throw dust in the eyes of the poor people, and to put it into their heads that the queen of england is suing for peace, which is very wide of the mark." she further observed that, as the agents of the spanish government had been perpetually sending to her, she had been inclined once for all to learn what they had to say. thus she should make manifest to all the world that she was not averse to a treaty such as might prove a secure peace for herself and for christendom; otherwise not. it subsequently appeared that what they had to say was that if the queen would give up to the spanish government the cautionary towns which she held as a pledge for her advances to the republic, forbid all traffic and intercourse between her subjects and the netherlanders, and thenceforth never allow an englishman to serve in or with the armies of the states, a peace might be made. surely it needed no great magnanimity on the queen's part to spurn such insulting proposals, the offer of which showed her capable, in the opinion of verreycken, the man who made them, of sinking into the very depths of dishonour. and she did spurn them. surely, for the ally, the protrectress, the grateful friend of the republic, to give its chief seaports to its arch-enemy, to shut the narrow seas against its ships, so that they never more could sail westward, and to abandon its whole population to their fate, would be a deed of treachery such as history, full of human baseness as it is, has rarely been obliged to record. before these propositions had been made by verreycken elizabeth protested that, should he offer them, she would send him home with such an answer that people should talk of it for some time to come. "before i consent to a single one of those points," said the queen, "i wish myself taken from this world. until now i have been a princess of my word, who would rather die than so falsely deceive such good people as the states." and she made those protestations with such expression and attitude that the dutch envoy believed her incapable at that moment of dissimulation. nevertheless her indignation did not carry her so far as to induce her to break off the negotiations. the answer of which mankind was to talk in time to come was simply that she would not send her commissioners to treat for peace unless the spanish government should recede from the three points thus offered by verreycken. this certainly was not a very blasting reply, and the spanish agents were so far from losing heart in consequence that the informal conferences continued for a long time, much to the discomfort of the netherlanders. for more than an hour and a half on one occasion of an uncommonly hot afternoon in april did noel de caron argue with her majesty against these ill-boding negotiations, and ever and anon, oppressed by the heat of the weather and the argument, did the queen wander from one room of the palace to the other in search of cool air, still bidding the envoy follow her footsteps. "we are travelling about like pilgrims," said elizabeth, "but what is life but a pilgrimage?" yet, notwithstanding this long promenade and these moral reflections, caron could really not make out at the end of the interview whether or no she intended to send her commissioners. at last he asked her the question bluntly. "hallo! hallo!" she replied. "i have only spoken to my servant once, and i must obtain more information and think over the matter before i decide. be assured however that i shall always keep you informed of the progress of the negotiations, and do you inform the states that they may build upon me as upon a rock." after the envoy had taken his leave, the queen said to him in latin, "modicae fidei quare dubitasti?" caron had however so nearly got out of the door that he did not hear this admonition. this the queen perceived, and calling him by name repeated, "o caron! modicae fidei quare dubitasti?" adding the injunction that he should remember this dictum, for he well knew what she meant by it. thus terminated the interview, while the negotiations with spain, not for lack of good-will on her part, and despite the positive assertions to the contrary of buzanval and other foreign agents, were destined to come to nothing. at a little later period, at the time of certain informal and secret conferences at gertruydenberg, the queen threatened the envoy with her severest displeasure, should the states dare to treat with spain without her permission. "her majesty called out to me," said caron, "as soon as i entered the room, that i had always assured her that the states neither would nor could make peace with the enemy. yet it was now looking very differently, she continued, swearing with a mighty oath that if the states should cheat her in that way she meant to revenge herself in such a fashion that men would talk of it through all eternity." the french government was in a similar state of alarm in consequence of the gertruydenberg conferences. the envoy of the archdukes, marquis d'havre, reported on the other hand that all attempts to negotiate had proved fruitless, that olden-barneveld, who spoke for all his colleagues, was swollen with pride, and made it but too manifest that the states had no intention to submit to any foreign jurisdiction, but were resolved to maintain themselves in the form of a republic. etext editor's bookmarks: children who had never set foot on the shore done nothing so long as aught remained to do fed on bear's liver, were nearly poisoned to death inhabited by the savage tribes called samoyedes etext editor's bookmarks, entire - united netherlands: a pusillanimous peace, always possible at any period a despot really keeps no accounts, nor need to do so accustomed to the faded gallantries alexander's exuberant discretion all italy was in his hands all fellow-worms together allow her to seek a profit from his misfortune anatomical study of what has ceased to exist artillery at length the twig was becoming the tree auction sales of judicial ermine being the true religion, proved by so many testimonies beneficent and charitable purposes (war) bomb-shells were not often used although known for a century burning of servetus at geneva certainly it was worth an eighty years' war chief seafaring nations of the world were already protestant children who had never set foot on the shore chronicle of events must not be anticipated conceding it subsequently, after much contestation conformity of governments to the principles of justice considerable reason, even if there were but little justice constant vigilance is the price of liberty continuing to believe himself invincible and infallible court fatigue, to scorn pleasure deal with his enemy as if sure to become his friend decline a bribe or interfere with the private sale of places disciple of simon stevinus divine right of kings done nothing so long as aught remained to do eat their own children than to forego one high mass ever met disaster with so cheerful a smile every one sees what you seem, few perceive what you are evil has the advantage of rapidly assuming many shapes famous fowl in every pot fed on bear's liver, were nearly poisoned to death fellow worms had been writhing for half a century in the dust fled from the land of oppression to the land of liberty for his humanity towards the conquered garrisons (censured) for us, looking back upon the past, which was then the future french seem madmen, and are wise future world as laid down by rival priesthoods german highland and the german netherland god of wrath who had decreed the extermination of all unbeliever had industry been honoured instead of being despised hanging of mary dyer at boston hardly an inch of french soil that had not two possessors he spent more time at table than the bearnese in sleep henry the huguenot as the champion of the council of trent highest were not necessarily the least slimy his invectives were, however, much stronger than his arguments historical scepticism may shut its eyes to evidence history is but made up of a few scattered fragments history is a continuous whole of which we see only fragments holy institution called the inquisition hugo grotius humanizing effect of science upon the barbarism of war idle, listless, dice-playing, begging, filching vagabonds ignorance is the real enslaver of mankind imagining that they held the world's destiny in their hands imposed upon the multitudes, with whom words were things impossible it was to invent terms of adulation too gross in times of civil war, to be neutral is to be nothing inevitable fate of talking castles and listening ladies infinite capacity for pecuniary absorption inhabited by the savage tribes called samoyedes innocent generation, to atone for the sins of their forefathers intelligence, science, and industry were accounted degrading invaluable gift which no human being can acquire, authority king was often to be something much less or much worse king had issued a general repudiation of his debts labour was esteemed dishonourable leading motive with all was supposed to be religion life of nations and which we call the past little army of maurice was becoming the model for europe loud, nasal, dictatorial tone, not at all agreeable luxury had blunted the fine instincts of patriotism magnificent hopefulness man had no rights at all he was property maritime heretics matters little by what name a government is called meet around a green table except as fencers in the field mondragon was now ninety-two years old moral nature, undergoes less change than might be hoped more catholic than the pope myself seeing of it methinketh that i dream names history has often found it convenient to mark its epochs national character, not the work of a few individuals nothing cheap, said a citizen bitterly, but sermons obscure were thought capable of dying natural deaths octogenarian was past work and past mischief often necessary to be blind and deaf one-third of philip's effective navy was thus destroyed past was once the present, and once the future patriotism seemed an unimaginable idea peace would be destruction philip ii. gave the world work enough picturesqueness of crime placid unconsciousness on his part of defeat plea of infallibility and of authority soon becomes ridiculous portion of these revenues savoured much of black-mail proceeds of his permission to eat meat on fridays rarely able to command, having never learned to obey religion was rapidly ceasing to be the line of demarcation repudiation of national debts was never heard of before rich enough to be worth robbing righteous to kill their own children road to paris lay through the gates of rome royal plans should be enforced adequately or abandoned entirely sacked and drowned ten infant princes sages of every generation, read the future like a printed scroll seems but a change of masks, of costume, of phraseology self-assertion--the healthful but not engaging attribute selling the privilege of eating eggs upon fast-days sentiment of christian self-complacency sewers which have ever run beneath decorous christendom shift the mantle of religion from one shoulder to the other slain four hundred and ten men with his own hand so often degenerated into tyranny (calvinism) some rude lessons from that vigorous little commonwealth spain was governed by an established terrorism spaniards seem wise, and are madmen strangled his nineteen brothers on his accession such a crime as this had never been conceived (bankruptcy) that unholy trinity--force; dogma, and ignorance the history of the netherlands is history of liberty the great ocean was but a spanish lake the divine speciality of a few transitory mortals the alcoran was less cruel than the inquisition the nation which deliberately carves itself in pieces the most thriving branch of national industry (smuggler) the record of our race is essentially unwritten there are few inventions in morals they liked not such divine right nor such gentle-mindedness they had come to disbelieve in the mystery of kingcraft thirty thousand masses should be said for his soul thirty-three per cent. interest was paid (per month) those who argue against a foregone conclusion three or four hundred petty sovereigns (of germany) to attack england it was necessary to take the road of ireland toil and sacrifices of those who have preceded us tranquil insolence under the name of religion (so many crimes) unproductive consumption was alarmingly increasing upon their knees, served the queen with wine use of the spade utter want of adaptation of his means to his ends utter disproportions between the king's means and aims valour on the one side and discretion on the other walk up and down the earth and destroy his fellow-creatures we have the reputation of being a good housewife weapons whether murders or stratagems, as if they were acts of virtue while one's friends urge moderation whole revenue was pledged to pay the interest, on his debts wish to sell us the bear-skin before they have killed the bear worn nor caused to be worn the collar of the serf wrath of that injured personage as he read such libellous truths history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley volume iv. motley's history of the netherlands, project gutenberg edition, vol. history of the united netherlands, - , complete chapter, xxxviii. military events--aggressive movement of the netherlanders--state of the archdukes provinces--mutiny of the spanish forces--proposed invasion of flanders by the states-general--disembarkation of the troops on the spanish coasts--capture of oudenburg and other places --surprise of nieuport--conduct of the archduke--oudenburg and the other forts re-taken--dilemma of the states' army--attack of the archduke on count ernest's cavalry--panic and total overthrow of the advance-guard of the states' army--battle of nieuport--details of the action--defeat of the spanish army--results of the whole expedition. the effect produced in the republic by the defensive and uneventful campaigning of the year had naturally been depressing. there was murmuring at the vast amount of taxation, especially at the new imposition of one-half per cent. upon all property, and two-and-a-half per cent. on all sales, which seemed to produce so few results. the successful protection of the isle of bommel and the judicious purchase of the two forts of crevecoeur and st. andrew; early in the following year, together with their garrisons, were not military events of the first magnitude, and were hardly enough to efface the mortification felt at the fact that the enemy had been able so lately to construct one of those strongholds within the territory of the commonwealth. it was now secretly determined to attempt an aggressive movement on a considerable scale, and to carry the war once for all into the heart of the obedient provinces. it was from flanders that the spanish armies drew a great portion of their supplies. it was by the forts erected on the coast of flanders in the neighbourhood of ostend that this important possession of the states was rendered nearly valueless. it was by privateers swarming from the ports of flanders, especially from nieuport and dunkirk, that the foreign trade of the republic was crippled, and its intercommunications by river and estuary rendered unsafe. dunkirk was simply a robbers' cave, a station from which an annual tax was levied upon the commerce of the netherlands, almost sufficient, had it been paid to the national treasury instead of to the foreign freebooters, to support the expenses of a considerable army. on the other hand the condition of the archdukes seemed deplorable. never had mutiny existed before in so well-organised and definite a form even in the spanish netherlands. besides those branches of the "italian republic," which had been established in the two fortresses of crevecoeur and st. andrew, and which had already sold themselves to the states, other organisations quite as formidable existed in various other portions of the obedient provinces. especially at diest and thionville the rebellious spaniards and italians were numbered by thousands, all veterans, well armed, fortified in strong cities; and supplying themselves with perfect regularity by contributions levied upon the peasantry, obeying their eletto and other officers with exemplary promptness; and paying no more heed to the edicts or the solicitations of the archduke than if he had been the duke of muscovy. the opportunity seemed tempting to strike a great blow. how could albert and isabella, with an empty exchequer and a mutinous army, hope either to defend their soil from attack or to aim a counter blow at the republic, even if, the republic for a season should be deprived of a portion of its defenders? the reasoning was plausible, the prize tempting. the states-general, who habitually discountenanced rashness, and were wont to impose superfluous restraints upon the valiant but discreet lewis william, and upon the deeply pondering but energetic maurice, were now grown as ardent as they had hitherto been hesitating. in the early days of june it was determined in secret session to organize a great force in holland and zeeland, and to embark suddenly for nieuport, to carry that important position by surprise or assault, and from that basis to redeem dunkirk. the possession of these two cities, besides that of ostend, which had always been retained by the republic, would ensure the complete subjugation of flanders. the trifling force of two thousand men under rivas--all that the archduke then had in that province--and the sconces and earthworks which had been constructed around ostend to impede the movements and obstruct the supplies of the garrison, would be utterly powerless to prevent the consummation of the plan. flanders once subjugated, it would not be long before the spaniards were swept from the obedient netherlands as thoroughly as they had been from the domains of the commonwealth, and all the seventeen provinces, trampling out every vestige of a hated foreign tyranny, would soon take their natural place as states of a free; prosperous, and powerful union. but maurice of nassau did not share the convictions of the states-general. the unwonted ardour of barneveld did not inflame his imagination. he urged that the enterprise was inexcusably rash; that its execution would require the whole army of the states, except the slender garrisons absolutely necessary to protect important places from surprise; that a defeat would not be simply disaster, but annihilation; that retreat without absolute triumph would be impossible, and that amid such circumstances the archduke, in spite of his poverty and the rebellious condition of his troops, would doubtless assemble a sufficient force to dispute with reasonable prospects of victory, this invasion of his territory. sir francis vere, too, was most decidedly opposed to the plan. he pointed out with great clearness its dangerous and possibly fatal character; assuring the staten that, within a fortnight after the expedition had begun, the archduke would follow upon their heels with an army fully able to cope with the best which they could put into the field. but besides this experienced and able campaigner, who so thoroughly shared the opinions of prince maurice, every military man in the provinces of any consideration, was opposed to, the scheme. especially lewis william--than whom no more sagacious military critic or accomplished strategist existed in europe, denounced it with energy and even with indignation. it was, in the opinion of the young stadholder of friesland, to suspend the existence of the whole commonwealth upon a silken thread. even success, he prophesied, would bring no permanent, fruits, while the consequences of an overthrow, were fearful to contemplate. the immediate adherents and most trusted counsellors of william lewis were even more unmeasured in their denunciations than he was himself. "'tis all the work of barneveld and the long-gowns," cried everard van reyd. "we are led into a sack from which there is no extrication. we are marching to the caudine forks." certainly it is no small indication of the vast influence and the indomitable resolution of barneveld that he never faltered in this storm of indignation. the advocate had made up his mind to invade flanders and to capture nieuport; and the decree accordingly went forth, despite all opposition. the states-general were sovereign, and the advocate and the states-general were one. it was also entirely characteristic of maurice that he should submit his judgment on this great emergency to that of olden-barneveld. it was difficult for him to resist the influence of the great intellect to which he had always willingly deferred in affairs of state, and from which; even in military matters, it was hardly possible for him to escape. yet in military matters maurice was a consummate professor, and the advocate in comparison but a school-boy. the ascendency of barneveld was the less wholesome, therefore, and it might have been better had the stadholder manifested more resolution. but maurice had not a resolute character. thorough soldier as he was, he was singularly vacillating, at times almost infirm of purpose, but never before in his career had this want of decision manifested itself in so striking a manner. accordingly the states-general, or in other words john of olden-barneveld proposed to invade flanders, and lay siege, to nieuport. the states-general were sovereign, and maurice bowed to their authority. after the matter had been entirely decided upon the state-council was consulted, and the state-council attempted no opposition to the project. the preparations were made with matchless energy and extraordinary secrecy. lewis william, who meanwhile was to defend the eastern frontier of the republic against any possible attack, sent all the troops that it was possible to spare; but he sent, them with a heavy heart. his forebodings were dismal. it seemed to him that all was about to be staked upon a single cast of the dice. moreover it was painful to him while the terrible game, was playing to be merely a looker on and a prophet of evil from a distance, forbidden to contribute by his personal skill and experience to a fortunate result. hohenlo too was appointed to protect the southern border, and was excluded from, all participation in the great expedition. as to the enemy, such rumors as might came to them from day to day of mysterious military, preparations on the part of the rebels only served to excite suspicion in others directions. the archduke was uneasy in, regard to the rhine and the gueldrian; quarter, but never dreamt of a hostile descent upon the flemish coast. meantime, on the th june maurice of nassau made his appearance at castle rammekens, not far from flushing, at the mouth of the scheld, to superintend the great movement. so large a fleet as was there assembled had never before been seen or heard of in christendom. of war-ships, transports, and flat-bottomed barges there were at least thirteen hundred. many eye-witnesses, who counted however with their imaginations, declared that there were in all at least three thousand vessels, and the statement has been reproduced by grave and trustworthy chroniclers. as the number of troops to be embarked upon the enterprise certainly did not exceed fourteen thousand, this would have been an allowance of one vessel to every five soldiers, besides the army munitions and provisions--a hardly reasonable arrangement. twelve thousand infantry and sixteen hundred cavalry, the consummate flower of the states' army, all well-paid, well-clad, well-armed, well-disciplined veterans, had been collected in this place of rendezvous and were ready to embark. it would be unjust to compare the dimensions of this force and the preparations for ensuring the success of the enterprise with the vast expeditions and gigantic armaments of later times, especially with the tremendous exhibitions of military and naval energy with which our own civil war has made us familiar. maurice was an adept in all that science and art had as yet bequeathed to humanity for the purpose of human' destruction, but the number of his troops was small compared to the mighty hosts which the world since those days has seen embattled. war, as a trade, was then less easily learned. it was a guild in which apprenticeship was difficult, and in which enrolment was usually for life. a little republic of scarce three million souls, which could keep always on foot a regular well-appointed army of twenty-five thousand men and a navy of one or two hundred heavily armed cruisers, was both a marvel and a formidable element in the general polity of the world. the lesson to be derived both in military and political philosophy from the famous campaign of nieuport does not depend for its value on the numbers of the ships or soldiers engaged in the undertaking. otherwise, and had it been merely a military expedition like a thousand others which have been made and forgotten, it would not now deserve more than a momentary attention. but the circumstances were such as to make the issue of the impending battle one of the most important in human history. it was entirely possible that an overwhelming defeat of the republican forces on this foreign expedition would bring with it an absolute destruction of the republic, and place spain once more in possession of the heretic "islands," from which basis she would menace the very existence of england more seriously than she had ever done before. who could measure the consequences to christendom of such a catastrophe? the distance from the place where the fleet and army were assembled to nieuport--the objective point of the enterprise--was but thirty-five miles as the crow flies. and the crow can scarcely fly in a straighter line than that described by the coast along which the ships were to shape their course. and here it is again impossible not to reflect upon the change which physical science has brought over the conduct of human affairs. we have seen in a former chapter a most important embassy sent forth from the states for the purpose of preventing the consummation of a peace between their ally and their enemy. celerity was a vital element in the success of such a mission; for the secret negotiations which it was intended to impede were supposed to be near their termination. yet months were consumed in a journey which in our day would have been accomplished in twenty-four hours. and now in this great military expedition the essential and immediate purpose was to surprise a small town almost within sight from the station at which the army was ready to embark. such a midsummer voyage in this epoch of steam-tugs and transports would require but a few hours. yet two days long the fleet lay at anchor while a gentle breeze blew persistently from the south-west. as there seemed but little hope that the wind would become more favourable, and as the possibility of surprise grew fainter with every day's delay, it was decided to make a landing upon the nearest point of flemish coast placed by circumstances within their reach: count ernest of nassau; with the advance-guard, was accordingly, despatched on the st june to the neighbourhood of the sas-of ghent, where he seized a weakly guarded fort, called philippine, and made thorough preparations, for the arrival of the whole army. on the following day the rest of the troops made their appearance, and in the course of five hours were safely disembarked. the army, which consisted of zeelanders, frisians, hollanders, walloons, germans, english, and scotch, was divided into three corps. the advance was under the command of count ernest, the battalia under that of count george everard solms, while the rear-guard during the march was entrusted to that experienced soldier sir francis vere. besides prince maurice, there were three other members of the house of nassau serving in the expedition--his half-brother frederic henry, then a lad of sixteen, and the two brothers of the frisian stadholder, ernest and lewis gunther, whom lewis william had been so faithfully educating in the arts of peace and war both by precept and example. lewis gunther, still a mere youth, but who had been the first to scale the fort of cadiz, and to plant on its height the orange banner of the murdered rebel, and whose gallantry during the whole expedition had called forth the special commendations of queen elizabeth--expressed in energetic and affectionate terms to his father--now commanded all the cavalry. certainly if the doctrine of primordial selection could ever be accepted among human creatures, the race of nassau at that day might have seemed destined to be chiefs of the netherland soil. old john of nassau, ardent and energetic as ever in the cause of the religious reformation of germany and the liberation of holland, still watched from his retirement the progress of the momentous event. four of his brethren, including the great founder of the republic, had already laid down their lives for the sacred cause. his son philip had already fallen under the banner in the fight of bislich, and three other sons were serving the republic day and night, by sea and land, with sword, and pen, and purse, energetically, conscientiously, and honourably. of the stout hearts and quick intellects on which the safety of the commonwealth then depended, none was more efficient or true than the accomplished soldier and statesman lewis william. thoroughly disapproving of the present invasion of flanders, he was exerting himself, now that it had been decided upon by his sovereigns the states-generals, with the same loyalty as that of maurice, to bring it to a favourable issue, although not personally engaged in the adventure. so soon as the troops had been landed the vessels were sent off as expeditiously as possible, that none might fall into, the enemy's hands; the transports under a strong convoy of war-ships having been directed to proceed as fast as the wind would permit in the direction of nieuport. the march then began. on the rd they advanced a league and halted for the night at assenede. the next day brought them three leagues further, to a place called eckerloo. on the th they marched to male, a distance of three leagues and a half, passing close to the walls of bruges, in which they had indulged faint hopes of exciting an insurrection, but obtained nothing but a feeble cannonade from the fortifications which did no damage except the killing of one muleteer. the next night was passed at jabbeke, four leagues from male, and on the th, after marching another league, they came before the fort of oudenburg. this important post on the road which the army would necessarily traverse in coming from the interior to the coast was easily captured and then strongly garrisoned. maurice with the main army spent the two following days at the fortress, completing his arrangements. solms was sent forward to seize the sconces and redoubts of the enemy around ostend, at breedene, snaaskerk, plassendaal, and other points, and especially to occupy the important fort called st. albert, which was in the downs at about a league from that city. all this work was thoroughly accomplished; little or no resistance having been made to the occupation of these various places. meantime the states-general, who at the special request of maurice were to accompany the expedition in order to observe the progress of events for which they were entirely responsible, and to aid the army when necessary by their advice and co-operation, had assembled to the number of thirteen in ostend. solms having strengthened the garrison of that place then took up his march along the beach to nieuport. during the progress of the army through holland and zeeland towards its place of embarkation there had been nothing but dismal prognostics, with expressions of muttered indignation, wherever the soldiers passed. it seemed to the country people, and to the inhabitants of every town and village, that their defenders were going to certain destruction; that the existence of the commonwealth was hanging by a thread soon to be snapped asunder. as the forces subsequently marched from the sas of ghent towards the flemish coast there was no rising of the people in their favour, and although maurice had issued distinct orders that the peasantry were to be dealt with gently and justly, yet they found neither peasants nor villagers to deal with at all. the whole population on their line of march had betaken themselves to the woods, except the village sexton of jabbeke and his wife, who were too old to run. lurking in the thickets and marshes, the peasants fell upon all stragglers from the army and murdered them without mercy--so difficult is it in times of civil war to make human brains pervious to the light of reason. the stadholder and his soldiers came to liberate their brethren of the same race, and speaking the same language, from abject submission to a foreign despotism. the flemings had but to speak a word, to lift a finger, and all the netherlands, self-governed, would coalesce into one independent confederation of states, strong enough to defy all the despots of europe. alas! the benighted victims of superstition hugged their chains, and preferred the tyranny under which their kindred had been tortured, burned, and buried alive for half-a-century long, to the possibility of a single calvinistic conventicle being opened in any village of obedient flanders. so these excellent children of philip and the pope, whose language was as unintelligible to them as it was to peruvians or iroquois, lay in wait for the men who spoke their own mother tongue, and whose veins were filled with their own blood, and murdered them, as a sacred act of duty. retaliation followed as a matter of course, so that the invasion of flanders, in this early stage of its progress, seemed not likely to call forth very fraternal feelings between the two families of netherlanders. the army was in the main admirably well supplied, but there was a deficiency of drink. the water as they advanced became brackish and intolerably bad, and there was great difficulty in procuring any substitute. at male three cows were given for a pot of beer, and more of that refreshment might have been sold at the same price, had there been any sellers. on the th june maurice marched from oudenburg, intending to strike a point called niewendam--a fort in the neighbourhood of nieuport--and so to march along the walls of that city and take up his position immediately in its front. he found the ground, however, so marshy and impracticable as he advanced, that he was obliged to countermarch, and to spend that night on the downs between forts isabella and st. albert. on the st july he resumed his march, and passing a bridge over a small stream at a place called leffingen, laying down a road as he went with sods and sand, and throwing bridges over streams and swamps, he arrived in the forenoon before nieuport. the fleet had reached the roadstead the same morning. this was a strong, well-built, and well-fortified little city, situate half-a-league from the sea coast on low, plashy ground. at high water it was a seaport, for a stream or creek of very insignificant dimensions was then sufficiently filled by the tide to admit vessels of considerable burthen. this haven was immediately taken possession of by the stadholder, and two-thirds of his army were thrown across to the western side of the water, the troops remaining on the ostend side being by a change of arrangement now under command of count ernest. thus the army which had come to surprise nieuport had, after accomplishing a distance of nearly forty miles in thirteen days, at last arrived before that place. yet there was no more expeditious or energetic commander in christendom than maurice, nor troops better trained in marching and fighting than his well-disciplined army. it is now necessary to cast a glance towards the interior of flanders, in order to observe how the archduke conducted himself in this emergency. so soon as the news of the landing of the states' army at the port of ghent reached the sovereign's ears, he awoke from the delusion that danger was impending on his eastern border, and lost no time in assembling such troops as could be mustered from far and near to protect the western frontier. especially he despatched messengers well charged with promises, to confer with the authorities of the "italian republic" at diest and thionville. he appealed to them in behalf of the holy catholic religion, he sought to arouse their loyalty to himself and the infanta isabella--daughter of the great and good philip ii., once foremost of earthly potentates, and now eminent among the saints of heaven--by whose fiat he and his wife had now become legitimate sovereigns of all the netherlands. and those mutineers responded with unexpected docility. eight hundred foot soldiers and six hundred cavalry men came forth at the first summons, making but two conditions in addition to the stipulated payment when payment should be possible--that they should be commanded by their own chosen officers, and that they should be placed in the first rank in the impending conflict. the example spread. other detachments of mutineers in various strongholds, scenting the battle from afar, came in with offers to serve in the campaign on similar terms. before the last week of june the archduke had a considerable army on foot. on the th of that month, accompanied by the infanta, he reviewed a force of ten thousand foot and nearly two thousand cavalry in the immediate vicinity of ghent. he addressed them in a few stirring words, reminding them of their duty to the church and to himself, and assuring them--as commanders of every nation and every age are wont to assure their troops at the eve of every engagement--that the cause in which they were going forth to battle was the most sacred and inspiring for which human creatures could possibly lay down their lives. isabella, magnificently attired, and mounted on a white palfrey, galloped along the lines, and likewise made an harangue. she spoke to the soldiers as "her lions," promised them boundless rewards in this world and the next, as the result of the great victory which they were now about to gain over the infidels; while as to their wages, she vowed that, rather than they should remain unpaid, she would sacrifice all her personal effects, even to the plate from which she ate her daily bread, and to the jewels which she wore in her ears. thousands of hoarse voices greeted the eloquence of the archdukes with rude acclamations, while the discharge of arquebus and volleys of cannon testified to the martial ardour with which the troops were inspired; none being more enthusiastic than the late mutineers. the army marched at once, under many experienced leaders--villars, zapena, and avalos among the most conspicuous. the command of the artillery was entrusted to velasco; the marshal-general of the camp was frederic van den berg, in place of the superannuated peter ernest; while the admiral of arragon, francisco de mendoza, "terror of germany and of christendom," a little man with flowing locks, long hooked nose, and a sinister glance from his evil black eyes, was general of the cavalry. the admiral had not displayed very extraordinary genius in his recent campaigning in the rhenish duchies, but his cruelty had certainly been conspicuous. not even alva could have accomplished more murders and other outrages in the same space of time than had been perpetrated by the spanish troops during the infamous winter of - . the assassination of count broeck at his own castle had made more stir than a thousand other homicides of nameless wretches at the same period had done, because the victim had been a man of rank and large possessions, but it now remained to be seen whether mendoza was to gain fresh laurels of any kind in the battle which was probably impending. on the st of july the archduke came before oudenburg. not a soul within that fortress nor in ostend dreamed of an enemy within twenty miles of them, nor had it been supposed possible that a spanish army could take the field for many weeks to come. the states-general at ostend were complacently waiting for the first bulletin from maurice announcing his capture of nieuport and his advance upon dunkirk, according to the program so succinctly drawn up for him, and meantime were holding meetings and drawing up comfortable protocols with great regularity. colonel piron, on his part, who had been left with several companies of veterans to hold oudenburg and the other forts, and to protect the rear of the invading army, was accomplishing that object by permitting a large portion of his force to be absent on foraging parties and general marauding. when the enemy came before oudenburg they met with no resistance. the fort was surrendered at once, and with it fell the lesser sconces of breedene, snaaskerk, and plassendaal--all but the more considerable fort st. albert. the archduke, not thinking it advisable to delay his march by the reduction of this position, and having possession of all the other fortifications around ostend, determined to push forward next morning at daybreak. he had granted favourable terms of surrender to the various garrisons, which, however, did not prevent them from being dearly--every man of them immediately butchered in cold blood. thus were these strong and well-manned redoubts, by which prince maurice had hoped to impede for many days the march of a spanish army--should a spanish army indeed be able to take the field at all--already swept off in an hour. great was the dismay in ostend when colonel piron and a few stragglers brought the heavy news of discomfiture and massacre to the high and mighty states-general in solemn meeting assembled. meanwhile, the states' army before nieuport, not dreaming of any pending interruption to their labours, proceeded in a steady but leisurely manner to invest the city. maurice occupied himself in tracing the lines of encampment and entrenchment, and ordered a permanent bridge to be begun across the narrowest part of the creek, in order that the two parts of his army might not be so dangerously divided from each other as they now were, at high water, by the whole breadth and depth of the harbour. evening came on before much had been accomplished on this first day of the siege. it was scarcely dusk when a messenger, much exhausted and terrified, made his appearance at count ernest's tent. he was a straggler who had made his escape from oudenburg, and he brought the astounding intelligence that the archduke had already possession of that position and of all the other forts. ernest instantly jumped into a boat and had himself rowed, together with the messenger, to the headquarters of prince maurice on the other side of the river. the news was as unexpected as it was alarming. here was the enemy, who was supposed incapable of mischief for weeks to come, already in the field, and planted directly on their communications with ostend. retreat, if retreat were desired, was already impossible, and as to surprising the garrison of nieuport and so obtaining that stronghold as a basis for further aggressive operations, it is very certain that if any man in flanders was more surprised than another at that moment it was prince maurice himself. he was too good a soldier not to see at a glance that if the news brought by the straggler were true, the whole expedition was already a failure, and that, instead of a short siege and an easy victory, a great battle was to be fought upon the sands of nieuport, in which defeat was destruction of the whole army of the republic, and very possibly of the republic itself. the stadholder hesitated. he was prone in great emergencies to hesitate at first, but immovable when his resolution was taken. vere, who was asleep in his tent, was sent for and consulted. most of the generals were inclined to believe that the demonstrations at oudenburg, which had been so successful, were merely a bravado of rivas, the commander of the permanent troops in that district, which were comparatively insignificant in numbers. vere thought otherwise. he maintained that the archduke was already in force within a few hours' march of them, as he had always supposed would be the case. his opinion was not shared by the rest, and he went back to his truckle-bed, feeling that a brief repose was necessary for the heavy work which would soon be upon him. at midnight the englishman was again called from his slumbers. another messenger, sent directly from the states-general at ostend, had made his way to the stadholder. this time there was no possibility of error, for colonel piron had sent the accord with the garrison commanders of the forts which had been so shamefully violated, and which bore the signature of the archduke. it was now perfectly obvious that a pitched battle was to be fought before another sunset, and most anxious were the deliberations in that brief midsummer's night. the dilemma was as grave a one as commander-in-chief had ever to solve in a few hours. a portentous change had come over the prospects of the commonwealth since the arrival of these despatches. but a few hours before, and never had its destiny seemed so secure, its attitude more imposing. the little republic, which spain had been endeavouring forty years long to subjugate, had already swept every spanish soldier out of its territory, had repeatedly carried fire and sword into spain itself, and even into its distant dependencies, and at that moment--after effecting in a masterly manner the landing of a great army in the very face of the man who claimed to be sovereign of all the netherlands, and after marching at ease through the heart of his territory--was preparing a movement, with every prospect of success, which should render the hold of that sovereign on any portion of netherland soil as uncertain and shifting as the sands on which the states army was now encamped. the son of the proscribed and murdered rebel stood at the head of as powerful and well-disciplined an army as had ever been drawn up in line of battle on that blood-stained soil. the daughter of the man who had so long oppressed the provinces might soon be a fugitive from the land over which she had so recently been endowed with perpetual sovereignty. and now in an instant these visions were fading like a mirage. the archduke, whom poverty and mutiny were to render powerless against invasion, was following close up upon the heels of the triumphant army of the stadholder. a decision was immediately necessary. the siege of nieuport was over before it had begun. surprise had failed, assault for the moment was impossible, the manner how best to confront the advancing foe the only question. vere advised that the whole army should at once be concentrated and led without delay against the archduke before he should make further progress. the advice involved an outrageous impossibility, and it seems incredible that it could have been given in good faith; still more amazing that its rejection by maurice should have been bitterly censured. two-thirds of the army lay on the other side of the harbour, and it was high water at about three o'clock. while they were deliberating, the sea was rising, and, so soon as daybreak should make any evolutions possible, they would be utterly prohibited during several hours by the inexorable tide. more time would be consumed by the attempt to construct temporary bridges (for of course little progress had been made in the stone bridge hardly begun) or to make use of boats than in waiting for the falling of the water, and, should the enemy make his appearance while they were engaged in such confusing efforts, the army would be hopelessly lost. maurice, against the express advice of vere, decided to send his cousin ernest, with the main portion of the force established on the right bank of the harbour, in search of the archduke, for the purpose of holding him in check long enough to enable the rest of the army to cross the water when the tide should serve. the enemy, it was now clear, would advance by precisely the path over which the states' army had marched that morning. ernest was accordingly instructed to move with the greatest expedition in order to seize the bridge at leffingen before the archduke should reach the deep, dangerous, and marshy river, over which it was the sole passage to the downs. two thousand infantry, being the scotch regiment of edmonds and the zeelanders of van der noot, four squadrons of dutch cavalry, and two pieces of artillery composed the force with which ernest set forth at a little before dawn on his hazardous but heroic enterprise. with a handful of troops he was to make head against an army, and the youth accepted the task in the cheerful spirit of self-sacrifice which characterized his house. marching as rapidly as the difficult ground would permit, he had the disappointment, on approaching the fatal point at about eight o'clock, to see the bridge at leffingen in the possession of the enemy. maurice had sent off a messenger early that morning with a letter marked post haste (cito, cito) to ostend ordering up some four hundred cavalry-men then stationed in that city under piron and bruges, to move up to the support of ernest, and to destroy the bridge and dams at leffingen before the enemy should arrive. that letter, which might have been so effective, was delivered, as it subsequently appeared, exactly ten days after it was written. the states, of their own authority, had endeavoured to send out those riders towards the scene of action, but it was with great difficulty that they could be got into the saddle at all, and they positively refused to go further than st. albert fort. what course should he now pursue? he had been sent to cut the archduke's road. he had failed. had he remained in his original encampment his force would have been annihilated by the overwhelming numbers of the enemy so soon as they reached the right bank of nieuport haven, while maurice could have only looked hopelessly on from the opposite shore. at least nothing worse than absolute destruction could befal him now. should he accept a combat of six or eight to one the struggle would be hopeless, but the longer it was protracted the better it would be for his main army, engaged at that very moment as he knew in crossing the haven with the ebbing tide. should he retreat, it might be possible for him to escape into fort albert or even ostend, but to do so would be to purchase his own safety and that of his command at the probable sacrifice of the chief army of the republic. ernest hesitated but an instant. coming within carbine-shot of the stream, where he met his cavalry which had been sent forward at full speed, in the vain hope of seizing or destroying the bridge before it should be too late, he took up a position behind a dyke, upon which he placed his two field-pieces, and formed his troops in line of battle exactly across the enemy's path. on the right he placed the regiment of scots. on the left was van der noot's zeeland infantry, garnished with four companies of riders under risoir, which stood near st. mary's church. the passage from the stream to the downs was not more than a hundred yards wide, being skirted on both sides by a swamp. here ernest with his two thousand men awaited the onset of the archduke's army. he was perfectly aware that it was a mere question of time, but he was sure that his preparations must interpose a delay to the advance of the spaniards, should his troops, as he felt confident, behave themselves as they had always done, and that the delay would be of inestimable value to his friends at the haven of nieuport. the archduke paused; for he, too, could not be certain, on observing the resolute front thus presented to him, that he was not about to engage the whole of the states' army. the doubt was but of short duration, however, and the onset was made. ernest's artillery fired four volleys into the advancing battalions with such effect as to stagger them for a moment, but they soon afterwards poured over the dyke in over whelming numbers, easily capturing the cannon. the attack began upon ernest's left, and risoir's cavalry, thinking that they should be cut off from all possibility of retreat into fort st. albert, turned their backs in the most disgraceful manner, without even waiting for the assault. galloping around the infantry on the left they infected the zeelanders with their own cowardice. scarcely a moment passed before van der noot's whole regiment was running away as fast as the troopers, while the scots on the right hesitated not for an instant to follow their example. even before the expected battle had begun, one of those hideous and unaccountable panics which sometimes break out like a moral pestilence to destroy all the virtue of an army, and to sweep away the best-considered schemes of a general, had spread through ernest's entire force. so soon as the demi-cannon had discharged their fourth volley, scots, zeelanders, walloons, pikemen, musketeers, and troopers, possessed by the demon of cowardice, were running like a herd of swine to throw themselves into the sea. had they even kept the line of the downs in the direction of the fort many of them might have saved their lives, although none could have escaped disgrace. but the scots, in an ecstasy of fear, throwing away their arms as they fled, ran through the waters behind the dyke, skimmed over the sands at full speed, and never paused till such as survived the sabre and musket of their swift pursuers had literally drowned themselves in the ocean. almost every man of them was slain or drowned. all the captains--stuart, barclay, murray, kilpatrick, michael, nesbit--with the rest of the company officers, doing their best to rally the fugitives, were killed. the zeelanders, more cautious in the midst of their panic, or perhaps knowing better the nature of the country, were more successful in saving their necks. not more than a hundred and fifty of van der noot's regiment were killed, while such of the cavalry of bruges and piron as had come to the neighbourhood of fort albert, not caring to trust themselves to the shelter of that redoubt, now fled as fast as their horses' legs would carry them, and never pulled bridle till they found themselves in ostend. and so beside themselves with panic were these fugitives, and so virulent was the contagion, that it was difficult to prevent the men who had remained in the fort from joining in the flight towards ostend. many of them indeed threw themselves over the walls and were sabred by the enemy when they might have been safe within the fortifications. had these cavalry companies of bruges and piron been even tolerably self-possessed, had they concentrated themselves in the fort instead of yielding to the delirium which prompted them to participate in their comrades' flight, they would have had it entirely in their power, by making an attack, or even the semblance of an attack, by means of a sudden sally from the fort, to have saved, not the battle indeed, but a large number of lives. but the panic was hopeless and universal, and countless fugitives scrambling by the fort were shot in a leisurely manner by a comparative few of the enemy as easily as the rabbits which swarmed in those sands were often knocked down in multitudes by half-a-dozen sportsmen. and thus a band of patriots, who were not cowards by nature, and who had often played the part of men, had horribly disgraced themselves, and were endangering the very existence of their country, already by mistaken councils brought within the jaws of death. the glory of thermopyla; might have hung for ever over that bridge of leffingen. it was now a pass of infamy, perhaps of fatal disaster. the sands were covered with weapons-sabre, pike, and arquebus--thrown away by almost every soldier as he fled to save the life which after all was sacrificed. the artillery, all the standards and colours, all the baggage and ammunition, every thing was lost. no viler panic, no more complete defeat was ever recorded. such at half-past eight in the morning was that memorable sunday of the nd july, , big with the fate of the dutch republic--the festival of the visitation of the virgin mary, always thought of happy augury for spanish arms. thus began the long expected battle of nieuport. at least a thousand of the choicest troops of the stadholder were slain, while the spanish had hardly lost a man. the archduke had annihilated his enemy, had taken his artillery and thirty flags. in great exultation he despatched a messenger to the infanta at ghent, informing her that he had entirely defeated the advance-guard of the states' army, and that his next bulletin would announce his complete triumph and the utter overthrow of maurice, who had now no means of escape. he stated also that he would very soon send the rebel stadholder himself to her as a prisoner. the infanta, much pleased with the promise, observed to her attendants that she was curious to see how nassau would conduct himself when he should be brought a captive into her presence. as to the catholic troops, they were informed by the archduke that after the complete victory which they were that day to achieve, not a man should be left alive save maurice and his brother frederic henry. these should be spared to grace the conqueror's triumph, but all else should be put to the sword. meantime artillery thundered, bonfires blazed, and bells rang their merriest peals in ghent, bruges, and the other obedient cities as the news of the great victory spread through the land. when the fight was done the archduke called a council of war. it was a grave question whether the army should at once advance in order to complete the destruction of the enemy that day, or pause for an interval that the troops fatigued with hard marching and with the victorious combat in which they just had been engaged, should recover their full strength. that the stadholder was completely in their power was certain. the road to ostend was barred, and nieuport would hold him at bay, now that the relieving army was close upon his heels. all that was necessary in order to annihilate his whole force, was that they should entrench themselves for the night on the road which he must cross. he would then be obliged to assault their works with troops inferior in number to theirs and fatigued by the march. should he remain where he was he would soon be starved into submission, and would be obliged to surrender his whole army. on the other hand, by advancing now, in the intolerable heat of a july sun over the burning and glaring sands, the troops already wearied would arrive on the field of battle utterly exhausted, and would be obliged to attack an enemy freshly and cheerfully awaiting them on ground of his own selection. moreover it was absolutely certain that fort albert would not hold an hour if resolutely assaulted in the midst of the panic of ernest's defeat, and, with its capture, the annihilation of maurice was certain. meantime the three thousand men under velasco, who had been detached to protect the rear, would arrive to reinforce the archduke's main army, should he pause until the next day. these arguments, which had much logic in them, were strongly urged by zapena, a veteran marshal of the camp who had seen much service, and whose counsels were usually received with deference. but on this occasion commanders and soldiers were hot for following up their victory. they cared nothing for the numbers of their enemy, they cried, "the more infidels the greater glory in destroying them." delay might after all cause the loss of the prize, it was eagerly shouted. the archduke ought to pray that the sun might stand still for him that morning, as for joshua in the vale of ajalon. the foe seeing himself entrapped, with destruction awaiting him, was now skulking towards his ships, which still offered him the means of escape. should they give him time he would profit by their negligence, and next morning when they reached nieuport, the birds would be flown. especially the leaders of the mutineers of diest and thionville were hoarse with indignation at the proposed delay. they had not left their brethren, they shouted, nor rallied to the archduke's banner in order to sit down and dig in the sand like ploughmen. there was triumph for the holy church, there was the utter overthrow of the heretic army, there was rich booty to be gathered, all these things were within their reach if they now advanced and smote the rebels while, confused and panic-stricken, they were endeavouring to embark in their ships. while these vehement debates were at the hottest, sails were descried in the offing; for the archduke's forces already stood upon the edge of the downs. first one ship, then another and another, moved steadily along the coast, returning from nieuport in the direction of ostend. this was more than could be borne. it was obvious that the rebels were already making their escape, and it was urged upon the cardinal that probably prince maurice and the other chieftains were on board one of those very vessels, and were giving him the slip. with great expedition it would still be possible to overtake them before the main body could embark, and the attack might yet be made at the most favourable moment. those white sails gleaming in the distance were more eloquent than zapena or any other advocate of delay, and the order was given to advance. and it was exactly at this period that it still lay within the power of the states' cavalry at ostend to partially redeem their character, and to render very effective service. had four or five hundred resolute troopers hung upon the rear of the spanish army now, as it moved toward nieuport, they might, by judiciously skirmishing, advancing and retreating according to circumstances, have caused much confusion, and certainly have so harassed the archduke as to compel the detachment of a very considerable force of his own cavalry to protect himself against such assaults. but the terror was an enduring one. those horsemen remained paralyzed and helpless, and it was impossible for the states, with all their commands or entreaties, to induce them to mount and ride even a half mile beyond the city gates. while these events had been occurring in the neighbourhood of ostend, maurice had not been idle at nieuport. no sooner had ernest been despatched on his desperate errand than his brother lewis gunther was ordered by the stadholder to get on horseback and ride through the quarters of the army. on the previous afternoon there had been so little thought of an enemy that large foraging parties had gone out from camp in all directions, and had not returned. lewis gave notice that a great battle was to be expected on the morrow, instead of the tranquil commencement of a leisurely siege, and that therefore no soul was henceforth to leave the camp, while a troop of horse was despatched at the first gleam of daylight to scour the country in search of all the stragglers. maurice had no thought of retreating, and his first care was to bring his army across the haven. the arrangements were soon completed, but it was necessary to wait until nearly low water. soon after eight o'clock count lewis began to cross with eight squadrons of cavalry, and partly swimming, partly wading, effected the passage in safety. the advanced guard of infantry, under sir francis vere--consisting of two thousand six hundred englishmen, and two thousand eight hundred frisians, with some companies of horse, followed by the battalia under solms, and the rearguard under tempel--then slowly and with difficulty moved along the same dangerous path with the water as high as their armpits, and often rising nearly over their heads. had the archduke not been detained near the bridge of leffingen by ernest's scotchmen and zeelanders during three or four precious hours that morning; had he arrived, as he otherwise might have done, just as the states' army--horse, foot, and artillery--was floundering through that treacherous tide, it would have fared ill for the stadholder and the republic. but the devotion of ernest had at least prevented the attack of the archduke until maurice and his men stood on dry land. dripping from head to foot, but safe and sound, the army had at last reached the beach at nieuport. vere had refused his soldiers permission to denude themselves in crossing of their shoes and lower garments. there was no time for that, he said, and they would either earn new clothes for themselves that day, or never need doublet and hose again any more in the world. some hours had elapsed before the tedious and difficult crossing of infantry, cavalry, artillery, and munition trains had been accomplished. lewis gunther, with eight squadrons of picked cavalry, including his own company, maurice's own, frederic henry's own, with batenburg's arquebus-men, and other veterans, was first to place himself in battle order on the beach. his squadrons in iron corslet and morion, and armed with lances, carbines, and sabres, stretched across from the water to the downs. he had not been long stationed there when he observed that far away in the direction of ostend the beach was growing black with troops. he believed them at first to be his brother ernest and his forces returning victorious from their hazardous expedition, but he was soon undeceived. a couple of troopers from ostend came spurring full gallop along the strand, and almost breathless with dismay, announced that it was the whole army of the archduke advancing in line of battle. they were instantly sent to the rear, without being allowed to speak further, in order that they might deliver their message in private to the commander-in-chief. and most terrible were the tidings to which maurice now listened in very secret audience. ernest was utterly defeated, his command cut to pieces, the triumphant foe advancing rapidly, and already in full sight. the stadholder heard the tale without flinching, and having quietly ordered the messengers upon their lives not to open their lips on the subject to living soul, sent them securely guarded in a boat on board one of the war-ships in the offing. with perfect cheerfulness he then continued his preparations, consulting with vere, on whom he mainly relied for the marshalling of the army in the coming conflict. undecided as he had sometimes shown himself, he was resolute now. he called no council of war, for he knew not how much might be known or suspected of the disaster already sustained, and he had fully made up his mind as to the course to be pursued. he had indeed taken a supreme resolution. entirely out of his own breast, without advising with any man, he calmly gave directions that every war-ship, transport, barge, or wherry should put to sea at once. as the tide had now been long on the flood, the few vessels that had been aground--within the harbour were got afloat, and the whole vast, almost innumerable armada, was soon standing out to sea. no more heroic decision was ever taken by fighting man. sir francis gave advice that entrenchments should be thrown up on the north-east, and that instead of advancing towards the enemy they should await his coming, and refuse the battle that day if possible. the englishman, not aware of the catastrophe at leffingen, which maurice had locked up in his own breast, was now informed by the stadholder that there were to be no entrenchments that day but those of pike and arquebus. it was not the fault of maurice that the fate of the commonwealth had been suspended on a silken thread that morning, but he knew that but one of two issues was possible. they must fight their way through the enemy back to ostend, or perish, every man of them. the possibility of surrender did not enter his mind, and he felt that it was better to hasten the action before the news of ernest's disaster should arrive to chill the ardour of the troops. meantime lewis gunther and his cavalry had been sitting motionless upon their horses on the beach. the enemy was already in full view, and the young general, most desirous to engage in a preliminary skirmish, sent repeated messages to the stadholder for permission to advance. presently sir francis vere rode to the front, to whom he eagerly urged his request that the infantry of the vanguard might be, brought up at once to support him. on the contrary the english general advised that the cavalry should fall back to the infantry, in order to avoid a premature movement. lewis strongly objected to this arrangement, on the ground that the mere semblance of retreat, thus upon the eve of battle, would discourage all the troops. but he was over-ruled, for maurice had expressly enjoined upon his cousin that morning to defer in all things to the orders of vere. these eight squadrons of horse accordingly shifted their position, and were now placed close to the edge of the sea, on the left flank of the vanguard, which vere had drawn up across the beach and in the downs. on the edge of the downs, on the narrow slip of hard sand above high-water mark, and on vere's right, maurice had placed a battery of six demi-cannon. behind the advance was the battalia, or centre, under command of that famous fighter, george everard solms, consisting of germans, swiss, french, and walloons. the "new beggars," as the walloons were called, who had so recently surrendered the forts of crevecoeur and st. andrew, and gone over from the archduke's service to the army of the states, were included in this division, and were as eager to do credit to their new chief as were the mutineers in the archduke's army to merit the approbation of their sovereign. the rearguard under tempel was made up, like the other divisions, of the blended nationalities of german, briton, hollander, and walloon, and, like the others, was garnished at each flank with heavy cavalry. the spanish army, after coming nearly within cannon-shot of their adversary, paused. it was plain that the states' troops were not in so great a panic as the more sanguine advisers of the archduke had hoped. they were not cowering among the shipping, preparing to escape. still less had any portion of them already effected their retreat in those vessels, a few of which had so excited the enemy's ardour when they came in sight. it was obvious that a great struggle, in which the forces were very evenly balanced, was now to be fought out upon those sands. it was a splendid tournament--a great duel for life and death between the champions of the papacy and of protestantism, of the republic and of absolutism, that was to be fought out that midsummer's day. the lists were closed. the trumpet signal for the fray would soon be blown. the archduke, in milanese armour, on a wonderfully beautiful snow-white spanish stallion, moved in the centre of his army. he wore no helmet, that his men might the more readily recognize him as he rode gallantly to and fro, marshalling, encouraging, exhorting the troops. never before had he manifested such decided military talent, combined with unquestionable personal valour, as he had done since this campaign began. friend and foe agreed that day that albert fought like a lion. he was at first well seconded by mendoza, who led the van, and by villars, la bourlotte, avalos, zapena, and many other officers of note. the mutinous spanish and italian cavalry, combined with a few choice squadrons of walloon and german horse, were placed in front and on the flanks. they were under the special supervision of the admiral, who marshalled their squadrons and directed their charging, although mounted on a hackney himself, and not intending to participate in the action. then came the battalia and rear, crowding very closely upon each other. face to face with them stood the republican host, drawn up in great solid squares of infantry, their standards waving above each closely planted clump of pikemen, with the musketeers fringing their skirts, while the iron-clad ponderous cavalry of count lewis and marcellus bax, in black casque and, corslet, were in front, restlessly expecting the signal for the onset. the volunteers of high rank who were then serving on the staff of the stadholder--the duke of holstein, the prince of anhalt, two young counts solms, and others--had been invited and even urged to abandon the field while there was yet time for setting them on board the fleet. especially it was thought desirable that young frederic henry, a mere boy, on whom the hopes of the orange-nassau house would rest if maurice fell in the conflict, should be spared the fate which seemed hanging over the commonwealth and her defenders. but the son of william the silent implored his brother with clasped hands not to send him from his side at that moment, so that maurice granted his prayer, and caused him to be provided with a complete suit of armour. thus in company with young coligny--a lad of his own age, and like himself a grandson of the great admiral--the youth who was one day to play so noble a part on the stage of the world's affairs was now to be engaged in his first great passage of arms. no one left the field but sir robert sidney, who had come over from ostend, from irrepressible curiosity to witness the arrangements, but who would obviously have been guilty of unpardonable negligence had he been absent at such a crisis from the important post of which he was governor for the queen. the arena of the conflict seemed elaborately prepared by the hand of nature. the hard, level, sandy beach, swept clean and smooth by the ceaseless action of the tides, stretched out far as the eye could reach in one long, bold, monotonous line. like the whole coast of flanders and of holland, it seemed drawn by a geometrical rule, not a cape, cove, or estuary breaking the perfect straightness of the design. on the right, just beyond high-water mark, the downs, fantastically heaped together like a mimic mountain chain, or like tempestuous ocean-waves suddenly changed to sand, rolled wild and confused, but still in a regularly parallel course with the line of the beach. they seemed a barrier thrown up to protect the land from being bitten quite away by the ever-restless and encroaching sea. beyond the downs, which were seven hundred yards in width; extended a level tract of those green fertile meadows, artificially drained, which are so characteristic a feature of the netherland landscapes, the stream which ran from ostend towards the town of nieuport flowing sluggishly through them. it was a bright warm midsummer day. the waves of the german ocean came lazily rolling in upon the crisp yellow sand, the surf breaking with its monotonous music at the very feet of the armies. a gentle south-west breeze was blowing, just filling the sails of more than a thousand ships in the offing, which moved languidly along the sparkling sea. it was an atmosphere better befitting a tranquil holiday than the scene of carnage which seemed approaching. maurice of nassau, in complete armour, rapier in hand, with the orange-plumes waving from his helmet and the orange-scarf across his breast, rode through the lines, briefly addressing his soldiers with martial energy. pointing to the harbour of nieuport behind them, now again impassable with the flood, to the ocean on the left where rode the fleet, carrying with it all hope of escape by sea, and to the army of the archduke in front, almost within cannon-range, he simply observed that they had no possible choice between victory and death. they must either utterly overthrow the spanish army, he said, or drink all the waters of the sea. either drowning or butchery was their doom if they were conquered, for no quarter was to be expected from their unscrupulous and insolent foe. he was there to share their fate, to conquer or to perish with them, and from their tried valour and from the god of battles he hoped a more magnificent victory than had ever before been achieved in this almost perpetual war for independence. the troops, perfectly enthusiastic, replied with a shout that they were ready to live or die with their chieftain, and eagerly demanded to be led upon the foe. whether from hope or from desperation they were confident and cheerful. some doubt was felt as to the walloons, who had so lately transferred themselves from the archduke's army, but their commander, marquette, made them all lift up their hands, and swear solemnly to live or die that day at the feet of prince maurice. two hours long these two armies had stood looking each other in the face. it was near two o'clock when the arch duke at last gave the signal to advance. the tide was again almost at the full. maurice stood firm, awaiting the assault; the enemy slowly coming nearer, and the rising tide as steadily lapping away all that was left of the hard beach which fringed the rugged downs. count lewis chafed with impatience as it became each moment more evident that there would be no beach left for cavalry fighting, while in the downs the manoeuvring of horse was entirely impossible. meantime, by command of vere, all those sandy hillocks and steeps had been thickly sown with musketeers and pikemen. arquebus-men and carabineers were planted in every hollow, while on the highest and most advantageous elevation two pieces of cannon had been placed by the express direction of maurice. it seemed obvious that the battle would, after all, be transferred to the downs. not long before the action began, a private of the enemy's cavalry was taken, apparently with his own consent, in a very trifling preliminary skirmish. he bragged loudly of the immense force of the archduke, of the great victory already gained over ernest, with the utter annihilation of his forces, and of the impending destruction of the whole states' army. strange to say, this was the first intimation received by count lewis of that grave disaster, although it had been for some hours known to maurice. the prisoner was at once gagged, that he might spread his disheartening news no further, but as he persisted by signs and gestures in attempting to convey the information which he had evidently been sent forward to impart, he was shot by command of the stadholder, and so told no further tales. the enemy had now come very close, and it was the desire of count lewis that a couple of companies of horse, in accordance with the commands of maurice, should charge the cavalry in front, and that after a brief skirmish they should retreat as if panic-stricken behind the advance column, thus decoying the spanish vanguard in hot pursuit towards the battery upon the edge of the downs. the cannon were then suddenly to open upon them, and during the confusion sure to be created in their ranks, the musketeers, ambushed among the hollows, were to attack them in flank, while the cavalry in one mass should then make a concentrated charge in front. it seemed certain that the effect of this movement would be to hurl the whole of the enemy's advance, horse and foot, back upon his battalia, and thus to break up his army in irretrievable rout. the plan was a sensible one, but it was not ingeniously executed. before the handful of cavalry had time to make the proposed feint the cannoneers, being unduly excited, and by express command of sir francis vere, fired a volley into the advancing columns of the archduke. this precipitated the action; almost in an instant changed its whole character, and defeated the original plan of the republican leader. the enemy's cavalry broke at the first discharge from the battery, and wheeled in considerable disorder, but without panic, quite into and across the downs. the whole army of the archduke, which had already been veering in the same direction, as it advanced, both because the tide was so steadily devouring the even surface of the sands, and because the position of a large portion of the states' forces among the hillocks exposed him to an attack in flank, was now rapidly transferred to the downs. it was necessary for that portion of maurice's army which still stood on what remained of the beach to follow this movement. a rapid change of front was then undertaken, and--thanks to the careful system of wheeling, marching, and counter-marching in which the army had been educated by william lewis and maurice--was executed with less confusion than might have been expected. but very few companies of infantry now remained on the strip of beach still bare of the waves, and in the immediate vicinity of the artillery planted high and dry beyond their reach. the scene was transformed as if by magic, and the battle was now to be fought out in those shifting, uneven hills and hollows, where every soldier stood mid-leg deep in the dry and burning sand. fortunately for the states' army, the wind was in its back, blowing both sand and smoke into the faces of its antagonists, while the already weltering sun glared fiercely in their eyes. maurice had skilfully made use of the great advantage which accident had given him that day, and his very refusal to advance and to bring on a premature struggle thus stood him in stead in a variety of ways lewis gunther was now ordered, with marcellus bax and six squadrons of horse, to take position within the belt of pasture land on the right of the downs. when he arrived there the van of the archduke's infantry had already charged the states' advance under vere, while just behind and on the side of the musketeers and pikemen a large portion of the enemy's cavalry was standing stock still on the green. without waiting for instructions lewis ordered a charge. it was brilliantly successful. unheeding a warm salutation in flank from the musketeers as they rode by them, and notwithstanding that they were obliged to take several ditches as they charged, they routed the enemy's cavalry at the first onset, and drove them into panic-stricken flight. some fled for protection quite to the rear of their infantry, others were hotly pursued across the meadows till they took refuge under the walls of nieuport. the very success of the attack was nearly fatal however to count lewis; for, unable to restrain the ardour of his troopers in the chase, he found himself cut off from the army with only ten horsemen to support him, and completely enveloped by the enemy. fortunately prince maurice had foreseen the danger, and had ordered all the cavalry to the meadows so soon as the charge was made. captain kloet, with a fresh company of mounted carabineers, marked the little squad of states' cavalry careering about in the midst of the catholics, recognized their leader by the orange-plumes on his calque, and dashed forward to the rescue. lewis again found himself at the head of his cavalry, but was obliged to wait a long time for the return of the stragglers. while this brilliant diversion had been enacting as it were on the fringe of the battle, its real bustle and business had been going on in the downs. just as lewis made his charge in the pastures, the infantry of the archduke and the advance guard of the republicans met in deadly shock. more than an hour long they contended with varying success. musketeers, pikemen, arquebusmen, swordmen, charged, sabred, or shot each other from the various hollows or heights of vantage, plunging knee-deep in the sand, torn and impeded by the prickly broom-plant which grew profusely over the whole surface, and fighting breast to breast and hand to hand in a vast series of individual encounters. thrice were the spaniards repulsed in what for a moment seemed absolute rout, thrice they rallied and drove their assailants at push of pike far beyond their original position; and again the conquered republicans recovered their energy and smote their adversaries as if the contest were just begun. the tide of battle ebbed and flowed like the waves of the sea, but it would be mere pedantry to affect any technical explanation of its various changes. it was a hot struggle of twenty thousand men, pent up in a narrow space, where the very nature of the ground had made artistic evolutions nearly impracticable. the advance, the battalia, even the rearguard on both sides were mixed together pell-mell, and the downs were soon covered at every step with the dead and dying-briton, hollander, spaniard, italian, frisian, frenchman, walloon, fighting and falling together, and hotly contesting every inch of those barren sands. it seemed, said one who fought there, as if the last day of the world had come. political and religious hatred, pride of race, remembrance of a half-century of wrongs, hope, fury, and despair; these were the real elements contending with each other that summer's day. it was a mere trial of ferocity and endurance, not more scientific than a fight between packs of wolves and of bloodhounds. no doubt the brunt of the conflict fell upon vere, with his englishmen and frisians, for this advance-guard made up nearly one-half of the states' army actually engaged. and most nobly, indefatigably, did the hardy veteran discharge his duty. having personally superintended almost all the arrangements in the morning, he fought all day in the front, doing the work both of a field-marshal and a corporal. he was twice wounded, shot each time through the same leg, yet still fought on as if it were some one else's blood and not his own that was flowing from "those four holes in his flesh." he complained that he was not sufficiently seconded, and that the reserves were not brought up rapidly enough to his support. he was manifestly unjust, for although it could not be doubted that the english and the frisians did their best, it was equally certain that every part of the army was as staunch as the vanguard. it may be safely asserted that it would not have benefited the cause of the states, had every man been thrown into the fight at one and the same moment. during this "bloody bit," as vere called it, between the infantry on both sides, the little battery of two field-pieces planted on the highest hillock of the downs had been very effective. meantime, while the desperate and decisive struggle had been going on, lewis gunther, in the meadow, had again rallied all the cavalry, which, at the first stage of the action, had been dispersed in pursuit of the enemy's horse. gathering them together in a mass, he besought prince maurice to order him to charge. the stadholder bade him pause yet a little longer. the aspect of the infantry fight was not yet, in his opinion, sufficiently favourable. again and again lewis sent fresh entreaties, and at last received the desired permission. placing three picked squadrons in front, the young general made a furious assault upon the catholic cavalry, which had again rallied and was drawn up very close to the musketeers. fortune was not so kind to him as at the earlier stage of the combat. the charge was received with dauntless front by the spanish and italian horse, while at the same moment the infantry poured a severe fire into their assailants. the advancing squadrons faltered, wheeled back upon the companies following them, and the whole mass of the republican cavalry broke into wild and disorderly retreat. at the same moment the archduke, observing his advantage, threw in his last reserves of infantry, and again there was a desperate charge upon vere's wearied troops, as decisive as the counter charge of lewis's cavalry had been unsuccessful. the english and frisians, sorely tried during those hours of fighting with superior numbers in the intolerable heat, broke at last and turned their backs upon the foe. some of them fled panic-stricken quite across the downs and threw themselves into the sea, but the mass retreated in a comparatively orderly manner, being driven from one down to another, and seeking a last refuge behind the battery placed on the high-water line of the beach. in the confusion and panic sir francis vere went down at last. his horse, killed by a stray shot fell with and upon him, and the heroic englishman would then and there have finished his career--for he would hardly have found quarter from the spaniards--had not sir robert drury, riding by in the tumult, observed him as he lay almost exhausted in the sand. by his exertion and that of his servant higham, vere was rescued from his perilous situation, placed on the crupper of sir robert's horse, and so borne off the field. the current of the retreating and pursuing hosts swept by the spot where maurice sat on horseback, watching and directing the battle. his bravest and best general, the veteran vere, had fallen; his cousin lewis was now as utterly overthrown as his brother ernest had been but a few hours before at the fatal bridge of leffingen; the whole army, the only army, of the states was defeated, broken, panic-struck; the spanish shouts of victory rang on every side. plainly the day was lost, and with it the republic. in the blackest hour that the netherland commonwealth had ever known, the fortitude of the stadholder did not desert him. immoveable as a rock in the torrent he stemmed the flight of his troops. three squadrons of reserved cavalry, balen's own, vere's own, and cecil's, were all that was left him, and at the head of these he essayed an advance. he seemed the only man on the field not frightened; and menacing, conjuring, persuading the fugitives for the love of fatherland, of himself and his house, of their own honour, not to disgrace and destroy themselves for ever; urging that all was not yet lost, and beseeching them at least to take despair for their master, and rather to die like men on the field than to drown like dogs in the sea, he succeeded in rallying a portion of those nearest him. the enemy paused in their mad pursuit, impressed even more than were the states' troops at the dauntless bearing of the prince. it was one of those supreme moments in battle and in history which are sometimes permitted to influence the course of events during a long future. the archduke and his generals committed a grave error in pausing for an instant in their career. very soon it was too late to repair the fault, for the quick and correct eye of the stadholder saw the point to which the whole battle was tending, and he threw his handful of reserved cavalry, with such of the fugitives as had rallied, straight towards the battery on the beach. it was arranged that balen should charge on the strand, horace vere through the upper downs, and cecil along the margin of the beach. balen rode slowly through the heavy sand, keeping his horses well in wind, and at the moment he touched the beach, rushed with fury upon the enemy's foot near the battery. the moment was most opportune, for the last shot had been fired from the guns, and they had just been nearly abandoned in despair. the onset of balen was successful: the spanish infantry, thus suddenly attached, were broken, and many were killed and taken. cecil and vere were equally fortunate, so that the retreating english and frisians began to hold firm again. it was the very crisis of the battle, which up to that instant seemed wholly lost by the republic, so universal was the overthrow and the flight. some hundred and fifty frisian pikemen now rallied from their sullen retreat, and drove the enemy off one hillock or dune. foiled in their attempt to intercept the backward movement of the states' army and to seize this vital point and the artillery with it, the spaniards hesitated and were somewhat discouraged. some zeeland sailors, who had stuck like wax to those demi-cannon during the whole conflict, now promptly obeyed orders to open yet once more upon the victorious foe. at the first volley the spaniards were staggered, and the sailors with a lively shout of "ian-fall on," inspired the defeated army with a portion of their own cheerfulness. others vehemently shouted victory without any reason whatever. at that instant maurice ordered a last charge by those few cavalry squadrons, while the enemy was faltering under the play of the artillery. it was a forlorn hope, yet such was the shifting fortune of that memorable day that the charge decided the battle. the whole line of the enemy broke, the conquered became the victors, the fugitives quickly rallying and shouting victory almost before they had turned their faces to the foe, became in their turn the pursuers. the catholic army could no longer be brought to a stand, but fled wildly in every direction, and were shot and stabbed by the republicans as they fled. the admiral of arragon fell with his hackney in this last charge. unwounded, but struggling to extricate himself from his horse that had been killed, he was quickly surrounded by the enemy. two spaniards, mendo and villalobos by name, who had recently deserted to the states, came up at the moment and recognised the fallen admiral. they had reason to recognise him, for both had been in his service, and one of them, who was once in immediate household attendance upon him, bore the mark of a wound which he had received from his insolent master. "admiral, look at this," cried villalobos, pointing to the scar on his face. the admiral looked and knew his old servants, and gave his scarf to the one and the hanger of his sword-belt to the other, as tokens that he was their prisoner. thus his life was saved for heavy ransom, of which those who had actually captured him would receive a very trifling portion. the great prisoner was carried to the rear, where he immediately asked for food and drink, and fell to with an appetite, while the pursuit and slaughter went on in all directions. the archduke, too, whose personal conduct throughout the day was admirable, had been slightly wounded by a halberd stroke on the ear. this was at an earlier stage of the action, and he had subsequently mounted another horse, exchanged his splendid armour for a plain black harness, over which he wore a shabby scarf. in the confusion of the rout he was hard beset. "surrender, scoundrel!" cried a walloon pikeman, seizing his horse by the bridle. but a certain flemish captain kabbeljaw recognising his sovereign and rushing to his rescue, slew his assailant and four others with his own hand. he was at last himself killed, but albert escaped, and, accompanied by the duke of aumale, who was also slightly wounded, by colonel la bourlotte, and half a dozen troopers rode for their life in the direction of bruges. when they reached the fatal bridge of leffingen, over which the archduke had marched so triumphantly but a few hours before to annihilate count ernest's division, he was nearly taken prisoner. a few soldiers, collected from the scattered garrisons, had occupied the position, but knowing nothing of the result of the action in the downs, took to their heels and fled as the little party of cavaliers advanced. had the commander at ostend or the states-general promptly sent out a company or two so soon as the news of the victory reached them to seize this vital point, the doom of the archduke would have been sealed. nothing then could have saved him from capture. fortunately escaping this danger, he now pushed on, and never pulled bridle till he reached bruges. thence without pausing he was conveyed to ghent, where he presented himself to the infanta. he was not accompanied by the captive maurice of nassau, and the curiosity of the princess to know how that warrior would demean himself as a prisoner was not destined on this occasion to be gratified. isabella bore the disappointment and the bitter intelligence of the defeat with a stoicism worthy of her departed father. she had already had intimations that the day was going against her army, and had successively received tidings that her husband was killed, was dangerously wounded, was a prisoner; and she was now almost relieved to receive him, utterly defeated, but still safe and sound. meantime the mad chase continued along the beach and through the downs. never was a rout more absolute than that of albert's army. never had so brilliant a victory been achieved by hollander or spaniard upon that great battleground of europe--the netherlands. maurice, to whom the chief credit of the victory was unquestionably due, had been firm and impassive during the various aspects of the battle, never losing his self-command when affairs seemed blackest. so soon, however, as the triumph, after wavering so long, was decided in his favour--the veteran legions of spain and italy, the picked troops of christendom, all flying at last before his troops--the stadholder was fairly melted. dismounting from his horse, he threw himself on his knees in the sand, and with streaming eyes and uplifted hands exclaimed, "o god, what are we human creatures to whom thou hast brought such honour, and to whom thou hast vouchsafed such a victory!" the slaughter went on until nightfall, but the wearied conquerors were then obliged to desist from the pursuit. three thousand spaniards were slain and about six hundred prisoners were taken. the loss of the states' army; including the affair in the morning at leffingen, was about two thousand killed. maurice was censured for not following up his victory more closely, but the criticism seems unjust. the night which followed the warm summer's day was singularly black and cloudy, the army was exhausted, the distance for the enemy to traverse before they found themselves safe within their own territory was not great. in such circumstances the stadholder might well deem himself sufficiently triumphant to have plucked a splendid victory out of the very jaws of death. all the artillery of the archduke--seven pieces besides the two captured from ernest in the morning--one hundred and twenty standards, and a long list of distinguished prisoners, including the admiral zapena and many other officers of note, were the trophies of the conqueror. maurice passed the night on the battle-field; the admiral supping with him in his tent. next morning he went to ostend, where a great thanksgiving was held, uytenbogart preaching an eloquent sermon on the th psalm. afterwards there was a dinner at the house of the states-general, in honour of the stadholder, to which the admiral of arragon was likewise bidden. that arrogant but discomfited personage was obliged to listen to many a rough martial joke at his disaster as they sat at table, but he bore the brunt of the encounter with much fortitude. "monsieur the admiral of arragon," said the stadholder in french, "is more fortunate than many of his army. he has been desiring these four years to see holland. now he will make his entrance there without striking a blow." the gibe was perhaps deficient in delicacy towards a fallen foe, but a man who had passed a whole winter in murdering his prisoners in cold blood might be satisfied if he were stung only by a sharp sarcasm or two, when he had himself become a captive. others asked him demurely what he thought of these awkward apprentices of holland and zeeland, who were good enough at fighting behind dykes and ramparts of cities, but who never ventured to face a spanish army in the open field. mendoza sustained himself with equanimity however, and found plenty of answers. he discussed the battle with coolness, blamed the archduke for throwing the whole of his force prematurely into the contest, and applauded the prudence of maurice in keeping his reserves in hand. he ascribed a great share of the result to the states' artillery, which had been well placed upon wooden platforms and well served, while the archduke's cannon, sinking in the sands, had been of comparatively little use. especially he expressed a warm admiration for the heroism of maurice in sending away his ships, and in thus leaving himself and his soldiers no alternative but death or triumph. while they still sat at table many of the standards taken from the enemy were brought in and exhibited; the stadholder and others amusing themselves with reading the inscriptions and devices emblazoned upon them. and thus on the nd july, , the army of the states-general, led by maurice of nassau, had utterly defeated albert of austria. ["enfin l'affaire vint auix mains et fut combattu bien furieusement de deux costes l'espace de deux heures. enfin dieu par sa grace voulut que la victoire demeura de more coste." such were the simple words in which maurice announced to his cousin lewis william his victory in the most important battle that had been fought for half a century. not even general ulysses grant could be more modest in the hour of immense triumph.] strange to say--on another nd july, three centuries and two years before, a former albert of austria had overthrown the emperor adolphus of nassau, who had then lost both crown and life in the memorable battle of worms. the imperial shade of maurice's ancestor had been signally appeased. in ostend, as may well be imagined, ineffable joy had succeeded to the horrible gloom in which the day had been passed, ever since the tidings had been received of ernest's overthrow. those very cavalry men, who had remained all day cowering behind the walls of the city, seeing by the clouds of dust which marked the track of the fugitives that the battle had been won by the comrades whom they had so basely deserted in the morning, had been eager enough to join in the pursuit. it was with difficulty that the states, who had been unable to drive them out of the town while the fight was impending or going on, could keep enough of them within the walls to guard the city against possible accident, now that the work was done. even had they taken the field a few hours earlier, without participating in the action, or risking their own lives, they might have secured the pass of leffingen, and made the capture of the archduke or his destruction inevitable. the city, which had seemed deserted, swarmed with the garrison and with the lately trembling burghers, for it seemed to all as if they had been born again. even the soldiers on the battle-field had embraced each other like comrades who had met in another world. "blessed be his holy name," said the stadholder's chaplain, "for his right hand has led us into hell and brought us forth again. i know not," he continued, "if i am awake or if i dream, when i think how god has in one moment raised us from the dead." lewis gunther, whose services had been so conspicuous, was well rewarded. "i hope," said that general, writing to his brother lewis william, "that this day's work will not have been useless to me, both for what i have learned in it and for another thing. his excellency has done me the honour to give me the admiral for my prisoner." and equally characteristic was the reply of the religious and thrifty stadholder of friesland. "i thank god," he said, "for his singular grace in that he has been pleased to make use of your person as the instrument of so renowned and signal a victory, for which, as you have derived therefrom not mediocre praise, and acquired a great reputation, it should be now your duty to humble yourself before god, and to acknowledge that it is he alone who has thus honoured you . . . . you should reverence him the more, that while others are admonished of their duty by misfortunes and miseries, the good god invites you to his love by benefits and honours . . . . i am very glad, too, that his excellency has given you the admiral for your prisoner, both because of the benefit to you, and because it is a mark of your merit on that day. knowing the state of our affairs, you will now be able to free your patrimony from encumbrances, when otherwise you would have been in danger of remaining embarrassed and in the power of others. it will therefore be a perpetual honour to you that you, the youngest of us all, have been able by your merits to do more to raise up our house out of its difficulties than your predecessors or myself have been able to do." the beautiful white horse which the archduke had ridden during the battle fell into the hands of lewis gunther, and was presented by him to prince maurice, who had expressed great admiration of the charger. it was a spanish horse, for which the archduke had lately paid eleven hundred crowns. a white hackney of the infanta had also been taken, and became the property of count ernest. the news of the great battle spread with unexampled rapidity, not only through the netherlands but to neighbouring countries. on the night of the th july (n.s.) five days after the event, envoy caron, in england, received intimations of the favourable news from the french ambassador, who had received a letter from the governor of calais. next morning, very early, he waited on sir robert cecil at greenwich, and was admitted to his chamber, although the secretary was not yet out of bed. he, too, had heard of the battle, but richardot had informed the english ambassador in paris that the victory had been gained, not by the stadholder, but by the archduke. while they were talking, a despatch-bearer arrived with letters from vere to cecil, and from the states-general to caron, dated on the rd july. there could no longer be any doubt on the subject, and the envoy of the republic had now full details of the glorious triumph which the spanish agent in paris had endeavoured for a time to distort into a defeat. while the two were conversing, the queen, who had heard of caron's presence in the palace, sent down for the latest intelligence. cecil made notes of the most important points in the despatches to be forthwith conveyed to her majesty. the queen, not satisfied however, sent for caron himself. that diplomatist, who had just ridden down from london in foul weather, was accordingly obliged to present himself--booted and spurred and splashed with mud from head to foot--before her majesty. elizabeth received him with such extraordinary manifestations of delight at the tidings that he was absolutely amazed, and she insisted upon his reading the whole of the letter just received from olden-barneveld, her majesty listening very patiently as he translated it out of dutch into french. she then expressed unbounded admiration of the states-general and of prince maurice. the sagacious administration of the states' government is "so full of good order and policy," she said, "as to far surpass in its wisdom the intelligence of all kings and potentates. we kings," she said, "understand nothing of such affairs in comparison, but require, all of us, to go to school to the states-general." she continued to speak in terms of warm approbation of the secrecy and discretion with which the invasion of flanders had been conducted, and protested that she thanked god on both knees for vouchsafing such a splendid victory to the united provinces. yet after all, her majesty, as mankind in general, both wise and simple, are apt to do, had judged only according to the result, and the immediate result. no doubt john of barneveld was second to no living statesman in breadth of view and adroitness of handling, yet the invasion of flanders, which was purely his work, was unquestionably a grave mistake, and might easily have proved a fatal one. that the deadly peril was escaped was due, not to his prudence, but to the heroism of maurice, the gallantry of vere, count lewis gunther, and the forces under them, and the noble self-devotion of ernest. and even, despite the exertions of these brave men, it seems certain that victory would have been impossible had the archduke possessed that true appreciation of a situation which marks the consummate general. surely the lord seemed to have delivered the enemy into his hands that morning. maurice was shut in between nieuport on one side and the archduke's army on the other, planted as it was on the only road of retreat. had albert entrenched himself, maurice must either have attacked at great disadvantage or attempted embarkation in the face of his enemy. to stay indefinitely where he was would have proved an impossibility, and amid the confusion necessary to the shipping of his army, how could he have protected himself by six demi-cannon placed on the sea-beach? that maurice was able to extricate himself from the horrible dilemma in which he had been placed, through no fault of his own, and to convert imminent disaster into magnificent victory, will always redound to his reputation as a great military chief. and this was all the fruit of the expedition, planned, as elizabeth thought, with so much secrecy and discretion. three days after the battle the stadholder came again before nieuport, only to find the garrison strengthened meantime by la bourlotte to three thousand men. a rainy week succeeded, and maurice then announced to the states-general the necessity of abandoning an enterprise, a successful issue to which was in his opinion impossible. the states-general, grown more modest in military matters, testified their willingness to be governed by his better judgment, and left ostend for the hague on the th july. maurice, after a little skirmishing with some of the forts around that city, in one of which the archduke's general la bourlotte was killed, decided to close the campaign, and he returned with his whole army on the last day of july into holland. the expedition was an absolute failure, but the stadholder had gained a great victory. the effect produced at home and abroad by this triumphant measuring of the republican forces, horse, foot, and artillery, in a pitched battle and on so conspicuous an arena, with the picked veterans of spain and italy, was perhaps worth the cost, but no other benefit was derived from the invasion of flanders. the most healthy moral to be drawn from this brief but memorable campaign is that the wisest statesmen are prone to blunder in affairs of war, success in which seems to require a special education and a distinct genius. alternation between hope and despair, between culpable audacity and exaggerated prudence, are but too apt to mark the warlike counsels of politicians who have not been bred soldiers. this, at least, had been eminently the case with barneveld and his colleagues of the states-general. etext editor's bookmarks: alas! the benighted victims of superstition hugged their chains culpable audacity and exaggerated prudence the wisest statesmen are prone to blunder in affairs of war history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , - chapter xxxix. effects of the nieuport campaign--the general and the statesman-- the roman empire and the turk--disgraceful proceedings of the mutinous soldiers in hungary--the dunkirk pirates--siege of ostend by the archduke--attack on rheinberg by prince maurice--siege and capitulation of meura--attempt on bois-le-duc--concentration of the war at ostend--account of the belligerents--details of the siege-- feigned offer of sir francis vere to capitulate--arrival of reinforcements from the states--attack and overthrow of the besiegers. the nieuport campaign had exhausted for the time both belligerents. the victor had saved the republic from impending annihilation, but was incapable of further efforts during the summer. the conquered cardinal-archduke, remaining essentially in the same position as before, consoled himself with the agreeable fiction that the states, notwithstanding their triumph, had in reality suffered the most in the great battle. meantime both parties did their best to repair damages and to recruit their armies. the states--or in other words barneveld, who was the states--had learned a lesson. time was to show whether it would be a profitable one, or whether maurice, who was the preceptor of europe in the art of war, would continue to be a docile pupil of the great advocate even in military affairs. it is probable that the alienation between the statesman and the general, which was to widen as time advanced, may be dated from the day of nieuport. fables have even been told which indicated the popular belief in an intensity of resentment on the part of the prince, which certainly did not exist till long afterwards. "ah, scoundrel!" the stadholder was said to have exclaimed, giving the advocate a box on the ear as he came to wish him joy of his great victory, "you sold us, but god prevented your making the transfer." history would disdain even an allusion to such figments--quite as disgraceful, certainly to maurice as to barneveld--did they not point the moral and foreshadow some of the vast but distant results of events which had already taken place, and had they not been so generally repeated that it is a duty for the lover of truth to put his foot upon the calumny, even at the risk for a passing moment of reviving it. the condition of the war in flanders had established a temporary equilibrium among the western powers--france and england discussing, intriguing, and combining in secret with each other, against each other, and in spite of each other, in regard to the great conflict--while spain and the cardinal-archduke on the one side, and the republic on the other, prepared themselves for another encounter in the blood-stained arena. meantime, on the opposite verge of what was called european civilization, the perpetual war between the roman empire and the grand turk had for the moment been brought into a nearly similar equation. notwithstanding the vast amount of gunpowder exploded during so many wearisome years, the problem of the crescent and the cross was not much nearer a solution in the east than was that of mass and conventicle in the west. war was the normal and natural condition of mankind. this fact, at least, seemed to have been acquired and added to the mass of human knowledge. from the prolific womb of germany came forth, to swell impartially the protestant and catholic hosts, vast swarms of human creatures. sold by their masters at as high prices as could be agreed upon beforehand, and receiving for themselves five stivers a day, irregularly paid, until the carrion-crow rendered them the last service, they found at times more demand for their labor in the great european market than they could fully supply. there were not germans enough every year for the consumption of the turk, and the pope, and the emperor, and the republic, and the catholic king, and the christian king, with both ends of europe ablaze at once. so it happened that the duke of mercoeur and other heroes of the league, having effected their reconciliation with the bearnese, and for a handsome price paid down on the nail having acknowledged him to be their legitimate and catholic sovereign, now turned their temporary attention to the turk. the sweepings of the league--frenchmen, walloons, germans, italians, spaniards--were tossed into hungary, because for a season the war had become languid in flanders. and the warriors grown grey in the religious wars of france astonished the pagans on the danube by a variety of crimes and cruelties such as christians only could imagine. thus, while the forces of the sultan were besieging buda, a detachment of these ancient leaguers lay in pappa, a fortified town not far from raab, which archduke maximilian had taken by storm two years before. finding their existence monotonous and payments unpunctual, they rose upon the governor; michael maroti, and then entered into a treaty with the turkish commander outside the walls. bringing all the principal citizens of the town, their wives and children, and all their moveable property into the market-place, they offered to sell the lot, including the governor, for a hundred thousand rix dollars. the bargain was struck, and the turk, paying him all his cash on hand and giving hostages for the remainder, carried off six hundred of the men and women, promising soon to return and complete the transaction. meantime the imperial general, schwartzenberg, came before the place, urging the mutineers with promises of speedy payment, and with appeals to their sense of shame, to abstain from the disgraceful work. he might as well have preached to the wild swine swarming in the adjacent forests. siege thereupon was laid to the place. in a sortie the brave schwartzenberg was killed, but colonitz coming up in force the mutineers were locked up in the town which they had seized, and the turk never came to their relief. famine drove them at last to choose between surrender and a desperate attempt to cut their way out. they took the bolder course, and were all either killed or captured. and now--the mutineers having given the turk this lesson in christian honour towards captives--their comrades and the rest of the imperial forces showed them the latest and most approved christian method of treating mutineers. several hundred of the prisoners were distributed among the different nationalities composing the army to be dealt with at pleasure. the honest germans were the most straightforward of all towards their portion of the prisoners, for they shot them down at once, without an instant's hesitation. but the lorrainers, the remainder of the french troops, the walloons, and especially the hungarians--whose countrymen and women had been sold into captivity--all vied with each other in the invention of cruelties at which the soul sickens, and which the pen almost refuses to depict. these operations and diversions had no sensible effect upon the progress of the war, which crept on with the same monotonous and sluggish cruelty as ever; but the incidents narrated paint the course of civilization more vividly than the detailed accounts of siege and battle; mining and countermining, assaults and ambuscades can do, of which the history books are full. the leaguers of buda and of other cities and fortresses in hungary went their course; and it was destined to remain for a still longer season doubtful whether cross or crescent should ultimately wave over the whole territory of eastern europe, and whether the vigorous moslem, believing in himself, his mission, his discipline, and his resources, should ultimately absorb what was left of the ancient roman empire. meantime, such of the walloons, lorrainers, germans, and frenchmen as had grown wearied of the fighting on the danube and the theiss--might have recourse for variety to the perpetual carnage on the meuse, the rhine, and the scheld. if there was not bloodshed enough for all, it was surely not the fault of mahomet, nor clement, nor philip. during the remainder of the year not much was done in of the stadholder or the cardinal, but there was immense damage done to the dutch shipping by the famous privateersman, van der waecken, with his squadron of twelve or fourteen armed cruisers. in vain had the states exerted themselves to destroy the robbers cave, dunkirk. shiploads of granite had been brought from norway, and stone fleets had been sunk in the channel, but the insatiable quicksands had swallowed them as fast as they could be deposited, the tide rolled as freely as before, and the bold pirates sailed forth as gaily as ever to prey upon the defenceless trading vessels and herring-smacks of the states. for it was only upon non-combatants that admiral van der waecken made war, and the fishermen especially, who mainly belonged to the memnonite religion, with its doctrines of non-resistance--not a very comfortable practice in that sanguinary age--were his constant victims. and his cruelties might have almost served as a model to the christian warriors on the turkish frontier. after each vessel had been rifled of everything worth possessing, and then scuttled, the admiral would order the crews to be, thrown overboard at once, or, if he chanced to be in a merry mood, would cause them to be fastened to the cabin floor, or nailed crossways on the deck and then would sail away leaving ship and sailors to sink at leisure. the states gave chase as well as they could to the miscreant--a dutchman born, and with a crew mainly composed of renegade netherlanders and other outcasts, preying for base lucre on their defenceless countryman--and their cruisers were occasionally fortunate enough to capture and bring in one of the pirate ships. in such cases, short shrift was granted, and the buccaneers were hanged without mercy, thirty-eight having been executed in one morning at rotterdam. the admiral with most of his vessels escaped, however, to the coast of spain, where his crews during the autumn mainly contrived to desert, and where he himself died in the winter, whether from malady, remorse, or disappointment at not being rewarded by a high position in the spanish navy. the war was in its old age. the leaf of a new century had been turned, and men in middle life had never known what the word peace meant. perhaps they could hardly imagine such a condition. this is easily said, but it is difficult really to picture to ourselves the moral constitution of a race of mankind which had been born and had grown up, marrying and giving in marriage, dying and burying their dead, and so passing on from the cradle towards the grave, accepting the eternal clang of arms, and the constant participation by themselves and those nearest to them in the dangers, privations, and horrors of siege and battle-field as the commonplaces of life. at least, those netherlanders knew what fighting for independence of a foreign tyrant meant. they must have hated spain very thoroughly, and believed in the right of man to worship god according to the dictates of his conscience, and to govern himself upon his own soil, however meagre, very earnestly, or they would hardly have spent their blood and treasure, year after year; with such mercantile regularity when it was always in their power to make peace by giving up the object for which they had been fighting. yet the war, although in its old age, was not fallen into decrepitude. the most considerable and most sanguinary pitched battle of what then were modern times had just been fought, and the combatants were preparing themselves for a fresh wrestle, as if the conflict had only begun. and now--although the great leaguers of harlem, leyden, and antwerp, as well as the more recent masterpieces of prince maurice in gelderland and friesland were still fresh in men's memory--there was to be a siege, which for endurance, pertinacity, valour, and bloodshed on both sides, had not yet been foreshadowed, far less equalled, upon the fatal netherland soil. that place of fashionable resort, where the fine folk of europe now bathe, and flirt, and prattle politics or scandal so cheerfully during the summer solstice--cool and comfortable ostend--was throughout the sixteenth century as obscure a fishing village as could be found in christendom. nothing, had ever happened there, nobody had ever lived there, and it was not until a much later period that the famous oyster, now identified with its name, had been brought to its bay to be educated. it was known for nothing except for claiming to have invented the pickling of herrings, which was not at all the fact. towards the latter part of the century, however, the poor little open village had been fortified to such purpose as to enable it to beat off the great alexander farnese, when he had made an impromptu effort to seize it in the year , after his successful enterprise against dunkirk and nieuport, and subsequent preparation had fortunately been made against any further attempt. for in the opening period of the new century thousands and tens of thousands were to come to those yellow sands, not for a midsummer holiday, but to join hands in one of the most enduring struggles that history had yet recorded, and on which the attention of europe was for a long time to be steadily fixed. ostend--east-end--was the only possession of the republic in flanders. having been at last thoroughly fortified according to the principles of the age, it was a place whence much damage was inflicted upon the enemy, and whence forays upon the obedient flemings could very successfully be conducted. being in the hands of so enterprising a naval power, it controlled the coast, while the cardinal-archduke on the other side fondly hoped that its possession would give him supremacy on the sea. the states of flanders declared it to be a thorn in the belgic lion's foot, and called urgently upon their sovereign to remove the annoyance. they offered albert , florins a month so long as the siege should last, besides an extraordinary sum of , , of which one third was to be paid when the place should be invested, one-third when the breach had been made, and one-third after the town had been taken. it was obvious that, although they thought the extraction of the thorn might prove troublesome, the process would be accomplished within a reasonable time. the cardinal-archduke, on his part, was as anxious as the "members" of flanders. asking how long the duke of parma had been in taking antwerp, and being told "eighteen months," he replied that, if necessary, he was willing to employ eighteen years in reducing ostend. the town thus about to assume so much importance in the world's eye had about three thousand inhabitants within its lowly; thatch-roofed houses. it fronted directly upon the seacoast and stretched backward in a southerly direction, having the sandy downs on the right and left, and a swampy, spongy soil on the inner verge, where it communicated with the land. its northern part, small and scarcely inhabited, was lashed by the ocean, and exposed to perpetual danger from its storms and flood-tides, but was partially protected from these encroachments by a dyke stretching along the coast on the west. here had hitherto been the harbour formed by the mouth of the river iperleda as it mingled with the sea, but this entrance had become so choked with sand as to be almost useless at low water. this circumstance would have rendered the labours of the archduke comparatively easy, and much discouraged the states, had there not fortunately been a new harbour which had formed itself on the eastern side exactly at the period of threatened danger. the dwarf mountain range of dunes which encircled the town on the eastern side had been purposely levelled, lest the higher summits should offer positions of vantage to a besieging foe. in consequence of this operation, the sea had burst over the land and swept completely around the place, almost converting it into an island, while at high water there opened a wide and profound gulf which with the ebb left an excellent channel quite deep enough for even the ships of war of those days. the next care of the states authorities was to pierce their fortifications on this side at a convenient point, thus creating a safe and snug haven within the walls for the fleets of transports which were soon to arrive by open sea, laden with soldiers and munitions. the whole place was about half an hour's walk in circumference. it was surrounded with a regular counterscarp, bastions, and casemates, while the proximity of the ocean and the humid nature of the soil ensured it a network of foss and canal on every side. on the left or western side, where the old harbour had once been, and which was the most vulnerable by nature, was a series of strong ravelins, the most conspicuous of which were called the sand hill, the porcupine, and hell's mouth. beyond these, towards the southwest, were some detached fortifications, resting for support, however, upon the place itself, called the polder, the square, and the south square. on the east side, which was almost inaccessible, as it would seem, by such siege machinery as then existed, was a work called the spanish half-moon, situate on the new harbour called the guele or gullet. towards the west and southwest, externally, upon the territory of flanders--not an inch of which belonged to the republic, save the sea-beaten corner in which nestled the little town-eighteen fortresses had been constructed by the archduke as a protection against hostile incursions from the place. of these, the most considerable were st. albert, often mentioned during the nieuport campaign, st. isabella st. clara, and great-thirst. on the th july, , the archduke came before the town, and formally began the siege. he established his headquarters in the fort which bore the name of his patron saint. frederic van den berg meanwhile occupied fort breden on the eastern side, with the intention, if possible, of getting possession of the gullet, or at least of rendering the entrance to that harbour impossible by means of his hostile demonstrations. under van den berg was count bucquoy-longueval, a walloon officer of much energy and experience, now general-in-chief of artillery in the archduke's army. the numbers with which albert took the field at first have not been accurately stated, but it is probable that his object was to keep as many as twenty thousand constantly engaged in the siege, and that in this regard he was generally successful. within the town were fifty-nine companies of infantry, to which were soon added twenty-three more under command of young chatillon, grandson of the great coligny. it was "an olla podrida of nationalities," according to the diarist of the siege--[meteren]. english, scotch, dutch, flemings, frenchmen, germans, mixed in about equal proportions. commander-in-chief at the outset was sir francis vere, who established himself by the middle of july in the place, sent thither by order of the states-general. it had been the desire of that assembly that the stadholder should make another foray in flanders for the purpose of driving off the archduke before he should have time to complete his preliminary operations. but for that year at least maurice was resolved not to renounce his own schemes in deference to those so much more ignorant than himself of the art of war, even if barneveld and his subordinates on their part had not learned a requisite lesson of modesty. so the prince, instead of risking another nieuport campaign, took the field with a small but well-appointed force, about ten thousand men in all, marched to the rhine, and early in june, laid siege to rheinberg. it was his purpose to leave the archduke for the time to break his teeth against the walls of ostend, while he would himself protect the eastern frontier, over which came regular reinforcements and supplies for the catholic armies. his works were laid out with his customary precision and neatness. but, standing as usual, like a professor at his blackboard, demonstrating his proposition to the town, he was disturbed in his calculations by the abstraction from his little army of two thousand english troops ordered by the states-general to march to the defence of ostend. the most mathematical but most obedient of princes, annoyed but not disconcerted, sent off the troops but continued his demonstration. "by this specimen," cried the french envoy, with enthusiasm, "judge of the energy of this little commonwealth. they are besieging berg with an army of twelve thousand men, a place beyond the frontier, and five days' march from the hague. they are defending another important place, besieged by the principal forces of the archdukes, and there is good chance of success at both points. they are doing all this too with such a train of equipages of artillery, of munitions, of barks, of ships of war, that i hardly know of a monarch in the world who would not be troubled to furnish such a force of warlike machinery." by the middle of july he sprang a mine under the fortifications, doing much damage and sending into the air a considerable portion of the garrison. two of the soldiers were blown into his own camp, and one of them, strangely enough, was but slightly injured. coming as he did through the air at cannon-ball speed, he was of course able to bring the freshest intelligence from the interior of the town. his news as to the condition of the siege confirmed the theory of the stadholder. he persisted in his operations for three weeks longer, and the place was then surrendered. the same terms--moderate and honourable were given to the garrison and the burghers as in all maurice's victories. those who liked to stay were at liberty to do so, accepting the prohibition of public worship according to the roman ritual, but guaranteed against inquisition into household or conscience. the garrison went out with the honours of war, and thus the place, whose military value caused it to change hands almost as frequently as a counter in a game, was once more in possession of the republic. in the course of the following week maurice laid siege to the city of meurs, a little farther up the rhine, which immediately capitulated. thus the keys to the debatable land of cleves and juliers, the scene of the admiral of arragon's recent barbarities, were now held by the stadholder. these achievements were followed by an unsuccessful attempt upon bois-le-duc in the course of november. the place would have fallen notwithstanding the slenderness of the besieging army had not a sudden and severe frost caused the prudent prince to raise the siege. feeling that his cousin frederic van den berg, who had been despatched from before ostend to command the relieving force near bois-le-duc, might take advantage of the prematurely frozen canals and rivers to make an incursion into holland, he left his city just as his works had been sufficiently advanced to ensure possession of the prize, and hastened to protect the heart of the republic from possible danger. nothing further was accomplished by maurice that year, but meantime something had been doing within and around ostend. for now the siege of ostend became the war, and was likely to continue to be the war for a long time to come; all other military operations being to a certain degree suspended, as if by general consent of both belligerants, or rendered subsidiary to the main design. so long as this little place should be beleaguered it was the purpose of the states, and of maurice, acting in harmony with those authorities, to concentrate their resources so as to strengthen the grip with which the only scrap of flanders was held by the republic. and as time wore on, the supposed necessities of the wealthy province, which, in political importance, made up a full half of the archduke's dominions, together with self-esteem and an exaggerated idea of military honour, made that prelate more and more determined to effect his purpose. so upon those barren sands was opened a great academy in which the science and the art of war were to be taught by the most skilful practitioners to all europe; for no general, corporal, artillerist, barber-surgeon, or engineer, would be deemed to know his trade if he had not fought at ostend; and thither resorted month after month warriors of every rank, from men of royal or of noblest blood to adventurers of lowlier degree, whose only fortune was buckled at their sides. from every land, of every religion, of every race, they poured into the town or into the besiegers' trenches. habsburg and holstein; northumberland, vere, and westmoreland; fairfax and stuart; bourbon, chatillon, and lorraine; bentivoglio, farnese, spinola, grimaldi, arragon, toledo, avila, berlaymont, bucquoy, nassau, orange, solms--such were the historic names of a few only of the pupils or professors in that sanguinary high school, mingled with the plainer but well known patronymics of the baxes, meetkerkes, van loons, marquettes, van der meers, and barendrechts, whose bearers were fighting, as they long had fought, for all that men most dearly prize on earth, and not to win honour or to take doctors' degrees in blood. papist, calvinist, lutheran, turk, jew and moor, european, asiatic, african, all came to dance in that long carnival of death; and every incident, every detail throughout the weary siege could if necessary be reproduced; for so profound and general was the attention excited throughout christendom by these extensive operations, and so new and astonishing were many of the inventions and machines employed--most of them now as familiar as gunpowder or as antiquated as a catapult--that contemporaries have been most bountiful in their records for the benefit of posterity, feeling sure of a gratitude which perhaps has not been rendered to their shades. especially the indefatigable philip fleming-auditor and secretary of ostend before and during the siege, bravest, most conscientious, and most ingenious of clerks--has chronicled faithfully in his diary almost every cannon-shot that was fired, house that was set on fire, officer that was killed, and has pourtrayed each new machine that was invented or imagined by native or foreign genius. for the adepts or, pretenders who swarmed to town or camp from every corner of the earth, bringing in their hands or brains to be disposed of by either belligerents infallible recipes for terminating the siege at a single blow, if only their theories could be understood and their pockets be filled, were as prolific and as sanguine as in every age. but it would be as wearisome, and in regard to the history of human culture as superfluous, to dilate upon the technics of targone and giustianini, and the other engineers, italian and flemish, who amazed mankind at this period by their successes, still more by their failures, or to describe every assault, sortie, and repulse, every excavation, explosion, and cannonade, as to disinter the details of the siege of nineveh or of troy. but there is one kind of enginry which never loses its value or its interest, and which remains the same in every age--the machinery by which stout hearts act directly upon willing hands--and vast were the results now depending on its employment around ostend. on the outside and at a distance the war was superintended of course by the stadholder and commander-in-chief, while his cousin william lewis, certainly inferior to no living man in the science of war, and whose studies in military literature, both ancient and modern, during the brief intervals of his active campaigning, were probably more profound than those of any contemporary, was always alert and anxious to assist with his counsels or to mount and ride to the fray. in the town sir francis vere commanded. few shapes are more familiar to the student of those times than this veteran campaigner, the offshoot of a time-honoured race. a man of handsome, weather-beaten, battle-bronzed visage, with massive forehead, broad intelligent eyes, a high straight nose, close-clipped hair, and a great brown beard like a spade; captious, irascible, but most resolute, he seemed, in his gold inlaid milan corslet and ruff of point-lace, the very image of a partizan chieftain; one of the noblest relics of a race of fighters slowly passing off the world's stage. an efficient colonel, he was not a general to be relied upon in great affairs either in council or the field. he hated the nassaus, and the nassaus certainly did not admire him, while his inordinate self-esteem, both personal and national, and his want of true sympathy for the cause in which, he fought, were the frequent source of trouble and danger to the republic. of the seven or eight thousand soldiers in the town when the siege began, at least two thousand were english. the queen, too intelligent, despite her shrewishness to the staten; not to be faithful to the cause in which her own interests were quite as much involved as theirs, had promised envoy caron that although she was obliged to maintain twenty thousand men in ireland to keep down the rebels, directly leagued as they were with spain and the archdukes, the republic might depend upon five thousand soldiers from england. detachment after detachment, the soldiers came as fast as the london prisons could be swept and the queen's press-gang perform its office. it may be imagined that the native land of those warriors was not inconsiderably benefited by the grant to the republic of the right to make and pay for these levies. but they had all red uniforms, and were as fit as other men to dig trenches, to defend them; and to fill them afterwards, and none could fight more manfully or plunder friend and foe with greater cheerfulness of impartiality than did those islanders. the problem which the archduke had set himself to solve was not an easy one. he was to reduce a town, which he could invest and had already succeeded very thoroughly in investing on the land aide, but which was open to the whole world by sea; while the besieged on their part could not only rely upon their own government and people, who were more at home on the ocean than was any nation in the world, but upon their alliance with england, a state hardly inferior in maritime resources to the republic itself. on the western side, which was the weakest, his progress was from the beginning the more encouraging, and his batteries were soon able to make some impression upon the outer works, and even to do considerable damage to the interior of the town. in the course of a few months he had fifty siege-guns in position, and had constructed a practicable road all around the place, connecting his own fortifications on the west and south with those of bucquoy on the east. albert's leading thought however was to cut off the supplies. the freaks of nature, as already observed, combined with his own exertions, had effectually disposed of the western harbour as a means of ingress. the tide ebbed and flowed through the narrow channel, but it was clogged with sand and nearly, dry at low water. moreover, by an invention then considered very remarkable, a foundation was laid for the besiegers' forts and batteries by sinking large and deep baskets of wicker-work, twenty feet in length, and filled with bricks and sand, within this abandoned harbour. these clumsy machines were called sausages, and were the delight of the camp and of all europe. the works thus established on the dry side crept slowly on towards the walls, and some demi-cannon were soon placed upon, them, but the besieged, not liking these encroachments, took the resolution to cut the pea-dyke along the coast which had originally protected the old harbour. thus the sea, when the tides were high and winds boisterous, was free to break in upon the archduke's works, and would often swallow sausages, men, and cannon far more rapidly than it was possible to place them there. yet still those human ants toiled on, patiently restoring what the elements so easily destroyed; and still, despite the sea; the cannonade, and the occasional sorties of the garrison, the danger came nearer and nearer. bucquoy on the other side was pursuing the same system, but his task was immeasurably more difficult. the gullet, or new eastern entrance, was a whirlpool at high tide, deep, broad, and swift as a millrace. yet along its outer verge he too laid his sausages, protecting his men at their work as well as he could with gabions, and essayed to build a dyke of wicker-work upon which he might place a platform for artillery to prevent the ingress of the republican ships. and his soldiers were kept steadily at work, exposed all the time to the guns of the spanish half-moon from which the besieged never ceased to cannonade those industrious pioneers. it was a bloody business. night and day the men were knee-deep in the trenches delving in mud and sand, falling every instant into the graves which they were thus digging for themselves, while ever and anon the sea would rise in its wrath and sweep them with their works away. yet the victims were soon replaced by others, for had not the cardinal-archduke sworn to extract the thorn from the belgic lion's paw even if he should be eighteen years about it, and would military honour permit him to break his vow? it was a piteous sight, even for the besieged, to see human life so profusely squandered. it is a terrible reflection, too, that those spaniards, walloons, italians, confronted death so eagerly, not from motives of honour, religion, discipline, not inspired by any kind of faith or fanaticism, but because the men who were employed in this horrible sausage-making and dyke-building were promised five stivers a day instead of two. and there was always an ample supply of volunteers for the service so long as the five stivers were paid. but despite all bucquoy's exertions the east harbour remained as free as ever. the cool, wary dutch skippers brought in their cargoes as regularly as if there had been no siege at all. ostend was rapidly acquiring greater commercial importance, and was more full of bustle and business than had ever been dreamed of in that quiet nook since the days of robert the frisian, who had built the old church of ostend, as one of the thirty which he erected in honour of st. peter, five hundred years before. for the states did not neglect their favourite little city. fleets of transports arrived day after day, week after week, laden with every necessary and even luxury for the use of the garrison. it was perhaps the cheapest place in all the netherlands, so great was the abundance. capons, bares, partridges, and butcher's meat were plentiful as blackberries, and good french claret was but two stivers the quart. certainly the prospect was not promising of starving the town into a surrender. but besides all this digging and draining there was an almost daily cannonade. her royal highness the infanta was perpetually in camp by the side of her well-beloved albert, making her appearance there in great state, with eighteen coaches full of ladies of honour, and always manifesting much impatience if she did not hear the guns. she would frequently touch off a forty-pounder with her own serene fingers in order to encourage the artillerymen, and great was the enthusiasm which such condescension excited. assaults, sorties, repulses, ambuscades were also of daily occurrence, and often with very sanguinary results; but it would be almost as idle now to give the details of every encounter that occurred, as to describe the besieging of a snow-fort by schoolboys. it is impossible not to reflect that a couple of parrots and a monitor or two would have terminated the siege in half an hour in favor of either party, and levelled the town or the besiegers' works as if they had been of pasteboard. bucquoy's dyke was within a thousand yards of the harbour's entrance, yet the guns on his platform never sank a ship nor killed a man on board, while the archduke's batteries were even nearer their mark. yet it was the most prodigious siege of modern days. fifty great guns were in position around the place, and their balls weighed from ten to forty pounds apiece. it was generally agreed that no such artillery practice had ever occurred before in the world. for the first six months, and generally throughout the siege, there was fired on an average a thousand of such shots a day. in the sieges of the american civil war there were sometimes three thousand shots an hour, and from guns compared to which in calibre and power those cannon and demi-cannon were but children's toys. certainly the human arm was of the same length then as now, a pike-thrust was as effective as the stab of the most improved bayonet, and when it came, as it was always the purpose to do, to the close embrace of foemen, the work was done as thoroughly as it could be in this second half of the nineteenth century. nevertheless it is impossible not to hope that such progress in science must at last render long wars impossible. the dutch war of independence had already lasted nearly forty years. had the civil war in america upon the territory of half a continent been waged with the ostend machinery it might have lasted two centuries. something then may have been gained for humanity by giving war such preter-human attributes as to make its demands of gold and blood too exhaustive to become chronic. yet the loss of human life during that summer and winter was sufficiently wholesale as compared with the meagre results. blood flowed in torrents, for no man could be more free of his soldiers' lives than was the cardinal-archduke, hurling them as he did on the enemy's works before the pretence of a practical breach had been effected, and before a reasonable chance existed of purchasing an advantage at such a price. five hundred were killed outright in half-an-hour's assault on an impregnable position one autumn evening, and lay piled in heaps beneath the sand hill fort-many youthful gallants from spain and italy among them, noble volunteers recognised by their perfumed gloves and golden chains, and whose pockets were worth rifling. the dutch surgeons, too, sallied forth in strength after such an encounter, and brought in great bags filled with human fat esteemed the sovereignst remedy in the world for wounds and disease. leaders were killed on both sides. catrici, chief of the italian artillery, and braccamonte, commander of a famous sicilian legion, with many less-known captains, lost their lives before the town. the noble young chatillon, grandson of coligny, who had distinguished himself at nieuport, fell in the porcupine fort, his head carried off by a cannon-ball, which destroyed another officer at his side, and just grazed the ear of the distinguished colonel uchtenbroek. sir francis vere, too, was wounded in the head by a fragment of iron, and was obliged to leave the town for six weeks till his wound should heal. the unfortunate inhabitants--men, women, and children--were of course exposed to perpetual danger, and very many were killed. their houses were often burned to the ground, in which cases the english auxiliaries were indefatigable, not in rendering assistance, but in taking possession of such household goods as the flames had spared. nor did they always wait for such opportunities, but were apt, at the death of an eminent burgher, to constitute themselves at once universal legatees. thus, while honest bartholomew tysen, a worthy citizen grocer, was standing one autumn morning at his own door, a stray cannon-ball took off his head, and scarcely had he been put in a coffin before his house was sacked from garret to cellar and all the costly spices, drugs, and other valuable merchandize of his warehouse--the chief magazine in the town--together with all his household furniture, appropriated by those london warriors. bartholomew's friends and relatives appealed to sir francis vere for justice, but were calmly informed by that general that ostend was like a stranded ship, on its beamends on a beach, and that it was impossible not to consider it at the mercy of the wreckers. so with this highly figurative view of the situation from the lips of the governor of the place and the commander-in-chief of the english as well as the dutch garrison, they were fain to go home and bury their dead, finding when they returned that another cannonball had carried away poor bartholomew's coffin-lid. thus was never non-combatant and grocer, alive or dead, more out of suits with fortune than this citizen of ostend; and such were the laws of war, as understood by one of the most eminent of english practitioners in the beginning of the seventeenth century. it is true, however, that vere subsequently hanged a soldier for stealing fifty pounds of powder and another for uttering counterfeit money, but robberies upon the citizens were unavenged. nor did the deaths by shot or sword-stroke make up the chief sum of mortality. as usual the murrain-like pestilence which swept off its daily victims both within an without the town, was more effective than any direct agency of man. by the month of december the number of the garrison had been reduced to less than three thousand, while it is probable that the archduke had not eight thousand effective men left in his whole army. it was a black and desolate scene. the wild waves of the german ocean, lashed by the wintry gales, would often sweep over the painfully constructed works of besieger and besieged and destroy in an hour the labour of many weeks. the porcupine's small but vitally-important ravelin lying out in the counterscarp between the old town and the new, guarding the sluices by which the water for the town moats and canals was controlled, and preventing the pioneers of the enemy from undermining the western wall--was so damaged by the sea as to be growing almost untenable. indefatigably had the besieged attempted with wicker-work and timber and palisades to strengthen this precious little fort, but they had found, even as bucquoy and the archduke on their part had learned, that the north sea in winter was not to be dammed by bulrushes. moreover, in a bold and successful assault the besiegers had succeeded in setting fire to the inflammable materials heaped about the ravelin to such effect that the fire burned for days, notwithstanding the flooding of the works at each high tide. the men, working day and night, scorching in the flames, yet freezing kneedeep in the icy slush of the trenches and perpetually under fire of the hostile batteries, became daily more and more exhausted, notwithstanding their determination to hold the place. christmas drew nigh, and a most gloomy, festival it was like to be, for it seemed as if the beleaguered garrison had been forgotten by the states. weeks had passed away without a single company being sent to repair the hideous gaps made daily in the ranks of those defenders of a forlorn hope. it was no longer possible to hold the external works; the square, the polder, and the other forts on the southwest which vere had constructed with so much care and where he had thus far kept his headquarters. on sunday morning,-- rd december, he reluctantly gave orders that they should be abandoned on the following day and the whole garrison concentrated within the town. the clouds were gathering darkly over the head of the gallant vere; for no sooner had he arrived at this determination than he learned from a deserter that the archduke had fixed upon that very sunday evening for a general assault upon the place. it was hopeless for the garrison to attempt to hold these outer forts, for they required a far larger number of soldiers than could be spared from the attenuated little army. yet with those forts in the hands of the enemy there would be nothing left but to make the best and speediest terms that might be obtained. the situation was desperate. sir francis called his principal officers together, announced his resolve not to submit to the humiliation of a surrender after all their efforts, if there was a possibility of escape from their dilemma, reminded them that reinforcements might be expected to arrive at any moment, and that with even a few hundred additional soldiers the outer works might still be manned and the city saved. the officers english, dutch, and french, listened respectfully to his remarks, but, without any suggestions on their own part, called on him as their alexander to untie the gordian knot. alexander solved it, not with the sword, but with a trick which he hoped might prove sharper than a sword. he announced his intention of proposing at once to treat, and to protract the negotiations as long as possible, until the wished-for sails should be discerned in the offing, when he would at once break faith with them, resume hostilities, and so make fools of the besiegers. this was a device worthy of a modern alexander whose surname was farnese. even in that loose age such cynical trifling with the sacredness of trumpets of truce and offers of capitulation were deemed far from creditable among soldiers and statesmen, yet the council of war highly applauded the scheme, and importuned the general to carry it at once into effect. when it came, however, to selecting the hostages necessary for the proposed negotiations, they became less ardent and were all disposed to recede. at last, after much discussion, the matter was settled, and before nightfall a drummer was set upon the external parapet of the porcupine, who forthwith began to beat vigorously for a parley. the rattle was a welcome sound in the ears of the weary besiegers, just drawn up in column for a desperate assault, and the tidings were at once communicated to the archduke in fort st. albert. the prince manifested at first some unwillingness to forego the glory of the attack, from which he confidently expected a crowning victory, but yielding to the representations of his chief generals that it was better to have his town without further bloodshed, he consented to treat. hostages were expeditiously appointed on both sides, and captains ogle and fairfax were sent that same evening to the headquarters of the besieging army. it was at once agreed as a preliminary that the empty outer works of the place should remain unmolested. the english officers were received with much courtesy. the archduke lifted his hat as they were presented, asked them of what nation they were, and then inquired whether they were authorized to agree upon terms of capitulation. they answered in the negative; adding, that the whole business would be in the hands of commissioners to be immediately sent by his highness, as it was supposed, into the town. albert then expressed the hope that there was no fraudulent intention in the proposition just made to negotiate. the officers professed themselves entirely ignorant of any contemplated deception; although captain ogle had been one of the council, had heard every syllable of vere's stratagem, and had heartily approved of the whole plot. the englishmen were then committed to the care of a spanish nobleman of the duke's staff, and were treated with perfect politeness and hospitality. meantime no time was lost in despatching hostages, who should be at the same time commissioners, to ostend. the quartermaster-general of the army, don matteo antonio, and matteo serrano, governor of sluys, but serving among the besiegers, were selected for this important business as personages of ability, discretion, and distinction. they reached the town, coming in of course from the western side, as expeditiously as possible, but after nightfall. before they arrived at headquarters there suddenly arose, from some unknown cause, a great alarm and beating to arms on the opposite or eastern side of the city. they were entirely innocent of any participation in this uproar and ignorant of its cause, but when they reached the presence of sir francis vere they found that warrior in a towering passion. there was cheating going on, he exclaimed. the spaniards, he cried, were taking advantage of these negotiations, and were about, by dishonourable stratagem, to assault the town. astounded, indignant, but utterly embarrassed, the grave spaniards knew not how to reply. they were still more amazed when the general, rising to a still higher degree of exasperation, absolutely declined to exchange another word with them, but ordered captains carpentier and st. hilaire, by whom they had been escorted to his quarters, to conduct them out of the town again by the same road which had brought them there. there was nothing for it but to comply, and to smother their resentment at such extraordinary treatment as best they could. when they got to the old harbour on the western side the tide had risen so high that it was impossible to cross. nobody knew better than vere, when he gave the order, that this would be the case; so that when the escorting officers returned to state the fact, he simply ordered them to take the spaniards back by the gullet or eastern side. the strangers were not very young men, and being much fatigued with wandering to and fro in the darkness over the muddy roads, they begged permission to remain all night in ostend, if it were only in a guardhouse. but vere was inexorable, after the duplicity which he affected to have discovered on the part of the enemy. so the quartermaster-general and the governor of sluys, much to the detriment of their dignity, were forced once more to tramp through the muddy streets. and obeying their secret instructions, the escort led them round and round through the most miry and forlorn parts of the town, so that, sinking knee-deep at every step into sloughs and quicksands, and plunging about through the mist and sleet of a dreary december's night, they at last reached the precincts of the spanish half-moon on the gullet, be-draggled from head to foot and in a most dismal and exhausted condition. "ah, the villainous town of ostend!" exclaimed serrano, ruefully contemplating his muddy boots and imploring at least a pipe of tobacco. he was informed, however, that no such medical drugs were kept in the fort, but that a draught of good english ale was much at their service. the beer was brought in four foaming flagons, and, a little refreshed by this hospitality, the spaniards were put in a boat and rowed under the guns of the fort across the gullet and delivered to their own sentries on the outposts of bucquoy's entrenchments. by this time it was midnight, so that it was necessary for them to remain for the night in the eastern encampment before reporting themselves at fort st. albert. thus far vere's comedy had been eminently successful, and by taking advantage of the accidental alarm and so adroitly lashing himself into a fictitious frenzy, the general had gained nearly twenty-four additional hours of precious time on which he had not reckoned. next morning, after serrano and antonio had reported to the archduke, it was decided, notwithstanding the very inhospitable treatment which they had received, that those commissioners should return to their labours. ogle and fairfax still remained as hostages in camp, and of course professed entire ignorance of these extraordinary proceedings, attributing them to some inexplicable misunderstanding. so on monday, th, december, the quartermaster and the governor again repaired to ostend with orders to bring about the capitulation of the place as soon as possible. the same sergeant-major was again appointed by vere to escort the strangers, and on asking by what way he should bring them in, was informed by sir francis that it would never do to allow those gentlemen, whose feet were accustomed to the soft sand of the sea-beach and downs, to bruise themselves upon the hard paving-stones of ostend, but that the softest and muddiest road must be carefully selected for them. these reasons accordingly were stated with perfect gravity to the two spaniards, who, in spite of their solemn remonstrances, were made to repeat a portion of their experiences and to accept it as an act of special courtesy from the english general. thus so much time had been spent in preliminaries and so much more upon the road that the short winter's day was drawing to a close before they were again introduced to the presence of vere. they found that fiery personage on this occasion all smiles and blandishments. the spaniards were received with most dignified courtesy, to which they gravely responded; and the general then proceeded to make excuses for the misunderstanding of the preceding day with its uncomfortable consequences. thereupon arose much animated discussion as to the causes and the nature of the alarm on the east side which had created such excitement. much time was ingeniously consumed in this utterly superfluous discussion; but at last the commissioners of the archduke insisted on making allusion to the business which had brought them to the town. "what terms of negotiation do you propose?" they asked sir francis. "his highness has only to withdraw from before ostend," coolly replied the general, "and leave us, his poor neighbours, in peace and quietness. this would be the most satisfactory negotiation possible and the one most easily made." serrano and antonio found it difficult to see the matter in that cheerful light, and assured sir francis that they had not been commissioned by the archduke to treat for his own withdrawal but for the surrender of the town. hereupon high words and fierce discussion very naturally arose, and at last, when a good deal of time had been spent in the sharp encounter of wits, vere proposed an adjournment of the discussion until after supper; politely expressing the hope that the spanish gentlemen would be his guests. the conversation had been from the beginning in french, as vere, although a master of the spanish language, was desirous that the rest of the company present should understand everything said at the interview. the invitation to table was graciously accepted, and the christmas eve passed off more merrily than the preceding night had done, so far as vere's two guests were concerned. several distinguished officers were present at the festive board: captain montesquieu de roquette, sir horace vere, captains st. hilaire, meetkerke, de ryck, and others among them. as it was strict fast for the catholics that evening--while on the other hand the english, still reckoning according to the old style, would not keep christmas until ten days later--the banquet consisted mainly of eggs and fish, and the like meagre articles, in compliment to the guests. it was, however, as well furnished as could be expected in a beleaguered town, out of whose harbour a winter gale had been for many weeks blowing and preventing all ingress. there was at least no lack of excellent bordeaux wine; while the servants waiting upon the table did not fail to observe that governor serrano was not in all respects a model of the temperance usually characteristic of his race. they carefully counted and afterwards related with admiration, not unmingled with horror, that the veteran spaniard drank fifty-two goblets of claret, and was emptying his glass as fast as filled, although by no means neglecting the beer, the quality of which he had tested the night before at the half-moon. yet there seemed to be no perceptible effect produced upon him, save perhaps that he grew a shade more grave and dignified with each succeeding draught. for while the banquet proceeded in this very genial manner business was by no means neglected; the negotiations for the surrender of the city being conducted on both sides with a fuddled solemnity very edifying for the attendants to contemplate. vere complained that the archduke was unreasonable, for he claimed nothing less from his antagonists than their all. the commissioners replied that all was no more than his own property. it certainly could not be thought unjust of him to demand his own, and all flanders was his by legal donation from his majesty of spain. vere replied that he had never studied jurisprudence, and was not versed at all in that--science, but he had always heard in england that possession was nine points of the law. now it so happened that they, and not his highness, were in possession of ostend, and it would be unreasonable to expect them to make a present of it to any one. the besiegers, he urged, had gained much honour by their steady persistence amid so many dangers; difficulties, and losses;--but winter had come, the weather was very bad, not a step of progress had been made, and he was bold enough to express his opinion that it would be far more sensible on the part of his highness, after such deeds of valour, to withdraw his diminished forces out of the freezing and pestilential swamps before ostend and go into comfortable winter-quarters at ghent or bruges. enough had been done for glory, and it must certainly now be manifest that he had no chance of taking the city. serrano retorted that it was no secret to the besiegers that the garrison had dwindled to a handful; that it was quite impossible for them to defend their outer works any longer; that with the loss of the external boulevard the defence of the place would be impossible, and that, on the contrary, it was for the republicans to resign themselves to their fate. they, too, had done enough for glory, and had nothing for it but to retire into the centre of their ruined little nest, where they must burrow until the enemy should have leisure to entirely unearth them, which would be a piece of work very easily and rapidly accomplished. this was called negotiation; and thus the winter's evening wore away, until the spaniards; heavy with fatigue and wine, were without much difficulty persuaded to seek the couches prepared for them. next day the concourse of people around the city was christmas, wonderful to behold. the rumour had spread through the provinces, and was on the wing to all foreign countries, that ostend had capitulated, and that the commissioners were at that moment arranging the details. the cardinal-archduke, in complete milanese armour, with a splendid feather-bush waving from his casque and surrounded by his brilliant body-guard, galloped to and fro outside the entrenchments, expecting every moment a deputation to come forth, bearing the keys of the town. the infanta too, magnificent in ruff and farthingale and brocaded petticoat, and attended by a cavalcade of ladies of honour in gorgeous attire, pranced impatiently about, awaiting the dramatic termination of a leaguer which was becoming wearisome to besieger and besieged. not even on the famous second of july of the previous year, when that princess was pleasing herself with imaginations as to the deportment of maurice of nassau as a captive, had her soul been so full of anticipated triumph as on this christmas morning. such a festive scene as was now presented in the neighbourhood of ostend had not been exhibited for many a long year in flanders. from the whole country side came the peasants and burghers, men, women, and children, in holiday attire. it was like a kermiss or provincial fair. three thousand people at least were roaming about in all direction, gaping with wonder at the fortifications of the besieging army, so soon to be superfluous, sliding, skating, waltzing on the ice, admiring jugglers, dancing bears, puppet shows and merry-go-rounds, singing, and carousing upon herrings, sausages, waffles, with mighty draughts of flemish ale, manifesting their exuberant joy that the thorn was nearly extracted from the lion's paw, and awaiting with delight a blessed relief from that operation. never was a merrier christmas morning in flanders. there should be an end now to the forays through the country of those red-coated english pikemen, those hard-riding, hard-drinking troopers of germany and, holland, with the french and scotch arquebus men, and terrible zeeland sailors who had for years swept out of ostend, at any convenient opportunity, to harry the whole province. and great was the joy in flanders. meantime within the city a different scene was enacting. those dignified spaniards--governor serrano and don matteo antonio--having slept off their carouse, were prepared after breakfast next morning to resume the interrupted negotiations. but affairs were now to take an unexpected turn. in the night the wind had changed, and in the course of the forenoon three dutch vessels of war were descried in the offing, and soon calmly sailed into the mouth of the gullet. the news was at once brought to vere's headquarters. that general's plans had been crowned with success even sooner than he expected. there was no further object in continuing the comedy of negotiation, for the ships now arriving seemed crowded with troops. sir francis accordingly threw off the mask, and assuring his guests with extreme politeness that it had given him great pleasure to make the acquaintance of such distinguished personages, he thanked them cordially for their visit, but regretted that it would be no longer in his power to entertain any propositions of a pacific nature. the necessary reinforcements, which he had been so long expecting, had at last reached him, and it would not yet be necessary for him to retire into his ruined nest. military honour therefore would not allow him to detain them any longer. should he ever be so hard pressed again he felt sure that so magnanimous a prince as his highness would extend to him all due clemency and consideration. the spaniards; digesting as they best could the sauce of contumely with which the gross treachery of the transaction was now seasoned, solemnly withdrew, disdaining to express their spleen in words of idle menace. they were escorted back through the lines, and at once made their report at headquarters. the festival had been dismally interrupted before it was well begun. the vessels were soon observed by friend and foe making their way triumphantly up to the town where they soon dropped anchor at the wharf of the inner gullet, having only a couple of sailors wounded, despite all the furious discharges of bucquoy's batteries. the holiday makers dispersed, much discomfited, the english hostages returned to the town, and the archduke shut himself up, growling and furious. his generals and counsellors, who had recommended the abandonment of his carefully prepared assault, and acceptance of the perfidious propositions to negotiate, by which so much golden time had been squandered, were for several days excluded from his presence. meantime the army, disappointed, discontented, half-starved, unpaid, passed their days and nights as before, in the sloppy trenches, while deep and earnest were the complaints and the curses which succeeded to the momentary exultation of christmas eve. the soldiers were more than ever embittered against their august commander-in-chief, for they had just enjoyed a signal opportunity of comparing the luxury and comfortable magnificence of his highness and the infanta, and of contrasting it with their own misery. moreover, it had long been exciting much indignation in the ranks that veteran generals and colonels, in whom all men had confidence, had been in great numbers superseded in order to make place for court favourites, utterly without experience or talent. thus the veterans; murmuring in the wet trenches. the archduke meanwhile, in his sullen retirement, brooded over a tragedy to follow the very successful comedy of his antagonist. it was not long delayed. the assault which had been postponed in the latter days of december was to be renewed before the end of the first week of the new year. vere, through scouts and deserters, was aware of the impending storm, and had made his arrangements in accordance with, the very minute information which he had thus received. the reinforcements, so opportunely sent by the states, were not numerous--only six hundred in all--but they were an earnest of fresh comrades to follow. meantime they sufficed to fill the gaps in the ranks, and to enable vere to keep possession of the external line of fortifications, including the all-important porcupine. moreover, during the fictitious negotiations, while the general had thus been holding--as he expressed it--the wolf by both ears, the labor of repairing damages in dyke, moat, and wall had not been for an instant neglected. the morning of the th january, , opened with a vigorous cannonade from all the archduke's batteries, east, west, and south. auditor fleeting, counsellor and secretary of the city, aide-de-camp and right hand of the commander-in-chief, a grim, grizzled, leathern-faced man of fifty, steady under fire as a veteran arquebuseer, ready with his pen as a counting-house clerk, and as fertile in resource as the most experienced campaigner, was ever at the general's side. at his suggestion several houses had been demolished, to furnish materials in wood and iron to stop the gaps as soon as made. especially about the sand hill fort and the porcupine a plentiful supply was collected, no time having been lost in throwing up stockades, palisades, and every other possible obstruction to the expected assailants. knowing perfectly well where the brunt of the battle was to be, vere had placed his brother sir horace at the head of twelve picked companies of diverse nations in the sand hill. four of the very best companies of the garrison were stationed in the porcupine, and ten more of the choicest in fort hell's mouth, under colonel meetkerke. it must be recollected that the first of these three works was the key to the fortifications of the old or outer town. the other two were very near it, and were the principal redoubts which defended the most exposed and vulnerable portion of the new town on the western side. the sand hill, as its name imported, was the only existing relic within the city's verge of the chain of downs once encircling the whole place. it had however been cannonaded so steadily during the six months' siege as to have become almost ironclad--a mass of metal gradually accumulating from the enemy's guns. with the curtain extending from it towards east and west it protected the old town quite up to the little ancient brick church, one of the only two in ostend. all day long the cannon thundered--a bombardment such as had never before been dreamed of in those days, two thousand shots having been distinctly counted, by the burghers. there was but languid response from the besieged, who were reserving their strength. at last, to the brief winter's day succeeded a pitch-dark evening. it was dead low tide at seven. at that hour the drums suddenly beat alarm along the whole line of fortifications from the gullet on the east to the old harbour on the west, while through the mirky atmosphere sounded the trumpets of the assault, the shouts of the spanish and italian commanders, and the fierce responsive yells of their troops. sir francis, having visited every portion of the works, and satisfied himself that every man in the garrison was under arms, and that all his arrangements had been fulfilled, now sat on horseback, motionless as a statue, within the sand hill. among the many serious and fictitious attacks now making he waited calmly for the one great assault, even allowing some of the enemy to scale the distant counterscarp of the external works towards the south, which he had by design left insufficiently guarded. it was but a brief suspense, for in a few moments two thousand men had rushed through the bed of the old harbour, out of which the tide had ebbed, and were vigorously assailing the sand hill and the whole length of its curtain. the impenetrable darkness made it impossible to count, but the noise and the surging fury of the advance rendered it obvious that the critical moment had arrived. suddenly a vivid illumination burst forth. great pine torches, piles of tar-barrels, and heaps of other inflammable material, which had been carefully arranged in fort porcupine, were now all at once lighted by vere's command. as the lurid blaze flashed far and wide there started out of the gloom not only the long lines of yellow jerkined pikemen and arquebuseers, with their storm-hoods and scaling ladders, rushing swiftly towards the forts, but beyond the broken sea dyke the reserved masses supporting the attack, drawn up in solid clumps of spears, with their gay standards waving above them, and with a strong force of cavalry in iron corslet and morion stationed in the rear to urge on the infantry and prevent their faltering in the night's work, became visible--phantom-like but perfectly distinct. at least four thousand men were engaged in this chief attack, and the light now permitted the besieged to direct their fire from cannon, demi-cannon, culverin, and snaphance, with fatal effect. the assailants, thinned, straggling, but undismayed, closed up their ranks, and still came fiercely on. never had spaniards, walloons, and italians, manifested greater contempt of death than on this occasion. they knew that the archduke and the infanta were waiting breathlessly in fort st. albert for the news of that victory of which the feigned negotiations had defrauded them at christmas, and they felt perfectly confident of ending both the siege and the forty years' war this january night. but they had reckoned without their wily english host. as they came nearer--van, and at last reserve--they dropped in great heaps under the steady fire of the musketry--as philip flaming, looking on, exclaimed--like apples when the autumn wind blows through the orchard. and as the foremost still pressed nearer and nearer, striving to clamber up the shattered counterscarp and through every practicable breach, the english, hollanders, and zeelanders, met them in the gap, not only at push of pike, but with their long daggers and with flaming pitchhoops, and hurled them down to instant death. and thus around the sand hill, the porcupine, and hell's mouth, the battle raged nearly two hours long, without an inch of ground being gained by the assailants. the dead and dying were piled beneath the walls, while still the reserves, goaded up to the mark by the cavalry, mounted upon the bodies of their fallen comrades and strove to plant their ladders. but now the tide was on the flood, the harbour was filling, and cool auditor fleming, whom nothing escaped quietly asked the general's permission to open the western' sluice. it was obvious, he observed, that the fury of the attack was over, and that the enemy would soon be effecting a retreat before the water should have risen too high. he even pointed out many stragglers attempting to escape through the already deepening shallows. vere's consent was at once given, the flood-gate was opened, and the assailants such as still survived--panic-struck in a moment, rushed wildly back through the old harbour towards their camp. it was too late. the waters were out, and the contending currents whirled the fugitives up and down through the submerged land, and beyond the broken dyke, until great numbers of them were miserably drowned in the haven, while others were washed out to sea. horses and riders were borne off towards the zealand coast, and several of their corpses were picked up days afterwards in the neighbourhood of flushing. meantime those who had effected a lodgment in the polder, the square, and the other southern forts, found, after the chief assault had failed, that they had gained nothing by their temporary triumph but the certainty of being butchered. retreat was impossible, and no quarter was given. count imbec, a noble of great wealth, offered his weight in gold for his ransom, but was killed by a private soldier, who preferred his blood, or doubted his solvency. durango, marshal of the camp, don alvarez de suarez, and don matteo antonio, sergeant-major and quarter-master-general, whose adventures as a hostage within the town on christmas eve have so recently been related, were also slain. on the eastern side bucquoy's attack was an entire failure. his arrangements were too slowly made, and before he could bring his men to the assault the water was so high in the gullet that they refused to lay their pontoons and march to certain death. only at lowest ebb, and with most exquisite skill in fording, would it have been possible to effect anything like an earnest demonstration or a surprise. moreover some of the garrison, giving themselves out as deserters, stole out of the spanish half-moon, which had been purposely almost denuded of its defenders, towards the enemy's entrenchments, and offered to lead a body of spaniards into that ravelin. bucquoy fell into the trap, so that the detachment, after a victory as easily effected as that in the southern forts, found themselves when the fight was over not the captors but the caught. a few attempted to escape and were driven into the sea; the rest were massacred. fifteen hundred of the enemy's dead were counted and registered by auditor fleming. the whole number of the slain and drowned was reckoned as high as two thousand, which was at least, a quarter of the whole besieging army. and so ended this winter night's assault, by which the archduke had fondly hoped to avenge himself for vere's perfidy, and to terminate the war at a blow. only sixty of the garrison were killed, and sir horace vere was wounded. the winter now set in with severe sleet, and snow, and rain, and furious tempests lashing the sea over the works of besieger and besieged, and for weeks together paralyzing all efforts of either army. eight weary months the siege had lasted; the men in town and hostile camp, exposed to the inclemency of the wintry trenches, sinking faster before the pestilence which now swept impartially through all ranks than the soldiers of the archduke had fallen at nieuport, or in the recent assault on the sand hill. of seven thousand hardly three thousand now remained in the garrison. yet still the weary sausage making and wooden castle building went on along the gullet and around the old town. the bredene dyke crept on inch by inch, but the steady ships of the republic came and went unharmed by the batteries with which bucquoy hoped to shut up the new harbour. the archduke's works were pushed up nearer on the west, but, as yet, not one practical advantage had been gained, and the siege had scarcely advanced a hair's breadth since the th of july of the preceding year, when the armies had first sat down before the place. the stormy month of march had come, and vere, being called to service in the field for the coming season, transferred the command at ostend to frederic van dorp, a rugged, hard-headed, ill-favoured, stout-hearted zealand colonel, with the face of a bull-dog, and with the tenacious grip of one. etext editor's bookmarks: constitute themselves at once universal legatees crimes and cruelties such as christians only could imagine human fat esteemed the sovereignst remedy (for wounds) war was the normal and natural condition of mankind history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , - chapter xl. protraction of the siege of ostend--spanish invasion of ireland-- prince maurice again on the march--siege of grave--state of the archduke's army--formidable mutiny--state of europe--portuguese expedition to java--foundation there of the first batavian trading settlement--exploits of jacob heemskerk--capture of a lisbon carrack--progress of dutch commerce--oriental and germanic republics --commercial embassy from the king of atsgen in sumatra to the netherlands--surrender of grave--privateer work of frederic spinola --destruction of spinola's fleet by english and dutch cruisers-- continuation of the siege of ostend--fearful hurricane and its effects--the attack--capture of external forts--encounter between spinola and a dutch squadron--execution of prisoners by the archduke--philip fleming and his diary--continuation of operations before ostend--spanish veterans still mutinous--their capital besieged by van den berg--maurice marches to their relief-- convention between the prince and the mutineers--great commercial progress of the dutch--opposition to international commerce-- organization of the universal east india company. it would be desirable to concentrate the chief events of the siege of ostend so that they might be presented to the reader's view in a single mass. but this is impossible. the siege was essentially the war--as already observed--and it was bidding fair to protract itself to such an extent that a respect for chronology requires the attention to be directed for a moment to other topics. the invasion of ireland under aquila, so pompously heralded as almost to suggest another grand armada, had sailed in the beginning of the winter, and an army of six thousand men had been landed at kinsale. rarely had there been a better opportunity for the celt to strike for his independence. shane mac neil had an army on foot with which he felt confident of exterminating the saxon oppressor, even without the assistance of his peninsular allies; while the queen's army, severely drawn upon as it had been for the exigencies of vere and the states, might be supposed unable to cope with so formidable a combination. yet montjoy made short work of aquila and tyrone. the invaders, shut up in their meagre conquest, became the besieged instead of the assailants. tyrone made a feeble attempt to relieve his spanish allies, but was soon driven into his swamps, the peasants would not rise; in spite of proclamations and golden mountains of promise, and aquila was soon glad enough to sign a capitulation by which he saved a portion of his army. he then returned, in transports provided by the english general, a much discomfited man, to spain instead of converting ireland into a province of the universal empire. he had not rescued hibernia, as he stoutly proclaimed at the outset his intention of doing, from the jaws of the evil demon. the states, not much wiser after the experience of nieuport, were again desirous that maurice should march into flanders, relieve ostend, and sweep the archduke into the sea. as for vere, he proposed that a great army of cavalry and infantry should be sent into ostend, while another force equally powerful should take the field as soon as the season permitted. where the men were to be levied, and whence the funds for putting such formidable hosts in motion were to be derived, it was not easy to say: "'tis astonishing," said lewis william, "that the evils already suffered cannot open his eyes; but after all, 'tis no marvel. an old and good colonel, as i hold him to be, must go to school before he can become a general, and we must beware of committing any second folly, govern ourselves according to our means and the art of war, and leave the rest to god." prince maurice, however; yielding as usual to the persuasions or importunities of those less sagacious than himself; and being also much influenced by the advice of the english queen and the french king, after reviewing the most splendid army that even he had ever equipped and set in the field, crossed the waal at nymegen, and the meuse at mook, and then moving leisurely along meuse--side by way of sambeck, blitterswyck, and maasyk, came past st. truyden to the neighbourhood of thienen, in brabant. here he stood, in the heart of the enemy's country, and within a day's march of brussels. the sanguine portion of his countrymen and the more easily alarmed of the enemy already thought it would be an easy military promenade for the stadholder to march through brabant and flanders to the coast, defeat the catholic forces before ostend, raise the weary siege of that place, dictate peace to the archduke, and return in triumph to the hague, before the end of the summer. but the experienced maurice too well knew the emptiness of such dreams. he had a splendid army--eighteen thousand foot and five thousand horse--of which lewis william commanded the battalia, vere the right, and count ernest the left, with a train of two thousand baggage wagons, and a considerable force of sutlers and camp-followers. he moved so deliberately, and with such excellent discipline, that his two wings could with ease be expanded for black-mail or forage over a considerable extent of country, and again folded together in case of sudden military necessity. but he had no intention of marching through brussels, ghent, and bruges, to the flemish coast. his old antagonist, the admiral of arragon, lay near thienen in an entrenched camp, with a force of at least fifteen thousand men, while the archduke, leaving rivas in command before ostend, hovered in the neighbourhood of brussels, with as many troops as could be spared from the various flemish garrisons, ready to support the admiral. but maurice tempted the admiral in vain with the chances of a general action. that warrior, remembering perhaps too distinctly his disasters at nieuport, or feeling conscious that his military genius was more fitly displayed in burning towns and villages in neutral territory, robbing the peasantry, plundering gentlemen's castles and murdering the proprietors, than it was like to be in a pitched battle with the first general of the age, remained sullenly within his entrenchments. his position was too strong and his force far too numerous to warrant an attack by the stadholder upon his works. after satisfying himself, therefore, that there was no chance of an encounter in brabant except at immense disadvantage, maurice rapidly counter-marched towards the lower meuse, and on the th july laid siege to grave. the position and importance of this city have been thoroughly set before the reader in a former volumes it is only necessary, therefore, to recal the fact that, besides being a vital possession for the republic, the place was in law the private property of the orange family, having been a portion of the estate of count de buren, afterwards redeemed on payment of a considerable sum of money by his son-in-law, william the silent, confirmed to him at the pacification of ghent, and only lost to his children by the disgraceful conduct of captain hamart, which had cost that officer his head. maurice was determined at least that the place should not now slip through his fingers, and that the present siege should be a masterpiece. his forts, of which he had nearly fifty, were each regularly furnished with moat, drawbridge, and bulwark. his counterscarp and parapet, his galleries, covered ways and mines, were as elaborate, massive, and artistically finished as if he were building a city instead of besieging one. buzanval, the french envoy, amazed at the spectacle, protested that his works "were rather worthy of the grand emperor of the turks than of, a little commonwealth, which only existed through the disorder of its enemies and the assistance of its friends;" but he admitted the utility of the stadholder's proceedings to be very obvious. while the prince calmly sat before grave, awaiting the inexorable hour for burghers and garrison to surrender, the great francis mendoza, admiral of arragon, had been completing the arrangements for his exchange. a prisoner after the nieuport battle, he had been assigned by maurice, as will be recollected, to his cousin, young lewis gunther, whose brilliant services as commander of the cavalry had so much contributed to the victory. the amount of ransom for so eminent a captive could not fail to be large, and accordingly the thrifty lewis william had congratulated his brother on being able, although so young, thus to repair the fortunes of the family by his military industry to a greater extent than had yet been accomplished by any of the race. subsequently, the admiral had been released on parole, the sum of his ransom having been fixed at nearly one hundred thousand flemish crowns. by an agreement now made by the states, with consent of the nassau family, the prisoner was definitely released, on condition of effecting the exchange of all prisoners of the republic, now held in durance by spain in any part of the world. this was in lieu of the hundred thousand crowns which were to be put into the impoverished coffers of lewis gunther. it may be imagined, as the hapless prisoners afterwards poured in--not only from the peninsula, but from more distant regions, whither they had been sent by their cruel taskmasters, some to relate their sufferings in the horrible dungeons of spain, where they had long been expiating the crime of defending their fatherland, others to relate their experiences as chained galley-slaves in the naval service of their bitterest enemies, many with shorn heads and long beards like turks, many with crippled limbs, worn out with chains and blows, and the squalor of disease and filth--that the hatred for spain and rome did not glow any less fiercely within the republic, nor the hereditary love for the nassaus, to whose generosity these poor victims were indebted for their deliverance, become fainter, in consequence of these revelations. it was at first vehemently disputed by many that the admiral could be exchanged as a prisoner of war, in respect to the manifold murders and other crimes which would seem to authorize his trial and chastisement by the tribunals of the republic. but it was decided by the states that the sacred aegis of military law must be held to protect even so bloodstained a criminal as he, and his release was accordingly effected. not long afterwards he took his departure for spain, where his reception was not enthusiastic. from this epoch is to be dated a considerable reform in the laws regulating the exchange of prisoners of war.--[grotius] while maurice was occupied with the siege of grave, and thus not only menacing an important position, but spreading, danger and dismay over all brabant and flanders, it was necessary for the archduke to detach so large a portion of his armies to observe his indefatigable and scientific enemy, as to much weaken the vigour of the operations before ostend. moreover, the execrable administration of his finances, and the dismal delays and sufferings of that siege; had brought about another mutiny--on the whole, the most extensive, formidable, and methodical of all that had hitherto occurred in the spanish armies. by midsummer, at least three thousand five hundred veterans, including a thousand of excellent cavalry, the very best soldiers in the service, had seized the city of hoogstraaten. here they established themselves securely, and strengthened the fortifications; levying contributions in corn, cattle, and every other necessary, besides wine, beer, and pocket-money, from the whole country round with exemplary regularity. as usual, disorder assumed the forms of absolute order. anarchy became the best organized of governments; and it would have been difficult to find in the world--outside the dutch commonwealth--a single community where justice appeared to be so promptly administered as in this temporary republic, founded upon rebellion and theft. for; although a brotherhood of thieves, it rigorously punished such of its citizens as robbed for their own, not for the public good. the immense booty swept daily from the granges, castles; and villages of flanders was divided with the simplicity of early christians, while the success and steadiness of the operations paralyzed their sovereign, and was of considerable advantage to the states. albert endeavoured in vain to negotiate with the rebels. nuncius frangipani went to them in person, but was received with calm derision. pious exhortations might turn the keys of paradise, but gold alone, he was informed, would unlock the gates of hoogstraaten. in an evil hour the cardinal-archduke was tempted to try the effect of sacerdotal thunder. the ex-archbishop of toledo could not doubt that the terrors of the church would make those brown veterans tremble who could confront so tranquilly the spring-tides of the north sea, and the batteries of vere and nassau. so he launched a manifesto, as highly spiced as a pamphlet of marnig, and as severe as a sentence of torquemada. entirely against the advice of the states-general of the obedient provinces, he denounced the mutineers as outlaws and accursed. he called on persons of every degree to kill any of them in any way, at any time, or in any place, promising that the slayer of a private soldier should receive a reward of "ten crowns for each head" brought in, while for a subaltern officer's head one hundred crowns were offered; for that of a superior officer two hundred, and for that of the eletto or chief magistrate, five hundred crowns. should the slayer be himself a member of the mutiny, his crime of rebellion was to be forgiven, and the price of murder duly paid. all judges, magistrates, and provost-marshals were ordered to make inventories of the goods, moveable and immoveable, of the mutineers, and of the clothing and other articles belonging to their wives and children, all which property was to be brought in and deposited in the hands of the proper functionaries of the archduke's camp, in order that it might be duly incorporated into the domains of his highness. the mutineers were not frightened. the ban was an anachronism. if those spaniards and italians had learned nothing by their much campaigning in the land of calvinism, they had at least unlearned their faith in bell, book, and candle. it happened, too, that among their numbers were to be found pamphleteers as ready and as unscrupulous as the scribes of the archduke. so there soon came forth and was published to the world, in the name of the eletto and council of hoogstraaten, a formal answer to the ban. "if scolding and cursing be payment," said the magistrates of the mutiny, "then we might give a receipt in full for our wages. the ban is sufficient in this respect; but as these curses give no food for our bellies nor clothes for our backs, not preventing us, therefore, who have been fighting so long for the honour and welfare of the archdukes from starving with cold and hunger, we think a reply necessary in order to make manifest how much reason these archdukes have for thundering forth all this choler and fury, by which women and children may be frightened, but at which no soldier will feel alarm. "when it is stated," continued the mutineers, "that we have deserted our banners just as an attempt was making by the archduke to relieve grave, we can only reply that the assertion proves how impossible it is to practise arithmetic with disturbed brains. passion is a bad schoolmistress for the memory, but, as good friends, we will recal to the recollection of your highness that it was not your highness, but the admiral of arragon, that commanded the relieving force before that city. "'tis very true that we summon your highnesses, and levy upon your provinces, in order to obtain means of living; for in what other quarter should we make application. your highnesses give us nothing except promises; but soldiers are not chameleons, to live on such air. according to every principle of law, creditors have a lien on the property of their debtors. "as to condemning to death as traitors and scoundrels those who don't desire to be killed, and who have the means of killing such as attempt to execute the sentence; this is hardly in accordance with the extraordinary wisdom which has always characterized your highnesses. "as, to the confiscation of our goods, both moveable and immoveable, we would simply make this observation: "our moveable goods are our swords alone, and they can only be moved by ourselves. they are our immoveable goods as well; for should any one but ourselves undertake to move them, we assure your highnesses that they will prove too heavy to be handled. "as to the official register and deposit ordained of the money, clothing, and other property belonging to ourselves, our wives and children, the work may be done without clerks of inventory. certainly, if the domains of your highnesses have no other sources of revenue than the proceeds of this confiscation, wherewith to feed the ostrich-like digestions of those about you, 'tis to be feared that ere long they will be in the same condition as were ours, when we were obliged to come together in hoogstraaten to devise means to keep ourselves, our wives, and children alive. and at that time we were an unbreeched people, like the indians--saving your highnesses' reverence--and the climate here is too cold for such costume. your highnesses, and your relatives the emperor and king of spain, will hardly make your royal heads greasy with the fat of such property as we possess, 'twill also be a remarkable spectacle after you have stripped our wives and children stark naked for the benefit of your treasury, to see them sent in that condition, within three days afterwards, out of the country, as the ban ordains. "you order the ban to be executed against our children and our children's children, but your highness never learned this in the bible, when you were an archbishop, and when you expounded, or ought to have expounded, the holy scriptures to your flock. what theology teaches your highness to vent your wrath upon the innocent? "whenever the cause of discontent is taken away, the soldiers will become obedient and cheerful. all kings and princes may mirror themselves in the bad government of your highness, and may see how they fare who try to carry on a war, while with their own hands they cut the sinews of war. the great leaders of old--cyrus, alexander, scipio, caesar--were accustomed, not to starve, but to enrich their soldiers. what did alexander, when in an arid desert they brought, him a helmet full of water? he threw it on the sand, saying that there was only enough for him, but not enough for his army. "your highnesses have set ten crowns, and one hundred, and five hundred crowns upon our heads, but never could find five hundred mites nor ten mites to keep our souls and bodies together. "yet you have found means to live yourselves with pomp and luxury, far exceeding that of the great emperor charles and much surpassing the magnificence of your highnesses' brothers, the emperor and the king." thus, and much more, the magistrates of the "italian republic"--answering their master's denunciations of vengeance, both in this world and the next, with a humorous scorn very refreshing in that age of the world to contemplate. the expanding influence of the dutch commonwealth was already making itself felt even in the ranks of its most determined foes. the mutineers had also made an agreement with the states-general, by which they had secured permission, in case of need, to retire within the territory of the republic. maurice had written to them from his camp before grave, and at first they were disposed to treat him with as little courtesy as they had shown the nuncius; for they put the prince's letter on a staff, and fired at it as a mark, assuring the trumpeter who brought it that they would serve him in the same manner should he venture thither again. very soon afterwards, however, the eletto and council, reproving the folly of their subordinates, opened negotiations with the stadholder, who, with the consent of the states, gave them preliminary permission to take refuge under the guns of bergenop-zoom, should they by chance be hard pressed. thus throughout europe a singular equilibrium of contending forces seemed established. before ostend, where the chief struggle between imperialism and republicanism had been proceeding for more than a year with equal vigour, there seemed no possibility of a result. the sands drank up the blood of the combatants on both sides, month after month, in summer; the pestilence in town and camp mowed down catholic and protestant with perfect impartiality during the winter, while the remorseless ocean swept over all in its wrath, obliterating in an hour the patient toil of months. in spain, in england, and ireland; in hungary, germany, sweden, and poland, men wrought industriously day by day and year by year, to destroy each other, and to efface the products of human industry, and yet no progress could fairly be registered. the turk was in buda, on the right bank of the danube, and the christian in pest, on the left, while the crescent; but lately supplanted by the cross, again waved in triumph over stuhlweissenberg, capital city of the magyars. the great marshal biron, foiled in his stupendous treachery, had laid down his head upon the block; the catastrophe following hard upon the madcap riot of lord essex in the strand and his tragic end. the troublesome and restless favourites of henry and of elizabeth had closed their stormy career, but the designs of the great king and the great queen were growing wider and wilder, more false and more fantastic than ever, as the evening shadows of both were lengthening. but it was not in europe nor in christendom: alone during that twilight epoch of declining absolutism, regal and sacerdotal, and the coming glimmer of freedom, religious and commercial, that the contrast between the old and new civilizations was exhibiting itself. the same fishermen and fighting men, whom we have but lately seen sailing forth from zeeland and friesland to confront the dangers of either pole, were now contending in the indian seas with the portuguese monopolists of the tropics. a century long, the generosity of the roman pontiff in bestowing upon others what was not his property had guaranteed to the nation of vasco de gama one half at least of the valuable possessions which maritime genius, unflinching valour, and boundless cruelty had won and kept. but the spirit of change was abroad in the world. potentates and merchants under the equator had been sedulously taught that there were no other white men on the planet but the portuguese and their conquerors the spaniards, and that the dutch--of whom they had recently heard, and the portrait of whose great military chieftain they had seen after the news of the nieuport battle had made the circuit of the earth--were a mere mob of pirates and savages inhabiting the obscurest of dens. they were soon, however, to be enabled to judge for themselves as to the power and the merits of the various competitors for their trade. early in this year andreas hurtado de mendoza with a stately fleet of galleons and smaller vessels, more than five-and-twenty in all, was on his way towards the island of java to inflict summary vengeance upon those oriental rulers who had dared to trade with men forbidden by his catholic majesty and the pope. the city of bantam was the first spot marked out for destruction, and it so happened that a dutch skipper, wolfert hermann by name, commanding five trading vessels, in which were three hundred men, had just arrived in those seas to continue the illicit commerce which had aroused the ire of the portuguese. his whole force both of men and of guns was far inferior to that of the flag-ship alone of mendoza. but he resolved to make manifest to the indians that the batavians were not disposed to relinquish their promising commercial relations with them, nor to turn their backs upon their newly found friends in the hour of danger. to the profound astonishment of the portuguese admiral the dutchman with his five little trading ships made an attack on the pompous armada, intending to avert chastisement from the king of bantam. it was not possible for wolfert to cope at close quarters with his immensely superior adversary, but his skill and nautical experience enabled him to play at what was then considered long bowls with extraordinary effect. the greater lightness and mobility of his vessels made them more than a match, in this kind of encounter, for the clumsy, top-heavy, and sluggish marine castles in which spain and portugal then went forth to battle on the ocean. it seems almost like the irony of history, and yet it is the literal fact, that the dutch galleot of that day--hardly changed in two and a half centuries since--"the bull-browed galleot butting through the stream,"--[oliver wendell holmes]--was then the model clipper, conspicuous among all ships for its rapid sailing qualities and ease of handling. so much has the world moved, on sea and shore, since those simple but heroic days. and thus wolfert's swift-going galleots circled round and round the awkward, ponderous, and much-puzzled portuguese fleet, until by well-directed shots and skilful manoeuvring they had sunk several ships, taken two, run others into the shallows, and, at last, put the whole to confusion. after several days of such fighting, admiral mendoza fairly turned his back upon his insignificant opponent, and abandoned his projects upon java. bearing away for the island of amboyna with the remainder of his fleet, he laid waste several of its villages and odoriferous spice-fields, while wolfert and his companions entered bantam in triumph, and were hailed as deliverers. and thus on the extreme western verge of this magnificent island was founded the first trading settlement of the batavian republic in the archipelago of the equator--the foundation-stone of a great commercial empire which was to encircle the earth. not many years later, at the distance, of a dozen leagues from bantam, a congenial swamp was fortunately discovered in a land whose volcanic peaks rose two miles into the air, and here a town duly laid out with canals and bridges, and trim gardens and stagnant pools, was baptized by the ancient and well-beloved name of good-meadow or batavia, which it bears to this day. meantime wolfert hermann was not the only hollander cruising in those seas able to convince the oriental mind that all europeans save the portuguese were not pirates and savages, and that friendly intercourse with other foreigners might be as profitable as slavery to the spanish crown. captain nek made treaties of amity and commerce with the potentates of ternate, tydor, and other molucca islands. the king of candy on the island of ceylon, lord of the odoriferous fields of cassia which perfume those tropical seas, was glad to learn how to exchange the spices of the equator for the thousand fabrics and products of western civilization which found their great emporium in holland. jacob heemskerk, too, who had so lately astonished the world by his exploits and discoveries during his famous winter in nova zembla, was now seeking adventures and carrying the flag and fame of the republic along the indian and chinese coasts. the king of johor on the malayan peninsula entered into friendly relations with him, being well pleased, like so many of those petty rulers, to obtain protection against the portuguese whom he had so long hated and feared. he informed heemskerk of the arrival in the straits of malacca of an immense lisbon carrack, laden with pearls and spices, brocades and precious-stones, on its way to europe, and suggested an attack. it is true that the roving hollander merely commanded a couple of the smallest galleots, with about a hundred and thirty men in the two. but when was jacob heemskerk ever known to shrink from an encounter--whether from single-handed combat with a polar bear, or from leading a forlorn hope against a spanish fort, or from assailing a portuguese armada. the carrack, more than one thousand tons burthen, carried seventeen guns, and at least eight times as many men as he commanded. nevertheless, after a combat of but brief duration heemskerk was master of the carrack: he spared the lives of his seven hundred prisoners, and set them on shore before they should have time to discover to what a handful of dutchmen they had surrendered. then dividing about a million florins' worth of booty among his men, who doubtless found such cruising among the spice-islands more attractive than wintering at the north pole, he sailed in the carrack for macao, where he found no difficulty in convincing the authorities of the celestial empire that the friendship of the dutch republic was worth cultivating. there was soon to be work in other regions for the hardy hollander--such as was to make the name of heemskerk a word to conjure with down to the latest posterity. meantime he returned to his own country to take part in the great industrial movements which were to make this year an epoch in commercial history. the conquerors of mendoza and deliverers of bantam had however not paused in their work. from java they sailed to banda; and on those volcanic islands of nutmegs and cloves made, in the name of their commonwealth, a treaty with its republican antipodes. for there was no king to be found in that particular archipelago, and the two republics, the oriental and the germanic, dealt with each other with direct and becoming simplicity. their convention was in accordance with the commercial ideas of the day, which assumed monopoly as the true basis of national prosperity. it was agreed that none but dutchmen should ever purchase the nutmegs of banda, and that neither nation should harbour refugees from the other. other articles, however; showed how much farther, the practice of political and religious liberty had advanced than had any theory of commercial freedom. it was settled that each nation should judge its own citizens according to its own laws, that neither should interfere by force with the other in regard to religious matters, but that god should be judge over them all. here at least was progress beyond the system according to which the holy inquisition furnished the only enginry of civilization. the guardianship assumed by holland over these children of the sun was at least an improvement on the tyranny which roasted them alive if they rejected religious dogmas which they could not comprehend, and which proclaimed with fire, sword, and gibbet that the omnipotent especially forbade the nutmeg trade to all but the subjects, of the most catholic king. in atsgen or achim, chief city of sumatra, a treaty was likewise made with the government of the place, and it was arranged that the king of atsgen should send over an embassy to the distant but friendly republic. thus he might judge whether the hollanders were enemies of all the world, as had been represented to him, or only of spain; whether their knowledge of the arts and sciences, and their position among the western nations entitled them to respect, and made their friendship desirable; or whether they were only worthy of the contempt which their royal and aristocratic enemies delighted to heap upon their heads. the envoys sailed from sumatra on board the same little fleet which, under the command of wolfert hermann, had already done such signal service, and on their way to europe they had an opportunity of seeing how these republican sailors could deal with their enemies on the ocean. off st. helena an immense portuguese carrack richly laden and powerfully armed, was met, attacked, and overpowered by the little merchantmen with their usual audacity and skill. a magnificent booty was equitably divided among the captors, the vanquished crew were set safely on shore; and the hollanders then pursued their home voyage without further adventures. the ambassadors; with an arab interpreter, were duly presented to prince maurice in the lines before the city of grave. certainly no more favourable opportunity could have been offered them for contrasting the reality of military power, science, national vigour; and wealth, which made the republic eminent among the nations, with the fiction of a horde of insignificant and bloodthirsty savages which her enemies had made so familiar at the antipodes. not only were the intrenchments bastions, galleries, batteries, the discipline and equipment of the troops, a miracle in the eyes of these newly arrived oriental ambassadors, but they had awakened the astonishment of europe, already accustomed to such spectacles. evidently the amity of the stadholder and his commonwealth was a jewel of price, and the king of achim would have been far more barbarous than he had ever deemed the dutchmen to be, had he not well heeded the lesson which he had sent so far to learn. the chief of the legation, abdulzamar, died in zeeland, and was buried with honourable obsequies at middleburg, a monument being raised to his memory. the other envoys returned to sumatra, fully determined to maintain close relations with the republic. there had been other visitors in maurice's lines before grave at about the same period. among others, gaston spinola, recently created by the archduke count of bruay, had obtained permission to make a visit to a wounded relative, then a captive in the republican camp, and was hospitably entertained at the stadholder's table. maurice, with soldierly bluntness, ridiculed the floating batteries, the castles on wheels, the sausages, and other newly-invented machines, employed before ostend, and characterized them as rather fit to catch birds with than to capture a city, defended by mighty armies and fleets. "if the archduke has set his heart upon it, he had far better try to buy ostend," he observed. "what is your price?" asked the italian; "will you take , ducats?" "certainly not less than a million and a half," was the reply; so highly did maurice rate the position and advantages of the city. he would venture to prophesy, he added, that the siege of ostend would last as long as the siege of troy. "ostend is no troy," said spinola with a courtly flourish, "although there are certainly not wanting an austrian agamemnon, a dutch hector, and an italian achilles." the last allusion was to the speaker's namesake and kinsman, the marquis anibrose spinola, of whom much was to be heard in the world from that time forth. meantime, although so little progress had been made at ostend, maurice had thoroughly done his work before grave. on the th september the place surrendered, after sixty days' siege, upon the terms usually granted by the stadholder. the garrison was to go out with the honours of war. those of the inhabitants who wished to leave were to leave; those who preferred staying were to stay; rendering due allegiance to the republic, and abstaining in public from the rites of the roman church, without being exposed, however, to any inquiries as to their religious opinions, or any interference within their households. the work went slowly on before ostend. much effect had been produced, however, by the operations of the archduke's little naval force. the galley of that day, although a child's toy as compared with the wonders of naval architecture of our own time, was an effective machine enough to harass fishing and coasting vessels in creeks and estuaries, and along the shores of holland and zeeland during tranquil weather. the locomotive force of these vessels consisted of galley-slaves, in which respect the spaniards had an advantage over other nations; for they had no scruples in putting prisoners of war into chains and upon the benches of the rowers. humanity--"the law of christian piety," in the words of the noble grotius--forbade the hollanders from reducing their captives to such horrible slavery, and they were obliged to content themselves with condemned criminals, and with the few other wretches whom abject poverty and the impossibility of earning other wages could induce to accept the service. and as in the maritime warfare of our own day, the machinery--engines, wheels, and boilers--is the especial aim of the enemy's artillery, so the chain-gang who rowed in the waist of the galley, the living enginry, without which the vessel became a useless tub, was as surely marked out for destruction whenever a sea-fight took place. the hollanders did not very much favour this species of war-craft, both by reason of the difficulty of procuring the gang, and because to a true lover of the ocean and of naval warfare the galley was about as clumsy and amphibious a production as could be hoped of human perverseness. high where it should be low. exposed, flat, and fragile, where elevation and strength were indispensable--encumbered and top-heavy where it should be level and compact, weak in the waist, broad at stem and stern, awkward in manoeuvre, helpless in rough weather, sluggish under sail, although possessing the single advantage of being able to crawl over a smooth sea when better and faster ships were made stationary by absolute calm, the galley was no match for the dutch galleot, either at close quarters or in a breeze. nevertheless for a long time there had been a certain awe produced by the possibility of some prodigious but unknown qualities in these outlandish vessels, and already the hollanders had tried their hand at constructing them. on a late occasion a galley of considerable size, built at dort, had rowed past the spanish forts on the scheld, gone up to antwerp, and coolly cut out from the very wharves of the city a spanish galley of the first class, besides seven war vessels of lesser dimensions, at first gaining advantage by surprise, and then breaking down all opposition in a brilliant little fight. the noise of the encounter summoned the citizens and garrison to the walls, only to witness the triumph achieved by dutch audacity, and to see the victors dropping rapidly down the river, laden with booty and followed by their prizes. nor was the mortification of these unwilling spectators diminished when the clear notes of a bugle on board the dutch galley brought to their ears the well-known melody of "wilhelmus of nassau," once so dear to every patriotic heart in antwerp, and perhaps causing many a renegade cheek on this occasion to tingle with shame. frederic spinola, a volunteer belonging to the great and wealthy genoese family of that name, had been performing a good deal of privateer work with a small force of galleys which he kept under his command at sluys. he had succeeded in inflicting so much damage upon the smaller merchantmen of the republic, and in maintaining so perpetual a panic in calm weather among the seafaring multitudes of those regions, that he was disposed to extend the scale of his operations. on a visit to spain he had obtained permission from government to employ in this service eight great galleys, recently built on the guadalquivir for the royal navy. he was to man and equip them at his own expense, and was to be allowed the whole of the booty that might result from his enterprise. early in the autumn he set forth with his eight galleys on the voyage to flanders, but, off cezimbra, on the portuguese coast, unfortunately fell in with sir robert mansell, who; with a compact little squadron of english frigates, was lying in wait for the homeward-bound india fleet on their entrance to lisbon. an engagement took place, in which spinola lost two of his galleys. his disaster might have been still greater, had not an immense indian carrack, laden with the richest merchandize, just then hove in sight, to attract his conquerors with a hope of better prize-money than could be expected from the most complete victory over him and his fleet. with the remainder of his vessels spinola crept out of sight while the english were ransacking the carrack. on the rd of october he had entered the channel with a force which, according to the ideas of that day, was still formidable. each of his galleys was of two hundred and fifty slave power, and carried, beside the chain-gang, four hundred fighting men. his flag-ship was called the st. lewis; the names of the other vessels being the st. philip, the morning star, the st. john, the hyacinth, and the padilla. the trinity and the opportunity had been destroyed off cezimbra. now there happened to be cruising just then in the channel, captain peter mol, master of the dutch war-ship tiger, and captain lubbertson, commanding the pelican. these two espied the spanish squadron, paddling at about dusk towards the english coast, and quickly gave notice to vice-admiral john kant, who in the states' ship half-moon, with three other war-galleots, was keeping watch in that neighbourhood. it was dead calm as the night fell, and the galleys of spinola, which had crept close up to the dover cliffs, were endeavouring to row their way across in the darkness towards the flemish coast, in the hope of putting unobserved into the gut of sluys. all went well with spinola till the moon rose; but, with the moon, sprang up a steady breeze, so that the galleys lost all their advantage. nearly off gravelines another states' ship, the mackerel, came in sight, which forthwith attacked the st: philip, pouring a broadside into her by which fifty men were killed. drawing off from this assailant, the galley found herself close to the dutch admiral in the half-moon, who, with all sail set, bore straight down upon her, struck her amidships with a mighty crash, carrying off her mainmast and her poop, and then, extricating himself with difficulty from the wreck, sent a tremendous volley of cannon-shot and lesser missiles straight into the waist where sat the chain-gang. a howl of pain and terror rang through the air, while oars and benches, arms, legs, and mutilated bodies, chained inexorably together, floated on the moonlit waves. an instant later, and another galleot bore down to complete the work, striking with her iron prow the doomed st. philip so straightly and surely that she went down like a stone, carrying with her galley slaves, sailors, and soldiers, besides all the treasure brought by spinola for the use of his fleet. the morning star was the next galley attacked, captain sael, in a stout galleot, driving at her under full sail, with the same accuracy and solidity of shock as had been displayed in the encounter with the st. philip and with the same result. the miserable, top-heavy monster galley was struck between mainmast and stern, with a blow which carried away the assailant's own bowsprit and fore-bulwarks, but which--completely demolished the stem of the galley, and crushed out of existence the greater portion of the live machinery sitting chained and rowing on the benches. and again, as the first enemy hauled off from its victim, admiral pant came up once more in the half-moon, steered straight at the floundering galley, and sent her with one crash to the bottom. it was not very scientific practice perhaps. it was but simple butting, plain sailing, good steering, and the firing of cannon at short pistol-shot. but after all, the work of those unsophisticated dutch skippers was done very thoroughly, without flinching, and, as usual, at great odds of men and guns. two more of the spanish galleys were chased into the shallows near gravelines, where they went to pieces. another was wrecked near calais. the galley which bore frederic spinola himself and his fortunes succeeded in reaching dunkirk, whence he made his way discomfited, to tell the tale of his disaster to the archduke at brussels. during the fight the dutch admiral's boats had been active in picking up such of the drowning crews, whether galley-slaves or soldiers, as it was possible to save. but not more than two hundred were thus rescued, while by far the greater proportion of those on board, probably three thousand in number, perished, and the whole fleet, by which so much injury was to have been inflicted on dutch commerce, was, save one damaged galley, destroyed. yet scarcely any lives were lost by the hollanders, and it is certain that the whole force in their fleet did not equal the crew of a single one of the enemy's ships. neither spinola nor the archduke seemed likely to make much out of the contract. meantime, the genoese volunteer kept quiet in sluy's, brooding over schemes to repair his losses and to renew his forays on the indomitable zeelanders. another winter had now closed in upon ostend, while still the siege had scarcely advanced an inch. during the ten months of governor dorp's administration, four thousand men had died of wounds or malady within the town, and certainly twice as many in the trenches of the besieging force. still the patient bucquoy went on, day after day, night after night, month after month, planting his faggots and fascines, creeping forward almost imperceptibly with his dyke, paying five florins each to the soldiers who volunteered to bring the materials, and a double ducat to each man employed in laying them. so close were they under the fire of the town; that a life was almost laid down for every ducat, but the gullet, which it was hoped to close, yawned as wide as ever, and the problem how to reduce a city, open by sea to the whole world, remained without solution. on the last day of the year a splendid fleet of transports arrived in the town, laden with whole droves of beeves and flocks of sheep, besides wine and bread and beer enough to supply a considerable city; so that market provisions in the beleaguered town were cheaper than in any part of europe. thus skilfully did the states-general and prince maurice watch from the outside over ostend, while the audacious but phlegmatic sea-captains brought their cargoes unscathed through the gullet, although bucquoy's batteries had now advanced to within seventy yards of the shore. on the west side, the besiegers were slowly eating their way through the old harbour towards the heart of the place. subterranean galleries, patiently drained of their water, were met by counter-galleries leading out from the town, and many were the desperate hand-to-hand encounters, by dim lanterns, or in total darkness, beneath the ocean and beneath the earth; hollander, spaniard, german, englishman, walloon, digging and dying in the fatal trenches, as if there had been no graves at home. those insatiable sand-banks seemed ready to absorb all the gold and all the life of christendom. but the monotony of that misery it is useless to chronicle. hardly an event of these dreary days has been left unrecorded by faithful diarists and industrious soldiers, but time has swept us far away from them, and the world has rolled on to fresher fields of carnage and ruin. all winter long those unwearied, intelligent, fierce, and cruel creatures toiled and fought in the stagnant waters, and patiently burrowed in the earth. it seemed that if ostend were ever lost it would be because at last entirely bitten away and consumed. when there was no ostend left, it might be that the archduke would triumph. as there was always danger that the movements on the east side might be at last successful, it was the command of maurice that the labours to construct still another harbour should go on in case the gullet should become useless, as the old haven had been since the beginning of the siege. and the working upon that newest harbour was as dangerous to the hollanders as bucquoy's dike-building to the spaniards, for the pioneers and sappers were perpetually under fire from the batteries which the count had at, last successfully established on the extremity of his work. it was a piteous sight to see those patient delvers lay down their spades and die, hour after hour, to be succeeded by their brethren only to share their fate. yet still the harbour building progressed; for the republic was determined that the city should be open to the sea so long as the states had a stiver, or a ship, or a spade. while this deadly industry went on, the more strictly military operations were not pretermitted day nor night. the catholics were unwearied in watching for a chance of attack, and the hollanders stood on the ramparts and in the trenches, straining eyes and ears through the perpetual icy mists of that black winter to catch the sight and sound of a coming foe. especially the by-watches, as they were called, were enough to break down constitutions of iron; for, all day and night, men were stationed in the inundated regions, bound on pain of death to stand in the water and watch for a possible movement of the enemy, until the waves should rise so high as to make it necessary to swim. then, until the tide fell again, there was brief repose. and so the dreary winter faded away at last into chill and blustering spring. on the th of april a hurricane, such as had not occurred since the siege began; raged across the ocean, deluging and shattering the devoted town. the waters rose over dyke and parapet, and the wind swept from the streets and ramparts every living thing. not a soldier or sailor could keep his feet, the chief tower of the church was blown into the square, chimneys and windows crashed on all sides, and the elements had their holiday, as if to prove how helpless a thing was man, however fierce and determined, when the powers of nature arose in their strength. it was as if no siege existed, as if no hostile armies had been lying nearly two years long close to each other, and losing no opportunity to fly at each other's throats. the strife of wind and ocean gave a respite to human rage. it was but a brief respite. at nightfall there was a lull in the tempest, and the garrison crept again to the ramparts. instantly the departing roar of the winds and waters were succeeded by fainter but still more threatening sounds, and the sentinels and the drums and trumpets to rally the garrison, when the attack came. the sleepless spaniards were already upon them. in the porcupine fort, a blaze of wickerwork and building materials suddenly illuminated the gathering gloom of night; and the loud cries of the assailants, who had succeeded in kindling this fire by their missiles, proclaimed the fierceness of the attack. governor dorp was himself in the fort, straining every nerve to extinguish the flames, and to hold this most important position. he was successful. after a brief but bloody encounter the spaniards were repulsed with heavy loss. all was quiet again, and the garrison in the porcupine were congratulating themselves on their victory when suddenly the ubiquitous philip fleeting plunged, with a face of horror, into the governor's quarters, informing him that the attack on the redoubt had been a feint, and that the spaniards were at that very moment swarming all over the three external forts, called the south square, the west square, and the polder. these points, which have been already described, were most essential to the protection of the place, as without them the whole counterscarp was in danger. it was to save those exposed but vital positions that sir francis vere had resorted to the slippery device of the last christmas eve but one. dorp refused to believe the intelligence. the squares were well guarded, the garrison ever alert. spaniards were not birds of prey to fly up those perpendicular heights, and for beings without wings the thing was impossible. he followed fleming through the darkness, and was soon convinced that the impossible was true. the precious squares were in the hands of the enemy. nimble as monkeys, those yellow jerkined italians, walloons, and spaniards--stormhats on their heads and swords in their teeth--had planted rope-ladders, swung themselves up the walls by hundreds upon hundreds, while the fight had been going on at the porcupine, and were now rushing through the forts grinning defiance, yelling and chattering with fierce triumph, and beating down all opposition. it was splendidly done. the discomfited dorp met small bodies of his men, panic-struck, reeling out from their stronghold, wounded, bleeding, shrieking for help and for orders. it seemed as if the spaniards had dropped from the clouds. the dutch commandant did his best to rally the fugitives, and to encourage those who had remained. all night long the furious battle raged, every inch of ground being contested; for both catholics and hollanders knew full well that this triumph was worth more than all that had been gained for the archduke in eighteen months of siege. pike to pike, breast to breast, they fought through the dark april night; the last sobs of the hurricane dying unheard, the red lanterns flitting to and fro, the fireworks hissing in every direction of earth and air, the great wicker piles, heaped up with pitch and rosin, flaming over a scene more like a dance of goblins than a commonplace christian massacre. at least fifteen hundred were killed--besiegers and besieged--during the storming of the forts and the determined but unsuccessful attempt of the hollanders to retake them. and when at last the day had dawned, and the spaniards could see the full extent of their victory, they set themselves with--unusual alacrity to killing such of the wounded and prisoners as were in their hands, while, at the same time, they turned the guns of their newly acquired works upon the main counterscarp of the town. yet the besieged--discomfited but undismayed lost not a moment in strengthening their inner works, and in doing their best, day after day, by sortie, cannonade, and every possible device, to prevent the foe from obtaining full advantage of his success. the triumph was merely a local one, and the patient hollanders soon proved to the enemy that the town was not gained by carrying the three squares, but that every inch of the place was to be contested as hotly as those little redoubts had been. ostend, after standing nearly two years of siege, was not to be carried by storm. a goodly slice of it had been pared off that april night, and was now in possession of the archduke, but this was all. meantime the underground work was resumed on both sides. frederic spinola, notwithstanding the stunning defeat sustained by him in the preceding october, had not lost heart while losing all his ships. on the contrary, he had been busy during the winter in building other galleys. accordingly, one fine morning in may, counsellor flooswyk, being on board a war vessel convoying some empty transports from ostend, observed signs of mischief brewing as he sailed past the gut of sluys; and forthwith gave notice of what he had seen to admiral joost de moor, commanding the blockading squadron. the counsellor was right. frederic spinola meant mischief. it was just before sunrise of a beautiful summer's day. the waves were smooth--not a breath of wind stirring--and de moor, who had four little war-ships of holland, and was supported besides by a famous vessel called the black galley of zeeland, under captain jacob michelzoon, soon observed a movement from sluys. over the flat and glassy surface of the sea, eight galleys of the largest size were seen crawling slowly, like vast reptiles, towards his .. position. four lesser vessels followed in the wake of the great galleys. the sails of the admiral's little fleet flapped idly against the mast. he could only placidly await the onset. the black galley, however, moved forward according to her kind; and was soon vigorously attacked by two galleys of the enemy. with all the force that five hundred rowers could impart, these two huge vessels ran straight into the zeeland ship, and buried their iron prows in her sides. yet the black galley was made of harder stuff than were those which had gone down in the channel the previous autumn under the blows of john kant. those on board her, at least, were made of tougher material than were galley-slaves and land-soldiers. the ramming was certainly not like that of a thousand horse-power of steam, and there was no very great display of science in the encounter; yet captain jacob michelzoon, with two enemy's ships thus stuck to his sides, might well have given himself up for lost. the disproportion of ships and men was monstrous. beside the chain-gang, each of spinola's ships was manned by two hundred soldiers, while thirty-six musketeers from the flushing garrison were the only men-at-arms in de moor's whole squadron. but those amphibious zeelanders and hollanders, perfectly at home in the water, expert in handling vessels, and excellent cannoneers, were more than a match for twenty times their number of landsmen. it was a very simple-minded, unsophisticated contest. the attempt to board the black galley was met with determined resistance, but the zeeland sailors clambered like cats upon the bowsprits of the spanish galleys, fighting with cutlass and handspike, while a broadside or two was delivered with terrible effect into the benches of the chained and wretched slaves. captain michelzoon was killed, but his successor, lieutenant hart, although severely wounded, swore that he would blow up his ship with his own hands rather than surrender. the decks of all the vessels ran with blood, but at last the black galley succeeded in beating off her assailants; the zeelanders, by main force, breaking off the enemy's bowsprits, so that the two ships of spinola were glad to sheer off, leaving their stings buried in the enemy's body. next, four galleys attacked the stout little galleot of captain logier, and with a very similar result. their prows stuck fast in the bulwarks of the ship, but the boarders soon found themselves the boarded, and, after a brief contest, again the iron bowsprits snapped like pipe-stems, and again the floundering and inexperienced spaniards shrank away from the terrible encounter which they had provoked. soon afterwards, joost de moor was assailed by three galleys. he received them, however, with cannonade and musketry so warmly that they willingly obeyed a summons from spinola, and united with the flag-ship in one more tremendous onset upon the black galley of zeeland. and it might have gone hard with that devoted ship, already crippled in the previous encounter, had not captain logier fortunately drifted with the current near enough to give her assistance, while the other sailing ships lay becalmed and idle spectators. at last spinola, conspicuous by his armour, and by magnificent recklessness of danger, fell upon the deck of his galley, torn to pieces with twenty-four wounds from a stone gun of the black galley, while at nearly the same, moment a gentle breeze began in the distance to ruffle the surface of the waters. more than a thousand men had fallen in spinola's fleet, inclusive of the miserable slaves, who were tossed overboard as often as wounds made them a cumbrous part of the machinery, and the galleys, damaged, discomfited, laden with corpses and dripping with blood, rowed off into sluys as speedily as they could move, without waiting until the coming wind should bring all the sailing ships into the fight, together with such other vessels under haultain as might be cruising in the distance. they succeeded in getting into the gut of sluys, and so up to their harbour of refuge. meantime, baldheaded, weather-beaten joost de moor--farther pursuit being impossible--piped all hands on deck, where officers and men fell on their knees, shouting in pious triumph the th psalm: "i will bless the lord at all times, his praise shall continually be in my mouth . . . . o magnify the lord with me, and let us exalt his name together." so rang forth the notes of humble thanksgiving across the placid sea. and assuredly those hardy mariners, having gained a victory with their little vessels over twelve ships and three thousand men--a numerical force of at least ten times their number,--such as few but dutchmen could have achieved; had a right to give thanks to him from whom all blessings flow. thus ended the career of frederic spinola, a wealthy, gallant, high-born, brilliant youth, who might have earned distinction, and rendered infinitely better service to the cause of spain and the archdukes, had he not persuaded himself that he had a talent for seamanship. certainly, never was a more misplaced ambition, a more unlucky career. not even in that age of rash adventure, when grandees became admirals and field-marshals because they were grandees, had such incapacity been shown by any restless patrician. frederic spinola, at the age of thirty-two, a landsman and a volunteer, thinking to measure himself on blue water with such veterans as john rant, joost de moor, and the other dutchmen and zeelanders whom it was his fortune to meet, could hardly escape the doom which so rapidly befell him. on board the black galley captain michelznon, eleven of his officers, and fifteen of his men were killed; admiral de moor was slightly wounded, and had five of his men killed and twenty wounded; captain logier was wounded in the foot, and lost fifteen killed and twelve wounded. the number of those killed in spinola's fleet has been placed as high as fourteen hundred, including two hundred officers and gentlemen of quality, besides the crowds of galley-slaves thrown overboard. this was perhaps an exaggeration. the losses were, however, sufficient to put a complete atop to the enterprise out of which the unfortunate spinola had conceived such extravagant hopes of fame and fortune. the herring-smacks and other coasters, besides the transports passing to and from ostend, sailed thenceforth unmolested by any galleys from sluys. one unfortunate sloop, however, in moving out from the beleaguered city, ran upon some shoals before getting out of the gullet and thus fell a prize to the besiegers. she was laden with nothing more precious than twelve wounded soldiers on their way to the hospitals at flushing. these prisoners were immediately hanged, at the express command of the archduke, because they had been taken on the sea where, according to his highness, there were no laws of war. the stadholder, against his will--for maurice was never cruel--felt himself obliged to teach the cardinal better jurisprudence and better humanity for the future. in order to show him that there was but one belligerent law on sea and on land, he ordered two hundred spanish prisoners within his lines to draw lots from an urn in which twelve of the tickets were inscribed with the fatal word gibbet. eleven of the twelve thus marked by ill luck were at once executed. the twelfth, a comely youth, was pardoned at the intercession of a young girl. it is not stated whether or not she became his wife. it is also a fact worth mentioning, as illustrating the recklessness engendered by a soldier's life, that the man who drew the first blank sold it to one of his comrades and plunged his hand again into the fatal urn. whether he succeeded in drawing the gibbet at his second trial has not been recorded. when these executions had taken place in full view of the enemy's camp, maurice formally announced that for every prisoner thenceforth put to death by the archduke two captives from his own army should be hanged. these stern reprisals, as usual, put an end to the foul system of martial murder. throughout the year the war continued to be exclusively the siege of ostend. yet the fierce operations, recently recorded, having been succeeded by a period of comparative languor, governor dorp at last obtained permission to depart to repair his broken health. he was succeeded in command of the forces within the town by charles van der noot, colonel of the zeeland regiment which had suffered so much in the first act of the battle of nieuport. previously to this exchange, however, a day of solemn thanksgiving and prayer was set apart on the anniversary of the beginning of the siege. since the th of july, , two years had been spent by the whole power of the enemy in the attempt to reduce this miserable village, and the whole result thus far had been the capture of three little external forts. there seemed cause for thanksgiving. philip fleming, too, obtained a four weeks' holiday--the first in eleven years--and went with his family outside the pestiferous and beleaguered town. he was soon to return to his multifarious duties as auditor, secretary, and chronicler of the city, and unattached aide-de-camp to the commander-in-chief, whoever that might be; and to perform his duty with the same patient courage and sagacity that had marked him from the beginning. "an unlucky cannon-ball of the enemy," as he observes, did some damage at this period to his diary, but it happened at a moment when comparatively little was doing, so that the chasm was of less consequence. "and so i, philip fleming, auditor to the council of war," he says with homely pathos, "have been so continually employed as not to have obtained leave in all these years to refresh, for a few days outside this town, my troubled spirit after such perpetual work, intolerable cares, and slavery, having had no other pleasure allotted me than with daily sadness, weeping eyes, and heavy yearnings to tread the ramparts, and, like a poor slave laden with fetters, to look at so many others sailing out of the harbour in order to feast their souls in other provinces with green fields and the goodly works of god. and thus it has been until it has nearly gone out of my memory how the fruits of the earth, growing trees, and dumb beasts appear to mortal eye." he then, with whimsical indignation, alludes to a certain author who pleaded in excuse for the shortcomings of the history of the siege the damage done to his manuscripts by a cannon-ball. "where the liar dreamt of or invented his cannon-ball," he says, "i cannot tell, inasmuch as he never saw the city of ostend in his life; but the said cannon-ball, to my great sorrrow, did come one afternoon through my office, shot from the enemy's great battery, which very much damaged not his memoirs but mine; taking off the legs and arms at the same time of three poor invalid soldiers seated in the sun before my door and killing them on the spot, and just missing my wife, then great with child, who stood by me with faithfulness through all the sufferings of the bloody siege and presented me twice during its continuance, by the help of almighty god, with young amazons or daughters of war." and so honest philip fleming went out for a little time to look at the green trees and the dumb creatures feeding in the dutch pastures. meantime the two armies--outside and within ostend--went moiling on in their monotonous work; steadily returning at intervals, as if by instinct, to repair the ruin which a superior power would often inflict in a half-hour on the results of laborious weeks. in the open field the military operations were very trifling, the wager of battle being by common consent fought out on the sands of ostend, and the necessities for attack and defence absorbing, the resources of each combatant. france, england, and spain were holding a perpetual diplomatic tournament to which our eyes must presently turn, and the sublime realm of the ottoman and the holy roman empire were in the customary equilibrium of their eternal strife. the mutiny of the veterans continued; the "italian republic" giving the archduke almost as much trouble, despite his ban and edicts and outlawry, as the dutch commonwealth itself. for more than a twelvemonth the best troops of the spanish army had been thus established as a separate empire, levying black-mail on the obedient provinces, hanging such of their old officers as dared to remonstrate, and obeying their elected chief magistrates with exemplary docility. they had become a force of five thousand strong, cavalry and infantry together, all steady, experienced veterans--the best and bravest soldiers of europe. the least of them demanded two thousand florins as owed to him by the king of spain and the archduke. the burghers of bois-le-duc and other neighbouring towns in the obedient provinces kept watch and ward, not knowing how soon the spaniards might be upon them to reward them for their obedience. not a peasant with provisions was permitted by the mutineers to enter bois-le-duc, while the priests were summoned to pay one year's income of all their property on pain of being burned alive. "very much amazed are the poor priests at these proceedings," said ernest nassau, "and there is a terrible quantity of the vile race within and around the city. i hope one day to have the plucking of some of their feathers myself." the mutiny governed itself as a strict military democracy, and had caused an official seal to be engraved, representing seven snakes entwined in one, each thrusting forth a dangerous tongue, with the motto-- "tutto in ore e sua eccelenza in nostro favore." "his excellency" meant maurice of nassau, with whom formal articles of compact had been arranged. it had become necessary for the archduke, notwithstanding the steady drain of the siege of ostend, to detach a considerable army against this republic and to besiege them in their capital of hoogstraaten. with seven thousand foot and three thousand cavalry frederic van den berg took the field against them in the latter part of july. maurice, with nine thousand five hundred infantry and three thousand horse, lay near gertruydenberg. when united with the rebel "squadron," two thousand five hundred strong, he would dispose of a force of fifteen thousand veterans, and he moved at once to relieve the besieged mutineers. his cousin frederic, however, had no desire to measure himself with the stadholder at such odds, and stole away from him in the dark without beat of drum. maurice entered hoogstraaten, was received with rapture by the spanish and italian veterans, and excited the astonishment of all by the coolness with which he entered into the cage of these dangerous serpents--as they called themselves--handling them, caressing them, and being fondled by them in return. but the veterans knew a soldier when they saw one, and their hearts warmed to the prince--heretic though he were--more than they had ever done to the unfrocked bishop who, after starving them for years, had doomed them to destruction in this world and the next. the stadholder was feasted and honoured by the mutineers during his brief visit to hoogatraaten, and concluded with them a convention, according to which that town was to be restored to him, while they were to take temporary possession of the city of grave. they were likewise to assist, with all their strength, in his military operations until they should make peace on their own terms with the archduke. for two weeks after such treaty they were not to fight against the states, and meantime, though fighting on the republican side, they were to act as an independent corps and in no wise to be merged in the stadholder's forces. so much and no more had resulted from the archduke's excommunication of the best part of his army. he had made a present of those troops to the enemy. he had also been employing a considerable portion of his remaining forces in campaigning against their own comrades. while at grave, the mutineers, or the "squadron" as they were now called, were to be permitted to practise their own religious rites, without offering however, any interference with the regular protestant worship of the place. when they should give up grave, hoogstraaten was to be restored to them if still in possession of the states and they were to enter into no negotiations with the archduke except with full knowledge of the stadholder. there were no further military, operations of moment during the rest of the year. much, more important, however, than siege, battle, or mutiny, to human civilization, were the steady movements of the dutch skippers and merchants at this period. the ears of europe were stunned with the clatter of destruction going on all over christendom, and seeming the only reasonable occupation of christians; but the little republic; while fighting so heroically against the concentrated powers of despotism in the west, was most industriously building up a great empire in the east. in the new era just dawning, production was to become almost as honourable and potent, a principle as destruction. the voyages among the spicy regions of the equator--so recently wrested from their catholic and faithful majesties by dutch citizens who did not believe in borgia--and the little treaties made with petty princes and commonwealths, who for the first time ware learning that there were other white men in the world beside the portuguese, had already led to considerable results. before the close of, the previous year that great commercial corporation had been founded--an empire within an empire; a republic beneath a republic--a counting-house company which was to organize armies, conquer kingdoms, build forts and cities, make war and peace, disseminate and exchange among the nations of the earth the various products of civilization, more perfectly than any agency hitherto known, and bring the farthest disjoined branches of the human family into closer, connection than had ever existed before. that it was a monopoly, offensive to true commercial principles, illiberal, unjust, tyrannical; ignorant of the very rudiments of mercantile philosophy; is plain enough. for the sages of the world were but as clowns, at that period, in economic science. was not the great financier of the age; maximilian de bethune, at that very moment exhausting his intellect in devices for the prevention of all international commerce even in europe? "the kingdom of france," he groaned, "is stuffed full of the manufactures of our neighbours, and it is incredible what a curse to us are these wares. the import of all foreign goods has now been forbidden under very great penalties." as a necessary corollary to this madhouse legislation an edict was issued, prohibiting the export of gold and silver from france, on pain, not only of confiscation of those precious metals, but of the whole fortune of such as engaged in or winked at the traffic. the king took a public oath never to exempt the culprits from the punishment thus imposed, and, as the thrifty sully had obtained from the great king a private grant of all those confiscations, and as he judiciously promised twenty-five per cent. thereof to the informer, no doubt he filled his own purse while impoverishing the exchequer. the united states, not enjoying the blessings, of a paternal government, against which they had been fighting almost half a century, could not be expected to rival the stupendous folly of such political economy, although certainly not emancipated from all the delusions of the age. nor are we to forget how very recently, and even dimly, the idea of freedom in commerce has dawned upon nations, the freest of all in polity and religion. certainly the vices and shortcomings of the commercial system now inaugurated by the republic may be justly charged in great part to the epoch, while her vast share in the expanding and upward movement which civilization, under the auspices of self-government; self-help, political freedom, free thought, and unshackled science, was then to undertake--never more perhaps to be permanently checked--must be justly ascribed to herself. it was considered accordingly that the existence of so many private companies and copartnerships trading to the east was injurious to the interests of commerce. merchants arriving at the different indian ports would often find that their own countrymen had been too quick for them, and that other fleets had got the wind out of their sails, that the eastern markets had been stripped, and that prices had gone up to a ruinous height, while on the other hand, in the dutch cities, nutmegs and cinnamon, brocades and indigo, were as plentiful as red herrings. it was hardly to be expected at that day to find this very triumph of successful traffic considered otherwise than as a grave misfortune, demanding interference on the part of the only free government then existing in the world. that already free competition and individual enterprise, had made such progress in enriching the hollanders and the javanese respectively with a superfluity of useful or agreeable things, brought from the farthest ends of the earth, seemed to the eyes of that day a condition of things likely to end in a general catastrophe. with a simplicity, amazing only to those who are inclined to be vain of a superior wisdom--not their own but that of their wisest contemporaries--one of the chief reasons for establishing the east india company was stated to be the necessity of providing against low prices of oriental productions in europe. but national instinct is often wiser than what is supposed to be high national statesmanship, and there can be no doubt that the true foundation of the east india company was the simple recognition of an iron necessity. every merchant in holland knew full well that the portuguese and spaniards could never be driven out of their commercial strongholds under the equator, except by a concentration of the private strength and wealth, of the mercantile community. the government had enough on its hands in disputing, inch by inch, at so prodigious an expenditure of blood and treasure, the meagre territory with which nature had endowed the little commonwealth. private organisation, self-help; union of individual purses and individual brains, were to conquer an empire at the antipodes if it were to be won at all. by so doing, the wealth of the nation and its power to maintain the great conflict with the spirit of the past might be indefinitely increased, and the resources of spanish despotism proportionally diminished. it was not to be expected of jacob heemskerk, wolfert hermann, or joris van spilberg, indomitable skippers though they were, that each, acting on his own responsibility or on that of his supercargo, would succeed every day in conquering a whole spanish fleet and dividing a million or two of prize-money among a few dozen sailors. better things even than this might be done by wholesome and practical concentration on a more extended scale. so the states-general granted a patent or charter to one great company with what, for the time, was an enormous paid-up capital, in order that the india trade might be made secure and the spaniards steadily confronted in what they had considered their most impregnable possessions. all former trading companies were invited to merge themselves in the universal east india company, which, for twenty-one years, should alone have the right to trade to the east of the cape of good hope and to sail through the straits of magellan. the charter had been signed on th march, , and was mainly to the following effect. the company was to pay twenty-five thousand florins to the states-general for its privilege. the whole capital was to be six million six hundred thousand florins. the chamber of amsterdam was to have one half of the whole interest, the chamber of zeeland one fourth; the chambers of the meuse, namely, delft, rotterdam, and the north quarter; that is to say, hoorn and enkhuizen, each a sixteenth. all the chambers were to be governed by the directors then serving, who however were to be allowed to die out, down to the number of twenty for amsterdam, twelve for zeeland, and seven for each of the other chambers. to fill a vacancy occurring among the directors, the remaining members of the board were to nominate three candidates, from whom the estates of the province should choose one. each director was obliged, to have an interest in the company amounting to at least six thousand florins, except the directors for hoorn and enkhuizen, of whom only three thousand should be required. the general assembly of these chambers should consist of seventeen directors, eight for amsterdam, four for zeeland, two for the meuse, and two for the north quarter; the seventeenth being added by turns from the chambers of zeeland, the meuse, and the north quarter. this assembly was to be held six years at amsterdam, and then two years in zeeland. the ships were always to return to the port from which they had sailed. all the inhabitants of the provinces had the right, within a certain time, to take shares in the company. any province or city subscribing for forty thousand florins or upwards might appoint an agent to look after its affairs. the company might make treaties with the indian powers, in the name of the states-general of the united netherlands or of the supreme authorities of the same, might build fortresses; appoint generals, and levy troops, provided such troops took oaths of fidelity to the states, or to the supreme authority, and to the company. no ships, artillery, or other munitions of war belonging to the company were to be used in service of the country without permission of the company. the admiralty was to have a certain proportion of the prizes conquered from the enemy. the directors should not be liable in property or person for the debts of the company. the generals of fleets returning home were to make reports on the state of india to the states. notification; of the union of all india companies with this great corporation was duly sent to the fleets cruising in those regions, where it arrived in the course of the year . meantime the first fleet of the company, consisting of fourteen vessels under command of admiral wybrand van warwyk, sailed before the end of , and was followed towards the close of by thirteen other ships, under stephen van der hagen? the equipment of these two fleets cost two million two hundred thousand florins. etext editor's bookmarks: bestowing upon others what was not his property four weeks' holiday--the first in eleven years idea of freedom in commerce has dawned upon nations impossible it is to practise arithmetic with disturbed brains passion is a bad schoolmistress for the memory prisoners were immediately hanged unlearned their faith in bell, book, and candle world has rolled on to fresher fields of carnage and ruin history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , - chapter xli. death of queen elizabeth--condition of spain--legations to james i. --union of england and scotland--characteristics of the new monarch --the english court and government--piratical practices of the english--audience of the states' envoy with king james--queen elizabeth's scheme far remodelling europe--ambassador extraordinary from henry iv. to james--de rosny's strictures on the english people--private interview of de rosny with the states' envoy--de rosny's audience of the king--objects of his mission--insinuations of the duke of northumberland--invitation of the embassy to greenwich--promise of james to protect the netherlands against spain--misgivings of barneveld--conference at arundel house--its unsatisfactory termination--contempt of de rosny for the english counsellors--political aspect of europe--de rosny's disclosure to the king of the secret object of his mission--agreement of james to the proposals of de rosny--ratification of the treaty of alliance-- return of de rosny and suite to france--arrival of the spanish ambassador. on the th of march, , queen elizabeth died at richmond, having nearly completed her seventieth year. the two halves of the little island of britain were at last politically adjoined to each other by the personal union of the two crowns. a foreigner, son of the woman executed by elizabeth, succeeded to elizabeth's throne. it was most natural that the dutch republic and the french king, the archdukes and his catholic majesty, should be filled with anxiety as to the probable effect of this change of individuals upon the fortunes of the war. for this dutch war of independence was the one absorbing and controlling interest in christendom. upon that vast, central, and, as men thought, baleful constellation the fates of humanity, were dependent. around it lesser political events were forced to gravitate, and, in accordance to their relation to it, were bright or obscure. it was inevitable that those whose vocation it was to ponder the aspects of the political firmament, the sages and high-priests who assumed to direct human action and to foretell human destiny, should now be more than ever perplexed. spain, since the accession of philip iii. to his father's throne, although rapidly declining in vital energy, had not yet disclosed its decrepitude to the world. its boundless ambition survived as a political tradition rather than a real passion, while contemporaries still trembled at the vision of universal monarchy in which the successor of charlemagne and of charles v. was supposed to indulge. meantime, no feebler nor more insignificant mortal existed on earth than this dreaded sovereign. scarcely a hairdresser or lemonade-dealer in all spain was less cognizant of the political affairs of the kingdom than was its monarch, for philip's first care upon assuming the crown was virtually to abdicate in favour of the man soon afterwards known as the duke of lerma. it is therefore only by courtesy and for convenience that history recognizes his existence at all, as surely no human being in the reign of philip iii. requires less mention than philip iii. himself. i reserve for a subsequent chapter such rapid glances at the interior condition of that kingdom with which it seemed the destiny of the dutch republic to be perpetually at war, as may be necessary to illustrate the leading characteristics of the third philip's reign. meantime, as the great queen was no more, who was always too sagacious to doubt that the dutch cause was her own--however disposed she might be to browbeat the dutchmen--it seemed possible to spain that the republic might at last be deprived of its only remaining ally. tassis was despatched as chief of a legation, precursory to a more stately embassy to be confided to the duke of frias. the archdukes sent the prince of arenberg, while from the united states came young henry of nassau, associated with john of olden-barneveld, falk, brederode, and other prominent statesmen of the commonwealth. ministers from denmark and sweden, from the palatinate and from numerous other powers, small and great, were also collected to greet the rising sun in united britain, while the awkward scotchman, who was now called upon to play that prominent part in the world's tragi-comedy which had been so long and so majestically sustained by the "virgin queen," already began to tremble at the plaudits and the bustle which announced how much was expected of the new performer. there was indeed a new sovereign upon the throne. that most regal spirit which had well expressed so many of the highest characteristics of the nation had fled. mankind, has long been familiar with the dark, closing hours of the illustrious reign. the great queen, moody, despairing, dying, wrapt in profoundest thought, with eyes fixed upon the ground or already gazing into infinity, was besought by the counsellors around her to name the man to whom she chose that the crown should devolve. "not to a rough," said elizabeth, sententiously and grimly. when the king of france was named, she shook her head. when philip iii. was suggested, she made a still more significant sign of dissent. when the king of scots was mentioned, she nodded her approval, and again relapsed into silent meditation. she died, and james was king of great britain and ireland. cecil had become his prime minister long before the queen's eyes were closed. the hard-featured, rickety, fidgety, shambling, learned, most preposterous scotchman hastened to take possession of the throne. never--could there have been a more unfit place or unfit hour for such a man. england, although so small in dimensions, so meager in population, so deficient, compared to the leading nations of europe, in material and financial strength, had already her great future swelling in her heart. intellectually and morally she was taking the lead among the nations. even at that day she had produced much which neither she herself nor any other nation seemed destined to surpass. yet this most redoubtable folk only numbered about three millions, one-tenth of them inhabiting london. with the scots and irish added they amounted to less than five millions of souls, hardly a third as many as the homogeneous and martial people of that dangerous neighbour france. ireland was always rebellious; a mere conquered province, hating her tyrant england's laws, religion, and people; loving spain, and believing herself closely allied by blood as well as sympathy to that most catholic land. scotland, on the accession of james, hastened to take possession of england. never in history had two races detested each other more fervently. the leeches and locusts of the north, as they were universally designated in england, would soon have been swept forth from the country, or have left it of their own accord, had not the king employed all that he had of royal authority or of eloquent persuasion to retain them on the soil. of union, save the personal union of the sceptre, there was no thought. as in ireland there was hatred to england and adoration for spain; so in scotland, france was beloved quite as much as england was abhorred. who could have foretold, or even hoped, that atoms so mutually repulsive would ever have coalesced into a sympathetic and indissoluble whole? even the virtues of james were his worst enemies. as generous as the day, he gave away with reckless profusion anything and everything that he could lay his hands upon. it was soon to appear that the great queen's most unlovely characteristic, her avarice; was a more blessed quality to the nation she ruled than the ridiculous prodigality of james. two thousand gowns, of the most, expensive material, adorned with gold, pearls, and other bravery--for elizabeth was very generous to herself--were found in the queen's wardrobe, after death. these magnificent and costly robes, not one of which had she vouchsafed to bestow upon or to bequeath to any of her ladies of honour, were now presented by her successor to a needy scotch lord, who certainly did not intend to adorn his own person therewith. "the hat was ever held out," said a splenetic observer, "and it was filled in overflowing measure by the new monarch." in a very short period he had given away--mainly to scotchmen--at least two millions of crowns, in various articles of personal property. yet england was very poor. the empire, if so it could be called, hardly boasted a regular revenue of more than two millions of dollars a year; less than that of a fortunate individual or two, in our own epoch, both in europe and america; and not one-fifth part of the contemporary income of france. the hundred thousand dollars of scotland's annual budget did not suffice to pay its expenses, and ireland was a constant charge upon the imperial exchequer. it is astounding, however, to reflect upon the pomp, extravagance, and inordinate pride which characterized the government and the court. the expenses of james's household were at least five hundred thousand crowns, or about one quarter of the whole revenue of the empire. henry iv., with all his extravagance, did not spend more than one-tenth of the public income of france upon himself and his court. certainly if england were destined to grow great it would be in despite of its new monarch. hating the people, most intolerant in religion, believing intensely in royal prerogative, thoroughly convinced of his regal as well as his personal infallibility, loathing that inductive method of thought which was already leading the english nation so proudly on the road of intellectual advancement, shrinking from the love of free inquiry, of free action, of daring adventure, which was to be the real informing spirit of the great british nation; abhorring the puritans--that is to say, one-third of his subjects--in whose harsh, but lofty nature he felt instinctively that popular freedom was enfolded--even as the overshadowing tree in the rigid husk--and sending them forth into the far distant wilderness to wrestle with wild beasts and with savages more ferocious than beasts; fearing and hating the catholics as the sworn enemies of his realm; his race, and himself, trampling on them as much as he dared, forcing them into hypocrisy to save themselves from persecution or at least pecuniary ruin--if they would worship god according to their conscience; at deadly feud, therefore, on religious grounds, with much more than half his subjects--puritans or papists--and yet himself a puritan in dogma and a papist in church government, if only the king could be pope; not knowing, indeed, whether a puritan, or a jesuit whom he called a papist-puritan, should be deemed the more disgusting or dangerous animal; already preparing for his unfortunate successor a path to the scaffold by employing all the pedantry, both theological and philosophical at his command to bring parliaments into contempt, and to place the royal prerogative on a level with divinity; at the head of a most martial, dauntless, and practical nation, trembling, with unfortunate physical timidity, at the sight of a drawn sword; ever scribbling or haranguing in latin, french, or broad scotch, when the world was arming, it must always be a special wonder that one who might have been a respectable; even a useful, pedagogue, should by the caprice of destiny have been permitted, exactly at that epoch to be one of the most contemptible and mischievous of kings. but he had a most effective and energetic minister. even as in spain and in france at the same period, the administration of government was essentially in-one pair of hands. robert cecil, earl of salisbury, ever since the termination of the splendid triumvirate of his father and walsingham, had been in reality supreme. the proud and terrible hunchback, who never forgave, nor forgot to destroy, his enemies, had now triumphed over the last passion of the doting queen. essex had gone to perdition. son of the great minister who had brought the mother of james to the scaffold, salisbury had already extorted forgiveness for that execution from the feeble king. before elizabeth was in her grave, he was already as much the favourite of her successor as of herself, governing scotland as well as england, and being prime minister of great britain before great britain existed. lord high treasurer and first secretary of state, he was now all in all in the council. the other great lords, highborn and highly titled as they were and served at their banquets by hosts of lackeys on their knees--nottinghams, northamptons, suffolks--were, after all, ciphers or at best, mere pensioners of spain. for all the venality of europe was not confined to the continent. spain spent at least one hundred and fifty thousand crowns annually among the leading courtiers of james while his wife, anne of denmark, a papist at heart, whose private boudoir was filled with pictures and images of the madonna and the saints, had already received one hundred thousand dollars in solid cash from the spanish court, besides much jewelry, and other valuable things. to negotiate with government in england was to bribe, even as at paris or madrid. gold was the only passkey to justice, to preferment, or to power. yet the foreign subsidies to the english court were, after all, of but little avail at that epoch. no man had influence but cecil, and he was too proud, too rich, too powerful to be bribed. alone with clean fingers among courtiers and ministers, he had, however, accumulated a larger fortune than any. his annual income was estimated at two hundred thousand crowns, and he had a vast floating capital, always well employed. among other investments, he had placed half a million on interest in holland,' and it was to be expected, therefore, that he should favour the cause of the republic, rebellious and upstart though it were. the pigmy, as the late queen had been fond of nicknaming him, was the only giant in the government. those crooked shoulders held up, without flinching, the whole burden of the state. pale, handsome, anxious, suffering, and intellectual of visage, with his indomitable spirit, ready eloquence, and nervous energy, he easily asserted supremacy over all the intriguers, foreign and domestic, the stipendiariea, the generals, the admirals, the politicians, at court, as well as over the scotch solomon who sat on the throne. but most certainly, it was for the public good of britain, that europe should be pacified. it is very true that the piratical interest would suffer, and this was a very considerable and influential branch of business. so long as war existed anywhere, the corsairs of england sailed with the utmost effrontery from english ports, to prey upon the commerce of friend and foe alike. after a career of successful plunder, it was not difficult for the rovers to return to their native land, and, with the proceeds of their industry, to buy themselves positions of importance, both social and political. it was not the custom to consider too curiously the source of the wealth. if it was sufficient to dazzle the eyes of the vulgar, it was pretty certain to prove the respectability of the owner. it was in vain that the envoys of the dutch and venetian republics sought redress for the enormous damage inflicted on their commerce by english pirates, and invoked the protection of public law. it was always easy for learned juris-consuls to prove such depredations to be consistent with international usage and with sound morality. even at that period, although england was in population and in wealth so insignificant, it possessed a lofty, insular contempt for the opinions and the doctrines of other nations, and expected, with perfect calmness, that her own principles should be not only admitted, but spontaneously adored. yet the piratical interest was no longer the controlling one. that city on the thames, which already numbered more than three hundred thousand inhabitants, had discovered that more wealth was to be accumulated by her bustling shopkeepers in the paths of legitimate industry than by a horde of rovers over the seas, however adventurous and however protected by government. as for france, she was already defending herself against piracy by what at the period seemed a masterpiece of internal improvement. the seine, the loire, and the rhone were soon to be united in one chain of communication. thus merchandise might be water-borne from the channel to the mediterranean, without risking the five or six months' voyage by sea then required from havre to marseilles, and exposure along the whole coast to attack from the corsairs of england spain and barbary. the envoys of the states-general had a brief audience of the new sovereign, in which little more than phrases of compliment were pronounced. "we are here," said barneveld, "between grief and joy. we have lost her whose benefits to us we can never describe in words, but we have found a successor who is heir not only to her kingdom but to all her virtues." and with this exordium the great advocate plunged at once into the depths of his subject, so far as was possible in an address of ceremony. he besought the king not to permit spain, standing on the neck of the provinces, to grasp from that elevation at other empires. he reminded james of his duty to save those of his own religion from the clutch of a sanguinary superstition, to drive away those lurking satellites of the roman pontiff who considered britain their lawful prey. he implored him to complete the work so worthily begun by elizabeth. if all those bound by one interest should now, he urged, unite their efforts, the spaniard, deprived not only of the netherlands, but, if he were not wise in time, banished from the ocean and stripped of all his transmarine possessions, would be obliged to consent to a peace founded on the only secure basis, equality of strength. the envoy concluded by beseeching the king for assistance to ostend, now besieged for two years long. but james manifested small disposition to melt in the fervour of the advocate's eloquence. he answered with a few cold commonplaces. benignant but extremely cautious, he professed goodwill enough to the states but quite as much for spain, a power with which, he observed, he had never quarrelled, and from which he had received the most friendly offices. the archdukes, too, he asserted, had never been hostile to the realm, but only to the queen of england. in brief, he was new to english affairs, required time to look about him, but would not disguise that his genius was literary, studious, and tranquil, and much more inclined to peace than to war. in truth, james had cause to look very sharply about him. it required an acute brain and steady nerves to understand and to control the whirl of parties and the conflict of interests and intrigues, the chameleon shiftings of character and colour, at this memorable epoch of transition in the realm which he had just inherited. there was a scotch party, favourable on the whole to france; there was a spanish party, there was an english party, and, more busy than all, there was a party--not scotch, nor french, nor english, nor spanish--that un-dying party in all commonwealths or kingdoms which ever fights for itself and for the spoils. france and spain had made peace with each other at vervins five years before, and had been at war ever since. nothing could be plainer nor more cynical than the language exchanged between the french monarch and the representative of spain. that philip iii.--as the spanish government by a convenient fiction was always called--was the head and front of the great savoy-biron conspiracy to take henry's life and dismember his kingdom, was hardly a stage secret. yet diplomatic relations were still preserved between the two countries, and wonderful diplomatic interviews had certainly been taking place in paris. ambassador tassis had walked with lofty port into henry's cabinet, disdaining to salute any of the princes of the blood or high functionaries of state in the apartments through which he passed, and with insolent defiance had called henry to account for his dealing with the dutch rebels. "sire, the king my master finds it very strange," he said, "that you still continue to assist his rebels in holland, and that you shoot at his troops on their way to the netherlands. if you don't abstain from such infractions of his rights he prefers open war to being cheated by such a pretended peace. hereupon i demand your reply." "mr. ambassador," replied the king, "i find it still more strange that your master is so impudent as to dare to make such complaints--he who is daily making attempts upon my life and upon this state. even if i do assist the hollanders, what wrong is that to him? it is an organized commonwealth, powerful, neighbourly, acknowledging no subjection to him. but your master is stirring up rebellion in my own kingdom, addressing himself to the princes of my blood and my most notable officers, so that i have been obliged to cut off the head of one of the most beloved of them all. by these unchristian proceedings he has obliged me to take sides with the hollanders, whom i know to be devoted to me; nor have i done anything for them except to pay the debts i owed them. i know perfectly well that the king your master is the head of this conspiracy, and that the troops of naples were meditating an attack upon my kingdom. i have two letters written by the hand of your master to marshal biron, telling him to trust fuentes as if it were himself, and it is notorious that fuentes has projected and managed all the attempts to assassinate me. do you, think you have a child to deal with? the late king of spain knew me pretty well. if this one thinks himself wiser i shall let him see who i am. do you want peace or war? i am ready for either." the ambassador, whose head had thus been so vigorously washed--as henry expressed it in recounting the interview afterwards to the dutch envoy, dr. aerssens--stammered some unintelligible excuses, and humbly begged his majesty not to be offended. he then retired quite crest-fallen, and took leave most politely of everybody as he went, down even to the very grooms of the chambers. "you must show your teeth to the spaniard," said henry to aerssens, "if you wish for a quiet life." here was unsophisticated diplomacy; for the politic henry, who could forgive assassins and conspirators, crowned or otherwise, when it suited his purpose to be lenient, knew that it was on this occasion very prudent to use the gift of language, not in order to conceal, but to express his thoughts. "i left the king as red as a turkey-cock," said tassis, as soon as he got home that morning, "and i was another turkey-cock. we have been talking a little bit of truth to each other." in truth, it was impossible, as the world was then constituted, that france and spain, in spite of many secret sympathies, should not be enemies; that france, england, and the dutch commonwealth, although cordially disliking each other, should not be allies. even before the death of elizabeth a very remarkable interview had taken place at dover, in which the queen had secretly disclosed the great thoughts with which that most imperial brain was filled just before its boundless activity was to cease for ever. she had wished for a personal interview with the french king, whose wit and valour she had always heartily admired, henry, on his part, while unmercifully ridiculing that preterhuman vanity which he fed with fantastic adulation, never failed to do justice to her genius, and had been for a moment disposed to cross the channel, or even to hold council with her on board ship midway between the two countries. it was however found impracticable to arrange any such meeting, and the gossips of the day hinted that the great henry, whose delight was in battle, and who had never been known to shrink from danger on dry land, was appalled at the idea of sea-sickness, and even dreaded the chance of being kidnapped by the english pirates. the corsairs who drove so profitable a business at that period by plundering the merchantmen of their enemy, of their dutch and french allies, and of their own nation, would assuredly have been pleased with such a prize. the queen had confided to de bethune that she had some thing to say to the king which she could never reveal to other ears than his, but when the proposed visit of henry was abandoned, it was decided that his confidential minister should slip across the channel before elizabeth returned to her palace at greenwich. de bethune accordingly came incognito from calais to dover, in which port he had a long and most confidential interview with the queen. then and there the woman, nearly seventy years of age, who governed despotically the half of a small island, while the other half was in the possession of a man whose mother she had slain, and of a people who hated the english more than they hated the spaniards or the french--a queen with some three millions of loyal but most turbulent subjects in one island, and with about half-a-million ferocious rebels in another requiring usually an army of twenty thousand disciplined soldiers to keep them in a kind of subjugation, with a revenue fluctuating between eight hundred thousand pounds sterling, and the half of that sum, and with a navy of a hundred privateersmen--disclosed to the french envoy a vast plan for regulating the polity and the religion of the civilized world, and for remodelling the map of europe. there should be three religions, said elizabeth--not counting the dispensation from mecca, about which turk and hun might be permitted to continue their struggle on the crepuscular limits of civilization. everywhere else there should be toleration only for the churches of peter, of luther, and of calvin. the house of austria was to be humbled--the one branch driven back to spain and kept there, the other branch to be deprived of the imperial crown, which was to be disposed of as in times past by the votes of the princely electors. there should be two republics--the swiss and the dutch--each of those commonwealths to be protected by france and england, and each to receive considerable parings out of the possessions of spain and the empire. finally, all christendom was to be divided off into a certain number of powers, almost exactly equal to each other; the weighing, measuring, and counting, necessary to obtain this international equilibrium, being of course the duty of the king and queen when they should sit some day together at table. thus there were five points; sovereigns and politicians having always a fondness for a neat summary in five or six points. number one, to remodel the electoral system of the holy roman empire. number two, to establish the republic of the united provinces. number three, to do as much for switzerland. number four, to partition europe. number five, to reduce all religions to three. nothing could be more majestic, no plan fuller fraught with tranquillity for the rulers of mankind and their subjects. thrice happy the people, having thus a couple of heads with crowns upon them and brains within them to prescribe what was to be done in this world and believed as to the next! the illustrious successor of that great queen now stretches her benignant sceptre over two hundred millions of subjects, and the political revenues of her empire are more than a hundredfold those of elizabeth; yet it would hardly now be thought great statesmanship or sound imperial policy for a british sovereign even to imagine the possibility of the five points which filled the royal english mind at dover. but henry was as much convinced as elizabeth of the necessity and the possibility of establishing the five points, and de bethune had been astonished at the exact similarity of the conclusion which those two sovereign intellects had reached, even before they had been placed in communion with each other. the death of the queen had not caused any change in the far-reaching designs of which the king now remained the sole executor, and his first thought, on the accession of james, was accordingly to despatch de bethune, now created marquis de rosny, as ambassador extraordinary to england, in order that the new sovereign might be secretly but thoroughly instructed as to the scheme for remodelling christendom. as rosny was also charged with the duty of formally congratulating king james, he proceeded upon his journey with remarkable pomp. he was accompanied by two hundred gentlemen of quality, specially attached to his embassy--young city fops, as he himself described them, who were out of their element whenever they left the pavement of paris--and by an equal number of valets, grooms, and cooks. such a retinue was indispensable to enable an ambassador to transact the public business and to maintain the public dignity in those days; unproductive consumption being accounted most sagacious and noble. before reaching the english shore the marquis was involved in trouble. accepting the offer of the english vice-admiral lying off calais, he embarked with his suite in two english vessels, much to the dissatisfaction of de vic, vice-admiral of france, who was anxious to convey the french ambassador in the war-ships of his country. there had been suspicion afloat as to the good understanding between england and spain, caused by the great courtesy recently shown to the count of arenberg, and there was intense irritation among all the seafaring people of france on account of the exploits of the english corsairs upon their coast. rosny thought it best to begin his embassy by an act of conciliation, but soon had cause to repent his decision. in mid-channel they were met by de vic's vessels with the french banner displayed, at which sight the english commander was so wroth that he forthwith ordered a broadside to be poured into the audacious foreigner;--swearing with mighty oaths that none but the english flag should be shown in those waters. and thus, while conveying a french ambassador and three hundred frenchmen on a sacred mission to the british sovereign, this redoubtable mariner of england prepared to do battle with the ships of france. it was with much difficulty and some prevarication that rosny appeased the strife, representing that the french flag had only been raised in order that it might be dipped, in honour of the french ambassador, as the ships passed each other. the full-shotted broadside was fired from fifty guns, but the english commander consented, at de rosny's representations, that it should be discharged wide of the mark. a few shots, however, struck the side of one of the french vessels, and at the same time, as cardinal richelieu afterwards remarked, pierced the heart of every patriotic frenchman. the ambassador made a sign, which de vic understood; to lower his flag and to refrain from answering the fire. thus a battle between allies, amid the most amazing circumstances, was avoided, but it may well be imagined how long and how deeply the poison of the insult festered. such an incident could hardly predispose the ambassador in favour of the nation he was about to visit, or strengthen his hope of laying, not only the foundation of a perpetual friendship between the two crowns, but of effecting the palingenesis of europe. yet no doubt sully--as the world has so long learned to call him--was actuated by lofty sentiments in many respects in advance of his age. although a brilliant and successful campaigner in his youth, he detested war, and looked down with contempt at political systems which had not yet invented anything better than gunpowder for the arbitrament of international disputes. instead of war being an occasional method of obtaining peace, it pained him to think that peace seemed only a process for arriving at war. surely it was no epigram in those days, but the simplest statement of commonplace fact, that war was the normal condition of christians. alas will it be maintained that in the two and a half centuries which have since elapsed the world has made much progress in a higher direction? is there yet any appeal among the most civilized nations except to the logic of the largest battalions and the eloquence of the biggest guns? de rosny came to be the harbinger of a political millennium, and he heartily despised war. the schemes, nevertheless, which were as much his own as his master's, and which he was instructed to lay before the english monarch as exclusively his own, would have required thirty years of successful and tremendous warfare before they could have a beginning of development. it is not surprising that so philosophical a mind as his, while still inclining to pacific designs, should have been led by what met his eyes and ears to some rather severe generalizations. "it is certain that the english hate us," he said, "and with a hatred so strong and so general that one is tempted to place it among the natural dispositions of this people. yet it is rather the effect of their pride and their presumption; since there is no nation in europe more haughty, more disdainful, more besotted with the idea of its own excellence. if you were to take their word for it, mind and reason are only found with them; they adore all their opinions and despise those of all other nations; and it never occurs to them to listen to others, or to doubt themselves. . . . examine what are called with them maxims of state; you will find nothing but the laws of pride itself, adopted through arrogance or through indolence." "placed by nature amidst the tempestuous and variable ocean," he wrote to his sovereign, "they are as shifting, as impetuous, as changeable as its waves. so self-contradictory and so inconsistent are their actions almost in the same instant as to make it impossible that they should proceed from the same persons and the same mind. agitated and urged by their pride and arrogance alone, they take all their imaginations and extravagances for truths and realities; the objects of their desires and affections for inevitable events; not balancing and measuring those desires with the actual condition of things, nor with the character of the people with whom they have to deal." when the ambassador arrived in london he was lodged at arundel palace. he at once became the cynosure of all indigenous parties and of adventurous politicians from every part of europe; few knowing how to shape their course since the great familiar lustre had disappeared from the english sky. rosny found the scotch lords sufficiently favourable to france; the english catholic grandees, with all the howards and the lord high admiral at their head, excessively inclined to spain, and a great english party detesting both spain and france with equal fervour and well enough disposed to the united provinces, not as hating that commonwealth less but the two great powers more. the ambassador had arrived with the five points, not in his portfolio but in his heart, and they might after all be concentrated in one phrase--down with austria, up with the dutch republic. on his first interview with cecil, who came to arrange for his audience with the king, he found the secretary much disposed to conciliate both spain and the empire, and to leave the provinces to shift for themselves. he spoke of ostend as of a town not worth the pains taken to preserve it, and of the india trade as an advantage of which a true policy required that the united provinces should be deprived. already the fine commercial instinct of england had scented a most formidable rival on the ocean. as for the king, he had as yet declared himself for no party, while all parties were disputing among each other for mastery over him. james found himself, in truth, as much, astray in english politics as he was a foreigner upon english earth. suspecting every one, afraid of every one, he was in mortal awe, most of all, of his wife, who being the daughter of one protestant sovereign and wife of another, and queen of a united realm dependent for its very existence on antagonism to spain and rome, was naturally inclined to spanish politics and the catholic faith. the turbulent and intriguing anne of denmark was not at the moment in london, but james was daily expecting and de bethune dreading her arrival. the ambassador knew very well that, although the king talked big in her absence about the forms which he intended to prescribe for her conduct, he would take orders from her as soon as she arrived, refuse her nothing, conceal nothing from her, and tremble before her as usual. the king was not specially prejudiced in favour of the french monarch or his ambassador, for he had been told that henry had occasionally spoken of him as captain of arts and doctor of arms, and that both the marquis de rosny and his brother were known to have used highly disrespectful language concerning him. before his audience, de rosny received a private visit from barneveld and the deputies of the states-general, and was informed that since his arrival they had been treated with more civility by the king. previously he had refused to see them after the first official reception, had not been willing to grant count henry of nassau a private audience, and had spoken publicly of the states as seditious rebels. oh the st june barneveld had a long private interview with the ambassador at arundel palace, when he exerted all his eloquence to prove the absolute necessity of an offensive and defensive alliance between france and the united provinces if the independence of the republic were ever to be achieved. unless a french army took the field at once, ostend would certainly fall, he urged, and resistance to the spaniards would soon afterwards cease. it is not probable that the advocate felt in his heart so much despair as his words indicated, but he was most anxious that henry should openly declare himself the protector of the young commonwealth, and not indisposed perhaps to exaggerate the dangers, grave as they were without doubt, by which its existence was menaced. the ambassador however begged the hollander to renounce any such hopes, assuring him that the king had no intention of publicly and singly taking upon his shoulders the whole burden of war with spain, the fruits of which would not be his to gather. certainly before there had been time thoroughly to study the character and inclinations of the british monarch it would be impossible for de rosny to hold out any encouragement in this regard. he then asked barneveld what he had been able to discover during his residence in london as to the personal sentiments of james. the advocate replied that at first the king, yielding to his own natural tendencies, and to the advice of his counsellors, had refused the dutch deputies every hope, but that subsequently reflecting, as it would seem, that peace would cost england very dear if english inaction should cause the hollanders to fall again under the dominion of the catholic king, or to find their only deliverance in the protection of france, and beginning to feel more acutely how much england had herself to fear from a power like spain, he had seemed to awake out of a profound sleep, and promised to take these important affairs into consideration. subsequently he had fallen into a dreary abyss of indecision, where he still remained. it was certain however that he would form no resolution without the concurrence of the king of france, whose ambassador he had been so impatiently expecting, and whose proposition to him of a double marriage between their respective children had given him much satisfaction. de rosny felt sure that the dutch statesmen were far too adroit to put entire confidence in anything said by james, whether favourable or detrimental to their cause. he conjured barneveld therefore, by the welfare of his country, to conceal nothing from him in regard to the most secret resolutions that might have been taken by the states in the event of their being abandoned by england, or in case of their being embarrassed by a sudden demand on the part of that power for the cautionary towns offered to elizabeth. barneveld, thus pressed, and considering the ambassador as the confidential counsellor of a sovereign who was the republic's only friend, no longer hesitated. making a merit to himself of imparting an important secret, he said that the state-council of the commonwealth had resolved to elude at any cost the restoration of the cautionary towns. the interview was then abruptly terminated by the arrival of the venetian envoy. the nd of june arrived. the marquis had ordered mourning suits for his whole embassy and retinue, by particular command of his sovereign, who wished to pay this public tribute to the memory of the great queen. to his surprise and somewhat to his indignation, he was however informed that no one, stranger or native, scotchman or englishman, had been permitted to present himself to the king in black, that his appearance there in mourning would be considered almost an affront, and that it was a strictly enforced rule at court to abstain from any mention of elizabeth, and to affect an entire oblivion of her reign. at the last moment, and only because convinced that he might otherwise cause the impending negotiations utterly to fail, the ambassador consented to attire himself, the hundred and twenty gentlemen selected from his diplomatic family to accompany him on this occasion, and all his servants, in gala costume. the royal guards, with the earl of derby at their head, came early in the afternoon to arundel house to escort him to the thames, and were drawn up on the quay as the marquis and his followers embarked in the splendid royal barges provided to convey them to greenwich. on arriving at their destination they were met at the landing by the earl of northumberland, and escorted with great pomp and through an infinite multitude of spectators to the palace. such was the crowd, without and within, of courtiers and common people, that it was a long time before the marquis, preceded by his hundred and twenty gentlemen, reached the hall of audience. at last he arrived at the foot of the throne, when james arose and descended eagerly two steps of the dais in order to greet the ambassador. he would have descended them all had not one of the counsellors plucked him by the sleeve, whispering that he had gone quite far enough. "and if i honour this ambassador," cried james, in a loud voice, "more than is usual, i don't intend that it shall serve as a precedent for others. i esteem and love him particularly, because of the affection which i know he cherishes for me, of his firmness in our religion, and of his fidelity to his master." much more that was personally flattering to the marquis was said thus emphatically by james. to all this the ambassador replied, not by a set discourse, but only by a few words of compliment, expressing his sovereign's regrets at the death of queen elizabeth, and his joy at the accession of the new sovereign. he then delivered his letters of credence, and the complimentary conversation continued; the king declaring that he had not left behind him in scotland his passion for the monarch of france, and that even had he found england at war with that country on his accession he would have instantly concluded a peace with a prince whom he so much venerated. thus talking, the king caused his guest to ascend with him to the uppermost steps of the dais, babbling on very rapidly and skipping abruptly from one subject to another. de rosny took occasion to express his personal esteem and devotion, and was assured by the king in reply that the slanders in regard to him which had reached the royal ears had utterly failed of their effect. it was obvious that they were the invention of spanish intriguers who wished to help that nation to universal monarchy. then he launched forth into general and cordial abuse of spain, much to the satisfaction of count henry of nassau, who stood near enough to hear a good deal of the conversation, and of the other dutch deputies who were moving about, quite unknown, in the crowd. he denounced very vigorously the malignity of the spaniards in lighting fires everywhere in their neighbours' possessions, protested that he would always oppose their wicked designs, but spoke contemptuously of their present king as too feeble of mind and body ever to comprehend or to carry out the projects of his predecessors. among other gossip, james asked the envoy if he went to hear the protestant preaching in london. being answered in the affirmative, he expressed surprise, having been told, he said, that it was rosny's intention to repudiate his religion as de sancy had done, in order to secure his fortunes. the marquis protested that such a thought had never entered his head, but intimated that the reports might come from his familiar intercourse with the papal nuncius and many french ecclesiastics. the king asked if, when speaking with the nuncius, he called the pope his holiness, as by so doing he would greatly offend god, in whom alone was holiness. rosny replied that he commonly used the style prevalent at court, governing himself according to the rules adopted in regard to pretenders to crowns and kingdoms which they thought belonged to them, but the possession of which was in other hands, conceding to them, in order not to offend them, the titles which they claimed. james shook his head portentously, and changed the subject. the general tone of the royal-conversation was agreeable enough to the ambassador, who eagerly alluded to the perfidious conduct of a government which, ever since concluding the peace of vervins with henry, had been doing its best to promote sedition and territorial dismemberment in his kingdom, and to assist all his open and his secret enemies. james assented very emphatically, and the marquis felt convinced that a resentment against spain, expressed so publicly and so violently by james, could hardly fail to, be sincere. he began seriously to, hope that his negotiations would be successful, and was for soaring at once into the regions of high politics, when the king suddenly began to talk of hunting. "and so you sent half the stag i sent you; to count arenberg," said james; "but he is very angry about it; thinking that you did so to show how much more i make of you than i do of him. and so i do; for i know the difference between your king, my brother; and his masters who have sent me an ambassador who can neither walk nor talk, and who asked me to give him audience in a garden because he cannot go upstairs." the king then alluded to tassis, chief courier of his catholic majesty and special envoy from spain, asking whether the marquis had seen him on his passage through france. "spain sends me a postillion-ambassador," said he, "that he may travel the faster and attend to business by post." it was obvious that james took a sincere satisfaction in abusing everything relating to that country from its sovereign and the duke of lerma downwards; but he knew very well that velasco, constable of castile, had been already designated as ambassador, and would soon be on his way to england. de rosny on the termination of his audience, was escorted in great state by the earl of northumberland to the barges. a few days later, the ambassador had another private audience, in which the king expressed himself with apparent candour concerning the balance of power. christendom, in his opinion, should belong in three equal shares to the families of stuart, bourbon, and habsburg; but personal ambition and the force of events had given to the house of austria more than its fair third. sound policy therefore required a combination between france and england, in order to reduce their copartner within proper limits. this was satisfactory as far as it went, and the ambassador complimented the king on his wide views of policy and his lofty sentiments in regard to human rights. warming with the subject, james held language very similar to that which de rosny and his master had used in their secret conferences, and took the ground unequivocally that the secret war levied by spain against france and england, as exemplified in the biron conspiracy, the assault on geneva, the aid of the duke of savoy, and in the perpetual fostering of jesuit intrigues, plots of assassination, and other conspiracies in the british islands, justified a secret war on the part of henry and himself against philip. the ambassador would have been more deeply impressed with the royal language had he felt more confidence in the royal character. highly applauding the sentiments expressed, and desiring to excite still further the resentment of james against spain, he painted a vivid picture of the progress of that aggressive power in the past century. she had devoured flanders, burgundy, granada, navarre, portugal, the german empire, milan, naples, and all the indies. if she had not swallowed likewise both france and england those two crowns were indebted for their preservation, after the firmness of elizabeth and henry, to the fortunate incident of the revolt of the netherlands. de rosny then proceeded to expound the necessity under which james would soon find himself of carrying on open war with spain, and of the expediency of making preparations for the great struggle without loss of time. he therefore begged the king to concert with him some satisfactory measure for the preservation of the united provinces. "but," said james, "what better assistance could we give the netherlanders than to divide their territory between the states and spain; agreeing at the same time to drive the spaniard out altogether, if he violates the conditions which we should guarantee." this conclusion was not very satisfactory to de rosny, who saw in the bold language of the king--followed thus by the indication of a policy that might last to the greek kalends, and permit ostend, dutch flanders, and even the republic to fall--nothing but that mixture of timidity, conceit, and procrastination which marked the royal character. he pointed out to him accordingly that spanish statesmanship could beat the world in the art of delay, and of plucking the fruits of delay, and that when the united provinces had been once subjugated, the turn of england would come. it would be then too late for him to hope to preserve himself by such measures as, taken now, would be most salutary. a few days later the king invited de rosny and the two hundred members of his embassy to dine at greenwich, and the excursion down the thames took place with the usual pomp. the two hundred dined with the gentlemen of the court; while at the king's table, on an elevated platform in the same hall, were no guests but de rosny, and the special envoy of france, count beaumont. the furniture and decorations of the table were sumptuous, and the attendants, to the surprise of the frenchmen, went on their knees whenever they offered wine or dishes to the king. the conversation at first was on general topics, such as the heat of the weather, which happened to be remarkable, the pleasures of the chase, and the merits of the sermon which, as it was sunday, de rosny had been invited to hear before dinner in the royal chapel. soon afterwards, however, some allusion being made to the late queen, james spoke of her with contempt. he went so far as to say that, for a long time before her death, he had governed the councils, of england; all her ministers obeying and serving him much better than they did herself. he then called for wine, and, stretching out his glass towards his two. guests, drank to the health of the king and queen and royal family of france. de rosny, replied by proposing the health of his august host, not forgetting the queen and their children, upon which the king, putting his lips close to the ambassador's ear, remarked that his next toast should be in honour of the matrimonial union which was proposed between the families of britain and france. this was the first allusion made by james to the alliance; and the occasion did not strike the marquis as particularly appropriate to such a topic. he however replied in a whisper that he was rejoiced to hear this language from the king, having always believed that there would be no hesitation on his part between king henry and the monarch of spain, who, as he was aware, had made a similar proposition. james, expressing surprise that his guest was so well informed, avowed that he had in fact received the same offer of the infanta for his son as had been made to his christian majesty for the dauphin. what more convenient counters in the great game of state than an infant prince and princess in each of the three royal families to which europe belonged! to how many grave political combinations were these unfortunate infants to give rise, and how distant the period when great nations might no longer be tied to the pinafores of children in the nursery! after this little confidential interlude, james expressed in loud voice, so that all might hear, his determination never to permit the subjugation of the netherlands by spain. measures should be taken the very next day, he promised, in concert with the ambassador, as to the aid to be given to the states. upon the faith of this declaration de rosny took from his pocket the plan of a treaty, and forthwith, in the presence of all the ministers, placed it in the hands of the king, who meantime had risen from table. the ambassador also took this occasion to speak publicly of the english piracies upon french commerce while the two nations were at peace. the king, in reply, expressed his dissatisfaction at these depredations and at the english admiral who attempted to defend what had been done. he then took leave of his guests, and went off to bed, where it was his custom to pass his afternoons. it was certain that the constable of castile was now to arrive very soon, and the marquis had, meantime, obtained information on which he relied, that this ambassador would come charged with very advantageous offers to the english court. accounts had been got ready in council, of all the moneys due to england by france and by the states, and it was thought that these sums, payment of which was to be at once insisted upon, together with the spanish dollars set afloat in london, would prove sufficient to buy up all resistance to the spanish alliance. such being the nature of the information furnished to de rosny, he did not look forward with very high hopes to the issue of the conference indicated by king james at the greenwich dinner. as, after all, he would have to deal once more with cecil, the master-spirit of the spanish party, it did not seem very probable that the king's whispered professions of affection for france, his very loud denunciations of spanish ambition, and his promises of support to the struggling provinces, would be brought into any substantial form for human nourishment. whispers and big words, touching of glasses at splendid banquets, and proposing of royal toasts, would not go far to help those soldiers in ostend, a few miles away, fighting two years long already for a square half-mile of barren sand, in which seemed centred the world's hopes of freedom. barneveld was inclined to take an even more gloomy view than that entertained by the french ambassador. he had, in truth, no reason to be sanguine. the honest republican envoys had brought no babies to offer in marriage. their little commonwealth had only the merit of exchanging buffets forty years long with a power which, after subjugating the netherlands, would have liked to annihilate france and england too, and which, during that period, had done its best to destroy and dismember both. it had only struggled as no nation in the world's history had ever done, for the great principle upon which the power and happiness of england were ever to depend. it was therefore not to be expected that its representatives should be received with the distinction conferred upon royal envoys. barneveld and his colleagues accordingly were not invited, with two hundred noble hangers-on, to come down the thames in gorgeous array, and dine at greenwich palace; but they were permitted to mix in the gaping crowd of spectators, to see the fine folk, and to hear a few words at a distance which fell from august lips. this was not very satisfactory, as barneveld could rarely gain admittance to james or his ministers. de rosny, however, was always glad to confer with him, and was certainly capable of rendering justice both to his genius and to the sacredness of his cause. the advocate, in a long conference with the ambassador, thought it politic to paint the situation of the republic in even more sombre colours than seemed to de rosny justifiable. he was, indeed, the more struck with barneveld's present despondency, because, at a previous conference, a few days before, he had spoken almost with contempt of the spaniards, expressing the opinion that the mutinous and disorganized condition of the archduke's army rendered the conquest of ostend improbable, and hinted at a plan, of which the world as yet knew nothing, which would save that place, or at any rate would secure such an advantage for the states as to more than counterbalance its possible loss? this very sanguine demeanour had rather puzzled those who had conferred with the advocate, although they were ere long destined to understand his allusions, and it was certainly a contrast to his present gloom. he assured de rosny that the hollanders were becoming desperate, and that they were capable of abandoning their country in mass, and seeking an asylum beyond the seas? the menace was borrowed from the famous project conceived by william the silent in darker days, and seemed to the ambassador a present anachronism. obviously it was thought desirable to force the french policy to extreme lengths, and barneveld accordingly proposed that henry should take the burthen upon his shoulders of an open war with spain, in the almost certain event that england would make peace with that power. de rosny calmly intimated to the advocate that this was asking something entirely beyond his power to grant, as the special object of his mission was to form a plan of concerted action with england. the cautionary towns being next mentioned, barneveld stated that a demand had been made upon envoy caron by cecil for the delivery of those places to the english government, as england had resolved to make peace with spain. the advocate confided, however, to de rosny that the states would interpose difficulties, and that it would be long before the towns were delivered. this important information was given under the seal of strictest secrecy, and was coupled with an inference that a war between the republic and britain would be the probable result, in which case the states relied upon the alliance with france. the ambassador replied that in this untoward event the republic would have the sympathy of his royal master, but that it would be out of the question for him to go to war with spain and england at the same time. on the same afternoon there was a conference at arundel house between the dutch deputies, the english counsellors, and de rosny, when barneveld drew a most dismal picture of the situation; taking the ground that now or never was the time for driving the spaniards entirely out of the netherlands. cecil said in a general way that his majesty felt a deep interest in the cause of the provinces, and the french ambassador summoned the advocate, now that he was assured of the sympathy of two great kings, to furnish some plan by which that sympathy might be turned to account. barneveld, thinking figures more eloquent than rhetoric, replied that the states, besides garrisons, had fifteen thousand infantry and three thousand cavalry in the field, and fifty warships in commission, with artillery and munitions in proportion, and that it would be advisable for france and england to furnish an equal force, military and naval, to the common cause. de rosny smiled at the extravagance of the proposition. cecil, again taking refuge in commonplaces, observed that his master was disposed to keep the peace with all his neighbours, but that, having due regard to the circumstances, he was willing to draw a line between the wishes of the states and his own, and would grant them a certain amount of succour underhand. thereupon the dutch deputies withdrew to confer. de rosny, who had no faith in cecil's sincerity--the suggestion being essentially the one which he had himself desired--went meantime a little deeper into the subject, and soon found that england, according to the secretary of state, had no idea of ruining herself for the sake of the provinces, or of entering into any positive engagements in their behalf. in case spain should make a direct attack upon the two kings who were to constitute themselves protectors of dutch liberty, it might be necessary to take up arms. the admission was on the whole superfluous, it not being probable that britain, even under a stuart, would be converted to the doctrine of non-resistance. yet in this case it was suggested by cecil that the chief reliance of his government would be on the debts owed by the dutch and french respectively, which would then be forthwith collected. de rosny was now convinced that cecil was trifling with him, and evidently intending to break off all practical negotiations. he concealed his annoyance, however, as well as he could, and simply intimated that the first business of importance was to arrange for the relief of ostend; that eventualities, such as the possible attack by spain upon france and england, might for the moment be deferred, but that if england thought it a safe policy to ruin henry by throwing on his shoulders the whole burthen of a war with the common enemy, she would discover and deeply regret her fatal mistake. the time was a very ill-chosen one to summon france to pay old debts, and his christian majesty had given his ambassador no instructions contemplating such a liquidation. it was the intention to discharge the sum annually, little by little, but if england desired to exhaust the king by these peremptory demands, it was an odious conduct, and very different from any that france had ever pursued. the english counsellors were not abashed by this rebuke, but became, on the contrary, very indignant, avowing that if anything more was demanded of them, england would entirely abandon the united provinces. "cecil made himself known to me in this conference," said de rosny, "for exactly what he was. he made use only of double meanings and vague propositions; feeling that reason was not on his side. he was forced to blush at his own self-contradictions, when, with a single word, i made him feel the absurdity of his language. now, endeavouring to intimidate me, he exaggerated the strength of england, and again he enlarged upon the pretended offers made by spain to that nation." the secretary, desirous to sow discord between the dutch deputies and the ambassador, then observed that france ought to pay to england l , upon the nail, which sum would be at once appropriated to the necessities of the states. "but what most enraged me," said de rosny, "was to see these ministers, who had come to me to state the intentions of their king, thus impudently substitute their own; for i knew that he had commanded them to do the very contrary to that which they did." the conference ended with a suggestion by cecil, that as france would only undertake a war in conjunction with england, and as england would only consent to this if paid by france and the states, the best thing for the two kings to do would be to do nothing, but to continue to live in friendship together, without troubling themselves about foreign complications. this was the purpose towards which the english counsellors had been steadily tending, and these last words of cecil seemed to the ambassador the only sincere ones spoken by him in the whole conference. "if i kept silence," said the ambassador, "it was not because i acquiesced in their reasoning. on the contrary, the manner in which they had just revealed themselves, and avowed themselves in a certain sort liars and impostors, had given me the most profound contempt for them. i thought, however, that by heating myself and contending with them so far from causing them to abandon a resolution which they had taken in concert--i might even bring about a total rupture. on the other hand, matters remaining as they were, and a friendship existing between the two kings, which might perhaps be cemented by a double marriage, a more favourable occasion might present itself for negotiation. i did not yet despair of the success of my mission, because i believed that the king had no part in the designs which his counsellors wished to carry out." that the counsellors, then struggling for dominion over the new king and his kingdom, understood the character of their sovereign better than did the ambassador, future events were likely enough to prove. that they preferred peace to war, and the friendship of spain to an alliance, offensive and defensive, with france in favour of a republic which they detested, is certain. it is difficult, however, to understand why they were "liars and impostors" because, in a conference with the representative of france, they endeavoured to make their own opinions of public policy valid rather than content themselves simply with being the errand-bearers of the new king, whom they believed incapable of being stirred to an honourable action. the whole political atmosphere of europe was mephitic with falsehood, and certainly the gales which blew from the english court at the accession of james were not fragrant, but de rosny had himself come over from france under false pretences. he had been charged by his master to represent henry's childish scheme, which he thought so gigantic, for the regeneration of europe, as a project of his own, which he was determined to bring to execution, even at the risk of infidelity to his sovereign, and the first element in that whole policy was to carry on war underhand against a power with which his master had just sworn to preserve peace. in that age at least it was not safe for politicians to call each other hard names. the very next day de rosny had a long private interview with james at greenwich. being urged to speak without reserve, the ambassador depicted the privy counsellors to the king as false to his instructions, traitors to the best interests of their country, the humble servants of spain, and most desirous to make their royal master the slave of that power, under the name of its ally. he expressed the opinion, accordingly, that james would do better in obeying only the promptings of his own superior wisdom, rather than the suggestions of the intriguers about him. the adroit de rosny thus softly insinuated to the flattered monarch that the designs of france were the fresh emanations of his own royal intellect. it was the whim of james to imagine himself extremely like henry of bourbon in character, and he affected to take the wittiest, bravest, most adventurous, and most adroit knight-errant that ever won and wore a crown as his perpetual model. it was delightful, therefore, to find himself in company with his royal brother; making and unmaking kings; destroying empires, altering the whole face of christendom, and, better than all, settling then and for ever the theology of the whole world, without the trouble of moving from his easy chair, or of incurring any personal danger. he entered at once, with the natural tendency to suspicion of a timid man, into the views presented by de rosny as to the perfidy of his counsellors. he changed colour; and was visibly moved, as the ambassador gave his version of the recent conference with cecil and the other ministers, and, being thus artfully stimulated, he was, prepared to receive with much eagerness the portentous communications now to be made. the ambassador, however, caused him to season his admiration until he had taken a most solemn oath, by the sacrament of the eucharist, never to reveal a syllable of what he was about to hear. this done, and the royal curiosity excited almost beyond endurance, de rosny began to, unfold the stupendous schemes which had been, concerted between elizabeth and henry at dover, and which formed the secret object of his present embassy. feeling that the king was most malleable in the theological part of his structure, the wily envoy struck his first blows in that direction; telling him that his own interest in the religious, condition of europe, and especially in the firm establishment of the protestant faith, far surpassed in his mind all considerations of fortune, country, or even of fidelity to his sovereign. thus far, political considerations had kept henry from joining in the great catholic league, but it was possible that a change might occur in his system, and the protestant form of worship, abandoned by its ancient protector, might disappear entirely from france and from europe. de rosny had, therefore, felt the necessity of a new patron for the reformed religion in this great emergency, and had naturally fixed his eyes on the puissant and sagacious prince who now occupied, the british throne. now was the time, he urged, for james to immortalize his name by becoming the arbiter of the destiny of europe. it would always seem his own design, although henry was equally interested in it with himself. the plan was vast but simple, and perfectly easy of execution. there would be no difficulty in constructing an all-powerful league of sovereigns for the destruction of the house of austria, the foundation-stones of which would of course be france, great britain, and the united provinces. the double marriage between the bourbon and stuart families would indissolubly unite the two kingdoms, while interest and gratitude; a common hatred and a common love, would bind the republic as firmly to the union. denmark and sweden were certainly to be relied upon, as well as all other protestant princes. the ambitious and restless duke of savoy would be gained by the offer of lombardy and a kingly crown, notwithstanding his matrimonial connection with spain. as for the german princes, they would come greedily into the arrangement, as the league, rich in the spoils of the austrian house, would have hungary, bohemia, silesia, moravia, the archduchies, and other splendid provinces to divide among them. the pope would be bought up by a present, in fee-simple, of naples, and other comfortable bits of property, of which he was now only feudal lord. sicily would be an excellent sop for the haughty republic of venice. the franche comte; alsace, tirol, were naturally to be annexed to switzerland; liege and the heritage of the duke of cleves and juliers to the dutch commonwealth. the king of france, who, according to de rosny's solemn assertions, was entirely ignorant of the whole scheme, would, however, be sure to embrace it very heartily when james should propose it to him, and would be far too disinterested to wish to keep any of the booty for himself. a similar self-denial was, of course, expected of james, the two great kings satisfying themselves with the proud consciousness of having saved society, rescued the world from the sceptre of an austrian universal monarchy, and regenerated european civilization for all future time. the monarch listened with ravished ears, interposed here and there a question or a doubt, but devoured every detail of the scheme, as the ambassador slowly placed it before him. de rosny showed that the spanish faction was not in reality so powerful as the league which would be constructed for its overthrow. it was not so much a religious as a political frontier which separated the nations. he undertook to prove this, but, after all, was obliged to demonstrate that the defection of henry from the protestant cause had deprived him of his natural allies, and given him no true friends in exchange for the old ones. essentially the catholics were ranged upon one side, and the protestants on the other, but both religions were necessary to henry the huguenot: the bold free-thinker adroitly balanced himself upon each creed. in making use of a stern and conscientious calvinist, like maximilian de bethune, in his first assault upon the theological professor who now stood in elizabeth's place, he showed the exquisite tact which never failed him. toleration for the two religions which had political power, perfect intolerance for all others; despotic forms of polity, except for two little republics which were to be smothered with protection and never left out of leading strings, a thorough recasting of governments and races, a palingenesis of europe, a nominal partition of its hegemony between france and england, which was to be in reality absorbed by france, and the annihilation of austrian power east and west, these were the vast ideas with which that teeming bourbon brain was filled. it is the instinct both of poetic and of servile minds to associate a sentiment of grandeur with such fantastic dreams, but usually on condition that the dreamer wears a crown. when the regenerator of society appears with a wisp of straw upon his head, unappreciative society is apt to send him back to his cell. there, at least, his capacity for mischief is limited. if to do be as grand as to imagine what it were good to do, then the dutchmen in hell's mouth and the porcupine fighting universal monarchy inch by inch and pike to pike, or trying conclusions with the ice-bears of nova zembla, or capturing whole portuguese fleets in the moluccas, were effecting as great changes in the world, and doing perhaps as much for the advancement of civilization, as james of the two britains and henry of france and navarre in those his less heroic days, were likely to accomplish. history has long known the results. the ambassador did his work admirably. the king embraced him in a transport of enthusiasm, vowed by all that was most sacred to accept the project in all its details, and exacted from the ambassador in his turn an oath on the eucharist never to reveal, except to his master, the mighty secrets of their conference. the interview had lasted four hours. when it was concluded, james summoned cecil, and in presence of the ambassador and of some of the counsellors, lectured him soundly on his presumption in disobeying the royal commands in his recent negotiations with de rosny. he then announced his decision to ally himself strictly with france against spain in consequence of the revelations just made to him, and of course to espouse the cause of the united provinces. telling the crest-fallen secretary of state to make the proper official communications on the subject to the ambassadors of my lords the states-general,--thus giving the envoys from the republic for the first time that pompous designation, the king turned once more to the marquis with the exclamation, "well, mr. ambassador, this time i hope that you are satisfied with me?" in the few days following de rosny busied himself in drawing up a plan of a treaty embodying all that had been agreed upon between henry and himself, and which he had just so faithfully rehearsed to james. he felt now some inconvenience from his own artfulness, and was in a measure caught in his own trap. had he brought over a treaty in his pocket, james would have signed it on the spot, so eager was he for the regeneration of europe. it was necessary, however, to continue the comedy a little longer, and the ambassador, having thought it necessary to express many doubts whether his master could be induced to join in the plot, and to approve what was really his own most cherished plan, could now do no more than promise to use all his powers of persuasion unto that end. the project of a convention, which james swore most solemnly to sign, whether it were sent to him in six weeks or six months, was accordingly rapidly reduced to writing and approved. it embodied, of course, most of the provisions discussed in the last secret interview at greenwich. the most practical portion of it undoubtedly related to the united provinces, and to the nature of assistance to be at once afforded to that commonwealth, the only ally of the two kingdoms expressly mentioned in the treaty. england was to furnish troops, the number of which was not specified, and france was to pay for them, partly out of her own funds, partly out of the amount due by her to england. it was, however, understood, that this secret assistance should not be considered to infringe the treaty of peace which already existed between henry and the catholic king. due and detailed arrangements were made as to the manner in which the allies were to assist each other, in case spain, not relishing this kind of neutrality, should think proper openly to attack either great britain or france, or both. unquestionably the dutch republic was the only portion of europe likely to be substantially affected by these secret arrangements; for, after all, it had not been found very easy to embody the splendid visions of henry, which had so dazzled the imagination of james in the dry clauses of a protocol. it was also characteristic enough of the crowned conspirators, that the clause relating to the united provinces provided that the allies would either assist them in the attainment of their independence, or--if it should be considered expedient to restore them to the domination of spain or the empire--would take such precautions and lay down such conditions as would procure perfect tranquillity for them, and remove from the two allied kings the fear of a too absolute government by the house of austria in those provinces. it would be difficult to imagine a more impotent conclusion. those dutch rebels had not been fighting for tranquillity. the tranquillity of the rock amid raging waves--according to the device of the father of the republic--they had indeed maintained; but to exchange their turbulent and tragic existence, ever illumined by the great hope of freedom, for repose under one despot guaranteed to them by two others, was certainly not their aim. they lacked the breadth of vision enjoyed by the regenerators who sat upon mountain-tops. they were fain to toil on in their own way. perhaps, however, the future might show as large results from their work as from the schemes of those who were to begin the humiliation of the austrian house by converting its ancient rebels into tranquil subjects. the marquis of rosny, having distributed , crowns among the leading politicians and distinguished personages at the english court, with ample promises of future largess if they remained true to his master, took an affectionate farewell of king james, and returned with his noble two hundred to recount his triumphs to the impatient henry. the treaty was soon afterwards duly signed and ratified by the high contracting parties. it was, however, for future history to register its results on the fate of pope, emperor, kings, potentates, and commonwealths, and to show the changes it would work in the geography, religion, and polity of the world. the deputies from the states-general, satisfied with the practical assistance promised them, soon afterwards took their departure with comparative cheerfulness, having previously obtained the royal consent to raise recruits in scotland. meantime the great constable of castile, ambassador from his catholic majesty, had arrived in london, and was wroth at all that he saw and all that he suspected. he, too, began to scatter golden arguments with a lavish hand among the great lords and statesmen of britain, but found that the financier of france had, on the whole; got before him in the business, and was skilfully maintaining his precedence from the other side of the channel. but the end of these great diplomatic manoeuvres had not yet come. chapter xlii. siege of ostend--the marquis spinola made commander-in-chief of the besieging army--discontent of the troops--general aspect of the operations--gradual encroachment of the enemy. the scene again shifts to ostend. the spanish cabinet, wearied of the slow progress of the siege, and not entirely satisfied with the generals, now concluded almost without consent of the archdukes, one of the most extraordinary jobs ever made, even in those jobbing days. the marquis spinola, elder brother of the ill-fated frederic, and head of the illustrious genoese family of that name, undertook to furnish a large sum of money which the wealth of his house and its connection with the great money-lenders of genoa enabled him to raise, on condition that he should have supreme command of the operations against ostend and of the foreign armies in the netherlands. he was not a soldier, but he entered into a contract, by his own personal exertions both on the exchange and in the field, to reduce the city which had now resisted all the efforts of the archduke for more than two years. certainly this was an experiment not often hazarded in warfare. the defence of ostend was in the hands of the best and moat seasoned fighting-men in europe. the operations were under the constant supervision of the foremost captain of the age; for maurice, in consultation with the states-general, received almost daily reports from the garrison, and regularly furnished advice and instructions as to their proceedings. he was moreover ever ready to take the field for a relieving campaign. nothing was known of spinola save that he was a high-born and very wealthy patrician who had reached his thirty-fourth year without achieving personal distinction of any kind, and who, during the previous summer, like so many other nobles from all parts of europe, had thought it worth his while to drawl through a campaign or two in the low countries. it was the mode to do this, and it was rather a stigma upon any young man of family not to have been an occasional looker on at that perpetual military game. his brother frederic, as already narrated; had tried his chance for fame and fortune in the naval service, and had lost his life in the adventure without achieving the one or the other. this was not a happy augury for the head of the family. frederic had made an indifferent speculation. what could the brother hope by taking the field against maurice of nassau and lewis william and the baxes and meetkerkes? nevertheless the archduke eagerly accepted his services, while the infanta, fully confident of his success before he had ordered a gun to be fired, protested that if spinola did not take ostend nobody would ever take it. there was also, strangely enough, a general feeling through the republican ranks that the long-expected man had come. thus a raw volunteer, a man who had never drilled a hundred men, who had never held an officer's commission in any army in the world, became, as by the waving of a wand, a field-marshal and commander-in-chief at a most critical moment in history, in the most conspicuous position in christendom, and in a great war, now narrowed down to a single spot of earth, on which the eyes of the world were fixed, and the daily accounts from which were longed for with palpitating anxiety. what but failure and disaster could be expected from such astounding policy? every soldier in the catholic forces--from grizzled veterans of half a century who had commanded armies and achieved victories when this dainty young italian was in his cradle, down to the simple musketeer or rider who had been campaigning for his daily bread ever since he could carry a piece or mount a horse was furious with discontent or outraged pride. very naturally too, it was said that the position of the archdukes had become preposterous. it was obvious, notwithstanding the pilgrimages of the infanta to our lady of hall, to implore not only the fall of ostend, but the birth of a successor to their sovereignty, that her marriage would for ever remain barren. spain was already acting upon this theory, it was said, for the contract with spinola was made, not at brussels, but at madrid, and a foreign army of spaniards and italians, under the supreme command of a genoese adventurer, was now to occupy indefinitely that flanders which had been proclaimed an independent nation, and duly bequeathed by its deceased proprietor to his daughter. ambrose spinola, son of philip, marquis of venafri, and his wife, polyxena grimaldi, was not appalled by the murmurs of hardly suppressed anger or public criticism. a handsome, aristocratic personage, with an intellectual, sad, but sympathetic face, fair hair and beard, and imposing but attractive presence--the young volunteer, at the beginning of october, made his first visit of inspection in the lines before ostend. after studying the situation of affairs very thoroughly, he decided that the operations on the gullet or eastern side, including bucquoy's dike, with pompey targone's perambulatory castles and floating batteries, were of secondary importance. he doubted the probability of closing up a harbour, now open to the whole world and protected by the fleets of the first naval power of europe, with wickerwork, sausages, and bridges upon barrels. his attention was at once concentrated on the western side, and he was satisfied that only by hard fighting and steady delving could he hope to master the place. to gain ostend he would be obliged to devour it piecemeal as he went on. whatever else might be said of the new commander-in-chief, it was soon apparent that, although a volunteer and a patrician, he was no milksop. if he had been accustomed all his life to beds of down, he was as ready now to lie in the trenches, with a cannon for his pillow, as the most ironclad veteran in the ranks. he seemed to require neither sleep nor food, and his reckless habit of exposing himself to unnecessary danger was the subject of frequent animadversion on the part both of the archdukes and of the spanish government. it was however in his case a wise temerity. the veterans whom he commanded needed no encouragement to daring deeds, but they required conviction as to the valour and zeal of their new commander, and this was afforded them in overflowing measure. it is difficult to decide, after such a lapse of years, as to how much of the long series of daily details out of which this famous siege was compounded deserves to be recorded. it is not probable that for military history many of the incidents have retained vital importance. the world rang, at the beginning of the operations, with the skill and inventive talent of targone, giustiniani, and other italian engineers, artificers, and pyrotechnists, and there were great expectations conceived of the effects to be produced by their audacious and original devices. but time wore on. pompey's famous floating battery would not float, his moving monster battery would not move. with the one; the subtle italian had intended to close up the gullet to the states' fleets. it was to rest on the bottom at low water at the harbour's mouth, to rise majestically with the flood, and to be ever ready with a formidable broadside of fifty pounders against all comers. but the wild waves and tempests of the north sea soon swept the ponderous toy into space, before it had fired a gun. the gigantic chariot, on which a moveable fort was constructed, was still more portentous upon paper than the battery. it was directed against that republican work, defending the gullet, which was called in derision the spanish half-moon. it was to be drawn by forty horses, and armed with no man knew how many great guns, with a mast a hundred and fifty feet high in the centre of the fort, up and down which played pulleys raising and lowering a drawbridge long enough to span the gullet. it was further provided with anchors, which were to be tossed over the parapet of the doomed redoubt, while the assailants, thus grappled to the enemy's work, were to dash over the bridge after having silenced the opposing fire by means of their own peripatetic battery. unfortunately for the fame of pompey, one of his many wheels was crushed on the first attempt to drag the chariot to the scene of anticipated triumph, the whole structure remained embedded in the sand, very much askew; nor did all the mules and horses that could be harnessed to it ever succeed in removing it an inch out of a position, which was anything but triumphant. it seemed probable enough therefore that, so far as depended on the operations from the eastern side, the siege of ostend, which had now lasted two years and three months, might be protracted for two years and three months longer. indeed, spinola at once perceived that if the archduke was ever to be put in possession of the place for which he had professed himself ready to wait eighteen years, it would be well to leave bucquoy and targone to build dykes and chariots and bury them on the east at their leisure, while more energy was brought to bear upon the line of fortifications of the west than had hitherto been employed. there had been shooting enough, bloodshed enough, suffering enough, but it was amazing to see the slight progress made. the occupation of what were called the external squares has been described. this constituted the whole result of the twenty-seven months' work. the town itself--the small and very insignificant kernel which lay enclosed in such a complicated series of wrappings and layers of defences--seemed as far off as if it were suspended in the sky. the old haven or canal, no longer navigable for ships, still served as an admirable moat which the assailants had not yet succeeded in laying entirely dry. it protected the counterscarp, and was itself protected by an exterior aeries of works, while behind the counterscarp was still another ditch, not so broad nor deep as the canal, but a formidable obstacle even after the counterscarp should be gained. there were nearly fifty forts and redoubts in these lines, of sufficient importance to have names which in those days became household words, not only in the netherlands, but in europe; the siege of ostend being the one military event of christendom, so long as it lasted. these names are of course as much forgotten now as those of the bastions before nineveh. a very few of them will suffice to indicate the general aspect of the operations. on the extreme southwest of ostend had been in peaceful times a polder--the general term to designate a pasture out of which the sea-water had been pumped--and the forts in that quarter were accordingly called by that name, as polder half-moon, polder ravelin, or great and little polder bulwark, as the case might be. farther on towards the west, the north-west, and the north, and therefore towards the beach, were the west ravelin, west bulwark, moses's table, the porcupine, the hell's mouth, the old church, and last and most important of all, the sand hill. the last-named work was protected by the porcupine and hell's mouth, was the key to the whole series of fortifications, and was connected by a curtain with the old church, which was in the heart of the old town. spinola had assumed command in october, but the winter was already closing in with its usual tempests and floods before there had been time for him to produce much effect. it seemed plain enough to the besieged that the object of the enemy would be to work his way through the polder, and so gradually round to the porcupine and the sand hill. precisely in what directions his subterraneous passages might be tending, in what particular spot of the thin crust upon which they all stood an explosion might at any moment be expected, it was of course impossible to know. they were sure that the process of mining was steadily progressing, and maurice sent orders to countermine under every bulwark, and to secretly isolate every bastion, so that it would be necessary for spinola to make his way, fort by fort, and inch by inch. thus they struggled drearily about under ground, friend and foe, often as much bewildered as wanderers in the catacombs. to a dismal winter succeeded a ferocious spring. both in february and march were westerly storms, such as had not been recorded even on that tempest-swept coast for twenty years, and so much damage was inflicted on the precious sand hill and its curtain, that, had the enemy been aware of its plight, it is probable that one determined assault might have put him in possession of the place. but ostend was in charge of a most watchful governor, peter van gieselles, who had succeeded charles van der noot at the close of the year . a plain, lantern jawed, dutch colonel; with close-cropped hair, a long peaked beard, and an eye that looked as if it had never been shut; always dressed in a shabby old jerkin with tarnished flowers upon it, he took command with a stout but heavy heart, saying that the place should never be surrendered by him, but that he should never live to see the close of the siege. he lost no time in repairing the damages of the tempest, being ready to fight the west wind, the north sea, and spinola at any moment, singly or conjoined. he rebuilt the curtain of the sand hill, added fresh batteries to the porcupine and hell's mouth, and amused and distracted the enemy with almost daily sorties and feints. his soldiers passed their days and nights up to the knees in mud and sludge and sea-water, but they saw that their commander never spared himself, and having a superfluity of food and drink, owing to the watchful care of the states-general, who sent in fleets laden with provisions faster than they could be consumed, they were cheerful and content. on the th march there was a determined effort to carry the lesser polder bulwark. after a fierce and bloody action, the place was taken by storm, and the first success in the game was registered for spinola. the little fort was crammed full of dead, but such of the defenders as survived were at last driven out of it, and forced to take refuge in the next work. day after day the same bloody business was renewed, a mere monotony of assaults, repulses, sallies, in which hardly an inch of ground was gained on either side, except at the cost of a great pile of corpses. "men will never know, nor can mortal pen ever describe," said one who saw it all, "the ferocity and the pertinacity of both besiegers and besieged." on the th of march, colonel catrice, an accomplished walloon officer of engineers, commanding the approaches against the polder, was killed. on the st march, as peter orieselles was taking his scrambling dinner in company with philip fleming, there was a report that the enemy was out again in force. a good deal of progress had been made during the previous weeks on the south-west and west, and more was suspected than was actually known. it was felt that the foe was steadily nibbling his way up to the counterscarp. moreover, such was the emulation among the germans, walloons, italians, and spaniards for precedence in working across the canal, that a general assault and universal explosion were considered at any instant possible. the governor sent fleming to see if all was right in the porcupine, while he himself went to see if a new battery, which he had just established to check the approaches of the enemy towards the polder half-moon and ravelin in a point very near the counterscarp, was doing its duty. being, as usual, anxious to reconnoitre with his own eyes, he jumped upon the rampart. but there were sharp-shooters in the enemy's trenches, and they were familiar with the governor's rusty old doublet and haggard old face. hardly had he climbed upon the breastwork when a ball pierced his heart, and he fell dead without a groan. there was a shout of triumph from the outside, while the tidings soon spread sadness through the garrison, for all loved and venerated the man. philip fleming, so soon as he learned the heavy news, lost no time in unavailing regrets, but instantly sent a courier to prince maurice; meantime summoning a council of superior officers, by whom colonel john van loon was provisionally appointed commandant. a stately, handsome man, a good officer, but without extensive experience, he felt himself hardly equal to the immense responsibility of the post, but yielding to the persuasions of his comrades, proceeded to do his best. his first care was to secure the all-important porcupine, towards which the enemy had been slowly crawling with his galleries and trenches. four days after he had accepted the command he was anxiously surveying that fortification, and endeavouring to obtain a view of the enemy's works, when a cannon-ball struck him on the right leg, so that he died the next day. plainly the post of commandant of ostend was no sinecure. he was temporarily succeeded by sergeant-major jacques de bievry, but the tumults and confusion incident upon this perpetual change of head were becoming alarming. the enemy gave the garrison no rest night nor day, and it had long become evident that the young volunteer, whose name was so potent on the genoa exchange, was not a man of straw nor a dawdler, however the superseded veterans might grumble. at any rate the troops on either side were like to have their fill of work. on the nd april the polder ravelin was carried by storm. it was a most bloody action. never were a few square feet of earth more recklessly assailed, more resolutely maintained. the garrison did not surrender the place, but they all laid down their lives in its defence. scarcely an individual of them all escaped, and the foe, who paid dearly with heaps of dead and wounded for his prize, confessed that such serious work as this had scarce been known before in any part of that great slaughter-house, flanders. a few days later, colonel bievry, provisional commandant, was desperately wounded in a sortie, and was carried off to zeeland. the states-general now appointed jacques van der meer, baron of berendrecht, to the post of honour and of danger. a noble of flanders, always devoted to the republican cause; an experienced middle-aged officer, vigilant, energetic, nervous; a slight wiry man, with a wizened little face, large bright eyes, a meagre yellow beard, and thin sandy hair flowing down upon his well-starched ruff, the new governor soon showed himself inferior to none of his predecessors in audacity and alertness. it is difficult to imagine a more irritating position in many respects than that of commander in such an extraordinary leaguer. it was not a formal siege. famine, which ever impends over an invested place, and sickens the soul with its nameless horrors, was not the great enemy to contend against here. nor was there the hideous alternative between starving through obstinate resistance or massacre on submission, which had been the lot of so many dutch garrisons in the earlier stages of the war. retreat by sea was ever open to the ostend garrison, and there was always an ample supply of the best provisions and of all munitions of war. but they had been unceasingly exposed to two tremendous enemies. during each winter and spring the ocean often smote their bastions and bulwarks in an hour of wrath till they fell together like children's toys, and it was always at work, night and day, steadily lapping at the fragile foundations on which all their structures stood. nor was it easy to give the requisite attention to the devouring sea, because all the materials that could be accumulated seemed necessary to repair the hourly damages inflicted by their other restless foe. thus the day seemed to draw gradually but inexorably nearer when the place would be, not captured, but consumed. there was nothing for it, so long as the states were determined to hold the spot, but to meet the besieger at every point, above or below the earth, and sell every inch of that little morsel of space at the highest price that brave men could impose. so berendrecht, as vigilant and devoted as even peter gieselles had ever been, now succeeded to the care of the polders and the porcupines, and the hell's mouths; and all the other forts, whose quaint designations had served, as usually is the case among soldiers, to amuse the honest patriots in the midst of their toils and danger. on the th april, the enemy assailed the great western ravelin, and after a sanguinary hand-to-hand action, in which great numbers of officers and soldiers were lost on both sides, he carried the fort; the spaniards, italians, germans, and walloons vieing with each other in deeds of extraordinary daring, and overcoming at last the resistance of the garrison. this was an important success. the foe had now worked his way with galleries and ditches along the whole length of the counterscarp till he was nearly up with the porcupine, and it was obvious that in a few days he would be master of the counterscarp itself. a less resolute commander, at the head of less devoted troops, might have felt that when that inevitable event should arrive all that honour demanded would have been done, and that spinola was entitled to his city. berendrecht simply decided that if the old counterscarp could no longer be held it was time to build a new counterscarp. this, too, had been for some time the intention of prince maurice. a plan for this work had already been sent into the place, and a distinguished english engineer, ralph dexter by name, arrived with some able assistants to carry it into execution. it having been estimated that the labour would take three weeks of time, without more ado the inner line was carefully drawn, cutting off with great nicety and precision about one half the whole place. within this narrowed circle the same obstinate resistance was to be offered as before, and the bastions and redoubts of the new entrenchment were to be baptized with the same uncouth names which two long years of terrible struggle had made so precious. the work was very laborious; for the line was drawn straight through the town, and whole streets had to be demolished and the houses to their very foundations shovelled away. moreover the men were forced to toil with spade in one hand and matchlock in the other, ever ready to ascend from the ancient dilapidated cellars in order to mount the deadly breach at any point in the whole circumference of the place. it became absolutely necessary therefore to send a sufficient force of common workmen into the town to lighten the labours of the soldiers. moreover the thought, although whistled to the wind, would repeatedly recur, that, after all, there must be a limit to these operations, and that at last there would remain no longer any earth in which to find a refuge. the work of the new entrenchment went slowly on, but it was steadily done. meantime they were comforted by hearing that the stadholder had taken the field in flanders, at the head of a considerable force, and they lived in daily expectation of relief. it will be necessary, at the proper moment, to indicate the nature of prince maurice's operations. for the present, it is better that the reader should confine his attention within the walls of ostend. by the th may, the enemy had effected a lodgment in a corner of the porcupine, and already from that point might threaten the new counterscarp before it should be completed. at the same time he had gnawed through to the west bulwark, and was busily mining under the porcupine itself. in this fort friend and foe now lay together, packed like herrings, and profited by their proximity to each other to vary the monotony of pike and anaphance with an occasional encounter of epistolary wit. thus spanish letters, tied to sticks, and tossed over into the next entrenchment, were replied to by others, composed in four languages by the literary man of ostend, auditor fleming, and shot into the enemy's trenches on cross-bow bolts. on the th may, a long prepared mine was sprung beneath the porcupine. it did its work effectively, and the may assailants did theirs no less admirably, crowding into the breach with headlong ferocity, and after a long and sanguinary struggle with immense lose on both sides, carrying the precious and long-coveted work by storm. inch by inch the defenders were thus slowly forced back toward their new entrenchment. on the same day, however, they inflicted a most bloody defeat upon the enemy in an attempt to carry the great polder. he withdrew, leaving heaps of slain, so that the account current for the day would have balanced itself, but that the porcupine, having changed hands, now bristled most formidably against its ancient masters. the daily 'slaughter had become sickening to behold. there were three thousand effective men in the garrison. more could have been sent in to supply the steady depletion in the ranks, but there was no room for more. there was scarce space enough for the living to stand to their work, or for the dead to lie in their graves. and this was an advantage which could not fail to tell. of necessity the besiegers would always very far outnumber the garrison, so that the final success of their repeated assaults became daily more and more possible. yet on the nd june the enemy met not only with another signal defeat, but also with a most bitter surprise. on that day the mine which he had been so long and so laboriously constructing beneath the great polder bulwark was sprung with magnificent effect. a breach, forty feet wide, was made in this last stronghold of the old defences, and the soldiers leaped into the crater almost before it had ceased to blaze, expecting by one decisive storm to make themselves masters at last of all the fortifications, and therefore of the town itself. but as emerging from the mine, they sprang exulting upon the shattered bulwark, a transformation more like a sudden change in some holiday pantomime than a new fact in this three years' most tragic siege presented itself to their astonished eyes. they had carried the last defence of the old counterscarp, and behold--a new one, which they had never dreamed of, bristling before their eyes, with a flanking battery turned directly upon them. the musketeers and pikemen, protected by their new works, now thronged towards the assailants; giving them so hearty a welcome that they reeled back, discomfited, after a brief but severe struggle, from the spot of their anticipated triumph, leaving their dead and dying in the breach. four days later, berendrecht, with a picked party of english troops, stole out for a reconnaissance, not wishing to trust other eyes than his own in the imminent peril of the place. the expedition was successful. a few prisoners were taken, and valuable information was obtained, but these advantages were counterbalanced by a severe disaster. the vigilant and devoted little governor, before effecting his entrance into the sally port, was picked off by a sharpshooter, and died the next day. this seemed the necessary fate of the commandants of ostend, where the operations seemed more like a pitched battle lasting three years than an ordinary siege. gieselles, van loon, bievry, and now berendrecht, had successively fallen at the post of duty since the beginning of the year. not one of them was more sincerely deplored than berendrecht. his place was supplied by colonel uytenhoove, a stalwart, hirsute, hard-fighting dutchman, the descendant of an ancient race, and seasoned in many a hard campaign. the enemy now being occupied in escarping and furnishing with batteries the positions he had gained, with the obvious intention of attacking the new counterscarp, it was resolved to prepare for the possible loss of this line of fortifications by establishing another and still narrower one within it. half the little place had been shorn away by the first change. of the half which was still in possession of the besieged about one-third was now set off, and in this little corner of earth, close against the new harbour, was set up their last refuge. they called the new citadel little troy, and announced, with pardonable bombast, that they would hold out there as long as the ancient trojans had defended ilium. with perfect serenity the engineers set about their task with line, rule, and level, measuring out the bulwarks and bastions, the miniature salients, half-moons, and ditches, as neatly and methodically as if there were no ceaseless cannonade in their ears, and as if the workmen were not at every moment summoned to repel assaults upon the outward wall. they sent careful drawings of little troy to maurice and the states, and received every encouragement to persevere, together with promises of ultimate relief. but there was one serious impediment to the contemplated construction of the new earth-works. they had no earth. nearly everything solid had been already scooped away in the perpetual delving. the sea-dykes had been robbed of their material, so that the coming winter might find besiegers and besieged all washed together into the german ocean, and it was hard digging and grubbing among the scanty cellarages of the dilapidated houses. but there were plenty of graves, filled with the results of three years' hard fighting. and now, not only were all the cemeteries within the precincts shovelled and carted in mass to the inner fortifications, but rewards being offered of ten stivers for each dead body, great heaps of disinterred soldiers were piled into the new ramparts. thus these warriors, after laying down their lives for the cause of freedom, were made to do duty after death. whether it were just or no thus to disturb the repose--if repose it could be called--of the dead that they might once more protect the living, it can scarcely be doubted that they took ample revenge on the already sufficiently polluted atmosphere. on the th june the foe sprang a mine under the western bulwark; close to a countermine exploded by the garrison the day before. the assailants thronged as merrily as usual to the breach, and were met with customary resolution by the besieged; governor uytenhoove, clad in complete armour, leading his troops. the enemy, after an hour's combat, was repulsed with heavy loss, but the governor fell in the midst of the fight. instantly he was seized by the legs by a party of his own men, some english desperadoes among the number, who, shouting that the colonel was dead, were about to render him the last offices by plundering his body. the ubiquitous fleming, observing the scene, flew to the rescue and, with the assistance of a few officers, drove off these energetic friends, and taking off the governor's casque, discovered that he still breathed. that he would soon have ceased to do so, had he been dragged much farther in his harness over that jagged and precipitous pile of rubbish, was certain. he was desperately wounded, and of course incapacitated for his post. thus, in that year, before the summer solstice, a fifth commandant had fallen. on the same day, simultaneously with this repulse in the west bulwark, the enemy made himself at last completely master of the polder. here, too, was a savage hand-to-hand combat with broadswords and pikes, and when the pikes were broken, with great clubs and stakes pulled from the fascines; but the besiegers were victorious, and the defenders sullenly withdrew with their wounded to the inner entrenchments. on the th june, daniel de hartaing, lord of marquette, was sent by the states-general to take command in ostend. the colonel of the walloon regiment which had rendered such good service on the famous field of nieuport, the new governor, with his broad, brown, cheerful face, and his milan armour, was a familiar figure enough to the campaigners on both sides in flanders or germany. the stoutest heart might have sunk at the spectacle which the condition of the town presented at his first inspection. the states-general were resolved to hold the place, at all hazards, and marquette had come to do their bidding, but it was difficult to find anything that could be called a town. the great heaps of rubbish, which had once been the outer walls, were almost entirely in the possession of the foe, who had lodged himself in all that remained of the defiant porcupine, the hell's mouth, and other redoubts, and now pointed from them at least fifty great guns against their inner walls. the old town, with its fortifications, was completely honeycombed, riddled, knocked to pieces, and, although the sand hill still held out, it was plain enough that its days were numbered unless help should soon arrive. in truth, it required a clear head and a practised eye to discover among those confused masses of prostrate masonry, piles of brick, upturned graves, and mounds of sand and rubbish, anything like order and regularity. yet amid the chaos there was really form and meaning to those who could read aright, and marquette saw, as well in the engineers' lines as in the indomitable spirit that looked out of the grim faces of the garrison, that ostend, so long as anything of it existed in nature, could be held for the republic. their brethren had not been firmer, when keeping their merry christmas, seven years before, under the north pole, upon a pudding made of the gunner's cartridge paste, or the knights of the invincible lion in the horrid solitudes of tierra del fuego, than were the defenders of this sandbank. whether the place were worth the cost or not, it was for my lords the states-general to decide, not for governor marquette. and the decision of those "high and mighty" magistrates, to whom even maurice of nassau bowed without a murmur, although often against his judgment, had been plainly enough announced. and so shiploads of deals and joists, bricks, nails, and fascines, with requisite building materials, were sent daily in from zeeland, in order that little troy might be completed; and, with god's help, said the garrison, the republic shall hold its own. and now there were two months more of mining and countermining, of assaults and repulses, of cannonading and hand-to-hand fights with pikes and clubs. nearer and nearer, day by day, and inch by inch, the foe had crawled up to the verge of their last refuge, and the walls of little troy, founded upon fresh earth and dead men's bones, and shifting sands, were beginning to quake under the guns of the inexorable volunteer from genoa. yet on the th august there was great rejoicing in the beleaguered town. cannon thundered salutes, bonfires blazed, trumpets rang jubilant blasts, and, if the church-bells sounded no merry peals, it was because the only church in the place had been cut off in the last slicing away by the engineers. hymns of thanksgiving ascended to heaven, and the whole garrison fell on their knees, praying fervently to almighty god, with devout and grateful hearts. it was not an ignoble spectacle to see those veterans kneeling where there was scarce room to kneel, amid ruin and desolation, to praise the lord for his mercies. but to explain this general thanksgiving it is now necessary for a moment to go back. etext editor's bookmarks: began to scatter golden arguments with a lavish hand certain number of powers, almost exactly equal to each other conceit, and procrastination which marked the royal character do you want peace or war? i am ready for either eloquence of the biggest guns even the virtues of james were his worst enemies gold was the only passkey to justice if to do be as grand as to imagine what it were good to do it is certain that the english hate us (sully) logic of the largest battalions made peace--and had been at war ever since nations tied to the pinafores of children in the nursery natural tendency to suspicion of a timid man not safe for politicians to call each other hard names one of the most contemptible and mischievous of kings (james i) peace founded on the only secure basis, equality of strength peace seemed only a process for arriving at war repose under one despot guaranteed to them by two others requires less mention than philip iii himself rules adopted in regard to pretenders to crowns served at their banquets by hosts of lackeys on their knees take all their imaginations and extravagances for truths the expenses of james's household the pigmy, as the late queen had been fond of nicknaming him to negotiate with government in england was to bribe unproductive consumption being accounted most sagacious war was the normal condition of christians we have been talking a little bit of truth to each other what was to be done in this world and believed as to the next you must show your teeth to the spaniard history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , - chapter xliii. policy of the king of france--operations of prince maurice--plans for a flemish campaign--passage into flanders--fort st. catharine-- flight of its garrison, and occupation by maurice--surrender of ysendyke and aardenburg--skirmish at stamper's hook--siege of sluys by prince maurice--ineffectual attempt of spinola to relieve the town--its capitulation and restoration to the states--death of lewis gunther of nassau--operations at ostend--surrender of the garrison-- desolation of the scene after its evacuation. the states-general had begun to forget the severe lesson taught them in the nieuport campaign. being determined to hold ostend, they became very impatient, in the early part of the present year, that maurice should once more invade flanders, at the head of a relieving army, and drive the archdukes from before the town. they were much influenced in this policy by the persistent advice of the french king. to the importunities of their envoy at paris, henry had, during the past eighteen months, replied by urging the states to invade flanders and seize its ports. when they had thus something to place as pledges in his hands, he might accede to their clamour and declare war against spain. but he scarcely concealed his intention, in such case, to annex both the obedient and the united netherlands to his own dominions. meantime, before getting into the saddle, he chose to be guaranteed against loss. "assure my lords the states that i love them," he said, "and shall always do my best for them." his affection for the territory of my lords was even warmer than the sentiments he entertained for themselves. moreover, he grudged the preliminary expenses which would be necessary even should he ultimately make himself sovereign of the whole country. rosny assured the envoy that he was mistaken in expecting a declaration of war against spain. "not that he does not think it useful and necessary," said the minister, "but he wishes to have war and peace both at once--peace because he wishes to make no retrenchments in his pleasures of women, dogs, and buildings, and so war would be very inopportune. in three months he would be obliged to turn tail for want of means (to use his own words), although i would furnish him funds enough, if he would make the use of them that he ought." the queen of england, who, with all her parsimony and false pretences, never doubted in her heart that perpetual hostility to spain was the chief bulwark of her throne, and that the republic was fighting her battles as well as its own, had been ready to make such a lively war in conjunction with france as would drive the spaniard out of all the netherlands. but henry was not to be moved. "i know that if i should take her at her word," said he, "she would at once begin to screw me for money. she has one object, i another." villeroy had said plainly to aerssens, in regard to the prevalent system of englishmen, spaniards, and frenchmen being at war with each other, while the governments might be nominally at peace, "let us take off our masks. if the spaniard has designs against our state, has he not cause? he knows the aid we are giving you, and resents it. if we should abstain, he would leave us in peace. if the queen of england expects to draw us into a league, she is mistaken. look to yourselves and be on your guard. richardot is intriguing with cecil. you give the queen securities, fortresses, seats in your council. the king asks nothing but communication of your projects." in short, all the comfort that aerssens had been able to derive from his experiences at the french court in the autumn of , was that the republic could not be too suspicious both of england and france. rosny especially he considered the most dangerous of all the politicians in france. his daughter was married to the prince of espinoy, whose , livres a year would be safer the more the archduke was strengthened. "but for this he would be stiffer," said aerssens. nevertheless there were strong motives at work, pressing france towards the support of the states. there were strong political reasons, therefore, why they should carry the war into flanders, in conformity with the wishes of the king. the stadholder, after much argument, yielded as usual to the authority of the magistrates, without being convinced as to the sagacity of their plans. it was arranged that an army should make a descent upon the flemish coast in the early spring, and make a demonstration upon sluys. the effect of this movement, it was thought, would be to draw the enemy out of his entrenchments, in which case it would be in the power of maurice to put an end at once to the siege. it is unquestionable that the better alternative, in the judgment of the prince, was to take possession; if possible, of sluys itself. his preparations were, however, made with a view to either event, and by the middle of april he had collected at willemstad a force of fifteen thousand foot and three thousand horse. as on the former memorable expedition, he now again insisted that a considerable deputation of the states and of the states' council should accompany the army. his brother henry, and his cousins lewis william, lewis gunther, and ernest casimir, were likewise with him, as well as the prince of anhalt and other distinguished personages. on the th april the army, having crossed the mouth of the west scheld, from zeeland, in numberless vessels of all sizes and degrees, effected their debarkation on the island of cadzand. in the course of two days they had taken possession of the little town, and all the forts of that island, having made their entrance through what was called the black channel. had they steered boldly through the swint or sluys channel at once, it is probable that they might have proceeded straight up to sluy's, and taken the place by surprise. maurice's habitual caution was, perhaps, on this occasion, a disadvantage to him, but he would have violated the rules of war, and what seemed the dictates of common sense, had he not secured a basis of operations, and a possibility of retreat, before plunging with his army into the heart of a hostile country. the republic still shuddered at the possible catastrophe of four years before, when circumstances had forced him to take the heroic but dangerous resolution of sending off his ships from nieuport. before he had completed his arrangements for supplies on the island of cadzand, he learned from scouts and reconnoitring parties that spinola had sent a thousand infantry, besides five hundred cavalry, under trivulzio, to guard the passage across the swint. maurice was thus on the wrong side of the great channel by which sluy's communicated with the sea? the town of sluy's and its situation have been described in a former chapter. as a port, it was in those days considered a commodious and important one, capable of holding five hundred ships. as a town, it was not so insignificant as geographical and historical changes have since made it, and was certainly far superior to ostend, even if ostend had not been almost battered out of existence. it had spacious streets and squares, and excellent fortifications in perfectly good condition. it was situate in a watery labyrinth, many slender streams from the interior and several saltwater creeks being complicated around it, and then flowing leisurely, in one deep sluggish channel, to the sea. the wrath of leicester, when all his efforts to relieve the place had been baffled by the superior skill of alexander farnese, has been depicted, and during the seventeen years which had elapsed since its capture, the republic had not ceased to deplore that disaster. obviously if the present expedition could end in the restoration of sluy's to its rightful owners, it would be a remarkable success, even if ostend should fall. sluy's and its adjacent domains formed a natural portion of the zeeland archipelago, the geographical counterpart of flushing. with both branches of the stately scheld in its control, the republic would command the coast, and might even dispense with ostend, which, in the judgment of maurice, was an isolated and therefore not a desirable military possession. the states-general were of a different opinion. they much desired to obtain sluy's, but they would not listen to the abandonment of ostend. it was expected of the stadholder, therefore, that he should seize the one and protect the other. the task was a difficult one. a less mathematical brain than that of maurice of nassau would have reeled at the problem to be solved. to master such a plexus of canals, estuaries, and dykes, of passages through swamps, of fords at low water which were obliterated by flood-tide; to take possession of a series of redoubts built on the only firm points of land, with nothing but quaking morass over which to manoeuvre troops or plant batteries against them, would be a difficult study, even upon paper. to accomplish it in the presence of a vigilant and anxious foe seemed bewildering enough. at first it was the intention of the stadholder, disappointed at learning the occupation of the swint, to content himself with fortifying cadzand, in view of future operations at some more favourable moment? so meagre a result would certainly not have given great satisfaction to the states, nor added much to the military reputation of maurice. while he hesitated between plunging without a clue into the watery maze around him, and returning discomfited from the expedition on which such high hopes had been built, a flemish boor presented himself. he offered to guide the army around the east and south of sluy's, and to point out passages where it would be possible to cross the waters, which, through the care of spinola, now seemed to forbid access to the place. maurice lingered no longer. on the th april, led by the friendly boor, he advanced towards oostburg. next morning a small force of the enemy's infantry and cavalry was seen, showing that there must be foothold in that direction. he sent out a few companies to skirmish with those troops, who fled after a very brief action, and, in flying, showed their pursuers the road. maurice marched in force, straight through the waters, on the track of the retreating foe. they endeavoured to rally at the fort of coxie, which stood upon and commanded a dyke, but the republicans were too quick for them, and "drove them out of the place." the stadholder, thus obtaining an unexpected passage into flanders, conceived strong hopes of success, despite the broken nature of the ground. continuing to feel his way cautiously through the wilderness of quagmire, he soon came upon a very formidable obstacle. the well-built and well-equipped redoubt of st. catharine rose frowning before him, overshadowing his path, and completely prohibiting all further progress. plainly it would be necessary to reduce this work at once, unless he were willing to abandon his enterprise. he sent back to cadzand for artillery, but it was flood-tide, the waters were out, and it was not till late in the afternoon that nine pieces arrived. the stadholder ordered a cannonade, less with the hope of producing an impression by such inadequate means on so strong a work, than with the intention of showing the enemy that he had brought field-guns with him, and was not merely on an accidental foray. at the same time, having learned that the garrison, which was commanded by trivulzio, was composed of only a few regular troops, and a large force of guerillas, he gave notice that such combatants were not entitled to quarter, and that if captured they would be all put to the sword. the reply to this threat was not evacuation but defiance. especially a volunteer ensign mounted upon a rampart, and danced about, waving his flag gaily in the face of the assailants. maurice bitterly remarked to his staff that such a man alone was enough to hold the fort. as it was obvious that the place would require a siege in form, and that it would be almost impossible to establish batteries upon that quaking soil, where there was no dry land for cavalry or artillery to move, maurice ordered the nine guns to be carried back to cadzand that night, betaking himself, much disappointed, in the same direction. yet it so happened that the cannoneers, floundering through the bogs, made such an outcry--especially when one of their guns became so bemired that it was difficult for them to escape the disgrace of losing it--that the garrison, hearing a great tumult, which they could not understand, fell into one of those panics to which raw and irregular troops are liable. nothing would convince them that fresh artillery had not arrived, that the terrible stadholder with an immense force was not creating invincible batteries, and that they should be all butchered in cold blood, according to proclamation, before the dawn of day. they therefore evacuated the place under cover of the night, so that this absurd accident absolutely placed maurice in possession of the very fort--without striking a blow--which he was about to abandon in despair, and which formed the first great obstacle to his advance. having occupied st. catharine's, he moved forward to ysendyke, a strongly fortified place three leagues to the eastward of sluys and invested it in form. meantime a great danger was impending over him. a force of well-disciplined troops, to the number of two thousand, dropped down in boats from sluy's to cadzand, for the purpose of surprising the force left to guard that important place. the expedition was partially successful. six hundred landed; beating down all opposition. but a few scotch companies held firm, and by hard fighting were able at last to drive the invaders back to their sloops, many of which were sunk in the affray, with all on board. the rest ignominiously retreated. had the enterprise been as well executed as it was safely planned, it would have gone hard with the stadholder and his army. it is difficult to see in what way he could have extricated himself from such a dilemma, being thus cut off from his supplies and his fleet, and therefore from all possibility of carrying out his design or effecting his escape to zeeland. certainly thus far, fortune had favoured his bold adventure. he now sent his own trumpeter, master hans, to summon ysendyke to a surrender. the answer was a bullet which went through the head of unfortunate master hans. maurice, enraged at this barbarous violation of the laws of war, drew his lines closer. next day the garrison, numbering six hundred, mostly italians, capitulated, and gave up the musketeer who had murdered the trumpeter. two days later the army appeared before aardenburg, a well-fortified town four miles south of sluys. it surrendered disgracefully, without striking a blow. the place was a most important position for the investment of sluys. four or five miles further towards the west, two nearly parallel streams, both navigable, called the sweet and the salt, ran from dam to sluys. it was a necessary but most delicate operation, to tie up these two important arteries. an expedition despatched in this direction came upon trivulzio with a strong force of cavalry, posted at a pass called stamper's hook, which controlled the first of these streams. the narrowness of the pathway gave the advantage to the italian commander. a warm action took place, in which the republican cavalry were worsted, and paul bax severely wounded. maurice coming up with the infantry at a moment when the prospect was very black, turned defeat into victory and completely routed the enemy, who fled from the precious position with a loss of five hundred killed and three hundred prisoners, eleven officers among them. the sweet was now in the stadholder's possession. next day he marched against the salt, at a pass where fourteen hundred spaniards were stationed. making very ostentatious preparations for an attack upon this position, he suddenly fell backwards down the stream to a point which he had discovered to be fordable at low water, and marched his whole army through the stream while the skirmishing was going on a few miles farther up. the spaniards, discovering their error, and fearing to be cut off, scampered hastily away to dam. both streams were now in the control of the republican army, while the single fort of st. joris was all that was now interposed between maurice and the much-coveted swint. this redoubt, armed with nine guns, and provided with a competent, garrison, was surrendered on the rd may. the swint, or great sea-channel of sluys, being now completely in the possession of the stadholder, he deliberately proceeded to lay out his lines, to make his entrenched camp, and to invest his city with the beautiful neatness which ever characterized his sieges. a groan came from the learned lipsius, as he looked from the orthodox shades of louvain upon the progress of the heretic prince. "would that i were happier," he cried, "but things are not going on in flanders as i could wish. how easy it would have been to save sluys, which we are now trying so hard to do, had we turned our attention thither in time! but now we have permitted the enemy to entrench and fortify himself, and we are the less excusable because we know to our cost how felicitously he fights with the spade, and that he builds works like an ancient roman. . . . should we lose sluys, which god forbid, how much strength and encouragement will be acquired by the foe, and by all who secretly or openly favour him! our neighbours are all straining their eyes, as from a watch-tower, eager to see the result of all these doings. but what if they too should begin to move? where should we be? i pray god to have mercy on the netherlanders, whom he has been so many years chastising with heavy whips." it was very true. the man with the spade had been allowed to work too long at his felicitous vocation. there had been a successful effort made to introduce reinforcements to the garrison. troops, to the number of fifteen hundred, had been added to those already shut up there, but the attempts to send in supplies were not so fortunate. maurice had completely invested the town before the end of may, having undisputed possession of the harbour and of all the neighbouring country. he was himself encamped on the west side of the swint; charles van der noot lying on the south. the submerged meadows, stretching all around in the vicinity of the haven, he had planted thickly with gunboats. scarcely a bird or a fish could go into or out of the place. thus the stadholder exhibited to the spaniards who, fifteen miles off towards the west, had been pounding and burrowing three years long before ostend without success, what he understood by a siege. on the nd of may a day of solemn prayer and fasting was, by command of maurice, celebrated throughout the besieging camp. in order that the day should be strictly kept in penance, mortification, and thanksgiving, it was ordered, on severe penalties, that neither the commissaries nor sutlers should dispense any food whatever, throughout the twenty-four hours. thus the commander-in-chief of the republic prepared his troops for the work before them. in the very last days of may the experiment was once more vigorously tried to send in supplies. a thousand galley-slaves, the remnant of frederic spinola's unlucky naval forces, whose services were not likely very soon to be required at sea, were sent out into the drowned land, accompanied by five hundred infantry. simultaneously count berlaymont, at the head of four thousand men, conveying a large supply of provisions and munitions, started from dam. maurice, apprised of the adventure, sallied forth with two thousand troops to meet them. near stamper's hook he came upon a detachment of berlaymont's force, routed them, and took a couple of hundred prisoners. learning from them that berlaymont himself, with the principal part of his force, had passed farther on, he started off in pursuit; but, unfortunately taking a different path through the watery wilderness from the one selected by the flying foe, he was not able to prevent his retreat by a circuitous route to dam. from the prisoners, especially from the galley-slaves, who had no reason for disguising the condition of the place, he now learned that there were plenty of troops in sluys, but that there was already a great lack of provisions. they had lost rather than gained by their success in introducing reinforcements without supplies. upon this information maurice now resolved to sit quietly down and starve out the garrison. if spinola, in consequence, should raise the siege of ostend, in order to relieve a better town, he was prepared to give him battle. if the marquis held fast to his special work, sluys was sure to surrender. this being the position of affairs, the deputies of the states-general took their leave of the stadholder, and returned to the hague. two months passed. it was midsummer, and the famine in the beleaguered town had become horrible. the same hideous spectacle was exhibited as on all occasions where thousands of human beings are penned together without food. they ate dogs, cats, and rats, the weeds from the churchyards, old saddles, and old shoes, and, when all was gone, they began to eat each other. the small children diminished rapidly in numbers, while beacons and signals of distress were fired day and night, that the obdurate spinola, only a few miles off, might at last move to their relief. the archdukes too were beginning to doubt whether the bargain were a good one. to give a strong, new, well-fortified city, with the best of harbours, in exchange for a heap of rubbish which had once been ostend, seemed unthrifty enough. moreover, they had not got ostend, while sure to lose sluys. at least the cardinal could no longer afford to dispense with the service of his beat corps of veterans who had demanded their wages so insolently, and who had laughed at his offer of excommunication by way of payment so heartily. flinging away his pride, he accordingly made a treaty with the mutinous "squadron" at grave, granting an entire pardon for all their offences, and promising full payment of their arrears. until funds should be collected sufficient for this purpose, they were to receive twelve stivers a day each foot-soldier, and twenty-four stivers each cavalryman, and were to have the city of roermond in pledge. the treaty was negotiated by guerrera, commandant of ghent citadel, and by the archbishop of roermond, while three distinguished hostages were placed in the keeping of the mutineers until the contract should be faithfully executed: guerrera himself, count fontenoy, son of marquis d'havre, and avalos, commander of a spanish legion. thus, after making a present of the services of these veterans for a twelvemonth to the stadholder, and after employing a very important portion of his remaining forces in a vain attempt to reduce their revolt, the archduke had now been fain to purchase their submission by conceding all their demands. it would have been better economy perhaps to come to this conclusion at an earlier day. it would likewise have been more judicious, according to the lamentations of justus lipsius, had the necessity of saving sluys been thought of in time. now that it was thoroughly enclosed, so that a mouse could scarce creep through the lines, the archduke was feverish to send in a thousand wagon loads of provisions. spinola, although in reality commander-in-chief of a spanish army, and not strictly subject to the orders of the flemish sovereigns, obeyed the appeal of the archduke, but he obeyed most reluctantly. two-thirds of ostend had been effaced, and it was hard to turn even for a moment from the spot until all should have been destroyed. leaving rivas and bucquoy to guard the entrenchments, and to keep steadily to the work, spinola took the field with a large force of all arms, including the late mutineers and the troops of count trivulzio. on the th august he appeared in the neighbourhood of the salt and sweet streams, and exchanged a few cannon-shots with the republicans. next day he made a desperate assault with three thousand men and some companies of cavalry, upon lewis william's quarters, where he had reason to believe the lines were weakest. he received from that most vigilant commander a hearty welcome, however, and after a long skirmish was obliged to withdraw, carrying off his dead and wounded, together with a few cart-horses which had been found grazing outside the trenches. not satisfied with these trophies or such results, he remained several days inactive, and then suddenly whirled around aardenburg with his whole army, directly southward of sluys, seized the forts of st. catharine and st. philip, which had been left with very small garrisons, and then made a furious attempt to break the lines at oostburg, hoping to cross the fords at that place, and thus push his way into the isle of cadzand. the resistance to his progress was obstinate, the result for a time doubtful. after severe fighting however he crossed the waters of oostburg in the face of the enemy. maurice meantime had collected all his strength at the vital position of cadzand, hoping to deal, or at least to parry, a mortal blow. on the th, on cadzand dyke, between two redoubts, spinola again met lewis william, who had been transferred to that important position. a severe struggle ensued. the spaniards were in superior force, and lewis william, commanding the advance only of the states troops, was hard pressed. moving always in the thickest of the fight, he would probably have that day laid down his life, as so many of his race had done before in the cause of the republic, had not colonel van dorp come to his rescue, and so laid about him with a great broad sword, that the dyke was kept until maurice arrived with eytzinga's frisian regiment and other reserves. van dorp then fell covered with wounds. here was the decisive combat. the two commanders-in-chief met face to face for the first time, and could spinola have gained the position of cadzand the fate of maurice must have been sealed. but all his efforts were vain. the stadholder, by coolness and promptness, saved the day, and inflicted a bloody repulse upon the catholics. spinola had displayed excellent generalship, but it is not surprising that the young volunteer should have failed upon his first great field day to defeat maurice of nassau and his cousin lewis william. he withdrew discomfited at last, leaving several hundred dead upon the field, definitely renouncing all hope of relieving sluys, and retiring by way of dam to his camp before ostend. next day the town capitulated. the garrison were allowed to depart with the honours of war, and the same terms were accorded to the inhabitants, both in secular and religious matters, as were usual when maurice re-occupied any portion of the republic. between three and four thousand creatures, looking rather like ghosts from the churchyards than living soldiers, marched out, with drums beating, colours displayed, matches lighted, and bullet in mouth. sixty of them fell dead before the dismal procession had passed out of the gates. besides these troops were nearly fifteen hundred galley-slaves, even more like shadows than the rest, as they had been regularly sent forth during the latter days of the siege to browse upon soutenelle in the submerged meadows, or to drown or starve if unable to find a sufficient supply of that weed. these unfortunate victims of mahometan and christian tyranny were nearly all turks, and by the care of the dutch government were sent back by sea to their homes. a few of them entered the service of the states. the evacuation of sluys by governor serrano and his garrison was upon the th august. next day the stadholder took possession, bestowing the nominal government of the place upon his brother frederic henry. the atmosphere, naturally enough, was pestiferous, and young count lewis gunther of nassau, who had so brilliantly led the cavalry on the famous day of nieuport, died of fever soon after entering the town infinitely regretted by every one who wished well to the republic. thus an important portion of zeeland was restored, to its natural owners. a seaport which in those days was an excellent one, and more than a compensation for the isolated fishing village already beleaguered for upwards of three years, had been captured in three months. the states-general congratulated their stadholder on such prompt and efficient work, while the garrison of ostend, first learning the authentic news seven days afterwards, although at a distance of only fourteen miles, had cause to go upon their knees and sing praises to the most high. the question now arose as to the relief of ostend. maurice was decidedly opposed to any such scheme. he had got a better ostend in slays, and he saw no motive for spending money and blood in any further attempt to gain possession of a ruin, which, even if conquered, could only with extreme difficulty be held. the states were of a diametrically opposite opinion. they insisted that the stadholder, so soon he could complete his preparations, should march straight upon spinola's works and break up the siege, even at the risk of a general action. they were willing once more to take the terrible chance of a defeat in flanders. maurice, with a heavy heart, bowed to their decision, showing by his conduct the very spirit of a republican soldier, obeying the civil magistrate, even when that obedience was like to bring disaster upon the commonwealth. but much was to be done before he could undertake this new adventure. meantime the garrison in ostend were at their last gasp. on being asked by the states-general whether it was possible to hold out for twenty days longer, marquette called a council of officers, who decided that they would do their best, but that it was impossible to fix a day or hour when resistance must cease. obviously, however, the siege was in its extreme old age. the inevitable end was approaching. before the middle of september the enemy was thoroughly established in possession of the new hell's mouth, the new porcupine, and all the other bastions of the new entrenchment. on the th of that month the last supreme effort was made, and the sand hill, that all-important redoubt, which during these three dismal years had triumphantly resisted every assault, was at last carried by storm. the enemy had now gained possession of the whole town except little troy. the new harbour would be theirs in a few hours, and as for troy itself, those hastily and flimsily constructed ramparts were not likely to justify the vaunts uttered when they were thrown up nor to hold out many minutes before the whole artillery of spinola. plainly on this last morsel of the fatal sandbank the word surrender must be spoken, unless the advancing trumpets of maurice should now be heard. but there was no such welcome sound in the air. the weather was so persistently rainy and stormy that the roads became impassable, and maurice, although ready and intending to march towards spinola to offer him battle, was unable for some days to move. meantime a council, summoned by marquette, of all the officers, decided that ostend must be abandoned now that ostend had ceased to exist. on the th september the accord was signed with spinola. the garrison were to march out with their arms. they were to carry off four cannon but no powder. all clerical persons were to leave the place, with their goods and chattels. all prisoners taken on both sides during the siege were to be released. burghers, sutlers, and others, to go whither they would, undisturbed. and thus the archdukes, after three years and seventy-seven days of siege, obtained their prize. three thousand men, in good health, marched out of little troy with the honours of war. the officers were entertained by spinola and his comrades at a magnificent banquet, in recognition of the unexampled heroism with which the town had been defended. subsequently the whole force marched to the headquarters of the states' army in and about sluys. they were received by prince maurice, who stood bareheaded and surrounded by his most distinguished officers; to greet them and to shake them warmly by the hand. surely no defeated garrison ever deserved more respect from friend or foe. the archduke albert and the infants isabella entered the place in triumph, if triumph it could be called. it would be difficult to imagine a more desolate scene. the artillery of the first years of the seventeenth century was not the terrible enginry of destruction that it has become in the last third of the nineteenth, but a cannonade, continued so steadily and so long, had done its work. there were no churches, no houses, no redoubts, no bastions, no walls, nothing but a vague and confused mass of ruin. spinola conducted his imperial guests along the edge of extinct volcanoes, amid upturned cemeteries, through quagmires which once were moats, over huge mounds of sand, and vast shapeless masses of bricks and masonry, which had been forts. he endeavoured to point out places where mines had been exploded, where ravelins had been stormed, where the assailants had been successful, and where they had been bloodily repulsed. but it was all loathsome, hideous rubbish. there were no human habitations, no hovels, no casemates. the inhabitants had burrowed at last in the earth, like the dumb creatures of the swamps and forests. in every direction the dykes had burst, and the sullen wash of the liberated waves, bearing hither and thither the floating wreck of fascines and machinery, of planks and building materials, sounded far and wide over what should have been dry land. the great ship channel, with the unconquered half-moon upon one side and the incomplete batteries and platforms of bucquoy on the other, still defiantly opened its passage to the sea, and the retiring fleets of the garrison were white in the offing. all around was the grey expanse of stormy ocean, without a cape or a headland to break its monotony, as the surges rolled mournfully in upon a desolation more dreary than their own. the atmosphere was mirky and surcharged with rain, for the wild equinoctial storm which had held maurice spell-bound had been raging over land and sea for many days. at every step the unburied skulls of brave soldiers who had died in the cause of freedom grinned their welcome to the conquerors. isabella wept at the sight. she had cause to weep. upon that miserable sandbank more than a hundred thousand men had laid down their lives by her decree, in order that she and her husband might at last take possession of a most barren prize. this insignificant fragment of a sovereignty which her wicked old father had presented to her on his deathbed--a sovereignty which he had no more moral right or actual power to confer than if it had been in the planet saturn--had at last been appropriated at the cost of all this misery. it was of no great value, although its acquisition had caused the expenditure of at least eight millions of florins, divided in nearly equal proportions between the two belligerents. it was in vain that great immunities were offered to those who would remain, or who would consent to settle in the foul golgotha. the original population left the place in mass. no human creatures were left save the wife of a freebooter and her paramour, a journeyman blacksmith. this unsavoury couple, to whom entrance into the purer atmosphere of zeeland was denied, thenceforth shared with the carrion crows the amenities of ostend. chapter xliv. equation between the contending powers--treaty of peace between king james and the archdukes and the king of spain--position of the provinces--states envoy in england to be styled ambassador--protest of the spanish ambassador--effect of james's peace-treaty on the people of england--public rejoicings for the victory at sluys-- spinola appointed commander-in-chief of the spanish forces-- preparations for a campaign against the states--seizure of dutch cruisers--international discord--destruction of sarmiento's fleet by admiral haultain--projected enterprise against antwerp--descent of spinola on the netherland frontier--oldenzaal and lingen taken-- movements of prince maurice--encounter of the two armies--panic of the netherlanders--consequent loss and disgrace--wachtendonk and cracow taken by spinola--spinola's reception in spain--effect of his victories--results of the struggle between freedom and absolutism-- affairs in the east--amboyna taken by van der hagen--contest for possession of the clove islands--commercial treaty between the states and the king of ternate--hostilities between the kings of ternate and tydor--expulsion of the portuguese from the moluccas-- du terrail's attempted assault on bergen-op-zoom--attack on the dunkirk pirate fleet--practice of executing prisoners captured at sea. i have invited the reader's attention to the details of this famous siege because it was not an episode, but almost the sum total, of the great war during the period occupied by its events. the equation between the contending forces indicated the necessity of peace. that equation seemed for the time to have established itself over all europe. france had long since withdrawn from the actual strife, and kept its idle thunders in a concealed although ever threatening hand. in the east the pacha of buda had become pacha of pest. even gran was soon to fall before the turk, whose advancing horse-tails might thus almost be descried from the walls of vienna. stephen botschkay meantime had made himself master of transylvania, concluded peace with ahmet, and laughed at the emperor rudolph for denouncing him as a rebel. between spain and england a far different result had been reached than the one foreshadowed in the portentous colloquies between king james and maximilian de bethune. those conferences have been purposely described with some minuteness, in order that the difference often existing between vast projects and diametrically opposed and very insignificant conclusions might once more be exhibited. in the summer of it had been firmly but mysteriously arranged between the monarchs of france and great britain that the house of austria should be crushed, its territories parcelled out at the discretion of those two potentates, the imperial crown taken from the habsburgs, the spaniards driven out of the netherlands, an alliance offensive and defensive made with the dutch republic, while the east and west indies were, to be wrested by main force of the allies, from spain, whose subjects were thenceforth to be for ever excluded from those lucrative regions. as for the jesuits, who were to james as loathsome as were the puritans to elizabeth, the british sovereign had implored the ambassador of his royal brother, almost with tears, never to allow that pestilential brood to regain an entrance into his dominions. in the summer of king james made a treaty of peace and amity with the archdukes and with the monarch of spain, thus extending his friendly relations with the doomed house of austria. the republic of the netherlands was left to fight her battles alone; her imaginary allies looking down upon her struggle with benevolent indifference. as for the indies, not a syllable of allusion in the treaty was permitted by spain to that sacred subject; the ambassador informing the british government that he gave them access to twelve kingdoms and two seas, while spain acquired by the treaty access only to two kingdoms and one sea. the new world, however, east or west, from the antilles to the moluccas, was the private and indefeasible property of his catholic majesty. on religious matters, it was agreed that english residents in spain should not be compelled to go to mass, but that they should kneel in the street to the host unless they could get out of the ways. in regard to the netherlands, it was agreed by the two contracting powers that one should never assist the rebels or enemies of the other. with regard to the cities and fortresses of brill, flushing, rammekens, and other cautionary places, where english garrisons were maintained, and which king james was bound according to the contracts of queen elizabeth never to restore except to those who had pledged them to the english crown--the king would uphold those contracts. he would, however, endeavour to make an arrangement with the states by which they should agree within a certain period to make their peace with spain. should they refuse or fail, he would then consider himself liberated from these previous engagements and free to act concerning those cities in an honourable and reasonable manner, as became a friendly king? meantime the garrisons should not in any way assist the hollanders in their hostilities with spain. english subjects were forbidden to carry into spain or the obedient netherlands any property or merchandize belonging to the hollanders, or to make use of dutch vessels in their trade with spain. both parties agreed to do their best to bring about a pacification in the netherlands. no irony certainly could be more exquisite that this last-named article. this was the end of that magnificent conception, the great anglo-french league against the house of austria. king james would combine his efforts with king philip to pacify the netherlands. the wolf and the watchdog would unite to bring back the erring flock to the fold. meantime james would keep the cautionary towns in his clutches, not permitting their garrisons or any of his subjects to assist the rebels on sea or shore. as for the jesuits, their triumphant re-appearance in france, and the demolition of the pyramid raised to their dishonour on the site of the house where john castel, who had stabbed henry iv., had resided, were events about to mark the opening year. plainly enough secretary cecil had out-generalled the french party. the secret treaty of hampton court, the result of the efforts of rosny and olden-barneveld in july of the previous year, was not likely to be of much service in protecting the republic. james meant to let the dead treaties bury their dead, to live in peace with all the world, and to marry his sons and daughters to spanish infantes and infantas. meantime, although he had sheathed the sword which elizabeth had drawn against the common enemy, and had no idea of fighting or spending money for the states, he was willing that their diplomatic agent should be called ambassador. the faithful and much experienced noel de caron coveted that distinction, and moved thereby the spleen of henry's envoy at the hague, buzanval, who probably would not have objected to the title himself. "'twill be a folly," he said, "for him to present himself on the pavement as a prancing steed, and then be treated like a poor hack. he has been too long employed to put himself in such a plight. but there are lunatics everywhere and of all ages." never had the advocate seemed so much discouraged. ostend had fallen, and the defection of the british sovereign was an off-set for the conquest of sluys. he was more urgent with the french government for assistance than he had ever been before. "a million florins a year from france," he said "joined to two millions raised in the provinces, would enable them to carry on the war. the ship was in good condition," he added, "and fit for a long navigation without danger of shipwreck if there were only biscuit enough on board." otherwise she was lost. before that time came he should quit the helm which he had been holding the more resolutely since the peace of vervins because the king had told him, when concluding it, that if three years' respite should be given him he would enter into the game afresh, and take again upon his shoulders the burthen which inevitable necessity had made him throw down. "but," added olden-barneveld, bitterly, "there is little hope of it now, after his neglect of the many admirable occasions during the siege of ostend." so soon as the spanish ambassador learned that caron was to be accepted into the same diplomatic rank as his own, he made an infinite disturbance, protested moat loudly and passionately to the king at the indignity done to his master by this concession to the representative of a crew of traitors and rebels, and demanded in the name of the treaty just concluded that caron should be excluded in such capacity from all access to court. as james was nearly forty years of age, as the hollanders had been rebels ever since he was born, and as the king of spain had exercised no sovereignty over them within his memory, this was naturally asking too much of him in the name of his new-born alliance with spain. so he assumed a position of great dignity, notwithstanding the constable's clamour, and declared his purpose to give audience to the agents of the states by whatever title they presented themselves before him. in so doing he followed the example, he said, of others who (a strange admission on his part) were as wise as himself. it was not for him to censure the crimes and faults of the states, if such they had committed. he had not been the cause of their revolt from spanish authority, and it was quite sufficient that he had stipulated to maintain neutrality between the two belligerents's. and with this the ambassador of his catholic majesty, having obtained the substance of a very advantageous treaty, was fain to abandon opposition to the shadowy title by which james sought to indemnify the republic for his perfidy. the treaty of peace with spain gave no pleasure to the english public. there was immense enthusiasm in london at the almost simultaneous fall of sluys, but it was impossible for the court to bring about a popular demonstration of sympathy with the abandonment of the old ally and the new-born affection for the ancient enemy. "i can assure your mightinesses," wrote caron, "that no promulgation was ever received in london with more sadness. no mortal has shown the least satisfaction in words or deeds, but, on the contrary, people have cried out openly, 'god save our good neighbours the states of holland and zeeland, and grant them victory!' on sunday, almost all the preachers gave thanks from their pulpits for the victory which their good neighbours had gained at sluys, but would not say a word about the peace. the people were admonished to make bonfires, but you may be very sure not a bonfire was to be seen. but, in honour of the victory, all the vessels in st. catharine's docks fired salutes at which the spaniards were like to burst with spite. the english clap their hands and throw their caps in the air when they hear anything published favourable to us, but, it must be confessed, they are now taking very dismal views of affairs. 'vox populi vox dei.'" the rejoicing in paris was scarcely less enthusiastic or apparently less sincere than in london. "the news of the surrender of sluys," wrote aerasens, "is received with so much joy by small and great that one would have said it was their own exploit. his majesty has made such demonstrations in his actions and discourse that he has not only been advised by his council to dissemble in the matter, but has undergone reproaches from the pope's nuncius of having made a league with your mightinesses to the prejudice of the king of spain. his majesty wishes your mightinesses prosperity with all his heart, yea so that he would rather lose his right arm than see your mightinesses in danger. be assured that he means roundly, and we should pray god for his long life; for i don't see that we can expect anything from these regions after his death." it was ere long to be seen, however, roundly as the king meant it, that the republic was to come into grave peril without causing him to lose his right arm, or even to wag his finger, save in reproach of their mightinesses. the republic, being thus left to fight its battles alone, girded its loins anew for the conflict. during the remainder of the year , however, there were no military operations of consequence. both belligerents needed a brief repose. the siege of ostend had not been a siege. it was a long pitched battle between the new system and the old, between absolutism and the spirit of religious, political and mercantile freedom. absolutism had gained the lists on which the long duel had been fought, but the republic had meantime exchanged that war-blasted spot for a valuable and commodious position. it was certainly an advantage, as hostilities were necessarily to have continued somewhere during all that period, that all the bloodshed and desolation had been concentrated upon one insignificant locality, and one more contiguous to the enemy's possessions than to those of the united states. it was very doubtful, however, whether all that money and blood might not have been expended in some other manner more beneficial to the cause of the archdukes. at least it could hardly be maintained that they took anything by the capitulation of ostend but the most barren and worthless of trophies. eleven old guns, partly broken, and a small quantity of ammunition, were all the spoils of war found in the city after its surrender. the marquis spinola went to spain. on passing through paris he was received with immense enthusiasm by henry iv., whose friendship for the states, and whose desperate designs against the house of austria, did not prevent him from warmly congratulating the great spanish general on his victory. it was a victory, said henry, which he could himself have never achieved, and, in recognition of so great a triumph, he presented spinola with a beautiful thracian horse, valued at twelve hundred ducats. arriving in spain, the conqueror found himself at once the object of the open applause and the scarcely concealed hatred of the courtiers and politicians. he ardently desired to receive as his guerdon the rank of grandee of spain. he met with a refusal. to keep his hat on his head in presence of the sovereign was the highest possible reward. should that be bestowed upon him now, urged lerma, what possible recompense could be imagined for the great services which all felt confident that he was about to render in the future? he must continue to remove his hat in the monarch's company. meantime, if he wished the title of prince, with considerable revenues attached to his principality, this was at his disposal. it must be confessed that in a monarchy where the sentiment of honour was supposed to be the foundation of the whole structure there is something chivalrous and stimulating to the imagination in this preference by the great general of a shadowy but rare distinction to more substantial acquisitions. nevertheless, as the grandeeship was refused, it is not recorded that he was displeased with the principality. meantime there was a very busy intrigue to deprive him of the command-in-chief of the catholic forces in flanders, and one so nearly successful that mexia, governor of antwerp citadel, was actually appointed in spinola's stead. it was only after long and anxious conferences at valladolid with the king and the duke of lerma, and after repeated statements in letters from the archdukes that all their hopes of victory depended on retaining the genoese commander-in-chief, that the matter was finally arranged. mexia received an annual pension of eight thousand ducats, and to spinola was assigned five hundred ducats monthly, as commander-in-chief under the archduke, with an equal salary as agent for the king's affairs in flanders. early in the spring he returned to brussels, having made fresh preparations for the new campaign in which he was to measure himself before the world against maurice of nassau. spinola had removed the thorn from the belgic lion's foot: "ostendae erasit fatalis spinola spinam." and although it may be doubted whether the relief was as thorough as had been hoped, yet a freedom of movement had unquestionably been gained. there was now at least what for a long time had not existed, a possibility for imagining some new and perhaps more effective course of campaigning. the young genoese commander-in-chief returned from spain early in may, with the golden fleece around his neck, and with full powers from the catholic king to lay out his work, subject only to the approbation of the archduke. it was not probable that albert, who now thoroughly admired and leaned upon the man of whom he had for a time been disposed to be jealous, would interfere with his liberty of action. there had also been--thanks to spinola's influence with the cabinet at madrid and the merchants of genoa--much more energy in recruiting and in providing the necessary sinews of war. moreover it had been resolved to make the experiment of sending some of the new levies by sea, instead of subjecting them all to the long and painful overland march through spain, italy, and germany. a terzo of infantry was on its way from naples, and two more were expected from milan, but it was decided that the spanish troops should be embarked on board a fleet of transports, mainly german and english, and thus carried to the shores of the obedient netherlands. the states-general got wind of these intentions, and set vice-admiral haultain upon the watch to defeat the scheme. that well-seasoned mariner accordingly, with a sufficient fleet of war-galleots, cruised thenceforth with great assiduity in the chops of the channel. already the late treaty between spain and england had borne fruits of bitterness to the republic. the spanish policy had for the time completely triumphed in the council of james. it was not surprising therefore that the partisans of that policy should occasionally indulge in manifestations of malevolence towards the upstart little commonwealth which had presumed to enter into commercial rivalry with the british realm, and to assert a place among the nations of the earth. an order had just been issued by the english government that none of its subjects should engage in the naval service of any foreign power. this decree was a kind of corollary to the spanish treaty, was levelled directly against the hollanders, and became the pretext of intolerable arrogance, both towards their merchantmen and their lesser war-vessels. admiral monson, an especial partisan of spain, was indefatigable in exercising the right he claimed of visiting foreign vessels off the english coast, in search of english sailors violating the proclamation of neutrality. on repeated occasions prizes taken by dutch cruisers from the spaniards, and making their way with small prize crews to the ports of the republic, were overhauled, visited, and seized by the english admiral, who brought the vessels into the harbours of his own country, liberated the crews, and handed ships and cargoes over to the spanish ambassador. thus prizes fairly gained by nautical skill and hard fighting, off spain, portugal, brazil, or even more distant parts of the world, were confiscated almost in sight of port, in utter disregard of public law or international decency. the states-general remonstrated with bitterness. their remonstrances were answered by copious arguments, proving, of course, to the entire satisfaction of the party who had done the wrong, that no practice could be more completely in harmony with reason and justice. meantime the spanish ambassador sold the prizes, and appropriated the proceeds towards carrying on the war against the republic; the dutch sailors, thus set ashore against their will and against law on the neutral coast of england, being left to get home as they could, or to starve if they could do no better. as for the states, they had the legal arguments of their late ally to console them for the loss of their ships. simultaneously with these events considerable levies of troops were made in england by the archduke, in spite of all the efforts of the dutch ambassador to prevent this one-sided; neutrality, while at the other ends of the world mercantile jealousy in both the indies was fast combining with other causes already rife to increase the international discord. out of all this fuel it was fated that a blaze of hatred between the two leading powers of the new era, the united kingdom and the united republic, should one day burst forth, which was to be fanned by passion, prejudice, and a mistaken sentiment of patriotism and self-interest on both sides, and which not all the bloodshed of more than one fierce war could quench. the traces of this savage sentiment are burnt deeply into the literature, language, and traditions of both countries; and it is strange enough that the epoch at which chronic wrangling and international coolness changed into furious antipathy between the two great protestant powers of europe--for great they already both were, despite the paucity of their population and resources, as compared with nations which were less influenced by the spirit of the age or had less aptness in obeying its impulse--should be dated from the famous year of guy fawkes. meantime the spanish troops, embarked in eight merchant ships and a few pinnaces, were slowly approaching their destination. they had been instructed, in case they found it impracticable to enter a flemish port, to make for the hospitable shores of england, the spanish ambassador and those whom he had bribed at the court of james having already provided for their protection. off dover admiral haultain got sight of sarmiento's little fleet. he made short work with it. faithfully carrying out the strenuous orders of the states-general, he captured some of the ships, burned one, and ran others aground after a very brief resistance. some of the soldiers and crews were picked up by english vessels cruising in the neighbourhood and narrowly watching the conflict. a few stragglers escaped by swimming, but by far, the greater proportion of the newly-arrived troops were taken prisoners, tied together two and two, and then, at a given signal from the admiral's ship, tossed into the sea. not peter titelmann, nor julian romero, nor the duke of alva himself, ever manifested greater alacrity in wholesale murder than was shown by this admiral of the young republic in fulfilling the savage decrees of the states-general. thus at least one-half of the legion perished. the pursuit of the ships was continued within english waters, when the guns of dover castle opened vigorously upon the recent allies of england, in order to protect her newly-found friends in their sore distress. doubtless in the fervour of the work the dutch admiral had violated the neutral coast of england, so that the cannonade from the castle waw technically justified. it was however a biting satire upon the proposed protestant league against spain and universal monarchy in behalf of the dutch republic, that england was already doing her best to save a spanish legion and to sink a dutch fleet. the infraction of english sovereignty was unquestionable if judged by the more scrupulous theory of modern days, but it was well remarked by the states-general, in answer to the remonstrances of james's government, that the dutch admiral, knowing that the pirates of dunkirk roamed at will through english waters in search of their prey, might have hoped for some indulgence of a similar character to the ships of the republic. thus nearly the whole of the spanish legion perished. the soldiers who escaped to the english coast passed the winter miserably in huts, which they were allowed to construct on the sands, but nearly all, including the lieutenant-colonel commanding, pedro cubiera, died of famine or of wounds. a few small vessels of the expedition succeeded in reaching the flemish coast, and landing a slight portion of the terzo. the campaign of opened but languidly. the strain upon the resources of the netherlands, thus unaided, was becoming severe, although there is no doubt that, as the india traffic slowly developed itself, the productive force of the commonwealth visibly increased, while the thrifty habits of its citizens, and their comparative abstinence from unproductive consumption, still enabled it to bear the tremendous burthen of the war. a new branch of domestic industry had grown out of the india trade, great quantities of raw silk being now annually imported from the east into holland, to be wrought into brocades, tapestries, damasks, velvets, satins, and other luxurious fabrics for european consumption. it is a curious phenomenon in the history of industry that while at this epoch holland was the chief seat of silk manufactures, the great financier of henry iv. was congratulating his sovereign and himself that natural causes had for ever prevented the culture or manufacture of silk in france. if such an industry were possible, he was sure that the decline of martial spirit in france and an eternal dearth of good french soldiers would be inevitable, and he even urged that the importation of such luxurious fabrics should be sternly prohibited, in order to preserve the moral health of the people. the practical hollanders were more inclined to leave silk farthingales and brocaded petticoats to be dealt with by thunderers from the pulpit or indignant fathers of families. meantime the states-general felt instinctively that the little commonwealth grew richer, the more useful or agreeable things its burghers could call into existence out of nothingness, to be exchanged for the powder and bullets, timber and cordage, requisite for its eternal fight with universal monarchy, and that the richer the burghers grew the more capable they were of paying their taxes. it was not the fault of the states that the insane ambition of spain and the archdukes compelled them to exhaust themselves annually by the most unproductive consumption that man is ever likely to devise, that of scientifically slaughtering his brethren, because to practise economy in that regard would be to cease to exist, or to accept the most intolerable form of slavery. the forces put into the field in the spring of were but meagre. there was also, as usual, much difference of opinion between maurice and barneveld as to the most judicious manner of employing them, and as usual the docile stadholder submitted his better judgment to the states. it can hardly be too much insisted upon that the high-born maurice always deported himself in fact, and as it were unconsciously, as the citizen soldier of a little republic, even while personally invested with many of the attributes of exalted rank, and even while regarded by many of his leading fellow-citizens as the legitimate and predestined sovereign of the newly-born state. early in the spring a great enterprise against antwerp was projected. it failed utterly. maurice, at bergen-op-zoom, despatched seven thousand troops up the scheld, under command of ernest casimir. the flotilla was a long time getting under weigh, and instead of effecting a surprise, the army, on reaching the walls of antwerp, found the burghers and garrison not in the least astonished, but on the contrary entirely prepared. ernest returned after a few insignificant skirmishes, having accomplished nothing. maurice next spent a few days in reducing the castle of wouda, not far from bergen, and then, transporting his army once more to the isle of cadzand, he established his headquarters at watervliet, near ysendyke. spinola followed him, having thrown a bridge across the scheld. maurice was disposed to reduce a fort, well called patience, lying over against the isle of walcheren. spinola took up a position by which he defended the place as with an impenetrable buckler. a game of skill now began. between these two adepts in the art of war, for already the volunteer had taken rank among the highest professors of the new school. it was the object of maurice, who knew himself on the whole outnumbered, to divine his adversary's intentions. spinola was supposed to be aiming at sluys, at grave, at bergen-op-zoom, possibly even at some more remote city, like rheinberg, while rumours as to his designs, flying directly from his camp, were as thick as birds in the air. they were let loose on purpose by the artful genoese, who all the time had a distinct and definite plan which was not yet suspected. the dilatoriness of the campaign was exasperating. it might be thought that the war was to last another half century, from the excessive inertness of both parties. the armies had all gone into winter quarters in the previous november, spinola had spent nearly six months in spain, midsummer had came and gone, and still maurice was at watervliet, guessing at his adversary's first move. on the whole, he had inclined to suspect a design upon rheinberg, and had accordingly sent his brother henry with a detachment to strengthen the garrison of that place. on the st of august however he learned that spinola had crossed the meuse and the rhine, with ten thousand foot and three thousand horse, and that leaving count bucquoy with six thousand foot and one thousand five hundred horse in the neighbourhood of the rhine, to guard a couple of redoubts which had been constructed for a basis at kaiserswerth, he was marching with all possible despatch towards friesland and groningen. the catholic general had concealed his design in a masterly manner. he had detained maurice in the isle of cadzand, the states still dreaming of a victorious invasion on their part of obedient flanders, and the stadholder hesitating to quit his position of inactive observation, lest the moment his back was turned the rapid spinola might whirl down upon sluys, that most precious and skilfully acquired possession of the republic, when lo! his formidable antagonist was marching in force upon what the prince well knew to be her most important and least guarded frontier. on the th august the catholic general was before olden-zaal which he took in three days, and then advanced to lingen. should that place fall--and the city was known to be most inadequately garrisoned and supplied--it would be easy for the foe to reduce coeworden, and so seize the famous pass over the bourtanger morass, march straight to embden--then in a state of municipal revolution on account of the chronic feuds between its counts and the population, and therefore an easy prey--after which all friesland and groningen would be at his mercy, and his road open to holland and utrecht; in short, into the very bowels of the republic. on the th august maurice broke up his camp in flanders, and leaving five thousand men under colonel van der noot, to guard the positions there, advanced rapidly to deventer, with the intention of saving lingen. it was too late. that very important place had been culpably neglected. the garrison consisted of but one cannoneer, and he had but one arm. a burgher guard, numbering about three hundred, made such resistance as they could, and the one-armed warrior fired a shot or two from a rusty old demi-cannon. such opposition to the accomplished italian was naturally not very effective. on the th august the place capitulated. maurice, arriving at deventer, and being now strengthened by his cousin lewis william with such garrison troops as could be collected, learned the mortifying news with sentiments almost akin to despair. it was now to be a race for coeworden, and the fleet-footed spinola was a day's march at least in advance of his competitor. the key to the fatal morass would soon be in his hands. to the inexpressible joy of the stadholder, the genoese seemed suddenly struck with blindness. the prize was almost in his hands and he threw away all his advantages. instead of darting at once upon coeworden he paused for nearly a month, during which period he seemed intoxicated with a success so rapidly achieved, and especially with his adroitness in outwitting the great stadholder. on the th september he made a retrograde movement towards the rhine, leaving two thousand five hundred men in lingen. maurice, giving profound thanks to god for his enemy's infatuation, passed by lingen, and having now, with his cousin's reinforcements, a force of nine thousand foot and three thousand horse, threw himself into coeworden, strengthened and garrisoned that vital fortress which spinola would perhaps have taken as easily as he had done lingen, made all the neighbouring positions secure, and then fell back towards wesel on the rhine, in order to watch his antagonist. spinola had established his headquarters at ruhrort, a place where the river ruhr empties into the rhine. he had yielded to the remonstrances of the archbishop of cologne, to whom kaiserwerth belonged, and had abandoned the forts which bucquoy, under his directions, had constructed at that place. the two armies now gazed at each other, at a respectful distance, for a fortnight longer, neither commander apparently having any very definite purpose. at last, maurice having well reconnoitred his enemy, perceived a weak point in his extended lines. a considerable force of italian cavalry, with some infantry, was stationed at the village of mulheim, on the ruhr, and apparently out of convenient supporting distance from spinola's main army. the stadholder determined to deliver a sudden blow upon this tender spot, break through the lines, and bring on a general action by surprise. assembling his well-seasoned and veteran troopers in force, he divided them into two formidable bands, one under the charge of his young brother frederic henry, the other under that most brilliant of cavalry officers, marcellus bax, hero of turnhout and many another well-fought field. the river ruhr was a wide but desultory stream, easily fordable in many places. on the opposite bank to mulheim was the castle of brock, and some hills of considerable elevation. bax was ordered to cross the river and seize the castle and the heights, count henry to attack the enemy's camp in front, while maurice himself, following rapidly with the advance of infantry and wagons, was to sustain the assault. marcellus bax, rapid and dashing as usual, crossed the ruhr, captured broek castle with ease, and stood ready to prevent the retreat of the spaniards. taken by surprise in front, they would naturally seek refuge on the other side of the river. that stream was not difficult for infantry, but as the banks were steep, cavalry could not easily extricate themselves from the water, except at certain prepared landings. bax waited however for some time in vain for the flying spaniards. it was not destined that the stadholder should effect many surprises that year. the troopers under frederic henry had made their approaches through an intricate path, often missing their way, and in far more leisurely fashion than was intended, so that outlying scouts had brought in information of the coming attack. as count henry approached the village, trivulzio's cavalry was found drawn up in battle array, formidable in numbers, and most fully prepared for their visitors from wesel. the party most astonished was that which came to surprise. in an instant one of those uncontrollable panics broke out to which even veterans are as subject as to dysentery or scurvy. the best cavalry of maurice's army turned their backs at the very sight of the foe, and galloped off much faster than they had come. meantime, marcellus bax was assaulted, not only by his late handful of antagonists, who had now rallied, but by troops from mulheim, who began to wade across the stream. at that moment he was cheered by the sight of count henry coming on with a very few of his troopers who had stood to their colours. a simultaneous charge from both banks at the enemy floundering in the river was attempted. it might have been brilliantly successful, but the panic had crossed the river faster than the spaniards could do, and the whole splendid picked cavalry force of the republic, commanded by the youngest son of william the silent, and by the favourite cavalry commander of her armies, was, after a hot but brief action, in disgraceful and unreasonable flight. the stadholder reached the bank of that fatal stream only to witness this maddening spectacle, instead of the swift and brilliant triumph which he was justified in expecting. he did his best to stem the retreating tide. he called upon the veterans, by the memory of turnhout and nieuport, and so many other victories, to pause and redeem their name before it was too late. he taunted them with their frequent demands to be led to battle, and their expressed impatience at enforced idleness. he denounced them as valiant only for plundering defenceless peasants, and as cowards against armed men; as trusting more to their horses' heels than to their own right hands. he invoked curses upon them for deserting his young brother, who, conspicuous among them by his gilded armour, the orange-plumes upon his calque, and the bright orange-scarf across his shoulders, was now sorely pressed in the struggling throng. it was all in vain. could maurice have thrown himself into the field, he might, as in the crisis of the republic's fate at nieuport, have once more converted ruin into victory by the magic of his presence. but the river was between him and the battle, and he was an enforced spectator of his country's disgrace. for a few brief moments his demeanour, his taunts, and his supplications had checked the flight of his troops. a stand was made by a portion of the cavalry and a few detached but fierce combats took place. count frederic henry was in imminent danger. leading a mere handful of his immediate retainers, he threw himself into the thickest of the fight, with the characteristic audacity of his house. a spanish trooper aimed his carbine full at his face. it missed fire, and henry, having emptied his own pistol, was seized by the floating scarf upon his breast by more than one enemy. there was a brief struggle, and death or capture seemed certain; when an unknown hand laid his nearest antagonist low, and enabled him to escape from over powering numbers. the soldier, whose devotion thus saved the career of the youngest orange-nassau destined to be so long and so brilliant, from being cut off so prematurely, was never again heard of, and doubtless perished in the fray. meantime the brief sparkle of valour on the part of the states' troops had already vanished. the adroit spinola, hurrying personally to the front, had caused such a clangor from all the drums and trumpets in broek and its neighbourhood to be made as to persuade the restive cavalry that the whole force of the enemy was already upon them. the day was obviously lost, and maurice, with a heavy heart, now him self gave the signal to retreat. drawing up the greater part of his infantry in solid mass upon the banks to protect the passage, he sent a force to the opposite side, horace vere being the first to wade the stream. all that was then possible to do was accomplished, and the panic flight converted into orderly retreat, but it was a day of disaster and disgrace for the republic. about five hundred of the best states' cavalry were left dead on the field, but the stain upon his almost unsullied flag was more cutting to the stadholder's heart than the death of his veterans. the material results were in truth almost even. the famous cavalry general, count trivulzio, with at least three hundred spaniards, fell in the combat, but the glory of having defeated the best cavalry of europe in a stricken field and under the very eyes of the stadholder would have been sufficient compensation to spinola for much greater losses. maurice withdrew towards wesel, sullen but not desponding. his forces were meagre, and although he had been out-generalled, out-marched, and defeated in the open field, at least the genoese had not planted the blow which he had meditated in the very heart of the republic. autumn was now far advanced, and dripping with rain. the roads and fields were fast becoming impassable sloughs, and no further large operations could be expected in this campaign. yet the stadholder's cup was not full, and he was destined to witness two more triumphs of his rival, now fast becoming famous, before this year of disasters should close. on the th october, spinola took the city of wachtendonk, after ten days' siege, and on the th of november the strong place of cracow. maurice was forced to see these positions captured almost under his eyes, being now quite powerless to afford relief. his troops had dwindled by sickness and necessary detachments for garrison-work to a comparatively, insignificant force, and very soon afterwards both armies went into winter quarters. the states were excessively disappointed at the results of the year's work, and deep if not loud were the reproaches cast upon the stadholder. certainly his military reputation had not been augmented by this campaign. he had lost many places, and had not gained an inch of ground anywhere. already the lustre of sluys, of nieuport, and turnhout were growing dim, for maurice had so accustomed the republic to victories that his own past triumphs seemed now his greatest enemies. moreover he had founded a school out of which apt pupils had already graduated, and it would seem that the genoese volunteer had rapidly profited by his teachings as only a man endowed with exquisite military genius could have done. yet, after all, it seems certain that, with the stadholder's limited means, and with the awful consequences to the country of a total defeat in the open field, the fabian tactics, which he had now deliberately adopted, were the most reasonable. the invader of foreign domains, the suppressor of great revolts, can indulge in the expensive luxury of procrastination only at imminent peril. for the defence, it is always possible to conquer by delay, and it was perfectly understood between spinola and his ablest advisers at the spanish court that the blows must be struck thick and fast, and at the most vulnerable places, or that the victory would be lost. time was the ally not of the spanish invaders, who came from afar, but of the dutch burghers, who remained at home. "jam aut nunquam," was the motto upon the italian's banners. in proportion to the depression in the republic at the results of this year's campaigning was the elation at the spanish court. bad news and false news had preceded the authentic intelligence of spinola's victories. the english envoy had received unquestionable information that the catholic general had sustained an overwhelming defeat at the close of the campaign, with a loss of three thousand five hundred men. the tale was implicitly believed by king and cabinet, so that when, very soon afterwards, the couriers arrived bringing official accounts of the victory gained over the veteran cavalry of the states in the very presence of the stadholder, followed by the crowning triumph of wachtendonk, the demonstrations of joy were all the more vivacious in consequence of the previous gloom. spinola himself followed hard upon the latest messengers, and was received with ovations. never, since the days of alexander farnese, had a general at the spanish court been more cordially caressed or hated. had philip the prudent been still upon the throne, he would have felt it his duty to make immediate arrangements for poisoning him. certainly his plans and his popularity would have been undermined in the most artistic manner. but philip iii., more dangerous to rabbits than to generals, left the genoese to settle the plans of his next campaign with lerma and his parasites. the subtle spinola, having, in his despatches, ascribed the chief merit of the victories to louis velasco, a spaniard, while his own original conception of transferring the war to friesland was attributed by him with magnificent effrontery to lerma and to the king--who were probably quite ignorant of the existence of that remote province--succeeded in maintaining his favourable position at court, and was allowed, by what was called the war-council, to manage matters nearly at his pleasure. it is difficult however to understand how so much clamour should have been made over such paltry triumphs. all europe rang with a cavalry fight in which less than a thousand saddles on both sides had been emptied, leading to no result, and with the capture of a couple of insignificant towns, of which not one man in a thousand had ever heard. spinola had doubtless shown genius of a subtle and inventive order, and his fortunate audacity in measuring himself, while a mere apprentice, against the first military leader living had been crowned with wonderful success. he had nailed the stadholder fast to the island of cadzand, while he was perfecting his arrangements and building boats on the rhine; he had propounded riddles which maurice had spent three of the best campaigning months in idle efforts to guess, and when he at last moved, he had swept to his mark with the swiftness and precision of a bird of prey. yet the greatest of all qualities in a military commander, that of deriving substantial fruits from victory instead of barren trophies, he had not manifested. if it had been a great stroke of art to seize reach deventer, it was an enormous blunder, worthy of a journeyman soldier, to fail to seize the bourtange marshes, and drive his sword into the fiery vitals of the republic, thus placed at his mercy. meantime, while there had been all these rejoicings and tribulations at the great doings on the rhine and the shortcoming in friesland, the real operations of the war had been at the antipodes. it is not a very unusual phenomenon in history that the events, upon whose daily development the contemporary world hangs with most palpitating interest, are far inferior in permanent influence upon the general movement of humanity to a series of distant and apparently commonplace transactions. empires are built up or undermined by the ceaseless industry of obscure multitudes often slightly observed, or but dimly comprehended. battles and sieges, dreadful marches, eloquent debates, intricate diplomacy--from time to time but only perhaps at rare intervals--have decided or modified the destiny of nations, while very often the clash of arms, the din of rhetoric, the whiz of political spindles, produce nothing valuable for human consumption, and made the world no richer. if the age of heroic and religious passion was rapidly fading away before the gradual uprising of a politico-mercantile civilization--as it certainly was--the most vital events, those in which the fate of coming generations was most deeply involved, were those inspired by the spirit of commercial-enterprise. nor can it be denied that there is often a genial and poetic essence even among things practical or of almost vulgar exterior. in those early expeditions of the hollanders to the flaming lands of the equator there is a rhythm and romance of historical movement not less significant than in their unexampled defence of fatherland and of the world's liberty against the great despotism of the age. universal monarchy was baffled by the little republic, not within its own populous cities only, or upon its own barren sands. the long combat between freedom and absolutism had now become as wide as the world. the greatest european states had been dragged by the iron chain of necessity into a conflict from which they often struggled to escape, and on every ocean, and on almost every foot of soil, where the footsteps of mankind had as yet been imprinted, the fierce encounters were every day renewed. in the east and the west, throughout that great vague new world, of which geographers had hardly yet made a sketch, which comprised both the americas and something called the east indies, and which spain claimed as her private property, those humbly born and energetic adventurers were rapidly creating a symmetrical system out of most dismal chaos. the king of spain warned all nations from trespassing upon those outlying possessions. his edicts had not however prevented the english in moderate numbers, and the hollanders in steadily increasing swarms, from enlarging and making profitable use of these new domains of the world's commerce. the days were coming when the people was to have more to say than the pope in regard to the disposition and arrangements of certain large districts of this planet. while the world-empire, which still excited so much dismay, was yielding to constant corrosion, another empire, created by well-directed toil and unflinching courage, was steadily rising out of the depths. it has often been thought amazing that the little republic should so long and so triumphantly withstand the enormous forces brought forward for her destruction. it was not, however, so very surprising. foremost among nations, and in advance of the age, the republic had found the strength which comes from the spirit of association. on a wider scale than ever before known, large masses of men, with their pecuniary means, had been intelligently banded together to advance material interests. when it is remembered that, in addition to this force, the whole commonwealth was inspired by the divine influence of liberty, her power will no longer seem so wonderful. a sinister event in the isle of ceylon had opened the series of transactions in the east, and had cast a gloom over the public sentiment at home. the enterprising voyager, sebald de weerdt, one of the famous brotherhood of the invincible lion which had wintered in the straits of magellan, had been murdered through the treachery of the king of candy. his countrymen had not taken vengeance on his assassins. they were perhaps too fearful of losing their growing trade in those lucrative regions to take a becoming stand in that emergency. they were also not as yet sufficiently powerful there. the east india company had sent out in may of this year its third fleet of eleven large ships, besides some smaller vessels, under the general superintendence of matelieff de jonghe, one of the directors. the investments for the voyage amounted to more than nineteen hundred thousand florins. meantime the preceding adventurers under stephen van der hagen, who had sailed at the end of , had been doing much thorough work. a firm league had been made with one of the chief potentates of malabar, enabling them to build forts and establish colonies in perpetual menace of goa, the great oriental capital of the portuguese. the return of the ambassadors sent out from astgen to holland had filled not only the island of sumatra but the moluccas, and all the adjacent regions, with praises of the power, wealth, and high civilization of that distant republic so long depicted by rivals as a nest of uncouth and sanguinary savages. the fleet now proceeded to amboyna, a stronghold of the spanish-portuguese, and the seat of a most lucrative trade. on the arrival of those foreign well-armed ships under the guns of the fortress, the governor sent to demand, with castilian arrogance, who the intruders were, and by whose authority and with what intent they presumed to show themselves in those waters. the reply was that they came in the name and by the authority of their high mightinesses the states-general, and their stadholder the prince of orange; that they were sworn enemies of the king of spain and all his subjects, and that as to their intent, this would soon be made apparent. whereupon, without much more ado, they began a bombardment of the fort, which mounted thirty-six guns. the governor, as often happened in those regions, being less valiant against determined european foes than towards the feebler oriental races on which he had been accustomed to trample, succumbed with hardly an effort at resistance. the castle and town and whole island were surrendered to the fleet, and thenceforth became virtually a colony of the republic with which, nominally, treaties of alliance and defence were, negotiated. thence the fleet, after due possession had been taken of these new domains, sailed partly to bands and partly to two small but most important islands of the moluccas. in that multitude of islands which make up the eastern archipelago there were but five at that period where grew the clove--ternate, tydor, motiel, makian, and bacia. pepper and ginger, even nutmegs, cassia, and mace, were but vulgar drugs, precious as they were already to the world and the world's commerce, compared with this most magnificent spice. it is wonderful to reflect upon the strange composition of man. the world had lived in former ages very comfortably without cloves. but by the beginning of the seventeenth century that odoriferous pistil had been the cause of so many pitched battles and obstinate wars, of so much vituperation, negotiation, and intriguing, that the world's destiny seemed to have almost become dependent upon the growth of a particular gillyflower. out of its sweetness had grown such bitterness among great nations as not torrents of blood could wash away. a commonplace condiment enough it seems to us now, easily to be dispensed with, and not worth purchasing at a thousand human lives or so the cargo, but it was once the great prize to be struggled for by civilized nations. from that fervid earth, warmed from within by volcanic heat, and basking ever beneath the equatorial sun, arose vapours as deadly to human life as the fruits were exciting and delicious to human senses. yet the atmosphere of pestiferous fragrance had attracted, rather than repelled. the poisonous delights of the climate, added to the perpetual and various warfare for its productions, spread a strange fascination around those fatal isles. especially ternate and tydor were objects of unending strife. chinese, malays, persians, arabs, had struggled centuries long for their possession; those races successively or simultaneously ruling these and adjacent portions of the archipelago. the great geographical discoveries at the close of the fifteenth century had however changed the aspect of india and of the world. the portuguese adventurers found two rival kings--in the two precious islands, and by ingeniously protecting one of these potentates and poisoning the other, soon made themselves masters of the field. the clove trade was now entirely in the hands of the strangers from the antipodes. goa became the great mart of the lucrative traffic, and thither came chinese, arabs, moors, and other oriental traders to be supplied from the portuguese monopoly: two-thirds of the spices however found their way directly to europe. naturally enough, the spaniards soon penetrated into these seas, and claimed their portion of the spice trade. they insisted that the coveted islands were included in their portion of the great borgian grant. as there had hardly yet been time to make a trigonometrical survey of an unknown world, so generously divided by the pope, there was no way of settling disputed boundary questions save by apostolic blows. these were exchanged with much earnestness, year after year, between spaniards, portuguese, and all who came in their way. especially the unfortunate natives, and their kings most of all, came in for a full share. at last charles v. sold out his share of the spice islands to his portuguese rival and co-proprietor, for three hundred and fifty thousand ducats. the emperor's very active pursuits caused him to require ready money more than cloves. yet john iii. had made an excellent bargain, and the monopoly thenceforth brought him in at least two hundred thousand ducats annually. goa became more flourishing, the natives more wretched, the portuguese more detested than ever. occasionally one of the royal line of victims would consent to put a diadem upon his head, but the coronation was usually the prelude to a dungeon or death. the treaties of alliance, which these unlucky potentates had formed with their powerful invaders, were, as so often is the case, mere deeds to convey themselves and their subjects into slavery. spain and portugal becoming one, the slender weapon of defence which these weak but subtle orientals sometimes employed with success--the international and commercial jealousy between their two oppressors--was taken away. it was therefore with joy that zaida, who sat on the throne of ternate at the end of the sixteenth century, saw the sails of a dutch fleet arriving in his harbours. very soon negotiations were opened, and the distant republic undertook to protect the mahometan king against his catholic master. the new friendship was founded upon trade monopoly, of course, but at that period at least the islanders were treated with justice and humanity by their republican allies. the dutch undertook to liberate their friends from bondage, while the king of ternate, panting under portuguese oppression, swore to have no traffic, no dealings of any kind, with any other nation than holland; not even with the english. the dutch, they declared, were the liberators of themselves, of their friends, and of the seas. the international hatred, already germinating between england and holland, shot forth in these flaming regions like a tropical plant. it was carefully nurtured and tended by both peoples. freedom of commerce, freedom of the seas, meant that none but the dutch east india company--so soon as the portuguese and spaniards were driven out--should trade in cloves and nutmegs. decrees to that effect were soon issued, under very heavy penalties, by the states-general to the citizens of the republic and to the world at large. it was natural therefore that the english traders should hail the appearance of the dutch fleets with much less enthusiasm than was shown by the king of ternate. on the other hand, the king of tydor, persisting in his oriental hatred towards the rival potentate in the other island, allowed the portuguese to build additional citadels, and generally to strengthen their positions within his dominions. thus when cornelius sebastian, with his division of ver hagen's fleet, arrived in the moluccas in the summer of , he found plenty of work prepared for him. the peace recently concluded by james with philip and the archdukes placed england in a position of neutrality in the war now waging in the clove islands between spain and the republic's east india company. the english in those regions were not slow to avail themselves of the advantage. the portuguese of tydor received from neutral sympathy a copious supply of powder and of pamphlets. the one explosive material enabled them to make a more effective defence of their citadel against the dutch fleet; the other revealed to the portuguese and their mussulman allies that "the netherlanders could not exist without english protection, that they were the scum of nations, and that if they should get possession of this clove monopoly, their insolence would become intolerable." samples of polite literature such as these, printed but not published, flew about in volleys. it was an age of pamphleteering, and neither the english nor the dutch were behind their contemporaries in the science of attack and self-defence. nevertheless cornelius sebastian was not deterred by paper pellets, nor by the guns of the citadel, from carrying out his purpose. it was arranged with king zaida that the islanders of ternate should make a demonstration against tydor, being set across the strait in dutch vessels. sebastian, however, having little faith in oriental tenacity, entrusted the real work of storming the fortress to his own soldiers and sailors. on a fine morning in may the assault was delivered in magnificent style. the resistance was obstinate; many of the assailants fell, and captain mol, whom we have once before seen as master of the tiger, sinking the galleys of frederic spinola off the gat of sluys, found himself at the head of only seven men within the interior defences of the citadel. a spanish soldier, torre by name, rushed upon him with a spear. avoiding the blow, mol grappled with his antagonist, and both rolled to the ground. a fortunate carbine-shot from one of the dutch captain's comrades went through the spaniard's head. meantime the little band, so insignificant in numbers, was driven out of the citadel. mol fell to the ground with a shattered leg, and reproached his companions, who sought to remove him, for neglecting their work in order to save his life. let them take the fort, he implored them, and when that was done they might find leisure to pick him up if they chose. while he was speaking the principal tower of the fortress blew up, and sixty of the garrison were launched into the air. a well-directed shot had set fire to the magazine. the assault was renewed with fresh numbers, and the dutch were soon masters of the place. never was a stronghold more audaciously or more successfully stormed. the garrison surrendered. the women and children, fearing to be at the mercy of those who had been depicted to them as cannibals, had already made their escape, and were scrambling like squirrels among the volcanic cliffs. famine soon compelled them to come down, however, when they experienced sufficiently kind treatment, but were all deported in dutch vessels to the philippine islands. the conquerors not only spared the life of the king of tydor, but permitted him to retain his crown. at his request the citadel was razed to the ground. it would have been better perhaps to let it stand, and it was possible that in the heart of the vanquished potentate some vengeance was lurking which might bear evil fruit at a later day. meantime the portuguese were driven entirely out of the moluccas, save the island of timos, where they still retained a not very important citadel. the east india company was now in possession of the whole field. the moluccas and the clove trade were its own, and the dutch republic had made manifest to the world that more potent instruments had now been devised for parcelling out the new world than papal decrees, although signed by the immaculate hand of a borgia. during the main operations already sketched in the netherlands, and during those vastly more important oriental movements to which the reader's attention has just been called, a detached event or two deserves notice. twice during the summer campaign of this year du terrail, an enterprising french refugee in the service of the archdukes, had attempted to surprise the important city of bergen-op-zoom. on the st august the intended assault had been discovered in time to prevent any very serious conflict on, either side. on the th september the experiment was renewed at an hour after midnight. du terrail, having arranged the attack at three different points, had succeeded in forcing his way across the moat and through one of the gates. the trumpets of the foremost spaniards already sounded in, the streets. it was pouring with rain; the town was pitch dark. but the energetic paul bax was governor of the place, a man who was awake at any hour of the twenty-four, and who could see in the darkest night. he had already informed himself of the enemy's project, and had strengthened his garrison by a large intermixture of the most trustworthy burgher guards, so that the advance of du terrail at the southern gate was already confronted by a determined band. a fierce battle began in the darkness. meantime paul bax, galloping through the city, had aroused the whole population for the defence. at the steinberg gate, where the chief assault had been prepared, bax had caused great fires of straw and pitch barrels to be lighted, so that the invaders, instead of finding, as they expected, a profound gloom through the streets, saw themselves approaching a brilliantly illuminated city, fully prepared to give their uninvited guests a warm reception. the garrison, the townspeople, even the women, thronged to the ramparts, saluting the spaniards with a rain of bullets, paving-stones, and pitch hoops, and with a storm of gibes and taunts. they were asked why they allowed their cardinal thus to send them to the cattle market, and whether our lady of hall, to whom isabella was so fond of making pilgrimages, did not live rather too far off to be of much use just then to her or to them. catholics and protestants all stood shoulder to shoulder that night to defend their firesides against the foreign foe, while mothers laid their sleeping children on the ground that they might fill their cradles with powder and ball, which they industriously brought to the soldiers. the less energetic women fell upon their knees in the street, and prayed aloud through the anxious night. the attack was splendidly repulsed. as morning dawned the enemy withdrew, leaving one hundred dead outside the walls or in the town, and carrying off thirty-eight wagon loads of wounded. du terrail made no further attempts that summer, although the list of his surprises was not yet full. he was a good engineer, and a daring partisan officer. he was also inspired by an especial animosity to the states-general, who had refused the offer of his services before he made application to the archdukes. at sea there was no very important movement in european waters, save that lambert heinrichzoon, commonly called pretty lambert, a rotterdam skipper, whom we have seen the sea-fights with frederic spinola, of the dunkirk pirate fleet, adrian dirkzoon. it was a desperate fight.--pretty lambent, sustained at a distance by rear-admiral gerbrantzon, laid himself yard-arm to yard-arm alongside the pirate vessel, boarded her, and after beating down all resistance made prisoners such of the crew as remained alive, and carried them into rotterdam. next day they were hanged, to the number of sixty. a small number were pardoned on account of their youth, and a few individuals who effected their escape when led to the gallows, were not pursued. the fact that the townspeople almost connived at the escape of these desperadoes showed that there had been a surfeit of hangings in rotterdam. it is moreover not easy to distinguish with exactness the lines which in those days separated regular sea belligerents, privateers, and pirates from each other. it had been laid down by the archdukes that there was no military law at sea, and that sick soldiers captured on the water should be hanged. accordingly they were hanged. admiral fazardo, of the spanish royal navy, not only captured all the enemy's merchant vessels which came in his way, but hanged, drowned, and burned alive every man found on board. admiral haultain, of the republican navy, had just been occupied in drowning a whole regiment of spanish soldiers, captured in english and german transports. the complaints brought against the english cruisers by the hollanders for capturing and confiscating their vessels, and banging, maiming, and torturing their crews--not only when england was neutral, but even when she was the ally of the republic--had been a standing topic for diplomatic discussion, and almost a standing joke. why, therefore, these dunkirk sea-rovers should not on the same principle be allowed to rush forth from their very convenient den to plunder friend and foe, burn ships, and butcher the sailors at pleasure, seems difficult to understand. to expect from the inhabitants of this robbers' cave--this "church on the downs"--a code of maritime law so much purer and sterner than the system adopted by the english, the spaniards, and the dutch, was hardly reasonable. certainly the dunkirkers, who were mainly netherlanders--rebels to the republic and partisans of the spanish crown--did their best to destroy the herring fishery and to cut the throats of the fishermen, but perhaps they received the halter more often than other mariners who had quite as thoroughly deserved it. and this at last appeared the prevailing opinion in rotterdam. etext editor's bookmarks: abstinence from unproductive consumption defeated garrison ever deserved more respect from friend or foe his own past triumphs seemed now his greatest enemies hundred thousand men had laid down their lives by her decree john castel, who had stabbed henry iv. looking down upon her struggle with benevolent indifference no retrenchments in his pleasures of women, dogs, and buildings sick soldiers captured on the water should be hanged the small children diminished rapidly in numbers when all was gone, they began to eat each other history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , - chapter xlv. preparations for the campaign of --diminution of maurice's popularity--quarrel between the pope and the venetian republic-- surprise of sluys by du terrail--dilatoriness of the republic's operations--movements of spinola--influence of the weather on the military transactions of the year--endeavours of spinola to obtain possession of the waal and yssel--surrender of lochem to spinola-- siege of groll--siege and loss of rheinberg--mutiny in the catholic army--recovery of lochem by maurice--attempted recovery of groll-- sudden appearance of the enemy--withdrawal of the besieging army close of the campaign--end of the war of independence--motives of the prince in his actions before groll--cruise of admiral haultain to the coast of spain and portugal--his encounter with the war-- ships of fazardo--courageous conduct of the vice-admiral--deaths of justus lipsius, hohenlo, and count john of nassau. after the close of the campaign of spinola had gone once more to spain. on his passage through paris he had again been received with distinguished favour by that warm ally of the dutch republic, henry iv., and on being questioned by that monarch as to his plans for the next campaign had replied that he intended once more to cross the rhine, and invade friesland. henry, convinced that the genoese would of course not tell him the truth on such an occasion, wrote accordingly to the states-general that they might feel safe as to their eastern frontier. whatever else might happen, friesland and the regions adjacent would be safe next year from attack. the immediate future was to show whether the subtle italian had not compassed as neat a deception by telling the truth as coarser politicians could do by falsehood. spinola found the royal finances in most dismal condition. three hundred thousand dollars a month were the least estimate of the necessary expenses for carrying on the netherland war, a sum which could not possibly be spared by lerma, uceda, the marquis of the seven churches, and other financiers then industriously occupied in draining dry the exchequer for their own uses. once more the general aided his sovereign with purse and credit, as well as with his sword. once more the exchange at genoa was glutted with the acceptances of marquis spinola. here at least was a man of a nature not quite so depraved as that of the parasites bred out of the corruption of a noble but dying commonwealth, and doubtless it was with gentle contempt that the great favourite and his friends looked at the military and financial enthusiasm of the volunteer. it was so much more sagacious to make a princely fortune than to sacrifice one already inherited, in the service of one's country. spinola being thus ready not only to fight but to help to pay for the fighting, found his plans of campaigns received with great benignity by the king and his ministers. meantime there was much delay. the enormous labours thus devolved upon one pair of shoulders by the do-nothing king and a mayor of the palace whose soul was absorbed by his own private robberies, were almost too much for human strength. on his return to the netherlands spinola fell dangerously ill in genoa. meantime, during his absence and the enforced idleness of the catholic armies, there was an opportunity for the republicans to act with promptness and vigour. they displayed neither quality. never had there been so much sluggishness as in the preparations for the campaign of . the states' exchequer was lower than it had been for years. the republic was without friends. left to fight their battle for national existence alone, the hollanders found themselves perpetually subjected to hostile censure from their late allies, and to friendly advice still more intolerable. there were many brave englishmen and frenchmen sharing in the fatigues of the dutch war of independence, but the governments of henry and of james were as protective, as severely virtuous, as offensive, and, in their secret intrigues with the other belligerent, as mischievous as it was possible for the best-intentioned neutrals to be. the fame and the popularity of the stadholder had been diminished by the results of the past campaign. the states-general were disappointed, dissatisfied, and inclined to censure very unreasonably the public servant who had always obeyed their decrees with docility. while henry iv. was rapidly transferring his admiration from maurice to spinola, the disagreements at home between the advocate and the stadholder were becoming portentous. there was a want of means and of soldiers for the new campaign. certain causes were operating in europe to the disadvantage of both belligerents. in the south, venice had almost drawn her sword against the pope in her settled resolution to put down the jesuits and to clip the wings of the church party, before, with bequests and donations, votive churches and magnificent monasteries, four-fifths of the domains of the republic should fall into mortmain, as was already the case in brabant. naturally there was a contest between the ex-huguenot, now eldest son of the church, and the most catholic king, as to who should soonest defend the pope. henry offered thorough protection to his holiness, but only under condition that he should have a monopoly of that protection. he lifted his sword, but meantime it was doubtful whether the blow was to descend upon venice or upon spain. the spanish levies, on their way to the netherlands, were detained in italy by this new exigency. the states-general offered the sister republic their maritime assistance, and notwithstanding their own immense difficulties, stood ready to send a fleet to the mediterranean. the offer was gratefully declined, and the quarrel with the pope arranged, but the incident laid the foundation of a lasting friendship between the only two important republics then existing. the issue of the gunpowder plot, at the close of the preceding year, had confirmed james in his distaste for jesuits, and had effected that which all the eloquence of the states-general and their ambassador had failed to accomplish, the prohibition of spanish enlistments in his kingdom. guido fawkes had served under the archduke in flanders. here then were delays additional to that caused by spinola's illness. on the other hand, the levies of the republic were for a season paralysed by the altercation, soon afterwards adjusted, between henry iv. and the duke of bouillon, brother-in-law of the stadholder and of the palatine, and by the petty war between the duke and hanseatic city of brunswick, in which ernest of nassau was for a time employed. during this period of almost suspended animation the war gave no signs of life, except in a few spasmodic efforts on the part of the irrepressible du terrail. early in the spring, not satisfied with his double and disastrous repulse before bergen-op-zoom, that partisan now determined to surprise sluy's. that an attack was impending became known to the governor of that city, the experienced colonel van der noot. not dreaming, however, that any mortal--even the most audacious of frenchmen and adventurers--would ever think of carrying a city like sluy's by surprise, defended as it was by a splendid citadel and by a whole chain of forts and water-batteries, and capable of withstanding three months long, as it had so recently done, a siege in form by the acknowledged master of the beleaguering science, the methodical governor event calmly to bed one fine night in june. his slumbers were disturbed before morning by the sound of trumpets sounding spanish melodies in the streets, and by a great uproar and shouting. springing out of bed, he rushed half-dressed to the rescue. less vigilant than paul bax had been the year before in bergen, he found that du terrail had really effected a surprise. at the head of twelve hundred walloons and irishmen, that enterprising officer had waded through the drowned land of cadzand, with the promised support of a body of infantry under frederic van den berg, from damm, had stolen noiselessly by the forts of that island unchallenged and unseen, had effected with petards a small breach through the western gate of the city, and with a large number of his followers, creeping two and two through the gap, had found himself for a time master of sluys. the profound silence of the place had however somewhat discouraged the intruders. the whole population were as sound asleep as was the excellent commandant, but the stillness in the deserted streets suggested an ambush, and they moved stealthily forward, feeling their way with caution towards the centre of the town. it so happened, moreover, that the sacristan had forgotten to wind up the great town clock. the agreement with the party first entering and making their way to the opposite end of the city, had been that at the striking of a certain hour after midnight they should attack simultaneously and with a great outcry all the guardhouses, so that the garrison might be simultaneously butchered. the clock never struck, the signal was never given, and du terrail and his immediate comrades remained near the western gate, suspicious and much perplexed. the delay was fatal. the guard, the whole garrison, and the townspeople flew to arms, and half-naked, but equipped with pike and musket, and led on by van der noot in person, fell upon the intruders. a panic took the place of previous audacity in the breasts of du terrail's followers. thinking only of escape, they found the gap by which they had crept into the town much less convenient as a means of egress in the face of an infuriated multitude. five hundred of them were put to death in a very few minutes. almost as many were drowned or suffocated in the marshes, as they attempted to return by the road over which they had come. a few stragglers june, of the fifteen hundred were all that were left to tell the tale. it would seem scarcely worth while to chronicle such trivial incidents in this great war--the all-absorbing drama of christendom--were it not that they were for the moment the whole war. it might be thought that hostilities were approaching their natural termination, and that the war was dying of extreme old age, when the quixotic pranks of a du terrail occupied so large a part of european attention. the winter had passed, another spring had come and gone, and maurice had in vain attempted to obtain sufficient means from the states to take the field in force. henry, looking on from the outside, was becoming more and more exasperated with the dilatoriness which prevented the republic from profiting by the golden moments of spinola's enforced absence. yet the best that could be done seemed to be to take measures for defensive operations. spinola never reached brussels until the beginning of june, yet, during all the good campaigning weather which had been fleeting away, not a blow had been struck, nor a wholesome counsel taken by the stadholder or the states. it was midsummer before the armies were in the field. the plans of the catholic general however then rapidly developed themselves. having assembled as large a force as had ever been under his command, he now divided it into two nearly equal portions. bucquoy, with ten thousand foot, twelve hundred cavalry, and twelve guns, arrived on the th july at nook, on the meuse. spinola, with eleven thousand infantry, two thousand horse, and eight guns, crossed the rhine at the old redoubts of ruhrort, and on the same th july took position at goor, in overyssel. the first plan of the commander-in-chief was to retrace exactly his campaign of the previous year, even as he had with so much frankness stated to henry. but the republic, although deserted by her former friends, and looked upon askance by the monarch of britain, and by the most christian king, had this year a most efficient ally in the weather. jupiter pluvius had descended from on high to the rescue of the struggling commonwealth, and his decrees were omnipotent as to the course of the campaign. the seasons that year seemed all fused into one. it was difficult to tell on midsummer day whether it were midwinter, spring, or autumn. the rain came down day after day, week after week, as if the contending armies and the very country which was to be invaded and defended were to be all washed out of existence together. friesland resolved itself into a vast quagmire; the roads became fluid, the rivers lakes. spinola turned his face from the east, and proceeded to carry out a second plan which he had long meditated, and even a more effective one, in the west. the waal and the yssel formed two sides of a great quadrilateral; and furnished for the natural fortress, thus enclosed, two vast and admirable moats. within lay good-meadow and foul-meadow--bet-uwe and vel-uwe--one, the ancient batavian island which from time immemorial had given its name to the commonwealth, the other, the once dismal swamp which toil and intelligence had in the course of centuries transformed into the wealthy and flowery land of gueldres. beyond, but in immediate proximity, lay the ancient episcopal city and province of utrecht, over which lay the road to the adjacent holland and zeeland. the very heart of the republic would be laid bare to the conqueror's sword if he could once force the passage, and obtain the control of these two protecting streams. with utrecht as his base, and all brabant and flanders--obedient provinces--at his back, spinola might accomplish more in one season than alva, don john, and alexander farnese had compassed in forty years, and destroy at a blow what was still called the netherland rebellion. the passage of the rivers once effected, the two enveloping wings would fold themselves together, and the conquest would be made. thus reasoned the brilliant young general, and his projects, although far-reaching, did not seem wild. the first steps were, however, the most important as well as the most difficult, and he had to reckon with a wary and experienced antagonist. maurice had at last collected and reviewed at arnhem an army of nearly fifteen thousand men, and was now watching closely from doesburg and deventer every movement of the foe. having been forced to a defensive campaign, in which he was not likely at best to gain many additional laurels, he was the more determined to lay down his own life, and sacrifice every man he could bring into the field, before spinola should march into the cherished domains of utrecht and holland. meantime the rain, which had already exerted so much influence on the military movements of the year, still maintained the supremacy over human plans. the yssel and the waal, always deep, broad, sluggish, but dangerous rivers--the rhine in its old age--were swollen into enormous proportions, their currents flowing for the time with the vigour of their far away youth. maurice had confided the defence of the waal to warner du bois, under whose orders he placed a force of about seven thousand men, and whose business it was to prevent bucquoy's passage. his own task was to baffle spinola. bucquoy's ambition was to cross the waal at a point as near as possible to the fork of that stream with the true rhine, seize the important city of nymegen, and then give the hand to spinola, so soon as he should be on the other side of the yssel. at the village of spardorp or kekerdom, he employed pompeio giustiniani to make a desperate effort, having secured a large number of barges in which he embarked his troops. as the boatmen neared the opposite bank, however, they perceived that warner du bois had made effective preparations for their reception. they lost heart, and, on pretence that the current of the river was too rapid to allow them to reach the point proposed for their landing, gradually dropped down the stream, and, in spite of the remonstrances of the commanders, pushed their way back to the shore which they had left. from that time forth, the states' troops, in efficient numbers, fringed the inner side of the waal, along the whole length of the batavian island, while armed vessels of the republic patrolled the stream itself. in vain count bucquoy watched an opportunity, either by surprise or by main strength, to effect a crossing. the waal remained as impassable as if it were a dividing ocean. on the other side of the quadrilateral, maurice's dispositions were as effective as those of his lieutenant on the waal. the left shore of the yssel, along its whole length, from arnhem and doesburg quite up to zwoll and campen, where the river empties itself into the zuyder zee, was now sprinkled thickly with forts, hastily thrown up, but strong enough to serve the temporary purpose of the stadholder. in vain the fleet-footed and audacious spinola moved stealthily or fiercely to and fro, from one point to another, seeking an opening through which to creep, or a weak spot where he might dash himself against the chain. the whole line was securely guarded. the swollen river, the redoubts, and the musketeers of maurice, protected the heart of the republic from the impending danger. wearied of this fruitless pacing up and down, spinola, while apparently intending an assault upon deventer, and thus attracting his adversary's attention to that important city, suddenly swerved to the right, and came down upon lochem. the little town, with its very slender garrison, surrendered at once. it was not a great conquest, but it might possibly be of use in the campaign. it was taken before the stadholder could move a step to its assistance, even had he deemed it prudent to leave yssel-side for an hour. the summer was passing away, the rain was still descending, and it was the st of august before spinola left lochem. he then made a rapid movement to the north, between zwoll and hasselt, endeavouring to cross the blackwater, and seize geelmuyden, on the zuyder zee. had he succeeded, he might have turned maurice's position. but the works in that direction had been entrusted to an experienced campaigner, warmelo, sheriff of zalant, who received the impetuous spinola and his lieutenant, count solre, so warmly, that they reeled backwards at last, after repeated assaults and great loss of men, and never more attempted to cross the yssel. obviously, the campaign had failed. utrecht and holland were as far out of the catholic general's reach as the stars in the sky, but at least, with his large armies, he could earn a few trophies, barren or productive, as it might prove, before winter, uniting with the deluge, should drive him from the field. on the rd august, he laid siege to groll (or groenlo), a fortified town of secondary importance in the country of zutphen, and, squandering his men with much recklessness, in his determination not to be baffled, reduced the place in eleven days. here he paused for a breathing spell, and then, renouncing all his schemes upon the inner defences of the republic, withdrew once more to the rhine and laid siege to rheinberg. this frontier place had been tossed to and fro so often between the contending parties in the perpetual warfare, that its inhabitants must have learned to consider themselves rather as a convenient circulating medium for military operations than as burghers who had any part in the ordinary business of life. it had old-fashioned defences of stones which, during the recent occupation by the states, had been much improved, and had been strengthened with earthworks. before it was besieged, maurice sent his brother frederic henry, with some picked companies, into the place, so that the garrison amounted to three thousand effective men. the prince de soubise, brother of the duc de rohan, and other french volunteers of quality, also threw themselves into the place, in order to take lessons in the latest methods of attack and defence. it was now admitted that no more accomplished pupil of the stadholder in the beleaguering art had appeared in europe than his present formidable adversary. on this occasion, however, there was no great display of science. maurice obstinately refused to move to the relief of the place, despite all the efforts of a deputation of the states-general who visited his camp in september, urging him strenuously to take the chances of a stricken field. nothing could induce the stadholder, who held an observing position at wesel, with his back against the precious watery quadrilateral, to risk the defence of those most vital lines of the yssel and the waal. while attempting to save rheinberg, he felt it possible that he might lose nymegen, or even utrecht. the swift but wily genoese was not to be trifled with or lost sight of an instant. the road to holland might still be opened, and the destiny of the republic might hang on the consequences of a single false move. that destiny, under god, was in his hands alone, and no chance of winning laurels, even from his greatest rival's head, could induce him to shrink from the path of duty, however obscure it might seem. there were a few brilliant assaults and sorties, as in all sieges, the french volunteers especially distinguishing themselves; but the place fell at the end of forty days. the garrison marched out with the honours of war. in the modern practice, armies were rarely captured in strongholds, nor were the defenders, together with the population, butchered. the loss, after a six weeks' siege, of rheinberg, which six years before, with far inferior fortifications, had held out a much longer time against the states, was felt as a bitter disappointment throughout the republic. frederic henry, on leaving the place, made a feeble and unsuccessful demonstration against yenlo, by which the general dissatisfaction was not diminished. soon afterwards, the war became more languid than ever. news arrived of a great crisis on the genoa exchange. a multitude of merchants, involved in pecuniary transactions with spinola, fell with one tremendous crash. the funds of the catholic commander-in-chief were already exhausted, his acceptances could no longer be negotiated. his credit was becoming almost as bad as the king's own. the inevitable consequence of the want of cash and credit followed. mutiny, for the first time in spinola's administration, raised its head once more, and stalked about defiant. six hundred veterans marched to breda, and offered their services to justinus of nassau. the proposal was accepted. other bands, established their quarters in different places, chose their elettos and lesser officers, and enacted the scenes which have been so often depicted in these pages. the splendid army of spinola melted like april snow. by the last week of october there hardly seemed a catholic army in the field. the commander-in-chief had scattered such companies as could still be relied upon in the villages of the friendly arch-episcopate of cologne, and had obtained, not by murders and blackmail--according to the recent practice of the admiral of arragon, at whose grim name the whole country-side still shuddered--but from the friendship of the leading inhabitants and by honest loans, a sufficient sum to put bread into the mouths of the troops still remaining faithful to him. the opportunity had at last arrived for the stadholder to strike a blow before the season closed. bankruptcy and mutiny had reduced his enemy to impotence in the very season of his greatest probable success. on the th october maurice came before lochem, which he recaptured in five days. next in the order of spinola's victories was groll, which the stadholder at once besieged. he had almost fifteen thousand infantry and three thousand horse. a career of brief triumph before winter should close in upon those damping fields, seemed now assured. but the rain, which during nearly the whole campaign had been his potent ally, had of late been playing him false. the swollen yssel, during a brief period of dry weather, had sunk so low in certain shallows as not to be navigable for his transports, and after his trains of artillery and munitions had been dragged wearily overland as far as groll, the deluge had returned in such force, that physical necessity as well as considerations of humanity compelled him to defer his entrenching operations until the weather should moderate. as there seemed no further danger to be apprehended from the broken, mutinous, and dispersed forces of the enemy, the siege operations were conducted in a leisurely manner. what was the astonishment, therefore, among the soldiers, when a rumour flew about the camp in the early days of november that the indomitable spinola was again advancing upon them! it was perfectly true. with extraordinary perseverance he had gathered up six or seven thousand infantry and twelve companies of horse--all the remnants of the splendid armies with which he had taken the field at midsummer--and was now marching to the relief of groll, besieged as it was by a force at least doubly as numerous as his own. it was represented to the stadholder, however, that an impassable morass lay between him and the enemy, and that there would therefore be time enough to complete his entrenchments before spinola could put his foolhardy attempt into execution. but the catholic general, marching faster than rumour itself, had crossed the impracticable swamp almost before a spadeful of earth had been turned in the republican camp. his advance was in sight even while the incredulous were sneering at the absurdity of his supposed project. informed by scouts of the weakest point in the stadholder's extended lines, spinola was directing himself thither with beautiful precision. maurice hastily contracted both his wings, and concentrated himself in the village of lebel. at last the moment had come for a decisive struggle. there could be little doubt of the result. all the advantage was with the republican army. the catholics had arrived in front of the enemy fatigued by forced marches through quagmires, in horrible weather, over roads deemed impassable. the states' troops were fresh, posted on ground of their own choosing, and partially entrenched. to the astonishment, even to the horror of the most eager portion of the army, the stadholder deliberately, and despite the groans of his soldiers, refused the combat, and gave immediate orders for raising the siege and abandoning the field. on the th of november he broke up his camp and withdrew to a village called zelem. on the same day the marquis, having relieved the city, without paying the expected price, retired in another direction, and established what was left of his army in the province of munster. the campaign was closed. and thus the great war which had run its stormy course for nearly forty years, dribbled out of existence, sinking away that rainy november in the dismal fens of zutphen. the long struggle for independence had come, almost unperceived, to an end. peace had not arrived, but the work of the armies was over for many a long year. freedom and independence were secured. a deed or two, never to be forgotten by netherland hearts, was yet to be done on the ocean, before the long and intricate negotiations for peace should begin, and the weary people permit themselves to rejoice; but the prize was already won. meantime, the conduct of prince maurice in these last days of the campaign was the subject of biting censure by friend and foe. the military fame of spinola throughout europe grew apace; and the fame of his great rival seemed to shrink in the same proportion. henry of france was especially indignant at what he considered the shortcomings of the republic and of its chief. already, before the close of the summer, the agent aerssens had written from paris that his majesty was very much displeased with spinola's prosperity, ascribing it to the want of good councils on the part of the states' government that so fine an army should lie idle so long, without making an attempt to relieve the beleaguered places, so that spinola felt assured of taking anything as soon as he made his appearance. "your mightinesses cannot believe," continued the agent, "what a trophy is made by the spanish ministers out of these little exploits, and they have so much address at this court, that if such things continue they may produce still greater results." in december he wrote that the king was so malcontent concerning the siege of groll as to make it impossible to answer him with arguments, that he openly expressed regret at not having employed the money lent to the states upon strengthening his own frontiers, so distrustful was he of their capacity for managing affairs, and that he mentioned with disgust statements received from his ambassador at brussels and from the duc de rohan, to the effect that spinola had between five and six thousand men only at the relief of groll, against twelve thousand in the stadholder's army. the motives of the deeds and the omissions of the prince at this supreme moment must be pondered with great caution. the states-general had doubtless been inclined for vigorous movements, and olden-barneveld, with some of his colleagues, had visited the camp late in september to urge the relief of rheinberg. maurice was in daily correspondence with the government, and regularly demanded their advice, by which, on many former occasions, he had bound himself, even when it was in conflict with his own better judgment. but throughout this campaign, the responsibility was entirely, almost ostentatiously, thrown by the states-general upon their commander-in-chief, and, as already indicated, their preparations in the spring and early summer had been entirely inadequate. should he lose the army with which he had so quietly but completely checked spinola in all his really important moves during the summer and autumn, he might despair of putting another very soon into the field. that his force in that november week before groll was numerically far superior to the enemy is certain, but he had lost confidence in his cavalry since their bad behaviour at mulheim the previous year, and a very large proportion of his infantry was on the sick-list at the moment of spinola's approach. "lest the continual bad weather should entirely consume the army," he said, "we are resolved, within a day or two after we have removed the sick who are here in great numbers, to break up, unless the enemy should give us occasion to make some attempt upon him." maurice was the servant of a small republic, contending single-handed against an empire still considered the most formidable power in the world. his cue was not necessarily to fight on all occasions; for delay often fights better than an army against a foreign invader. when a battle and a victory were absolutely necessary we have seen the magnificent calmness which at nieuport secured triumph under the shadow of death. had he accepted spinola's challenge in november, he would probably have defeated him and have taken groll. he might not, however, have annihilated his adversary, who, even when worsted, would perhaps have effected his escape. the city was of small value to the republic. the principal advantage of a victory would have been increased military renown for himself. viewed in this light, there is something almost sublime in the phlegmatic and perfectly republican composure with which he disdained laurels, easily enough, as it would stem, to have been acquired, and denied his soldiers the bloodshed and the suffering for which they were clamouring. and yet, after thoroughly weighing and measuring all these circumstances, it is natural to regret that he did not on that occasion rise upon spinola and smite him to the earth. the lord had delivered him into his hands. the chances of his own defeat were small, its probable consequences, should it occur, insignificant. it is hardly conceivable that he could have been so completely overthrown as to allow the catholic commander to do in november what he had tried all summer in vain to accomplish, cross the yssel and the waal, with the dregs of his army, and invade holland and zeeland in midwinter, over the prostrate bodies of maurice and all his forces. on the other hand, that the stadholder would have sent the enemy reeling back to his bogs, with hardly the semblance of an army at his heels, was almost certain: the effect of such a blow upon impending negotiations, and especially upon the impressible imagination of henry and the pedantic shrewdness of james, would have been very valuable. it was not surprising that the successful soldier who sat on the french throne, and who had been ever ready to wager life and crown on the results of a stricken field, should be loud in his expressions of disapprobation and disgust. yet no man knew better than the sagacious gascon that fighting to win a crown, and to save a republic, were two essentially different things. in the early summer of this year admiral haultain, whom we lately saw occupied with tossing sarmiento's spanish legion into the sea off the harbour of dover, had been despatched to the spanish coast on a still more important errand. the outward bound portuguese merchantmen and the home returning fleets from america, which had been absent nearly two years, might be fallen in with at any moment, in the latitude of - deg. the admiral, having received orders, therefore, to cruise carefully in those regions, sailed for the shores of portugal with a squadron of twenty-four war-ships. his expedition was not very successful. he picked up a prize or two here and there, and his presence on the coast prevented the merchant-fleet from sailing out of lisbon for the east indies, the merchandise already on board being disembarked and the voyage postponed to a more favourable opportunity. he saw nothing, however, of the long-expected ships from the golden west indies--as mexico, peru, and brazil were then indiscriminately called--and after parting company with six of his own ships, which were dispersed and damaged in a gale, and himself suffering from a dearth of provisions, he was forced to return without much gain or glory. in the month of september he was once more despatched on the same service. he had nineteen war-galleots of the first class, and two yachts, well equipped and manned. vice-admiral of the fleet was regnier klaaszoon (or nicholson), of amsterdam, a name which should always be held fresh in remembrance, not only by mariners and netherlanders, but by all men whose pulses can beat in sympathy with practical heroism. the admiral coasted deliberately along the shores of spain and portugal. it seemed impossible that the golden fleets, which, as it was ascertained, had not yet arrived, could now escape the vigilance of the dutch cruisers. an occasional merchant-ship or small war-galley was met from time to time and chased into the harbours. a landing was here and there effected and a few villages burned. but these were not the prizes nor the trophies sought. on the th september a storm off the portuguese coast scattered the fleet; six of the best and largest ships being permanently lost sight of and separated from the rest. with the other thirteen haultain now cruised off cape st. vincent directly across the ordinary path of the homeward-bound treasure ships. on the th october many sails were descried in the distance, and the longing eyes of the hollanders were at last gratified with what was supposed to be the great west india commercial squadrons. the delusion was brief. instead of innocent and richly freighted merchantmen, the new comers soon proved to be the war-ships of admiral dan luis de fazardo, eighteen great galleons and eight galleys strong, besides lesser vessels--the most formidable fleet that for years had floated in those waters. there had been time for admiral haultain to hold but a very brief consultation with his chief officers. as it was manifest that the hollanders were enormously over-matched, it was decided to manoeuvre as well as possible for the weather-gage, and then to fight or to effect an escape, as might seem most expedient after fairly testing the strength of the enemy. it was blowing a fresh gale, and the netherland fleet had as much as they could stagger with under close-reefed topsails. the war-galleys, fit only for fair weather, were soon forced to take refuge under the lee of the land, but the eighteen galleons, the most powerful vessels then known to naval architecture, were bearing directly down, full before the wind, upon the dutch fleet. it must be admitted that admiral haultain hardly displayed as much energy now as he had done in the straits of dover against the unarmed transports the year before. his ships were soon scattered, right and left, and the manoeuvres for the weather-gage resolved themselves into a general scramble for escape. vice-admiral klaaszoon alone held firm, and met the onset of the first comers of the spanish fleet. a fierce combat, yard-arm to yard-arm, ensued. klaaszoon's mainmast went by the board, but haultain, with five ships, all that could be rallied, coming to the rescue, the assailants for a moment withdrew. five dutch vessels of moderate strength were now in action against the eighteen great galleons of fazardo. certainly it was not an even game, but it might have been played with more heart and better skill. there was but a half-hour of daylight left when klaaszoon's crippled ship was again attacked. this time there was no attempt to offer him assistance; the rest of the dutch fleet crowding all the sails their masts would bear, and using all the devices of their superior seamanship, not to harass the enemy, but to steal as swiftly as possible out of his way. honestly confessing that they dared not come into the fight, they bore away for dear life in every direction. night came on, and the last that the fugitives knew of the events off cape st. vincent was that stout regnier klaaszoon had been seen at sunset in the midst of the spanish fleet; the sound of his broadsides saluting their ears as they escaped. left to himself, alone in a dismasted ship, the vice-admiral never thought of yielding to the eighteen spanish galleons. to the repeated summons of don luis fazardo that he should surrender he remained obstinately deaf. knowing that it was impossible for him to escape, and fearing that he might blow up his vessel rather than surrender, the enemy made no attempt to board. spanish chivalry was hardly more conspicuous on this occasion than dutch valour, as illustrated by admiral haultain. two whole days and nights klaaszoon drifted about in his crippled ship, exchanging broadsides with his antagonists, and with his colours flying on the stump of his mast. the fact would seem incredible, were it not attested by perfectly trustworthy contemporary accounts. at last his hour seemed to have come. his ship was sinking; a final demand for surrender, with promise of quarter, was made. out of his whole crew but sixty remained alive; many of them badly wounded. he quietly announced to his officers and men his decision never to surrender, in which all concurred. they knelt together upon the deck, and the admiral made a prayer, which all fervently joined. with his own hand klaaszoon then lighted the powder magazine, and the ship was blown into the air. two sailors, all that were left alive, were picked out of the sea by the spaniards and brought on board one of the vessels of the fleet. desperately mutilated, those grim dutchmen lived a few minutes to tell the tale, and then died defiant on the enemy's deck. yet it was thought that a republic, which could produce men like regnier klaaszoon and his comrades, could be subjected again to despotism, after a war for independence of forty years, and that such sailors could be forbidden to sail the eastern and western seas. no epigrammatic phrase has been preserved of this simple regnier, the son of nicholas. he only did what is sometimes talked about in phraseology more or less melo-dramatic, and did it in a very plain way. such extreme deeds may have become so much less necessary in the world, that to threaten them is apt to seem fantastic. exactly at that crisis of history, however, and especially in view of the dutch admiral commanding having refused a combat of one to three, the speechless self-devotion of the vice-admiral was better than three years of eloquent arguments and a ship-load of diplomatic correspondence, such as were already impending over the world. admiral haultain returned with all his ships uninjured--the six missing vessels having found their way at last safely back to the squadron--but with a very great crack to his reputation. it was urged very justly, both by the states-general and the public, that if one ship under a determined commander could fight the whole spanish fleet two days and nights, and sink unconquered at last, ten ships more might have put the enemy to flight, or at least have saved the vice-admiral from destruction. but very few days after the incidents just described, the merchant fleet which, instead of don luis fazardo's war galleons, admiral haultain had so longed to encounter, arrived safely at san lucar. it was the most splendid treasure-fleet that had ever entered a spanish port, and the dutch admiral's heart might well have danced for joy, had he chanced to come a little later on the track. there were fifty ships, under charge of general alonzo de ochares galindo and general ganevaye. they had on board, according to the registers, , , dollars worth of bullion for the king, and , , dollars for merchants, or , , dollars in all, besides rich cargoes of silk, cochineal, sarsaparilla, indigo, brazil wood, and hides; the result of two years of pressure upon peruvians, mexicans, and brazilians. never had spanish finances been at so low an ebb. never was so splendid an income more desirable. the king's share of the cargo was enough to pay half the arrearages due to his mutinous troops; and for such housekeeping this was to be in funds. there were no further exploits on land or sea that year. there were, however, deaths of three personages often mentioned in this history. the learned justus lipsius died in louvain, a good editor and scholar, and as sincere a catholic at last as he had been alternately a bigoted calvinist and an earnest lutheran. his reputation was thought to have suffered by his later publications, but the world at large was occupied with sterner stuff than those classic productions, and left the final decision to posterity. a man of a different mould, the turbulent, high-born, hard fighting, hard-drinking hohenlo, died also this year, brother-in-law and military guardian, subsequently rival and political and personal antagonist, of prince maurice. his daring deeds and his troublesome and mischievous adventures have been recounted in these pages. his name will be always prominent in the history of the republic, to which he often rendered splendid service, but he died, as he had lived, a glutton and a melancholy sot. the third remarkable personage who passed away was one whose name will be remembered as long as the netherlands have a history, old count john of nassau, only surviving brother of william the silent. he had been ever prominent and deeply interested in the great religious and political movements of upper and lower germany, and his services in the foundation of the dutch commonwealth were signal, and ever generously acknowledged. at one period, as will be recollected, he was stadholder of gelderland, and he was ever ready with sword, purse, and counsel to aid in the great struggle for independence. chapter xlvi. general desire for peace--political aspect of europe--designs of the kings of england, france, and spain concerning the united provinces --matrimonial schemes of spain--conference between the french ministers and the dutch envoy--confidential revelations--henry's desire to annex the netherlands to france--discussion of the subject--artifice of barneveld--impracticability of a compromise between the provinces and spain--formation of a west india company-- secret mission from the archdukes to the hague--reply of the states- general--return of the archdukes' envoy--arrangement of an eight months' armistice. the general tendency towards a pacification in europe at the close of the year could hardly be mistaken. the languor of fatigue, rather than any sincere desire for peace seemed to make negotiations possible. it was not likely that great truths would yet be admitted, or that ruling individuals or classes would recognise the rise of a new system out of the rapidly dissolving elements of the one which had done its work. war was becoming more and more expensive, while commerce, as the world slowly expanded itself, and manifested its unsuspected resources, was becoming more and more lucrative. it was not, perhaps, that men hated each other less, but that they had for a time exhausted their power and their love for slaughter. meanwhile new devices for injuring humanity and retarding its civilization were revealing themselves out of that very intellectual progress which ennobled the new era. although war might still be regarded as the normal condition of the civilized world, it was possible for the chosen ones to whom the earth and its fulness belonged, to inflict general damage otherwise than by perpetual battles. in the east, west, north, and south of europe peace was thrusting itself as it were uncalled for and unexpected upon the general attention. charles and his nephew sigismund, and the false demetrius, and the intrigues of the jesuits, had provided too much work for sweden, poland, and russia to leave those countries much leisure for mingling in the more important business of europe at this epoch, nor have their affairs much direct connection with this history. venice, in its quarrels with the jesuits, had brought spain, france, and all italy into a dead lock, out of which a compromise had been made not more satisfactory to the various parties than compromises are apt to prove. the dutch republic still maintained the position which it had assumed, a quarter of a century before, of actual and legal independence; while spain, on the other hand, still striving after universal monarchy, had not, of course, abated one jot of its pretensions to absolute dominion over its rebellious subjects in the netherlands. the holy roman and the sublime ottoman empires had also drifted into temporary peace; the exploits of the persians and other asiatic movements having given ahmed more work than was convenient on his eastern frontier, while stephen botshkay had so completely got the better of rudolph in transylvania as to make repose desirable. so there was a treaty between the great turk and the great christian on the basis of what each possessed; stephen botshkay was recognized as prince of transylvania with part of hungary, and, when taken off soon afterwards by family poison, he recommended on his death-bed the closest union between hungary and transylvania, as well as peace with the emperor, so long as it might be compatible with the rights of the magyars. france and england, while suspecting each other, dreading each other, and very sincerely hating each other, were drawn into intimate relations by their common detestation of spain, with which power both had now formal treaties of alliance and friendship. this was the result of their mighty projects for humbling the house of austria and annihilating its power. england hated the netherlands because of the injuries she had done them, the many benefits she had conferred upon them, and more than all on account of the daily increasing commercial rivalry between the two most progressive states in christendom, the two powers which, comparatively weak as they were in territory, capital, and population, were most in harmony with the spirit of the age. the government of england was more hostile than its people to the united provinces. james never spoke of the netherlanders but as upstarts and rebels, whose success ought to be looked upon with horror by the lord's anointed everywhere. he could not shut his eyes to the fact that, with the republic destroyed, and a spanish sacerdotal despotism established in holland and zeeland, with jesuit seminaries in full bloom in amsterdam and the hague, his own rebels in ireland might prove more troublesome than ever, and gunpowder plots in london become common occurrences. the earl of tyrone at that very moment was receiving enthusiastic hospitality at the archduke's court, much to the disgust of the presbyterian sovereign of the united kingdom, who nevertheless, despite his cherished theology, was possessed with an unconquerable craving for a close family alliance with the most catholic king. his ministers were inclined to spain, and the british government was at heart favourable to some kind of arrangement by which the netherlands might be reduced to the authority of their former master, in case no scheme could be carried into, effect for acquiring a virtual sovereignty over those provinces by the british crown. moreover, and most of all, the king of france being supposed to contemplate the annexation of the netherlands to his own dominions, the jealousy excited by such ambition made it even possible for james's government to tolerate the idea of dutch independence. thus the court and cabinet of england were as full of contradictory hopes and projects as a madman's brain. the rivalry between the courts of england and france for the spanish marriages and by means of them to obtain ultimately the sovereignty of all the netherlands, was the key to most of the diplomacy and interpalatial intrigue of the several first years of the century. the negotiations of cornwallis at madrid were almost simultaneous with the schemes of villeroy and rosny at paris. a portion of the english government, so soon as its treaty with spain had been signed, seemed secretly determined to do as much injury to the republic as might lie in its power. while at heart convinced that the preservation of the netherlands was necessary for england's safety, it was difficult for james and the greater part of his advisers to overcome their repugnance to the republic, and their jealousy of the great commercial successes which the republic had achieved. it was perfectly plain that a continuance of the war by england and the netherlands united would have very soon ended in the entire humiliation of spain. now that peace had been made, however, it was thought possible that england might make a bargain with her late enemy for destroying the existence and dividing the territory of her late ally. accordingly the spanish cabinet lost no time in propounding, under seal of secrecy, and with even more mystery than was usually employed by the most catholic court, a scheme for the marriage of the prince of wales with the infanta; the bridal pair, when arrived at proper age, to be endowed with all the netherlands, both obedient and republican, in full sovereignty. one thing was necessary to the carrying out of this excellent plot, the reduction of the republic into her ancient subjection to spain before her territory could be transferred to the future princess of wales. it was proposed by the spanish government that england should undertake this part of the job, and that king james for such service should receive an annual pension of one million ducats a year. it was also stipulated that certain cities in the republican dominions should be pledged to him as security for the regular payment of that stipend. sir charles cornwallis, english ambassador in spain, lent a most favourable ear to these proposals, and james eagerly sanctioned them so soon as they were secretly imparted to that monarch. "the king here," said cornwallis, "hath need of the king of great britain's arm. our king . . . hath good occasion to use the help of the king of spain's purse. the assistance of england to help that nation out of that quicksand of the low countries, where so long they have struggled to tread themselves out, and by proof find that deeper in, will be a sovereign medicine to the malady of this estate. the addition of a million of ducats to the revenue of our sovereign will be a good help to his estate." the spanish government had even the effrontery to offer the english envoy a reward of two hundred thousand crowns if the negotiations should prove successful. care was to be taken however that great britain, by this accession of power, both present and in prospect, should not grow too great, spain reserving to herself certain strongholds and maritime positions in the netherlands, for the proper security of her european and indian commerce. it was thought high time for the bloodshed to cease in the provinces; and as england, by making a treaty of peace with spain when spain was at the last gasp, had come to the rescue of that power, it was logical that she should complete the friendly work by compelling the rebellious provinces to awake from their dream of independence. if the statesmen of holland believed in the possibility of that independence, the statesmen of england knew better. if the turbulent little republic was not at last convinced that it had no right to create so much turmoil and inconvenience for its neighbours and for christendom in general in order to maintain its existence, it should be taught its duty by the sovereigns of spain and britain. it was observed, however, that the more greedily james listened day after day to the marriage propositions, the colder became the spanish cabinet in regard to that point, the more disposed to postpone those nuptials "to god's providence and future event." the high hopes founded on these secret stratagems were suddenly dashed to the earth before the end of the year; the explosion of the gunpowder plot blowing the castles in spain into the air. of course the spanish politicians vied with each other in expressions of horror and indignation at the plot, and the wicked contrivers thereof, and suggested to cornwallis that the king of france was probably at the bottom of it. they declined to give up owen and baldwin, however, and meantime the negotiations for the marriage of the prince of wales and the infanta, the million ducats of yearly pension for the needy james, and the reduction of the dutch republic to its ancient slavery to spain "under the eye and arm of britain," faded indefinitely away. salisbury indeed was always too wise to believe in the possibility of the schemes with which james and some of his other counsellors had been so much infatuated. it was almost dramatic that these plottings between james and the catholic king against the life of the republic should have been signally and almost simultaneously avenged by the conspiracy of guido fawkes. on the other hand, rosny had imparted to the dutch envoy the schemes of henry and his ministers in regard to the same object, early in . "spain is more tired of the war," said he to aerssens, under seal of absolute secrecy, "than you are yourselves. she is now negotiating for a marriage between the dauphin and the infanta, and means to give her the united provinces, as at present constituted, for a marriage portion. villeroy and sillery believe the plan feasible, but demand all the netherlands together. as for me i shall have faith in it if they send their infanta hither at once, or make a regular cession of the territory. do you believe that my lords the states will agree to the proposition?" it would be certainly difficult to match in history the effrontery of such a question. the republican envoy was asked point blank whether his country would resign her dearly gained liberty and give herself as a dowry for philip the second's three-years-old grand daughter. aerssens replied cautiously that he had never heard the matter discussed in the provinces. it had always been thought that the french king had no pretensions to their territory, but had ever advocated their independence. he hinted that such a proposition was a mere apple of discord thrown between two good allies by spain. rosny admitted the envoy's arguments, and said that his majesty would do nothing without the consent of the dutch government, and that he should probably be himself sent ere long to the hague to see if he could not obtain some little recognition from the states. thus it was confidentially revealed to the agent of the republic that her candid adviser and ally was hard at work, in conjunction with her ancient enemy, to destroy her independence, annex her territory, and appropriate to himself all the fruits of her great war, her commercial achievements, and her vast sacrifices; while, as we have just seen, english politicians at the same moment were attempting to accomplish the same feat for england's supposed advantage. all that was wished by henry to begin with was a little, a very little, recognition of his sovereignty. "you will do well to reflect on this delicate matter in time," wrote aerssens to the advocate; "i know that the king of spain is inclined to make this offer, and that they are mad enough in this place to believe the thing feasible. for me, i reject all such talk until they have got the infanta--that is to say, until the greek kalends. i am ashamed that they should believe it here, and fearful that there is still more evil concealed than i know of." towards the close of the year the french government became still more eager to carry out their plans of alliance and absorption. aerssens, who loved a political intrigue better than became a republican envoy, was perfectly aware of henry's schemes. he was disposed to humour them, in order to make sure of his military assistance, but with the secret intention of seeing them frustrated by the determined opposition of the states. the french ministers, by command of their sovereign, were disposed to deal very plainly. they informed the dutch diplomatist, with very little circumlocution, that if the republic wished assistance from france she was to pay a heavy price for it. not a pound of flesh only, but the whole body corporate, was to be surrendered if its destruction was to be averted by french arms. "you know," said sillery, "that princes in all their actions consider their interests, and his majesty has not so much affection for your conservation as to induce him to resign his peaceful position. tell me, i pray you, what would you do for his majesty in case anything should be done for you? you were lately in holland. do you think that they would give themselves to the king if he assisted them? do you not believe that prince maurice has designs on the sovereignty, and would prevent the fulfilment of the king's hopes? what will you do for us in return for our assistance?" aerssens was somewhat perplexed, but he was cunning at fence. "we will do all we can," said he, "for any change is more supportable than the yoke of spain." "what can you do then?" persisted sillery. "give us your opinion in plain french, i beg of you, and lay aside all passion; for we have both the same object--your preservation. besides interest, his majesty has affection for you. let him only see some advantage for himself to induce to assist you more powerfully. suppose you should give us what you have and what you may acquire in flanders with the promise to treat secretly with us when the time comes. could you do that?" the envoy replied that this would be tearing the commonwealth in pieces. if places were given away, the jealousy of the english would be excited. certainly it would be no light matter to surrender sluys, the fruit of maurice's skill and energy, the splendidly earned equivalent for the loss of ostend. "as to sluys and other places in flanders," said aerssens, "i don't know if towns comprised in our union could be transferred or pledged without their own consent and that of the states. should such a thing get wind we might be ruined. nevertheless i will write to learn what his majesty may hope." "the people," returned sillery, "need know nothing of this transfer; for it might be made secretly by prince maurice, who could put the french quietly into sluys and other flemish places. meantime you had best make a journey to holland to arrange matters so that the deputies, coming hither, may be amply instructed in regard to sluys, and no time be lost. his majesty is determined to help you if you know how to help yourselves." the two men then separated, sillery enjoining it upon the envoy to see the king next morning, "in order to explain to his majesty, as he had just been doing to himself, that this sovereignty could not be transferred, without the consent of the whole people, nor the people be consulted in secret." "it is necessary therefore to be armed," continued henry's minister very significantly, "before aspiring to the sovereignty." thus there was a faint glimmer of appreciation at the french court of the meaning of popular sovereignty. it did not occur to the minister that the right of giving consent was to be respected. the little obstacle was to be overcome by stratagem and by force. prince maurice was to put french garrisons stealthily into sluys and other towns conquered by the republic in flanders. then the magnanimous ally was to rise at the right moment and overcome all resistance by force of arms. the plot was a good one. it is passing strange, however, that the character of the nassaus and of the dutch nation should after the last fifty years have been still so misunderstood. it seemed in france possible that maurice would thus defile his honour and the netherlanders barter their liberty, by accepting a new tyrant in place of the one so long ago deposed. "this is the marrow of our conference," said aerssens to barneveld, reporting the interview, "and you may thus perceive whither are tending the designs of his majesty. it seems that they are aspiring here to the sovereignty, and all my letters have asserted the contrary. if you will examine a little more closely, however, you will find that there is no contradiction. this acquisition would be desirable for france if it could be made peacefully. as it can only be effected by war you may make sure that it will not be attempted; for the great maxim and basis of this kingdom is to preserve repose, and at the same time give such occupation to the king of spain that his means shall be consumed and his designs frustrated. all this will cease if we make peace. "thus in treating with the king we must observe two rules. the first is that we can maintain ourselves no longer unless powerfully assisted, and that, the people inclining to peace, we shall be obliged to obey the people. secondly, we must let no difficulty appear as to the desire expressed by his majesty to have the sovereignty of these provinces. we ought to let him hope for it, but to make him understand that by ordinary and legitimate means he cannot aspire to it. we will make him think that we have an equal desire with himself, and we shall thus take from those evil-disposed counsellors the power to injure us who are always persuading him that he is only making us great for ourselves, and thus giving us the power to injure him. in short, the king can hope nothing from us overtly, and certainly nothing covertly. by explaining to him that we require the authorization of the people, and by showing ourselves prompt to grant his request, he will be the very first to prevent us from taking any steps, in order that his repose may not be disturbed. i know that france does not wish to go to war with spain. let us then pretend that we wish to be under the dominion of france, and that we will lead our people to that point if the king desires it, but that it cannot be done secretly. believe me, he will not wish it on such conditions, while we shall gain much by this course. would to god that we could engage france in war with spain. all the utility would be ours; and the accidents of arms would so press them to spain, italy, and other places, that they would have little leisure to think of us. consider all this and conceal it from buzanval." buzanval, it is well known, was the french envoy at the hague, and it must be confessed that these schemes and paltry falsehoods on the part of the dutch agent were as contemptible as any of the plots contrived every day in paris or madrid. such base coin as this was still circulating in diplomacy as if fresh from the machiavellian mint; but the republican agent ought to have known that his government had long ago refused to pass it current. soon afterwards this grave matter was discussed at the hague between henry's envoy and barneveld. it was a very delicate negotiation. the advocate wished to secure the assistance of a powerful but most unscrupulous ally, and at the same time to conceal his real intention to frustrate the french design upon the independence of the republic. disingenuous and artful as his conduct unquestionably was, it may at least be questioned whether in that age of deceit any other great statesman would have been more frank. if the comparatively weak commonwealth, by openly and scornfully refusing all the insidious and selfish propositions of the french king, had incurred that monarch's wrath, it would have taken a noble position no doubt, but it would have perhaps been utterly destroyed. the advocate considered himself justified in using the artifices of war against a subtle and dangerous enemy who wore the mask of a friend. when the price demanded for military protection was the voluntary abandonment of national independence in favour of the protector, the man who guided the affairs of the netherlands did not hesitate to humour and to outwit the king who strove to subjugate the republic. at the same time--however one may be disposed to censure the dissimulation from the standing-ground of a lofty morality--it should not be forgotten that barneveld never hinted at any possible connivance on his part with an infraction of the laws. whatever might be the result of time, of persuasion, of policy, he never led henry or his ministers to believe that the people of the netherlands could be deprived of their liberty by force or fraud. he was willing to play a political game, in which he felt himself inferior to no man, trusting to his own skill and coolness for success. if the tyrant were defeated, and at the same time made to serve the cause of the free commonwealth, the advocate believed this to be fair play. knowing himself surrounded by gamblers and tricksters, he probably did not consider himself to be cheating because he did not play his cards upon the table. so when buzanval informed him early in october that the possession of sluys and other flemish towns would not be sufficient for the king, but that they must offer the sovereignty on even more favourable conditions than had once been proposed to henry iii., the advocate told him roundly that my lords the states were not likely to give the provinces to any man, but meant to maintain their freedom and their rights. the envoy replied that his majesty would be able to gain more favour perhaps with the common people of the country. when it is remembered that the states had offered the sovereignty of the provinces to henry iii., abjectly and as it were without any conditions at all, the effrontery of henry iv. may be measured, who claimed the same sovereignty, after twenty years of republican independence, upon even more favourable terms than those which his predecessor had rejected. barneveld, in order to mitigate the effect of his plump refusal of the royal overtures, explained to buzanval, what buzanval very well knew, that the times had now changed; that in those days, immediately after the death of william the silent, despair and disorder had reigned in the provinces, "while that dainty delicacy--liberty--had not so long been sweetly tickling the appetites of the people; that the english had not then acquired their present footing in the country, nor the house of nassau the age, the credit, and authority to which it had subsequently attained." he then intimated--and here began the deception, which certainly did not deceive buzanval--that if things were handled in the right way, there was little doubt as to the king's reaching the end proposed, but that all depended on good management. it was an error, he said, to suppose that in one, two, or three months, eight provinces and their principal members, to wit, forty good cities all enjoying liberty and equality, could be induced to accept a foreign sovereign. such language was very like irony, and probably not too subtle to escape the fine perception of the french envoy. the first thing to be done, continued the advocate, is to persuade the provinces to aid the king with all their means to conquer the disunited provinces--to dispose of the archdukes, in short, and to drive the spaniards from the soil--and then, little by little, to make it clear that there could be no safety for the states except in reducing the whole body of the netherlands under the authority of the king. let his majesty begin by conquering and annexing to his crown the provinces nearest him, and he would then be able to persuade the others to a reasonable arrangement. whether the advocate's general reply was really considered by buzanval as a grave sarcasm, politely veiled, may be a question. that envoy, however, spoke to his government of the matter as surrounded with difficulties, but not wholly desperate. barneveld was, he said, inclined to doubt whether the archdukes would be able, before any negotiations were begun, to comply with the demand which he had made upon them to have a declaration in writing that the united provinces were to be regarded as a free people over whom they pretended to no authority. if so, the french king would at once be informed of the fact. meantime the envoy expressed the safe opinion that, if prince maurice and the advocate together should take the matter of henry's sovereignty in hand with zeal, they might conduct the bark to the desired haven. surely this was an 'if' with much virtue in it. and notwithstanding that he chose to represent barneveld as, rich, tired, at the end of his latin, and willing enough to drop his anchor in a snug harbour, in order to make his fortune secure, it was obvious enough that buzanval had small hope at heart of seeing his master's purpose accomplished. as to prince maurice, the envoy did not even affect to believe him capable of being made use of, strenuous as the efforts of the french government in that direction had been. "he has no private designs that i can find out," said buzanval, doing full justice to the straightforward and sincere character of the prince. "he asks no change for himself or for his country." the envoy added, as a matter of private opinion however, that if an alteration were to be made in the constitution of the provinces, maurice would prefer that it should be made in favour of france than of any other government. he lost no opportunity, moreover, of impressing it upon his government that if the sovereignty were to be secured for france at all, it could only be done by observing great caution, and by concealing their desire to swallow the republic of which they were professing themselves the friends. the jealousy of england was sure to be awakened if france appeared too greedy at the beginning. on the other hand, that power "might be the more easily rocked into a profound sleep if france did not show its appetite at the very beginning of the banquet." that the policy of france should be steadily but stealthily directed towards getting possession of as many strong places as possible in the netherlands had long been his opinion. "since we don't mean to go to war," said he a year before to villeroy, "let us at least follow the example of the english, who have known how to draw a profit out of the necessities of this state. why should we not demand, or help ourselves to, a few good cities. sluys, for example, would be a security for us, and of great advantage." suspicion was rife on this subject at the court of spain. certainly it would be less humiliating to the catholic crown to permit the independence of its rebellious subjects than to see them incorporated into the realms of either france or england. it is not a very striking indication of the capacity of great rulers to look far into the future that both, france and england should now be hankering after the sovereignty of those very provinces, the solemn offer of which by the provinces themselves both france and england had peremptorily and almost contemptuously refused. in spain itself the war was growing very wearisome. three hundred thousand dollars a month could no longer be relied upon from the royal exchequer, or from the american voyages, or from the kite-flying operations of the merchant princes on the genoa exchange. a great fleet, to be sure, had recently arrived, splendidly laden, from the west indies, as already stated. pagan slaves, scourged to their dreadful work, continued to supply to their christian taskmasters the hidden treasures of the new world in exchange for the blessings of the evangel as thus revealed; but these treasures could never fill the perpetual sieve of the netherland war, rapidly and conscientiously as they were poured into it, year after year. the want of funds in the royal exchequer left the soldiers in flanders unpaid, and as an inevitable result mutiny admirably organized and calmly defiant was again established throughout the obedient provinces. this happened regularly once a year, so that it seemed almost as business-like a proceeding for an eletto to proclaim mutiny as for a sovereign to declare martial law. should the whole army mutiny at once, what might become of the kingdom of spain? moreover, a very uneasy feeling was prevalent that, as formerly, the turks had crossed the hellespont into europe by means of a genoese alliance and genoese galleys, so now the moors were contemplating the reconquest of granada, and of their other ancient possessions in spain, with the aid of the dutch republic and her powerful fleets.--[grotius, xv. ] the dutch cruisers watched so carefully on the track of the homeward-bound argosies, that the traffic was becoming more dangerous than lucrative, particularly since the public law established by admiral fazardo, that it was competent for naval commanders to hang, drown, or burn the crews of the enemy's merchantmen. the portuguese were still more malcontent than the spaniards. they had gained little by the absorption of their kingdom by spain, save participation in the war against the republic, the result of which had been to strip them almost entirely of the conquests of vasco de gama and his successors, and to close to them the ports of the old world and the new. in the republic there was a party for peace, no doubt, but peace only with independence. as for a return to their original subjection to spain they were unanimously ready to accept forty years more of warfare rather than to dream of such a proposition. there were many who deliberately preferred war to peace. bitter experience had impressed very deeply on the netherlanders the great precept that faith would never be kept with heretics. the present generation had therefore been taught from their cradles to believe that the word peace in spanish mouths simply meant the holy inquisition. it was not unnatural, too, perhaps, that a people who had never known what it was to be at peace might feel, in regard to that blessing, much as the blind or the deaf towards colour or music; as something useful and agreeable, no doubt, but with which they might the more cheerfully dispense, as peculiar circumstances had always kept them in positive ignorance of its nature. the instinct of commercial greediness made the merchants of holland and zeeland, and especially those of amsterdam, dread the revival of antwerp in case of peace, to the imagined detriment of the great trading centres of the republic. it was felt also to be certain that spain, in case of negotiations, would lay down as an indispensable preliminary the abstinence on the part of the netherlanders from all intercourse with the indies, east or west; and although such a prohibition would be received by those republicans with perfect contempt, yet the mere discussion of the subject moved their spleen. they had already driven the portuguese out of a large portion of the field in the east, and they were now preparing by means of the same machinery to dispute the monopoly of the spaniards in the west. to talk of excluding such a people as this from intercourse with any portion of the old world or the new was the mumbling of dotage; yet nothing could be more certain than that such would be the pretensions of spain. as for the stadholder, his vocation was war, his greatness had been derived from war, his genius had never turned itself to pacific pursuits. should a peace be negotiated, not only would his occupation be gone, but he might even find himself hampered for means. it was probable that his large salaries, as captain and admiral-general of the forces of the republic, would be seriously curtailed, in case his services in the field were no longer demanded, while such secret hopes as he might entertain of acquiring that sovereign power which barneveld had been inclined to favour, were more likely to be fulfilled if the war should be continued. at the same time, if sovereignty were to be his at all, he was distinctly opposed to such limitations of his authority as were to have been proposed by the states to his father. rather than reign on those conditions, he avowed that he would throw himself head foremost from the great tower of hague castle. moreover, the prince was smarting under the consciousness of having lost military reputation, however undeservedly, in the latter campaigns, and might reasonably hope to gain new glory in the immediate future. thus, while his great rival, marquis spinola, whose fame had grown to so luxuriant a height in so brief a period, had many reasons to dread the results of future campaigning, maurice seemed to have personally much to lose and nothing to hope for in peace. spinola was over head and ears in debt. in the past two years he had spent millions of florins out of his own pocket. his magnificent fortune and boundless credit were seriously compromised. he had found it an easier task to take ostend and relieve grol than to bolster up the finances of spain. his acceptances were becoming as much a drug upon the exchanges of antwerp, genoa, or augsburg, as those of the most catholic king or their highnesses the archdukes. ruin stared him in the face, notwithstanding the deeds with which he had startled the world, and he was therefore sincerely desirous of peace, provided, of course, that all those advantages for which the war had been waged in vain could now be secured by negotiation. there had been, since the arrival of the duke of alva in the netherlands, just forty years of fighting. maurice and the war had been born in the same year, and it would be difficult for him to comprehend that his whole life's work had been a superfluous task, to be rubbed away now with a sponge. yet that spain, on the entrance to negotiations, would demand of the provinces submission to her authority, re-establishment of the catholic religion, abstinence from oriental or american commerce, and the toleration of spanish soldiers over all the netherlands, seemed indubitable. it was equally unquestionable that the seven provinces would demand recognition of their national independence by spain, would refuse public practice of the roman religion within their domains, and would laugh to scorn any proposed limitations to their participation in the world's traffic. as to the presence of spanish troops on their soil, that was, of course, an inconceivable idea. where, then, could even a loophole be found through which the possibility of a compromise could be espied? the ideas of the contending parties were as much opposed to each other as fire and snow. nevertheless, the great forces of the world seemed to have gradually settled into such an equilibrium as to make the continuance of the war for the present impossible. accordingly, the peace-party in brussels had cautiously put forth its tentacles late in , and again in the early days of the new year. walrave van wittenhorst and doctor gevaerts had been allowed to come to the hague, ostensibly on private business, but with secret commission from the archdukes to feel and report concerning the political atmosphere. they found that it was a penal offence in the republic to talk of peace or of truce. they nevertheless suspected that there might be a more sympathetic layer beneath the very chill surface which they everywhere encountered. having intimated in the proper quarters that the archdukes would be ready to receive or to appoint commissioners for peace or armistice, if becoming propositions should be made, they were allowed on the th of january, , to make a communication to the states-general. they indulged in the usual cheap commonplaces on the effusion of blood, the calamities of war, and the blessings of peace, and assured the states of the very benignant disposition of their highnesses at brussels. the states-general, in their reply, seventeen days afterwards, remarking that the archdukes persisted in their unfounded pretensions of authority over them, took occasion to assure their highnesses that they had no chance to obtain such authority except by the sword. whether they were like to accomplish much in that way the history of the past might sufficiently indicate, while on the other hand the states would always claim the right, and never renounce the hope, of recovering those provinces which had belonged to their free commonwealth since the union of utrecht, and which force and fraud had torn away. during twenty-five years that union had been confirmed as a free state by solemn decrees, and many public acts and dealings with the mightiest potentates of europe, nor could any other answer now be made to the archdukes than the one always given to his holy roman imperial majesty, and other princes, to wit, that no negotiations could be had with powers making any pretensions in conflict with the solemn decrees and well-maintained rights of the united netherlands. it was in this year that two words became more frequent in the mouths of men than they had ever been before; two words which as the ages rolled on were destined to exercise a wider influence over the affairs of this planet than was yet dreamed of by any thinker in christendom. those words were america and virginia. certainly both words were known before, although india was the more general term for these auriferous regions of the west, which, more than a century long, had been open to european adventure, while the land, baptized in honour of the throned vestal, had been already made familiar to european ears by the exploits of raleigh. but it was not till that jamestown was founded, that captain john smith's adventures with powhattan, "emperor of virginia," and his daughter the princess pocahontas, became fashionable topics in england, that the english attempts to sail up the chickahominy to the pacific ocean--as abortive as those of the netherlanders to sail across the north pole to cathay--were creating scientific discussion in europe, and that the first cargo of imaginary gold dust was exported from the james river. with the adventurous minds of england all aflame with enthusiasm for those golden regions, with the thick-coming fancies for digging, washing, refining the precious sands of virginia rivers, it was certain that a great rent was now to be made in the borgian grant. it was inevitable that the rivalry of the netherlanders should be excited by the achievements and the marvellous tales of englishmen beyond the atlantic, and that they too should claim their share of traffic with that golden and magnificent unknown which was called america. the rivalry between england and holland, already so conspicuous in the spicy archipelagos of the east, was now to be extended over the silvery regions of the west. the two leading commercial powers of the old world were now to begin their great struggle for supremacy in the western hemisphere. a charter for what was called a west india company was accordingly granted by the states-general. west india was understood to extend from the french settlements in newfoundland or acadia, along the american coast to the straits of magellan, and so around to the south sea, including the atlantic and pacific oceans, besides all of africa lying between the tropic of cancer and the cape of good hope. at least, within those limits the west india company was to have monopoly of trade, all other netherlanders being warned off the precincts. nothing could be more magnificent, nor more vague. the charter was for thirty-six years. the company was to maintain armies and fleets, to build forts and cities, to carry on war, to make treaties of peace and of commerce. it was a small peripatetic republic of merchants and mariners, evolved out of the mother republic--which had at last established its position among the powers of christendom--and it was to begin its career full grown and in full armour. the states-general were to furnish the company at starting with one million of florins and with twenty ships of war. the company was to add twenty other ships. the government was to consist of four chambers of directors. one-half the capital was to be contributed by the chamber of amsterdam, one-quarter by that of zeeland, one-eighth respectively by the chambers of the meuse and of north holland. the chambers of amsterdam, of zeeland, of the meuse, and of north holland were to have respectively thirty, eighteen, fifteen, and fifteen directors. of these seventy-eight, one-third were to be replaced every sixth year by others, while from the whole number seventeen persons were to be elected as a permanent board of managers. dividends were to be made as soon as the earnings amounted to ten per cent. on the capital. maritime judges were to decide upon prizes, the proceeds of which were not to be divided for six years, in order that war might be self-sustaining. afterwards, the treasury of the united provinces should receive one-tenth, prince maurice one-thirtieth, and the merchant stockholders the remainder. governors and generals were to take the oath of fidelity to the states-general. the merchandize of the company was to be perpetually free of taxation, so far as regarded old duties, and exempt from war-taxes for the first twenty years. very violent and conflicting were the opinions expressed throughout the republic in regard to this project. it was urged by those most in favour of it that the chief sources of the greatness of spain would be thus transferred to the states-general; for there could be no doubt that the hollanders, unconquerable at sea, familiar with every ocean-path, and whose hardy constitutions defied danger and privation and the extremes of heat and cold, would easily supplant the more delicately organized adventurers from southern europe, already enervated by the exhausting climate of america. moreover, it was idle for spain to attempt the defence of so vast a portion of the world. every tribe over which she had exercised sway would furnish as many allies for the dutch company as it numbered men; for to obey and to hate the tyrannical spaniard were one. the republic would acquire, in reality, the grandeur which with spain was but an empty boast, would have the glory of transferring the great war beyond the limits of home into those far distant possessions, where the enemy deemed himself most secure, and would teach the true religion to savages sunk in their own superstitions, and still further depraved by the imported idolatries of rome. commerce was now world-wide, and the time had come for the netherlanders, to whom the ocean belonged, to tear out from the pompous list of the catholic king's titles his appellation of lord of the seas. there were others, however, whose language was not so sanguine. they spoke with a shiver of the inhabitants of america, who hated all men, simply because they were men, or who had never manifested any love for their species except as an article of food. to convert such cannibals to christianity and calvinism would be a hopeless endeavour, and meanwhile the spaniards were masters of the country. the attempt to blockade half the globe with forty galleots was insane; for, although the enemy had not occupied the whole territory, he commanded every harbour and position of vantage. men, scarcely able to defend inch by inch the meagre little sandbanks of their fatherland, who should now go forth in hopes to conquer the world, were but walking in their sleep. they would awake to the consciousness of ruin. thus men in the united provinces spake of america. especially barneveld had been supposed to be prominent among the opponents of the new company, on the ground that the more violently commercial ambition excited itself towards wider and wilder fields of adventure, the fainter grew inclinations for peace. the advocate, who was all but omnipotent in holland and zeeland, subsequently denied the imputation of hostility to the new corporation, but the establishment of the west india company, although chartered, was postponed. the archdukes had not been discouraged by the result of their first attempts at negotiation, for wittenhorst had reported a disposition towards peace as prevalent in the rebellious provinces, so far as he had contrived, during his brief mission, to feel the public pulse. on the th february, , werner cruwel, an insolvent tradesman of brussels, and a relative of recorder aerssens, father of the envoy at paris, made his appearance very unexpectedly at the house of his kinsman at the hague. sitting at the dinner-table, but neither eating nor drinking, he was asked by his host what troubled him. he replied that he had a load on his breast. aerssens begged him, if it was his recent bankruptcy that oppressed him, to use philosophy and patience. the merchant answered that he who confessed well was absolved well. he then took from his pocket-book a letter from president richardot, and said he would reveal what he had to say after dinner. the cloth being removed, and the wife and children of aerssens having left the room, cruwel disclosed that he had been sent by richardot and father neyen on a secret mission. the recorder, much amazed and troubled, refused to utter a word, save to ask if cruwel would object to confer with the advocate. the merchant expressing himself as ready for such an interview, the recorder, although it was late, immediately sent a message to the great statesman. barneveld was in bed and asleep, but was aroused to receive the communication of aerssens. "we live in such a calumnious time," said the recorder, "that many people believe that you and i know more of the recent mission of wittenhorst than we admit. you had best interrogate cruwel in the presence of witnesses. i know not the man's humour, but it seems to me since his failure, that, in spite of his shy and lumpish manner, he is false and cunning." the result was a secret interview, on the th february, between prince maurice, barneveld, and the recorder, in which cruwel was permitted to state the object of his mission. he then produced a short memorandum, signed by spinola and by father neyen, to the effect that the archdukes were willing to treat for a truce of ten or twelve years, on the sole condition that the states would abstain from the india navigation. he exhibited also another paper, signed only by neyen, in which that friar proposed to come secretly to the hague, no one in brussels to know of the visit save the archdukes and spinola; and all in the united provinces to be equally ignorant except the prince, the advocate, and the recorder. cruwel was then informed that if neyen expected to discuss such grave matters with the prince, he must first send in a written proposal that could go on all fours and deserve attention. a week afterwards cruwel came back with a paper in which neyen declared himself authorized by the archdukes to treat with the states on the basis of their liberty and independence, and to ask what they would give in return for so great a concession as this renunciation of all right to "the so-called united provinces." this being a step in advance, it was decided to permit the visit of neyen. it was, however, the recorded opinion of the distinguished personages to whom the proposal was made that it was a trick and a deception. the archdukes would, no doubt, it was said, nominally recognise the provinces as a free state, but without really meaning it. meantime, they would do their best to corrupt the government and to renew the war after the republic had by this means been separated from its friends. john neyen, father commissary of the franciscans, who had thus invited himself to the momentous conference, was a very smooth flemish friar, who seemed admirably adapted, for various reasons, to glide into the rebel country and into the hearts of the rebels. he was a netherlander, born at antwerp, when antwerp was a portion of the united commonwealth, of a father who had been in the confidential service of william the silent. he was eloquent in the dutch language, and knew the character of the dutch people. he had lived much at court, both in madrid and brussels, and was familiar with the ways of kings and courtiers. he was a holy man, incapable of a thought of worldly advancement for himself, but he was a master of the logic often thought most conclusive in those days; no man insinuating golden arguments more adroitly than he into half-reluctant palms. blessed with a visage of more than flemish frankness, he had in reality a most wily and unscrupulous disposition. insensible to contumely, and incapable of accepting a rebuff, he could wind back to his purpose when less supple negotiators would have been crushed. he was described by his admirers as uniting the wisdom of the serpent with the guilelessness of the dove. who better than he then, in this double capacity, to coil himself around the rebellion, and to carry the olive-branch in his mouth? on the th february the monk, disguised in the dress of a burgher, arrived at ryswick, a village a mile and a half from the hague. he was accompanied on the journey by cruwel, and they gave themselves out as travelling tradesmen. after nightfall, a carriage having been sent to the hostelry, according to secret agreement, by recorder aerssens, john neyen was brought to the hague. the friar, as he was driven on through these hostile regions, was somewhat startled, on looking out, to find himself accompanied by two mounted musketeers on each side of the carriage, but they proved to have been intended as a protective escort. he was brought to the recorder's house, whence, after some delay, he was conveyed to the palace. here he was received by an unknown and silent attendant, who took him by the hand and led him through entirely deserted corridors and halls. not a human being was seen nor a sound heard until his conductor at last reached the door of an inner apartment through which he ushered him, without speaking a syllable. the monk then found himself in the presence of two personages, seated at a table covered with books and papers. one was in military undress, with an air about him of habitual command, a fair-complexioned man of middle age, inclining to baldness, rather stout, with a large blue eye, regular features, and a mouse-coloured beard. the other was in the velvet cloak and grave habiliments of a civil functionary, apparently sixty years of age, with a massive features, and a shaggy beard. the soldier was maurice of nassau, the statesman was john of olden-barneveld. both rose as the friar entered, and greeted him with cordiality. "but," said the prince, "how did you dare to enter the hague, relying only on the word of a beggar?" "who would not confide," replied neyen, "in the word of so exalted, so respectable a beggar as you, o most excellent prince?" with these facetious words began the negotiations through which an earnest attempt was at last to be made for terminating a seemingly immortal war. the conversation, thus begun, rolled amicably and informally along. the monk produced letters from the archdukes, in which, as he stated, the truly royal soul of the writers shone conspicuously forth. without a thought for their own advantage, he observed, and moved only by a contemplation of the tears shed by so many thousands of beings reduced to extreme misery, their highnesses, although they were such exalted princes, cared nothing for what would be said by the kings of europe and all the potentates of the universe about their excessive indulgence." "what indulgence do you speak of?" asked the stadholder. "does that seem a trifling indulgence," replied john neyen, "that they are willing to abandon the right which they inherited from their ancestors over these provinces, to allow it so easily to slip from their fingers, to declare these people to be free, over whom, as their subjects refusing the yoke, they have carried on war so long?" "it is our right hands that have gained this liberty," said maurice, "not the archdukes that have granted it. it has been acquired by our treasure, poured forth how freely! by the price of our blood, by so many thousands of souls sent to their account. alas, how dear a price have we paid for it! all the potentates of christendom, save the king of spain alone, with his relatives the archdukes, have assented to our independence. in treating for peace we ask no gift of freedom from the archdukes. we claim to be regarded by them as what we are--free men. if they are unwilling to consider us as such, let them subject us to their dominion if they can. and as we have hitherto done, we shall contend more fiercely for liberty than for life." with this, the tired monk was dismissed to sleep off the effects of his journey and of the protracted discussion, being warmly recommended to the captain of the citadel, by whom he was treated with every possible consideration. several days of private discussion ensued between neyen and the leading personages of the republic. the emissary was looked upon with great distrust. all schemes of substantial negotiation were regarded by the public as visions, while the monk on his part felt the need of all his tact and temper to wind his way out of the labyrinth into which he felt that he had perhaps too heedlessly entered. a false movement on his part would involve himself and his masters in a hopeless maze of suspicion, and make a pacific result impossible. at length, it having been agreed to refer the matter to the states-general, recorder aerssens waited upon neyen to demand his credentials for negotiation. he replied that he had been forbidden to deliver his papers, but that he was willing to exhibit them to the states-general. he came accordingly to that assembly, and was respectfully received. all the deputies rose, and he was placed in a seat near the presiding officer. olden-barneveld then in a few words told him why he had been summoned. the monk begged that a want of courtesy might not be imputed to him, as he had been sent to negotiate with three individuals, not with a great assembly. thus already the troublesome effect of publicity upon diplomacy was manifesting itself. the many-headed, many-tongued republic was a difficult creature to manage, adroit as the negotiator had proved himself to be in gliding through the cabinets and council-chambers of princes and dealing with the important personages found there. the power was, however, produced, and handed around the assembly, the signature and seals being duly inspected by the members. neyen was then asked if he had anything to say in public. he replied in the negative, adding only a few vague commonplaces about the effusion of blood and the desire of the archdukes for the good of mankind. he was then dismissed. a few days afterwards a committee of five from the states-general, of which barneveld was chairman, conferred with neyen. he was informed that the paper exhibited by him was in many respects objectionable, and that they had therefore drawn up a form which he was requested to lay before the archdukes for their guidance in making out a new power. he was asked also whether the king of spain was a party to these proposals for negotiation. the monk answered that he was not informed of the fact, but that he considered it highly probable. john neyen then departed for brussels with the form prescribed by the states-general in his pocket. nothing could exceed the indignation with which the royalists and catholics at the court of the archdukes were inspired by the extreme arrogance and obstinacy thus manifested by the rebellious heretics. that the offer on the part of their master to negotiate should be received by them with cavils, and almost with contempt, was as great an offence as their original revolt. that the servant should dare to prescribe a form for the sovereign to copy seemed to prove that the world was coming to an end. but it was ever thus with the vulgar, said the courtiers and church dignitaries, debating these matters. the insanity of plebeians was always enormous, and never more so than when fortune for a moment smiled. full of arrogance and temerity when affairs were prosperous, plunged in abject cowardice when dangers and reverses came--such was the people--such it must ever be. thus blustered the priests and the parasites surrounding the archduke, nor need their sentiments amaze us. could those honest priests and parasites have ever dreamed, before the birth of this upstart republic, that merchants, manufacturers, and farmers, mechanics and advocates--the people, in short--should presume to meddle with affairs of state? their vocation had been long ago prescribed--to dig and to draw, to brew and to bake, to bear burdens in peace and to fill bloody graves in war--what better lot could they desire? meantime their superiors, especially endowed with wisdom by the omnipotent, would direct trade and commerce, conduct war and diplomacy, make treaties, impose taxes, fill their own pockets, and govern the universe. was not this reasonable and according to the elemental laws? if the beasts of the field had been suddenly gifted with speech, and had constituted themselves into a free commonwealth for the management of public affairs, they would hardly have caused more profound astonishment at brussels and madrid than had been excited by the proceedings of the rebellious dutchmen. yet it surely might have been suggested, when the lament of the courtiers over the abjectness of the people in adversity was so emphatic, that dorp and van loon, berendrecht and gieselles, with the men under their command, who had disputed every inch of little troy for three years and three months, and had covered those fatal sands with a hundred thousand corpses, had not been giving of late such evidence of the people's cowardice in reverses as theory required. the siege of ostend had been finished only three years before, and it is strange that its lessons should so soon have been forgotten. it was thought best, however, to dissemble. diplomacy in those days--certainly the diplomacy of spain and rome--meant simply dissimulation. moreover, that solid apothegm, 'haereticis non servanda fides,' the most serviceable anchor ever forged for true believers, was always ready to be thrown out, should storm or quicksand threaten, during the intricate voyage to be now undertaken. john neyen soon returned to the hague, having persuaded his masters that it was best to affect compliance with the preliminary demand of the states. during the discussions in regard to peace, it would not be dangerous to treat with the rebel provinces as with free states, over which the archdukes pretended to no authority, because--so it was secretly argued--this was to be understood with a sense of similitude. "we will negotiate with them as if they were free," said the greyfriar to the archduke and his counsellors, "but not with the signification of true and legitimate liberty. they have laid down in their formula that we are to pretend to no authority over them. very well. for the time being we will pretend that we do not pretend to any such authority. to negotiate with them as if they were free will not make them free. it is no recognition by us that they are free. their liberty could never be acquired by their rebellion. this is so manifest that neither the king nor the archdukes can lose any of their rights over the united provinces, even should they make this declaration." thus the hair-sputters at brussels--spinning a web that should be stout enough to entrap the noisy, blundering republicans at the hague, yet so delicate as to go through the finest dialectical needle. time was to show whether subtilty or bluntness was the best diplomatic material. the monk brought with him three separate instruments or powers, to be used according to his discretion. admitted to the assembly of the states-general, he produced number one. it was instantly rejected. he then offered number two, with the same result. he now declared himself offended, not on his own account, but for the sake of his masters, and asked leave to retire from the assembly, leaving with them the papers which had been so benignantly drawn up, and which deserved to be more carefully studied. the states, on their parts, were sincerely and vehemently indignant. what did all this mean, it was demanded, this producing one set of propositions after another? why did the archdukes not declare their intentions openly and at once? let the states depart each to the several provinces, and let john neyen be instantly sent out of the country. was it thought to bait a trap for the ingenuous netherlanders, and catch them little by little, like so many wild animals? this was not the way the states dealt with the archdukes. what they meant they put in front--first, last, and always. now and in the future they said and they would say exactly what they wished, candidly and seriously. those who pursued another course would never come into negotiation with them. the monk felt that he had excited a wrath which it would be difficult to assuage. he already perceived the difference between a real and an affected indignation, and tried to devise some soothing remedy. early next morning he sent a petition in writing to the states for leave to make an explanation to the assembly. barneveld and recorder aerssens, in consequence, came to him immediately, and heaped invectives upon his head for his duplicity. evidently it was a different matter dealing with this many-headed roaring beast, calling itself a republic, from managing the supple politicians with whom he was more familiar. the noise and publicity of these transactions were already somewhat appalling to the smooth friar who was accustomed to negotiate in comfortable secrecy. he now vehemently protested that never man was more sincere than he, and implored for time to send to brussels for another power. it is true that number three was still in his portfolio, but he had seen so much indignation on the production of number two as to feel sure that the fury of the states would know no bounds should he now confess that he had come provided with a third. it was agreed accordingly to wait eight days, in which period he might send for and receive the new power already in his possession. these little tricks were considered masterly diplomacy in those days, and by this kind of negotiators; and such was the way in which it was proposed to terminate a half century of warfare. [the narrative is the monk's own, as preserved by his admirer, the jesuit gallucci, (ubi sup.)] the friar wrote to his masters, not of course to ask for a new power, but to dilate on the difficulties to be anticipated in procuring that which the losing party is always most bent upon in circumstances like these, and which was most ardently desired by the archdukes--an armistice. he described prince maurice as sternly opposed to such a measure, believing that temporary cessation of hostilities was apt to be attended with mischievous familiarity between the opposing camps, with relaxation of discipline, desertion, and various kinds of treachery, and that there was no better path to peace than that which was trampled by contending hosts. seven days passed, and then neyen informed the states that he had at last received a power which he hoped would prove satisfactory. being admitted accordingly to the assembly, he delivered an eloquent eulogy upon the sincerity of the archdukes, who, with perhaps too little regard for their own dignity and authority, had thus, for the sake of the public good, so benignantly conceded what the states had demanded. barneveld, on receiving the new power, handed to neyen a draught of an agreement which he was to study at his leisure, and in which he might suggest alterations. at the same time it was demanded that within three months the written consent of the king of spain to the proposed negotiations should be produced. the franciscan objected that it did not comport with the dignity of the archdukes to suppose the consent of any other sovereign needful to confirm their acts. barneveld insisted with much vehemence on the necessity of this condition. it was perfectly notorious, he said, that the armies commanded by the archdukes were subject to the king of spain, and were called royal armies. prince maurice observed that all prisoners taken by him had uniformly called themselves soldiers of the crown, not of the archdukes, nor of marquis spinola. barneveld added that the royal power over the armies in the netherlands and over the obedient provinces was proved by the fact that all commanders of regiments, all governors of fortresses, especially of antwerp, ghent, cambray, and the like, were appointed by the king of spain. these were royal citadels with royal garrisons. that without the knowledge and consent of the king of spain it would be impossible to declare the united provinces free, was obvious; for in the cession by philip ii. of all the netherlands it was provided that, without the consent of the king, no part of that territory could be ceded, and this on pain of forfeiting all the sovereignty. to treat without the king was therefore impossible. the franciscan denied that because the sovereigns of spain sent funds and auxiliary troops to flanders, and appointed military commanders there of various degrees, the authority of the archdukes was any the less supreme. philip ii. had sent funds and troops to sustain the league, but he was not king of france. barneveld probably thought it not worth his while to reply that philip, with those funds and those troops, had done his best to become king of france, and that his failure proved nothing for the argument either way. neyen then returned once more to brussels, observing as he took leave that the decision of the archdukes as to the king's consent was very doubtful, although he was sure that the best thing for all parties would be to agree to an armistice out of hand. this, however, was far from being the opinion of the states or the stadholder. after conferring with his masters, the monk came down by agreement from antwerp to the dutch ships which lay in the scheld before fort lillo. on board one of these, dirk van der does had been stationed with a special commission from the states to compare documents. it was expressly ordered that in these preliminary negotiations neither party was to go on shore. on a comparison of the agreement brought by neyen from brussels with the draught furnished by barneveld, of which van der does had a copy, so many discrepancies appeared that the document of the archdukes was at once rejected. but of course the monk had a number two, and this, after some trouble, was made to agree with the prescribed form. brother john then, acting upon what he considered the soundest of principles--that no job was so difficult as not to be accomplished with the help of the precious metals--offered his fellow negotiator a valuable gold chain as a present from the archdukes. dirk van der does accepted the chain, but gave notice of the fact to his government. the monk now became urgent to accompany his friend to the hague, but this had been expressly forbidden by the states. neyen felt sure, he said, of being able by arguments, which he could present by word of mouth, to overcome the opposition to the armistice were he once more to be admitted to the assembly. van der does had already much overstaid his appointed time, bound to the spot, as it were, by the golden chain thrown around him by the excellent friar, and he now, in violation of orders, wrote to the hague for leave to comply with this request. pending the answer, the persuasive neyen convinced him, much against his will, that they might both go together as far as delft. to delft they accordingly went; but, within half a league of that place, met a courier with strict orders that the monk was at once to return to brussels. brother john was in great agitation. should he go back, the whole negotiation might come to nought; should he go on, he might be clapped into prison as a spy. being conscious, however, that his services as a spy were intended to be the most valuable part of his mission, he resolved to proceed in that capacity. so he persuaded his friend dirk to hide him in the hold of a canal-boat. van der does was in great trepidation himself, but on reaching the hague and giving up his gold chain to barneveld, he made his peace, and obtained leave for the trembling but audacious friar to come out of his hiding-place. appearing once more before the states-general on the afternoon of th may, neyen urged with much eloquence the propriety of an immediate armistice both by sea and land, insisting that it would be a sanguinary farce to establish a cessation of hostilities upon one element while blood and treasure were profusely flowing on the oceans. there were potent reasons for this earnestness on the part of the monk to procure a truce to maritime operations, as very soon was to be made evident to the world. meantime, on this renewed visit, the negotiator expressed himself as no longer doubtful in regard to the propriety of requesting the spanish king's consent to the proposed negotiations. that consent, however, would in his opinion depend upon the earnestness now to be manifested by the states in establishing the armistice by sea and land, and upon their promptness in recalling the fleets now infesting the coast of spain. no immediate answer was given to these representations, but neyen was requested to draw up his argument in writing, in order that it might be duly pondered by the states of the separate provinces. the radical defect of the dutch constitution--the independent sovereignty claimed by each one of the provinces composing the confederation, each of those provinces on its part being composed of cities, each again claiming something very like sovereignty for itself--could not fail to be manifested whenever, great negotiations with foreign powers were to be undertaken. to obtain the unanimous consent of seven independent little republics was a work of difficulty, requiring immense expenditure of time in comparatively unimportant contingencies. how intolerable might become the obstructions, the dissensions, and the delays, now that a series of momentous and world-wide transactions was beginning, on the issue of which the admission of a new commonwealth into the family of nations, the international connections of all the great powers of christendom, the commerce of the world, and the peace of europe depended. yet there was no help for it but to make the best present use of the institutions which time and great events had bestowed upon the young republic, leaving to a more convenient season the task of remodelling the law. meanwhile, with men who knew their own minds, who meant to speak the truth, and who were resolved to gather in at last the harvest honestly and bravely gained by nearly a half-century of hard fighting, it would be hard for a legion of friars, with their heads full of quirks and their wallets full of bills of exchange, to carry the day for despotism. barneveld was sincerely desirous of peace. he was well aware that his province of holland, where he was an intellectual autocrat, was staggering under the burden of one half the expenses of the whole republic. he knew that holland in the course of the last nine years, notwithstanding the constantly heightened rate of impost on all objects of ordinary consumption, was twenty-six millions of florins behindhand, and that she had reason therefore to wish for peace. the great advocate, than whom no statesman in europe could more accurately scan the world's horizon, was convinced that the propitious moment for honourable straightforward negotiations to secure peace, independence, and free commerce, free religion and free government, had come, and he had succeeded in winning the reluctant maurice into a partial adoption, at least, of his opinions. the franciscan remained at delft, waiting, by direction of the states, for an answer to his propositions, and doing his best according to the instructions of his own government to espy the condition and sentiments of the enemy. becoming anxious after the lapse of a fortnight, he wrote to barneveld. in reply the advocate twice sent a secret messenger, urging, him to be patient, assuring him that the affair was working well; that the opposition to peace came chiefly from zeeland and from certain parties in amsterdam vehemently opposed to peace or truce; but that the rest of holland was decidedly in favour of the negotiations. a few days passed, and neyen was again summoned before the assembly. barneveld now informed him that the dutch fleet would be recalled from the coast of spain so soon as the consent of his catholic majesty to the negotiations arrived, but that it would be necessary to confine the cessation of naval warfare within certain local limits. both these conditions were strenuously opposed by the franciscan, who urged that the consent of the spanish king was certain, but that this new proposition to localize the maritime armistice would prove to be fraught with endless difficulties and dangers. barneveld and the states remaining firm, however, and giving him a formal communication of their decision in writing, neyen had nothing for it but to wend his way back rather malcontent to brussels. it needed but a brief deliberation at the court of the archdukes to bring about the desired arrangement. the desire for an armistice, especially for a cessation of hostilities by sea, had been marvellously stimulated by an event to be narrated in the next chapter. meantime, more than the first three months of the year had been passed in these secret preliminary transactions, and so softly had the stealthy friar sped to and fro between brussels and the hague, that when at last the armistice was announced it broke forth like a sudden flash of fine weather in the midst of a raging storm. no one at the archduke's court knew of the mysterious negotiations save the monk himself, spinola, richardot, verreycken, the chief auditor, and one or two others. the great belgian nobles, from whom everything had been concealed, were very wroth, but the belgian public was as much delighted as amazed at the prospects of peace. in the united provinces opinions were conflicting, but doubtless joy and confidence were the prevailing emotions. towards the middle of april the armistice was publicly announced. it was to last for eight months from the th of may. during this period no citadels were to be besieged, no camps brought near a city, no new fortifications built, and all troops were to be kept carefully within walls. meantime commissioners were to be appointed by the archdukes to confer with an equal number of deputies of the united provinces for peace or for a truce of ten, fifteen, or twenty years, on the express ground that the archdukes regarded the united provinces as free countries, over which their highnesses pretended to no authority. the armistice on land was absolute. on sea, hostilities were to cease in the german ocean and in the channel between england and france, while it was also provided that the netherland fleet should, within a certain period, be recalled from the spanish coast. a day of public fast, humiliation, thanksgiving, and prayer was ordered throughout the republic for the th of may, in order to propitiate the favour of heaven on the great work to be undertaken; and, as a further precaution, prince maurice ordered all garrisons in the strong places to be doubled, lest the slippery enemy should take advantage of too much confidence reposed in his good faith. the preachers throughout the commonwealth, each according to his individual bias, improved the occasion by denouncing the spaniard from their pulpits and inflaming the popular hatred against the ancient enemy, or by dilating on the blessings of peace and the horrors of war. the peace party and the war party, the believers in barneveld and the especial adherents of prince maurice, seemed to divide the land in nearly equal portions. while the netherlands, both rebellious and obedient, were filled with these various emotions, the other countries of europe were profoundly amazed at the sudden revelation. it was on the whole regarded as a confession of impotence on the part of spain that the archdukes should now prepare to send envoys to the revolted provinces as to a free and independent people. universal monarchy, brought to such a pass as this, was hardly what had been expected after the tremendous designs and the grandiloquent language on which the world had so long been feeding as its daily bread. the spectacle of anointed monarchs thus far humbling themselves to the people of rebellion dictating terms, instead of writhing in dust at the foot of the throne--was something new in history. the heavens and earth might soon be expected to pass away, now that such a catastrophe was occurring. the king of france had also been kept in ignorance of these events. it was impossible, however, that the negotiations could go forward without his consent and formal participation. accordingly on receiving the news he appointed an especial mission to the hague--president jeannin and de russy, besides his regular resident ambassador buzanval. meantime startling news reached the republic in the early days of may. etext editor's bookmarks: a penal offence in the republic to talk of peace or of truce accepting a new tyrant in place of the one so long ago deposed as if they were free will not make them free as neat a deception by telling the truth cargo of imaginary gold dust was exported from the james river delay often fights better than an army against a foreign invader diplomacy of spain and rome--meant simply dissimulation draw a profit out of the necessities of this state england hated the netherlands friendly advice still more intolerable haereticis non servanda fides he who confessed well was absolved well insensible to contumely, and incapable of accepting a rebuff languor of fatigue, rather than any sincere desire for peace much as the blind or the deaf towards colour or music subtle and dangerous enemy who wore the mask of a friend word peace in spanish mouths simply meant the holy inquisition history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter xlvii. a dutch fleet under heemskerk sent to the coast of spain and portugal--encounter with the spanish war fleet under d'avila--death of both commanders-in-chief--victory of the netherlanders--massacre of the spaniards. the states-general had not been inclined to be tranquil under the check which admiral haultain had received upon the coast of spain in the autumn of . the deed of terrible self-devotion by which klaaszoon and his comrades had in that crisis saved the reputation of the republic, had proved that her fleets needed only skilful handling and determined leaders to conquer their enemy in the western seas as certainly as they had done in the archipelagos of the east. and there was one pre-eminent naval commander, still in the very prime of life, but seasoned by an experience at the poles and in the tropics such as few mariners in that early but expanding maritime epoch could boast. jacob van heemskerk, unlike many of the navigators and ocean warriors who had made and were destined to make the orange flag of the united provinces illustrious over the world, was not of humble parentage. sprung of an ancient, knightly race, which had frequently distinguished itself in his native province of holland, he had followed the seas almost from his cradle. by turns a commercial voyager, an explorer, a privateer's-man, or an admiral of war-fleets, in days when sharp distinctions between the merchant service and the public service, corsairs' work and cruisers' work, did not exist, he had ever proved himself equal to any emergency--a man incapable of fatigue, of perplexity, or of fear. we have followed his career during that awful winter in nova zembla, where, with such unflinching cheerful heroism, he sustained the courage of his comrades--the first band of scientific martyrs that had ever braved the dangers and demanded the secrets of those arctic regions. his glorious name--as those of so many of his comrades and countrymen--has been rudely torn from cape, promontory, island, and continent, once illustrated by courage and suffering, but the noble record will ever remain. subsequently he had much navigated the indian ocean; his latest achievement having been, with two hundred men, in a couple of yachts, to capture an immense portuguese carrack, mounting thirty guns, and manned with eight hundred sailors, and to bring back a prodigious booty for the exchequer of the republic. a man with delicate features, large brown eyes, a thin high nose, fair hair and beard, and a soft, gentle expression, he concealed, under a quiet exterior, and on ordinary occasions a very plain and pacific costume, a most daring nature, and an indomitable ambition for military and naval distinction. he was the man of all others in the commonwealth to lead any new enterprise that audacity could conceive against the hereditary enemy. the public and the states-general were anxious to retrace the track of haultain, and to efface the memory of his inglorious return from the spanish coast. the sailors of holland and zeeland were indignant that the richly freighted fleets of the two indies had been allowed to slip so easily through their fingers. the great east india corporation was importunate with government that such blunders should not be repeated, and that the armaments known to be preparing in the portuguese ports, the homeward-bound fleets that might be looked for at any moment off the peninsular coast, and the spanish cruisers which were again preparing to molest the merchant fleets of the company, should be dealt with effectively and in season. twenty-six vessels of small size but of good sailing qualities, according to the idea of the epoch, were provided, together with four tenders. of this fleet the command was offered to jacob van heemskerk. he accepted with alacrity, expressing with his usual quiet self-confidence the hope that, living or dead, his fatherland would have cause to thank him. inspired only by the love of glory, he asked for no remuneration for his services save thirteen per cent. of the booty, after half a million florins should have been paid into the public treasury. it was hardly probable that this would prove a large share of prize money, while considerable victories alone could entitle him to receive a stiver. the expedition sailed in the early days of april for the coast of spain and portugal, the admiral having full discretion to do anything that might in his judgment redound to the advantage of the republic. next in command was the vice-admiral of zeeland, laurenz alteras. another famous seaman in the fleet was captain henry janszoon of amsterdam, commonly called long harry, while the weather-beaten and well-beloved admiral lambert, familiarly styled by his countrymen "pretty lambert," some of whose achievements have already been recorded in these pages, was the comrade of all others upon whom heemskerk most depended. after the th april the admiral, lying off and on near the mouth of the tagus, sent a lugger in trading disguise to reconnoitre that river. he ascertained by his spies, sent in this and subsequently in other directions, as well as by occasional merchantmen spoken with at sea, that the portuguese fleet for india would not be ready to sail for many weeks; that no valuable argosies were yet to be looked for from america, but that a great war-fleet, comprising many galleons of the largest size, was at that very moment cruising in the straits of gibraltar. such of the netherland traders as were returning from the levant, as well as those designing to enter the mediterranean, were likely to fall prizes to this formidable enemy. the heart of jacob heemskerk danced for joy. he had come forth for glory, not for booty, and here was what he had scarcely dared to hope for--a powerful antagonist instead of peaceful, scarcely resisting, but richly-laden merchantmen. the accounts received were so accurate as to assure him that the gibraltar fleet was far superior to his own in size of vessels, weight of metal, and number of combatants. the circumstances only increased his eagerness. the more he was over-matched, the greater would be the honour of victory, and he steered for the straits, tacking to and fro in the teeth of a strong head-wind. on the morning of the th april he was in the narrowest part of the mountain-channel, and learned that the whole spanish fleet was in the bay of gibraltar. the marble pillar of hercules rose before him. heemskerk was of a poetic temperament, and his imagination was inflamed by the spectacle which met his eyes. geographical position, splendour of natural scenery, immortal fable, and romantic history, had combined to throw a spell over that region. it seemed marked out for perpetual illustration by human valour. the deeds by which, many generations later, those localities were to become identified with the fame of a splendid empire--then only the most energetic rival of the young republic, but destined under infinitely better geographical conditions to follow on her track of empire, and with far more prodigious results--were still in the womb of futurity. but st. vincent, trafalgar, gibraltar--words which were one day to stir the english heart, and to conjure heroic english shapes from the depths so long as history endures--were capes and promontories already familiar to legend and romance. those netherlanders had come forth from their slender little fatherland to offer battle at last within his own harbours and under his own fortresses to the despot who aspired to universal monarchy, and who claimed the lordship of the seas. the hollanders and zeelanders had gained victories on the german ocean, in the channel, throughout the indies, but now they were to measure strength with the ancient enemy in this most conspicuous theatre, and before the eyes of christendom. it was on this famous spot that the ancient demigod had torn asunder by main strength the continents of europe and africa. there stood the opposite fragments of the riven mountain-chain, calpe and abyla, gazing at each other, in eternal separation, across the gulf, emblems of those two antagonistic races which the terrible hand of destiny has so ominously disjoined. nine centuries before, the african king, moses son of nuzir, and his lieutenant, tarik son of abdallah, had crossed that strait and burned the ships which brought them. black africa had conquered a portion of whiter europe, and laid the foundation of the deadly mutual repugnance which nine hundred years of bloodshed had heightened into insanity of hatred. tarik had taken the town and mountain, carteia and calpe, and given to both his own name. gib-al-tarik, the cliff of tarik, they are called to this day. within the two horns of that beautiful bay, and protected by the fortress on the precipitous rock, lay the spanish fleet at anchor. there were ten galleons of the largest size, besides lesser war-vessels and carracks, in all twenty-one sail. the admiral commanding was don juan alvarez d'avila, a veteran who had fought at lepanto under don john of austria. his son was captain of his flag-ship, the st. augustine. the vice-admiral's galleon was called 'our lady of la vega,' the rear-admiral's was the 'mother of god,' and all the other ships were baptized by the holy names deemed most appropriate, in the spanish service, to deeds of carnage. on the other hand, the nomenclature of the dutch ships suggested a menagerie. there was the tiger, the sea dog, the griffin, the red lion, the golden lion, the black bear, the white bear; these, with the aeolus and the morning star, were the leading vessels of the little fleet. on first attaining a distant view of the enemy, heemskerk summoned all the captains on board his flag-ship, the aeolus, and addressed them in a few stirring words. "it is difficult," he said, "for netherlanders not to conquer on salt water. our fathers have gained many a victory in distant seas, but it is for us to tear from the enemy's list of titles his arrogant appellation of monarch of the ocean. here, on the verge of two continents, europe is watching our deeds, while the moors of africa are to learn for the first time in what estimation they are to hold the batavian republic. remember that you have no choice between triumph and destruction. i have led you into a position whence escape is impossible--and i ask of none of you more than i am prepared to do myself--whither i am sure that you will follow. the enemy's ships are far superior to ours in bulk; but remember that their excessive size makes them difficult to handle and easier to hit, while our own vessels are entirely within control. their decks are swarming with men, and thus there will be more certainty that our shot will take effect. remember, too, that we are all sailors, accustomed from our cradles to the ocean; while yonder spaniards are mainly soldiers and landsmen, qualmish at the smell of bilgewater, and sickening at the roll of the waves. this day begins a long list of naval victories, which will make our fatherland for ever illustrious, or lay the foundation of an honourable peace, by placing, through our triumph, in the hands of the states-general, the power of dictating its terms." his comrades long remembered the enthusiasm which flashed from the man, usually so gentle and composed in demeanour, so simple in attire. clad in complete armour, with the orange-plumes waving from his casque and the orange-scarf across his breast, he stood there in front of the mainmast of the aeolus, the very embodiment of an ancient viking. he then briefly announced his plan of attack. it was of antique simplicity. he would lay his own ship alongside that of the spanish admiral. pretty lambert in the tiger was to grapple with her on the other side. vice-admiral alteras and captain bras were to attack the enemy's vice-admiral in the same way. thus, two by two, the little netherland ships were to come into closest quarters with each one of the great galleons. heemskerk would himself lead the way, and all were to follow, as closely as possible, in his wake. the oath to stand by each other was then solemnly renewed, and a parting health was drunk. the captains then returned to their ships. as the lepanto warrior, don juan d'avila, saw the little vessels slowly moving towards him, he summoned a hollander whom he had on board, one skipper gevaerts of a captured dutch trading bark, and asked him whether those ships in the distance were netherlanders. "not a doubt of it," replied the skipper. the admiral then asked him what their purpose could possibly be, in venturing so near gibraltar. "either i am entirely mistaken in my countrymen," answered gevaerta, "or they are coming for the express purpose of offering you battle." the spaniard laughed loud and long. the idea that those puny vessels could be bent on such a purpose seemed to him irresistibly comic, and he promised his prisoner, with much condescension, that the st. augustine alone should sink the whole fleet. gevaerts, having his own ideas on the subject, but not being called upon to express them, thanked the admiral for his urbanity, and respectfully withdrew. at least four thousand soldiers were in d'avila's ships, besides seamen. there were seven hundred in the st. augustine, four hundred and fifty in our lady of vega, and so on in proportion. there were also one or two hundred noble volunteers who came thronging on board, scenting the battle from afar, and desirous of having a hand in the destruction of the insolent dutchmen. it was about one in the afternoon. there was not much wind, but the hollanders, slowly drifting on the eternal river that pours from the atlantic into the mediterranean, were now very near. all hands had been piped on board every one of the ships, all had gone down on their knees in humble prayer, and the loving cup had then been passed around. heemskerk, leading the way towards the spanish admiral, ordered the gunners of the bolus not to fire until the vessels struck each other. "wait till you hear it crack," he said, adding a promise of a hundred florins to the man who should pull down the admiral's flag. avila, notwithstanding his previous merriment, thought it best, for the moment, to avoid the coming collision. leaving to other galleons, which he interposed between himself and the enemy, the task of summarily sinking the dutch fleet, he cut the cable of the st. augustine and drifted farther into the bay. heemskerk, not allowing himself to be foiled in his purpose, steered past two or three galleons, and came crashing against the admiral. almost simultaneously, pretty lambert laid himself along her quarter on the other side. the st. augustine fired into the aeolus as she approached, but without doing much damage. the dutch admiral, as he was coming in contact, discharged his forward guns, and poured an effective volley of musketry into his antagonist. the st. augustine fired again, straight across the centre of the bolus, at a few yards' distance. a cannon-ball took off the head of a sailor, standing near heemskerk, and carried away the admiral's leg, close to the body. he fell on deck, and, knowing himself to be mortally wounded, implored the next in command on board, captain verhoef, to fight his ship to the last, and to conceal his death from the rest of the fleet. then prophesying a glorious victory for republic, and piously commending his soul to his maker, he soon breathed his last. a cloak was thrown over him, and the battle raged. the few who were aware that the noble heemskerk was gone, burned to avenge his death, and to obey the dying commands of their beloved chief. the rest of the hollanders believed themselves under his directing influence, and fought as if his eyes were upon them. thus the spirit of the departed hero still watched over and guided the battle. the aeolus now fired a broadside into her antagonist, making fearful havoc, and killing admiral d'avila. the commanders-in-chief of both contending fleets had thus fallen at the very beginning of the battle. while the st. augustine was engaged in deadly encounter, yardarm and yardarm, with the aeolus and the tiger, vice-admiral alteras had, however, not carried out his part of the plan. before he could succeed in laying himself alongside of the spanish vice-admiral, he had been attacked by two galleons. three other dutch ships, however, attacked the vice-admiral, and, after an obstinate combat, silenced all her batteries and set her on fire. her conquerors were then obliged to draw off rather hastily, and to occupy themselves for a time in extinguishing their own burning sails, which had taken fire from the close contact with their enemy. our lady of vega, all ablaze from top-gallant-mast to quarterdeck, floated helplessly about, a spectre of flame, her guns going off wildly, and her crew dashing themselves into the sea, in order to escape by drowning from a fiery death. she was consumed to the water's edge. meantime, vice-admiral alteras had successively defeated both his antagonists; drifting in with them until almost under the guns of the fortress, but never leaving them until, by his superior gunnery and seamanship, he had sunk one of them, and driven the other a helpless wreck on shore. long harry, while alteras had been thus employed, had engaged another great galleon, and set her on fire. she, too, was thoroughly burned to her hulk; but admiral harry was killed. by this time, although it was early of an april afternoon, and heavy clouds of smoke, enveloping the combatants pent together in so small a space, seemed to make an atmosphere of midnight, as the flames of the burning galleons died away. there was a difficulty, too, in bringing all the netherland ships into action--several of the smaller ones having been purposely stationed by heemskerk on the edge of the bay to prevent the possible escape of any of the spaniards. while some of these distant ships were crowding sail, in order to come to closer quarters, now that the day seemed going against the spaniards, a tremendous explosion suddenly shook the air. one of the largest galleons, engaged in combat with a couple of dutch vessels, had received a hot shot full in her powder magazine, and blew up with all on board. the blazing fragments drifted about among the other ships, and two more were soon on fire, their guns going off and their magazines exploding. the rock of gibraltar seemed to reel. to the murky darkness succeeded the intolerable glare of a new and vast conflagration. the scene in that narrow roadstead was now almost infernal. it seemed, said an eye-witness, as if heaven and earth were passing away. a hopeless panic seized the spaniards. the battle was over. the st. augustine still lay in the deadly embrace of her antagonists, but all the other galleons were sunk or burned. several of the lesser war-ships had also been destroyed. it was nearly sunset. the st. augustine at last ran up a white flag, but it was not observed in the fierceness of the last moments of combat; the men from the bolus and the tiger making a simultaneous rush on board the vanquished foe. the fight was done, but the massacre was at its beginning. the trumpeter, of captain kleinsorg clambered like a monkey up the mast of the st. augustine, hauled down the admiral's flag, the last which was still waving, and gained the hundred florins. the ship was full of dead and dying; but a brutal, infamous butchery now took place. some netherland prisoners were found in the hold, who related that two messengers had been successively despatched to take their lives, as they lay there in chains, and that each had been shot, as he made his way towards the execution of the orders. this information did not chill the ardour of their victorious countrymen. no quarter was given. such of the victims as succeeded in throwing themselves overboard, out of the st. augustine, or any of the burning or sinking ships, were pursued by the netherlanders, who rowed about among them in boats, shooting, stabbing, and drowning their victims by hundreds. it was a sickening spectacle. the bay, said those who were there, seemed sown with corpses. probably two or three thousand were thus put to death, or had met their fate before. had the chivalrous heemskerk lived, it is possible that he might have stopped the massacre. but the thought of the grief which would fill the commonwealth when the news should arrive of his death--thus turning the joy of the great triumph into lamentations--increased the animosity of his comrades. moreover, in ransacking the spanish admiral's ship, all his papers had been found, among them many secret instructions from government signed "the king;" ordering most inhuman persecutions, not only of the netherlanders, but of all who should in any way assist them, at sea or ashore. recent examples of the thorough manner in which the royal admirals could carry out these bloody instructions had been furnished by the hangings, burnings, and drownings of fazardo. but the barbarous ferocity of the dutch on this occasion might have taught a lesson even to the comrades of alva. the fleet of avila was entirely destroyed. the hulk of the st. augustine drifted ashore, having been abandoned by the victors, and was set on fire by a few spaniards who had concealed themselves on board, lest she might fall again into the enemy's hands. the battle had lasted from half-past three until sunset. the dutch vessels remained all the next day on the scene of their triumph. the townspeople were discerned, packing up their goods, and speeding panic-struck into the interior. had heemskerk survived he would doubtless have taken gibraltar--fortress and town--and perhaps cadiz, such was the consternation along the whole coast. but his gallant spirit no longer directed the fleet. bent rather upon plunder than glory, the ships now dispersed in search of prizes towards the azores, the canaries, or along the portuguese coast; having first made a brief visit to tetuan, where they were rapturously received by the bey. the hollanders lost no ships, and but one hundred seamen were killed. two vessels were despatched homeward directly, one with sixty wounded sailors, the other with the embalmed body of the fallen heemskerk. the hero was honoured with a magnificent funeral in amsterdam at the public expense--the first instance in the history of the republic--and his name was enrolled on the most precious page of her records. [the chief authorities for this remarkable battle are meteren, , . grotius, xvi. - . wagenaar, ix. - .] chapter xlviii. internal condition of spain--character of the people--influence of the inquisition--population and revenue--incomes of church and government--degradation of labour--expulsion of the moors and its consequences--venality the special characteristic of spanish polity --maxims of the foreign polity of spain--the spanish army and navy-- insolvent state of the government--the duke of lerma--his position in the state--origin of his power--system of bribery and trafficking--philip iii. his character--domestic life of the king and queen. a glance at the interior condition of spain, now that there had been more than nine years of a new reign, should no longer be deferred. spain was still superstitiously regarded as the leading power of the world, although foiled in all its fantastic and gigantic schemes. it was still supposed, according to current dogma, to share with the ottoman empire the dominion of the earth. a series of fortunate marriages having united many of the richest and fairest portions of europe under a single sceptre, it was popularly believed in a period when men were not much given as yet to examine very deeply the principles of human governments or the causes of national greatness, that an aggregation of powers which had resulted from preposterous laws of succession really constituted a mighty empire, founded by genius and valour. the spanish people, endowed with an acute and exuberant genius, which had exhibited itself in many paths of literature, science, and art; with a singular aptitude for military adventure, organization, and achievement; with a great variety, in short, of splendid and ennobling qualities; had been, for a long succession of years, accursed with almost the very worst political institutions known to history. the depth of their misery and of their degradation was hardly yet known to themselves, and this was perhaps the most hideous proof of the tyranny of which they had been the victims. to the outward world, the hollow fabric, out of which the whole pith and strength had been slowly gnawed away, was imposing and majestic still. but the priest, the soldier, and the courtier had been busy too long, and had done their work too thoroughly, to leave much hope of arresting the universal decay. nor did there seem any probability that the attempt would be made. it is always difficult to reform wide-spread abuses, even when they are acknowledged to exist, but when gigantic vices are proudly pointed to as the noblest of institutions and as the very foundations of the state, there seems nothing for the patriot to long for but the deluge. it was acknowledged that the spanish population--having a very large admixture of those races which, because not catholic at heart, were stigmatized as miscreants, heretics, pagans, and, generally, as accursed--was by nature singularly prone to religious innovation. had it not been for the holy inquisition, it was the opinion of acute and thoughtful observers in the beginning of the seventeenth century, that the infamous heresies of luther, calvin, and the rest, would have long before taken possession of the land. to that most blessed establishment it was owing that spain had not polluted itself in the filth and ordure of the reformation, and had been spared the horrible fate which had befallen large portions of germany, france, britain, and other barbarous northern nations. it was conscientiously and thankfully believed in spain, two centuries ago, that the state had been saved from political and moral ruin by that admirable machine which detected heretics with unerring accuracy, burned them when detected, and consigned their descendants to political incapacity and social infamy to the remotest generation. as the awful consequences of religious freedom, men pointed with a shudder to the condition of nations already speeding on the road to ruin, from which the two peninsulas at least had been saved. yet the british empire, with the american republic still an embryo in its bosom, france, north germany, and other great powers, had hardly then begun their headlong career. whether the road of religious liberty was leading exactly to political ruin, the coming centuries were to judge. enough has been said in former chapters for the characterization of philip ii. and his polity. but there had now been nearly ten years of another reign. the system, inaugurated by charles and perfected by his son, had reached its last expression under philip iii. the evil done by father and son lived and bore plentiful fruit in the epoch of the grandson. and this is inevitable in history. no generation is long-lived enough to reap the harvest, whether of good or evil, which it sows. philip ii. had been indefatigable in evil, a thorough believer in his supernatural mission as despot, not entirely without capacity for affairs, personally absorbed by the routine of his bureau. he was a king, as he understood the meaning of the kingly office. his policy was continued after his death; but there was no longer a king. that important regulator to the governmental machinery was wanting. how its place was supplied will soon appear. meantime the organic functions were performed very much in the old way. there was, at least, no lack of priests or courtiers. spain at this epoch had probably less than twelve millions of inhabitants, although the statistics of those days cannot be relied upon with accuracy. the whole revenue of the state was nominally sixteen or seventeen millions of dollars, but the greater portion of that income was pledged for many coming years to the merchants of genoa. all the little royal devices for increasing the budget by debasing the coin of the realm, by issuing millions of copper tokens, by lowering the promised rate of interest on government loans, by formally repudiating both interest and principal, had been tried, both in this and the preceding reign, with the usual success. an inconvertible paper currency, stimulating industry and improving morals by converting beneficent commerce into baleful gambling--that fatal invention did not then exist. meantime, the legitimate trader and innocent citizen were harassed, and the general public endangered, as much as the limited machinery of the epoch permitted. the available, unpledged revenue of the kingdom hardly amounted to five millions of dollars a-year. the regular annual income of the church was at least six millions. the whole personal property of the nation was estimated in a very clumsy and unsatisfactory way, no doubt--at sixty millions of dollars. thus the income of the priesthood was ten per cent. of the whole funded estate of the country, and at least a million a year more than the income of the government. could a more biting epigram be made upon the condition to which the nation had been reduced? labour was more degraded than ever. the industrious classes, if such could be said to exist, were esteemed every day more and more infamous. merchants, shopkeepers, mechanics, were reptiles, as vilely, esteemed as jews, moors, protestants, or pagans. acquiring wealth by any kind of production was dishonourable. a grandee who should permit himself to sell the wool from his boundless sheep-walks disgraced his caste, and was accounted as low as a merchant. to create was the business of slaves and miscreants: to destroy was the distinguishing attribute of christians and nobles. to cheat, to pick, and to steal, on the most minute and the most gigantic scale--these were also among the dearest privileges of the exalted classes. no merchandize was polluting save the produce of honest industry. to sell places in church and state, the army, the navy, and the sacred tribunals of law, to take bribes from rich and poor, high and low; in sums infinitesimal or enormous, to pillage the exchequer in, every imaginable form, to dispose of titles of honour, orders of chivalry, posts in municipal council, at auction; to barter influence, audiences, official interviews against money cynically paid down in rascal counters--all this was esteemed consistent with patrician dignity. the ministers, ecclesiastics, and those about court, obtaining a monopoly of such trade, left the business of production and circulation to their inferiors, while, as has already been sufficiently indicated, religious fanaticism and a pride of race, which nearly amounted to idiocy, had generated a scorn for labour even among the lowest orders. as a natural consequence, commerce and the mechanical arts fell almost exclusively into the hands of foreigners--italians, english, and french--who resorted in yearly increasing numbers to spain for the purpose of enriching. themselves by the industry which the natives despised. the capital thus acquired was at regular intervals removed from the country to other lands, where wealth resulting from traffic or manufactures was not accounted infamous. moreover, as the soil of the country was held by a few great proprietors--an immense portion in the dead-hand of an insatiate and ever-grasping church, and much of the remainder in vast entailed estates--it was nearly impossible for the masses of the people to become owners of any portion of the land. to be an agricultural day-labourer at less than a beggar's wage could hardly be a tempting pursuit for a proud and indolent race. it was no wonder therefore that the business of the brigand, the smuggler, the professional mendicant became from year to year more attractive and more overdone; while an ever-thickening swarm of priests, friars, and nuns of every order, engendered out of a corrupt and decaying society, increasing the general indolence, immorality, and unproductive consumption, and frightfully diminishing the productive force of the country, fed like locusts upon what was left in the unhappy land. "to shirk labour, infinite numbers become priests and friars," said, a good catholic, in the year --[gir. soranzo]. before the end of the reign of philip iii. the peninsula, which might have been the granary of the world, did not produce food enough for its own population. corn became a regular article of import into spain, and would have come in larger quantities than it did had the industry of the country furnished sufficient material to exchange for necessary food. and as if it had been an object of ambition with the priests and courtiers who then ruled a noble country, to make at exactly this epoch the most startling manifestation of human fatuity that the world had ever seen, it was now resolved by government to expel by armed force nearly the whole stock of intelligent and experienced labour, agricultural and mechanical, from the country. it is unnecessary to dwell long upon an event which, if it were not so familiarly known to mankind, would seem almost incredible. but the expulsion of the moors is, alas! no exaggerated and imaginary satire, but a monument of wickedness and insanity such as is not often seen in human history. already, in the very first years of the century, john ribera, archbishop of valencia, had recommended and urged the scheme. it was too gigantic a project to be carried into execution at once, but it was slowly matured by the aid of other ecclesiastics. at last there were indications, both human and divine, that the expulsion of these miscreants could no longer be deferred. it was rumoured and believed that a general conspiracy existed among the moors to rise upon the government, to institute a general massacre, and, with the assistance of their allies and relatives on the barbary coast, to re-establish the empire of the infidels. a convoy of eighty ass-loads of oil on the way to madrid had halted at a wayside inn. a few flasks were stolen, and those who consumed it were made sick. some of the thieves even died, or were said to have died, in consequence. instantly the rumour flew from mouth to mouth, from town to town, that the royal family, the court, the whole capital, all spain, were to be poisoned with that oil. if such were the scheme it was certainly a less ingenious one than the famous plot by which the spanish government was suspected but a few years before to have so nearly succeeded in blowing the king, peers, and commons of england into the air. the proof of moorish guilt was deemed all-sufficient, especially as it was supported by supernatural evidence of the most portentous and convincing kind. for several days together a dark cloud, tinged with blood-red, had been seen to hang over valencia. in the neighbourhood of daroca, a din of, drums and trumpets and the clang of arms had been heard in the sky, just as a procession went out of a monastery. at valencia the image of the virgin had shed tears. in another place her statue had been discovered in a state of profuse perspiration. what more conclusive indications could be required as to the guilt of the moors? what other means devised for saving crown, church, and kingdom from destruction but to expel the whole mass of unbelievers from the soil which they had too long profaned? archbishop ribera was fully sustained by the archbishop of toledo, and the whole ecclesiastical body received energetic support from government. ribera had solemnly announced that the moors were so greedy of money, so determined to keep it, and so occupied with pursuits most apt for acquiring it, that they had come to be the sponge of spanish wealth. the best proof of this, continued the reverend sage, was that, inhabiting in general poor little villages and sterile tracts of country, paying to the lords of the manor one third of the crops, and being overladen with special taxes imposed only upon them, they nevertheless became rich, while the christians, cultivating the most fertile land, were in abject poverty. it seems almost incredible that this should not be satire. certainly the most delicate irony could not portray the vicious institutions under which the magnificent territory and noble people of spain were thus doomed to ruin more subtly end forcibly than was done by the honest brutality of this churchman. the careful tillage, the beautiful system of irrigation by aqueduct and canal, the scientific processes by which these "accursed" had caused the wilderness to bloom with cotton, sugar, and every kind of fruit and grain; the untiring industry, exquisite ingenuity, and cultivated taste by which the merchants, manufacturers, and mechanics, guilty of a darker complexion than that of the peninsular goths, had enriched their native land with splendid fabrics in cloth, paper, leather, silk, tapestry, and by so doing had acquired fortunes for themselves, despite iniquitous taxation, religious persecution, and social contumely--all these were crimes against a race of idlers, steeped to the lips in sloth which imagined itself to be pride. the industrious, the intelligent, the wealthy, were denounced as criminals, and hunted to death or into exile as vermin, while the lermas, the ucedas, and the rest of the brood of cormorants, settled more thickly than ever around their prey. meantime, government declared that the piece of four maravedis should be worth eight maravedis; the piece of two maravedis being fixed at four. thus the specie of the kingdom was to be doubled, and by means of this enlightened legislation, spain, after destroying agriculture, commerce, and manufacture, was to maintain great armies and navies, and establish universal monarchy. this measure, which a wiser churchman than ribera, cardinal richelieu, afterwards declared the most audacious and barbarous ever recorded by history, was carried out with great regularity of organization. it was ordained that the moors should be collected at three indicated points, whence they were not to move on pain of death, until duly escorted by troops to the ports of embarkation. the children under the age of four years were retained, of course without their parents, from whom they were forever separated. with admirable forethought, too, the priests took measures, as they supposed, that the arts of refining sugar, irrigating the rice-fields, constructing canals and aqueducts, besides many other useful branches of agricultural and mechanical business, should not die out with the intellectual, accomplished, and industrious race, alone competent to practise them, which was now sent forth to die. a very small number, not more than six in each hundred, were accordingly reserved to instruct other inhabitants of spain in those useful arts which they were now more than ever encouraged to despise. five hundred thousand full-grown human beings, as energetic, ingenious, accomplished, as any then existing in the world, were thus thrust forth into the deserts beyond sea, as if spain had been overstocked with skilled labour; and as if its native production had already outgrown the world's power of consumption. had an equal number of mendicant monks, with the two archbishops who had contrived this deed at their head, been exported instead of the moors, the future of spain might have been a more fortunate one than it was likely to prove. the event was in itself perhaps of temporary advantage to the dutch republic, as the poverty and general misery, aggravated by this disastrous policy, rendered the acknowledgment of the states' independence by spain almost a matter of necessity. it is superfluous to enter into any farther disquisiton as to the various branches of the royal revenue. they remained essentially the same as during the preceding reign, and have been elaborately set forth in a previous chapter. the gradual drying up of resources in all the wide-spread and heterogeneous territories subject to the spanish sceptre is the striking phenomenon of the present epoch. the distribution of such wealth as was still created followed the same laws which had long prevailed, while the decay and national paralysis, of which the prognostics could hardly be mistaken, were a natural result of the system. the six archbishops had now grown to eleven, and still received gigantic revenues; the income of the archbishop of toledo, including the fund of one hundred thousand destined for repairing the cathedral, being estimated at three hundred thousand dollars a year, that of the archbishop of seville and the others varying from one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to fifty thousand. the sixty-three bishops perhaps averaged fifty thousand a year each, and there were eight more in italy. the commanderies of chivalry, two hundred at least in number, were likewise enormously profitable. some of them were worth thirty thousand a year; the aggregate annual value being from one-and-a-half to two millions, and all in lerma's gift, upon his own terms. chivalry, that noblest of ideals, without which, in some shape or another, the world would be a desert and a sty; which included within itself many of the noblest virtues which can adorn mankind--generosity, self-denial, chastity, frugality, patience, protection to the feeble, the downtrodden, and the oppressed; the love of daring adventure, devotion to a pure religion and a lofty purpose, most admirably pathetic, even when in the eyes of the vulgar most fantastic--had been the proudest and most poetical of spanish characteristics, never to be entirely uprooted from the national heart. alas! what was there in the commanderies of calatrava, alcantara, santiago, and all the rest of those knightly orders, as then existing, to respond to the noble sentiments on which all were supposed to be founded? institutions for making money, for pillaging the poor of their hard-earned pittance, trafficked in by greedy ministers and needy courtiers with a shamelessness which had long ceased to blush at vices however gross, at venality however mean. venality was in truth the prominent characteristic of the spanish polity at this epoch. everything political or ecclesiastical, from highest to lowest, was matter of merchandize. it was the autocrat, governing king and kingdom, who disposed of episcopal mitres, cardinals' hats, commanders' crosses, the offices of regidores or municipal magistrates in all the cities, farmings of revenues, collectorships of taxes, at prices fixed by himself. it was never known that the pope refused to confirm the ecclesiastical nominations which were made by the spanish court. the nuncius had the privilege of dispensing the small cures from thirty dollars a year downwards, of which the number was enormous. many of these were capable, in careful hands, of becoming ten times as valuable as their nominal estimate, and the business in them became in consequence very extensive and lucrative. they were often disposed of for the benefit of servants and the hangers-on of noble families, to laymen, to women, children, to babes unborn. when such was the most thriving industry in the land, was it wonderful that the poor of high and low degree were anxious in ever-increasing swarms to effect their entrance into convent, monastery, and church, and that trade, agriculture, and manufactures languished? the foreign polity of the court remained as it had been established by philip ii. its maxims were very simple. to do unto your neighbour all possible harm, and to foster the greatness of spain by sowing discord and maintaining civil war in all other nations, was the fundamental precept. to bribe and corrupt the servants of other potentates, to maintain a regular paid bode of adherents in foreign lands, ever ready to engage in schemes of assassination, conspiracy, sedition, and rebellion against the legitimate authority, to make mankind miserable, so far as it was in the power of human force or craft to produce wretchedness, were objects still faithfully pursued. they had not yet led to the entire destruction of other realms and their submission to the single sceptre of spain, nor had they developed the resources, material or moral, of a mighty empire so thoroughly as might have been done perhaps by a less insidious policy, but they had never been abandoned. it was a steady object of policy to keep such potentates of italy as were not already under the dominion of the spanish crown in a state of internecine feud with each other and of virtual dependence on the powerful kingdom. the same policy pursued in france, of fomenting civil war by subsidy, force, and chicane, during a long succession of years in order to reduce that magnificent realm under the sceptre of philip, has been described in detail. the chronic rebellion of ireland against the english crown had been assisted and inflamed in every possible mode, the system being considered as entirely justified by the aid and comfort afforded by the queen to the dutch rebels. it was a natural result of the system according to which kingdoms and provinces with the populations dwelling therein were transferable like real estate by means of marriage-settlements, entails, and testaments, that the proprietorship of most of the great realms in christendom was matter of fierce legal dispute. lawsuits, which in chancery could last for centuries before a settlement of the various claims was made, might have infinitely enriched the gentlemen of the long robe and reduced all the parties to beggary, had there been any tribunal but the battle-field to decide among the august litigants. thus the king of great britain claimed the legal proprietorship and sovereignty of brittany, normandy, anjou, gascony, calais, and boulogne in france, besides the whole kingdom by right of conquest. the french king claimed to be rightful heir of castile, biscay, guipuscoa, arragon, navarre, nearly all the spanish peninsula in short, including the whole of portugal and the balearic islands to boot. the king of spain claimed, as we have seen often enough, not only brittany but all france as his lawful inheritance. such was the virtue of the prevalent doctrine of proprietorship. every potentate was defrauded of his rights, and every potentate was a criminal usurper. as for the people, it would have excited a smile of superior wisdom on regal, legal, or sacerdotal lips, had it been suggested that by any possibility the governed could have a voice or a thought in regard to the rulers whom god in his grace had raised up to be their proprietors and masters. the army of spain was sunk far below the standard at which it had been kept when it seemed fit to conquer and govern the world. neither by spain nor italy could those audacious, disciplined, and obedient legions be furnished, at which the enemies of the mighty despot trembled from one extremity of earth to the other. peculation, bankruptcy, and mutiny had done their work at last. we have recently had occasion to observe the conduct of the veterans in flanders at critical epochs. at this moment, seventy thousand soldiers were on the muster and pay roll of the army serving in those provinces, while not thirty thousand men existed in the flesh. the navy was sunk to fifteen or twenty old galleys, battered, dismantled, unseaworthy, and a few armed ships for convoying the east and west indiamen to and from their destinations. the general poverty was so great that it was often absolutely impossible to purchase food for the royal household. "if you ask me," said a cool observer, "how this great show of empire is maintained, when the funds are so small, i answer that it is done by not paying at all." the government was shamelessly, hopelessly bankrupt. the noble band of courtiers were growing enormously rich. the state was a carcase which unclean vultures were picking to the bones. the foremost man in the land--the autocrat, the absolute master in state and church--was the duke of lerma. very rarely in human history has an individual attained to such unlimited power under a monarchy, without actually placing the crown upon his own head. mayors of the palace, in the days of the do-nothing kings, wielded nothing like the imperial control which was firmly held by this great favourite. yet he was a man of very moderate capacity and limited acquirements, neither soldier, lawyer, nor priest. the duke was past sixty years of age, a tall, stately, handsome man, of noble presence and urbane manner. born of the patrician house of sandoval, he possessed, on the accession of philip, an inherited income of ten or twelve thousand dollars. he had now, including what he had bestowed on his son, a funded revenue of seven hundred thousand a year. he had besides, in cash, jewels, and furniture, an estimated capital of six millions. all this he had accumulated in ten years of service, as prime minister, chief equerry, and first valet of the chamber to the king. the tenure of his authority was the ascendancy of a firm character over a very weak one. at this moment he was doubtless the most absolute ruler in christendom, and philip iii. the most submissive and uncomplaining of his subjects. the origin of his power was well known. during the reign of philip ii., the prince, treated with great severity by his father, was looked upon with contempt by every one about court. he was allowed to take no part in affairs, and, having heard of the awful tragedy of his eldest half-brother, enacted ten years before his own birth, he had no inclination to confront the wrath of that terrible parent and sovereign before whom all spain trembled. nothing could have been more humble, more effaced, more obscure, than his existence as prince. the marquis of denia, his chamberlain, alone was kind to him, furnished him with small sums of money, and accompanied him on the shooting excursions in which his father occasionally permitted him to indulge. but even these little attentions were looked upon with jealousy by the king; so that the marquis was sent into honourable exile from court as governor of valencia. it was hoped that absence would wean the prince of his affection for the kind chamberlain. the calculation was erroneous. no sooner were the eyes of philip ii. closed in death than the new king made haste to send for denia, who was at once created duke of lerma, declared of the privy council, and appointed master of the horse and first gentleman of the bed-chamber. from that moment the favourite became supreme. he was entirely without education, possessed little experience in affairs of state, and had led the life of a commonplace idler and voluptuary until past the age of fifty. nevertheless he had a shrewd mother-wit, tact in dealing with men, aptitude to take advantage of events. he had directness of purpose, firmness of will, and always knew his own mind. from the beginning of his political career unto its end, he conscientiously and without swerving pursued a single aim. this was to rob the exchequer by every possible mode and at every instant of his life. never was a more masterly financier in this respect. with a single eye to his own interests, he preserved a magnificent unity in all his actions. the result had been to make him in ten years the richest subject in the world, as well as the most absolute ruler. he enriched his family, as a matter of course. his son was already made duke of uceda, possessed enormous wealth, and was supposed by those who had vision in the affairs of court to be the only individual ever likely to endanger the power of the father. others thought that the young duke's natural dulness would make it impossible for him to supplant the omnipotent favourite. the end was not yet, and time was to show which class of speculators was in the right. meantime the whole family was united and happy. the sons and daughters had intermarried with the infantados, and other most powerful and wealthy families of grandees. the uncle, sandoval, had been created by lerma a cardinal and archbishop of toledo; the king's own schoolmaster being removed from that dignity, and disgraced and banished from court for having spoken disrespectfully of the favourite. the duke had reserved for himself twenty thousand a year from the revenues of the archbishopric, as a moderate price for thus conducting himself as became a dutiful nephew. he had ejected rodrigo de vasquez from his post as president of the council. as a more conclusive proof of his unlimited sway than any other of his acts had been, he had actually unseated and banished the inquisitor-general, don pietro porto carrero, and supplanted him in that dread office, before which even anointed sovereigns trembled, by one of his own creatures. in the discharge of his various functions, the duke and all his family were domesticated in the royal palace, so that he was at no charges for housekeeping. his apartments there were more sumptuous than those of the king and queen. he had removed from court the dutchess of candia, sister of the great constable of castile, who had been for a time in attendance on the queen, and whose possible influence he chose to destroy in the bud. her place as mistress of the robes was supplied by his sister, the countess of lemos; while his wife, the terrible duchess of lerma, was constantly with the queen, who trembled at her frown. thus the royal pair were completely beleaguered, surrounded, and isolated from all except the lermas. when the duke conferred with the king, the doors were always double locked. in his capacity as first valet it was the duke's duty to bring the king's shirt in the morning, to see to his wardrobe and his bed, and to supply him with ideas for the day. the king depended upon him entirely and abjectly, was miserable when separated from him four-and-twenty hours, thought with the duke's thoughts and saw with the duke's eyes. he was permitted to know nothing of state affairs, save such portions as were communicated to him by lerma. the people thought their monarch bewitched, so much did he tremble before the favourite, and so unscrupulously did the duke appropriate for his own benefit and that of his creatures everything that he could lay his hands upon. it would have needed little to bring about a revolution, such was the universal hatred felt for the minister, and the contempt openly expressed for the king. the duke never went to the council. all papers and documents relating to business were sent to his apartments. such matters as he chose to pass upon, such decrees as he thought proper to issue, were then taken by him to the king, who signed them with perfect docility. as time went on, this amount of business grew too onerous for the royal hand, or this amount of participation by the king in affairs of state came to be esteemed superfluous and inconvenient by the duke, and his own signature was accordingly declared to be equivalent to that of the sovereign's sign-manual. it is doubtful whether such a degradation of the royal prerogative had ever been heard of before in a christian monarch. it may be imagined that this system of government was not of a nature to expedite business, however swiftly it might fill the duke's coffers. high officers of state, foreign ambassadors, all men in short charged with important affairs, were obliged to dance attendance for weeks and months on the one man whose hands grasped all the business of the kingdom, while many departed in despair without being able to secure a single audience. it was entirely a matter of trade. it was necessary to bribe in succession all the creatures of the duke before getting near enough to headquarters to bribe the duke himself. never were such itching palms. to do business at court required the purse of fortunatus. there was no deception in the matter. everything was frank and above board in that age of chivalry. ambassadors wrote to their sovereigns that there was no hope of making treaties or of accomplishing any negotiation except by purchasing the favour of the autocrat; and lerma's price was always high. at one period the republic of venice wished to put a stop to the depredations by spanish pirates upon venetian commerce, but the subject could not even be approached by the envoy until he had expended far more than could be afforded out of his meagre salary in buying an interview. when it is remembered that with this foremost power in the world affairs of greater or less importance were perpetually to be transacted by the representatives of other nations as well as by native subjects of every degree; that all these affairs were to pass through the hands of lerma, and that those hands had ever to be filled with coin, the stupendous opulence of the one man can be easily understood. whether the foremost power of the world, thus governed, were likely to continue the foremost power, could hardly seem doubtful to those accustomed to use their reason in judging of the things of this world. meantime the duke continued to transact business; to sell his interviews and his interest; to traffic in cardinals' hats, bishops' mitres, judges' ermine, civic and magisterial votes in all offices, high or humble, of church, army, or state. he possessed the art of remembering, or appearing to remember, the matters of business which had been communicated to him. when a negotiator, of whatever degree, had the good fortune to reach the presence, he found the duke to all appearance mindful of the particular affair which led to the interview, and fully absorbed by its importance. there were men who, trusting to the affability shown by the great favourite, and to the handsome price paid down in cash for that urbanity, had been known to go away from their interview believing that their business was likely to be accomplished, until the lapse of time revealed to them the wildness of their dream. the duke perhaps never manifested his omnipotence on a more striking scale than when by his own fiat he removed the court and the seat of government to valladolid, and kept it there six years long. this was declared by disinterested observers to be not only contrary to common sense, but even beyond the bounds of possibility. at madrid the king had splendid palaces, and in its neighbourhood beautiful country residences, a pure atmosphere, and the facility of changing the air at will. at valladolid there were no conveniences of any kind, no sufficient palace, no summer villa, no park, nothing but an unwholesome climate. but most of the duke's estates were in that vicinity, and it was desirable for him to overlook them in person. moreover, he wished to get rid of the possible influence over the king of the empress dowager maria, widow of maximilian ii. and aunt and grandmother of philip iii. the minister could hardly drive this exalted personage from court, so easily as he had banished the ex-archbishop of toledo, the inquisitor general, the duchess of candia, besides a multitude of lesser note. so he did the next best thing, and banished the court from the empress, who was not likely to put up with the inconveniences of valladolid for the sake of outrivalling the duke. this babylonian captivity lasted until madrid was nearly ruined, until the desolation of the capital, the moans of the trades-people, the curses of the poor, and the grumblings of the courtiers, finally produced an effect even upon the arbitrary lerma. he then accordingly re-emigrated, with king and government, to madrid, and caused it to be published that he had at last overcome the sovereign's repugnance to the old capital, and had persuaded him to abandon valladolid. there was but one man who might perhaps from his position have competed with the influence of lerma. this was the king's father-confessor, whom philip wished--although of course his wish was not gratified--to make a member of the council of state. the monarch, while submitting in everything secular to the duke's decrees, had a feeble determination to consult and to be guided by his confessor in all matters of conscience. as it was easy to suggest that high affairs of state, the duties of government, the interests of a great people, were matters not entirely foreign to the conscience of anointed kings, an opening to power might have seemed easy to an astute and ambitious churchman. but the dominican who kept philip's conscience, gasparo de cordova by name, was, fortunately for the favourite, of a very tender paste, easily moulded to the duke's purpose. dull and ignorant enough, he was not so stupid as to doubt that, should he whisper any suggestions or criticisms in regard to the minister's proceedings, the king would betray him and he would lose his office. the cautious friar accordingly held his peace and his place, and there was none to dispute the sway of the autocrat. what need to dilate further upon such a minister and upon such a system of government? to bribe and to be bribed, to maintain stipendiaries in every foreign government, to place the greatness of the empire upon the weakness, distraction, and misery of other nations, to stimulate civil war, revolts of nobles and citizens against authority; separation of provinces, religious discontents in every land of christendom--such were the simple rules ever faithfully enforced. the other members of what was called the council were insignificant. philip iii., on arriving at the throne, had been heard to observe that the day of simple esquires and persons of low condition was past, and that the turn of great nobles had come. it had been his father's policy to hold the grandees in subjection, and to govern by means of ministers who were little more than clerks, generally of humble origin; keeping the reins in his own hands. such great personages as he did employ, like alva, don john of austria, and farnese, were sure at last to excite his jealousy and to incur his hatred. forty-three years of this kind of work had brought spain to the condition in which the third philip found it. the new king thought to have found a remedy in discarding the clerks, and calling in the aid of dukes. philip ii. was at least a king. the very first act of philip iii. at his father's death was to abdicate. it was, however, found necessary to retain some members of the former government. fuentes, the best soldier and accounted the most dangerous man in the empire, was indeed kept in retirement as governor of milan, while cristoval di mora, who had enjoyed much of the late king's confidence, was removed to portugal as viceroy. but don john of idiaquez, who had really been the most efficient of the old administration, still remained in the council. without the subordinate aid of his experience in the routine of business, it would have been difficult for the favourite to manage the great machine with his single hand. but there was no disposition on the part of the ancient minister to oppose the new order of things. a cautious, caustic, dry old functionary, talking more with his shoulders than with his tongue, determined never to commit himself, or to risk shipwreck by venturing again into deeper waters than those of the harbour in which he now hoped for repose, idiaquez knew that his day of action was past. content to be confidential clerk to the despot duke, as he had been faithful secretary to the despot king, he was the despair of courtiers and envoys who came to pump, after having endeavoured to fill an inexhaustible cistern. thus he proved, on the whole, a useful and comfortable man, not to the country, but to its autocrat. of the count of chinchon, who at one time was supposed to have court influence because a dabbler in architecture, much consulted during the building of the escorial by philip ii. until the auditing of his accounts brought him into temporary disgrace, and the marquises of velada, villalonga, and other ministers, it is not necessary to speak. there was one man in the council, however, who was of great importance, wielding a mighty authority in subordination to the duke. this was don pietro de franqueza. an emancipated slave, as his name indicated, and subsequently the body-servant of lerma, he had been created by that minister secretary of the privy council. he possessed some of the virtues of the slave, such as docility and attachment to the hand that had fed and scourged him, and many vices of both slave and freedman. he did much of the work which it would have been difficult for the duke to accomplish in person, received his fees, sold and dispensed his interviews, distributed his bribes. in so doing, as might be supposed, he did not neglect his own interest. it was a matter of notoriety, no man knowing it better than the king, that no business, foreign or domestic, could be conducted or even begun at court without large preliminary fees to the secretary of the council, his wife, and his children. he had, in consequence, already accumulated an enormous fortune. his annual income, when it was stated, excited amazement. he was insolent and overbearing to all comers until his dues had been paid, when he became at once obliging, supple, and comparatively efficient. through him alone lay the path to the duke's sanctuary. the nominal sovereign, philip iii., was thirty years of age. a very little man, with pink cheeks, flaxen hair, and yellow beard, with a melancholy expression of eye, and protruding under lip and jaw, he was now comparatively alert and vigorous in constitution, although for the first seven years of his life it had been doubtful whether he would live from week to week. he had been afflicted during that period with a chronic itch or leprosy, which had undermined his strength, but which had almost entirely disappeared as he advanced in life. he was below mediocrity in mind, and had received scarcely any education. he had been taught to utter a few phrases, more or less intelligible, in french, italian, and flemish, but was quite incapable of sustaining a conversation in either of those languages. when a child, he had learned and subsequently forgotten the rudiments of the latin grammar. these acquirements, together with the catechism and the offices of the church, made up his whole stock of erudition. that he was devout as a monk of the middle ages, conforming daily and hourly to religious ceremonies, need scarcely be stated. it was not probable that the son of philip ii. would be a delinquent to church observances. he was not deficient in courage, rode well, was fond of hunting, kept close to the staghounds, and confronted, spear in hand, the wild-boar with coolness and success. he was fond of tennis, but his especial passion and chief accomplishment was dancing. he liked to be praised for his proficiency in this art, and was never happier than when gravely leading out the queen or his daughter, then four or five years of age--for he never danced with any one else--to perform a stately bolero. he never drank wine, but, on the other hand, was an enormous eater; so that, like his father in youth, he was perpetually suffering from stomach-ache as the effect of his gluttony. he was devotedly attached to his queen, and had never known, nor hardly looked at, any other woman. he had no vice but gambling, in which he indulged to a great extent, very often sitting up all night at cards. this passion of the king's was much encouraged by lerma, for obvious reasons. philip had been known to lose thirty thousand dollars at a sitting, and always to some one of the family or dependents of the duke, who of course divided with them the spoils. at one time the count of pelbes, nephew of lerma, had won two hundred thousand dollars in a very few nights from his sovereign. for the rest, philip had few peculiarities or foibles. he was not revengeful, nor arrogant, nor malignant. he was kind and affectionate to his wife and children, and did his best to be obedient to the duke of lerma. occasionally he liked to grant audiences, but there were few to request them. it was ridiculous and pathetic at the same time to see the poor king, as was very frequently the case, standing at a solemn green table till his little legs were tired, waiting to transact business with applicants who never came; while ushers, chamberlains, and valets were rushing up and down the corridors, bawling for all persons so disposed to come and have an audience of their monarch. meantime, the doors of the great duke's apartments in the same palace would be beleaguered by an army of courtiers, envoys, and contractors, who had paid solid gold for admission, and who were often sent away grumbling and despairing without entering the sacred precincts. as time wore on, the king, too much rebuked for attempting to meddle in state affairs, became solitary and almost morose, moping about in the woods by himself, losing satisfaction in his little dancing and ball-playing diversions, but never forgetting his affection for the queen nor the hours for his four daily substantial repasts of meats and pastry. it would be unnecessary and almost cruel to dwell so long upon a picture of what was after all not much better than human imbecility, were it not that humanity is, a more sacred thing than royalty. a satire upon such an embodiment of kingship is impossible, the simple and truthful characteristics being more effective than fiction or exaggeration. it would be unjust to exhume a private character after the lapse of two centuries merely to excite derision, but if history be not powerless to instruct, it certainly cannot be unprofitable to ponder the merits of a system which, after bestowing upon the world forty-three years of philip the tyrant, had now followed them up with a decade of philip the simpleton. in one respect the reigning sovereign was in advance of his age. in his devotion to the madonna he claimed the same miraculous origin for her mother as for herself. when the prayer "o sancta maria sine labe originali concepta" was chanted, he would exclaim with emotion that the words embodied his devoutest aspirations. he had frequent interviews with doctors of divinity on the subject, and instructed many bishops to urge upon the pope the necessity of proclaiming the virginity of the virgin's mother. could he secure this darling object of his ambition, he professed himself ready to make a pilgrimage on foot to rome. the pilgrimage was never made, for it may well be imagined that lerma would forbid any such adventurous scheme. meantime, the duke continued to govern the empire and to fill his coffers, and the king to shoot rabbits. the queen was a few years younger than her husband, and far from beautiful. indeed, the lower portion of her face was almost deformed. she was graceful, however, in her movements, and pleasing and gentle in manner. she adored the king, looking up to him with reverence as the greatest and wisest of beings. to please him she had upon her marriage given up drinking wine, which, for a german, was considered a great sacrifice. she recompensed herself, as the king did, by eating to an extent which, according to contemporary accounts, excited amazement. thus there was perfect sympathy between the two in the important article of diet. she had also learned to play at cards, in order to take a hand with him at any moment, feebly hoping that an occasional game for love might rescue the king from that frantic passion by which his health was shattered and so many courtiers were enriched. not being deficient in perception, the queen was quite aware of the greediness of all who surrounded the palace. she had spirit enough too to feel the galling tyranny to which the king was subjected. that the people hated the omnipotent favourite, and believed the king to be under the influence of sorcery, she was well aware. she had even a dim notion that the administration of the empire was not the wisest nor the noblest that could be devised for the first power in christendom. but considerations of high politics scarcely troubled her mind. of a people she had perhaps never heard, but she felt that the king was oppressed. she knew that he was helpless, and that she was herself his only friend. but of what avail were her timid little flutterings of indignation and resistance? so pure and fragile a creature could accomplish little good for king or people. perpetually guarded and surrounded by the countess of lemos and the duchess of lerma, she lived in mortal awe of both. as to the duke himself, she trembled at his very name. on her first attempts to speak with philip on political matters--to hint at the unscrupulous character of his government, to arouse him to the necessity of striking for a little more liberty and for at least a trifling influence in the state--the poor little king instantly betrayed her to the favourite and she was severely punished. the duke took the monarch off at once on a long journey, leaving her alone for weeks long with the terrible duchess and countess. never before had she been separated for a day from her husband, it having been the king's uniform custom to take her with him in all his expeditions. her ambition to interfere was thus effectually cured. the duke forbade her thenceforth ever to speak of politics to her husband in public or in private--not even in bed--and the king was closely questioned whether these orders had been obeyed. she submitted without a struggle. she saw how completely her happiness was at lerma's mercy. she had no one to consult with, having none but spanish people about her, except her german father-confessor, whom, as a great favour, and after a severe struggle, she had beep allowed to retain, as otherwise her ignorance of the national language would have made it impossible for her to confess her little sins. moreover her brothers, the archdukes at gratz, were in receipt of considerable annual stipends from the spanish exchequer, and the duke threatened to stop those pensions at once should the queen prove refractory. it is painful to dwell any longer on the abject servitude in which the king and queen were kept. the two were at least happy in each other's society, and were blessed with mutual affection, with pretty and engaging children, and with a similarity of tastes. it is impossible to imagine anything more stately, more devout, more regular, more innocent, more utterly dismal and insipid, than the lives of this wedded pair. this interior view of the court and council of spain will suffice to explain why, despite the languor and hesitations with which the transactions were managed, the inevitable tendency was towards a peace. the inevitable slowness, secrecy, and tergiversations were due to the dignity of the spanish court, and in harmony with its most sacred traditions. but what profit could the duke of lerma expect by the continuance of the dutch war, and who in spain was to be consulted except the duke of lerma? etext editor's bookmarks: a man incapable of fatigue, of perplexity, or of fear converting beneficent commerce into baleful gambling gigantic vices are proudly pointed to as the noblest no generation is long-lived enough to reap the harvest proclaiming the virginity of the virgin's mother steeped to the lips in sloth which imagined itself to be pride to shirk labour, infinite numbers become priests and friars history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter xlix. peace deliberations in spain--unpopularity of the project-- disaffection of the courtiers--complaints against spinola-- conference of the catholic party--position of henry iv. towards the republic--state of france further peace negotiations--desire of king james of england for the restoration of the states to spain--arrival of the french commissioners president jeannin before the states- general--dangers of a truce with spain--dutch legation to england-- arrival of lewis verreyken at the hague with philip's ratification-- rejection of the spanish treaty--withdrawal of the dutch fleet from the peninsula--the peace project denounced by the party of prince maurice--opposition of maurice to the plans of barneveld--amended ratification presented to the states-general--discussion of the conditions--determination to conclude a peace--indian trade-- exploits of admiral matelieff in the malay peninsula--he lays siege to malacca--victory over the spanish fleet--endeavour to open a trade with china--return of matelieff to holland. the marquis spinola had informed the spanish government that if , dollars a month could be furnished, the war might be continued, but that otherwise it would be better to treat upon the basis of 'uti possidetis,' and according to the terms proposed by the states-general. he had further intimated his opinion that, instead of waiting for the king's consent, it more comported with the king's dignity for the archdukes to enter into negotiations, to make a preliminary and brief armistice with the enemy, and then to solicit the royal approval of what had been done. in reply, the king--that is to say the man who thought, wrote, and signed in behalf of the king--had plaintively observed that among evils the vulgar rule was to submit to the least. although, therefore, to grant to the netherland rebels not only peace and liberty, but to concede to them whatever they had obtained by violence and the most abominable outrages, was the worst possible example to all princes; yet as the enormous sum necessary for carrying on the war was not to be had, even by attempting to scrape it together from every corner of the earth, he agreed with the opinion of the archdukes that it was better to put an end to this eternal and exhausting war by peace or truce, even under severe conditions. that the business had thus far proceeded without consulting him, was publicly known, and he expressed approval of the present movements towards a peace or a long truce, assuring spinola that such a result would be as grateful to him as if the war had been brought to a successful issue. when the marquis sent formal notice of the armistice to spain there were many complaints at court. men said that the measure was beneath the king's dignity, and contrary to his interests. it was a cessation of arms under iniquitous conditions, accorded to a people formerly subject and now rebellious. such a truce was more fatal than any conflict, than any amount of slaughter. during this long and dreadful war, the king had suffered no disaster so terrible as this, and the courtiers now declared openly that the archduke was the cause of the royal and national humiliation. having no children, nor hope of any, he desired only to live in tranquillity and selfish indulgence, like the indolent priest that he was, not caring what detriment or dishonour might accrue to the crown after his life was over. thus murmured the parasites and the plunderers within the dominions of the do-nothing philip, denouncing the first serious effort to put an end to a war which the laws of nature had proved to be hopeless on the part of spain. spinola too, who had spent millions of his own money, who had plunged himself into debt and discredit, while attempting to sustain the financial reputation of the king, who had by his brilliant services in the field revived the ancient glory of the spanish arms, and who now saw himself exposed with empty coffers to a vast mutiny, which was likely to make his future movements as paralytic as those of his immediate predecessors--spinola, already hated because he was an italian, because he was of a mercantile family, and because he had been successful, was now as much the object of contumely with the courtiers as with the archduke himself. the splendid victory of heemskerk had struck the government with dismay and diffused a panic along the coast. the mercantile fleets, destined for either india, dared not venture forth so long as the terrible dutch cruisers, which had just annihilated a splendid spanish fleet, commanded by a veteran of lepanto, and under the very guns of gibraltar, were supposed to be hovering off the peninsula. very naturally, therefore, there was discontent in spain that the cessation of hostilities had not originally been arranged for sea as well as land, and men said openly at court that spinola ought to have his head cut off for agreeing to such an armistice. quite as reasonably, however, it was now felt to be necessary to effect as soon as possible the recal of this very inconvenient dutch fleet from the coast of spain. the complaints were so incessant against spinola that it was determined to send don diego d'ybarra to brussels, charged with a general superintendence of the royal interests in the present confused condition of affairs. he was especially instructed to convey to spinola the most vehement reproaches in regard to the terms of the armistice, and to insist upon the cessation of naval hostilities, and the withdrawal of the cruisers. spinola, on his part, was exceedingly irritated that the arrangements which he had so carefully made with the archduke at brussels should be so contumaciously assailed, and even disavowed, at madrid. he was especially irritated that ybarra should now be sent as his censor and overseer, and that fuentes should have received orders to levy seven thousand troops in the milanese for flanders, the arrival of which reinforcements would excite suspicion, and probably break off negotiations. he accordingly sent his private secretary biraga, posthaste to spain with two letters. in number one he implored his majesty that ybarra might not be sent to brussels. if this request were granted, number two was to be burned. otherwise, number two was to be delivered, and it contained a request to be relieved from all further employment in the king's service. the marquis was already feeling the same effects of success as had been experienced by alexander farnese, don john of austria, and other strenuous maintainers of the royal authority in flanders. he was railed against, suspected, spied upon, put under guardianship, according to the good old traditions of the spanish court. public disgrace or secret poison might well be expected by him, as the natural guerdons of his eminent deeds. biraga also took with him the draught of the form in which the king's consent to the armistice and pending negotiations was desired, and he was particularly directed to urge that not one letter or comma should be altered, in order that no pretext might be afforded to the suspicious netherlanders for a rupture. in private letters to his own superintendent strata, to don john of idiaquez, to the duke of lerma, and to stephen ybarra, spinola enlarged upon the indignity about to be offered him, remonstrated vehemently against the wrong and stupidity of the proposed policy, and expressed his reliance upon the efforts of these friends of his to prevent its consummation. he intimated to idiaquez that a new deliberation would be necessary to effect the withdrawal of the dutch fleet--a condition not inserted in the original armistice--but that within the three months allowed for the royal ratification there would be time enough to procure the consent of the states to that measure. if the king really desired to continue the war, he had but to alter a single comma in the draught, and, out of that comma, the stadholder's party would be certain to manufacture for him as long a war as he could possibly wish. in a subsequent letter to the king, spinola observed that he was well aware of the indignation created in spain by the cessation of land hostilities without the recal of the fleet, but that nevertheless john neyen had confidentially represented to the archdukes the royal assent as almost certain. as to the mission of ybarra, the marquis reminded his master that the responsibility and general superintendence of the negotiations had been almost forced upon him. certainly he had not solicited them. if another agent were now interposed, it was an advertisement to the world that the business had been badly managed. if the king wished a rupture, he had but to lift his finger or his pen; but to appoint another commissioner was an unfit reward for his faithful service. he was in the king's hands. if his reputation were now to be destroyed, it was all over with him and his affairs. the man, whom mortals had once believed incapable, would be esteemed incapable until the end of his days. it was too late to prevent the mission of ybarra, who, immediately after his arrival in brussels, began to urge in the king's name that the words in which the provinces had been declared free by the archdukes might be expunged. what could be more childish than such diplomacy? what greater proof could be given of the incapacity of the spanish court to learn the lesson which forty years had been teaching? spinola again wrote a most earnest remonstrance to the king, assuring him that this was simply to break off the negotiation. it was ridiculous to suppose, he said, that concessions already made by the archdukes, ratification of which on the part of the king had been guaranteed, could now be annulled. those acquainted with netherland obstinacy knew better. the very possibility of the king's refusal excited the scorn of the states-general. ybarra went about, too, prating to the archdukes and to others of supplies to be sent from spain sufficient to carry on the war for many years, and of fresh troops to be forwarded immediately by fuentes. as four millions of crowns a year were known to be required for any tolerable campaigning, such empty vaunts as these were preposterous. the king knew full well, said spinola, and had admitted the fact in his letters, that this enormous sum could not be furnished. moreover, the war cost the netherlanders far less in proportion. they had river transportation, by which they effected as much in two days as the catholic army could do in a fortnight, so that every siege was managed with far greater rapidity and less cost by the rebels than by their opponents. as to sending troops from milan, he had already stated that their arrival would have a fatal effect. the minds of the people were full of suspicion. every passing rumour excited a prodigious sensation, and the war party was already gaining the upper hand. spinola warned the king, in the most solemn manner, that if the golden opportunity were now neglected the war would be eternal. this, he said, was more certain than certain. for himself, he had strained every nerve, and would continue to do his best in the interest of peace. if calamity must come, he at least would be held blameless. such vehement remonstrances from so eminent a source produced the needful effect. royal letters were immediately sent, placing full powers of treating in the hands of the marquis, and sending him a ratification of the archduke's agreement. government moreover expressed boundless confidence in spinola, and deprecated the idea that ybarra's mission was in derogation of his authority. he had been sent, it was stated, only to procure that indispensable preliminary to negotiations, the withdrawal of the dutch fleet, but as this had now been granted, ybarra was already recalled. spinola now determined to send the swift and sure-footed friar, who had made himself so useful in opening the path to discussion, on a secret mission to spain. ybarra objected; especially because it would be necessary for him to go through france, where he would be closely questioned by the king. it would be equally dangerous, he said, for the franciscan in that case to tell the truth or to conceal it. but spinola replied that a poor monk like him could steal through france undiscovered. moreover, he should be disguised as a footman, travelling in the service of aurelio spinola, a relative of the marquis, then proceeding to madrid. even should henry hear of his presence and send for him, was it to be supposed that so practised a hand would not easily parry the strokes of the french king--accomplished fencer as he undoubtedly was? after stealing into and out of holland as he had so recently done, there was nothing that might not be expected of him. so the wily friar put on the spinola livery, and, without impediment, accompanied don aurelio to madrid. meantime, the french commissioners--pierre jeannin, buzanval, regular resident at the hague, and de russy, who was destined to succeed that diplomatist--had arrived in holland. the great drama of negotiation, which was now to follow the forty years' tragedy, involved the interests and absorbed the attention of the great christian powers. although serious enough in its substance and its probable consequences, its aspect was that of a solemn comedy. there was a secret disposition on the part of each leading personage--with a few exceptions--to make dupes of all the rest. perhaps this was a necessary result of statesmanship, as it had usually been taught at that epoch. paul v., who had succeeded clement viii. in , with the brief interlude of the twenty-six days of leo xi.'s pontificate, was zealous, as might be supposed, to check the dangerous growth of the pestilential little republic of the north. his diplomatic agents, millino at madrid, barberini at paris, and the accomplished bentivoglio, who had just been appointed to the nunciatura at brussels, were indefatigable in their efforts to suppress the heresy and the insolent liberty of which the upstart commonwealth was the embodiment. especially barberini exerted all the powers at his command to bring about a good understanding between the kings of france and spain. he pictured to henry, in darkest colours, the blight that would come over religion and civilization if the progress of the rebellious netherlands could not be arrested. the united provinces were becoming dangerous, if they remained free, not only to the french kingdom, but to the very existence of monarchy throughout the world. no potentate was ever more interested, so it was urged, than henry iv. to bring down the pride of the dutch rebels. there was always sympathy of thought and action between the huguenots of france and their co-religionists in holland. they were all believers alike in calvinism--a sect inimical not less to temporal monarchies than to the sovereign primacy of the church--and the tendency and purposes of the french rebels were already sufficiently manifest in their efforts, by means of the so-called cities of security, to erect a state within a state; to introduce, in short, a dutch republic into france. a sovereign remedy for the disease of liberty, now threatening to become epidemic in europe, would be found in a marriage between the second son of the king of spain and a daughter of france. as the archdukes were childless, it might be easily arranged that this youthful couple should succeed them--the result of which would of course be the reduction of all the netherlands to their ancient obedience. it has already been seen, and will become still farther apparent, that nostrums like this were to be recommended in other directions. meantime, jeannin and his colleagues made their appearance at the hague. if there were a living politician in europe capable of dealing with barneveld on even terms, it was no doubt president jeannin. an ancient leaguer, an especial adherent of the duke of mayenne, he had been deep in all the various plots and counter-plots of the guises, and often employed by the extinct confederacy in various important intrigues. being secretly sent to spain to solicit help for the league after the disasters of ivry and arques, he found philip ii. so sincerely imbued with the notion that france was a mere province of spain, and so entirely bent upon securing the heritage of the infanta to that large property, as to convince him that the maintenance of the roman religion was with that monarch only a secondary condition. aid and assistance for the confederacy were difficult of attainment, unless coupled with the guarantee of the infanta's rights to reign in france. the guise faction being inspired solely by religious motives of the loftiest kind, were naturally dissatisfied with the lukewarmness of his most catholic majesty. when therefore the discomfited mayenne subsequently concluded his bargain with the conqueror of ivry, it was a matter of course that jeannin should also make his peace with the successful huguenot, now become eldest son of the church. he was very soon taken into especial favour by henry, who recognised his sagacity, and who knew his hands to be far cleaner than those of the more exalted leaguers with whom he had dealt. the "good old fellow," as henry familiarly called him, had not filled his pockets either in serving or when deserting the league. placed in control of the exchequer at a later period, he was never accused of robbery or peculation. he was a hard-working, not overpaid, very intelligent public functionary. he was made president of the parliament, or supreme tribunal of burgundy, and minister of state, and was recognised as one of the ablest jurists and most skilful politicians in the kingdom. an elderly man, with a tall, serene forehead, a large dark eye and a long grey beard, he presented an image of vast wisdom and reverend probity. he possessed--an especial treasure for a statesman in that plotting age--a singularly honest visage. never was that face more guileless, never was his heart more completely worn upon his sleeve, than when he was harbouring the deepest or most dangerous designs. such was the "good fellow," whom that skilful reader of men, henry of france, had sent to represent his interests and his opinions at the approaching conferences. what were those opinions? paul v. and his legates barberini, millino, and the rest, were well enough aware of the secret strings of the king's policy, and knew how to touch them with skill. of all things past, henry perhaps most regretted that not he, but the last and most wretched of the valois line, was sovereign of france when the states-general came to paris with that offer of sovereignty which had been so contumaciously refused. if the object were attainable, the ex-chief of the huguenots still meant to be king of the netherlands as sincerely as philip ii. had ever intended to be monarch of france. but henry was too accurate a calculator of chances, and had bustled too much in the world of realities, to exhaust his strength in striving, year after year, for a manifest impossibility. the enthusiast, who had passed away at last from the dreams of the escorial into the land of shadows, had spent a lifetime, and melted the wealth of an empire; but universal monarchy had never come forth from his crucible. the french king, although possessed likewise of an almost boundless faculty for ambitious visions, was capable of distinguishing cloud-land from substantial empire. jeannin, as his envoy, would at any rate not reveal his master's secret aspirations to those with whom he came to deal, as openly as philip had once unveiled himself to jeannin. there could be no doubt that peace at this epoch was the real interest of france. that kingdom was beginning to flourish again, owing to the very considerable administrative genius of bethune, an accomplished financier according to the lights of the age, and still more by reason of the general impoverishment of the great feudal houses and of the clergy. the result of the almost interminable series of civil and religious wars had been to cause a general redistribution of property. capital was mainly in the hands of the middle and lower classes, and the consequence of this general circulation of wealth through all the channels of society was precisely what might have been expected, an increase of enterprise and of productive industry in various branches. although the financial wisdom of the age was doing its best to impede commerce, to prevent the influx of foreign wares, to prohibit the outflow of specie--in obedience to the universal superstition, which was destined to survive so many centuries, that gold and silver alone constituted wealth--while, at the same time, in deference to the idiotic principle of sumptuary legislation, it was vigorously opposing mulberry culture, silk manufactures, and other creations of luxury, which, in spite of the hostility of government sages, were destined from that time forward to become better mines of wealth for the kingdom than the indies had been for spain, yet on the whole the arts of peace were in the ascendant in france. the king, although an unscrupulous, self-seeking despot and the coarsest of voluptuaries, was at least a man of genius. he had also too much shrewd mother-wit to pursue such schemes as experience had shown to possess no reality. the talisman "espoir," emblazoned on his shield, had led him to so much that it was natural for him at times to think all things possible. but he knew how to renounce as well as how to dare. he had abandoned his hope to be declared prince of wales and successor to the english crown, which he had cherished for a brief period, at the epoch of the essex conspiracy; he had forgotten his magnificent dream of placing the crown of the holy german empire upon his head, and if he still secretly resolved to annex the netherlands to his realms, and to destroy his excellent ally, the usurping, rebellious, and heretic dutch republic, he had craft enough to work towards his aim in the dark, and the common sense to know that by now throwing down the mask he would be for ever baffled of his purpose. the history of france, during the last three-quarters of a century, had made almost every frenchman, old enough to bear arms, an accomplished soldier. henry boasted that the kingdom could put three hundred thousand veterans into the field--a high figure, when it is recollected that its population certainly did not exceed fifteen millions. no man however was better aware than he, that in spite, of the apparent pacification of parties, the three hundred thousand would not be all on one side, even in case of a foreign war. there were at least four thousand great feudal lords as faithful to the huguenot faith and cause as he had been false to both; many of them still wealthy, notwithstanding the general ruin which had swept over the high nobility, and all of them with vast influence and a splendid following, both among the lesser gentry and the men of lower rank. although he kept a jesuit priest ever at his elbow, and did his best to persuade the world and perhaps himself that he had become a devout catholic, in consequence of those memorable five hours' instruction from the bishop of bourges, and that there was no hope for france save in its return to the bosom of the church, he was yet too politic and too farseeing to doubt that for him to oppress the protestants would be not only suicidal, but, what was worse in his eyes, ridiculous. he knew, too, that with thirty or forty thousand fighting-men in the field, with seven hundred and forty churches in the various provinces for their places of worship, with all the best fortresses in france in their possession, with leaders like rohan, lesdiguieres, bouillon, and many others, and with the most virtuous, self-denying, christian government, established and maintained by themselves, it would be madness for him and his dynasty to deny the protestants their political and religious liberty, or to attempt a crusade against their brethren in the netherlands. france was far more powerful than spain, although the world had not yet recognised the fact. yet it would have been difficult for both united to crush the new commonwealth, however paradoxical such a proposition seemed to contemporaries. sully was conscientiously in favour of peace, and sully was the one great minister of france. not a lerma, certainly; for france was not spain, nor was henry iv. a philip iii. the huguenot duke was an inferior financier to his spanish contemporary, if it were the height of financial skill for a minister to exhaust the resources of a great kingdom in order to fill his own pocket. sully certainly did not neglect his own interests, for he had accumulated a fortune of at least seventy thousand dollars a year, besides a cash capital estimated at a million and a half. but while enriching himself, he had wonderfully improved the condition of the royal treasury. he had reformed many abuses and opened many new sources of income. he had, of course, not accomplished the whole augean task of purification. he was a vigorous huguenot, but no hercules, and demigods might have shrunk appalled at the filthy mass of corruption which great european kingdoms everywhere presented to the reformer's eye. compared to the spanish government, that of france might almost have been considered virtuous, yet even there everything was venal. to negotiate was to bribe right and left, and at every step. all the ministers and great functionaries received presents, as a matter of course, and it was necessary to pave the pathway even of their ante-chambers with gold. the king was fully aware of the practice, but winked at it, because his servants, thus paid enormous sums by the public and by foreign governments, were less importunate for rewards and salaries from himself. one man in the kingdom was said to have clean hands, the venerable and sagacious chancellor, pomponne de bellievre. his wife, however, was less scrupulous, and readily disposed of influence and court-favour for a price, without the knowledge, so it was thought, of the great judge. jeannin, too, was esteemed a man of personal integrity, ancient leaguer and tricky politician though he were. highest offices of magistracy and judicature, church and state, were objects of a traffic almost as shameless as in spain. the ermine was sold at auction, mitres were objects of public barter, church preferments were bestowed upon female children in their cradles. yet there was hope in france, notwithstanding that the pragmatic sanction of st. louis, the foundation of the liberties of the gallican church, had been annulled by francis, who had divided the seamless garment of church patronage with leo. those four thousand great huguenot lords, those thirty thousand hard-fighting weavers, and blacksmiths, and other plebeians, those seven hundred and forty churches, those very substantial fortresses in every province of the kingdom, were better facts than the holy inquisition to preserve a great nation from sinking into the slough of political extinction. henry was most anxious that sully should convert himself to the ancient church, and the gossips of the day told each other that the duke had named his price for his conversion. to be made high constable of france, it was said would melt the resolve of the stiff huguenot. to any other inducement or blandishment he was adamant. whatever truth may have been in such chatter, it is certain that the duke never gratified his master's darling desire. yet it was for no lack of attempts and intrigues on the part of the king, although it is not probable that he would have ever consented to bestow that august and coveted dignity upon a bethune. the king did his best by intrigue, by calumny, by talebearing, by inventions, to set the huguenots against each other, and to excite the mutual jealousy of all his most trusted adherents, whether protestant or catholic. the most good-humoured, the least vindictive, the most ungrateful, the falsest of mankind, he made it his policy, as well as his pastime, to repeat, with any amount of embroidery that his most florid fancy could devise, every idle story or calumny that could possibly create bitter feeling and make mischief among those who surrounded him. being aware that this propensity was thoroughly understood, he only multiplied fictions, so cunningly mingled with truths, as to leave his hearers quite unable to know what to believe and what to doubt. by such arts, force being impossible, he hoped one day to sever the band which held the conventicles together, and to reduce protestantism to insignificance. he would have cut off the head of d'aubigne or duplessis mornay to gain an object, and have not only pardoned but caressed and rewarded biron when reeking from the conspiracy against his own life and crown, had he been willing to confess and ask pardon for his stupendous crime. he hated vindictive men almost as much as he despised those who were grateful. he was therefore far from preferring sully to villeroy or jeannin, but he was perfectly aware that, in financial matters at least, the duke was his best friend and an important pillar of the state. the minister had succeeded in raising the annual revenue of france to nearly eleven millions of dollars, and in reducing the annual expenditures to a little more than ten millions. to have a balance on the right side of the public ledger was a feat less easily accomplished in those days even than in our own. could the duke have restrained his sovereign's reckless extravagance in buildings, parks, hunting establishments, and harems, he might have accomplished even greater miracles. he lectured the king roundly, as a parent might remonstrate with a prodigal son, but it was impossible even for a sully to rescue that hoary-headed and most indomitable youth from wantonness and riotous living. the civil-list of the king amounted to more than one-tenth of the whole revenue. on the whole, however, it was clear, as france was then constituted and administered, that a general peace would be, for the time at least, most conducive to its interests, and henry and his great minister were sincerely desirous of bringing about that result. preliminaries for a negotiation which should terminate this mighty war were now accordingly to be laid down at the hague. yet it would seem rather difficult to effect a compromise. besides the powers less interested, but which nevertheless sent representatives to watch the proceedings--such as sweden, denmark, brandenburg, the elector palatine--there were spain, france, england, the republic, and the archdukes. spain knew very well that she could not continue the war; but she hoped by some quibbling recognition of an impossible independence to recover that authority over her ancient vassals which the sword had for the time struck down. distraction in councils, personal rivalries, the well-known incapacity of a people to govern itself, commercial greediness, provincial hatreds, envies and jealousies, would soon reduce that jumble of cities and villages, which aped the airs of sovereignty, into insignificance and confusion. adroit management would easily re-assert afterwards the sovereignty of the lord's anointed. that a republic of freemen, a federation of independent states, could take its place among the nations did not deserve a serious thought. spain in her heart preferred therefore to treat. it was however indispensable that the netherlands should reestablish the catholic religion throughout the land, should abstain then and for ever from all insolent pretences to trade with india or america, and should punish such of their citizens as attempted to make voyages to the one or the other. with these trifling exceptions, the court of madrid would look with favour on propositions made in behalf of the rebels. france, as we have seen, secretly aspired to the sovereignty of all the netherlands, if it could be had. she was also extremely in favour of excluding the hollanders from the indies, east and west. the king, fired with the achievements of the republic at sea, and admiring their great schemes for founding empires at the antipodes by means of commercial corporations, was very desirous of appropriating to his own benefit the experience, the audacity, the perseverance, the skill and the capital of their merchants and mariners. he secretly instructed his commissioners, therefore, and repeatedly urged it upon them, to do their best to procure the renunciation, on the part of the republic, of the indian trade, and to contrive the transplantation into france of the mighty trading companies, so successfully established in holland and zeeland. the plot thus to deprive the provinces of their india trade was supposed by the statesmen of the republic to have been formed in connivance with spain. that power, finding itself half pushed from its seat of power in the east by the "grand and infallible society created by the united provinces,"--[memoir of aerssens, ubi sup]--would be but too happy to make use of this french intrigue in order to force the intruding dutch navy from its conquests. olden-barneveld, too politic to offend the powerful and treacherous ally by a flat refusal, said that the king's friendship was more precious than the india trade. at the same time he warned the french government that, if they ruined the dutch east india company, "neither france nor any other nation would ever put its nose into india again." james of england, too, flattered himself that he could win for england that sovereignty of the netherlands which england as well as france had so decidedly refused. the marriage of prince henry with the spanish infanta was the bait, steadily dangled before him by the politicians of the spanish court, and he deluded himself with the thought that the catholic king, on the death of the childless archdukes, would make his son and daughter-in-law a present of the obedient netherlands. he already had some of the most important places in the united netherlands-the famous cautionary towns in his grasp, and it should go hard but he would twist that possession into a sovereignty over the whole land. as for recognising the rebel provinces as an independent sovereignty, that was most abhorrent to him. such a tampering with the great principles of government was an offence against all crowned heads, a crime in which he was unwilling to participate. his instinct against rebellion seemed like second sight. the king might almost be imagined to have foreseen in the dim future those memorable months in which the proudest triumph of the dutch commonwealth was to be registered before the forum of christendom at the congress of westphalia, and in which the solemn trial and execution of his own son and successor, with the transformation of the monarchy of the tudors and stuarts into a british republic, were simultaneously to startle the world. but it hardly needed the gift of prophecy to inspire james with a fear of revolutions. he was secretly desirous therefore, sustained by salisbury and his other advisers, of effecting the restoration of the provinces to the dominion of his most catholic majesty. it was of course the interest of england that the netherland rebels should renounce the india trade. so would james be spared the expense and trouble of war; so would the great doctrines of divine right be upheld; so would the way be paved towards the ultimate absorption of the netherlands by england. whether his theological expositions would find as attentive pupils when the pope's authority had been reestablished over all his neighbours; whether the catholic rebels in ireland would become more tranquil by the subjugation of the protestant rebels in holland; whether the principles of guy fawkes might not find more effective application, with no bulwark beyond the seas against the incursion of such practitioners--all this he did not perhaps sufficiently ponder. thus far had the discursive mind of james wandered from the position which it occupied at the epoch of maximilian de bethune's memorable embassy to england. the archdukes were disposed to quiet. on them fell the burthen of the war. their little sovereignty, where--if they could only be allowed to expend the money squeezed from the obedient provinces in court diversions, stately architecture, splendid encouragement of the fine arts, and luxurious living, surrounded by a train of great nobles, fit to command regiments in the field or assist in the counsels of state, but chiefly occupied in putting dishes on the court table, handing ewers and napkins to their highnesses, or in still more menial offices--so much enjoyment might be had, was reduced to a mere parade ground for spanish soldiery. it was ridiculous, said the politicians of madrid, to suppose that a great empire like spain would not be continually at war in one direction or another, and would not perpetually require the use of large armies. where then could there be a better mustering place for their forces than those very provinces, so easy of access, so opulent, so conveniently situate in the neighbourhood of spain's most insolent enemies? it was all very fine for the archduke, who knew nothing of war, they declared, who had no hope of children, who longed only for a life of inglorious ease, such as he could have had as archbishop, to prate of peace and thus to compromise the dignity of the realm. on the contrary by making proper use of the netherlands, the repose and grandeur of the monarchy would be secured, even should the war become eternal. this prospect, not agreeable certainly for the archdukes or their subjects, was but little admired outside the spanish court. such then were the sentiments of the archdukes, and such the schemes and visions of spain, france, and england. on two or three points, those great powers were mainly, if unconsciously, agreed. the netherlands should not be sovereign; they should renounce the india navigation; they should consent to the re-establishment of the catholic religion. on the other hand, the states-general knew their own minds, and made not the slightest secret of their intentions. they would be sovereign, they would not renounce the india trade, they would not agree to the re-establishment of the catholic religion. could the issue of the proposed negotiations be thought hopeful, or was another half century of warfare impending? on the th may the french commissioners came before the states-general. there had been many wild rumours flying through the provinces in regard to the king's secret designs upon the republic, especially since the visit made to the hague a twelvemonth before by francis aerssens, states' resident at the french court. that diplomatist, as we know, had been secretly commissioned by henry to feel the public pulse in regard to the sovereignty, so far as that could be done by very private and delicate fingering. although only two or three personages had been dealt with--the suggestions being made as the private views of the ambassadors only--there had been much gossip on the subject, not only in the netherlands, but at the english and spanish courts. throughout the commonwealth there was a belief that henry wished to make himself king of the country. as this happened to be the fact, it was natural that the president, according to the statecraft of his school, should deny it at once, and with an air of gentle melancholy. wearing therefore his most ingenuous expression, jeannin addressed the assembly. he assured the states that the king had never forgotten how much assistance he had received from them when he was struggling to conquer the kingdom legally belonging to him, and at a time when they too were fighting in their own country for their very existence. the king thought that he had given so many proofs of his sincere friendship as to make doubt impossible; but he had found the contrary, for the states had accorded an armistice, and listened to overtures of peace, without deigning to consult him on the subject. they had proved, by beginning and concluding so important a transaction without his knowledge, that they regarded him with suspicion, and had no respect for his name. whence came the causes of that suspicion it was difficult to imagine, unless from certain false rumours of propositions said to have been put forward in his behalf, although he had never authorised anyone to make them, by which men had been induced to believe that he aspired to the sovereignty of the provinces. "this falsehood," continued the candid president, "has cut our king to the heart, wounding him more deeply than anything else could have done. to make the armistice without his knowledge showed merely your contempt for him, and your want of faith in him. but he blamed not the action in itself, since you deemed it for your good, and god grant that you may not have been deceived. but to pretend that his majesty wished to grow great at your expense, this was to do a wrong to his reputation, to his good faith, and to the desire which he has always shown to secure the prosperity of your state." much more spoke jeannin, in this vein, assuring the assembly that those abominable falsehoods proceeded from the enemies of the king, and were designed expressly to sow discord and suspicion in the provinces. the reader, already aware of the minute and detailed arrangements made by henry and his ministers for obtaining the sovereignty of the united provinces and destroying their liberties, will know how to appreciate the eloquence of the ingenuous president. after the usual commonplaces concerning the royal desire to protect his allies against wrong and oppression, and to advance their interests, the president suggested that the states should forthwith communicate the pending deliberations to all the kings and princes who had favoured their cause, and especially to the king of england, who had so thoroughly proved his desire to promote their welfare. as jeannin had been secretly directed to pave the way by all possible means for the king's sovereignty over the provinces; as he was not long afterwards to receive explicit instructions to expend as much money as might be necessary in bribing prince maurice, count lewis william, barneveld and his son, together with such others as might seem worth purchasing, in order to assist henry in becoming monarch of their country; and as the english king was at that moment represented in henry's private letters to the commissioners as actually loathing the liberty, power, and prosperity of the provinces, it must be conceded that the president had acquitted himself very handsomely in his first oration. such was the virtue of his honest face. barneveld answered with generalities and commonplaces. no man knew better than the advocate the exact position of affairs; no man had more profoundly fathomed the present purposes of the french king; no man had more acutely scanned his character. but he knew the critical position of the commonwealth. he knew that, although the public revenue might be raised by extraordinary and spasmodic exertion to nearly a million sterling, a larger income than had ever been at the disposition of the great queen of england, the annual deficit might be six millions of florins--more than half the revenue--if the war continued, and that there was necessity of peace, could the substantial objects of the war be now obtained. he was well aware too of the subtle and scheming brain which lay hid beneath that reverend brow of the president, although he felt capable of coping with him in debate or intrigue. doubtless he was inspired with as much ardour for the intellectual conflict as henry might have experienced on some great field-day with alexander farnese. on this occasion, however, barneveld preferred to glide gently over the rumours concerning henry's schemes. those reports had doubtless emanated, he said, from the enemies of netherland prosperity. the private conclusion of the armistice he defended on the ground of necessity, and of temporary financial embarrassment, and he promised that deputies should at once be appointed to confer with the royal commissioners in regard to the whole subject. in private, he assured jeannin that the communications of aerssens had only been discussed in secret, and had not been confided to more than three or four persons. the advocate, although the leader of the peace party, was by no means over anxious for peace. the object of much insane obloquy, because disposed to secure that blessing for his country on the basis of freedom and independence, he was not disposed to trust in the sincerity of the archdukes, or the spanish court, or the french king. "timeo danaos etiam dona ferentes," he had lately said to aerssens. knowing that the resistance of the netherlands had been forty years long the bulwark of europe against the designs of the spaniard for universal empire, he believed the republic justified in expecting the support of the leading powers in the negotiations now proposed. "had it not been for the opposition of these provinces," he said, "he might, in the opinion of the wisest, have long ago been monarch of all europe, with small expense of men, money, or credit." he was far from believing therefore that spain, which had sacrificed, according to his estimate, three hundred thousand soldiers and two hundred million ducats in vain endeavours to destroy the resistance of the united provinces, was now ready to lay aside her vengeance and submit to a sincere peace. rather he thought to see "the lambkins, now frisking so innocently about the commonwealth, suddenly transform themselves into lions and wolves." it would be a fatal error, he said, to precipitate the dear fatherland into the net of a simulated negotiation, from unwise impatience for peace. the netherlanders were a simple, truthful people and could hope for no advantage in dealing with spanish friars, nor discover all the danger and deceit lurking beneath their fair words. thus the man, whom his enemies perpetually accused of being bought by the enemy, of wishing peace at any price, of wishing to bring back the catholic party and ecclesiastical influence to the netherlands, was vigorously denouncing a precipitate peace, and warning his countrymen of the danger of premature negotiations. "as one can hardly know the purity and value of gold," he said, "without testing it, so it is much more difficult to distinguish a false peace from a genuine one; for one can never touch it nor taste it; and one learns the difference when one is cheated and lost. ignorant people think peace negotiations as simple as a private lawsuit. many sensible persons even think that; the enemy once recognising us for a free, sovereign state, we shall be in the same position as england and france, which powers have lately made peace with the archdukes and with spain. but we shall find a mighty difference. moreover, in those kingdoms the spanish king has since the peace been ever busy corrupting their officers of state and their subjects, and exciting rebellion and murder within their realms, as all the world must confess. and the english merchants complain that they have suffered more injustice, violence, and wrong from the spaniards since the peace than they did during the war." the advocate also reminded his countrymen that the archduke, being a vassal of spain, could not bind that power by his own signature, and that there was no proof that the king would renounce his pretended rights to the provinces. if he affected to do so, it would only be to put the republic to sleep. he referred, with much significance, to the late proceedings of the admiral of arragon at emmerich, who refused to release that city according to his plighted word, saying roundly that whatever he might sign and seal one day he would not hesitate absolutely to violate on the next if the king's service was thereby to be benefited. with such people, who had always learned law-doctors and ghostly confessors to strengthen and to absolve them, they could never expect anything but broken faith and contempt for treaties however solemnly ratified. should an armistice be agreed upon and negotiations begun, the advocate urged that the work of corruption and bribery would not be a moment delayed, and although the netherlanders were above all nations a true and faithful race, it could hardly be hoped that no individuals would be gained over by the enemy. "for the whole country," said barneveld, "would swarm with jesuits, priests, and monks, with calumnies and corruptions--the machinery by which the enemy is wont to produce discord, relying for success upon the well-known maxim of philip of macedon, who considered no city impregnable into which he could send an ass laden with gold." the advocate was charged too with being unfriendly to the india trade, especially to the west india company. he took the opportunity, however, to enlarge with emphasis and eloquence upon that traffic as constituting the very lifeblood of the country. "the commerce with the east indies is going on so prosperously," he said, "that not only our own inhabitants but all strangers are amazed. the west india company is sufficiently prepared, and will cost the commonwealth so little, that the investment will be inconsiderable in comparison with the profits. and all our dangers and difficulties have nearly vanished since the magnificent victory of gibraltar, by which the enemy's ships, artillery, and sailors have been annihilated, and proof afforded that the spanish galleys are not so terrible as they pretend to be. by means of this trade to both the indies, matters will soon be brought into such condition that the spaniards will be driven out of all those regions and deprived of their traffic. thus will the great wolf's teeth be pulled out, and we need have no farther fear of his biting again. then we may hope for a firm and assured peace, and may keep the indies, with the whole navigation thereon depending, for ourselves, sharing it freely and in common with our allies." certainly no statesman could more strongly depict the dangers of a pusillanimous treaty, and the splendid future of the republic, if she held fast to her resolve for political independence, free religion, and free trade, than did the great advocate at this momentous epoch of european history. had he really dreamed of surrendering the republic to spain, that republic whose resistance ever since the middle of the previous century had been all that had saved europe, in the opinion of learned and experienced thinkers, from the universal empire of spain--had the calumnies, or even a thousandth part of the calumnies, against him been true--how different might have been the history of human liberty! soon afterwards, in accordance with the suggestions of the french king and with their own previous intentions, a special legation was despatched by the states to england, in order to notify the approaching conferences to the sovereign of that country, and to invite his participation in the proceedings. the states' envoys were graciously received by james, who soon appointed richard spencer and ralph winwood as commissioners to the hague, duly instructed to assist at the deliberations, and especially to keep a sharp watch upon french intrigues. there were also missions and invitations to denmark and to the electors palatine and of brandenburg, the two latter potentates having, during the past three years, assisted the states with a hundred thousand florins annually. the news of the great victory at gibraltar had reached the netherlands almost simultaneously with the arrival of the french commissioners. it was thought probable that john neyen had received the weighty intelligence some days earlier, and the intense eagerness of the archdukes and of the spanish government to procure the recal of the dutch fleet was thus satisfactorily explained. very naturally this magnificent success, clouded though it was by the death of the hero to whom it was due, increased the confidence of the states in the justice of their cause and the strength of their position. once more, it is not entirely idle to consider the effect of scientific progress on the march of human affairs, as so often exemplified in history. whether that half-century of continuous war would have been possible with the artillery, means of locomotion, and other machinery of destruction and communication now so terribly familiar to the world, can hardly be a question. the preterhuman prolixity of negotiation which appals us in the days when steam and electricity had not yet annihilated time and space, ought also to be obsolete. at a period when the news of a great victory was thirty days on its travels from gibraltar to flushing, aged counsellors justified themselves in a solemn consumption of time such as might have exasperated jared or methuselah in his boyhood. men fought as if war was the normal condition of humanity, and negotiated as if they were all immortal. but has the art political kept pace with the advancement of physical science? if history be valuable for the examples it furnishes both for imitation and avoidance, then the process by which these peace conferences were initiated and conducted may be wholesome food for reflection. john neyen, who, since his secret transactions already described at the hague and fort lillo, had been speeding back and forth between brussels, london, and madrid, had once more returned to the netherlands, and had been permitted to reside privately at delft until the king's ratification should arrive from spain. while thus established, the industrious friar had occupied his leisure in studying the situation of affairs. especially he had felt inclined to renew some of those little commercial speculations which had recently proved so comfortable in the case of dirk van der does. recorder cornelius aerssens came frequently to visit him, with the private consent of the government, and it at once struck the friar that cornelius would be a judicious investment. so he informed the recorder that the archdukes had been much touched with his adroitness and zeal in facilitating the entrance of their secret agent into the presence of the prince and the advocate. cruwel, in whose company the disguised neyen had made his first journey to the hague, was a near relative of aerssena, the honest monk accordingly, in recognition of past and expected services, begged one day the recorder's acceptance of a bill, drawn by marquis spinola on henry beckman, merchant of amsterdam, for eighty thousand ducats. he also produced a diamond ring, valued at ten thousand florins, which he ventured to think worthy the acceptance of madame aerssens. furthermore, he declared himself ready to pay fifteen thousand crowns in cash, on account of the bill, whenever it might be, desired, and observed that the archdukes had ordered the house which the recorder had formerly occupied in brussels to be reconveyed to him. other good things were in store, it was delicately hinted, as soon as they had been earned. aerssens expressed his thanks for the house, which, he said, legally belonged to him according to the terms of the surrender of brussels. he hesitated in regard to the rest, but decided finally to accept the bill of exchange and the diamond, apprising prince maurice and olden-barneveld of the fact, however, on his return to the hague. being subsequently summoned by neyen to accept the fifteen thousand crowns, he felt embarrassed at the compromising position in which he had placed himself. he decided accordingly to make a public statement of the affair to the states-general. this was done, and the states placed the ring and the bill in the hands of their treasurer, joris de bie. the recorder never got the eighty thousand ducats, nor his wife the diamond; but although there had been no duplicity on his part, he got plenty of slander. his evil genius had prompted him, not to listen seriously to the temptings of the monk, but to deal with him on his own terms. he was obliged to justify himself against public suspicion with explanations and pamphlets, but some taint of the calumny stuck by him to the last. meantime, the three months allotted for the reception of philip's ratification had nearly expired. in march, the royal government had expressly consented that the archdukes should treat with the rebels on the ground of their independence. in june that royal permission had been withdrawn, exactly because the independence could never be acknowledged. albert, naturally enough indignant at such double-dealing, wrote to the king that his disapprobation was incomprehensible, as the concession of independence had been made by direct command of philip. "i am much amazed," he said, "that, having treated with the islanders on condition of leaving them free, by express order of your majesty (which you must doubtless very well remember), your majesty now reproves my conduct, and declares your dissatisfaction." at last, on the rd july, spinola requested a safe conduct for louis verreyken, auditor of the council at brussels, to come to the hague. on the rd of july that functionary accordingly arrived. he came before prince maurice and fifty deputies of the states-general, and exhibited the document. at the same time he urged them, now that the long-desired ratification had been produced, to fulfil at once their promise, and to recal their fleet from the coast of spain. verreyken was requested to withdraw while the instrument was examined. when recalled, he was informed that the states had the most staight-forward intention to negotiate, but that the royal document did not at all answer their expectation. as few of the delegates could read spanish, it would first of all be necessary to cause it to be translated. when that was done they would be able to express their opinion concerning it and come to a decision in regard to the recal of the fleet. this ended the proceedings on that occasion. next day prince maurice invited verreyken and others to dine. after dinner the stadholder informed him that the answer of the states might soon be expected; at the same time expressing his regret that the king should have sent such an instrument. it was very necessary, said the prince, to have plain speaking, and he, for one, had never believed that the king would send a proper ratification. the one exhibited was not at all to the purpose. the king was expected to express himself as clearly as the archdukes had done in their instrument. he must agree to treat with the states-general as with people entirely free, over whom he claimed no authority. if the king should refuse to make this public declaration, the states would at once break off all negotiations. three days afterwards, seven deputies conferred with verreyken. barneveld, as spokesman, declared that, so far as the provinces were concerned, the path was plain and open to an honest, ingenuous, lasting peace, but that the manner of dealing on the other side was artificial and provocative of suspicion. a most important line, which had been placed by the states at the very beginning of the form suggested by them, was wanting in the ratification now received. this hardly seemed an accidental omission. the whole document was constrained and defective. it was necessary to deal with netherlanders in clear and simple language. the basis of any possible negotiation was that the provinces were to be treated with as and called entirely free. unless this was done negotiations were impossible. the states-general were not so unskilled in affairs as to be ignorant that the king and the archdukes were quite capable, at a future day, of declaring themselves untrammelled by any conditions. they would boast that conventions with rebels and pledges to heretics were alike invalid. if verreyken had brought no better document than the one presented, he had better go at once. his stay in the provinces was superfluous. at a subsequent interview barneveld informed verreyken that the king's confirmation had been unanimously rejected by the states-general as deficient both in form and substance. he added that the people of the provinces were growing very lukewarm in regard to peace, that prince maurice opposed it, that many persons regretted the length to which the negotiations had already gone. difficult as it seemed to be to recede, the archdukes might be certain that a complete rupture was imminent. all these private conversations of barneveld, who was known to be the chief of the peace party, were duly reported by verreyken in secret notes to the archduke and to spinola. of course they produced their effect. it surely might have been seen that the tricks and shifts of an antiquated diplomacy were entirely out of place if any wholesome result were desired. but the habit of dissimulation was inveterate. that the man who cannot dissemble is unfit to reign, was perhaps the only one of his father's golden rules which philip iii. could thoroughly comprehend, even if it be assumed that the monarch was at all consulted in regard to this most important transaction of his life. verreyken and the friar knew very well when they brought the document that it would be spurned by the states, and yet they were also thoroughly aware that it was the king's interest to, begin the negotiations as soon as possible. when thus privately and solemnly assured by the advocate that they were really wasting their time by being the bearers of these royal evasions, they learned therefore nothing positively new, but were able to assure their employers that to thoroughly disgust the peace party was not precisely the mode of terminating the war. verreyken now received public and formal notification that a new instrument must be procured from the king. in the ratification which had been sent, that monarch spoke of the archdukes as princes and sovereign proprietors of all the netherlands. the clause by which, according to the form prescribed by the states, and already adopted by the archdukes, the united provinces were described as free countries over which no authority was claimed had been calmly omitted, as if, by such a subterfuge, the independence of the republic could be winked out of existence. furthermore, it was objected that the document was in spanish, that it was upon paper instead of parchment, that it was not sealed with the great, but with the little seal, and that it was subscribed. "i the king." this signature might be very appropriate for decrees issued by a monarch to his vassals, but could not be rightly appended, it was urged, to an instrument addressed to a foreign power. potentates, treating with the states-general of the united provinces, were expected to sign their names. whatever may be thought of the technical requirements in regard to the parchment, the signature, and the seal, it would be difficult to characterize too strongly the polity of the spanish government in the most essential point. to seek relief from the necessity of recognising-at least in the sense of similitude, according to the subtlety of bentivoglio--the freedom of the provinces, simply by running the pen through the most important line of a most important document, was diplomacy in its dotage. had not marquis spinola, a man who could use his brains and his pen as well as his sword, expressly implored the politicians of madrid not to change even a comma in the form of ratification which he sent to spain? verreyken, placed face to face with plain-spoken, straightforward, strong-minded men, felt the dreary absurdity of the position. he could only stammer a ridiculous excuse about the clause, having been accidentally left out by a copying secretary. to represent so important an omission as a clerical error was almost as great an absurdity as the original device; but it was necessary for verreyken to say something. he promised, however, that the form prescribed by the states should be again transmitted to madrid, and expressed confidence that the ratification would now be sent as desired. meantime he trusted that the fleet would be at once recalled. this at once created a stormy debate which lasted many days, both within the walls of the house of assembly and out of doors. prince maurice bitterly denounced the proposition, and asserted the necessity rather of sending out more ships than of permitting their cruisers to return. it was well known that the spanish government, since the destruction of avila's fleet, had been straining every nerve to procure and equip other war-vessels, and that even the duke of lerma had offered a small portion of his immense plunderings to the crown in aid of naval armaments. on the other hand, barneveld urged that the states, in the preliminary armistice, had already agreed to send no munitions nor reinforcements to the fleet already cruising on the coasts of the peninsula. it would be better, therefore, to recal those ships than to leave them where they could not be victualled nor strengthened without a violation of good faith. these opinions prevailed, and on the th august, verreyken was summoned before the assembly, and informed by barneveld that the states had decided to withdraw the fleet, and to declare invalid all prizes made six weeks after that date. this was done, it was said, out of respect to the archdukes, to whom no blame was imputed for the negligence displayed in regard to the ratification. furthermore, the auditor was requested to inform his masters that the documents brought from spain were not satisfactory, and he was furnished with a draught, made both in latin and french. with this form, it was added, the king was to comply within six weeks, if he desired to proceed further in negotiations with the states. verreyken thanked the states-general, made the best of promises, and courteously withdrew. next day, however, just as his preparations for departure had been made, he was once more summoned before the assembly to meet with a somewhat disagreeable surprise. barneveld, speaking as usual in behalf of the states-general, publicly produced spinola's bill of exchange for eighty thousand ducats, the diamond ring intended for madame aerssens, and the gold chain given to dirk van der does, and expressed the feelings of the republican government in regard to those barefaced attempts of friar john at bribery and corruption, in very scornful language? netherlanders were not to be bought--so the agent of spain and of the archdukes was informed--and, even if the citizens were venal, it would be necessary in a popular government to buy up the whole nation. "it is not in our commonwealth as in despotisms," said the advocate, "where affairs of state are directed by the nod of two or three individuals, while the rest of the inhabitants are a mob of slaves. by turns, we all govern and are governed. this great council, this senate--should it seem not sufficiently fortified against your presents-could easily be enlarged. here is your chain, your ring, your banker's draught. take them all back to your masters. such gifts are not necessary to ensure a just peace, while to accept them would be a crime against liberty, which we are incapable of committing." verreyken, astonished and abashed, could answer little save to mutter a few words about the greediness of monks, who, judging everyone else by themselves, thought no one inaccessible to a bribe. he protested the innocence of the archdukes in the matter, who had given no directions to bribe, and who were quite ignorant that the attempt had been made. he did not explain by whose authority the chain, the ring, and the draught upon beckman had been furnished to the friar. meantime that ecclesiastic was cheerfully wending his way to spain in search of the new ratification, leaving his colleague vicariously to bide the pelting of the republican storm, and to return somewhat weather-beaten to brussels. during the suspension, thus ridiculously and gratuitously caused, of preliminaries which had already lasted the better portion of a year, party-spirit was rising day by day higher, and spreading more widely throughout the provinces. opinions and sentiments were now sharply defined and loudly announced. the clergy, from a thousand pulpits, thundered against the peace, exposing the insidious practices, the faithless promises, the monkish corruptions, by which the attempt was making to reduce the free republic once more into vassalage to spain. the people everywhere listened eagerly and applauded. especially the mariners, cordwainers, smiths, ship-chandlers, boatmen, the tapestry weavers, lace-manufacturers, shopkeepers, and, above all, the india merchants and stockholders in the great commercial companies for the east and west, lifted up their voices for war. this was the party of prince maurice, who made no secret of his sentiments, and opposed, publicly and privately, the resumption of negotiations. doubtless his adherents were the most numerous portion of the population. barneveld, however, was omnipotent with the municipal governments, and although many individuals in those bodies were deeply interested in the india navigation and the great corporations, the advocate turned them as usual around his finger. ever since the memorable day of nieuport there had been no love lost between the stadholder and the advocate. they had been nominally reconciled to each other, and had, until lately, acted with tolerable harmony, but each was thoroughly conscious of the divergence of their respective aims. exactly at this period the long-smothered resentment of maurice against his old preceptor, counsellor, and, as he believed, betrayer, flamed forth anew. he was indignant that a man, so infinitely beneath him in degree, should thus dare to cross his plans, to hazard, as he believed, the best interests of the state, and to interfere with the course of his legitimate ambition. there was more glory for a great soldier to earn in future battle-fields, a higher position before the world to be won. he had a right by birth, by personal and family service, to claim admittance among the monarchs of europe. the pistol of balthasar gerard had alone prevented the elevation of his father to the sovereignty of the provinces. the patents, wanting only a few formalities, were still in possession of the son. as the war went on--and nothing but blind belief in spanish treachery could cause the acceptance of a peace which would be found to mean slavery--there was no height to which he might not climb. with the return of peace and submission, his occupation would be gone, obscurity and poverty the sole recompense for his life long services and the sacrifices of his family. the memory of the secret movements twice made but a few years before to elevate him to the sovereignty, and which he believed to have been baffled by the advocate, doubtless rankled in his breast. he did not forget that when the subject had been discussed by the favourers of the scheme in barneveld's own house, barneveld himself had prophesied that one day or another "the rights would burst out which his excellency had to become prince of the provinces, on strength of the signed and sealed documents addressed to the late prince of orange; that he had further alluded to the efforts then on foot to make him duke of gelderland; adding with a sneer, that zeeland was all agog on the subject, while in that province there were individuals very desirous of becoming children of zebedee." barneveld, on his part, although accustomed to speak in public of his excellency prince maurice in terms of profoundest respect, did not fail to communicate in influential quarters his fears that the prince was inspired by excessive ambition, and that he desired to protract the war, not for the good of the commonwealth, but for the attainment of greater power in the state. the envoys of france, expressly instructed on that subject by the king, whose purposes would be frustrated if the ill-blood between these eminent personages could not be healed, did their best to bring about a better understanding, but with hardly more than an apparent success. once more there were stories flying about that the stadholder had called the advocate liar, and that he had struck him or offered to strike him--tales as void of truth, doubtless, as those so rife after the battle of nieuport, but which indicated the exasperation which existed. when the news of the rejection of the king's ratification reached madrid, the indignation of the royal conscience-keepers was vehement. that the potentate of so large a portion of the universe should be treated by those lately his subjects with less respect than that due from equals to equals, seemed intolerable. so thoroughly inspired, however, was the king by the love of religion and the public good--as he informed marquis spinola by letter--and so intense was his desire for the termination of that disastrous war, that he did not hesitate indulgently to grant what had been so obstinately demanded. little was to be expected, he said, from the stubbornness of the provinces, and from their extraordinary manner of transacting business, but looking, nevertheless, only to divine duty, and preferring its dictates to a selfish regard for his own interests, he had resolved to concede that liberty to the provinces which had been so importunately claimed. he however imposed the condition that the states should permit free and public exercise of the catholic religion throughout their territories, and that so long as such worship was unobstructed, so long and no longer should the liberty now conceded to the provinces endure. "thus did this excellent prince," says an eloquent jesuit, "prefer obedience to the church before subjection to himself, and insist that those, whom he emancipated from his own dominions, should still be loyal to the sovereignty of the pope." friar john, who had brought the last intelligence from the netherlands, might have found it difficult, if consulted, to inform the king how many bills of exchange would be necessary to force this wonderful condition on the government of the provinces. that the republic should accept that liberty as a boon which she had won with the red right hand, and should establish within her domains as many agents for spanish reaction as there were roman priests, monks, and jesuits to be found, was not very probable. it was not thus nor then that the great lesson of religious equality and liberty for all men--the inevitable result of the dutch revolt--was to be expounded. the insertion of such a condition in the preamble to a treaty with a foreign power would have been a desertion on the part of the netherlands of the very principle of religious or civil freedom. the monk, however, had convinced the spanish government that in six months after peace had been made the states would gladly accept the dominion of spain once more, or, at the very least, would annex themselves to the obedient netherlands under the sceptre of the archdukes. secondly, he assured the duke that they would publicly and totally renounce all connection with france. thirdly, he pledged himself that the exercise of the catholic religion would be as free as that of any other creed. and the duke of lerma believed it all: such and no greater was his capacity for understanding the course of events which he imagined himself to be directing. certainly friar john did not believe what he said. "master monk is not quite so sure of his stick as he pretends to be," said secretary-of-state villeroy. of course, no one knew better the absurdity of those assurances than master monk himself. "it may be that he has held such language," said jeannin, "in order to accomplish his object in spain. but 'tis all dreaming and moonshine, which one should laugh at rather than treat seriously. these people here mean to be sovereign for ever and will make no peace except on that condition. this grandeur and vanity have entered so deeply into their brains that they will be torn into little pieces rather than give it up." spinola, as acute a politician as he was a brilliant commander, at once demonstrated to his government the impotence of such senile attempts. no definite agreements could be made, he wrote, except by a general convention. before a treaty of peace, no permission would be given by the states to the public exercise of the catholic religion, for fear of giving offence to what were called the protestant powers. unless they saw the proper ratification they would enter into no negotiations at all. when the negotiations had produced a treaty, the catholic worship might be demanded. thus peace might be made, and the desired conditions secured, or all parties would remain as they had been. the spanish government replied by sending a double form of ratification. it would not have been the spanish government, had one simple, straightforward document been sent. plenty of letters came at the same time, triumphantly refuting the objections and arguments of the states-general. to sign "yo el rey" had been the custom of the king's ancestors in dealing with foreign powers. thus had philip ii. signed the treaty of vervins. thus had the reigning king confirmed the treaty of vervins. thus had he signed the recent treaty with england as well as other conventions with other potentates. if the french envoys at the hague said the contrary they erred from ignorance or from baser reasons. the provinces could not be declared free until catholic worship was conceded. the donations must be mutual and simultaneous and the states would gain a much more stable and diuturnal liberty, founded not upon a simple declaration, but lawfully granted them as a compensation for a just and pious work performed. to this end the king sent ratification number one in which his sentiments were fully expressed. if, however, the provinces were resolved not to defer the declaration so ardently desired and to refuse all negotiation until they had received it, then ratification number two, therewith sent and drawn up in the required form, might be used. it was, however, to be exhibited but not delivered. the provinces would then see the clemency with which they were treated by the king, and all the world might know that it was not his fault if peace were not made. thus the politicians of madrid; speaking in the name of their august sovereign and signing "yo el rey" for him without troubling him even to look at the documents. when these letters arrived, the time fixed by the states for accepting the ratification had run out, and their patience was well-nigh exhausted. the archduke held council with spinola, verreyken, richardot, and others, and it was agreed that ratification number two, in which the catholic worship was not mentioned, should be forthwith sent to the states. certainly no other conclusion could have been reached, and it was fortunate that a lucid interval in the deliberations of the 'lunati ceat' madrid had furnished the archduke with an alternative. had it been otherwise and had number one been presented, with all the accompanying illustrations, the same dismal comedy might have gone on indefinitely until the dutchmen hissed it away and returned to their tragic business once more. on the th october, friar john and verreyken came before the states-general, more than a hundred members being present, besides prince maurice and count lewis william. the monk stated that he had faithfully represented to his majesty at madrid the sincere, straightforward, and undissembling proceedings of their lordships in these negotiations. he had also explained the constitution of their government and had succeeded in obtaining from his royal majesty the desired ratification, after due deliberation with the council. this would now give the assurance of a firm and durable peace, continued neyen, even if his majesty should come one day to die--being mortal. otherwise, there might be inconveniences to fear. now, however, the document was complete in all its parts, so far as regarded what was principal and essential, and in conformity with the form transmitted by the states-general. "god the omnipotent knows," proceeded the friar, "how sincere is my intention in this treaty of peace as a means of delivering the netherlands from the miseries of war, as your lordships will perceive by the form of the agreement, explaining itself and making manifest its pure and undissembling intentions, promising nothing and engaging to nothing which will not be effectually performed. this would not be the case if his majesty were proceeding by finesse or deception. the ratification might be nakedly produced as demanded, without any other explanation. but his majesty, acting in good faith, has now declared his last determination in order to avoid anything that might be disputed at some future day, as your lordships will see more amply when the auditor has exhibited the document." when the friar had finished verreyken spoke. he reminded them of the proofs already given by the archdukes of their sincere desire to change the long and sanguinary war into a good and assured peace. their lordships the states had seen how liberally, sincerely, and roundly their highnesses had agreed to all demands and had procured the ratification of his majesty, even although nothing had been proposed in that regard at the beginning of the negotiations. he then produced the original document, together with two copies, one in french the other in flemish, to be carefully collated by the states. "it is true," said the auditor, "that the original is not made out in latin nor in french as your lordships demanded, but in spanish, and in the same form and style as used by his majesty in treating with all the kings, potentates, and republics of christendom. to tell you the truth, it has seemed strange that there should be a wish to make so great and puissant a king change his style, such demand being contrary to all reason and equity, and more so as his majesty is content with the style which your lordships have been pleased to adopt." the ratification was then exhibited. it set forth that don philip, by grace of god king of castile, leon, arragon, the two sicilies, portugal, navarre, and of fourteen or fifteen other european realms duly enumerated; king of the eastern and western indies and of the continents on terra firma adjacent, king of jerusalem, archduke of antioch, duke of burgundy, and king of the ocean, having seen that the archdukes were content to treat with the states-general of the united provinces in quality of, and as holding them for, countries, provinces, and free states over which they pretended to no authority; either by way of a perpetual peace or for a truce or suspension of arms for twelve, fifteen, or twenty years, at the choice of the said states, and knowing that the said most serene archdukes had promised to deliver the king's ratification; had, after ripe deliberation with his council, and out of his certain wisdom and absolute royal power, made the present declarations, similar to the one made by the archdukes, for the accomplishment of the said promise so far as it concerned him: "and we principally declare," continued the king of spain, jerusalem, america, india, and the ocean, "that we are content that in our name, and on our part, shall be treated with the said states in the quality of, and as held by us for, free countries, provinces, and states, over which we make no pretensions. thus we approve and ratify every point of the said agreement, promising on faith and word of a king to guard and accomplish it as entirely as if we had consented to it from the beginning." "but we declare," said the king, in conclusion, "that if the treaty for a peace or a truce of many years, by which the pretensions of both parties are to be arranged--as well in the matter of religion as all the surplus--shall not be concluded, then this ratification shall be of no effect and as if it never had been made and, in virtue of it, we are not to lose a single point of our right, nor the united provinces to acquire one, but things are to remain, so far as regards the rights of the two parties, exactly as they what to each shall seem best." such were the much superfluous verbiage lopped away--which had been signed "i the king" at madrid on the th september, and the two copies of which were presented to the states-general on the th october, the commissioners retaining the original. the papers were accepted, with a few general commonplaces by barneveld meaning nothing, and an answer was promised after a brief delay. a committee of seven, headed by the advocate as chairman and spokesman, held a conference with the ambassadors of france and england, at four o'clock in the afternoon of the same day and another at ten o'clock next morning. the states were not very well pleased with the ratification. what especially moved their discontent was the concluding clause, according to which it was intimated that if the pretensions of spain in regard to religion were not fulfilled in the final treaty, the ratification was waste-paper and the king would continue to claim all his rights. how much more loudly would they have vociferated, could they have looked into friar john's wallet and have seen ratification number one! then they would have learned that, after nearly a year of what was called negotiation, the king had still meant to demand the restoration of the catholic worship before he would even begin to entertain the little fiction that the provinces were free. as to the signature, the paper, and the spanish language, those were minor matters. indeed, it is difficult to say why the king of spain should not issue a formal document in spanish. it is doubtful whether, had he taken a fancy to read it, he could have understood it in any other tongue. moreover, spanish would seem the natural language for spanish state-papers. had he, as king of jerusalem, america, or india, chosen the hebrew, aztec, or sanscrit, in his negotiations with the united provinces, there might have been more cause for dissatisfaction. jeannin, who was of course the leading spirit among the foreign members of the conference, advised the acceptance of the ratification. notwithstanding the technical objections to its form, he urged that in substance it was in sufficient conformity to the draught furnished by the states. nothing could be worse, in his opinion, for the provinces than to remain any longer suspended between peace and war. they would do well, therefore, to enter upon negotiations so soon as they had agreed among themselves upon three points. they must fix the great indispensable terms which they meant to hold, and from which no arguments would ever induce them to recede. thus they would save valuable time and be spared much frivolous discourse. next, they ought to establish a good interior government. thirdly, they should at once arrange their alliances and treaties with foreign powers, in order to render the peace to be negotiated a durable one. as to the first and second of these points, the netherlanders needed no prompter. they had long ago settled the conditions without which they would make no treaty at all, and certainly it was not the states-general that had thus far been frivolously consuming time. as to the form of government, defective though it was, the leaders of the republic knew very well in whose interests such sly allusions to their domestic affairs were repeatedly ventured by the french envoys. in regard to treaties with foreign powers it was, of course, most desirable for the republic to obtain the formal alliance of france and england. jeannin and his colleagues were ready to sign such a treaty, offensive and defensive, at once, but they found it impossible to induce the english ambassadors, with whom there was a conference on the th october, to come into any written engagement on the subject. they expressed approbation of the plan individually and in words, but deemed it best to avoid any protocol, by which their sovereign could be implicated in a promise. should the negotiations for peace be broken off, it would be time enough to make a treaty to protect the provinces. meantime, they ought to content themselves with the general assurance, already given them, that in case of war the monarchs of france and england would not abandon them, but would provide for their safety, either by succour or in some other way, so that they would be placed out of danger. such promises were vague without being magnificent, and, as james had never yet lifted his finger to assist the provinces, while indulging them frequently with oracular advice, it could hardly be expected that either the french envoys or the states-general would reckon very confidently on assistance from great britain, should war be renewed with spain. on the whole, it was agreed to draw up a paper briefly stating the opinion of the french and english plenipotentiaries that the provinces would do well to accept the ratification. the committee of the states, with barneveld as chairman, expressed acquiescence, but urged that they could not approve the clause in that document concerning religion. it looked as if the king of spain wished to force them to consent by treaty that the catholic religion should be re-established in their country. as they were free and sovereign, however, and so recognised by himself, it was not for him to meddle with such matters. they foresaw that this clause would create difficulties when the whole matter should be referred to the separate provinces, and that it would, perhaps, cause the entire rejection of the ratification. the envoys, through the voice of jeannin, remonstrated against such a course. after all, the objectionable clause, it was urged, should be considered only as a demand which the king was competent to make and it was not reasonable, they said, for the states to shut his mouth and prevent him from proposing what he thought good to propose. on the other hand, they were not obliged to acquiesce in the proposition. in truth, it would be more expedient that the states themselves should grant this grace to the catholics, thus earning their gratitude, rather than that it should be inserted in the treaty. a day or two later there was an interview between the french envoys and count lewis william, for whose sage, dispassionate, and upright character they had all a great respect. it was their object--in obedience to the repeated instructions of the french king--to make use of his great influence over prince maurice in favour of peace. it would be better, they urged, that the stadholder should act more in harmony with the states than he had done of late, and should reflect that, the ratification being good, there was really no means of preventing a peace, except in case the king of spain should refuse the conditions necessary for securing it. the prince would have more power by joining with the states than in opposing them. count lewis expressed sympathy with these views, but feared that maurice would prefer that the ratification should not be accepted until the states of the separate provinces had been heard; feeling convinced that several of those bodies would reject that instrument on account of the clause relating to religion. jeannin replied that such a course would introduce great discord into the provinces, to the profit of the enemy, and that the king of france himself--so far from being likely to wish the ratification rejected because of the clause--would never favour the rupture of negotiations if it came on account of religion. he had always instructed them to use their efforts to prevent any division among the states, as sure to lead to their ruin. he would certainly desire the same stipulation as the one made by the king of spain, and would support rather than oppose the demand thus made, in order to content the catholics. to be sure, he would prefer that the states should wisely make this provision of their own accord rather than on the requisition of spain, but a rupture of the pending negotiations from the cause suggested would be painful to him and very damaging to his character at rome. on the nd november the states-general gave their formal answer to the commissioners, in regard to the ratification. that instrument, they observed, not only did not agree with the form as promised by the archdukes in language and style, but also in regard to the seal, and to the insertion and omission of several words. on this account, and especially by reason of the concluding clause, there might be inferred the annulment of the solemn promise made in the body of the instrument. the said king and archdukes knew very well that these states-general of free countries and provinces, over which the king and archdukes pretended to no authority, were competent to maintain order in all things regarding the good constitution and government of their land and its inhabitants. on this subject, nothing could be pretended or proposed on the part of the king and archdukes without, violation of formal and solemn promises. "nevertheless," continued the states-general, "in order not to retard a good work, already begun, for the purpose of bringing the united provinces out of a long and bloody war into a christian and assured peace, the letters of ratification will be received in respect that they contain the declaration, on part of both the king and the archdukes, that they will treat for a peace or a truce of many years with the states-general of the united provinces, in quality of, and as holding them to be, free countries, provinces, and states, over which they make no pretensions." it was further intimated, however, that the ratification was only received for reference to the estates of each of the provinces, and it was promised that, within six weeks, the commissioners should be informed whether the provinces would consent or refuse to treat. it was moreover declared that, neither at that moment nor at any future time, could any point in the letters of ratification be accepted which, directly or indirectly, might be interpreted as against that essential declaration and promise in regard to the freedom of the provinces. in case the decision should be taken to enter into negotiation upon the basis of that ratification, or any other that might meantime arrive from spain, then firm confidence was expressed by the states that, neither on the part of the king nor that of the archdukes would there be proposed or pretended, in contravention of that promise, any point touching the good constitution, welfare, state, or government of the united provinces, and of the inhabitants. the hope was furthermore expressed that, within ten days after the reception of the consent of the states to treat, commissioners would be sent by the archdukes to the hague, fully authorised and instructed to declare, roundly their intentions, in order to make short work of the whole business. in that case, the states would duly authorize and instruct commissioners to act in their behalf. thus in the answer especial warning was given against any possible attempt to interfere with the religious question. the phraseology could not be mistaken. at this stage of the proceedings, the states demanded that the original instrument of ratification should be deposited with them. the two commissioners declared that they were without power to consent to this. hereupon the assembly became violent, and many members denounced the refusal as equivalent to breaking off the negotiations. everything indicated, so it was urged, a desire on the spanish side to spin delays out of delays, and, meantime, to invent daily some new trap for deception. such was the vehemence upon this point that the industrious franciscan posted back to brussels, and returned with the archduke's permission to deliver the document. three conditions, however, were laid down. the states must give a receipt for the ratification. they must say in that receipt that the archdukes, in obtaining the paper from spain, had fulfilled their original promise. if peace should not be made, they were to return the document. when these conditions were announced, the indignation of the republican government at the trifling of their opponents was fiercer than ever. the discrepancies between the form prescribed and the ratification obtained had always been very difficult of digestion, but, although willing to pass them by, the states stoutly refused to accept the document on these conditions. tooth and nail verreyken and neyen fought out the contest and were worsted. once more the nimble friar sped back and forth between the hague and his employer's palace, and at last, after tremendous discussions in cabinet council, the conditions were abandoned. "nobody can decide," says the jesuit historian, "which was greater--the obstinacy of the federal government in screwing out of the opposite party everything it deemed necessary, or the indulgence of the archdukes in making every possible concession." had these solemn tricksters of an antiquated school perceived that, in dealing with men who meant what they said and said what they meant, all these little dilatory devices were superfluous, perhaps the wholesome result might have sooner been reached. in a contest of diplomacy against time it generally happens that time is the winner, and on this occasion, time and the republic were fighting on the same side. on the th december the states-general re-assembled at the hague, the separate provinces having in the interval given fresh instructions to their representatives. it was now decided that no treaty should be made, unless the freedom of the commonwealth was recognized in phraseology which, after consultation with the foreign ambassadors, should be deemed satisfactory. farther it was agreed that, neither in ecclesiastical nor secular matters, should any conditions be accepted which could be detrimental to freedom. in case the enemy should strive for the contrary, the world would be convinced that he alone was responsible for the failure of the peace negotiations. then, with the support of other powers friendly to the republic, hostilities could be resumed in such a manner as to ensure a favourable issue for an upright cause. the armistice, begun on the th of may, was running to an end, and it was now renewed at the instance of the states. that government, moreover, on the rd december formally notified to the archdukes that, trusting to their declarations, and to the statements of neyen and verreyken, it was willing to hold conferences for peace. their highnesses were accordingly invited to appoint seven or eight commissioners at once, on the same terms as formally indicated. the original understanding had been that no envoys but netherlanders should come from brussels for these negotiations. barneveld and the peace party, however, were desirous that spinola, who was known to be friendly to a pacific result, should be permitted to form part of the mission. accordingly the letters, publicly drawn up in the assembly, adhered to the original arrangement, but barneveld, with the privity of other leading personages, although without the knowledge of maurice, lewis william, and the state-council, secretly enclosed a little note in the principal despatch to neyen and verreyken. in this billet it was intimated that, notwithstanding the prohibition in regard to foreigners, the states were willing--it having been proposed that one or two who were not netherlanders should be sent--that a single spaniard, provided he were not one of the principal military commanders, should make part of the embassy. the phraseology had a double meaning. spinola was certainly the chief military commander, but he was not a spaniard. this eminent personage might be supposed to have thus received permission to come to the netherlands, despite all that had been urged by the war-party against the danger incurred, in case of a renewal of hostilities, by admitting so clear-sighted an enemy into the heart of the republic. moreover, the terms of the secret note would authorize the appointment of another foreigner--even a spaniard--while the crafty president richardot might creep into the commission, on the ground that, being a burgundian, he might fairly call himself a netherlander. and all this happened. thus, after a whole year of parley, in which the states-general had held firmly to their original position, while the spanish government had crept up inch by inch, and through countless windings and subterfuges, to the point on which they might have all stood together at first, and thus have saved a twelvemonth, it was finally settled that peace conferences should begin. barneveld had carried the day. maurice and his cousin lewis william had uniformly, deliberately, but not factiously, used all their influence against any negotiations. the prince had all along loudly expressed his conviction that neither the archdukes nor spain would ever be brought to an honourable peace. the most to be expected of them was a truce of twelve or fifteen years, to which his consent at least should never be given, and during which cessation of hostilities, should it be accorded, every imaginable effort would be made to regain by intrigue what the king had lost by the sword. as for the king of england and his counsellors, maurice always denounced them as more spanish than spaniards, as doing their best to put themselves on the most intimate terms with his catholic majesty, and as secretly desirous--insane policy as it seemed--of forcing the netherlands back again under the sceptre of that monarch. he had at first been supported in his position by the french ambassadors, who had felt or affected disinclination for peace, but who had subsequently, thrown the whole of their own and their master's influence on the side of barneveld. they had done their best--and from time to time they had been successful--to effect at least a superficial reconciliation between those two influential personages. they had employed all the arguments at their disposal to bring the prince over to the peace party. especially they had made use of the 'argumentum ad crumenam,' which that veteran broker in politics, jeannin, had found so effective in times past with the great lords of the league. but maurice showed himself so proof against the golden inducements suggested by the president that he and his king both arrived at the conclusion that there were secret motives at work, and that maurice was not dazzled by the brilliant prospects held out to him by henry, only because his eyes were stedfastly fixed upon some unknown but splendid advantage, to be gained through other combinations. it was naturally difficult for henry to imagine the possibility of a man, playing a first part in the world's theatre, being influenced by so weak a motive as conviction. lewis william too--that "grave and wise young man," as lord leicester used to call him twenty years before--remained steadily on the side of the prince. both in private conversation and in long speeches to the states-general, he maintained that the spanish court was incapable of sincere negotiations with the commonwealth, that to break faith with heretics and rebels would always prove the foundation of its whole policy, and that to deceive them by pretences of a truce or a treaty, and to triumph afterwards over the results of its fraud, was to be expected as a matter of course. sooner would the face of nature be changed than the cardinal maxim of catholic statesmanship be abandoned. but the influence of the nassaus, of the province of zeeland, of the clergy, and of the war-party in general, had been overbalanced by barneveld and the city corporations, aided by the strenuous exertions of the french ambassadors. the decision of the states-general was received with sincere joy at brussels. the archdukes had something to hope from peace, and little but disaster and ruin to themselves from a continuance of the war. spinola too was unaffectedly in favour of negotiations. he took the ground that the foreign enemies of spain, as well as her pretended friends, agreed in wishing her to go on with the war, and that this ought to open her eyes as to the expediency of peace. while there was a general satisfaction in europe that the steady exhaustion of her strength in this eternal contest made her daily less and less formidable to other nations, there were on the other hand puerile complaints at court that the conditions prescribed by impious and insolent rebels to their sovereign were derogatory to the dignity of monarchy. the spectacle of spain sending ambassadors to the hague to treat for peace, on the basis of netherland independence, would be a humiliation such as had never been exhibited before. that the haughty confederation should be allowed thus to accomplish its ends, to trample down all resistance to its dictation, and to defy the whole world by its insults to the church and to the sacred principle, of monarchy, was most galling to spanish pride. spinola, as a son of italy, and not inspired by the fervent hatred to protestantism which was indigenous to the other peninsula, steadily resisted those arguments. none knew better than he the sternness of the stuff out of which that republic was made, and he felt that now or never was the time to treat, even as, five years before, 'jam ant nunquam' had been inscribed on his banner outside ostend. but he protested that his friends gave him even harder work than his enemies had ever done, and he stoutly maintained that a peace against which all the rivals of spain seemed to have conspired from fear of seeing her tranquil and disembarrassed, must be advantageous to spain. the genial and quick-wined genoese could not see and hear all the secret letters and private conversations of henry and james and their ambassadors, and he may be pardoned for supposing that, notwithstanding all the crooked and incomprehensible politics of greenwich and paris, the serious object of both england and france was to prolong the war. in his most private correspondence he expressed great doubts as to a favourable issue to the pending conferences, but avowed his determination that if they should fail it would be from no want of earnest effort on his part to make them succeed. it should never be said that he preferred his own private advantage to the duty of serving the best interests of the crown. meantime the india trade, which was to form the great bone of contention in the impending conferences, had not been practically neglected of late by the enterprising hollanders. peter verhoeff, fresh from the victory of gibraltar, towards which he had personally so much contributed by the splendid manner in which he had handled the aeolus after the death of admiral heemskerk, was placed in command of a fleet to the east indies, which was to sail early in the spring. admiral matelieff, who had been cruising in those seas during the three years past, was now on his way home. his exploits had been worthy the growing fame of the republican navy. in the summer of he had laid siege to the town and fortress of malacca, constructed by the portuguese at the southmost extremity of the malay peninsula. andreas hurtado de mendoza commanded the position, with a force of three thousand men, among whom were many indians. the king or sultan of johore, at the south-eastern extremity of the peninsula, remained faithful to his dutch allies, and accepted the proposition of matelieff to take part in the hostilities now begun. the admiral's fleet consisted of eleven small ships, with fourteen hundred men. it was not exactly a military expedition. to the sailors of each ship were assigned certain shares of the general profits, and as it was obvious that more money was likely to be gained by trade with the natives, or by the capture of such stray carracks and other, merchantmen of the enemy as were frequently to be met in these regions, the men were not particularly eager to take part in sieges of towns or battles with cruisers. matelieff, however, had sufficient influence over his comrades to inflame their zeal on this occasion for the fame of the republic, and to induce them to give the indian princes and the native soldiery a lesson in batavian warfare. a landing was effected on the peninsula, the sailors and guns were disembarked, and an imposing auxiliary force, sent, according to promise, after much delay, by the sultan of johore, proceeded to invest malacca. the ground proved wet, swampy, and impracticable for trenches, galleries, covered ways, and all the other machinery of a regular siege. matelieff was not a soldier nor a naval commander by profession, but a merchant-skipper, like so many other heroes whose achievements were to be the permanent glory of their fatherland. he would not, however, have been a netherlander had he not learned something of the science which prince maurice had so long been teaching, not only to his own countrymen but to the whole world. so moveable turrets, constructed of the spice-trees which grew in rank luxuriance all around, were filled with earth and stones, and advanced towards the fort. had the natives been as docile to learn as the hollanders were eager to teach a few easy lessons in the military art, the doom of andreas hurtado de mendoza would have been sealed. but the great truths which those youthful pedants, maurice and lewis william, had extracted twenty years before from the works of the emperor leo and earlier pagans, amid the jeers of veterans, were not easy to transplant to the malayan peninsula. it soon proved that those white-turbaned, loose-garmented, supple jointed, highly-picturesque troops of the sultan were not likely to distinguish themselves for anything but wonderful rapidity in retreat. not only did they shrink from any advance towards the distant forts, but they were incapable of abiding an attack within or behind their towers, and, at every random shot from the enemy's works, they threw down their arms and fled from their stations in dismay. it was obvious enough that the conquest and subjugation of such feeble warriors by the portuguese and spaniards were hardly to be considered brilliant national trophies. they had fallen an easy prey to the first european invader. they had no discipline, no obedience, no courage; and matelieff soon found that to attempt a scientific siege with such auxiliaries against a well-constructed stone fortress, garrisoned with three thousand troops, under an experienced spanish soldier, was but midsummer madness. fevers and horrible malaria, bred by the blazing sun of the equator out of those pestilential jungles, poisoned the atmosphere. his handful of troops, amounting to not much more than a hundred men to each of his ships, might melt away before his eyes. nevertheless, although it was impossible for him to carry the place by regular approach, he would not abandon the hope of reducing it by famine. during four months long, accordingly, he kept every avenue by land or sea securely invested. in august, however, the spanish viceroy of india, don alphonso de castro, made his appearance on the scene. coming from goa with a splendid fleet, numbering fourteen great galleons, four galleys, and sixteen smaller vessels, manned by three thousand seven hundred portuguese and other europeans, and an equal number of native troops, he had at first directed his course towards atchen, on the north-west point of sumatra. here, with the magnificent arrogance which spanish and portuguese viceroys were accustomed to manifest towards the natives of either india, he summoned the king to surrender his strongholds, to assist in constructing a fortress for the use of his conquerors, to deliver up all the netherlanders within his domains, and to pay the expenses of the expedition which had thus been sent to chastise him. but the king of atchen had not sent ambassadors into the camp of prince maurice before the city of grave in vain. he had learned that there were other white skins besides the spaniards at the antipodes, and that the republic whose achievements in arts and arms were conspicuous trophies of western civilization, was not, as it had been represented to him, a mere nest of pirates. he had learned to prefer an alliance with holland to slavery under spain. moreover, he had dutch engineers and architects in his service, and a well-constructed system of dutch fortifications around his capital. to the summons to surrender himself and his allies he returned a defiant answer. the viceroy ordered an attack upon the city. one fort was taken. from before the next he was repulsed with great loss. the sumatrans had derived more profit from intercourse with europeans than the inhabitants of johore or the moluccas had done. de castro abandoned the siege. he had received intelligence of the dangerous situation of malacca, and moved down upon the place with his whole fleet. admiral matelieff, apprised by scouts of his approach, behaved with the readiness and coolness of a veteran campaigner. before de castro could arrive in the roadstead of malacca, he had withdrawn all his troops from their positions, got all his artillery reshipped, and was standing out in the straits, awaiting the enemy. on the th august, the two fleets, so vastly disproportionate in number, size, equipment, and military force--eighteen galleons and galleys, with four or five thousand fighting men, against eleven small vessels and twelve or fourteen hundred sailors--met in that narrow sea. the action lasted all day. it was neither spirited nor sanguinary. it ought to have been within the power of the spaniard to crush his diminutive adversary. it might have seemed a sufficient triumph for matelieff to manoeuvre himself out of harm's way. no vessel on either side was boarded, not one surrendered, but two on each side were set on fire and destroyed. eight of the dutchmen were killed--not a very sanguinary result after a day's encounter with so imposing an armada. de castro's losses were much greater, but still the battle was an insignificant one, and neither fleet gained a victory. night put an end to the cannonading, and the spaniards withdrew to malacca, while matelieff bore away to johore. the siege of malacca was relieved, and the netherlanders now occupied themselves with the defence of the feeble sovereign at the other point of the peninsula. matelieff lay at johore a month, repairing damages and laying in supplies. while still at the place, he received information that a large part of the spanish armada had sailed from malacca. several of his own crew, who had lost their shares in the adventure by the burning of the ships to which they belonged in the action of th august, were reluctant and almost mutinous when their admiral now proposed to them a sudden assault on the portion of the spanish fleet still remaining within reach. they had not come forth for barren glory, many protested, but in search of fortune; they were not elated by the meagre result of the expedition. matelieff succeeded, however, at last in inspiring all the men of his command with an enthusiasm superior to sordid appeals, and made a few malcontents. on the st september, he sailed to malacca, and late in the afternoon again attacked the spaniards. their fleet consisted of seven great galleons and three galleys lying in a circle before the town. the outermost ship, called the st. nicholas, was boarded by men from three of the dutch galleots with sudden and irresistible fury. there was a brief but most terrible action, the netherlanders seeming endowed with superhuman vigour. so great was the panic that there was hardly an effort at defence, and within less than an hour nearly every spaniard on board the st. nicholas had been put to the sword. the rest of the armada engaged the dutch fleet with spirit, but one of the great galleons was soon set on fire and burned to the water's edge. another, dismasted and crippled, struck her flag, and all that remained would probably have been surrendered or destroyed had not the sudden darkness of a tropical nightfall put an end to the combat at set of sun. next morning another galleon, in a shattered and sinking condition, was taken possession of and found filled with dead and dying. the rest of the spanish ships made their escape into the harbour of malacca. matelieff stood off and on in the straits for a day or two, hesitating for fear of shallows to follow into the roadstead. before he could take a decision, he had the satisfaction of seeing the enemy, panic-struck, save him any further trouble. not waiting for another attack, the spaniards set fire to every one of their ships, and retired into their fortress, while matelieff and his men enjoyed the great conflagration as idle spectators. thus the enterprising dutch admiral had destroyed ten great war-ships of the enemy, and, strange to relate, had scarcely lost one man of his whole squadron. rarely had a more complete triumph been achieved on the water than in this battle in the straits of malacca. matelieff had gained much glory but very little booty. he was also encumbered with a great number of prisoners. these he sent to don alphonso, exchanging them for a very few netherlanders then in spanish hands, at the rate of two hundred spaniards for ten dutchmen--thus showing that he held either the enemy very cheap, or his own countrymen very dear. the captured ships he burned as useless to him, but retained twenty-four pieces of artillery. it was known to matelieff that the spanish viceroy had received instructions to inflict chastisement on all the oriental potentates and their subjects who had presumed of late to trade and to form alliances with the netherlanders. johore, achem, paham, patane, amboyna, and bantam, were the most probable points of attack. johore had now been effectually defended, achem had protected itself. the dutch fleet proceeded at first to bantams for refreshment, and from this point matelieff sent three of his ships back to holland. with the six remaining to him, he sailed for the moluccas, having heard of various changes which had taken place in that important archipelago. pausing at the great emporium of nutmegs and all-spice, amboyna, he took measures for strengthening the fortifications of the place, which was well governed by frederick houtman, and then proceeded to ternate and tidor. during the absence of the netherlanders, after the events on those islands recorded in a previous chapter, the spaniards had swept down upon them from the philippines with a fleet of thirty-seven ships, and had taken captive the sultan of ternate; while the potentate of tidor, who had been left by stephen van der hagen in possession of his territories on condition of fidelity to the dutch, was easily induced to throw aside the mask, and to renew his servitude to spain. thus both the coveted clove-islands had relapsed into the control of the enemy. matelieff found it dangerous, on account of quicksands and shallows, to land on tydore, but he took very energetic measures to recover possession of ternate. on the southern side of the island, the spaniards had built a fort and a town. the dutch admiral disembarked upon the northern side, and, with assistance of the natives, succeeded in throwing up substantial fortifications at a village called malaya. the son of the former sultan, who was a spanish prisoner at the philippines, was now formally inducted into his father's sovereignty, and matelieff established at malaya for his protection a garrison of forty-five hollanders and a navy of four small yachts. such were the slender means with which oriental empires were founded in those days by the stout-hearted adventurers of the little batavian republic. with this miniature army and navy, and by means of his alliance with the distant commonwealth, of whose power this handful of men was a symbol, the king of ternate was thenceforth to hold his own against the rival potentate on the other island, supported by the spanish king. the same convention of commerce and amity was made with the ternatians as the one which stephen van der hagen had formerly concluded with the bandians; and it was agreed that the potentate should be included in any treaty of peace that might be made between the republic and spain. matelieff, with three ships and a cutter, now sailed for china, but lost his time in endeavouring to open trade with the celestial empire. the dilatory mandarins drove him at last out of all patience, and, on turning his prows once more southward, he had nearly brought his long expedition to a disastrous termination. six well-armed, well-equipped portuguese galleons sailed out of macao to assail him. it was not matelieff's instinct to turn his back on a foe, however formidable, but on this occasion discretion conquered instinct. his three ships were out of repair; he had a deficiency of powder; he was in every respect unprepared for a combat; and he reflected upon the unfavourable impression which would be made on the chinese mind should the hollanders, upon their first appearance in the flowery regions, be vanquished by the portuguese. he avoided an encounter, therefore, and, by skilful seamanship, eluded all attempts of the foe at pursuit. returning to ternate, he had the satisfaction to find that during his absence the doughty little garrison of malaya had triumphantly defeated the spaniards in an assault on the fortifications of the little town. on the other hand, the king of johore, panic-struck on the departure of his dutch protectors, had burned his own capital, and had betaken himself with all his court into the jungle. commending the one and rebuking the other potentate, the admiral provided assistance for both, some dutch trading, vessels having meantime arrived in the archipelago. matelieff now set sail for holland, taking with him some ambassadors from the king of siam and five ships well laden with spice. on his return he read a report of his adventures to the states-general, and received the warm commendations of their high mightinesses. before his departure from the tropics, paul van kaarden, with eight war-ships, had reached bantam. on his arrival in holland the fleet of peter ver hoef was busily fitting out for another great expedition to the east. this was the nation which spanish courtiers thought to exclude for ever from commerce with india and america, because the pope a century before had divided half the globe between ferdinand the catholic and emmanuel the fortunate. it may be supposed that the results of matelieff's voyage were likely to influence the pending negotiations for peace. etext editor's bookmarks: a sovereign remedy for the disease of liberty all the ministers and great functionaries received presents because he had been successful (hated) but the habit of dissimulation was inveterate by turns, we all govern and are governed contempt for treaties however solemnly ratified despised those who were grateful idiotic principle of sumptuary legislation indulging them frequently with oracular advice justified themselves in a solemn consumption of time man who cannot dissemble is unfit to reign men fought as if war was the normal condition of humanity men who meant what they said and said what they meant negotiated as if they were all immortal philip of macedon, who considered no city impregnable to negotiate was to bribe right and left, and at every step unwise impatience for peace history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter l. movements of the emperor rudolph--marquis spinola's reception at the hague--meeting of spinola and prince maurice--treaty of the republic with the french government--the spanish commissioners before the states-general--beginning of negotiations--stormy discussions--real object of spain in the negotiations--question of the india trade-- abandonment of the peace project--negotiations for a truce-- prolongation of the armistice--further delays--treaty of the states with england--proposals of the spanish ambassadors to henry of france and to james of england--friar neyen at the court of spain-- spanish procrastination--decision of philip on the conditions of peace--further conference at the hague--answer of the states-general to the proposals of the spanish government--general rupture. towards the close of the year a very feeble demonstration was made in the direction of the dutch republic by the very feeble emperor of germany. rudolph, awaking as it might be from a trance, or descending for a moment from his star-gazing tower and his astrological pursuits to observe the movements of political spheres, suddenly discovered that the netherlands were no longer revolving in their preordained orbit. those provinces had been supposed to form part of one great system, deriving light and heat from the central imperial sun. it was time therefore to put an end to these perturbations. the emperor accordingly, as if he had not enough on his hands at that precise moment with the hungarians, transylvanians, bohemian protestants, his brother matthias and the grand turk, addressed a letter to the states of holland, zeeland, and the provinces confederated with them. reminding them of the care ever taken by himself and his father to hear all their petitions, and to obtain for them a good peace, he observed that he had just heard of their contemplated negotiations with king philip and archduke albert, and of their desire to be declared free states and peoples. he was amazed, he said, that they should not have given him notice of so important an affair, inasmuch as all the united provinces belonged to and were fiefs of the holy roman empire. they were warned, therefore, to undertake nothing that might be opposed to the feudal law except with his full knowledge. this letter was dated the th of october. the states took time to deliberate, and returned no answer until after the new year. on the nd of january, , they informed the emperor that they could never have guessed of his requiring notification as to the approaching conferences. they had not imagined that the archduke would keep them a secret from his brother, or the king from his uncle-cousin. otherwise, the states would have sent due notice to his majesty. they well remembered, they said, the appeals made by the provinces to the emperor from time to time, at the imperial diets, for help against the tyranny of the spaniards. they well remembered, too, that no help was ever given them in response to those appeals. they had not forgotten either the famous cologne negotiations for peace in presence of the imperial envoys, in consequence of which the enemy had carried on war against them with greater ferocity than before. at that epoch they had made use of an extreme remedy for an intolerable evil, and had solemnly renounced allegiance to the king. since that epoch a whole generation of mankind had passed away, and many kings and potentates had recognised their freedom, obtained for just cause and maintained by the armed hand. after a long and bloody war, albert and philip had at last been brought to acknowledge the provinces as free countries over which they pretended to no right, as might be seen by the letters of both, copies of which were forwarded to the emperor. full confidence was now expressed, therefore, that the emperor and all germany would look with favour on such a god-fearing transaction, by which an end would be put to so terrible a war. thus the states-general; replying with gentle scorn to the antiquated claim of sovereignty on the part of imperial majesty. duly authenticated by citations of investitures, indulgences, and concordates, engrossed on yellowest parchment, sealed with reddest sealing-wax, and reposing in a thousand pigeon-holes in mustiest archives, no claim could be more solemn or stately. unfortunately, however, rebel pikes and matchlocks, during the past forty years, had made too many rents in those sacred parchments to leave much hope of their ever being pieced handsomely together again. as to the historical theory of imperial enfeoffment, the states thought it more delicate to glide smoothly and silently over the whole matter. it would have been base to acknowledge and impolite to refute the claim. it is as well to imitate this reserve. it is enough simply to remind the reader that although so late as the time of charles v., the provinces had been declared constituent parts of the empire, liable to its burthens, and entitled to its protection; the netherlanders being practical people, and deeming burthens and protection correlative, had declined the burthen because always deprived of the protection. and now, after a year spent in clearing away the mountains of dust which impeded the pathway to peace, and which one honest vigorous human breath might at once have blown into space, the envoys of the archduke set forth towards the hague. marquis spinola, don juan de mancicidor, private secretary to the king of spain, president richardot, auditor verreyken, and brother john neyen--a genoese, a spaniard, a burgundian, a fleming, and a franciscan friar--travelling in great state, with a long train of carriages, horses, lackeys, cooks, and secretaries, by way of breda, bergen-op-zoom, dort, rotterdam, and delft, and being received in each town and village through which they passed with great demonstrations of respect and cordial welcome, arrived at last within a mile of the hague. it was the dead of winter, and of the severest winter that had occurred for many years. every river, estuary, canal was frozen hard. all holland was one broad level sheet of ice, over which the journey had been made in sledges. on the last day of january prince maurice, accompanied by lewes william, and by eight state coaches filled with distinguished personages, left the hague and halted at the hoorn bridge, about midway between ryswyk and the capital. the prince had replied to the first request of the states that he should go forward to meet spinola, by saying that he would do so willingly if it were to give him battle; otherwise not. olden-barneveld urged upon him however that, as servant of the republic, he was bound to do what the states commanded, as a matter involving the dignity of the nation. in consequence of this remonstrance maurice consented to go, but he went unwillingly. the advancing procession of the spanish ambassadors was already in sight. far and wide in whatever direction the eye could sweep, the white surface of the landscape was blackened with human beings. it seemed as if the whole population of the netherlands had assembled, in mass meeting, to witness the pacific interview between those two great chieftains who had never before stood face to face except upon the battle-field. in carriages, in donkey carts, upon horseback, in sledges, on skates, upon foot-men, women, and children, gentle and simple, protestants, catholics, gomarites, armenians, anabaptists, country squires in buff and bandaleer, city magistrates and merchants in furs and velvet, artisans, boatmen, and peasants, with their wives and daughters in well-starched ruff and tremendous head-gear--they came thronging in countless multitudes, those honest hollanders, cheering and throwing up their caps in honour of the chieftain whose military genius had caused so much disaster to their country. this uproarious demonstration of welcome on the part of the multitude moved the spleen of many who were old enough to remember the horrors of spanish warfare within their borders. "thus unreflecting, gaping, boorish, are nearly all the common people of these provinces," said a contemporary, describing the scene, and forgetting that both high and low, according to his own account, made up the mass of spectators on that winter's day. moreover it seems difficult to understand why the hollanders should not have indulged a legitimate curiosity, and made a holiday on this memorable occasion. spinola was not entering their capital in triumph, a spanish army was not marching--as it might have done had the course of events been different--over the protective rivers and marshes of the fatherland, now changed by the exceptional cold into solid highways for invasion. on the contrary, the arrival of the great enemy within their gates, with the olive-branch instead of the sword in his hand, was a victory not for spain but for the republic. it was known throughout the land that he was commissioned by the king and the archdukes to treat for peace with the states-general of the united provinces as with the representatives of a free and independent nation, utterly beyond any foreign control. was not this opening of a cheerful and pacific prospect, after a half century's fight for liberty, a fair cause for rejoicing? the spanish commissioners arrived at the hoorn bridge, spinola alighted from his coach, prince maurice stepped forward into the road to greet him. then the two eminent soldiers, whose names had of late been so familiar in the mouths of men, shook hands and embraced with heroic cordiality, while a mighty shout went up from the multitude around. it was a stately and dramatic spectacle, that peaceful meeting of the rival leaders in a war which had begun before either of them was born. the bystanders observed, or thought that they observed, signs of great emotion on the faces of both. it has also been recorded that each addressed the other in epigrammatic sentences of compliment. "god is my witness," maurice was supposed to have said, "that the arrival of these honourable negotiators is most grateful to me. time, whose daughter is truth, will show the faith to be given to my words." "this fortunate day," replied spinola, "has filled full the measure of my hopes and wishes, and taken from me the faculty of ever wishing for anything again. i trust in divine clemency that an opportunity may be given to show my gratitude, and to make a fit return for the humanity thus shown me by the most excellent prince that the sun shines upon." with this both got into the stadholder's carriage, spinola being placed on maurice's right hand. their conversation during their brief drive to the capital, followed by their long retinue, and by the enthusiastic and vociferating crowd, has not been chronicled. it is also highly probable that the second-rate theatrical dialogue which the jesuit historian, writing from spinola's private papers, has preserved for posterity, was rather what seemed to his imagination appropriate for the occasion than a faithful shorthand report of anything really uttered. a few commonplace phrases of welcome, with a remark or two perhaps on the unexampled severity of the frost, seem more likely to have formed the substance of that brief conversation. a couple of trumpeters of spinola went braying through the streets of the village capital, heralding their master's approach with superfluous noise, and exciting the disgust of the quieter portion of the burghers. at last however the envoys and their train were all comfortably housed. the marquis, president richardot, and secretary mancicidor, were established at a new mansion on the vyverberg, belonging to goswyn menskens. the rest of the legation were lodged at the house of wassenaer. it soon became plain that the ways of life and the style housekeeping habitual to great officers of the spanish crown were very different from the thrifty manners and customs of dutch republicans. it was so long since anything like royal pomp and circumstance had been seen in their borders that the exhibition, now made, excited astonishment. it was a land where every child went to school, where almost every individual inhabitant could read and write, where even the middle classes were proficients in mathematics and the classics, and could speak two or more modern languages; where the whole nation, with but few exceptions, were producers of material or intellectual wealth, and where comparatively little of unproductive consumption prevailed. those self-governing and self-sustaining municipalities had almost forgotten the existence of the magnificent nothings so dear to the hearts of kings. spinola's house was open day and night. the gorgeous plate, gigantic candelabra, mighty ewers, shields and layers of silver and gold, which decorated his tables and sideboards, amazed the gaping crowd. he dined and supped in state every day, and the public were admitted to gaze upon his banquets as if he had been a monarch. it seemed, said those homely republicans, as if "a silver christening were going on every day in his house." there were even grave remonstrances made to the magistracy and to, the states-general against the effect of such ostentatious and immoral proceedings upon the popular mind, and suggestions that at least the doors should be shut, so that the scandal might be confined to spinola's own household. but the republican authorities deciding, not without wisdom, that the spectacle ought to serve rather as a wholesome warning than as a contaminating example, declined any inquisitorial interference with the housekeeping of the spanish ambassadors. before the negotiations began, a treaty had been made between the republic and the french government, by which it was stipulated that every effort should be made by both contracting parties to bring about an honourable and assured peace between the united provinces, spain, and the archdukes. in case of the continuance of the war, however, it was agreed that france should assist the states with ten thousand men, while in case at any time, during the continuance of the league, france should be attacked by a foreign enemy, she should receive from her ally five thousand auxiliary troops, or their equivalent in maritime assistance. this convention was thought by other powers to be so profitable to the netherlands as to excite general uneasiness and suspicion. the states would have gladly signed a similar agreement with england, but nothing was to be done with that government until an old-standing dispute in regard to the cloth trade had been arranged. middelburg had the exclusive right of deposit for the cloths imported from england. this monopoly for zealand being naturally not very palatable to amsterdam and other cities of holland, the states-general had at last authorized the merchant-adventurers engaged in this traffic to deposit their goods in any city of the united provinces. the course of trade had been to import the raw cloth from england, to dress and dye it in the netherlands, and then to re-export it to england. latterly, however, some dyers and clothiers emigrating from the provinces to that country, had obtained a monopoly from james for practising their art in his dominions. in consequence of this arrangement the exportation of undyed cloths had been forbidden. this prohibition had caused irritation both in the kingdom and the republic, had necessarily deranged the natural course of trade and manufacture, and had now prevented for the time any conclusion of an alliance offensive and defensive between the countries, even if political sentiment had made such a league possible. the states-general had recourse to the usual expedient by which bad legislation on one side was countervailed by equally bad legislation on the other. the exportation of undyed english cloths being forbidden by england, the importation of dyed english cloths was now prohibited by the netherlands. the international cloth trade stopped. this embargo became at last so detestable to all parties that concession was made by the crown for a limited export of raw cloths. the concession was soon widened by custom into a general exportation, the royal government looking through its fingers at the open infraction of its own laws, while the natural laws of trade before long re-established the old equilibrium. meantime the ill-feeling produced by this dissension delayed any cordial political arrangement between the countries. on the th of february the spanish commissioners came for the first time before the states-general, assembled to the number of a hundred and thirty, in their palace at the hague. the first meeting was merely one of mutual compliment, president richardot, on behalf of his colleagues, expressing gratitude for the cordial welcome which had been manifested to the envoys on their journey through so many towns of the united provinces. they had been received, he said, not as enemies with whom an almost perpetual war had been waged, but as friends, confederates, and allies. a warmer reception they could never have hoped for nor desired. two special commissioners were now appointed by the states-general to negotiate with the envoys. these were count lewis william and brederode. with these delegates at large were associated seven others, one from each province. barneveld of course represented holland; maldere, zeeland; berk, utrecht; hillama, friesland; bloat, overyssel; koender van helpen, groningen; cornelius vail gend, gelderland. the negotiations began at once. the archdukes had empowered the five envoys to deal in their name and in that of the king of spain. philip had authorized the archdukes to take this course by an instrument dated th january. in this paper he called the archdukes hereditary sovereigns of the netherlands. it was agreed that the various points of negotiation should be taken up in regular order; but the first question of all that presented itself was whether the conferences should be for a truce or, a peace. the secret object of spain was for a truce of years. thus she thought to save her dignity, to reserve her rights of re-conquest, to replenish her treasury, and to repair her military strength. barneveld and his party, comprising a large majority of the states-general, were for peace. prince maurice, having done his utmost to oppose negotiations for peace, was, for still stronger reasons, determined to avoid falling into what he considered the ambush of a truce. the french ambassadors were also for peace. the spanish envoys accordingly concealed their real designs, and all parties began discussions for the purpose of establishing a permanent peace. this preliminary being settled, barneveld asked the spaniards if they had full powers to treat with the states as with a free nation, and if they recognised them as such. "the most ample power," was the reply; "and we are content to treat with you even if you should choose to call yourself a kingdom." "by what right then are the archdukes called by the king hereditary sovereigns of the netherlands, and why do they append the seals of the seven united provinces to this document?" asked the advocate, taking up from the table the full power of albert and isabella and putting his finger on the seals." "by the same right," replied president richardot, "that the king of france calls himself king of navarre, that the king of great britain calls himself king of france, that the king of spain calls himself king of jerusalem." nothing could be more logical, nothing more historically accurate. but those plain-spoken republicans saw no advantage in beginning a negotiation for peace on the basis of their independence by permitting the archduke to call himself their sovereign, and to seal solemn state papers with their signet. it might seem picturesque to genealogical minds, it might be soothing to royal vanity, that paste counterfeits should be substituted for vanished jewels. it would be cruelty to destroy the mock glitter without cause. but there was cause. on this occasion the sham was dangerous. james stuart might call himself king of france. he was not more likely to take practical possession of that kingdom than of the mountains in the moon. henry of bourbon was not at present contemplating an invasion of the hereditary possessions of the house of albret. it was a matter of indifference to the netherlands whether philip iii. were crowned in jerusalem that very day, or the week afterwards, or never. it was very important however that the united provinces should have it thoroughly recognised that they were a free and independent republic, nor could that recognition be complete so long as any human being in the whole world called himself their master, and signed with their seals of state. "'tis absurd," said the hollanders, "to use the names and arms of our provinces. we have as yet no precedent to prove that you consider the united provinces as lost, and name and arms to be but wind." barneveld reminded them that they had all expressed the most straightforward intention, and that the father commissary especially had pledged his very soul for the sincerity of the king and the archdukes. "we ourselves never wished and never could deceive any one," continued the advocate, "and it is also very difficult for others to deceive us." this being the universal sentiment of the netherlanders, it was thought proper to express it in respectful but vigorous language. this was done and the session was terminated. the spanish envoys, knowing very well that neither the king nor the archduke regarded the retention of the titles and seals of all the seventeen netherlands as an empty show, but that a secret and solid claim lurked beneath that usurpation, were very indignant. they however dissembled their wrath from the states' commissioners. they were unwilling that the negotiations should be broken up at the very first session, and they felt that neither prince maurice nor barneveld was to be trifled with upon this point. but they were loud and magnificent in their demonstrations when they came to talk the matter over with the ambassadors of france and england. it was most portentous, they thought, to the cause of monarchy and good government all over the world, that these republicans, not content to deal with kings and princes on a footing of equality, should presume to dictate to them as to inferiors. having passed through rebellion to liberty, they were now proceeding to trample upon the most hallowed customs and rites. what would become of royalty, if in the same breath it should not only renounce the substance, but even put away the symbols of authority. this insolence of the people was not more dangerous to the king and the archdukes than it was to every potentate in the universe. it was a sacred duty to resist such insults. sage jeannin did his best to pacify the vehemence of the commissioners. he represented to them that foreign titles borne by anointed kings were only ensigns of historical possessions which they had for ever renounced; but that it might become one day the pleasure of spain, or lie in the power of spain, to vindicate her ancient rights to the provinces. hence the anxiety of the states was but natural. the old leaguer and political campaigner knew very well, moreover, that at least one half of richardot's noble wrath was feigned. the commissioners would probably renounce the title and the seven seals, but in so doing would drive a hard bargain. for an empty phrase and a pennyworth of wax they would extort a heavy price. and this was what occurred. the commissioners agreed to write for fresh instructions to brussels. a reply came in due time from the archdukes, in which they signified their willingness to abandon the title of sovereigns over all the netherlands, and to abstain from using their signet. in exchange for this concession they merely demanded from the states-general a formal abandonment of the navigation to both the indies. this was all. the archdukes granted liberty to the republic. the republic would renounce its commerce with more than half the world. the scorn of the states' commissioners at this proposition can be imagined, and it became difficult indeed for them to speak on the subject in decorous language. because the archdukes were willing to give up something which was not their property, the republic was voluntarily to open its veins and drain its very life-blood at the bidding of a foreign potentate. she was to fling away all the trophies of heemskerk and sebalt de weerd, of balthasar de cordes, van der hagen, matelieff, and verhoeff; she was to abdicate the position which she had already acquired of mistress of the seas, and she was to deprive herself for ever of that daily increasing ocean commerce which was rapidly converting a cluster of puny, half-submerged provinces into a mighty empire. of a certainty the spanish court at this new epoch was an astounding anachronism. in its view pope alexander vi. still lived and reigned. liberty was not a boon conferred upon the netherlanders by their defeated enemy. it had been gained by their own right hands; by the blood, and the gold, and the sweat of two generations. if it were the king's to give, let him try once more if he could take it away. such were the opinions and emotions of the dutchmen, expressed in as courteous language as they could find. "it would be a political heresy," said barneveld to the spanish commissioners at this session, "if my lords the states should by contract banish their citizens out of two-thirds of the world, both land and sea." "'tis strange," replied the spaniards, "that you wish to have more than other powers--kings or republics--who never make any such pretensions. the indies, east and west, are our house, privately possessed by us for more than a hundred years, and no one has a right to come into it without our permission. this is not banishment, but a custom to which all other nations submit. we give you your sovereignty before all the world, quitting all claims upon it. we know very well that you deny receiving it from us; but to give you a quit claim, and to permit free trade besides, would be a little more than you have a right to expect." was it not well for the cause of liberty, commercial intercourse, and advancement of the human intellect, that there was this obstinate little republic in the world, refusing to tolerate that to which all other great powers of the earth submitted; that there was one nation determined not to acknowledge three-quarters of the world, including america and india, as the private mansion of the king of spain, to be locked against the rest of the human race? the next session of the negotiators after the arrival of this communication from the archdukes was a stormy one. the india trade was the sole subject of discussion. as the states were firmly resolved never to relinquish that navigation which in truth was one of their most practical and valuable possessions, and as the royal commissioners were as solemnly determined that it should never be conceded, it may be imagined how much breath, how much foolscap paper, was wasted. in truth, the negotiation for peace had been a vile mockery from the beginning. spain had no real intention of abdicating her claim to the united provinces. at the very moment when the commissioners were categorically making that concession in brussels, and claiming such a price for it, hoboken, the archduke's diplomatic representative in london, was earnestly assuring king james that neither his master nor philip had the remotest notion of renouncing their sovereignty over all the netherlands. what had been said and written to that effect was merely a device, he asserted, to bring about a temporary truce. during the interval of imaginary freedom it was certain that the provinces would fall into such dire confusion that it would be easier for spain to effect their re-conquest, after a brief delay for repairing her own strength, than it would be by continuing the present war without any cessation. the spanish ambassador at vienna too on his part assured the emperor rudolph that his master was resolved never to abdicate the sovereignty of the provinces. the negotiations then going on, he said, were simply intended to extort from the states a renunciation of the india trade and their consent to the re-introduction of the catholic religion throughout their territories. something of all this was known and much more suspected at the hague; the conviction therefore that no faith would be kept with rebels and heretics, whatever might be said or written, gained strength every day. that these delusive negotiations with the hollanders were not likely to be so successful as the comedy enacted twenty years before at bourbourg, for the amusement of queen elizabeth and her diplomatists while the tragedy of the armada was preparing, might be safely prophesied. richardot was as effective as ever in the part which he had so often played, but spinola laboured under the disadvantage of being a far honester man than alexander farnese. far from equal to that famous chieftain in the management of a great military campaign, it is certain that he was infinitely inferior to him in genteel comedy. whether maurice and lewis william, barneveld and brederode, were to do better in the parts formerly assigned to john rogers, valentine dale, comptroller croft, and their colleagues, remained to be seen. on the th of february, at the fifth conference of the commissioners, the first pitched battle on the india trade was fought. thereafter the combat was almost every day renewed. exactly, as a year before, the news of heemskerk's victory at gibraltar had made the king and the archdukes eager to obtain an armistice with the rebels both by land and sea, so now the report of matelieff's recent achievements in the indian ocean was increasing their anxiety to exclude the netherlanders from the regions which they were rapidly making their own. as we look back upon the negotiations, after the lapse of two centuries and a half, it becomes difficult to suppress our amazement at those scenes of solemn trickery and superhuman pride. it is not necessary to follow, step by step, the proceedings at each daily conference, but it is impossible for me not to detain the reader for yet a season longer with those transactions, and especially to invite him to ponder the valuable lesson which in their entirety they convey. no higher themes could possibly be laid before statesmen to discuss. questions of political self-government, religious liberty, national independence, divine right, rebellious power, freedom of commerce, supremacy of the seas, omnipotence claimed by the old world over the destiny of what was called the new, were importunately demanding solution. all that most influenced human passion, or stirred human reason to its depths--at that memorable point of time when two great epochs seemed to be sweeping against each other in elemental conflict--was to be dealt with. the emancipated currents of human thought, the steady tide of ancient dogma, were mingling in wrath. there are times of paroxysm in which nature seems to effect more in a moment, whether intellectually or materially, than at other periods during a lapse of years. the shock of forces, long preparing and long delayed, is apt at last to make itself sensible to those neglectful of gradual but vital changes. yet there are always ears that are deaf to the most portentous din. thus, after that half century of war, the policy of spain was still serenely planting itself on the position occupied before the outbreak of the revolt. the commonwealth, solidly established by a free people, already one of the most energetic and thriving among governments, a recognised member of the great international family, was now gravely expected to purchase from its ancient tyrant the independence which it had long possessed, while the price demanded for the free papers was not only extravagant, but would be disgraceful to an emancipated slave. holland was not likely at that turning point in her history, and in the world's history, to be false to herself and to the great principles of public law. it was good for the cause of humanity that the republic should reappear at that epoch. it was wholesome for europe that there should be just then a plain self-governing people, able to speak homely and important truths. it was healthy for the moral and political atmosphere--in those days and in the time to come--that a fresh breeze from that little sea-born commonwealth should sweep away some of the ancient fog through which a few very feeble and very crooked mortals had so long loomed forth like giants and gods. to vindicate the laws of nations and of nature; to make a noble effort for reducing to a system--conforming, at least approximately, to divine reason--the chaotic elements of war and peace; to recal the great facts that earth, sea, and sky ought to belong to mankind, and not to an accidental and very limited selection of the species was not an unworthy task for a people which had made such unexampled sacrifice for liberty and right. accordingly, at the conference on the th february, the spanish commissioners categorically summoned the states to desist entirely from the trade to either india, exactly as before the war. to enforce this prohibition, they said, was the principal reason why philip desired peace. to obtain their freedom was surely well worth renunciation of this traffic; the more so, because their trade with spain, which was so much shorter and safer, was now to be re-opened. if they had been able to keep that commerce, it was suggested, they would have never talked about the indies. the commissioners added, that this boon had not been conceded to france nor england, by the treaties of vervins and london, and that the states therefore could not find it strange that it should be refused to them. the states' commissioners stoutly replied that commerce was open to all the world, that trade was free by the great law of nature, and that neither france, england, nor the united provinces, were to receive edicts on this great subject from spain and portugal. it was absurd to circumscribe commercial intercourse at the very moment of exchanging war for peace. to recognise the liberty of the states upon paper, and to attempt the imposition of servitude in reality, was a manifest contradiction. the ocean was free to all nations. it had not been enclosed by spain with a rail-fence. the debate grew more stormy every hour. spinola expressed great indignation that the netherlanders should be so obstinate upon this point. the tall, spare president arose in wrath from his seat at the council-board, loudly protesting that the king of spain would never renounce his sovereignty over the provinces until they had forsworn the india trade; and with this menace stalked out of the room. the states' commissioners were not frightened. barneveld was at least a match for richardot, and it was better, after all, that the cards should be played upon the table. subsequent meetings were quite as violent as the first, the country was agitated far and wide, the prospects of pacification dwindled to a speck in the remote horizon. arguments at the board of conference, debates in the states-general, pamphlets by merchants and advocates--especially several emanating from the east india company--handled the great topic from every point of view, and it became more and more evident that spain could not be more resolute to prohibit than the republic to claim the trade. it was an absolute necessity, so it was urged, for the hollanders to resist the tyrannical dominion of the spaniards. but this would be impossible for them, should they rely on the slender natural resources of their own land. not a sixth part of the population could be nourished from the soil. the ocean was their inheritance, their birthright, their empire. it was necessary that spain should understand this first, last, and always. she ought to comprehend, too, that her recognition of dutch independence was not a gift, but the acknowledgment of a fact. without that acknowledgment peace was impossible. if peace were to be established, it was not to be bought by either party. each gave and each received, and certainly spain was in no condition to dictate the terms of a sale. peace, without freedom of commerce, would be merely war without killing, and therefore without result. the netherlanders, who in the middle of the previous century had risen against unjust taxation and arbitrary laws, had not grown so vile as to accept from a vanquished foe what they had spurned from their prince. to be exiled from the ocean was an unimaginable position for the republic. moreover, to retire from the indies would be to abandon her oriental allies, and would be a dishonour as well us a disaster. her good faith, never yet contaminated, would be stained, were she now to desert the distant peoples and potentates with whom she had formed treaties of friendship and commerce, and hand them over to the vengeance of the spaniards and portuguese. and what a trade it was which the united provinces were thus called upon to renounce! the foreign commerce of no other nation could be compared in magnitude to that of their commonwealth. twenty ships traded regularly to guinea, eighty to the cape de verd islands, twenty to america, and forty to the east indies. ten thousand sailors, who gained their living in this traffic, would be thrown out of employment, if the states should now listen to the spanish propositions. it was well known too that the profits of the east india company had vastly increased of late, and were augmenting with every year. the trade with cambay, malabar, ceylon, koromandel, and queda, had scarcely begun, yet was already most promising. should the hollanders only obtain a footing in china, they felt confident of making their way through the south seas and across the pole to india. thus the search for a great commercial highway between cathay, europe, and the new world, which had been baffled in the arctic regions, should be crowned with success at the antarctic, while it was deemed certain that there were many lands, lighted by the southern cross, awaiting the footsteps of the fortunate european discoverer. what was a coasting-trade with spain compared with this boundless career of adventure? now that the world's commerce, since the discovery of america and the passage around the cape of good hope, had become oceanic and universal, was the nation which took the lead on blue water to go back to the creeping land-locked navigation of the ancient greeks and phoenicians? if the east india company, in whose womb was empire, were now destroyed, it would perish with its offspring for ever. there would be no regeneration at a future day. the company's ships too were a navy in themselves, as apt for war as for trade. this the spaniards and portuguese had already learned to their cost. the merchant-traders to spain would be always in the power of spain, and at any favourable moment might be seized by spain. the spanish monopoly in the east and west was the great source of spanish power, the chief cause of the contempt with, which the spanish monarchy looked down upon other nations. let those widely expanded wings be clipped, and spain would fall from her dizzy height. to know what the states ought to refuse the enemy, it was only necessary to observe what he strenuously demanded, to ponder the avowed reason why he desired peace. the enemy was doing his best to damage the commonwealth; the states were merely anxious to prevent injury to themselves and to all the world; to vindicate for themselves, and for all men, the common use of ocean, land, and sky. a nation which strove to shut up the seas, and to acquire a monopoly of the world's trade, was a pirate, an enemy of mankind. she was as deserving of censure as those who created universal misery in time of famine, by buying up all the corn in order to enrich themselves. according to the principles of the ancients, it was legitimate to make war upon such states as closed their own ports to foreign intercourse. still more just was it, therefore, to carry arms against a nation which closed the ports of other people. the dispute about the india navigation could be settled in a moment, if spain would but keep her word. she had acknowledged the great fact of independence, which could not be gainsaid. let each party to the negotiation, therefore keep that which it already possessed. let neither attempt to prescribe to the other--both being free and independent states--any regulations about interior or foreign trade. thus reasoned the states-general, the east india directors, the great majority of the population of the provinces, upon one great topic of discussion. a small minority only attempted to defend the policy of renouncing the india trade as a branch of industry, in which a certain class, and that only in the maritime provinces, was interested. it is certainly no slight indication of the liberty of thought, of speech, and of the press, enjoyed at that epoch in the netherlands and nowhere else to anything like the same extent--that such opinions, on a subject deemed vital to the very existence of the republic, were freely published and listened to with toleration, if not with respect. even the enlightened mind of grotius was troubled with terrors as to the effect on the public mind at this crisis of anonymous pamphlets concerning political affairs. but in this regard it must be admitted that grotius was not in advance of his age, although fully conceding that press-laws were inconsistent with human liberty. maurice and barneveld were equally strenuous in maintaining the india trade; the prince, because he hoped that resistance to spain upon this point would cause the negotiations to be broken off, the advocate in the belief that firmness on the part of the states would induce the royal commissioners to yield. the states-general were not likely to be deficient in firmness. they felt that the republic was exactly on the point of wresting the control of the east from the hands of the portuguese, and they were not inclined to throw away the harvest of their previous labours just as it was ripening. ten thousand persons at least, besides the sailors employed, were directly interested in the traffic, most of whom possessed great influence in the commonwealth, and would cause great domestic dissension should they now be sacrificed to spain. to keep the india trade was the best guarantee for the future possession of the traffic to spain; for the spanish government would never venture an embargo upon the direct intercourse between the provinces and its own dominions, for fear of vengeance in the east. on the other hand, by denouncing oceanic commerce, they would soon find themselves without a navy at all, and their peaceful coasting ships would be at the mercy of spain or of any power possessing that maritime energy which would have been killed in the republic. by abandoning the ocean, the young commonwealth would sink into sloth, and become the just object of contempt to the world. it would cease to be an independent power, and deserve to fall a prey to any enterprising neighbour. even villeroy admitted the common belief to be, that if the india trade were abandoned "the states would melt away like snow in the sun." he would not, on that account, however, counsel to the states obstinacy upon the subject, if spain refused peace or truce except on condition of their exclusion from the traffic. jeannin, villeroy, and their master; isaac le maire and peter plancius, could have told the reason why if they had chosen. early in march a triple proposition was made by the states' commissioners. spain might take her choice to make peace on the basis of free trade; to make peace, leaving everything beyond the tropic of cancer to the chance of war; or to make peace in regard to all other than the tropical regions, concluding for those only a truce during a definite number of years. the spaniards rejected decidedly two of these suggestions. of course they would not concede freedom of the sea. they considered the mixture of peace and war a monstrous conception. they were, however, willing to favour peace for europe and truce in the tropics, provided the states bound themselves; on the expiration of the limited period, to abandon the indian and american trade for ever. and to this proposition the states of course were deaf. and thus they went on spinning around, day after day, in the same vicious circle, without more hope of progress than squirrels in a cage. barneveld, always overbearing with friend or foe, and often violent, was not disposed to make preposterous concessions, notwithstanding his eager desire for peace. "the might of the states-general," said he, "is so great, thank god, that they need not yield so much to the king of spain as seems to be expected, nor cover themselves with dishonour." "and do you think yourselves more mighty than the kings of england and france?" cried richardot in a great rage, "for they never dared to make any attempt upon the indies, east or west." "we are willing to leave the king in his own quarters," was the reply, "and we expect him to leave us in ours." "you had better take a sheet of paper at once," said richardot, "write down exactly what you wish, and order us to agree to it all without discussion." "we demand nothing that is unreasonable in these negotiations," was the firm rejoinder, "and expect that nothing unjust will be required of us." it was now suggested by the states' commissioners that a peace; with free navigation, might be concluded for europe, and a truce for other parts of the world, without any stipulations as to what should take place on its termination. this was hardly anything new, but it served as a theme for more intellectual buffeting. hard words were freely exchanged during several hours; and all parties lost their temper. at last the spaniards left the conference-chamber in a rage. just as they were going, barneveld asked them whether he should make a protocol of the session for the states-general, and whether it was desirable in future to resume the discussion. "let every one do exactly as he likes," replied spinola, wrathfully, as he moved to the door. friar john, always plausible, whispered a few soothing words in the ear of the marquis, adding aloud, so that the commissioners might hear, "night brings counsel." these words he spoke in latin. "he who wishes to get everything is apt to lose everything," cried, out maldere, the zeeland deputy, in spanish, to the departing commissioners. "take that to yourselves," rejoined richardot, very fiercely; "you may be sure that it will be your case."' so ended that interview. directly afterwards there was a conference between the states' commissioners and the french envoys. jeannin employed all his powers of argument: and persuasion to influence the netherlanders against a rupture of the negotiations because of the india trade. it would be better to abandon that commerce, so he urged, than to give up the hope of peace. the commissioners failed to see the logic or to melt at the eloquence of his discourse. they would have been still less inclined, if that were possible, to move from their position, had they known of the secret conferences which jeannin had just been holding with isaac le maire of amsterdam, and other merchants practically familiar with the india trade. carrying out the french king's plan to rob the republic of that lucrative traffic, and to transplant it, by means of experienced hollanders, into france, the president, while openly siding with the states, as their most disinterested friend, was secretly doing all in his power to destroy the very foundation of their commonwealth. isaac le maire came over from amsterdam in a mysterious manner, almost in disguise. had his nocturnal dealings with the french minister been known, he would have been rudely dealt with by the east india company. he was a native of tournay, not a sincere republican therefore, was very strongly affected to france, and declared that all his former fellow-townsmen, and many more, had the fleur-de-lys stamped on their hearts. if peace should be made without stipulation in favour of the east india company, he, with his three brothers, would do what they could to transfer that corporation to france. all the details of such a prospective arrangement were thoroughly discussed, and it was intimated that the king would be expected to take shares in the enterprise. jeannin had also repeated conferences on the same subject with the great cosmographer plancius. it may be well understood, therefore, that the minister of henry iv. was not very ardent to encourage the states in their resolve to oppose peace or truce, except with concession of the india trade. the states preferred that the negotiations should come to nought on the religious ground rather than on account of the india trade. the provinces were nearly unanimous as to the prohibition of the catholic worship, not from bigotry for their own or hatred of other creeds, but from larger views of what was then called tolerance, and from practical regard for the necessities of the state. to permit the old worship, not from a sense of justice but as an article of bargain with a foreign power, was not only to abase the government of the states but to convert every sincere catholic throughout the republic into a grateful adherent of philip and the archdukes. it was deliberately to place a lever, to be used in all future time, for the overthrow of their political structure. in this the whole population was interested, while the india navigation, although vital to the well-being of the nation, was not yet universally recognised as so supremely important, and was declared by a narrow-minded minority to concern the provinces of holland and zeeland alone. all were silently agreed, therefore, to defer the religious question to the last. especially, commercial greed induced the states to keep a firm clutch on the great river on which the once splendid city of antwerp stood. ever since that commercial metropolis had succumbed to farnese, the republic had maintained the lower forts, by means of which, and of flushing at the river's mouth, antwerp was kept in a state of suspended animation. to open the navigation of the scheld, to permit free approach to antwerp, would, according to the narrow notions of the amsterdam merchants, be destructive to their own flourishing trade. in vain did richardot, in one well-fought conference, do his best to obtain concessions on this important point. the states' commissioners were as deaf as the spaniards had been on the india question. richardot, no longer loud and furious, began to cry. with tears running down his cheeks, he besought the netherlanders not to insist so strenuously upon all their points, and to remember that concessions were mutually necessary, if an amicable arrangement were to be framed. the chances for peace were promising. "let not a blight be thrown over all our hopes," he exclaimed, "by too great pertinacity on either side. above all, let not the states dictate terms as to a captive or conquered king, but propose such conditions as a benevolent but powerful sovereign could accept." these adjurations might be considered admirable, if it had been possible for the royal commissioners to point to a single mustard-seed of concession ever vouchsafed by them to the republic. meantime the month of march had passed. nothing had been accomplished, but it was agreed to prolong the armistice through april and may. the negotiations having feebly dribbled off into almost absolute extinction, friar john was once more set in motion, and despatched to madrid. he was sent to get fresh instructions from philip, and he promised, on departing, to return in forty days. he hoped as his reward, he said, to be made bishop of utrecht. "that will be a little above your calibre," replied barneveld. forty days was easily said, and the states consented to the additional delay. during his absence there was much tedious discussion of minor matters, such as staple rights of wine and cloths, regulations of boundaries, removal of restrictions on trade and navigation, passports, sequestered estates, and the like; all of which were subordinate to the all-important subjects of india and religion, those two most tender topics growing so much more tender the more they were handled as to cause at last a shiver whenever they were approached. nevertheless both were to be dealt with, or the negotiations would fall to the ground. the states felt convinced that they would fall to the ground, that they had fallen to the ground, and they at least would not stoop to pick them up again. the forty days passed away, but the friar never returned. april and may came and went, and again the armistice expired by its own limitation. the war party was disgusted with the solemn trifling, maurice was exasperated beyond endurance, barneveld and the peace men began to find immense difficulty in confronting the gathering storm. the prince, with difficulty, consented to a prolongation of the armistice for two months longer; resolute to resume hostilities should no accord be made before the end of july. the advocate, with much earnestness, and with more violence than was habitual with him, insisted on protracting the temporary truce until the end of the year. the debates in the states-general and the state-council were vehement; passion rose to fever-heat, but the stadholder, although often half beside himself with rage, ended by submitting once more to the will of barneveld. this was the easier, as the advocate at last proposed an agreement which seemed to maurice and lewis william even better than their own original suggestion. it was arranged that the armistice should be prolonged until the end of the year, but it was at the same time stipulated that unless the negotiations had reached a definite result before the st of august, they should be forthwith broken off. thus a period of enforced calm--a kind of vacation, as if these great soldiers and grey-beards had been a troop of idle school-boys--was now established, without the slightest reason. president jeannin took occasion to make a journey to paris, leaving the hague on the th june. during his absence a treaty of the states with england, similar in its terms to the one recently concluded between the republic and france, but only providing for half the number of auxiliary troops arranged for in the french convention, was signed at the hague. the english plenipotentiaries, vinwood and spencer, wished to delay the exchange of signatures under the pending negotiations with spain and the archdukes were brought to a close, as king james was most desirous at that epoch to keep on good terms with his catholic majesty. the states were so urgent, however, to bring at least this matter to a termination, and the english so anxious lest france should gain still greater influence than she now enjoyed in the provinces, that they at last gave way. it was further stipulated in the convention that the debt of the states to england, then amounting to l , sterling, should be settled by annual payments of l , ; to begin with the expected peace. besides this debt to the english government, the states-general owed nine millions of florins (l , ), and the separate provinces altogether eighteen millions (l , , ). in short, there would be a deficiency of at least three hundred thousand florins a month if the war went on, although every imaginable device had already been employed for increasing the revenue from taxation. it must be admitted therefore, that the barneveld party were not to be severely censured for their desire to bring about an honourable peace. that jeannin was well aware of the disposition prevailing throughout a great part of the commonwealth is certain. it is equally certain that he represented to his sovereign, while at paris, that the demand upon his exchequer by the states, in case of the resumption of hostilities, would be more considerable than ever. immense was the pressure put upon henry by the spanish court, during the summer, to induce him to abandon his allies. very complicated were the nets thrown out to entangle the wary old politician in "the grey jacket and with the heart of gold," as he was fond of designating himself, into an alliance with philip and the archdukes. don pedro de toledo, at the head of a magnificent embassy, arrived in paris with projects of arranging single, double, or triple marriages between the respective nurseries of france and spain. the infanta might marry with a french prince, and have all the netherlands for her dower, so soon as the childless archdukes should have departed this life. or an infante might espouse a daughter of france with the same heritage assigned to the young couple. such proposals, duly set forth in sonorous spanish by the constable of castile, failed to produce a very soothing effect on henry's delicate ear. he had seen and heard enough of gaining thrones by spanish marriages. had not the very crown on his own head, which he had won with foot in stirrup and lance in rest, been hawked about for years, appended to the wedding ring of the spanish infanta? it might become convenient to him at some later day, to form a family alliance with the house of austria, although he would not excite suspicion in the united provinces by openly accepting it then. but to wait for the shoes of albert and isabella, and until the dutch republic had been absorbed into the obedient netherlands by his assistance, was not a very flattering prospect for a son or daughter of france. the ex-huguenot and indomitable campaigner in the field or in politics was for more drastic measures. should the right moment come, he knew well enough how to strike, and could appropriate the provinces, obedient or disobedient, without assistance from the spanish babies. don pedro took little by his propositions. the king stoutly declared that the netherlands were very near to his heart, and that he would never abandon them on any consideration. so near, indeed, that he meant to bring them still nearer, but this was not then suspected by the spanish court; henry, the while, repelling as a personal insult to himself the request that he should secretly labour to reduce the united provinces under subjection to the archdukes. it had even been proposed that he should sign a secret convention to that effect, and there were those about the court who were not ill-disposed for such a combination. the king was, however, far too adroit to be caught in any such trap. the marriage proposals in themselves he did not dislike, but jeannin and he were both of a mind that they should be kept entirely secret. don pedro, on the contrary, for obvious reasons, was for making the transactions ostentatiously public, and, as a guarantee of his master's good faith in regard to the heritage of the netherlands, he proposed that every portion of the republic, thenceforth to be conquered by the allies, should be confided to hands in which henry and the archdukes would have equal confidence. but these artifices were too trivial to produce much effect. henry remained true, in his way, to the states-general, and don pedro was much laughed at in paris, although the public scarcely knew wherefore. these intrigues had not been conducted so mysteriously but that barneveld was aware of what was going on. both before jeannin's departure from the hague in june, and on his return in the middle of august, he catechised him very closely on the subject. the old leaguer was too deep, however, to be thoroughly pumped, even by so practised a hand as the advocate's, so that more was suspected than at the time was accurately known. as, at the memorable epoch of the accession of the king of scots to the throne of elizabeth, maximilian de bethune had flattered the new monarch with the prospect of a double marriage, so now don fernando girono had been sent on solemn mission to england, in order to offer the same infants to james which don pedro was placing at the disposition of henry. the british sovereign, as secretly fascinated by the idea of a spanish family alliance as he had ever been by the proposals of the marquis de rosny for the french marriages, listened with eagerness. money was scattered as profusely among the english courtiers by don fernando as had been done by de bethune four years before. the bribes were accepted, and often by the very personages who knew the colour of bourbon money, but the ducats were scarcely earned. girono, thus urging on the english government the necessity of deserting the republic and cementing a cordial, personal, and political understanding between james and philip, effected but little. it soon became thoroughly understood in england that the same bargaining was going on simultaneously in france. as it was evident that the spanish children could not be disposed of in both markets at the same time, it was plain to the dullest comprehension that either the brokerage of toledo or of girono was a sham, and that a policy erected upon such flimsy foundations would soon be washed away. it is certain, however, that james, while affecting friendship for the states, and signing with them the league of mutual assistance, was secretly longing to nibble the bait dangled before him by girono, and was especially determined to prevent, if possible, the plans of toledo. meantime, brother john neyen was dealing with philip and the duke of lerma, in spain. the friar strenuously urged upon the favourite and the rest of the royal advisers the necessity of prompt action with the states. this needed not interfere with an unlimited amount of deception. it was necessary to bring the negotiations to a definite agreement. it would be by no means requisite, however, to hold to that agreement whenever a convenient opportunity for breaking it should present itself. the first object of spanish policy, argued honest john, should be to get the weapons out of the rebels' hands. the netherlanders ought to be encouraged to return to their usual pursuits of commerce and manufactures, whence they derived their support, and to disband their military and naval forces. their sailors and traders should be treated kindly in spain, instead of being indulged as heretofore with no hospitality save that of the holy inquisition and its dungeons. let their minds be disarmed of all suspicion. now the whole population of the provinces had been convinced that spain, in affecting to treat, was secretly devising means to re-impose her ancient yoke upon their necks. time went by in aranjuez and madrid. the forty days, promised as the period of neyen's absence, were soon gone; but what were forty days, or forty times forty, at the spanish court? the friar, who, whatever his faults, was anything but an idler, chafed at a procrastination which seemed the more stupendous to him, coming fresh as he did from a busy people who knew the value of time. in the anguish of his soul he went to rodrigo calderon, of the privy council, and implored his influence with government to procure leave for him to depart. calderon, in urbane but decisive terms, assured him that this would be impossible before the king should return to madrid. the monk then went to idiaquez, who was in favour of his proceeding at once to the netherlands, but who on being informed that calderon was of a different opinion, gave up the point. more distressed than ever, neyen implored prada's assistance, but prada plunged him into still deeper despair. his majesty, said that counsellor, with matchless effrontery, was studying the propositions of the states-general, and all the papers in the negotiation, line by line, comma by comma. there were many animadversions to make, many counter suggestions to offer. the king was pondering the whole subject most diligently. when those lucubrations were finished, the royal decision, aided by the wisdom of the privy council, would be duly communicated to the archdukes. to wait for an answer to the propositions of the suspicious states-general until philip iii. had mastered the subject in detail, was a prospect too dreary even for the equable soul of brother john. dismayed at the position in which he found himself, he did his best to ferret out the reasons for the preposterous delay; not being willing to be paid off in allusions to the royal investigations. he was still further appalled at last by discovering that the delay was absolutely for the delay's sake. it was considered inconsistent with the dignity of the government not to delay. the court and cabinet had quite made up their minds as to the answer to be made to the last propositions of the rebels, but to make it known at once was entirely out of the question. in the previous year his majesty's administration, so it was now confessed with shame, had acted with almost indecent haste. that everything had been conceded to the confederated provinces was the--common talk of europe. let the time-honoured, inveterate custom of spain in grave affairs to proceed slowly, and therefore surely, be in future observed. a proper self-respect required the king to keep the universe in suspense for a still longer period upon the royal will and the decision of the royal council. were the affairs of the mighty spanish empire so subordinate to the convenience of that portion of it called the netherlands that no time was to be lost before settling their affairs? such dismal frivolity, such palsied pride, seems scarcely credible; but more than all this has been carefully recorded in the letters of the friar. if it were precipitation to spend the whole year in forming a single phrase; to wit, that the archdukes and the king would treat with the united provinces as with countries to which they made no pretensions; and to spend the best part of another year in futile efforts to recal that phrase; if all this had been recklessness and haste, then, surely, the most sluggish canal in holland was a raging cataract, and the march of a glacier electric speed. midsummer had arrived. the period in which peace was to be made or abandoned altogether had passed. jeannin had returned from his visit to paris; the danish envoys, sent to watch the negotiations, had left the hague, utterly disgusted with a puppet-show, all the strings of which, they protested, were pulled from the louvre. brother john, exasperated by the superhuman delays, fell sick of a fever at burgos, and was sent, on his recovery, to the court at valladolid to be made ill again by the same cause, and still there came no sound from the government of spain. at last the silence was broken. something that was called the voice of the king reached the ears of the archduke. long had he wrestled in prayer on this great subject, said philip iii., fervently had he besought the omnipotent for light. he had now persuaded himself that he should not fulfil his duty to god, nor satisfy his own strong desire for maintaining the catholic faith, nor preserve his self-respect, if he now conceded his supreme right to the confederated provinces at any other price than the uncontrolled exercise, within their borders, of the catholic religion. he wished, therefore, as obedient son of the church and defender of the faith, to fulfil this primary duty, untrammelled by any human consideration, by any profit that might induce him towards a contrary course. that which he had on other occasions more than once signified he now confirmed. his mind was fixed; this was his last and immutable determination, that if the confederates should permit the free and public exercise of the catholic, roman, apostolic religion to all such as wished to live and die in it, for this cause so grateful to god, and for no other reason, he also would permit to them that supreme right over the provinces, and that authority which now belonged to himself. natives and residents of those countries should enjoy liberty, just so long as the exercise of the catholic religion flourished there, and not one day nor hour longer. philip then proceeded flatly to refuse the india navigation, giving reasons very satisfactory to himself why the provinces ought cheerfully to abstain from that traffic. if the confederates, in consequence of the conditions thus definitely announced, moved by their innate pride and obstinacy, and relying on the assistance of their allies, should break off the negotiations, then it would be desirable to adopt the plan proposed by jeannin to richardot, and conclude a truce for five or six years. the king expressed his own decided preference for a truce rather than a peace, and his conviction that jeannin had made the suggestion by command of his sovereign. the negotiators stood exactly where they did when friar john, disguised as a merchant, first made his bow to the prince and barneveld in the palace at the hague. the archduke, on receiving at last this peremptory letter from the king, had nothing for it but to issue instructions accordingly to the plenipotentiaries at the hague. a decisive conference between those diplomatists and the states' commissioners took place immediately afterwards. it was on the th august. although it had been agreed on the st may to break off negotiations on the ensuing st of august, should no result be reached, yet three weeks beyond that period had been suffered to elapse, under a tacit agreement to wait a little longer for the return of the friar. president jeannin, too, had gone to paris on the th june, to receive new and important instructions; verbal and written, from his sovereign, and during his absence it had not been thought expedient to transact much business. jeannin returned to the hague on the th of august, and, as definite instructions from king and archduke had now arrived, there seemed no possibility of avoiding an explanation. the spanish envoys accordingly, with much gravity, and as if they had been propounding some cheerful novelty, announced to the assembled commissioners that all reports hitherto flying about as to the spanish king's intentions were false. his majesty had no intention of refusing to give up the sovereignty of the provinces. on the contrary, they were instructed to concede that sovereignty freely and frankly to my lords the states-general--a pearl and a precious jewel, the like of which no prince had ever given away before. yet the king desired neither gold nor silver, neither cities nor anything else of value in exchange. he asked only for that which was indispensable to the tranquillity of his conscience before god, to wit, the re-establishment in those countries of the catholic apostolic roman religion. this there could surely be no reasons for refusing. they owed it as a return for the generosity of the king, they owed it to their own relatives, they owed it to the memory of their ancestors, not to show greater animosity to the ancient religion than to the new and pernicious sect of anabaptists, born into the world for the express purpose of destroying empires; they owed it to their many fellow-citizens, who would otherwise be driven into exile, because deprived of that which is dearest to humanity. in regard to the east india navigation, inasmuch as the provinces had no right whatever to it, and as no other prince but the sovereign of spain had any pretensions to it, his majesty expected that the states would at once desist from it. this was the magnificent result of twenty months of diplomacy. as the king's father had long ago flung away the pearl and precious jewel which the son now made a merit of selling to its proprietors at the price of their life's blood--the world's commerce--it is difficult to imagine that richardot, while communicating thin preposterous ultimatum, could have kept his countenance. but there were case-hardened politicians on both sides. the proposition was made and received with becoming seriousness, and it was decided by the states' commissioners to make no answer at all on that occasion. they simply promised to render their report to the states-general, who doubtless would make short work with the matter. they made their report and it occasioned a tumult. every member present joined in a general chorus of wrathful denunciation. the spanish commissioners were infamous swindlers, it was loudly asserted. there should be no more dealings with them at all. spain was a power only to be treated with on the battle-field. in the tempest of general rage no one would listen to argument, no one asked which would be the weaker, which the stronger party, what resources for the renewed warfare could be founds or who would be the allies of the republic. hatred, warlike fury and scorn at the duplicity with which they had been treated, washed every more politic sentiment away, and metamorphosed that body of burghers as in an instant. the negotiations should be broken off, not on one point, but on all points, and nothing was left but to prepare instantly for war. three days later, after the french and english ambassadors, as well as prince maurice and count lewis william, had been duly consulted, comparative calm was restored, and a decisive answer was unanimously voted by the states-general. the proposition of the commissioners was simply declared to be in direct violation of the sovereignty and freedom of the country, and it was announced that, if it should be persisted in, the whole negotiation might be considered as broken off. a formal answer to the royal propositions would be communicated likewise to the envoys of foreign powers, in order that the royal commissioners might be placed completely in the wrong. on the th august an elaborate response was accordingly delivered in writing by the states' commissioners to those of the archdukes and king, it being at the same time declared by barneveld and his colleagues that their functions were ended, and that this document, emanating from the states-general, was a sovereign resolution, not a diplomatic note. the contents of this paper may be inferred from all that has been previously narrated. the republic knew its own mind, and had always expressed itself with distinctness. the spanish government having at last been brought to disclose its intentions, there was an end to the negotiations for peace. the rupture was formally announced. etext editor's bookmarks: night brings counsel this obstinate little republic triple marriages between the respective nurseries usual expedient by which bad legislation on one side countered history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter li. designs of henry iv.--new marriage project between france and spain formal proposition of negotiating for a truce between the states and spain--exertions of prince maurice to counteract the designs of barneveld--strife between the two parties in the republic--animosity of the people against barneveld--return of the spanish commissioners--further trifling--dismissal of the commissioners-- close of the negotiations--accidental discovery of the secret instructions of the archdukes to the commissioners--opposing factions in the republic--oration of president jeannin before the states-general--comparison between the dutch and swiss republics-- calumnies against the advocate--ambassador lambert in france-- henry's letter to prince maurice--reconciliation of maurice and barneveld--agreement of the states to accept a truce. president jeannin had long been prepared for this result. it was also by no means distasteful to him. a peace would not have accorded with the ulterior and secretly cherished schemes of his sovereign, and during his visit to paris, he had succeeded in persuading henry that a truce would be far the most advantageous solution of the question, so far as his interests were concerned. for it had been precisely during that midsummer vacation of the president at paris that henry had completed his plot against the liberty of the republic, of which he professed himself the only friend. another phase of spanish marriage-making had excited his ever scheming and insidious brain. it had been proposed that the second son of the spanish king should espouse one of henry's daughters. the papal nuncius asked what benefit the king of spain would receive for his share, in case of the marriage. the french king replied by plainly declaring to the nuncius that the united states should abstain from and renounce all navigation to and commerce with the indies, and should permit public exercise of the catholic religion. if they refused, would incontinently abandon them to their fate. more than this, he said, could not honestly be expected of him. surely this was enough. honestly or dishonestly, what more could spain expect of the republic's best ally, than that he should use all his efforts to bring her back into spanish subjection, should deprive her of commerce with three-quarters of the world, and compel her to re-establish the religion which she believed, at that period, to be incompatible with her constitutional liberties? it is difficult to imagine a more profligate or heartless course than the one pursued at this juncture by henry. secretly, he was intriguing, upon the very soil of the netherlands, to filch from them that splendid commerce which was the wonder of the age, which had been invented and created by dutch navigators and men of science, which was the very foundation of their state, and without which they could not exist, in order that he might appropriate it to himself, and transfer the east india company to france; while at paris he was solemnly engaging himself in a partnership with their ancient and deadly enemy to rob them of their precious and nobly gained liberty. was better proof ever afforded that god alone can protect us against those whom we trust? who was most dangerous to the united provinces during those memorable peace negotiations, spain the avowed enemy, or france the friend? the little republic had but her own sword, her own brain, and her own purse to rely upon. elizabeth was dead, and james loved spain better than he did the netherlands, and quiet better than spain. "i have told you often," said caron, "and i say it once more, the spaniard is lucky that he has such a peaceable king as this to deal with in england." the details of the new marriage project were arranged at paris between the nuncius, the spanish ambassador, don pedro de toledo, the diplomatic agent of the archdukes, and henry's ministers, precisely as if there had been no negotiations going on between the states and spain. yet the french king was supposed to be the nearest friend of the states, and was consulted by them on every occasion, while his most intimate and trusted counsellor, the ingenuous jeannin, whose open brow was stamped with sincerity, was privy to all their most secret deliberations. but the statesman thus dealing with the hollanders under such a mask of friendly candour, knew perfectly well the reason why his government preferred a truce to a peace. during a prolonged truce, the two royal children would grow old enough for the consummation of marriage, and the states--so it was hoped--would be corrupted and cajoled into renouncing their liberty. all the netherlands would be then formed into a secundogeniture for spain, and the first sovereign would be the husband of a french princess. even as an object of ambition, the prize to be secured by so much procrastination and so much treachery was paltry. when the spanish commissioners came to the french and english ambassadors accordingly, complaining of the abrupt and peremptory tone of the states' reply, the suggestion of conferences for truce, in place of fruitless peace negotiations, was made at once, and of course favourably received. it was soon afterwards laid before the states-general. to this end, in truth, richardot and his colleagues had long been secretly tending. moreover, the subject had been thoroughly but secretly discussed long before between jeannin and barneveld. the french and english ambassadors, accordingly, on the th august, came before the states-general, and made a formal proposition for the opening of negotiations for a truce. they advised the adoption of this course in the strongest manner. "let the truce be made with you," they said, "as with free states, over which the king and the archdukes have no pretensions, with the understanding that, during the time of the truce you are to have free commerce as well to the indies as to spain and the obedient netherlands, and to every part of the spanish dominions; that you are to retain all that you possess at present, and that such other conditions are to be added as you may find it reasonable to impose. during this period of leisure you will have time to put your affairs in order, to pay your debts, and to reform your government, and if you remain united, the truce will change into an absolute peace." maurice was more indignant when the new scheme was brought to his notice than he had ever been before, and used more violent language in opposing a truce than he had been used to employ when striving against a peace. to be treated with, as with a free state, and to receive permission to trade with the outside world until the truce should expire, seemed to him a sorry result for the republic to accept. the state-council declared, by way of answer to the foreign ambassadors, that the principal points and conditions which had been solemnly fixed, before the states had consented to begin the negotiations, had been disputed with infinite effrontery and shamelessness by the enemy. the pure and perfect sovereignty notoriously included religion and navigation to any part of the world; and the republic would never consent to any discussion of truce unless these points were confirmed beforehand with the spanish king's signature and seal. this resolution of the council--a body which stood much under the influence of the nassaus--was adopted next day by the states-general, and duly communicated to the friendly ambassadors. the foreign commissioners, when apprised of this decision, begged for six weeks' time; in order to be able to hear from madrid. even the peace party was disgusted with this impertinence. maurice boiled over with wrath. the ambassadors recommended compliance with the proposal. their advice was discussed in the states-general, eighty members being present, besides maurice and lewis william. the stadholder made a violent and indignant speech. he was justified in his vehemence. nothing could exceed the perfidy of their great ally. "i know that the king of france calculates thus"--wrote aerssens at that moment from paris--"'if the truce lasts seven years, my son will be old enough to accomplish the proposed marriage, and they will be obliged to fulfil their present offers. otherwise; i would break the truce in the netherlands, and my own peace with them, in order to take from the spaniard by force what he led me to hope from alliance.' thus it is," continued the states' envoy, "that his majesty condescends to propose, to us a truce, which may have a double interpretation, according to the disposition of the strongest, and thus our commonwealth will be kept in perpetual disquiet, without knowing whether it is sovereign or not. nor will it be sovereign unless it shall so please our neighbour, who by this means will always keep his foot upon our throat." "to treat with the states as if they were free," said henry to the nuncius soon afterwards, "is not to make them free. this clause does no prejudice to the rights of the king of spain, except for the time of the truce." aerssens taxed the king with having said this. his majesty flatly denied it. the republican envoy bluntly adduced the testimony of the ambassadors of venice and of wirtemberg. the king flew into a rage on seeing that his secrets had been divulged, and burst out with these words: "what you demand is not reasonable. you wish the king of spain to renounce his rights in order to arrive at a truce. you wish to dictate the law to him. if you had just gained four battles over him, you could not demand more. i have always held you for sovereigns, because i am your friend, but if you would judge by equity and justice, you are not sovereigns. it is not reasonable that the king of spain should quit the sovereignty for always, and you ought to be satisfied with having it so long as the treaty shall last." here was playing at sovereignty with a vengeance. sovereignty was a rattle for the states to amuse themselves with, until the royal infants, french and spanish, should be grown old enough to take the sovereignty for good. truly this was indeed keeping the republic under the king's heel to be crushed at his pleasure, as aerssens, with just bitterness, exclaimed. two days were passed at the hague in vehement debate. the deputies of zeeland withdrew. the deputies from holland were divided, but, on the whole, it was agreed to listen to propositions of truce, provided the freedom of the united provinces--not under conditions nor during a certain period, but simply and for all time--should be recognised beforehand. it was further decided on the th september to wait until the end of the month for the answer from spain. after the st of october it was distinctly intimated to the spanish commissioners that they must at once leave the country unless the king had then acknowledged the absolute independence of the provinces. a suggestion which had been made by these diplomatists to prolong the actually existing armistice into a truce of seven years, a step which they professed themselves willing to take upon their own responsibility, had been scornfully rejected by the states. it was already carrying them far enough away, they said, to take them away from a peace to a truce, which was something far less secure than a peace, but the continuance of this floating, uncertain armistice would be the most dangerous insecurity of all. this would be going from firm land to slippery ice, and from slippery ice into the water. by such a process, they would have neither war nor peace--neither liberty of government nor freedom of commerce--and they unanimously refused to listen to any such schemes. during the fortnight which followed this provisional consent of the states, the prince redoubled his efforts to counteract the barneveld party. he was determined, so far as in him lay, that the united netherlands should never fall back under the dominion of spain. he had long maintained the impossibility of effecting their thorough independence except by continuing the war, and had only with reluctance acquiesced in the arguments of the french ambassadors in favour of peace negotiations. as to the truce, he vehemently assured those envoys that it was but a trap. how could the netherlanders know who their friends might be when the truce should have expired, and under what unfavourable auspices they might not be compelled to resume hostilities? as if he had been actually present at the council boards in madrid and valladolid, or had been reading the secret letters of friar john to spinola, he affirmed that the only object of spain was to recruit her strength and improve her finances, now entirely exhausted. he believed, on the other hand, that the people of the provinces, after they should have once become accustomed to repose; would shrink from exchanging their lucrative pursuits for war, and would prefer to fall back under the yoke of spain. during the truce they would object to the furnishing of necessary contributions for garrison expenses, and the result would be that the most important cities and strongholds, especially those on the frontier, which were mainly inhabited by catholics, would become insecure. being hostile to a government which only controlled them by force, they would with difficulty be kept in check by diminished garrisons, unless they should obtain liberty of catholic worship. it is a dismal proof of the inability of a leading mind, after half a century's war, to comprehend the true lesson of the war--that toleration of the roman religion seemed to maurice an entirely inadmissible idea. the prince could not rise to the height on which his illustrious father had stood; and those about him, who encouraged him in his hostility to catholicism, denounced barneveld and arminius as no better than traitors and atheists. in the eyes of the extreme party, the mighty war had been waged, not to liberate human thought, but to enforce predestination; and heretics to calvinism were as offensive in their eyes as jews and saracens had ever been to torquemada. the reasons were unanswerable for the refusal of the states to bind themselves to a foreign sovereign in regard to the interior administration of their commonwealth; but that diversity of religious worship should be considered incompatible with the health of the young republic--that the men who had so bravely fought the spanish inquisition should now claim their own right of inquisition into the human conscience--this was almost enough to create despair as to the possibility of the world's progress. the seed of intellectual advancement is slow in ripening, and it is almost invariably the case that the generation which plants--often but half conscious of the mightiness of its work--is not the generation which reaps the harvest. but all mankind at last inherits what is sown in the blood and tears of a few. that government, whether regal or democratic, should dare to thrust itself between man and his maker--that the state, not with interfering in a thousand superfluous ways with the freedom of individual human action in the business of life, should combine with the church to reduce human thought to slavery in regard to the sacred interests of eternity, was one day to be esteemed a blasphemous presumption in lands which deserved to call themselves free. but that hour had not yet come. "if the garrisons should be weakened," said the prince, "nothing could be expected from the political fidelity of the town populations in question, unless they should be allowed the exercise of their own religion. but the states could hardly be disposed to grant this voluntarily, for fear of injuring the general insecurity and violating the laws of the commonwealth, built as it is upon a foundation which cannot suffer this diversity in the public exercise of religion. already," continued maurice, "there are the seeds of dissension in the provinces and in the cities, sure to ripen in the idleness and repose of peace to an open division. this would give the enemy a means of intriguing with and corrupting those who are already wickedly inclined." thus in the year , the head of the dutch republic, the son of william the silent, seemed to express himself in favour of continuing a horrible war, not to maintain the political independence of his country, but to prevent catholics from acquiring the right of publicly worshipping god according to the dictates of their conscience. yet it would be unjust to the prince, whose patriotism was as pure and unsullied as his sword, to confound his motives with his end. he was firmly convinced that liberty of religious worship, to be acquired during the truce, would inevitably cause the united provinces to fall once more under the spanish yoke. the french ambassador, with whom he conferred every day, never doubted his sincerity. gelderland, friesland, overyssel, groningen, and utrecht, five provinces out of the united seven, the prince declared to be chiefly inhabited by catholics. they had only entered the union, he said, because compelled by force. they could only be kept in the union by force, unless allowed freedom of religion. his inference from such a lamentable state of affairs was, not that the experiment of religious worship should be tried, but that the garrisons throughout the five provinces ought to be redoubled, and the war with spain indefinitely waged. the president was likewise of opinion that "a revolt of these five provinces against the union might be at any moment expected, ill disposed as they were to recognise a sovereignty which abolished their religion." being himself a catholic, however, it was not unnatural that he should make a different deduction from that of the prince, and warmly recommend, not more garrisons, but more liberty of worship. thus the very men who were ready to dare all, and to sacrifice all in behalf of their country, really believed themselves providing for the imperishable security of the commonwealth by placing it on the narrow basis of religious intolerance. maurice, not satisfied with making these vehement arguments against the truce in his conferences with the envoys of the french and british sovereigns, employed the brief interval yet to elapse before definitely breaking off or resuming the conferences with the spanish commissioners in making vigorous appeals to the country. "the weal or woe of the united provinces for all time," he said, "is depending on the present transactions." weigh well the reasons we urge, and make use of those which seem to you convincing. you know that the foe, according to his old deceitful manner, laid down very specious conditions at the beginning, in order to induce my lords the states-general to treat. "if the king and the archdudes sincerely mean to relinquish absolutely their pretensions to these provinces, they can certainly have no difficulty in finding honest and convenient words to express their intention. as they are seeking other phrases than the usual and straightforward ones, they give certain proof that they mean to keep back from us the substance. they are trying to cheat us with dark, dubious, loosely-screwed terms, which secure nothing and bind to nothing. if it be wise to trust the welfare of our state to ambiguous words, you can judge according to your own discretion. "recognition of our sovereignty is the foundation-stone of these negotiations. "let every man be assured that, with such mighty enemies, we can do nothing by halves. we cannot afford to retract, mutilate, or moderate our original determination. he who swerves from the straight road at the beginning is lost; he who stumbles at the first step is apt to fall down the whole staircase. if, on account of imaginable necessity, we postpone that most vital point, the assurance of our freedom, we shall very easily allow less important points to pass muster, and at last come tamely into the path of reconciliation. that was exactly the danger which our ancestors in similar negotiations always feared, and against which we too have always done our best to guard ourselves. "wherefore, if the preservation of our beloved fatherland is dear to you, i exhort you to maintain that great fundamental resolution, at all times and against all men, even if this should cause the departure of the enemy's commissioners. what can you expect from them but evil fruit?" he then advised all the estates and magistracies which he was addressing to instruct their deputies, at the approaching session of the states-general, to hold on to the first article of the often-cited preliminary resolution without allowing one syllable to be altered. otherwise nothing could save the commonwealth from dire and notorious confusion. above all, he entreated them to act in entire harmony and confidence with himself and his cousin, even as they had ever done with his illustrious father. certainly the prince fully deserved the confidence of the states, as well for his own signal services and chivalrous self-devotion, as for the unexampled sacrifices and achievements of william the silent. his words had the true patriotic ring of his father's frequent and eloquent appeals; and i have not hesitated to give these extracts from his discourse, because comparatively few of such utterances of maurice have been preserved, and because it gives a vivid impression of the condition of the republic and the state of parties at that momentous epoch. it was not merely the fate of the united netherlands and the question of peace or war between the little republic and its hereditary enemy that were upon the issue. the peace of all christendom, the most considerable material interests of civilization, and the highest political and moral principles that can influence human action, were involved in those negotiations. there were not wanting many to impeach the purity of the stadholder's motives. as admiral or captain-general, he received high salaries, besides a tenth part of all prize-money gained at sea by the fleets, or of ransom and blackmail on land by the armies of the republic. his profession, his ambition, his delights, were those of a soldier. as a soldier in a great war, he was more necessary to his countrymen than he could expect to be as a statesman in time of peace. but nothing ever appeared in public or in private, which threw a reasonable suspicion upon his lofty patriotism. peace he had always believed to be difficult of attainment. it had now been proved impossible. a truce he honestly considered a pitfall of destruction, and he denounced it, as we have seen, in the language of energetic conviction. he never alluded to his pecuniary losses in case peace should be made. his disinterested patriotism was the frequent subject of comment in the most secret letters of the french ambassadors to the king. he had repeatedly refused enormous offers if he would forsake the cause of the republic. the king of france was ever ready to tempt him with bribes, such as had proved most efficacious with men as highly born and as highly placed as a cadet of the house of orange-nassau. but there is no record that jeannin assailed him at this crisis with such temptations, although it has not been pretended that the prince was obdurate to the influence of mammon when that deity could be openly approached. that maurice loved power, pelf, and war, can hardly be denied. that he had a mounting ambition; that he thought a monarchy founded upon the historical institutions and charters of the provinces might be better than the burgher-aristocracy which, under the lead of barneveld, was establishing itself in the country; that he knew no candidate so eligible for such a throne as his father's son, all this is highly probable and scarcely surprising. but that such sentiments or aspirations caused him to swerve the ninth part of a hair from what he considered the direct path of duty; that he determined to fight out the great fight with spain and rome until the states were free in form, in name, and in fact; only that he might then usurp a sovereignty which would otherwise revert to philip of spain or be snatched by henry of navarre--of all this there is no proof whatever. the language of lewis william to the provinces under his government was quite as vigorous as the appeals of maurice. during the brief interval remaining before the commissioners should comply with the demands of the states or take their departure, the press throughout the netherlands was most active. pamphlets fell thick as hail. the peace party and the war party contended with each other, over all the territory of the provinces, as vigorously as the troops of fuentes or bucquoy had ever battled with the columns of bax and meetkerke. the types of blaauw and plantin were as effective during the brief armistice, as pike and arquebus in the field, but unfortunately they were used by netherlanders against each other. as a matter of course, each party impeached the motives as well as the actions of its antagonist. the adherents of the advocate accused the stadholder of desiring the continuance of the war for personal aims. they averred that six thousand men for guarding the rivers would be necessary, in addition to the forty-five thousand men, now kept constantly on foot. they placed the requisite monthly expenses, if hostilities were resumed, at , florins, while they pointed to the , , of debt over and above the , , due to the british crown, as a burthen under which the republic could scarcely stagger much longer. such figures seem modest enough, as the price of a war of independence. familiar with the gigantic budgets of our own day, we listen with something like wonder, now that two centuries and a half have passed, to the fierce denunciations by the war party of these figures as wilful fictions. science has made in that interval such gigantic strides. the awful intellect of man may at last make war impossible for his physical strength. he can forge but cannot wield the hammer of thor; nor has science yet discovered the philosopher's stone. without it, what exchequer can accept chronic warfare and escape bankruptcy? after what has been witnessed in these latest days, the sieges and battles of that distant epoch seem like the fights of pigmies and cranes. already an eighty years' war, such as once was waged, has become inconceivable. let two more centuries pass away, and perhaps a three weeks' campaign may exhaust an empire. meantime the war of words continued. a proclamation with penalties was issued by the states against the epidemic plague of pamphlets or "blue-books," as those publications were called in holland, but with little result. it was not deemed consistent with liberty by those republicans to put chains on the press because its utterances might occasionally be distasteful to magistrates. the writers, printers, and sellers of the "blue-books" remained unpunished and snapped their fingers at the placard. we have seen the strenuous exertions of the nassaus and their adherents by public appeals and private conversation to defeat all schemes of truce. the people were stirred by the eloquence of the two stadholders. they were stung to fury against spain and against barneveld by the waspish effusions of the daily press. the magistrates remained calm, and took part by considerable majorities with barneveld. that statesman, while exercising almost autocratic influence in the estates, became more and more odious to the humbler classes, to the nassaus, and especially to the calvinist clergy. he was denounced, as a papist, an atheist, a traitor, because striving for an honourable peace with the foe, and because admitting the possibility of more than one road to the kingdom of heaven. to doubt the infallibility of calvin was as heinous a crime, in the eyes of his accusers, as to kneel to the host. peter titelmann, half a century earlier, dripping with the blood of a thousand martyrs, seemed hardly a more loathsome object to all netherlanders than the advocate now appeared to his political enemies, thus daring to preach religious toleration, and boasting of, humble ignorance as the safest creed. alas! we must always have something to persecute, and individual man is never so convinced of his own wisdom as when dealing with subjects beyond human comprehension. unfortunately, however, while the great advocate was clear in his conscience he had scarcely clean hands. he had very recently accepted a present of twenty thousand florins from the king of france. that this was a bribe by which his services were to be purchased for a cause not in harmony with his own convictions it would be unjust to say. we of a later generation, who have had the advantage of looking through the portfolio of president jeannin, and of learning the secret intentions of that diplomatist and of his master, can fully understand however that there was more than sufficient cause at the time for suspecting the purity of the great advocate's conduct. we are perfectly aware that the secret instructions of henry gave his plenipotentiaries almost unlimited power to buy up as many influential personages in the netherlands as could be purchased. so they would assist in making the king master of the united provinces at the proper moment there was scarcely any price that he was not willing to pay. especially prince maurice, his cousin, and the advocate of holland, were to be secured by life pensions, property, offices, and dignities, all which jeannin might offer to an almost unlimited amount, if by such means those great personages could possibly be induced to perform the king's work. there is no record that the president ever held out such baits at this epoch to the prince. there could never be a doubt however in any one's mind that if the political chief of the orange-nassau house ever wished to make himself the instrument by which france should supplant spain in the tyranny of the netherlands, he might always name his own price. jeannin never insulted him with any such trading propositions. as for barneveld, he avowed long years afterwards that he had accepted the twenty thousand florins, and that the king had expressly exacted secrecy in regard to the transaction. he declared however that the money was a reward for public services rendered by him to the french government ten years before, in the course of his mission to france at the time of the peace of vervins. the reward had been promised in , and the pledge was fulfilled in . in accepting wages fairly earned, however, he protested that he had bound himself to no dishonourable service, and that he had never exchanged a word with jeannin or with any man in regard to securing for henry the sovereignty of the netherlands. his friends moreover maintained in his defence that there were no laws in the netherlands forbidding citizens to accept presents or pensions from foreign powers. such an excuse was as bad as the accusation. woe to the republic whose citizens require laws to prevent them from becoming stipendiaries of foreign potentates! if public virtue, the only foundation of republican institutions, be so far washed away that laws in this regard are necessary to save it from complete destruction, then already the republic is impossible. many who bore illustrious names, and occupied the highest social positions at, that day in france, england, and the obedient provinces, were as venal as cattle at a fair. philip and henry had bought them over and over again, whenever either was rich enough to purchase and strong enough to enforce the terms of sale. bribes were taken with both hands in overflowing measure; the difficulty was only in obtaining the work for the wage. but it would have been humiliating beyond expression had the new commonwealth, after passing through the fiery furnace of its great war, proved no purer than leading monarchies at a most corrupt epoch. it was no wonder therefore that men sought to wipe off the stain from the reputation of barneveld, and it is at least a solace that there was no proof of his ever rendering, or ever having agreed to render, services inconsistent with his convictions as to the best interests of the commonwealth. it is sufficiently grave that he knew the colour of the king's money, and that in a momentous crisis of history he accepted a reward for former professional services, and that the broker in the transaction, president jeannin, seriously charged him by henry's orders to keep the matter secret. it would be still more dismal if jeannin, in his private letters, had ever intimated to villeroy or his master that he considered it a mercantile transaction, or if any effort had ever been made by the advocate to help henry to the batavian throne. this however is not the case. in truth, neither maurice nor barneveld was likely to assist the french king in his intrigues against the independence of their fatherland. both had higher objects of ambition than to become the humble and well-paid servants of a foreign potentate. the stadholder doubtless dreamed of a crown which might have been his father's, and which his own illustrious services might be supposed to have earned for himself. if that tempting prize were more likely to be gained by a continuance of the war, it is none the less certain that he considered peace, and still more truce, as fatal to the independence of the provinces. the advocate, on the other hand, loved his country well. perhaps he loved power even better. to govern the city magistracies of holland, through them the provincial estates; and through them again the states-general of the whole commonwealth; as first citizen of a republic to wield; the powers of a king; as statesman, diplomatist, and financier, to create a mighty empire out of those slender and but recently emancipated provinces of spain, was a more flattering prospect for a man of large intellect, iron will, and infinite resources, than to sink into the contemptible position of stipendiary to a foreign master. he foresaw change, growth, transformation in the existing condition of things. those great corporations the east and west india companies were already producing a new organism out of the political and commercial chaos which had been so long brooding over civilization. visions of an imperial zone extending from the little batavian island around the earth, a chain of forts and factories dotting the newly-discovered and yet undiscovered points of vantage, on island or promontory, in every sea; a watery, nebulous, yet most substantial empire--not fantastic, but practical--not picturesque and mediaeval, but modern and lucrative--a world-wide commonwealth with a half-submerged metropolis, which should rule the ocean with its own fleets and, like venice and florence, job its land wars with mercenary armies--all these dreams were not the cloudy pageant of a poet but the practical schemes of a great creative mind. they were destined to become reality. had the geographical conditions been originally more favourable than they were, had nature been less a stepmother to the metropolis of the rising batavian realm, the creation might have been more durable. barneveld, and the men who acted with him, comprehended their age, and with slender materials were prepared to do great things. they did not look very far perhaps into futurity, but they saw the vast changes already taking place, and felt the throb of forces actually at work. the days were gone when the iron-clad man on horseback conquered a kingdom with his single hand. doubtless there is more of poetry and romance in his deeds than in the achievements of the counting-house aristocracy, the hierarchy of joint-stock corporations that was taking the lead in the world's affairs. enlarged views of the social compact and of human liberty, as compared with those which later generations ought to take, standing upon the graves, heaped up mountains high, of their predecessors, could hardly be expected of them. but they knew how to do the work before them. they had been able to smite a foreign and sacerdotal tyranny into the dust at the expense of more blood and more treasure, and with sacrifices continued through a longer cycle of years, than had ever been recorded by history. thus the advocate believed that the chief fruits of the war--political independence, religious liberty, commercial expansion--could be now secured by diplomacy, and that a truce could be so handled as to become equivalent to a peace. he required no bribes therefore to labour for that which he believed to be for his own interests and for those of the country. first citizen of holland, perpetual chairman of a board of ambitious shopkeepers who purposed to dictate laws to the world from their counting-house table, with an unerring eye for the interests of the commonwealth and his own, with much vision, extraordinary eloquence, and a magnificent will, he is as good a sample of a great burgher--an imposing not a heroic figure--as the times had seen. a vast stride had been taken in the world's progress. even monopoly was freedom compared to the sloth and ignorance of an earlier epoch and of other lands, and although the days were still far distant when the earth was to belong to mankind, yet the modern republic was leading, half unconsciously, to a period of wider liberty of government, commerce, and above all of thought. meantime, the period assigned for the departure of the spanish commissioners, unless they brought a satisfactory communication from the king, was rapidly approaching. on the th september verreyken returned from brussels, but it was soon known that he came empty handed. he informed the french and english ambassadors that the archdukes, on their own responsibility, now suggested the conclusion of a truce of seven years for europe only. this was to be negotiated with the states-general as with free people, over whom no pretensions of authority were made, and the hope was expressed that the king would give his consent to this arrangement. the ambassadors naturally refused to carry the message to the states. to make themselves the mouthpieces of such childish suggestions was to bring themselves and their masters into contempt. there had been trifling enough, and even jeannin saw that the storm of indignation about to burst forth would be irresistible. there was no need of any attempt on the part of the commissioners to prolong their stay if this was the result of the fifteen days' grace which had so reluctantly been conceded to them. to express a hope that the king might perhaps give his future approval to a proceeding for which his signed and sealed consent had been exacted as an indispensable preliminary, was carrying effrontery further than had yet been attempted in these amazing negotiations. prince maurice once more addressed the cities of holland, giving vent to his wrath in language with which there was now more sympathy than there had been before. "verreyken has come back," he said, "not with a signature, but with a hope. the longer the enemy remains in the country the more he goes back from what he had originally promised. he is seeking for nothing more than, in this cheating way and in this pretence of waiting for the king's consent--which we have been expecting now for more than eighteen months--to continue the ruinous armistice. thus he keeps the country in a perpetual uncertainty, the only possible consequence of which is our complete destruction. we adjure you therefore to send a resolution in conformity with our late address, in order that through these tricks and snares the fatherland may not fall into the clutch of the enemy, and thus into eternal and intolerable slavery. god save us all from such a fate!" neither barneveld nor jeannin attempted to struggle against the almost general indignation. the deputies of zeeland withdrew from the assembly of the states-general, protesting that they would never appear there again so long as the spanish commissioners remained in the country. the door was opened wide, and it was plain that those functionaries must take their departure. pride would not allow them to ask permission of the states to remain, although they intimated to the ambassadors their intense desire to linger for ten or twelve days longer. this was obviously inadmissible, and on the th september they appeared before the assembly to take leave. there were but three of them, the genoese, the spaniard, and the burgundian--spinola, mancicidor; and richardot. of the two netherlanders, brother john was still in spain, and verreyken found it convenient that day to have a lame leg. president richardot, standing majestically before the states-general, with his robes wrapped around his tall, spare form, made a solemn farewell speech of mingled sorrow, pity, and the resentment of injured innocence. they had come to the hague, he said, sent by the king of spain and the archdukes to treat for a good and substantial peace, according to the honest intention of his majesty and their highnesses. to this end they had sincerely and faithfully dealt with the gentlemen deputed for that purpose by their high mightinesses the states, doing everything they could think of to further the cause of peace. they lamented that the issue had not been such as they had hoped, notwithstanding that the king and archdukes had so far derogated from their reputation as to send their commissioners into the united netherlands, it having been easy enough to arrange for negotiations on other soil. it had been their wish thus to prove to the world how straightforward were their intentions by not requiring the states to send deputies to them. they had accorded the first point in the negotiations, touching the free state of the country. their high mightinesses had taken offence upon the second, regarding the restoration of religion in the united provinces. thereupon the father commissary had gone to spain, and had remained longer than was agreeable. nevertheless, they had meantime treated of other points. coming back at last to the point of religion, the states-general had taken a resolution, and had given them their dismissal, without being willing to hear a word more, or to make a single proposition of moderation or accommodation. he could not refrain from saying that the commissioners had been treated roughly. their high mightinesses had fixed the time for their dismissal more precisely than one would do with a servant who was discharged for misconduct; for the lackey, if he asked for it, would be allowed at least a day longer to pack his trunk for the journey. they protested before god and the assembly of the states that the king and princes had meant most sincerely, and had dealt with all roundness and sincerity. they at least remained innocent of all the disasters and calamities to come from the war. "as for myself," said richardot, "i am no prophet, nor the son of a prophet; yet i will venture the prediction to you, my lords the states-general, that you will bitterly rue it that you did not embrace the peace thus presented, and which you might have had. the blood which is destined to flow, now that you have scorned our plan of reconciliation, will be not on our heads but your own." barneveld replied by temperately but firmly repelling the charges brought against the states in this artful oration of the president. they had proceeded in the most straightforward manner, never permitting themselves to enter into negotiations except on the preliminary condition that their freedom should be once for all conceded and recognised. "you and you only," he continued, "are to bear the blame that peace has not been concluded; you who have not been willing or not been able to keep your promises. one might, with better reason, hold you guilty of all the bloodshed; you whose edicts, bloodier and more savage than war itself, long, ago forced these provinces into the inevitable necessity of waging war; you whose cruelty, but yesterday exercised on the crews of defenceless and innocent merchantmen and fishing-vessels, has been fully exhibited to the world." spinola's countenance betrayed much emotion as he listened to the exchange of bitter recriminations which took place on this farewell colloquy. it was obvious that the brave and accomplished soldier honestly lamented the failure of the attempt to end the war. but the rupture was absolute. the marquis and the president dined that day with prince maurice, by whom they were afterwards courteously accompanied a part of the way on their journey to brussels. thus ended the comedy which had lasted nearly two years. the dismal leave-taking, as the curtain fell, was not as, entertaining to the public outside as the dramatic meeting between maurice and spinola had been at the opening scene near ryswyk. there was no populace to throw up their hats for the departing guests. from the winter's night in which the subtle franciscan had first stolen into the prince's cabinet down to this autumn evening, not a step of real progress could be recorded as the result of the intolerable quantity of speech-making and quill-driving. there were boat-loads of documents, protocols, and notes, drowsy and stagnant as the canals on which they were floated off towards their tombs in the various archives. peace to the dust which we have not wantonly disturbed, believing it to be wholesome for the cause of human progress that the art of ruling the world by doing nothing, as practised some centuries since, should once and again be exhibited. not in vain do we listen to those long-bearded, venerable, very tedious old presidents, advocates, and friars of orders gray, in their high ruffs, taffety robes or gowns of frieze, as they squeak and gibber, for a fleeting moment, to a world which knew them not. it is something to learn that grave statesmen, kings, generals, and presidents could negotiate for two years long; and that the only result should be the distinction between a conjunction, a preposition, and an adverb. that the provinces should be held as free states, not for free states--that they should be free in similitude, not in substance--thus much and no more had been accomplished. and now to all appearance every chance of negotiation was gone. the half-century war, after this brief breathing space, was to be renewed for another century or so, and more furiously than ever. so thought the public. so meant prince maurice. richardot and jeannin knew better. the departure of the commissioners was recorded upon the register of the resolutions of holland, with the ominous note: "god grant that they may not have sown, evil seed here; the effects of which will one day be visible in the ruin of this commonwealth." hardly were the backs of the commissioners turned, before the indefatigable jeannin was ready with his scheme for repatching the rupture. he was at first anxious that the deputies of zeeland should be summoned again, now that the country was rid of the spaniards. prince maurice, however, was wrathful when the president began to talk once more of truce. the proposition, he said, was simply the expression of a wish to destroy the state. holland and zeeland would never agree to any such measure, and they would find means to compel the other provinces to follow their example. if there were but three or four cities in the whole country to reject the truce, he would, with their assistance alone, defend the freedom of the republic, or at least die an honourable death in its defence. this at least would be better than after a few months to become slaves of spain. such a result was the object of those who began this work, but he would resist it at the peril of his life. a singular incident now seemed to justify the wrath of the stadholder, and to be likely to strengthen his party. young count john of nassau happened to take possession of the apartments in goswyn meursken's hostelry at the hague, just vacated by richardot. in the drawer of a writing-table was found a document, evidently left there by the president. this paper was handed by count john to his cousin, frederic henry, who at once delivered it to his brother maurice. the prince produced it in the assembly of the states-general, members from each province were furnished with a copy of it within two or three hours, and it was soon afterwards printed, and published. the document, being nothing less than the original secret instructions of the archdukes to their commissioners, was naturally read with intense interest by the states-general, by the foreign envoys, and by the general public. it appeared, from an inspection of the paper, that the commissioners had been told that, if they should find the french, english, and danish ambassadors desirous of being present at the negotiations for the treaty, they were to exclude them from all direct participation in the proceedings. they were to do this however so sweetly and courteously that it would be impossible for those diplomats to take offence or to imagine themselves distrusted. on the contrary, the states-general were to be informed that their communication in private on the general subject with the ambassadors was approved by the archdukes, because they believed the sovereigns of france, england, and denmark, their sincere and affectionate friends. the commissioners were instructed to domesticate themselves as much as possible with president jeannin and to manifest the utmost confidence in his good intentions. they were to take the same course with the english envoys, but in more general terms, and were very discreetly to communicate to them whatever they already knew, and, on the other hand, carefully to conceal from them all that was still a secret. they were distinctly told to make the point of the catholic religion first and foremost in the negotiations; the arguments showing the indispensable necessity of securing its public exercise in the united provinces being drawn up with considerable detail. they were to insist that the republic should absolutely renounce the trade with the east and west indies, and should pledge itself to chastise such of its citizens as might dare to undertake those voyages, as disturbers of the peace and enemies of the public repose, whether they went to the indies in person or associated themselves with men of other nations for that purpose, under any pretext whatever. when these points, together with many matters of detail less difficult of adjustment, had been satisfactorily settled, the commissioners were to suggest measures of union for the common defence between the united and the obedient provinces. this matter was to be broached very gently. "in the sweetest terms possible," it was to be hinted that the whole body of the netherlanders could protect itself against every enemy, but if dismembered as it was about to be, neither the one portion nor the ocher would be safe. the commissioners were therefore to request the offer of some proposition from the states-general for the common defence. in case they remained silent, however, then the commissioners were to declare that the archdukes had no wish to speak of sovereignty over the united provinces, however limited. "having once given them that morsel to swallow," said their highnesses, "we have nothing of the kind in our thoughts. but if they reflect, it is possible that they may see fit to take us for protectors." the scheme was to be managed with great discreetness and delicacy, and accomplished by hook or by crook, if the means could be found. "you need not be scrupulous as to the form or law of protection, provided the name of protector can be obtained," continued the archdukes. at least the greatest pains were to be taken that the two sections of the netherlands might remain friends. "we are in great danger unless we rely upon each other," it was urged. "but touch this chord very gently, lest the french and english hearing of it suspect some design to injure them. at least we may each mutually agree to chastise such of our respective subjects as may venture to make any alliance with the enemies of the other." it was much disputed whether these instructions had been left purposely or by accident in the table-drawer. jeannin could not make up his mind whether it was a trick or not, and the vociferous lamentations of richardot upon his misfortunes made little impression upon his mind. he had small confidence in any austerity of principle on the part of his former fellow-leaguer that would prevent him from leaving the document by stealth, and then protesting that he had been foully wronged by its coming to light. on the whole, he was inclined to think, however, that the paper had been stolen from him. barneveld, after much inquiry, was convinced that it had been left in the drawer by accident. richardot himself manifested rage and dismay when he found that a paper, left by chance in his lodgings, had been published by the states. such a proceeding was a violation, he exclaimed, of the laws of hospitality. with equal justice, he declared it to be an offence against the religious respect due to ambassadors, whose persons and property were sacred in foreign countries. "decency required the states," he said, "to send the document back to him, instead of showing it as a trophy, and he was ready to die of shame and vexation at the unlucky incident." few honourable men will disagree with him in these complaints, although many contemporaries obstinately refused to believe that the crafty and experienced diplomatist could have so carelessly left about his most important archives. he was generally thought by those who had most dealt with him, to prefer, on principle, a crooked path to a straight one. "'tis a mischievous old monkey," said villeroy on another occasion, "that likes always to turn its tail instead of going directly to the purpose." the archduke, however, was very indulgent to his plenipotentiary. "my good master," said the president, "so soon as he learned the loss of that accursed paper, benignantly consoled, instead of chastising me; and, after having looked over the draught, was glad that the accident had happened; for thus his sincerity had been proved, and those who sought profit by the trick had been confounded." on the other hand, what good could it do to the cause of peace, that these wonderful instructions should be published throughout the republic? they might almost seem a fiction, invented by the war party to inspire a general disgust for any further negotiation. every loyal netherlander would necessarily be qualmish at the word peace, now that the whole design of the spanish party was disclosed. the public exercise of the roman religion was now known to be the indispensable condition--first, last, and always--to any possible peace. every citizen of the republic was to be whipped out of the east and west indies, should he dare to show his face in those regions. the states-general, while swallowing the crumb of sovereignty vouchsafed by the archdukes, were to accept them as protectors, in order not to fall a prey to the enemies whom they imagined to be their friends. what could be more hopeless than such negotiations? what more dreary than the perpetual efforts of two lines to approach each other which were mathematically incapable of meeting? that the young republic, conscious of her daily growing strength, should now seek refuge from her nobly won independence in the protectorate of albert, who was himself the vassal of philip, was an idea almost inconceivable to the dutch mind. yet so impossible was it for the archdukes to put themselves into human relations with this new and popular government, that in the inmost recesses of their breasts they actually believed themselves, when making the offer, to be performing a noble act of christian charity. the efforts of jeannin and of the english ambassador were now unremitting, and thoroughly seconded by barneveld. maurice was almost at daggers drawn, not only with the advocate but with the foreign envoys. sir ralph winwood, who had, in virtue of the old treaty arrangements with england, a seat in the state-council at the hague, and who was a man of a somewhat rough and insolent deportment, took occasion at a session of that body, when the prince was present, to urge the necessity of at once resuming the ruptured negotiations. the king of great britain; he said, only recommended a course which he was himself always ready to pursue. hostilities which were necessary, and no others, were just. such, and such only, could be favoured by god or by pious kings. but wars were not necessary which could be honourably avoided. a truce was not to be despised, by which religious liberty and commerce were secured, and it was not the part of wisdom to plunge into all the horrors of immediate war in order to escape distant and problematical dangers; that might arise when the truce should come to an end. if a truce were now made, the kings of both france and england would be guarantees for its faithful observance. they would take care that no wrong or affront was offered to the states-general. maurice replied, with a sneer, to these sententious commonplaces derived at second-hand from king james that great kings were often very indifferent to injuries sustained by their friends. moreover, there was an eminent sovereign, he continued, who was even very patient under affronts directly offered to himself. it was not very long since a horrible plot had been discovered to murder the king of england, with his wife, his children, and all the great personages of the realm. that this great crime had been attempted under the immediate instigation of the king of spain was notorious to the whole world, and certainly no secret to king james. yet his britannic majesty had made haste to exonerate the great criminal from all complicity in the crime; and had ever since been fawning upon the catholic king, and hankering for a family alliance with him. conduct like this the prince denounced in plain terms as cringing and cowardly, and expressed the opinion that guarantees of dutch independence from such a monarch could hardly be thought very valuable. these were terrible words for the representative of james to have hurled in his face in full council by the foremost personage of the republic winwood fell into a furious passion, and of course there was a violent scene, with much subsequent protesting and protocolling. the british king insisted that the prince should make public amends for the insult, and maurice firmly refused to do anything of the kind. the matter was subsequently arranged by some amicable concessions made by the prince in a private letter to james, but there remained for the time a abate of alienation between england and the republic, at which the french sincerely rejoiced. the incident, however, sufficiently shows the point of exasperation which the prince had reached, for, although choleric, he was a reasonable man, and it was only because the whole course of the negotiations had offended his sense of honour and of right that he had at last been driven quite beyond self-control. on the th of october, the envoys of france, england, denmark, and of the elector palatine, the elector of brandeburg, and other german princes, came before the states-general. jeannin, in the name of all these foreign ministers, made a speech warmly recommending the truce. he repelled the insinuation that the measure proposed had been brought about by the artifices of the enemy, and was therefore odious. on the contrary, it was originated by himself and the other good friends of the republic. in his opinion, the terms of the suggested truce contained sufficient guarantees for the liberty of the provinces, not only during the truce, but for ever. no stronger recognition of their independence could be expected than the one given. it was entirely without example, argued the president, that in similar changes brought about by force of arms, sovereigns after having been despoiled of their states have been compelled to abandon their rights shamefully by a public confession, unless they had absolutely fallen into the hands of their enemies and were completely at their mercy. "yet the princes who made this great concession," continued jeannin, "are not lying vanquished at your feet, nor reduced by dire necessity to yield what they have yielded." he reminded the assembly that the swiss enjoyed at that moment their liberty in virtue of a simple truce, without ever having obtained from their former sovereign a declaration such as was now offered to the united provinces. the president argued, moreover, with much force and acuteness that it was beneath the dignity of the states, and inconsistent with their consciousness of strength, to lay so much stress on the phraseology by which their liberty was recognised. that freedom had been won by the sword, and would be maintained against all the world by the sword. "in truth," said the orator, "you do wrong to your liberty by calling it so often in doubt, and in claiming with so much contentious anxiety from your enemies a title-deed for your independence. you hold it by your own public decree. in virtue of that decree, confirmed by the success of your arms, you have enjoyed it long. nor could anything obtained from your enemies be of use to you if those same arms with which you gained your liberty could not still preserve it for you." therefore, in the opinion of the president, this persistence in demanding a more explicit and unlimited recognition of independence was only a pretext for continuing the war, ingeniously used by those who hated peace. addressing himself more particularly to the celebrated circular letter of prince maurice against the truce, the president maintained that the liberty of the republic was as much acknowledged in the proposed articles as if the words "for ever" had been added. "to acknowledge liberty is an act which, by its very nature, admits of no conditions," he observed, with considerable force. the president proceeded to say that in the original negotiations the qualifications obtained had seemed to him enough. as there was an ardent desire, however, on the part of many for a more explicit phraseology, as something necessary to the public safety, he had thought it worth attempting. "we all rejoiced when you obtained it," continued jeannin, "but not when they agreed to renounce the names, titles, and arms of the united provinces; for that seemed to us shameful for them beyond all example. that princes should make concessions so entirely unworthy of their grandeur, excited at once our suspicion, for we could not imagine the cause of an offer so specious. we have since found out the reason." the archdukes being unable, accordingly, to obtain for the truce those specious conditions which spain had originally pretended to yield, it was the opinion of the old diplomatist that the king should be permitted to wear the paste substitutes about which so many idle words had been wasted. it would be better, he thought, for the states to be contented with what was precious and substantial, and not to lose the occasion of making a good treaty of truce, which was sure to be converted with time into an absolute peace. "it is certain," he said, "that the princes with whom you are treating will never go to law with you to get an exposition of the article in question. after the truce has expired, they will go to war with you if you like, but they will not trouble themselves to declare whether they are fighting you as rebels or as enemies, nor will it very much signify. if their arms are successful, they will give you no explanations. if you are the conquerors, they will receive none. the fortune of war will be the supreme judge to decide the dispute; not the words of a treaty. those words are always interpreted to the disadvantage of the weak and the vanquished, although they may be so perfectly clear that no man could doubt them; never to the prejudice of those who have proved the validity of their rights by the strength of their arms." this honest, straightforward cynicism, coming from the lips of one of the most experienced diplomatists of europe, was difficult to gainsay. speaking as one having authority, the president told the states-general in full assembly, that there was no law in christendom, as between nations, but the good old fist-law, the code of brute force. two centuries and a half have rolled by since that oration was pronounced, and the world has made immense progress in science during that period. but there is still room for improvement in this regard in the law of nations. certainly there is now a little more reluctance to come so nakedly before the world. but has the cause of modesty or humanity gained very much by the decorous fig-leaves of modern diplomacy? the president alluded also to the ungrounded fears that bribery and corruption would be able to effect much, during the truce, towards the reduction of the provinces under their repudiated sovereign. after all, it was difficult to buy up a whole people. in a commonwealth, where the people was sovereign, and the persons of the magistrates ever changing, those little comfortable commercial operations could not be managed so easily as in civilized realms like france and england. the old leaguer thought with pensive regret, no doubt, of the hard, but still profitable bargains by which the guises and mayennes and mercoeurs, and a few hundred of their noble adherents, had been brought over to the cause of the king. he sighed at the more recent memories of the marquis de rosny's embassy in england, and his largess scattered broadcast among the great english lords. it would be of little use he foresaw--although the instructions of henry were in his portfolio, giving him almost unlimited powers to buy up everybody in the netherlands that could be bought--to attempt that kind of traffic on a large scale in the netherlands. those republicans were greedy enough about the navigation to the east and west indies, and were very litigious about the claim of spain to put up railings around the ocean as her private lake, but they were less keen than were their more polished contemporaries for the trade in human souls. "when we consider," said jeannin, "the constitution of your state, and that to corrupt a few people among you does no good at all, because the frequent change of magistracies takes away the means of gaining over many of them at the same time, capable by a long duration of their power to conduct an intrigue against the commonwealth, this fear must appear wholly vain." and then the old leaguer, who had always refused bribes himself, although he had negotiated much bribery of others, warmed into sincere eloquence as he spoke of the simple virtues on which the little republic, as should be the case with all republics, was founded. he did homage to the dutch love of liberty. "remember," he said, "the love of liberty which is engraved in the hearts of all your inhabitants, and that there are few persons now living who were born in the days of the ancient subjection, or who have not been nourished and brought up for so long a time in liberty that they have a horror for the very name of servitude. you will then feel that there is not one man in your commonwealth who would wish or dare to open his mouth to bring you back to subjection, without being in danger of instant punishment as a traitor to his country." he again reminded his hearers that the swiss had concluded a long and perilous war with their ancient masters by a simple truce, during which they had established so good a government that they were never more attacked. honest republican principles, and readiness at any moment to defend dearly won liberties, had combined with geographical advantages to secure the national independence of switzerland. jeannin paid full tribute to the maritime supremacy of the republic. "you may have as much good fortune," he said, "as the swiss, if you are wise. you have the ocean at your side, great navigable rivers enclosing you in every direction, a multitude of ships, with sailors, pilots, and seafaring men of every description, who are the very best soldiers in battles at sea to be found in christendom. with these you will preserve your military vigour and your habits of navigation, the long voyages to which you are accustomed continuing as usual. and such is the kind of soldiers you require. as for auxiliaries, should you need them you know where to find them." the president implored the states-general accordingly to pay no attention to the writings which were circulated among the people to prejudice them against the truce. this was aimed directly at the stadholder, who had been making so many direct personal appeals to the people, and who was now the more incensed, recognising the taunt of the president as an arrow taken from barneveld's quiver. there had long ceased to be any communication between the prince and the advocate, and maurice made no secret of his bitter animosity both to barneveld and to jeannin. he hesitated on no occasion to denounce the advocate as travelling straight on the road to spain, and although he was not aware of the twenty thousand florins recently presented by the french king, he had accustomed himself, with the enormous exaggeration of party spirit, to look upon the first statesman of his country and of europe as a traitor to the republic and a tool of the archdukes. as we look back upon those passionate days, we cannot but be appalled at the depths to which theological hatred could descend. on the very morning after the session of the assembly in which jeannin had been making his great speech, and denouncing the practice of secret and incendiary publication, three remarkable letters were found on the doorstep of a house in the hague. one was addressed to the states-general, another to the mates of holland, and a third to the burgomaster of amsterdam. in all these documents, the advocate was denounced as an infamous traitor, who was secretly intriguing to bring about a truce for the purpose of handing over the commonwealth to the enemy. a shameful death, it was added, would be his fitting reward. these letters were read in the assembly of the states-general, and created great wrath among the friends of barneveld. even maurice expressed indignation, and favoured a search for the anonymous author, in order that he might be severely punished. it seems strange enough that anonymous letters picked up in the street should have been deemed a worthy theme of discussion before their high mightinesses the states-general. moreover, it was raining pamphlets and libels against barneveld and his supporters every day, and the stories which grave burghers and pious elders went about telling to each other, and to everybody who would listen to them, about the advocate's depravity, were wonderful to hear. at the end of september, just before the spanish commissioners left the hague, a sledge of the kind used in the dutch cities as drays stopped before barneveld's front-door one fine morning, and deposited several large baskets, filled with money, sent by the envoys for defraying certain expenses of forage, hire of servants, and the like, incurred by them during their sojourn at the hague, and disbursed by the states. the sledge, with its contents, was at once sent by order of the advocate, under guidance of commissary john spronsen, to the receiver-general of the republic. yet men wagged their beards dismally as they whispered this fresh proof of barneveld's venality. as if spinola and his colleagues were such blunderers in bribing as to send bushel baskets full of spanish dollars on a sledge, in broad daylight, to the house of a great statesman whom they meant to purchase, expecting doubtless a receipt in full to be brought back by the drayman! well might the advocate say at a later moment, in the bitterness of his spirit, that his enemies, not satisfied with piercing his heart with their false, injurious and honour-filching libels and stories, were determined to break it. "he begged god almighty," he said, "to be merciful to him, and to judge righteously between him and them." party spirit has rarely run higher in any commonwealth than in holland during these memorable debates concerning a truce. yet the leaders both of the war party and the truce party were doubtless pure, determined patriots, seeking their country's good with all their souls and strength. maurice answered the discourse of jeannin by a second and very elaborate letter. in this circular, addressed to the magistracies of holland, he urged his countrymen once more with arguments already employed by him, and in more strenuous language than ever, to beware of a truce even more than of a peace, and warned them not to swerve by a hair's breadth from the formula in regard to the sovereignty agreed upon at the very beginning of the negotiations. to this document was appended a paper of considerations, drawn up by maurice and lewis william, in refutation, point by point, of all the arguments of president jeannin in his late discourse. it is not necessary to do more than allude to these documents, which were marked by the close reasoning and fiery spirit which characterized all the appeals of the prince and his cousin at this period, because the time had now come which comes to all controversies when argument is exhausted and either action or compromise begins. meantime, barneveld, stung almost to madness by the poisonous though ephemeral libels which buzzed so perpetually about him, had at last resolved to retire from the public service. he had been so steadily denounced as being burthensome to his superiors in birth by the power which he had acquired, and to have shot up so far above the heads of his equals; that he felt disposed to withdraw from a field where his presence was becoming odious. his enemies, of course, considered this determination a trick by which he merely wished to prove to the country how indispensable he was, and to gain a fresh lease of his almost unlimited power by the alarm which his proposed abdication would produce. certainly, however, if it were a trick, and he were not indispensable, it was easy enough to prove it and to punish him by taking him at his word. on the morning after the anonymous letters had been found in the street he came into the house of assembly and made a short speech. he spoke simply of his thirty-one years of service, during which he believed himself to have done his best for the good of the fatherland and for the welfare of the house of nassau. he had been ready thus to go on to the end, but he saw himself environed by enemies, and felt that his usefulness had been destroyed. he wished, therefore, in the interest of the country, not from any fear for himself, to withdraw from the storm, and for a time at least to remain in retirement. the displeasure and hatred of the great were nothing new to him, he said. he had never shrunk from peril when he could serve his fatherland; for against all calumnies and all accidents he had worn the armour of a quiet conscience. but he now saw that the truce, in itself an unpleasant affair, was made still more odious by the hatred felt towards him. he begged the provinces, therefore, to select another servant less hated than himself to provide for the public welfare. having said these few words with the dignity which was natural to him he calmly walked out of the assembly house. the personal friends of barneveld and the whole truce party were in consternation. even the enemies of the advocate shrank appalled at the prospect of losing the services of the foremost statesman of the commonwealth at this critical juncture. there was a brief and animated discussion as soon as his back was turned. its result was the appointment of a committee of five to wait upon barneveld and solemnly to request him to reconsider his decision. their efforts were successful. after a satisfactory interview with the committee he resumed his functions with greater authority than ever. of course there were not wanting many to whisper that the whole proceeding had been a comedy, and that barneveld would have been more embarrassed than he had ever been in his life had his resignation been seriously accepted. but this is easy to say, and is always said, whenever a statesman who feels himself aggrieved, yet knows himself useful, lays dawn his office. the advocate had been the mark of unceasing and infamous calumnies. he had incurred the deadly hatred of the highest placed, the most powerful, and the most popular man in the commonwealth. he had more than once been obliged to listen to opprobrious language from the prince, and it was even whispered that he had been threatened with personal violence. that maurice was perpetually denouncing him in public and private, as a traitor, a papist, a spanish partisan, was notorious. he had just been held up to the states of the union and of his own province by unknown voices as a criminal worthy of death. was it to be wondered at that a man of sixty, who had passed his youth, manhood, and old age in the service of the republic, and was recognised by all as the ablest, the most experienced, the most indefatigable of her statesmen, should be seriously desirous of abandoning an office which might well seem to him rather a pillory than a post of honour? "as for neighbour barneveld," said recorder aerssens, little dreaming of the foul witness he was to bear against that neighbour at a terrible moment to come, "i do what i can and wish to help him with my blood. he is more courageous than i. i should have sunk long ago, had i been obliged to stand against such tempests. the lord god will, i hope, help him and direct his understanding for the good of all christendom, and for his own honour. if he can steer this ship into a safe harbour we ought to raise a golden statue of him. i should like to contribute my mite to it. he deserves twice much honour, despite all his enemies, of whom he has many rather from envy than from reason. may the lord keep him in health, or it will go hardly with us all." thus spoke some of his grateful countrymen when the advocate was contending at a momentous crisis with storms threatening to overwhelm the republic. alas! where is the golden statue? he believed that the truce was the most advantageous measure that the country could adopt. he believed this with quite as much sincerity as maurice held to his conviction that war was the only policy. in the secret letter of the french ambassador there is not a trace of suspicion as to his fidelity to the commonwealth, not the shadow of proof of the ridiculous accusation that he wished to reduce the provinces to the dominion of spain. jeannin, who had no motive for concealment in his confidential correspondence with his sovereign, always rendered unequivocal homage to the purity and patriotism of the advocate and the prince. he returned to the states-general and to the discharge of his functions as advocate-general of holland. his policy for the time was destined to be triumphant, his influence more extensive than ever. but the end of these calumnies and anonymous charges was not yet. meantime the opposition to the truce was confined to the states of zeeland and two cities of holland. those cities were very important ones, amsterdam and delft, but they were already wavering in their opposition. zeeland stoutly maintained that the treaty of utrecht forbade a decision of the question of peace and war except by a unanimous vote of the whole confederacy. the other five provinces and the friends of the truce began with great vehemence to declare that the question at issue was now changed. it was no longer to be decided whether there should be truce or war with spain, but whether a single member of the confederacy could dictate its law to the other six states. zeeland, on her part, talked loudly of seceding from the union, and setting up for an independent, sovereign commonwealth. she would hardly have been a very powerful one, with her half-dozen cities, one prelate, one nobleman, her hundred thousand burghers at most, bustling and warlike as they were, and her few thousand mariners, although the most terrible fighting men that had ever sailed on blue water. she was destined ere long to abandon her doughty resolution of leaving her sister provinces to their fate. maurice had not slackened in his opposition to the truce, despite the renewed vigour with which barneveld pressed the measure since his return to the public councils. the prince was firmly convinced that the kings of france and england would assist the republic in the war with spain so soon as it should be renewed. his policy had been therefore to force the hand of those sovereigns, especially that of henry, and to induce him to send more stringent instructions to jeannin than those with which he believed him to be furnished. he had accordingly despatched a secret emissary to the french king, supplied with confidential and explicit instructions. this agent was a captain lambert. whether it was "pretty lambert," "dandy lambert"--the vice-admiral who had so much distinguished himself at the great victory of gibraltar--does not distinctly appear. if it were so, that hard-hitting mariner would seem to have gone into action with the french government as energetically as he had done eighteen months before, when, as master of the tiger, he laid himself aboard the spanish admiral and helped send the st. augustine to the bottom. he seemed indisposed to mince matters in diplomacy. he intimated to the king and his ministers that jeannin and his colleagues were pushing the truce at the hague much further and faster than his majesty could possibly approve, and that they were obviously exceeding their instructions. jeannin, who was formerly so much honoured and cherished throughout the republic, was now looked upon askance because of his intimacy with barneveld and his partisans. he assured the king that nearly all the cities of holland, and the whole of zeeland, were entirely agreed with maurice, who would rather die than consent to the proposed truce. the other provinces, added lambert, would be obliged, will ye nill ye, to receive the law from holland and zeeland. maurice, without assistance from france or any other power, would give spain and the archdukes as much exercise as they could take for the next fifty years before he would give up, and had declared that he would rather die sword in hand than basely betray his country by consenting to such a truce. as for barneveld, he was already discovering the blunders which he had made, and was trying to curry favour with maurice. barneveld and both the aprasens were traitors to the state, had become the objects of general hatred and contempt, and were in great danger of losing their lives, or at least of being expelled from office. here was altogether too much zeal on the part of pretty lambert; a quality which, not for the first time, was thus proved to be less useful in diplomatic conferences than in a sea-fight. maurice was obliged to disavow his envoy, and to declare that his secret instructions had never authorized him to hold such language. but the mischief was done. the combustion in the french cabinet was terrible. the dutch admiral had thrown hot shot into the powder-magazine of his friends, and had done no more good by such tactics than might be supposed. such diplomacy was denounced as a mere mixture of "indiscretion and impudence." henry was very wroth, and forthwith indited an imperious letter to his cousin maurice. "lambert's talk to me by your orders," said the king, "has not less astonished than scandalized me. i now learn the new resolution which you have taken, and i observe that you have begun to entertain suspicions as to my will and my counsels on account of the proposition of truce." henry's standing orders to jeannin, as we know, were to offer maurice a pension of almost unlimited amount, together with ample rewards to all such of his adherents as could be purchased, provided they would bring about the incorporation of the united provinces into france. he was therefore full of indignation that the purity of his intentions and the sincerity of his wish for the independence of the republic could be called in question. "people have dared to maliciously invent," he continued, "that i am the enemy of the repose and the liberty of the united provinces, and that i was afraid lest they should acquire the freedom which had been offered them by their enemies, because i derived a profit from their war, and intended in time to deprive them of their liberty. yet these falsehoods and jealousies have not been contradicted by you nor by anyone else, although you know that the proofs of my sincerity and good faith have been entirely without reproach or example. you knew what was said, written, and published everywhere, and i confess that when i knew this malice, and that you had not taken offence at it, i was much amazed and very malcontent." queen elizabeth, in her most waspish moods, had not often lectured the states-general more roundly than henry now lectured his cousin maurice. the king once more alluded to the secret emissary's violent talk, which had so much excited his indignation. "if by weakness and want of means," he said, "you are forced to abandon to your enemies one portion of your country in order to defend the other-as lambert tells me you are resolved to do, rather than agree to the truce without recognition of your sovereignty for ever--i pray you to consider how many accidents and reproaches may befal you. do you suppose that any ally of the states, or of your family, would risk his reputation and his realms in such a game, which would seem to be rather begun in passion and despair than required by reason or necessity?" here certainly was plain speaking enough, and maurice could no longer expect the king for his partner, should he decide to risk once more the bloody hazard of the die. but henry was determined to leave no shade of doubt on the subject. "lambert tells me," he said, "that you would rather perish with arms in your hands than fall shamefully into inevitable ruin by accepting truce. i have been and am of a contrary opinion. perhaps i am mistaken, not knowing as well as you do the constitution of your country and the wishes of your people. but i know the general affairs of christendom better than you do, and i can therefore judge more soundly on the whole matter than you can, and i know that the truce, established and guaranteed as proposed, will bring you more happiness than you can derive from war." thus the king, in the sweeping, slashing way with which he could handle an argument as well as a sword, strode forward in conscious strength, cutting down right and left all opposition to his will. he was determined, once for all, to show the stadholder and his adherents that the friendship of a great king was not to be had by a little republic on easy terms, nor every day. above all, the prince of nassau was not to send a loud-talking, free and easy dutch sea-captain to dictate terms to the king of france and navarre. "lambert tells me"--and maurice might well wish that pretty lambert had been sunk in the bay of gibraltar, tiger and all, before he had been sent on this diplomatic errand, "lambert tells me," continued his majesty, "that you and the states-general would rather that i should remain neutral, and let you make war in your own fashion, than that i should do anything more to push on this truce. my cousin, it would be very easy for me, and perhaps more advantageous for me and my kingdom than you think, if i could give you this satisfaction, whatever might be the result. if i chose to follow this counsel, i am, thanks be to god, in such condition, that i have no neighbour who is not as much in need of me as i can be of him, and who is not glad to seek for and to preserve my friendship. if they should all conspire against me moreover, i can by myself, and with no assistance but heaven's, which never failed me yet, wrestle with them altogether, and fling them all, as some of my royal predecessors have done. know then, that i do not favour war nor truce for the united provinces because of any need i may have of the one or the other for the defence of my own sceptre. the counsels and the succours, which you have so largely received from me, were given because of my consideration for the good of the states, and of yourself in particular, whom i have always favoured and cherished, as i have done others of your house on many occasions." the king concluded his lecture by saying, that after his ambassadors had fulfilled their promise, and had spoken the last word of their master at the hague, he should leave maurice and the states to do as they liked. "but i desire," he said, "that you and the states should not do that wrong to yourselves or to me as to doubt the integrity of my counsels nor the actions of my ambassadors: i am an honest man and a prince of my word, and not ignorant of the things of this world. neither the states nor you, with your adherents, can permit my honour to be compromised without tarnishing your own, and without being branded for ingratitude. i say not this in order to reproach you for the past nor to make you despair of the future, but to defend the truth. i expect, therefore, that you will not fall into this fault, knowing you as i do. i pay more heed to what you said in your letter than in all lambert's fine talk, and you will find out that nobody wishes your prosperity and that of the states more sincerely than i do, or can be more useful to you than i can." [i have abbreviated this remarkable letter, but of course the text of the passages cited is literally given. j.l.m.] there could be but little doubt in the mind of prince maurice, after this letter had been well pondered, that barneveld had won the game, and that the peace party had triumphed. to resume the war, with the french king not merely neutral but angry and covertly hostile, and with the sovereign of great britain an almost open enemy in the garb of an ally, might well seem a desperate course. and maurice, although strongly opposed to the truce, and confident in his opinions at this crisis, was not a desperado. he saw at once the necessity of dismounting from the high horse upon which, it must be confessed, he had been inclined for more rough-riding of late than the situation warranted. peace was unattainable, war was impossible, truce was inevitable; barneveld was master of the field. the prince acquiesced in the result which the letter from the french king so plainly indicated. he was, however, more incensed than ever against barneveld; for he felt himself not only checkmated but humiliated by the advocate, and believed him a traitor, who was selling the republic to spain. it was long since the two had exchanged a word. maurice now declared, on more than one occasion, that it was useless for him any longer to attempt opposition to the policy of truce. the states must travel on the road which they had chosen, but it should not be under his guidance, and he renounced all responsibility for the issue. dreading disunion, however, more than ought else that could befal the republic, he now did his best to bring about the return of zeeland to the federal councils. he was successful. the deputies from that province reappeared in the states-general on the th november. they were still earnest, however, in their opposition to the truce, and warmly maintained, in obedience to instructions, that the union of utrecht forbade the conclusion of a treaty except by unanimous consent of the seven provinces. they were very fierce in their remonstrances, and again talked loudly of secession. after consultation with barneveld, the french envoys now thought it their duty to take the recalcitrant zeelanders in hand; maurice having, as it were, withdrawn from the contest. on the th november, accordingly, jeannin once more came very solemnly before the states-general, accompanied by his diplomatic colleagues. he showed the impossibility of any arrangement, except by the submission of zeeland to a vote of the majority. "it is certain," he said, "that six provinces will never be willing to be conquered by a single one, nor permit her to assert that, according to a fundamental law of the commonwealth, her dissent can prevent the others from forming a definite conclusion. "it is not for us," continued the president, "who are strangers in your republic, to interpret your laws, but common sense teaches us that, if such a law exist, it could only have been made in order to forbid a surrender. "if any one wishes to expound it otherwise, to him we would reply, in the words of an ancient roman, who said of a law which seemed to him pernicious, that at least the tablet upon which it was inscribed, if it could not be destroyed, should be hidden out of sight. thus at least the citizens might escape observing it, when it was plain that it would cause detriment to the republic, and they might then put in its place the most ancient of all laws, 'salus populi suprema lex.'" the president, having suggested this ingenious expedient of the antique roman for getting rid of a constitutional provision by hiding the statute-book, proceeded to give very practical reasons for setting, up the supreme law of the people's safety on this occasion. and, certainly, that magnificent common-place, which has saved and ruined so many states, the most effective weapon in the political arsenal, whether wielded by tyrants or champions of freedom, was not unreasonably recommended at this crisis to the states in their contest with the refractory zeelanders. it was easy to talk big, but after all it would be difficult for that doughty little sandbank, notwithstanding the indomitable energy which it had so often shown by land and sea, to do battle by itself with the whole spanish empire. nor was it quite consistent with republican principles that the other six provinces should be plunged once more into war, when they had agreed to accept peace and independence instead, only that zeeland should have its way. the orator went on to show the absurdity, in his opinion, of permitting one province to continue the war, when all seven united had not the means to do it without the assistance of their allies. he pointed out, too, the immense blunders that would be made, should it be thought that the kings of france and england were so much interested in saving the provinces from perdition as to feel obliged in any event to render them assistance. "beware of committing an irreparable fault," he said, "on so insecure a foundation. you are deceiving yourselves: and, in order that there may be no doubt on the subject, we declare to you by express command that if your adversaries refuse the truce, according to the articles presented to you by us, it is the intention of our kings to assist you with armies and subsidies, not only as during the past, but more powerfully than before. if, on the contrary, the rupture comes from your side, and you despise the advice they are giving you, you have no succour to expect from them. the refusal of conditions so honourable and advantageous to your commonwealth will render the war a useless one, and they are determined to do nothing to bring the reproach upon themselves." the president then intimated; not without adroitness, that the republic was placing herself in a proud position by accepting the truce, and that spain was abasing herself by giving her consent to it. the world was surprised that the states should hesitate at all. there was much more of scholastic dissertation in the president's address, but enough has been given to show its very peremptory character. if the war was to go on it was to be waged mainly by zeeland alone. this was now plain beyond all peradventure. the other provinces had resolved to accept the proposed treaty. the cities of delft and amsterdam, which had stood out so long among the estates of holland, soon renounced their opposition. prince maurice, with praiseworthy patriotism, reconciled himself with the inevitable, and now that the great majority had spoken, began to use his influence with the factious minority. on the day after jeannin's speech he made a visit to the french ambassadors. after there had been some little discussion among them, barneveld made his appearance. his visit seemed an accidental one, but it had been previously arranged with the envoys. the general conversation went on a little longer, when the advocate, frankly turning to the prince, spoke of the pain which he felt at the schism between them. he defended himself with honest warmth against the rumours circulated, in which he was accused of being a spanish partisan. his whole life had been spent in fighting spain, and he was now more determined than ever in his hostility to that monarchy. he sincerely believed that by the truce now proposed all the solid advantages of the war would be secured, and that such a result was a triumphant one for the republic. he was also most desirous of being restored to the friendship and good opinion of the house of nassau; having proved during his whole life his sincere attachment to their interests--a sentiment never more lively in his breast than at that moment. this advance was graciously met by the stadholder, and the two distinguished personages were, for the time at least, reconciled. it was further debated as to the number of troops that it be advisable for the states to maintain during the truce and barneveld expressed his decided opinion that thirty thousand men, at least, would be required. this opinion gave the prince at least as much pleasure as did the personal devotion expressed by the advocate, and he now stated his intention of working with the peace party. the great result was now certain. delft and amsterdam withdrew from their opposition to the treaty, so that holland was unanimous before the year closed; zeeland, yielding to the influence of maurice, likewise gave in her adhesion to the truce. the details of the mode in which the final arrangement was made are not especially interesting. the discussion was fairly at an end. the subject had been picked to the bones. it was agreed that the french ambassadors should go over the frontier, and hold a preliminary interview with the spanish commissioners at antwerp. the armistice was to be continued by brief and repeated renewals, until it should be superseded by the truce of years: meantime, archduke albert sent his father confessor, inigo brizuela, to spain, in order to make the treaty posed by jeannin palatable to the king? the priest was to set forth to philip, as only a ghostly confessor could do with full effect, that he need not trouble himself about the recognition by the proposed treaty of the independence of the united provinces. ambiguous words had been purposely made use of in this regard, he was to explain, so that not only the foreign ambassadors were of opinion that the rights of spain were not curtailed, but the emptiness of the imaginary recognition of dutch freedom had been proved by the sharp criticism of the states. it is true that richardot, in the name of the archduke, had three months before promised the consent of the king, as having already been obtained. but richardot knew very well when he made the statement that it was false. the archduke, in subsequent correspondence with the ambassadors in december, repeated the pledge. yet, not only had the king not given that consent, but he had expressly refused it by a courier sent in november. philip, now convinced by brother inigo that while agreeing to treat with the states-general as with a free commonwealth, over which he pretended to no authority, he really meant that he was dealing with vassals over whom his authority was to be resumed when it suited his convenience, at last gave his consent to the proposed treaty. the royal decision was, however, kept for a time concealed, in order that the states might become more malleable. etext editor's bookmarks: a truce he honestly considered a pitfall of destruction alas! we must always have something to persecute argument is exhausted and either action or compromise begins beware of a truce even more than of a peace could handle an argument as well as a sword god alone can protect us against those whom we trust humble ignorance as the safest creed man is never so convinced of his own wisdom peace was unattainable, war was impossible, truce was inevitable readiness at any moment to defend dearly won liberties such an excuse was as bad as the accusation the art of ruling the world by doing nothing to doubt the infallibility of calvin was as heinous a crime what exchequer can accept chronic warfare and escape bankruptcy words are always interpreted to the disadvantage of the weak history of the united netherlands from the death of william the silent to the twelve year's truce-- by john lothrop motley history united netherlands, volume , chapter lii. vote of the states-general on the groundwork of the treaty-- meeting of the plenipotentiaries for arrangement of the truce-- signing of the twelve years' truce--its purport--the negotiations concluded--ratification by the states-general, the archdukes, and the king of spain--question of toleration--appeal of president jeannin on behalf of the catholics--religious liberty the fruit of the war--internal arrangements of the states under the rule of peace--deaths of john duke of cleves and jacob arminius--doctrines of arminius and gomarus--theological warfare--twenty years' truce between the turkish and roman empires--ferdinand of styria-- religious peace--prospects of the future. on the th january, , the states-general decided by unanimous vote that the first point in the treaty should be not otherwise fixed than, thus:-- "that the archdukes--to superfluity--declare, as well in their own name as in that of the king of spain, their willingness to treat with the lords states of the united provinces in the capacity of, and as holding them for, free countries, provinces, and states, over which they have no claim, and that they are making a treaty with them in those said names and qualities." it was also resolved not to permit that any ecclesiastical or secular matters, conflicting with the above-mentioned freedom, should be proposed; nor that any delay should be sought for, by reason of the india navigation or any other point. in case anything to the contrary should be attempted by the king or the archdukes, and the deliberations protracted in consequence more than eight days, it was further decided by unanimous vote that the negotiations should at once be broken off, and the war forthwith renewed, with the help, if possible, of the kings, princes, and states, friends of the good cause. this vigorous vote was entirely the work of barneveld, the man whom his enemies dared to denounce as the partisan of spain, and to hold up as a traitor deserving of death. it was entirely within his knowledge that a considerable party in the provinces had grown so weary of the war, and so much alarmed at the prospect of the negotiations for truce coming to nought, as to be ready to go into a treaty without a recognition of the independence of the states. this base faction was thought to be instigated by the english government, intriguing secretly with president richardot. the advocate, acting in full sympathy with jeannin, frustrated the effects of the manoeuvre by obtaining all the votes of holland and zeeland for this supreme resolution. the other five provinces dared to make no further effort in that direction against the two controlling states of the republic. it was now agreed that the french and english ambassadors should delay going to antwerp until informed of the arrival in that city of spinola and his colleagues; and that they should then proceed thither, taking with them the main points of the treaty, as laid down by themselves, and accepted with slight alterations by the states. when the spanish commissioners had signed these points the plenipotentiaries were to come to antwerp in order to settle other matters of less vital import. meantime, the states-general were to be summoned to assemble in bergen-op-zoom, that they might be ready to deal with difficulties, should any arise. the first meeting took place on the th february, . the first objection to the draught was made by the spaniards. it was about words and wind. they liked not the title of high and puissant lords which was given to the states-general, and they proposed to turn the difficulty by abstaining from giving any qualifications whatever, either to the archdukes or the republican authorities. the states refused to lower these ensigns of their new-born power. it was, however, at last agreed that, instead of high and mighty, they should be called illustrious and serene. this point being comfortably adjusted, the next and most important one was accepted by the spaniards. the independence of the states was recognised according to the prescribed form. then came the great bone of contention, over which there had been such persistent wrangling--the india trade. the spanish government had almost registered a vow in heaven that the word india should not be mentioned in the treaty. it was no less certain that india was stamped upon the very heart of the republic, and could not be torn from it while life remained. the subtle diplomatists now invented a phrase in which the word should not appear, while the thing itself should be granted. the spaniards, after much altercation, at last consented. by the end of february, most of the plenipotentiaries thought it safe to request the appearance of the states-general at bergen-op-zoom. jeannin, not altogether satisfied, however, with the language of the spaniards in regard to india, raised doubts as to the propriety of issuing the summons. putting on his most reverend and artless expression of countenance, he assured richardot that he had just received a despatch from the hague, to the effect that the india point would, in all probability, cause the states at that very moment to break off the negotiations. it was surely premature, therefore, to invite them to bergen. the despatch from the hague was a neat fiction on the part of the president, but it worked admirably. the other president, himself quite as ready at inventions as jeannin could possibly be, was nevertheless taken in; the two ex-leaguers being, on the whole, fully a match for each other in the art of intrigue. richardot, somewhat alarmed, insisted that the states should send their plenipotentiaries to antwerp as soon as possible. he would answer for it that they would not go away again without settling upon the treaty. the commissioners were forbidden, by express order from spain, to name the indies in writing, but they would solemnly declare, by word of mouth, that the states should have full liberty to trade to those countries; the king of spain having no intention of interfering with such traffic during the period of the truce. the commissioners came to antwerp. the states-general assembled at bergen. on the th april, , the truce for twelve years was signed. this was its purport: the preamble recited that the most serene princes and archdukes, albert and isabella clara eugenic, had made, on the th april, , a truce and cessation of arms for eight months with the illustrious lords the states-general of the united provinces of the netherlands, in quality of, and as holding them for, states, provinces, and free countries, over which they pretended to nothing; which truce was ratified by his catholic majesty, as to that which concerned him, by letters patent of th september, ; and that, moreover, a special power had been given to the archdukes on the th january, , to enable them in the king's name as well as their own to do everything that they might think proper to bring about a peace or a truce of many years. it then briefly recited the rupture of the negotiations for peace, and the subsequent, proposition, originated by the foreign ambassadors, to renew the conference for the purpose of concluding a truce. the articles of the treaty thus agreed upon were: that the archdukes declared, as well in their own name as that of the king, that they were content to treat with the lords the states-general of the united provinces in quality of, and as holding them for, countries, provinces, and free states, over which they pretended to nothing, and to, make with them a truce on certain following conditions--to wit: that the truce should be good, firm, loyal, inviolable, and for the term of twelve years, during which time there was to be cessation of all acts of hostility between the king, archdukes, and states-general, as well by sea and other waters as by land, in all their kingdoms, countries, lands, and lordships, and for all their subjects and inhabitants of whatever quality and condition, without exception of places or of persons. that each party should remain seized of their respective possessions, and be not troubled therein during the truce. that the subjects and inhabitants of the respective countries should preserve amity and good correspondence during the truce, without referring to past offences, and should freely and securely entertain communication and traffic with each other by land and sea. this provision, however, was to be expressly understood as limited by the king to the kingdoms and countries possessed by him in europe, and in other places and seas where the subjects of other kings and princes, his friends and allies, have amicable traffic. in regard, however, to places, cities, ports, and harbours which he possessed outside of those limits, the states and their subjects were to exercise no traffic, without express permission of the king. they could, however, if they chose, trade with the countries of all other princes, potentates, and peoples who were willing to permit it; even outside those limits, without any hindrance by the king; that the truce should begin in regard to those distant countries after a year from date, unless actual notification could be sooner served there on those concerned; that the subjects of the united provinces should have the same liberty and privilege within the states of the king and archdukes as had been accorded to the subjects of the by the king of great britain, according to the last treaty made with that sovereign; that letters of marque and reprisal should not be granted during the truce, except for special cause, and in cases permitted by the laws and imperial constitutions, and according to the rules therein prescribed; that those who had retired into neutral territory during the war were also to enjoy the benefit of the truce, and could reside wherever they liked without being deprived of their property; that the treaty should be ratified by the archdukes and the states-general within four days. as to the ratification of the king, the archdukes were bound to deliver it in good and due form within three months, in order that the lords the states-general, their subjects and inhabitants, might enjoy effectively the fruits of the treaty; that the treaty should be published everywhere immediately after the ratification of the archdukes and states-general. this document was signed by the ambassadors of the kings of france and great britain, as mediators, and then by the deputies of the archdukes, and afterwards by those of the lords the states-general. there were thirty-eight articles in all, but the chief provisions have been indicated. the other clauses, relating to boundaries, confiscations, regulations of duties, frontier fortifications, the estates of the nassau family, and other sequestrated property, have no abiding interest. there was also a secret and special treaty which was demanded of the king of spain by the states-general, and by him accorded. this secret treaty consisted of a single clause. that clause was made up of a brief preamble and of a promise. the preamble recited textually article fourth of the public treaty relative to the india trade. the promise was to this effect. for the period of the truce the spanish commissioners pledged the faith of the king and of his successors that his majesty would cause no impediment, whether by sea or land, to the states nor their subjects, in the traffic that thereafter might be made in the countries of all princes, potentates, and peoples who might permit the same, in whatever place it might be, even without the limits designated, and everywhere else, nor similarly to those carrying on such traffic with them, and that the king and his successors would faithfully carry into effect everything thus laid, down, so that the said traffic should be free and secure, consenting even, in order that the clause might be the more authentic, that it should be considered as inserted in the principal treaty, and as making part thereof. it will be perceived that the first article of all, and the last or secret article, contained the whole marrow of the treaty. it may be well understood, therefore, with what wry faces the spanish plenipotentiaries ultimately signed the document. after two years and a quarter of dreary negotiation, the republic had carried all its points, without swerving a hair's breadth from the principles laid down in the beginning. the only concession made was that the treaty was for a truce of twelve years, and not for peace. but as after all, in those days, an interval of twelve years might be almost considered an eternity of peace, and as calling a peace perpetual can never make it so, the difference was rather one of phraseology than of fact. on the other hand, the states had extorted from their former sovereign a recognition of their independence. they had secured the india trade. they had not conceded catholic worship. mankind were amazed at this result--an event hitherto unknown in history. when before had a sovereign acknowledged the independence of his rebellious subjects, and signed a treaty with them as with equals? when before had spain, expressly or by implication, admitted that the east and west indies were not her private property, and that navigators to those regions, from other countries than her own, were not to be chastised as trespassers and freebooters? yet the liberty of the netherlands was acknowledged in terms which convinced the world that it was thenceforth an established fact. and india was as plainly expressed by the omission of the word, as if it had been engrossed in large capitals in article iv. the king's government might seek solace in syntax. they might triumph in cardinal bentivoglio's subtleties, and persuade themselves that to treat with the republic as a free nation was not to hold it for a free nation then and for ever. but the whole world knew that the republic really was free, and that it had treated, face to face, with its former sovereign, exactly as the kings of france or great britain, or the grand turk, might treat with him. the new commonwealth had taken its place among the nations of the earth. other princes and potentates made not the slightest difficulty in recognising it for an independent power and entering into treaties and alliances with it as with any other realm. to the republic the substantial blessing of liberty: to his catholic majesty the grammatical quirk. when the twelve years should expire, spain might reconquer the united provinces if she could; relying upon the great truth that an adverb was not a preposition. and france or great britain might attempt the same thing if either felt strong enough for the purpose. did as plausible a pretext as that ever fail to a state ambitious of absorbing its neighbours? jeannin was right enough in urging that this famous clause of recognition ought to satisfy both parties. if the united provinces, he said, happened not to have the best muskets and cannons on their side when it should once more come to blows, small help would they derive from verbal bulwarks and advantages in the text of treaties. richardot consoled himself with his quibbles; for quibbles were his daily bread. "thank god our truce is made," said he, "and we have only lost the sovereignty for twelve years, if after that we have the means or the will to resume the war--whatever don pedro de toledo may say." barneveld, on his part, was devoutly and soberly pleased with the result. "to-day we have concluded our negotiations for the truce," he wrote to aerssens. "we must pray to the lord god, and we must do our highest duty that our work may redound to his honour and glory, and to the nation's welfare. it is certain that men will make their criticisms upon it according to their humours. but those who love their country, and all honest people who know the condition of the land, will say that it is well done." thus modestly, religiously, and sincerely spoke a statesman, who felt that he had accomplished a great work, and that he had indeed brought the commonwealth through the tempest at last. the republic had secured the india trade. on this point the negotiators had taken refuge in that most useful figure of speech for hard-pressed diplomatists and law-makers--the ellipsis. they had left out the word india, and his catholic majesty might persuade himself that by such omission a hemisphere had actually been taken away from the dutch merchants and navigators. but the whole world saw that article iv. really contained both the east and west indies. it hardly needed the secret clause to make assurance doubly sure. president richardot was facetiously wont to observe that this point in the treaty was so obscure that he did not understand it himself. but he knew better. he understood it very well. the world understood it very well. the united provinces had throughout the negotiations ridiculde the idea of being excluded from any part of the old world or, the new by reason of the borgian grant. all the commissioners knew that the war would be renewed if any attempt were to be seriously made to put up those famous railings around the ocean, of which the dutch diplomatists spoke in such bitter scorn. the spanish plenipotentiaries, therefore, had insisted that the word itself should be left out, and that the republic should be forbidden access to territories subject to the crown of spain. so the hollanders were thenceforth to deal directly with the kings of sumatra and the moluccas, and the republics of banda, and all the rich commonwealths and principalities of nutmegs; cloves, and indigo, unless, as grew every day more improbable, the spaniards and portuguese could exclude them from that traffic by main force. and the orange flag of the republic was to float with equal facility over all america, from the isle of manhattan to the shores of brazil and the straits of magellan, provided philip had not ships and soldiers to vindicate with the sword that sovereignty which spanish swords and spanish genius had once acquired. as for the catholic worship, the future was to prove that liberty for the old religion and for all forms of religion was a blessing more surely to flow from the enlightened public sentiment of a free people emerging out of the most tremendous war for liberty ever waged, than from the stipulations of a treaty with a foreign power. it was characteristic enough of the parties engaged in the great political drama that the republic now requested from france and great britain a written recognition of its independence, and that both france and england refused. it was strange that the new commonwealth, in the very moment of extorting her freedom from the ancient tyranny, should be so unconscious of her strength as to think free papers from neutral powers a boon. as if the sign-manual of james and henry were a better guarantee than the trophies of the nassaus, of heemskerk, of matelieff, and of olden-barneveld! it was not strange that the two sovereigns should decline the proposition; for we well know the secret aspirations of each, and it was natural that they should be unwilling to sign a formal quit-claim, however improbable it might be that those dreams should ever become a reality. both powers, however, united in a guarantee of the truce. this was signed on the th june, and stipulated that, without their knowledge and consent, the states should make no treaty during the period of truce with the king of spain or the archdukes. on the other hand, in case of an infraction of the truce by the enemy, the two kings agreed to lend assistance to the states in the manner provided--by the treaties concluded with the republic previously to the negotiation of the truce. the treaty had been at once ratified by the states-general, assembled for the purpose with an extraordinary number of deputies at bergen-op-zoom. it was also ratified without delay by the archdukes. the delivery of the confirmation by his catholic majesty had been promised within three months after the signatures of the plenipotentiaries. it would however have been altogether inconsistent with the dignity and the traditions of the spanish court to fulfil this stipulation. it was not to be expected that "i the king" could be written either by the monarch himself, or by his alter ego the duke of lerma, in so short a time as a quarter of a year. several weeks accordingly went by after the expiration of the stated period. the ratification did not come, and the netherlanders began to be once more indignant. before the storm had risen very high, however, the despatches arrived. the king's signature was ante-dated th april, being thus brought within the term of three months, and was a thorough confirmation of what had been done by his plenipotentiaries. his majesty, however, expressed a hope that during the truce the states would treat their catholic subjects with kindness. certainly no exception could be taken to so reasonable an intimation as this. president jeannin, too, just before his departure, handed in to the states-general an eloquent appeal on behalf of the catholics of the netherlands; a paper which was not immediately made public. "consider the great number of catholics," he said, "in your territory, both in the cities and the country. remember that they have worked with you; spent their property, have been exposed to the same dangers, and have always kept their fidelity to the commonwealth inviolate as long as the war endured, never complaining that they did not enjoy liberty of religious worship, believing that you had thus, ordained because the public safety required such guaranty. but they always promised themselves, should the end of the war be happy, and should you be placed in the enjoyment of entire freedom, that they too would have some part in this good fortune, even as they had been sharers in the inconveniences, the expenses, and the perils of the war. "but those cannot be said to share in any enjoyment from whom has been taken the power of serving god according to the religion in which they were brought up. on the contrary, no slavery is more intolerable nor more exasperates the mind than such restraint. you know this well, my lords states; you know too that it was the principal, the most puissant cause that made you fly to arms and scorn all dangers, in order to effect your deliverance from this servitude. you know that it has excited similar movements in various parts of christendom, and even in the kingdom of france, with such fortunate success everywhere as to make it appear that god had so willed it, in order to prove that religion ought to be taught and inspired by the movements which come from the holy ghost, and not by the force of man. thus kings and princes should be induced by the evils and ruin which they and their subjects have suffered from this cause, as by a sentiment of their own interest, to take more care than has hitherto been taken to practise in good earnest those remedies which were wont to be used at a time when the church was in its greatest piety, in order to correct the abuses and errors which the corruption of mankind had tried to introduce as being the true and sole means of uniting all christians in one and the same creed." surely the world had made progress in these forty years of war. was it not something to gain for humanity, for intellectual advancement, for liberty of thought, for the true interests of religion, that a roman catholic, an ex-leaguer, a trusted representative of the immediate successor of charles ix. and henry iii., could stand up on the blood-stained soil of the netherlands and plead for liberty of conscience for all mankind? "those cannot be said to share in, any enjoyment from whom has been taken the power of serving god according to the religion in which they have been brought up. no slavery is more intolerable nor more exasperating to the mind than such restraint." most true, o excellent president! no axiom in mathematics is more certain than this simple statement. to prove its truth william the silent had lived and died. to prove it a falsehood, emperors, and kings, and priests, had issued bans, and curses, and damnable decrees. to root it out they had butchered, drowned, shot, strangled, poisoned, tortured, roasted alive, buried alive, starved, and driven mad, thousands and tens of thousands of their fellow creatures. and behold there had been almost a century of this work, and yet the great truth was not rooted out after all; and the devil-worshippers, who had sought at the outset of the great war to establish the holy inquisition in the netherlands upon the ruins of religious and political liberty, were overthrown at last and driven back into the pit. it was progress; it was worth all the blood and treasure which had been spilled, that, instead of the holy inquisition, there was now holy liberty of thought. that there should have been a party, that there should have been an individual here and there, after the great victory was won, to oppose the doctrine which the catholic president now so nobly advocated, would be enough to cause every believer in progress to hide his face in the dust, did we not know that the march of events was destined to trample such opposition out of existence, and had not history proved to us that the great lesson of the war was not to be rendered nought by the efforts of a few fanatics. religious liberty was the ripened and consummate fruit, and it could not but be gathered. "consider too," continued the president, "how much injury your refusal, if you give it, will cause to those of your religion in the places where they are the weakest, and where they are every day imploring with tears and lamentations the grace of those catholic sovereigns to whom they are subject, to enable them to enjoy the same religious liberty which our king is now demanding in favour of the catholics among you. do not cause it to come again into the minds of those sovereigns and their peoples, whom an inconsiderate zeal has often driven into violence and ferocity against protestants, that a war to compel the weakest to follow the religion of the strongest is just and lawful." had not something been gained for the world when this language was held by a catholic on the very spot where less than a half century before the whole population of the netherlands, men, women, and children, had been condemned to death by a foreign tyrant, for the simple reason that it was just, legal, and a christian duty to punish the weak for refusing to follow the religion of the strong? "as for the perils which some affect to fear," said jeannin, further, "if this liberty of worship is accorded, experience teaches us every day that diversity of religion is not the cause of the ruin of states, and that a government does not cease to be good, nor its subjects to live in peace and friend ship with one another, rendering due obedience to the laws and to their rulers as well as if they had all been of the same religion, without having another thought, save for the preservation of the dignity and grandeur of the state in which god had caused them to be born. the danger is not in the permission, but in the prohibition of religious liberty." all this seems commonplace enough to us on the western side of the atlantic, in the middle of the nineteenth century, but it would have been rank blasphemy in new england in the middle of the seventeenth, many years after jeannin spoke. it was a horrible sound, too, in the ears of some of his audience. to the pretence so often urged by the catholic persecutors, and now set up by their calvinistic imitators; that those who still clung to the old religion were at liberty to depart from the land, the president replied with dignified scorn. "with what justice," he asked, "can you drive into, exile people who have committed no offence, and who have helped to conquer the very country from which you would now banish them? if you do drive them away, you will make solitudes in your commonwealth, which will, be the cause of evils such as i prefer that you should reflect upon without my declaring them now. although these reasons," he continued, "would seem sufficient to induce you to accord the free and public exercise of the catholic religion, the king, not hoping as much as that, because aware that you are not disposed to go so far, is content to request only this grace in behalf of the catholics, that you will tolerate them, and suffer them to have some exercise of their religion within their own households, without interference or inquiry on that account, and without execution of the rigorous decrees heretofore enforced against them." certainly if such wholesome, moderate, and modest counsels as these had been rejected, it would have been sound doctrine to proclaim that the world did not move. and there were individuals enough, even an influential party, prepared to oppose them for both technical and practical reasons. and the cause of intolerance derived much warmth and comfort at this juncture from that great luminary of theology and political philosophy, the king of great britain. direful and solemn were the warnings uttered by james to the republic against permitting the old religion, or any religion save his own religion, to obtain the slightest foothold within her borders. "let the religion be taught and preached in its parity throughout your provinces without the least mixture," said sir ralph winwood, in the name of his sovereign. "on this foundation the justice of your cause is built. there is but one verity. those who are willing to tolerate any religion, whatever it may be, and try to make you believe that liberty for both is necessary in your commonwealth, are paving the way towards atheism." such were the counsels of king james to the united states of the netherlands against harbouring catholics. a few years later he was casting forth calvinists from his own dominions as if they had been lepers; and they went forth on their weary pilgrimage to the howling wilderness of north america, those exiled calvinists, to build a greater republic than had ever been dreamed of before on this planet; and they went forth, not to preach, but in their turn to denounce toleration and to hang heretics. "he who would tolerate another religion that his own may be tolerated, would if need be, hang god's bible at the devil's girdle." so spoke an early massachusetts pilgrim, in the very spirit, almost the very words of the royal persecutor; who had driven him into outer darkness beyond the seas. he had not learned the lesson of the mighty movement in which he was a pioneer, any more than gomarus or uytenbogaart had comprehended why the dutch republic had risen. yet the founders of the two commonwealths, the united states of the seventeenth and of the nineteenth centuries, although many of them fiercely intolerant, through a natural instinct of resistance, not only to the oppressor but to the creed of the oppressor, had been breaking out the way, not to atheism, as king james believed, but to the only garden in which christianity can perennially flourish--religious liberty. those most ardent and zealous path-finders may be forgiven, in view of the inestimable benefits conferred by them upon humanity, that they did not travel on their own road. it should be sufficient for us, if we make due use of their great imperishable work ourselves; and if we never cease rendering thanks to the omnipotent, that there is at least one great nation on the globe where the words toleration and dissenter have no meaning whatever. for the dutch fanatics of the reformed church, at the moment of the truce, to attempt to reverse the course of events, and to shut off the mighty movement of the great revolt from its destined expanse, was as hopeless a dream as to drive back the rhine, as it reached the ocean, into the narrow channel of the rheinwald glacier whence it sprang. the republic became the refuge for the oppressed of all nations, where jews and gentiles, catholics, calvinists, and anabaptistis, prayed after their own manner to the same god and father. it was too much, however, to hope that passions which had been so fiercely bubbling during fifty years would subside at once, and that the most intense religious hatreds that ever existed would exhale with the proclamation of truce. the march of humanity is rarely rapid enough to keep pace with the leaders in its most sublime movements, and it often happens that its chieftains are dwarfed in the estimation of the contemporaneous vulgar, by the very distance at which they precede their unconscious followers. but even if the progress of the human mind towards the truth is fated to be a spiral one, as if to remind us that mankind is of the earth, earthy--a worm in the dust while inhabiting this lower sphere--it is at least a consolation to reflect upon the gradual advancement of the intellect from age to age. the spirit of torquemada, of charles, of philip, of titelmann, is even now not extinct on this globe, but there are counter forces at work, which must ultimately blast it into insignificance. at the moment of the great truce, that evil spirit was not exorcised from the human breast, but the number of its victims and the intensity of its influence had already miraculously diminished. the truce was made and announced all over the netherlands by the ringing of bells, the happy discharge of innocent artillery, by illuminations, by te deums in all the churches. papist and presbyterian fell on their knees in every grand cathedral or humblest village church, to thank god that what had seemed the eternal butchery was over. the inhabitants of the united and of the obedient netherlands rushed across the frontiers into a fraternal embrace; like the meeting of many waters when the flood-gates are lifted. it was pity that the foreign sovereignty, established at brussels, could not then and there have been for ever swept away, and self-government and beneficent union extended over all the seventeen netherlands, walloon and flemish, catholic and reformed. but it hardly needs a word to show that the course of events had created a deeper chasm between the two sections than the gravest physical catastrophe could have produced. the opposing cliffs which religious hatred had rent asunder, and between which it seemed destined to flow for ever, seemed very close, and yet eternally separated. the great war had established the republic; and apparently doomed the obedient netherlands to perpetual servitude. there were many details of minor importance to be settled between the various governments involved in these great transactions; but this history draws to its predestined close, and it is necessary to glide rapidly over matters which rather belong to a later epoch than the one now under consideration. the treaty between the republic and the government of great britain, according to which each was to assist the other in case of war with four thousand troops and twenty ships of war, was confirmed in the treaty of truce. the debt of the united provinces to the crown of england was definitely reckoned at , , florins, and it was settled by the truce that , florins should be paid semi-annually, to begin with the year , until the whole debt should be discharged. the army establishment of the republic was fixed during the truce at thirty thousand infantry and three thousand horse. this was a reduction from the war footing of fifteen thousand men. of the force retained, four thousand were a french legion maintained by the king, two thousand other french at the expense of the states, and distributed among other troops, two thousand scotch, three thousand english, three thousand germans. the rest were native netherlanders, among whom, however, were very few hollanders and zeelanders, from which races the navy, both public and mercantile, was almost wholly supplied. the revenue of the united provinces was estimated at between seven and eight millions of florins. it is superfluous to call attention again to the wonderful smallness of the means, the minuteness of the physical enginry, as compared with more modern manifestations, especially in our own land and epoch, by which so stupendous a result had been reached. in the midst of an age in which regal and sacerdotal despotism had seemed as omnipotent and irreversible as the elemental laws of the universe, the republic had been reproduced. a commonwealth of sand-banks, lagoons, and meadows, less than fourteen thousand square miles in extent, had done battle, for nearly half a century, with the greatest of existing powers, a realm whose territory was nearly a third of the globe, and which claimed universal monarchy. and this had been done with an army averaging forty-six thousand men, half of them foreigners hired by the job, and by a sea-faring population, volunteering into ships of every class and denomination, from a fly-boat to a galleot of war. and when the republic had won its independence, after this almost eternal warfare, it owed four or five millions of dollars, and had sometimes an annual revenue of nearly that amount. it was estimated by barneveld, at the conclusion of the truce, that the interest on the public debt of spain was about thrice the amount of the yearly income of the republic, and it was characteristic of the financial ideas of the period, that fears were entertained lest a total repudiation of that burthen by the spanish government would enable it to resume the war against the provinces with redoubled energy. the annual salary of prince maurice, who was to see his chief occupation gone by the cessation of the war, was fixed by the states at , florins. it was agreed, that in case of his marriage he should receive a further yearly sum of , florins, and this addition was soon afterwards voted to him outright, it being obvious that the prince would remain all his days a bachelor. count frederic henry likewise received a military salary of , florins, while the emoluments of lewis william were placed at , florins a year. it must be admitted that the republic was grateful. , dollars a year, in the seventeenth century, not only for life, but to be inherited afterwards by his younger brother, frederic henry, was surely a munificent sum to be accorded from the puny exchequer of the states-general to the chief magistrate of the nation. the mighty transatlantic republic, with its population of thirty or forty millions, and its revenue of five hundred millions of dollars, pays , dollars annually for its president during his four years of office, and this in the second half of the nineteenth century, when a dollar is worth scarcely one-fifth of its value two hundred and fifty years ago. surely here is improvement, both in the capacity to produce and in the power to save. in the year , died john, the last sovereign of cleves and juliers, and jacob arminius, doctor of divinity at leyden. it would be difficult to imagine two more entirely dissimilar individuals of the human family than this lunatic duke and that theological professor. and yet, perhaps, the two names, more concisely than those of any other mortals, might serve as an index to the ghastly chronicle over which a coming generation was to shudder. the death of the duke was at first thought likely to break off the negotiations for truce. the states-general at once declared that they would permit no movements on the part of the spanish party to seize the inheritance in behalf of the catholic claimants. prince maurice, nothing loth to make use of so well-timed an event in order to cut for ever the tangled skein at the hague, was for marching forthwith into the duchies. but the archdukes gave such unequivocal assurances of abstaining from interference, and the desire for peace was so strong both in the obedient and in the united provinces, that the question of the duchies was postponed. it was to serve as both torch and fuel for one of the longest and most hideous tragedies that had ever disgraced humanity. a thirty years' war of demons was, after a brief interval, to succeed the forty years' struggle between slaves and masters, which had just ended in the recognition of dutch independence. the gentle arminius was in his grave, but a bloody harvest was fast ripening from the seeds which he had sown. that evil story must find its place in the melancholy chapter where the fortunes of the dutch republic are blended with the grim chronicle of the thirty years' war. until the time arrives for retracing the course of those united transactions to their final termination in the peace of westphalia, it is premature to characterize an epoch which, at the moment with which we are now occupied, had not fairly begun. the gomarites accused the arminians of being more lax than papists, and of filling the soul of man with vilest arrogance and confidence in good works; while the arminians complained that the god of the gomarites was an unjust god, himself the origin of sin. the disputes on these themes had been perpetual in the provinces ever since the early days of the reformation. of late, however, the acrimony of theological conflict had been growing day by day more intense. it was the eternal struggle of religious dogma to get possession of the state, and to make use of political forces in order to put fetters on the human soul; to condemn it to slavery where most it requires freedom. the conflict between gomarus and arminius proceeded with such ferocity in leyden, that, since the days of the memorable siege, to which the university owed its origin, men's minds had never been roused to such feverish anxiety: the theological cannonades, which thundered daily from the college buildings and caused all holland to quake, seemed more appalling to the burghers than the enginry of valdez and boisot had ever seemed to their fathers. the gomarite doctrine gained most favour with the clergy, the arminian creed with the municipal magistracies. the magistrates claimed that decisions concerning religious matters belonged to the supreme authority. the gomarites contended that sacred matters should be referred to synods of the clergy. here was the germ of a conflict which might one day shake the republic to its foundations. barneveld, the great leader of the municipal, party, who loved political power quite as well as he loved his country; was naturally a chieftain of the arminians; for church, matters were no more separated from political matters in the commonwealth at that moment than they were in the cabinets of henry, james, or philip. it was inevitable therefore that the war party should pour upon his head more than seven vials of theological wrath. the religious doctrines which he espoused were, odious not only because they were deemed vile in themselves but because he believed in them. arminianism was regarded as a new and horrible epidemic, daily gaining ground, and threatening to destroy the whole population. men deliberated concerning the best means to cut off communication with the infected regions, and to extirpate the plague even by desperate and heroic remedies, as men in later days take measures against the cholera or the rinderpest. theological hatred was surely not extinct in the netherlands. it was a consolation, however, that its influence was rendered less noxious by the vastly increased strength of principles long dormant in the atmosphere. anna van der hoven, buried alive in brussels, simply because her calvinistic creed was a crime in the eyes of the monks who murdered her, was the last victim to purely religious persecution. if there were one day to be still a tragedy or two in the netherlands it was inevitable that theological hatred would be obliged to combine with political party spirit in its most condensed form before any deadly effect could be produced. thus the year is a memorable one in the world's history. it forms a great landmark in human progress. it witnessed the recognition of a republic, powerful in itself, and whose example was destined to be most influential upon the career of two mighty commonwealths of the future. the british empire, just expanding for wider flight than it had hitherto essayed, and about to pass through a series of vast revolutions, gathering strength of wing as it emerged from cloud after cloud; and the american republic, whose frail and obscure beginnings at that very instant of time scarcely attracted a passing attention from the contemporaneous world--both these political organisms, to which so much of mankind's future liberties had been entrusted, were deeply indebted to the earlier self-governing commonwealth. the dutch republic was the first free nation to put a girdle of empire around the earth. it had courage, enterprise, intelligence, perseverance, faith in itself, the instinct of self-government and self-help, hatred of tyranny, the disposition to domineer, aggressiveness, greediness, inquisitiveness, insolence, the love of science, of liberty, and of money--all this in unlimited extent. it had one great defect, it had no country. upon that meagre standing ground its hand had moved the world with an impulse to be felt through all the ages, but there was not soil enough in those fourteen thousand, square miles to form the metropolis of the magnificent empire which the genius of liberty had created beyond the seas. that the political institutions bequeathed by the united states of the seventeenth century have been vastly improved, both in theory and practice, by the united states of the nineteenth, no american is likely to gainsay. that the elder republic showed us also what to avoid, and was a living example of the perils besetting a confederacy which dared not become a union, is a lesson which we might take closely to heart. but the year was not only memorable as marking an epoch in dutch history. it was the beginning of a great and universal pause. the world had need of rest. disintegration had been going on too rapidly, and it was absolutely necessary that there should be a new birth, if civilization were not to vanish. a twenty years' truce between the turkish and holy roman empires was nearly simultaneous with the twelve years' truce between spain and the united provinces. the emperor rudolph having refused to ratify the treaty which his brother matthias had made, was in consequence partially discrowned. the same archduke who, thirty years before, had slipped away from vienna in his nightgown; with his face blackened, to outwit and outgeneral william the silent at brussels, was now--more successful in his manoeuvres against his imperial brother. standing at the head of his army in battle array, in the open fields before the walls of prague, he received--from the unfortunate rudolph the crown and regalia of hungary, and was by solemn treaty declared sovereign of that ancient and chivalrous kingdom. his triumphal entrance into vienna succeeded, where, surrounded by great nobles and burghers, with his brother maximilian at his side, with immense pomp and with flowers strewn before his feet, he ratified that truce with ahmed which rudolph had rejected. three months later he was crowned at pressburg, having first accepted the conditions proposed by the estates of hungary. foremost among these was the provision that the exercise of the reformed religion should be free in all the cities and villages beneath his sceptre, and that every man in the kingdom was to worship god according to his conscience. in the following march, at the very moment accordingly when the conclusive negotiations were fast ripening at antwerp, matthias granted religious peace for austria likewise. great was the indignation of his nephew leopold, the nuncius, and the spanish ambassador in consequence, by each and all of whom the revolutionary mischief-maker, with his brother's crown on his head, was threatened with excommunication. as for ferdinand of styria, his wrath may well be imagined. he refused religious peace in his dominions with scorn ineffable. not gomarus in leyden could have shrunk from arminianism with more intense horror than that with which the archduke at gratz recoiled from any form of protestantism. he wrote to his brother-in-law the king of spain and to other potentates--as if the very soul of philip ii. were alive within him--that he would rather have a country without inhabitants than with a single protestant on its soil. he strongly urged upon his catholic majesty--as if such urging were necessary at the spanish court--the necessity of extirpating heresy, root and branch. here was one man at least who knew what he meant, and on whom the dread lessons of fifty years of bloodshed had been lost. magnificent was the contempt which this pupil of the jesuits felt for any little progress made by the world since the days of torquemada. in ferdinand's view alva was a christian hero, scarcely second to godfrey of bouillon, philip ii. a sainted martyr, while the dutch republic had never been born. and ferdinand was one day to sit on the throne of the holy roman empire. might not a shudder come over the souls of men as coming events vaguely shaped themselves to prophetic eyes? meantime there was religious peace in hungary, in austria, in bohemia, in france, in great britain, in the netherlands. the hangman's hands were for a period at rest, so far as theology had need of them. butchery in the name of christ was suspended throughout christendom. the cross and the crescent, santiago and the orange banner, were for a season in repose. there was a vast lull between two mighty storms. the forty years' war was in the past, the thirty years' war in the not far distant future. chapter liii. conclusion. forth-three years had passed since the memorable april morning in which the great nobles of the netherlands presented their "request" to the regent margaret at brussels. they had requested that the holy spanish inquisition might not be established on their soil to the suppression of all their political and religious institutions. the war which those high-born "beggars" had then kindled, little knowing what they were doing, had now come to a close, and the successor of philip ii., instead of planting the inquisition in the provinces, had recognised them as an independent, sovereign, protestant republic. in the ratification which he had just signed of the treaty of truce the most catholic king had in his turn made a request. he had asked the states-general to deal kindly with their catholic subjects. that request was not answered with the age and faggot; with the avenging sword of mercenary legions. on the contrary, it was destined to be granted. the world had gained something in forty-three years. it had at least begun to learn that the hangman is not the most appropriate teacher of religion. during the period of apparent chaos with which this history of the great revolt has been occupied, there had in truth been a great reorganization, a perfected new birth. the republic had once more appeared in the world. its main characteristics have been indicated in the course of the narrative, for it was a polity which gradually unfolded itself out of the decay and change of previous organisms. it was, as it were, in their own despite and unwittingly that the united provinces became a republic at all. in vain, after originally declaring their independence of the ancient tyrant, had they attempted to annex themselves to france and to england. the sovereignty had been spurned. the magnificent prize which france for centuries since has so persistently coveted, and the attainment of which has been a cardinal point of her perpetual policy--the low countries and the banks of the rhine--was deliberately laid at her feet, and as deliberately refused. it was the secret hope of the present monarch to repair the loss which the kingdom had suffered through the imbecility of his two immediate predecessors. but a great nation cannot with impunity permit itself to be despotically governed for thirty years by lunatics. it was not for the bearnese, with all his valour, his wit, and his duplicity, to obtain the prize which charles ix. and henry iii. had thrown away. yet to make himself sovereign of the netherlands was his guiding but most secret thought during all the wearisome and tortuous negotiations which preceded the truce; nor did he abandon the great hope with the signature of the treaty of . maurice of nassau too was a formidable rival to henry. the stadholder-prince was no republican. he was a good patriot, a noble soldier, an honest man. but his father had been offered the sovereignty of holland and zeeland, and the pistol of balthasar gerard had alone, in all human probability, prevented the great prince from becoming constitutional monarch of all the netherlands, batavian and belgic. maurice himself asserted that not only had he been offered a million of dollars, and large estates besides in germany, if he would leave the provinces to their fate, but that the archdukes had offered, would he join his fortunes with theirs, to place him in a higher position over all the netherlands than he had ever enjoyed in the united provinces, and that they had even unequivocally offered him the sovereignty over the whole land. maurice was a man of truth, and we have no right to dispute the accuracy of the extraordinary statement. he must however have reflected upon the offer once made by the prince of darkness from the mountain top, and have asked himself by what machinery the archdukes proposed to place him in possession of such a kingdom. there had, however, been serious question among leading dutch statesmen of making him constitutional, hereditary monarch of the united netherlands. as late as a secret conference was held at the house of olden-barneveld, in which the advocate had himself urged the claims of the prince to the sovereignty, and reminded his guests that the signed and sealed documents--with the concurrence of the amsterdam municipality alone lacking--by which william the silent had been invited to assume the crown were still in the possession of his son. nothing came of these deliberations. it was agreed that to stir in the matter at that moment would be premature, and that the pursuit by maurice of the monarchy in the circumstances then existing would not only over-burthen him with expense, but make him a more conspicuous mark than ever for the assassin. it is certain that the prince manifested no undue anxiety at any period in regard to those transactions. subsequently, as olden-barneveld's personal power increased, and as the negotiations for peace became more and more likely to prove successful, the advocate lost all relish for placing his great rival on a throne. the whole project, with the documents and secret schemes therewith connected, became mere alms for oblivion. barneveld himself, although of comparatively humble birth and station, was likely with time to exercise more real power in the state than either henry or maurice; and thus while there were three individuals who in different ways aspired to supreme power, the republic, notwithstanding, asserted and established itself. freedom of government and freedom, of religion were, on the whole, assisted by this triple antagonism. the prince, so soon as war was over, hated the advocate and his daily increasing power more and more. he allied himself more closely than ever with the gomarites and the clerical party in general, and did his best to inflame the persecuting spirit, already existing in the provinces, against the catholics and the later sects of protestants. jeannin warned him that "by thus howling with the priests" he would be suspected of more desperately ambitious designs than he perhaps really cherished. on the other hand, barneveld was accused of a willingness to wink at the introduction, privately and quietly, of the roman catholic worship. that this was the deadliest of sins, there was no doubt whatever in the minds of his revilers. when it was added that he was suspected of the arminian leprosy, and that he could tolerate the thought that a virtuous man or woman, not predestined from all time for salvation, could possibly find the way to heaven, language becomes powerless to stigmatize his depravity. whatever the punishment impending over his head in this world or the next, it is certain that the cause of human freedom was not destined on the whole to lose ground through the life-work of barneveld. a champion of liberties rather than of liberty, he defended his fatherland with heart and soul against the stranger; yet the government of that fatherland was, in his judgments to be transferred from the hand of the foreigner, not to the self-governing people, but to the provincial corporations. for the people he had no respect, and perhaps little affection. he often spoke of popular rights with contempt. of popular sovereignty he had no conception. his patriotism, like his ambition, was provincial. yet his perceptions as to eternal necessity in all healthy governments taught him that comprehensible relations between the state and the population were needful to the very existence of a free commonwealth. the united provinces, he maintained, were not a republic, but a league of seven provinces very loosely hung together, a mere provisional organization for which it was not then possible to substitute anything better. he expressed this opinion with deep regret, just as the war of independence was closing, and added his conviction that, without some well-ordered government, no republic could stand. yet, as time wore on, the advocate was destined to acquiesce more and more in this defective constitution. a settled theory there was none, and it would have been difficult legally and historically to establish the central sovereignty of the states-general as matter of right. thus barneveld, who was anything but a democrat, became, almost unwittingly, the champion of the least venerable or imposing of all forms of aristocracy--an oligarchy of traders who imagined themselves patricians. corporate rights, not popular liberty, seemed, in his view, the precious gains made by such a prodigious expenditure of time, money, and blood. although such acquisitions were practically a vast addition to the stock of human freedom then existing in the world, yet torrents of blood and millions of treasure were to be wasted in the coming centuries before mankind was to convince itself that a republic is only to be made powerful and perpetual by placing itself upon the basis of popular right rather than on that of municipal privilege. the singular docility of the dutch people, combined with the simplicity, honesty, and practical sagacity of the earlier burgher patricians, made the defects of the system tolerable for a longer period than might have been expected; nor was it until theological dissensions had gathered to such intensity as to set the whole commonwealth aflame that the grave defects in the political structure could be fairly estimated. it would be anticipating a dark chapter in the history of the united provinces were the reader's attention now to be called to those fearful convulsions. the greatest reserve is therefore necessary at present in alluding to the subject. it was not to be expected that an imperious, energetic but somewhat limited nature like that of barneveld should at that epoch thoroughly comprehend the meaning of religious freedom. william the silent alone seems to have risen to that height. a conscientious calvinist himself, the father of his country would have been glad to see protestant and papist, lutheran, presbyterian, and anabaptist living together in harmony and political equality. this was not to be. the soul of the immortal prince could not inspire the hearts of his contemporaries. that barneveld was disposed to a breadth of religious sympathy unusual in those days, seems certain. it was inevitable, too, that the mild doctrines of arminius should be more in harmony with such a character than were the fierce dogmas of calvin. but the struggle, either to force arminianism upon the church which considered itself the established one in the netherlands, or to expel the calvinists from it, had not yet begun; although the seeds of religious persecution of protestants by protestants had already been sown broadcast. the day was not far distant when the very calvinists, to whom, more than to any other class of men, the political liberties of holland, england, and america are due, were to be hunted out of churches into farm-houses, suburban hovels, and canal-boats by the arm of provincial sovereignty and in the name of state-rights, as pitilessly as the early reformers had been driven out of cathedrals in the name of emperor and pope; and when even those refuges for conscientious worship were to be denied by the dominant sect. and the day was to come, too, when the calvinists, regaining ascendency in their turn, were to hunt the heterodox as they had themselves been hunted; and this, at the very moment when their fellow calvinists of england were driven by the church of that kingdom into the american wilderness. toleration--that intolerable term of insult to all who love liberty--had not yet been discovered. it had scarcely occurred to arminian or presbyterian that civil authority and ecclesiastical doctrine could be divorced from each other. as the individual sovereignty of the seven states established itself more and more securely, the right of provincial power to dictate religious dogmas, and to superintend the popular conscience, was exercised with a placid arrogance which papal infallibility could scarcely exceed. the alternation was only between the sects, each in its turn becoming orthodox, and therefore persecuting. the lessened intensity of persecution however, which priesthood and authority were now allowed to exercise, marked the gains secured. yet while we censure--as we have a right to do from the point of view which we have gained after centuries--the crimes committed by bigotry against liberty, we should be false, to our faith in human progress did we not acknowledge our debt of gratitude to the hot gospellers of holland and england. the doctrine of predestination, the consciousness of being chosen soldiers of christ, inspired those puritans, who founded the commonwealths of england, of holland, and of america, with a contempt of toil, danger, and death which enabled them to accomplish things almost supernatural. no uncouthness of phraseology, no unlovely austerity of deportment, could, except to vulgar minds, make that sublime enthusiasm ridiculous, which on either side the ocean ever confronted tyranny with dauntless front, and welcomed death on battle-field, scaffold, or rack with perfect composure. the early puritan at least believed. the very intensity of his belief made him--all unconsciously to himself, and narrowed as was his view of his position--the great instrument by which the widest human liberty was to be gained for all mankind. the elected favourite of the king of kings feared the power of no earthly king. accepting in rapture the decrees of a supernatural tyranny, he rose on mighty wings above the reach of human wrath. prostrating himself before a god of vengeance, of jealousy, and of injustice, he naturally imitated the attributes which he believed to be divine. it was inevitable, therefore, that barneveld, and those who thought with him, when they should attempt to force the children of belial into the company of the elect and to drive the faithful out of their own churches, should be detested as bitterly as papists had ever been. had barneveld's intellect been broad enough to imagine in a great republic the separation of church and state, he would deserve a tenderer sympathy, but he would have been far in advance of his age. it is not cheerful to see so powerful an intellect and so patriotic a character daring to entrust the relations between man and his maker to the decree of a trading corporation. but alas! the world was to wait for centuries until it should learn that the state can best defend religion by letting it alone, and that the political arm is apt to wither with palsy when it attempts to control the human conscience. it is not entirely the commonwealth of the united netherlands that is of importance in the epoch which i have endeavoured to illustrate. history can have neither value nor charm for those who are not impressed with a conviction of its continuity. more than ever during the period which we call modern history has this idea of the continuousness of our race, and especially of the inhabitants of europe and america, become almost oppressive to the imagination. there is a sense of immortality even upon earth when we see the succession of heritages in the domains of science, of intellectual and material wealth by which mankind, generation after generation, is enriching itself. if this progress be a dream, if mankind be describing a limited circle instead of advancing towards the infinite; then no study can be more contemptible than the study of history. few strides more gigantic have been taken in the march of humanity than those by which a parcel of outlying provinces in the north of europe exchanged slavery to a foreign despotism and to the holy inquisition for the position of a self-governing commonwealth, in the front rank of contemporary powers, and in many respects the foremost of the world. it is impossible to calculate the amount of benefit tendered to civilization by the example of the dutch republic. it has been a model which has been imitated, in many respects, by great nations. it has even been valuable in its very defects; indicating to the patient observer many errors most important to avoid. therefore, had the little republic sunk for ever in the sea so soon as the treaty of peace had been signed at antwerp, its career would have been prolific of good for all succeeding time. exactly at the moment when a splendid but decaying despotism, founded upon wrong--upon oppression of the human body and the immortal soul, upon slavery, in short, of the worst kind--was awaking from its insane dream of universal empire to a consciousness of its own decay, the new republic was recognised among the nations. it would hardly be incorrect to describe the holland of the beginning of the seventeenth century as the exact reverse of spain. in, the commonwealth labour was most honourable; in the kingdom it was vile. in the north to be idle was accounted and punished as a crime. in the southern peninsula, to be contaminated with mechanical, mercantile, commercial, manufacturing pursuits, was to be accursed. labour was for slaves, and at last the mere spectacle of labour became so offensive that even the slaves were expelled from the land. to work was as degrading in the south as to beg or to steal was esteemed unworthy of humanity in the north. to think a man's thought upon high matters of religion and government, and through a thousand errors to pursue the truth; with the aid of the most high and with the best use of human reason, was a privilege secured by the commonwealth, at the expense of two generations of continuous bloodshed. to lie fettered, soul and body, at the feet of authority wielded by a priesthood in its last stage of corruption, and monarchy almost reduced to imbecility, was the lot of the chivalrous, genial; but much oppressed spaniard. the pictures painted of the republic by shrewd and caustic observers, not inclined by nature or craft to portray freedom in too engaging colours, seem, when contrasted with those revealed of spain, almost like enthusiastic fantasies of an ideal commonwealth. during the last twenty years of the great war the material prosperity of the netherlands had wonderfully increased. they had, become the first commercial nation in the world. they had acquired the supremacy of the seas. the population of amsterdam had in twenty years increased from seventy thousand to a hundred and thirty thousand, and was destined to be again more than doubled in the coming decade. the population of antwerp had sunk almost as rapidly as that of its rival had increased; having lessened by fifty thousand during the same period. the commercial capital of the obedient provinces, having already lost much of its famous traffic by the great changes in the commercial current of the world, was unable to compete with the cities of the united provinces in the vast trade which the geographical discoveries of the preceding century had opened to civilization. freedom of thought and action were denied, and without such liberty it was impossible for oceanic commerce to thrive. moreover, the possession by the hollanders of the scheld forts below antwerp, and of flushing at the river's mouth, suffocated the ancient city, and would of itself have been sufficient to paralyze all its efforts. in antwerp the exchange, where once thousands of the great merchants of the earth held their daily financial parliament, now echoed to the solitary footfall of the passing stranger. ships lay rotting at the quays; brambles grow in the commercial streets. in amsterdam the city had been enlarged by two-thirds, and those who swarmed thither to seek their fortunes could not wait for the streets to be laid out and houses to be built, but established themselves in the environs, building themselves hovels and temporary residences, although certain to find their encampments swept away with the steady expanse of the city. as much land as could be covered by a man's foot was worth a ducat in gold. in every branch of human industry these republicans took the lead. on that scrap of solid ground, rescued by human energy from the ocean, were the most fertile pastures in the world. on those pastures grazed the most famous cattle in the world. an ox often weighed more than two thousand pounds. the cows produced two and three calves at a time, the sheep four and five lambs. in a single village four thousand kine were counted. butter and cheese were exported to the annual value of a million, salted provisions to an incredible extent. the farmers were industrious, thriving, and independent. it is an amusing illustration of the agricultural thrift and republican simplicity of this people that on one occasion a farmer proposed to prince maurice that he should marry his daughter, promising with her a dowry of a hundred thousand florins. the mechanical ingenuity of the netherlanders, already celebrated by julius caesar and by tacitus, had lost nothing of its ancient fame. the contemporary world confessed that in many fabrics the hollanders were at the head of mankind. dutch linen, manufactured of the flax grown on their own fields or imported from the obedient provinces, was esteemed a fitting present for kings to make and to receive. the name of the country had passed into the literature of england as synonymous with the delicate fabric itself. the venetians confessed themselves equalled, if not outdone, by the crystal workers and sugar refiners of the northern republic. the tapestries of arras--the name of which walloon city had become a household word of luxury in all modern languages--were now transplanted to the soil of freedom, more congenial to the advancement of art. brocades of the precious metals; splendid satins and velvets; serges and homely fustians; laces of thread and silk; the finer and coarser manufactures of clay and porcelain; iron, steel, and all useful fabrics for the building and outfitting of ships; substantial broadcloths manufactured of wool imported from scotland--all this was but a portion of the industrial production of the provinces. they supplied the deficiency of coal, not then an article readily obtained by commerce, with other remains of antediluvian forests long since buried in the sea, and now recovered from its depths and made useful and portable by untiring industry. peat was not only the fuel for the fireside, but for the extensive fabrics of the country, and its advantages so much excited the admiration of the venetian envoys that they sent home samples of it, in the hope that the lagunes of venice might prove as prolific of this indispensable article as the polders of holland. but the foundation of the national wealth, the source of the apparently fabulous power by which the republic had at last overthrown her gigantic antagonist, was the ocean. the republic was sea-born and sea-sustained. she had nearly one hundred thousand sailors, and three thousand ships. the sailors were the boldest, the best disciplined, and the most experienced in the-world, whether for peaceable seafaring or ocean warfare. the ships were capable of furnishing from out of their number in time of need the most numerous and the best appointed navy then known to mankind. the republic had the carrying trade for all nations. feeling its very existence dependent upon commerce, it had strode centuries in advance of the contemporary world in the liberation of trade. but two or three per cent. ad valorem was levied upon imports; foreign goods however being subject, as well as internal products, to heavy imposts in the way of both direct and indirect taxation. every article of necessity or luxury known was to be purchased in profusion and at reasonable prices in the warehouses of holland. a swarm of river vessels and fly-boats were coming daily through the rivers of germany, france and the netherlands, laden with the agricultural products and the choice manufactures of central and western europe. wine and oil, and delicate fabrics in thread and wool, came from france, but no silks, velvets, nor satins; for the great sully had succeeded in persuading his master that the white mulberry would not grow in his kingdom, and that silk manufactures were an impossible dream for france. nearly a thousand ships were constantly employed in the baltic trade. the forests of holland were almost as extensive as those which grew on norwegian hills, but they were submerged. the foundation of a single mansion required a grove, and wood was extensively used in the superstructure. the houses, built of a framework of substantial timber, and filled in with brick or rubble, were raised almost as rapidly as tents, during the prodigious expansion of industry towards the end of the war. from the realms of the osterlings, or shores of the baltic, came daily fleets laden with wheat and other grains so that even in time of famine the granaries of the republic were overflowing, and ready to dispense the material of life to the outer world. eight hundred vessels of lesser size but compact build were perpetually fishing for herrings on the northern coasts. these hardy mariners, the militia of the sea, who had learned in their life of hardship and daring the art of destroying spanish and portuguese armadas, and confronting the dangers of either pole, passed a long season on the deep. commercial voyagers as well as fishermen, they salted their fish as soon as taken from the sea, and transported them to the various ports of europe, thus reducing their herrings into specie before their return, and proving that a fishery in such hands was worth more than the mines of mexico and peru. it is customary to speak of the natural resources of a country as furnishing a guarantee of material prosperity. but here was a republic almost without natural resources, which had yet supplied by human intelligence and thrift what a niggard nature had denied. spain was overflowing with unlimited treasure, and had possessed half the world in fee; and spain was bankrupt, decaying, sinking into universal pauperism. holland, with freedom of thought, of commerce, of speech, of action, placed itself, by intellectual power alone, in the front rank of civilization. from cathay, from the tropical coasts of africa, and from farthest ind, came every drug, spice, or plant, every valuable jewel, every costly fabric, that human ingenuity had discovered or created. the spaniards, maintaining a frail tenure upon a portion of those prolific regions, gathered their spice harvests at the point of the sword, and were frequently unable to prevent their northern rivals from ravaging such fields as they had not yet been able to appropriate. certainly this conduct of the hollanders was barbarism and supreme selfishness, if judged by the sounder political economy of our time. yet it should never be forgotten that the contest between spain and holland in those distant regions, as everywhere else, was war to the knife between superstition and freedom, between the spirits of progress and of dogma. hard blows and foul blows were struck in such a fight, and humanity, although gaining at last immense results, had much to suffer and much to learn ere the day was won. but spain was nearly beaten out of those eastern regions, and the very fact that the naval supremacy of the republic placed her ancient tyrant at her mercy was the main reason for spain to conclude the treaty of truce. lest she should lose the india trade entirely, spain consented to the treaty article by which, without mentioning the word, she conceded the thing. it was almost pathetic to witness, as we have witnessed, this despotism in its dotage, mumbling so long over the formal concession to her conqueror of a portion of that india trade which would have been entirely wrested from herself had the war continued. and of this spain was at heart entirely convinced. thus the portuguese, once the lords and masters, as they had been the european discoverers, of those prolific regions and of the ocean highways which led to them, now came with docility to the republic which they had once affected to despise, and purchased the cloves and the allspice, the nutmegs and the cinnamon, of which they had held the monopoly; or waited with patience until the untiring hollanders should bring the precious wares to the peninsula ports. a dutch indianian would make her voyage to the antipodes and her return in less time than was spent by a portuguese or a spaniard in the outward voyage. to accomplish such an enterprise in two years was accounted a wonder of rapidity, and when it is remembered that inland navigation through france by canal and river from the north sea to the mediterranean was considered both speedier and safer, because the sea voyage between the same points might last four or five months, it must be admitted that two years occupied in passing from one end of the earth to the other and back again might well seem a miracle. the republic was among the wealthiest and the most powerful of organized states. her population might be estimated at three millions and a half, about equal to that of england at the same period. but she was richer than england. nowhere in the world was so large a production in proportion to the numbers of a people. nowhere were so few unproductive consumers. every one was at work. vagabonds, idlers, and do-nothings, such as must be in every community, were caught up by the authorities and made to earn their bread. the devil's pillow, idleness, was smoothed for no portion of the population. there were no beggars, few paupers, no insolently luxurious and ostentatiously idle class. the modesty, thrift, and simple elegance of the housekeeping, even among the wealthy, was noted by travellers with surprise. it will be remembered with how much amused wonder, followed by something like contempt, the magnificent household of spinola, during his embassy at the hague, was surveyed by the honest burghers of holland. the authorities showed their wisdom in permitting the absurd exhibition, as an example of what should be shunned, in spite of grave remonstrances from many of the citizens. drunken helotism is not the only form of erring humanity capable of reading lessons to a republic. there had been monasteries, convents, ecclesiastical establishments of all kinds in the country, before the great war between holland and the inquisition. these had, as a matter of course, been confiscated as the strife went on. the buildings, farms, and funds, once the property of the church, had not, however, been seized upon, as in other protestant lands, by rapacious monarchs, and distributed among great nobles according to royal caprice. monarchs might give the revenue of a suppressed convent to a cook, as reward for a successful pudding; the surface of britain and the continent might be covered with abbeys and monasteries now converted into lordly palaces--passing thus from the dead hand of the church into the idle and unproductive palm of the noble; but the ancient ecclesiastical establishments of the free netherlands were changed into eleemosynary institutions, admirably organized and administered with wisdom and economy, where orphans of the poor, widows of those slain in the battles for freedom by land and sea, and the aged and the infirm, who had deserved well of the republic in the days of their strength, were educated or cherished at the expense of the public, thus endowed from the spoils of the church. in spain, monasteries upon monasteries were rising day by day, as if there were not yet receptacles enough for monks and priests, while thousands upon thousands of spaniards were pressing into the ranks of the priesthood, and almost forcing themselves into monasteries, that they might be privileged to beg, because ashamed to work. in the united netherlands the confiscated convents, with their revenues, were appropriated for the good of those who were too young or too old to labour, and too poor to maintain themselves without work. need men look further than to this simple fact to learn why spain was decaying while the republic was rising? the ordinary budget of the united provinces was about equal to that of england, varying not much from four millions of florins, or four hundred thousand pounds. but the extraordinary revenue was comparatively without limits, and there had been years, during the war, when the citizens had taxed themselves as highly as fifty per cent. on each individual income, and doubled the receipts of the exchequer. the budget was proposed once a year, by the council of state, and voted by the states-general, who assigned the quota of each province; that of holland being always one-half of the whole, that of zeeland sixteen per cent., and that of the other five of course in lesser proportions. the revenue was collected in the separate provinces, one-third of the whole being retained for provincial expenses, and the balance paid into the general treasury. there was a public debt, the annual interest of which amounted to , florins. during the war, money had been borrowed at as high a rate as thirty-six per cent., but at the conclusion of hostilities the states could borrow at six per cent., and the whole debt was funded on that basis. taxation was enormously heavy, but patriotism caused it to be borne with cheerfulness, and productive industry made it comparatively light. rents were charged twenty-five per cent. a hundred per cent. was levied upon beer, wine, meat, salt, spirits. other articles of necessity and luxury were almost as severely taxed. it is not easy to enumerate the tax-list, scarcely anything foreign or domestic being exempted, while the grave error was often committed of taxing the same article, in different forms, four, five, and six times. the people virtually taxed themselves, although the superstition concerning the state, as something distinct from and superior to the people, was to linger long and work infinite mischief among those seven republics which were never destined to be welded theoretically and legally into a union. the sacredness of corporations had succeeded, in a measure, to the divinity which hedges kings. nevertheless, those corporations were so numerous as to be effectively open to a far larger proportion of the population than, in those days, had ever dreamed before of participating in the government. the magistracies were in general unpaid and little coveted, being regarded as a burthen and a responsibility rather than an object of ambition. the jurisconsults, called pensionaries, who assisted the municipal authorities, received, however, a modest salary, never exceeding florins a year. these numerous bodies, provincial and municipal, elected themselves themselves by supplying their own vacancies. the magistrates were appointed by the stadholder, on a double or triple nomination from the municipal board. this was not impartial suffrage nor manhood suffrage. the germ of a hateful burgher-oligarchy was in the system, but, as compared with spain, where municipal magistracies were sold by the crown at public auction; or with france, where every office in church, law, magistrature, or court was an object of merchandise disposed of in open market, the system was purity itself, and marked a great advance in the science of government. it should never be forgotten, moreover, that while the presidents and judges of the highest courts of judicature in other civilized lands were at the mercy of an irresponsible sovereign, and held office--even although it had been paid for in solid specie--at his pleasure, the supreme justices of the high courts of appeal at the hague were nominated by a senate, and confirmed by a stadholder, and that they exercised their functions for life, or so long as they conducted themselves virtuously in their high office--'quamdiu se bene gesserint.' if one of the great objects of a civilized community is to secure to all men their own--'ut sua tenerent'--surely it must be admitted that the republic was in advance of all contemporary states in the laying down of this vital principle, the independence of judges. as to the army and navy of the united provinces, enough has been said, in earlier chapters of these volumes, to indicate the improvements introduced by prince maurice, and now carried to the highest point of perfection ever attained in that period. there is no doubt whatever, that for discipline, experience, equipment, effectiveness of movement, and general organization, the army of the republic was the model army of europe. it amounted to but thirty thousand infantry and two thousand five hundred cavalry, but this number was a large one for a standing army at the beginning of the seventeenth century. it was composed of a variety of materials, hollanders, walloons, flemings, scotch, english, irish, germans, but all welded together into a machine of perfect regularity. the private foot-soldier received twelve florins for a so-called month of forty-two days, the drummer and corporal eighteen, the lieutenant fifty-two, and the captain one hundred and fifty florins. prompt payment was made every week. obedience was implicit; mutiny, such as was of periodical recurrence in the archduke's army, entirely unknown. the slightest theft was punished with the gallows, and there was therefore no thieving. the most accurate and critical observers confessed, almost against their will, that no army in europe could compare with the troops of the states. as to the famous regiments of sicily, and the ancient legions of naples and milan, a distinguished venetian envoy, who had seen all the camps and courts of christendom, and was certainly not disposed to overrate the hollanders at the expense of the italians, if any rivalry between them had been possible, declared that every private soldier in the republic was fit to be a captain in any italian army; while, on the other hand, there was scarcely an italian captain who would be accepted as a private in any company of the states. so low had the once famous soldiery of alva, don john, and alexander farnese descended. the cavalry of the republic was even more perfectly organized than was the infantry. "i want words to describe its perfection," said contarini. the pay was very high, and very prompt. a captain received four hundred florins a month (of forty-two days), a lieutenant one hundred and eighty florins, and other officers and privates in proportion. these rates would be very high in our own day. when allowance is made for the difference in the value of money at the respective epochs, the salaries are prodigious; but the thrifty republic found its account in paying well and paying regularly the champions on whom so much depended, and by whom such splendid services had been rendered. while the soldiers in the pay of queen elizabeth were crawling to her palace gates to die of starvation before her eyes; while the veterans of spain and of italy had organized themselves into a permanent military, mutinous republic, on the soil of the so-called obedient netherland, because they were left by their masters without clothing or food; the cavalry and infantry of the dutch commonwealth, thanks to the organizing spirit and the wholesome thrift of the burgher authorities, were contented, obedient, well fed, well clothed, and well paid; devoted to their government, and ever ready to die in its defence. nor was it only on the regular army that reliance was placed. on the contrary, every able-bodied man in the country was liable to be called upon to serve, at any moment, in the militia. all were trained to arms, and provided with arms, and there had been years during this perpetual war in which one man out of three of the whole male population was ready to be mustered at any moment into the field. even more could be said in praise of the navy than has been stated of the armies of the republic; for the contemporary accounts of foreigners, and of foreigners who were apt to be satirical, rather than enthusiastic, when describing the institutions, leading personages, and customs of other countries, seemed ever to speak of the united provinces in terms of eulogy. in commerce, as in war, the naval supremacy of the republic was indisputable. it was easy for the states to place two thousand vessels of war in commission, if necessary, of tonnage varying from four hundred to twelve hundred tons, to man them with the hardiest and boldest sailors in the world, and to despatch them with promptness to any quarter of the globe. it was recognised as nearly impossible to compel a war-vessel of the republic to surrender. hardly an instance was on her naval record of submission, even to far superior force, while it was filled with the tragic but heroic histories of commanders who had blown their ships, with every man on board, into the air, rather than strike their flag. such was the character, and such the capacity of the sea-born republic. that republic had serious and radical defects, but the design remained to be imitated and improved upon, centuries afterwards. the history of the rise and progress of the dutch republic is a leading chapter in the history of human liberty. the great misfortune of the commonwealth of the united provinces, next to the slenderness of its geographical proportions, was the fact that it was without a centre and without a head, and therefore not a nation capable of unlimited vitality. there were seven states. each claimed to be sovereign. the pretension on the part of several of them was ridiculous. overyssel, for example, contributed two and three-quarters per cent. of the general budget. it was a swamp of twelve hundred square miles in extent, with some heath-spots interspered, and it numbered perhaps a hundred thousand inhabitants. the doughty count of embden alone could have swallowed up such sovereignty, have annexed all the buckwheat patches and cranberry marshes of overyssel to his own meagre territories, and nobody the wiser. zeeland, as we have seen, was disposed at a critical moment to set up its independent sovereignty. zeeland, far more important than overyssel, had a revenue of perhaps five hundred thousand dollars,--rather a slender budget for an independent republic, wedged in as it was by the most powerful empires of the earth, and half drowned by the ocean, from which it had scarcely emerged. there was therefore no popular representation, and on the other hand no executive head. as sovereignty must be exercised in some way, however, in all living commonwealths, and as a low degree of vitality was certainly not the defect of those bustling provinces, the supreme functions had now fallen into the hands of holland. while william the silent lived, the management of war, foreign affairs, and finance, for the revolted provinces, was in his control. he was aided by two council boards, but the circumstances of history and the character of the man had invested him with an inevitable dictatorship. after his death, at least after leicester's time, the powers of the state-council, the head of which, prince maurice, was almost always absent at the wars, fell into comparative disuse. the great functions of the confederacy passed into the possession of the states-general. that body now came to sit permanently at the hague. the number of its members, deputies from the seven provinces-envoys from those seven immortal and soulless sovereigns--was not large. the extraordinary assembly held at bergen-op-zoom for confirmation of the truce was estimated by, bentivoglio at eight hundred. bentivoglio, who was on the spot, being then nuncius at brussels, ought to have been able to count them, yet it is very certain that the number was grossly exaggerated. at any rate the usual assembly at the hague rarely amounted to one hundred members. the presidency was changed once a week, the envoy of each province taking his turn as chairman. olden-barneveld, as member for holland, was always present in the diet. as advocate-general of the leading province, and keeper of its great seal, more especially as possessor of the governing intellect of the whole commonwealth, he led the administration of holland, and as the estates of holland contributed more than half of the whole budget of the confederacy, it was a natural consequence of the actual supremacy of that province, and of the vast legal hand political experience of the advocate, that holland should, govern the confederacy, and that barneveld should govern holland. the states-general remained virtually supreme, receiving envoys from all the great powers, sending abroad their diplomatic representatives, to whom the title and rank of ambassador was freely accorded, and dealing in a decorous and dignified way with all european affairs. the ability of the republican statesmen was as fully recognised all over the earth, as was the genius of their generals and great naval commanders. the people did not exist; but this was merely because, in theory, the people had not been invented. it was exactly because there was a people--an energetic and intelligent people--that the republic was possible. no scheme had yet been devised for laying down in primary assemblies a fundamental national law, for distributing the various functions of governmental power among selected servants, for appointing representatives according to population or property, and for holding all trustees responsible at reasonable intervals to the nation itself. thus government was involved, fold within fold, in successive and concentric municipal layers. the states-general were the outer husk, of which the separate town-council was the kernel or bulb. yet the number of these executive and legislative boards was so large, and the whole population comparatively so slender, as to cause the original inconveniences from so incomplete a system to be rather theoretic than practical. in point of fact, almost as large a variety of individuals served the state as would perhaps have been the case under a more philosophically arranged democracy. the difficulty was rather in obtaining a candidate for the post than in distributing the posts among candidates. men were occupied with their own affairs. in proportion to their numbers, they were more productive of wealth than any other nation then existing. an excellent reason why the people were so, well governed, so productive, and so enterprising, was the simple fact that they were an educated people. there was hardly a netherlander--man, woman, or child--that could not read and write. the school was the common property of the people, paid for among the municipal expenses. in the cities, as well as in the rural districts, there were not only common schools but classical schools. in the burgher families it was rare to find boys who had not been taught latin, or girls unacquainted with french. capacity to write and speak several modern languages was very common, and there were many individuals in every city, neither professors nor pedants, who had made remarkable progress in science and classical literature. the position, too, of women in the commonwealth proved a high degree of civilization. they are described as virtuous, well-educated, energetic, sovereigns in their households, and accustomed to direct all the business at home. "it would be ridiculous," said donato, "to see a man occupying himself with domestic house-keeping. the women do it all, and command absolutely." the hollanders, so rebellious against church and king, accepted with meekness the despotism of woman. the great movement of emancipation from political and ecclesiastical tyranny had brought with it a general advancement of the human intellect. the foundation of the leyden university in memory of the heroism displayed by the burghers during the siege was as noble a monument as had ever been raised by a free people jealous of its fame. and the scientific lustre of the university well sustained the nobility of its origin. the proudest nation on earth might be more proud of a seat of learning, founded thus amidst carnage and tears, whence so much of profound learning and brilliant literature had already been diffused. the classical labours of joseph scaliger, heinsius father and son the elder dousa, almost as famous with his pen in latin poetry as his sword had made him in the vernacular chronicle; of dousa the son, whom grotius called "the crown and flower of all good learning, too soon snatched away by envious death, than whom no man more skilled in poetry, more consummate in acquaintance with ancient science and literature, had ever lived;" of hugo grotius himself, who at the age of fifteen had taken his doctor's degree at leyden who as a member of olden-barneveld's important legation to france and england very soon afterwards had excited the astonishment of henry iv. and elizabeth, who had already distinguished himself by editions of classic poets, and by original poems and dramas in latin, and was already, although but twenty-six years of age; laying the foundation of that magnificent reputation as a jurist, a philosopher, a historian, and a statesman, which was to be one of the enduring glories of humanity, all these were the precious possessions of the high school of leyden. the still more modern university of franeker, founded amid the din of perpetual warfare in friesland, could at least boast the name of arminius, whose theological writings and whose expansive views were destined to exert such influence over his contemporaries and posterity. the great history of hoofd, in which the splendid pictures and the impassioned drama of the great war of independence were to be preserved for his countrymen through all time, was not yet written. it was soon afterwards, however, to form not only a chief source of accurate information as to the great events themselves, but a model of style never since surpassed by any prose writer in either branch of the german tongue. had hoofd written for a wider audience, it would be difficult to name a contemporary author of any nation whose work would have been more profoundly studied or more generally admired. but the great war had not waited to be chronicled by the classic and impassioned hoofd. already there were thorough and exhaustive narrators of what was instinctively felt to be one of the most pregnant episodes of human history. bor of utrecht, a miracle of industry, of learning, of unwearied perseverance, was already engaged in the production of those vast folios in which nearly all the great transactions of the forty years' war were conscientiously portrayed, with a comprehensiveness of material and an impartiality of statement, such as might seem almost impossible for a contemporary writer. immersed in attentive study and profound contemplation, he seemed to lift his tranquil head from time to time over the wild ocean of those troublous times, and to survey with accuracy without being swayed or appalled by the tempest. there was something almost sublime in his steady, unimpassioned gaze. emanuel van meteren, too, a plain protestant merchant of antwerp and amsterdam, wrote an admirable history of the war and of his own times, full of precious details, especially rich in statistics--a branch of science which he almost invented--which still, remains as one of the leading authorities, not only for scholars, but for the general reader. reyd and burgundius, the one the calvinist private secretary of lewis william, the other a warm catholic partisan, both made invaluable contemporaneous contributions to the history of the war. the trophies already secured by the netherlanders in every department of the fine arts, as well as the splendour which was to enrich the coming epoch, are too familiar to the world to need more than a passing allusion. but it was especially in physical science that the republic was taking a leading part in the great intellectual march of the nations. the very necessities of its geographical position had forced it to pre-eminence in hydraulics and hydrostatics. it had learned to transform water into dry land with a perfection attained by no nation before or since. the wonders of its submarine horticulture were the despair of all gardeners in the world. and as in this gentlest of arts, so also in the dread science of war, the republic had been the instructor of mankind. the youthful maurice and his cousin lewis william had so restored and improved the decayed intelligence of antique strategy, that the greybeards of europe became docile pupils in their school. the mathematical teacher of prince maurice amazed the contemporary world with his combinations and mechanical inventions; the flying chariots of simon stevinua seeming products of magical art. yet the character of the dutch intellect was averse to sorcery. the small but mighty nation, which had emancipated itself from the tyranny of philip and of the holy inquisition, was foremost to shake off the fetters of superstition. out of holland came the first voice to rebuke one of the hideous delusions of the age. while grave magistrates and sages of other lands were exorcising the devil by murdering his supposed victims, john wier, a physician of grave, boldly denounced the demon which had taken possession, not of the wizards, but of the judges. the age was lunatic and sick, and it was fitting that the race which had done so much for the physical and intellectual emancipation of the world, should have been the first to apply a remedy for this monstrous madness. englishmen and their descendants were drowning and hanging witches in new england, long after john wier had rebuked and denounced the belief in witchcraft. it was a zeelander, too; who placed the instrument in the hand of galileo by which that daring genius traced the movements of the universe, and who, by another wondrous invention, enabled future discoverers to study the infinite life which lies all around us, hidden not by its remoteness but it's minuteness. zacharias jansens of middelburg, in , invented both the telescope and the microscope. the wonder-man of alkmaar, cornelius drebbel, who performed such astounding feats for the amusement of rudolph of germany and james of britain, is also supposed to have invented the thermometer and the barometer. but this claim has been disputed. the inventions of jansens are proved. willebrod snellius, mathematical professor of leyden, introduced the true method of measuring the degrees of longitude and latitude, and huygens, who had seen his manuscripts, asserted that snellius had invented, before descartes, the doctrine of refraction. but it was especially to that noble band of heroes and martyrs, the great navigators and geographical discoverers of the republic, that science is above all indebted. nothing is more sublime in human story than the endurance and audacity with which those pioneers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries confronted the nameless horrors of either pole, in the interests of commerce, and for the direct purpose of enlarging the bounds of the human intellect. the achievements, the sufferings, and the triumphs of barendz and cordes, heemskerk, van der hagen, and many others, have been slightly indicated in these pages. the contributions to botany, mineralogy, geometry, geography, and zoology, of linschoten, plancius, wagenaar, and houtmann, and so many other explorers of pole and tropic, can hardly be overrated. the netherlanders had wrung their original fatherland out of the grasp of the ocean. they had confronted for centuries the wrath of that ancient tyrant, ever ready to seize the prey of which he had been defrauded. they had waged fiercer and more perpetual battle with a tyranny more cruel than the tempest, with an ancient superstition more hungry than the sea. it was inevitable that a race, thus invigorated by the ocean, cradled to freedom by their conflicts with its power, and hardened almost to invincibility by their struggle against human despotism, should be foremost among the nations in the development of political, religious, and commercial freedom. the writer now takes an affectionate farewell of those who have followed him with an indulgent sympathy as he has attempted to trace the origin and the eventful course of the dutch commonwealth. if by his labours a generous love has been fostered for that blessing, without which everything that this earth can afford is worthless--freedom of thought, of speech, and of life--his highest wish has been fulfilled. etext editor's bookmarks: about equal to that of england at the same period an unjust god, himself the origin of sin butchery in the name of christ was suspended calling a peace perpetual can never make it so chieftains are dwarfed in the estimation of followers each in its turn becoming orthodox, and therefore persecuting exorcising the devil by murdering his supposed victims foremost to shake off the fetters of superstition god of vengeance, of jealousy, and of injustice gomarites accused the arminians of being more lax than papists hangman is not the most appropriate teacher of religion he often spoke of popular rights with contempt john wier, a physician of grave necessity of extirpating heresy, root and branch nowhere were so few unproductive consumers paving the way towards atheism (by toleration) privileged to beg, because ashamed to work religious persecution of protestants by protestants so unconscious of her strength state can best defend religion by letting it alone taxed themselves as highly as fifty per cent the people had not been invented the slightest theft was punished with the gallows tolerate another religion that his own may be tolerated toleration--that intolerable term of insult war to compel the weakest to follow the religion of the strongest. etext editor's bookmarks, entire - united netherlands: a penal offence in the republic to talk of peace or of truce a sovereign remedy for the disease of liberty a man incapable of fatigue, of perplexity, or of fear a truce he honestly considered a pitfall of destruction about equal to that of england at the same period abstinence from unproductive consumption accepting a new tyrant in place of the one so long ago deposed alas! we must always have something to persecute alas! the benighted victims of superstition hugged their chains all the ministers and great functionaries received presents an unjust god, himself the origin of sin argument is exhausted and either action or compromise begins as if they were free will not make them free as neat a deception by telling the truth because he had been successful (hated) began to scatter golden arguments with a lavish hand bestowing upon others what was not his property beware of a truce even more than of a peace but the habit of dissimulation was inveterate butchery in the name of christ was suspended by turns, we all govern and are governed calling a peace perpetual can never make it so cargo of imaginary gold dust was exported from the james river certain number of powers, almost exactly equal to each other chieftains are dwarfed in the estimation of followers conceit, and procrastination which marked the royal character constitute themselves at once universal legatees contempt for treaties however solemnly ratified converting beneficent commerce into baleful gambling could handle an argument as well as a sword crimes and cruelties such as christians only could imagine culpable audacity and exaggerated prudence defeated garrison ever deserved more respect from friend or foe delay often fights better than an army against a foreign invader despised those who were grateful diplomacy of spain and rome--meant simply dissimulation do you want peace or war? i am ready for either draw a profit out of the necessities of this state each in its turn becoming orthodox, and therefore persecuting eloquence of the biggest guns england hated the netherlands even the virtues of james were his worst enemies exorcising the devil by murdering his supposed victims foremost to shake off the fetters of superstition four weeks' holiday--the first in eleven years friendly advice still more intolerable gigantic vices are proudly pointed to as the noblest god alone can protect us against those whom we trust god of vengeance, of jealousy, and of injustice gold was the only passkey to justice gomarites accused the arminians of being more lax than papists haereticis non servanda fides hangman is not the most appropriate teacher of religion he often spoke of popular rights with contempt he who confessed well was absolved well his own past triumphs seemed now his greatest enemies human fat esteemed the sovereignst remedy (for wounds) humble ignorance as the safest creed hundred thousand men had laid down their lives by her decree idea of freedom in commerce has dawned upon nations idiotic principle of sumptuary legislation if to do be as grand as to imagine what it were good to do impossible it is to practise arithmetic with disturbed brains indulging them frequently with oracular advice insensible to contumely, and incapable of accepting a rebuff it is certain that the english hate us (sully) john castel, who had stabbed henry iv. john wier, a physician of grave justified themselves in a solemn consumption of time languor of fatigue, rather than any sincere desire for peace logic of the largest battalions looking down upon her struggle with benevolent indifference made peace--and had been at war ever since man is never so convinced of his own wisdom man who cannot dissemble is unfit to reign men who meant what they said and said what they meant men fought as if war was the normal condition of humanity much as the blind or the deaf towards colour or music nations tied to the pinafores of children in the nursery natural tendency to suspicion of a timid man necessity of extirpating heresy, root and branch negotiated as if they were all immortal night brings counsel no retrenchments in his pleasures of women, dogs, and buildings no generation is long-lived enough to reap the harvest not safe for politicians to call each other hard names nowhere were so few unproductive consumers one of the most contemptible and mischievous of kings (james i) passion is a bad schoolmistress for the memory paving the way towards atheism (by toleration) peace seemed only a process for arriving at war peace founded on the only secure basis, equality of strength peace was unattainable, war was impossible, truce was inevitable philip of macedon, who considered no city impregnable prisoners were immediately hanged privileged to beg, because ashamed to work proclaiming the virginity of the virgin's mother readiness at any moment to defend dearly won liberties religious persecution of protestants by protestants repose under one despot guaranteed to them by two others requires less mention than philip iii himself rules adopted in regard to pretenders to crowns served at their banquets by hosts of lackeys on their knees sick soldiers captured on the water should be hanged so unconscious of her strength state can best defend religion by letting it alone steeped to the lips in sloth which imagined itself to be pride subtle and dangerous enemy who wore the mask of a friend such an excuse was as bad as the accusation take all their imaginations and extravagances for truths taxed themselves as highly as fifty per cent the art of ruling the world by doing nothing the slightest theft was punished with the gallows the wisest statesmen are prone to blunder in affairs of war the pigmy, as the late queen had been fond of nicknaming him the expenses of james's household the people had not been invented the small children diminished rapidly in numbers this obstinate little republic to shirk labour, infinite numbers become priests and friars to negotiate was to bribe right and left, and at every step to doubt the infallibility of calvin was as heinous a crime to negotiate with government in england was to bribe tolerate another religion that his own may be tolerated toleration--that intolerable term of insult triple marriages between the respective nurseries unlearned their faith in bell, book, and candle unproductive consumption being accounted most sagacious unwise impatience for peace usual expedient by which bad legislation on one side countered war was the normal and natural condition of mankind war was the normal condition of christians war to compel the weakest to follow the religion of the strongest we have been talking a little bit of truth to each other what was to be done in this world and believed as to the next what exchequer can accept chronic warfare and escape bankruptcy when all was gone, they began to eat each other word peace in spanish mouths simply meant the holy inquisition words are always interpreted to the disadvantage of the weak world has rolled on to fresher fields of carnage and ruin you must show your teeth to the spaniard etext editor's bookmarks of the united netherlands - , complete a hard bargain when both parties are losers a penal offence in the republic to talk of peace or of truce a despot really keeps no accounts, nor need to do so a free commonwealth--was thought an absurdity a burnt cat fears the fire a pusillanimous peace, always possible at any period a man incapable of fatigue, of perplexity, or of fear a sovereign remedy for the disease of liberty a truce he honestly considered a pitfall of destruction able men should be by design and of purpose suppressed about equal to that of england at the same period abstinence from unproductive consumption accepting a new tyrant in place of the one so long ago deposed accustomed to the faded gallantries act of uniformity required papists to assist alas! we must always have something to persecute alas! the benighted victims of superstition hugged their chains alexander's exuberant discretion all fellow-worms together all business has been transacted with open doors all italy was in his hands all the ministers and great functionaries received presents allow her to seek a profit from his misfortune an unjust god, himself the origin of sin anarchy which was deemed inseparable from a non-regal form anatomical study of what has ceased to exist and thus this gentle and heroic spirit took its flight are wont to hang their piety on the bell-rope argument is exhausted and either action or compromise begins arminianism artillery as logical as men in their cups are prone to be as if they were free will not make them free as neat a deception by telling the truth as lieve see the spanish as the calvinistic inquisition at length the twig was becoming the tree auction sales of judicial ermine baiting his hook a little to his appetite beacons in the upward path of mankind because he had been successful (hated) been already crimination and recrimination more than enough began to scatter golden arguments with a lavish hand being the true religion, proved by so many testimonies beneficent and charitable purposes (war) bestowing upon others what was not his property beware of a truce even more than of a peace bomb-shells were not often used although known for a century bungling diplomatists and credulous dotards burning of servetus at geneva but the habit of dissimulation was inveterate butchery in the name of christ was suspended by turns, we all govern and are governed calling a peace perpetual can never make it so canker of a long peace cargo of imaginary gold dust was exported from the james river casting up the matter "as pinchingly as possibly might be" certain number of powers, almost exactly equal to each other certainly it was worth an eighty years' war chief seafaring nations of the world were already protestant chieftains are dwarfed in the estimation of followers children who had never set foot on the shore chronicle of events must not be anticipated college of "peace-makers," who wrangled more than all conceding it subsequently, after much contestation conceit, and procrastination which marked the royal character condemned first and inquired upon after conformity of governments to the principles of justice considerable reason, even if there were but little justice constant vigilance is the price of liberty constitute themselves at once universal legatees contempt for treaties however solemnly ratified continuing to believe himself invincible and infallible converting beneficent commerce into baleful gambling could do a little more than what was possible could handle an argument as well as a sword courage and semblance of cheerfulness, with despair in his heart court fatigue, to scorn pleasure crimes and cruelties such as christians only could imagine culpable audacity and exaggerated prudence deal with his enemy as if sure to become his friend decline a bribe or interfere with the private sale of places defeated garrison ever deserved more respect from friend or foe defect of enjoying the flattery, of his inferiors in station delay often fights better than an army against a foreign invader demanding peace and bread at any price despised those who were grateful diplomacy of spain and rome--meant simply dissimulation diplomatic adroitness consists mainly in the power to deceive disciple of simon stevinus dismay of our friends and the gratification of our enemies disordered, and unknit state needs no shaking, but propping disposed to throat-cutting by the ministers of the gospel divine right of kings do you want peace or war? i am ready for either done nothing so long as aught remained to do draw a profit out of the necessities of this state during this, whole war, we have never seen the like each in its turn becoming orthodox, and therefore persecuting eat their own children than to forego one high mass elizabeth, though convicted, could always confute elizabeth (had not) the faintest idea of religious freedom eloquence of the biggest guns england hated the netherlands englishmen and hollanders preparing to cut each other's throats enmity between lutherans and calvinists even the virtues of james were his worst enemies even to grant it slowly is to deny it utterly ever met disaster with so cheerful a smile every one sees what you seem, few perceive what you are evil is coming, the sooner it arrives the better evil has the advantage of rapidly assuming many shapes exorcising the devil by murdering his supposed victims faction has rarely worn a more mischievous aspect famous fowl in every pot fed on bear's liver, were nearly poisoned to death fellow worms had been writhing for half a century in the dust find our destruction in our immoderate desire for peace fitter to obey than to command five great rivers hold the netherland territory in their coils fled from the land of oppression to the land of liberty fool who useth not wit because he hath it not for his humanity towards the conquered garrisons (censured) for us, looking back upon the past, which was then the future forbidding the wearing of mourning at all foremost to shake off the fetters of superstition four weeks' holiday--the first in eleven years french seem madmen, and are wise friendly advice still more intolerable full of precedents and declamatory commonplaces future world as laid down by rival priesthoods german highland and the german netherland german-lutheran sixteenth-century idea of religious freedom gigantic vices are proudly pointed to as the noblest god of vengeance, of jealousy, and of injustice god alone can protect us against those whom we trust god of wrath who had decreed the extermination of all unbeliever god, whose cause it was, would be pleased to give good weather gold was the only passkey to justice gomarites accused the arminians of being more lax than papists guilty of no other crime than adhesion to the catholic faith had industry been honoured instead of being despised haereticis non servanda fides hanging of mary dyer at boston hangman is not the most appropriate teacher of religion hard at work, pouring sand through their sieves hardly an inch of french soil that had not two possessors hardly a distinguished family in spain not placed in mourning he often spoke of popular rights with contempt he did his work, but he had not his reward he who confessed well was absolved well he spent more time at table than the bearnese in sleep he sat a great while at a time. he had a genius for sitting henry the huguenot as the champion of the council of trent her teeth black, her bosom white and liberally exposed (eliz.) heretics to the english church were persecuted hibernian mode of expressing himself high officers were doing the work of private, soldiers highest were not necessarily the least slimy his invectives were, however, much stronger than his arguments his own past triumphs seemed now his greatest enemies his insolence intolerable his inordinate arrogance historical scepticism may shut its eyes to evidence history is but made up of a few scattered fragments history is a continuous whole of which we see only fragments holland was afraid to give a part, although offering the whole holy institution called the inquisition honor good patriots, and to support them in venial errors hugo grotius human fat esteemed the sovereignst remedy (for wounds) humanizing effect of science upon the barbarism of war humble ignorance as the safest creed humility which was but the cloak to his pride hundred thousand men had laid down their lives by her decree i will never live, to see the end of my poverty i am a king that will be ever known not to fear any but god i did never see any man behave himself as he did idea of freedom in commerce has dawned upon nations idiotic principle of sumptuary legislation idle, listless, dice-playing, begging, filching vagabonds if to do be as grand as to imagine what it were good to do ignorance is the real enslaver of mankind imagining that they held the world's destiny in their hands imposed upon the multitudes, with whom words were things impossible it was to invent terms of adulation too gross impossible it is to practise arithmetic with disturbed brains in times of civil war, to be neutral is to be nothing individuals walking in advance of their age indulging them frequently with oracular advice inevitable fate of talking castles and listening ladies infamy of diplomacy, when diplomacy is unaccompanied by honesty infinite capacity for pecuniary absorption inhabited by the savage tribes called samoyedes innocent generation, to atone for the sins of their forefathers inquisitors enough; but there were no light vessels in the armada insensible to contumely, and incapable of accepting a rebuff intelligence, science, and industry were accounted degrading intentions of a government which did not know its own intentions intolerable tendency to puns invaluable gift which no human being can acquire, authority invincible armada had not only been vanquished but annihilated it is certain that the english hate us (sully) john castel, who had stabbed henry iv. john wier, a physician of grave justified themselves in a solemn consumption of time king had issued a general repudiation of his debts king was often to be something much less or much worse labour was esteemed dishonourable languor of fatigue, rather than any sincere desire for peace leading motive with all was supposed to be religion life of nations and which we call the past little army of maurice was becoming the model for europe logic of the largest battalions longer they delay it, the less easy will they find it look for a sharp war, or a miserable peace looking down upon her struggle with benevolent indifference lord was better pleased with adverbs than nouns loud, nasal, dictatorial tone, not at all agreeable loving only the persons who flattered him luxury had blunted the fine instincts of patriotism made peace--and had been at war ever since magnificent hopefulness make sheep of yourselves, and the wolf will eat you man is never so convinced of his own wisdom man had no rights at all he was property man who cannot dissemble is unfit to reign maritime heretics matter that men may rather pray for than hope for matters little by what name a government is called meet around a green table except as fencers in the field men who meant what they said and said what they meant men fought as if war was the normal condition of humanity mendacity may always obtain over innocence and credulity military virtue in the support of an infamous cause mistakes might occur from occasional deviations into sincerity mondragon was now ninety-two years old moral nature, undergoes less change than might be hoped more catholic than the pope much as the blind or the deaf towards colour or music myself seeing of it methinketh that i dream names history has often found it convenient to mark its epochs national character, not the work of a few individuals nations tied to the pinafores of children in the nursery natural tendency to suspicion of a timid man necessity of kingship necessity of extirpating heresy, root and branch negotiated as if they were all immortal neighbour's blazing roof was likely soon to fire their own never did statesmen know better how not to do never peace well made, he observed, without a mighty war new years day in england, th january by the new style night brings counsel nine syllables that which could be more forcibly expressed in on no retrenchments in his pleasures of women, dogs, and buildings no generation is long-lived enough to reap the harvest nor is the spirit of the age to be pleaded in defence not many more than two hundred catholics were executed not a friend of giving details larger than my ascertained facts not distinguished for their docility not of the genus reptilia, and could neither creep nor crouch not safe for politicians to call each other hard names nothing cheap, said a citizen bitterly, but sermons nothing could equal alexander's fidelity, but his perfidy nowhere were so few unproductive consumers obscure were thought capable of dying natural deaths octogenarian was past work and past mischief often necessary to be blind and deaf one-third of philip's effective navy was thus destroyed one could neither cry nor laugh within the spanish dominions one of the most contemptible and mischievous of kings (james i) only citadel against a tyrant and a conqueror was distrust oration, fertile in rhetoric and barren in facts others that do nothing, do all, and have all the thanks passion is a bad schoolmistress for the memory past was once the present, and once the future patriotism seemed an unimaginable idea pauper client who dreamed of justice at the hands of law paving the way towards atheism (by toleration) peace and quietness is brought into a most dangerous estate peace seemed only a process for arriving at war peace founded on the only secure basis, equality of strength peace would be destruction peace-at-any-price party peace was unattainable, war was impossible, truce was inevitable philip ii. gave the world work enough philip of macedon, who considered no city impregnable picturesqueness of crime placid unconsciousness on his part of defeat plea of infallibility and of authority soon becomes ridiculous portion of these revenues savoured much of black-mail possible to do, only because we see that it has been done pray here for satiety, (said cecil) than ever think of variety prisoners were immediately hanged privileged to beg, because ashamed to work proceeds of his permission to eat meat on fridays proclaiming the virginity of the virgin's mother rarely able to command, having never learned to obey readiness at any moment to defend dearly won liberties rebuked him for his obedience religion was rapidly ceasing to be the line of demarcation religion was not to be changed like a shirt religious persecution of protestants by protestants repentance, as usual, had come many hours too late repose under one despot guaranteed to them by two others repose in the other world, "repos ailleurs" repudiation of national debts was never heard of before requires less mention than philip iii himself resolved thenceforth to adopt a system of ignorance respect for differences in religious opinions rich enough to be worth robbing righteous to kill their own children road to paris lay through the gates of rome round game of deception, in which nobody was deceived royal plans should be enforced adequately or abandoned entirely rules adopted in regard to pretenders to crowns sacked and drowned ten infant princes sacrificed by the queen for faithfully obeying her orders sages of every generation, read the future like a printed scroll security is dangerous seeking protection for and against the people seem as if born to make the idea of royalty ridiculous seems but a change of masks, of costume, of phraseology self-assertion--the healthful but not engaging attribute selling the privilege of eating eggs upon fast-days sentiment of christian self-complacency served at their banquets by hosts of lackeys on their knees sewers which have ever run beneath decorous christendom she relieth on a hope that will deceive her shift the mantle of religion from one shoulder to the other shutting the stable-door when the steed is stolen sick soldiers captured on the water should be hanged simple truth was highest skill sixteen of their best ships had been sacrificed slain four hundred and ten men with his own hand so often degenerated into tyranny (calvinism) so unconscious of her strength soldiers enough to animate the good and terrify the bad some rude lessons from that vigorous little commonwealth spain was governed by an established terrorism spaniards seem wise, and are madmen sparing and war have no affinity together stake or gallows (for) heretics to transubstantiation state can best defend religion by letting it alone states were justified in their almost unlimited distrust steeped to the lips in sloth which imagined itself to be pride strangled his nineteen brothers on his accession strength does a falsehood acquire in determined and skilful hand string of homely proverbs worthy of sancho panza subtle and dangerous enemy who wore the mask of a friend succeeded so well, and had been requited so ill such an excuse was as bad as the accusation such a crime as this had never been conceived (bankruptcy) sure bind, sure find sword in hand is the best pen to write the conditions of peace take all their imaginations and extravagances for truths taxed themselves as highly as fifty per cent tension now gave place to exhaustion that crowned criminal, philip the second that unholy trinity--force; dogma, and ignorance the very word toleration was to sound like an insult the blaze of a hundred and fifty burning vessels the expenses of james's household the worst were encouraged with their good success the history of the netherlands is history of liberty the great ocean was but a spanish lake the divine speciality of a few transitory mortals the sapling was to become the tree the nation which deliberately carves itself in pieces the most thriving branch of national industry (smuggler) the record of our race is essentially unwritten the busy devil of petty economy the small children diminished rapidly in numbers the people had not been invented the alcoran was less cruel than the inquisition the wisest statesmen are prone to blunder in affairs of war the art of ruling the world by doing nothing the slightest theft was punished with the gallows the pigmy, as the late queen had been fond of nicknaming him their existence depended on war there are few inventions in morals there was apathy where there should have been enthusiasm there is no man fitter for that purpose than myself they were always to deceive every one, upon every occasion they had come to disbelieve in the mystery of kingcraft they liked not such divine right nor such gentle-mindedness they chose to compel no man's conscience thirty-three per cent. interest was paid (per month) thirty thousand masses should be said for his soul this obstinate little republic those who argue against a foregone conclusion thought that all was too little for him three hundred and upwards are hanged annually in london three or four hundred petty sovereigns (of germany) tis pity he is not an englishman to negotiate with government in england was to bribe to negotiate was to bribe right and left, and at every step to work, ever to work, was the primary law of his nature to attack england it was necessary to take the road of ireland to shirk labour, infinite numbers become priests and friars to doubt the infallibility of calvin was as heinous a crime toil and sacrifices of those who have preceded us tolerate another religion that his own may be tolerated tolerating religious liberty had never entered his mind toleration--that intolerable term of insult torturing, hanging, embowelling of men, women, and children tranquil insolence tranquillity rather of paralysis than of health triple marriages between the respective nurseries trust her sword, not her enemy's word twas pity, he said, that both should be heretics under the name of religion (so many crimes) undue anxiety for impartiality universal suffrage was not dreamed of at that day unlearned their faith in bell, book, and candle unproductive consumption being accounted most sagacious unproductive consumption was alarmingly increasing unwise impatience for peace upon their knees, served the queen with wine upper and lower millstones of royal wrath and loyal subserviency use of the spade usual expedient by which bad legislation on one side countered utter want of adaptation of his means to his ends utter disproportions between the king's means and aims uttering of my choler doth little ease my grief or help my case valour on the one side and discretion on the other waiting the pleasure of a capricious and despotic woman walk up and down the earth and destroy his fellow-creatures war was the normal and natural condition of mankind war to compel the weakest to follow the religion of the strongest war was the normal condition of christians wasting time fruitlessly is sharpening the knife for himself we have the reputation of being a good housewife we must all die once we mustn't tickle ourselves to make ourselves laugh we have been talking a little bit of truth to each other we were sold by their negligence who are now angry with us wealthy papists could obtain immunity by an enormous fine weapons weary of place without power what exchequer can accept chronic warfare and escape bankruptcy what was to be done in this world and believed as to the next when persons of merit suffer without cause when all was gone, they began to eat each other whether murders or stratagems, as if they were acts of virtue while one's friends urge moderation who the "people" exactly were whole revenue was pledged to pay the interest, on his debts wish to sell us the bear-skin before they have killed the bear with something of feline and feminine duplicity word peace in spanish mouths simply meant the holy inquisition words are always interpreted to the disadvantage of the weak world has rolled on to fresher fields of carnage and ruin worn nor caused to be worn the collar of the serf wrath of bigots on both sides wrath of that injured personage as he read such libellous truths write so illegibly or express himself so awkwardly you must show your teeth to the spaniard this ebook was produced by david widger, widger@cecomet.net book iii. conspiracy of the nobles . up to this point the general peace had it appears been the sincere wish of the prince of orange, the counts egmont and horn, and their friends. they had pursued the true interests of their sovereign as much as the general weal; at least their exertions and their actions had been as little at variance with the former as with the latter. nothing bad as yet occurred to make their motives suspected, or to manifest in them a rebellious spirit. what they had done they had done in discharge of their bounden duty as members of a free state, as the representatives of the nation, as advisers of the king, as men of integrity and honor. the only weapons they had used to oppose the encroachments of the court had been remonstrances, modest complaints, petitions. they had never allowed themselves to be so far carried away by a just zeal for their good cause as to transgress the limits of prudence and moderation which on many occasions are so easily overstepped by party spirit. but all the nobles of the republic did not now listen to the voice of that prudence; all did not abide within the bounds of moderation. while in the council of state the great question was discussed whether the nation was to be miserable or not, while its sworn deputies summoned to their assistance all the arguments of reason and of equity, and while the middle-classes and the people contented themselves with empty complaints, menaces, and curses, that part of the nation which of all seemed least called upon, and on whose support least reliance had been placed, began to take more active measures. we have already described a class of the nobility whose services and wants philip at his accession had not considered it necessary to remember. of these by far the greater number had asked for promotion from a much more urgent reason than a love of the mere honor. many of them were deeply sunk in debt, from which by their own resources they could not hope to emancipate themselves. when then, in filling up appointments, philip passed them over he wounded them in a point far more sensitive than their pride. in these suitors he had by his neglect raised up so many idle spies and merciless judges of his actions, so many collectors and propagators of malicious rumor. as their pride did not quit them with their prosperity, so now, driven by necessity, they trafficked with the sole capital which they could not alienate--their nobility and the political influence of their names; and brought into circulation a coin which only in such a period could have found currency--their protection. with a self-pride to which they gave the more scope as it was all they could now call their own, they looked upon themselves as a strong intermediate power between the sovereign and the citizen, and believed themselves called upon to hasten to the rescue of the oppressed state, which looked imploringly to them for succor. this idea was ludicrous only so far as their self-conceit was concerned in it; the advantages which they contrived to draw from it were substantial enough. the protestant merchants, who held in their hands the chief part of the wealth of the netherlands, and who believed they could not at any price purchase too dearly the undisturbed exercise of their religion, did not fail to make use of this class of people who stood idle in the market and ready to be hired. these very men whom at any other time the merchants, in the pride of riches, would most probably have looked down upon, now appeared likely to do them good service through their numbers, their courage, their credit with the populace, their enmity to the government, nay, through their beggarly pride itself and their despair. on these grounds they zealously endeavored to form a close union with them, and diligently fostered the disposition for rebellion, while they also used every means to keep alive their high opinions of themselves, and, what was most important, lured their poverty by well-applied pecuniary assistance and glittering promises. few of them were so utterly insignificant as not to possess some influence, if not personally, yet at least by their relationship with higher and more powerful nobles; and if united they would be able to raise a formidable voice against the crown. many of them had either already joined the new sect or were secretly inclined to it; and even those who were zealous roman catholics had political or private grounds enough to set them against the decrees of trent and the inquisition. all, in fine, felt the call of vanity sufficiently powerful not to allow the only moment to escape them in which they might possibly make some figure in the republic. but much as might be expected from the co-operation of these men in a body it would have been futile and ridiculous to build any hopes on any one of them singly; and the great difficulty was to effect a union among them. even to bring them together some unusual occurrence was necessary, and fortunately such an incident presented itself. the nuptials of baron montigny, one of the belgian nobles, as also those of the prince alexander of parma, which took place about this time in brussels, assembled in that town a great number of the belgian nobles. on this occasion relations met relations; new friendships were formed and old renewed; and while the distress of the country was the topic of conversation wine and mirth unlocked lips and hearts, hints were dropped of union among themselves, and of an alliance with foreign powers. these accidental meetings soon led to concealed ones, and public discussions gave rise to secret consultations. two german barons, moreover, a count of holle and a count of schwarzenberg, who at this time were on a visit to the netherlands, omitted nothing to awaken expectations of assistance from their neighbors. count louis of nassau, too, had also a short time before visited several german courts to ascertain their sentiments. [it was not without cause that the prince of orange suddenly disappeared from brussels in order to be present at the election of a king of rome in frankfort. an assembly of so many german princes must have greatly favored a negotiation.] it has even been asserted that secret emissaries of the admiral coligny were seen at this time in brabant, but this, however, may be reasonably doubted. if ever a political crisis was favorable to an attempt at revolution it was the present. a woman at the helm of government; the governors of provinces disaffected themselves and disposed to wink at insubordination in others; most of the state counsellors quite inefficient; no army to fall back upon; the few troops there were long since discontented on account of the outstanding arrears of pay, and already too often deceived by false promises to be enticed by new; commanded, moreover, by officers who despised the inquisition from their hearts, and would have blushed to draw a sword in its behalf; and, lastly, no money in the treasury to enlist new troops or to hire foreigners. the court at brussels, as well as the three councils, not only divided by internal dissensions, but in the highest degree--venal and corrupt; the regent without full powers to act on the spot, and the king at a distance; his adherents in the provinces few, uncertain, and dispirited; the faction numerous and powerful; two-thirds of the people irritated against popery and desirous of a change--such was the unfortunate weakness of the government, and the more unfortunate still that this weakness was so well known to its enemies! in order to unite so many minds in the prosecution of a common object a leader was still wanting, and a few influential names to give political weight to their enterprise. the two were supplied by count louis of nassau and henry count brederode, both members of the most illustrious houses of the belgian nobility, who voluntarily placed themselves at the head of the undertaking. louis of nassau, brother of the prince of orange, united many splendid qualities which made him worthy of appearing on so noble and important a stage. in geneva, where he studied, he had imbibed at once a hatred to the hierarchy and a love to the new religion, and on his return to his native country had not failed to enlist proselytes to his opinions. the republican bias which his mind had received in that school kindled in him a bitter hatred of the spanish name, which animated his whole conduct and only left him with his latest breath. popery and spanish rule were in his mind identical-- as indeed they were in reality--and the abhorrence which he entertained for the one helped to strengthen his dislike for the other. closely as the brothers agreed in their inclinations and aversions the ways by which each sought to gratify them were widely dissimilar. youth and an ardent temperament did not allow the younger brother to follow the tortuous course through which the elder wound himself to his object. a cold, calm circumspection carried the latter slowly but surely to his aim, and with a pliable subtilty he made all things subserve his purpose; with a foolhardy impetuosity which overthrew all obstacles, the other at times compelled success, but oftener accelerated disaster. for this reason william was a general and louis never more than an adventurer; a sure and powerful arm if only it were directed by a wise head. louis' pledge once given was good forever; his alliances survived every vicissitude, for they were mostly formed in the pressing moment of necessity, and misfortune binds more firmly than thoughtless joy. he loved his brother as dearly as he did his cause, and for the latter he died. henry of brederode, baron of viane and burgrave of utrecht, was descended from the old dutch counts who formerly ruled that province as sovereign princes. so ancient a title endeared him to the people, among whom the memory of their former lords still survived, and was the more treasured the less they felt they had gained by the change. this hereditary splendor increased the self-conceit of a man upon whose tongue the glory of his ancestors continually hung, and who dwelt the more on former greatness, even amidst its ruins, the more unpromising the aspect of his own condition became. excluded from the honors and employments to which, in his opinion, his own merits and his noble ancestry fully entitled him (a squadron of light cavalry being all which was entrusted to him), he hated the government, and did not scruple boldly to canvass and to rail at its measures. by these means he won the hearts of the people. he also favored in secret the evangelical belief; less, however, as a conviction of his better reason than as an opposition to the government. with more loquacity than eloquence, and more audacity than courage, he was brave rather from not believing in danger than from being superior to it. louis of nassau burned for the cause which he defended, brederode for the glory of being its defender; the former was satisfied in acting for his party, the latter discontented if he did not stand at its head. no one was more fit to lead off the dance in a rebellion, but it could hardly have a worse ballet-master. contemptible as his threatened designs really were, the illusion of the multitude might have imparted to them weight and terror if it had occurred to them to set up a pretender in his person. his claim to the possessions of his ancestors was an empty name; but even a name was now sufficient for the general disaffection to rally round. a pamphlet which was at the time disseminated amongst the people openly called him the heir of holland; and his engraved portrait, which was publicly exhibited, bore the boastful inscription:-- sum brederodus ego, batavae non infima gentis gloria, virtutem non unica pagina claudit. ( .) besides these two, there were others also from among the most illustrious of the flemish nobles the young count charles of mansfeld, a son of that nobleman whom we have found among the most zealous royalists; the count kinlemburg; two counts of bergen and of battenburg; john of marnix, baron of toulouse; philip of marnix, baron of st. aldegonde; with several others who joined the league, which, about the middle of november, in the year , was formed at the house of von hammes, king at arms of the golden fleece. here it was that six men decided the destiny of their country as formerly a few confederates consummated the liberty of switzerland, kindled the torch of a forty years' war, and laid the basis of a freedom which they themselves were never to enjoy. the objects of the league were set forth in the following declaration, to which philip of marnix was the first to subscribe his name: "whereas certain ill-disposed persons, under the mask of a pious zeal, but in reality under the impulse of avarice and ambition, have by their evil counsels persuaded our most gracious sovereign the king to introduce into these countries the abominable tribunal of the inquisition, a tribunal diametrically opposed to all laws, human and divine, and in cruelty far surpassing the barbarous institutions of heathenism; which raises the inquisitors above every other power, and debases man to a perpetual bondage, and by its snares exposes the honest citizen to a constant fear of death, inasmuch as any one (priest, it may be, or a faithless friend, a spaniard or a reprobate), has it in his power at any moment to cause whom he will to be dragged before that tribunal, to be placed in confinement, condemned, and executed without the accused ever being allowed to face his accuser, or to adduce proof of his innocence; we, therefore, the undersigned, have bound ourselves to watch over the safety of our families, our estates, and our own persons. to this we hereby pledge ourselves, and to this end bind ourselves as a sacred fraternity, and vow with a solemn oath to oppose to the best of our power the introduction of this tribunal into these countries, whether it be attempted openly or secretly, and under whatever name it may be disguised. we at the same time declare that we are far from intending anything unlawful against the king our sovereign; rather is it our unalterable purpose to support and defend the royal prerogative, and to maintain peace, and, as far as lies in our power, to put down all rebellion. in accordance with this purpose we have sworn, and now again swear, to hold sacred the government, and to respect it both in word and deed, which witness almighty god! "further, we vow and swear to protect and defend one another, in all times and places, against all attacks whatsoever touching the articles which are set forth in this covenant. we hereby bind ourselves that no accusation of any of our followers, in whatever name it may be clothed, whether rebellion, sedition, or otherwise, shall avail to annul our oath towards the accused, or absolve us from our obligation towards him. no act which is directed against the inquisition can deserve the name of a rebellion. whoever, therefore, shall be placed in arrest on any such charge, we here pledge ourselves to assist him to the utmost of our ability, and to endeavor by every allowable means to effect his liberation. in this, however, as in all matters, but especially in the conduct of all measures against the tribunal of the inquisition, we submit ourselves to the general regulations of the league, or to the decision of those whom we may unanimously appoint our counsellors and leaders. "in witness hereof, and in confirmation of this our common league and covenant, we call upon the holy name of the living god, maker of heaven and earth, and of all that are therein, who searches the hearts, the consciences, and the thoughts, and knows the purity of ours. we implore the aid of the holy spirit, that success and honor may crown our undertaking, to the glory of his name, and to the peace and blessing of our country!" this covenant was immediately translated into several languages, and quickly disseminated through the provinces. to swell the league as speedily as possible each of the confederates assembled all his friends, relations, adherents, and retainers. great banquets were held, which lasted whole days--irresistible temptations for a sensual, luxurious people, in whom the deepest wretchedness could not stifle the propensity for voluptuous living. whoever repaired to these banquets--and every one was welcome--was plied with officious assurances of friendship, and, when heated with wine, carried away by the example of numbers, and overcome by the fire of a wild eloquence. the hands of many were guided while they subscribed their signatures; the hesitating were derided, the pusillanimous threatened, the scruples of loyalty clamored down; some even were quite ignorant what they were signing, and were ashamed afterwards to inquire. to many whom mere levity brought to the entertainment the general enthusiasm left no choice, while the splendor of the confederacy allured the mean, and its numbers encouraged the timorous. the abettors of the league had not scrupled at the artifice of counterfeiting the signature and seals of the prince of orange, counts egmont, horn, mcgen, and others, a trick which won them hundreds of adherents. this was done especially with a view of influencing the officers of the army, in order to be safe in this quarter, if matters should come at last to violence. the device succeeded with many, especially with subalterns, and count brederode even drew his sword upon an ensign who wished time for consideration. men of all classes and conditions signed it. religion made no difference. roman catholic priests even were associates of the league. the motives were not the same with all, but the pretext was similar. the roman catholics desired simply the abolition of the inquisition, and a mitigation of the edicts; the protestants aimed at unlimited freedom of conscience. a few daring spirits only entertained so bold a project as the overthrow of the present government, while the needy and indigent based the vilest hopes on a general anarchy. a farewell entertainment, which about this time was given to the counts schwarzenberg and holle in breda, and another shortly afterwards in hogstraten, drew many of the principal nobility to these two places, and of these several had already signed the covenant. the prince of orange, counts egmont, horn, and megen were present at the latter banquet, but without any concert or design, and without having themselves any share in the league, although one of egmont's own secretaries and some of the servants of the other three noblemen had openly joined it. at this entertainment three hundred persons gave in their adhesion to the covenant, and the question was mooted whether the whole body should present themselves before the regent armed or unarmed, with a declaration or with a petition? horn and orange (egmont would not countenance the business in any way) were called in as arbiters upon this point, and they decided in favor of the more moderate and submissive procedure. by taking this office upon them they exposed themselves to the charge of having in no very covert manner lent their sanction to the enterprise of the confederates. in compliance, therefore, with their advice, it was determined to present their address unarmed, and in the form of a petition, and a day was appointed on which they should assemble in brussels. the first intimation the regent received of this conspiracy of the nobles was given by the count of megen soon after his return to the capital. "there was," he said, "an enterprise on foot; no less than three hundred of the nobles were implicated in it; it referred to religion; the members of it had bound themselves together by an oath; they reckoned much on foreign aid; she would soon know more about it." though urgently pressed, he would give her no further information. "a nobleman," he said, "had confided it to him under the seal of secrecy, and he had pledged his word of honor to him." what really withheld him from giving her any further explanation was, in all probability, not so much any delicacy about his honor, as his hatred of the inquisition, which he would not willingly do anything to advance. soon after him, count egmont delivered to the regent a copy of the covenant, and also gave her the names of the conspirators, with some few exceptions. nearly about the same time the prince of orange wrote to her: "there was, as he had heard, an army enlisted, four hundred officers were already named, and twenty thousand men would presently appear in arms." thus the rumor was intentionally exaggerated, and the danger was multiplied in every mouth. the regent, petrified with alarm at the first announcement of these tidings, and guided solely by her fears, hastily called together all the members of the council of state who happened to be then in brussels, and at the same time sent a pressing summons to the prince of orange and count horn, inviting them to resume their seats in the senate. before the latter could arrive she consulted with egmont, megen, and barlaimont what course was to be adopted in the present dangerous posture of affairs. the question debated was whether it would be better to have recourse to arms or to yield to the emergency and grant the demands of the confederates; or whether they should be put off with promises, and an appearance of compliance, in order to gain time for procuring instructions from spain, and obtaining money and troops? for the first plan the requisite supplies were wanting, and, what was equally requisite, confidence in the army, of which there seemed reason to doubt whether it had not been already gained by the conspirators. the second expedient would it was quite clear never be sanctioned by the king; besides it would serve rather to raise than depress the courage of the confederates; while, on the other hand, a compliance with their reasonable demands and a ready unconditional pardon of the past would in all probability stifle the rebellion in the cradle. the last opinion was supported by megen and egmont but opposed by barlaimont. "rumor," said the latter, "had exaggerated the matter; it is impossible that so formidable an armament could have been prepared so secretly and, so rapidly. it was but a band of a few outcasts and desperadoes, instigated by two or three enthusiasts, nothing more. all will be quiet after a few heads have been struck off." the regent determined to await the opinion of the council of state, which was shortly to assemble; in the meanwhile, however, she was not inactive. the fortifications in the most important places were inspected and the necessary repairs speedily executed; her ambassadors at foreign courts received orders to redouble their vigilance; expresses were sent off to spain. at the same time she caused the report to be revived of the near advent of the king, and in her external deportment put on a show of that imperturbable firmness which awaits attack without intending easily to yield to it. at the end of march (four whole months consequently from the framing of the covenant), the whole state council assembled in brussels. there were present the prince of orange, the duke of arschot, counts egmont, bergen, megen, aremberg, horn, hosstraten, barlaimont, and others; the barons montigny and hachicourt, all the knights of the golden fleece, with the president viglius, state counsellor bruxelles, and the other assessors of the privy council. several letters were produced which gave a clearer insight into the nature and objects of the conspiracy. the extremity to which the regent was reduced gave the disaffected a power which on the present occasion they did not neglect to use. venting their long suppressed indignation, they indulged in bitter complaints against the court and against the government. "but lately," said the prince of orange, "the king sent forty thousand gold florins to the queen of scotland to support her in her undertakings against england, and he allows his netherlands to be burdened with debt. not to mention the unseasonableness of this subsidy and its fruitless expenditure, why should he bring upon us the resentment of a queen, who is both so important to us as a friend and as an enemy so much to be dreaded?" the prince did not even refrain on the present occasion from glancing at the concealed hatred which the king was suspected of cherishing against the family of nassau and against him in particular. "it is well known," he said, "that he has plotted with the hereditary enemies of my house to take away my life, and that he waits with impatience only for a suitable opportunity." his example opened the lips of count horn also, and of many others besides, who with passionate vehemence descanted on their own merits and the ingratitude of the king. with difficulty did the regent succeed in silencing the tumult and in recalling attention to the proper subject of the debate. the question was whether the confederates, of whom it was now known that they intended to appear at court with a petition, should be admitted or not? the duke of arschot, counts aremberg, megen, and barlaimont gave their negative to the proposition. "what need of five hundred persons," said the latter, "to deliver a small memorial? this paradox of humility and defiance implies no good. let them send to us one respectable man from among their number without pomp, without assumption, and so submit their application to us. otherwise, shut the gates upon them, or if some insist on their admission let them be closely watched, and let the first act of insolence which any one of them shall be guilty of be punished with death." in this advice concurred count mansfeld, whose own son was among the conspirators; he had even threatened to disinherit his son if he did not quickly abandon the league. counts megen, also, and aremberg hesitated to receive the petition; the prince of orange, however, counts egmont, horn, hogstraten, and others voted emphatically for it. "the confederates," they declared, "were known to them as men of integrity and honor; a great part of them were connected with themselves by friendship and relationship, and they dared vouch for their behavior. every subject was allowed to petition; a right which was enjoyed by the meanest individual in the state could not without injustice be denied to so respectable a body of men." it was therefore resolved by a majority of votes to admit the confederates on the condition that they should appear unarmed and conduct themselves temperately. the squabbles of the members of council had occupied the greater part of the sitting, so that it was necessary to adjourn the discussion to the following day. in order that the principal matter in debate might not again be lost sight of in useless complaints the regent at once hastened to the point: "brederode, we are informed," she said, "is coming to us, with an address in the name of the league, demanding the abolition of the inquisition and a mitigation of the edicts. the advice of my senate is to guide me in my answer to him; but before you give your opinions on this point permit me to premise a few words. i am told that there are many even amongst yourselves who load the religious edicts of the emperor, my father, with open reproaches, and describe them to the people as inhuman and barbarous. now i ask you, lords and gentlemen, knights of the fleece, counsellors of his majesty and of the state, whether you did not yourselves vote for these edicts, whether the states of the realm have not recognized them as lawful? why is that now blamed, which was formerly declared right? is it because they have now become even more necessary than they then were? since when is the inquisition a new thing in the netherlands? is it not full sixteen years ago since the emperor established it? and wherein is it more cruel than the edicts? if it be allowed that the latter were the work of wisdom, if the universal consent of the states has sanctioned them-- why this opposition to the former, which is nevertheless far more humane than the edicts, if they are to be observed to the letter? speak now freely; i am not desirous of fettering your decision; but it is your business to see that it is not misled by passion and prejudice." the council of state was again, as it always had been, divided between two opinions; but the few who spoke for the inquisition and the literal execution of the edicts were outvoted by the opposite party with the prince of orange at its head. "would to heaven," he began,--"that my representations had been then thought worthy of attention, when as yet the grounds of apprehension were remote; things would in that case never have been carried so far as to make recourse to extreme measures indispensable, nor would men have been plunged deeper in error by the very means which were intended to beguile them from their delusion. we are all unanimous on the one main point. we all wish to see the catholic religion safe; if this end can be secured without the aid of the inquisition, it is well, and we offer our wealth and our blood to its service; but on this very point it is that our opinions are divided. "there are two kinds of inquisition: the see of rome lays claim to one, the other has, from time immemorial, been exercised by the bishops. the force of prejudice and of custom has made the latter light and supportable to us. it will find little opposition in the netherlands, and the augmented numbers of the bishops will make it effective. to what purpose then insist on the former, the mere name of which is revolting to all the feelings of our minds? when so many nations exist without it why should it be imposed on us? before luther appeared it was never heard of; but the troubles with luther happened at a time when there was an inadequate number of spiritual overseers, and when the few bishops were, moreover, indolent, and the licentiousness of the clergy excluded them from the office of judges. now all is changed; we now count as many bishops as there are provinces. why should not the policy of the government adjust itself to the altered circumstances of the times? we want leniency, not severity. the repugnance of the people is manifest--this we must seek to appease if we would not have it burst out into rebellion. with the death of pius iv. the full powers of the inquisitors have expired; the new pope has as yet sent no ratification of their authority, without which no one formerly ventured to exercise his office. now, therefore, is the time when it can be suspended without infringing the rights of any party. "what i have stated with regard to the inquisition holds equally good in respect to the edicts also. the exigency of the times called them forth, but are not those times passed? so long an experience of them ought at last to have taught us that against hersey no means are less successful than the fagot and sword. what incredible progress has not the new religion made during only the last few years in the provinces; and if we investigate the cause of this increase we shall find it principally in the glorious constancy of those who have fallen sacrifices to the truth of their opinions. carried away by sympathy and admiration, men begin to weigh in silence whether what is maintained with such invincible courage may not really be the truth. in france and in england the same severities may have been inflicted on the protestants, but have they been attended with any better success there than here? the very earliest christians boasted that the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church. the emperor julian, the most terrible enemy that christianity ever experienced, was fully persuaded of this. convinced that persecution did but kindle enthusiasm he betook himself to ridicule and derision, and found these weapons far more effective than force. in the greek empire different teachers of heresy have arisen at different times. arius under constantine, aetius under constantius, nestorius under theodosius. but even against these arch- heretics and their disciples such cruel measures were never resorted to as are thought necessary against our unfortunate country--and yet where are all those sects now which once a whole world, i had almost said, could not contain? this is the natural course of heresy. if it is treated with contempt it crumbles into insignificance. it is as iron, which, if it lies idle, corrodes, and only becomes sharp by use. let no notice be paid to it, and it loses its most powerful attraction, the magic of what is new and what is forbidden. why will we not content ourselves with the measures which have been approved of by the wisdom of such great rulers? example is ever the safest guide. "but what need to go to pagan antiquity for guidance and example when we have near at hand the glorious precedent of charles v., the greatest of kings, who taught at last by experience, abandoned the bloody path of persecution, and for many years before his abdication adopted milder measures. and philip himself, our most gracious sovereign, seemed at first strongly inclined to leniency until the counsels of granvella and of others like him changed these views; but with what right or wisdom they may settle between themselves. to me, however, it has always appeared indispensable that legislation to be wise and successful must adjust itself to the manners and maxims of the times. in conclusion, i would beg to remind you of the close understanding which subsists between the huguenots and the flemish protestants. let us beware of exasperating them any further. let us not act the part of french catholics towards them, lest they should play the huguenots against us, and, like the latter, plunge their country into the horrors of a civil war." [no one need wonder, says burgundias (a vehement stickler for the roman catholic religion and the spanish party), that the speech of this prince evinced so much acquaintance with philosophy; he had acquired it in his intercourse with balduin. . barry, - . hopper, . strada, , .] it was, perhaps, not so much the irresistible truth of his arguments, which, moreover, were supported by a decisive majority in the senate, as rather the ruinous state of the military resources, and the exhaustion of the treasury, that prevented the adoption of the opposite opinion which recommended an appeal to the force of arms that the prince of orange had chiefly to thank for the attention which now at last was paid to his representations. in order to avert at first the violence of the storm, and to gain time, which was so necessary to place the government in a better sate of preparation, it was agreed that a portion of the demands should be accorded to the confederates. it was also resolved to mitigate the penal statutes of the emperor, as he himself would certainly mitigate them, were he again to appear among them at that day --and as, indeed, he had once shown under circumstances very similar to the present that he did not think it derogatory to his high dignity to do. the inquisition was not to be introduced in any place where it did not already exist, and where it had been it should adopt a milder system, or even be entirely suspended, especially since the inquisitors had not yet been confirmed in their office by the pope. the latter reason was put prominently forward, in order to deprive the protestants of the gratification of ascribing the concessions to any fear of their own power, or to the justice of their demands. the privy council was commissioned to draw out this decree of the senate without delay. thus prepared the confederates were awaited. the gueux. the members of the senate had not yet dispersed, when all brussels resounded with the report that the confederates were approaching the town. they consisted of no more than two hundred horse, but rumor greatly exaggerated their numbers. filled with consternation, the regent consulted with her ministers whether it was best to close the gates on the approaching party or to seek safety in flight? both suggestions were rejected as dishonorable; and the peaceable entry of the nobles soon allayed all fears of violence. the first morning after their arrival they assembled at kuilemberg house, where brederode administered to them a second oath, binding them before all other duties to stand by one another, and even with arms if necessary. at this meeting a letter from spain was produced, in which it was stated that a certain protestant, whom, they all knew and valued, had been burned alive in that country by a slow fire. after these and similar preliminaries he called on them one after another by name to take the new oath and renew the old one in their own names and in those of the absent. the next day, the th of april, , was fixed for the presentation of the petition. their numbers now amounted to between three and four hundred. amongst them were many retainers of the high nobility, as also several servants of the king himself and of the duchess. with the counts of nassau and brederode at their head, and formed in ranks of four by four, they advanced in procession to the palace; all brussels attended the unwonted spectacle in silent astonishment. here were to be seen a body of men advancing with too much boldness and confidence to look like supplicants, and led by two men who were not wont to be petitioners; and, on the other hand, with so much order and stillness as do not usually accompany rebellion. the regent received the procession surrounded by all her counsellors and the knights of the fleece. "these noble netherlanders," thus brederode respectfully addressed her, "who here present themselves before your highness, wish in their own name, and of many others besides who are shortly to arrive, to present to you a petition of whose importance as well as of their own humility this solemn procession must convince you. i, as speaker of this body, entreat you to receive our petition, which contains nothing but what is in unison with the laws of our country and the honor of the king." "if this petition," replied margaret, "really contains nothing which is at variance either with the good of the country, or with the authority of the king, there is no doubt that it will be favorably considered." "they had learnt," continued the spokesman, "with indignation and regret that suspicious objects had been imputed to their association, and that interested parties had endeavored to prejudice her highness against him; they therefore craved that she would name the authors of so grave an accusation, and compel them to bring their charges publicly, and in due form, in order that he who should be found guilty might suffer the punishment of his demerits." "undoubtedly," replied the regent, "she had received unfavorable rumors of their designs and alliance. she could not be blamed, if in consequence she had thought it requisite to call the attention of the governors of the provinces to the matter; but, as to giving up the names of her informants to betray state secrets," she added, with an appearance of displeasure, "that could not in justice be required of her." she then appointed the next day for answering their petition; and in the meantime she proceeded to consult the members of her council upon it. "never" (so ran the petition which, according to some, was drawn up by the celebrated balduin), "never had they failed in their loyalty to their king, and nothing now could be farther from their hearts; but they would rather run the risk of incurring the displeasure of their sovereign than allow him to remain longer in ignorance of the evils with which their native country was menaced, by the forcible introduction of the inquisition and the continued enforcement of the edicts. they had long remained consoling themselves with the expectation that a general assembly of the states would be summoned to remedy these grievances; but now that even this hope was extinguished, they held it to be their duty to give timely warning to the regent. they, therefore, entreated her highness to send to madrid an envoy, well disposed, and fully acquainted with the state and temper of the times, who should endeavor to persuade the king to comply with the demands of the whole nation, and abolish the inquisition, to revoke the edicts, and in their stead cause new and more humane ones to be drawn up at a general assembly of the states. but, in the meanwhile, until they could learn the king's decision, they prayed that the edicts and the operations of the inquisition be suspended." "if," they concluded, "no attention should be paid to their humble request, they took god, the king, the regent, and all her counsellors to witness that they had done their part, and were not responsible for any unfortunate result that might happen." the following day the confederates, marching in the same order of procession, but in still greater numbers (counts bergen and kuilemberg having, in the interim, joined them with their adherents), appeared before the regent in order to receive her answer. it was written on the margin of the petition, and was to the effect, "that entirely to suspend the inquisition and the edicts, even temporarily, was beyond her powers; but in compliance with the wishes of the confederates she was ready to despatch one of the nobles to the king in spain, and also to support their petition with all her influence. in the meantime, she would recommend the inquisitors to administer their office with moderation; but in return she should expect on the part of the league that they should abstain from all acts of violence, and undertake nothing to the prejudice of the catholic faith." little as these vague and general promises satisfied the confederates, they were, nevertheless, as much as they could have reasonably expected to gain at first. the granting or refusing of the petition had nothing to do with the primary object of the league. enough for them at present that it was once recognized, enough that it was now, as it were, an established body, which by its power and threats might, if necessary, overawe the government. the confederates, therefore, acted quite consistently with their designs, in contenting themselves with this answer, and referring the rest to the good pleasure of the king. as, indeed, the whole pantomime of petitioning had only been invented to cover the more daring plan of the league, until it should have strength enough to show itself in its true light, they felt that much more depended on their being able to continue this mask, and on the favorable reception of their petition, than on its speedily being granted. in a new memorial, which they delivered three days after, they pressed for an express testimonial from the regent that they had done no more than their duty, and been guided simply by their zeal for the service of the king. when the duchess evaded a declaration, they even sent a person to repeat this request in a private interview. "time alone and their future behavior," she replied to this person, "would enable her to judge of their designs." the league had its origin in banquets, and a banquet gave it form and perfection. on the very day that the second petition was presented brederode entertained the confederates in kuilemberg house. about three hundred guests assembled; intoxication gave them courage, and their audacity rose with their numbers. during the conversation one of their number happened to remark that he had overheard the count of barlaimont whisper in french to the regent, who was seen to turn pale on the delivery of the petitions, that "she need not be afraid of a band of beggars (gueux);" (in fact, the majority of them had by their bad management of their incomes only too well deserved this appellation.) now, as the very name for their fraternity was the very thing which had most perplexed them, an expression was eagerly caught up, which, while it cloaked the presumption of their enterprise in humility, was at the same time appropriate to them as petitioners. immediately they drank to one another under this name, and the cry "long live the gueux!" was accompanied with a general shout of applause. after the cloth had been removed brederode appeared with a wallet over his shoulder similar to that which the vagrant pilgrims and mendicant monks of the time used to carry, and after returning thanks to all for their accession to the league, and boldly assuring them that he was ready to venture life and limb for every individual present, he drank to the health of the whole company out of a wooden beaker. the cup went round and every one uttered the same vow as be set it to his lips. then one after the other they received the beggar's purse, and each hung it on a nail which he had appropriated to himself. the shouts and uproar attending this buffoonery attracted the prince of orange and counts egmont and horn, who by chance were passing the spot at the very moment, and on entering the house were boisterously pressed by brederode, as host, to remain and drink a glass with them. ["but," egmont asserted in his written defence "we drank only one single small glass, and thereupon they cried 'long live the king and the gueux!' this was the first time that i heard that appellation, and it certainly did not please me. but the times were so bad that one was often compelled to share in much that was against one's inclination, and i knew not but i was doing an innocent thing." proces criminels des comtes d'egmont, etc.. . . egmont's defence, hopper, . strada, - . burgund., , .] the entrance of three such influential personages renewed the mirth of the guests, and their festivities soon passed the bounds of moderation. many were intoxicated; guests and attendants mingled together without distinction; the serious and the ludicrous, drunken fancies and affairs of state were blended one with another in a burlesque medley; and the discussions on the general distress of the country ended in the wild uproar of a bacchanalian revel. but it did not stop here; what they had resolved on in the moment of intoxication they attempted when sober to carry into execution. it was necessary to manifest to the people in some striking shape the existence of their protectors, and likewise to fan the zeal of the faction by a visible emblem; for this end nothing could be better than to adopt publicly this name of gueux, and to borrow from it the tokens of the association. in a few days the town of brussels swarmed with ash-gray garments such as were usually worn by mendicant friars and penitents. every confederate put his whole family and domestics in this dress. some carried wooden bowls thinly overlaid with plates of silver, cups of the same kind, and wooden knives; in short the whole paraphernalia of the beggar tribe, which they either fixed around their hats or suspended from their girdles: round the neck they wore a golden or silver coin, afterwards called the geusen penny, of which one side bore the effigy of the king, with the inscription, "true to the king;" on the other side were seen two hands folded together holding a wallet, with the words "as far as the beggar's scrip." hence the origin of the name "gueux," which was subsequently borne in the netherlands by all who seceded from popery and took up arms against the king. before the confederates separated and dispersed among the provinces they presented themselves once more before the duchess, in order to remind her of the necessity of leniency towards the heretics until the arrival of the king's answer from spain, if she did not wish to drive the people to extremities. "if, however," they added, "a contrary behavior should give rise to any evils they at least must be regarded as having done their duty." to this the regent replied, "she hoped to be able to adopt such measures as would render it impossible for disorders to ensue; but if, nevertheless, they did occur, she could ascribe them to no one but the confederates. she therefore earnestly admonished them on their part to fulfil their engagements, but especially to receive no new members into the league, to hold no more private assemblies, and generally not to attempt any novel and unconstitutional measures." and in order to tranquillize their minds she commanded her private secretary, berti, to show them the letters to the inquisitors and secular judges, wherein they were enjoined to observe moderation towards all those who had not aggravated their heretical offences by any civil crime. before their departure from brussels they named four presidents from among their number who were to take care of the affairs of the league, and also particular administrators for each province. a few were left behind in brussels to keep a watchful eye on all the movements of the court. brederode, kuilemberg, and bergen at last quitted the town, attended by five hundred and fifty horsemen, saluted it once more beyond the walls with a discharge of musketry, and then the three leaders parted, brederode taking the road to antwerp, and the two others to guelders. the regent had sent off an express to antwerp to warn the magistrate of that town against him. on his arrival more than a thousand persons thronged to the hotel where he had taken up his abode. showing himself at a window, with a full wineglass in his hand, he thus addressed them: "citizens of antwerp! i am here at the hazard of my life and my property to relieve you from the oppressive burden of the inquisition. if you are ready to share this enterprise with me, and to acknowledge me as your leader, accept the health which i here drink to you, and hold up your hands in testimony of your approbation." hereupon he drank to their health, and all hands were raised amidst clamorous shouts of exultation. after this heroic deed he quitted antwerp. immediately after the delivery of the "petition of the nobles," the regent had caused a new form of the edicts to be drawn up in the privy council, which should keep the mean between the commands of the king and the demands of the confederates. but the next question that arose was to determine whether it would be advisable immediately to promulgate this mitigated form, or moderation, as it was commonly called, or to submit it first to the king for his ratification. the privy council who maintained that it would be presumptuous to take a step so important and so contrary to the declared sentiments of the monarch without having first obtained his sanction, opposed the vote of the prince of orange who supported the former proposition. besides, they urged, there was cause to fear that it would not even content the nation. a "moderation" devised with the assent of the states was what they particularly insisted on. in order, therefore, to gain the consent of the states, or rather to obtain it from them by stealth, the regent artfully propounded the question to the provinces singly, and first of all to those which possessed the least freedom, such as artois, namur, and luxemburg. thus she not only prevented one province encouraging another in opposition, but also gained this advantage by it, that the freer provinces, such as flanders and brabant, which were prudently reserved to the last, allowed themselves to be carried away by the example of the others. by a very illegal procedure the representatives of the towns were taken by surprise, and their consent exacted before they could confer with their constituents, while complete silence was imposed upon them with regard to the whole transaction. by these means the regent obtained the unconditional consent of some of the provinces to the "moderation," and, with a few slight changes, that of other provinces. luxemburg and namur subscribed it without scruple. the states of artois simply added the condition that false informers should be subjected to a retributive penalty; those of hainault demanded that instead of confiscation of the estates, which directly militated against their privileges, another discretionary punishment should be introduced. flanders called for the entire abolition of the inquisition, and desired that the accused might be secured in right of appeal to their own province. the states of brabant were outwitted by the intrigues of the court. zealand, holland, utrecht, guelders, and friesland as being provinces which enjoyed the most important privileges, and which, moreover, watched over them with the greatest jealousy, were never asked for their opinion. the provincial courts of judicature had also been required to make a report on the projected amendment of the law, but we may well suppose that it was unfavorable, as it never reached spain. from the principal cause of this "moderation," which, however, really deserved its name, we may form a judgment of the general character of the edicts themselves. "sectarian writers," it ran, "the heads and teachers of sects, as also those who conceal heretical meetings, or cause any other public scandal, shall be punished with the gallows, and their estates, where the law of the province permit it, confiscated; but if they abjure their errors, their punishment shall be commuted into decapitation with the sword, and their effects shall be preserved to their families." a cruel snare for parental affection! less grievous heretics, it was further enacted, shall, if penitent, be pardoned; and if impenitent shall be compelled to leave the country, without, however, forfeiting their estates, unless by continuing to lead others astray they deprive themselves of the benefit of this provision. the anabaptists, however, were expressly excluded from benefiting by this clause; these, if they did not clear themselves by the most thorough repentance, were to forfeit their possessions; and if, on the other hand, they relapsed after penitence, that is, were backsliding heretics, they were to be put to death without mercy. the greater regard for life and property which is observable in this ordinance as compared with the edicts, and which we might be tempted to ascribe to a change of intention in the spanish ministry, was nothing more than a compulsory step extorted by the determined opposition of the nobles. so little, too, were the people in the netherlands satisfied by this "moderation," which fundamentally did not remove a single abuse, that instead of "moderation" (mitigation), they indignantly called it "moorderation," that is, murdering. after the consent of the states had in this manner been extorted from them, the "moderation" was submitted to the council of the state, and, after receiving their signatures, forwarded to the king in spain in order to receive from his ratification the force of law. the embassy to madrid, which had been agreed upon with the confederates, was at the outset entrusted to the marquis of bergen, who, however, from a distrust of the present disposition of the king, which was only too well grounded, and from reluctance to engage alone in so delicate a business, begged for a coadjutor. [this marquis of bergen is to be distinguished from count william of bergen, who was among the first who subscribed the covenant. vigi. ad hopper, letter vii.] he obtained one in the baron of montigny, who had previously been employed in a similar duty, and had discharged it with high credit. as, however, circumstances had since altered so much that he had just anxiety as to his present reception in madrid for his greater safety, he stipulated with the duchess that she should write to the monarch previously; and that he, with his companion, should, in the meanwhile, travel slowly enough to give time for the king's answer reaching him en route. his good genius wished, as it appeared, to save him from the terrible fate which awaited him in madrid, for his departure was delayed by an unexpected obstacle, the marquis of bergen being disabled from setting out immediately through a wound which he received from the blow of a tennis-ball. at last, however, yielding to the pressing importunities of the regent, who was anxious to expedite the business, he set out alone, not, as he hoped, to carry the cause of his nation, but to die for it. in the meantime the posture of affairs had changed so greatly in the netherlands, the step which the nobles had recently taken had so nearly brought on a complete rupture with the government, that it seemed impossible for the prince of orange and his friends to maintain any longer the intermediate and delicate position which they had hitherto held between the country and the court, or to reconcile the contradictory duties to which it gave rise. great must have been the restraint which, with their mode of thinking, they had to put on themselves not to take part in this contest; much, too, must their natural love of liberty, their patriotism, and their principles of toleration have suffered from the constraint which their official station imposed upon them. on the other hand, philip's distrust, the little regard which now for a long time had been paid to their advice, and the marked slights which the duchess publicly put upon them, had greatly contributed to cool their zeal for the service, and to render irksome the longer continuance of a part which they played with so much repugnance and with so little thanks. this feeling was strengthened by several intimations they received from spain which placed beyond doubt the great displeasure of the king at the petition of the nobles, and his little satisfaction with their own behavior on that occasion, while they were also led to expect that he was about to enter upon measures, to which, as favorable to the liberties of their country, and for the most part friends or blood relations of the confederates; they could never lend their countenance or support. on the name which should be applied in spain to the confederacy of the nobles it principally depended what course they should follow for the future. if the petition should be called rebellion no alternative would be left them but either to come prematurely to a dangerous explanation with the court, or to aid it in treating as enemies those with whom they had both a fellow-feeling and a common interest. this perilous alternative could only be avoided by withdrawing entirely from public affairs; this plan they had once before practically adopted, and under present circumstances it was something more than a simple expedient. the whole nation had their eyes upon them. an unlimited confidence in their integrity, and the universal veneration for their persons, which closely bordered on idolatry, would ennoble the cause which they might make their own and ruin that which they should abandon. their share in the administration of the state, though it were nothing more than nominal, kept the opposite party in check; while they attended the senate violent measures were avoided because their continued presence still favored some expectations of succeeding by gentle means. the withholding of their approbation, even if it did not proceed from their hearts, dispirited the faction, which, on the contrary, would exert its full strength so soon as it could reckon even distantly on obtaining so weighty a sanction. the very measures of the government which, if they came through their hands, were certain of a favorable reception and issue, would without them prove suspected and futile; even the royal concessions, if they were not obtained by the mediation of these friends of the people, would fail of the chief part of their efficacy. besides, their retirement from public affairs would deprive the regent of the benefit of their advice at a time when counsel was most indispensable to her; it would, moreover, leave the preponderance with a party which, blindly dependent on the court, and ignorant of the peculiarities of republican character, would neglect nothing to aggravate the evil, and to drive to extremity the already exasperated mind of the public. all these motives (and it is open to every one, according to his good or bad opinion of the prince, to say which was the most influential) tended alike to move him to desert the regent, and to divest himself of all share in public affairs. an opportunity for putting this resolve into execution soon presented itself. the prince had voted for the immediate promulgation of the newly-revised edicts; but the regent, following the suggestion of her privy council, had determined to transmit them first to the king. "i now see clearly," he broke out with well-acted vehemence, "that all the advice which i give is distrusted. the king requires no servants whose loyalty he is determined to doubt; and far be it from me to thrust my services upon a sovereign who is unwilling to receive them. better, therefore, for him and me that i withdraw from public affairs." count horn expressed himself nearly to the same effect. egmont requested permission to visit the baths of aix-la- chapelle, the use of which had been prescribed to him by his physician, although (as it is stated in his accusation) he appeared health itself. the regent, terrified at the consequences which must inevitably follow this step, spoke sharply to the prince. "if neither my representations, nor the general welfare can prevail upon you, so far as to induce you to relinquish this intention, let me advise you to be more careful, at least, of your own reputation. louis of nassau is your brother; he and count brederode, the heads of the confederacy, have publicly been your guests. the petition is in substance identical with your own representations in the council of state. if you now suddenly desert the cause of your king will it not be universally said that you favor the conspiracy?" we do not find it anywhere stated whether the prince really withdrew at this time from the council of state; at all events, if he did, he must soon have altered his mind, for shortly after he appears again in public transactions. egmont allowed himself to be overcome by the remonstrances of the regent; horn alone actually withdrew himself to one of his estates,--[where be remained three months inactive.]--with the resolution of never more serving either emperor or king. meanwhile the gueux had dispersed themselves through the provinces, and spread everywhere the most favorable reports of their success. according to their assertions, religious freedom was finally assured; and in order to confirm their statements they helped themselves, where the truth failed, with falsehood. for example, they produced a forged letter of the knights of the fleece, in which the latter were made solemnly to declare that for the future no one need fear imprisonment, or banishment, or death on account of religion, unless he also committed a political crime; and even in that case the confederates alone were to be his judges; and this regulation was to be in force until the king, with the consent and advice of the states of the realm, should otherwise dispose. earnestly as the knights applied themselves upon the first information of the fraud to rescue the nation from their delusion, still it had already in this short interval done good service to the faction. if there are truths whose effect is limited to a single instant, then inventions which last so long can easily assume their place. besides, the report, however false, was calculated both to awaken distrust between the regent and the knights, and to support the courage of the protestants by fresh hopes, while it also furnished those who were meditating innovation an appearance of right, which, however unsubstantial they themselves knew it to be, served as a colorable pretext for their proceedings. quickly as this delusion was dispelled, still, in the short space of time that it obtained belief, it had occasioned so many extravagances, had introduced so much irregularity and license, that a return to the former state of things became impossible, and continuance in the course already commenced was rendered necessary as well by habit as by despair. on the very first news of this happy result the fugitive protestants had returned to their homes, which they had so unwillingly abandoned; those who had been in concealment came forth from their hiding-places; those who had hitherto paid homage to the new religion in their hearts alone, emboldened by these pretended acts of toleration, now gave in their adhesion to it publicly and decidedly. the name of the "gueux" was extolled in all the provinces; they were called the pillars of religion and liberty; their party increased daily, and many of the merchants began to wear their insignia. the latter made an alteration in the "gueux" penny, by introducing two travellers' staffs, laid crosswise, to intimate that they stood prepared and ready at any instant to forsake house and hearth for the sake of religion. the gueux league, in short, had now given to things an entirely different form. the murmurs of the people, hitherto impotent and despised, as being the cries of individuals, had, now that they were concentrated, become formidable; and had gained power, direction, and firmness through union. every one who was rebelliously disposed now looked on himself as the member of a venerable and powerful body, and believed that by carrying his own complaints to the general stock of discontent he secured the free expression of them. to be called an important acquisition to the league flattered the vain; to be lost, unnoticed, and irresponsible in the crowd was an inducement to the timid. the face which the confederacy showed to the nation was very unlike that which it had turned to the court. but had its objects been the purest, had it really been as well disposed towards the throne as it wished to appear, still the multitude would have regarded only what was illegal in its proceedings, and upon them its better intentions would have been entirely lost. public preaching. no moment could be more favorable to the huguenots and the german protestants than the present to seek a market for their dangerous commodity in the netherlands. accordingly, every considerable town now swarmed with suspicious arrivals, masked spies, and the apostles of every description of heresy. of the religious parties, which had sprung up by secession from the ruling church, three chiefly had made considerable progress in the provinces. friesland and the adjoining districts were overrun by the anabaptists, who, however, as the most indigent, without organization and government, destitute of military resources, and moreover at strife amongst themselves, awakened the least apprehension. of far more importance were the calvanists, who prevailed in the southern provinces, and above all in flanders, who were powerfully supported by their neighbors the huguenots, the republic of geneva, the swiss cantons, and part of germany, and whose opinions, with the exception of a slight difference, were also held by the throne in england. they were also the most numerous party, especially among the merchants and common citizens. the huguenots, expelled from france, had been the chief disseminators of the tenets of this party. the lutherans were inferior both in numbers and wealth, but derived weight from having many adherents among the nobility. they occupied, for the most part, the eastern portion of the netherlands, which borders on germany, and were also to be found in some of the northern territories. some of the most powerful princes of germany were their allies; and the religious freedom of that empire, of which by the burgundian treaty the netherlands formed an integral part, was claimed by them with some appearance of right. these three religious denominations met together in antwerp, where the crowded population concealed them, and the mingling of all nations favored liberty. they had nothing in common, except an equally inextinguishable hatred of popery, of the inquisition in particular, and of the spanish government, whose instrument it was; while, on the other hand, they watched each other with a jealousy which kept their zeal in exercise, and prevented the glowing ardor of fanaticism from waxing dull. the regent, in expectation that the projected "moderation" would be sanctioned by the king, had, in the meantime, to gratify the gueux, recommended the governors and municipal officers of the provinces to be as moderate as possible in their proceedings against heretics; instructions which were eagerly followed, and interpreted in the widest sense by the majority, who had hitherto administered the painful duty of punishment with extreme repugnance. most of the chief magistrates were in their hearts averse to the inquisition and the spanish tyranny, and many were even secretly attached to one or other of the religious parties; even the others were unwilling to inflict punishment on their countrymen to gratify their sworn enemies, the spaniards. all, therefore, purposely misunderstood the regent, and allowed the inquisition and the edicts to fall almost entirely into disuse. this forbearance of the government, combined with the brilliant representations of the gueux, lured from their obscurity the protestants, who, however, had now grown too powerful to be any longer concealed. hitherto they had contented themselves with secret assemblies by night; now they thought themselves numerous and formidable enough to venture to these meetings openly and publicly. this license commenced somewhere between oudenarde and ghent, and soon spread through the rest of flanders. a certain herrnann stricker, born at overyssel, formerly a monk, a daring enthusiast of able mind, imposing figure, and ready tongue, was the first who collected the people for a sermon in the open air. the novelty of the thing gathered together a crowd of about seven thousand persons. a magistrate of the neighborhood, more courageous than wise, rushed amongst the crowd with his drawn sword, and attempted to seize the preacher, but was so roughly handled by the multitude, who for want of other weapons took up stones and felled him to the ground, that he was glad to beg for his life. [the unheard-of foolhardiness of a single man rushing into the midst of a fanatical crowd of seven thousand people to seize before their eyes one whom they adored, proves, more than all that can be said on the subject the insolent contempt with which the roman catholics of the time looked down upon the so-called heretics as an inferior race of beings.] this success of the first attempt inspired courage for a second. in the vicinity of aalst they assembled again in still greater numbers; but on this occasion they provided themselves with rapiers, firearms, and halberds, placed sentries at all the approaches, which they also barricaded with carts and carriages. all passers-by were obliged, whether willing or otherwise, to take part in the religious service, and to enforce this object lookout parties were posted at certain distances round the place of meeting. at the entrance booksellers stationed themselves, offering for sale protestant catechisms, religious tracts, and pasquinades on the bishops. the preacher, hermann stricker, held forth from a pulpit which was hastily constructed for the occasion out of carts and trunks of trees. a canvas awning drawn over it protected him from the sun and the rain; the preacher's position was in the quarter of the wind that the people might not lose any part of his sermon, which consisted principally of revilings against popery. here the sacraments were administered after the calvinistic fashion, and water was procured from the nearest river to baptize infants without further ceremony, after the practice, it was pretended, of the earliest times of christianity. couples were also united in wedlock, and the marriage ties dissolved between others. to be present at this meeting half the population of ghent had left its gates; their example was soon followed in other parts, and ere long spread over the whole of east flanders. in like manner peter dathen, another renegade monk, from poperingen, stirred up west flanders; as many as fifteen thousand persons at a time attended his preaching from the villages and hamlets; their number made them bold, and they broke into the prisons, where some anabaptists were reserved for martyrdom. in tournay the protestants were excited to a similar pitch of daring by ambrosius ville, a french calvinist. they demanded the release of the prisoners of their sect, and repeatedly threatened if their demands were not complied with to deliver up the town to the french. it was entirely destitute of a garrison, for the commandant, from fear of treason, had withdrawn it into the castle, and the soldiers, moreover, refused to act against their fellow-citizens. the sectarians carried their audacity to such great lengths as to require one of the churches within the town to be assigned to them; and when this was refused they entered into a league with valenciennes and antwerp to obtain a legal recognition of their worship, after the example of the other towns, by open force. these three towns maintained a close connection with each other, and the protestant party was equally powerful in all. while, however, no one would venture singly to commence the disturbance, they agreed simultaneously to make a beginning with public preaching. brederode's appearance in antwerp at last gave them courage. six thousand persons, men and women, poured forth from the town on an appointed day, on which the same thing happened in tournay and valenciennes. the place of meeting was closed in with a line of vehicles, firmly fastened together, and behind them armed men were secretly posted, with a view to protect the service from any surprise. of the preachers, most of whom were men of the very lowest class--some were germans, some were huguenots--and spoke in the walloon dialect; some even of the citizens felt themselves called upon to take a part in this sacred work, now that no fears of the officers of justice alarmed them. many were drawn to the spot by mere curiosity to hear what kind of new and unheard-of doctrines these foreign teachers, whose arrival had caused so much talk, would set forth. others were attracted by the melody of the psalms, which were sung in a french version, after the custom in geneva. a great number came to hear these sermons as so many amusing comedies such was the buffoonery with which the pope, the fathers of the ecclesiastical council of trent, purgatory, and other dogmas of the ruling church were abused in them. and, in fact, the more extravagant was this abuse and ridicule the more it tickled the ears of the lower orders; and a universal clapping of hands, as in a theatre, rewarded the speaker who had surpassed others in the wildness of his jokes and denunciations. but the ridicule which was thus cast upon the ruling church was, nevertheless, not entirely lost on the minds of the hearers, as neither were the few grains of truth or reason which occasionally slipped in among it; and many a one, who had sought from these sermons anything but conviction, unconsciously carried away a little also of it. these assemblies were several times repeated, and each day augmented the boldness of the sectarians; till at last they even ventured, after concluding the service to conduct their preachers home in triumph, with an escort of armed horsemen, and ostentatiously to brave the law. the town council sent express after express to the duchess, entreating her to visit them in person, and if possible to reside for a short time in antwerp, as the only expedient to curb the arrogance of the populace; and assuring her that the most eminent merchants, afraid of being plundered, were already preparing to quit it. fear of staking the royal dignity on so hazardous a stroke of policy forbade her compliance; but she despatched in her stead count megen, in order to treat with the magistrate for the introduction of a garrison. the rebellious mob, who quickly got an inkling of the object of his visit, gathered around him with tumultuous cries, shouting, "he was known to them as a sworn enemy of the gueux; that it was notorious he was bringing upon them prisons and the inquisition, and that he should leave the town instantly." nor was the tumult quieted till megen was beyond the gates. the calvinists now handed in to the magistrate a memorial, in which they showed that their great numbers made it impossible for them henceforward to assemble in secrecy, and requested a separate place of worship to be allowed them inside the town. the town council renewed its entreaties to the duchess to assist, by her personal presence, their perplexities, or at least to send to them the prince of orange, as the only person for whom the people still had any respect, and, moreover, as specially bound to the town of antwerp by his hereditary title of its burgrave. in order to escape the greater evil she was compelled to consent to the second demand, however much against her inclination to entrust antwerp to the prince. after allowing himself to be long and fruitlessly entreated, for he had all at once resolved to take no further share in public affairs, he yielded at last to the earnest persuasions of the regent and the boisterous wishes of the people. brederode, with a numerous retinue, came half a mile out of the town to meet him, and both parties saluted each other with a discharge of pistols. antwerp appeared to have poured out all her inhabitants to welcome her deliverer. the high road swarmed with multitudes; the roofs were taken off the houses in order that they might accommodate more spectators; behind fences, from churchyard walls, even out of graves started up men. the attachment of the people to the prince showed itself in childish effusions. "long live the gueux!" was the shout with which young and old received him. "behold," cried others, "the man who shall give us liberty." "he brings us," cried the lutherans, "the confession of augsburg!" "we don't want the gueux now!" exclaimed others; "we have no more need of the troublesome journey to brussels. he alone is everything to us!" those who knew not what to say vented their extravagant joy in psalms, which they vociferously chanted as they moved along. he, however, maintained his gravity, beckoned for silence, and at last, when no one would listen to him, exclaimed with indignation, half real and half affected, "by god, they ought to consider what they did, or they would one day repent what they had now done." the shouting increased even as he rode into the town. the first conference of the prince with the heads of the different religious sects, whom he sent for and separately interrogated, presently convinced him that the chief source of the evil was the mutual distrust of the several parties, and the suspicions which the citizens entertained of the designs of the government, and that therefore it must be his first business to restore confidence among them all. first of all he attempted, both by persuasion and artifice, to induce the calvinists, as the most numerous body, to lay down their weapons, and in this he at last, with much labor, succeeded. when, however, some wagons were soon afterwards seen laden with ammunition in malines, and the high bailiff of brabant showed himself frequently in the neighborhood of antwerp with an armed force, the calvinists, fearing hostile interruption of their religious worship, besought the prince to allot them a place within the walls for their sermons, which should be secure from a surprise. he succeeded once more in pacifying them, and his presence fortunately prevented an outbreak on the assumption of the virgin, which, as usual, had drawn a crowd to the town, and from whose sentiments there was but too much reason for alarm. the image of the virgin was, with the usual pomp, carried round the town without interruption; a few words of abuse, and a suppressed murmur about idolatry, was all that the disapproving multitudes indulged in against the procession. . while the regent received from one province after another the most melancholy accounts of the excesses of the protestants, and while she trembled for antwerp, which she was compelled to leave in the dangerous hands of the prince of orange, a new terror assailed her from another quarter. upon the first authentic tidings of the public preaching she immediately called upon the league to fulfil its promises and to assist her in restoring order. count brederode used this pretext to summon a general meeting of the whole league, for which he could not have selected a more dangerous moment than the present. so ostentatious a display of the strength of the league, whose existence and protection had alone encouraged the protestant mob to go the length it had already gone, would now raise the confidence of the sectarians, while in the same degree it depressed the courage of the regent. the convention took place in the town of liege st. truyen, into which brederode and louis of nassau had thrown themselves at the head of two thousand confederates. as the long delay of the royal answer from madrid seemed to presage no good from that quarter, they considered it advisable in any case to extort from the regent a letter of indemnity for their persons. those among them who were conscious of a disloyal sympathy with the protestant mob looked on its licentiousness as a favorable circumstance for the league; the apparent success of those to whose degrading fellowship they had deigned to stoop led them to alter their tone; their former laudable zeal began to degenerate into insolence and defiance. many thought that they ought to avail themselves of the general confusion and the perplexity of the duchess to assume a bolder tone and heap demand upon demand. the roman catholic members of the league, among whom many were in their hearts still strongly inclined to the royal cause, and who had been drawn into a connection with the league by occasion and example, rather than from feeling and conviction, now heard to their astonishment propositions for establishing universal freedom of religion, and were not a little shocked to discover in how perilous an enterprise they had hastily implicated themselves. on this discovery the young count mansfeld withdrew immediately from it, and internal dissensions already began to undermine the work of precipitation and haste, and imperceptibly to loosen the joints of the league. count egmont and william of orange were empowered by the regent to treat with the confederates. twelve of the latter, among whom were louis of nassau, brederode, and kuilemberg, conferred with them in duffle, a village near malines. "wherefore this new step?" demanded the regent by the mouth of these two noblemen. "i was required to despatch ambassadors to spain; and i sent them. the edicts and the inquisition were complained of as too rigorous; i have rendered both more lenient. a general assembly of the states of the realm was proposed; i have submitted this request to the king because i could not grant it from my own authority. what, then, have i unwittingly either omitted or done that should render necessary this assembling in st. truyen? is it perhaps fear of the king's anger and of its consequences that disturbs the confederates? the provocation certainly is great, but his mercy is even greater. where now is the promise of the league to excite no disturbances amongst the people? where those high-sounding professions that they were ready to die at my feet rather, than offend against any of the prerogatives of the crown? the innovators already venture on things which border closely on rebellion, and threaten the state with destruction; and it is to the league that they appeal. if it continues silently to tolerate this it will justly bring on itself the charge of participating in the guilt of their offences; if it is honestly disposed towards the sovereign it cannot remain longer inactive in this licentiousness of the mob. but, in truth, does it not itself outstrip the insane population by its dangerous example, concluding, as it is known to do, alliances with the enemies of the country, and confirming the evil report of its designs by the present illegal meeting?" against these reproaches the league formally justified itself in a memorial which it deputed three of its members to deliver to the council of state at brussels. "all," it commenced, "that your highness has done in respect to our petition we have felt with the most lively gratitude; and we cannot complain of any new measure, subsequently adopted, inconsistent with your promise; but we cannot help coming to the conclusion that the orders of your highness are by the judicial courts, at least, very little regarded; for we are continually hearing--and our own eyes attest to the truth of the report--that in all quarters our fellow-citizens are in spite of the orders of your highness still mercilessly dragged before the courts of justice and condemned to death for religion. what the league engaged on its part to do it has honestly fulfilled; it has, too, to the utmost of its power endeavored to prevent the public preachings; but it certainly is no wonder if the long delay of an answer from madrid fills the mind of the people with distrust, and if the disappointed hopes of a general assembly of the states disposes them to put little faith in any further assurances. the league has never allied, nor ever felt any temptation to ally, itself with the enemies of the country. if the arms of france were to appear in the provinces we, the confederates, would be the first to mount and drive them back again. the league, however, desires to be candid with your highness. we thought we read marks of displeasure in your countenance; we see men in exclusive possession of your favor who are notorious for their hatred against us. we daily hear that persons are warned from associating with us, as with those infected with the plague, while we are denounced with the arrival of the king as with the opening of a day of judgment--what is more natural than that such distrust shown to us should at last rouse our own? that the attempt to blacken our league with the reproach of treason, that the warlike preparations of the duke of savoy and of other princes, which, according to common report, are directed against ourselves; the negotiations of the king with the french court to obtain a passage through that kingdom for a spanish army, which is destined, it is said, for the netherlands--what wonder if these and similar occurrences should have stimulated us to think in time of the means of self-defence, and to strengthen ourselves by an alliance with our friends beyond the frontier? on a general, uncertain, and vague rumor we are accused of a share in this licentiousness of the protestant mob; but who is safe from general rumor? true it is, certainly, that of our numbers some are protestants, to whom religious toleration would be a welcome boon; but even they have never forgotten what they owe to their sovereign. it is not fear of the king's anger which instigated us to hold this assembly. the king is good, and we still hope that he is also just. it cannot, therefore, be pardon that we seek from him, and just as little can it be oblivion that we solicit for our actions, which are far from being the least considerable of the services we have at different times rendered his majesty. again, it is true, that the delegates of the lutherans and calvinists are with us in st. truyen; nay, more, they have delivered to us a petition which, annexed to this memorial, we here present to your highness. in it they offer to go unarmed to their preachings if the league will tender its security to them, and be willing to engage for a general meeting of the states. we have thought it incumbent upon us to communicate both these matters to you, for our guarantee can have no force unless it is at the same time confirmed by your highness and some of your principal counsellors. among these no one can be so well acquainted with the circumstances of our cause, or be so upright in intention towards us, as the prince of orange and counts horn and egmont. we gladly accept these three as meditators if the necessary powers are given to them, and assurance is afforded us that no troops will be enlisted without their knowledge. this guarantee, however, we only require for a given period, before the expiration of which it will rest with the king whether he will cancel or confirm it for the future. if the first should be his will it will then be but fair that time should be allowed us to place our persons and our property in security; for this three weeks will be sufficient. finally, and in conclusion, we on our part also pledge ourselves to undertake nothing new without the concurrence of those three persons, our mediators." the league would not have ventured to hold such bold language if it had not reckoned on powerful support and protection; but the regent was as little in a condition to concede their demands as she was incapable of vigorously opposing them. deserted in brussels by most of her counsellors of state, who had either departed to their provinces, or under some pretext or other had altogether withdrawn from public affairs; destitute as well of advisers as of money (the latter want had compelled her, in the first instance, to appeal to the liberality of the clergy; when this proved insufficient, to have recourse to a lottery), dependent on orders from spain, which were ever expected and never received, she was at last reduced to the degrading expedient of entering into a negotiation with the confederates in st. truyen, that they should wait twenty-four days longer for the king's resolution before they took any further steps. it was certainly surprising that the king still continued to delay a decisive answer to the petition, although it was universally known that he had answered letters of a much later date, and that the regent earnestly importuned him on this head. she had also, on the commencement of the public preaching, immediately despatched the marquis of bergen after the baron of montigny, who, as an eye-witness of these new occurrences, could confirm her written statements, to move the king to an earlier decision. . in the meanwhile, the flemish ambassador, florence of montigny, had arrived in madrid, where he was received with a great show of consideration. his instructions were to press for the abolition of the inquisition and the mitigation of the edicts; the augmentation of the council of state, and the incorporation with it of the two other councils; the calling of a general assembly of the states, and, lastly, to urge the solicitations of the regent for a personal visit from the king. as the latter, however, was only desirous of gaining time, montigny was put off with fair words until the arrival of his coadjutor, without whom the king was not willing to come to any final determination. in the meantime, montigny had every day and at any hour that he desired, an audience with the king, who also commanded that on all occasions the despatches of the duchess and the answers to them should be communicated to himself. he was, too, frequently admitted to the council for belgian affairs, where he never omitted to call the king's attention to the necessity of a general assembly of the states, as being the only means of successfully meeting the troubles which had arisen, and as likely to supersede the necessity of any other measure. he moreover impressed upon him that a general and unreserved indemnity for the past would alone eradicate the distrust, which was the source of all existing complaints, and would always counteract the good effects of every measure, however well advised. he ventured, from a thorough acquaintance with circumstances and accurate knowledge of the character of his countrymen, to pledge himself to the king for their inviolable loyalty, as soon as they should be convinced of the honesty of his intentions by the straightforwardness of his proceedings; while, on the contrary, he assured him that there would be no hopes of it as long as they were not relieved of the fear of being made the victims of the oppression, and sacrificed to the envy of the spanish nobles. at last montigny's coadjutor made his appearance, and the objects of their embassy were made the subject of repeated deliberations. . the king was at that time at his palace at segovia, where also he assembled his state council. the members were: the duke of alva; don gomez de figueroa; the count of feria; don antonio of toledo, grand commander of st. john; don john manriquez of lara, lord steward to the queen; ruy gomez, prince of eboli and count of melito; louis of quixada, master of the horse to the prince; charles tyssenacque, president of the council for the netherlands; hopper, state counsellor and keeper of the seal; and state counsellor corteville. the sitting of the council was protracted for several days; both ambassadors were in attendance, but the king was not himself present. here, then, the conduct of the belgian nobles was examined by spanish eyes; step by step it was traced back to the most distant source; circumstances were brought into relation with others which, in reality, never had any connection; and what had been the offspring of the moment was made out to be a well- matured and far-sighted plan. all the different transactions and attempts of the nobles which had been governed solely by chance, and to which the natural order of events alone assigned their particular shape and succession, were said to be the result of a preconcerted scheme for introducing universal liberty in religion, and for placing all the power of the state in the hands of the nobles. the first step to this end was, it was said, the violent expulsion of the minister granvella, against whom nothing could be charged, except that he was in possession of an authority which they preferred to exercise themselves. the second step was sending count egmont to spain to urge the abolition of the inquisition and the mitigation of the penal statutes, and to prevail on the king to consent to an augmentation of the council of state. as, however, this could not be surreptitiously obtained in so quiet a manner, the attempt was made to extort it from the court by a third and more daring step--by a formal conspiracy, the league of the gueux. the fourth step to the same end was the present embassy, which at length boldly cast aside the mask, and by the insane proposals which they were not ashamed to make to their king, clearly brought to light the object to which all the preceding steps had tended. could the abolition of the inquisition, they exclaimed, lead to anything less than a complete freedom of belief? would not the guiding helm of conscience be lost with it? did not the proposed "moderation" introduce an absolute impunity for all heresies? what was the project of augmenting the council of state and of suppressing the two other councils but a complete remodelling of the government of the country in favor of the nobles?--a general constitution for all the provinces of the netherlands? again, what was this compact of the ecclesiastics in their public preachings but a third conspiracy, entered into with the very same objects which the league of the nobles in the council of state and that of the gueux had failed to effect? however, it was confessed that whatever might be the source of the evil it was not on that account the less important and imminent. the immediate personal presence of the king in brussels was, indubitably, the most efficacious means speedily and thoroughly to remedy it. as, however, it was already so late in the year, and the preparations alone for the journey would occupy the short tine which was to elapse before the winter set in; as the stormy season of the year, as well as the danger from french and english ships, which rendered the sea unsafe, did not allow of the king's taking the northern route, which was the shorter of the two; as the rebels themselves meanwhile might become possessed of the island of walcheren, and oppose the lauding of the king; for all these reasons, the journey was not to be thought of before the spring, and in absence of the only complete remedy it was necessary to rest satisfied with a partial expedient. the council, therefore, agreed to propose to the king, in the first place, that he should recall the papal inquisition from the provinces and rest satisfied with that of the bishops; in the second place, that a new plan for the mitigation of the edicts should be projected, by which the honor of religion and of the king would be better preserved than it had been in the transmitted "moderation;" thirdly, that in order to reassure the minds of the people, and to leave no means untried, the king should impart to the regent full powers to extend free grace and pardon to all those who had not already committed any heinous crime, or who had not as yet been condemned by any judicial process; but from the benefit of this indemnity the preachers and all who harbored them were to be excepted. on the other hand, all leagues, associations, public assemblies, and preachings were to be henceforth prohibited under heavy penalties; if, however, this prohibition should be infringed, the regent was to be at liberty to employ the regular troops and garrisons for the forcible reduction of the refractory, and also, in case of necessity, to enlist new troops, and to name the commanders over them according as should be deemed advisable. finally, it would have a good effect if his majesty would write to the most eminent towns, prelates, and leaders of the nobility, to some in his own hand, and to all in a gracious tone, in order to stimulate their zeal in his service. when this resolution of his council of state was submitted to the king his first measure was to command public processions and prayers in all the most considerable places of the kingdom and also of the netherlands, imploring the divine guidance in his decision. he appeared in his own person in the council of state in order to approve this resolution and render it effective. he declared the general assembly of the states to be useless and entirely abolished it. he, however, bound himself to retain some german regiments in his pay, and, that they might serve with the more zeal, to pay them their long-standing arrears. he commanded the regent in a private letter to prepare secretly for war; three thousand horse and ten thousand infantry were to be assembled by her in germany, to which end he furnished her with the necessary letters and transmitted to her a sum of three hundred thousand gold florins. he also accompanied this resolution with several autograph letters to some private individuals and towns, in which he thanked them in the most gracious terms for the zeal which they had already displayed in his service and called upon them to manifest the same for the future. notwithstanding that he was inexorable on the most important point, and the very one on which the nation most particularly insisted--the convocation of the states, notwithstanding that his limited and ambiguous pardon was as good as none, and depended too much on arbitrary will to calm the public mind; notwithstanding, in fine, that he rejected, as too lenient, the proposed "moderation," but which, on the part of the people, was complained of as too severe; still he had this time made an unwonted step in the favor of the nation; he had sacrificed to it the papal inquisition and left only the episcopal, to which it was accustomed. the nation had found more equitable judges in the spanish council than they could reasonably have hoped for. whether at another time and under other circumstances this wise concession would have had the desired effect we will not pretend to say. it came too late; when ( ) the royal letters reached brussels the attack on images had already commenced. this ebook was produced by david widger, widger@cecomet.net book iv. the iconoclasts. the springs of this extraordinary occurrence are plainly not to be sought for so far back as many historians affect to trace them. it is certainly possible, and very probable, that the french protestants did industriously exert themselves to raise in the netherlands a nursery for their religion, and to prevent by all means in their power an amicable adjustment of differences between their brethren in the faith in that quarter and the king of spain, in order to give that implacable foe of their party enough to do in his own country. it is natural, therefore, to suppose that their agents in the provinces left nothing undone to encourage their oppressed brethren with daring hopes, to nourish their animosity against the ruling church, and by exaggerating the oppression under which they sighed to hurry them imperceptibly into illegal courses. it is possible, too, that there were many among the confederates who thought to help out their own lost cause by increasing the number of their partners in guilt; who thought they could not otherwise maintain the legal character of their league unless the unfortunate results against which they had warned the king really came to pass, and who hoped in the general guilt of all to conceal their own individual criminality. it is, however, incredible that the outbreak of the iconoclasts was the fruit of a deliberate plan, preconcerted, as it is alleged, at the convent of st. truyen. it does not seem likely that in a solemn assembly of so many nobles and warriors, of whom the greater part were the adherents of popery, an individual should be found insane enough to propose an act of positive infamy, which did not so much injure any religious party in particular, as rather tread under foot all respect for religion in general, and even all morality too, and which could have been conceived only in the mind of the vilest reprobate. besides, this outrage was too sudden in its outbreak, too vehement in its execution altogether, too monstrous to have been anything more than the offspring of the moment in which it saw the light; it seemed to flow so naturally from the circumstances which preceded it that it does not require to be traced far back to remount to its origin. a rude mob, consisting of the very dregs of the populace, made brutal by harsh treatment, by sanguinary decrees which dogged them in every town, scared from place to place and driven almost to despair, were compelled to worship their god, and to hide like a work of darkness the universal, sacred privilege of humanity. before their eyes proudly rose the temples of the dominant church, in which their haughty brethren indulged in ease their magnificent devotion, while they themselves were driven from the walls, expelled, too, by the weaker number perhaps, and forced, here in the wild woods, under the burning heat of noon, in disgraceful secrecy to worship the same god; cast out from civil society into a state of nature, and reminded in one dread moment of the rights of that state! the greater their superiority of numbers the more unnatural did their lot appear; with wonder they perceive the truth. the free heaven, the arms lying ready, the frenzy in their brains and fury in their hearts combine to aid the suggestions of some preaching fanatic; the occasion calls; no premeditation is necessary where all eyes at once declare consent; the resolution is formed ere yet the word is scarcely uttered; ready for any unlawful act, no one yet clearly knows what, the furious band rushes onwards. the smiling prosperity of the hostile religion insults the poverty of their own; the pomp of the authorized temples casts contempt on their proscribed belief; every cross they set up upon the highway, every image of the saints that they meet, is a trophy erected over their own humiliation, and they all must be removed by their avenging hands. fanaticism suggests these detestable proceedings, but base passions carry them into execution. . the commencement of the attack on images took place in west flanders and artois, in the districts between lys and the sea. a frantic herd of artisans, boatmen, and peasants, mixed with prostitutes, beggars, vagabonds, and thieves, about three hundred in number, furnished with clubs, axes, hammers, ladders, and cords (a few only were provided with swords or fire arms), cast themselves, with fanatical fury, into the villages and hamlets near st. omer, and breaking open the gates of such churches and cloisters as they find locked, overthrow everywhere the altars, break to pieces the images of the saints, and trample them under foot. with their excitement increased by its indulgence, and reinforced by newcomers, they press on by the direct road to ypres, where they can count on the support of a strong body of calvinists. unopposed, they break into the cathedral, and mounting on ladders they hammer to pieces the pictures, hew down with axes the pulpits and pews, despoil the altars of their ornaments, and steal the holy vessels. this example was quickly followed in menin, comines, verrich, lille, and oudenard; in a few days the same fury spreads through the whole of flanders. at the very time when the first tidings of this occurrence arrived antwerp was swarming with a crowd of houseless people, which the feast of the assumption of the virgin had brought together in that city. even the presence of the prince of orange was hardly sufficient to restrain the licentious mob, who burned to imitate the doings of their brethren in st. omer; but an order from the court which summoned him to brussels, where the regent was just assembling her council of state, in order to lay before them the royal letters, obliged him to abandon antwerp to the outrages of this band. his departure was the signal for tumult. apprehensive of the lawless violence of which, on the very first day of the festival, the mob had given indications in derisory allusions, the priests, after carrying about the image of the virgin for a short time, brought it for safety to the choir, without, as formerly, setting it up in the middle of the church. this incited some mischievous boys from among the people to pay it a visit there, and jokingly inquire why she had so soon absented herself from among them? others mounting the pulpit, mimicked the preacher, and challenged the papists to a dispute. a roman catholic waterman, indignant at this jest, attempted to pull them down, and blows were exchanged in the preacher's seat. similar scenes occurred on the following evening. the numbers increased, and many came already provided with suspicious implements and secret weapons. at last it came into the head of one of them to cry, "long live the gueux!" immediately the whole band took up the cry, and the image of the virgin was called upon to do the same. the few roman catholics who were present, and who had given up the hope of effecting anything against these desperadoes, left the church after locking all the doors except one. so soon as they found themselves alone it was proposed to sing one of the psalms in the new version, which was prohibited by the government. while they were yet singing they all, as at a given signal, rushed furiously upon the image of the virgin, piercing it with swords and daggers, and striking off its head; thieves and prostitutes tore the great wax-lights from the altar, and lighted them to the work. the beautiful organ of the church, a masterpiece of the art of that period, was broken to pieces, all the paintings were effaced, the statues smashed to atoms. a crucifix, the size of life, which was set up between the two thieves, opposite the high altar, an ancient and highly valued piece of workmanship, was pulled to the ground with cords, and cut to pieces with axes, while the two malefactors at its side were respectfully spared. the holy wafers were strewed on the ground and trodden under foot; in the wine used for the lord's supper, which was accidentally found there, the health of the gueux was drunk, while with the holy oil they rubbed their shoes. the very tombs were opened, and the half-decayed corpses torn up and trampled on. all this was done with as much wonderful regularity as if each had previously had his part assigned to him; every one worked into his neighbor's hands; no one, dangerous as the work was, met with injury; in the midst of thick darkness, which the tapers only served to render more sensible, with heavy masses falling on all sides, and though on the very topmost steps of the ladders, they scuffled with each other for the honors of demolition--yet no one suffered the least injury. in spite of the many tapers which lighted them below in their villanous work not a single individual was recognized. with incredible rapidity was the dark deed accomplished; a number of men, at most a hundred, despoiled in a few hours a temple of seventy altars--after st. peter's at rome, perhaps the largest and most magnificent in christendom. the devastation of the cathedral did not content them; with torches and tapers purloined from it they set out at midnight to perform a similar work of havoc on the remaining churches, cloisters, and chapels. the destructive hordes increased with every fresh exploit of infamy, and thieves were allured by the opportunity. they carried away whatever they found of value--the consecrated vessels, altar-cloths, money, and vestments; in the cellars of the cloisters they drank to intoxication; to escape greater indignities the monks and nuns abandoned everything to them. the confused noises of these riotous acts had startled the citizens from their first sleep; but night made the danger appear more alarming than it really was, and instead of hastening to defend their churches the citizens fortified themselves in their houses, and in terror and anxiety awaited the dawn of morning. the rising sun at length revealed the devastation which had been going on during the night; but the havoc did not terminate with the darkness. some churches and cloisters still remained uninjured; the same fate soon overtook them also. the work of destruction lasted three whole days. alarmed at last lest the frantic mob, when it could no longer find anything sacred to destroy, should make a similar attack on lay property and plunder their ware houses; and encouraged, too, by discovering how small was the number of the depredators, the wealthier citizens ventured to show themselves in arms at the doors of their houses. all the gates of the town were locked but one, through which the iconoclasts broke forth to renew the same atrocities in the rural districts. on one occasion only during all this time did the municipal officers venture to exert their authority, so strongly were they held in awe by the superior power of the calvinists, by whom, as it was believed, this mob of miscreants was hired. the injury inflicted by this work of devastation was incalculable. in the church of the virgin it was estimated at not less than four hundred thousand gold florins. many precious works of art were destroyed; many valuable manuscripts; many monuments of importance to history and to diplomacy were thereby lost. the city magistrate ordered the plundered articles to be restored on pain of death; in enforcing this restitution he was effectually assisted by the preachers of the reformers, who blushed for their followers. much was in this manner recovered, and the ringleaders of the mob, less animated, perhaps, by the desire of plunder than by fanaticism and revenge, or perhaps being ruled by some unseen head, resolved for the future to guard against these excesses, and to make their attacks in regular bands and in better order. the town of ghent, meanwhile, trembled for a like destiny. immediately on the first news of the outbreak of the iconoclasts in antwerp the magistrate of the former town with the most eminent citizens had bound themselves to repel by force the church spoilers; when this oath was proposed to the commonalty also the voices were divided, and many declared openly that they were by no means disposed to hinder so devout a work. in this state of affairs the roman catholic clergy found it advisable to deposit in the citadel the most precious movables of their churches, and private families were permitted in like manner to provide for the safety of offerings which had been made by their ancestors. meanwhile all the services were discontinued, the courts of justice were closed; and, like a town in momentary danger of being stormed by the enemy, men trembled in expectation of what was to come. at last an insane band of rioters ventured to send delegates to the governor with this impudent message: "they were ordered," they said, "by their chiefs to take the images out of the churches, as had been done in the other towns. if they were not opposed it should be done quietly and with as little injury as possible, but otherwise they would storm the churches;" nay, they went so far in their audacity as to ask the aid of the officers of justice therein. at first the magistrate was astounded at this demand; upon reflection, however, and in the hope that the presence of the officers of law would perhaps restrain their excesses, he did not scruple to grant their request. in tournay the churches were despoiled of their ornaments within sight of the garrison, who could not be induced to march against the iconoclasts. as the latter had been told that the gold and silver vessels and other ornaments of the church were buried underground, they turned up the whole floor, and exposed, among others, the body of the duke adolph of gueldres, who fell in battle at the head of the rebellious burghers of ghent, and had been buried herein tournay. this adolph had waged war against his father, and had dragged the vanquished old man some miles barefoot to prison--an indignity which charles the bold afterwards retaliated on him. and now, again, after more than half a century fate avenged a crime against nature by another against religion; fanaticism was to desecrate that which was holy in order to expose once more to execration the bones of a parricide. other iconoclasts from valenciennes united themselves with those of tournay to despoil all the cloisters of the surrounding district, during which a valuable library, the accumulation of centuries, was destroyed by fire. the evil soon penetrated into brabant, also malines, herzogenbusch, breda, and bergen-op-zoom experienced the same fate. the provinces, namur and luxemburg, with a part of artois and of hainault, had alone the good fortune to escape the contagion of those outrages. in the short period of four or five days four hundred cloisters were plundered in brabant and flanders alone. the northern netherlands were soon seized with the same mania which had raged so violently through the southern. the dutch towns, amsterdam, leyden, and gravenhaag, had the alternative of either voluntarily stripping their churches of their ornaments, or of seeing them violently torn from there; the determination of their magistrates saved delft, haarlem, gouda, and rotterdam from the devastation. the same acts of violence were practised also in the islands of zealand; the town of utrecht and many places in overyssel and groningen suffered the same storms. friesland was protected by the count of aremberg, and gueldres by the count of megen from a like fate. an exaggerated report of these disturbances which came in from the provinces spread the alarm to brussels, where the regent had just made preparations for an extraordinary session of the council of state. swarms of iconoclasts already penetrated into brabant; and the metropolis, where they were certain of powerful support, was threatened by them with a renewal of the same atrocities then under the very eyes of majesty. the regent, in fear for her personal safety, which, even in the heart of the country, surrounded by provincial governors and knights of the fleece, she fancied insecure, was already meditating a flight to mons, in hainault, which town the duke of arschot held for her as a place of refuge, that she might not be driven to any undignified concession by falling into the power of the iconoclasts. in vain did the knights pledge life and blood for her safety, and urgently beseech her not to expose them to disgrace by so dishonorable a flight, as though they were wanting in courage or zeal to protect their princess; to no purpose did the town of brussels itself supplicate her not to abandon them in this extremity, and vainly did the council of state make the most impressive representations that so pusillanimous a step would not fail to encourage still more the insolence of the rebels; she remained immovable in this desperate condition. as messenger after messenger arrived to warn her that the iconoclasts were advancing against the metropolis, she issued orders to hold everything in readiness for her flight, which was to take place quietly with the first approach of morning. at break of day the aged viglius presented himself before her, whom, with the view of gratifying the nobles, she had been long accustomed to neglect. he demanded to know the meaning of the preparations he observed, upon which she at last confessed that she intended to make her escape, and assured him that he would himself do well to secure his own safety by accompanying her. "it is now two years," said the old man to her, "that you might have anticipated these results. because i have spoken more freely than your courtiers you have closed your princely ear to me, which has been open only to pernicious suggestions." the regent allowed that she had been in fault, and had been blinded by an appearance of probity; but that she was now driven by necessity. "are you resolved," answered viglius, "resolutely to insist upon obedience to the royal commands?" "i am," answered the duchess. "then have recourse to the great secret of the art of government, to dissimulation, and pretend to join the princes until, with their assistance, you have repelled this storm. show them a confidence which you are far from feeling in your heart. make them take an oath to you that they will make common cause in resisting these disorders. trust those as your friends who show themselves willing to do it; but be careful to avoid frightening away the others by contemptuous treatment." viglius kept the regent engaged in conversation until the princes arrived, who he was quite certain would in nowise consent to her flight. when they appeared he quietly withdrew in order to issue commands to the town council to close the gates of the city and prohibit egress to every one connected with the court. this last measure effected more than all the representations had done. the regent, who saw herself a prisoner in her own capital, now yielded to the persuasions of the nobles, who pledged themselves to stand by her to the last drop of blood. she made count mansfeld commandant of the town, who hastily increased the garrison and armed her whole court. the state council was now held, who finally came to a resolution that it was expedient to yield to the emergency; to permit the preachings in those places where they had already commenced; to make known the abolition of the papal inquisition; to declare the old edicts against the heretics repealed, and before all things to grant the required indemnity to the confederate nobles, without limitation or condition. at the same time the prince of orange, counts egmont and horn, with some others, were appointed to confer on this head with the deputies of the league. solemnly and in the most unequivocal terms the members of the league were declared free from all responsibility by reason of the petition which had been presented, and all royal officers and authorities were enjoined to act in conformity with this assurance, and neither now nor for the future to inflict any injury upon any of the confederates on account of the said petition. in return, the confederates bound themselves to be true and loyal servants of his majesty, to contribute to the utmost of their power to the re-establishment of order and the punishment of the iconiclasts, to prevail on the people to lay down their arms, and to afford active assistance to the king against internal and foreign enemies. securities, formally drawn up and subscribed by the plenipotentiaries of both sides, were exchanged between them; the letter of indemnity, in particular, was signed by the duchess with her own hand and attested by her seal. it was only after a severe struggle, and with tears in her eyes, that the regent, as she tremblingly confessed to the king, was at last induced to consent to this painful step. she threw the whole blame upon the nobles, who had kept her a prisoner in brussels and compelled her to it by force. above all she complained bitterly of the prince of orange. this business accomplished, all the governors hastened to their provinces; egmont to flanders, orange to antwerp. in the latter city the protestants had seized the despoiled and plundered churches, and, as if by the rights of war, had taken possession of them. the prince restored them to their lawful owners, gave orders for their repair, and re-established in them the roman catholic form of worship. three of the iconoclasts, who had been convicted, paid the penalty of their sacrilege on the gallows; some of the rioters were banished, and many others underwent punishment. afterwards he assembled four deputies of each dialect, or nations, as they were termed, and agreed with them that, as the approaching winter made preaching in the open air impossible, three places within the town should be granted then, where they might either erect new churches, or convert private houses to that purpose. that they should there perform their service every sunday and holiday, and always at the same hour, but on no other days. if, however, no holiday happened in the week, wednesday should be kept by them instead. no religious party should maintain more than two clergymen, and these must be native netherlanders, or at least have received naturalization from some considerable town of the provinces. all should take an oath to submit in civil matters to the municipal authorities and the prince of orange. they should be liable, like the other citizens, to all imposts. no one should attend sermons armed; a sword, however, should be allowed to each. no preacher should assail the ruling religion from the pulpit, nor enter upon controverted points, beyond what the doctrine itself rendered unavoidable, or what might refer to morals. no psalm should be sung by them out of their appointed district. at the election of their preachers, churchwardens, and deacons, as also at all their other consistorial meetings, a person from the government should on each occasion be present to report their proceedings to the prince and the magistrate. as to all other points they should enjoy the same protection as the ruling religion. this arrangement was to hold good until the king, with consent of the states, should determine otherwise; but then it should be free to every one to quit the country with his family and his property. from antwerp the prince hastened to holland, zealand, and utrecht, in order to make there similar arrangements for the restoration of peace; antwerp, however, was, during his absence, entrusted to the superintendence of count howstraten, who was a mild man, and although an adherent of the league, had never failed in loyalty to the king. it is evident that in this agreement the prince had far overstepped the powers entrusted to him, and though in the service of the king had acted exactly like a sovereign lord. but he alleged in excuse that it would be far easier to the magistrate to watch these numerous and powerful sects if he himself interfered in their worship, and if this took place under his eyes, than if he were to leave the sectarians to themselves in the open air. in gueldres count megen showed more severity, and entirely suppressed the protestant sects and banished all their preachers. in brussels the regent availed herself of the advantage derived from her personal presence to put a stop to the public preaching, even outside the town. when, in reference to this, count nassau reminded her in the name of the confederates of the compact which had been entered into, and demanded if the town of brussels had inferior rights to the other towns? she answered, if there were public preachings in brussels before the treaty, it was not her work if they were now discontinued. at the same time, however, she secretly gave the citizens to understand that the first who should venture to attend a public sermon should certainly be hung. thus she kept the capital at least faithful to her. it was more difficult to quiet tournay, which office was committed to count horn, in the place of montigny, to whose government the town properly belonged. horn commanded the protestants to vacate the churches immediately, and to content themselves with a house of worship outside the walls. to this their preachers objected that the churches were erected for the use of the people, by which terms, they said, not the heads but the majority were meant. if they were expelled from the roman catholic churches it was at least fair that they should be furnished with money for erecting churches of their own. to this the magistrate replied even if the catholic party was the weaker it was indisputably the better. the erection of churches should not be forbidden them; they could not, however, after the injury which the town had already suffered from their brethren, the iconoclasts, very well expect that it should be further burdened by the erection of their churches. after long quarrelling on both sides, the protestants contrived to retain possession of some churches, which, for greater security, they occupied with guards. in valenciennes, too, the protestants refused submission to the conditions which were offered to them through philip st. aldegonde, baron of noircarmes, to whom, in the absence of the marquis of bergen, the government of that place was entrusted. a reformed preacher, la grange, a frenchman by birth, who by his eloquence had gained a complete command over them, urged them to insist on having churches of their own within the town, and to threaten in case of refusal to deliver it up to the huguenots. a sense of the superior numbers of the calvinists, and of their understanding with the huguenots, prevented the governor adopting forcible measures against them. count egmont, also to manifest his zeal for the king's service, did violence to his natural kind-heartedness. introducing a garrison into the town of ghent, he caused some of the most refractory rebels to be put to death. the churches were reopened, the roman catholic worship renewed, and all foreigners, without exception, ordered to quit the province. to the calvinists, but to them alone, a site was granted outside the town for the erection of a church. in return they were compelled to pledge themselves to the most rigid obedience to the municipal authorities, and to active co-operation in the proceedings against the iconoclasts. he pursued similar measures through all flanders and artois. one of his noblemen, john cassembrot, baron of beckerzeel, and a leaguer, pursuing the iconoclasts at the head of some horsemen of the league, surprised a band of them just as they were about to break into a town of hainault, near grammont, in flanders, and took thirty of them prisoners, of whom twenty-two were hung upon the spot, and the rest whipped out of the province. services of such importance one would have thought scarcely deserved to be rewarded with the displeasure of the king; what orange, egmont, and horn performed on this occasion evinced at least as much zeal and had as beneficial a result as anything that was accomplished by noircarmes, megen, and aremberg, to whom the king vouchsafed to show his gratitude both by words and deeds. but their zeal, their services came too late. they had spoken too loudly against his edicts, had been too vehement in their opposition to his measures, had insulted him too grossly in the person of his minister granvella, to leave room for forgiveness. no time, no repentance, no atonement, however great, could efface this one offence from the memory of their sovereign. philip lay sick at segovia when the news of the outbreak of the iconoclasts and the uncatholic agreement entered into with the reformers reached him. at the same time the regent renewed her urgent entreaty for his personal visit, of which also all the letters treated, which the president viglius exchanged with his friend hopper. many also of the belgian nobles addressed special letters to the king, as, for instance, egmont, mansfeld, megen, aremberg, noircarmes, and barlaimont, in which they reported the state of their provinces, and at once explained and justified the arrangements they had made with the disaffected. just at this period a letter arrived from the german emperor, in which he recommended philip to act with clemency towards his belgian subjects, and offered his mediation in the matter. he had also written direct to the regent herself in brussels, and added letters to the several leaders of the nobility, which, however, were never delivered. having conquered the first anger which this hateful occurrence had excited, the king referred the whole matter to his council. the party of granvella, which had the preponderance in the council, was diligent in tracing a close connection between the behavior of the flemish nobles and the excesses of the church desecrators, which showed itself in similarity of the demands of both parties, and especially the time which the latter chose for their outbreak. in the same month, they observed, in which the nobles had sent in their three articles of pacification, the iconoclasts had commenced their work; on the evening of the very day that orange quitted antwerp the churches too were plundered. during the whole tumult not a finger was lifted to take up arms; all the expedients employed were invariably such as turned to the advantage of the sects, while, on the contrary, all others were neglected which tended to the maintenance of the pure faith. many of the iconoclasts, it was further said, had confessed that all that they had done was with the knowledge and consent of the princes; though surely nothing was more natural, than for such worthless wretches to seek to screen with great names a crime which they had undertaken solely on their own account. a writing also was produced in which the high nobility were made to promise their services to the "gueux," to procure the assembly of the states general, the genuineness of which, however, the former strenuously denied. four different seditious parties were, they said, to be noticed in the netherlands, which were all more or less connected with one another, and all worked towards a common end. one of these was those bands of reprobates who desecrated the churches; a second consisted of the various sects who had hired the former to perform their infamous acts; the "gueux," who had raised themselves to be the defenders of the sects were the third; and the leading nobles who were inclined to the "gueux" by feudal connections, relationship, and friendship, composed the fourth. all, consequently, were alike fatally infected, and all equally guilty. the government had not merely to guard against a few isolated members; it had to contend with the whole body. since, then, it was ascertained that the people were the seduced party, and the encouragement to rebellion came from higher quarters, it would be wise and expedient to alter the plan hitherto adopted, which now appeared defective in several respects. inasmuch as all classes had been oppressed without distinction, and as much of severity shown to the lower orders as of contempt to the nobles, both had been compelled to lend support to one another; a party had been given to the latter and leaders to the former. unequal treatment seemed an infallible expedient to separate them; the mob, always timid and indolent when not goaded by the extremity of distress, would very soon desert its adored protectors and quickly learn to see in their fate well-merited retribution if only it was not driven to share it with them. it was therefore proposed to the king to treat the great multitude for the future with more leniency, and to direct all measures of severity against the leaders of the faction. in order, however, to avoid the appearance of a disgraceful concession, it was considered advisable to accept the mediation of the emperor, and to impute to it alone and not to the justice of their demands, that the king out of pure generosity had granted to his belgian subjects as much as they asked. the question of the king's personal visit to the provinces was now again mooted, and all the difficulties which had formerly been raised on this head appeared to vanish before the present emergency. "now," said tyssenacque and hopper, "the juncture has really arrived at which the king, according to his own declaration formerly made to count egmont, will be ready to risk a thousand lives. to restore quiet to ghent charles v. had undertaken a troublesome and dangerous journey through an enemy's country. this was done for the sake of a single town; and now the peace, perhaps even the possession, of all the united provinces was at stake." this was the opinion of the majority; and the journey of the king was looked upon as a matter from which he could not possibly any longer escape. the question now was, whether he should enter upon it with a numerous body of attendants or with few; and here the prince of eboli and count figueroa were at issue with the duke of alva, as their private interests clashed. if the king journeyed at the head of an army the presence of the duke of alva would be indispensable, who, on the other hand, if matters were peaceably adjusted, would be less required, and must make room for his rivals. "an army," said figueroa, who spoke first, "would alarm the princes through whose territories it must march, and perhaps even be opposed by them; it would, moreover, unnecessarily burden the provinces for whose tranquillization it was intended, and add a new grievance to the many which had already driven the people to such lengths. it would press indiscriminately upon all of the king's subjects, whereas a court of justice, peaceably administering its office, would observe a marked distinction between the innocent and the guilty. the unwonted violence of the former course would tempt the leaders of the faction to take a more alarming view of their behavior, in which wantonness and levity had the chief share, and consequently induce them to proceed with deliberation and union; the thought of having forced the king to such lengths would plunge them into despair, in which they would be ready to undertake anything. if the king placed himself in arms against the rebels he would forfeit the most important advantage which he possessed over them, namely, his authority as sovereign of the country, which would prove the more powerful in proportion as he showed his reliance upon that alone. he would place himself thereby, as it were, on a level with the rebels, who on their side would not be at a loss to raise an army, as the universal hatred of the spanish forces would operate in their favor with the nation. by this procedure the king would exchange the certain advantage which his position as sovereign of the country conferred upon him for the uncertain result of military operations, which, result as they might, would of necessity destroy a portion of his own subjects. the rumor of his hostile approach would outrun him time enough to allow all who were conscious of a bad cause to place themselves in a posture of defence, and to combine and render availing both their foreign and domestic resources. here again the general alarm would do them important service; the uncertainty who would be the first object of this warlike approach would drive even the less guilty to the general mass of the rebels, and force those to become enemies to the king who otherwise would never have been so. if, however, he was coming among them without such a formidable accompaniment; if his appearance was less that of a sanguinary judge than of an angry parent, the courage of all good men would rise, and the bad would perish in their own security. they would persuade themselves what had happened was unimportant; that it did not appear to the king of sufficient moment to call for strong measures. they wished if they could to avoid the chance of ruining, by acts of open violence, a cause which might perhaps yet be saved; consequently, by this quiet, peaceable method everything would be gained which by the other would be irretrievably lost; the loyal subject would in no degree be involved in the same punishment with the culpable rebel; on the latter alone would the whole weight of the royal indignation descend. lastly, the enormous expenses would be avoided which the transport of a spanish army to those distant regions would occasion. "but," began the duke of alva, "ought the injury of some few citizens to be considered when danger impends over the whole? because a few of the loyally-disposed may suffer wrong are the rebels therefore not to be chastised? the offence has been universal, why then should not the punishment be the same? what the rebels have incurred by their actions the rest have incurred equally by their supineness. whose fault is it but theirs that the former have so far succeeded? why did they not promptly oppose their first attempts? it is said that circumstances were not so desperate as to justify this violent remedy; but who will insure us that they will not be so by the time the king arrives, especially when, according to every fresh despatch of the regent, all is hastening with rapid strides to a-ruinous consummation? is it a hazard we ought to run to leave the king to discover on his entrance into the provinces the necessity of his having brought with him a military force? it is a fact only too well-established that the rebels have secured foreign succors, which stand ready at their command on the first signal; will it then be time to think of preparing for war when the enemy pass the frontiers? is it a wise risk to rely for aid upon the nearest belgian troops when their loyalty is so little to be depended upon? and is not the regent perpetually reverting in her despatches to the fact that nothing but the want of a suitable military force has hitherto hindered her from enforcing the edicts, and stopping the progress of the rebels? a well-disciplined and formidable army alone will disappoint all their hopes of maintaining themselves in opposition to their lawful sovereign, and nothing but the certain prospect of destruction will make them lower their demands. besides, without an adequate force, the king cannot venture his person in hostile countries; he cannot enter into any treaties with his rebellious subjects which would not be derogatory to his honor." the authority of the speaker gave preponderance to his arguments, and the next question was, when the king should commence his journey and what road he should take. as the voyage by sea was on every account extremely hazardous, he had no other alternative but either to proceed thither through the passes near trent across. germany, or to penetrate from savoy over the apennine alps. the first route would expose him to the danger of the attack of the german protestants, who were not likely to view with indifference the objects of his journey, and a passage over the apennines was at this late season of the year not to be attempted. moreover, it would be necessary to send for the requisite galleys from italy, and repair them, which would take several months. finally, as the assembly of the cortes of castile, from which he could not well be absent, was already appointed for december, the journey could not be undertaken before the spring. meanwhile the regent pressed for explicit instructions how she was to extricate herself from her present embarrassment, without compromising the royal dignity too far; and it was necessary to do something in the interval till the king could undertake to appease the troubles by his personal presence. two separate letters were therefore despatched to the duchess; one public, which she could lay before the states and the council chambers, and one private, which was intended for herself alone. in the first, the king announced to her his restoration to health, and the fortunate birth of the infanta clara isabella eugenia, afterwards wife of the archduke albert of austria and princess of the netherlands. he declared to her his present firm intention to visit the netherlands in person, for which he was already making the necessary preparations. the assembling of the states he refused, as he had previously done. no mention was made in this letter of the agreement which she had entered into with the protestants and with the league, because he did not deem it advisable at present absolutely to reject it, and he was still less disposed to acknowledge its validity. on the other hand, he ordered her to reinforce the army, to draw together new regiments from germany, and to meet the refractory with force. for the rest, he concluded, he relied upon the loyalty of the leading nobility, among whom he knew many who were sincere in their attachment both to their religion and their king. in the secret letter she was again enjoined to do all in her power to prevent the assembling of the states; but if the general voice should become irresistible, and she was compelled to yield, she was at least to manage so cautiously that the royal dignity should not suffer, and no one learn the king's consent to their assembly. while these consultations were held in spain the protestants in the netherlands made the most extensive use of the privileges which had been compulsorily granted to them. the erection of churches wherever it was permitted was completed with incredible rapidity; young and old, gentle and simple, assisted in carrying stones; women sacrificed even their ornaments in order to accelerate the work. the two religious parties established in several towns consistories, and a church council of their own, the first move of the kind being made in antwerp, and placed their form of worship on a well-regulated footing. it was also proposed to raise a common fund by subscription to meet any sudden emergency of the protestant church in general. in antwerp a memorial was presented by the calvinists of that town to the count of hogstraten, in which they offered to pay three millions of dollars to secure the free exercise of their religion. many copies of this writing were circulated in the netherlands; and in order to stimulate others, many had ostentatiously subscribed their names to large sums. various interpretations of this extravagant offer were made by the enemies of the reformers, and all had some appearance of reason. for instance, it was urged that under the pretext of collecting the requisite sum for fulfilling this engagement they hoped, without suspicion, to raise funds for military purposes; for whether they should be called upon to contribute for or against they would, it was thought, be more ready to burden themselves with a view of preserving peace than for an oppressive and devasting war. others saw in this offer nothing more than a temporary stratagem of the protestants by which they hoped to bind the court and keep it irresolute until they should have gained sufficient strength to confront it. others again declared it to be a downright bravado in order to alarm the regent, and to raise the courage of their own party by the display of such rich resources. but whatever was the true motive of this proposition, its originators gained little by it; the contributions flowed in scantily and slowly, and the court answered the proposal with silent contempt. the excesses, too, of the iconoclasts, far from promoting the cause of the league and advancing the protestants interests, had done irreparable injury to both. the sight of their ruined churches, which, in the language of viglius, resembled stables more than houses of god, enraged the roman catholics, and above all the clergy. all of that religion, who had hitherto been members of the league, now forsook it, alleging that even if it had not intentionally excited and encouraged the excesses of the iconoclasts it had beyond question remotely led to them. the intolerance of the calvinists who, wherever they were the ruling party, cruelly oppressed the roman catholics, completely expelled the delusion in which the latter had long indulged, and they withdrew their support from a party from which, if they obtained the upper hand, their own religion had so much cause to fear. thus the league lost many of its best members; the friends and patrons, too, which it had hitherto found amongst the well-disposed citizens now deserted it, and its character began perceptibly to decline. the severity with which some of its members had acted against the iconoclasts in order to prove their good disposition towards the regent, and to remove the suspicion of any connection with the malcontents, had also injured them with the people who favored the latter, and thus the league was in danger of ruining itself with both parties at the same time. the regent had no sooner became acquainted with this change in the public mind than she devised a plan by which she hoped gradually to dissolve the whole league, or at least to enfeeble it through internal dissensions. for this end she availed herself of the private letters which the king had addressed to some of the nobles, and enclosed to her with full liberty to use them at her discretion. these letters, which overflowed with kind expressions were presented to those for whom they were intended, with an attempt at secrecy, which designedly miscarried, so that on each occasion some one or other of those who had received nothing of the sort got a hint of them. in order to spread suspicion the more widely numerous copies of the letters were circulated. this artifice attained its object. many members of the league began to doubt the honesty of those to whom such brilliant promises were made; through fear of being deserted by their principal members and supporters, they eagerly accepted the conditions which were offered them by the regent, and evinced great anxiety for a speedy reconciliation with the court. the general rumor of the impending visit of the king, which the regent took care to have widely circulated, was also of great service to her in this matter; many who could not augur much good to themselves from the royal presence did not hesitate to accept a pardon, which, perhaps, for what they could tell, was offered them for the last time. among those who thus received private letters were egmont and prince of orange. both had complained to the king of the evil reports with which designing persons in spain had labored to brand their names, and to throw suspicion on their motives and intentions; egmont, in particular, with the honest simplicity which was peculiar to his character, had asked the monarch only to point out to him what he most desired, to determine the particular action by which his favor could be best obtained and zeal in his service evinced, and it should, he assured him, be done. the king in reply caused the president, von tyssenacque, to tell him that he could do nothing better to refute his traducers than to show perfect submission to the royal orders, which were so clearly and precisely drawn up, that no further exposition of them was required, nor any particular instruction. it was the sovereign's part to deliberate, to examine, and to decide; unconditionally to obey was the duty of the subject; the honor of the latter consisted in his obedence. it did not become a member to hold itself wiser than the head. he was assuredly to be blamed for not having done his utmost to curb the unruliness of his sectarians; but it was even yet in his power to make up for past negligence by at least maintaining peace and order until the actual arrival of the king. in thus punishing count egmont with reproofs like a disobedient child, the king treated him in accordance with what he knew of his character; with his friend he found it necessary to call in the aid of artifice and deceit. orange, too, in his letter, had alluded to the suspicions which the king entertained of his loyalty and attachment, but not, like egmont, in the vain hope of removing them; for this, he had long given up; but in order to pass from these complaints to a request for permission to resign his offices. he had already frequently made this request to the regent, but had always received from her a refusal, accompanied with the strongest assurance of her regard. the king also, to whom he now at last addressed a direct application, returned him the same answer, graced with similar strong assurances of his satisfaction and gratitude. in particular he expressed the high satisfaction he entertained of his services, which he had lately rendered the crown in antwerp, and lamented deeply that the private affairs of the prince (which the latter had made his chief plea for demanding his dismissal) should have fallen into such disorder; but ended with the declaration that it was impossible for him to dispense with his valuable services at a crisis which demanded the increase, rather than diminution, of his good and honest servants. he had thought, he added, that the prince entertained a better opinion of him than to suppose him capable of giving credit to the idle talk of certain persons, who were friends neither to the prince nor to himself. but, at the same time, to give him a proof of his sincerity, he complained to him in confidence of his brother, the count of nassau, pretended to ask his advice in the matter, and finally expressed a wish to have the count removed for a period from the netherlands. but philip had here to do with a head which in cunning was superior to his own. the prince of orange had for a long time held watch over him and his privy council in madrid and segovia, through a host of spies, who reported to him everything of importance that was transacted there. the court of this most secret of all despots had become accessible to his intriguing spirit and his money; in this manner he had gained possession of several autograph letters of the regent, which she had secretly written to madrid, and had caused copies to be circulated in triumph in brussels, and in a measure under her own eyes, insomuch that she saw with astonishment in everybody's hands what she thought was preserved with so much care, and entreated the king for the future to destroy her despatches immediately they were read. william's vigilance did not confine itself simply to the court of spain; he had spies in france, and even at more distant courts. he is also charged with not being over scrupulous as to the means by which he acquired his intelligence. but the most important disclosure was made by an intercepted letter of the spanish ambassador in france, francis von alava, to the duchess, in which the former descanted on the fair opportunity which was now afforded to the king, through the guilt of the netherlandish people, of establishing an arbitrary power in that country. he therefore advised her to deceive the nobles by the very arts which they had hitherto employed against herself, and to secure them through smooth words and an obliging behavior. the king, he concluded, who knew the nobles to be the hidden springs of all the previous troubles, would take good care to lay hands upon them at the first favorable opportunity, as well as the two whom he had already in spain; and did not mean to let them go again, having sworn to make an example in them which should horrify the whole of christendom, even if it should cost him his hereditary dominions. this piece of evil news was strongly corroborated by the letters which bergen and montigny wrote from spain, and in which they bitterly complained of the contemptuous behavior of the grandees and the altered deportment of the monarch towards them; and the prince of orange was now fully sensible what he had to expect from the fair promises of the king. the letter of the minister, alava, together with some others from spain, which gave a circumstantial account of the approaching warlike visit of the king, and of his evil intentions against the nobles, was laid by the prince before his brother, count louis of nassau, counts egmont, horn, and hogstraten, at a meeting at dendermonde in flanders, whither these five knights had repaired to confer on the measures necessary for their security. count louis, who listened only to his feelings of indignation, foolhardily maintained that they ought, without loss of time, to take up arms and seize some strongholds. that they ought at all risks to prevent the king's armed entrance into the provinces. that they should endeavor to prevail on the swiss, the protestant princes of germany, and the huguenots to arm and obstruct his passage through their territories; and if, notwithstanding, he should force his way through these impediments, that the flemings should meet him with an army on the frontiers. he would take upon himself to negotiate a defensive alliance in france, in switzerland, and in germany, and to raise in the latter empire four thousand horse, together with a proportionate body of infantry. pretexts would not be wanting for collecting the requisite supplies of money, and the merchants of the reformed sect would, he felt assured, not fail them. but william, more cautious and more wise, declared himself against this proposal, which, in the execution, would be exposed to numberless difficulties, and had as yet nothing to justify it. the inquisition, he represented, was in fact abolished, the edicts were nearly sunk into oblivion, and a fair degree of religious liberty accorded. hitherto, therefore, there existed no valid or adequate excuse for adopting this hostile method; he did not doubt, however, that one would be presented to them before long, and in good time for preparation. his own opinion consequently was that they should await this opportunity with patience, and in the meanwhile still keep a watchful eye upon everything, and contrive to give the people a hint of the threatened danger, that they might be ready to act if circumstances should call for their co-operation. if all present had assented to the opinion of the prince of orange, there is no doubt but so powerful a league, formidable both by the influence and the high character of its members, would have opposed obstacles to the designs of the king which would have compelled him to abandon them entirely. but the determination of the assembled knights was much shaken by the declaration with which count egmont surprised them. "rather," said he, "may all that is evil befall me than that i should tempt fortune so rashly. the idle talk of the spaniard, alava, does not move me; how should such a person be able to read the mind of a sovereign so reserved as philip, and to decipher his secrets? the intelligence which montigny gives us goes to prove nothing more than that the king has a very doubtful opinion of our zeal for his service, and believes he has cause to distrust our loyalty; and for this i for my part must confess that we have given him only too much cause. and it is my serious purpose, by redoubling my zeal, to regain his good opinion, and by my future behavior to remove, if possible, the distrust which my actions have hitherto excited. how could i tear myself from the arms of my numerous and dependent family to wander as an exile at foreign courts, a burden to every one who received me, the slave of every one who condescended to assist me, a servant of foreigners, in order to escape a slight degree of constraint at home? never can the monarch act unkindly towards a servant who was once beloved and dear to him, and who has established a well-grounded claim to his gratitude. never shall i be persuaded that he who has expressed such favorable, such gracious sentiments towards his belgian subjects, and with his own mouth gave me such emphatic, such solemn assurances, can be now devising, as it is pretended, such tyrannical schemes against them. if we do but restore to the country its former repose, chastise the rebels, and re-establish the roman catholic form of worship wherever it has been violently suppressed, then, believe me, we shall hear no more of spanish troops. this is the course to which i now invite you all by my counsel and my example, and to which also most of our brethren already incline. i, for my part, fear nothing from the anger of the king. my conscience acquits me. i trust my fate and fortunes to his justice and clemency." in vain did nassau, horn, and orange labor to shake his resolution, and to open his eyes to the near and inevitable danger. egmont was really attached to the king; the royal favors, and the condescension with which they were conferred, were still fresh in his remembrance. the attentions with which the monarch had distinguished him above all his friends had not failed of their effect. it was more from false shame than from party spirit that he had defended the cause of his countrymen against him; more from temperament and natural kindness of heart than from tried principles that he had opposed the severe measures of the government. the love of the nation, which worshipped him as its idol, carried him away. too vain to renounce a title which sounded so agreeable, he had been compelled to do something to deserve it; but a single look at his family, a harsher designation applied to his conduct, a dangerous inference drawn from it, the mere sound of crime, terrified him from his self-delusion, and scared him back in haste and alarm to his duty. orange's whole plan was frustrated by egmont's withdrawal. the latter possessed the hearts of the people and the confidence of the army, without which it was utterly impossible to undertake anything effective. the rest had reckoned with so much certainty upon him that his unexpected defection rendered the whole meeting nugatory. they therefore separated without coming to a determination. all who had met in dendermonde were expected in the council of state in brussels; but egmont alone repaired thither. the regent wished to sift him on the subject of this conference, but she could extract nothing further from him than the production of the letter of alava, of which he had purposely taken a copy, and which, with the bitterest reproofs, he laid before her. at first she changed color at sight of it, but quickly recovering herself, she boldly declared that it was a forgery. "how can this letter," she said, "really come from alava, when i miss none? and would he who pretends to have intercepted it have spared the other letters? nay, how can it be true, when not a single packet has miscarried, nor a single despatch failed to come to hand? how, too, can it be thought likely that the king would have made alava master of a secret which he has not communicated even to me?" civil war . meanwhile the regent hastened to take advantage of the schism amongst the nobles to complete the ruin of the league, which was already tottering under the weight of internal dissensions. without loss of time she drew from germany the troops which duke eric of brunswick was holding in readiness, augmented the cavalry, and raised five regiments of walloons, the command of which she gave to counts mansfeld, megen, aremberg, and others. to the prince, likewise, she felt it necessary to confide troops, both because she did not wish, by withholding them pointedly, to insult him, and also because the provinces of which he was governor were in urgent need of them; but she took the precaution of joining with him a colonel waldenfinger, who should watch all his steps and thwart his measures if they appeared dangerous. to count egmont the clergy in flanders paid a contribution of forty thousand gold florins for the maintenance of fifteen hundred men, whom he distributed among the places where danger was most apprehended. every governor was ordered to increase his military force, and to provide himself with ammunition. these energetic preparations, which were making in all places, left no doubt as to the measures which the regent would adopt in future. conscious of her superior force, and certain of this important support, she now ventured to change her tone, and to employ quite another language with the rebels. she began to put the most arbitrary interpretation on the concessions which, through fear and necessity, she had made to the protestants, and to restrict all the liberties which she had tacitly granted them to the mere permission of their preaching. all other religious exercises and rites, which yet appeared to be involved in the former privilege, were by new edicts expressly forbidden, and all offenders in such matters were to be proceeded against as traitors. the protestants were permitted to think differently from the ruling church upon the sacrament, but to receive it differently was a crime; baptism, marriage, burial, after their fashion, were probibited under pain of death. it was a cruel mockery to allow them their religion, and forbid the exercise of it; but this mean artifice of the regent to escape from the obligation of her pledged word was worthy of the pusillanimity with which she had submitted to its being extorted from her. she took advantage of the most trifling innovations and the smallest excesses to interrupt the preachings; and some of the preachers, under the charge of having performed their office in places not appointed to them, were brought to trial, condemned, and executed. on more than one occasion the regent publicly declared that the confederates had taken unfair advantage of her fears, and that she did not feel herself bound by an engagement which had been extorted from her by threats. of all the belgian towns which had participated in the insurrection of the iconoclasts none had caused the regent so much alarm as the town of valenciennes, in hainault. in no other was the party of the calvinists so powerful, and the spirit of rebellion for which the province of hainault had always made itself conspicuous, seemed to dwell here as in its native place. the propinquity of france, to which, as well by language as by manners, this town appeared to belong, rather than to the netherlands, had from the first led to its being governed with great mildness and forbearance, which, however, only taught it to feel its own importance. at the last outbreak of the church-desecrators it had been on the point of surrendering to the huguenots, with whom it maintained the closest understanding. the slightest excitement night renew this danger. on this account valenciennes was the first town to which the regent proposed, as soon as should be in her power, to send a strong garrison. philip of noircarmes, baron of st. aldegonde, governor of hainault in the place of the absent marquis of bergen, had received this charge, and now appeared at the head of an army before its walls. deputies came to meet him on the part of the magistrate from the town, to petition against the garrison, because the protestant citizens, who were the superior number, had declared against it. noircarnes acquainted them with the will of the regent, and gave them the choice between the garrison or a siege. he assured them that not more than four squadrons of horse and six companies of foot should be imposed upon the town; and for this he would give them his son as a hostage. these terms were laid before the magistrate, who, for his part, was much inclined to accept them. but peregrine le grange, the preacher, and the idol of the populace, to whom it was of vital importance to prevent a submission of which he would inevitably become the victim, appeared at the head of his followers, and by his powerful eloquence excited the people to reject the conditions. when their answer was brought to noircarmes, contrary to all law of nations, he caused the messengers to be placed in irons, and carried them away with him as prisoners; he was, however, by express command of the regent, compelled to set them free again. the regent, instructed by secret orders from madrid to exercise as much forbearance as possible, caused the town to be repeatedly summoned to receive the garrison; when, however, it obstinately persisted in its refusal, it was declared by public edict to be in rebellion, and noircarmes was authorized to commence the siege in form. the other provinces were forbidden to assist this rebellious town with advice, money, or arms. all the property contained in it was confiscated. in order to let it see the war before it began in earnest, and to give it time for rational reflection, noircarmes drew together troops from all hainault and cambray ( ), took possession of st. amant, and placed garrisons in all adjacent places. the line of conduct adopted towards valenciennes allowed the other towns which were similarly situated to infer the fate which was intended for them also, and at once put the whole league in motion. an army of the gueux, between three thousand and four thousand strong, which was hastily collected from the rabble of fugitives, and the remaining bands of the iconoclasts, appeared in the territories of tournay and lille, in order to secure these two towns, and to annoy the enemy at valenciennes. the commandant of lille was fortunate enough to maintain that place by routing a detachment of this army, which, in concert with the protestant inhabitants, had made an attempt to get possession of it. at the same time the army of the gueux, which was uselessly wasting its time at lannoy, was surprised by noircarmes and almost entirely annihilated. the few who with desperate courage forced their way through the enemy, threw themselves into the town of tournay, which was immediately summoned by the victor to open its gates and admit a garrison. its prompt obedience obtained for it a milder fate. noircarmes contented himself with abolishing the protestant consistory, banishing the preachers, punishing the leaders of the rebels, and again re-establishing the roman catholic worship, which he found almost entirely suppressed. after giving it a steadfast roman catholic as governor, and leaving in it a sufficient garrison, he again returned with his victorious army to valenciennes to press the siege. this town, confident in its strength, actively prepared for defence, firmly resolved to allow things to come to extremes before it surrendered. the inhabitants had not neglected to furnish themselves with ammunition and provisions for a long siege; all who could carry arms (the very artisans not excepted), became soldiers; the houses before the town, and especially the cloisters, were pulled down, that the besiegers might not avail themselves of them to cover their attack. the few adherents of the crown, awed by the multitude, were silent; no roman catholic ventured to stir himself. anarchy and rebellion had taken the place of good order, and the fanaticism of a foolhardy priest gave laws instead of the legal dispensers of justice. the male population was numerous, their courage confirmed by despair, their confidence unbounded that the siege would be raised, while their hatred against the roman catholic religion was excited to the highest pitch. many had no mercy to expect; all abhorred the general thraldom of an imperious garrison. noircarmes, whose army had become formidable through the reinforcements which streamed to it from all quarters, and was abundantly furnished with all the requisites for a long blockade, once more attempted to prevail on the town by gentle means, but in vain. at last he caused the trenches to be opened and prepared to invest the place. in the meanwhile the position of the protestants had grown as much worse as that of the regent had improved. the league of the nobles had gradually melted away to a third of its original number. some of its most important defenders, count egmont, for instance, had gone over to the king; the pecuniary contributions which had been so confidently reckoned upon came in but slowly and scantily; the zeal of the party began perceptibly to cool, and the close of the fine season made it necessary to discontinue the public preachings, which, up to this time, had been continued. these and other reasons combined induced the declining party to moderate its demands, and to try every legal expedient before it proceeded to extremities. in a general synod of the protestants, which was held for this object in antwerp, and which was also attended by some of the confederates, it was resolved to send deputies to the regent to remonstrate with her upon this breach of faith, and to remind her of her compact. brederode undertook this office, but was obliged to submit to a harsh and disgraceful rebuff, and was shut out of brussels. he had now recourse to a written memorial, in which,--in the name of the whole league, he complained that the duchess had, by violating her word, falsified in sight of all the protestants the security given by the league, in reliance on which all of them had laid down their arms; that by her insincerity she had undone all the good which the confederates had labored to effect; that she had sought to degrade the league in the eyes of the people, had excited discord among its members, and had even caused many of them to be persecuted as criminals. he called upon her to recall her late ordinances, which deprived the protestants of the free exercise of their religion, but above all to raise the siege of valenciennes, to disband the troops newly enlisted, and ended by assuring her that on these conditions and these alone the league would be responsible for the general tranquillity. to this the regent replied in a tone very different from her previous moderation. "who these confederates are who address me in this memorial is, indeed, a mystery to me. the confederates with whom i had formerly to do, for ought i know to the contrary, have dispersed. all at least cannot participate in this statement of grievances, for i myself know of many, who, satisfied in all their demands, have returned to their duty. but still, whoever he may be, who without authority and right, and without name addresses me, he has at least given a very false interpretation to my word if he asserts that i guaranteed to the protestants complete religious liberty. no one can be ignorant how reluctantly i was induced to permit the preachings in the places where they had sprung up unauthorized, and this surely cannot be counted for a concession of freedom in religion. is it likely that i should have entertained the idea of protecting these illegal consistories, of tolerating this state within a state? could i forget myself so far as to grant the sanction of law to an objectionable sect; to overturn all order in the church and in the state, and abominably to blaspheme my holy religion? look to him who has given you such permission, but you must not argue with me. you accuse me of having violated the agreement which gave you impunity and security. the past i am willing to look over, but not what may be done in future. no advantage was to be taken of you on account of the petition of last april, and to the best of my knowledge nothing of the kind has as yet been done; but whoever again offends in the same way against the majesty of the king must be ready to bear the consequences of his crime. in fine, how can you presume to remind me of an agreement which you have been the first to break? at whose instigation were the churches plundered, the images of the saints thrown down, and the towns hurried into rebellion? who formed alliances with foregn powers, set on foot illegal enlistments, and collected unlawful taxes from the subjects of the king? these are the reasons which have impelled me to draw together my troops, and to increase the severity of the edicts. whoever now asks me to lay down my arms cannot mean well to his country or his king, and if ye value your own lives, look to it that your own actions acquit you, instead of judging mine." all the hopes which the confederates might have entertained of an amicable adjustment sank with this high-toned declaration. without being confident of possessing powerful support, the regent would not, they argued, employ such language. an army was in the field, the enemy was before valenciennes, the members who were the heart of the league had abandoned it, and the regent required unconditional submission. their cause was now so bad that open resistance could not make it worse. if they gave themselves up defenceless into the hands of their exasperated sovereign their fate was certain; an appeal to arms could at least make it a matter of doubt; they, therefore, chose the latter, and began seriously to take steps for their defence. in order to insure the assistance of the german protestants, louis of nassau attempted to persuade the towns of amsterdam, antwerp, tournay, and valenciennes to adopt the confession of augsburg, and in this manner to seal their alliance with a religious union. but the proposition was not successful, because the hatred of the calvinists to the lutherans exceeded, if possible, that which they bore to popery. nassau also began in earnest to negotiate for supplies from france, the palatinate, and saxony. the count of bergen fortified his castles; brederode threw himself with a small force into his strong town of vianne on the leek, over which he claimed the rights of sovereignty, and which he hastily placed in a state of defense, and there awaited a reinforcement from the league, and the issue of nassua's negotiations. the flag of war was now unfurled, everywhere the drum was heard to beat; in all parts troops were seen on the march, contributions collected, and soldiers enlisted. the agents of each party often met in the same place, and hardly had the collectors and recruiting officers of the regent quitted a town when it had to endure a similar visit from the agents of the league. from valenciennes the regent directed her attention to herzogenbusch, where the iconoclasts had lately committed fresh excesses, and the party of the protestants had gained a great accession of strength. in order to prevail on the citizens peaceably to receive a garrison, she sent thither, as ambassador, the chancellor scheiff, from brabant, with counsellor merode of petersheim, whom she appointed governor of the town; they were instructed to secure the place by judicious means, and to exact from the citizens a new oath of allegiance. at the same time the count of megen, who was in the neighborhood with a body of troops, was ordered to support the two envoys in effecting their commission, and to afford the means of throwing in a garrison immediately. but brederode, who obtained information of these movements in viane, had already sent thither one of his creatures, a certain anton von bomber,-- a hot calvinist, but also a brave soldier, in order to raise the courage of his party, and to frustrate the designs of the regent. this bomberg succeeded in getting possession of the letters which the chancellor brought with him from the duchess, and contrived to substitute in their place counterfeit ones, which, by their harsh and imperious language, were calculated to exasperate the minds of the citizens. at the same time he attempted to throw suspicion on both the ambassadors of the duchess as having evil designs upon the town. in this he succeeded so well with the mob that in their mad fury they even laid hands on the ambassadors and placed them in confinement. he himself, at the head of eight thousand men, who had adopted him as their leader, advanced against the count of megen, who was moving in order of battle, and gave him so warm a reception, with some heavy artillery, that he was compelled to retire without accomplishing his object. the regent now sent an officer of justice to demand the release of her ambassadors, and in case of refusal to threaten the place with siege; but bomberg with his party surrounded the town hall and forced the magistrate to deliver to him the key of the town. the messenger of the regent was ridiculed and dismissed, and an answer sent through him that the treatment of the prisoners would depend upon brederode's orders. the herald, who was remaining outside before the town, now appeared to declare war against her, which, however, the chancellor prevented. after his futile attempt on herzogenhusch the count of megen threw himself into utrecht in order to prevent the execution of a design which count brederode had formed against that town. as it had suffered much from the army of the confederates, which was encamped in its immediate neighborhood, near viane, it received megen with open arms as its protector, and conformed to all the alterations which he made in the religious worship. upon this he immediately caused a redoubt to be thrown up on the bank of the leek, which would command viane. brederode, not disposed to await his attack, quitted that rendezvous with the best part of his army and hastened to amsterdam. however unprofitably the prince of orange appeared to be losing his time in antwerp during these operations he was, nevertheless, busily employed. at his instigation the league had commenced recruiting, and brederode had fortified his castles, for which purpose he himself presented him with three cannons which he had had cast at utrecht. his eye watched all the movements of the court, and he kept the league warned of the towns which were next menaced with attack. but his chief object appeared to be to get possession of the principal places in the districts under his own government, to which end he with all his power secretly assisted brederode's plans against utrecht and amsterdam. the most important place was the island of walcheren, where the king was expected to land; and he now planned a scheme for the surprise of this place, the conduct of which was entrusted to one of the confederate nobles, an intimate friend of the prince of orange, john of marnix, baron of thoulouse, and brother of philip of aldegonde. . thoulouse maintained a secret understanding with the late mayor of middleburg, peter haak, by which he expected to gain an opportunity of throwing a garrison into middleburg and flushing. the recruiting, however, for this undertaking, which was set on foot in antwerp, could not be carried on so quietly as not to attract the notice of the magistrate. in order, therefore, to lull the suspicions of the latter, and at the same time to promote the success of the scheme, the prince caused the herald by public proclamation to order all foreign soldiers and strangers who were in the service of the state, or employed in other business, forthwith to quit the town. he might, say his adversaries, by closing the gates have easily made himself master of all these suspected recruits; but be expelled them from the town in order to drive them the more quickly to the place of their destination. they immediately embarked on the scheldt, and sailed down to rammekens; as, however, a marketvessel of antwerp, which ran into flushing a little before them had given warning of their design they were forbidden to enter the port. they found the same difficulty at arnemuiden, near middleburg, although the protestants in that place exerted themselves to raise an insurrection in their favor. thoulouse, therefore, without having accomplished anything, put about his ships and sailed back down the scheldt as far as osterweel, a quarter of a mile from antwerp, where he disembarked his people and encamped on the shore, with the hope of getting men from antwerp, and also in order to revive by his presence the courage of his party, which had been cast down by the proceedings of the magistrate. by the aid of the calvinistic clergy, who recruited for him, his little army increased daily, so that at last he began to be formidable to the antwerpians, whose whole territory he laid waste. the magistrate was for attacking him here with the militia, which, however, the prince of orange successfully opposed by the, pretext that it would not be prudent to strip the town of soldiers. meanwhile the regent had hastily brought together a small army under the command of philip of launoy, which moved from brussels to antwerp by forced marches. at the same time count megen managed to keep the army of the gueux shut up and employed at viane, so that it could neither hear of these movements nor hasten to the assistance of its confederates. launoy, on his arrival attacked by surprise the dispersed crowds, who, little expecting an enemy, had gone out to plunder, and destroyed them in one terrible carnage. thoulouse threw himself with the small remnant of his troops into a country house, which had served him as his headquarters, and for a long time defended himself with the courage of despair, until launoy, finding it impossible to dislodge him, set fire to the house. the few who escaped the flames fell on the swords of the enemy or were drowned in the scheldt. thoulouse himself preferred to perish in the flames rather than to fall into the hands of the enemy. this victory, which swept off more than a thousand of the enemy, was purchased by the conqueror cheaply enough, for he did not lose more than two men. three hundred of the leaguers who surrendered were cut down without mercy on the spot, as a sally from antwerp was momentarily dreaded. before the battle actually commenced no anticipation of such an event had been entertained at antwerp. the prince of orange, who had got early information of it, had taken the precaution the day before of causing the bridge which unites the town with osterweel to be destroyed, in order, as he gave out, to prevent the calvinists within the town going out to join the army of thoulouse. a more probable motive seems to have been a fear lest the catholics should attack the army of the gueux general in the rear, or lest launoy should prove victorious, and try to force his way into the town. on the same pretext the gates of the city were also shut by his orders, arnd the inhabitants, who did not comprehend the meaning of all these movements, fluctuated between curiosity and alarm, until the sound of artillery from osterweel announced to them what there was going on. in clamorous crowds they all ran to the walls and ramparts, from which, as the wind drove the smoke from the contending armies, they commanded a full view of the whole battle. both armies were so near to the town that they could discern their banners, and clearly distinguish the voices of the victors and the vanquished. more terrible even than the battle itself was the spectacle which this town now presented. each of the conflicting armies had its friends and its enemies on the wall. all that went on in the plain roused on the ramparts exultation or dismay; on the issue of the conflict the fate of each spectator seemed to depend. every movement on the field could be read in the faces of the townsmen; defeat and triumph, the terror of the conquered, and the fury of the conqueror. here a painful but idle wish to support those who are giving way, to rally those who fly; there an equally futile desire to overtake them, to slay them, to extirpate them. now the gueux fly, and ten thousand men rejoice; thoulouse's last place and refuge is in flames, and the hopes of twenty thousand citizens are consumed with him. but the first bewilderment of alarm soon gave place to a frantic desire of revenge. shrieking aloud, wringing her hands and with dishevelled hair, the widow of the slain general rushed amidst the crowds to implore their pity and help. excited by their favorite preacher, hermann, the calvinists fly to arms, determined to avenge their brethren, or to perish with them; without reflection, without plan or leader, guided by nothing but their anguish, their delirium, they rush to the red gate of the city which leads to the field of battle; but there is no egress, the gate is shut and the foremost of the crowd recoil on those that follow. thousands and thousands collect together, a dreadful rush is made to the meer bridge. we are betrayed! we are prisoners! is the general cry. destruction to the papists, death to him who has betrayed us!--a sullen murmur, portentous of a revolt, runs through the multitude. they begin to suspect that all that has taken place has been set on foot by the roman catholics to destroy the calvinists. they had slain their defenders, and they would now fall upon the defenceless. with fatal speed this suspicion spreads through the whole of antwerp. now they can, they think, understand the past, and they fear something still worse in the background; a frightful distrust gains possession of every mind. each party dreads the other; every one sees an enemy in his neighbor; the mystery deepens the alarm and horror; a fearful condition for a populous town, in which every accidental concourse instantly becomes tumult, every rumor started amongst them becomes a fact, every small spark a blazing flame, and by the force of numbers and collision all passions are furiously inflamed. all who bore the name of calvinists were roused by this report. fifteen thousand of them take possession of the meer bridge, and plant heavy artillery upon it, which they had taken by force from the arsenal; the same thing also happens at another bridge; their number makes them formidable, the town is in their hands; to escape an imaginary danger they bring all antwerp to the brink of ruin. immediately on the commencement of the tumult the prince of orange hastened to the meer bridge, where, boldly forcing his way through the raging crowd, he commanded peace and entreated to be heard. at the other bridge count hogstraten, accompanied by the burgomaster strahlen, made the same attempt; but not possessing a sufficient share either of eloquence or of popularity to command attention, he referred the tumultuous crowd to the prince, around whom all antwerp now furiously thronged. the gate, he endeavored to explain to them, was shut simply to keep off the victor, whoever he might be, from the city, which would otherwise become the prey of an infuriated soldiery. in vain! the frantic people would not listen, and one more daring than the rest presented his musket at him, calling him a traitor. with tumultuous shouts they demanded the key of the red gate, which he was ultimately forced to deliver into the hands of the preacher hermann. but, he added with happy presence of mind, they must take heed what they were doing; in the suburbs six hundred of the enemy's horse were waiting to receive them. this invention, suggested by the emergency, was not so far removed from the truth as its author perhaps imagined; for no sooner had the victorous general perceived the commotion in antwerp than he caused his whole cavalry to mount in the hope of being able, under favor of the disturbance, to break into the town. i, at least, continued the prince of orange, shall secure my own safety in time, and he who follows my example will save himself much future regret. these words opportunely spoken and immediately acted upon had their effect. those who stood nearest followed him, and were again followed by the next, so that at last the few who had already hastened out of the city when they saw no one coming after them lost the desire of coping alone with the six hundred horse. all accordingly returned to the meer bridge, where they posted watches and videttes, and the night was passed tumultuously under arms. the town of antwerp was now threatened with fearful bloodshed and pillage. in this pressing emergency orange assembled an extraordinary senate, to which were summoned all the best-disposed citizens of the four nations. if they wished, said he, to repress the violence of the calvinists they must oppose them with an army strong enough and prepared to meet them. it was therefore resolved to arm with speed the roman catholic inhabitants of the town, whether natives, italians, or spaniards, and, if possible, to induce the lutherans also to join them. the haughtiness of the calvinists, who, proud of their wealth and confident in their numbers, treated every other religious party with contempt, had long made the lutherans their enemies, and the mutual exasperation of these two protestant churches was even more inmplacable than their common hatred of the dominant church. this jealousy the magistrate had turned to advantage, by making use of one party to curb the other, and had thus contrived to keep the calvinists in check, who, from their numbers and insolence, were most to be feared. with this view, he had tacitly taken into his protection the lutherans, as the weaker and more peaceable party, having moreover invited for them, from germany, spiritual teachers, who, by controversial sermons, might keep up the mutual hatred of the two bodies. he encouraged the lutherans in the vain idea that the king thought more favorably of their religious creed than that of the calvinists, and exhorted them to be careful how they damaged their good cause by any understanding with the latter. it was not, therefore, difficult to bring about, for the moment, a union with the roman catholics and the lutherans, as its object was to keep down their detested rivals. at dawn of day an army was opposed to the calvinists which was far superior in force to their own. at the head of this army, the eloquence of orange had far greater effect, and found far more attention than on the preceding evening, unbacked by such strong persuasion. the calvinists, though in possession of arms and artillery, yet, alarmed at the superior numbers arrayed against them, were the first to send envoys, and to treat for an amicable adjustment of differences, which by the tact and good temper of the prince of orange, he concluded to the satisfaction of all parties. on the proclamation of this treaty the spaniards and italians immdiately laid down their arms. they were followed by the calvinists, and these again by the roman catholics; last of all the lutherans disarmed. two days and two nights antwerp had continued in this alarming state. during the tumult the roman catholics had succeeded in placing barrels of gunpowder under the meer bridge, and threatened to blow into the air the whole army of the calvinists, who had done the same in other places to destroy their adversaries. the destruction of the town hung on the issue of a moment, and nothing but the prince's presence of mind saved it. noircarmes, with his army of walloons, still lay before valenciennes, which, in firm reliance on being relieved by the gueux, obstinately refused to listen to all the representations of the regent, and rejected every idea of surrender. an order of the court had expressly forbidden the royalist general to press the siege until he should receive reinforcements from germany. whether from forbearance or fear, the king regarded with abhorrence the violent measure of storming the place, as necessarily involving the innocent in the fate of the guilty, and exposing the loyal subject to the same ill-treatment as the rebel. as, however, the confidence of the besieged augmented daily, and emboldened by the inactivity of the besiegers, they annoyed him by frequent sallies, and after burning the cloisters before the town, retired with the plunder--as the time uselessly lost before this town was put to good use by the rebels and their allies, noircarmes besouht the duchess to obtain immediate permission from the king to take it by storm. the answer arrived more quickly than philip was ever before wont to reply. as yet they must be content, simply to make the necessary preparations, and then to wait awhile to allow terror to have its effect; but if upon this they did not appear ready to capitulate, the storming might take place, but, at the same time, with the greatest possible regard for the lives of the inhabitants. before the regent allowed noircarmes to proceed to this extremity she empowered count egmont, with the duke arschot, to treat once more with the rebels amicably. both conferred with the deputies of the town, and omitted no argument calculated to dispel their delusion. they acquainted them with the defeat of thoulouse, their sole support, and with the fact that the count of megen had cut off the army of the gueux from the town, and assured them that if they had held out so long they owed it entirely to the king's forbearance. they offered them full pardon for the past; every one was to be free to prove his innocence before whatever tribunal he should chose; such as did not wish to avail themselves of this privilege were to be allowed fourteen days to quit the town with all their effects. nothing was required of the townspeople but the admission of the garrison. to give time to deliberate on these terms an armistice of three days was granted. when the deputies returned they found their fellow-citizens less disposed than ever to an accommodation, reports of new levies by the gueux having, in the meantime, gained currency. thoulouse, it was pretended, had conquered, and was advancing with a powerful army to relieve the place. their confidence went so far that they even ventured to break the armistice, and to fire upon the besiegers. at last the burgomaster, with difficulty, succeeded in bringing matters so far towards a peaceful settlement that twelve of the town counsellors were sent into the camp with the following conditions: the edict by which valenciennes had been charged with treason and declared an enemy to the country was required to be recalled, the confiscation of their goods revoked, and the prisoners on both sides restored to liberty; the garrison was not to enter the town before every one who thought good to do so had placed himself and his property in security; and a pledge to be given that the inhabitants should not be molested in any manner, and that their expenses should be paid by the king. noircarmes was so indignant with these conditions that he was almost on the point of ill-treating the deputies. if they had not come, he told them, to give up the place, they might return forthwith, lest he should send them home with their hands tied behind their backs. upon this the deputies threw the blame on the obstinacy of the calvinists, and entreated him, with tears in their eyes, to keep them in the camp, as they did not, they said, wish to have anything more to do with their rebellious townsmen, or to be joined in their fate. they even knelt to beseech the intercession of egmont, but noircarmes remained deaf to all their entreaties, and the sight of the chains which he ordered to be brought out drove them reluctantly enough back to valenciennes. necessity, not severity, imposed this harsh procedure upon the general. the detention of ambassadors had on a former occasion drawn upon him the reprimand of the duchess; the people in the town would not have failed to have ascribed the non-appearance of their present deputies to the same cause as in the former case had detained them. besides, he was loath to deprive the town of any out of the small residue of well- disposed citizens, or to leave it a prey to a blind, foolhardy mob. egmont was so mortified at the bad report of his embassy that he the night following rode round to reconnoitre its fortifications, and returned well satisfied to have convinced himself that it was no longer tenable. valenciennes stretches down a gentle acclivity into the level plain, being built on a site as strong as it is delightful. on one side enclosed by the scheldt and another smaller river, and on the other protected by deep ditches, thick walls, and towers, it appears capable of defying every attack. but noircarmes had discovered a few points where neglect had allowed the fosse to be filled almost up to the level of the natural surface, and of these he determined to avail himself in storming. he drew together all the scattered corps by which he had invested the town, and during a tempestuous night carried the suburb of berg without the loss of a single man. he then assigned separate points of attack to the count of bossu, the young charles of mansfeld, and the younger barlaimont, and under a terrible fire, which drove the enemy from his walls, his troops were moved up with all possible speed. close before the town, and opposite the gate under the eyes of the besiegers, and with very little loss, a battery was thrown up to an equal height with the fortifications. from this point the town was bombarded with an unceasing fire for four hours. the nicolaus tower, on which the besieged had planted some artillery, was among the first that fell, and many perished under its ruins. the guns were directed against all the most conspicuous buildings, and a terrible slaughter was made amongst the inhabitants. in a few hours their principal works were destroyed, and in the gate itself so extensive a breach was made that the besieged, despairing of any longer defending themselves, sent in haste two trumpeters to entreat a parley. this was granted, but the storm was continued without intermission. the ambassador entreated noircarmes to grant them the same terms which only two days before they had rejected. but circumstances had now changed, and the victor would hear no more of conditions. the unceasing fire left the inhabitants no time to repair the ramparts, which filled the fosse with their debris, and opened many a breach for the enemy to enter by. certain of utter destruction, they surrendered next morning at discretion after a bombardment of six-and- thirty hours without intermission, and three thousand bombs had been thrown into the city. noircarmes marched into the town with his victorious army under the strictest discipline, and was received by a crowd of women and children, who went to meet him, carrying green boughs, and beseeching his pity. all the citizens were immediately disarmed, the commandant and his son beheaded; thirty-six of the most guilty of the rebels, among whom were la grange and another calvinistic preacher, guido de bresse, atoned for their obstinacy at the gallows; all the municipal functionaries were deprived of their offices, and the town of all its privileges. the roman catholic worship was immediately restored in full dignity, and the protestant abolished. the bishop of arras was obliged to quit his residence in the town, and a strong garrison placed in it to insure its future obedience. the fate of valenciennes, towards which all eyes had been turned, was a warning to the other towns which had similarly offended. noircarmes followed up his victory, and marched immediately against maestricht, which surrendered without a blow, and received a garrison. from thence he marched to tornhut to awe by his presence the people of herzogenbusch and antwerp. the gueux in this place, who under the command of bomberg had carried all things before them, were now so terrified at his approach that they quitted the town in haste. noircarmes was received without opposition. the ambassadors of the duchess were immediately set at liberty. a strong garrison was thrown into tornhut. cambray also opened its gates, and joyfully recalled its archbishop, whom the calvinists had driven from his see, and who deserved this triumph as he did not stain his entrance with blood. ghent, ypres, and oudenarde submitted and received garrisons. gueldres was now almost entirely cleared of the rebels and reduced to obedience by the count of megen. in friesland and groningen the count of aremberg had eventually the same success; but it was not obtained here so rapidly or so easily, since the count wanted consistency and firmness, and these warlike republicans maintained more pertinaciously their privileges, and were greatly supported by the strength of their position. with the exception of holland all the provinces had yielded before the victorious arms of the duchess. the courage of the disaffected sunk entirely, and nothing was left to them but flight or submission. resignation of william of orange. ever since the establishment of the guesen league, but more perceptibly since the outbreak of the iconoclasts, the spirit of rebellion and disaffection had spread so rapidly among all classes, parties had become so blended and confused, that the regent had difficulty in distinguishing her own adherents, and at last hardly knew on whom to rely. the lines of demarcation between the loyal and the disaffected had grown gradually fainter, until at last they almost entirely vanished. the frequent alterations, too, which she had been obliged to make in the laws, and which were at most the expedients and suggestions of the moment, had taken from them their precision and binding force, and had given full scope to the arbitrary will of every individual whose office it was to interpret them. and at last, amidst the number and variety of the interpretations, the spirit was lost and the intention of the lawgiver baffled. the close connection which in many cases subsisted between protestants and roman catholics, between gueux and royalists, and which not unfrequently gave them a common interest, led the latter to avail themselves of the loophole which the vagueness of the laws left open, and in favor of their protestant friends and associates evaded by subtle distinctions all severity in the discharge of their duties. in their minds it was enough not to be a declared rebel, not one of the gueux, or at least not a heretic, to be authorized to mould their duties to their inclinations, and to set the most arbitrary limits to their obedience to the king. feeling themselves irresponsible, the governors of the provinces, the civil functionaries, both high and low, the municipal officers, and the military commanders had all become extremely remiss in their duty, and presuming upon this impunity showed a pernicious indulgence to the rebels and their adherents which rendered abortive all the regent's measures of coercion. this general indifference and corruption of so many servants of the state had further this injurious result, that it led the turbulent to reckon on far stronger support than in reality they had cause for, and to count on their own side all who were but lukewarm adherents of the court. this way of thinking, erroneous as it was, gave them greater courage and confidence; it had the same effect as if it had been well founded; and the uncertain vassals of the king became in consequence almost as injurious to him as his declared enemies, without at the same time being liable to the same measures of severity. this was especially the case with the prince of orange, counts egmont, bergen, hogstraten, horn, and several others of the higher nobility. the regent felt the necessity of bringing these doubtful subjects to an explanation, in order either to deprive the rebels of a fancied support or to unmask the enemies of the king. and the latter reason was of the more urgent moment when being obliged to send an army into the field it was of the utmost importance to entrust the command of the troops to none but those of whose fidelity she was fully assured. she caused, therefore, an oath to be drawn up which bound all who took it to advance the roman catholic faith, to pursue and punish the iconoclasts, and to help by every means in their power in extirpating all kinds of heresy. it also pledged them to treat the king's enemies as their own, and to serve without distinction against all whom the regent in the king's name should point out. by this oath she did not hope so much to test their sincerity, and still less to secure them, as rather to gain a pretext for removing the suspected parties if they declined to take it, and for wresting from their hands a power which they abused, or a legitimate ground for punishing them if they took it and broke it. this oath was exacted from all knights of the fleece, all civil functionaries and magistrates, all officers of the army--from every one in short who held any appointment in the state. count mansfeld was the first who publicly took it in the council of state at brussels; his example was followed by the duke of arschot, counts egmont, megen, and barlaimont. hogstraten and horn endeavored to evade the necessity. the former was offended at a proof of distrust which shortly before the regent had given him. under the pretext that malines could not safely be left any longer without its governor, but that the presence of the count was no less necessary in antwerp, she had taken from him that province and given it to another whose fidelity she could better reckon upon. hostraten expressed his thanks that she had been pleased to release him from one of his burdens, adding that she would complete the obligation if she would relieve him from the other also. true to his determination count horn was living on one of his estates in the strong town of weerdt, having retired altogether from public affairs. having quitted the service of the state, he owed, he thought, nothing more either to the republic or to the king, and declined the oath, which in his case appears at last to have been waived. the count of brederode was left the choice of either taking the prescribed oath or resigning the command of his squadron of cavalry. after many fruitless attempts to evade the alternative, on the plea that he did not hold office in the state, he at last resolved upon the latter course, and thereby escaped all risk of perjuring himself. vain were all the attempts to prevail on the prince of orange to take the oath, who, from the suspicion which had long attached to him, required more than any other this purification; and from whom the great power which it had been necessary to place in his hands fully justified the regent in exacting it. it was not, however, advisable to proceed against him with the laconic brevity adopted towards brederode and the like; on the other hand, the voluntary resignation of all his offices, which he tendered, did not meet the object of the regent, who foresaw clearly enough how really dangerous he would become, as soon as he should feel himself independent, and be no longer checked by any external considerations of character or duty in the prosecution of his secret designs. but ever since the consultation in dendermonde the prince of orange had made up his mind to quit the service of the king of spain on the first favorable opportunity, and till better days to leave the country itself. a very disheartening experience had taught him how uncertain are hopes built on the multitude, and how quickly their zeal is cooled by the necessity of fulfilling its lofty promises. an army was already in the field, and a far stronger one was, he knew, on its road, under the command of the duke of alva. the time for remonstrauces was past; it was only at the head of an army that an advantageous treaty could now be concluded with the regent, and by preventing the entrance of the spanish general. but now where was he to raise this army, in want as he was of money, the sinews of warfare, since the protestants had retracted their boastful promises and deserted him in this pressing emergency? [how valiant the wish, and how sorry the deed was, is proved by the following instance amongst others. some friends of the national liberty, roman catholics as well as protestants, had solemnly engaged in amsterdam to subscribe to a common fund the hundredth penny of their estates, until a sum of eleven thousand florins should be collected, which was to be devoted to the common cause and interests. an alms-box, protected by three locks, was prepared for the reception of these contributions. after the expiration of the prescribed period it was opened, and a sum was found amounting to seven hundred florins, which was given to the hostess of the count of brederode, in part payment of his unliquidated score. univ. hist. of the n., vol. .] religious jealousy and hatred, moreover, separated the two protestant churches, and stood in the way of every salutary combination against the common enemy of their faith. the rejection of the confession of augsburg by the calvinists had exasperated all the protestant princes of germany, so that no support was to be looked for from the empire. with count egmont the excellent army of walloons was also lost to the cause, for they followed with blind devotion the fortunes of their general, who had taught them at st. quentin and gravelines to be invincible. and again, the outrages which the iconoclasts had perpetrated on the churches and convents had estranged from the league the numerous, wealthy, and powerful class of the established clergy, who, before this unlucky episode, were already more than half gained over to it; while, by her intrigues, the regent daily contrived to deprive the league itself of some one or other of its most influential members. all these considerations combined induced the prince to postpone to a more favorable season a project for which the present juncture was little suited, and to leave a country where his longer stay could not effect any advantage for it, but must bring certain destruction on himself. after intelligence gleaned from so many quarters, after so many proofs of distrust, so many warnings from madrid, he could be no longer doubtful of the sentiments of philip towards him. if even he had any doubt, his uncertainty would soon have been dispelled by the formidable armament which was preparing in spain, and which was to have for its leader, not the king, as was falsely given out, but, as he was better informed, the duke of alva, his personal enemy, and the very man he had most cause to fear. the prince had seen too deeply into philip's heart to believe in the sincerity of his reconciliation after having once awakened his fears. he judged his own conduct too justly to reckon, like his friend egmont, on reaping a gratitude from the king to which he had not sown. he could therefore expect nothing but hostility from him, and prudence counselled him to screen himself by a timely flight from its actual outbreak. he had hitherto obstinately refused to take the new oath, and all the written exhortations of the regent had been fruitless. at last she sent to him at antwerp her private secretary, berti, who was to put the matter emphatically to his conscience, and forcibly remind him of all the evil consequences which so sudden a retirement from the royal service would draw upon the country, as well as the irreparable injury it would do to his own fair fame. already, she informed him by her ambassador, his declining the required oath had cast a shade upon his honor, and imparted to the general voice, which accused him of an understanding with the rebels, an appearance of truth which this unconditional resignation would convert to absolute certainty. it was for the sovereign to discharge his servants, but it did not become the servant to abandon his sovereign. the envoy of the regent found the prince in his palace at antwerp, already, as it appeared, withdrawn from the public service, and entirely devoted to his private concerns. the prince told him, in the presence of hogstraten, that he had refused to take the required oath because he could not find that such a proposition had ever before been made to a governor of a province; because he had already bound himself, once for all, to the king, and therefore, by taking this new oath, he would tacitly acknowledge that he had broken the first. he had also refused because the old oath enjoined him to protect the rights and privileges of the country, but he could not tell whether this new one might not impose upon him duties which would contravene the first; because, too, the clause which bound him to serve, if required, against all without distinction, did not except even the emperor, his feudal lord, against whom, however, he, as his vassal, could not conscientiously make war. he had refused to take this oath because it might impose upon him the necessity of surrendering his friends and relations, his children, nay, even his wife, who was a lutheran, to butchery. according to it, moreover, he must lend himself to every thing which it should occur to the king's fancy or passion to demand. but the king might thus exact from him things which he shuddered even to think of, and even the severities which were now, and had been all along, exercised upon the protestants, were the most revolting to his heart. this oath, in short, was repugnant to his feelings as a man, and he could not take it. in conclusion, the name of the duke of alva dropped from his lips in a tone of bitterness, and he became immediately silent. all these objections were answered, point by point, by berti. certainly such an oath had never been required from a governor before him, because the provinces had never been similarly circumstanced. it was not exacted because the governors had broken the first, but in order to remind them vividly of their former vows, and to freshen their activity in the present emergency. this oath would not impose upon him anything which offended against the rights and privileges of the country, for the king had sworn to observe these as well as the prince of orange. the oath did not, it was true, contain any reference to a war with the emperor, or any other sovereign to whom the prince might be related; and if he really had scruples on this point, a distinct clause could easily be inserted, expressly providing against such a contingency. care would be taken to spare him any duties which were repugnant to his feelings as a man, and no power on earth would compel him to act against his wife or against his children. berti was then passing to the last point, which related to the duke of alva, but the prince, who did not wish to have this part of his discourse canvassed, interrupted him. "the king was coming to the netherlands," he said, "and he knew the king. the king would not endure that one of his servants should have wedded a lutheran, and he had therefore resolved to go with his whole family into voluntary banishment before he was obliged to submit to the same by compulsion. but," he concluded, "wherever he might be, he would always conduct himself as a subject of the king." thus far-fetched were the motives which the prince adduced to avoid touching upon the single one which really decided him. berti had still a hope of obtaining, through egmont's eloquence, what by his own he despaired of effecting. he therefore proposed a meeting with the latter ( ), which the prince assented to the more willingly as he himself felt a desire to embrace his friend once more before his departure, and if possible to snatch the deluded man from certain destruction. this remarkable meeting, at which the private secretary, berti, and the young count mansfeld, were also present, was the last that the two friends ever held, and took place in villebroeck, a village on the rupel, between brussels and antwerp. the calvinists, whose last hope rested on the issue of this conference, found means to acquaint themselves of its import by a spy, who concealed himself in the chimney of the apartment where it was held. all three attempted to shake the determination of the prince, but their united eloquence was unable to move him from his purpose. "it will cost you your estates, orange, if you persist in this intention," said the prince of gaure, as he took him aside to a window. "and you your life, egmont, if you change not yours," replied the former. "to me it will at least be a consolation in my misfortunes that i desired, in deed as well as in word, to help my country and my friends in the hour of need; but you, my friend, you are dragging friends and country with you to destruction." and saying these words, he once again exhorted him, still more urgently than ever, to return to the cause of his country, which his arm alone was yet able to preserve; if not, at least for his own sake to avoid the tempest which was gathering against him from spain. but all the arguments, however lucid, with which a far-discerning prudence supplied him, and however urgently enforced, with all the ardor and animation which the tender anxiety of friendship could alone inspire, did not avail to destroy the fatal confidence which still fettered egmont's better reason. the warning of orange seemed to come from a sad and dispirited heart; but for egmont the world still smiled. to abandon the pomp and affluence in which he had grown up to youth and manhood; to part with all the thousand conveniences of life which alone made it valuable to him, and all this to escape an evil which his buoyant spirit regarded as remote, if not imaginary; no, that was not a sacrifice which could be asked from egmont. but had he even been less given to indulgence than he was, with what heart could he have consigned a princess, accustomed by uninterrupted prosperity to ease and comfort, a wife who loved him as dearly as she was beloved, the children on whom his soul hung in hope and fondness, to privations at the prospect of which his own courage sank, and which a sublime philosophy alone can enable sensuality to undergo. "you will never persuade me, orange," said egmont, "to see things in the gloomy light in which they appear to thy mournful prudence. when i have succeeded in abolishing the public preachings, and chastising the iconoclasts, in crushing the rebels, and restoring peace and order in the provinces, what can the king lay to my charge? the king is good and just; i have claims upon his gratitude, and i must not forget what i owe to myself." "well, then," cried orange, indignantly and with bitter anguish, "trust, if you will, to this royal gratitude; but a mournful presentiment tells me--and may heaven grant that i am deceived!--that you, egmont, will be the bridge by which the spaniards will pass into our country to destroy it." after these words, he drew him to his bosom, ardently clasping him in his arms. long, as though the sight was to serve for the remainder of his life, did he keep his eyes fixed upon him; the tears fell; they saw each other no more. the very next day the prince of orange wrote his letter of resignation to the regent, in which he assured her of his perpetual esteem, and once again entreated her to put the best interpretation on his present step. he then set off with his three brothers and his whole family for his own town of breda, where he remained only as long as was requisite to arrange some private affairs. his eldest son, prince philip william, was left behind at the university of louvain, where he thought him sufficiently secure under the protection of the privileges of brabant and the immunities of the academy; an imprudence which, if it was really not designed, can hardly be reconciled with the just estimate which, in so many other cases, he had taken of the character of his adversary. in breda the heads of the calvinists once more consulted him whether there was still hope for them, or whether all was irretrievably lost. "he had before advised them," replied the prince, "and must now do so again, to accede to the confession of augsburg; then they might rely upon aid from germany. if they would still not consent to this, they must raise six hundred thousand florins, or more, if they could." "the first," they answered, "was at variance with their conviction and their conscience; but means might perhaps be found to raise the money if he would only let them know for what purpose he would use it." "no!" cried he, with the utmost displeasure, "if i must tell you that, it is all over with the use of it." with these words he immediately broke off the conference and dismissed the deputies. the prince of orange was reproached with having squandered his fortune, and with favoring the innovations on account of his debts; but he asserted that he still enjoyed sixty thousand florins yearly rental. before his departure he borrowed twenty thousand florins from the states of holland on the mortgage of some manors. men could hardly persuade themselves that he would have succumbed to necessity so entirely, and without an effort at resistance given up all his hopes and schemes. but what he secretly meditated no one knew, no one had read in his heart. being asked how he intended to conduct himself towards the king of spain, "quietly," was his answer, "unless he touches my honor or my estates." he left the netherlands soon afterwards, and betook himself in retirement to the town of dillenburg, in nassau, at which place he was born. he was accompanied to germany by many hundreds, either as his servants or as volunteers, and was soon followed by counts hogstraten, kuilemberg, and bergen, who preferred to share a voluntary exile with him rather than recklessly involve themselves in an uncertain destiny. in his departure the nation saw the flight of its guardian angel; many had adored, all had honored him. with him the last stay of the protestants gave way; they, however, had greater hopes from this man in exile than from all the others together who remained behind. even the roman catholics could not witness his departure without regret. them also had he shielded from tyranny; he had not unfrequently protected them against the oppression of their own church, and he had rescued many of them from the sanguinary jealousy of their religious opponents. a few fanatics among the calvinists, who were offended with his proposal of an alliance with their brethren, who avowed the confession of augsburg, solemnized with secret thanksgivings the day on which the enemy left them. ( ). decay and dispersion of the geusen league. immediately after taking leave of his friend, the prince of gaure hastened back to brussels, to receive from the regent the reward of his firmness, and there, in the excitement of the court and in the sunshine of his good fortune, to dispel the light cloud which the earnest warnings of the prince of orange had cast over his natural gayety. the flight of the latter now left him in possession of the stage. he had now no longer any rival in the republic to dim his glory. with redoubled zeal he wooed the transient favor of the court, above which he ought to have felt himself far exalted. all brussels must participate in his joy. he gave splendid banquets and public entertainments, at which, the better to eradicate all suspicion from his mind, the regent herself frequently attended. not content with having taken the required oath, he outstripped the most devout in devotion; outran the most zealous in zeal to extirpate the protestant faith, and to reduce by force of arms the refractory towns of flanders. he declared to his old friend, count hogstraten, as also to the rest of the gueux, that he would withdraw from them his friendship forever if they hesitated any longer to return into the bosom of the church, and reconcile themselves with their king. all the confidential letters which had been exchanged between him and them were returned, and by this last step the breach between them was made public and irreparable. egmont's secession, and the flight of the prince of orange, destroyed the last hope of the protestants and dissolved the whole league of the gueux. its members vied with each other in readiness--nay, they could not soon enough abjure the covenant and take the new oath proposed to them by the government. in vain did the protestant merchants exclaim at this breach of faith on the part of the nobles; their weak voice was no longer listened to, and all the sums were lost with which they had supplied the league. the most important places were quickly reduced and garrisoned; the rebels had fled, or perished by the hand of the executioner; in the provinces no protector was left. all yielded to the fortune of the regent, and her victorious army was advancing against antwerp. after a long and obstinate contest this town had been cleared of the worst rebels; hermann and his adherents took to flight; the internal storms had spent their rage. the minds of the people became gradually composed, and no longer excited at will by every furious fanatic, began to listen to better counsels. the wealthier citizens earnestly longed for peace to revive commerce and trade, which had suffered severely from the long reign of anarchy. the dread of alva's approach worked wonders; in order to prevent the miseries which a spanish army would inflict upon the country, the people hastened to throw themselves on the gentler mercies of the regent. of their own accord they despatched plenipotentiaries to brussels to negotiate for a treaty and to hear her terms. agreeably as the regent was surprised by this voluntary step, she did not allow herself to be hurried away by her joy. she declared that she neither could nor would listen to any overtures or representations until the town had received a garrison. even this was no longer opposed, and count mansfeld marched in the day after with sixteen squadrons in battle array. a solemn treaty was now made between the town and duchess, by which the former bound itself to prohibit the calvinistic form of worship, to banish all preachers of that persuasion, to restore the roman catholic religion to its former dignity, to decorate the despoiled churches with their former ornaments, to administer the old edicts as before, to take the new oath which the other towns had sworn to, and, lastly, to deliver into the hands of justice all who been guilty of treason, in bearing arms, or taking part in the desecration of the churches. on the other hand, the regent pledged herself to forget all that had passed, and even to intercede for the offenders with the king. all those who, being dubious of obtaining pardon, preferred banishment, were to be allowed a month to convert their property into money, and place themselves in safety. from this grace none were to be excluded but such as had been guilty of a capital offence, and who were excepted by the previous article. immediately upon the conclusion of this treaty all calvinist and lutheran preachers in antwerp, and the adjoining territory, were warned by the herald to quit the country within twenty-four hours. all the streets and gates were now thronged with fugitives, who for the honor of their god abandoned what was dearest to them, and sought a more peaceful home for their persecuted faith. here husbands were taking an eternal farewell of their wives, fathers of their children; there whole families were preparing to depart. all antwerp resembled a house of mourning; wherever the eye turned some affecting spectacle of painful separation presented itself. a seal was set on the doors of the protestant churches; the whole worship seemed to be extinct. the th of april ( ) was the day appointed for the departure of the preachers. in the town hall, where they appeared for the last time to take leave of the magistrate, they could not command their grief; but broke forth into bitter reproaches. they had been sacrificed, they exclaimed, they had been shamefully betrayed; but a time would come when antwerp would pay dearly enough for this baseness. still more bitter were the complaints of the lutheran clergy, whom the magistrate himself had invited into the country to preach against the calvinists. under the delusive representation that the king was not unfavorable to their religion they had been seduced into a combination against the calvinists, but as soon as the latter had been by their co-operation brought under subjection, and their own services were no longer required, they were left to bewail their folly, which had involved themselves and their enemies in common ruin. a few days afterwards the regent entered antwerp in triumph, accompanied by a thousand walloon horse, the knights of the golden fleece, all the governors and counsellors, a number of municipal officers, and her whole court. her first visit was to the cathedral, which still bore lamentable traces of the violence of the iconoclasts, and drew from her many and bitter tears. immediately afterwards four of the rebels, who had been overtaken in their flight, were brought in and executed in the public market-place. all the children who had been baptized after the protestant rites were rebaptized by roman catholic priests; all the schools of heretics were closed, and their churches levelled to the ground. nearly all the towns in the netherlands followed the example of antwerp and banished the protestant preachers. by the end of april the roman catholic churches were repaired and embellished more splendidly than ever, while all the protestant places of worship were pulled down, and every vestige of the proscribed belief obliterated in the seventeen provinces. the populace, whose sympathies are generally with the successful party, was now as active in accelerating the ruin of the unfortunate as a short time before it had been furiously zealous in its cause; in ghent a large and beautiful church which the calvinists had erected was attacked, and in less than an hour had wholly disappeared. from the beams of the roofless churches gibbets were erected for those who had profaned the sanctuaries of the roman catholics. the places of execution were filled with corpses, the prisons with condemned victims, the high roads with fugitives. innumerable were the victims of this year of murder; in the smallest towns fifty at least, in several of the larger as many as three hundred, were put to death, while no account was kept of the numbers in the open country who fell into the hands of the provost-marshal and were immediately strung up as miscreants, without trial and without mercy. the regent was still in antwerp when ambassadors presented themselves from the electors of brandenburg, saxony, hesse, wurtemberg, and baden to intercede for their fugitive brethren in the faith. the expelled preachers of the augsburg confession had claimed the rights assured to them by the religious peace of the germans, in which brabant, as part of the empire, participated, and had thrown themselves on the protection of those princes. the arrival of the foreign ministers alarmed the regent, and she vainly endeavored to prevent their entrance into antwerp; under the guise, however, of showing them marks of honor, she continued to keep them closely watched lest they should encourage the malcontents in any attempts against the peace of the town. from the high tone which they most unreasonably adopted towards the regent it might almost be inferred that they were little in earnest in their demand. "it was but reasonable," they said, "that the confession of augsburg, as the only one which met the spirit of the gospel, should be the ruling faith in the netherlands; but to persecute it by such cruel edicts as were in force was positively unnatural and could not be allowed. they therefore required of the regent, in the name of religion, not to treat the people entrusted to her rule with such severity." she replied through the count of staremberg, her minister for german affairs, that such an exordium deserved no answer at all. from the sympathy which the german princes had shown for the belgian fugitives it was clear that they gave less credit to the letters of the king, in explanation of his measures, than to the reports of a few worthless wretches who, in the desecrated churches, had left behind them a worthier memorial of their acts and characters. it would far more become them to leave to the king of spain the care of his own subjects, and abandon the attempt to foster a spirit of rebellion in foreign countries, from which they would reap neither honor nor profit. the ambassadors left antwerp in a few days without having effected anything. the saxon minister, indeed, in a private interview with the regent even assured her that his master had most reluctantly taken this step. the german ambassadors had not quitted antwerp when intelligence from holland completed the triumph of the regent. from fear of count megen count brederode had deserted his town of viane, and with the aid of the protestants inhabitants had succeeded in throwing himself into amsterdam, where his arrival caused great alarm to the city magistrate, who had previously found difficulty in preventing a revolt, while it revived the courage of the protestants. here brederode's adherents increased daily, and many noblemen flocked to him from utrecht, friesland, and groningen, whence the victorious arms of megen and aremberg had driven them. under various disguises they found means to steal into the city, where they gathered round brederode, and served him as a strong body-guard. the regent, apprehensive of a new outbreak, sent one of her private secretaries, jacob de la torre, to the council of amsterdam, and ordered them to get rid of count brederode on any terms and at any risk. neither the magistrate nor de la torre himself, who visited brederode in person to acquaint him with the will of the duchess, could prevail upon him to depart. the secretary was even surprised in his own chamber by a party of brederode's followers, and deprived of all his papers, and would, perhaps, have lost his life also if he had not contrived to make his escape. brederode remained in amsterdam a full month after this occurrence, a powerless idol of the protestants, and an oppressive burden to the roman catholics; while his fine army, which he had left in viane, reinforced by many fugitives from the southern provinces, gave count megen enough to do without attempting to harass the protestants in their flight. at last brederode resolved to follow the example of orange, and, yielding to necessity, abandon a desperate cause. he informed the town council that he was willing to leave amsterdam if they would enable him to do so by furnishing him with the pecuniary means. glad to get quit of him, they hastened to borrow the money on the security of the town council. brederode quitted amsterdam the same night, and was conveyed in a gunboat as far as vlie, from whence he fortunately escaped to embden. fate treated him more mildly than the majority of those he had implicated in his foolhardy enterprise; he died the year after, , at one of his castles in germany, from the effects of drinking, by which he sought ultimately to drown his grief and disappoint ments. his widow, countess of moers in her own right, was remarried to the prince palatine, frederick iii. the protestant cause lost but little by his demise; the work which he had commenced, as it had not been kept alive by him, so it did not die with him. the little army, which in his disgraceful flight he had deserted, was bold and valiant, and had a few resolute leaders. it disbanded, indeed, as soon as he, to whom it looked for pay, had fled; but hunger and courage kept its parts together some time longer. one body, under command of dietrich of battenburgh, marched to amsterdam in the hope of carrying that town; but count megen hastened with thirteen companies of excellent troops to its relief, and compelled the rebels to give up the attempt. contenting themselves with plundering the neighboring cloisters, among which the abbey of egmont in particular was hardly dealt with, they turned off towards waaterland, where they hoped the numerous swamps would protect them from pursuit. but thither count megen followed them, and compelled them in all haste to seek safety in the zuyderzee. the brothers van battenburg, and two friesan nobles, beima and galama, with a hundred and twenty men and the booty they had taken from the monasteries, embarked near the town of hoorne, intending to cross to friesland, but through the treachery of the steersman, who ran the vessel on a sand-bank near harlingen, they fell into the hands of one of aremberg's captains, who took them all prisoners. the count of aremberg immediately pronounced sentence upon all the captives of plebeian rank, but sent his noble prisoners to the regent, who caused seven of them to be beheaded. seven others of the most noble, including the brothers van battenburg and some frieslanders, all in the bloom of youth, were reserved for the duke of alva, to enable him to signalize the commencement of his administration by a deed which was in every way worthy of him. the troops in four other vessels which set sail from medenhlick, and were pursued by count megen in small boats, were more successful. a contrary wind had forced them out of their course and driven them ashore on the coast of gueldres, where they all got safe to land; crossing the rhine, near heusen, they fortunately escaped into cleves, where they tore their flags in pieces and dispersed. in north holland count megen overtook some squadrons who had lingered too long in plundering the cloisters, and completely overpowered them. he afterwards formed a junction with noircarmes and garrisoned amsterdam. the duke erich of brunswick also surprised three companies, the last remains of the army of the gueux, near viane, where they were endeavoring to take a battery, routed them and captured their leader, rennesse, who was shortly afterwards beheaded at the castle of freudenburg, in utrecht. subsequently, when duke erich entered viane, he found nothing but deserted streets, the inhabitants having left it with the garrison on the first alarm. he immediately razed the fortifications, and reduced this arsenal of the gueux to an open town without defences. all the originators of the league were now dispersed; brederode and louis of nassau had fled to germany, and counts hogstraten, bergen, and kuilemberg had followed their example. mansfeld had seceded, the brothers van battenburg awaited in prison an ignomonious fate, while thoulouse alone had found an honorable death on the field of battle. those of the confederates who had escaped the sword of the enemy and the axe of the executioner had saved nothing but their lives, and thus the title which they had assumed for show became at last a terrible reality. such was the inglorious end of the noble league, which in its beginning awakened such fair hopes and promised to become a powerful protection against oppression. unanimity was its strength, distrust and internal dissension its ruin. it brought to light and developed many rare and beautiful virtues, but it wanted the most indispensable of all, prudence and moderation, without which any undertaking must miscarry, and all the fruits of the most laborious industry perish. if its objects had been as pure as it pretended, or even had they remained as pure as they really were at its first establishment, it might have defied the unfortunate combination of circumstances which prematurely overwhelmed it, and even if unsuccessful it would still have deserved an honorable mention in history. but it is too evident that the confederate nobles, whether directly or indirectly, took a greater share in the frantic excesses of the iconoclasts than comported with the dignity and blamelessness of their confederation, and many among them openly exchanged their own good cause for the mad enterprise of these worthless vagabonds. the restriction of the inquisition and a mitigation of the cruel inhumanity of the edicts must be laid to the credit of the league; but this transient relief was dearly purchased, at the cost of so many of the best and bravest citizens, who either lost their lives in the field, or in exile carried their wealth and industry to another quarter of the world; and of the presence of alva and the spanish arms. many, too, of its peaceable citizens, who without its dangerous temptations would never have been seduced from the ranks of peace and order, were beguiled by the hope of success into the most culpable enterprises, and by their failure plunged into ruin and misery. but it cannot be denied that the league atoned in some measure for these wrongs by positive benefits. it brought together and emboldened many whom a selfish pusillanimity kept asunder and inactive; it diffused a salutary public spirit amongst the belgian people, which the oppression of the government had almost entirely extinguished, and gave unanimity and a common voice to the scattered members of the nation, the absence of which alone makes despots bold. the attempt, indeed, failed, and the knots, too carelessly tied, were quickly unloosed; but it was through such failures that the nation was eventually to attain to a firm and lasting union, which should bid defiance to change. the total destruction of the geusen army quickly brought the dutch towns also back to their obedience, and in the provinces there remained not a single place which had not submitted to the regent; but the increasing emigration, both of the natives and the foreign residents, threatened the country with depopulation. in amsterdam the crowd of fugitives was so great that vessels were wanting to convey them across the north sea and the zuyderzee, and that flourishing emporium beheld with dismay the approaching downfall of its prosperity. alarmed at this general flight, the regent hastened to write letters to all the towns, to encourage the citizens to remain, and by fair promises to revive a hope of better and milder measures. in the king's name she promised to all who would freely swear to obey the state and the church complete indemnity, and by public proclamation invited the fugitives to trust to the royal clemency and return to their homes. she engaged also to relieve the nation from the dreaded presence of a spanish army, even if it were already on the frontiers; nay, she went so far as to drop hints that, if necessary, means might be found to prevent it by force from entering the provinces, as she was fully determined not to relinquish to another the glory of a peace which it had cost her so much labor to effect. few, however, returned in reliance upon her word, and these few had cause to repent it in the sequel; many thousands had already quitted the country, and several thousands more quickly followed them. germany and england were filled with flemish emigrants, who, wherever they settled, retained their usages and manners, and even their costume, unwilling to come to the painful conclusion that they should never again see their native land, and to give up all hopes of return. few carried with them any remains of their former affluence; the greater portion had to beg their way, and bestowed on their adopted country nothing but industrious skill and honest citizens. and now the regent hastened to report to the king tidings such as, during her whole administration, she had never before been able to gratify him with. she announced to him that she had succeeded in restoring quiet throughout the provinces, and that she thought herself strong enough to maintain it. the sects were extirpated, and the roman catholic worship re-established in all its former splendor; the rebels had either already met with, or were awaiting in prison, the punishment they deserved; the towns were secured by adequate garrisons. there was therefore no necessity for sending spanish troops into the netherlands, and nothing to justify their entrance. their arrival would tend to destroy the existing repose, which it had cost so much to establish, would check the much-desired revival of commerce and trade, and, while it would involve the country in new expenses, would at the same time deprive them of the only means of supporting them. the mere rumor of the approach of a spanish army had stripped the country of many thousands of its most valuable citizens; its actual appearance would reduce it to a desert. as there was no longer any enemy to subdue, or rebellion to suppress, the people would see no motive for the march of this army but punishment and revenge, and under this supposition its arrival would neither be welcomed nor honored. no longer excused by necessity, this violent expedient would assume the odious aspect of oppression, would exasperate the national mind afresh, drive the protestants to desperation, and arm their brethren in other countries in their defence. the regent, she said, had in the king's name promised the nation it should be relieved from this foreign army, and to this stipulation she was principally indebted for the present peace; she could not therefore guarantee its long continuance if her pledge was not faithfully fulfilled. the netherlands would receive him as their sovereign, the king, with every mark of attachment and veneration, but he must come as a father to bless, not as a despot to chastise them. let him come to enjoy the peace which she had bestowed on the country, but not to destroy it afresh. alva's armament and expedition to the netherlands. but it was otherwise determined in the council at madrid. the minister, granvella, who, even while absent himself, ruled the spanish cabinet by his adherents; the cardinal grand inquisitor, spinosa, and the duke of alva, swayed respectively by hatred, a spirit of persecution, or private interest, had outvoted the milder councils of the prince ruy gomes of eboli, the count of feria, and the king's confessor, fresneda. the insurrection, it was urged by the former, was indeed quelled for the present, but only because the rebels were awed by the rumor of the king's armed approach; it was to fear of punishment alone, and not to sorrow for their crime, that the present calm was to be ascribed, and it would soon again be broken if that feeling were allowed to subside. in fact, the offences of the people fairly afforded the king the opportunity he had so long desired of carrying out his despotic views with an appearance of justice. the peaceable settlement for which the regent took credit to herself was very far from according with his wishes, which sought rather for a legitimate pretext to deprive the provinces of their privileges, which were so obnoxious to his despotic temper. with an impenetrable dissimulation philip had hitherto fostered the general delusion that he was about to visit the provinces in person, while all along nothing could have been more remote from his real intentions. travelling at any time ill suited the methodical regularity of his life, which moved with the precision of clockwork; and his narrow and sluggish intellect was oppressed by the variety and multitude of objects with which new scenes crowded it. the difficulties and dangers which would attend a journey to the netherlands must, therefore, have been peculiarly alarming to his natural timidity and love of ease. why should he, who, in all that he did, was accustomed to consider himself alone, and to make men accommodate themselves to his principles, not his principles to men, undertake so perilous an expedition, when he could see neither the advantage nor necessity of it. moreover, as it had ever been to him an utter impossibility to separate, even for a moment, his person from his royal dignity, which no prince ever guarded so tenaciously and pedantically as himself, so the magnificence and ceremony which in his mind were inseparably connected with such a journey, and the expenses which, on this account, it would necessarily occasion, were of themselves sufficient motives to account for his indisposition to it, without its being at all requisite to call in the aid of the influence of his favorite, ruy gomes, who is said to have desired to separate his rival, the duke of alva, from the king. little, however, as be seriously intended this journey, he still deemed it advisable to keep up the expectation of it, as well with a view of sustaining the courage of the loyal as of preventing a dangerous combination of the disaffected, and stopping the further progress of the rebels. in order to carry on the deception as long as possible, philip made extensive preparations for his departure, and neglected nothing which could be required for such an event. he ordered ships to be fitted out, appointed the officers and others to attend him. to allay the suspicion such warlike preparations might excite in all foreign courts, they were informed through his ambassadors of his real design. he applied to the king of france for a passage for himself and attendants through that kingdom, and consulted the duke of savoy as to the preferable route. he caused a list to be drawn up of all the towns and fortified places that lay in his march, and directed all the intermediate distances to be accurately laid down. orders were issued for taking a map and survey of the whole extent of country between savoy and burgundy, the duke being requested to furnish the requisite surveyors and scientific officers. to such lengths was the deception carried that the regent was commanded to hold eight vessels at least in readiness off zealand, and to despatch them to meet the king the instant she heard of his having sailed from spain; and these ships she actually got ready, and caused prayers to be offered up in all the churches for the king's safety during the voyage, though in secret many persons did not scruple to remark that in his chamber at madrid his majesty would not have much cause to dread the storms at sea. philip played his part with such masterly skill that the belgian ambassadors at madrid, lords bergen and montigny, who at first had disbelieved in the sincerity of his pretended journey, began at last to be alarmed, and infected their friends in brussels with similar apprehensions. an attack of tertian ague, which about this time the king suffered, or perhaps feigned, in segovia, afforded a plausible pretence for postponing his journey, while meantime the preparations for it were carried on with the utmost activity. at last, when the urgent and repeated solicitations of his sister compelled him to make a definite explanation of his plans, he gave orders that the duke of alva should set out forthwith with an army, both to clear the way before him of rebels, and to enhance the splendor of his own royal arrival. he did not yet venture to throw off the mask and announce the duke as his substitute. he had but too much reason to fear that the submission which his flemish nobles would cheerfully yield to their sovereign would be refused to one of his servants, whose cruel character was well known, and who, moreover, was detested as a foreigner and the enemy of their constitution. and, in fact, the universal belief that the king was soon to follow, which long survived alva's entrance into the country, restrained the outbreak of disturbances which otherwise would assuredly have been caused by the cruelties which marked the very opening of the duke's government. the clergy of spain, and especially the inquisition, contributed richly towards the expenses of this expedition as to a holy war. throughout spain the enlisting was carried on with the utmost zeal. the viceroys and governors of sardinia, sicily, naples, and milan received orders to select the best of their italian and spanish troops in the garrisons and despatch them to the general rendezvous in the genoese territory, where the duke of alva would exchange them for the spanish recruits which he should bring with him. at the same time the regent was commanded to hold in readiness a few more regiments of german infanty in luxembourg, under the command of the counts eberstein, schaumburg, and lodrona, and also some squadrons of light cavalry in the duchy of burgundy to reinforce the spanish general immediately on his entrance into the provinces. the count of barlaimont was commissioned to furnish the necessary provision for the armament, and a sum of two hundred thousand gold florins was remitted to the regent to enable her to meet these expenses and to maintain her own troops. the french court, however, under pretence of the danger to be apprehended from the huguenots, had refused to allow the spanish army to pass through france. philip applied to the dukes of savoy and lorraine, who were too dependent upon him to refuse his request. the former merely stipulated that he should be allowed to maintain two thousand infantry and a squadron of horse at the king's expense in order to protect his country from the injuries to which it might otherwise be exposed from the passage of the spanish army. at the same time he undertook to provide the necessary supplies for its maintenance during the transit. the rumor of this arrangement roused the huguenots, the genevese, the swiss, and the grisons. the prince of conde and the admiral coligny entreated charles ix. not to neglect so favorable a moment of inflicting a deadly blow on the hereditary foe of france. with the aid of the swiss, the genevese, and his own protestant subjects, it would, they alleged, be an easy matter to destroy the flower of the spanish troops in the narrow passes of the alpine mountains; and they promised to support him in this undertaking with an army of fifty thousand huguenots. this advice, however, whose dangerous object was not easily to be mistaken, was plausibly declined by charles ix., who assured them that he was both able and anxious to provide for the security of his kingdom. he hastily despatched troops to cover the french frontiers; and the republics of geneva, bern, zurich, and the grisons followed his example, all ready to offer a determined opposition to the dreaded enemy of their religion and their liberty. on the th of may, , the duke of alva set sail from carthagena with thirty galleys, which had been furnished by andrew doria and the duke cosmo of florence, and within eight days landed at genoa, where the four regiments were waiting to join him. but a tertian ague, with which he was seized shortly after his arrival, compelled him to remain for some days inactive in lombardy--a delay of which the neighboring powers availed themselves to prepare for defence. as soon as the duke recovered he held at asti, in montferrat, a review of all his troops, who were more formidable by their valor than by their numbers, since cavalry and infantry together did not amount to much above ten thousand men. in his long and perilous march he did not wish to encumber himself with useless supernumeraries, which would only impede his progress and increase the difficulty of supporting his army. these ten thousand veterans were to form the nucleus of a greater army, which, according as circumstances and occasion might require, he could easily assemble in the netherlands themselves. this array, however, was as select as it was small. it consisted of the remains of those victorious legions at whose head charles v. had made europe tremble; sanguinary, indomitable bands, in whose battalions the firmness of the old macedonian phalanx lived again; rapid in their evolutions from long practice, hardy and enduring, proud of their leader's success, and confident from past victories, formidable by their licentiousness, but still more so by their discipline; let loose with all the passions of a warmer climate upon a rich and peaceful country, and inexorable towards an enemy whom the church had cursed. their fanatical and sanguinary spirit, their thirst for glory and innate courage was aided by a rude sensuality, the instrument by which the spanish general firmly and surely ruled his otherwise intractable troops. with a prudent indulgence he allowed riot and voluptuousness to reign throughout the camp. under his tacit connivance italian courtezans followed the standards; even in the march across the apennines, where the high price of the necessaries of life compelled him to reduce his force to the smallest possible number, he preferred to have a few regiments less rather than to leave behind these instruments of voluptuousness. [the bacchanalian procession of this army contrasted strangely enough with the gloomy seriousness and pretended sanctity of his aim. the number of these women was so great that to restrain the disorders and quarrelling among themselves they hit upon the expedient of establishing a discipline of their own. they ranged themselves under particular flags, marched in ranks and sections, and in admirable military order, after each battalion, and classed themselves with strict etiquette according to their rank and pay.] but industriously as alva strove to relax the morals of his soldiers, he enforced the more rigidly a strict military discipline, which was interrupted only by a victory or rendered less severe by a battle. for all this he had, he said, the authority of the athenian general iphicrates, who awarded the prize of valor to the pleasure-loving and rapacious soldier. the more irksome the restraint by which the passions of the soldiers were kept in check, the greater must have been the vehemence with which they broke forth at the sole outlet which was left open to them. the duke divided his infantry, which was about nine thousand strong, and chiefly spaniards, into four brigades, and gave the command of them to four spanish officers. alphonso of ulloa led the neapolitan brigade of nine companies, amounting to three thousand two hundred and thirty men; sancho of lodogno commanded the milan brigade, three thousand two hundred men in ten companies; the sicilian brigade, with the same number of companies, and consisting of sixteen hundred men, was under julian romero, an experienced warrior, who had already fought on belgian ground. [the same officer who commanded one of the spanish regiments about which so much complaint had formerly been made in the states- general.] gonsalo of braccamonte headed that of sardinia, which was raised by three companies of recruits to the full complement of the former. to every company, moreover, were added fifteen spanish musqueteers. the horse, in all twelve hundred strong, consisted of three italian, two albanian, and seven spanish squadrons, light and heavy cavalry, and the chief command was held by ferdinand and frederick of toledo, the two sons of alva. chiappin vitelli, marquis of cetona, was field-marshal; a celebrated general whose services had been made over to the king of spain by cosmo of florence; and gabriel serbellon was general of artillery. the duke of savoy lent alva an experienced engineer, francis pacotto, of urbino, who was to be employed in the erection of new fortifications. his standard was likewise followed by a number of volunteers, and the flower of the spanish nobility, of whom the greater part had fought under charles v. in germany, italy, and before tunis. among these were christopher mondragone, one of the ten spanish heroes who, near mithlbehg, swam across the elbe with their swords between their teeth, and, under a shower of bullets from the enemy, brought over from the opposite shore the boats which the emperor required for the construction of a bridge. sancho of avila, who had been trained to war under alva himself, camillo of monte, francis ferdugo, karl davila, nicolaus basta, and count martinego, all fired with a noble ardor, either to commence their military career under so eminent a leader, or by another glorious campaign under his command to crown the fame they had already won. after the review the army marched in three divisions across mount cenis, by the very route which sixteen centuries before hannibal is said to have taken. the duke himself led the van; ferdinand of toledo, with whom was associated lodogno as colonel, the centre; and the marquis of cetona the rear. the commissary general, francis of ibarra, was sent before with general serbellon to open the road for the main body, and get ready the supplies at the several quarters for the night. the places which the van left in the morning were entered in the evening by the centre, which in its turn made room on the following day for the rear. thus the army crossed the alps of savoy by regular stages, and with the fourteenth day completed that dangerous passage. a french army of observation accompanied it side by side along the frontiers of dauphins, and the course of the rhone, and the allied army of the genevese followed it on the right, and was passed by it at a distance of seven miles. both these armies of observation carefully abstained from any act of hostility, and were merely intended to cover their own frontiers. as the spanish legions ascended and descended the steep mountain crags, or while they crossed the rapid iser, or file by file wound through the narrow passes of the rocks, a handful of men would have been sufficient to put an entire stop to their march, and to drive them back into the mountains, where they would have been irretrievably lost, since at each place of encampment supplies were provided for no more than a single day, and for a third part only of the whole force. but a supernatural awe and dread of the spanish name appeared to have blinded the eyes of the enemy so that they did not perceive their advantage, or at least did not venture to profit by it. in order to give them as little opportunity as possible of remembering it, the spanish general hastened through this dangerous pass. convinced, too, that if his troops gave the slightest umbrage he was lost, the strictest discipline was maintained during the march; not a single peasant's hut, not a single field was injured; and never, perhaps, in the memory of man was so numerous an army led so far in such excellent order. [once only on entering lorraine three horsemen ventured to drive away a few sheep from a flock, of which circumstance the duke was no sooner informed than he sent back to the owner what had been taken from him and sentenced the offenders to be hung. this sentence was, at the intercession of the lorraine general, who had come to the frontiers to pay his respects to the duke, executed on only one of the three, upon whom the lot fell at the drum-head.] destined as this army was for vengeance and murder, a malignant and baleful star seemed to conduct it safe through all dangers; and it would be difficult to decide whether the prudence of its general or the blindness of its enemies is most to be wondered at. in franche comte, four squadrons of burgundian cavalry, newly-raised, joined the main army, which, at luxembourg, was also reinforced by three regiments of german infantry under the command of counts eberstein, schaumburg, and lodrona. from thionville, where he halted a few days, alva sent his salutations to the regent by francis of ibarra, who was, at the same time, directed to consult her on the quartering of the troops. on her part, noircarmes and barlairnont were despatched to the spanish camp to congratulate the duke on his arrival, and to show him the customary marks of honor. at the same time they were directed to ask him to produce the powers entrusted to him by the king, of which, however, he only showed a part. the envoys of the regent were followed by swarms of the flemish nobility, who thought they could not hasten soon enough to conciliate the favor of the new viceroy, or by a timely submission avert the vengeance which was preparing. among them was count egmont. as he came forward the duke pointed him out to the bystanders. "here comes an arch-heretic," he exclaimed, loud enough to be heard by egmont himself, who, surprised at these words, stopped and changed color. but when the duke, in order to repair his imprudence, went up to him with a serene countenance, and greeted him with a friendly embrace, the fleming was ashamed of his fears, and made light of this warning, by putting some frivolous interpretation upon it. egmont sealed this new friendship with a present of two valuable chargers, which alva accepted with a grave condescension. upon the assurance of the regent that the provinces were in the enjoyment of perfect peace, and that no opposition was to be apprehended from any quarter, the duke discharged some german regiments, which had hitherto drawn their pay from the netherlands. three thousand six hundred men, under the command of lodrona, were quartered in antwerp, from which town the walloon garrison, in which full reliance could not be placed, was withdrawn; garrisons proportionably stronger were thrown into ghent and other important places; alva himself marched with the milan brigade towards brussels, whither he was accompanied by a splendid cortege of the noblest in the land. here, as in all the other towns of the netherlands, fear and terror had preceded him, and all who were conscious of any offences, and even those who were sensible of none, alike awaited his approach with a dread similar to that with which criminals see the coming of their day of trial. all who could tear themselves from the ties of family, property, and country had already fled, or now at last took to flight. the advance of the spanish army had already, according to the report of the regent, diminished the population of the provinces by the loss of one hundred thousand citizens, and this general flight still continued. but the arrival of the spanish general could not be more hateful to the people of the netherlands than it was distressing and dispiriting to the regent. at last, after so many years of anxiety, she had begun to taste the sweets of repose, and that absolute-authority, which had been the long-cherished object of eight years of a troubled and difficult administration. this late fruit of so much anxious industry, of so many cares and nightly vigils, was now to be wrested from her by a stranger, who was to be placed at once in possession of all the advantages which she had been forced to extract from adverse circumstances, by a long and tedious course of intrigue and patient endurance. another was lightly to bear away the prize of promptitude, and to triumph by more rapid success over her superior but less glittering merits. since the departure of the minister, granvella, she had tasted to the full the pleasures of independence. the flattering homage of the nobility, which allowed her more fully to enjoy the shadow of power, the more they deprived her of its substance, had, by degrees, fostered her vanity to such an extent, that she at last estranged by her coldness even the most upright of all her servants, the state counsellor viglius, who always addressed her in the language of truth. all at once a censor of her actions was placed at her side, a partner of her power was associated with her, if indeed it was not rather a master who was forced upon her, whose proud, stubborn, and imperious spirit, which no courtesy could soften, threatened the deadliest wounds to her self-love and vanity. to prevent his arrival she had, in her representations to the king, vainly exhausted every political argument. to no purpose had she urged that the utter ruin of the commerce of the netherlands would be the inevitable consequence of; this introduction of the spanish troops; in vain had she assured the king that peace was universally restored, and reminded him of her own services in procuring it, which deserved, she thought, a better guerdon than to see all the fruits of her labors snatched from her and given to a foreigner, and more than all, to behold all the good which she had effected destroyed by a new and different line of conduct. even when the duke had already crossed mount cenis she made one more attempt, entreating him at least to diminish his army; but that also failed, for the duke insisted upon acting up to the powers entrusted to him. in poignant grief she now awaited his approach, and with the tears she shed for her country were mingled those of offended self-love. on the d of august, , the duke of alva appeared before the gates of brussels. his army immediately took up their quarters in the suburbs, and he himself made it his first duty to pay his respects to the sister of his king. she gave him a private audience on the plea of suffering from sickness. either the mortification she had undergone had in reality a serious effect upon her health, or, what is not improbable, she had recourse to this expedient to pain his haughty spirit, and in some degree to lessen his triumph. he delivered to her letters from the king, and laid before her a copy of his own appointment, by which the supreme command of the whole military force of the netherlands was committed to him, and from which, therefore, it would appear, that the administration of civil affairs remained, as heretofore, in the hands of the regent. but as soon as he was alone with her he produced a new commission, which was totally different from the former. according to this, the power was delegated to him of making war at his discretion, of erecting fortifications, of appointing and dismissing at pleasure the governors of provinces, the commandants of towns, and other officers of the king; of instituting inquiries into the past troubles, of punishing those who originated them, and of rewarding the loyal. powers of this extent, which placed him almost on a level with a sovereign prince, and far surpassed those of the regent herself, caused her the greatest consternation, and it was with difficulty that she could conceal her emotion. she asked the duke whether he had not even a third commission, or some special orders in reserve which went still further, and were drawn up still more precisely, to which he replied distinctly enough in the affirmative, but at the same time gave her to understand that this commission might be too full to suit the present occasion, and would be better brought into play hereafter with due regard to time and circumstances. a few days after his arrival he caused a copy of the first instructions to be laid before the several councils and the states, and had them printed to insure their rapid circulation. as the regent resided in the palace, he took up his quarters temporarily in kuilemberg house, the same in which the association of the gueux had received its name, and before which, through a wonderful vicissitude, spanish tyranny now planted its flag. a dead silence reigned in brussels, broken only at times by the unwonted clang of arms. the duke had entered the town but a few hours when his attendants, like bloodhounds that have been slipped, dispersed themselves in all directions. everywhere foreign faces were to be seen; the streets were empty, all the houses carefully closed, all amusements suspended, all public places deserted. the whole metropolis resembled a place visited by the plague. acquaintances hurried on without stopping for their usual greeting; all hastened on the moment a spaniard showed himself in the streets. every sound startled them, as if it were the knock of the officials of justice at their doors; the nobility, in trembling anxiety, kept to their houses; they shunned appearing in public lest their presence should remind the new viceroy of some past offence. the two nations now seemed to have exchanged characters. the spaniard had become the talkative man and the brabanter taciturn; distrust and fear had scared away the spirit of cheerfulness and mirth; a constrained gravity fettered even the play of the features. every moment the impending blow was looked for with dread. this general straining of expectation warned the duke to hasten the accomplishment of his plans before they should be anticipated by the timely flight of his victims. his first object was to secure the suspected nobles, in order, at once and forever, to deprive the faction of its leaders, and the nation, whose freedom was to be crushed, of all its supporters. by a pretended affability he had succeeded in lulling their first alarm, and in restoring count egmont in particular to his former perfect confidence, for which purpose he artfully employed his sons, ferdinand and frederick of toledo, whose companionableness and youth assimilated more easily with the flemish character. by this skilful advice he succeeded also in enticing count horn to brussels, who had hitherto thought it advisable to watch the first measures of the duke from a distance, but now suffered himself to be seduced by the good fortune of his friend. some of the nobility, and count egmont at the head of them, even resumed their former gay style of living. but they themselves did not do so with their whole hearts, and they had not many imitators. kuilemberg house was incessantly besieged by a numerous crowd, who thronged around the person of the new viceroy, and exhibited an affected gayety on their countenances, while their hearts were wrung with distress and fear. egmont in particular assumed the appearance of a light heart, entertaining the duke's sons, and being feted by them in return. meanwhile, the duke was fearful lest so fair an opportunity for the accomplishment of his plans might not last long, and lest some act of imprudence might destroy the feeling of security which had tempted both his victims voluntarily to put themselves into his power; he only waited for a third; hogstraten also was to be taken in the same net. under a plausible pretext of business he therefore summoned him to the metropolis. at the same time that he purposed to secure the three counts in brussels, colonel lodrona was to arrest the burgomaster, strahlen, in antwerp, an intimate friend of the prince of orange, and suspected of having favored the calvinists; another officer was to seize the private secretary of count egmont, whose name was john cassembrot von beckerzeel, as also some secretaries of count horn, and was to possess themselves of their papers. when the day arrived which had been fixed upon for the execution of this plan, the duke summoned all the counsellors and knights before him to confer with them upon matters of state. on this occasion the duke of arschot, the counts mansfeld, barlaimont, and aremberg attended on the part of the netherlands, and on the part of the spaniards besides the duke's sons, vitelli, serbellon, and ibarra. the young count mansfeld, who likewise appeared at the meeting, received a sign from his father to withdraw with all speed, and by a hasty flight avoid the fate which was impending over him as a former member of the geusen league. the duke purposely prolonged the consultation to give time before he acted for the arrival of the couriers from antwerp, who were to bring him the tidings of the arrest of the other parties. to avoid exciting any suspicion, the engineer, pacotto, was required to attend the meeting to lay before it the plans for some fortifications. at last intelligence was brought him that lodrona had successfully executed his commission. upon this the duke dexterously broke off the debate and dismissed the council. and now, as count egmont was about to repair to the apartment of don ferdinand, to finish a game that he had commenced with him, the captain of the duke's body guard, sancho d'avila, stopped him, and demanded his sword in the king's name. at the same time he was surrounded by a number of spanish soldiers, who, as had been preconcerted, suddenly advanced from their concealment. so unexpected a blow deprived egmont for some moments of all powers of utterance and recollection; after a while, however, he collected himself, and taking his sword from his side with dignified composure, said, as he delivered it into the hands of the spaniard, "this sword has before this on more than one occasion successfully defended the king's cause." another spanish officer arrested count horn as he was returning to his house without the least suspicion of danger. horn's first inquiry was after egmont. on being told that the same fate had just happened to his friend he surrendered himself without resistance. "i have suffered myself to be guided by him," he exclaimed, "it is fair that i should share his destiny." the two counts were placed in confinement in separate apartments. while this was going on in the interior of kuilemberg house the whole garrison were drawn out under arms in front of it. no one knew what had taken place inside, a mysterious terror diffused itself throughout brussels until rumor spread the news of this fatal event. each felt as if he himself were the sufferer; with many indignation at egmont's blind infatuation preponderated over sympathy for his fate; all rejoiced that orange had escaped. the first question of the cardinal granvella, too, when these tidings reached him in rome, is said to have been, whether they had taken the silent one also. on being answered in the negative he shook his head "then as they have let him escape they have got nothing." fate ordained better for the count of hogstraten. compelled by ill-health to travel slowly, he was met by the report of this event while he was yet on his way. he hastily turned back, and fortunately escaped destruction. immediately after egmont's seizure a writing was extorted from him, addressed to the commandant of the citadel of ghent, ordering that officer to deliver the fortress to the spanish colonel alphonso d'ulloa. upon this the two counts were then (after they had been for some weeks confined in brussels) conveyed under a guard of three thousand spaniards to ghent, where they remained imprisoned till late in the following year. in the meantime all their papers had been seized. many of the first nobility who, by the pretended kindness of the duke of alva, had allowed themselves to be cajoled into remaining experienced the same fate. capital punishment was also, without further delay, inflicted on all who before the duke's arrival had been taken with arms in their hands. upon the news of egmont's arrest a second body of about twenty thousand inhabitants took up the wanderer's staff, besides the one hundred thousand who, prudently declining to await the arrival of the spanish general, had already placed themselves in safety. [a great part of these fugitives helped to strengthen the army of the huguenots, who had taken occasion, from the passage of the spanish army through lorraine, to assemble their forces, and now pressed charles ix. hard. on these grounds the french court thought it had a right to demand aid from the regent of the netherlands. it asserted that the huguenots had looked upon the march of the spanish army as the result of a preconcerted plan which had been formed against them by the two courts at bayonne and that this had roused them from their slumber. that consequently it behooved the spanish court to assist in extricating the french king from difficulties into which the latter had been brought simply by the march of the spanish troops. alva actually sent the count of aremberg with a considerable force to join the army of the queen mother in france, and even offered to command these subsidiaries in person, which, however, was declined. strada, . thuan, .] after so noble a life had been assailed no one counted himself safe any longer; but many found cause to repent that they had so long deferred this salutary step; for every day flight was rendered more difficult, for the duke ordered all the ports to be closed, and punished the attempt at emigration with death. the beggars were now esteemed fortunate, who had abandoned country and property in order to preserve at least their liberty and their lives. alva's first measures, and departure of the duchess of parma. alva's first step, after securing the most suspected of the nobles, was to restore the inquisition to its former authority, to put the decrees of trent again in force, abolish the "moderation," and promulgate anew the edicts against heretics in all their original severity. the court of inquisition in spain had pronounced the whole nation of the netherlands guilty of treason in the highest degree, catholics and heterodox, loyalists and rebels, without distinction; the latter as having offended by overt acts, the former as having incurred equal guilt by their supineness. from this sweeping condemnation a very few were excepted, whose names, however, were purposely reserved, while the general sentence was publicly confirmed by the king. philip declared himself absolved from all his promises, and released from all engagements which the regent in his name had entered into with the people of the netherlands, and all the justice which they had in future to expect from him must depend on his own good-will and pleasure. all who had aided in the expulsion of the minister, granvella, who had taken part in the petition of the confederate nobles, or had but even spoken in favor of it; all who had presented a petition against the decrees of trent, against the edicts relating to religion, or against the installation of the bishops; all who had permitted the public preachings, or had only feebly resisted them; all who had worn the insignia of the gueux, had sung geusen songs, or who in any way whatsoever had manifested their joy at the establishment of the league; all who had sheltered or concealed the reforming preachers, attended calvinistic funerals, or had even merely known of their secret meetings, and not given information of them; all who had appealed to the national privileges; all, in fine, who had expressed an opinion that they ought to obey god rather than man; all these indiscriminately were declared liable to the penalties which the law imposed upon any violation of the royal prerogative, and upon high treason; and these penalties were, according to the instruction which alva had received, to be executed on the guilty persons without forbearance or favor; without regard to rank, sex, or age, as an example to posterity, and for a terror to all future times. according to this declaration there was no longer an innocent person to be found in the whole netherlands, and the new viceroy had it in his power to make a fearful choice of victims. property and life were alike at his command, and whoever should have the good fortune to preserve one or both must receive them as the gift of his generosity and humanity. by this stroke of policy, as refined as it was detestable, the nation was disarmed, and unanimity rendered impossible. as it absolutely depended on the duke's arbitrary will upon whom the sentence should be carried in force which had been passed without exception upon all, each individual kept himself quiet, in order to escape, if possible, the notice of the viceroy, and to avoid drawing the fatal choice upon himself. every one, on the other hand, in whose favor he was pleased to make an exception stood in a degree indebted to him, and was personally under an obligation which must be measured by the value he set upon his life and property. as, however, this penalty could only be executed on the smaller portion of the nation, the duke naturally secured the greater by the strongest ties of fear and gratitude, and for one whom he sought out as a victim he gained ten others whom he passed over. as long as he continued true to this policy he remained in quiet possession of his rule, even amid the streams of blood which he caused to flow, and did not forfeit this advantage till the want of money compelled him to impose a burden upon the nation which oppressed all indiscriminately. in order to be equal to this bloody occupation, the details of which were fast accumulating, and to be certain of not losing a single victim through the want of instruments; and, on the other hand, to render his proceedings independent of the states, with whose privileges they were so much at variance, and who, indeed, were far too humane for him, he instituted an extraordinary court of justice. this court consisted of twelve criminal judges, who, according to their instructions, to the very letter of which they must adhere, were to try and pronounce sentence upon those implicated in the past disturbances. the mere institution of such a board was a violation of the liberties of the country, which expressly stipulated that no citizen should be tried out of his own province; but the duke filled up the measure of his injustice when, contrary to the most sacred privileges of the nation, he proceeded to give seats and votes in that court to spaniards, the open and avowed enemies of belgian liberty. he himself was the president of this court, and after him a certain licentiate, vargas, a spaniard by birth, of whose iniquitous character the historians of both parties are unanimous; cast out like a plague-spot from his own country, where he had violated one of his wards, he was a shameless, hardened villain, in whose mind avarice, lust, and the thirst for blood struggled for ascendancy. the principal members were count aremberg, philip of noircarmes, and charles of barlaimont, who, however, never sat in it; hadrian nicolai, chancellor of gueldres; jacob mertens and peter asset, presidents of artois and flanders; jacob hesselts and john de la porte, counsellors of ghent; louis del roi, doctor of theology, and by birth a spaniard; john du bois, king's advocate; and de la'torre, secretary of the court. in compliance with the representations of viglius the privy council was spared any part in this tribunal; nor was any one introduced into it from the great council at malines. the votes of the members were only recommendatory, not conclusive, the final sentence being reserved by the duke to himself. no particular time was fixed for the sitting of the court; the members, however, assembled at noon, as often as the duke thought good. but after the expiration of the third month alva began to be less frequent in his attendance, and at last resigned his place entirely to his favorite, vargas, who filled it with such odious fitness that in a short time all the members, with the exception merely of the spanish doctor, del rio, and the secretary, de la torre, weary of the atrocities of which they were compelled to be both eyewitnesses and accomplices, remained away from the assembly. [the sentences passed upon the most eminent persons (for example, the sentence of death passed upon strahlen, the burgomaster of antwerp), were signed only by vargas, del rio, and de la torre.] it is revolting to the feelings to think how the lives of the noblest and best were thus placed at the mercy of spanish vagabonds, and how even the sanctuaries of the nation, its deeds and charters, were unscrupulously ransacked, the seals broken, and the most secret contracts between the sovereign and the state profaned and exposed. [for an example of the unfeeling levity with which the most important matters, even decisions in cases of life and death, were treated in this sanguinary council, it may serve to relate what is told of the counsellor hesselts. he was generally asleep during the meeting, and when his turn came to vote on a sentence of death he used to cry out, still half asleep: "ad patibulum! ad patibulum!" so glibly did his tongue utter this word. it is further to be remarked of this hesselts, that his wife, a daughter of the president viglius, had expressly stipulated in the marriage- contract that he should resign the dismal office of attorney for the king, which made him detested by the whole nation. vigl. ad hopp. lxvii., l.] from the council of twelve (which, from the object of its institution, was called the council for disturbances, but on account of its proceedings is more generally known under the appellation of the council of blood, a name which the nation in their exasperation bestowed upon it), no appeal was allowed. its proceedings could not be revised. its verdicts were irrevocable and independent of all other authority. no other tribunal in the country could take cognizance of cases which related to the late insurrection, so that in all the other courts justice was nearly at a standstill. the great council at malines was as good as abolished; the authority of the council of state entirely ceased, insomuch that its sittings were discontinued. on some rare occasions the duke conferred with a few members of the late assembly, but even when this did occur the conference was held in his cabinet, and was no more than a private consultation, without any of the proper forms being observed. no privilege, no charter of immunity, however carefully protected, had any weight with the council for disturbances. [vargas, in a few words of barbarous latin, demolished at once the boasted liberties of the netherlands. "non curamus vestros privilegios," he replied to one who wished to plead the immunities of the university of louvain.] it compelled all deeds and contracts to be laid before it, and often forced upon them the most strained interpetations and alterations. if the duke caused a sentence to be drawn out which there was reason to fear might be opposed by the states of brabant, it was legalized without the brabant seal. the most sacred rights of individuals were assailed, and a tyranny without example forced its arbitrary will even into the circle of domestic life. as the protestants and rebels had hitherto contrived to strengthen their party so much by marriages with the first families in the country, the duke issued an edict forbidding all netherlanders, whatever might be their rank or office, under pain of death and confiscation of property, to conclude a marriage without previously obtaining his permission. all whom the council for disturbances thought proper to summon before it were compelled to appear, clergy as well as laity; the most venerable heads of the senate, as well as the reprobate rabble of the iconoclasts. whoever did not present himself, as indeed scarcely anybody did, was declared an outlaw, and his property was confiscated; but those who were rash or foolish enough to appear, or who were so unfortunate as to be seized, were lost without redemption. twenty, forty, often fifty were summoned at the same time and from the same town, and the richest were always the first on whom the thunderbolt descended. the meaner citizens, who possessed nothing that could render their country and their homes dear to them, were taken unawares and arrested without any previous citation. many eminent merchants, who had at their disposal fortunes of from sixty thousand to one hundred thousand florins, were seen with their hands tied behind their backs, dragged like common vagabonds at the horse's tail to execution, and in valenciennes fifty- five persons were decapitated at one time. all the prisons--and the duke immediately on commencing his administration had built a great number of them--were crammed full with the accused; hanging, beheading, quartering, burning were the prevailing and ordinary occupations of the day; the punishment of the galleys and banishment were more rarely heard of, for there was scarcely any offence which was reckoned too trival to be punished with death. immense sums were thus brought into the treasury, which, however, served rather to stimulate the new viceroy's and his colleagues' thirst for gold than to quench it. it seemed to be his insane purpose to make beggars of the whole people, and to throw all their riches into the hands of the king and his servants. the yearly income derived from these confiscations was computed to equal the revenues of the first kingdoms of europe; it is said to have been estimated, in a report furnished to the king, at the incredible amount of twenty million of dollars. but these proceedings were the more inhuman, as they often bore hardest precisely upon the very persons who were the most peaceful subjects, and most orthodox roman catholics, whom they could not want to injure. whenever an estate was confiscated all the creditors who had claims upon it were defrauded. the hospitals, too, and public institutions, which such properties had contributed to support, were now ruined, and the poor, who had formerly drawn a pittance from this source, were compelled to see their only spring of comfort dried up. whoever ventured to urge their well-grounded claims on the forfeited property before the council of twelve (for no other tribunal dared to interfere with these inquiries), consumed their substance in tedious and expensive proceedings, and were reduced to beggary before they saw the end of them. the histories of civilized states furnish but one instance of a similar perversion of justice, of such violation of the rights of property, and of such waste of human life; but cinna, sylla, and marius entered vanquished rome as incensed victors, and practised without disguise what the viceroy of the netherlands performed under the venerable veil of the laws. up to the end of the year the king's arrival had been confidently expected, and the well-disposed of the people had placed all their last hopes on this event. the vessels, which philip had caused to be equipped expressly for the purpose of meeting him, still lay in the harbor of flushing, ready to sail at the first signal; and the town of brussels had consented to receive a spanish garrison, simply because the king, it was pretended, was to reside within its walls. but this hope gradually vanished, as he put off the journey from one season to the next, and the new viceroy very soon began to exhibit powers which announced him less as a precursor of royalty than as an absolute minister, whose presence made that of the monarch entirely superfluous. to compete the distress of the provinces their last good angel was now to leave them in the person of the regent. from the moment when the production of the duke's extensive powers left no doubt remaining as to the practical termination of her own rule, margaret had formed the resolution of relinquishing the name also of regent. to see a successor in the actual possession of a dignity which a nine years' enjoyment had made indispensable to her; to see the authority, the glory, the splendor, the adoration, and all the marks of respect, which are the usual concomitants of supreme power, pass over to another; and to feel that she had lost that which she could never forget she had once held, was more than a woman's mind could endure; moreover, the duke of alva was of all men the least calculated to make her feel her privation the less painful by a forbearing use of his newly-acquired dignity. the tranquillity of the country, too, which was put in jeopardy by this divided rule, seemed to impose upon the duchess the necessity of abdicating. many governors of provinces refused, without an express order from the court, to receive commands from the duke and to recognize him as co-regent. the rapid change of their point of attraction could not be met by the courtiers so composedly and imperturbably but that the duchess observed the alteration, and bitterly felt it. even the few who, like state counsellor viglius, still firmly adhered to her, did so less from attachment to her person than from vexation at being displaced by novices and foreigners, and from being too proud to serve a fresh apprenticeship under a new viceroy. but far the greater number, with all their endeavors to keep an exact mean, could not help making a difference between the homage they paid to the rising sun and that which they bestowed on the setting luminary. the royal palace in brussels became more and more deserted, while the throng at kuilemberg house daily increased. but what wounded the sensitiveness of the duchess most acutely was the arrest of horn and egmont, which was planned and executed by the duke without her knowledge or consent, just as if there had been no such person as herself in existence. alva did, indeed, after the act was done, endeavor to appease her by declaring that the design had been purposely kept secret from her in order to spare her name from being mixed up in so odious a transaction; but no such considerations of delicacy could close the wound which had been inflicted on her pride. in order at once to escape all risk of similar insults, of which the present was probably only a forerunner, she despatched her private secretary, macchiavell, to the court of her brother, there to solicit earnestly for permission to resign the regency. the request was granted without difficulty by the king, who accompanied his consent with every mark of his highest esteem. he would put aside (so the king expressed himself) his own advantage and that of the provinces in order to oblige his sister. he sent a present of thirty thousand dollars, and allotted to her a yearly pension of twenty thousand. [which, however, does not appear to have been very punctually paid, if a pamphlet maybe trusted which was printed during her lifetime. (it bears the title: discours sur la blessure de monseigneur prince d'orange, , without notice of the place where it was printed, and is to be found in the elector's library at dresden.) she languished, it is there stated, at namur in poverty, and so ill- supported by her son (the then governor of the netherlands), that her own secretary, aldrobandin, called her sojourn there an exile. but the writer goes on to ask what better treatment could she expect from a son who, when still very young, being on a visit to her at brussels, snapped his fingers at her behind her back.] at the same time a diploma was forwarded to the duke of alva, constituting him, in her stead, viceroy of all the netherlands, with unlimited powers. gladly would margaret have learned that she was permitted to resign the regency before a solemn assembly of the states, a wish which she had not very obscurely hinted to the king. but she was not gratified. she was particularly fond of solemnity, and the example of the emperor, her father, who had exhibited the extraordinary spectacle of his abdication of the crown in this very city, seemed to have great attractions for her. as she was compelled to part with supreme power, she could scarcely be blamed for wishing to do so with as much splendor as possible. moreover, she had not failed to observe how much the general hatred of the duke had effected in her own favor, and she looked, therefore, the more wistfully forward to a scene, which promised to be at once so flattering to her and so affecting. she would have been glad to mingle her own tears with those which she hoped to see shed by the netherlanders for their good regent. thus the bitterness of her descent from the throne would have been alleviated by the expression of general sympathy. little as she had done to merit the general esteem during the nine years of her administration, while fortune smiled upon her, and the approbation of her sovereign was the limit to all her wishes, yet now the sympathy of the nation had acquired a value in her eyes as the only thing which could in some degree compensate to her for the disappointment of all her other hopes. fain would she have persuaded herself that she had become a voluntary sacrifice to her goodness of heart and her too humane feelings towards the netherlanders. as, however, the king was very far from being disposed to incur any danger by calling a general assembly of the states, in order to gratify a mere caprice of his sister, she was obliged to content herself with a farewell letter to them. in this document she went over her whole administration, recounted, not without ostentation, the difficulties with which she had had to struggle, the evils which, by her dexterity, she had prevented, and wound up at last by saying that she left a finished work, and had to transfer to her successor nothing but the punishment of offenders. the king, too, was repeatly compelled to hear the same statement, and she left nothing undone to arrogate to herself the glory of any future advantages which it might be the good fortune of the duke to realize. her own merits, as something which did not admit of a doubt, but was at the same time a burden oppressive to her modesty, she laid at the feet of the king. dispassionate posterity may, nevertheless; hesitate to subscribe unreservedly to this favorable opinion. even though the united voice of her contemporaries, and the testimony of the netherlands themselves vouch for it, a third party will not be denied the right to examine her claims with stricter scrutiny. the popular mind, easily affected, is but too ready to count the absence of a vice as an additional virtue, and, under the pressure of existing evil, to give excess of praise for past benefits. the netherlander seems to have concentrated all his hatred upon the spanish name. to lay the blame of the national evils on the regent would tend to remove from the king and his minister the curses which he would rather shower upon them alone and undividedly; and the duke of alva's government of the netherlands was, perhaps, not the proper point of view from which to test the merits of his predecessor. it was undoubtedly no light task to meet the king's expectations without infringing the rights of the people and the duties of humanity; but in struggling to effect these two contradictory objects margaret had accomplished neither. she had deeply injured the nation, while comparatively she had done little service to the king. it is true that she at last crushed the protestant faction, but the accidental outbreak of the iconoclasts assisted her in this more than all her dexterity. she certainly succeeded by her intrigues in dissolving the league of the nobles, but not until the first blow had been struck at its roots by internal dissensions. the object, to secure which she had for many years vainly exhaused her whole policy, was effected at last by a single enlistment of troops, for which, however, the orders were issued from madrid. she delivered to the duke, no doubt, a tranquillized country; but it cannot be denied that the dread of his approach had the chief share in tranquillizing it. by her reports she led the council in spain astray; because she never informed it of the disease, but only of the occasional symptoms; never of the universal feeling and voice of the nation, but only of the misconduct of factions. her faulty administration, moreover, drew the people into the crime, because she exasperated without sufficiently awing them. she it was that brought the murderous alva into the country by leading the king to believe that the disturbances in the provinces were to be ascribed, not so much to the severity of the royal ordinances, as to the unworthiness of those who were charged with their execution. margaret possessed natural capacity and intellect; and an acquired political tact enabled her to meet any ordinary case; but she wanted that creative genius which, for new and extraordinary emergencies, invents new maxims, or wisely oversteps old ones. in a country where honesty was the best policy, she adopted the unfortunate plan of practising her insidious italian policy, and thereby sowed the seeds of a fatal distrust in the minds of the people. the indulgence which has been so liberally imputed to her as a merit was, in truth, extorted from her weakness and timidity by the courageous opposition of the nation; she had never departed from the strict letter of the royal commands by her own spontaneous resolution; never did the gentle feelings of innate humanity lead her to misinterpret the cruel purport of her instructions. even the few concessions to which necessity compelled her were granted with an uncertain and shrinking hand, as if fearing to give too much; and she lost the fruit of her benefactions because she mutilated them by a sordid closeness. what in all the other relations of her life she was too little, she was on the throne too much--a woman! she had it in her power, after granvella's expulsion, to become the benefactress of the belgian nation, but she did not. her supreme good was the approbation of her king, her greatest misfortune his displeasure; with all the eminent qualities of her mind she remained an ordinary character because her heart was destitute of native nobility. she used a melancholy power with much moderation, and stained her government with no deed of arbitrary cruelty; nay, if it had depended on her, she would have always acted humanely. years afterwards, when her idol, philip ii., had long forgotten her, the netherlanders still honored her memory; but she was far from deserving the glory which her successor's inhumanity reflected upon her. she left brussels about the end of december, . the duke escorted her as far as the frontiers of brabant, and there left her under the protection of count mansfeld in order to hasten back to the metropolis and show himself to the netherlanders as sole regent. trial and execution of counts egmont and horn. the two counts were a few weeks after their arrest conveyed to ghent under an escort of three thousand spaniards, where they were confined in the citadel for more than eight months. their trial commenced in due form before the council of twelve, and the solicitor-general, john du bois, conducted the proceedings. the indictment against egmont consisted of ninety counts, and that against horn of sixty. it would occupy too much space to introduce them here. every action, however innocent, every omission of duty, was interpreted on the principle which had been laid down in the opening of the indictment, "that the two counts, in conjunction with the prince of orange, had planned the overthrow of the royal authority in the netherlands, and the usurpation of the government of the country;" the expulsion of granvella; the embassy of egmont to madrid; the confederacy of the gueux; the concessions which they made to the protestants in the provinces under their government--all were made to have a connection with, and reference to, this deliberate design. thus importance was attached to the most insignificant occurrences, and one action made to darken and discolor another. by taking care to treat each of the charges as in itself a treasonable offence it was the more easy to justify a sentence of high treason by the whole. the accusations were sent to each of the prisoners, who were required to reply to them within five days. after doing so they were allowed to employ solicitors and advocates, who were permitted free access to them; but as they were accused of treason their friends were prohibited from visiting them. count egmont employed for his solicitor von landas, and made choice of a few eminent advocates from brussels. the first step was to demur against the tribunal which was to try them, since by the privilege of their order they, as knights of the golden fleece, were amenable only to the king himself, the grand master. but this demurrer was overruled, and they were required to produce their witnesses, in default of which they were to be proceeded against /in contumaciam./ egmont had satisfactorily answered to eighty-two counts, while count horn had refuted the charges against him, article by article. the accusation and the defence are still extant; on that defence every impartial tribunal would have acquitted them both. the procurator fiscal pressed for the production of their evidence, and the duke of alva issued his repeated commands to use despatch. they delayed, however, from week to week, while they renewed their protests against the illegality of the court. at last the duke assigned them nine days to produce their proofs; on the lapse of that period they were to be declared guilty, and as having forfeited all right of defence. during the progress of the trial the relations and friends of the two counts were not idle. egmont's wife, by birth a duchess of bavaria, addressed petitions to the princes of the german empire, to the emperor, and to the king of spain. the countess horn, mother of the imprisoned count, who was connected by the ties of friendship or of blood with the principal royal families of germany, did the same. all alike protested loudly against this illegal proceeding, and appealed to the liberty of the german empire, on which horn, as a count of the empire, had special claims; the liberty of the netherlands and the privileges of the order of the golden fleece were likewise insisted upon. the countess egmont succeeded in obtaining the intercession of almost every german court in behalf of her husband. the king of spain and his viceroy were besieged by applications in behalf of the accused, which were referred from one to the other, and made light of by both. countess horn collected certificates from all the knights of the golden fleece in spain, germany, and italy to prove the privileges of the order. alva rejected them with a declaration that they had no force in such a case as the present. "the crimes of which the counts are accused relate to the affairs of the belgian provinces, and he, the duke, was appointed by the king sole judge of all matters connected with those countries." four months had been allowed to the solicitor-general to draw up the indictment, and five were granted to the two counts to prepare for their defence. but instead of losing their time and trouble in adducing their evidence, which, perhaps, would have profited then but little, they preferred wasting it in protests against the judges, which availed them still less. by the former course they would probably have delayed the final sentence, and in the time thus gained the powerful intercession of their friends might perhaps have not been ineffectual. by obstinately persisting in denying the competency of the tribunal which was to try them, they furnished the duke with an excuse for cutting short the proceedings. after the last assigned period had expired, on the st of june, , the council of twelve declared them guilty, and on the th of that month sentence of death was pronounced against them. the execution of twenty-five noble netherlanders, who were beheaded in three successive days in the marketplace at brussels, was the terrible prelude to the fate of the two counts. john casembrot von beckerzeel, secretary to count egmont, was one of the unfortunates, who was thus rewarded for his fidelity to his master, which he steadfastly maintained even upon the rack, and for his zeal in the service of the king, which he had manifested against the iconoclasts. the others had either been taken prisoners, with arms in their hands, in the insurrection of the "gueux," or apprehended and condemned as traitors on account of having taken a part in the petition of the nobles. the duke had reason to hasten the execution of the sentence. count louis of nassau had given battle to the count of aremberg, near the monastery of heiligerlee, in groningen, and had the good fortune to defeat him. immediately after his victory he had advanced against groningen, and laid siege to it. the success of his arms had raised the courage of his faction; and the prince of orange, his brother, was close at hand with an army to support him. these circumstances made the duke's presence necessary in those distant provinces; but he could not venture to leave brussels before the fate of two such important prisoners was decided. the whole nation loved them, which was not a little increased by their unhappy fate. even the strict papists disapproved of the execution of these eminent nobles. the slightest advantage which the arms of the rebels might gain over the duke, or even the report of a defeat, would cause a revolution in brussels, which would immediately set the two counts at liberty. moreover, the petitions and intercessions which came to the viceroy, as well as to the king of spain, from the german princes, increased daily; nay, the emperor, maximilian ii., himself caused the countess to be assured "that she had nothing to fear for the life of her spouse." these powerful applications might at last turn the king's heart in favor of the prisoners. the king might, perhaps, in reliance on his viceroy's usual dispatch, put on the appearance of yielding to the representations of so many sovereigns, and rescind the sentence of death under the conviction that his mercy would come too late. these considerations moved the duke not to delay the execution of the sentence as soon as it was pronounced. on the day after the sentence was passed the two counts were brought, under an escort of three thousand spaniards, from ghent to brussels, and placed in confinement in the brodhause, in the great market-place. the next morning the council of twelve were assembled; the duke, contrary to his custom, attended in person, and both the sentences, in sealed envelopes, were opened and publicly read by secretary pranz. the two counts were declared guilty of treason, as having favored and promoted the abominable conspiracy of the prince of orange, protected the confederated nobles, and been convicted of various misdemeanors against their king and the church in their governments and other appointments. both were sentenced to be publicly beheaded, and their heads were to be fixed upon pikes and not taken down without the duke's express command. all their possessions, fiefs, and rights escheated to the royal treasury. the sentence was signed only by the duke and the secretary, pranz, without asking or caring for the consent of the other members of the council. during the night between the th and th of june the sentences were brought to the prisoners, after they had already gone to rest. the duke gave them to the bishop of ypres, martin rithov, whom he had expressly summoned to brussels to prepare the prisoners for death. when the bishop received this commission he threw himself at the feet of the duke, and supplicated him with tears in his eyes for mercy, at least for respite for the prisoners; but he was answered in a rough and angry voice that he had been sent for from ypres, not to oppose the sentence, but by his spiritual consolation to reconcile the unhappy noblemen to it. egmont was the first to whom the bishop communicated the sentence of death. "that is indeed a severe sentence," exclaimed the count, turning pale, and with a faltering voice. "i did not think that i had offended his majesty so deeply as to deserve such treatment. if, however, it must be so i submit to my fate with resignation. may this death atone for my offence, and save my wife and children from suffering. this at least i think i may claim for my past services. as for death, i will meet it with composure, since it so pleases god and my king." he then pressed the bishop to tell him seriously and candidly if there was no hope of pardon. being answered in the negative, he confessed and received the sacrament from the priest, repeating after him the mass with great devoutness. he asked what prayer was the best and most effective to recommend him to god in his last hour. on being told that no prayer could be more effectual than the one which christ himself had taught, he prepared immediately to repeat the lord's prayer. the thoughts of his family interrupted him; he called for pen and ink, and wrote two letters, one to his wife, the other to the king. the latter was as follows: "sire,--this morning i have heard the sentence which your majesty has been pleased to pass upon me. far as i have ever been from attempting anything against the person or service of your majesty, or against the true, old, and catholic religion, i yet submit myself with patience to the fate which it has pleased god to ordain should suffer. if, during the past disturbances, i have omitted, advised, or done anything that seems at variance with my duty, it was most assuredly performed with the best intentions, or was forced upon me by the pressure of circumstances. i therefore pray your majesty to forgive me, and, in consideration of my past services, show mercy to my unhappy wife, my poor children, and servants. in a firm hope of this, i commend myself--to the infinite mercy of god. "your majesty's most faithful vassal and servant, "lamoral count egmont. "brussels, june , , near my last moments." this letter he placed in the hands of the bishop, with the strongest injunctions for its safe delivery; and for greater security he sent a duplicate in his own handwriting to state counsellor viglius, the most upright man in the senate, by whom, there is no doubt, it was actually delivered to the king. the family of the count were subsequently reinstated in all his property, fiefs, and rights, which, by virtue of the sentence, had escheated to the royal treasury. meanwhile a scaffold had been erected in the marketplace, before the town hall, on which two poles were fixed with iron spikes, and the whole covered with black cloth. two-and-twenty companies of the spanish garrison surrounded the scaffold, a precaution which was by no means superfluous. between ten and eleven o'clock the spanish guard appeared in the apartment of the count; they were provided with cords to tie his hands according to custom. he begged that this might be spared him, and declared that he was willing and ready to die. he himself cut off the collar from his doublet to facilitate the executioner's duty. he wore a robe of red damask, and over that a black spanish cloak trimmed with gold lace. in this dress he appeared on the scaffold, and was attended by don julian romero, maitre-de-camp; salinas, a spanish captain; and the bishop of ypres. the grand provost of the court, with a red wand in his hand, sat on horseback at the foot of the scaffold; the executioner was concealed beneath. egmont had at first shown a desire to address the people from the scaffold. he desisted, however, on the bishop's representing to him that either he would not be heard, or that if he were, he might--such at present was the dangerous disposition of the people--excite them to acts of violence, which would only plunge his friends into destruction. for a few moments he paced the scaffold with noble dignity, and lamented that it had not been permitted him to die a more honorable death for his king and his country. up to the last he seemed unable to persuade himself that the king was in earnest, and that his severity would be carried any further than the mere terror of execution. when the decisive period approached, and he was to receive the extreme unction, he looked wistfully round, and when there still appeared no prospect of a reprieve, he turned to julian romero, and asked him once more if there was no hope of pardon for him. julian romero shrugged his shoulders, looked on the ground, and was silent. he then closely clenched his teeth, threw off his mantle and robe, knelt upon the cushion, and prepared himself for the last prayer. the bishop presented him the crucifix to kiss, and administered to him extreme unction, upon which the count made him a sign to leave him. he drew a silk cap over his eyes, and awaited the stroke. over the corpse and the streaming blood a black cloth was immediately thrown. all brussels thronged around the scaffold, and the fatal blow seemed to fall on every heart. loud sobs alone broke the appalling silence. the duke himself, who watched the execution from a window of the townhouse, wiped his eyes as his victim died. shortly afterwards count horn advanced on the scaffold. of a more violent temperament than his friend, and stimulated by stronger reasons for hatred against the king, he had received the sentence with less composure, although in his case, perhaps, it was less unjust. he burst forth in bitter reproaches against the king, and the bishop with difficulty prevailed upon him to make a better use of his last moments than to abuse them in imprecations on his enemies. at last, however, he became more collected, and made his confession to the bishop, which at first he was disposed to refuse. he mounted the scaffold with the same attendants as his friend. in passing he saluted many of his acquaintances; his hands were, like egmont's, free, and he was dressed in a black doublet and cloak, with a milan cap of the same color upon his head. when he had ascended, he cast his eyes upon the corpse, which lay under the cloth, and asked one of the bystanders if it was the body of his friend. on being answered in the affirmative, he said some words in spanish, threw his cloak from him, and knelt upon the cushion. all shrieked aloud as he received the fatal blow. the heads of both were fixed upon the poles which were set up on the scaffold, where they remained until past three in the afternoon, when they were taken down, and, with the two bodies, placed in leaden coffins and deposited in a vault. in spite of the number of spies and executioners who surrounded the scaffold, the citizens of brussels would not be prevented from dipping their handkerchiefs in the streaming blood, and carrying home with them these precious memorials. siege of antwerp by the prince of parma, in the years and . it is an interesting spectacle to observe the struggle of man's inventive genius in conflict with powerful opposing elements, and to see the difficulties which are insurmountable to ordinary capacities overcome by prudence, resolution, and a determined will. less attractive, but only the more instructive, perhaps, is the contrary spectacle, where the absence of those qualities renders all efforts of genius vain, throws away all the favors of fortune, and where inability to improve such advantages renders hopeless a success which otherwise seemed sure and inevitable. examples of both kinds are afforded by the celebrated siege of antwerp by the spaniards towards the close of the sixteenth century, by which that flourishing city was forever deprived of its commercial prosperity, but which, on the other hand, conferred immortal fame on the general who undertook and accomplished it. twelve years had the war continued which the northern provinces of belgium had commenced at first in vindication simply of their religious freedom, and the privileges of their states, from the encroachments of the spanish viceroy, but maintained latterly in the hope of establishing their independence of the spanish crown. never completely victors, but never entirely vanquished, they wearied out the spanish valor by tedious operations on an unfavorable soil, and exhausted the wealth of the sovereign of both the indies while they themselves were called beggars, and in a degree actually were so. the league of ghent, which had united the whole netherlands, roman catholic and protestant, in a common and (could such a confederation have lasted) invincible body, was indeed dissolved; but in place of this uncertain and unnatural combination the northern provinces had, in the year , formed among themselves the closer union of utrecht, which promised to be more lasting, inasmuch as it was linked and held together by common political and religious interests. what the new republic had lost in extent through this separation from the roman catholic provinces it was fully compensated for by the closeness of alliance, the unity of enterprise, and energy of execution; and perhaps it was fortunate in thus timely losing what no exertion probably would ever have enabled it to retain. the greater part of the walloon provinces had, in the year , partly by voluntary submission and partly by force of arms, been again reduced under the spanish yoke. the northern districts alone had been able at all successfully to oppose it. a considerable portion of brabant and flanders still obstinately held out against the arms of the duke alexander of parma, who at that time administered the civil government of the provinces, and the supreme command of the army, with equal energy and prudence, and by a series of splendid victories had revived the military reputation of spain. the peculiar formation of the country, which by its numerous rivers and canals facilitated the connection of the towns with one another and with the sea, baffled all attempts effectually to subdue it, and the possession of one place could only be maintained by the occupation of another. so long as this communication was kept up holland and zealand could with little difficulty assist their allies, and supply them abundantly by water as well as by land with all necessaries, so that valor was of no use, and the strength of the king's troops was fruitlessly wasted on tedious sieges. of all the towns in brabant antwerp was the most important, as well from, its wealth, its population, and its military force, as by its position on the mouth of the scheldt. this great and populous town, which at this date contained more than eighty thousand inhabitants, was one of the most active members of the national league, and had in the course of the war distinguished itself above all the towns of belgium by an untamable spirit of liberty. as it fostered within its bosom all the three christian churches, and owed much of its prosperity to this unrestricted religious liberty, it had the more cause to dread the spanish rule, which threatened to abolish this toleration, and by the terror of the inquisition to drive all the protestant merchants from its markets. moreover it had had but too terrible experience of the brutality of the spanish garrisons, and it was quite evident that if it once more suffered this insupportable yoke to be imposed upon it it would never again during the whole course of the war be able to throw it off. but powerful as were the motives which stimulated antwerp to resistance, equally strong were the reasons which determined the spanish general to make himself master of the place at any cost. on the possession of this town depended in a great measure that of the whole province of brabant, which by this channel chiefly derived its supplies of corn from zealand, while the capture of this place would secure to the victor the command of the scheldt. it would also deprive the league of brabant, which held its meetings in the town, of its principal support; the whole faction of its dangerous influence, of its example, its counsels, and its money, while the treasures of its inhabitants would open plentiful supplies for the military exigencies of the king. its fall would sooner or later necessarily draw after it that of all brabant, and the preponderance of power in that quarter would decide the whole dispute in favor of the king. determined by these grave considerations, the duke of parma drew his forces together in july, , and advanced from his position at dornick to the neighborhood of antwerp, with the intention of investing it. but both the natural position and fortifications of the town appeared to defy attacks. surrounded on the side of brabant with insurmountable works and moats, and towards flanders covered by the broad and rapid stream of the scheldt, it could not be carried by storm; and to blockade a town of such extent seemed to require a land force three times larger than that which the duke had, and moreover a fleet, of which he was utterly destitute. not only did the river yield the town all necessary supplies from ghent, it also opened an easy communication with the bordering province of zealand. for, as the tide of the north sea extends far up the scheldt, and ebbs and flows regularly, antwerp enjoys the peculiar advantage that the same tide flows past it at different times in two opposite directions. besides, the adjacent towns of brussels, malines, ghent, dendermonde, and others, were all at this time in the hands of the league, and could aid the place from the land side also. to blockade, therefore, the town by land, and to cut off its communication with flanders and brabant, required two different armies, one on each bank of the river. a sufficient fleet was likewise needed to guard the passage of the scheldt, and to prevent all attempts at relief, which would most certainly be made from zealand. but by the war which he had still to carry on in other quarters, and by the numerous garrisons which he was obliged to leave in the towns and fortified places, the army of the duke was reduced to ten thousand infantry and seventeen hundred horse, a force very inadequate for an undertaking of such magnitude. moreover, these troops were deficient in the most necessary supplies, and the long arrears of pay had excited them to subdued murmurs, which hourly threatened to break out into open mutiny. if, notwithstanding these difficulties, he should still attempt the seige, there would be much occasion to fear from the strongholds of the enemy, which were left in the rear, and from which it would be easy, by vigorous sallies, to annoy an army distributed over so many places, and to expose it to want by cutting off its supplies. all these considerations were brought forward by the council of war, before which the duke of parrna now laid his scheme. however great the confidence which they placed in themselves, and in the proved abilities of such a leader, nevertheless the most experienced generals did not disguise their despair of a fortunate result. two only were exceptions, capizucchi and mondragone, whose ardent courage placed them above all apprehensions; the rest concurred in dissuading the duke from attempting so hazardous an enterprise, by which they ran the risk of forfeiting the fruit of all their former victories and tarnishing the glory they had already earned. but objections, which he had already made to himself and refuted, could not shake the duke of parma in his purpose. not in ignorance of its inseparable dangers, not from thoughtless overvaluing his forces had he taken this bold resolve. but that instinctive genius which leads great men by paths which inferior minds either never enter upon or never finish, raised him above the influence of the doubts which a cold and narrow prudence would oppose to his views; and, without being able to convince his generals, he felt the correctness of his calculations in a conviction indistinct, indeed, but not on that account less indubitable. a succession of fortunate results had raised his confidence, and the sight of his army, unequalled in europe for discipline, experience, and valor, and commanded by a chosen body of the most distinguished officers, did not permit him to entertain fear for a moment. to those who objected to the small number of his troops, he answered, that however long the pike, it is only the point that kills; and that in military enterprise, the moving power was of more importance than the mass to be moved. he was aware, indeed, of the discontent of his troops, but he knew also their obedience; and he thought, moreover, that the best means to stifle their murmurs was by keeping them employed in some important undertaking, by stimulating their desire of glory by the splendor of the enterprise, and their rapacity by hopes of the rich booty which the capture of so wealthy a town would hold out. in the plan which he now formed for the conduct of the siege he endeavored to meet all these difficulties. famine was the only instrument by which he could hope to subdue the town; but effectually to use this formidable weapon, it would be expedient to cut off all its land and water communications. with this view, the first object was to stop, or at least to impede, the arrival of supplies from zealand. it was, therefore, requisite not only to carry all the outworks, which the people of antwerp had built on both shores of the scheldt for the protection of their shipping; but also, wherever feasible, to throw up new batteries which should command the whole course of the river; and to prevent the place from drawing supplies from the land side, while efforts were being made to intercept their transmission by sea, all the adjacent towns of brabant and flanders were comprehended in the plan of the siege, and the fall of antwerp was based on the destruction of all those places. a bold and, considering the duke's scanty force, an almost extravagant project, which was, however, justified by the genius of its author, and crowned by fortune with a brilliant result. as, however, time was required to accomplish a plan of this magnitude, the prince of parma was content, for the present, with the erection of numerous forts on the canals and rivers which connected antwerp with dendermonde, ghent, malines, brussels, and other places. spanish garrisons were quartered in the vicinity, and almost at the very gates of those towns, which laid waste the open country, and by their incursions kept the surrounding territory in alarm. thus, round ghent alone were encamped about three thousand men, and proportionate numbers round the other towns. in this way, and by means of the secret understanding which he maintained with the roman catholic inhabitants of those towns, the duke hoped, without weakening his own forces, gradually to exhaust their strength, and by the harassing operations of a petty but incessant warfare, even without any formni siege, to reduce them at last to capitulate. in the meantime the main force was directed against antwerp, which he now closely invested. he fixed his headquarters at bevern in flanders, a few miles from antwerp, where he found a fortified camp. the protection of the flemish bank of the scheldt was entrusted to the margrave of rysburg, general of cavalry; the brabant bank to the count peter ernest von mansfeld, who was joined by another spanish leader, mondragone. both the latter succeeded in crossing the scheldt upon pontoons, notwithstanding the flemish admiral's ship was sent to oppose them, and, passing antwerp, took up their position at stabroek in bergen. detached corps dispersed themselves along the whole brabant side, partly to secure the dykes and the roads. some miles below antwerp the scheldt was guarded by two strong forts, of which one was situated at liefkenshoek on the island doel, in flanders, the other at lillo, exactly opposite the coast of brabant. the last had been erected by mondragone himself, by order of the duke of alvaa, when the latter was still master of antwerp, and for this very reason the duke of parma now entrusted to him the attack upon it. on the possession of these two forts the success of the siege seemed wholly to depend, since all the vessels sailing from zealand to antwerp must pass under their guns. both forts had a short time before been strengthened by the besieged, and the former was scarcely finished when the margrave of rysburg attacked it. the celerity with which he went to work surprised the enemy before they were sufficiently prepared for defence, and a brisk assault quickly placed liefkenshoek in the hands of the spaniards. the confederates sustained this loss on the same fatal day that the prince of orange fell at delft by the hands of an assassin. the other batteries, erected on the island of doel, were partly abandoned by their defenders, partly taken by surprise, so that in a short time the whole flemish side was cleared of the enemy. but the fort at lillo, on the brabant shore, offered a more vigorous resistance, since the people of antwerp had had time to strengthen its fortifications and to provide it with a strong garrison. furious sallies of the besieged, led by odets von teligny, supported by the cannon of the fort, destroyed all the works of the spaniards, and an inundation, which was effected by opening the sluices, finally drove them away from the place after a three weeks' siege, and with the loss of nearly two thousand killed. they now retired into their fortified camp at stabroek, and contented themselves with taking possession of the dams which run across the lowlands of bergen, and oppose a breastwork to the encroachments of the east scheldt. the failure of his attempt upon the fort of lillo compelled the prince of parma to change his measures. as he could not succeed in stopping the passage of the scheldt by his original plan, on which the success of the siege entirely depended, he determined to effect his purpose by throwing a bridge across the whole breadth of the river. the thought was bold, and there were many who held it to be rash. both the breadth of the stream, which at this part exceeds twelve hundred paces, as well as its violence, which is still further augmented by the tides of the neighboring sea, appeared to render every attempt of this kind impracticable. moreover, he had to contend with a deficiency of timber, vessels, and workmen, as well as with the dangerous position between the fleets of antwerp and of zealand, to which it would necessarily be an easy task, in combination with a boisterous element, to interrupt so tedious a work. but the prince of parma knew his power, and his settled resolution would yield to nothing short of absolute impossibility. after he had caused the breadth as well as the depth of the river to be measured, and had consulted with two of his most skilful engineers, barocci and plato, it was settled that the bridge should be constructed between calloo in flanders and ordain in brabant. this spot was selected because the river is here narrowest, and bends a little to the right, and so detains vessels a while by compelling them to tack. to cover the bridge strong bastions were erected at both ends, of which the one on the flanders side was named fort st. maria, the other, on the brabant side, fort st. philip, in honor of the king. while active preparations were making in the spanish camp for the execution of this scheme, and the whole attention of the enemy was directed to it, the duke made an unexpected attack upon dendermonde, a strong town between ghent and antwerp, at the confluence of the dender and the scheldt. as long as this important place was in the hands of the enemy the towns of ghent and antwerp could mutually support each other, and by the facility of their communication frustrate all the efforts of the besiegers. its capture would leave the prince free to act against both towns, and might decide the fate of his undertaking. the rapidity of his attack left the besieged no time to open their sluices and lay the country under water. a hot cannonade was opened upon the chief bastion of the town before the brussels gate, but was answered by the fire of the besieged, which made great havoc amongst the spaniards. it increased, however, rather than discouraged their ardor, and the insults of the garrison, who mutilated the statue of a saint before their eyes, and after treating it with the most contumelious indignity, hurled it down from the rampart, raised their fury to the highest pitch. clamorously they demanded to be led against the bastion before their fire had made a sufficient breach in it, and the prince, to avail himself of the first ardor of their impetuosity, gave the signal for the assault. after a sanguinary contest of two hours the rampart was mounted, and those who were not sacrificed to the first fury of the spaniards threw themselves into the town. the latter was indeed now more exposed, a fire being directed upon it from the works which had been carried; but its strong walls and the broad moat which surrounded it gave reason to expect a protracted resistance. the inventive resources of the prince of parma soon overcame this obstacle also. while the bombardment was carried on night and day, the troops were incessantly employed in diverting the course of the dender, which supplied the fosse with water, and the besieged were seized with despair as they saw the water of the trenches, the last defence of the town, gradually disappear. they hastened to capitulate, and in august, , received a spanish garrison. thus, in the space of eleven days, the prince of parrna accomplished an undertaking which, in the opinion of competent judges, would require as many weeks. the town of ghent, now cut off from antwerp and the sea, and hard pressed by the troops of the king, which were encamped in its vicinity, and without hope of immediate succor, began to despair, as famine, with all its dreadful train, advanced upon them with rapid steps. the inhabitants therefore despatched deputies to the spanish camp at bevern, to tender its submission to the king upon the same terms as the prince had a short time previously offered. the deputies were informed that the time for treaties was past, and that an unconditional submission alone could appease the just anger of the monarch whom they had offended by their rebellion. nay, they were even given to understand that it would be only through his great mercy if the same humiliation were not exacted from them as their rebellious ancestors were forced to undergo under charles v., namely, to implore pardon half-naked, and with a cord round their necks. the deputies returned to ghent in despair, but three days afterwards a new deputation was sent to the spanish camp, which at last, by the intercession of one of the prince's friends, who was a prisoner in ghent, obtained peace upon moderate terms. the town was to pay a fine of two hundred thousand florins, recall the banished papists, and expel the protestant inhabitants, who, however, were to be allowed two years for the settlement of their affairs. all the inhabitants except six, who were reserved for capital punishment (but afterwards pardoned), were included in a general amnesty, and the garrison, which amounted to two thousand men, was allowed to evacuate the place with the honors of war. this treaty was concluded in september of the same year, at the headquarters at bevern, and immediately three thousand spaniards marched into the town as a garrison. it was more by the terror of his name and the dread of famine than by the force of arms that the prince of parma had succeeded in reducing this city to submission, the largest and strongest in the netherlands, which was little inferior to paris within the barriers of its inner town, consisted of thirty-seven thousand houses, and was built on twenty islands, connected by ninety-eight stone bridges. the important privileges which in the course of several centuries this city had contrived to extort from its rulers fostered in its inhabitants a spirit of independence, which not unfrequently degenerated into riot and license, and naturally brought it in collision with the austrian-spanish government. and it was exactly this bold spirit of liberty which procured for the reformation the rapid and extensive success it met with in this town, and the combined incentives of civil and religious freedom produced all those scenes of violence by which, during the rebellion, it had unfortunately distinguished itself. besides the fine levied, the prince found within the walls a large store of artillery, carriages, ships, and building materials of all kinds, with numerous workmen and sailors, who materially aided him in his plans against antwerp. before ghent surrendered to the king vilvorden and herentals had fallen into the hands of the spaniards, and the capture of the block-houses near the village of willebrock had cut off antwerp from brussels and malines. the loss of these places within so short a period deprived antwerp of all hope of succor from brabant and flanders, and limited all their expectations to the assistance which might be looked for from zealand. but to deprive them also of this the prince of parma was now making the most energetic preparations. the citizens of antwerp had beheld the first operations of the enemy against their town with the proud security with which the sight of their invincible river inspired them. this confidence was also in a degree justified by the opinion of the prince of orange, who, upon the first intelligence of the design, had said that the spanish army would inevitably perish before the walls of antwerp. that nothing, however, might be neglected, he sent, a short time before his assassination, for the burgomaster of antwerp, philip marnix of st. aldegonde, his intimate friend, to delft, where he consulted with him as to the means of maintaining defensive operations. it was agreed between then that it would be advisable to demolish forthwith the great dam between sanvliet and lillo called the blaaugarendyk, so as to allow the waters of the east scheldt to inundate, if necessary, the lowlands of bergen, and thus, in the event of the scheldt being closed, to open a passage for the zealand vessels to the town across the inundated country. aldegonde had, after his return, actually persuaded the magistrate and the majority of the citizens to agree to this proposal, when it was resisted by the guild of butchers, who claimed that they would be ruined by such a measure; for the plain which it was wished to lay under water was a vast tract of pasture land, upon which about twelve thousand oxen--were annually put to graze. the objection of the butchers was successful, and they managed to prevent the execution of this salutary scheme until the enemy had got possession of the dams as well as the pasture land. at the suggestion of the burgomaster st. aldegonde, who, himself a member of the states of brabant, was possessed of great authority in that council, the fortifications on both sides the scheldt had, a short time before the arrival of the spaniards, been placed in repair, and many new redoubts erected round the town. the dams had been cut through at saftingen, and the water of the west scheldt let out over nearly the whole country of waes. in the adjacent marquisate of bergen troops had been enlisted by the count of hohenlohe, and a scotch regiment, under the command of colonel morgan, was already in the pay of the republic, while fresh reinforcements were daily expected from england and france. above all, the states of holland and zealand were called upon to hasten their supplies. but after the enemy had taken strong positions on both sides of the river, and the fire of their batteries made the navigation dangerous, when place after place in brabant fell into their hands, and their cavalry had cut off all communication on the land side, the inhabitants of antwerp began at last to entertain serious apprehensions for the future. the town then contained eighty-five thousand souls, and according to calculation three hundred thousand quarters of corn were annually required for their support. at the beginning of the siege neither the supply nor the money was wanting for the laying in of such a store; for in spite of the enemy's fire the zealand victualing ships, taking advantage of the rising tide, contrived to make their way to the town. all that was requisite was to prevent any of the richer citizens from buying up these supplies, and, in case of scarcity, raising the price. to secure his object, one gianibelli from mantua, who had rendered important services in the course of the siege, proposed a property tax of one penny in every hundred, and the appointment of a board of respectable persons to purchase corn with this money, and distribute it weekly. and until the returns of this tax should be available the richer classes should advance the required sum, holding the corn purchased, as a deposit, in their own magazines; and were also to share in the profit. but this plan was unwelcome to the wealthier citizens, who had resolved to profit by the general distress. they recommended that every individual should be required to provide himself with a sufficient supply for two years; a proposition which, however it might suit their own circumstances, was very unreasonable in regard to the poorer inhabitants, who, even before the siege, could scarcely find means to supply themselves for so many months. they obtained indeed their object, which was to reduce the poor to the necessity of either quitting the place or becoming entirely their dependents. but when they afterwards reflected that in the time of need the rights of property would not be respected, they found it advisable not to be over-hasty in making their own purchases. the magistrate, in order to avert an evil that would have pressed upon individuals only, had recourse to an expedient which endangered the safety of all. some enterprising persons in zealand had freighted a large fleet with provisions, which succeeded in passing the guns of the enemy, and discharged its cargo at antwerp. the hope of a large profit had tempted the merchants to enter upon this hazardous speculation; in this, however, they were disappointed, as the magistrate of antwerp had, just before their arrival, issued an edict regulating the price of all the necessaries of life. at the same time to prevent individuals from buying up the whole cargo and storing it in their magazines with a view of disposing of it afterwards at a dearer rate, he ordered that the whole should be publicly sold in any quantities from the vessels. the speculators, cheated of their hopes of profit by these precautions, set sail again, and left antwerp with the greater part of their cargo, which would have sufficed for the support of the town for several months. this neglect of the most essential and natural means of preservation can only be explained by the supposition that the inhabitants considered it absolutely impossible ever to close the scheldt completely, and consequently had not the least apprehension that things would come to extremity. when the intelligence arrived in antwerp that the prince intended to throw a bridge over the scheldt the idea was universally ridiculed as chimerical. an arrogant comparison was drawn between the republic and the stream, and it was said that the one would bear the spanish yoke as little as the other. "a river which is twenty-four hundred feet broad, and, with its own waters alone, above sixty feet deep, but which with the tide rose twelve feet more--would such a stream," it was asked, "submit to be spanned by a miserable piece of paling? where were beams to be found high enough to reach to the bottom and project above the surface? and how was a work of this kind to stand in winter, when whole islands and mountains of ice, which stone walls could hardly resist, would be driven by the flood against its weak timbers, and splinter them to pieces like glass? or, perhaps, the prince purposed to construct a bridge of boats; if so, where would he procure the latter, and how bring them into his intrenchments? they must necessarily be brought past antwerp, where a fleet was ready to capture or sink them." but while they were trying to prove the absurdity of the prince of parma's undertaking he had already completed it. as soon as the forts st. maria and st. philip were erected, and protected the workmen and the work by their fire, a pier was built out into the stream from both banks, for which purpose the masts of the largest vessels were employed; by a skilful arrangement of the timbers they contrived to give the whole such solidity that, as the result proved, it was able to resist the violent pressure of the ice. these timbers, which rested firmly and securely on the bottom of the river, and projected a considerable height above it, being covered with planks, afforded a commodious roadway. it was wide enough to allow eight men to cross abreast, and a balustrade that ran along it on both sides, protected them from the fire of small- arms from the enemy's vessels. this "stacade," as it was called, ran from the two opposite shores as far as the increasing depth and force of the stream allowed. it reduced the breadth of the river to about eleven hundred feet; as, however, the middle and proper current would not admit of such a barrier, there remained, therefore, between the two stacades a space of more than six hundred paces through which a whole fleet of transports could sail with ease. this intervening space the prince designed to close by a bridge of boats, for which purpose the craft must be procured from dunkirk. but, besides that they could not be obtained in any number at that place, it would be difficult to bring them past antwerp without great loss. he was, therefore, obliged to content himself for the time with having narrowed the stream one-half, and rendered the passage of the enemy's vessels so much the more difficult. where the stacades terminated in the middle of the stream they spread out into parallelograms, which were mounted with heavy guns, and served as a kind of battery on the water. from these a heavy fire was opened on every vessel that attempted to pass through this narrow channel. whole fleets, however, and single vessels still attempted and succeeded in passing this dangerous strait. meanwhile ghent surrendered, and this unexpected success at once rescued the prince from his dilemma. he found in this town everything necessary to complete his bridge of boats; and the only difficulty now was its safe transport, which was furnished by the enemy themselves. by cutting the dams at saftingen a great part of the country of waes, as far as the village of borcht, had been laid under water, so that it was not difficult to cross it with flat-bottomed boats. the prince, therefore, ordered his vessels to run out from ghent, and after passing dendermonde and rupelmonde to pass through the left dyke of the scheldt, leaving antwerp to the right, and sail over the inundated fields in the direction of borcht. to protect this passage a fort was erected at the latter village, which would keep the enemy in check. all succeeded to his wishes, though not without a sharp action with the enemy's flotilla, which was sent out to intercept this convoy. after breaking through a few more dams on their route, they reached the spanish quarters at calloo, and successfully entered the scheldt again. the exultation of the army was greater when they discovered the extent of the danger the vessels had so narrowly escaped. scarcely had they got quit of the enemy's vessels when a strong reinforcement from antwerp got under weigh, commanded by the valiant defender of lillo, odets von teligny. when this officer saw that the affair was over, and that the enemy had escaped, he took possession of the dam through which their fleet had passed, and threw up a fort on the spot in order to stop the passage of any vessels from ghent which might attempt to follow them. by this step the prince was again thrown into embarrassment. he was far from having as yet a sufficient number of vessels, either for the construction of the bridge or for its defence, and the passage by which the former convoy had arrived was now closed by the fort erected by teligny. while he was reconnoitring the country to discover a new way for his, fleets an idea occurred to him which not only put an end to his present dilemma, but greatly accelerated the success of his whole plan. not far from the village of stecken, in waes, which is within some five thousand paces of the commencement of the inundation, flows a small stream called the moer, which falls into the scheldt near ghent. from this river he caused a canal to be dug to the spot where the inundations began, and as the water of these was not everywhere deep enough for the transit of his boats, the canal between bevern and verrebroek was continued to calloo, where it was met by the scheldt. at this work five hundred pioneers labored without intermission, and in order to cheer the toil of the soldiers the prince himself took part in it. in this way did he imitate the example of the two celebrated romans, drusus and corbulo, who by similar works had united the rhine with the zuyder zee, and the maes with the rhine? this canal, which the army in honor of its projector called the canal of parma, was fourteen thousand paces in length, and was of proportion able depth and breadth, so as to be navigable for ships of a considerable burden. it afforded to the vessels from ghent not only a more secure, but also a much shorter course to the spanish quarters, because it was no longer necessary to follow the many windings of the scheldt, but entering the moer at once near ghent, and from thence passing close to stecken, they could proceed through the canal and across the inundated country as far as calloo. as the produce of all flanders was brought to the town of ghent, this canal placed the spanish camp in communication with the whole province. abundance poured into the camp from all quarters, so that during the whole course of the siege the spaniards suffered no scarcity of any kind. but the greatest benefit which the prince derived from this work was an adequate supply of flat-bottomed vessels to complete his bridge. these preparations were overtaken by the arrival of winter, which, as the scheldt was filled with drift-ice, occasioned a considerable delay in the building of the bridge. the prince had contemplated with anxiety the approach of this season, lest it should prove highly destructive to the work he had undertaken, and afford the enemy a favorable opportunity for making a serious attack upon it. but the skill of his engineers saved him from the one danger, and the strange inaction of the enemy freed him from the other. it frequently happened, indeed, that at flood-time large pieces of ice were entangled in the timbers, and shook them violently, but they stood the assault of the furious element, which only served to prove their stability. in antwerp, meanwhile, important moments had been wasted in futile deliberations; and in a struggle of factions the general welfare was neglected. the government of the town was divided among too many heads, and much too great a share in it was held by the riotous mob to allow room for calmness of deliberation or firmness of action. besides the municipal magistracy itself, in which the burgomaster had only a single voice, there were in the city a number of guilds, to whom were consigned the charge of the internal and external defence, the provisioning of the town, its fortifications, the marine, commerce, etc.; some of whom must be consulted in every business of importance. by means of this crowd of speakers, who intruded at pleasure into the council, and managed to carry by clamor and the number of their adherents what they could not effect by their arguments, the people obtained a dangerous influence in the public debates, and the natural struggle of such discordant interests retarded the execution of every salutary measure. a government so vacillating and impotent could not command the respect of unruly sailors and a lawless soldiery. the orders of the state consequently were but imperfectly obeyed, and the decisive moment was more than once lost by the negligence, not to say the open mutiny, both of the land and sea forces. the little harmony in the selection of the means by which the enemy was to be opposed would not, however, have proved so injurious had there but existed unanimity as to the end. but on this very point the wealthy citizens and poorer classes were divided; so the former, having everything to apprehend from allowing matters to be carried to extremity, were strongly inclined to treat with the prince of parma. this disposition they did not even attempt to conceal after the fort of liefkenshoek had fallen into the enemy's hands, and serious fears were entertained for the navigation of the scheldt. some of them, indeed, withdrew entirely from the danger, and left to its fate the town, whose prosperity they had been ready enough to share, but in whose adversity they were unwilling to bear a part. from sixty to seventy of those who remained memorialized the council, advising that terms should be made with the king. no sooner, however, had the populace got intelligence of it than their indignation broke out in a violent uproar, which was with difficulty appeased by the imprisonment and fining of the petitioners. tranquillity could only be fully restored by publication of an edict, which imposed the penalty of death on all who either publicly or privately should countenance proposals for peace. the prince of parma did not fail to take advantage of these disturbances; for nothing that transpired within the city escaped his notice, being well served by the agents with whom he maintained a secret understanding with antwerp, as well as the other towns of brabant and flanders. although he had already made considerable progress in his measures for distressing the town, still he had many steps to take before he could actually make himself master of it; and one unlucky moment might destroy the work of many months. without, therefore, neglecting any of his warlike preparations, he determined to make one more serious attempt to get possession by fair means. with this object he despatched a letter in november to the great council of antwerp, in which he skilfully made use of every topic likely to induce the citizens to come to terms, or at least to increase their existing dissensions. he treated them in this letter in the light of persons who had been led astray, and threw the whole blame of their revolt and refractory conduct hitherto upon the intriguing spirit of the prince of orange, from whose artifices the retributive justice of heaven had so lately liberated them. "it was," he said, "now in their power to awake from their long infatuation and return to their allegiance to a monarch who was ready and anxious to be reconciled to his subjects. for this end he gladly offered himself as mediator, as he had never ceased to love a country in which he had been born, and where he had spent the happiest days of his youth. he therefore exhorted them to send plenipotentiaries with whom he could arrange the conditions of peace, and gave them hopes of obtaining reasonable terms if they made a timely submission, but also threatened them with the severest treatment if they pushed matters to extremity." this letter, in which we are glad to recognize a language very different from that which the duke of alva held ten years before on a similar occasion, was answered by the townspeople in a respectful and dignified tone. while they did full justice to the personal character of the prince, and acknowledged his favorable intentions towards them with gratitude, they lamented the hardness of the times, which placed it out of his power to treat them in accordance with his character and disposition. they declared that they would gladly place their fate in his hands if he were absolute master of his actions, instead of being obliged to obey the will of another, whose proceedings his own candor would not allow him to approve of. the unalterable resolution of the king of spain, as well as the vow which he had made to the pope, were only too well known for them to have any hopes in that quarter. they at the same time defended with a noble warmth the memory of the prince of orange, their benefactor and preserver, while they enumerated the true cases which had produced this unhappy war, and had caused the provinces to revolt from the spanish crown. at the same time they did not disguise from him that they had hopes of finding a new and a milder master in the king of france, and that, if only for this reason, they could not enter into any treaty with the spanish king without incurring the charge of the most culpable fickleness and ingratitude. the united provinces, in fact, dispirited by a succession of reverses, had at last come to the determination of placing themselves under the protection and sovereignty of france, and of preserving their existence and their ancient privileges by the sacrifice of their independence. with this view an embassy had some time before been despatched to paris, and it was the prospect of this powerful assistance which principally supported the courage of the people of antwerp. henry iii., king of france, was personally disposed to accept this offer; but the troubles which the intrigues of the spaniards contrived to excite within his own kingdom compelled him against his will to abandon it. the provinces now turned for assistance to queen elizabeth of england, who sent them some supplies, which, however, came too late to save antwerp. while the people of this city were awaiting the issue of these negotiations, and expecting aid from foreign powers, they neglected, unfortunately, the most natural and immediate means of defence; the whole winter was lost, and while the enemy turned it to greater advantage the more complete was their indecision and inactivity. the burgomaster of antwerp, st. aldegonde, had, indeed, repeatedly urged the fleet of zealand to attack the enemy's works, which should be supported on the other side from antwerp. the long and frequently stormy nights would favor this attempt, and if at the same time a sally were made by the garrison at lillo, it seemed scarcely possible for the enemy to resist this triple assault. but unfortunately misunderstandings had arisen between the commander of the fleet, william von blois von treslong, and the admiralty of zealand, which caused the equipment of the fleet to be most unaccountably delayed. in order to quicken their movements teligny at last resolved to go himself to middleburg, were the states of zealand were assembled; but as the enemy were in possession of all the roads the attempt cost him his freedom and the republic its most valiant defender. however, there was no want of enterprising vessels, which, under the favor of the night and the floodtide, passing through the still open bridge in spite of the enemy's fire, threw provisions into the town and returned with the ebb. but as many of these vessels fell into the hands of the enemy the council gave orders that they should never risk the passage unless they amounted to a certain number; and the result, unfortunately, was that none attempted it because the required number could not be collected at one time. several attacks were also made from antwerp on the ships of the spaniards, which were not entirely unsuccessful; some of the latter were captured, others sunk, and all that was required was to execute similar attempts on a grand scale. but however zealously st. aldegonde urged this, still not a captain was to be found who would command a vessel for that purpose. amid these delays the winter expired, and scarcely had the ice begun to disappear when the construction of the bridge of boats was actively resumed by the besiegers. between the two piers a space of more than six hundred paces still remained to be filled up, which was effected in the following manner: thirty-two flat-bottomed vessels, each sixty-six feet long and twenty broad, were fastened together with strong cables and iron chains, but at a distance from each other of about twenty feet to allow a free passage to the stream. each boat, moreover, was moored with two cables, both up and down the stream, but which, as the water rose with the tide, or sunk with the ebb, could be slackened or tightened. upon the boats great masts were laid which reached from one to another, and, being covered with planks, formed a regular road, which, like that along the piers, was protected with a balustrade. this bridge of boats, of which the two piers formed a continuation, had, including the latter, a length of twenty-four thousand paces. this formidable work was so ingeniously constructed, and so richly furnished with the instruments of destruction, that it seemed almost capable, like a living creature, of defending itself at the word of command, scattering death among all who approached. besides the two forts of st. maria and st. philip, which terminated the bridge on either shore, and the two wooden bastions on the bridge itself, which were filled with soldiers and mounted with guns on all sides, each of the two-and-thirty vessels was manned with thirty soldiers and four sailors, and showed the cannon's mouth to the enemy, whether he carne up from zealand or down from antwerp. there were in all ninety-seven cannon, which were distributed beneath and above the bridge, and more than fifteen hundred men who were posted, partly in the forts, partly in the vessels, and, in case of necessity, could maintain a terrible fire of small-arms upon the enemy. but with all this the prince did not consider his work sufficiently secure. it was to be expected that the enemy would leave nothing unattempted to burst by the force of his machines the middle and weakest part. to guard against this, he erected in a line with the bridge of boats, but at some distance from it, another distinct defence, intended to break the force of any attack that might be directed against the bridge itself. this work consisted of thirty-three vessels of considerable magnitude, which were moored in a row athwart the stream and fastened in threes by masts, so that they formed eleven different groups. each of these, like a file of pikemen, presented fourteen long wooden poles with iron heads to the approaching enemy. these vessels were loaded merely with ballast, and were anchored each by a double but slack cable, so as to be able to give to the rise and fall of the tide. as they were in constant motion they got from the soldiers the name of "swimmers." the whole bridge of boats and also a part of the piers were covered by these swimmers, which were stationed above as well as below the bridge. to all these defensive preparations was added a fleet of forty men-of-war, which were stationed on both coasts and served as a protection to the whole. this astonishing work was finished in march, , the seventh month of the siege, and the day on which it was completed was kept as a jubilee by the troops. the great event was announced to the besieged by a grand /fete de joie/, and the army, as if to enjoy ocular demonstration of its triumph, extended itself along the whole platform to gaze upon the proud stream, peacefully and obediently flowing under the yoke which had been imposed upon it. all the toil they had undergone was forgotton in the delightful spectacle, and every man who had had a hand in it, however insignificant he might be, assumed to himself a portion of the honor which the successful execution of so gigantic an enterprise conferred on its illustrious projector. on the other hand, nothing could equal the consternation which seized the citizens of antwerp when intelligence was brought them that the scheldt was now actually closed, and all access from zealand cut off. to increase their dismay they learned the fall of brussels also, which had at last been compelled by famine to capitulate. an attempt made by the count of hohenlohe about the same time on herzogenbusch, with a view to recapture the town, or at least form a diversion, was equally unsuccessful; and thus the unfortunate city lost all hope of assistance, both by sea and land. these evil tidings were brought them by some fugitives who had succeeded in passing the spanish videttes, and had made their way into the town; and a spy, whom the burgomaster had sent out to reconnoitre the enemy's works, increased the general alarm by his report. he had been seized and carried before the prince of parma, who commanded him to be conducted over all the works, and all the defences of the bridge to be pointed out to him. after this had been done he was again brought before the general, who dismissed him with these words: "go," said he, "and report what you have seen to those who sent you. and tell them, too, that it is my firm resolve to bury myself under the ruins of this bridge or by means of it to pass into your town." but the certainty of danger now at last awakened the zeal of the confederates, and it was no fault of theirs if the former half of the prince's vow was not fulfilled. the latter had long viewed with apprehension the preparations which were making in zealand for the relief of the town. he saw clearly that it was from this quarter that he had to fear the most dangerous blow, and that with all his works he could not make head against the combined fleets of zealand and antwerp if they were to fall upon him at the same time and at the proper moment. for a while the delays of the admiral of zealand, which he had labored by all the means in his power to prolong, had been his security, but now the urgent necessity accelerated the expedition, and without waiting for the admiral the states at middleburg despatched the count justin of nassau, with as many ships as they could muster, to the assistance of the besieged. this fleet took up a position before liefkenshoek, which was in possession of the spaniards, and, supported by a few vessels from the opposite fort of lillo, cannonaded it with such success that the walls were in a short time demolished, and the place carried by storm. the walloons who formed the garrison did not display the firmness which might have been expected from soldiers of the duke of parma; they shamefully surrendered the fort to the enemy, who in a short time were in possession of the whole island of doel, with all the redoubts situated upon it. the loss of these places, which were, however, soon retaken, incensed the duke of parma so much that he tried the officers by court-martial, and caused the most culpable among them to be beheaded. meanwhile this important conquest opened to the zealanders a free passage as far as the bridge, and after concerting with the people of antwerp the time was fixed for a combined attack on this work. it was arranged that, while the bridge of boats was blown up by machines already prepared in antwerp, the zealand fleet, with a sufficient supply of provisions, should be in the vicinity, ready to sail to the town through the opening. while the duke of parma was engaged in constructing his bridge an engineer within the walls was already preparing the materials for its destruction. frederick gianibelli was the name of the man whom fate had destined to be the archimedes of antwerp, and to exhaust in its defence the same ingenuity with the same want of success. he was born in mantua, and had formerly visited madrid for the purpose, it was said, of offering his services to king philip in the belgian war. but wearied with waiting the offended engineer left the court with the intention of making the king of spain sensibly feel the value of talents which he had so little known how to appreciate. he next sought the service of queen elizabeth of england, the declared enemy of spain, who, after witnessing a few specimens of his skill, sent him to antwerp. he took up his residence in that town, and in the present extremity devoted to its defence his knowledge, his energy, and his zeal. as soon as this artist perceived that the project of erecting the bridge was seriously intended, and that the work was fast approaching to completion, he applied to the magistracy for three large vessels, from a hundred and fifty to five hundred tons, in which he proposed to place mines. he also demanded sixty boats, which, fastened together with cables and chains, furnished with projecting grappling-irons, and put in motion with the ebbing of the tide, were intended to second the operation of the mine-ships by being directed in a wedgelike form against the bridge. but he had to deal with men who were quite incapable of comprehending an idea out of the common way, and even where the salvation of their country was at stake could not forget the calculating habits of trade. his scheme was rejected as too expensive, and with difficulty he at last obtained the grant of two smaller vessels, from seventy to eighty tons, with a number of flat-bottomed boats. with these two vessels, one of which he called the "fortune" and the other the "hope," he proceeded in the following manner: in the hold of each he built a hollow chamber of freestone, five feet broad, three and a half high, and forty long. this magazine he filled with sixty hundredweight of the finest priming powder of his own compounding, and covered it with as heavy a weight of large slabs and millstones as the vessels could carry. over these he further added a roof of similar stones, which ran up to a point and projected six feet above the ship's side. the deck itself was crammed with iron chains and hooks, knives, nails, and other destructive missiles; the remaining space, which was not occupied by the magazine, was likewise filled up with planks. several small apertures were left in the chamber for the matches which were to set fire to the mine. for greater certainty he had also contrived a piece of mechanism which, after the lapse of a given time, would strike out sparks, and even if the matches failed would set the ship on fire. to delude the enemy into a belief that these machines were only intended to set the bridge on fire, a composition of brimstone and pitch was placed in the top, which could burn a whole hour. and still further to divert the enemy's attention from the proper seat of danger, he also prepared thirty-two flatbottomed boats, upon which there were only fireworks burning, and whose sole object was to deceive the enemy. these fire-ships were to be sent down upon the bridge in four separate squadrons, at intervals of half an hour, and keep the enemy incessantly engaged for two whole hours, so that, tired of firing and wearied by vain expectation, they might at last relax their vigilance before the real fire-ships came. in addition to all this he also despatched a few vessels in which powder was concealed in order to blow up the floating work before the bridge, and to clear a passage for the two principal ships. at the same time he hoped by this preliminary attack to engage the enemy's attention, to draw them out, and expose them to the full deadly effect of the volcano. the night between the th and th of april was fixed for the execution of this great undertaking. an obscure rumor of it had already diffused itself through the spanish camp, and particularly from the circumstance of many divers from antwerp having been detected endeavoring to cut the cables of the vessels. they were prepared, therefore, for a serious attack; they only mistook the real nature of it, and counted on having to fight rather with man than the elements. in this expectation the duke caused the guards along the whole bank to be doubled, and drew up the chief part of his troops in the vicinity of the bridge, where he was present in person; thus meeting the danger while endeavoring to avoid it. no sooner was it dark than three burning vessels were seen to float down from the city towards the bridge, then three more, and directly after the same number. they beat to arms throughout the spanish camp, and the whole length of the bridge was crowded with soldiers. meantime the number of the fire-ships increased, and they came in regular order down the stream, sometimes two and sometimes three abreast, being at first steered by sailors on board them. the admiral of the antwerp fleet, jacob jacobson (whether designedly or through carelessness is not known), had committed the error of sending off the four squadrons of fire-ships too quickly one after another, and caused the two large mine- ships also to follow them too soon, and thus disturbed the intended order of attack. the array of vessels kept approaching, and the darkness of night still further heightened the extraordinary spectacle. as far as the eye could follow the course of the stream all was fire; the fire-ships burning as brilliantly as if they were themselves in the flames; the surface of the water glittered with light; the dykes and the batteries along the shore, the flags, arms, and accoutrements of the soldiers who lined the rivers as well as the bridges were clearly distinguishable in the glare. with a mingled sensation of awe and pleasure the soldiers watched the unusual sight, which rather resembled a fete than a hostile preparation, but from the very strangeness of the contrast filled the mind with a mysterious awe. when the burning fleet had come within two thousand paces of the bridge those who had the charge of it lighted the matches, impelled the two mine-vessels into the middle of the stream, and leaving the others to the guidance of the current of the waves, they hastily made their escape in boats which had been kept in readiness. their course, however, was irregular, and destitute of steersmen they arrived singly and separately at the floating works, where they continued hanging or were dashed off sidewise on the shore. the foremost powder-ships, which were intended to set fire to the floating works, were cast, by the force of a squall which arose at that instant, on the flemish coast. one of the two, the "fortune," grounded in its passage before it reached the bridge, and killed by its explosion some spanish soldiers who were at work in a neighboring battery. the other and larger fire-ship, called the "hope," narrowly escaped a similar fate. the current drove her against the floating defences towards the flemish bank, where it remained hanging, and had it taken fire at that moment the greatest part of its effect would have been lost. deceived by the flames which this machine, like the other vessels, emitted, the spaniards took it for a common fire-ship, intended to burn the bridge of boats. and as they had seen them extinguished one after the other without further effect all fears were dispelled, and the spaniards began to ridicule the preparations of the enemy, which had been ushered in with so much display and now had so absurd an end. some of the boldest threw themselves into the stream in order to get a close view of the fire-ship and extinguish it, when by its weight it suddenly broke through, burst the floating work which had detained it, and drove with terrible force on the bridge of boats. all was now in commotion on the bridge, and the prince called to the sailors to keep the vessel off with poles, and to extinguish the flames before they caught the timbers. at this critical moment he was standing at the farthest end of the left pier, where it formed a bastion in the water and joined the bridge of boats. by his side stood the margrave of rysburg, general of cavalry and governor of the province of artois, who had formerly-served the states, but from a protector of the republic had become its worst enemy; the baron of billy, governor of friesland and commander of the german regiments; the generals cajetan and guasto, with several of the principal officers; all forgetful of their own danger and entirely occupied with averting the general calamity. at this moment a spanish ensign approached the prince of parma and conjured him to remove from a place where his life was in manifest and imminent peril. no attention being paid to his entreaty he repeated it still more urgently, and at last fell at his feet and implored him in this one instance to take advice from his servant. while he said this he had laid hold of the duke's coat as though he wished forcibly to draw him away from the spot, and the latter, surprised rather at the man's boldness than persuaded by his arguments, retired at last to the shore, attended by cajetan and guasto. he had scarcely time to reach the fort st. maria at the end of the bridge when an explosion took place behind him, just as if the earth had burst or the vault of heaven given way. the duke and his whole army fell to the ground as dead, and several minutes elapsed before they recovered their consciousness. but then what a sight presented itself! the waters of the scheldt had been divided to its lowest depth, and driven with a surge which rose like a wall above the dam that confined it, so that all the fortifications on the banks were several feet under water. the earth shook for three miles round. nearly the whole left pier, on which the fire-ship had been driven, with a part of the bridge of boats, had been burst and shattered to atoms, with all that was upon it; spars, cannon, and men blown into the air. even the enormous blocks of stone which had covered the mine had, by the force of the explosion, been hurled into the neighboring fields, so that many of them were afterwards dug out of the ground at a distance of a thousand paces from the bridge. six vessels were buried, several had gone to pieces. but still more terrible was the carnage which the murderous machine had dealt amongst the soldiers. five hundred, according to other reports even eight hundred, were sacrificed to its fury, without reckoning those who escaped with mutilated or injured bodies. the most opposite kinds of death were combined in this frightful moment. some were consumed by the flames of the explosion, others scalded to death by the boiling water of the river, others stifled by the poisonous vapor of the brimstone; some were drowned in the stream, some buried under the hail of falling masses of rock, many cut to pieces by the knives and hooks, or shattered by the balls which were poured from the bowels of the machine. some were found lifeless without any visible injury, having in all probability been killed by the mere concussion of the air. the spectacle which presented itself directly after the firing of the mine was fearful. men were seen wedged between the palisades of the bridge, or struggling to release themselves from beneath ponderous masses of rock, or hanging in the rigging of the ships; and from all places and quarters the most heartrending cries for help arose, but as each was absorbed in his own safety these could only be answered by helpless wailings. many had escaped in the most wonderful manner. an officer named tucci was carried by the whirlwind like a feather high into the air, where he was for a moment suspended, and then dropped into the river, where he saved himself by swimming. another was taken up by the force of the blast from the flanders shore and deposited on that of brabant, incurring merely a slight contusion on the shoulder; he felt, as he afterwards said, during this rapid aerial transit, just as if he had been fired out of a cannon. the prince of parma himself had never been so near death as at that moment, when half a minute saved his life. he had scarcely set foot in the fort of st. maria when he was lifted off his feet as if by a hurricane, and a beam which struck him on the head and shoulders stretched him senseless on the earth. for a long time he was believed to be actually killed, many remembering to have seen him on the bridge only a few minutes before the fatal explosion. he was found at last between his attendants, cajetan and guasto, raising himself up with his hand on his sword; and the intelligence stirred the spirits of the whole army. but vain would be the attempt to depict his feelings when he surveyed the devastation which a single moment had caused in the work of so many months. the bridge of boats, upon which all his hopes rested, was rent asunder; a great part of his army was destroyed; another portion maimed and rendered ineffective for many days; many of his best officers were killed; and, as if the present calamity were not sufficient, he had now to learn the painful intelligence that the margrave of rysburg, whom of all his officers he prized the highest, was missing. and yet the worst was still to come, for every moment the fleets of the enemy were to be expected from antwerp and lillo, to which this fearful position of the army would disable him from offering any effectual resistance. the bridge was entirely destroyed, and nothing could prevent the fleet from zealand passing through in full sail; while the confusion of the troops in this first moment was so great and general that it would have been impossible to give or obey orders, as many corps had lost their commanding officers, and many commanders their corps; and even the places where they had been stationed were no longer to be recognized amid the general ruin. add to this that all the batteries on shore were under water, that several cannon were sunk, that the matches were wet, and the ammunition damaged. what a moment for the enemy if they had known how to avail themselves of it! it will scarcely be believed, however, that this success, which surpassed all expectation, was lost to antwerp, simply because nothing was known of it. st. aldegonde, indeed, as soon as the explosion of the mine was heard in the town, had sent out several galleys in the direction of the bridge, with orders to send up fire-balls and rockets the moment they had passed it, and then to sail with the intelligence straight on to lillo, in order to bring up, without delay, the zealand fleet, which had orders to co-operate. at the same time the admiral of antwerp was ordered, as soon as the signal was given, to sail out with his vessels and attack the enemy in their first consternation. but although a considerable reward was promised to the boatmen sent to reconnoitre they did not venture near the enemy, but returned without effecting their purpose, and reported that the bridge of boats was uninjured, and the fire-ship had had no effect. even on the following day also no better measures were taken to learn the true state of the bridge; and as the fleet at lillo, in spite of the favorable wind, was seen to remain inactive, the belief that the fire-ships had accomplished nothing was confirmed. it did not seem to occur to any one that this very inactivity of the confederates, which misled the people of antwerp, might also keep back the zealanders at lille, as in fact it did. so signal an instance of neglect could only have occurred in a government, which, without dignity of independence, was guided by the tumultuous multitude it ought to have governed. the more supine, however, they were themselves in opposing the enemy, the more violently did their rage boil against gianibelli, whom the frantic mob would have torn in pieces if they could have caught him. for two days the engineer was in the most imminent danger, until at last, on the third morning, a courier from lillo, who had swam under the bridge, brought authentic intelligence of its having been destroyed, but at the same time announced that it had been repaired. this rapid restoration of the bridge was really a miraculous effort of the prince of parma. scarcely had he recovered from the shock, which seemed to have overthrown all his plans, when he contrived, with wonderful presence of mind, to prevent all its evil consequences. the absence of the enemy's fleet at this decisive moment revived his hopes. the ruinous state of the bridge appeared to be a secret to them, and though it was impossible to repair in a few hours the work of so many months, yet a great point would be gained if it could be done even in appearance. all his men were immediately set to work to remove the ruins, to raise the timbers which had been thrown down, to replace those which were demolished, and to fill up the chasms with ships. the duke himself did not refuse to share in the toil, and his example was followed by all his officers. stimulated by this popular behavior, the common soldiers exerted themselves to the utmost; the work was carried on during the whole night under the constant sounding of drums and trumpets, which were distributed along the bridge to drown the noise of the work-people. with dawn of day few traces remained of the night's havoc; and although the bridge was restored only in appearance, it nevertheless deceived the spy, and consequently no attack was made upon it. in the meantime the prince contrived to make the repairs solid, nay, even to introduce some essential alterations in the structure. in order to guard against similar accidents for the future, a part of the bridge of boats was made movable, so that in case of necessity it could be taken away and a passage opened to the fire-ships. his loss of men was supplied from the garrisons of the adjoining places, and by a german regiment which arrived very opportunely from gueldres. he filled up the vacancies of the officers who were killed, and in doing this he did not forget the spanish ensign who had saved his life. the people of antwerp, after learning the success of their mine-ship, now did homage to the inventor with as much extravagance as they had a short time before mistrusted him, and they encouraged his genius to new attempts. gianibelli now actually obtained the number of flat-bottomed vessels which he had at first demanded in vain, and these he equipped in such a manner that they struck with irresistible force on the bridge, and a second time also burst and separated it. but this time, the wind was contrary to the zealand fleet, so that they could not put out, and thus the prince obtained once more the necessary respite to repair the damage. the archimedes of antwerp was not deterred by any of these disappointments. anew he fitted out two large vessels which were armed with iron hooks and similar instruments in order to tear asunder the bridge. but when the moment came for these vessels to get under weigh no one was found ready to embark in them. the engineer was therefore obliged to think of a plan for giving to these machines such a self- impulse that, without being guided by a steersman, they would keep the middle of the stream, and not, like the former ones, be driven on the bank by the wind. one of his workmen, a german, here hit upon a strange invention, if strada's description of it is to be credited. he affixed a sail under the vessel, which was to be acted upon by the water, just as an ordinary sail is by the wind, and could thus impel the ship with the whole force of the current. the result proved the correctness of his calculation; for this vessel, with the position of its sails reversed, not only kept the centre of the stream, but also ran against the bridge with such impetuosity that the enemy had not time to open it and was actually burst asunder. but all these results were of no service to the town, because the attempts were made at random and were supported by no adequate force. a new fire-ship, equipped like the former, which had succeeded so well, and which gianibelli had filled with four thousand pounds of the finest powder was not even used; for a new mode of attempting their deliverance had now occurred to the people of antwerp. terrified by so many futile attempts from endeavoring to clear a passage for vessels on the river by force, they at last came to the determination of doing without the stream entirely. they remembered the example of the town of leyden, which, when besieged by the spaniards ten years before, had saved itself by opportunely inundating the surrounding country, and it was resolved to imitate this example. between lillo and stabroek, in the district of bergen, a wide and somewhat sloping plain extends as far as antwerp, being protected by numerous embankments and counter-embankments against the irruptions of the east scheldt. nothing more was requisite than to break these dams, when the whole plain would become a sea, navigable by flat-bottomed vessels almost to the very walls of antwerp. if this attempt should succeed, the duke of parma might keep the scheldt guarded with his bridge of boats as long as he pleased; a new river would be formed, which, in case of necessity, would be equally serviceable for the time. this was the very plan which the prince of orange had at the commencement of the siege recommended, and in which he had been strenuously, but unsuccessfully, seconded by st. aldegonde, because some of the citizens could not be persuaded to sacrifice their own fields. in the present emergency they reverted to this last resource, but circumstances in the meantime had greatly changed. the plain in question is intersected by a broad and high dam, which takes its name from the adjacent castle of cowenstein, and extends for three miles from the village of stabroek, in bergen, as far as the scheldt, with the great dam of which it unites near ordam. beyond this dam no vessels can proceed, however high the tide, and the sea would be vainly turned into the fields as long as such an embankment remained in the way, which would prevent the zealand vessels from descending into the plain before antwerp. the fate of the town would therefore depend upon the demolition of this cowenstein dam; but, foreseeing this, the prince of parma had, immediately on commencing the blockade, taken possession of it, and spared no pains to render it tenable to the last. at the village of stabroek, count mansfeld was encamped with the greatest part of his army, and by means of this very cowenstein dam kept open the communication with the bridge, the headquarters, and the spanish magazines at calloo. thus the army formed an uninterrupted line from stabroek in brabant, as far as bevern in flanders, intersected indeed, but not broken by the scheldt, and which could not be cut off without a sanguinary conflict. on the dam itself within proper distances five different batteries had been erected, the command of which was given to the most valiant officers in the army. nay, as the prince of parma could not doubt that now the whole fury of the war would be turned to this point, he entrusted the defence of the bridge to count mansfeld, and resolved to defend this important post himself. the war, therefore, now assumed a different aspect, and the theatre of it was entirely changed. both above and below lillo, the netherlanders had in several places cut through the dam, which follows the brabant shore of the scheldt; and where a short time before had been green fields, a new element now presented itself, studded with masts and boats. a zealand fleet, commanded by count hohenlohe, navigated the inundated fields, and made repeated movements against the cowenstein dam, without, however, attempting a serious attack on it, while another fleet showed itself in the scheldt, threatening the two coasts alternately with a landing, and occasionally the bridge of boats with an attack. for several days this manoeuvre was practised on the enemy, who, uncertain of the quarter whence an attack was to be expected, would, it was hoped, be exhausted by continual watching, and by degrees lulled into security by so many false alarms. antwerp had promised count hohenlohe to support the attack on the dam by a flotilla from the town; three beacons on the principal tower were to be the signal that this was on the way. when, therefore, on a dark night the expected columns of fire really ascended above antwerp, count hohenlohe immediately caused five hundred of his troops to scale the dam between two of the enemy's redoubts, who surprised part of the spanish garrison asleep, and cut down the others who attempted to defend themselves. in a short time they had gained a firm footing upon the dam, and were just on the point of disembarking the remainder of their force, two thousand in number, when the spaniards in the adjoining redoubts marched out and, favored by the narrowness of the ground, made a desperate attack on the crowded zealanders. the guns from the neighboring batteries opened upon the approaching fleet, and thus rendered the landing of the remaining troops impossible; and as there were no signs of co-operation on the part of the city, the zealanders were overpowered after a short conflict and again driven down from the dam. the victorious spaniards pursued them through the water as far as their boats, sunk many of the latter, and compelled the rest to retreat with heavy loss. count hohenlohe threw the blame of this defeat upon the inhabitants of antwerp, who had deceived him by a false signal, and it certainly must be attributed to the bad arrangement of both parties that the attempt failed of better success. but at last the allies determined to make a systematic assault on the enemy with their combined force, and to put an end to the siege by a grand attack as well on the dam as on the bridge. the th of may, , was fixed upon for the execution of this design, and both armies used their utmost endeavors to make this day decisive. the force of the hollanders and zealanders, united to that of antwerp, exceeded two hundred ships, to man which they had stripped their towns and citadels, and with this force they purposed to attack the cowenstein dam on both sides. the bridge over the scheldt was to be assailed with new machines of gianibelli's invention, and the duke of parma thereby hindered from assisting the defence of the dam. alexander, apprised of the danger which threatened him, spared nothing on his side to meet it with energy. immediately after getting possession of the dam he had caused redoubts to be erected at five different, places, and had given the command of them to the most experienced officers of the army. the first of these, which was called the cross battery, was erected on the spot where the cowenstein darn enters the great embankment of the scheldt, and makes with the latter the form of a cross; the spaniard, mondragone, was appointed to the command of this battery. a thousand paces farther on, near the castle of cowenstein, was posted the battery of st. james, which was entrusted to the command of camillo di monte. at an equal distance from this lay the battery of st. george, and at a thousand paces from the latter, the pile battery, under the command of gamboa, so called from the pile-work on which it rested; at the farthest end of the darn, near stabroek, was the fifth redoubt, where count mansfeld, with capizuechi, an italian, commanded. all these forts the prince now strengthened with artillery and men; on both sides of the dam, and along its whole extent, he caused piles to be driven, as well to render the main embankment firmer, as to impede the labor of the pioneers, who were to dig through it. early on the morning of the th of may the enemy's forces were in motion. with the dusk of dawn there came floating down from lillo, over the inundated country, four burning vessels, which so alarmed the guards upon the dams, who recollected the former terrible explosion, that they hastily retreated to the next battery. this was exactly what the enemy desired. in these vessels, which had merely the appearance of fire- ships, soldiers were concealed, who now suddenly jumped ashore, and succeeded in mounting the dam at the undefended spot, between the st. george and pile batteries. immediately afterward the whole zealand fleet showed itself, consisting of numerous ships-of-war, transports, and a crowd of smaller craft, which were laden with great sacks of earth, wool, fascines, gabions, and the like, for throwing up breastworks wherever necessary, the ships-of-war were furnished with powerful artillery, and numerously and bravely manned, and a whole army of pioneers accompanied it in order to dig through the dam as soon as it should be in their possession. the zealanders had scarcely begun on their side to ascend the dam when the fleet of antwerp advanced from osterweel and attacked it on the other. a high breastwork was hastily thrown up between the two nearest hostile batteries, so as at once to divide the two garrisons and to cover the pioneers. the latter, several hundreds in number, now fell to work with their spades on both sides of the dam, and dug with such energy that hopes were entertained of soon seeing the two seas united. but meanwhile the spaniards also had gained time to hasten to the spot from the two nearest redoubts, and make a spirited assault, while the guns from the battery of st. george played incessantly on the enemy's fleet. a furious battle now raged in the quarter where they were cutting through the dike and throwing up the breastworks. the zealanders had drawn a strong line of troops round the pioneers to keep the enemy from interrupting their work, and in this confusion of battle, in the midst of a storm of bullets from the enemy, often up to the breast in water, among the dead and dying, the pioneers pursued their work, under the incessant exhortations of the merchants, who impatiently waited to see the dam opened and their vessels in safety. the importance of the result, which it might be said depended entirely upon their spades, appeared to animate even the common laborers with heroic courage. solely intent upon their task, they neither saw nor heard the work of death which was going on around them, and as fast as the foremost ranks fell those behind them pressed into their places. their operations were greatly impeded by the piles which had been driven in, but still more by the attacks of the spaniards, who burst with desperate courage through the thickest of the enemy, stabbed the pioneers in the pits where they were digging, and filled up again with dead bodies the cavities which the living had made. at last, however, when most of their officers were killed or wounded, and the number of the enemy constantly increasing, while fresh laborers were supplying the place of those who had been slain, the courage of these valiant troops began to give way, and they thought it advisable to retreat to their batteries. now, therefore, the confederates saw themselves masters of the whole extent of the dam, from fort st. george as far as the pile battery. as, however, it seemed too long to wait for the thorough demolition of the dam, they hastily unloaded a zealand transport, and brought the cargo over the dam to a vessel of antwerp, with which count hohenlohe sailed in triumph to that city. the sight of the provisions at once filled the inhabitants with joy, and as if the victory was already won, they gave themselves up to the wildest exultation. the bells were rung, the cannon discharged, and the inhabitants, transported by their unexpected success, hurried to the osterweel gate, to await the store-ships which were supposed to be at hand. in fact, fortune had never smiled so favorably on the besieged as at that moment. the enemy, exhausted and dispirited, had thrown themselves into their batteries, and, far from being able to struggle with the victors for the post they had conquered, they found themselves rather besieged in the places where they had taken refuge. some companies of scots, led by their brave colonel, balfour, attacked the battery of st. george, which, however, was relieved, but not without severe loss, by camillo di monte, who hastened thither from st. james' battery. the pile battery was in a much worse condition, it being hotly cannonaded by the ships, and threatened every moment to crumble to pieces. gainboa, who commanded it, lay wounded, and it was unfortunately deficient in artillery to keep the enemy at a distance. the breastwork, too, which the zealanders had thrown up between this battery and that of st. george cut off all hope of assistance from the scheldt. if, therefore, the belgians had only taken advantage of this weakness and inactivity of the enemy to proceed with zeal and perseverance in cutting through the dam, there is no doubt that a passage might have been made, and thus put an end to the whole siege. but here also the same want of consistent energy showed itself which had marked the conduct of the people of antwerp during the whole course of the siege. the zeal with which the work had been commenced cooled in proportion to the success which attended it. it was soon found too tedious to dig through the dyke; it seemed far easier to transfer the cargoes from the large store-ships into smaller ones, and carry these to the town with the flood tide. st. aldegonde and hohenlohe, instead of remaining to animate the industry of the workmen by their personal presence, left the scene of action at the decisive moment, in order, by sailing to the town with a corn vessel, to win encomiums on their wisdom and valor. while both parties were fighting on the dam with the most obstinate fury the bridge over the scheldt had been attacked from antwerp with new machines, in order to give employment to the prince in that quarter. but the sound of the firing soon apprised him of what was going on at the dyke, and as soon as he saw the bridge clear he hastened to support the defence of the dyke. followed by two hundred spanish pikemen, he flew to the place of attack, and arrived just in time to prevent the complete defeat of his troops. he hastily posted some guns which he had brought with him in the two nearest redoubts, and maintained from thence a heavy fire upon the enemy's ships. he placed himself at the head of his men, and, with his sword in one hand and shield in the other, led them against the enemy. the news of his arrival, which quickly spread from one end of the dyke to the other, revived the drooping spirits of his troops, and the conflict recommenced with renewed violence, made still more murderous by the nature of the ground where it was fought. upon the narrow ridge of the dam, which in many places was not more than nine paces broad, about five thousand combatants were fighting; so confined was the spot upon which the strength of both armies was assembled, and which was to decide the whole issue of the siege. with the antwerpers the last bulwark of their city was at stake; with the spaniards it was to determine the whole success of their undertaking. both parties fought with a courage which despair alone could inspire. from both the extremities of the dam the tide of war rolled itself towards the centre, where the zealanders and antwerpers had the advantage, and where they had collected their whole strength. the italians and spaniards, inflamed by a noble emulation, pressed on from stabroek; and from the scheldt the walloons and spaniards advanced, with their general at their head. while the former endeavored to relieve the pile battery, which was hotly pressed by the enemy, both by sea and land, the latter threw themselves on the breastwork, between the st. george and the pile batteries, with a fury which carried everything before it. here the flower of the belgian troops fought behind a well- fortified rampart, and the guns of the two fleets covered this important post. the prince was already pressing forward to attack this formidable defence with his small army when he received intelligence that the italians and spaniards, under capizucchi and aquila, had forced their way, sword in hand, into the pile battery, had got possession of it, and were now likewise advancing from the other side against the enemy's breastwork. before this intrenchment, therefore, the whole force of both armies was now collected, and both sides used their utmost efforts to carry and to defend this position. the netherlanders on board the fleet, loath to remain idle spectators of the conflict, sprang ashore from their vessels. alexander attacked the breastwork on one side, count mansfeld on the other; five assaults were made, and five times they were repulsed. the netherlanders in this decisive moment surpassed themselves; never in the whole course of the war had they fought with such determination. but it was the scotch and english in particular who baffled the attempts of the enemy by their valiant resistance. as no one would advance to the attack in the quarter where the scotch fought, the duke himself led on the troops, with a javelin in his hand, and up to his breast in water. at last, after a protracted struggle, the forces of count mansfeld succeeded with their halberds and pikes in making a breach in the breastwork, and by raising themselves on one another's shoulders scaled the parapet. barthelemy toralva, a spanish captain, was the first who showed himself on the top; and almost at the same instant the italian, capizucchi, appeared upon the edge of it; and thus the contest of valor was decided with equal glory for both nations. it is worth while to notice here the manner in which the prince of parma, who was made arbiter of this emulous strife, encouraged this delicate sense of honor among his warriors. he embraced the italian, capizucchi, in presence of the troops, and acknowledged aloud that it was principally to the courage of this officer that he owed the capture of the breastwork. he caused the spanish captain, toralva, who was dangerously wounded, to be conveyed to his own quarters at stabroek, laid on his own bed, and covered with the cloak which he himself had worn the day before the battle. after the capture of the breastwork the victory no longer remained doubtful. the dutch and zealand troops, who had disembarked to come to close action with the enemy, at once lost their courage when they looked about them and saw the vessels, which were their last refuge, putting off from the shore. for the tide had begun to ebb, and the commanders of the fleet, from fear of being stranded with their heavy transports, and, in case of an unfortunate issue to the engagement, becoming the prey of the enemy, retired from the dam, and made for deep water. no sooner did alexander perceive this than he pointed out to his troops the flying vessels, and encouraged them to finish the action with an enemy who already despaired of their safety. the dutch auxiliaries were the first that gave way, and their example was soon followed by the zealanders. hastily leaping from the dam they endeavored to reach the vessels by wading or swimming; but from their disorderly flight they impeded one another, and fell in heaps under the swords of the pursuers. many perished even in the boats, as each strove to get on board before the other, and several vessels sank under the weight of the numbers who rushed into them. the antwerpers, who fought for their liberty, their hearths, their faith, were the last who retreated, but this very circumstance augmented their disaster. many of their vessels were outstripped by the ebb-tide, and grounded within reach of the enemy's cannon, and were consequently destroyed with all on board. crowds of fugitives endeavored by swimming to gain the other transports, which had got into deep water; but such was the rage and boldness of the spaniards that they swam after them with their swords between their teeth, and dragged many even from the ships. the victory of the king's troops was complete but bloody; for of the spaniards about eight hundred, of the netherlanders some thousands (without reckoning those who were drowned), were left on the field, and on both sides many of the principal nobility perished. more than thirty vessels, with a large supply of provisions for antwerp, fell into the hands of the victors, with one hundred and fifty cannon and other military stores. the dam, the possession of which had been so dearly maintained, was pierced in thirteen different places, and the bodies of those who had cut through it were now used to stop up the openings. the following day a transport of immense size and singular construction fell into the hands of the royalists. it formed a floating castle, and had been destined for the attack on the cowenstein dam. the people of antwerp had built it at an immense expense at the very time when the engineer gianibelli's useful proposals had been rejected on account of the cost they entailed, and this ridiculous monster was called by the proud title of "end of the war," which appellation was afterwards changed for the more appropriate sobriquet of "money lost!" when this vessel was launched it turned out, as every sensible person had foretold, that on account of its unwieldly size it was utterly impossible to steer it, and it could hardly be floated by the highest tide. with great difficulty it was worked as far as ordain, where, deserted by the tide, it went aground, and fell a prey to the enemy. the attack upon the cowenstein dam was the last attempt which was made to relieve antwerp. from this time the courage of the besieged sank, and the magistracy of the town vainly labored to inspirit with distant hopes the lower orders, on whom the present distress weighed heaviest. hitherto the price of bread had been kept down to a tolerable rate, although the quality of it continued to deteriorate; by degrees, however, provisions became so scarce that a famine was evidently near at hand. still hopes were entertained of being able to hold out, at least until the corn between the town and the farthest batteries, which was already in full ear, could be reaped; but before that could be done the enemy had carried the last outwork, and had appropriated the whole harvest to their use. at last the neighboring and confederate town of malines fell into the enemy's hands, and with its fall vanished the only remaining hope of getting supplies from brabant. as there was, therefore, no longer any means of increasing the stock of provisions nothing was left but to diminish the consumers. all useless persons, all strangers, nay even the women and children were to be sent away out of the town, but this proposal was too revolting to humanity to be carried into execution. another plan, that of expelling the catholic inhabitants, exasperated them so much that it had almost ended in open mutiny. and thus st. aldegonde at last saw himself compelled to yield to the riotous clamors of the populace, and on the th of august, , to make overtures to the duke of parma for the surrender of the town. quotes and images from john lothrop motley history of the netherlands by john lothrop motley list of illustrations motley's history of the netherlands title page the siege of antwerp prince william of orange-nassau (william the silent) the earl of leichester alexander farnese, prince of parma john of barneveld bookcover the hague , the last year of peace a pleasantry called voluntary contributions or benevolences a good lawyer is a bad christian a terrible animal, indeed, is an unbridled woman a common hatred united them, for a time at least a penal offence in the republic to talk of peace or of truce a most fatal success a country disinherited by nature of its rights a free commonwealth--was thought an absurdity a hard bargain when both parties are losers a burnt cat fears the fire a despot really keeps no accounts, nor need to do so a sovereign remedy for the disease of liberty a pusillanimous peace, always possible at any period a man incapable of fatigue, of perplexity, or of fear a truce he honestly considered a pitfall of destruction a great historian is almost a statesman able men should be by design and of purpose suppressed about equal to that of england at the same period absolution for incest was afforded at thirty-six livres abstinence from unproductive consumption abstinence from inquisition into consciences and private parlour absurd affectation of candor accepting a new tyrant in place of the one so long ago deposed accustomed to the faded gallantries achieved the greatness to which they had not been born act of uniformity required papists to assist acts of violence which under pretext of religion admired or despised, as if he or she were our contemporary adulation for inferiors whom they despise advanced orthodox party-puritans advancing age diminished his tendency to other carnal pleasures advised his majesty to bestow an annual bribe upon lord burleigh affecting to discredit them affection of his friends and the wrath of his enemies age when toleration was a vice agreements were valid only until he should repent alas! the benighted victims of superstition hugged their chains alas! we must always have something to persecute alas! one never knows when one becomes a bore alexander's exuberant discretion all italy was in his hands all fellow-worms together all business has been transacted with open doors all reading of the scriptures (forbidden) all the majesty which decoration could impart all denounced the image-breaking all claimed the privilege of persecuting all his disciples and converts are to be punished with death all protestants were beheaded, burned, or buried alive all classes are conservative by necessity all the ministers and great functionaries received presents all offices were sold to the highest bidder allow her to seek a profit from his misfortune allowed the demon of religious hatred to enter into its body almost infinite power of the meanest of passions already looking forward to the revolt of the slave states altercation between luther and erasmus, upon predestination always less apt to complain of irrevocable events american unholy inquisition amuse them with this peace negotiation an inspiring and delightful recreation (auto-da-fe) an hereditary papacy, a perpetual pope-emperor an age when to think was a crime an unjust god, himself the origin of sin an order of things in which mediocrity is at a premium anarchy which was deemed inseparable from a non-regal form anatomical study of what has ceased to exist and give advice. of that, although always a spendthrift and now the knife of another priest-led fanatic and thus this gentle and heroic spirit took its flight angle with their dissimulation as with a hook announced his approaching marriage with the virgin mary annual harvest of iniquity by which his revenue was increased anxiety to do nothing wrong, the senators did nothing at all are apt to discharge such obligations-- (by) ingratitude are wont to hang their piety on the bell-rope argument in a circle argument is exhausted and either action or compromise begins aristocracy of god's elect arminianism arrested on suspicion, tortured till confession arrive at their end by fraud, when violence will not avail them artillery as logical as men in their cups are prone to be as the old woman had told the emperor adrian as if they were free will not make them free as lieve see the spanish as the calvinistic inquisition as ready as papists, with age, fagot, and excommunication as with his own people, keeping no back-door open as neat a deception by telling the truth at a blow decapitated france at length the twig was becoming the tree atheist, a tyrant, because he resisted dictation from the clergy attachment to a half-drowned land and to a despised religion attacked by the poetic mania attacking the authority of the pope attempting to swim in two waters auction sales of judicial ermine baiting his hook a little to his appetite barbara blomberg, washerwoman of ratisbon batavian legion was the imperial body guard beacons in the upward path of mankind beating the netherlanders into christianity beautiful damsel, who certainly did not lack suitors because he had been successful (hated) becoming more learned, and therefore more ignorant been already crimination and recrimination more than enough before morning they had sacked thirty churches began to scatter golden arguments with a lavish hand beggars of the sea, as these privateersmen designated themselves behead, torture, burn alive, and bury alive all heretics being the true religion, proved by so many testimonies believed in the blessed advent of peace beneficent and charitable purposes (war) best defence in this case is little better than an impeachment bestowing upon others what was not his property better to be governed by magistrates than mobs better is the restlessness of a noble ambition beware of a truce even more than of a peace bigotry which was the prevailing characteristic of the age bishop is a consecrated pirate blessed freedom from speech-making blessing of god upon the devil's work bold reformer had only a new dogma in place of the old ones bomb-shells were not often used although known for a century breath, time, and paper were profusely wasted and nothing gained brethren, parents, and children, having wives in common bribed the deity bungling diplomatists and credulous dotards burned, strangled, beheaded, or buried alive ( , ) burned alive if they objected to transubstantiation burning with bitter revenge for all the favours he had received burning of servetus at geneva business of an officer to fight, of a general to conquer but the habit of dissimulation was inveterate but after all this isn't a war it is a revolution but not thoughtlessly indulgent to the boy butchery in the name of christ was suspended by turns, we all govern and are governed calling a peace perpetual can never make it so calumny is often a stronger and more lasting power than disdain can never be repaired and never sufficiently regretted canker of a long peace care neither for words nor menaces in any matter cargo of imaginary gold dust was exported from the james river casting up the matter "as pinchingly as possibly might be" casual outbursts of eternal friendship certain number of powers, almost exactly equal to each other certainly it was worth an eighty years' war changed his positions and contradicted himself day by day character of brave men to act, not to expect charles the fifth autocrat of half the world chief seafaring nations of the world were already protestant chieftains are dwarfed in the estimation of followers children who had never set foot on the shore christian sympathy and a small assistance not being sufficient chronicle of events must not be anticipated claimed the praise of moderation that their demands were so few cold water of conventional and commonplace encouragement college of "peace-makers," who wrangled more than all colonel ysselstein, "dismissed for a homicide or two" compassing a country's emancipation through a series of defeats conceding it subsequently, after much contestation conceit, and procrastination which marked the royal character conciliation when war of extermination was intended conclusive victory for the allies seemed as predestined conde and coligny condemned first and inquired upon after condemning all heretics to death conflicting claims of prerogative and conscience conformity of governments to the principles of justice confused conferences, where neither party was entirely sincere considerable reason, even if there were but little justice considerations of state have never yet failed the axe considerations of state as a reason considered it his special mission in the world to mediate consign to the flames all prisoners whatever (papal letter) constant vigilance is the price of liberty constitute themselves at once universal legatees constitutional governments, move in the daylight consumer would pay the tax, supposing it were ever paid at all contained within itself the germs of a larger liberty contempt for treaties however solemnly ratified continuing to believe himself invincible and infallible converting beneficent commerce into baleful gambling could handle an argument as well as a sword could paint a character with the ruddy life-blood coloring could not be both judge and party in the suit could do a little more than what was possible country would bear his loss with fortitude courage of despair inflamed the french courage and semblance of cheerfulness, with despair in his heart court fatigue, to scorn pleasure covered now with the satirical dust of centuries craft meaning, simply, strength created one child for damnation and another for salvation crescents in their caps: rather turkish than popish crimes and cruelties such as christians only could imagine criminal whose guilt had been established by the hot iron criminals buying paradise for money cruelties exercised upon monks and papists crusades made great improvement in the condition of the serfs culpable audacity and exaggerated prudence customary oaths, to be kept with the customary conscientiousness daily widening schism between lutherans and calvinists deadliest of sins, the liberty of conscience deadly hatred of puritans in england and holland deal with his enemy as if sure to become his friend death rather than life with a false acknowledgment of guilt decline a bribe or interfere with the private sale of places decrees for burning, strangling, and burying alive deeply criminal in the eyes of all religious parties defeated garrison ever deserved more respect from friend or foe defect of enjoying the flattery, of his inferiors in station delay often fights better than an army against a foreign invader demanding peace and bread at any price democratic instincts of the ancient german savages denies the utility of prayers for the dead denounced as an obstacle to peace depths theological party spirit could descend depths of credulity men in all ages can sink despised those who were grateful despot by birth and inclination (charles v.) determined to bring the very name of liberty into contempt devote himself to his gout and to his fair young wife difference between liberties and liberty difficult for one friend to advise another in three matters diplomacy of spain and rome--meant simply dissimulation diplomatic adroitness consists mainly in the power to deceive disciple of simon stevinus dismay of our friends and the gratification of our enemies disordered, and unknit state needs no shaking, but propping disposed to throat-cutting by the ministers of the gospel dispute between luther and zwingli concerning the real presence disputing the eternal damnation of young children dissenters were as bigoted as the orthodox dissimulation and delay distinguished for his courage, his cruelty, and his corpulence divine right of kings divine right do you want peace or war? i am ready for either doctrine of predestination in its sternest and strictest sense don john of austria don john was at liberty to be king of england and scotland done nothing so long as aught remained to do drank of the water in which, he had washed draw a profit out of the necessities of this state during this, whole war, we have never seen the like dying at so very inconvenient a moment each in its turn becoming orthodox, and therefore persecuting eat their own children than to forego one high mass eight thousand human beings were murdered elizabeth, though convicted, could always confute elizabeth (had not) the faintest idea of religious freedom eloquence of the biggest guns emperor of japan addressed him as his brother monarch emulation is not capability endure every hardship but hunger enemy of all compulsion of the human conscience england hated the netherlands english puritans englishmen and hollanders preparing to cut each other's throats enmity between lutherans and calvinists enormous wealth (of the church) which engendered the hatred enriched generation after generation by wealthy penitence enthusiasm could not supply the place of experience envying those whose sufferings had already been terminated epernon, the true murderer of henry erasmus of rotterdam erasmus encourages the bold friar establish not freedom for calvinism, but freedom for conscience estimating his character and judging his judges even the virtues of james were his worst enemies even to grant it slowly is to deny it utterly even for the rape of god's mother, if that were possible ever met disaster with so cheerful a smile ever-swarming nurseries of mercenary warriors every one sees what you seem, few perceive what you are everybody should mind his own business everything else may happen this alone must happen everything was conceded, but nothing was secured evil is coming, the sooner it arrives the better evil has the advantage of rapidly assuming many shapes excited with the appearance of a gem of true philosophy excused by their admirers for their shortcomings excuses to disarm the criticism he had some reason to fear executions of huss and jerome of prague exorcising the devil by murdering his supposed victims extraordinary capacity for yielding to gentle violence fable of divine right is invented to sanction the system faction has rarely worn a more mischievous aspect famous fowl in every pot fanatics of the new religion denounced him as a godless man fate, free will, or absolute foreknowledge father cotton, who was only too ready to betray the secrets fear of the laugh of the world at its sincerity fed on bear's liver, were nearly poisoned to death felix mants, the anabaptist, is drowned at zurich fellow worms had been writhing for half a century in the dust ferocity which even christians could not have surpassed few, even prelates were very dutiful to the pope fiction of apostolic authority to bind and loose fifty thousand persons in the provinces (put to death) financial opposition to tyranny is apt to be unanimous find our destruction in our immoderate desire for peace fishermen and river raftsmen become ocean adventurers fitted "to warn, to comfort, and command" fitter to obey than to command five great rivers hold the netherland territory in their coils flattery is a sweet and intoxicating potion fled from the land of oppression to the land of liberty fool who useth not wit because he hath it not for myself i am unworthy of the honor (of martyrdom) for faithful service, evil recompense for women to lament, for men to remember for us, looking back upon the past, which was then the future for his humanity towards the conquered garrisons (censured) forbidding the wearing of mourning at all forbids all private assemblies for devotion force clerical--the power of clerks foremost to shake off the fetters of superstition forget those who have done them good service forgiving spirit on the part of the malefactor fortune's buffets and rewards can take with equal thanks four weeks' holiday--the first in eleven years france was mourning henry and waiting for richelieu french seem madmen, and are wise friendly advice still more intolerable full of precedents and declamatory commonplaces furious fanaticism furious mob set upon the house of rem bischop furnished, in addition, with a force of two thousand prostitutes future world as laid down by rival priesthoods gallant and ill-fated lamoral egmont gaul derided the roman soldiers as a band of pigmies german-lutheran sixteenth-century idea of religious freedom german finds himself sober--he believes himself ill german highland and the german netherland gigantic vices are proudly pointed to as the noblest give him advice if he asked it, and money when he required glory could be put neither into pocket nor stomach god has given absolute power to no mortal man god, whose cause it was, would be pleased to give good weather god alone can protect us against those whom we trust god of wrath who had decreed the extermination of all unbeliever god of vengeance, of jealousy, and of injustice god save the king! it was the last time gold was the only passkey to justice gomarites accused the arminians of being more lax than papists govern under the appearance of obeying great transactions of a reign are sometimes paltry things great science of political equilibrium great privilege, the magna charta of holland great error of despising their enemy great war of religion and politics was postponed great battles often leave the world where they found it guarantees of forgiveness for every imaginable sin guilty of no other crime than adhesion to the catholic faith habeas corpus had industry been honoured instead of being despised haereticis non servanda fides hair and beard unshorn, according to ancient batavian custom halcyon days of ban, book and candle hanged for having eaten meat-soup upon friday hanging of mary dyer at boston hangman is not the most appropriate teacher of religion happy to glass themselves in so brilliant a mirror hard at work, pouring sand through their sieves hardly a distinguished family in spain not placed in mourning hardly a sound protestant policy anywhere but in holland hardly an inch of french soil that had not two possessors having conjugated his paradigm conscientiously he had omitted to execute heretics he did his best to be friends with all the world he was a sincere bigot he that stands let him see that he does not fall he was not always careful in the construction of his sentences he would have no persecution of the opposite creed he came as a conqueror not as a mediator he who spreads the snare always tumbles into the ditch himself he who would have all may easily lose all he knew men, especially he knew their weaknesses he had never enjoyed social converse, except at long intervals he would have no calvinist inquisition set up in its place he who confessed well was absolved well he did his work, but he had not his reward he sat a great while at a time. he had a genius for sitting he was not imperial of aspect on canvas or coin he often spoke of popular rights with contempt he spent more time at table than the bearnese in sleep heidelberg catechism were declared to be infallible henry the huguenot as the champion of the council of trent her teeth black, her bosom white and liberally exposed (eliz.) heresy was a plant of early growth in the netherlands heretics to the english church were persecuted hibernian mode of expressing himself high officers were doing the work of private, soldiers highborn demagogues in that as in every age affect adulation highest were not necessarily the least slimy his inordinate arrogance his own past triumphs seemed now his greatest enemies his imagination may have assisted his memory in the task his insolence intolerable his learning was a reproach to the ignorant his invectives were, however, much stronger than his arguments his personal graces, for the moment, took the rank of virtues his dogged, continuous capacity for work historical scepticism may shut its eyes to evidence history is a continuous whole of which we see only fragments history is but made up of a few scattered fragments history never forgets and never forgives history has not too many really important and emblematic men history shows how feeble are barriers of paper holland was afraid to give a part, although offering the whole holland, england, and america, are all links of one chain holy office condemned all the inhabitants of the netherlands holy institution called the inquisition honor good patriots, and to support them in venial errors hope delayed was but a cold and meagre consolation hope deferred, suddenly changing to despair how many more injured by becoming bad copies of a bad ideal hugo grotius human nature in its meanness and shame human ingenuity to inflict human misery human fat esteemed the sovereignst remedy (for wounds) humanizing effect of science upon the barbarism of war humble ignorance as the safest creed humility which was but the cloak to his pride hundred thousand men had laid down their lives by her decree i did never see any man behave himself as he did i know how to console myself i am a king that will be ever known not to fear any but god i hope and i fear i would carry the wood to burn my own son withal i regard my country's profit, not my own i will never live, to see the end of my poverty idea of freedom in commerce has dawned upon nations idiotic principle of sumptuary legislation idle, listless, dice-playing, begging, filching vagabonds if he had little, he could live upon little if to do be as grand as to imagine what it were good to do if he has deserved it, let them strike off his head ignoble facts which strew the highways of political life ignorance is the real enslaver of mankind imagined, and did the work of truth imagining that they held the world's destiny in their hands impatience is often on the part of the non-combatants implication there was much, of assertion very little imposed upon the multitudes, with whom words were things impossible it is to practise arithmetic with disturbed brains impossible it was to invent terms of adulation too gross in revolutions the men who win are those who are in earnest in character and general talents he was beneath mediocrity in times of civil war, to be neutral is to be nothing in holland, the clergy had neither influence nor seats in this he was much behind his age or before it incur the risk of being charged with forwardness than neglect indecision did the work of indolence indignant that heretics had been suffered to hang individuals walking in advance of their age indoor home life imprisons them in the domestic circle indulging them frequently with oracular advice inevitable fate of talking castles and listening ladies infamy of diplomacy, when diplomacy is unaccompanied by honesty infinite capacity for pecuniary absorption informer, in case of conviction, should be entitled to one half inhabited by the savage tribes called samoyedes innocent generation, to atone for the sins of their forefathers inquisition of the netherlands is much more pitiless inquisition was not a fit subject for a compromise inquisitors enough; but there were no light vessels in the armada insane cruelty, both in the cause of the wrong and the right insensible to contumely, and incapable of accepting a rebuff insinuate that his orders had been hitherto misunderstood insinuating suspicions when unable to furnish evidence intellectual dandyisms of bulwer intelligence, science, and industry were accounted degrading intense bigotry of conviction intentions of a government which did not know its own intentions international friendship, the self-interest of each intolerable tendency to puns invaluable gift which no human being can acquire, authority invented such christian formulas as these (a curse) inventing long speeches for historical characters invincible armada had not only been vanquished but annihilated irresistible force in collision with an insuperable resistance it was the true religion, and there was none other it is not desirable to disturb much of that learned dust it had not yet occurred to him that he was married it is n't strategists that are wanted so much as believers it is certain that the english hate us (sully) its humility, seemed sufficiently ironical james of england, who admired, envied, and hated henry jealousy, that potent principle jesuit mariana--justifying the killing of excommunicated kings john castel, who had stabbed henry iv. john wier, a physician of grave john robinson john quincy adams judas maccabaeus july st, two augustine monks were burned at brussels justified themselves in a solemn consumption of time kindly shadow of oblivion king who thought it furious madness to resist the enemy king had issued a general repudiation of his debts king set a price upon his head as a rebel king of zion to be pinched to death with red-hot tongs king was often to be something much less or much worse king's definite and final intentions, varied from day to day labored under the disadvantage of never having existed labour was esteemed dishonourable language which is ever living because it is dead languor of fatigue, rather than any sincere desire for peace leading motive with all was supposed to be religion learn to tremble as little at priestcraft as at swordcraft leave not a single man alive in the city, and to burn every house let us fool these poor creatures to their heart's content licences accorded by the crown to carry slaves to america life of nations and which we call the past like a man holding a wolf by the ears little army of maurice was becoming the model for europe little grievances would sometimes inflame more than vast local self-government which is the life-blood of liberty logic of the largest battalions logic is rarely the quality on which kings pride themselves logical and historical argument of unmerciful length long succession of so many illustrious obscure longer they delay it, the less easy will they find it look through the cloud of dissimulation look for a sharp war, or a miserable peace looking down upon her struggle with benevolent indifference lord was better pleased with adverbs than nouns loud, nasal, dictatorial tone, not at all agreeable louis xiii. loving only the persons who flattered him ludicrous gravity luther's axiom, that thoughts are toll-free lutheran princes of germany, detested the doctrines of geneva luxury had blunted the fine instincts of patriotism made peace--and had been at war ever since made no breach in royal and roman infallibility made to swing to and fro over a slow fire magistracy at that moment seemed to mean the sword magnificent hopefulness maintaining the attitude of an injured but forgiving christian make sheep of yourselves, and the wolf will eat you make the very name of man a term of reproach man is never so convinced of his own wisdom man who cannot dissemble is unfit to reign man had only natural wrongs (no natural rights) man had no rights at all he was property mankind were naturally inclined to calumny manner in which an insult shall be dealt with many greedy priests, of lower rank, had turned shop-keepers maritime heretics matter that men may rather pray for than hope for matters little by what name a government is called meantime the second civil war in france had broken out mediocrity is at a premium meet around a green table except as fencers in the field men were loud in reproof, who had been silent men fought as if war was the normal condition of humanity men who meant what they said and said what they meant mendacity may always obtain over innocence and credulity military virtue in the support of an infamous cause misanthropical, sceptical philosopher misery had come not from their being enemies mistake to stumble a second time over the same stone mistakes might occur from occasional deviations into sincerity mockery of negotiation in which nothing could be negotiated modern statesmanship, even while it practises, condemns monasteries, burned their invaluable libraries mondragon was now ninety-two years old moral nature, undergoes less change than might be hoped more accustomed to do well than to speak well more easily, as he had no intention of keeping the promise more catholic than the pope more fiercely opposed to each other than to papists more apprehension of fraud than of force most detestable verses that even he had ever composed most entirely truthful child he had ever seen motley was twice sacrificed to personal feelings much as the blind or the deaf towards colour or music myself seeing of it methinketh that i dream names history has often found it convenient to mark its epochs national character, not the work of a few individuals nations tied to the pinafores of children in the nursery natural to judge only by the result natural tendency to suspicion of a timid man nearsighted liberalism necessary to make a virtue of necessity necessity of extirpating heresy, root and branch necessity of deferring to powerful sovereigns necessity of kingship negotiated as if they were all immortal neighbour's blazing roof was likely soon to fire their own neither kings nor governments are apt to value logic neither wished the convocation, while both affected an eagerness neither ambitious nor greedy never peace well made, he observed, without a mighty war never did statesmen know better how not to do never lack of fishers in troubled waters new years day in england, th january by the new style night brings counsel nine syllables that which could be more forcibly expressed in on no one can testify but a householder no man can be neutral in civil contentions no law but the law of the longest purse no two books, as he said, ever injured each other no retrenchments in his pleasures of women, dogs, and buildings no great man can reach the highest position in our government no man is safe (from news reporters) no man could reveal secrets which he did not know no authority over an army which they did not pay no man pretended to think of the state no synod had a right to claim netherlanders as slaves no qualities whatever but birth and audacity to recommend him no generation is long-lived enough to reap the harvest no man ever understood the art of bribery more thoroughly no calumny was too senseless to be invented none but god to compel me to say more than i choose to say nor is the spirit of the age to be pleaded in defence not a friend of giving details larger than my ascertained facts not distinguished for their docility not to let the grass grow under their feet not a single acquaintance in the place, and we glory in the fact not safe for politicians to call each other hard names not his custom nor that of his councillors to go to bed not of the genus reptilia, and could neither creep nor crouch not strong enough to sustain many more such victories not to fall asleep in the shade of a peace negotiation not many more than two hundred catholics were executed not upon words but upon actions not for a new doctrine, but for liberty of conscience not of the stuff of which martyrs are made (erasmus) not so successful as he was picturesque nothing could equal alexander's fidelity, but his perfidy nothing cheap, said a citizen bitterly, but sermons nothing was so powerful as religious difference notre dame at antwerp nowhere was the persecution of heretics more relentless nowhere were so few unproductive consumers o god! what does man come to! obscure were thought capable of dying natural deaths obstinate, of both sexes, to be burned octogenarian was past work and past mischief of high rank but of lamentably low capacity often much tyranny in democracy often necessary to be blind and deaf oldenbarneveld; afterwards so illustrious on the first day four thousand men and women were slaughtered one-half to philip and one-half to the pope and venice (slaves) one-third of philip's effective navy was thus destroyed one golden grain of wit into a sheet of infinite platitude one could neither cry nor laugh within the spanish dominions one of the most contemptible and mischievous of kings (james i) only healthy existence of the french was in a state of war only true religion only citadel against a tyrant and a conqueror was distrust only kept alive by milk, which he drank from a woman's breast only foundation fit for history,-- original contemporary document opening an abyss between government and people opposed the subjection of the magistracy by the priesthood oration, fertile in rhetoric and barren in facts orator was, however, delighted with his own performance others that do nothing, do all, and have all the thanks others go to battle, says the historian, these go to war our pot had not gone to the fire as often our mortal life is but a string of guesses at the future outdoing himself in dogmatism and inconsistency over excited, when his prejudices were roughly handled panegyrists of royal houses in the sixteenth century pardon for crimes already committed, or about to be committed pardon for murder, if not by poison, was cheaper partisans wanted not accommodation but victory party hatred was not yet glutted with the blood it had drunk passion is a bad schoolmistress for the memory past was once the present, and once the future pathetic dying words of anne boleyn patriotism seemed an unimaginable idea pauper client who dreamed of justice at the hands of law paving the way towards atheism (by toleration) paying their passage through, purgatory peace founded on the only secure basis, equality of strength peace was desirable, it might be more dangerous than war peace seemed only a process for arriving at war peace and quietness is brought into a most dangerous estate peace-at-any-price party peace, in reality, was war in its worst shape peace was unattainable, war was impossible, truce was inevitable peace would be destruction perfection of insolence perpetually dropping small innuendos like pebbles persons who discussed religious matters were to be put to death petty passion for contemptible details philip ii. gave the world work enough philip of macedon, who considered no city impregnable philip iv. philip, who did not often say a great deal in a few words picturesqueness of crime placid unconsciousness on his part of defeat plain enough that he is telling his own story planted the inquisition in the netherlands played so long with other men's characters and good name plea of infallibility and of authority soon becomes ridiculous plundering the country which they came to protect poisoning, for example, was absolved for eleven ducats pope excommunicated him as a heretic pope and emperor maintain both positions with equal logic portion of these revenues savoured much of black-mail possible to do, only because we see that it has been done pot-valiant hero power the poison of which it is so difficult to resist power to read and write helped the clergy to much wealth power grudged rather than given to the deputies practised successfully the talent of silence pray here for satiety, (said cecil) than ever think of variety preferred an open enemy to a treacherous protector premature zeal was prejudicial to the cause presents of considerable sums of money to the negotiators made presumption in entitling themselves christian preventing wrong, or violence, even towards an enemy priests shall control the state or the state govern the priests princes show what they have in them at twenty-five or never prisoners were immediately hanged privileged to beg, because ashamed to work proceeds of his permission to eat meat on fridays proclaiming the virginity of the virgin's mother procrastination was always his first refuge progress should be by a spiral movement promises which he knew to be binding only upon the weak proposition made by the wolves to the sheep, in the fable protect the common tranquillity by blood, purse, and life provided not one huguenot be left alive in france public which must have a slain reputation to devour purchased absolution for crime and smoothed a pathway to heaven puritanism in holland was a very different thing from england put all those to the torture out of whom anything can be got putting the cart before the oxen queen is entirely in the hands of spain and the priests questioning nothing, doubting nothing, fearing nothing quite mistaken: in supposing himself the emperor's child radical, one who would uproot, is a man whose trade is dangerous rarely able to command, having never learned to obey rashness alternating with hesitation rather a wilderness to reign over than a single heretic readiness to strike and bleed at any moment in her cause readiness at any moment to defend dearly won liberties rearing gorgeous temples where paupers are to kneel reasonable to pay our debts rather than to repudiate them rebuked him for his obedience rebuked the bigotry which had already grown recall of a foreign minister for alleged misconduct in office reformer who becomes in his turn a bigot is doubly odious reformers were capable of giving a lesson even to inquisitors religion was made the strumpet of political ambition religion was rapidly ceasing to be the line of demarcation religion was not to be changed like a shirt religious toleration, which is a phrase of insult religious persecution of protestants by protestants repentance, as usual, had come many hours too late repentant males to be executed with the sword repentant females to be buried alive repose under one despot guaranteed to them by two others repose in the other world, "repos ailleurs" republic, which lasted two centuries republics are said to be ungrateful repudiation of national debts was never heard of before requires less mention than philip iii himself resolve to maintain the civil authority over the military resolved thenceforth to adopt a system of ignorance respect for differences in religious opinions result was both to abandon the provinces and to offend philip revocable benefices or feuds rich enough to be worth robbing righteous to kill their own children road to paris lay through the gates of rome rose superior to his doom and took captivity captive round game of deception, in which nobody was deceived royal plans should be enforced adequately or abandoned entirely ruinous honors rules adopted in regard to pretenders to crowns sacked and drowned ten infant princes sacrificed by the queen for faithfully obeying her orders safest citadel against an invader and a tyrant is distrust sages of every generation, read the future like a printed scroll saint bartholomew's day sale of absolutions was the source of large fortunes to the priests same conjury over ignorant baron and cowardly hind scaffold was the sole refuge from the rack scepticism, which delights in reversing the judgment of centuries schism in the church had become a public fact schism which existed in the general reformed church science of reigning was the science of lying scoffing at the ceremonies and sacraments of the church secret drowning was substituted for public burning secure the prizes of war without the troubles and dangers security is dangerous seeking protection for and against the people seem as if born to make the idea of royalty ridiculous seemed bent on self-destruction seems but a change of masks, of costume, of phraseology sees the past in the pitiless light of the present self-assertion--the healthful but not engaging attribute self-educated man, as he had been a self-taught boy selling the privilege of eating eggs upon fast-days senectus edam maorbus est sent them word by carrier pigeons sentiment of christian self-complacency sentimentality that seems highly apocryphal served at their banquets by hosts of lackeys on their knees seven spaniards were killed, and seven thousand rebels sewers which have ever run beneath decorous christendom shall slavery die, or the great republic? sharpened the punishment for reading the scriptures in private she relieth on a hope that will deceive her she declined to be his procuress she knew too well how women were treated in that country shift the mantle of religion from one shoulder to the other shutting the stable-door when the steed is stolen sick soldiers captured on the water should be hanged sick and wounded wretches were burned over slow fires simple truth was highest skill sixteen of their best ships had been sacrificed slain four hundred and ten men with his own hand slavery was both voluntary and compulsory slender stock of platitudes small matter which human folly had dilated into a great one smooth words, in the plentiful lack of any substantial so much responsibility and so little power so often degenerated into tyranny (calvinism) so much in advance of his time as to favor religious equality so unconscious of her strength soldier of the cross was free upon his return soldiers enough to animate the good and terrify the bad solitary and morose, the necessary consequence of reckless study some rude lessons from that vigorous little commonwealth sometimes successful, even although founded upon sincerity sonnets of petrarch sovereignty was heaven-born, anointed of god spain was governed by an established terrorism spaniards seem wise, and are madmen sparing and war have no affinity together spendthrift of time, he was an economist of blood spirit of a man who wishes to be proud of his country st. peter's dome rising a little nearer to the clouds st. bartholomew was to sleep for seven years longer stake or gallows (for) heretics to transubstantiation stand between hope and fear state can best defend religion by letting it alone states were justified in their almost unlimited distrust steeped to the lips in sloth which imagined itself to be pride storm by which all these treasures were destroyed (in days) strangled his nineteen brothers on his accession strength does a falsehood acquire in determined and skilful hand string of homely proverbs worthy of sancho panza stroke of a broken table knife sharpened on a carriage wheel studied according to his inclinations rather than by rule style above all other qualities seems to embalm for posterity subtle and dangerous enemy who wore the mask of a friend succeeded so well, and had been requited so ill successful in this step, he is ready for greater ones such a crime as this had never been conceived (bankruptcy) such an excuse was as bad as the accusation suicide is confession superfluous sarcasm suppress the exercise of the roman religion sure bind, sure find sword in hand is the best pen to write the conditions of peace take all their imaginations and extravagances for truths talked impatiently of the value of my time tanchelyn taxation upon sin taxed themselves as highly as fifty per cent taxes upon income and upon consumption tempest of passion and prejudice ten thousand two hundred and twenty individuals were burned tension now gave place to exhaustion that vile and mischievous animal called the people that crowned criminal, philip the second that unholy trinity--force; dogma, and ignorance that cynical commerce in human lives that he tries to lay the fault on us is pure malice the tragedy of don carlos the worst were encouraged with their good success the history of the netherlands is history of liberty the great ocean was but a spanish lake the divine speciality of a few transitory mortals the sapling was to become the tree the nation which deliberately carves itself in pieces the expenses of james's household the catholic league and the protestant union the blaze of a hundred and fifty burning vessels the magnitude of this wonderful sovereign's littleness the defence of the civil authority against the priesthood the assassin, tortured and torn by four horses the gaul was singularly unchaste the vivifying becomes afterwards the dissolving principle the bad duke of burgundy, philip surnamed "the good," the greatest crime, however, was to be rich the more conclusive arbitration of gunpowder the disunited provinces the noblest and richest temple of the netherlands was a wreck the voice of slanderers the calf is fat and must be killed the illness was a convenient one the egg had been laid by erasmus, hatched by luther the perpetual reproductions of history the very word toleration was to sound like an insult the most thriving branch of national industry (smuggler) the pigmy, as the late queen had been fond of nicknaming him the slightest theft was punished with the gallows the art of ruling the world by doing nothing the wisest statesmen are prone to blunder in affairs of war the alcoran was less cruel than the inquisition the people had not been invented the small children diminished rapidly in numbers the busy devil of petty economy the record of our race is essentially unwritten the truth in shortest about matters of importance the time for reasoning had passed the effect of energetic, uncompromising calumny the evils resulting from a confederate system of government the vehicle is often prized more than the freight the faithful servant is always a perpetual ass the dead men of the place are my intimate friends the loss of hair, which brings on premature decay the personal gifts which are nature's passport everywhere the nation is as much bound to be honest as is the individual the fellow mixes blood with his colors! their existence depended on war their own roofs were not quite yet in a blaze theological hatred was in full blaze throughout the country theology and politics were one there is no man who does not desire to enjoy his own there was but one king in europe, henry the bearnese there are few inventions in morals there was no use in holding language of authority to him there was apathy where there should have been enthusiasm there is no man fitter for that purpose than myself therefore now denounced the man whom he had injured these human victims, chained and burning at the stake they had come to disbelieve in the mystery of kingcraft they chose to compel no man's conscience they could not invent or imagine toleration they knew very little of us, and that little wrong they have killed him, 'e ammazato,' cried concini they were always to deceive every one, upon every occasion they liked not such divine right nor such gentle-mindedness they had at last burned one more preacher alive things he could tell which are too odious and dreadful thirty thousand masses should be said for his soul thirty-three per cent. interest was paid (per month) thirty years' war tread on the heels of the forty years this somebody may have been one whom we should call nobody this, then, is the reward of forty years' service to the state this obstinate little republic this wonderful sovereign's littleness oppresses the imagination those who fish in troubled waters only to fill their own nets those who "sought to swim between two waters" those who argue against a foregone conclusion thought that all was too little for him thousands of burned heretics had not made a single convert three hundred fighting women three hundred and upwards are hanged annually in london three or four hundred petty sovereigns (of germany) throw the cat against their legs thus hand-weapen, hand-throwing, became antwerp time and myself are two tis pity he is not an englishman to think it capable of error, is the most devilish heresy of all to stifle for ever the right of free enquiry to attack england it was necessary to take the road of ireland to hear the last solemn commonplaces to prefer poverty to the wealth attendant upon trade to shirk labour, infinite numbers become priests and friars to doubt the infallibility of calvin was as heinous a crime to negotiate with government in england was to bribe to milk, the cow as long as she would give milk to work, ever to work, was the primary law of his nature to negotiate was to bribe right and left, and at every step to look down upon their inferior and lost fellow creatures toil and sacrifices of those who have preceded us tolerate another religion that his own may be tolerated tolerating religious liberty had never entered his mind toleration--that intolerable term of insult toleration thought the deadliest heresy of all torquemada's administration (of the inquisition) torturing, hanging, embowelling of men, women, and children tranquil insolence tranquillity rather of paralysis than of health tranquillity of despotism to the turbulence of freedom triple marriages between the respective nurseries trust her sword, not her enemy's word twas pity, he said, that both should be heretics twenty assaults upon fame and had forty books killed under him two witnesses sent him to the stake, one witness to the rack tyrannical spirit of calvinism tyranny, ever young and ever old, constantly reproducing herself uncouple the dogs and let them run under the name of religion (so many crimes) understood the art of managing men, particularly his superiors undue anxiety for impartiality unduly dejected in adversity unequivocal policy of slave emancipation unimaginable outrage as the most legitimate industry universal suffrage was not dreamed of at that day unlearned their faith in bell, book, and candle unproductive consumption being accounted most sagacious unproductive consumption was alarmingly increasing unremitted intellectual labor in an honorable cause unwise impatience for peace upon their knees, served the queen with wine upon one day twenty-eight master cooks were dismissed upper and lower millstones of royal wrath and loyal subserviency use of the spade usual phraseology of enthusiasts usual expedient by which bad legislation on one side countered utter disproportions between the king's means and aims utter want of adaptation of his means to his ends uttering of my choler doth little ease my grief or help my case uunmeaning phrases of barren benignity vain belief that they were men at eighteen or twenty valour on the one side and discretion on the other villagers, or villeins visible atmosphere of power the poison of which volatile word was thought preferable to the permanent letter vows of an eternal friendship of several weeks' duration waiting the pleasure of a capricious and despotic woman walk up and down the earth and destroy his fellow-creatures war was the normal and natural condition of mankind war was the normal condition of christians war to compel the weakest to follow the religion of the strongest was it astonishing that murder was more common than fidelity? wasting time fruitlessly is sharpening the knife for himself we were sold by their negligence who are now angry with us we believe our mothers to have been honest women we are beginning to be vexed we must all die once we have been talking a little bit of truth to each other we have the reputation of being a good housewife we mustn't tickle ourselves to make ourselves laugh wealth was an unpardonable sin wealthy papists could obtain immunity by an enormous fine weapons weary of place without power weep oftener for her children than is the usual lot of mothers weight of a thousand years of error what exchequer can accept chronic warfare and escape bankruptcy what could save the house of austria, the cause of papacy what was to be done in this world and believed as to the next when persons of merit suffer without cause when all was gone, they began to eat each other when the abbot has dice in his pocket, the convent will play whether dead infants were hopelessly damned whether murders or stratagems, as if they were acts of virtue whether repentance could effect salvation while one's friends urge moderation who the "people" exactly were who loved their possessions better than their creed whole revenue was pledged to pay the interest, on his debts whose mutual hatred was now artfully inflamed by partisans william of nassau, prince of orange william brewster wise and honest a man, although he be somewhat longsome wiser simply to satisfy himself wish to sell us the bear-skin before they have killed the bear wish to appear learned in matters of which they are ignorant with something of feline and feminine duplicity wonder equally at human capacity to inflict and to endure misery wonders whether it has found its harbor or only lost its anchor word peace in spanish mouths simply meant the holy inquisition word-mongers who, could clothe one shivering thought words are always interpreted to the disadvantage of the weak work of the aforesaid puritans and a few jesuits world has rolled on to fresher fields of carnage and ruin worn crescents in their caps at leyden worn nor caused to be worn the collar of the serf worship god according to the dictates of his conscience would not help to burn fifty or sixty thousand netherlanders wrath of the jesuits at this exercise of legal authority wrath of bigots on both sides wrath of that injured personage as he read such libellous truths wringing a dry cloth for drops of evidence write so illegibly or express himself so awkwardly writing letters full of injured innocence yes, there are wicked men about yesterday is the preceptor of to-morrow you must show your teeth to the spaniard if you wish to read the entire context of any of these quotations, select a short segment and copy it into your clipboard memory--then open following ebook and paste the phrase into your computer's find or search operation. entire history of the netherlands: http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/etext /jm v .txt transcriber's note: obvious printer errors have been repaired, but spelling has not been standardized. likely spelling errors in the french poems have not been corrected, as the consulted sources have the same. some roman numerals, followed by superscript representing ancient units of weight used in the godsmith's trade, have been marked in curly brackets: {m} stands for marc {o} stands for once {e} stands for estelin letters written with a straight line above are marked [=x]. number " " was somehow left out in the (french) inventory of margaret's possessions. romantic history _general editor_: martin hume, m.a. the first governess of the netherlands [illustration: margaret of austria from the window in the chapel of the virgin in the church of brou (about )] the first governess of the netherlands margaret of austria by eleanor e. tremayne with twenty illustrations new york: g. p. putnam's sons london: methuen & co. contents chap. page introduction, vii i. queen of france, ii. princess of asturias, iii. duchess of savoy, iv. the building of brou, v. regent of the netherlands, vi. the league of cambray, vii. margaret's correspondence, viii. a love affair, ix. charles declared of age, x. death of maximilian, xi. revolt of the duke of bourbon, xii. capture of francis i., xiii. the ladies' peace, xiv. the mission ended, xv. the church of brou, inventaire des tableaux, livres, joyaux, et meubles de marguerite d'autriche, list of pictures from margaret's collection sent to brou ( ) catalogue of manuscripts in margaret of austria's library at malines, a few letters from maximilian i. to margaret, and from margaret to various persons, index, list of illustrations margaret of austria, _frontispiece_ from the window in the chapel of the virgin in the church of brou (about ). philippe le bel and his sister margaret of austria, _to face page_ panel in the imperial museum, vienna. _photograph by j. löwy._) tomb of don john, prince of asturias, only son of ferdinand and isabella, avila, (_photograph by j. lacoste._) ghent, showing the old belfry and church of st. john, where charles v. was baptized, (_photograph by deloeul._) medal struck at bourg to commemorate margaret of austria's marriage with philibert, duke of savoy, british museum collection. tomb of philibert le beau, duke of savoy, in the church of brou. (_photograph by neurdein frères._) philippe le bel, from the painting in the louvre (flemish school) (_photograph by neurdein frères._) charles v. and his two sisters, eleanor and isabel, painted in (margaret's collection), now in the imperial museum, vienna. (_photograph by j. löwy._) eleanor of austria as a child, from the painting by mabuse in the possession of m. charles léon cardou, brussels. (_photograph by g. van oest & co._) margaret of austria in widow's dress, from the painting by bernard van orley in the possession of dr. carvallo, paris. (_photograph by the art reproduction co._) charles v., from the painting in the louvre (flemish school). (_photograph by neurdein frères._) the emperor maximilian i. and his family, from the painting by bernhard strigel in the imperial museum, vienna. (_photograph by j. löwy._) francis i., from a painting in the louvre (french school). (_photograph by neurdein frères._) the children of christian ii. and isabel of denmark--in mourning dress for their mother, from the painting by mabuse at hampton court palace. (_photograph by w. a. mansell & co._) carved wooden mantelpiece in the palais de justice, bruges, erected to commemorate the peace of cambray, (_photograph by neurdein frères._) interior of courtyard in margaret's palace at malines, now the palais de justice, (_photograph by deloeul._) john arnolfini of lucca, and his wife joan, from the painting by john van eyck in the national gallery. legend of 'notre dame du sablon,' from the tapestry in the musée du cinquantenaire, brussels. it contains portraits of margaret and her nephews and nieces. (_photograph by deloeul._) tomb of margaret of austria, _to face page_ in the church of brou. (_photograph by neurdein frères._) margaret of austria sitting at a table with an open book adoring the virgin and child, from a diptych in the possession of m. lescarts, mons (margaret's collection). (_photograph by g. van oest & co._) introduction three of the craftiest royal rogues in christendom strove hard to cozen and outwit each other in the last years of the fifteenth and the earlier years of the sixteenth century. no betrayal was too false, no trick too undignified, no hypocrisy too contemptible for ferdinand of aragon, maximilian of austria, and henry tudor if unfair advantage could be gained by them; and the details of their diplomacy convey to modern students less an impression of serious state negotiations than of the paltry dodges of three hucksters with a strong sense of humour. of the three, ferdinand excelled in unscrupulous falsity, maximilian in bluff effrontery, and henry vii. in close-fisted cunning: they were all equal in their cynical disregard for the happiness of their own children, whom they sought to use as instruments of their policy, and fate finally overreached them all. and yet by a strange chance, amongst the offspring of these three clever tricksters were some of the noblest characters of the age. john, prince of castile, and arthur, prince of wales, both died too young to have proved their full worth, but they were beloved beyond the ordinary run of princes, and were unquestionably gentle, high-minded, and good; katharine of aragon stands for ever as an exalted type of steadfast faith and worthy womanhood, unscathed in surroundings and temptations of unequalled difficulty; and margaret of austria, as this book will show, was not only a great ruler but a cultured poet, a patron of art, a lover of children, a faithful wife, a pious widow, and, above all, a woman full of sweet feminine charm. in an age when princesses of the great royal houses were from their infancy regarded as matrimonial pledges for the maintenance of international treaties, few were promised or sought so frequently as margaret; for an alliance with her meant the support of the empire and the states of burgundy, whilst her two rich dowries from earlier marriages made her as desirable from a financial point of view as she was personally and politically. but with her second widowhood in her youthful prime came to her a distaste for further experiments in a field where, as she said, so much unhappiness had befallen her, and of political marriages she would have no more. her one real love affair, to which reference will be made presently, is pathetic as showing the sad fate of such an exalted princess, who, being a true woman and in love with a gallant man, yet had to stifle the yearnings of her heart for a happy marriage, and fulfil the duty imposed upon her by the grandeur of her destiny. there was little of love, indeed, in most of the matrimonial proposals made to her, though for two short periods she was an affectionate wife. from the time when as a proud little maiden of twelve, conscious of the slight put upon her, she was repudiated by the man whom she had looked upon as her future husband as long as she could remember, and was sent away from the country of which she had been taught she was to be the queen, until her body was borne in state to the sumptuous fane which her piety had raised, but which she had never seen, margaret of austria knew that a princess of the imperial house must be a statesman first and a woman afterwards, at whatever sacrifice of her personal happiness. in the great plot of ferdinand, king of aragon, to shut france in by a close ring of rivals, and so to stay her march eastward along the mediterranean to the detriment of the little realm of his fathers, the first open move was made by the triumphant negotiations with maximilian, king of the romans, and future emperor, for the marriage of ferdinand's only son, john, the first heir of all spain, to maximilian's only daughter, margaret; and that of maximilian's only son, philip, sovereign by right of his mother of the rich duchies of burgundy, to ferdinand's second daughter, joanna. the matches were cleverly conceived, for in the ordinary course of events they seemed to ensure that a band of close kinsmen, all descended from the king of aragon, should rule over flanders, the franche comté, burgundy, the empire, spain, and sicily, all banded together to prevent the expansion of france on any side, whilst the alliance which the marriages represented gave to ferdinand the support of the emperor as suzerain of lombardy against the french pretensions in italy generally, and especially in naples, upon which the covetous eyes of the aragonese were already firmly fixed. the marriage of ferdinand's youngest daughter, katharine, to the heir of england, at a somewhat later period, was another link in the chain which was intended to bind france, and give to ferdinand a free hand in the mediterranean. to maximilian the marriages of his children with those of ferdinand was also an advantage, since the only two enemies that the empire and burgundy had to fear, namely, france and the turk, might always be diverted, when necessary, by the action of aragon in the mediterranean. henry tudor's interest in joining the combination against france is equally easy of explanation. he was a parvenu, anxious for the recognition of the legitimate sovereigns; and especially to secure that of burgundy, which, under the influence of margaret of york, the widowed duchess of burgundy, had hitherto supported and sheltered the pretenders to his throne. but from the very first each of the three clever players distrusted the others because he knew that he himself intended to cheat if he could, and throughout the whole series of transactions sharp practice is the gentlest term that can be applied to the action of the high contracting parties. the young people who were used by their parents as pieces on the political chessboard were, of course, innocent, except the archduke philip, who, as soon as he was able to take an independent hand in the game, outdid his seniors in depravity; and, as usually happens in the world, it was the innocent--joanna the mad, katharine of aragon, and margaret of austria--who had to suffer the unhappiness caused by the ambition and unscrupulousness of others. of the three, margaret was by far the most fortunate, because she was stronger-minded and abler than her sisters-in-law, and, after her early inexperienced youth, she was worldly wise enough to look after her own interests. but even her life was full of pathos and sacrifice, nobly and cheerfully borne, and of heavy responsibility assumed serenely for the sake of the nephew whom she reared so worthily and served so well. mrs. tremayne in the pages of this book has dwelt fully upon the busy later years of margaret's life, drawing her information from many sources, in some cases not previously utilised, and there is little more to be told of these years than is here set forth. but it happens that since this book was in print a series of hitherto unknown documents of the highest interest have been printed for the first time in spanish by the duke of berwick and alba, which throw many sidelights upon margaret's early widowhood, and upon her share in the intrigues by which her brother, philip, endeavoured to deprive his father-in-law, ferdinand, of the regency of castile, after the death of isabella the catholic. it is fair to say that, although on one or two occasions ferdinand's agents complained that margaret favoured her brother as against his unhappy, distraught wife, which, if true, was quite natural, she generally appears throughout the documents in question as a kindly, gentle mediatress, endeavouring to reconcile the bitter feud that ended so tragically, and to safeguard the children whom she loved and cared for tenderly when their father's death and their mother's madness left them doubly orphaned. the fuensalida correspondence, to which reference has been made, opens at the end of , when the treaty for alliance and the double marriages of philip and joanna, and john and margaret, had just been signed, and the instructions given by ferdinand to the new ambassador, fuensalida, whom he sent to germany to keep maximilian up to the mark, even thus early show the profound distrust which underlay the ostensibly cordial alliance upon which double marriages were to set the seal. 'what you have to do,' run the instructions, 'is to take care to maintain the king of the romans in his good will to carry through these marriages... and to strive to get him to give in the milanese such aid and support as may be needed, declaring war against the king of france, as we have done for his sake.' ferdinand knew that the surest pledge he could have of maximilian's effective co-operation would be the presence of margaret in spain, especially if he could manage to get her into his possession before his own daughter joanna was sent to flanders. 'if it be managed without inconvenience we should like madame margaret to come hither as soon as the betrothal is effected, before the infanta our daughter goes; immediately if the weather will permit.... it may be done as follows. if at the time of the formal betrothal there are any ships there belonging to our subjects, sufficient to bring the archduchess safely, the weather being fair, rojas (_i.e._ ferdinand's envoy in flanders) may take all such vessels at such freight as he can, to be paid on their arrival here in spain, and bring her in the fleet with god's grace. her coming thus would be safer, for she would arrive before the affair was publicly known, and if it can be done you will not delay for the archduchess's trousseau, ornaments, and household baggage, which can be sent afterwards.' but, continues the king of aragon, if it cannot be done, joanna shall be sent in a spanish fleet, and margaret can embark in it on its return to spain. the careful ferdinand remarks in his instructions that he intended to send with his daughter only eight ladies and the other attendants strictly necessary, and although maximilian was not to be told this in as many words, he was to be persuaded to limit his daughter's household to accompany her to spain to the smallest possible proportions. but maximilian, who was as wary as ferdinand, had no notion of allowing his daughter to be sent to spain before the spanish infanta arrived in flanders, and it was early in march of the year before margaret first set her foot on spanish soil at santander. seven months afterwards fate dealt its first crushing blow upon ferdinand's plans, and the bride, not yet eighteen, found herself a widow. she had become greatly beloved in spain, and ferdinand and isabel, especially the latter, in the midst of their own grief, cherished the daughter-in-law who might yet, they hoped, give them an heir to the crowns of spain. ferdinand, in conveying (in december ) the news of his son's death to his ambassador for the information of maximilian, wrote: 'tell him that our distress has prevented us from sending him the news earlier, and that our grief is increased by considerations for princess margaret, although she tries very hard, as befits her, to bear her trouble gently and wisely; and we try our best to console and please her, endeavouring to make her forget her loss. her pregnancy, thanks be to god, goes on well, and we hope in his mercy that the result will be a reparation and consolation for our trouble. we do, and will, take as much care of the princess as we would of her husband if he were alive, and she will always fill the same place as he did in our hearts.' when this hope had fled, and ferdinand and isabella proclaimed their eldest daughter, the queen of portugal, as their heir, maximilian took the matter very philosophically, as well he might, for it brought much nearer the probability which ferdinand had, as he thought, so cleverly guarded against, that the house of hapsburg might rule over the greatest empire that had existed since the days of alexander, and poor little aragon be swamped by its sovereign's larger interests. margaret had written to tell her father the dolorous news of her child's still-birth, and maximilian contented himself with sending a message by his secretary to the spanish ambassador, saying that although such an event naturally caused him some sorrow, he, bearing in mind that it was sent by god, for some good purpose of his own, accepted it without complaint, and thanked the almighty for all things. bearing in mind, moreover, that since prince john himself had died, nothing that happened could increase his grief, for his heart had no room for more sorrow, he had decided to make no demonstration of mourning for the present calamity, and not to suffer any to be made by others. margaret appears to have been really grateful to isabella the catholic for her goodness to her in her trouble, for she wrote to her father in february , that the queen had never left her, and had been so kind that, considering the danger she, margaret, had been in, she would have died but for solicitude of isabella. when maximilian told this to fuensalida, the ambassador, of course by ferdinand's orders, said it was painful to speak yet of margaret's remarriage, but as she was young it was but natural that she would marry again. 'there is no prince in christendom whom she could marry,' replied maximilian. 'the king of naples has no son of marriageable age; the king of england has already betrothed his son to the daughter of the catholic sovereigns; the king of scotland is a poor thing; the duke of york (_i.e._ perkin warbeck) is married, and not at liberty; the king of hungary has a wife already; the king of poland is a nobody; so that there is no fit husband for her. it is true that the king of france is talking of repudiating his wife (_i.e._ anne of brittany), and marrying her to monsieur louis with great dowries and states, whilst he keeps brittany, since he has lost hope of having children by her, and he wants to marry my daughter margaret. but i will not consent to this on any account, nor would my daughter, for she has a great objection to go to france. besides, i know for a fact that the king of france caused something to be given to her to bring on her miscarriage, and tried to poison king ferdinand as well; so that there is nothing to be said about my daughter's marriage yet awhile.' we may be quite sure that this hint that a french alliance was possible for margaret was intended to remind ferdinand that he must be careful not to offend his ally, and the ambassador urged very earnestly in the name of his master that margaret might be allowed to stay in spain until her remarriage was arranged: 'because whilst she was with the king and queen the king of france would be unable to work his will with her, as he would have no opportunity of dealing in the matter, he being on bad terms with the king and queen; besides which they would, in any case, refuse to listen to anything so shameful. but if, on the other hand, the princess (margaret) were in any of these states (_i.e._ germany), the king of france might be able to push the matter more warmly. besides,' continued the ambassador, 'surely it would be best to avoid the risk of bringing the princess home by sea, and the heavy expense that you (_i.e._ maximilian) would have to incur in fitting out a fleet for the purpose.' to all this, and much more to the same effect, maximilian replied but doubtfully. he knew full well that whilst ferdinand held so valuable a pledge as margaret in his hands he could always extort from his ally, her father, whatever he thought fit, and maximilian, with the matrimonial value of his daughter in view, especially as the spaniards knew that he was already in full negotiation for peace with france over ferdinand's head, could only repeat that he must have his daughter back soon, though for the moment the question was dropped. when some months afterwards, in august , maximilian had made a separate peace with france, much to ferdinand's indignation, he determined to bring margaret home at any cost. why, asked fuensalida of maximilian, was he sending so important and unexpected an embassy to spain? 'i am sending for my daughter,' replied the king of the romans. 'if your majesty means to bring her home at once,' exclaimed the ambassador, 'you ought to have sent notice to my king and queen, and not bring away so great a princess as she is thus suddenly. in any case she could not come until december.' 'i cannot wait so long as that,' replied maximilian. 'but,' objected the ambassador, 'she cannot come before. it will take until september for your ambassadors to reach spain, and all october will be spent in getting ships ready, and then another month for the princess to join them, and perhaps even two months; and then the season of the year will be unfit for any one to go to sea, and the king and queen will not like to expose the princess to such danger. besides,' continued he, always ready to appeal to maximilian's parsimony, 'if your majesty had given due notice to my king and queen you might have saved a great deal of money, for they would have fitted out a fleet in which the princess might have come with all honour and safety; and even now, if your majesty will wait until march, i will do my best to arrange it in this way, and you will not have to spend half so much money.' but maximilian knew the value of his daughter in his hands, and replied roughly that he would not wait. he would have her safe home, he said, before he began war again. 'if i send a single carrack from genoa, and the king and queen give her a convoy of four barks, she will come safe enough.' in vain the ambassador urged that corsairs and frenchmen could not be trusted, and that it was a slight for such a princess to be sent home in so unceremonious a fashion. maximilian was obstinate; he would have his daughter margaret home at once, no matter at what risk. to add to his eagerness news came from margaret herself, brought by special messengers of her household, who had much to say of the changed demeanour of the spaniards, now that maximilian had made a separate peace. fuensalida did his best by underhand means, frightening the german ambassadors of the sea-voyage from genoa to spain and back in the winter, and of the dreadful corsairs who infested the mediterranean, until they at last, really alarmed, begged maximilian in fuensalida's presence to let them have a very big carrack for their greater safety. better send them by way of flanders, interposed the artful fuensalida, knowing the long delay which such a voyage would entail; but maximilian angrily told him that he would do nothing of the sort. so effectually had the spaniard frightened the landsmen ambassadors of the sea that they themselves threw every possible obstacle in their master's way, and told fuensalida that, even though king maximilian ordered them to go and fetch the princess margaret before christmas, they would not do so. come what might, they said, they would not put to sea before easter. they were not allowed, however, to delay quite so long as that, for maximilian was determined to have his daughter out of the hands of ferdinand, who he feared was making terms for himself by offering her in marriage to the new king of france, louis xii. in writing to margaret in september, her father, referring to his and her own desire that she should return to flanders or germany, says that 'no importunity nor pressure of any sort will move him from his resolve to bring her back at once,' and he urges her to insist upon her departure without loss of time. fortunately now, especially for the timid german ambassadors, the road overland through france was open, and margaret travelled in comfort and safety to her home in flanders early in , to see spain no more. thither, too, went soon afterwards the spanish ambassador fuensalida, accredited especially to the archduke philip and his spanish wife joanna, whose conduct was already profoundly grieving ferdinand and isabella; and from flanders the ambassador was to proceed to england and pin henry vii. down irrevocably to the marriage of his son arthur with katharine. already ferdinand more than suspected that maximilian was playing him false, and forming a league against him by negotiating margaret's marriage with arthur, prince of wales, already betrothed more than once to the spanish princess. fuensalida's mission was a delicate one; for margaret's flemish household had come back from spain full of complaints, and the court of flanders was sharply divided by the partisans of spain and burgundy respectively, of the archduchess joanna and her dissolute husband, philip. margaret was to be conciliated as much as possible, and kept in the spanish interest. 'you will visit our daughter the princess margaret,' wrote ferdinand and isabella to their envoy, 'and say that we beseech her to let us know how she is after her long journey; for we desire her health and welfare as that of our own daughter. for the love we bear her we will do everything in our power most willingly to aid and forward her settlement.' the envoy was also urged to counteract the efforts of those who wished to make bad blood between flanders and spain, and especially to enlist margaret in favour of poor joanna, her sister-in-law. fuensalida followed hard on the heels of henry vii. from st. omer and calais to london, endeavouring by every means to discover how much truth there was in the assertion that an arrangement had been concluded to throw over katharine of aragon and marry the prince of wales to margaret as a result of the mysterious foregathering of the king of england with the archduke philip. the story of fuensalida's successful though turbulent mission to england is told elsewhere;[ ] but on his return to flanders he found margaret in the deepest anxiety with regard to her own affairs. neither she nor maximilian desired to forward by her marriage in england the anti-spanish combination of england, france, and flanders which philip was planning; her dowry from spain was, as was natural with ferdinand for a pay-master, in arrear; and the coming voyage to spain of philip and joanna at the urgent summons of ferdinand and isabella, who hoped to win over the archduke, if possible, from his alliance with their enemies, was a subject of the deepest concern to margaret. [ ] _the wives of henry viii._, by the present writer. when fuensalida first saw margaret on his return to brussels from england, in august , she welcomed him eagerly in the belief that he brought some special message to her from spain. he told her that his mission was simply one of affection towards her, and she made no attempt to hide her disappointment. the cause of her anxiety was soon apparent. fuensalida reported in the same letter that the bastard of savoy had been to see her secretly, and that she and her father, maximilian, had looked with favour upon the proposal of the duke of savoy to marry her. such a marriage was, of course, a blow, as it was intended to be, against her brother philip's anti-spanish projects, because not only did it leave katharine of aragon's marriage with the prince of wales undisturbed, but it secured savoy to the imperial and aragonese interests against france, which was of the highest importance as touching the french designs upon italy. her marriage in savoy, moreover, was opposed strongly by philip for another reason, namely, that he would, in case it was effected, be obliged to hand to his sister the domains belonging to burgundy which had been bequeathed to her by her mother; and in order to frustrate it philip brought forward the recently widowed king of portugal as a fit husband for margaret, which would have secured her residence in a distant country, and his continued occupation of her burgundian inheritance. successive deaths had now made philip and joanna heirs of spain, as well as of burgundy, flanders, and the empire; the archduke was already betrothing his infant son, charles, the future king of castile, to a french princess, and his open negotiations for the formation of a league against ferdinand to assert joanna's right to assume the crown of castile on the death of her mother isabella, who was in failing health, had fairly frightened ferdinand, who knew not whom to trust; for castilians generally disliked him, and were ready to acclaim joanna and her foreign husband on the first opportunity--joanna herself was unstable, violently jealous of her husband, and with strange notions as regarded religion. she would not go to spain alone, and philip was determined not to go except on his own terms, and at his own time, and margaret, living in close contact with the inharmonious pair, struggled bravely to reconcile the clashing interests that surrounded her. there was a talk of leaving her regent of flanders in the absence of her brother in spain, and against this ferdinand's agents were instructed to work secretly; although margaret lost no opportunity of professing to the ambassador her attachment to spanish interests. from several remarks in fuensalida's letters to ferdinand it is, however, evident that her desire was less to rule flanders than to enjoy the care of the infants whom her brother and sister-in-law were to leave behind. but even this natural desire was opposed by the spaniards; apparently because the princess was looked upon as being too ready to follow her brother's lead. writing in march of philip's dissolute life and his disaffection towards spain, fuensalida says: 'i am loath to say how much madam margaret's good-nature encourages this, for she simply follows her brother's fancies in all things.' but the departure of margaret from flanders in august for her marriage with the duke of savoy put an end for a time to her pretensions to take charge of her brother's children; and when she returned as a young widow early in , the issue between ferdinand and his undutiful son-in-law was joined, for isabella the catholic was dead, and philip in right of his wife was arrogantly claiming, not only the crown of castile, but the entire control of its policy against the wish of the great queen just dead, whose last hours were embittered by the dread that her beloved, her sacred, castile, would be ruled by a foreigner of doubtful orthodoxy. philip was abetted in his revolt against ferdinand by the castilian officers attached to him who were jealous of aragon, don juan manuel, the principal spanish diplomatist of his time, being their leader and philip's prime adviser. as soon as margaret arrived in her brother's court both factions tried to gain her. 'my lady,' don juan manuel is represented to have said to her on one occasion (june ), 'i shall be able to serve you quite as effectively as antonio de fonseca when i am in castile and treasurer-general'; and at this time, when philip and his friends were anticipating the rich booty they would gain in castile, whither they were bound to take possession of mad joanna's inheritance, margaret was beset with offers of reward if she would throw in her influence against king ferdinand. it is abundantly clear that she grieved at the unhappy state of affairs. ferdinand and his wife had been good to her in spain, and easy-going as she may have been, she must have seen her brother's unworthiness and his bad treatment of joanna; and yet it was neither prudent nor natural that she should oppose philip violently. fuensalida saw her in bois le duc in june , whilst she was on her way to bourg, and discussed matters with her. 'she told me that she had talked to her brother, and had asked him whether he would allow her to mediate between him and your highness (ferdinand), and he had answered, "no, you are still marriageable, and so is he, and i will not have any such third person interposing between us." she told me that her father and brother have made her swear that she will not entertain any marriage without their consent. she really believes that those who are around her brother have turned his head, and will not let him make terms with your highness.... she bids me tell your highness that she will continue to be as obedient a daughter to you as she was when she was with you in spain; and that she is going to her own home now for no other reason than that she cannot bear to see in silence the things that are going on, whereas if she spoke of them or protested against them, evil would come of it. she prefers, therefore, to go away, so that she may not witness them personally; for she sees quite plainly that the destruction of her brother's and her father's house will ensue. she prays your highness to make use of her services in any way you please, and she will do for you all that a good daughter may. "why not speak to queen joanna?" i said. "because they will not let me," she answered. i am told that don juan manuel said to her (margaret), what is the use of your going to speak to a stone? you might just as well speak to a stone as to the queen.' margaret herself was determined not to be drawn into the shameful intrigue by which her brother sought to supplant his wife and her father in order to rule castile himself and for his own pleasure; but it is evident that no stone was left unturned to gain her, directly or indirectly, by don juan manuel and his friends. one of margaret's officers was a certain monsieur louis, to whom manuel offered, 'that if he would prevail upon his mistress to follow in all things the wishes of king philip, her brother, he would get the king to give to louis from the revenues of castile an income equal to the highest officer of his household. louis, he said, knew castile: let him look about and choose any office or place he liked, and it should be granted to him. louis succumbed to this temptation; but the duchess (margaret) heard of it, and never consented to speak to him again, although he had been her most trusted servant.' through this wretched business, which ended in the triumph of ferdinand by the untimely death, probably by poison, of philip in spain, and the lifelong incarceration of crazy joanna, margaret is the only person who stands forth pure and unselfish. in the summer of , when philip and joanna were about to start on their voyage to spain, margaret set out for her own castle of pont d'ain, full of her projects for building brou; but just as she reached the frontier of her brother's dominions she was stopped by the news that her little nephew, charles, was suffering from fever, and she determined to retrace her steps to see the children again, and bid farewell once more to unhappy joanna. from her quiet retreat in bresse margaret was summoned, on the death of her brother, to rule the states, and care for the children whom he had left behind, bereft of a mother's care by the lunacy of joanna. how nobly and self-sacrificingly she fulfilled her trust this book to some extent will tell; but of all the sacrifices she made in her wise and gentle life none was greater than the renunciation of her love, perhaps the only love she ever experienced, for the handsome englishman who appears to have treated her so shabbily. for charles brandon, though his king's first favourite and brother-in-law, hardly played the game of love very fairly with margaret. kneeling at her feet in sweet dalliance after the banquet at tournai, he drew from her finger, as lovers will, a ring, and placed it upon his own hand. in gentle chiding she told him in french, and then in flemish so like english that he understood, that he was a thief. but soon she became alarmed when she saw he meant to keep it for a pledge; for it was well known and might compromise her; and she prayed him to restore it. 'but he understood me not,' and only the intervention of henry the king, and a promise of a bracelet of hers in exchange, made charles brandon give up his capture. but not for long; for again on his knees before the princess at lille soon afterwards, he took the ring a second time, and all the entreaties of the lady were unavailing to obtain its restoration, though a ring of far greater value was given to her in exchange, with all sorts of imprudent, perhaps not more than half-serious, promises on both sides never to marry without the consent of the other. margaret, as she pathetically says, had never any intention of marrying at all, so unhappy had she been in her previous marriages: but at all events she hid brandon's ring in her bosom, unseen by the world, and cherished the secret of her little love passage. not so king henry's flamboyant favourite, who made no concealment of his conquest, and vaunted the possession of the jewel, though faithful margaret could not believe it of him: 'for i esteem him much a man of virtue and wise.' the sad little romance presents margaret as a dignified great lady, who for one short space allowed herself to be simply a trustful woman in love, only to find that to such as she duty must be paramount over the promptings of the heart, and that a wooer, though he may be a duke, is not always a gentleman. thenceforward, for many years, margaret's life was that of a wise vice-regent for the emperor whom she had reared from his childhood; until death relieved her from the task to which she devoted the best of her life. she died in harness, defrauded of an old age of refined leisure, to which she had looked forward, deprived even of a sight of the splendid church which is her own worthy tomb and monument; but it was perhaps most fitting that she should fall in the plenitude of her powers, leaving her beloved nephew the undisputed sovereign of the greatest dominion in the world, at peace with all christendom, thanks largely to her efforts; and that she should go down to posterity remembered mainly as the first and noblest of the women of her imperial race who bore the title of governess of the netherlands. martin hume the first governess of the netherlands margaret of austria chapter i queen of france in the year an interview took place in the little town of baugy in poitou, between a youth of twenty-one and a girl of twelve. the fate of more than one kingdom was involved in this farewell meeting between two playfellows who had been companions and friends for nearly nine years. the youth had tears in his eyes as he hesitatingly made his excuses and unfolded his plan. he told his fair-haired companion that though he loved her with all his heart, yet he had made up his mind to send her back to her father, who had often expressed the wish to have her with him. the little maiden listened to her youthful husband's repudiation of his marriage vows with calm dignity, but when he continued to make excuses for his conduct she stopped him, saying with much spirit, 'that by reason of her youth, those who had counted on her fortune could never say or suspect that this had come upon her through any fault of her own.' the slight thus inflicted, the girl never forgot; and when years later she became governess of the netherlands, france knew no greater enemy than margaret of austria, former queen of france. margaret was born at brussels[ ] on january th, , and baptized in saint gudule. her godparents were philippe de ravenstein, jean de châlons, prince of orange, and margaret of york, sister of edward iv., king of england, third wife of charles the bold. [ ] not ghent, as some historians say. margaret was the only daughter of the archduke maximilian, afterwards king of the romans, and emperor of germany, by mary of burgundy, only daughter and heiress of charles, duke of burgundy, surnamed the bold. when margaret was barely two years old her mother died from the effects of a fall from a horse at the age of twenty-five, leaving two children, philip (born nd july ) and margaret. the flemish states, discontented with maximilian's rule, claimed their ancient right to educate his children, but in accordance with the terms of a treaty of peace signed at arras between louis xi. and the archduke in the year , margaret was betrothed to the dauphin charles, afterwards charles viii., and was sent to france to be brought up and educated with the french princes. on the nd of june , at the age of three, she made her entry into paris amidst transports of joy, at the conclusion of the peace of which her presence was the pledge. 'and in honour of my said lady margaret, who from henceforth was called dauphine, the streets were decorated, and many people rejoiced.'[ ] louis xi. did not appear at these fêtes; he contented himself with secretly rejoicing over the successful issue of his cunning policy, an issue which would mean, as he foresaw, the downfall of the powerful house of burgundy. [ ] _mer des histoires_, liv. iii. margaret's dowry was a large one, consisting of burgundy, the county of artois, and the territories of macon, salins, bar-sur-seine, and noyers. the ceremony of betrothal took place at amboise with great pomp in presence of a numerous gathering assembled in the public square. charles, aged twelve, declared that he consented to take the three-year-old margaret as his wife. the religious ceremony was performed the same day in the lower church of the castle, in presence of the lords and ladies of beaujeu, of the sire de la trémouille, the counts of dunois, d'albret, and many deputies from the provincial towns. the dauphin, clothed in a robe of white damask lined with black velvet, married the little princess, and placed a ring upon her tiny finger. a mass was said, and a sermon preached by the abbé of saint bertain, who compared this marriage to that of king ahasuerus and queen esther; after which the dauphin thanked all those who were present. two months later louis xi. died ( th august ), leaving his kingdom to his son charles, and appointing his favourite daughter, anne de beaujeu, as regent. from the time of louis' death margaret was treated as queen, and given the honours due to her rank. her childhood passed peacefully at amboise, where she became the pet and plaything of her youthful husband, and of his cousin louis, duke of orleans. it would be interesting to know the story of margaret's life during the nine or ten years she was under the guardianship of anne de beaujeu. charles's mother, the poor queen charlotte of savoy, died soon after her eldest son's marriage, leaving the education of the young couple to the regent anne, whose vigorous intellect was not satisfied with ruling the kingdom of france for her brother. she read a great deal, early fathers, philosophers, moralists and poets, and selected romances for the young people under her charge. her library contained three hundred and fourteen volumes, some of which are noted in the catalogue as being covered with red velvet, and ornamented with clasps, bosses, and corner pieces of metal. if it is true that the first years of life, early education and precepts, influence the rest of existence, then margaret must have had a very careful bringing up at the french court, to judge from the marked talents, wisdom, and prudence she displayed in later years. amongst her companions at the castle of amboise we find louise of savoy, her senior by three years. louise (the mother of francis i.) was the daughter of the sieur de bresse and margaret of bourbon, and sister of philibert ii., duke of savoy, margaret's future husband. louise was a niece of anne de beaujeu's, and appears to have been treated as a poor relation, 'only receiving eighty francs at the new year with which to buy herself a crimson satin dress for state occasions.' anne's sickly little daughter, susan, must also have been one of margaret's younger playfellows. the lady of beaujeu was devoted to hunting, and she hunted, we are told, 'coldly and methodically, with her own eyes examining the trail, and giving the word to hark forward, setting off with her hounds, and skilfully handling her hunting-spear. she probably encouraged this sport amongst her young companions, for we learn in after years that margaret was a great huntress, and very proud of her stuffed wolves' heads.' unhappily, no detailed account exists of margaret's childhood in france, but from what we know of her life at amboise she seems to have been a bright and lively child, with a marvellously fair complexion, golden hair and soft brown eyes, making many friends, with a gift for repartee and a strong sense of humour, which probably helped her to bear the many sorrows of her later life. years after, when louis of orleans was king of france, he refers in his letters to margaret to their happy youth at amboise when 'she was the second person he loved best in the world; that he desires above all things to embrace his cousin, his vassal, his first mistress, to remind her of their childish games, and after having made her blush by his compliments, to swear eternal love for her.' in francis ii., duke of brittany, died, leaving only two daughters, anne and isabel. the latter did not long survive her father, but dying in august at the age of twelve, left her sister anne sole possessor of the important duchy of brittany. as early as duke francis had tried to arrange a marriage between his daughter anne, or failing her, her younger sister isabel, and the eldest son of edward iv., king of england, but these plans were frustrated by the young prince's murder in the tower of london. negotiations were then begun for an alliance with maximilian, duke of austria, but were postponed owing to the princess's extreme youth. amongst foreign alliances this seemed the most advantageous, although it offered no guarantee for the independence and maintenance of brittany's nationality. the best way to ensure this independence would have been to marry anne to one of the nobles of her own country chosen from amongst those who had pretensions to the ducal crown. these were three in number: john of châlons, prince of orange, a son of one of duke francis ii.'s sisters; john, viscount de rohan, who had married mary, daughter of duke francis i., who claimed to be the direct descendant of conan mériadec, first king of brittany; and alain d'albret, husband of a great-granddaughter of joan the lame. when francis ii. died, only the last of these three was a widower, and he was an unsuitable husband for a princess of thirteen, being more than forty-five years of age, and the father of eight children. the lords of her council advised the young duchess to marry maximilian of austria, king of the romans, and anne, who was just entering her fourteenth year, agreed to this union. the preliminary negotiations for the marriage were arranged with the greatest secrecy in march . maximilian sent the count of nassau, marshal polhain, jacques de codebault, his secretary, and his steward, louppian, to brittany to negotiate matters, and arrange the betrothal. a few days after, so secretly that the day is not known, this ceremony took place according to german custom. in order to make the marriage indissoluble, says legendre, and to give it the appearance of a consummated marriage, the count of nassau (others say it was the handsome polhain, maximilian's favourite), who had married anne in his master's name, put his leg bared to the knee into the bride's bed in presence of the lords and ladies who were nominated as witnesses. when the details of this ceremony were divulged they caused great derision amongst the bretons and french, who ridiculed a custom so different from their own. this marriage was a flagrant violation of the last treaty with france, for charles viii., whose ward the young duchess was, had not been consulted. as soon as he received information of the fact, he sent his troops into brittany, and penetrated farther and farther into that country, and nantes was taken almost without a struggle by alain d'albret. in the first days of the year charles viii., accompanied by the count of dunois, louis, duke of orleans, and the lady of beaujeu, joined his army in brittany. the king held his court at nantes, and did his utmost to insinuate himself into the good graces of the inhabitants. anne, at the head of a small army under her tutor, the marshal de rieux, vainly tried to struggle against the french invaders. after many skirmishes, de rieux obliged the french to retire to lower brittany, until he received reinforcements from england. anne showed a courage beyond her years and worthy of better success. she took refuge at last in the town of rennes with her uncle the prince of orange, marshal polhain, and several faithful nobles, having only , men to defend her, principally english archers, germans, and spaniards, sent by her husband, the king of the romans. in the french laid siege to the town. charles gradually drew his lines closer and closer; lack of food and money began to be felt in the beleaguered city. charles offered the duchess , crowns a year if she would renounce the government of brittany, and choose any dwelling-place she pleased except the towns of rennes and nantes; he also suggested the choice of three husbands, either louis of luxembourg, the duke of nemours, or the count of angoulême. anne replied that she was married to the king of the romans, and that if he refused to have her, she still would consider herself his wife, and would never be the wife of another. should maximilian die, and she be in a position to remarry, she would only marry a king or the son of a king. charles, convinced of her obstinacy, then tried to induce her garrison to desert. being chiefly mercenary troops they succumbed to persistent bribery, and marched out of the town, leaving it free for him to enter. after taking possession he made a new proposition to the duchess, namely, to renounce for ever all rights to the duchy of brittany excepting an allowance of £ , a year, and retire to the king of the romans, whom she looked upon as her husband. towards the end of the siege of rennes, anne's youngest sister, isabel, died in the town on the th august . by her death in her twelfth year anne was left sole heiress of the largest duchy in europe. this was too attractive a bait for charles's ambition, and he made up his mind to break his marriage with his old playfellow margaret, and to do all in his power to make anne accept him as her husband. it is no wonder that the young duchess of brittany or rather her advisers were in no hurry to reply to charles's last monstrous proposition. after waiting some time he again tried a new plan, and, partly by threats and partly by promises, persuaded her advisers to work on their young mistress's mind in such a way as to bring her to think more kindly of him. her uncle, prince of orange, marshal de rieux, montauban, chancellor of brittany, and her governess, frances of dinan, talked so much on the subject, that by degrees they got her slightly to change her mind. it was no wonder that anne felt a great repugnance for charles, who for three years had carried on war against her, ruining her lands, and under pretext of being her lawful protector trying to take her prisoner. for several days her councillors, won over by charles, endeavoured to bring her to reason, without success; but at last her governess had recourse to her confessor, who persuaded her that god and the church ordained that she should make this sacrifice for the sake of peace and the good of her country. charles, under pretence of a pilgrimage, went with all his court to the chapel of our lady situated near the gates of rennes. after performing his religious duties he suddenly entered the town, accompanied by his sister, anne de beaujeu, count dunois, and a hundred men-at-arms and fifty archers of the guard. the next day he paid a visit to the young duchess, and had a long interview with her. three days later their betrothal was celebrated in the chapel of our lady in presence of the duke of orleans, count dunois, and anne de beaujeu on one side; the chancellor of brittany, the prince of orange, and several nobles devoted to the duchess on the other. marshal wolfgang de polhain, instructed by maximilian to betroth anne to his master, heard a rumour of this hasty alliance. he questioned the french and breton nobles, but they refused to give him an answer. a few days later he was invited to the marriage ceremony which had been arranged to take place in the castle of langeais in touraine. polhain refused to attend, and hastened to malines to give maximilian an account of these proceedings. this sudden marriage caused great astonishment throughout europe. how could people believe that the young duchess, then in her fourteenth year, and well able to understand the importance of her acts, had consented to marry a king who for years had made war against her and despoiled her of her heritage! besides it was well known that since the treaty of arras in charles had been affianced to maximilian's daughter, margaret of austria. the rumour got about that the duchess anne had been forced into the marriage. the pope believed this, and in granting the dispensation which was only asked for after the marriage had taken place, he formally announced that he would only confirm this union if it could be proved that it had not been brought about by force. anne herself undertook to refute this calumny by declaring before an ecclesiastical commission that she had suffered no violence, and that she had gone to langeais of her own free will to marry charles. in the marriage contract a clause was inserted to the effect that should anne survive charles, without children, she could only remarry with his successor. thus was the duchy of brittany secured to the crown of france, and the king's ambitious scheme realised to margaret's mortification. mézerai tells us that 'a double dispensation was necessary, first to annul charles's marriage with margaret, and secondly to free anne from her contract with maximilian. the marriages not having been consummated, the court of rome did not make any great difficulty.' when maximilian heard that his affianced bride had become the wife of charles viii., and that his daughter was about to be returned to him despoiled of her title of queen of france, he made all the courts of europe ring with his complaints. war began again and lasted for two years. in peace was restored by the treaty of senlis, concluded between charles and maximilian. the king of the romans renounced the title of duke of brittany, and was put in possession of the whole duchy of burgundy as well as the franche comté, and artois, which had been included in margaret's dowry. if we are to believe pasquier, margaret had a foreboding of her misfortune before these events took place. one day whilst walking in the garden at amboise, her ladies and gentlemen noticed that she seemed very melancholy, and one of them asked her the reason. she replied that she had had a strange dream, which she could not forget, for she believed it boded ill. in her dream she thought she was in a large park, and saw a marguerite (daisy) which she was told to watch; whilst she gazed at the flower, a donkey came and tried to eat it; she kept him off as long as she could, but at last he seized and devoured it. this troubled her so much that she woke with a start, and the dream still weighed upon her mind. no one then anticipated what ultimately happened, but afterwards this quaint dream was looked upon as a forecast of margaret's broken marriage. curiously enough her dismissal had been provided for by louis xi. at the time of the treaty of arras, as the following clause in the treaty will show. 'if it should happen (which god forbid) that my said lady margaret being of age, my said lord the dauphin should not proceed to the perfect consummation of the said marriage, or that the said marriage should be broken by the king, monseigneur the dauphin, or others on their part, during the minority of the young lady or after; in which case, my said lady shall be sent at the king's expense or at that of my said lord the dauphin, back to my said lord the duke her father, or the duke philip her brother, frankly and fully discharged of all bonds of marriage and all other obligations, to one of the good towns in the territories of brabant, flanders, or hainault, to a safe place acknowledging obedience to the said dukes.' but margaret remained in france for two years after charles's marriage with anne of brittany, which took place on december th, . neglected by her father, and kept as a sort of hostage until the peace of senlis was signed, she passed her time in seclusion. 'when the king had restored peace to brittany, he returned to france, and gave orders that madam margaret of flanders should retire to the castle of melun on the river seine, and take with her the princess of tarente'; here she remained for more than a year. an interesting letter written by margaret to anne de beaujeu from melun has fortunately been preserved. in it she requests that her cousin might not be taken away from her, although the king has ordered her to leave, and mentioning that madame de molitart has told her that she is to be better treated than formerly:--[ ] 'madame ma bonne tante, il faut bien que je me plaigne à vous comme à celle en qui j'ay mon espérance, de ma cousine que l'on m'a voulu oster, qui est tout le passe-temps que j'ay, et quand je l'auray perdue je ne scay plus que je feray. parquoi je vous prie que veuillez tenir la main pour moy qu'elle ne me soit ostée, car plus grand déplaisir ne me scauroit-on faire. lachault est venu qui a apporté lettres adressantes à madite cousine, par lesquelles le roy lui escrivoit qu'elle s'en allast; toutefois je ne l'ay pas voulu souffrir, jusques à ce que vous en eusse advertie, en espérant que m'y seriez en aide, comme j'ay en cela et en autre chose ma parfaite fiance, vous priant, madame ma bonne tante, que quelque part que je soye ne parte point de vostre bonne grâce, car toujours en aurai-je besoin, à laquelle bien fort me veut recommander. madame de molitart m'a dit que voulais que je sois mieux traitée que je ne fus oncques, qui est une chose qui m'a fort réjouie, puisque avez encore souvenance de moy, vous disant adieu, madame ma bonne tante, que je prie qu'il vous doint le plus aimé de vos désirs. escrit à melun, le dix-septième jour de mars. vostre bonne humble et léable nièce marguerite. '_a madame ma bonne tante._' [ ] quoted by denis godefroi in his _life of charles viii._ [illustration: philippe le bel and his sister margaret of austria (panel) philippe aged margaret aged imperial museum, vienna] jean le maire relates that the autumn of was very cold and the grapes did not ripen. one day when margaret was at table she overheard the gentlemen of her suite discussing this fact, and with a play on the words remarked sadly that it was not surprising if the vines (_sarments de vigne_) were green this year, as vows (_serments_) were of no value (referring to the king's broken word). before margaret left france she was made to swear on the cross and the gospels that she would renounce for ever all pretensions to her marriage with charles. at last she set out on her long journey back to flanders. charles took care that she was treated with every respect. anne of brittany showed her great sympathy, and tried by all means in her power to make margaret forget her mortification. at the moment of departure anne ordered jeanne de jambes, her most skilful maid of honour, to make an embroidered coif to offer the princess, as well as some gold ornaments, the whole valued at the large sum of £ .[ ] [ ] 'a jehanne de jambes, dame de beaumont, damoiselle de lad. dame, la somme de deux cent cinquante livres tournoys, à elle ordonnée par icelle dame pour la recompenser d'une bordure d'habillement de teste et autres bagues d'or pesans pareille somme de quatres cent cinquante livres tournoys que icelle dame a de luy prinses dès le moys de may derrenier passé, pour envoyer à madame margaret d'autriche, obmys à compter au roole dud. moys. laquelle somme, etc.' (_argenter de la reine. arch. imp._) the french nobles who had been attached to margaret's person for nearly twelve years accompanied her on her journey. the little princess was calm, but she bore a grudge against france which she never forgot, and which is noticeable in all her later dealings with her first husband's kingdom. when she passed through the town of arras the citizens cried, 'noël, noël,' a french cry that annoyed margaret; she called back to them, 'do not cry noël, but long live burgundy!' thus she was escorted to st. quentin, from thence to cambray, valenciennes, and finally to malines, where she was received by her brother philip and by margaret of york, the widow of her grandfather, charles the bold. 'when she alighted from her litter near a mill by a small stream which divided the royal and archducal dwelling, she thanked the said lords and ladies who had brought and accompanied her, begging them all to recommend her very humbly to the king their master, bearing no ill-will because of his separation from her, believing that marriages ought to be voluntary.' however, margaret always showed great regard for anne of brittany, and even more so when the queen married louis xii. the documents of the period abound in exchange of civilities between the princesses. thus ended margaret's first matrimonial adventure. her former husband did not long survive his marriage with anne, but died almost suddenly in april , and left no children. his widow fulfilled the clause in her marriage contract, and married his successor, who ascended the throne as louis xii. chapter ii princess of asturias charles viii. was hardly free from his sister's tutelage when he dreamt of conquering the kingdom of naples, which he claimed as heir to the house of anjou. an embassy which he received from ludovico sforza, afterwards duke of milan, made him the more determined to carry out this project. by the treaty of barcelona (january ) charles had agreed to restore to ferdinand of aragon the counties of roussillon and cerdagne in return for ferdinand's assurance that he would leave him a free hand in italy and elsewhere, and would not form matrimonial alliances with the houses of england, austria, or naples; but when, in , charles informed ferdinand of his intentions against naples, and claimed his aid in accordance with the treaty, the king of aragon pretended to be shocked and surprised, and quietly set to work to circumvent his plans and to side with his enemies. on the th of july the duke of orleans crossed the alps with the advance guard of the french army. charles soon followed, and was received with great honour by ludovico sforza and the duke of ferrara. after crossing italy in triumph, he arrived at naples without having broken a single lance, and made a solemn entry into the town, whilst the king of naples, abandoned by his subjects and betrayed by his generals, fled to sicily. but in the midst of his triumphs charles learned, through the historian commines, his ambassador in venice, of the perfidy of his allies and of the new league that was formed against him by henry vii. of england, ferdinand of aragon, maximilian (recently elected emperor after the death of his father), the pope alexander vi., the republic of venice, and the duke of milan. all these confederates combined in a common interest to drive the french out of italy, and to attack france from different sides at the same time. 'the ambitious schemes of charles viii. established a community of interests among the great european states, such as had never before existed, or at least been understood; and the intimate relations thus introduced naturally led to intermarriages between the principal powers, who until this period seemed to have been severed almost as far asunder as if oceans had rolled between them.... it was while charles viii. was wasting his time at naples that the marriages were arranged between the royal houses of spain and austria, by which the weight of these great powers was thrown into the same scale, and the balance of europe unsettled for the greater part of the following century. 'the treaty of venice provided that prince john, the heir of the spanish monarchies, then in his eighteenth year, should be united with the princess margaret, daughter of the emperor maximilian, and that the archduke philip, his son and heir, and sovereign of the low countries in his mother's right, should marry joanna, second daughter of ferdinand and isabella. no dowry was to be required with either princess.'[ ] [ ] prescott, _ferdinand and isabella_. the conditions of this double marriage were drawn up by francisco de rojas, sent to flanders by ferdinand and isabella for this purpose. the proposals were agreed to by both sides, and it was arranged that the fleet which brought joanna of castile to flanders should carry margaret of austria to spain. the following amusing anecdote is from zurita, and mentioned in a. r. villa's _life of doña juana la loca_. francisco de rojas, who was chosen by isabella to marry margaret by proxy, was presented with a brocade garment by antonio de valle on his arrival in flanders, and was told that he must see that he was tidy at the ceremony of betrothal, as according to the german custom he would have to undress as far as his doublet and hose. this he promised to do, but when he came to remove his coat, it was seen that his shirt protruded from his hose at the back. this carelessness caused him to be much teased by the courtiers, who with difficulty concealed their smiles at the time. by the end of the summer in a fleet, consisting of one hundred and thirty vessels, large and small, strongly manned and thoroughly equipped, was got ready for sea in the ports of guipuzcoa and biscay. the whole was placed under the command of don fadrique enriquez, admiral of castile, who carried with him a splendid array of chivalry. a more gallant and beautiful armada never before quitted the shores of spain. the infanta joanna, attended by a numerous suite, embarked towards the end of august at the port of laredo, on the eastern borders of asturias, where she bade farewell to her mother, queen isabella, who travelled through spain to take leave of her seventeen-year-old daughter. on august the th the queen wrote to doctor de puebla (ferdinand's envoy in england) from laredo to inform him that the fleet that was taking her daughter to flanders, and bringing the infanta margaret to spain, was to sail the next day. 'if they should enter an english port, she hopes that they will be treated in england as though they were the daughters of henry vii. himself.'[ ] the queen also addressed a letter to the king of england begging for the same favours. a navy of fifteen thousand armed men was needed to escort the bride to flanders and bring back prince john's betrothed to spain. for two nights after the embarkation isabella slept on the ship with her daughter, and when at last the fleet sailed on august nd, she turned her back on the sea, and rode with a heavy heart back to burgos. [ ] _calendar of spanish state papers_, vol. i. the weather soon after joanna's departure became extremely tempestuous, and the poor princess had a terrible voyage; her fleet was driven into portland, and one of the largest ships came into collision and foundered. but this was not the end of her troubles, for on the flemish coast another great ship was wrecked, with most of her household, trousseau, and jewels. several vessels were lost, and many of her attendants perished from the hardships they had to endure, amongst them the old bishop of jaen, who had accompanied her to give state and dignity to her suite. eventually the whole fleet arrived at ramua, sorely disabled and needing a long delay for refitting before it could return to spain.[ ] soon after her arrival in flanders her marriage with the archduke philip was celebrated with much pomp at lille. at a tournament given in her honour at brussels, three knights wearing her colours entered the lists and fought against three of margaret's knights; the latter were dressed in white, and wore 'marguerites' embroidered as their badge. philip neglected and ill-treated his wife's countrymen to the extent of allowing nine thousand of the men on the fleet at antwerp to die from cold and privation, without trying to help them; his young wife's spanish household were unpaid, and even the income settled upon her by philip was withheld, on the pretext that ferdinand had not fulfilled his part of the bargain agreed upon in the marriage settlements. [ ] martin hume, _queens of old spain_. the fleet was detained until the following winter to carry the destined bride of the young prince of asturias to spain. margaret was now in her eighteenth year, and already distinguished for those intellectual qualities which made her later one of the most remarkable women of her time. she must have been a lovely girl, tall and fair, with masses of waving golden hair, a brilliant complexion, soft brown eyes, and a rather long narrow face, with the full under-lip so peculiar to the house of austria. it is no wonder that prince john fell in love with her, or that his parents welcomed her with admiration. in the spring of margaret left flushing and started on her long journey to spain. she had an even worse voyage than her sister-in-law. a fearful storm arose, and her vessel was nearly wrecked. when the tempest had somewhat subsided, she and her companions amused themselves with each writing her own epitaph. margaret composed the following well-known distich, which she bound to her arm for identification, and jokingly said might be engraved on her tomb, in case her body should be washed ashore:-- 'cy gist margot la gentil' damoiselle, qu' ha deux marys et encor est pucelle.' fortunately this witty epitaph was not needed. the fleet passed the english channel in the beginning of february, and was compelled through stress of weather to take refuge in the harbour of southampton. on february the rd henry vii. wrote the following letter to the princess margaret:-- 'most illustrious and most excellent princess, our dearest and most beloved cousin,--with all our heart we send to greet you, and to recommend ourself. we have received through the most renowned, most prudent, and most discreet ambassador of our most beloved cousins the king and queen of spain, at our court, the letters of the admiral and ambassador of the said king and queen, who accompany your excellence. by them we are informed that your highness, enjoying the best of health, has entered with your whole fleet and suite our harbour of southampton. our subjects of that neighbourhood had already communicated to us the arrival of your highness. as soon as we heard of it, we sent our well-beloved and trustworthy vassals and servants, the seneschal of our palace, and sir charles somerset, our captain and guardian of our body, and also a doctor _utriusque juris_, and keeper of our privy seal, to see, visit, and consult you in our name, and to tell you how agreeable and delightful to us was the arrival of your excellence in our dominions, especially as it has pleased god to give you and your company (to whom we recommend ourself likewise) good health and cheerful spirits. our servants are to place at your disposal our person, our realm, and all that is to be found in it. they are to provide you with whatever you wish, and serve and obey you as ourself. you will more fully learn our intentions from them and from the letters of the spanish ambassador who resides at our court.' the following is in the king's handwriting:-- 'dearest and most beloved cousin,--desirous the more to assure your excellence that your visit to us and to our realm is so agreeable and delightful to us, that the arrival of our own daughter could not give us greater joy, we write this portion of our letter with our own hand, in order to be able the better to express to you that you are very welcome, and that you may more perfectly understand our good wishes. we most earnestly entreat and beseech your highness, from the bottom of our heart, to be as cheerful as though you were with the dearest and most beloved king and queen of spain, our cousins, and that you will stay in whatever part of our realms as cheerfully and without fear as though you were in spain. in all and everything you want, do not spare us and our realms, for you will render us a great and most acceptable service by accepting anything from us.--palace, westminster, rd february.'[ ] [ ] _calendar of spanish state papers_, vol. i. the king then begs her to stay at southampton, and even offers to pay her a visit there:-- 'most illustrious and most excellent princess, our most noble and most beloved cousin,--we have received to-day the letter of the nd instant, which your highness has written from the harbour of southampton, and are much pleased with it. we are also very glad to learn the good news contained in your letter and the letter of the illustrious ambassador, whom our dearest cousins, the king and queen of spain, your most pious parents, have ordered to accompany you. he informs us of your prosperity and good success. we, on our part, have sent to inform you of our inviolable friendship, and to tell you how agreeable in every respect your arrival in our harbour has been to us. on friday we sent you our servants and domestics, with injunctions to serve you in the same way as they serve ourselves; and a short time after they had left we wrote to your excellence a letter with our own hand, to give you a hearty welcome in our harbour. we beseech you to have a cheerful face and a glad heart, to be happy and enjoy yourself as safely as though you were our own daughter, or had already reached the dominions of our said cousins the king and queen of spain, your pious parents. we pray your highness, with all our heart, to dispose of us and of everything that is to be found in our realms, and to spare us in nothing, even if the thing is not to be had in our dominions, and to order any service which we are able to execute. for, by doing so, you will bestow on us a signal and most acceptable favour. as we hear that the wind is contrary to the continuation of your voyage, wishing that your highness would repose and rest, our advice is, that you take lodgings in our said town of southampton, and remain there until the wind becomes favourable and the weather clears up. we believe that the movement and the roaring of the sea is disagreeable to your highness and to the ladies who accompany you. if you accept our proposal, and remain so long in our said town of southampton that we can be informed of it, and have time to go and to see you before your departure, we certainly will go and pay your highness a visit. in a personal communication we could best open our mind to you, and tell you how much we are delighted that you have safely arrived in our port, and how glad we are that the (friendship) with you and our dearest cousins the king and queen of spain, your most benign parents, is increasing from day to day. we desire to communicate to you in the best manner our news, and to hear from you of your welfare. may your highness be as well and as happy as we wish.--from our palace of westminster.... february.'[ ] [ ] _calendar of spanish state papers_, vol. i. we have no account of margaret's accepting henry's invitation, or of their meeting at this time. after these various adventures the princess at length arrived safely at the port of santander in the early days of march . an ambassador was sent to meet her with a train of one hundred and twenty mules laden with plate and tapestries. the young prince of asturias, accompanied by the king his father, hastened towards the north to meet his bride, whom they met at reynosa and escorted to burgos. when margaret saw her future husband and the king approach, she attempted to kiss the latter's hands, which he tried to prevent her from doing, but she persevered, and kissed the king's hands as well as those of her future husband. on her arrival at burgos she was received with the greatest marks of pleasure and satisfaction by the queen and the whole court. preparations were at once made for solemnising the marriage after the expiration of lent, in a style of magnificence never before witnessed. the wedding ceremony took place on palm sunday, the rd of april, and was performed by the archbishop of toledo in the presence of the grandees and principal nobility of castile, the foreign ambassadors and delegates from aragon. among these latter were the magistrates of the principal cities, wearing their municipal insignia and crimson robes of office, who seem to have had quite as important parts assigned by their democratic communities as any of the nobility or gentry. the wedding was followed by a brilliant succession of fêtes, tourneys, tilts of reeds, and other warlike spectacles, in which the matchless chivalry of spain poured into the lists to display their prowess in the presence of their future queen. the chronicles of the day remark on the striking contrast exhibited at these entertainments between the gay and familiar manners of margaret and her flemish nobles, and the pomp and stately ceremonial of the castilian court, to which the austrian princess, brought up as she had been at the court of france, could never be wholly reconciled. the following quaint passage is from abarca's _reyes de aragon_:--'and although they left the princess all her servants, freedom in behaviour and diversions, she was warned that in the ceremonial affairs she was not to treat the royal personages and grandees with the familiarity and openness usual with the houses of austria, burgundy, and france, but with the gravity and measured dignity of the kings and realms of spain.' an inventory of the rich plate and jewels presented to margaret on the day of her marriage is to be found in the sixth volume of memoirs of the spanish academy of history. the plate and jewels are said to be 'of such value and perfect workmanship that the like was never seen.' nothing seemed wanting to the happiness of the young bride and bridegroom, and that summer they made a kind of triumphal progress through the great cities of the land. the marriage of the heir-apparent could not have been celebrated at a happier time. it took place in the midst of negotiations for a general peace, to which the nation looked for repose after so many years of uninterrupted war. the court of the spanish sovereigns was at the height of its splendour; ferdinand and isabella seemed to have reached the zenith of their ambitious dreams, when death stepped in, and destroyed their fondest hopes. seven months after prince john's marriage, his sister, isabella, was united to the king of portugal. the wedding took place at the frontier town of valencia de alcantara, in the presence of the catholic sovereigns, without pomp or parade of any kind. while they were detained there, an express messenger brought tidings of the dangerous illness of their son, the prince of asturias. prince john, accompanied by his youthful bride, had been on his way to his sister's wedding when he fell a victim to a malignant fever at salamanca. the symptoms speedily assumed an alarming character. the prince's constitution, naturally delicate, sunk under the violence of the attack; and when his father, who came with all possible speed to salamanca, arrived there, no hopes were entertained of his recovery. ferdinand, however, tried to cheer his son with hopes he did not feel himself; but the young prince told him that it was too late to be deceived; that he was prepared to die, and that all he now desired was that his parents might feel the same resignation to the divine will which he experienced himself. ferdinand took fresh courage from the heroic example of his son, whose forebodings were unhappily too soon realised. the doctors fearing to alarm margaret, who was expecting shortly to become a mother, had kept from her the serious state of her husband's health as long as possible. knowing that he was ill, she was anxious to go on a pilgrimage to pray for his recovery. 'when at last she was allowed to enter his room on the th october she was shocked to see the change which a few days had wrought in him. her dying husband bade her farewell in a broken voice, recommending their unborn child to her tender care. margaret pressed her lips to his, but when she found them already cold, overcome by emotion, she had to be carried half-dead from the room.' bowed down with grief, she did not recover from the shock of her sudden bereavement, and soon after her husband's death, gave birth to a still-born child.[ ] [ ] 'je me tais de son mal d'enfant, duquel elle travailla douze jours et douze nuicts entières, sans intermission et sans pouvoir prendre réfection de manger ni de dormir.'--jean le maire, _couronne margaritique_. this double tragedy is pathetically described by the historian, peter martyr, who draws an affecting picture of the anguish of the young widow, and the bereaved parents. 'thus was laid low the hope of all spain.' 'never was there a death which occasioned such deep and general lamentation throughout the land.' ferdinand, fearful of the effect which the sudden news of this calamity might have on the queen, caused letters to be sent at brief intervals, containing accounts of the gradual decline of the prince's health, so as to prepare her for the inevitable stroke. isabella, however, received the fatal tidings in a spirit of humble resignation, saying, 'the lord hath given and the lord hath taken away, blessed be his name!'[ ] [ ] prescott. another historian relates that ferdinand, fearing that the sudden news of john's death would kill isabella with grief, caused her to be told that it was her husband, ferdinand himself, that had died, so that when he presented himself before her, the--as he supposed--lesser grief of her son's death should be mitigated by seeing that her husband was alive. the experiment does not appear to have been very successful, as isabella was profoundly affected when she heard the truth. (florez, _reinas catolicas_.) the blow was one from which she never recovered. john was her only son, her 'angel' from the time of his birth, and the dearest wish of her heart had been the unification of spain under him and his descendants.[ ] every honour which affection could devise was paid to prince john's memory. the court, to testify its unwonted grief, put on sackcloth instead of white serge usually worn as mourning. all offices, public and private, were closed for forty days; and every one dressed in black. the nobles and wealthy people draped their mules with black cloth down to the knees, showing only their eyes, and black flags were suspended from the walls and gates of the cities. such extraordinary signs of public sorrow show in what regard the young prince was held. peter martyr, his tutor, is unbounded in his admiration of his royal pupil's character, whose brilliant promise and intellectual and moral excellence untimely death, and that of his infant child. [ ] martin hume, _queens of old spain_. prince john's funeral was celebrated on a magnificent scale, and his body laid in the dominican monastery of saint thomas at avila, which had been erected by his parents. a few years later his treasurer, juan velasquez, caused a beautiful monument to be raised to his memory, and himself added a short but pathetic epitaph. this tomb is the masterpiece of micer domenico of florence, and resembles the exquisite royal sepulchres at granada. it is placed under an elliptical arch, in front of the high altar, and is one of the finest specimens of an italian renaissance tomb. the handsome young prince is depicted lying full length on his marble couch, his hands together as if in prayer. the whole figure is exquisitely simple and dignified in its perfect repose; and if the beautiful marble effigy was true to life, we can understand the overwhelming grief of spain at his loss. [illustration: tomb of don john, prince of asturias, only son of ferdinand and isabella avila] after her husband's death margaret became so popular 'that she was often obliged to wait in the fields under the shade of the olives till night fell, as she dared not enter the towns and cities by day, because the people pressed with affectionate tumult round her litter to see her face, crying aloud that they wished for her alone, for their lady and princess, although when the queen of portugal, the heiress, made her solemn and pompous entries in broad daylight, they hardly greeted her.'[ ] prince john's eldest sister, the queen of portugal, was next in the succession, but by her death in the following year, and that of her infant son two years later, her sister joanna, wife of the archduke philip, became heiress to the thrones of aragon and castile. [ ] _couronne margaritique_. margaret was treated most affectionately by the king and queen, who made her a very liberal provision, and tried in every way to comfort and console her. whilst she was at the spanish court we hear of her teaching french to her little sister-in-law, katharine, who was betrothed to arthur, prince of wales. on july th, , de puebla is instructed to write to the spanish sovereigns that 'the queen and the mother of the king wish that the princess of wales should always speak french with the princess margaret, who is now in spain, in order to learn the language, and to be able to converse in it when she comes to england. this is necessary, because these ladies do not understand latin, and much less spanish. they also wish that the princess of wales should accustom herself to drink wine. the water of england is not drinkable, and even if it were, the climate would not allow the drinking of it.'[ ] [ ] _calendar of spanish state papers_, vol. i. margaret spent nearly two years at the spanish court. after the first anniversary of her husband's death had passed, and his memory been duly honoured by pompous services at avila, her return to germany was discussed. her flemish attendants had never become accustomed to the wearisome etiquette and stately ceremonial of the court of spain, and by their unreasonable demands stirred up discord between her and the king and queen. maximilian hearing disquieting reports, urged his daughter to lose no time in returning to him, which the princess decided to do. ferdinand and isabella seem to have had a real affection for their widowed daughter-in-law, and when the time for parting came, expressed much sorrow at losing her. at last she set out on her long journey back to flanders ( ). her former husband, charles viii., had died suddenly in april , leaving his kingdom to his cousin, the duke of orleans, who ascended the throne as louis xii. hearing that his old friend and playfellow was returning to flanders, louis wrote a most affectionate letter offering her a safe conduct through his dominions. margaret was now twenty years old, but in spite of her youth she had seen much sorrow. twice through a cruel fate she had missed the proud position of queen--first of france, then of spain. for the second time she returned to her father without husband or child; but sorrow had deepened and enriched her character, and the time she spent at the castilian court was not wasted, as it gave her an insight into the management of state affairs and political intrigues, which with her knowledge of spanish was of infinite importance to her in later life, and helped to form the able politician and wise administrator who, as governess of the netherlands, commanded the admiration and respect of the cleverest men in europe. chapter iii duchess of savoy on the th of march , between seven and eight o'clock in the evening, a brilliant procession wound its way through a covered passage from the archducal palace in the old town of ghent to the church of saint john. the line of route was lit by more than a thousand torches which flashed on the gorgeous clothes and jewels of the princes and high officers of state who had come to grace the baptism of the infant son of the archduke philip and joanna of castile. the baby's step-great-grandmother, margaret of york, widow of charles the bold, carried him in her arms, seated on a chair covered with brocade, and borne on the shoulders of four men from the palace to the church; at her right walked margaret, princess of castile, the infant's other godmother, dressed in a mourning hood and mantle. she had come to her brother's court two days before to stand sponsor for her nephew, who had been born in the palace at ghent on february the th. the little prince, wrapped in a cloak of rich brocade lined with ermine, was baptized by the name of charles, in memory of his great-grandfather the last duke of burgundy, his father conferring upon him the title of duke of luxembourg. after the ceremony, which was performed by the archbishop of tournay, trumpets sounded, and money was thrown broadcast about the church, whilst the heralds cried 'largesse, largesse!' the procession then re-formed and returned to the palace in the order in which it came, arriving between eleven and twelve at night. a visit was immediately paid to the archduchess joanna, who was informed that her son had been duly baptized. she received the congratulations of the assembled guests lying in her state-bed, which was hung with green damask and covered with a gorgeous quilt of brocade. near at hand were displayed the beautiful presents the infant had received. gold and crystal cups, flagons, goblets, and salt-cellars sparkling with precious stones and pearls, amongst them his aunt margaret's gift, 'a standing cup of gold with cover weighing four marks, set with precious stones, a great balass ruby on top, surrounded by twenty smaller rubies and diamonds.'[ ] [ ] a. r. villa, _la reina doña juana la loca_. [illustration: ghent, shewing the old belfry, and church of st. john, where charles v was baptised] the old town of ghent held high festival in honour of the birth of the heir of austria and burgundy. the dragon on the belfry ejected greek fire from mouth and tail; torches and paper lanterns swung gaily from the tower of saint nicholas to the belfry, and the object of all this rejoicing was the infant who was one day to become the emperor charles v. by a long train of events which opened the way to his inheritance of more extensive dominions than any european sovereign since charlemagne had possessed, each of his ancestors having acquired kingdoms or provinces towards which their prospect of succession was extremely remote. but his early childhood was clouded, for he hardly knew his parents, who left the netherlands for spain in november , barely nine months after his birth. when his mother returned in her mind was already troubled by the gloom which settled on her in later years. after queen isabella's death his parents again left for spain to take possession of their kingdom of castile (april ), and charles did not see his mother until . but if he never knew a mother's care, he had an admirable substitute in the affection and guidance of his aunt. margaret spent two years with her father after she left spain, during which time she studied the management of german affairs, and tried to forget her sorrow in improving her mind and cultivating her many gifts. her high birth, beauty, and accomplishments brought her many suitors amongst the princes of europe; we hear of her marriage being discussed with the kings of poland and scotland, and even with the prince of wales, who was not yet united to his long-betrothed bride katharine. finally her choice fell upon the young duke of savoy, who had previously married louisa jolenta, daughter of amadeus viii., duke of savoy, but who had no children. the young duke philibert ii., surnamed the handsome, was born in the castle of pont d'ain on the th of april ; he was therefore about the same age as margaret. his youth had been spent at the court of france, and at fourteen he had accompanied the expedition of charles viii. against the kingdom of naples. the following year, which was that of his accession to the dukedom, he had taken part in the war waged by the emperor maximilian against the florentines. tall, strong, courageous, extremely good-looking, an accomplished rider, devoted to horses, hunting, jousting and feats of arms, he was indeed a gallant young prince, well fitted to win the heart of a beautiful and accomplished princess. politically this alliance was popular in savoy, where it was feared that a too close connection with france might impair the independence of the duchy. on the th of september the marriage contract was signed at brussels. the archduke philip settled , golden crowns on his sister as dowry. she also enjoyed a revenue of , as dowager-princess of spain. it was agreed that if the duke philibert should predecease his wife she should receive a dowry of , golden crowns, raised on the county of romont and the provinces of vaud and faucigny. margaret left brussels towards the end of october to join her future husband at geneva. she travelled slowly, for the roads were bad and the days short. margaret of york accompanied her for half a league and then took leave; her brother philip going with her a short way, he left her a company of flemish nobles to escort her as far as geneva at his expense, duke philibert having sent two hundred and fifty knights to meet his bride and act as her bodyguard. the inhabitants of the towns she passed through turned out to give her a hearty welcome and to wish her good luck. they offered her gifts of wine and venison, wild boars, partridges, rabbits, and fatted calves. the bishop of troyes gave her the keys of his cellar whilst she stayed in the episcopal town. at dôle the inhabitants made her a present of 'six puncheons of wine, six sheep, six calves, six dozen capons, six wild geese, and twelve horses laden with oats.' the duke's natural brother rené, who was known as the bastard of savoy, married her by proxy on sunday, november th. he presented the bride with a heart of diamonds surmounted by a very fine pearl, and a girdle set with twenty-six diamonds, ten large carbuncles and pearls (marguerites) without number. when the evening came, margaret, dressed in cloth of gold, lined with crimson satin, and wearing splendid jewels, was laid on a state-bed, whilst rené in complete armour went through the ceremony of placing himself beside her, 'all those who had been at the betrothal being present.' after a few moments he rose from the bed, begging madame's pardon for having interrupted her sleep, and asking for a kiss in payment. the kiss was graciously given, and rené, throwing himself on his knees, swore to be always her faithful servant. margaret made him rise, wished him a good-night, and presented him with a valuable diamond set in a gold ring.[ ] [ ] m. le glay. from dôle margaret travelled to romain-motier, a small village about two miles from geneva, and buried in a lonely valley. the ruined cloisters of the old abbey of black monks may still be seen where philibert met margaret one winter's morning, and where the marriage was celebrated by louis de gorrevod, bishop of maurienne, on the th of december . a brilliant reception awaited the young couple at geneva. magnificent fêtes, jousts, and tourneys were given in their honour, which 'cost the town a great deal in games, dances, masquerades, and other amusements.' together they made a triumphal progress through the principal towns to the duchy of savoy during the spring and summer. at chambéry they received a royal welcome. at bourg the inhabitants greeted the bridal pair with enthusiasm, although the humble burghers had been much perturbed as to how they should do honour to an emperor's daughter. they had just bought fifty thousand bricks wherewith to erect fortifications, and this expense had emptied the municipal coffers. after much consultation they decided to borrow seven hundred florins from the priests of our lady of bourg. these ecclesiastics lent the sum required on receiving authority to reimburse themselves from the revenues of the town. a deputation was sent to meet the duke and duchess and to offer them and the governor of bresse four dozen clon cheeses, four puncheons of foreign wine, and twelve pots of preserves. the following detailed account of their reception is to be found in the archives of the town of bourg:-- 'at last the long-looked-for day came, and the duke and duchess arrived at bourg on the th of august . from early dawn the bells of the monasteries and churches were ringing, guns firing, and a stir of general excitement was in the air. the picturesque wooden houses were hung with coloured tapestries, decorated with five hundred escutcheons bearing the arms of savoy and burgundy. eight platforms had been constructed in different parts of the town on which were to be enacted masques and allegories. at the sound of the trumpet the crowd collected in front of the town-hall, from whence issued the municipal body, preceded by the syndics in red robes, one of them bearing the town keys on a silver salver. the procession marched with trumpets blowing to the market-place, when soon after a warlike fanfare and the neighing of horses announced the arrival of the ducal cortège, headed by philibert and margaret. the sight of the young couple evoked shouts and cheers. margaret, wearing the ducal crown, was mounted on a palfrey, covered with a rich drapery, embroidered with the arms of burgundy, and with nodding white plumes on its head. through a veil of silver tissue her sweet face appeared framed in long tresses of fair hair. a close-fitting dress of crimson velvet stitched with gold, bordered with the embossed arms of austria and savoy, set off her graceful figure. with one hand she held the reins of her horse, with the other she saluted the crowd, whilst at her right on a fiery charger rode the handsome philibert, delighted with the enthusiasm which burst forth at the progress of his lovely wife. 'the syndics, kneeling on one knee, presented the duke and duchess with the keys of the town. john palluat, head of the municipality, made a lengthy speech according to the fashion of the time, full of whimsical expressions, puns and witticisms, comparing princess margaret's qualities with those of the flower that bore her name. 'having entered the town the ducal procession alighted, and two gentlemen--geoffroy guillot and thomas bergier--advanced towards the princess: the former had been chosen by the council to explain the mysteries, moralities, and allegories; the latter to hold a small canopy over the princess's head. at the market gate on a large platform a huge elephant was seen carrying a tower. this tower, emblem of the town, had four turrets, in each of which was a young girl typifying one of the four attributes of the capital of bresse. these attributes were goodness, obedience, reason, and justice. after listening to verses sung in her praise by the four attributes, the princess, still preceded by geoffroy guillot, arrived at the market-place, where on another platform was represented the invocation of saint margaret, virgin and martyr. the saint with a halo, treading an enormous dragon under foot, was smiling at margaret. she held her right hand over her as a sign of her protection in this world, and with her left pointed to the sky and the eternal throne that god had prepared for her. a group of angels sang a hymn about heaven envying earth the possession of margaret; whilst the priests of notre-dame and the preaching friars enacted the legend of saint george and the archangel michael on the platforms before their church. 'further on, before the maison de challes, the exploits of gods and heroes of mythology were shown. two persons, one wrapped in a lion's skin and carrying on his shoulder an enormous club of cardboard, the other in a helmet and draped in a red tunic, were supposed to represent the departure of hercules and jason to conquer the golden fleece. at the other end of the theatre medea, dressed in a silk robe, gave vent to the fury she felt at her adventurous husband's indifference. 'before the fountain of the town the crowd was so dense that the guard and geoffroy guillot found it difficult to force a passage for the duchess. there the monks of scillon had arranged a curious fountain in the shape of a gigantic maiden from whose breasts of tinted metal two jets of wine flowed into a large basin; her body held a puncheon of wine which was cleverly replaced when exhausted. finally, in front of the entrance to the ducal palace, margaret witnessed the conquest of the golden fleece. before carrying off this precious spoil hercules and jason had to fight a multitude of monsters, dragons and buffaloes, which were disposed of with their club and sword. the crowd having loudly cheered this curious exhibition, the duke and duchess entered the castle situated in the highest part of the city. 'the syndics in the name of the town then presented the gift they had prepared for the duchess, a gold medal weighing one hundred and fifty ducats. this medal, struck at bourg, showed on the obverse the effigy of the duke and duchess on a field strewn with fleurs-de-lys and love-knots, with this inscription:-- philibertus dux sabaudiae, viiius. margarita maxi., aug. fi. d. sab. on the reverse was a shield with the arms of savoy and austria impaled, surmounted by a large love-knot and surrounded with this inscription:-- gloria in altissimis deo, et in terra pax hominibus. burgus. thus ended the town of bourg's splendid reception of their young duke and duchess.'[ ] [ ] j. baux, _l'Église de brou_. [illustration: medal struck at bourg to commemorate margaret of austria's marriage with philibert, duke of savoy] philibert and margaret continued their tour of the duchy, and returned to bourg in april , when they took up their residence at the castle of pont d'ain, where the happiest years of margaret's short married life were passed. from this favourite castle of the dukes of savoy on the river ain, there is a splendid view of the undulating country, distant hills and forests, which in the days of philibert were well stocked with game. it would be hard to find a more beautiful spot, and it is no wonder that margaret loved it and spent most of her time there. when philibert succeeded to the dukedom after his father's death, his first act had been to give an appanage to his natural brother rené. he bestowed upon him the county of villars, the castle of apremont, and the seignory of gourdans. this brother, who was known as the bastard of savoy, was of an ambitious and grasping nature. knowing that philibert hated business and preferred spending his time in hunting and warlike sports, rené worked on his indolence until he practically had the management of the duchy in his own hands. he persuaded philibert to grant him an act of legitimacy and also to give him the title of lieutenant-general of the states of savoy. when louis xii. wished to pass through the duchy to reach milan he communicated with rené. the french monarch made him many promises, which were mentioned in the treaty concluded at château-renard with the cardinal d'amboise. duke philibert, in virtue of this treaty, allowed the passage of the french troops, received louis xii. at turin, displayed an extraordinary magnificence, and even accompanied the king to milan with two hundred men-at-arms. in return for his civility louis granted him an annual pension of , golden crowns from the revenues of this duchy. rené's influence over his half-brother was put to a hard test when margaret became philibert's wife. the young couple truly loved each other, but the princess could not brook this divided authority. she did all in her power to get rid of rené, whom she heartily disliked. the struggle was keen but decisive. margaret made use of her father's authority, who as the duke of savoy's suzerain nullified the deed of rené's legitimisation. she also had recourse to religious intervention to accuse him of extortion. at her instigation friar malet, the court preacher, drew a picture of the people's misery and sufferings in a sermon. addressing philibert, he exhorted him to 'drive out the thieves who were in his household, who,' he said, 'were leeches sucking the blood of his unhappy subjects.' rené was not long in perceiving that his credit at the court of savoy was gone. he came to his brother and asked permission to retire to his property. 'i wish,' philibert answered, 'that you would not only retire from my court, but also from my state, and that within two days on pain of death.' rené took refuge at the court of france, but even there margaret's dislike followed him, and all his goods were confiscated after a mock trial. philibert had only changed his prime minister. after rené's departure margaret took up the reins of government and ruled savoy and bresse unhindered. she obtained many privileges from her father, amongst others the temporal jurisdiction over all the bishoprics of savoy, piedmont, bugey, and the provinces of geneva and vaud. this concession extended savoy's right of sovereignty over all lands east of the river saône, which is still called locally 'the side of the empire.' in april the archduke philip paid his sister a visit at bourg on his return from spain, where he had been to take possession of the crown of castile, which through the death of queen isabella had descended to his wife joanna. a grand tournament was held on the _place des lices_ in honour of his visit. philip was then escorted by his sister and her husband to the castle of pont d'ain, where fresh festivities were prepared. the nobility of bresse and bugey flocked there to welcome the royal guests, and there is even a tradition that the 'holy shroud,' usually kept at turin, and which had long been in the possession of the house of savoy, was there exposed for the archduke's veneration. during the next few years the peace of europe was unbroken, and philibert was unable to satisfy his warlike inclinations. his exuberant spirits found an outlet in hunting, jousts, and tournaments. he loved splendid armour, gorgeous apparel, and brilliant fêtes. a contemporary chronicler has left an account of the entertainments given by the court of savoy in on the occasion of the marriage of laurent de gorrevod (who later became governor of bresse and count of pont-de-vaux) with the daughter of hugues de la pallu, count of varax, marshal of savoy. all the nobility of piedmont and savoy were assembled at the castle of carignan on the th of february, shrove tuesday, where a tournament took place in the presence of philibert, 'madam margaret of austria, madame blanche, dowager of savoy, and many other young and beautiful ladies, as much to pass the time as to please the ladies.' a long and wearisome description of the tournament is given, in which philibert and his brother charles carried off several prizes. such were the duke's favourite pastimes, whether at turin, carignan, or at bourg, where the lists were opened under the castle walls. philibert had inherited his passion for hunting from a long line of ancestors who were all devoted to this sport. the castle of pont d'ain, standing high on a hill overlooking bresse and bugey, with the river ain flowing at its feet well stocked with fish, and its plains and vast forests abounding with game, was an ideal home for a sportsman like philibert. here he and margaret enjoyed the pleasures of a country life. accompanied by their nobles and friends the duke and duchess often started at dawn of day on their hunting excursions, returning with the last rays of the evening sun. we are told by jean le maire that one day margaret had an accident which might have proved very serious. when she and her husband were hunting in the fields near the town of quier in piedmont, the powerful horse on which she was mounted became quite unmanageable, and kicking and plunging, threw her violently to the ground. she fell under its feet, the iron-shod hoofs trampling on her dress, disarranging her hair, and breaking a thick golden chain which hung from her neck. all those who witnessed the accident were paralysed with terror, believing the duchess could not escape alive, and recalling a similar accident in which her mother, mary of burgundy, had lost her life. but margaret had a miraculous escape, and got up without any harm beyond a severe shaking. one morning, early in september , philibert went out hunting, leaving margaret at pont d'ain, and though the weather was extremely hot, followed a wild boar for several hours. all his followers were left behind, and his horses having succumbed to the heat and hard riding, he descended a narrow valley about midday on foot, and at last arrived breathless and bathed in perspiration at saint vulbas' fountain. delighted with the freshness of the spot, he ordered his meal to be served in a shady grove; but before long he was seized with a sudden chill, and pressing his hand to his side in great pain, mounted a horse which was brought to him, and with difficulty rode back to pont d'ain, his nobles and huntsmen sadly following. on arriving at the castle the duke threw himself heavily on a bed, and margaret was immediately summoned. she tried by all means in her power to relieve him, sending in great haste for the doctors. when they came she gave them her precious pearls to grind to powder, and watched them make an elixir with these jewels which she hoped would save the duke's life. she made many vows, and sent offerings to distant shrines, invoking the help of heaven by her prayers. but philibert was seized with pleurisy; his vigorous constitution resisted the violence of the attack for some days. the physicians bled him, but all their doctoring was in vain, and soon they had to confess that they could do nothing more. 'he himself feeling his end approaching got up, and wished to go and say an eternal farewell to his very dear companion, embracing her closely. after having asked for the last sacraments, and by many acts of faith and devotion shown his love for the holy christian faith, duke philibert expired in margaret's arms on the th of september , at nine o'clock in the morning, in the twenty-fourth year of his age, in the same room in the castle of pont d'ain where he had first seen the light.' margaret's grief was heart-rending: we are told that her sobs and cries echoed through the castle. the whole duchy of savoy mourned with her for the gallant young prince, so suddenly cut off in the flower of his age. [illustration: tomb of philibert le beau, duke of savoy, in the church of brou] the duke's body was embalmed, and attired in ducal robes, with the rich insignia of his rank, laid on a state-bed in a spacious chamber, where a crowd of his subjects came to gaze their last on their young lord. the body was then placed in a leaden coffin on which the deceased's titles were engraved, and his funeral carried out with much pomp. the magistrates of bourg had a hundred torches made bearing the arms of the town; they were carried by burghers who went to escort the body from the castle of pont d'ain to the church of notre-dame, though margaret wished her husband to be laid in the priory church of brou, near his mother, margaret of bourbon's tomb. in philibert's father, whilst hunting near the same spot, where later his son contracted his fatal illness, had fallen from his horse and broken his arm. he also was carried to pont d'ain, and his life was in danger. his wife, margaret of bourbon, then made a vow that if her husband's life was spared she would found a monastery of the order of saint benedict at brou. the duke recovered, but the duchess died in before she fulfilled the vow, the accomplishment of which she bequeathed to her son philibert, whose early death also prevented him from carrying out his mother's wishes. margaret now took upon herself the duty of founding the monastery, and also of erecting for them both, and, above all, for him whom she loved, 'a great tomb which should be their nuptial couch,' where she herself would be laid to rest when her time should come. stricken with grief, a childless widow, deprived for the second time of the husband she loved, at the age of twenty-four she felt as though all joy in life had ended, and 'immediately after her husband's death she cut off her beautiful golden hair, and had the same done to her own ladies.'[ ] [ ] _couronne margaritique._ margaret passed some years of her widowhood at the castle of pont d'ain, where several traces of her sojourn remain. she made some additions to the building; the principal staircase still bears her name. here she lived in seclusion, mourning her lot, and describing her loneliness and sorrow in prose and in verse. in spite of the imperfections of a free versification margaret's poems show a certain harmony, smoothness, and charm in the informal stanzas, of which the following is a good specimen:-- i 'o dévots cueurs, amans d'amour fervente, considérez si j'ay esté dolente, que c'est raison! je suis la seule mère qui ay perdu son seul fils et son père, et son amy par amour excellente! ce n'est pas jeu d'estre si fortunée[ ] d'estre si fortunée! qu'est longue fault[ ] de ce qu'on ayme bien! et je suis sceure que pas de luy ne vient, mais me procède de ma grant destinée! dites-vous donc que je suis égarée quant je me vois séparée de mon bien? ce n'est pas jeu d'estre si fortunée! qu'est longue fault de ce qu'on ayme bien! mais que de luy je ne soye oubliée!!! ii deuil et ennuy, soussy, regret et peine, ont eslongué ma plaisance mondaine, dont à part moy je me plains et tourmente, et en espoir n'ay plus un brin d'attente: véez là comment fortune me pourmeine. ceste longheur vault pis que mort soudaine; je n'ay pensée que joye me rameine; ma fantaisie est de déplaisir pleine; car devant moy à toute heure se présente deuil et ennuy. iii plusieurs regrets qui sur la terre sont, et les douleurs que hommes et femmes ont, n'est que plaisir envers ceulx que je porte, me tourmentant de la piteuse sorte que mes esprits ne savent plus qu'ils sont. cueurs désolés par toutes nations, deuil assemblez et lamentations; plus ne quérez l'harmonieuse lyre, lyesse, esbats et consolations; laissez aller plaintes, pleurs, passions, et m'aidez tous à croistre mon martyre, cueurs désolés! iv aisn vous plongés en désolation, venez à moy!... le noble et bon dont on ne peult mal dire, le soutenant de tous sans contredire, est mort, hélas! quel malédiction! cueurs désolés! v me faudra-t-il toujours ainsi languir? me faudra-t-il enfin ainsi morir? nul n'aura-t-il de mon mal coignoissance? trop a duré; car c'est dès mon enfance! je prie à dieu qu'il me doint tempérance, mestier en ay: je le prens sur ma foi; car mon seul bien est souvent près de moy, mais pour les gens fault faire contenance! pourquoy coucher seulette et à part moy, qu'il me faudra user de pacience! las! c'est pour moi trop grande pénitence; certes ouy, et plus quant ne le voy!' [ ] jouet de la fortune. [ ] combien est long le besoin, le regret. these verses, and many others, were written at bourg, or at the castle of pont d'ain. this castle, built towards the end of the tenth century by the sires de coligny, lords of revermont, had passed through marriage to the dauphins du viennois in , and in to the duke of burgundy. in this duke exchanged it, as well as the lordship of revermont, with amé iv., count of savoy, who was seigneur of bresse in right of his wife, sybille de baugé. the buildings having been much damaged in the wars, amé's son, aimon, rebuilt them. the last warlike episode in the history of the castle occurred in when edward, count of savoy, came to take refuge in the fortress after his defeat near varey. the pleasant situation of the castle at the extremity of the chain of revermont, its proximity to france, and equable climate made it the favourite home of the dukes of savoy. below in the valley, which extends to the rhone, the waters of the river ain join those of the suran. to the south and east are the mountain ranges near bas bugey, with wooded slopes and prosperous villages, to the north and west the undulating plain of bresse, crowned by forests. the princesses of savoy loved this spot. amedeo viii. lived here for a long time with his wife yolande of france. philibert and his sister louise (the mother of francis i.) were born here, and here their mother, margaret of bourbon, came to spend her last days. in this peaceful spot margaret passed the first years of her mourning, attached to bresse by memories of her love and sorrow. chapter iv the building of brou besides her many poems margaret has perpetuated the memory of the chief phases in her life by means of devices, a symbolical language much in vogue in the middle ages. when she returned to flanders, after her first marriage with charles viii. was annulled, the device she chose was a high mountain with a hurricane raging round the summit, and underneath, 'perflant altissima venti.' this device ingeniously expressed the idea that those in a high position are more exposed than others to the winds of adversity. after the death of prince john of castile and her child, margaret adopted another device, a tree laden with fruit, struck in half by lightning, with this inscription, 'spoliat mors munera nostra.' this device is attributed to strada. lastly, as the widow of duke philibert, she composed the famous motto which we find reproduced everywhere on the tombs, walls, woodwork, and stained-glass windows of the church at brou: fortune.infortune.fort.une. and this was her last motto, which she kept to the end. this enigmatical inscription has been variously interpreted. cornelius agrippa, her panegyrist, and gropheus, chevalier d'honneur to the princess, who composed a latin poem in her praise in , saw no other meaning in this device than the résumé of her life... a plaything of fortune; and they explain the word 'infortune' by the third person of the present indicative of the verb 'infortuner,' fortuna infortunat fortiter unam--'la fortune infortune (tries, persecutes) fort une femme.' guichenon adopts this version and says the princess composed her device 'to show that she had been much persecuted by fortune, having been repudiated by charles viii., and having lost both her husbands, the prince of castile, and the duke of savoy. this,' he adds, 'is the true meaning of this device, although another interpretation has been given to it: fortune infortune fortune. fortune to have been affianced to the king of france, misfortune to have been repudiated by him, and fortune to have married the duke of savoy; but this explanation does not agree with the device.' in fact, it is not admissible, for it supposes the device to be composed of three words only, whilst on the marble it is clearly composed of four: fortune.infortune.fort.une. the small church of the monastery of brou, founded in the beginning of the tenth century by saint gérard, had a great reputation for holiness. it was here the bodies of philibert and his mother were laid. margaret's thoughts were constantly occupied with the monument she wished to erect to her husband's memory, the magnificence of which should satisfy her artistic taste. she proposed devoting her dowry to this object in order to raise the necessary funds. philibert's brother had succeeded to the ducal crown under the title of charles iii., but the state of the duchy's finances made it difficult for him to pay margaret's dowry, which consisted of , écus d'or per annum in french coin, or in lieu of this sum the usufruct of bresse and the provinces of vaud and faucigny. charles iii. on his accession had found the revenues greatly reduced; besides margaret's dowry, three other dowager-princesses enjoyed the income from a great part of his estates. blanche de montferrat, widow of charles i., had the best part of piedmont; le bugey was in the hands of claudine of brittany, widow of duke philip; lastly, louise of savoy received the largest portion of chablais. this was the state of things when margaret complained of the insufficiency of the revenues from the properties of bresse, vaud, and faucigny, revenues far from equivalent to the sum of , écus d'or per annum according to the terms of her marriage contract. as charles remained deaf to her complaints, margaret had recourse to her father, and travelled to germany to persuade maximilian to give her his support. charles at last agreed to send four jurisconsuls empowered to arrange this business. during the meetings which took place at strasburg, margaret explained the motives which made her insist on the fulfilment of the clauses with reference to her dowry. 'her intention being to found a church and monastery on the site of the priory of brou, the resting-place of the lady margaret of bourbon and duke philibert, she must needs collect all her resources to meet the expense which such an endowment would require. she also pointed out that, according to the lady margaret of bourbon's will, the church and monastery were to be erected at the expense of her heirs and successors. now this charge falling on duke charles, he could not conscientiously dispense with carrying out his mother's last wishes, but as she, margaret, offered to fulfil this task at her own expense, he was ill-advised to dispute with her what was legally her due. charles iii.'s envoys had nothing to say to this argument excepting the state of penury and embarrassment in which their master found himself.' at last, on the th of may , in the presence of maximilian, a treaty was signed in the hall of the knights of st. john of jerusalem at strasburg, by which duke charles granted to margaret the county of villars and the seignory of gourdans, with all rights of government as well as power of redeeming the mortgaged lands of bresse to the amount of florins. after the ratification of this treaty margaret returned to the castle of pont-d'ain and prepared to carry out her plans. she first called her council together and explained her intentions. margaret of bourbon's vow was to build a church in honour of saint benedict, but as this order had already become lax, margaret wished that the church and monastery should be placed under the protection of st. nicolas de tolentin, who had lately been canonised, and was noted for the number of miracles worked by his intercession, and for whom she felt a particular devotion. the princess's council, foreseeing the enormous expense which the execution of this plan would involve, tried to dissuade her from it, and endeavoured to turn her mind to completing the church of notre-dame de bourg, which jean de loriol was then building. at the time of the young duke's death they had promised to bring his body to rest in the abbey of haute-combe near the dukes of savoy, his predecessors. but she would not listen to this argument, and replied 'that she had been informed of the vow which the late lord and lady, her husband's parents, had made to found a monastery of the order of st. augustine on the site of brou, but the former, after he succeeded, forgot to fulfil it, and neglected the duty of accomplishing his vow, and that it had pleased god to take her lord and husband in his youth in such a way that he had not leisure nor time to fulfil his father and mother's vow, but that she, with the help of god, would do so.'[ ] [ ] paradin, _chronique de savoie_. the series of objections from the council, and margaret's firm determination, are still more apparent in the following quaint dialogue recorded by a witness in paradin's _chronique de savoie_:--'when several prominent people pointed out that as she was the daughter of a great emperor, and had been queen of france, and had since married so great and famous a prince, she would be put to heavy and intolerable expense in order to accomplish something worthy of her greatness, she replied that god would take care of the expense. they, moreover, said to her: "madame, possibly you regret that the body of madame, his mother, is buried in this little place of brou; a dispensation could easily be procured from the pope to carry it elsewhere"; she answered, no dispensation was needed for a thing one could do oneself; they also put before her that after she had done what she intended, if a war should break out in this country, the enemy could retire and quarter themselves there, and from thence fight the town, which in the end would mean the destruction of the monastery. margaret replied: "the power of princes is nowadays so greatly increased by artillery that should bourg be besieged there would be no need to wait for the attack." they then pointed out that in the church of notre-dame de bourg there was a very fine beginning, and that if it pleased her to employ what she wished to spend on this monastery, she would have the prayers of ten million people, for every one in bourg goes once a day to pray in the said church of notre-dame. to that my said lady replied, shedding big tears: "you say truly, and it is my greatest regret, but if i did as you say, the vow would not be accomplished which by the help of god i shall fulfil." these are the objections that were made, and the replies which she gave when they tried to persuade her to give up this enterprise.' margaret had already had the plans and estimates drawn up for the church and monastery of brou, with the help of laurent de gorrevod, governor of bresse. the estimate was given to the workmen in the early spring of , and the first stone of the sanctuary laid by the princess herself in the spring of the following year. on the th february henry vii. had lost his queen, elizabeth of york, who died in the tower of london, a week after giving birth to her seventh child. she had been a good and submissive wife to henry, whose claim to the throne she had strengthened by her own greater right. the bereaved husband retired 'heavy and dolorous' to a solitary place to pass his sorrow, but before many weeks were over he and his crony de puebla put their heads together and agreed that the king must marry again. amongst other alliances the widowed queen of naples was suggested, but the lady decidedly objected to the marriage. in november queen isabella of castile died, and the crown descended to her weak-minded daughter joanna. a struggle was seen to be impending for the regency, and henry was courted by both sides in the dispute. he had taken as his motto 'qui je défends est maître,' and both ferdinand, king of spain, and the emperor maximilian were anxious to win him to their side. margaret was secretly offered to henry as a bride by philip and maximilian, and a close alliance between them proposed. margaret, with her large dowries from castile and savoy, was now one of the richest princesses in europe. whilst ferdinand was trying to ingratiate himself with henry, it was clear to the astute king of england that he had now more to hope for from philip and maximilian, who were friendly with france, than from ferdinand.[ ] [ ] martin hume, _queens of old spain_. early in august de puebla went to richmond to see the princess of wales, and as he entered the palace one of the household told him that an ambassador had just arrived from the archduke philip, king of castile, and was waiting for an audience. de puebla at once conveyed the news to katharine, and served as interpreter between the ambassador and the princess. after delivering greetings from the emperor maximilian, the archduke philip, and the duchess of savoy, the ambassador said his mission was a secret one to settle with the king of england about his marriage with the duchess of savoy, of whom he had brought two portraits. the princess of wales wished to see them, and the ambassador went to fetch them. one was painted on wood, the other on canvas. the princess was of opinion that michel would have made better portraits. she asked the ambassador when the king-archduke and the queen-archduchess were to leave for spain. the ambassador replied as soon as possible, but that he had come to consult the king of england as to all arrangements.'[ ] [ ] it would be interesting to know what became of these pictures. the portrait of margaret, now at hampton court palace, may have been one of them, as in it she is represented wearing a widow's dress, and the painting is so indifferent that it may well have called forth katharine's criticism. on the th january , after having presided at the chapter of the golden fleece in the old abbey of middlebourg, the archduke philip, king of castile, set out from zealand with his wife, queen joanna, their second son, ferdinand, an infant of a few months old, and a retinue amounting to two or three thousand persons. they embarked (january th) on board a splendid and numerous armada composed of more than twenty-four vessels, intending to go to spain. all went well until the cornish coast was passed, and then a dead calm fell, followed by a furious south-westerly gale, which scattered the ships, and left that on which philip and joanna were without any escort. a gale which lasted thirty-six hours dispersed the fleet. despair seized the crew, and all gave themselves up for lost. philip's attendants dressed him in an inflated leather garment, upon the back of which was painted in large letters 'the king, don philip,' and thus arrayed he knelt before a blessed image in prayer, alternating with groans, expecting every moment would be his last. joanna is represented by one contemporary authority as being seated on the ground between her husband's knees, saying that if they went down she would cling so closely to him that they should never be separated in death, as they had not been in life. the spanish witnesses are loud in her praise in this danger. 'the queen,' they say, 'showed no signs of fear, and asked them to bring her a box with something to eat. as some of the gentlemen were collecting votive gifts to the virgin of guadalupe, they passed the bag to the queen, who, taking out her purse containing about a hundred doubloons, hunted amongst them until she found the only half-doubloon there, showing thus how cool she was in the danger. a king never was drowned yet, so she was not afraid, she said.'[ ] [ ] from a spanish account in mss. at the royal academy, madrid.--martin hume, _queens of old spain_. sandoval also mentions that joanna displayed much composure during the storm. when informed by philip of their danger, she attired herself in her richest dress, securing a considerable amount of money to her person, in order that her body, if found, might be recognised, and receive the obsequies suited to her rank. driven to land at melcombe regis, on january th, philip sent to acquaint henry vii. with his arrival, calling him 'father,' and expressing himself desirous of seeing him and his court. immediately the king hastened to show the archducal pair every mark of respect, and sent letters to gentlemen dwelling near the seaside to attend upon them, and afterwards despatched palfreys, litters, etc. they were entertained by sir thomas trenchard at wolveton in dorsetshire; and he is traditionally said to have summoned his kinsman, john russell, to assist him, because the latter having been in spain, was well qualified to act as interpreter. portraits of philip and joanna have been preserved in the trenchard family, as well as a white china bowl on a foot bound with silver, said to have been left by them at wolveton. on the st january henry received the king-archduke at windsor, the two monarchs saluting each other with glad and loving countenances. the next two days being sunday and candlemas were devoted to religious exercises, and the following week to recreation. it is curious to read amongst all the state details that when 'the king of castile played with the racquet, he gave the lord marquis (of dorset) fifteen.' on the th february philip was invested with the order of the garter. 'immediately after mass, certain of the king of england's and the king of castile's council presented their respective sovereigns with the draft of the treaty of peace, having divers new articles and confirmations inserted therein. the kings, seated in their stalls, in st. george's chapel, signed the writings with their own hands, and the pledges were solemnly sworn upon a fragment of the true cross, by which the rebel earl of suffolk was to be surrendered to his doom, and philip's sister margaret married to henry, and england bound to the king of castile against ferdinand of aragon.' joanna was deliberately kept in the background during her stay in england. she had followed her husband slowly from melcombe, and arrived at windsor ten days later, the day after philip with great ceremony had been invested with the order of the garter, and had signed the treaty. on her arrival at windsor she was welcomed by the king of england and her sister, the princess of wales, though she was not allowed to see the latter alone. the cottonian mss. tells us that queen joanna did not see her sister until just before her departure; they were not even then more than an hour together, and were never left alone, and katharine left the next day for richmond. 'on the twelfth the king of england went to richmond to prepare his house there for the king of castile, who joined him on the fourteenth, the queen of castile proceeding on the same day to the seaside to her ships lying at dartmouth and plymouth.' the rest of the time philip was at richmond was spent in recreation, and 'all the season the king of castile was in the king of england's court every holiday.' on the nd of march he took his leave, the king of england accompanying him on his way a mile or more, defraying the charges of all his servants, and giving rewards.' during the whole time of philip and joanna's sojourn in england their expenses and those of their suites were paid by the king's officials, and they were entertained with dubious hospitality for nearly three months. during this time henry vii. availed himself of the situation to extort three treaties from his guest not altogether reconcilable with sound policy or honour. the first was a treaty of alliance, the second that of his marriage with the archduchess margaret, and the third a treaty of commerce. the latter was so disastrous to flemish interests as to be known by the name of 'malus intercursus.' it was agreed that the three treaties should be confirmed, sealed, and delivered at calais, at fixed dates; but when the english envoys reached calais they waited in vain for philip's messengers. henry vii., writing on august th to maximilian, informs him that 'the new ratifications were to be exchanged in the town of calais, the treaty of alliance and marriage before the th of june, and that of commerce before the last day of july. his ambassadors were at calais by the appointed time, with all the necessary papers, but the ambassadors of king philip have not arrived up to this day; nor has he heard anything of the approval of the pope, which had been promised him, nor of the securities for the dowry and the consent of the archduchess. however, he is willing to consent to a prorogation of the term to the end of august.' on the rd of april philip and joanna having reassembled their fleet, embarked at weymouth, and reached corunna, in the north-western corner of galicia, after a prosperous voyage, on april th. the following summary of the treaty between henry vii. and philip, king of castile, concerning the intended marriage with the archduchess margaret, is interesting:-- the king of castile binds himself to pay to the king of england , crowns, each crown of four shillings sterling, as the marriage portion of the archduchess margaret; he also promises punctually to pay the , crowns a year to which she is entitled as her jointure in spain; he moreover binds himself to pay to henry , crowns a year instead of the revenues from the towns, castles, and lands, which have been assigned to the archduchess as her jointure in savoy. the king and queen of castile bind themselves to consent to the marriage, and to permit henry's proxies to conclude a marriage _per verba de præsenti_ with the archduchess margaret. the king of castile promises to send his sister at his own expense to the town of greenwich within a month after the first instalment of , crowns has been paid. king henry promises to perform the marriage ceremonies within a month of the archduchess's arrival at greenwich. provisions are then made in case of the archduchess's or henry's death with or without children by the marriage. the archduchess is at liberty to dispose by will of her jewels and ornaments. should there be children by the marriage, they are to succeed to all inheritances in spain, flanders, etc., that the archduchess may become entitled to. king philip promises to request the pope to confirm this treaty, and both the king of castile and his father, the emperor, promise to use all their influence with the archduchess margaret to persuade her to consent to this marriage. king philip signed the treaty at windsor, march st, , and queen joanna at exeter, march th, . the ratification of the treaty by henry vii. follows; it is dated, palace of westminster, th may . on the th july maximilian wrote to king henry from vienna that 'he had heard with great joy that the marriage between henry and the archduchess margaret is arranged.' he begs him to send ambassadors to malines, and has already despatched ambassadors to the same place. but on the th of july john le sauvage wrote to maximilian that 'the archduchess margaret decidedly refuses to marry henry vii., although he, at first by himself, and afterwards conjointly with the imperial ambassador, had daily pressed her during a whole month to consent.' but john le sauvage adds, 'the alliance with england is not endangered thereby. for henry desires the marriage between his second daughter and the prince of castile (margaret's nephew charles) more than his own with the archduchess.' on august th g. de croy wrote to the emperor that 'he is afraid that the refusal of the archduchess will cool the friendship of henry.' on august th ulrich, count of montfort, and claude carondelet also sent a letter to maximilian to inform him that 'they have travelled with all haste to savoy in order to see the archduchess margaret, whom they found in company of the president of flanders. they pressed her very strongly to consent to marry the king of england. her answer, however, was that 'although an obedient daughter, she will never agree to so unreasonable a marriage.' on the th of august monsieur de croy and other councillors write to the king of castile 'that they have written to the king of england... and have received this very day his answer, and send the letter of the king of england to him; they are much afraid that the king of england has cooled in his friendship in consequence of the answer which the archduchess margaret has given to the president of flanders, and afterwards to the count montfort and the bailly of amont, ambassadors of the emperor, and again to the president of the king of castile.' on september th maximilian wrote to king henry that 'he had not been able to persuade his daughter, the archduchess margaret, to marry him; but he would go and see her in order to persuade her.' whilst these negotiations were taking place, an unexpected event freed margaret from this distasteful marriage, though it added another sorrow to her lot. in september of the same year her brother philip was attacked by a malignant fever at burgos, brought on, it was said, by indulgence or over-exercise, and for days lay ill in raging delirium, not without strong suspicions of poison. he was assiduously attended by his wife joanna, who never left his side, but in spite of all her care the disorder rapidly gained ground, and on the sixth day after his attack, on september th, he breathed his last. philip was only twenty-eight years old, and had been king of castile two months, dating from his recognition by the cortes. after his death queen joanna still stayed by his side, deaf to all condolence or remonstrance, to all appearance unmoved. she calmly gave orders that her husband's body should be carried in state to the great hall of the constable's palace upon a splendid catafalque of cloth of gold, the body clad in ermine-lined robes of rich brocade, the head covered by a jewelled cap, and a magnificent diamond cross upon the breast. a throne had been erected at the end of the hall, and upon this the corpse was arranged, seated as if in life. during the whole of the night the vigils for the dead were intoned by friars before the throne, and when the sunlight crept through the windows the body, stripped of its incongruous finery, was opened and embalmed and placed in a lead coffin, from which, for the rest of her life, joanna never willingly parted.'[ ] [ ] martin hume, _estanques oronica in documentos ineditos_, vol. viii. [illustration: philippe le bel from the painting in the louvre (flemish school)] philip left six children--eleanor, charles (afterwards the emperor charles v.), isabella, ferdinand, mary, and a little daughter, katharine, born five months after his death. philip was of middle height, and had a fair, florid complexion, regular features, long flowing locks, and a well-made figure. he was so distinguished for his good looks that he is designated on the roll of spanish sovereigns as _felipe el hermoso_, or the handsome. his mental endowments were not so extraordinary. the father of charles v. possessed scarcely a single quality in common with his remarkable son. his poor wife joanna never recovered his loss, her mind became more and more affected, and though she survived him for nearly half a century, she dragged out her cheerless existence a sort of state-prisoner in the palace of tordesillas, a queen only in name. margaret herself composed her brother's latin epitaph, which ended with a cry of anguish from the lamentations of jeremiah:-- ecce iterum novus dolor accidit! nec satis erat infortunissimæ cæsaris filiæ conjugem amisisse dilectissimum, nisi etiam fratrem unicum mors aspera subriperet! doleo super te, frater mi philippe, rex optime, nec est qui me consoletur! o vos omnes qui transitis per viam, 'attendite et videte si est dolor sicut dolor meus!'[ ] erasmus also dedicated a latin eulogy to the archduke, and jean le maire, who had been attached to his person, addressed some verses to margaret entitled: '_les regrets de la dame infortunée sur le trespas de son très chier frère unicque._' she also received a sympathetic letter of condolence from louis xii. her reply, written from bourg where she was staying, is as follows:-- 'monseigneur, très-humblement à vostre bonne grace me recommande; monseigneur, j'ay par vostre président villeneufve receu voz bonnes et gracieuses lettres et ouï ce que de vostre part il m'a dit et présenté dont ne vous saurois assez humblement remercier, mesmement le bon vouloir qu'aves à messieurs mes nepveurs et à moi, auquels, monseigneur, vous supplie vouloir continuer et avoir toujours mes dits seigneurs mes nepveurs, leurs païs et affaires et moi, en bonne et singulière recommandation; ce que m'assure ferés volentiers, ensuyvant le contenu de vos dites lettres; et s'il y a chose en quoi vous puisse faire service, de tout mon pouvoir le ferai, aydant nostre seigneur auquel je prie, monseigneur, vous donner bonne vie et longue. escript à bourg, octobre .' addressed: 'monseigneur, monseigneur le roy de france.' [ ] this is a literal translation: 'another new sorrow! it was not enough for the unfortunate daughter of cæsar to have lost a much-loved husband; cruel death comes to rob me of my only brother! i weep for thee, philip, o my brother, of kings the best! and there is no one in the world who can console me! o you who pass by, look and judge if there is any sorrow like unto my sorrow!' * * * * * but although her brother was dead, henry vii. had not given up all hope of winning the reluctant margaret for his bride. on october st he wrote to her father that 'he has been informed that madame margaret makes great difficulties about ratifying the treaty of marriage'; and then threatens 'it would not be a thing to be wondered if he were to accept one of the great and honourable matches which are daily offered to him on all sides.' on october st we read that 'the french ambassadors are on their way to england, in order to offer to the king the daughter of the duke of angoulême in marriage. but the king of england has decided not to accept the proposal, as he still hopes to obtain the hand of the duchess margaret.' however, his hopes were vain, and margaret was stern in her refusal. henry next proposed to marry joanna, the widowed queen of castile, but this iniquitous plan too was thwarted, and he remained a widower to the end of his life. philip's death imposed new cares and duties upon margaret; his children were left minors, and upon them she lavished the wealth of affection which fate had denied her giving to her own offspring. her nephew charles was her especial care, and he could hardly have entered political life under better tutelage, though his aunt's masterful nature may have checked the development of his own individuality. chapter v regent of the netherlands by king philip's death the netherlands were left without a ruler, for his eldest son charles was barely six years old. a few weeks later, at eight o'clock on the morning of the th of october , the deputies from the provinces assembled at malines in the salle de la cour to discuss the desirability of appointing a regent for the netherlands, and a governor for king philip's children. the fair-haired child the archduke charles was present with the members of his family, his council, and the knights of the order of the golden fleece, all clothed in the deepest mourning. after a long preamble, in which he recounted the chief events in philip's last voyage to spain, the chancellor of burgundy proposed that the deputies should choose a regent and provide for the tutelage of the late king's children. the representatives from brabant, holland, zealand, and friesland voted for the emperor; those from flanders, artois, lille, douai, and orchiés said they were without instructions; but the deputies from hainault and namur refused to express an opinion, fearing to annoy the king of france, whose troops were already threatening their frontiers. the choice was therefore left to the states of brabant, who immediately sent their ambassadors to ems to offer the regency to maximilian. pleased with the deference the states had shown him, he accepted their offer; but, under pretext of the burden of state affairs arising from the management of his kingdom, he deputed his daughter margaret to bring up and educate philip's children, under his direction, and appointed her regent of her nephew's dominions until he should come of age. at maximilian's invitation the states-general of the netherlands met at louvain in march to arrange for margaret's installation. the duke of juliers, in the name of the emperor, administered the oath of '_mambour_,' or governess; margaret was then recognised as governess-general and guardian of philip's children. 'maximilian,' says garnier, 'could not have chosen a more able and intelligent minister; she was also the most dangerous and active enemy that france could have.' the emperor, who was the most fickle of men, was only constant in his hatred of france. in order to feed this inborn aversion, he often re-read what he called his red book. this book was a register in which he noted carefully all the slights that france had made him and his country suffer, in order, he said, to pay her (france) off at his leisure; and in august of the same year ( ) he made a furious speech at the diet of constance, in which he called louis xii. an ambitious traitor, a perjurer, and a disturber of christianity. margaret chose malines for her residence, and here for many years she held her court. as the principal home of the regent of the netherlands, malines, already a flourishing city, gained much in riches and importance. its motto, _in fide constans_, had been given to the town in recognition of the courage and fidelity of its inhabitants, who had often proved their loyalty to the house of burgundy. this fact may have influenced margaret's choice of malines as her principal residence, but it had also been the home of her godmother, margaret of york, sister of edward iv. of england, the last duchess of burgundy, known as 'madame la grande,' who had been a second mother to her in her early youth, before she left her home for amboise. margaret of york had died at malines in . her husband had settled the town and seigniory upon her as dowry, and besides an income of sixteen thousand florins or 'philippus d'or,' she also owned the palace called la cour de cambray, which she had bought, as the court possessed no residence at malines, and left it in her will to philip and his sister. margaret lived in this palace, which was later known as the 'cour de l'empereur,' with her nephew charles and his three sisters, eleanor, isabella, and mary. her youngest nephew, ferdinand, had remained in spain with his grandfather, the king of aragon, who educated him, and whose favourite he became. philip's youngest daughter, katharine, born after his death, shared her mother's captivity in the old palace of tordesillas, until her marriage seventeen years later. finding that the palace at malines was not large enough for all her requirements, margaret persuaded maximilian to buy another house exactly opposite belonging to jérôme lauwrin, which he presented to her after redecorating and altering it to suit her requirements. on july th, , she made her solemn entry into the town and installed herself in the palace with her nephew and nieces.[ ] [ ] in a document referring to margaret's palace, in the town registers, is a receipt for payment made to daniel verhoevren, locksmith, with two double locks with two bolts for madame de savoie's library. [illustration: charles v and his two sisters, eleanor and isabel. eleanor aged four, charles aged two and a half, isabel aged one year and three months painted in , (margaret's collection) now in the imperial museum, vienna] jehan le maire gives an interesting account of a memorial service in memory of philip, king of castile, held at malines a few days later in the church of saint rombault on sunday the th of july . this record of an eye-witness is addressed to the 'très illustre et très claire princesse, madame marguerite d'autriche.'[ ] [ ] only six copies of the chronicle were printed.--christopher hare. in his description of the gorgeous procession, headed by the late king's officers and servants, which slowly wound its way through the streets of malines to the cathedral church of saint rombault, le maire enumerates the motley crowd of priests and chaplains, begging friars, lawyers, and deputies from the states in their robes of office, the processions from various churches, and all the guilds of malines in their state costume, carrying countless crosses and banners, followed by a crowd of humbler citizens bearing flaring torches. the procession of ambassadors, bishops, and nobles with their arms and devices; each contingent led by heralds on richly caparisoned chargers carrying the arms and banners of hapsburg and burgundy, with the banners of king philip's ancestors, those of the emperor frederick, charles the bold, isabel of bourbon, and mary of burgundy being minutely described. in the midst of his chronicle le maire suddenly addresses margaret:--'you, gracious lady and princess, were also present, secretly praying in your oratory for the soul of your only brother, whom may god absolve, very simply dressed in your mourning, and covered by a veil, in company with your noble ladies.' in the cathedral, the young archduke charles sat facing the pulpit, whilst the late king's confessor, john, bishop of salubri, preached the funeral oration, dwelling at much length on king philip's virtues and great gifts. le maire relates that the large congregation was so touched by his eloquence that many were melted to tears, and he adds: 'i believe, very gracious madame,... that you too were secretly weeping in your oratory.' at the end of high mass, when the bishop of arras pronounced the words, 'et verbum caro factum est,' the heralds cast down their banners on the marble floor before the high altar, and the king-at-arms of the golden fleece threw his staff of office on the ground and cried three times, 'the king is dead.' after a pause he picked it up, and raising it above his head, proclaimed: 'long live don charles, by the grace of god archduke of austria and prince of spain.'... then the first herald raised his banner, and waving it on high, cried, 'of burgundy, of lostrick, and of brabant.' and the second herald took up the cry, as he lifted his banner, proclaiming charles 'count of flanders, artois, burgundy, palatine of hainault, holland, zealand, namur, and zutphen.' then the third and fourth heralds raised their banners and continued the stately roll-call, ending with 'marquis of the holy empire, lord of friesland, of salins and malines!' the cap of mourning which had been worn by the young prince was now removed from his head by the king-at-arms, who took the great sword, which had been blessed by the bishop, from the altar, and held it in front of the archduke charles, thus addressing him: 'prince imperial and royal, this sword of justice is given to you from god... and from your noble ancestors... that you may protect the most holy faith and all your kingdoms....' the king-at-arms then kissed the sword and gave it into the young archduke's hands, who took it by the hilt, and, with the point in the air, advanced and knelt before the high altar.[ ] [ ] c. hare. henry vii., writing on october th, , to condole with maximilian on the death of his son, promised to remain his good friend and the friend of the prince of castile, and to assist them in everything. if king philip had lived, he says, the treaties which he had concluded with him would have been carried out. maximilian replied that he 'hopes henry will not forsake the poor orphan, who is maximilian's son as well as henry's.' the few years of philip's government had been relatively peaceful, but at his death troubles broke out anew. it is difficult to draw a line between the dutch and flemings, yet the dutch provinces were, as a whole, distinct in character and interests from the flemish; and much more deeply were the commercial and manufacturing flemish provinces divided from the french-speaking states of artois, hainault, west flanders, luxembourg, and franche comté. the latter were held under the empire, and the youthful charles, as count of flanders, was also a peer of france. the princely diocese of liége, french in language and sympathy, but politically connected with the empire, was only separated from the flemish group by the burgundian lordship of namur, limburg, and luxembourg. lorraine stood between franche comté and the netherlands, franche comté having a far closer connection with the swiss than with the netherlands, whilst the fortunes of limburg and luxembourg were destined to be quite distinct from those of the dutch and flemish provinces. it was to be the task of the future ruler to revive monarchical institutions and to create a national unity among alien races and interests. at philip's death charles succeeded to a wasted heritage. all the chief factories and industries peculiar to the netherlands had dwindled and diminished, and even the fishing fleet of former days had shrunk to only a few sail in some of the ports of the zuyder zee. during the early years of charles's life we only get a few glimpses of a shy and inarticulate boy. we read of him dancing round a bonfire with his sisters on saint john's day. his grandfather, maximilian, gave him a wooden horse, and amongst his prized possessions was a sledge in the form of a ship, with masts, ropes, and flags. in games, like most children, he liked to be on the winning side. when he and his page played at battles between turks and christians, charles was always a christian, and the page, who commanded the paynim host, complained that the christians were always made to win. the boy was brought up to like manly sports. he shot skilfully with the bow, and took great delight in hunting, which pleased the old emperor maximilian, for otherwise, he wrote, the boy could not be his legitimate grandson. charles as a child is described as graceful and well-built, but his face was pale, and he looked delicate. his long projecting lower jaw, so peculiar to the hapsburg family, embarrassed mastication and caused hesitation in his speech. he had clear and steady eyes, and a calm, intellectual forehead which gave a pleasant and dignified expression to his face. his childhood was spent at malines, and there watched over by his aunt margaret he was brought up in the strict etiquette of the burgundian court. charles was devoted to music, a taste which he cultivated throughout his life. as a boy we hear of him and his sister eleanor having lessons on the clavicord and other instruments from the organist of the chapel. he was carefully educated. his grandfather appointed william de croy, lord of chièvre, as his governor, and he was taught to read and write by juan de verd, who in was succeeded by another spaniard, luis vaca, who after six years gave up his charge to adrian of utrecht, dean of louvain, the future pope adrian iv. but the boy was not a willing pupil; he complained of being educated as if he were intended for a schoolmaster. the future ruler of so many vast kingdoms was never a good linguist. he learned very little latin, and was never proficient in german. two years after he became king of castile and aragon he only knew a few words of the national language. his knowledge of italian was barely elementary. flemish was the tongue of his birthplace, but he did not begin to learn it until he was thirteen. french was his natural language, but he neither spoke nor wrote it with any elegance. of theology the champion of catholicism knew little or nothing. he could scarcely read the vulgate, and in his latter years his comprehension thereof had to be aided by very simple commentary. mathematics he studied when over thirty, as he believed they were essential to the career of a great captain.[ ] [ ] edward armstrong, _the emperor charles v._ [illustration: eleanor of austria as a child from the painting by mabuse, in the possession of m. charles lÉon cardou, brusssels] at the time of margaret's appointment as governess of the netherlands she was twenty-seven years old. she is described as a 'fair young woman with golden hair, rounded cheeks, a grave mouth, and beautiful clear eyes.' and when she reappeared in flanders, with the added charm born of her many sorrows, she was received with unanimous joy by all the people, with whom she was extremely popular. amongst other poems written at this time in her honour the following was composed by jean molinet, her librarian and almoner:-- le retour de madame marguerite. fleur de noblesse, odorant marguerite, germe sacré de royal origine, manne du ciel, rameau plein de mérite, palme de paix jurée et bien escripte, du bien public exquise médecine, fruict, feuille, fleur, couleur, plante, racine, chefz d'oevre sont; mieulx faire on ne pourroit: d'ung autre aymer mon cueur s'abaisseroit. toutes feuilles tendrettes chéent d'autres fleurettes quand vent de bise poinct: marguerites proprettes sans périr toujours prestes demeurent en ung point. splendeur vous vient d'autriche archeducalle, bonté, beaulté d'une fleur de bourbon. honneur vous suyt de l'arche triumphalle des bourguignons et de l'aigle royale, semence et vie et de terroz fort bon: vostre renom, haultain comme ung canon, est de tel nom que cestuy si adresse, chantant de tout bien pleine est ma maistresse: vertu vous environne; elle croist et fleuronne en vous et point n'empire; digne estes d'avoir throsne, royal sceptre et couronne. d'ung glorieux empire. pour paix avoir on vous avait plantée au fleurissant, souef verger de france, comme des fleurs royne plus exaltée. se pour aultre en estes dejectée, portez le doux sans amère souffrance. qui souffre il vainct; vivez en espérance. a vous ne loist, pour estre supplantée, plourer comme femme desconfortée. entre fleurons de lys, doulx que pommes de lys, avez été nourrie sans vicieux délicts de vertus ennoblis, ayant grant seigneurie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . chacun vous ayme, oncques telle on n'ouyt; le bruit en court en france et en savoye; l'oeil qui vous veoit de plaisance jouyt, le cueur qui pense à vous se resjouyt, la bouche rit qui d'en parler savoie; peuple même, qui va courant sa voye, après vous tend oeil, cueur, bouche et oreille, disant, je ne veis oncques la pareille. chef d'oeuvre tres parfaict, mygnonement bien faict, fleur de riche vallue, où rien n'est imparfaict, prenez en gré mon faict; molinet vous salue. jean molinet, bibliothécaire et aumônier de marguerite d'autriche. margaret was lucky in her councillors. she was seconded by such clever and devoted ministers as burgo, mélun, viry, le vaux, caulies, mercurin de gattinare, ferry de carondelet, and albert pio. one of the ablest amongst them was mercurin de gattinare, who came of a noble family of verceil, and was one of the greatest jurisconsuls of his time. he had been a councillor of the late duke of savoy's, and afterwards president of the parliament of franche comté. in maximilian sent him to louis xii.'s court to negotiate on the subject of the treaty of cambray. on february rd, , margaret wrote from malines to james d'albion, king ferdinand's ambassador in france, that 'she was very sorry that the peace between the king of france and the king of the romans was not concluded. if the king of france should attack the estates of prince charles,' she says, 'she would do her best to defend them, and she hopes that the king of england and king ferdinand would assist her. she begs that this may be communicated to king ferdinand.' margaret was no sooner invested with the government of the netherlands than, accompanied by her young nephew, she visited all the towns of flanders, and promised in the prince's name to preserve the rights and privileges of the seventeen provinces, whose homage and oath of fidelity she received. mercurin de gattinare paid homage to louis xii. in her name for the county of charollais and the burgundian territories. the letter in which he tells margaret of the accomplishment of his mission contains this curious passage: 'j'ai fait vostre hommage entre les mains du roi, et l'ai baisé en vostre lieu, et me répliqua encore de nouveau qu'il eût mieux aimé vous baiser que moi.' on july th, , margaret convoked the states-general at malines, and asked them to levy a 'philippus' on each household. this tax was to be employed in paying the army in gueldres, and in redeeming the prince's mortgaged lands. the states did not welcome this proposal, but voted a subsidy of , philippus. charles, who was now seven years old, made his first public speech before the states at louvain, where margaret had cleverly brought him to support her claim for the subsidy. its purport was understood rather from his gestures than the sounding quality of the boyish voice; but at all events, the chronicler adds, the people could not fail to be well pleased. reassembled at ghent, the states refused to support the cost of an army of , infantry and cavalry, which margaret judged necessary to guard the country during the prince's minority. they objected that in the present circumstances this levy seemed to them useless; but if the country was really threatened it should be attended to; yet at that very moment holland and brabant were attacked by the duke of gueldres, aided and abetted by the king of france. the states' refusal to grant proper subsidies greatly irritated maximilian. in a remarkable letter he tried to show them that the war with gueldres was not only of interest to brabant, as they pretended, but to all the netherlands, and that all ought to take part in it. he recalls how the princes of the house of burgundy had laboured from the days of charles the bold to reduce the duchy of gueldres, and the efforts of the french kings to defraud them of their legitimate rights. he complains above all of louis xii., who had employed every imaginable means to leave the contested country to charles of egmont. 'and what is his real aim?' he asks. 'he pretends through the medium of the said country of gueldres to separate our country from the holy empire, and from the house of burgundy, so as to better hold this country in subjection.' on september th maximilian wrote to margaret to acknowledge her letters in which she requested him to come to flanders in order to conclude a new alliance with england. he has, he says, been prevented from doing so, but begs that king henry may be amused with false hopes, and kept from concluding an alliance with france and spain. 'if she would consent to marry the king of england, it might be arranged that she should remain governess of the netherlands, and pass three or four months every year in her own country.' a few days later de puebla, writing from england to king ferdinand, informs him that ambassadors have arrived at the english court from maximilian and from flanders, the former to beg king henry to make war against france, alleging that the french king was usurping his grandson's (prince charles's) dominions. the ambassador also broached the subject of the prince's marriage with princess mary, king henry's daughter. the flemish ambassador, don diego de gueyara, told the king that king louis had declared war against all the seigniories of burgundy, and invaded them with an army, excepting flanders and artois, which two provinces recognised the sovereignty of france, and the appeals from their tribunals went direct to the parliament of paris. the ambassador begged for king henry's help against france and the duke of gueldres. the english king promised to ask the french monarch not to meddle in german affairs, but at the same time he wished to keep friends with france, and so put off the ambassadors with polite and general phrases which meant nothing. de puebla adds in a postscript: 'the king of england sends six horses and some greyhounds to the archduchess margaret, and a letter.' a few weeks later de puebla tells king ferdinand that margaret had sent a very loving letter to king henry the previous week, holding out hopes that her father would send a 'great personage' as ambassador to england with full powers to conclude all the treaties which her brother philip had arranged, and if necessary to grant more favourable conditions. de puebla states that when he asked king henry what the treaties were about, the king replied 'they were very good treaties, and very advantageous to himself personally, and also to his kingdom, for, besides his own marriage with the archduchess margaret, an alliance had been concluded between the archduke charles and his daughter, princess mary, and all matters respecting commerce settled according to his wishes.' de puebla wound up his letter by informing ferdinand that king henry was anxious to keep friends with the emperor maximilian, and not to break off negotiations with him, at any rate not without first consulting the king of aragon. on december th maximilian wrote to margaret acknowledging her letters and the articles concluded between the flemish and english ambassadors. he told her that the french king had complained to the pope, king ferdinand, and even to the diet of constance, that he (maximilian) had broken his word in marrying prince charles to princess mary. in order to satisfy his honour the emperor requests that a clause should be inserted in the marriage treaty to the effect that the whole treaty should be null and void, and not even the penalty paid if the king of france declare himself ready, within one year, to marry his daughter claude to prince charles. on the st of december two treaties were drawn up and dated calais. one, a treaty of alliance between henry vii., maximilian and prince charles, was practically the same as the former treaty concluded between henry and the archduke philip; and the other, concerning the marriage of the archduke charles with the princess mary, was between henry vii., maximilian, the archduke charles and the archduchess margaret, but was unsigned. in this treaty the archduke charles is to conclude the marriage with the princess mary, either in person or by proxy, before the following easter. he is to contract the marriage by ambassadors sent to england for the purpose within forty days after he has completed his fourteenth year. the king of england is to send princess mary to the archduke charles within three months after the marriage shall have been contracted _per verba de præsenti_. the dowry to consist of , crowns. the emperor maximilian, the archduchess margaret, charles de croy, henry, count of nassau, bind themselves to pay , crowns to king henry if the archduke refuses to contract the marriage. the king of england and his nobles bind themselves to pay an equal sum to maximilian if princess mary refuses to fulfil the agreement. the treaty to be ratified by the contracting parties before the following feast of easter. an interesting account exists of an interview between king henry's ambassador and the emperor maximilian. in it we learn that the emperor had long conferences with his daughter respecting her marriage with king henry, which had been settled by her brother philip. in order to persuade margaret, maximilian told her that the marriage was necessary for the good of the house of austria, besides being honourable to her, the king of england being 'such a pattern of all the virtues.' he added that it was also necessary on account of commerce, and in order to secure the spanish succession, and keep the duke of gueldres at bay; without it the king of england might marry into another family and endanger the marriage between prince charles and princess mary. the emperor told the english ambassador that the archduchess was fully aware of king henry's many virtues, and that should she marry again, she would marry no one else but him. but as she has already been three times unfortunate in her marriages, she is much disinclined to make another trial. besides, she said she believed she should have no children, and that she might thereby displease the king of england. seeing that he could not prevail on margaret to change her mind, her father called the privy council together, his grandson charles being present. the question of the marriage was once more discussed, but the archduchess remained firm in her decision. the ambassador remarks: 'from all this it is clear that the emperor has done all in his power to persuade his daughter to consent to the marriage, and that he can do nothing more.' but in spite of margaret's absolute refusal to marry henry, his agents for more than a year pressed her to reconsider her decision. the utmost that could be obtained was to prevail on her to write, from time to time, flattering letters to him in order to secure some advantages for her father. on january th, , maximilian wrote to margaret from bolzano to tell her that 'he is sending andreas de burgo to england, and that he has ordered him to see her before he starts. andreas has some money, but it may not be enough to defray his expenses; he has therefore given him directions to take some money for his own use from the , gold crowns which the king of england is expected to give.' he also begs her to write a pleasant letter to king henry. a few weeks later maximilian again wrote to margaret excusing himself for not having sent the ratifications of the treaties with england. he has been so much occupied, he says, with his great undertakings in italy and spain, that he has really had no time to attend to that business; but he has now done so. in may of the same year henry vii. wrote a letter to sir john wiltshire, comptroller of calais, about a correspondence with margaret, in which king henry tried to persuade her to arrange a meeting with him at calais to treat with him in person about her nephew's marriage with princess mary. he suggests that some 'discreet and able personages' should be sent on before to 'reduce the said matters to a final and perfect conclusion' before he and margaret met, so that when they did meet they could talk of 'other pleasant and comfortable matters,' and all business could be concluded before their meeting. but margaret does not seem to have accepted this invitation, and the meeting so much desired by king henry did not take place. on july rd maximilian wrote to tell her that he has received her letters, in which she begs him to alter the instructions given to his ambassadors who are starting for england. he says he cannot do so, as she knows that the principal reason which has induced him to betroth prince charles to princess mary is to get a good sum of money from the king of england. king henry has promised , crowns, but has requested that in the security to be given by the towns of flanders, each town should be responsible for the whole sum. but the utmost that the towns can be induced to do is that each town would be responsible for a certain portion. if the king of england is not content with this proposal, it will show that he loves money more than his friend, and the marriage of his daughter with prince charles shall not take place. but maximilian adds, 'should the flemish towns after all be willing to sign the bonds in the manner the king of england wishes, he will not object.' henry vii., who had been ailing for some time, now fell seriously ill, and his illness appears to have been the cause of the postponement of prince charles's marriage with princess mary, which was to have been solemnised before the feast of easter. johannes de berghes was deputed to go to england and perform the ceremony according to the rites of the church, in the name of the archduke. 'on the th of october charles was indeed wedded by proxy to the english princess, and at the age of eight wrote or rather signed his first love-letter, addressed to little princess mary tudor, to whom he presented a jewel bearing the monogram k., and the posy, _maria optimam partem elegit, quae non auferetur ab ea_. 'this was the last of henry vii.'s many diplomatic triumphs; and it was no nominal momentary union, but was confirmed in , and the boy-bridegroom then visited his brother-in-law henry viii. in his newly-won city of tournay, his first royal visit. the following year the future king of spain and queen of france were parted in the shuffling of the cards, and although mary tudor married the old french king, statesmen on both sides regretted the more natural alliance. before six years more had passed charles was pledged to his betrothed's younger namesake, and thirty-four years later he showed all a young lover's eagerness in courting this second mary tudor for his son philip.'[ ] [ ] edward armstrong, _the emperor charles v._ chapter vi the league of cambray though margaret's time was now fully occupied by her new duties, she did not forget the work she had begun at brou. early in , immediately after her arrival in brussels, she made a will, designating the church of the monastery of saint nicolas de tolentin at brou, near bourg-en-bresse, as her place of sepulture, where she wished to be buried near 'her very dear lord and husband.' 'the duke philibert of savoy to lie between her and his mother, madame de bourbon.' by an endowment she ensured the building of the monastery and the church of brou, and the erection of the three tombs. solemn religious services were to be performed there during each season, and only on certain days the people and magistrates were to be allowed to enter the sanctuary to offer up their prayers with those of the priests and monks. she also made gifts to the church of notre-dame de bourg, and to several religious houses in the town, on condition that they should hold certain services; and she left legacies to the hospital, infirmary, and plague-house, and dowered fifty marriageable maidens of bresse and fifty of burgundy. lastly, she ordained the ceremony of bringing her body to bresse and the details of her funeral. all these provisions she made, lest death should take her unawares and stop the work she had so much at heart. this interesting will, expressing as it does margaret's most intimate thoughts, also throws great light on the customs and practices of the time. the document is dated march th, , and confirmed by a codicil twenty-two years later, in . from the year margaret's life is no longer a private one. the part she took in politics from the date of her investiture as governess of the netherlands until her death belongs to european history. by her talents, ability, and rare aptitude for business she eclipsed more powerful rulers, and soon became the pivot of political life in europe. strong as she was in the qualities her father lacked, she yet knew how to defer to his wishes, whilst holding strongly to her own opinions, and was always an affectionate and dutiful daughter. maximilian's radical inconstancy and indecision of temper led him into many troubles, and his extravagance involved him in perpetual pecuniary difficulties, which destroyed all dignity of character; but he seems to have had the greatest admiration and respect for his clever daughter, to whose wise judgment he constantly deferred, as his many letters to her testify. the warlike pontiff, julius ii., had announced his intention of 'driving the barbarians out of italy by force of arms.' he it was who first instigated the league which was to prove so disastrous to france, and was to be the cause of so many years of bloodshed in italy. julius ii. had been favourably impressed by margaret's exemplary piety, and the respect and deference she had shown towards the holy see. on several occasions he willingly granted her requests, and also sent her many relics and objects of devotion, amongst others two thorns from the true cross, which, until the eighteenth century, were still preserved at brou. the league so desired by the pope, known to history as the league of cambray, was soon brought into discussion between the great powers of europe. two subjects were to be negotiated at the conference: the one consisted in the reconciliation of the duke of gueldres with the government of the archduke charles, and the other, which was to be kept secret, was the formation of a league against the venetians. the princes who were to take part in it were the pope, the king of france, the emperor maximilian, and ferdinand, king of aragon. henry vii. of england, whose daughter mary was betrothed to the archduke charles, had a direct interest in the congress, as the archduke's affairs were, ostensibly at least, the principal subject of the deliberations, but he does not seem to have been invited to join it. he begged the archduchess margaret, through edmund wingfield, to combine with the cardinal of amboise, in order that ferdinand might be excluded from the negotiations and from the intended treaty; but the result was such as might have been anticipated--henry did not exclude ferdinand from the league, but ferdinand excluded henry from all advantage in it. this exclusion was so complete that, whilst the king of hungary, the duke of milan, the dukes of savoy and ferrara, and even the marquis of mantua were invited to join it, henry's name was not even mentioned, though, as an afterthought, his ambassador was allowed to be present at the meetings. moreover, the emperor and ferdinand, who until now had been at variance, were reconciled, and postponed their differences concerning the regency of spain until the war against venice should be concluded. on october the th maximilian wrote to margaret from schoenhoven in answer to a letter of hers asking for his permission for the papal legate to confer the rite of confirmation on the archduke charles and his sisters. 'very dear and much-loved daughter,--we have received your letters in which you tell us that you think it well that the legate should, before his departure, confer the holy sacrament of confirmation upon our dear and much-loved grandchildren, and that he has agreed with you to do so; but because our dearly loved grandson charles is at lyère, you do not know which we prefer, whether our said grandson should be brought to our granddaughters at malines, or our granddaughters to him. in consulting our wishes in everything you give us much pleasure. wherefore, very dear and much-loved daughter, we inform you that we are content that our said grandson travel to malines to receive the said holy sacrament and the benediction of the said legate, in our name and his. and for this reason we are now writing to our very dear and loyal cousin the prince of chimay to take him there. until then, much-beloved daughter, may our lord have you in his holy keeping.'[ ] [ ] printed in _correspondance de l'empereur maximilian_, by j. le glay. on the th of october maximilian again wrote to margaret informing her that 'he has heard that she is preparing to go to the congress of cambray. as he is told that a great number of strangers are expected, he advises her to engage all the houses on one side of the town, and to leave the other half to the cardinal of amboise. she must,' he says, 'take the english ambassadors to cambray, especially wingfield, and admit them to the deliberations. if an ambassador from the king of aragon come, she is to ask him whether he is provided with authority from the king, and if he is, to admit him.' he tells her that 'his ambassadors have not yet gone to england, because he has not had time to furnish them with instructions. he has now ordered them to set out immediately, and will send the instructions after them.' breda, th october .[ ] [ ] _correspondance de l'empereur maximilian_, by j. le glay. in november edward wingfield wrote to margaret to inform her that 'henry vii. has it much at heart that the affairs of the emperor and the prince, his son (prince charles, his grandson), should be settled to the greatest advantage in the approaching congress of cambray, and that their enemies should be entirely discomfited. as long as the alliance between the king of france and the king of aragon continues, he says, it is to be feared that the principal enemy of the emperor and prince charles will triumph. for if he be assisted by france, the king of aragon will most probably be able, not only to keep the usurped government of castile in his own hands, and the other dominions belonging to that kingdom, as long as he lives, but also to deprive the prince of his right of succession. to prevent this, it seems to henry that the best plan would be to exclude the king of aragon from the treaties that are to be made at cambray, and to sever the alliance existing between him and the king of france. the king of aragon has usurped the government of castile only by means of the help of the king of france. if he were to be isolated, he would be unable to preserve it, and the emperor would have it in his power, aided by those who are inimical to the king of aragon, to take the government of that kingdom into his own hands....'[ ] margaret also kept ostensibly on the most friendly terms with louis xii., whose correspondence with her about this time shows that to him at least she concealed her hatred of france. in each of his letters he takes a pleasure in reminding her of their early friendship and of their childish games, in the days when she was 'la petite reine' at amboise. [ ] _lettres de louis xii._ it is evident that being on such excellent terms with the chief sovereigns in europe gave margaret some advantage where negotiations and treaties were concerned. in fact she intervened as arbitrator or negotiator in most of the political events of this time. her experience and knowledge of different countries made her old for her years. 'madame margaret,' says jean le maire, 'has seen and experienced more at her youthful age... than any lady on record, however long her life.' it is, therefore, not surprising that margaret was deputed by maximilian and ferdinand to act as their representative at the forthcoming congress. hostilities had continued more actively than ever between the duke of gueldres and the provinces of the netherlands. at last a truce of forty days was declared during which time margaret went to cambray to meet the cardinal of amboise, and to confer with him with a view to concluding a final peace. she arrived at cambray in november with an escort of a hundred horsemen and a company of archers. half the town was reserved for her and her suite; the other half had been placed at the disposal of the cardinal of amboise, who was acting on behalf of the pope and louis xii., and was accompanied by Étienne de poncher, bishop of paris, and alberto pio, count of carpi. margaret, invested with full powers by maximilian, was escorted by mathieu lang, bishop of gurk, the emperor's confidant and secretary; mercurin de gattinare, president of the burgundian parliament; jean peters, president of the council of malines; jean gooselet, abbot of maroilles; and jean caulier, president of the privy council. she was also instructed to admit jacques de croy, bishop of cambray, and edmund wingfield, the english ambassador, to the negotiations, as well as king ferdinand's envoy, if he should send one. the sieur de chièvres (de croy) and other members of the burgundian council accompanied the princess as far as valenciennes, and remained there to receive daily reports of the proceedings at cambray, and to give their help if necessary. maximilian stayed at malines to transact the business of the netherlands during his daughter's absence. du bos, speaking of the part that margaret played in the league of cambray, says: 'this princess had a man's talent for managing business, in fact she was more capable than most men, for she added to her talents the fascination of her sex; brought up as she had been to hide her own feelings, conciliate her opponents, and persuade all parties that she was acting blindly in their interests.' another contemporary writer says: 'this princess received the cardinal with great honour, captivated him by her courteous, insinuating, and caressing manners, and was so successful in charming him, that he could refuse her nothing.' margaret and the cardinal began by fixing the laws of the dependence of the principal provinces of the netherlands with regard to france. louis xii. did not wish to cede what he called the rights of his crown, and margaret would not yield any of the prerogatives obtained by the last dukes of burgundy. she and the cardinal had many hot disputes, and several times were on the point of separating. margaret argued until she often had a headache, and we are told they 'cuydoient se prendre au poil.' finally they agreed to leave the most difficult questions until the archduke should come of age. it was decided that charles egmont should have (provisionally) the duchy of gueldres and the county of zutphen, but that he should restore three or four places which he had taken in holland to charles, who, on his part, should give up certain castles which he still held in the duchy of gueldres; that things should remain thus until the respective commissioners nominated by the emperor maximilian and the king of england on one side, and by the kings of france and scotland on the other, had examined the rights of both sides and given their decision. with regard to the second part of this treaty, which was to be kept secret until it was executed, no difficulty was raised. it was to share the spoils of the venetians, and this sharing was done in advance. maximilian and ferdinand agreed to postpone their differences concerning the regency of castile until this division was successfully accomplished. at last, on december the th, , the league of cambray was signed by margaret of austria and the cardinal of amboise, 'pour faire cesser les dommages, injures, rapines, et maux que les vénitiens ont faits tant au saint-siège apostolique qu'au saint empire romain, à la maison d'autriche, aux ducs de milan, aux rois de naples, etc.' immediately after the treaty was signed, margaret, the cardinal, and king ferdinand's ambassador took a solemn oath in the cathedral of cambray to observe the treaty which they had just concluded. 'this league was the result of a new political system which was beginning to prevail in europe: a coalition was formed between powers having different interests against a single state whose ruin they desired.' besides the emperor maximilian and louis xii., ferdinand of aragon and pope julius ii. were included in the treaty and 'whoso else should claim that the venetians were occupying any of his territory.' a pious preamble set forth the common desire of these princes to begin the crusade against the enemies of the name of christ, and the obstacles that the venetians offered to this holy purpose by ambitiously occupying cities that belonged to the church; these obstacles the allies proposed to remove, in order afterwards to proceed unitedly to such a holy and necessary expedition. 'in the division of the spoils the pope was to have faenza, rimini, ravenna, and cervia, which no doubt did belong to the holy see, in the same way as the rest of romagna might be said to belong to the papal states; maximilian was to have padua, vicenza, and verona, as belonging to him in the name of the empire, and friuli and treviso as pertaining to the house of austria; the king of france, cremona, the ghiradadda, brescia, bergamo, and crema; the king of spain to have back trani, brindisi, otranto, and the other ports on the neapolitan coast which had been given in pledge to venice for sums of money advanced to the late king ferdinand ii. of naples. the pope hesitated and temporised, although he had been the original instigator of the league. it was only after he had attempted to make terms on his own account that he ratified the league at the end of the year.'[ ] [ ] edmund gardner, _the king of court poets_. 'it is therefore solely jealousy and cupidity which united so many hostile powers against a state that some had good reason to uphold and others no reason to fear.'[ ] [ ] bryce's _holy roman empire_. margaret's joy at the success of this negotiation, so disastrous to the political interests of france and italy, breaks forth in the letter she wrote to the king of aragon's ambassadors in england immediately after the treaty was signed. she informs them that 'she has concluded all the affairs she had to transact with the cardinal of amboise at cambray to her satisfaction, and thanks the king of england, whose ambassadors have assisted her. she has communicated the secret matter to the english ambassadors, in order that they may inform their master of it.' cambray, december th, .[ ] [ ] _lettres de louis xii._, vol. i. [illustration: margaret of austria in widow's dress from the painting by bernhard van orley in the possession of dr. carvallo, paris] the proceedings between the allies were kept so secret that the venetian ambassador, antonio condelmerio, who had followed the cardinal of amboise to cambray, had no idea of the real facts, and even wrote to the republic that they could rely more than ever on louis xii.'s friendship and support. at last the allies announced their intention of uniting to make war upon the infidels, and tried to pick a quarrel with the venetians by reproaching them with placing obstacles in the way of their carrying out this holy object, which, they said, obliged them to force the venetians to restore what they had usurped, for the glory and good of christianity. on april th, , the french herald formally declared war to the venetians, in terms which, as the doge leonardo loredan remarked, were 'fitting rather to be used against saracens and turks, than made to a most christian republic.' the french vanguard had already begun hostilities on the previous day. pope julius followed on the nd, and louis xii. crossed the alps with a large army and arrived at milan. on the th of may the battle of agnadel was fought, which broke the power of venice and decided the fate of the war, victory being with the french. in writing to inform margaret of the battle of agnadel, maximilian says: 'our ambassador, adrian de burgo, who was present at this victory, writes that he has seen quite four thousand dead. through other letters from france we hear that there are from ten to twelve thousand men either dead or taken prisoners, and that our said brother and cousin (louis xii.) has taken forty pieces of artillery. we also hear that the venetians were twenty thousand strong, and the french force rather stronger.' so far the emperor had not taken an active part in the great struggle. the low state of his finances and the war with gueldres had kept him in the netherlands. on march st the states met at antwerp and had voted a subsidy of , crowns as a gift to maximilian and the archduke charles in acknowledgment of the services rendered by the former in defence of the country and in concluding the peace of cambray. at the same time a sum of sixty thousand pounds was voted for the archduchess margaret in recognition of the trouble she had taken in arranging the peace. meanwhile louis xii. had seized brescia and bergamo almost without a struggle. the venetian army retreated as far as mestre, whilst the french advanced to fusino. maximilian at the head of a powerful force approached venice from the other side. the venetians, surrounded by enemies and left without a single ally, shut themselves up in their capital as their last refuge. this rapid success, however, proved fatal to the confederacy. the memorable decree followed, by which venice released her continental provinces from their allegiance, authorising them to provide for their own safety. the allies, who had remained united during the struggle, now quarrelled over the division of the spoil. old jealousies revived, and the venetians, taking advantage of their opportunity, recovered part of the territory which they had lost, and appeased the pope and ferdinand by concessions in their favour, and at length dissolved the confederacy which had brought their commonwealth to the brink of ruin. prescott says: 'the various negotiations carried on during this busy period, and the different combinations formed among powers hitherto little connected with each other, greatly increased the intercourse amongst the european nations; while the greatness of the objects at which different nations aimed, the distant expeditions which they undertook, as well as the length and obstinacy of the contest in which they engaged, obliged them to exert themselves with a vigour and perseverance unknown in the preceding ages.' chapter vii margaret's correspondence after a reign of twenty-three years henry vii. died at richmond on the st of april , and the whole aspect of affairs was suddenly changed. he, like his rival ferdinand, had been avaricious from deliberate policy; and his avarice was largely instrumental in founding england's coming greatness, for the accumulated riches he left to his son lent force to the new position assumed by england as the balancing power, courted by both the great continental rivals. the new king, henry viii., was a very different man from his father. from the time when he ascended the throne, at the age of eighteen, he adopted an opposite policy. ambitious and incautious, and immeasurably vain, he courted rather than evaded diplomatic complications. the death of henry vii. had indeed cleared away many obstacles; ferdinand had profoundly mistrusted him, but with the younger henry as king affairs stood differently. even before his father's death ferdinand had taken pains to assure him of his love, and had treated him as a sovereign over the old king's head. the news of henry vii.'s death was longer in reaching spain than might have been expected. first a courier arrived from flanders, who had met another spanish courier in france, who came from england, and informed him that king henry was dead. thus king ferdinand remained for some time in uncertainty whether his adversary was dead or alive. he did not wait for the arrival of positive news, but at once ratified the treaty of marriage between prince charles and the princess mary. king ferdinand may have preferred a portuguese alliance for his grandson, or a marriage with the princess of bohemia; but the chief advantage was that no immediate danger was attached to the english marriage. as prince charles was only nine years old, king ferdinand could trust to time, and felt tolerably sure to find more than one pretext for breaking off the engagement before the betrothal could become an indissoluble union. on the rd of june henry viii. married princess katharine of aragon, his brother arthur's widow, and on the th of the same month their coronation took place at westminster. on the th of july the new king wrote to his father-in-law, king ferdinand, to inform him that he and queen katharine had been solemnly crowned on the day of st. john the baptist. he mentions that his father died a good catholic, after having received the holy sacrament; and that his burial had been magnificent. henry adds that 'he diverts himself with jousts, birding, hunting, and other innocent and honest pastimes, also in visiting different parts of his kingdom; but does not on that account neglect affairs of state.' in the meanwhile maximilian had gone to trent, and from there had written to thank louis xii. for having helped him to recover his former territories. as a proof of his eternal gratitude he mentions that he has burnt his 'red book,' which was kept at spire, in which he entered all his grievances against france. as a sign of friendship louis sent the cardinal of amboise to meet maximilian at trent with promises to provide him with four thousand men. the emperor in return conferred upon louis a new investiture of the duchy of milan, including the newly won towns and territories. a day was fixed for a meeting between the emperor and the french king near the border town of garde. louis kept the rendezvous, but maximilian did not go farther than riva di trento; after staying there for two hours, he abruptly returned to trent and sent word to louis that he had been recalled on matters of urgent business, but begged for another interview at cremona, which he promised faithfully to attend. the indecision shown by maximilian in this instance has been attributed to suspicions he entertained as to his old enemy's good faith. but louis was naturally annoyed at these marks of distrust, and being anxious to recross the alps, he returned to milan without waiting any longer for his ally. it was fortunate for king ferdinand that henry vii. had been excluded from the league of cambray, as it left his son (henry viii.) free to act as he thought convenient. the spanish king resolved to make use of his son-in-law's liberty, and wrote a letter to his daughter katharine on the th of september in which he spoke in general terms of the affairs of venice, and referred her to an accompanying letter in cipher, in which his views on the subject were fully detailed. in replying on the st of november, king henry thanked his father-in-law for having communicated to him his views on venetian affairs, praised his wisdom and moderation in rejecting his confederates' iniquitous proposal to entirely destroy venice, and enlarged on the necessity of preserving the republic, which formed a wall against the turks. before the month was out henry was a zealous advocate of the venetian republic, and interfered in its behalf in rome, in france, and with the emperor, furnishing king ferdinand at the same time with an excellent pretext for advising his allies to reconsider the question whether venice should be destroyed or not. the voice of england was, after a long interruption, heard once more in the councils of europe on a measure of general policy. the king of france seems to have regarded the unexpected audacity of his young neighbour with a feeling of surprise mingled with contempt. king louis' answer was very uncivil, and frenchmen boasted openly that they would soon make war upon england in order to punish her for her arrogance. as for these threats king ferdinand truly observed that france was not in a position to attack england. in the venetians, taking advantage of maximilian's vacillation, recaptured padua. the surrounding population and peasantry immediately rose in favour of the republic, which recovered the town and fortress of legnago. padua's capitulation did not prevent louis xii. from recrossing the alps after he had concluded a new treaty with pope julius ii. at biagrassa, in which they mutually promised to help each other. maximilian now decided to crush the republic by a decisive blow in laying siege to the capital. but although louis seemed to agree with this plan, the pope disapproved, and ferdinand formally opposed it. the emperor finding it impossible to lay siege to venice without help from his allies, prepared to retake padua; but after sixteen days of firm resistance from the venetian garrison, he withdrew to limini, on the way to treviso. from there he went to vicenza and verona, bitterly complaining of the treatment he had received from the pope and the king of france, because the former had consented to receive the venetian ambassadors, and the latter had caused the loss of padua through his delay in sending help. having failed to retake legnago, maximilian seemed inclined to make a truce with venice, but the republic turned a deaf ear to his advances, and he returned to trent discontented with himself and his allies. julius ii.'s changeable policy increased the dissensions which undermined the league. in spite of remonstrances from maximilian's and louis' envoys, julius wished to receive the venetian ambassadors and pardon the republic. he was secretly encouraged in this by the king of aragon and openly by the archbishop of york, representing henry viii. julius thought he could save the republic by overthrowing the french rule in italy, and for this reason he made friends with england, and encouraged the swiss in their discontent with france. in a long letter to his daughter queen katharine, written on november th, , king ferdinand says 'that he has touched on the subject of the preservation of venice in his negotiations with the king of france, but very cautiously and without discovering his plans, his intention being to keep his negotiations secret until he has won over maximilian. he tells katharine that a short time ago madame margaret sent her secretary to him. the secretary spoke about the alliance, but he (ferdinand) intends to make a further communication to madame margaret, who is the person who has the greatest influence with her father, and she would think herself honoured if so important a business as the conclusion of the alliance were intrusted to her hands. he begs katharine to see that the english envoy who is sent to madame margaret is an honest, intelligent, and discreet man,' and adds, 'he must go alone and not be accompanied by any other person, and it is necessary that he should be able to speak and express himself well on the subject he has in hand.'[ ] [ ] _calendar of spanish state papers_, vol. ii. in the following december miguel perez almazan, king ferdinand's first secretary of state, wrote to margaret's secretary to inform him that news had arrived that the king of france intended seizing the cities of verona and vicenza; and that he was also making preparations to besiege venice on every side. 'if he should carry out his designs he would probably become master of italy and perhaps of christendom, unless the emperor and king ferdinand take prompt means to stop him, which they ought to do for the sake of their common grandson, prince charles.' almazan goes on to state that henry viii. had sent a letter to king ferdinand, in which he expressed a wish to enter into a close alliance with spain and the emperor. if such an alliance were concluded the king of france would be kept from injuring the allies. 'this letter,' he says, 'is sent in order that the secretary may use his influence with madame margaret, and induce her to help forward the alliance between the emperor, spain, and england; a task which is certainly not difficult for her, and the execution of which would secure her lasting fame.'[ ] [ ] _ibid._ whilst maximilian was trying to extract a subsidy for the continuance of the venetian war from the diet at augsburg, julius ii. was maturing his plans. when the venetian ambassadors accepted his proposed treaty ( th of february ), he took them back into favour, and solemnly gave them absolution. subjects and vassals of the church were bidden to help the republic, and julius openly quarrelled with the duke of ferrara, who wished to remain faithful to the league of cambray. he urged henry viii. to declare war against france, and king ferdinand secretly did the same. as the pope observed, the object of the league of cambray ceased to exist. at this crisis louis xii. lost his faithful friend and able minister, cardinal d'amboise. he was succeeded by florimond robertet, who had none of his predecessor's great qualities. the cardinal died at lyons on the th of may . andré de burgo was then austrian ambassador at the french court, and writing to inform margaret of the cardinal's death, he says, 'i assure you your house has suffered a great loss.' encouraged by the death of georges d'amboise, the pope continued to make preparations, and declared that god had chosen him to be the liberator of italy. in spite of his age and infirmities he was present at the siege of mirandola, in january , and entered the town by a breach. in he concluded a treaty with king ferdinand and the venetian republic, which the allies called the 'holy league.' the apparent object of this league was to defend the unity of the church, and restore the ecclesiastical state; but the real object was directed against france. julius ii.'s designs were helped by the swiss, who entered italy more than sixteen thousand strong, determined to re-establish maximilian sforza in the duchy of milan; but the pope and his allies received a check when a new general appeared at the head of the french army. louis xii. had made his nephew, gaston de foix, duke of nemours, governor of lombardy. this young general of twenty-three soon distinguished himself by winning three victories in three months. by a well-planned march he brought help to the town of milan, which was left without means of defence; and forced the swiss to recross the mountains. he then obliged the army of the league to raise the siege of bologna. after reconquering brescia, which was occupied by the venetians, he marched on ravenna, garrisoned by papal and spanish soldiers. but his troops had hardly begun the attack when the army of the league arrived with reinforcements. a battle took place on easter sunday, april th, , outside the walls of ravenna. gaston de foix, in the moment of victory, was surrounded, thrown from his horse and killed, as he was charging the retreating spaniards. his death was disastrous to the french cause in italy. when julius ii. heard of gaston's victories it is reported that he tore his beard with rage. one of margaret's correspondents writes: 'madame, there is news from rome... that after the pope heard that the venetians had taken brescia, he expressed the greatest joy imaginable, and ordered the bells of rome to be rung, fireworks, and many other rejoicings; but since he heard that his people and the spaniards had retired from bologna, he was much displeased, and caused a strong and furious letter to be written to the viceroy of naples, captain of the said spaniards, ordering them to return to bologna at once, and on no account to leave; and, moreover, when he heard that the french had retaken brescia and slaughtered the venetians, they say he tore his beard with rage.' during this struggle the emperor remained passive. although he agreed to louis' proposed reforms, he evaded his promise to send german bishops to the council the french king had convoked at lyons. the truth was that margaret had forbidden the bishops to attend. louis naturally complained, and threatened the princess with his government's displeasure. margaret replied to his threats by reproaching him with his conduct in reference to the duke of gueldres. he protested that he had neither furnished the duke with men or money, but she would not accept his excuses, and soon after successfully formed a league between her father and the kings of spain and england, which league she said represented the mystery of the holy trinity. julius ii. died on the st of february . he had been one of the chief promoters of italian independence, and through his warlike policy had considerably enlarged the papal states. on the th of march cardinal john de medicis, then in his thirty-sixth year, was unanimously elected pope by the twenty-four cardinals assembled in conclave. the new pope (leo x.), who was of a peaceful and diplomatic nature, refused to ratify a treaty concluded at malines on the th of april in the same year between margaret, acting for her father, and henry viii.'s ambassadors; a treaty which would have forced him to send the papal troops to invade provence or dauphiny. he arranged a truce with louis xii., who, after gaston de foix's death, had lost most of his italian possessions. the sforzas were reinstated in milan, the medicis in florence, and genoa became once more a free republic; the king's army was beaten by the swiss at novara, and by the english at guinegate. a treaty signed at blois, on the th of march, was ratified at venice on the th of april. the venetian republic agreed to help louis to regain milan and genoa, and the king promised to assist the venetians to recover their territories on the mainland, which were occupied by maximilian's troops. the political balance of europe now depended entirely on the goodwill of henry viii. on the th of may jean le veau wrote to margaret that 'the time had come to be firm, and that she ought to imitate the english, who always showed their enmity against france.' a treaty was concluded through margaret's intervention in between the emperor and henry viii., which aimed at humbling france, but only resulted in the battle of guinegate, where maximilian served as a volunteer in the english army, and received a hundred crowns a day as pay. it was on this occasion that margaret ordered the town of therouenne on the borders of france and belgium to be completely destroyed. whilst he was with the english army maximilian sent a messenger to margaret asking her to join him at tournay. in reply she says: 'monseigneur, i have received the message that you have been pleased to send me by marnix, my secretary, about my going to tournay. as for me, monseigneur, if you think that my going there is necessary, and can be of service to you, i am ready in this and in all else that it may please you to command me; but otherwise, it is not fitting for a widow to be trotting about and visiting armies for pleasure....' but a little later, after the reduction of tournay, margaret met her father and henry viii. at lille. in june of the same year king ferdinand wrote to his ambassador in flanders 'to tell madame margaret that before and after he concluded the truce with france in his own name as well as in the name of the emperor, the king of england, and prince charles, he wrote to his ambassador, don pedro de urea, and ordered him to explain all his reasons to the emperor.... having concluded the truce from pure necessity, he is forced to observe it this year.' king ferdinand tells his ambassador to beg madame margaret to use her influence with the emperor, and to show him that the policy he has hitherto adopted can have only one result, viz. 'that of making the king of france master of the world; whilst if the emperor follows his (ferdinand's) advice, nothing will be lost.' he writes that 'madame margaret is willing to deliver don juan manuel up to him as prisoner. she is to be told that don juan has not only behaved badly to king ferdinand, but also speaks so ill of her that for this alone he deserves punishment.'[ ] [ ] _calendar of spanish state papers_, vol. ii. and when, a little later, margaret has asked maximilian's permission to arrest don juan manuel, because he had spoken against king ferdinand, maximilian answers that 'if don juan has committed a crime which is punishable according to law, he may be arrested; if not, it will be sufficient to banish him from the court.' but although margaret as governess of the netherlands took part in the greatest events of her century, yet her private life in her home at malines was of the simplest and most domestic kind. we get a very good idea of the way she spent her days from her interesting correspondence and from her father's letters which have, fortunately, been preserved. these letters are in french, but maximilian's spelling is chiefly euphonical, and the meaning often obscure. in spite of the quaint style, these letters form an interesting history of europe at the dawn of the renaissance. beginning with the drama which opens at the league of cambray, in which england, france, germany, the netherlands, italy, and spain all play their parts, and ending with the disaster of pavia, the humbling of france, and the triumph of the house of austria, there is not a negotiation, war, or treaty, whose secret cause and real origin is not disclosed. although the correspondence comprises a comparatively short period, and does not go much beyond the first quarter of the sixteenth century, still the age was one of thrilling interest and brilliant personality. amongst the illustrious personages who pass in review before us are louis xii., anne of brittany, francis i., louise of savoy, margaret of angoulême, the cardinal of amboise, and the chevalier bayard, ferdinand of aragon, gonzalva of cordova, and ximenes, henry vii., henry viii., and cardinal wolsey, charles v., and luther. margaret's correspondents included most of the sovereigns of europe and their various ambassadors. besides the personages already mentioned, we come across the names of raulin, carondelet, alberto pio, the cardinal of gurk, caulier, and laurent de gorrevod, to whose conferences and intrigues we are introduced, and sometimes to the snares they laid for their best friends. amongst them we find andré de burgo, maximilian's 'faithful councillor' and ambassador in france, whose despatches to malines are masterpieces of finesse and diplomacy. the pages in which he describes the events of which julius ii. is the hero are full of interest. in a witty and delightful manner he records the ambitions, cabals, and various factions which hastened the end of this warrior pontiff who was 'always dying but never buried.' he frequently announces that the holy father is the victim of a violent fever, and that the doctors hardly hope to save him--it is whispered that he will be 'in paradise before a year and a half is out.' the cardinals prepare to 'choose a good and holy pope,' but before they can do so, the dying pope recovers, or at least he is 'so much better that he thinks himself cured and has lost his fever.' then there is andré de burgo's successor, chancellor perrenot, the father of cardinal de granvelle. also the granvelles' enemy, mercurin de gattinare, a skilled diplomatist and picturesque writer. more than once we read of his reminding margaret of the respect she owes him, and he tells her, not without pride, that she does not deserve to have a servant like himself, and when she gave him some unmerited rebuke, he replied: 'these words should be addressed to a stranger and an unknown man, not to me, whom you have known and tried.' in margaret's time malines was a flourishing commercial city, whose manufactures were exported to all parts of europe. commerce, industries, and navigation had made great progress under her wise rule. her palace was the centre of life in the old city and the meeting-place of many illustrious families and learned men who came from all parts of the netherlands to visit her court. jean second, erasmus, cornelius agrippa, jean lemaire, mabuse, coxcie, and van orley were amongst her frequent guests. one of her chief ladies was the countess of hochstrate, who had charge of her maids of honour and the women of her household. her husband, count hochstrate, was the princess's chevalier d'honneur, and commanded her bodyguard of twenty-seven noblemen, whose duty it was to attend her wherever she went. he also was in charge of the stewards, cooks, pastrycooks, bakers, cupbearers, carvers and the other servants, besides the keeper of prince charles's lions and rare birds, so that his post was no sinecure. margaret took great pride in keeping up an establishment worthy of her rank. she lived in great luxury, and her table was always furnished with the choicest wines, and every kind of fish, fowl, and game in its season. in spite of her habitual melancholy, she took part in the usual amusements of her time. we read of her attending many feasts, dances, and jousts; and it was seldom she did not have music during her meals, either fife, tambourin, or violin players, or sometimes the choristers of notre-dame de sablon, or monsieur de ravestein's singers, who played and sang songs before her. another day we read of her watching the performance of 'two large and powerful bears' brought by some strolling hungarian players; or sitting in the vast hall, silent and dreamy, listening to old airs of german minstrelsy. maximilian occasionally visited his daughter, and then malines was _en fête_. sometimes he invited his young granddaughters to spend a few days with him at brussels, 'to see the park and enjoy themselves.'[ ] [ ] le glay, _correspondance de l'empereur maximilian i._ but margaret's favourite occupation was superintending the education of her nephew charles. she had a wonderful aptitude for teaching, and was not satisfied that he should excel in manly sports, which was usually all that was required of princes, but she insisted on his studying history, languages, and science. she also found time for more domestic employments. from the letters we find that she spun flax, and amongst the objects mentioned in her inventory are a spindle, distaff, and winding reels. she was accustomed to work with her needle, and once she surprised her father by sending him 'good linen shirts,' which she had made herself, and maximilian, delighted with this present, hastened to thank her: 'i have received by this bearer some beautiful shirts and "huves" which you have helped to make with your own hand, with which i am delighted.... our skin will be comforted with meeting the fineness and softness of such beautiful linen, such as the angels in paradise use for their clothing.' margaret also sent her father receipts for various dishes which pleased her, and we find her recommending him to eat some preserves during the heat of summer which she has tried herself and found excellent. 'i have a good apothecary,' she says, 'called countess de horne, who takes care to supply me every year with the best preserves in the world, which she makes with her own hands, and as i find them good, it seems to me that you will also, even in this great heat.' margaret took much interest in her maids of honour, and when necessary did not spare them either advice or punishment. she warned them especially to avoid gossiping or foolish conversation. during the long winter evenings she played chess, or when summer came with long fine days, she rode with them through the forests of scheplaken, groenendael, and boisfort, followed by her greyhounds. if one of her maids married, margaret took care to prepare the trousseau. sometimes she put aside a certain sum for this purpose from her privy purse, and often begged a post from maximilian for the girl's future husband. thus she dowered and provided for many maidens whose names are mentioned in the archives of lille. as a rule, margaret and her father treated each other with the greatest confidence. maximilian took a fatherly interest in whatever concerned his daughter's happiness. he would like to have seen her married to henry vii., for then, as he said, she would not have been 'a person lost and forgotten.' sometimes he made her small presents, 'a carbuncle which his father the emperor frederick had valued,' or a haunch of venison off which she could 'feast at some dinner or supper.' on another occasion he sent her the plan of a triumphal arch before 'having it erected, so that it might remain for ever as a monument to their perpetual glory.' one day, in a fit of rare generosity (for he was very impecunious), he made her a present of , crowns. margaret will be ungrateful, he says, 'if she is not well pleased with him.' he tells her his most secret thoughts... that he intends soliciting the papal tiara, for the pope 'cannot live long.' he wishes to be nominated coadjutor of the sovereign pontiff, so as 'to be assured of having the papacy and becoming a priest and afterwards made holy.' with this intention he begins to 'win over the cardinals' with two or three thousand ducats, and he sends 'a messenger to the king of aragon, begging him to help him to get what he wants.' but this confidence between the emperor and his daughter was often broken. maximilian sometimes complains that she treats him badly and 'takes him for a frenchman!' she was not always his 'good daughter;' she sometimes speaks too plainly and asks him when he intends sending an answer to the english ambassadors, who have been kept waiting for eight months, and reminds him ironically 'that it is time to move in this business.' on another occasion she writes these words in a letter which he calls 'rude and ungracious': 'i know that it is not my business to interfere in your said affairs, as i am an inexperienced woman in such matters, nevertheless the great duty i have towards you emboldens me to... beg of you... to take care whilst there is yet time.' but in spite of these small recriminations each tried to help the other, as we see from the numerous requests they constantly made to each other in favour of various persons in whom they were interested. in spite of the netherlands' general prosperity, both margaret and her father suffered greatly from lack of funds, as is shown in nearly every page of the correspondence. maximilian hardly writes a letter without mentioning that he has need of 'a sum of money.' one day he humbly begs for , florins, another time for , or , , which he must have. he knows, he says, that the states complain that he only thinks of 'knavery and taking their money for nothing,' but all the same he begs margaret to do all in her power to find him the sum he requires. his lamentations, resources, and importunity in begging are most pitiable. 'we must,' he says, 'in order to raise money quickly, pawn two gold chains set with many valuable and precious stones, one (chain) being larger than the other.' sometimes margaret was as hardly pressed for funds as her father, and several of her letters have this sad ending, 'the treasurer does not know where to turn for money; he has no "deniers" (old roman coins) left.' the swiss and german infantry were unpaid, and maximilian for this reason kept out of the way, and fled to the tyrolese mountains on the pretext of hunting. his daughter wrote to him severely: 'i hoped that you would have come here, but from what i see, you are going further and further away, which displeases me, for it was very necessary that you should come here.' at another time she tells him that she will be forced to become 'bankrupt' if she cannot quickly raise ' , florins from the king of england.' she has appealed to the states in vain; for some 'cannot agree,' whilst others 'have settled nothing yet ... for they are obstinate and disagreeable.' even the ambassadors were hampered by lack of means. andré de burgo could not go to lyons, where he was afraid to stay for want of money. 'it is a pity,' he says, 'for so good and loyal a servant of your house to have so often to beg and ask for the wherewithal to live, as god's poor do... he is ashamed not to be able to pay his creditors, and shall be reduced to sell half his plate to some jew.' even mercurin de gattinare had to give up an important journey, and states he will have to go 'bankrupt' if he cannot sell a gold chain. for anne of brittany's accouchement the other ambassadors had ordered coloured clothes; he alone has to appear in black garments, and is much distressed. 'i have only black,' he writes in italian, 'and have no means of buying colours.' besides these oft-recurring complaints, the correspondence is full of the hatred which margaret and her father still felt for france. maximilian never liked the french, and his letters abound in maledictions against them. he tries to stir up his daughter's aversion, and congratulates her 'on the goodwill and diligence she has shown in resisting them. we have,' he says, 'more experience of the french than you have... and we would rather you were deceived by their fair speeches than ourselves, so that you would take more care in future.' he knows their 'treachery and falseness,' for they only act by abuse, dissimulation, and deceit, as they have done for the last hundred years past, and will still be doing a hundred years hence. maximilian himself served as a private soldier in the king of england's army on the continent, and advised henry viii. to land at crotoy, where he proposed meeting him 'on condition that his said brother gave him the money he had promised, and that he sent the second portion with the first.' margaret certainly shared her father's aversion for all things french, although she disguised it in writing to louis xii. she secretly rejoices at every french defeat, and when she hears of the victory of guinegate, 'she is more happy than she can say.' she also reminds maximilian of old wrongs to rouse up his wrath, and ironically recalls 'the good faith and loyalty of the french.' several times she points out how easy it would be to conquer their hereditary enemy: 'there is no boundary between our country and france, and you know the deep inveterate hatred the french bear us.' these words express all margaret's hatred and ambition, and show one of the reasons why she took such a special care of prince charles's education. in him she hoped to see realised all her dreams of the future greatness of austria and burgundy. with infinite trouble she directed his masters and mistresses, was herself present at their lessons, and often interceded with maximilian on their behalf. thus she recommends anne de beaumont 'for the first vacant post over the ladies of the household... or a good annual pension, as a reward for her past services, which ought to be noticed'; she also praises louis vacca 'for great and worthy service which he has daily rendered as tutor for eight years, teaching monseigneur with such great care and diligence, as a good and loyal servitor should.' we read of the child's rapid progress in his lessons, and also of a fever he caught after attending his sister isabel's wedding, at which 'he behaved as a good brother, accompanying his sister in the dances so perfectly, and perhaps rather more than was good for him.' a few days later 'he began to get better,' and it is hoped that he 'will soon be restored to health,' as he has such a good appetite 'that now it is difficult to satisfy him.' he is learning to shoot, but it is dangerous for the passers-by, as he shot a man by mistake, 'when monseigneur, my nephew, went to play at wure. on whit-monday he fired off his gun, and had the misfortune to kill a workman of this town, a drunkard and ill-conditioned man... which has caused my said lord and me much sorrow and regret, but there is no help for it.' when the boy went hunting near malines maximilian wrote joyfully: 'we are well pleased that our son charles takes so much pleasure in hunting,' but at the same time he recommends, 'when the weather is mild, to send him to anvers and louvain to take the air, and to pass the time, to ride on horseback for his health and strength.' maximilian then goes on to describe his own sport. he has taken 'at least four large stags in the morning, and after dinner five herons. ducks and kites we catch daily without number; even to-day we got four herons besides, and thirteen ducks or river birds in twelve flights in one half league. every day we get three kites, for here there is any amount, and all in the most beautiful country....' these few quotations will show that the letters are more or less memoirs of margaret's life for about twenty-five years, and give us a good idea of the part she played in the stirring events of her time. chapter viii a love affair after the reduction of tournay and therouenne in the autumn of , henry viii. and maximilian met margaret at lille. she was accompanied by the archduke charles and a large retinue. this was henry's first meeting with his wife's nephew; it was also margaret's first introduction to the man whose engaging manners and brilliant personality nearly made her give up the resolution to which she had adhered for so many years, and marry again. amongst henry's viii.'s officers was sir charles brandon, one of the handsomest men of his time, and a great favourite with the english king, who, in may , had been created viscount lisle. the new lord lisle had accompanied his master to the war in france, being marshal of the host and captain of the foreward, with men under him. hall, in his chronicle, gives the following interesting account of the meeting of margaret and charles brandon:--'monday, the th day of october, the king without the town received the prince of castile, the lady margaret, and divers other nobles of their countries, and them brought into tournay with great triumph. the noise went that the lord lisle made request of marriage to the lady margaret, duchess of savoy, and daughter to the emperor maximilian, which before that time was departed from the king with many rich gifts and money borrowed; but, whether he proffered marriage or not, she favoured him highly. there the prince and duchess sojourned with great solace by the space of ten days. on the th of october the jousts began, the king and lord lisle answered all comers. upon the king attended twenty-eight knights on foot, in coats of purple velvet and cloth of gold. a tent of cloth of gold was set in the place for the armoury and relief. the king had a base and a trapper of purple velvet both set full of fine bullion, and the lord lisle in the same suit. there were many spears broken, and many a good buffet given; the strangers, as the lord walon and the lord emery, and others, did right well. when the jousts were done, the king and all the others unhelmed them, and rode about the tilt, and did great reverence to the ladies, and then the heralds cried, "to lodging!" 'this night the king made a sumptuous banquet of a hundred dishes to the prince of castile and the lady margaret, and to all the other lords and ladies, and after the banquet the ladies danced; and then came in the king and eleven in a masque, all richly apparelled with bonnets of gold, and when they had passed the time at their pleasure, the garments of the masque were cast off amongst the ladies, take who could take. 'the th day of october, the prince of castile and the lady margaret, with many great gifts to them given, returned to lille with all their train.' a few months after this meeting lord lisle was created duke of suffolk (february st, ) on the same day that the dukedom of norfolk was restored to the howards, and when there was only one other peerage of that grade, namely, buckingham, existing in england. in october henry viii. wrote to leo x. to tell him that he had conquered tournay, and that the french ran away so quickly that it was impossible for him to follow them. he also mentions that he has conferred with the emperor and the archduchess margaret about the affairs of the prince of castile, and especially about the marriage of the prince with his sister, the princess mary. he mentions that 'prince charles came in person to tournay.' in the following may, when in england, the king and the new duke of suffolk were present at a tournament and 'defenders at the tilt against all comers,' dressed as black and white hermits, having the following motto written in white letters on their black staves: 'who can hold that will away.' gossip said that this posy was made for the duke of suffolk and the duchess of savoy. be that as it may, henry soon grew alarmed when rumours reached him that his favourite was thinking of marrying margaret. he at once wrote to maximilian expressing his annoyance, and the same day (the th of march) sent a letter to margaret enclosing the one he had written to her father, leaving it to her discretion to forward it or not as she thought best. king henry says,... 'because it has come to our knowledge that the common report is in divers places that marriage is contemplated between you and our very dear and loyal cousin and councillor, the duke of suffolk, we are making all possible diligence to know and hear from whence this report can come and proceed; and if we find that it comes from overthere, we will cause such grievous punishment to be inflicted, that all other inventors and sowers of lies will take example from it.' the following letters, referring to the subject, are in the handwriting of the english ambassador, sir richard wingfield, to whom margaret addressed herself. they were evidently translated from the french, in which the originals were written, and were either translated by sir richard, or he transcribed the version, the matter being so secret for his despatches home:-- ms. cotton. 'my lord the ambassador,--since that i see that i may not have tidings from the emperor so soon, it seemeth me that i should do well no longer for to tarry to despatch this gentleman. and for that by my letters addressing unto the king and to the duke, of that i dare not adventure me to write unto them so at length of this besides, because that i fear my letters to be evil kept, i me determine to write to you at length to send that of all ye may the better them advertise of mine intent. 'ye may know, my lord the ambassador, that after some days having been at tournay, knowing from day to day the great love and trust that the king bare and had to the personage which is no need to name; also with the virtue and grace of his person, the which me seemed that i had not much seen gentleman to approach it; also considering the desire the which always he showed me that he had to do me service; all these things considered by me, i have always forced me to do unto him all honour and pleasure, the which to me seemed to be well agreeable unto the king his good master; who, as i may imagine, seeing the good cheer and will the which i bare him, with the love which he beareth unto him, by many times spake unto me, for to know if this goodwill which i bare unto the said personage it might stretch unto some effect of promise of marriage, seeing that it was the fashion of the ladies of england, and that it was not there holden for evil; whereunto many times i answered the most graciously that was to me possible, knowing this thing not to proceed but of love which he bare him, the several of reasons wherefore it was not to me possible, unless i should fall in the evil grace of my father and of all this country. also that it was not here the custom, and that i should be dishonoured, and holden for a fool and light. but all my reasons might not help me, that without rest he spake thereof to me. that seeing, and that he had it so much at the heart, for him not to anger, i found to him one other reason, to him saying, that if now i had well the will so for to do, that yet i nor would nor durst think, seeing his return to be so nigh, and that it should be to me too much great displeasure to lose so good company; of the which he contented him somewhat better, and passed the thing unto his departing, and then began to say to me that the departing drew nigh, and that he knew well i should be pressed for to marry me, and that i was yet too young for to abide thus; and that the ladies of his country did remarry at fifty and threescore years. 'whereupon i answered that i had never had will so to do, and that i was too much unhappy in husbands; but he would not believe me. and after, by two times, in presence of the personage that ye know, he returned to say the same words, saying more, "i know well, madame, and am sure that my fellow shall be to you a true servant, and that he is altogether yours, but we fear that ye shall not do in likewise, for one shall force you to be again married; and that ye shall not be found out of this country (_i.e._ in this country) at my return." that which i promised to him i should not do; and for that he desired greatly thereof to be more assured, he made me to promise in his hand that howsoever i should be pressed of my father, or otherwise, i should not make alliance of marriage (with) prince of the world, at the least unto his return, or the end of the year. the which i did willingly, for i think not to again never to put me where i have had so much of unhappiness and misfortune. and afterwards made his fellow to do the same, who, as i believe and seemeth me, said of adventure, as his master me showed again, that he should never do thing, were it of marriage, or to take lady nor mistress, without my commandment, but would continue all his life my right humble servant; and that it was to him enough honour, so much honestly, and of so good sort as was possible. and these words were said at tournay in my chamber one night after supper, full late. the other time was at lille, the day before that they should depart, that he spake to me long at the head of a cupboard, he and his fellow, of the departing, which was not without displeasure full great of all persons. and again, after many devises and regrets, he made me to reconfirm in his hand, and the same of his fellow, the like promise aforesaid. and the said personage in my hand, without that i required him, made me the semblable, and that for always he should be to me true and humble servant; and i to him promised to be to him such mistress all my life as to him who me seemed desired to do me most of service. and upon this there was no more words of this affair, nor hath not been since, if not some gracious letters, the which have been (enough or i know) evil kept.' further as to the words. 'and i promise you, my lord the ambassador, that this is the truth, and i know not other thing. i cannot tell if the king, which was "trwcheman" (interpreter), because of the love which he beareth him, might have taken it more forward for to interpret more his desire, but the thing is such, and truth. 'my lord the ambassador, for that it hath been said unto me that he might have showed a ring where there is a diamond of mine, that which i cannot believe, for i esteem him much a man of virtue and wise, but always i will well show you the truth, to the end to answer to all. i take none in this affair to witness but the king and him; and himself first: it is that one night at tournay, being at the banquet, after the banquet he put himself upon his knees before me, and in speaking and him playing, he drew from my finger the ring, and put it upon his, and then showed it me, and i took to laugh, and to him said that he was a thief, and that i thought not that the king had with him led thieves out of his country. this word "laron" he could not understand; wherefore i was constrained for to ask how one said "laron" in flemish. and afterwards i said to him in flemish "dieffe," and i prayed him many times to give it me again, for that it was too much known. but he understood me not well, and kept it unto the next day that i spake to the king, him requiring to make him to give it me, because it was too much known. i promising him one of my bracelets the which i wear, the which i gave him. and then he gave me the said ring, the which one other time at lille, being set nigh to my lady of hornes, and he before upon his knees, it took again from my finger. i spake to the king to have it again, but it was not possible, for he said unto me that he would give me others better, and that i should leave him that. i said unto him that it was not for the value, but for that it was too much known. he would not understand it, and departed from me. 'the morrow after he brought me one fair point of diamonds and a table ruby, and showed me that it was for the other ring; wherefore i durst no more speak of it, if not to beseech him that it should not be showed to any person; the which hath not all been to me done. (thus, my lord the ambassador, see all of this affair, and for to know mine advice upon all, i shall give it you more at length, which is this.) 'that if the things had not been so published, the which i find the most strange of the world, knowing that creature of the world, at the least on my part, could thereof never speak, for that which i had said and done was for not to annoy the king, for i knew well that it came to him of great love for to speak so far forth as of marriage. and of another prince i had not so well taken it as of him, for i hold him all good, and that he thinketh none evil, wherefore i have not willed to displease him. and in this business i have found myself more impeached for to know that which me seemed touched to the king than that which me touched. 'by one bylle (note) i shall put you in writing all the inconveniences which may happen of this thing. also that which seemeth to me for the remedy of it to be done; but, for that i have no leisure, i shall make an end, praying you to do with this that which the bearer shall say you, and no more. i trow that ye know this hand. (thus signed, m.).' the second writing:-- 'my lord the ambassador,--ye may have seen how the things have been, and ye know the unhappy bruit which thereof hath run not only here but on all parts, as well in germany as in all countries. whereof i have found myself so much abashed that i cannot imagine wherefore this thing is said so openly as in the hands of merchant strangers. and for to say you the truth, i have been constrained as well by the counsel of my servants as of the lord berques and others, to make inquiry whereof it came, and as well by information as writings always i have found that it proceeded from england. whereof i have had a marvellous sorrow. and i have letters of the self hand of an english merchant, the which hath been the first that hath made the wagers, as bresylle knoweth well. now, my lord the ambassador, the king, at the request of the said bresylle, and the personage also, have done many things for to remedy to this fortune, wherein i am holden unto them, but yet i see that the bruit is so imprinted in the fantasies of people, and fear if that it continue long, that all that which is done is not enough, for i continue always in fear. and also i know that i may not show towards the personage the weal and honour which i desire to do as before. 'for yet i dare not write unto him when i have anything to do towards the king, nor i dare not only speak of him. and i am constrained to entreat him in all things like a stranger, at the least before folks, the which doth me so much displeasure that i cannot write it, seeing that i take him so much for my good friend and servant; and that i am constrained so to do, and also i see that to this gentleman only which is here i dare not speak or look to him. whereof i am so much displeased that nothing more. he himself perceiveth well that every one beholdeth him of the other side. 'and as to the descent[ ] of the king it shall behove me to speak so soberly as i may me constrain, for it is the thing that i desire as much as his coming. and the same of my lady mary, as god knoweth. the heart me breaketh when it behoveth me to dissemble, not in this but in many others. and it seemeth to me that i may not so well serve the king, being in this fear, as before; so when the king shall descend that i shall be always in this pain, and i feel me i shall not dare speak nor show good semblance to the said personage; whereas i would make to him much honour and good cheer, i shall not dare behold him with a good eye, which displeasure shall be the same to him and to me. and i know no remedy[ ] but the same that bresylle shall show you for to put remedy to all. i would not constrain him to it against his will, but, and he desire ever that i do him honour or pleasure, it is forced that it be so, not for that i have not the good will towards him, such as ever i have had, but for that i am for mine honour constrained so to do. i pray you very much to take pains for to make well to understand to the king and to the personage this thing, to the end that i may do to him better service and to his fellow pleasure. i pray you to do of this as of the other. (likewise signed, m.).' (endorsed, secret matters of the duke of suffolk.) [ ] apparently his landing on the continent. [ ] in the margin is written, 'bresylle said there was no way to avoid the bruit but that my lord should marry the lady lisle, as more at length i have written unto my said lord.' although these interesting letters are so badly transcribed from the original french that their meaning is often obscure, they undoubtedly prove that margaret had fallen desperately in love with the handsome english favourite, who, on his side, appears to have been more or less serious in his flirtation with her. how deep were brandon's feelings for margaret we shall probably never know. it is certain that henry viii. did not look favourably on his suit, and as margaret herself sadly observed to the english ambassador in her letter quoted above: 'i know no remedy (to stop the gossip) but the same that bresylle shall show you,' namely that brandon should look elsewhere for a wife. the rumours and reports concerning margaret and the duke of suffolk reached as far as spain. king ferdinand heard of them, and in july he wrote to luiz caroz de villaragut, his ambassador in england, asking 'if it is true or not that madame margaret is to marry monsieur de lisle (charles brandon)?'[ ] [ ] _calendar of spanish state papers_, vol. ii. but in the midst of all these troubles and anxieties preparations for the first wedding in the little circle at malines turned margaret's thoughts into another channel. on trinity sunday, the th of june , her niece, isabel of austria, was married by proxy to christian ii., king of denmark, who had succeeded to his father's throne the previous year. in a long letter to maximilian margaret gives an interesting account of the wedding:-- 'brussels, _the th of june_. 'monseigneur,--... after the arrival of the danish ambassadors on wednesday last they had their public audience on thursday, and visited monsieur and mesdames and delivered their king's messages with many good words; they then withdrew until friday, when i sent the chancellor of brabant, the president of burgundy, and other deputies to call upon them.... the next day, which was saturday, they expressed a great desire that the marriage should be solemnised on the following day, which was trinity sunday, on which day the king their master held the festival of his anointing and coronation. but, monseigneur, it was very difficult to arrange such a solemn function in so short a time, for it could not be as honourably held as i should have wished, but, anxious to please them and gratify their desires, i agreed that the said ceremony should be held on trinity sunday, which was yesterday, and i did my best to have everything arranged and put in order. the parties assembled on the said day between ten and eleven o'clock, with as much state and honour on our side as was possible, owing to the short notice, in front of the great hall of this house, where monsieur de cambray gave the promises and performed the espousals by word of mouth, as was right between the king of denmark... and madame isabel, my niece, whom it certainly did one good to look at. the said promises given, they went to hear high mass in this hall; and the ambassadors were seated according to their rank, he of spain beside monseigneur, to the great content of all, but those of england were not there because "on ne les scavoit accorder." and when evening came, supper was served and every one sat down in order, and after supper there were dances and tourneys until very late, when they retired to put the bride to bed... as is the custom amongst great princes. thus all was very solemnly and duly accomplished, to the great delight of the said ambassadors, who thanked me very much at their departure; as they had fulfilled their mission they were anxious to hasten their return, and i believe they will guard your honour and that of this house as much as possible....' the next day margaret writes to say that charles danced too much at his sister's wedding, and made himself ill. 'monseigneur,' she says, 'showed himself such a good brother, and carried out everything, even to the dances in which he accompanied the said lady, his sister, to perfection... and a little more perhaps than his constitution could bear, for the day after the said espousals he was attacked by fever....' a fortnight later margaret writes thankfully to tell her father that charles is convalescent. as the princess isabel was barely thirteen, it was arranged that owing to her youth she should remain at home for another year. when the marriage at last took place it was not a happy one, the king being a notorious libertine, who was later known as 'the nero of the north,' and after a few years of misery the poor little princess died, leaving her children to margaret's care. isabel's younger sister, mary, was sent this year on a visit to the court of hungary, possibly with a view to her future marriage. margaret mentions her journey in several letters. in april she wrote from malines: 'touching the departure of madame mary, all is ready; and she will start from here without fail on the nd of may... and will go by grave as you advised.' on the th of may florent of egmond writes to margaret from maestricht: 'madame, madame mary arrived here this evening in very good disposition, without having met any danger on the road to her person or otherwise; to-morrow we pass from here to aix-la-chapelle.' the princess accomplished her journey safely, but her marriage to louis of hungary did not take place until seven years later. in henry viii.'s sister, princess mary, had been betrothed to prince charles of austria, and the marriage contract signed at calais between her father, henry vii.'s, and maximilian's ambassadors. it had been arranged that the betrothal should take place in london before the following easter; but the king of england's illness and the emperor's engagements had delayed the ceremony until the th of december . it was agreed to wait for the completion of the marriage until charles had attained his fourteenth year in february . in the month of october the king and emperor still appeared to be willing to fulfil the contract, and signed a treaty arranging that maximilian and margaret should accompany the archduke charles to calais before the th of may following for the celebration of the marriage. but six months later ferdinand and louis signed another treaty agreeing to marry the archduke to renée, louis xii.'s daughter, who was barely four years old. ferdinand, as charles's maternal grandfather, claimed the right to control the marriage of his grandson and heir. he informed maximilian of the contents of the treaty, but begged him to keep it secret from margaret, as _he_ intended to keep it secret from the english king. margaret, left in ignorance, continued to beg her father to celebrate the archduke's marriage with princess mary, but the emperor always evaded her requests with fresh excuses. she reproached him for his negligence in a letter written in march in which she showed how necessary it was that he should hasten the marriage to secure peace to the austrian dominions, and especially to the netherlands. anne of brittany had been in failing health for some years, and as far back as had had a serious illness which placed her life in danger. de burgo, margaret's ambassador at the french court, in one of his letters to his mistress's secretary says: 'the queen, as i lately informed madame, was nearly well again, but last night she was suddenly attacked with fever and other symptoms so violently that her life was in danger.' later on he wrote that the patient had had such a bad night, she had lost all power of speech, but after having received the last sacraments she gradually became better. anne recovered, and on the th of april de burgo wrote the news of her convalescence. but on the rd of january of the following year jean leveau informed margaret that 'the day before yesterday, which was the st of this month, at three o'clock in the afternoon, the queen was delivered of a still-born son, much to the king's grief, though others take it calmly since god wills it thus.' this was anne's last child. in the following march she again had fever, and did not leave her bed until may. de burgo gave margaret an account of an audience he had with anne on the th of may. 'madame, although the queen is not yet quite well and speaks to no stranger, she was pleased to wish to see me, to hear what the emperor had written to me about some days ago, and that i might take leave of her; i found her in bed, but looking well, and much improved in health.' anne, however, never really recovered, and on january the th, , passed away at blois, leaving the king with only two daughters, claude and renée. ferdinand soon tried to find louis another wife, and proposed that he should marry margaret, who was now thirty-four years old, or her niece eleanor, who was only seventeen. louis chose the latter, and had the marriage articles drawn up. in a long despatch to juan de lanuza, his ambassador in flanders, written in march, king ferdinand says that he hears that madame margaret does not approve of the mission on which quintana (his secretary) was sent to the emperor. quintana was sent to find out the emperor's wishes about concluding a truce with france for one year between austria, england, and spain.... had he believed that madame margaret entertained a different opinion from that of the emperor, he would have consulted her first. not knowing that she would disapprove of the treaty, and considering delay dangerous, he had sent quintana to the emperor, and ordered that as soon as he arrived, luis de gilaberte should go to madame margaret, and inform her of what was going on. as the truce is now signed according to the orders of the emperor, it must be observed....' 'in addition to the commission to conclude a truce with france... the emperor ordered quintana to propose in his name to the king of france a marriage with madame eleanor of austria.... king ferdinand says that he is astonished to hear that madame margaret opposes his plans, as he is only following her father's counsel, and thinks she must be imperfectly informed of the true nature of this affair.... madame margaret, he says, dwells on the great difference of age between the king of france and madame eleanor. lanuza is to tell her that in marriages of great kings difference of age is never taken into account. the king of france has no son and no heir. a son of madame eleanor's would, therefore, be the heir to the throne of france. it would be of incalculable advantage to prince charles if his sister's son were king of france. madame margaret is mistaken if she thinks it a disadvantage that madame eleanor is so thin. thin women generally ... bear more children than stout ones. if the king of france were to marry madame eleanor, austria, france, england, and spain would form but one family, of which the emperor would be the head....' 'ferdinand hopes that margaret will not dissuade the emperor and the king of england from ratifying the truce with france, and wishes that the marriages (prince charles's and his sister eleanor's) might be concluded in her presence and under her guidance. he goes on to say that madame margaret is a very pious and virtuous lady, and he expects that she will act like a good christian, and prefer peace rather than war and bloodshed.... should it be necessary, he must speak with madame margaret's confessor in secret, and ask him to use his influence with her....' ferdinand ends the despatch by saying that 'he hopes margaret will help him to secure incalculably great advantages to the emperor, himself, and to prince charles.' in the same month king ferdinand wrote a most affectionate letter to margaret evidently in the hopes of winning her consent to his wishes by flattering speeches. the letter is addressed to his 'beloved daughter,' and begins by thanking her for all the great services she has rendered to himself as well as to 'his brothers, the emperor and the king of england, and to his son, the prince (charles).' 'she is,' he says, 'the most important person in christendom, since she acts as mediator in almost all the negotiations between the princes of christendom.' in another letter to lanuza a few days later, ferdinand is still anxious lest margaret should oppose the truce with france, and observes that 'madame margaret is the person on whom, more than any one else on earth, peace or war depends, and beseeches that she may use her influence in favour of peace.' king ferdinand tells lanuza in confidence that he believes margaret wishes to marry the french king herself, and that if this is the case, ferdinand would not oppose it; but the king of france is anxious to marry again because he hopes for a son and heir, and he does not wish to marry margaret because he fears that she would not bear him children....[ ] [ ] _calendar of spanish state papers_, vol. ii. whilst these negotiations were under discussion, henry viii. was contemplating marrying his sister mary to louis xii., in order to prevent the french king's marriage with eleanor of austria. it was now in the king of england's interest to be on good terms with france, as he was deserted by those who had formerly sided with him against her. full powers for princess mary's marriage with louis xii. were sent to france on the th of july. the next day mary solemnly renounced the promises made in her name with reference to her marriage with the archduke charles, and on the th of august the marriage contract with louis was signed in london by the ambassadors, without margaret having any suspicion of the truth. when at last she heard rumours of the anglo-french marriage, she did not believe them, and even ordered jacques de thienne, lord of castres, to tell the king of england that she had never believed the report to be true. de castres only started on his mission in the middle of august, and the marriage treaty had been signed since the th of the same month, and mary had married the prisoner duke of longueville[ ] by proxy at greenwich on the th. [ ] the duke of longueville had been a prisoner in england since the battle of guinegate. this public ceremony at last convinced margaret of the unwelcome fact that her nephew had been thrown over. she bitterly complained of king henry's want of good faith, and threatened to publish the promise he had given in writing to marry his sister to the archduke charles. before louis xii. married the eighteen-year-old mary tudor he sent his first painter, jean de paris, to london to paint her portrait and plan her trousseau. accompanied by king henry, queen katharine, and a great retinue of nobles as far as dover, the bride set sail for france, escorted by the duke of suffolk. amongst her ladies we find the names of the ladies grey and anne boleyn. gorgeous pageants greeted princess mary; king louis went himself in state to receive her at calais, accompanied by the duke of valois and margaret of angoulême, and loaded her with presents and costly jewels. the wedding took place at abbeville on the th of october. with reference to this marriage, louise of savoy, whose son, the duke of valois, was heir-presumptive to the throne, made the following spiteful entries in her diary: 'le nd septembre , le roi louis xii., fort antique et débile sortit de paris, pour aller au devant de sa jeune femme, la reine marie.' 'le octobre , furent les amoureuses noces de louis xii., roi de france, et de marie d'angleterre; et furent épousés a dix heures du matin.' on the th of november the new queen was crowned at st. denis, and during the ceremony francis, duke of valois, held the crown above her head.[ ] [ ] 'francis of valois and the duke of suffolk were amongst mary's devoted admirers, but it was noticed that she showed a marked preference for the handsome english duke. francis gaily entered into a negotiation with suffolk, and promised in case of mary's widowhood that he should have the queen _en noces officielles_. after louis xii.'s death francis kept his promise, and authorised suffolk to marry mary with permission that she should retain the title of queen and her dowry.'--r. de maulde la clavière. henry viii., in writing to thank louis for a richly caparisoned spanish genet which he had sent as a present, expressed his hopes that mary's lively disposition might not harm conjugal peace. but louis was quite fascinated by his youthful bride, and for her sake changed all his habits, and breakfasted at noon instead of eight in the morning, and went to bed at midnight instead of six, and soon ended by falling seriously ill. his wife amused him whilst he lay in bed by singing romances to her guitar; but three months after their marriage the worn-out old king of fifty-two died during a terrific storm which raged throughout new year's night, . only a few faithful friends were with him at the last, and when next day mary was informed of her loss she fainted, and with every sign of becoming grief shut herself up according to the custom of royal widows for six weeks in a darkened room. towards the month of march an english embassy was sent to france, headed by the duke of suffolk, to bring back the queen-dowager of france to england. margaret writes to her father: 'monseigneur, i have received your three letters of the th instant... and in reply i write to inform you that the king of england has despatched a large embassy to the king of france, in charge of the duke of suffolk, who i hear is sent to bring back the queen-dowager.... as for the ambassadors who are to go to england with the bishop of brixen, i have communicated that part of your letters to the lord of chièvres, as head of the finances and government of monseigneur, who replied that the various personages were ready, but that the difficulty was finding money to provide them suitably. and i think, monseigneur, he speaks the truth,' but, she adds sadly, 'i can do no more, for _now i do not meddle_ in any business.' after this date margaret's letters to her father become much less frequent. soon after any dreams that she may have indulged in of a fourth and handsome husband in the person of charles brandon, duke of suffolk, were finally dissipated by his marriage with the young queen-dowager of france.[ ] mary tudor was eighteen years younger than margaret, and was considered one of the most beautiful princesses in europe. these facts may account for charles brandon's preference. at any rate, after this episode margaret remained a widow to the end of her life, and although the manuscripts in the british museum abound with her letters to henry viii., wolsey, and others on grave political affairs, they probably comprise no more than those already quoted that have so direct a reference to the affairs of her heart.[ ] [ ] lady jane grey was the granddaughter of charles brandon and mary tudor, whose eldest daughter frances married henry grey, marquis of dorset. [ ] she was accustomed to address cardinal wolsey as 'votre bonne mère marguerite,' and even wrote in the superscriptions of her letters, 'à monsr. le légat d'angleterre, mon bon fils.' chapter ix charles declared of age soon after midnight on the nd of january francis, duke of valois, was aroused by an excited crowd rushing into his chamber and hailing him king of france. 'may you have a happy new year!' cried his friend fleurange, 'les belles étrennes!' the new king was in his twenty-first year, and in may had married louis xii.'s eldest daughter claude, thus securing brittany to the french crown. young, brave, and handsome, with fascinating manners, passionately fond of beauty in every form, he was undoubtedly the most accomplished 'chevalier' in the kingdom, but his love of pleasure and extravagance were carried to excess, and marred the brilliancy of his many good qualities. 'this big boy will spoil everything,' louis xii. had predicted, more struck by his son-in-law's failings than by his virtues. on the th of february francis made his state entry into paris, and at the banquet given the same evening, the flemish ambassadors were present, having been previously received in audience by queen claude. mercurin de gattinare wrote to margaret from paris giving her an account of their reception. 'queen claude,' he says, 'is very small and extraordinarily fat, but her graceful way of talking makes amends for her lack of beauty.' when the ambassadors were presented to her, 'she kissed monsieur de nassou, but gave her hand to monsieur de saint-py and all of us.' francis i. found his kingdom prepared for war. from the time of his accession he dreamed of winning glory in italy, and reconquering the duchy of milan. as soon as he had made the necessary preparations he entered on the campaign; and in august led a brilliant army of , men and , horse across the alps by narrow, unfrequented roads over the col d'argentière, entering italy by the valley of the stura, thus avoiding the passes guarded by the swiss, and finally taking up a strong position to the south-east of milan, near marignano. against him were the emperor, king ferdinand, and the swiss cantons, venice being his only ally. fifteen thousand venetians under alviano advanced by forced marches to help him, and had reached lodi, four miles distant. milan itself was occupied by , swiss, who were resolved to prevent the junction of the two armies, and attack the french in their own trenches. they opened fire late on the afternoon of september th, and all that evening until it grew pitch dark the battle raged. when morning dawned the two armies were still facing each other, and with the first rays of the sun the battle continued with renewed vigour until ten o'clock, when, at sight of the venetian advance-guard led by alviano, the swiss began to waver, and hastily retreating to milan, left the french masters of the field. marshal trivulzio, who had been present at eighteen battles, declared that all the others were child's play when compared to marignano, which was 'a battle of giants.' after the victory francis wished to be knighted by bayard, who, though only a lieutenant, had so distinguished himself that the whole army looked upon him as a perfect model of a christian soldier, and gave him the name of 'le chevalier sans peur et sans reproche.' maximilian, writing to margaret from innsbrück, thus describes the battle of marignano:-- 'very dear and much-loved daughter,--we have had news that on the th of this month[ ] (september), the french being quartered about two leagues from germany, near milan, they set out and appeared before the said town. wherefore the swiss who were in the town of milan, having quitted the flat country, being informed of this fact, left the town about twenty thousand strong and marched against the french, and about four o'clock in the afternoon of the same day, the swiss and french began to fight each other, more by way of skirmishing than giving battle, for there were so many ditches that the french men-at-arms on horseback could not help their foot-soldiers, and fought so long that night surprised them; and all that night the said swiss and french remained on the field of battle, without attacking each other until the morrow, the th of the month, when they renewed the battle, which lasted quite three hours, after which fight about three thousand of the said landsknechts (foot-soldiers) and as many or more swiss were left dead upon the field. and because there was mutiny and division amongst the said swiss, through some of their people making peace with the french and refusing to fight, they retreated some to milan and others to como, without either party pursuing or trying to fight the other. and because they could not subdue the mutiny, the day after they left the above-mentioned places and returned to their own country....' [ ] maximilian, writing on the th october, makes a mistake in the date. the battle began on september th. after the battle maximilian sforza, duke of milan, yielded his rights to the conqueror and accepted a pension of , crowns. before the year was out, francis i. and the pope met at bologna and arranged a peace which was signed at fribourg and called 'la paix perpétuelle.' in the lull that followed the battle of marignano maximilian found time to turn his attention to the interesting occupation of planning marriages for his grandchildren. his court has been called a sort of matrimonial agency, and his letters to margaret abound in projects and schemes for grand alliances for his granddaughters. in the spring of he had met the kings of poland and hungary at vienna. vladislav ii., king of hungary, had a son louis, whose marriage was now arranged with mary of austria, whilst his daughter anna was betrothed to ferdinand of austria, maximilian's youngest grandson. it was hoped that this double marriage would secure the kingdom of hungary to the house of hapsburg, besides carrying out the original treaty of between the emperor frederick iii. and king mathias. in one of his letters to margaret, maximilian reminds her of his remark that, in order to find a husband for the 'lady léonora,' his eldest granddaughter, he must wait for the decease of one of the three principal queens of europe, either of france, england, or poland. he now writes to say that the queen of poland is dead, and it has been suggested to him that the widowed king is thinking of léonora, and he would like to know his granddaughter's wishes on the subject. 'as to our opinion,' he says, 'we are willing that the said marriage should take place; for the said king of poland is a handsome person, somewhat fat, anyhow he will never be fatter; with a white face and body and very white hands, the height of seigneur de berges at the age of twenty, with a handsomer face than monsieur de berges has, for his face is open and very honest.... he keeps great state, is beloved by his subjects and by all those with whom he comes in contact, of whom i am one, and also my whole house. he is, as he told me with his own mouth, which is beautiful and red, forty-six or forty-seven years old, his hair is already a little grey; his kingdom, two hundred miles from germany, large, warlike, and can raise a hundred thousand fighting-men.... the king and all his court speak german and latin as well as their native language....' margaret replied that in accordance with maximilian's wishes she had spoken to léonora about the projected marriage with the king of poland. 'i spoke to her,' she says, 'on my own account, telling her of the virtues and beauty of the said king's person, with the greatness of his kingdom, and all that there was to be said on the subject; she listened to me willingly, very gently, and rather timidly, and after several subtle devices, i could only draw from her the words that....' (here the letter tantalisingly breaks off.) sigismond i., king of poland, of whom the emperor draws so attractive a portrait, was in truth a very accomplished prince--but he did not marry eleanor of austria, and eventually became the husband of bona, the daughter of galeazzo sforza, duke of milan. the archduke charles was now fifteen, and maximilian declared him of age and handed over to him the reins of government of the netherlands. he was inaugurated duke of brabant in february , count of flanders in april, and successively took possession of holland and zealand, leeuward, harlingen, and franicker. charles's letter to the president and councillors of flanders announcing his emancipation has been preserved:-- 'very dear and well beloved,--it has pleased the emperor, my lord and grandfather, to emancipate us and free us from his guardianship and regency, placing the government of our country and lordships... in our hands, and consenting that we be received and sworn to the principality and lordship of the same.... therefore it is fit and reasonable that all things which concern our rights, greatness, lordship, and even the doing of justice and our other affairs, should be conducted henceforth in our name and under our title. for this cause we write to you; we require and command that all letters, acts, and other things which will be done and expedited towards you for our aforesaid affairs, shall be drawn up and despatched under our aforesaid name and title, placing at the end of the letters: given under the seal which the emperor, my lord and grandfather, and we have used during the time of our minority.... 'charles ( )' in addressing the deputies from the states-general charles made the following speech: 'gentlemen, i thank you for the honour and great affection you bear me. be good and loyal subjects, and i will be your good prince.' margaret does not appear to have been consulted about charles's emancipation until it was an accomplished fact, and we can well understand that, accustomed as she had been to exercise sovereign power for eight years, she felt some secret anxiety in seeing this power taken from her. monsieur de croy, seigneur de chièvres, had always opposed the princess's administration, and was anxious to exclude her from the government; it was therefore an added blow to know that he would now, as charles's counsellor, be in a position to deprive her of her nephew's confidence. margaret no longer presided at the state council, and was only appealed to as a matter of form. the emperor's letters were not communicated to her, and she even heard rumours that she was accused of personal avarice and of having been unsuccessful in her rule. she keenly resented these accusations and complained to her father, and also addressed a memorandum to her nephew containing a sketch of her government, and accounts, with a full list of the gifts and payments made out of her private income. maximilian replied that he has written to charles, and encloses a copy of the letter, in which he says: 'we make no doubt, because of the honour and love you owe to our very dear daughter, your aunt, that you communicate your chief and most arduous business to her, and that you take and use her good advice and counsel, from which, for natural reasons, you will always find more comfort, help, and support than from any other. in which, as a royal father, we exhort you always to continue, begging you affectionately to remember the way she laboured during your minority in the administration of your country... and also that you are her whole heart, hope, and heir,--that you will give her a good allowance, such as she has had until now... for she has well deserved it from you.' on august the th, , margaret presented a memorandum to her nephew before the assembled council containing a justification of her government, which began thus: 'monseigneur, as i evidently perceive, after having had such long patience, that by divers means they try to give you suspicions of me, your humble aunt, to withdraw me from your goodwill and confidence, which would indeed be a poor recompense for the services which i have rendered you until now, i am constrained to excuse myself....' she bitterly complains of the way she has been put aside, and protests against the calumnies brought against her. to justify her conduct, she recalls her services during charles's minority, and firmly maintains that she always acted uprightly and loyally without any profit to herself, serving the prince from love, without any thought of gain. if any error should be found in the detailed account presented to the council, she requests that it may be pointed out to her before the prince, so that she can answer it herself, for 'i prefer,' she says, 'that they should speak before me, than behind my back.' she then relates all the principal acts of her government, from the time the emperor first confided the regency to her care, and recalls her long struggles with the duke of gueldres, who, aided and abetted by the king of france, broke all treaties, and feared neither god nor man; and recounts the part she played in the alliance with england, and also at the treaty of cambray, which was only brought to a successful issue after much pain and trouble. she indignantly denies that she has been the cause of renewed wars with gueldres, for far from seeking war, she has ever striven for peace. 'and what has been the reward of all this service and sacrifice?' from the time of her appointment as regent she has given her time and money for her nephew's service, without touching a 'denier,' and spent more than three thousand florins from her own income. the prince's proposed emancipation was kept from her, though had her advice been asked she would not have opposed it; her opinion was no longer asked, and through calumnious imputations it was tried to injure her with her nephew. the payment of her pension was purposely delayed, though every nobleman could count on receiving the allowance due to him. 'if mine is larger,' she adds, addressing herself to her nephew, 'i am also your only aunt, and have no other son nor heir but you, and i know of no one to whom your honour is dearer than to me. you can rest assured, monseigneur, that when it pleases you to make use of my services, and hold and treat me with the esteem which is reasonable, i will serve you well and loyally, not sparing my person or my goods, as i have done heretofore. but if you are pleased to give ear to what they tell you against me, and allow me to be treated as i see they have begun to do, i would much rather look after my own small affairs and gracefully retire, as i have already begged the emperor to allow me to do by my secretary, marnix, when he was lately with him.' after the young prince had listened to this eloquent justification, he declared, and the chancellor agreed, 'that madame was held fully discharged from all things, with many other fine words and promises.' on the back of the paper is a note containing the names of the councillors present when charles received the document, and at the end is a full account of the money received at different times from the flemish states, and an appendix showing the various gifts from margaret's own collection of treasures which she gave for the service of her government during her regency. peace was once more restored, and we hear of margaret accompanying charles at the various festivities which marked his majority. the following extract is from margaret's memorandum of gifts and sacrifices made by her during regency:-- ' . to the duke of juliers, who had accompanied her on her return from germany, a large silver-gilt goblet, weighing sixteen marks, which had been given to her by the town of antwerp. ' . to the controller of calais, who had come on an embassy from the king of england, half-a-dozen cups, two jugs, and two flagons, all of silver, weighing together fifty-five marks. ' . to the english ambassadors who came to treat about the marriage between her and the late king henry vii., and who were afterwards sent to take part in the peace of cambray, viz., to the count of surrey a golden goblet out of which madame drank every day, weighing three hundred golden crowns; to richard wingfield, second ambassador, twenty yards of velvet, twenty yards of satin, and twenty yards of damask; to the third ambassador... twenty yards of velvet and twenty yards of damask; and to their herald, twenty yards of damask. ' . to monseigneur the legate at the treaty of cambray, by the advice of the council, a very beautiful golden goblet, weighing nearly six hundred crowns, with a cover ornamented with large pearls, forming five trefoils of five pearls each, and between each trefoil a very fine balass ruby, each of the five table rubies valued at more than three hundred and fifty golden florins. the foot of the goblet had also five trefoils of medium-sized pearls and five balass rubies.' in short, this cup, surmounted by a great and beautiful emerald, was valued at more than four thousand golden florins. the cardinal d'amboise thought it so exquisite and beautiful that he considered he ought to present it to king louis xii. ' . to the bishop of paris, being an ecclesiastic, was given a beautiful and rich book of hours, which had been bought from maillardet for the sum of four hundred golden crowns. it was ornamented with gold; and on both covers were two superb table diamonds, and to mark the place a large balass ruby, set clear, which was valued at more than a thousand florins, and to which were attached twenty-five silken cords, each one finished with a pearl. ' . to the count of carpi, two large and rich silver flagons, which madame had brought from spain, each weighing twenty-two marks, of good workmanship. ' . to the heralds, ushers, and other members of the french embassy, from four to five hundred gold crowns. "all given in order the better to nourish peace and love between france and this house, as the affairs of monsieur require it." other ambassadors, officers, and gentlemen received various gifts and presents to the amount of five thousand florins. 'item.--madame has lent her money for state affairs, and has greatly reduced the expenses of her own household.... for three years, far from having a pension for her services, she spent her dowry as long as it lasted. it will also be found that during her government she never gave any gratuities to her dependants from the finances of monsieur.' this document, corrected in the margin by margaret, is found in duplicate in the archives of lille. * * * * * magnificent fêtes everywhere inaugurated charles's coming of age. the pope presented him with the golden rose; and maximilian, writing to margaret on the th of december, hopes that she will see that the pope's ambassador, who brought the gift, is well received by charles, and orders that a sum of £ be given to him. m. tailliar gives an interesting account of the young archduke's state entry into douay, accompanied by margaret: 'on the th of may charles, king of spain and count of flanders, having made his joyous entry into douay, went next day, the th, to the market-hall to receive the oaths of fealty. the square in front of the hall was richly hung with velvet and cloth of gold. after hearing mass, the king appeared, accompanied by his aunt, madame margaret of austria, and by his eldest sister, madame. he took the oath in the prescribed manner, and likewise all those present swore fealty to him.' king ferdinand of aragon had died on the rd of january . by his will, charles was excluded from the kingdom of aragon, which was left to his younger brother, ferdinand, who had been the old king's favourite; but in his last moments, repenting perhaps of this unjust arrangement, he made a codicil, in which he not only left charles heir to all his estates, but also made him grand master of the military orders, leaving ferdinand with a pension of , ducats a year. although queen joanna was still alive, charles assumed the title of king, and was first proclaimed sovereign of castile and aragon, conjointly with his mother, at brussels, where ferdinand's funeral obsequies were celebrated in the cathedral of st. gudule. 'twice the king-at-arms of the golden fleece called aloud, "don ferdinand." twice the answer came, "he is dead," and on this the great standard clattered to the ground. then cried the herald, "long live donna jehanne and don charles, by the grace of god catholic kings," whereon charles, doffing his mourning, received and brandished the sword of justice.'[ ] [ ] armstrong, _the emperor charles v._ in spain this assumption of the royal title was regarded as a breach of custom, and caused comment and discontent. nevertheless cardinal ximenes had his young master proclaimed in castile. the regency of castile had been intrusted to him by ferdinand until charles's arrival, and that of aragon to the late king's natural son, the archbishop of saragossa. before charles succeeded to his spanish kingdoms, his sister mary had already left home for her short, though comparatively happy, marriage with the ill-fated louis of hungary, while isabella had begun her miserable life with the brutal and licentious christian ii. of denmark. his brother ferdinand and his youngest sister katharine were being brought up in spain. only charles's eldest sister eleanor remained at brussels. about this time she seems to have had a rather serious flirtation with the handsome count palatine frederick, who was the most accomplished nobleman of the court, and though seventeen years his senior, charles's earliest personal friend. the affection between the count and eleanor was mutual, and led to clandestine correspondence. chièvres set charles on the track of one of the count's love-letters. pretending to wish his sister good-morning, he snatched it from her bosom before she had time to read it, and after a brief scrimmage secured the prize. 'upon this his constancy into a like affair,' wrote spinelli to henry viii., 'many do conject in him good stomak and couraggy, and how he will be fast in his determjnacions, and much extime the honnor of the worlde.' this singularly sound forecast of the character of the hitherto problematic boy of sixteen gives, perhaps, the first glimpse of his personality.[ ] [ ] e. armstrong. educated by the courtly william de croy, lord of chièvres, with adrian of utrecht as preceptor, charles developed manners and characteristics, half patrician, half plebeian, which was probably due to his tutors' opposite influences. de croy's courteous manners gave him a stately bearing, reserve, and dignity which subsequently attached him to the spaniards; while from adrian he acquired the popular, easy-going and simple ways which made him so beloved by his flemish subjects. [illustration: charles v from the painting in the louvre (flemish school)] his intellectual faculties did not develop early--he even showed marked aversion for science and letters, and preferred military exercises to the study of government. de chièvres, however, made him study the history not only of his own kingdoms, but of those with which they were connected. he accustomed him, from the time of his assuming the government of flanders, to attend to business, and persuaded him to read all papers relating to public affairs, to be present at the deliberations of his privy-councillors, and to propose to them himself those matters concerning which he required their opinion. from such an education charles contracted habits of gravity and recollection which scarcely suited his youth. the first openings of his genius did not show that superiority which its maturer age displayed.[ ] [ ] prescott. the french envoy once expressed surprise at charles's diligence before de chièvres, who replied: 'my friend, i am his tutor and master. when i die, i want him to be free, for if he does not understand his own affairs, after my death he will be obliged to have another tutor, and will always have to lean on others.' charles did not hurry at once to enter into his new possessions. he remained in flanders until the repeated entreaties of ximenes, and the advice of his grandfather, maximilian, at last prevailed on him to embark for spain. before he set out he confirmed margaret in the government of the netherlands, and appointed a council to assist her. accompanied by his sister eleanor, de chièvres, his prime minister, and a splendid train of flemish nobles, he set sail from flushing on september the th, and after a dangerous voyage, landed at villa viciosa, in the province of asturias. for six weeks charles wandered through the wild mountainous country without entering any large town. on the last day of october the constable of castile met him, and soon the spanish nobility flocked to greet their sovereign from all parts of the kingdom. but before charles would show himself to his people he visited his mother and his youngest sister katharine at tordesillas. queen joanna was surprised to find charles and eleanor grown up, and asked if they were really her children. a little later charles tried to remove his young sister katharine from her gloomy surroundings, but her secret abstraction caused her mother such grief that she had to be restored. about this time maximilian wrote to margaret, sending advice to charles, and begging her to continue to help him: 'my good daughter, thinking day and night about the affairs of my heirs, i have decided, chiefly for the good and honour of my son, king charles, to write to my deputies who are with him, certain things concerning their good and that of their subjects. knowing that you will be required by my said son to accomplish an honourable charge, we desire and we require that you should fulfil it; in so doing you will do a thing very pleasant and honourable to yourself, as you will more clearly understand from our deputies, messieurs andré de burgo and nycasy. and so 'a. diu.' written on the nd of march by the hand of your good and loyal father, maxi.' charles's arrival in spain caused great excitement among high and low, and every one was speculating about his appearance, character, and accomplishments. the bishop of badajoz sent the following interesting, though somewhat exaggerated, description of the new king and his surroundings to cardinal ximenes: 'the prince,' he says, 'has good parts, but he has been kept too much isolated from the world, and, in particular, he knows too little of spaniards. he does not understand a single word of spanish. he obeys his councillors implicitly; but, as he has entered the seventeenth year of his age, it would be well if he took part in the discussions of his council. 'monsieur de chièvres is the most influential person in the prince's court; he is prudent and gentle, but avaricious. the same may be said of the chancellor of burgundy. on the whole, love of money is the besetting sin of the flemings. they buy and sell the government offices, and it is to be feared that they will introduce the same custom into spain.... monsieur de chièvres is a frenchman by birth, and keeps the prince very much under subjection to the king of france. the prince signs his letters to the king of france, "your humble servant and vassal,"... and though he signs himself to others "principe," he likes to be called king....' cardinal ximenes' health was now rapidly declining. when the news of charles's arrival in spain had been brought to him he revived a little, and sent the young king letters of welcome, filled with good advice as to the best way of securing his people's affection. charles answered in the most deferential manner, but his belgian ministers, fearing that the cardinal would exercise too much influence over him, prevented their meeting by keeping the king in the north, and estranging him from ximenes. through their advice charles wrote to the cardinal in a very different strain, depriving him not only of the regency but of all share in state affairs. when the letter was brought to ximenes at roa he was dangerously ill. adrian de burgo was with him, but feared to tell him of the royal command, and the great cardinal, who had preserved the kingdom of castile intact for his master, passed away without the knowledge of charles's ingratitude. he died on the th of november in the eighty-third year of his age. de chièvres had now no rival, and hoped to be as powerful in spain as he was in the netherlands. chapter x death of maximilian on the th of november , ten days after ximenes' death, charles, accompanied by a gorgeous train of nobles, ambassadors, and the flower of the spanish army, made his state entry into valladolid, the capital of old castile. the splendid procession slowly wound its way through the narrow streets of the town. first came thirty falconers, with birds on wrist, some wearing the king's livery of white, yellow, and red, others the red and green of ferdinand, then two hundred of the royal guard, a contingent of spanish lancers, with the nobles' drum and fife bands, followed by twenty led chargers from the king's stables. behind rode three hundred spanish and flemish nobles, then two hundred men-at-arms, with foreign ambassadors and heralds; and lastly charles appeared, a truly regal figure in surcoat of crimson silk and gold brocade over his steel armour, seated on a prancing horse, 'with the majority of its legs always in the air,' but, as an eye-witness observed, the king no more stirred nor swayed than if he had been glued thereon.'[ ] [ ] e. armstrong, _the emperor charles v._ fêtes and tournaments followed, and the people flocked from far and near to see their king; but beneath the rejoicings there were murmurs and discontent, for the chief posts were given to flemings, to the exclusion of spaniards, who naturally felt themselves slighted, and the clergy, to show their annoyance, rudely refused to quarter the royal suite. jean le sauvage, grand chancellor of burgundy, was made chancellor of castile, and to de chièvres' young nephew, a mere boy, was given the archbishopric of toledo, the wealthiest see in spain. amidst general discontent the cortes opened on february nd, . the town deputies began by objecting to the new chancellor presiding over their first meeting. after some stormy debates, the oath of allegiance was taken to charles and his mother conjointly, but it was appointed that joanna's name should be placed before that of her son in all public acts. a generous subsidy of six hundred thousand ducats was voted for three years. charles was petitioned to marry at once, and to keep his brother in spain until there was a direct heir to the throne. to these requests he gave evasive answers, but when implored to learn spanish, he replied that he had already begun to study the language. as a matter of fact he only knew a few words, and his answers were extremely abrupt and hesitating. an italian envoy who was present remarked: 'he says little, is not of much ability, and is entirely ruled by his flemish governors'; whilst the marquis of pescara, who became one of his greatest generals, reported that in three audiences he had not said three words. but the young monarch was only biding his time, and was soon to prove that he was not such a cipher as he allowed himself to appear.[ ] [ ] e. armstrong. when charles became king, his ministers were anxious to bring about a reaction against maximilian and margaret's hostile attitude towards france, and for this end charles hastened to inform francis i. of his accession. the french king replied by sending the sire de la roche with his affectionate congratulations, and expressed the hope that their friendship would become still closer. in an enthusiastic letter to francis, charles said: 'monseigneur, in order to continue the fervent love i bear you, i wished as a good son to a good father, to inform you of my prosperous accession here, which is such, that in giving thanks to our creator, who directs all things, yesterday, after mass was solemnly celebrated in the temple of our said creator, accompanied by many ambassadors, yours amongst them, i was splendidly well received, and unanimously acknowledged lord and king of these my realms of castile, leon, granada, and their dependencies, by the prelates, nobles, and representatives of the said kingdoms, with such great reverence and goodwill that... nothing could be better....'[ ] but charles had a long progress in front of him, and soon after left castile and set out for saragossa, the capital of aragon, in order to attend the cortes of that kingdom. on his way there he took leave of his brother ferdinand, whom he sent to germany on the pretext of visiting maximilian. this prudent but unpopular manoeuvre probably saved charles his spanish dominions, for in the struggle that followed with the cortes of aragon the spaniards would willingly have offered the crown to the younger brother, who had been brought up amongst them, and who was a favourite with all the people. [ ] _analectes belgiques de m. gachard._ all this time margaret was anxiously following every movement of her beloved nephew, and was kept well informed of his reception and progress. in one of her letters to maximilian she says: 'yesterday i received letters from the king, my lord and nephew, who is very well, and behaves himself so wisely and discreetly, that it is to his great honour and profit. he is, i understand, thinking of sending his brother over here about the month of april, which i much desire.' on july the th, , charles issued an edict from saragossa authorising his aunt to sign all documents in his name, giving her full power as though she was ruler, and causing the following announcement to be published in the netherlands:--'by our letters-patent given in our town of saragossa, on the th day of july last, and for the things contained therein, we have ordained that our very dear lady and aunt, the lady margaret, archduchess of austria, dowager of savoy, etc., shall sign from henceforth all letters, acts, and documents with her own hand, which are issued for us, and for our business over there, which ought to be sealed with our seal. signing with these words: 'par le roy. marguerite'; that she shall have the care of the seal of our finances, and that she _alone_ shall provide and dispose of the appointments of this our country, for we have given and left the disposal of them to her, assisted by the chief and other members of our privy council....'[ ] [ ] _correspondance de marguerite d'autriche._ maximilian was delighted when he heard of charles's renewed confidence in his aunt, and wrote to margaret expressing his pleasure in the following letter, which was one of the last he was destined to write to her:--'very dear and much-beloved daughter, we have received your letters of the th of october, and hear through them of the honour and authority that our good son, the catholic king, has lately bestowed upon you, which gives us great pleasure, and we have good hope that you will so acquit yourself to the wellbeing, guidance, and direction of his affairs, that he may not only have cause to be pleased, but as your good nephew he will increase your said authority more and more. in doing which he could do nothing more pleasing to us. this god knows, and may he, very dear and much-beloved daughter, have you in his keeping. written from our town of wels, the th day of december, in the year . your good father, maxi.'[ ] [ ] _correspondance de l'empereur maximilien i._ this same year margaret's eldest niece, eleanor, was married to emmanuel, king of portugal, who had previously married first isabel and then maria, both daughters of ferdinand and isabella. her elderly husband did not long survive his third marriage, but died in , and was succeeded by john iii., who, in the following year, married eleanor's youngest sister, katharine. since the summer maximilian's health had gradually been declining. in july he presided for the last time at the diet of augsburg, and earnestly pressed for the fulfilment of his two dearest wishes--the fitting out of a crusade against the turks, and the elector's promise to secure the succession to the imperial crown for his grandson, charles. to this latter request there existed the obstacle, that as he himself had never been crowned by the pope, he was only regarded by the roman see as king of the romans, and therefore charles could not be invested with that dignity. maximilian, however, spared no means to gain his ends, and bribed heavily wherever he thought it advisable. charles appears to have objected to the exorbitant price that was put upon the imperial crown, knowing well that he would one day have to raise the promised sums from his resources in spain, but his grandfather and margaret, with their councillors, overruled his objections, and strongly advised him not to bargain for fear of the french king profiting by his stinginess. in an enigmatical letter margaret thus expresses herself:--'the lord king, my nephew, has written to us that the horse on which he wishes to come and see us is very dear. we know well that it is dear; but as matters stand, if he does not wish to have it, there is a buyer ready to take it, and, since he has broken it in, it seems a pity that he should give it up, whatever it costs him.'[ ] whilst maximilian was engaged in taking measures to obtain his desires, the elector's attention was fully occupied by formidable religious troubles. the monk, martin luther, had arisen and vehemently declaimed against certain practices of the church of rome, and a spirit of revolt and restlessness was in the air. maximilian does not appear to have been greatly interested in the commencement of the reformation. although in his letters to margaret he often satirically complained of 'les beaux pratikes de la sainte mère de l'Église,' still he was far from upholding any schism in the church, and urged on by the solicitations of the monks, he wrote to leo x. asking him to determine the religious disputes by his decision, and summoned luther to appear with a safe conduct before the diet of augsburg to answer for his attack on the system of indulgences. luther arrived too late for the assembly, and the emperor never saw him, but at the subsequent interview that took place before the cardinal legate the monk was told he must either recant his heresies or depart. he refused to recant, and departed to wittenberg, there to write and publish an account of his interview, which was read far and wide, and helped to further the spirit of schism and revolt. [ ] gachard, _rapport sur les archives de l'ancienne chambre des comptes de flandre à lille_. after a summer spent at innsbrück, where he was attacked by an intermittent fever, the emperor travelled to wels, in upper austria, hoping that the pure country air would restore his health. but the fever continued, aggravated, it is said, by too violent exercise, and an imprudent indulgence in melons. soon dysentery supervened, and on the th of january he passed away in the sixtieth year of his age. as long as he had been able to do so, maximilian bravely attended to public business, but racked with fever at night, and unable to sleep, he tried to soothe his weariness by having the history of the house of austria and legends of the saints related to his house read aloud to him. feeling that his end was near, he asked for a carthusian monk from brisgau. when the monk entered his room the emperor sat up and received him with every sign of joy, and turning to the officers standing round his bed he said: 'this is the man who will show me the way to heaven.' with an untroubled mind, and every semblance of piety, he received the last sacraments, and gave minute directions as to his burial, which he wished to be as simple as possible. to show the emptiness of human greatness he ordered that after death his teeth should be drawn, his body polled and shaved (_rasé et épilé_), and exposed for a whole day, then enclosed in a sack of quicklime and placed in a coffin which he had carried about with him since , and buried in the church of the castle of nieustad under the altar dedicated to saint george, in such a position that his head should be under the feet of the celebrant. his heart he wished to be buried at bruges, near his first wife, mary of burgundy, 'sa réelle épouse.' having thus made all arrangements, he took leave of those present, raising his hand and giving them his blessing. 'why do you weep,' he asked, 'because you see in me a mortal? such tears suit women better than men.' and thus calmly and fearlessly maximilian faced death, reverently responding to the monk's prayers until his voice failed; but when he could no longer utter, still showed by signs that he followed the holy office, until sinking into unconsciousness, with a smile upon his face, he passed away before the dawn. [illustration: the emperor maximilian i and his family from the painting by bernhard strigel in the imperial museum, vienna] maximilian was twice married; first, to mary of burgundy, through whom he became possessed of the vast domains of that house; and secondly, to bianca sforza, daughter of the duke of milan, by whom he had no children. of a kindly and chivalrous nature and endowed with many good qualities, maximilian was popular amongst his subjects, but obtained little esteem from his contemporaries, owing to a radical inconstancy and indecision of temper, and an extravagance which involved him in perpetual pecuniary embarrassments. margaret was not present at her father's death, but no one felt his loss more keenly than she did, for he had ever shown himself an affectionate and devoted parent, and though so often parted, their intercourse had been, as their correspondence proves, of the closest and most intimate kind. her grief found vent in a long poem or lament, in which she enumerates her many sorrows: '.... o mort trop oultrageuse! tu a estain la fleur chevaleureuse et as vaincu celluy qui fust vainqueur, maximilien, ce très-noble empereur, qui en bonté à nul ne se compère. c'estoy césar, mon seul seigneur et père, mais tu l'as mis en trop piteux estat, sépulturé au chasteau nieustat....'[ ] [ ] 'complainte de marguerite sur la mort de maximilien son père' (_albums de marguerite d'autriche_, p. ). amongst the condolences which she received there is an interesting joint-letter in latin from anne of hungary (who was betrothed to ferdinand of austria), and from ferdinand's sister mary (affianced to louis of hungary). the letter is written from innsbrück on the nd of january and signed by both princesses. maximilian did much to improve his country, and greatly encouraged art and learning. he especially favoured the universities of vienna and ingoldstadt, and caused at least two works to be written under his own personal direction--_theuerdank_ in verse, and _weiss künig_ in prose--in both of which he figures as the hero. he also rendered an important service to germany by abolishing the famous secret tribunal of westphalia. charles was on his way to barcelona when he received the news of his grandfather's death. deputing adrian of utrecht to hold the cortes of valencia, he hurried from barcelona to corunna on the galician coast, intending to set sail for his new kingdom. his appointment of adrian as sole regent was the crowning insult to spanish feelings; the cardinal had little experience and less ability; above all he was of low birth and a foreigner, and the king had promised to bestow no office on 'those who were not natives of the kingdom.' besides, a cortes had been summoned to meet at santiago in galicia, outside castile, and the castilians felt deeply injured. discontent was rife on all sides, and many wild rumours were afloat. it availed little that charles in his broken spanish promised to return in three years. the deputies were not mollified, and demurred to granting the desired subsidy, which was only reluctantly voted. charles excused his hurried departure from spain on the plea of his obligation to attend to his new dominions, but this excuse did not pacify his discontented subjects, who foresaw the misery of his prolonged absence, with a hated foreigner as regent. maximilian's death revived francis i.'s hopes of gaining the much-coveted imperial crown, for he was not long in recognising the equivocal and expectant attitude of the electors who had formally promised their votes to the dead emperor. he now entered the lists as charles's rival, and tried to gain over the electors by every means in his power. margaret was in despair at the apparent small chance of her nephew's success, and with the advice of her council prepared to send the archduke ferdinand into germany to look after his brother's interests, and suggested that charles should waive his claim in favour of ferdinand, whose candidature would be less likely to be opposed by the pope and the german princes. but charles was as adamant, and indignantly rejected this proposal, asserting that it had been his grandfather's wish that he alone should succeed to the imperial dignities, and for this end the electors had promised him their votes. if ferdinand was chosen, the empire would be weakened, and the house of austria divided, to the gratification of his enemies. 'he alone,' he haughtily said, 'ought to be emperor in order to uphold the splendour of his house, and realise the great designs he had conceived for the good of christianity. should our person be elected, as is reasonable from what has gone before, we could carry out many good and great plans, and not only preserve and keep the dominions that god has given us, but greatly increase them, by giving peace, repose, and tranquillity to all christendom, in exalting and upholding our holy catholic faith which is our chief foundation....'[ ] [ ] m. théodore juste, _charles-quint et marguerite d'autriche_. margaret hastened to justify her conduct in a letter to charles on the st of march, in which she said that when the news of maximilian's illness reached the netherlands, the council had judged it wiser to send ferdinand to germany to watch over charles's hereditary domains, but that the archduke would yield to his brother's wishes, 'for,' she added, 'one could not see a better or more debonair prince of his age.' as matters turned out, charles's determination was fully justified, for francis's methods had not proved successful, and had only alienated him from some of his most powerful supporters. the condottiere, franz von sickingen, the duke of bouillon, and his brother Érard de la marck, bishop of liége, offended by francis's treatment of them, went over to the court of brussels and upheld the interest of the spanish king. the rivalry which from henceforth existed between the two young monarchs promised ere long to break the friendly relations with which charles's reign began, but margaret with her usual diplomacy saw the danger of a rupture with france at such a moment, and strongly advised charles to keep on good terms with his rival. acting on this wise advice, when robert de la marck left france and joined the court at brussels, charles's ambassadors hastened to assure the french king that their master had taken no part in robert's defalcation, and to support their assertion proposed that charles should marry francis's youngest daughter, princess charlotte, which offer was very well received. to get an idea of the activity and political talents margaret displayed in connection with charles's election one must read her correspondence with frederick, count palatine, maximilian de berghes, henry of nassau, her treasurer marnix, the cardinals of sion and gurce, john de la saulx, and gérard de pleine, and glance through her accounts and receipts, which show what enormous sums were spent in presents, bribes, pensions, and salaries on all those who were likely to contribute to the desired end. the archbishops of cologne, mayence, and trèves, and their councillors received between them nearly five hundred florins in gold. in these curious accounts large sums appeared to have been lavished not only on the principal negotiators, but on their relations, friends, and servants. thus five hundred florins are given to the archbishop of trèves' nephew, a hundred to the cardinal of mayence's valet-de-chambre, and a present of two thousand florins is promised to count john, the elector of cologne's brother, who is supposed to have more influence than the elector himself.[ ] [ ] these documents are amongst the archives of lille. margaret also drew largely from her own revenues in furthering her nephew's interests, and transferred to him the duchies and lordships she had inherited from maximilian. in grateful appreciation charles presented her with the town and territory of malines for her life and a sum of two hundred thousand golden florins (the deed being signed on september the th, , at brussels). in a long letter written from barcelona, on the nd of february , he thanks her warmly for all the trouble she has taken with regard to his election, recommending her to spare no means to obtain the desired end. he says:-- 'madame ma bonne tante et très chiers et féaulx, nous avons reçus vos lettres des viii et onze de ce mois, ensemble plusieurs copies de lettres que ont été escriptes à vous notre tante, d'allemagne, d'angleterre et ailleurs, par lesquelles vos lettres avons congneu le grand soing, devoir et diligence que portez en tout nos affaires et singulièrement en celuy d'allemagne, et louons les bonnes dépesches que y avez fait vers les princes électeurs et autres, et l'envoy des personnaiges tant en allemagne, angleterre et rome, louant aussy dieu notre créateur que nos affaires sont en si bon train partout, et que y faites si bonne provision de votre cousté, comme faisons ici de la nôtre, sans y rien épargner, et ne cessons de continuellement en écripre à rome, angleterre, allemagne et ailleurs par tout où il est besoing et necessité; car, pour un tel et si gros affaire, ne voulons cette fois riens obmettre. vous recommandant tousjours persévérer en vos bonnes diligences, selon la confidence que en portons à vous. 'il nous semble que le seigneur de zevenberghe et autres nos conseillers, out très prudement fait et advisé d'avoir envoié le marquis casimirus et comte de mansfeldt devers le marquis joachim et de là outre vers le duc fédericq de saxe. nous espérons que les deux bonnes lettres que avons naguères écript de nostre main au comte fédericq palatin, inclineront luy et son frère à persévérer en la promesse qu'ils nous ont faite. nous tenons aussy que le comte de nassau ou de hoghostraet en passant pardevers l'archevêque de coulongne, feront quelque bien vers luy. nous désirons que faites pratiquer franciscus de seckinghen si fait ne l'avez, pour l'avoir en notre service, et appointer de son traitement avec luy, ainsi que, par plusieurs fois, le vous avons écript. 'nous faisons présentement response au seigneur de zevenberghe sur lesdites lettres, et luy envoions nouveau pouvoir, instruction et lettres de crédence, délaissant le nom en blan de celuy qui en aura la charge par l'advis des gens de notre conseil d'isbroeck, pour envoyer devers les suisses renouveller et confirmer les alliances que nos maisons d'austriche et de bourgogne ont avec eux, et les faire plus estroités et meilleures, s'il est possible. 'nous escripvons aussy au cardinal de gurce, ledit seigneur de zevenberghe, villinger et autres nos conseillers, que s'ils sont requis de notre part par la grande lighe de swane d'assistance come chief d'icelle lighe, et voyent que ce soit notre bien, proufit, seureté et avancement de nos affaires, qu'ils prendent led. franciscus de seckinghen avec six cens chevaux pour un mois ou deux, et les baillent en assistance de ladite lighe contre le duc de wirtemberghe, et payent iceux chevaux des deniers que amerstorff avoit emporté pour lever les iiii{m} piétons que devoient aller à naples. 'par les lettres que naguerre nous a écript le roy d'angleterre, et ce que nous a dit son ambassadeur étant lez nous, avons entendu la bonne affection qu'il nous porte à l'avancement de notre élection, et qu'il a écript bien affectueusement à notre saint père le pape de la vouloir favoriser et donner charge au cardinal de syon soy trouver de sa part à la journée de l'élection, pour y faire pour nous ce qu'il sera possible, et soubs espoir que avons notredit saint père donnera ladite charge audit cardinal de syon, et la confidence que prendons qu'il nous servira bien en cest affaire, mandons au foucker et à villinger bailler à iceluy cardinal mil florins d'or pour l'ayder à ses dépens. 'et pour mercyer ledit roy d'angleterre, lui escripvons présentement gratieuses lettres et aussy au cardinal d'yorck, et pareillement à notre ambassadeur maître jean jonglet, en la sorte que verrez par nos lettres cy rendues ouvertes, lesquelles leur envoyerez closes et diligemment....'[ ] [ ] m. le glay, _correspondance de l'empereur maximilien i. et de marguerite d'autriche_. * * * * * the pope at first warmly upheld francis i.'s claim and opposed his rival, but he soon saw that the french king had small chance of success, whilst all seemed in favour of charles. leo x. did not dissemble that he would have preferred a less powerful emperor than either the king of castile or the king of france--'but,' as charles confidently wrote to his envoys in germany, 'if it should come to choosing either of us two, he has given out that he would be better pleased with us than with the said king of france, and would not refuse us the said dispensation nor any other thing that we should ask.'[ ] [ ] this letter was dated from barcelona, th and th april . although things seemed to be in his favour, still the king of spain's election was far from a certainty. henry of nassau, writing to margaret, did not conceal the difficulties that had to be overcome. 'the king,' he says, 'is little known in germany; the french have said much against him, and the germans, who come from spain, have hardly said any good.' whilst the struggle between the rival kings' agents continued, the kings themselves were no less anxious as to the final issue. charles was certain that if the imperial crown left the house of austria the french would lay claim to his hereditary german states as well as to his kingdom of naples; and besides being forced to renounce for ever the recovery of the duchy of burgundy, he might even run the risk of being despoiled of the netherlands. on the other hand, the possible election of charles filled francis with dismay. on the th of april he wrote to his ambassadors in germany: 'you understand the reason that moves me to acquire the empire and prevent the catholic king from acquiring it. if he gets it, seeing the greatness of the kingdoms and lordships he possesses, he might, in time, do me inestimable harm. i should always be uneasy and mistrustful, and it is to be feared that he would take good care to drive me out of italy.' but at last the long struggle came to an end, the pope withdrew his opposition, and margaret was rewarded by charles's election at frankfort as king of the romans on june th, , five months and ten days after maximilian's death. the news of his election was conveyed in nine days from frankfort to barcelona, where charles was detained by the catalonian cortes. his coronation, which gave him the title of 'romanorum imperator,' did not take place until the following year. the title of emperor, though carrying with it no possessions, gave him the position of 'first of earthly potentates in dignity and rank.' louise of savoy bitterly alludes to her son's successful rival in her diary. 'en juillet, charles ve de ce nom, fils de philippe, archiduc d'autriche, fut, après que l'empire eut esté vacant par l'espace de cinq mois, éleu roy des romains en la ville de francfort. pleut à dieu qu'il eust plus longuement vacquée, ou bien que pour jamais on l'eust laissé entre les mains de jhésus-christ, auquel il appartient et non à d'autres.'[ ] public rejoicings and processions gave expression to the netherlanders' joy at this great event, and the states enthusiastically voted , crowns for the expenses of the forthcoming coronation. on the th of june margaret informed the governors of the provinces of charles's election, and at the same time ordered the towns and villages to give thanks to god 'by processions, sermons, pious prayers and orisons,' and to have 'fireworks, rejoicings, and other festivities which were suitable and usual in such a case.' in her letter to the governor of lille she triumphantly says: 'we have, this hour, received letters from the ambassadors of the king, my lord and nephew, who are now in germany, in which they inform us that... mm. the electors of the holy empire have unanimously, through the inspiration of the holy spirit... elected my said lord and nephew king of the romans.... we command you... to inform his good subjects... requesting them to praise and render thanks to god our creator, by processions, sermons, devout prayers and orisons.' [ ] _journal de louise de savoye._ margaret's instructions were well carried out, and the festivities lasted a month until the end of july. but charles was badly needed in flanders, for the four years' truce with charles of gueldres had expired, and the guelderlanders were again giving trouble. margaret's hands were full, and she anxiously awaited her nephew's arrival. after having handed over the government to adrian of utrecht, he left barcelona on the th of january, and disregarding the murmurs of his spanish subjects, who were smarting under the insult of a castilian cortes being summoned to meet at santiago, passed through burgos, valladolid, and gallicia to the port of corunna. he set sail towards the end of may and steered a straight course for england, intending to pay a visit to henry viii. and his aunt, queen katharine. a negotiation had for some time been secretly carried on between cardinal wolsey and the court of spain, and this visit was not as sudden as it appeared. in the previous march charles had sent envoys to england to propose a friendly visit during his intended journey from spain to flanders. in a letter written to charles by his ambassadors from london on the th of march we learn that king henry sent for them to greenwich on the previous day, which was a sunday, and after mass took them aside, cardinal wolsey and queen katharine being present, and told them that he was very glad that things had turned out as they had done, and addressing queen katharine said, that when the emperor, his brother, and her nephew should arrive, he hoped to see him before meeting his brother of france.... that he had written to the french king to postpone seeing him until later, but had taken care not to give any reason for so doing. he hoped he would receive a favourable reply, for he thought it hardly possible that the king of france had heard of the emperor's intended visit to england, for when he heard of it he would not be pleased, and for this reason things were to be kept as secret as possible. 'the queen then raised her eyes to heaven and praised god for the hope she had for the fulfilment of her dearest wish, which was to see your majesty, and humbly thanked her lord the king, making him a very low curtsey, and the said lord king took off his cap and said to her, "we on our side will do all that we can...."'[ ] [ ] _monumenta hapsburgica._ with every precaution of secrecy a treaty was signed on the th of april minutely arranging the reception of charles by henry and katharine, either at sandwich on his way to the netherlands, or at a subsequent meeting between calais and gravelines. it was towards the end of may when news was brought to henry at canterbury that the emperor's fleet had been sighted off plymouth, and was sailing up the channel. wolsey was sent off at once to greet charles with a latin speech and invite him to land. surrounded by his suite and a goodly retinue, charles landed at dover on may th, and was conducted to the castle, where, early on the following morning, henry arrived and warmly welcomed his nephew. amidst cheering crowds, who wondered at the simplicity of the spanish king's dress and following, the two monarchs rode together to canterbury, where queen katharine impatiently awaited her sister's son. by her side was her little daughter, mary tudor, a fair-haired child of four, with big brown eyes, and near her stood the elder mary tudor, the beautiful duchess of suffolk, former queen of france. charles stayed four days feasting at canterbury, during which time he cleverly managed to attach wolsey more closely to his interests by whispering promises of future assistance when the papal throne should become vacant, and deeply impressing the english king by his mature judgment, deference, and courtesy. it was agreed that the two sovereigns should shortly meet again between calais and gravelines, and that henry should be accompanied by katharine and charles by margaret. and so, with many expressions of goodwill on all sides, charles set sail from sandwich for flanders on the same day that henry embarked at dover for calais on his way to meet francis between ardres and guisnes at the memorable scene of splendour and display known as 'the field of the cloth of gold.'[ ] [ ] martin hume, _wives of henry viii._, and théodore juste, _charles-quint et marguerite d'autriche_. on the st of june charles landed at flushing at four o'clock in the afternoon, and continued his journey to bruges, where he was warmly welcomed by margaret and his brother ferdinand, surrounded by the chief flemish nobles, ambassadors from venice, and deputies from the principal german towns. charles was now in his twenty-first year. of middle height, with well-proportioned limbs, a pale sallow complexion, light blue eyes, aquiline nose, and a protruding lower jaw, his expression, though heavy, was at once dignified and reserved; no trace of passing emotion disturbed the serenity of his features. his broad forehead and penetrating glance gave strength to his expression, and his gentle courtesy and charm of manner won him the affection of all those who had to serve him. an interesting insight into his character is given in a letter from gérard de pleine to margaret:--'there is no one great enough or wise enough in his kingdom to make him change his opinion, if he does not see a reason for changing it. i have known many princes at different times, but none who have taken greater pains to understand their affairs, or who disposed of them more absolutely than he does. he is his own treasurer of finance and his own treasurer of war; he bestows offices, bishoprics, appointments as god inspires him, without listening to the prayers of any.' a little later, aleander, whom leo x. sent to persuade charles to condemn luther, gives an interesting estimate of the emperor's character. aleander was a man of the world and a scholar, and though well aware of the faults of the church and the folly of the papacy, was eager to extirpate what he believed to be the seeds of social and ecclesiastical anarchy. on being granted an audience he addressed the emperor in french; charles replied by declaring his willingness to risk his life in defence of the church and the holy see. he spoke at some length, but so extremely well that aleander was much impressed by his ability, and wrote admiringly, 'say what they will, this prince seemed to me well endowed with sense and with prudence, far beyond his years; to have much more, however, at the back of his head than he carries on his face.'[ ] [ ] e. armstrong, _the emperor charles v._ charles had asked his aunt to convoke the states-general, and he found them assembled when he arrived at brussels. in a long speech he praised margaret's wise administration, loyalty and devotion, and thanked her council for the help they had given. he repeated that, in spite of his absence, 'his heart had always been with them.' he then gave a summary of his sojourn in spain, and informed the states that he had returned to take possession of the imperial crown, as well as the domains he had inherited in germany, but that he was badly in need of funds, and asked them to do their best to help him. the meeting of the field of the cloth of gold, where francis i. tried by every means in his power to ingratiate himself with the english king, was hardly over when charles started for gravelines to try and efface the impression produced by his rival. gravelines was a small place, ill-fitted for the reception of kings, but charles had different methods than those employed by francis, and he succeeded in confirming himself in his uncle's good graces by showing him the most courteous deference, and flattering his vanity in offering that he should act as arbitrator in any differences which might arise between spain and france. henry and francis had already signed a treaty on the th of june whereby it was settled that the dauphin should marry the princess mary; but on the th of july another treaty was secretly arranged in which the french alliance was indefinitely postponed, and charles's marriage with mary agreed upon, although at the time he was pledged to marry the french princess charlotte. wolsey was largely responsible for this change in affairs, for he was now bidding high for the emperor's favour, though outwardly he still kept on good terms with francis. the chronicle of calais gives an interesting account of henry's meeting with charles at gravelines on the th of july . margaret accompanied her nephew, and together, with a brilliant following of lords and ladies, the two monarchs and the regent journeyed to calais. within the town a large tent had been erected intended for a banqueting-hall, the seats arranged in tiers and draped with rich tapestries. the roof painted to represent the sky with sun, moon, stars, and clouds; but a great storm of wind and rain arose, and during the night the great tent, with all its fine decorations and tapestries, was blown down and ruined. the two kings spent four days together, first at gravelines and then at calais, when, after taking an affectionate farewell of each other, they parted; charles and margaret journeying by slow stages towards aix-la-chapelle, which, by a decree of the golden bull, had been chosen as the scene of the emperor's coronation. at maestricht he reappointed margaret as regent, and gave her a council presided over by philippe de bourgogne, bishop of utrecht, and Érard de la marck, bishop of liége. the council of malines, the court of holland, and the tribunals of the other provinces were henceforth made subordinate to the council of the regency established by the emperor. this arrangement infringed the privileges of these bodies, but charles, deaf to their protests, abolished all privileges which were contrary to this new régime. in order to put an end to petty squabbles and ensure an equal protection to all, he gave, before starting for germany, the command of the army to count henry iii. of nassau. accompanied by margaret he then left maestricht and passed a night at the castle of wettheim. charles's election had called forth much enthusiasm in germany. the towns he passed through gave him a hearty welcome, for they looked to him to restore order and redress their grievances. on the nd of october he made his state entry into aix-la-chapelle, where the electors of mayence, cologne, and trèves, and the ambassadors of the duke of saxony and the margrave of brandenburg had arrived the day before. charles had been elected emperor on june the th, ; but it was not until october rd, , that he was crowned at aix. there in the church of notre-dame, in presence of a vast assembly, with every detail of gorgeous ceremonial, the crown of charlemagne was placed upon his head; he swore to uphold the catholic faith, defend the church, administer justice, maintain the rights of the empire, recover its lost possessions, and render due obedience to the pope and the roman church. the archbishop of cologne, turning to the assembled crowd, asked the german people if they would swear fealty to their prince and uphold his government. a loud assent was given. 'charles was then anointed on his head, breast, arms and hands, clothed in the deacon's robe of charlemagne, and girt with the great emperor's sword, crowned with his golden crown, and then with ring on finger and ball and sceptre in hand, he was led to the stone seat of empire.'[ ] [ ] e. armstrong, _the emperor charles v._ the next day the archbishop of mayence proclaimed that charles had assumed the title of roman emperor elect. his coronation as emperor and king of lombardy did not take place until , when he was crowned at bologna by pope clement vii. on november st he summoned the states to meet at worms, and in january travelled thither to be present at the diet, where he and martin luther met face to face for the first and last time. chapter xi revolt of the duke of bourbon almost at the same time that charles was crowned at aix, the most enterprising and accomplished of the turkish sultans, solyman the magnificent, ascended the ottoman throne. the world has seldom seen such a brilliant constellation of rulers as now filled the principal thrones of europe. leo x., charles v., francis i., henry viii., and solyman the magnificent each possessed talents which would have made them conspicuous in any age, but which together made the history of europe during the first half of the sixteenth century peculiarly interesting. after his coronation, charles returned to brussels with margaret. for some time past alarming news had reached him from his regent in spain, where open rebellion had now broken out. adrian of utrecht was quite unequal to the task of coping with the insurgents, and first medina del campo, then valladolid, and lastly tordesillas (where queen joanna was confined) fell into the hands of the rebels. the great seal and state papers were seized, adrian narrowly escaped being taken prisoner with his council, and only saved himself by flight. when joanna heard that the rebel leader padilla and his host had arrived before tordesillas she ordered the townspeople to welcome them, and ostensibly made herself head of the revolution, authorising the leaders to summon the cortes to meet in her palace. but although the members of the junta declared her sane, joanna's refusal to sign any documents or come to any decision hopelessly checkmated their efforts, and early in december the government troops were able to take tordesillas by assault after four hours' desperate fighting.[ ] [ ] martin hume, _queens of old spain_. meanwhile imploring letters reached charles from his councillors begging him to return to spain and quell the rebellion; this he refused to do, until it suited his convenience, but appointed two spanish nobles, the constable and admiral of castile, to assist adrian in restoring order, with strict injunctions to make no concessions. before many months were out peace was once more restored, and the communeros finally crushed in the following april at the battle of villalar. in january charles sailed up the rhine to attend the diet which he had summoned to meet at worms. it opened on january the th, and dragged on its wearisome deliberations for several months. of all the questions the emperor had to solve, that of luther was the hardest. the pope did his best to complicate matters by urging that luther should be condemned unheard; but the state of public feeling was such that charles deemed it wiser to consult the diet, who decided that the monk should be heard. a herald was therefore despatched to wittemberg bearing a letter from the emperor with a promise of safe conduct. luther appeared at worms on april the th. brought before charles, he admitted the authorship of his books, but refused to withdraw any of his doctrines. he spoke boldly and impressively, but when he enlarged upon the pope's iniquities, the emperor reprimanded him, nor would he listen to the monk's denial of the authority of councils. charles was not impressed by luther's manner or bearing, and during the interview was heard to remark, 'this man will never make me a lutheran.' this was their first and last encounter, for the emperor and monk were destined never to meet again. the next day charles handed his remarkable declaration to the german princes in which he said: 'my predecessors... left behind them the holy catholic rites that i should live and die therein, and so until now with god's aid i have lived as becomes a christian emperor.... a single monk, led astray by private judgment, has set himself against the faith held by all christians for a thousand years and more, and impudently concludes that all christians up to now have erred. i have therefore resolved to stake upon this cause all my dominions, my friends, my body and my blood, my life and soul.... after luther's stiff-necked reply in my presence yesterday, i now repent that i have so long delayed proceedings against him and his false doctrines. i have now resolved never again, under any circumstances, to hear him. under protection of his safe conduct he shall be escorted home, but forbidden to preach and seduce men with his evil doctrines and incite them to rebellion....' but luther's brave bearing at worms was his most heroic moment, nor was his power in germany ever again so great as in , nor was he ever again so truly the voice of the people.[ ] [ ] e. armstrong, _the emperor charles v._ on april the th charles ordered him to leave worms, and next day the monk departed, escorted by twenty horsemen. a few days later an edict was published in the emperor's name, and by authority of the diet, depriving him of all the privileges he enjoyed as a subject of the empire, forbidding any prince to harbour or protect him, and requiring all to help in seizing his person as soon as the time specified in the safe conduct had expired. in less than a fortnight he had disappeared, rescued from his adversaries by the elector of saxony, who kept the place of his retreat carefully concealed. meanwhile francis i. had been actively engaged in sending forces against the frontiers of belgium and italy. charles, through margaret, made an appeal to the states-general convoked at mons on february th, . in a spirited speech she pointed out the perfidious conduct of francis, who she declared was daily trying to induce the european powers to make war against the emperor's dominions. amongst others she quoted his efforts to obtain support from the kings of denmark and scotland, the dukes of savoy, lorraine, and ferrara, the republic, the swiss league, and charles of gueldres. she then implored the assembly to grant help to protect the empire from its enemies. the people were flattered by this appeal to their patriotism, and hastened to prove that their emperor had not appealed to them in vain. on the th of may the archduke ferdinand concluded his marriage with princess anne of hungary, and charles conferred the five duchies of austria, carinthia, carniola, styria, and tyrol upon his brother, to which he added later the german possessions inherited from maximilian. on may the th he confirmed a secret treaty with leo x. through don john manuel, his ambassador in rome, by which the pope and emperor agreed to join forces to expel the french out of the milanaise, to restore parma and piacenza to the church, the emperor helping the pope to conquer ferrara, in return for the investiture of the kingdom of naples. this treaty was carefully concealed from de chièvres, whose aversion to a war with france was well known. when at length he heard of it, his grief was so great at this proof of his loss of influence over his former pupil, that it is said to have shortened his days. his death at this juncture certainly hastened the war with france, though it freed charles from an irksome subjection and greatly helped in the development of his character. from henceforth the emperor was his own master, nor was he ever again under another governor. instead of his boyish motto--'nondum' (not yet), his device in future was 'plus ultra' (yet further). the french were the first to cross the pyrenees and begin hostilities. when charles, who was then at brussels, heard the news, he exclaimed: 'god be praised that it is not i who begin the war: the king of france wishes to make me greater than i am; for, in a short time, either i shall be a very poor emperor, or he will be a poor king of france.'[ ] [ ] letter from aleandro de' galeazzi, dated brussels, rd july . on the th of july margaret again addressed the assembled states at ghent, for the exchequer was very low, and men and money were needed for the war. she implored them to use every effort to protect their country, and restore peace by voting the much-needed subsidies. she begged them to avert the threatening storm, and with a voice moved by emotion said: 'because of the love and peculiar affection his majesty bears you, being a native of these lands, born, brought up, and nourished amongst you, he is anxious to protect you from danger, and preserve you from all harm and oppression, by driving war from out of his dominions, keeping you in peace. which things his majesty has willingly put before you as his good and loyal subjects, because of the entire confidence he has in you, so that you may know all his affairs and understand the danger you are in, for on this depends either your safety or ruin.' she then promised 'a perpetual safety and abundance of all good things' after peace was restored, and freedom from subjection to france. she praised the fine example of spain and austria, who, although they hardly knew his majesty, had nevertheless of their own accord raised superb armaments; 'and you who have his person with you ready to use his life, his goods, and all that god has given him to preserve, help, and defend you, ought not to be less generous or less courageous than others, seeing that the case touches you so closely, and with the noise of war so near, knowing the harm which may come upon you if war breaks out, and seeing that the quarrel is just, which is as true as god is, and that he will help his majesty. and on this account you ought to take courage and show yourselves bold and fearless, and be more willing and anxious than any others, as his majesty does not doubt you will be, and without waiting to be asked, offer liberally your persons, goods, and chattels (as you have always done in times past) to help his majesty in this same enterprise, which is for your own and the public good.'[ ] [ ] _mss. de la bibliothèque de bourgogne._ margaret had not miscalculated the effect of this speech on her audience. enthusiasm and loyalty towards the emperor and herself passed all bounds and spread like wildfire throughout the netherlands. an army of , men was quickly raised, and assembled in the outskirts of malines. part of these troops the emperor despatched under the count of nassau to subdue the inroads of robert de la marck, lord of bouillon, known as the wild boar of the ardennes, who had been giving considerable trouble. the emperor having offended him, he left charles's service and threw himself upon france for protection. in the heat of his resentment he had the audacity to send a herald to worms to declare war against the emperor before the assembled diet. to punish this insolent vassal the count of nassau was sent at the head of , men to invade his territories, and in a few days took every place but sedan, and reduced de la marck to beg for clemency. nassau then advanced towards the borders of france, where charles of gueldres was ravaging the northern provinces, and henry d'albret had crossed the pyrenees and occupied navarre. meanwhile a congress had been held at calais, under henry viii.'s mediation, with a view to settling all differences and establishing peace. henry gave wolsey full powers to arrange the negotiations, but the cardinal, anxious to please both francis and charles, ended by satisfying neither, and the congress broke up without any definite result. during its progress wolsey journeyed to bruges and had a meeting there with charles and margaret, the latter having come in hot haste to visit her nephew, anxious to use her influence to procure an armistice. the cardinal was received by the emperor and his aunt with as much respect and magnificence as though he had been king of england, but instead of furthering the treaty of peace, wolsey, in his master's name, concluded a secret alliance with the emperor against france. this treaty, which was drawn up at bruges on august th, , and signed by margaret and jean de berghes for the emperor, and by wolsey for the king of england, arranged a marriage between charles and his cousin mary tudor (king henry's only child and apparent heir) as soon as the princess should have completed her twelfth year; both charles and henry agreeing to invade france in the spring of from opposite sides, each with an army of , men--the emperor promising to visit england on his way to spain early in the following year. it was especially stipulated that 'one month before charles undertook the voyage he would notify the time of it to the king of england, who would then send his fleet to sea, with about armed men on board, to drive away all enemies and pirates from the channel and english seas, so that the emperor might safely come over to dover or sandwich. the king of england would receive the emperor with the greatest honour and accompany him to falmouth, whilst the english navy would escort the emperor's fleet from zealand to falmouth, and together remain in that port until he embarked and then accompany him to spain.'[ ] [ ] _calendar of spanish state papers_, vol. ii. during the years that had passed since margaret left savoy she never lost interest in the memorial church she was building at brou. in september she sent her treasurer marnix and some members of her council to report on the progress of the work. the church was rapidly gaining shape, and the outer walls were nearing completion under the skilful direction of louis van boghen. the following letter from loys de gleyrens, prior of the monastery of brou (written to margaret on the nd of september ), gives a detailed account of de marnix's visit:-- 'to our much-honoured lady and very gracious mother,--god grant you a good and long life. you will be pleased to know that the day of the feast of saint augustine monseigneur marnix came to visit your church of brou, with the gentlemen of your council of bourg, and saw the progress of the same, and found that your two chapels in the aisle of the choir are roofed over, as well as the higher and lower aisles and oratories above and below, on the side of the belfry, and that the pipes and gurgoyles for carrying off water falling from the roofs are fixed on the said aisles. and the belfry has grown this year to the height of twenty-three to twenty-five feet....' he goes on to say that the workmen have plenty of materials, wood, etc., to finish the work--but that money is running short, and that only about fifteen or sixteen florins are left, which will hardly last till all saints day, and unless more is supplied, the work must be interrupted... 'but at present it is in the best state and appearance possible, and ought shortly to be finished, as those will tell you who have seen it....'[ ] [ ] j. baux, _l'Église de brou_. meanwhile the league between charles and the pope had produced great results in italy; lombardy being the chief centre of war. on november the th the papal-imperialist army entered milan, and within a fortnight the french held only the town of cremona, the fortress of milan, and a few scattered strongholds. parma and piacenza surrendered to leo x., but amidst the rejoicings which followed this brilliant victory and the fulfilment of his dearest wishes, the pope was suddenly struck down with malaria at magliana, and died after a few days' illness on the st of december , in the forty-sixth year of his age. this wholly unexpected event caused a cessation of hostilities for a while--both monarchs turning their attention to the proceedings of the conclave. news of the pope's death was brought to charles on the th of december, and he hastened to write a diplomatic letter to his uncle, king henry, and fully explained his intentions to the bishop of badajoz, his ambassador in england, promising to do his utmost to secure wolsey's election to the papacy. but after the conclave had sat for fourteen days, it was announced on the th of january that not wolsey, but adrian of utrecht had been elected pope. the election of the emperor's old tutor came as a surprise to europe. charles received the news at brussels, and on january the st wrote to mezza, his ambassador in london: 'however anxious was our wish that pace (henry viii.'s secretary) should have arrived in rome at the right time, and that the letters we had written in favour of the sieur legate (wolsey) had been conducive to the fulfilment of his wishes, and those of our uncle the king; yet must we be thankful, the object we had at heart having thus failed, that the choice fell upon cardinal tortosa,[ ] whose elevation, next after the cardinal of york, will certainly be most for the good, not of ourselves only, but of the whole of christendom. i hope to have the greater interest with him, who under my own roof was my instructor in morals and literature.'[ ] [ ] adrian was bishop of tortosa. on july th, , he wrote a letter of thanks to margaret from madrid, attributing his promotion to the bishopric of tortosa to her influence. [ ] w. bradford, _correspondence of the emperor charles v._ the new pope was in spain when the unexpected news of his election was brought to him. adrian vi.'s letter to his former pupil, dated saragossa, may rd, , is interesting as confirming the emperor's statement that he did not interfere in favour of his election, but honestly did his best for wolsey, to whom he had promised his influence with the conclave. 'very dear and much-beloved son!--health and apostolical benediction. i have been rejoiced on receiving the letter which your majesty has written to me with your own hand.... i am fully convinced of the satisfaction which you will derive from my election to the popedom; and i never entertained a doubt that had it depended alone on your goodwill and affection towards me, your suffrage would have been in my favour; but i was equally aware that it was neither suitable to your own interests nor to the good of the christian commonwealth, that you should have used any solicitation in my behalf, knowing that such interference would have been fatal to your good understanding with one (wolsey) who at this moment is of all others most necessary to your welfare in italy.... although my election may in one respect be attended with inconvenience, in taking me away from the management of your affairs in spain, yet this will be so much overbalanced by other considerations, as nowise to diminish the joy which it will occasion you. and in this my election, the feeling which influenced the sacred college of cardinals, as you will readily believe, and as has been intimated by them to don john manuel, was, that it would be a choice agreeable to your majesty: for no one, it appeared, would have obtained their votes who could be considered objectionable either to you, or to the king of france. 'i cannot, therefore, express my satisfaction in having attained to this elevation without the exercise of your influence, inconsistent as that would have been with the purity and sincerity which divine and human rights require in such proceedings; and in saying this, you will be assured that i feel as much, if not more truly devoted to your majesty, than if i had owed to your means and prayers my present advancement.... 'sire, i pray god to grant you a happy and long life. written at saragossa the rd of may, _ad tempus sacræ romanæ ecclesiæ_. entirely yours.'[ ] [ ] w. bradford, _correspondence of the emperor charles v._ adrian vi. was an upright, conscientious, and honest man, but quite unfitted for the high position he was called upon to fill, and his reign of ten months was unsuccessful and unhappy. as he himself once exclaimed, 'let a man be never so good, how much depends upon the times in which he is born.' a learned scholar and rigid disciplinarian, he regarded the conduct of the reformers with horror; but at the same time candidly acknowledged the abuses and corruptions that disgraced both the court and church of rome. this moderation, whilst it disgusted the great ecclesiastics in italy, tended to encourage the reformation in germany. a host of pamphlets and caricatures were circulated, and helped to popularise the new ideas and spread the reformed religion far and wide. charles hastened to forbid under pain of death the printing of literature directed against the pope or the church of rome, and ordered francis van der hulst to hunt all lutherans out of the netherlands. on the th of march margaret convoked the states-general at brussels. the emperor, through his chancellor, complimented the citizens on their loyal conduct and bravery at the recent siege of tournay, which had greatly helped towards its reduction. 'the french,' he said, 'have sustained a great loss in losing milan and tournay, which are of such importance, as every one knows.' his approaching journey to spain was then announced, and he informed them of the treaties he had made, and the precautions taken for the defence of the country, thanking his brave subjects for the zeal they had shown in his service. he informed them that during his absence the government would be confided to margaret, 'who for so long has shown by her praiseworthy, memorable services and great experience, that she well knows how to honourably acquit herself of the said government and administration. for which good rule and conduct his majesty and you are beholden to her through the fervent zeal and natural love she bears you.' the chancellor ended his long speech by saying that the emperor hoped they would live peaceably with each other during his absence--'for their strength lay in unity....'[ ] [ ] _mss. de la bibliothèque de bourgogne._ charles, who was now preparing to visit england on his way to spain, was sadly in want of money. margaret did her best to help him, and in order to raise funds pawned her jewels to the count of hochstrate. 'my said lady, obeying the order of his majesty, has offered to leave her rings with the said hochstrate, until he has been acquitted and discharged of the last sums he furnished... at the very pressing request and insistence of my said lady, knowing that in this lies his majesty's honour, but he has behaved so well that he will not keep them.'[ ] [ ] _correspondance de marguerite avec charles-quint._ before leaving bruges the emperor made his will on the nd of may , arranging that if he died in flanders his body was to be buried at bruges, near his grandmother mary of burgundy. he then bade farewell to margaret and set out for england, sailing from calais, with a gorgeous retinue of a thousand horse and two thousand courtiers, and landing at dover towards the end of may, was welcomed by wolsey in his master's name. it had been arranged that king henry should meet the emperor on the downs between dover and canterbury; but to show him greater honour the king rode into dover, and after together inspecting the english fleet, which was duly admired by the emperor and his train, the two monarchs made a triumphal progress through canterbury, sittingbourne, and rochester to gravesend. from gravesend the splendid processions rowed in royal barges to greenwich. at the entrance door of the palace queen katharine stood awaiting her nephew, surrounded by her ladies, and holding little princess mary by the hand. the emperor, kneeling on one knee, then asked for his aunt's blessing, which was readily granted, and from henceforward for six weeks his visit to england was a continual round of feasting, dancing, hunting, masquerading, and splendid entertainments. but amidst all this hospitality his thoughts were mainly fixed on spain, and as he wrote to margaret, 'the six weeks seemed a thousand years.' whilst charles was at greenwich a messenger arrived from france bearing a letter to king henry, in which francis i. bade defiance to the king of england. the letter was handed to the emperor for his perusal, who must have rejoiced at its contents, for now he and his uncle could join forces against their common enemy france; and soon after an eternal friendship was solemnly sworn between them upon the sacrament in saint george's chapel, windsor, and an abiding alliance in peace and war cemented by charles's betrothal to his cousin mary tudor. glittering pageants in london and windsor, where charles was made a knight of the garter under his uncle's presidency, brought his visit to a close, and on july the th the emperor set sail once more for the port of santander.[ ] [ ] martin hume, _wives of henry viii._, and _rutland papers, the somers tracts_ (camden society). a few weeks later an anglo-belgian army, under florent d'ysselstein, count of buren, invaded picardy, whilst the earl of surrey's fleet hovered off the norman coast, and threatened all french shipping in the channel. margaret meanwhile was busily employed in harrowing the duke of gueldres, whose troops appeared before leyden, and pillaged the village of la haye. the states of friesland upheld the regent in her endeavours, but it was not until june the th, , that a truce was concluded with gueldres, and peace restored. whilst charles, henry, and francis were thus employed wasting each other's strength, the turkish sultan, solyman the magnificent, invaded hungary with a large army, and took belgrade. encouraged by this success, he besieged the island of rhodes, then the seat of the knights of saint john of jerusalem. the grand master of villers de l'isle adam sent imploring messages to the powers of europe begging for assistance. adrian vi. did his utmost to persuade charles and francis to forget their quarrels and join forces in saving rhodes, then the chief bulwark of christianity in the east. on march the rd, , he wrote to charles exhorting him and all christian princes to make peace with one another, and wage a common war against the turks. he complains that 'so far all his exhortations have been fruitless, and the turks have conquered belgrade on one side, and it is said they have taken rhodes on the other. there is no doubt that the turks will continue their conquests in hungary (where the emperor's sister mary is queen), as well as in the mediterranean, till they have rendered themselves masters of the whole of europe. this danger can only be averted by a reconciliation of all christian princes....' the pope ends by saying that he has written in the same sense to the kings of france and england.[ ] [ ] _calendar of spanish state papers_, vol. ii. but the rival princes turned a deaf ear to all these entreaties, and after six months of incredible courage, patience, and bravery on the part of the garrison, the gallant little band of knights were forced to capitulate, and the town was razed to the ground. when too late, charles, henry, and francis, ashamed of their conduct, tried to lay the blame of this misfortune on each other, and charles, by way of reparation, gave the knights of saint john the island of malta, which from henceforth became the chief home of their order. the year was marked by the revolt and conspiracy of the constable of bourbon, a powerful and accomplished french nobleman descended from the montpensier branch of the bourbon family, who through his marriage with suzanne, daughter and heiress of the duke of bourbon, had acquired the wealth and honours of that powerful house. francis i. on his accession had made him constable of france, and treated him with every mark of favour. when the king left italy in , bourbon remained behind as lieutenant-general of the french forces, and greatly distinguished himself by his military talents and valour; but soon after his return to france he fell into disfavour, and from henceforth became the victim of a vindictive persecution. the cause of this sudden change is generally attributed to a passionate attachment on the part of louise of savoy, the king's mother, who, on his wife suzanne's death in , offered her hand to bourbon; but the constable declining the honour, the humiliated queen, in revenge, disputed suzanne's will, herself claiming the succession to the bourbon estates as next of kin. in this she was aided and abetted by the chancellor du prat, and soon persuaded the king to withhold bourbon's appointments, and disallow his just claims for money he had furnished during the war in italy. the constable at first bore these indignities with great moderation, but when in presence of the whole army the king passed him over, and gave the command of the van to the duke of alençon, the injured constable retired from the court, and began a secret correspondence with charles's ministers, offering his services to the emperor. the campaign arranged between henry viii. and his nephew for the simultaneous invasion of france had not proved successful, but led to a more formidable attempt in the following year. charles therefore welcomed the proposed advent of so powerful a partisan as bourbon, from whose revolt he expected great advantages, and warmly received his secret overtures. it was proposed that the emperor should enter france by the pyrenees, whilst henry viii., in co-operation with margaret, should invade picardy, and bourbon with twelve hundred germans penetrate into germany. a lengthy despatch sent to charles from london, on june the st, , by de praet, his ambassador, and marnix, margaret's treasurer (both accredited at the english court), gives a full account of a negotiation with wolsey on the conditions of the above confederacy, and shows what a large part margaret played in the arrangements. in the latter part of the despatch mention is made of the king and queen of denmark's visit to the netherlands, where they fled to take refuge from the troubles which threatened them in denmark. '... sire! by our last letters your majesty has been able to see and understand the offers we have made to the king of england and the sieur legate (wolsey) through the intervention of madame, your majesty's aunt, in reference to the co-operation and assistance of the army which the said king would send across the sea against the common enemy of your majesty and himself. '... sire! they could nowise be satisfied with the number we have to offer for the said co-operation, but persisted in pressing for three thousand horse and five thousand foot with the half of the artillery munition and equipage, requiring us to write immediately to the said lady, which we have done, and have, moreover, received her answer. she, having communicated with m. de beuren, your majesty's captain-general, and acting on his advice, declares that it is quite impossible to augment the number she had already offered, to wit, two thousand good horse, and four thousand foot, with twelve pieces of field-artillery; but if they would pass the sea, we should be ready to give all the assistance in our power; and were the enemy to offer battle or commence a siege, there would be a force always ready of ten or twelve thousand flemish foot to come to their assistance....' the despatch goes on to say that after several days spent in discussions, during which time wolsey pressed for more troops from the netherlands, and lost his temper, nothing definite was settled. 'although i, marnix, have... pressed for permission to return, the sieur legate has nevertheless wished and requested that i should be present and concerned in these proceedings, with me de praet, in order to make a report of them to madame. 'sire! the said madame (margaret) has written to inform us how the king of denmark,[ ] who, with the queen and his children, is, as we have already made known to your majesty, in your low countries, has demanded of her three things. one that she should be willing to render sufficient aid and assistance to enable him to reconquer his kingdom; a second, that she should grant a passport to one of his people whom he intends to despatch to your majesty, and by him should write to you in his favour; the third, that you should write to monseigneur, your majesty's brother, and the electoral princes, that right and justice may be rendered to him in his quarrels and contentions against his uncle the duke of holstein, who, with the aid of the city of lubeck, has occasioned his expulsion. to these demands, in as much as regards the two latter, madame has signified her willing acquiescence; but, in respect to the first, she begs to be excused, on account of the impossibility of acceding to it; and refers all to the good pleasure of your majesty....'[ ] [ ] christian ii., king of denmark, who had married charles's sister isabella in august , was hated by his subjects, who combined with the city of lubeck and the hansa league to drive him from his kingdom. he then took refuge in the netherlands with his wife and three children. [ ] w. bradford, _correspondence of the emperor charles v._ in a postscript of the same despatch de praet says, referring to bourbon's intended revolt: 'in truth, sire, this affair, i know not why, has not long remained a secret, and in a short time cannot fail to be publicly known. even at this court there are to my knowledge more than ten people now acquainted with it. the day before yesterday, when the cardinal and i met concerning the present war, he immediately began to talk of the coming over of bourbon, and related the whole transaction from beginning to end, and this in the presence of the duke of suffolk, messieurs talbot and wingfield, three bishops, and the treasurer marnix. m. de badajoz and i knew it ever since the past month of january, but we obstinately denied it before the king of england and the cardinal, until your majesty orders us to be candid on the subject.'[ ] [ ] _ibid._ the emperor sent adrian de croy, lord of beaurain, to treat secretly with the duke of bourbon, and on the nd of july he writes: 'sire! i came into communication with m. de bourbon the rd day of july at monbrison, which is three days' journey within the french territory, and there treated with him. 'monsieur de bourbon is ready to declare himself the enemy of france.... i have despatched... my secretary to the king of england to apprise him of all i have thought necessary, urging him to hasten his army according to the advice of m. de bourbon; and i have advertised madame (margaret) that if she should hear of what has passed, respecting the said duke from any other quarter, to be cautious, lest any difficulty should be thrown in the way. 'm. de bourbon has made friends with many rich people who are ready to come forward with several thousand crowns for the payment of his debts, at which i rejoice, for he is a fine fellow.... 'i have treated with him according to the secret articles with which you were pleased to charge me. he will take in marriage either madame eleanor or madame katharine,[ ] but would greatly prefer the former. 'm. de bourbon will stir up a fine commotion in france. adrian de croy' [ ] the emperor's sisters; eleanor, queen of portugal, was now a widow, whilst katharine was still unmarried--but neither of these ladies was destined to become bourbon's wife. on the th of august louis de praet also wrote to charles that 'the duke of bourbon declares himself ready to serve him (the emperor) against all and every person, whoever he may be, and to enter into his offensive and defensive league...' but in return 'the duke expects that he (the emperor) will give him his sister (eleanor, queen of portugal) in marriage, or if the queen refuses to be his wife, madame katharine. the dower of madame eleanor or madame katharine to consist of , écus, while the duke promises to give his future wife a jointure of , écus a year....' 'the duke of bourbon also expects that the emperor will give him the command of ten thousand german troops, and , écus wherewith to pay the german as well as the other troops... and that the king of england will contribute , écus for the maintenance of the german and other troops of the duke....'[ ] [ ] _calendar of spanish state papers_, vol. ii. printed from a copy preserved in the archives générales du royaume in brussels by m. le glay. soon after bourbon made good his escape and reached italy in safety, although francis, whose suspicions were aroused too late, tried to arrest him. on hearing of his safe arrival the emperor, writing from logrono, hastened to send him a warm welcome. 'my brother, on the th of september gracian arrived and gave me news of you, which afforded me the greatest satisfaction.... anxious as i am for your safety, you may rest assured there is nothing which the king of england, my good father, and i, as well as all our friends and allies, will not be ready to do for your succour and assistance; and that, faithful to my promise, you will ever find me a true prince, your good brother, cousin, and friend, who, come what may of good or evil fortune, will never abandon your interest, as i am sure you will never cease to feel and do the like for me.... 'i pray you, my brother, if it be possible, that you will speedily unite yourself and yours with my army, at least with that part of it which is in italy, as i have communicated my desire to them that this junction be accomplished, when and where the occasion may offer....' at the same time the emperor wrote to margaret, and, after referring to the difficulties of communication with bourbon, and lamenting that francis had seized several of the duke's friends and adherents, he asks her to write to henry viii. and request him to order the duke of suffolk (then commanding the english troops in picardy) to detain every prisoner of rank and not allow them to be ransomed. this was no doubt by way of reprisals, but when the english army under suffolk was within eleven leagues of paris, it was driven back by vendome and his troops, and a severe sickness breaking out amongst the soldiers, this unsuccessful campaign was brought to a close. thus the intended great invasion of france by the allies dwindled from various causes into three separate and unavailing attacks from spain, germany, and england. on the th of september adrian vi. died in rome after a short illness, and was buried in the church of santa maria dell'anima. his death again raised wolsey's hopes of the papacy. although margaret sincerely mourned the loss of her old friend, still she lost no time in doing her utmost to procure the english cardinal's election. de praet, writing from london to the emperor on the th of october, says: 'moreover, sire, i have to inform your majesty that i have received letters from madame (margaret), dated the th of last month, containing the afflicting news of the decease of the holy father, which took place on the th of the said month, commanding me on this account to repair without delay to the said cardinal (wolsey) to give him as it may so happen the first intelligence of this event, and to offer him on her part all the favour and assistance in her power towards his promotion to this dignity. this i lost no time in doing according to her order, as well on the part of your majesty as on hers; to which he made the most grateful and suitable reply, expressing his profound thanks to madame for such demonstrations of her goodwill in offering her services for his advancement to a dignity of which he felt himself utterly unworthy. 'nevertheless, in acknowledging her gracious intentions, he could not but bear in mind in what manner your majesty, when with the king at windsor, had touched upon this subject, exhorting him to think of it, and promising every possible aid on your part in bringing about its accomplishment. 'he expressed the willingness of one who was always ready to conform with the wishes and advice of both your majesties, begging that madame, in case such a promotion and election should appear to her as tending to the benefit of christendom, and to the common interests of your majesties, would write without a moment's delay to your ambassador in rome, and to other of your good friends there....'[ ] [ ] w. bradford. the emperor replied from pampeluna on november th: 'the principal point is the advancement of the cardinal (wolsey) to the papal dignity. we have always desired, and with most sincere good feeling and intention have wished to promote this to the utmost of our power, having full recollection how we and the king, our good father and brother, being at windsor, opened to him our minds on this subject, exhorting him to think of it, and promising our best services in his assistance, because it appeared to us that his promotion and election would be attended with great good to christendom, and advantage to our common interest.... we firmly believe that the cardinal de medicis will give his assistance to the sieur legate, from the little chance, we are informed, of his own success; and we well know and acknowledge how cordially and sincerely madame, our good aunt, is occupied in this affair, not only in her own name, but in ours. we entertain a good hope, therefore, that all these efforts will prosper, and are anxiously expecting favourable news which has been hitherto retarded on account of the tempestuous weather at sea.' on the th of december the emperor writes to de praet: 'we have here received the news by a letter from the marquis de finale that, on the th of november, cardinal de medicis was elected pope.... you will do well to communicate the above to the seigneurs, the king, and the cardinal, advertising them that our ambassador, the duke of sessa, had written to inform us that he was doing everything in his power, and with the utmost diligence, to influence the votes of the conclave in favour of the sieur legate.'[ ] [ ] w. bradford. it certainly appears from the above correspondence that charles used all his influence in wolsey's favour in both this and the former election, but the cardinal himself chose to consider otherwise, and from this date he visibly cooled in his friendship, and though outwardly affecting to rejoice in the cardinal de medicis' elevation, he never forgave the emperor his supposed duplicity. chapter xii capture of francis i. on september the th, , margaret's youngest niece, katharine, who had lived most of her life shut up with her mad mother in the gloomy palace of tordesillas, was married to john iii., king of portugal. the marriage took place at anyaguia, in the presence of charles, who had but lately recovered from a bad attack of fever. in a letter to the duke of bourbon on september th, he says: 'regarding my own person, i would most willingly have gone to barcelona according to your wish, if my affairs had permitted me to do so. but i must first conclude the marriage of my sister, madame katharine, and despatch some affairs of this kingdom. besides, i have for several days been suffering from an intermittent fever, which has hindered me from attending much to business. the said fever is, however, much diminished, and i hope, with god's help, to be soon restored to health!...'[ ] [ ] w. bradford, _correspondence of the emperor charles v._ during the spring of the same year bourbon (who together with lannoy, viceroy of naples, and the marquis of pescara was in command of the imperialist army) had gained his first success over the french, and driven them out of the milanese with the loss of the chevalier bayard (april th); but during the following summer the rebel duke found great difficulties to encounter. he had marched on marseilles, hoping to reduce that town, but lack of means and provisions obliged him to retrace his steps to italy, where he was met by a powerful army under bonnivet. the french general soon retook milan, and then laid siege to pavia, held for the emperor by antonio de leyva. francis i., disregarding all advice, hastened to join his army in italy determined, as he said, to take pavia or fall in the attempt. for four weary months the siege dragged on, and then came the news which startled all europe. on february the th (the emperor's birthday), , was fought the battle of pavia, and before night fell the french army was utterly defeated, the king a prisoner, and the flower of the chivalry of france either dead or taken captive. whilst the battle was still raging the abbot of najera sent the following despatch to the emperor:--'at midnight the army began to move. the soldiers penetrated into the enclosure by three openings they had made in the wall. at daybreak the enemy attacked the rearguard, and the imperial german and spanish troops engaged the swiss, german, and italian troops of the king of france, who soon fled as they heard the "good" antonio de leyva was in their rear. 'the victory is complete. the king of france is made prisoner. he has two very slight wounds in the face. his horse has been killed. when he fell to the ground the viceroy placed himself immediately over him. the king has also an insignificant wound in one of his legs. the whole of the french army is annihilated. 'the admiral of france died in my arms, not fifty yards from the place where the king had fallen. la pallice is dead. the king of navarre, lescun, montmorency, and other captains are prisoners. 'a great number of french infantry have been drowned in the ticino. the imperial army is still pursuing the enemy. it is expected that at the end of the day , of the enemy will have been killed. 'the marquis of pescara has done wonders. he has three wounds. the imperialists had sixteen pieces of artillery, but not a single shot has been fired.... (from the palace of pavia, the th day of february .) '_postscriptum._--to-day is the feast of the apostle saint matthew, on which, five-and-twenty years ago, your majesty is said to have been born. five-and-twenty thousand times thanks and praise to god for his mercy! your majesty is from this day in a position to prescribe laws to christians and turks according to your pleasure.'[ ] [ ] _calendar of spanish state papers_, vol. ii. charles de lannoy, viceroy of naples, wrote the same day announcing the victory to the emperor:-- 'sire,--we gave battle yesterday, and it pleased god to give you victory, which was so well followed up that you hold the king of france a prisoner in my hands. i beseech you, earnestly as it is possible to do, to think of your affairs, and to make prompt execution now that god has sent you such a favourable opportunity; for you will never have a more propitious time than the present to demand restitution of the crowns justly appertaining to you, for you owe no obligation to any prince in italy; nor can they longer hope for protection from the king of france, as you hold him captive. sire, i think you remember the saying of m. de bersale, "that god sends to men once in their lives a fruitful august, but if they allow it to pass without gathering a harvest, it is a chance whether the opportunity is given them again." i say not this believing that your majesty is disposed to neglect your advantages, but only because i feel it a duty so to speak. sire, m. de bourbon acquitted himself well, and performed good service. sire, the victory which god has given you happened on st. matthew's day, which is the day of your majesty's birth. 'from the camp where the king of france was lodged, before pavia, the th day of february . charles de lannoy'[ ] [ ] lanz, _correspondenz des kaisers, karl v._ [illustration: francis i from a painting in the louvre (french school)] francis showed extraordinary courage throughout the battle. when surrounded, unhorsed, and wounded he refused to yield to bourbon, exclaiming: 'i know no duke of bourbon but myself!' but handed his sword to lannoy, who received it on his knees, and immediately offered the captive king his own, saying, 'it did not become so great a monarch to remain disarmed in the presence of one of the emperor's subjects.' francis was immediately taken to the imperial camp, and de lannoy despatched commander peñalosa to the emperor announcing the great victory. francis gave the envoy a passport through france, and the following letter to his mother, louise of savoy:-- 'madame,--to let you know the extent of my misfortune--of all things nothing remains to me but honour, and life which is safe. knowing that in your adversity and sorrow this news would give you comfort, i requested permission to send you this letter, which was readily granted. i beg you not to yield to the extremity of grief, but to direct all things with your accustomed prudence; for i have firm hope that at last god will not abandon me. i commend to your care my children and your own. i beseech you, moreover, to grant free passage to the messenger who brings you this letter, as he is bound for spain, on a mission to the emperor, to learn what kind of treatment i am to receive. commending myself to your favour and affection, i remain, your very humble and obedient son, francoys' with francis were also captured henry, king of navarre, the marshal de montmorency, the duke de nevers, the high treasurer babou de la bourdaizière, the count of saint paul, the marshal of fleuranges, du bellay, and many others. meanwhile margaret had been kept well informed of the progress of affairs in italy, and on the th of march wrote to the count of gavre, governor-general of flanders: 'i have had certain news to-day that on the th of february the emperor's army attacked the king of france in the camp of forte; that, although it was well fortified, the king was made a prisoner, fourteen hundred men of war killed in the camp, and that the rest who took flight were all taken and killed, and it is not known if any escaped. i require you, because of the consolation this news will be to the vassals and subjects of your government, to inform them of it, and exhort and command them to give thanks to god for the victory he has sent us, by fireworks, processions, prayers, and other devout works, and above all to pray for the souls of those who have died.'[ ] [ ] _mss. de la bibliothèque de bourgogne._ on the th of this same month she confirmed this joyful news in a letter sent from malines to the council of flanders announcing the arrival of grapain 'with letters in which he certifies that he was present at the said battle, and the capture of the king of france by the hand of the viceroy, he himself helping to disarm the king, and confirms the capture and death of the principal personages in the kingdom... and in the said battle only a hundred and fifty of our men were killed... and that the said king has sent to release the prince of orange and the lord of bossu and others of our side who were prisoners.'[ ] [ ] _mss. de la bibliothèque de bourgogne._ this great victory was of the utmost importance to the netherlands, and margaret hoped that it would lead to the recovery of the duchy of burgundy and the county of charolais and their dependencies. three days after the battle francis received a visit from the chiefs of the victorious army, who offered him their sympathy, the marquis of pescara even appearing in mourning. during the interview the king showed great fortitude, and with a show of cheerfulness discussed various points of the battle with his capturers. the castle of pizzighitone was chosen for his temporary prison until instructions were received from spain. the emperor was at madrid when the messenger arrived with the news of the victory. charles showed extraordinary self-control, and neither by voice nor manner gave any outward sign of exultation. as if dazed, he repeated the words of the messenger: 'the battle is fought and the king is your prisoner!'[ ] and then, hardly permitting the congratulations of the surrounding courtiers, he retired to his oratory, where, falling on his knees, he spent a long interval in prayer, after which he asked for details of his victory. bonfires and illuminations and all public rejoicings were strictly forbidden as being unsuitable 'when a christian king had fallen into such great misfortune.' this moderation and humility called forth the admiration of all who witnessed it. dr. sampson, king henry's ambassador at the court of madrid, wrote to wolsey: '... the emperor hath used such demeanour in all things, both by word, deed, and countenance, and toward all manner of persons, that every wise man hath been most joyful to see it....'[ ] [ ] e. armstrong, _the emperor charles v._ [ ] ellis, _original letters_. on the following day charles went in procession to the church of our lady of atocha to give thanks for the victory, the preacher, however, being forbidden to enlarge on the triumph. but this extremely humble attitude did not prevent charles from making the most of his success. on the th of march he sent the following letter to his brother-in-law, the king of portugal:-- 'it is known to you how the king of france, at the head of a powerful army, made a descent upon italy, to seize and usurp territories appertaining to our empire, and also our kingdom of naples, which he had sent the duke of albany to invade, and how he had besieged the city of pavia, and the progress he had made, all which he wrote to you by luis alvarez de tavora, a noble hidalgo of your own lineage. by a courier who came to us from thence (pavia), we learned the news of the victory which god has given to our army against the said king of france, whom we hold prisoner, all which we did not then make known to you, because we were expecting the arrival of a cavalier who was present at the battle, bringing letters from the captains-general of our said army. this said cavalier has since arrived, from whom we have minutely heard all that occurred, which is as follows: on st. matthew's day, the day of our birth, which is the th of february, although the said king of france was entrenched very strongly, and tried by every possible means to avoid giving battle, his camp was forced by our army with no small labour; when it pleased god, who knows how just is our cause, to give us victory. the said king of france is taken, and the prince of béarn, seigneur d'albret, with many other principal nobles. the admiral of france, m. de la trimouille, and m. de la palice are killed, with numberless others of equal note, so that all the chief nobles present at the battle are either taken or slain. the loss of the french, we are informed, amounts to , men, while we on our side have lost only . we have given, and do give thanks to our lord for this victory; and we hope that it may conduce to universal peace throughout christendom, which is a thing we have always desired, and still desire. remember to avail yourself of the knowledge of these matters which don alonzo enriques de guzman possesses, who is the bearer of this letter, and a gentleman of our household; for we know that this news will give you pleasure, even as it pleases us to hear good tidings of you. most serene and very excellent king, our dear and much-loved brother and cousin, may the holy trinity have you in special keeping. 'from madrid, this th day of march . 'i, the king' on the th of march queen katharine sent her congratulations to her nephew from greenwich:-- 'i have charged the ambassadors of the king, my husband and master, now going to spain, to inform your highness of the great pleasure and content i have experienced at hearing of the very signal victory which god almighty, by his infinite mercy, has been pleased to grant to the imperial arms in italy, trusting that your highness will offer thanksgiving to that same god, as the king, my master, is now doing, ordering solemn processions and other religious acts, throughout this kingdom. 'as the king, my husband and master, has never failed to be the constant and faithful ally of your highness--as his words and deeds have sufficiently testified on every occasion--and as from the continuance of such friendship and alliance the best results may be anticipated, i humbly beseech your highness to persevere in the path of friendship and affection towards us, since the king has always done his duty and is now rejoicing at your success. i shall say no more, but will refer entirely to the said ambassadors, to whom your highness will be pleased to give full credence on my part.--greenwich, th of march. '(signed) your good aunt, katherina'[ ] [ ] _calendar of spanish state papers_, vol. iii. the emperor also received congratulations from henry viii. and pope clement vii. on the st of march the king wrote:--'my most beloved son,--this present letter is to congratulate you upon your recovery, as also upon the honourable victory which our lord has been pleased to grant to your arms, having vanquished and taken prisoner the french king, our common enemy....' the letter is signed, 'c'est de la main de votre père, frère, et cousin, et bel oncle, henry.'[ ] [ ] _calendar of spanish state papers_, vol. iii. just before the battle of pavia margaret had sent ambassadors to england with instructions to try and persuade king henry to send substantial help to the imperial troops, which were badly in need of money, suggesting that an attack might now be made on france during the absence of the king in italy. margaret concludes her instructions by proposing that the princess mary (who was only nine years old) should be sent to spain with an increased dowry, and placed under the emperor's care until old enough to be married. the ambassadors are told to add 'that madame and the legate (wolsey) having already been match-makers in two different cases, there is no reason for not promoting this one. she herself desires this marriage more than any other thing whatsoever, and will leave nothing undone that can bring it about.'[ ] [ ] _ibid._ wolsey replied to these requests by stating that the king, his master, was quite ready to cross the channel into france under the following conditions: st. that madame (margaret) should provide horse and foot. nd. that the army should enter france by way of normandy. rd. the emperor should procure sufficient money to keep up his italian army, etc., etc. but when the envoys stated that , ducats, which the emperor was sending to his army in italy, had fallen into the hands of the enemy, the cardinal replied, that if madame agreed to make remittances of , crowns, the king would contribute an equal sum, to which the envoys answered: 'madame has not the means to do that; nobody will lend her money, though she is willing, for the stipend of the said horse and foot, to sell or pawn her own rings and jewels.' respecting the delivery of princess mary, the cardinal said 'that she was too young, and that the english looked upon her as the treasure of the kingdom, and that no hostages were sufficient security for her.'[ ] but soon after the small princess was made to send a fine emerald to the emperor with a message that when they married she would be able to know by the clearness or otherwise of the jewel 'whether his majesty do keep himself as continent and chaste as, with god's grace, she will.' the emperor being twenty-five, whilst his little fiancée was only nine, the cases were hardly similar; and three months later charles had engaged himself to marry his cousin, isabella of portugal.[ ] [ ] _calendar of spanish state papers_, vol. iii. [ ] martin hume, _wives of henry viii._ a council was held in spain in order to decide what was to be done with king francis, in which the duke of alva suggested the most exorbitant terms as the price of the king's freedom. the bishop of osma pleaded for more generous treatment, but the duke's advice prevailed, and francis was offered the most humiliating terms, which he indignantly rejected, but finally agreed to the proposals that he should marry the emperor's sister eleanor, the dowager-queen of portugal, and settle the duchy of burgundy upon the issue of the marriage; that he should pardon bourbon, restore the whole of his possessions, giving him his sister, the duchess of alençon, in marriage; pay a large ransom, and furnish troops to attend the emperor's coronation in rome. francis was sent to genoa and thence to spain in charge of lannoy, viceroy of naples, to the indignation of bourbon and pescara, who both hoped to have had the honour of escorting the royal prisoner to madrid. on his arrival in spain charles sent a courteous letter to louise of savoy, who was acting as regent during her son's absence. louise in reply says: 'monseigneur! by the letter which it has pleased you to write to me, i have learned the arrival of monseigneur the king, my son, in your country, and the goodwill and good disposition you entertain to treat him well, for which i know not how sufficiently to express to you my thanks and gratitude, humbly beseeching you, sir, to continue to act in this liberal manner, which so well befits your greatness and magnanimity. as for the rest, monseigneur, in pursuance of what you have required of me, i have given a safe conduct to your courier, desiring to do your pleasure in this and all other things, as i would for the said monseigneur, my son, the king, and this the lord knows, whom i pray to give you a good and long life.--your most humble loyse.'[ ] [ ] w. bradford, _correspondence of the emperor charles v._ on june the th, , charles wrote a long letter to his brother ferdinand from toledo, in which he says: 'as to the movement of the lutherans, and the evil they have done, and to all appearance mean to do, it has annoyed, and does continue to annoy me bitterly. if it were in my power to remedy it speedily, i would spare neither my person nor my estates in the cause, but you see the difficulty there is in it, especially since i hope to be in italy so soon, in order to take possession of my crowns[ ] as i have already written you word. [ ] the emperor's coronation at bologna did not take place till february , when he received the crowns of lombardy and of the empire. 'when that is done, i mean to exert all my power in the extermination of this said sect of lutherans....' charles goes on to say, in answer to his brother's request that he would use his influence to get him (ferdinand) elected king of the romans, that for the present the matter had better be kept secret until he had been crowned emperor, as the electors 'would probably allege, and with truth, that at present i am myself, in fact, no more than king of the romans, and that on this account the election of another ought to be deferred.... 'the king of france is now here. i have caused him to be placed in the castle of patina, where he will be well treated. he has offered me certain articles of peace, which i send you a copy of, and has promised to do still better. i will let you know the result; and if it tends to my honour and advantage, and to the preserving of my friends, i will follow your advice in coming to terms, well knowing that it would be very propitious to my interests to make peace before i leave this for italy. if the said peace cannot be concluded, i shall order the said king of france to be kept here in all safety, and will deliberate on the subject of a war for next year.... 'in order to leave these kingdoms under good government, i see no other remedy than to marry the infanta donna isabella of portugal, since the cortes of the said kingdoms have required me to propose myself for such a union, and that on his part the king of portugal offers me a million of ducats, most of them to be paid at once, in order to assist in defraying the expenses of our said journey to italy. were this marriage to take place, i could leave the government here in the person of the said infanta, who should be provided with a good council, so that there would be no apparent cause to fear any new movement.'[ ] [ ] w. bradford, _correspondence of the emperor charles v._ on the st of july charles again writes to ferdinand: 'as to the affairs of my marriage in portugal, it remains in the same state as when i last wrote to you, waiting for the consent of england, as also for your advice on the subject. besides, it is right that before my departure, i should know whether i shall have peace or war; and seeing that there is every hope of the said peace being concluded, only that time is requisite for it, i have settled to put off my italian journey till next march or april. thus i shall have time enough to be married in september, by which arrangement also i shall be able to receive the said consent, and your advice, and to ascertain the fact or failure of the said peace.'[ ] [ ] _ibid._ the following letter from charles to henry viii., breaking off his marriage with princess mary, and giving all his reasons for so doing, is a most interesting diplomatic document. it is a pity that king henry's answer has, as far as we know, not been preserved:-- 'my good father and brother,--i had ordered peñalosa to tell you what you must since have heard through your ambassadors at this my court, who have likewise delivered your message to me. my answer to them has been that no alliance in the whole of christendom could give me more pleasure than yours, not only owing to the great friendship which has existed of old between our royal houses, but on account of the great affection and love which you have shown me, whenever we have met together. i believe that my sentiments are well known to you, and i can assure you that my affection has not diminished in the least, but, on the contrary, is daily increasing, so as to become in time an almost indissoluble tie betwixt two brothers. 'you must know as well as i do the disasters and public calamities which this present war has brought on the christian world at large, and on the empire in particular, and the great lack there is of appropriate remedy. to the cure of those evils it is my intention to apply myself entirely, since i am duly bound to do so; but i find one great obstacle in my way. you are aware of the great evils and disasters which my absence from these kingdoms once caused, owing to my not having been able to make such provision as was needed for the government of this country. in consequence whereof my subjects are pressingly requesting me to marry a princess who may fill my place, and govern during my absence, which is, in my opinion, the only way to keep them contented, and enable me to go about freely, and attend to my personal affairs. the only remedy i see for this difficulty, and for many others--which to so poor a writer as myself would take too much time to describe--is to anticipate the time of my said marriage, and likewise the payment of the sums to be allotted as the princess's dower. but as your ambassadors here have positively declared to me, in your name, that this expedient can nowise be adopted, nor the said marriage effected until the conclusion of a solid and lasting peace, i see no way to obviate the said difficulties, and ward off the impending evils. i hope you will be reasonable enough to appreciate at its due value the answer i have just given to your ambassadors, and will consider it as both just and expedient in the present state of my affairs. as to the continuance of our mutual friendship, on that point there is not the least danger. i can assure you there is nothing i desire so much, being of opinion that, although the form and terms of our alliance might be altered through my marrying in another quarter, yet our amity is to continue the same as ever, and so to be increased as to secure the mutual and lasting alliance which would have ensured from my union with the princess, your daughter. the better to accomplish the said object, and provide for our common interest, thereby promoting the welfare of christendom at large, i propose that you and i should work together for the conclusion of a durable peace, likely to turn to our own mutual advantage and profit, so as to satisfy our consciences and discharge our duty towards god as christian princes; and if, through our enemy's fault, the said peace should not be made, to devise together such means as may ensure the fulfilment of our common wishes, and the satisfaction of our claims. 'if, therefore, owing to the above-named reasons, i were obliged to marry (another princess), i beg you not to take it in bad part, or suffer it to be the cause of our mutual love and affection being lessened, for i can assure you that i shall wait for your answer, and delay as much as possible the said marriage; and that when the ambassadors receive your powers and communicate your wishes to me, you will be convinced of my goodwill and desire to foster and increase our mutual amity, and to procure your welfare as much as my own. and that you may trust to the sincerity of my professions i hereby affix my signature as a proof of my constant wish to be for ever your good son, brother, nephew and good friend. charles '(toledo) th august '[ ] [ ] _calendar of state papers_, vol. iii. we do not know how king henry received the above communication, but soon after, the news reached margaret that he was thinking of entering into an alliance with france. this she foresaw would probably lead to another war, and at once prepared to put the netherlands into a state of defence. she summoned the states, and again begged for , florins. the states refused to grant her request, saying the country had been drained to the uttermost, and commerce was at a standstill. but margaret would not give in, and the states were convoked again at gertruydenberg. the count of hochstrate, as head of the council of finance, going from town to town trying, by coaxing and promises, to raise the desired sum. louise of savoy now sent her secretary, viardi, to brussels to persuade margaret to arrange a truce of six months in order to give her time to treat for the king's ransom and conclude a peace. margaret listened favourably to viardi's mission, and commanded the count of hochstrate, the archbishop of palermo, and the count of berg to meet him at breda, where a truce was arranged in henry of nassau's palace. charles does not appear to have been consulted as to the terms of this armistice, and, much annoyed, he sent the following sharp rebuke to his aunt:-- 'madame, my good aunt!--i have received your letters by richard, and quite approve what you were able to communicate to him in what your memory served you. 'i have received also a copy of the treaty of cessation of hostilities, which you have concluded. but i cannot conceal from you, madame, that i have found it very strange, and very far from satisfactory, that this should have been done without knowing my intentions, and without receiving instructions on this behalf, and powers from me. i have found it convenient, both for the advantage of my affairs and the preservation of my authority as heretofore, to declare to the ambassadors of england, and still more to those of france, that since the said treaty has been entered into without instructions and powers from me, i shall neither acknowledge it, nor ratify it, nor cause it to be observed. 'before the arrival of the said richard, i was already in communication on the subject of a cessation of hostilities in all my kingdoms and countries generally, which i consider much more suitable than any partial or particular arrangement, and have just concluded a treaty, with the participation and consent of the said ambassadors of england (as principal contracting parties jointly with myself), wherein the articles are much more to my honour than they were in yours. in fact, there are two points in the latter so ill-advised as to condemn the whole. you bring forward england alone as an ally (as does also the duke of cleves), and promise to offer no assistance to the enemies of france, which is directly in contradiction with the treaties in force with england, and tending to call forth war against spain and other of my states, in which case you become incapable of offering any assistance whatever. thus the ambassadors of england know very well how to pretend that they cannot escape from the position in which they would be placed, which is in fact as much, or more, to my disadvantage than theirs; and as to the french, they may fairly say that all which has been demanded has been granted them. 'i am quite sure that this great error, madame, is not arising from any oversight of yours, and that you have been led to understand that there was some necessity for it; at the same time i am very far from being satisfied with those who have allowed themselves to proceed in this matter without my command, and who have presumed to counsel you on subjects of such grave importance as ought never to be treated of without my knowledge and approval. 'madame! i send you a copy of the cessation of hostilities concluded here, in order that you may cause it to be published duly, and at the time therein declared, and to be strictly kept and performed according to its form and tenor, setting aside your own as null and void, as well as the publications which may have taken place; for it is my express intention that it should not be held of the smallest force or value; insomuch that if i had not even concluded a treaty, as aforesaid, here, i would not have permitted yours to be carried into effect. 'madame! may our lord have you in his holy keeping. written at toledo, the th of august. * * * * * 'further, madame,... i have ratified the neutrality of burgundy, as you desire, and i have included you, as well as my brother the archduke and all your country and subjects, in the treaty for the cessation of hostilities, which has been here negotiated; and in all i may be able to do for you, for your affairs and your welfare, i shall always and most willingly do the same for you, my good mother and aunt, as for myself, praying god to give you all your heart's desire. written at toledo, the th of august .'[ ] [ ] w. bradford, _correspondence of the emperor charles v._ we can imagine how much upset margaret must have been at receiving this severe rebuke which was called forth by the report that the emperor had just received from his ambassadors in london giving an account of an interview they had had with wolsey, in which he expressed great surprise and annoyance at the truce which margaret had just concluded with france. 'the treaties of windsor stipulated,' he said, 'that neither of the contracting parties was to conclude a truce without the consent and full approval of the other one. we have so far adhered to this, that, though the king has been often solicited by the french, he has never given his consent to it.... i should never have thought that, after so many stipulations, promises, and declarations made by madame, she would have been the first to break through them. '... any plans and designs which the emperor, mons. de bourbon, and the king, my master, may have formed in this particular matter are ruined for ever through madame having granted this truce to our common enemy. '... in fact, i do not know how i shall be able to appease the king's anger when he hears of it, for he has always maintained that madame was incapable of doing anything in this matter without letting him know first. the perplexity and doubt by which madame is said to be assailed, and which have induced her to take this step, are no excuse for her acting thus; for she ought first to have consulted the king, my master, and stated her reasons, instead of deciding, as she has done, for herself, and then sending an agent to acquaint him with her resolution, which was by no means an honourable proceeding....'[ ] [ ] _calendar of spanish state papers_, vol. iii. margaret's reply to her nephew explaining her reasons for her conduct has unfortunately not been preserved, but she evidently found means to soothe his anger, for ere long they were again on the best of terms. charles was genuinely devoted to his aunt and held her in the highest esteem, and to the end of her life margaret enjoyed his full confidence, and was always consulted by him on every occasion of importance. king francis had been brought to spain in june, but it was not until august that he was removed from valencia and its neighbourhood to madrid. on his arrival in the latter town he was bitterly disappointed to learn that the emperor was away hunting in segovia, for he had hoped much from a personal interview and his own powers of persuasion. although comfortably lodged and treated with every mark of respect, the unaccustomed life of seclusion soon told on his health, and the report spread that he was dangerously ill. on hearing of his illness his sister margaret, duchess of alençon, hastened to spain, provided with full powers from her mother, the regent, to treat for peace. on the evening of september the th charles was out hunting when he received the news that the french king was dying. immediately he set out for madrid, and without hardly drawing rein he rode straight to the alcazar. francis was asleep when he arrived, but the emperor waited until his prisoner awoke, and then as the invalid slowly raised himself, exclaiming, 'here i am, my lord emperor, your servant and your slave!' courteously replied, 'not so; you are my good friend and brother, and i hope that you will always be so.' he begged francis to keep up his spirits, and only to think of getting well: saying 'that when his sister the duchess of alençon arrived, peace and liberty would soon follow, for he only asked for what was reasonable, and did not doubt that francis would do what was just.'[ ] the next day charles paid the king another visit, and was equally kind and considerate, leaving him very much improved in health. as the emperor descended the stairs from the invalid's room, he met the duchess of alençon, who had just arrived, and after warmly greeting her, conducted her to her brother. the duchess margaret was a very attractive, graceful woman, and charles had been warned by his ministers not to receive her, for as they said, 'being young and a widow she comes... to see and to be seen,' and they feared that the emperor might fall in love with her; but though charles kissed her and had private interviews, not all her charms could make him relax one point in his conditions of her brother's release. after many fruitless efforts and endless discussions margaret was obliged to return to france without having secured the much-desired peace. on the th of november perrenot de granvelle[ ] wrote a long letter to margaret of austria from toledo, giving her an account of the duchess of alençon's visit:-- 'madame!... in fulfilment of your wishes, and in accordance with the good pleasure of the emperor,... i forthwith went to take your letters to the king (francis i.), and on your part to pay him a visit. i had long audiences with him, at four different times after the fever had subsided, when i found him in a good disposition to receive me, though extremely weak from the severity of his malady. he told me that he and his kingdom were much indebted to you, madame, for the desire you had manifested for peace, and a good intelligence and amity between the emperor and him, and consequently for his deliverance; which, if god should please to grant, he must always esteem you, even as a second mother, with whose advice and counsel he should be happy to govern his affairs; adding many other fair and courteous expressions. on this subject and his ardent desire for peace, as well as for the friendship and good graces of the emperor, he spoke much, devising at large the means of effecting it, and always recurring to the idea of a marriage as the principal thing to build upon. he also repeated his assurances of the desire he had to contribute to the aggrandisement of the emperor, and to assist in forwarding all his enterprises, referring all the means and details to the aforesaid madame d'alençon.... madame! i met on my journey the said lady, and delivered to her your letters; and whilst i had this opportunity, with the knowledge and will of the emperor, i went to visit her, and have reason to think that i gave satisfaction without any cause of distrust on the one side or the other. 'madame! i have since recovered the copy of the letter which the emperor had written to m. de praet, and of other writings which i now send, as a summary of the communications which here took place. at the commencement, the said lady recapitulated the proposition which had already been entertained respecting the marriage, the ransom, or the cession of the duchy (of burgundy) on condition that it should be pronounced by the parliament of paris a possession belonging of right to the king, who would be ready to give hostages in this case, to ensure its surrender. on this point, however, the emperor declared, as he had before done, without any reference to the marriage, that no ransom would satisfy him, nothing less than the duchy, his ancient heritage, the foundation of his order, of which he bore the name and arms, rejecting the conditions attached to it as wholly inadmissible. some days afterwards, the said lady made a proposition to the emperor, who went to visit her at her lodgings, to choose arbitrators, which he had before refused, and which he then, as she told me the same day, was ready to agree to. afterwards, however, when she was in conference with the ambassadors, they came to a standstill when they touched on the aforesaid condition relating to the parliament of paris, and the hostages which the emperor, they maintain, would not accept.... communications have passed in writing on both sides, of which the result has been nothing more than is above related. they have now taken their leave, both the duchess of alençon and the ambassadors, declaring that the king has fully made up his mind not to resign the said duchy except on the condition already proposed, choosing rather to submit to perpetual imprisonment; and this very day the said lady has sent to demand her passports, that she may return to france under the same security as she travelled hither, which has been granted her. no further movements or proposals have since taken place, the emperor continuing in the same determination to obtain possession of the duchy; and if the said lady takes her departure, as appears her intention, the hope of peace which has been excited by her arrival, and the subsequent attempts at negotiation, as well as by the arbitration supposed to be agreed on, will altogether vanish for the present. 'madame! on sunday last, the th of this month, i received by richard the letters and other papers which you were pleased to send me. the emperor was at that time on a hunting expedition five leagues hence, with a few attendants, having previously taken leave of the duchess of alençon; and on his return i presented to him your letters. i discussed with him at length the two principal points relative to the peace or truce, and the commercial arrangements in which your country is concerned.... to all this his majesty gave a willing ear, and seemed to take in good part all that was said.... 'madame! whatever might have been the opinion offered, it has certainly come to pass... that peace has been made with england, and according to articles which had been proposed and resolved upon before the battle and capture of the king.... among other causes, it has chiefly arisen, as is pretended, out of the truce made in your country, as well as from the correspondence which has passed, and your frequent declarations, that as far as your interest was concerned, you had abandoned all thoughts of war. concerning this matter i gave a sufficient explanation, and satisfied his said majesty, as i hope thereupon....'[ ] [ ] e. armstrong. [ ] nicolas de perrenot, known as the sieur de granvelle. [ ] w. bradford, _correspondence of the emperor charles v._ at last, on the th of january , the treaty of madrid was signed between charles v. and francis i., and the emperor at once wrote to margaret to inform her of the joyful news, enclosing a summary of the treaty. in return for his freedom the french king agreed to give up the much-coveted duchy of burgundy and the counties of charolais and hesdin, to allow the sovereignty of flanders and other countries of the emperor within france. to renounce all claim to naples, milan, genoa, and asti, as well as to tournay and arras. to reinstate the duke of bourbon in all his property; and set at liberty the prince of orange without any ransom. it was agreed that all prisoners on both sides should be liberated; and that the duke of gueldres should be allowed to retain his title during his lifetime, on condition that at his death his duchy should pass to the emperor. the king's marriage with queen eleanor of portugal was to take place as soon as possible, the queen bringing , crowns in gold as her dower, besides the counties of macon, auxerre, and bar-sur-seine, which were to be settled on her and her heirs. it was especially stipulated that if the king should be unable to restore burgundy or carry out other parts of the treaty, he should again return to captivity, leaving the dauphin and his second son as hostages.[ ] [ ] _calendar of spanish state papers_, vol. iii. the emperor also wrote to margaret on the th january asking her to convoke the states-general for the nd of may, to inform them of the peace that had just been concluded. but francis had no intention of keeping the promises which had been wrung from him under compulsion, and he secretly resolved to break faith with the emperor as soon as he regained his liberty. a few days after the treaty of madrid had been signed margaret had the sorrow of losing her niece, isabel, the young queen of denmark, who died near ghent on the th of january, at the age of twenty-five, and was buried in that city. her life with christian ii. had not been a happy one, and it was said that she died of a broken heart. her three children, john, dorothea, and christina,[ ] she left to her aunt margaret's care, 'whom she had always called her mother.' margaret nobly fulfilled this trust, and tenderly watched over the children until her death. she appointed the learned cornelius agrippa, then residing at her court, as tutor to prince john, who at the time of his mother's death was only eight years old. in a letter to ferdinand charles thus mentions their sister's death: 'i am very sorry for the death of our sister the queen of denmark, and have taken care that prayers should be said for the repose of her soul. i would willingly recommend to you her children our nephews, who are at present in the hands of our dear aunt in flanders.' [ ] christina married first francesco sforza, duke of milan, and secondly the duke of lorraine. her beautiful portrait by holbein, lent by the duke of norfolk, hangs in the national gallery. her elder sister, dorothea, married frederick, count palatine. the portraits of isabel's three children in one picture by mabuse are at hampton court palace. [illustration: the children of christian ii and isabel of denmark in mourning dress for their mother from the painting by mabuse at hampton court palace] on ash-wednesday, the th of february, charles de lannoy wrote to margaret from madrid to inform her that the emperor had arrived the day before, and king francis had gone outside the city to meet him. after supper they had spent two hours talking together, and seemed well pleased with each other. the king had begged permission to see queen eleanor, which was granted, with the assurance that as soon as he set foot in provence she should be delivered over to him. lannoy goes on to say that he has been ordered to attend the king on his way to france. on february the th the abbot of najera mentions in a long letter to the emperor that peace had been proclaimed in milan on st. matthew's day, the th of february, which was looked upon as a good omen as it was the emperor's birthday as well as the anniversary of the victory of pavia. but a little later john jonglet wrote to margaret from london that 'it was publicly asserted that the king of france would not keep his treaty with the emperor, as the states-general of his kingdom would never sanction the dismemberment of his crown.'[ ] [ ] _calendar of spanish state papers_, vol. iii charles himself seems to have suspected that francis might play him false, for, on the th of february, he had written to de praet that ... 'as the said seigneur king (francis) is bound to deliver up to us certain hostages, as you will see by this treaty, we desire that you will well and carefully inform yourself who the said hostages are to be, whether the king's two eldest sons, or monseigneur the dauphin, and twelve of the principal nobility... that you take especial notice of, and be regardful of the persons of the three children of france, that you make yourself thoroughly acquainted with the visage, physiognomy, size, and person of each, that when it comes to the delivering of them over... there may be no trickery in substituting one person for another, and that you may be able of a certainty to recognise them as the identical persons whom we ought to have. our viceroy of naples is to take the charge of the said delivery and acceptation, and as you are aware he can have no particular knowledge himself of the said children, it is a matter of necessity that you should be well acquainted with all these particulars....' in another letter to de praet he says: 'on shrove-tuesday we reached madrid, where we had the satisfaction of finding ourselves with the sieur king, reciprocally exchanging such sentiments and good offices as two attached friends and brothers entertain and exercise together.... 'we remained at madrid tuesday evening, wednesday, and thursday, and on the following day departed thence with the said king our brother, and slept four leagues from madrid, in order to reach illescas, two leagues further, on saturday. at illescas we shall find the queen our sister (eleanor). here they will meet and see each other, and speak together; and then the king will return to madrid, and we shall continue his companion in the evening. the next day he will begin his journey direct for bayonne accompanied by our said viceroy. soon afterwards our sister the queen will also set off for the same, attended by our constable of castile. and as to ourselves, we intend to take the road towards seville, where we shall find our empress, and where our marriage is to take place.'[ ] [ ] w. bradford. on the th of february charles wrote to louise of savoy:-- 'madame, my good mother,--since i have given back a good brother to the king your son, and am offering you the queen my sister for a daughter, it appears to me that, in order not to present you one son only, i should resume the name which i used formerly to give you, and should again address you as my good mother; and seeing that i do so consider you, i pray you to act as such towards the said queen my sister, as well as towards myself. i came to this town of madrid to see the king your son ... and i was sorry not to have been able to do so sooner, but i am greatly rejoiced at finding both his health and his affections in so different a state from what they were when i last saw him. the love and friendship which he professes to bear towards me have given me no small satisfaction, and i nowise doubt the sincerity of these good feelings, which i hope you will assist in confirming, as you have promised me by your letters that you would do. on my part i assure you that the love and friendship i bear towards him are most sincere, and that i am fully prepared to accomplish everything i have promised. 'you request in your said letter that the king... should take the queen, his wife, my sister, with him. as soon as the king ... has ratified and sworn to the treaties, and that all things are concluded between him and me, she shall be given up at bayonne according to your desire. this shall be done by my viceroy of naples after he has liberated the king... and has received the hostages that are to be given. 'and now, madam, that he may no longer distress you by his bad writing, he who looks upon you as his good mother will conclude by recommending himself with all his heart to your kindness, and will sign himself,--your good son, charles[ ] 'to madame the regent of france, my good mother.' [ ] w. bradford. from the emperor's itinerary we learn that queen eleanor left off her mourning on being affianced to the king of france. on her arrival at talavera she was met by the emperor and the duke of bourbon. on the th of february the emperor and the king of france went together to illescas, where they paid a visit to the queen eleonora and queen germaine de foix, accompanied by the countess of nassau and other ladies, who received them on the stairs. they then went into a saloon, where the four sat down under a canopy, and were engaged in conversation, whilst the ladies of the court amused themselves by dancing.... on the rd of february the emperor took leave of his sister, the queen of france, who remained at illescas, and pursued his journey towards seville, where the princess isabella of portugal, his affianced bride, was to meet him on the th of march. he made his entry into seville on that day, and on the th his marriage was celebrated with much pomp. at the magnificent festivities which followed, it is recorded that m. de la chaux opened the ball.[ ] [ ] w. bradford. in a letter to his brother ferdinand, charles thus briefly refers to his wedding: 'i have now entered upon the estate of marriage, which pleases me well.' and yet this marriage, begun under such unromantic conditions, turned out very happily, for isabella was a capable princess, who, besides her beauty and clear complexion, had a good heart and sound judgment, and charles, we are told, 'lived in perfect harmony with her, and treated her on all occasions with much distinction and regard.' guillaume des barres, one of margaret's secretaries, sent his mistress the following description of the bride: 'i would give much that you could see her, for if you have been told of her many beauties, virtues, and goodness, you would find still more, and you should see how happy they are together.'[ ] on april th, , margaret sent an embassy to spain to congratulate charles on his marriage, and present her good wishes to the empress, to whom she wrote, 'that she wished that things could be so arranged that she could come and visit the countries over here (flanders), which are so beautiful and adorned with such fine towns....'[ ] amongst other things her ambassador was ordered to tell the emperor 'that the archduchess had the greatest pleasure in trying to extirpate the sect of the lutherans,' and on his own account he added that his mistress lived so simply and economically that there was no chancellor of a province, nor sub-governor or lieutenant in the country, who lived as simply as she did.[ ] [ ] _mss. de la bibliothèque de bourgogne._ [ ] _ibid._ [ ] _ibid._ meanwhile, on the th of march, king francis had been set at liberty. charles in a letter to his brother says: 'the king of france was restored to his kingdom on the th of this month (february), on my receiving the dauphin and duke of orleans as hostages, whom i have desired to be taken to burgos; and the said king of france promises to accomplish all that he has engaged in by the treaty of peace....' guicciardini gives the following interesting account of the exchange of prisoners at fuenterrabia: 'by this time the french king was come to fuenterrabia, a town appertaining to the emperor, standing near the ocean sea upon the frontiers of biscay and the duchy of guyenne; and on the other side the lady regent was arrived with the children of france at bayonne, which is not far from fuenterrabia.... then the th day of march, the french king, accompanied by the viceroy, captain alarçon, with fifty horse, came to the shore of the river that divideth the realm of france from the kingdom of spain; at the same time m. de lautrech, with the king's children, and the like number of horse, presenting themselves on the other side. there was in the midst of the river a great barque made fast with anchors, in which was no person. the king approached to this barque in a little boat, wherein he was accompanied by the viceroy, etc.... all armed with short weapons, and on the other side of the barque were likewise brought in a little boat, m. de lautrech, with the hostages... after this the viceroy went into the barque... and the king with him.... m. de lautrech fetched out of the boat into the barque the dauphin, who being given to the viceroy... was forthwith bestowed in his boat, and after him followed the little duke of orleans, who was no sooner entered the barque than the french king leaped out of the barque into his boat with such swiftness that his permutation was thought to be done at one self instant, and then the king being brought to the shore, mounted suddenly (as though he had feared some ambush) upon a turkish horse of a wonderful swiftness, which was prepared for the purpose, and ran without stay to st. john de luz, a town of his obedience, four leagues from thence; and being there readily relieved with a fresh horse, he ran with the same swiftness to bayonne, where he was received with incredible joy of all the court.'[ ] [ ] published in . mentioned by w. bradford in his _correspondence of the emperor charles v._ in a despatch to the emperor, written on march rd, ochoa de ysasaga announced that 'the day that the king of france was released from his captivity he leaped from the boat, with water up to his knees, mounted a horse that had been prepared for him, and rode without stopping to st. jean de luz, where he dined, and was visited by the flower of the french nobility, who came to congratulate him.[ ] [ ] _calendar of spanish state papers_, vol. iii. and thus charles let slip his chance, and omitted to reap the fruitful august, which lannoy, in announcing the victory of pavia, had declared comes to a man once and once only in his life. chapter xiii the ladies' peace the eventful year was not to close without further troubles for the house of austria. the sultan solyman, taking advantage of the war in italy and the consequent absorption of the principal rulers of europe, had pushed his conquests in the east until his vast hosts encamped before the walls of vienna. louis ii., king of hungary, who had married margaret's niece mary, seeing his kingdom thus invaded by the turks, sent urgent appeals for help to all christian princes. but either the neighbouring powers were too much occupied with their own affairs, or they did not realise the actual danger, for they returned cold and indifferent answers, and even the emperor delayed sending aid to his brother-in-law until too late. on the th of august a decisive battle was fought on the plains of mohacs between the hungarian army and the troops of solyman, and ended in the utter defeat of king louis, who before the day was over lost his crown and his life. two months after, his body and that of his horse was found sunk in a bog, into which he had ridden during the retreat. his next heir was his sister anne, who had married margaret's nephew, the archduke ferdinand. and it was in right of his wife that a few months later ferdinand was elected to the thrones of bohemia and hungary. an interesting correspondence between margaret and her nephew ferdinand gives full details of these stirring events. on the th of september ferdinand wrote to margaret from lintz:--'madame, my good aunt,--the news has just reached me that the turk with two hundred thousand men met the king of hungary, my late brother-in-law, about twenty miles from buda, where he was with forty thousand men to defend his country. on the th of august last he gave battle, which (battle) was won by the turk, and all the late king's large quantity of artillery was destroyed and he himself slain, some say whilst fighting, others, that seeing the said battle was lost, he retreated, and thinking to escape, entered a morass, where he remained, which seems most probable. thus, madame, you can imagine how perplexed i am to be deprived of money and help against such a formidable power as the said turk.... to-day news has reached me that the said turk has taken the town of buda and that he has despatched two of his principal captains, each with a good number of men, one to invade my country of austria... and the other to do the same in styria, which they have already begun to do, and have gone within fifteen or sixteen miles of vienna. and you ought, madame, as a good lady and experienced princess, to help the emperor, my lord and brother, to make peace with our common enemies to his greater honour and safety, as soon as possible... and diligently make every effort to repulse this cursed turk, which i very humbly beg you to do, for if his majesty does not quickly find a remedy, not only i, our house of austria, and all germany will fall into complete ruin and desolation, but also the whole of christianity.... 'as to the affairs in italy, they are, madame, also in a very bad way, owing to the enemies' great power and our insufficient number of men.... i have sent messire george de fronsberg... to augsbourg with the best jewels and rings that i have... for, madame, i neither have or know of other means to raise money to send help... so you can imagine to what poverty i am reduced.... and at present i do not know of anything else worthy to write to you about, excepting to beg you, madame, very humbly to send some help and succour if you can... for i am so much in need of money, without which i can do nothing, because of the great expenses i have had since i came to germany.... and it may be that for lack of help and succour you may soon have the same news of me as of the late king of hungary. and as to the queen, my sister, she is about ten miles from vienna, very unhappy and desolate, as you may imagine. i have sent for her consolation and also for her safety some good people and some infantry.... i will inform you of anything more that occurs....' then follows a postscript in ferdinand's handwriting: 'madame, je vous suplie vouloir tenir la main à la pais; car vous voyés bien que c'est plus que besoin.'[ ] [ ] _archives de bruxelles._ margaret replied: 'my good nephew,--i have received your two letters, one of the th and the other of the rd september, and by them have heard of the sad and pitiable news of the death of the king of hungary, the loss of the kingdom, and the state of the poor queen, your sister, my good niece, and above all, the danger which you, your country and subjects are in. i do not know how to express to you the regret and sorrow that i feel, and you can believe that it is not less than if the misfortune had befallen me, and that i was in the position of the queen, your worthy sister, or yourself. in any case it becomes us to conform in all things to the will of god, our creator, the refuge and consoler of the desolate, who never forsakes or abandons those who pray to him with their whole heart.... 'i have ordered your courier in zealand to cross the sea with the first good company that leaves, which is the safest way, and i have written to the emperor reminding him of your conduct and the services you have rendered him, exhorting and imploring him first to assist you in your great and extreme necessity, as i hope he will, and on my part in this and other matters i will do what i can for you and your service. john seigneur de temstel, whom monseigneur de bourbon sent to you, and also messire george de fronsberg have been to see me and told me that the said messire george has not been able to raise money from the fuggers or others on the rings you gave him... for which i am sorry. i have informed the king of england and the legate of the loss of hungary and the death of the king.... monseigneur, if it should happen that you should see the queen of hungary, your sister, or ... that you should send or write to her, i beg you to recommend me to her, and console her for her misfortune as much as is possible, and comfort her and forward a letter which i have written to her.... i beg you, monseigneur, to often send me your news, and i will send you mine from here, and assist you in every way in my power, with the help of our lord.'[ ] [ ] _archives de bruxelles._ ferdinand also received a sympathetic letter from charles, in which the emperor said that 'he could not well express his grief on hearing of the misfortunes and death of king louis of hungary, and at first could not believe the news, although it reached him from various parts.... when his (ferdinand's) letter arrived he had already sent his last penny to italy, and was therefore unable immediately to send help, but he had done his best to procure money, and would shortly send , ducats in bills by a gentleman of his bedchamber, whom he was sending on a mission to him and their sister mary with instructions to carry out his (ferdinand's) wishes in every respect, and hoped that the archduke's affairs would soon be satisfactorily settled....'[ ] [ ] _calendar of spanish state papers_, vol. iii. on the th of december queen mary announced that her brother, the archduke ferdinand, had been duly elected king of hungary and bohemia on the th by all the barons and nobles present at the diet. when charles heard this welcome news he at once sent to congratulate his brother and thanked the states for the part they had taken in his election, promising 'to spend all his treasures and all his blood in their defence.'[ ] [ ] _ibid._ but other important events now claimed the emperor's attention. francis i. had no sooner gained his liberty than he deliberately evaded his promises and refused to ratify the treaty of madrid. on may the nd, , he entered into an alliance with the pope, venice, the duke of milan, and henry viii. this league of cognac had for its ostensible object the peace of christendom, but in reality aimed at expelling the emperor from his possessions in italy, and checking his growing power. as soon as the treaty was concluded, clement vii. absolved francis from the oath he had taken to observe the treaty of madrid on the plea that he had acted under compulsion. when the emperor discovered that the king of france intended to break faith and elude his most solemn promises, his wrath knew no bounds, and he publicly denounced francis as a prince without faith or honour, at the same time accusing the pope of base ingratitude. to these reproaches francis replied by challenging the emperor to single combat, but this interesting duel was not allowed to take place. the peace for which margaret had 'grandement tenu la main' was broken, and war broke out again fiercer than ever. the north italian towns made overtures to the french, and the imperial troops received a decided check in lombardy. money was very scarce, and, worried on every side, charles grumbled that margaret showed lack of energy in raising funds, and reproached her for not squeezing more out of the netherlands. to his other troubles was added the knowledge that lutheranism was making enormous strides in the belgian provinces. margaret's attitude towards the reformers showed great moderation considering the irritation she felt against those sects who added religious dissension to the troubles of a foreign war. she was convinced that overmuch zeal on the part of the orthodox could only do harm, and addressed a circular letter to all religious houses within her jurisdiction, recommending that only wise, tactful, and enlightened orators should be allowed to preach, and advising them always to speak gravely and prudently, and never mention either the reformers or their doctrine. she also forbade all meetings where the divine office was reduced to only the reading of the bible. 'these meetings,' she said, 'aim at alienating the people from the reverence due to the sacraments, to the honour which belongs to the mother of god and the saints, to prayers for the dead, fasting, and other precepts of the church.' she imposed various fines on those who were convicted before a magistrate of reformed practices--twenty francs for a first offence, forty for a second, and eighty for a third. all who were unable to pay were to be banished. but these measures had no effect, and a little later a new edict appeared in which it was proclaimed that in order to check the progress of heresy, those who possessed books written by luther or his followers were to bring them to the governor of the place, under pain of confiscation of goods, or even death. extreme measures were against margaret's nature, but circumstances and the spirit of the times forced her into them. in may of the following year ( ) she received the joyful tidings that a son and heir (philip ii.) had been born to charles on the nd at valladolid. but in the midst of the rejoicings that followed the infant's birth came the startling news that rome had been taken and sacked by the imperial troops, that the constable of bourbon had fallen whilst leading the assault, and that the pope was a prisoner in the castle of st. angelo. this astounding information caused the christening festivities to be brought to an abrupt conclusion, the emperor ordering instead that the court should go into mourning and bourbon's obsequies should be celebrated for five days. charles expressed himself as horrified at the outrages which his lawless troops had committed against the holy see, and was anxious to disclaim any share in the tragedy, which he stoutly maintained had been perpetrated without his knowledge and against his wish. he even addressed a circular letter to the various crowned heads, in which he said: 'his soldiers, perceiving that the pope had been unfaithful to every treaty made with him, were determined to march to rome in spite of their generals. though the excesses and cruelty of the exasperated soldiery have not been so great as his enemies chose to represent at the time, he is still very sorry for what has happened, and can assure them that he has felt the disrespect of his troops towards the apostolic see more than he can express, and certainly would have much preferred to be conquered than to conquer under the circumstances.'[ ] [ ] _calendar of spanish state papers_, vol. iii. part ii. we can imagine, too, with what horror margaret received the news from rome, and how her compassionate heart must have bled as she heard the ghastly tales of murder, rapine, and sacrilege which had been committed in the sacred city. on may the th the emperor wrote to mendoza, his ambassador in england: '... we shall not fail to inform you... of whatever is being done here (valladolid) with regard to the french and english ambassadors, and their commission. we shall likewise apprise madame, our aunt, but as the cipher which you possess is safer than hers, we will use yours for the purpose of transmitting our orders and wishes thereupon.... meanwhile you will write to madame in our name, that without appearing to distrust the english in any way, she may, as of her own accord, immediately provide for the defence of the frontiers both by sea and land, in flanders as well as in holland and zealand, and remember what his reverence the legate of england (wolsey) said on a previous occasion, that once the flemish frontier is broken in upon, the conquest of the land would be an easy matter. should madame require our assistance for the protection of our dominions in those parts, you will tell her in our name that we shall do our utmost to provide her with money and troops for the emergency, and that she is to inform us, as soon as possible, of the military preparations she intends making, in doing which madame is to use your own cipher, of which a copy shall be sent to her immediately, that she herself may write to us, if she so prefers.'[ ] [ ] _calendar of spanish state papers_, vol. iii. part ii. about this time rumours of the unhappy matrimonial relations existing between queen katharine and king henry reached charles from his ambassador in england. on the th of july mendoza wrote from london that '... the king and his ministers were trying to dissolve the marriage between the queen and himself, alleging that the pope had no power to grant a dispensation for the queen to marry two brothers as she had done.... the emperor may believe him (mendoza) that there is so much feeling expressed here ... about the queen's divorce, not only on her own account, but because ... her daughter the princess would be declared illegitimate, that should six or seven thousand men land on the coast of cornwall to espouse the cause of both mother and daughter, forty thousand englishmen would at once join them....'[ ] [ ] _calendar of spanish state papers._ in a sympathetic letter to queen katharine on the th of august charles said:--'madame and my aunt,--i have perfectly understood the verbal message brought by francisco phelipez from you respecting the affair (of the divorce), and the reason why you sent him to me.... you may well imagine the pain this intelligence caused me, and how much i felt for you. i cannot express it otherwise than by assuring you that were my own mother concerned, i should not experience greater sorrow than in this your case, for the love and affection which i profess to your serene highness is certainly of the same kind as that of a son towards his parent. i have immediately set about taking the necessary steps for the remedy, and you may be certain that nothing shall be omitted on my part to help you in your present tribulation. but it seems to me that in the meantime your serene highness ought not to take this thing so much to heart, as to let it impair your bodily health, for if this is preserved, all other matters will be remedied with god's help.'[ ] [ ] _calendar of spanish state papers._ early in september of this same year ( ) margaret sent a courier to the spanish court to announce the birth of a son and heir to ferdinand.[ ] charles was delighted to receive the news, and at once sent a letter of congratulation to his brother, saying 'that he rejoiced more at the birth of his nephew than at that of his own son philip.' [ ] maximilian ii., who succeeded his father. angelo, the pope had at length come to terms with the emperor, still the war in italy dragged on, with many recriminations on all sides. france and england had joined hands against spain, and trade with the netherlands was at a standstill. at length, when all europe was sick of war and longed for peace, wolsey suggested to margaret that she should use her influence to try and bring about a better understanding among the nations, and especially between france and spain. on march th, , margaret wrote to her secretary, guillaume des barres, from malines, instructing him to 'go with all diligence to london to monsieur de burgues' (iñigo de mendoza, just appointed bishop of burgos),[ ] the emperor's ambassador at that court, and present his credentials, and tell him 'that we have received his letter of the th instant and heard of the overtures of peace made by the legate. we are indeed very happy,' she says, 'to see the good turn the affair is taking. you will tell him that we shall spare no personal trouble or fatigue to bring about a general peace,... though it seems to us, and indeed to almost all other people of honest intentions and quick understanding, that king francis ought to have accepted at once the emperor's offers, by recalling his italian army and giving up genoa and his other conquests before his sons were actually released from captivity.... you will... request mons. de burgues to acquaint the legate with our readiness to help towards the accomplishment of peace,... that we have sent you for that purpose, and wish this affair to be conducted between us without the intervention of any other person whatsoever... and,' she adds, 'it is but proper that he himself (wolsey) should have the honour of the affair since the proposal originated with him.' [ ] it was then the custom in the low countries and also in france to designate bishops and archbishops by the names of their respective sees. a conference was held in london, and at wolsey's request margaret was invited to take in hand the arrangements for a general peace, and more particularly one between france and spain. she was asked to work at it conjointly with the cardinal. des barres then proceeded to declare his mistress's intentions and wishes respecting the peace, expatiating at large on the evils resulting from the war to christendom in general, and more particularly to the dominions and subjects of the emperor and the king of france, as it afforded the turk every facility for an invasion, and encouraged the lutheran heresy to spread far and wide. after discussing the subject at length, wolsey begged margaret immediately to send a messenger by land to the emperor, to acquaint him as soon as possible with the result of the conference held with his ambassadors, and the means which they and he conjointly propose for the furtherance of peace. the cardinal promised to apply for a safe conduct through french territory for the gentleman whom madame margaret might choose to appoint.[ ] [ ] _calendar of spanish state papers._ about this time margaret seems to have conceived the idea that it would be better for the interests of all concerned if the arrangements for the peace were made by ladies only, and she accordingly proposed to the emperor that she should meet her sister-in-law louise of savoy at a neutral town and discuss the conditions with her. in a letter to m. de rosymboz, her chief steward, dated malines, rd of january , containing instructions to be laid before the emperor, margaret gives her reasons for this suggestion, and says:--'first, that the bitterness of the reproaches written and spoken on either side were such that ill-will and hatred were the inevitable consequences. the hostilities also which ensued were so fierce that neither of the two sovereigns could compromise his dignity by being the first to talk of reconciliation, a challenge having been given and accepted for settling the differences and disputes by single combat. on the other hand, how easy for ladies... to make the first advances in such an undertaking! secondly, that it is only by a mutual forgiveness of all offences, and the total oblivion of the causes of the war, and of everything that had passed in writing concerning them, that the idea of peace could be entertained. this could not be thought of or proposed by the princes without a sacrifice of what they held most precious, their honour; but ladies might well come forward in a measure for submitting the gratification of private hatred and revenge to the far nobler principle of the welfare of nations. thirdly, were the king of france to conduct negotiations with the emperor, it would be necessary for him to act with especial reference to allies and co-operators, the venetians, florentines, etc., and here a difficulty would arise in effecting a reconciliation with the emperor, not to be surmounted without the probability of some stain upon his honour; but the act of the lady of angoulême, his mother, would in such case take away all responsibility on the part of the king, whilst a similar advantage would present itself to the emperor in silencing the complaints of his friends, who might make objections to the terms of peace. again, in the event of any of the great powers being called in as mediators in a negotiation, such as england or the pope, their own particular interest it is probable would be too much considered, and something perhaps required in little territorial concessions as the price of their interference; whilst the intervention proposed could be subject to no such inconvenience; as the mother of the king and the aunt of the emperor, who regarded him as her son as well as heir, would keep in view one sole object which they had mutually at heart--the general good of europe, in the reconciliation of these two great princes.'[ ] [ ] w. bradford. to these wise arguments the emperor lent a willing ear, and invested margaret with full powers to treat with louise of savoy; and chose the neutral town of cambray as their meeting-place. on may the th margaret wrote to jehan de la sauch from brussels, whom she had sent on an embassy to england, bidding him tell king henry how often she had been requested by louise of savoy to listen to overtures of peace. she had informed the emperor of the said overtures through rosymboz, her chief steward, and her secretary, des barres, whom she had sent to spain; and the emperor, not wishing to be an obstacle to the said peace, sent her at once full powers to treat with all christian princes in general and with king francis and his mother in particular. this fact having been communicated to the duchess of angoulême, measures had been taken to appoint a time and place wherein the preliminaries of peace might be at once discussed and settled. 'she has no doubt,' she says, 'that king henry will be glad to hear the news, and will help to the utmost of his power in establishing peace. for her part she need hardly say how glad she will be to labour for so meritorious a purpose.' maistre le sauch is ordered to return as soon as possible after delivering his embassy and report every word the king and wolsey may say on this occasion, and also what impression the idea of the proposed meeting has produced on each of them.[ ] [ ] _calendar of spanish state papers._ on may the th margaret wrote a long letter to the emperor in cipher from brussels, informing him that she had, with the advice of her council, agreed to meet louise of savoy on the th of the following june at cambray, and there discuss with her the preliminaries of a lasting peace, which she (margaret) had no doubt would be easily obtained, provided the french king felt disposed to be as reasonable as the emperor. she also said it was important to keep on good terms with the english, as their assistance would certainly be required with regard to the indemnity and the debts. and for this end maistre jehan le sauch has been sent to inform king henry of the proposed meeting, stating that nothing shall be negotiated without his being comprised in it.... respecting the emperor's visit to italy (for his coronation), the arrangement of which has given much pleasure to all his faithful vassals and servants, she hopes that he will provide himself with plenty of means, money, provisions and men, for money cannot be procured in italy, and as to reinforcements from germany, it will be next to impossible to procure any under two or three months' notice.... in short, all things considered and 'subject to the emperor's superior wisdom,' her opinion is that the embarkation ought to be delayed until after the negotiations at cambray are concluded, for if the meeting takes place and is brought to a happy conclusion, the emperor will be able to carry out his plans at less cost and with greater chance of success. the french king being unable to help his allies in italy, the pope and venetians will soon come to terms, and everything will turn out well.... she then goes on to point out the various difficulties that may arise at the forthcoming conference, and asks for further instructions from the emperor. in a postscript written on the following day she adds that a gentleman from queen katharine's household has just arrived from england with a message that king henry has recommenced judicial proceedings for his divorce more briskly than before, and queen katharine begs her (margaret) to send two qualified persons to england to counsel and help her. margaret says that 'she intends sending to malines to obtain the opinion of experienced lawyers in that place; and if the person appointed by the emperor to replace don iñigo (mendoza) has not yet left spain, his departure should be hastened, for the poor queen is much perplexed, and there is no one in england who dares take up her defence against the king's will.'[ ] [ ] _calendar of spanish state papers._ on may the th, wolsey wrote to margaret from richmond thanking her for her letter received through her secretary, le sauch, and informing her how glad the king was to hear the news of the prospect of peace. 'as to himself he need hardly say that he is entirely at her service.' the letter is addressed to '_madame ma bonne mère_,' and signed '_votre très humble serviteur et filz._' early in june margaret received le sauch's report of his visit to england. on the rd of may he had had a message from cardinal wolsey ordering him to present himself at windsor on the following day before the dinner-hour. he was introduced to the king on the th, who made many inquiries after madame margaret's health and her present place of residence, and asked what news he (le sauch) brought from flanders. the king then said: 'the news brought by madame's ambassador is very gratifying to me... for certainly i am a man of peace.... you are welcome to my court; i am very glad to hear that the emperor is so well disposed towards peace....' the king also said: 'you will offer madame our most cordial and affectionate commendations, and will tell her that we thank her most earnestly for the good news she has been pleased to send us... and nothing shall be left undone on our part to forward her views, when we have seen the articles, which will, we presume, be sent for our inspection before peace is finally concluded.' le sauch then saw the cardinal, who, after likewise expressing his joy at margaret's message, said: 'you ought to remember that last year i confessed to you that madame was, in my opinion, an excellent princess, and that something good might in that sense be expected from her.' after which flattering speech le sauch took his leave, and the next day left london for flanders. on the nd of june he sent margaret an account of his interview with king francis and louise of savoy at chantilly. 'after presenting his respects to madame louise, he was conducted to king francis, who asked after madame margaret's health and when she was likely to return to cambray,' adding that 'it was his earnest wish to see the present preliminary negotiations come to an issue that he might himself see and speak to madame.' after delivering polite messages from his mistress, le sauch informed the king that she had intended leaving brussels on the previous wednesday or thursday, and hoped to arrive at mons on saturday, stay there over sunday, and go to valenciennes on tuesday, and there wait for news. le sauch mentioned that margaret had been warned not to go to cambray for fear of king francis taking her prisoner, but that her answer had been that 'she had no mistrust or fear of any sort as regarded madame louise or the king, and that if any of her councillors or courtiers were afraid, they might go home.' when it was suggested that at least she ought to have a strong escort sufficient to cope with the french, and, if required, with the people of the town, her answer was 'that if she brought one single armed man in her suite people might imagine she was going on a warlike enterprise, and not on a work of peace. she had started on a mission of peace, and hoped, god willing, to be successful.' the duchess of angoulême then said there was nothing she desired so much as to see her sister (margaret), whom she loved extremely, and cooperate with her in the establishment of a solid and lasting peace. she would have come much sooner had she not been prevented by a severe illness.... she then told le sauch to announce that on wednesday next without fail she would be at st. quentin, and 'that you, madame, would do well to inform the emperor of the impediments thrown in her way by the english and the rest of the italian confederates.... she had no objection to make respecting the arrangements and preparations at cambray for your mutual visits, and was glad to hear that your dwelling and hers were close to each other.' le sauch ends by saying that he hears the meeting is not likely to take place before the following sunday or monday, for 'it is not likely that the queen-mother will travel from st. quentin to cambray, a distance of eight leagues, in twenty-four hours, and most probably she will not stop at crève-coeur. however... nothing has yet been officially announced.' in another despatch, written on the following day, he says: 'madame, the queen and the king, her son, arrived last evening in this town (compiègne). the next day... i repaired to the apartments of the queen, who was just going to dinner. i found, however, means of penetrating into her chamber, and so contrived that she saw me, beckoned me to approach, and asked whether i had news of madame. i answered that i had heard of your departure from brussels on thursday, and that i had been particularly requested to inform her of the fact, and send back what news i had of her intended movements. the queen then observed that she could not well arrive at st. quentin before saturday, and went on to say: "i depart upon this journey frankly and full of confidence in my sister (margaret), sincerely hoping that our meeting and conference will turn out as i wish, and that whatever is agreed upon between us the emperor will approve and ratify. i know not whether you are aware that some of the conditions have already been settled between madame and myself by letter, and that i hardly think madame would like me to undertake this journey for nothing, though i confess that i would have taken even a much longer one for her sake, and to have the pleasure of seeing her." my answer was: "there can be no doubt that both of you will agree on all points--the emperor is sure to consent, and madame herself is not likely to propose anything that he cannot approve." 'the duchess of angoulême then said: "madame need not be jealous of the english, or imagine that they can prevent my journey to cambray, for in no case would i miss the appointment.... the king of england has sent full powers to treat in his name; he and my son being allies, they are therefore unable to discuss peace separately."... she then asked if the cardinal of liége were coming with madame, and if he was a man who would aim at good? i answered: "yes, he is coming... and is strongly attached to peace, and that madame margaret is incapable of bringing in her suite people who do not desire peace." 'the queen-mother then said that she intended bringing her own chancellor... but would not have any princes or nobles in her suite because "her good sister was bringing none, and in truth they were not needed.... of women," she said, "i only take with me those of my own chamber, who are numerous enough, for when queen claude died we kept them all in our service, and many are also wanted for the children.... you may tell my sister what my plans are, and that i hope we may hear of each other daily. write also to her boldly that we must necessarily contend and argue, but that i sincerely hope it will be without anger or ill-will. i will tell her things which she will be astonished to hear. she thinks that the pope is the emperor's friend, but i can assure her that he is very far from being such, for he is evidently trying to prevent the emperor's journey to italy before the treaty is concluded between the parties, and in all other matters he will be found very different from what you think. i do not mean to imply thereby that he acts any better towards us; such is, however, his condition, that he is of no good to us, nor to you, nor to the church itself."'[ ] [ ] _calendar of spanish state papers._ margaret made her entry into cambray at three o'clock on the afternoon of july th, , accompanied by a brilliant suite, and was welcomed by the cardinal of liége and monseigneur von ysselstein, who had preceded her. the bishop of cambray, the archbishop of palermo, count hochstrate, and many others accompanied the procession which slowly wound its way through the town to the abbey of st. aubert. margaret was seated in a magnificent litter, surrounded by a guard of twenty-four archers on horseback, dressed in black suits edged with velvet, and followed by a train of ladies mounted on palfreys. at the abbey, where rooms had been retained for her and her ladies, she alighted, and awaited the arrival of the queen-regent. two hours later louise of savoy made her entry, accompanied by her daughter, the queen of navarre, and the countess of vendôme; and were immediately conducted to margaret's apartments, where they remained in conversation with her for two hours. they then retired to the hôtel st. paul, opposite the abbey, but connected with it by a temporary covered way which had been erected for the convenience of the princesses, who could thus visit each other unseen. many years had passed since margaret and louise had last met, for they had parted when margaret set forth on her wedding journey to marry louise's brother, philibert of savoy, and we can imagine that the meeting between the two princesses must have been one not unmixed with pain. for three weeks they remained together, discussing the political situation from all sides. at last, on the th of july, at ten o'clock in the morning, peace was proclaimed, but was again broken for various reasons, and in despair the queen-mother threatened to leave. however, a few days later all differences were satisfactorily settled, and the treaty ratified on the last day of july. margaret again won general admiration for the able way in which she conducted this difficult negotiation. for this treaty, known as 'the ladies' peace,' was as advantageous to spain and the netherlands as it was humiliating to france. the terms were, in fact, a mitigation of those of the treaty of madrid. it was agreed that the restitution of burgundy was not for the present to be insisted on, though the claim was still maintained. but the king's sons were to be set at liberty on the payment of , , crowns, and the marriage with the emperor's sister eleanor was now to be consummated. king francis was to abandon all his allies, and renounce his claims on the suzerainty of flanders and artois, and abstain from sending further help to the duke of gueldres or robert de la marck. charolais was to belong to margaret for her lifetime, and after her decease to the emperor, but was to revert to the crown of france at his death. the possessions of the duke of bourbon and the prince of orange were to be ceded to francis. on the th of august the two princesses, attended by the papal legate, salviati, the ambassadors of king ferdinand and of the king of england, repaired to the cathedral of notre-dame, where a solemn mass was celebrated by robert de croy, bishop of cambray, who preached a sermon on the benefits of peace. the princesses and the english ambassador then knelt before the high altar, and swore on the consecrated host and the gospels to faithfully observe the peace just concluded. after which the dean of cambray advanced and in a loud voice proclaimed that peace had been concluded between the pope; the emperor charles; francis, king of france; ferdinand, king of bohemia and hungary; and henry, king of england. a separate peace between king henry and madame margaret was also proclaimed. the choir chanted a _te deum_, and with a blare of trumpets and clashing of cymbals the heralds announced to the waiting crowds that 'peace was made.' the princesses were then conducted with much pomp to their lodgings, and money was thrown broadcast amongst the people, whilst wine flowed freely from fountains in the streets, and the whole town gave itself up to merriment and rejoicing.[ ] a beautiful carved wooden mantelpiece was also erected in the council-chamber of the hôtel of the liberty at bruges to commemorate the capture of francis i. at pavia, and the consequent treaty of peace between the nations at cambray. in the centre the statue of charles v. stands in complete armour, surrounded by twenty-seven shields of various kingdoms with which he was allied. on his right are his paternal grandparents, maximilian i. and mary of burgundy, whilst on his left are his maternal ancestors, ferdinand and isabella. this beautiful wooden trophy was the work of hermann glosencamp, andreas rasch, and roger de smet, after a design and under the direction of lancelot blondel of bruges and guyot de beaugrant of malines.[ ] [ ] a medal was struck in honour of the peace, having on one side three 'marguerites,' and on the other two hands joined, surmounted by a caducus, with this inscription: '_pacis ego studiosa, quater bella horrida pressi._' [ ] this mantelpiece, in perfect preservation, is in the palais de justice, bruges. [illustration: carved wooden mantlepiece in the palais de justice, bruges, to commemorate the peace of cambray] clémont marot and jean second also celebrated 'the ladies' peace' in verse, though their poems are not of a very high order. francis i. awaited the issue of the congress at the abbey of mont saint martin, and on hearing of the conclusion of peace he set out on the th of august to pay margaret a visit at cambray, and was present at the festivities given by his mother at the hôtel saint paul. margaret was anxious to conciliate francis, who was so soon to become the husband of her niece eleanor, and during the days they all spent together at cambray she succeeded in making great friends with him; and massé, who was an eye-witness, tells us that he left on the th for paris 'quite delighted' with his visit. a few weeks later we find him writing pathetic letters to margaret begging her to use her influence with the emperor that his sons (who were kept in spain until their ransom was paid) might be better treated, for he heard through his officer, bodin, that they were not as happy as he could wish. margaret was touched at this mark of the king's confidence, and wrote a long letter to the emperor, begging him to grant francis's request, for 'monseigneur, god has given you the blessing of beautiful children, so that you may better feel what a father's love is worth, and can sympathise with the sorrow of the said king; wherefore i beg of you to... grant his request, which is so just and reasonable....--your very humble aunt, margaret.' shortly after, the long-delayed marriage between francis and eleanor was consummated, the king receiving his sons from the hands of his bride at bayonne, where he met them at the frontier. the marshal of montmorency, who accompanied king francis, thus writes to margaret from st. jean de luz:--'madame, i found the queen, whom i have been to see the last few days since her arrival at the frontier, so wise, beautiful, and honest a lady, who conversed with me in as kind and pleasant a manner as possible... and we ought again to thank god for having given us so good and virtuous a lady, of whom it seems to me that i cannot express to you a third part of the good and _honesteté_ that i found in her.' margaret also received constant news from england concerning the progress of queen katharine's affairs. in september eustace chapuys had written to her from london telling her of an audience he had had with king henry, and later with queen katharine. the conference with the king, he said, would have been much longer and more to the purpose had not his majesty been in a hurry to go to dinner in order to repair afterwards to the hunting-field... as he is in the habit of doing at this season of the year. as usual the conversation turned chiefly on the queen's business, the king treating the matter as one in which he was deeply concerned, and which he had much at heart, and trying to appear very learned in canon law. after dinner the king gave permission for chapuys to be conducted to the queen's apartments in order that he might deliver the emperor's letter to her. during the interview her majesty thanked him for all he had said in her favour. on the th of september chapuys wrote another long despatch to margaret giving lengthy details of a further audience with the king, in which the subject of the queen's divorce was once more fully discussed.[ ] [ ] _calendar of spanish state papers_, vol. iv. immediately after the ratification of the treaty of cambray margaret and louise entered into a negotiation to consolidate the peace by a double marriage between the emperor's children and those of king francis. from bologna, where he had gone for his double coronation, charles sent margaret the necessary powers to treat in his name. in this document, which is published amongst the state papers of the cardinal of granvelle, he says:--'because of the very great, perfect, and entire confidence which we have in our said lady and aunt, as in ourselves, and in her experience and prudence, which was shown in the conducting, concluding, and perfecting of the said peace made at cambray, we have by these presents constituted and made our aunt our general and special proxy, etc....' but margaret did not live long enough to carry out this interesting negotiation which would have worthily crowned her political career. as it was, the peace of cambray was her last great diplomatic triumph, but she lived just long enough to see her nephew charles attain the zenith of his power, and receive the double crowns of lombardy and the empire from the hands of the pope, an honour for which her father, maximilian, had sighed in vain. chapter xiv the mission ended before charles left spain for italy he had concluded a separate treaty with the pope at barcelona, the terms of which were more advantageous to the holy see than clement vii. could have expected, considering the emperor's recent successes. but charles was anxious to atone for the insults and outrages committed during the siege of rome, and if possible win the pope as an ally, and get him to oppose his aunt katharine's divorce. amongst other articles he promised to restore all property belonging to the ecclesiastical state, reestablish the medici in florence, and marry his natural daughter, margaret, to the head of that powerful house; allow the pope to decide the fate of the sforza and the possession of the milanese. in return clement was to grant the emperor the investiture of naples, absolve all who had been implicated in the plundering of rome, and allow charles and his brother to levy a fourth of the ecclesiastical revenues throughout their dominions. on october the nd, , margaret wrote a long letter to the emperor from brussels, in which she plainly expressed her opinion of the treaty of barcelona and its probable results:--'i do not pretend to say,' she says, 'that the alliance with the pope is not a good and desirable thing; but your majesty must bear in mind the character of his holiness, his inconstant humour and fickle disposition; and that he must be greatly changed in temper and general condition if he does not try now, as he did last time, to expel you from italy after he has got all he wants from you.... respecting milan, my opinion is that, considering the expense hitherto incurred, your majesty ought by all means to endeavour to remain master of it by investing your son with it, and treating with massimiliano sforza.... the king, your brother, in the meanwhile, must be fully provided with the means of defence, and money procured for him to carry on a good enterprise against the turk.... 'your majesty might attend to your own affairs in italy, and everything being settled there, depart for germany at the head of all your forces, leaving only in italy those strictly required for the defence of milan and naples. this would naturally result in great honour and reputation to your army, which might be paid out of the money collected for the intended expedition, and then you could not only succour your brother, repulse the turk, and perhaps also follow him up to his own dominions, but also increase our faith, which will be a far greater honour and merit than losing your precious time in the recovery of a few towns in italy....'[ ] [ ] _calendar of spanish state papers._ at last the long-looked-for day came when charles, after a triumphal progress through italy, entered bologna, on november the th, for his coronation, at the head of twenty thousand veteran soldiers, and, in token of his humility as an obedient son of the church, kneeled down to kiss the feet of that very pope whom he had but recently retained a prisoner. on st. peter's day, february the nd, , he received the iron crown of lombardy, and two days later (st. matthew's day), the thirtieth anniversary of his birth, he was crowned by clement vii. this ceremony can have been no pleasant task. 'the pope,' wrote the bishop of tarbes, 'tried to show the emperor the best cheer possible; but i think he never in his life performed a ceremony which touched him so near the heart, nor of which less good is likely to come to him. for several times, when he thought no one saw him, he heaved such sighs that, heavy as his cope was, he made it shake in good earnest.'[ ] this memorable day in the annals of the house of austria marked the summit of margaret's ambitious hopes for the nephew she had mothered with such unceasing care. she had lived to see the children over whose welfare she had so tenderly watched grow up to fill some of the most brilliant positions in europe. charles was now a thrice-crowned king and emperor; ferdinand, king of hungary and bohemia (and was shortly to be elected king of the romans); whilst eleanor had become first queen of portugal and then queen of france; the short-lived isabel, queen of denmark; mary, queen of hungary; and katharine, who succeeded her sister, queen of portugal. [ ] e. armstrong. although only in her fiftieth year, margaret began to look forward to the time when she could hand over the government of the netherlands to her nephew charles and spend the rest of her days in quiet seclusion. for her life had been a very strenuous one, full of great responsibility and unceasing work, and now that she felt her mission accomplished, she longed for her nephew's advent and her own retirement from political life. chiefly owing to her intervention, that peace which it had been her lifelong endeavour to promote, now reigned throughout europe, and under her wise rule the netherlands had reached the zenith of their prosperity. art, industry, and commerce flourished in the low countries as they had never flourished before. encouraged by margaret, a brilliant group of artists, poets, and literary men settled at her court at malines. merchants from england, spain, france, and italy attended the great fairs, and traded in arms, embroideries, tapestries, velvets, satins, cloth, and leather goods. malines became noted for its various industries, and brussels, ypres, liége, ghent, lille, and tournay all rose rapidly into commercial centres. architecture made enormous strides, and music, painting, and literature received a new birth. [illustration: interior of courtyard in margaret's palace at malines, now the palace de justice] in her palace at malines margaret collected all that was rare and beautiful, and her rooms were veritable museums, as the inventory written under her direction shows. priceless tapestries hung on the walls, some of which she had brought from spain, whilst others were presented to her on various occasions. many rich and valuable objects are mentioned in her catalogue: statuettes, gold and silver caskets and mirrors, crystal, chalcedony and jasper goblets and vases, carved ivories, amber, corals, and curiously wrought chessmen, beautiful fans, medallions, clocks of rare workmanship which struck the hours and half-hours, magnificent plate, sometimes inlaid with precious stones, glass and pottery, suits of armour, ivory hunting horns, and various relics of the chase. her private library contained many rare and valuable books, chiefly bound in velvet (crimson, green, black, and blue), with gold and silver clasps, besides illuminated manuscripts, several bearing her devices in the borders and strewn with painted 'marguerites.' the 'bibliothèque royale' at brussels possesses several manuscripts from margaret's collection. amongst others, her 'book of hours'; four of her albums; 'la bible historiale,' with portraits of her and philip kneeling at their 'prie-dieu'; her 'album musical,' and her book of 'basses danses' on black paper, with gold notes and letters, containing a set of dances fashionable in her day--'la marguerite,' 'l'espérance de bourbon,' 'm'amour-m'amie,' 'filles à marier,' 'le joyeux de bruxelles,' etc. a portrait of margaret in water-colours is also in the library, and is probably by horembout. when margaret undertook the regency of the netherlands in , her father, maximilian, gave her as a new year's gift a beautifully illuminated _livre de chants_, in the frontispiece of which the united states are represented swearing fealty to her as regent. maximilian is seated in the centre on a throne; in front of him sits his grandson charles, with margaret opposite; and the three young arch-duchesses, eleanor, mary, and isabel, are grouped seated on the ground, whilst the representatives of the united states stand round, and with uplifted hands swear to uphold the regent's rule. this interesting book was one of margaret's most prized possessions, and is now amongst the archives of malines. from the titles of the books in her library we learn how large and varied was her taste in reading: froissart, the _fables_ of Æsop and of ovid, several editions of aristotle, livy, the _letters of seneca_, and the _commentaries of julius caesar_, saint augustine's _city of god_, of which she had four copies, and boethius _on consolation_. besides these, there were _the golden legend_, _the round table_, _lancelot of the lake_, _merlin_, _the story of jason and the golden fleece_, etc. also several books on chess, on the interpretation of dreams, on the nature of birds, and on manners and customs, such as the _miroir du monde_ and the _miroir des dames_; various works of boccaccio, _le livre du trésor_, and phebus on hunting, etc. besides many missals, breviaries, lives and legends of the saints, 'books of hours,' and other religious works. jean lemaire says: 'madame margaret not only read wise books, but she also took the pen in hand to write'... and fortunately many of her poems have been preserved. through nearly all there runs a strain of sadness, of loneliness, and disappointed hope, for margaret's life was very solitary in spite of her great position and many duties; every one came to her for help and sympathy, but there was no one on whom she could lean. her verses are simple, graceful, and to the point, and may well bear comparison with those of her contemporaries. the following charming rondeau in her handwriting is a good example:-- 'c'est pour jamès qu'un regret me demeure; que sans sesser nuit et jour à tout eure tant me tourmant que bien voudroi mourir; car ma vie n'est fors seulement languir, et s'y faudra à la fin que j'en meure. de l'infortune estais bien seure quan le regret maudit où je demeure me coury sus pour me faire mourir, car ma vie n'est fors seulement languir: sy faudra que j'en meure.'[ ] [ ] in the bibliothèque royale, brussels. her poem, 'la complainte de dame marguerite d'autriche, fille de maximilien, roy des romans,' is an interesting résumé of her life and misfortunes, full of feeling charmingly expressed, but is too long to quote here. in the following she gives advice to her maids of honour, and warns them not to trust to lovers' deceitful promises:-- 'fiés-vous-y en vos servans dehure en avant, mes demoiselles, et vous vous trouverés de celles que en out eu des décepvans. il sont, en leurs ditz, observans motz plus doulx que doulces pucelles, fiés-vous-y. en leurs cueurs il sont conservans, pour decepvoir, maintes cautelles, et puis qu'il ont leurs fassons telles, tout ainsi comme abavantz fiés-vous-y.' and again:-- 'belles paroles en paiement a ces mignons présumptieux qui contrefont les amoureux par beau samblant et aultrement. sans nul credo, mais promptement donnés pour récompense à eulx belles parolles. mot pour mot, c'est fait justement, ung pour ung, aussi deulx pour deulx. se devis ils font gracieulx, respondés gracieusement belles parolles.' sometimes she expresses herself resigned to her lonely life:-- 'tout pour le mieux bien dire l'ose vient maleur qui fault soubtenir, si c'est pour à mieux parvenir l'endurer est bien peu de chose. mon cueur en franchise soy tenir tout pour le mieux. de ma part rien je ne propose; viengne ce que pourra venir car dire veulx et maintenir que des emprinses dieu dispose tout pour le mieux.' in the following verses she announces her intention to remain unmarried:-- 'tant que je vive, mon cueur ne changera pour nul vivant, tant soit il bon ou saige fort et puissant, riche, de hault lignaige, mon chois est fait, aultre ne se fera. 'il peut estre que l'on dévisera, mais je pour ce ne muera mon courage, tant que je vive.' these few fragments give an idea of margaret's style, which was simple, clear, and well expressed, but throughout her rondeaux, songs, and ballads, there is an echo of sadness and disappointment. many of her words and expressions are now out of date, but the charm of her personality still lingers in her poems with a mournful pathos none the less touching though written in a french of long ago:-- 'dame infortunée dame de dueil tousiours triste et marrie.'[ ] [ ] régretz de la dame infortunée. but amongst all the treasures she had gathered together, her picture-gallery at malines was not the least interesting part of her wonderful collection. more than a hundred portraits and paintings are mentioned in her catalogue, chiefly by famous artists of the day. amongst others there are several by bernard van orley (her court painter), john memling, michel von coxie, john van eyck, roger van der weyden, mabuse, bouts, jacob de barbari, jerome bosch, gerard horembout, etc. the john van eyck of john arnolfini and his wife joan cenani of lucca (who settled at bruges in ), now in the national gallery, london, was one of the gems of margaret's collection, and is thus mentioned in her catalogues of and :-- 'ung grant tableau qu'on appelle hernoul-le-fin avec sa femme dedens une chambre, qui fut donné à madame par don diégo, les armes duquel sont en la couverte dudit tableaul. fait du painctre johannes.' 'ung aultre tableau fort exquis qui se clot à deux fuelletz, où il y a painctz un homme et une femme estantz desboutz touchantz la main l'ung de l'aultre, fait de la main de johannes, les armes et devise de feu don dieghe esdits deux feulletz nommé le personnaige: arnoult fin.' its history is peculiarly interesting. before it belonged to don diego de guevara, one of maximilian's councillors, who added shutters to it, on the outer side of which were painted his arms and motto. don diego presented the picture to margaret. after her death it came into the possession of a barber-surgeon of bruges from whom mary, queen of hungary, bought it in exchange for a place worth a hundred florins a year. the picture is mentioned in an inventory of the queen's effects in . later it was taken to spain, and in was in charles iii.'s collection at madrid, but afterwards fell into the hands of one of the french generals. in major-general hay, who had been wounded at waterloo, found it in the house to which he was removed in brussels, and after his recovery purchased it and brought it to england, where in it was bought by the national gallery for £ . [illustration: john arnolfini of lucca and his wife joan from the painting by john van eyck in the national gallery] unfortunately we cannot thus trace the history of all margaret's collection. her library at malines was hung with family portraits, from charlemagne on through many dukes of burgundy--her grandfather, the emperor frederick; her parents, maximilian and mary of burgundy; her brother philip; her husband philibert, duke of savoy; her nephews and nieces, at different ages, were all portrayed; and there was also a portrait of herself as a girl. her pictures are all fully entered in her catalogue, with such charming descriptions as:--'une petite nostre-dame disant ses heures, faicte de la main de michel (coxie) que madame appelle sa mignonne et le petit dieu dort,' or 'ung petit tableau ront de nostre-dame que madame fait mettre au chevet de son lit,' or 'ung petit paradis ou sont touxs les apôtres,' etc. margaret not only collected pictures, but she drew and painted skilfully herself, a most unusual accomplishment for a princess at that time, and amongst her possessions was a paint-box and brushes; she also is said to have drawn part of the plans for a church at bruges. during her regency architecture made great progress, and many beautiful buildings were designed and executed. the belfry at bruges, the cloisters of the convent of the annunciation near the same town, and the tower of st. rombault at malines, the hôtel de ville at ghent, besides several churches which were restored and embellished, such as the churches of st. peter and st. stephen at lille, the spire of antwerp cathedral and ste. gudule at brussels. but the greatest monument to margaret's memory and taste in architecture is the church of brou, near the town of bourg en bresse, of which a full description is given elsewhere, and for the construction of which mercurin de gattinare advised 'sa très redoubtée dame de vendre jusqu'à sa dernière chemise.' in this beautiful church the spirit of margaret seems to pervade every part, bringing into perfect harmony the work of the various flemish, french, german, and italian artists she employed. margaret also did much to encourage a taste for music, and the names of several of her musicians and composers have been preserved. maître agricola wrote accompaniments to her songs, and bruneel, josquin des prés, compère, henry isaac, and pierre de la rue are all mentioned as attached to her court. flemish singers were sought for far and wide, especially in italy and france, and many of the pope's choir were recruited from the netherlands. but if margaret did much for art, she did no less for literature. grouped around her stand forth the names of such men as jean molinet, jean lemaire de beiges, adrian of utrecht, cornelius agrippa, erasmus, massé, nicolas everard, renacle de florennes, louis vivés, and many others whom she welcomed to her court, lodged in her palace, and counted amongst her friends. it is no wonder that they sang her praises in prose and in verse, extolling her beauty, her golden hair, fresh complexion, and soft brown eyes, exclaiming how lovely she looked when attending the dances given on festive occasions, or dressed in satin with long hanging sleeves lined with ermine, and followed by her greyhound, parrot, and marmoset, she wandered amongst her roses in her sweet-scented garden at malines. molinet, her librarian, comes first among the poets who celebrated her charms. besides his chronicles, he wrote 'la récollection des merveilleuses,' and several epigrams. the following verses on margaret's return are a curious _tour de force_:-- 'par vous nous vint grâce, miséricorde, paix et concorde, et cordastes la corde, qui se discorde et veult discorder, par bien corder, cordons par concorder, et recorder, accord fut par cordée, la bonne harpe est tantôt accordée.' jean lemaire de belges was born about ; after the death of louis xii. he attached himself to margaret's court and became her historian. he published a curious work called _les illustrations de gaule et singularitez de troye, avec la couronne margaritique et plusieurs autres oeuvres_. in the _couronne margaritique_, margaret figures as the heroine. jean lemaire also published the _triomphe de l'amant vert_, which is the history of a green parrot given by sigismond, archduke of austria, to margaret's mother, mary of burgundy, after whose death it passed into margaret's possession. she was naturally very fond of the bird, and when it died composed the following epitaph:-- 'souz ce tumbel, qui est un dur conclave, git l'amant verd, et le très noble esclave, dont le noble coeur de vraye amour, pure, yvre, ne peut souffrir perdre sa dame et vivre.' the parrot died whilst margaret was on a visit to her father in germany. in lemaire's poem 'l'amant vert' laments his beloved mistress's absence, he stops talking, and contemplates 'putting an end to his short days.' '... et comment pourroit un coeur si gros, en corps si faible et si petit enclos, passer le jour que de moy te dépars? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . o demy-deux, o satyres agrestes, nymphes des bois et fontaines proprettes, escoutez moy ma plainte démener, et tu echo, qui fais l'air résonner et les rochers de voix répercussives! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . or doy-je bien haïr ma triste vie, veu que tant t'ay par terre et mer suivie, par bois, par champs, par montagne et valée, et que je t'ay maintes fois consolée, et tes dangers, naufrages et périlz, Ésquels sans moy n'avois joye ne riz, et maintenant tu laisses ton amant.' 'or pleust aux dieux que mon corps assez beau, fust transformé, pour ceste heure, en corbeau, et mon colier, vermeil et purpurin, fust aussi brun qu'un more ou barbarin.' 'pourquoi t'ay veu tes parfaites beautez, et ton gent corps plus poli que fin ambre, trop plus que nul autre valet de chambre, nud, demy-nud, sans atour et sans guimple, demy-vestu, en belle cotte simple, tresser ton chef, tant cler et tant doré, _par tout le monde aymé et honoré_. quant maintes fois pour mon coeur affoller, tes deux maris je t'ay veu accoller: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . au moins, princesse, en extrême guerdon, je te requiers et te supplie un don: c'est que mon corps n'y soit ensevely, ainsi le me mets en quelque lieu joly, bien tapissé de diverses flourettes, où pastoureaux devisent d'amourettes, où les oiseaux jargonnent et flageolent, et papillons bien coulourez, et vollent près d'un ruisseau, ayant l'onde argentine, autour duquel les arbres font courtine.' the poor 'amant' hopes that pilgrims will come and weep over his grave, and ends by a touching farewell to his mistress:-- 'or, adieu donc, reyne de toutes femmes, la fleur des fleurs, le parangon des gemmes, adieu, madame, et ma maistresse chère, pour qui la mort me vient montrer sa chère. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . fay moy graver sur ma lame marbrine ces quatre vers, au moins, si j'en suis digne. then comes the epitaph quoted above. l'amant vert finally addresses his mistress from the tomb, and describes his descent into hades, where he meets mercury and converses with him in the elysian fields. rénacle de florennes sang margaret's praises in latin verse, and it was largely due to her influence that the emperor appointed him his private secretary. the four everards and jean second all added their tribute in her honour; whilst adrian of utrecht, the future pope, and the learned cornelius agrippa remained through life her firm and devoted friends. during the sixteenth century the beautiful industry of tapestry-making reached almost its highest point of perfection. after the fall of arras in the workmen from that town settled in bruges, brussels, and tournay. amongst the great tapestry-workers were stephen of brumberghe, john of roubrouck, perquin d'ervine, peter van oppenem, john van den brugghe, etc., but the prince of tapestry-makers was peter van aelst, who for more than thirty years turned out tapestries innumerable from his workshops, the most celebrated being 'the acts of the apostles.' although during the middle ages the designs chiefly represented religious subjects from the old and new testaments, in the sixteenth century, with the influence of the renaissance, there crept in a taste for mythological and historical scenes such as those in the hôtel de ville at brussels, or the legend of notre dame du sablon, which latter contains contemporary portraits of margaret and her nephews and nieces;[ ] or the legend of trajan, the story of herkenbald, and the history of julius caesar attributed to the designs of roger van der weyden. john de maubeuge, or mabuse, and bernard van orley also exercised a wide influence over the industry, and their beautiful compositions were much sought after. with van orley a secular feeling prevailed even in his religious subjects. his saints and angels, virgins and apostles, appear almost pagan in design. it is easy to follow the different phases of this beautiful industry in such pieces as 'the acts of the apostles' in the vatican, 'saint gregory's mass' at nuremberg, 'the story of psyche' at fontainebleau, 'the triumphs of bacchus,' the 'rape of the sabines,' etc. [ ] now in the musée du cinquantenaire, brussels. [illustration: legend of 'notre dame du sablon' from the tapestry in the musÉe du cinquantenaire, brussels _it contains portraits of margaret and her nephews and nieces_] after his coronation at bologna the emperor continued his progress through trent, bötzen, innsbruck, to augsburg, where he attended the diet which opened on june the th, . there he met melanchthon and listened to his famous confession, and the long arguments which followed on religious questions. lutheranism was rapidly spreading in germany, but the emperor was powerless to prevent it. charles remained at augsburg until november rd, and then continued his journey towards the netherlands, where margaret was anxiously awaiting him; but she and her beloved nephew were destined never to meet again on earth, for when he reached cologne he received the news of her death. for some time past margaret seems to have cherished the hope of retiring to the convent of the annunciation which she had founded outside the 'porte des anes' at bruges, and spending the rest of her days there in quiet seclusion. from malines she wrote to the mother superior:--'ma mère, ma mie,--i have ordered the bearer of this, whom you know well, to give you news of me, and tell you of my good resolution for some days past, and also inquire how you are, which i hope is as well as you could wish for me. my hope is in the good god and his glorious mother, who will help and keep you for better things. i have given him (the bearer) a memorandum for you, and the pater, your good father, which is from my own hand; from this you will learn my intention. i desire that it shall not get talked about ('n'en soit faict grant bruit'), and for good reason, and with this i will end, begging you to recommend me to our good father's prayers, and also to all my good daughters, praying the creator and his blessed mother to give his grace to you and also to me.--your good daughter, margaret.' then follows the memorandum to estienne, her _valet de chambre_, concerning what he is to say to the pater and the mère ancille:[ ] 'first, that i wish above all to put my religious (community) in such a state that they will never be in great poverty, but will be able to live without begging; and i wish to know... if more money is needed, and if so, how much, that they may not be stinted; for with god's help i will see to all; and every other thing that they desire, they must let me know, for i intend to make there a good end, with the help of god and our good mistress, his glorious mother. [ ] the mother superior was called 'la mère ancille,' a term of humility, from 'ancilla,' servant. 'amongst other things say to the mère ancille, my good mother, that i beg her to make all my good daughters pray for the purpose which i have always told her; for the time approaches, since the emperor is coming, to whom, with god's help, i will render a good account of the charge and government which he has pleased to give me; and this done, i shall give myself up to the will of god and of our good mistress, begging you, my good mother, "ma mie," that i may not be forgotten by yours, and always remain your good daughter, margaret.' concerning the death of the regent of the netherlands very little is authentically known, but from a mss. in the archives at ain, written by an augustine monk, the following account is found:--'early on the morning of the th of november, before rising, margaret asked one of her ladies, magdalen of rochester, for a glass of water. the maid of honour brought her the drink in a crystal goblet, but in taking it back magdalen unluckily let it fall near the bed, where it broke in several pieces. she carefully picked up all the fragments she could see, but one piece lay hidden in margaret's high-heeled embroidered slipper. when the princess got up a few hours later, she put her bare feet into the slippers, and tried to walk towards the fire, but immediately felt a sharp pain in the sole of her left foot. on examination it was found that a piece of broken glass was in the foot; this was at once extracted, but the wound remained, and bled very little. margaret, who was always plucky, soon thought no more of the accident, and neglected the wound. a few days later, however, her leg became greatly inflamed, and she suffered much pain. at last, on the nd, doctors were called in, and a consultation was held. they found that gangrene had already set in, and decided that the only way to save her life was to amputate the foot. the next day, the rd, they commissioned m. de montécute, her almoner and confessor, to break the news to her, and prepare her for the terrible operation. she was naturally much surprised and upset, but with great fortitude consented to undergo the dreadful ordeal. for four days she shut herself up, and would see no one, spending the time in prayer and confession; on the morning of the th she received the sacrament, and on the th and th she arranged her earthly affairs, and added a codicil to the will she had made in . this codicil did not, however, fundamentally alter her former testament. she left charles her sole heir, with the exception of a few bequests, such as 'one of her best rings' to his brother ferdinand, and legacies to her old officers and servants. 'and in order not to abolish the name of the house of burgundy... my said lady begs and implores the lord emperor to be pleased to keep in his own hands the said county of burgundy, and its dependencies, as long as he lives, and after his death to leave it to the one of his children or other heirs who may succeed to these countries (the netherlands), without dividing or separating it.' 'and as a last request of my said lady made to the said lord emperor, she begs him for the universal good of christianity and the safety of his state, to keep, guard, and observe peace and friendship with the kings of france and england, their realms, countries, and subjects; as she hopes to say to him with her own mouth if it pleases god to spare her life until she can see him.' on the next day, the th, the doctors decided to operate, but before submitting herself to their hands margaret dictated a last touching letter to charles, in which she bade him an eternal farewell:--'monseigneur, the hour has come when i can no longer write to you with my own hand, for i feel so ill, that i doubt not that my life will be short. with my conscience at rest and peace, and resolved to receive all that it may please god to send me, without any regret whatever, excepting the privation of your presence, and not being able to see and speak to you once more before my death, which is partly supplied by this my letter, though i fear that it will be the last that you will receive from me. i have made you my universal and sole heir, recommending you to fulfil the charges in my will. i leave you your countries over here, which, during your absence, i have not only kept as you left them to me at your departure, but have greatly increased them, and restore to you the government of the same, of which i believe to have loyally acquitted myself, in such a way as i hope for divine reward, satisfaction from you, monseigneur, and the goodwill of your subjects; particularly recommending to you peace, especially with the kings of france and england. and to end, monseigneur, i beg of you for the love you have been pleased to bear this poor body, that you will remember the salvation of the soul, and the recommendation of my poor vassals and servants. bidding you the last adieu, to whom i pray, monseigneur, to give you prosperity and a long life. from malines, the last day of november .--your very humble aunt, margaret.' and so having arranged all her earthly affairs margaret took a tender farewell of her attendants and friends, and placed herself in the physicians' hands, who, hoping to spare her the pain and shock of an operation, gave her a dose of opium, which was so strong that she fell asleep never to wake again. she passed away during the night of the th of november between midnight and one o'clock, in the fiftieth year of her age, and the twenty-third year of her regency. the archbishop of palermo, jean de carondelet, and antoine de lalaing, count of hochstrate, at once sent to cologne to inform the emperor of the sad news. in their letter they said that the inflammation (gangrene) had spread from the princess's leg to her body (probably from the long delay), and therefore an operation would have been useless. no one, however, seems to have been blamed, and philip savoien, her surgeon, was given thirty philippus 'for having treated madame as well as he could, and for having embalmed her body.' as the archbishop and the count of hochstrate wrote to the emperor: 'madame has indeed shown in her end the virtue that was in her, for she died as good a christian as it seems to us possible to be. she is a great loss, sire, to your majesty, and to all your countries over here.' charles was greatly distressed when he learned that his beloved aunt had passed away, and ordered magnificent obsequies to be performed in the cathedral of cologne, which he attended with his whole court. the funeral sermon, delivered in latin by jean fabri, was listened to with rapt attention by the large congregation which filled the building. margaret was deeply mourned by all who knew her, and especially by the people over whom she had ruled so well. in her will she directed that her heart should be given to the convent of the 'annonciades' at bruges, her intestines to the church of st. peter and st. paul at malines, and her body to the monastery of st. nicolas de tolentin at bourg en bresse, where she wished to be buried beside her husband, philibert of savoy, in the church of brou. her funeral services began in the church of st. peter and st. paul at malines by three solemn masses, and were continued in the cathedral church of st. rombault, which was hung with yards of black cloth for the occasion. the archbishop of palermo conducted the service, which was attended by the grand council and magistrates, and all the guilds of the city. here cornelius agrippa preached her funeral oration, dwelling at much length on her many virtues and great talents. 'we have lost,' he said, 'the anchor on which our hopes rested. we are weighed down with this great affliction, for no greater loss could have befallen us and our country. what consolation can we find in the death of the very saintly princess margaret? we all weep, we all lament her! all the provinces, all the cities, all the towns, all the villages, all the hamlets are plunged in grief, sorrow, and mourning.' on the nd of january , a funeral procession, headed by the young crown prince of denmark, as chief mourner, escorted margaret's body and heart to bruges. whilst awaiting translation to its final resting-place at brou, her body was laid in a vault beneath the high altar in the convent of the 'annonciades'; her heart, enclosed in an urn, was placed in the tomb of her mother, mary of burgundy, in the church of notre-dame, but on the th of february following, it was given to the mère ancille by the emperor's command to replace her body, which, on april the st, , was sent to brou. this long delay in carrying margaret to her final resting-place was due to the fact that at the time of her death the church of brou was not finished, and it was two years before the tombs were completed. but at last in june margaret was laid to rest beside philibert and his mother in the beautiful church which her love and piety had called into being, but whose glories she had not lived to see completed. the funeral ceremonies lasted three days, the th, th, and th of june. accompanied by the chief men of the town, the syndic of bourg went out to meet the funeral _cortège_, which was escorted by the marshal of burgundy, the count of hochstrate, the archdeacon of fauverny, and claud de boisset, who was afterwards bishop of arras. at the service the sermon was preached by brother anthony of saix, commander of the abbey of st. anthony of bourg, in french as well as in latin, so that all might understand. amongst her many talents he mentioned 'her subtle excellence in painting,' in which pastime he asserted she frequently indulged. the leaden urn which contained her intestines was placed in a vault in front of the high altar in the church of st. peter and st. paul at malines, but in the urn was found to be much damaged, and was enclosed in an oaken chest, and reburied under one of the stone slabs in the choir, between the first step of the high altar and the wall, where a small x in the pavement marks the spot. by her will margaret dowered fifty maidens of bresse with fifty pounds apiece, and amongst other legacies bequeathed her wine-glass incrusted with silver, a silver spoon and silver medal to the 'annonciades' at bruges; besides a gilded and illuminated copy of the gospel of st. john, and her rosary, which contained ten agates, on the largest of which were engraved the virtues of the holy virgin mary. this relic had been worn by jeanne de valois, the unhappy wife of louis xii. of france, foundress of the order of the annunciation. the other stones were interspersed with small beads of gold, a gold heart hanging from the end of the rosary. this gift was accompanied by a portrait of margaret painted on wood by bernard van orley, and two touching letters addressed to the mère ancille. the church of the 'annonciades' was demolished in , when the nuns retired to a house called 'fluweelhof' at bruges, carrying margaret's remains with them. in the emperor caused an alabaster monument, decorated with gold statuettes, to be erected to margaret's memory in the church outside the porte des anes. but in it was horribly mutilated by the rebels, and what was left of it was transferred in to the church of the new convent at fluweelhof. a pavement of black and white marble was added, and a figure representing the annunciation of the virgin, before whom margaret was depicted kneeling at her prie-dieu, holding her 'book of hours' in her hands, with her patron saint, margaret, behind her, and her maids of honour by her side, bearing the arms of the empire, burgundy, bourbon, and castile. the débris of the former monument was used to make these figures. in the centre of the niche containing the monument was placed a painted heart in a mirror with this inscription in flemish:-- 'here lies the noble heart of the very excellent archduchess of austria, madame margaret, daughter of the invincible emperor maximilian and of the lady mary of burgundy, his wife, foundress of this convent of the annunciation at bruges, niece of jeanne, queen of france, and foundress of the order of the annunciation, widow of the prince of spain, etc., aunt of his imperial majesty charles v., who gave this heart in the year , the th of feb., in eternal remembrance.' in the same niche behind the figure of st. margaret is the inscription which the emperor also caused to be erected at malines:-- d. o. m. illustrissimae margaritae, archiducissae austriae, invictissimi maximiliani imperatoris natae, ac principis hispaniarum primo, deinde ducis sabaudiae relictae, harum inferiorum regionum gubernatrici. carolus quintus, caesar augustus, amitiae posuit. chapter xv the church of brou the church of brou, near the town of bourg en bresse, was built by margaret of austria in the beginning of the sixteenth century, as a monument to her husband, philibert of savoy, and in fulfilment of a vow made by duke philibert's mother, margaret of bourbon, in . the first stone was laid by margaret in , and the building finished in ; but the work did not really begin until , and the interior decoration was not completed before . whilst in flanders margaret carefully watched over and superintended the progress of the work, but she did not live to see it finished, and after her death charles v. took little interest in the completion of the building. the church was consecrated on the nd of march by bishop jean joly de fleury and dedicated to saint nicolas de tolentin. the church of brou is of the latest, and not the best, period of gothic architecture, but the genius of margaret is visible in all its details, harmonising the work, whether gothic or renaissance, and creating a building of extraordinary beauty. french, italian, and german artists helped in building this princely monument, which remains a fitting memorial to one of the most cultivated women of her time. the plan of the church is very simple. a latin cross with five naves; the transept and sanctuary separated by a rood screen. the length is about feet, and its greatest width, in the transept, feet. outside, the central building is divided into three distinct stories. the façade, with its great door decorated with devices and emblems. an _ecce homo_ in the centre, on either side philibert and margaret kneeling between two angels, and accompanied by their patron saints. a statue of saint nicholas de tolentin guarding the entrance. on the second story are three pointed windows between two galleries. above the upper gallery is a triangular gable with a rose window in the centre, surrounded by three triangular windows, a symbol of the trinity. inside, the carved woodwork of the choir stalls is remarkable for its beauty of detail, variety of design, and delicacy of carving. the stalls are the work of bressian artists, foremost amongst whom was pierre terrason of bourg. they were finished and put up in . there are seventy-four stalls on each side, in two rows--twenty-one above and sixteen below. the design on each stall is different. but the tombs in the choir are the most interesting features of the church of brou. jean perréal (called jean de paris) had been commissioned by margaret to prepare the plans, and after years of work he presented her with a design which she considered perfect, and gave orders to have it carried out. but soon after perréal was dismissed, and van boghen presided over the work. there is little doubt that he made use of the french architect's designs, which margaret possessed,[ ] but he evidently made important modifications, as the work bears distinct traces of flemish influence. the best belgian, french, italian, and swiss workmen were employed on these monuments. the principal work was given to a swiss, conrad meyt, who undertook to make the five large statues. the three monuments are placed in the positions margaret desired in her will of --duke philibert in the centre, his mother on the right, and her tomb on the left. [ ] michel colombe made a model from perréal's plans for the sum of ninety-four florins. margaret of bourbon's monument is built into the thickness of the wall. the princess's statue rests on a slab of black marble, her head on an embroidered cushion, her feet on a greyhound. four white marble children support shields with her initials and the arms of bourbon. on the pillars on either side are five exquisite statuettes. saint agnes and saint margaret stand near her feet, between them a symbolical female figure, whilst near her head are saint andrew with his cross, and saint catherine of alexandria dressed as a maid of honour of francis i.'s court. the sarcophagus is decorated with nine niches containing five cherubs and four 'pleureuses,' or weeping women, whose faces are almost hidden by their drooping hoods, sprays of marguerites being scattered everywhere in great profusion about the moulding of the pillars. in the centre of the choir, facing the high altar, is the tomb of philibert the handsome, duke of savoy. it is divided into two sections. underneath is the 'gisant,' or naked body, a little larger than life. twelve pillars, ornamented with niches containing statues of saints in the dress of the period, surround the dead prince and support a slab of black marble on which the figure of philibert rests in armour, with his coronet on his head, an embroidered surcoat covers his cuirass, the collar of the annunciation (composed alternately of fifteen enamelled roses and the letters f.e.r.t.) round his neck, the mantle of the order wrapt round him, his feet resting on a lion. his face is turned towards his wife on the left, his praying hands towards his mother on the right.[ ] [ ] the order of the annunciation was founded by amadeus vi. in the fourteenth century. the following duties were entailed by the holders of the order, and by the honour conferred on them they undertook: '( ) to assist the dukes of savoy by word and deed on all occasions that their assistance was required, and to protect the oppressed. ( ) to wear constantly the collar or chain of the order, which was composed alternately of love-knots and the letters f.e.r.t. ( ) they were to present to the church of pierre-châtel a chalice, surplice, and all other articles requisite for the celebration of mass. ( ) on their death they were to bequeath livres for the support of that church. at funerals the whole community were to be present, dressed originally in white, and later in black cloaks, which, after the ceremony, they handed over to the carthusian monks; on all other occasions the colour of the cloak was crimson, trimmed with fringes and embroidered with love-knots.'--(from _the book of orders_, burke.) certain alterations were inaugurated by charles iii. of savoy in , who gave the order a new name, 'the holy annunciation'; he also added fifteen enamelled roses, alternating the word 'f.e.r.t.' repeated fifteen times, conjoined by the girdle of st. francis, as previously instituted by amadeus viii. in the collar in place of the love-knots. such is the collar worn by philibert on his tomb at brou, as well as in his likeness in the east window. the meaning of the word 'f.e.r.t.', or the four initial letters, has not been clearly elucidated. many interpretations have been suggested; the only one which seems really probable is that which appears on a gold piece struck in the reign of victor amadeus i., preserved in the medal cabinet of the kings of sardinia: 'federe et religione tenemur' ('we are united by honour and religion').--_notes and queries_, december , . margaret of austria's tomb under the arcade which separates the choir from the chapel of the virgin is much larger than the other two. the princess is represented twice; underneath lies her dead body in the habit of the annunciation, her beautiful hair covering her like a mantle, and her feet bare, showing the wound on the sole of the left foot which caused her death. above she lies as though on a state-bed, wearing her coronet and embroidered robes, her arms folded on her breast. four beautiful cherubs bear her armorial ensigns, two at her head and two at her feet (the work of thomas meyt, the brother of conrad). four columns richly moulded spring from the base of the tomb and support the heavy canopy overhead, around which runs her motto: 'fortune. infortune. fort. une'; whilst everywhere in the richest profusion are carved her emblems, marguerites twining round a palm branch, and the briquet of burgundy in the form of a b interlaced with a st. andrew's cross resting on three stones.[ ] and in the niches of the pillars figures of saints and virgins, marvels of beauty, stand grouped around, as if guarding her last sleep. [ ] the briquet was a kind of gun; the cross of burgundy was the st. andrew's cross. this magnificent monument was the work of many skilled sculptors, amongst others jean de louhans, jean rodin, amé de picard, and amé carré. close to margaret's tomb, behind the altar of the virgin, is a beautiful bas-relief deeply cut in white marble, divided into scenes representing the seven joys of the virgin mary, a masterpiece of carving. in the choir are the original stained-glass windows, happily uninjured by time. the figures of philibert and margaret appear in their robes of state with their patron saints, and are represented kneeling and adoring the saviour. love-knots and marguerites abound in the mouldings round the windows. [illustration: tomb of margaret of austria in the church of brou] in the princess's chapel the stained glass is particularly rich in colouring, and represents the assumption and coronation of the virgin by her divine son and god the father. the apostles below stand round the empty tomb gazing upwards at the glorification of the mother of god. in the lower lights philibert and margaret, richly dressed, kneel at their prie-dieus, supported by their patron saints. on the pavement round margaret's tomb a few of the enamelled tiles may still be seen with which formerly the entire chapel and choir were paved. behind the princess's chapel is her private oratory, which was divided into two stories, with a fireplace above and below. from her apartments in the monastery she could enter the church by a passage across the screen and a hidden staircase, and thus hear mass and see the elevation of the host on both altars, without being seen by those who attended the services in the church. all these details had been carefully thought out by the architect, as a letter to margaret from her secretary, louis barangier, shows. in november he wrote to her from brou: 'as to your chapels, madame,... he (van boghen) will make them opposite this building (the monastery), and intends to construct one which will be a real work of art, for you will be able to descend from above the screen... into your chapel, from which you will see the high altar over your tomb.' margaret had also intended to build a similar oratory in the prince's chapel, but the executors of her will omitted to carry out this wish, and the chapel was never finished, and is now the sacristy. beyond margaret's oratory is the chapel of her councillor, laurent de gorrevod, governor of bresse, which is dedicated to our lady of pity. it contains the tombs of laurent de gorrevod and his two wives, philiberte de la palud, and claude de rivoire, and several members of their family. the beautiful recumbent bronze figures of gorrevod and his wives were destroyed at the revolution, and only the slab on which the statues rested remains, with the founder's motto--_pour jamés (jamais)_, and the initials l. f. and l. c. (the letters of his and his wives' names) joined by the girdle of st. francis. near the south door is the chapel of our lady of seven sorrows, founded in by antoine de montécuto, margaret's confessor and almoner. a fine painting on a wooden panel, by a flemish artist, hangs over the altar, and was one of the sacred pictures sent by margaret from flanders. on the ground outside the church is a curious sun-dial, composed of twenty-four stones arranged in a huge oval, on which are engraved numbers from one to twenty-four, representing the hours of the day. in the centre of the oval are twelve stones arranged in two rows of six each, bearing the initial letters of the twelve months of the year. in order to tell the time, the spectator must stand on the letter of the current month, and his shadow then falls on the hour of the day, he himself being the index. this interesting dial dates from the building of the church, and was probably made for the use of the workmen. it was formerly placed a little further from the edifice, and composed of tiles, but, as it was in danger of being worn away by the constant traffic which passed over it, lalande had it moved nearer to the church, and the worn tiles replaced by slabs of stone, but carefully preserved the original size and dimensions of the dial. when francis i. visited brou on the st of october , he was struck by the unique beauty of the church, though he observed that the white stone of which it was built was too soft to stand frost, and would in time crumble away. paradin, in his _chronique de savoie_, mentions the king's visit:--'je me souviens aussi,' he says, 'avoir veu descendre le feu roy françois, quand il vint à bourg, qui après avoir veu cette esglise restoit ravy en admiration, disant n'avoir veu ny savoir temple de telle excellence, pour ce qu'il contenoit. vray est qu'il se print garde (comme il esttoit prince excédant en bon esprit tous les rois de son temps) que ceste pierre blanche, dont est l'esglise bastie, ne seroit de durée à la gelée, pour estre trop rare et tendre. et s'est trouvé depuis qu'il disoit vray: car long temps après, tombèrent du quarré du clochier aucuns de ses grans bastions ou gargoles, qui conduisent les eaues sur le couvert de l'esglise, du costé des cloistres, chose qui fit grand dommage au bastiment.' on the th of september ( years after margaret's death) the entrance to the vault at brou was accidentally discovered in raising some flagstones near philibert's monument, and on december the st of the same year it was opened in the presence of a committee of ten persons. count e. de quinsonas, who was present, gives an interesting account of the visit of inspection. the vault, which had not been opened since margaret's coffin had been placed there in , was entered by a flight of steps from the choir. the three coffins were found exactly under their respective monuments in the church above; duke philibert of savoy's in the centre, margaret of bourbon's on the right, and margaret of austria's on the left. philibert's coffin was intact, and of a great length, but those of the two princesses had broken open, and their remains were scattered on the floor of the vault. the three coffins rested on iron trestles. margaret of bourbon's coffin was of lead, shaped like an elongated square, but had originally had an outer coffin of oak, the remains of which lay on the ground. the princess's skull was intact, and showed a tress of chestnut hair. the inscription on the leaden coffin was in french as follows:-- ihs maria s marguerite de bourbon ce avril fut esevelie. philibert's coffin was found in a perfect state of preservation, in shape similar to that of margaret of bourbon, but of gigantic size. the duke's body had been placed in an oaken coffin enclosed in lead, which probably accounted for its preservation; whilst the two princesses had been laid first in lead and then in oaken shells, the outer cases of which had rotted away from the damp, and the inner coffins had broken open. the following is the inscription on duke philibert's coffin:-- + ihs maria s cy gist, tres excellent et tres puissant prince philibert. due de savoye iie de ce nom. tres vertueux le quel trespassa et r[=e]dist lesperit a dieu l[=a] mil ve et quatre le xe jour de septembre au chasteau du pont deyns et fust enterre ceans le xvie du dit mois. pries ntre seignr pour luy. margaret of austria's leaden coffin had also originally been enclosed in one of oak, and was shaped like a mummy case to the form of the body. the inscription on the coffin was as follows:-- hic jacet corpus d[=n]e margarete archiducisse austrie comitisse burg[=u]die et qdam maximili[=a]i cesarie filie caroli vero quinti imperatoris et ferdin[=a]di rom[=a][=o]rum regis fratrum amite philiberti ducis sabaudie vidue huius m[=o][=s]terii sancti nicolai de tolletino patroe et f[=u]datricis que kalendis decembris in suo mechliniensi o[=p][=i]do cameracensis diocesis ano d[=ni] millesimo quengentesimo tricesimo diem suam clausit extremam anima eius in pace quiescat. from the bones found in the coffin it was evident that margaret, though not tall, was above middle height. her skull, with its well-developed forehead, was covered with bright golden hair, which showed no trace of grey. the bones of both feet and legs were intact, proving that no amputation had taken place. after reverently collecting the scattered bones of the two princesses, and placing them in new oaken coffins, they were temporarily removed until the necessary cleaning and restoration had been made in the vault, which had suffered much from damp. on the th of july they were enclosed in outer coffins of lead and, with philibert's coffin, replaced in their former positions, but on a stone slab which had been erected to support the three caskets instead of the iron trestles, which had suffered much from decay. when all was accomplished a solemn service was held before the final closing of the vault, conducted by cardinal donnet, archbishop of bordeaux:-- 'so rest, for ever rest, o princely pair! in your high church, 'mid the still mountain air, where horn, and hound, and vassals never come. only the blessed saints are smiling dumb, from the rich painted windows of the nave, on aisle, and transept, and your marble grave; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . the moon through the clere-story windows shines, and the wind washes through the mountain-pines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . and, in the sweeping of the wind, your ear the passage of the angels' wings will hear, and on the lichen-crusted leads above the rustle of the eternal rain of love.' (_the church of brou_, matthew arnold.) inventaire des tableaux, livres, joyaux, et meubles de marguerite d'autriche, fille de marie de bourgogne et de maximilien, empereur d'allemagne, fait et conclud en la ville d'anvers le xvii d'avril mvcxxiiii; document inédit, publié par m. le cte de laborde, membre de l'institut. _et premièrement: chappelle._ . une grande et haulte croix d'argent dorée, avec son pied fait à feuillage de chardons pesant viii{m} vi{o} xv{e} (une petite croix, une paix, deux calicés, deux boetes à nosties, un eaubenoistier, deux clochettes, quatre pottequins.) furnements de velours et aultres draptz de soie servans ordinairement en ladite chappelle. (ces objets sont sans intérêt et je ne cite pas deux missels et trois livres d'heures dont la description n'offre rien de particulier. linges servans en ladite chappelle.) . ornemens faiz pour le voiaige de cambray que madame y fit en l'an xxix. _paneterie._ (je ne cite ni les sallières, ni les tranchoirs, ni les cousteaux.) . une petite cuillier d'or, avec une petite pièce de licorne pesant x{o} xiiii{e}. . item ung eschauffoir d'argent à eaue. . ung reschauffoir à feu. _eschançonnerie._ (gobbelets, aiguières, pots, coupes, tasses.) _sausserie._ ( plats, écuelles, saucerons, tranchoirs.) _fruicterie._ . une boete d'argent toute blanche gonderonnée, avec sa couverte, en laquelle se met la pouldre cordiale que madame prent a l'yssue de ses digné et souppez. . deux baulx gobelletz servans es medecines. (_plusieurs chandeliers._) _tappisserie._ . (parmi ce grand nombre de tapis velus, de verdure à feuillages, je ne vois aucune tapisserie à personnages qui doive etre cité.) autres pièces estans en la librairie dont la déclaration s'ensuyt: . premier: la representacion de feu monseigneur de savoie que dieu pardonne, fete de mabre blanc de la main de me conrat. . son harnast complet. . bis. la representacion de madame fete de mesme main et mabre que la précédente. . ung petit manequin tirant une espine hors de son pied fait aussi de mabre blanc, bien exquis. . bis. la representacion de la seur du roy d'angleterre fête de terre cuyte. . ung petit jhesus taillé en bois. . une petite lucresse aussi taillée en bois. . item delivré audit garde-joyaulx, depuis cest inventoire fait, la pourtraicture des nayn et nayne du roy de dannemarcque faicte par jehann de maubeuge, fort bien fait. . ung petit manequin taillé aussi de mesme bois, à la semblence de maistre conrart. . ung petit homme nu, taillé en bois, qu'il tient ung chien en l'une de ses mains et ung gros baston en l'aultre. . vingt tableaux de painctures estans à l'entour du manteau de la chemynée et ailleurs, assavoir la pourtraicture du roy d'angleterre; , celle de feu monseigneur de savoie; , celle du roy loys de france; , celle de l'empereur trespassé; , celle de la royenne de france; , celle du roy de dannemarque; , celle du grant turcq; , celle d'ung vieux homme et une vielle femme; , ung sainct françois; , ung personnaige en manière d'ung docteur; , la royenne d'espaigne, moderne; , le roy philippe; , la pourtraicture dudit feu monseigneur de savoie; , trois visaiges de gens d'eglise dont l'ung est habillé en cardinal; , ung tableau de notre dame; , ung petit tableau figuré de certaine bataille où il y a ung empereur sur ung cheval ousser, la ousse semée de fleurs de liz sur azul et la pourtraiture de mitelze (nutelze ou imtelze?). . une teste de cerf avec la ramure, estant au milieu du manteau de la chemynée, à ung cruxifis en chief. . les pourtraitures en toile de madame mairie, l'empereur, et de mes trois dames ses soeurs en v. pièces. . une grande paincture en toille, représentant aucunes armes et batailles d'italie. . ung sainct anthoine sur toille.[ ] [ ] on lit, à la suite de cet article, dans l'inventaire dressé en , c'est de la main de mestre jacques (de barbares, le maître du caducée). . ung aultre moien sainct anthoine, aussi sur toille. . la pourtraiture du siège vannelot, sur toille. . ung beau buffet, à la mode d'italie, donné à madame par monseigneur le vice-roy de naples. . une belle riche table carrée, en deux pièces, l'une garnie de plusieurs beaux menuz ouvraiges taillez. . une aultre petite table, à la mode d'espaigne, qui se ouvre et clot, à quatre blassons aux armes de bourgogne et d'espaigne. . troys myroirs ardans, dont l'ung est doré sus la menuyserie. (je passe une longue série de généalogies en par-chemins.) . deux mappemondes bien vielles en parchemin. . ung saincte livre en paincture. . ung chasteau faict de papier avec plusieurs tourelles. . ung sainct homme habillé d'une robbe de taffetas noir et ung bonnet rouge. _vaicelle de cristalin._ (dans cette longue liste d'objets en cristal, je passe les bassins, pots, flacons, fyolles, verres, coupes et tasses.) . item une cuvelette. . bis. une couppe, où il y a ung cerf au milieu. . dix escuelles, à la mode d'italie. . deux verres bleux. _aultre vaicelle._ . quatre couppes d'oz, bien tailléez, que semblent estre salières. . ung beau grant pot de porcelaine bleue à deux agneaux (anneaux) d'argent. . deux aultres petits pots de pourcelaine. . six plats et escuelles et salières de pourcelayne de plusieurs sortes. . ung plat d'estain ou il y a dedans aucun fruyt. . ung mortier de mabre. . une coquille de lymesson de mer. . ung petit dragon élevé sur une motte, verre meslangiée de ratz. . quatre aultres moiens pots de pourcelayne. accoustremens de plumes, venuz des indes, présentées de par l'empereur a madame a bruxelles, le xxe jour d'aoust xvcxxiii et aussi de par monseigneur de la chaulx, le tout estant en ladite librairie. (quarante articles répondent à ce titre; je les omets parce que l'art au moins l'art tel que nous l'entendons, n'est pour rien dans la composition de ces objets. on lit à la suite de ce chapitre:) . ung tableau où est escripte la complaincte de madame. . le couronnement de l'empereur fait à bologne. . la bataille de pavye. . receu à bruxelles de l'empereur par les mains de symonet son varlet de chambre, les pourtraitures de la royne douairière d'ongrie sa seur faicte sur toille par me. jehan, paintre de feu madame.[ ] [ ] voici un des articles ajoutés à l'inventaire et à la garde de richart coutault. ce jehan peintre de madame, doit être jean de maubeugé dit mabuse. . et deux tableaux de pourtraitures des deux fils et des deux filles du roy des romains don fernandez, le fond desdiz tableau est de cyprès. cabinets déans l'hostel de madite dame, en sa ville de malines. _et premièrement en la première chambre dudit cabinet. painctures:_ . ung tableau de la prinse nostre seigneur a vii personnages. le fond dudit tableau gris. . ung autre tableau de la pourtraiture de la fille du roy henry d'angleterre, moderne, habillée de velours noir et une cotte de toille d'or, tenant ung papegay sur sa main senestre. . ung aultre tableau qui s'appelle l'infante de fortune, à ung hault bonnet rond, habillé d'une robe noire sans manches et sans fante devant. le fond de mabre tirant sur pourpre. . ung autre tableau d'ung personnaige habillé d'une robbe et chapperon bleu, à court cheveux, fait après le premier duc de brabant. le fond noir où est escript: waysellaws. . ung tableau fait après le roy de dannemarcque, tenant une lettre en sa main, ayant une chemise à hault collet, pourtant la thoison d'or pendant à ung courdon de soye, le fond verd. . ung aultre tableau de la pourtraiture du feu roy don fernande, roy d'arragon, ayant une chayne d'or à son col, y pendant une croix. . ung aultre tableau de nostre dame, ayant ung manteau rouge; ès bors dudit tableau il y a quatre a et quatre e. . ung aultre tableau, bien fait, après la royenne d'angleterre, à ung chief ayant une robbe de velours cramoisy, une chayne d'or au col y pendant une baguette. . ung aultre tableau de la pourtraiture, de feu monseigneur de savoie, habillé d'une robbe de velours cramoisy. le seon de satin gris, tenant une paire de gants en sa main senestre. le bors dudit tableau painct et doré. . ung aultre tableau de la pourtraiture du feu cardinal de bourbon, tenant une teste de mort en sa main. . ung aultre tableau de la pourtraiture de feu monseigneur le duc jehan de bourgogne, à l'entour duquel sont six raboz dorez. . ung aultre tableau de la pourtraiture de ms. le duc charles de bourgogne habillé de noir, pourtant la thoison d'or pendant à une chayne et ung rolet en sa main dextre, ayant le chiefz nuz. . ung aultre tableau de la pourtraiture de feu ms. le duc phelippe, habillé de noir et ung chapperon bourelée sur sa teste, portant le colier de la thoison d'or, ayant ung rolet en sa main. . ung aultre tableau de la pourtraiture de feu le roy don philippe de castille, ayant vestuz une robbe de velours cramoisy fourrée de martre sabble, le colier de la thoison d'or dessus, pourtant ung bonnet de velours cramoisy. . ung aultre tableau de la pourtraiture du feu roy d'arragon, semblable à la précédente, réservé qu'il n'y a point de croix pendant à sa chayne. . ung aultre tableau de la pourtraiture de l'empereur maximilien, père de madame, que dieu pardoint, habillé d'une robbe de drapt d'or, fourré de martre, à ung bonnet noir sur son chief, pourtant le colier de la thoison d'or, tenant ung rolet en sa main dextre. . ung aultre tableau de la pourtraiture de la feue royenne d'espaigne, done ysabel, que dieu pardoint, à ung colier de meraudes, parles, et aultres pierres précieuses et une bague du coustel de son chief à une parle y pendant. . feu roy henry d'angleterre, pourtant le colier de la thoison d'or, habillé d'une robbe de drapt d'or, tenant une rose rouge en sa main. . l'empereur moderne, habillé d'une robbe de velours cramoisy, fourée de martres, les manches coppées à deux boutons et ung prepoint de drapt d'or, les manches d'aringue, ayant ung carquant au col et une enseigne devant sa poitrine sur cramoisy. . madame anne d'ongrie, femme de ms. l'archiduc, habillée d'une robbe de damas rouge bandée, les manches descoppées de parles et aultres bagues. . ms. l'archiduc don fernande, habillé d'une robbe de drapt d'or fourrée de martres et ung prépoint de satin cramoisy, à une chayne d'or au col, y pendant la thoison. . feue madame ysabeau de portugal, habillée d'une robbe de satin verd, doublé de damas cramoisy, sainte d'une large sainture blanche. . l'aisnée fille du roy d'arragon, qu'il fust marié en portugal, habillé de noir et d'ung couvrechief à la mode d'espaigne, en manière de deuil. . madame marie, royenne d'ongrie, habillée d'une robbe de drapt d'or bigarré de velours noir à losanges, à ung colier au col et une bague y pendant à troys parles, à ung bonnet richement painct sur son chief. . l'empereur moderne, habillé d'une robbe de velours cramoisy, doublé de satin noir, à ung séon de drapt d'or et ung prépoint de velours gris pourtant le colier de la thoison. . madame de charny, le chief accoustre d'ung couvrechief à l'antique, la robbe noir fourrée d'armignes, saincte d'une large couroie de damas rouge ferré d'argent doré. . feu l'empereur fredericq ayant une croix pendant au col à vii parles ayant aussi ung bonnet noir et long cheveux, le fond dudit tableau d'asul. . madame marie d'angleterre ayant une robbe de drapt d'or, les manches fendues tenant une palme en sa main et ung bonnet noir sur son chief. . madame la contesse de meghe (nieghe) habillé d'une robbe d'homme de velours noir, tenant ung mouchon blanc en sa main, espuee (appuyée) sur ung coussin de drapt d'or. . ung aultre petit tableau d'une femme habillée à l'enticque, sa robbe rouge fourée d'armines, saincte d'une large couroie tissue verde. _en ladite première chambre du cabinet._ . sept coffres, que grans que petiz, faitz de pâte cuyte à la mode d'italie, bien ouvrez et dorez. . deux patins de cuyr, à la mode de turquie. . ung pot de porcelaine sans couvercle, bien beau, tirant sur gris. . ung myroir ardant d'assier, tout rond, à deux bors dorez et entre deux ung sercle d'asur, auquel est escript diverses lettres, l'envers dudit myroir tout doré. _aux armaires de ladite chambre._ . quatre courporaulx, esquelz est painct au fond la seyne de nostre seigneur, fête de illymynure et au couvercle l'empereur trespassé et madame adorant nostre dame, environnée de raiz de soleil et du croissant de la lune, au pied fraingez de soye rouge et blanche. . ung jue de bois, rond, pertusier tout à l'entour de seze guillettes blanches et rouges y pendantes. _tappisseries de drapt de soye._ (néant.) _au riche cabinet._ . madame à fait fère ung tableau de xx petites painctures exquises des xxii cy-après escriptes, a la garnitures duquel tableau y a entré seize marcs d'argent. _la seconde chambre a chemynée._ . ung beau coffret, à la mode d'italie, fait de pate cuyte, doré, bien ouvré, à vi blasons à l'entour d'ycelle, aux armes de bourgogne, assis sur iiii pomeaux de bois dorez. . ung aultre coffre, plat, carré, fait de pate cuyte bien ouvré, à x personnaiges et sur le couvercle qui est de mesme à une roze au milieu. . ung aultre coffre, plat, de bois, longuet, tout à l'entour fait de menuz ouvraiges d'oz, d'ivoire et aultres choses, qui se ouvre en trois pièces estant au pied du lict de campt. . ung myroir d'acier, carré, à trois bors dorez. le fond de velours cramoisy, brodé de fleurs et de fil d'or, garni à l'entour de verre d'une roze fête de fil d'or trait. . ung fainct livre, couvert de velours violet à deux fermiletz d'argent dorez, aux armes de madame, à trois escailles, une petite boite d'argent et v pinceaux, garniz d'argent dedans ledit livre. le tout servant pour le passe temps de madame à paindre. . trois panniers faits de bois et de fil d'archant doré et le bois aussi doré lesquels se deffond chacun en troys pièces et servent à porter fruit sur sa table, envoyé par la royenne de portugal à madame. . ung grant chasteau d'argent assis sur boiz, bien ouvré et doré en plusieurs lieux, à trois tours principales, garni tout à l'entour de murailles d'argent, avec six tournelles estans sur chacune desdites tournelles ung homme arme tenant baston de deffence. et iiii pilliers estans emprez les deux grans portes et a sur ung chacun desdits pilliers ung enfant nuz tenant trompettes et autres instrumens. et devant la première grande porte a ung serpent doré à trois testes, dessus lequel est assis ung petit enfant nuz, jouent d'instrument, avec seze personnaiges, que petitz que grans, estans dedans ledit chasteau et au-dessus du donjon a une marguerite sur laquelle est une femme tenant ung pot sur sa teste. _riches tableaux de painctures et aultres estans a ladite seconde chambre a chemynée._ . premier: ung tableau de la portraiture de feu ms. de savoie, mary de madame, que dieu pardoint, habillé d'une robbe de velours cramoisy fourée de martre, prepoint de drapt d'or et séon de satin brouchier, tenant une paire de gand en sa main, espuez sur une coussin. (on lit en marge cette remarque écrite d'une autre main et d'une autre encre:) donné par ordre de madite dame à la doucesse de hocstrat. . ung aultre tableau d'une lucresse, habillé d'une robbe d'homme fourée de martre ayant une chayne d'or au col, le fond du tableau noir. . ung aultre petit tableau de nostre dame en chief où est la représentation de l'empereur moderne et de madame à genoux, adorant ladite ymaige dessus ung blason aux armes d'espaigne et de bourgogne et quatre blasons ès quatre coins. (on lit en marge:) délivré par ordonnance de madite dame à son aulmosnier. . ung aultre tableau de ecce homo ung escripteau pendu au col et petitz anges en chiefs, tenant en une main ung fouet et verges et en l'autre une canne, le fond rouge. (en marge:) délivré aux prieurs et religieux du couvent de broux, comme il appert cy-après folio vi vii et les quatres ensuivants. (voir nos , , , et . ces cinq tableaux se retrouvent sur l'inventaire du mobilier de l'église de brou, dressé en .) . ung aultre tableau de nostre seigneur, fait après le vif, et plusieurs lettres d'or à l'entour dudit tableau. ledit tableau couvert de verre. . ung aultre tableau de nostre dame de pitié, à vi personnages, comprins nostre seigneur. . ung aultre tableau de nostre dame habillée de rouge, assise sur ung tabernacle de massonnerie, qu'il se clot à deux fulletz et ausquelx il y a escript une oraison en latin commencent: virgo decus. . ung aultre tableau figuré comme nostre seigneur aloit à la mort portant sa croix, les bors dorez. . ung aultre petit tableau d'ung homme habillé de noir à nue teste. le fond dudit tableau verd. . ung aultre tableau d'ung personnaige de moien eaige, ayant une robbe noire à un collet fourée de martre et ung chapperon noir sur son espaule, à hault bonnet. le fond dudit tableau de brune verd. . ung aultre tableau d'ung personnaige, comme marchant à rond bonnet ayant les mains l'une sur l'aultre. la robbe de pourpre, le fond dudit tableau verd. . ung aultre petit double tableau, où il y une jeusne fille, habillée à la mode d'espaigne, ayant ung bonnet rouge sur sa teste, l'aultre cousté plain d'escripture. . ung aultre tableau d'ung marchant ytalien, à rond bonnet, son habit de couleur de pourpre le fondz verd, à grosse chevelure. . ung aultre petit tableau de la portraiture de madame de horne, ayant un carcant au col. . ung aultre riche tableau de la portraiture de madame, fete en tapperisserie après le vif. . ung aultre tableau de nostre dame tenant nostre seigneur nuz devant elle, clouant à deux feuillêtz, où il y a deux anges tenant l'ung une espée en sa main.[ ] [ ] on lit dans l'inventaire de : 'ung petit tableau d'ung dieu de pityé estant es bras de nostre dame; ayant deux feulletz dans chascun desquelz y a ung ange et dessus desdits feulletz y a une annunciade de blanc et de noir. fait le tableau de la main de rogier (van der weyden) et lesditz feulletz de celle de maistre hans (hemling son élève).' . ung aultre tableau de nostre dame, ayant une couronne sur sa teste et ung petit enfant tenant une longette paternostre de coral. . ung aultre petit tableau de sainct françoys au bout duquel il y a escript: saincte francise ora pro nobis-- . ung saincte anthoine à manteau bleu, ayant ung crucifis emprès de luy, tenant ses mains joinctes; sur toille. . ung aultre tableau de nostre seigneur, en habit rouge, tenant un baston ou canne en sa main destre, à une couronne d'espine sur son chief. . la portraiture de madame, fort exquise, fête de la main de feu maistre jacques (de barbaris). . ung aultre tableau de une jeusne dame, accoustrée à la mode de portugal, son habit rouge fouré de martre, tenant en sa main dextre ung rolet avec ung petit sainct nicolas en hault, nommée: la belle portugaloise.[ ] [ ] cet article me paraît correspondre avec l'article suivant de l'inventaire de : 'ung moien tableau de la face d'une portugaloise que madame a eu de don diego. fait de la main de johannes (van eyck) et est fait sans huelle et sur toille sans couverte ne feullet.' . ung aultre tableau de deux petitz enffans, embrassant et baisant l'ung l'aultre sur l'arbette, fort bien fait. . ung aultre tableau exquis de la portraiture d'ung ancien homme, a rond bonnet, son habit fouré de martre, le fond du tableau verd, le dit personnaige venant des mobz de bruxelles. . ung aultre tableau fort exquis qui se clot à deux feulletz, où il y a painctz un homme et une femme estantz desboutz touchantz la main l'ung de l'aultre, fait de la main de johannes, les armes et devise de feu don dieghe esdits deux feulletz nommé le personnaige: arnoult fin.[ ] [ ] voici l'article de l'inventaire de 'ung grant tableau qu'on appelle, hernoul-le-fin, avec sa femme dedens une chambre, qui fut donné à madame par don diego, les armes duquel sont en la couverte dudit tableau. fait du painctre johannes (jean van eyck).' now in the national gallery, london, and called 'john arnolfini of lucca and his wife.' . ung petit tableau vieux où la représentation de feu le roy dom phelipe et de madame, du temps de leur mynorité et portraiture, habillez de drapt d'or. . ung aultre tableau double, assez vieux, figuré de la passion nostre seigneur et aultre mistère donné à madame par ms. le conte d'hocstraté (on lit en marge: delivré au prieur et religieux de brou. voir no. ). . ung double tableau, en l'un est nostre dame et l'autre, le cardinal de liegne, laquelle nostre dame a este délivrée audit couvent de broux et le cardinal demore par decha. . ung aultre bon tableau de la portraiture d'ung espaignol habillé d'ung manteau noir, joinée de velours noir, ayant une petite chayne à son col, ayant aussi une fauce parruque. . ung aultre tableau exquis, où il y a ung homme avec une teste de cerf et ung crannequin au milieu et le bandaige.[ ] [ ] cet article est accompagné dans l'inventaire de de la remarque suivante: 'fait de la main de feu maistre jacques de barbaris.' voir l'article no. . . ung cruxifis, joignent ledit tableau, fait de la main de maistre jaques; au pied de la croix sont deux testes de mors et une teste de cheval. . ung aultre petit tableau de la pourtraiture du contrôleur ourssin.[ ] [ ] nous trouvons le nom du peintre dans l'inventaire de : 'ung visaige du contrerolleur de madame, fait de la main de michiel (coxie) sur ung petit tableau.' . ung aultre tableau de ms. sainct anthoine tenant ung livre et une bericle en sa main et ung baston soubz son bras, le fond de bocaige et estranges figures de personnaiges[ ] en marge: délivré aux prieurs et religieux de broux. (voir no. .) [ ] les estranges figures indiquent que l'article suivant, tiré de l'inventaire daté de , désigné le même tableau: 'ung moien tableau de sainct anthoine qui n'a couverture ne feullet, qui est fait de jheronimus bosch et a esté donné à madame par jhoane, femme de chambre de madame lyonor.' . ung aultre tableau de nostre dame, à deux feullets, esquelx sainct jehan et saincte barbe, adam et eve son painctz.[ ] [ ] dans l'inventaire de on lit après cette description: fait de la main de maistre hans (hemling). . une petite nostre dame fort bien fête, à un manteau rouge, tenant une heures en sa main, que madame appelle sa mignonne.[ ] [ ] l'inventaire de décrit ce tableau ainsi qu'il suit: 'une petite nostre dame disant ses heures, faicte de la main de michiel (coxie) que madame appelle sa mignonne et le petit dieu dort.' . ung aultre petit tableau de nostre dame tenant son enfant, lequel tient une petite patenostre de coral en sa main, fort anticque, ayant une fontainne emprès elle et deux anges tenant ung drapt d'or figuré derrière elle.[ ] [ ] l'inventaire de ne donne pas le nom du peintre, mais il décrit ce tableau ainsi: 'une petite nostre dame, faite de bonne main, estant en un jardin où il y a une fontaine.' la petite vierge de la collection van ertborn, du musée d'anvers, répond très-bien à ces deux descriptions. . ung aultre tableau de la passion de ns., fait de illyminure, a l'entour duquel sont les vii paroles que ns. proféra en la croix, ledit tableau de bois de cuprès. . ung petit tableau de ns., sur ung champt de damas verd, tenant son enfant. . ung petit enfant de terre cuyte, tenant sa main senestre sur sa poitrine, dormant. . receu, puis c'est inventoire fait, ung double tableau: en l'ung est nostre dame habillée de bleu, tenant son enffant droit, et en l'autre madame a genoulx adorant ledit enffant. [illustration: margaret of austria sitting at a table with an open book adoring the virgin from a diptich in the possession of m. lescarts, mons _mentioned (no. ) in margaret's inventory of ._] _aultres pièces de brodure et aultres tableaux et painctures estans dedans les armaires._ (je ne citerai, parmi les tableaux faicts de brodure, que le no. , il suffira pour montrer que c'était bien l'equivalent de peintures.) . ung tableau de brodure, du chief de ns. à couronne d'espine, fêtes de fil d'or et d'argent, qui se clot à feullets, doublé des deux costés de satin noir, ferré de ferreres d'argent, au commencement de l'ung des feulletz est escript: vere langores nostros, etc. . ung riche et fort exquis double tableau de nostre dame, doublé par dehors de satin brochier et monseigneur le duc charles de bourgogne painct en l'ung des fulletz estant à genoux, habillé de drapt d'or, à ung cousin de velours noir et une heure estant sur son siège devant luy, le bors dudit tableau garnis de velours verd, avec trois ferrures d'argent doré servant audit tableau. . ung double tableau de bois de cyprès, en l'ung est portrait l'assumption nostre seigneur et en l'aultre l'ascencion de nostre dame, auquel tableau il y a deux ferrures d'argent.[ ] [ ] l'inventaire de porte: de la main de michiel (coxie). . item en une petite boite en forme de liette de bois, il y a xxii petits tableaux, fait comme il semble tout d'une main, dont la paincture est bonne, de grandeur et largeur ung chacun d'ung tranchoir, figurez de la vie ns. et aultres actes après sa mort. le premier est figuré de la temptation fête à ns. par le diable; ( to ). . ung tableau de nostre dame assise en ung tabernacle de massonnerie assez hautelet. . ung petit tableau carré de la trinité à ung tabernacle de menuiserie et grande multitudes d'anges des deux costés. le aucuns tenant la croix et aultres figures de la passion.[ ] [ ] voici l'article de l'inventaire de : 'ung petit tableaul de la trinité, fait de la main de rougier (roger van der weyden) aussi vieulx.' l'absence de description me fait hésiter entre ce numéro et le numéro . . ung petit tableau, qui se clot à ung fullet, painct de noir, de la portraiture de l'empereur fredericq, iiie de ce nom, la robbe de damas à couleur de pourpre, à ung bouton d'or devant, pourtant ung bonnet rond; le fond dudit tableau d'asul.[ ] [ ] cette expression 'painct de noir' trouverait son commentaire dans la manière dont est décrit le même tableau dans l'inventaire de : 'le visaige de l'empereur frédérick en ung petit tableaul noir.' . ung aultre petit tableau de cyprès de l'histoire de roy david et de golias. . une mapemonde en parchemin. . item iiii chiefs de paincture, fête de blancset noir, en papier, comme patrons enroolés ensemble. les deux de ns. et sainct pol et les aultres de sainct jehan et moyse. . deux portraitures de jherusalem, l'une en papier paincte et l'aultre imprimée sans paincture. . la pourtraiture du chief de la fille du roy d'angleterre, en parchemin. . une sancte marguerite en toille habillée de damas noir, le fond d'asul. . la pourtraiture en parchemin d'une dame, le fond de verd. . une fantasie d'ung homme courant en poste sur ung blanc, ayant deux bras nuz, devant son cheval et une devise en ung rondeau et une marguerite en chief. . ung livre en papier, à unze patrons, painct légièrement sur fond bleu. . ung aultre livre en papier, où il y a ix rondeaux, en chacun il y a une teste d'homme de noir et blanc; ledit livre couvert de cuyr. . la pourtraiture du sainct suaire de ns. fêtes en toille. . ung plat coffre de bois dedans lequel il y a plusieurs painctures fêtes et enpreinte. . une mapemonde en parchemin. . une toille paincte de xv visaiges que d'hommes que femmes, le fond d'asul. _aultres meubles estans dedans la petit cabinet, joingnent la chambre à chemynée, tirant sur la gallerie de la chappelle._ (je ne cite pas trois heures enluminées, ni un livre parlant de ypolite rayenne de cithis depuis nommée amazeon. voici les trois autres articles.) . item ung aultres livre escript en latin sur parchemin, de lettres au mole, faisant mencion des illes trouvées, couvert de satin de bruges verd et dessus la dicte couverte est escript quatre lignes de lettres d'or en latin. . ung aultre livre en parchemin, couvert de satin verd, parlant de la l'entrée de madame claude, royenne de france, en la cité de paris. _painctures estans dedans ledit petit cabinet._ . ung tableau d'ivoire taillé, bien ouvré de la passion de nostre seigneur et aultres figures, qui se clot à deux feulletz, esquelx sont painctz feuz messeigneurs les ducs philippe et charles de bourgogne. . ung petit tableau de bois de cyprès d'ung personnaige portant la thoison d'or et habit d'ung chevalier de l'ordre de la dite thoison, estant espuié (appuyé) sur ung baston. . ung aultre petit tableau de nostre dame, pourtant une couronne sur son chief, assise sur un croissant, le fond du tableau doré. . ung aultre tableau de la portraiture de l'empereur maximilien, tenant deux fleurs d'ulletz en sa main, habillé de drapt d'or, portant la thoison. . ung petit tableau de nostre dame, pendant à ung petit fillet de soye rouge, ayant une patenostre de courat rouge en son bras, le fond doré.[ ] [ ] les nos. , , , et répondent, chacun, à chacun de ces trois articles de l'inventaire de :--( ) une petite nd. fait de la main de dirick (stuerbout) ( ) ung petit tableaul de nd. bien vieulx de la main de foucquet, ayant estuy et couverture. ( ) ung tableaul de nd. du duc philippe qui est venu de maillardet, couvert de satin bronché gris et ayant fermaulx d'argent doré et bordé de velours vert. fait de la main de johannes (jean van eyck). ( ) une bien petite nd. de illuminure, de la main de sandres. . ung aultre petit tableau de nostre dame, d'ung costel et de sainct jehan l'évangéliste et de saincte marguerite tirez après le vif du feu prince d'espaigne, mary de madame, aussi après le vif de ma dite dame.[ ] [ ] l'inventaire de décrit ainsi ce tableau. 'ung bien petit tableaul à double feullet de la main de michiel (coxie) de l'ung des coustez de nostre dame... de l'autre costez d'ung sainct jehan et de saincte marguerite, faiz à la semblance du prince d'espaigne et de madame. . ung aultre double tableau, en l'ung est nostre seigneur pendant en croix et nostre dame embrassant le pied de la croix et en l'autre l'histoire de la messe ms. sainct grégoire.[ ] [ ] voici le nom du peintre d'après l'inventaire de , beaucoup moins détaillé que celui-ci, mais plus explicite sur les auteurs de ces peintures parce qu'il a été rédigé sous les yeux de l'archi-duchesse elle-même: 'ung petit tableau d'ung cruxefix et d'ung sainct grégoire. fait de la main de rogier (van der weyden).' . ung aultre tableau vieux de dieu le père; tenant son filz nuz entre ses bras, le sainct esperit en forme coulombé entre dieu le père assiz sur ung arc en ciel et une pomme ronde soubz les pieds de ns. . ung aultre bien petit tableau de bois, où il y a une teste d'ung homme eslevée avec certaine escripture des deux lignes, fête sur couleur rouge et est bien de petite valeur. . une petite nostre dame en papier, fête de illyminure, tenant son fils, son habit d'asul et une petite bande dessus bordée d'ung petit bore d'argent de bassin. . ung petit tableau d'ivoire, à ung vieux personnaige pourtant la thoison d'or les quatres coins dudit tableau d'argent doré et sur ung chacun ung fusil pendant à une petites chaine d'argent. . ung aultre petit tableau carré d'argent doré, le fond d'esmail rouge, à ung personnaige ayant le visaige fait d'ung camehu, derrière lequel tableau est escript le duc de berry. . ung myroir assiz en gaie (jais) noir, fait en manière de cueur, et de l'autre costel ung cueur en presse sur une marguerite. . ung aultre myroir petit, en forme de losanges, de petite valeur. . ung petit sainct jacques, taillé de geitz noir, assiz sur ung pillier de mesme, à trois coquilles en chiefz. . la portraiture de feu monseigneur de savoie, taillée en bois, bien-fête. la portraiture de madame semblablement taillée en bois, aussi bien fête. _médailles._ . une médaille d'estain, d'ung coustel la portraiture du roy d'arragon et de l'aultre un roy tenant une espée fichée dedans trois couronnes. . une autre médaille d'argent doré, de madame d'ung coustel, et de l'aultre ung femme à moitié nue. . une teston d'argent, où le duc philibert est d'ung coustel et de l'aultre dame yolent. . diverses médailles de plomb, de leton, cuyvre et aultre gros métal estant à ung coffre. (elles ne sont pas décrites avec détail et n'offrent aucun intérêt. on voyait dans le même cabinet:) . ung oyseau mort, appellé oyseau de paradis, envelopé de taffetas, mis en ung petit coffret de bois. . une petite tablette de bois, à x fulletz, en laquelle il y a plusieurs painctures patrons bien fête au pinceau. . cinquante et une cartes toutes rondes, richement painctes d'or, d'asul et aultres couleurs estant en une boite ronde de cuyr. . iiii xxxi cartes de papier, carréez, figurés de diverses bestes, oyseaux et aultres painctures. . ix petiz crousetz de porcelayne; comprins ung moien. . ung jesus taillé en mabre. . ung tableau où est feu monseigneur le duc charles d'ung costé et de l'aultre feue madame ysabeau de portugal, les bois dorez, painct au dehors de noyr. . deux tableaux recus de maistre jehan le paintre, semblables, en l'ung est nostre dame et en l'aultre ms. de ligne. _bacques, menutez (minuties), de vaicelle, estans au cabinet emprès le jardin où sont les coraulx, le tout d'argent._ . ung escequier (échiquier) d'argent, carré, le bors doré, bien ouvré, avec les armes de savoie ès quartre coins et xxxii petitz personnaiges d'argent servant d'eschaiz audit tableau. . ung esguière de cristalin, garnie d'argent doré, bien ouvrée, avec une couronne d'argent sus le couvecle. . une aultre esguières de porcelayne, sus gris, garnis, le couvecle, le piez et le manche, d'argent doré bien ouvré. . deux aultres esguières d'une sorte de porcelayne bleue garnies les couvecles d'argent doré. . une bericle (lunettes), garnie le manche d'argent et au dessus, dudict manche ung petit lion douré, pour lyre sur ung livre. _aultres menutez, estans audit cabinet, sans argent._ . deux potequins, une fiole et deux flacons de pate cuyte, dorez et bien ouvrez. . ung beau gobelet de porcelayne blanche, à couvercle painct à l'entour de personnaiges d'hommes et femmes. (j'omets cinq articles de reloge de léton doré.) . ung hercules de cuyvre, tout nuz, tenant en sa main une masse à trois bastons tortillés. . ung enfant assis sur ung cheval de cuyvre, sans bride, ni harnast, painct de noir. . ung tablier garnis d'ivoire, eschequetier d'ung costel blanc et noir et de l'aultre costé pour joué au plus de poins et il y a une petite quehue de serpent de mesme pour joué ausdiz poins. . deux escuelles, l'une moienne, toutes deux d'une beau bois vermis, les bors dorez à manches, les fondz painct d'or et de verd, venues des indes. (je crois inutile de citer plusieurs échiquiers et tabliers.) . une mort fête d'ivoire droite entre trois petits pilliers, tenant ung escripteau en sa main. . une petite liette, le fond d'asul, les bors verd où il y a les personnaiges suyvans, assavoir: saturnis, jupiter, mars, sol, venus, mercurius et lunar. . ung cheval de bois, bien taillé, sans selle, ni harnast. (je passe plusieurs jeux d'échecs d'ivoire, de cassidoine, de bois paint.) . la portraiture de feu conralt, fol de l'empereur, taillé en bois. . la portraiture en toille d'ung jeusne enfant, tenant ung papejay sur sa main, habillé d'ung séon cramoisy, quilete de drapt d'argent. . une aultre paincture d'ung petit enfant plourant, ayant une petite banière devant luy. . ung petit tableau d'une jeusne dame fête sur papier colé, le fond rouge, son habit de drapt d'or, à ung escuson en chief, aux armes de savoie. _aultres menutez, estans au petit cabinet, où sont les coraux et jardin de fleurs de soie, fil d'or et d'aultres choses fait à l'esgulle dont s'ensuyt les pièces estans d'argent._ _s'ensuyt les coraux et aultres choses._ . deux myroir de pate cuyte, bien ouvrez et dorez, ayant chacun ung boton et hoppes y pendans. . deux grosses pommes et ung concombre de terre cuyte, painctz. . ung beau tableau auquel est painct ung homme et ung femme nuz, estant les pieds en l'eaue, le premier borc de mabre, le second doré et en has ung escripteau, donné par monseigneur d'utrecht. . ung petit tableau de bois d'une lucresse, bien taillée, qui se clot à deux fulletz. . ung belle m. de bois bien taillée à une petite chayne de bois, pendant aux lettres du nom de jhesus. . ung livre, escript à la main, couvert de velour noir, intitulé, la corone margaritique, qui se commence: plume infelice. _aultres parties de meubles._ (je passe sous silence les étoffes pour couvrir les meubles, etc.) . plus receu à bruxelles, par les mains de symonet, varlet de chambre de l'empereur, les parties de painctures qui s'en suyvent: premiere la pourtraicture de l'empereur moderne charles ve de ce nom, tirée après le vief faicte pas compas, sur toille, fort bonne. . la pourtraicture de la reyne marye, douairiere d'ongrie, aussi faicte sur toille, de mendre grandeur que la précédente. . ung tableau double de cyprès, déans lequel sont pourtraitz les premiers fils et fille du roy des romans. . aultres semblable tableau où sont aussi pourtraiz les seconde fils et filles dudict seigneur roy des romains. _les pièces de vaicelles d'or et d'argent cy après escriptes sont es mains dudict garde joyaulx, ensemble les riches tappisseries et aultres biens meubles cy après escripts._ . ung grande couppe d'or ouvrée à feuillages pesant vi{m} i{o} xiii{e}. (on lit en marge:) cette première couppe d'or et du corps de la salière est parlé au iiie article suyvant, ont par ordonnance de madame esté rompues et en sont esté faictes trois petites couppes pour en servir le voiaige de cambray où la paix fut faicte et depuis madame des donnyt aux marquise d'arscot, contesses d'aygremont, et de gaure qui avoyent esté audit cambray. (je ne cite que cet article mais les autres portent les mentions de même nature, qui prouvent combien les objects d'orfevrerie ont subi de transformation sous les pressions des grandes nécessités comme aussi au moindre propos.) _tappisseries garnies de fil d'or, d'argent, de soie, et aultres estouffes, comme s'ensuyt._ . premier: deux pièces de tappisseries, faictes de fil d'or et d'argent et de soie, bien riche, de l'istoire et des faiz de alexandre le grant, qui sont venue d'espaigne. la première contient vii aulnes i cart de haulteur et unze aulnes v carts de l'argeur. . quatre pièces de tappisseries de l'istoire de ester, bien riche et faictes et ouvrés d'or et d'argent et de soie, qui sont venues de la maison de céans. . trois pièces de tappisserie du credo, belles et riches, où il y a de l'or et de soye, qui sont venuz d'espaigne. . une pièce de tappisserie de alexandre. . quatre pièces de tappisserie de sainct eslayne (ste. hélène), sans or ne argent, qui est venue d'espaigne, garnie de boucran blanc. . six pièces de tappisseries appellée la cité des dames données par ceulx de tornay. _tapis veluz._ _tappisserie de morisque._ . six pièces de tappisserie de maroquin rouge, bourdée de mesme cuyr, figuré de drap d'or sur verd, et menuz personnaiges à trois pilliers chacune pièce la brodure d'ambas à seraines (sirennes). _coussins de morisque._ . quatre coussins, ouvragé de turcquie, oppés (houppés) de soye verde et rouge, dont il y a v ouppes perdues. _riche tappisserie, ouvrée de fil d'or d'argent et de soye nouvellement achetée par madame._ . premier: une belle et riche pièce de tappisserie de v aulnes de haulteur et de v aulnes cart eschars, de largeur historiés comme nostre seigneur pourtoit la croix à sa passion. (les sept pièces suivantes, que j'omets représentaient autant de sujets de la passion. on lit à la suite, écrit d'une autre main.) . depuis c'est inventaire fait, a reçu le dit garde joyaux ung riche ciel de tappisserie--fait par pietre tannemarie à bruxelles, auquel est figuré dieu le père et le st. esprit, environnez de plusieurs anges. _hornemens de chappelle._ _linge de table._ . une riche nappe damassée de grandes fleurs, de xii aulnes quart de long et iiii de largeur. . une aultre nappe, ouvraige de tournay, contenant vii aulnes de long iii aulnes de large. . une aultre grosse nappe, ouvraige de venise. . une nappe en touaille damassée, figurée de la passion au milieu et aussi du nom de jesus. de toutes lesquelles pièces de vaicelle d'or, d'argent, tappisseries et aultres biens, meubles, estans présentement ès mains, des officiers cy devant nommés ou d'aultres officiers advenir--(ils en tiennent compte) ainsi fait et conclud par madite dame, en la ville d'anvers, le xvii d'avril mvxxiiii. (signé) marguerite * * * * * one wonders what became of such a large number of treasures and pictures. by margaret's will, dated th of february , and by the codicils of a later date, she left charles v. her sole heir, but gave her religious pictures to the church of brou. the first clause distributed the portraits and pictures throughout the royal residences of austria and spain; the second gave the others to brou, where for more than two centuries they remained until they were plundered by sacriligious hands. m. baux, in his description of the church of brou, has mentioned a fragment of margaret's inventory, which he dates from . the inventory of was drawn up by margaret herself, and the original, or at least the copy published by m. le glay, gives this same article thus written. the original, written on parchment and signed by the archduchess herself, is in the collection said to be the colbert, in the bibliothèque nationale. m. le glay found in the archives at lille, and published, an inventory written partly by margaret and drawn up partly under her supervision. it would be interesting to verify if he has not made duplicate copies of pages drawn up at different times, and which describe the same picture several times over. the inventory of is more complete, richer, and longer. the description of the following seven objects i have not noticed in the inventory of :-- ung tablaux d'argent doré, d'ungne nonciade à deux feuillies de porselleyne, là où est (l'ymaige) de feu roy don philippe et la reyne joanne, sa fame. ung petit préaux dedanz lequel a ungne nostre dame et ung sainct josef. ung autre: au mylieu dudit préaux a ung aubepin flory et madame la duchesse de norefork l'a donné a madame. ung petit parady où sont toux les apostres. ung petit tableau du chief d'un portugalois fait sans couleur par maistre jacques barbaris. ung petit tableau du chief de la royne dame ysabel, en son eage de xxx ans, fait par maistre michiel. ung tableaul de bonne paincture d'une belle fille esclave, sur la couverte duquel sont charles oursson, contrerolleur de madame, et son père, et aussi le chien de madame qui s'appelle boute (ou bonté). list of pictures from margaret's collection sent to brou ( ). the following religious pictures are from the study and library of the late madame:-- _from the study._ a small illuminated picture in cyprus wood. an ivory picture of divers mysteries, which has two shutters, on which are painted the dukes philip and charles of burgundy. another picture of our lady very well done, with a red mantle, the background black, and the edges gilt. a small double picture of cyprus (wood): one the ascension of our saviour, and the other the ascension of our lady. picture of our lady, dressed in a red mantle; the background of green damask. rich double picture of our lady, lined outside with satin brocade. picture of a crucifix, from the hand of the late madame. a little needlework picture of the trinity, with a cross between the father and the son. picture of saint margaret, in white alabaster. a small picture of our lady sitting on a crescent, with a golden background. another small picture of our lady, the background gold; the pendant has a shutter of red silk. a double picture of our lady; on one side saint john, and the other saint margaret. another double picture. on one side is our saviour hanging on the cross, and our lady embracing the divine cross; on the other the history of saint gregory. another picture, where god the father is holding his son naked in his arms; the holy spirit as a dove. a small square picture very well done, of saint michael and saint gabriel, the archangel. a similar square picture of saint john, saint james, saint peter, and saint paul. a small picture of our lady, illuminated on paper, surrounded with a little band of silver thread. a small saint james carved in black wood. an ivory picture of saint john, holding a book in his hand, sitting on a stone. a saint james in amber. a picture of a saint made in amber,... the head of ivory. our lady in amber with a gold crown on her head. a small nostre dame in silver. a small saint anthony in silver. _in the library._ a saint francis. two pictures of monseigneur saint anthony.[ ] [ ] from _histoire de l'Église de brou_, by j. baux. catalogue of manuscripts mostly illuminated and bound in velvet with gilt clasps in margaret of austria's library at malines, arranged according to the colour of their binding. [ ] [ ] a descriptive catalogue of these mss. was published by m. le glay in his _correspondance de l'empereur maximilien i. et de marguerite d'autriche_. this list does not, of course, include any printed books, of which there was probably another catalogue. _velours cramoisy._ le livre des euvangilles. froissart. ( vols.) les dix livres de la première décade de titus livius. ( vol.) la seconde et tierce décade de titus livius. ( vol.) lancelot du lac. ( vols.) la forteresse de la foy. la décrétaille. le premier livre des batailles tunikes. jehan davenant. (?) le doon. le régime des princes; le trésor. ( vol.) six gros livres de persefouret. _velours vert._ valère-le-grant. le premier livre de bocace des nobles malheureux. le commentaire de julius césar. joseph d'arimatye, qu'est le commencement de la table ronde et la vye marcelin et de lancelot du lac, jusques à la mort du roy artus. ( vol.) d'amours, vertuz et bienheurté. ( vol.) histoire de lancelot du lac. la généalogie depuis adam jusques à jésus-christ. le livre des propriétés. (en français.) l'istoire de marlin. le second volume des cronicques d'angleterre. la généalogie de tous les roys de france. le premier volume de la cité de dieu. l'exposicion du saultier. du commencement du monde jusques au temps que julius césar se partit de romme pour conquester france. l'appocalipce figurée. la légende de plusieurs saincts. le premier livre des ystoires du grant roy nabuchordenosor. la nature des oyseaulx. le livre de l'eschicquier. dictz moraulx des philosophes. Épistres senecque, translatées de latin en françois. mappemonde fort figurées. le miroir des dames. le miroir du monde. des remèdes de l'une et l'autre fortune. bocace des clères dames. phebus de la chasse. le viel testement. _velours bleu._ le premier volume de beges. ( vol.) le second volume de beges. le tiers et quart volume de beges. ( vol.) le livre de jehan bocace. le premier volume des propriétez de toutes choses. le second volume des propriétez de toutes choses. ung gros livre de parchemin escript en letre ébraycque (hebrew) ou autre que l'on ne congnoist point, sans nulle intitulace que l'on saiche lire, couvert de velours bleu à fermaulx et cloz dorez. les martiennes. le premier volume de jehan froissart. 'la digeste vielle,' preceded by 'les droits' et 'la décrétale' in latin. le premier volume de saint-augustin de la cité de dieu. le derrenier volume de saint-augustin de la cité de dieu. le livres des eages du monde. la légende dorée. l'arbres des batailles. le premier volume de jason, la thoison d'or. ( vol.) la fleur des histoires. ( vols.) les décrétailles. (en françois.) les douze chézariennes. le livre de lucan. les cronicques troyennes. le livre d'amours, de vertus et de bienheureté. le champion des dames. extraict de la bible. le régime des princes. le livre du trésor. (?) sidrach. vita christi. les cronicques de jérusalem. l'estrif de fortune et vertu. l'orologe de sapience. l'art de chevalerye. la moralité des eschetz. livre des problesmes de aristote. le premier et tiers volume de la fleur des histoires. ( vol.) exemples moraulx. la relation en brief des histoires romaines. du roy artus, des douze pèrs de france, du chevalier à deux espées, et des fables d'ysopet, en ryme. ( vol.) le miroir des curez. fables d'ovide. le livre des prophécies de marlin. le débat de félicité. les painctures du jeu d'eschetz. ung petit livre en latin, de parchemin, escript à la main en letre ytalienne, illuminé, parlant de plusieurs roys et princes; couvert et ferré comme dessus. le chevalier au sercle d'or et perceval le galois. le livre des trois vertus à l'enseignement des dames et damoiselles. le miroir du monde. le livre des dix commandemens de notre seigneur avec la différence d'entre péchié mortel et véniel. moralité des nobles hommes sur le jeu des eschés. l'avisement. (?) d'armes, d'amours et de ses combatans et de la geste au bon roy euriant. petit livre... où sont nommez tous les poètes... sans intitulace... le livre du pélérinage du viel hermite? exposé sur 'le romant de la ros.' décrétales en latin. boèce de consolatione. le livre de mélibée et de dame prudence sa femme. dix commandemens de jhesu-crist. bonnes meurs. livre de l'apostolicque sainct-jean avec une autre livre de dévotion. livre du roy alexandre. _velours vert._ bible en françois. alexandre le grant. bible en françois. la temptation de saint-augustin, de la cité de dieu. Éticques d'aristote en françois. tholomeus. chevalier errant. l'entrée de beges. _velours noir._ alexandre quinte-curce. le livre de la première décade de titus livius. la premier livre de la tierce décade de titus livius. le secret parlement de l'omme contemplatif à son ame. le quatrième volume de la fleur des histoires; l'admonestement de vivre contre la vanité de ce monde. le second livre, la bible moralisée;--bénoist seront les miséricordieulx; la somme de perfection;--les histoires de pise;--le recueil de tholomey avec ses addicions;--place secretz d'aristote;--le romant de clomadès en rime;--le livre des fais d'armes et de chevalerye;--ung petit livre plein de rondaulx;--livres d'heures, missels et bréviaires; la bible en latin;--le chemin de salut;--livre qui traite des estatz du monde;--l'obséque de la feue reynne de france, duchesse de bretaigne;--les cent nouvelles vielles;--romulus;--cronicque abrégée depuis le temps d'adam jusques à sévère, empereur de romme;--sainct graal (en mauvais langaige);--le livre d'anséis de quartaige et de heuon de haultonne;--l'entretenenent du corps et de l'amme;--le livre des miracles nostre dame;--paternox de bloys;--le triumphe des dames;--le débat des deux bons serviteurs;--oraison et paternostres;--de la fortune des dez;--le livre des douze filz boon de mayence, en rime;--la généalogie et les gestes du prince syach ysmaël, surnommé sophie, roy de perche;--l'exposition des songes, etc. a few letters from maximilian i. to margaret of austria, and from margaret to various persons. maximilian's letters to margaret were written in french, but a kind of french-german jargon. margaret had been brought up in france, and had no knowledge of german, so her father, who knew very little french, was obliged to use this language in corresponding with her, and often mixed up french and german words in a most grotesque fashion. the following few letters and extracts are from m. le glay's _correspondance de l'empereur maximilien i. et de marguerite d'autriche_:-- maximilian to margaret he begs his daughter to behave in such a way as to keep the king of england in a good humour; he wishes to see her married to this king. (autograph.) ( septembre .) ... car i me semble, par tel manière de mariage, vous seré quit de la prison que craindez d'y entrer, sy vous fussés mariée avec le susdit roy d'engleterre, veu sa test dur et plain, de me lasser en paes; car aussy paer cest fachon, vous gouvernerés engleterre et la maison de bourgoingne, et vous ne pourrés estre mis errier de la monde; comme ung person perdu et oblié, cume vous aussy nous avez aultrefois déclaré. escript de la main (le xvi jour de septembre ) de vostre bon père, maxi. maximilian to margaret he thanks her for the beautiful shirts that she sent him. (autograph.) (le mai .) ma bonne fille,--j'ay resceu par le peurteor de cestes les belles chemises et huves lesquelles avés aydé de les faire de vostre main, dont sumus fort jeouieulx, principalement des ce que je trouve en sela que vous vous sousses du corps de nostre person, mesment que quant ceste anné nous pourterons nostre couraige, lequel est rude et pésante, que adunques nostre pooir du cors sera reconforté à l'encontre du bon senteor et dusceur de telle belle thoele, lesquels usunt les angels en paradis pour leor abillement. et nous feruns aussi bien tost bonne diligence pour vous aussy remercier de ung image d'un futur sainte, aussy fabriké de nostre main.--et à dieu. escript de la main de vostre bon père, qui désirt une foes vous bien tost véor. faet le xvii de mai ( ). maxi. maximilian to margaret the emperor tells his daughter---- that he hopes to be elected pope and become holy. for this reason he is thinking of abdicating in favour of his grandson charles. but he must have money before he can negotiate with the pope and the cardinals. (autograph.)[ ] [ ] printed in louis xii.'s letters, it is supposed to have been written in , because it was in this year that the bishop of gurce went to rome. besides, in the emperor was still at war with julius ii., and could not treat with him with regard to the pontificate. (in another letter) maximilian does not mention getting himself made coadjutor during the pope's lifetime, but only obtaining the cardinals' votes after the pope's death, who was then seriously ill. maximilian says distinctly that the papacy is inherent to the imperial dignity, and that he hopes to have the honour of uniting the imperial and papal crowns. (le septembre.) très chière et très amée fylle, jé entendu l'avis que vous m'avez donné par guyllain pingun, nostre garderobes vyess, dont avons encore mius pensé desus. et ne trouvons point pour nulle résun bon que nous nous devons franchement marier, maès avons plus avant mys nostre délibération et volonté de jamès plus hanter faem nue. et envoyons demain monsieur de gurce, évesque, à rome devers le pape pour trouver fachon que nous puyssons accorder avec luy de nous prenre pour ung coadjuteur, affin que après sa mort pouruns estre assure de avoer le papat et devenir prester et après estre sainct, et que il vous sera de nécessité que, après ma mort, vous serés contraint de me adorer dont je me trouveré bien gloryoes. je envoye sur ce ung poste devers le roy d'arogon pour ly prier quy nous voulle ayder pour à ce parvenir dont yl est aussy contant, moynant que je résingne l'empir à nostre commun fyls, charles. de sela aussi je me says contenté. le peupl et gentilhomes de rom ount faet ung allyance contre les franchoes et espaingos est sunt xx combatans et nous ount mandé que yl veolunt estre pour nous pour faere ung papa à ma poste, et du l'empire d'almaingne et ne veulent avoer ne francos, aregonoes, ne mains null vénécien. je commance aussy practiker les cardinaulx, dont iic où iiic mylle ducas me ferunt un grand service, aveque la parcialité qui est déjà entre eos. le roy d'arogon a mandé à son ambaxadeur que yl veult commander aux cardinaulx espaingnos que yl veulent favoryser le papat à nous. je vous prie, tenés ceste matière empu secret; ossi bien en briefs jours je creins que yl fault que tout le monde le sache; car bien mal este possible de pratiker ung tel sy grand matère secrètement, pour laquell yl fault avoer de tant de gens et de argent succurs et practike, et à diu, faet de la main de vostre bon père maximilianus, futur pape. le xviiie jour de septembre. _p.s._--le pape a ancor les vyevers dubls et ne peult longement fyvre. maximilian to margaret the emperor wishes his granddaughters to come to brussels to see the park. (original.) (le juin) . très chière et très amée fille, pour ce que désirons que noz très chières et très amées filles venir en nostre ville de bruxelles pour veoir le parck et y prandre leurs ébats par deux ou trois jours, nous vous requérons que nous vueillez incontinent icy envoyer tous voz chariotz, gens d'armes, et leurs damoiselles, comme dit est, lesquelles noz filles ferez logier ès chambres et quartier où nous estions logé, et nous nous tiendrons cependant à wilvorde et à l'entour dudit bruxelles. a tant, très chière et très amée fille, nostre seigneur soit garde de vous. escript en nostre ville de..., le xx jour de juing, l'an xvcxvii. _p.s._--et vueillez avancer ledit envoy, que lesdits chariotz et lytière puissent estre icy demain. per regem.--plus bas, renner maximilian to margaret the emperor sends some venison for his granddaughters. (au chateau de la vueren, le juin.) très chière et très amée fille, nous vous envoyons présentement le sommyer du serf que avons ce jour-duy prins à force et vous prions de icelluy faire aprester et en festyer à quelque disné ou souppé noz petites et très chières filles. en quoy, faisant, vous nous ferez chose bien agréable; ce scet nostre seigneur qu'il, très chière et très amée fille, soit garde de vous. escript en nostre chasteaul de la vueren, le xxii jour de juing, l'an xvc et xii. per regem.--plus bas, renner maximilian to margaret he accepts his daughter's invitation to dinner. he wishes this meal to be at five o'clock. (la vueren, le juin) . très chière et très amée fille, nous avons ce matin receu voz lettres et entendu par icelles comment vous désirez que vueillions ce jourduy aller au soupper et banquet avec vous et noz très chières et très amées filles. sur quoy vous advertissons que de buon cueur nous nous y trouverons. dieu en ayde qu'il, très chière et très amée fille, soit garde de vous. donné en nostre chasteau de la vueren, le xxiii jour de juing, l'an xvcxii. _p.s._--nous serons à une heure après midi devers vous, pour parler à vous de quelque chose, et pour ce, que le souppé soit prest à cincq heures. per regem.--plus bas, renner maximilian to margaret he is sending her a cross-bow destined to be sent as a gift to the king of england. (cologne, le septembre) . très chière et très amée fille, nous vous envoyons par nostre amé et féal escuier, bourgrave de bruxelles, le seigneur d'aremberch, une arbalestre garnye d'un coffin et de trectz à ce servans; laquelle désirons que recevez bénignement dudit seigneur d'aremberch, et que après, vous faictes refaire ledit coffin qui est couvert de cuyre par dessus, ou lieu dudit cuyre, d'argent doré, et puis le tout faire présenter à nostre frère, le roy d'angleterre. a tant, très chière et très amée fille, nostre seigneur soit garde de vous. escript en nostre cité de cohlongne le xvi jour de septembre, l'an xvcxii. maximilian to margaret the emperor wishes the archduke charles to write good letters to his grandfather the king of aragon, to his mother the queen, and to his brother don ferdinand. (weissembourg, le janvier) . très chière et très amée fille, nous désirons et vous requérons que par le pourteur de cestes appellé jehan de spornede, espaignart, vous faictes escripre nostre filz, l'archiduc charles, quelque bonnes lettres en walon (that is in french) au roy d'arragon, son grant-père, à la royne sa mère et à son frère dom fernande, et qu'il lui baille le titre d'archiduc d'austriche; car nostre plaisir est tel. a tant, très chière et très amée fille, nostre seigneur soit garde de vous. escript en nostre ville de wizembourg, le vi jour de janvier, l'an xvcxii. per regem.--plus bas, botechon maximilian to margaret he tells his daughter that he is satisfied with the way she governs, and hopes that she will continue to govern in the same way. (autograph.) (le février) . très chière et très amée fylle, nous avons resceu une lettre escript de vostre main, laquelle noz a présenté grave et aussi entendu ce que nous a dyt de vostre part maister loys. tant y a que noz sumus content de vous, outant que ung père se doyt contenter de sa bonne fylle, et voluns bien que tout le monde le sayche. en oultre désirant que continués en vostre gouvernement comme avés faet jusques issy au présent et vous nous faerés très singulier plaisir dont volentié vous assertissons, et a diu. faet de la main le iii jour de février, de vostre bon père, maxi. margaret to maximilian prince charles has accidentally killed a man with his cross-bow. (mai) . mon très redoubté, etc.,--monseigneur, ainsi que monseigneur mon nepveur se estoit allé jouer à la wure, le lundy de la pentecouste, et qu'il tiroit à l'arbaleste, est advenu ung meschief de son coup à ung homme de mestier de ceste ville, yvrogne et mal conditioné, dont monsieur de chièvres vous avertit tout au long; que a causé ung grant regret et desplaisir à mondit seigneur et à moy, ensemble à toute sa compaignie, mais il n'y a remède de savoir résister à telles fortunes. touteffois, monseigneur, à cause que plusieurs vous en pourroient avertir aultrement que à la vérité, j'ay esté d'advis que ledit seigneur de chièvres, qui éstoit présent, vous en deust avertir tout au long, comme il fait, à celle fin que en saichés la vérité.... mon très redoubté seigneur et père, etc. margaret's letter to the mother superior of the order of the 'annonciades' at bruges ma mère, ma mie,--j'ay donné charge à ce porteur, que bien connaissés, aller vers vous et vous dire de mes nouvelles et ma bonne disposition depuis aucuns jours, aussi de scavoir de la vostre que desire estre telle que la voudrais pour moy. j'espère en se bon dieu et sa glorieuse mère qui vous ayderont et garderont pour mieulx. je luy ay donné ung mémoire pour vous dire et au pater, vostre bon père, qui est de ma main propre, et cognoitrez par ycelluy _mon intention; je désire que n'en soit faict grant bruit et pour bonne cause_; et sur ce feray fin, vous priant faire à nostre bon père mes recommandations à ses bonnes prières, et semblablement à toutes mes bonnes filles, priant le créateur et sa benoiste mère vous donner sa grâce et à moy aussy. signé: vostre bonne fille, marguerite de malines. memorandum for estienne my valet de chambre, concerning what he is to say to the pater and the mère ancille. premier, que je desire sur toute chose mestre ma religion en tel estat que pour jamés (jamais) ils n'aient grant povreté; mes qui puissent vivre sans mandier; et désire scavoir ce que se porteur leur demandera, au quel je fay se mémoyre; et premier scavoir s'il est besoing plus de rente et jusques à quelle somme: et que ne le praigne trop eschars; car à l'aide de dieu je furniray à tout; et toute aultre chose que desireront, ils me le facent scavoir; _car je suis délibérée y faire une bonne fin_, à l'ayde de dieu et de nostre bonne maistresse, sa glorieuse mère. oultre plus dira à la mère ancille, ma bonne mère, que je luy prie qu'elle face prier toutes mes bonnes filles _à l'intention que je luy ay toujours dit_; car le temps approche, puisque l'empereur vient, à qui, à l'ayde de dieu, renderay bon comte de la charge et gouvernement que luy a pleu me donner; et ce faict, je me rendray à la voulenté de dieu et de nostre bonne maistresse, vous priant, ma bonne mère, ma mie, que je ne soye oubliée aux vostres, et vous demouray tousiours vostre bonne fille, marguerite[ ] [ ] j. baux, _l'Église de brou_. margaret of austria's last letter to her nephew the emperor charles v. monseigneur, l'heure est venue que ne vous puis plus escripre de ma main; car je me trouve en telle indisposition que doubte ma vie estre briefue, pourueue et reposée de ma conscience, et de tout résolue à receuoir ce qu'il plaira à dieu m'enuoyer, sans regret quelconque, réserue (si ce n'est) de la priuation de vostre présence et de non vous pouuoir veoir et parler à vous encoires une fois auant ma mort, ce que (pour la doubte que dessud) suppléray, en partie, par ceste mienne lettre que crains sera la dernière qu'aurez de moi. je vous ay institué mon héritier vniuersel, et pour le tout, aux charges de mon testament, l'accomplissement duquel vous recommande. vous laisse vos pays de pardeca, que, durant vostre absence, n'ay seulement gardé comme les me laissâtes à vostre partement, mais grandement augmentez, et vous rendz le gouuernement d'iceulx, ouquel me cuyde estre léalement acquictée, et tellement que j'en espère rémunération diuine, contentement de vous, monseigneur, et gré de vos subjects, vous recommandant singulièrement la paix, et par espécial auec les roys de france et d'angleterre. et, pour fin, vous suplie, monseigneur, que l'amour qu'il vous a pleu pourter au poure corps soit mémoire du salut de l'âme et recommandation de mes poures seruiteurs et seruantes, vous disant le dernier adieu ouquel je supplie, monseigneur, vous donner prospérité et longue vie. de malines, le dernier jour de novembre ,--votre très-humble tante, marguerite[ ] [ ] m. gachard, _analectes belgiques_. index adrian of utrecht, pope adrian iv., , , , , , , - , , , . agnadel, battle of, . aleander, . alexander vi., pope, . amboise, george, cardinal of, - , , , . ancille, mère, . andreas de burgo, , , , , , , , . anna of hungary, , , , . anne de beaujeu, , , , , . anne of brittany, - , - , , , . antonio de leyva, , . arthur, prince of wales, , , . augsburg, diet of, , , , . barcelona, treaty of, , . bayard, , . bianca sforza, . boghen, louis van, , , . bourbon, constable of, , , , , , , , , , . brandon, charles, duke of suffolk, - , , , , , . cambray, congress of, - . ---- peace of, the ladies' peace, . charles of austria, charles v., birth and baptism, ; succeeds his father, ; attends memorial service, - ; character and education, , , ; tour in flanders, ; betrothal to mary tudor, ; shoots a man by accident, ; accompanies his grandfather and aunt to lille, ; attends his sister isabella's wedding, ; emancipation, ; reconciliation with margaret, ; succeeds his grandfather ferdinand, ; arrival in spain, ; entry into valladolid, ; letter to francis i., ; death of his grandfather maximilian, ; rivalry with francis i. for imperial crown, - ; election as king of the romans, ; visit to england, ; meets henry viii. at gravelines, ; state entry into aix-la-chapelle and coronation, ; attends diet at worms, ; meets wolsey at bruges, ; makes his will, ; second visit to england, - ; receives news of battle of pavia, ; letter to king of portugal, , ; breaks off his engagement to princess mary, ; reproves his aunt margaret, - ; visits francis i. in prison, ; letter to louise of savoy, ; marriage, ; birth of his son philip, ; receives news of sack of rome, ; delight at conclusion of peace, ; treaty with clement vii. at barcelona, ; coronation at bologna, ; attends margaret's funeral service at cologne, . charles the bold, , , , . ---- viii., , , - , , , , , , , . charlotte of savoy (queen), . ---- daughter of francis i., , . christian ii., king of denmark, , , , . claude of france, queen of francis i., , , , . clement vii., pope, , , , , , , . cornelius agrippa, , , , . coxie, painter, , . croy, g. de, , . ---- william de, lord of chièvre, , , , - , , . dunois, count of, , . eleanor of austria, queen of portugal and queen of france, , , , - , , , - , , , , , , , , , , , . elizabeth of york, . emmanuel, king of portugal, . erasmus, , , . ferdinand, king of aragon, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , - , , . ---- archduke of austria, king of bohemia and hungary, , , , , , , , , , , - , , , . field of the cloth of gold, , . francesco de rojas, . francis i., , , , , , , , , . ---- ii., duke of brittany, , . gaston de foix, , . granvelle, nicolas de perrenot, sieur de, . gueldres, charles of egmont, duke of, , , , , , , , , , , , , . henry vii., , , , , , - , , , - , , , , . ---- viii., , , , , , , , , , , , , . hochstrate, count of, , , , , , . isabella of aragon, queen of portugal, , , . isabella the catholic, queen of castile and aragon, , , , , , , , . ---- of austria, queen of denmark, , , , , , , , , , , . ---- of portugal, wife of charles v., , , . jean le maire, , , , , , . ---- de paris, , . jeanne de valois, . joanna, queen of castile, - , , , , - , , , , , . john, prince of asturias, , , , , , , , . ---- iii., king of portugal, , , . john, crown prince of portugal, , . julius ii., pope, , , , , , , . katharine of aragon, queen of england, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . ---- of austria, queen of portugal, , , , , , , , , , . lannoy, charles de, viceroy of naples, , , , , , , . laurent de gorrevod, , , , . leo x., pope, , , , , . louis xi., king of france, , , . ---- duke of orleans, louis xii., , , , , - , , , , , , - , , , , , , , , - , , . ---- ii., king of hungary, , , , , . louise of savoy, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . ludovico sforza, duke of milan, . luther, martin, , , - . mabuse, painter, , , , . madrid, treaty of, . magdalen of rochester, . margaret of angoulême, duchess of alençon, queen of navarre, , , - , , , , . margaret of austria, early life, ; marriage to the dauphin charles, ; repudiation by charles and return to flanders, - ; proposed marriage to prince john of castile, ; composes her own epitaph, ; arrival in spain, ; marriage with prince john, ; death of her husband and child, ; second return to flanders, ; stands godmother to charles of austria, ; betrothal to philibert ii., duke of savoy, ; journey to savoy, ; marriage, ; reception at bourg, - ; accident out hunting, ; second widowhood, ; poem, ; her devices, ; plans for building brou, - ; negotiations for her marriage with henry vii., - , - ; her brother's death, ; letter to louis xii., ; appointed regent of the netherlands, ; residence at malines, ; makes her will, ; attends the congress of cambray, - ; her correspondence, - ; meets charles brandon at lille, - ; letters, - ; description of her niece isabella's wedding, ; annoyance at charles's emancipation, ; memorandum addressed to charles, - ; poem on maximilian's death, ; political activity, , ; administration praised, ; journey to calais, ; reappointment as regent by charles, ; appeal to the states-general, - ; meeting with wolsey, ; pawns her jewels, ; joy at capture of francis i., , ; annoys charles by arranging truce, - ; congratulates charles on his marriage, ; correspondence with her nephew ferdinand, , ; addresses circular letter to religious houses, ; negotiations for 'the ladies' peace,' - ; enters cambray, ; peace signed, ; her art collections, - ; poems, - ; letters to mère ancille, , ; last illness and death, - ; funeral, , ; monument at brou, , ; her coffin discovered, - . ---- of bourbon, , , , , , , , . margaret of york, rd wife of charles the bold, , , , , . maria of aragon, queen of portugal, . marignano, battle of, - . marnix, secretary, , , , , , . mary of austria, queen of hungary and bohemia, , , , , , , , , , , , , . ---- of burgundy, , , , , , , , , . ---- tudor, queen of france, and duchess of suffolk, - , , , , , , , - , . ---- tudor, daughter of henry viii., queen of england, , , , , , , , , . maximilian i., archduke of austria, king of the romans, and emperor elect of germany, father of margaret of austria, ; betrothed to anne of brittany, ; rage at his broken marriage, and return of his daughter, , ; urges margaret to leave spain, ; tries to arrange her marriage with henry vii., , , , ; offered the regency of the netherlands, ; deputes margaret as regent, ; his red book, ; writes to henry vii., ; letter to the states, ; letters to margaret, , , ; interview with henry vii.'s ambassadors, , ; his characteristics, ; writes to margaret about his grandchildrens' confirmation, ; and arrangements for her visit to cambray, ; deputes margaret to represent him at the congress, ; letter about battle of agnadel, ; burns his red book, ; fails to meet louis xii., ; his vacillation and failure of campaign, , ; serves in the english army, ; correspondence with his daughter, - ; attends meeting at lille, ; description of battle of marignano, ; letter to margaret about his granddaughter eleanor's proposed marriage, , ; hands over the government of the netherlands to his grandson charles, ; letter to charles, ; to margaret, , ; last illness and death, - . maximilian sforza, duke of milan, . melanchthon, . mercurin de gattinare, , , , , . molinet, jean, , . montécute, a. de, , . pavia, battle of, . pescara, marquis of, , , , . philibert ii., duke of savoy, , , , , - , - , , - , - . philip, archduke of austria, king of castile, , , , , , , , - , - , , , , . pizzighitone, castle of, . pleine, gérard de, , . praet, de, - , , , , . puebla, doctor, spanish ambassador, , , , , , . rené, bastard of savoy, , , - . renée of france, , . robert de la marck, , , . sauch, jehan le, , - . solyman the magnificent, , , . susan of bourbon, , . trèves, archbishop of, . trivulzio, marshal, . van eyck, john, , . ---- orley, bernard, , , , . villalar, battle of, . weyden, roger van der, , . wiltshire, sir john, . wingfield, edmund, , , , . ---- sir richard, , . wolsey, cardinal, , , , , , , , , - , , - , . worms, diet of, , , . ximenes, cardinal, , , - . [a transcriber's note is after the text.] _the story of brussels_ _the mediæval town series_ assisi.* by lina duff gordon. [_ th edition._ bruges.+ by ernest gilliat-smith. [_ rd edition._ brussels.+ by ernest gilliat-smith. cairo.+ by stanley lane-poole. cambridge.+ by charles w. stubbs, d.d. chartres.+ by cecil headlam. constantinople.* by william h. hutton. [_ nd edition._ edinburgh.+ by oliphant smeaton. ferrara.+ by ella noyes. florence.+ by edmund g. gardner. [_ th edition._ london.+ by henry b. wheatley. [_ nd edition._ moscow.* by wirt gerrare. [_ nd edition._ nuremberg.* by cecil headlam. [_ th edition._ perugia.* by margaret symonds and lina duff gordon. [_ th edition._ prague.* by count lutzow. rome.+ by norwood young. [_ th edition._ rouen.+ by theodore a. cook. [_ nd edition._ seville.+ by walter m. gallichan. siena.+ by edmund g. gardner. [_ nd edition._ toledo.* by hannah lynch. [_ nd edition._ verona.+ by alethea wiel. [_ nd edition._ venice.+ by thomas okey. _the prices of these (*) are s. d. net in cloth, s. d. net in leather; these (+) s. d. net in cloth, s. d. net in leather._ [illustration: george zelle, physician. painted by bernard van orley, brussels, .] _the story of_ brussels _by ernest gilliat-smith_ _illustrated by katharine kimball and guy gilliat-smith_ [illustration: monogram] _london: j. m. dent & co. aldine house, and bedford street covent garden, w.c. * * _ _all rights reserved_ preface probably there is no quarter of europe more thickly studded with mediæval towns than that embraced by the flemish provinces of belgium--the old duchy of brabant and the old county of flanders. curious places they are, some of them, little changed from what they were at the close of the fourteen hundreds; and some of them, so modernised that hardly anything is left to prove their identity but their geographical position and their names. all of these cities, however, have this in common, and this it is which makes them so interesting: we know something of their general history, and something too of the intimate lives of the men and the women who inhabited them, five hundred years ago--how they were lodged and clothed, what they drank and ate, the way in which their food was dressed and their tables served, something of their distractions and their business pursuits, how they loved and hated, what they thought of this world, and what of the next. these things are set forth by three distinct classes of contemporary witnesses:--pictures, a host of them, minutely detailed, with almost photographic accuracy; furniture of every description--ecclesiastical, domestic, personal; written documents of various kinds--chronicles, private letters, books of devotion, guild registers, town accounts. many of these have been carefully examined, and a very considerable number of them printed; also, especially in recent years, some of the most accredited belgian historians have busied themselves by writing monographs of their native towns, or treatises on their ancient municipal institutions: notably pirenne, vander linden, wauters, henne, piot, van even. from their works and from other sources, ancient and modern, i have gathered the material for my story of mediæval brussels, in the following pages, and which necessarily includes, for the two cities were intimately connected, a considerable portion of the story of mediæval louvain. to this i have added some notes on brabant painters and pictures, and also on brabant architecture, with descriptions of the chief mediæval monuments in brussels and in the neighbouring towns, and such information as i have been able to obtain concerning the great masons who built them. constrained by the narrow limits of this volume to curtail and compress, i have been content to set down facts, clearly i hope and coherently, but for the most part without comment or criticism. intended as it is for the general reader, i have done my utmost, and my first care has been, to make this pocket-book readable. i cannot venture to hope that i have escaped all error; but i think that upon the whole i have been able to outline a sufficiently faithful sketch, which i trust may be of some service to those into whose hands it may fall. e. g.-s. bruges, _february _. contents page chapter i _in the days before brussels was built_ chapter ii _the norsemen and louvain_ chapter iii _the house of long col_ chapter iv _the making of the duchy of brabant_ chapter v _the rise of brussels and louvain_ chapter vi _the serfs of st. peter_ chapter vii _the greater and the lesser folk_ chapter viii _the coelveren and the blankarden_ chapter ix _peter coutherele_ chapter x _the peace of _ chapter xi _reform_ versus _revolution_ chapter xii _everard t'serclaes_ chapter xiii _liberty at last_ chapter xiv _the trials of jacqueline_ chapter xv _buildings and builders_ chapter xvi _buildings and builders (continued)_ chapter xvii _pictures and painters_ chapter xviii _conclusion_ index genealogical tables page _i. table of the house of long col_ _facing_ _ii. table of the counts of louvain_ _facing_ _iii. table of the dukes of brabant from_ _facing_ _godfrey i. to john iii._ _iv. table of the dukes of brabant from_ _facing_ _john iii. to philip ii._ _v. table of the dukes of brabant from_ _facing_ _philip ii. to philip iii._ _vi. table of the dukes of brabant from_ _follows_ _philip iii. to francis_ illustrations page _portrait of george zelle, physician,_ _frontispiece_ _by bernard van orley (photogravure)_ _heading*_ _the abbey church, forest+_ _by the dyle, at mechlin+_ _the subterranean church of st. guy at anderlecht*_ _at mechlin*_ _saint peter's, louvain*_ _cloth hall, louvain*_ _tailpiece+_ _the old castle of everard t'serclaes at ternath+_ _notre-dame de hal from chapel behind north transept*_ _the town hall, brussels+_ _old houses near saint gudule's+_ _tailpiece+_ _the old church of saint nicholas, rue au beurre+_ _le tour noire+_ _saint rumbold's cathedral*_ _notre-dame au-delà de la dyle+_ _la maison du roi+_ _eglise sainte-gudule pilastre sculpté*_ _the steen of antwerp*_ _quai de l'avoine, malines+_ _from the béguinage, louvain*_ _saint catherine's, brussels+_ _rouge cloître*_ _guild houses in the grand' place, brussels+_ _notre-dame du sablon+_ _notre-dame de la chapelle+_ _notre-dame au-delà de la dyle+_ _saint michel et sainte gudule+_ _sainte gudule--the lady chapel+_ _st. peter's, louvain, chapel of st. charles*_ _interior of mechlin cathedral+_ _mechlin cathedral+_ _de dijle te mechelen*_ _notre-dame de hal baptistery gates*_ _hôtel de ville, louvain+_ _tête de femme en pleurs, attributed to_ _facing_ _roger van der weyden, brussels gallery_ _'pièta', attributed to roger van der weyden,_ _facing_ _brussels gallery_ _'the martyrdom of saint erasmus' by_ _facing_ _dierick boudts, at saint peter's, louvain_ _the wings of the saint anne triptych by_ _facing_ _quentin metsys, in the brussels gallery (shut)_ _the wings of the saint anne triptych by_ _facing_ _quentin metsys, in the brussels gallery (open)_ _the central panel of the saint anne triptych by_ _facing_ _quentin metsys, in the brussels gallery_ _from s. rombold's, malines*_ _at mechlin+_ _by the dyle at mechlin+_ _guild halls in the market-place at brussels+_ _notre-dame d'hanswyck, malines+_ _saints pierre et paul, malines+_ _la porte de hal, brussels+_ _tailpiece+_ _plan of brussels_ _follows_ those illustrations marked * are by g. gilliat-smith. do. do. + are by katharine kimball. [illustration: brussels] the story of brussels chapter i _in the days before brussels was built_ the beginning of the story of brussels, like the beginning of the stories of most of the mediæval towns of northern europe, is shrouded in mystery. set at the time of its origin in a land of marsh and wood, it probably takes its name, like so many german cities, from the natural configuration of its site and the nature of the settlement from which it was gradually evolved--_bruk sel_, the manor in the marsh. so, too, the neighbouring towns:--antwerp, at wharf; tervueren, by the river vuer; schaerbeek, by the heath stream; aerschot, the home by the water; and the sister city, the city whose history is so intricately woven with the history of the capital of belgium that it is impossible to disentangle them, looven, the wooded hill alongside the fen; and the province in which all these places are situated: brabant, from _brac_, uncultivated, barren, wild, and _bant_, the frontier land. the fierce tribes whom cæsar found in this part of gaul gloried in the tradition of their german origin, but it is not to them that the towns and villages and hamlets of brabant owe their german names. the nervii and the treveri, like the despised and hated celts who surrounded them, were compelled at last to submit to rome's legions and to learn the roman tongue; they learnt it so well that when later on a whirlwind of barbarism swept latin civilisation from northern europe they had altogether forgotten their own. driven for the most part south into those provinces which we now call liége and hainault and namur, to this day their descendants speak the time-honoured language of rome, and to this day german is the tongue of the offspring of the men who ousted them. it was the salic franks, then, who, for the most part, were the builders of the cities of brabant, and they it was who gave them their rough german names. in the dark, troublous times which witnessed the birth of the new civilisation and the making of the new towns, two figures stand out pre-eminent--the figure of the hero, of whom later on, and the figure of the saint. the bishop in his embroidered cope, who never failed to throw the mantle of his protection about the downtrodden and the oppressed, nor to vindicate the sacredness of the marriage vow and the sacredness of human life: at his menace of retribution the half-tamed german chief quailed as at the threat of a sorcerer, if he dared violate this man's domain maybe he would stumble on the threshold and break his neck, or perchance a worse thing might happen to him; the monk in his tattered cowl, who going forth day by day from his hovel in the wilderness gradually brought the land once more under tillage, or patiently sitting at home in his cell, little by little gathered up what fragments remained of human knowledge, and so saved what could be saved of human culture; the consecrated virgin whose whole life proclaimed to a people, who knew nothing of these things, the beauty of chastity and the beauty of humility and the sweetness of self-denial; the layman whose heart had been touched by the fire of divine love, sometimes a son of the people, sometimes the scion of a noble house, and who, attaching himself, often in a menial capacity, to some church or religious establishment, had one object in life--to serve god and his poor. such were the women and such were the men who in those dark and violent days poured some drops of sweetness into the bitter chalice of existence; they were the chief agents and the choicest and most perfect flowers of that great institution which we call christianity. incalculable were the benefits which they conferred on the human race, and the greatest of them all, even from a human point of view, was this--to a people sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death they brought back hope. in an age when, for the vast majority of mankind, the sum of human happiness was so slender, they reinspired men with the wish to live, or at all events with the courage to endure existence, conjuring up before their despairing eyes, 'a glorious pavilion of gold at the end of life's muddy lane,' a vision of eternal beatitude which the weakest and the vilest of them might one day enjoy. thus taine, epitomised, speaking of europe generally.[ ] [ ] _l'ancien régime_, livre ^er, ch. i. § . profane and fierce were the men of brabant, 'infinitos prædones, vulgo dictus brabantiones, qui nec deum diligunt nec viam veritatis cognoscere volunt,' as aimoin has it, at the close of the ten hundreds; but for all that they had their heroes, and amongst them, too, were saints. men like that mighty hunter, hubert, bishop of liége ( - ), the apostle to whose untiring zeal brabant in great measure owed her conversion to the christian faith, and who, in the days of his stormy youth, before he met the stag with the cross between its horns, and turned devout, dwelt in a castle at a place called tervueren, on the fringe of that mysterious forest of soignes, which still overshadows brussels, and which still, the peasant folk will tell you, he loves and protects: here he received holy orders, here he sang his first mass, here, worn out with travail and fever, he died, with the fall of the leaf, in the year : no trace of his villa remains, but st. hubert's chapel, in the royal park of tervueren, is said to mark its site, and on one of the walls of the parish church hard by, there still hangs an old ivory hunting horn, which once belonged, tradition says, to the huntsman's patron saint. men like 'that impious robber adhilck,' lord of hesbaye, surnamed the fierce, one of charlemagne's ancestors, who, touched by the preaching of saint-amand, shaved off his beard, took a new name, bavo, which means the mild, and changed, too, his manner of life, distributed all his goods to the poor, went and hid himself in the woods of beyla, there did penance for seven years in the trunk of a hollow tree, which all that time was covered with leaves and flowers, and at last withdrew to the monastery which amand had founded at ghent, where he died in the odour of sanctity, tended in his last moments by his friend domlinus, a hermit from the distant forest of thor, whom, because bavo desired to bid him farewell, an angel conducted to his bedside. presently they built a church in his honour, and st. bavo became the patron of ghent. men like rombold, the son of an irish chief, who left his father's court and his native land to become an evangelist, and wandering about brabant, preaching and teaching wherever he went, at last founded, on the banks of the dyle, a monastery, where he presently fell a victim to his zeal and won the crown of martyrdom, and around which gradually grew up the city we now call mechlin; or women, like pepin of landen's daughter gertrude, who founded the abbey of nivelles and the town which clusters round it; or her niece and disciple gudila, who led the life of a recluse in the castle of ham by alost, and whose bones three hundred years after her death were translated to brussels, and presently laid up in the church which now bears her name; or poor little halene, slain by her own father, a pagan chief, because she became a christian, and whose tomb you may still see in the old church of forest, hard by brussels. [illustration: the abbey church, forest.] of these heroic men and women we know hardly anything for certain save their names. they lived in that age of legend and mystery during which paganism was making its last stand against the victorious onslaught of the new faith. if their actions were recorded by contemporary writers, the manuscripts were destroyed by the barbarian hordes who scourged the land in the course of the nine hundreds--and the biographies of later writers, compiled as they must have been from hearsay evidence, and after ample time had elapsed for the legends to grow, are little more than a fascinating texture of folklore and myth--naïve and beautiful fairy tales, of which the most that can be said of them is that, perhaps, they are founded on fact. but if there are no authentic chronicles of the lives of the early saints of brabant, we know that their lives were not lived in vain; the bountiful harvest which was reaped by after generations bears witness to the excellence of the seed which these men had sown, and to the care and the diligence with which they and their successors had tended it; and after all the ecclesiastical seal of canonisation has been in most cases, especially in these early days, the outcome rather than the cause of popular devotion. as taine shrewdly notes, man is too envious and too egoistical to lavish gratitude where none is due, and the estimation in which they were held by the people is sufficient proof of their sterling worth. we see them pale, shadowy, vague, like the white cloud which hovered over the battlefield of louvain, but the victors saw in that white cloud, 'la benoite vierge marie et saint lambert avec monsieur saint pierre semblant de vouloir secourir le peuple chrétien,' and so heartened were they by the vision that they put to flight the pagan host, and no less fruitful in results are the forgotten lives and the forgotten labours of those great pioneers of civilisation who to-day are for us but as beautiful phantoms. [illustration: by the dyle, at mechlin.] chapter ii _the norsemen and louvain_ the victory of louvain (sept. , ) marks an epoch in the history of brabant. the danes under rolf the ganger, who later on became first duke of normandy, were utterly routed, and though they succeeded in rallying their forces and for a few months continued their devastations in the ardennes, brabant at least was free of them, and after the storming of 'a certain stronghold newly constructed upon an exceeding high mountain whither a vast multitude of them had taken refuge,' the pagan host was disbanded and as if by enchantment melted away. perhaps the peasants, descendants of men who had been driven to the font, had at first lent assistance to the invaders, and that now at last convinced that thor was not mighty enough to withstand christ they had withdrawn their co-operation. for well-nigh a century the storm had raged and the brunt of its fury had fallen on the church, for it was not greed alone which had driven forth these fierce pirates from their homes in the north, but, and in the first place perhaps, a fiery zeal for their time-honoured traditions and their time-honoured faith: they would have rebuilt their broken altars and brought back the old gods to the lands from which they had been banished. it was toward the close of the year that the danes, who had ere this made themselves masters of holland and friesland, for the first time visited brabant. coming up the scheldt in their long black boats, they presently ascended the dyle as far as 'a place called lovon,' as a contemporary writer has it, where the river ceases to be navigable. this is the first time that louvain is mentioned in history; it was then what its name signifies--forest and fen. here they made camp on a little island formed by two branches of the stream, and the site of the future capital of brabant became their headquarters. from thence they issued daily, and the usual consequences followed--churches and monasteries went up in flames, altars were cast down, and those who served them tortured and slain; whilst the most cherished objects of christian worship were profaned and trampled in the dust. in the vast diocese of liége, which embraced at this time the whole country between the meuse and the dyle, hardly a sacred building was left standing. at mechlin, the only one of the five great towns of brabant which had as yet begun to exist, there was not a church but was reduced to ashes. so, too, further afield at tongres, st. trond, maestricht, where the danes had another camp. in the episcopal city itself they fired the church and the monastery of st. caprais, and cut the throats of the monks. the monks of st. peter's fared worse: they were nailed by their heads to the walls of their cloister, and there left to die. the cathedral of st. lambert, too, was invaded, rifled for treasure, and then burnt to the ground; and a host of other sanctuaries shared a like fate. as for francon, the bishop, though after events showed that he was in reality no coward, when he heard that the danes were approaching, he packed up his relics and his treasures, and made for huy, on the banks of the meuse between liége and namur, where there was an impregnable fortress. at first, indeed, very little resistance seems to have been made; at all events, there was no organised and concerted action, and in some cases no opposition whatever was offered. panic laid hold of whole populations, and not only clerks and monks, but stalwart knights and sturdy burghers, turned tail and fled. presently, charles the fat was summoned from italy in order to prevent, if might be, the complete demoralisation of the people; but though in due course that weak and vacillating monarch arrived with the largest army that had ever been seen in the pays de liége, he showed himself utterly unable to cope with the situation, and it was not till the advent of his successor, arnulph i., that matters began to mend. in , after more than one engagement, in which his troops had not been worsted, charles had made terms with the norsemen, and the invading host had withdrawn; but the following spring saw their long black boats once more on the dyle, soon the marauders were again encamped 'in the place called lovon,' and soon they were again vexing the surrounding country. but for some reason or other the natives now seem to have plucked up their courage. in the skirmishes, which were of almost daily occurrence, they were sometimes able to hold their own; and when presently the emperor arnulph appeared at the head of an army of germans, so great was the enthusiasm of the urban populations that crowds of townsfolk flocked to his standard--francon of liége amongst the rest, and his example was followed by a host of monks and not a few of his canons. 'he was the first of our bishops to draw the sword,' notes an old liége chronicler; but when the excitement was over and the battle had been won, francon's conscience pricked him, and he sent messengers to rome begging to be relieved of his episcopal functions. 'it were not meet,' he said, 'that hands stained with blood should have the administration of holy things.' great was the joy of the men of lotharingia at the triumph of louvain, and king arnulph ordained that on the first day of october 'solemn litanies should be chanted by way of thanksgiving, and he himself and his whole army joined in the procession, singing praises to god who had given them the victory.' though cities had been pillaged and the country laid waste, though heaps of ashes and tottering walls were all that remained of the monuments with which charlemagne and his successors had adorned the cradle of their race, though art and culture had been well-nigh wiped out, the church laid low and the state shattered almost beyond hope of repair, there was one body of men in the old kingdom of lotharingia whose interests had been singularly favoured by the coming of the danes--the great lay proprietors. thrifty men who for years past by purchase, by marriage, by promises of protection, by means of loans in times of stress, by hook or by crook, by fair means sometimes, and sometimes by foul, had been gradually gathering into their own hands the freehold tenements of their weaker brethren; strong men who, instead of turning tail when hungarian or dane threatened them, bared their breasts to the foe, and with their swords in their hands defended alike their own property and the property of their neighbours; astute men, who knew very well, from personal experience, what an exceedingly profitable pastime it sometimes is to fish in troubled waters. for them the coming of the danes had been almost a godsend; at all events, a blessing in disguise; and their departure left them free to reap the rich harvest which these rude northerners had unwittingly sown--to obtain, that is, a vast increase of their landed estates and a no less vast increase of privileges, immunities, authority, and of political and social prestige. in the first place they had little difficulty in making themselves masters, in fact if not in name, of the abbey lands. many of the monks had been slain or had fled, and so fearful were the remnant that remained of further depredation that they were glad enough to hand over the administration of their estates to the only men who were strong enough to defend them. thus, by the close of the eight hundreds almost all the monastic domains of lotharingia had in reality become the property of laymen who, as the monks' _avoués_ or stewards, took up their abode in their cloisters, received and expended their revenues, became participators in their rights and immunities, and exercised jurisdiction in their name over their vassals and dependants. to obtain control of the secular clergy was a matter no less easy of accomplishment, for although the cathedral chapters still retained the right to choose their own bishops, so great was the power and influence of the landowners that they had become practically irresistible, and were almost always able to secure the election of their own nominees, and thus were enabled, through them, to rule the church. but this was not all, such of them as were invested with civil authority now began to exercise it in their own names, and the emperors, whose power and prestige had long ago been impaired by the fratricidal strife of the children of louis the mild, had been so enfeebled by the recent invasions that they were unable to offer any effectual resistance. thus were laid on the ruins of imperialism the foundations of that feudal system which was destined later on to play so great a part in the civilisation of europe. chapter iii _the house of long col_ foremost among the landowners, who at this time were laying the foundations of dynasties, was régnier au long col, the great ancestor of the counts of hainault and of the counts of brussels and louvain, the man to whom all the sovereigns of brabant, from lambert longbeard to francis ii., traced their descent:[ ] the son of one count giselbert, who, in the middle of the eight hundreds, had made his fortune by carrying off a daughter of the emperor lothaire, he was the owner of vast estates in hainault, in hesbaye, in ardennes, and lay-abbot to boot of three great monastic domains. of the vassals and serfs who dwelt on his lands some, then, were teutons and some were celts, and he himself, who spoke the language of each race, was perhaps unable to say to which stock he belonged, and herein lay his strength: he was a man whose nationality was merged in the great feudal chief. [ ] the reigning sovereign of belgium, king leopold ii., is a descendant of régnier au long col. (_see_ genealogical table vi.) such a one could alone command the confidence of the mixed race which inhabited lotharingia, and when presently the emperor arnulph set up a german king in the person of his illegitimate son, zwentibold ( ), and régnier unfurled the standard of revolt, the discontented feudal lords to a man rallied round him. a stranger in a strange land, without the means to purchase the goodwill and support of the native chiefs, since their fathers had already received in bribes the whole of the royal domains, from the first the new sovereign had to fight for his throne, and from the first the issue of the conflict was a foregone conclusion. zwentibold fell in an obscure skirmish on august , , and régnier became virtual ruler of lotharingia, and though he had no legal sanction for the authority which he exercised, before his death he had so consolidated his power that when that event took place ( ) his son giselbert stepped quietly into his shoes, and presently the reigning emperor henry i. acknowledged him duke and gave him the hand of his daughter gerberge, and with it, by way of dowry, large estates, including among other tenements, the castles of brussels and louvain. if henry believed that he had thereby definitely bound his redoubtable vassal to the imperial house, he little knew with whom he had to deal. a contemporary chronicler has left us his portrait, and it is not a flattering one. 'giselbert,' he tells us, 'was small of stature but strongly built, always in movement, and with eyes so keen and so shifty that no man knew their colour. eaten up with ambition, audacious, crafty, false, he cared not what means he took to compass his ends.' the goal that he was striving for was, in all probability, a royal crown: the darling wish of his heart was to re-establish the kingdom of lotharingia. his whole life had hitherto been one long course of treachery and intrigue, and though after his marriage he kept faith with henry, when that prince died he soon showed that he was still the same giselbert as of yore; in spite of an oath of allegiance, and in spite of his imperial wife, he proved himself as false to otho the great, the son of his benefactor, as he had been in former days to rodolphe of burgundy and to charles the simple of france. of this last act of treason the outcome was death. surprised by the imperial forces at andernach, on the rhine, and hemmed in on all sides, he made his horse plunge into the water, hoping to reach the further bank and so make his escape, but the current was too strong for him, and horse and rider were swept away. thus died duke giselbert ( ), and at his death the star of his house for a while waned. his only son, an infant whom otho placed under ward, died shortly afterwards, and though his nephew, régnier iii. of hainault, seized his widow's dower, he was not strong enough to grasp the reins of government, and presently the emperor otho conferred the duchy on conrad the red, a native of franconia, who, like his predecessor, was allied by marriage to the imperial house ( ). conrad was an energetic and capable man, but rude, passionate, vindictive, and, as the issue showed, untrustworthy. at first, however, all went well: the new duke rigidly enforced order, any attempt at rebellion he crushed with an iron hand, and for some ten years the land had peace; and then, having taken it into his head that otho had treated him badly, he himself turned rebel. whereat régnier of hainault, and the rest who had experienced conrad's lash, taking heart, banded together against him and drove him from their midst ( ). if régnier believed that the emperor would recompense his services by restoring him to the throne of his ancestors, he was doomed to signal disappointment. otho was in no way deceived by the specious loyalty of his lotharingian vassals. he knew very well that, in helping him to crush conrad, they had in reality made him the instrument of their vengeance against one whom they hated, not on account of his recent rebellion, but because of his zeal for law and order and his former loyal service, and he refused to reward these lawless men by setting over them a chief as lawless as themselves, and one too, who, by reason of his popularity, would have all the more power to work mischief; nor would he confer the duchy on another german vassal, for such would be not unlikely to follow the example of conrad. henceforth he would govern lotharingia by means of the church. true, the church had ceased to be the power which she had been in charlemagne's day. her authority was no longer enhanced by the glamour of wealth and the glamour of learning and the glamour of political prestige. her spiritual life had waned. she had lost much of her pristine fervour, something of her child-like faith. her sanctuaries had been ruined; she had been robbed of her treasure; a considerable portion of her landed property had been appropriated by laymen, and it needed all her tact and all her vigilance to safeguard the rest, a task the more difficult from the fact that many bishops owed their appointment to harpies eager to despoil them. but for all that she was still a power to be reckoned with--an ally whose friendship was not to be despised. if only she could be freed from the feudal incubus which was strangling her, she might yet do yeoman service for the crown. this then was the task which otho set himself to perform, and the method which he adopted to accomplish it was a bold and an effectual one: he rendered it henceforth impossible for his vassals to interfere with episcopal elections by naming the bishops himself, and at the same time he took good care to appoint none but worthy, capable and reliable men, entirely devoted to his interests. but this was not all; if the bishops were to hold their own in their perennial conflict with the barons, their hands would have to be strengthened; and henceforth it became otho's policy, and the policy too of his successors, as opportunity offered, to gradually enlarge their boundaries, to endow them with fresh sources of revenue, to increase their temporal authority, and to shower on them all sorts of civil and political rights. nor was the result disproportionate to the emperor's expectations--the bishops of lotharingia became their most faithful and devoted servants. 'if the emperor were to pluck out my right eye,' cried bishop wazon of liége ( - ) in an outburst of enthusiastic loyalty, 'i would still use the left in his honour and service.'[ ] that was the spirit which animated all of them, and for a hundred and fifty years they were able to keep the wolf at bay. [ ] _anselme_, _gesta episcop. leod., mon. germ. hist. script._, t. vii. p. . the man on whose head otho now placed the ducal crown was his brother bruno, a clerk in holy orders, on whom he also conferred the metropolitan see of cologne, which included among its suffragans utrecht, liége and cambrai, thus making him supreme alike in church and state ( ). the success of otho's policy in lotharingia was in great measure, if not entirely, due to the energy, the perseverance, the courage, and, above all, to the consummate tact and the marvellous administrative capacity of this great man. his work was essentially a constructive one, out of chaos he brought order, and his success as an organiser and administrator was only equalled by his success as an educator. 'his schools at cologne,' says m. pirenne, 'were frequented not only by clerks who aspired to ecclesiastical dignities, but also by young nobles--for many of the feudal lords confided their sons to his care--and all of them returned reconciled to the empire and entirely subjugated by the charm of the archbishop-duke.'[ ] in the twelve years during which he governed lotharingia--he died in --he succeeded not only in pacifying that rebellious province, but, if we may trust his biographer, in working a marvellous change in the lives and morals of its inhabitants: 'he found them,' says ruotger, 'rugged and fierce, and he left them gentle and tame'; and though the conversion of the vast majority was sufficiently short-lived--when the benign influence of bruno was withdrawn they soon relapsed into their old blood-thirsty and lawless ways--the grandeur of his work is sufficiently appreciable when we compare such ruffians as régnier au long col, for instance, or his slippery son giselbert, with one who came immediately under bruno's influence, whose character, indeed, he formed--his friend and disciple ansfried, count of louvain, who, after having been for long years a faithful and devoted servant of the emperor, at last took orders, became bishop of utrecht, and died in the odour of sanctity; or to men like godfrey of verdun, the most perfect type of those nobles whom bruno had reconciled to the imperial cause, a man who had no more sympathy for feudal aspirations than had bruno himself, and whose staunch loyalty may be gauged from the message he sent to his wife when he was a captive in a french prison, and which has been preserved for us in the memoirs of gerbert--who afterwards became pope sylvester ii. ( - )--whom he charged to deliver it:--'remain staunch in your fidelity to the ever august empress and her son. make no truce with the french; hold your forts firm against their king, and let not the hope of restoring your husband and your son to liberty diminish the energy of your resistance.'[ ] [ ] _histoire de belgique_, vol. i. ch. iii. p. (brussels, ). [ ] _lettres de gerbert_, ed. j. havet, no. , p. (paris, ). i.--genealogical table of the house of long-col $régnier au long-col.$, _d._ | +-----------+-+------+ | | | louis d'outremer, = gerberge = gislebert, régnier ii. | king of france | (daughter | duke of | | | of henry | lotharingia, | a daughter = bérenger, | the | _d._ | count of | fowler) | | namur | a son | +--------------+--+ _d._ in infancy | | | | lothaire, charles, duke of régnier iii. _d._ king of lower lotharingia, | (in exile in france, _d._ | bohemia) _d._ | | | | | | +--------+-------+ +---------+----------+ | | | | otho, duke of gerberge = lambert longbeard, régnier iv., count lower lotharingia, first hereditary of hainault, _d._ count of louvain, _d._ _d._ _facing page_ . between régnier of hainault, that half-tamed leader of rebels, and the gentle scholar and polished gentleman, saint bruno of cologne--men whose dispositions were so different and whose interests and ideals were so diametrically opposed, the one the incarnation of feudal chaos and feudal license, and the other the representative of imperial liberty and imperial law, each of them endowed with unflagging perseverance, and an indomitable will--no treaty of peace would have been possible, even if régnier had not believed that the emperor had ungratefully bestowed on bruno the inheritance which was lawfully his, and from the first they were at daggers drawn. as was natural, the man who had been rejected did all in his power to thwart his successful rival and to frustrate his projects of reform. for three years the conflict continued and then bruno was able to pluck the thorn from his side. fortune delivered his tormentor into his hands and he forthwith banished him to bohemia and detained him there until he went the way of all flesh. but the house of long col was not extinguished by the death of its chief--the old count had two sons, régnier and lambert, who, when their father was captured and his estates confiscated, found an asylum in france at the court of king lothaire. the french monarchs, as direct heirs of charlemagne, had always regarded lotharingia as their own inheritance, and lothaire himself and his brother charles were the sons of duke giselbert's widow gerberge by her second husband, louis d'outremer. thus ties of kindred and a common grievance disposed the french king to befriend the children of régnier of hainault, and at his court they remained for fifteen years nourishing their enmity against bruno and the emperor, and praying for an opportunity of vengeance. at last the day of reckoning came. the strong and gentle hand of bruno had been removed by death in , and otho the great was gathered to his fathers in . taking advantage of the confusion incident on this last event charles of france now claimed his mother's dowry, and régnier and lambert their father's estates, and presently they invaded lotharingia to make good their demands at the sword's point. welcomed by the feudal chiefs and backed by the power of france, so formidable were the invaders that otho ii. deemed it prudent to treat with them and at last restored their paternal heritage to régnier and lambert and conferred the duchy on charles. two considerations made him the more ready to grant this last concession. charles on his father's side was a descendant of charlemagne and as such was likely to be a _persona grata_ to the nobles, many of whom had carolingian blood in their veins, and through his mother he was the grandson of henry the fowler, thus first cousin to otho himself, and hence there was reason to believe that he would prove a loyal vassal. otho's hopes, however, were only partly realised. he had no reason to suspect charles's good faith, but the feudal chiefs, with régnier and lambert at their head, so far from acknowledging the new duke, did all in their power to second the desperate efforts which lothaire was making to annex lotharingia, efforts which in despite of his allies were doomed to disappointment. true he at one time succeeded in reaching the imperial palace at aachen, and there 'had the satisfaction of eating a dinner which had been prepared for otho himself,' but he was forced to beat a hasty retreat, and his death, which took place shortly afterwards, followed as it was by the death of his only son, left the emperor master of the situation ( ), and duke charles heir to a crown which he was never able to wear. hugh capet, who for years past had been drawing nearer and nearer to the french throne, had himself proclaimed king at noyon, and though charles fought valiantly for his heritage, and there seemed every likelihood that his efforts would meet with success, he failed, almost in the hour of triumph: treacherously delivered into the hands of the usurper by the bishop of laon, he was cast into prison at orléans where he shortly afterwards died ( ). this unfortunate prince is the first ruler whose name is intimately associated with brussels. tradition says that he was born there, and he certainly made it his chief place of abode. his palace was situated on a little island between two branches of the senne, somewhere about the site now occupied by the place saint géry, and that little island contained the whole of the settlement called brussels, for in those days brussels was not a town, it was little more than a castle and a cluster of huts:--the dwellings of such of the ducal servants and court officials as were not lodged in the castle itself and of those who catered for the ducal household and maybe also the homesteads of a few farmers whom a sense of greater security had induced to settle there. charles was succeeded in the duchy of lotharingia by his only son otho, and when he died childless twenty years afterwards ( ), lambert long col, who had married charles's eldest daughter gerberge, claimed his heritage as next-of-kin. he did not obtain the dukedom--that dignity fell to godfrey of ardennes, the son of bruno's pupil, godfrey the captive--but he managed to make good his claim to a very considerable portion of his father-in-law's maternal heritage--the rich dowry which henry the fowler had bestowed on his daughter, the elder gerberge, on her marriage with duke giselbert, and which later the emperor otho ii. had granted to duke charles, her son by her second marriage. the castles of louvain and vilvorde and brussels, and all the adjoining territory, fell to lambert's share, and this vast and rich domain, called until the close of the century sometimes the county of brussels, more often the county of louvain, was the nucleus of the duchy of brabant. chapter iv _the making of the duchy of brabant_ in obtaining legal recognition of his right to the county of louvain, lambert i., as we must now call him, had accomplished something, but the house of long col had not yet realised, nor was it ever to wholly realise, the darling dream of its ambition--the establishment in lotharingia of an independent realm, although that cherished wish did, in later days, receive some measure of fulfilment: in their long contest with the empire the triumph of the barons was presently assured, and with the title of duke the counts of louvain at last obtained practical independence. it was on the church, as we have seen, that the emperors mainly relied for the maintenance of their authority in lotharingia, and by a strange irony of fate it was to the church that the overthrow of that authority was in great measure due. not that the bishops belied their trust: against tremendous odds they held the fortress which had been confided to their keeping for over a hundred years, and only at last surrendered when their master's breach with the papacy gave to his turbulent vassals what had before been lacking to them--a legitimate excuse for rebellion. given the conjunction of events, no other issue was possible. the bishops had no choice: the quarrel concerning investiture broke the back of imperial rule. amongst the clergy the monks alone had succeeded in endearing themselves to the native population, and the power which they wielded was immense. the bishops--learned, capable, god-fearing men as most of them undoubtedly were, had never been able to gain the confidence of the people: save to the higher clergy, whom they had formed, and to a handful of the lay aristocracy who had received their education at liége or cologne, they were almost unknown to them. it could hardly have been otherwise, they were strangers in a strange land, they were the standard-bearers of order amid a barbarous people, whose lawlessness filled them with horror and contempt, and of whose very language they were in many cases ignorant. well might they bewail their lot in the words of tetdon of cambrai, for a moment cast down at the hopelessness of the task before him, 'o wretched man that thou art, in vain didst thou quit thy native land for this land of savages!' the lot of the regular clergy, and the conditions under which they laboured were altogether different. the strong man who by his marvellous energy, his burning zeal, his eloquence, his sweetness, his piety, and, above all, by the example of his stainless life, had made of the undisciplined rabble, who, calling themselves monks, scoffed at the evangelical counsels, and hardly believed in the gospel, an army of humble, hard-working men, ever ready to spend themselves and be spent in the service of christ, was himself nurtured in the bosom of feudalism: gerard of brogne wore a coat of mail before he put on the monk's frock. one day out hunting in his own domain along with his master, count bérenger of namur, a son-in-law of régnier au long col, he had turned into a wayside chapel to pray, whilst the rest of the party were dining. presently he fell asleep, and dreamed that st. peter bid him build a church there and dedicate it to st. eugène. that was the origin of the famous abbey of brogne, and gerard became its first abbot ( ). presently the rumour spread abroad that a band of monks who kept their rule had established themselves in the forest of namurois, and that their leader was a saint. strangers flocked from far and wide to see if such things could be, and brogne became a place of pilgrimage. soon the fame of gerard's holiness outstepped the borders of namur: at the request of duke giselbert ( - ) he reformed the abbeys of lotharingia; later on ( - ) summoned to cambrai by bishop tetdon, and to flanders by arnulph the great,[ ] he accomplished a like work in their domains; before his death, towards the close of the century, there was hardly a religious house from the meuse to the sea which he had not set in order. nor was this all, so great was his influence with the feudal lords that many of them who held ecclesiastical appointments resigned them, and everywhere the right of free election was restored; a host of new monasteries were founded, some due to the munificence of the feudal aristocracy, others to that of their political opponents, the bishops; and so great was the religious enthusiasm of the people that they gave their time and labour freely for the erection of these buildings. gerard was crowned with the aureole of sanctity--that was the secret of his success: he loved god with his whole heart and his neighbour as himself; he was inspired by 'that wisdom which proceedeth from the mouth of the most high, and reacheth from end to end, and mightily and sweetly setteth all things in order.' [ ] see _the story of bruges_, ch. iii. the great reformer's interpretation of the rule of st. benedict, a rule which leaves much to the discretion of local superiors, was large, mild, tolerant, without exaggerated asceticism. his disciples, like their master, in touch with baron and bishop, were careful not to compromise their good relations with the episcopate by any expression of sympathy with the ideals of feudalism. indeed, st. gerard's anonymous biographer, who most likely was a monk of his own abbey at brogne, does not even spare duke giselbert, his master's chief benefactor, averring that his untimely end was a just punishment for his rebellion:--'sicque completur vaticinium psalmigraphi qui dicit _homo cum in honore esset, non intellexit_. ob ambitionem quipe regni circa eos istud obvenit.' such was the monasticism of gerard of brogne and such was the spirit which for half a century after his death inspired his disciples. the work which they accomplished was immense. the influence which they exercised is almost incredible. the low countries became for the time more devout than any other region of europe; in the eyes of the people the monk alone was the true servant of god, the incarnation in his own person of the mystical body of christ. a wave of religious enthusiasm swept over the land, and it prepared men's minds to receive later on a more drastic reform of which the consequences were momentous. lavish in alms-deeds, given to hospitality, a loyal friend to the poor and oppressed, upright, virtuous, dogged, keen, ever ready to do battle for justice sake, contemned and worshipped, beloved and loathed, such was the monk of cluny. uncompromising in his championship of the rights of the clergy and of the rights of the apostolic see, clerical laxity and lay interference alike stank in his nostrils, for him the bishop whom the emperor had named was a simonist, and the married clerk an adulterer. gentle to others sometimes, always stern to himself, strait was the gate and narrow the way by which he went to paradise. to fast, to labour, to keep silence, to submit, these things were to him meat and drink; his one earthly consolation was in the sweetness of his psalmody and the splendour of his ritual, and in magnifying the glory of the priesthood collectively he perhaps found some compensation for his complete abasement of self. his manner of life, he averred, was in strict accord with the spirit of the old benedictine rule, he alone of the monks of his day had discovered its true meaning, but for better or worse the reform of cluny constituted in fact a new order, for one essential feature of benedictine life, the family tie, was all but blotted out: wherever cluniac discipline prevailed the local abbot ceased to be his own master, he obeyed the abbot of cluny, and the monk no longer regarded his own monastery as his only home--he was a member of a vast international community, and in each of the hundred homes of his order he was sure of a welcome as a son of the house. inaugurated at the beginning of the nine hundreds by william of aquitaine, who had exchanged a ducal coronet for a monk's cowl, perfected by a series of capable rulers, who were possessed of that faith which removes mountains and whose consistency of life inspired respect, the new order rapidly spread from province to province and realm to realm till at length it became a power in christendom. early in the ten hundreds 'the sweet savour of its good report' began to fascinate the monks of the netherlands, and though some of the elder brethren who remembered st. gerard or had been trained by his immediate disciples had little liking for these new-fangled french ways, monastery after monastery adopted them. a wave of enthusiasm swept the land and bore down all opposition. the people from honest conviction were heart and soul with the movement, the lay lords who saw in clunyism a weapon to further their own ends favoured it with no less zeal; the bishops, in spite of their imperialism, were carried along with the stream, and by the close of the century there was hardly a religious house in the netherlands which had not adopted the new rule. notwithstanding their conversion to clunyism the bishops were still at heart true to their old political creed, or may be their ingrained loyalty to the empire was stronger than their religious belief, certain it is that they did not at first translate their new theories into action. when the investiture quarrel broke out, they were among the staunchest of the emperor's adherents, but as the relations between their master and the holy see became more and more strained they began to falter, uncertain which road to take, and at last the time came when no further choice was left them--in spite of themselves they were constrained to separate their cause from his: the lay aristocracy were in open rebellion, the people aroused by the preaching of the monks were raging against the married clergy and 'those simonists the bishops,' with a violence past belief; godfrey the hunchback, the one man who might perhaps have quelled the storm, had been struck down by the hand of an assassin. if that rickety, misshapen dwarf had lived, the course of events might have been different. duke godfrey was a man of marvellous enterprise, undaunted courage and indomitable will; a man, too, of infinite tact--shrewd, long-headed, keen, and withal a convinced believer in the justice of the imperial cause. through good report and evil report he had been true to henry; he was his intimate counsellor and devoted friend, and the only man who had any influence over him for good. he always showed himself a staunch supporter of the bishops, and during the six years of his government of lotharingia ( - ), with their aid he had kept the feudal lords at bay. if he had lived out his days he might perhaps have been able to curb alike the violence of henry and of his vassals, and thus have averted the terrible chastisement which afterwards overtook his master's misdeeds. he was the last duke of lotharingia who exercised, as such, any real power in the land, and his death was the deathblow of imperialism in this quarter of europe, but the agony was not a short one: it was prolonged for thirty years, and then came the funeral. though circumstances had compelled the bishops to withdraw their support from the emperor, there was one amongst them, otbert of liége, who clung to him to the bitter end. cut off from the society of christian men, deserted by his wife, a fugitive from his own son, it was in otbert's episcopal city that the old emperor found a refuge during the closing months of his chequered career. inspired by their bishop, the men of liége banded together to defend him, and with such success that they drove young henry from the town. nor was this all. so great was their pity for the misfortunes of the fallen emperor that they altogether forgot the follies and the crimes which had produced them. in their eyes, the sinner had become a saint; and when he died they pressed round his coffin to touch his poor lifeless body as though it were some holy thing, and strewed over it their seed-corn, firmly convinced that by so doing they would insure a bountiful harvest. henry was excommunicate, and as such it was impossible to give him christian burial. they laid him to rest in a small unconsecrated chapel beyond the city walls, without dirge or requiem, and his mournful funeral, to quote the words of pirenne, was the funeral of imperial rule in lotharingia. when duke godfrey the hunchback died in , henry iv., perhaps because at that time he mistrusted godfrey of bouillon, the late duke's nephew, and the next in the line of succession, had conferred the duchy of lotharingia on his own son conrad, a child of two years old, thus, to all intents and purposes, leaving the throne vacant--a false move, which henry himself recognised too late: when, in , he set the crown on the head of the rightful heir, the feudal lords, who for thirteen years had been accustomed to the sweets of anarchy, refused to acknowledge him, godfrey, who lacked what had always been the mainstay of his predecessors--episcopal co-operation, was not strong enough to coerce them, and the old imperial dukedom became little more than an empty title. the man who held it was almost a nonentity in his own dominions; and when, in , he set out on that eastern expedition which gave him a name, and from which he never returned, the barons were left to their own devices for over five years, and then at last henry set over them his namesake, henry of limbourg, almost the only one of his lotharingian vassals who kept faith with him to the end. this man, when henry v. put on his father's crown, refused to acknowledge the usurper, who in consequence deprived him of his duchy and conferred it on the fallen emperor's direst foe, count godfrey of louvain--this was only a few weeks before the elder henry's death--and, at the same time, he gave him the march of antwerp, 'the land of ryen,' as it was then called, an imperial fief which had been held by the dukes of lotharingia since the days of godfrey the hunchback certainly, and most likely since the days of his grandfather, gothelon i., and which brought the territory of the counts of louvain right up to the banks of the scheldt. henceforth that territory was known as the duchy of brabant, and the man who owned it styled himself duke of brabant and lotharingia. thus at last did the house of long col obtain the title its chiefs had so long coveted, and for which throughout so many generations they had intrigued and fought. it was nothing more than an empty title now--a mere name, which, perhaps from old-time associations, added something to godfrey's prestige, but gave him no increase of territory, and in no way augmented his power. he was the most redoubtable prince in the netherlands, but he owed his strength to his mighty hand and his outstretched arm, not to his phantom duchy. presently the emperor deprived him of it in favour of the rival house of limbourg ( ). matter of little moment to either dynasty: in louvain the imperial mandate was ignored, and in limbourg it had long ago been anticipated, and for more than a hundred and fifty years the chiefs of each house continued to use the illusory title. then, at last, the fortunes of war gave limbourg to john the victorious, and henceforth the dukes of brabant were the only dukes of lotharingia ( ). [illustration] ii.--genealogical table of the counts of louvain lambert longbeard _d._ . (_see_ table i.) | +------------------+------------------+ | | henry i., lambert ii. (balderic), _d._ _d._ | | | | otho, _d._ henry ii., _d._ | | henry iii., _d._ | | godfrey longbeard, count of louvain from , duke of brabant from , _d._ january th, chapter v _the rise of brussels and louvain_ the cities of belgium, unlike the cities of italy or of the rhine-land, or of france, which often go back to roman times, and trace their descent to great administrative centres, date nearly all of them from the middle age, and are the children of industry and commerce. bruges, ypres, ghent, the three _bonnes villes_ of flanders, were not towns in the modern sense of the word until the beginning of the ten hundreds, and it was almost a century later before the farmers of brussels and mechlin and louvain became manufacturers and merchants. its geographical position between france and germany, its long coast line, its nearness to england, its numerous navigable streams--all these things rendered the low country a region peculiarly adapted to mercantile pursuits; nor was it less favourably situated with regard to that industry which afterwards became, and for centuries remained, the staple trade of the country: the herbage of the seaboard was naturally suited to sheep, from time immemorial vast flocks of them grazed on the polders, and their wool was of the finest quality; thus there was at hand the raw material for the fabrication of cloth. when the danish incursion ceased and the land became comparatively tranquil, men soon began to consider how best they might turn these natural advantages to account, and presently along the waterways came bands of wandering traders with rich cargoes from foreign parts: wine from france and from the rhine-land, silk and spices from italy, furs from the north--all kinds of merchandise destined to supply the growing needs of the country, or to be exported to england or denmark, or the regions round the baltic; and when they had disposed of their wares they would return to the lands from whence they hailed with their barges laden with woollen goods--product of the looms of flanders. coming and going, they broke the journey at such places along stream as were best suited to afford accommodation for themselves, their servants, and their draught cattle, and where they would be likely to find a market for what they had to sell: by some castle or abbey or collegiate church, around which clustered the houses of clerks or court officials, and the homesteads and the hovels of yeomen and serfs. in these settlements, too, they took up their winter quarters, and they often found wives among the daughters of their hosts. when this was so, the place of sojourning became a home--the permanent abode of their little ones and of their women folk, the spot where they purposed to end their days when they had made their fortunes, or, perchance, had been worn out by the hardships of their calling. amongst these early traders, the first merchants and the first commercial travellers who gained a livelihood in the low country, foreigners there were no doubt, but by far the greater number of them were natives of the soil, and they seem to have been recruited from all ranks of society. some were knights, who hoped to find the business of buying and selling more profitable than the trade of war; some were karls from the seaboard, men who had lost their land, if they ever had any to lose, but still retained their freedom, and some were runaway slaves. matter of little moment, they were birds of passage; no man knew their condition or whence they came, or what lord, if any, claimed their allegiance, and they were all of them treated wherever they went as their own masters. the freedom which they enjoyed compelled association, for since they were no man's vassals no man was bound to protect them; what rights and privileges they possessed were necessarily in their own keeping; hence the great merchant guilds famous in the story of the netherlands. meeting together at night to discuss over their liquor their own personal transactions, the guild brethren soon began to consider the public affairs of the settlements in which they dwelt or which they frequented, and little by little to busy themselves with municipal administration, and presently they obtained the charters which gave them a legal standing. nor were they without funds: their coffers were filled by self-imposed rates, and by fines levied by their elected chiefs for infringements of their rules of association. the money thus raised served for the erection of guild halls and belfries, the building of town walls, the maintenance of waterways, and the making of roads and bridges. another element was soon to be added to the population of these river-side settlements of agriculturists and tradesmen: hard on the heels of the merchant came the manufacturer. thanks to the greater security which the land at this time enjoyed and the consequent increase in the number of its inhabitants, the fens were being drained rapidly, and vast areas which had been lakes were already under pasture; this meant an increase of flocks, and a wool crop so abundant that the shepherds unaided were no longer able to convert the whole of it into cloth. hence the professional weaver, and the new commercial activity made weaving a profitable profession. the men who adopted it--and their name was legion--naturally flocked to the towns, where, in touch with merchant and trader, they would be likely to find a more ready market for their wares. like them, and from like motives, they found it expedient to band together, and soon the 'draperie,' or cloth guild, became an institution of mark in the netherlands. as for the original settlers--the serfs attached to the soil, the yeoman bound by less stringent ties to the church or the chief under whose protection they dwelt, the _ministeriales_ who collected manorial fines and dues, administered justice in their lord's name, and managed generally his estate, and who were practically free men--living alongside of the new-comers, often united to them by marriage ties, they gradually adopted their manner of life, and themselves became merchants and manufacturers. for a time they seem to have been submitted to the old manorial _régime_, but they soon began to agitate for emancipation, and presently they obtained the parchments which gave them complete freedom. the making of the great commercial and manufacturing centres of mediæval belgium was for the most part and generally speaking in this wise, but they did not all of them come into being at the same time--not even in the course of the same century. as a rule the towns of brabant are less ancient than the towns of flanders, and most of them owe their development less to the river than to the road. it was so with brussels and louvain, and, to a certain extent also with mechlin. off the main waterways, on the banks of tributary streams, navigable only by light craft, what business they at first did was more or less of a local character. it was not till the opening of the eleven hundreds, when the great high road was made from bruges to cologne, passing through louvain and brussels, and within easy reach of mechlin, that these little towns at last became places of importance. the commercial movement reached brussels earlier than it reached louvain. if we may trust st. guy's anonymous biographer, who lived most probably in the second half of the ten hundreds, there was a settlement of merchants established there at the commencement of the century. he tells us a curious story concerning one of them, a friend of guy's, who seems to have done a thriving trade. but first a word as to guy himself, the poor man of anderlecht, as people called him--a picturesque and interesting figure from several points of view. to this man--the earliest private inhabitant of brussels whose name we know, the first of whose doings we have any record, the only one who has ever attained the honours of the altar, the most ancient sanctuary in the town, the crypt of anderlecht, is dedicated. in this church when he died they laid his body to rest; here his tomb may still be seen, and his bones are still treasured; and strangely enough it was in this same building that in his childhood he used to pray. then it was the church of st. peter; a hundred and fifty years afterwards the dedication was changed, and henceforth men called it the church of st. peter and st. guy. of this beautiful remnant of a forgotten age we shall have much to say presently. guy was born somewhere about the middle of the nine hundreds. his parents were very humble folk, probably serfs attached to the soil of anderlecht. he himself began life as a farm labourer, and his employer's holding seems to have been hard by the castle of brussels. a beautiful legend has come down to us concerning him at this time. it was his master's custom to provide the labourers with a mid-day meal, served to them in the fields, and guy's to carry a portion of his each day to his parents at anderlecht. one of his comrades, a cross-grained, ill-conditioned fellow, took umbrage at this, and accused him to their master of wasting his time. next day, during the dinner-hour, the farmer betook himself to the field which guy was tilling, determined, if his man had played truant, to rate him soundly on his return, but though guy, as usual, had gone to anderlecht, when presently he came hurrying back, with no harsh words was he greeted, for during his absence an angel had taken his place at the plough. this story is the subject of an ancient and very beautiful wall painting in the upper church at anderlecht. and how many other fairy tales, some of them no less touching, have been woven about the name of this popular hero, the only man of his day whose memory is still green in the city of brussels! and yet throughout his whole career no deeds which the world calls great are recorded of him. his life for the most part seems to have been an even and uneventful one. he soon gave up farm labour, and for many years he was sacristan to the little church at laeken, now a populous suburb of brussels, then a hamlet just outside the town. the last ten years of his life he spent in making two pilgrimages to jerusalem and in travelling over europe to visit famous shrines. all these journeys were made on foot, and doubtless they were not devoid of adventure, but his earliest biographer, who wrote nearly a hundred years after his death, has little to tell us on this head. in the fall of the year he returned to his native village, and in pitiable plight, worn out with want and fever and the wear and tear of the road. the canons of anderlecht received him into their hospice, where he was tenderly cared for, for nine days, and then at last, on the th of september, he set out for jerusalem the golden. he loved god with his whole heart, of his penury he ministered to those who were poorer than himself, and he did what he could in his small way to sweeten and soften the hard lot of his neighbours. even during his lifetime he was regarded as a saint: his anonymous biographer informs us that when dean wonedulph of anderlecht and a company of pilgrims on their way to jerusalem encountered him unexpectedly at rome 'they fell down on their faces and adored him,' and when he lay dying in the hospice of the canons of anderlecht, heaven itself, so runs the legend, miraculously proclaimed his sancity. a heavenly light filled the room in which he lay, a white dove hovered over his head, and a voice was heard saying: 'veniat dilectus meus ad percipiendam æternæ jocunditatis coronam.' [illustration: subterranean church of st. guy at anderlecht] strangely enough 'the poor man of anderlecht' at one time seriously thought of embarking in trade. satan, in the guise of a rich brussels merchant, would fain have persuaded the saint, then sexton of laeken, to enter into partnership with him, cunningly representing that by so doing he would soon make a fortune, and thus be the better able to help the poor, and guy fell into the trap; but it was not god's will that his servant should imperil his soul in so hazardous a calling, and hardly had he started on his first journey down senne, when his craft grounded on a sandbank in mid stream, and, notwithstanding all their efforts, the boatmen were unable to float it; and, worse still, when the saint himself vainly seized the barge-pole it miraculously adhered to his fingers, nor could he unclasp them until he had made a solemn vow to utterly eschew commerce. 'mercatura raro aut nunquam ab aliquo diu sine crimine exerceri potuit,' shrewdly notes his biographer, who was most likely a clerk of anderlecht, and that seems to have been the general opinion of the ecclesiastical authorities of the day. the church looked askance at trade, the methods of the merchant were too nearly allied to the methods of the usurer, as she knew very well to her cost. when she wanted a loan she sometimes had to pay him fifty or sixty per cent. yet, strangely enough, it was on church land, and under the auspices of a collegiate chapter, that the most flourishing of the great commercial centres of brabant gradually grew up: it was not by lambert longbeard's castle, but higher up stream, alongside the church of st. peter, that the wandering merchants who frequented louvain first pitched camp. [illustration: at mechlin] chapter vi _the serfs of st. peter_ though lambert longbeard was the first hereditary count of louvain, he was certainly not the founder of the city of louvain, or even of the castle and its dependencies--the 'old bourg of louvain,' as it was called in later days--which he made his capital. the city dates from a much later period than lambert's day, and there is a tradition that some merovingian noble had built himself a home on the site of the old bourg soon after the frankish invasion. certainly since arnulph's victory over the danes there had been a fortress there, which, until lambert's day, was held in the emperor's name by a series of provincial governors, one of whom was bruno's friend st. ansfried. this building, which has long ago disappeared, and of the site of which even we are ignorant, is said to have stood on an island formed by two branches of the dyle, and there is little doubt that it was for a time at least the home of lambert i., but the counts of louvain did not long continue to dwell there. most likely, on account of the frequent floods and the dampness of the situation, they soon migrated to a new castle, built on the height now called cæsar's hill--some vestiges of it still remain--and which, in all probability, was built by lambert ii.--lambert longbeard's younger son, lambert surnamed balderick. a name to be remembered this, for the man who bore it was the real founder of louvain: it was lambert balderick who built and munificently endowed the great collegiate church of st. peter, the church around which, as we have already seen, the city grew up, and which in its early days was its nursing mother. the collegiate chapter was invested with all the rights and privileges of a great monastic corporation, and the yeomen and serfs who dwelt on their lands, and who formed what was called st. peter's family, participated in their immunities, and were submitted only to their jurisdiction--no small boon, for the conditions of life on an ecclesiastical estate were far more conducive to liberty and progress than were those on lay domains. there was no _taille_, nor _droit de gite_, nor forced labour for the maintenance of ramparts; church land was universally held to be the patrimony of the saint to whom it was dedicated, to violate it was sacrilege, a crime which the greediest feudal robber was generally loth to commit, and thus, amid the turmoil and warfare with which the surrounding country was so often vexed, its inhabitants for the most part enjoyed the blessing of peace. further, justice was administered by themselves, and they were altogether free from state exactions. indeed, so jealous was the provost of louvain of this privilege that he would suffer no civil officer to sojourn within his borders. though the landed estate of the collegiate chapter was not a large one, the 'petermen' or lay members of st. peter's family seem to have been sufficiently numerous. the provost had the right to admit outsiders, his conditions were not onerous--a trifling entrance fee, generally two _deniers_ and an undertaking in the event of marriage to pay a small tribute, and upon these terms a host of free men and liberated serfs were glad enough to barter their liberty, to quote the characteristic phrase of the charters of the day, 'for a servitude freer than freedom itself.' [illustration: saint peter's louvain] the privileges and immunities of the church of st. peter were not peculiar to that foundation, almost all the great ecclesiastical establishments of the low countries were similarly favoured; but whereas in other towns which had grown up on church land the laymen affiliated to the religious community which originally owned the soil--the martinmen at utrecht, for example, the men of st. rombold at mechlin, the men of st. bavo at ghent, when at last they obtained rights of citizenship, lost the ecclesiastical privileges and immunities which hitherto they had enjoyed, at louvain this was not the case: the privileges of the petermen survived long after their obligations to the institution which conferred them had become a dead letter, and for centuries too after they had obtained full civil rights. indeed, by the opening of the thirteen hundreds, perhaps even earlier, their connection with the chapter of st. peter's had ceased to be anything but a nominal one: they remained exempt from taxation and were amenable only to their own court, but the mayor of louvain had taken the place of the provost in all that appertained to their government. they were still a class apart, but these men who owed their distinction to servile descent had now become a rich, influential and aristocratic caste, the cream of the burgher nobility, and thus they continued until the close of the seventeen hundreds, and then, at last, 'the men of st. peter' were ruthlessly swept away, along with so many other interesting and time-honoured abuses. such was the famous collegiate church which lambert balderick founded at 'the place called looven,' and whose rights and privileges every successive sovereign of brabant swore to maintain at his 'joyous entry,' until the days of albert and isabel. so completely identified was it with the town which grew up around its walls that a likeness of the material fabric was graven on the city seal, its steeple was the city belfry, the gold and silver pieces coined at the city mint were called 'peters,' and proof that a man was a 'peterman' was held to be sufficient proof that he was a burgher and a patrician of louvain. without any further investigation he was at once admitted to all the rights of citizenship. chapter vii _the greater and the lesser folk_ the municipal organisation of the towns of brabant was at first of a very simple character. it consisted in every case of an unpaid magistracy--a college of _schepen_ or aldermen appointed by the duke for life from among the chief freeholders of the city, of which they were held to be its representatives--presided over by a paid officer, who bore the title of mayor or ecoutête or amman--from town to town the title differed--was the sovereign's direct delegate, and in all things the representative of his authority. he was not necessarily or even usually a burgher of the city over which he presided. the duke was free to choose whom he would, and to revoke the appointment at will; and though this officer held the first place in the civic hierarchy, he was in reality nothing more than his master's hired servant. alongside of the college of aldermen was the merchants' guild. whether this corporation had any legal existence prior to the institution of the magistracy is a problem which has yet to be solved; but it is certain that by the end of the eleven hundreds the guild was firmly established in most of the towns of brabant; that, including as it did all the commercial and industrial capitalists of the city, it had exercised from the first no little influence on public affairs, and that it contributed in great measure to the full expansion of municipal self-rule. the next century saw the birth of another institution, the council of jurors, and there can be no doubt that it was to the merchants' guild that the jury owed its origin. with the increase of the population, outcome of the commercial development which signalised the opening of the twelve hundreds, the old machinery no longer sufficed for the maintenance of public peace and the regulation of trade. it became necessary to devise some new means to check the growing disorder, and the burghers, united as they were in the powerful organisation of their guild, were strong enough to take the matter into their own hands. hence the council of jurors, a subsidiary body, annually elected by the people for policing the city and the management of municipal affairs, and which also participated with the college of aldermen in the administration of justice. so far from offering opposition, the sovereigns of brabant from the first showed themselves favourable to this development. not that they had any particular liking for democratic institutions, but because they were sufficiently clear-sighted to see that, in the interest of their revenue, it was incumbent on them to do so: they were well aware that the towns of brabant depended wholly on trade, and that this delicate plant can only thrive in an atmosphere of freedom. there is no record of the jury at brussels prior to , at antwerp till , at louvain till , and at tirlemont till , but it is most likely that in all of these towns it dates from an earlier period, and by the close of the first half of the century it had been granted to almost all the communes of brabant. its existence, however, as a body distinct from the higher magistracy was nowhere, save at louvain, of long duration. as early as the jury had disappeared at brussels, and in hardly any of the great towns did it outlive the century. from the first the relations between the two corporations had almost everywhere been strained: they were the embodiment of hostile ideals--oligarchy and popular rule. presently the burghers obtained a voice in the election of aldermen, and their term of office was limited to one year. the council of jurors thus ceased to be the sole expression of the will of the people; the higher magistracy had become, not only in theory, as it had always been, but in fact, representative of the city, and had risen proportionately in public esteem. thus protected by the mantle of popularity, it was able, seemingly without opposition, little by little to itself assume the functions of its rival, and thus, little by little, to absorb it into its own bosom. at louvain, however, the case was different. in that city the aristocratic element was all-powerful, and the jury was recruited from the same families which furnished the college of aldermen; from the first the two corporations had worked together in harmony, and until the end of the middle age they continued to exist as two distinct bodies. for a long period after the municipal organisation of the cities of brabant had been definitely determined, all administrative and legislative power remained in the hands of a narrow oligarchy of great capitalists, headed by the old patrician families, which from time immemorial had furnished the magistracy. one was the source of their title to distinction--the ownership of land; but the means by which the first patricians had acquired their title-deeds were not in every case the same, nor were they all of like origin. some of them were the descendants of _ministeriales_ who, when the township was a feudal domain, had levied their lords' dues for him, and generally managed his affairs; others of yeomen of the same period, whom thrift or good fortune had enabled to purchase the freehold of the soil they tilled; others, again, were successful traders, or the sons of successful traders, who, retiring from business, had invested the wealth which commerce had given them in real property. together they formed a class apart, distinct alike from the feudal nobility and from the general body of townsmen. they were divided into groups in each city, which bore the characteristic title of _lignages_ or clans; but it is certain that many patricians were not the direct lineal descendants of the houses whose names and arms they bore: the status of patrician was transmissible in the female line, and patrician daughters were not unfrequently given in marriage to prosperous plebeians; moreover, some of the sons of the house were only sons by adoption--the wealthy merchant of alien blood was not always refused admission to the charmed circle, though as a rule the door of matrimony was the only door open to him; and occasionally we find whole families, sometimes sections of families, forsaking their original clan to enroll themselves in another. indeed, the great _lignages_ of brabant, which play so large a part in the stories of her towns, were, to a certain extent, voluntary associations of aristocratic families banded together for the sake of mutual protection and help, and with a view to securing the election of their own nominees to the magistracy; and though, no doubt, a considerable number of the members of each clan traced their descent to one stock, it is certain that the ties by which they were most strongly knit together were not those of blood, but of kindred pursuits, and kindred associations and kindred political interests. it is a significant fact, as pirenne observes, that the number of _lignages_ in each town corresponded to the number of their aldermen, and that each _lignage_ had obtained a prescriptive right of representation in the magistracy. though the patricians as a body were a wealthy class, all of them were not rich men; some, indeed, were so poor that they were glad to earn a livelihood by hiring themselves as servants to their more fortunate kinsmen; others, on account of their poverty, renounced their privileges, and sank back into the general body of the people. on the other hand, the wealth of the patricianate was being constantly augmented by the new men who found admission into its borders, and with the increasing prosperity of the town, their land was becoming daily more valuable for building purposes. many of them were thus able to live in luxury on the rents produced by their property, others increased their revenue by farming the state taxes, others were engaged in banking operations, others again in commerce. in that case they became members of the merchants' guild, for the guild, whose members were constantly being enrolled in the _lignages_ was always ready to open its doors to the son of the aristocratic house who wished to resume the calling by which, most likely, his ancestors had attained wealth. thus it was growing daily more and more aristocratic, and at last nearly all its members were patricians by birth or by adoption. embracing as it did at first traders of every kind, it now became an exceedingly close corporation, and only admitted to its membership the sellers of cloth and the sellers of wool, the cream of the commercial world. such were the men who owned the soil of the cities of brabant, who had endowed them, often at their own cost, with magnificent public buildings,[ ] who had won for themselves free institutions, and who for the best part of two hundred years tyrannised over everyone else. [ ] the old cloth hall of louvain, for example. [illustration: cloth hall louvain] mightier than the feudal chiefs, whose fathers' swords had made the evolution of the city possible, they had absorbed them into their own ranks, or driven them forth from their borders, and now adopted their dress and speech and manner of living. in time of war they wore coats of mail like knights, and they alone of the civic army were mounted. they lived in great houses of stone, whose turrets and battlements towered above the thatched hovels of the helots who did their bidding:--weavers who starved when work was slack, and in good times just managed to keep body and soul together, the poorest and the most numerous of them all were they, the most turbulent, too, and the worst organised, always snarling at their hard lot and their impotence to better it, ready to break out into rebellion on the slightest provocation, and never content with their wages; dyers with blue nails--outward and visible sign of moral degradation, for though it was owing to their skill that the cloth of brabant was more beautiful than that of any other land, and sometimes, though not often, they obtained wealth, they could never hope for the rights of citizenship until time had wiped out those fatal stains; men of a hundred other callings, degraded creatures all of them, who earned their bread by the sweat of their brow, mere human chattels without heart and without soul, whom an honest burgher might cuff at will, aye, and, if he would, carry off their daughters without fear of incurring any legal penalty. it was not always so. before the year class distinctions were far less marked. in the early days the weaver could sell his own cloth, and even petty traders were admitted to the merchants' guild. the advent of the middleman had changed all this, and as time went on the patricians, the _majores et potentiores_, as an ancient chronicler calls them, grew more and more exclusive and more and more overbearing. but though they looked down on the 'lesser folk,' the bowels of their compassion were not shut up against them: they built and lavishly endowed hospitals where they might be tended when they were sick, refuges to which they could retire when hard work and old age had worn them out, orphanages for such of their children as had been deprived by death of their natural protectors, and above all, churches, glorious without and within--palaces of the people, where lazarus and dives knelt side by side. nor is the stream of their charity yet dried up: the rich endowments of the _bureaux de bienfaisance_ throughout belgium are in great measure due to the munificence of these merchant princes of the middle age, who in turn cuffed and caressed the turbulent folk on whose hardships they fattened, and whose poverty rendered their riches possible. no less inconsequent was the patrician burgher in his dealings with the church--with one hand he smote her in the mouth and with the other he loaded her with benefits. and yet, after all, perhaps he was not so inconsistent, for the soul of this man who possessed the faith, in his way a devout christian, was consumed by pride and the lust of power. he would share his authority with no man, he would be master in his own house, and so he ousted the noble, ground down the toiler, flouted the clerk and set his heel on his neck. a firm believer in the rights of the laity, he would never suffer priest or monk to meddle with his affairs, but he did not hesitate, whenever it suited his purpose, to busy himself with theirs. thus, from time immemorial most city livings had been in the gift of one or other of the religious houses which dotted the countryside, but he quietly ignored their abbots' pretensions, and named his parish priests himself, and never rested until he had obtained a legal right to do so. so, too, in the matter of education: the management of schools had been always recognised as the especial province of the clergy, but he was not happy until he had succeeded in placing them under municipal control, or, in other words, until he had undertaken their management himself. nor would he always recognise the clerk's right to justice in his own courts, though when he himself was technically a churchman, he never scrupled to make use of them if he thought it would be an advantage to him to do so. thus at louvain, where almost all the patricians were _hommes de saint pierre_, the old ecclesiastical courts, officered indeed by laymen, were maintained intact for his behoof till the revolution. the peculiar circumstances of the church in brabant favoured these pretensions. the one great ecclesiastical power in that province, where no bishop had his see, was monasticism, and when the burgher was in the heyday of his magnificence monasticism was spiritually and temporally at a low ebb. the fiery zeal which characterised the days of the cluniac revival had long ago flickered out. discipline had become sadly relaxed, the monk had ceased to be the saint and the popular hero he had been in days of yore, and the alms of the faithful no longer flowed into his coffers. another source of revenue, too, had all but dried up. owing to the fall in the purchasing power of money, the produce of his manorial dues, which he had no power to raise, had diminished almost to vanishing point. thus was the abbot, at his wits' end how to keep order amongst his rebellious family and make both ends meet, sadly handicapped in his contests with his all-powerful foe, from whom, indeed, he was not unfrequently constrained to borrow at usurious rates of interest. but although the burgher looked askance at the old religious orders, for some reason or other his antipathy to the monk did not extend itself to the friar. he never quarrelled with the 'watch dogs of the lord,' and with the disciples of 'the poor man of assisi' his relations were most cordial. perhaps as a practical business man the object of their mission appealed more to his sympathies; perhaps he thought he had nothing to fear from the children of the gentle saint who had taken for his bride the lady poverty. but by a strange irony of fate it was not the monk but the friar who hurled the first blow at his dominion. it was from the lips of the friar who toiled among the poverty-stricken masses that these poor folk learned, for the first time, the dignity of man, and no teacher was needed to awaken in their souls the consciousness of their degradation. they experienced it every day: when they lounged about the market-place on monday morning waiting, often in vain, for the supply of labour generally exceeded the demand, for someone to hire them at wages fixed by the town magistrates, men who themselves were employers of labour and in whose appointment the people had no voice; when, working at home at their looms, they received the visit of the guild inspector, who had the right to ransack their hovels at all hours, with a view to assuring himself of the excellence of their work, and who received as his salary a portion of the fine imposed for any fraud detected. this was their normal lot in times of prosperity, and when work was slack, or when there was no work at all, as was sometimes the case when wool was not forthcoming from england, the wounds inflicted on their self-respect went deeper and smarted more: then were they constrained to choose between two evils--either they must starve, and, worse still, see their wives and their little ones starve; or they must band together and parade the streets whining for that bread which they could no longer win. well might the friar preach to men set in such straits the beauty of christian humility and of christian resignation, and bid them despise as dross that gold which they could not obtain. the weavers and dyers who hung on his lips possessed, of earthly goods, very often only the rags they stood up in; and the wealth which they saw around them, and which they could never hope to enjoy, they knew very well was in many cases the fruit of their underpaid toil, and that the holders of it, of like origin with themselves, were not only their rulers and taskmasters, but corrupt stewards of the common-weal--the men who managed the city, and managed it in their own interests. what wonder, then, that they soon began to confound contempt for riches with contempt for the rich, and that presently contempt engendered hatred. were not the oppressors of the poor the enemies of jesus christ? was it not easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of god? had not one of their preachers[ ] told them that the rich man, even if he were righteous, was less worthy of esteem than the woman of the street? [ ] guillaume cornelius of antwerp. _see_ thomas de cantimpré (a native of brussels, born in ), _bonum universale de apibus_, p. (duaci, ). 'il importe de remarquer toutefois,' notes pirenne (vol. i. p. ), 'que ce cornelius était hérétique, mais, même dans l'église orthodoxe, des prédications analogues à celles de lambert le bègue (_see_ 'story of brussels.' p ) et l'ardent mysticisme des premières béguines (_see_ pp. and ) devaient agir fortement sur le peuple.' [illustration] chapter viii _the coelveren and the blankarden_ strangely enough it was the patricians themselves who placed in the hands of the lesser folk the weapon with which they presently won independence. for years past it had been cause of just complaint that municipal affairs were managed in the interest of one class only, and before the middle of the twelve hundreds things had come to this pass: the men in office considered alone their own advantage and the advantage of their kinsfolk and their friends. hence heartburning, jealousy, strife without end, the upper classes split into factions, and sometimes the fire thus enkindled burnt so fiercely that it could only be extinguished by the shedding of blood. this was so all over brabant, and in the year there broke out a conflict which brought forth unlooked-for results. the coelveren and the blankarden were two of the mightiest families of louvain; for generations past they had been rivals, and they hated one another with 'a perfect hatred.' whatever may have been the first cause of their mutual hostility, the quarrel was of ancient date; it had been handed down from father to son, and had become in each case a family tradition. the times were favourable to disorder. duke henry iii. had just died (february , ); his eldest son had not yet reached man's estate; his widow, adelaide of burgundy, harassed by ambitious kinsmen, who claimed a share in the administration of the realm, was holding the reins of government with faltering hands. for years past the rival families had been only waiting for an opportunity to settle their long dispute, and hardly had duke henry been laid in the grave than they flew to arms. what was the immediate cause of the conflict is unknown, but it is always easy to find a pretext when men are determined to fight, and the war in this case was probably the outcome of some very trifling affair. be this as it may, opinion was sharply divided at louvain as to which side was in the right, and men took such interest in the quarrel, and party feeling ran so high, that by the end of the year there was not a patrician in the city who had not taken up arms on behalf of one or other of the belligerents. nor was this all: the blankarden had sought and obtained the support of duchess adelaide, and the coelveren, casting about for some pillar of strength to counterbalance this advantage, presently found a more dangerous ally--the mob. they appealed, and not vainly, to that herd of downtrodden and plundered helots, who for years had been writhing under the sense of their wrongs, and riot and confusion reigned in the city for two years;[ ] and then matters, instead of becoming better, grew worse, for adelaide added fuel to the fire: she provided the belligerents with a fresh bone of contention. on the ground that her elder son henry was incapable, she disinherited him, and proclaimed her younger son john heir to the duchy of brabant, whereat the coelveren cried 'shame! if henry were indeed as poor a creature as his mother alleged, that were no excuse for trampling on the rights of primogeniture. could he not appoint responsible ministers and rule through them?' the blankarden, of course, were of the opposite opinion, and shouted their loudest for john, but, supported by the great mass of the people, their rivals were strong enough to silence them, and when presently adelaide and her younger son appeared before the gates of the capital they found them shut. [ ] _see_ divæus _annales_, . meanwhile the strife had extended to the whole of brabant, and until the land was a prey to civil war; and though at last a reconciliation was effected, and the coelveren consented, for a consideration, to acknowledge john, the government of the city had become completely disorganised, and the patricians, who for five years had been disporting themselves by cutting one another's throats, were not only thinned in numbers, but had lost credit. before the war they had been hated and despised, but until then at least they had been feared. the craftsman hitherto had only ventured to snarl and show his teeth. he was a bolder dog now. the experience of the last five years had shown him something of his own might. he had not only fought, and fought on the winning side, but it had been in great measure owing to his efforts that the victory had been won. if he could fight so well for others, why not one day fight for himself? the flame of hope was rekindled within his breast. that was something. it was probably some such thought as this which moved him to demand as guerdon for his services a boon which would place him in a position to do battle with some chance of success. the moment was a propitious one for craving favours. duke john and a considerable number of the aristocracy were alike beholden to the men who petitioned--men flushed with victory, and still under arms. fear, if not gratitude, then counselled compliance, and the boon was not denied. by the charter which john granted to louvain in it was expressly ordained that the craft guilds, which, until now, had been purely industrial corporations, should henceforth be endowed with military organisation, and that each guild should march under its own banners, and be commanded by its own elected chiefs. the result was what might have been, and what probably was, foreseen, though no doubt the situation developed sooner than the longest-headed of them had expected: before the year was out the rabble who had thus been imprudently armed turned their weapons against the men who had armed them, and though the rebellion was promptly quelled, and the ringleaders were sent into exile, it was impossible to extinguish the flame of hope which recent events had enkindled. the craftsmen were firmly convinced that the flowing tide was with them, and though the victory was not in their day, after events showed that they had accurately gauged the situation. during the confusion incident on duke henry's death, the craftsmen of several other towns had likewise been able to wrest some shreds of power from their patrician taskmasters. in some places, notably at brussels, the old council of jurors was re-established, but in no case was its new lease of life a long one. the young duke had little sympathy with democratic ideas, and no sooner was he firmly established on his throne than he set to work to restore the old order of things. john the first was a strong man, and with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm he accomplished his purpose, but it was only a putting off of the evil day. the plebeians were for a moment cowed, but their spirit was not crushed. confident in the justice of their cause, they bent their heads to the storm, and possessed their souls in patience. presently ( ) the victory of courtrai sent a thrill through europe, for what a triumph it had been. 'on the one side was philippe le bel, the mightiest prince of his day, with all the chivalry of navarre and all the chivalry of france, and a host of mercenary forces from all parts of europe; on the other were the weavers of bruges and a troop of flemish boors, half naked, bare-headed, and with no other weapon but the rude _scharmsax_ of their forebears--and these puny folk had conquered: the tyrants who would have enslaved them lay humbled in the dust.' when the news of the victory was noised abroad the downtrodden on all sides took heart, and in the cities of brabant a general uprising was the immediate outcome. but the day of their triumph was not yet: other was the social and political situation in brabant to that in the neighbouring county. the rulers of brussels and mechlin and louvain were of a different stamp to the men who had tyrannised over bruges and ypres and ghent. the latter were an effete and decrepit aristocracy--a herd of _ledigoers,_ as working men contemptuously called them--mere loafers who despised that trade which had enriched their fathers, and who knew of no other means of increasing their dwindling income than by bribery and corruption; the former were for the most part practical business men actively engaged in commercial pursuits, and shrewd enough to reap a large profit from their several avocations. nor were they, like the patricians of flanders, at loggerheads with their sovereign. on the contrary, they regarded him as their natural protector, and were on the best of terms with him. in their eyes the duke of brabant was a highly respectable and most efficient officer of police, who, as such, deserved their confidence and esteem, and though the wages they paid him were certainly high, they considered on the whole that he was well worth his price. and the duke on his part regarded them as men peculiarly worthy of his affection, for his expenses were heavy, and he was often short of cash, and they were always ready to make him presents with other people's money, or even to advance him their own when he could give them reasonable security and they were assured of a fair rate of interest. in a word, these two forces were necessary to one another, and they were wise enough to know it. thus united they were irresistible, and the plebeians hurled themselves in vain against the bedrock of their omnipotence. as long as this state of things lasted there was but one issue to their most strenuous efforts--defeat. once, indeed, by rare good fortune the craftsmen of brussels almost achieved success, but the cup of triumph was dashed from their hands as they were carrying it to their lips. it happened thus. during the reign of duke john ii. and his wife marguerite, a daughter of king edward i. of england, there arose at brussels, on the vigil of candlemas , a quarrel between two citizens, in the course of which one of them received a sword thrust. the wounded man does not seem to have been seriously injured, but the outrage had been committed in a public place; the assailant was an aristocrat, the victim a son of the people. that was enough. riot ensued. the duke was out of town. the patricians, left to their own resources, were powerless in face of the mob, and before daybreak riot had become revolution. throughout the hours of darkness the city was a prey to the wildest disorder. property of all kinds was vowed to destruction; strongholds, in which patricians were hiding, were taken by storm and wrecked; the mansions of the richest and most hated merchants presently went up in flames. the duchess in vain left the shelter of her palace on the coudenberg, and, with her life in her hands, confronted the mob. the rioters hailed her with shouts of derision, and though they offered her no personal violence, they laughed her authority to scorn. the people were drunk with their own excesses, and brussels that night was a pandemonium. the storm was a fearful one whilst it lasted, but its fury was soon spent, and at the meeting of craftsmen, which was held next morning to deliberate on the future government of the city, the men who had been rioting in the streets all night showed singular moderation. they decided that the magistracy should consist as heretofore of seven aldermen, but that henceforth the people should name them; that two financial assessors should be added to the city council, and that the jury should be once more re-established. and when the time came to elect a new magistracy they gave further proof of their conciliatory dispositions, for whilst they took care to safeguard their own interests, they were not unmindful of the class prejudice of their vanquished opponents: the new aldermen were all of them members of the old ruling class chosen from among the little band of patricians whose sympathies were known to be with the popular cause. the new order of things, however, did not last six months. john ii., deeply wounded at the scant civility shown to his wife, refused to acknowledge the new constitution: the patricians' quarrel, he said, was his own, and, worse still, he swore to make no terms of peace without their consent, and until they had been fully indemnified for the losses they had sustained. this was in the middle of february . some attempt at negotiation seems to have been made, but without success, and early in may the patricians in a body left the town for vilvorde, whither john had shortly before arrived along with what knights he had been able to muster, and whither also presently came the craftsmen in battle array, determined to exact at the sword's point the privileges denied them. when the knights at vilvorde saw the crowd drawing nearer and nearer to camp, some of them suggested that 'the curs meant submission'; when the howling pack was at their throats, they knew better. during the first shock of battle the duke himself was unhorsed, some said slain, and for a moment the craftsmen thought they had won, but it was only for a moment, they soon found to their cost that their enemy was again in the saddle and in the forefront of the fray, whereat they lost heart, and unable to bear up any longer against the charge of the cavalry frantically made for home. the patricians followed at full speed. it was a wild, fierce race for brussels. on its issue hung their fate. the people knew it, and fear and hope gave to their feet wings. if only they could outstrip those cursed horsemen, were it but by a hair's-breadth, they would slam the town gates in their noses, and thus at the last moment turn defeat into victory. vain hope. the hour of the craftsman's salvation had not sounded yet: the outcome of the contest was a dead heat, and once more the iron entered into his soul. seventy craftsmen had been slain at vilvorde or in the mad rush home, the old constitution was re-established with all its odious privileges and all its time-honoured abuses, and there was a heavy bill of costs to pay, wherein note this item, 'a hundred _livres_ to willem moll for burying weavers and fullers alive.' at mechlin, at léau, at tirlemont, at louvain, all of which towns were about this time the scene of insurrection, the result was the same: in every case the patrician triumph was accomplished with less difficulty than at brussels, and everywhere the lot of the plebeians became harder than it had been before. the most stringent precautions were taken to guard against further disorder, craftsmen of all kinds were disarmed, their guild meetings strictly prohibited, and at brussels at least it was death for a weaver or fuller to pass the night within the town.[ ] these turbulent folk were enjoined to remain after dusk in their own wretched suburbs or pay the price of their temerity. [ ] within, that is, the first line of ramparts. for their circuit, _see_ map (dotted line). the outer ramparts were not constructed till some fifty years later ( - ): during the reign of duke winceslaus. no vestige of them remains but the porte de hal. their site is now occupied by the outer boulevards (_see_ map). nor was this all. on the th of june, , duke john authorised the magistrates of brussels to crush any further outbreak by any means they thought fit. in the following september he granted like faculties to the magistrates of louvain, and presently all the cities of brabant agreed together that the craftsman banished from any one of them should, _ipso facto_, be an outcast from all the rest. what could they do, these small tradesmen and artisans, with their wrists handcuffed and irons on their feet, but bewail their hard lot and the evil days on which they had fallen, and weary heaven for a deliverer. presently a deliverer was sent them, but the days of their expectation filled three score years, and during all that time their adversaries were at peace. not only was their will law in the cities where they dwelt, but they gradually extended their dominion far into the open country, and, continually encroaching on the prerogatives of their duke, at last succeeded in reducing his sovereignty to little more than a name, and themselves, to all intents and purposes, directed the helm of state. the patricians of brabant had at length ascended the mountain of their ambition, but for no long time were they able to hold the high place which their gold had conquered. iii.--genealogical table of the dukes of brabant from godfrey i. to john iii. $godfrey i.$ (longbeard), count of louvain from , duke of brabant from may , , _d._ jan. , | | $godfrey ii.$, _d._ | | $godfrey iii.$, _d._ aug. , | | $henry i.$ (the warrior), _d._ sept. , | | $henry ii.$, _d._ feb. , | | $henry iii.$, = adelaide _d._ feb. , | of burgundy | +------------------+---------+ | | henry, $john i.$ retired into a (the victorious), monastery, , _d._ may , renouncing his right | to the duchy to | his younger brother $john ii.$, = marguerite, john _d._ oct. , | daughter of | edward i. of | england. | $john iii.$ chapter ix _peter coutherele_ amongst the tangle of intricate causes which at last brought about, not, indeed, the complete discomfiture of the patricians, for to the end they were able to share in the duties and spoils of municipal government, but the shrinkage of their prestige and the loss of much of their power, three stand out pre-eminent:--the gradual diminution of their wealth after , outcome of english competition in the cloth trade; the conduct of their chief officer of police, who presently, for his own ends, made it his business to foment rebellion; and the growing conviction in their own ranks that, after all, the stately edifice which they had reared was not founded on justice. at a very early date there was a popular party among the patricians of brussels, which little by little seems to have gained sufficient influence to modify the policy of the municipal government, for in we find duke john ii. giving discretionary powers to the college of aldermen to admit craftsmen to the freedom of the city, and though no doubt the primary object of this grant was to enable the ruling class to purchase the goodwill of leading plebeians, the patricians would hardly have requested the right to confer such a boon, even by way of corruption, if they had been seriously opposed to the admission of commoners to the franchise. as it was at brussels so was it in the other towns of brabant, and notably at louvain, the city, above all, where the aristocracy was the proudest and the most hated, and the proletariat the most turbulent and the most oppressed. in this hotbed of storm and suspicion, where class feeling ran the highest and class distinctions were the most sharply defined, it was in the ranks of the patricians that the people at last found a leader whom they trusted, and one who showed himself worthy of their trust. that leader was peter coutherele, mayor of louvain, and, as such, the first citizen of the first city of brabant. though on the paternal side he does not seem to have been a man of ancient lineage--his father, godfrey, who was a member of the council of jurors in , and again in , is the first of the family of whom we have any record--peter coutherele was enrolled in the great landlord clan of van redinghem, and claimed kinship, probably through his mother or his grandmother, or through both, with the oldest and noblest houses of the commune. his enemies said of him that his love of the people was born of hatred of his own class, outcome of private spleen, and that in making himself the champion of plebeian claims his first care was to feather his own nest; but whatever may have been the motives which inspired his action, there is this much to peter's credit: to the end he was true to the cause he had espoused and to the principles he professed, and if he received large rewards, he at least did his work well. there can be no doubt that the ultimate triumph of democracy at louvain was in the main due to his efforts. for four hundred years the constitution which he gave to his native city was the guarantee of the rights and liberties of all sorts and conditions of men. he was no wanton shedder of blood, he was very zealous for law and order, he always showed himself a just, a merciful, and a moderate man, and at last he died poor and forgotten. we first hear of peter coutherele in , when, no doubt owing to the influence of his high connections, he was appointed by duke john iii. to the important office of mayor of louvain, a position which must not be confounded with that of a modern english or french mayor. the mayor of louvain was the immediate representative of the sovereign. his office corresponded in some sense to that of the high sheriff of an english county. he was also chief constable and commander-in-chief of the civic militia, and he took precedence of all other ducal officers. at this epoch, then, coutherele was still on friendly terms with the ruling class, for john, who was always very tender with his patricians, would never have chosen for his representative a man who was not a _persona grata_ to them, but the break soon came. the new mayor was no respecter of persons, and before his first year of office was out he denounced certain measures which the aldermen had taken as infringements of the ducal prerogative. the magistrates, indeed, succeeded in justifying their conduct, but from that moment between them and coutherele there was war to the knife. presently in their turn they denounced him: he was hatching a plot with the plebeians to overthrow their power. but they were able to furnish no proof, and duke john maintained him in office. though it was common knowledge that the mayor sympathised with the aspirations of the lesser folk, it is not probable that at this period he had translated his sentiments into action. he was shrewd enough to know that any uprising of the masses against their oppressors could have no hope of success unless it were backed at least by the tacit consent of the sovereign, and he had already had experience of duke john's friendliness to the patricians. four years later, in , the mayor of louvain was again at loggerheads with the magistracy, and this time the consequences were far reaching. the quarrel arose out of a very small matter. de dynter thus relates the story of its origin:[ ]-- [ ] _chron. brabant_, t. iii. p. . 'it came to pass at this time that as a certain fishmonger was on his way to louvain, there to dispose of his wares, as was his wont, the barrow on which his fish was charged stuck fast in a deep hole full of mud, whereat he was beginning to have grave doubts whether by reason of the bad road he would be able to reach the city in time for market, when haply he espied, in a field close by, some horses grazing, one of which he caught and harnessed to his truck, and when by this means he had extricated himself from his trouble he led him back again to the pasture whence he had taken him. 'now it so happened that a certain wicked, false ribald, who had seen all that had taken place, at once made report thereof to myn here coutherele, mayor of louvain, and affirmed upon oath that the fishmonger had stolen the horse; and thus it came to pass that no sooner had the said fishmonger set foot in louvain than he was arrested for a thief and cast into gaol. at last the matter was brought before the court of aldermen, who adjudged the accused not guilty and directed that he should be set free; whereat the mayor refused to comply, and the magistrates were cut to the quick. in flouting their sentence coutherele had infringed one of those very privileges which, upon taking office, he had solemnly sworn to maintain. he was no longer worthy to be their mayor. henceforth they would cease to regard him as such.' in refusing to carry out the sentence of the aldermen coutherele had no doubt acted illegally, and the magistrates, in retaliating as they did, were strictly within their rights, but if they had not been blinded by passion they would have surely held their peace. they knew very well that the mayor of louvain would be certain to represent the course they had pursued as a flagrant violation of the ducal prerogative; and they knew too that the man who now sat on the throne of brabant was of other blood and of other complexion to those friends and fosterers of freedom--the princes of the house of louvain. the last of them was john iii., and when (december , ) he was gathered to his fathers the mantle of their policy did not fall on the shoulders of his son-in-law and successor. winceslaus of luxembourg, the new duke, knew nothing of civic institutions. how should he? there were no great towns in the land in which he had been reared. and though it was to the burgher-nobles of brabant that he owed his recently acquired domains, he deemed the influence and pretensions of these tradesmen a standing affront to his dignity, of which from the first he was determined to be rid. moreover, he was aggrieved with most of them personally, for had they not welcomed louis of maele when that sycophant of patrician pride, under pretext of recovering his wife's portion, had invaded his domains, and was it not by their counsel that he had afterwards styled himself duke of brabant? added to this, it was the lesser folk who had at last driven out the usurper, and when others of his order had deserted their prince coutherele had stood by him manfully. such was the complexion of affairs at the moment when the patricians of louvain defied their enemy, and such was the man into whose jaundiced ears that aggrieved individual now poured the story of their aggressions. nor was coutherele without allies in the ducal council--amongst them reynold, lord of schoonvorst, a personal friend who shared his own opinions anent the plebeian question, and one of his sovereign's most trusted advisers. this man plainly told the duke that if he would be master in louvain he must find some means of raising the people and of abasing their proud taskmasters. as for winceslaus, he made no sign, and promptly withdrew to luxembourg, as though unwilling to interfere in the quarrel; but when coutherele returned to his native city, men noted that he was in nowise cast down--he had no doubt received some private assurance that he was free to act as he would. for a little while there was calm at louvain, calm before the storm, and the patricians had almost begun to hope that their trouble with coutherele was over, when presently it was rumoured abroad that his nephews were tampering with the weavers. employers of labour, comparing notes, called to mind that of late their men had shown themselves idle beyond wont, sullen, fractious, insolent; they had wondered what this meant, now they knew the reason. when the days grew longer, and honest merchants came forth after supper to cool themselves with the evening breeze, they noted that the loungers, muttering together in market-place and at street corner, leered at them as they passed with evil eyes, and scarce vouchsafed to lift their hats. mischief, it was clear, was brewing. at last the plot was discovered, and then the crisis came. edmund de dynter tells us how it all happened. on the evening, he says, of the feast of st. mary magdalen (july ), in the year of our lord , it came to pass that a certain _meschine_ in the service of one of our magistrates, having been sent by him to a certain tavern to fetch a flask of wine, fell in with her sweetheart, who in confidence told her that the people, egged on by peter coutherele, intended to rise that night against the patricians, take possession of the town hall, and make a pretty piece of mischief (_faire aulcune mauvaise oevre_). of course she divulged the secret to her master, and he without delay imparted the same to his brother aldermen, who forthwith betook themselves to the town hall, and arrived there amazed and confounded at the manifest evidence of commotion which they had witnessed on the way, for by this time the night was restless with the tumult of a gathering mob: men were hurrying from all sides to the great market behind the cloth hall, where the mayor of louvain was already addressing a crowd of weavers, 'with arms in their hands and anger in their brains.' and what had myn here coutherele to say for himself? if we may trust de dynter, who wrote indeed more than fifty years afterwards, he began by enlarging on the misery of the people, and on the pride, the wealth, the corruption, of those who held them in bondage, and who fattened on their toil and on their tears. was it not the people who paid the taxes, and the patricians who had the spending of them? did not the poor man have to bear the heat and the burthen of the day whilst the rich were growing richer on the spoils of administration? and what right had these men to lord it over them? were they not their fellow-citizens, of like birth and of like origin with themselves? and when he saw that he had enkindled their ire, he said that now was the time to strike; their oppressors were at their mercy, they had mortally offended the duke, he would close his eyes and close his ears to aught which might be attempted against them. it were madness to lose so favourable an opportunity, let them then take up arms for dear liberty's sake. it chanced that a certain great feudal lord, one gerard of vorsselaer, was in town that day along with a band of retainers. this man seems to have been esteemed in louvain, and having no personal interest in city affairs, he was on friendly terms with the leaders of each party. having vainly endeavoured to dissuade coutherele from his purpose, he made his way, as best he could, to the town hall and offered his services to the patricians. 'let them come forth like men and face the mob, and he and his followers would help them _de bon coer et de bon courage_. for,' said he, 'the people have not yet had time to muster; if we go forth now, i doubt not that with god's help we shall put to shame the handful that are already in the market-place, and when the rest behold their discomfiture they will run to cover like poulets that have spied a hawk.' sound advice probably, 'but those _hommes de loy_ were men of such frail and meagre courage' that they deemed it too hazardous. whereat vorsselaer, disgusted, incontinently leapt into his saddle and made for brussels, where we shall presently meet him. meanwhile the mob was increasing each moment in fury and in numbers, and the patricians, thus left to their own devices, very soon came to the conclusion that no other course was open to them but to treat with myn here coutherele. they did so, and with this result. to their envoy he made reply that the people would fain be assured that the city accounts were in order. let the doors of the town hall be opened, and he and his friends would enter and examine their books, and, when they had done so, withdraw. the patricians complied, and coutherele kept faith to the letter, nay, he went even beyond his bond, for not only did he examine the account books, he made a bonfire of them, and added thereto the charters of patrician privileges and all other parchments he could set hands on; and when at last he and his friends withdrew, they took care to bring their opponents with them disarmed and under arrest. thus did the old _régime_ at louvain come to an inglorious end. the patricians had not struck a blow in defence of their privileges, and the fact that the revolution was accomplished without bloodshed bears witness not only to the humanity and moderation of coutherele, but to the marvellous influence which he must have had over the mob. next morning coutherele himself, who was now practically dictator, named a new magistracy, consisting of four patricians, men who were known to favour the people, and three plebeians. it was the first time that a commoner had been named alderman in any town of brabant. meanwhile the men who had been captured in the town hall were still in prison, and presently their friends made private appeal to duchess jeanne, who opened communications with coutherele with a view to their liberation. perhaps it was the policy of neither party to come to an understanding; in any case, after several weeks had elapsed and nothing had been effected the negotiations were broken off. whereat the prisoners, fearing for their lives, which after all hung by a thread, proceeded themselves to treat with the all-powerful dictator, and with better results, for after some haggling they purchased their freedom upon undertaking to quit the city as soon as they should be set at liberty. the ransom which each man paid was assessed in proportion to his means, but the sum-total thus realised amounted to a very large figure, and his enemies said that, by this transaction, coutherele had made himself one of the richest men in brabant, but in reality he expended the whole of this fund, or, at all events, the greater portion of it, in the purchase of the new charter which duke winceslaus granted to the city of louvain in the month of september . in this remarkable document, which was no doubt drawn up by coutherele himself, the duke gave legal sanction to the changes accomplished in july. he fully recognised the claim of the plebeians to participate in the government of the city; he decreed that henceforth three aldermen and eleven jurors should be chosen from among their ranks, and that all other municipal functions should be equally divided between the two classes. the elections were to take place annually, the plebeian members being named by the patricians and the patrician members by the plebeians--a very prudent regulation, calculated to secure in each case the return of moderate men. the action of coutherele in this matter must not be judged by the standard of to-day. in permitting his prisoners to purchase their freedom he was only following the usage of the age in which he lived. but that winceslaus should have exacted a heavy fine or loan or gratuity--call it what you will--from the man who had realised for him his heart's desire was conduct more questionable. the only excuse that can be made for him is this: his expenses were heavy and his purse was light. the men of louvain, however, were too well satisfied at the success of their enterprise to grumble at the bill of costs, more especially as the cash with which it was paid had been extracted from their enemies' pockets, and so elated were they at coutherele's management of the whole affair that the magistrates voted him, from the public funds, a large annuity for life. if the patricians had been wise enough to recognise accomplished facts, and had accepted the new constitution, which, after all, gave them the lion's share in the government, all might yet have gone well, and the city of louvain would have been saved many years of strife and bloodshed; but their privileges had been so large and so profitable, and the good things which accrue to holders of office had been theirs for so long, that they would have been more than human if they had been willing at once to forego all thought of regaining their former position, and these substantial men of commerce were neither heroes nor saints. most of them left the city in which they had once been supreme, and where now their claims were mocked at; where their very lives were, perhaps, in danger, and certainly were made a burthen to them by reason of domiciliary visits and all kinds of vexatious precautions. for the men in power were by no means sure of the stability of the new _régime_--they lived in constant dread of a counter revolution. what wonder, then, that their opponents, who, if the truth must be told, were not famous for courage, found it more comfortable to plot in their country homes than amid the turmoil of their town mansions, even though their voluntary exile meant confiscation of property? as for duke winceslaus, though his capital was a prey to disorder and in imminent danger of commercial ruin, it was not his policy at present to interfere. he knew very well that these purse-proud traders, who in the day of their prosperity had given themselves the airs of princes, would presently grovel at his feet, and with their caps in their hands humbly beg his assistance; for, like their brethren at brussels and elsewhere, though it amused them sometimes to play at soldiering, they would never do battle themselves if they could find someone else to fight for them, and this was what actually occurred. when their town property had been all confiscated, and commercial ruin was staring them in the face, having vainly invoked the aid of brussels, of mechlin, of liége, they humbled themselves before their sovereign, and, about the middle of october , with a great army he sat down before the city of louvain. but though winceslaus made great show of helping the patricians, he had not the slightest intention of breaking with the people, and the details of the farce which followed had no doubt been previously arranged with coutherele. certain it is that no sooner had winceslaus encamped before louvain than that worthy, in the name of the city, professed submission. his friends, he said, were ready to accept any conditions that the duke might dictate. whereat winceslaus, to save appearances, ordained that they should come forth from the city to meet him, unarmed, unhatted and unshod, and, when they had reached his presence, fall down on their knees and humbly ask forgiveness. his instructions were carried out to the letter, and when the farce had been duly performed he presented them with a new charter, a masterpiece of duplicity, in which may be clearly seen the hand of coutherele. it restored to the patricians the whole of their confiscated property; ordained that the ransoms paid by the prisoners of , the greater part of which, it will be remembered, the duke had pocketed himself, should be refunded from the public purse; and further, and most important of all, deprived coutherele of his mayoralty. this was probably as much, or more, than the most sanguine of them had looked for, but in reality, as the patricians soon learned to their cost, peter coutherele and his mob were still masters of the situation; nay, so far as they were concerned, things were worse than they had been before, for the charter of gave them a majority in the college of aldermen, and though that body was still to contain four patricians and three plebeians, winceslaus had now reserved to himself the right of appointment, and first among the patricians whom he presently named was 'the renegade peter coutherele.' when the reactionists knew that in spite of his specious promises, the duke had played them false, they at once declined to take any part in municipal affairs; and sooner than be compelled to do so--for the new charter made refusal to accept office, when named thereto, a crime punishable by imprisonment--shook the dust of louvain off their feet, and again withdrew to their country strongholds. the great tribune was now at the height of his power: his will was law in louvain; he himself was first burgomaster; in his friend jan hanneman, the richest cloth merchant of the city, and one of the few patricians who favoured the popular cause, he had an able and willing lieutenant; another friend, the plebeian gedulphe rogge, one of his most devoted adherents, was second burgomaster; paul herengolys, a clerk in holy orders, was mayor, and every other municipal office was held by one or other of his creatures. nor was this all. as a reward for his 'manifold good and faithful services' winceslaus invested him with the ducal fief of asten, in limbourg, and all the rights and privileges appertaining thereto. in addition, then, to his hereditary rank of patrician, he was now a member of the feudal nobility--an anomalous position, maybe, for the leader of a democratic revolution, but presently peter gave thanks to heaven that the castle of asten was his. about the same time, too, he made a brilliant marriage for his daughter gertrude, whom he gave to henri de cuyck, a brother of the powerful lord of hoogstraeten--a useful alliance this, and one which stood him in good stead, as we shall presently see. meanwhile the city finances were in sorry plight. for years past the patrician oligarchy had not only mismanaged public funds, but had systematically enriched themselves at the public cost, and though their corruption had been one of the chief causes of complaint against them on the part of the plebeians, now that they themselves were in office they deviated no whit in this matter from the traditions of their predecessors; for years past, too, the profits arising from cloth had gradually been diminishing, and since the revolution of all business had been practically at a standstill. added to this, duke winceslaus had been paid, and paid handsomely, for the charter of . indeed the quarrels of the men of louvain were a fruitful source of wealth to their sovereign. his method of extorting cash seems to have been this: he first fomented disturbances, then sold his support to the highest bidder, and finally, when he was called in to arbitrate, charged a heavy fee for expenses. in this manner he succeeded in amassing vast wealth, and it was currently reported in brabant that during the year he received more money from the men of louvain than would have been realised had the whole city been sold with all its outlying territory. be this as it may, the city treasury was empty, and to obtain the funds necessary to meet current expenses, coutherele had recourse to an expedient still resorted to by communities in like straits: he invoked the aid of foreign capitalists. jan hanneman was dispatched to germany to sell life annuities, and so good was the credit of louvain, or so great, perhaps, were his powers of persuasion, that in a very short time he returned laden with treasure. of course peter's enemies said, judging of him by what they themselves would have done under similar circumstances, that no small portion of it found its way into his own coffers:--this were surely the fund with which he had dowered his daughter. the charge of peculation which he had hurled at them they now flung back in his teeth, and again made appeal to winceslaus and promised him gold. whereat he once more assumed the _rôle_ of arbitrator, confirmed the 'peace of ,' adjured the belligerents to forgive and forget, and, as surety for their future good behaviour, demanded from each party hostages and, by way of compensation for the expenses he had incurred, a further cash payment. this was in february , and shortly afterwards coutherele himself conducted the plebeian hostages to the ducal castle at tervueren. the lord of asten went forth from louvain exulting in the glory of his might, he was accompanied by a train of seventy horsemen, the cavalcade was a brilliant one, the people cheered him as he passed; his popularity had not one whit abated, he was still their idol, the saviour of the city, the valiant champion who had broken the yoke of slavery from off their necks; but in reality his sun had set: the triumphant ride to tervueren was but the aftermath. he knew it when he had seen winceslaus, and he knew too that lurid storm clouds were rolling up with the night. he was as sure that the duke had joined the enemy as if he had learned it from his own lips. for him louvain had ceased to be a safe abode: if haply he escaped the headsman's axe, he would sooner or later be stabbed in the back by a muffled ruffian lying in wait for him at the corner of some dark street; and if his lamp were put out, the cause for which he had so long suffered would at the same time die, for who could take the place of peter coutherele? prudence and duty, then, counselled flight, and he fled to his manor at asten, where he was presently joined by hanneman and herengolys. if peter had been content to lie low for a while, the natural course of events must have presently restored him to his former position: he had powerful friends at court, he was still in possession of his barony, winceslaus, satisfied at his voluntary exile, seems at the present juncture to have had no intention of wholly breaking with him. the duke's policy was a policy of expedience: at louvain the name of coutherele was still one to conjure with, and the force of circumstances must have presently compelled him to fall back on his former ally, for, as after events showed, the patrician reaction was only a passing phase; in reality the flowing tide was still with the people. but it was impossible for a man of peter's temperament to sit with folded hands whilst vandals were wrecking his 'house beautiful' and threatening to pull it down. that this was the case there was, unfortunately, no room for doubt. he was in constant communication with louvain, and each day his envoys returned with tidings which lashed him to fury. they told him how these men of belial, not content with corrupting the duke, had corrupted also some of his own followers--plebeians, in whose integrity he had placed implicit confidence; how winceslaus, whilst cynically confirming their charter of rights, had twisted it into an instrument of torture, by naming these renegades representatives of the people in the city council; how the patricians, thus free to act as they would, had not only compensated themselves largely from the public purse for property of which they had been most righteously deprived in , but had deemed it no shame to draw from the same source the huge sum they had promised winceslaus, and this at a time when the city was honeycombed with debt, when all business was at a standstill, when thousands of men were out of work, and their wives and little ones starving. nor did even this complete the sum of their iniquity: foreseeing that the victims of their evil deeds would at last be goaded to turn on them, they had meanly deprived them of the power to do so by taking away their weapons. that was the last straw. coutherele was beside himself. he would hesitate no longer. not one of these men should escape the sword of his vengeance. his plan was to advance on louvain under cover of night with what men and arms he could muster, enter through one of the city gates, which, at a given signal, friends within would open, join forces with the craftsmen, stealthily break into the town hall, where he knew there were weapons, and then, when each man had armed himself, fall on their adversaries unawares, and slay them in their beds. the plot was doubtless suggested by the bloody matins of bruges, and if it had been possible to carry it out a like result might have followed; but at bruges the craftsmen were true to one another, at louvain there was a traitor in the camp, and on the appointed night, when coutherele and his little band were nearing the castle of heverlé,[ ] on the outskirts of the city, they found themselves confronted by winceslaus and an army of knights and burghers; a desperate encounter followed, and the rebels were put to flight. [ ] the castle of heverlé is still standing; part of it dates from coutherele's time, but the greater portion was erected in the course of the fifteen hundreds. it is a grand old building, picturesquely situated on the banks of the dyle, in the midst of a beautiful and well-wooded park. it is one of the country seats of the duc d'arenberg, who kindly allows strangers to visit it. even now winceslaus seems to have been loath to resort to extreme measures against his former friends and accomplices. coutherele had fled the country, and was beyond his reach, hanneman and herengolys had also disappeared, and if he had been left to his own devices he would most likely have found it convenient to follow the advice of his friend schoonvorst and take no further action in the matter, but the patricians, as was natural, objected.--as long as these murderous ruffians lived they were not safe in their beds; let a price be set on the head of each one of them, and warrants issued for their arrest. and they used another argument, one which experience told them would prove convincing: they jingled their moneybags. and winceslaus signed the required edict and pocketed _florins d'or._ this transaction had notable results. herengolys was presently captured, condemned to death by the city magistrates, and in due course brought to the block; but the aldermen had reckoned without their host, the ex-mayor of louvain was a clerk, and, as such, not amenable to their jurisdiction, and john of arkel, who at this time ruled the church of liége, no sooner heard of his fate than he set louvain under interdict. he would never suffer the rights of his clergy to be trampled on with impunity, and moreover he seems to have shared, at all events to a certain extent, herengolys's political opinions. in his own principality he consistently favoured the aspirations of democracy, and in the struggle at louvain he more than once intervened, and always on behalf of the people. perhaps his action in the herengolys affair was inspired by peter coutherele, who, immediately after the disaster of heverlé, had fled to liége. nothing daunted by the fate of his friend, coutherele at once set to work to concoct new measures for the deliverance of his beloved city. having ingratiated himself with albert of holland, he now took up his abode in that country, where presently a great conference was held of outlaws from every town in brabant, during which was planned another attack on louvain; but this scheme, like the last, was betrayed, and failed miserably. for years the great agitator led a restless and vagabond life, sometimes in holland, sometimes in germany, sometimes in france, never long in one place, always intriguing wherever he went, and making plans which he could never carry out, and hatching plots which, for some reason or other, he could never bring to maturity. at last, at the intercession of his son-in-law, henri de cuyck, winceslaus granted him a free pardon, and permitted him to return to his native city (march ), but he was a broken-down, worn-out old man, and he came back to louvain to die. the few months he had to live he passed in strict retirement in his house in the rue de la fontaine, where he died the following year, poor and forgotten. [illustration] chapter x _the peace of_ the flight of coutherele and the failure of his subsequent efforts left the reactionary party a free hand, and by they had so consolidated their position that they were able to compel winceslaus to cancel the charter of and grant in its place a new charter, which gave back to the old ruling class its former monopoly of political power. the result may be surmised: mismanagement and corruption were the order of the day; no accounts were published, and justice had to be bought; any manifestation of discontent was put down with cruel vigour, and even the right of sanctuary was not always respected. once, after some abortive rising, when a score of trembling wretches, who had taken refuge in the cloister of notre dame, were dragged forth by order of the magistrates and put to death, the bishop of liége interfered and imposed a heavy fine; and no doubt the patricians laughed in their sleeves when presently the account was settled, for it was not they, but the people, who bore the brunt of the imposts. though taxation had never before been so high, the treasury was empty; loan had been added to loan, and private individuals travelling abroad were on all sides being arrested for public debts. thus export trade had become impossible, and as for industry, there was nothing doing, for sooner than submit to the exactions of their taskmasters, a third of the working population had emigrated. at last, when louvain was on the verge of ruin, the patricians themselves began to suspect that there was something wrong with their methods of government, and, at their wits' end what to do, presently consulted winceslaus, who, wise man, suggested a great conference of all the cities of brabant to consider the situation. this was early in the year . the patricians agreed, and in due course a conference was summoned. towards the close of march the deputies met in the town hall of louvain; the duke himself presided, and almost every town in the duchy was represented. it is not certain whether the craftsmen of louvain took any part in the proceedings, but they were able to make their influence felt. whilst the conference was sitting they sent in a petition to winceslaus, humbly requesting, among other things, that a statement should be published of the town accounts from the time of coutherele's administration to date; that such patricians as had been awarded annuities by way of indemnity for losses incurred during coutherele's term of office should cease to receive them as soon as the sum justly due to them had been repaid, and that those who had already received more than their due should be compelled to refund the surplus; and, most important of all, that the town seal should be confided to the joint care of the patrician clans, the guild and the trade companies, so that henceforth no new loan could be negotiated without the unanimous consent of the burghers. it is significant of the trend of public opinion that the deputies made these requests their own, and further, named a committee of eight patricians and eight plebeians to study the question of the town debt and the financial situation generally. by pentecost they had sent in their report, and duchess jeanne--winceslaus being absent in luxembourg--at once laid it before the conference, which was now sitting in st. gertrude's abbey. it embodied many wise and prudent suggestions, some of which sound strangely modern, but they touched too nearly the rights of property to be acceptable to most of the patricians. it would have been surprising, indeed, if many of them had welcomed an income tax and death duties, or a tax on church lands, or an all round reduction of official salaries, and these proposals, and others of a like kind, aroused such a storm of opposition that jeanne suggested that perhaps it might be as well to leave it to the duke and his council to solve the financial problem, but to this, naturally enough, everyone objected, and when presently winceslaus himself returned he could only reiterate his wife's proposal, promising that he would take no step without first consulting his _bonnes villes_ and his brother-in-law of flanders--louis of maele, whose tenderness to his own patricians was notorious throughout the low countries; but he might just as well have held his breath, the patricians refused to hearken and things came to a standstill. whereat the people grew restive. difficulties, they alleged, were being purposely raised to stave off reform, they themselves would settle the matter in their own fashion; and on the nd of july the mob was out, battering at the doors of the town hall, and clamouring to burgomaster van nethen to bring forth the great seal and the town charters. to do so, he said, was impossible, he had not got the keys, and, even if he had, it were contrary to law to unlock the rolls coffer save in the presence of the whole council. needless to say, the rioters were not convinced, and at nightfall a host of them, with arms and banners, headed by the weaver, wouter vander leyden, filed into the grand' place, took possession of the hôtel de ville, arrested the aldermen they found there, and, without much difficulty, made themselves masters of the town. the victory was all the more easily won from the fact that a large number of patricians--all who had the welfare of the city at heart, were in reality not opposed to the rioters, perhaps even secretly leagued with them. these men were under the leadership of alderman jan de swertere, a patrician of note who loved the people, his enemies said, because he hated alderman vanden calstere, the chief of the ultra-reactionists. it was the time when the famous 'white hoods' of ghent were disporting themselves in flanders, and the revolutionists of louvain, patricians and plebeians alike, adopted their headgear. wouter vander leyden and hendrick portman were chosen captains of the city, there was an exodus of reactionists, and a deputation was sent to winceslaus, now at brussels, begging him to come at once and legalise what had been done. it was not, however, until nearly two months had been consumed in negotiation, and until he had received from the men of louvain more than _peters_, that he at last consented to give them a new and acceptable charter. the constitution with which the city was now endowed, so far as concerned the composition of the magistracy, was identical with coutherele's constitution--the college of aldermen and the council of jurors were still to contain respectively four and eleven patricians, and three and ten plebeians; but the method of appointing these officers was considerably modified: henceforth the aldermen were to be named by the sovereign from a triple list presented to him jointly by the patrician and non-patrician members of the merchants' guild; the non-patrician members alone were to name the patrician jurors; and the plebeian jurors were to be chosen by the trade companies, now grouped together in ten corporations called nations, each nation electing a juror. further, there were to be two burgomasters--the first chosen by the plebeians from among the patricians, the second by the patricians from among the plebeians--and four treasurers, all plebeians:--two craftsmen and two members of the merchants' guild. they were to have the entire management of the finances of the town, hold office for one year, and give an account of their stewardship to the college of aldermen, the council of jurors and the merchants' guild, assembled in solemn council, every quarter-day. satisfaction was also given to the people in the matter of the government of the guild: henceforth there were to be eight deans--four plebeians named by the patricians, and four patricians chosen by the nations; and, for the rest, all minor offices were to be equally divided among the two classes of the _bourgeoisie_. such, in its main outlines, was the constitution with which louvain was endowed by the great charter--the peace, as it was called--of , and which, with some slight modification, continued to be the constitution of the city until the close of the eighteen hundreds. never before had the people enjoyed so large a share in the government. the patricians, indeed, still retained a considerable place in the magistracy, but their voice was almost stifled in the matter of elections, though, mark this, what they had lost was not given to the proletariat, but to the middle class, as represented by the non-patrician members of the guild--rising merchants and manufacturers, men, for the most part, of moderate means and moderate opinions, in touch on the one side with the working-class, from which most frequently they had sprung, and on the other with the aristocracy, which already included some of their kinsmen, and within whose charmed circle it was not beyond the dreams of several of them, if trade went well, to one day find admittance. nobody supposed that vanden calstere and his friends would be grateful to duke winceslaus for the 'peace' of , but it was probably matter of surprise to everyone that their resentment took the form it did: they remained without the city walls, not in their own strongholds, but at aerschot, vilvorde, hal, in one or other of the little towns hard by louvain, and, sallying forth from these places with what ruffians they could hire, lay in wait for stray burghers, and with such of them as fell into their clutches it went hardly--sometimes they held them to ransom, and sometimes they cut their throats. at last things came to this pass:--no foreign trader would come within measurable distance of the city, and no burgher who valued his life would venture beyond the ramparts, but it was not till wouter vander leyden had been murdered that the people lost patience. this man, who was now burgomaster, had been charged by the magistrates to make complaint to duke winceslaus of the conduct of the reactionists, and as he was journeying to brussels to execute the commission, or, as some say, as he was returning home at night, he was surprised in a lonely spot by vanden calstere himself and willem wilre, his henchman, and literally hacked to pieces. hardly had the news reached louvain than the craftsmen flew to arms, the city gates were shut, and all patricians suspected of being hostile to the new _régime_ were arrested and imprisoned in an upper chamber of the town hall. this seems to have been done by order of the magistrates, perhaps by way of precaution, for the people were at the end of their patience. presently they got out of hand; a rush was made for the town hall, the doors were forced and the prisoners thrown out of window, one by one as their names were called by the mob outside. sixteen or seventeen persons perished in this manner (december , )--innocent or guilty who shall say: they had not been placed on trial. amongst them jan platvoet, a patrician of fourscore years whose only crime seems to have been that he was a kinsman of one of the murderers; and an archer of the guard, name unknown, who had formerly been his servant. this man, when the doors were forced, made his former master crawl under a bench placed against the wall, and had then seated himself on it, and perhaps old jan might have escaped if it had not been for the sharp eyes of a weaver's inquisitive 'kint,' who said he saw something shining between the archer's legs. it was the gold-embroidered ends of poor platvoet's necktie. they dragged him forth, and, in spite of his prayers, cast him headlong into the market; but the traitor who would have saved a patrician's life was pitched out of window first. hitherto the craftsmen of louvain had contented themselves with banishing or imprisoning their enemies; it was the first time in the course of their long struggle that they had stained their souls with blood. for weeks after the murder of the patricians the rioters remained in the streets, and for months after order had been re-established men lived in a fever of anticipation, each side looking for some fresh outrage which would be sure to result in yet crueller acts of reprisal. but though winceslaus knew all this, and seems to have been early appealed to, it was not till the close of may that he made any serious effort to restore public confidence by punishing the delinquents. then he published an edict in which he enjoined twelve of the principal rioters to make a pilgrimage to cyprus, sentenced to exile nine patricians who had been mixed up in the murder of vander leyden, and imposed on the city a fine of _peters_. but things were in too parlous a plight to be righted by proclamation: the white hoods, indeed, for the moment were quiet, but the reactionists refused to submit, and forthwith proceeded to harry the country estates of the rallied patricians, whom, rightly or wrongly, they suspected of having instigated the murder of their relatives. of course de swetere and his folk retaliated in like fashion, and in all that they attempted and in all that they did, of course they were aided and abetted by their very good friends, the plebeians: homestead after homestead was razed to the ground, castle after castle fired, and soon the whole country round louvain became the scene of guerilla warfare. meanwhile vanden calstere, or some of his friends, had again taken to the road. burgomaster oorbeke, returning from brussels, was arrested and held to ransom; so, too, several jurors; and worse still was the fate of a notable private citizen--myn here van grave, a merchant of vast wealth: they cut off his hands and his feet, and sent him home in a waggon, bidding him tell his fellow-burghers that any one of them whom they chanced to take would be treated in like fashion. again and again the _bonnes villes_ tendered their good offices. again and again the duke did his utmost to arrange matters. negotiations were often begun, but, for some reason or other, they always fell through. it was not till the beginning of the year , after winceslaus had been compelled to lay siege to louvain, that the bishop of liége was at last able to reconcile the belligerents. of course, as in all such cases, the settlement was a compromise; but though it banished nineteen craftsmen for a year and a day, opened the gates of the city to vanden calstere and his friends, and guaranteed them complete immunity for all their past offences, it was not these men, but their opponents, who in reality had the best of the bargain: the constitution of remained intact; the people surrendered no jot or tittle of their political rights and privileges. peace then was at last established; the terms of agreement were on each side loyally adhered to, and the reconciliation endured. mutual confidence had taken the place of universal suspicion, and the craftsmen nourished no rancour against those who had formerly been their bitterest foes: when presently, in the month of june, the time arrived for the annual renewal of the magistracy, henry pynnock, godfrey utten liemingen and goswin vanden calstere were elected aldermen, and that, in spite of the fact that they had all of them been reactionists; nor, it is pleasant to note, did they belie the people's trust. chapter xi _reform_ versus _revolution_ when the revolution of broke out the city of louvain was, in name and in fact, the first city of brabant. the cluster of cottages around the church which lambert balderic had founded on the banks of the dyle three centuries before had grown into a great industrial and commercial centre, with a population of something like , souls. in the number of its inhabitants, in the extent of its trade, in political influence, in social prestige, in the splendour of its public and private buildings, it eclipsed at this time every town in the duchy. among the burgher nobles of brabant none were so rich and so powerful as the petermen of louvain: not only did they enjoy the dignities and privileges common to all patricians, but they participated, as we have seen, in the immunities of the church, and that, without being irked by correlative duties. also, they shone alone, there were no brighter stars in their firmament: the sovereign had long ago left louvain, and there were no court nobles to rival their glory or to dispute their right to pre-eminence. as they were human, of course they were puffed up--proud of their wealth, proud of their race, proud of their solitary grandeur and of the consideration which these things gave them; exceedingly jealous of their privileges, very swift to resent any attempt at aggression, whether it came from above or from below; and of course they contemned the seething mass of shame and misery beneath them--a mutinous army of workers, many thousands strong, as eager and determined to obtain liberty as their masters were to keep them in bondage. such was the social complexion of louvain during the fifty years which preceded the revolution of . paint the picture on a smaller scale and in less glaring colours, and you will have some idea of the social complexion of brussels during the same period. brussels, like louvain, was at this time divided into two hostile camps; here, too, patricians and plebeians were biting their thumbs at one another; but neither side was so strong or so violent as in the sister city. the patricians were not so rich, and perhaps in consequence not so selfish, and the plebeians were less numerous, and probably on this account less exacting; and too, though they were not born on a bed of rose leaves, they had less cause for complaint. high and mighty as were the merchant princes of brussels, they were not so high and mighty as the descendants of saint peter's serfs. their splendour was not enhanced by a semi-ecclesiastical aureole; they had no title to distinction but that which their money gave; and though, like the patricians of louvain, they owned the freehold of the town which they administered and governed, they were not alone in their glory. when the duke was not at the coudenberg he was at his hunting-lodge at tervueren, just outside the city gates, and the burghers were in frequent contact with the nobles of the court, who, though often poor and often in their debt, were, for all that, socially their superiors. for these or for some other reasons the local aristocracy at brussels was less overbearing than at louvain, class distinctions were less sharply defined, and the plebeians were treated with more consideration. on the whole, then, brussels was a less turbulent town than the capital, and the road to reform, as might be expected, led through smoother ways. the great struggle began about the same time as at louvain, and, as at louvain, the duke's action precipitated events. in the year winceslaus, in order to reward the plebeians for driving the flemings out of brussels, and also to mark his displeasure at the disloyal conduct of the patricians, who had welcomed them with open arms, granted to the trade companies by charter an equal share with the patrician clans in the government of the city; but this boon, which the people had so long coveted, and which at last they had obtained, was theirs only for a day: the ink of the new charter was hardly dry when winceslaus revoked it. no record has come down to us of the motives which inspired his action, nor do we even know the exact date of the cancelling of the charter. this event, however, can hardly have taken place earlier than nor later than , and most likely the reactionary party in the patrician camp by means of bribes or promises had purchased the duke. naturally the people were profoundly irritated. secret meetings were held, and presently matters came to a crisis. it was just at this time that coutherele was meditating his _coup d'état_, and perhaps there was some understanding between the craftsmen of the two cities: it is significant that the rebellion at louvain began on the st of july, and that at brussels the mob was out on the night of the rd. the craftsmen's plan of action was to surprise the patricians in their beds, and if they had been able to keep it close perhaps they might have accomplished something, but at the last moment they were betrayed, and thus it came about that whilst they were seeking their banners their opponents took possession of the market-place. strangely enough gerard of vorsselaer, the same who two nights before had been busying himself with the affairs of louvain, first essaying to calm the mob, and when that failed, advising the patricians as to the best means of quelling them, had now arrived at brussels, and finding the town in a similar predicament, he did what he could to set matters straight. by his advice the senior alderman essayed negotiations: he invited the dean of the butchers, who were assembled under arms in their guild house, to a conference in the town hall; and presently the messenger returned trembling--he had been treated with threats and curses, and the dean had bade him say that 'the butchers would come in a body soon enough.' hardly had he finished speaking when word was brought that the weavers were attacking the steenporte (the city prison).[ ] in an instant the patricians were in their saddles. if only they could intercept the butchers the situation might yet be saved, and with vorsselaer at their head, they made for the meat market, and _en route_ fell in with the men they were seeking. a skirmish followed, but the patricians, who were well armed and on horseback, had little difficulty in overcoming a handful of footmen with no weapons but pole-axes: they were soon disarmed and driven home to their own squalid quarters. meanwhile the men of the spindle had been vainly hurling themselves against the doors of the steenporte, and now, with the assistance of fullers and dyers, they were preparing to burn it down. why not repay the curs in their own coin by setting fire to their kennels? the suggestion came from myn here van vorsselaer; it was forthwith carried out, and the issue showed that honest gerard was a man whose judgment was to be relied on. [ ] a portion of this building, now called _la tour d'anneessens_, is still standing. it is situated in a garden behind a tavern called _à la vue de steenporte_, at the entrance to the _rue steenporte_, on the left hand side of the way (_see_ map). it is not visible from the street, but the landlord is always glad to allow his customers to visit it. when the rioters saw the redness in the sky they knew what had happened, and with a mad rush made for home, only to fall into the arms of their enemies, who barring the way in a narrow street halfway down the hill, mowed them down like grass and trampled the life out of them beneath their horses' feet; and that was the end of the rising of . it does not seem, after all, to have been a very serious affair--butchers and clothworkers alone had taken part in it, but if the magistrates had followed the example set them by the magistrates of louvain two nights before, there is little doubt that by morning things would have assumed a very different complexion. thanks to the energy and determination of the patricians, revolution had been nipped in the bud, but the city was seething with discontent, the plebeian triumph at louvain had inflamed the people with an unquenchable thirst for liberty, and they were only awaiting a favourable moment to try their luck again. of this the patricians were well aware, and since most of them were not yet prepared to relinquish a shred of their authority, only one policy was open to them--a policy of stern repression applied with energy and vigilance. of these qualities they gave ample proof, but they do not seem to have been guilty of wanton cruelty or even, bearing in mind the object they had in view, of unnecessary harshness. the number of weavers who perished on the night of the insurrection was indeed very considerable, but when once order had been restored they refrained from further bloodshed. their main object was to rid the town of agitators, and all who were suspected of being such were condemned to banishment. nor were these men suffered to unduly defer the date of their departure by taking refuge in churches: the right of sanctuary was not violated, but the proscribed were forbidden to remain in any church within the liberty of brussels for more than a week, under penalty of a prolongation of their term of banishment by as many years as they had remained days above that period, and their fellow-citizens were forbidden to supply such persons with provisions under penalty of a heavy fine; but, on the other hand, all those who were willing to quit the city within the time prescribed were at once provided with a safe conduct. it is impossible within the limits of this little manual to give any detailed account of the numerous penal laws with which the statute book of brussels was at this time endowed. suffice it to say that many of them were of an inquisitorial and vexatious character; that the dire penalties with which all of them were sanctioned--exile, long terms of imprisonment, in some cases even mutilation--were for the most part commutable for fines, thus giving to the rich an advantage over the poor, which the latter resented as a flagrant violation of right; and lastly, that they were not evenly enforced. measures of this kind were not calculated to allay irritation, and though there was no open display of sedition, the city was seething with discontent, and the patricians knew it. haunted by plots and rumours of plots, they were never sure when they went to bed at night that their throats would not be cut before morning, and, half blind with terror, they struck out wildly on all sides, and often the guilty escaped, and a host of harmless citizens experienced the taste of their lash. meanwhile the little band of patricians who from the first had favoured a conciliatory policy were steadily making converts; but it was not until they had preached for eight years, and when brussels was on the edge of revolution, that they at last succeeded in convincing the majority that the times were ripe for reform. the first step was to restore confidence in the administration of justice, and to this end the city fathers (june , ), having first taken counsel with the leaders of the people, named a commission of four patricians and four plebeians to inquire into the numerous disputes and grievances which had arisen from the maladministration of the coercion laws, and to make report thereon to the magistrates, who, it was decreed, should be bound by oath to remedy such grievances and settle such disputes in accordance with the evidence thus laid before them, and it was further decreed that such sentence should be final. any man who refused to accept the same, thereby lost all his rights and privileges until such time as he chose to conform: if he were a patrician he ceased to be a member of his lignage, if he were a craftsman he was expelled from his guild. these measures proved so efficacious that before the close of the year the aldermen had sufficiently recovered from their nerve crisis to be able to consider finance, and that, though they had to face some abstruse questions--how to balance the budget without increasing taxation or having recourse to fresh loans, how to put a stop to corruption without incurring enmity or wounding the susceptibilities of friends, and, above all, how to pay off that terrible debt which was crushing the life out of brussels, outcome of so many years of extravagance and thieving. problems, these, not easy to solve, but again the patricians were wise enough to consult the people, representatives of the trade companies took part in their deliberations, and somehow or other between them they managed to set the affairs of the town on a sound financial basis--the following year revenue covered expenditure and the interest of the debt, the year after that they began to pay off the principal, and by the whole debt was wiped out. matter this for congratulation, and no doubt the people rejoiced, but there was something that gladdened their hearts even more, and which they flattered themselves accounted for the fact that the loan had been repaid so quickly: for more than eighteen years their fingers had been on the purse-strings, and by the grace of god they meant to keep them there. nor was this all, in the guild had been thoroughly reorganised, and on popular lines. about the same time it became customary to bestow a certain number of government appointments on burghers of the middle class, and though the patricians were not yet prepared to give the people any voice in the magistracy, they were determined that justice should be administered with an even hand, and that henceforth no man should be able to say that brussels was ill governed, and to this end, in , a new system had been elaborated for recruiting the college of aldermen. in the early days in brussels, as in the other cities of brabant, the sovereign himself had named the city magistrates. later on some form of election was adopted in which all the members of the patrician class seem to have taken part, but little by little this custom had fallen into disuse, and at the time when the reform movement set in, though the college was still annually renewed, no election had taken place for something like a hundred years--the outgoing aldermen had gradually acquired a prescriptive right to name their successors. this had opened the door to all kinds of abuses, and in order to put a stop to them and to insure that henceforth none but honest and competent men should be admitted to the magistracy, in the city fathers reverted to the old system of election, and stringent rules were drawn up to regulate the proceedings which now became exceedingly long and complicated. in the first place, each of the outgoing aldermen drew up a list of all the members of his lineage eligible to succeed him, that is to say, of all the married members of twenty-eight years of age and upwards who had sufficient means to live without exercising any trade or profession. the next step was to summon the clans, and this, too, devolved on the outgoing aldermen, each man inviting the members of his lineage to assemble in the town hall on the day fixed for the election--generally the rd of june--and there select from the names on his list three candidates for the magistracy. 'i swear,' runs the quaint and characteristic oath which each man present was required to take at the commencement of the proceedings, 'i swear by the saints, and on the holy gospels, that i am in no way bound or pledged to any man, and that no man is bound or pledged to me, directly or indirectly, nor have i purchased any man's vote, either on my own behalf or on behalf of any of my friends. i swear, on my soul, to give my suffrages to the best man, the wisest man, and in every respect the fittest man, the most devoted to holy church, to the duke and duchess of brabant, the city of brussels and the patrician order; consulting only my conscience and acting according to my conviction. i swear, on my soul, not to let any personal interest or private friendship move me, nor to suffer myself to be carried away by hatred or anger, or by fear of loss or hope of gain; so help me god and his saints.' no less curious than the preliminary oath was the process of election. every member of the clan was bound to be present and to take the prescribed oath, under penalty of forfeiting all his rights and privileges, but never more than five, and sometimes only four, members took part in the actual voting; they were picked out from the rest by lot, and the drawing was managed in this way. a number of waxen balls, equal to the number of clansmen present, all without alike, but of which four contained within a white and one a black cipher, were placed in an urn, and, when they had been well shuffled, each member drew therefrom one of them, and presently, when the drawing was over, broke it. whereupon the four men to whom the white-marked balls had fallen withdrew to a separate apartment to consider who was the most fitting man to represent their lineage, each man being free to propose what name he would, provided it was not his own. if they were all of one mind the man of their choice became a candidate for the magistracy, so too if three of them voted for the same individual, or, if two were agreed on one man, and each of the other two were in favour of different men. if, however, the suffrages were equally divided, that is to say, if all four electors cast their votes differently, or if two voted for one man and two for another, black ball was called in to give a casting vote. when the whole operation had been completed, it was repeated a second and again a third time, and by this means three candidates were chosen, whose names were afterwards submitted to the duke, and he, in due course, named one of them alderman of his clan for the ensuing year. the college of aldermen, it should be borne in mind, consisted of seven members, each of whom was held to represent, in a special manner, one of the seven patrician clans of brussels. how great had been the evil resulting from the old method of election may be inferred from the stringency of the new rules, and the dire penalties attached to any infraction of them, and also from the cumbrous and complicated machinery deemed necessary to guard against corrupt practices. thanks to this important measure, and to the other reforms which had been previously inaugurated, the city was now honestly and capably governed, and, in consequence, enjoyed peace. indeed, for more than fifty years after --the time of the great reconciliation--patricians and plebeians seem to have lived, if not on terms of affection, at all events without quarrelling. the latter, it is true, had not relinquished their high aspirations, but finding that the town was honestly administered, and, on the whole, equitably governed, they were wise enough to cherish their ideal in their innermost bosoms, and to take no active steps to realise it. no doubt the greater material prosperity which the city at this time enjoyed was conducive, in no small measure, to the maintenance of peace. brussels was not dependent on cloth to anything like the same extent as was the sister city, and, moreover, the loss which she had sustained on this head from english competition, and the competition of the country towns, was to a certain extent made good by the profit arising from trade which formerly went to louvain, but which was now, owing to the disturbed state of that city, directed to her doors. hundreds of merchants and thousands of mechanics went forth from the capital between and , and not a few of these took up their permanent abode in brussels. linen, leather, tapestry and goldsmith's work were among the articles for which, about this time, brussels became famous, and, thanks to these new industries, the loss, or rather the diminution, of her cloth trade was a matter of little concern to the people. chapter xii _everard t'serclaes_ chief among the giants who at this time were cleansing the augean stables of brussels, building up her shattered bulwarks, promoting harmony among their fellow-citizens, strangling discontent with good government, and putting off revolution by reform, towers the figure of everard t'serclaes, a head and shoulders above the rest of them. everard t'serclaes, or in plain english everard nicholson--politician, patriot, aristocrat, possessor of much gold and many acres, high in authority, high in his sovereign's favour, one whom the whole town spoke well of, and, in spite of it all, an honest man. born in the year or thereabout of an old magisterial house famous in civic annals, descended, probably in the female line, from the unknown founder of the great clan in which his family had for generations been enrolled, the clan called _s'leeuws geslachte_--that is, of the lion--so named from the magnanimous beast displayed on the s'leeuws escutcheon, from the time when he reached man's estate everard t'serclaes had in all probability busied himself, after the manner of his fellows, with civic affairs; and yet for at least twenty years after this period his life is a blank to us: of his childhood, his youth, his upbringing, we know nothing; and even the date of his birth is matter of conjecture. this is all the more remarkable from the fact that t'serclaes did more for his native town and his native land than any other man of his day, and was deservedly the most popular brussels hero of the middle age. he first appears on the stage of history in , when he must have already reached middle life, and his coming was in this wise. it was the time of the flemish invasion. on the th of august the duke's forces had been utterly routed at scheut, hard by anderlecht; he himself had fled the country; louis of maele had entered brussels almost without opposition, and his right to the duchy had been acknowledged by every town in brabant. 'truly it was an admirable thing to behold so sudden a metamorphosis: in two days the whole government had completely changed its face.' thus the contemporary chronicler butkins, but in reality the sympathies of the governing classes, had been from the first with the count of flanders. they knew very well that winceslaus hated patricians, and they knew too that louis in his own dominions was a staunch supporter of aristocratic rule. hence they regarded his triumph as their own, and it was actually at their instigation that he had assumed the title of duke of brabant. meanwhile winceslaus was at maestricht collecting forces, considering invasion, and louis's allies, englebert de la mark, bishop of liége, and william, count of namur, were posted on the eastern frontier of his former duchy ready to oppose him. presently news unlooked for astounded either camp--the standard of brabant was once more floating over brussels, the flemish garrison had been driven out; the feat had been accomplished by a simple burgher, everard t'serclaes. it was the english victory at poitiers which made this achievement possible: the french army had been cut to pieces, king john himself was a prisoner, and the interests of louis of maele were one with the interests of france; hence when the news reached him at brussels he had at once set out for bruges, purposing from thence to proceed to paris, where at the present juncture he deemed his presence indispensable; and thus the field was left clear for everard's machinations. that wily burgher, now in exile at maestricht, had trusty friends in his native town, who kept him constantly aware of all that was taking place, and by them he was at once informed of the flemish count's departure. the time was ripe, it seemed to him, for attempting something. a plan of action was arranged, and presently he was nearing brussels alone, through the forest of soignes, which at that time extended right up to the city. it was the th of october, and a black raw night had set in with drenching rain, which showed no sign of abatement. so much the better, there was the less chance of meeting wayfarers, and t'serclaes was so well acquainted with the country that darkness was no hindrance to him. making for a spot near his own dwelling,[ ] where he knew the rampart was low and unprotected by water, thither he stealthily came when the night was well advanced, and without much difficulty effected an entrance. no one was stirring, there was no sign of life, no sound but the cry of the wind and the sullen drip of the rain--the city seemed wrapt in slumber; but though comfortable burghers were snoring in bed, t'serclaes had friends expecting him, for the most part mere riff-raff who catered for the wants of the masses--the keepers of small taverns and those who helped them in their calling, tapsters, potmen, scullions, cooks, the offscum of a great city, men who feared not a reckless venture, because they had nothing to lose. presently the signal agreed on broke the silence of the night--'brabant for the great duke,' and almost before the echo had died away everard was leading a ragged army to the _groote markt_, where soon the golden lion of brabant was to take the place of the black lion of flanders. when the change had been duly effected and the flemish banner spat on, shredded, dragged in the mire, the crowd, which by this time had assembled, sent up a great cheer for everard t'serclaes and the flag of the fatherland; whereat the flemish guard turned out to discover the cause of the hubbub. only half awake, deafened by fierce oaths, scared by angry faces, it seemed to them that a haunted town was peopled by a legion of furies. like men in a dream they tried to run, but their feet were glued to the pavement, and before they had time to wonder at it they were cut down. some by a mighty effort compelled their limbs to flight, but it availed them nothing--they were stabbed from behind. a few by rare good fortune got free of the market unobserved, and if they had kept cool these men might perhaps have escaped, but that night the town was enchanted, and fleeing from phantom pursuers they leapt on the swords of foes in the flesh, or hurled themselves over ramparts and so dashed out their lives, or trapped in a net of byways at last took some specious turning which led them back to the shambles. death in some shape was the lot of all, and for the most part they made no resistance, but a handful stood shoulder to shoulder and sold their lives dearly. that was practically the end of flemish domination in brabant. within the next few days every town in the duchy, save mechlin, had followed the example of brussels, and before the close of the octave of all saints winceslaus was back in his domains. [ ] t'serclaes' house was at the end of what was then an _impasse_, called the eetengat, now the _rue de berlaimont_ (_see_ map). local historians are often wont to emphasise this little war, which bears witness, so they say, to the patriotism and chivalry of their forebears; but were the men who drove out the flemings wholly inspired by love of country and loyalty to their duke? the facts of the case, we venture to think, suggest an answer in the negative. the patricians, of course, had taken no part in ousting the flemish garrison, but when their allies at brussels were being cut to pieces they seem to have made no effort to help them. no doubt they deemed it a wiser, safer and more comfortable policy to remain in bed and await the issue of events. not that they were devoid of courage: when there was anything to be gained by drawing the sword they were never loth to do battle, but as practical business men it was not their wont to embark in any undertaking likely to end in disaster, and on the night of the massacre at brussels they knew very well that no help which they could have given would have saved their friends from destruction. as for the plebeians, their action was probably inspired by mixed motives--a little hysterical patriotism, caught perhaps from t'serclaes, a little liking for duke winceslaus, due chiefly to the fact that he was the enemy of their enemies the patricians, and a very large measure of hope that somehow or other the issue would be to their advantage. nor in this were they deceived. they presently obtained the boon they most coveted--municipal representation. and t'serclaes, too, had his reward--a knighthood, and until the day of his death what all men love, popularity. that the saviour of brussels, as he was henceforth called, should have been esteemed at court is sufficiently comprehensible: he had re-established the duke on his throne; that he should have been the idol of the people was natural enough: through him they had reached the goal of their ambition; but that he should presently have been able to gain the goodwill of the very men whose hopes he had shattered, and whose privileges he had taken away, is a matter past comprehension, yet such was undoubtedly the case: he was premier alderman in , and again in , and at this time, be it born in mind, the old order of things having been re-established, the outgoing aldermen named their successors; after the reform of , when the magistracy became elective, and all kinds of precautions were taken against corruption, and with a view to securing the best possible candidates, he still retained the confidence of the patricians, who named him premier alderman in , and also in ; in he had represented the patricians of brussels at the national assembly of braine-l'alleud, summoned at the instance of the bishop of liége to put an end to sundry disputes between winceslaus and his subjects, which were threatening civil war; on september , , in spite of his seventy years, he led the men of brussels to the siege of gavres, outcome of a frontier trouble with duke henry of gelderland; and, notwithstanding the disastrous issue of that campaign, he still retained the confidence of the patricians, who in again named him chief magistrate. it was the last time--before his year of office was out he came to a violent end. it happened thus. sweder van apcoude, lord of gaesbeke, the last of the barons of brabant who exercised sovereign sway and regarded themselves as the equals of the chiefs to whom they owed allegiance, traced his descent through his mother, jeanne of homes, to godfrey first lord of gaesbeke, a younger son of duke henry the warrior. like many other peers of brabant, sweder was a citizen of brussels, and as such, when his mother died, and his uncles disputed his succession, he had summoned them before the college of aldermen, who, to their cost, had decided in his favour. from his father, a dutch knight, and one of the mightiest vassals of the bishop of utrecht, he had inherited a large estate in holland, which he had exchanged with his brother giselbert for the barony of aa, an extensive domain adjoining his own maternal heritage, and he thus became lord of a vast and undivided territory, which embraced two hundred manors, and extended from the walls of ninove well-nigh to the gates of brussels. sweder was a baron of the old school, impetuous, violent, bold, within his borders his will was law, and, if need be, he could call to his flag three thousand men-at-arms. such was the social rank and such were the resources of the man whom the city fathers had made their near neighbour, and when it was too late they regretted it. for sweder, not content with his own, set covetous eyes on the lordship of rhodes, a strip of crown land which separated their territory from his, and which, from time immemorial, had been submitted to their jurisdiction. duchess jeanne, who was now a widow, was heavily in his debt, and presently he approached her with offers to purchase the freehold, which she was not loath to agree to. whereat, in brussels, consternation and a stormy meeting in the town hall. 'if this iniquitous bargain were struck, trade, industry, order, right, the very existence of the city itself would be thereby threatened; nor had jeanne any right to sell. was she not debarred by her _blyde incomst_ from alienating an inch of the crown demesne? even to think of such a thing was an insult to the dignity of brussels. let someone explain all this to the duchess--myn here t'serclaes; she would listen to him, an old and trusted friend.' he did so; jeanne hearkened; and then it was sweder's turn to gnash his teeth. the news reached him whilst he was at supper in the great hall of gaesbeke castle along with his wife, anne of linange, and two servants, william of cleves, his natural son, and his chief steward, melis uytten-enge; and when these men witnessed the _chatelaine's_ wrath and heard sweder's oath of vengeance they secretly resolved to make themselves the instruments of its fulfilment. soon their opportunity came. on the morning of holy thursday, march , everard t'serclaes rode out on his mule from brussels to lennick, a small village not a stone's throw from gaesbeke castle. the old man seemingly had no thought of danger, for he was unattended. during his stay at lennick nothing occurred to arouse suspicion, and having transacted the business which called him there, he set out alone on the return journey early in the afternoon, riding at a foot's pace. hardly had he left the village when two men, who had been hiding behind a hedge, suddenly sprang out at him, dragged him from his saddle, mutilated him terribly--slashed him with swords, tore out his tongue, cut off his right foot, and left him by the roadside weltering in blood, as they thought in his last agony. william of cleves and uytten-enge had made their resolution good. some country folk had witnessed the outrage, but they were too much in awe of the tyrant of gaesbeke to offer his victim help, and the 'saviour of brussels' would have been left to die like a dog in the ditch had it not been for the chance arrival of an old friend--jan van stalle, dean of the great collegiate church of saint mary at hal, who happened to be driving to town that day with his secretary, jan coreman. these men having bound up everard's wounds and placed him in their chariot, set out for brussels at full speed, and arrived there about half-past three in the afternoon. when the passers-by saw the poor mangled body they were beside themselves with grief and indignation. the news spread like wildfire, and soon reached the duchess, who, in spite of the mob and her advanced age, at once set out for the town hall,[ ] where t'serclaes was now writhing under the hands of surgeons. she would fain have learned particulars, but her old friend did not even recognise her. in vain she essayed to rouse him. deaf, blind, speechless, he was more dead than alive. [ ] _see_ p. . presently she came forth into the hum and roar of the market, where an expectant crowd was awaiting her with ears itching for news and throats thundering vengeance. what could she tell these fierce men? how should she soothe their anger? the liberator was not dead, that was something. she would discover the authors of the crime and bring them to justice, they might take her word for it, but they must give her time for inquiry, they must have a little patience. thus the duchess. but the people refused to hear--they knew very well who had done the deed, and insisted on instant action; and by five o'clock, with jeanne's assent, the civic guard had set out for sweder's castle. too late to commence operations that night, the little band made camp at vlesembeke, midway between gaesbeke and brussels, and consoled themselves by dreaming of the great things they would do on the morrow. but the morrow brought forth disappointment: sweder, under cover of darkness, had made good his escape, and the assassins had fled with him. anne was indeed at gaesbeke, but she was wholly beyond their reach: her fortress, strongly garrisoned and well-stocked with supplies, was said to be impregnable, and, worst of all, one of their own brethren was her commander-in-chief, citizen jan van hellebeke. how could a handful of burghers drag this she-wolf from her lair? the thing was not to be expected. what could they do but fire the hovels of sweder's tenants and whimper to duchess jeanne. nor was she deaf to their prayers. soon they descried in the distance the shimmer of burnished mail drawing nearer and nearer to camp. it was the lord high seneschal of brabant with his knights and men-at-arms, and in the midst of them was the ducal banner, borne aloft by the monks of afflighem.[ ] nor was this all. the next few days brought help from every town in brabant, feudal lords unsheathed their steel and shouted vengeance, the enthusiasm was universal--the enemy of everard t'serclaes was the common foe of the nation, and soon sweder's stronghold was beleaguered by a mighty host. [ ] the ducal banner, which displayed on one side the lion of brabant and on the other our lady, was laid up in the abbey of afflighem, hard by alost. this great benedictine house was the richest and most privileged in the duchy. its abbot had the right to wear episcopal robes, and he took precedence of all other ecclesiastics in the estates of brabant. founded in , it was demolished by the french revolutionists towards the close of the seventeen hundreds. some vestiges of the church and cloistral buildings still remain. presently news came that his victim was dead. better so. from the first there was no hope of saving him, and his poor broken body had been racked for ten days. they laid him to rest in the old church at ternath, a stone's throw from the beautiful home which he had purchased two years before from the lord of westmaele, and where to this day each year as the anniversary of his death comes round there is still chanted for the repose of his soul a mass of requiem. shortly before everard's death his nephew, jan t'serclaes had been chosen to take his place in the college of aldermen. 'juravit ante castrum de gazebeke,' runs the brief note appended to his name in a contemporary list of city magistrates. this man, then, was in camp at the time of his election, and there, at the foot of the murderer's castle--that castle whose very existence was a menace to civic freedom, he had taken the oath which every magistrate was bound to take on assuming office, solemnly pledging himself to administer justice with an even hand, and to preserve inviolate the rights of the city. the scene was doubtless an impressive one, but many who witnessed it must have had grave doubts as to whether jan would be able to make good his words, for things were not going well with the assailants, as yet they had made no progress. days turned into weeks and still the towers of gaesbeke frowned defiance. the situation was growing critical. sweder was collecting troops at diest. the truce with henry of gelderland had all but expired. what if these two should join hands? the plan of campaign must be changed or the outcome would be disaster. presently the plan of campaign was changed, and this is what happened. [illustration: the old castle of everard t'serclaes at ternath.] the men of louvain did what they always did in times of stress: they turned devout--wearied heaven with prayer, bare-headed and unshod followed the _crom cruys_[ ] through the streets of their city chanting litanies, and then they sent word to their friends in the field to stand fast; the duchess tried diplomacy, she would fain have convinced anne of linange that it was worth her while to capitulate; and the allies brought miners from liége to solve the problem with gunpowder. whereat, but not until operations had actually commenced, the lady of gaesbeke changed her tactics. she proposed a compromise. if only her life and the lives of her people were spared they might do what they would with her castle. the terms were accepted. on the morning of the th of april the murderess came forth, and along with the brave men who had protected her, set out for hainault, and by sundown all that remained of gaesbeke castle were smouldering embers and tottering walls. [ ] _see_ p. . a year later sweder and his wife were reinstated in their possessions, after having made solemn declaration not only in their own names, but in the names of their descendants, their relatives, their friends, their adherents, that they were wholly reconciled with the duchess, the barons and the good towns of brabant, and had bound themselves by oath not to claim any damages for the losses which they had sustained, nor to in any way molest those of their vassals who had taken up arms against them. as for the traitor hellebeke, his life was spared in accordance with the terms of surrender, but he had sinned too deeply to hope for forgiveness, albeit for some reason or other his punishment was reserved until two years afterward. on the nd of june he was formally declared an enemy of the state and to have forfeited all his civic rights. 'and such henceforth shall be the lot of any man,' runs the sentence of his degradation still preserved amongst the archives of brussels, 'who shall take sides with the foes of the city.' chapter xiii _liberty at last_ it was not until some five-and-thirty years after the tragic death of 'the saviour of brussels' that the common folk of that city at last definitely obtained a direct voice in its government. it was the old story. as it had been at louvain so was it in the sister city: the patricians were divided amongst themselves, that was the cause of their overthrow. but if it was the old story, it was the old story differently told. at louvain the cruelty and oppression of the ruling class and, above all, their incapacity and corruption, had sickened the people of aristocratic rule and they were ripe for revolt. a little band of patricians, partly from philanthropic motives, partly from private spleen, espoused the popular cause and placed themselves at its head; the duke, for his own ends, connived at their proceedings, and after a long and bloody struggle the result was, as we have seen, victory. at brussels it was otherwise. when the craftsmen of brussels at last obtained their hearts' desire, they had lived under an honest and capable government for at least fifty years, and if they had no voice in the legislature, they held the purse-strings and were thus indirectly able to make their influence felt, nor were they altogether excluded from offices of trust and emolument; and though, no doubt, they had not abandoned the hope of one day obtaining direct representation in the municipal senate, they seem to have so far acquiesced in the existing state of things that they had no thought of taking violent measures to change it. they were content to possess their souls in patience, and they were not defrauded of their expectation. by-and-by the fascinating dream of ages was a reality, and this was how it came about. all that was best and all that was noblest in the three estates of brabant had joined hands against the sovereign--a wanton boy led astray by evil counsellors, who were squandering his wealth and the wealth of his towns, and suffering the honour of brabant to be dragged in the dust; and when all seemed lost, when brussels, betrayed by false brethren, was filled with german mercenaries breathing out threatening and slaughter, the energy and daring of the despised craftsmen had turned defeat into victory. and when the battle was won and the land once more had rest, these men received, by way of guerdon, the boon they had so long craved for. the skein of the story is a long and intricate one, but it is worth the trouble of disentangling. it was during the reign of duke john iv. that these things happened. john was a scion of the house of bourgogne, which at this time was supreme in the low country, and as the events which we are about to relate were in large measure the outcome of the ambitious designs and selfish schemes of the burgundians, it will be well for a moment to consider their origin and the means by which they mounted to power.[ ] [ ] _see_ genealogical table iv. the founder of the house was philip of valois, surnamed the bold, a younger son of king john of france, and, like many other great houses, court favour and a fortunate marriage were the foundation stones on which it was built. marguerite of maele, the childless widow of her kinsman philip of rouvre, the last duke of burgundy of the old stock, was at this time the most to be desired of the marriageable princesses of europe: she was young, beautiful, rich, heiress-apparent to the counties of flanders, burgundy, rethel, artois and nevers, and the only representative of the third generation of duke john iii. of brabant. among the princes who aspired to her hand was philip of valois, on whom, shortly after the death of her husband ( ), last of his race in the direct line, the french king had conferred his duchy ( ). after long and tedious negotiations and much haggling, for the count of flanders, her father, and the king of france, who conducted them, regarded one another with mutual distrust, the marriage treaty was signed (april , ), and in due course the widow of the last duke of burgundy of the old stock became the wife of the first duke of the new dynasty (june , ). a momentous marriage this, and one of which the consequences were far reaching. by it were presently united--when louis of maele died (january , )--the two most formidable fiefs of the french crown; and the man who held them, a man of marvellous parts and vast ambition, unscrupulous, cunning, bold, had all the prestige of a prince of the blood, and, as the king's most trusted counsellor, all the resources of france at his back. iv.--genealogical table of the dukes of brabant from john iii. to philip ii. $john iii.$, _d._ dec. , | +----------+----------+--------+--------------------------------+ | | | | henry, godfrey, $jeanne$, = winceslaus of luxembourg, | _d._ _d._ _d._ dec. _d._ dec. , | | | louis of maele, count of flanders, _d._ jan. , = marguerite (he inherited at the death of his mother, | marguerite, daughter of philip v. of france, , | the counties of burgundy and artois) | | +----------------------------------+ | philip of rouvre, = marguerite, = philip of valois, th son of john ii. duke of burgundy _d._ march | of france, who conferred on him and count of , | the duchy of burgundy in , burgundy | _d._ april , (franche-comté) | and artois, _d._ | +-------------------------+-----------------------------+----+ | | | john the fearless, count of flanders, = marguerite, | | burgundy, etc., on the death of his | only daughter of | | mother ( ), duke of burgundy on | albert, count of | | the death of his father ( ), | hainault and | | resigned his interest in the duchy of | holland, | | brabant in favour of his brother | _d._ jan , | | anthony, _d._ sept. , | | | | | | +-------------------------------+ | | | | | | +------------------------------------------------+ | | | | | | +-----------------------+ | marguerite = william, eldest son | | _d._ march | of albert, count of | | , | hainault and holland | | | _d._ may , | | | | | | jeanne de = $anthony$, = elizabeth = john the | | saint-pol | _d._ oct. of goerlitz pitiless, | | daughter | , second son | | of waleran | of albert | | of | of holland | | luxembourg | _d._ | | +-----------------+ | | | | +-------+ +------+--------+ | | | | | | | | $philip ii.$ jacqueline, countess of = $john iv.$, | (philippe hainault and holland, _d._ april , | l'asseuré), abdicated , | duke of _d._ april , | burgundy, | count of burgundy, $philip i.$ and count of flanders (philippe de from , duke of saint-pol), brabant from , _d._ aug. , and count of hainault and holland from it was thanks, indeed, to this last mighty asset that philip was able to prepare the way for the union of the netherlands to the profit of his own house. his intimate connection with france obtained for him the friendship of duchess jeanne, always french in her sympathies, and through her good offices he was able to marry his eldest son, john the fearless, and his eldest daughter, marguerite, to the only daughter and the eldest son of albert of bavaria, heir-apparent to hainault, holland and zeeland, and thus to secure these counties for one of his descendants. the double marriage took place on the th of april , and it will be interesting to note that the prelate who gave the nuptial blessing was no other than john t'serclaes, count bishop of cambrai, a brother of 'the liberator of brussels.' again, when shortly after the death of duke winceslaus ( ) war broke out between brabant and gelderland, and jeanne, hard pressed, appealed to philip for aid, it was with french troops and french gold that he was able to effectually help her, and thus to inspire--his main object in complying with her request--those sentiments of gratitude which later on, in , induced her to acknowledge the right of her sister's child, marguerite of maele, to the reversion of her ancestral domains, and that, in spite of a previous engagement: in , when smarting under the insult of the flemish invasion, the work, as jeanne firmly believed, of that same sister, she had pledged her word to the emperor charles iv., her husband's elder brother, that if she died childless her estate should not go to marguerite of brabant or to her issue, but to charles himself, or, in his default, to his next-of-kin of the house of luxembourg. thus much had french influence and french gold accomplished for the duke of burgundy, but he was not yet sure of obtaining the prize which he so much coveted. the burghers had something to say in the matter, and sentiments of gratitude and the glamour of france had little influence with them: they feared that the house of burgundy would be too powerful for the security of their privileges; and also they were being pressed by wenzel, king of the romans, who claimed the reversion of jeanne's heritage in virtue of the compact of , to make a declaration in his favour. to neither claimant would they give a definite reply: it were time enough, they said, to consider the matter after jeanne's decease. they were no doubt waiting to see which man would make the highest bid. at last philip cut the knot by compelling his eldest son john to renounce his right to the succession in favour of his second son anthony ( ), whom jeanne, in , with the assent of her people, formally acknowledged as her heir. nor was this all. at a meeting which took place at paris, whither jeanne had gone ( ) to see once more before she died 'the princes of the _fleurs-de-lis_,' she had arranged with philip that young anthony, now twelve years old, should reside with her at brussels in order that he might thus learn to know the people over whom he would one day rule. no small advantage: if anything should happen to jeanne, who was now seventy-four years of age, anthony would be on the spot; but as weeks turned into months and months into years, and still the old duchess clung to life, philip began to tire of waiting and to wonder whether after all the cup would be dashed from his hands as he was carrying it to his lips.--if only jeanne could be induced to abdicate, anthony, who was now nineteen, could at once grasp the reins of government. determined, if possible, to induce her to do so, he journeyed to brussels early in april , and once more his efforts were crowned with success. [illustration: notre-dame de hal from chapel behind north transept] it was his last triumph. in the midst of a sumptuous banquet (april , ) in honour of his son's inauguration as regent of brabant, he was struck down by a fever which was at that time raging in the city. on the ninth day after his seizure, when he was almost a dead man, at his own request they carried him on a litter to hal and lodged him at the sign of the stag, hard by the church, then famous, as it is now, for its miraculous image of our lady. he knew that he was past human aid, yet haply, he thought, the prayers of the mother of god might even now save him; but the angel of death was inexorable, and towards nightfall on the morrow the great founder of the house of bourgogne passed quietly away (april , ). his body was embalmed and carried to dijon, and they buried it in the carthusian monastery which he himself had founded there, but his heart was enclosed in a precious casket and laid up before the altar of our lady at hal. death was at this time busy with the great ones of the netherlands. within eight months of philip's demise (december , ), albert of hainault and holland was gathered to his fathers and his son william reigned in his stead; shortly before the new count's accession, marguerite de bourgogne had given him a daughter (july , ), jacqueline, famed for her beauty and her misfortunes, whose tragic story we shall presently tell. three months later marguerite of maele joined her husband, and their eldest son, _jean sans peur_, who the year before had inherited from his father the county of charolais and the duchy of burgundy, now added to his possessions the county of burgundy and the counties of flanders and artois. a personage to be reckoned with, this little, huge-headed, flat-faced man, without grace and without address, and who spoke so ill that his speech was almost unintelligible: he knew what he wanted and he knew how to compass his ends; he had subtlety and determination, and was untroubled with scruples. he strengthened his bulwarks if he did not enlarge his borders, and he struck his roots deep into the soil of the netherlands; but the greatest thing he did for the accomplishment of their union was to beget a son, to whom he transmitted his great capabilities, if not his evil looks, and who gathered in the harvest which his father and his grandfather had sown--philip, second of his name, whom men called the good, a sort of fifteenth century imperialist, whose acquaintance we shall make later on. on the st of december , full of years and good works, died duchess jeanne. she was the last of her generation, and the liberal traditions of the house of louvain died with her. she had outlived the man who had so long plotted for her heritage well-nigh three years, and, as she had wished, she was succeeded by her great-nephew anthony. though a brave and chivalrous prince, his ideals were not the ideals of his subjects, and in consequence he was always at loggerheads with them, but when he was gathered to his fathers, struck down at agincourt (october , ),[ ] the evil days of his son john made anthony regretted. not that john was a vicious man, but he was physically and morally weak--_de petite et foible complexion_, as his secretary and intimate friend de dynter has it; and chastelain: '_peu estoit enclin au harnois, et avec ce de féminin gouvernement, car en lui avoit peu de fait et peu de malice. et pour ce, aucuns estant entour luy, qui le réoient simple, le gouvernèrent à leur prouffit et peu au sien, ne à ses pays._'[ ] herein we have the source of the difficulties which continually beset his path, difficulties of all kinds and with all sorts and conditions of persons--with his clergy, his nobles, his burghers, his common folk, and, within his own domestic circle, with his brother, his mother-in-law and his wife. she was the greatest difficulty of all, and it would have been marvellous indeed if his marriage had proved a happy one. what could there have been in common with the indolent, feeble, dull-witted john of brabant and his brilliant and beautiful cousin jacqueline, who had inherited, with the shrewdness and the masterful will, all the energy and all the daring of her mother's ambitious race? no more ill-assorted match could well have been devised than that which william of holland urged with his last breath on his only daughter, the apple of his eye, who at that time was a child-widow of sixteen. with his body gangrened from the bite of a dog, and his mind confused with horror and grief at the foul deed which six weeks before had deprived jacqueline of a husband, the dying man saw a pillar of strength in his poor little rickety nephew. he knew that when he was gone she would need a protector; he dreaded the cruel ambition of his brother, the bishop of liége, who, he fondly believed, would hurl himself in vain against the bedrock of the house of bourgogne. jacqueline herself had no such illusion, her cousin of brabant was known to her, her eyes were not blinded by the glamour of his race, and she was convinced he would prove a sorry champion. moreover, she had loved the dauphin, her first husband, with whom she had been brought up, and the tragic circumstances of his death--poisoned, as all men believed, by his uncle of orléans--had embittered her grief at his loss, and made her the less inclined to hurry again into wedlock. but for all that the marriage took place: the family council, held shortly after william's death at biervliet, in zeeland (july , ), was unanimously in favour of it, and in spite of her reluctance, and in spite of the opposition from interested motives of the bishop of liége, the hapless jacqueline was presently constrained to give her hand to the poor stripling whom she loathed. [ ] _see_ p. . [ ] _chronique du duc philippe_, chap. lv. on sunday, the st of august , john and jacqueline publicly plighted their troth, and it was arranged that they should be united in wedlock as soon as the necessary dispensation could be obtained from the holy see. a matter this not easy of accomplishment, owing to the opposition of the bishop of liége, who naturally objected to a marriage intended to prevent his making good his claim to his niece's heritage, to which he maintained he had the better right--holland and hainault, as imperial fiefs, being not transmissible in the female line. this man at the family council, dissembling his real intentions, had not only acknowledged jacqueline's right to the whole of her father's dominions and approved of the proposed match, but had actually volunteered himself to procure the requisite dispensation, and afterwards he had prevailed on the men of dordrecht to receive him as their sovereign; and from thence, on the rd of september, he had secretly sent letters to constance representing to the fathers assembled there for the purpose of electing a new pontiff and other matters, that if this incestuous union were sanctioned the country would be plunged in civil war. appointed to the see of liége in , a dissolute boy of seventeen in sub-deacon's orders, in spite of the reiterated protests of his canons and to the no small scandal of his people, john the pitiless had persistently refused episcopal consecration. for a sub-deacon to be freed from his vow of celibacy he knew was not impossible, perhaps, as his enemies said, it was in his mind to found a house and convert the ecclesiastical state over which he presided--a republic then in all but the name, with a mitred figurehead for president--into a lay principality to be handed down to his descendants. in any case, he would preserve a free hand in view of political eventualities. for twelve years the people waited, groaning under john's oppression, for one after another he suppressed all their liberties, and shamed by his evil life, and then, at the end of their patience, they hunted him out of the town, and chose in his place a worthier man, thierry, son of the lord of perwys, who in due course received from benedict xiii. episcopal consecration. but john the pitiless was not the man to accept defeat, he appealed to his brother of holland and to his brother-in-law of burgundy, and after a long and bitter struggle he was presently reinstated. the last stand was made at othée, in the plain of russon, on the rd of september , when the men of liége were utterly routed. amongst the eight thousand slain were bishop thierry and his father, the lord of perwys. when all was over they found their dead bodies on the battlefield, side by side and hand in hand. better so, for john's fierce triumph was a veritable orgie of blood. such of his victims as were laymen he beheaded or hanged, and he showed his pity for their daughters and wives and his respect for the ecclesiastical state by casting the women into the meuse, and with them the canons whom thierry had appointed, and the priests whom he had ordained. then it was that the liége men first called him _jean sans pitié_. such was the man who now professed himself so solicitous for the purity of family life and so fearsome lest the loosening of ecclesiastical discipline should have for its outcome war. but the fathers of constance were in no way deceived by his specious pleading, and as soon as they had chosen a pope (martin v.) the dispensation was accorded. john, however, was not yet at the end of his resources; as a prudent man he had taken care to have two strings to his bow: he had not only written to the fathers of constance, but also to his friend the emperor sigismond, who, as soon as he learnt that the brief had been dispatched, compelled the pope by threats of imprisonment to revoke it. embarrassing this, no doubt, to the agents of the duke of brabant, but they seem to have been equal to the emergency; for the clerks whose duty it was to affix the pontifical seal to the new rescript, dated constance, january , , conveniently forgot to do so for several days, and thus it came about that when at last it reached the interested parties the marriage had already taken place. edmund de dynter, duke john's secretary, tells us how it all happened:--late on the evening of thursday, march , , the dispensation arrived at the hague, where the courts of holland and brabant and burgundy had been anxiously awaiting it for over three weeks. the same night john and jacqueline privately plighted their troth, and immediately after the ceremony, says edmund de dynter, who seems to have been present, they were conducted to the bridal chamber. doubtless they had some inkling at the hague of what had taken place at constance, but in reality there was no need for haste, the newly-married couple had time to visit mons and other towns of hainault, where their sovereign rights were acknowledged, and jacqueline had been welcomed as duchess of brabant at brussels and louvain and bois-le-duc before the second rescript was placed in the hands of duke john. shortly afterwards 'two venerable masters in theology' arrived at the coudenberg, where the court was now installed, bringing with them a sealed letter from martin v. informing john that he might give full credence to what the bearers said. they told him that as the revocation had been extorted by force, it was to be regarded as null and void, and that as soon as the pope had crossed the alps and was out of the emperor's power, he would dispatch a third rescript confirmatory of the first. and the pope was as good as his word: in due course the promised letter arrived, dated florence, august , . though baffled in the matter of his niece's marriage, john the pitiless had otherwise strengthened his position. the better to prosecute his claim to her heritage he had resigned his see, obtained a dispensation from his vow of celibacy, and married a rich widow--elizabeth, duchess of luxembourg, step-mother to john of brabant. shortly afterwards the emperor had publicly invested him with the disputed fiefs, and in holland at least, especially among the burghers of the great towns, he had a very considerable following. meanwhile he was still at dordrecht, and presently he felt himself strong enough to openly declare war against jacqueline and her husband. the estates of brabant, well aware that in face of so redoubtable an adversary half measures would be useless, urged the duke to attack dordrecht by land and sea. john's counsellors, however, were of a different opinion. the expedition, they said, must be conducted with due regard to economy, and to expend money on ships were an altogether unnecessary outlay; and thus it came about that the siege of dordrecht very soon had to be raised. john, who had at first taken the field, now retired to brussels; city after city and fortress after fortress fell into the hands of his opponent; philip of burgundy, to whom his father, john the fearless, absent in paris, had left the care of his affairs in the low countries, offered his mediation, and a compromise was effected. on the th of february the duke of brabant ceded in fief to john the pitiless a portion of his wife's domains, permitted him to take the title of regent, and paid him a handsome indemnity into the bargain-- , english nobles. the burghers of brabant were enraged and disgusted, and jacqueline was beside herself with indignation, the more so as they and she had each a personal and most intimate grievance against the men whose parsimony had caused this shame. the burghers never forgot that for years past these harpies had fattened at their expense, considering neither the interests of the state, which they starved, nor of the sovereign, whom they cajoled and fleeced, for john never failed to apply to his towns whenever he found himself short of cash; and jacqueline believed what was whispered at court as to how the vilest of them, william of assche, erst treasurer of the ducal household, now amman of brussels, and his son-in-law, everard t'serclaes--the eldest son of the deliverer--had obtained the baneful influence which they exercised over her feeble lord: assche at the cost of his daughter's fair name, and t'serclaes at the sacrifice of his own honour and the honour of his wife. poor little john was bewitched seemingly by the charms of lauretta of assche, or at all events jacqueline thought so, and she was proportionately jealous. but it was not these men, but that grasping old fox, treasurer vandenberghe, who was the first to experience the people's wrath. 'ever swift to sweep in coin, and tardy, yea, of a truth most tardy, in the matter of payments,'[ ] he it was who had been the chief promoter of the cheese-paring policy which had brought forth such disastrous results, and hence he was condemned by the estates to exile, and declared to be for ever incapable of again holding office in brabant. nor was this all: brussels and louvain informed the duke that they would grant him no further aid until the sentence had been carried out. it was the first passage of arms in the great struggle between john and his _bonnes villes_. the friends of the duchess had been the first to strike, but her opponents were not slow to hit back. at brussels her arch foe, william assche, refused, quite illegally, to publish his colleague's condemnation, but the aldermen made him pay for it: they would no longer acknowledge him as amman, and flung him into gaol. of the whole college one member only withheld his assent--everard t'serclaes, and in consequence he was declared to have forfeited his rights of _lignage_ and to be for ever incapable of holding municipal office. [ ] de dynter, c. . meanwhile john and the treasurer had betaken themselves to mons, where the latter presently endured a worse punishment than exile: on the rd of march , during the absence of the duke and the duchess hawking, vandenberghe, sick and slumbering in his chamber, 'was suddenly aroused by the bastards of holland' (jacqueline's natural brothers), 'who very soon sent him to sleep again, and so soundly that no man shall ever wake him more; for without any respite they struck him stone dead, and forthwith went their way.' 'spite,' says secretary de dynter, 'because he had stopped their pensions'; and monstrelet adds, 'the duchess, according to common report, was a sufficiently consenting party to what her brethren had done.' be this as it may, the removal of vandenberghe was certainly, for the moment, of advantage to jacqueline and her friends. for three days john was inconsolable, but at the expiration of that time his duchess managed to appease him, and rotslaere, a man devoted to the popular cause, was appointed treasurer of brabant (april , ). maybe that john, in acting thus, was dissembling to gain time; maybe that, brooding over his wrongs alone (for shortly after the murder the ducal couple had separated), he was presently impelled to go back on his decision; certain it is that within a month after their appointment the new ministers were dismissed. before the end of april the court had returned to brabant: jacqueline to vilvorde, and john, cast down and restless, flitting from place to place--sometimes at tervueren, sometimes at antwerp, never at brussels, where assche was still in prison, at last he found himself at bois-le-duc, and by that time he had made up his mind. the th of may was a noteworthy day in the life of duke john of brabant. between sunrise and sunset he accomplished several things, and experienced some sensations of a sufficiently varied and exciting nature for a nervous youth of delicate constitution:--a morning ride from bois-le-duc to crayenhem, unknown to rotslaere--_grandement embesogné_, good man, _et moult esbahis_, when presently he heard of it; a secret meeting there with former counsellors, at which a plan was devised for taming jacqueline; a journey next to vilvorde, and there, beneath her windows, insulting proclamation, outcome of the morning conclave; then, swift flight to tervueren to escape the consequences; and then--grand finale, when he flattered himself he had reached cover, the hurricane of his wife's indignation burst over his head; for jacqueline, when she saw her lord departing, had at once taken horse, accompanied by one lady and three servants, and reaching tervueren almost before he had recovered his breath, she forced her way into his chamber in spite of the remonstrance of the guard, and there, in the presence of his favourites, rated him soundly for two good hours. and jacqueline had reason to be discontented, for rotslaere and her friends had fallen, and the corrupt sycophants, who had been the cause of all her miseries, were once more in power, and, worse still, her own personal attendants--the dutch ladies, whom she loved and who had served her all her life--had been summarily ordered to pack up their baggage and get themselves back to holland. and who were the women who were to take their place? 'the noblest and best in the land,' said john. and no doubt he thought so: they were the wives and daughters of his boon companions, and amongst them was lauretta of assche. though john displayed admirable firmness so long as his wife confined herself to tears and supplication, he quailed before the bitter invective which his heartlessness presently called forth; and if it had not been for his fear of a like scene with lauretta, maybe the duchess would have carried the day. as it was, she was fain to content herself with her lord's reluctant consent to her retaining four of her women, and there, for the moment, the affair ended. meanwhile matters were not mending at brussels. assche was still in prison, and neither john's threats nor entreaties could induce the burghers to release him; and presently, when election time came round and the patricians as usual sent in their triple list of candidates, the duke, by way of retaliation, refused to make any appointments, and for three weeks the city was without magistrates. at last, thanks to the good offices of antwerp and louvain, a compromise was effected, which was in reality a triumph for brussels. john, indeed, obtained the release of his friend, but he was not reinstated in office, and john taye, who now became amman, was a _persona grata_ to the burghers. nor was this all: the city obtained a new charter, by which it was ordained that henceforth a deputy amman should always be appointed, who, in the event of the amman's refusal to act, or if he performed his duties ill, would be competent to act for him; that if the deputy, in his turn, failed to give satisfaction, the aldermen could replace him by a more suitable person; and that if in future any sovereign should refuse to appoint magistrates, the outgoing magistrates might themselves name their successors. notwithstanding that peace had thus been patched up between john and the men of brussels, his heart was so filled with resentment that he could not prevail upon himself to return to the coudenberg till six months later, and shortly afterwards came the final rupture with jacqueline. it happened thus. hardly a year had passed since the signing of the treaty of gorcum (february , ), when john the pitiless, again growing restive, began to demand fresh concessions and to threaten that if they were not granted brabant would be drenched in blood. so eager was the duke to avert war that he did not hesitate to invest him with the regency of holland and zeeland for a period of twelve years, and to cede to him also the lordships of antwerp and herenthals--dependencies these last of the duchy of brabant. whilst duke john was thus weakly disposing of his own and of his wife's property, his faithful henchman, everard t'serclaes, now steward of the ducal household, was racking his brains as to how he might rid the court of jacqueline's dutch ladies. by so doing he would confer a boon on his master, and, matter of greater moment, gratify his own spleen, for his hatred of the duchess was commensurate with the injury which he had done her, and with the contempt which she openly showed for him. after much thought, he came to the conclusion that the best plan would be to starve them out, and under pretext of thrift, for the household expenses, he said, were extremely heavy, he refused henceforth to make any provision for their maintenance. jacqueline had just heard of the new treaty and was in no mood to brook further outrage. the meanness and pettiness of this last insult cut her to the quick, and she resented it with the pride and energy natural to her character. marguerite of burgundy, who had sought out john and remonstrated with him in vain, had withdrawn in tears to an inn called _le miroir_ in the _rue de la montagne_, and jacqueline, after a violent scene with her husband, fled from the court to her mother's lodgings. no effort was made to recall her, and next morning the two ladies left brussels for the castle of quesnoy in hainault, where jacqueline was still sovereign. this was early in may . when it became known that the duchess had gone, throughout the length and breadth of the land there was a widespread feeling of indignation, which, however, seems to have been at first stronger in some places than in others, and, generally speaking, the rural districts, influenced as they were by the feudal lords--almost all of them, from sentiments of chivalry, ardent partisans of jacqueline, were more hostile than the towns. at bois-le-duc, indeed, john's adherents were sufficiently numerous and influential to insure the loyalty of the city throughout the contest which was now impending; antwerp, for a time, also refrained from active hostility, and so, too, brussels. the common folk had 'wondered and wept' when they saw jacqueline leaving the palace in tears and on foot, and attended by only one serving-man, and the heartless boy, who had driven her from home, had long ago forfeited their confidence and respect, but at brussels the common folk did not yet count, and the patricians, though many of them shared their sentiments, were for the most part loth to quarrel again with their best customer; for the cloth trade was waning in face of english competition, and the court was now the mainstay of their prosperity. at louvain it was otherwise. the dukes of brabant had long since forsaken the cradle of their race, the tradesmen of the capital had little to gain and little to lose from the smiles or the evil looks of the occupant of the throne, and their judgment was not warped by self-interest. moreover, at louvain, the people--always eager to resent injustice and to champion the cause of the weak, were directly and largely represented in the municipal senate, and a healthier, manlier, more independent spirit pervaded the whole town. nowhere in the duchy of brabant was john's unworthy conduct held in greater contempt, nowhere were men more firmly determined to deliver him from the evil counsellors who, for their own ends, had prompted it, and the burghers of louvain, to their honour, took the first step in this direction. shortly after jacqueline's flight john, again short of cash, had summoned the estates of brabant to meet at brussels, and the aldermen of louvain, knowing very well that liberty could hardly be assured in the court city, utterly ignored john's invitation and invited the estates on the same day to assemble in their own town. it was a bold step, but the issue proved the wisdom of it: when the appointed day arrived a few stragglers from antwerp and bois-le-duc betook themselves to brussels, and representatives of the first and second order from all parts of the duchy flocked into the capital. they found it in a greater state of commotion than any of them had anticipated, for news had just come to hand of a fresh act of tyranny--the duke had presumed to violate one of the oldest and most cherished privileges of the time-honoured church of saint peter. thus: sieger, chief of the house of heetvelde, was one of the mightiest nobles of brabant in the far-off days of duchess jeanne, with whom he claimed kinship, for he traced his descent to a natural son of the great house of gaesbeke, a legitimate though younger branch of the reigning family. the van heetveldes, in the course of ages, had acquired estates and manorial rights in all parts of the duchy; they were patricians, too, of louvain, for a heetvelde of bygone days had married a daughter of that city, and the status of patrician, unlike that of the feudal lord, was transmissible in the female line. invested with all the rights and privileges of the various orders to which he belonged, at brussels, where he habitually resided, old sieger was too mighty a man to be loved; five _lignages_ banded together against him, and one morning he was found in the grand' place with his throat cut. who was the actual murderer was never known, but sieger's sons suspected a patrician called nicholas de swaef, and publicly charged him with the crime, and hence there arose a feud between the family of the murdered man and the family of the man who, as he had sworn, had been falsely accused of the murder. for years the streets of brussels were the scene of their bloody conflicts. in vain the burghers of louvain joined their efforts to the burghers of brussels as mediators. at their instance duchess jeanne ordained that the quarrel should be forgotten, menacing with death any man who should venture to reopen it; but her threats were wholly disregarded, and after twenty years the heetveldes and the vanderstraetens[ ] were still flying at one another's throats. at last, about easter , the belligerents agreed to accept the arbitration of duke john iv., provided he gave his decision within a twelvemonth. for some reason or other he neglected to do so, and it was not till the th of june that he summoned the brothers heetvelde to his presence and informed them that he was about to pronounce judgment. to this they demurred, on the ground that the stipulated time had long since gone by. whatever may have been the case three years before, the vanderstraetens were now john's friends and the heetveldes among his bitterest opponents, and naturally enough the latter feared he would not hold the scales of justice evenly. whereat john sentenced them, there and then, to banishment as contumacious, and the heetveldes, instead of submitting, fled to louvain. they were petermen, they said, and as such subject only to their own tribunal. what wonder, then, that the anger of the burghers blazed more fiercely than ever, or that the estates, to which the heetveldes had appealed, quashed the iniquitous sentence, and forthwith informed the duke that no fresh aid would be granted until their grievances had been redressed. the miscreants who had deprived jacqueline of her heritage, driven her from brabant, wasted the resources of the realm, and who had not even feared to flout saint peter, must first be dismissed from office. nor did john dare to refuse, but the men whom he named to take their places made his former counsellers regretted: amongst them was everard t'serclaes, the _fons et origo_ of all the mischief. whereat the estates, convinced that it was hopeless to expect reform so long as john remained in power, did two things--they sent letters to 'madame the duchess of brabant and to madame the widow, her mother,' proposing co-operation, and by 'the vigour of the replies which they presently received were greatly consoled and comforted'; and they despatched 'friar edmond' to paris to bring home the count of saint-pol. and in this too they were successful, for although the duke, getting wind of it, had immediately written to his brother urging him not to come, friar edmond proved himself the better diplomatist, and on the th of september returned to louvain, bringing the young prince with him. shortly afterwards came ambassadors from the king of france and from the duke of burgundy with a mission 'to appease the strife which had arisen between duke john of brabant, on the one part, and madame the duchess and madame the widow, and the nobles and the good towns of brabant, on the other'; and, better still, a few days later came 'madame jaque herself and madame her mother,' and then, after much confabulation and much coming and going between brussels and louvain, a conference was arranged at vilvorde for sunday the th of september. thither, on the appointed day, came the allies from louvain, with 'madame jaque and my lord of saint-pol' at their head. but duke john did not come. hardly safe at brussels, where his friends had still the upper hand, he was far too wise to attend a meeting in a town where he knew his opponents were more numerous than his partisans. excusing himself on the ground of indisposition, he kept close house, and at nightfall on the morrow stealthily crept out into the darkness and slipped away. to cover his flight everard t'serclaes gave out that the duke was too ill to see anyone but a couple of trusty serving-men, who were in the secret, and who carried his supper into his bedchamber after his departure, as if he were still there, whereas in reality he had fled with the lord of ashe and four others, who led him by circuitous routes to bois-le-duc. [ ] these men seem to have been near kinsmen of nicholas de swaef. as soon as it was publicly known that john had left the city, the assembly at vilvorde, by the advice of the french ambassador, conferred the government on philip of saint-pol, who on the following day (october ), along with jacqueline, her mother and the estates, triumphantly entered brussels.[ ] [ ] _see_ de dynter. five months before the duchess of brabant had left her home, accompanied only by a humble serving-lad. as she wended her way through the muddy streets to her mother's lodging in the _rue de la montagne_ the few stragglers who recognised her had stood silent as she passed, in sympathy and respect at her humiliation; and now she returned in triumph at the head of a brilliant cavalcade of churchmen, and knights and burghers; and the people welcomed her with shouts of acclamation, and with trumpets and clashing bells. how different too was her position in the palace to what it had been in former days. the fears of her poor little husband had compelled him to leave it trembling, disguised, under cover of night, and by a back door, in more pitiable condition almost than she had been when she had fled from the coudenberg. and the man without heart and without soul, who, having robbed her of her husband's affection, thought it almost an honourable thing to stoop to the pettiness of depriving her ladies of their dinner, he, too, had gone the way of his master and his dupe, and of the corrupt crew whose pride and debauchery had in days of yore rendered her life intolerable, not one was left within the walls of the coudenberg. she was now in the midst of friends and attended by her own people. her will was law. she was sovereign, and, such was the chivalrous devotion of the men who had rescued and restored her, that in the ardour of their first enthusiasm they placed her interests before their own. at the solemn assembly which took place next day in the town hall the estates unanimously decided to forthwith equip an expedition to wrest from john the pitiless 'the possessions of the duchess which her husband had abandoned to him without her consent.' soon a great host was assembled at breda, hard by the cities it had been decided, in the first place, to take. knights from every lordship in brabant were there, and armed burghers from every town save bois-le-duc, and jacqueline herself was in the midst of them. on the th of october she was at the gates of heusden. the city surrendered without a blow, and the next day she was solemnly enthroned there as duchess of brabant. four days later she sat down before gertruidenberg. on saint martin's day the city went up in flames, and on the th of november, flushed with victory, she returned at the head of her troops to brussels. it was her last triumph. for a brief space her star had been in the ascendant, and now it was already beginning to wane. henceforth sorrow was to dog her heel, and ill-fortune to confront her at every turn. the estates were again sitting, sometimes in the coudenberg, sometimes in the town hall, but the prelates and knights and burghers assembled had other food for discussion than jacqueline's dutch affairs--the country was threatened with invasion, perhaps with civil war: john at bois-le-duc was hatching mischief. what particular form his mischief would take no man could tell, not even the duke himself, for he inclined sometimes to one scheme, sometimes to another. all that was certainly known was that he was endeavouring to recruit an army in the land between the meuse and the rhine, that men of adventure were flocking to his standard from the hope of obtaining loot, and that he had turned a deaf ear to the deputation which the regent had sent to bois-le-duc to entreat him to desist from his evil designs. at brussels amongst the patricians he was known to have a considerable following, though many of them dissembled their true sentiments. several of the aldermen were suspected of disaffection: at best they were but half-hearted patriots, and amman cluting was known to be the duke's man, and was divested of his office in consequence. winter was coming on, and the city was filled with distress, for at any moment the land might be plunged in the horrors of civil war, and business was at a standstill. all that could be done had been done: philip had issued a proclamation in which he declared that at the request of the estates he had undertaken the government during the absence of his brother, and the estates, in their turn, had addressed a letter to the nobles and the cities of brabant informing them of the motives which had inspired their action. there was nothing for it but to await the issue of events. but inaction to one of jacqueline's keen and impetuous nature was altogether impossible, and shortly after the failure of the regent's negotiations with john, she set out with madame the widow for valenciennes. the men of brabant were unable to help her; she must seek assistance elsewhere. philip of burgundy was impossible: he was playing his own game. the king of france was his puppet; there was nothing to be done with him. someone suggested england, and presently, unknown to her mother, she flitted across the channel, determined to enlist the sympathy of her distant kinsman, king henry v. better had she remained in brabant: if only she could have possessed her soul in patience she might have accomplished something. meanwhile at brussels and throughout brabant the air was thick with rumours. what would the morrow bring forth? all trade was at a standstill, it was the last month of the year and the empty stomachs of men without work were already beginning to shrink from the grip of winter. every honest burgher as he turned into his bed at night was firmly convinced that the tocsin would clang before dawn, and in the morning he was no less sure that something untoward would happen before sundown. for six weary weeks the good town of brussels was on tenterhooks, and then, on the th of january , she was basely betrayed into the hands of the enemy by her own magistrates. it was common knowledge that some of the patricians were disaffected, but no one imagined how far the evil had really spread until john appeared before the louvain gate with an army of germans. then the renegades hoisted their true colours and then it was known for the first time that no less than four of the patrician clans had cast in their lot with his; and though the remaining three were composed for the most part of good patriots, their representatives in the city council, flustered and dismayed at the situation which had thus been suddenly sprung on them, after some feeble show at resistance, yielded to their more energetic colleagues. these men had for weeks past been in correspondence with john, and had arranged all the details of the plot at a secret meeting held in the vroente a few nights before, and when the duke and his party arrived at tervueren early on the morning of the st of january, ex-amman cluting and three of the confederate aldermen were there to receive him. when john, as had been previously arranged, had re-invested cluting with his wand of office, the conspirators informed him that he would find no difficulty in entering the city by the porte de louvain, for alderman kegel was in command there and he would at once admit him; and having delivered their message they returned to brussels to make ready for his reception. what, then, was the surprise of the ducal party when presently they reached the appointed gate and found it shut! some of the more faint-hearted were for turning back, others for forcing an entrance, but that was found to be impossible. others again, not knowing what to do, eased their minds by cursing the lying burghers who had betrayed them. 'gentle knight,' crooned a hag, who had vainly asked for alms of the lord of heinsberg, loudest in fierce declamation, 'gentle knight, do not worry yourself about entering the city, but when once you are within consider well how best you may come out again.' he took little heed at the time, says de dynter, but later on he called to mind what the old woman had said. in reality amman cluting and his friends had not broken faith with john, but when they reached brussels they found that the news of his arrival at tervueren had preceded them and that the city was in a state of uproar. kegel had been removed from the porte de louvain, the regent had just ordered all the gates to be shut, and a meeting of the grand council was actually taking place in the town hall. thither, then, the conspirators turned their horses' heads, and their arrival in the council chamber was the signal for a stormy scene. at first the magistrates of the regent's faction hardened their hearts and stiffened their backs--no power on earth should persuade them to consent to the duke's return, but their opponents were many and blustering, and they were weak-kneed and few. presently they began to hesitate, and at last, when they accepted a compromise which was in reality a surrender, they flattered themselves that their firmness had saved the situation. the meeting had lasted the best part of the day, and darkness was falling on the good town of brussels when her aldermen, arrayed in robes of state, solemnly went forth to the great act of betrayal. [illustration: the town hall, brussels.] wending their way by the rue de la montagne, saint gudule's, and the road which skirted the northern side of the park--then a great wood well stocked with game and extending right up to the ramparts--they presently reached the gate outside which john had been kicking his heels, as de dynter says, for more than two hours, and in due course made known to him the result of their deliberations the duke, they said, was free to enter the city provided he would limit his escort to a hundred and twenty men, amongst whom there must be no foreigner or no public enemy of the state. john passed his word, the gates were thrown open, a hundred and twenty knights rode in, and then the command rang out for the rest to follow. some of the bystanders were for resistance, but the renegades succeeded in restraining them. quick as thought the whole army dashed up to the coudenberg, and presently the count of saint-pol rode quietly off to louvain. [illustration: old houses near saint gudule's.] next morning the duke went down to the town hall, where a great crowd of aldermen, councillors, deans of trade companies and other civic officials were expecting him. his policy, he told them, was one of general appeasement, and he would fain have their co-operation; but though no sign of dissent was made he was filled with misgiving. what if his brother philip should return with reinforcements? and presently he summoned the aldermen to the palace and demanded of them the course which in that event they would pursue. their answer was a politic one--if the duke distrusted them they were quite ready to hand him the keys of the city gates, but john would not hear of it. he was well assured, he said, of their loyalty. in reality the greatest source of danger was not from without but from within--in the growing discontent of the people at the greed and arrogance of 'these foreign _gens de guerre_,' who galloped through the streets with their swords drawn as if brussels were a conquered town, and who openly bragged in hostel and tavern that they would not go back to germany till they were all rich men, aye, and that they meant to have not only the goods, but the wives and the daughters of a host of wealthy citizens whom it was the duke's intention, so they averred, to presently hang. what wonder then, when this state of things had been going on for the best part of a week, that a serving-maid, who perceived a lighted candle in the window of a certain foreign knight at an hour when all honest men should be a-bed, clean lost her wits, and ran up screaming to call her master; or that he, good man, when he had plucked up his courage to peer in at the casement, and with his own eyes had seen the knight arming, ran off at the top of his speed to tell the magistrates that a plot was on foot to murder all the burghers; or that they, no less scared than he, put a double guard at the city gates; or that a great host of craftsmen soon appeared in the grand' place armed and angry: and perhaps too they had reason. de dynter is by no means sure that the alleged plot was altogether imaginary. 'as to the aforesaid conspiracy,' he says, 'it was found from information received, that the germans that night went to bed in their armour, and hence the _communaulté_ held that the fact was sufficiently proven; but they, the germans, on the other hand, denied all knowledge of it, alleging that they had only armed, when they heard the roar of the mob, not knowing what might be going to happen; and i, for my part, have not been able to discover the truth of the matter, and hence i can only note down what each party said.' several of john's partisans, who afterwards fell into the hands of the regent, not only acknowledged, albeit under torture, that a massacre had been in contemplation, but divulged its object, adding names and details: some fifteen hundred german knights, with heinsberg and amman cluting at their head, were to rise at a given signal--the sounding of the bell of _saint jacques sur coudenberg_, seize the town hall, and, having thus made themselves masters of the city, arrest all the popular leaders and put them to death. the object being to break up philip's party at brussels before he had time to return with the reinforcements which he had gone to seek at louvain. be this as it may, so firmly convinced were the craftsmen that some great catastrophe was impending that they all turned out in the middle of monday night, as we have seen, determined, if need be, to sell their lives dearly. so fierce and so threatening was their attitude, and so alarming were the rumours which presently reached the palace, that about eleven o'clock duke john, who was not without courage in moments of emergency, determined to go forth himself and do what he could to calm the storm, but his efforts were met with shouts of derision; as he rode round the market from guild to guild, begging the rioters to go home to bed, and assuring them they had no cause for fear, 'go home to bed yourself,' they cried, 'and sleep well; your own fears are groundless, not one of us would harm a hair of your head,' and they probably spoke the truth, for though his subjects despised him and detested his methods of government, john himself was not personally unpopular. indeed, the people regarded him rather with pity than hatred, for, after all, he was but a poor little puppet, the men who pulled the strings were alone to blame. they were soon to have their reward, but not to-night: it was not until wednesday morning that a great mob of armed craftsmen came surging up to the palace. john faced them. 'why this tumult? what did it mean?' 'heinsberg, and they meant to have him.' and soon heinsberg was led forth, for there was no denying them, and, oh! the irony of it, by his fellow-conspirator, cluting. it was the amman's last official act: two days later he was himself arrested, and afterwards endured, as we shall see, a worse fate than the man whom he now handed over to the aldermen, who, like their chief, had changed sides, to be dragged in chains to prison. before noon every german in brussels was taken: the knights fettered and cast into gaol, their followers stripped and with only a few rags to cover them turned loose into the winter fields, and towards dusk the cheering of the mob and the bells from a hundred steeples announced philip's arrival with a great army of nobles from the countryside, and of burghers from louvain and antwerp. that night the craftsmen of brussels were in a wild frenzy of gladness--not only on account of their triumph, but because they knew that the wine for which they had so long thirsted, the glorious wine of liberty, would soon be gurgling down their throats; the fragrance of its bouquet already filled their nostrils and they were drunk in anticipation. philip had hailed them as the saviours of brabant, and he would never refuse to strong men flushed with victory the wages they had justly earned. let patricians do what they would, self-government was now assured to them. as a matter of fact, it was not in the power of the patricians, split up as they were into hostile factions, to offer opposition to anyone. the clans which had triumphed and which, had they been left to their own resources, would have been utterly wiped out, were bound hand and foot to the plebeian allies who had rescued them and given them the victory. their vanquished opponents, utterly cowed, were considering only how best they might escape the consequences of their indiscretion. from these men, then, there was nothing to fear. on the night of philip's coming some of the most deeply implicated, amongst them alderman kegel and old william of assche, desperate in the belief that if they remained in brussels their doom was fixed, taking their lives in their hands sallied forth boldly into the streets, and passing through the crowd, unnoticed in the darkness and confusion, succeeded in gaining the open country and a place of refuge till the storm had passed. the rest, trembling behind barred doors and windows, expected each moment to be dragged forth and torn in pieces by an infuriated mob--phantom peril, offspring of their conscious guilt. the city, given over to rejoicing, was content to leave vengeance in philip's hands, and philip, good man, wearied out with the day's travail, had retired to bed. it was not until the morrow, after dinner, that he proceeded with a small escort to the coudenberg and put all, or nearly all, of the members of the ducal household under arrest. the greater number, however, were set at liberty the same day, though none of them were reinstated in office. indeed, in dealing not only with these men, but with the burghers who had opposed him, philip certainly acted with singular moderation. his policy seems to have been to strike at the leaders only, and that, with no undue harshness, and to suffer the small fry to go scot-free. though the number of persons concerned in one or other of the recent conspiracies must have been considerable, probably not less than a thousand, some twenty only were deemed worthy of punishment, notable burghers all of them or nobles from the countryside. fourteen who had been duly tried, and under torture had acknowledged their guilt, were sentenced to imprisonment for life in fortresses outside the city. a direct violation this of one of the most cherished privileges of citizenship, but doubtless inspired out of consideration for the personal safety of the prisoners, who would have run no small risk of being lynched if they had been detained in brussels. some three or four who had fled from justice were condemned in default to lifelong exile and to the forfeiture of their estates. only two were brought to the block, ex-amman cluting and one of his sergeants. they were taken on the thursday night, and their end came with tragic speed. 'on saturday morning,' says de dynter, who was perhaps an eye-witness of the scene he describes, 'the whole community being assembled in the market-place under arms, jan cluetinck and arnulph vander hove were led bound into the midst, and when gerard vander zype, who ruled the regent, coming forth from the town hall, with a loud voice had cried out, "now we are going to begin," amman diedeghem gave the signal, and straightway and without any interval their heads were struck off.' cluting had not only taken an active part in the betrayal of the city on the st of january, but he was said to have been a prime mover in the alleged german conspiracy to murder the leaders of the popular party; and seeing that philip and his barons were firmly convinced of the reality of the plot and that his guilt was proven, they could hardly have done otherwise than condemn him to death. in all probability vander hove died for aiding and abetting his chief. de dynter, however, does not tell us for what crime he suffered: he contents himself with simply recording the fact of his execution. one cannot help being astonished at the moderation which the working population of brussels at this time showed. the craftsmen were now masters of the city, they were seconded by a large number of the patricians themselves, and in all probability no demand which they had chosen to make would have been refused them. yet, unlike their fellows of bruges and ghent, who had long since excluded their patricians as such from all share in municipal government, so that they could only take part in civic affairs by enrolling themselves in one or other of the trade companies, the craftsmen of brussels were content with a half share in the government of the city. all the old institutions were preserved, but they were enlarged so as to admit the plebeian element, or new institutions were created alongside of them. so complicated did the municipal machinery now become, that any detailed account of it is impossible within the limits of this volume; suffice it to say, that at the head of the administration were two burgomasters, the first a patrician and the second a plebeian, the patrician burgomaster being chosen by the craftsmen from a list of three names presented to them annually by the incoming aldermen, who as heretofore were all patricians, and the plebeian burgomaster being chosen by the aldermen from a list of three names presented to them by the trade companies. these officers were held to be the representatives _par excellence_ of the city, its guardians and supreme chiefs, and they were invested with judicial powers to settle all trade disputes, in which the matter at issue did not exceed a _demi livre vieux gros._ the magistracy proper, as of yore, consisted of a college of aldermen of seven members and two patrician treasurers. no change was made in the manner of their appointment, but it was ordained that henceforth these offices should only be conferred on patricians resident in brussels, and such as were not in the employ of the duke or of any great noble, because, as the charter quaintly explains, such have been found by experience to be _peu profitables._ added to the magistracy were eight plebeian members, viz., six councillors and two treasurers. these were selected by the aldermen from a triple list presented to them by the trade companies. thus the magistracy consisted of seventeen members, of whom nine were patricians and eight plebeians. also provision was made for a referendum to the people. when in the opinion of the burgomasters and the plebeian councillors such a course was desirable, they were competent to convoke the juries of the trade companies, but before doing so they were bound to advise the aldermen. then when they had communicated to the craftsmen the opinion of the magistracy on the matter in hand they demanded their decision, and that decision seems to have been final. thus, though the patricians had a majority of one in the town council, the last word practically lay with the people in all grave matters. the articles of the new charter were agreed upon in a great assembly of barons and of deputies of the towns of brussels, antwerp and louvain, on thursday the th of february . the charter itself was signed and sealed by the regent on the following tuesday (february ), and its provisions were immediately put into execution. until now the proletariat of brussels had willingly acquiesced in the wise and moderate policy of the regent and his advisers. no constraint had been placed on the personal liberty of duke john; the three aldermen of the popular party, in spite of their lamentable weakness in the matter of the great betrayal, had not been deprived of office. of the many who were undoubtedly guilty, only a comparatively small number had been put on trial, and the light punishments meted out to them might well have called forth the resentment of those who had suffered from their crimes; and yet the working population had acquiesced in all these things, and when they had at length received their charter of enfranchisement the craftsmen were content to lay down their arms; but the mildness and confidence of these men was soon to give place to cruel suspicion and an insatiable hunger for vengeance. shortly after jacqueline's flight in the summer of some of duke john's most intimate friends had banded together in a secret and lifelong league to support the throne, and generally to defend the duke against the machinations of his enemies. this at least was the ostensible object of the league, but there is little doubt that the action of its members, all of whom were partisans of the straetens, was inspired less by love of john than by hatred of the brothers heetvelde. the matter was kept so quiet that none of the duke's opponents had any inkling of it until the close of march , when gerard vander straeten, provost of saint jacques sur coudenberg, and one of the greatest churchmen in brabant, was arrested, on suspicion seemingly, of being concerned in the german plot, of which hendric van heetvelde, rumour had it, was to have been the first victim. whatever the cause of his arrest may have been, the consequences of it were tremendous. his house was searched, and there in his chamber were found mysterious papers relating to the secret league, with the names of the members in their own handwriting, and with their signets affixed, and also a letter of approval signed and sealed by duke john himself. the men of brussels were bewildered and dismayed. what did it all mean? but when the _i_'s were dotted and the _t_'s were crossed by the burghers imprisoned without the walls, constrained thereto by torture--for these miscreants were all implicated--dismay became frenzy, and bewilderment a mighty voice compelling retribution. again the craftsmen flew to arms, again they surged into the market-place, and again, but not until three days had passed, myn here vander zype appeared in the tribune of proclamation. 'children,' he cried, 'be of good heart, your prayer is granted,' and presently the sergeants led in 'gedolphus of coudenberg, willem pipenpoy and lord everard t'serclaes, knight,'--conspirators, all of them, on their own showing; for had they not set their hands and seals to the fatal roll in vander straeten's chamber? the name of t'serclaes was second on the list, and he was probably the originator of the movement--evilest of john's evil counsellors, unworthy offspring of a noble stock, and yet, for his father's sake, they might have spared him; but no voice was raised on his behalf, and his head was struck off with the rest. of vander straeten's ultimate fate, de dynter, who tells the story, says nothing, but his name in itself was enough to damn him. if philip and his council had been left to their own devices, these men's lives would doubtless have been spared. it was only under compulsion that they at last yielded to the clamour of the mob, and if they had held out longer, not even the influence of vander zype, who, as de dynter reiterates again and again, 'ruled the regent and swayed the people,' would have availed to save the rest of the leaguers. as it was, he was able to induce the craftsmen to lay down their arms and to acquiesce, for the moment, in no further proceedings being taken against them. shortly afterwards duke john formally approved of all that the estates and the regent had done, confirmed the new charter, and solemnly promised that no man should ever be molested for anything that had taken place in the course of the revolution. 'whereat,' says de dynter, 'the common folk were so well pleased that those in authority, having pity on the burghers imprisoned without the walls, were emboldened to mitigate the rigour of their confinement.' at louvain they were even permitted to receive their friends and to eat and drink with them. naturally they took heart. some of them began to dream of pardon, and even, over their wine-cups, to utter threats of vengeance, which of course reached the ears of the craftsmen of brussels, and of course bred uproar. 'these blusterers must be led to the block; that was the only way to deal with them. public safety demanded it.' in vain vander zype urged that it were the grossest injustice to increase the punishment of men who had been already tried and sentenced; the insurgents answered that the sum of their infamy was not then known, and that, if this boon were not granted, they would have out the germans and cut their throats. that was enough. sigismund was already pressing for his subjects' release, and the regent knew that if any evil should befall them he would have to make ready for battle. on saturday, then, the th of june , the prisoners were led in chains to brussels, and before sundown they were dead men. on the morrow, when gerard vander zype rode through the grand' place along with the bride to whom he had just plighted his troth in the old church of saint nicholas, the pavement was still red with their blood, and they were all of them his own kinsmen--gruesome prelude this to the banquet of which the newly married couple were about to partake in the ducal palace. had jeanne vander zype no foreboding of the horrible doom in store for her husband? and if so, did her heaving bosom gleam with those priceless jewels, the wedding gift with which heinsberg hoped, not vainly, to purchase his redemption? of these things de dynter says nothing, but we know that, thanks to gerard's good offices, the german knights were released shortly after his marriage, and that the craftsmen, mollified by the blood which he had shed, offered no resistance; and we know, too, that the man who had sacrificed his kinsfolk to avert war was made to suffer for it in his own person, but not yet. one chronicler asserts that duke john himself was present at the executions of the th of june; but if this had been the case, de dynter would have almost certainly mentioned it; and, moreover, as wauters justly observes, the story is a most improbable one: john was so grieved at the death of his friends that he left brussels immediately after the executions, perhaps even before they had taken place, and refused to return to the coudenberg for two years. things being now set in order, the councillors who had led john astray being all in exile or dead, and john himself having solemnly engaged to rule henceforth according to law, the estates were for recalling him and reinvesting him with the government of his domains; but philip, supported by the men of brussels, was loth to lay down authority, and for a time it seemed as if there would be trouble. at last, however, when all the confiscated estates of john's favourites had been conferred on him by way of _solatium,_ and a large cash payment to cover expenses out of pocket, he yielded, and on november , , duke john came back to brussels. some turbulent spirits there were who, angered at the duke's refusal to retain the services of the lord of bigard, whom the magistrates had appointed captain of the city, on the ground that as he, john, had now returned he would be able in future to perform the duties incumbent on that office himself, broke out into riot, but the vast majority of the craftsmen were little inclined to risk their new-born liberty in the fortunes of a fresh revolution. philip's influence was now on the side of the authorities, the disturbance was soon quelled, and the lord of bigard having submitted to the duke, by order of the city magistrates was relieved of his office. when philip of saint-pol resigned the regency, duke john, compelled thereto, no doubt, by his brother, had named gerard vander zype controller-general of finance and chief steward of his household--the most honourable and lucrative appointment in his gift. at first the duke professed himself well pleased with vander zype's management, but presently he began to complain of his unconscionable parsimony: even his own board, he alleged, was insufficiently furnished, and he knew there was no lack of funds. perhaps there was another cause for john's rancour, perhaps in his heart he resented the violence which his steward had done to so many of his friends. still there was no open rupture, but the duke's sentiments were well known, it was whispered abroad that vander zype's removal, by whatever means, would be welcome to him, and this is what happened. on the morning of the rd of april gerard vander zype rode out to tervueren, where the duke was at this time sojourning. having transacted the business which called him there--what it was de dynter does not say--he set out on the homeward journey early in the afternoon. the road from tervueren to brussels led, as it still does, through the forest of soignes, in those days a much more wild and desolate tract of country than it is now. when he had accomplished half of his journey and was nearing stockel, on the outskirts of the wood, he descried in the distance a horse-man riding furiously towards him. it was 'messire jehan blondeel, who hated him with a perfect hatred.' 'death, death!' cried the knight as he hurled himself against his foe, and, dragging him from his saddle, plunged his sword into his heart. vander zype was not unattended, but his servants, probably in blondeel's pay, took to their heels at the first sign of danger, and the body of the great patriot was left alone by the wayside all night. in the morning it was found by some country folk and carried to brussels, and presently, by order of philip, cut to the quick at the death of his friend, laid to rest in the church of saint jacques sur coudenberg with solemn dirge and requiem. [illustration] chapter xiv _the trials of jacqueline_ the enemies of duke john of brabant were disappearing one by one. the bitterest opponent of all, the injured and insulted wife, whose heritage he had yielded to her ruthless competitor, and whose honour he had trampled in the dust, about this time, too, endured the first of that long series of rebuffs which in the end crushed her. shortly after her flight to england jacqueline had lodged an appeal to the holy see for the dissolution of her marriage, on the ground that at the time she pledged her troth she was not a free agent. whilst the case was still pending she had bestowed her hand on humphrey duke of gloucester, and towards the close of the year she appeared in hainault with the man whom she now called her husband and six thousand english archers. the nobles almost to a man flocked to her standard, every town in the county save hal acknowledged gloucester as their lawful prince, even the governor of hainault cast off his allegiance to john and swore fealty to his rival. but jacqueline's former friends in brabant regarded her new marriage from another point of view. the men of brabant had dreamed that their triumph would be hers; they flattered themselves that they would have been able to reconcile the ill-matched pair. they had looked forward to the birth of a son destined to unite under one sceptre his father's and his mother's domains, and they now turned their swords, not against the outraged woman whose wrongs they had sworn to avenge, and whose dignity, as the consort of their sovereign, they were bound in honour as loyal subjects to uphold, but against the wanton, whose delirious passion had shattered their hopes. and there were others, too, who were angered at the course which jacqueline had seen fit to pursue:--john the pitiless, who, opportunely dying by poison, it was said, shortly after her arrival, was unable to vent his spleen, and philippe l'asseuré, to whom john had bequeathed his claims, and who, in order to safeguard his interests as heir-presumptive to jacqueline's dominions, effectually showed his displeasure by joining hands with her former husband. the men of hainault and their english allies were unable to withstand the united strength of brabant and burgundy. city after city and fortress after fortress surrendered or went up in flames. when, early in march , braine-le-comte was taken, gloucester withdrew to england to collect fresh forces, and before he had had time to return his last stronghold was in the hands of his opponents, and his wife a prisoner in ghent. de dynter relates a strange delusion on the part of the english, which led to the surrender of braine-le-comte during the opening days of the campaign, and that, in spite of the fact that the city was strongly fortified and well stored with supplies. they had descried, they said, from the ramparts, amongst the knights of brabant, their patron, saint george; his arms were displayed on his ensign, and he was seated on his traditional white charger. at sight of the apparition their hearts had shrivelled, and no strength was left in their bodies; it was a sure sign from heaven that they were favouring an unrighteous cause. 'now, amongst our knights,' explains de dynter, 'was myn here daniel van bouchout, the horse he bestrode was a white one, and his family arms exactly resemble the arms of _monseigneur saint georges_.' burghers from every commune in brabant, save bois-le-duc, took part in the siege of braine, and when all was over and the loot divided the great town bell was allotted to the men of lierre. they carried it in triumph to their native city, where it still hangs in the tower adjoining the town hall.[ ] [ ] _see_ page . of the events which led to the surrender of mons and to her own imprisonment, jacqueline herself gives a curious account in a letter which she dispatched to gloucester early in july , and shortly before the final catastrophe. mons had been besieged since the middle of may by duke john of brabant in person, and the city had been reduced to such straits that the burghers themselves had opened negotiations with the enemy unknown to jacqueline, who was daily expecting reinforcements from england and had obstinately refused to treat. early in june conditions of surrender were agreed upon, which, though sufficiently favourable to the burghers, provided that jacqueline should undertake to break off all relations with gloucester and acknowledge her former husband as legitimate sovereign of her domains until such time as the pope should pronounce judgment on her appeal. to these terms she refused to consent, and the city was in consequence on the verge of rebellion. in vain she had gone down to the town hall (june ) and made a personal appeal to the honour and chivalry of the burghers. 'not only did they refuse to help me,' runs the letter from which the above facts are culled, 'but they said that my knights were doing their utmost to compass their destruction, and then, in spite of me, took sergeant macquaert and cut off his head, and put no less than two hundred and fifty of your most devoted followers under arrest, and at last told me plainly that if i any longer refused to make peace they would themselves deliver me into the hands of my cousin of brabant. i have only eight days' delay and then they will send me to flanders, grievous affliction, and i shall never see you again unless you make speed to save me, my only hope, my sole and sovereign joy. all that i suffer is for love of you; for god's sake, then, have pity on your sorrowing creature if you would not bring about her ruin. i have some hope that you will help me, for never have i done aught to offend you, nor will i as long as i live, but on the contrary i am ready to die for love of you and of your person, so greatly doth your noble domination delight me, by my faith, most redoubted lord and prince. for the love of god and of my lord saint george, consider then my wretched plight, this you have not yet done and methinks you have clean forgotten me. inform me of your good pleasure and i will do it with all my heart, as the blessed son of god doth know right well. may he grant you a good and a long life and give me the joy of seeing you. written in the false and traitorous town of mons on the th day of july . your grieving and devoted handmaid, suffering great pain by your commandment.--your handmaid, 'jacqueline.' this letter was intercepted _en route_ and handed to philip of burgundy, but had it reached gloucester it would probably not have touched him. if he indeed loved jacqueline, she was not the sole mistress of his heart; her rival, eleanor cobham, had accompanied him to hainault and returned with him to england, and doubtless the society of this lady was some consolation for the grief which, as vinchant informs us, he had publicly displayed at parting with the woman he called his wife. as for the hapless jacqueline, she accepted the terms of surrender arranged on the st of june, and was presently conducted to philip's palace at ghent, where she was virtually a prisoner. she recognised john of brabant as rightful sovereign of her domains until such time as the pope should pronounce judgment on her appeal: john, in his turn, undertook to provide for her maintenance, and in accordance with the terms of the treaty appointed philip of burgundy regent of hainault and holland. jacqueline, however, was not yet at the end of her adventures. in holland the hoeks[ ] were still devoted to her, a plan was contrived for her deliverance, and presently it was successfully carried out. vinchant tells us how it all happened. [ ] or feudal party, as distinguished from the kabiljauws or town party, broadly speaking. 'il n'est guère plus aisé' says pirenne (vol. ii. p. ), 'de comprendre l'acharnement qu'elles manifestèrent l'une contre l'autre pendant quatre-vingts ans, ( - ) que de découvrir l'origine des appellations par quoi elles se désignèrent. s'il est vrai que les kabiljauws représentèrent surtout la politique urbaine et les intérêts de la bourgeoisie marchande, il ne l'est pas moins qu'ils ne les représentèrent pas uniquement. on trouve parmi eux de nombreux barons, de même que l'on constate dans le parti des hoeks, plus spécialement nobiliaire, la présence de plusieurs villes. 'one evening early in october two of her most trusty and loyal friends, dirk merwede and arnulph spyerink, arrived in the city of ghent, and having left their horses saddled and bridled in a certain place, went to visit their lady, bringing with them, done up in a bundle, a suit of male attire, which she, whilst her people were at supper, hastily put on, and thus disguised departed with the aforesaid knights without being recognised by any of her guards, and riding hard all night never halted till she reached wondelghem, and from thence she went to the castle of the lord of vianen, who received her gladly, and having arrayed her in some of his wife's garments led her to schoonhaven, where all the town was marvellously glad at her coming. next day she journeyed to gouda, from thence to oudenwater ... and wherever she went she was welcomed, caressed and entreated as lady and countess of holland--always accompanied by the lord of vianen, whom she named her commander-in-chief.' for three years this indomitable princess was able to defy her opponents, but the issue of the contest was from the first a foregone conclusion. philip was able to pour into holland the _élite_ of his soldiery, 'tous exercités,' as monstrellet says, 'et excités en armes et faits de guerre.' he had, too, the support, of the duke of gelderland and of course of john of brabant, and in holland itself the church, the burghers, the great mass of the industrial population, were all in his favour. what chance had jacqueline of victory in face of such odds? at first, indeed, she had some help from gloucester, who, in spite of his brother of bedford, philip's friend, made shift to send her three thousand archers, but on the th of january , the pope affirmed the validity of jacqueline's former marriage, and gloucester, constrained to sever his connection with the woman who had suffered so much for his sake, made her cup yet more bitter by espousing her rival, eleanor cobham, and by withdrawing his troops from holland. henceforth she stood alone at the head of her loyal hoeks. inspired by her heroic courage, her indomitable will and the glamour of her misfortunes and her beauty, these stalwart dutch knights were able to prolong the unequal contest for nearly three years, and then at last she was constrained to own herself vanquished. on the rd of july , by the treaty of delft, she acknowledged philip as regent of her domains, delivered into his hands all her strongholds and solemnly engaged not to marry again without his consent, for jacqueline was now a widow--on the th of april, , duke john of brabant had gone the way of all flesh. this last condition she did not scruple to break, and vinchant tells us why. 'after four years had passed,' he says, 'in good peace and concord between madame jacqueline, countess of holland, and duke philip of burgundy, it so happened that madame marguerite, the countess dowager, sent her by certain gentlemen a present of some beautiful jewels and several good horses; whereat countess jacqueline, finding herself without cash, having expended all her funds on the late war, and having nothing to bestow by way of gratuity on her mother's people, sent secretly to the vicomte de montform, who had formerly been her lieutenant in holland, begging him to lend her the wherewithal to preserve her reputation in the eyes of the aforesaid gentlemen by bestowing on each of them, according to his rank, some token of her gratitude; but the vicomte excused himself, saying that he had expended all his means in her service, and the aforesaid lady, much perplexed, sent to another of her friends and was treated by him in like manner. whereat she was so grieved that she withdrew to her chamber weeping, and one of her servants, guillaume de bye, seeing his lady thus distressed, took pity on her and said, "madame, an it please you, i will go to messire franche de borselle, lieutenant of zeeland, and explain to him your present straits, and i am not without hope that some good will come of it?" "what!" says she, _"toute esplourée_, he is our foe and has never received any kindness from us." "yet," says guillaume, "an it please madame, _je l'esprouveray par quelque moyen que ce soit_." "i fear," quoth the countess, "we shall gain nothing by it, albeit go, and say i will soon repay the debt." and guillaume went, _de bonne grace_, and presently the lord of borselle, counting out the money, "go tell my lady that not this time only, but always throughout my life, she may dispose of me and mine according to her good pleasure." wherefore madame jacqueline held him in high esteem and conceived so great an affection for him that she desired to give him her hand, which she afterwards did clandestinely in her own chamber.' but for all that philip got wind of it and obtained possession of the persons of the newly-married couple, and jacqueline, constrained to choose between the death of her husband and the loss of her crown--for the treaty of delft conserved to her the nominal sovereignty of her domains--preferred the latter alternative. on the th of april philip the good exchanged his title of regent for that of count, and some three years later (april , ), his victim died of despair and consumption at the old castle of teylingen, hard by leyden. jacqueline left no issue and her cousin of burgundy thus became the legitimate lord of her domains. six years before he had received the heritage of duke philip of brabant, who had died most opportunely on the eve of his intended marriage (august , ). rumour had said poison; the physicians, a sudden chill; and the man who inherited his patrimony, that fortune was invariably kind to him. chapter xv _buildings and builders--romanesque architecture_ it was not till the days of charlemagne that art was born in the low country, and charlemagne may be not inaptly said to have been its progenitor. when that monarch planted the outposts of christian europe on the banks of the elbe he made the low country--a land then of marsh and wood, whose inhabitants had hitherto lived apart, forgotten by the rest of the world, on the edge, so to speak, of civilisation--the central province of his dominions, and, as such, it in due course became the centre of contemporary culture: the common intellectual mart of the teutonic regions of the east and the north, the latin provinces of the west and the south, of ireland, of england, and of the land of the scot. the bishops, satraps, scholars, merchants, courtiers, courtesans who flocked to aix-la-chapelle from all parts of europe, all of them passed through the low country and were constrained to sojourn for rest and refreshment in the only hostelries which the land possessed--the convents and monasteries sparsely scattered amid its forests and fens. the traffic on the old roman road across the charbonnière was now greater than it had ever been before; the meuse and the scheldt for the first time became highways along which were towed huge barges heavily laden with foodstuffs for the provisionment of the court, and thus, as pirenne has it, 'on this soil, formed by the alluvial deposit of french and german streams, there gradually sprang up a civilisation of like nature with the soil itself, a civilisation made up of divers elements--latin, german, french, in a word, a civilisation not so much national in character as european.' nor was it only thus indirectly that charlemagne promoted the civilisation of the people of the netherlands. the rapid progress which was at this time made in humanising these rugged folk was in large measure due to the emperor's personal initiative: he brought artists from england, italy, constantinople, to decorate his palaces at aix and nimègue, he established a school of art attached to the court, he ordained that the churches should be adorned with mural paintings, and named inspectors to watch over the work and see that his orders were strictly carried out, and, most important of all, he charged himself with the task of providing foreign teachers for the novices of the few religious houses which at this time were established in the land, and where the culture of art and letters seems to have fallen wholly into disrepute. the scholars to whom the emperor confided this task were among the most famous of their day. men like his secretary and biographer, eginhard--the architect of the dome of aix-la-chapelle--whom he set over the twin abbeys of saint peter and saint bavon at ghent; and arnon, one of the most brilliant disciples of alcuin, who became abbot of elnone by tournai; and the italian mechanician georgius, who taught at saint-sauve, by valenciennes; and the great irish scholar sedulius, who later on ( - ) lectured in the frescoed hall of bishop hartgar's new palace at liége. nor was this policy unprofitable. a spark was enkindled which soon became a burning and a shining light. clerks began to polish their rusty latin, monks to busy themselves with history, in writing the lives of local saints, and by erecting in their honour temples not unworthy of the patrons to whom they were dedicated. cloistered women, too, devoted their leisure hours to art: they adorned their refectories and chapels with frescoes, and their choir-books with exquisite miniatures and capitals cunningly devised, and, for the service of the altar, made marvellous vestures of gold, wrought about with divers colours. a specimen of their illumination has come down to us: in the sacristy of the old church at maeseyck there is a copy of the gospels, painted by two sisters, saint harlinda and saint renilda, who, about this time, ruled over the great abbey of aldeneyck, on the outskirts of the town. this is the most ancient piece of miniature work in belgium. in a word, the ignorance and grossness which had so long disfigured the church in the netherlands completely disappeared, the soil teemed with religious houses, each of which was an active centre of literary and artistic life, and there was soon no more flourishing province in christendom than the land between the rhine and the sea. but the glory of it all was short-lived: after the danish terror there was nothing left of it but a memory. unless the subterranean church of saint guy at anderlecht, as some maintain, be of this period, in brabant, at least, no vestige remains of carlovingian architecture. for more than sixty years thick darkness enveloped the land. isolated efforts, indeed, there were: the monks of lobbe maintained an obscure school; bishop stephen at liége, and, at utrecht, bishops radbod and balderic, did what they could, in the midst of the barbarism and anarchy of the times, to keep alive the lamp of learning; but it was not until , when the emperor otho placed the ducal crown of lotharingia on the head of his brother bruno, that there was anything like an approach to a general renaissance movement. under saint bruno's firm and gentle rule discipline was re-established. art and literature followed in its wake. everachar the saxon, whom he named to the see of liége in , was the founder, or at least the restorer, of the cathedral school there--a school which was renowned almost from its origin, and which, under his successor notger, became one of the chief centres of learning in the west. the masters of liége lectured in all parts of the empire--at mainz, at ratisbonne, at brescia, and even penetrated into france; and students from all parts of europe flocked to drink in knowledge in the famous school of saint lambert. the literary and artistic movement inaugurated by saint bruno and the imperial bishops was no doubt accentuated by the monastic revival promoted about the same date by gerard of brogne. great cathedrals and abbey churches now sprang up in rapid succession, cloisters were everywhere enlarged or rebuilt, bishops' palaces were adorned with sculpture and painting, and the little edifices of wood, which on the countryside had hitherto done duty for parish churches, were replaced by more substantial buildings of stone or brick. german in origin for the most part, it was naturally to german architects that the bishops of lotharingia entrusted their building operations. thus the style in vogue in the valley of the rhine spread rapidly towards the west. with the architects came artisans of all sorts--sculptors, hewers of stone, painters, woodcarvers, founders of copper and of bronze. these foreigners founded schools in the country, a host of apprentices joined them, who made such progress in their craft that soon they were able to compete with their masters. thus was there gradually formed a native school of architects and artists, of whose talent and technical skill the remnants of their work which have come down to us bear witness; and we know that in their own day their fame was so great that abbot suger had recourse to their aid for the work which at this time he was engaged upon in the abbey of saint-denis. they did not, however, at first form a new style. for something like two hundred years they were content to walk in the paths which their german masters had traced for them. not only in architecture, but in painting, in sculpture, in wood-carving, in metal work, in embroidery, the school of the meuse, as m. pirenne aptly puts it, was the legitimate daughter of the school of the rhine. indeed, as long as the church in the low country remained imperial, german traditions prevailed. even the main body of the cathedral at tournai, with its dome and its turreted apsidal transepts, which was only commenced in , is distinctively german in character, and so, too, was the cathedral at cambrai,[ ] designed on similar lines, and this is all the more remarkable from the fact that it was not completed till nearly a hundred and fifty years later--some seventy years, that is, after the episcopate of walcher, the last of the imperial bishops of this diocese. [ ] this cathedral no longer exists. it was destroyed by the revolutionists in . the church of saint nicholas of the buildings in brussels and its immediate neighbourhood, which date from this period ( - ), but few remain. indeed, in the city itself there are only fragments. foremost among the monuments which contain them note the parish church of saint nicholas in the rue au beurre, one of the oldest and perhaps the most interesting of the time-honoured sanctuaries of brussels. the date of its foundation is not known, but it cannot be later, and may be considerably earlier, than the close of the ten hundreds. it is one of those old buildings which, by reason of their great age and thrilling memories, have attained individuality and almost become living things--a stalwart veteran who in the course of a long and honourable career has manfully endured an unwonted share of the trials and vicissitudes of life. it has gained many scars in wrestling with time and the elements, more in its conflict with man. it has been cast down and renewed, enlarged and curtailed, defaced and embellished, polluted and blessed over and over again; and though for the last fifty years it has been constantly threatened by municipal blockheads with total destruction, it still towers amid the nest of habitations which cluster round its walls and cling on to its buttresses, a picturesque and venerable pile in spite of its mutilations--not the least pleasing of the rare landmarks of old-world brussels. [illustration: the old church of saint nicholas, rue au beurre.] it is not, however, its intrinsic beauty which renders this church so fascinating. it possesses in common with many ancient things, not only buildings, but often trees, pictures, furniture, and notably jewellery, another attribute: there is about it a certain subtle influence which at once lays hold of the spectator and convinces him that it has a story. it has, and a thrilling one which, if it were written, would fill volumes and keep the reader spellbound from the opening words of the first sentence to the end of the last page. this church, dedicated to saint nicholas, patron saint of burghers and merchants, and situated on the fringe of the great market, hard by their town hall and guild-houses, has been, from time immemorial, the distinctive church of the bourgeoisie, in the same way that saint jacques sur coudenberg has always been the distinctive church of the court. its life is bound up with the life of the city. it is the cradle of its liberties. its hopes, its struggles, its victories, its defeats are intimately associated with it. in this church the city fathers were wont to assemble in the early days when they had no town hall. its steeple was the town belfry--we say advisedly _was_, for it exists no more--home of the 'work-clock,' which every morning called the craftsman to his toil and in the evening sounded his release; and of the shrill tocsin, which in days of terror summoned him to arms, and when he had triumphed shouted victory. here, too, in a lower storey, was the archive chamber where were laid up the records and the title-deeds--the charters which the town had bought at such great cost of blood and gold. thrice burnt down and thrice rebuilt, until the close of the seventeen hundreds, this ancient tower was the pride and the glory of the men of brussels, who regarded it as the outward and visible sign of their privileges as citizens and their rights as men. nor is this all, the church of saint nicholas is possessed of a mysterious power of attraction. why men should single out this particular church in preference to all others is a question hard to answer. there is no ostensible reason for it: it is not the shrine of some great and popular saint, no famous relics are treasured here, nor miraculous image or picture. they are drawn to it in spite of themselves. wherefore, who shall say? enter when you will, it is never without worshippers, and what a motley throng they are! of course that sex which the breviary so quaintly and aptly styles devout is the most in evidence. women in shoals are there--women of every age and every complexion, all sorts and conditions of women: from the _grande dame_ of ancient date, demure, aloof, dowdy, who, to her very rosary beads, is invested with an air of distinction, to the market-woman with her milk cans or her basket of fresh vegetables; from the fashion plate of the _demi monde_, perfumed and painted, to the snuffy crone in foul rags, who in the same breath asks an alms and tells her chaplet. and the men, if there be fewer of them, are no less heterogeneous--that sleek, smug-faced tradesman is trying a deal with saint anthony, he has made him an offering and promised more if only he will promote his undertakings; the youth in glorious apparel is commending, perhaps, to saint joseph an affair of the heart, or--who can tell?--perhaps he has a thorn in the flesh of which he would fain be rid; the shabby, middle-aged, sallow-faced wreck who stands before '_onze lieve vrouw_,' works, when he is not too drunk, as a journeyman tailor, in politics he is a social democrat, and if you were to ask him his religion, he would tell you that he was a _libre penseur_, but the woman who loves him is sick and believes, and he has slunk in here to put up a taper for her in honour of the 'salus infirmorum,' the old man with trembling limbs and palsied head, who is painfully making the way of the cross, was in his day a dashing spark who could make women's hearts throb and sometimes broke them. he has drunk to the dregs of the joys of life and experienced the after-taste, but all this is ancient history; he has long ago made his peace with god, and is quietly waiting now for the great metamorphosis. and there are children too, not many--for the neighbourhood is one of theatres, cafés, public buildings--ragged urchins some of them, with bare feet and pinched faces. the streets outside are cold and wet, or they are hot and dusty, and where else should these waifs seek shelter but in their father's house? such are the devotees who frequent this mysterious shrine; and the visible objects of their devotion--the likenesses of the ghosts who haunt it, are no less varied than are they. some of them are neo-gothic conceptions of the school of saint luke--tall, emaciated figures with gilded locks and pale, meek faces; others are of the time of the renaissance, and are full-blooded, fleshy, human; others again are as old perhaps as the church itself, and these are the most interesting. for how many centuries, for example, has the 'man of sorrows' sat by the western doorway silently asking of those who enter, 'is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?' a strangely pathetic figure this. the sculptor who modelled it must have had this text in his mind, 'there is no beauty in him,' and this, 'the lord has placed upon his shoulders the iniquity of us all.' the statue is of carved wood painted after life, but time and maybe the flare of tapers have rendered it almost black. it is quite nude save for a loin cloth, but someone, perhaps scandalised at this, has thrown a mantle of purple velvet now faded and moth eaten, over the shoulders. a relic is let into the instep of the left foot, which is defaced and partly worn away by the lips of innumerable troubled souls who have found consolation in their own sorrows by pitying the sorrows of christ. for the rest, the church is not without charm from an æsthetic point of view--the axis of the choir is probably more decidedly inclined to the north-east than that of any other church that the visitor will call to mind: this and the divers styles of architecture in which it is built renders it at least picturesque. moreover, though the stained glass which once glowed in its windows has long since disappeared, and though whitewash and plaster have effaced the frescoes and carving with which its walls were formerly adorned, the interior is still bathed in glowing tints: it is rich in old oak furniture, in objects of marble and copper and brass, in easel paintings and in devotional statues resplendent with colour and gold, and there are flowers too and red lamps, and withal and always a host of flaring tapers. but let not the reader be disappointed. there is much in this church which is tawdry, trivial, vulgar, which transgresses in a flagrant degree the canons of good taste; its splendour, it cannot be denied, is not always the splendour of truth. we have here the lustre of colour which, like charity, covers a multitude of sins, the fascination of old-world memories and the glamour of the picturesque. added to this there are a few genuine works of art, notably some good pictures, which even the most fastidious need not be ashamed to admire; but since they are all of more recent date than the middle age, they do not come within the scope of these pages. and what, perhaps, it will be asked, has this farrago of modern idolatry for which space has been found to do with the middle age? this much--call it idolatry if you will, we have here mediævalism undiluted. the credulous folk who flock to the church of saint nicholas are silly enough to believe, like their fathers in the thirteen hundreds, that the sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. it is difficult, perhaps impossible, to say anything definite as to dates in the case of a building like the church of saint nicholas, which has endured so many vicissitudes and suffered so much at the hands of restorers, but there can be little doubt that the great oblong columns which support the vaulting of the nave, and perhaps too the walls of the aisles, or at all events some portions of them, formed part of the original structure. but whether these things be old or new is a matter of little moment. the burghers' church is doomed. the decree has gone forth, and as soon as the leases of the old houses which cluster round it fall in, it is to be sacrificed to the demon progress. a street has to be enlarged or straightened, or the site is needed for a cab-stand or a public-house, or for some purpose equally objectionable. death indeed sits close to our old friend, hence this disquisition. albeit, he has so often escaped by the skin of his teeth that it is hard not to believe that means will even yet be found for still further prolonging his days. one thing is quite certain. if this piece of vandalism be carried out, it will be for the indelible shame of the whole city. a disgrace alike to the authors of the crime, and to those who by their indifference or their lack of energy, have connived at it. in belgium there is a permanent government commission for the preservation of ancient monuments, and a private society likewise exists, of which the _raison d'être_ is similar, yet it seems that neither of these bodies have as much as thought it worth their while to lodge a formal protest. more important from an architectural point of view than the church of saint nicholas is the church of notre-dame de la chapelle. the foundation stone was laid by duke godfrey longbeard in , and though the greater portion of the existing structure is of more recent date, some interesting fragments still remain of the original building, notably the little chapel of the holy cross and the beautiful façade of the south transept, which is pure romanesque and richly adorned with sculpture. the plans were modified as the work progressed, and the rest of the south transept, the north transept and the chancel are in the style of the transition. a nave and aisles were also added at this period, but they were destroyed by fire early in the fourteen hundreds, and rebuilt in the course of the century in the style then in vogue. the collegiate church of saint michael and saint gudule was commenced by duke henry i. in , and the eastern wall of the ambulatory, with its romanesque windows, date from this period. it took the men of brussels five hundred years to complete this beautiful building, and hence it contains specimens of every style of architecture, and is on that account none the less interesting. we shall have something more to say of each of these churches in another chapter. the civil architecture of this period is represented only by some fragments of the fortifications with which lambert balderick surrounded the city in . they are scattered about here and there in various parts of the old town. there is a picturesque bit of wall for example in the garden of saint gudule's presbytery, another piece has been incorporated into a house in the rue des douze apôtres, there is more in the steenporte, and, most important of all, a tower some sixty feet high between the halles centrales and the church of saint catherine. this picturesque relic, which is called 'la tour noire,' was discovered when some old houses were demolished in . at first the corporation was for pulling it down, but fortunately brussels at this time had a burgomaster who was not only an artist and an archæologist of repute, but also an enthusiastic amateur of mediæval architecture. after a long fight, m. buls, who is still living though he has now withdrawn from public life, succeeded in saving the old tower, and thanks to his indefatigable efforts, it was later on restored by the town. the crypt of saint guy at anderlecht it is not, however, in the city itself, but in the suburb of anderlecht, a mile and a half beyond the line of the outer ramparts, that the most interesting specimen of romanesque architecture is to be found. here we have no mere fragment, more or less defaced, but something complete in itself, something which has never been tampered with, something older, too, than any of the buildings of which we have just spoken, older, indeed, for the matter of that, than any other building in brabant. in a word we have here an antique jewel of rare beauty, which has never been re-set nor re-cut: the subterranean church of saint guy at anderlecht remains to-day what it was when the builders planned it. [illustration: la tour noire.] the earliest archives of the collegiate chapter of anderlecht have disappeared, destroyed, no doubt, when the flemings invaded brabant under louis of maele, and hence the date of its foundation is not certainly known. some chroniclers mention the year , others . tradition says that it goes back to an epoch when there were only two other chapters in brabant, the chapter of saint berlinda, a niece of saint-amand, erected at meerbeck towards the close of the six hundreds, and the famous chapter of nivelles, founded by saint gertrude, a daughter of pepin of landen, in ; and we know from the anderlecht _life of saint guy_, the earliest life that has come down to us, that a dean and canons were certainly established there early in the ten hundreds. in any case there can be no doubt that this foundation was a very old one, and in all probability the present subterranean church is the church in which the first canons of anderlecht were wont to perform their devotional offices. true, it is said in the anonymous _life of saint guy_, written most likely by a canon of anderlecht in the opening years of the eleven hundreds, that about the time when his relics were first translated ( ) the canons of anderlecht decided to build a new church, and from this, m. schaeys, in his _histoire de l'architecture en belgique_, concludes that the present structure dates from this epoch, but the style of the architecture denotes a much earlier period, and the ms. account of what took place, in spite of the passage in question, which, read with the context, has clearly another meaning than that which m. schaeys attributes to it, rather confirms than contradicts the evidence of the architecture. the writer informs us that at this time the church at anderlecht, by reason of its great age, was almost a ruin; some of the walls had actually fallen down, and others were in imminent danger of doing so. the clergy and the people therefore decided with one accord to sell the rich gifts which for years past pilgrims had been offering at the shrine of saint guy, and with the fund thus realised to build a new and more spacious church. if, then, the present crypt, which only measures forty feet by forty-eight, was the outcome of this decision, the former structure must indeed have been one of exceedingly narrow dimensions. although 'the poor man of anderlecht' had during his lifetime been regarded as a saint, he was not publicly honoured as such until some forty years after his demise. about this time ( ) what our author calls a basilica, no doubt a small mortuary chapel, had been erected over his grave, and as it adjoined the church it now became necessary to pull it down in view of the proposed building operations. hence the question arose, what should be done with the saint's body? the matter was referred to the bishop of the diocese, gerard ii. of cambrai, 'who had succeeded the lord lietbert of blessed memory'--this fixes the date, gerard received consecration in --and he ordained that the body should be disinterred and provisionally laid to rest in the centre of the church until the new building should be ready for its reception. the bishop's instructions, our author avers, were duly carried out, and in the last paragraph of his narrative, he informs us that 'the elevation of saint guy' was made by bishop odard on the th of july, . it would seem, then, that from the earliest times there have been two churches at anderlecht, an upper church and a lower church; that the former, having fallen into a ruinous state, was pulled down in the year and rebuilt on a larger scale, and that the new structure was completed in the summer of , certainly not later than that date. further, that the lower church, which no doubt had been more solidly built than the upper building, seeing that it was intended to support a superstructure, was still in in good repair, and that hence it was left standing. that this was 'the church' where the relics of saint guy reposed during the interval which elapsed between the disinterment of and the 'elevation' of there can be no doubt whatever. not only do the terms employed by the writer render this point certain, but we have the additional evidence of the empty tomb which still stands in the centre of the crypt. as to the date at which this interesting building was constructed the style of the architecture points to the eight hundreds. in form it is distinctly reminiscent of the early christian basilica: it consists of an apsidal nave of three bays and double aisles, those which are adjacent to the nave are separated from it by cylindrical columns with capitals, which recall the tuscan order, and from the outer aisles by two great square shafts without capitals, around each of which are clustered four columns similar to the columns of the nave. there is also a series of half columns of like design at intervals round the walls. these, and the piers, and the pillars of the nave support the vault, which is a simple cross vault without ribs. each of the outer aisles is pierced in its west wall by a small round-headed doorway which opens on a staircase leading to the upper church, and the building is dimly lighted by six narrow slits of windows, which are likewise round-headed. the original high altar has disappeared, but there are two side altars which are of great antiquity, probably as old as the church itself--huge oblong blocks of stone without ornament or inscription. hard by to each of them is a small chamber built in the thickness of the wall. it has been suggested that one was a baptistery, the other a vesting-room. in the centre of the inner southern aisle is the tomb of saint guy, an oblong mass built up of stone covered by a granite slab rudely carved with a double cross, floriated with vine leaves. the monument is pierced by an aperture neither broad nor high, just large enough for a lean man to crawl through if he felt so inclined, as many did at one time--the edges of the opening are worn away by the countless pilgrims who, in days of yore, thus gratified their devotion. strange as they seem to us now, practices of this kind were common enough in the middle age: when in the eleven hundreds the bodies of the saints were 'elevated' from the crypts in which they had hitherto lain to the temples which about this time were raised above them, and there laid up in gilded shrines, the empty tombs in which they had so long reposed still continued to be the objects of popular devotion. sometimes the coffin was left open, in order that the saint's clients might stretch their own limbs in the place where his body had lain, sometimes an opening was made in the side of the tomb large enough for a man to peer through, or through which he might even thrust his head. sometimes it was larger still, and women with sickly children would then place them for a moment within, and pray that god, through his servant's merits, would make the weakling strong. they as firmly believed in the virtue of these sticks and stones as the men of judæa believed in the virtue of the cloths and handkerchiefs which the apostles had touched, or of 'the shadow of peter passing by.' of course the present upper church is not the church which the canons of anderlecht built with guy's treasure. that was pulled down in , as the anderlecht archives bear witness. the present structure was commenced then, and not completed until well into the fifteen hundreds. we shall have something to say about it presently. nivelles a little further afield, in the ancient town of nivelles, there is another and very noteworthy specimen of romanesque architecture. nivelles was in former days a far more important place than it is now. it gradually grew up beneath the shelter of the great abbey which, as we have seen, saint ita and saint gertrude had founded in ; and if so far as concerns its material welfare it was inferior to the great cities of brabant, it excelled them all in the dignity of its social standing, for the little town was an ecclesiastical fief held directly from the emperor[ ] by an abbess who bore the illustrious title of lady princess. to this exalted office no mere plebeian could aspire, nor patrician either for the matter of that, unless she had the right to a scutcheon with at least sixteen quarterings. the abbess lived in almost royal state in a palace adjoining her minster, and the white-robed canons and the augustinian nuns, who formed the chapter of nivelles, and dwelt, the former in a cloister hard by the church, the latter, apart in the town, were submitted alike in spiritual and in temporal things to her jurisdiction. even the lay aristocracy shone with an additional lustre reflected from her magnificence. what rights and privileges they enjoyed above their fellow-citizens were theirs not in virtue of noble birth, but as members of the household of saint gertrude. their fathers were serfs on the abbey domain who had risen to positions of trust, they were men who had bartered their liberty for a servitude freer than freedom itself, had entered a great monastic family and become participators in its immunities, and these their descendants continued to enjoy for years after the days of bondage had ceased. the _hommes de sainte gertrude_ like the _hommes de saint pierre_ owed their title to distinction to the servile condition of their ancestors. [ ] until : in that year charles iv. recognised the principality as a fief of the duchy of brabant. though the rulers of brabant had for years past encroached on her privileges whenever they had an opportunity of doing so, the abbess was still a _grande dame_, with ample means to support her high position when the end came in , but the power which she then wielded, though still considerable, was only the shadow of what it had been in the palmy days when she was not only in name but in fact 'the lady princess of nivelles.' nivelles never seems to have attained to anything like commercial pre-eminence. in the days when the fabrication of woollen goods was the staple industry of the netherlands, her manufacturers perhaps did as well as their fellows in other small towns of like standing, but certainly no better. later on, when the cloth monopoly was lost and men turned their attention to linen, she did indeed make some reputation for the excellence of her cambric, but she lost it after the riots of , when her weavers migrated in a body to cambrai and valenciennes. henceforth, until its suppression, the custom of the household of saint gertrude was the mainstay of her prosperity, and when that source was cut off by the french revolutionists in , she very soon became what she is now, a little market town with a population of some ten or eleven thousand souls. nivelles is situated partly on the side of a hill and partly on the fringe of an emerald valley made fertile by the river senne. here there are snug homesteads nestling amid orchards and surrounded by well-tilled fields, and rich pasture-lands enclosed with hedges thick and high. there are woods too on the rising ground beyond, and here and there a windmill or the steeple of some village church. the landscape is one most pleasant to behold, and if only the fields were less carefully tilled and the cottages and farm buildings were not so numerous nor so well cared for, it might easily be mistaken for an english scene in one of the home counties. the little town itself is tranquil, dreamy, clean. in its narrow, winding streets there are some curious old houses with high-pitched roofs and crow-stepped gables, and here and there are some curious old buildings with mullioned windows and gothic doorways, which one is quite sure, if they are not now the homes of nuns, were at one time, and of course there is a sprinkling of those clean, comfortable-looking, substantial dwellings which are always to be met with in quiet nooks and corners in the country towns of belgium. sometimes they have courtyards in front, separated from the street by cunningly wrought iron railings and paved with cobble-stones, on which stand palms in tubs, or bay trees fashioned like umbrellas. sometimes stretching out behind there is a trimly-kept walled garden of which the passer-by occasionally obtains a refreshing glimpse through some half-open door. they were built for the most part about a hundred and fifty years ago, and are the homes of local professional men or the winter abodes of the neighbouring country gentry, who, reckoning their incomes by hundreds, rather than thousands, are rich enough not only to vegetate comfortably and in a manner befitting their station, but to give alms with no stinted hand, and withal and always to keep very respectable balances at their bankers. the most interesting feature of the town of nivelles is, of course, the old minster, with the exception, perhaps, of tournai cathedral, the finest romanesque church in belgium. it is a noble pile three hundred and twenty feet long, with three towers at the west end, single nave-aisles, strongly-marked transepts, and an unusually long rectangular choir built over a crypt. within, however, it is disappointing, for the interior was so completely transformed in the course of the seventeen hundreds that no vestige of the original work was left visible. efforts are now being made to repair the mischief. the beautiful crypt, which had been completely filled up with earth and rubble, has been excavated and restored, the walls of the choir and transepts have been stripped of the bastard renaissance ornament with which they were disfigured, the bays which had been bricked up have been opened, a timber roof has been substituted for the plaster ceiling, and it is proposed, as soon as funds are forthcoming, to completely restore the whole church. the restoration, it is pleasing to note, is being carefully and conscientiously carried out, but though every available fragment is being utilised, so much of the old work has disappeared that, alas, there is no hope of adequately repairing the havoc wrought by the ill-judged generosity of the canons of nivelles in . _en revanche_, save for 'the golden stain of time' and the great tower, a child of the fourteen hundreds, without, the church of nivelles remains to-day what it was when pope leo consecrated it in in the presence of his imperial nephew. not the only association this of saint gertrude's abbey with leo ix. its bells, so runs the tale, were solemnly tolled by invisible hands when on the night of the th of april the soul of the great reformer passed out of the world. whatever may be thought of this beautiful legend, it at least bears witness to leo's popularity. so glorious is the exterior of this grand old building, that did the journey from brussels to nivelles take as many hours as it does minutes, the sight of it would be ample compensation, and, too, there are cloisters as old as the church itself, in style pure romanesque, so vast that forest trees flourish in the garth, without making it appear crowded. the south, the east and the west sides have suffered considerably from over-restoration, but the north colonnade is still intact, and built over it is all that remains of the ancient monastery. we have here one of those silent, old-world nooks which are still redolent of the incense of the middle age. the church of nivelles is not only interesting on account of its architecture: pepin of landen is buried here in the centre of the nave, and beside him his wife, saint idenberge, and their daughter begga, whom the beguines regard as their patron saint. here, too, are the mortal remains of another of pepin's daughters, saint gertrude, foundress of the abbey. they are treasured in a shrine of copper gilt, adorned with sculpture and bas-relief, and encrusted with precious stones, a veritable triumph of the goldsmith's craft, designed by jaquemon, monk of anchin, and wrought by another jaquemon, a townsman of nivelles, with the assistance of one nicolon, who seems to have been a citizen of douai. the names of these men are meet to be had in perpetual remembrance. for the moment this marvellous piece of metal-work is laid up in the sacristy. presently, when the restoration of the chancel is completed, it will be restored to its former position above the high altar. of the remaining fragments of romanesque architecture in the immediate neighbourhood of brussels, most remarkable, perhaps, is the great square tower of the church of saint jacques at louvain, which probably dates from the beginning of the eleven hundreds. within are some curious cylindrical columns, adorned with floriated capitals of good design and workmanship. the abbey church of parc, hard by the same city, was commenced in , perhaps earlier, but not completed till . this building exists to-day, but it has been so frequently altered by successive abbots that no trace of the original romanesque work is visible, save a little round-headed doorway alongside the main entrance and some narrow slits of windows in the chancel. for the rest, in the villages and hamlets, which are so thickly sown in the country round brussels, there are not a few churches or portions of churches which date from the period we have just been considering. it is impossible, however, within the limits of this handbook to give even a list of them. those who are interested in this matter will do well to consult mr. weale's _belgium_. here will be found descriptions, with numerous historical notes, of the village churches in the neighbourhood of the chief towns of the kingdom and along the main lines. it was published nearly fifty years ago, and of course since then many archæological discoveries have been made, and, alas, much ancient work has disappeared, but no other handbook with which we are acquainted contains in so small a compass such a vast mass of generally reliable information concerning the architecture and the art of the low countries. gothic architecture seems to have been first introduced into the netherlands from france by way of tournai. the stately choir, second to none in europe, which that great church-builder, bishop walter de marvis, added to his cathedral there during the second quarter of the twelve hundreds, was probably the first purely gothic structure erected in belgium. it is altogether french in plan and in method of construction, and it may well have been designed by a mason of the _ile de france_. men's minds were at once captivated by its beauty, and the new style spread rapidly throughout the land. it could hardly have been otherwise: tournai was not only the religious capital of flanders, it was also the artistic capital of a very considerable portion of the low country; here was established a school of architects and sculptors, which at this time was among the most famous of the north; when the architects of tournai adopted the new style it was bound to make headway. flanders, holland, zeeland, without quarries of their own, and without native masons, were constrained to bring from tournai, the nearest point where stone was to be had, alike their building material and their builders. these men had drawn their inspiration from beyond the rhine, and perhaps, too, from normandy, and had already attained in their craft a very high order of excellence. when fascinated, then, by the beauty of bishop walter's choir, they determined to follow the new french fashion; they showed themselves no servile imitators, but modified their old plans and their old schemes of ornament in such a manner as to suit the needs of the new methods of construction: thus they gradually evolved a distinct style of their own, and the flat apse, the octagonal towers, the round turrets, adorned with pilasters with capitals delicately carved on either side of the western gable, the high, narrow lancet windows, without mullions or tracery--all distinctive features of tournai work, are to be met with over and over again, not only in hainault and in flanders, but even in picardy and in holland. less marked was the influence of the tournai school on the architecture of brabant. brabant had quarries of her own, and builders, inferior, indeed, to the builders of tournai, but for all that well skilled in their craft; and thus what tournai was doing for the rest of belgium brabant was able to do for herself. though at first her architects seem to have taken as their models the buildings which their rivals of tournai were constructing in hainault, in holland, and in flanders, even their earliest gothic work is in no way lacking in originality. witness, for example, the choir of the collegiate church of saint gudule at brussels, one of their first efforts. as time progressed the distinctive features became more and more pronounced, and presently a style was developed more original and also more beautiful than anything produced at the same time by the tournai school. indeed, the gothic architecture of brabant of the fourteen, fifteen and sixteen hundreds, if it be equalled, is certainly not surpassed by the gothic architecture of those centuries in any other land. so far as concerns civic buildings, brabant certainly holds the palm. neither france nor germany nor england can show anything which can be compared, for example, to the town hall of brussels or the town hall of louvain, or even with the gothic portion of the town hall of ghent, which was designed by brabant architects. so great was the fame of the architects of brabant from the commencement of the fourteen hundreds that their services were in request all over the netherlands, and later on, in the days of the emperor charles v., in germany, in france, and even in far-off spain; and, strangely enough, some of their latest efforts are as nobly conceived and as carefully executed as in the days when their art was at its zenith. nothing could well be finer than the parish church of saint jacques at antwerp, which was commenced in and not completed till , the work having been discontinued from lack of funds in , and not renewed, owing to the religious troubles, until . this grand old building, which was designed for a simple parish church, has all the characteristic features of a great cathedral--triforium, clerestory, double aisles, ambulatory chevet, transepts, and a host of side chapels. the plans were drawn up by herman de waghemakere, a burgher of antwerp, and an architect famous throughout the low countries, who not only designed many noble buildings, but begot two sons, herman and dominic, to whom he transmitted his talent, and whom he trained to his own calling. when he died, early in the fifteen hundreds, they were able to worthily continue the work at saint jacques' which the old man had so successfully commenced, until . at this time no portion of the church was completed, and the choir was not even begun. when, some seventy years afterwards, building operations were again resumed, the original plans were strictly adhered to, and it is worthy of note that the more recent work is as carefully and skilfully executed as that which was carried out under the eyes of old herman himself. this church is rich in stained glass of the fourteen, fifteen and sixteen hundreds, which, considering the period, is of a very high order. if the designs of some of the windows be faulty, the scheme of colour is in each case perfect. it has retained more of its old furniture--tapestry, metal-work, wood-carving and the like, than most churches in belgium. it contains some good pictures--notably, in the lady chapel, an altar-piece by rubens, which was placed here by his widow, and, in a vault beneath it, all that remains of 'this prince of painters and of gentlemen.' in the sublime tower of saint rombold's at mechlin we have another late creation, though not so late as the church of saint jacques at antwerp. the foundation stone was laid on the st of may , and they seem to have worked at it intermittently until , when the stones destined to complete it were carried off to holland by the prince of orange, and employed by him to build the town of willemstad. even in its unfinished state it is a colossal building. at its base it is fifty-three feet wide without counting the buttresses, which advance on each side to a distance of nearly fifteen feet. its actual height is over feet, but if the spire had been added, of which the original plans are still in existence, it would have risen to the prodigious height of feet, and would thus have been the loftiest steeple in europe. this mighty tower was designed by jan kelderman, master-mason, of louvain, not many months, perhaps not many weeks, before his death in ; at which time he was in all probability between seventy and eighty years of age. the foundation stone was laid under the direction of his son andrew, and for over a hundred years one or other of his descendants busied themselves with carrying out the old man's designs. a remarkable family, the keldermans: architects, sculptors, painters, almost all of them, during many generations. the first of whom we have any record was jan van marsdale, sculptor, of brussels, who, for some reason of which we are ignorant, adopted the family name by which his descendants are generally known. he was probably born some time during the second quarter of the thirteen hundreds, and died at brussels not earlier than . in his day he was an artist of renown, but nothing which can be certainly attributed to him has come down to us. we know that he was the author of the richly-sculptured tomb of françois van halen, which was placed in the first apsidal chapel on the south side of saint rombold's at mechlin in , and demolished in .--of this marvellous work of art there exists in _le théâtre sacré du brabant_ an engraving--and we know, too, that he was the father of the jan kelderman who designed saint rombold's tower. this man was a burgher of louvain, and city architect there from the th of october till his death in . he directed the building of the council chamber in the hôtel de ville, which had been designed by his predecessor, plyssis van vorst, and which still exists. of his three sons, rombold, the eldest, was a painter of glass, and one at least of his works has come down to us: a beautiful window in the old church at lierre, the first on the north side--representing godefroid vilain xiv. and his wife, elizabeth d'immersule, donors, along with their patrons, saint peter and the poor man of assisi. this window was painted in , and the sum which the artist received for it was forty-two golden florins. rombold was born in the year . he married before catherine van voshem, whose sister elizabeth was the wife of the famous painter, dierick boudts, and inhabited his own house in the _rue de diest_ at louvain, where he died on the th of march . matthew, jan's second son, followed his father's trade, and he also busied himself with painting and sculpture: the indentures of an apprentice whom he undertook to instruct, in three years, in the art of painting are still in existence, and we know, too, that some of the carved beams in the town hall at louvain are his work. for the rest, he in due course took to himself a wife, who presently bore him a son, whom he named hendrick and trained to his own calling. no record of any work that he executed has as yet been found, but he seems to have done well in his profession, for in he purchased a house in the cattle market at mechlin, hard by the chapel of saint eloi, and here in he received albert dürer, who in his journal notes that at mechlin he was the guest of 'maister heindrich.' [illustration: saint rombold's cathedral] andrew, the youngest son of old jan kelderman, was a man more famous than either of his brethren. he was city architect of mechlin, and supervised the carrying out of his father's design of saint rombold's tower for thirty years; and when he died, in or thereabout, it had risen as high as the bell-chamber. he was the author of divers beautiful rood-screens, amongst them that in the church at bergen-op-zoom, which he wrought in with the aid of his son anthony, who, it will be interesting to note, dwelt in a house at mechlin which is still standing--no. _aux tuileries._ this man, succeeding his father, directed the building of saint rombold's tower until he in his turn died, on the th of october . he was the author of two famous buildings--the town hall of middelburg, in the island of walcheren, and, in his native city, the church of _notre-dame au-delà de la dyle_, and the father of two sons who were not unworthy of the family name, and each of whom set their mark on the family tower. the younger was aptly enough called after the saint with whom the keldermans had been so long associated; honours were presently his, and wealth and a wide reputation, if he were not the greatest of his race, at least he was the most successful, of rombold kelderman ii. we shall have much to say later on; the elder was named, after his father, anthony, and though he died young, he lived long enough, but only just long enough, to design a monument which still proclaims his genius--the old _broodhuis_ at brussels, now called _la maison du roi_. some three days before the foundation stone was laid young anthony was gathered to his fathers (december , ), and the guerdon which he would have received was paid into the hands of his widow. [illustration: notre-dame au-delÀ de la dyle.] [illustration: la maison du roi.] there were other members of this talented family of whom the record of some of their labours has come down to us. notably matthew, a younger son of andrew kelderman, who worked at antwerp cathedral under herman de waghemakere from to ; his son, also matthew, who migrated to louvain, was named city mason there and directed the building operations of the church of saint peter from to ; and laurence, who plied his trade, for the most part in brussels, helped to build the _maison du roi_, and was perhaps a nephew, perhaps a son, of the great architect who planned it. the city records from which these bald facts have been culled in comparatively recent years by those who have or have had the care of them, divulge something of the nature of an anecdote concerning laurence kelderman. we learn from certain entries in the town accounts of brussels that in the year he was mulcted _florins_ for wounding one of the amman's serjeants, and the same document informs us too how it came about. kelderman and two other famous masons--hendrick van pede, the author of the town hall of oudenaarde, and ludwig van beughem, who later on built for marguerite of austria the famous church of brow in bresse--were at this time at work, most fortunately for them as it afterwards turned out, on the beautiful palace which the count of nassau was erecting for himself in brussels with that gold, as all men believed, which he had wrung from the vanquished burghers of bruges in , and every evening it was their wont, when their work was done, to drink together at the sign of the star, a tavern of note in the great market, which seems to have been at this time much frequented by men of their craft. to this house of entertainment, then, on the th of february, at their accustomed hour they repaired, and each man having bade the drawer bring the liquor he liked best, they proceeded to pledge one another in bumpers, but their potations that night were not destined to be of long duration. perhaps there was strife in the cups of some of their boon companions, certain it is that one of them drew his knife, and, as luck would have it, at the same moment the amman's serjeant walked in, who, fearing mischief or feigning to do so, forthwith disarmed the fellow; whereat our masons, enraged at this insult to a free citizen, hurled themselves on the officer of justice, wrenched away his sword, and in so doing inflicted on him a flesh wound. the offence, according to the strict code of brussels, was no light one, and serious consequences would have undoubtedly followed had it not been for the count of nassau, who, loth to lose the services of such capable workmen, exerted his influence in their behalf, and thus they were quit with a fine. later on we find the names of two of the delinquents again associated, but in very different fashion. when it was decided in to add to the church of saint gudila a new sacrament chapel, the _maîtres de la fabrique_ commissioned three architects to prepare plans for the proposed structure, and two of them were our friends of the tavern brawl, hendrick van pede and ludwig van beughem. peter van wyenhoven was the third competitor, his designs were adjudged the best, and he it was who constructed the actual building. bernard van orley, the famous painter, made the fair copy of his plans for him on two large sheets of parchment, and received for so doing, it will be interesting to note, £ , s. d., and the foundation stone was laid on the th of february . the plan of this chapel is exceedingly simple. it consists of a nave of four bays with a flat apse pierced by a vast window enriched with flamboyant tracery. the building is also lighted by five other windows of similar design and like dimensions, of which four are set in the north wall, and one in the last bay of the south wall. they are all of them filled with beautiful stained glass, which is as old as the chapel itself, and the picture which glows in one of them--the second on the north side--was designed and painted by bernard van orley. the shafts, or piers, or pilasters--it is difficult to know exactly what to call them--from which spring the numerous prismatic ribs of a rich and intricate vault, are strangely and elaborately fashioned. below they are bold, octagonal columns, or rather half-columns. higher up they break out into a mass of tabernacle work in the form of two canopies, which shelter saints, and when at last they emerge from behind the pinnacles and crockets, we find that they have ceased to be columns and are now slender reeded shafts, which presently spread out like palm leaves and become the ribs of the groining. [illustration: eglise sainte-gudule pilastre sculpté] though van pede's designs were not accepted, the _sainte chapelle des miracles_ is none the less a perpetual memorial of his genius: the cunningly wrought sculpture which it contains is almost all of it his handiwork. the honoured name of kelderman too is linked with this building, but that association is now only a memory: the high altar which peter kelderman reared has long since been cast down. but to return to peter's more famous kinsman, old anthony kelderman's second son, jonkhere rombold van marsdale, for thus the honest mason styled himself after charles v. had ennobled him. maybe he thought the ancient family name sounded more aristocratic than the name which his great-grandfather had adopted. though rombold was undoubtedly an architect and artist of a very high order, and though he remained to the end of his career a man of energy and enterprise, and at last died in harness, full of years and honours, strangely enough his memory is not kept alive by any monument which he alone can be certainly said to have designed and carried to completion. in his early days he was largely engaged in completing the work of other men, or in adding to, or embellishing, or restoring buildings which already existed. later on he entered into partnership with dominic de waghemakere, and henceforth most of his designs were not the outcome of his unaided genius. together they planned many glorious structures. some never got beyond paper, others were commenced and left unfinished, for they lived in troublous times; only a few were brought to completion, and of these but one remains, the steen of antwerp, spoilt by restoration. rombold kelderman had honours, riches, renown. his career from this point of view was certainly a most successful one, but an untoward fortune seems to have dogged his steps in the matter of his craft, and this was so not only with his own creations but also with the buildings which he reared and the plans which he made conjointly with dominic de waghemakere. thus, for example, he was commissioned by charles v. to transform the unfinished cloth hall of mechlin into a place of assembly for the grand council of brabant. he drew out plans; they were all that could be desired--the original drawings are preserved amongst the city rolls; somewhere about the year the foundation stone was laid, and at first the work was pushed on bravely, but before it was half finished came the troubles of philip's reign and it had to be abandoned, but rombold grieved not at it, he had long since paid nature's debt. [illustration: the steen of antwerp.] otherwise, and yet more deplorable, was the disaster which baulked the realisation of kelderman and de waghemakere's magnificent scheme for the reconstruction of the choir of antwerp cathedral. during the two centuries which had elapsed since the commencement of this great church the ground around it had gradually risen by reason of numerous interments to a very considerable distance above the pavement; hence the church was always cold and damp, and in wet weather not unfrequently flooded. to remedy this, it was decided early in the fifteen hundreds, to erect a new choir with a crypt beneath it in such a manner that the pavement of the upper building should be on a considerably higher level than the ground outside. kelderman and de waghemakere prepared the plans, and in due course the emperor himself laid the foundation stone. for nearly ten years they worked at the new structure, and then came the catastrophe which sooner or later almost always frustrated kelderman's most strenuous endeavours: a fire broke out which wrought such havoc on the main body of the cathedral that the repairs absorbed alike the money and the material which had gradually been amassed for the building of the new choir. thus was the ambitious scheme of these two great architects nipped, so to speak, in the bud, for ambitious scheme it undoubtedly was: if it had been carried out antwerp would have possessed a cathedral vaster and, if contemporary witnesses are to be trusted, more beautiful than any other city in christendom. of this we have no means of judging, for though the plans were carefully treasured among the city rolls for some two hundred years, at last they mysteriously disappeared. there was reason to believe they had been stolen, and though every effort was made to trace them, from that day to this they have never been found; but of the vast proportions of the proposed edifice there can be no manner of doubt, the foundations still exist, and here and there they are visible. moreover, a few years ago, there was discovered, hidden away in the archive chamber, a contemporary sketch of the ground plan, from which it appears that kelderman's choir would have occupied a surface just twice as large as that covered by the actual choir including the ambulatory and the chevet. now antwerp cathedral in its present state is not one of mean dimensions: it is somewhat longer than westminster abbey, without the lady chapel, and exceeds it in breadth at the transepts by over ten feet and at the nave by no less than a hundred. [illustration: quai de l'avoine, malines.] kelderman and his partner were happier, or perhaps it would be more apt to say not quite so unfortunate in their undertakings at ghent. here their endeavours were at least crowned with some measure of success. early in the year the city fathers of ghent commissioned our masons to erect for them a new town hall, as we learn from the contract passed between them on that occasion. the original deed is still in existence; it is very curious and interesting, and throws much light on the customs and methods of the builders of the day. in it rombold and dominic bind themselves to inspect the work three times a year--in april, in august, and somewhere about the feast of saint bavo, at which last visit they promised to bring with them designs for sculpture, ironwork and so forth, to be executed by the workmen in winter time, when building operations were invariably suspended, and they also undertook to come to ghent at any time throughout the year when their presence was deemed necessary, provided their travelling expenses were paid and they were given four, or at least three, weeks' notice. moreover, the magistrates reserved to themselves the right to name other architects in place of de waghemakere and kelderman, in the event of their not giving satisfaction. they had no occasion to exercise it; the plans were perfect, rombold and his partner performed their duties with the greatest assiduity, and the burghers began to flatter themselves that soon ghent would be endowed with the grandest town hall in the netherlands. their expectations were not realised--the building progressed slowly, perhaps on account of the threatening state of the political atmosphere. on the th of december rombold kelderman died, and it was not yet half finished. albeit, they did not lose heart; dominic, in virtue of a clause in the agreement, named laurence kelderman to succeed his uncle; for four years longer the work dragged on and then at last it came to a standstill. who could think of building operations amid the hubbub and whirl of rebellion? or afterwards, when the riot was quelled, whilst alva was begging for the destruction of the town, or whilst the city fathers with ropes round their necks were humbly sueing for pardon? it was not till the close of the century that the burghers were once more able to turn their attention to their unfinished town hall. dominic had long since joined his partner on the other side of the stream, the art in which these men had so excelled was now almost dead, ghent was beginning to be captivated by the spurious charms of the renaissance, and in completing her town hall she followed the bent of her fancy. the new architects, however, left the work of their predecessors intact, and we have this much too to be thankful for: the original plans still exist. by a clause of the agreement of it was provided that in the event of the decease of both the architects before the completion of the town hall the plans should be restored by their heirs to the city magistrates; this clause was faithfully carried out, and the plans, along with the contracts, are still preserved among the city archives of ghent. however much we may regret the setting aside of the plans of kelderman and de waghemakere, it cannot be denied that they deserved the fate which overtook their labours, for they themselves had shown scant respect to the memory of their predecessor, john stassins, an architect of no mean order, who, as early as , had made plans for the new town hall, plans which were accepted by the city fathers, and which, until his death in , he had done his utmost to realise. so much labour lost, kelderman and de waghemakere discarded them and cast down his unfinished building; but in ghent john stassins has his memorial: he it was who planned and reared saint bavo's stately tower, not the least beautiful of the many beautiful towers which still adorn the cities and the villages of the low country. * * * * * the mention of the tower of saint bavo's naturally suggests the church itself. here we have perhaps the most beautiful of all the belgian cathedrals, certainly the most interesting. founded in the course of the nine hundreds, and not completed till the latter half of the seventeenth century, this time-honoured building contains specimens of almost every period of architecture. the crypt, or at all events a portion of it, is part of the original structure; it is divided into four naves and is the largest crypt in belgium. here lie the ashes of hubert van eyck and those of his sister marguerite. the choir, of blue tournai stone, severe, ample, stately, is of course tournai work of the closing years of the twelve hundreds, all of it save the vault, which dates from four centuries later, and is so perfect an imitation of primary gothic work that did we not know that the choir of saint bavo's, like so many early churches in belgium, was originally covered with a wagon-head roof of timber, and were it not for the cathedral records which remove all doubt as to the period of its construction, it would certainly be assigned at latest to the opening years of the thirteen hundreds. for the rest, the fifteen ambulatory chapels are of the thirteen and of the fourteen hundreds; the tower, as we have seen, dates from the closing years of the latter period; and the nave and transepts, the aisles and adjoining side chapels were built in the middle of the fifteen hundreds. that the western half of ghent cathedral was the work of a brabant architect, is more than likely, for though there is no documentary evidence to show who was its author, it has all the characteristic features of the brabant style. the position and character of the tower--lofty, massive, bold, proudly standing at the head of the church, with its lower stage as wide and as high as the nave and incorporated with it; the peculiar treatment of the triforium--not an arcade, but a simple gallery of sculptured stone; the triangular _oculi_ in the gables of the transepts, and the vast windows, divided by great y-shaped mullions, which light them, these and a host of other things too numerous to mention proclaim with no uncertain voice what manner of man made it. in every age and in every land it has been the aim of gothic masons to make their buildings, and especially their religious buildings, the incarnation of this mandate--_sursum corda_. almost always they succeeded, but often, and this is notably the case in england, their most successful efforts are cramped and narrow, or at all events from their great height seem so. the gothic architects of brabant set themselves a harder task, which, in spite of its difficulty, they not infrequently accomplished. their churches should, indeed, sing _sursum corda_ as loudly as the rest, but they should add to it no less loudly this other refrain--_in loco spatioso_. the builder of the cathedral at ghent in this respect triumphed magnificently: saint bavo soars like an archangel, and it would be hard to find a church which more emphatically preaches breadth. not only is the building in reality broad and high, it looks so; nay, it has the appearance of being broader and higher than it actually is. in order to invest it with a large atmosphere the architect who designed it not only gave breadth to his ground plan but made all his openings broad, taking care that those most in evidence should be broader in proportion than the rest. thus the surface covered by the nave and aisles is almost a perfect square. indeed, the distance from north to south is slightly greater than that from east to west. of this vast space the central avenue embraces, roughly speaking, two-fifths, the adjacent avenues each about one-fifth, and each of the outer avenues one-tenth. in other words, the nave is twice as broad as the inner aisles, and these bear much the same proportion to the outer aisles. also, in order to give them greater breadth, he economised his openings, and in the case of windows reduced the intervening masonry to a minimum. thus the nave, notwithstanding its great length, has only four bays--the object of this was no doubt to give breadth to the cross vistas--and consequently in its clerestory there are but eight windows, four on each side, and the same number in the walls of the outer aisles. in spite of the vast span of the arches, the several arcades have by no means a stunted appearance. they are too lofty for that, and also in the case of the central avenue the rich moulding which adorns them springs from the bases of piers without capitals, and thus we have a series of unbroken lines ascending from plinth to apex, which marvellously increases their height. arcades are often thus treated in tertiary brabant work, and even too sometimes in buildings of the second period. not that the architects who designed them despised capitals, or were ignorant of their æsthetic value, but they knew where they could be suppressed with advantage and where they could be added with effect. none of their buildings are wholly devoid of them, and at saint bavo's they are numerous and highly developed, a very noteworthy feature in the scheme of ornament: alike in transept, nave and aisles, the ribs of the vault spring from them. they are all of like fashion: bell-shaped, considerably larger above than below, and adorned, but not over adorned, by closely clinging conventional leaves. they crown cylindrical columns, sometimes single, sometimes in groups of three, five, or more, which, though they are in reality of no mean girth, by reason of their great height and of the vast bulk of the piers to which they are in each case attached, seem slender, but not so slender as to suggest weakness. one feels quite sure that each stately shaft can easily carry the burthen which rests on its beautiful head. as we have already remarked, there is no direct evidence to show who made the plans of the western half of saint bavo's, or at all events, of the nave, but the following facts are significant. it is undoubtedly the noblest ecclesiastical structure which brabant produced in the first half of the fifteen hundreds; of the brabant architects of this period the greatest was dominic de waghemakere, and he was constantly at ghent during the early days of its construction busy with the new town hall. we suspect, then, with monsieur louis cloquet, that dominic at least had his say in the matter.[ ] [ ] see _revue de l'art chrétien_, ^me livraison--mai , p. . * * * * * glorious, however, as these late gothic buildings are--and there are others in brabant no less beautiful, and how many, perhaps, still lovelier which exist only on parchment, never realised, or by the hands of iconoclasts cast down?--they are but the aftermath, the last and the loveliest flowers of a tree which when it produced them, was already almost dead. by a supreme and mighty effort it had forced the little life that was in it into one favoured branch, which thus clothed with fairest blossoms and with the freshness of their beauty still upon it, withered away like the rest. if we would contemplate the tree in its vigour we must go back to the fourteen hundreds, and more especially to the days of philippe l'asseuré--to the long peace of thirty years which followed the treaty of arras (september , ). then it was that gothic art in belgium reached the zenith of its magnificence, then it was that she first became unrivalled in the abundance and in the quality of her fruit, that each day saw some great work completed or the foundations of some grand building laid. many of these monuments have perished, but such of them as remain, though they have suffered much at the hands of enemies and of friends, bear witness alike to the genius of the artists who created them and to the public spirit and the devotion of the burghers and craftsmen who provided the funds with which they were built, and who, hard-headed, close-fisted, cautious men, as many of them were, counted it no loss to have invested so much of their capital in these unremunerative securities. in those days brabant was rich and free, and possessed of the faith which removes mountains. the years which immediately preceded the advent of the house of burgundy ( ) had been throughout the length and breadth of the netherlands evil. war everywhere and of every description, not only with alien foes, but province against province, city against city, class against class; the staple industry gone or fast going, and half the population swept away by famine and pestilence. flanders, with its fields untilled and its dykes unmended, had become what it was a thousand years before--morass and jungle, the home of wolves which preyed on the meagre flocks that remained, and of vast herds of stag and boar which ravaged the scanty patches of grain which here and there the dwindled peasantry had made shift to raise; and though other provinces had suffered less, there was dearth and wretchedness everywhere. yet of these same stricken fields some fifty years later philippe de commines was able to say, '_ils se pouvoient mieulx dire terre de promission que nulle aultres seigneuries qui fussent sur la terre._' the geographical position of the land, the energy and enterprise of its people, the advantages resultant from the union of all the provinces under one prince, and, above all, the blessing of peace; therein lies the explanation. in no quarter was the recovery more rapid, nowhere was the meed of prosperity so great as in the duchy of brabant. not only had brabant suffered less than the other provinces, but its soil was naturally more fertile, and the burghers of the great towns, now that their long-standing strife had been settled, showed themselves more apt than their fellows in flanders for example, in developing new industries and in adapting their methods of trade to the changing conditions of the commercial situation. whilst the three _bonnes villes_ of flanders--bruges, ypres, and ghent, were vainly striving to foster their dying industry to the no small detriment of their trade, by imposing exorbitant duties on foreign made goods, and at last by altogether prohibiting the importation of english cloth, the 'good towns' of brabant found salvation in the development of new industries, notably the manufacture of linen and tapestry, or, as in the case of antwerp and bergen-op-zoom, by enlarging the doors of their markets. antwerp, indeed, found a gold mine in her free fairs open to all the world without toll or tribute, and, thanks to the liberal policy which she pursued in regard to aliens, presently succeeded in diverting to her shores the foreign merchandise which had formerly found its way to bruges. also, the towns of brabant were directly or indirectly aided by the personal action of the princes of the new dynasty, who seem to have exerted their utmost endeavours to promote their welfare: louvain was indebted to duke john iv. for a boon not to be despised, for in planting his new university in the ancient capital, he practically gave to her a fresh lease of life; mechlin was helped later on by that stern and gloomy sovereign, _charles le téméraire_, who made the city of saint rombold the seat of the national parliament; the interests of antwerp were invariably pushed by the entire dynasty, often at the expense of bruges; and brussels, which for years past had been in reality, though not in name, the capital of brabant, now that that duchy was held by a prince who was also sovereign of each of the adjoining states, became, to all intents and purposes, the common capital of the netherlands, the home of a prince whose revenues were larger and whose expenses were heavier than those of any other prince of his day, whose wont it was to astonish the world by the splendour of his feasts and pageants--advertisements, costly if you will, but, from the credit they gave him, well worth the money he paid for them, of a prince whose very economies--for if philip knew how to spend, he knew too how to count and how to save--were a source of wealth to his subjects: the vast sums which he annually sank in building operations, or invested in precious stones and precious stuffs, in goldsmiths' ware, in sculpture, in pictures--so many gilt-edged securities which, if need be, could be turned into cash, and, if he had luck, at a profit--represented the sum of his savings, and much of it found its way into the pockets of brussels tradesmen. brussels, then, at this time had a market in her midst for the product of her newly-developed industries: linen, tapestry, plate, and liquor of various kinds--ale, nut brown, pale, and black, 'swart-bier,' seemingly a sort of archaic stout, and wine from her own vineyards, some of it, amongst others, from that famous vineyard of which a portion of the site is now occupied by the _jardin botanique_. hers was the profitable task of providing for the costly needs and costlier follies of the richest court in europe, of a court of which not a few of its members less distinguished for length of pedigree than length of purse, sought, after the manner of _nouveaux riches_, to blind men's eyes to the newness of their shields by the glamour of their new wealth; for philip would have none but capable officers, and in naming them did not restrict his choice to one class. he knew how to choose, and chose where he saw ability: there were great nobles at his council board, and beside them sat men of humble origin; and these were, amongst the most highly placed, the wealthiest and the most trusted, men like chancellor rolin, the son of a plain citizen of autun, or peter bladelin, who, from a dyer of buckram, became controller-general of finance. times had changed since the days when at bruges and elsewhere 'men with blue nails' were debarred even from the rights of citizenship. with a prince who could afford to be lavish, and whom policy and inclination alike prompted to expenditure, and a court made up of new men and men of ancient race, whose pride compelled them, _coûte que coûte_, to emulate these mushrooms, gold was poured out like water, and brussels flourished amazingly. every public event and every private happening was made the excuse for a revel, and what revels they were! '_convis et banquets_' to quote the words of philippe de commines, '_plus grands et plus prodigues qu'en nul aultre lieu ... baignoiries et aultres festoyements avec femmes grands et désordonnez, et à peu de honte_;' but philippe adds a saving clause: '_je parle_,' he says, '_des femmes de basse condition_.' and what strange, fantastic, grown-up children were those who took part in them! the decoration of the great pavilion of wood, conveyed by water from brussels to bruges for the wedding of charles the bold and margaret of york, in , had occupied during many months hundreds of artists and artisans from all parts of the netherlands, amongst them masters of the first order. one of the features of this marvellous construction was a tower forty feet high adorned with apes and wolves and wild boars, which, by mechanical means, were made to dance and sing, and in the great hall there were a host of other quaint creations, amongst them a whale sixty feet long, which was able to move about, several elephants, a pelican, from whose beak streamed hippocrass, and a female figure wrought in gold, with its breasts spurting wine. these strange mechanical toys were much in vogue in the fourteen and fifteen hundreds, and some of them have come down to us--'the oldest citizen of brussels, the famous "mannikin" of the _rue de l'etuve_ is still doing what he did in the days of philippe l'asseuré.' never before in the course of its history had the city of brussels been so prosperous. within the circuit of its ramparts now dwelt some sixty thousand souls--more than double the population of louvain, and nearly double that of antwerp. if brussels were not the richest city in the netherlands, it was at all events the city where the evidences of wealth were the most visible, and amongst them dissipation. when men can afford to indulge the wayward humours of 'brother ass' they not unfrequently do so, and the men of brussels at this time rode him with an exceedingly loose rein. they drank of the joys of life to the dregs, and some of them were nauseated: suicides were more frequent than of yore, and so were religious vocations. but it was not only by reason of human frailty that brussels at this time sinned: the days which had passed had unchained a devil which still continued to haunt the town, albeit those evil days were now but a memory. the wars in which so many of the inhabitants had taken an active part, and the deeds of violence which had so often accompanied the revolutions and counter-revolutions incident on the struggle for freedom in almost all the great cities, had accustomed the people to horrors, and bred in their hearts a veritable lust for blood. hence when strife arose the sequel was often death in some shape or other, and the chief effect which these crimes produced on public opinion was to fill men's minds with a morbid and universal dread of poison and of the assassin's knife. no one knew whom he could trust, friend looked askance at friend, and sturdy burghers abroad at night turned cold as they passed dark corners. the highest in the land were commonly believed to have had recourse to these methods in order to rid themselves of foes, or of friends whose existence was a bar to the realisation of their desires, and though these rumours were often groundless, the fact that they should have been so widely credited, and that those whose fair names were sullied by them should have in consequence fallen so little in popular estimation is in itself significant, and so, too, is what chastelain says concerning a repast of which duke philip once partook in the hut of a peasant. riding alone and at night from brussels towards hal he had lost his way in the forest of soignes, and the man in whose house he took refuge believed him to be an ordinary wayfarer; the meal which was set before him was a very humble one--cheese, black bread and onions--but at least 'he ate,' old chastelain notes, 'without fear of poison.' here we have one side of the picture as contemporary chroniclers have painted it. perhaps they put in the shadows too black, and maybe the scheme of colour is too glaring. vice makes more stir in the world than virtue because it is something abnormal--a monstrosity, which from its very nature compels attention; and because, too, it is more interesting than virtue, men talk more about it, and write more about it, and in doing so they are often apt for the sake of effect to exaggerate its dimensions. all this should be taken into account, and also, there is another side to the picture. it was not all frivolity and bloodshed in the 'good towns' of brabant in the days of philippe l'asseuré; the gold which was so lavishly poured out was assuredly not all squandered on the pride of the flesh, and the pride of life, and the pride of the eye. men were by no means devoid of public spirit, nor were they unmindful of the poor; splendid as were some of their own habitations, their splendour was eclipsed by the greater glory of guild hall and market and church. somehow or other, too, in spite of their revels, they found time for serious business: never were the towns of brabant so ably administered or the affairs of the duchy in such capable hands. it was an age of much literary and artistic activity, and the burghers showed themselves alike collectively and, when they could afford it, individually, generous patrons of letters and of art; also the christian religion was still a living reality for all sorts and conditions of men, and though many failed to live up to its principles there were not a few, and some of them amongst the most highly placed, who were keenly alive to the ills which afflicted society and indefatigable in their efforts to correct them, efforts which were presently crowned with no small measure of success. for strangely enough the ebullition of evil which characterised this epoch was synchronal with one of those marvellous outbursts of religious fervour which occurred periodically in the netherlands all through the middle age. perhaps it was not so strange after all, for each was the outcome in some degree of the turmoil and wretchedness which, as we have seen, formed the keynote of the preceding period. these things act differently on different natures: some under their influence become devout, others seek relief in dissipation. no people throughout the whole course of their history have continuously shown themselves more deeply impressed by sentiments of faith and christian piety than the inhabitants of those lands which are now embraced by the kingdoms of belgium and holland. we have seen how eagerly in the early days the nobles of brabant and hainault and flanders helped on the work of gerard of brogne, how staunch they were later on in their support of the cluniac movement, and to what excesses they were sometimes led by their intemperate zeal in furthering it. so, too, when peter the hermit preached his first crusade, nowhere did he find so many recruits as in this quarter of europe, and in no other land did the sons of saint francis obtain a heartier greeting: they were received with open arms by all classes of the population; even the patrician burgher, who often warned off monks, for he dreaded their wealth and influence, opened alike his doors and his purse for the followers of 'the poor man of assisi.' again, no cities in christendom were so richly endowed with charitable institutions as the great commercial centres of the low countries. they were all of them served by religious, but, mark this, all of them, or nearly all of them, under municipal control. for the burgher would be master in his own house, and, to tell the truth, in spite of his faith and his good works, was something of an 'anti-clerical'--very keen to resent the interference of the clergy in his affairs, no less eager, whenever he could, to trench on their domain. he always read between the lines in interpreting the charter of his own privileges, but scrupulously adhered to the letter of the law when theirs were called in question. albeit, though now and again there was a sharp tussle, like that for the management of the schools, in which he proved himself the better man, as a rule his relations with the priesthood were fairly cordial: the secular clergy, cut off from their chiefs, whose sees for the most part were in foreign lands, were too feeble to resist aggression; the great monastic houses were nearly all of them without the towns, and thus it rarely happened that their interests clashed with his; as for the franciscan friars, in spite of their democratic tendencies and their sympathy undisguised for the toilers whom he so often oppressed, he could not afford to quarrel with them: the services which they rendered to the sick and the poor were not to be dispensed with, and also he found them a useful check on the secular clergy whose labours and whose profits they shared, and with whom, from the force of circumstances, they were naturally often at loggerheads. this independence of spirit, this impatience of ecclesiastical control, was not peculiar to the patrician class. outcome of the national love of liberty, it manifested itself in various ways in all classes of the urban population: the trade companies provided themselves with private chapels, and seem to have claimed the right of naming their own chaplains; a host of religious confraternities were formed, more or less free from ecclesiastical control, and, for those who were inclined to be more devout, numerous lay communities of both sexes, as we shall presently see, and, in at least two cities of brabant--tirlemont and léau--there were regularly constituted chapters of canons composed exclusively of married laymen. the influence of these lay institutions--of these, so to speak, half-way houses between the world and the cloister, was far-reaching and profound. their members were held in higher esteem than either the monks or the secular clergy; hand in hand with the mendicant orders they directed the current of religious thought. curiously enough, too, there seems to have been something in the temperament of these people which, in spite of their anti-clericalism, their phlegm, their commercial pursuits, rendered them strangely susceptible to the fascination of the interior life: in the spiritual complexion of the towns there was an undercurrent of mysticism which waxed and waned intermittently all through the middle age. now it would flow so deep down and so sluggishly that it seemed almost to die away, and then it would suddenly swirl to the surface and become a rushing stream, which sometimes surged over the bounds of orthodoxy and produced the wildest extravagancies. its normal _rôle_ was to do for the foolish things of the gospel--for poverty, for purity, for meekness, what chivalry did for the pride of life and the pride of the eye, and what minstrelsy did for the pride of the flesh: surround them with a halo of romance; but it acted differently on different temperaments, and in divers times manifested itself in divers ways, according to the circumstances which called forth its energy and the various kinds of material with which it came in contact. thus it peopled the forests with hermits, humble, harmless, prayerful folk, who, working out their own salvation as best they could alone with nature and with god, saw visions and dreamed dreams, always marvellous, often beautiful, sometimes grotesque--if they did nothing else for their fellow-men they at least put a little poetry into their lives--and it raised up too, false prophets, or, by assuring them a following, made false prophets possible--fiery zealots, some of them, who before they deceived others had first made dupes of themselves, and some of them mere impostors with one object--pelf. to which class tanchelm belonged who shall say? the only contemporary account of him which has come down to us was not written by his friends. fool or knave, in this man we have a picturesque personality, and an interesting one, too, in several respects. he lived in those days of stress and whirl when the atoms which were presently to form the great communes of brabant were striving to come together: we first hear of him at antwerp somewhere about the year . who he was, whence he came, what his calling, no man could tell, but the women whispered it about that the mysterious stranger was a prophet, and at last tanchelm broke silence and publicly proclaimed in the market-place that he was indeed a prophet, and more than a prophet--the incarnation of the paraclete. half the population believed him. churches were consecrated in his honour. he lived in royal state, and when he came forth he was attended by a bodyguard of armed men. riot and bloodshed were the outcome, and in the midst of it he fled, disguised as a monk, to rome, where, strangely enough, he was not molested. when the storm had had time to lull he set out on the homeward journey, but at cologne he was arrested by the archbishop, who, less complaisant than the pope, or perhaps better informed, set him in gaol. somehow or other he contrived to escape to antwerp, where he did as he had done before, like results followed; duke godfrey meditating his arrest, the fanatic got wind of it, and again determined on flight; but as he was on his way to the wharf, whence he would have taken shipping for england, he was stabbed by a man 'full of zeal,' as an ancient writer has it. thus did tanchelm end his chequered career. his fate was not unmerited, for he himself had slain alaric, burgrave of antwerp, but in the eyes of his disciples he was a martyr, and the sect which he had founded did not die with him. it was not till the close of the eleven hundreds that religious peace was at last established throughout the length and breadth of the land, for the movement at antwerp was not an isolated one. heresy was everywhere in the air. the infection was carried from place to place by merchant and artisan, and fierce outbreaks were continually occurring, sometimes in one place and sometimes in another, all through the century. 'the social and moral disturbance provoked by the communal movement,' notes m. pirenne, sufficiently explains this state of things,'[ ] and doubtless he is right; but the fewness and the incapacity of the parochial clergy must also be taken into account. [ ] see _histoire de belgique_, vol. i. p. . for six years the canons of antwerp had vainly striven to bring back their wandering sheep. not matter, perhaps, for wonderment. when the tanchelm trouble began there was only one parish priest in the city, a man of loose life. at last they gave up the task in despair, and invoked the aid of a stranger--norbert, the famous mystic of laon, who had lately founded a missionary order which the world was beginning to talk about. this man, who was born at xanten on the lower rhine, of a rich and powerful family, had taken orders because he thought that for one of his brilliant parts and with his wealth and influence the shortest road to distinction was by way of the church. and the church did something for him: she assured him a lasting reputation, she presently set his name down in her register of canonised saints. that was not the kind of fame which norbert had in those days looked for, but if earthly glory escaped him he had only himself to thank for it. shortly after his ordination he was named court chaplain to the emperor henry v., later on he obtained a canon's stall at cologne, and then one sultry afternoon he took it into his head to ride over to a neighbouring village. a storm arose, a flash of lightning struck him from his saddle, and when he came to himself he was a changed man. he resigned his prebend, bestowed his goods on the poor, and for two years, ragged and barefoot, wandered about france and germany preaching penance. he spoke well, had the gift of address, the charm of personal beauty; he was all things to all men, as his biographer says of him, and he reckoned his converts by thousands. but norbert was not satisfied. of all the sheep he had brought to the fold how many would have never strayed if the shepherds had been faithful! the carelessness and incompetency of the parochial clergy, that was the crying evil of the day, and he would do what he could to remedy it. to this end he withdrew to the forest of coucy, near laon, with a little band of disciples, and presently there rose up in the midst of a secluded valley which norbert called _prémontré_ because, as he said, the place had been pointed out to him in a dream, a rude habitation with a church alongside of it and a few outbuildings. it was the first home of the great premonstratensian order, an order whose members, whilst leading the lives of monks, devoted themselves, at the same time, to pastoral work and to preaching. such was the man and such were the men who now undertook to convert antwerp, and thanks to their indefatigable labours the ghost of tanchelm was at last laid. whereat the canons, loth to lose their services, ceded to them their own collegiate church and themselves migrated to the chapel of saint mary, a very humble structure in those days, without the city walls, and it will be interesting to note it gradually grew into antwerp cathedral. two of the monasteries with which norbert's white canons were about this time endowed are still standing, and are still in the possession of the order: the abbey of tongerloo, in the heart of the campine, founded by duke godfrey longbeard in , and the great abbey of parc, hard by louvain, founded by the same sovereign a few years earlier. this is a most picturesque and charming spot and is well worth a visit. very little of the original work remains, but the gothic cloisters date from the close of the fifteen hundreds and they are exceedingly beautiful, so, too, the chapter-house and a most delightful old water-mill of the same period; also there is a large and valuable collection of ancient manuscripts, amongst them the original charter of endowment signed by godfrey longbeard, and in the church and in the guest-house there are a few good pictures. beguines and beghards the national tendency to mysticism was fostered rather than thwarted by the new evangelists: when the people returned to orthodoxy they were more than ever inclined to the interior life, and soon the béguinage appeared--that manifestation _par excellence_, as a recent writer has it, of urban religiosity clothed and in its right mind. in the early days of the eleven hundreds, perhaps even before norbert began to preach, there were women in belgium who lived alone, and without taking vows devoted themselves to prayer and good works. at first there were not many of them, but as the century grew older their numbers increased: it was the age of the crusades, and the cities teemed with desolate women--the raw material for a host of neophytes. these solitaries lived, not in the forest, but on the fringe of the town, where their work lay, for they served christ in his poor. presently, somewhere about the beginning of the twelve hundreds, some of them, for the sake of mutual protection, grouped their cabins together, and the little community thus formed was the first béguinage. whence the name is hard to say. various explanations have been suggested. maybe it is derived from the old flemish word _beghen_, in the sense of to pray, not in the sense of to beg, for the beguine never asked alms; maybe from saint begga of nivelles, where, it is said, the first institution of this kind was established; maybe, again, from lambert le bègue, a zealot of liége, who died in , after having expended a fortune in founding on his own estate a church and cloister for women whom the crusades had deprived of their natural protectors. the cloister has long since disappeared, but the church is still standing, it is dedicated to saint christopher, and is a very beautiful specimen of transition work. the beguine was only half a nun. the vows which she took were not irrevocable; she could return to the world when she would, nor did she renounce her property. if she was without private means she neither asked nor accepted alms, but supported herself by her spindle, or by taking in needlework, or sometimes by teaching the children of burghers. during the time of her novitiate she lived in the house of the 'grand mistress' of her cloister, but afterwards she had her own dwelling, and, if she could afford it, was attended by her own servants. the same aim in life, kindred pursuits and community of worship were the ties which bound her to her companions. there was no common rule, each béguinage fixed its own order of life, and was submitted only to the jurisdiction of its own superior, though later on many of them adopted the rule of the third order of saint francis. nor were these communities less varied as to the social status of their members: some of them, like the béguinage of bruges, only admitted ladies of noble birth; others, like the little béguinage of louvain, were exclusively reserved for persons in humble circumstances; others, again, opened their doors wide to women of every condition, and these were the most densely peopled--several of them, like the great béguinage of ghent, numbering their inhabitants by thousands. such was this semi-monastic institution. admirably adapted to the spiritual and social needs of the age which produced it, it spread rapidly throughout the land, and soon began to exercise a profound influence on the religious life of the people. by the close of the twelve hundreds there was hardly a commune in belgium without its béguinage, whilst several of the great cities had two, or three, or even more, and, mark this, each of these institutions was an ardent centre of mysticism. there was a béguinage at brussels before the year . witness a bull of this date of pope innocent iv., authorising the beguines of that city to recite the divine office, and by the close of the century it seems to have attained considerable prosperity. it occupied a large tract of land, says wauters, between the chaussée de laeken and the couvent des dames blanches, and contained several streets and spacious gardens. it possessed its own church, which, by concession of the dean and chapter of molenbeke, was, in , made extra-parochial, its own water-mill, granted by duke john i, in , and a hospital for sick poor, founded by the same sovereign four years later. the community was suppressed at the time of the french revolution, and no relic of it remains save the church--not the original building, but a reconstruction of . it now serves as a parish church, and is dedicated to saint john the baptist. the grand béguinage at louvain was probably founded early in the twelve hundreds. two inscriptions rudely carved in stone, and now placed on each side of the northern doorway of the church, respectively attest that the cloistral buildings were commenced in , and the church itself a year later. this structure consists of a long rectangular nave, with a clerestory, but no triforium, and single lean-to aisles, which are of the same length as the nave. there is no steeple, but a small bell turret marks the entrance to the choir, which is lighted by a huge east window filled with beautiful tracery. the interior is singularly plain, and, save for the capitals, rudely carved with foliage and grotesque figures, there is no sculpture, or at all events there is none visible, though doubtless if the plaster were removed from the walls some relics of stone carving or moulded brick would be brought to light. we have here a typical béguinage church of the latter half of the twelve hundreds. the church of the béguinage of bruges, for example, which dates from the same period, is almost a _facsimile_, and this type prevailed, at least in its main outlines, until the end of the gothic period, and even in some cases until later. [illustration: from the béguinage louvain] the béguinage of louvain is one of the most picturesque in belgium. it is situated on either side of the dyle, here a narrow stream, which winds through a labyrinth of crooked streets, and presently, after passing through a little bridge, disappears behind the hospital, which gives on the churchyard, where there are yew trees and a great stone crucifix. it is a very quiet, homely spot this béguinage, full of old-world memories, and the widows and maidens who dwell there while away their lives in much the same way as their predecessors did in the thirteen hundreds. there were beguines at mechlin as early as . at this epoch their cloister was in the centre of the town, but its exact site is not known. in they migrated to a spot beyond the ramparts, on the western side of the city, between the dyle and the chaussée d'anvers. this cloister was totally destroyed during the religious troubles of the fifteen hundreds. towards the close of the century, when order was once more established, the beguines, having obtained permission of the civic authorities, returned to the centre of the city and erected for themselves the cloister which they at present inhabit, and later on ( - ), the imposing temple in which they still worship. this béguinage was again suppressed at the time of the french revolution, and again re-established during the opening years of the eighteen hundreds, but only a portion of their property was restored to the community, and at present the greater number of the houses are occupied by private individuals. many other béguinages still exist in brabant, and, indeed, all over belgium, but many more have been suppressed, and the buildings which once sheltered the religious are now used for secular purposes. the largest of the existing communities of this kind is that of ghent, which numbers nearly a thousand members, and the smallest is probably that of dixmude, which has only three. the religious movement of which the béguinage was the outcome brought forth also, about the same time, or perhaps a little later, several similar institutions for men. of these the beghards, or, as they were sometimes called, the brethren of penance, were the most widespread and the most important. their members were all of them laymen, and, like the beguines, took no vows, observed no fixed rule of life, and were subject only to their own superiors, but, unlike them, they had no private property: the brethren of each cloister had a common purse, dwelt together under one roof and ate at the same table. they were, for the most part, of humble origin--weavers, dyers, fullers and such like, and were often men to whom fortune had not been kind--men who had outlived their friends, or whose family ties had been broken by some untoward event, and who, by reason of failing health or advancing years, or perhaps on account of some accident, were unable to stand alone. each establishment was self-supporting; the members plied their wonted trades, and lived as best they could on the meagre product of their united toil. if, as monsieur pirenne observes, 'the mediæval towns of belgium found in the béguinage a solution of their "feminine question,"' the establishment of these communities afforded them at least a partial solution of another problem, which pressed for an answer--the difficult problem of how to deal with the worn-out working-man. it should be borne in mind, however, that the primary object of all these institutions was not a temporal but a spiritual one. their members, who for the most part had received so small a share of this world's good things, had banded together, not, in the first place, that they might be able to keep the wolf from the door during the few years of life that remained to them, but in order to ensure for themselves in the next world, as they confidently believed, an eternity of bliss. nor, whilst working out their own salvation, were they unmindful of the spiritual welfare of their neighbours, nor, for the matter of that, of their temporal welfare either. the celites, a kindred community to the beghards, were wholly occupied in tending the sick and burying the dead--and, thanks to their intimate connection with the trade companies, they were able to largely influence the religious life, and to a great extent to form the religious opinion of the mediæval towns of belgium, or, at all events, in the case of their working population, during more than two centuries. they did not, however, escape the fate which, sooner or later, overtakes all human institutions: before the close of the middle age they were, most of them, in full decadence. not, as so often happens, that their life was crushed out by the weight of gold: though, as time went on, they acquired endowments, they never attained to wealth or anything like it; they waned with the waning of the cloth trade, and, when that industry died, gradually dwindled away. their crazy ships were sorely tried by the storm of the fifteen hundreds. some of them went to the bottom, some weathered its fury, but were so battered that they afterwards sank in still water; a few, somehow or other, managed to keep afloat till another and a fiercer hurricane at last dashed them to pieces. the brethren of penance rapidly spread all over the low countries, and even penetrated into france and into the provinces beyond the rhine. there were beghards in brussels as early as , perhaps even at a still earlier date, and they observed no fixed rule till , when they became franciscan tertiaries. they earned their livelihood by weaving cloth; indeed, until , when the cloth trade was practically dead, no man could join the order unless he were a member of the weavers' company, and, naturally enough, they lived in the weavers' quarter behind the town hall. their convent was situated in the street which still bears their name, or rather in the _rue des alexiens_, a continuation of the _rue des beghards_, and which at one time seems to have formed part of it. it stood at the foot of a steep hill, and the brethren called their home _mariendael_, or mary's valley. beghards and beguines were everywhere renowned for their tender devotion to the madonna--a devotion which they sometimes liked to emphasise in the mystical names they gave to their dwellings. thus the béguinage of vilvorde, for example, was 'our dear lady's consolation,' '_onze lieve vrouw-ten-troost_,' '_solatium sanctæ mariæ_.' the zacites or brethren of the sack were also established in brussels at a very early date; they were never a numerous community, and in , having dwindled down to seven aged brethren, their convent was suppressed by the civic authorities, and its revenues bestowed on the new carthusian priory which the city was at this time founding at scheut. as for the expelled zacites, six of them were placed in charitable institutions, and the seventh, who was by profession a surgeon, received a small life pension. their chapel still remains; it is situated in the _rue de la madeleine_, and is well worth visiting--not so much on account of its architectural beauty, for it can never have been anything else than a very plain and unpretentious building, and, moreover, it has been spoiled by clumsy restoration; but it is interesting from its great age--it dates from the close of the twelve hundreds--and because it is the last remaining relic in brussels of a very curious group of religious communities composed entirely of laymen. the ardent spirit of mysticism, which had raised up in the course of the twelve hundreds the beguines and the brethren of penance, waxed rather than waned as time went on, fostered and nourished by these institutions; nor is it surprising that some of their members, untrammelled as they were by ecclesiastical control, should presently have developed opinions not in harmony with the christian faith. amongst them, in the opening years of the thirteen hundreds, sister hadewych, who, in the vulgar tongue, wrote glowing prose and frenzied verse, in which she illustrated the divine charity by profane comparisons, couched in the language of earthly and carnal love; and--unless she were the same individual, which is not unlikely--the famous brussels mystic, bloemardine, who boldly proclaimed that man in this life could attain to such a state that sin would be impossible to him, and likewise progress in virtue, and that then he could give free rein to his passions without fear of incurring guilt. crowds were captivated by her burning eloquence; even at court she had numerous disciples; they gave her a silver throne, which, when she had sat in it, was said to be invested with miraculous powers; it was currently believed that she was attended by two seraphim when she approached the holy table; and it is significant of the trend of public opinion, that the opposition of jan van ruysbroek, himself a mystic, but of a very different order, and at this time the best beloved and most influential of the brussels secular clergy--we shall have much to say of him later on--gained for him only the contempt and ridicule of the people, who made him the subject of ribald songs, which were howled after him in the streets. nor was bloemardine the only devotee whom an extravagant mysticism had deprived of mental ballast: there were beghards and beguines all over the country who were the victims of like delusions; the wildest opinions were held and publicly proclaimed to be orthodox--opinions, some of them, which seem to have differed little from the religious and political opinions professed by anarchists to-day. of course the people gave ear to them, in all the great towns of the netherlands these fanatics had numerous disciples, and the violent outbreaks against the jews, which occurred periodically all through the thirteen hundreds, were in great measure due to their teaching. the bulk of their adherents were among the most abject of the population--weavers, dyers, fullers and such like, who, underpaid and without resources, living from hand to mouth, were often compelled, when sickness came or when work was slack, to have recourse to shylock, and sometimes they made him pay the penalty of his extortions. if to slay the jew were no sin, why not thus obtain freedom? why not wipe out the debt in the blood of the man whose fathers had shown as little pity to christ as he himself had to them? a riot of this kind occurred in , and it needed all the energy and decision of duke john ii., who, like most of the sovereigns of brabant, favoured the jews, to hinder a general massacre. their houses were pillaged and wrecked, but they themselves escaped to the castle of genappe, which john had placed at their disposal; and he at last succeeded in quelling the mob which was clamouring round its walls for their lives. after the great pestilence of , when the poverty and wretchedness of the lesser folk had increased tenfold and the people had been lashed to frenzy by the preaching of the flagellants, a more serious outbreak occurred. a certain jewish convert was at this time one of the most trusted servants of duke john iii. aware of the peril which threatened his compatriots, he commended them to his master's protection. 'be of good heart,' said john, 'not a hair of their heads shall perish.' but it was beyond his power to make his words good. prince henry, in order to curry favour with the people, placed himself at their head, a score of hebrews were cut down, and amongst them, despite his conversion, john's servant; and twenty years later the advent of the dancers, a kindred sect to the flagellants, was the signal for a fresh massacre. the trouble which overtook the jewish colony at brussels in must probably be placed in a different category: it seems to have been the direct outcome of the bigotry and fanaticism, not of the christians, but of some of the jews themselves. albeit, this should be borne in mind: we have only the christian version of what took place. if some hebrew scribe had recounted the story he would doubtless have given it a different complexion. the only official document which has come down to us anent this affair was drawn up some thirty years after the event; but since the redactors had themselves presided at the trial of the incriminated jews, they must have been at least acquainted with the main outlines of the case, though possibly their memory may have failed them as to details. doubtless they shared the prejudices and superstitions of the age in which they lived, but there is no reason to suspect their good faith, they were educated men of high social standing in the city of brussels, and they seem to have enjoyed the respect and confidence of their fellow-townsmen. the following is the gist of the story of the famous miraculous hosts as they relate it. towards the close of the year a certain hebrew fanatic, one jonathan of enghien, furious at the numerous conversions which had recently taken place amongst his co-religionists, determined to show his contempt for the christian faith by outraging that which those who believed in it held to be most sacred. to this end he purchased the assistance of john of louvain, a jew who had lately discarded the hebrew faith. this man contrived to purloin from the parish church of saint catherine at brussels sixteen consecrated wafers which, as had been agreed, he brought to jonathan at enghien, who forthwith summoned his friends, and in their presence made the sacred species the subject of his scorn. three days afterwards he was found dead in his garden--slain by a dagger thrust. his widow, believing that this misfortune had come upon her on account of the stolen wafers, had them secretly conveyed to the synagogue at brussels--perhaps that strange old house in the rue ter arken which from time immemorial has been called la maison des juifs--where soon a great throng of hebrews assembled to examine the christians' sacred bread; and some of them with the points of their daggers pricked the hosts, whereat, so runs the legend, there spurted out drops of blood. dismayed at the prodigy, they took counsel as to how they might best be rid of 'this bread of evil omen,' and at last persuaded a jewess named catherine who had recently become a christian, to carry it to cologne. hardly had she set out on the journey, however, than she was seized with qualms of conscience and retraced her steps, sought out the priest of saint catherine's, told him all that had happened, and restored to him the consecrated wafers which john van loven had stolen six months before from his church. presently the matter was brought before duke winceslaus. such of the jews whom catherine had denounced, and who had not already fled, were at once put under arrest, and in due course tried, found guilty, and sentenced, some to lifelong exile, others to be burnt at the stake, and all of them to the forfeiture of their estates. accounts vary as to the number who suffered the death penalty--three, five and seven being severally mentioned. as for the informer catherine, she was kept in close confinement by way of precaution until the whole matter had been cleared up. her prison, it is said, was an upper chamber above the baptistery of the church of saint gudule, in which it was at one time customary to detain suspicious characters. it will be interesting to note that this cell is still in existence, and that the east wall is pierced by a little window giving on the interior of the north aisle, by means of which prisoners were able to assist at mass without leaving their place of confinement. bearing in mind the punishments in vogue at this time--to be buried alive, for example, was the penalty due to treason, and the vintner found guilty of falsifying his wine was burned in the vat containing the adulterated liquor--the hebrew fanatics, whose excesses we have just recounted, do not seem to have been treated with any extraordinary harshness on account of their nationality. if any christian burgher had committed a like offence, no less severe a penalty would assuredly have been meted out to him. [illustration: saint catherine's, brussels.] the city of brussels still contains a memorial in stone of this weird tragedy: the beautiful sacrament chapel which was added to the church of saint gudule in was built as a shrine for three of the 'miraculous hosts.'[ ] [ ] see p. . but to return to ruysbroek. his campaign in favour of orthodoxy had not promoted his temporal weal. bloemardine, as we have seen, had friends at court, and it was perhaps owing to their opposition that he still filled, at the age of fifty, the humble post of vicar, or as we should say, curate, of saint gudule's, and that, in spite of his acknowledged worth, and the great name his spiritual writings had already made for him. but in truth his dress, his manner of life, his whole bearing was not such as to commend him to the friendship of the world of wealth and fashion, often then as now the shortest road to preferment. if he were not of the people, he lived amongst them, and fared as they did. like them he was squalid, ill-housed, half-clad, very often hungry. what time he could spare from his pastoral duties he devoted to contemplation and to writing, not in latin, but in his own rude native tongue, some of those marvellous mystic treatises which later on gained for him world-wide renown and the title of father of flemish prose. union with god and to assuage the sufferings of christ in his poor, this was his highest ambition: fat livings and comfortable stalls were things which he never thought of. ruysbroek, however, was not destined to remain to the end of his days an obscure curate: in the year a circumstance occurred which caused him to change the scene of his labours, and presently he was called upon to fill a more responsible and dignified position. it happened thus. franz coudenberg and jan hinckaert, friends of ruysbroek's, were near kinsmen, and each of them occupied a canon's stall at saint gudule's. they sympathised with the aspirations of the people, had, perhaps, been mixed up in one of their abortive attempts to obtain liberty, and on this or some other ground, early in the year , coudenberg was accused of treason to duke john iii., who, with a view, perhaps, to ridding the town of a dangerous agitator, offered him a tract of land in the forest of soignes at a place called groenendael, which for the last forty years had been the site of a hermitage now occupied by coudenberg's friend lambert, a solitary whose family name is not recorded, on condition that he should build a monastery there for five brethren, of whom at least two should be priests. perhaps the offer was one which coudenberg was not free to refuse, perhaps it was tantamount to a sentence of exile, which included within its scope hinckaert and ruysbroek as well. in any case, coudenberg did not refuse it, and when early in the following year he withdrew to groenendael, these men went with him. it was not, however, till five years later that the new community was regularly organised and that the brethren adopted a definite rule. on the th of march pierre de clermont, bishop of cambrai, clothed them with the habit of canons regular of the order of saint augustine, and shortly afterwards they chose jan van ruysbroek for their prior. not only did he know how to maintain discipline in his own monastery, but he was able to restore order in a host of others, and so great was his influence outside the cloister that within a few years of the founding of groenendael a whole group of new religious houses sprang up--rouge cloître, corsendonck, sept fontaines, bethléem, ter cluysen--which owed their origin to one or other of his disciples, and though they were not at first submitted to groenendael, observed the same rule and were intimately associated with it by ties of the closest friendship: for the brethren of every one of them ruysbroek was 'the master.' meanwhile he did not discontinue his literary work, and as a man of letters no less than as a theologian and a reformer, ruysbroek deserves to be studied. writing in prose and in the vulgar tongue, he addressed himself in the first place to the people, for the art of reading was at this time sufficiently widespread, but in what he wrote there was no tinge of grossness or sensuality. his mystical treatises breathe the spirit of the _imitation of christ_, of which indeed they may be said to be the prototype, and by reason of the loftiness of his sentiments and the purity and the beauty of the language in which they are expressed he merits to be placed in the first rank of the spiritual writers of the middle age. he himself used so say that he wrote under the immediate inspiration of the holy ghost, and a story related by his biographer and disciple, hendrick bogaerden, goes to show that at least in his own cloister such was believed to be the case. [illustration: rouge cloître] it was ruysbroek's custom to write as he walked in the forest, and one day having prolonged his ramble beyond his wont, the monks grew alarmed and dispatched one of their number to search for him, and presently this man discovered the prior of groenendael. he was seated beneath a linden tree with his tablets in his hand, and he was surrounded with rays of light. perhaps the sun had suddenly pierced through a dark cloud, but the picture is none the less a pleasing one, and it shows in what estimation jan ruysbroek was held by his spiritual sons. nor was it only in his own cloister or in his native land that ruysbroek was regarded as a saint. in germany, in flanders, in holland, wherever his books were read, his name was held in veneration, and groenendael was constantly besieged by pilgrims, many of them from distant lands, who had come there for no other reason than to hold converse with its prior. nor was his head turned by so much adulation. to the end of his days he remained the humble, gentle, unassuming priest he had been in the days when he was an unknown brussels curate, and it was ever his delight to perform the most menial offices in his priory. he died on the night of the nd of december , in the eighty-ninth year of his age, and 'on that night,' note the chroniclers of groenendael, 'the bells of the church of deventer, where dwelt his friend geert groote, were solemnly tolled for him by invisible hands, and another friend and disciple, the dean of saint sulpice at diest, dreamed that his soul had passed from this world, and after remaining in purgatory half an hour, was carried by angels to heaven'; and they also tell us that fifty years after his death, his body having been disinterred, was found to be still incorrupt, and that it was exposed in the cloister of groenendael for three days and seen by thousands of people. strange stories these, typical of the age in which they were first told. the literary and religious revival which jan ruysbroek had inaugurated did not die with him. the brethren of groenendael and of the neighbouring monasteries at rouge cloître and sept fontaines continued to busy themselves with spiritual writings, which were largely read by the people, and amongst which may be found the flower of flemish literature of the end of the middle age; and geert groote, the most famous of ruysbroek's immediate disciples, in founding shortly before ruysbroek's death the congregation of the brethren of the common life, had placed at the disposal of fourteenth-century mysticism an organisation no less active than the béguinage had been two hundred years before. groote, who belonged to a rich burgher family, was born in the year at deventer in holland. having read at cologne, at paris, at prague, he took orders and soon obtained preferment. but his relations with the _gottesfreunde_ of cologne and, too, the books of ruysbroek--it was not till later on that he became personally acquainted with their author--gradually inclined him to mysticism, and on his recovery from a dangerous illness in he resigned his rich livings, bestowed the greater portion of his patrimony on the carthusians of arnheim, and bade farewell to the world. for a time he lived in strict seclusion, devoting himself wholly to meditation and to books, and it seems to have been during this period that he made the acquaintance of ruysbroek. but for a man of geert's exuberant energy a hermit's life was impossible: he had found a pearl of great price and he yearned to make it known. moreover, he was consumed with indignation at the worldliness of the church, and presently he was wandering from village to village and town to town calling men to repentance, proclaiming the beauty of divine love, and bewailing wherever he went the decadence of ecclesiastical discipline and the degradation of the clergy. the effect of his preaching was marvellous; thousands hung on his lips; the towns, says moll, were filled with devotees; you might know them by their silence, their ecstasies during mass, their mean clothes, their brilliant eyes full of sweetness. from amongst these a little band attached themselves to groote, and became his fellow-workers--they were the first 'brethren of the common life.' of course the reformer was opposed by the clerks whose evil lives he denounced, but the cry of heresy was vainly raised against a man no less zealous for purity of faith than he was for purity of morals, and whose success in combating error had gained for him the surname of _malleus hereticorum_. the best of the secular clergy, to escape the contagion of the prevalent disorders, sought refuge within the ranks of his society, which in due course was approved by the holy see. geert groote, however, did not live long enough to perfect the work he had begun. he died in , and his mantle fell on the shoulders of his henchman, florence radewyes. this man founded two years later the famous augustinian monastery of windesheim, which henceforth became the centre of geert groote's association, and to which later on ruysbroek's houses were also affiliated. the confraternity of the common life resembled in several respects the béguinage and the brotherhoods of penance, now decadent. the members took no vows, neither asked nor received alms, and earned their daily bread; but their houses were more closely knit together, and brothers and sisters alike busied themselves exclusively with educational work and literature, and in the case of priests by preaching. when groote began his campaign learning was at a low ebb. the fame of the schools of liége had long since become but a memory; save for a few clerks here and there who had read at paris or cologne, there were no scholars in the netherlands; even amongst the higher clergy there were some who knew nothing of latin, and the burgher was quite content if, when his children left school, they were able to read and write. groote and his friends determined to change all this; their efforts were crowned with success, and success came quickly; the schools which the brethren of the common life founded all over the land became so many ardent centres of spiritual and intellectual life. amongst the famous men whom they educated, or who served in their ranks, note thomas à kempis, gabriel biel, and the dutch pope, adrian vi.; in a word, a widespread literary and religious revival was the outcome of their endeavour, and it had not yet begun to wane in the days of philippe l'asseuré. such was the moral complexion of the low country when her art reached the acme of its magnificence, and what a marvellous conglomeration of anomalies and contradictions that moral complexion must have been--an inconsequent medley of coarseness and refinement, of luxury and restraint, of avarice and generosity, of cruelty and compassion, of heroic virtue and crying vice, and with it all a rampant spirit of vulgar commercialism, which somehow or other was not incompatible with the culture of literature and music and art, nor, stranger still, with a firm conviction of the reality of spiritual things. the god whom the men of brabant worshipped was no vague personification of nature or natural forces, no hazy abstract conception of righteousness, order, law, but a personal god, a living, loving, life-giving god, who was the founder and father and friend of the human race, the creator and master of heaven and earth, and of all things therein contained--almighty, eternal, immense, incomprehensible, infinite in intelligence, in will, and in all perfections. the saints whom they adored were no vague, shadowy heroes who lived only in the memory of the great things they had accomplished when they were on earth. they had passed through the valley of the shadow of death, but death had no dominion over them: their hand was not thereby shortened, they were still mighty to save. nay, the virtue in them was now greater than it had been in the days of their sojourning: if by their charity and their sweetness they had then been able to soothe the sick and console the afflicted, they could now bestow health and joy. if they had then reclaimed the desert and taught the husbandman how to tend his flock and to handle his plough, they could now ward off pest and murrain and assure him a bountiful harvest. so great was their love for the children of earth that no request was too trifling to claim their attention, and such was the efficacy of their intercession that no boon was beyond their power to confer. they held the first place in the heavenly court, they were the ministers and the intimate friends of the most high, and he delighted to manifest his glory in them. even their bones, and the clothes that they had worn, and the things that they had touched, were believed to be endowed with miraculous powers. they were always close at hand, and sometimes when the days were evil and the people needed heartening, they appeared to them in visible form all glorious in shimmering raiment and attended by cohorts of angels. when the famous relics of aachen were exposed in , so great was the concourse of pilgrims that it was impossible for the estates of liége to assemble. the patricians of bruges attributed the victory of rosebeke to the direct intervention of the mother of god, and it was saint michael, the patron of brussels, who obtained for the craftsmen of that city the great charter of . whatever may be thought of the religious convictions of these people, that their art was profoundly influenced by them is a fact which cannot be denied: the remnant of their work which has come down to us bears ample testimony to it, from the stateliest sanctuary to the meanest wayside shrine and from the grandest municipal palace to the carved lintel of some poor workman's cot. stories from the old and the new testament are sculptured on the façade of the town hall of louvain, the original statues which peopled the niches of the town hall of brussels were all of them the statues of saints, and on the highest pinnacle of that network of stone which forms its spire stands saint michael slaying the dragon, symbol of the ultimate triumph of good over ill. nor are these things unusual, we find them over and over again throughout the low country. this is all the more remarkable because the art of the period was in no sense hieratic: the masons and sculptors and painters of belgium at the time of which we are writing were ordinary working men, members of one or other of the craft guilds, and the patrons who employed them were not as a rule ecclesiastics but, for the most part, plain tradesmen; and yet their art was nothing less than the solemn profession of faith of the burghers and the craftsmen who created it--their creed made manifest in piled up brick and sculptured stone, in oak, in cedar, in iron cunningly wrought, in the saffron sheen of hammered brass, in the glister of gems, the glow of silk and in the burnished splendour of gold: a harmony magnifical of perfect forms and perfect tints in honour of him who is above all and in all and through all--the alpha and omega of the universe. herein we have the secret of their success--the faith that was in them, their vivid realisation of things unseen. this was how it was that in an age overflowing with luxury, a nation of merchants and manufacturers, who from the very nature of their pursuits must have been for the most part occupied with sordid things, were able to produce an art wholly untainted by sensualism, an art so glorious and so nearly perfect that it has hardly ever been equalled and never yet surpassed. thus it has ever been and thus it will ever be. the average man is too commonplace and too practical to be moved by an abstract notion. it needs something which he believes to be a living reality, something which he is convinced is immeasurably above and beyond himself to enkindle in him the enthusiasm necessary to conceive and to carry out any really great idea. art for art's sake is a formula which has sometimes hypnotised individuals of a sensitive and romantic temperament, but it has never yet converted the herd. some of us have been warring against the philistines beneath an oriflamme emblazoned with this shibboleth for the best part of half a century, and what has been the outcome? a modicum of success in the matter of wall paper and a magnificent collection of pictorial bill posters. nor can we begin to hope for any more solid results until we are at least as firmly convinced as were the sinners of brabant in the fourteen hundreds of the truth of those words which thomas à kempis uttered, and which in one phrase sum up the philosophy of his great spiritual ancestor, old jan van ruysbroek--'vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas præter amare deum et illi soli servire.'[ ] [ ] _de imitatione christi_, lib. i. cap. i. . chapter xvi _buildings and builders (continued)_ in an old collegiate church not far from brussels there is a very curious mural tablet in memory of a certain canon who in his day was seemingly a man of some distinction. the inscription is undated and it runs thus:-- d. o. m. ac memoriÆ r.ad[~m]. dñi, d. francisci vanden abeele qui ex curato ^æ portionis hujus insignis ecclesiæ dein primæ per annos sedulus et laudabilis canonicus-curator fuit; sed fuit: nunc cinis, ossa, vermis putredo nihil hæc sors mortalium nasci, laborare, mori. tu qui vivis, oculos deorsum conjice, et attende. we, throughout many pages, have been hymning the glory of brussels in the days of the burgundian dukes. that glory is among the things which have been. it was, but it has long since vanished. in the words of canon abeele's epitaph--'fuit; sed fuit: nunc ... nihil' in very large letters. the public buildings in brussels of this period--that is within the circuit of its ancient ramparts--can be counted on the fingers of one hand, and at least, so far as concerns decoration, they have entirely lost their pristine beauty. it is not to be wondered at. first came the fury of the calvinists--that was towards the close of the fifteen hundreds; almost all the old buildings of the netherlands endured many things at their hands; then the french bombardment of , when the grand' place was shattered and fourteen churches and something like four thousand houses were burnt to the ground. 'an utterly wanton piece of destruction,' notes the contemporary author of _les délices des pays-bas_, 'but in two years,' he continues, 'the city had risen from its ashes more beautiful than ever,' hardly so, but still the men of brussels had reason to be proud of their achievement: the guild halls in the grand' place date from this period. too soon came the age of whitewash and plaster, when gothic art was held in contempt. much havoc was wrought then, throughout the whole country, more a few years later ( ), when the french revolutionists invaded the netherlands. the cities suffered more from their antics than from those of any of their predecessors. churches and convents were cast down, municipal buildings wrecked, and they carried off all the art treasures they could lay hands on. at last came the gothic revival, and with it the restorer: he is hard at work still, and some say he has already wrought more havoc than all the iconoclasts put together, from the gueux to the sans-culottes. remarks of this kind are frequently made by little poets and by decadent painters who, because they have an eye for the picturesque, flatter themselves that they know all about architecture, and without any knowledge of the laws of construction or the principles of design, fancy that they are perfectly qualified to pass judgment on the work of professional experts who have devoted, perhaps, a lifetime to these subjects. [illustration: guild houses in the grand' place, brussels.] of course there have been mistakes: in the early days of the movement this was inevitable, and, even since then, and when there was less excuse, the most lamentable blunders have from time to time been committed, blunders which never ought to have been made, and which in some cases entailed mischief which is altogether past reparation. thus when the _élite_ were fascinated by the great name of ruskin, and their fingers itched to lay everything bare, there was a veritable holocaust of frescoes. whatever may have been the case in other countries, the mediæval architects of the netherlands never hesitated to conceal the natural appearance of their building materials whenever it suited their purpose to do so. rough and unsightly walls they covered with plaster, which served as a ground work for coloured decoration, and if the hue of their stone was not to their liking, they had no scruple about painting it, for in their eyes no building was complete unless it glowed with rainbow tints. though these things are now generally acknowledged, even at the present day there are restorers in belgium--not very many, thank god, but still there are some,--who obstinately persist in ignoring them. it is not so very long ago since the mural paintings in ghent cathedral were ruthlessly sacrificed in order that 'the splendour of the true' might shine forth in all its glory, and the man who did this thing now has it in his mind to flay _sainte walburge_ of furnes, a church where distinct traces of mural decoration have been found; and who shall say how many frescoes lie hid beneath the whitewash?[ ] but if a few men, here and there, have occasionally been found wanting in matters of this kind and in others no less serious, we nevertheless owe a very large debt of gratitude to the restorers, for if it had not been for their efforts many of the grand old monuments which now excite our admiration would by this time have fallen down, and, on the whole, the necessary task of restoration, always a delicate and difficult one, has been carefully and conscientiously carried out. and also this should be borne in mind, the works of art which the restorers have brought to light or preserved from destruction vastly outnumber those which have perished through their carelessness or ill-judged zeal; and in the case of frescoes we are practically no worse off than we were before, for they were all of them completely obliterated by whitewash. of course this might have been removed. the operation is not an easy one, but it has been performed in very many cases with the happiest results, notably in the church of our lady at hal and in the church of saint guy at anderlecht, where some very remarkable and very beautiful mural paintings have been laid bare, and those at anderlecht are almost in a perfect state of preservation. in brussels itself there are no mural paintings save some faint vestiges in the sablon and in notre dame de la chapelle, and this is one reason why we said that the burgundian buildings of the capital had lost their pristine beauty. beautiful they are still, but for the most part they have been pitilessly scarified, and their beauty is like the faded beauty of death, cold, rigid, grey. brussels, in a word, has lost her complexion, but he indeed would be a bold man who would set his hand to restore it. [ ] since writing this _la commission royale des monuments_ has intervened, and the proposed act of vandalism will not be perpetrated. notre-dame du sablon of the great ecclesiastical monuments of brussels wholly constructed during this period only one remains--the church commonly known as _notre-dame du sablon_, but which is in reality dedicated to our lady of victories. it was originally the private oratory of the great military guild of crossbowmen--the one mediæval guild of brussels which still exists--hence the invocation, and as most of the brethren were, by trade, either carpenters or builders, there is little doubt that this structure is the handiwork of some of them, and it is not unlikely that the master-mason who designed it was himself a crossbowman. nor is this all. not only does the church on the sablon hill owe its foundation to the members of this guild, thanks to their prowess it passed unscathed through the religious troubles of king philip's reign. the calvinists had sworn its destruction, but when on the night appointed they reached the church and found it full of armed guildsmen prepared, at all costs, to defend their property, they contented themselves with howling outside, and made no further attempt to wreck it. the crossbowmen retained possession of their beautiful oratory, and continued to administer its revenues through a committee of four members, whom they annually elected for this purpose, until the close of the seventeen hundreds, and when those stormy days had passed, and order was re-established, it became what it still is, a parish church. [illustration: notre-dame du sablon.] though there was a church on this spot early in the thirteen hundreds, and one seemingly of no mean proportions, for we learn from a contemporary register that in it was served by five chaplains, for some reason or other it was pulled down, or perhaps wrecked by fire, before the close of the century, and the actual building only dates from the fourteen hundreds. the church records were destroyed during the bombardment of , and hence we possess little information concerning the details of its construction. the most ancient portion is the south porch, which was built about . the choir must have been finished before , for frescoes bearing this date were discovered here when the choir was restored about fifty years ago, and in all probability the best part of a century had elapsed before the whole building was completed, or rather before the building operations ceased, for the church is not yet finished, and in all probability never will be. from first to last the original plans seem to have been scrupulously adhered to, save only that for some reason or other, probably from lack of funds, the idea of a tower was abandoned. this made no difference in the interior arrangement of the church: the great columns and arches at the west end of the nave, which were intended to support the projected tower, still exist, and it would not have appeared otherwise if the tower had been actually built. what was done was this--the roof of the nave was continued over the unfinished tower, and the outer walls were built exactly like the walls of the nave, and the church was made to terminate with a very elaborate western façade, which has only been completed recently, and thus, though the foundations and the lower stages of the tower still exist, as seen from the exterior, there is no indication whatever that such a feature was originally contemplated. the building is one of considerable dimensions, the plan is a latin cross with a polygonal apse to the choir, and it measures feet by feet at the transepts, and feet at the nave, and is very nearly feet high. it had originally double aisles, but the outer ones have been converted into fourteen side chapels, several of which in days gone by were the private chapels of some of the trade companies. here we have a typical brabant church of the fourteen hundreds. it is not, however, one of the best specimens of the period. the exterior is undeniably fine; the most captious critic could hardly quarrel with it; nothing could well be more beautiful than the choir and the south transept, with that cluster of outbuildings nestling in the corner between them, which give the required touch of the picturesque, and are not high enough to mar the buttresses or the tapering beauty of the graceful lancet windows. if we could see the interior without having first seen the outside, perhaps we should go into ecstasies, but after having feasted our eyes on so much loveliness without, the feeling which one experiences on entering the church is distinctly one of disappointment. the proportions are good and some of the essential features--the triforium, for example, the clerestory, the vaulting throughout--are excellent, but the details leave much to be desired, the moulding seems skimpy, there is an unusual dearth of sculpture and of ornament of every kind, the whole building is stiff, cold, naked. surely that it should appear thus was not in the mind of the master-mason who planned it: he contemplated an elaborate scheme of coloured decoration, though perhaps it was never fully carried out. it was customary to secure for work of this kind the best artists of the day, men like john van eyck and roger van der weyden, each of whom there is documentary evidence to prove were 'illuminators of stone,' and naturally they demanded and received a high price for their services. but that something was done in this direction is quite certain: frescoes have actually been discovered in the chancel, and too, alas! wiped out, the illumination of the keystones of the vaulting still exists, and in other parts of the church there are some faint vestiges of mural painting, nor has the whitewash yet been everywhere removed. doubtless, when this is done, more will be brought to light. for the rest, no lover of mediæval art will think of leaving brussels without having first visited this most interesting building. [illustration: notre-dame de la chapelle.] notre-dame de la chapelle the church of notre-dame de la chapelle has been for many centuries[ ] what it still is, a simple parish church, the parish church of a district which has never been a rich one, and which, when the foundation stone was laid, and for more than three centuries afterwards, was the poorest quarter of the city. in those days this stately structure towered high above the squalid huts of turf or wood which the weavers called their homes; fires were frequent then, and in the great conflagration of , which destroyed fourteen hundred houses, the old sanctuary, where so many generations of downtrodden toilers had brought their woes and grievances to the throne of the most high, was all but burnt down. the choir and transepts were not so injured as to be past reparation, but the nave and the aisles and the tower were wholly destroyed, and it was decided to rebuild them in such a fashion that the poor man's church should be second to none in the city. for something like fifty years they laboured at it, and when at last the work was completed, not even the great collegiate church of saint michael and saint gudule was more lovely than the chapel in the weavers' quarter. saint gudule's was of course, a larger church than notre-dame, but in those days the difference in size of the two buildings was not so great as it is at present: saint gudule's has waxed both in size and beauty since then, as we shall presently see, and notre-dame has waned. villeroi shattered the spire in , and some forty years before, two very beautiful side chapels on the north of the chancel were made one, which is not beautiful, and perhaps, too, when the church was restored after the french bombardment, the arrangement of the roof was altered: the more recent portion of the building is very considerably higher than the earlier work, and the junction is not very happily effected, at all events as seen from the exterior. this can hardly have been the original arrangement, unless, indeed, it was only regarded as a temporary one, with a view later on to the reconstruction of the transepts and the chancel, in the same style and on the same magnificent scale as the rest of the building. if this were the original plan of the architect, and if it had been successfully carried out, brussels would have been possessed of the _chef-d'[oe]uvre_ of brabant architecture, but on the other hand she would have lost a very beautiful specimen of early transition work, perhaps the most beautiful in the low countries. [ ] it was made a parish church in . previous to this date it was a chapel of ease to saint gudule's. the plan of the nave of _notre-dame de la chapelle_ is very similar to that of the sablon, but it is a longer and broader and higher building, the columns are bolder, the mouldings richer, and the capitals are more elaborately and more delicately carved. if the sablon church could be re-invested with the gold and colour which, we believe, it originally possessed, its glory would be outshone by the greater glory of the bare walls and the white windows of _notre-dame de la chapelle_. for this church, too, has been scraped, and no vestige of its ancient stained glass remains. the old story: the calvinist, the whitewasher, and the restorer. there are still, however, some faint traces of fresco work: there is a ruddy glow on one of the massive columns which separate the south transept from the outer south aisle, which, if one steadily gazes at it, presently assumes the shape of an aureoled figure draped in crimson robes; and here and there on the walls there are large patches of a delicate hue, like the tint of faded rose leaves. at first one imagines that they are patches of that beautiful pink stone--a species of porphyry--with which so many of the churches in the rhine valley are built, between mainz and coblenz, but on closer inspection it will be found that they are remnants of mural painting. the removal of the whitewash from this church took place at a sufficiently distant date for that cunning illuminator, time, who works swiftly nowadays in our smoky northern cities, to accomplish something in the church of notre dame of which he need not be ashamed. the _glacis_ with which he has enamelled the bare stone in nave and aisle and transept, if it is not as brilliant as the blue, the vermilion, the burnished gold with which john van eyck or roger van der weyden would have adorned it, is at least more beautiful and more lasting than the pigments which would have been employed if any modern master-painter had taken the matter in hand. there are two rare and striking features in this building to which we would draw the reader's notice: the triforium, perhaps the most perfect existing expression of the brabant architect's ideal of what a triforium should be; and the clustered cylindrical columns beneath the tower, which itself forms, as is the case in most brabant churches, the first bay of the nave. the treatment of these columns constitutes almost a reversion to the method of treating grouped columns during the first period of gothic architecture. each group consists of a central column of the same form and dimensions as the columns which support the other bays of the nave, and four columns attached to it of like form, but more slender. this method of treating groups of columns, though not so rare in brabant as in england in third period work, is nevertheless sufficiently uncommon, albeit groups of this kind are occasionally to be met with even in the latest gothic work. witness the group in the chancel of _notre-dame au-delà de la dyle_ at mechlin. [illustration: notre-dame au-delÀ de la dyle.] symmetry, simplicity, unity, these are the most striking characteristics of notre-dame de la chapelle: the great cylindrical pillars on each side of the central avenue are all made after the same model, the clustered columns which separate the inner from the outer aisles are alike, nearly every capital throughout the building is carved in one fashion, triforium answers to triforium, spandrel to spandrel, arch to arch, each window, alike in aisle and clerestory, beholds in the window opposite the reflection almost of its own fair face. and yet in crystallising the child of his fancy, the designer of this church was able to impress his handiwork with the charm of the picturesque. how did he accomplish this feat? artist as he was to his finger-tips--all architects were artists in those days, and this man was surely the first of his craft--he knew very well that if a building were perfectly and geometrically symmetrical it would be as cold and as stiff and as lifeless as a statue designed under similar conditions, and he subtly introduced into his ground plan a modicum of irregularity: he made the western bay of his central avenue slightly narrower than the three succeeding bays, these of like dimensions, and the fifth and the last, which are not equal to one another, each of them a trifle broader. the discrepancies are so minute that they are not at first sight perceptible, but their influence extends, it goes without saying, to every part of the building. further, such was his sublime contempt for the sacrosanct law of precision, that he ventured on something bolder still: he determined not to make the central line of his nave the true central line of the building; in other words, that each of the northern aisles should be narrower than the corresponding aisle on the other side of the church. and here again the dissimilarity is imperceptible, and that, though the difference in width of the inner aisles is something like two feet, and in the case of the outer aisles no less than four feet seven inches. most impressive is the view of the nave as one stands beneath the chancel arch, no less pleasing is the view athwart the church as seen from the baptistery chapel with the face turned towards the south-east, but choose what coign of vantage you will, and you shall behold visions of loveliness. saint michel et sainte gudule the saint to whom the mother church of brussels is dedicated, is, and has been from time immemorial, almost a phantom saint, a half-forgotten memory, little more than a name--gudule, or as the earlier chroniclers have it, gudila. of her life's story hardly anything is certainly known. if any scribe of her own day wrote of her, no trace of his writing remains. the manuscript, if it ever existed, was no doubt destroyed at the time of the danish invasion, and when the storm had passed, and a new generation of chroniclers began to gather up the fragments--to collect, that is, and to note down from the lips of the few monks who had survived its fury, whatever they had to relate of the sayings and doings of the saints whose _acta_ had perished, they seem to have been able to learn very little of the life of gudila, save that she was among the forbears of charlemagne's race, that she dwelt in a castle hard by alost, at a place called mortzel, and after having lived an exemplary life, died there in the odour of sanctity somewhere about the year . [illustration: saint michel et sainte gudule.] the earliest life that has come down to us, however, was not penned by any of these chroniclers: it dates from a much later period and cannot have been written before , for it gives an account of the translation of saint gudila's relics which took place in that year. it is dedicated by the author, one hubert, perhaps a canon of _sainte gudule_, to his 'beloved brother albert, who had given him an old manuscript containing a few scanty notes--rare jewels, but ill cut and ill set--concerning the virtues of gentle gudila,' in order that he might turn them into good latin. this seems to have been the main source of hubert's information, and being seemingly an honest man who scorned to draw on his imagination he has very little to tell us of his heroine's intimate life. 'in my opinion,' he says, 'it is a holier thing to keep silence than to tell lies.' that 'gentle gudila' was in reality what is called a saint seems to be sufficiently probable. the fact that she has always been held to be such by the inhabitants of her native land is in itself _prima facie_ evidence that she deserved to be so regarded: the verdict of the multitude in cases of this kind is not to be lightly set aside. albeit a very great roman ecclesiastic seems to have had his doubts on the matter--pope julius ii.'s famous legate, bernardino carvajal, better known from his titular church as the cardinal di santa croce. it is related by the monks of afflighem that it was his wont when he visited the mother church of brussels thus timidly to invoke the patron saint to whom that church is dedicated--_si es sancta ora pro me._ the name of gudila has been associated with brussels since the days of that unfortunate sovereign, duke charles of lotharingia. the abbey of mortzel was at this time in the hands of a certain feudal chief, one wulfger, whose father under pretext of protecting the nuns, had obtained possession, of their property, and established himself in their abode. when charles ascended the throne ( ), he did what he could to evict this man, but though wulfger refused to budge, and the duke was not strong enough to coerce him, he was able at last to obtain possession of his kinswoman's bones. in he carried them to brussels and laid them up in the chapel of saint géry, an ancient sanctuary hard by his own dwelling, and which was said to have been founded by gudila's grandfather--old pepin of landen. here her relics remained for something like seventy years. meanwhile the village of brussels was beginning to grow into a little town, the old fortress on the banks of the senne had been abandoned, and the rulers of this part of the country, who now sometimes styled themselves counts of brussels and sometimes counts of louvain, had migrated to a new habitation on the hill called coudenberg, somewhere about the spot where the royal palace now stands. on a neighbouring height stood a humble oratory dedicated to saint michael: its exact site is unknown, but it cannot have been very far from the place at present occupied by the church of saint gudila. no man could say when it was built or who was the founder; it had been there from time immemorial, nothing more was known of it. it was a very humble structure, little more than a wayside shrine, but no place of public worship was nearer his abode, and perhaps it was for this reason that count lambert ii. determined to rebuild it on a larger scale and in worthier fashion, and to establish there a chapter of canons. he did so, and early in the new church was consecrated to saint michael and saint gudila, whose relics were the same day translated thither from their former resting-place in saint gery's. this old church, since the removal of the court, had been suffered to fall into decay, and lambert himself tells us that he found the tomb of his ancestress in a state of deplorable neglect, and that this was the reason why he transferred her relics to his new church on saint michael's mount. here they were reverently treasured for over five hundred years: in lambert's church as long as it stood, and afterwards, in the church which succeeded it, until . the calvinists were busy then purging the land, as they said, of idols, destroying, that is, works of art, wrecking and plundering wherever they could the temples of the old faith. on the night of the th of june they visited the church of saint gudila. amongst the loot which they carried off was her costly shrine; it was of gold, studded with jewels, and god knows what they did with the ashes which it contained. shrines and coffins, too, had been broken open in the hope of discovering treasure, and next morning the floor of the church was found to be strewn with human bones. these were afterwards carefully collected and buried in the chapel of saint mary magdalen, and it may well be that amongst them are the bones of 'gentle gudila.' the mother church of brussels, the church, that is, to which all the other brussels churches were formerly submitted, in origin the most ancient of them all, the largest, too, and the most interesting in many respects, perhaps not the most beautiful, but certainly the most picturesque, not only of brussels churches, but of all the churches of brabant, is not so much the monument of the people of brussels as the family monument of the princes who governed them, and more especially of the princes of the great house of louvain: from godfrey iii. onwards almost all of them had a hand in it. the work was continued by several of their successors, and was at last brought to completion during the reign of duke philip vi. (philip iv. of spain), in . during the latter half of the ten hundreds the original church of saint gudila, which stood on the spot now occupied by the nave of the present building, had been greatly damaged by fire. no attempt seems to have been made to restore it, and when godfrey iii. ascended the throne in it was fast falling into decay. he therefore determined to raise up a new church, which should be second to none in the low country, and of such vast dimensions that it could be built over the old church, which would thus be available for public worship whilst the work was in progress. this plan he presently proceeded to carry out; the old church was patched up, and in due course he solemnly laid the foundation stone of the present structure. this was somewhere about the year . at first the work was pushed on with vigour, but for some reason or other, probably owing to lack of funds, when the eastern wall of the ambulatory was completed, things came to a standstill, and nothing further was done for nearly sixty years. duke godfrey died in , and his son and successor, henry the warrior--a keen, unscrupulous, strenuous prince, with a passion for territorial aggrandisement, and never happy unless he were doing something to promote the prosperity of his beloved towns, was too occupied with intrigue and warfare until the closing years of his long and successful career to have any leisure for church building. it was not till that he at last began to seriously think of realising his father's project, and he did something more than think about it: in the beautiful transition work in chancel, transept and ambulatory we have the result of his meditations. henry himself, in the deed by which he endowed the chapter of saint gudila's with ten new stalls, informs us of the motive which had inspired him. the work had been resumed, he says, by his order 'in honour of the blessed virgin.' but was he impelled by no other motive than his devotion to the mother of god? what we know of the antecedents of the man suggests an affirmative answer. the famous road from cologne to bruges--that road on which, as we have already seen, the commercial prosperity of the cities of brabant at this time wholly depended--before entering the duchy of brabant passed through the _pays de liége_, and the bishop who ruled that little principality was thus enabled, whenever he would, to create a commercial crisis by closing up that portion of the great trade route which traversed his domains. to this state of things the burghers of brabant objected, and duke henry would fain have put an end to it by transferring the see of saint lambert to one of his own towns. though after the disastrous battle of montenaeken (october , )--'saint lambert's triumph,' as the men of liége called it--he had humbled himself before hugh of pierrepont and sued for pardon on bended knees, his reconciliation with the bishop was only a feigned one, nor had he in reality abandoned his scheme; and it is more than likely that when, in his old age, he at last set his hand to the task which his father had left undone, he flattered himself that the church he was rearing would one day be a cathedral. during the long peace which brussels enjoyed from the closing years of the warrior's reign to the end of the reign of his great-grandson, duke john the victorious, the building operations at saint gudila's were carried on continuously, but the progress made was comparatively slow, for the dukes were often short of cash, and were obliged to have recourse to all kinds of expedients to raise the necessary funds. in , however, the chancel was completed and the greater part of the transept, and it is most likely that in the same year the old church was pulled down. all the work done during this period may be described as first pointed. the tracery of the clerestory windows is, of course, flamboyant; it was substituted for the original tracery during the first quarter of the fifteen hundreds. in the course of the succeeding century the north aisle was added and the lowest stage of the nave, and at least the foundation of the towers, all this in the style then in vogue--second pointed. here we have the work of three sovereigns, john ii., john iii., and duchess jeanne, the last of the sovereigns of brabant of the old louvain line. the building was completed by the dukes of the burgundian dynasty, and the distinctive features of brabant architecture now become more emphasised. in the nave, for example, we have the beginning of that transformation of the triforium, which was so marked a feature in the brabant style. here it is still a separate story, still a passage in the thickness of the wall, but the arcading has completely disappeared, and in its place is a series of vertical bars which are simply a continuation of the mullions of the windows above. these are in the same plane as the triforium, and are only separated from it by bands of masonry so attenuated that they appear to be nothing more than transom bars. the effect is not happy: each section of the blind story with the corresponding section of the clerestory above, seems to be one huge window with the lower part bricked up. the exact date of this portion of the building is uncertain, but the nave must have been completed before , for we know that in this year the baroness de heeze was condemned by philippe l'asseuré to fill the great west window with stained glass by way of a fine for having infringed the rights of the city. the present glass, however, is of much later date. it was presented by everard de la marck, prince-bishop of liége, in . the north aisle with its lateral chapels is of later date than the fifteenth-century work in the nave, and the architecture is of a more pleasing character. the general design is much the same as that of the south aisle, but the details differ considerably: instead of clustered columns we have here richly-moulded prismatic piers. save those of the first two bays, which are of earlier date than the rest, they are all adorned with capitals. hendrick cooman, who was master mason of saint gudila's from to , probably designed the bays without capitals, and the other bays are most likely the work of his successor, jan vandenberg, the builder of the town hall, or, to be accurate, of a considerable portion of it, and who also designed the upper church at anderlecht, where all the columns have capitals. he directed the works at saint gudila's till his death in , and the richly sculptured balustrade which surrounds the roof of the nave is attributed to him. the tracery of this feature is in form unique, and more curious than beautiful. it consists of a series of _k_'s, an allusion, perhaps, to the name of the reigning duke, karel de stout (charles the bold), or perhaps to karlekin, as the flemings called charles v., but of course in the latter case it cannot be vandenberg's work. though hendrick cooman was not so famous an architect as his successor, jan vandenberg, he seems to have done very well for himself in his profession, and to have been a man of consideration in the city of brussels. he was four times a member of the town council: in , , and , and in he was named burgomaster. there were two burgomasters in brussels, it should be borne in mind. one represented the patricians and the other the plebeians, and in all probability hendrick cooman was second burgomaster. the name of the mason who succeeded vandenberg should be held in perpetual remembrance. he designed the beautiful porch, much marred by restoration, which gives entrance to the south transept--jan vereycken. he occupied the position of master-mason until his death, which took place somewhere about the close of the century, and if he did not actually complete the church of saint gudila, he at all events brought it within measurable distance of completion. at this time the east end presented a very different appearance to what it does now; the chancel aisles, like the aisles of the nave, being flanked with side chapels--four on the north side, and a like number facing south. they were probably built about the same time as the choir, as the church archives bear witness that one leefdael, a chatelain of brussels, who died in , was buried in the chapel of saint peter, the first on the gospel side. all these chapels have disappeared. those on the left were pulled down to make room for the _sainte chapelle des miracles_, of which we have already spoken, in ; and those on the right, in , when the lady chapel was built. this noble structure is of the same form and of the same vast dimensions as the sacrament chapel, but the details are less ornate. here we have the last effort of the gothic architects of brussels, an effort not unworthy of their grand traditions. [illustration: sainte gudule----the lady chapel.] whether the interior of saint gudila's was ever adorned with a complete scheme of decoration in polychromy is a doubtful question; but when the whitewash was removed, about fifty years ago, some vestiges of mural painting were discovered in the chancel, and we know from the church rolls that in a considerable sum was paid for illuminating the vault and the niches of the _sainte chapelle des miracles_. hardly any trace of this work now remains, and the frescoes have long since vanished from the walls of the chancel, but, for all that, the church of saint gudila is still radiant with colour, for it still retains a very considerable number of ancient stained-glass windows, all of which, save bishop de la marck's judgment window, display portraits of the later sovereigns of brabant or of other members of the reigning house. on the clerestory window in the middle of the apse we have the second duchess of brabant, marie de bourgogne, and her husband, maximilian of austria; on the window next to it, on the epistle side, their son philippe le beau; further on their daughter marguerite of austria, regent of the low country during the minority of charles quint; opposite, the great emperor himself and his brother ferdinand; and further on, on the same side, charles' son philip ii. of spain. these five windows were painted in . charles v. is also represented in the north transept window. he kneels alongside his wife, beneath a vast triumphal arch, and their patron saints are presenting them to the eternal father. in the window opposite, in the south transept, we have charles's sister marie, with her husband, king louis of hungary; they, too, are accompanied by their patron saints, who present them to the blessed trinity. each of these windows was designed and painted in by bernard van orley, and we know, too, what fee he received for the latter-- florins. in the second of the four great windows which pierce the north wall of the sacrament chapel, marie and louis again appear; in the first, another sister of charles quint, catherine, and with her her spouse john ii. of portugal; on the fourth, charles' brother ferdinand, and ferdinand's wife, anne of hungary. all of these three windows were painted by jan haeck, a famous illuminator of glass, of antwerp, from the designs of bernard van orley; on the third, yet another sister, Éléonore, queen of francis i. of france. here we have another piece of van orley's own handiwork. all of the princes whose effigies gleam through these windows are accompanied by their patron saints, and above the portraits are depicted incidents in the legend of the miraculous hosts. the first window shows two scenes--the bribery of jonathan, and jonathan receiving the stolen ciborium; the second, the piercing of the hosts, in the synagogue of brussels; the third, the assassination of jonathan; and the fourth, catharine preparing to carry the hosts to cologne. what are we to think of these stupendous windows? the quality of the glass is excellent, the scheme of colour glorious. it would be interesting to know if the cartoons were submitted to peter van wyenhoven[ ] before they were executed, and if so, what he thought of them. these vast pictures, with their renaissance accessories and their figures mutilated by the mullions and the gothic tracery, through which we are constrained to peep at them, should be utterly out of harmony with the architecture and the architectural scheme of ornament which they were designed to complete, but, somehow or other, they are not. in those days there were giants in the land. we pigmies must be content to admire their works, and not presume to imitate them. [ ] _see_ page . all this applies, and in a more marked degree, to the stained glass of the lady chapel. the subjects here depicted are, the presentation of our lady, her espousals, the annunciation, and the visitation; and in each case, below, with patron saints, we have the donor or donors of the window: ferdinand iii. and his wife eléonore, the emperor leopold i., the archduke albert of austria and his wife isabel of spain, and, lastly, the archduke leopold of austria. these windows are designed in the style of rubens, and they were for a long time attributed to him, notwithstanding that one of them bears the signature _t. van thulden_, legibly written, and the date, aº . this man, we now know, designed all these windows, and we also know that he received florins for his trouble. his colouring is even more glorious than the colouring of van orley or of haeck, and he sinned more boldly than did either of them against the canons of correct taste. within the walls of this ancient temple which the dukes of brabant raised to the glory of god and in honour of a saint of their own house, endowed for their souls' behoof with gold and broad acres, and richly and lavishly adorned with their own magnificent effigies, many of them found a resting-place. before the high altar is a white marble slab, bearing this inscription:--_brabantiæ ducum tumulus_; and within the vault beneath, lies john ii., who died on the seventeenth of october , and alongside of him his duchess, marguerite of england, daughter of edward i. here, too, are the ashes of catherine of france, the child-wife whom charles the bold, aged six, married in , and buried seven years later, and the ashes of her infant nephew, joachim, the eldest son of louis xi. then dauphin, born and died at the castle of genappe on the fifteenth of december , and whose little body was escorted to the tomb by dean and chapter and all the crafts' guilds, every man of them bearing three lanterns, an honour reserved for the children of kings. in the same vault sleep archduke ernest, grandson of philippe le beau, and sometime governor-general of the low country, who died at brussels in ; and at least two scions of the ducal house, whose shields were barred with a bend sinister:--that magnificent prelate jean de bourgogne, son of jean sans peur and marguerite bonzele, a lady of bruges, whose bones lie in the cathedral there, in the chapel of the seven dolours; and his nephew, corneille, lord of beveren, whom men called _grand bâtard de bourgogne_: he was the first born of good duke philip's numerous progeny, and strangely enough his mother's name was marie corbeau. in his early days jean de bourgogne had followed the profession of arms, and at this time his love affairs were almost as many as those of his half-brother philip, whom in many respects he resembled. later on he took orders, and became provost of bruges; in , thanks to philip's influence, he was named count-bishop of cambrai, and as such was a prince of the empire invested with sovereign rights. this post he held for forty years, and though he seldom visited his episcopal city, and resided for the most part at brussels--brussels, it should be borne in mind, was at this time in the diocese of cambrai--he is described in contemporary documents as a wise and merciful ruler who never failed to do justice to his subjects and was exceedingly charitable to the poor. he died at his country house near mechlin in , full of years and honours. very different was the brief career and tragic end of poor corneille. he seems to have been a youth of brilliant parts and of a singularly sweet disposition, and to have inherited alike the sterling qualities and the tumultuous passions of his father's race. of his courage and skill in warfare he gave proof on more than one occasion, and if he had not had a natural aptitude for government, philip would hardly have named him, young as he was, and in those troublous times, his lieutenant in the duchy of luxembourg. endowed with tact, with the charm of address, and, too, with the charm of personal beauty, he knew how to make himself beloved by all with whom he came in contact, too well, sometimes, as more than one woman learned to her cost. he possessed yet a rarer gift, he was able, like his father, to command respect in spite of unworthy actions, and notwithstanding the circumstances of his birth, and the fact that he was philip's favourite son, he succeeded in winning the goodwill and affection of the duchess herself, and of the count of charolais. death came to him in a fearful form and suddenly. he was slain by the men of ghent at the battle of rupelmond in the pays de waes on the th of june , and he fell flushed with victory, and with the foe in full flight. 'the day and the honour and the glory thereof were duke philip's,' says a contemporary writer, 'and yet it was a black day for the house of burgundy, for fortune, who is no respecter of persons, directed the pike of some damned disloyal villain into the mouth of messire corneille, and being thrust upwards it pierced his skull, and his brain fell through his palate, and so he died. and the good duke grieved for his bastard, and made great mourning for him, for he loved him much, and so did the count of charolais (charles the bold), and messire anthoine, his brother; and he took wouter leenknecht, the leader of the rebels, who had been brought in wounded, and hanged him on a tree, but the death of a hundred thousand rebels would not have assuaged his grief, and thus the day ended. and the body of messire corneille was sent to brussels, where the duchess gave it most honourable burial in the church of saint "gudile," for she loved him much on account of his good virtues; and duke philip founded a daily mass for the repose of his soul, and ordained that every morning his tomb should be sprinkled with holy water, and that the anniversary of his death should be celebrated solemnly with bells and torches, as is wont to be done at the obits of the princes and princesses founded in this church; and to defray the cost thereof he presented the chapter with golden crowns of gros flemish.' the last of the princes of brabant to be placed in this vault was louis philippe, eldest son of king leopold i. he died on the th of june , and when the vault was opened for his interment, some interesting relics were found: on the coffin of duke john a sword in an enamelled scabbard and a crimson velvet toque embroidered with precious stones; on the coffin of archduke ernest, his heart in a silver casket enclosed in a little coffer of oak, and scattered about on the pavement a number of mouldering bones. the crypt needed repair, and these objects were accordingly removed, but they were replaced when the work was done, and there they still remain. when the church of saint gudila was sacked in , the beautiful fourteenth-century monument which had been originally erected in memory of duke john ii. and his spouse, was utterly wrecked. the present cenotaph of black marble on the gospel side of the high-altar was erected to their memory in by their descendants, albert and isabel, who were themselves laid to rest when their time came in the _sainte chapelle des miracles_. the monument on the opposite side of the chancel with the recumbent effigy of a knight in armour is the monument of the archduke ernest. the only inscription which it bears is his motto---- _soli deo gloria._ the memorial brasses and marble slabs inscribed with the names of the other princes who are buried in 'the crypt of the dukes of brabant' disappeared when the pavement of the choir was renewed in the course of the seventeen hundreds. the mention of these mighty dead naturally suggests another mausoleum of the dukes of brabant, not in brussels itself, but hard by: the parish church of tervueren, an interesting old building of the twelve, thirteen and fourteen hundreds, in which lie buried the princes of the second dynasty--duke anthony, whose bones were brought here from the battlefield of agincourt; his first wife, jeanne of luxembourg, who died at tervueren on the th of august, ; and their two sons, poor little hunchbacked jean, the hapless spouse of jacqueline, and philippe de saint-pol. saint-pierre de louvain the mother church of louvain, like the mother church of brussels, owes its origin to lambert balderick. they are both collegiate churches; the foundation of each of them dates, if not from the same year, at least from the same decade, and in each case the original building was destroyed by fire within a century of its erection. thus far the two churches resemble one another, and here the resemblance ends. when lambert founded the church of saint gudila, brussels was already a place of some importance, and probably it was on this account that he chose to retain the lordship of the rising town in his own hands, and to endow his new chapter with lands beyond its limits. thus the canons of saint gudila's had no shred of civil authority over the inhabitants of brussels; the only jurisdiction which they possessed was a purely spiritual one; also, though saint gudila's was for many years the only parish church in the city, and even later on, when other churches were made parochial, it still held the first place, for some reason or other it was certainly not the church which the burghers most favoured, nor the one most intimately connected with their spiritual life. it was otherwise in the case of saint peter's. when saint peter's was first built louvain consisted of a fortress and a few farmhouses; the site of the new church was further up stream, in the centre of a tract of vacant land, for the most part forest and marsh, and it was on this swampy waste--the domain with which lambert had dowered his new foundation--that the future capital of brabant gradually grew up. of the nature of the ties by which the men of louvain were bound to the church of saint peter, of the duties thereby entailed, and their correlative rights and privileges, of how the former were presently evaded, and the latter to the end maintained in all their pristine vigour, of these things we have already spoken; and as we have already seen in a previous chapter, the old collegiate church was so completely identified with the city that proof that a man was _un homme de saint pierre_ was held to be sufficient proof that he was a burgher and patrician of louvain: without any further investigation he was at once admitted to all the rights of citizenship. it is not to be wondered at, then, that the louvainers regarded their church with feelings akin to veneration, or that when, in , it was for the second time wrecked by fire, they grieved for it as for a friend, but no man thought of restoring it--not then, nor for many a long day afterwards. louvain was in the throes of revolution, civil war had been raging almost continuously for more than ten years, and when at last the struggle ended with the triumph of freedom in , the fortunes of the city were at their lowest ebb. she had lost a third of her population, her commerce was almost destroyed, her staple industry gone, and she was honeycombed with debt. with things in this plight the men of louvain were in no position to saddle themselves with such a vast and costly undertaking as the reconstruction of their church. it was not till half a century later that they had the courage even to think of it, and then they made up their minds to act, and to act boldly. it happened thus. the founding of the university in had heralded, as all men believed, a new era. the issue showed they were not mistaken. trade at once began to revive, and when the burghers had tasted the first-fruits of the harvest they dreamed that the golden age had returned, and forthwith determined to rebuild their church in such fashion that its splendour should dim the sheen of the noblest buildings of brabant. this must have been somewhere about , certainly not later, for in that year plysis van vorst was named 'master-mason of the new church of saint peter.' although no document has as yet been discovered which states in so many words that van vorst drew up the plans of the new building, it may be safely said that he did so. we know that he was held at louvain to be the first architect of his day, that the burghers desired that their new church should be second to none in the duchy, that they expressly summoned him from diest, his native town, to superintend the building operations, and that he continued to do so till his death, which took place some fifteen years later. van vorst was a man of humble origin. starting in life as a mason's labourer, mixing mortar and carrying bricks, he presently became a mason himself, and rapidly rose to the head of his profession; and when, in , the burghers of diest determined to rebuild their ancient church of saint plysis it was unanimously decided that the work could be put in no better hands than those of 'meester van vorst.' their confidence was not misplaced: the noble structure which plysis designed for them, and at which he laboured for twenty years--it was completed by his pupil matthew de layens, of whom later on--is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful specimens of brabant work which has come down to us. to visit diest were a day well spent, if only for the sake of this grand old building, which is adorned without with ancient statuary, and within with a wealth of stained-glass windows, some as old as the church itself, some of the following century, and some of the sixteen hundreds. it was doubtless the fame the diest plans earned for him which decided the louvainers to commission our mason to rebuild their church, and in the following year to name him city architect. from this time until his death van vorst must have been a busy man. his civic appointment was no sinecure; he had not only to direct and supervise whatever building operations the city fathers had in hand, but also to purchase the building materials, which meant frequent journeys on horseback to the quarries at afflighem and roteslaer; the work at saint peter's, too, must have occupied much of his time, and we may be sure that he was often at diest to see after the building operations there. yet somehow or other, like most busy men, he found time for recreation. at times he seems to have amused himself by making models of divers architectural monuments, for we know that the city magistrates were so delighted with some of these productions that, on the th of december, , they voted him a _gratification_ of golden florins. again we learn from the city archives that, on the th of may , he took part in the corpus christi procession, marching at the head of his guild, and we may be quite sure, though the fact is not recorded, that when the religious ceremonies were over meester plysis and his brother masons withdrew to their wonted tavern, and there regaled themselves, not on the every-day malt liquor--though louvain, even in those days, was famous for its ale--but, as was usual on festive occasions, with a bottle or so of the best rhenish. yet another little intimate scene which some entries in the city records have enabled us to reconstruct. it took place on the th of may , when the great architect, for the last time, received the congratulations of his comrades. less than four months later he went the way of all flesh. it will be necessary to preface the story with a word of explanation. louvain, at the time of which we are writing, was without a town hall: the old town hall in the _vieux marché_ was destroyed during the civil war, and the actual building in the _place saint-pierre_ had not yet been erected; its site was occupied by three or four dwelling-houses which had been ceded by their owners to the corporation, and it was in this block of tenements that the town council met, and that all civic business was transacted. from the first it had been but a make-shift arrangement, the premises were small, and in every way unsuited to the purpose to which they were now put, and early in it was resolved to enlarge them. van vorst prepared the plans, and on the st of march in the following year the foundation stone was laid by jacob utten liemingen, a member of one of the oldest patrician families of louvain, and franciscus willemans, a man of the people, each of whom was that year burgomaster. the work was pushed on vigorously, and when on the th of may the two burgomasters made an official visit of inspection, they were so well pleased at the progress made that they presented the masons with a _drink gelde_ of two golden peters: all of which is duly noted down in the city accounts. and thus, without much stretch of the imagination, we can picture to ourselves, when their day's work was done, the worthy architect and his admiring comrades cheerfully proceeding with animated countenances to carry out the burgomasters' behest. amongst them, no doubt, old john kelderman, destined soon to take his place and to carry on for a brief span van vorst's unfinished labours; and young matthew de layens, the pupil of promise, who lived long enough to complete them; and, of course, that rollicking, scapegrace son, who bore his father's name and inherited some of his talents, whose skill in sculpture is still attested by the beams in the town hall, and whose frolics are duly noted in the account books of the city, as, too, are the fines they cost him. we can see them all seated round a long, narrow table in the snug parlour of some old-world inn, like the vlissinghe of bruges, for example; there is wine set before them, both white and red, the best, you may be sure, that money can buy, and on the hearth is an armful of crackling faggots, for the nights are still a bit cold, not a great roaring fire, but just enough to give the room a soul, and to take the chill off the burgundy. and here we will leave 'meester plysis van vorst' in his high-backed chair at the head of the board with his glass in his hand, and his comrades around him drinking his health at the expense of the taxpayers. [illustration: st. peter's louvain chapel of st. charles] when, about the opening of the fifteen hundreds, or possibly even earlier, the church of saint peter's was at last completed, so far as it ever was completed, for, of course, the outside is still in an unfinished state, had the men of louvain realised their ambition--had they made saint gudila hang her head? the two churches are so unlike that they hardly admit of comparison, though in those days, of course, they more nearly resembled one another than they do now. we think that on the whole the men of louvain were satisfied with their achievement, are quite certain that they all maintained that their own church was the more beautiful, and, if an impartial critic had been asked to decide the question, we are by no means sure that he would not have said that the petermen were right. he would have beheld in saint gudila's a vaster church than its rival--though it was not so large then as it is now--a church, from the varied styles in which it was built, more interesting, more picturesque, possessed of a charm that saint peter's had not--old age, and, with some of its architectural features, more beautiful than anything to be found at louvain. in saint peter's, on the other hand, he would have seen a church of uniform and well-digested plan, less vast but of nobler proportions, not the creation of many artists of varied taste and unequal talents, but the crowning achievement of one master mind--a church, too, in all probability, more lavishly and more elaborately adorned, and possessed of a richer garniture: walls glowing with frescoes, windows resplendent with stained glass, stonework illuminated with colour and gold everywhere, a screen and rood unmatched in christendom, choir stalls of chaste design and perfect workmanship, an eagle lectern, unique, a tabernacle fifty feet high, matthew de layens's masterpiece; and what a show of metal work!--iron, copper, brass, exquisitely wrought; what triumphs of the goldsmith's art! what precious stones and costly stuffs! how many glorious pictures by the first craftsmen of the age--boudts, metsys, van der weyden! and what to-day of all this splendour? fuit ... nunc nihil. not a splinter of stained glass, frescoes wiped out, an attenuated remnant of church furniture mutilated and defaced. and for this state of things the legal guardians of saint peter's of days gone by--for the most part in the eighteen hundreds--the chapter as long as it lasted, and later on the 'fabrique' must be largely held responsible, though, of course, not altogether: fanatics of various orders also wrought much mischief. maybe, too, the church was whitewashed for the first time after the great plague of , and, if this were so, the obliteration of the frescoes, however much we may regret it, can hardly be described as an act of wanton vandalism; but what are we to think of the wiseacres of , who broke up the tomb of duke henry the warrior, a relic of the second church, richly sculptured and gilded, which stood in the midst of the choir, because, as they said, it impeded the circulation of the people, and because the great bell had fallen and made a hole in the pavement, and they wanted some rubbish to fill it up with? or of those highly-intelligent church-wardens, who, a few years later, cast down the altars beneath the rood-screen, the high-altar and the canopied sedilia, all of them ancient and of exquisite design, and who afterwards wantonly broke up the canons' stalls, and about the same time sold the famous eagle lectern, said to have been the most beautiful object of its kind in europe? or, again, of those who were responsible in for the sale to the state for , francs of the great triptych--a signed picture, and perhaps his masterpiece--which quentin metsys painted for the guild chapel of saint anne--the chapel beneath the north-west tower, now dedicated to saint charles--we give a sketch of it--in , and which, carried off by the french in , had been restored to saint peter's twenty years later, and is now in the brussels gallery, where we shall presently have an opportunity of visiting it. amongst the relics of antiquity still to be found in the church of saint peter note:--the calvary group beneath the chancel arch and the beautiful rood-screen which supports it, it dates from , and is one of the finest in europe: in the chapel under the north-west tower the font, a beautiful six-foiled basin of copper-gilt supported by slender shafts with their bases resting on lions; and the great crane to which the cover was once suspended, a marvellous piece of ironwork forged by josse metsys, quentin's brother, in : in the north transept a colossal statue more curious than beautiful, called _sedes sapientiæ_; it is the work of one de bruyn, a woodcarver of brussels, was painted and gilded by roel van velper, a famous illuminator of louvain, and was presented to the church by the town council in : in the ambulatory on the north side duke henry's tomb above referred to (the fragments were found in , and later on pieced together and placed in their present position); and further on the tomb of his wife and of his daughter, with their recumbent effigies, mathilde de flandres and marie, wife of otho iv.; and further still, matthew de layens's tabernacle: almost opposite to it, in the sacrament chapel and the chapel adjoining, two authentic pictures by dierick boudts--a last supper and a martyrdom scene, of these later on: in a chapel off the north aisle, a descent from the cross, attributed to van der weyden, perhaps not his, but for all that a beautiful picture: and, in the armourers' chapel, the second off the south aisle, the famous _crom cruys_--an old blackened crucifix rudely carved in wood with the figure of our lord, almost life-sized and clothed in a long tunic of purple velvet, in a strange and unnatural position:--the right hand, instead of being nailed to the cross, is detached from it, as though the christ, reaching forward with a violent effort, had just wrenched out the nail; the arm is still stretched out, but slightly bent from the elbow, and the fingers are hanging down. this weird and mysterious image is perhaps the most interesting object which saint peter's contains. it is very old, who shall say how old: certainly older than the present church, for the town archives bear witness that in , when duke winceslaus was besieging louvain, the people, bare-headed and unshod, carried it through the streets in solemn procession, as was their wont when things were going ill with them, singing psalms and litanies, and in all probability we have here a relic of the original building of , if, indeed, it does not go back to a still earlier date. of its origin we know nothing. no written record nor oral tradition has come down to us concerning it, but from time immemorial the men of louvain have held the _crom cruys_ in the highest veneration, it is intimately associated with some of the most stirring and some of the most tragic episodes in the life of the city, and the unwonted position of the crucified figure has given rise to a host of strange legends. molanus, dean of saint peter's, who died in , relates one of them, which seems to have been widely credited in his day, and which no doubt had inspired the burghers to carry the cross in procession in times of public calamity. he had been told, he says, that the reason why the right hand was thus outstretched was on account of a miracle--a supplicant, bowed down by some great sorrow, was one day weeping before the crucifix, and our lord, as a token of his sympathy, had caused the image to reach out its hand. 'but the pastors of our church,' dean molanus goes on to say, 'cannot vouch for the truth of the story.' 'its origin is lost in the night of antiquity, and bernard van kessel (sacristan of saint peter's from to , and by trade a painter and modeller) knows nothing of it, although it is his hobby to note down all the information that he can obtain concerning our church. maybe the _crom cruys_ was thus from the beginning.' possibly, but another explanation suggests itself, which, bearing in mind the blackened and charred appearance of the crucifix, seems to us more probable--the great fire of . mechlin. in the cathedral of mechlin, some twenty minutes by rail from brussels, we have another typical brabant church of the fourteen hundreds--not all of it, but a very considerable portion. it is a grand old building, but the interior has suffered much at the hands of enemies and of friends, and whatever may have been the case in former days it is now more impressive without than within, as the accompanying sketches show. albeit it is well worth visiting, were it only for the sake of the kelderman tower. [illustration: interior of mechlin cathedral.] mechlin is rich in mediæval domestic architecture--richer than any other town in belgium save, perhaps, bruges. it contains a host of quaint old burgher houses in stone and brick and timber, notably on the quai de l'avoine,[ ] and at least three ancient palaces:--the palace of marguerite of austria in the _rue de l'empereur_, the hôtel busleyden in the _rue des vaches_, and, most picturesque of all, that mysterious old red brick mansion on a back-water of the dyle behind saint rombold's, in the _rue de l'ecoutete_.[ ] the visitor to brussels must certainly make many journeys to mechlin. [ ] for illustrations see pp. , , , , and . [ ] _see_ illustrations on pp. and . there are other churches in the neighbourhood of brussels which date wholly or in part from the period during which the architecture of brabant attained the heyday of its glory. several of them are most beautiful, none without some interesting features, all well worth considering; but their name is legion, and it would be hopeless to attempt to describe so many buildings, or to give any adequate account of their numerous historical associations, within the limits of our poor little pocket-book. for brussels and louvain were each of them suzerains of a host of smaller towns; not mere village communities called towns, as it were, by courtesy, but regularly organised cities--in miniature, some of them, if you will; some of them of considerable size, and harbouring a very considerable population. great or small, they were all endowed with municipal institutions, and, too, with all those social, industrial, commercial and religious institutions which throughout the middle age were inseparable from civic life in the netherlands, and most of them, at the time of which we are writing, were prosperous. [illustration: mechlin cathedral.] now think of what all this means in the way of bricks and mortar. each had its market, its town hall, its bell tower, its convents, its guild chapels, its béguinage, and at least one noble sanctuary. some of the civic buildings have disappeared, but the churches, for the most part, remain, and several of the most interesting monuments in belgium are to be found in these towns off the beaten track, whose very names are hardly known to the average british tourist. let it, then, here suffice to point out a few of the most noteworthy, and the reader, if he feel so inclined, can visit them at his leisure. at lierre, between mechlin and antwerp, a little way off the main line, there is a grand old church, designed by herman de waghemakere and completed by his son, with a rood-screen by old anthony kelderman, marvellously wrought--a very curious and most beautiful example of decadent gothic work, with groups of statuary peering out from an intricate web of flamboyant ornament, so fragile and so dainty that it might almost be taken for lace. in this church there is some of the most beautiful old stained glass to be found in belgium--late, of course, but of its kind, perfect; and there are several other objects reminiscent of the middle age. in the town, too, there are vestiges of bygone civic splendour--a city hall much modernised, and a bell tower which dates from or thereabouts. thienhoven, or tirlemont as it is called in french, is a picturesque town on the river gette, some ten miles beyond louvain. here there are three most interesting churches--_notre-dame du lac_, second period, with a choir and transepts and a great square tower at the intersection; saint germain, partly romanesque, partly transition, and with a nave and aisles of the fourteen hundreds, and the old church of the béguinage, which dates from the thirteen hundreds. every lover of mediæval art should visit léau, also on the gette, about seven miles down stream. it was once a busy place enough, and is now a dead city, and on that account none the less interesting. the church of saint leonard is a noble structure, with two massive transition towers at the west end; the choir is first period, the nave and aisles and transepts date from the fourteen hundreds. matthew de layens worked here; he built the baptistery and perhaps, too, some of the side chapels, and designed a richly sculptured reredos for the lady-altar. the metal work in this church is curious and beautiful, and there is much of it--brass, iron, copper. it is well worth studying. in the sacristy there is some antique silver--chalices, reliquaries, cruets and the like, and there are one or two good pictures. or, again, take aerschot, the little town at the gates of louvain to which the patricians so often withdrew during their great contest with the plebeians. here there is a stately parish church, which dates from , and was completed in the following century. an inscription on one of the walls of the choir bears witness to the former fact, and informs us, too, of the architect's name--i. pickart. here there are carved oak stalls, a rood screen finely wrought, and, in front of it, a chandelier forged by quentin metsys, beneath which lie the bones of his wife, adelaide van tuylt. aerschot is on the high road to diest, of which town we have already spoken. [illustration: de dijk te mechelen] the church of saint dymphna, in the little town of gheel, in the midst of the pine woods and heather of the campine country, is well worth visiting. it was founded by the berthouts, lords of mechlin, somewhere about , and was not finished until the closing years of the fourteen hundreds. it is a large cruciform building with single aisles, well-marked transepts, and an apsidal choir surrounded by side chapels. undoubtedly a noble structure, but not, from an architectural point of view, amongst the most beautiful churches of belgium; it is chiefly interesting on account of its mural paintings and its ancient altar-pieces, carved in wood or sculptured in stone and richly illuminated. the fresco above the chancel arch--a last judgment--is particularly fine, both in colour and composition. it was discovered some twelve or thirteen years ago, dates apparently from the close of the fourteen hundreds, and is fairly well preserved; whilst the reredos of the high-altar--a triptych with scenes from the life of saint dymphna, sculptured in high relief and sheltered by an elaborate canopy of rich flamboyant work, most delicately carved--is of its kind unique. it dates from the early fifteen hundreds. it would be hard to find in belgium or elsewhere a more beautiful contemporary specimen of this kind of work. the sculptors of brabant excelled in work of this kind, and here we have one of their masterpieces; it was designed and carved by an antwerp man. in the church of our lady and saint martin at alost, a better known and more accessible place, we have another grand old building. it dates from the close of the fourteen hundreds. it consists of a choir and ambulatory, transepts, and three bays of a nave. it is a typical brabant church, and, if it were completed, would be one of the largest and most beautiful in belgium. some very interesting mural paintings have quite recently been discovered here. alost is a very prosperous, pushing place, and almost all its beauty has been improved away, but the traveller in search of the picturesque will find something to console him besides saint martin's church: in the market-place there are some ancient municipal buildings which date from the twelve hundreds, and if he look about intelligently he will perhaps find something more. our list is already longer than we at first intended, but the reader, if perchance he found out the omission, would assuredly never pardon us if we neglected to add to it hal, a picturesque little town on the hainault frontier, but almost at the gates of brussels, only fifteen minutes by rail from the gare du midi. we have spoken of it several times in the course of this story. the church of our lady and saint martin at hal, though it is not so vast as its namesake of alost, is perhaps even more beautiful, and certainly more interesting, for here there is gathered together a larger collection of mediæval art treasures than in any other church in brabant. it is older, too, than the church of alost--the foundation stone was laid in , but the whole building was not completed until well on into the fourteen hundreds. it is said to be the best example of second period work in belgium. of this, however, we are doubtful, though assuredly nothing could well be more lovely than the choir, with its beautiful statuary and its elaborate double triforium, which sweeps like a web of finely-wrought lace across the lower portion of the clerestory windows. this feature is as curious as it is rare, and in plan so complicated that it baffles brief description, and unfortunately we have not been able to obtain a sketch of it. the unknown mason who first imagined this glorious gallery, and then turned the dream into sculptured stone, seems to have had in his mind the ordinary model and the brabant pattern, and to have been able to effect between them a most happy marriage. the little altars in the ambulatory are nearly all of them old, older, perhaps, than the church itself. they merit careful examination. the lady chapel is lined with frescoes, which, alas, are much damaged and fast fading away, and there are vestiges of mural painting in other parts of the church. [illustration: notre-dame de hal baptistry gates.] the south porch is particularly beautiful, with its ancient statuary--our lady and angels--and its great oak door, strengthened with foliated hinges of wrought-iron. note, too, the richly-sculptured tabernacle at the north side of the choir; the baptistery gates, of which we give a sketch; the beautiful and ancient furniture which the baptistery itself contains; in the sacristy much wealth in goldsmiths' ware--this the pilgrim will hardly see, unless he be armed with a letter of introduction to '_monsieur le doyen_'; and lastly, in the lady chapel, a little image, two feet high--the oldest and most interesting treasure which this treasure-house contains, the nucleus of this rich and varied collection, the treasure which attracted to itself all the other treasures, the magnet which drew hither the gold with which this church was built, from all parts of europe, the famous virgin of hal, _nigra sed formosa_. true literally: we have here one of the most remarkable and beautiful specimens of early mediæval statuary to be found in belgium. it dates, at latest, from the closing years of the twelve hundreds. all kinds of curious legends have been woven round this little block of carved and discoloured wood, and all kinds of quaint and incongruous objects, some of them of great value, crowd the walls of its sumptuous shrine. they are the votive offerings of countless pilgrims who throughout many generations have not ceased to invoke the assistance of heaven through the prayers of our lady of hal. the town hall of brussels there is only one municipal building in brussels which dates from the period we are now considering, but that building is perhaps unique. search where you will you will hardly find a more perfect specimen of civic architecture, and this at least may be said without fear of contradiction: no city can boast a nobler town hall than that which brussels possesses. ypres, perhaps, someone will say, or longfellow's 'quaint old flemish city,' but the great hall of ypres was not the place where the senate met, but a cloth market, and though the town hall of bruges is a gem, for this very reason it cannot compete with the town hall of brussels--as well compare, say, the sainte chapelle with westminster abbey. of course it is not perfect. where on earth will you find perfection either in architecture or anything else? but this much may be justly said, the town hall of brussels approaches nearer to perfection than any other building of its kind in europe which dates from the same period, even in its present state, for we do not see it now, be it borne in mind, as it was in the heyday of its glory. the army of burgomasters who stand under niches between the first and second storey of the east wing were not there in those days: they are a modern addition of , and take the place of a blind arcade of a very simple character, which was certainly never intended to be peopled with statues. nor is this all, if we would picture to ourselves the old building as it used to be we must not only subtract, we must add. the original statues, about half as many as there are now, probably somewhat smaller, and certainly more vigorously, and, at the same time, more delicately, carved, were all of them arrayed in vestures of gold, wrought about with divers colours, and in those days, we must not forget, the men of the low countries had an eye for colour, and the greatest painters of the age did not think it beneath their dignity to busy themselves with work of this kind. in the early days the senate of brussels had no fixed place of assembly. the city fathers held their meetings sometimes in convents, sometimes in churches, sometimes in private dwellings, sometimes in the open air, and it was not until the year that they obtained a town hall, or rather what did duty for a town hall--'a house of stone,' in the _ster straat_, now the _rue de l'hôtel de ville_, which they had recently purchased from a mercer named odo, and in this old house of stone--most houses were in those days of timber--justice was administered and all public business transacted for more than a hundred years, until at last, in the fulness of time, the present town hall was built. very little has come down to us concerning its early history. the foundation stone seems to have been laid towards the close of duchess jeanne's long reign, probably about the year , and the building operations must have progressed rapidly, for in the town accounts for the month of october divers sums are entered for the cost of gilding the summits--weather-cocks, doubtless, or something of the kind--of various roofs and towers, amongst them 'the tower opposite the _maison de l'étoile_' of which we give a sketch on page ; and in philippe de saint-pol, speaking of the town hall in his letter to the emperor sigismund anent the trouble with the germans, calls it '_un édifice très grand et formidable_.' at this time the east wing must certainly have been completed, and it was from the gallery over the arcade which skirts this portion of the building that vander zype and saint-pol himself were wont to address the mob. the building operations had been interrupted by the revolution, and they were not again resumed until the th of march , when the little count of charolais (_charles le téméraire_), then only six years old, laid the foundation stone of the tower. five years later, in , jan vandenberg was named _meester van den steenwerke van den torre van den stad raethuyse op de merct_, at a salary of two _saluts_ a day, for which sum he undertook to prepare the plans, to supervise the work, and to hold himself responsible for its good quality. this is the first time that we find vandenberg's name mentioned in the city records in connection with the town hall. he pushed the work on so vigorously that in less than five years it was done; nor had he any reason to be ashamed of the result of his labour: the steeple which he had raised in so short a time was one of the finest in christendom, and, despite its fragile and lace-like appearance, one of the most solidly constructed. the story that vandenberg on the day of its completion hurled himself headlong from the highest pinnacle, disgusted because he had not set his tower in the centre of the façade, is not only absurd on the face of it, but demonstrably false. in , the date of the alleged suicide, the tower was non-existent, and fifty years after the true date of its completion vandenberg was still alive; but, for all that, a tragedy did occur on that very spot and on that very day--at least so say the monks of rouge cloître, and they are generally to be trusted: no one went out of the world, but someone came into it. on the day on which vandenberg gave the finishing touch to his work by setting up in its place that colossal statue of saint michael which we still admire--a weather-cock, so delicately adjusted that, notwithstanding its vast bulk, it turns with the slightest breeze--it was arranged seemingly that some sort of ceremony should take place on the top of the tower (where no doubt a platform had been erected), by way of inauguration. among the little band of intrepid climbers who had determined to be present there was a lady, gentle reader, in delicate health, and when she reached her destination the crisis came, and there, at that dizzy height, three hundred and thirty feet above the grand' place, suspended as it were betwixt earth and heaven, with saint michael hovering above her head, she in due course became a mother, and doubtless the baby was presently named after the archangel who had presided at its birth. the west wing of the town hall was not completed until . though it bears a general resemblance to the east wing, and at first sight they seem to be similar, on closer inspection it will be found that the two wings differ considerably, not only in detail, but also in their main outlines. it would be hard to say which is the more beautiful, but, all things considered, the earlier portion seems to be structurally the more perfect. the sculptured capitals of the stately arcade--which extends from one end of the building to the other, broken only by the tower, and which contains no less than sixteen arches--deserve to be examined closely: they are all most delicately carved, and several of them display satirical groups, which are sufficiently quaint. note also the great oak door studded with nails and supported by foliated hinges, and the sculpture with which it is surrounded: all these things are ancient and exceedingly beautiful. pass through into the courtyard--a very pleasant place in summer time, with its fountains and foliage--and there, if you are a wise man and believe that sightseeing should be done leisurely, you will rest awhile and perhaps compare the old gothic work of the fourteen hundreds with the work which was put up after the bombardment of : the architecture, of course, is wholly different, but, for all that, not to be despised. the interior of the town hall of brussels has been so modernised that very little of the original work remains, or is at all events visible; but the general arrangement, at least so far as concerns the upper storeys, seems to be much the same as it was in days of yore, and from their associations several of the rooms are interesting--notably, on the first floor of the west wing, the council chamber, where the great council sat to settle the affairs of the city; on the same floor of the east wing the throne room, the _salle gothique_ as it is now called, where the dukes of brabant used to receive the homage of the burghers and swear to maintain their privileges, and where on more than one occasion the estates-general assembled; and further on, the hall of nations, where the nine nations of brussels met to discuss their affairs, and where, too, the city magistrates sat in judgment. a great crucifix was affixed to the wall to remind them that justice must be tempered with mercy, and hence it was also called the hall of christ. for the rest, in sculpture, tapestry, pictures, furniture of all kinds and of every description, the town hall is very rich. it varies in age and also in quality: a little of it, a very little of it, dates from mediæval times; there is much good work of the sixteen hundreds, more of the succeeding century, but modern things are the most in evidence, and some of them show that there are still craftsmen in brussels who are not unworthy of the title. the town hall of louvain the town hall of louvain, like the town hall of brussels, dates from the burgundian period, but, unlike the town hall of brussels, which grew up gradually in a hundred years, it is entirely the work of one man--matthew de layens, who not only furnished the plans and supervised the construction, but even himself took part in the manual labour. when old john kelderman died, in , this man had been named his successor, at an annual salary, note, of _florins d'or_ and sufficient cloth to make him a _robe d'apparat_, or, in other words, a dress suit. van vorst's council chamber was now finished, and shortly after de layens's appointment the men of louvain determined to pull down the block of houses in front of it, and to erect in their place a worthier structure, and of course it fell to friend matthew's lot to draw out the plans. his instructions seem to have been to follow the main outline of the brussels town hall, which at this time of course consisted of only the east wing; but the details were to be left to his own initiative, and he was to see to it that the copy surpassed the model. early in matthew was able to send in his plans, and presently meester pauwels, the duke's architect, came from brussels to examine them, and in due course pronounced them perfect; whereat great rejoicing, and pauwels and matthew withdrew to the sign of the 'blomendale,' there to discuss two pints of rhenish and two of baune at the city's expense. it was the wednesday in holy week, and it is not recorded of these honest fellows that they partook of any solid food. let us hope, then, that they had good stomachs and strong heads, for, in spite of the hock and the burgundy, they were presently constrained to call for more liquor: a deputation of city masons came to pay their respects to the great brussels architect, and what could good meester pauwels do but offer them something to drink; and that something cost the ratepayers two golden peters. on the following thursday week the foundation stone of the new town hall was solemnly laid by myn here hendrick van linten, second burgomaster of louvain, his patrician colleague being absent at brussels on business with the duke, when again the masons were entertained with alcohol, and seven of them were presented with gloves, all of which is duly set down in the city accounts. it was the custom of matthew de layens to carry out in his daily life saint paul's precept--'whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might,' and his hand found so many things to do. he was a man of such keen interests, such wide sympathies, such varied attainments, that in all probability he hardly knew the meaning of the word leisure. an artist to his finger-tips, not only had he practical knowledge of the technicalities of his own trade, but he excelled in sculpture and wood carving, and could, and did, successfully compete with the best metal workers in the land. he was interested in politics, took an active and energetic part in public life, a charitable man, too: when the plague broke out he proved himself a patient and efficient nurse, and when the dyle overflowed its banks, and all the low-lying part of the town was flooded, he was among the foremost to render assistance to the victims of the catastrophe; and lastly, an entry in the town accounts reveals him a man of principle. it so happened that urgent professional business, which brooked no delay, called him from home one sunday. he did not refuse to undertake it, but he absolutely refused to receive any remuneration for his services: he would accept nothing more than the money which he had expended on horse hire. nor would even this item have appeared in the town accounts if the circumstance in question had taken place a few years later, for he soon began to make a very considerable income of his own, and presently he found a widow with valuable house property in tirlemont, her native town, and several large estates in various parts of the country. she was neither old nor ill-favoured; he made love to her with all his might, and in due course led her to the altar, and henceforth, we may be very sure, he had a horse, if not horses, of his own. this was honest matthew's second matrimonial experience, and it seems to have been on the whole a successful one. by his first wife he had had no children, but his widow gave him two sons, who both died young, and two daughters, of whose fate we know nothing. she seems, too, to have been fond of him, for when matthew himself died in she lost her reason, and to the end of her days never recovered it. like so many lunatics, she attained a great age, and was still living at tirlemont under the care of relatives in . [illustration: hÔtel de ville, louvain.] with such a man as architect and master of the works it is not surprising that the new town hall was very rapidly built. the exterior was finished in the incredibly short time, for the period, of ten years, and in the interior was also completed. and had the master-mason succeeded? did his achievement equal the expectation of his fellow-burghers? was the municipal palace which he had built for them more splendid than the brussels town hall? the latter, of course, was still unfinished; it still lacked the west wing, and the general aspect of the former was at a short distance much the same as it is now. these things being borne in mind, we think it may be safely said that honest matthew's horn was exalted, and that the men of louvain were happy; and perhaps it was on this account that the brussels folk determined to enlarge their own town hall. and yet one cannot help feeling, as one stands before this fascinating and fantastic structure, with its crowd of statues, its dainty corbels, each one carved with a bible tale, with its bristling roof, its filigree niches, its pinnacles soaring to heaven like crystallised incense smoke, that it is less the triumph of the mason than the triumph of the sculptor, that architecture has ceased to reign, and that one of her handmaids has usurped her place: for what have we here--bricks and mortar, or an elaborate piece of embroidery? and almost all the civic monuments of belgium erected subsequently to this town hall suggest the same question. strange that the ecclesiastical monuments of the day, planned as they were by the same men and for the same patrons, present such a different appearance. this is true, not only so far as concerns minor churches and those which are unfinished, but also in the case of completed buildings of the most ambitious character, where even such important features as west fronts, towers, transept ends, are singularly free from superfluous ornament. take, for example, the north and the south façades of saint rombold's at mechlin,[ ] or saint gudila's sacrament chapel, or the western towers[ ] of the same church, or the tower of saint gertrude's, louvain, completed in , and probably the work of de layens.[ ] they are all of them far less exuberant than the great ecclesiastical monuments of germany or england or france erected at the same time, or even than some of those which date from the preceding century. and if, without, the brabant churches of this period are comparatively simple, within, their architectural simplicity becomes almost severe, though, of course, accessories--altars, rood-screens, tabernacles and such like, are often exceedingly ornate. [ ] _see_ p. . [ ] _see_ p. . [ ] _see_ p. . of this we have a striking example in the choir stalls of saint gertrude's. the reader must visit them. nothing could well be more elaborate, and at the same time more lovely, than this fantastic piece of wood carving. here we have not only the usual canopied statues set amidst rich flamboyant tracery delicately wrought, but a series of charming bas-reliefs with scenes from the life of christ. there are eight-and-twenty panels; they are exquisitely carved, and in style and composition distinctly recall the pictures of quentin metsys. it is more than likely that he designed them, for they are the work of his nephew, jan beyaert, and the tragic fate which befell this man makes them the more interesting. jan beyaert was born at louvain in . he was the son, or perhaps the grandson, of launcelot beyaert, chief scribe to the city council, and, as such, a man of repute, and in fairly easy circumstances; but sculpture was the family calling, and several of beyaert's kinsmen had set their mark on the monuments of the city--notably, launcelot's brother josse, who was town sculptor of louvain ( - ) when hubert stuerbout was town painter, and had worked with him under matthew de layens at the town hall. the carved brackets which adorned the façades were the outcome of their united efforts. hubert furnished the designs, and the other two carried them out. many of these still exist, and they are exceedingly beautiful; but there is no evidence to show which of these stories in stone were sculptured by josse beyaert. we are not, however, without proof that he was well skilled in his craft: the bas-reliefs in the treasure room, the bosses and corbels in the _salle de mariage_, with scenes from the life of christ, and the numerous pendants from the timber roof of the adjoining chamber, were carved by him alone, and the excellent workmanship shows that he was a sculptor of no mean order. it was in all probability from his uncle josse that young jan beyaert first learned how to handle the chisel. this youth was a genius, and he must have loved his art, or he could never have produced the exquisite things he did; but, like so many artists, he was a hare-brained, reckless fellow, and quarrelsome, too, in his cups: his name appears more than once in the town accounts in connection with fines for brawling, and in he was indicted for a graver matter--highway robbery in the _place saint-pierre,_ and with violence. the article stolen was only a hat, but in taking it he had grievously ill-treated the owner, a _vry gheselle_ returning home at night most likely from his tavern. the magistrates, however, dealt gently with this roystering youth, perhaps for old launcelot's sake, perhaps because they regarded the affair as a mere drunken frolic. at all events, he was quit with a fine of peters. the next thing that we know of meester jan is that in he married--a most unfortunate proceeding, as it afterwards turned out, not only for himself but for us. if he had been content to remain single, or if he had not been fascinated by the charms of catherine metsys, he might have gone on to the end of the chapter, carving sublime statues and intoxicating himself occasionally, with no worse consequences perhaps than a periodical touch of liver, and maybe now and again a fine for assaulting harmless burghers. as it was, his career was cut short, and it was all his eve's doing. for a time, however, things went well: jan settled down to family life, and showed himself an exemplary husband; and if the grey mare were the better horse, he was probably happy in her leading strings, for she seems to have been a most fascinating and accomplished creature, the beau-ideal of an artist's wife. and well she might be, seeing the blood that ran in her veins; for her father, josse metsys, whose acquaintance we have already made, was in his way a genius no less remarkable than his more famous brother quentin. by trade he was a locksmith, but he by no means confined his talent to the fabrication of articles of iron-mongery, though locks and keys in those days were often works of art. he busied himself with clocks and jewellery, was a cunning worker in all kinds of metal, and late in life began to dabble in brick and mortar, and with such success that when saint peter's towers were burnt down he was commissioned to build them up again, in spite of the fact that he was not a professional mason. this was in . he prepared his plans, and magnificent plans they were (you may see them still in the town hall, traced by old josse himself on a large sheet of parchment)--a great central tower feet high, flanked by two smaller towers, each of feet; all three crowned with spires of open work, something in the style of saint gertrude's. in due course the foundations were laid, and josse supervised the building operations for something like sixteen years, and then things came to a standstill--a dispute, seemingly, with the dean and chapter, who refused to pay him his wages. he appealed to the city magistrates; and they, having vainly essayed to arrange matters, commissioned him to carve for them in stone an exact model of the projected building (august ), partly because they thought old josse had been harshly treated and they knew he was poor, and partly because such a model would be useful to his successor, for he was now a very old man, and death sat close to him. the issue proved how wise they were. he died shortly afterwards (may ), and his towers are unfinished still; but the master-mason who shall one day complete them will have no excuse if he fail to realise the old locksmith's glorious dream, for he lived long enough to make the model ( ), and along with his plans it is still preserved in the archive chamber of the town hall. in all probability, the greater part of it was not carved by metsys himself, but the work was all done under his supervision; and the man who helped him, it will be interesting to note, was his son-in-law, jan beyaert. it was most likely about this time that meester jan set to work on his stalls, for we know that they were the gift of abbot peter was, who ruled saint gertrude's from to . an elaborate work of this kind must have taken a man like beyaert many years to complete; he died in , and for a considerable period before his death he had ceased to occupy himself with art. he had taken up theology instead, and that was his undoing. it happened thus: calvinism was now making headway in all the towns of the netherlands, catherine embraced the new doctrine, she was a woman of will and of energy, and soon she became the leading spirit of the little band of protestants at louvain. of course she had no difficulty in persuading her husband to join them, and soon the poor artist was converted into a hot gospeller. strange irony of fate that the man who had made graven images all his life should end his days an iconoclast. he did not turn his hand against his own work; perhaps he still, in spite of his wife, had a sneaking tenderness for sculpture, but his practice squared with his preaching in the matter of pictures, and one night, toward the close of the year , or early in , he broke into the church of saint pierre, and then into the church of saint jacques, in each of them wrecked several valuable paintings, and afterwards, with the fragments, made a bonfire in the grand' place. presently he was arraigned for heresy and sacrilege, found guilty, and condemned to the stake. hope, however, seems to have been held out to him that if he would give evidence against his accomplices the sentence would be reconsidered, and at last, under torture, he opened his mouth, and who shall throw a stone at him? how many of us, gentle reader, are of the stuff of which martyrs are made? if he believed that his life would be spared he was bitterly disappointed, but his cowardice gained for him this much--instead of burning him they cut off his head. with all his faults, he was a great artist. let him rest in peace. as for poor catherine, who had been arrested along with her husband, hers was a more terrible fate. on the th of july they buried her alive. reader, before quitting saint gertrude's, go into the chapel, which skirts the north side of the choir, and there, on the north wall, you will find a white marble tablet, engraved with a latin inscription. we have here the requiem of abbot renesse, and one likes to think that he wrote it himself. read it, and perhaps it will make you forget the discordant notes of poor beyaert's gruesome dirge. d. o. m. viatorum in terris implorat suffragium et eorum in c[oe]lis sperat consortium a. g. baro de renesse sanctæ gertrudis abbas xx obiit martii _r.i.p._ chapter xvii _pictures and painters_ in another volume of this series we have already said something concerning the origin and history of mediæval flemish art. within the limited space at our disposal anything more than a mere sketch would be impossible, and it would be superfluous and wearisome to repeat in the present handbook, which is in some sense the companion volume to _the story of bruges_, what has been there set down on the subject in question. we shall therefore content ourselves by adding here, by way of complement, a few notes (culled for the most part from mr weale's published writings) on the mediæval art corporations of the low country--those famous guilds of saint luke, of our lady, of saint john, within whose ranks were formed all the great flemish masters of the old national school, and by recounting as briefly as may be what is known of the five most noted brabant painters of the middle age:--roger van der weyden, dierick boudts, hugo van der goes, quentin metsys, and bernard van orley. men, all of them, whose names are intimately associated with brussels or with louvain. in the early days the art of painting, like all the other arts and crafts, was cultivated only in the cloister, and to the end of the eleven hundreds it was submitted almost entirely to the control of the religious orders. not that the monks were the only artists and the only artisans: attached to all the great abbeys, and even to some of the smaller monasteries, and to more than one collegiate church, were vast bodies of lay craftsmen--so vast that their numbers were often reckoned by hundreds, sometimes by thousands, as we have documentary evidence to show: these men lived under the protection of the monks, had received their instruction at their hands, worked for them and with them, on the monastic domain, and also, but under strict regulations, for outsiders as well. presently a change came, brought about by the rise of the cities: the monastery then ceased to be the only place where art could be cultivated in peace, and a vast immigration of artists to these new havens of refuge was the consequence. the new-comers, too feeble to stand alone, and not at first sufficiently numerous to be able to form distinct corporations, solved the difficulty by affiliating themselves to existing trade companies, sculptors joining hands with masons, and painters with glaziers and saddlers. a few abbeys here and there continued for a while to maintain their art schools and their lay art-workers, but their numbers gradually diminished, and by the close of the twelve hundreds there were no lay craftsmen of any kind outside the city walls. by this time the city artists were sufficiently numerous to be able to combine in distinct corporations. the first institution of this kind of which we have any record was the guild of saint luke at ghent, which was founded by the art-workers of that city as early as ; four years later the painters of tournai followed their example; the guild of saint luke, at louvain, was founded before , that of bruges in , of antwerp in , and by the opening of the fourteen hundreds almost every city in the netherlands possessed its painters' guild. in no town where a guild was established was any outside painter suffered to ply his craft for money, and no man could become a member of the local guild unless he were a burgher of the town by right of birth or of purchase. if a youth aspired to become a painter, the first step was to enroll his name as a companion or probationer in the register of the guild of the town in which he intended to practise. he was then required to serve an apprenticeship under some master painter approved by the guild, who was responsible not only for his technical instruction but also for his fidelity to his civil and his religious duties. during this time he lived with his master, and was bound to serve and obey him, and the latter in his turn was bound to thoroughly instruct him in all that concerned his craft. nor was this all, when he had received his indentures he had to serve as a journeyman under some qualified master-painter, but not necessarily a member of the guild which he himself proposed to join. when the time of his probation had expired--it seems to have varied from town to town--he presented himself before the heads of the guild, and brought with him a picture which he himself had painted. if it came up to the required standard of excellence, and if, after examining him, they were satisfied of his technical knowledge and skill, he solemnly declared that he would obey the rules of the guild, promised before god that his work should be good, honest, genuine, the best of which he was capable, paid the prescribed fees, and, without more ado, was enrolled in the books of the guild as an effective member. but though he was now called a free master, had the right to set up for himself, to vote at the annual election of the chiefs of the guild, and was himself eligible for office, he was still submitted to the control of his association: the dean and juries could search his workshop when they would, and without warning, at any hour of the day or night, and if they discovered there any painting materials of inferior quality they had the right not only to seize and confiscate them, but to inflict on their owner some penalty commensurate with the offence; and if any dispute arose between a painter and his patron, the matter was brought before the dean and juries of the guild, and the city magistrates were bound to enforce their decision. [illustration: tÊte de femme en pleurs, attributed to roger van der weyden, brussels gallery.] the art associations of the low countries were most powerful during the latter half of the fourteen hundreds, precisely the period when flemish art attained the zenith of its magnificence. they were united to one another by ties of the closest friendship: members of one guild never had any difficulty in obtaining admission to another, and some painters seem to have belonged to several guilds at the same time. from the middle of the fourteen hundreds onwards, delegates from all the painters' guilds in the netherlands were wont to meet together every three years in some town or other, where they spent several days discussing topics of common interest, comparing notes, and communicating to one another any new professional discoveries that had been made: hence the remarkable uniformity in the technique of all the flemish pictures of the period which have come down to us. such were the institutions which produced some of the greatest painters whom the world has ever seen. they never considered themselves, and were never considered, superior to other craftsmen, but in those days, be it borne in mind, every craftsman was an artist. roger van der weyden roger van der weyden was born at tournai in the year ; he was apprenticed to the tournai painter, robert campin, on the th of march , and admitted a free master of the guild of saint luke in that city on the st of august . the above facts are established by local contemporary documents, which are undoubtedly genuine, but though the archives of tournai have been searched through and through, with a view to finding a possible ancestor for roger van der weyden, only this much has as yet been discovered concerning his parentage--that his father's christian name was _henry_ (_sic_), and that he died before the year . we learn, however, from some entries in the town accounts of louvain that one _henrich van der wyden_ was living in that city in , and that he was a sculptor by trade. was this man roger's father? it is not absolutely certain, but there is good reason to believe that before he was a painter roger himself handled the chisel. this is in itself significant; and though it seems at first sight improbable that a citizen of louvain should have been the father of a son born at tournai, when we remember that citizen's calling, and that the sculptors of tournai were in those days famous throughout europe, the difficulty disappears. henrich, we may be very sure, would have made frequent visits to tournai on account of his professional pursuits; nor is it in the least unlikely that upon one of these occasions he should have been accompanied by his wife, or that during the sojourn there she should have given birth to a son. be these things as they may, we know that the great brussels painter was sometimes called roger van der weyden, and sometimes rogier de la pasture, and this is in itself _prima facie_ evidence that his family was of flemish origin. the translation of flemish names into french or latin was common enough in the middle age, the inverse exceedingly rare. roger was married before to ysabel goffart, a lady of brussels, and it was perhaps on her account that he left his native town: we know that he and his wife were settled in brussels in . he seems to have rapidly made a reputation, for the following year he was named by the city fathers _portraiteur de la ville_. soon he was busy illuminating the sculptured tomb which philippe l'asseuré had erected in memory of duchess jeanne in the carmelite church, and painting those four panel pictures for the justice chamber of the town hall, which created so great a sensation, says albert dürer, that the whole world came to see them, and which, alas, have long since disappeared. [illustration: 'pieta' attributed to roger van der weyden, brussels gallery.] we know very little of roger's life between and , but it is certain that during this time he worked not only for the town of brussels, but also for various convents and corporations, and for private individuals as well. in he was commissioned by willem edelheere and his wife, adelaïde cappuyns, to decorate their oratory in the church of saint peter at louvain; and the triptych--a 'descent from the cross,' with portraits of edelheere and his wife and their patron saints--which still adorns this chapel, is said to be roger's work. indeed, according to m. van even, the archivist of louvain, we have here the only painting in belgium which is certainly roger's work. its authenticity, however, is disputed, and it has been much spoiled by restoration. one at least of van der weyden's pictures of this period has come down to us--the 'descent from the cross' which he painted in for the louvain confraternity of the _grand serment_, and which is now at madrid. the 'weeping woman' (no. ) of the brussels gallery is an ancient copy, or perhaps a study by the master himself, of one of the heads in this picture. the next thing we know of roger van der weyden is that in he made a pilgrimage to rome for the jubilee of that year, and we know, too, something of the incidents of this journey. he sojourned, amongst other places, at ferrara and at florence, and wherever he went he was welcomed and fêted not only by the members of his own craft, but also by the sovereigns of the cities he visited. at ferrara he must have worked for lionel d'este, for on his return we find him receiving from that prince golden ducats in part payment for _certe depicture_ executed in his palace there; and at florence he painted a triptych for cosmo medici--the 'madonna and child, surrounded by saints,' now in the städel museum at frankfort. in each of these cities, then, he must have remained a considerable time. he does not seem to have practised his art in rome. perhaps his stay there was a short one, and that his time was fully occupied by sightseeing and devotion. that he fully appreciated the art treasures of the eternal city there can be no doubt, and we know that he was enraptured with the lateran pictures of gentile da fabriano, whom he pronounced to be the first painter in italy. on his return to brussels, roger van der weyden set to work with renewed vigour. we still possess three of the pictures which he painted after his journey to italy:--the 'nativity' triptych, with the portrait of peter bladelin, now in the museum at berlin; the 'last judgment,' which chancellor rolin ordered for the hôtel dieu at baune (the authenticity of this picture is disputed); and the 'adoration of the magi,' in the pinakothek at munich. the last two especially show how profoundly the great brussels painter was influenced by his pilgrimage to rome: the composition of the baune picture is almost the same as that of andrea orcagna's 'last judgment,' and the main outlines of the munich picture distinctly recall the 'adoration' of gentile da fabriano. of the numerous paintings attributed to roger van der weyden, probably not more than five or six are of incontestable authenticity. he certainly painted the 'descent from the cross' at madrid, the 'nativity' at berlin, the medici triptych at frankfort, and the 'adoration of the magi' at munich. these pictures are universally acknowledged to be his work. of the rest, most are attributed to him merely on account of the similarity of style to the style of the work which is known to be his, and are without signature or other designation. there is very little doubt, however, that several of these are genuine van der weydens--the 'seven sacraments' at antwerp, for example, and the 'pièta' of the brussels gallery; but at the same time, when pictures are unsigned and there is no documentary evidence as to their authorship, it is well-nigh impossible to arrive at absolute certainty. sometimes a pupil is able to so exactly acquire his master's manner that the greatest experts are thereby deceived. it was so in the case of the famous sforza picture, formerly in the zambeccari collection at bologna, and now in the brussels gallery (no. ). this beautiful picture--a 'calvary,' with portraits of francesco sforza, his wife bianca visconti and their young son galeazzo--was attributed by some experts to memling, and it was thus ascribed in the official catalogue of the brussels gallery. there were others, no less competent, who were convinced that it was roger's work; it dated, no doubt, they said, from the time of his sojourn in italy. mr. weale, however, was quite sure that neither of these artists had painted it, and, thanks to his recent research, we now know the true story of the picture. the critics who said that it was in van der weyden's style were quite right, but it was not painted by the master himself, but by his pupil, zanetto bugatto, of milan. the duchess of milan, it seems, had seen some of roger's pictures, and was so charmed by them that she requested him to paint her portrait. he, for some reason or other, being unable at the time to leave home, was compelled to decline the commission, and the duchess sent the young milanese painter, zanetto bugatto, to brussels in order that he might study with roger, and thus acquire his style. this was in the year . bugatto remained in brussels three years, and on his return to his native town he painted the picture in question. there is a tradition, which does not seem to be well founded, that roger van der weyden was at one time the pupil of john van eyck. if this were so, he was certainly not much influenced by his master's manner of painting. john delighted in serene immobility, roger in tragic action. his tall, wan, emaciated figures always live and feel; and though he could, when he would, depict tranquillity, and his portraits are as calm and collected as any of those which were painted by john van eyck, unlike van eyck's, they are almost always ascetic-looking, and very often sad. he seems to have been unable to appreciate the beauty of health and gladness. guicciardini says that memling was roger's pupil, but there is no documentary evidence to show that such was the case. we know next to nothing of the first days of the great bruges painter, but his earlier pictures distinctly recall the pictures of van der weyden; and if he were not his pupil, he must have certainly studied his work. roger van der weyden died at brussels on the th of june . he left several children. one of them, peter, followed his father's calling; another, corneille, after having made his studies at the university of louvain, became a monk in the carthusian priory which the burghers of brussels had recently founded at scheut, by anderlecht. [illustration: 'the martyrdom of saint erasmus' by dierick boudts, at saint peter's, louvain.] dierick boudts dierick boudts was born a few years later than van der weyden; the exact date of his birth is unknown, but it cannot have been much before . he was a native of haarlem, where at this time there was a flourishing school of painters noted for their beautiful landscape backgrounds, and for the care with which they executed their drapery. his father, who was also named dierick, was one of them, and it was doubtless in his workshop that young dierick boudts received his artistic education. for some reason or other, about the year , he migrated to louvain, where he soon found a wife in the person of catherine van der bruggen, the daughter of a well-to-do burgher family, who presently gave him three girls, who became nuns; two boys, dierick and albert, who followed their father's calling, and a large house in the rue des récollets--site now occupied by the jesuit church--which she inherited at the death of her parents (december , ). here dierick and his family took up their abode, and here it was that he painted his four most famous pictures--'the last supper' and 'the martyrdom of saint erasmus' at saint peter's, louvain, and 'the iniquitous sentence of otho' and 'otho repairing his injustice' in the brussels gallery. dierick was commissioned to paint the first two in by the rich confraternity of the blessed sacrament of louvain, for saint peter's, where the brethren of the confraternity had two altars; the pictures were finished in , and the quittance which the artist gave for the money he received for them is still in existence; and note, he signs his name not dirk nor thiery, as modern writers often style him, but dierick boudts. the saint erasmus altar-piece is a triptych; the central panel shows the martyrdom scene, the gospel wing saint jerome and the epistle wing an abbot, perhaps saint bernard. all three panels are still at saint peter's. the other altar-piece also had originally wings; on these were painted the first celebration of the passover, elijah fed by ravens, the meeting of abraham and melchisedek, and the israelites gathering manna: the first two are now in the berlin gallery, and the others in the pinakothek at munich. the subject of the central panel is the last supper, and it still adorns the church for which it was painted. the execution of these important works made dierick's name famous. hardly were they completed when the city fathers bestowed on him the honorary title of _portraiteur de la ville_, and commissioned him to paint for the town hall a triptych representing the last judgment, and four great panel paintings to be hung in the justice chamber, for the whole of which they agreed to pay him florins. the triptych was finished in ; it has unhappily disappeared. two years previously he had set to work on the first of the four panels, and shortly afterwards he received a visit from the city magistrates, who were so pleased with what he had done that they made him a present of wine of the value of _placken_. the next thing we know of dierick boudts is that he lost his wife in or thereabout, and that shortly afterwards he married elizabeth van voshem, who was the widow of a rich butcher, and, as we have already seen, the sister-in-law of the glass painter rombold kelderman. by this lady he had no offspring, his union with her was not a long one. in the early spring of he seems to have been in enfeebled health, for on the th of april he chose the place in which he wished to be buried--beside his first wife, in the church of the récollets, and on the same day he made his will, which is still preserved. he left to elisabeth voshen all his real property, all his outstanding debts, and all his completed pictures; to each of his three daughters a trifling monthly allowance; and to his two sons a silver cup--the only thing, he says, which he himself had inherited from _his_ father--the implements of his craft, and all his unfinished pictures, and before the summer was out he had gone the way of all flesh. only two of the town hall paintings were completed. dierick, indeed, had not had time even to begin the others, and presently the question arose, how much of the florins was due to his executors? whether there was any dispute about the matter we do not know, but it would seem that such was the case, for three years had elapsed before the account was settled, and at last the city fathers had had recourse to expert advice. we learn from the town accounts of that the sum of florins placken was in that year paid to dierick's sons, and that this amount was the value of the pictures as estimated by 'the most notable painter in this land--to wit, he who was born in the city of ghent, and now resideth in the _rooden clooster, in zuenien_'--without doubt hugo van der goes, who had donned the cowl at rouge cloître two years before; and we learn, too, from the same source, that this man, during his sojourn in louvain, lodged at the sign of the angel, and that the city magistrates offered him a pot of rhine wine. the pictures in question were duly hung in the justice chamber, and they remained there till , when they were sold to the king of the netherlands for , florins. in they were repurchased by the belgian government for , francs, and placed in the brussels gallery, where they still remain (nos. c and d). these two pictures and the pictures above mentioned of saint peter's, of munich, of berlin, are, of all the works attributed to dierick boudts, the only ones whose authenticity is incontestable. some of the rest are most probably genuine, more, perhaps, than in the case of pictures attributed to van der weyden, for boudts had a peculiar style of his own, which is more distinctive than roger's. several of the pictures formerly attributed to dierick boudts are now generally believed to be the work of his son albert, notably the 'last supper,' in the brussels gallery (no. f). as for dierick boudts the younger, no picture painted by him has as yet been identified. his name appears again and again in the town accounts of his native city in connection with fines for brawling, he was born in , and died before , and this is all that we know of him. hugo van der goes hugo van der goes was probably a native of ghent, and if, as van mander says, he was a pupil of john van eyck, who died in , he must have been born somewhere about the year . be this as it may, his work bears witness that he was more deeply impressed by the great bruges master than any other of the flemish primitives. he was certainly at ghent in , and henceforth this town was his home until , when, following the example of his brother, the only one of his kinsmen of whom we have any knowledge, he became a monk of rouge-cloître, near brussels. why this sudden flight from the world? grief, suggests alphonse wauters,[ ] at the loss of a wife. it is a mere conjecture; we do not even know for certain that hugo was ever married. van mander tells how, when he was still a _vry gheselle_--that is, a bachelor--hence, notes wauters, it follows that he presently ceased to be such--he painted on a wall, over a chimney-piece in her father's house at ghent, the portrait of the woman he loved, in the guise of abigail coming forth to meet david. [ ] _hugues van der goes sa vie, et ses [oe]uvres_, par alphonse wauters, archiviste de la ville de bruxelles, etc. (bruxelles, .) 'n'y a-t-il pas là un doux souvenir d'un triomphe remporté par l'amour et couronné par l'hymen? l'allégorie me semble évident.' thus wauters; and he continues: 'après avoir aimé avec ardeur et avoir obtenu la main de sa maîtresse, il aura été frappé au c[oe]ur par la mort de sa compagne et se sera réfugié dans la solitude pour y vivre de souvenirs et de regrets.' the story as it stands is a pretty one, but one cannot help remembering that david's abigail was a rich and perhaps an elderly widow, and that immediately after his marriage with her he took a second wife. moreover, the assumption that hugo married the lady whose portrait he painted is a wholly gratuitous one; van mander does not even as much as hint that such was the case. but if we have no certain information as to the motives which inspired the great ghent painter to don the cowl, we have an authentic and detailed account of his life in the cloister, and of the terrible misfortune which there embittered his last days. it was written by a monk of rouge-cloître who knew hugo well, and the manuscript was discovered some fifty years ago by alphonse wauters himself. it is a very curious document; and note, the writer makes no mention of hugo ever having been a married man. and if this had been so, from the nature of his narrative he would have been almost certain to have said something about it. 'in the year of our lord died brother hugo, a lay brother professed in this monastery. he was so famous a painter that on this side the mountains, in those days, his like was not to be found. he, and i who write these things, were novices together. at the time of his clothing and during his novitiate, father thomas, our prior, allowed him many mundane consolations of a nature to incline him rather to the pomps of this world than to the way of humility and penance; and this was by no means pleasing to some, who said that novices should not be exalted, but, on the contrary, put down. and because he was so excellent a painter, great folk were wont to visit him, and even the most illustrious archduke maximilian himself; for they ardently desired to behold his pictures, and father thomas allowed him to receive them in the guest chamber, and to feast with them there. some five or six years after his profession it so happened that brother hugo made a journey to cologne along with his brother, brother nicholas, an oblate here, and brother peter, canon-regular of trone, then residing in the jéricho[ ] at brussels, and several others. one night, on the way home, as i learned at the time from brother nicholas, our brother hugo was seized by a strange mental derangement, which caused him to cry out continually that he was damned and condemned to eternal perdition; and he would fain have laid violent hands on himself, and would certainly have done so had he not been, but with difficulty, restrained by the aid of some who were standing by. and thus the last stage of that journey was not a cheerful one. 'albeit, having obtained assistance, they presently reached brussels, and forthwith summoned father thomas, who, when he had seen brother hugo and had heard all that had taken place, suspected that his malady was similar to that which vexed king saul, and, calling to mind how that monarch had been soothed by david's harping, he caused not a little music to be played in the presence of our brother, and strove also to divert him by various spectacular performances; but in vain: he kept on crying out that he was a son of perdition, and in this sorry plight they brought him to rouge cloître. the kindness and attention with which the choir brethren watched over him by night and by day, anticipating all his wants and always striving to console him, these things god will never forget. but false reports were spread abroad, and by great folk too, that such was not the case. [ ] a monastery which formerly stood at the corner of the _marché aux grains_ and the _rue de flandre_. the modern _rue de jéricho_ takes its name from this monastery. 'as to the nature of the malady with which brother hugo was afflicted, opinion was divided. some said he was mad, others that he was possessed (he had symptoms of each of these troubles), but throughout his illness he never attempted to injure anyone but himself; and this is not the wont of lunatics nor of men possessed by devils, and therefore what it was, i believe, god only knows. 'now the trouble of our monk painter (_pictoris conversi_) may be regarded from two points of view. let us say, in the first place, that it was natural--a peculiar form of mania; for there are various kinds of madness produced by various causes--improper food, strong drink, worry, grief, fear, too great an application to books, and, in fine, a natural predisposition to the same. so far as concerns emotions, i know for a certain fact that brother hugo was greatly troubled as to how he should finish his pictures, for he had so many orders that it was currently said it would take him full nine years to execute them; and also he very often studied a certain flemish book. as to wine, i fear he indulged too freely, doubtless on account of his friends. these things may gradually have produced the malady with which he was afflicted. but, on the other hand, it may have been brought about by the kind providence of god, who desires that no man should perish, but that all should be brought to repentance. 'now brother hugo, on account of his art, had been greatly exalted in our order, and, of a truth, he had become more famous than if he had remained in the world, and, because he was a man like the rest of us, perchance his heart was puffed up on account of the honours bestowed on him, and the divers visits and the homage which he had received; and that god, in order to save his soul, sent him this humiliating infirmity, by which, of a truth, he was greatly abased. he himself, understanding this when he had recovered his senses, humbled himself exceedingly: of his own free will he left our table and meekly took his meals with the other lay brethren.' how long a time hugo lived after he had recovered his reason his biographer does not say, nor does he tell us any of the details of his death or of his burial. after again enlarging on his skill in painting, and after some further notes on the origin of madness and a long theological disquisition, he simply says, '_sepultus est in nostro atrio, sub divo_.' he was buried in our cloister, in the open air. though brother hugo had been in his lifetime so famous a painter, he was soon forgotten, and van mander, who wrote at the beginning of the sixteen hundreds, could not even say when or where he died. of his grave, which was probably removed or broken when the church of rouge-cloître was rebuilt during the first half of the fifteen hundreds, no relic remains but the text of a doubtful epitaph-- pictor hugo van der goes humatus hic quiescit dolet ars, cum similem sibi modo nescit. [illustration: the wings of the saint anne triptych by quentin metsys, in the brussels gallery. _shut._] of all the works of hugo van der goes there is only one whose authenticity has as yet been established--a beautiful triptych which he painted before for thomas portinari, the agent of the medici family in bruges, and which thomas afterwards presented to the hospital of santa-maria-nuova, at florence, where it still remains. amongst the pictures attributed to him with more or less probability, note in the municipal gallery of bruges _la mort de la sainte vierge_, which, in the opinion of mr. weale, is undoubtedly genuine; and in the musée des beaux-arts at brussels the _sainte famille_ (no. ), which may or may not be his. quentin metsys quentin metsys, the son of old josse metsys, the metal worker of louvain, was born in that city in . like his elder brother, josse ii., whose acquaintance we have already made, he was a man of many parts. by trade, of course, he was a painter, but he by no means confined himself to this craft; he made designs for wrought iron, and carried them out too--witness the exquisite well cover by the great porch of antwerp cathedral. he was also an accomplished musician, busied himself with wood engraving, and dabbled, it is said, with some success in flemish letters. it was doubtless as his father's assistant that he learned how to forge iron; and there is a romantic story that before he became a painter he was himself a metal worker by profession, and only relinquished this calling for the sake of the woman he loved, whose father would never consent to her marriage with a smith--a most improbable tale, for in the days of quentin's youth the craftsman who wielded the hammer was quite as good a man as the craftsman who handled the brush. molanus asserts that quentin metsys was a pupil of roger van der weyden--manifestly an error, for the latter died two years before quentin was born. it is perfectly possible, however, that he was the pupil of roger's son, peter van der weyden. however this may be, he must have completed his apprenticeship before , for at this time he was already inscribed in the guild of saint luke at antwerp, and seems to have already made for himself a certain reputation, for when we first hear of him at antwerp he was married and settled in a house of his own in the rue des tanneurs. none of his works, however, of this period have come down to us. the earliest of his authentic pictures which we possess--the 'burial of christ,' now in the antwerp gallery--was not painted till , and the next--the 'legend of saint anne,' now at brussels (no. )--dates from the following year; it is signed on the third panel, 'quinte metsys schreef dit, .' these two grand triptyches are undoubtedly his _chefs-d'[oe]uvre_. the first was painted for the carpenters' company of antwerp, the second for the confraternity of saint anne at louvain. they are remarkable, like all the earlier works of this painter, for the delicacy of their execution, their elaborate detail, their strange luminous tints. though quentin's palette was a rich and varied one, his pictures have not the same mellow glow as the pictures of several of his predecessors--of those of dierick boudts, for example; and if his figures are less stiff than theirs, they are also less spiritual. he stands, as it were, at the parting of the ways; his creations, indeed, reflect the sublime beauty of hubert van eyck, of memling, of roger van der weyden, but at the same time, they seem to foreshadow the voluptuous splendour of rubens and of jacques jordaens. [illustration: the wings of the saint anne triptych by quentin metsys, in the brussels gallery. _open._] quentin metsys did not confine himself to sacred subjects. he portrayed also intimate scenes of civil life--merchants in their counting-houses, bankers, money-changers, and so forth. the most famous of these works is in the louvre; it was painted in . in this kind of painting, however, he had many imitators, and most of the _tableaux de genre_ attributed to him are not his. he also excelled in portraiture. one of his best patrons for works of this kind was peter [oe]gidius, whose likeness he painted several times. one of these peter presented to sir thomas more, along with a likeness of their friend erasmus, also quentin's work, and more acknowledged the gift in a set of latin verses. 'if future ages,' he said 'retain the least taste for the fine arts, if hateful mars does not triumph over minerva, what will not be the price of these pictures in days to come.' they are possibly still in existence. the portraits of erasmus and [oe]gidius in the longford gallery, near salisbury, formerly attributed to holbein, are now generally ascribed to quentin metsys, and the portrait of erasmus at hampton court, and that of [oe]gidius at antwerp, are now also commonly believed to be his work. 'si ce ne sont pas les originaux,' notes m. a.-j. wauters, 'ce sont deux excellentes copies du temps.'[ ] [ ] _la peinture flamande_, par a.-j. wauters. (bruxelles.) quentin metsys was twice married, and he was the father of thirteen children, of whom at least two, john and corneille, followed his calling, and are represented in the brussels gallery. he seems to have been socially inclined, and as he earned a considerable income, and his second wife was rich, notwithstanding his large family he was able to entertain his friends, amongst them [oe]gidius, erasmus, more, albert dürer, holbein, luke leyden. he was still a comparatively young man when he died at his own house at antwerp in . they laid him to rest in the cathedral, hard by the great porch, and a hundred years after his death the city erected a sumptuous monument to his memory, which has long since disappeared. he was the last of the flemish masters who to the end remained faithful to the traditions of the old national school. bernard van orley everard, lord of orley, was a knight of luxembourg, attached to the court of duke john iv. of brabant, or maybe in the service of his brother, count philip of saint-pol. like most of his race and class, his pedigree was in all probability much longer than his purse; at all events, he did not think it beneath him to marry middle-class money. mistress barbara, the lady of his choice, was a member of an illustrious burgher family famous in the annals of brussels: she was the near kinswoman, perhaps the daughter, of alderman jan taye, whose acquaintance we have already made, and she gave her hand to the lord of orley somewhere about the year . the issue of this marriage was a son, whom his parents christened jan, and who, when he had reached man's estate, was enrolled in the _lignage_ called sleuws--that is, of the lion--the same _lignage_, it will be remembered, to which everard t'serclaes belonged. in due course he married, and with his mother's wealth and privileges, and his father's name and title, doubtless he was held in high esteem by a large circle of friends; but the lasting fame of the house of van orley was built on another foundation: it was the result of jan's intimacy with a lady, name unknown, who was not his wife, and who in the year presented him with a son--valentine van orley, the father of bernard van orley, and the first of a long line of painters who throughout no less than six generations practised their art in brussels. the last of them was john van orley, who died in . [illustration: the central panel of the saint anne triptych by quentin metsys, in the brussels gallery.] the register of the brussels guild of saint luke has disappeared, and thus it is impossible to say who was valentine's master. he probably made a reputation early, for when he was only twenty-two years of age he took to himself a wife, one marguerite van pynbroeck. the wedding was celebrated at saint gudila's on the th of may . in he seems to have received an important order from antwerp, for in that year he left brussels for the city on the scheldt, and was admitted a free master of the local guild of saint luke; and as he received several apprentices during his sojourn there, he must have remained in antwerp some years. we find him again in brussels in , and this is all that is at present known of valentine van orley, save that he had several sons who were painters, and several daughters whose husbands followed the same calling. if any of valentine's pictures have come down to us, they have not as yet been identified. he must have painted a considerable number in the course of his career, and it is not likely that they have all perished. in the churches and convents of belgium and in the various public and private collections throughout europe there are a host of flemish 'primitives' catalogued _inconnu_. it may well be that amongst them are some of valentine's works; and note, not a few of these anonymous paintings are quite as beautiful as some of the authentic pictures of the greatest masters of the period. take, for example, in the brussels gallery, the strangely pathetic and gloriously coloured passion scenes of the triptych of oultremont (no. ); or the 'martyrdom of saint sebastian' (no. e), attributed to memling and to dierick boudts; or the 'adoration of the magi' (no. ), which john van eyck, peter christus and gerard david are all said to have painted; or the saint gudila triptych, _le christ pleuré par les saintes femmes_ (no. ), which some very eminent critics ascribe to bernard van orley, and in which others equally eminent find no trace of his style; or the 'virgin and child' (no. ), successively given to hubert van eyck, peter christus, and quentin metsys. in a former edition of his catalogue, monsieur a. j. wauters wrote against this picture, '_magnifique ouvrage de l' École de bruges_.' he would have been on surer ground had he been content with the first two words of this sentence. it is certainly a _magnifique ouvrage_, and no more and no less can be aptly said of any of the above-mentioned pictures. but to return to the house of van orley. the greatest painter which that house produced--the giant who made pigmies of the rest, was valentine's second son, bernard, who, as his parents were only married in the spring of , cannot have been born much before . of his life before nothing is certainly known. at this time he was settled in brussels, and had already made a name, for in he painted a triptych for the oratory of the holy cross in the church of saint walburge at furnes, for which he received _livres parisis_ (the central panel of this altar-piece is now at turin); and in or he painted the portraits of the children of duke philippe le beau, and also the portrait of his son-in-law, christian ii. of denmark. these pictures have not come down to us, or at least they have not been identified; but, doubtless, they were all that could be desired, for shortly after their completion marguerite of austria, whom charles quint on the eve of his departure for spain had named regent of the netherlands, appointed orley court painter; and if they were anything like the portrait which he painted two years later of georges zelle--now in the brussels gallery (no. )--they must have been singularly beautiful. this picture is signed and dated . orley was now married and living with his wife, agnes zeghers, in a house on the senne, hard by the old church of saint géry; and zelle, who was town physician and chief medical attendant to the hospital of saint john--an institution which was founded in the twelve hundreds, and which still exists--was his friend and near neighbour. here there is an unsigned picture, dated august , --subject, the 'death of our lady'--which, tradition says, is van orley's work. the same year that he painted the portrait of georges zelle, orley was commissioned by the _aumoniers_ of antwerp to paint an altar-piece for their chapel in the cathedral there, for which they agreed to pay him florins. this picture is now in the antwerp gallery (no. to no. )--subject, the 'resurrection and the seven works of mercy.' it is not signed. van orley was now making a very considerable income, kept good company, and was able to give good dinners. albert dürer, who spent a week at brussels in the summer of , partook of one of them, and thus writes of it in his journal: 'it was such a magnificent spread that i doubt if master bernard was quit of it for ten florins. several great folk were present, whom bernard had invited to bear me company; amongst others, the treasurer of madame marguerite (jean de marnix, lord of toulouse), whose portrait i painted, the town treasurer (alderman jan busleyden), and the grand master of the palace.' it was no doubt owing in great measure to 'madame marguerite's' patronage that 'master bernard' was able to show such lavish hospitality to his friends, for though his official _gages_--as bernard himself informs us--was only _un patart par jour qu'est bien petite chose_, sundry valuable privileges were attached to the office of court painter, and the accounts of treasurer marnix bear witness that madame was constantly giving him orders for pictures for which he was always handsomely paid. though marnix describes most of them, hardly any of these paintings have as yet been identified. there can be no doubt, however, that one of them at least has come down to us--'un grand tableau exquis sur la vertu de patience,' which marguerite commissioned bernard to paint for her favourite minister, count antoine de lalaing. this great triptych is now in the brussels gallery (no. ); it is described in the official catalogue as _la patience et les epreuves de job_, and its authenticity is beyond question. it is signed in latin: 'bernardus--dorley--bruxellanus--faciebat: aº dni mcccccxxi iiiiª may,' and in flemish--'elx syne tyt. orley ,' and monogramed with the initials b.v.o. in two places. this was not the only commission which bernard executed for his august mistress in : various sums are entered in the treasury accounts for that year as having been paid to him for various pictures, which are there described at length; and then follows this curious item--'et dix (pièces d'or) des quels ma dicte dame a fait don à mon dit maître bernard, outre et par dessus les dits achats d'icelles peintures et marché fait avec luy et ce, en faveur d'aucuns services qu'il a faits à icelle dame, dont elle ne veut pas qu'il soit fait ici mention.' what was the mysterious business of which no mention was to be made? maître bernard had evidently succeeded in winning madame's confidence, but six years later he thought it worth while to run a serious risk of losing it. he was imprudent enough to give hospitality to a certain lutheran preacher, who had been introduced to him by the king of denmark, and to suffer this divine to hold forth in his house upon no less than four occasions. protestantism was at this time making headway in the netherlands, the regent was straining every nerve to stem the rising tide of heresy, and the most stringent penalties had been decreed not only against the professors of the new teaching, but against all those who should aid or abet them. it is not surprising, then, that presently the poor court painter found himself in the clutches of master nicholas à montibus, the inquisitor at louvain. the situation was an alarming one, and doubtless bernard thanked his stars when the inquisitor pronounced sentence; he was ordered to _aller faire amende honorable à sainte gudule_, and to pay a fine of florins. he did not even lose his situation. when his old friend died two years afterwards, her successor marie of hungary retained him in her service, and on the th of january , she commissioned him to paint _un beau exquis et puissant tableau de bois de danemarck pour service sur le grand autel de l' église du couvent de brou en bresse_, the church which marguerite of austria had built in memory of her husband, philibert of savoy, and where her bones lie buried. this picture has come down to us; we know its history, and it is a curious one. amongst marguerite's numerous bequests to the church of brou were some beautiful paintings by bernard van orley, which marie was exceedingly loath to part with, and she therefore arranged with her aunt's executors to keep them, and to present to the church of brou, by way of compensation, a triptych for the high altar, hence the commission to the court painter of january , ; but the _beau exquis et puissant tableau_, which was the outcome of this arrangement, was not destined to adorn the altar for which it had been ordered. though bernard had worked at it eight years, when he died, on the st of january , it was still unfinished, and eight years later the canons of notre-dame, at bruges, who were at this time preparing their church for the reception of the relics of charles the bold, purchased it from van orley's heirs for _livres tournois_. the three great panels of _bois de danemarck_ were conveyed to bruges in as many wagons, and set up behind the high altar in the old collegiate church of notre-dame, where they still remain, but how much or how little of van orley's work is displayed on them is another question: the triptych was completed by the bruges painter, marc geerhaerds, in , and about thirty years later the central panel was entirely repainted and the wings retouched by françois pourbus. this picture has been removed from its original position, and now hangs on the west wall of the south aisle--subject, scenes from the passion. of bernard van orley's signed paintings only four have come down to us:--the job triptych and the zelle portrait at brussels, the holy family at stockholm, signed b. v. orley, but not dated, and an altar-piece at vienna, showing the death of saint thomas and the election of saint mathias, and signed bernardus van orley, but not dated. this picture is the central panel of a triptych which was formerly in the church of notre-dame du sablon; the wings are now in the brussels gallery (no. a). open, they represent the incredulity of saint thomas and the martyrdom of saint mathias, and shut, the same saints in grisaille, and six kneeling figures, doubtless the donors. from the fact that four small carpenter's tools are painted on the back of each of the shutters, it is likely enough that this triptych was ordered by or for the carpenters' guild--a wealthy corporation intimately connected with the sablon church. we know nothing of its history. the portrait of georges zelle is without question van orley's masterpiece. in colour, composition, technique, this picture is quite perfect. it was his last effort in the old style, and it gives him the right to an honourable place in the ranks of the great masters of the old national school. bernard van orley died on the st of january ; he was buried in the church of saint géry, and though his tomb disappeared when the church was destroyed, a drawing of it has come down to us. it was emblazoned with the arms of the lords of orley, without a bend sinister. [illustration: from s. rombold's malines.] chapter xviii _conclusion_ the constitution of continued to be the legal constitution of the city of brussels until the old order of things was swept away at the close of the seventeen hundreds, save only for a short period--not quite four years--during the reign of marie of burgundy. the defeat and death of that stalwart hero, whom men in his lifetime had called the bold, and afterwards the rash, was a source of great consolation to all his subjects, for charles had dreamed dreams of empire, and the people had had to pay for his vain attempts to realise them. the daughter who inherited his throne and his misfortunes was but eighteen years of age, and, with a shattered army and an empty purse, she was wholly dependent on their goodwill. the times, then, were propitious for asking favours; every commune in the netherlands was obtaining fresh privileges; and when marie visited brussels in the june of she did not refuse to legalise the result of a successful riot of the year before. but though plebeians could now sit in the college of aldermen, and the people could now take part in municipal elections, it is worthy of note that the new magistrates were almost all of them members of the old ruling class. further changes were made in (this time of a reactionary character), and in the following year the old constitution was once more re-established. v.--genealogical table of the dukes of brabant from philip ii. to philip iii. $philip ii.$(philippe l'asseuré), = isabel of portugal _d._ | ( rd wife) | ( ) catherine, daughter = $charles i.$ = ( ) isabel of of charles vii. of (le téméraire), | bourbon france _d._ | = ( ) margaret of | york (sister | of edward iv. | of england), | _d._ +--------------------------------- + | $marie$, = maximilian of hapsbourg, emperor _d._ | from , _d._ | +---------- +-------------- + | | $philip iii.$ marguerite, = philibert, duke (philippe le beau) regent of | of savoy the low | ( nd husband) country | from , | _d._ | | | emmanuel philibert, duke of savoy, regent of the low country from to the great struggle between the patricians and the craftsmen was never again to be renewed. the former, now that they had lost their monopoly, dissociated themselves more and more, as time went on, from trade and from municipal affairs, and, becoming more and more chary in admitting to their order outsiders from below, were little by little absorbed in the ranks of the territorial aristocracy. before two generations had passed away their numbers had become so reduced that there were not twenty-one patricians in brussels qualified to sit in the college of aldermen, and under these circumstances charles v. deprived them of their last political prerogative: in he decreed that henceforth any nobleman, whether he were a member of a _lignage_ or not, should be an eligible candidate for the magistracy. the city was not indeed free from dissensions in the ages which followed, but the strife which divided the people was not the outcome of class hatred, but of differences of opinion in religious matters, and of the impolitic measures taken to restore religious unity by alien rulers, who had no sympathy with the customs and traditions of the netherlands. it happened thus: duchess marie, who in had married maximilian of hapsburg, son of the emperor frederick iii., died two years later, leaving two children--van orley's friend marguerite, whose acquaintance we have already made; and philip, surnamed the handsome, who, inheriting his mother's domains, ruled them from the time that he attained his majority in till his death in . philip had married juana, the daughter and heiress of isabel, queen of castile, and of ferdinand, king of aragon; and the eldest born of this union was the famous charles quint. if old king ferdinand and cardinal ximénez had been allowed to have their way, the spanish succession would have been settled on charles's younger brother, and spain and the netherlands would perhaps have been spared many years of misery. to this arrangement charles, naturally enough, objected; and no sooner had he attained his majority than he despatched, 'par devers le roy d'arragon, pour aucuns grans affaires secretz dont n'est besoin ici faire declaration'--thus it was given out--his tutor, adrian boyens. this remarkable man, it will be interesting to note, was the son of a brewer of utrecht; in his early days he had been curate of the grand béguinage at louvain--a portion of the house which he then occupied is still standing (no. rue des moutons)--towards the close of his life he ascended the pontifical throne, under the title of adrian vi., and at the time of which we are writing he held, along with other preferments, a canon's stall in the old collegiate church of saint guy at anderlecht. the ex-curate of louvain ought certainly not to have been a match for the experienced statesman and diplomatist who at this time held the destinies of spain in his hands, but, somehow or other, he managed to convince him of the justice of his master's claim: presently, with the approval of his all-powerful minister, ferdinand consented to acknowledge his eldest grandson as his heir; and when he died, two years afterwards, charles ascended the throne. thus were spain and the netherlands united under one sceptre; and the inhabitants of the greater realm were the first to rue it; for charles, who was a native of ghent and had been brought up at mechlin, had little liking for spain, and took no pains to conceal his sentiments: he refused to speak the spanish tongue, flouted the aged cardinal ximénez (a statesman of whom spaniards were justly proud, and whom the people regarded as a saint), filled the land with foreign officials, levied illegal taxes, violated the most cherished constitutional rights--in a word, treated his southern domain almost like a conquered country; and when at last the castilians rebelled, and after a bitter struggle were crushed, he deprived them of their time-honoured liberties. [illustration: at mechlin] in the netherlands the course of events was much the same, but the situation developed later, and only became acute during the reign of his son philip. karlekin, as the flemings called their sovereign, at all events was one of them; and though the ghenters experienced his lash when they refused to pay his illegal imposts, and though his 'placards' against heresy were stamped with the cruel rigour of the penal code of the day, they only touched a small minority, and to the end of his reign he remained with the bulk of the people sufficiently popular. upon the rare occasions when he visited brussels he was welcomed with _fêtes_ and enthusiasm. often away from home, he was fortunate in his choice of regents--marguerite of austria, his aunt, and, when she died, his sister, marie of hungary. these ladies resided for the most part at mechlin, in a beautiful gothic palace, which had formerly been inhabited by marguerite of york, the widow of charles the bold, and which is still standing; and the court of each of them was rendered brilliant by the artists and scholars who frequented it. they were deservedly loved by their subjects, for they held the reins of government with a gentle hand; and it was in large measure owing to their prudence that when charles put off his crown, the seventeen provinces of the netherlands were among the most prosperous in europe. when on the th of october , leaning on the shoulder of that prince who was so soon to become the mortal enemy of his race, the emperor, not old in years but worn out by disease and the weight of a realm on which, as he used to say, the sun never set, bade farewell to the men of brussels in the great hall of the coudenberg--we have it on the testimony of an eye-witness--all those who heard him wept. well might the people weep, if they had only known: they were assisting at the opening scene of a tragedy which lasted a hundred years. [illustration: by the dyle at mechlin.] the new sovereign had been born and bred in castile, and despite his flemish ancestry and his flemish face he was a true castilian. of course he knew nothing of flemish, and he either could not or would not speak french: he was as much a foreigner in the low countries as his father had been in spain. like him, he had the instincts and the inclinations of a despot; but whereas charles delighted to mix with his fellow-men and, when he would, could win their affection, philip was cold, grave, aloof, and kept even the highest of his court nobles at arm's length; nor were the netherlanders sorry when, four years after his inauguration, he bade them farewell. but if they imagined that their sovereign's fingers were not long enough to reach them from madrid, in this they were mistaken, as presently they learned to their cost, for it was no vain boast when philip said that 'everywhere in the vast compass of his dominions he was an absolute king.' the native aristocracy was indeed represented in the council of state, but there were foreign councillors as well, and one of them, cardinal granvelle, had philip's ear. it was he who governed the regent--marguerite of parma, a natural daughter of charles v.--and to all intents and purposes the country was ruled from madrid. hence not a little heartburning. meanwhile the new doctrine was rapidly making headway. the number of protestants amongst the working population of the great cities must at this time have been considerable; there were thousands in all classes halting between two opinions, and honest men all over the country, who had no sympathy with the tenets proscribed, were sickened and astounded at the cruel rigour with which charles's 'placards' were being now enforced, and in the midst of it all, and in spite of the opposition of granvelle himself, philip took a step which he ought to have known would be certain to breed trouble: he obtained from pope paul iv. a bull ( ) to increase the number of bishoprics from three to fifteen, and the measure was at once opposed by all sorts and conditions of men:--by the secular clergy, because they believed that the presence of so many bishops amongst them would lessen their prestige; by the monks, who knew they would be shorn of revenue for the endowment of the new sees; by the nobles, who regarded the great abbeys as the appanage of their younger sons; by the people, who were firmly convinced that this step was only the prelude to further persecution; and opposition was increased tenfold when presently it became known that the proposed metropolitan see of mechlin was to be confided to cardinal granvelle. philip, however, refused to draw back; but, so threatening was the attitude of the nobles, that at last, at the request of the regent herself, he consented to granvelle's resignation ( ), though almost immediately afterwards he gave orders that the edicts against heresy should be enforced with increased rigour. then, on the th of february , came the famous _compromis des nobles_, and a petition for the redress of grievances, which was presented to the regent two months later by a deputation of four hundred gentlemen, many of whom were catholics, with a request that she would transmit it to philip, and which he in due course refused. '_ne vous inquiétez pas ce ne sont que des gueux_,' the lord of berlaymont had whispered to marguerite, dismayed at the long line of petitioners who solemnly filed before her in the great hall of the coudenberg; and that night, at a banquet in the palace of the lord of culembourg, now the prison of the petits carmes, they made this term of reproach their _signe de ralliement_; they were 'gueux,' they said, 'et fidèles au roi jusqu'à la besace.' they proved it by scattering seditious pamphlets broadcast all over the country, and the following year--the _wonder jaar_, as it was afterwards called--the calvinist mob began to purge the land of idols. in flanders alone more than four hundred churches and religious houses were sacked, and what happened at antwerp is significant--every statue in the cathedral was shattered, save that of the unrepentant thief. the worst of the trouble was, however, over; order had been restored; antwerp, where the protestants were strongest, had opened its gates to the regent; thanks to her firmness and moderation, the country was being rapidly pacified, and a very general reaction in favour of the government and of the old faith had already set in, when philip, who, when he heard of the havoc wrought by the protestants, had sworn by the soul of his father to make them pay for it, despatched to the netherlands a spanish army under the command of alva. the terrible duke and his soldiers reached brussels on the nd of august , and sooner than have any share in the horrors she foresaw would ensue, marguerite laid down her office. the story of alva's reign of terror is too well known to need recital here. suffice it to say that the whole country was declared in a state of siege. in utter violation of those constitutional liberties which philip had solemnly sworn to respect, he constituted that 'council of troubles,' which the people called the 'council of blood,' and whose mission it was to judge, or rather to condemn, all those whom the duke deferred to it. amongst the innocent victims were lamoral d'egmont, a member of marguerite's council, and governor of flanders and artois, and his friend and kinsman, martin de hornes, admiral of the netherlands. they had been the leaders of the opposition against granvelle, along with william of nassau, but, unlike him, they were loyal to philip and loyal to the old faith. alva, however, thought otherwise, and they died the death of traitors, in the grand' place at brussels, on the th of june . it is said that the spanish soldiers wept when they saw these men led forth to execution, and even alva himself, though he believed them guilty, was loath to condemn them. 'your majesty will understand,' he wrote to philip, 'the regret i feel at seeing these poor lords brought to such an end, and myself obliged to bring them to it, but i have not shrunk from doing what is for your majesty's service.... the countess egmont's condition fills me with the greatest pity, burthened as she is with a family of eleven children, none old enough to take care of themselves; and she a lady of so distinguished a rank and of so virtuous, truly catholic and exemplary life. there is no man in the country who does not grieve for her! i cannot but commend her to the good grace of your majesty, beseeching you to call to mind that, if the count, her husband, came to trouble at the close of his days, he formerly rendered great services to the state.' philip granted the countess d'egmont an annual pension of , _livres_, which seems to have been not very regularly paid. a few years ago a monumental fountain was erected in brussels in memory of egmont and hornes; it stands in the place du petit sablon, hard by the ancient palace, now the hôtel des ducs d'arenberg, where poor lamoral dwelt, and which was originally built by his mother. but it was not the fierceness of alva's vengeance, but his oppressive and illegal fiscal measures, which roused the people to rebellion and threw catholics and protestants alike into the arms of william of nassau. at last philip's eyes were opened, but then it was too late. when he recalled the duke of alva in the autumn of the whole country was in revolt, and the northern provinces were lost for ever to spain. [illustration: guild halls in the market-place of brussels.] later on, when the catholic provinces of the south, disgusted at the bigotry and intolerance of william of orange and his friends, had made terms with the duke of parma and returned to philip's allegiance, and when by their aid the dutch had been ousted from every town in brabant and flanders, save ostend, and william himself had fallen, struck down by the hand of an assassin, it seemed for a moment that the northern provinces too would soon be constrained to submit to parma's victorious army; but as philip had baulked his sister marguerite, so now did he render of no avail the heroic efforts of her son. he was minded to conquer england. parma's forces were suddenly withdrawn to second his vain endeavour, and the opportunity lost through the king's infatuation, never again returned ( ). the war dragged on intermittently for more than sixty years, and then at last, by the treaty of westphalia, spain consented to acknowledge the independence of the dutch republic. but to return to brussels. during the troubled years of philip's reign brussels suffered less than most of the other great towns of the spanish netherlands; for though she experienced the kindness of alva and afterwards had to endure the tender mercies of the gueux, parma presently re-established order, made her the seat of his government, restored her municipal rights, and thus, little by little, trade and industry revived. in the days of duchess isabel ( - ) and her husband albert of austria ( - ), on whom on his deathbed king philip had conferred the sovereignty of the low countries, brussels enjoyed unbroken peace and a period of comparative prosperity. they resided for the most part in the old ducal palace, and were greatly beloved by the burghers: they did what they could to make them forget the miseries of philip's reign. if they had been able to found a dynasty, it is likely enough the land would have been spared many years of trouble; but, dying without offspring, their heritage reverted to spain, and shared the misfortunes of that once great nation, now in full decadence. from to the spanish netherlands was the scene of almost uninterrupted warfare; yet, strangely enough, throughout the whole of this period the masons of brabant went on building, and, stranger still, were able to erect structures not unworthy of their great traditions. at brussels, for example, the beautiful gothic chapel of our lady of deliverance ( - ), the renaissance chapel of the brigitine nuns (of about the same date), the chapel of saint anne ( ), the church of the béguinage ( ), of the riches claires ( - ), of notre-dame de bon secours ( - ), the guild halls in the grand' place--no less than seventeen of them, all erected after the bombardment of . [illustration: notre-dame d'hanswyck, malines.] brussels, of course, was now the capital, and probably too at this time the richest town in the spanish netherlands; but cities which had not these advantages somehow or other managed to produce grand buildings. at louvain we have the church of saint michael ( - ), the college of the holy trinity ( ), the college of the holy ghost ( ); and at mechlin, the church of saint peter ( ) and the church of our lady of hanswyck ( ). these strange rococo creations assuredly cannot compete with the buildings of the fourteen and fifteen hundreds, but they have a certain fantastic charm of their own; they are at least picturesque, and, curiously enough, they bear no trace of the lean years which produced them. wherefore? the industry, the thrift, the business qualities of the burghers, who still through their representatives in the estates of brabant administered the finances of the realm; their inborn love of the beautiful; their traditional skill in creating it; the survival of the mediæval craft guilds and of the mediæval faith: in these things we probably have the answer to the riddle. [illustration: saints pierre et paul, malines.] the treaty of rastatt at the close of the war of the spanish succession gave brabant and the other provinces of the spanish netherlands to the emperor charles vi., a descendant, in the direct line, of duke philip the handsome, and the domination of the austrian hapsburgs continued, save for an interval of four years, till the end of the century. on the whole, the change was for the better. after the long years of excitement the nation needed repose, and under their new rulers the belgian estates, as they were now called, vegetated in obscure tranquillity. the opening years of charles's reign were not, however, without trouble. he was ill represented by his first governor, the marquis de prié, who seems to have made no attempt to win the people's confidence. an italian by birth, and a man of utterly unsympathetic character, avaricious, violent, cold, his impolitic and vexatious fiscal measures irritated the whole country, and the craftsmen of brussels resisted them. as time went on the agitation increased, and at last the mob got out of hand, broke into the chancellery where the estates of brabant were sitting, and wrecked the houses of several of the regent's partisans; and when order was once more restored, de prié, like a second alva, thought only of vengeance. [illustration: la porte de hal, brussels.] having treacherously obtained possession of the persons of five of his principal opponents, four of them were condemned to exile, and the fifth to death. this man was françois anneessens, dean of the nation of saint nicholas, and by trade a turner of chairs; he was seventy-three years of age, a good man and a good citizen, known and esteemed by the whole town. it was said that he had fomented sedition, but in reality he died for defending the traditional rights of his order. his head was struck off in the grand' place on the fifth of february . he was the last of the old brussels guildsmen to give his life for liberty. the time-honoured civic institutions of belgium were not destined to survive much longer; they were soon to be swept away by the backwash of the french revolution--to bring their years to an end, as it were a tale that is told. vi.--genealogical table of the dukes of brabant from philip iii. to francis $philip iii.$ (philippe le beau). = jeanne (la folle), daughter of _d._ | ferdinand of arragon and | isabel of castile +------------- +-------------------- +----- + | | | marguerite = $charles ii.$ = isabel of portugal | | van gheest | (karlekin), duke | | | of | of brabant | | | audenarde | ( - ), king | +--------------- + | | of spain( -| | | | ), emperor | marie, regent = louis, | | ( - ), | of the low king | | _d._ | country from of | | | - hungary | | | | | | ferdinand i., | | emperor. | | _d._ | | | | | +----- + | | | +------- + +-+--+ | | | | | marguerite, = octavius | marie = maximilian ii., charles, regent of | farnese, | emperor, _d._ the low | duke of | _d._ | country | parma | ( rd wife) | from | | | to | anne, = $philip iv.$ = elizabeth, daughter | | daughter | (ii. of | of henry ii. | | of | spain), | of france | | maximilian | _d._ | | | ii. | | | | ( th wife) | | | | | | | +------ + +---- + +----------------- + | | | | | | alexander, philip iii. isabel, regent = $albert$, ferdinand ii., prince of of spain, of the spanish duke of emperor, parma, regent _d._ netherlands brabant from _d._ of the low | from , , | country from | _d._ _d._ | to | | | | +------------- +------ + +------------------------- + | | | $philip v.$ marie anne = ferdinand iii., (of brabant), | _d._ iv. (of spain), | _d._ | | | $charles iii.$ leopold i., (of brabant), emperor, ii. (of spain), _d._ _d._ | | $charles iv.$ of brabant, emperor, _d._ | | $marie therese$, _d._ | | +----------- +------------- +--- + | | | $joseph$, $leopold$, marie caroline = ferdinand i. of _d._ _d._ | sicily | | | | $francis$, | inaugurated marie-amélie = louis-philippe at brussels | of france , and left | immediately afterwards | | louise = leopold i., | king of the belgians | leopold ii., of belgium _follows page ._ [illustration:] index a abbey church of parc, adelaide, duchess, supports the blankarden, adhilck, lord of hesbaye, changes his name to bavo, ; becomes patron of ghent as saint bavo, aerschot, parish church of, alost, church of our lady and saint martin at, anderlecht, saint guy of, - andernach, duke giselbert surprised at, and drowned, , anne of linange, wife of sweder van apcoude, ; she surrenders gaesbeke castle, ansfried, count of louvain, influence of bruno on, anthony, regent of brabant, antwerp cathedral, , antwerp, heresy in, ; canons of, ask the aid of saint norbert, arnon, abbot of elnone, arnulph i. heads a german army against norsemen, ; names his son zwentibold, king of lotharingia, b bavo, saint, converted by saint-amand, ; becomes patron of ghent, beguines and beghards, _et seq._ beyaert, jan, his fine carving, ; executed, blankarden, family of the, their rivalry to the coelveren, _et seq._ bloemardine, a famous brussels mystic, , , boudts, dierick, a famous painter, , - brabant, origin of place names in, , ; early inhabitants of, ; danes' first visit to, ; their conduct, ; making of duchy of, - ; municipal organisation of towns of, _et seq._ braine-le-comte, surrender of, brethren of the common life, the, ; their famous pupils, brigitine nuns, chapel of, brogne, abbey of, origin of, bruno, saint, receives ducal crown, ; his influence, ; banishes régnier of hainault, ; his death, brussels, etymology of name, ; its rise, _et seq._; hostility of patricians and plebeians in, ; winceslaus' conduct towards, ; riots in, , ; election of magistrates at, ; articles manufactured at, ; flemish invasion of, ; flemings driven out, ; public buildings of, _et seq._ butkins quoted, c calstere, alderman vanden, ; murders vander leyden, ; his cruel treatment of van grave, cathedral of saint lambert rifled and burnt by danes, cathedral school of liége, celites, the, their work, charlemagne, progress of art under, charles of france claims his mother's dowry, ; duchy conferred on him by otho ii., ; death of, charles the bold, pavilion made in brussels for his wedding, charles the fat summoned from italy, chastelain quoted, , cluny, effect of discipline of, , . cluting, amman of brussels, divested of his office, ; restored to office, ; his plot to seize the city, ; imprisoned, ; executed, cobham, eleanor, rival of jacqueline, accompanies gloucester to hainault, , ; marries gloucester, coelveren, family of the, rivals of the blankardens, _et seq._ college of aldermen, _et seq._, , conrad the red, his character, consecrated wafers, legend regarding theft of, constance, fathers of, elect pope martin v., cooman, hendrick, architect, corneille, his brief career and cruel death, , coudenberg, franz, canon of saint gudule's, ; founds a community, council of jurors, _et seq._, , . coutherele, peter, mayor of louvain, ; triumph of democracy due to him, ; his quarrel with the magistracy, ; opposition to the patricians, - ; his fall and flight, - ; in holland, ; his death, _crom cruys_, , - crypt of saint guy at anderlecht, cuyck, henri de, his marriage, ; intercedes with winceslaus for peter coutherele, d dancers, the, cause massacre of jews, danes first visit brabant, ; they destroy churches and murder monks, delft, treaty of, jacqueline acknowledges philip as regent by, domlinus, a hermit, legend of, duchess jeanne negotiates with coutherele, ; submits report to conference in saint gertrude's abbey, , ; a widow and in debt, ; visits town hall on hearing of attack on t'serclaes, , ; french in sympathies, ; visits paris, ; her death, duke john i. proclaimed heir to duchy of brabant, ; held in confidence and esteem, duke john ii., riot during his absence, ; authorises magistrates to use any means they think fit to crush outbreaks, ; grants discretionary power to college of aldermen, duke john iii. appoints coutherele mayor, ; his death, duke john iv., scion of the house of bourgogne, ; marries jacqueline, ; cedes part of his wife's domains to john the pitiless, ; his feebleness, ; a noteworthy day in his life, ; marguerite of burgundy remonstrates with him, ; summons estates of brabant to meet at brussels, ; delays to arbitrate between the heetveldes and vanderstraetens, ; flees to bois-le-duc, ; appears before brussels at the head of an army of germans, ; enters brussels, ; conduct of his german knights, ; citizens fetter and place knights in gaol, ; his friends form a secret league for his defence, ; the estates recall him, ; mons besieged by, ; his death, dynter, edmund de, quoted, , , , , , , , , e elizabeth, duchess of luxembourg, marries john the pitiless, englebert de la mark, bishop of liége, english surrender at braine-le-comte, strange delusion which led to, , estates of brabant summoned to meet at brussels, ; support jacqueline, ; recall duke john, eyck, jan van, , f feudal system rises on ruins of imperialism, flagellants, the, flemings driven from brussels, francon, bishop, flees from danes, ; joins arnulph's army, g gaesbeke, castle of, , ; siege of, ; capitulation of, genappe, castle of, as a refuge for the jews, georgius, an italian mechanician, gerard, first abbot of brogne, ; the secret of his success, , gerard of vorsselaer, offers his services to the patricians of louvain, ; offers the same at brussels, , gerberge, daughter of henry i., , gertrude, daughter of pepin of landen, foundress of abbey of nivelles, , gertruidenberg besieged and burnt, gheel, church of saint dymphna at, ghent, cathedral of, - ; town hall of, - giselbert, count, how his fortune was made, giselbert, duke, succeeds his father, ; his character and death, , godfrey longbeard, duke, lays foundation stone of notre-dame de la chapelle, ; founds abbeys of tongerloo and parc, godfrey of verdun, his message to his wife, godfrey the hunchback, his character, gorcum, treaty of, grand béguinage at louvain, , grave, myn here van, cruel treatment of, groenendael, community founded at, groote, geert, disciple of ruysbroek, ; his preaching, gudule, saint, legends relating to her life, , guild halls in grand' place at brussels, , guy, saint, of anderlecht, ; legends about him, - h hadewych, sister, a writer of glowing prose and frenzied verse, hal, church of our lady and saint martin at, , , halene, slain by her father for embracing christianity, hanneman, jan, a rich cloth merchant of louvain, ; sent to germany to raise money, ; disappears, heetvelde, house of, ; their quarrel with the vanderstraetens, heinsberg, his plot with cluting, ; captured and imprisoned, ; released, hellebeke, jan van, commander-in-chief at gaesbeke castle, ; his life spared on surrender, henry i., emperor, gives his daughter to giselbert, henry iv., emperor, his policy, , henry of limburg refuses to acknowledge henry v., herengolys, peter, mayor of louvain, ; flees to asten, ; disappears, ; captured and executed, heusden surrendered, heverlé, castle of, hinckaert, jan, canon of saint gudule's, holy trinity, college of the, at louvain, hommes de sainte gertrude, , hubert, saint, bishop of liége, conversion of brabant due to his zeal, humphrey, duke of gloucester, marries jacqueline, ; marries eleanor cobham, j jacqueline, her birth, ; forced to marry duke john of brabant, ; part of her domains ceded by him, ; disagreement with her husband, ; rates him for two hours at tervueren, ; flees from court, ; enters brussels in triumph, ; captures heusden and gertruidenberg, ; appeals to the pope to dissolve her marriage with john and marries humphrey, duke of gloucester, ; her letter to humphrey, , ; surrenders at mons, ; her escape, , ; secretly marries franche de borselle, ; dies of consumption, _jean sans peur_, his characteristics, jews, outbreaks against, ; the dancers cause massacre of, john of arkel puts louvain under interdict john of louvain, theft of consecrated wafers by, john the pitiless, in sub-deacon's orders at seventeen, ; his oppression and cruelty, ; resigns his see and marries, ; demands fresh concessions, ; estates oppose him, ; dies by poisoning, jonathan of enghien, a hebrew fanatic, jury, origin of the, k kegel, alderman, , ; escapes from brussels, kelderman, jan, designer of tower of saint rombold, keldermans, the, a remarkable family, - , , l lambert balderick, real founder of louvain, ; builds and endows saint peter's, louvain, lambert longbeard, count of louvain, lambert long col claims duchy of lotharingia, léau, saint leonard's church at, leyden, wouter vander, heads rioters, ; chosen as a city captain, ; murdered, liége, diocese of, lierre, old church at, lierre, town hall of, bell taken from braine, hung in, _lignages_, or clans, , long col, house of, - lotharingia, monastic domains of, in lay hands, ; invaded by charles of france, louis of maele. , , louvain, old bourg of, ; lambert balderick, real founder of, ; grant of charter from winceslaus, ; revolution of at, ; church of saint peter at, low country, features of, and trade in, - m maeseyck, illuminated copy of the gospels in old church at, maison du roi, la, marguerite of maele, a rich young widow, , , marsdale, jan van, sculptor, martin v., pope, his letters to duke john, marvis, bishop walter de, a great church-builder, matthew de layens, builder of louvain town hall, - mechlin, architecture of, mechlin cathedral, merchants' guild, , , , metsys, quentin, a famous painter, , , mons, siege of, monstrelet quoted, montenaeken, battle of, called 'saint lambert's triumph,' municipal organisation of towns in brabant, _et seq._ n nivelles, abbey of, founded by saint gertrude, nivelles, specimen of romanesque architecture at, ; commerce of, ; features of, ; the old minster, - norbert, saint, of laon invited to antwerp, ; founds premonstratensian order, notre-dame au-delà de la dyle, church of, , notre-dame de la chapelle, , , notre-dame du lac at thienhoven, notre-dame du sablon, o orley, bernard van, a famous painter, , , , , otbert of liége, his support of the emperor, othée, battle at, otho, emperor, , ; governs lotharingia by means of the church, , ; gives ducal crown to saint bruno, ; his death, otho ii., his policy, our lady of deliverance, chapel of, our lady of hanswyck, church of, at mechlin, p parc, abbey of, peace of , or great charter, 'petermen,' their privileges, , ; rich and powerful, peter the hermit, draws many recruits from brabant, philip of valois, his marriage, ; induces duchess jeanne to abdicate, ; his death, philippe de commines quoted, , philippe l'asseuré, condition of towns of brabant in days of, pierre de clermont, bishop of cambrai, pirenne, m., quoted, , , , , platvoet, jan, his cruel murder, portman, hendrick, chosen a city captain, premonstratensian order founded, r rastatt, treaty of, effect of, régnier au long col, ancestor of sovereigns of brabant, ; virtual ruler of lotharingia, régnier iii. of hainault, ; his hatred of saint bruno, , ; banished by saint bruno, ; his children befriended by french king, reynold, lord of schoonvorst, a trusted adviser of his sovereign, rogge, gedulphe, devoted adherent of peter coutherele, rolfe the ganger routed at louvain, rombold, saint, preaching in brabant, becomes a martyr, , rotslaere appointed treasurer of brabant, rubens, altar-piece by, in saint jacques' at antwerp, ruotger quoted, ruysbroek, jan van, a mystic of brussels, , , ; his writings, , ; his death, s saint-amand, effect of his preaching, saint anne, chapel of, saint bavo, church of, saint catherine, parish church of, at brussels, - sainte chapelle des miracles, saint gertrude's abbey, conference at, saint hubert's chapel at tervueren, saint jacques, church of, at louvain, , saint jacques, parish church of, at antwerp, saint jacques sur coudenberg, church of the court, saint michael and saint gudule, church of, , _et seq._ saint nicholas, church of, saint peter and saint guy, church of, at anderlecht, saint peter, church of, at mechlin, saint peter's, louvain, - , _et seq._ saint-pierre de louvain, _et seq._ saint-pol, philip of, enters brussels with jacqueline, ; goes to louvain, saint rombold, tower of, at mechlin, schaeys, m., quoted, sedulius, an irish scholar, sieger, head of house of heetvelde, murdered, stalle, jean van, dean of church of saint mary at hal, steen of antwerp, , steenporte, attack on, sweder van apcoude, his succession disputed, ; his escape, ; reinstated, swertere, alderman jan de, a patrician who favoured the people, ; assisted to retaliate by the plebeians, t taine quoted, tanchelm, claims to be a prophet, ; stabbed at antwerp, tervueren, saint hubert's chapel at, tetdon, bishop, quoted, thienhoven, or tirlemont, churches at, thierry, bishop of liége, killed at orthée, thomas à kempis, educated by brethren of the common life, ; quoted, tongerloo, abbey of, tournai, cathedral of, , , tour noire, la, , town hall of brussels, the, town hall of louvain, the, t'serclaes, everard, his birth, ; drives flemings out of brussels, - ; the 'saviour of brussels,' ; attacked and mutilated, ; his death, t'serclaes, jan, chosen to succeed his uncle everard in the college of aldermen, v vandenberghe, treasurer, exiled, ; murdered, vandenberg, jan, architect, van der goes, hugo, a famous painter, , - vanderstraetens, the, their quarrel with the heetveldes, , van der weyden, roger, a famous painter, , , , - vander zype, gerard, in the tribune of proclamation, ; his marriage, ; appointed chief steward, ; his murder, vilvorde, combat at, vorst, plysis van, first architect of his day, - w waghemakere, dominic de, an architect, , , waghemakere, herman de, works on antwerp cathedral, wazon, bishop, his loyalty to otho, wenzel, king of the romans, white canons, monasteries of the, 'white hoods,' the, , william of assche, amman of brussels, ; imprisoned, ; released, ; escapes from brussels, winceslaus, duke, ; grants charter to louvain, ; his policy with louvain, - ; grants new charter to louvain, ; his conduct towards brussels, ; at maestricht, windesheim, monastery of, z zacites, or brethren of the sack, zwentibold, son of arnulph i., made king, , death of, . edinburgh colston and coy. limited printers. transcribers' notes: many proper nouns have variations in spellings, they have not been standardized. variations in spelling between english, french, latin and flemish words have not been changed. the dagger character is rendered: +. small caps are rendered with all caps. italics are rendered between underscores, e.g. _italics_. bold text is rendered between dollar signs, e.g. $bold$. superscripts are rendered with a caret, e.g. ^er. the oe ligature is rendered: [oe]. an m with a line above resembling a tilde is rendered [~m]. the following are believed to be printer's errors and have been changed: -----------+----------------------------+---------------------------- page | printed | changed to -----------+----------------------------+---------------------------- xiv | st charles | st. charles xv | pieta | pièta | down-trodden and the | downtrodden and the | that event took took | that event took | to crush and | to crush any facing | feb., | feb. , | strongholds.. | strongholds. | without increasng taxation | without increasing taxation | directed o her | directed to her | bareheaded and unshod | bare-headed and unshod | bed-rock of the house | bedrock of the house | croned a hag, | crooned a hag, | hal acknowleged gloucester | hal acknowledged gloucester | stored with supplies | stored with supplies. | lieutentant of zeeland | lieutenant of zeeland | to chose between | to choose between | mysterous power of | mysterious power of | pèu de honte | peu de honte | and a few out-buildings | and a few outbuildings | saint bega of nivelles | saint begga of nivelles | lambert le bégue | lambert le bègue | béguines at mechlin | beguines at mechlin | were the most wide-spread | were the most widespread | chapel of saint gery | chapel of saint géry | man of humple origin | man of humble origin | sight-seeing and devotion | sightseeing and devotion | spendour of rubens | splendour of rubens | muncipal organisation of | municipal organisation of | orthée, battle at | othée, battle at | killed at orthée | killed at othée | amman of of brussels | amman of brussels -----------+----------------------------+---------------------------- the spell of flanders * * * * * the spell series _each volume with one or more colored plates and many illustrations from original drawings or special photographs. octavo, with decorative cover, gilt top, boxed._ _per volume $ . net, carriage paid $ . _ the spell of italy by caroline atwater mason the spell of france by caroline atwater mason the spell of southern shores by caroline atwater mason the spell of england by julia de w. addison the spell of holland by burton e. stevenson the spell of switzerland by nathan haskell dole the spell of the italian lakes by william d. mccrackan the spell of tyrol by william d. mccrackan the spell of japan by isabel anderson the spell of spain by keith clark the spell of flanders by edward neville vose the spell of the holy land by archie bell the page company beacon street, boston, mass. * * * * * [illustration: _cathedral of st. sauveur, bruges_ (_see page _)] the spell of flanders an outline of the history, legends and art of belgium's famous northern provinces being the story of a twentieth century pilgrimage in a sixteenth century land just before the outbreak of the great war by edward neville vose illustrated boston the page company mdccccxv copyright, , by the page company all rights reserved first impression, april, the colonial press c. h. simonds company, boston, u. s. a. to albert i., king of the belgians, the guiding star of a brave nation and the hero of the battle of flanders in the great war, this book is dedicated publishers' note lord beaconsfield once said: "flanders has been trodden by the feet and watered by the blood of countless generations of british soldiers." this famous passage--which has received a new confirmation to-day--is typical of many references among english writers and statesmen to flanders as a general term covering all of what is now known as belgium. among the citizens of that brave little kingdom, however, and among most continental writers, flanders is recognised as being the name of only the northern part of belgium. small as that country is, it has for centuries been bi-lingual, the northern portion speaking flemish, the southern french; and for centuries the history of the flemish provinces was as distinct from that of the walloon province to the southward as the early history of california or texas was from that of new england. although eventually united under one government with the walloons and with what is now holland, it was during the long period of their semi-independence that the flemings achieved many of the artistic and architectural monuments that have made flanders for all time one of the most interesting regions in the world. while this book, therefore, does not attempt to describe the whole of belgium, it does present a pen picture of the northern part of the country as it existed almost at the moment when the devastating scourge of the great war swept across it. foreword this book is the record of a vacation tour in the beautiful old flemish towns of northern belgium beginning in may and ending in july of the summer of . the assassination of the austrian archduke ferdinand and his wife at sarajevo took place while our little party was viewing the mediæval houses and churches of ghent and audenaerde, but in the many discussions of that event to which we listened there was no whisper of the awful fate which the march of events was so soon to bring upon one of the most charming, peaceful and happy countries in the world. many of the descriptions in the following pages were written in or near the towns described, and within a day or so after the visit narrated. then each old flemish "monument" was in as perfect a state of preservation as the reverent pride and care of the belgian populace and the learned and skilful restorations of the belgian government could together accomplish. the fact that since these accounts were written many of these very towns have been swept by shot and shell, have been taken and retaken by hostile armies, have formed the stage upon which some of the direst tragedies of the world's greatest and most terrible war have been enacted, will--it is hoped--give them a permanent interest and value. as a painting of some famous city as it appeared many years or centuries ago is of the utmost historical interest, even though by an inferior artist, so these halting word pictures of towns that have since been wholly or partially destroyed may help the reader to recall the glories that have passed away. in accordance with the plan described in the first chapter, the tour of flanders followed a decidedly zigzag itinerary, frequently visiting some town more than once. the purpose of this was to follow, in a fairly chronological sequence, as far as possible, the development of flemish history, architecture and art. the outline of the intensely fascinating history of the old flemish communes that has been thus presented may prove of interest to many readers who have been thrilled by the superb bravery of the little belgian army in its defence of flanders against overwhelming odds. as these glimpses into the past clearly show, the men of belgium have engaged in a battle against foreign domination from the earliest ages. that it was at times a losing struggle never for a moment diminished the ardour of their resistance, or the depth of their devotion to liberty and the right to rule themselves. and when we consider how, during these centuries of conflict, and in defiance of obstacles that would have daunted a less strong-hearted people, the men of flanders found the inspiration, the patience and the skill to erect some of the noblest examples of mediæval architecture, to create a school of painting that ranks as one of the most priceless heritages of the ages, and to excel in a half a score of other lines of artistic endeavour, we surely must all agree that here is a people we would not willingly see perish from the earth. if to be neutral is to stand by and silently acquiesce in the destruction of belgium as an independent nation, then the author of this book is not neutral. in every fibre of his being he protests against such a course as a crime against liberty, against humanity. happily, from every corner of the united states come unmistakable evidences that the american people as a whole are not, at heart, neutral on this subject. the embattled farmers who stood on the bridge at concord and fired "the shot heard round the world" have thrilled the imagination and stimulated the patriotism of every american schoolboy, but no less heroic is the spectacle of the little belgian army under the personal leadership of its noble king standing like a rock on the last tiny strip of belgian soil and stopping the onrush of the most powerful fighting organisation in the world. at nieuport and dixmude and along the bloodstained yser canal, the men of belgium fought for the same cause of liberty for which our forefathers fought at bunker hill. whatever our sympathies may be with respect to the larger aspects of the great world war--and as to these we may most properly remain neutral--our national history and traditions, the very principles of government to which we owe "all that we have and are," cannot but confirm us in the profound conviction that no conclusion to this war can be just and right, or permanent, that does not once more restore the belgian nation and guarantee that it shall remain completely and forever free. on the other hand, while news of the damage done to some famous flemish church or hotel de ville causes the author sensations akin to those that he would experience on learning of the wounding of a friend, this book will contain no complaint regarding german destruction of these monuments of architecture. at ypres and malines, where the havoc wrought cannot fail to have been fearful, the damage was done in the course of battles in which the most powerful engines of destruction ever invented by man were used on both sides. much as we may deplore the results, we cannot blame the individual commanders. at antwerp, ghent, bruges and many other famous flemish cities the germans appear to have made every effort to avoid wanton destruction and preserve the most notable historic edifices. after the war is over and we have learned exactly what structures have been destroyed, and under what circumstances, we can justly place whatever blame may attach to such a catastrophe where it belongs--but not until then. for the present we can only hope that the damage may be less than has been reported, and that in many instances it will be possible for the belgians--so skilful in the work of restoration--to reconstruct the sections of famous buildings that have been damaged. when the war is over many thousands of americans and english will be eager to visit the battle-fields of flanders and see for themselves the scenes of conflicts that will forever hold a great place in human history. the author ventures to hope that this little book may be found serviceable to such tourists as it contains much information not to be found in any guide book. if it aids any of them--or any of the far larger host of travellers whose journeys in far-off lands must be made by their home firesides--to understand flanders better it will have achieved its purpose. it is one of the many ironies of the war that towns like ypres and malines, which were rarely visited by american tourists when they were in their perfection, will, no doubt, be visited by thousands now that the clash of arms has brought them at the same moment destruction and immortal fame. edward neville vose. contents chapter page publishers' note vii foreword ix i. introducing flanders and the four pilgrims ii. vieux bruges and count baldwin of the iron arm iii. bruges in the days of charles the good iv. how bruges became "the venice of the north" v. dixmude and furnes vi. nieuport and the yser canal vii. when ypres was a greater city than london viii. courtrai and the battle of the spurs ix. ghent in the days of the flemish counts x. the age when ghent was governed by its guilds xi. philip the good and the van eycks xii. tournai, the oldest city in belgium xiii. three centuries of tournaisian art xiv. the fall of charles the bold--memling at bruges xv. malines in the time of margaret of austria xvi. ghent under charles the fifth--and since xvii. audenaerde and margaret of parma xviii. old antwerp--its history and legends xix. three centuries of antwerp printers xx. antwerp from the time of rubens till to-day xxi. where modern flanders shines--ostende and "la plage" xxii. the spell of flanders bibliography index list of illustrations page cathedral of st. sauveur, bruges (_in full colour_) (_see page _) _frontispiece_ map of belgium and the netherlands, showing the old flemish principality _facing_ bÉguinage bridge, bruges tomb of marie of burgundy, church of notre dame, bruges palais du franc, bruges (_in full colour_) the belfry, bruges the minnewater, bruges shrimp fishermen, coxyde tower of the templars, nieuport an ancient painting of the flemish kermesse by teniers cloth hall, ypres hotel merghelynck, ypres church of st. peter, ypres statue of peter de coninck and john breidel, bruges castle of the counts, ghent ruins of the abbey of st. bavon, ghent post office, church of st. nicholas, belfry and cathedral, ghent de dulle griete, ghent workroom, petit bÉguinage de notre dame, ghent "singing angels," from "the adoration of the lamb"--jean van eyck "george van der paele, canon of st. donatian, worshipping the madonna"--jean van eyck (_in full colour_) general view of tournai and the five-towered cathedral the belfry, tournai a triptych of the seven sacraments by rogier van der weyden shrine of st. ursula, hospital of st. jean, bruges an illumination by gheerhardt david of bruges, ; st. barbara (_in full colour_) "the last supper"--thierry bouts quai vert, bruges cathedral of st. rombaut, malines tower of the cathedral of st. rombaut, from the ruelle sans fin _in het paradijs and maison des diables_; two fifteenth century houses, malines portrait of jean arnolfini and his wife by jean van eyck maison de la keure, hotel de ville, ghent portrait of the duke of alva by a. moro "the adoration of the shepherds"--hugo van der goes old guild houses, quai aux herbes, ghent hotel de ville, audenaerde wooden doorway, carved by van der schelden, hotel de ville, audenaerde church of ste. walburge, audenaerde a flemish tapestry of the fifteenth century the _vielle boucherie_, antwerp "the banker and his wife"--matsys "winter"--peter breughel "dragging the statue of the duke of alva through the streets of antwerp"--c. verlat courtyard of the plantin museum, antwerp ancient printing presses and composing cases, plantin museum, antwerp "the descent from the cross"--rubens "coup de lance"--rubens "_la vierge au perroquet_"--rubens peter paul rubens "as the old birds sing the young birds pipe"--jacob jordaens hotel de ville, antwerp the "salle des jeux," in the kursaal ostende [illustration: map of belgium and the netherlands, showing the old flemish principality] the spell of flanders chapter i introducing flanders and the four pilgrims "flanders! why, where is flanders?" "there! i told you she'd ask that question. you'll have to start right at the beginning with her, and explain everything as you go along." we were planning our next vacation tour in europe, which we had long before agreed to "do" together this year. that meant a party of four--the "professor," as i always called him, and his charming young wife, my wife, and myself. like the plays in which the characters appear on the stage in the order that their names are printed on the programme, the arrangement i have just given is significant. the professor is always first, a born leader-of-the-way. and i am usually last, carrying the heavy bundles. not that i am complaining. no doubt i was born to do it. moreover, the professor and i have been chums since boyhood. we worked our way through "prep" school and college together, came to new york together, and--in a modest way--have prospered together. at least, we felt prosperous enough to think of going to europe. for some years he has been the head of the department of history in an important educational institution within the boundaries of the greater city, while i have devoted myself to journalism--and am therefore dubbed "the editor," whenever he wishes to refer to me as a personage instead of a human being, which, happily, is not very often. of the two ladies in the proposed party i do not need to speak--not because there is nothing to say, but because they can speak for themselves. in fact, one of them has just spoken, has asked a question, and it has not yet been answered. "flanders, my dear," said the professor, speaking in his most sententious manner--as if delivering a lecture in his classroom--"is the most interesting and the least visited corner of europe. it has more battle-fields and more gothic churches per square mile than can be found anywhere else. in other parts of europe you can see mediæval houses, here and there--usually in charge of a smirking caretaker, with his little guidebook for sale, and hungrily anticipating his little fee. in flanders there are whole streets of them, whole towns that date from the sixteenth century or earlier--but for the costumes of the people, you could easily imagine yourself transported by some enchantment back to the days of charles the bold, or even to the time of the crusaders." "yes," i added, "and there is no region in the world where the history of the past seems more real, more instinct with the emotions that govern human conduct to-day, than these quaint old flemish towns. you stand in front of a marble skyscraper on fifth avenue and read a bronze tablet that tells you that here the revolutionary forces under old colonel putnam, or whoever it was, delayed the advancing british and covered general washington's retreat. now, does that tablet help you to reconstruct your history? no, you are quite aware that the fight took place when fifth avenue was open country, but your imagination will not work when you try to make it picture that scene for you right there on fifth avenue where the tablet says it happened. "now, it's different in flanders. you read in the history about how the burghers of bruges, when the duke of burgundy, philip the good, tried to overawe the city by placing an army of archers in the market-place, swarmed out of their houses and down the narrow, crooked streets like so many angry bees. there are the same old houses, the identical narrow, crooked streets--a bit of an effort and you can picture it all--and how the duke and his archers were driven back and back, while the burghers swarmed in ever increasing numbers, and the great tocsin in the belfry shrieked and clanged to tell the valiant weavers that their liberties were in danger. "and take that other famous event, when they flung the murderers of count charles the good--who lived and died five hundred years before the other prince who, like him, was surnamed "the good"--from the tower of the very cathedral in which they had murdered him. why, you can climb the tower and look off across the same sea of red-roofed houses and down upon the same square, paved with cruelly jagged stones, as did the condemned men when, one by one, they were led to the edge of the parapet and sent hurtling down." "the point is well taken," interrupted the professor, "only that particular church is no longer standing--it was destroyed during the french revolution. but really that makes little difference--there are plenty of other towers in bruges that have witnessed stirring scenes. and all over flanders it is the same way--nothing is easier than to make your history live again, for everywhere you have the original setting practically unchanged." "it's all very well for you men," observed mrs. professor, when her husband and i paused to get our breath, "who admire, or pretend to admire, battles and executions and that sort of thing, but if there is nothing else to see except places with such dreadfully unpleasant associations i, for one, don't want to go there." "on the contrary," i hastened to reply, seeing that the professor was much disturbed at this unexpected result of all our eloquence, "flanders has a lot of things to interest the ladies. think of its famous laces and lacemakers--we can still find the latter at work in places like bruges, malines and turnhout--of its rare old tapestries from audenaerde and tournai, and the fine linens of courtrai. then there are wood carvings the like of which you will travel far to see, and old flemish furniture everywhere." "to say nothing of the pleasure of learning a little more about the great flemish school of art in the very home towns of its most celebrated artists," added the professor, who was much elated to see that the frowns were leaving the fair face of his better half. "that's much better," she announced. "i've always thought fine hand-made lace the most wonderful product of feminine patience and skill, and i should certainly love to watch them make it." "for my part," remarked the fourth member of the party, who had been strangely silent during all this discussion, "while i like to learn a little about the history of the old towns i visit, and see the fine things--whether paintings, or town-halls, or lace or tapestry--for which they are famous, what i like the best is to study the people themselves. i mean the live ones, not those who are dead and gone that our husbands are talking about. i love to sit on the sidewalk on pleasant evenings and have dinner and black coffee while watching the people of the town go by. it's better than a play. and on rainy days there is always some quaint old-fashioned inn or café where the whole scene looks like a painting by jordaens or teniers. the beamed ceiling and the pictures on the walls are grimy with the smoke and steam of countless dinners, the buxom landlady sits in state behind an array of bottles of all sizes and colours and labelled at all prices, her equally plump daughters wait on the tables, the very guests--including ourselves--form a part of the picture. why, it makes me want to be back there again, just to think of it!" "the madame is right!" exclaimed the professor heartily--all of our friends call my wife "the madame" because she speaks french as fluently as english. "our first object on this trip will be pleasure. a little knowledge of the history of flanders, of tapestry and lacemaking, of architecture and art, may enhance our enjoyment of what we see, because we will thereby understand it better and appreciate its interest or beauty more keenly. but we are not going over as historical savants, or as authorities on art--or pretend that we know any more about such subjects than we really do--" "which is just enough to enable us to derive sincere pleasure from seeing them, and having them explained to us, without troubling our heads about this, that or the other element of technique," i interrupted, completing the professor's sentence for him. "and the best part of the day will be, just as madame says," added mrs. professor gaily, "the dinners on the sidewalks, where we can watch the people as they go about and tell each other of what we have seen since morning. and, hurray! for the flemish inns!" "well, as to flemish inns," observed the madame, "what i said related to eating a dinner in one. when it comes to sleeping in them there are other things to think of besides beamed ceilings and picturesque interiors. "a few years ago we had an experience at antwerp that taught us the folly of arriving at a great continental city late at night without having hotel accommodations secured in advance. we had started at eight in the morning from hamburg, intending to stop at antwerp just long enough to transfer our belongings to a train for brussels that, according to the time-table, would leave fifteen minutes after our train arrived. now, from hamburg to antwerp is quite a long ride--short as the distance looks on the map--and when we finally arrived at our destination, half an hour late, it was long after midnight and our train for brussels had gone. "we were both tired out, and hastily decided that we would put up at antwerp for the night and go on to brussels in the morning. as we emerged from the great gare centrale we found despite the lateness of the hour, about a dozen red-capped hotel runners, each of whom clamoured for our patronage. they all looked very much alike, the names on their caps meant nothing to us as we were not familiar with the antwerp hotels, and we selected one at random. to our dismay we discovered, when it was too late, that, whereas most of them had hotel busses in waiting--into which they leaped and were driven off--our cicerone was not so provided. he attempted to reassure us by saying that the grand hotel de ---- was close by--a fact that produced the opposite effect from that intended, as we knew that the immediate vicinity of a large railroad station is seldom a desirable neighbourhood. "however, the other porters were now gone and, unless we were disposed to sleep in the station, there was nothing to do but follow along. to our further alarm our guide presently turned into a most unprepossessing street on which several drinking places were still open, or were only on the point of closing. into one of these he led us. after a short conference with the proprietress, who was sitting behind the bar counting the day's receipts, he took a candle and a huge key and led us out into the court, then up a flight of stairs placed on the outside of the house, and through several narrow passageways. but for the flickering candle everything was completely dark, and when he finally ushered us into an immense room with a mediæval four-post bed in its darkest corner we involuntarily looked for the trap-door down which the murderous inn-keepers of the stories were wont to cast their victims. "lighting a pair of candles on the mantelpiece from his, and wishing us a civil '_bon soir_,' our red-capped guide now left us--to our great relief. although we tried to dismiss our fears as childish, we both felt more insecure and helpless than we cared to admit, even to each other. none of our friends knew that we were in antwerp. if we disappeared they would hardly think to look for us there--and still less on this shabby street, the very name of which we did not know. "we barricaded the door against a sudden surprise, inspected the walls with a candle for signs of the secret door (at the head of the winding stairway up which the wicked innkeeper so often creeps upon his prey, according to the chronicles) and at last, the fatigue of the day overcoming our fears, we slept. it was broad daylight when we awoke, and the street was alive with people--mostly cartmen and peasants it seemed. with some difficulty we found our way down to the room where we had seen the landlady the night before. she greeted us warmly, our fears of the night had fled--and we sat down and ordered, and enjoyed, a most excellent breakfast. the hotel was quite a popular one, we learned, much frequented by people from near-by towns, and we had never been safer in our lives. yet, just the same, we both vowed firmly that 'never again' would we take similar chances--and we never have." "i have thought of that incident more than once while talking over our flemish tour with the professor," i observed, "and have decided upon this plan. when we find a hotel that suits us all, as regards cleanliness, cuisine and safety--or rather the sense of security, for i daresay we would be safe enough in many that we would hardly care to patronise--we will stay overnight in whatever town we may chance to be visiting. if, on the other hand, we have not had time to find such a place, we'll take a train back to antwerp or brussels, where there are hotels that we know all about. we'll get second-class _billets d'abonnement_ every two weeks anyway, so the rail trip will only cost us our time." "and are antwerp and brussels both in flanders?" inquired mrs. professor. "between you, you have given me an idea that i should like to visit flanders, but you have none of you answered my question as to where it is." "i think i can answer you, my dear," replied her husband. "there are, as you probably know, two little provinces in the northern part of belgium called east and west flanders. the boundaries of the flanders of history and of art, however, cover a considerable wider area than these two provinces. over in france a considerable part of the department du nord was for centuries subject to the counts of flanders. on the other side, to the eastward, the cities of antwerp and malines were for many centuries independent of the counts of flanders, but their people spoke flemish, their houses, churches and town-halls were built in the best style of flemish architecture, and they became famous centres of flemish art and learning. to my mind, therefore, they both belong to flanders. brussels, however, while its hotel de ville and grande place are splendid examples of flemish architecture, is more french than flemish, and belongs to the walloon or french part of belgium. "now, as the editor here has proposed a plan which seems to me a good one as regards our hotels, i will venture to suggest one as regards our itinerary. it will make comparatively little difference which towns we visit first, and as some are more closely identified with the early history of flanders than the others i propose that we visit these older towns first. at the time of the crusades ypres, for example, had two hundred thousand inhabitants when the population of london was less than thirty-five thousand and antwerp was an obscure little town. nieuport and furnes were, at that time, the chief seaports of flanders. now they are miles from the sea. dixmude, near by, was another important city of those olden days. now all these places are country villages--'the dead cities of flanders,' they are called, and scarcely a tourist from america ever visits them, although they are fairly familiar to our english cousins. "if we start our pilgrimage in flanders with bruges, which was the first capital of the county of flanders, and with these old towns--all of which are hard by--we can plan our journeys chronologically, so to speak, visiting first the monuments that date from the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries, then those of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and so on. in that way we not only can keep the little history we know straight, but we can trace with our own eyes the gradual development of flemish architecture and art." this plan was unanimously voted to be a capital one--in theory, at any rate--and thus it was that in our subsequent wanderings about flanders, under the guidance of the indefatigable professor, we often crossed our trail, and now and then visited the same place more than once. in practice it did not accomplish quite all that was expected of it by its learned originator--but what plan ever does, or ever will? that it enhanced the interest of the trip manyfold we all agreed; it often sustained our flagging zeal, and it helped us to know flanders--the flanders of the past especially--far better than we would have done in any other way. chapter ii vieux bruges and count baldwin of the iron arm it is not the purpose of this veracious chronicle to recount the doings and sayings, the incidents or lack of incident, on the voyage across. suffice it to say that in due season the good ship _lapland_ turned its prow away from the white cliffs of dover and straight toward the low-lying shores of flanders. as she crossed the north sea scores of fishing boats with brown sails hovered around her, while throngs of seagulls soared overhead, or now and then dashed madly into her foaming wake to grasp some morsel flung from deck or porthole, or fight fiercely with each other for its possession. presently, in the haze ahead, a faint outline of land could be distinguished, and soon we could see through our glasses the heaped up dunes that mark the battle line between the north sea and the fertile flemish polders behind them. here and there the shore was strengthened by rows of pilings to keep the waves of winter from washing it away. as a "sight," however, it was dreary and uninviting enough--not at all like the picturesque headlands of merrie england we had been looking at only a few hours before. now, for a time, the ship kept its course parallel to the shore, but at a distance of a mile or more. gradually the coast became more inhabited, and soon we could see a row of stone and brick buildings facing directly on the beach which some one said was blankenberghe. no doubt there were other rows of houses behind the first, but either they were lower, or in the haze our glasses could not distinguish them. then the panorama of the flemish coast unrolled a little further and we saw the long curved breakwater of zee-brugge, with its white lighthouse. this is an artificial port connected with the ancient capital of flanders by a ship canal. entrance to the canal from the sea is effected by a large lock which was faintly visible. another beach city, heyst, next appeared--the ship seeming to stand still while the shoreline marched slowly past. then came a smaller place, which from our maps we concluded must be knocke. here the coastline of the present kingdom of belgium ends, the little river zwyn--once famous as the channel up which one hundred and fifty ships a day made their way to bruges in the days of its greatness--forming the boundary. the dutch are apparently not interested in sea bathing, for there were no more watering places. in fact the whole coast seemed to be dead and deserted, and we were glad when the _lapland_ began to turn her prow inland. we were now in the broad estuary of the scheldt, and soon the tiny city of flushing appeared. it was over on the other side of the ship and we all scampered across to take our first "near look," as mrs. professor expressed it, of the land we had come to see--for flushing belonged for centuries to the great overlords of flanders, the dukes of burgundy and their successors. it looked very small and compact from the towering deck of the big liner, but also very quaint and interesting, and we all agreed that as a sample of what we had come so far to see it was the reverse of disappointing. soon the propellers of the _lapland_ began to revolve again and the little dutch city slowly slipped out of sight in the fast gathering gloom of a coming shower. as night came on the engines presently came to rest once more and we anchored to await daylight and flood tide which, the officers said, would come together. at four o'clock the following morning the professor and i were on deck in order to miss as little as possible of the voyage up the "greyest of grey rivers," as the scheldt has been called. the _lapland_ had started while we were asleep, and we were already in belgium. this circumstance disappointed the professor not a little as he had set his heart on seeing the remains of the dutch forts at the boundary line that for nearly one hundred and fifty years--from the treaty of munster in to the french occupation in --closed the river to ocean commerce. meanwhile, grass grew in the streets of the all but deserted city of antwerp. the french tore down the hated forts and for nearly forty years the ships from oversea went up the river unmolested. then came the revolution of and the establishment of the kingdom of belgium, whereupon the dutch proceeded to impose heavy navigation duties upon all ships passing through the lower part of the river. while this did not stifle the trade of antwerp, it seriously crippled it, since the duties formed a handicap in the keen competition for traffic between the belgian port and those of holland and germany farther to the eastward. it was not until that the belgian government was able to arrange a treaty whereby all river dues were abolished in return for the payment of a lump sum of , , francs--of which only one-third was paid by belgium, as other powers were interested in obtaining freedom of navigation on this important river and gladly contributed the remainder. the imposing monument by winders on the place marnix at antwerp, which was erected in , commemorates this important event, to which the port owes its present prosperity. as the _lapland_ slowly steamed up the river we could look down from her lofty decks upon the broad and intensely cultivated plain, stretching as far as eye could penetrate in the misty distance. here and there we could see compact little groups of farm buildings, usually arranged around a central courtyard and with their outer walls well-nigh windowless, as if the peasant proprietors still counted on the possibility of a siege such as their ancestors no doubt often had to sustain against the wandering marauders and freebooters who for centuries infested the country. along every road and canal, and beside nearly every cross-country path, we could see long lines of trees set out at regular intervals and cutting the landscape into sections of varying sizes and shapes. now and then a little hamlet could be seen, with its red-tiled roofs nestling close together and a tiny church steeple rising from the centre. often the roofs of the houses nearest to the river were below the top of the high dykes which here enclose the scheldt on either side. close to the banks an occasional fort commanded the river--outlying links in the great chain of fortifications that was thought to be impregnable until the huge german siege guns so quickly battered it to pieces. presently some one with a keener vision than the rest cries that the spire of the cathedral of antwerp is in sight and we all crowd forward and peer eagerly through the mist until at last we make out vaguely the shape of that marvel of flemish architecture rising above the flat plain. at each turn of the river it draws nearer and we can see more clearly its delicate tracery of lace-work carved in stone, while one by one other spires loom up through the grey dawn. the traffic in the river becomes more dense as we proceed slowly onward--huge red-bottomed tramp steamers with their propellers half out of the water and churning furiously in a smother of foam, clumsy canal boats with flemish or german names lying at anchor close to the banks, barges with dingy brownish sails and all manner of strange cargoes. then, suddenly, we swing around the last turn and the entire city lies before us, its houses with their high peaks and dormer windows rising tier above tier, while at the left we catch glimpses through the lock gates of the vast inner docks with their hundreds of masts and funnels. curiously enough the view to the right is entirely different--the green fields and farmsteads stretching in this direction from the very edge of the river as far as the eye can see. but now we are warping up against the red star line pier and all eyes are gazing down upon the motley crowd that has assembled thus early in the morning--it is not yet seven o'clock--to welcome the new arrivals from america. the customs inspection proves to be a mere formality, half of our trunks and bags are chalk-marked by the obliging inspector without lifting a tray or disturbing any of their contents. a commissionaire is waiting to bear them away to the cabs and, after generously bestowing five cents on this worthy for his trouble, we are off for the gare centrale--for the madame has decreed that we must all proceed forthwith to the home of a certain tante (aunt) rosa, not far from brussels, where we can get our land legs safely on before starting on our tour under the guidance of the professor. throughout the morning it has rained heavily at intervals, and as the _rapide_ for brussels steams out of the station the grey clouds are pouring down their contents in torrents. this circumstance disturbs us not at all, for we have agreed to pursue our course regardless of the weather and are prepared for anything short of a flood or blizzard. and right here it may be as well to state that any one who proposes to travel in flanders must make up his or her mind to ignore the vagaries of the weather altogether. at brussels the weather records show that it rains more or less during three hundred days in each year, and while there are many days when the showers are brief, and some periods when it is clear for several days, it is better to come prepared for anything. somewhere in the direction of the english channel there seems to exist a vast cloud factory, for day after day one sees the huge cloud masses rolling slowly eastward or southward across the country. usually they are high overhead, with frequent intervals of brilliant sunshine, and the showers few and far between. at other times the clouds hang low and dark and the rain falls steadily, not in furious driving showers such as occur frequently during the summer time at new york, but with a monotonous continuity that is the despair of travellers who are equipped only for fair weather. it is no exaggeration to state that one may look out of his hotel window upon a cloudless sky and find that by the time he has descended to the street it is raining. happily the reverse is equally possible, and frequently we looked out of the window while at breakfast at pouring rain and dripping roofs, only to find by the time we were ready to go out of doors that the shower was over, the sky clear and the sidewalks nearly dry. it is this rapid alternation of showers and sunshine that makes flanders the land of flowers and vegetables, giving the former their brilliant colouring and the latter their indescribable succulence and freshness. another tip for the would-be traveller in flanders is to come well prepared for cold weather even in june, july or august. the nights are always cool, and the prevailing winds are from the north or the northwest--the former cold, the latter wet. many americans contract serious colds because they come clad only for hot weather. warm underwear, on the other hand, is best for the flemish summer climate, with overcoats and wraps for evening wear. raincoats, it is needless to say, should be in every suitcase--even for a day's outing, while a very handy article indeed is a _parapluie-canne_, or umbrella cane, such as can be purchased in brussels for ten francs and upwards. in less than three-quarters of an hour our fleet train was rolling into the gare du nord at brussels; but madame was in a hurry, so we became for the time birds of passage only and in another hour were already entrained again and speeding toward the steaming dinner that she assured us la tante bosa had awaiting us. of the reception that we found when we arrived at last, and of the dinner which was presently spread before us, there is no need to say more than that the latter proved to be all that we had been led to anticipate. served in the true belgian style--customary alike in flanders and in the walloon provinces--it occupied our attention for the greater part of the afternoon, the courses following one another leisurely, with intervals between during which the men folk strolled about the garden and smoked. two days later we started on the professor's itinerary, completely refreshed after the fatigue of our voyage; and after a bit of shopping at brussels, our pilgrimage into the heart of flanders began. it was a little after noon when we reached the old city of bruges, and while we were eating our luncheon the professor explained briefly the origin of the city and of the county of flanders. in order to understand the kaleidoscopic history of flanders it is necessary to forget entirely the europe of to-day. throughout the middle ages europe was sub-divided into hundreds of separate sovereignties--duchies, counties, principalities large and small, whose rulers bore a score of titles. these, as a rule, acknowledged allegiance to some higher prince, while the most powerful yielded deference only to some king or emperor. but this allegiance was usually a very shadowy affair, and the actual government rested absolutely in the hands of the local count, or duke, or whatever else his title may have been. the history of flanders is, therefore, in a sense, the history of its counts, for as their power waxed or waned the country itself grew powerful or weak. gradually, however, the great cities of flanders acquired from the earlier and better counts rights and privileges that made them, in many respects, sovereign powers, and the most fascinating and instructive part of the history of flanders is the record of the brave struggle made by its burghers to maintain their liberties in the face of a steadily advancing tide of tyranny and oppression. the first count of flanders, who won his title and his domains during the period of storm and stress that followed the breaking up of the great empire of charlemagne, was a flemish chief, called baldwin of the iron arm. he chanced one day to see judith, the beautiful daughter of charles the bald, the son of charlemagne, fell in love with her, and carried her off for his bride. judith had been previously married to ethelwolf, king of wessex in england, when he was a very old man; and had taught her stepson, who afterward became alfred the great, much of his learning. the old king charles, her father, for a time opposed the marriage with baldwin, but finally it was celebrated with much splendour at auxerre in , and baldwin was thereupon given the title of count of flanders. on his return, baldwin built a great fortress on an island formed by the intersection of the river roya with its little tributary, the boterbeke. this was called the bourg, and soon contained within its strong walls the nucleus of the future city of bruges. mrs. professor interrupted at this point to ask if the name bruges was derived from bourg, to which our learned friend replied that it was not, but that most historians ascribed the name to the bridge (in flemish, brigge) from the island to the mainland; while some take it from the purple heather (brugge) which grows plentifully hereabout, and in august can be seen alongside the railway tracks and in great clusters by the country roadsides. the first afternoon's programme was to discover as much as we could of the old bourg of baldwin of the iron arm. not much of it is left in the bruges of albert the first. the roya still runs where it did in the days of the first counts of flanders, but only along the dyver, a terrace of middle-class residences, can it be seen by the tourist. since the eighteenth century it has been vaulted over for much of its course through the city, and the boterbeke runs through subterranean channels for the entire distance from where it enters the city limits to its junction with the roya at the corner of the rue breidel. it flows close to the cathedral, or possibly beneath it, and directly under the belfry, which is built on piles. for part of its course it runs, like a subway, under the rue du vieux bourg. the only building in modern bruges that dates from the first baldwin's time is the crypt of st. basil, under the chapel of the holy blood. here, or assuredly hard by, the founder of the long line of flemish counts, and his beautiful and talented countess, no doubt worshipped; and, in the main, the little chapel probably looks today very much as it did a thousand years ago. in one corner, apparently outside of the original outer walls of the structure, the concierge showed us a miniature model of the ancient castle of the first counts of flanders as archeologists have reconstructed it, with the little chapel of st. basil adjoining it. on the opposite side, and near the entrance, is a smaller chapel which some authorities state was the one built by old iron-arm, the main structure dating from the middle of the twelfth century. be this as it may, here is unquestionably the very oldest relic of the ancient bourg and one of the oldest places of worship in all flanders. after our inspection of st. basil we decided to devote the rest of the afternoon to tramping around the streets of the vieux bourg, or, in other words, the section of the city within the circle of picturesque old quays that mark the approximate boundaries of the island-fortress where the first counts of flanders laid the foundations of their power. to be sure, none of the houses now standing date from a much earlier period than the fifteenth century, but all were so quaint and charming that we cared little for the archeologists with their dates, and felt ourselves transported without an effort to the days when might made right and the whole world was governed by the simple law that "he may take who has the power, and he may keep who can." we little dreamed, as we journeyed about amid these peaceful surroundings, that within a single month the world was to revert to the rule of might once more; that, to quote from kipling's noble poem, stricken belgium, and, indeed, all civilisation could say: "our world has passed away, in wantonness o'erthrown. there's nothing left to-day but steel and fire and stone. "once more we hear the word that sickened earth of old-- 'no law except the sword, unsheathed and uncontrolled.'" chapter iii bruges in the days of charles the good to those for whom the past possesses elements of romance, of mystery and of fascination that our more prosaic and orderly modern world lacks, bruges offers endless opportunities for enjoyment. to be sure, the streets are a bit more crowded than they were twenty years ago, and one sees more frequent groups of people, carrying little red-backed baedekers and evidently intent on seeing all the "sights," than formerly. but these are evils of which all old travellers complain, as one compares notes with them at the hotel after the day is over. one caretaker told us, with evident pride, that thirty thousand tourists visited bruges in . if one divides this total by three hundred and sixty-five, and the result again by the score or more of places that every tourist wants to see, it will be perceived that the number in any one place at the same time is not likely to be excessive. in point of fact our little party was almost invariably alone, save when we encountered a party of "personally conducted" travellers rushing at break-neck speed from place to place. if, after seeing all the "points of interest" enumerated by the faithful red-coated guide, philosopher and companion above mentioned, one should stray down one or another of the narrow, crooked streets in the older parts of the town he is certain to find bits of mediæval bruges here and there so well preserved and perfect that if the few passers-by only wore the picturesque costumes of the olden days the illusion would be complete. take, for example, the rue de l'ane aveugle, the street of the blind donkey, with its attenuated sidewalks along which a tight-rope walker could hardly advance without stepping off, its roadway too narrow for two blind donkeys to pass abreast, and its charming archway from the hotel de ville to the maison de l'ancien greffe flamand; or the rue du poivre, with its tiny one-story houses, many of them with one room down-stairs and one overhead--the latter lighted by the quaintest of gable windows--surely we have stepped backward half a dozen centuries, for nothing like this could have continued to exist until the prosaic present! in fact these queer little one-story houses abound in all parts of the city, and the madame was constantly darting across the roadway to peer within whenever she saw a door ajar. she generally returned highly indignant that any one could think of existing in such narrow quarters. "i'd as soon live in a tomb!" she exclaimed, nodding in the direction of one little house which consisted of one room and only one, being devoid even of the attic room with its customary dormer window. inside sat an old lady, gazing tranquilly out of doors and doing nothing whatever. indeed, as the madame pointed out, there was little enough to do as far as housework was concerned. in the morning everybody in flanders washes the stone floors of their living-rooms, and frequently the sidewalk and out to the middle of the street as well. this done, the housework for the day is over, except for preparing the meals. we had hoped to see old ladies by the score sitting at the doorways making lace, but on only one street--the rue du rouleau--did we catch a glimpse of any, and they went indoors as we approached them. it was only the estaminets that we could inspect within. whenever we found what appeared to be an exceptionally old house that bore the legend "hier verkoopt men drank" the professor and i often used to go in and order a glass of _vieux système_, simply to get a look at the interior. if, as sometimes happened, mijnheer and his vroue were very accommodating and kind, we summoned the ladies--despite the fact that the sign without appeared to mean "for men only"--and together we explored the old house from garret to cellar. more than once, as we journeyed about among these delightfully old and quaint surroundings, the longing to see some one whose costume would, in a measure, suggest the period when these structures were built came back to us. "oh!" exclaimed mrs. professor, as we sat one afternoon in a particularly cosy corner of one of the oldest interiors we had yet seen, "if two or three knights in armour--or in their lovely costumes of velvet, silk and old lace--would stalk in and sit down at that table over there it would make the picture complete." we found, however, one spot in bruges, dating from the twelfth century, in which even the costumes were unchanged. this was the béguinage, close to the minnewater and the ancient city ramparts--a city of the past where, shut off by high brick walls from the noise and bustle of the outer world, peaceful figures clad in sombre grey and white move noiselessly about as if the big figures on the calendar read instead of . except for two institutions of the kind in holland, belgium is the only country in europe in which these béguinages have survived--all of them in flanders. no institution of the present day recalls so vividly the conditions that existed at the time when flanders was the name of a wild marsh country peopled by yet wilder men. in the emperor made the title of count of flanders hereditary--the oldest title of the kind in europe. baldwin ii, son of baldwin of the iron arm and the beautiful judith, married alfrida, the daughter of alfred the great. the second baldwin was renowned chiefly for his work in fortifying the towns of bruges, ghent, ypres and courtrai as a means of protection against the robber chiefs who still--despite the energetic warfare of his father--infested this entire region. the necessity for protection against robbers, and occasional incursions of savage danes from the north sea, caused population to flock speedily into these walled towns, and thus laid the foundation for the wonderful civic development of the next four centuries. the son of baldwin ii, arnulph--often called arnulph the great--continued the policy of strengthening the cities, and also established or restored nearly a score of monasteries and convents for the protection of men and women against the many dangers of that lawless age. the famous chapter of st. donatian's at bruges was one of these, and while the béguinage dates from a somewhat later epoch in the town's history, it admirably exemplifies many of the principles that made these early religious orders the strongholds, not only of piety in a period of semi-barbarism, but of learning and civilisation. [illustration: bÉguinage bridge, bruges.] the béguinage at bruges is much smaller than the famous grand béguinage at ghent, which so many tourists visit, but is far more ancient--its arched gateway dating from the thirteenth century and its gloomy and barn-like chapel from . how old the houses are no one seemed to know, but probably many of them are older than the chapel. the little bridge by which one enters its quiet precincts was first built in , of wood, according to the records, but its present picturesque stone arches date from --a respectable antiquity, even for bruges. we found several of the little houses untenanted for some reason, but even the empty ones were spotlessly clean. the béguines live in small communities or "convents," under the superintendence of a lady superior called "de juffer"; or in "houses" where two or three live together. in the convents there are usually about twenty inmates. each has her little cell, but these we were not permitted to see. we did, however, inspect the kitchen and dining-room of one of the convents--and the large sunny workroom, in which the béguines were assembled. each was chatting aloud as she worked, but whether in flemish or latin we could not tell. on every face there rested the same expression of absolute peace and quietness, nor did a single one betray the slightest interest or curiosity at our presence. in the early annals of bruges no story is more dramatic than that of the murder of charles the good. it is, in fact, the theme of the great flemish novelist hendrick conscience's most famous book, _de kerels van vlaanderen_, and has been told by several contemporary chroniclers. when charles became count of flanders the feudal system was slowly displacing the anarchy that had resulted from the breakdown of all centralised government as the norsemen swept over northern europe. charles was an ardent believer in the new order, but was opposed in his policy of building up a strong feudal state by the karls, a class of free landholders of saxon descent, who stubbornly refused to swear allegiance to any feudal over-lord. the greatest of these was the house of erembald. desiderious hacket, the head of the family, was châtelain of bruges, ranking next to the count himself; while his brother bertulph was provost of st. donatian, the principal ecclesiastical position in the county, and chancellor of the count. the head of the feudal lords was tancmar, lord of straten. between the powerful houses of erembald and straten there was a deadly feud, which culminated in a challenge to mortal combat delivered to walter, a nephew of tancmar, by richard de raeske, a baron allied by marriage to the house of erembald. to the amazement of all flanders the challenge, delivered in the presence of count charles and all his court, was refused. walter, whom the historians call "the winged lie," proclaimed that he would fight only with a free man, and that the lord of raeske, by wedding a serf, had become a serf himself. this was in accordance with a law recently promulgated by charles, but the house of erembald, perceiving that its very existence was threatened by the charge, fiercely repelled the accusation and was supported not only by all of the karls, but by most of the feudal nobility as well--the latter no doubt fearing lest one of their own houses might be attainted in a similar manner at any moment. the country was plunged into what was virtually civil war, when charles was suddenly summoned by his feudal over-lord, the king of france, to come to his aid at clermont. on his return, assured of the king's powerful support, charles undoubtedly meditated the complete overthrow of the erembalds, whom he had steadfastly claimed as his vassals since "the winged lie" had denounced them as serfs. he arrived at bruges late in the evening, and early the following day, march , , repaired to st. donatian to hear mass. it was a foggy morning and the count went almost unattended. hardly had he knelt before the altar when a party of followers of the attainted house of erembald swarmed into the church and he was struck down before he had time to rise, much less to defend himself. if, in his lifetime, the count was a dangerous foe to the erembalds, in his death he proved to be far more deadly. as his body lay on the stone floor of the great church, clad in the crimson robe the chroniclers so often allude to, and surrounded with flaming torches, the heads of the house hastily consulted as to what was to be done with it. to inter the body at bruges would be to risk an outbreak of popular passion at the murder, and it was decided to secretly convey it away. this plan was rudely frustrated by a mob of citizens who forcibly prevented the removal of the body, which was therefore laid to rest with imposing ceremonies in the very church where the count had been assassinated. meanwhile the story of the murder spread far and wide, and, in a few days, a huge host was marching on bruges from every part of flanders. for a time the burghers stood by the châtelain and the provost, but when the city was entered by stratagem and the erembalds driven back into the bourg the mass of the citizens went over to the side of the avengers. after a short defence the bourg in turn was captured--its defenders failing to guard one small gate by which their enemies entered unopposed--and the remnant of the erembalds fled into the very church that had been defiled by their kinsmen's crime, st. donatian. here, for a time, they were left in peace while the victors pillaged the rich palaces in the ancient bourg. the day before the capture of the bourg bertulph, the provost managed to escape and fled to a little village near ypres. here, after remaining in hiding for some three weeks, he was captured. the next morning he was brought to ypres, walking on foot all the way, although a horse was offered him. that he was going to his death he well knew, and asked for a priest to whom he confessed. the old man--who had been "a soft, luxurious prelate," proud and haughty in his days of power--made his last journey like a martyr. as the prisoner and his captors neared the gates of the city a great throng came forth to meet them, beating the provost with their staves and fists and pelting him with the heads of fish. arrived in the market-place he stood amid the huge jeering throng, not one of whom looked with pity on him, and there, for his greater shame, he was fastened naked to a cross like a common thief. on his refusing in a steadfast voice to reveal the names of any of those implicated in the count's murder, "those who were assembled in the market-place to sell fish tore his flesh with their iron hooks, and beat him with rods, and thus they put an end to his days." the news of this tragedy was brought to the little band still being besieged at st. donatian and caused great grief and terror. of the very considerable army of erembalds and their partisans who had taken refuge in the bourg only thirty now remained, most having been killed, while some no doubt had escaped. king louis, with a host of french knights, had joined the men of flanders in the attack and it was seen that further resistance was hopeless. the only terms were instant surrender or instant death, and as they looked across the country from the church tower they could see no hope of succour and surrendered. after keeping them prisoners for a fortnight, louis directed that all save one, who was of somewhat nobler lineage than the rest, should be flung from the tower of the now thrice historic st. donatian. this sentence was duly carried out. the cruel soldiers told the condemned that they were about to receive a proof of the king's mercy and they remained ignorant of their terrible fate until, one after another, they stood on the lofty tower overlooking the city for a brief moment and were then dashed down headlong to the jagged pavement below. the bodies were denied christian burial and thrown into a marsh outside of the city, and it is related that for many years thereafter "no man after nightfall would willingly pass that way." the house of erembald was well-nigh annihilated during this short, but sanguinary, war. the sole survivor of the band captured in the church was beheaded by king louis as soon as he crossed the french frontier, while most of the great names in the family were heard of in flanders no more--some having perished in battle, others in exile. only one, hacket the châtelain, returned after the cry for vengeance had died down, was placed on trial for the murder, proved his innocence, and eventually recovered much of his former power and wealth. the charge of serfdom was never raised again, and his descendants for many generations stood high in the rolls of the flemish nobility. the church of st. donatian no longer stands, having been destroyed during the french revolution. in the small museum of antiquities in the halles adjacent to the belfry we were shown some stone railings, carved in imitation of rustic woodwork, that the concierge assured us had come from the ruins of the famous church. from a painting made in the student can obtain a fair idea of the appearance of the structure, which can hardly be said to have been imposing externally. it stood opposite the hotel de ville, and the statue of van eyck in the centre of the little shaded square is said to mark the spot where charles the good fell at the hands of his assassins. the stones with which the cathedral was built were carried away, and some of them were used to build a château a short distance outside of the city. according to the peasants in the neighbourhood, ill-luck has always followed those who lived there. if so, the spirit of the murdered count would seem to have been as dangerous in the nineteenth century as it was in the twelfth. every morning here at bruges, and elsewhere throughout our pilgrimage, the professor and i sallied forth between five and six o'clock to explore as many of the by-ways and quaint out-of-the-way corners as we could before breakfast. the sun rises in belgium long before five, in fact it is light as early as three in the summer time, but we found very few people astir, and those who were up were usually engaged in the morning scrubbing of floors and sidewalks--a fact that made us keep pretty much to the middle of the road on these expeditions. cleanliness is certainly honoured next to godliness in belgium, for this morning ablution of the premises is universal--the big department stores at brussels observing the custom as faithfully as the tiniest _estaminet_ in the remotest hamlet. every one, rich and poor, performs this rite, and the tourist could safely eat his breakfast off the doorstep of any house when it is over. nor is the rest of the interior neglected, for every pot and pan that we could see within the little houses as we passed their doors shone with a lustre that bespoke perpetual polishing. on the other hand, the good vroue herself, or her maidservant, was not so clean, and it is in this respect that the people of holland are superior, for they somehow manage to keep themselves as immaculate as their little houses. it was at bruges that the professor had his first experience with the belgian species of barber. instead of the massive reclining chair, with which all americans are familiar, one finds in all parts of belgium, save the big tourist hotels and resorts, stiff little arm-chairs with immovable head rests that look as if they could never serve the purpose for which they are intended. in point of fact they do fairly well, once one becomes accustomed to them. razors in belgium, however, are almost invariably dull--especially with the lady barbers who abound in the smaller villages. avoid these sirens if you value your skin, for they certainly will slice off a bit of it. on sundays and holidays, it appears, their husbands officiate, but week days the better half does her best to accommodate the public--but her best is none too good, and the experience is usually a painful one for the unwary tourist. the shave over, the barber says, "s'il vous plaît, monsieur," or its equivalent in flemish, motioning meanwhile toward a small wash basin that is placed in front of the chair. to the uninitiated this is somewhat bewildering, but the professor desires that monsieur will kindly wash his own face. the ablution performed, he proceeds to rub a piece of alum over the face, after which he sprays it with perfumed water, then dries and powders it much in the manner of the american barber. when one becomes accustomed to this performance--which costs two to three cents in the villages and five to ten cents in the large towns--he is apt to prefer it to the american method. certainly it is vastly superior to the hot towel torture so deservedly caricatured some years ago by weber and fields. in the smaller villages of the industrial provinces we found that the first and second class distinction that one encounters everywhere in belgium extends even to the barber's chair. the rough clad workman is simply shaved--a few fierce scrapes with the razor and it is all over--and is left to wipe off the remnants of lather as best he can, usually with a red bandanna handkerchief. for this the charge is only two cents--the alum, the spraying and the powder being reserved for first-class patrons only. on our way back to the hotel from these early morning promenades the professor and i kept on the look-out for some _patisserie_ where _brioches_ or _cuches au beurre_ could be had with a pot of coffee. this formed our usual breakfast for, it may as well be admitted right now, we did not feel that we could afford the extravagance of a three-franc breakfast at the hotel. the ladies were ready to join us by eight o'clock--before that hour it would be useless to look for a place open for business--and we conducted them to the _patisserie_ we had discovered. the _brioche_, it may be remarked, is a light spongy preparation--half cake and half biscuit--while the _cuche au beurre_ is apparently made from a kind of light pie-crust, rolled thin and built up in several layers with butter between. when served fresh and hot from the oven the latter is most delicious, but when cold it is as tough and soggy as a day-old griddle-cake. the usual charge for these delicacies was five centimes (one cent) each, and as three made a very substantial meal, and the coffee cost three or five cents per cup, our total expenditure for four people was less than two francs. if, as often happened--in addition to getting everything hot and delicious--we were served on little tables out of doors with a view of a cathedral or hotel de ville thrown in, we felt that we were getting a very good bargain indeed. of the bruges of charles the good the most important existing monument is the great cathedral of st. sauveur, which was rebuilt by him after having been partially destroyed by fire in , the work being completed in . probably very little of the structure as we see it to-day dates from this period, as the edifice has been enlarged and restored many times, much of it dating from the fourteenth and part from the sixteenth century--the era when architecture in flanders flourished as never before or since. the tower was begun in , continued in , and its upper portions added during the last century, so that nearly eight hundred years elapsed before it was finally completed in its present form. many writers speak of this tower as clumsy and unsightly, but to me it is one of the most majestic and stately structures in flanders. at any rate, there is no other tower like it, and the way in which it lifts its castle-like mass of tawny brick high above the tiny houses that surround it is profoundly impressive. the lower part of the tower is romanesque, being, no doubt, the portion erected under the supervision of charles the good. the rest is gothic, if so unecclesiastical a style can be so denominated. the interior of st. sauveur dates in the main from a much later period than charles the good, and as we visited this interesting edifice several times an account of its later constructions and paintings will be found in a chapter devoted more particularly to the art treasures of bruges. it is not the purpose of this book to weary the reader with detailed descriptions of this and every other "monument" in flanders. for those who are interested in architectural details there are numerous works written by experts and discussing exhaustively--if not exhaustingly--every feature of technical importance. our little party was not learned and these random jottings will therefore record only such facts as seemed interesting to the average american visitor. nor would it be possible to attempt a detailed account of the pictures and sculptures, either at st. sauveur or elsewhere. many of the great flemish churches are literally museums of early flemish art and a mere catalogue of their contents would fill many pages. for the most part the works are of mediocre merit, but nearly every church possesses one or more masterpieces--which the uninformed visitor can generally distinguish by the fact that a charge is made to uncover them. at times this practice becomes a bit annoying, particularly when--in addition to paying the fee--one has to hunt around for half an hour to find the sacristan, who may live two or three blocks away; but, after all, it is the tourist who is under obligation for the privilege of visiting the churches when they are closed to the general public, and all the fees in flanders add only a trifle to the expense account of one's tour. in st. sauveur on the occasion of our first visit we were especially interested in a curious painting of the crucifixion located in the baptistry and said to be the earliest picture of the famous bruges school in existence. the savants assign a date prior to to this work, the author of which is unknown. the name of charles the good is also associated with the church of notre dame, part of the present structure dating from his reign. the bulk of the edifice was erected during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. the spire was begun in , torn down and rebuilt, being finally completed nearly a century later. there is a legend that the architect, in despair over the fact that it leans considerably to the east, threw himself from its summit. at present it is one hundred and twenty-two metres in height, which is said to be the greatest elevation ever attained by a structure of this kind built of brick. it can hardly be described as beautiful, the dark red of the top portion being out of harmony with the rich tawny grey of the lower part, but it forms a splendid feature in the sky-line of the city. perhaps the most charming view of it is that obtained from the opposite side of the lac d'amour. another excellent point of view is from the dyver with the outline of the tower, reflected in the still waters of the roya. the interior of this church is, like the tower, built of brick, only the great supporting pillars being of stone. the general effect of the interior is greatly marred by a wooden rood-loft that separates the nave from the choir. in this church there is an interesting "adoration of the magi" by daniel seghers, a painter of the later antwerp school, who became a jesuit but continued to practise his art and was especially renowned for the flowers and butterflies with which he adorned his pictures. this work, which was finished in , is thought by many to be the artist's masterpiece. another notable treasure is the statue of the virgin and child by michael angelo, executed in . [illustration: tomb of marie of burgundy, church of notre dame, bruges.] the most famous of the possessions of notre dame, however, are the superb tombs of charles the bold and his daughter marie of burgundy, to be seen only by paying a small fee to enter the chapel in which they are placed. that of marie is the older, and by far the finer of the two, and consists of a sarcophagus of black marble upon which rests a life-sized recumbent figure of the famous princess--"the greatest heiress in europe"--who died at the age of twenty-five as a result of an injury received when hunting in , less than five years after her marriage to maximilian who later became emperor. at the command of her son, philip the handsome, this masterpiece of stone and bronze was begun by pierre de beckère in and completed in . around the altar-tomb are exquisitely carved statues of saints and angels, with twining plants and scrolls and the heraldic shields of all the provinces and not a few of the cities within marie's wide domains. the figure of the princess lies above all this with her hands folded as if in prayer, a crown upon her head and two hounds lying at her feet. the bronze has been cunningly carved to represent the finest lace and richly gilded until it seems to be pure gold. the body of charles the bold was brought from nancy in at the command of charles the fifth, his grandson, and eight years later the funeral monument was begun by order of philip ii. it was completed in , and is designed in imitation of that of marie. the figure of "the terrible duke" is shown clad in armour, with his helmet at one side and a lion crouching at his feet. "here, in this little chapel," said the professor, "one can see the beginning and the end of the most interesting period in the long history of bruges, the alpha and omega of her greatness. at the time of charles the good the little bourg on the roya was slowly emerging from obscurity and beginning to assume the aspect of a great capital. for three hundred and fifty years its power and fame grew until 'the venice of the north' was everywhere recognised as one of the most beautiful and brilliant cities in the world. then suddenly, almost within the span of a single generation, the fickle sea abandoned it and it became the quiet inland city that it is to-day, living largely upon the memories of its splendid past. when the beautiful marie was brought home to the princenhof, dying from her fall at wynandael, the decline had already begun, and when the remains of her father were placed beside her here in notre dame the end had already come and the city's merchants and prosperity had departed." chapter iv how bruges became "the venice of the north" after the murder of charles the good had been so thoroughly avenged, the king of france sought to foist one of his own underlings upon the people of flanders, but they would have none of him, and he fell fighting before the gates of one of the flemish cities. dierick of alsace was the popular hero and became count on the death of this rival. the king of france sought once more to interpose, but the burghers of bruges retorted proudly: "be it known to the king and to all princes and peoples, and to their posterity throughout all time, that the king of france hath no part in the election of a count of flanders." of all the counts of flemish blood dierick proved to be the greatest and the wisest who ever ruled over the land. during his long reign of forty years (from to ) and that of his son, philip of alsace, who ruled until , the country prospered and grew rich. both princes encouraged commerce, industry and the arts, and were liberal in their policy toward the cities. it was during this golden age of flemish history--the longest period of happiness the country ever knew--that municipal charters were granted to the cities of bruges, ghent, ypres, furnes, gravelines, nieuport, dunkerque and damme. while the memory of dierick of alsace deserves to be fondly cherished by the people of flanders as that of a wise and liberal ruler, his most famous exploit was bringing back the relic of the precious blood from jerusalem. like most princes of his time, dierick joined in the crusades, but, unlike many of them, he left his government so strong and secure that no harm came to the country during his absence. it was the second crusade, and dierick departed in , and returned in , bringing with him this relic, a portion of the most precious possession of the holy church of palestine, consisting of a small crystal vial filled with what was alleged to be the blood of christ, preserved by joseph of aramathea who prepared the body for burial. deeming himself unworthy to bear so holy a relic, the count entrusted it to his chaplain, who never parted with it until the returning crusaders delivered it to the chaplains of the court who placed it in the chapel built by baldwin of the iron arm, where it still remains in its original receptacle. on the nd of may every year from until now--save for a brief interruption during the stormy times of the french revolution--the city of bruges has celebrated its possession of this holy relic by the great procession of the holy blood. at first simply a religious ceremony, the procession gradually took on spectacular features such as the flemings love, including representations of the apostles, the nativity, king herod, and so on. at present _la noble confrerie du precieux sang_, or honourable society of the holy blood, is a very wealthy and aristocratic organisation, even its affiliated members--of whom there are several thousands, of every nationality--esteeming their connection with it a great honour. during the french revolution mobs stripped the chapel of everything that could be torn down or broken, leaving it such a wreck that the municipal authorities were considering tearing it down, but were happily prevented from doing so by napoleon. the lower chapel was, however, used as a jail for drunken and disorderly persons--and even as a pound for stray dogs--until . the upper chapel meanwhile was roofless and windowless, a sad wreck of so ancient and famous a structure. both have since been restored, the lower--or chapel of st. basil--being now just as it was in , and, in the opinion of many critics, "the most beautiful and perfect specimen of romanesque architecture in europe." we had already inspected the lower chapel while exploring the vieux bourg of baldwin of the iron arm our first day at bruges, but had not spent much time in the upper one. here the most interesting object was naturally the chasse, or casket, containing the holy relic after which the chapel is named. this is on one side of the little museum of the chapel and is of silver-gilt, standing four feet, three inches high. it was made in by a silversmith of bruges and, while not regarded as a masterpiece of its kind, is very graceful and elegant. the chapel itself is richly decorated and has some excellent stained glass windows, all of this work dating from the middle of the last century. adjoining the chapelle du saint-sang is the hotel de ville. this structure is a very fine example of flemish municipal architecture, dating from the last quarter of the fourteenth century. here the counts of flanders formerly took the oath to respect the rights and privileges of the city, this formality taking place in the last window to the right. originally there were statues of former princes on the façade and six of these were coloured by jean van eyck in . all were destroyed during the revolution. part of the interior is still used by various government officials, while up-stairs the tourists usually visit the ancient salle echinivale, or council chamber. this was restored in and decorated with a series of twelve mural paintings representing notable scenes in the history of the city. of these eleven are by albrecht de vriendt, and the last by his brother, julian, the first artist dying just before his work was completed. as these pictures form an interesting epitome of the history of the city, the subjects are given herewith: .--return of the brugeois from the battle of the golden spurs at courtrai in . .--foundation of the order of the golden fleece by philip of burgundy at bruges in . .--dierick of alsace bringing the holy blood to the chapel of st. basil in . .--the interior of the ancient hospital of st. jean. .--magistrates of bruges renewing the privileges of the hanseatic league. .--count philip of alsace granting a charter to bruges ( ). .--magistrates visiting the studio of jean van eyck ( ). .--the printing by movable type in bruges by jean britto in . .--count louis of maele laying the foundation of the town-hall ( ). .--jacob van maerlant, father of flemish poetry, born at damme. .--the free-fair. .--opening of the new zwyn canal in . [illustration: _palais du franc, bruges_] one of the most interesting of the almost innumerable mediæval buildings in bruges is the palais du franc which, with its many quaint turrets and gables, overlooks the fish market on the quai vert. the associations and history of this sumptuous bit of sixteenth century architecture date from the twelfth century-- to be exact--when philip of alsace granted a charter to the region stretching to the northward from the city to the sea, and from aardenburg (now just across the dutch frontier) to dixmude. this wide tract of territory was called the franc or liberty of bruges, and comprised ninety-one parishes and the towns of ostende, blankenburghe, eccloo, lissweghe, aardenburg, sluys and dixmude. of these only the first two are known to the tourists of the present day, while one must needs search the map very closely to find one or two of the others at all, but in the time of philip all were busy centres of trade and industry. this was the hereditary land of the karls, whose revolt against the attempt of charles the good to force them under the feudal yoke cost that monarch his life. the charter was called the _keurbrief_ and laid the foundation for the administration of a code of justice that, rude as it was, meant liberty for those who otherwise would have been utterly at the mercy of any feudal lord or wandering knight. it was the _magna carta_ of a large part of the count's dominions and even its stern eye-for-eye and life-for-life doctrine was tempered by equivalents in cash that might be paid. the life of a karl was worth twice as much as that of a monk or priest, while for each injury there was an appropriate fine. he who broke a dyke must lose the hand that did the damage, besides forfeiting all his goods; for false weights the penalty was a fine of three livres for each offence. fencing one's property against game entailed branding with a red hot iron, or trial by the count--who might confiscate the goods of the guilty party, but his life and liberty were to be safe. this cruel game law was not repealed for nearly three centuries, and must have entailed much hardship. on the whole, however, the charter was liberal for its day, and the country under it flourished exceedingly--a sure evidence of wise laws. the keurbrief was administered by the magistrates of the franc in the palais du franc, which was therefore a sort of special court. the present edifice is not the one erected by philip, or used by him for the purpose, but dates from the early part of the fifteenth century. part of it is still used as the palais de justice, but that part of the present structure is for the most part modern. the most interesting portion of the edifice, and the only one shown to tourists, is the court room containing the magnificent cheminée du franc, or chimney-piece, erected in honour of the ladies' peace negotiated by margaret of austria while regent of the netherlands in . the work was executed from designs by lancelot blondeel, a painter of bruges, and was completed in . the fireplace itself is of black marble, surmounted by a frieze in white marble containing four bas-reliefs representing the history of the chaste suzanne. one cannot but wonder what was the connection of thought that suggested this story in conjunction with the commemoration of the treaty of cambrai, but at all events here it is. the reliefs are of varying excellence, the one showing suzanne about to be seized by her aged admirers being very sharp and clear, while the fourth which shows the culprits being stoned to death is rather indistinct. the upper part of the monumental chimney is of oak and occupies almost the entire side of the room. in the centre stands charles v, represented as a count of flanders, nearly life size and finely carved. at his right are statues of maximilian and marie of burgundy, and at the left ferdinand of aragon and isabella of castile--these being the emperor's ancestors on his father's and mother's sides respectively. on the throne behind the emperor are the busts of philip the handsome and joanna of spain, his father and mother, and below these are the portraits in small medallions of charles de lannoy, who won the victory of pavia where francis i, the king of france, was captured, and margaret of austria, who negotiated the treaty. as the last mentioned portrait is almost invisible in the shadow of the emperor it hardly seems as though the chimney-piece does justice to the loyal and talented woman whose successful diplomacy the entire work is intended to commemorate. as an example of sixteenth-century wood-carving, however, and as a most important historical monument, this chimney-piece is by no means the least interesting of the many things to be seen at bruges. [illustration: the belfry, bruges.] unlike most tourists, the professor seemed to be in no hurry to inspect the famous belfry, although we had passed it a score of times during our stay. facing the grande place, and towering three hundred and fifty-three feet into the air, it could not be overlooked, while its loud chimes--which rang every quarter of an hour, and can be heard for many blocks around--insured that it could not be forgotten. moreover, we more than once took our evening meal at a little restaurant just across the place from it and saw its graceful octagonal parapet on one occasion outlined against the fast-flying grey clouds of a summer storm and the next day against the blue sky of one of the few perfect june days it was our fortune to enjoy. "too soon," he said, in answer to our inquiring glances--"the belfry belongs to the period of bruges' splendour, while the buildings we have seen thus far date from the formative period when she was still little more than a fortress on a marsh." the original structure dates from the very early counts of flanders--possibly from the time of the first baldwin--but was practically destroyed by a fire in the year . it was then that the present edifice was begun, at a period when the commercial and industrial importance of the city was already very great. the city's seal and archives were stored in a strong room within the belfry walls, where four wrought iron doors secured by ten locks and ten keys guarded them against abstraction by the emissaries of some count who might desire to curtail the privileges of the city. eight of these keys were kept by the deans of the eight leading guilds--the butchers, bakers, shoemakers, tailors, weavers, brokers, carpenters and blacksmiths--who thus virtually controlled the government. this room the professor desired to see above all else in the old structure. we found the four wrought iron doors, but the archive chamber no longer contains archives or the city's seal. it was a most interesting old room, nevertheless, and one that ought to particularly interest the builders of the elaborate burglar-proof and earthquake-proof vaults that extend below so many great banking houses in america. alas! neither the four doors nor the ten locks rendered this ancient strong-room for the protection of the city's liberties proof against the cunning and power of tyrants, and the precious charters it once held were gradually taken away, despite the stout handiwork of one erembald, blacksmith, who received eighty-one pounds for forging the doors in the year . to reach the bells one mounts a steep, dark staircase which is said to contain four hundred and two steps, although we did not count them. the chimes are claimed to be the finest in europe, and comprise forty-nine bells weighing in the aggregate fifty-six thousand, one hundred and sixty-six pounds. they were cast by george dumery in and are noted for their soft tone. the _tambour_ which operates the chimes that ring every quarter of an hour weighs nineteen thousand, nine hundred and sixty-six pounds and is pierced by thirty thousand, five hundred square holes in which are fixed the pegs that pull the strings commanding the hammers hanging outside the bells. by altering the position of these pegs the tunes can be varied, but the programme played while we were in the city was as follows: at the hour: "rondo, th sonata," by mozart; at the quarter past: "le carillon de dunkerque," a popular air; at the half: "the day of happiness," by mozart; at the three-quarters past: "the three drummers," a flemish popular air. the official bell-ringer is m. toon nauwelaerts, a native of lierre, where his ancestors have been bell-ringers for more than a hundred years. although a young man, m. nauwelaerts won an international competition of bell-ringers organised by the city of bruges in . the view from the summit of the belfry is one of the most superb in flanders, especially if the visitor is so fortunate as to have fallen on one of those days when the clouds roll in great fleecy masses of dazzling white that form a wondrous background for the grim grey tower of st. sauveur and the tapering red spire of the cathedral. as one looks down upon the sea of tiny red-roofed houses far below he is transported in fancy to the time, centuries ago, when watchmen peered off across these very parapets day and night to sound the alarm of an approaching foe, or announce the approach of their mighty count or some noble visitor. in so doing he can realise what the old belfry has meant to the city on the roya. "for six hundred years," wrote m. gilliodts, one of the city's learned archivists, "this belfry has watched over the city of bruges. it has beheld her triumphs and her failures, her glory and her shame, her prosperity and her gradual decay, and, in spite of so many vicissitudes, it is still standing to bear witness to the genius of our forefathers, to awaken alike memories of old times and admiration for one of the most splendid monuments of civic architecture which the middle ages have produced." the best time of all in which to study and admire the external aspect of this noble structure is when the sun is sinking to rest and its rays fall slantingly across the sombre pile of tawny brick, touching up its projections here and there with high lights that contrast sharply with the deep shadows behind them, and listen--as did so often our poet longfellow--to the wonderfully sweet chimes as they ring the quarter hours: "low and loud and sweetly blended, low at times and loud at times, and changing like a poet's rhymes ring the beautiful wild chimes from the belfry in the market of the ancient town of bruges." the halles themselves, of which the belfry is the chief ornament, are notable for their considerable size, forming a rectangle one hundred and forty-three feet broad and two hundred and seventy-six feet deep. the archeological museum in one wing--which is in course of removal to the gruuthuise palace--enabled us to see the interior of the structure, the extent of which indicates the volume of business that was transacted there when bruges was known as "the venice of the north." the great commercial activity of bruges during the period of its prosperity, from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries, was due primarily to the fact that the counts of flanders decreed that it should be the sole port of entry for the entire country. the burghers quickly perceived the priceless value of this privilege, and by their enterprise and liberality made the city the foremost metropolis in europe in the volume and variety of its international trade. with london its relations were especially intimate and cordial, each city granting to the merchants of the other privileges that in those days were almost unheard of. for example, the merchants of bruges in time of war were granted forty days of grace in which to dispose of their property and provide for their personal safety. on one occasion, while a war was actually going on, they were given a special truce of ninety days in which to traffic freely with the subjects of the king of england. the reason for these unusual favours was that bruges was the great market where the wool of england, on which the prosperity of the country depended, was disposed of. not infrequently the archives record instances where the kings of england treated with the chief magistrates of bruges on terms of complete equality, as if with a sovereign power. nor was england the only country represented in the market places of bruges during this period. the doges of venice often treated directly with the burgomasters of the italian city's flemish rival, while the powerful hanseatic league established here their chief establishment for the netherlands. the list of the "nations," as the groups of foreign merchants were called, makes curious reading at the present day. there were english, scotch, french, lusitanians, castilians, venetians, genoans, florentines; merchants from aragon, biscay, lucca, milan, lombardy and navarre. the german merchants from the hanseatic towns of lubeck, hamburg, cologne, dantzig and bremen numbered no less than forty houses in the year , while the italian and spanish firms resident in the city were still more numerous. many of these concerns were among the foremost trading and banking houses of the middle ages, with mercantile transactions extending into every part of the known world and strong enough financially to loan money to princes. when the duke of pembroke was captured by du guesclin in the hundred years' war between england and france it was in bruges that his countrymen borrowed the seventy thousand pounds demanded as ransom. as befitted the first mercantile city in the world, business methods were more advanced at bruges than anywhere else. it is claimed that the first insurance policies ever drawn up were devised and signed in bruges about the year . a form of registration of land titles was in use there as early as the fifteenth century. its bourse, or central exchange for merchandise of all kinds, is claimed to have been the first ever established. in a single day in the year no less than foreign vessels arrived at bruges through its canals and the river zwyn, and while these were, of course, small craft as compared to those of the present day there was then no port in the world that could boast of an equal quantity of shipping. industrially, the town was no less important, having some fifty thousand artisans belonging to fifty-two different guilds. the silting up of the zwyn, rendering the approach and departure of shipping difficult and uncertain, started a downward movement that in less than a century destroyed all of this great activity and prosperity. had it come alone it is probable that the sturdy merchants of bruges would have found a way to overcome this adverse factor to their continued success, either by digging a new channel to the sea or by dredging, but misfortunes--as is their proverbial wont--did not come singly. in , as a result of a conflict between the city and maximilian, the stores and exchanges were closed for three months and all business came to a standstill. seven years later it was said that nearly five thousand houses stood vacant and abandoned, no one caring either to buy or rent them. one by one the great merchants of the city closed their counting-rooms and went away; one by one the artisans departed. the last of the "nations" to desert the declining city was the hanseatic league, which stood by it loyally until , when it removed its offices to antwerp, by that time the acknowledged metropolis of the north. [illustration: the minnewater, bruges.] the minnewater, or lac d'amour, is--apart from its exquisite beauty--of interest as another memento of the city's former commerce. this was the chief harbour for shipping, and, no doubt, was thronged with sailing craft, while its banks must have swarmed with merchants checking their arriving or departing cargoes, stevedores carrying bales and boxes to and fro, clumsy wagons and carts for transporting merchandise to the warehouses of the city and all the varied noise and bustle of a great seaport. it is strangely silent and deserted now, and the grass grows tall around the round tower built in by jan van oudenaarde, and the white swans float slowly and majestically beneath the black arches of the adjoining bridge which is eight years older than the tower. it is said that he, or she, who stands on the central arch of this bridge at midnight and expresses a desire will have the wish fulfilled, but we did not try it. before leaving this charming spot, however, we went along the banks of the little lake to a point where, looking back, we had the round tower and the bridge in the middle distance, the lake in the foreground, and the towers of the city on the horizon. this view is, without doubt, the finest the old town affords. the visitor to bruges who is interested in the past should devote at least half a day to a pilgrimage to damme, distant about an hour's walk along the canal that leads from the new port of bruges to the sea. in this now all but forgotten town was made an independent commune with two burgomasters, and for two centuries thereafter it enjoyed a great and increasing prosperity. it became the chief entrepôt for the great commercial city of bruges during its period of splendour, and most of the leading merchants maintained offices there. its warehouses were crowded with merchandise from every corner of europe--wines from france and spain, beer from england, wool from scotland, silk from italy, all manner of cloths and stuffs, spices of all kinds, metals of every variety known to the metal workers of those days, rare and precious goods of every description. to-day the very scene of all this mercantile activity has vanished. gone are the busy warehouses, the docks and wharves, even the very harbour in which--according to ancient chroniclers--a score of ships of the largest size then built could anchor easily. all that remains is a diminutive grande place surrounded by several ancient edifices, and the ruins of a huge church. in the centre of the place is a modern statue of jacob van maerlant, called "the father of flemish poets." fame has surely never played any more astounding trick than that out of the great host who lived in this busy commercial town in the days of its prosperity--portly burgomasters, skilled in winning the plaudits of the populace; shrewd, far-sighted merchants grown rich from the commerce with distant lands; skilled artisans and craftsmen in a hundred guilds--all, all are forgotten, while an obscure poet, whom very likely many of those who knew him derided as a fool, is alone remembered as the one great man of damme. facing the grande place is the ancient hotel de ville, which, in addition to being the most notable monument of the dead town, is also an estaminet where the living can get a little refreshment. the main floor of this edifice is divided into three large rooms. the first one is the estaminet, with its array of bottles and its beer pump contrasting most incongruously with the remaining vestiges of its ancient grandeur. adjoining this is a large, irregular and unfurnished room, bare of ornamentation save for two corbels, or gothic brackets, which support the main rafters of the ceiling. these are of wood, elaborately carved. one represents van maerlant in his study, seated at a desk, with what m. havard calls a "chaste suzanne" bathing in a tub over his head. the other shows king david with his harp, and is embellished with sundry other figures. the remaining room is by far the most interesting, for it was here that charles the bold publicly betrothed margaret of york. the room, which is officially termed the _salle des délibérations_, or council hall, has a fine old fireplace said to have been restored during the seventeenth century. it is decorated with two female figures in hoop skirts and bears the motto "_parcere subjectis et debellare superbos_." this quotation from vergil (Æneid : ) sounds rather pompous and out of place in the council chamber of this now completely vanquished and ruined city, and must have seemed so even in the seventeenth century, but it may have been a survival of an inscription placed over the original fireplace in the days when damme dared to close its gates even against the men from bruges itself, and the puissant counts of flanders had to use force to compel it to open them. it was in the year that this room in which we are now standing had its one great day and became, for a brief space, the setting of one of those splendid mediæval scenes that bards and novelists so fondly recall, and that--in our age of up-to-date inventions--the moving-picture men are so busily reconstructing and re-enacting. the princess had landed at sluys, near the mouth of the river zwyn, where the duke of burgundy paid her a brief visit in secret--possibly to see what she looked like, for this was a marriage of state and intended to further his far-reaching ambitions. probably if she had been as homely as a witch the wedding would have taken place just the same, but as the reverse was the case the preliminary inspection must have been very gratifying. the following day the royal lady and her company rode to damme in a fleet of barges gorgeously decorated with gold, rich velvets and rare silks. here she was lodged in this very council chamber of the hotel de ville, and here the duke came in great state to perform the public ceremony of betrothal. the wedding ring was given in the presence of the english bishop who had accompanied the princess, and charles announced that he would await her presence on the morrow at bruges, where the wedding itself was to be celebrated in the cathedral. the wedding procession as it departed for bruges the next day must have been another brave sight for the proud citizens of damme. the bride, reclining in a litter borne by four white horses, wore a magnificent gown of cloth of gold, a crown on her forehead, a jewelled necklace, and a mantle clasped with precious stones. around her pranced her ladies of honour, mounted on white horses gaily bedecked with crimson satin. immediately behind this picturesque group came five decorated chariots bearing a score of beautiful ladies from the english court, and following these came the guard of honour, or escort, provided by the duke--a squadron of counts, barons and knights, with their faithful squires, their horses covered with gold and silver, the riders resplendent in bright coloured velvet and rich lace. the good people of the middle ages dearly loved a pageant, and this surely was one to rejoice the heart of every citizen of damme, for here was the pride of the chivalry of all europe--fair ladies and brave men from oversea and from every corner of the great duke's wide dominions--thronging the grande place as the procession formed, and then falling into their respective places as the long line passed out through the city gate and proceeded on the straight, tree-lined _grande route_ that led to bruges. chapter v dixmude and furnes the tourist who desires to get away from the main thoroughfare of european travel, to explore out-of-the-way corners, and discover for himself wonders and beauties that the learned mr. baedeker never heard of, cannot do better than to turn away to the westward from the great ostende-brussels express route and visit the all but forgotten cities of dixmude, furnes and nieuport. all but forgotten, that is, in june, . the world has heard of them since, and it will be many hundreds of years before it forgets them again! these little places, which when we visited them were nothing but sleepy and quiet country towns, were great and prosperous cities in the period when bruges was slowly rising toward its zenith, and the professor therefore decreed that they must come next on our itinerary. we accordingly spent an evening studying the _correspondences_, or connections, of the state railway and the _chemin de fer vicinal_, or local steam tramway, and started at daybreak the next morning. right here it may be said that the belgian state railway did its best to compensate us for whatever shortcomings we found in the weather or in the country generally. perfect its service can hardly be said to have been, but it was excellent and amazingly cheap. our party purchased every two weeks _billets d'abonnement_ that cost us just forty-one francs each, or about $ . , and entitled us to ride on any state-owned railway line in the country day or night for fifteen days. these were second-class, the third costing twenty-three francs, and first sixty francs. the last, by the way, is a useless luxury, as on the local lines the first-class compartments are identical with the second-class except for a white tidy placed at the back of the cushions. frequently there was not even the tidy, but the sign, "_reservé_--_voorbehouden_," converted an ordinary second-class compartment into first-class--a distinction that gave the traveller very little for his money, save the privilege of riding alone. on the main express routes that radiate outward from brussels in every direction there were a number of _rapides_, or fast express trains, that made very good time indeed--a speed of a kilometre per minute being about the average. on the international express trains, some of which are first-class only, the speed was somewhat higher, but these we never had occasion to use. after the _rapides_ came the express trains, generally marked "_direct_" or "_semi-direct_," according to whether or not they made any intermediate stops before reaching their final destination. these were only moderately fast, and, if they did stop anywhere, lingered so long that the time gained by their previous speed was largely lost. then came the type of local train called _omnibus_ or _ordinaire_, that stopped at every station. to the american these trains would seem astoundingly slow, even for a land that is never in a hurry. each stop is dragged out, minute after minute, until it seems certain that either a terrible accident must have occurred ahead, or the train crew has gone on strike. actually, more than once, we did see part of the crew returning from an estaminet hard by whither they had gone to have a friendly glass. finally, however, the red-capped station master blows his whistle and the train reluctantly pulls away. to make a trip of sixty kilometres (forty miles) by one of these trains took, on more than one occasion, two hours and a quarter, and the train arrived on time! this last point is a feature of the belgian railway trains. they are almost invariably on time, and lateness is a matter for strict examination on the part of the officials and severe penalties for those responsible. however, there does not seem to be much credit attached to being on time when the schedule allows for a stop of from two to fifteen minutes at each station. the man primarily responsible for the movement of the trains is not the conductor or engineer but the _chef de gare_, or station-master. he, or his deputy if the station is a large one with many trains, must be on hand when each train pulls in, and give the signal for its departure. his dark-red cap, embroidered with gold braid, is therefore in evidence at every station, and until this high functionary gives the word no train moves. as it is, each leaves exactly on time--but not a second before, no matter if every passenger has been in place and the doors slammed and fastened for the last five minutes! the foregoing description of the belgian state railway refers, of course, to the service as it existed down to the end of july. since then the destruction of tracks, bridges and tunnels by one army or another has put most of the system out of operation. one of the saddest phases of the war is that every one of the thousands of employés of the belgian state railway--from the highest supervising official to the humblest track walker--was working faithfully and efficiently, and planning the future of his frugal life, upon the assurance that promotion and an old-age pension would reward his zeal. this obligation toward its employés the belgian government has ever faithfully observed, and in the course of our travels we met many middle-aged men who told us that they were looking forward to the day when their terms of duty would end and they would be pensioned on half pay to enjoy a few years of well-earned repose. probably not one of these men ever seriously dreamed that an event could occur that would, in the course of a few swift weeks, blot out the record of his life work, and deprive him of all opportunity for promotion, for pension, and even for employment. no doubt the death toll of the battles on the plains of flanders has been heavy among these courteous, capable and industrious men--many of whom were liable for military service in time of war--but let us hope that peace, when it comes, will bring to each survivor his old post again, with the old good service record unforgotten, and that he will receive the pension he rightfully expects and that his country would gladly give--at last. to those who enjoy rambling through the byways of history there is no town richer in associations, yet less spoiled by the visits of the all but ubiquitous tourist, than dixmude. at present this little city is situated fifteen miles from the sea, yet all the ancient chroniclers aver that prior to the thirteenth century it was a seaport with a commerce overseas and a not inconsiderable fishing fleet. as one looks across the miles and miles of pleasant fields, interspersed with waving windmills and tiny villages, this part of the ancient city's history seems utterly incredible, but it is too well authenticated to be disputed. ten times, so the histories tell us, dixmude was besieged and bravely defended by its citizens. more than once it was destroyed by fire and rebuilt, but at last the blight that destroyed the prosperity of its larger and more powerful neighbours, ypres, bruges and ghent, struck at the heart of its industries as well and it sank by imperceptible degrees into its long sleep. like the abode of the sleeping princess, of whom tennyson wrote, one might almost fancy that all life had stopped centuries ago at the wave of some magic wand. the summer's sun and winter's rain and snow of half a thousand years have left but the faintest traces on its old houses and its great parish church of st. nicholas. the pride and joy of this church is its altar screen, or _jubé_, said to have been designed by urban taillebert, the architect of the church of st. martin at ypres and many other celebrated works of around the year . there is also an "adoration of the magi" by jordaens, and the usual collection of minor works of art. to us, however, this old church was far more interesting externally than within, its huge clock tower resembling nothing else that we had seen in flanders or elsewhere. the grande place, from which one can obtain a fine view of the old church with a row of lilliputian houses nestling below it, is big enough to accommodate all the present inhabitants of the town in one corner. in its prime dixmude is said to have had thirty thousand inhabitants, and all the room on the place was, no doubt, needed on market days, but it does not have a fifteenth of that number now, and the wide, grass-grown expanse of cobble-stones is entirely deserted. the _jubé_, or altar screen, already mentioned, is the one great "sight" of the little town, and every one asks without fail whether you have yet seen it. it is assuredly well worth seeing, being wonderfully graceful and dainty, and, perhaps, the finest thing of its kind in northern europe. the other famous _chef d'oeuvre_ of dixmude is culinary instead of artistic. this is a kind of brioche called _zieltjenskoeken_, or _gateaux d'ames_--a sort of "soul cooky," as it were. twice a year, on certain religious occasions, the inhabitants of dixmude consume vast quantities of these confections, which are claimed to possess the property--if eaten on the prescribed days--of delivering one's soul from purgatory and sending it straight to paradise. we were unfortunately unable to verify this, as our visit did not come on the right day, but we found the butter of dixmude--which has enjoyed a great reputation for centuries--to be all that was claimed for it, although the professor insisted on putting a shake of salt on his, to the great horror of the maid who served our dinner. had some madame thebes told us what the near future had in store for this sleepy and quaint old city we would have spent days instead of hours in it, but last june its importance did not seem to justify giving it a chapter so we planned to visit furnes the same day. to-day the name of dixmude has been heard to the farthest ends of the world, its great square echoes to the tramp of armed men, its old church--after standing for so many centuries--is said to have fallen before the withering storm of shrapnel and shells that for days rained down upon its defenders. it has been taken and retaken by each side in the gigantic combat more than once. it is asleep no longer, forgotten no longer; and, in years to come, reverent visitors from many nations will visit what may remain of the ancient town. for these the chief interest will not lie in the walls of the ruined church or the relics of the departed _jubé_, if any there be, but out in the open, pleasant fields where, in trenches that the kindly hand of nature will gradually obliterate, the brave men of four nations met in one of the fiercest and bloodiest death grapples of the great war. but last july both madame thebes and the cannon were silent, so again taking our faithful _omnibus_ after the dinner--which we obtained at one of the little restaurants overlooking the grande place--we next journeyed northward to furnes, which is only a few miles distant across the flat flemish plain. furnes, according to the antiquarians, dates from as early as the year , and its day of greatness had come and gone centuries ago. its crooked streets, quaint gabled houses, and picturesque corners seemed more mediæval than any place we had visited--surpassing even dixmude in this respect. it was here, by the way, that leopold i was welcomed to the country when he arrived after being chosen to be the first king of the belgians in . the hotel of the nobele rose, near the grande place, is said to have been the palace of the countess gertrude of flanders in , and if so, must be one of the oldest houses in flanders. the widow of count philip of alsace is also said to have resided here in . more celebrated, in years to come, than any of these incidents, will be the fact that furnes was for many months of the great war the headquarters of the brave belgian army, and the place of residence of belgium's heroic king. the great annual event at furnes is the famous procession, which takes place the third sunday in july. it dates from or thereabouts, when, according to the legend, count robert of flanders was on his way back from the holy land, bringing with him a piece of the true cross. his voyage across the mediterranean, through the straits of gibraltar and past the stormy bay of biscay, was without incident, but as he was nearing home a fearful storm in the english channel threatened to send his frail bark to the bottom. the waves were running mountain high and all the party expected each moment to be their last when the count suddenly bethought himself of his holy relic and vowed that, if his life were spared, he would present it to the first church of which he might see the spire. immediately the storm ceased, the wind died down, the sea became as smooth as a mill-pond, and as the happy mariners looked toward the shore of their dear flanders a ray of sunlight fell upon the tower of ste. walburge in furnes. to this church, therefore, in fulfilment of his vow, count robert presented the relic, now doubly precious by reason of this miracle. to commemorate this event the canons of the church organised a procession which took place every year and was marked by various historical representations of the return of count robert. about an act of sacrilege committed by a soldier, who was publicly executed for his crime, led to the procession taking on certain penitential features by way of expiation on the part of the city for this sin. from that time on the procession has included representations, for the most part by peasants dressed up for the parts, of abraham and the prophets, the flight into egypt, the visit of the three wise men to the cradle at bethlehem, so often painted by the artists of the flemish school, the stable and the birth of christ, the court of herod, jesus in the midst of the doctors, the penitent magdalen, the entry of christ into jerusalem, the feast at cana, the garden of olives, the betrayal of judas, and a series of scenes representing the crucifixion, burial and resurrection. following these tableaux come the penitents, walking masked and barefooted, clad for the most part in brown capuchin robes, and singing or chanting certain lines in flemish. many of the leading actors in the tableaux have "speaking parts," all of them in flemish and delivered with varying degrees of histrionic skill to the crowd that lines the streets. the whole performance, apart from its great antiquity, is of interest as being a local and original representation of the biblical story--a sort of flemish passion play, less refined and artistic than that of the swiss peasants of oberammergau, but none the less conscientious, earnest and sincere. at one time furnes ranked next to ghent and bruges among the cities of flanders in official importance, if not in population and industry, its _châtellenie_ comprising fifty-two villages. in it was besieged by robert, the count of artois, who fell five years later at the great battle of courtrai. at furnes the french arms were successful and the city was captured and sacked, "more than two thousand houses being burned in two days," according to the contemporary chronicles. philip the bold, the first of the burgundian dukes to rule over flanders, rebuilt its fortifications, and the city was deemed worthy under philip the good to be designated as the place of residence of the french dauphin, who subsequently became louis xi, when that remarkable young man was in exile through his father's displeasure. it may well have been here that the wiliest and most unscrupulous of all the kings of france planned that tortuous and secretive policy that--steadily pursued year after year--brought the powerful house of burgundy low at last and made france one nation instead of two or three. the quaint old grande place of furnes, while smaller than that of dixmude, is equally picturesque. on one side is the old meat market, dating from the first quarter of the seventeenth century; and hard by is the _maison des espagnols_, or house of the spaniards, formerly used as a town-hall and erected in the thirteenth century. the present hotel de ville also faces the place and is well worth a visit, although none of its rooms are sufficiently notable to merit a detailed description. the ancient _châtellenie_, now used as court house, was begun in --the year the hotel de ville was finished--and is chiefly memorable as the meeting-place of the spanish inquisition. this body held its sessions in the antechamber on the first floor and not in the main hall, which is decorated by a mural painting by de vriendt representing philip the fair swearing to observe the rights and privileges of the city. the establishment of the inquisition by his namesake and grandson, philip ii, affords a ghastly commentary on the manner in which that monarch kept the similar pledges with which he began his reign. another fine old edifice on the grande place is the belfry, square for half its height, then octagonal, and finally surmounted by a bulbous spire, heavy and clumsy, but none the less exceedingly quaint and picturesque. not a few of the ancient houses around the place and in the adjacent streets were sufficiently mediæval to have merited a visit had our stay in this fine old flemish town been longer; but, so far as we could learn, none possessed any particular historical interest. besides ste. walburge, already mentioned--which was evidently planned to be a cathedral, but of which only the choir was ever completed--furnes possesses the church of st. nicholas, which has a noble square tower, also unfinished. both churches are disappointing within, although the former is, no doubt, of great interest to architects as an example of the ogival style, while the latter is gothic and dates from the fourteenth century. the choir stalls in st. walburge are notable examples of the flemish woodcarvers' art, although far less ancient than the church itself. if the time of your stay is midsummer, as it will be if you come to furnes to see the procession, do not go away without a day on the dunes at coxyde. this beach is less well known, as yet, than those at ostende, heyst and blankenburghe farther to the east but it is increasing in popularity very rapidly. a land company, with head offices at brussels, is engaged in erecting summer houses among the dunes which look too american in architecture and manner of construction for this country where houses are generally built as if intended to last a thousand years. a little _chemin de fer_ _vicinal_ runs from furnes to coxyde. in addition to the splendid beach and the dunes, which have a dreary grandeur that is always fascinating, the shrimp fishermen, or _pecheurs de crevettes_, will make the short trip well worth while. [illustration: shrimp fishermen, coxyde.] these weather-beaten men, with their rough oilskin hats and suits, are the modern representatives of an ancient flemish industry--shrimp fishing having been carried on along these coasts literally from time immemorial. they are very picturesque, both while at work on horseback dragging in their nets, and while lounging along the shore, pipe in mouth. jean delvin has a fine painting representing them in the museum at ghent, while one of the most powerful of meunier's statues is devoted to the same subject. chapter vi nieuport and the yser canal when the war is over, and the era of commemoration begins, belgium, if she is free, should erect at nieuport, close to the great locks that mark the outlet of the yser canal--or at some point along the canal where the fighting was the fiercest--a monument higher than that at leipzig where the germans recall their victory over napoleon, higher than the great lion that guards the field of waterloo. at its summit should stand a heroic-sized figure in imperishable bronze of a belgian infantryman, one of the round-capped "demons" whose indomitable will and unwavering courage held this last bit of belgian soil against overpowering numbers for days. it was here that germany's magnificent rush from antwerp to the channel ports was stopped, and it was the last remnant of the little belgian army that, turning on its foe like a lion at bay, hurled back every assault until the little yser canal ran red and until, at last, the great reinforcing hosts of the allies came. the little straggling town of nieuport, peaceful and sleepy as it looked last summer, is not a stranger to battles and sieges. in the time of william the conqueror lombartzyde, now a little hamlet on the _chemin de fer vicinal_ behind the dunes from nieuport to ostende, was the shipping port of this region, but great storms filled the harbour with sand and the citizens established a "new port" on another branch of the yser in . it was fortified three years later, and for several centuries was one of the strong towns defending the low countries on the french frontier. its strategic importance made it the scene of many battles and sieges. it was destroyed by the english and their allies, the men of ghent, in . the lonely tower or donjon of the templars, standing on the edge of the town, is all that remains of a monastery of that order which was ruined at that time. the city itself, however, was quickly rebuilt, and among other memorable sieges beat off a great french force in the year . in the spanish, under condé, beat a french army commanded by turenne not far from the city. another famous fight before the walls of the old town took place in the year during the long war between spain and her revolted provinces. count maurice of nassau, at the head of twelve thousand men from the united provinces, had invaded flanders, which still remained under the power of spain, and marching rapidly from the scheldt past ostende, proceeded to besiege nieuport. the archduke albert, hastily raising an army of fifteen thousand spaniards, advanced unexpectedly on the dutch, who were taken completely by surprise. perceiving that he was caught in a trap, count maurice--in order to give his men the courage of despair--ordered the dutch fleet to withdraw, and told his soldiers that they must either conquer or "be prepared to drink all the water behind them." meanwhile an advance guard of the dutch army was driven back by the advancing spaniards who, thinking they had met the whole army, sent couriers to bruges and ghent announcing the victory. bells were rung to celebrate the archduke's supposed success which, as the event proved, was a strategic victory for nassau as it delayed the enemy several hours. it was three o'clock in the afternoon when the advancing spaniards found themselves face to face with the main army of the republic, drawn up on the very beach outside the city walls. perceiving their sturdy ranks and unyielding front the archduke hesitated, but the spaniards urged him not to let them lose their prey, whom they regarded as hateful rebels and heretics. thus encouraged, the archduke gave the order to advance and the battle soon became general. the fate of the day was decided by the artillery of the dutch which, by a fortunate order of their far-sighted commander, had been lifted off from the sand and mounted on platforms made from boughs, brush and such timber as was handy. that of the archduke, mounted in haste directly on the beach, embedded itself in the sand at each discharge until it became useless, while that of the republicans became more accurate and deadly. at the same time the rays of the setting sun falling directly in the eyes of the spanish soldiers, who were facing westward, blinded them and caused them to fire wildly. the archduke performed prodigies of valour, having two horses killed under him and being himself slightly wounded, but as darkness began to fall on the bloody beach count maurice ordered a charge by a force of cavalry he had held in reserve. this fresh force proved irresistible, the spanish lines began to give way on all sides, and the retreat quickly turned into a rout. even the proud archduke had to seek safety in flight, and the day, which had begun so auspiciously, ended in one of the greatest disasters of the disastrous war. nieuport and its sister cities in this, until lately, half-forgotten corner of flanders were, in former times, renowned for other contests happily less bloody than these famous battles. here, during the middle ages, flourished a group of societies devoted to rhetoric. in place of the still more ancient tourneys, where armed knights fought with lance and sword, these "chambers of rhetoric" held annual contests of oratory. from one end of flanders to the other the movement spread; and these debating societies did much to cultivate a regard for learning and dialectic skill among the mass of the population. sternly suppressed by alva, implacable foe of every form of free thought, these societies were revived after the spanish scourge was withdrawn, and some of them continue to the present day. the visitor who wandered around the long, slightly hilly streets of the nieuport of last july would have had little trouble in locating plenty of the "monuments" of its famous past, although the beach has now receded two or three miles to the northward and pleasant fields extend along the edge of the wide marshes which then were probably part of the sea. a curious old lighthouse with a pointed tower stands about midway between the present town and nieuport _bains_, as the beach town is called, showing where the coastline lay some three hundred and fifty years ago. even this spot is now too far inland for the light to be seen at sea and a new lighthouse has been built on the rampart of dunes that runs, like a miniature mountain range, almost to ostende toward the east, and westward to coxyde and beyond. [illustration: tower of the templars, nieuport.] our first visit at nieuport was to the tower of the templars, a huge square pile of brick standing in the midst of a potato patch. this prosaic environment detracted not a little from the sentimental interest of the edifice, and we were unable to get into the structure, although one of the gens d'armes of the village was said to have a key to the low wooden door at its base. equally disappointing was a visit to the ancient _halle aux draps_, or cloth hall, now used on certain days as a local butter market. here again, the door was locked and no one seemed to know who had the key. curiously enough, although situated very close to the french frontier, we found in this little town and its neighbours, dixmude and furnes, very few people who understood french. flemish is the universal language hereabouts apparently, but it was only on this little trip that we were at all inconvenienced by our inability to speak it. elsewhere in flanders--even at ypres and audenaerde, where our friends said we would have trouble--we were able to make our french universally understood. on the grande place, close to the cloth hall, we found a little inn, called the hotel du pelican, where the professor proposed that we should get some liquid refreshment. we failed, however, to obtain any response to our raps and thumps on the door, and concluding that the establishment must be run for pelicans only we took ourselves and our patronage elsewhere. the church of notre dame, which stands just off the grande place, we found to be a most quaint and interesting old structure dating, it is said, from the thirteenth century. while less imposing externally than st. nicholas at furnes its massive square baroque tower was very striking, and formed a fine picture in conjunction with the more slender tower of the cloth hall hard by. the approach to the main entrance of the church was beneath some lofty trees and we did not see a solitary human being either outside of the edifice or within it. this church has an interesting _jubé_ or rood loft, a fine wooden pulpit, and we also noticed a curious winding stairway that seemed to lead upward within one of the pillars at the intersection of the transept and the choir. as the tower is not built at this point, but at one end of the edifice, it was quite a mystery where this stairway went and what its purpose might be, but as it seemed exceedingly narrow and dark we did not explore it, nor did we find any one to whom we could apply for information about it. it was in this church, by the way, or possibly in one of those at dixmude or furnes, that the madame developed a violent antipathy to a certain painting that seems to be one of the most cherished possessions of nearly every church in flanders. as old cotton and increase mather delighted in scaring and harrowing their audiences with word pictures of the tortures of the burning fiery pit, so nearly every old flemish artist seems to have delighted in portraying most vividly the sufferings and martyrdoms of the saints, and one subject in particular appears to have caught the fancy of every one of them. this was the beheading of john the baptist. at times the head is shown rolling in the dust or mire of the street, at times it is represented as being served on a platter--but to one and all of these works of art the madame objected. this circumstance added not a little to the happiness of mr. and mrs. professor, who were continually contriving to lead her artfully around to inspect some new wonder, which proved to be another representation of this agreeable scene. as works of art they were nearly all atrocities, but as jokes on the madame they were one and all great successes, and it was really surprising how many of them there were. the hotel de ville, a somewhat commonplace looking structure, is said to contain a small collection of paintings, but we were unable to make any of the phlegmatic gens d'armes whom we found lounging close by take enough interest in our questions to inform us where admission might be obtained. in fact the whole town seemed singularly uninterested in tourists, apparently caring not a bit whether they came or stayed away. while the war will undoubtedly change this, still any one desiring to visit it will do well to make the trip from ostende or furnes, returning for the night to some point where hotel accommodations are more adequate. in our case we went over to ostende, where there are many good hotels. no doubt a pleasant week or month could be spent in this corner of flanders, but for such a stay the best plan would be to go to one of the many little seaside resorts between coxyde and ostende for one's hotel or pension, and explore the hinterland from there. the ride by the little _chemin de fer vicinal_ from nieuport to ostende is a very interesting one. at the outset the line crosses the huge locks that join the canals to ostende and furnes with the tidal river yser. there are seven or eight bridges in all, the different canals and channels being separated by tiny islands. had madame thebes only suggested that we explore the yser canals while we were there last july how much more interesting this part of the book would be! unfortunately they looked then much as hundreds of other belgian canals had looked and we gave them only a passing glance. while the newspapers in their accounts of the great battle of flanders usually spoke of the yser canal as though there was but a single canal, in reality there are three canals that flow into the tiny yser river at this point. one of these runs parallel with the coast to ostende, and then onward to bruges and beyond; the second runs behind the range of dunes westward to furnes, where it divides and crosses the french frontier in two branches, one going to bergues and the other to dunkerque. it is the third branch that achieved immortality in the battle of flanders. this runs straight inland, at right angles to the other two, following the tortuous channel of the old river much of the way to dixmude. a short distance beyond dixmude the canal ceases to follow the river yser, which here flows eastward from a source well across the french boundary, and ascends the yser's smaller tributary, the yperlée, to ypres. it did not seem like very much of an obstacle from a military standpoint, but brave hearts can make the most of a small advantage. below the big locks the little river runs in its own bed to the sea. here the tide was out the day of our visit and a few small fishing boats were lying tipped over sideways in the mud, while two or three english ladies were busily sketching the not over-picturesque scene. there will be a great many people sketching in this vicinity by and by! about two miles from nieuport the train passes the church of lombartzyde, within which is a statue of the virgin known among mariners far and wide as the _bonne mére de lombartzyde_, and who is devoutly believed able to protect the faithful seaman from perils by sea, to aid the farmer in his harvest, to cure the sick and succour the distressed. many are the little ships, patiently carved by fingers hardened by toil and exposure, that have been reverently hung before the good virgin's shrine. there are perhaps fewer now than formerly, but faith in her protection and power is still strong and will probably always continue to be so, for the flemings are intensely loyal to the church. not a few of those who visit these little towns, rich in mementoes of the past, but otherwise apparently very sleepy and dull, wonder what the inhabitants do for amusement. no one who has ever spent a sunday in a belgian country village need ask this question. from one end of the country to the other, in the borinage or mining provinces of the southwest as well as in the flemish counties of the north, the male population devotes the greater part of the day to what may unhesitatingly be termed the belgian national sport--archery. in the early part of the middle ages flemish archers were as famous as the longbowmen of merrie england, and on many a hard fought field they gave a good account of themselves. curiously enough, the archery societies into which they formed themselves for practice have survived all the wars and changes of the centuries, have continued in spite of the invention of gunpowder and the perfection of firearms--an industry in which liége, in southern belgium, has led all other cities--and seem to be as vital a part of the national life of the country as ever they were. the fact that the bow and arrow is an anachronism troubles your belgian peasant not at all; he shoulders his long bow as cheerfully on a sunday morning as if he were carrying the latest model of smokeless powder repeater, with maxim silencer and all modern improvements, instead of a weapon that was out of date and useless five hundred years ago. as practised in belgium, archery contests are carried on in two ways. there is first what is known as the _tir á l'oiseau_ or _perche_. in the centre of the village green of the smaller towns, and in some open space in the suburbs of the larger places, the traveller cannot fail to notice what looks like a flag pole, the top of which, however, tapers to a slender point, from just beneath which four short arms point upward diagonally, while three cross arms are placed horizontally below them. on these are fixed the _oiseaux_, or birds--blocks of cork covered with tinsel or gaily-coloured paper, each with a tuft of feathers stuck at the top. the archers gather below the pole and shoot upward, aiming at the "birds" and endeavouring to knock them off cleanly. each shoots in turn, and the prizes--which have been duly announced by posters for days beforehand--go to those capturing one of the "birds," the value varying according to its position. in the contests entitled "_tir du roi_," the archer bringing down the last bird wins the largest prize and is called the "_roi_," or king, and as by that time the archers have one and all consumed a goodly portion of their favourite beverages there is general hilarity--especially if the victor is a popular favourite. immemorial custom decrees that the king should deal liberally with his subjects and dispense in libations whatever sum he may have gained as a prize, after which he is usually escorted, or if necessary carried, home in great state with a band in advance and all the members of the contest following in a disorderly, but jolly, crowd. the second form of contest is known as the "_tir au berceau_," and consists of shooting at a target. the birds, in this case, are fastened about the bull's eye. the archers stand at a distance of one hundred metres from the target, which is usually placed at the rear of a walled court or garden. generally a series of wooden arches placed at intervals along the line of fire serve to arrest any arrows that go wild, while the back of the target is reinforced strongly with straws about a foot long laid lengthwise with the line of the shooting and packed under great pressure. there is invariably a public café or estaminet attached to the places where archery contests _au berceau_ are conducted, while such places are always found close by the spot where a _tir á l'oiseau_ takes place. between shots the men consume liberal quantities of lambic, faro, or the beer of some neighbouring brewer, and discuss politics or the news of the day. a circumstance that renders disorders comparatively rare is that each archery society consists of men of a single party. the catholics have their favourite places that are patronised exclusively by catholics, while the socialists in the southern provinces, where that party is strong, have their own societies and places of rendezvous. the clergy are heartily interested in the catholic contests, giving liberal prizes and attending in considerable numbers to cheer the victors and console the vanquished. during the early part of the war numerous references were made in the despatches to the marvellous accuracy of the belgian riflemen. to one who has attended scores of these archery contests it is not surprising that the belgians are good shots. out of date though the bow and arrow is, yet the sport cannot fail to train the eye and hand, and constant rivalry in such a pastime has made the belgians literally a nation of sharpshooters. on one occasion the writer and a friend took a couple of shots with a carbine in one of the little shooting galleries that accompanied a village kermesse. we both missed. a young man standing by, who worked in the village sugar mill, politely asked which of the various pipes and other objects we were aiming at. we indicated one of them and, zip! his bullet had shattered it. half a dozen shots in quick succession at different objects we pointed out proved equally accurate. it was an exhibition of marksmanship such as one frequently sees on the stage in the united states, but being made by a casual bystander in a village street it was most impressive. nor was the lad, as i took pains to inquire, noted particularly for his skill in this direction--having seldom won prizes in the official contests. all ages join in this sport, the small boys erecting diminutive poles in the fields around the villages, where they imitate their elders with toy bows and arrows, while men of seventy or eighty take their turn with beardless youths in the prize competitions. while i was visiting in the borinage two years ago the uncle of my hostess shouldered his two-metre bow and started off to a "meet" despite his eighty-seven years. what is more, his hand had lost none of its strength and firmness, and his eyes none of their keenness, for twice while i was present he brought down one of the "birds," and i later learned that he had won one of the principal prizes. only the year before he had been crowned "king" at one such contest, and the first time he ever won that coveted honour was when he was sixteen--or seventy-one years before. i doubt whether there is any athletic game in the world of which the devotees can point to a longer record of success. this fine old athlete had two brothers older than himself alive at the time, the combined ages of the three aggregating two hundred and eighty years. one of them, aged ninety-four, recently expressed some anxiety as to what would become of him in the event of the death of the daughter with whom he was living. "what will i do if amèlie should die?" he asked of one of his other daughters. "why, papa, then you would come and live with me," she replied, adding with a flash of characteristic belgian humour, "and when i am dead you'll go to live with fèlicienne" (a grand-daughter still in her 'teens). as this provided safely for his future for at least another fifty years, the old gentleman was greatly relieved, feeling perhaps that if he survived fèlicienne her children would by that time be old enough to take care of him. while archery is everywhere the dominating pastime of the working class it is by no means the only form of popular amusement. the bicycle has not yet gone out of vogue in belgium, and societies exist in hundreds of cities and communes for the encouragement of bicycle racing. the day of our arrival in the village where tante rosa spread for us the banquet mentioned in the second chapter, we were so fortunate as to witness the final sprint of a twenty-five kilometre race. a score of contestants had pedalled ten times over a course consisting for the most part of roadways paved with ragged cobble-stones, the rest being dirt roads filled with mud puddles owing to a recent rain. the riders, as they rushed by, were literally covered with mud and had evidently struggled hard to gain one of the five prizes which aggregated, as we afterwards learned, the munificent sum of eighty francs, sixteen dollars, of which the winner received thirty--six dollars! another favourite form of recreation is the racing of pigeons, and societies for the promotion of this sport exist in every part of the kingdom. frequently the birds fly from one end of the country to the other and many examples of remarkable speed have been reported, the winners bringing comparatively high prices: no better idea of the variety of popular amusements can be given than to take the programme of one little commune that i had an opportunity of copying, entitled "_fêtes communales de _"--this announcement being printed in french and flemish. while many of the events were evidently organised by various societies the officials of the commune assumed responsibility for the proper conduct of the contests, and either provided the prizes or contributed a substantial sum toward them, the rest being raised by a fee exacted from each contestant which varied from one franc, thirty centimes for the smaller events to five francs for the more important ones. with one hundred contestants this would yield one hundred and thirty francs, to which the commune usually added fifty, making one hundred and eighty francs available in all. for the chief events the prizes aggregate , to , francs--quite a respectable sum for a commune of six thousand inhabitants. the difference between archery contests _au berceau_ and _à la perche_ has already been explained. the programme, much abbreviated, follows: sun., apr. .--archery contests, both au berceau and perche. sun., apr. .--archery contest, au berceau, and rifle contest (carbines). fri., may .--fête du travail (labor day) archery contest and popular ball on a public square in the evening--dancing in the street, rain or shine. sun., may .--rifle contest. thurs., may .--archery contest. sun., may. .--annual fair with archery contests of both kinds, rifle contest and grand concert in evening with two bands. sun., may .--kermesse, with archery contests of both kinds and a popular out-door ball in the evening. sun., june .--bicycle race--outdoor course around the village ten times, kilometres. sun., june .--archery contest au berceau and tir du roi (perche). sun., june .--kermesse in another quarter of the commune, with rifle contest and concert in evening, followed by popular ball. sun. to tues., july , , ,--annual kermesse in the centre of the commune, with archery contest (perche) on sunday, au berceau on monday, and tir du roi with public games and sports on tuesday. itinerant amusement enterprises of all kinds make these annual kermesses a miniature coney island while they last. sun., july .--tir du roi and grand fête gymnastique, followed by concert, fête de nuit and a ball. sun., aug. .--fête d'enfance, distribution of prizes to school children with public exhibition of school gymnastics, etc. sat. and sun., aug. and .--kermesse in a third quarter, with archery contests and concert. sun. mon. and tues., aug. to sept. .--annual kermesse, with archery contests of both kinds, concert and sports and games. sun., sept. .--archery au berceau and rifle contest. sun., oct. .--same. sun., nov. .--archery, perche. sun., dec. .--rifle contest. it must be confessed that this programme is somewhat monotonous, but in the larger towns it is considerably amplified and varied. still to one who was brought up in a small country village in new hampshire it seems very good, both as an evidence of the popular desire for healthy and rational out-door enjoyment, and of the disposition of the government to promote and foster legitimate amusements of all kinds. the kermesse is an european rather than a belgian institution and requires no description further than that it is a jolly good time for everybody. it has existed in flanders and throughout the walloon provinces from time immemorial, as ancient paintings and still more ancient historical references conclusively show. its most interesting feature to the american visitor is the night dancing out of doors on the rough cobble-stones of the town square or on the soft grass of the village green. lighted by flaring gas torches, or sometimes only by the moon and such stray beams as fall on the dancers from the open doors and windows of adjacent cafés, the spectacle of the gaily dancing couples carries the observer back to the days when the world was young, and love and laughter and happiness reigned supreme. [illustration: an ancient painting of the flemish kermesse, by teniers.] chapter vii when ypres was a greater city than london as we returned from our trip to dixmude, furnes and nieuport, the professor announced that our next destination would be ypres. if he had said that it would he chingwangtao, or the comoro archipelago, the ladies could hardly have stared at him more blankly. they had never heard of it. since october the whole world has heard of it, and the name of the all but forgotten old town is familiar to every schoolboy--and will continue so for generations to come. the record of our visit that follows was written amid the pleasant and peaceful scenes that it describes. when we were there the swans were swimming majestically in the waters of the moat that still surrounded the remnants of the old city walls, but we were told that for military purposes all this was obsolete. no doubt it was, but the brave old town was none the less able--with the help of its stubborn english defenders--to withstand the most furious, determined and bloody assaults in all history. to the german host the mediæval term _la morte d'ypres_ was revived in those awful weeks of october and november, , for the grim, low-lying ramparts of the town meant death to countless thousands. whether anything whatever is still standing of the old structures described in this chapter it is at present impossible to say. the british trenches were under a well-nigh continuous storm of shells for many weeks, and the town itself must undoubtedly have suffered severely. late in november it was reported that the old cloth hall had been destroyed by the furious german bombardment, or, at least, severely injured. the account of the various points of interest in the famous old town as they appeared in peaceful june--together with some brief sketches of its former greatness--may be all the more interesting now that its ruins lie in the lime-light of the world's attention. as compared with the half-dozen tourists that averaged to visit ypres each day before the war the return of peace will see it become the mecca for daily thousands. to these the remains of the town itself should vie in interest with the trenches of the famous battle-fields of the great war, for during a period two or three times as long as the entire duration of the nation known as the united states of america, ypres was one of the greatest and richest cities in the world. it was hard to believe it, however, as we rumbled into the railroad station and, stepping out upon the almost deserted platform, took our first look at the place. as is usually the case in flanders, the train deposits the visitor some distance from the centre of the town. the very first view was full of delight and promise of better things in store, however, for as we emerged from the station we found ourselves facing a pretty little park or square on the opposite side of which we could see a bit of the ancient city walls which stretched away toward the right most invitingly. postponing the pleasure of inspecting these renowned ramparts till a later occasion, we made our way through narrow winding streets direct to the grande place, pausing now and then to admire the quaint gabled houses on the rue au beurre (butter street). at the grande place the professor led us directly to the huge cloth hall, which completely fills one side of it, for here--he said--we would find the best introduction to the history and romance of the city. the concierge proved hard to find, and we wandered up-stairs and through a deserted corridor, trying several doors that proved all to be locked, before we located the familiar sign. our fees being duly paid--fifty centimes each, which was little enough for the privilege of inspecting the finest monument of its kind in flanders, or for that matter in all europe--one of the doors was obligingly unlocked and we found ourselves immediately in the great guild hall. [illustration: cloth hall, ypres.] the _halle aux draps_, or cloth hall, is the largest civil edifice in belgium, and without doubt one of the largest in the world. it is four hundred and thirty-three feet long by more than two hundred in width--or larger than madison square garden. its huge bulk, and that of the former cathedral hard by, contrast strangely with the present dimensions of the little city. yet when they were built ypres was the powerful rival of bruges and ghent, then at the apex of their glory, and one of the foremost cities in the world. the cloth hall was begun in and completed in , or two years after the battle of the spurs, a victory won by the guildsmen of ypres and bruges against the chivalry of france. during that period the city had two hundred thousand inhabitants, its woollen weavers operated four thousand looms, and more than four hundred guilds responded to the calls to arms that sounded, at frequent intervals, from the belfry. the greatest wonder of the edifice is the immense gallery, or hall, which occupies the side next to the grande place. this extends for the entire length of the building, broken only by the belfry in the centre which forms a sort of transept across it. in height it reaches clear to the roof, the huge roof beams forming its ceiling. there is a veritable forest of these, massive, sturdy, and as perfect as the day they were hewed from the fair oaks of the countryside roundabout. the concierge will not fail to tell you, if you pause to admire this majestic timber-work of six hundred years ago, that from that day to this no spider has ever spun its web there--nor is any spider ever seen. like the story of the snakes in ireland, it would be a big pity to spoil this by finding one and pointing it out--one must needs be a good runner to do it, and be very sure which road leads to the railway station, for it might go hard with him--but we could not see any the day we were there. in fact, the legend has been repeated by many writers since the sixteenth century and is now such a matter of local pride that no doubt the concierge who permitted one to get in and set up housekeeping in this spiderless eden--for it certainly must look like the promised land to a spider--would not only lose his or her job, but be severely punished by the indignant city fathers into the bargain. looking at the cloth hall from across the grande place it has the aspect of being a low building, but within this gallery one gains precisely an opposite impression--of unusual loftiness. just how high the vast room is can best be estimated by noting the wooden façade of an ancient house that has been taken down and erected against one wall in its entirety. with its three stories and high peaked top this structure appears to be literally lost, looking like an undersized pea in an extra big pod. the great inner walls of the main gallery, facing the windows that look out upon the grande place, have been decorated by modern frescoes of great historical and artistic interest painted by two artists of widely different methods and ideals. the portion into which one first enters, extending to the break formed by the tower, was decorated by ferdinand pauwels, director of the royal academy of dresden. both the art critics, and those who make no pretence to superior knowledge in such matters, agree that this work has been magnificently done. the vastness of the wall spaces made it possible to paint the pictures on a scale of size and with a wealth of detail surpassing the fine frescoes of the hotel de ville at bruges and the general effect upon the beholder is impressive in the extreme. the pictures represent notable events in the town's history down to the fourteenth century, and were begun in and completed in . the subjects selected by the artist are as follows: .--visit of count philip of alsace to the hospital of our lady in . .--count ferdinand of portugal orders the magistrates to fortify the town in . .--countess jeanne of constantinople setting prisoners free on good friday, . .-- .--the magistrates give the countess margaret the ransom of her son william, who was made prisoner during the th crusade. .--building the west wing of the guild hall in the time of guy of dampierre, . .-- .--return of the armed forces of ypres in after the battle of the spurs. .--the plague, known as la morte d'ypres, in . .-- .--banquet offered in this very hall to mahaut, countess of flanders, and matthew, duke of lorraine on their marriage in . .--an episode of the siege of ypres by the english and the men of ghent in . as will be noted, the pictures are not arranged in exact chronological order, but, taken together, they form a wonderful pictorial summary of the city's history--down to the fall of , which merits a separate gallery by itself. to us the most impressive of the series was the vast picture in two sections showing the triumphant return from the battle of courtrai and the tragic representation of the black death, which swept through all the densely populated flemish towns; but was more destructive at ypres than elsewhere. the visitation here represented was by no means the only one in the city's history, and for centuries _la morte d'ypres_ was a name of terror throughout the countryside. in the section of the great hall beyond the belfry the mural paintings are the work of louis delbeke, a painter of ypres. his pictures were the subject of violent criticism when they were first exhibited, and are entirely unlike those in the other portion of the chamber. the artist endeavoured to give his work an archaic appearance, in keeping with the antiquity of its surroundings, and it was his intention to symbolise the various manifestations of the public life of the city--civic freedom, commerce, industry, charities, literature and so on. the work was interrupted by his death and has never been completed. another room of great interest is the _salle echevinale_, where for five centuries the magistrates of ypres held their sessions. between and local artists painted on the wall above the three gothic arches in this room a frieze comprising portraits of the early counts and countesses of flanders, beginning with louis of nevers and ending with charles the bold. when the french occupied the town in they covered these "emblems of superstition and portraits of tyrants" with a thick coat of whitewash which was only accidentally knocked off in , exposing a bit of the ancient and still brilliantly coloured painting. the discovery created quite a sensation, as the very existence of this work had been forgotten, and a native artist was commissioned to remove the whitewash and restore the paintings, which he did in a manner that is not entirely satisfactory, but none the less gives us an opportunity to view once more this interesting work--one of the earliest pieces of mural painting in flanders. on the north wall of this room is a modern fresco by godefroid guffens, representing "the state entry of philip the bold" in , while on the other side of the room is a monumental flemish chimney-piece carved by malfait of brussels, with mural paintings on each side by jean swerts--like guffens, a painter of the modern antwerp school. these represent the magistrates of ypres issuing an order regarding the maintenance of the poor, in ; and the visit of the magistrates to one of the free schools founded in --thus illustrating the early interest taken by the commune in free education and public charities. leaving this interesting building we went across a small roughly paved square to the church of st. martin, which dates from the thirteenth century, and was for many centuries a cathedral. the unfinished square tower was erected in . the choir is romano-ogival, while the nave and aisles are early gothic, and the edifice has many other peculiar features of interest to students of architecture. it contains the usual paintings, of which none are of remarkable interest, and some excellent choir stalls. the most famous of the bishops of st. martin, while it was a cathedral church, was jansenius, one of the leading figures in the reformation, who died of the plague in . his great work on st. augustine occupied twenty-two years of his life while at ypres and caused a tremendous discussion. it was finally declared to be heretical, but its teachings had already given rise to an ardent group of followers of the learned flemish churchman, who were called jansenists. the archives of the city and church contain much interesting material regarding this celebrated mediæval theologian. his tomb, which still stands in the church of which he was once the head, formerly contained a long and highly eulogistic inscription, which, by an order from the pope in , was cut down to the bare remnant that still remains. the grande place of ypres is another of the surprises that this tiny city has to offer to those unacquainted with its history, for it is one of the largest in all flanders--a veritable sahara of a place on a hot summer day, albeit a sahara bordered with many pleasant oases where cooling drinks, if they do not bubble up from the ground, can at least be had without much difficulty. during most of the week the vast paved space is almost deserted, save for an occasional peasant's cart that rumbles slowly and clumsily across it, but on market-days it is full of picturesque and swarming life. then the peasants come in from the countryside by the thousand, while the itinerant hucksters and pedlars who, in belgium travel from one fair or market-place to another, set up their canvas-covered booths in long streets from one side of the grande place to the other. the country people press along between these rows of tiny shops and haggle energetically with the proprietors for whatever takes their fancy. an astounding variety of wares are offered for sale on these market days--dress goods of every description in the great cloth hall, which for a brief moment reflects a feeble glimmer of its ancient glory; ready-made garments for man, woman and child; footwear, headwear, and every conceivable kind of hardware, of tinware, of crockery. in short, the display is a veritable department store, for the most part cheap stuff, it is true, but now and then one runs across laces for which the prices asked are quite high. then, of course, there is the inevitable array of everything possible to eat--from the butchers' stalls in the basement of the cloth hall to the huckster selling live chickens from a bag on the corner, and the scores of stands selling fruits and vegetables of every seasonable variety. at last, however, the market comes to an end, the hucksters and market gardeners take down their booths and drive away in their heavy flemish carts; the country people, after a more or less protracted visit to the places of refreshment around the place and in the adjacent streets, go homeward, and the grande place settles down again into its sleep of centuries. while we were there the moon was at its full, and as its white light fell upon the grass-grown place and the huge grey mass of the cloth hall it was not hard to picture the old days come back again and review, in fancy, some of the stirring times that the old houses around it have looked down upon. the great bell in the cloth hall tower rings and from far and wide come hurrying throngs of sturdy artisans, with their lances, pikes and clubs. the _serments_, or oath-bound corporations, take their positions gravely and in good order--men of substance these, portly, well-fed, and prosperous. then the _métiers_, or lesser craftsmen, assemble--no doubt more noisily and boisterously, as would be expected from their rougher class and lower breeding. each of the four hundred guilds assembles around its respective banner, the count and others of the nobility come riding up; and with them, on terms of full equality, the commanders of the citizen soldiery confer. then, as the trumpets sound, or mayhap the great bell peals again, the hosts march off in serried ranks to the city gates, or to take their positions along the walls. the old streets echo to the sound of their tramping feet, the noise of their shouts and cries dies away, and once more the still moonlight falls upon the deserted old place. as we sat in one of the cafés facing the cloth hall, our minds filled with these and other fancies of the olden days--the moonlight, the old houses all around us, and the many quaint and ancient things we had seen during the day all contributing to the dreamy sense of enchantment--the professor told us something of the legend and history of that far-off thirteenth century when much of the ypres we had seen that day was built. it was an age when men firmly believed in magic and fairies and delighted in tales of mystery and enchantment. some of the most famous stories told by the old flemish chroniclers relate to the career of baldwin ix, who came to be known as baldwin of constantinople. after the long and wise reigns of dierick of alsace and his son philip, flanders had become one of the richest and most prosperous countries in europe. the french, who looked upon its fertile plains and fair cities with covetous eyes, composed these lines, which no doubt expressed their sincere conviction: "la plus belle comté est la flandre, la plus belle duché est la bourgogne, la plus belle royaume est france." baldwin was not only count of flanders, but also count of hainaut, of which mons was the capital--his dominions therefore extending from the north sea to the river meuse and including much of the ardennes. it was in this region--the true fairy-land of belgium--that the count met with an adventure, according to certain of the chroniclers, which gave his reign a most sinister beginning. it happened in this wise. the count was very fond of hunting, and very neglectful of the duty his loyal subjects felt that he owed to them--of getting married and securing children to insure the succession. for nothing was more disastrous to a country than to have its line of princes die out, leaving their title to be fought for by all who felt themselves strong enough to seize it. the count was to have married beatrice of france, the most beautiful princess in christendom, but to the neglect of this important matter he went hunting in the ardennes, where from time immemorial the wild boars have been very large and fierce. here, after a day of poor sport, the count came upon a black boar of enormous strength which killed several of his dogs and even wounded one of his companions. pursuing the savage beast eagerly the count lost sight of his followers and when he finally brought it to bay he was alone. with a blow from his javelin he finally killed it, and then cut off its monstrous head. as he paused to get his breath he heard a slight rustle in the bushes and there was the most beautiful lady he had ever seen, seated on a palfrey. upon his inquiring who she was, and why she was there in the forest alone, she replied that she was an eastern princess and had come to find and wed the richest count in christendom, adding that she had learned that the count of flanders was the noblest lord in all the west, and it was therefore that count for whom she was seeking. to this the count, who had already fallen deeply in love with the beautiful stranger, whose dark eyes flashed upon him with a glance at once mysterious and entrancing, replied that he was the count of flanders and the richest count under heaven. he then and there proposed to the damsel, offering to marry her at once, nor did he perceive that the wild boar he had lately slain had disappeared, and even the blood of the battle was gone, while as for the huge head that he had cut off with his own hands the palfrey upon which the eastern princess was seated stood on the very spot. he then blew so loud a recall upon his horn that it was heard for miles through the great forest, and presently the lesser counts and knights who formed his train came riding up. to these he introduced the strange princess and, despite the prudent counsels of some that it might be well to learn more about the lady, he forthwith repaired to cambrai where they were married in great splendour. the countess, beautiful as she was, did not become popular, the people attributing to her the heavy taxes they had to pay. it was also whispered that she never attended the elevation of the host at mass, always leaving before the bell was rung. notwithstanding her unpopularity, and the gossip of the busybodies, the count still loved his bride who bore him two children, jeanne and margaret, and ever remained as wonderfully beautiful as the day they first met in the forest. as they were celebrating easter one year at wynandael with a great feast a pilgrim arrived from the east with news that the saracens were besieging constantinople. he was forthwith invited into the great hall of the castle and food placed before him, which he ate eagerly. just then the countess entered, with a train of ladies. at sight of her the pilgrim stopped eating and trembled, while the countess turned deadly pale and whispered to her lord to send that stranger away as he was wicked and meant only evil by coming there. but the count bade the pilgrim say whereat he was alarmed, whereupon the stranger rose and in a loud voice bade the devil who filled the body of the countess to depart from it. at this the countess rose and confessed she was indeed one of the devils cast out of paradise who had inhabited the body of the most beautiful maiden of the east, the soul having departed from it. with this confession, at which all present were naturally appalled, she rose in all her beauty before them and vanished through a window of the hall, nor was she ever seen or heard of again. other chroniclers and historians deny this story, pointing out that the count was, in fact, happily married to marie of champagne and that it was the beautiful french countess and no princess of satanic origin who bore his two daughters, jeanne and margaret. this, in truth, was the case, but many of the superstitious flemings believed the tale about the devil none the less, and the count's brilliant but tragic later career caused the story to be repeated and handed down for many generations. only five years after coming to the throne count baldwin announced his intention of going on a crusade, and in the presence of a vast throng both he and marie took the cross in the church of st. donatian at bruges. this was in , but the count was not able to leave his dominions at once and in the following year he and marie came to ypres to dedicate the foundation stone of the great cloth hall. he finally set out in , but the venetians compelled the crusaders, in payment for their passage, to make a campaign which resulted in the capture of constantinople, the founding of the latin empire, and the election of count baldwin as the first emperor. marie, meanwhile, had gone to syria by another route and there she died of the plague, only learning in her last hour that her husband had become an emperor and that she was an empress. her death was the first of the reverses of fortune in baldwin's meteoric career. a year later, in , he fell wounded in a battle before the walls of adrianople--or, perhaps, slain. certain it is that he disappeared from the world of men and for a space of twenty years was heard of no more. then, in the heart of the great forest that in those days stretched from tournai to valenciennes, some wood-cutters found a long bearded, white-haired old man, his face covered with scars, living the life of a hermit in a hut none of them remembered ever having seen before. gradually this wonder attracted more and more of the people thereabout to see the stranger, and men began to say that he resembled the good count baldwin. some of the nobles who had known the count heard of it, visited the hut in the forest, and declared that this was indeed count baldwin and the emperor. if he was the count his country needed him sorely, for the king of france, philip augustus, had during his twenty years' absence all but made flanders a french province. when it became clear that baldwin was either dead or a prisoner of the pagans philip had seized his two daughters--jeanne being then a girl of fourteen, and margaret still in her cradle--claiming their wardship as the dead count's suzerain. five years he kept them, nor did he permit them to return till he had married jeanne to a kinsman of his own, ferdinand of portugal, who he thought would be a mere puppet in his hands. ferdinand, however, proved to be a man of determination and resisted philip's seizure of st. omer and aire, two flemish towns. philip invaded flanders with a great army, capturing cassel and destroying damme and all the merchandise stored there, lille, courtrai and many smaller towns. ferdinand, unable to resist the superior forces of philip single-handed, brought about an alliance with king john of england. the battle of bouvines shattered this alliance, and for twelve years ferdinand languished in a french prison, while king john was forced to grant the magna carta to his english subjects. thus a victory for tyranny in flanders resulted indirectly in a greater victory for the cause of freedom in england. jeanne, while her husband was in prison, was the titular countess of flanders, but philip kept her completely under the influence of his counsellors. margaret, meanwhile, had been married, but her husband was unable to make head against the far-reaching power of the king of france. it was under these circumstances that the hermit who men thought resembled count baldwin came on the stage. if he was an impostor his _coup_ was shrewdly planned, for jeanne was as hated by the flemings as her father had been loved. if he was really the good count and the emperor his arrival in flanders seemed to that distracted country like a direct interposition of providence. a great delegation from valenciennes went out to the forest and hailed him as their count and then he at last admitted that he was indeed baldwin of constantinople. his tale was a strange one, but more easily believed in those wild days than it would be now. he had, he asserted, been wounded before adrianople and made a prisoner by the bulgarians. while a captive a bulgarian princess saw him, fell in love, and contrived to effect his escape after he had promised to marry her. once free, however, he repented of his pledge to marry an infidel, and murdered his benefactress. this wicked deed was quickly followed by his recapture by the barbarians, who made him a slave and even a beast of burden. escaping at last, after many years, he had become a hermit in penance for his great sin. the men of valenciennes believed this story, and pardoning his self-confessed crime as of little moment, since it affected only an infidel, proclaimed him their count. the great towns of flanders flung open their gates to him wherever he went, and finally he held his court in bruges. his neighbours, the dukes of brabant and limbourg, and his former ally, the king of england, acknowledged his claims, while his daughter jeanne fled to france for protection. the chief reason for believing that baldwin was an impostor is the fact that at this crisis of his career he failed signally to show any of the decision and judgment that twenty years before had made the true baldwin emperor. to be sure, twenty years of slavery, and the haunting memory of the beautiful marie of champagne who had followed him to her death, and of the bulgarian princess whom he had so basely slain, may have enfeebled his intellect. he was now an old man. at all events, after a period of indecision he did the very thing he never should have done--he appealed to philip for aid against his daughter. summoned to péronne, where the king of france was then holding court, he was subjected to a trial by the royal council, which clearly showed its determination to convict him as an impostor. perceiving that he had blundered into a trap, the old man fled from the castle and escaped to flanders. here, however, the appeal to philip and its result, together with much french gold judiciously expended in behalf of jeanne, caused the nobility to turn cold. he determined to lay his cause before the pope, but while on his way to rome was captured and sold to jeanne who ordered him to be hanged in chains in the market-place at lille between two hounds. if he was the true baldwin, after all, few careers in history offer wider contrasts of glory and shame. [illustration: hotel merghelynck, ypres.] whether one stays at ypres a day or a week he will not lack for objects of interest, for the cloth hall and the cathedral are but the beginning of the list. a day is hardly too much to devote to the rue de lille alone, for here are the hospice belle, with a number of valuable old paintings, and the hotel-musée merghelynck. the latter is an institution as unique as it is admirable. built in by françois merghelynck, a treasurer and grand bailiff of ypres, this fine mansion is filled with furniture and objets d'art of the eighteenth century coming from flanders, holland and france and collected with rare taste and judgment. in its entirety it represents the residence of a nobleman of the period, complete down to the smallest detail, with every article in its proper place, as if the owner had just stepped out and might be expected back at any moment. the seven principal rooms are panelled with carved wood. the dining-room is decorated with bas-reliefs representing all of the principal implements of husbandry. these were carved by antony deledicque of lille and have been compared with the work in some of the smaller rooms in the palace of versailles. the music-room is similarly embellished with representations of musical instruments, and all have fine panel friezes and gilded carvings. in each room the proprietor of the mansion, arthur merghelynck, the great-grandson of the original owner, has collected a complete equipment of eighteenth-century furniture. the dining-room has rare porcelain from tournai, with the precious gilt marks of the choicest make, the music-room has an old-time harpsichord, the kitchen possesses an array of old-time pewter, copper and brassware. in the chambers the same plan has been faithfully carried out, even to placing the owner's uniforms and gala raiment in the wardrobes. permission to visit these delightful rooms is freely granted to all visitors to ypres without charge, other than an optional fee to the attendant. we were told that natives of the city are not admitted, but forgot to ask the caretaker if this was true. a little farther down this same rue de lille is an old edifice that for many years has been called the house of the templars. it has been restored and is now used as the post office--it was for a long time a brewery--but it is not now believed that this was ever the house of the famous mediæval order. the templars, however, did erect at ypres their first house in europe, and it may well be that this structure was copied from it. beyond this interesting edifice we encountered a grim-looking old church, that of st. peter, within the doorway of which is a most curious mediæval calvary. this church is one of the oldest in flanders, having been built in by robert the frisian, one of the early counts. on this street also stands the hospice st. jean which was founded in . it contains one fine timbered ceiling room, with panelled walls, called the nuns' workroom, and some paintings by kerel van yper, an obscure local artist of the sixteenth century. [illustration: church of st. peter, ypres.] in this section we were so fortunate as to see the lace workers, of whom there are still several hundred, making _point de valenciennes_ outside the doors of their tiny houses. mrs. professor never tired of watching these women,--who are for the most part middle-aged, while some of them are very old--as their nimble fingers dexterously shifted the innumerable little bobbins to and fro, while the delicate fabric slowly took the design upon which they were working. it is said that more valenciennes lace is made here at ypres, and at courtrai and among the little flemish towns between these two cities, than in the french city from which this fine point derives its name. it is along the rue de lille that the visitor will (let us hope!) find the wooden house that is the last, or nearly the last, survival of a type of architecture that was once very common in ypres. it is inferior to the one in the cloth hall, which also came from this street, but is still in use--although it seemed to be closed when we passed it. a few steps further on we came to the porte de lille with its three semi-circular towers, erected in . the porte is connected with the open country beyond by a bridge across the wide moat, in which a stately white swan was swimming. the ancient walls, built by the famous military engineer vauban, extend here for a long distance in both directions and are in a fairly good state of preservation. at the porte de thourout, where the fortifications end on the northeastern side of the town, there is an open-air swimming pool which, according to the local guidebook is free during certain hours for men saturday and sunday, for women wednesday, for soldiers thursday and friday, and for ladies tuesday. the distinction between the women who can come on wednesday and the ladies who are admitted tuesday is not stated. from the porte de lille we walked along the top of the ramparts toward the railway station--a promenade full of interest and charm. the broad moat in which a dozen snow white swans were swimming, the huge trees arching overhead, the quaint little houses to our right, with now and then a narrow street bending back into the town as if inviting us to follow and explore it--everything seemed to combine to make this one of our pleasantest experiences in flanders, and we regretted that we did not have weeks instead of days in which to study this rare old town and visit some of the charming old flemish villages by which it is surrounded. the causes for the decline of the city from the proud position it occupied in the middle ages to its comparative insignificance to-day can be sketched in a very few words. like the rest of flanders, it had flourished exceedingly in consequence of the hundred years' war between france and england. as commerce and industry in these two great neighbouring countries declined, that of the low countries--which were then enjoying a prolonged period of comparative peace--augmented with abnormal rapidity. it was inevitable that when peace across the frontier was restored much of the trade that france had temporarily lost should return to it. a series of great sieges cut off the wool traffic with england that formed the foundation of the city's industry and prosperity. the first of these was in when the guildsmen of ypres successfully beat off a powerful army from ghent, aided by a large contingent from england. the plague, that terror of every overcrowded industrial town in those days, swept off thousands of people in and in , and a third of the inhabitants in . these disasters still further crippled the cloth industry. in and an eight months' siege and the plague together reduced the population so fearfully that when the town at last surrendered to the prince of parma barely five thousand remained. after the religious wars were over it recovered some of its ancient prosperity, but between and it was besieged no less than four times, being a border town and one of the first to be attacked as the fortunes of war swayed, first one way and then the other. roused by the ravages of the plague the magistrates cleaned the city, passed stringent sanitary regulations, paved the streets and built a costly system of sewers--ypres being one of the first cities in europe to have these modern improvements. wise as these steps were, they came too late to arrest the decline of the town's industries and commerce. one by one the artisans gave up the battle against the forces that were sapping the foundations of their prosperity and moved away--some to ghent and bruges, both of which were already beginning to decline; others to far-off england, where they remained to lay the foundations of the vast textile industry that has since grown up across the channel, but which traces its origin back to the artisans of ypres in the days when the fame of that until lately all but forgotten town was known from one end of the world to the other. chapter viii courtrai and the battle of the spurs our next expedition, after the delightful visit at ypres, was to courtrai, which is only twenty-two miles distant, although the two plodding little _omnibus_ trains that we took, one after the other, were more than an hour getting us there. it was an hour most pleasantly spent, however, for we were constantly on the lookout for the fields of flax that we had read covered the valley of the river lys as far as eye could see. if this was ever so it certainly was not the case in the summer of , for there were more and larger fields of barley and other small grains than of flax. still, we saw a great many plantings of the latter, and as the plant was in full bloom the sight was a very pretty one--the delicate green of each field being faintly tinged with the blue of the tiny flowers. it did not seem to be very tall, but it was still early june and a very backward summer. we also passed many fields in which the flax of the previous season was stacked to bleach, evidently the crop from several fields being concentrated into one for this purpose. the water of the river lys, from which some authorities say the french fleur de lys derives its name, is said to be superior to that of all other rivers for the retting of flax, and at all events the raising and preparation of this important staple has been the leading industry in this region for centuries, although ghent is more important as a flax manufacturing centre. presently our destination, of which the flemish name is kortrijk, came in sight, and we started--with the professor leading the way, as usual--for the grande place. here we found a market going on, with numerous booths and stalls arranged in crooked little streets, and crowds of thick-set peasant women with big baskets examining the wares displayed gingerly as if afraid that too great a display of interest would cause the merchants to enhance their prices. amid this bustle and confusion we worked our way slowly to the centre of the place where stood the small ivy-covered belfry, which dates from early in the fourteenth century, and is one of the prettiest in flanders. when the city was sacked in , after one of its many sieges, the belfry was one of the few edifices to escape injury. repaired or restored in , in , and again in , this little monument of the middle ages has come down to us in an admirable state of preservation. originally connected with a small public market, _les petites halles_, it gradually came to be surrounded with private houses until only its spire was visible, but in these were torn down and the belfry left isolated as it is now. the clock originally placed on this tower is said by the historian froissart to have been "_l'un des plus biaux que on seuist trouver decha ne dela la mer_"--one of the most beautiful here or abroad--but was removed by philip the bold, the first of the burgundian dukes to rule over flanders, to dijon, the capital of burgundy. this was in , but in the people of courtrai had replaced it by another equally ingenious. we tried to enter the old tower, but found one entrance guarded by the alarming sign, "_haute tension--danger de la mort_," indicating that the electric light company used the lower part of the edifice as a transforming station. there was another small doorway, but it did not appear to have been opened for a long time, and we could find no one who knew who had the key. when we first announced our intention to spend a summer in flanders many friends protested, "but you do not speak flemish--how do you expect to get along?" right here it may be stated that this bugbear proved without foundation. even in ypres, where our belgian acquaintances said we surely would have trouble, we found only two or three of those with whom we had occasion to converse who did not understand french at least well enough to give us the information we required. on a few occasions, when touring the poorer quarters of some old flemish town, we were non-plussed for a moment, but the children helped us out in these emergencies by running off eagerly to find some one who spoke french. everywhere we found the people accommodating and courteous, never surly as one author says those he met in these very same towns were when he visited them half a dozen years ago. to be sure, our visits seldom took us into the very little towns, where, no doubt, flemish is often spoken exclusively--as our experience in nieuport showed. the most curious fact about the little kingdom of belgium is that it is sharply bi-lingual, the line of demarcation between the french and the flemish speaking provinces running across the country from southwest to northeast a little to the south of brussels; that city, however, being far more french than flemish. most of the towns have two names, which usually mean the same but are often so different in form that it is a wonder the people themselves do not get mixed up now and then. for example, the french name for the capital of the province of hainaut is mons, meaning mountain, while the flemish name is bergen, which means the same thing but looks very different. the important railroad junction of braine-le-comte between mons and brussels bears the queer flemish name of 's graven-brakel. even the postage stamps and the paper money are printed in the two languages, while the silver money is apparently minted in equal quantities of each. all public employés are required by law to know both languages, so that the public has no trouble either at the railway stations or post-offices. according to official statistics published while we were there, . per cent. of the population of the country speak only french; . per cent. speak only flemish; while . per cent. speak more than one language and a few speak german only. of the bi-linguals over per cent. declared that they ordinarily spoke flemish. facing the grande place, and only a few steps from the belfry, is the hotel de ville, an unprepossessing structure externally, although the historians say that it was once much better looking. it has, at all events, been restored, and the statues of the counts of flanders that were destroyed during the revolution replaced by modern ones carved by a local sculptor. after finding the concierge we were shown a small collection of modern paintings by belgian artists bequeathed to the city by one of its wealthy sons. this, however, was merely _en route_, as it were, to the great show-place of this--as of all other flemish hotels de ville--the salle du conseil. here the _pièce de résistance_ is the great chimney-piece, carved in by unknown sculptors, who probably were natives of the city as there were several of good renown residing and working there at that period. the elaborate carvings with which this masterpiece is decorated comprise three tiers. at the top the figures represent the virtues: faith, humility, charity, chastity, generosity, temperance, patience and vigilance. in the middle section a series of pictures carved in stone typify the vices: idolatry, pride, avarice, sensuality, jealousy, gluttony, anger and idleness. the lowest tier contains reliefs that are supposed to show the punishment for these vices, although the idea is not always quite easy to follow. in niches projecting from the middle section are fine statues, carved from wood, of charles v in the centre, with justice and peace on the opposite sides. at the right and left sides of the chimney-piece are two more tiers of carvings, but of inferior interest to those on the front. the beamed ceiling of this fine room is worthy of at least a glance, for on the corbels supporting it are some of the most curious carvings to be seen in flanders, representing the conquests of woman over man--beginning with adam and eve and samson and delilah, and including several examples from pagan mythology. we were next conducted down-stairs to the salle echevinale, where there is another fine chimney-piece which, however, was much less interesting than the one we had just seen. this room is further embellished with several frescoes by guffens and swerts, examples of whose work we had already seen at ypres. the former artist painted the large composition entitled the "departure of baldwin ix for constantinople," and the latter the more interesting picture of the consultation of the flemish leaders in this very room the day before the battle of courtrai. smaller frescoes depict other notable scenes in the old town's history, while small carvings near the ceiling represent the chief virtues of an upright judge. on a hot july day, in the year , there took place, just outside the ancient walls of the city, the most famous event in the history of courtrai. this was the great "battle of the spurs." in order to understand the significance of this conflict--which justly ranks as one of the decisive battles of the world--it is necessary to go back three-quarters of a century to the baldwin of constantinople, or the impostor who assumed his name and came to an ignominious end on the gibbet at lille. this was in the year . the following year philip augustus forced or persuaded margaret, baldwin's younger daughter, to leave the loyal fleming to whom she had been married almost since childhood and wed one of his retainers, william of dampierre. then, during a period of more than fifty years, the kings of france were able to exert a steadily increasing influence in flanders and reduce the country more and more completely to a french province. finally, in , the exactions of the french monarch--who, at that time, was philip the fair--became so humiliating that margaret's son, guy of dampierre, then the reigning count, rebelled. a brief war followed, ending in guy's utter defeat and imprisonment, and in all flanders was formally annexed to the french crown. instead of submitting tamely to this act of aggression, the flemish burghers were roused to fight more furiously for their fatherland than they had ever done for their count. at bruges a true leader of the people appeared in the person of peter de coninck, the dean of the then all-powerful guild of the weavers, and one of the most picturesque figures in mediæval history. small and ill-favoured in face and figure, with only one eye, and speaking no language but flemish, he was able to arouse the citizens to the wildest pitch of fury against their aggressors. another popular hero of the hour was john breidel, dean of the butchers' guild, and reputed to be one of the richest men in bruges; while a third was william of juliers, provost of maestricht--a churchman turned soldier for the cause of liberty. these three raised the standard of the lion of flanders to which rallied the clauwaerts, as the nationalist partisans were called; while the friends of france were named--after the lily of france--the liliaerts. the latter naturally included the magistrates and office-holders of the leading towns, and in , when philip made a triumphal progress through the chief cities of his new dominions, he was everywhere received with much outward pomp. [illustration: statue of peter de coninck and john breidel, bruges.] at bruges the official reception was the most gorgeous of all, the rich gowns of the wives and daughters of the burghers causing queen isabella to exclaim, "i thought i was alone queen, but here i see six hundred!" the mass of the people, however, were cold and sullen, and when the king proclaimed some public games no one would take part in them. hardly had the royal party left the city before an insurrection broke out. de coninck was arrested, but his followers burst into the prison, and, for a time, the leaders of the liliaerts were behind the bars. a french force soon entered the city and set them free, and de coninck fled to damme, where the lion of flanders waved unmolested over a rapidly increasing host of clauwaerts. on the th of may, , a still stronger army of french entered the city, and it was rumoured that a general massacre of the clauwaerts was planned for the morrow. without waiting for the blow to be struck, the men from damme and the surrounding towns, under the leadership of de coninck and john breidel, poured into the city before daybreak and roaring "_schilt end vriendt_"--a battle-cry and password that no frenchman could pronounce--they overwhelmed the partisans of the lily. so sudden and unexpected was the attack, in the darkness and among narrow streets with which they were not acquainted, that the two thousand french knights who had entered the city so gaily on the previous day could offer no resistance and were slaughtered almost to a man. barely forty escaped to tell king philip of the massacre, while no record was made of the number of liliaerts among the flemings themselves who were in the heaps of dead that for three days thereafter were being buried in the fields outside of the city. this was the famous matin de bruges, hardly a glorious day's work considered as a feat of arms, but bold enough when regarded as a defiance by the artisans of a single industrial town of the most powerful monarch of the age. philip, as was to be expected, was furious, and at once gathered an army the like of which had never before been seen in france; while all flanders, with the exception of ghent which the french still held, rallied to the support of de coninck and his comrades. scores of flemish nobles were at that time languishing in french prisons, but those who were free to come enlisted under the lion of flanders. the army of defence consisted for the most part, however, of workingmen--members of the great guilds of bruges, ypres, audenaerde and the other flemish towns, with seven hundred even from ghent. each guild marched under its gorgeous banner, the men armed with long pikes, iron lances, short swords, and a sort of club which they derisively called "_goedendag_," or "good morning." on the eve of the battle a conference was held by the leaders of the army of defence, this being the scene depicted in the fine fresco in the hotel de ville. about nine or ten in the morning of the following day the french army, some forty thousand strong, was seen approaching, led by the youthful count of artois. after a reconnoitre two experienced officers advised the young prince not to attack the flemings at once, but to worry them with his archers and separate them from the town where their baggage and provisions were. "these people have to eat three, or four times a day--when they start to retreat, fall on them, you will quickly win," they counselled him. this sage advice did not appeal to the impetuous young count, or to his valiant knights, who were burning with eagerness to avenge the matin de bruges. they confidently expected that at the very sight of their host, for the most part mounted knights, the cowardly townsmen would turn and run. nor did they pay much heed to the shrewdness and skill with which the flemish leaders had chosen their position. in the marshy ground in front of the flemish army were many streams and canals, the water concealed by brushwood, while the river lys and the fortifications of the town protected them against an attack on either flank or in the rear. as the french knights rode forward the first ranks plunged into the hidden canals and streams with which the marsh--since known as the bloed meersch, or bloody marsh--was intersected. then, as five centuries later at waterloo, each succeeding rank pushed in the one before it, the canals became choked with drowning men and struggling horses, and it was not until these obstacles were literally filled with dead bodies that any part of the great french host could approach the flemish lines. then the flemish guildsmen were for a moment hard pressed, but they quickly rallied and the proud french nobles were beaten down beneath their cruel pikes and clubs by hundreds. the count of artois himself led the reserves into the mêlée when the day was all but lost and fought his way clear to the great standard of the lion of flanders, at the foot of which he fell. their leader killed, the french sought to flee, but the rout and slaughter lasted through the long summer twilight and far into the night. according to an ancient chronicle, twenty thousand frenchmen went down to death that day, including seven thousand knights, eleven hundred nobles, seven hundred lords, and sixty-three counts, dukes or princes. as to these statistics they differ in every history, but certain it is that the flower of french chivalry perished in unheard of numbers before the onslaught of the flemish townsmen, and it is said that in all france there was no great house that did not mourn a father, a brother or a son. to the men of flanders, on the other hand, the victory was complete beyond their wildest dreams. they piously gave thanks to notre dame de groeninghe, the abbey overlooking the bloody marsh, and hung up seven hundred golden spurs taken from the battlefield in the church of notre dame. for a time philip the fair sought to prolong the conflict, but his losses had been too terrible in this battle for him to risk another one against the now thoroughly aroused guildsmen, and a few years later a treaty was signed that completely rescinded the act of annexation and recognised the independence of flanders once more. in the little museum of paintings we found a most interesting picture of the famous battle by the great belgian artist, nicaise de keyser. it is said that the historian voisin suggested this subject to the painter, then a young man of twenty-three, and he devoted eight months to its execution. exhibited at the salon at brussels in , it made a sensation through its merit, the historical importance of the subject and the youth of the artist, and was purchased by the city of courtrai by means of a popular subscription. it represents the decisive moment of the battle when the count of artois, unhorsed and disarmed, is about to be killed by the leader of the butchers' guild, john breidel. the museum contains a number of other interesting works by belgian painters, chiefly modern, including one by constantin meunier, and a number by natives of courtrai. this last feature is characteristic of all these little museums and is a most happy idea. in france the museums of fine arts in the provincial towns often form in themselves admirable memorials of the famous artists who were born or worked there, the names of the most important being carved about the frieze or brought to mind in some equally prominent way. in years to come it is to be hoped that these little flemish towns can follow this example and erect suitable structures to house their art treasures--of which such a collection as this one at courtrai forms a fine nucleus--and in so doing strive to commemorate all of those to whom the town is indebted for its artistic fame. in the case of courtrai the roster would be a long one, for local authorities have recorded the names of more than two hundred painters, sculptors, architects, engravers, metal-workers, miniaturists and master-makers of tapestries. unlike many flemish towns, courtrai is less renowned for its churches than for its civic monuments. the great church of st. martin, whose picturesque gothic tower rises high above the grande place, although the edifice itself is some hundred yards distant from the place itself, dates from , when an older church on the same site was burned by the victorious troops of charles vi when they sacked the city after the battle of rosbecque. it was completed in and contains a number of interesting paintings and carvings, several of them by local artists and sculptors. the more important church of notre dame, with its square unfinished tower, dates from and was founded by baldwin of constantinople. at that time the counts of flanders had a castle at courtrai and it was at the side of this that count baldwin and his fair wife marie located their great church, of which the foundation stone was laid before the count departed on the crusade from which he was destined never to return. in the chapel of the counts, which was built in the fourteenth century, are mural paintings of the counts and countesses of flanders, the earlier ones dating from the century during which the chapel itself was constructed. the artistic masterpiece of this church is the "raising of the cross," by van dyck. this fine picture was painted for this very church and was delivered by the artist in , the church still possessing his receipt for the one hundred livres de gros (about two hundred and twenty dollars) paid for it. in the picture was carried to paris and placed in the louvre, and on its restoration to the netherlands was several years in the museum at brussels, being returned to its proper place in notre dame in . during the night of december th- th, , it was mysteriously stolen, its disappearance causing a great commotion, but january rd it was discovered in a field at pitthem, where it had lain exposed to the rain and sunshine since its removal from the church. apparently the robbers had become frightened and abandoned it, or possibly were prevented from returning to get it by the hue and cry that had been raised. at any rate, it did not seem to be much the worse for its little outing, and was duly hung up again where any tourist who has a franc to spare can see it. it was in notre dame that the victors after the battle of courtrai hung up seven hundred golden spurs, more or less, picked up from the battle-field. these were hung in a little side chapel at present decorated by two black lions, but the original spurs were taken away when the french sacked the city after the disastrous battle of rosbecque. a little beyond this interesting old church the rue guido gezelle--named after the poet who for many years was a _vicaire_ at notre dame and whose bust stands in a little _bosquet_, or wooded parklet, hard by--conducts us to the famous old broel towers which guard an ancient bridge across the lys. these fine specimens of mediæval military architecture are in an admirable state of preservation. the spuytorre, or southern tower, was first built by philip of alsace in the twelfth century, was pillaged, and perhaps wholly destroyed, by charles vi and restored or rebuilt by philip the bold, duke of burgundy, in . there was not much to see in this tower, save some dungeons below. the inghelbrugtorre, or south tower, was built at the same time as the bridge, in - . there was formerly an archeological museum in this tower, but we were told that it had been removed to the grandes halles, near the railroad station, which have recently been restored. we subsequently visited the collections there, which were very interesting but too miscellaneous to be described. returning from the towers by the rue de groeninghe we paid a brief visit to the fine monument of the battle of groeninghe, which is the flemish name for the battle of the spurs. at the summit a bronze pucelle of flanders brandishes a _goedendag_, one of the celebrated war-clubs that did such deadly work on that famous day. this monument, by godefroid devreese, a native of courtrai, was erected by popular subscription in . it is in these smaller flemish towns that the visitor who takes the time to journey a little away from the closely built houses and rough paved streets of the city will find himself after a few minutes of brisk walking out in the green fields and winding lanes of the open country. the trip is well worth the small exertion, for nowhere in the world can one see such marvellous wild flowers--_fleurs des champs_--as in belgium. every wheat field is sprinkled with the most wonderful poppies, of a rich deep red that even the choicest artificial flowers in america cannot equal; with blue corn-flowers growing tall and big and of an indescribably deep blue that at times shades into purple; and along the edges is a thin fringe of small purple flowers, shaped like morning glories but much smaller, the english name of which i do not know. in the grass of the pasture lands are innumerable tiny white marguerites, with here and there a tuft of daisies. along the country lanes one can pick a score of other varieties of wild flowers which here bloom all summer long, not to mention the exquisite purple heather that makes every hillside glow with colour in august and throughout the fall. to us, however, the wheat fields with the poppies and corn-flowers were by far the most charming as we wandered up and down west flanders in the month of june. often one or the other grew so profusely as to give the whole field a rich mass of colour, at times all red, in other places a solid blue. as we strolled along through these flower gardens of the fields we enjoyed still another treat, for everywhere in belgium the skylarks abound in myriads. to one who has never heard them there are few enjoyments more exquisite than to watch and listen as these tiny minstrels of the sky go through their little performance. suddenly, almost before the eye can locate it, one shoots upward from the waving wheat in front of us, his rich trills fairly making the air vibrate with melody. higher and yet higher he goes, his little wings struggling wildly, as if the effort of flying and singing at the same time was too much for him. never, for an instant, however, does the music stop, and as his tiny form rises farther and farther into the air he gradually begins to drive forward in a wide curve--but still rising and still fluttering madly--until he becomes a mere speck against the sky. then, all at once, the fluttering wings spread outward and are still, and he begins to volplane slowly downward in a long slow sweep, while his notes become if possible more shrill and vibrating than ever. then, like a flash, as he nears the ground, he darts sharply out of sight and the song is over. all day long the pleasant, flower-bedecked fields ring with this music--at times a dozen are singing in the air at once. when the sun is high the birds often rise until completely out of sight, only their falling music telling the listener that they are still there. toward evening the flights are shorter, but as the calm of approaching night settles over the broad and peaceful fields it seems as if the songs are sweeter than at any other time. two of the greatest english poets have given us wonderful word pictures of this marvellous little bird, which surely sings as sweetly in belgium as in england. shelley in his famous ode, describes the song itself; his metre imitating the breathless rush of the aerial notes: "hail to thee, blithe spirit! bird thou never wert, that from heaven, or near it, pourest thy full heart in profuse strains of unpremeditated art. "higher still and higher from the earth thou springest, like a cloud of fire; the deep blue thou wingest, and singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest." in wordsworth's noble lines the thought is less upon the song, but dwells upon the mother bird and her hidden nest: "ethereal minstrel! pilgrim of the sky! dost thou despise the earth where cares abound? or, while the wings aspire, are heart and eye both with thy nest upon the dewy ground? thy nest, which thou canst drop into at will, those quivering wings composed, that music still!" chapter ix ghent in the days of the flemish counts during the middle ages ghent was, for nearly five centuries, one of the greatest cities in the occidental world. "if you have ever been in flanders," wrote jean froissart, near the close of the fourteenth century, "you are aware that ghent is the sovereign city of flanders in power, in wisdom, in government, in the number of its houses, in position and in all else that goes to make a great and noble city, and that three great rivers serve to bring to it ships from every part of the world." after further eulogising the three rivers referred to, which were the scheldt, the lys and the lieve, the chronicler of valenciennes added that the city could put eighty thousand men in the field, and that it would require a host of two hundred thousand warriors to capture it. these statements, though no doubt exaggerations, do not seem to the tourist so impossible of belief as corresponding figures regarding the former greatness of the other cities in flanders, for ghent is still "a great and noble city," while some of its once puissant rivals are now little more than country villages. in fact, to the visitor who approaches the centre of the town from either of its two principal railway stations--it has five in all--the city seems to be essentially a modern one, with fine streets similar in every way to those to be found in antwerp or brussels, and it is therefore with a shock of surprise that he suddenly finds himself riding past one hoary old structure after another whose frowning grey walls and massive architecture bespeak an antiquity strangely at variance with their surroundings. to the professor, and to all students of the thrilling history of this famous old flemish town, the most interesting of these reminders of the ghent of five hundred or one thousand years ago is the imposing château des comtes, or castle of the counts, the ruins of which stand in the very heart of the town with the busy life and bustle of the ghent of to-day surging about them. hither, as soon as our belongings were safely deposited in the hotel, we came--almost as a matter of course. in part this magnificent relic of the feudal ages dates from the ninth century, when it was called the new castle, _novum castellum_, to distinguish it from a still older castle situated hard by that was destroyed about the year . two of the three stories composing this original structure are still intact and can be seen by the visitor when he inspects the cellar of the keep. here the columns and arches are of later construction, but the walls--which are over five and a half feet thick--are the work of builders who put these stones in place more than a thousand years ago. it was in , according to the latin inscription that can still be read just inside of the main entrance from the place ste. pharaïlde, that philip of alsace--son of the dierick of alsace who brought the holy blood to the chapel of st. basil at bruges--erected the present structure. its purpose was "to check the unbounded arrogance of the inhabitants of ghent, who had become too proud of their riches and of their fortified houses, which looked like towers." the count had been in palestine two years before and had greatly admired some of the strong castles erected there by the crusaders and instructed his builders to imitate these models, which he no doubt described to them. [illustration: photograph by e. sacré. castle of the counts, ghent.] after inspecting the remains of the earlier castle we mounted the staircase at the left of the entrance tower. this leads to the top of the outer castle wall and can be followed entirely around the great ellipse formed by the complete structure. from every side fine views can be had of the surrounding city and the moat and river lieve which guard the castle on the opposite side from the place. coming to the square tower behind the entrance gateway we were shown a room on the first story formerly used as a prison and torture chamber. from the top of this tower the banner of the count was hoisted when the men of ghent were called upon to follow their over-lord to war. the gateway below, at the corner of the place ste. pharaïlde and the rue de la monnaie, has a tragic interest from the fact that here were placed the two railings, called _les bailles_, between which those sentenced to death by the council of flanders were executed. executions also often took place in the outer courtyard between the exterior wall and the keep, or inner structure. in this yard, in , the procession of the order of the golden fleece formed for its march to the church of st. bavon, and one can imagine how gay with banners and fair ladies the old castle must have been on that occasion. the inner castle, usually styled the palace, was the actual residence of the counts of flanders whenever they chanced to be stopping in the city. thanks to the skilful restoration of the government, the various parts of this edifice can be seen in approximately their original condition, save for the rich tapestries and the scant but solid furniture with which the rooms were formerly made habitable. the chambers of the count and countess are particularly fine specimens of the living quarters of the mediæval nobility, quite apart from their many historic associations. below the former is the entrance to the underground prison built by philip of alsace. it is eighteen feet deep, and extends ten and one-half feet below the level of the courtyard, while one of the walls is seven and the others six feet thick. a little air filters in from a zig-zag opening in one wall, but no light. the prisoners were let down into this horrible cavern by means of a ladder, or a basket attached to a rope, after which even the opening by which they entered was closed and they were left alone in the dark. for more than six centuries this cell was in constant use, and one cannot but wonder whether milady the countess in her sweet chamber overhead ever had her dreams troubled by visions of the despairing victims in their beds of slime who were here awaiting the count's decision as to their final fate. it seems that this prison, fearful though it must have been to those incarcerated there, was not one of those _oubliettes_ of which the bastille and many another mediæval castle had so many. so far as known, it was only used for prisoners awaiting trial, or as a species of solitary confinement for serious crimes. in a school-teacher accused of teaching heretical doctrines to his pupils was confined here thirteen months, but there is no record of any one being flung down into this pit to be "forgotten." still, it must be said that such proceedings would not be likely to become a matter of record, and very little is known about what went on behind these grim walls when the counts of flanders and dukes of burgundy held absolute and undisputed sway. any one who asked inconvenient questions would very probably have come here himself! the great hall, which is about one hundred and twenty-five feet long by from fifty to sixty feet in width, is a chapter in the history of flanders by itself. here the counts, and their successors, the dukes of burgundy, held many of their great banquets and state functions of various kinds. louis of maele in and philip the good in gave state banquets in this hall of which long accounts have been preserved in the contemporary chronicles. the latter, which was held on the occasion of the seventh meeting of the knights of the golden fleece already mentioned, must have been quite a tremendous affair. at one end of this hall the council of the vieux-bourg used to pronounce sentence upon prisoners, and half a dozen famous treaties and many of minor importance were proclaimed in this room. no doubt, also, the great hall was used as the chief living-room of the castle on less formal occasions, when the count and countess perhaps dined on a raised dais at one end, while the throng of courtiers and retainers feasted noisily farther down the hall. on such occasions one can imagine how the great stone fireplace, a dozen feet wide and seven or eight feet high, must have roared, while the torches and candles used to supplement the feeble light from the narrow windows flared and sent their smoke up to the grimy rafters overhead. the great room, now so empty and silent, was then gay with the variegated costumes of the olden time, while its walls echoed to the songs and laughter of the boisterous throng. there are half a score of other rooms to be seen: the kitchen with its fireplace big enough to roast an ox whole; the residence of the castellane or keeper of the castle; the small audience chamber near the bedrooms of their highnesses--which was used on ordinary occasions instead of the great hall--and several others. of them all the most interesting is the ancient stable, which is entered from the castle yard. it seems hard to believe that this vast vaulted room, with its splendid columns and romanesque arches was ever designed or used as a stable, but such the historians all aver was the case. in appearance it resembles an early church or chapel. in a glass case at one side is a gruesome collection of skeletons that were uncovered here in , presumably those of prisoners who were secretly executed no one knows how many years ago. after the fourteenth century the castle ceased to be occupied by the sovereigns as a residence, and the stable, no longer needed for horses, became a torture chamber and continued to be used for this purpose until the close of the eighteenth century. it is here that the beautiful and unfortunate jacqueline, countess of hainaut and holland, is said to have been confined by philip the good when that amiable monarch was trying to persuade her to part with her patrimony. she resisted bravely and was finally released, but her powerful and wily antagonist subjugated her at last. the professor read, or was told, that there is another prison cell below the waters of the moat, and also a passage, miles in length, leading out to the open country and intended for escape in case a foe besieging the castle seemed likely to take it, but these we were not able to discover nor did the official guide to the castle appear to know anything about them. speaking of sieges, the castle has witnessed more than one. the _novum castellum_, which preceded the present edifice, was besieged in by dierick of alsace. in , a few months before the battle of the spurs, the citizens of ghent rose en masse against the sheriffs of king philip of france, who took refuge here. the infuriated crowd, armed with pikes, axes and swords, beat upon the gates and finally set fire to the castle. at this the besieged gave up, and all within were forced to run a fearful gauntlet. without the castle gates the people formed a dense mass, bristling with pikes and spears, through which a narrow lane was kept open. as the late defenders of the castle emerged they had to pass down this avenue of steel, and whoever had committed any crime against the burghers never reached the farther end alive, whether he was one of the lord high sheriffs or a page. in the count himself, louis of maele, was here besieged by jacques van artevelde, and forced to make terms with the great tribune. the later history of the structure itself is interesting and curious. already in hovels had been built against the castle walls on the land side. in a mint was installed within the castle, where it remained until suppressed in the sixteenth century, and from the same year the court of the count held sessions here. it was used less and less as a residence after this, but from to was the seat of the council of flanders, which succeeded the court of the counts. in the buildings used by the court were sold and in and those of the assembly of the vieux bourg also passed into private hands. the castellany of the vieux bourg was for many years a public inn, and in a factory was established in the keep, the great hall being used as a machine-room. the castellany then became a cotton spinning mill, was partly burned in , but rebuilt and continued in use as a mill until . meanwhile other small buildings were erected around the old walls until they were entirely concealed, and a guidebook of this period states that of the old castle "nothing now remains but the entrance." in some archeologists stirred the municipal and national governments to action with a view to saving and restoring this splendid monument of the middle ages, the gateway having already been acquired by the nation in . the work of demolishing the buildings that had clustered about the old walls and of restoration lasted from till , when at last the structure was brought into the condition that the visitor beholds to-day. in its present form it is unquestionably one of the most interesting and important examples of feudal architecture in europe. within its sombre walls the student has, in records of stone, an epitome of the history of ten centuries. the professor informed us that, in the course of his researches, he had run across a reference to some legend or popular tradition concerning a siege of ghent in the year , or thereabouts, by the kings of england, scotland and ireland. the city, according to this tale, was bravely defended by dierick, lord of dixmude, and all the attacks of the besiegers were repelled for many months. their majesties from across the channel were naturally much incensed at this unexpected resistance, and warned the burghers and their valiant chief that if they did not surrender within twenty-four hours, they would raze the city to the ground and sow corn on its ruins. notwithstanding this threat, to the fulfilment of which the kings aforesaid took a mighty oath, the men of ghent fought stubbornly on, and finally the besiegers were forced to give up their enterprise. the english monarch, however, in order to fulfil his vow and thereby ease his conscience, humbly begged permission of the victors to allow him to throw a grain of corn in the market-place. this modest request was granted, but to prevent any such stratagem as the one that proved so successful in the famous siege of troy, a tiny hole was made in the city wall and the monarch required to crawl through alone, returning the same way after the corn-throwing performance was over. from this circumstance the name of engelande-gat was derisively given to the little street leading from the bestroom-porte to st. michel--a name which pryse l. gordon in his book on holland and belgium, written in , stated was still retained at that time. we were unable to find it, however, in one of our early morning tramps, although we found a rue d'angleterre which runs into the place st. michel directly in front of the church, and may have derived its name from that of the earlier street which, quite possibly, it may have replaced. the great plan of the city drawn by hondius shows a vast number of streets and lanes that to-day have entirely disappeared. the legend, however, may have had some basis in fact, although the three kings were no doubt a fanciful embellishment added by the peasants as they repeated the story of some early attack. there were plenty of small potentates in those days prowling about to seize whatever was not well defended, or gave promise of rich booty, without going across the channel to look for them. it was at about this period, in fact a little earlier, that another of the famous "monuments" of ghent was erected. this is the abbey of st. bavon, which alone would justify a visit to the city if there were nothing else to see. a primitive abbey on this site is said to have been founded about the year by st. amand, an early missionary, who dedicated it to st. peter. one of this prelate's converts was a rich nobleman named allowin, who took the name of bavon on his conversion and retired into a monastery. a second abbey took the name of st. bavon, the deceased monk having been canonized, and around these two religious institutions a little settlement grew up that was destined to expand into the mighty city of ghent. at st. bavon, therefore, the visitor beholds not merely the ruins of an ancient and famous abbey but the birthplace of the city that has played so great a part in the history of flanders and of europe. when baldwin ii died his widow, the daughter of alfred the great, had him buried at the monastery of st. peter, to which she made liberal donations. successive counts and countesses followed this example, the two abbeys becoming rich and powerful, and the town soon became the home of numerous merchants who took advantage of the protection afforded by these religious institutions, and also of the strategic location of the town at the junction of three rivers. the quai au blé and the quai aux herbes date from this epoch, the merchants speedily establishing a market for the sale of grain and other products. the fish market and the famous marché du vendredi, or friday market, soon followed and ghent had begun the development that was destined to make it, for three centuries, one of the greatest trading centres in the world. the present buildings of the abbey date from the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the original structures having been destroyed during the tenth century. it was during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries that the abbey attained the zenith of its power. here, in , was solemnised the marriage of philip the bold, duke of burgundy, with margaret, the daughter of louis of maele, the last of the counts of flanders to be known by that title only. this event virtually ended the long line of flemish counts, for the title thereafter became one of many similarly held by the powerful dukes of burgundy and their successors and was only used on state occasions, or when it served their purpose. the unfortunate michelle, the first wife of philip the good, was interred here. by a strange irony of fate it was charles the fifth of all men, the valiant protector of the faith, head and front of the monarchs who remained steadfastly loyal to the catholic church, who began the work of destroying this splendid and ancient monastery. to build the great fortress by which he held in awe the turbulent citizens of ghent he ordered the demolishment of a considerable part of its buildings and the erection on its site of his citadel, the _château des espagnols_. the calvinists continued the work of destruction in , the french wrecking the buildings still further, and the revolt of completing the ruin of what was in its day of prosperity one of the finest monastic institutions in europe. since the ruins have been carefully protected against further injury; and, as they stand, give the observer a most imposing realisation of their former grandeur. the refectory, or dining-hall, is still fairly intact, and is used as a museum of sculptures saved from the wreck of the other buildings, and including some found in other parts of the city. one of these is a tombstone thought to be that of hubert van eyck, while another is the _homme du beffroi_, one of the four stone statues erected in on the corners of the belfry. a baptismal font found in the ruins of the abbey contains a curious bas-relief representing adam and eve being expelled from paradise. it is not, however, in these detached items that the visitor will find the chief interest and inspiration of the ancient abbey, but in the general views that in every direction give a conception of the former vast extent and richness of the buildings. in their present condition the ruins form a series of pictures of wonderful beauty, not only in the remains of their architectural and artistic splendour, but because nature, kinder than man, has covered the scars made by the despoilers with her choicest tapestries of trailing vines and glowing flowers and spread her softest carpets of verdure along the silent and deserted cloisters. [illustration: ruins of the abbey of st. bavon, ghent.] returning to the heart of the city, another memento of the earliest period of the city's growth attracted our attention. this was the château of girard le diable (girard the devil) the first of the "monuments" to be encountered if one arrives by the southern railway station. this edifice, now completely restored and used as the depository of the provincial archives, dates from . apart from the exterior, however, which reproduces the original appearance of the castle, the only portion of interest to the visitor is the crypt which is over one hundred feet long and nearly forty-five feet in width, making it one of the largest in flanders. the vaulted roof is supported by massive round columns and forms a notable example of the ogival style of architecture. we sought in vain to find what the noble sir girard did or did not do to receive his satanic appellation. from the records he appears to have been a tolerably worthy citizen, holding, as did his father before him, the position of châtelain of ghent. a fortunate marriage, apparently, gave him the means to erect this exceptionally fine castle, which has--like many of the old buildings in the city--had a most varied history. for two or three centuries it remained the residence of the châtelains of ghent, then, for a time, was used by the city as an arsenal, was occupied by the hiéronimites, and then became in succession a school, a mad-house, an orphan asylum, a house of correction, and a fire house. its spacious halls now contain the precious charters of the counts of flanders and innumerable historic documents of ghent and the other cities of the province. the most ancient church in ghent is that of st. nicholas in the marché aux grains. it was founded in , or slightly more than a thousand years ago. the original edifice was burned in , so that the present structure dates from that century. a picturesque feature of the exterior is the row of tiny one-story houses snuggling up against the side of the great church on the rue petite turquis. the west window is an extremely lofty lancet of great beauty. the doorway on this side was for many years crowded between commonplace three-story houses, the church builders of flanders apparently caring very little how the imposing majesty of their noble churches might be marred by adjacent buildings, but these have now been removed and this front of the structure cleared. among the treasures of this church are the relics of st. anne, said to have been brought from jerusalem by godfrey of bouillon. in the sacristy is some oil from the tomb of st. nicholas of myra and bari, after whom the church was named. this saint died in and is the subject of many picturesque mediæval legends. even in infancy he is alleged to have observed the fasts, refusing the breast of his nurse. he used to look particularly after children, young women, sailors and travellers. on one occasion he came to an inn where the wicked inn-keeper fed his guests with the flesh of young children. st. nicholas immediately went to the tub where the bodies of the innocents lay in brine and, reviving them, restored them all alive and whole again to their parents. this incident is frequently depicted by flemish painters. after his death the bones of the saint were buried at myra, but were stolen some centuries later--according to certain monkish chronicles--and, after many adventures in which the spirit of the deceased prelate participated, the oil which was found in his sarcophagus was brought here. jean lyon, dean of the guild of boatmen, and one of the heroes of the white hoods in their resistance to the cruel louis de maele, was buried in this church. one of the other churches of ghent, the cathedral of st. bavon, dates in part from the same early period as the other monuments described in this chapter. originally dedicated to st. john, the name was changed to st. bavon in and it became a cathedral nine years later. it is not, however, the cathedral--of which the nave and transepts were not completed until to --but the earlier church of st. jean that figures in the history of ghent under counts of flanders. of this church the crypt, which dates from the eleventh or twelfth century, and the choir, dating from the thirteenth century, still remain. our exploration of the cold and gloomy crypt served to bring back the earlier period of the history of ghent in two ways--not only is its present appearance undoubtedly much the same as it was eight or nine centuries ago, when the city of the weavers was just beginning to make its power and fame known in the land, but the historian sees here the tombs of many of the great men of the city. for the most part there were merchant princes, aristocrats, the leaders of the liliaert faction--those who sided with the king of france and took his lilies as their emblem. under its early flemish counts, the history of ghent was, on the whole, one of rapid and almost uninterrupted expansion. the merchants who flocked to the little town around the abbeys of st. peter and st. bavon were followed by similar throngs of artisans, and as the commerce of the city grew apace so its industrial importance expanded. on the death of philip of alsace, who had erected the château on the place ste. pharaïlde to hold the city in check, its burghers wrested from the feeble hands of his widow the famous _keure_ of , a sort of local magna carta which confirmed all pre-existing privileges and granted others. the same year the treaty of arras, by which baldwin viii ceded arras and the county of artois to philip augustus, the wily and land-grasping king of france, made ghent virtually the capital of flanders--a position that had hitherto been occupied by bruges. like its rival on the roya, ghent had become an important centre for the woollen trade with england, and also for all the branches of woollen manufacture, the "scarlets" of ghent being renowned far and wide. the thirteenth century--in consequence of the folly of baldwin of constantinople who, as we have seen, went off on a fanatical enterprise to the far east, leaving the richest county in the world at the mercy of his enemies--saw a steady decline in the power of the counts; and, while the kings of france profited mightily by this situation, the shrewd burghers of ghent, bruges, ypres and the other powerful flemish communes were not backward in extending and securing their own powers also. the result was that the successive counts and countesses were forced to submit to repeated encroachments on their authority. in count ferrand established a council of thirty-nine members which soon became a virtual oligarchy and the actual ruler of the city. this body, while maintaining at first fairly friendly relations with the counts, soon began to treat with other nations and the other cities in flanders as if it was the actual sovereign. then, as the king of france, toward the close of the thirteenth century, began to give evidence of an intention to seize the rich county of flanders for himself--thus despoiling both the counts and the burghers at the same time--ghent joined heartily in the general movement toward a national resistance. in the count guy granted the city a new _keure_, or charter, even more liberal than that of , and formed an alliance with england against the common foe. this, however, came to nothing, and all flanders was over-run by the victorious french troops. ghent, after a brief resistance, yielded, and the french king, making liberal concessions to win the support of the most powerful of all the flemish communes, the liliaerts, or supporters of the lily of france, were temporarily holding the upper hand when the astounding tidings came of the battle of the spurs. chapter x the age when ghent was governed by its guilds it was on the th of july, , that the guildsmen of flanders--chiefly, as we have seen, those from the two cities of bruges and ypres--humbled the chivalry of france and demonstrated the fact that the guilds of the great flemish communes were a power to be reckoned with. obviously, when the greatest monarch of the day had been so decisively beaten there was no longer any question as to the relative importance of the guilds and the local counts of flanders. the latter, though still figuring prominently in the history of the time, were unable to cope with the might of their united subjects, and only by the help of their overlords of france, by bribery and even by downright treachery, were they able to maintain themselves on their tottering thrones at all. this period is the most interesting in the long history of flanders, for it was during the fourteenth century that the land of the flemings just missed becoming a nation, and, possibly, a republic. that it failed was due to the fact that, while there existed a splendid and indomitable spirit of freedom in every true flemish breast, the sense of loyalty was local instead of national. to his guild and his commune the fleming was intensely loyal, but his patriotism--fine as it was--was too narrow. each commune acted solely for itself, uniting with the others in time of great and impending peril, but often sending its armies to fight a sister commune over some trifling dispute as soon as the common danger was over. the princes were able, by cunningly taking advantage of this defect in the flemish character, to play one commune against another and, by dividing the hosts of the guildsmen, to establish finally a tyranny too powerful to be thrown off. for one hundred and fifty years after the battle of the spurs, however, the guilds--although now and then temporarily defeated--were, in the main, supreme throughout the length and breadth of flanders, and it was still another century before the last spark of civic freedom at ghent was finally extinguished. two days after the great fight at courtrai the victors, headed by the redoubtable peter de coninck, william of juliers and guy of namur, entered the city of ghent and "converted" the too lukewarm magistrates to the popular side. the patrician liliaerts were expelled from the magistracy and many were killed or driven from the city. the count fought stubbornly on, nor did the war with france end immediately, but in almost every instance the guildsmen were able to maintain the results of their great victory and firmly establish the foundation of their power. in the government of the commune of ghent their voice was a potent one. naturally the wool-spinners and weavers were the dominant organisations, while the _petits-métiers_, or minor industries, were also represented. the apprentice system was rigidly enforced among all the guilds, but the policy of the organisations was liberal in this respect--for example, an apprentice was often sent for a year's journey in other cities or countries in order to obtain a wider knowledge of his craft. the guildsmen had a hearty and honest pride in good and skilful workmanship, and the officers of the guilds supervised the quality of the goods turned out and imposed penalties for poor workmanship or the use of inferior materials. each guild had its own house or meeting-place, and while the fine guild houses on the marché aux grains date from a somewhat later period, they were no doubt preceded by earlier structures. it was one of the dreams of the professor to rummage about in these ancient edifices, poring over the archives of the guilds and inspecting the rooms and halls where their ofttimes stormy meetings were held. in this he was destined to be disappointed, for while the exteriors of several of these historic buildings have been carefully restored, the interiors are now devoted to private uses and contain little of interest to the visitor. the archives have been, for the most part, preserved in the ancient castle of girard the devil. some of the old guild banners still exist, but the guild houses themselves are only the empty shells of the powerful organisations that once made them their homes. [illustration: photograph by e. sacré. post office, church of st. nicholas, belfry and cathedral, ghent.] the most famous structure in flanders dates from this epoch in the town's history. this is the belfry that has looked down on the red roofs of ghent for nearly six hundred years. the first belfry was begun in , but the present structure was built in - , since when it has been several times modified and "restored"--not always successfully. the latest restoration was carried out by the municipal authorities as a preparation for the international exposition held at ghent in and was carefully and intelligently done. there are three hundred and fifty-five steps in the staircase by which visitors ascend the tower, and the climb is one that richly repays those who make it. on a clear day one can see beyond bruges to the northwest, as far as antwerp to the east and audenaerde to the south. so densely peopled is the flemish plain that these great cities lie almost close enough together to be within sound of great roland. this was the renowned bell which the burghers of ghent had cast and hung high on their belfry as an emblem of the city's freedom from tyranny and a tocsin to summon the sturdy guildsmen to its defence when danger threatened. it bore the following inscription in flemish: mynen naem is roelant, als ick clippe dan ist brant als icke luyde, dan ist storm in vlaenderlandt. freely translated, this is what the bell gave as its autobiography: my name is roland; when i speak softly there is fire at hand, but when i roar loudly it means war in flanderland. the original roland was cast in , or twelve years after the battle of the spurs. it weighed twelve thousand, five hundred pounds and was the pride of the city, but was destroyed by order of charles v when he forced the burghers abjectly to submit to his despotism in . in the lower part of the tower is the "secret room" where from the burghers kept, behind triple doors as at bruges, the charters and privileges of the city. the famous dragon at the tip of the spire was for centuries said to have been brought from the orient at the time of baldwin of constantinople, but recent researches in the archives of the city have shown that it was made at ghent in the year - . adjoining the belfry is the cloth hall erected for the most important of the city's four hundred guilds. the upper hall is now used as a bureau of information for tourists, while the lower one is a rathskeller. here the columns and vaulted roof greatly resemble the crypt of girard the devil's castle, save that the little tables and excellent munich and pilsen to be had there make it decidedly more cheerful. the edifice was begun in and finished, or, at least, the work was stopped, in . behind the cloth hall, but nestling close against it, is the quaint little entrance to the communal prison, which was built in when the prisoners were confined on the lower floor of the cloth hall. over the door at the top of the façade is the celebrated bas-relief representing the legend of the mammelokker. the carving really tells all there is to the story; which is, in brief, that, on one occasion, when an old man was condemned to die of starvation, his daughter--who just then had a baby whom she was nursing--secretly gave the breast to her aged parent, thus saving his life. while the belfry was being built by the burghers of ghent, france and england were drifting into the hundred years' war. the count of flanders, louis de nevers, was ardently loyal to france and utterly blind to the interests of the great woollen manufacturing communes over which he ruled and to those of his own dynasty. in , no doubt at the instance of the king of france, he ordered all the english merchants in flanders to be arrested and their goods confiscated. the king of england, edward iii, promptly retaliated by prohibiting the exportation of wool from england to flanders and the sale of flemish woollens in his kingdom. in a few months the flemish communes of ghent, bruges and ypres found themselves facing utter ruin as a result of this economic conflict. the spinners and weavers were idle, the markets deserted, actual starvation existed, and many of the guildsmen were forced to wander off into the countryside to beg for food. it was at this critical moment that the great figure of jacques van artevelde appears upon the stage of flemish history. son of a rich wool and cloth merchant who had been long prominent among the clauwaerts, or foes of french domination, jacques van artevelde was a man of wealth and position who by ancestry and calling was inclined to the popular rather than the aristocratic side. on december , , he harangued the men of bruges in behalf of peace with england, in spite of the obstinate and fatuous policy of the count. as a result of his eloquence, abundantly enforced by the ruin and misery then prevailing on every side, the people decided unanimously to establish a revolutionary government, which was accomplished peacefully on the third of the following month. van artevelde was recognised as the foremost of the five captains then chosen to administer the government of the city, and was given a larger guard than his colleagues. the helpless count of flanders, unable to resist, was obliged to ratify the new policy of the burghers, and by the middle of the year the embargo was formally raised on both sides, the woollen industry started up once more, and flanders was declared to be neutral as regarded the contest between its two powerful neighbours. in short, the wise policy of van artevelde was completely triumphant and the country again placed on the road to renewed prosperity. under the direction of the great tribune the weavers were now the dominant factor in the government of ghent, and soon the influence of van artevelde made itself felt in bruges, ypres and all the other flemish communes, where the guild leaders became likewise the heads of the magistracy. the count strove to reassert his power, but van artevelde stormed the castle and the prince was forced to accompany the men of ghent to the annual procession at tournai wearing their colours. the "white hoods," as the warriors of the popular party were called, destroyed the castles of several of the lesser nobility who dared to resist their authority and throughout all the land van artevelde reigned supreme. edward iii, after vainly endeavouring to win the count of flanders to his side by flattering matrimonial offers, ended by treating directly with van artevelde as if with a sovereign prince. it was the genius of the great ghent captain that conceived the brilliant idea of overcoming the reluctance of the flemish communes to take sides with england against their feudal suzerain, the king of france, by having edward claim the crown of france, and it was in consequence of his arguments that the english monarch finally took this bold but adroit step. on the th of january, , the communes formally recognised edward as their suzerain on the marché du vendredi at ghent--one of the many great events that have taken place on that historic spot. the king made ghent his headquarters, and it was in the old castle of the counts that his third son, known in english history as john of gaunt (ghent), was born. in the same year occurred the great battle of sluys, in which edward iii led the english ships of war into the harbour of that town where the french king philip had assembled a vast fleet. the defeated frenchmen leaped overboard in hundreds only to be slain by the flemings as they swam ashore. no man dared tell the king of france of this great disaster until the royal jester broke the news by exclaiming, "the english cowards! oh, the english cowards!" on the king's inquiring what he meant by this, the jester replied, "they were afraid to jump into the sea as our brave frenchmen did at sluys!" this brilliant year, however, saw the climax of the power of van artevelde. already the other flemish communes were beginning to grumble at his rule, outbreaks occurring at audenaerde, dendermonde and ypres. king edward began to besiege tournai with the aid of van artevelde, but on the french king agreeing to a truce he returned to england, leaving his faithful ally to take care of himself as best he could. to make matters more difficult, he failed to pay the subsidies he had promised, and the tribune was violently accused of having played the people false. meanwhile the guildsmen began to dispute between themselves, and on monday, may , , in spite of the entreaties of van artevelde, the fullers and weavers engaged in a bloody battle on the marché du vendredi in which the former with their _doyen_, or leader, were massacred. this sad day was called the _kwade maendag_, or bad monday. early in july van artevelde had a last interview with edward at sluys. on his return to ghent a mob of malcontents, led by men in the pay of count louis of nevers, besieged the great tribune in his house, crying that he had betrayed the country. after vainly trying to argue with them, he reluctantly permitted himself to be drawn away from the window by his followers, who sought to persuade him to seek safety in flight. it was too late, however, as the mob had already burst into the house and one of them struck van artevelde dead on his own threshold. for nearly nine years he had been virtually a king in flanders, his policy bringing unexampled prosperity to the country and to his native city. although often called a demagogue and a tyrant, jacques van artevelde ranks as one of the foremost statesmen of his time. he died the "victim of a faction" and of treachery rather than a popular revolt against his policies, for the english alliance was steadfastly continued after his death. to-day his statue stands on the marché du vendredi, where, in , he burned the papal interdict against flanders. it represents him in the act of delivering the famous speech by which he won the allegiance of his fellow citizens to the english alliance. count louis profited little by his treachery, for a little over a year later, august , , he fell in the great battle of crécy where the english archers, fighting by the side of many flemish guildsmen, gave the death blow to mediæval chivalry and utterly crushed the power of france. the weavers, who under van artevelde had become the dominant power in all of the flemish communes, soon had good reason to regret his fall, for the new count, louis of maele--named like most of the counts of flanders from the place where he was born, the great castle of maele--was able by liberal promises and the restoration of ancient charters and privileges to win the support of most of the cities. at ghent the butchers, fish merchants, and boatmen's guilds submitted, followed by the fullers and minor industries. the weavers, although their numbers had been greatly reduced by the plague, held out stubbornly, but were massacred on the marché du vendredi, tuesday, january , , their captain and their _doyen_, gérard denys--the man who had slain van artevelde--being flung into the lys. the victors called this bloody day _de goede disendach_, or good tuesday, and it certainly amply revenged the bad monday four years before when the weavers were the aggressors. the members of the unfortunate guild were now hunted down like dogs throughout all flanders, great numbers fleeing to england where they established the weaving industry--king edward wisely welcoming the exiles and giving them every aid in his power to settle in his kingdom. later the competition of these fugitives and their descendants gave flanders good cause to rue the folly of the internal strife that thus drove away some of the best workmen in the country. the numerical superiority of this guild, however, and the fact that its members were necessarily more skilled than the fullers, led to its gradual recovery, and by the weavers were again admitted to a share in the government of the communes and the fullers were relegated to the inferior position to which their smaller numbers and less skilled work entitled them. louis of maele made bruges virtually his capital, but during the greater part of his reign of forty years was able to continue on fairly peaceful terms with the turbulent city of ghent by means of a careful and detailed adjustment of the order of precedence between the various guilds which was devised about the year and continued in effect for nearly two centuries. in the daughter of the count married philip the bold, duke of burgundy and brother of the king of france--an event full of dire significance for the guildsmen as it led to their having, in after years, the powerful dukes of burgundy as their over-lords instead of the comparatively feeble counts of flanders. in count louis held a great tournament in the marché du vendredi. despite the long conflict between the guilds the city was at this period very prosperous. the count, however, who was always short of money, sold to the citizens of bruges the right to construct a canal from their port to the river lys. at this ghent, headed by the boatmen's guild, flew to arms and a civil war broke out in , the men of ghent fearing that they might lose their monopoly of the grain traffic. after various successes and reverses the count besieged the city and had very nearly reduced it by starvation when philip van artevelde, son of the famous tribune, came forward and was made captain-general of the city, in . the new leader, and a motley crowd of five thousand half-starved followers, marched on bruges, where the count, at the head of a host of over forty thousand, attacked them under the walls of the city. the larger army, however, was a mere rabble--over-confident and half intoxicated--and van artevelde won a complete victory. the count of flanders was compelled to hide for the night under a heap of straw in a poor woman's hovel, and later escaped to lille and so to france. van artevelde treated the captured city with generosity and was soon captain of all flanders. his next battle was with the king of france, but this time he was less fortunate, and at rosbecque, november , , the flemish host was cut to pieces and its leader slain. louis of maele himself died two years later, leaving the reputation of being the worst and weakest of the line of flemish counts, as well as the last. it was at his request that the french had invaded the country, which they swept with fire and sword after the defeat of the flemish guildsmen, but the victory was of no benefit to the broken-down old man who no longer dared to show himself in flanders and died at paris in poverty and neglect. as an offset to these remarks regarding the weakness of louis of maele it is only fair to that worthy to relate a little legend generally attributed to his reign. it is said that on a certain occasion the magistrates of ghent--which was at the time renowned as the most opulent city in europe--were invited to a great feast given in honour of some foreign king. those in charge of the arrangements forgot, however, to put cushions on the chairs and the men of ghent accordingly threw their richly embroidered cloaks upon them, and retired when the feast was over without putting them on again. when reminded of this the chief magistrate replied, "the flemings are not accustomed to carry their cushions with them." not only the grandees but the bourgeois citizens at this period were said to wear purple and fine linen. the baths, "stooven," frequented by both sexes, became the scenes of great vice and disorder and one ancient chronicler reports an incredible number of murders as occurring during a single year at gaming tables and drinking places. all this would seem to show that louis of maele was not so bad a sovereign--for at least the country prospered under his rule--but in reality he had, as we have seen, very little to do either with the actual government or public policy during his long reign. no visitor to ghent fails to take a look at de dulle griete, or "mad margery," philip van artevelde's big cannon that stands in the mannekens aert. according to froissart, van artevelde took with him to the siege of audenaerde "a bombard which was fifty feet in length, and shot stones of immense weight. when they fired off this bombard it might be heard five leagues off in the daytime, and ten at night. the report of it was so loud, that it seemed as if all the devils in hell had broken loose." mad margery seems to have shrunk considerably since froissart's time, for she is now nineteen feet long and three feet in diameter at the mouth. the gun was made of wrought iron and weighs thirty-four thousand, one hundred and sixty-six pounds, and was capable of throwing a stone weighing seven hundred and eight pounds. [illustration: de dulle griete, ghent.] another interesting monument dating from the same period in the city's history as the belfry is the hospital of the biloque or biloke. some of the buildings are of much more recent construction, but the gothic chapel was built early in the thirteenth century, apparently about , with a double gable and immense timber roof. the former refectory offers an example of early brick work at one of its ends, _le beau pignon_, that is a joy to architects, and has often been described and illustrated in the technical books. the timber roof of this structure is also noteworthy. it is now used as a hospital for old men. this edifice is a century later than the chapel, while some of the other buildings date from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. ghent contains two béguinages, a circumstance that gives not a little trouble to visitors who in trying to visit one are about always--at least that was our experience on two occasions--directed to the other. both are large, but one is more notable for its antiquity and the other for its size and the perfection of its appointments. the first béguinage in ghent was founded by jeanne of constantinople in as a place of refuge for women disciples of the church who in those evil days felt the need of protection, but did not desire to enter the conventual life. little houses sprang up and the institution proved so popular that a second béguinage was soon established which came to be called the petit béguinage. protected by the successive counts, and particularly by the patronage of the countesses of flanders, both institutions flourished and expanded steadily. the present petit béguinage de notre dame dates largely from the seventeenth century, and the chapel and streets of tiny houses inhabited by the béguines are most picturesque. it has accommodations for three hundred sisters. the grand béguinage de ste. elisabeth was confiscated during the french revolution and the property presented to the almshouses of the city of ghent. the committee in charge of the almshouses suffered the béguines to remain undisturbed, however, until when strained relations resulting from this arrangement led to the béguines giving up their establishment, which was modernized by the authorities and many of its interesting features destroyed. the church remains, having become a parish church, and the rue des prébendières retains its original appearance. meanwhile, the duke of arenberg purchased ground for a new grande béguinage at mont st. amand, and here a little city of small houses, designed in fifteenth-century flemish style, and a new chapel were erected, the work being completed in . [illustration: workroom, petit bÉguinage de notre dame, ghent.] we spent a very charming afternoon visiting the grande béguinage. passing through the lofty gateway we were greeted by the pleasant-faced béguine who receives all visitors and who directed us how to reach the buildings we were permitted to see. as at bruges, the cells were not shown to visitors. altogether at st. amand there are fourteen "convents" and eighty houses, the former accommodating twenty or thirty inmates and the latter two or three, with occasionally some lady from the outer world who is taken as a lodger. each little house is numbered and also has a name, usually that of some saint. arriving at the convent we had been permitted to visit we were first conducted down a long, clean corridor, painted a glaring white, to a parlour or reception room, of which there appear to be several. then, after the lady superior had been notified of our presence and had come to welcome us, we were taken to the _refter_, or dining-room. the inventor of the kitchen cabinet could have taken points from this curious apartment. along the walls and between the windows are a dozen or more cupboards, of which one belongs to each béguine. here she keeps her napkins, dishes and cooking utensils, and even her bread and provisions. a board can be pulled out near the middle, which serves as a table. these cupboards are so constructed that no béguine can see into that of her neighbour, and apparently they take their meals one at a time, as one was eating her frugal repast when we entered, and when we passed through the room again a little later her little private refectory was closed and another one was seated at her little shelf or table. adjoining this queer dining-room was a large kitchen, with an extremely big cook stove, on which a half-dozen little pots were simmering gently. one béguine, we were told, has the duty of attending to the kitchen for three weeks, then another, each taking turns. the béguines prepare their own meals to suit themselves, the one in charge of the kitchen merely looking after the actual process of cooking. we next visited the workroom, where a group of béguines were busily engaged in making lace. the bright sunshine streaming through the large windows on the silent group of workers, each clad in her sombre garb of black and white, made a pretty picture. all seemed to be care-free and contented, though the expression on their faces could hardly be described as one of happiness. as in all conventual institutions, the inmates are required to go through quite a series of devotional exercises from morning mass to the benediction night prayers. the scene in the little chapel attached to each convent, or in the large chapel of the entire béguinage, when the sisters are assembled for service is a very picturesque one and gives the visitor an impression likely long to be remembered. speaking of the peculiar dining customs of the béguines reminds me that in flanders the judicious should not overlook the importance of doing justice to the culinary treats that are provided by even the little hotels. for those travellers who look upon eating as one of the disagreeable necessities of existence, to be shirked or evaded as far as possible, and, in any event, to be hurried through with quickly lest something be overlooked that the immortal mr. baedeker said must be seen, this is one feature of flemish life that will make no appeal. on the other hand, for those who are neither mentally nor bodily dyspeptic; who agree with the french aphorism that "the animals feed, while man eats"; and who are still able to enjoy a good meal well planned, well cooked, and well served, a trip through flanders will bring a new pleasure every day. a peep into any flemish kitchen will convince the most sceptical that here, at all events, one's stomach is not likely to be forgotten. pots and kettles, casseroles and pans, pitchers and jugs, large and small, hang around the walls or rest upon long shelves--all of brightly polished copper and ready for instant service. the great meal of the day in all parts of flanders is the dinner, and it cuts the day in two--coming between noon and two o'clock and usually lasting an hour or more. the evening meal, or supper, is much less important, save in a few hotels catering largely to tourists. to get up a real flemish dinner, cooked and served in the best style of which the flemish cooks are capable, the housewife first ascertains when the local butcher has fresh-killed meat and plans accordingly. vegetables in flanders are always good, in their respective seasons, but to get the finest quality of meats one must buy just after the butcher has made a killing. to americans, who have been accustomed all their lives to eat meat that has been kept on ice, it almost seems as though one has never tasted a roast of beef or a shoulder of mutton before--so deliciously sweet, tender and juicy are they when cooked and eaten before the ice has robbed them of their richness and flavour. it was while we were browsing around ghent that the ladies discovered a bit of handicraft that seems worth mentioning. we subsequently saw the same thing at brussels and antwerp, so that it appears to be distinctly a belgian industry. in a large window they noticed two women engaged in what from over the way might have been taken for lace-making. mrs. professor hurried across at once to investigate and she and the madame spent half an hour watching the operation. each of the two women was engaged in repairing, the one a pair of trousers and the other an overcoat. in each case the repair consisted of literally weaving a new segment of cloth in place of the damaged portion. first cutting out all of the latter they frayed out an edge of the goods at some point where there was sufficient material turned under for their purpose. this done they took short strands of each of the various coloured yarns and, with infinite patience and skill, wove them together in an exact reproduction of the design of the original textile. so cleverly was the work done that when completed the reparation could not be detected. it is possible that repairing of this kind is done in america but none of us had ever seen or heard of it. in belgium it seemed to be fairly common, being styled _reparation invisible_, and the price varying from one to three or four francs for each hole repaired, according to the nature of the goods and the design. we also saw rugs being repaired in the same manner, as well as ladies' dress goods of every description. it is one of the most deplorable features of the war that its most fearful destructiveness should have been wreaked upon a little country where every small economy and patient utilisation of trifles had been practised for centuries. all belgium is pre-eminently a land of thrift, of painstaking husbanding of small resources, and to beggar half the population of such a country means a calamity to each family group and individual far more poignant than would be the case where frugality was less deeply ingrained as a national characteristic. chapter xi philip the good and the van eycks as the sunset is often the most beautiful hour of the day, so the splendour of the old flemish communes reached its zenith at the moment when many of them were about to sink into their long sleep. this was the period of burgundian rule. upon the death of louis of maele the county of flanders ceased to be a separate sovereignty, as it had been since baldwin of the iron arm, for the husband of margaret, the old count's daughter, was duke of burgundy and brother of the king of france--a foreign prince whose interests in france far out-weighed in his mind his interests in flanders. the new ruler, philip the bold, was acknowledged as count of flanders in , but was only able to enter audenaerde by stratagem after a siege, and was defied openly by the sturdy burghers of ghent. the following year, however, philip effected a family union by which he virtually controlled the two important states of brabant and hainaut. his eldest son was married to margaret, daughter of the regent of hainaut, while the latter's son married philip's daughter. these marriages were celebrated at cambrai, in april, , and at the same time the duchess of brabant recognised philip's second son as heir to the duchy. brabant at that time was less rich and powerful than flanders, but its chief cities, brussels and louvain, were growing rapidly. hainaut, on the other hand, had been termed by one of its leaders "a poor country of proud men"--its chief cities, mons and valenciennes, being places of third-rate importance, and its present vast mineral wealth then undreamed of. the marriages of cambrai are worth remembering, however, as explaining the rapidity with which the house of burgundy extended its sway over nearly all of what is now belgium. ghent still resisted its new count, but an army of one hundred thousand french and burgundians--gathered primarily to invade england--destroyed the seaport of damme, which had been rebuilt since its previous destruction by the french, and plundered "the four trades," as the fertile region thereabout was called. ghent, however, had suffered enough to make it sue for peace and acknowledge philip's sovereignty. the invasion of england project came to nothing--as have so many others before and since--but it had at least enabled philip to establish his power in flanders. on philip's death in , he was succeeded by his son, john the fearless (as the old chroniclers call him). the life of this prince belongs to the history of france rather than flanders, as he had little use for his flemish towns except to extort money from their burghers--who granted him such sums as he required on his renewing acknowledgment of their liberties and privileges. in john caused the murder of his great rival in the government of france, the duke of orleans. then came the battle of agincourt, where the power of france was ruined by henry the fifth, and in the son of the duke of orleans avenged the murder of his father twelve years previously by murdering john the fearless at montereau. the son of john the fearless was philip, called by the chroniclers "the good." a better term would have been "the magnificent," for goodness was hardly his chief characteristic. the murder of his father caused philip to take the side of england in the long conflict between that country and france that was still raging--a policy that pleased his flemish communes, which depended for their prosperity on the wool trade. meanwhile philip took advantage of the matrimonial difficulties of jacqueline of bavaria, countess of hainaut and holland, to compel that beautiful but unfortunate princess to abdicate in his favour. the dungeon in the castle of the counts at ghent, where the fair jacqueline was for a time confined, has already been mentioned. he also succeeded in making himself duke of brabant, thus uniting in his own person the government of these rich provinces with that of flanders and burgundy and his other possessions in france. in philip married the princess isabel of portugal, a great-granddaughter of john, duke of lancaster. this marriage cemented the english alliance, and the english made philip regent of france, over which they still claimed sovereignty. it was philip who captured and indirectly caused the execution of jeanne d'arc at the darkest period of french history. the now all-powerful duke of burgundy signalized his marriage by establishing at bruges the famous order of the golden fleece. this consisted of himself, as founder and sovereign prince, and twenty-four knights--naturally the highest in the land--and in renown and lustre the new order quickly took rank as the very pinnacle of mediæval chivalry. membership was an honour than which there was none higher, while members also enjoyed a personal security against the tyranny of princes in being amenable only to their comrades of the order. the head of such an institution naturally exerted powers equal, and, in some respects, superior, to those of any crowned monarch. the fêtes with which philip celebrated the establishment of the order were without precedent in the history of europe for magnificence, and the old city of bruges was for days thronged with the bravest knights and the fairest ladies to be found in the duke's widespread dominions. up to this date the policy of philip had coincided with the interests of his great communes in flanders and his popularity throughout the county was unbounded. not only did friendship with england protect and stimulate trade between the two countries, but the misery and ruin of france also contributed to extend the commerce of the great towns just over the frontier whose trade and industries were unmolested. in philip concluded the treaty of arras with charles vii, king of france, by which, for the sake of peace, the french king ceded to him a number of counties in france and made him, during his lifetime at least, an independent prince owing no homage to the french crown. this treaty naturally enraged the english, who at once declared war on burgundy, destroying many burgundian vessels and raiding its coast towns. in revenge duke philip marched on calais with an army of thirty thousand flemings whom he induced to join in the war against their ancient ally chiefly through their confidence in his good intentions and against their own better judgment. the siege proved to be a long one, and the flemings becoming discontented finally set fire to their camp and crying, "_go, go, wy zyn all vermanden!_" ("go, go, we are all betrayed!") marched back to flanders, leaving their duke raging at his discomfiture. this fiasco determined philip to adopt a new policy toward the communes and compel them to obey his orders. on may , , he camped outside of the city of bruges with a considerable force of knights and picard footmen, informing the burghers that he was on his way to holland. the next day, telling his men "that is the holland we have come to conquer!" as he pointed to the city, philip led his forces to the market-place. the tocsin in the old belfry instantly sounded the alarm, and angry guildsmen and burghers came pouring down the narrow streets in thousands. philip's small force, taken at a disadvantage, was forced to retreat to one of the gates. it was shut, its heavy bolts securely drawn. already some of the french force had been killed, and in a few moments the duke himself would have perished but for burgomaster van de walle, who brought a smith and broke the lock. the duke escaped with most of his followers, but many who were caught in the rear lost their lives. this was the bruges vespers--to distinguish it from bruges matin, the year of the battle of the spurs. philip now set about humbling the proud city in grim earnest, cutting off the commerce upon which its prosperity depended, and even its food supplies. to add to the horrors of the siege the plague broke out within the city, while leprosy was also prevalent. no less than twenty-four thousand died of pestilence and famine before the brave burghers at last gave in. philip's terms were hard. the city officials were required to meet him bareheaded and barefooted the next time he deigned to visit the defeated commune, and on their knees give him the keys of the city. a heavy fine was imposed and forty-two leading burghers were excluded from amnesty and beheaded--including van de walle, who had saved his life at the bouverie gate. this was the "great humiliation," as it is sometimes called, but--finding that continued hostility to the chief trading centre in his dominions was driving foreign traders away--the duke now took bruges again into his favour and never again molested it during his long reign. the proud city of ghent was the next to feel the weight of the powerful duke's displeasure. rebelling in against the imposition of a tax on salt, called the gabelle, the city defied the duke's authority for five years. meanwhile philip gradually cut off its supplies, as he had done with bruges. ghent was more populous, however, and its burgher armies took the field and carried open war as far as audenaerde, which they besieged. several small battles were fought, the advantage resting mainly with the duke, until on july , , the decisive conflict took place. the duke's forces were encamped at gavre, a few miles from the city. spies within the gates told the burghers that it would be easy to surprise the camp and destroy philip's army. the tocsin therefore was sounded and the hosts of guildsmen and burghers marched out to attack the enemy. the duke's forces, aware of the manner in which the flemings were to be betrayed, were placed where the open ground favoured the burgundian horsemen. in spite of this advantage, the contest was a stubborn one, both the duke and his son charles narrowly escaping death on one occasion. at last the flemings began to give way, and the battle became a slaughter, more than twenty thousand of the guildsmen being slain on the field, while all prisoners were hanged. this struggle was called "the red sea of gavre." as the men of ghent were fleeing toward their city philip sought to pursue them by the shortest way and intercept their flight. he accordingly called for a guide. a peasant of the neighbourhood volunteered, and, after leading the burgundian army across fields and by-paths for several hours, conducted the victors--not to the gates of ghent, but back to their own camp again! this nameless hero was incontinently hanged to the nearest tree, but he no doubt saved the city from pillage and rapine that night. philip by this victory completely crushed the spirit of the communes, for none dared resist when ghent the all-powerful had failed. he seems to have had at least a fleeting realisation, however, that victories of this sort were not matters for unmitigated satisfaction. the day after the battle the women of ghent were searching the ghastly heaps of dead for the bodies of their husbands, their brothers and their lovers when philip exclaimed--possibly touched by the sad sight--"i do not know who is the gainer by this victory. as for me, see what i have lost--for these were my subjects!" the privileges of ghent were somewhat curtailed, and the dearly loved guild banners carried away by the conqueror, but philip, on the whole, was very moderate. the obnoxious gabelle, the cause of the war, was removed, and all citizens guaranteed their individual liberties. the following year, philip, possibly to celebrate his now undisputed supremacy, gave a series of fêtes at lille that surpassed even those held on the occasion of his marriage at the foundation of the order of the golden fleece. upon one dining table stood a cathedral, with a choir singing within; another held a huge pie, inside of which an orchestra of twenty-eight musicians played; a third contained a pantomime representing jason in search of the golden fleece. these fêtes and tournaments lasted for days, and were the wonder of europe. during the remainder of his reign of fifty years philip never again had occasion to make war on his flemish subjects, and while he seriously curtailed the power and importance of the communes, his rule was, on the whole, a period of great prosperity for flanders. both merchants and artisans were waxing rich, while the chief cities were being beautified on every hand. it was under philip the good that the cathedral at antwerp was begun, and the town halls of mons, louvain and brussels erected. it was also during his reign that william caxton learned the art of printing at the house of colard manson at bruges, but the prejudice of the burghers led to his banishment as a foreigner--thus depriving bruges of the lustre of his achievements. the greatest event of philip's reign, however, was one of which the glory is shared by both bruges and ghent--the establishment in flanders of the school of painters in oils whose masterpieces loom so large in the history of art. like most men whose commanding personality dominates the age in which they live, philip the good was many sided. the professor admires him because he was, in his judgment, one of the greatest constructive statesmen of the middle ages--aiming steadily throughout his long reign to weld together, by fair means or foul, a compact burgundian nation. on the other hand, i look upon him as a foe rather than a friend of true progress, because he crushed the self-governing communes and guilds, the bulwarks of personal liberty in feudal europe. mrs. professor cares nothing for either of these aspects of his career, but looks upon him as great for all time because he was an ardent friend and patron of the fine arts. in this she is undoubtedly right, for no greater glory belongs to any of the long line of princes who ruled over flanders than that which is associated with his reign--the birth at bruges of the art of painting with oils and of the wonderful school of painting represented by the early flemish masters. in his _history of flemish painting_ prof. a. j. wauters recounts the names and some faint traces of the work of a few flemish painters who lived prior to the period of philip the good. at ghent there are two interesting frescoes dating from about the end of the thirteenth century. at that city in the first guild of sculptors was organised, under the patronage of st. luke, and similar corporations were instituted at tournai in , in bruges in , at louvain by and antwerp by . to this guild from the very earliest period the painters belonged, sometimes the goldsmiths and goldbeaters being also associated with them. in the same way the illuminators of bruges and ghent, and the tapestry workers of arras, tournai, valenciennes and brussels were organised into guilds, and these associations of men whose work was in a high degree artistic soon resulted in the transformation of the artisan into the artist. philip the good was not the first of his line to give encouragement to art and artists. one jehan de hasselt was court painter to count louis of maele, while at the same period the better known jehan de bruges was _peintre et varlet de chambre_ for the king of france. by the end of the fourteenth century not only the great dukes of burgundy and the kings of france but many minor princes had their chosen painters, imagers, illuminators and tapestry workers. philip the bold, the first of the dukes of burgundy to rule over flanders, retained his father-in-law's painter, jehan de hasselt, on his pay-roll for some time, and later employed a resident of ypres, melchior broederlam, whose masterpiece was an altar-piece for the carthusian monastery at dijon founded by his patron. part of this has been preserved and is now in the museum of dijon. it is of interest as the first great painting of the early flemish school and represents the annunciation and visitation, the presentation in the temple, and the flight into egypt. john the fearless, the next duke of burgundy, likewise had his official painter, but it was not until the reign of philip the good that any of these ducal artists, with the exception of broederlam, achieved more than mediocre results. the reason for this may have been the medium with which all painters in those days were accustomed to work. this was called tempera, the colours being mixed with water, the white of an egg or some other glutinous substance, then dried in the sun and varnished over. the colours, however, soon became dull and pale--often fading away altogether, especially in course of restoration--and the process of drying was slow and unsatisfactory. to flanders belongs the honour of the great discovery of the art of painting with oils that revolutionised this branch of the fine arts and made the master-works of the artists of the brush imperishable for all time. this epoch-making discovery, which is justly looked upon as the birth of modern painting, was made by the two brothers van eyck about the year . the early accounts attribute the invention wholly to jean, the younger of the two brothers, relating that on a certain occasion he had placed a painting on wood, which had cost him much time and labour, in the sun to dry when the heat of the sun caused it to crack. seeing his work thus ruined at a blow jean sought to find some substance that would obviate the necessity of drying his paintings in the sun and, after many experiments, discovered that linseed oil and nut oil were by far the most rapid in drying. he further found that the colours mixed better in oil than with the white of an egg or glue. they also had more body, a far richer lustre, were impermeable to water and--what was best of all--dried just as well in the shade as in the sun. later scholarship is not inclined to give the entire credit for this discovery to jean alone, however, and his elder brother hubert is looked upon by some as the one to whom the glory is due. probably it was the joint result of innumerable experiments made by both, each profiting by the mistakes and successes of the other--just as was the case with the wright brothers in perfecting the greatest invention of our own times. there were, of course, other pioneers who contributed to the great discovery. the brothers were born at maeseyck (eyck-sur-meuse) near maestricht, and took the name of the village as their own in a way that was then very common. literally they called themselves hubert and jean of eyck. they first obtained service under the prince-bishop of liége, and were illuminators of manuscripts and statues as well as painters. the increasing wealth and luxury of flanders under the dukes of burgundy drew the two brothers to that country and they appear to have been in the employ of the count of charolais, afterwards the duke philip the good, at about the date assigned by the early historians as that when the art of painting with oils was discovered. the count was residing at that time in the château des comtes at ghent with his young wife michelle, sister of the duke of orleans. in , when the news of the murder of john the fearless, duke of burgundy, by the duke of orleans on the bridge of montereau arrived at ghent, philip rushed into his wife's room crying, "michelle, michelle! your brother has killed my father!" the shock of this terrible intelligence, and the subsequent suspicion of her husband that she knew of the plot, caused the poor little french princess to pine away and die two years later. as a tribute to her memory the guild of st. luke was asked by the duke to grant the freedom of the guild to her favourite painters, the two van eycks, which was done. jean, however, did not remain at ghent, but took service for a time under john of bavaria, whose capital was at the hague. in he became painter and varlet de chambre of philip the good, a position he retained until his death. for a time he seems to have travelled about with his ducal master, but he eventually settled at bruges, where most of his best work was done. hubert, meanwhile, remained at ghent, painting for the rich burghers of that prosperous city. here he presently received an order from jodocus vydts for an altar-piece for a chapel he had founded in the cathedral of st. bavon in his native city of ghent. hubert began work immediately, planned the great work and lived to partially complete it when overtaken by death in . hubert was recognised as a great painter in his day, the magistrates of ghent on one occasion going in state to his studio to inspect a picture he was painting--which was no doubt the altar-piece for st. bavon. he was, however, wholly forgotten by early historians of art in flanders, and it is only recently that he has been given his proper place as one of the first of the great masters of the flemish school. the subject chosen by hubert for the proposed altar-piece was the adoration of the lamb, and the artist, while true to the conventions of the age in which he lived, achieved a work that is still full of interest and charm. like shakespeare's plays this, the first great masterpiece of the flemish school, belongs not to an age but to all time. in its entirety the work consists of twenty panels and comprises more than three hundred separate figures. how far it had been completed at hubert's death there is no way to tell, although it is customary to attribute to him the architectural frame, the central panel showing the lamb, and the large upper panels. other critics believe that jean practically painted the whole picture when he was commissioned by the donor to complete it. the books on flemish art devote many pages to an analytical description of this picture,[ ] which was finally completed by jean in . the duke philip, his patron, and the magistrates of bruges visited his studio in state to inspect the finished picture, which was afterwards publicly exhibited at ghent. when it is considered that this is the very first painting in oil that has come down to us it is in every respect a most marvellous performance. the three large central panels in the upper portion are especially noble and impressive, that of "god the father," in the centre, being finely expressive of majesty and repose. in the panel to the left of the virgin mary is a group of youthful angels singing, who are so skilfully painted that "one can readily tell from looking at them which is singing the dominant, which the counter-tenor, and which the tenor and the bass," according to an early critic. we were told by a belgian curé with whom we talked about this wonderful picture shortly before our visit to ghent that the work is so fine in its details that in the case of the figures in the foreground who are holding open in their hands copies of the scriptures the very passage at which each book is opened can be distinguished! we verified this remarkable assertion by the aid of a glass loaned us by an attendant. [footnote : see "the early flemish painters," by j. a. crowe and g. b. cavalcaselle, pp. - ; and "belgium, its cities," by grant allen, pp. - .] the subsequent history of the painting is interesting. philip ii, who carried many flemish masterpieces away to spain, admired this one, but contented himself with a copy by michel coxcie, for which he paid four thousand ducats--which was quite likely more than the van eyck brothers received for the original. about the calvinists of ghent wished to present the painting to queen elizabeth in return for her support of their sect. for a time it was placed in the hotel de ville at ghent, but was finally restored to the cathedral. after several other escapes from destruction or shipment abroad the work was finally dismembered out of deference to the views of joseph ii of austria, during the period of austrian rule in flanders. he objected to the nude figures of adam and eve as unsuited to a church, and these were accordingly removed. the entire work was carried away during the french revolution, but was returned some years later. the wings, however, were not restored to their original position, and were finally sold to a london dealer for four thousand pounds sterling. he, in turn, sold them to the king of prussia, and they are now in the museum of berlin. the wings now at st. bavon are the copies made by coxcie. the original panels of adam and eve were stored for many years in the cellars of st. bavon, and then were exchanged with the belgian government for the coxcie wings just mentioned. they are now in the brussels museum. the adam and eve at st. bavon are not even copies of the originals. [illustration: "singing angels" from "the adoration of the lamb."--jean van eyck.] jean van eyck enjoyed the confidence and affection of philip the good until his death, and was often sent on diplomatic missions of great importance. on one occasion he was sent to portugal with an embassy appointed to propose a marriage between his ducal patron and the princess isabel. jean was also commissioned to paint the portrait of the fair isabel so that his master could judge for himself whether her charms were as great as he had fancied them to be. this portrait was duly painted and in the inventory of the possessions of margaret of austria there was a painting by jean van eyck called _la belle portugalaise_, which was, no doubt, the very one painted for duke philip. it must have been pleasing, for he married the lady. as late as _la belle portugalaise_ was still in existence at malines. it represented a lady in a red habit with sable trimmings, attended by st. nicholas. it has since disappeared--one of the many thousands that were lost or destroyed during the wars of the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, but both historically and artistically one of the most interesting of them all. there are a considerable number of authenticated paintings by jean van eyck still in existence. several of these are in the original frames with the artist's famous motto, "_als ik kan_" (as i can), more or less legible. it is by no means unlikely that in time to come one or more of those now lost will be discovered, thus adding to the priceless heritage that the world owes to his immortal brush. [illustration: _"george van der paele, canon of st. donatian worshipping the madonna" jean van eyck_] two of the most celebrated of jean van eyck's paintings can be seen at bruges. one of these is in the museum and shows george van der paele, canon of st. donatian, worshipping the madonna. of the portrait of the worthy donor max rooses, the director of the plantin-moretus museum at antwerp, says: "the canon's face is so astoundingly true to life that it is perhaps the most marvellous piece of painting that ever aspired to reproduce a human physiognomy. this firm, fat painting renders at once the cracks of the epidermis and the softness of the flesh. beside this head with its lovingly wrought furrows and wrinkles gleam the dazzling white of the surplice with its greenish shimmer, the intense red of mary's mantle, st. donatian's flowing cape, and the metallic reflections of st. george's breastplate." equally fine as an example of faithful portrait painting is the picture of the artist's wife which also hangs in this interesting little gallery of old masters. four years after jean van eyck's death, which occurred in , another flemish painter of note acquired citizen's rights at bruges. this was petrus christus. the most celebrated of his paintings depicts the legend of ste. godeberte. the story was that this young lady's parents had planned a rich marriage for her, whereas she preferred to enter a convent. the prospective bride and her groom visited a jeweller's to select the wedding ring and there encountered st. eloi, or elisius, who was both a goldsmith and a bishop. the saint, knowing the wishes of the maiden, placed the ring upon her finger himself, thereby dedicating her to the service of the lord. this picture was painted for the goldsmiths' guild of antwerp, passed into the collection of baron oppenheim, of cologne, and is now in a private gallery. besides the "adoration of the lamb," the cathedral of st. bavon possesses enough other notable works of art to equip a small museum. one of these is the wooden pulpit, carved by p. h. verbruggen, and representing the glorification of st. bavon. another is the famous tomb of bishop triest carved by jerome duquesnoy in . this represents the bishop reclining on a couch, and has been termed "the most beautiful piece of statuary in the country." still a third masterpiece is "st. bavon withdrawing from the world," by rubens. there are a score of other paintings and pieces of sculpture of interest and importance, but all are so over-shadowed by the famous polyptych that the average tourist scarcely notices them unless he goes back to this remarkable church several times. in front of the château of girard, and close to the cathedral, stands the impressive monument to the two van eycks erected by the city in . it is by the sculptor georges verbanck and represents the brothers receiving the homage of the nations. chapter xii tournai, the oldest city in belgium as the ladies were somewhat fatigued by our rambles around flanders it was decided that they would spend two or three quiet days with la tante rosa while the professor and i made daily excursions into wonderland, returning to the home of our hostess every night. the nearest point of interest was the city of tournai, the oldest city in all belgium. there was no direct railway line, however, and--as on many other occasions during our pilgrimage--we had no little trouble studying out a _correspondence_, or set of connections, that would take us there and back without loss of time. we started each morning before six o'clock and found the trains at that time of day made up mostly of fourth-class coaches filled with working people. the belgian state railway sells _billets d'abonnement_ for these trains at incredibly low rates--a few sous a month for short trips from one town to the next, and a few francs a month for rides half way across the kingdom. i have known clerks residing in the extreme southern end of the department of hainaut, close to the french frontier, who ride every day to mons, ten or fifteen miles distant, and there take a train for brussels. the object of this low rate of fare is the paternal desire of the government that labourers should be able to obtain work wherever it may be found and still retain their homes in the villages in which they were born and raised. home ties are very strong in belgium, and the people cheerfully travel considerable distances under this plan rather than move away from their relatives and friends. economically it is a very good thing for the country as a whole, since it enables the labourer out of work to look for a place in a hundred different towns and the employer to draw his help from an equally wide area. thus in times that are not abnormally bad there are very few industrial plants without their full quota of hands, and very few hands out of work. the fourth-class coaches are built like the third-class, with cross divisions making several compartments, but the division walls do not extend to the roof so the passengers can toss things to one another over them. separate cars are provided for men and women, many scandals having resulted from the promiscuous herding of both sexes which prevailed some twenty years ago. the occupants of the men's cars are of all ages, from tiny lads who seem to be hardly more than eight or nine--but are no doubt older, as the belgian laws no longer permit minors of that age to work--to grandsires of eighty. all are roughly clad, ready to take up their respective tasks the moment they arrive--no one thinks of having a separate suit for travelling as most of the workmen who commute to and from an american city would do. in the women's car the occupants are mostly young girls from fifteen to twenty, with a sprinkling of little girls and some women up to thirty, but very few who appear to be older than that. they always seem to be happy, singing and "carrying-on" with the utmost abandon. they are ready to start a flirtation at a moment's notice and occasionally, when their car halts in a station next to some other train in which there are young men near the windows, the whole bevy of charmers devotes itself to making conquests--opening the windows and shouting a volley of good-natured raillery to which, if they are natives and used to it, the youngsters retort in kind. then, as the trains start, the laughing crowd throws kisses by handfuls and the flirtation is over. as our train jolted along, with frequent stops to take on and let off fourth-class passengers, the professor explained to me that to be consistent to his plan we really should have visited tournai first. however, it was far out of the way as a starting point, and its history did not dominate that of all flanders in the way that the early history of bruges did. in fact, while in early times subject to the counts of flanders, it was often subject to the french crown for generations at a time, and is usually regarded as a walloon rather than a flemish city. its influence on flemish art and architecture, however, led us to include this ville d'art in our itinerary. according to the scholars tournai is the _turris nerviorum_ of cæsar, the capital of the nervii, and one of the oldest towns north of the alps. in it was the scene of the martyrdom of st. piat, who founded a church on the site of the cathedral. as the visitor gazes at that magnificent structure he can reflect that the ground on which it stands has been consecrated to divine worship for more than sixteen hundred years. during the fourth and fifth centuries tournai was the capital of the branch of the franks that ruled over the greater part of what is now belgium, but the history of these early days when the roman empire was tottering to its fall is very meagre, and more than half legend at best. the first kings of the merovingian line are shadowy, mythical personages who stalk across the pages of history like the ghost in hamlet--far off, dim, but awe-inspiring. childeric is one of the most picturesque of these early kings. expelled from the tribe owing to his youthful gallantries, he fled to the court of basinus, king of the thuringians. the queen, basina, welcomed him even more warmly than her husband, and hardly had childeric returned home, on being recalled by the tribe some years later to rule over them, than she followed him. arrived at his court, she announced that she had come to marry him because he was the bravest, strongest and handsomest man she had heard of. she added, naïvely, that if she knew of another who surpassed him in these particulars not even the sea could keep her from such a rival. basina, who from all accounts should be the patron saint of the suffragettes, won her suit and they were married. on the night before the ceremony mony, according to an ancient chronicle, she bade childeric go into the courtyard of the palace at tournai to see what he might see. he went at her bidding three times. on the first occasion he beheld a long procession of lions, unicorns and leopards, struggling and snapping at one another, but all without a sound, nor did the beasts cast any shadow. the second time he saw huge bears shambling across the courtyard which vanished even while he was gazing at them. then came packs of wolves which ran in circles and leaped, but silently. on his last visit he saw dogs of huge size and many colours, and innumerable cats which always looked behind them. from these portents basina explained to him the qualities of the race of kings of which he was to be the ancestor. clovis, one of the greatest of the early frankish kings, was the child of childeric and basina. in the sixth century tournai figured prominently in the narrative of the furious wars between fredegonda and brunehault, one of the great epics of the early middle ages. fredegonda, who was the daughter of a bondsman, became by virtue of her beauty and imperious will the wife of chilperic, king of the franks. brunehault, equally beautiful, but a king's daughter as well as the wife of a king--sigebert, brother of chilperic--began the contest to avenge the death of her sister galeswintha, whom fredegonda had caused to be slain. chilperic and fredegonda were besieged at tournai in , but the latter caused the murder of sigebert, upon whose death the besieging army dispersed. incidents in this siege are depicted in the stained-glass windows of the cathedral. the contest between the two fierce queens lasted more than half a century, brunehault at the last being torn to pieces by wild horses, when more than eighty years old, by the son of her life-long rival. in the norsemen fell upon the city and its inhabitants fled to noyon, where they remained for thirty-one years. in its subsequent history the old town sustained more than its share of sieges, the common lot of all frontier places, and changed hands oftener than any other european city. for many generations it was subject to the early counts of flanders. philip augustus then annexed it to france, to which it belonged until the reign of francis i. in occurred the most famous of all its sieges. it belonged at that time to france and was attacked by the english under edward iii, a huge army of flemings under jacques van artevelde, the duke of brabant and the count of hainaut with their followers and many others--a host estimated by froissart at one hundred and twenty thousand men. that delightful historian devotes more than a dozen chapters to a gossipy account of the siege, which lasted more than eleven weeks and was only raised by the approach of a french army when the supply of provisions was reduced to three days' rations. in tournai was captured by henry viii, who gave the see to cardinal wolsey, but soon sold it back to the french. the huge round tower a little distance to the right as one enters the city from the railway station was erected by the english king during his short rule. in the city was captured by charles the fifth, becoming a part of his domains, and in it sustained another famous siege. in common with the rest of flanders and the low countries, the city had revolted against the atrocities of philip ii. it was besieged by the prince of parma and heroically defended by christine, princess of epinoy, whose statue stands in the grande place. she was herself wounded and had lost more than three-fourths of the garrison before she surrendered. tournai once more passed into the hands of the french in , when it was captured by louis xiv and afterwards elaborately fortified by vauban, was retaken by marlborough in , returned to austria five years later, and captured once more by the french after the battle of fontenoy in . four years later it was again restored to austria, but was twice taken by the armies of the first french republic, remaining french territory till the battle of waterloo. it would be a difficult matter to say how often its fortifications have been built, demolished, rebuilt and again destroyed. the most noteworthy of these later sieges was that of , during the war of the austrian succession, which brought the english and french into conflict even along the frontiers of their far-off american colonies. austrian flanders became the arena of the decisive campaign in this war--in which its inhabitants had absolutely no interest or concern whatever--and tournai was the prize for which the armies fought. it was during this and the preceding century that flanders became "the cockpit of europe"--foreign armies sweeping over its fertile plains in wars the very purpose of which was unknown to the peasants who helplessly saw their cattle and crops swept away and their farmsteads and villages destroyed. it is curious to remark how frequently the english were engaged in these conflicts, particularly in the vicinity of tournai. in the words of lord beaconsfield, "flanders has been trodden by the feet and watered with the blood of successive generations of british soldiers." an english force formed the nucleus and the backbone of the allied army, which was commanded by the duke of cumberland, brother of king george ii. the french forces were led by maurice de saxe, the greatest military leader of that generation, as marlborough had been of the one before it. king louis xv--for almost the only time in his long reign--played the part of a man throughout this campaign. when saxe explained his plan of campaign, which involved a scheme of field fortifications, the "carpet generals" protested loudly that frenchmen were well able to meet their foes on open ground. louis silenced these arm-chair critics and replied to his great field-marshal, "in confiding to you the command of my army i intend that every one shall obey you, and i will be the first to set an example of obedience." for a time the allies, which consisted of english, hanoverian, dutch and austrian troops--very few flemings taking part in this campaign on either side--were in doubt whether saxe intended to attack mons, st. ghislain or tournai. with his usual rapidity of action, the french leader, when his forces suddenly appeared before tournai, had that city completely invested before the allies knew where he was. it was early in the month of may, and very rainy, when the allied army started from brussels and marched through the mud toward the beleaguered city. on the evening of may tenth, eleven days after the siege had begun, they arrived within sight of the quintuple towers of the cathedral and the adjacent belfry. their position was southeast of the city, on the route to st. ghislain and mons, and the towers were therefore sharply outlined against the sunset as the army, standing on rising ground, gazed across the rolling country that was to be the morrow's battlefield. saxe had made the most of the slowness of the allies' advance by choosing the ground where he would give battle, and strengthening his position with field redoubts, using the little village of fontenoy as a base. the allies attacked from the direction of the little village of vezon, while louis xv watched the battle from a hill near the intersection of the mons road with that leading from ramecroix to antoing. the attack began at two o'clock in the morning, the english advancing in a hollow square, and it was not until after two in the afternoon that saxe, after bringing every man in his forces into action, had the satisfaction of seeing the great square falter and turn slowly back--halting every hundred yards to beat off its foes. the fiercest unit in the french army was a brigade of irish volunteers who fought like tigers, the men flinging themselves against the stubborn english square again and again. a learned historian, who has devoted more than eighty pages to a description of the battle, fails to give so clear an idea of its decisive moment as does the poet thomas osborne davis in half as many lines: "thrice at the huts of fontenoy the english column failed, and twice the lines of saint antoine the dutch in vain assailed; for town and slope were filled with fort and flanking battery, and well they swept the english ranks and dutch auxiliary. as vainly through de barri's wood the british soldiers burst, the french artillery drove them back, diminished and dispersed. the bloody duke of cumberland beheld with anxious eye, and ordered up his last reserves, his latest chance to try. on fontenoy, on fontenoy, how fast his generals ride! and mustering came his chosen troops, like clouds at eventide. "six thousand english veterans in stately column tread; their cannon blaze in front and flank, lord hay is at their head. steady they step a-down the slope, steady they climb the hill, steady they load, steady they fire, moving right onward still, betwixt the wood and fontenoy, as through a furnace blast, through rampart, trench and palisade, and bullets showering fast; and on the open plain above they rose and kept their course, with ready fire and grim resolve that mocked at hostile force; past fontenoy, past fontenoy, while thinner grew their ranks, they broke, as broke the zuyder zee through holland's ocean banks. * * * * * "'push on my household cavalry!' king louis madly cried. to death they rush, but rude their shock; not unavenged they died. on through the camp the column trod--king louis turns his rein. 'not yet, my liege,' saxe interposed; 'the irish troops remain.' 'lord claire,' he said, 'you have your wish; there are your saxon foes!' the marshal almost smiles to see, so furiously he goes, how fierce the looks these exiles wear, who're wont to be so gay! the treasured wrongs of fifty years are in their hearts to-day. on fontenoy, on fontenoy, nor ever yet elsewhere, rushed on to fight a nobler band than these proud exiles were. * * * * * "like lions leaping at a fold, when mad with hunger's pang, right up against the english line the irish exiles sprang; bright was their steel, 'tis bloody now, their guns are filled with gore; through shattered ranks and severed files and trampled flags they tore. the english strove with desperate strength; paused, rallied, staggered, fled; the green hillside is matted close with dying and with dead. across the plain and far away passed on that hideous wrack while cavalier and fantassin rush in upon their track. on fontenoy, on fontenoy, like eagles in the sun, with bloody plumes the irish stand--the field is fought and won!" on our first day's visit the professor devoted most of the time to the cathedral and the remains that still exist of the earliest period of tournai's long and varied history. as we approached the city, past the vast excavations around antoing connected with the lime pits and kilns and cement works that there abound, we could see the five spires of the cathedral in the distance. antoing is only a mile and a half from fontenoy, and the battlefield--marked by a monument erected in --is happily free from the pits that scar so much of the countryside thereabouts, and no doubt looks to-day very much as it did on the day of the great fight. the cathedral of tournai is the oldest, the most vast, and decidedly the most imposing religious edifice in belgium. its five great towers dominate the entire city and are visible for miles across the surrounding plains. the oldest portions of the present structure date from about , when the inhabitants of tournai returned after the invasion of the norsemen. the side porches of the naves belong to this earliest period. in a fire destroyed the upper part of the cathedral and it was shortly after this that the towers were built. there were originally seven of these, the one in the centre being a gigantic square structure rising above all the others. the group as it then stood was without a rival in europe, but the two towers to the east of the central one were removed with the ancient choir and the height of the central tower reduced. in their present form, however, the towers compose a magnificent assemblage. [illustration: general view of tournai and the five-towered cathedral.] the four outer towers, which surround the now much shorter central one, are two hundred and seventy-two feet high, and, although apparently alike at the first glance, are not entirely so--a circumstance that enhances rather than detracts from the picturesqueness of the group. placed at the crossing of the nave and the transept these towers, from without, suggest the fantastic idea that instead of one there are two cathedrals, each facing the other, and with the central tower uniting them. in reality, the edifice is large enough to make two cathedrals and more, the interior being four hundred and twenty-six feet in length and two hundred and twenty feet in width across the transept. built at different epochs, this imposing edifice constitutes a veritable history in stone of the development of mediæval architecture. the nave was completed in and the transept in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. both are in the romanesque style, while the choir--originally romanesque--was rebuilt in - in the early gothic style. it is both longer and almost fifty feet higher than the older nave--a fact that leads the observer looking at the structure from without to mistake it for the nave itself. in addition to the main edifice there is a small parish chapel built against the north side of the cathedral, a gothic edifice dating from - , while attached to it by a passage over a picturesque arch called _le fausseporte_ is the bishop's palace. here there is another chapel, the chapel of the bishops, dating from the twelfth century. like most religious structures in belgium, the cathedral was for many years surrounded, and almost entirely obscured, by small private houses of all kinds built up against it. these have now been removed, although there are still a few more that we were told were destined to come down in order to give a better view of the structure from one side. there are three entrances, of which two are noteworthy. one of these, called the porte mantille, is on the north side facing the place des acacias, and dates from the twelfth century. it is the oldest part of the exterior, and looks it, the round arch of the doorway being surrounded by quaint romanesque sculptures. the winds of seven hundred winters have worn these bas-reliefs down considerably, but they are still surprisingly clear, the faces, armour and costumes of the figures being quite distinct. they are among the oldest stone carvings in europe and show that the art of sculpture was practised at tournai within a century or two after the retirement of the norsemen. even more interesting is the fine façade just behind the groined porch that faces the place de l'evêché. from a distance this end of the cathedral is hardly pleasing, the sixteenth-century porch concealing the early romanesque façade and being out of harmony with it. after passing within the arches, however, the visitor forgets all this and is lost in wonder and admiration at the wealth of stone carving that decorates the walls on both sides of the main entrance. there is no such decoration in stone to be seen in all flanders, for the churches of tournai escaped the fury of the iconoclasts--tournai, at that time, belonging to france. here the sculptors of tournai have achieved a veritable masterpiece. the work is in three tiers and belongs to three different periods. the lowest tier, carved in blue stone quarried in tournai itself or near by, is the most remarkable, and is regarded by the critics as the finest in artistic merit. it dates from the thirteenth century and represents adam and eve and various prophets and fathers of the church. the second zone is in white stone, now grey with age, and was the work of the sixteenth century. it comprises a series of small panels carved in bas-relief, those at the left depicting--so the authorities at tournai tell us--a religious procession, and those at the right various incidents in the history of king childeric. the highest tier comprises a series of large statues in high relief of the apostles, the virgin mary, st. piat and st. eleuthereus. although the figures are boldly conceived and well executed, and, in the main, fairly well preserved, they are artistically less important than the others. in its entirety, however, this entrance--"_le portail_," "_the_ entrance," as the people of tournai style it--is a place of wonderful interest, a place to be visited again and again under different lights and in different moods. passing into the interior of the cathedral the visitor is again given the impression that here he is not in one church but at least two and possibly more. the ancient nave, with its vaulted roof supported by three series of romanesque arches placed one above another, seems somehow to be complete by itself and to have no relation to the far-off choir which is partially cut off from it by an elaborately carved rood loft, which--in its flamboyant renaissance style--seems out of place and tends to mar the general effect of the vast interior. the pillars in the nave are not uniform, but have a wide diversity of capitals--some decorated with the lotus or conventional foliage, others with beasts or birds or quaint, fantastic heads. at the intersection of the nave and transept the great pillars supporting the central tower are of tremendous proportions and the view looking upward from this point is one of extraordinary grandeur. here, too, the rood loft, or _jubé_, can be studied to best advantage. the work of corneille floris of antwerp and executed in , it is undoubtedly one of the masterpieces of sculpture of its period. the doric columns are of red marble, the architectural outlines of the structure in black marble, and the medallions and other bas-reliefs in white. passing through one of the three arches of this portal we come to the noble choir. this is the most beautiful portion of the cathedral, its vast height and the richly coloured light that streams downward from its fine stained-glass windows creating a very atmosphere of majesty and inspiration. while we were inspecting the choir and the ambulatory, which contains several paintings and carvings of no little interest, the professor discovered that the hours had been slipping by faster than we had imagined and as there were several relics of the earliest period of the city's history that we wished to visit on our first day we decided to betake ourselves to the grande place and postpone our visit to the far-famed treasury of the cathedral to another day. we found a little place to dine directly facing the belfry, and with the princess of epinoy, in her coat of mail and brandishing her battle-axe, standing on her monument hard by. the place is a very large one, but most of the houses facing it have been so modernized as to lose much of their mediæval aspect, although the ancient cloth hall--which has recently been restored--no doubt looks much as it did when in its prime. the belfry was naturally our first stopping place after we had done justice to the excellent dinner in half a dozen courses that two francs had secured for us. this edifice dates from , and stands slightly back from the apex of the triangle formed by the grande place. according to some authorities the peculiar shape of the place is due to the intersection of two roman roads at the point where the belfry now stands. externally the tower, which is two hundred and thirty-six feet high, strikingly resembles the belfry of ghent. within, after climbing a winding stairway for some distance, we were shown several large rooms with heavy timber ceilings that were once used as prison cells. they looked fairly comfortable, as compared with the dungeons in the château des comtes, and one of them was then in use by the small son of the concierge as a play-room and was littered with toys--mostly of his own manufacture, apparently. the doors to these "cells" were of massive construction and locked by keys nearly a foot long, or at least it seemed so, though we did not measure them. the view from the top of the edifice is picturesque and well worth the climb. a melodious set of chimes is installed near the top, which ring every half hour. the big bell, _la bancloque_, which called the people to arms, was cast in , and must have been rung quite frequently during the stirring days when tournai was being fought for by armies from half the countries in europe. [illustration: the belfry, tournai.] from the belfry we visited the ancient church of st. brice which stands in one of the very oldest quarters of the city. almost facing the church are two buildings known as the roman houses. although hardly dating from the time of the romans they are undoubtedly very ancient. only the outer walls, however, remain of the original construction, the interiors dating from a much later period. one of these houses was untenanted when we were there, and the other was an estaminet. we entered it and ordered drinks, and asked if we could see the up-stairs rooms, but apparently they were not very tidy as the landlady declined to show them, assuring us that there was nothing to see. at no. on the same street, rue barre-saint-brice, is another estaminet in a house of very ancient construction. after quite a search we found the caretaker of the church. as old as the oldest part of the cathedral this structure is a remarkable example of romanesque architecture. externally it looks from the rear like three stone barns built close together, but its square tower is lofty and imposing, although much injured by a silly sort of hat which was stuck on early in the last century. the most interesting object within was a quaint tournai tapestry representing a variety of biblical subjects. in the year archeologists and historians throughout europe were greatly excited over one of the most interesting finds of ancient relics ever recorded. in the house now no. on the terrace saint-brice, on one side of the church, was dug up at a depth of eight feet a veritable museum of arms and jewels since known as the treasure of childeric i, whose marriage with basina was preceded by so many portents. more than a hundred gold coins of the byzantine emperors were found, several hundred golden bees, a quantity of silver money of great antiquity, divers clasps and buckles--all mingled with the remains of human bones, which may have been those of the merovingian king and his imperious spouse. one ring bore a bust of a man with long hair holding a lance, with the inscription _childerici regis_. after passing through various hands the collection came into the possession of louis xiv, and eventually into the bibliotheque royale at paris. here, in , it was stolen. the thieves were pursued and threw their booty into the seine, where a few pieces were afterwards recovered and are now in the numismatic collection of the bibliotheque nationale at paris. not far from this interesting old quarter are some picturesque remains of the ancient city walls, two ivy covered towers facing a moat in which there is still some water. these are called the marvis towers, and were erected during the thirteenth century. on our way back to the station we made a little detour in order to see the curious _pont des trous_--literally "the bridge of the holes," meaning loopholes--the most ancient specimen of mediæval military architecture in belgium. the tower on the side farthest from the centre of the city was built prior to , the other in , and the bridge with its three ogival arches in . across the bridge at short intervals are narrow loopholes to enable the defenders to fire at foes approaching by way of the river scheldt. one of the towers is said to contain a fine vaulted room, but as we were unable to find any one who knew who had the key to the little door at its foot we did not see this room or the passage-way across the bridge. between this bridge and the railway line we noticed a high stone wall of ancient construction which, from its location, may also have been a fragment of the city walls. further on is the henry viii tower, which was built by the english monarch after he captured the city in , as part of a citadel intended to hold the citizens in check. the tower is slightly over seventy-five feet in diameter and the walls at the base are said to be twenty feet thick. the rest of the citadel has long since disappeared and this vestige of it is now the centre of a pleasant little park much frequented on sunny days by nursemaids and children. amid these peaceful surroundings it was, when we saw it, hard to picture the old tower as having ever been the scene of fierce conflicts with furious foes striving to batter a breach in its massive walls or scale it with long ladders, while its defenders fired volley after volley through its tiny windows and flung down big stones or boiling tar from its parapet. the strategy of the early part of the present war did not call for a protracted defence of tournai, with the result that, as this is being written, the old city is reported to have suffered little or no damage. in view of the frequency with which it had been contended for in former wars it is to be hoped that this one--which has so far been more destructive than all previous wars put together--will pass quaint old tournai by and that the great cathedral with its five towers and marvellous stone carvings may be spared for generations yet to come. chapter xiii seven centuries of tournaisian art the citizens of tournai of to-day have given to their beautiful city the name of "ville d'art." to be sure, the same title is claimed for bruges and ghent, for antwerp and malines. the first two are justly proud of their many beautiful monuments of the past and their associations with the work of the early flemish painters, antwerp of its connection with the later development of painting in flanders and the most artistic of the early printers, malines of its lace and its splendid examples of religious architecture and art. tournai, however, has a broader title to the phrase than any of them in that the artistic activities of its gifted sons have not been confined to one medium or two, but have been independently developed along half a score of different lines and during a period covering more than seven centuries. not only is the city a rich repository of the artistic productions of past ages, but it is still more notable in having been one of the most prolific producers of beautiful and artistic things. to the true connoisseur a stay of several weeks in this fine old border town would be none too long to afford opportunity to study all of its collections and rummage in out-of-the-way corners for stray specimens that the dealers and bargain hunters have overlooked. unfortunately, neither the professor nor i can lay claim to more than a rudimentary knowledge of such matters and in the chronicle of our rambles in the city of art there may be much to make the judicious grieve. it is not, however, so much in order to give an account of what we saw that this chapter is written as in the hope that it may suggest how much there is to see for those whose eyes are better trained and more discriminating than ours. tournai looms large in the history of early flemish painting, for it was here that the next important group of masters after the van eycks appeared. as early as the first half of the fourteenth century paintings on cloth were executed at tournai, followed by what was termed "flat painting" for panels. about the first of the great artists whose names have come down to us settled at tournai. this was robert campin. he acquired the right of citizenship in and died in , being thus a contemporary of the van eycks. he is known to have painted many works, but until recently none of these had been definitely identified. now, thanks to the earnest and patient study of belgian scholars, he seems likely to be given his rightful place as one of the greatest of the early flemish masters--after having been completely forgotten for nearly five hundred years! his most important work is an altarpiece in the possession of the mérode family at brussels, while the frankfort museum and the prado at madrid contain some fine examples of his skill. it is known that robert campin was the master of two other tournai artists, rogier van der weyden and jacques daret, of whom the former soon far surpassed his teacher in renown. daret entered the atelier of robert campin in , when a lad of fourteen, obtained the title of apprentice in , and became a member of the guild of st. luke in . one of his pictures, a panel showing the nativity, was in the collection of the late mr. j. pierpont morgan. van der weyden, whose walloon name was roger de la pasture, became one of campin's apprentices in --the same date as daret--and was admitted to the guild of the painters at tournai in . he spent much of his time at brussels, however, and is sometimes considered as belonging to that city rather than tournai. a "descent from the cross" now at the escorial is his most famous picture. it was painted for the archers' company at louvain and a copy of it, made by the master himself, was hung in the church of st. pierre in that city. about van der weyden was commissioned to paint four large panels for the hall of justice in the new hotel de ville at brussels. two of these showed trajan, the just emperor, and the other two depicted the justice of herkenbald, and for more than two centuries the series was regarded as the finest group of paintings in the low countries. they were destroyed at the bombardment of brussels in , but tapestries copied from the originals still exist in the museum at berne, having been captured by the swiss when charles the bold was defeated at granson. in the artist began what in the judgment of the art critics was his most important work, an altarpiece representing "the last judgment" for the chapel of a hospital at beaune, near dijon in burgundy, where it still remains. the museum at antwerp contains a triptych of the seven sacraments by this master, showing the interior of a cathedral suggestive of that of tournai--and, in fact, it was for the bishop of tournai that it was originally painted. nearly every important art gallery in europe contains one or more works by van der weyden, who not only was very industrious, receiving numerous orders from the great men of his day, but fortunate in having most of his masterpieces preserved from the destruction that overtook so much of the work of the early flemish artists. the former cloth hall of tournai, erected in , was completely and very successfully restored in , and is now used to house an admirable little collection of paintings and a museum of antiquities. the paintings are, for the most part, the work of tournai artists, and most of its three hundred and eighty titles are of local rather than international interest. there are several works, however, of the highest rank, and the museum as a whole serves admirably to illustrate the fact that the traditions and inspiration of the first great masters of flemish painting, whose work has made the name of tournai illustrious for all time, have never been wholly forgotten in their native city. to be sure, there is nothing to represent robert campin or jacques daret, nor had the caretaker ever heard of either of them--a fact hardly to be wondered at, since the works of the former have not yet been fully identified by the critics. van der weyden is credited with a "descent from the cross" in the museum catalogue, but many critics hold this to be a copy of a lost work by hugo van der goes. those in charge of the museum have wisely included some excellent photographs of the more famous works by van der weyden in the leading european galleries--a plan that might well be followed with respect to the other notable works by tournaisian artists. the masterpiece of the collection is the well known "last honours to counts egmont and horn," by louis gallait, the greatest of tournai's modern artists, whose statue stands in the little park before the railway station. a replica of this fine but gruesome work was painted by the artist for the antwerp museum. the tournai museum contains nearly a dozen other works bequeathed to the city by this painter, including several admirable portraits--a branch in which he was especially skilful. the powerful "abdication of charles v" by this master hangs in the brussels museum, and his notable "last moments of the comte d'egmont" in the museum of berlin. [illustration: a triptych of the seven sacraments by rogier van der weyden.] equally fine in a very different way, but less widely known, is a spirited painting by a comparatively unknown artist, van severdonck, representing the princess of epinoy valiantly defending a breach in the walls during the siege of tournai in . we were unable to obtain a photograph of this admirable work as it is so hung that it is difficult to get a good light upon it. a fine portrait of st. donatian is attributed in the catalogue to jan gossaert or mabuse (from maubeuge where he was born). by some critics it is assigned to bellegambe, who was born at douai in french flanders and was a contemporary of gossaert. the museum also contains works by hennebicq, who painted the historical picture of philip augustus granting a charter to the city of tournai in the hotel de ville; hennequin, the teacher of gallait; stallaert, whose "death of dido" is in the museum of brussels, and several other natives of tournai who are less well known. from robert campin, who settled at tournai about and died in , to louis gallait, whose three great masterpieces were painted between and , and to stallaert and hennebicq, who laid aside their brushes in the first decade of the present century, there extends a period of five hundred years during which the noble art of painting has been practised and taught at tournai by men of commanding genius--a record in the history of art that no town in the world of similar size has ever equalled. it is worthy of remark, in passing, that the art of sculpture which was practised at tournai with such notable success as early as the thirteenth century, and steadily thereafter for several hundred years, has not survived to the present day. there are no modern sculptors in the list of tournaisian artists, but the cathedral is a veritable museum of the stone carvings of the past. the men of the chisel, moreover, must be credited with giving some of the inspiration that made the work of the early artists of the brush so notable. van der weyden, particularly, shows the influence of sculpture and a marked appreciation of its effects in the framework and backgrounds of many of his pictures. moreover, for several centuries the sculptors of tournai enjoyed a renown that extended throughout flanders and northern france. in the churches of tournai and of many other cities examples of their work can be seen that show a continuous record of achievement from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries. closely allied to the carvers of stone were those who worked in metals and of these tournai had its full share. a street of the goldsmiths (rue des orfévres) near the grande place indicates the importance of that industry in ancient times. the best example of this branch of tournaisian art is to be found in the treasury of the cathedral. this is the superb chasse, or reliquary of st. eleuthereus, which is considered to be one of the finest products of the goldsmith's art during the middle ages. while the name of the maker of this masterpiece is unknown, it is unquestionably of tournaisian origin and was completed in . built in the form of a sarcophagus, and made of silver, heavily gilded, it is almost bewildering in the richness and intricacy of its decorations and filigrees. at one end is a large seated figure of christ, at the other of st. eleuthereus, while the sides contain figures of the virgin and the apostles. around, above and below these chief figures the artist has placed a labyrinth of minor ones, of churches and landscapes, of columns, arches and architectural embellishments, all carved with a richness of design that cannot be adequately described. still older, for it dates from , is the chasse de notre dame, another treasure of the cathedral. this was made by nicolas de verdun, a citizen of tournai, and is of wood, painted and adorned with curious bas-reliefs representing incidents from the new testament. a third chasse, which on account of its great value is kept under lock and key in the treasury, like that of st. eleuthereus, is called the chasse des damoiseaux. it is made of silver and bears in relief, and enamelled, the arms of some of the patrician families of the city in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, when the confrerie des damoiseaux held many brilliant tournaments in tournai and other cities. this chasse, the keeper told us, was not made at tournai, but at bruges. although very beautiful, it is not considered so notable a work of art as its companion. during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries tournai rivalled dinant as a producer of fine copper and brassware, and in this industry the artistic instincts of its citizens soon led them to produce pieces of remarkable distinction. one of the finest of these is the baptismal font in the church of notre dame at hal, made in . the artisans of tournai turned out a prodigious number of fine products of the copper-smith's art during the two centuries mentioned--lamps, candlesticks, chandeliers, funeral monuments, crucifixes and other religious articles; and, in fact, it was not until the eighteenth century that this industry declined, only to give place to the manufacture of gilded bronze ware. the cathedral and the museum of antiquities contain some choice examples of another great tournaisian art industry of the middle ages--the manufacture of rich tapestries. during the fourteenth century the renown of the products of tournai in this field was already considerable, and between and its artisans surpassed even those of arras. in richness of colouring, diversity and sprightliness of subjects, beauty of design and workmanship, the tapestries of tournai rank among the finest art productions of the middle ages. in , when louis xi seized arras and dispersed its workmen, many of them fled to tournai, audenaerde and brussels, establishing the industry in those cities. tournai, where it had already made great progress, was the first to benefit by this emigration and for a time became the leading tapestry-making centre in europe. it was the school of tournai that was the true forerunner of the still more famous tapestry weavers of brussels in depicting historical and mythological scenes of the utmost vivacity and richness, while the ateliers of audenaerde specialised more largely in quieter pastoral scenes and landscapes. philip the good, the most fastidious connoisseur of his age, ordered several tapestries at tournai, including the history of gideon in eight panels to decorate the hall of the order of the golden fleece. in the cathedral the most notable of the tournai tapestries illustrates vividly the story of joseph, while one of the best in the museum depicts the history of abraham--the angels announcing the birth of isaac. the border of a tournai tapestry usually bears the mark of the ateliers of that city, a castle tower, which is plainly to be seen on the one last mentioned. the cathedral also possesses a remarkable tapestry of arras, made by pierrot féré in , and depicting incidents connected with the lives of st. piat and st. eleuthereus and the plague at tournai. this masterpiece originally hung above the stalls in the choir, and more than half of it has been destroyed at one time or another. the remainder has been placed in a continuous panel, like a panorama, around a semi-circular chapel back of the treasury, and constitutes one of the most curious relics of the mediæval art to be seen in europe. according to some authorities the designs for this work were drawn by one of the artists of the tournai school of painters from which van der weyden subsequently received his instruction. at all events the scenes are extremely naïve, and the artist has inserted sundry little devils who are giving expression to their contempt of the various religious ceremonies depicted in some of the sections in a manner that, to say the least, is most unconventional. the wars and troubles of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries very nearly extinguished the art industries of tournai, the number of master-weavers of tapestries declining from two hundred and fourteen between and to forty in , and twenty-nine in . it was only a few years after the last date, however, when a new art industry became established in the city. in a native of lille, named françois péterink, began the manufacture at tournai of fine porcelains. dinner sets elaborately decorated and daintily formed, vases, statues and statuettes of "biscuit" equal to the finest products of sèvres, saxony or england, were turned out in considerable quantities for more than a century, and the porcelains of tournai became so renowned that princes vied with one another to secure these works of art. it is still possible for the collector to secure some of these fine products, the trademarks being a rude castle tower or two crossed swords with tiny crosses at their intersecting angles. in the finest tableware these are usually in gold, but red or some other colour should not be despised, as the genuine tournai ware is becoming rare and already brings high prices. these marks, it should be added, have been imitated, and the amateur will do well to consult expert advice before purchasing. still another noteworthy art industry of tournai merits at least a word in passing. from the very earliest period after the art of making stained or painted glass was invented the ateliers of the "ville d'art" have excelled in this fine branch of handicraft. during the fifteenth century tournaisian artists made the seven stained glass windows in the transept of the cathedral that depict in glowing colours the history of the contest between childeric and sigebert and the donations and privileges granted to the bishop and the cathedral by chilperic. not only are these scenes of the utmost interest historically, but the student of costumes and customs during the middle ages and the student of early flemish art will both find in them abundant material for study. it has already been said that the cathedral of tournai is in itself a history of flemish architecture covering a period of well-nigh a thousand years. it is also a veritable museum of flemish art, and especially of tournaisian art, in almost all of its many branches. in the eighteenth century the apparently inextinguishable artistic spirit of tournai found expression in the production of carpets that recalled the best period of its tapestry weavers. the carpet in the cabinet of napoleon at fontainebleau and the celebrated carpet of the legion of honour, which was shown in the french pavilion at the recent exposition at turin, were made at tournai during this period. at the same epoch the goldsmiths and coppersmiths, whose activities had never entirely ceased during the centuries of trouble, began once more to turn out their artistic products in considerable quantities, nor have these ateliers entirely ceased operations at tournai to this day. truly the name "ville d'art" has been fairly won and kept by this little city, if seven centuries of almost uninterrupted artistic endeavour and achievement count for anything! it is a somewhat remarkable feature of modern belgium, however, that while its cities abound in beautiful and artistic things, the common people--both the working classes and the _bourgeoisie_, or fairly prosperous middle-class of small merchants and manufacturers--seem to have very little interest in pictures or works of art, and little or no desire to acquire them. the average belgian home is utterly bare of ornament, save perhaps a crucifix or a religious image or chromo--if these can be termed ornamental. reproductions of the fine masterpieces of painting and statuary in which this little country is so rich are incredibly scarce and difficult to procure--save only the very famous pictures, of which copies have been made to sell to tourists in the larger cities. even these the native belgian apparently never buys, and the art stores carry very few coloured prints of moderate price such as are to be seen everywhere in the united states. in fact, of those we saw a considerable proportion were of american manufacture. of course these remarks do not allude to the stores handling original paintings by ancient and modern masters, costly water-colours and etchings. these are purchased in belgium, as everywhere else, by the wealthy class, whose homes are as rich and artistic as any in the world. it is the absence of interest by the two classes first mentioned that seems to me so remarkable in a country that for centuries has been passionately devoted to art in all its manifestations, and, for its population and area, is without doubt the world's largest producer of beautiful things. on the other hand, the belgian of even the humblest social standing is invariably fond of flowers. in the cities every woman on her way to or from market buys a bouquet for the table, while in the country there is no garden without its little flower-bed, or flower-bordered paths, or rambling rosebushes climbing up the high brick garden wall or arching over the entrance. this shows an intense and inborn love of the beautiful. why is it, then, that men and women whose daily lives are spent in creating beautiful things--rare lace, fine wood-carvings, rich brass or copper ware--are content with homes that are as bare of ornament as any prison cell? chapter xiv the fall of charles the bold--memling at bruges there are few careers in history more fascinating, more spectacular, more dramatic, than that of the last duke of burgundy who ruled over flanders--charles the bold. heir to dominions that included all of what is now belgium and holland, nearly a third of france, and portions of what is now germany, charles was by far the most powerful of the feudal lords of his day, surpassing the king of france, and even the emperor in the splendour and wealth of his court and in the number of feudal princes and knights whom he could summon to his standard. he not only had dreams of becoming a king himself, but was, on one occasion, offered a crown--the emperor frederick iii proposing to make him king of brabant. this he refused--a serious error, for he could easily have extended his royal title, once legally acquired, over the rest of his dominions. in "all the pomp and pageantry of power," however, charles was every inch a king--magnificent in his hospitality, exceedingly ceremonious and punctilious in court etiquette, and fond of showing his vast power on every occasion. on the other hand, he was profoundly ignorant of the fact that the real source of his wealth and strength was in the great industrial communes of flanders, brabant and liége, and the cruelty with which he destroyed the cities of liége and dinant cost him the affection and good will of all his people. his great antagonist was louis xi of france--also one of the most picturesque figures in history--but the exact antithesis of charles in almost every respect. while charles never received a delegation unless seated on a throne, the loftiness and grandeur of which filled every eye, louis dressed plainly--often wearing the grey cloak of a pilgrim, and almost invariably a pilgrim's hat, with a leaden image of some saint in the hat-band. on one occasion, when he paid a visit to his subjects in normandy, riding in company with the gorgeous duke of burgundy, the peasants exclaimed, "is that a king of france? why, the whole outfit, man and horse, is not worth twenty francs!" charles, like his father, held his ducal court wherever he might happen to be--both princes often carrying a lengthy train of baggage, including even furniture and tapestries, from one castle to another. bruges, however, is identified with some of the most important events of his career, and he held his court there much oftener than at the ancestral capital of burgundy, dijon. during the last years of the reign of his father, philip the good, charles acted as regent, and it was during this period of his rule that he astonished and terrified europe by the ferocity with which he avenged an insult to his parents' honour by utterly destroying the prosperous city of dinant and slaughtering most of its male inhabitants. on his accession to the ducal throne, however, the great communes of ghent, bruges, malines and brussels were able to extort from their new duke all of the privileges that his father had taken away during his long reign. charles granted these with fury in his heart, vowing openly that before long he would humble these presumptuous burghers. fortunately for the liberties of the flemish towns, their duke's attentions were speedily called elsewhere and he found no opportunity to carry out his threats. fomented by the emissaries of louis xi, the turbulent citizens of liége--already a large and prosperous manufacturing town, as advanced in the metallurgical arts as the flemish cities were in the textile industries--rose in insurrection against their bishop-prince, an ally of charles. with an army of one hundred thousand feudal levies charles quickly suppressed this revolt. the following year louis ventured to place himself in charles' power by paying him a visit at his powerful castle of péronne. this famous historical incident is brilliantly described by sir walter scott in _quentin durward_. to the king's alarm and very extreme personal danger, the people of liége took the moment of this visit to rise again. charles was furious, and, not unjustly considering louis to be the author of this attack on his authority, had that monarch locked up in a room in the castle. nor was he placated until louis signed a treaty still further extending the power of the dukes of burgundy in france, and agreed to join charles in the expedition to punish his unruly subjects. this time the city after being captured was given over to the half-savage burgundian soldiery to be sacked, some forty thousand of its inhabitants perishing. returning to flanders, charles bitterly denounced the cautious policy of the burghers in refusing to pay tax levies for his armies unless they knew how the money was to be spent. "heavy and hard flemish heads that you are," he cried to a delegation from ghent, "you always remain fixed in your bad opinions, but know that others are as wise as you. you flemings, with your hard heads, have always either despised or hated your princes. i prefer being hated to being despised. take care to attempt nothing against my highness and lordship, for i am powerful enough to resist you. it would be the story of the iron and the earthen pots." presently louis, repudiating the recent treaty as being extorted by force, invaded charles' dominions and captured several cities on the somme. charles sought to retake them and was repulsed both at amiens and beauvais, the defenders at the latter place being urged to stronger resistance by jeanne hachette, one of the heroic figures of french history. charles now turned his attention to the german side of his dominions, and here also the implacable enmity of louis stirred up enemies for him in every direction. in alsace the people rose in revolt and slew the cruel governor charles had set over them, while the swiss defeated the marshal of burgundy. charles set forth to re-establish his authority with an army of thirty thousand men, the flower of his feudal levies. the swiss, alarmed, sued for peace, assuring the powerful duke that there was more gold in the spurs and bridles of his horsemen than could be found in all of switzerland. charles, however, was bent on punishing these impudent mountaineers and ordered the invasion of their country. the defenders of the little fortress of granson surrendered on the approach of his army, but in flagrant violation of the terms he had just granted the duke of burgundy ordered the entire garrison to be hanged. this act was speedily avenged, for the swiss a few days later utterly routed the burgundian forces just outside of granson. the mountaineers in this battle advanced in a solid phalanx against which charles' horsemen and archers could make no impression. the blow to the pride and prestige of the duke was far more serious than the loss of the engagement and the scattering of his army. with great difficulty he raised fresh levies, the flemish communes granting aid only on condition that no further subsidies should be demanded for six years to come. the battle of granson took place march , . by june he had raised another and a larger army, and on the nd met the swiss again at morat. on reviewing his host before the battle, charles is said to have exclaimed, "by st. george, we shall now have vengeance!" but the vengeance was not to be always on one side, for the swiss, making their battle-cry "granson! granson!" in remembrance of their countrymen, whom charles had treacherously slain, almost annihilated his army. the swiss showed no mercy and took no prisoners, while the number of killed on the burgundian side amounted to eighteen thousand. charles escaped with his life, accompanied by a small body of his knights. for a time it seemed as if his rage and despair at these two defeats would cause the proud duke to lose his reason, nor could his threats or entreaties secure more assistance from flanders. he managed, however, to keep the field, and with a small force sat down to besiege nancy--which had been lost to him again after morat. the town held out stubbornly, as all towns did, now that charles' cruelty and treachery to those who surrendered were known, and the burgundian forces suffered much hardship from the cold, for it was now mid-winter. on january th charles gave battle to an advancing force of swiss, was again crushed and the greater part of his little army killed. after the battle the duke could not be found, and no man knew what had become of him. the following day a page reported that he had seen his master fall, and could find the place. he led the searchers to a little pond called the etang de st. jean. here, by the border of a little stream, they found a dozen despoiled bodies, naked and frozen in the mud and ice. one by one they turned these over. "alas," said the little page presently, "here is my good master!" disfigured, with two fearful death wounds, and with part of his face eaten by wolves, it was indeed the body of the great duke. even his enemies did honour to the dead prince. clothed in a robe of white satin, with a crimson satin mantle, his body was borne in state into the town he had vainly sought to conquer, and placed in a velvet bed under a canopy of black satin. his remains were interred in the church of st. george at nancy, where they remained for more than fifty years. the emperor, charles v, then had them brought to bruges and placed in the church of st. donatian. his son, philip ii, removed them, five years later, to the wonderful shrine in the church of notre dame where they remained until the french revolution, when they were scattered to the winds as the bones of a tyrant. the sarcophagus, however, of the duke and his gentle daughter, marie, still remain, as we have seen, and are among the finest in existence. the death of the powerful duke of burgundy made a profound impression throughout europe, and still remains, as mr. boulger in his admirable _history of belgium_ says, "one of the tragedies of all history." his downfall was mainly due to the implacable hostility of louis xi, whom he had once publicly humiliated at péronne and affected at all times to despise. many of the swiss and germans who fought against him in his last fatal campaign were hired mercenaries in the pay of the king of france, while some of his most trusted followers and advisers were traitors in constant correspondence with his wily and unscrupulous antagonist. had charles sought to conciliate his great flemish communes instead of intimidate them his reign might have been prolonged by their powerful aid, and his dream of establishing a kingdom of burgundy have been realised. as it was, he failed signally in most of his undertakings, and with all his fury and vainglory and cruelty lost in ten years the huge power that his father had taken fifty years to accumulate. marie, charles' only daughter, was left by his sudden and unexpected death "the greatest heiress in christendom," but also well-nigh helpless to rule over or even hold her widespread dominions. to prevent the king of france from taking advantage of this situation her flemish counsellors advised her to accept an offer of marriage from maximilian, son of the emperor frederick iii, and in august of the same year that saw the battle of granson they were quietly married at bruges. this event made flanders a still smaller unit than before in a vast aggregation of states that in the course of events was being combined under the rule of the house of hapsburg, nor did marie's untimely death, less than five years later, in any wise delay the process of consolidation. bruges, during the stormy reign of charles the bold and the quarter of a century of anxiety and troubles for its burghers that followed after the battle of nancy, was steadily losing its population and material prosperity, and, at the same time, acquiring its greatest claim to fame--for it was between the year and that memling, the foremost of the early flemish painters, executed the wonderful series of masterpieces that have come down to us. and it is to bruges that the student of art must come to see the famous fleming at his best, for there are more of his important works here than in all the rest of the world put together. in common with many others in the early gothic school very little is known of the early life of hans memling, but the recent discovery in an old manuscript of a note stating that he was born at or near mayence gives a most interesting clue both as to his birthplace and the origin of his name. in the rhineland district near mayence there is a small tributary to the great river called memling, and a village named memlingen. it is probable, therefore, that--just as the brothers van eyck called themselves hubert and jean of eyck--so their most famous successor called himself hans of memling. for lack of authentic details regarding his early career legend has supplied a most interesting history--that he was wild and dissolute in his younger days, was wounded while fighting with charles the bold at nancy, dragged himself to the door of the hospital of st. jean at bruges, and was there tenderly nursed back to health and strength, in gratitude for which he painted for the kind sisters the little gallery of fine works that are still preserved in the original chapter house of the institution. all of this romance, and that of his love for one of the sisters, makes a charming background for many of the accounts of his life and work, but the painstaking scholarship of modern days has shown that at the time when he was supposed to be lying wounded and destitute at the hospital he was in fact very prosperous, having lately bought the house in which he lived and his name appearing as one of the leading citizens of whom the commune had borrowed money. it is perhaps pleasanter on the whole to think of the artist as rich and honoured instead of at the other extreme of the social scale--but the legend is, after all, so much more romantic that we cannot give it up without regret. at bruges the first spot for the admirer of memling to visit is, of course, the hospital of st. jean, and at the hospital the first thing to see is the world-famous shrine of st. ursula. little it is, yet beyond price in value. it was constructed as a casket to contain the relics of the saint and was completed in . in design it is a miniature gothic chapel two feet ten inches high and three feet long, with three little panels on each side which contain memling's famous pictures setting forth the life and martyrdom of the saint and the eleven thousand other virgins who shared her fate. the story of the famous pilgrimage to rome and its melancholy ending at cologne has been told so often that it need not be repeated here. ask one of the sisters to tell it to you in her charming broken french--for they are flemish, these sweet-faced sisters, and, as a rule, understand neither french nor english. [illustration: shrine of st. ursula, hospital of st. jean, bruges.] this fact is said to have served them in good stead on the terrible day when the bandit-soldiery of the french republic clamoured at the doors of the hospital in . "the shrine! the shrine!" they cried, "give us the shrine!" ("_la châsse, la châsse, donnez nous la châsse!_") the nuns, who had never heard it called by that name, but knew it only by its flemish name of _ryve_, replied that they did not possess such a thing as a _châsse_, and their voices and expressions so clearly showed their truthfulness and innocence of any deceit that the rabble of soldiers went away and the shrine was saved. early in the nineteenth century the mother superior refused a most tempting offer to purchase the shrine, replying, "we are poor, but the greatest riches in the world would not tempt us to part with it." while the paintings on the shrine are the most famous of memling's works, they are not regarded by the critics as being his best. as mr. rooses expresses it, "the artist seems to have been less intent on perfection of detail for each figure than on the marvellous polychromy of the whole." the hospital of st. jean possesses three of the master's greatest works--two triptychs entitled "the marriage of st. catherine" and "the adoration of the magi," and the diptych representing the madonna and martin van nieuwenhove. the museum at bruges contains still another masterpiece, a picture showing in the centre st. christopher, st. maurus and st. giles--the first bearing the infant christ upon his shoulders--while the two shutters contain the usual portraits of the donors. one of memling's most important works was a picture of "the last judgment" which was painted for an italian, jacopo tani, and placed on board ship to be sent to florence by sea. the ship was captured by privateers in the english channel, and as its owners were citizens of dantzig it was presented by them to the church of our lady in that city, where it still remains. there are several admirable works by this master at the museums of brussels and antwerp, while others are scattered throughout europe, and one particularly fine example of his art was brought to america by the late benjamin altman and now hangs in the altman collection at the metropolitan museum at new york. while the chief interest to the visitor at the hospital of st. jean is the remarkable collection of works by memling, the old buildings themselves merit more than a casual glance. some of them date from the twelfth century, and the view looking back at the ancient waterfront from the bridge by which the rue st. catherine here crosses the river is particularly picturesque. the old brick structures go down to the very water's edge, and sometimes below it, and the entire pile from this side must look much as it did in memling's day. another artist whose work sheds lustre on the old town of bruges was gheerhardt david. for nearly four centuries his name and even his very existence were forgotten, his paintings being attributed to memling--in itself a high evidence of their merit. recent studies by james weale and other scholars have given us quite a complete life of this artist, who lived between and , and a number of his works have been identified. all of these seem to have been painted at bruges, and some of the more notable ones still remain there. the municipal authorities commissioned him to paint two great pictures representing notable examples of justice such as van der weyden had done for the hotel de ville at brussels. these depict the flaying alive of the unjust judge sisamnes by cambyses, king of persia, and are still preserved in the museum at bruges. the museum also possesses another masterpiece by this artist, "the baptism of christ." others that have been identified through painstaking study of the old archives of the city and contemporary sources are located in the national gallery at london and in the museum of rouen. the prosperity of bruges was declining very fast while david was painting the last of his religious pictures and the merchants were steadily leaving the city for antwerp, which was now rising into importance. the artists, whose prosperity depended upon the wealth of the burghers were also drifting to the new commercial metropolis on the scheldt and the famous school of bruges was near its end by the middle of the sixteenth century. the last artists who worked at bruges were of minor interest. adriaen ysenbrant, albert cornelis and jean prévost belong to this period, and their most important works are still preserved in the city where they were executed. "the virgin of the seven sorrows," in the church of notre dame, is attributed to the first, a triptych in the church of st. jacques to the second, while the museum has several pictures by prévost, including an interesting "last judgment," and another striking representation of the same subject by pieter pourbus, of which there is a copy in the palais du franc. the masterpieces by jean van eyck in this museum have already been mentioned, and the small but exceedingly rich collection also includes a fine production entitled "the death of the virgin," which is now generally attributed to hugo van der goes--one of the comparatively few works by that master that have come down to us. there are also several other works by p. pourbus, and a powerful allegorical picture by jean prévost representing avarice and death. there is undoubtedly no collection of paintings in the world of which the average value is so great as that of the little group in the hospital of st. jean, and the one in the bruges museum--while it has quite a few of minor interest and value--would also bring a very high average if subjected to the bidding of the world's millionaire art lovers. [illustration: _an illumination by gheerhardt david of bruges, ; st. barbara_] bruges possesses another museum of great interest which dates from the days of the last dukes of burgundy. this is the gruuthuise mansion, of which the oldest wing was built in , and much of the finer portion about by louis, or lodewyk, van der gruuthuise, who here entertained charles the bold and his pretty daughter--becoming one of the latter's chief advisers on the death of her father and one of the two flemish noblemen who witnessed her marriage. the stately old palace is therefore rich with historic associations. as we entered its broad courtyard, however, we were most unfavourably impressed by its rough-paved surface with the grass growing thick between the stones. surely this must have looked very different in the days when knights and fair ladies swarmed here like bees, and the city, which has so carefully restored everything else, would do well to at least park this otherwise very pretty little enclosure. the interior is both pleasing and disappointing. the edifice itself is superb as a survival of a nobleman's palace of the fifteenth century, and as an example of flemish interior architecture. the grand stone staircase, the massive fireplaces, also in white stone, and one or two of the rooms in their entirety give a fine impression of the splendour of the establishment maintained by the great lord of gruuthuise in the days when he counted king edward iv of england and richard crookback among his guests, and was engaged in collecting the marvellous library now in paris. everywhere, over the fireplaces, and in various stone carvings, one reads the proud motto of the powerful builders of this palace, _plus est en nous_. when the palace was in course of restoration some years ago the workmen uncovered a secret chamber behind the great stone fireplace in the kitchen, concealed within the masonry of the huge chimney, and within it the skeleton of a man. a secret staircase was also discovered here which led to two underground passages branching off in opposite directions. strangely enough neither of them has ever been explored, but one is supposed to lead to the vaults beneath the adjoining church of notre dame, and the other to some point outside the city walls. some have conjectured that it leads to the château of maele, some four miles distant, but probably it went to the manor of the lords of gruuthuise at oostcamp. within this mansion a modern sir walter scott could easily conjure forth a new series of waverley novels treating of the stirring days when bruges was virtually the capital of flanders and flanders was the brightest jewel in the burgundian crown. all this is most fascinating, and, as far as it goes, helps us to reconstruct in fancy the great days of the past. the disappointing feature about the palace is the museum itself, which, although interesting and valuable, utterly spoils many of the fine rooms by converting them into mere exhibition places. in a measure the authorities have followed the admirable plan of the owners of the hotel merghelynck at ypres, and the immense kitchen, for example, contains only kitchen utensils of the middle ages--a most complete and interesting collection. the same is also true of the large dining-room on the same floor, but as one proceeds farther the atmosphere of antiquity becomes lost and it is all nothing but museum. the palace contains a splendid collection of old lace, the gift of the baroness liedts, but it seemed to us that it would have been much better to have housed this and the various collections of antiquities in some less famous and historic structure and endeavoured to restore all of these rooms to approximately their condition when charles the bold stalked through them. the period of philip the good and his terrible son was the one in which mediæval bruges took on substantially its present form. in addition to the gruuthuise palace scores of important edifices, public and private, were built or rebuilt at this time, while hundreds of smaller houses were constructed--of which many remain in existence to-day. the greatest and most famous edifice dating in large part from this epoch is the cathedral of st. sauveur whose grim, castle-like tower dominates the entire city. the lowest part of the tower dates from - --as already related in the chapter on bruges under charles the good--when the church was rebuilt after a fire that destroyed the primitive structure erected on the site a century or more earlier. between and , or for almost a century, the men of bruges were slowly piling up a noble church in the early gothic style, but another fire in necessitated rebuilding the nave and transept--a task which occupied the next ten or fifteen years. in work was begun upon the five chapels of the choir and nine years later the pope, innocent viii, granted a special bull of indulgence in favour of benefactors of this work, which appears to have been delayed for lack of funds. work of various kinds was continued until the middle of the sixteenth century, but, in the main, the great church was nearly as we see it now by the year . the upper part of the tower is comparatively modern, dating from , and the spire from . while it has been criticised by some as ungainly and cumbrous, the effect of this tower, from whatever angle it may be viewed, is very pleasing. the high lights and shadows on a sunny morning, or late in the afternoon, make it far more beautiful than its sister of notre dame, while against the grey cloud masses of a typical flemish sky its huge tawny mass stands out sharp and clear, the embodiment of majesty and strength. the interior of the church is very large, measuring three hundred and thirty-one feet by one hundred and twenty-five feet, with an extreme width of one hundred and seventy-four feet across the transepts. its polychrome decorations and stained glass windows are modern. in another place the wealth of art treasures in this church would merit a chapter, but in bruges they are so overshadowed by the many masterpieces to be seen elsewhere that we felt somewhat satiated after such a feast and spent very little time looking at the pictures here. the most famous one is a "martyrdom of st. hippolytus," by dierick bouts, which is interesting because so few examples of this primitive master are in existence. it is a triptych, the central panel showing the saint about to be torn to pieces by wild horses, on the left an incident in the life of the saint, and on the right the donors. the last picture has been attributed by many critics to hugo van der goes, and for many years the entire picture was thought to be the work of memling. bouts delighted in unpleasant subjects, which he depicted with great realism. [illustration: "the last supper."--thierry bouts.] dierick, or thierry, bouts settled at louvain about the middle of the fifteenth century. beyond the fact that he came from haarlem nothing is known of his early life and training, but as van der weyden of tournai had done some important work at louvain it is likely that bouts may have derived some of his inspiration from studying the methods of that master. he was a contemporary of memling. two of his paintings, "the last supper" and the gruesome "martyrdom of st. erasmus," were executed for the wealthy brotherhood of the holy sacrament and were hung in the church of st. peter.[ ] bouts became the official painter for the city of louvain and produced a "last judgment" for the hall of the échevins which has since been lost, and two panels for the council-room of the hotel de ville representing "the judgment of otho." these are now in the museum at brussels. the queen having accused an earl of offending her honour, the latter is decapitated. the head is then given to his countess, together with a glowing bar of iron. in the second panel she is shown triumphantly holding both, the hot iron refusing to burn her and thereby vindicating her husband's innocence. the result of the ordeal is shown in the distance where the false queen is being executed at the stake. these pictures were ordered, in imitation of those painted by van der weyden for the hotel de ville at brussels, as part of a series of panels designed to instill the love of virtue and justice into the minds of the magistrates and people. the artist's death prevented his completing two other panels that the archives of louvain show had been ordered. besides this "martyrdom of st. hippolytus" a comparatively small number of other works from his brush are listed in the catalogues of various european museums. [footnote : they were probably destroyed during the burning of louvain by the germans.] of the other structures in bruges of to-day there are a score that merit a visit from those who are interested in the city's splendid past, and that date for the most part from the last years of the burgundian period. in the rue des aiguilles there still exists a fragment of the hotel bladelin, the town house of peter bladelin, who was for many years controller-general of finance, treasurer of the order of the golden fleece, and the trusted agent of the dukes in all manner of business and private affairs. peter subsequently built the town of middleburg, for the church in which van der weyden painted one of his most famous pictures. the ghistelhof in the same street also dates from this epoch, and was built by the lords of ghistelle. then there is the hotel d'adornes and the church of jerusalem, which was formerly the private chapel of the rich brothers anselm and john adornes. there is still a fine mediæval atmosphere lingering about this group of buildings, although much altered from what they were in their prime. the church itself is most curious, and beneath the choir is a crypt that leads to a reproduction of the holy sepulchre, said to be a facsimile of the one in the garden of joseph of arimathea. it would take a volume to cite all of the fine old structures of which traces still exist in this, the most picturesque of all the flemish cities. the reader who desires to find them all cannot do better than to take ernest gilliat-smith's brilliant _story of bruges_ with him and look for them, one by one. for those who cannot devote a week or more to this delightful task a quicker way to see the bruges of charles the bold is to stroll slowly along the quai vert, the quai des marbriers and the quai du rosaire and let the beautiful vistas of the vieux bourg with its quaint red roofs and noble towers become engraved upon the memory, for here, more completely than anywhere else, one can see the bruges of the past much as it looked in the day of its greatest splendour when it was about to sink into its long sleep. thus far bruges has not suffered seriously from the war, and it is profoundly to be hoped that no bombardment such as crumbled its fair neighbour termonde into utter ruin will create similar havoc amid these indescribably beautiful scenes. a few hours would suffice to destroy artistic and architectural treasures of a value that would make the destruction of louvain seem of little consequence in comparison. [illustration: quai vert, bruges.] chapter xv malines in the time of margaret of austria since this chapter was written the ill-fated city of malines has been swept with shot and shell for many days together, its once happy and prosperous inhabitants driven far and wide--many of them into foreign lands--and it is doubtful if a single one of the various ancient edifices which we visited last june has escaped injury. notwithstanding these sad facts it has seemed best to retain the chapter substantially as it was written, inasmuch as it affords a pen picture of the old town as it looked on the very eve of its destruction. let us hope that when the war is over it will be found that most, if not all, of its famous old structures can be restored again. as the scene of some of the most stubborn conflicts of the great war, it is likely that the city will be more generally visited by tourists than was the case when its architectural and artistic treasures were uninjured, save by the gentle hand of time. to those who thus visit it the following account of the malines that was may prove interesting. situated midway between antwerp and brussels, on a route formerly traversed by scores of _rapides_ every day, the ancient city of malines--which is the french spelling, the flemish being mechelen--was exceptionally easy to visit, yet during the three days that we spent wandering along its entrancing old quays and streets and inspecting its many "monuments" we saw not a single tourist. this was the more remarkable because malines is not only one of the very oldest cities in northern europe, but was for centuries among the most famous. for a considerable period it was the capital of all the netherlands, and it is still the religious capital of belgium--the archbishop of its cathedral church exercising authority over the bishops of bruges, ghent, liége, namur and tournai. no matter from which side one approaches the city the first object to be seen is the vast square tower of the cathedral of st. rombaut, and as this huge structure--the eighth wonder of the world, according to vauban--dominates the town, so the church itself has dominated the history of the city on the river dyle for more than eleven centuries. according to tradition st. rombaut, or rombold, to use the english spelling, sought to convert the savage tribes inhabiting the marshes that extended along the river about the middle of the eighth century, the date of his martyrdom being placed at . a benedictine abbey was shortly afterwards established near his tomb, which steadily grew in importance and power until by the twelfth century it had become one of the most important religious institutions in the region. during the thirteenth century the prince-bishops of malines became the virtual sovereigns of the city, one of them--gauthier berthout, sometimes called the great--defeating the duke of gueldre, who attempted in to assert his authority over that of the prelate. at this period many of the religious institutions of malines were established under the patronage of gauthier berthout and his successors. [illustration: cathedral of st. rombaut. malines.] meanwhile the comparative immunity of the city from the ravages of the wars that so often raged at that period between the various feudal lords of the region caused great numbers of artisans to settle there, particularly weavers, while the cloth merchants' guild came to be recognised as entitled to a voice in the civil affairs of the commune. ships, according to the chronicles, came up the river dyle in such numbers as to make the commercial activity of the town rival that of antwerp--a statement that is hard to believe when one gazes at the tiny river dyle of to-day. however, the ships in those days were very small, and the river, like so many others in belgium, was no doubt broader then than it is now that the marshes have all been drained. the weavers and other artisans were a turbulent lot, and it soon became evident that the bishops lacked the power to hold them in check. this led to a series of alienations of the temporal power over the commune to neighbouring princes whose armies were strong enough to keep the unruly burghers in restraint. the first of these was effected in the year between the prince-bishop, jean berthout, and jean ii, duke of brabant. in the news of the great victory gained over the nobility by the flemish communes at courtrai caused the citizens to revolt against their new master, the duke, who besieged the city and finally reduced it by starvation. until this time the dyle had never been bridged, its waters flowing over a broad marshy bed. this made the siege the more difficult as the attacking forces were separated by the river, and it was five months before the sturdy burghers yielded. to this day an annual procession, called the _peysprocessie_, perpetuates the memory of this famous siege. during the next half century the civil authority over the city became a veritable shuttlecock of politics and war, shifting back and forth between the dukes of brabant and the counts of flanders. it was bought and sold like a parcel of real estate, but eventually rested with the counts of flanders, who had first acquired it by purchase in , and were finally left in undisputed possession by a treaty signed in . four years later a violent insurrection of the weavers and other artisans broke out that was only mastered after the city had been in their possession fifteen days, but with the advent of the dukes of burgundy to the supreme power over all of flanders, brabant, hainaut and holland, the unruly workmen were no longer strong enough to resist these redoubtable princes. great numbers of them emigrated to other cities, and the cloth industry, after languishing for a time, finally disappeared. like most flemish towns, malines has its principal railway station located on its very outskirts, and as far as possible from the grande place. a tram car was standing in front of the station on the morning of our first visit, but it seemed that it did not start for ten minutes. a score of roomy two-seated carriages invited our patronage, but we valiantly decided to walk. we soon regretted our decision as the walk proved to be long and hot, with very little of interest to see, as the houses in this part of the town are comparatively modern. at the bridge across the dyle we paused for a few moments to admire the fine views that can here be had of the old church notre dame au delà de la dyle to the westward and the equally picturesque notre dame d'hanswyck to the eastward. just beyond the river is the entrance to the botanical gardens, and as our first visit chanced to be on a friday we walked in unmolested and enjoyed the welcome shade and the beautiful landscape effects of this charming little park. later on we learned that friday is the only week-day on which admission is free, a fee of ten cents being exacted on other days. as is the case in most belgian cities, the street from the station to the heart of the town, although continuous and straight, changes its name more than once. at the outset it is the rue conscience, then the rue d'egmont, and from the bridge across the dyle to the grande place it is named bruul. entering the place from this side we paused to admire the tremendous tower of the cathedral which here burst upon us in all its majestic grandeur, although the edifice is situated a little to the west of the place itself. in front of us, on the right, was a singularly dilapidated ruin, which we learned was the old cloth hall. part of it is used as a police station, part is vacant with its window openings devoid of sashes or glass staring blankly at the sky, while part is devoted to housing a small museum of municipal antiquities. the first cloth hall at malines was destroyed by fire in , and the new one that was begun to replace it was never finished, owing to the ruin of the cloth industry during the struggles between the artisans and their overlords, and a belfry which it was proposed to erect similar to that at bruges was never begun. the museum contains a number of pictures by malines artists, of historical rather than artistic interest, a "christ on the cross," by rubens, and a variety of relics of the city's famous past. curiously enough, there is not a single piece of lace in the collection, nor anything to represent the great cloth weaving industry--the two branches of manufacture to which the city owes so much of its former wealth and fame. adjoining the _halle aux draps_ to the north is a fine modern post-office built from designs drawn by the great malines architect of the sixteenth century, rombaut keldermans, for a new hotel de ville, which was never built. unfortunately its principal façade overlooks the narrow rue de beffer instead of the grande place, and its beautiful details cannot be seen as effectively as could be desired. in the vieux palais, the ancient "schepenhuis," or house of the bailiffs, situated a little south of the place, we were shown the original design by keldermans. it is kept in a sliding panel on the wall and, although somewhat dim with age, can still be studied in detail. the modern architects of the post-office have reverently followed the plans of the great master so that at least this one of his many brilliant architectural dreams has come true, and now stands carved in imperishable stone just as his genius conceived it nearly four centuries ago. to the ancestor of this architect, jean keldermans, is generally attributed the honour of designing the tower of st. rombaut, the architectural glory of malines and one of the most magnificent structures of the kind in the world. there are a thousand places throughout the city where the photographer or painter can obtain attractive views of this masterpiece, but perhaps the best of all is from a point some distance down the ruelle sans fin (little street without end) where a quaint mediæval house forms an arch across the narrow street, while behind and far above it rises the majestic tower. from whatever standpoint one regards the great tower, whether gazing up at its vast bulk from directly beneath--a point of view that the camera cannot reproduce--or from any of the little streets that radiate away from it, its grandeur and beauty are equally impressive. [illustration: tower of the cathedral of st. rombaut from the ruelle sans fin.] begun in , work on the great tower advanced slowly. in , according to a memorial tablet near the southern side of the tower, gauthier coolman was buried there. it was the custom in the middle ages to thus recognise the _magister operis_, or creator of the work, but it is generally acknowledged that jean keldermans is entitled to share in the credit for this achievement. jean was the first in a family of famous architects, his brothers andré, mathieu and antoine i, following the same profession, and their skill being handed down to later generations, of whom the most famous were antoine ii, rombaut and laurent. at the beginning of the sixteenth century work on the great tower was stopped, owing to lack of funds, after attaining a height of three hundred and eighteen feet. the plans, of which sketches are still preserved at brussels, called for carrying the spire upward to a total height of five hundred and fifty feet, and in the ambulatory of the cathedral we found a plaster cast showing the spire as it was proposed to erect it. the stones to complete the work were already cut and brought to malines, but were carried away between and by the prince of orange to build the town of willemstadt. apart from its height, this tower is remarkable for its great bulk, measuring no less than twenty-five metres in diameter at the base. on each side for most of its height the architect designed a series of lofty gothic windows. of these the lowest are filled in with masonry, except for a tiny window in the centre. in the higher ones stone blinds fill in the openings, while the topmost pair are wide open to the sky. the well-known legend about the over-excitable citizen of malines who cried "fire!" one night after seeing the full moon through these windows gave the people of the town for many years the nickname of _maanblusschers_, or moon extinguishers, and also gave rise to the slur in the last three words of the following latin distich in which an old monkish poet compares the six chief cities of belgium: _nobilibus bruxella viris, antwerpia nummis, gandavum laqueis, formosis bruga puellis, lovanium doctis, gaudet mechlinia stultis._ brussels is renowned for its noble men, antwerp for its money, ghent for its halters, bruges for its pretty girls, louvain for its scholars, malines (mechelen) for its fools. this seems rather hard on malines, and also on ghent, the allusion to that city referring to numerous occasions when its sovereigns humbled the burghers by forcing them to plead for mercy with halters around their necks. on the outside of the tower, close to its present summit, is a clock the face of which is claimed to be the largest in the world. as the same claim is made for the great clock on an industrial establishment in jersey city i will simply give the dimensions of the one at malines and let those interested make the comparison for themselves: diameter of face, . metres; circumference, metres; length of hour hand, . metres; height of figures, . metres. the minute hands were originally . metres long, but are missing on all four sides. this renders the time-piece hardly one to be consulted if one is catching a train, as the exact minute can only be estimated from the position of the hour hand. furthermore, the gilding on the hour hands and on most of the figures has become so dim that only the strongest eyes can distinguish the former, and some of the latter can only be made out from their position. as the city appeared to be exceedingly proud of the size of this clock it seemed strange that the authorities did not authorise the expenditure of the small sum necessary to re-gild it. it is a hard climb to the top of the tower, but one well worth making, not only for the fine panorama of the city that unfolds itself wider and wider as one mounts higher, but for the opportunity thus afforded of seeing the fine _carillon_, or set of chimes, and the curious mechanism operating the clappers that strike the hours. just before reaching the floor upon which these are placed the guide conducts the visitor to a trap door from which one can look down into the interior of the cathedral--a thrilling experience to be enjoyed only by those who are not inclined to be dizzy. the massive timber work supporting the huge bells was constructed in , but the oldest of the bells dates from , or six years after the discovery of america. the two biggest bells are named salvator and charles, of which the larger one weighs , kilos, or more than nine tons, and requires twelve men to ring it. there are four other big bells and forty-five for the entire _carillon_, most of which were cast by pierre hémony of amsterdam, the stradivarius of bell founders, in . altogether they form four octaves, the giants chiming in with the others as the music demands. the keyboard which operates the little hammers is operated by both hand and foot power, and the _carillonneur_ who operates it is worthy of the splendid instrument at his command, being josef denyn, the son of an equally famous _carillonneur_, and reputed to be the finest in europe. m. denyn not only gives frequent concerts at malines, but also at antwerp and bruges, as well as in many european cities outside of belgium. we made a special trip to malines one monday afternoon in june solely to listen to one of these concerts, which takes place on that day between eight and nine in the evening, during the months of june, august and september. the sleepy old town was thronged with automobiles, for the renown of these famous concerts has spread far and wide, and some of the cars, we were told, had come from points as far away as ostende, blankenburghe and heyst, while scores were from antwerp and brussels. the crowd gathered quietly in the streets surrounding the great tower and a great silence seemed to pervade the entire city as the hour of eight approached. then, faint and far at first, came the first dulcet tones from this great organ of the sky, until--as the music swelled and more of the larger bells began to blend their notes in the harmony--the very air seemed vibrant with celestial sounds. the selection, as we afterwards learned, was one of the _volksliederen_, or pieces of folk music for the rendition of which m. denyn is famous. as we listened we realised as never before the part the ancient _carillon_ was meant to take in the daily life of the people. it is, in truth, as a french author has beautifully expressed it, the orchestra of the poor, giving expression through its wondrous notes to their joys and their sorrows. on the occasion of great fêtes its music is light and gay, in attune with the popular rejoicing; in times of public grief the _carillon_ gives utterance to notes of lamentation; when a famous citizen is being borne to his last resting-place through the streets lined with silent mourners the _carillon_ sends the deep notes of its funeral dirges across the city; in time of war or sudden danger the great bells roar the wild tocsin of alarm; in time of peace their softest notes breathe a sweet prayer of peace and benediction at eventide. while we were visiting the tower we were shown the _tambour_ cast in copper by means of which the clock strikes the hours, the half hours and the quarters. this was cast in , and two years were required to make the sixteen thousand, two hundred square holes into which drop the teeth that actuate the striking hammers. the interior of st. rombaut, while majestic and imposing, is hardly as masterly as the tower. on the occasion of our first visit a high mass was being celebrated and we reverently joined the throng of worshippers. in addition to the choir there was a body of some two hundred young men in the centre of the cathedral who participated in the singing, a curé beating time for them. their strong manly voices blended finely with the higher notes of the distant choir boys and the deep tones of the organ. from the top of the choir long crimson streamers were suspended, terminating at the back of the high altar and giving a rich note of colour to the interior, while the light from the stained glass windows overhead poured downward in many-coloured rays upon the throng of black-robed priests, with a sprinkling of higher dignitaries clad in purple. truly a picture that filled the eye with the pageantry of religion, even as the rolling notes of the sonorous chants filled the ear! after the service was over, and the great cathedral, but now so crowded, was deserted, we started on our tour of inspection. it would be a tedious task to chronicle all of the objects of interest. the carved stalls of the gothic choir are far less elaborate in workmanship than those at amiens. the altar by faid'herbe, a native of malines, is imposing, but not of remarkable merit. the carved pulpit in the nave, however, is a veritable masterpiece of wood carving by michel van der voort of antwerp, and dates from . below, st. norbert is shown flung from his horse by a thunderbolt, above is the crucifixion at the left, with the virgin and st. john standing below the cross, while at the right is shown a charming representation of the fall, with eve offering the apple to adam, both figures embowered in a mass of foliage that twines up the stairway to the pulpit and lifts its branches far overhead. the masterpiece of the paintings is an altarpiece by van dyck representing the crucifixion, a notable representation of the gradations of grief in the faces of the virgin and mary magdalen. the attendant requires a franc to uncover this picture. "the adoration of the shepherds," by erasmus quellen, in the opposite arm of the transept, while less famous, is a noble piece of work. as would be expected from its great religious importance, malines has numerous minor churches that contain much of interest to the visitor. the largest of these is notre dame au delà de la dyle, situated across the river dyle from the oldest part of the city, but dating from the fifteenth century. here the tourist usually asks to see "the miraculous draught of fishes," by rubens, a highly coloured triptych that is only uncovered when one pays a franc to the attendant. as this master produced some seventeen hundred known works it would cost a small fortune to see them all at a franc apiece, but this one dates from the artist's best period and is fully worth the price charged to see it. it is vigorous in treatment, and the fishmongers' guild, which purchased it from the artist in for sixteen hundred florins, certainly got very good value for their money. the wings are painted on both sides. this church also contains the curious virgin with the broken back. according to the popular legend her sharp leaning to the right is due to the fact that one day, when the sacristan of the church failed to wake up in time to ring the angelus the lady obligingly did it for him, but wrenched her spine in the effort. her smug smirk of satisfaction, as if over a duty well performed, no doubt also dates from the same incident. hardly less interesting is the ancient church of notre dame d'hanswyck, situated on the same side of the dyle as the other notre dame just described. a chapel was erected on the site of this church soon after the country was converted from paganism by st. rombaut, and a large church was built near the end of the thirteenth century. this, however, was pillaged by the iconoclasts in , riddled by shot from the cannon of the prince of orange in , and finally completely demolished eight or nine years later by the gueux. it was not until that the present edifice was begun. it was designed by luke faid'herbe, the famous sculptor of malines and a pupil of rubens, and was built under his personal supervision. the church itself is a veritable museum of the works of this master. the finest and most famous of these are the two bas-reliefs in the dome, one showing "the nativity," and the other "the saviour falling under the burden of the cross." the pulpit, by theodore verhaegen, is a fine example of flemish wood carving. in this church the chief treasure, from the standpoint of its priests and parishioners, is the miraculous statue of the virgin, which dates from , or earlier, according to some authorities. it is made of wood, painted and gilded, and is life size. not the least miraculous feat of this interesting relic of the middle ages is its escape from destruction, at the hands of the iconoclasts, the gueux, and the french revolutionists. at the period when the church itself was destroyed the statue was hidden in a secret subterranean passage for nearly a century; during the french revolution it was successively lodged in various houses in the rue d'hanswyck--each time being replaced in the church, after the danger was over, amid great popular rejoicing. another church that is a small art gallery is that of st. jean, not far from the cathedral. here is the fine "adoration of the magi," by rubens, which many critics consider one of the four best of his ceremonial works. it was painted in , the year before "the miraculous draught of fishes," at notre dame de la dyle, when the artist was fresh from his studies in italy, and before his success had caused him to employ a throng of students to assist in the production of his works. furthermore, it was executed for this very church, which still possesses his receipt for the final payment, written in flemish, dated march , , and signed by the artist, "pietro paulo rubens." the price was eighteen hundred florins, but for good measure the church obtained three small paintings by the great master to be hung below the triptych. in these pictures were taken to paris and the "adoration of the magi" was not restored to its original position until after the fall of napoleon. two of the small pictures, "the adoration of the shepherds" and "the resurrection," are now in the museum of marseilles--having never been returned--while the third, "christ on the cross," after changing hands several times, was at last purchased by an amateur who recognised its authorship and history and restored it to the church of st. jean. the two little pictures on either side of it, often attributed to rubens, are by luc franchoys the younger. this church also boasts some marvellous flemish wood carvings. around the two pillars of the transept where it intersects the nave are some bas-reliefs, six altogether, by theodore verhaegen and his pupils, that if there was nothing else to see would alone justify a visit to st. jean, while the pulpit by the same master, representing "the good shepherd preaching to his people," is one of the most noteworthy of the numerous examples of pulpit carving to be seen in flanders. below the organ are two more admirable bas-reliefs carved in flemish oak by pierre valckx, a pupil of verhaegen. of the many other churches in the old town it would be tedious to speak. nowhere in all flanders did we see so many black-robed priests walking solemnly about--although they do not lack in any part of the country. all belgium, in fact, is full of priests, monks and nuns, owing to the expulsion of the religious orders from france some years ago. we frequently engaged them in conversation to ascertain more about the monuments we were visiting and invariably found them courteous and well-informed, and not infrequently we were indebted to them for suggestions or information of much value. at the same time, it must be said that it seems to a layman as though there are far too many for so small a country, but their fine spirit of devotion during the war--when thousands of them shared cheerfully the hardships of the soldiers--will never be forgotten. of the civil edifices in malines the most important is the hotel de ville. architecturally it is disappointing, save for the older portion, which was called beyaerd, and was purchased by the commune in . the greater part of the edifice was reconstructed during the eighteenth century. the many rooms in the interior are pleasing but hardly notable, nor are the paintings and sculptures important save to the historian. in the vieux palais, the room in which the great council of the netherlands held its sessions from to , is still preserved in its original state, while one of the ancient paintings on the wall shows the council in session. in this building also is the curious statuette of the vuyle bruydegom called "op-signorken," whose grinning face and quaint mediæval costume are reproduced on many postcards. the history of this worthy is best told in french--and in whispers! [illustration: _in het paradijs_ and _maison des diables_: two fifteenth century houses, malines.] in our tramps around the narrow, crooked streets of the old town, and along its picturesque quays, we found many fine examples of fifteenth and sixteenth century architecture. on the quai au sel is the house of the salmon, the ancient guildhouse of the fishmongers, which dates from , and on the quai aux avoines we visited the little estaminet entitled _in het paradijs_, with its two painted reliefs of the fall and expulsion from eden, and the _maison des diables_--so called from the carved devils that decorate its wooden façade of the sixteenth century. the grand pont across the dyle to these old quays itself dates from the thirteenth century, as its grimy arches testify. after the defeat and death of charles the bold at nancy his widow, margaret of york, transferred her residence to malines, and here she raised and educated the two children of her daughter, marie of burgundy, philip the handsome and margaret of austria. their father, the emperor maximilian, was so occupied with affairs of state over his widely scattered realm that he seldom came to the city, but from onward the states general of the netherlands often met here, and in philip the handsome presided at a chapter of the order of the golden fleece at the cathedral of st. rombaut. on his premature death, in , maximilian again became regent, as philip's eldest son charles was barely six years old. the following year maximilian made his daughter margaret of austria governess-general of the netherlands and guardian of philip's children. margaret at once chose malines, where she had herself been educated, as her seat of government and there she reigned as regent until her death twenty-three years later. this period was the golden age in the history of the city on the dyle, its brief day of splendour. in her infancy margaret had been betrothed to the son of the king of france, louis xi--the cunning enemy of her house whose plots had brought about the ruin of her grandfather, charles the bold. she was only three, and the prince dauphin, afterwards charles the eighth, was only twelve. nine years later a more advantageous alliance caused him to renounce this betrothal, and margaret was subsequently married by proxy to the son of the king of spain. on her voyage from flushing to spain a storm arose which nearly wrecked her ship, and after it had somewhat subsided she and her companions amused themselves by each writing her own epitaph. that composed by margaret, then a sprightly girl of eighteen, is well known: _cy gist margot la gentil' damoiselle, qu' ha deux marys et encor est pucelle._ eventually, however, she arrived safely at burgos, but her young husband, prince john of asturias, died suddenly seven months later of a malignant fever. at the age of nineteen, therefore, margaret had already missed being queen of france and queen of spain. after two years at the spanish court, where she was very popular, she returned to flanders, arriving in , just in time to be one of the godmothers at the christening of her nephew, charles, at the church of st. jean in ghent. the following year margaret married philibert ii, duke of savoy, surnamed the handsome, who was the same age as herself. this time her married life proved to be only a little longer than the other, for her husband died in . left twice a widow while still in the bloom of youth, the duchess devoted herself to poetry and the erection of a church at brou in her second husband's duchy of savoy. there, on the walls, woodwork, stained glass windows and tombs she repeated her last motto: fortune . infortune . fort . une which has generally been interpreted to mean that fortune and misfortune have tried sorely (fort) one lone woman (une). the palace of margaret of york stood on the rue de l'empereur, where some vestiges of it still remain, but margaret of savoy and of austria found this edifice inadequate to the requirements of a regent and acquired the hotel de savoy opposite. this has been restored and is now used as the palais de justice, but--apart from its pretty courtyard and one fine fireplace--we found very little to recall the glories of the period when the great men of all the netherlands gathered here. the edifice was largely reconstructed by rombaut keldermans, and it was here that the boyhood of the future emperor charles the fifth was passed, watched over by his aunt margaret. at the time of her accession as regent margaret was twenty-seven years old--"a fair young woman with golden hair, rounded cheeks, a grave mouth, and beautiful clear eyes," according to one observer. her father, the emperor maximilian, was very fond and proud of her, and the greatest treasure in the library in the vieux palais is a "graduale," or hymnbook, which he presented to her in recognition of her services in educating his grandchildren. on one of the pages in this book is an illuminated picture showing maximilian himself seated on a throne surmounted by the arms of austria, with margaret and the youthful charles and his sister forming part of the group gathered in front of him. the other illustrations in this priceless volume, all of which we were permitted to examine, consist of religious subjects. the events connected with the regency of margaret of austria belong to the history of europe. more than once she aided her father in solving the great problems of government and diplomacy with which he was confronted, notably in the prominent part she took in the negotiations resulting in the league of cambrai, which was directed against france--the nation to which she always showed an unrelenting hostility for the slight put upon her in childhood. in charles became of age, and two years later--while the new king of spain was visiting his spanish subjects--margaret was again proclaimed regent of the netherlands. in maximilian died, and five months later charles was elected king of the romans, and was chosen emperor the following year, succeeding to the widest dominions ever ruled over by one man in the history of europe. in fact it is doubtful if any sovereign since has exercised so vast a power, as the kings and emperors of later years have had their authority more restricted, while that of charles was absolute. in margaret brought about the negotiations that resulted in the famous ladies' peace between the pope, the emperor charles, and the kings of france, england and bohemia. margaret represented spain, and louise of savoy, her sister-in-law and the mother of francis, the king of france, represented that monarch. the result of the conferences was a treaty that was highly advantageous to spain, and a great diplomatic victory for margaret; but as all europe was tired of war the terms were accepted and peace proclaimed amid great popular rejoicings, the fountains at cambrai flowing wine instead of water. the splendid mantelpiece in the hotel de franc at bruges was erected to commemorate this treaty, although it hardly does justice to the prominent part taken by margaret in negotiating it. the conclusion of the treaty of cambrai marks the climax of margaret's career and also that of the house of austria. in addition to the vast empire ruled over by charles, his brother ferdinand was king of bohemia, and his sisters eleanor, isabel, marie and katherine, queens of france, denmark, hungary and portugal respectively. all owed their brilliant positions to the patience and skill of their aunt margaret who, as her correspondence shows, was looking forward to the time when she could hand over the government of the netherlands to the emperor and spend her remaining days in quiet seclusion. under her wise rule the netherlands had attained the greatest prosperity ever known. industry and commerce flourished, peace and safety reigned throughout her broad dominions. at her court in malines margaret gathered a brilliant group of artists, poets and men of letters. mabuse (jan gossaert), bernard van orley and michel coxcie were among the famous flemish artists patronised by the duchess. rombaut keldermans received many commissions as architect from the great lady of savoy and her imperial nephew for important edifices not only at malines but at antwerp, brussels, ghent and throughout the low countries. in the pope, nicholas v, had proclaimed a holy year at malines and enormous numbers of pilgrims visited the city in consequence. their lavish gifts made possible the rapid erection of most of the splendid religious edifices with which the city is so amply provided, and it was during the reign of margaret that these structures were completed and decorated. among the beautiful buildings executed during this period may be mentioned the belfry at bruges, the tower of st. rombaut, the hotel de ville at ghent, the spire of the cathedral at antwerp, the cathedral of ste. gudule at brussels, and many minor churches throughout the low countries. margaret displayed rare taste for works of art, and her palace was a veritable treasure house of masterpieces, as an inventory prepared at her direction shows. one of the most famous of these was the portrait of jean arnolfini and his wife by jean van eyck, which--after many vicissitudes--has now found a permanent resting place in the national gallery at london, unless some militant suffragette adds another chapter to its chequered history. another treasure has been less fortunate, namely the portrait of _la belle portugalaise_, wife of philip the good, which was painted by jean van eyck under circumstances already described in another chapter. this famous picture disappeared during the religious wars and has never been discovered. the inventory lists a great many other paintings, of which some are still in existence and some have been lost. the descriptions are often quaint and charming, and may have been dictated by the duchess herself, as for example: "_une petite nostre-dame disant ses heures, faicte de la main de michel (coxcie) que madame appelle sa mignonne et le petit dieu dort_," and "_ung petit paradis ou sont touxs les apôtres._" other artists of note in the collection were bernard van orley, hans memling, roger van der weyden, dierick bouts, jerome bosch and gerard horembout. [illustration: portrait of jean arnolfini and his wife by jean van eyck.] among the men of letters whom margaret gathered around her were jean molinet, her librarian and a poet who often celebrated her charms; jean lemaire de belges, who became her historian; erasmus, nicolas everard, adrian of utrecht, cornelius agrippa, massé, rénacle de florennes, louis vivés, and many others. her library was as choice as her collection of paintings and included a book of hours and several other illuminated manuscripts now in the bibliotheque royale at brussels, and many of the mediæval classics. history records few great personages whose personality, considered from every aspect, is more pleasing than that of this gracious lady, whose very pets are known to us through the frequent references made to them by her literary courtiers. her career, though shaded by sadness and disappointment, was a great and noble one, and, while she lived, the land over which she ruled remained in almost uninterrupted peace and prosperity--the wars of the emperor being for the most part waged far away on the plains of italy or in france. on the last day of november, , the regent margaret passed away at her palace at malines in the fiftieth year of her age and the twenty-third of her regency. for forty-five days the bells of the churches throughout the city tolled at morning, noon and night in expression of the profound grief of the people at their great loss. the dirges may well have been for the departure of the city's greatness as well, for the death of its great patroness proved the beginning of its decline. the new regent, marie of hungary, removed her court to brussels, and although malines, by way of compensation, was made the seat of an arch-bishopric it never recovered its former splendour and sank rapidly into the quiet town that it was when the great war added a new and tragic chapter to its history. chapter xvi ghent under charles the fifth--and since but for the great disaster at nancy, it is altogether probable that charles the bold would, before very long, have sought to chastise the burghers of ghent as he did those of liége, but his unexpected death, and the ruin of his plans, gave the citizens at least a brief period of respite from the tyranny that had been pressing more and more heavily upon them since the "bloody sea of gavre." his daughter, marie, was only nineteen when her father's fall placed her at the mercy of the turbulent communes, and at ghent as well as bruges she was forced to grant a charter restoring the many privileges that charles and philip the good had taken away. she was even helpless to save the lives of two of her most trusted counsellors, who were accused by the men of ghent of treacherous correspondence with their wily enemy, louis xi, and--in spite of her entreaties and tears in their behalf in the marché de vendredi--were publicly beheaded in the first year of her brief reign. shortly after the untimely death of this princess whose popularity might have held the communes in check, her husband, maximilian, began the long war that finally resulted in establishing his authority over all of flanders. this accomplished, he established his daughter, margaret of austria, as regent and during the twenty-three years of her wise and gentle reign the country remained for the most part at peace and its commerce and prosperity returned. it was during the struggle with maximilian that the rabot was constructed at ghent, in . the previous year the emperor frederick iii, father of maximilian, had threatened the city at this point, where its fortifications were weakest, and the two famous pointed towers were built as part of the protective works designed to render a similar attack impossible. although somewhat mutilated in , the twin towers still stand, and with the curious intervening structure constitute one of the finest bits of military architecture of the fifteenth century that has come down to us. historically, they form a monument of the victory gained by the commune over frederick and his son in their first attempt to curtail its liberties and privileges. on the th of february of the year the city of ghent learned that a baby boy had been born at the cour de princes, to its sovereigns, philip the handsome and joanna of spain, who was destined to become the most powerful monarch in the world. on the day when this fortunate baby was baptised with the name of charles, the city gave itself up to rejoicings that might well have been tempered had it known the fate that was in store for it at the hands of its illustrious son forty years later. as it was, joy reigned, and at night ten thousand flaming torches flared, the great dragon in the belfry spouted greek fire, and on a rope suspended from the top of the belfry to the spire of st. nicholas a tight-rope dancer performed prodigies of skill for the cheering crowds that thronged the streets below. fifteen years later, when charles was declared of age, it was at ghent that he was proclaimed count of flanders. the following year he became king of spain, and in emperor; thus at the age of twenty ruling over all the netherlands, germany, austria, northern italy, spain and the vast empire in the new world--then in course of conquest by pizzaro, cortés and the other spanish conquistadores. while the city's most famous son was advancing to the zenith of human power and wealth, its own fortunes were steadily declining. the long contest with maximilian and the competition of england had struck a death blow to the cloth industry, which languished for a time and then gradually decayed and disappeared. the cloth hall was therefore left unfinished, which accounts for its insignificance as compared with similar structures in other flemish towns where the textile trade was far less important than that of ghent in the days of its greatest prosperity. the city continued, however, to be the centre of the grain trade as before, and the fine façade of the maison des bateliers (house of the boatmen's guild), on the quai au blé, was built at this epoch, in . [illustration: photograph by e. sacré. maison de la keure, hotel de ville, ghent.] a still more notable structure, the hotel de ville, dates in part from the time of charles. this edifice in reality comprises a group of buildings erected at different epochs and for diverse purposes. architecturally the most beautiful of these is the maison de la keure, which forms the corner of the marché au beurre and the rue haut port, extending for most of its length on the latter somewhat narrow street. this was designed and built by dominique de waghenakere of antwerp and the famous rombaut keldermans of malines, and was erected between and . the actual edifice represents only a quarter of the fine design of the architects and lacks an entire story with various decorative features which would have greatly improved its appearance and made it one of the finest hotels de ville in flanders. as it is, this part is by far the best of the entire structure. the maison des parchons facing the marché au beurre was built in to and is in the italian renaissance style and vastly inferior to the fine gothic structure of a century earlier. the other portion of the building comprises a hall for the states of flanders, in the ruelle de hotel de ville, built in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; the grande conciergerie joining this to the earlier gothic maison de la keure and built in ; and a chambre des pauvres built by order of charles v in , of which the present façade dates from . the inner rooms of this collection of buildings, of different ages and different architectural styles, are of relatively minor interest. the grande salle de justice de la keure is somewhat imposing with its large fireplace, but its lack of other decorations makes it rather cold and gloomy and we were glad to leave it. much more beautiful is the salle de l'arsenal, built half a century later. in the chapel of st. john the baptist, which adjoins the salle de justice in the most ancient part of the edifice, and is now used as a salle des mariages, is a fine picture representing marie of burgundy begging her people to forgive hugonet and humbercourt, her two ministers who--despite her tearful pleas--were executed in the place ste. pharaïlde hard by. on the death of margaret of austria the emperor appointed his sister, marie of hungary, regent of the netherlands. the steady decline of its trade and the increasing poverty of the people caused the city of ghent to seethe with discontent, and in an outbreak occurred that gave the regent great alarm. under the leadership of a group of demagogues the _métiers_ or lower associations of artisans, overawed the magistrates and seized liévin pyn, an aged and honourable member of the council and dean of the _métiers_ who was unjustly accused of giving the queen regent a false report on the situation and of having stolen the great banner of the city. this unfortunate old man was subjected to fearful tortures in the château des comtes, but resolutely refused to confess to any of the acts charged against him. nevertheless, he was finally executed on the place ste. pharaïlde--one of the most pitiful and unjust of the many cruel tragedies enacted there. broken and weakened from the tortures to which he had been subjected, he had to be carried to the place of execution, where his indomitable spirit was such that before bowing before the axe of the executioner he sternly reproached his judges with their cowardice, and predicted that the people would soon have occasion to regret the fatuous course they were pursuing. the dying old man spoke the truth. the emperor was then in spain and matters connected with the government of his world-encircling realm demanded for the moment his attention, but he was none the less kept well informed as to what was going on in his native city, where affairs meanwhile progressed from bad to worse, until a veritable state of anarchy prevailed. when charles learned of the virtual insurrection against his authority that prevailed, and of the death of liévin pyn, he was furious and vowed to inflict upon the rebellious city a vengeance that would deter all other cities in the empire from ever following its example. slowly, but with a deliberateness that boded ill for the foolhardy rabble who for the moment guided the destinies of the commune, the emperor made his preparations for a trip to the low countries. two months after the execution of pyn it became known in the city that their puissant sovereign was on his way. the news filled the mutineers with terror. no longer was ghent in the proud position she had occupied under the counts of flanders and the first dukes of burgundy--the premier city of the realm and a foe to be respected and even feared. the power of charles v was too vast for even the most ignorant to think of armed resistance to his authority, now that he was about to assert it in person. many of those responsible for the period of anarchy fled, others went into hiding. early in the year the emperor arrived at cambrai, proceeding next to valenciennes and brussels. meanwhile a strong force of german soldiers entered the city--meeting with no resistance from its now thoroughly terrified inhabitants, many of whom no doubt wished they could restore the dead doyen des métiers, whom they had so cruelly sacrificed, to life again that he might plead their cause with the dreaded emperor. they had good reason to tremble, for in a few days the ring-leaders of the late troubles began to be arrested and all men were forbidden, under penalty of death, to harbour them or aid them to escape their sovereign's wrath. a few days later nine of the mutineers were executed on the place ste. pharaïlde where liévin pyn had perished at their hands six months before. the magistrates were now filled with terror and abjectly pleaded for mercy. the emperor haughtily replied that he knew how to be merciful and also how to do justice, and that he would presently give judgment on the city "in such a manner that it would never be forgotten and others would take therefrom an example." this disquieting response was followed by the emperor's famous visit to the top of the cathedral tower in company with the duke of alva. it was on this occasion that the latter, with the ferocity that afterwards made his name a by-word for cruelty for future ages, counselled his sovereign to utterly destroy the rebellious city. to this the emperor responded with the _bon mot_ that showed at once his sense of humour and his moderation. pointing to the wide-spreading red roofs of the populous city he asked, "how many spanish skins do you think it would take to make a glove (_gand_, the french spelling of ghent, also means glove) as large as this?" [illustration: portrait of the duke of alva by a. moro.] meanwhile, under the direct supervision of the emperor, a huge citadel began to be erected on the site of the ancient little town surrounding the abbey of st. bavon--a choice that involved the destruction of many of the abbey buildings. the emperor, while this work was going on, remained at the princenhof where he held his court, but gave no sign as to what the fate of the city was to be. it was not until april th, , that he finally--in the presence of a great throng of princes, nobles and the members of his grand council, with the city magistrates on their knees at his feet--gave his long delayed decision. in a loud voice the imperial herald first read a list of thirty-five crimes committed by the people of the city, declaring them guilty of _dèsléalté_, _désobéyssance_, _infraction de traictés_, _sedition_, _rébellion et de léze-magesté_. in consequence of these crimes the sentence deprived them forever of their privileges, rights, and franchises. it directed that the charters, together with the red and black books in which they were registered, should be turned over to the emperor to do with them as he pleased, and it was forbidden ever again to invoke or appeal to them. it pronounced the confiscation of all the goods, rents, revenues, houses, artillery and war material belonging to the city or to the _métiers_. it confiscated the great bell roland and decreed that it must be taken down. it further directed that three days later the magistrates, thirty members of the bourgeois or middle class, the doyen of the weavers, six men from each _métier_ and fifty "creesers" should beg pardon of the emperor and queen. the suppliants on this occasion were dressed in black, with heads and feet bare, and cords about their necks, and were compelled to beg the pardon of the emperor on their knees in the market-place. besides this public degradation the magistrates were required to wear the cords about their necks thereafter during the exercise of their functions. it is said, however, that before very long the hemp was converted into a rich cord of gold and silk, which they wore as a scarf--as if it were a badge of honour instead of one of disgrace. the walls of the city were to be still further demolished, and the sovereign reserved the right to specify later which towers, gates and walls should be torn down to erect the citadel. finally, a heavy money indemnity was exacted, and the following day a new code of laws in sixty-five articles was promulgated--the famous concession caroline--which served as the basis of government until the end of the old régime during the french revolution. the city, no doubt, breathed a sigh of relief that the emperor exacted no further toll of human life, but the conditions were none the less heavy enough. in brief, these terms ended, once and for all, every vestige of self-government, and swept away all of the privileges for which the burghers had fought for so many centuries. the year marks the end, therefore, of the long and brilliant history of the flemish communes--for no other city dared resist the emperor's authority after this--and thereafter flanders became a mere province in the wide dominions of sovereigns who seldom visited its cities and frequently did not even speak the language of its people. among the tombstones in the cathedral of st. bavon one that deserves more than a passing glance is that of bishop triest. designed by the celebrated sculptor, jerome duquesnoy, it is a notable example of flemish sculpture, besides possessing an added interest by reason of the fact that the artist sought to destroy it when complete. more important, however, than the monument and its story is the fact that bishop triest was the father of the art of horticulture for which ghent is so renowned today. it was in his gardens--which were famous throughout the seventeenth century--that rare and exotic plants were for the first time planted out of doors in flanders and trained to grow in the form of pyramids, arches, summer-houses, and a hundred fantastic shapes. the "belvedere gardens" of the worthy prelate became the model for other gardeners, and the seed, planted in fertile soil, from which sprang a great industry. not content with cultivating his own gardens the bishop sought to encourage in every way the humble gardeners of the city, giving them his august protection, his friendly counsel, making loans to the needy, and uniting them into a society under the patronage of st. amand and ste. dorothy. this noble example was speedily followed by the city, which also encouraged the horticulturists. in william de blasère, an alderman of the city, constructed the first hothouse ever seen in europe. it was a hundred feet long, made of wood and glass, heated with huge stoves, and sufficiently high to accommodate the exotic plants that, in summertime, were set outdoors. this novelty made a great stir and brought many visitors to ghent. soon afterward a society of horticulturists was founded, and by the end of the century a botanical garden was established. in the opening years of the nineteenth century this institution very nearly came to an end. it was costly to keep up, produced little or no revenue, and napoleon, who was then first consul and included ghent in his rapidly widening dominions, decided that it should be suppressed. a friend of the garden skilfully took advantage of a visit of josephine to ghent to enlist her aid in persuading her husband to spare it. inviting the future empress to visit the establishment, he contrived that the plants and flowers should plead their own cause. between two palms at the entrance he had a huge placard suspended bearing the words: "_ave, cæsar, morituri te salutamus_." then, along the different walks, each flower and plant bore a card proportionate to its size and containing a verse alluding to its approaching destruction. naturally surprised at this outburst of poetry on the part of the "nymphs" of the garden, as the flowers styled themselves in their effusions, josephine inquired the reason for it. this gave her conductor his opportunity, and he pleaded for the preservation of the garden with such ardour and eloquence that he won her assurance that if her wishes had any weight his beautiful garden should be preserved and its "nymphs" should not perish in exile. the event proved that he had secured a powerful ally, for the edict of the first consul was rescinded and the garden was saved. to-day ghent boasts of her title of "the city of flowers." the botanical garden is protected by a royal society, there are many private collections that are worth going far to see, and more than five hundred establishments, large and small, are engaged in horticulture as an industry, the annual exports amounting to millions of dollars. bishop triest can therefore be thanked for giving flanders one of its great industries. speaking of napoleon, it is not generally remembered that ghent was, for the brief space of one hundred days, the capital of france. when napoleon returned from elba, and was received with open arms by the very troops sent to attack him, louis xviii fled incontinently to ghent where he set up a feeble court at his residence on the rue des champs. here guizot, chateaubriand, and his other ministers met formally every morning to discuss with his majesty the chances of his ever getting back to paris again--paris where, by the way, the mob was singing mockingly: "rendez nous notre père de gand rendez nous notre père!" it would take a satirist like dickens or thackeray to describe the scene when the fat monarch sat down to his mid-day meal, in the presence of whoever might wish to watch the curious spectacle. he conquered enormous quantities of food, but depended on wellington and blücher to conquer the army of napoleon. the forms of sovereignty were none the less carefully observed, as the little court waited day by day for the great event that all men could see was drawing steadily nearer. at last, as the thunder of napoleon's guns startled the allies from their dance at brussels, and the tramp of his advancing squadrons shook the fields of waterloo, this fat little fly on the chariot wheel of european politics prepared once more for flight. coaches were made ready to carry the entire court to ostende, where an english vessel awaited them if the battle went against the allies. all day long the horses stood in the courtyard, the drivers whip in hand. history does not record what gastronomic feats his majesty performed that day, but late at night the tidings came that the grande armée was in retreat, and that king louis could return to his kingdom. ghent shares with bruges the glory of being the birthplace of flemish painting. the famous "adoration of the lamb," by the brothers van eyck, was ordered by a wealthy burgher of ghent for the cathedral of st. bavon--where the greater part of the original work still rests. it was at ghent that hubert, the elder brother, planned the masterpiece and completed his share of it. but ghent also had masters belonging to the early flemish school whose fame she does not have to share with any other city. one of these was josse or justus, usually called justus of ghent, who visited italy in and there painted several pictures. another was hugo van der goes who gave promise of becoming as great a master as jean van eyck when he suddenly gave up his chosen profession and entered the monastery of rouge-cloitre, near bruges. he was admitted to the guild of painters at ghent in , and left the world of action in --eventually becoming insane and dying six years later. there is a story to the effect that he once painted a picture of abigail meeting david for a burgher of ghent who lived in a house near the bridge called the muyderbrugge, and while engaged on this work--which was painted on the wall above a fireplace--fell in love with his patron's daughter. the painting proved a great success, but the stern parents frowned on the suit of the young artist, and the daughter, in despair, entered the convent of the white ladies known as the porta coeli, near brussels. the house, which was said to have been entirely surrounded by water, has long since disappeared, together with the painting, but the story may be the explanation for the abandonment by the artist of a promising career when he was still in the prime of life. one of the finest pictures in the modern gallery at brussels is that by e. wauters representing the madness of van der goes. the painter is shown seated and staring eagerly at some phantasm before him--perhaps a vision of the fair abigail--while a group of little choir boys are striving, under the leadership of a monk, to exorcise the evil demon that possesses their famous brother by means of sacred songs and chants. it is said that this method of cure was indeed attempted while he was at rouge-cloitre, but without success. the best work of both of these artists is, unfortunately, far from flanders--being found in italy, where flemish painters were in their day very highly regarded. "the last supper," which was the greatest masterpiece of justus, was painted as an altarpiece for the brotherhood of corpus christi at urbino and still hangs in the church of sant' agatha in that italian town. "the adoration of the shepherds," which was the greatest work of van der goes, is in the uffizi gallery at florence. at bruges there are two paintings attributed to this master, "the death of the virgin," in the museum, and the panel representing the donors in "the martyrdom of st. hippolytus" in the church of st. sauveur. the greater part of the paintings by van der goes in belgium were destroyed by the iconoclasts in the sixteenth century, including several of which his contemporaries and other early writers spoke in the highest terms. frequent mention is made of his skill as a portrait painter, and prof. a. j. wauters, after a careful study of his known works throughout europe, ascribes to him the famous portrait of charles the bold in the museum at brussels. the early writers state that private houses at bruges and ghent, as well as churches, were filled with his works. let us hope that some of these--hidden away during the religious wars or at the time of the iconoclasts--may yet be discovered and identified. ghent, during the fifteenth century, was the artistic centre of flanders, and the names, but not the works, of many of its painters have come down to us. one of the most celebrated of these in contemporary annals was gerard van der meire, to whom tradition has assigned the triptych of "the crucifixion" in the cathedral of st. bavon. this artist rose to high rank in the guild of st. luke, to which he was admitted in , and a considerable number of paintings in various european galleries are attributed to him. an italian writer ascribes to him one hundred and twenty-five of the exquisite miniatures in the famous grimani breviary, now in the library of st. mark's at venice. if this were true, van der meire was indeed a great artist, but this book was illustrated after his death. [illustration: "the adoration of the shepherds."--hugo van der goes.] according to the royal commission of art and archeology of belgium, ghent contains more noteworthy antiquities than any other town in the kingdom. the commission, it appears, divides the "antiquities" into three classes, according to their relative importance, and credits ghent with thirteen of the first class, ten of the second and six of the third--or twenty-nine in all. the figures for the other flemish cities are: antwerp, seven first, five second, six third, total eighteen; bruges, four first, six second, six third, total sixteen; tournai, three first, six second, six third, total fifteen; malines, four first, eight second, two third, total fourteen. many places are credited with two or three each. we tried to get a copy of the report of the commission giving the names of the antiquities in each class, and the reasons for ranking them, but were unable to do so during our stay in belgium. it would have been a learned check on the list of places we had found most interesting. quite likely we would have found that the commission gave the first rank to some "antiquity" we did not see at all, and maybe never heard of! however, we saw enough to occupy every minute of our brief vacation, and the majority of those we missed--wilfully at least--were churches, of which flanders has enough to fill three books like this were one to faithfully report them all. in ghent there are, as at bruges, many interesting private houses scattered throughout the city. the professor and i on our morning walks looked up many of these, but the list would be tedious to enumerate. one of the most famous is the "arriére-faucille," formerly the home of a rich seigneur, but since used as a royal conservatory of music. its castle-like tower is very picturesque, but we saw nothing of interest in the interior. near by are two very old houses with typically flemish gables, called the zwarte moor and the groot moor. built in , or thereabouts, the confrerie of st. george had its headquarters here for many years. [illustration: old guild houses, quai aux herbes, ghent.] the guilds have already been mentioned, and the façades of all of the more famous of the guild houses have been carefully restored. these include the maison des mesureurs de blé and the maison des francs bateliers on the quai aux herbes, the maison des maçons and the maison des bateliers non francs. the ancient grand boucherie, recently restored, is another interesting "monument." it seems that the butchers' guild at ghent owed its prosperity to the fact that charles v chanced one day to fall in love with the pretty daughter of a ghent butcher. this young lady obtained for her son and his descendants an imperial monopoly of the slaughtering and meat-selling business which survived all the various dynastic changes till the french revolution. the butchers were called _prinse kinderen_, or prince's children, and seem to have made a very good thing out of the blot on their family escutcheon. another old edifice is the maison de l'etape, or staple house, a granary dating from the thirteenth century, which stands beside the guild houses on the quai aux herbes. in short, the tourist can easily find enough of interest in this rare old flemish city to occupy many days of leisurely sight-seeing. ghent, like bruges, has thus far been spared the destruction that has overtaken so many of the smaller flemish towns during the war and, as far as is at present known, all of its twenty-nine monuments are still intact. chapter xvii audenaerde and margaret of parma it was on a pleasant morning in june that the professor and i set forth on a little expedition to the famous town of the tapestry weavers, leaving the ladies to rest and shop at brussels. the poplar-trees that line the country roads and canals in all parts of belgium were in full bloom and their light cotton-clad seeds were drifting like snow in every direction. moreover, contrary to our experience for some time past, the sun seemed likely to shine all day and our old friend j. pluvius was in complete retreat. our route lay for a considerable distance through a charming hop country, the plots being much smaller than one sees in kent or in central new york state, but very numerous, and, no doubt, aggregating a considerable acreage. farther along we passed through a superb stretch of hilly country where many of the houses and barns had thatched roofs and were so picturesque, both in themselves and in their surroundings, that we would fain have descended at one of the little stations and spent the day exploring and photographing this charming corner of flanders. the most beautiful spot of all bore the pretty name of louise-marie--the thatch-roofed houses nestling cosily together upon a hillside. this little station, by the way, is on the line from blaton to audenaerde (in flemish oudenaarde), as we were approaching our destination from the south instead of directly from brussels. presently the great tower of ste. walburge loomed up ahead on our right, and we could even catch a glimpse of the famous hotel de ville. instead of stopping, however, our train went on past the church, past the town, past everything, until we began to fear that our faithful "_omnibus_" had suddenly gone crazy and fancied itself a "_rapide_" bound for goodness knows where. at last, however, the station came in sight, but we even sped past that, coming to rest finally some distance down the railroad yard. as we walked back toward the "_sortie-ausgang_" gateway we debated whether we would drive back to the town in a cab or take a tram. emerging on the street we promptly decided to walk, since neither cab nor tram-car could be seen. there was no danger of losing our way, for there, straight down the long street before us, we could see the huge mass of ste. walburge towering far above the little houses around it. after a leisurely walk of five or six minutes we arrived at a large bleak-looking square, called the place de tacambaro, at the centre of which stood a monument that--had we been in a carriage or on a tram-car--we would have passed without more than a passing glance. as it was, we paused to read the inscriptions and found that, for americans, they told a story of no little interest. it appears that this is a memorial erected in honour of the volunteers from audenaerde who died in mexico in the service of the unfortunate emperor maximilian. the south side of the monument, which represents a reclining female figure by the sculptor, w. geefs, bears the following inscription: "ordre de jour officiers et soldats! vous avez pris votre part des travaux et des luttes dans la guerre du mexique, votre valeur dans les combats, votre discipline dans les fatigues des longues marches ont honoré le nom belge. au moment de vous rembarquer pour aller revoir votre patrie recevez les adieux de vos frères d'armes du corps expeditionaire français. dans quelques semaines vous aurez revu les rivages de votre patrie y conservez, je l'espère, bon souvenir de leux qui ont soufert et combattu à vos cotes, ainsi que du maréchal de france qui a eu l'honneur de vous commander. le maréchal de france, commandant en chef. bazaine." proceeding along the street, which still led straight toward the great church, we discussed the strange fate that had led these valiant flemings to give their lives in a war of conquest so many thousands of miles away--a futile sacrifice as the event proved, with this little monument as their sole reward. almost before we were aware of it we found ourselves at the grande place with the hotel de ville right in front of us. we were on the west side of the little structure, which on the rue haute adjoins the ancient halle aux draps. an old doorway gives on the rue haute, but is no longer used, the entrance being now through the hotel de ville. while the two principal churches of the town have suffered severely from the fanatical ravages of the iconoclasts, or image breakers, the hotel de ville can be seen in almost its pristine magnificence. architecturally this monument is generally considered as one of the finest, not only in flanders, but in the whole of europe. little it undeniably is, although it towers up bravely above the low two-story buildings surrounding it, but its very smallness gives its marvellous façade the richness and delicacy of the finest lace. begun in , it was completed twelve years later at a cost of " , livres parisis, sols, deniers." those who are curious can ascertain the modern equivalent of the "paris pound" of , but even when we add the sols, deniers, it seems as though the burghers got very good value for their money. [illustration: hotel de ville, audenaerde. photograph by e. sacré.] late gothic is the period to which this gem in the galaxy of splendid flemish town halls belongs. it is considered the masterpiece of its architect, henri van péde, who also designed the superb hotel de ville at brussels and that at louvain. the many little niches on the front once contained statues of the noble lords and dames of flanders, including no doubt several of the great house of lalaing, the count philippe de lalaing having laid the corner stone. unfortunately these were all destroyed during the religious wars and the french revolution and have never been replaced. this seems a great pity, as flanders still possesses many stone-carvers of great skill, and the kindly hand of time would soon mellow the new work to harmonise with the old. as it is, every niche contains the iron projection that formerly held its statue in place, so that the work of restoration would consist of simply carving each of the little statues in the sculptor's own atelier, wherever it might be, and afterwards placing them in position. one of the original statues still remains in place, however, and is entitled to the honour of being styled the oldest citizen of audenaerde. this is none other than hanske 't krijgerke, petit jean le guerrier, or little john the warrior, who, with his diminutive standard bearing the arms of the city, stands on the topmost pinnacle of the tower. his gaze is ever toward the south, with a far-away look in his eyes, across the grande place and toward the distant hills. during the three hundred and seventy-eight years that he has been standing there, braving the winter rains and the summer sunshine, how many changes have taken place in the great outside world while little audenaerde has stood still! even without its statues the principal façade of the hotel de ville merits more than a passing glance. in the admirable harmony of its proportions, the delicate beauty of its details, in the excellence of the stone carvings--almost perfectly preserved--that form wreaths and festoons of stone about its gothic windows, there is nothing finer to be seen in all flanders. the high pointed roof, with its tiny dormer windows, is exactly as the architect intended it, and the charming little tower seems as perfect as the day the last of the sixteenth-century masons left it. the interior is worthy of the exterior. on the first floor a large hall, called the salle du peuple--hall of the people--extends from one side of the building to the other. this contains a fine stone fireplace surmounted by a splendidly carved gothic mantelpiece with statues of ste. walburge in the centre and justice and power on either side. below are the arms of austria, flanders, and of audenaerde. this masterpiece was carved by paul van der schelden. the walls on each side of the fireplace are decorated with modern mural paintings depicting liederick de buck, the first forester of flanders, dierick of alsace, baldwin of constantinople, and charles the fifth. between the windows overlooking the grande place are the arms of castile and aragon, while at the ends of each of the great beams that support the ceiling are carved the arms of the various kingdoms and principalities belonging to charles v. already we perceive that the shadow of the great emperor rests heavily on this little city of audenaerde, and as we proceed further in our explorations the more dominating and omnipresent does his personality become. even the very arms of the city bear a mute evidence to his generosity and sense of humour. it is related that on a certain occasion the emperor and his stately train approached the city without being perceived by the sentinel stationed in the tower of this very hotel de ville to announce his arrival. on reaching the gates, therefore, the imperial cortège found no one to welcome the great monarch. the burgomaster and the members of the council, who should have been there in their robes of state, were conspicuous by their absence. had this happened to his ancestor charles the bold, whose fiery temper brooked no discourtesy, even when unintended, it might well have gone hard with the unfortunate officials. as it was, the emperor overlooked the slight, but not long afterwards he maliciously inserted a pair of spectacles in the arms of the city, remarking that in future they would thus be able to see more clearly the approach of their sovereign. [illustration: wooden doorway, carved by van der schelden, hotel de ville, audenaerde.] adjoining the salle du peuple is a smaller chamber, the salle des Échevins, or the council chamber of the ancient commune. here there is another stone fireplace slightly inferior to the one in the larger hall, but resembling it in general design. the statues here represent the virgin mary in the centre, with justice and hope on either side. the chief masterpiece in this room, however, is the wooden doorway carved by van der schelden, who was instructed by the burghers to make it as beautiful as possible. how faithfully the artist performed his task the result shows. around its top stand wooden cupids surmounting a richly carved entablature containing the arms of charles v in the centre with those of flanders and of audenaerde on either side. the first is supported by two griffins, the second by two lions and the last by two savages. the panels of the door itself and of the sidewalls forming the complete portal are richly carved, each design being different from all the others. for this bit of wood-carving the frugal burghers paid the sum of one thousand, eighteen livres parisis, or nine hundred and twenty-three francs--something over $ --and the artist furnished the wood! formerly the walls of this room were decorated with tapestries of audenaerde, but at the time of louis xiv these were all removed and taken to paris. most of the tapestries in the town overlooked by le grande monarque were subsequently taken away by napoleon, so that the hotel de ville of the city that gave these treasures to the world, and that should possess the finest collection of them, has been stripped completely bare. in their stead the council chamber at present contains a collection of paintings of no special artistic merit but of great historical interest. there is, of course, a portrait of charles v, wearing the insignia of the order of the golden fleece. a portrait of louis xiv on horseback and bearing a marshal's baton, by philippe de champaigne, forms a poor substitute for the tapestries filched by his majesty. this collection also comprises several portraits of personages famous in later flemish history. of these the most noteworthy is that of margaret of parma, which hangs close to that of her father, the emperor. just across the grande place from the hotel de ville stands the tower of baldwin, undoubtedly the oldest structure in the city, and erected by baldwin v, a count of flanders who died in , making it date from the norman conquest. the concierge of the hotel de ville informed us that this little tower, which adjoins another ancient edifice now used as a brewery, was the birthplace of margaret, but this does not appear to be altogether certain. some authorities state that the honour belongs to a little two-story house with a high, steep-sloping roof that also faces the place. if the walls of these old houses had the ears that proverbially belong to all walls, and were still further provided with lips to whisper the secrets they overheard, they could no doubt settle this question; and at the same time throw some additional light upon a famous bit of mediæval romance and scandal. of all the natives of the ancient town of audenaerde the most famous was margaret, afterwards the duchess of parma, and for many years regent of the low countries, over which she ruled with an almost imperial sway. her father was the great emperor, charles v, who dallied here for several weeks as guest of the countess de lalaing, wife of the governor of audenaerde, while his soldiers were besieging tournai in the year . the attraction that kept him so far from his army was a pretty flemish maiden named jehanne or jeanne van der gheynst. according to the none too trustworthy strada, this young lady was a member of the flemish nobility, but according to the city archives it appears that she belonged to a family of humble tapestry workers residing at nukerke, a suburb of audenaerde. at all events, her pretty face attracted the attention of the youthful emperor--whether at a ball, as strada says, or while she was serving as maid of the countess de lalaing, as many writers assume, or perhaps at a village kermesse which charles might well have attended incognito. after the little margaret was born the mother received an annual income of twenty-four livres parisis from the emperor. in she married the maître de chambre extraordinaire of the counts of brabant, and died in . charles took his little daughter and had her brought up as a princess. in , when she was only fifteen years old, she was married by the emperor to alexander, the duke of urbin, a cruel and dissolute italian prince who, however, died the same year. the following year she was married to octavio farnese, a grandson of pope pius iii, who was then only fourteen. she was herself strongly opposed to this marriage, but the emperor was obdurate and she finally yielded. her son, alexander farnese, was the famous duke of parma who became the foremost military leader on the spanish side during the sanguinary war between philip ii and the netherlands. on the death of her father, margaret was made regent of the low countries by her half-brother philip ii. she arrived at ghent, july th, , and on august th the king presented her to the states general, saying that he had chosen her as his representative because she was so close to him by birth and "because of the singular affection she has always borne toward the low countries where she was born and raised and of which she knew all the languages." she retired from the regency in , but was called back once more in at the personal request of the king. as her son alexander was then at the zenith of his power, and opposed to her resuming the regency, she finally declined the honour which was reluctantly given to him. she died in at the age of sixty-six. it was her fortune, or rather misfortune, to rule over the netherlands at a period when the seething forces of religious unrest and protest were becoming too violent to be restrained. had philip ii, her half-brother, been less bigoted, less cruel, and less blind to the best interests of the country and of his own dynasty, it is possible that the great popularity of the duchess--who was sincerely loved by the majority of her subjects and respected by all--might have enabled the government to restrain the rising passions of the people. if, instead of a policy of savage repression, the king of spain had authorised margaret to pursue a policy of moderation and conciliation, the fearful history of the next eighty years--the blackest page in human history--might never have been written. unfortunately, moderation and conciliation were as foreign to the nature of that sombre monarch as to torquemada himself, and fanaticism fought fanaticism with a fury that was as devoid of intelligence as it was of mercy. the first act in the drama of blood was the sudden outbreak of the frenzy of the iconoclasts, or image-breakers, which swept over the greater part of the spanish netherlands in the month of august, . scarcely a church, a chapel, a convent or a monastery, escaped the devastation that resulted from these fanatical attacks. paintings, statuary, altars and chapels, even the tablets and monuments of the dead--the accumulated art treasures of centuries--were torn to pieces or carried bodily away. in some places the work of destruction was completed in a few hours, in others organised bands of pillagers worked systematically for days before the local authorities--taken completely by surprise--recovered their wits and put a stop to the work of desecration. the loss to art and civilisation effected by the iconoclasts in flanders is beyond computation. the regent acted with energy and decision, her spirited appeals to the magistrates finally bringing them to their senses and resulting in a speedy restoration of order. philip, who had just cause for resentment, meditated vengeance, however, and in replaced the too gentle margaret by the duke of alva. for the professor the hotel de ville contained still another room of inexhaustible interest. this was the museum of the commune which occupies the entire second floor. for some reason--certainly not from fear of the suffragette, which is a non-existent species in belgium--this is closed to the public, but we were admitted by courtesy of the secretary of the commune. the collection is of the utmost value to the historian and archeologist, but is rather badly kept. among the most interesting objects were four chairs once used by charles v; the ancient keyboard of the _carillon_ which formerly hung in the belfry of the town hall but is now installed in the tower of ste. walburge, and some water-colour designs for tapestries. a large painting of the last judgment covered a considerable part of one wall. this is attributed to heuvick, and originally hung in the salle des Échevins. it was the ancient custom to have a painting of this subject, covered by curtains, in the olden justice halls. when a witness was about to be sworn the curtains were suddenly drawn back and the sight of the picture, which represented with great vividness the destruction of the damned, was intended to prevent false testimony. the collection also included a variety of ancient arms and coins, several curious mediæval strong boxes, and two huge snakes which hung from the rafters overhead. there are no snakes in belgium to-day, but our guide assured us that a crocodile had once been taken in the river scheldt near audenaerde, so the snakes may have been natives after all--assuming, of course, that the crocodile story is correct. back of the hotel de ville proper is the still more ancient cloth hall, dating from the beginning of the thirteenth century. its small, high windows were built slantingly, to prevent archers from sending arrows directly into the interior. at some comparatively recent period two large windows were cut through, the walls on each side, but a goodly number of the earlier windows still remain, and the beams that support the high, pointed roof are still as sound as the day they were laid in position. [illustration: church of ste. walburge, audenaerde.] to the west of the grande place, and scarcely a stone's throw from baldwin's tower, rises the vast grey mass of ste. walburge, with ten or twelve tiny fifteenth or sixteenth century houses nestling snugly up against it. this splendid church dates from the very foundation of the city, an early chapel erected on this site having been sacked and burned by the norsemen in . twice after this the church was destroyed in the wars between flanders and france, but in was begun an edifice of which some portions still remain. when john the fearless, duke of burgundy, chose audenaerde as his flemish place of residence the burghers determined to enlarge and beautify their church and erected the semi-circular portion of the choir in to . soon afterwards the great nave was begun, but was not completed for fully a century, in . the tower, one of the finest in the world, advanced still more slowly and was not entirely finished until . its original height was three hundred and seventy-three feet, but in the wooden spire was struck by lightning and burned. it has never been rebuilt, and the present height of the tower is two hundred and ninety-five feet. as it is, it dominates the little city and commands a wide view across the broad valley of the scheldt in every direction. it was a stiff climb, up a perpetually winding stone stairway, to the top, but the view well repaid us for the exertion. the interior of the edifice suggests a great metropolitan cathedral rather than the chief church of a small provincial town. the choir, which suffered severely from the ravages of the iconoclasts, has recently been restored with great skill, and is now one of the most beautiful in europe. this church contains several paintings by simon de pape, a native of audenaerde, whose father was the architect of the spire burned in , also an "assumption of the virgin mary" by gaspard de crayer, a follower of rubens, who painted more than two hundred religious pictures. this, like all the others, is of mediocre merit. to the student of history and of ancient art one of the most interesting treasures of the church is its collection of tapestries of audenaerde. three of the more important ones represent landscapes--in fact the majority of audenaerde tapestries that i have seen may be thus described--with castles, churches, and farmhouses in the centre and roses, tulips and other flowers in the foreground. like most audenaerde tapestries also they are crowded with winged creatures--birds flying or singing in the trees and hens, turkeys and pheasants strolling in the grass. a tapestry of a different genre is one belonging to the confrerie de la ste. croix, which shows an oriental landscape with jerusalem in the distance, and at the four corners the figures of herod, pilate, anna and caiphas. tapestry weaving was introduced into flanders during the time of the crusades, the reports of the returning crusaders regarding the splendid carpets and rugs of the orient arousing a desire on the part of the flemish weavers to imitate them. castle walls, however thick and strongly built, were apt to be damp and cold and a great demand speedily sprang up for the new productions for wall coverings. starting at arras and tournai, the manufacture of tapestries spread to all the cities in the valley of the scheldt and received a particularly important development at audenaerde, which soon became the leading tapestry centre of flanders. the weavers adopted saint barbara as their patron, and in were organised into a corporation. in their original charter it was stipulated that each apprentice must work three years for his first employer. despite the severity of this regulation the manufacture of tapestries expanded with such rapidity that in no less than twenty thousand persons--including men, women and children--were employed as tapestry weavers at audenaerde and its environs. among the famous flemish artists who painted designs for the tapestry weavers of audenaerde may be mentioned floris, coxcie, rubens, david teniers, gaspar de witte, victor janssens, peter spierinckx, adolphus de gryeff, and alexander van bredael, while there were a host of others. gradually, however, the artisans began to be discontented with their rate of pay, which the master tapestry makers kept at a low figure, and the advent of the religious wars found them eager to join any movement of revolt. after the outburst of the iconoclasts and the arrival of the duke of alva many fled to the dutch provinces and to england, never to return. this emigration continued well into the seventeenth century, as various decrees passed by the magistrates between and , confiscating the possessions of such emigrants, testify. [illustration: a flemish tapestry of the fifteenth century.] another cause that contributed to the ruin of the tapestry industry at audenaerde was the active effort made by the kings of france, louis xiii and louis xiv, to induce the best weavers and master-workmen to emigrate to paris. philippe robbins, one of the most celebrated master-weavers of audenaerde, was invited to come to france in and was afterwards proclaimed at beavais to be the _chef de tous les tapitsers du roy_. many of the weavers who went to paris and brussels on their own account established ateliers where they manufactured what they proclaimed to be _veritables tapis d'audenaerde_, and this competition still further injured the industry which soon afterward disappeared entirely from the city that gave its name to this type of tapestry and has never since been re-established there. with the departure of its weavers the little city on the scheldt rapidly declined in importance, and for the past two centuries has been the sleepy little market-town that it is to-day. on the other side of the river scheldt, which flows through the town and is crossed by several bridges, is the interesting church of notre dame de pamela, which dates from the thirteenth century, having been constructed in the remarkably short space of four years and completed in . it thus belongs to the transitional period between the romanesque style and the pure gothic and is of interest to the student of architecture as one of the most perfect examples of this period in flanders. the general effect of the interior, especially when viewed from the foot of the organ loft, is noble and imposing in the highest degree. our visit was during a sunny afternoon, and the effect of the long beams of light falling from the lofty windows of the nave across the stately pillars below was indescribably beautiful. truly this masterpiece of stone expresses in its every line the truth of montalembert's beautiful remark that in such a church every column, every soaring arch, is a prayer to the most high. one of the most curious of the paintings in notre dame de pamela is a triptych by jean snellinck, a painter of antwerp and a forerunner of rubens who was greatly in vogue among the tapestry weavers of audenaerde. this work represents the "creation of eve" in the central panel, the "temptation" at the left and the "expulsion from eden" at the right. the figures are all finely painted, especially those in the left wing, and the entire work is an admirable example of early flemish art. the church also possesses an interesting work by simon de pape representing the invention of the cross. beneath the organ loft were three tapestries of audenaerde workmanship which the caretaker obligingly spread out on the church floor for our inspection. all were in a poor state of preservation. one represented a woodland scene with three peasants on their way to market in the foreground. the second had a curious group of fowls in the foreground, while the third showed a sylvan scene with a mother and three daughters, each of the girls bearing a basket of flowers. both ste. walburge and notre dame de pamela suffered severely from the fury of the iconoclasts, although the storm broke in audenaerde at a later period than in the larger cities farther to the eastward. the curé of ste. walburge and four priests of notre dame de pamela were thrown by the rioters into the scheldt and drowned october th, , while both churches were sacked. on our way back from visiting the smaller church we paused on the quay named smallendam to admire the superb view of ste. walburge across the river. a bit further on we entered a quaint little estaminet bearing the inviting name of _in der groote pinte_ which we freely translated as "the big pint." apparently our flemish was inexact, for the beverage with which we were served was not notable for quantity. it proved, moreover, to be exceedingly sour and unpleasant, and we left our glasses unfinished. in the course of a tour around the town we inspected what remains of the ancient château de bourgogne, the early residence of the dukes of burgundy. the principal building is now used by a justice of the peace, and we found little of interest save some old walls and a massive inner courtyard. at the hospital of notre dame, opposite the great tower of ste. walburge, we found two more audenaerde tapestries in an admirable state of preservation, while a dozen fine mediæval doorways in different parts of the town attracted our attention. for so small a place there are a great many religious institutions, many of them of great antiquity. among these may be mentioned the convents of the black sisters (couvents des soeurs-noires), the abbey of maegdendale, the convent of notre dame de sion, and the béguinage--the last an especially charming little spot with a delightful street entrance dating from the middle of the seventeenth century. it is hard to believe, as one wanders about the half-deserted streets of this sleepy old flemish town, that in its day of greatness it was a city of no mean power, holding its own sturdily against the greatest princes in the world. of its ancient walls and towers not a single trace remains, yet those vanished ramparts four times in less than two centuries defied the armies of the neighbouring--but, alas, not always neighbourly--city of ghent, even the redoubtable philip van artevelde retiring from in front of them discomfited in . three centuries later, in , louis xiv was beaten off from an assault on these same walls, but in revenge he ordered the bombardment of the city. this resulted in a conflagration from which it had not fully recovered half a century later. in the duke of marlborough and prince eugene of savoy won a great victory over the french under the walls of audenaerde. to this day along the frontier between france and flanders the peasant women lull their babies to sleep with a crooning ballad which begins: malbrook s'en va't en guerre, mirlonton, mirlonton, mirlontaine; malbrook s'en va't en guerre, dieu sait quand il reviendra. il reviendra à pâques, mirlonton, mirlonton, mirlontaine, _il reviendra à pâques, ou à la trinité. (bis)_ small wonder that even the nursery songs tell of war and chant the name of the great duke two hundred years after the battle of audenaerde, for during three centuries the flemish plains were the battlefield of europe. happily the present war has not as yet smitten audenaerde with any serious damage, although le petit guerrier, from his perch on the belfry of the hotel de ville, has no doubt looked down upon long lines of marching men and gleaming bayonets. chapter xviii old antwerp--its history and legends while bruges and ghent were in their prime as centres of flemish commerce and industry a rival that was destined ultimately to supplant and eclipse them both was slowly growing up along the banks of the river scheldt at a point where that important stream, which flows entirely across flanders, becomes a tidal estuary. from the most ancient times the prosperity of antwerp--which in french is called anvers, in flemish antwerpen--has been closely connected with the river. according to the legends a giant named antigonus once had a castle where the city now stands and exacted a toll of all who passed up or down the river. evasion of this primitive high tariff was punished by cutting off both the culprit's hands. of course this giant just had to be killed by the hero, whose name was brabo, and who was said to have been a lieutenant of cæsar. brabo cut off the dead giant's right hand and flung it into the river in token that thenceforth it should be free from similar extortions. the visitor will find this legend recalled in the city's arms--which has two hands surmounting a castle--and in many works of art. brabo is said to have become the first margrave of antwerp, and to have founded a line of seventeen margraves, all bearing the same name, but the deeds and even the existence of these princes is as mythical as those of their ancestor--or the famous legend of lohengrin, which belongs to this period of antwerp's history. like london, antwerp is situated sixty miles from the sea. in olden days commerce was rather inclined to seek the more inland ports, as being safer from storms and less exposed to sudden attacks. the size of ocean-going ships was, moreover, slowly but steadily increasing from generation to generation, and this increase favoured antwerp, which had a deep, sure channel to the sea, as against its early rival bruges, whose outlet, the little river zwyn, was gradually silting up. the fact that the town was situated just outside of the dominions of the counts of flanders probably helped its early growth, for the jealous men of bruges might otherwise have obtained from the counts decrees restricting, and perhaps prohibiting, its expansion. as it was, the great counts ruled all of the left bank of the scheldt from antwerp to the sea, and also the waters of the river as far as one could ride into it on horseback and then reach with extended sword. the tête de flandre, opposite the centre of the older part of the city, marks the end of flanders proper in this direction. as already explained by the professor, however, antwerp is none the less essentially a flemish city in its art and architecture, its language and literature, and for many centuries of its brilliant history, and for these reasons deserves a place in this book. like the county of flanders, the region surrounding antwerp was an outlying "march" or frontier district of the empire, and its rulers therefore derived their feudal title from the emperor. about the year the emperor bestowed the march on godfrey of the beard, count of louvain and first duke of brabant. to the dukes of brabant it thereafter always belonged until that title, with so many others, became merged in those acquired by the dukes of burgundy and united in their illustrious descendant, charles v. on the whole, the dukes, being absentees, were easy rulers--the shrewd burghers seizing upon their moments of weakness to wrest new privileges from them, and relying upon their strength for protection in times of danger. from time immemorial the burghers claimed a monopoly right to trade in fish, salt and oats. other trading privileges followed, and by the time of the first duke of brabant the town was already an important one, with a powerful burg, or fortress, surrounding five acres of land and buildings. among the latter was the steen, or feudal prison, a part of which still stands close to the river and is used as a museum of antiquities. the early dukes greatly extended the commercial rights and privileges of the town, henry iii granting a charter that allowed its citizens to hold bread and meat markets and trade in corn and cloth. duke john i granted rights in his famous core van antwerpen, dated nearly five hundred years before the declaration of independence, that were remarkable for wisdom and liberality. "within the town of antwerp," the charter read, "all men are free and there are no slaves. no inhabitant may be deprived of his natural judges, nor arrested in his house on civil suit." in duke john iii granted a charter that not only confirmed all of its ancient privileges, but gave exceptional rights and liberties to foreigners--causing many of them to come and settle there. among these was the right granted to any dweller within the city to sue: citizens according to local customs, foreigners according to the laws of their own lands. as at bruges and ghent all these precious charters were kept in a box having many locks, of which the keys were kept by delegates of the broad council of the city. "this box," said mr. wilfred robinson, in his valuable historical sketch of antwerp, "might only be opened in the presence of all the civic authorities, while they stood around it bareheaded and holding lighted tapers in their hands. truly it must have been a quaint and solemn scene!" some fifty years prior to the charter last mentioned duke john ii married one of the daughters of edward i, king of england, and gave that monarch the city of antwerp as a fief. edward iii used the city as a naval base, and in signed there with jacques van artevelde a treaty of alliance with the communes of brabant and flanders. the kings of england did not, however, retain their suzerainty over antwerp very long, for it next passed--once more by marriage--to the daughter of louis of maele, count of flanders. the city sought to resist, and count louis was obliged to besiege it and punished the burghers severely for their disobedience. on his death it passed to philip the bold, duke of burgundy, along with the entire county of flanders of which it was then a part, and thereafter remained under the burgundian dukes and their successors. in philip the good--whose policy had proved so disastrous to bruges and ghent--laid the foundation for the commercial greatness of antwerp by a liberal charter which he granted to the merchant adventurers of england. the english merchants had already left bruges, where the river zwyn was fast silting up, and now came to antwerp and established there a most extensive trade. they were followed by the merchants of the other nations, and in less than seventy-five years after the granting of the charter the population of the city had doubled twice--from less than seventeen thousand to over forty--four thousand inhabitants. it was during this period that many of the most interesting structures of "old antwerp"--the portion of the city between the steen and the cathedral and north of the hotel de ville--were built. we spent several interesting mornings tramping these quaint old winding streets, some of which are still as mediæval in aspect as any to be seen in europe. the _vielle boucherie_, recently restored, dates from the reign of louis of maele. in its time it contained stalls for fifty-three butchers. the streets surrounding this quaint structure of ragged brick are well nigh as ancient and interesting as the "monuments" which one encounters here and there while exploring them. the steen itself dates, as we have seen, from the very earliest period of the city's history, but is only a remnant of what it was. in the days of the spanish inquisition this grim old structure became a place of dread, and its gloomy dungeons--which the cheerful and smiling guide showed us by candlelight, for two cents a head--were in constant use for the entertainment of guests of the margraves and their successors, the burgundian dukes, for nigh on to eight centuries. [illustration: the _vielle boucherie_, antwerp.] in the rivalry between antwerp and bruges reached the point of open war. the men of bruges built a fort commanding the river scheldt at a point near calloo, mounting on it no less than sixty cannon. the antwerp burghers met this challenge by building a similar fort at austruwel, and then attacked and captured the flemish fort on april --st. george's day. a yearly procession still commemorates this victory in the long contest to maintain the freedom of the river. a fleet of forty-nine merchant vessels that the flemings had detained came triumphantly up the river, and the conflict for supremacy between the old sea gateway of the netherlands and the new was settled once for all--as far as poor bruges was concerned--in favour of antwerp, the new maritime queen of the north. the river itself seemed to favour the prosperity of antwerp, as if proud and eager to become the handmaiden of so valiant and beautiful a city, for the western entrance of the scheldt gradually deepened at about this period--from causes that in those days no one tried to understand. this gave the port a deep channel to the sea to accommodate the growing draught of ocean-going ships. the discoveries of columbus and vasco da gama helped the port also. until then venice had enjoyed a monopoly of the sugar trade of the east. now it came sea-borne to antwerp, and the formerly profitable overland sugar trade between venice and germany was ruined. this caused the portuguese to establish a factory at antwerp. the spaniards followed, while the english and italians enlarged their warehouses. several great german trading houses opened premises in the city, although the hanseatic league did not abandon bruges for antwerp until --being the very last to go. while the decline of bruges led the painters of that city to desert it for its fast-growing rival on the scheldt, quentin matsys, the greatest of the early antwerp artists, does not seem to have derived much of his inspiration from the masterpieces of the bruges school. the early chronicles give a most romantic account of the life of this painter, who was born at louvain about . according to these more or less legendary stories he was at first a blacksmith, and changed to a painter through love for a damsel whose father was a great patron and admirer of that art. another account has it that he took up painting owing to illness, first colouring images of the saints such as were then given to children during the carnival. blacksmith he certainly was, as his father had been before him, and the wonderful cover for the well in front of the cathedral is his handiwork. it seems probable, however, that he first learned the art of painting at louvain, probably as an apprentice to the son of dierick bouts. at antwerp he soon fell in love with a beautiful girl, who may have been the model for some of his charming madonnas. the story is told by one old chronicler that the maiden's father opposed the match because the young suitor was not a sufficiently skilful artist. on a certain occasion matsys, finding his intended father-in-law out, painted a fly on one of the figures in a painting belonging to him. on his return the owner of the painting started to brush the fly off and, seeing his mistake, heartily admitted that the young artist who had painted it merited all praise and gave his consent to the nuptials. the museum at antwerp is rich in masterpieces by matsys, including his greatest work, "the entombment." this is a triptych, the panels showing herod's banquet with the head of john the baptist lying on the table, and st. john in the boiling oil. the "madonna," in the same museum, is one of the sweetest faces ever painted among the hundreds of madonnas that abound in mediæval art, and one cannot but feel that it is the very face that won the heart of the artist and caused him to adopt painting as his profession. its resemblance to the face of the madonna now in the berlin museum strengthens this theory. at antwerp also there are to be seen "the holy face," a companion painting to the "madonna" just mentioned, and the gruesome yet appealing "veil of veronica," showing the livid face of the saviour with drops of blood from the cruel crown of thorns trickling down across it. the museum at brussels possesses another masterpiece, and the oldest dated picture by this artist, "the legend of st. anne," which was completed in for the brotherhood of st. anne at louvain. he also painted several strong and striking portraits, of which the best is that of erasmus at the städel institute at frankfort. matsys was one of the first flemish artists to present subjects of every-day life as well as religious episodes and characters. "the banker and his wife," at the louvre in paris, is the finest example of this kind. there are authenticated works by this master in a number of european museums, while a considerable number of his pictures have become lost or have not as yet been identified. [illustration: "the banker and his wife."--matsys.] matsys is the greatest name in the history of flemish art between the masters of bruges and the school of rubens. it was his success that made antwerp the florence of the north. among matsys' successors frans de vriendt, better known as frans floris, was one of the most notable. he was a member of the antwerp guild of st. luke at the age of twenty-three, and produced a vast number of works, many of which can still be seen scattered among the churches and art collections of flanders. he had over one hundred pupils, of whom martin de vos achieved the greatest fame. as this painter worked after the destruction of the image-breakers many of his religious subjects survive to this day. the antwerp museum contains no less than twenty-three of his works, as against only four by his master. both of these artists, however, were profound admirers of the italian school, and the work of floris especially--though vastly admired in his day--is now looked upon as more italian than flemish, more imitative than original. this cannot be said of the next really great painter to appear in flanders, peter breughel the elder. born at the little village of breughel, near breda in brabant, about , this artist studied for a time in italy--as did all of his contemporaries--and then settled at antwerp. here he obtained the themes of many of his most famous compositions. "in the port, in the tavern, in the fairs of neighbouring villages," says prof. a. j. wauters, "meeting now a young couple in the giddy dance, or a drunkard stumbling in his path, he sought the humble spectacle of homely things, the noisy mirth of rustic festivities, and was always in quest of every-day subjects, which earned for him, at the hands of posterity, the surname of 'breughel of peasants.'" he later removed to brussels, where he received many commissions, particularly from the emperor rudolph ii, who greatly admired his work. several of his chief masterpieces are therefore in the imperial museum at vienna, but the royal museum at antwerp contains four of his works, while several others are scattered about europe. [illustration: "winter."--peter breughel.] to the lover of flemish paintings breughel is one of the most characteristic and charming of them all. his art is distinctively flemish, in subject, treatment and inspiration. somewhat influenced perhaps by jerome bosch, a brabant painter of the previous century renowned for his weird and eccentric conceptions, breughel is never conventional. his work is that of a humourist, a satirist who sees the follies of the world but laughs at them. his pictures are admirable in their colouring, execution and the grouping of the figures, and they are especially interesting in their vivid portrayal of the every-day flemish life of the times in which he lived. the visitor to antwerp cannot fail to observe the images of the virgin placed at the corners of nearly every street in the older quarter of the city. these are said to be due to the long wapper, a somewhat humorous but none the less grim and terrifying fiend who was wont, many centuries ago, to play weird pranks upon the good people of antwerp after nightfall. he used to lie in wait for wayfarers upon deserted by-streets in the uncanny hours between midnight and dawn. pouncing upon his terrified victims, he would carry them off, sometimes never to return. now and then he assumed the form of a lost baby, to which, being found by some charitable mother, the breast was given. presently the good woman discovered to her horror that the foundling was swelling and becoming heavy, and when she put it down the wapper assumed his own shape and ran off shrieking. at times he peered into church windows and howled and gibbered at the worshippers, and afterwards frightened them terribly as they went homeward, or, stretching his body to an incredible length, he peered into the upper windows of people's houses. men feared to speak evil of the long wapper, for something terrible was certain to happen to those who did. at last it was found that he would never pass an image of the virgin, and that is why so many were erected that finally the evil fiend had no more streets left in which to play his mad pranks and left antwerp for the lonely moors and dunes along the seacoast where he is still said to be seen. the place most frequented by the long wapper was a little stream which came to be called the wappersrui in consequence, and a bridge across it the wappersbrucke. here he often strode out of the water with his long thin legs extending far down into its dark depths like two black stilts. once he had reached the embankment he shrank instantly to a diminutive size--usually taking the form of a schoolboy. these first appearances were generally between daylight and dark, when the twilight made it difficult to distinguish faces clearly, and he always took the place of some boy who happened to be absent. a favourite game of the boys, who were then returning from school, was called shove-hat. in this game one boy tossed his hat on the ground and the others shoved and kicked it about with their feet while its owner sought to regain it. when it came the turn of the long wapper to throw down his hat the first one to give it a kick broke his wooden shoe to pieces and fractured his toes, for the hat proved to be a heavy iron pot. then the street echoed with a jeering "ha, ha, ha!" but the wapper had disappeared. his pranks upon grown-up people were apt to be far more serious in their consequences than those just described. often he paused at some tavern door and joined the party seated there in a game of cards, which invariably resulted in a violent quarrel in the course of which one or more of the players was usually killed. on another occasion he appeared in broad daylight selling mussels. encountering four women sitting outside their door at work he opened a mussel and offered it to one of them. she tasted it, but it turned into dirt in her mouth. apologising, he opened another, which all could see was a sound, fine mussel, and offered it to another of the women. no sooner was it in her mouth than it turned into a huge spider. the women thereupon set upon him, but he defended himself so rudely that two of them were nearly killed, when he suddenly vanished, leaving only an echo of wild laughter. in the country to the east of antwerp there are many quaint legends still told at the peasants' firesides on stormy winter nights about the kaboutermannekens who in ancient times frequented that neighbourhood. near the village of gelrode there is a small hill on the sides of which are many little caves which were formerly the abode of these fairies, the hill being called the kabouterberg to this day in consequence. there is a similar hill, called kaboutermannekensberg, between turnhout and casterle. they were also called red caps or klabbers, and were usually clad in red from head to foot, and often had green hands and faces, according to those who were so fortunate as to see them. these little gnomes or elves seem to have resembled their kind as reported in the folk-lore of other northern countries, being the willing and loyal slaves of those who treated them kindly, and the bitter, and sometimes dangerous, enemies of those who misused them. still another local sprite--this time a spirit of evil resembling in some respects the long wapper--was known as kludde. this fiend was often met with after dark in many parts of flanders, and even in brabant. at times kludde would appear to the peasants as the dusk of twilight was deepening into the intense darkness of night on the flemish plains, in the guise of an old, half-starved horse. if a farmer or stable-boy mistook him for one of his own horses and mounted on kludde he instantly rushed off at an incredible speed until he came to some water into which he pitched his terrified rider headlong. this accomplished to his satisfaction he vanished, crying "kludde, kludde!" as he went away, whence came his name. chapter xix three centuries of antwerp printers the joyous entry of the boy prince who was afterward to become charles v was the signal for ten days of rejoicing by the citizens of antwerp. this was early in the year ; and, in truth, the city prospered mightily under the rule of the great emperor, who favoured it on many notable occasions. the bankers and merchant princes of antwerp became renowned the world over for their wealth and magnificence. anthony fugger, who was the banker of maximilian and charles v, left a fortune of six million golden crowns, and it is said that his name survives to this day as a synonym for wealth--the common people calling any one who is extremely rich a _rykke fokker_, a rich fugger. it is related that another rich antwerp merchant, gasparo dozzo, on being privileged to entertain the emperor in his house, cast into the fire a promissory note for a large loan he had formerly made to his sovereign. this period of wealth and prosperity continued till the very end of the reign of the emperor, but under his successor, philip ii, the city was plunged into misfortunes and miseries as swift and as appalling as those that befell in the terrible fall of . in philip opened a chapter of the knights of the golden fleece at st. mary's, afterward the cathedral, in antwerp--thereby recognising the supremacy of this town over the others in his flemish dominions. among the new knights to whom he gave the accolade were william the silent and the count of horn. little men thought on that day of festivity and good will what the future held in store for them all! on august , , the miraculous statue of the blessed virgin was taken from its place in st. mary's church and carried through the streets of the city in a solemn procession--as it had been for nearly two hundred years. this time there were murmurs of disapproval from the crowds that lined the streets, some stones were thrown, and the procession hastily returned to the church. the next day a small mob, composed for the most part of boys and men of the lowest class, entered the church and destroyed the statue and the entire contents of the sacred edifice, including some seventy altars, and paintings and statues almost without number. the organ, then the wonder of europe, was ruined, and the rabble dressed itself in the costly vestments of the clergy and carried away the treasures of the church and even the contents of the poor boxes. this was the beginning of the work of the image-breakers, as they came to be called, which spread throughout flanders until scarcely a religious edifice had escaped the destruction of its movable contents, while a few here and there were burned. as noted in the chapter on audenaerde, margaret of parma was regent at this time and acted resolutely to suppress the disorders--which were largely due to the supine attitude of the local magistrates at the beginning. she had all but succeeded in restoring peace and quiet throughout flanders when philip suddenly decided to send an army there, and selected the duke of alva to command it. the story of the eighty years' war that followed is familiar to every american through motley's account of it, although that brilliant writer is more concerned with the details relating to the dutch provinces than those regarding the portion of the netherlands that remained subject to spain. two events, however, in the long war were so directly concerned with antwerp, and loom so large in its history, that they cannot be passed over here. both have a renewed interest in view of the history of antwerp's latest siege in . these are the spanish fury, and the great siege of the city by the duke of parma. alva, who superseded the gentle margaret of parma as regent of the netherlands, quickly took stern measures for the repression of further disorders at antwerp, which he regarded as a hot-bed of heresy. a huge citadel was built at the southern end of the town, near the scheldt, in , in the centre of which alva erected a bronze statue of himself. on the marble pedestal the inscription related how "the most faithful minister of the best of kings had stamped out sedition, repelled the rebels, set up religion, and restored justice and peace to the country." so far were these boasts from being true that only the following year, in , alva stole away to spain secretly, his government a failure, his army mutinous, and half of the country he had been sent to rule in open and successful revolt. war with england had ruined the commerce of antwerp, alva's fiscal policy and incessant taxes had half beggared the people of the entire country, while thousands of the noblest and bravest in the land had met death on the scaffold or in the torture chambers of the inquisition. requesens, the next regent, was unable either to stem the rising tide of revolt or to pay his soldiers--king philip failing to send funds until the pay of the spanish veterans was at one time twenty-two months in arrears. the sudden death of requesens in left matters in a nearly chaotic condition. the veterans who had been fighting in zeeland against the dutch mutinied and returning to flanders captured the town of alost, where they forced the citizens to give them food and shelter. on november th, , the mutineers marched to antwerp, some two thousand strong, where they joined the spaniards and mercenaries in the citadel. they were under the command of an _eletto_, or elected leader. jerome roda, a spaniard, had proclaimed himself the commandant of the fortress until the new regent, don john of austria, should arrive in flanders. under these two worthies the combined forces in the citadel, some five thousand men in all, proceeded to attack the city. the citizens, on their side, had for some time feared such an attack and should have been able to repel it. there were fourteen thousand armed burghers, four thousand walloons and an equal number of german troops--twenty-two thousand in all. it may have been that they felt unduly secure against an attack on that day because it was sunday. it is certain that they were badly commanded. shortly after noon the spaniards rushed from the citadel and across the broad open esplanade cleared a few years before by alva, shouting their war cry, _sant jago y cierra españa_. the _eletto_ was the first to fall, but the rush of furious soldiers was not to be stopped by a single volley. the walloons put up a brave fight but part of the germans treacherously lowered their pikes and let the spaniards pass down the rue st. georges. on the place de meir the defenders made another stand, but were swiftly swept back in a confused and disorganised mass by the spanish cavalry. at the hotel de ville the burghers fought fiercely until the mutineers set fire to the edifice. in the conflagration that followed not only this noble structure, one of the finest in europe, but the adjoining guild houses and some eighty other buildings were consumed. of the hotel de ville only the blackened walls remained. by nightfall the spaniards and the german mercenaries, most of whom had joined the victors in order to share in the spoils, were masters of the doomed city. that night the scenes of pillage and rapine as the savage and half drunken soldiers swept through the streets and ransacked the houses of all who did not instantly pay a stiff ransom, exceed the descriptive powers of the contemporary historians. one of the burgomasters was stabbed to end a quarrel as to his ransom. many burghers were killed near the town hall, or were burned within it like rats. for three days the city was given up to be sacked. the number who were killed, including women and children, has been variously estimated at from seven thousand to seventeen thousand of the citizens and defenders of the city, and from two hundred and fifty to six hundred of the spaniards. the loss in property amounted to many millions, but no accurate estimate could be made of it, as many who suffered most in this respect lost their lives as well. cartloads of plunder were sent out of the city, while much of it was actually sold by those who did not care or dare to keep it in a temporary market-place at the bourse. some were said to have concealed their wealth by having sword hilts and breastplates made of solid gold. like the ill-gotten gains of the spaniards in america, however, none of this booty--the reward of treachery, of assassination, of cruelty and the sudden setting free of all the basest elements in human nature--profited its captors very greatly. in a few days after the arrival of don john, the new regent, the mutinous soldiers were paid off and marched away to maestricht and presently to other battlefields, from flanders to lombardy, where, no doubt, most of the golden breastplates and sword hilts fell--in due time--to other conquerors. such was the spanish fury--until the worst blot on civilisation that history records. soon after the spaniards left the city permission was given to the people to destroy the citadel that the tyrant alva had built to overawe the town. the entire population flocked to this welcome task--men, women and children, each taking a shovel, a basket or a barrow. it is related that even the great ladies of the city took part in the work of demolition--so hated had the grim fortress become. the statue of the cruel duke that he had so vaingloriously erected in the centre of the citadel only five years before was torn down and dragged through the streets by a cheering throng. charles verlat has given the world a vivid picture of this incident which hangs in the antwerp museum. [illustration: "dragging the statue of the duke of alva through the streets of antwerp."--c. verlat.] six years later the duke d'alençon, who had been made nominal sovereign over the low countries by william the silent, planned to treacherously attack and sack the city with his french soldiers, some three thousand, five hundred strong. this time, however, the citizens were not caught napping and when the tocsin in the cathedral called the alarm the burghers rushed out in thousands. the french swashbucklers proved to be less stubborn fighters than the spanish veterans and soon were driven back in a confused mass to the city gates, most of them being killed and the cowardly duke only saving himself by flight. this episode has been derisively called the french fury. it happened january , . the following year alexander farnese, the duke of parma--and the son of the duchess of parma, whose career as regent of the netherlands was briefly described in the chapter on audenaerde, her birthplace--determined to besiege antwerp, which, since the spanish fury, had fallen into the hands of the revolted provinces. unfortunately for its defenders, william the silent had just died at the hands of an assassin and his plans for the protection of the city by flooding all of the marshes surrounding it were not followed. the butchers opposed flooding all of their pasture lands and the important kowenstein dyke was not cut. the prince of parma, who was the greatest military leader of his age, swiftly captured the forts on the flemish side of the river, seized the kowenstein dyke--which extended on the brabant side from a point opposite calloo to starbroeck--and began to build a bridge across the river itself. this daring project, if successful, would completely isolate antwerp from the sea and its dutch allies and render certain its ultimate subjection by starvation. the bridge was built partly on piles, as far out as the water was sufficiently shallow, then the intervening gap was spanned by means of thirty-two large vessels anchored at both ends and lashed together by chains and heavy cables. the structure was completed in february, , to the amazement of the besieged burghers and the great joy of the prince's army. it would seem a small affair to the pontoon bridge builders of to-day, being two thousand, four hundred feet long and twelve feet wide, but at that time it was deemed one of the most notable achievements ever known. the defenders of the city sent huge fireships down the river to destroy the bridge. one of these actually exploded against the structure and another off calloo, destroying more than eight hundred spanish soldiers and endangering their intrepid leader himself. the bridge was wrecked, but farnese repaired it before the people at antwerp learned of the success of their attempt. a tremendous attack was next made on the kowenstein dyke, with a view to cutting it--a feat that could have been done without any trouble if the prince of orange's counsels had been followed a few months earlier. a fleet of one hundred and fifty dutch ships joined in the battle from the sea side, while a strong force of flemings, english and dutch from antwerp attacked the dyke from the land side. after a fierce struggle it was cut, the waters rushed through and one vessel loaded with provisions for the beleaguered city made its way past. that night antwerp rejoiced, but in the darkness the prince of parma made another furious assault and finally drove back the allies, capturing twenty-eight ships of the dutch fleet and filling in the dyke once more. this victory--which as a feat of arms was one of the most brilliant of the war--sealed the fate of the city, which finally capitulated august th. so important was this success to the spanish, cause that isabella, the daughter of king philip, was awakened by her father during the night by the tidings, "antwerp is ours!" its fall settled approximately the extent of the region that was left to the spanish crown out of the wreck of its former empire in the low countries. thenceforth all of the provinces to the west and south of antwerp--the region now comprised in the kingdom of belgium--remained subject to the king of spain and his austrian successors until the great french revolution. the remaining provinces became the dutch republic and now form the kingdom of holland. the spanish fury and the great siege had together well-nigh destroyed the commerce of the port, and the heavy fine imposed by the conquerors upon the city for its rebellion completed its ruin. packs of wild dogs are said to have roamed unmolested through the outlying villages, which stood deserted, while even wolves were seen. grass grew in the once crowded streets of the city, and famine added to the miseries of its fast declining population. it would hardly be conceivable that a quarter of a century of hideous misrule could have so utterly obliterated the prosperity of this once opulent city, but for the fearful object lesson afforded in that war is still as potent a breeder of destruction and despair as it was in that dark age. enough, however, of wars and sieges and the sack of cities. antwerp's past includes many pleasanter stories as well--stories of progress and achievement. to those who are interested in the noble art of printing, and the various branches of the fine arts that serve as handmaids to the printer, antwerp possesses one of the rarest treasure-houses in the world. this is the museum plantin-moretus, for three centuries the head office and workshop of the great printing-house whose name it bears. christopher plantin, the founder of this famous establishment, was by birth a frenchman--having first seen the light of day in the vicinity of tours in the year . fleeing from the plague with his father to lyons, he went from there to orleans, to paris, and finally to caen in normandy, where he learned the art of printing from robert mace. here also he met jeanne rivière, who became his wife in or . the couple soon went to paris, where plantin learned the art of bookbinding and of making caskets and other articles of elegance from leather. in he came to antwerp and the following year was enrolled as a citizen and also as a member of the famous guild of st. luke with the title of printer. he does not appear to have followed this profession, however, but speedily gained much renown for his exquisite workmanship as a bookbinder and casket maker, finding several wealthy patrons and protectors-among them gabriel de Çayas, secretary of philip ii, then the most powerful monarch in christendom. in the year , while on his way to deliver in person a jewel-case he had just made for this client, he met with an adventure that changed the course of his career. it was quite dark before he had completed his errand, and as he made his way along the narrow, ill-lit streets of the old city he was set upon by a party of drunken revellers who mistook him, with the casket under his arm, for a guitar player against whom they had some grievance. one of the party ran the unfortunate casket-maker through the body with his sword, and he had barely strength enough to drag himself home, more nearly dead than alive. skilful medical and surgical aid finally saved his life, but left him unable to do any manual work. he therefore gave up his casket-making and resumed the trade of printer, which he had learned at caen. instead of a misfortune, as it no doubt seemed at the time, this sword thrust proved the turning point in his career, for in his new profession he was destined to achieve undying fame. there were at this time no less than sixty-six printing establishments in the low countries, of which thirteen were at antwerp, some of the latter rivalling the best printers of paris, basel and venice in the beauty of their productions. plantin's first book was issued the year of his accident, in , and was entitled "_la institutione di una fanciulla nata nobilmente_." during the next seven years his presses turned out a limited number of works, but in his office was raided by order of the regent, margaret, the duchess of parma, and three of his workmen seized and condemned to the galleys for a heretical book they had printed unknown to him, entitled "_briefve instruction pour prier_." plantin fled to france, and to avoid confiscation he had some of his friends, acting as creditors, sell and buy in his printing plant. the following year--having convinced the government of his orthodoxy--he returned to antwerp and organised a company consisting of himself and four partners, including some of his pretended creditors. while this arrangement lasted, from to , more than two hundred books were printed, and forty workmen kept constantly employed. his work was already considered notable for the beauty of its type and excellence of the paper used. soon after the partnership was dissolved plantin undertook what was destined to be the greatest work of his career, and one of the most notable in the history of printing, the famous _biblia regia_. this was an edition of the bible in four ancient languages, latin, hebrew, greek and chaldean. the hebrew type was purchased from a venetian printer, while the last two were cast expressly for this book. his friend Çayas interested philip ii in the project and that monarch sent the great scholar arias montanus from alcala to supervise the work. at the suggestion of cardinal granville, syriac was added to the other texts, so that, including french, there were six languages in all. the first volume of this "polyglot bible," as it came to be called, appeared in and the eighth and last in . the work proved to be exceedingly costly, and to help meet the expense the king of spain advanced , florins, and granted plantin a monopoly for its sale throughout the spanish dominions for the period of twenty years. a similar monopoly was granted by the pope, the emperor, the king of france and the republic of venice. in spite of all this, the book brought its printer no profits, but kept him in debt for the rest of his life. pensions promised by philip ii to himself and his son-in-law, raphelingen, were never paid. between the editor of the great bible and its printer a strong friendship sprang up. "this man," wrote arias on one occasion, "is all mind and no matter. he neither eats, drinks, nor sleeps." and again, "never did i know so capable and so kindhearted a man. every day i find something fresh to admire in him, but what i admire the most is his humble patience towards envious colleagues, whom he insists on wishing well, though he might do them much harm." besides the _biblia regia_ plantin, now at the height of his fame, managed to turn out a vast quantity of printed matter. high in royal favour by reason of this worthy work, he had no difficulty in obtaining for himself and his heirs a profitable monopoly for printing and selling missals and breviaries throughout spain's wide dominions. while the largest printers at paris rarely employed more than six presses, plantin kept twenty-two constantly at work, had agents at paris and leyden, and sent a member of his family every year to attend the fairs at leipzig and frankfort. in his office is said to have had seventy-three kinds of type, weighing over seventeen tons. in he was appointed by philip to the newly created office of prototypographer in the netherlands. masters and men in the printing trade had to apply to him for certificates as to their fitness, while he was also required to draw up a list of forbidden books. in this, curiously enough, one of the earlier products of his own press found a place--a rhyming version of the psalms in french by clement marot. this office does not seem to have paid much salary, if any, or to have given its first possessor anything but a lot of worry. the plantin press was located at various places about the city until , when it was established on the rue haute near the porte de st. jean. three years later plantin purchased from the owner of this property the premises occupied by the present museum and extending from the rue haute through to the friday market, with a large gateway opening into the latter. plantin had been only eight months in this new location when the spanish fury broke out. he was away on a journey himself, but his son-in-law, moretus, had to pay a heavy fine to save the printing-office from pillage. the next few years were full of trouble and anxiety. for a time plantin had to leave antwerp, going to leyden, where he met justus lipsius and was made printer to the university. during the great siege of antwerp he fled, with many other catholics, to cologne, where he thought for a time of establishing his chief printing-office. after the siege he hurried home, but a short time later his health began to fail. [illustration: courtyard of the plantin museum, antwerp.] it was in the house on the friday market that the dying printer gathered his family about him. his only son had died in infancy, but his five daughters had all lived to be married, three of them to men associated with him in the printing office. the eldest, margaret, married francis raphelingen, the chief proof-reader and an able linguist; while the second, martina, married jean moretus, the father of a long line, of which the eldest sons bore the same name so that they came to be distinguished by numbers, the first being jean moretus i--like a line of kings. this son-in-law was plantin's business manager. the third daughter aided the mother, who ran a linen business in the frugal way that many flemish housewives have of helping their husbands. a fourth, magdalen, when only a child, corrected proofs on the _biblia regia_ in five languages, and later married her father's paris agent. the fifth married a brother of jean moretus i, who became a diamond-cutter. plantin had from a very early date adopted the motto "_labori et constantia_," together with the emblem of a hand holding a pair of open compasses, which may be seen over the friday market gateway to the museum. this emblem, with the motto entwining it in the form of a scroll, or appearing above, below or across it in a hundred variations, is the mark by which connoisseurs can distinguish the products of the plantin press. it must have been constantly in the mind of the great printer himself, for on his deathbed he composed the following french couplet, which expresses and describes his own character better than any epitaph could do: "un labeur courageux muni d'humble constance resiste à tous assauts par douce patience." on july , , this "giant among printers" breathed his last, and was buried in the ambulatory of the cathedral, his friend justus lipsius writing the inscription for his tombstone. while his name is not associated with the earliest beginnings of the art of printing, and the products of his press do not therefore command the almost fabulous prices paid for the rarest productions of some of the first printers, christopher plantin was not only the greatest printer of his age, but one of the greatest in the history of the art. almost from the first he knew how to gather about him the foremost scholars and artists of his time, making his establishment not merely a printing-office but an institution of learning, a home of the fine arts. arias montanus, editor of the _biblia regia_, aided by a host of the most learned churchmen of europe; justus lipsius, lecturer before princes at the universities of leyden and louvain; mercator and ortelius, the geographers, from whom the world learned the right way to make maps and atlases; crispin, van den broeck, martin de vos, and a score of the foremost flemish artists, who were employed by plantin to illustrate his books; these and many more no doubt were frequent visitors at the printing-house during the lifetime of its founder. these noble traditions were fully maintained under his successors. jean moretus i ruled over the destinies of the house until his death, in , leaving it to his two sons, jean ii and balthazar i. the latter was the greatest of the dynasty of printers after plantin and jean moretus i. he was a warm friend of rubens, who illustrated many of the publications of the house during this period. in the fourth generation, represented by balthazar iii, who ruled for half a century, from to , the family was ennobled, but after this period the house confined its output and commerce to missals and breviaries, under the monopoly granted by philip ii for the countries under the rule of spain. this business was completely destroyed by an edict prohibiting the importation of foreign books into the spanish dominions, and in the printing office ceased operations. it resumed activity on a small scale once or twice during the nineteenth century, but finally closed in , after an existence of three hundred and twelve years, and in the last representative of the house, edouard moretus, sold the entire establishment, with all its priceless collections and furnishings, to the city of antwerp for the sum of , , francs, to be maintained as a museum. during the splendid period of activity in the first half of the seventeenth century, the throng of famous men in the libraries and the corrector's room of the old establishment surpassed that of the days of plantin and jean moretus i. rubens, van dyck, erasmus quellin and a host of other artists; lævinius torrentius, bishop and poet, kiliaen, the lexicographer, and scores of other learned men; princes and dukes innumerable, the patrons and protectors of the house--all these and many more were constant visitors. to the student the museum of to-day recalls these great names with a freshness and vividness that the ordinary museum fatally lacks, for here are countless mementoes of their presence in the very proofs and prints they handled and corrected, in the letters they wrote, in the sketches drawn by the greatest artists of flanders and engraved by the foremost engravers of the time. as a detailed description of the plantin museum can be found in all the guidebooks, while an excellent handbook regarding its treasures by max rooses, its renowned curator, can be purchased for a franc, it would be unnecessary as well as tedious to recount them here. to those who have but a little time at their disposal a liberal honorarium to the attendant in each room--all of whom are garbed in brown with a quaint cap of the same colour, as the printers of the house were wont to be dressed in the great olden days--will bring forth a wealth of curious and interesting information not to be found in any book, anecdotes of distinguished visitors, bits of lore about this or the other treasure, that will make the trifling investment well worth while. in our case we made our first visit in this way, roaming about the splendid old rooms and dipping into this case or that at random--like butterflies amid a bower of roses. visitors were few that day and we had each attendant to ourselves. later on we made another visit, armed with letters of introduction to m. denucé, the learned assistant curator, and through his courtesy revisited each room once more. a single book--one of the marvellous collections of early bibles--was, according to the attendant in that room, made the object of an offer of a million francs, or maybe it was a million dollars, by a well-known american millionaire. the collection in its entirety, if dispersed by auction, would doubtless fetch many millions--but it belongs exactly where it is. like the collection of van eycks and memlings in bruges, it would be a world calamity to despoil it or disperse it. even the very furnishings of the chambers up-stairs are associated with the house of plantin, were used by the family for many years; the paintings that crowd the walls like an art gallery are for the most part by rubens--portraits of leading members of the family. then there are numberless drawings, prints and engravings that represent the work of half of the greatest artists of the flemish school during the century of its greatest splendour--an inimitable, indescribable collection! among other pictorial treasures we saw a collection of views of old antwerp that the professor said he would gladly have spent a month in, if only his vacation were a little longer. then there were the books--and again words fail to convey an adequate idea of the richness and interest of the collection. there are nearly a score of early german bibles, including a fine copy of gutenberg's _bible latine_ of ; rare german and italian incunabula, choice examples of the work of the early flemish printers, including _les dicts moraulx des philosophes_, printed by colard manson at bruges in . there are examples of early french, dutch and italian printing; there are aldines, estiennes, elzevirs; books from the first printing presses of switzerland, spain and portugal. truly the historian of the early art of printing might come here and complete his work within these charmed walls--he would need no other materials! naturally the collection of books printed by the house itself is large, though not complete, and there are a great many products of other antwerp presses. most valuable of all is the collection of manuscripts, which includes a huge latin bible completed in and ornamented with the most marvellous miniatures. here are also several superb books of hours and many other books with choice miniatures. the printing-rooms also deserve all the time the tourist can spare. the proofreaders' room is a gem, architecturally, artistically, and from its historic associations with one of the world's finest arts. a few old proof sheets are still lying on the high desks, near the stained glass windows with their tiny panes. the typeroom has still some of the old fonts of type and original matrices, while the composing and pressroom has two presses of the sixteenth century, and many quaint and curious devices then in use. all these rooms, together with the large state rooms, which contain the manuscripts and choicest examples of early printing, surround a charming courtyard which is still kept bright with flowers as it was in the days of the founders of the great house. the city of antwerp is justly proud of this noble monument to its great family of great printers, which serves to keep green the memory of their achievements and of their fine artistic taste and skill as no other form of memorial could do. [illustration: ancient printing presses and composing cases, plantin museum, antwerp.] chapter xx antwerp from the time of rubens till to-day if there is one name more honoured in flanders than any other--more often employed as the name of hotels, restaurants or cafés; more frequently on the lips of guides, caretakers and sacristans; more constantly in the mind of every tourist, be he or she american, english or continental--it is the name of the greatest of flemish painters, peter paul rubens. no book on flanders, and most assuredly no work touching on antwerp, would be complete without some reference to the life and work of this prince among painters, yet no task can be more superfluous, since nothing can be said that will add in the slightest degree to his fame. he ranks in the history of art with the greatest masters in the world--with michael angelo, leonardo, rembrandt, raphael, titian and velasquez--and it is probable that more books have been written about him than about antwerp itself. occasional references have been made in previous chapters to notable paintings by rubens to be seen in various churches throughout flanders--particularly to "the miraculous draught of fishes" at malines, which is said to have been saved from the destruction of that city, having been carried away before the first of its many bombardments. it is at antwerp, however, that the tourist who desires to study the work of rubens will find him at his best and in greatest profusion. and the most famous spot enriched by his unrivalled art is the cathedral. here hang his two greatest devotional works, "the elevation of the cross" and "the descent from the cross." the former was painted in and gave the young artist--he was then only thirty-three--instant and enduring fame. the companion work was completed the following year. neither was originally painted for the cathedral. "the elevation of the cross," the earlier and inferior of the two, was intended to be the altarpiece for the church of ste. walburge, while the other was painted for the society of arquebusiers, to adjust a difficulty that had arisen over apportioning the cost of a wall separating rubens' house from that of the guild. both, however, are in an ideal location where they now are, and form an admirable starting point from which to see, first the cathedral, and then the work of rubens as a whole. [illustration: "the descent from the cross."--rubens.] the cathedral of notre dame is without doubt the most beautiful gothic church in belgium, and has thus far happily escaped the ravages of the present war--passing unscathed through the furious german bombardment of the city. begun in it was, like other churches of its size, centuries in reaching completion. the exquisite lace-work in stone of the north tower was completed during the sixteenth century, but was not wholly finished when the iconoclasts ravaged the interior of the edifice. originally the church of st. mary, it became the cathedral of notre dame in . the nave and transepts were not vaulted until - , or the very period when rubens was painting the famous pictures that now hang in the south transept. work on the south tower was discontinued in , which seems a pity, as its completion would have made the cathedral one of the most perfect specimens of gothic architecture in the world. as it is, the single tower dominates the old part of the city and is a familiar feature of its sky line. the chimes of the cathedral are famous, and are often played by jef denyn of malines. there are forty bells of various sizes, of which the greatest was named charles v, and requires the strength of nineteen men to swing it. this bell was founded some eight years before the young duke charles made his joyous entry into antwerp, and no doubt rang lustily on that occasion. the interior of the cathedral is very vast, comprising six aisles, but is too well known to require description. among the numerous paintings with which the chapels are adorned is one, a "descent from the cross," by adam van noort, the teacher of jordaens, and said to be the first who taught rubens how to handle a brush. in the second chapel on the south is an interesting "resurrection" by rubens, which was painted in for the tomb of his friend moretus, of the famous printing-house of plantin. the fourth chapel on the same side contains the tomb of christopher plantin, with an inscription by his colleague and friend, justus lipsius, and several family portraits. the visitor will find many other points of interest in this vast church, which is a veritable museum of art, architecture, history and human progress. the high altarpiece is another famous rubens, an "assumption"--a subject which he painted no less than ten times. there are half a dozen other notable paintings by other artists, but the majority are of minor artistic importance. the rich gothic choir stalls, however, are worth more than a passing glance, for the wood-carvings here are very fine, although modern--having been begun in , and completed forty years later. the elaborately carved pulpit was made in the eighteenth century by the sculptor michel vervoort, and was intended for the abbey of st. bernard. after the completion of the two great masterpieces now in the cathedral rubens was by universal acclaim acknowledged to be the foremost painter in flanders and of his time. his studio was besieged by artists desirous of becoming the pupils of the brilliant master. as early as he wrote that he had already refused more than a hundred applicants. in he painted "the conversion of st. bavon," now in the cathedral of st. bavon at ghent; in "the adoration of the magi" in the church of st. john at malines, and "the last judgment," now in the pinacothek of munich; in "the miraculous draught of fishes" at malines; in "the last communion of st. francis," now in the museum at antwerp, and, according to fromentin, his greatest masterpiece; in the "coup de lance," now at the museum of antwerp, and his finest work according to some other authorities. in - he produced the twenty-four superb paintings of the galerie des medicis. the "lion hunt," and the "battle of the amazons," now in the pinacothek at munich, belong to this decade, together with the six paintings of the history of decius in the liechtenstein gallery, and thirty-nine pictures for the church of the jesuits, of which all but three were destroyed at the burning of the church in . the three are in the museum of vienna. [illustration: "coup de lance."--rubens.] here, in the space of a little over ten years, were nearly a hundred masterpieces--works of such magnitude that two or three would have sufficed to immortalise any other painter. yet in addition to these labours he designed for the tapestry-workers of brussels the life of achilles in eight parts, the history of constantine in twelve, and many other cartoons of extraordinary merit. his friend, moretus, in accordance with the high traditions of the house of plantin, came to him for designs for many books, and he drew borders, designs, title-pages and vignettes, and illustrated himself a book on cameos. he even painted triumphal arches and cars for ceremonial processions, and these works in his hands acquired a permanence of artistic value that is in itself one of the highest tributes to his genius. the fine portraits of albert and isabella, now in the museum at brussels, were painted for a triumphal arch in the place de meir--yet they are masterpieces of portraiture, perfect and splendid down to the minutest detail! according to a report made in , by the _commission anversoise chargée de réunir l'ouevre de rubens, en gravures ou en photographies_, there are altogether no less than two thousand, two hundred and thirty-five pictures and sketches by this amazingly prolific artist, and four hundred and eighty-four designs--a total of two thousand, seven hundred and nineteen known works. at antwerp alone there are upwards of one hundred pictures, of which more than a score are masterpieces of world-wide renown and incalculable value. besides the great trio at the cathedral, and the family portraits in the plantin museum, the museum catalogues more than thirty subjects of which the "spear thrust" (_coup de lance_), "adoration of the magi or wise men," the "last communion of saint francis," the "christ on the straw" (_à la paille_), "the prodigal son," and "virgin instructed by saint anne" are among the more notable. both here and at the plantin museum the student of rubens can find many interesting prints, sketches and minor examples of the great master's work. at the museum also is the interesting holy family known as "_la vierge au perroquet_" (virgin with the parrot) which was presented by rubens to the guild of st. luke when he was elected president of that famous organisation in . near the place de meir is the house of rubens, largely a replica of the original built in the eighteenth century--few vestiges of the building in which the great painter held his almost royal court remaining. it is worth a visit, but is far inferior to the plantin museum as a memorial and in the interest and importance of its contents. [illustration: "_la vierge au perroquet._"--rubens.] on his death in --"twenty years too early"--the artist was buried in the church of st. jacques, an edifice rivalling the cathedral in size and interest. it was the burial-place of many of the wealthiest families in antwerp. the rubens chapel is in the ambulatory, behind the high altar, and contains a picture of the "holy family" which, according to the critics, is one of the worst of the artist's pictures. several of the faces are those of his own family, which probably was the reason why his widow placed it here. besides the paintings in various churches and museums in flanders there are twenty-three by rubens in the museum at brussels, seventy-seven in the pinacothek at munich, ninety at vienna, sixty-six at madrid, fifty-four in the hermitage at st. petersburg and the same number in the louvre at paris, sixteen at dresden, thirty-one at london, while a considerable number can be seen in various public and private art collections in the united states. "he is everywhere," writes prof. wauters with justifiable enthusiasm, "and everywhere triumphant. no matter what pictures surround him, the effect is invariable; those which resemble his own are eclipsed, those that would oppose him are silenced; wherever he is he makes you feel his presence, he stands alone, and at all times occupies the first place.... he has painted everything--fable, mythology, history, allegory, portraits, animals, flowers, landscapes--and always in a masterly way.... is he perfect? no one is. has he faults? assuredly. he is sometimes reproached with having neither the outline of raphael, the depth of leonardo da vinci, the largeness of titian, the naturalness of velasquez, nor the chiaroscuro of rembrandt. but he has the outline, the depth, the largeness, the naturalness and the chiaroscuro of rubens; is not that enough?" to appreciate fully the magnitude of this greatest of all flemings it is necessary to recall, for a moment, the times in which he lived. fourteen years after the capture of antwerp by the prince of parma, philip ii determined--when on his deathbed--to give the spanish netherlands partial independence by transferring the sovereignty over the loyal provinces possessed by the crown of spain to his daughter isabella and her husband, the archduke albert. the arrival of the archdukes, as they were called, in , was made the occasion of a joyous entry that, on the whole, was justified by their government--which was a great improvement over anything that had preceded it since the days of the unspeakable alva. to be sure, the war with the states of holland still dragged on, and the scheldt was closed. but the burghers wisely sought to replace the loss of their sea trade by encouraging industries. silk and satin manufactures during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries gave employment to upwards of twelve thousand hands, and diamond-cutting became an industry of growing importance. while the commercial stagnation was severely felt, the city did not decline like bruges, but held much of its population and recovered some of its former wealth. the archdukes, who were relieved of the paralysing necessity of referring every important act to madrid, did their best to heal the terrible wounds of the early years of the war and restore some degree of tranquillity and prosperity to their dominions. religious persecutions ceased. eager to win the love of their subjects, the archdukes welcomed rubens to antwerp when he returned to his native city on the death of his mother in , and in order to keep him from returning to italy made him their court painter in . during the remainder of his lifetime their favour never ceased, and on many occasions rubens was sent as a special ambassador of the government on important diplomatic missions. his courtly manners and stately appearance favoured him, as well as his now tremendous artistic reputation. he was knighted by charles i, while on a visit to england, and created a master of arts by the university of cambridge. among his friends he numbered--besides his royal patrons, moretus, the printer, and rockox, the burgomaster--many of the most famous scholars and statesmen of his time. he was interested in literature and science as well as art in all its branches and wrote a vast number of letters on an astounding variety of subjects--one calculation places the total number at eight thousand! [illustration: peter paul rubens.] as if his own achievements were not enough, the genius of rubens was the torch that set aflame a renaissance of flemish painting that made the later flemish school, which justly bears his name, the peer of any in the long history of art. of his many pupils the greatest is anthony van dyck, who was born at antwerp in and entered the studio of the master at the age of fifteen. in the little church of saventhem, not far from brussels, is the most famous of van dyck's early paintings which shows his precocious talent. rubens had urged his promising pupil to visit italy, and not only gave him a letter of introduction but provided funds for the long journey. the youth set forth, but in a little village on the way there happened to be a kermesse into the merriment of which he entered heartily. among others with whom he danced was a beautiful country girl with whom the artist fell so deeply in love that he was unable to proceed any further, but devoted himself for days to courting her. meanwhile his funds ran out, and he bethought himself with horror, when it was too late, that this meant the abandonment of the trip to italy. in his extremity he applied to the parish priest and offered to paint an altarpiece for the village church on very moderate terms. it is related that the priest smiled indulgently at the youth's pretensions that he was a historical painter and put him off, saying that there were no funds. van dyck, however, persisted, and offered to paint the picture if provided only with the canvas, and leave the matter of the price to the curé's liberality. these terms could hardly be refused, and the young artist set to work with such energy that in a few weeks the picture was finished. the priest admired the work greatly, particularly the beautiful figure of the saint--the subject selected having been saint martin dividing his cloak among the beggars--and sent for a connoisseur from brussels to decide if he should keep the picture. the verdict was favourable, and the price paid to the artist enabled him to proceed on his journey to italy. it is not reported whether the future painter of kings and courtiers ever returned to visit his fair inamorata of the kermesse, but this pretty story, which is told in a rare little book, "sketches of flemish painters," published at the hague in , was written by a contemporary, and may quite possibly have been true. at any rate, there is the painting itself to prove it. on his return to antwerp in van dyck left behind him in italy more than a hundred paintings, in itself a prodigious achievement. he now began to work in his native city with a rapidity and perfection resembling his master's and produced the altarpieces that are among the master works of flemish churches. here also he painted a marvellous galaxy of portraits of the great artists of his time and of the flemish, french and spanish nobility. his marvellous etchings also belong to this period, so that antwerp is associated with much of his finest work in two great branches of art. in the artist went to london, which he had visited on one or two previous occasions, and became painter to the court of charles i. here he remained for the rest of his lifetime, painting more than three hundred and fifty pictures portraying the royal family and nobility of england. he died in , or only a year after his master, leaving a record of varied achievement comprising more than one thousand, five hundred works. the museum at antwerp possesses twelve of his paintings, of which one of the most interesting is the "christ on the cross" painted for the dominican nuns in recognition of the care and tenderness with which they had nursed his father during the old man's last illness. the catalogue of the museum somewhat conceals the artist's name under the flemish form, antoon van dijck, which hardly suggests the brilliant and debonnaire sir anthony of whitehall and the beauties of england under charles the first. there are sixty-seven works by this master in vienna, forty-one at munich, thirty-eight at st. petersburg, twenty-four at the louvre, twenty-one in madrid and nineteen in dresden, but england possesses the largest collections of his productions, most of those he painted at london still remaining in the public and private galleries of that country. it would be a tedious task to recount the names and works of the throng of lesser artists who studied at the feet of rubens and van dyck during the fruitful years when those masters were giving their talents to the world with such amazing prodigality. erasmus quellin i, the elder, was one of the first--a sculptor who founded a family of notable sculptors and painters who lived and gained renown at antwerp for more than a century. faid'herbe, whose work abounds at malines, was another sculptor of the highest rank who was a direct pupil of rubens; dusquesnoy, grupello and verbrugghen were renowned sculptors who owed much to his influence. [illustration: "as the old birds sing the young birds pipe."--jacob jordaens.] after rubens and van dyck the greatest name in the flemish school of this brilliant period was that of jacob jordaens, who learned his art under rubens' old master, adam van noort, and married his teacher's beautiful daughter catherine, who posed for many of his pictures. the numerous family gatherings depicted by this master are famous, one of the most characteristic of them all being the well-known "as the old birds sing the young birds pipe" in the antwerp museum. his satyrs and peasants and rural scenes are among the finest products of the flemish school. the religious pictures of gaspard de crayer and gerard zeghers, the portraits of cornelius de vos, and the animal pictures of francis snyders and john fyts all belong to this epoch when antwerp, although sinking in commercial and political importance, was making herself for all time one of the art capitals of the world. in pictures of homely flemish life david teniers, who belongs to the next generation of antwerp artists, achieved a fame that places him in a sense in a class by himself, for none of the earlier masters surpassed him in his particular field. he, too, was prolific--one catalogue enumerating no less than six hundred and eighty-five of his works. of the same genre is the work of adrian brauwer, whose early death prevented him from leaving so great a legacy to posterity. besides these masters of the first rank, antwerp boasts an almost innumerable throng of minor artists--pupils of rubens, van dyck and their successors--much of whose work is of excellent merit. any half-dozen of these would have rendered another city notable in the history of art, but here their achievements are lost as are the heroic deeds of the private soldiers in a great army. the mind cannot retain so many names, cannot appraise and classify so bewildering a mass of productions. for this reason the tourist who is a philosopher will not regard too seriously the dicta of the learned as to which of these lesser paintings is or is not of the first rank in the order of merit. what of it if the guidebook does not indicate by its little stars that this is a picture for one to go into raptures over, if the sacristan or guide passes it coldly by? if it appeals to us by all means let us pause and admire it, let us study it, find out about it, learn something of its history and that of the unknown artist who painted it. indeed, if on such closer inspection it still appeals to us, let us buy it if we can--but at all events let us enjoy it to the utmost, for of such joys flanders is full. in out of the way corners everywhere one can find genre pictures like those of tenier, brilliantly coloured groups suggestive of rubens, scenes of bucolic feasting in imitation of jordaens. and here and there, who knows, perhaps one may yet discover an original by one of these greater artists or their rare predecessors, and retire on the proceeds! who knows? the visitor to the royal museum of fine arts at antwerp should not leave without devoting at least a day to the modern paintings. to an american, accustomed to museums where long walls filled with dreary mediocrities are illuminated only at rare intervals with something altogether fine and satisfactory, these modern galleries are a treat. picture after picture, room after room--all are beautiful and worthy, many are splendid. the collection of modern paintings is not large as european galleries go, some five hundred and fifty altogether, but the general average of quality is exceptionally high--much superior in this respect it seemed to us than the far larger collection at brussels, though it is not so regarded by the critics. the interiors of henri de braekeleer, and his charming nursery garden, for example, what could be finer? the "ancient fishmarket" at antwerp by frans bossuet, a native of ypres; the "lull before the storm," by p. j. clays, of bruges, one of whose paintings is in the metropolitan museum at new york--all these are notable. so are the historical pictures of baron leys, guffens, louis gallait and charles verlat--but the list is too long. these pictures are not to be described, they must be seen. individually the savants may quarrel as to their merits, but, taking them all together, these paintings--for the most part by flemish artists--prove that the great traditions of rubens and van dyck, jordaens and teniers, have not been forgotten in their native land and that modern flemish art is a worthy successor to the greatness of the past. the lover of the beautiful has yet another treat in store for him when he visits the famous old hotel de ville. it had hardly been completed, in , by cornelis de vriendt when it was partially destroyed during the spanish fury. rebuilt a few years later in its present form, it contains some of the most beautiful rooms to be seen in all europe. the vestibule and grand staircase are richly decorated with coloured marble, while imposing frescoes depict the zenith of antwerp's commercial and artistic splendour. the great reception-room is decorated with four superb historical frescoes by baron leys, while the exquisite salle des mariages is completely surrounded with allegorical paintings portraying the history of the marriage ceremony by lagye, a pupil of leys. in the rooms of this edifice the history of the famous old city lives again, while in its splendid fireplaces and minor decorations one can see examples of every branch of flemish art. [illustration: hotel de ville, antwerp.] while the hotel de ville is most gratifying to the eye and the imagination, it is not, however, intimately associated with many important events in the history of the city. albert and isabella, while they ruled, were virtually independent sovereigns, but on the death of albert without issue, in , the country reverted to spain. thereafter, for more than two centuries, the city, together with flanders, brabant and the other loyal provinces of the netherlands, became the football of european politics, and belgium received its sinister name of "the cockpit of europe." the people, as a whole, took little interest in the great wars of the spanish and of the austrian successions that were fought largely to decide who should rule over them, since there seemed no likelihood of their in any event ever being able again to rule over themselves. marlborough, after his great victory at ramillies, occupied the city with english troops in , and in the hotel de ville was the scene of the signing of the treaty that ended the war. by this treaty the spanish netherlands were ceded to austria, becoming subject to the emperor charles vi. thirty years later the french victory at fontenoy made them masters of the city, and louis xv had a joyous entry the following year. two years later, in , the country was handed back to austria and charles made a joyous entry in turn, the people apparently welcoming any change of government with complete impartiality. the empress maria theresa was popular in her netherlands dominions, but her son joseph ii made austrian rule so odious that there was a revolt, and in antwerp was taken by the patriot army, to the immense joy of its citizens. the austrians soon crushed the revolution and reoccupied the city, but the great victory of the french republicans, under dumouriez, at jemappes destroyed the power of austria in the netherlands, and in the army of the _sans-culottes_ entered antwerp. the defeat of dumouriez at neerwinden resulted in the imperial forces again occupying the city in , but the french victory at fleurus the following year turned the tables again and antwerp once more became subject to the republic. all these years the scheldt had been firmly closed, joseph ii having made a feeble attempt to free the river, which had collapsed at the first shot from the dutch forts. in the free navigation of the river was decreed by the french, and a ship came up and was received in state by the delighted burghers. it is stated that the value of real estate in the city increased tenfold in consequence of this decree. on the other hand, the _sans-culottes_ very nearly rivalled the image-breakers in the vigour with which they destroyed the city's religious monuments. the cathedral and churches were despoiled, and it was even proposed to tear down the cathedral, because (they said), "it cannot be reckoned a monument of any value except for the lead, iron, copper and timber it contains." fortunately napoleon seized the reins of power at paris at about this time, and put an end to such nonsense. in the first consul visited antwerp, which--as he afterwards said--was "like a loaded pistol pointed at the heart of england." filled with this idea, he systematically sought to revive the commerce of the port and erected great docks there for his war vessels, portions of which still remain. in , after the emperor's defeat and abdication, antwerp, under gen. carnot, was the last french stronghold in the netherlands to yield. after the second defeat of napoleon at waterloo antwerp succeeded in recovering most of the paintings that had been carried away to france by the republicans in . the treaty that followed the last napoleonic war gave all of what is at present belgium to the king of holland, william i, who favoured antwerp in many ways. as the scheldt still remained free the commerce of the port was considerable and prosperity seemed to be returning. in began the revolution that resulted in the independence of belgium. one of its first events was the bombardment of the city of antwerp by the dutch troops holding the citadel. the following year prince leopold of saxe-coburg-gotha was elected by the national congress as king of the belgians under the title of leopold i. the war with holland was not yet over, however, and in the english, french and belgian troops began a siege of the citadel at antwerp, which was still in the hands of the dutch. the fortress had one hundred and forty-three guns, and the besiegers two hundred and twenty-three, and it is stated that sixty-three thousand projectiles were fired against it. the fortress was a mass of ruins before its sturdy defenders capitulated. from until antwerp and the liberty-loving flemings of ancient flanders remained free, happy and increasingly prosperous under the wise and moderate rule of their chosen kings. leopold i reigned until his death in , and proved to be one of the wisest monarchs in history. for antwerp his greatest achievement was the final freeing of the river scheldt in , after more than ten years of diplomatic negotiations, from the tolls which the dutch had insisted in levying since . under his successor, leopold ii, one of the most efficient chief executives it was possible for a nation to have, the fine belgian public service system was developed and the prosperity of its cities and citizens promoted in every practical way. in the two decades following the freeing of the scheldt the commerce of the port of antwerp increased six-fold, while that of its rivals, london and liverpool, doubled and that of hamburg and rotterdam tripled. since then the business of the port has advanced even faster, and the imposing modern business buildings that now line the place de meir, one of the handsomest commercial streets in the world, afford abundant testimony to its prosperity and wealth--as do the fine residences of its merchants to be seen in drives through the outskirts of the city. under albert i the wise policies of his predecessors were continued, and the little country was enjoying peace and contentment such as never came to it during the centuries of foreign oppression and tyranny that began with the acquisition of flanders and brabant by the dukes of burgundy. it is the greatest moral issue in this war whether belgium, after being free for less than eighty-five years, shall once more pass into the hands of a foreign power. its people have demonstrated conclusively that under the limited monarchy they have chosen they are capable of governing themselves far better than the best of their self-appointed masters ever did in the bad old days that, they had hoped, had forever passed away. chapter xxi where modern flanders shines--ostende and "la plage" our last stopping place in flanders was the one that many tourists visit first, the gay watering place of ostende. here a little fleet of fast channel steamers convey the traveller to dover in four or five hours, while an excellent service of through express trains connect the dover end of the water route with london, and the ostende end with brussels, berlin and half the capitals of europe. our stay in flanders, however, was drawing to a close, and we were headed for liverpool, where the new _aquitania_ was waiting to bear us home. the tourist who expects in ostende to find much that is reminiscent of the flanders of the sixteenth century, of which so much has been said in the other chapters of this book, will be disappointed. to be sure, it is not a young city, being mentioned in the chronicles of flanders as far back as the eleventh century. in the eighty years' war between spain and her revolted dutch colonies ostende was for a long time held by the dutch, who beat off two severe attacks by the spaniards in and , the former led by the all but invincible farnese, prince of parma. in the year the battle of the dunes took place at nieuport, in which the troops of the archduke albert were defeated by a dutch army under maurice, prince of nassau. this victory, while it gave great encouragement to the enemies of spain by demonstrating that the renowned spanish soldiers were not invincible, was otherwise barren of results, and in the archdukes determined to besiege ostende, which was the last stronghold of the dutch in flanders. prior to the war with philip ii ostende had been little more than an obscure fishing-village, but since it had been fortified by the dutch, and had so successfully maintained itself against all assaults, the place was fast becoming a "thorn in the foot" to the government of the archdukes. queen elizabeth, whose defeats of philip's armadas had made england mistress of the seas, was determined that spain should not regain so important a strategic base, and had kept an english garrison there under an english commander. since albert's accession the town had been greatly strengthened by new ramparts, bastions and fortifications of every type, then known in the engineering art of warfare. to protect flanders against this hostile fortress in its very midst the archdukes were obliged to erect eighteen forts around ostende and keep them constantly garrisoned and supplied. this cost ninety thousand crowns a month and kept the rich province in a state of perpetual war. towns in the vicinity were compelled to pay tribute in order to escape pillage, and commerce--then, as always, dependent upon peace--languished. the estates of flanders under these direful conditions offered the archdukes three hundred thousand florins a month as long as the siege to rid them of this menacing stronghold might last, and three hundred thousand florins additional as a bonus to be paid in instalments--a third when the city was invested, a third when a breach was made in the fortifications, and the balance when the place was taken. these terms are curiously similar to those employed in drawing building loans at the present day and show that the flemings had lost none of their ancient caution. on july th, , the archduke albert arrived before ostende and formally began its investment. the infanta isabella came with him, and often shared camp life with her husband during the weary months that followed. the siege from the very first developed into a contest of engineers and military strategists on the taking and the defence of fortified places the like of which had never before been known in europe. in fact nearly all europe was directly engaged in the conflict. on the archdukes' side were spaniards, italians and walloons; on the ramparts of the defenders were lined up side by side english, dutch, french, german and scotch forces. the fortress was commanded by sir francis vere. the operations of the siege consisted of mining and counter-mining, the erection and destruction of batteries, storming of outlying works--all the devices of attack and defence known to the military science of the day. never before had the world seen such cannons and engines of destruction. the siege became homeric, epic, a seventeenth-century siege of troy. the great difficulty of the besiegers was their inability to cut off the town from receiving new provisions and supplies, and a constant stream of reinforcements, by sea. the dutch, english and french ships came and went almost at will. all the summer and fall of the siege dragged on, and through the cold winter that followed. in sir francis vere and a large part of the garrison were relieved and a new commander and garrison installed without the archdukes being able to prevent the manoeuvre. in ambrose, the marquis spinola, a young scion of a rich genoese family, offered to take charge of the siege of ostende and to capture the city. as the archduke albert had made a complete failure of the job, and was unpopular besides among his troops, whom he had not been able to pay with any regularity, he welcomed this offer and spinola assumed the command. his wealth enabled him to pay and feed his soldiers, while his youth and ambition made him a wary and energetic commander. day and night he took part in person in supervising the mines, assaults, trenches and erection of new positions. gradually, under his vigorous leadership, the besiegers began to burrow their way into the town. maurice of nassau, unable to pierce spinola's network of entrenchments around the town created a diversion by besieging and capturing sluys. in spite of this, however, spinola clung doggedly to his prey and on september th, , sand hill, after a resistance of three years, was captured. seven days later the governor, who now controlled nothing but the heart of the town, capitulated and on september nd, the garrison marched out with all the honours of war. hardly a soul of the former population of ostende remained at the time of its capture, and it is said that the archduchess isabella "wept at the sight of the mound of earth, all that remained of the city which she had been so anxious to capture." it was estimated that the place, which had been little more than a village, cost the besiegers one hundred thousand lives and the defenders sixty thousand. the siege had lasted three years, two months and seventeen days, but the "thorn" had at last been extracted. for several years after this ostende remained a city without inhabitants, the archdukes rebuilding the place but population coming to it but slowly. in the east and west india company of the austrian netherlands was founded at ostende, chiefly by antwerp capitalists and merchants, who were deeply interested in the enterprise. factories were established in india, but the emperor charles vi dissolved the company in in order to secure english and dutch support for his pragmatic sanction. the next century was one of stagnation, the town reverting to a fishing-place, but almost at the moment of belgian independence--or from about --it began to be renowned as a watering-place. it owes much of its present prosperity to leopold ii, who made it a place of royal residence during the summer, and whose royal palace still looks down upon the _digue_ not far from the racetrack. the coming of the cross-channel steamers still further stimulated its growth, and at present it is one of the most beautiful and picturesque of all the flemish cities. our visit was unfortunate--as we regretfully told one another at the time--in that it came in july, before the season had really opened. august is the time to come, the waiters and hotel porters all assured us, for then the grand dukes come from russia, the long special trains from germany roll in one after another loaded to capacity, the channel steamers arrive three times a day with decks black with english tourists, and ostende's many kinds of gaiety are in full swing. however, the opening of the august season in was conducted under circumstances that made us rather glad we were there in july. the germans came, to be sure, but the gaiety departed. no one in ostende foresaw a bit of the terrible future when we were there in july. the long curving beach was crowded with people, little people for the most part, and most of the queer little beach-houses--summer cottages on wheels--were gradually getting rented. the beach is splendidly broad and smooth, but the slope seaward is so slight that at low tide one must needs go very far out to get into the water at all. this did not seem to trouble anybody very much, for we saw few who ever went near the water, most of the pleasure-seekers staying on the warm, dry sand up near the big sloping sea wall of the _digue_. for families with small children the little summer-houses seemed rather attractive, as papa and mamma could sit within, sheltered from sun or rain, while the youngsters rollicked all day long in the deep sand. the _digue_ just mentioned is a high artificial seawall or embankment, faced with sloping stone on the sea side and surmounted by a broad boulevard--the esplanade. it slopes gradually on the landward side, one row of stately hotels and lodging-houses facing directly on the esplanade, while on the side streets the buildings drop each below the other until they reach the level of the town, which is some forty or fifty feet lower than the summit of the embankment. here the fashionable crowds promenade at the proper times, while the unfashionable promenade all day long and far into the night. even in july the sight is a most fascinating one, and the bohemianism of the crowd and its diversity of national types most interesting. here, as everywhere in belgium, the cafés and hotels place their tables and chairs far out into the roadway, so that we can sit outdoors in the manner that the madame so much enjoys and eat our dinner, or sip our coffee and cognac, while watching the ever-changing crowds go by. at ostende the scale of expenses for everything, rooms, meals, service, pleasure, cigars, tips, and even for the english newspapers, increases or falls according to the proximity or remoteness of the _digue_. if you are on top of it--look out! to americans the charges, even in the finer big hotels, do not seem particularly excessive--though in august they are usually much higher than in july--but there is a constant succession of incidental expenses that make the voyager as a rule hurry more than once to the banker where his letter of credit can have another illegible notation made on it. externally the hotels are very imposing and stately--making a brave show as one looks down the long line that extends for several miles from the harbour entrance westward to westende and beyond half way to nieuport. within they are pretty much like all belgian hotels of the better class. for the novelty of the thing we thought of renting one of the tiny _apartements meublés_, that, each with a charming broad window--usually open all day long like a piazza--look out directly upon the sea. the price was a thousand francs a month, which seemed too much for what was after all little more than one big room with an alcove. the landlady informed us that she attended to all the details of the _ménage_, cooking and serving the meals and providing maid service, but that messieurs must provide the provisions, both solid and liquid. the great show place of ostende is, of course, the kursaal, a huge structure of glass, iron and stone belonging to no particular school of architecture, but in the main making a pleasing impression and serving very well indeed for the somewhat diversified uses for which it is intended. in the daytime the kursaal is a place of relatively little interest, although well-dressed people flock through it at all hours. at night it is the scene of much animation, and is, as it was meant to be, the centre of the gay life of the town. a large orchestra gives a concert every evening in a very pretty concert hall, which, when we were there, contained numerous little tables for refreshments, although i have seen pictures in which the room was filled with seats in solid rows, like a theatre. it was much more comfortable the way we found it, and the concert was very enjoyable. at the intermission, however, we observed that nearly everybody rose and flocked off into an anteroom leading out of the concert hall. the professor and i decided that there appeared to be "something doing" in that direction and followed the crowd, leaving the ladies to look after our wraps, and promising to return and get them if we found anything worth while. i fear that the narrative of our experience may sound a bit like an extract from _innocents abroad_, but i will relate the thing as it happened and make no pretence that we were a bit more sophisticated than we really were. the crowd seemed to be headed through a long and handsome corridor toward a distant room. we followed along, passing on the way what looked more or less like the office of a hotel, with a register book and two or three clerks, to which we paid no attention. arrived at the end of the corridor we found ourselves in a large circular room around which were a number of small tables on which visitors were rolling balls down toward a group of pockets--some such a game as one sees at coney island or any popular american amusement resort. the price was two francs for three shots, and barkers were shouting lustily to all comers to try their luck. on one side a doorway was heavily curtained with velvet draperies and here occasional groups of the guests were silently disappearing. we approached this mysterious passageway and sought to pass like the others when two tiny lads in brilliant livery demanded our cards. on our replying that we had none, a large man, also in livery, appeared from somewhere behind the draperies and courteously informed us that special membership or admission cards were required from all who wished to proceed further. we thereupon returned to the ladies and reported what we had seen, and took our turn at looking after the wraps while they visited the circular room. they likewise returned, reporting that admission beyond the curtains had been refused. after the concert was over we decided to make another attempt--as both the professor and i surmised what attraction lay beyond the mysterious portal. pausing at the hotel office we had previously noticed, we asked bluntly how admission to the hidden room could be secured, and were told that a card would be given each of us on the sole formality of registering. this we accordingly did, giving our names, hotel address, home address and one reference. this done, we each received a card admitting two and departed to find the madame and mrs. professor. arriving at the doorway armed with the cards we had received, we were ushered at once into a very handsome room where perhaps three hundred people were gathered about half a dozen roulette tables. no one paid the slightest attention to us, nor did any employé appear to care whether we played or contented ourselves with merely looking on. practically every one in the room, however, was playing--with all the tense earnestness that this game of chance seems to impress upon its devotees. white chips, we observed, cost five francs, reds twenty, round blues a hundred--or twenty dollars. there were, in addition, a large ovalshaped blue, marked five hundred and an oblong one marked one thousand. in less than three minutes one player lost eight of the thousand franc chips, and then, this being apparently enough for the evening, lit a cigar and started for home. while he was playing we observed an over-painted young woman who had just lost her last stake solicit a loan from him. he tossed the girl a hundred-franc chip and left without pausing to see whether she won or lost with it. we were more curious. she lost. [illustration: the "salle des jeux" in the kursaal, ostende.] at about this period of the evening the madame raised a commotion by discovering that her reticule was open and a piece of money had fallen out onto the thick carpet. the professor and i instantly got down to look for it, and even the croupiers at the adjoining gaming table paused to take in the incident. two or three attendants and waiters hurried up to help when the madame spied her lost coin and triumphantly seized it. it was a one centime piece--worth a fifth of a cent! i have never seen a more disgusted-looking group of attendants, and doubt if so small a coin had ever been seen before in this northern monte carlo. the madame, however, was serenely indifferent to their opinion. this was the nearest, i may add, that we came to losing any money there. at the end of the esplanade is the estacade, a pier that extends well out to sea. pleasure steamers start here for short trips along the coast, and turning to the right at this end of the town one comes to the harbour and the broad basin where hundreds of little brown-sailed shrimp fishing-boats congregate. several of these came in while we were there and sold their cargoes, almost as soon as they were tied up, to groups of eager market-women with big baskets. several girls sat along the quay wall mending huge nets also used in the shrimp fishery. the little back streets in this vicinity, and around the quaint fish-market, are the oldest in the town--and the most crooked. the principal business street of the little city is the rue de flandre and its continuation, the rue de la chapelle, which together take one from the digue de mer straight to the railway and boat stations. on one side of this street is the place d'armes, where a military band played every evening, and facing which is the hotel de ville. our last day was spent poking about this part of the town in a pouring rain, with an occasional peep into huge cafés designed to accommodate a thousand guests, but which were then almost deserted. the rain ceased suddenly toward nightfall and we returned to the digue for a farewell look at the crowds and the long beach. it was night before we had seen enough, and then, after ordering and enjoying to the utmost our last flemish dinner, we made our way to the gare maritime to take the night boat for dover. as we steamed out past the long estacade and looked back upon the gleaming lights along the digue we saw the moon rising redly above the masts in the little harbour. this was our last view of flanders, and, as we regretfully saw the lights of the city sink out of sight behind the tossing waves that gleamed brightly under the moonbeams, we knew that our pilgrimage was over. chapter xxii the spell of flanders in this little book the author has endeavoured to portray as clearly as his limited powers of expression permitted, some of the many elements that make the spell that flanders lays upon the minds and hearts of those who know it and love it well. it is a complex influence, composed of many and widely diverse factors. if in the narrative a thread of history has been permitted to obtrude itself, sometimes perhaps at undue length, it is because before all else flanders is a land whose interest lies in its long and romantic history, and in the marvellous manner in which its artists and sculptors have portrayed its famous past. as mr. griffis in "belgium, the land of art," has well expressed it, "no other land is richer in history or more affluent in art than is belgium. in none have devout, industrious, patriotic and gifted sons told their country's story more attractively. by pen and in print, on canvas, in mural decoration, in sculpture, in monuments of bronze and marble, in fireplaces and in wood-carving, the story may be read as in an illuminated missal. belfries, town halls, churches, guild houses, have each and all a charm of their own." if these pages have caught ever so little of that charm they have served their purpose. to the student of history, of art and architecture, of tapestry and lace-making, of the origin of the great woollen and linen industries, of guilds and the organisation of labour, of the commune or municipal republic in its earliest and finest development, and--before all else--of liberty in its age-long conflict with tyranny and oppression, flanders is a land of endless interest and inspiration. nowhere else in the world can there be found within so small a compass so many monuments of the past, so many of the milestones of human progress. that some of these relate to a past so remote as to be all but forgotten, while others are hidden away in spots where few tourists ever penetrate, only enhances the pleasure of those who are so persevering or so fortunate as to find them. like rare wine, flanders has mellowed with age, the storms and sunshine of succeeding centuries touching its fine old houses, its noble churches and splendid town halls and guild houses but lightly--imparting the majesty of antiquity without the sadness of decay. its dramatic and tragic history--some of which was so terrible in the making--lives again, without the old-time rancour and hatred, as the foundation upon which artists with chisel, brush or pen have created some of the finest of the world's masterpieces. that to-day flanders has once more, as so often in the past, become the battleground of warring europe gives an element of inexpressible sadness to these feeble attempts to sketch its glories as they were only a few short months ago. already some of the splendid monuments described in these pages have been shattered by engines of war more destructive than all those of all former wars taken together. the noble hotel de ville at ypres, the fine old church of st. nicholas at dixmude, the incomparable cathedral of malines--we know that these at least have suffered fearfully, that they may have been injured beyond any hope of restoration. in this last sad chapter of flemish history, it is a pleasure to be able to record the fact that the people of the united states have for the first time entered its pages--and in a work of mercy. to the american people have been given the opportunity, the means and the disposition to play a noble part in this later history of much troubled flanders--to feed the starving, care for the widowed and orphaned non-combatants of the great war, to help bind up the nation's wounds and restore hope and courage to its fearfully afflicted people. this is our part in the history of flanders--our duty to the people of the brave nation of which flanders forms so important and so famous a part. may all of those on whom the spell of flanders falls do their share, however small, to help in this great work so long as the need lasts! and when the great war is over let no american tourist omit flanders from his or her european itinerary. its churches and town halls, its quaint crooked streets and sixteenth-century houses, have received a new and greater baptism of fire that has made them, one and all, shrines to which every lover of liberty should make a pilgrimage. even the pleasant belgian fields, with their bright poppies and corn flowers, have a more profound interest now that so many of them have been stained with a deeper red than the poppies ever gave. the end bibliography allen, grant: belgium: its cities. altmeyer: des causes de la décadence du comptoir hanséatique de bruges. armstrong, edward: emperor charles v. balau, s.: soixante-dix ans d'histoire contemporaine de belgique. boulger, demetrius c.: belgian life in town and country. -- belgium of the belgians. -- the history of belgium. bumpus, t. f.: cathedrals and churches of belgium. charriant, h.: la belgique moderne. christyn, j. b.: les délices des pays-bas. conscience, henri (or hendryk): de kerels van vlaanderen (the lion of flanders). -- many of the other works of this great flemish author have been translated into english, french or german. conway: early flemish artists. crowe, sir j. a. and cavalcaselle, c. b.: the early flemish painters, notices of their lives and work. de flou, charles: promenades dans bruges. delepierre, octave: annales de bruges. -- chasse de ste. ursule. -- histoire de charles le bon. -- histoire de marie de bourgogne. -- galerie des artistes brugeois. -- old flanders, or popular traditions and legends of belgium. -- sketch of the history of flemish literature. destrÉe, j. and van den ven, p.: tapisseries des musées royaux du cinquantenaire à bruxelles. destrÉe, oliver georges: the renaissance of sculpture in belgium. duclos, ad.: bruges, histoire et souvenirs. edwards, george wharton: some old flemish towns. fris, victor: histoire de gand. froissart, sir john: chronicles of england, france, spain and the adjoining countries. fromentin, eugÈne: the old masters of belgium and holland (les maîtres d'autrefois). gÉnard, p.: anvers à travers les ages. -- la furie espagnole, in annales de l'académie d'archéologie d' anvers. geffroy, gustave: les musées d'europe: la belgique. gilliat-smith, ernest: the story of bruges. gordon, pryse l.: belgium and holland. griffis, w. e.: belgium the land of art. haggard, a. c. p.: louis xi and charles the bold. -- two great rivals (françois i and charles v). havard, henry: la flandre a vol d'oiseau. holland, clive: belgians at home. hymans, henri: anvers, in les villes d'art célèbres. -- bruges et ypres, in same series. -- gand et tournai, in same series. jameson, mrs. anna brownell: sacred and legendary art. -- legends of the madonnas. -- legends of the monastic orders. kervyn de lettenhove: huguenots et gueux. -- la flandre pendant les trois derniers siècles. kintschots, l.: anvers et ses faubourgs. kirk, j. f.: history of charles the bold, duke of burgundy. klingenstein, l.: the great infanta isabel. mac donnell, john de courcy: belgium, her kings, kingdom and people. michiels, a.: rubens et l'École d'anvers. motley, john lothrop: the rise of the dutch republic. -- history of the united netherlands. namÉche: histoire nationale de la belgique. omond, george w. t.: brabant and east flanders. -- belgium. pirenne, h.: histoire de la belgique. reiffenburg: mémoire sur le commerce des pays-bas au xve et au xvie siècle. -- histoire de l'ordre de la toison d'or. robertson, william: history of the reign of the emperor, charles the fifth. robinson, wilfrid c.: antwerp, an historical sketch. rooses, max: art in flanders. -- christophe plantin, imprimeur anversois. -- catalogue du musée plantin-moretus. -- geschiedenis de antwerpsche schilderschool. royal academy of belgium: biographie nationale. schayes, a. g. b.: histoire de architecture en belgique. scott, sir walter: quentin durward. scudamore, cyril: belgium and the belgians. singleton, esther: art of the belgian galleries. skrine, francis henry: fontenoy and the war of the austrian succession. smythe, c.: the story of belgium. stephens, f. g.: flemish relics. strada, famiano: de bello belgico (in french, histoire de la guerre de flandre). thorpe, benjamin: netherlandish traditions, in his northern mythology. tremayne, eleanor e.: the first governess of the netherlands, margaret of austria. van de vyvere, paul: audenaerde et ses monuments. vilbort, joseph: renaissance de la littérature flamande, les romans non traduits de henri conscience. waagen: handbook of painting in the german, flemish and dutch schools. wauters, professor a. j.: the flemish school of painting. zimmern, h.: the hansa towns. index a aardenburg, . adornes, anselm and john, of bruges, . adrian of utrecht, . agincourt, battle of, . agrippa, cornelius, . aire, seized by philip augustus, . albert, archduke, and regent of spanish netherlands, defeated in battle of the dunes, - ; portrait by rubens, ; arrival at antwerp, ; welcomes rubens, ; ; siege of ostende, - . albert i, king of the belgians, makes headquarters at furnes in the great war, ; continues wise policies of predecessors, ; peace and contentment under reign of, - . alençon, duke of, . alfred the great, taught by judith, afterwards countess of flanders, ; daughter alfrida marries baldwin ii, ; . alfrida, daughter of alfred the great, ; . allen, grant, "belgium, its cities," cited, . allowin, afterwards st. bavon, - . alost, seized by spanish mutineers, . alsace, revolts against tyranny of charles the bold, . alva, duke of, recommends destruction of ghent, ; made regent of spanish netherlands, ; ; policy a failure, - ; ; citadel and statue demolished, - ; . amiens, repulses charles the bold, ; . angelo, michael, virgin and child at bruges, ; compared with rubens, . antigonus, legend of, - . antoing, village near fontenoy, ; - . antwerp, an experience in, - ; crippled by closing of the scheldt, - ; first view of, - ; ; ; ; "_ville d'art_," ; painting by van der weyden at, ; works by memling at, ; merchants leave bruges for, ; ; "renowned for its money," ; ; ; cathedral spire completed, - ; "monuments" classified, ; legend of antigonus and brabo, - ; scheldt displaces the zwyn as a highway of commerce, - ; under dukes of brabant, - ; under dukes of burgundy, - ; _vielle boucherie_ and steen, ; new trade routes favour city, - ; quentin matsys, - ; other early antwerp painters, - ; legends of the long wapper, kludde, etc., - ; prosperity under charles v, ; outbreak of the iconoclasts, - ; failure of the duke of alva, - ; the "spanish fury," - ; citadel and statue of alva demolished, - ; the "french fury," ; the great siege, - ; ruin resulting from the fury and the siege, - ; the great printing house of plantin-moretus, - ; home of rubens, - ; cathedral, description of, - ; life and achievements of rubens, - ; mild government of archdukes, - ; van dyck, - ; quellin, jordaens, david teniers and lesser antwerp artists, - ; royal museum of fine arts, - ; hotel de ville, - ; later history from the archdukes to the great war, - . archery contests in belgium, - . ardennes, . arenburg, duke of, . arnolfini, jean, and wife, portraits of, by jean van eyck, . arnulph the great, strengthens flemish cities, ; founds st. donatian's at bruges, . arras, treaty of , ; treaty of , - ; tapestry workers organised, ; tapestries of, - ; starting point otapestry weaving, . artois, count of, besieges furnes, ; leads french at battle of the spurs, ; death, ; ; county of artois ceded to france, . audenaerde, tapestries, ; guildsmen from at battle of the spurs, ; ; siege of by philip van artevelde, ; besieged bphilip the bold, ; besieged by men from ghent, ; louis xi drives tapestry weavers from arras to, ; tapestry ateliers specialise in pastoral scenes, ; country around, described, - ; monument to volunteers who died in mexico, - ; description of hotel de ville, - ; birthplace of margaret of parma, ; communal museum in hotel de ville, - ; cloth hall, - ; church of ste. walburge, - ; tapestry weaving at, - ; church of notre dame de pamela, - ; château de bourgogne, ; many religious institutions of, ; sieges and battles of the past, - ; . austria, war of the austrian succession, ; austrian troops at fontenoy, ; arms of, at audenaerde, ; flanders during warof the austrian succession, ; under austrian empire, - . auxerre, marriage of baldwin i and judith in , . b baldwin of constantinople, count of flanders, - ; painting of, at courtrai, ; ; ; ; ; portrait of, . baldwin of the iron arm, first count of flanders, ; remains of old bourg, ; traces of chapel, ; - ; ; . baldwin ii, marries alfrida, ; fortifies flemish towns, - ; . baldwin v, count of flanders, tower of, at audenaerde, . baldwin viii, signs treaty of arras, . basina, marriage to childeric at tournai, - ; . basinus, king of the thuringians, . battle of the spurs, ; ; account of, - ; ; ; effects of, - ; ; ; . bazaine, marshal of france, . beaconsfield, lord, quoted, . beaune, painting by van der weyden at, . beauvais, repulses charles the bold, ; . béguinage, at bruges, - ; origin of institution, - ; grand béguinage at ghent, ; description of, - ; petit béguinage at ghent, ; at audenaerde, . belfry, at bruges, built above the boterbeke, ; history and description of, - ; at courtrai, - ; at ghent, ; description of, - ; at tournai, description of, - ; at bruges, completed under margaret of austria, . belgian coast, ; belgian barbers, - ; belgian state railway train service, - ; belgian popular sports, - ; belgian thrift, - ; belgian state railway, working peoples' trains, - . bellegambe, . bergues, canal from nieuport to, . berthout, gauthier, bishop of malines, . berthout, jean, bishop of malines, . bertulph, provost of st. donatian, ; executed at ypres, - . bicycle racing in belgium, - . _billets d'abonnement_, ; ; for working-people, - . biloque (or biloke) hospital at ghent, . bladelin, peter, town house at bruges, ; founder of middleburg, . blankenberghe, from the sea, ; part of the franc of bruges, ; . blasère, william de, constructs first hothouse at ghent, . blaton, . blondeel, lancelot, . blücher, . bosch, jerome, ; . botanical garden at malines, ; at ghent, - . boterbeke river, intersection with the roya, ; subterranean channel of, . boulger, "history of belgium," quoted, . bouts, dierick, life and principal works, - ; ; . bouvines, battle of, . brabant, duchy of, ; united to flanders by marriages of cambrai, - ; philip the good becomes duke of, ; duke of, at siege of tournai, ; ; dukes of, contend with counts of flanders for malines, ; dukes of, rule over antwerp, - . brabo, legend of, - . braekeleer, henri de, "nursery garden" in antwerp museum, . braine-le-comte, flemish name for, . brauwer, adrian, . breidel, john, dean of butchers' guild at bruges, ; at the matin de bruges - ; at the battle of courtrai, - . breughel, peter the elder, principal works and characteristics, - . _brioches_, . britto, jean, printer at bruges, . broederlam, melchior, early painter of ypres, - . broel towers at courtrai, . brou, in savoy, - . bruges, repels philip the good in , ; murder of charles the good, - and - ; lace makers at, ; the first capital of flanders, ; first visit to, ; founding of, ; derivation of name, - ; _vieux bruges_ (old bruges), - ; more tourists than formerly, ; some quaint old streets, ; lacemakers on rue du rouleau, ; fortified by baldwin ii, ; from charles the good to marie of burgundy, - ; charter granted by philip of alsace, ; description of hotel de ville, - ; belfry and chimes, - ; _halles_, description of, - ; period of greatest commercial activity, - ; silting up of the zwyn, - ; baldwin of constantinople holds court at, ; artisans from ypres move to, ; revolt against the french, ; visit of king of france, ; the matin de bruges, - ; guildsmen from bruges at battle of the spurs, ; ; superseded by ghent as capital of flanders, ; ; ; ; influence of jacques van artevelde in, ; capital of louis of maele, ; ; philip the good establishes order of the golden fleece, - ; the bruges vespers, - ; the "great humiliation," - ; guild of st. luke organised, - ; jehan de bruges, ; "_ville d'art_," ; ; principal capital of charlesthe bold, ; marriage of maximilian and marie of burgundy, ; memling at bruges, - ; gheerhardt david, - ; other early flemish painters, - ; the gruuthuise palace, - ; cathedral of st. sauveur, - ; other fine old mediæval buildings, - ; ; "renowned for its pretty girls," ; ; treaty of cambrai, - ; belfry completed under margaret of austria, ; ; paintings by van der goes, ; "monuments" classified, ; ; ; ; ; ; attempt to close the scheldt, - ; ; ; ; . brunehault, rival of fredegonda, - . brussels, ; relation to flanders, - ; more french than flemish, ; weather at, - ; passage through, ; ; ; ; hotel de ville built by philip the good, ; tapestry workers organised, ; part of the "adoration of the lamb" in museum, ; ; work of van der weyden at, ; "abdication of charles v," by gallait at, ; stallaert's "death of dido" at, ; tapestry weavers of arras driven to, ; extorts privileges from charles the bold, ; works by memling at, ; works by dierick bouts at, ; "renowned for its noble men," ; ; ; cathedral of ste. gudule erected, ; manuscripts of margaret of austria in bibliotheque royale, ; marie of hungary removes capital to, ; ; ; "madness of hugo van der goes" in the modern gallery, ; portrait of charles the bold by van der goes, ; ; ; henri van péde architect of hotel de ville, ; "legend of st. anne," by quentin matsys, ; ; ; modern gallery compared with royal museum at antwerp, ; . burgundy, dukes of, ; ; ; the marriages of cambrai, - ; power extended by treaty of arras, - ; further extended at péronne, ; defeated by swiss at granson, morat and nancy, - ; kingdom of burgundy almost established, ; ; ; early château at audenaerde, ; ; acquire antwerp, ; tyranny of, . byzantine emperors, coins of, found at tournai, . c caen, normandy, plantin learns art of printing in, ; . cæsar, julius, ; . calais, siege of by philip the good, . calloo, ; ; . calvinists, partially destroy abbey of st. bavon, ; propose to present "adoration of the lamb" to queen elizabeth, . cambrai, ; marriages of, - ; league of, ; treaty of, - ; . campin, robert, early painter of tournai, ; ; . carnot, gen., defence of antwerp, . cassel, captured by philip augustus, . castle of the counts (château des comtes), at ghent, - ; stormed by jacques van artevelde, ; birthplace of john of gaunt, ; ; ; liévin pyn tortured at, . caxton, william, learns printing at bruges, . Çayas, gabriel de, patron of christopher plantin, ; interests philip ii in _biblia regia_, . chapel of the holy blood at bruges, crypt of st. basil, - ; receives relic from dierick of alsace, - ; procession and _confrerie_, ; ruined during french revolution, - ; restoration, ; . charlemagne, breaking up of empire of, . charles the bald, creates title of count of flanders, . charles the bold, ; tomb at bruges, - ; betrothal at damme, - ; ; ; meteoric career and death, - ; ; ; ; ; ; ; portrait of, . charles i, king of england, knights rubens, ; employs van dyck as court painter, - . charles v, the emperor, ; ; statue at courtrai, ; destroys abbey of st. bavon, - ; orders bell roland removed, ; captures tournai, ; "abdication of," painting by louis gallait, ; ; christened, ; educated by margaret of austria, ; becomes king of spain, ; elected king of the romans, ; chosen emperor, ; rejoicings at ghent over birth of, ; vast extent of dominions at age of twenty, - ; ; revolt of ghent in , - ; withdraws all the city's ancient privileges, - ; origin of butchers' guild of ghent, ; portrait of, at audenaerde, ; many reminders of, at audenaerde, ; inserts spectacles in arms of audenaerde, ; statue of, ; portrait of, ; father of margaret of parma, - ; ; ; aids prosperity of antwerp, ; ; great bell at antwerp named for, . charles the good, murder of, - and - ; rebuilds cathedral of st. sauveur, ; erects part of church of notre dame, ; bruges in the days of, - ; ; . charles vi, emperor of austria, ; . charles vi, king of france, sacks courtrai, - ; wins battle of rosbecque, ; . charles vii, king of france, concludes treaty of arras, - . charles viii, king of france, . charolais, count of, . chateaubriand, minister of louis xviii, . childeric, marriage with basina at tournai, - ; incidents in life of, carved on portal of the cathedral, ; relics of, discovered, - ; . chilperic, king of the franks, ; besieged at tournai, ; . chimes, at bruges, - ; at malines, - ; at audenaerde, ; at antwerp, . christus, petrus, early painter of bruges, . claire, lord, at battle of fontenoy, . clauwaerts, partisans of flemish independence, ; jacques van artevelde, leader of, . clays, p. j., . clovis, king of the franks, . _concession caroline_, promulgated by charles v in , . columbus, discovery of america helps antwerp, . condé, defeats french under turenne, . conscience, hendryk, flemish novelist, . conynck, peter de, dean of weavers at bruges, ; leader at the matin de bruges, - ; at battle of courtrai, - ; . coolman, gauthier, . cornelis, albert, early painter of bruges, . cortés, . counts of flanders, rule over part of france, ; origin of county, ; the first count, baldwin of the iron arm, ; model of first castle, ; emperor makes title hereditary, ; ; ; castle of, at ghent, - ; foster abbey of st. bavon, ; make ghent their capital, ; decline in power of, ; weakness after battle of the spurs, - ; obtain temporal power over malines, ; ; scheldt their frontier, - . courtrai, linens, ; fortified by baldwin ii, ; ; destroyed by philip augustus, ; lace makers at, ; ; belfry, - ; hotel de ville, - ; battle of courtrai, - ; churches of, - ; broel towers at, ; ; . coxcie, michel, ; ; ; ; . coxyde, dunes at, - ; _pêcheurs de crevettes_, . crayer, gaspard de, ; religious pictures of, . crécy, battle of, . crispin, . crowe and cavalcaselle, "the early flemish painters," cited, . _cuches au beurre_, - . cumberland, duke of, defeated at fontenoy, - . d damme, receives charter from philip of alsace, ; birth of van maerlant (mural painting), ; period of prosperity and present aspect, - ; betrothal of margaret of york by charles the bold, - ; destroyed by philip augustus, ; rallying place for clauwaerts before the matin de bruges, ; destroyed by philip the bold, . danes, invasions of, . daret, jacques, early painter of tournai; ; . david, gheerhardt, life and principal works, - . davis, thomas osborne, poet, "battle of fontenoy" quoted, - . delbeke, louis, . deledicque, antony, . delvin, jean, . dendermonde (termonde), ; . denucé, assistant curator of plantin museum, . denyn, josef, official bell ringer at malines, - ; . denys, gérard, dean of weavers at ghent, . devreese, godefroid, sculptor of courtrai, . dierick of alsace, count of flanders, ; wise rule, - ; brings holy blood from jerusalem, - ; ; ; ; besieges ancient castle at ghent, ; portrait of, . dierick, lord of dixmude, legendary hero, . dijon, capital of burgundy, ; paintings by melchior broederlam at, - ; "the last judgment" by van der weyden, at beaune, ; . dinant, ; . dixmude, at time of the crusades, ; part of the franc of bruges, ; history of, ; church of st. nicholas, - ; _gâteaux d'ames_, ; ravages of the war, ; yser river and canal, - ; church of st. nicholas destroyed by the germans, . dozzo, gasparo, rich antwerp merchant, . dumery, george, . du guesclin, . dumuriez, general of first french republic, . dunes, viewed from the sea, ; at coxyde, - ; battle of the dunes, - ; . dunkerque, receives charter from philip of alsace, ; canal from nieuport to, . duquesnoy, jerome, ; ; influenced by rubens, . dyle, river, at malines, ; ; views from, ; ; _grand pont_ across, ; . dyver, at bruges, ; view of notre dame from, . e eccloo, part of the franc of bruges, . edward i, king of england, obtains antwerp as a fief, . edward iii, king of england, ; treats with jacques van artevelde, ; wins battle of sluys, ; welcomes flemish weavers, - ; besieges tournai, - ; at antwerp, . edward iv, king of england, guest of the lord of gruuthuise, . egmont, count of, "last honours to" and "last moments of" by louis gallait, - . eleanor, queen of france, . elizabeth, queen of england, ; sends english garrison to ostende, - . epinoy, christine, princess of, heroic defence of tournai, ; statue of, ; painting of, . erasmus, . erembald, house of, ; murder of charles the good, ; besieged in church of st. donatian, ; flung from church tower, ; house nearly annihilated, . erembald, blacksmith at bruges, . ethelwolf, king of wessex, . eugene, prince of savoy, . everard, nicholas, . f faid'herbe, luke, sculptor of malines, ; designs church of notre dame d'hanswyck, ; pupil of rubens, . farnese, octavio, duke of parma, . ferdinand of aragon, . ferdinand, king of bohemia, . ferdinand of portugal, count of flanders, ; - . féré, pierrot, tapestry maker of arras, . ferrand, count of flanders, . flanders, location of, and - ; historical interest of, - ; bruges first capital of, ; plan of chronological tour of, ; climate, - ; travel hints, ; origin of the county, ; just misses becoming independent, - ; "the cock-pit of europe," - ; ; end of independence in , ; arms of, at audenaerde, ; the scheldt its eastern boundary, - . flemish architecture, ; art, ; inns, - ; language, - ; coast, - ; cleanliness, - ; language in west flanders, - ; belgium bi-lingual, - ; flemish dinners, - . fleurus, battle of, . floris, corneille, . floris, frans, ; life and chief works, - . flowers in belgium, - ; fondness of people for, ; bishop triest encourages horticulture at ghent, - ; first hothouse, ; botanical gardens at ghent, - . flushing, ; . fontenoy, battle of, - ; battlefield and monument, ; . franchoys, luc, . francis i, king of france, ; loses tournai, ; concludes treaty of cambrai, - . fredegonda, queen of the franks, - . frederick ii, emperor, offers crown to charles the bold, ; ; defeated by burghers of ghent, . froissart, ; eulogy of ghent, ; description of "mad margery," - ; describes siege of tournai, . fugger, anthony, fame of his wealth, . furnes, at time of the crusades, ; receives charter from philip of alsace, ; history, - ; ; the procession of, - ; principal buildings, - . fyts, john, animal pictures of, . g galeswintha, sister of brunehault, . gallait, louis, "last honours to counts egmont and horn," ; other notable works, - ; in antwerp museum, . gavre, battle of, - ; . geefs, w., sculptor, . george ii, king of england, . gertrude, countess of flanders, . ghent, fortified by baldwin ii, ; receives charter from philip of alsace, ; attack on nieuport in , ; repulsed at ypres, ; artisans from ypres move to, ; loyal to french in , ; greatness in the middle ages, - ; château des comtes, - ; abbey of st. bavon, - ; château of girard the devil, - ; church of st. nicholas, - ; cathedral of st. bavon, ; rapid growth in power, - ; takes popular side after battle of the spurs, ; guilds, - ; belfry, - ; cloth hall (halles), ; the mammelokker, ; jacques van artevelde, - ; expulsion of weavers, - ; philip van artevelde, - ; resists philip the bold, ; rebels against philip the good, ; crushed at gavre, - ; ; guild of st. luke organised, ; ; ; "the adoration of the lamb," - ; ; "_ville d'art_," ; extorts concessions from charles the bold, ; denounced by charles, ; ; "renowned for its halters," ; hotel de ville completed, ; ; the rabot, - ; rejoicings over birth of charles v, ; decline of cloth industry, ; hotel de ville, description of, - ; outbreak of , ; execution of liévin pyn, ; emperor withdraws liberties and privileges, - ; bishop triest and beginnings of horticulture, - ; botanical garden, - ; louis xviii at, - ; justus of ghent and hugo van der goes, - ; gerard van der meire, ; ranks first in "monuments," ; some of its minor monuments, - ; margaret of parma presented as regent at, ; ; ; ; . ghistelle, lords of, . gilliat-smith, ernest, "story of bruges," cited, . gilliodts, archevist of bruges, quoted, - . girard the devil (girard le diable), château of, - ; ; ; . godfrey of the beard, duke of brabant, . godfrey of bouillon, . gordon, pryse l., cited, . gossaert, jan (or mabuse), painting by, at tournai, ; at court of margaret of austria, . granson, battle of, ; ; ; . granville, cardinal, . gravelines, . griffis, "belgium, the land of art," quoted, . groeninghe, abbey of, ; flemish name for battle of the spurs, . grupello, sculptor of rubens school, . gruuthuise, louis (or lodewyk) van der, ; . gruuthuise palace, ; - . gryeff, adolphus de, . gueldre, duke of, . gueux, ; . guffens, godefroid, fresco at ypres, ; at courtrai, . guido gezelle, poet, . guilds, at bruges, and ; the guilds of ypres, ; guild leaders in , ; at battle of courtrai, ; power of, - ; guild houses in th century, - ; slaughter of the fullers, ; slaughter of the weavers, ; expulsion of weavers, - ; at malines, - ; house of boatmen's guild at ghent, ; fine guild houses of ghent, ; origin of butchers' guild, . guizot, minister of louis xviii, . guy of dampierre, count of flanders, ; - ; grants ghent a new _keure_, . guy of namur, . h hachette, jeanne, heroine of beauvais, . hacket, châtelain of bruges, ; . hainaut, county of, ; united to flanders by marriages of cambrai, - ; philip the good becomes count of, ; ; count of, at siege of tournai, . hal, baptismal font at, . hanseatic league, ; at bruges, ; abandons bruges for antwerp, ; . hay, lord, at battle of fontenoy, . hémony, pierre, . hennebicq, painter of tournai, . hennequin, painter of tournai, . henry iii, duke of brabant, grants privileges to antwerp, . henry v, king of england, wins battle of agincourt, . henry viii, captures tournai, ; tower of, - . herkenbald, "justice of," painting by van der weyden, . heuvick, early painter of audenaerde, . heyst, ; . hiéronimites, . horembout, gerard, . horn, count of, "last honors to," ; . hugonet, minister of marie of burgundy, . humbercourt, minister of marie of burgundy, . hundred years' war, ; ; . i iconoclasts (or "image breakers"), at malines, ; ; ; outbreak of, - ; at audenaerde, ; at antwerp, - ; . innocent viii, - . inquisition, meeting-place at furnes, ; . isabella of castile, . isabel, queen of denmark, . isabella, queen of france, . isabella, regent of the netherlands, ; portrait by rubens, ; arrival at antwerp, ; encourages rubens, ; ; at siege of ostende, ; weeps at ruin of the town, . isabel of portugal, marries philip the good, ; portrait of, ; picture of, in collection of margaret of austria, - . j jacqueline, countess of hainaut and holland, - ; forced to abdicate, . jansenius, bishop of st. martin at ypres, - . janssens, victor, . jean ii, duke of brabant, . jeanne d'arc, . jeanne of constantinople, countess of flanders, ; ; ; - ; founds first béguinage at ghent, . jehan de bruges, early painter, . jehan de hasselt, early painter, . jemappes, battle of, . joanna of spain (jeanne de castile), ; . john, prince of asturias, - ; sudden death, . john, don, of austria, regent of the netherlands, ; . john of bavaria, . john i, duke of brabant, grants the _core van antwerpen_, . john ii, duke of brabant, gives antwerp to edward i, . john iii, duke of brabant, extends rights of foreigners at antwerp, - . john the fearless, duke of burgundy, ; court painter of, ; ; . john of gaunt (ghent), duke of lancaster, birth of, ; . john, king of england, alliance with ferdinand of portugal, . jordaens, jacob, "adoration of the magi" at dixmude, ; characteristics, ; ; . joseph ii, emperor of austria, ; revolt against, - . josephine, empress of france, saves botanical garden at ghent, - . judith, first countess of flanders, ; traces of her chapel, ; . justus of ghent, early flemish painter, - . justus lipsius, meets christopher plantin, ; writes his epitaph, ; ; . k kaboutermannekens, legends of, - . karls, refuse allegiance to feudal overlords, ; support the erembalds, ; receive _keurbrief_ from philip of alsace, - . katherine, queen of portugal, . keldermans, andré, antoine i, antoine ii, jean, laurent and mathieu, all architects of malines, - . keldermans, rombaut, architect of malines, ; ; rebuilds hotel de savoy, ; receives many commissions from margaret of austria, - ; designs _maison de la keure_ at ghent, . kerel van yper, painter of ypres, . kermesse, its antiquity, ; ; . keyser, nicaise de, . kiliaen, the flemish lexicographer, . kipling, quoted, . kludde, legends of, - . knocke, . l _lac d'amour_, bruges, see minnewater. laevinius torrentius, . lagye, victor, . lalaing, countess of, ; . lalaing, philippe, count of, . lannoy, charles de, . larks in belgium, - . legend of baldwin of constantinople, - ; of siege of ghent in , - ; of st. nicholas, ; of the mammelokker, ; concerning the wealth of the flemish burghers, - ; of the marriage of childeric and basina, - ; of memling's wound at nancy, - ; of the "vuyle bruydegom" at malines, - ; of antigonus and brabo at antwerp, - ; of lohengrin, ; of quentin matsys, - ; of the long wapper of antwerp, - ; of the kaboutermannekens, - ; of kludde, - ; of van dyck at saventhem, - . lemaire des belges, jean, . leopold i, king of the belgians, first welcomed to belgium at furnes, ; elected king, ; frees the scheldt in , . leopold ii, king of the belgians, an efficient chief executive, - ; palace at ostende, . leys, baron henri, ; paintings in hotel de ville at antwerp, . liederick de buck, portrait of, . liedts, baroness, lace collection at bruges, . liége, ; ; insurrections at, - ; city sacked, ; ; . lieve, river, at ghent, ; . liliaerts, partisans of france, ; ; ; . lille, destroyed by philip augustus, ; baldwin of constantinople executed at, - ; ; fêtes held by philip the good at, ; . lissweghe, . lombartzyde, ; statue of the virgin, - . longfellow, quoted, . long wapper of antwerp, legends of, - . louis of maele, count of flanders, ; ; besieged at ghent, ; ; ; marriage of daughter, - ; defeated by philip van artevelde, ; death, ; wealth of ghent during reign of, - ; ; court painter of, ; . louis of nevers, count of flanders, ; ; ; vainly resists popular party, - ; hires assassination of jacques van artevelde, - ; death at crécy, . louis the fat, king of france, - . louis xi, king of france, lives at furnes while dauphin, ; drives tapestry weavers from arras, ; implacable foe of charles the bold, ; foments insurrection at liége, - ; stirs up german resistance to charles, ; causes downfall of charles, ; ; ; . louis xiii, king of france, . louis xiv, captures tournai, ; ; removes tapestries from audenaerde, ; portrait of, ; ; bombards audenaerde, . louis xv, king of france, at battle of fontenoy, - ; joyous entry at antwerp, . louis xviii, king of france, at ghent, - . louise of savoy, . louvain, ; hotel de ville, ; guild of st. luke organised, ; work of van der weyden at, ; dierick bouts at, - ; ; "renowned for its scholars," ; ; ; birth-place of quentin matsys, ; . lyon, jean, dean of boatmen's guild, . lys, river, ; superior for retting flax, ; ; ; ; ; . m mabuse, see jan gossaert. mace, robert, teaches art of printing to christopher plantin, . maele, château of, near bruges, . mahaut, countess of flanders, . malfait of brussels, . malines, lace makers at, ; centre of flemish architecture, art and learning, ; "_ville d'art_," ; extorts privileges from charles the bold, ; terrible destruction in the great war, ; situation and importance, ; early history, - ; cloth hall and museum, ; ; cathedral of st. rombaut, - ; chimes, - ; interior of cathedral, - ; "renowned for its fools," ; notre dame au delà de la dyle, - ; notre dame d'hanswyck, - ; church of st. jean, - ; hotel de ville, ; vieux palais, - ; some fine old houses, ; margaret of austria, early life, - ; her court at malines, ; ; death, - ; "monuments" classified, ; ; ; cathedral sadly injured, . mammelokker, bas relief and legend of, . manson, collard, printer at bruges, ; . margaret of austria, regent of the netherlands, - ; childhood and early life, - ; palace at malines, ; regent of the netherlands, ; negotiates the "ladies' peace," - ; brilliant court, ; taste for art and literature, - ; untimely death, - ; ; . margaret, countess of flanders, ; ; ; ; . margaret, daughter of louis of maele, ; - ; . margaret of parma, portrait at audenaerde, ; birth and marriages, - ; regent of the netherlands, ; popularity, - ; suppresses outbreak of the iconoclasts, - ; superseded by duke of alva, ; ; ; . margaret of york, betrothal to charles the bold at damme, - ; resides at malines, ; . maria theresa, empress of austria, . marie of burgundy, tomb at bruges, - ; statue, ; ; marries maximilian, ; children of, ; ; ; . marie of champagne, countess of flanders, ; dedicates cloth hall at ypres, ; death in syria, ; . marie, queen of hungary, ; regent of the netherlands, - ; insurrection at ghent during reign of, - ; . marlborough, duke of, captures tournai, ; wins battle of audenaerde, ; recalled in peasant nursery song, - ; takes antwerp after battle of ramillies, . marot, clement, . marvis towers at tournai, . massé, . matsys, quentin, life and principal works, - . matthew, duke of lorraine, . maurice, count of nassau, wins battle of the dunes, - ; ; captures sluys, . maximilian, emperor, ; statue of, ; conflict with bruges, ; marriage to marie of burgundy, ; ; regent of flanders, ; fondness for daughter, margaret of austria, ; death, ; ; ; . maximilian, emperor of mexico, . memling, hans, at bruges, - ; works of, in hospital of st. jean, - ; other notable paintings, - ; ; in collection of margaret of austria, . mercator, . merghelynck museum at ypres, - ; . meunier, constantin, statue of _pecheur des crevettes_, ; painting at courtrai, . michelle, first wife of philip the good, ; death of, - . middleburg, paintings by van der weyden at, . minnewater, ; view of notre dame from, ; formerly chief harbour of bruges, - . molinet, jean, . mons, capital of hainaut, ; flemish name for, ; ; hotel de ville, ; ; . montalembert, quoted, . montanus, arias, supervises _biblia regia_, ; opinion of christopher plantin, ; . morat, battle of, . moretus, balthazar i, . moretus, edouard, sells plantin-moretus museum to city of antwerp, . moretus, jean i, marries martina, daughter of christopher plantin, ; ; ; tomb in the cathedral, ; employs rubens, ; friend of rubens, . moretus, jean ii, - . montereau, murder of john the fearless at, . _morte d'ypres, la_ (the death of ypres), ; ; ; . motley, cited, . n nancy, siege of, ; death of charles the bold before, ; ; . namur, . napoleon, saves chapel of the holy blood, ; ; ; ; ; - ; removes tapestries from audenaerde, ; at antwerp, . nauwelaerts, official bell ringer of bruges, . neerwinden, battle of, . nicholas v, pope, . nicholas de verdun, . nieuport, at time of the crusades, ; receives charter from philip of alsace, ; some famous sieges of, ; battle of the dunes, - ; chambers of rhetoric, ; tower of the templars, cloth hall and church of notre dame, - ; the yser river, locks and canals, - ; ; . norsemen, anarchy resulting from invasions of, ; capture tournai, ; ; ; burn church at audenaerde, . notre dame, cathedral of, at antwerp, ; ; well cover made by quentin matsys, ; description of, - . notre dame de pamela, church of, at audenaerde, - . notre dame, church of, at bruges, - ; remains of charles the bold placed in, ; ; . notre dame, church of, at courtrai, - . notre dame au delà de la dyle, church of, at malines, ; description, - . notre dame d'hanswyck, church of, at malines, ; description, - . notre dame, cathedral of, at tournai, ; description, - . o order of the golden fleece, ; ; ; established by philip the good, - ; fêtes at lille, ; tournai tapestries ordered for, ; chapter at malines, ; at antwerp, ; portrait of charles v wearing insignia of, . ostende, part of the franc of bruges, ; ; canal from nieuport to, ; ; ; on main tourist routes, ; great siege of - , - ; renown as a watering place since , ; description of the _digue_, the esplanade and the beach, - ; summer prices at, - ; the kursaal, - ; the estacade, - ; last glimpses of, - . orleans, duke of, ; . ortelius, . oudenaarde, jan van, . p pape, simon de, early painter of audenaerde, ; . parma, duke of, captures ypres, ; besieges tournai, ; son of margaret of parma, ; regent of the netherlands, ; ; siege of antwerp, - ; ; siege of ostende, . pauwels, ferdinand, - . pavia, battle of, . pembroke, duke of, . péronne, ; louis xi visits charles the bold at, ; . péterinck, françois, maker of fine porcelains at tournai, . philibert ii, duke of savoy, . philip of alsace, count of flanders, grants charters to many flemish cities, ; ; grants the _keurbrief_, - ; ; ; builds spuytorre at courtrai, ; erects château des comtes at ghent, ; ; . philip augustus, king of france, - ; ; ; treaty of arras, ; annexes tournai, ; painting of, at tournai, . philip the bold, duke of burgundy, ; ; removes clock at courtrai, ; rebuilds spuytorre at courtrai, ; marries margaret of maele, ; significance of this event, - ; acknowledged as count of flanders, ; arranges the marriages of cambrai, - ; death, ; court painter of, - ; . philippe de champaigne, . philip the fair (philippe le bel), king of france, ; annexes flanders, ; at bruges, ; rage over the matin de bruges, ; defeated at courtrai, - ; sheriffs of, besieged at ghent, . philip the good, duke of burgundy, ; ; ; ; ; becomes count of flanders, hainaut and holland, and duke of brabant, - ; founds order of the golden fleece, - ; siege of calais, - ; repulsed at bruges (bruges vespers), - ; humbles bruges, - ; crushes ghent at gavre, - ; holds fêtes at lille, ; divergent estimates of character, - ; ; visits studio of jean van eyck, - ; orders portrait of isabel of portugal, ; orders tapestries at tournai, ; ; ; ; ; grants liberal charter to antwerp, . philip the handsome, duke of burgundy, ; ; ; education, ; premature death, ; . philip ii, king of spain, ; - ; ; - ; unwise policy provokes revolt, - ; sends duke of alva to punish iconoclasts, ; ; - ; rejoices at fall of antwerp, ; ; aids plantin to publish _biblia regia_, ; ; ; ; . philip of valois, king of france, - . pierre de beckère, . pius ii, . pizarro, . plantin, christopher, early life, - ; establishes printing house at antwerp, ; issues the _biblia regia_, - ; extent of business, - ; moves to friday market, - ; death, - ; extent of achievements, ; tomb in the cathedral, . plantin-moretus museum, at antwerp, ; - ; portraits by rubens, ; sketches by rubens, . pourbus, pieter, . prévost, jean, . procession of the holy blood at bruges, ; procession at furnes, - ; _peysprocessie_ at malines, . pyn, liévin, execution of, - ; ; . q quellin, erasmus, "the adoration of the shepherds" at malines, ; ; founds family of sculptors and painters, - . "quentin durward" by sir walter scott, cited, . r rabot at ghent, - . raeske, richard de, . ramillies, battle of, . raphelingen, francis, chief proof-reader of christopher plantin, ; marries margaret, eldest daughter, . rénacle de florennes, . _reparation invisible_, - . requesens, regent of the netherlands, . richard, duke of gloucester, later richard iii, king of england, . rivière, jeanne, wife of christopher plantin, ; aids husband with a linen business, . robbins, philippe, master tapestry weaver of audenaerde, . robert the frisian, count of flanders, . robert ii, count of flanders, - . robinson, wilfrid, "antwerp, an historical sketch," quoted, . rockox, burgomaster of antwerp, . roda, jerome, . roland, the great bell at ghent, - ; inscription on, ; taken down by charles v, . rooses, max, director of plantin-moretus museum, quoted, - ; ; description of plantin museum, cited, . rosbecque, battle of, ; ; . roya, at bruges, ; ; . rubens, peter paul, "st. bavon withdrawing from the world" at ghent, ; "christ on the cross" at malines, ; "miraculous draught of fishes" at malines, - ; "adoration of the magi" at malines, ; ; ; rank among the masters, ; two masterpieces in cathedral at antwerp, - ; "resurrection" in the cathedral, ; at height of fame, - ; enormous productivity, - ; death, ; prof. wauters' estimate of, - ; patronised by the "archdukes," ; diplomatic missions, ; letters, ; ; . rudolph ii, emperor of austria, . s st. amand, early missionary, . st. basil, crypt of, at bruges, - ; restoration, ; . st. bavon, abbey of, at ghent, - ; ; destruction of, by charles v, . st. bavon, cathedral of, at ghent, ; crypt, - ; altar-piece by the van eycks, - ; other works of art in, - ; ; . st. brice, church of, at tournai, - . st. donatian, church of, at bruges, ; scene of murder of charles the good, ; besieged by foes of the erembalds, - ; erembalds flung from tower, ; destroyed in french revolution, ; relics and approximate site, - ; . st. eleuthereus, statue of, on portal of cathedral, ; _chasse_ of, - ; life of, depicted on tapestry in cathedral, . st. george, church of, at nancy, . st. ghislain, . ste. gudule, cathedral of, at brussels, . st. jacques, church of, at antwerp, - . st. jean, hospital of, at bruges, legend of nursing memling, - ; shrine of st. ursula, - ; other works by memling at, ; description of, ; . st. jean, church of, at ghent, name changed to st. bavon in , . st. jean, church of, at malines, - . st. luke, guild of, first organised in flemish towns, - ; admits brothers van eyck at bruges, ; at tournai, - ; at ghent admits van der meire, ; admits frans floris at antwerp, ; admits christopher plantin at antwerp, ; elects rubens president, . st. martin, church of, at courtrai, - . st. martin, church of, at ypres, - . st. mary, church of, at antwerp, ; becomes cathedral of notre dame in , . st. michel, church of, at ghent, . st. nicholas, church of, at dixmude, - ; . st. nicholas, church of, at ghent, - . st. omer, seized by philip augustus, . st. peter, monastery of, at ghent, - ; . st. peter, church of, at louvain, - . st. piat, martyrdom at tournai, ; statue of, on portal of cathedral, ; life of, depicted on tapestry in cathedral, . st. rombaut, cathedral of, at malines, ; ; first view of, ; the tower and its builders, - ; the chimes, - ; interior and art treasures, - ; ; tower completed, . st. sauveur, cathedral of, at bruges, - ; - ; . ste. ursula, shrine of, - . ste. walburge, church of, at audenaerde, ; ; ; description of, - ; . ste. walburge, church of, at furnes, and . saventhem, - . savoy, duchess of, see margaret of austria. saxe-coburg-gotha, leopold, prince of, elected king of the belgians, . saxe, maurice, victor at fontenoy, - . scheldt, estuary, ; "the greyest of grey rivers," ; history of navigation on, - ; view from, - ; river traffic on, ; antwerp from, ; monument on place marnix, ; ; at tournai, ; ; snakes in, ; at audenaerde, ; ; legend of brabo, - ; displaces the zwyn as highway of commerce, - ; fight for mastery of, - ; deepens as commerce grows, ; ; ; closed during reign of the archdukes, ; opened to navigation in , ; docks erected by napoleon, ; free under the dutch, ; freed permanently by leopold i in , ; growth of commerce since, . scott, sir walter, "quentin durward," cited, ; . seghers, daniel, . shelley, "ode to the skylark," quoted, - . sigebert, brother of chilperic, ; . sluys, part of the franc of bruges, ; landing place of margaret of york in , ; battle of, ; captured by maurice of nassau, . snellinck, jean, "creation of eve" at audenaerde, - . snyders, francis, animal pictures of, . spanish fury, the, - . spierinckx, peter, . spinola, ambrose, marquis of, captures ostende, - . stallaert, "death of dido," . steen, ; ; description of, . strada, the historian, cited, . swerts, jean, mural paintings at ypres, ; at courtrai, . t taillebert, urban, . tancmar, lord of straten, . tani, jacopo, . tapestry, ; workers organised into a guild, ; in church of st. brice at tournai, ; weaving at tournai, - ; ; at audenaerde, - . templars, tower of, at nieuport, ; ; house of, at ypres, - . teniers, david, ; ; master of scenes of homely flemish life, - ; ; . tournai, tapestries, ; forest of, ; besieged by edward iii, ; guild of st. luke organised, ; tapestry workers organised, ; oldest city in belgium, ; _turris nerviorum_ of cæsar, ; capital of merovingian kings, - ; many sieges, - ; battle of fontenoy, - ; belfry, - ; roman houses and church of st. brice, - ; relics of king childeric, - ; marvis towers, _pont des trous_, and tower of henry viii, - ; _ville d'art_, - and - ; robert campin, jacques daret and van der weyden, - ; cloth hall and museum of fine arts, - ; later artists, - ; sculptors at, - ; gold and silversmiths at, - ; coppersmiths at, - ; tapestry weavers, - ; porcelains of, - ; manufactures of stained glass, - ; manufacture of fine carpets, ; ; "monuments" classified, ; ; tapestry weaving at, . trajan, "the just emperor," painting by van der weyden, . triest, bishop, tomb in cathedral of st. bavon at ghent, ; encourages horticulture at ghent, - ; . turenne, defeated by condé near nieuport, . turin, exposition of, tournai carpet shown at, . turnhout, lace makers at, ; fairy hill near, . u urbin, duke of, . v valckx, pierre, sculptor, . valenciennes, ; ; lace made at ypres, ; ; tapestry workers organised, ; . van artevelde, jacques (or jacob), besieges louis of maele at ghent, ; rise to power, - ; alliance with edward iii, ; battle of sluys, - ; assassination, - ; - ; . van artevelde, philip, brief career, - ; big cannon of, ; at siege of audenaerde, . van bredael, alexander, . van den broeck, . van dyck, anthony, "the raising of the cross" at courtrai, - ; "the crucifixion" at malines, ; ; pupil of rubens, ; "saint martin dividing cloak among the beggars," - ; at antwerp, ; court painter of charles i, ; chief works, - ; . van eyck, hubert, tombstone at abbey of st. bavon, ; discovery of art of painting with oils, - ; in service of philip the good, - ; plans and begins "the adoration of the lamb," - ; death, ; monument, ; ; ; ; . van eyck, jean, colours statues for hotel de ville at bruges, ; ; discovery of art of painting with oils, - ; enters service of philip the good, - ; completes "the adoration of the lamb," ; later paintings, - ; death, ; monument, ; ; ; ; ; "_la belle portugalaise_" at malines, - ; . van der gheynst, jehanne (or jeanne), - . van der goes, hugo, ; ; ; life and principal works, - . van maerlant, jacob, flemish poet, ; statue at damme, - . van der meire, gerard, painter of ghent, . van nieuwenhove, martin, painting of, by memling, . van noort, adam, teacher of rubens, . van orley, bernard, ; . van der paele, george, painting of, by jean van eyck, - . van péde, henri, . van der schelden, paul, sculptor, ; wooden doorway at audenaerde, . van severdonck, . van de walle, burgomaster of bruges, ; . van der voort, michel, sculptor of antwerp, . van der weyden, rogier (roger de la pasture), - ; ; influence of sculpture on, ; ; ; ; ; ; . vauban, military engineer, constructs walls of ypres, ; fortifies tournai, ; . verbanck, georges, . verbruggen, p. h., sculptor, ; . vere, sir francis, english commander at ostende, - . verhaegen, theodore, sculptor, ; fine carvings at malines, . verlat, charles, - . vervoort, michel, . vivés, louis, . voisin, belgian historian, . vos, martin de, many works of, at antwerp, ; . vriendt, albrecht and julian de, frescoes at bruges, - ; at furnes, . vriendt, cornelius de, - . vos, cornelius de, portraits of, . vydts, jodocus, . w waghenakere, dominique de, architect, . walloon provinces, ; . walter of straten, . waterloo, battle of, ; ; ; ; . wauters, prof. a. j., "history of flemish painting," cited, ; attributes portrait of charles the bold to van der goes, ; on peter breughel the elder, quoted, - ; eulogy of rubens, quoted, - . wauters, emile, painting of the madness of hugo van der goes, . weale, james, cited, . westende, . white hoods, ; destroy castles of liliaert nobles, . william of dampierre, count of flanders, . william i, king of holland, . william of juliers, provost of maestricht, ; . william the silent, prince of orange, ; ; ; ; death, ; plans for defence of antwerp disregarded, - . winders, sculptor, . witte, gaspar de, . wolsey, cardinal, . wordsworth, quoted, . wynandael, ; . y yperlée, tributary to the yser, . ypres, at the time of the crusades, ; fortified by baldwin ii, ; execution of provost of st. donatian at, - ; receives charter from philip of alsace, ; stubborn defence in the great war, - ; _halle aux draps_, or cloth hall, - ; church of st. martin, - ; grande place, - ; musée merghelynck, - ; rue de lille and ancient city walls, - ; causes of decline, - ; language spoken at, ; guildsmen of, at battle of the spurs, ; ; ; - ; influence of jacques van artevelde in, ; ; melchior broederlam, early painter of, - ; ; hotel de ville destroyed by the germans, . ysenbrant, adriaen, early painter of bruges, . yser canal, limit of the german advance, ; the locks, the river and the three canals, - . z zee-brugge, from the sea, . zeghers, gerard, religious pictures of, . zwyn, ancient channel to bruges, - ; ; silting up of, - ; replaced by the scheldt, as channel of commerce, - ; . https://archive.org/details/ belgiansunderge massuoft transcriber's note: text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=). a carat character is used to denote superscription. a single character following the carat is superscripted (example: xx^e). multiple superscripted characters are enclosed by curly brackets (example: r^{do}). belgians under the german eagle by jean massart vice-director of the class of sciences in the royal academy of belgium translated by bernard miall london t. fisher unwin ltd. adelphi terrace first published june (all rights reserved) preface these pages were written in belgium between the th august, , and the th august, . i employed in this work only those books and periodicals which entered the country, whether secretly or openly, and which every one, therefore, can procure. but to drive conviction into the reader's mind i have observed a rule of selection in using these documents: i have used those exclusively which are of german origin, or which are censored by the germans. they are-- (a) german posters exposed in belgium. (b) books and newspapers coming from germany. (c) newspapers published in belgium under the german censorship. (d) the _nieuwe rotterdamsche courant_, the only foreign newspaper which has been authorized in belgium since the beginning of the occupation. as for the belgian _grey books_, the reports of the commission of inquiry, and books published in belgium, of these i used only those which were known to us in belgium before the th august, . in short, since i crossed the frontier i have not inserted a single idea into this book: it therefore precisely reflects the state of mind of a belgian who has lived a year under the german domination. i have forced myself to remain as far as possible objective, in order to give my work the scientific rigour which characterizes the reports of the belgian commission of inquiry. i have simply transferred, to a domain which is new to me, the methods of my customary occupations. * * * * * here is a list of my principal sources, with the abbreviations which denote them in the text:-- _n.r.c._ _nieuwe rotterdamsche courant._ from this journal (with two exceptions) i have taken only those articles which were not stopped by the german censorship. _k.z._ _kölnische zeitung._ _k.vz._ _kölnische volkszeitung._ _d.g.a._ _düsseldorfer general-anzeiger._ _f.z._ _frankfurter zeitung._ _n.a.z._ _norddeutsche allgemeine zeitung._ st to th report. _reports of the belgian commission of inquiry._ st and nd belgian. _grey books_. _belg. all._ davignon, _la belgigue et l'allemagne_. the english edition is not a complete translation of the french text. to save space, many facts, and above all, many quotations, have been suppressed. j. m. antibes, villa thuret, _october, _. contents page =preface= =introduction= intellectual life in belgium prohibition of newspapers and verbal communication--the german censorship--authorized german newspapers--authorized dutch newspapers--newspapers introduced surreptitiously--secret propagation of news--secret newspapers--german placards--regulations as to correspondence--railway journeys. chapter i =the violation of neutrality= a. the preliminaries the belgians' distrust of germany lulled--german duplicity on the st, nd, and rd of august, --the ultimatum--the speech of the chancellor in the reichstag. b. justification of the entry into belgium c. german accusations against belgium necessity of influencing neutrals--absurdity of the first accusations--a change of tactics--the revelations of the _n.a.z._-- . the report of m. le baron griendl, some time belgian minister in berlin-- . the reports of generals ducarne and jungbluth--the attitude of the belgians toward the german falsifications--neutral opinion--the falsification of m. de l'escaille's letter. d. the declaration of war and the first hostilities the three successive proposals of wilhelm ii to belgium--hostilities preceding the declaration of war--the pacific character of belgium--german espionage in belgium--the mentality of the german soldiers at the beginning of the campaign--letters from german prisoners of war--german lies respecting the occupation of liége--the sudden attack upon france is checked--the disinterested behaviour of belgium. chapter ii =violations of the hague convention= a. the "reprisals against francs-tireurs" murders committed by the germans from the outset--were there any "francs-tireurs?"--the obsession of the "francs-tireurs" in the german army--the obsession of the "francs-tireurs" in the literature of the war--the obsession of the "francs-tireurs" in literature and art--responsibility of the leaders--animosity toward the clergy--animosity toward churches--intentional insufficiency of preliminary inquiries--a "show" inquiry--mentality of an officer charged with the repression of "francs-tireurs"--drunkenness in the german army--cruelties necessary according to german theories--terrorization: "reprisals" as a "preventive" incendiary material--the two great periods of massacre--protective inscriptions--accusations against the belgian government--treatment of civil prisoners--the return of civil prisoners--german admission of the innocence of the civil prisoners. b. the "belgian atrocities" the pretended cruelty of belgian civilians toward the german army--some accusations--the pretended massacres of german civilians--preventive and repressive measures taken by the belgian authorities. c. violations of the hague convention military employment of belgians by the germans--measures of coercion taken by the germans--living shields--a german admission--belgians placed before the troops at charleroi--belgians placed before the troops at lebbeke, tirlemont, mons--belgian women placed before the troops at anseremme--belgians forcibly detained at ostend and middelkerke--bombardment of the cathedral at malines--the pretended observation-post on notre-dame of antwerp--german observation-posts admitted by the germans--pillage--thefts of stamps--illegal taxation--fines for telegraphic interruptions--fines for attacks by "francs-tireurs"--hostages--contributions and requisitions--contributions demanded from the cities--exactions of a non-commissioned officer--requisitions of raw materials and machinery--conclusions--the famine in belgium--the flight of the belgians--the causes of the famine--creation of temporary shelters--the national relief committee--belgium's gratitude to america. chapter iii =the german mind, self-depicted= a. pride some manifestations of pride and the spirit of boasting-- . militarism--might comes before right-- . disdain of others--some inept proclamations, etc.--lies concerning the situation in belgium--lies concerning "francs-tireurs"-- . cynicism--photographs and picture-postcards--alfred heymel on the battle of charleroi--surrender of the critical spirit. refusal to examine the accusations of cruelty--the abolition of free discussion in germany--german credulity--voluntary blindness of the "intellectuals"--the manifesto of the "ninety-three"--the manifesto of the , professors--the protestant pastors--the catholic priests and rabbis. b. untruthfulness . a few lies--written lies--a french dirigible captured by the germans--the transportation of the german dead--some lying placards--m. max's denial--how the officers lie to their men-- . perseverance in falsehood--the german treatment of mgr. merrier-- . the organization of propaganda--(_a_) propagandist bureaux operating in germany--(_b_) propagandist matter issued by the publishing houses--(_c_) propagandist bureaux operating abroad--sincerity of the censored newspapers--persecution of uncensored newspapers--(_d_) various propaganda-- . the violation of engagements--the independence of belgium--the promise to respect the patriotism of the belgians--the forced striking of the flag--the belgian colours forbidden in the provinces--prohibition of the belgian colours in brussels--the "te deum" on the patron saints' day of the king--the portraits of the royal family--obligation to employ the german language--the belgian army is our enemy!--the "brabançonne" prohibited--the national anniversary of july st--the anniversary of the th august--school inspection by the germans. c. incitements to disunion incitements to disloyalty--the walloons incited against the flemings--inciting the people against the belgian government--inciting the belgians against the english. d. a few details of the administration of belgium (_a_) present prosperity in belgium--assertions of the german authorities--the parasitical exploitation of belgium admitted by germany--the tenfold tax on absentees--railway traffic in belgium--trouble with the artisans of luttre--traffic suppressed at malines--(_b_) the germans' talent for organization--conflict between authorities--supression of the bureau of free assessment--the belgian red cross committee suppressed--(_c_) the belgian attitude toward the germans--(_d_) behaviour of the german administration--the appeal to informers--german espionage--agents-provocateurs or "traps." e. ferocity . aggravations--treatment inflicted upon belgian ladies--filthy amusements-- . physical tortures--the fate of the valkenaers family-- . moral tortures--moral torture before execution. =index= introduction bismarck was given to quoting, with approval, a saying which has often been attributed to him, but which was, in reality, first made in his presence by a hero of the american civil war--general sheridan. it was, that the people of a country occupied by a conquering army should be left nothing--save eyes to weep with! and we belgians, truly, are weeping: weeping for our native country, invaded, in contempt of the most solemn conventions, by one of the signatories of those treaties; weeping for our villages, which are levelled to the ground, and our cities, which are burned; our monuments, which are broken by shell-fire, and our treasures of art and science, which are for ever destroyed. we mourn to think of those hundreds of thousands of our countrymen who have wandered without shelter along the highways of europe; of belgium, lately so proud of her prosperity, but now taxed and crushed and exhausted by war requisitions and contributions, and reduced to holding out her hand for public charity. who could help but weep when, in flanders, our soldiers are defending the very last corner of our territory; when, in our villages, men, old folks, women, and children have been, and are yet, shot down without pity in reprisal for imaginary crimes; when thousands of civilians are imprisoned in germany as hostages; when the burgomaster of the capital, for daring to defend the rights of his constituents, is confined in a silesian prison;[ ] when our rural clergy is decimated, to such a point that divine service has necessarily been suspended in entire cantons; when a scholar like van gehuchten dies in exile, after seeing his manuscripts and his drawings, the fruit of ten years' labours, disappear in the flames of louvain? * * * * * our sobs are mingled with tears of gratitude for the compassionate intervention of holland, america, spain, the scandinavian countries, switzerland, and italy ... not forgetting our allies. it is this generosity that has prevented us from dying of hunger and want; a million of our refugees have found in holland a fraternal succour which has never for a moment been relaxed; the united states, thanks to the influence and the incomparable activity of their minister in brussels, mr. brand whitlock, supply us with our daily bread. belgium will never forget the exactions of those who have reduced to famine one of the richest and most fertile countries in the world, nor the unequalled charity of the nations which have enabled us to live to this day, and have saved us from death by starvation. * * * * * we are weeping! but we do not surrender ourselves to despair, for we have kept intact our faith in the future, and the firm resolve to leave no stone unturned that we may for ever be spared such another trial. above all, we refuse to bow our heads beneath the yoke. in vain have the germans afflicted us with increasingly unjust and unjustifiable and vexatious demands; they will never daunt us. let them proscribe the belgian flag as a seditious emblem; we have no need to unfurl it to remain faithful to it; they are welcome to forbid the _te deum_ on the day of the king's patron saint; since the king and the queen are valiantly sharing, on the yser, in the efforts and the sufferings of our brothers and our sons, royalty has no firmer supporters among us than the leaders of socialism. no, we assuredly are not ready to abandon ourselves to despair. and nothing can sustain us more than the international sympathies by which we feel ourselves surrounded in this our unmerited misfortune. * * * * * the time has not yet come to judge the events which have delivered europe to fire and blood. yet we hold that it is the duty of all those who believe themselves in a position usefully to intervene to make themselves heard. for germany possesses so perfect an organization for the diffusion of her propaganda in foreign countries, that the public opinion of neutral states, hearing but one side of the question, would finally come to believe our enemies. it would be useless and ineffectual to accumulate, as did the ninety-three german "intellectuals," among others, a number of denials and affirmations, without supporting them by a single definite fact. we do not wish to put forward anything which we cannot immediately support by easily verified proofs. this rule which we have compelled ourselves to observe, has forced us narrowly to limit our field of investigation. we shall speak only of actions and intellectual manifestations which are immediately connected with the present war; and as the field would be too vast even when so circumscribed, we shall say nothing of military operations properly so-called, nor of all that has happened beyond the belgian frontiers. we do not propose to write a history. we leave to those more competent the task of extricating the truth as to present events; we shall content ourselves with taking indisputable documents, which are nearly always cuttings from german books, or german newspapers, or german posters, and with analysing their mental significance; and, further, with showing how the belgians react against the actions recorded. in the following pages we shall first of all examine the _violation of belgian neutrality by germany_, then the _infractions of the hague convention of th october, _. we shall be careful to invoke only _precise and unquestionable facts_; but for that matter the number of german infractions of the law of nations in belgium is so enormous that we have been able provisionally to exclude all those which are not established in the most positive manner. at the same time we shall endeavour to derive from these facts a few indications as to our enemies' manner of thinking. this last will be studied in further detail in a third chapter: _german mentality self-depicted_. intellectual life in belgium. a few words as to the documents utilized. as the germans occupied our country they took pains to isolate us from the rest of the world. they immediately suppressed all our journals, as these naturally refused to submit to their censorship. at the same time the germans forced certain journals to reappear; notably _l'ami de l'ordre_, at namur, and _le bien public_, at gand. the first of these journals took care frankly to inform its readers that the military authorities were forcing it to continue publication. as for foreign newspapers, their introduction was forbidden under heavy penalties. _prohibition of newspapers and verbal communications._[ ] official notice. although the district commandant[ ] is continually causing authentic news of the military operations to be published, the foreign newspapers are intentionally publishing false news. it is brought to the knowledge of the public that it is therefore strictly forbidden to any one whomsoever to introduce into spa and the surrounding district newspapers other than german, without the previous authorization of the district commandant. offenders will be punished according to the laws of war. the same penalties will be applied to those who have verbally spread false news. the district commandant, aske, _colonel_. spa, _ nd september, _. (_placard posted at spa._) notice. i call the attention of the population of belgium to the fact that the sale and distribution of newspapers and of all news reproduced by letterpress or in any other manner which is not expressly authorized by the german censorship is strictly prohibited. every offender will be immediately arrested and punished by a long term of imprisonment. the governor-general in belgium, baron von der goltz, _field-marshal_. brussels, _ th november, _. (_posted in brussels._) military court. in pursuance of , of the imperial decree of th december , the following persons have been punished:-- (_a_) the coal-merchant jules pousseur, of jambes, with months' imprisonment and a fine of marks, or days' additional imprisonment. (_b_) his daughter, camille pousseur, with months' imprisonment, because they frequently bought foreign newspapers and articles from newspapers whose sale is prohibited; and further because the daughter copied and collected, with the knowledge and permission of her father, poems and articles hostile to germany, containing, for the most part, vulgar and obscene insults in respect of the emperor, the confederate princes, and the german army; and because she further, as one may fully realize from the careful manner in which the numerous copies were made, communicated the originals to others, and finally because jules pousseur admits that he has for some time been engaged in forwarding letters, which is forbidden. the terms of imprisonment will run from the first day of detention. the copies and other writings will be retained. _l'ami de l'ordre_, _ th april, _. _the german censorship._ after the th august the eastern half of belgium was thus deprived of all intellectual communication with the outside world. for a fortnight we were left absolutely without news. then, from the th september, the german government permitted the publication of journals which were carefully expurgated, and falsified by a rigorous censorship:[ ] _le quotidien_, _le bruxellois_, _l'Écho de bruxelles_, _les dernières nouvelles_; and later _le belge_, _la belgique_, _la patrie_, etc., in brussels, _l'avenir_ in antwerp, and many more. although submitted to the censorship, the appearance of these newspapers was only provisional and uncertain. _le bien public_ reminds its readers of the fact in its issue for the th december, . all these journals were on occasion suspended; for example, _le quotidien_, from the th to the th december, , without any reason being given; _l'ami de l'ordre_, from the nd to the th september, , for having printed an acrostic regarded as insulting; and _le bien public_, during the whole of may, . the illustrated journals were as much subject to the censorship as the ordinary newspapers. numbers to of _ illustré_, published before the arrival of the germans, could no longer be exposed for sale: no. containing portraits of king albert, nicholas ii, m. poincaré, and king george v; no. the portrait of general leman, and no. that of m. max. from november onwards the issues were severely edited, so that they contained, for example, scarcely any more photographs of towns burned by the german army. the other illustrated papers--_actualité illustré_, _le temps présent_, etc., also had none but anodyne photographs, such as portraits of the new masters, military and civil. in some degree to replace the newspapers, the printers conceived the idea of publishing little booklets relating to the war, but giving no direct news of the military operations. these publications were naturally subjected to the censorship, and many of those which were published before the decree of the th october, , were prohibited; it was thus with the very interesting brochure, _m. adolphe max, bourgmestre de bruxelles, son administration du th août au th septembre, _, and the nos. to of the booklets issued by mr. brian hill. illustrated postcards also were censored; the series in course of publication, representing the ruins of louvain, dinant, charleroi, liége, etc., had to be interrupted. music even had to receive the official approbation (_see_ the placard of th march, , p. ). in short, it will be seen that our public life already very closely approached the german ideal: _alles ist verboten_. to think that belgium, so justly proud of her constitutional liberties, is now crushed, breathless, under the heavy prussian jack-boot! _authorized german newspapers._ as a compensation for those which the german administration felt obliged to suppress, it allowed us, about the th september, to receive some german newspapers--the _kölnische zeitung_, _kölnische volkszeitung_, _düsseldorfer tageblatt_, _düsseldorfer general-anzieger_, and also a few illustrated papers, notably the _berliner illustrierte zeitung_, _die wochenschau_, _du kriegs-echo_. at a later date other newspapers were tolerated: _vossissche zeitung_, _berliner tageblatt_, _frankfurter zeitung_, _berliner zeitung am mittag_, _l'ami du peuple_ (a special edition, for belgium, in french and german, of _der volksfreund_, of aix-la-chapelle), and also some new illustrated papers, for example, _kriegsbilder_, _zeit im bild_, and above all the _illustrierte kriegs-kurier_, published in german, flemish, french, and english,[ ] whose sixteen pages, all covered with illustrations, cost only centimes: evidently an instrument of propaganda, subsidized by the central administration. we shall have occasion later on to insist on its veracity, if one may call it that. for a long time none of these journals reached us regularly. we had also access to two journals published by the government itself: ( ) the _deutsche soldatenpost_ (_herausgegeben von der zivil-vorwaltung des general-gouverneurs in belgiën_), originally reserved for soldiers, but which was also sold to civilians--in a very intermittent fashion, it is true--from september to the beginning of december ; ( ) _le réveil_ (_Écho de la presse, journal officiel du bureau allemand à düsseldorf pour la publication de nouvelles authentiques à l'étranger_), the latter being published simultaneously in french and german. forty-nine numbers were published. it felt such an insurmountable disgust for untruth that having announced in the introductory article of its first number that belgium was entirely in the hands of the germans, it spoke, in a neighbouring column, of battles in western flanders between the germans and the allies. let us say at once that from the point of view of sincerity and liberty of opinion all the newspapers of the trans-rhenian world are of equal worth: official or otherwise, they only publish that which is allowed, or rather, inspired, by the government. _authorized dutch newspapers._ one newspaper not subject to the imperial censorship, one only, has found grace with the authorities--the _nieuwe rotterdamsche courant_. its tendencies, clearly favourable to germany, enable it to penetrate into belgium; but not equally all over the country. at gand one may subscribe to it; but its sale in single numbers is prohibited. in antwerp it was proscribed for several months from the th december. at louvain and brussels it may be sold in the street, and also supplied to subscribers. but it must not be supposed that the paper is anywhere regularly distributed; the edition of the morning of the th november, , was forwarded on the th november to a few subscribers who were particularly persistent in their demands; it is true that this number contains the article on the letters of prisoners of war made by the belgians (pp. - ), and that these letters annihilate not a few accusations made by the germans, while they throw a singular light on their lies and acts of pillage. as for the issues for the th, th, and th december, , they were never distributed; an official announcement, which appeared in _l'ami de l'ordre_ of the th and th december states that these numbers contain "inadmissible communications as to the dislocation of troops." the issues of the th, th, and th december were also withheld. since january some ten numbers have been prohibited each month. from the _nieuwe rotterdamsche courant_ we have copied only the articles by contributors and correspondents of the journal itself; it has seemed to us that to reproduce articles extracted from belgian newspapers was a proceeding which, while quite usual among the germans, is not entirely honest. another dutch journal, the _algemeen handelsblad_ of amsterdam, arrived in brussels at the beginning of november; but its licence was withdrawn at the end of a week. from february its sale was again authorized in belgium. at the same time the introduction of a few other dutch journals was permitted, their pro-german character being indubitable: such were _het vaterland_, _de maasbode_, _de nieuwe courant_. _newspapers introduced surreptitiously._ let us say at once that despite all prohibitions and all the sentences pronounced, prohibited newspapers continue to trickle into the occupied portion of the country. these newspapers were at first those which were normally appearing in the towns not yet subject to german authority. thus _la métropole_ and _le matin_ of antwerp, _le bien public_ and _la flandre libérale_ of gand were very soon carried as contraband and secretly sold in brussels. again, in the regions not yet invaded, some of the newspapers of the towns already occupied were printed: thus _l'indépendance belge_ of brussels appeared at ostend until the arrival of the germans in that town. the agents who sold these newspapers had also foreign papers, especially french and english. later, when all belgium, save a corner of flanders, was subjected to the germans, a number of belgian papers were printed abroad: _la métropole_ and _l'indépendance belge_ in london and _le xx^e siècle_ at havre. we also used to receive from time to time occasional newspapers published by belgian refugees abroad. of these we may cite: _l'Écho belge_, of amsterdam, _la belgique_, of rotterdam, _les nouvelles_, and _le courrier de la meuse_, of maastricht. it will be understood that prohibited journals are rare. on certain days, when the hunt for the vendors is particularly fruitful, people will offer fifty francs, or even two hundred, for a copy of the _times_. as it is chiefly across the dutch frontier that the smuggling of the english "dailies" is carried on, the authorities have enacted measures which grow more and more draconian relating to the traffic across this frontier. by the end of it had become practically impossible to enter belgium from holland by the ordinary route (_see_ the _düsseldorfer general-anzeiger_ of the th december, ). the smugglers of journals are therefore obliged to insinuate themselves in secret, and their trade is not without danger; only in the suburbs of putte (province of antwerp) the german sentinels killed two of them in december . since the spring of the frontier has been guarded with barbed wire and wires traversed by high-tension electric currents; the crossing has naturally become more difficult. but "difficult" is not "impossible." _secret propagation of news._ so that a greater number of readers may profit by the newspapers smuggled into the country, the important passages, especially those relating to military operations, are copied by means of the typewriter. these extracts are searched after as much as the originals, but none the less there are those who continue to prepare and to distribute them in secret. in brussels alone there are fifteen of these secret sheets, each of which has its public of subscribers; many of them are gratuitous. from time to time our oppressors scent out one of these typewriting establishments, but some other devoted person immediately continues the business. in certain well-known establishments one could, for a time, obtain the use of a newspaper for ten minutes for one or two francs; but the secret was finally betrayed, thanks to one or other of the innumerable spies supported by the government. _secret newspapers._ finally, not a few persons, possessing a typewriting machine or other means of reproducing writing, copy and sell clandestinely, for the profit of some charitable undertaking, articles from foreign newspapers or reviews, which bear upon the current political situation. many documents have reached us in this form. lastly, courageous belgians have undertaken to print, in the midst of the occupied territory, and in spite of all the german prohibitions, newspapers which reach a circulation of many thousands. the two most important are _la libre belgique_ and _la vérité_. in vain have our persecutors promised the most enticing rewards to those who should denounce the authors of these sheets; they continue imperturbably to appear. which proves, be it said in passing, that the germans lie most horribly when they state that numbers of belgians send them anonymous information. _german placards._ our intellectual pasture also includes placards. in the first place, the _notices_, _orders_, and _proclamations_ of all kinds. then the _news published by the german government_, placards usually written in three languages, in the principal towns. in brussels, where they are known as _lustige blätter_, they are particularly numerous. at louvain, vilverde, and mons they are in manuscript, and usually written in german only. two important sources of documentation are completely closed: photography and correspondence by post. the taking and reproduction of photographs is strictly prohibited, above all in the towns ruined by the germans. notice. whosoever produces, without authorization, representations of destruction caused by the war, or who displays, offers for sale, sells, or otherwise distributes, by means of postcards, illustrated reviews, daily newspapers, or other periodicals containing such representations, above all of buildings or localities burned or devastated by the war, will be punished by a fine not exceeding , marks or a term of imprisonment not exceeding one year. the seizure of formes and plates which shall have served for the reproduction of these representations, as well as their destruction, may also be ordered. the imperial governor, freiherr von huene, _general of infantry_. antwerp, _ st december, _. (_posted at antwerp._) _regulations as to correspondence._ the sending of letters by carrier is prohibited. until about the middle of december correspondence was carried from town to town by the carriers who undertake the goods traffic since the suspension of the railways; one could still, therefore, easily enough obtain news. but, as a souvenir of his joyous entry, the herr baron von bissing, who succeeded the herr baron von der goltz as governor-general in belgium, suppressed this little supplementary vocation of the carriers. thus senator speyer was condemned to pay a fine of , marks and to undergo days' imprisonment for the conveyance of letters. we have no longer the resource of sending letters by carrier pigeons, as these are closely scrutinized by the germans. finally, two remaining methods of transmitting letters were taken from us: the use of a bow and arrow (_n.r.c._, st january, ), and enclosure in a loaf baked in holland and sold in belgium. so it is needless to say that we have neither telegraph nor telephone. there is nothing to be done but to go in search of information oneself, after finding out the hours (highly variable) during which one is allowed to "circulate" in the localities through which one has to pass. since then it has become very difficult to obtain precise information as to an event which has occurred in another locality, for obviously one cannot trust a missive of this kind to the german post, which accepts only open letters, and passes them through a _cabinet noir_; moreover, it does not guarantee communication with all points. by order of the german authority. after p.m. ( p.m. belgian) there must be no lights in the windows of the houses of the town of herve. the patrol has orders to fire into every window lit up, giving upon the street. ad. cajot, _sheriff_. f. de francquex, _judge_. (_posted at herve._) it must also be explained what administrative formalities one had to fulfil in order to obtain a lodging. thus, from january no one could obtain a lodging in gand, whether in an hotel, or a boarding-house, or apartments, without first obtaining the authorization of the _kommandantur_. _railway journeys._ once furnished with a proper passport, one has only to set out. by suitably arranging one's route, one can often take advantage of the local tramways. all other means of communication are extremely precarious. the automobile is forbidden. horses have been requisitioned by the military authorities. _november ._ official railway time-table _of railways at present operating in belgium under the administration of the german government_. with details of journeys. price, _fr._ . general arrangements. a certain number of trains have during the last few days been run over the belgian railways by the german government. these are:-- . brussels--aix-la-chapelle. . brussels--lille. . brussels--namur. . brussels--charleroi. . louvain--charleroi. . brussels--antwerp. . brussels--courtrai. owing to the defective state of the lines and the telegraphic and signalling apparatus, these trains can as yet travel only at a moderate pace, and the duration of the journey is not guaranteed. for this reason it is prudent to provide oneself on departure with the necessary provisions for the journey. * * * * * the time-table of the railways is often made up in such a way that the belgian cannot make use of the trains. thus the only train leaving brussels for mons in november reached mons at p.m. but after p.m. it is forbidden to walk through the streets of mons. the only train leaving mons for brussels leaves at . a.m., but one may not "circulate" in the streets of mons earlier than a.m. we see to what extremities the belgian population is reduced. well, well!--despite all these difficulties, we have procured documents of great importance. we cannot, unfortunately, publish them all at this juncture; for they would result in the identification of those who conveyed them to us, and expose them to reprisals; and we have learned, to our cost, all that this term signifies according to the ideas of our present rulers. * * * * * this work, then, will necessarily be incomplete. we publish it only because we think it useful to demonstrate that in spite of all the annoyances which they receive at the hands of the germans, the belgians do not allow themselves to be intimidated. moreover, whatever may be the provisional lacunæ (mostly intentional) of our documentation, we cannot in any case be reproached with falsification. this, whatever our enemies may think, is a point of capital importance. footnotes: [ ] since this was written, m. max is reported to have been released, and to be living in switzerland. [ ] these documents are as far as possible translated literally, any inelegancies of diction may probably be attributed to the german authors, whose syntax is often peculiar.--(trans.) [ ] _commandant de place._--(trans.) [ ] we give examples of this censorship later (pp. - ). [ ] the english text was soon discontinued. belgians under the german eagle chapter i the violation of neutrality a.--the preliminaries. we were too confiding. with the exception of the military and a few statesmen, the belgians were convinced that nations, just as individuals, were bound by their engagements, and that as long as we remained faithful to our international obligations, the signatories of the treaty of london ( th april, ), which set forth the conditions of the neutrality, or rather of the neutralization, of belgium (_belg. all._, p. ), would equally observe their obligations towards us. however, in , during the "agadir crisis," our calm was a little shaken by a series of articles in _le soir_. according to this journal, all the german military writers held the invasion of belgium to be inevitable in the event of a war between france and germany. _the belgians' distrust of germany lulled._ but our faith in international conventions--just a trifle ingenuous, it may be--very soon regained its comforting influence. had not wilhelm ii, "the emperor of peace," assured the belgian mission, which was sent to greet him at aix-la-chapelle, that belgium had nothing to fear on the part of germany (see _l'Étoile belge_, th october, ). in september the emperor made a fresh reassuring statement. being present at the swiss manoeuvres, he congratulated m. forster, president of the swiss confederation, and told him how glad he was to find that the swiss army would effectually defend the integrity of her frontier against a french attack. "what a pity," he added, "that the belgian army is not as well prepared, and is incapable of resisting french aggression." this evidently meant that belgium ran no risk from the side of prussia. it was not only the emperor who assured us of his profound respect for international statutes. the german ministers made similar declarations in the reichstag (_belg. all._, p. ). in belgium itself the germans profited by every occasion to celebrate their friendship for us and their respect for treaties. in , at the time of the seventy-fifth anniversary of belgian independence, herr graf von wallwitz stated at an official reception: "and as for us germans, the maintenance of the treaty of warranty concluded at the birth of modern belgium is a sort of political axiom which, to our thinking, no one could violate without committing the gravest of faults" (_see_ p. of the _annales parlementaires belges, senate, _). in , at the time of the joyous entry of the king and queen into liége, general von emmich, the same who was entrusted with the bombardment of the city in august , came to salute our sovereigns in the name of the emperor. he spoke incessantly of the german sympathies for the belgians and their country. in august herr erzberger gave his word of honour, as catholic deputy to the reichstag, that there had never been any question of invading belgium, and that belgium might always count on the party of the centre to cause international engagements to be respected. this is the very party that is now heaping up manifest falsehoods in order to justify the aggression of germany. _german duplicity on the st, nd, and rd of august, ._ let us consider the days immediately preceding the war. the german newspapers were announcing that the troops occupying, at normal times, the camps near the belgian frontiers had been directed upon alsace and lorraine; and these articles, reproduced in belgium, had succeeded in finally lulling our suspicions. in the currents of thought which were then clashing in belgium, it was confidence that carried the day. many of us who were present on the st of august at a session of the royal academy of belgium, were speaking, before the session was opened, of the serious events which were approaching, the war already declared between austria and serbia, and the conflict which appeared imminent between germany, france, russia, and england. yet no one imagined that belgium could be drawn into the conflagration. that very morning, it was related, france had officially renewed, through her minister in brussels, the assurance that she would faithfully abstain from violating the neutrality of belgium ( st _grey book_, no. ); and there was no reason to doubt his words. a few days earlier the german minister in brussels had affirmed that his country had too much respect for international conventions to permit herself to transgress them; and we believed him too! oh, simplicity! we still believed him, on the following day, when he repeated the same declaration ( st _grey book_, no. ; _belg. all._, p. ). and on the evening of that sunday, the nd of august, he presented to our government the ultimatum of germany ( st _grey book_, no. ). _the ultimatum._ the telegram of the nd of august, by which herr von jagow sent the ultimatum to the german minister in brussels, declared: "please forward this note to the belgian government, in a strictly official communication, at eight o'clock this evening, and demand therefrom a definite reply in the course of twelve hours, that is, at eight o'clock to-morrow morning" (_lüttich_, p. ). never, since belgium's birth, had a problem so breathless been placed before her government. and germany left her twelve hours to solve it: twelve hours of the night! she was not willing that our government should have time to reflect at leisure; she hoped that in a crisis of distraction belgium, taken at a disadvantage and forgetful of her dignity, would accept the inacceptable. * * * * * however, the german minister in brussels continued to offer us explanations which were as perfidious as they were confused and obscure, and to assure us up to the last of the friendly intentions of his government. the germany fashioned by bismarck has assuredly nothing about it to remind us of the germany of goethe and fichte. we might have guessed as much, for that matter, when we saw the germans glorifying the man who _boasted_ of having falsified the famous ems telegram in order to make the war of inevitable, and who succeeded in making his countrymen accept, as a guiding principle, that "might comes before right." _the speech of the chancellor in the reichstag._ however, we may suppose that some slight scruples lingered in the recesses of the german conscience, since on the very day when the chancellor of the empire told the british ambassador in berlin that an international convention is merely "a scrap of paper,"[ ] and that neutrality is only a word, he recognized, in his speech to the reichstag, that the invasion of belgium constituted an injustice; but he immediately excused this violation of the law of nations by strategic necessities. b.--justification of the entry into belgium. "strategic necessities!" said the german chancellor. these necessities are expounded in the ultimatum, and may be summed up thus: "germany knows that france is preparing to attack her through belgium." the first question which occurs to us is: was france really preparing to cross our territory, and had she massed troops near our frontier? there is assuredly no one outside germany who would admit this. indeed, if important bodies of troops had been massed in the north of france they could effectually have opposed the advance of the germans through belgium. now in all the battles which the french fought in our country their numbers were much too small to resist the germans. let us also remark that these attempts on the part of the french were made on the th august at dinant, the th august at perwez, and the rd august at semois. how then can any one believe that the french were massed close to our frontier as early as rd august? moreover, the map published in the _n.r.c._ of the th december, , confirms the untruthfulness of the german allegations. this "strategic reason" was again invoked by the chancellor of the empire on the th august. but owing to the irrefutable manner in which the tardiness of the french movements disproved this assertion the latter is no longer uttered, save in an evasive manner. the german no longer says: "france was ready to cross into belgium," but "france would not have failed to enter belgium, and we simply outstripped her." it is thus that count bernstoff, the german ambassador to washington, expressed himself in the interview published by _l'indépendant_ in september , while the same assertion is found in the manifesto of the ninety-three german "intellectuals" and the letter addressed by herr max bewer to m. maeterlinck (in the _d.g.a._ of october and the _soldatenpost_ of the th october, ). let us now ask if germany had such suspicions of france as amounted to a semi-certitude? in other words, was she sincere in declaring that she knew that france was on the point of invading belgium? we do not hesitate to assert that she was lying: for if she had really believed that france was ready to violate our neutrality it would have been enormously to her advantage to wait until the violation was committed. for belgium has always asserted that in case of war between france and germany she would resist by arms the first invader and immediately join herself to the other power. now germany, however profound her political perversity may be, had no reason to suspect the sincerity of belgium; she knew then--and this time she _did_ know--that by allowing the french to enter our country she would assure herself of the assistance of our army against her enemy. and scanty as was her esteem for the belgian soldiers--perhaps she has since had occasion to change her mind!--it was none the less obviously to her interest to avoid having them as her adversaries. for the rest, we may boldly assert that the very terms of the german ultimatum prove, without possible doubt, that she did not believe in the danger of a french irruption into belgium. for if she had entertained this conviction she would have said to belgium: "i warn you that if you do not take the necessary measures to resist the entrance of the french i shall be fully authorized to invade your territory in my turn, in order to defend myself." in acting thus she would have had the right on her side ... and the german diplomatists of the day are certainly capable of distinguishing justice from injustice in cases where the distinction is so easy. we say, therefore, that the imminence of a french attack upon belgium was only a pretext and a bugbear; a pretext to justify the violation of belgium in the eyes of other nations; a bugbear to catch votes of credit in the reichstag without previous discussion. "we were not able to wait for this session before commencing hostilities and invading luxemburg, perhaps even belgium," declared the chancellor. observe how clumsy is this "perhaps"; the german troops entered belgium on the night of the rd of august ( st _grey book_, no. ), and on the afternoon of the th, at the session of the reichstag, the chancellor had no knowledge of it! we thought the official telegraph service worked better than that in germany! * * * * * what, then, were the real reasons for invading our country? they were strategic reasons, it is true, but not those which the chancellor indicated in his speech! they had been known for a long time; the german staff had always regarded a sudden attack upon france as an unavoidable necessity, and for that it was necessary at all costs to cross belgium. moreover, on the very day when the chancellor was still invoking the french preparations in the reichstag, the secretary of state, von jagow, openly avowed the true motive for violating belgium. the pamphlet of propaganda, _die wahrheit über den krieg_, after invoking, without insisting on, the danger of a french attack, described at length the german plan of campaign; a sudden attack upon france, delivered by passing through belgium; then, immediately after victory, a change of front, and the crushing of the russian army. the same idea is expounded in an infinity of articles and pamphlets. there can, therefore, be no remaining doubt as to the determining motives of germany: she wished to pass through belgium in order to fall upon france before the latter was ready. germany had been preparing for war for several days, for she knew that she had made the war inevitable, while france, deceived by her adversary's peaceful professions of faith, and, moreover, anxious to preserve the peace, which she still believed to be possible, had hardly commenced her mobilization. let us recall the comparison drawn by mr. lloyd george in his speech at the city temple on the th november, . "imagine," he said, "that your right-hand neighbour came and made you the following proposal: 'see, my friend, i've got to cut the throat of your left-hand neighbour. only as his door is barred i can't catch him unawares, and so i shall lose my advantage over him. so you will do me a little service; nothing that isn't entirely reasonable, as you will see. you will just let me come through your garden; if i trample down your borders a little i'll have them raked and put in good order again; and if by ill-luck i damage or kill one of your children i promise you a nice little indemnity.'" and it is because we would not help germany in this task that she has spattered us with insults. the germans cannot understand how we could have rejected her "well-intentioned" proposal, as the emperor calls it in his declaration of war. evidently they have ideas of honour which differ from ours. we can regard this proposal only as an insult to the belgian people. c.--german accusations against belgium. there is one circumstance which aggravates the evil deed which has soiled the german name. it is the insistence with which the press and the politicians of germany seek to cast the blame on belgium herself. for if we are to believe them it was belgium who began. _necessity of influencing neutrals._ when the german rulers discovered, to their utter stupefaction, real or feigned, that america and the other neutral states did not benevolently accept the strategical excuse for the violation of belgian neutrality, their attitude underwent a sudden modification. since the whole world, in a spontaneous impulse of indignation, branded the conduct of germany, the traitor and perjurer, in assailing a nation which she was actually under an obligation to protect, the german government adopted the classic procedure of evildoers, which consists in reversing the rôles, and posing as an innocent victim, driven into a corner by an adversary who does not abide by legitimate methods of defence. what was to be done in such a case? the german government must seem to believe, and then claim to have proved, that belgium had already violated her own neutrality before the german invasion; for then germany could no longer be blamed for her attitude. _absurdity of the first accusations._ immediately the german newspapers invented stories of french troops disentraining in belgium from the th july, , and of french officers teaching us how to handle krupp guns!--of french airmen flying over belgium, of french and belgian soldiers attacking the landwehr at aix-la-chapelle on the nd august, . these pitiful accusations were demolished by m. waxweiler in _la belge neutre et loyale_. we will content ourselves with remarking that all these infractions of neutrality are anterior to the th of august. if they had really been committed the innumerable spies scattered about belgium would have warned the german minister in brussels, who would have telegraphed to the chancellor, and the latter would have taken good care to make them the basis of a serious complaint against belgium in his speech to the reichstag. what weight would not these revelations have lent to his arguments? if he did not do thus it was because he was not informed, and if he was not informed it was because the facts were non-existent. they were invented--very clumsily, moreover--after the event. if now we cast a glance at the tales which the germans have imagined to extenuate their crime against justice, we shall say, with a certain professor of utrecht (_k.z._, th november, first morning edition), that one might with difficulty have pardoned the german rulers for violating belgian neutrality if it had been proved that imperious strategic necessities compelled them to it, but that they should have stuck to their original declarations, "for," he adds, "we have been painfully impressed by all the offences which have been alleged after the event to demonstrate that germany had the right to act as she did." to insult and calumniate an innocent person in order to excuse oneself is an attitude little worthy of a self-respecting nation. _a change of tactics. the revelations of the_ n.a.z. week by week the german journals add an item to the indictment of belgium. one would say that their method of reasoning must be as follows: "since we cannot bring forward a single convincing proof, let us accumulate as many as possible of any degree of value; we shall end by crushing belgium with the weight of evidence." in order that we might judge of the efficacy of this procedure, germany ought, of course, to tell us how many bad arguments are to her thinking worth one good one. yet it was extremely important that germany should be able to bring forward proof of the crime of belgium; for directly the neutrals, and in particular america, began to doubt our political honesty they would withdraw their sympathies and leave our executioners full liberty of action. at the same time germany would be able to pretend that she knew of belgium's intrigues, and that by invading our territory in spite of treaties she was not, properly speaking, committing a treacherous act. there are reasons for supposing that germany herself was conscious of the insufficiency of these accusations. hence the change of tactics which we observe after the month of october . the government itself entered into the lists. in its official organ, the _norddeutsche allgemeine zeitung_, it commented upon the documents discovered in the ministries of brussels. to judge of the relevance of this collection of documents we must keep in mind the two following points: ( ) that england played the part of protector of belgian neutrality; ( ) the probability of a german invasion in case of war between france and germany. let us rapidly examine these. . _england as the guarantor of belgian neutrality._--every one knows that for centuries england has been interested, more than any other nation, in ensuring that belgium should not be annexed either to france or to prussia. as far back as , says sorel (_l'europe et la révolution française_, vol. i. p. ), a french agent in london wrote to louvois: "it has been voted unanimously by the lower chamber that the english will sell their very shirts (this is the phrase they use) to make war on france for the preservation of the low countries." during the french revolution, and later, under the empire, the struggle between england and france was largely provoked by the desire to turn france out of belgium. the treaty of london ( ) makes no distinction between the five guarantors of our neutrality: austria, france, great britain, prussia, and russia; but it is none the less unanimously admitted that england has the most immediate interest in the preservation of our independence, as it matters greatly to england that antwerp--that loaded pistol aimed at the heart of england, as napoleon used to say--should become neither french nor german. therefore, as soon as belgium was threatened by an armed invasion, the traditional policy of england was at once invoked. it was in virtue of this policy that great britain, in , demanded of france and germany whether they engaged themselves to maintain the neutrality of belgium. the two belligerents gave and kept their promise. france, driven up against the belgium frontier at sedan, did not even then consider that she had the right to break her word; she preferred to allow herself to be crushed. if ever there were "strategic reasons" which would excuse the breaking of a promise, it was then! all this being so, no one was surprised when in august the newspapers announced that england had put the usual question to france and germany. this time again france made the reply inspired by her sense of honour; germany refused to commit herself. the historical facts which we have recalled suffice to show that the protective rôle of england was not invented for the needs of the moment, as germany would have the world believe. the chancellor cannot be ignorant of these facts; they are known to all. why then does he persist in asserting that england would not have intervened had france been the country to violate our neutrality? . _the danger of a german invasion._--for several years german generals have been agreed in admitting the necessity of marching the german army across belgium in case of war with france.[ ] in military circles this was a _secret de polichinelle_, as the _n.r.c._ remarked on the nd december, (evening edition). moreover, the germans themselves held that the belgians could not have been ignorant of the threat of a german invasion; this idea is expounded, notably, in a booklet of official aspect, entitled _la_ _part de la culpabilité de l'angleterre dans la guerre mondiale_. belgium therefore had serious reasons for expecting a german attack. there was evidently only one thing for her to do: to demand assistance of the country which had constituted itself the protector of her neutrality, and on which she had always been accustomed to rely with unshakable confidence. . the report of m. le baron greindl, sometime belgian minister in berlin. _falsification of the greindl report._ on the th october, , the german government posted on the walls of brussels a placard entitled: _england and belgium_ (_documents found at the headquarters of the belgian staff_). a reproduction of this placard was distributed gratuitously, thousands of copies being issued the same day. this document contains, first, a rapid summary of a report on the relations which existed in between the belgian chief of staff and the british military attaché. then the placard reproduces, "word for word," a portion of a report made by m. greindl, dated the rd december, . in this report m. greindl warns the belgian government of the possibility of a french attack. whosoever will attentively read the exhibited portion of this report will at once remark that its phrases lack connection and logical sequence. thus, there is certainly a hiatus between the opening phrases and those that begin with: "when it became evident that we should not allow ourselves to be alarmed by the pretended danger of closing the scheldt, the plan was not abandoned, but modified, in the sense that the english army of assistance would not be disembarked on the belgian coast, but in the nearer french ports." now what is meant by this "pretended danger"? pretended by whom? and then "we should not allow ourselves to be alarmed." who is "we?" remark that a few lines farther on the report speaks of the eventuality of a battle between the belgian army and the british army; belgium, which was just now the ally of the british, is now their adversary, although nothing indicates how she passed from the first attitude to the second. in the same sentence the closing of the scheldt is spoken of with an english landing on the _belgian coast_; yet we cannot imagine m. greindl placing antwerp on the belgian coast. can we doubt after this that phrases have been suppressed in this portion of the document? evidently not; for it is radically impossible to realize the bearing and the meaning of the report by reading the portion published. what, then, is the conclusion forced upon us? it is that the german government has "cooked" the text; omitting to copy certain passages which would not tally with the deductions which it wished to draw from it, and that it has perhaps even twisted the meaning of certain phrases. the publication of the complete report was demanded by the belgian government (see _k.z._, th october, first morning edition). but germany refused; the report was too long, it replied, by the medium of the _n.a.z._ ( th november, ). all that could be obtained was the publication in facsimile, in the same issue of the _n.a.z._, of the heading and the two first lines. since the german government did not publish the rest, we have the right to conclude that this was because it had subjected the document to falsifications such as were introduced in that we are now about to consider. in any case, the report as it was published means nothing. one feels that it was intentionally made confusing. by whom? . the reports of generals ducarne and jungbluth. the falsifications inserted in these documents by the german diplomatists have already been lucidly exposed (for example, by e. brunets, _calomnies allemandes_); so there would be no need to return to the subject, had not the german government thought fit to attempt to use these documents in order to demoralize the belgians. at the end of december , and in january , germany distributed hundreds of thousands of copies of a pamphlet containing several documents, among which were translations (into flemish and french) and facsimiles of the ducarne and jungbluth reports. the famous words of the "reference" are replaced in their natural position in the middle of the fourth paragraph,[ ] but--and this was a wholly unexpected discovery--they were also found in the commentary. according to the copy in the text, one reads: "the document bears on the margin: 'the entrance of the english into belgium would take place only after the violation of our neutrality by germany.'" disconcerting fecundity of kultur! the germans have reason to be proud of their chemical industry. thanks to a special fertilizer prepared in the offices of wilhelmstrasse, the famous phrase, which occurs only once in the original document, is promptly multiplied and is able to appear twice over. _the attitude of the belgians toward the german falsifications._ note that to give more weight to their explanations the germans were careful to have them printed in flemish and in french, on the paper and with the type habitually employed by the _moniteur belge_. it is then, in the last resort, the belgian public which has paid the cost of printing this falsification of a public document. well, well! they have mistaken our psychology, for despite these "revelations" our conviction is unshaken. not a belgian has criticized the actions of his government in respect of the defensive agreement with england. it would be like blaming a man whose house was destroyed by fire for having insured it with a reliable insurance company. confronted by the failure of their endeavours to discourage the belgians and to embroil them with their legitimate government, germany returned to the charge. a placard dated th march, , posted in brussels, stated that the belgian statesmen replied to the publication of the ducarne and jungbluth reports only after the lapse of three months. the placard evidently alludes to the belgian note of the th january, (_see_ the nd _grey book_, no. ). now the first sentence of this note states that the belgians had already replied on the th december, . germany could not have been unaware of this reply; let us add that we ourselves knew of it on the th december, thanks to the issue for the th of _l'indépendance belge_ (appearing in london), which was smuggled into brussels. the third document contained in the pamphlet of the german government related to the _military geographical manuals_.[ ] it shows that a final collaboration (after the violation of her engagements by germany) was carefully devised by the british and belgian staffs. truly it ill becomes the germans, so proud of the introduction of their scientific method into the art of war, which leaves nothing unthought of, to reproach others for acting in the same way, and for making meticulous preparations at an opportune time! in two places the article insists on the fact that the preparations of these manuals was effected in "time of peace." but come! should the belgians and the british have waited until the germans were in belgium before thinking of measures of defence? finally, the pamphlet contains _fresh and serious proofs demonstrating the complicity of belgium and england_. documents were found on the escritoire of the british legation in brussels relating to the belgian mobilization, the defence of antwerp, and the french mobilization. the accusation is this: these documents were found in the british legation, a proof that the belgian government had no military secrets from the british government, and that they had a close military understanding. once again: was belgium, aware of the germanic peril, to deliver herself bound hand and foot to the invader, who, not content with forgetting his international obligations, was about to run precisely counter to them? it would evidently have been more agreeable to germany to have found in belgium a lamb all ready to allow itself to be sacrificed on the altar of _kultur_. unhappily for _kultur_, belgium behaved like an enraged ram, determined to sell its life dearly. * * * * * whatever aspect of the question of belgian neutrality we may consider, we always come back to this fact: germany violated this neutrality on the th august, although belgium had given her no plausible excuse for doing so. since then the germans have undertaken a campaign for the purpose of justifying their "injustice," as their chancellor termed it. but none of the accusations invented after the event can in the slightest degree extenuate this injustice; their only effect has been to render still more execrable the treachery of the perjured protector. _neutral opinion._ it is pleasant, in this connection, to cite here the opinion of four writers belonging to countries which have not taken part in the war. a dutch writer published in _de amsterdammer_ an interesting article which was translated into french, but of which the sale in belgium was immediately prohibited by the germans. in a lecture which has achieved a very great celebrity, herr karl spitteler, a well-known literary man of german-speaking switzerland, also took the part of belgium. we know of this lecture only by the slashing which it received in the _k.z._ on the th december, in the first morning edition. here is a passage which particularly infuriated the german paper:-- "i consider that to take the documents from the pockets of the gasping victim (belgium) is, as to the spirit which inspired the act, a gross fault of taste. it would have been quite enough to throttle the victim; to blacken him afterwards is too much. as for switzerland, if it associated itself with these calumnies against belgium, it would commit not merely an infamy, but a mistake; for on the day when another power grudges us our national existence, the same accusations might be employed against us: do not let us forget that malice is now counted among the munitions of war." another swiss writer, m. philippe godet, expresses his opinions with no less energy in the _journal de genève_ ( th september, ). _the falsification of m. de l'escaille's letter._ in the preceding pages we have dealt only with matters relating to belgium. do not let our attitude be misunderstood. we have not the presumption to suppose that belgium has ever occupied the foreground in the negotiations described; on the contrary, we are perfectly well aware of the diplomatic insignificance of our country in the discordant "concert of europe" which has ended in the present war. our sole object is to show that belgium has not played the unavowable rôle which the germans attributed to her. as to the origin of this war, and the responsibility which the german rulers seek to foist upon great britain, in order that their own country, and, above all, their ally, austria, may evade it, this is a discussion into which we do not wish to enter, for it lies outside the programme which we have set ourselves. we ought, however, to speak a word as to the placards which the german authorities had posted up in belgium during the month of september . the first is dated the th september; it gives the résumé of a letter written by m. b. de l'escaille to the belgian minister of foreign affairs. ten days later a new placard appeared: this time the complete text of the letter was given, and it was explained how it came to fall into the hands of the germans. let us leave this last point: it concerns the criminal law, not diplomacy. let us examine only the summary which was published and the conclusions which the germans drew from it. was the summary honest? to discover this let us take the essential sentence, printed in heavier type: "they possess even the definite assurance that england will come to the assistance of france"; and let us compare this with the corresponding passage of the text: "to-day they are strongly convinced in st. petersburg, they even have the assurance, that england will support france." the term "assistance" (_secouer_) in the summary can apply only to military assistance, while the text speaks only of "support" (_soutien_), which means diplomatic action. so the second conclusion also is false--"that england did not intervene in the war on account of belgium, but because she had promised france to give her assistance." let us now look at the first conclusion. it is "that germany was actuated by pacific intentions, and sought by all means to avoid war." in reality the text, like the summary, states only that germany sought to avoid a general conflict, which means that she wished to localize the war between austria and serbia; in other words, germany wished europe to give austria a free hand to crush serbia. nowhere does the text say that germany did anything to avoid "the war": the only war which was declared on the th july, that of austria against serbia. in short, this conclusion is falsified. there remains the phrase which introduces the two conclusions: "by this report of the diplomatic representative of belgium at the court of st. petersburg it is proved".... was m. de l'escaille really the diplomatic representative of belgium in st. petersburg? open an administrative almanack, and you will see that _the_ representative was m. le comte conrad de buisseret-steenbecque de blarenghien. as for m. de l'escaille, he was secretary of legation. the conclusions concluding here, there is no room for further falsifications. * * * * * it is not our intention to make an exhaustive examination of the diplomatic documents relating to the war; the more so as this examination has been conducted in masterly fashion by mm. dürckheim and denis, by m. waxweiler, and by the author of _j'accuse_. it is enough for us to prove that germany has intentionally falsified documents, since this simple proof disposes of all her attempts to befoul belgium; for he who has a good argument at his disposal is not so foolish as to spoil it and deprive it of all real value by means of falsifications. d.--the declaration of war and the first hostilities. _the three successive proposals of wilhelm ii to belgium._ under its dry, cold, diplomatic phrasing the reply to the ultimatum ( st _grey book_, no. ) scarcely conceals the indignation which thrilled the heart of belgium when wilhelm ii offered her the chance of associating herself with his crime against loyalty. but the german government did not understand this indignation, neither was it conscious of its own infamy. otherwise how could it have repeated the same offer a few days later--an offer at once contemptible and full of contempt, as was so well said by m. jules destrée before the meeting of the federation of advocates, on the rd august, . two remarks on the subject of this fresh proposal ( st _grey book_, no. ). in the first place the united states minister in belgium, who was entrusted with the german interests, refused to transmit it; as for the dutch minister of foreign affairs, he accepted the mission "without enthusiasm." in the second place, when the emperor affirmed, on the th august, that the fortress of liége had been taken by assault, he must have known that the fortress was still resisting; for although the _city_ of liége was occupied by the germans from the th, the _forts_ were intact. let us remember that the first fort which fell was that of barchon, on the th august, ; that of Évegnée fell on the th, that of fléron on the th, that of loncin, commanded by general leman, fell only at p.m. on the th: and several forts were at that time still holding out. german diplomacy naturally received a fresh indignant refusal ( st _grey book_, no. ). even then official germany, dazzled by the brilliance of its _kultur_, had not yet grasped the full baseness of its crime, since on the th september it posted up in brussels its new proposal and belgium's reply. could candour in perfidy go any farther? yes! for the german government, during the siege of antwerp, made proposals of peace for the third time. this offer was secret. the terms have not been published; even the germanic press sought to deny that it had been made; but the avowal appeared in a viennese newspaper, the _neue freie presse_, and was reproduced by order of the german authorities in _la belgique_ (brussels, th january, ). _hostilities preceding the declaration of war._ so the emperor wilhelm ii did not succeed in making us his accomplices. needless to say, we did not tremble before the two bogies which are given so large a place in his harangues: his store of dry powder and his newly-whetted sabre. and so the sovereign of the formidable german empire declared war upon tiny belgium. "he would find himself, to his keenest regret, obliged to execute, if need be by force of arms, the measures of security set forth as indispensable," as the declaration of war expressed it ( st _grey book_, no. ). this declaration reached brussels at a.m. on the th of august. but, apparently unknown to the emperor, the german troops, before the telegram had reached belgium, had crossed the frontier during the night of the rd. we have just seen that the declaration of war reached brussels on the th august, at seven o'clock in the morning. this, at least, is what we learn from the official documents published by belgium. what does official germany say upon this point? nothing. nowhere is any mention made of the declaration of war, and it is this intentional vagueness which allows the germans to declare, without blushing, that the german troops entered belgium on the night of the rd august. they let it be supposed that the state of war existed from the moment when belgium, on the rd, refused the german ultimatum. thus the _chronik des deutschen krieges_ (p. ) gives the text of the ultimatum; then, in two lines, a summary of the reply. the first document which follows relating to belgium is the proclamation of the commander-in-chief of the army of the meuse (_ th report_, i). this is very vague as to the political relations between the two countries: are they at war, or are they not? no one could say. of the declaration of war, which should have found a place here, not a word; there is no further question of belgium before the telegrams of the th august (p. ). when we say that the declaration of war is not mentioned in any german publication, we are going too far. _die wahrheit über den krieg_ ("die wahrheit!") speaks of the declaration of war; but only to say that belgium declared war (p. ): _belgiën antwortete darauf mit der kriegserklärung_.[ ] the same publication appends some documents; no. (p. ) is a reproduction of the ultimatum. one would naturally expect that no. would be either belgium's reply or the declaration of war. by no means; these two documents are not given. any one who reads the text and hopes thereby to learn "die wahrheit" concerning the war will be no better informed by the documents. let us in passing remark that the german government, in the _white book_ published for the session of the reichstag of the th august, had also, by its own admission, made a selection among the documents which it submitted to the members of parliament. this procedure is no doubt a logical consequence of _kultur_. _the pacific character of belgium._ nearly all the nations of europe cherish national animosities, racial hatreds handed down from century to century, the heritage of conflicts never pacified, which a mere nothing suffices to renew; or the survival of oppressions and spoliations suffered of old by men's forbears, whose abhorred memory is transmitted like a sacred trust from generation to generation. and in all these countries, moreover, there is a chauvinist, a jingo party, which urges a "war of revenge against the hereditary enemy." in belgium, as mr. asquith stated in his speech in dublin, there was nothing of the kind. we had no spite against any one, and our people, laborious and peaceful, only asked to be allowed to live in friendship with its neighbours. never had there been in belgium any manifestation against a foreign country; never had a political party inscribed in its programme any sort of hostility towards another people. who, then, will be persuaded that "the belgian government had for a long time been carefully preparing for this war,"[ ] as the emperor wilhelm ii asserted in his telegram to the president of the united states (in which he also stated that his heart was bleeding!)? no, there is no possible doubt on this point: belgium brought into the conflict no racial enmity,[ ] and if she has found herself thrown into the furnace, despite her constant love of peace, it is solely because her haughty neighbour confronted her with this dilemma: either peace with dishonour, or honour with war. the choice was not in doubt. _german espionage in belgium._ it is idle to insist on the accusation of premeditation, for it is unhappily too certain that belgium was is no way ready for war. but it is also incontestable that germany had "for a long time carefully prepared for" the invasion of belgium. we cannot as yet reveal in detail the facts as to german espionage, with its often odious methods, for in most cases these revelations would expose those who have informed us to reprisals. we must for the present be intentionally vague, reserving preciser details for a later date. when the occupation comes to an end we shall report in detail the case of a german engineer, who, in returning to us with the rank of officer, presided over the systematic destruction by fire of the workshop which he had managed; and the case of another engineer, who commanded the gang ordered to set fire to the quarter adjoining the factory in which he had been employed. thanks to his knowledge of the locality, he was able in a few seconds to set fire to the richest streets of the neighbourhood. we shall be able to mark on a map the foundations of reinforced concrete for the great german guns, constructed long in advance, in the localities most favourable to bombardment; we shall also point to the store of timber intended to serve for the construction of a bridge over the scheldt, which was found in a factory established by germans on the banks of the river. as for the store of mauser rifles discovered at liége, our newspapers spoke of that at the time. here is a fact which can be related without danger. a german officer dropped from his pocket--we shall state later on in what locality--a detailed plan of the town of soignies, in which his troops had lodged a few days earlier. this plan gives, besides the details of streets, and even houses, information concerning the occupants of certain buildings: pharmacies, breweries, tanneries, the communal treasury, the bank, and other establishments where the army might need to make requisitions. the large buildings are coloured blue. it was there that the troops were lodged. this plan, drawn in chinese ink and coloured, dates from fifteen years back according to the indications which it contains. but it has quite recently been revised and completed, for the latest alterations in the town have been added in pencil; improvement of the senne, creation of a public square, etc. the case related by the _n.r.c._ of th august (evening) is particularly instructive. when the germans occupied liége and seraing the cockerill workshops naturally refused to work for them, since the germans wished them to make munitions for them. the german colonel keppel then assumed the direction of the works, promising the workers an increased salary of per cent. and this officer did not blush to sign his proclamation: "attaché of the german government at the liége exposition." he had consequently profited by his privileged situation in belgium in order to make himself familiar with the organization of the cockerill works. but it must be supposed that matters were too difficult for him, for herren koester and noske (_kriegsfahrten_, p. ) assert that he had to abandon the position. _the mentality of the german soldiers at the beginning of the campaign._ until the very last moment our enemies deluded themselves as to the loyalty of the belgians: they still hoped that the latter would only resist as a matter of form. this idea is openly expressed in the chancellor's speech of the nd december; it is also implicitly contained in the proclamation of general von emmich (see _ th report_, i). the officers and soldiers who crossed the frontier at the beginning of the war were quite bewildered by the unforeseen resistance of the belgian army; this is what the german prisoners interned at bruges tell their relatives; they even go so far as to deplore having to fight a neutral country. letters from german prisoners of war. we hear from belgium:-- the correspondence of the german prisoners of war (to the number of about two thousand) who, at the beginning of the war, were interned in the barracks of the bruges lancers, has passed almost entirely through our hands. all say they are well treated. some even hope that the belgian prisoners in germany will be as well treated as they. one wounded soldier in a bruges hospital relates that the belgians treat the german wounded like brothers; another speaks only of his "belgian comrades"! the good food served to them seems to make a great impression. most of them say, "we have enough to eat"; or even, "we have food in abundance." only one complains of "beer without flavour and bad wine"; but another says with much simplicity: "the people here are very kind to us, for we have enough to eat and drink." the word _for_ is amusing.... the letters of the officers are quite different. no more joy because their lives are safe. the war absorbs them entirely. they are warriors at heart and the struggle interests them passionately. they know nothing of what is happening, or rather they are not told what is happening, and they want to know ... to know, and it is painful to hear in each letter the same question: what news? the forced inactivity becomes a torture. boredom presses on them: they are discouraged and greatly disillusioned; they had hoped to pass very rapidly across belgium (it must be remembered that at this time the war was only beginning, that brussels was not yet occupied, and that the letters date from this period). the attack upon belgium does not seem to please a great many of them. "we have attacked a neutral country," says a medical officer, "and we shall now have to suffer the eventual consequences." "when we got out of the train," says another, "we received the order to fight against belgium, a thing which is to me and to all highly antipathetic. but what is commanded has to be executed." "the attack on belgium was from the first a shameful thing." "we violated belgium before any declaration of war had been made"! all the letters show how little the resistance of liége was expected. many say: "of all our company, of our battalion, of our regiment, there are left only so many or so many men." one relates how in a few minutes his colonel, his major, the captains, and nearly all the lieutenants were mown down by the balls. "we are all mightily deluded," admits another; "we were too confident; we thought the belgians were disheartened"! "the belgians fight like lions," says another. _german lies respecting the occupation of liége._ it is the truth, although the news is partly from a german source, that the germans entered belgium on the night of the rd of august; they crossed the frontier near gemmenich at two o'clock in the morning, and the following night (of the th of august) they were already attempting an attack upon liége. but the official telegrams from berlin have never mentioned this date. to make it believed that the capture of liége was extremely rapid and that the german army had met with no serious resistance, the staff pruned the siege of liége at both ends; it made the operation commence on the th august instead of the th, and declared that it was already completed by the th august. we could not give a more precise idea of the manner in which the government and its "reptile press" deceives public opinion than by reproducing two telegrams relating to the fall of liége. on the th of august, having reported the entrance of the troops into belgium on the previous day, the telegrams announced the capture of the fortress of liége.[ ] note this: the capture of the _fortress_ (festung). now the germans had merely occupied the town of liége, a town absolutely open, without ramparts or defences of any kind. they themselves were forced to own, on the th, that the forts had not been captured; but they added that the guns were no longer firing, which was false (p. ). berlin, _ th august_.--our advance guard entered belgium the day before yesterday, along the whole frontier. a small division attempted, with great valour, a surprise attack upon liége. a few cavalrymen pushed on into the city, and attempted to seize the commandant, who was only able to escape by flight. the surprise attack against the fortress, constructed according to modern principles, did not succeed. our troops are before the fortress, in contact with the enemy. naturally the whole enemy press will describe this enterprise as a defeat; but it has no influence on the great operations; for us it is only an isolated fact in the history of the war, and a proof of the aggressive courage of our troops. (_kr. d. des k. z._, p. .) berlin, _ th august_. official. (_wolff agency._)--the fortress of liége is taken. after the divisions, which had attempted a surprise attack upon liége, had been reinforced, the attack was pushed to a successful termination. this morning at o'clock the fortress was in the power of germany. (_kr. d. des k. z._, p. .) however, it was necessary to prevent the bad effect which would be produced on the population by foreign communiqués announcing that the german army was continuing to besiege liége after taking it. after the complete success announced on the th the task was, in fact, rather difficult. how was it to be effected? (_a_) discredit might be thrown on news coming from abroad, for example, by "demonstrating" its untruthfulness. _der lügenfeldzug_ gives on p. the announcement of the taking of liége, and on the _following_ page the havas telegram stating that liége is not taken. what will the superficial reader conclude if he does not take the trouble to dissect the telegrams? that the allies are shameless liars, going to the length of denying the obvious. but examine the dates: liége was taken, according to the germans, on the th august, at a.m., while the allies declare that liége is not taken--on the th! and to think that the book which perpetrates this trickery is entitled _der lügenfeldzug unserer feinde_ ("our enemies' campaign of lies")! and that it undertakes the mission of calling attention to the lies and calumnies of the enemy in order to correct them! (_b_) to establish confusion between the city and the fortress. as early as the th august the false newsmongers were rejoicing over the taking of the fortress, intentionally confusing the city and the fortified place, so that the reader of these communiqués no longer knows what to think, and naturally accepts the official news of his own country. _the sudden attack upon france is checked._ to understand how completely it was in germany's interest to create the belief that liége was taken in two days by a small body of troops, we must remember that the object of the germans was to traverse belgium as rapidly as possible, in order to crush the french and capture paris. the author of _j'accuse_ reports the remark of old marshal von haeseler, who proposed to celebrate in paris the anniversary of sedan--on the nd september, . we ourselves copied a charcoal inscription written on the front of a house burned down at battice, making an appointment in paris for the nd september with a certain regiment of artillery. now this sudden march was completely spoiled and the german plan of campaign undone by the unexpected resistance of the belgians, first at liége, then at hesbays. this loss of a few days was fatal to germany, and germany bears us malice on that account. _the disinterested behaviour of belgium._ one last point as to the violation of our neutrality. the germans now pretend to pity the poor belgians, who allowed themselves to be fooled by england as much as by their king and government, and who, by their credulity, brought the war upon themselves. but what am i saying?--the german government assures the world that we ourselves desired the war. official germany has become incapable of conceiving that a people should remain faithful to its international obligations, and if need be sacrifice itself for them. "why," our adversaries ask us, "did you not accept the proposals of germany? you would have profited by them." and indeed our eastern neighbours offered us £ , as the price of our complicity (f. bettix, _der krieg_). it would be very interesting to know on what data germany calculates the value of a nation's honour; in any case, we may assure her that no one in the world would be so simple as to offer so great a sum for hers. * * * * * for the rest, as far as we belgians are concerned our interest has never entered into our calculations. it was not in order to profit by it that we resisted germany; it was because we judged that such was our obligation as an honest nation. and yet, as the minister, m. carton de wiart, remarked, at the hotel de ville in paris, on the th december, , we had, even then, the vision of our country ravaged by the prussian hordes; but even to-day, after suffering such terrible atrocities, there is not a belgian "who would change his poverty for the profits of a bandit." footnotes: [ ] the germans do not like one to quote these words of herr bethmann-hollweg. a series of pamphlets, _histoire de la guerre de _, which has appeared in brussels during the occupation, reports the last conversation of the chancellor with the british ambassador on the th of august, (p. ), but the "scrap of paper" does not figure therein: the censorship suppressed this too compromising passage. [ ] see, for example, bernhardi's _how germany makes war_, pp. , , . on the th of march, , the _nord. allg. zeit._ declared: "germany has no political motive for violating belgian neutrality, but the military advantage which might result forces her thereto." emile bauning, _la belgique au point de vue militaire et international_, brussels, , p. . [ ] apparently such unusual honesty cannot long survive in the mind of a german diplomatist. the phrase is in its proper place in the french text, but it is lacking in the flemish text, which is printed facing it. [ ] _k.z._, nd december, st edition, morning, published the same revelations. this article is more complete than that printed in brussels. we hasten to correct a numerical error which renders the opening of the second paragraph incomprehensible: it states that five years had elapsed between and . according to the _k.z._ one should read instead of . [ ] the same lie figures in _lüttich_, p. . [ ] the french text here quoted is that which was posted up. the german text, also posted, states that belgium had long ago carefully armed the civil population (see p. ). [ ] an article on "flemings and walloons" in _k.z._ for th march (noon edition), declares that belgium knew nothing of chauvinism, nor even, adds the writer, of nationalism. [ ] these lies die hard. herren koester and noske, in the introduction of their book, _kreigsfahrten durch belgiën und nordfrankreich_, literally state: "the german troops entered belgium on the th of august; on the following day the fortress of liége had been taken by assault." chapter ii violations of the hague convention a.--the "reprisals against francs-tireurs." under the pretext that france was making ready to attack her, germany hastened to invade belgium and luxemburg. but france was not preparing to invade the rhine provinces of prussia, and this pretended threat of aggression was merely a trick, intended to frighten parliament, and to obtain a vote approving the actions of the ministry and giving it _carte blanche_. the manoeuvre completely succeeded; the government received a unanimous vote, in spite of the chancellor's admission: "we are committing an injustice, and we are violating the law of nations; but when one is driven into a corner as we are, all means are good." we discovered immediately, alas! what these words meant. hardly had the german soldiers crossed the frontier, when they began to burn and massacre. _murders committed by the germans from the outset._ on the very day of the invasion--the th august--a motor-car carrying four german officers arrived at herve, and then pulled up. one of the officers demanded information of a youth of sixteen, one dechêne; the latter did not understand, or perhaps refused to reply (which was his right, and even his duty towards his country); we do not know, but in any case the officer shot him with his revolver. on the th of august, too, the germans shot peaceful citizens at visé, when the nd battalion of the th regiment of the line, under major collyns, had the audacity to resist them. of course they pretended that the civilians took part in the fighting. a few days later they burned the church and the greater part of the town. one sees plainly from these, and too many other examples, what was the object of our enemies: (_a_) they wished to terrorize the population, in order to make them more amenable to requisitions and demands of all kinds; (_b_) they wished to make their own troops believe that in fighting the belgians--which they at first did with great unwillingness--they were merely defending themselves against treacherous attacks; (_c_) they wished to multiply opportunities of pillage; (_d_) finally, perhaps, they reckoned that by displaying to the belgian government the horrors to which its first refusal had exposed the country, they would induce it to reconsider its position and could obtain from it a free passage. _were there any "francs-tireurs"?_ it would be impossible at this moment to state that the belgians never, at any point of the frontier, fired upon the invaders. let us remark, moreover, that if they did they would have been, from the purely human point of view, perfectly excusable.[ ] what! here is germany, who, pretending to be in a state of legitimate defence, falls unawares upon an inoffensive third party! and this third party had no right to oppose force to violence! in all logic, was it not belgium that was in a state of legitimate defence; was it not for belgium that all means were good? and notice, please, that it was not against an imagined and imaginary menace that we were defending ourselves: the germans had most undeniably invaded belgium. would it have been astonishing if the belgians, exasperated by this unspeakable aggression, had seized their rifles? in sane justice, one could not regard such action as a grievance; on the contrary. does this mean that we believe in the story of civilians attacking the german army? most certainly not; because we know from reliable sources that in _every_ case where it has been possible to hold an inquiry, this inquiry has shown that the "francs-tireurs" were merely the pretext; the real motive for all the devastation and massacre was the desire to terrorize the population. it is, therefore, in a fashion entirely theoretical, and with the most express reserves, that we admit, in default of opportunity to investigate, in each case, the affirmations of our enemies, that in some cases, certainly extremely rare, isolated civilians, or small groups of civilians, may have been taken with arms in their hands. but our enemies will please admit also that the attitude of these civilians would have been amply excused by the more than brutal fashion in which the germans behaved from the very first moments of the war. let us add that when one erects terror into a system, as the germans do, one should understand the defensive reflexes of the victims. what were the rights of our enemies in these exceptional cases? they could, as they themselves proclaim, have shot the individual offenders, and, for once in a way, have burned their houses. but nothing in the world could justify the executions _en masse_ and the wholesale burnings to which the germans surrendered themselves. _the obsession of the "franc-tireur" in the german army._ one point at first remained obscure to us in the german "reprisals": how did the german officers induce their men to commit this horrible carnage? very simply: their minds were worked upon beforehand; they were crammed with legends of francs-tireurs dating from the war of - , and were made to believe that the belgian population was revoltingly brutal. so as soon as they set foot on our territory they expected to be attacked by civilians, and, very naturally, prepared to sell their lives dearly. nothing is more typical in this respect than the collection of soldiers' letters published for the edification of the german nation in _der deutsche krieg in feldpostbriefen_.--_i. lüttich, namur, antwerpen._ in more than half is there mention of "francs-tireurs"; but scarcely ever does the writer speak of having himself seen them. read, for example, the first letter (that is no. in the volume, for letter no. is not a soldier's letter). the writer, an officer, asserts that during the attack on the forts of liége, on the night of the th of august, the night was so dark that it was impossible to distinguish friends from enemies, and that the germans were firing on one another. nevertheless, as they were fired on, and as they saw three men running, they immediately shot them as "francs-tireurs." during this same night their baggage-column having been surprised (he does not say by whom), a village was burned and the inhabitants were shot. the whole mentality of the german soldier in respect of civilians is reflected in this letter; it is so dark that the germans fire on one another, but that does not prevent them from recognizing that those attacking them are "francs-tireurs," even though their men are "falling _en masse_," which excludes all idea of francs-tireurs. francs-tireurs! from the very first days of the war it is a fixed idea, an obsession, engendered by previous reading and conversation, and carefully nourished by the leaders. _the obsession of the "franc-tireur" in the literature of the war._ francs-tireurs! this idea invades the whole of their contemporary literature. all the books on the campaign in belgium and france swarm with tales of this kind. let us add that the authors do not assert that they themselves have seen the attacks of the "francs-tireurs." but they have been told of them, and they hasten to repeat the story without the slightest means of verification. thus, in _kriegsfahrten_, by herren koester and noske, there is mention of "francs-tireurs" on pages , , , , and ; and they return to the subject in the last chapter (p. ). herr fedor von zobeltitz, in _kriegsfahrten eines johanniters_, also constantly heard mention of attacks by belgian civilians: at tirlemont (p. ), at louvain (pp. , , , ), at malines (p. ), at eppeghem (p. ), and in antwerp (p. ). the volume entitled _die eroberung belgiëns_ is full of stories of the same sort. thus, of thirty-eight illustrations, which are neither maps nor portraits, ten are devoted to the attacks of belgian civilians. it is interesting to compare the tales of people who have not been present in the battles fought in belgium, and who speak only from hearsay, with the narrative of herr otto von gottberg, _als adjutant durch frankreich und belgiën_. he took part in september in the battles which accompanied the siege of antwerp. nowhere did he see francs-tireurs. yet he by no means loves the belgian civilians, and he certainly would have been tremendously pleased to shoot down a few. read, for example, what he says of the provocative attitude of the people of brussels, and above all of the women of brussels (p. ), and of passing through the streets of lebbeke (near termonde), where his soldiers proposed to fall upon the inhabitants who scowled at them (p. ). however, he says, he did not burn a single house (p. ). we may remark that herr gottberg's companions showed themselves less amiable, or at least equitable, than he, for the "reprisals" against lebbeke were particularly atrocious (see _ th report_). it is, however, highly improbable that the inhabitants would have deprived themselves of the pleasure of firing on the little patrol led by herr gottberg, afterwards to take up arms against troops which were much more numerous. however it may be, the legend of the "francs-tireurs" of lebbeke was willingly accepted by herren koester and noske (_kriegsfahrten_). _the obsession of the "franc-tireur" in literature and art._ the obsession of the "franc-tireur" is also found outside the limits of military literature properly so-called. herr bredt has just published a book on _le caractère du peuple belge révélé par l'art belge_. the illegal attacks of the belgian population upon the regular german troops, he says, were not in the least surprising to those who were acquainted with the productions of belgian art. it would be difficult to surpass, in this respect, an article which appeared in the january number of _kunst und künstler_. it gives the reproduction of an engraving by callot: a camp in which musketeers are putting to death condemned men bound to stakes. "execution of francs-tireurs," says the legend in german. that there should be a question of "francs-tireurs" in the time of callot, who died in , may in itself seem somewhat strange. but the engraver has taken care to inscribe, under his work, some lines describing the scene which it represents, which may be translated as follows:-- "those who to give their evil nature sway, failing in duty, take the tyrant's way, infringing right, delighting but in ill, whose acts are full of treason and self-will, cause in the camp full many a bloody brawl, so die this death, the end of traitors all." it is enough to read this legend to realize that they are traitors who are being punished; but the german mind of to-day is so steeped in the idea of "francs-tireurs" that the artists no longer understand what their predecessors wrote, and, like the soldiers, they see francs-tireurs everywhere. _responsibility of the leaders._ but it is above all the great massacres of andenne, tamines, dinant, termonde, aerschot, louvain, and luxemburg, which are for ever inexcusable, and will remain, an eternal disgrace, as a stain upon the german flag. their appetite whetted by the atrocities committed during the first days of the invasion, the soldiers themselves invented or simulated attacks of "francs-tireurs," in order to have the pleasure of afterwards repressing them, killing, pillaging, and burning entire cities. let us say, to be just, that not the soldiers but their leaders will bear, before the bar of history, the responsibility of this revival of the monstrosities of barbarism. is it not obvious that in an army as highly disciplined as the german, an army in which the officers drive their men into battle under the threat of their revolvers, and in which the soldiers obey such injunctions, such deliberately prepared tragedies as that of louvain are possible only with the complicity of the officers, or rather by their orders? how else can we conceive that soldiers would post themselves in a garden and thence fire their rifles into the streets? (_n.r.c._, th september, , evening edition). and it is not the subaltern officers that we have to call to account for these butcheries, but the generals, such as baron von bissing, since become governor-general of belgium, who counsels the soldiery to show themselves pitiless, and not to allow themselves to be swayed by any humanitarian consideration, for compassion would be an act of treason (_compare_ p. ). the soldiers are advised that it is permissible for them "to make the innocent suffer with the guilty" (p. ); that they may hang, without further ceremony, those who have committed the crime of being found present, for whatever reason, in a house where munitions or arms have been found (p. ); and also those who have attempted to escape while they were being held as hostages (p. ). the previous governor-general of belgium announced that soldiers need not be sure whether suspects are accessories or not, but that "if any hostility is displayed towards them they may raze a city to the ground." such is the fate that general von bülow promised the city of brussels. the same general thought it incumbent upon him officially to inform the people of brussels, liége, and namur that it was with his consent that the town of andenne was burned, and about one hundred persons shot (_ th report_, iv). by these proclamations and others equally sanguinary the military authorities wished to influence both the germans and the belgians. the former were absolved beforehand of the horrors they committed, and were assured of impunity for all the "reprisals" they might be pleased to undertake. moreover, they were kept in perpetual horror of "francs-tireurs." are they assailed unexpectedly by soldiers of the enemy's army? they fall back without assuring themselves of what has really happened, and return with the main body of the army to expend their rage against the "francs-tireurs." this is what took place at tamines where more than four hundred citizens were shot down by rifle or machine-gun fire, and also in a dozen villages of bas-luxembourg, which were razed to the ground, and in which a thousand inhabitants were shot. _animosity toward the clergy._ the military chiefs bear an especial grudge against the clergy. in the manifestoes against "francs-tireurs" the priests are specially mentioned, which amounts to recommending them quite specially to the savagery of the troops. the latter are convinced that the priests incite their flocks from the pulpit, and that they place machine-guns in the belfries. so, in the sack of a village, the worst treatment is always reserved for the priests and the churches. the pastoral letter of his excellency cardinal mercier gives a list of forty-three priests shot or executed.[ ] there is no ignominy the troops have not inflicted on the priests. a few examples among hundreds will suffice. they forced members of the louvain clergy to lie naked in the dung of a pig-sty. the curé of pont-brûlé was beaten, by order of the german soldiery, by his own parishioners. the january number of _kunst und künstler_ gives a drawing representing a curé hanging from a tree. at cortemarck it was the priests who were punished because an inhabitant was in communication with the enemy (read, "the belgians"). on the th august, , the germans arrested the dean and vicar of a village in brabant, under the pretext that they had made luminous signals from the church tower. now the priests had been prisoners since . o'clock of the afternoon; how then could they have ascended the tower at . p.m.? despite their protestations they were taken to louvain, whence a so-called council of war sent them to germany. arriving in a prisoners' camp, they were accommodated in the latrines, which consisted of a trench and a plank perforated with holes. each time a german soldier had to satisfy his need, he took the opportunity of insulting the priests in the most filthy manner. a german major sent for them and informed them that they were about to be shot. the vicar asked that he might confess. "no," he was told, "hell is good enough for you." they were led away to die ... but were sent to a seminary, where they remained prisoners until january . _animosity toward churches._ against the churches their rage was unloosed with even greater fury. in the part of brabant that lies north of vilvorde there is hardly a belfry left erect: beyghem, capelle-au-bois, haecht, humbeek, pont-brûlé, sempst, eppeghem, houtem, weerde, hofstade, elewijt, werchter, boortmeerbeek, etc., are all burned. at termonde all the churches have been either burned or profaned. but in the midst of this city, where twelve hundred houses were burned out of fourteen hundred, the béguinage remained intact, an oasis of calm isolated amid the calcined ruins. on the grassy plain that surrounds the bright little houses of the béguines stood the chapel. this did not find favour with the germans, and its blackened walls attest that kultur has passed that way. were the béguines perhaps "francs-tireurs"? we have already stated that the peculiar irritation of the germans against the clergy and their sanctuaries was due to the fact that they regarded the curés as the leaders of the "francs-tireurs." the falsity of this allegation was recognized by dr. julius bachem, the editor of the _kölnische volkszeitung_, one of the most prominent catholic newspapers in germany. dr. bachem published, in the issue for april of the _süddeutsche monatshefte_, which was principally devoted to belgium, an article on the religious problem in belgium. he based his proofs on the authority of baron von bissing, commandant of the th army corps, at present governor-general in belgium, and also on the special inquiry undertaken by the union of the catholic priests of the rhine, _pax_. this inquiry, mostly conducted with the aid of the present military authorities in belgium, proved that the clergy was absolutely innocent, and that all the accusations brought against it were purely imaginary.[ ] the emperor did not wait for the confirmation of the crimes attributed to the priests before making violent accusations against them in his telegram to the president of the united states. he has not retracted these. _intentional insufficiency of preliminary inquiries._ never was there the least justification for reprisals. read the reports of the commission of inquiry, and the narratives of ocular witnesses, and you will find that the most horrible things are continually done without any pains being taken to verify the facts. soldiers greedy for pillage say, without justification, _die civilisten haben geschossen_; and that is enough. the order is given to kill the men and reduce the neighbourhood to ashes. or shots have really been fired on the germans; the civilians are suddenly accused, and without listening to the unhappy prisoners, who offer to prove that the shots were fired by belgian or allied soldiers, the germans proceed to execution. a very typical case is that of charleroi. we knew that french troops were still occupying the town when the germans entered. but these last immediately accused the civilians, since, they said, shots were fired from the interior of the houses, as though their adversaries had not the right, quite as much as they, to take cover in the buildings. moreover, when they later were confronted with the proof that the french were there, they merely remarked that the latter's mission was to organize and to discipline the civic guards and "francs-tireurs"[ ] (_see_ heymel's article, p. ). could one imagine a finer example of preconceived opinion? m. waxwieler insists emphatically on the unspeakable frivolity with which the germans carry out "reprisals." he cites notably the case of linsmeau (p. ) and that of francorchamps (p. ). as this is an essential point, i may perhaps be permitted to relate a few more cases. on entering wépion on the rd august the germans pretended that the citizens had fired on them, and they shot, then and there, six of them, among whom were the two younger bouchats. now those who had fired were belgian soldiers armed with machine-guns, who were covering the retreat of the belgian troops. a moment's reflection would have enabled the germans to realize their error, since civilians obviously had no machine-guns at their disposal. while they were being led to their death, one of the bouchats begged a glass of water of their mother. but the germans refused to allow it to be given him: "it's not worth the trouble now," they said. in august a french patrol and a german patrol came into collision at sibret (belgian luxembourg) and exchanged shots; they then retired, leaving a wounded german on the ground. two inhabitants of sibret carried the wounded man toward an ambulance; the clerk to the _justice de paix_ of bouillon, m. rozier, accompanied them. he was carrying the rifle slung over his shoulder and the soldier's knapsack in his hand. a german patrol came up and questioned m. rozier, telling him, no doubt, to raise his hands or throw down his rifle. as neither m. rozier nor any of his companions understood german, and were unable to comply with the order, the germans fired on m. rozier, killing him. every time it has been possible to obtain any kind of inquiry from the germans it has resulted in their confusion; at huy the bullets found in the bodies of germans were german bullets; the general was forced to stop the burning of the village; he even admitted that a mistake had been made. an example of another kind, also taken from the _n.r.c._, is equally characteristic. during the night a german soldier fired a rifle-shot, no one knew why, in a village of western flanders. great alarm immediately. "the village is going to be burned!" but before they had time to get to work an important piece of evidence, the empty cartridge-case, proved that it was really a german soldier who fired. however, if by chance this blessed cartridge-case had not come to hand the village would have burned. too often, alas! the german army does not trouble to postpone the reprisals awhile ... and the houses are in ashes before the falsity of the accusations has been proved. it is to be remarked, indeed, that it is never the germans who prove the truth of their allegations, but the belgians who have to prove the germans in error. it is justice reversed. it is easy to understand that a _non-lieu_ does not please the german authorities. in fact, their object is not to render justice but to terrorize the population; and if it were necessary to examine the _bona-fides_ of their accusations they would not be able to exercise "reprisals," which would not suit them at all! if the accusations had really been justified by the attacks of "francs-tireurs" the germans would have taken care to establish their existence irrefutably. for we must not forget that according to article of the hague convention they ought to indemnify us for all the burnings and massacres commanded by them. _a "show" inquiry._ they know, however, how contrary these summary executions are to the spirit of justice, and they sometimes attempt to lay a false trail. read, for example, the chapter devoted by dr. sven hedin to the "francs-tireurs." the great swedish geographer, of whose wonderful asiatic journeys every one has heard, made a tour along the western front. he therefore visited the occupied portion of france and belgium, and wrote an enthusiastic book on the german army, _ein volk in waffen_. in the course of this work, he describes the manner in which an inquiry is held into the circumstances of an attack by "francs-tireurs." everything is done as regularly as possible, and the affair ends in an acquittal. was the tribunal authentic, or was it merely a parody?[ ] it matters little; the essential thing for us is that it was desired to prove to dr. hedin that the germans are not barbarians, and that they observe the forms of justice even while on campaign. _mentality of an officer charged with the repression of "francs-tireurs."_ let us now compare with the account of dr. hedin that of a german officer entrusted with the repression of "francs-tireurs." captain paul oskar höcker gives a few curious details in his interesting book, _an der spitze meiner kompagnie_. he had to clear of "francs-tireurs" a portion of the territory comprised between the german frontier and the meuse. his mission consisted in this: to present himself at houses, to ask if there were arms, and in case of a reply in the negative, to search the house; if arms were discovered the householder was shot on the spot; in case of resistance the house was burned (p. ). the first farm he visits is jungbush, near moresnet; the inhabitants assure him they have no arms. they are told that if they are hiding one rifle they will be punished with death; they repeat that they have none. and now the soldiers bring up a boy of fifteen who was hiding under the straw with a belgian rifle and five cartridges. he is shot without further inquiry (p. ). it is permissible to ask whether it would not have been juster and more humane to have looked into the matter a little more closely. the remainder of the book instructs us as to the psychology of captain höcker. at the house of the vicar of thimister, where he passed the first night in belgium, his bedroom door did not lock, and this was enough to make him shake with fear (p. ). on the following morning he had a pigeon shot, which he suspected of being a carrier of despatches to "francs-tireurs"; "and in truth," he says, "the pigeon bore a stamp on the left wing" (p. ). this proof is perhaps somewhat slender in a country where all pigeons which take part in matches have a mark of this kind. he confiscates all the small-arms and parts of arms in the establishments of the innumerable armourers of the district, and smashes everything in their workshops. on one such occasion he burns a house whose owner does not consent with good grace to the destruction of his plant (p. ). on the same day he finds that all the houses from which shots were fired have been burned; in his satisfaction he does not even ask himself whether those who fired were soldiers or civilians (p. ). neither has he a word of reprobation for the fury which the germans display against belgium: belgium, forced to take the side of the allies when her territory was violated by germany. he reaches visé at the moment of its burning; he accepts immediately the legend according to which the bridge has been destroyed by "francs-tireurs" (p. ). according to him, the belgians of good society do not become soldiers; he is convinced that substitution is still in force with us, and that for , francs (£ ) one can escape from one's military obligations (p. ). to him, therefore, all civilians appear cowards, and he is not surprised to see them become "sneaking francs-tireurs." when he passes through the streets of louvain he listens to the story that germans have that very day been fired upon (p. ). further on he admits without hesitation that the german soldiers taken prisoners before liége must have expected to be shot by the belgians (p. ). we do not question the sincerity of captain höcker. but why was so credulous and so suggestible a person selected to search out and punish "francs-tireurs"? assuredly because it was desired that "reprisals" should be carried out without previous discussion, and by some one whose conscience should, nevertheless, be at rest. _drunkenness in the german army._ we have just seen that massacres very frequently took place without any pretext having been brought forward to excuse them. in nearly all cases alcoholism was the cause of these, for the german soldiers, and above all the officers, are scandalously addicted to drink. the first thing requisitioned by the officers is always wine, by hundreds of bottles at a time. turn over a collection of german illustrated papers: every time a meeting of officers is photographed there are bottles and glasses on the table. at the ambulance installed in the palais de justice of brussels the military surgeons have not been ashamed to steal the wine of the wounded men, wine offered by the citizens of brussels. the general and his staff who installed themselves on the st august, , in the palais royal of laeken levied such vast contributions on the cellars of the palais that on the following morning an officer was found, in the costume of adam, dead-drunk in front of a bath which he had not had the strength to enter. when they left the palais they took with them many hampers of wine, and a few days later they had a search made for further hampers of the vintages which were their preference. the cellars were soon empty. they were drunken soldiers who provoked the burning of huy, the assassinations at canne (_n.r.c._, rd august, , morning edition), and in part at least the massacres of louvain. when they occupied gand the police had to collect them, dead-drunk, on the very first morning; they had already begun to fire revolver-shots. it was after a tavern brawl between drunken soldiers that the burning of a portion of tongres was decreed (_n.r.c._, nd august, , morning edition). in brussels, on the th september, , some drunken soldiers in a german cabaret situated in the rue de la grande ile, were firing rifle-shots to amuse themselves; bullets lodged in the house-fronts opposite. the officer whom some one went to fetch that he might witness this misbehaviour believed that an attack was being delivered by "francs-tireurs," and, trembling like a leaf, refused to go thither. the _n.r.c._, th january, (morning edition) states that a young girl of eelen was arrested as a "franc-tireur" because rifle-shots had been fired by drunken soldiers. let us add that drunkenness might have had harmless consequences if the authorities had not exerted themselves to make the troops believe that every unexpected shot is necessarily fired by a "franc-tireur," and that so black a crime can only be paid for by a general massacre accompanied by the burning of the village concerned. * * * * * there is only one fashion of explaining the horrors committed by the germans: it is to admit that they are modelled beforehand according to a carefully devised system of intimidation: the systematic inhumanity of their treatment of the enemy population being intended to facilitate other military operations. _cruelties necessary according to german theories._ compare, for example, the laws of war according to the german great general staff[ ] with the stipulations of the hague convention. as the last is based on humanitarian considerations and seeks to lighten the scourge of war for non-combatants, so the germans systematically refuse to make war less cruel; on the contrary, they start with the principle that the more terrible the war the more swiftly and surely will its object be attained. read the chapter, "the object of war," and you will be edified. even jurists like baer, blinded by warlike passions, dare to maintain that all must yield to military necessities, including--what blasphemy!--the law of nations. the characteristic theory that war should be "absolute" and barbarous is the idea underlying the manifesto of von bissing which has already been cited (p. ). in fewer words hindenburg says the same thing[ ] (p. ). so that belgium might realize the fate that awaited her the german authorities made haste to advertise their opinion. it is true that they have since then posted up reassuring phrases as to the humanitarian sentiments of the german army for the moment. had our butchers renounced their attempts at terrorization? _terrorization: "reprisals" as a "preventive."_ according to this hypothesis, that the great "reprisals" undertaken at the outset of the war would serve as examples, the germans wished to instil terror into the very marrow of our bones, so that they might then be able to rule us with a small garrison of landsturm. reflect, for example, that brussels, an agglomeration of , souls, has never had a garrison of more than , men, and has often had only , . such a calculation is so abominable, so fundamentally inhuman, that we shrank from the harshness of this supposition, and accepted it with all manner of reservations.[ ] well, our hesitation was futile. in an article whose frankness is calculated to make one's hair stand on end, captain walter blöm, adjutant to the governor-general, published in the officially-inspired _kölnische zeitung_ of the th february, , the confirmation of that which we hardly dared to imagine. here are his exact words:-- "the principle according to which the whole community must be punished for the fault of a single individual is justified by the _theory of terrorization_. the innocent must suffer with the guilty; if the latter are unknown the innocent must even be punished in their place; and note that the punishment is applied not _because_ a misdeed has been committed, but _in order that_ no more shall be committed. to burn a neighbourhood, shoot hostages, decimate a population which has taken up arms against the army--all this is far less a reprisal than the sounding of a _note of warning_ for the territory not yet occupied. do not doubt it: it was as a note of warning that battice, herve, louvain, and dinant were burned. the burnings and bloodshed of the opening of the war showed the great cities of belgium how perilous it was for them to attack the small garrisons which we were able to leave there. no one will believe that brussels, where we are to-day as though in our own home, would have allowed us to do as we liked if the inhabitants had not trembled before our vengeance, and if they did not continue to tremble. war is not a social diversion." any commentary would weaken the force of these declarations. _incendiary material._ we are not in the confidence of the german staff, and we can only form hypotheses as to its mentality. but here are two facts, easy to verify and interpret, which show that the atrocities were committed with premeditation. firstly, the existence of various incendiary materials. when a town is condemned to be burned the execution of the command is confided to a special company of the engineers. (the _carnet_ of an officer of an "incendiary company" was picked up in a commune of hainaut.) generally a first squad breaks the windows and shutters; a second pours naphtha into the houses by means of special pumps, "incendiary pumps"; then comes the third squad, which throws the "incendiary bombs." these last are of many different kinds. those most commonly employed in brabant and hainaut include discs of gelatinous nitro-cellulose, which jump in all directions. thanks to the inflammable vapours which fill the houses, the latter catch fire on all their floors simultaneously. it took only half an hour to set fire to the boulevard audent at charleroi. no one can suppose that so perfect an organization was improvised during the campaign. moreover, where and how could the discs of fulminating cotton have been procured? at termonde the germans probably employed cylinders of naphtha. at all events one can still see, in houses which did not catch fire, holes made in the ceilings and floors, into which holes long strips of linen are introduced to serve as wicks. the germans sprinkled them with naphtha, and it was enough to put a match to such a wick in order to set fire to the joists of the floor overhead. at termonde , houses were burned in a single day. _the two great periods of massacre._ we discover, then, that the great destructive operations were conducted according to a general plan. let us place in chronological order the most important of the massacres and the conflagrations, that is, those which could not have been carried out except by order of the officers, omitting, therefore, the killings in detail and the burning of farms and isolated houses, attributable, no doubt, to soldiers acting on their own initiative, or to small bands greedy for pillage. what do we see? that apart from the atrocities which marked the outset of the campaign, the majority of the great killings and burnings, in france as well as in belgium, were ordered during two periods: one from the th to the th august, and one from the nd to the th september, . now it is quite certain that in a country already occupied, and deprived of means of communication, the "francs-tireurs" could not possibly have agreed among themselves as to the moment of their attacks. the only people who could transmit an order were the germans; and the legitimate conclusion which one forms from this lamentable list is that the pretended attacks of francs-tireurs were elaborated in berlin, whence they were ordered by telegraph to break out on a given date. another interesting fact revealed by a chronological list is that the so-called attacks of "francs-tireurs" very often do not coincide with the entrance of the germans into a given locality, but break out a few days later. one might at a pinch understand that poachers, or impulsive individuals, might fire a rifle at a patrol; but it is wholly improbable that they would make their attempt at a moment when they were already impressed by the formidable warlike equipment of our enemies. this is so contrary to common sense that the germans try to get out of it by lying. let us cite a case. they assert that on tuesday the th august, , there was in louvain only a weak garrison of landsturm, and that the civil population profited by this circumstance to attempt an attack, which could only be repressed by incendiarism and massacre. now the people of louvain had been warned that very morning that , men were to arrive during the day, and that many houses which had not yet billeted soldiers would do so the following night. and, indeed, that afternoon several fresh regiments were seen to enter, notably the rd, nd, and th hussars. when, by exception, the germans assert that the "francs-tireurs" have attacked a column on the march, one almost always remarks the three following points: ( ) the attack takes place while a village is being traversed; ( ) it happens when a great part of the column has already passed, so that the "francs-tireurs" are caught between two fires; ( ) the "francs-tireurs" are concealed in the houses. a moment's reflection suffices to show that these are precisely the most unfavourable circumstances which civilians could choose for their attack. _protective inscriptions._ all this shows that we have not to deal with acts of indiscipline, which are, god knows, the inevitable accompaniment of any war, yet which are almost excusable. we have here a maturely considered system, prepared at the great general headquarters, and then frigidly applied. in other words, the "reprisals against francs-tireurs" form part of the plan of campaign of the german army. if additional proof were needed that they are disciplined cruelties, as the minister of state, m. emile vandervelde, remarks, it would be found in the inscriptions and placards placed upon property which is to be respected. besides the inscription which says simply that the house must not be burned save with the authorization of the _kommandantur_ (at louvain, after the great fires of the th and th august, nearly all the houses which were spared received one of these placards), there are others giving the reasons for the protection accorded to the building. here are some of these reasons: the inhabitants are respectable (_gute_) people; they have german sympathies; they have already given the troops all they possessed; they are protected by the legation; an officer knows them personally. the fact that with very few exceptions these houses escaped disaster well demonstrates the strength of german discipline. it is by no means astonishing, therefore, that in the localities which are still intact the inhabitants should have taken precautions; thus, there have been houses in brussels which were provided with a protective inscription. other buildings have been marked on a plan (_n.r.c._, th september, , evening edition). this reminds one of the tenth plague of egypt and the sign which the jews had to place upon the lintel of their dwelling, that the lord might recognize it. when the lord passed, he spared the marked houses (exodus xii. , ). in the german plague which has settled upon our poor country, the destroying angel has the aspect of an officer with a single eye-glass. _accusations against the belgian government._ what makes the german accusations against the "francs-tireurs" particularly serious is, firstly, the terrifying, infernal nature of the punishments which follow these accusations; and secondly, the fact that they involve our constituted authorities.[ ] "the belgian government has openly[ ] encouraged the civil population to take part in this war," says one whose word has weight in germany, for he is none other than the emperor in person. and he did not content himself with telegraphing this to america; he spread this impudent assertion over the walls of our cities (p. ). had he at least the excuse of believing what he said? most certainly not; for years he had been informed by his spies of the details of our military organization; he knew, then, perfectly, what belgium was or was not doing. at the time the first accusations of this kind were made the belgian authorities had informed germany that, conformably with the laws of war, they were fighting only with their regular troops ( nd _grey book_, nos. , , ). and they posted everywhere proclamations recommending the people to keep calm, forbidding civilians to take part in the fighting, and counselling the citizens to deliver their arms to the communal administrations ( nd _grey book_, no. ). at the same time the principal daily papers repeated, day by day, on the first page and in large type, the text of these placards. these appeals were heard, and our compatriots, if they owned rifles, immediately took their arms to the _maisons communales_. would you believe it, this measure of precaution was exploited against us! for later, when the germans occupied our _hôtels de ville_, and discovered the presence of rifles, each ticketed with its owner's name, they pretended to have brought to light a proof of premeditation (_n.r.c._, th september, , evening edition): "look!--say the officers--with what care the belgian authorities have prepared for the guerilla war! each citizen has his rifle ready to hand at the _hôtel de ville_!" the soldiers must indeed have been ridden by the "fixed idea" of the "franc-tireur," or they must have realized the poltroonery of such suggestions! but the germans made assertions much more extravagant than this. in belgium repairs to buildings are effected with the assistance of scaffoldings suspended against the outer walls; and at the time of building the house openings are left immediately under the cornice, in which the cross-beams supporting the scaffolding are fixed when required. these openings are closed outwardly by some sort of decorative motive. now, a german captain gives a detailed description of these arrangements, and arrives at the conclusion that these are _loopholes for francs-tireurs_! what a mentality for an officer! so fantastic an explanation evidently will not bear a moment's reflection; but that matters nothing; it is none the less reprinted by the work _die wahrheit über den krieg_, to be served to the germans remaining in the country. the authors of the statement know that their compatriots have lost the critical sense and that they are ready to accept, their eyes closed, and their minds also, anything that is told them. this example shows that while inciting the soldiers in order to bring them to the required pitch of irritation, the rulers of germany are equally concerned to create a violent current of hatred in their own country. it was necessary, in fact, since there was nothing with which the belgian nation could be reproached, and since nevertheless they were making war upon it, to invent a few serious motives of animosity. in a preceding chapter we examined the wretched diplomatic accusations which the germans have forged in an attempt to compromise our political circles. we shall presently deal with the abominable accusations of cruelty brought against the belgians. here we will content ourselves with citing yet one more fact relating to the "francs-tireurs." when the civil population of a locality was accused--or convicted, as the butchers said--of having borne arms against the german troops, the procedure was generally as follows: the houses were fired, and the inhabitants driven towards a public square, or into the church. they were divided into two groups: one of men, the others of women, children, and old folk. then a certain number of men were shot; often, too, a few of the women, children, and old people. after the execution, which took place in the presence of the whole village, the women, children, and old people were set free to wander amid the smoking ruins. the officers used to make it their duty to be present at these operations, as much to encourage and, at need, to assist the executioners, as to enjoy the spectacle. at tamines they sat at table in the open, drinking champagne, while the victims were being buried. the germans themselves realized what disgust such behaviour excited; they tried to deny the facts, but these were proved. _treatment of civil prisoners._ what was done with the men not killed? they were sent into germany in order to show the "francs-tireurs" to the people. one can easily imagine what the journey was like: in cattle-trucks, where they remained packed together for several days, without even having room to sit down; tortured by hunger and thirst to the point of losing their reason--which meant being shot there and then. the stoppages in the railway stations, when the population came to insult them, making gestures of cutting their throats ... one can picture it all. then the life in camp, where they are even less well treated than the soldiers, for at least these latter are regarded as prisoners of war, and, in that quality, as being protected, up to a certain point, by the hague convention; while the "francs-tireurs" are criminals in common law, who are given, for food, scarcely anything but soup made of beet, fish-heads, and slaughter-house offal. it is extremely difficult to obtain information as to their sojourn in germany from those who have returned. before leaving, it seems, they were forced to make a promise to reveal nothing, under penalty of being sent back to germany. we know, however, that certain of these prisoners, coming from an agricultural district, were forced to go down the coal-pits of essen (_n.r.c._, th october, , evening edition), while others were made to gather in the harvest in westphalia. when they refused to go to work they were beaten with sticks; a young man on the outskirts of brussels still bears the marks of such treatment. this is a revival of the deeds of antiquity. the ancients also reduced the able-bodied inhabitants to slavery, employing them in agriculture or the mines. it only remains for the germans to sell us at auction, as julius cæsar did in the case of the , belgians captured at atuatuca (_de bello gallico_, ii. ). they sent not only "francs-tireurs" into germany. they made prisoners also in localities where nothing had happened. thus they took all the inhabitants of the non-active civic guard of tervueren. the list bore names; as many of the men had left the commune, the germans completed the number by taking the first civilians who came to hand; for they had to have prisoners from tervueren to exhibit in germany. on several occasions it happened, during the period of the great massacres, from the th to the th august, that bands of prisoners taken into germany were not accepted and were sent back to belgium. such was the case with numerous prisoners from louvain, who were taken back to brussels, then taken to near malines, and there left in the open country; the same was done with several hundreds of men, women, children, and old folk from rotselaer, wesemael, and gelrode. here, in a few words, is their odyssey. to begin with, they were expelled from their houses, that these might be burned, on the th and th august. then they were driven by the troops as far as louvain, and there crammed by force into cattle-trucks, which in two days conveyed them to germany. there they were witnesses of a violent dispute of which they were the object, and finally, after they had been given a little food in the railway station, they were put back into their trucks. they reached brussels on the st august, where they were restored to liberty; that is, they were told: "get out of here, and be off with you." and there were these unhappy folk, turned out of the railway station, dejected, bewildered, their glances vacant, almost dead with drowsiness and fatigue, the men supporting the old people, the women carrying the children. the people of brussels who saw this lamentable procession go by will never as long as they live forget the impression of misery which they received. assistance was organized immediately, and our poor compatriots were given shelter in the various public establishments of saint-josse-ten-noode. they remained there several weeks before daring to return "home." how many civil prisoners were there in the various camps of germany: celle, gutersloh, magdeburg, münster, salzwedel, cassel, senne, soltau, etc.? the lists which have been published in _le bruxellois_ are very incomplete. on the other hand, persons who were believed to be prisoners in germany have in reality been shot. thus, in the little garden facing the railway station of louvain a trench was opened on the th and th january, , in which were found a belgian soldier of the th line regiment and twenty-six civilians of louvain, who were believed for the most part to be in germany; among them were two women and the curé of herent. many of the people of tintigny, rossignol, and other localities, who had been taken away as civil prisoners, were shot by the roadside. those of musson escaped only because the order had come from germany not to kill any more prisoners: by july they were not as yet repatriated. _the return of civil prisoners._ in november and december there returned to their "homes" (we mean to their native towns, not to their houses, which were burned) about inhabitants of dinant, more than of aerschot, and several hundred people of louvain, of the , which had been taken away. many of them bore, painted in white oil paint on the back of their waistcoats the words: _kriegsgefangene-münsterlager_. until march those living at dinant had to present themselves regularly before the military authorities. on the occasion of their return the communal administration of dinant was compelled publicly to thank the germans. city of dinant. on the occasion of the return of a portion of our civil prisoners, i believe it my duty to invite the whole population to observe the most absolute calm. any demonstration might be severely repressed. the return of a portion of our fellow-citizens, held in captivity for nearly three months, constitutes an act of benevolence, an act of generous humanity on the part of the military authorities, to whom we offer the thanks of the administration and those of the people of dinant. by its tranquillity the latter will endeavour to manifest its gratitude. i also beg the returning prisoners immediately to resume their labours. this measure is necessary, as much in the interest of their families as in the interest of society. for the burgomaster, absent, e. taziaux, _communal councillor_. dinant, _the th november, _. at the end of january about , inhabitants of brabant were sent back in a body. they had left the camps on sunday, the th january, and they reached louvain on friday the th, and brussels and vilvorde on saturday the th. during this five days' journey they had not been allowed to leave the trucks into which they were crammed; for all nourishment they received some black bread and water, and on occasion a turnip or a beet. the louvain prisoners had the greatest trouble in the world to walk as far as the ruins of their houses. those from beyond assche were set down at the gare du nord in brussels; they had to be carried as far as the tram for berchem; their swollen feet refused all service. these unhappy people were still wearing the light clothes which they were wearing in august, when they were dragged from their villages, and since then they had never had a fire. those from tervueren were taken from the trucks at schaerbeek; they were driven home in carts. _german admission of the innocence of the civil prisoners._ what crime had these unhappy folk committed to be treated in so terrible a fashion? none. the germans themselves admit it; none ( nd _grey book_, no. ). the german authorities communicated the following note to the belgian newspapers--we copy it from the _Écho de la presse internationale_ of the th january, :-- the commander-in-chief of the german army has authorized the return to belgium of the belgian civilian prisoners: ( ) against whom no inquiry of any military tribunal is in progress; ( ) who have not to undergo any penalty of any kind. consequently all the women ( ) and , men will be able to re-enter the country. the commander-in-chief of the german army is the emperor. it was he, then, who recognized the innocence of the civil prisoners. no charge, therefore, could be brought against them; these prisoners were recognized as being completely innocent; the authorities admitted that it was without any motive that they were kept five months in germany, without care, without fire, almost without food, herded together like beasts, in perpetual fear of being shot, knowing nothing of their families--for they were unable for many weeks either to write or receive news. some of them succumbed under their privations; others were shot; many have become insane; all were so aged and enfeebled by ill-treatment, methodically applied, that their neighbours hesitated to recognize them. will they ever recover from such an experience? no doubt the german authorities knew long ago that the deportation of these civilians was a judicial error; or rather that they were sent into germany to give the people there the occasion to torment and insult the "francs-tireurs captured alive." and yet they were not repatriated until the moment when the fear of famine forced germany to organize the seizure of foodstuffs and to ration her population. it was not at all because of a spirit of justice that the civil prisoners from belgium were sent home (and also part of those from france); it was only a measure of economy; the authorities merely wished to prevent their eating german bread, which had become too precious; they preferred to place them in the care of the american charities. and when they were at last sent home, how were they treated? did the germans at least show the consideration which the slave-dealers used to show for their black cargo? no; for the slave-dealers had a pecuniary interest in preserving the market value of their flock, while for german militarism the belgian civilians do not count: _es ist krieg_. b.--the "belgian atrocities." _the pretended cruelty of belgian civilians toward the german army._ in order to organize the massacres by means of which it expected to terrorize our country, the great general staff had to have at its disposal troops on which it could count without reserve, which would not shrink before the bloodiest task, and to which no repressive measures would seem excessive. the staff had to be certain it would be obeyed without hesitation when it ordered, as at dinant, the death of seven hundred men, women, and children. to obtain soldiers who would undertake such barbarous operations, and operations so contrary to the military spirit, the obsession of the "franc-tireur" would perhaps be insufficient; for there are soldiers even among such troops who are brave and who do not tremble at bogy-stories; there might be honest men among them to whom theft would be repugnant by whatever name one adorned it, and who would not be tempted by the bait of pillage; all were not so imbued with kultur as that officer who proposed not to kill the "francs-tireurs" outright, but to wound them mortally, afterwards to leave them to die slowly, in agony, untended (p. ). but these soldiers, even the more gentle, would regard it as a sacred duty to avenge crimes committed against innocent persons. let them be led to believe that the belgians have tortured peaceable tradesmen, or have mutilated wounded soldiers incapable of defending themselves, or that they employ dum-dum bullets, producing frightful wounds from which recovery is almost impossible ... and immediately these soldiers will have only one thought: to make the first belgian encountered expiate the crime of which his fellow-countrymen have been guilty. before their thirst for vengeance all distinctions disappear: children, old people, men and women, all equally deserve to be punished. from that moment it will be needless to order reprisals, for the army will be only too ready to show itself pitiless, and to call for an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, in order to make all the belgians indifferently pay for the offences committed upon inoffensive germans. _some accusations._ it is precisely this psychology which the rulers of germany have exploited. immediately after the opening of the campaign their newspapers began to publish articles describing the horrors committed by the belgians; articles which make one's flesh creep. belgian women pour petrol over the wounded and set fire to it; they throw out of the windows the wounded confided to their care in the hospitals; they pour boiling oil over the troops, and thereby put two thousand out of action; they handle the rifle and revolver as well as the men; they cut the throats of soldiers and stone them; they cut off their ears and gouge out their eyes; they offer them cigarettes containing powder, whose explosion blinds them. even the little girls ten years of age indulge in these horrors. the men are no better; to begin with, they are all "francs-tireurs," even when they assume the appearance of respectable schoolmasters; besides which they crawl under motor-cars to kill the chauffeurs; they kill peaceable drinkers with a stab in the belly; they foully shoot an officer who is reading them a proclamation; they saw off the legs of soldiers; they finish off the wounded on the field of battle; they cut off their fingers to steal their rings; they fill letters with narcotics in order to poison those who open them; they set traps for soldiers in order to torture them at leisure; even the humanitarian symbol of the red cross does not stay their homicidal hands; they fire on doctors, on ambulance men, on motor-cars removing the wounded. that the soldiers leaving for belgium were made to believe that their adversaries were horrible barbarians, and that the troops were inspired with an ardent desire to avenge the innocent victims of the belgians, is amply proved by all the tales dating from the beginning of the war. see, for instance, in the story of _la journée de charleroi_ (p. ) the impatience with which the author awaits the moment of entering belgium to take part in the reprisals, and his delight when he at last sees houses burned to ashes and a curé hung from a tree. let us note in passing that the austrians also, desirous of declaring war upon us, resorted to the invention of "belgian atrocities." in its reply to the austro-hungarian declaration of war, our government protested against this defamation ( st _grey book_, nos. , ). * * * * * all these stories appeared, in the first place, in the newspapers. we must not be surprised if in time of war, when men's minds are over-excited, the journalists willingly publish articles containing statements of the kind we have cited, without troubling to verify their authenticity. but it is unpardonable that they should have been reprinted in cold blood, when their falsity had become so obvious that it must have struck even the most prejudiced. we know of two pamphlets devoted entirely to atrocities committed by the belgians: _die belgischen greueltaten_ and _belgische kriegsgreuel_. the work already cited, _die wahrheit über den krieg_, also deals at length with these atrocities. finally, there is no lack of information concerning them in the pamphlets _lüttich_ and _die eroberung belgiëns_. one remark occurs to us immediately. the narratives are based on details given by witnesses "worthy of credence." now all verification is impossible, for we are never given a hint as to the date; moreover, the locality is very rarely mentioned; in _die wahrheit_ there are only three place-names: gemmenich, tavigny, and demenis. demenis does not exist, and we have in vain sought to discover what locality is meant. and what did really happen in the other two communes mentioned? at tavigny the germans never had occasion to commit any reprisals; not a man was killed, not a house burned; the troops merely proceeded systematically to loot the place. nor did anything more happen in any neighbouring commune which the narrator might have confused with tavigny. nor was there any confusion of names with tintigny; in the latter village the germans behaved in the most atrocious fashion, but the mode of operation was quite different. as for gemmenich, we have no information as to what passed there, but we can assert that not a single house was burned there. now it is very certain that if the belgians had committed the atrocities of which the germans tell, the latter would have set fire to the village; it is therefore highly probable that nothing happened there. in short, of the only three place-names given all three are incorrect. we cannot be expected to refute all these allegations. many are utterly ridiculous: for example, the story of the narcotics at the liége post office; that of the fingers cut off the dead and wounded and then carefully preserved in a bag (one may well ask why); that of the boiling oil is no better: try to imagine the incredible store of oil that must have been possessed by the women who killed and wounded therewith , germans; moreover, either the german army does not march down the middle of the street, or else the women had special apparatus to throw jets of boiling liquid to a distance without danger to themselves. let us confine ourselves to examining the legend of the gouged-out eyes. it is that which crops up most frequently under the pens of the german publicists, so well calculated is it to arouse horror and indignation in the readers. well! its falsity appears from an inquiry made by the germans themselves. not only have their newspapers--notably the _kölnische volkszeitung_ and _vorwärts_--on several occasions done justice upon this lie, but an official commission, instituted by the german government, has also admitted that there is not _a single case_ in which a wounded german soldier has been intentionally blinded (see _belgian grey books_, nos. , ). the germans themselves admit that the accusation is unfounded. has their press for that reason ceased to make use of it? we little know the germans if we imagine that it has. the entire press continues imperturbably to spread these abominable calumnies. the _kölnische zeitung_ of the th february (four o'clock edition), referring to an article by Étienne girau, pastor of the walloon community of amsterdam, once more declares that the belgians have ill-treated the german wounded. it is enough to make one ask whether the belgians have not _morally_ blinded all the "intellectuals" of germany. another example. in february --that is, when no honest german could any longer believe in the legend of the gouged-out eyes--_vorwärts_ protested against a little work by a pastor conrad, of which , examples were printed and sold at pfennigs per copy to school-children, in which the belgians were still accused of having blinded their prisoners (_n.r.c._, th february, morning edition). the berlin government also acts as though it was ignorant of the conclusions of its own commissions of inquiry. wishing to refuse general leman, a prisoner in germany, the privilege of receiving a visit from his daughter, it based its refusal on the atrocities of which german soldiers have been the victims in belgium, and on the inhuman fashion in which the belgians have treated the wounded and prisoners in their hands. the second accusation is as ill-founded as the first. the german soldiers taken prisoner by the belgians were interned in bruges; they made no complaints, far from it (pp. - ); as for the wounded in our hospitals, here are precise facts. let us quote, first of all, from the correspondence published in the _nieuwe rotterdamsche courant_, giving a few details from letters written by the german wounded under treatment in antwerp. _how the belgians treat their german prisoners._ a private correspondent writes to us from antwerp:-- the fact of knowing that the prisoners of war of the belligerent states are treated as well as possible should also touch the hearts of the dutch.... i give you here some extracts from the letters of wounded germans under treatment in the hospitals of antwerp. i am in a very good belgian hospital and they treat me very well. karl hintzman, military hospital, antwerp. i am very well looked after and have very good food. georg storck. they treat us very well in belgium. what the german papers said in the summer about the belgians is utterly untrue. the germans could not look after us better. moreover, the nation is highly developed. franz crauwerski. a number of comrades are here. we are extraordinarily well looked after. everybody is very kind to us. richard kustermann. several comrades of my company are here. i am very well looked after. one could not look after us better in germany. peters. we could not hope for better care. walter schumann. the medical treatment is very good. we are sounded every day, and our wounds are dressed daily. the doctors are very capable here. we have food in abundance; all is excellent. hossbach, sÖlliger (braunschweig). it must not be forgotten that the majority of these prisoners fell into the hands of the belgians at aerschot, where the germans had imprisoned several hundreds of civilians in the church, at the time of the investment of the town. i can speak from experience. the german prisoners are treated with fully as much kindness in other parts of the country. at the house of the commandant of the _service de garde_ in bruges i saw an assortment of german books and card games which had been sent by mme. e. vandervelde, who had visited the prisoners a few days earlier in the company of her husband, minister of state and the socialist leader of belgium. the latter wished to make sure that the prisoners lacked for nothing. we can say that belgium does not seek to avenge her unheard-of sufferings by maltreating the german victims of the war. suffering evokes pity in a sane mind. i can only express the hope that these proofs may fall into the hands of german readers. (_n.r.c._, th october, , morning edition.) but we have something better than these documents of a private nature. the german authorities exhibited, at spa, a statement that the german wounded there were perfectly well cared for. at the moment when the germans dispensed with the collaboration of the clinical staff of the red cross in brussels, they did homage to its devotion and competence. spa, _ th august, _. _to the burgomaster of spa._ the commander-general of the th army corps thanks the burgomaster of spa for the good reception accorded to his troops by the city of spa on the th and th august, . thanks to his care and efforts, he recognizes that the wounded in the hospitals of spa are particularly well cared for. hoffmann, _lieutenant-general_. frederic-august, _grand duke of oldenburg_. (_les nouvelles_, published under control of the german military authority, nd september, .) german government, _headquarters, medical service_. brussels, _ st august, _. _to mm. the president and members of the red cross of belgium, rue de l'association, ._ gentlemen, the german government assures you of the expression of its grateful sentiments for the devoted care which you have given to all the wounded collected in the capital. ambulances have been organized in great numbers, and the necessity of a concentration henceforth indispensable compels us immediately to take the following measures.... in bringing these measures to your knowledge and in begging you to assist us to realize them promptly, we again express to you the thanks which we address to all the members of your association and especially to the ladies of the red cross, whose complete devotion we have appreciated. i beg you to accept, gentlemen, the assurance of my high consideration. prof. dr. stuertz, _oberstabarzt_. it is useful to observe that these declarations have been made spontaneously, since it is obvious that we were powerless to exert any pressure on the germans. they have, therefore, nothing in common with those which the germans have forced the belgian wounded or prisoners to sign. _the pretended massacres of german civilians._ there remain the famous massacres of germans in brussels, antwerp, liége, etc. according to witnesses "worthy of credence," inoffensive germans, even women and children, were killed and martyred in various belgian cities. at liége alone more than persons, of whom three-fourths were women and children, were said to have lost their lives. as to liége, we have inquired of inhabitants of the city, several of whom are closely connected with the administration of justice; no one had any knowledge of any such occurrences. they have therefore been invented, lock, stock, and barrel, by the "witnesses worthy of credence," and we defy the germans to mention the name of a single one of these "victims." at antwerp we can oppose, to the testimony of those who were "present" on the occasion of murders and serious assaults upon german women, the official report, which admits that shops were broken into by the populace, but which at the same time attests that no german was wounded. let us add that the german weber was _not_ assassinated, but is quietly living in antwerp. let us proceed to the doings in brussels; and let us quote, from _greueltaten_, the most serious occurrences there mentioned. we have a story, based on hearsay, which tells, of course, of gouged-out eyes, as well as three reports of ocular witnesses. the first is that of a witness "worthy of credence" who saw a child thrown from a window and a woman dragged by the hair until she was insensible; he also witnessed the murder of a german druggist, one frankenberg, who was betrayed by his own wife, a belgian. the second witness is the correspondent of the wolff agency. he saw only what the people of brussels themselves witnessed: that is, that the populace pillaged the german shops and cafés on the th and th august. but he had not been able to discover any acts of violence against the person; those he mentions, in a couple of words, without insisting on them, had been related to him; but he does not even add that the witnesses were "worthy of credence." finally we have a priest, who complains that he was arrested as a spy and beaten by the gendarmes. perhaps he was a spy; in any case, not a few german spies disguised as priests have been discovered in belgium. if we confine ourselves to the really serious occurrences, to the cases in which germans have been killed by the populace, we find that as against some anonymous cases, which cannot be verified, there are only two in which names are mentioned. these names are weber and frankenberg. now these two cases are apocryphal. herr weber has quietly reopened his hotel in antwerp; herr frankenberg continues to breathe the air at anderlecht, a suburb of brussels. compare with these two cases the three names of places mentioned in _die wahrheit_ (p. ). * * * * * _preventive and repressive measures taken by the belgian authorities._ the truth is that in the various cities of belgium there was, quite at the beginning of hostilities, an intense popular effervescence, by which evildoers profited to pillage the german shops. these disturbances were so unexpected and assumed, with such rapidity, such large proportions, that the police were at first powerless to restrain them. moreover, it must be remembered that the police had just been reduced, a large proportion of the police agents and gendarmes having left for the front. but measures were promptly taken, and by the th august there was no longer anywhere the least disorder of this kind. as for the "spy mania," it raged in belgium as in all countries affected by the war.[ ] but the newspapers, and the official measures taken, got the better of this fresh cause of disturbance. the newspapers of the neutral countries, for example the _nieuwe rotterdamsche courant_, also reported material damage, but they do not relate more serious occurrences in any part of belgium. we can consequently assert, in the most categorical fashion, basing our statement on the official data furnished by the courts, that no serious offence against the person has been proved either in brussels or elsewhere. does this mean that we excuse the fishers in troubled waters who sacked the german shops? obviously not; but it must be owned that there are bad elements in all agglomerations, and that the populace of berlin behaved no better than that of brussels: witness the remarks of the british ambassador in berlin, and the excuses put forward by the german authorities when his windows were broken as the result of an article in the _berliner tageblatt_. here we immediately perceive a contrast of mentalities: the german newspapers incite their readers against foreigners, while ours, on the contrary, do their utmost to calm popular manifestations. a detail which we regard as symptomatic, and particularly revolting, in the german publications, is the fact that in these cases, as in the matter of the "francs-tireurs," our enemies seek to involve the legal administration of our country. now, not only did our authorities immediately intervene to repress the disturbances and to provide a military guard for the _deutsche bank_ and the _deutscher verein_ in brussels, but they did more than their strict duty in protecting german families, and enabling them to return to their own country. nothing is more characteristic in this respect than that which happened in brussels on the nights of the th, th and th of august, at the time of the germans' departure from the city. the latter assembled at night in a building belonging to the city; in the trams which took them thither every one hastened to render them every imaginable service; at the place of assembly the civic guards prepared hot drinks for them; then, during the short journey to the gare du nord, the same civic guards helped them to carry their children and their luggage. mr. brand whitlock, united states minister in brussels, who was looking after the interests of germany, was present in that quality at the departure of the german families, and he expressed his gratitude to the belgians in a letter made public at the time. the united states minister does honour to the heroism and the kindness of the belgians. the german minister, before leaving brussels, requested the united states minister, mr. brand whitlock, kindly to take over the interests of germany in belgium. the united states minister consented to protect the archives of the german legation. it was in this capacity that mr. brand whitlock was the witness, two days ago, of the goodness of the people of brussels, who, with mme. carton de wiart, the wife of the minister of justice, and our brave chasseurs of the mounted civic guard at their head, provided hot drinks and refreshments for the four thousand germans leaving belgium who were assembled at the royal circus. the spectacle profoundly affected the eminent diplomatist. thanking the belgian government, his excellency, mr. brand whitlock, writes to the minister of justice:-- "the belgians display a heroism in dying on the field of battle which is equalled by their humanity to non-combatants." (_le soir_, th august, .) in germany the united states ambassador, mr. gerard, had also occasion to intervene; but there it was to protect the british ambassador from the fury of the populace. these examples will suffice, we think, to show that the belgians were as thoughtful in their behaviour towards their non-combatant adversaries as the germans were violent and brutal. and what was the result of our courtesy? our enemies picked a groundless quarrel with us in order to inflame the minds of their soldiers against us. c.--violations of the hague convention. nothing would be easier than to show that our enemies have not respected a single one of the articles of the hague convention. but it is not our intention to draw up this inventory. we prefer to confine ourselves to a few facts which no one can dream of contesting, so patent are they and so well known to every one in belgium. and we shall refer only to those which will enable us to compare the two mentalities: that of the german, crafty and tyrannical, and that of the belgian population, refusing to bow the head to military despotism. we exclude from our list those data which have already been recorded in other publications: belgian _grey books_, _reports of the commission of inquiry_, _la belgique et l'allemagne_, etc. lastly, we shall deal only with what has happened in belgium itself, so that we shall speak neither of prisoners of war nor of the wounded. these eliminations lead us to omit the whole of section i: _the belligerents_. the three first articles apply to "francs-tireurs," articles to relate to prisoners, the wounded, etc. article . _belligerents have not an unlimited choice of means of injuring the enemy._ article . _besides the prohibitions established by special conventions, it is notably forbidden_:-- (_a_) _to employ poison or poisoned weapons;_ (_b_) _to kill or wound by treachery individuals belonging to the hostile nation or army;_ (_c_) _to kill or wound an enemy who, having laid down his arms, or no longer having means of defence, has surrendered at discretion;_ (_d_) _to declare that no quarter will be given;_ (_e_) _to employ arms, projectiles, or material calculated to cause unnecessary suffering;_ (_f_) _to make improper use of a flag of truce, of the national flag, or of the military insignia or uniform of the enemy, as well as of the distinctive signs of the geneva convention;_ (_g_) _to destroy or seize enemy property, unless such destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities of war;_ (_h_) _to declare abolished, suspended, or inadmissible the right of the subjects of the hostile party to institute legal proceedings._ _a belligerent is likewise forbidden to compel the subjects of the hostile party to take part in the operations of war directed against their own country, even if they were in the service of the belligerent before the commencement of the war._ the violations of this article are numerous. the germans themselves cannot deny that the employment of toxic gases, such as those which were used in the attack upon ypres on the nd april, falls under the condemnation of paragraph (_a_). we shall recur to this matter further on. let us remark for the moment that we are not speaking of gas released by the bursting of shells, but of clouds of gas intentionally produced. as to paragraph (_e_), the _ th report_ speaks in a precise manner of the employment of dum-dum bullets. after the german occupation we shall be able to mention other irrefutable cases, of which it would now be too dangerous to speak. the prescriptions of paragraph (_f_) have often been violated. at the fort of boncelles, on the th august, and at landelies, near charleroi, on the nd, our enemies abused the white flag. at ougrée and at grez-doiceau they wore belgian uniforms to deceive their enemies. this action was repeated during the siege of antwerp; but this time the belgians were warned of the german mimicry, so that the "asses clad in lions' skins" were nearly all left on the battle-field. we shall deal later on, when speaking of pillage, with the infractions of paragraph (_g_). _military employment of belgians by the germans._ the last paragraph of article forbids belligerents to compel their adversaries to take part in operations of war directed against their own country. let us see how the germans respect this principle where civilians are concerned. at liége (_n.r.c._, rd august, evening), at vilvorde (_n.r.c._, th august, morning), at anderlecht (_n.r.c._, th august, evening), at dilbeek (n.r.c., st august, evening), at eppeghem (_see_ photograph in _ illustré_, no. ), at soignies, and at neder-over-heembeek, the inhabitants were compelled to dig trenches for the germans. a dutchman (an extreme germanophile, however), saw peasants from the outskirts of spa compelled to perform the same task. spa, _ th august, _. ... the man, who had to return home (it was about noon), accompanied us, and, while conversing, he pointed to the road to creppe, parallel to that which we were following, and at some ten minutes' distance from the latter. they were working hard at entrenchments there, about a quarter of an hour from the city. there were some belgian workmen there, excavating the soil under the threat of the rifles of german soldiers placed behind them. (_n.r.c._, nd august, , evening edition.) at bagimont, on the th august, , the inhabitants were forced to prepare the ground for the landing of german aeroplanes. the same villagers were forced to build huts for their enemies. we have the names (at the disposal of a commission of inquiry) of twenty-nine inhabitants of a village of brabant, who were forced, with horses and carts, to follow the german troops for several weeks, transporting munitions and baggage. the germans had the right to requisition horses and vehicles, but not to compel our countrymen to accompany their teams. let us remark, while dealing with these violations of article of the hague convention, that germany signed this convention. but on her part this was merely a comedy, for it is a rule with her rulers that they cease to follow its prescriptions as soon as they are in opposition to the _usages of war_, according to the great general staff. now among the duties which the occupier may impose on the inhabitants--according to germany--is the supply of transport and the digging of trenches. in other words, germany, though she readily approved of the hague conference, makes war according to her own principles, which are far less humane; but she none the less demands that her adversaries should observe the rules of the convention. * * * * * _measures of coercion taken by the germans._ on several occasions our enemies have sought to force the belgian population to manufacture explosives and munitions for them. but the belgians have always refused, even when their resistance inevitably condemned them to starvation. the workers of the explosives factory of caulille, in the north of limburg, resumed their tasks only under the most terrible threats (_k.z._, st december, morning edition). the case of caulille, announced to its readers by a german newspaper, shows the cynicism with which our enemies violate the hague convention, which is in part their own work. the same effrontery appears in the placard of the th november, ; this threatens severe penalties against belgians who dissuade their compatriots from working for germany. one could understand that the germans might punish those who used force or threats to prevent any one from working for them; but to punish those who "attempt" to act by simple persuasion! this was a mere timid beginning. on the th june, , our enemies posted about gand a placard stating that severe measures were about to be applied to factories which, "relying on the hague convention, had refused to work for the german army." the communal administration of gand has supplied us with the following notice:-- notice. by order of his excellency the inspector de l'Étape,[ ] i call the attention of the commune to the following:-- "the attitude of certain factories which, under pretext of patriotism and relying on the hague convention, have refused to work for the german army, proves that there are, in the midst of the population, tendencies whose object is to place difficulties in the way of the administration of the german army. "in this connection i make it known that i shall repress, by all the means at my disposal, such behaviour, which can only disturb the good understanding hitherto existing between the administration of the german army and the population. "in the first place i hold the communal authorities responsible for the spread of such tendencies, and i call attention to the fact that the population will itself be responsible if the liberties hitherto accorded in the most ample measure are withdrawn and replaced by the restrictive measures necessitated by its own fault." lieutenant-general graf von westarp, _commandant de l'Étape_. gand, _ th june, _. here, then, they declare that they are on the point of intentionally violating the hague convention. certain articles which appeared in _het volk_, a christian-democratic journal of gand, on the th, th, th, and nd june, , tell us what these measures are. the workers of the bekaert factory at sweveghem having refused to make barbed wire for the germans, the latter began by arresting three notables, of whom two were promptly released. then, to force the men to resume work, they decided that the commune should be placed under a ban; it was forbidden to ride a bicycle or to use a wheeled vehicle, and the introduction of foodstuffs was prohibited. the men still persisted in refusing to make the barbed wire on which their sons and brothers were to be caught in the battles of the yser. sixty-one men were sent to prison. the rest hastened to leave the village. what did the germans do then? they seized the wives of the fugitives, shut them up in two great waggons, and took them to courtrai; at the same time they posted up the names of those who had fled, and enjoined them to return. before the threat of seeing their wives remain in prison until their children perished in their empty homes, the workers, with death in their hearts, had to resume their fratricidal task. truly _kultur_ is a fine thing! in brabant they went a different way to work. they had requested m. cousin to make barbed wire for them in his factory at ruysbroeck (in the south of brussels). he refused. they offered to buy his factory. he refused. they requisitioned his works. he was forced to submit. they installed themselves in the factory and tried to begin making barbed wire. but the machinery was worked by electricity, and the electricity was provided by a central station situated in oisquercq. naturally the oisquercq works refused to supply current. the germans arrested m. lucien beckers, the managing director of the company, and kept him several weeks in prison. * * * * * _living shields._ it remains to examine a final violation of article ; a violation so revolting that neither those present at the hague conference nor the germans themselves in their _kriegsbrauch_ had been willing to consider it. we are referring to the use of "living shields" (_ th report_). * * * * * _a german admission._ _belgians placed before the troops at charleroi._ our enemies are aware of the abomination of which they are guilty in placing, in front of their troops, belgians intended to serve as a shield. they are eager to deny such acts. unfortunately for them one of their own officers has described a case of the kind (p. ). his first care on reaching the suburbs of charleroi was to capture civilians in order to force them to walk in front of and among the cavalry. he waxes indignant over the lamentations uttered by the wives of these unfortunates. "if nothing happens to us," he told them, "nothing will happen to the civilians either." could one more cynically express the idea that the germans made use of these hostages in order to prevent their adversaries from firing on their troops? at the first volley fired by the french, who were posted behind a barricade, some of the hostages were killed. the germans promptly replaced them by others, notably by priests. at nimy and mons, the same method was employed. the burgomaster of mons, m. lescart, was himself placed before the german troops. at tirlemont, on the th august, , during their march on louvain, they seized upon certain "notables," including the burgomaster, m. donny, and pushed them before them in order to obtain shelter from the belgian bullets. they did not release them until the following day, at cumptich. * * * * * _belgians placed before the troops at lebbeke, tirlemont, mons._ more significant still was their conduct at lebbeke, near termonde, on the th september, . scarcely had they entered the village, in the early morning, when they seized as many civilians as possible--about --and forced them to march before them. on passing through st. gilles-lez-termonde they requisitioned more men to serve as "living shields." when the belgians attacked the german troops ten civilians were killed; many were wounded (_ th_ and _ th reports_). the same evening the survivors were sent into germany as "francs-tireurs." _belgian women placed before the troops at anseremme._ at anseremme it was behind women that the germans took refuge. they had committed the blunder of sending all the men to germany, as civil prisoners, on the rd and th august, so that only the women were left. they placed these in a line along the river-wall on the bank of the meuse, and prudently hidden behind their skirts they rested their rifles on the women's shoulders in order to fire at the french on the opposite bank. the french ceased fire as soon as they saw that they were firing on women. at night the germans herded the unhappy women, with their children, in a field; but on the following morning they brought them out again to serve as a protective screen along the river. such is german heroism! as we at present understand the real sense of the words _den heldentod gestorben_ (died a hero's death), which the germans inscribe on the tombs of their soldiers, they mean that these soldiers were unable to avoid the bullets, although they heroically hid themselves behind belgian women. as far as we know one must go back to cambyses, in the sixth century b.c., to find another example of the "living shield." at the time of his expedition into egypt this prince, who was, the historians tell us, famed for his cruelty, conceived the idea of placing cats, which animals were worshipped by the egyptians, in front of his troops. thanks to his stratagem he prevented the egyptians from attacking his soldiers. neither attila, nor ghenghis khan, nor tamerlane made use of this method; it was left for the germans of the twentieth century once more to put it into practice, with the increased ferocity suggested by _kultur_. _belgians forcibly detained at ostend and middelkerke._ there are other circumstances also under which the germans have made a rampart of the belgians. from the middle of october they occupied that portion of the belgian coast comprised between lombartzyde and the zeeland frontier. from time to time the british ships and aeroplanes bombarded the coast; they would undoubtedly have continued to do so if the germans had not taken pains forcibly to retain numbers of belgians in these localities. according to the _nieuwe rotterdamsche courant_ of the st november they forbade the people of middelkerke and ostend to leave those towns. obviously the british were as far as possible sparing ostend and middelkerke, and directing their fire by preference on the road joining these two places, and on that running from middelkerke to westende. the germans were perfectly aware of this, and had precisely for this reason forbidden any belgian to leave ostend or middelkerke. an officer at the _kommandantur_, from whom our informant tried to obtain some favour for a couple of belgians, replied as follows: "if we allowed the population to leave these places the english would hasten to bombard the two towns, and we should be the sufferers" (_n.r.c._, st november, ). however, at the end of december they expelled all the men from middelkerke, with the exception of four. but the means of transport placed at the disposal of the expelled inhabitants were insufficient to enable them to take their families with them, so that they had to leave many of their wives and children behind. every time the british drop shells on the coast the germans hasten to post up the news in brussels, adding that the bombardment has resulted in fatalities among the belgians. news published by the general german government. bombardment of coast. berlin, th _november_ (official, noon to-day).--british vessels arrived yesterday off the french coast and bombarded lombartzyde and zeebrugge. among our troops they caused only very slight damage. a certain number of belgian citizens, on the other hand, were killed and wounded. the german military government. berlin, th _december_ (official telegram, noon to-day).--near nieuport the enemy renewed his attempted attacks without success. in these he was supported by firing from the sea, which however did us no harm, but killed or wounded some inhabitants. the german military government. berlin, th _january_ (official telegram, noon to-day).--the enemy yesterday fired as usual on middelkerke and westende. a considerable number of inhabitants were killed or wounded by this fire, among them the burgomaster of middelkerke. our losses yesterday were very insignificant. the german military government. berlin, th _february_ (official telegram).--along the coast enemy aviators yesterday again dropped bombs, which did very considerable damage among the civil population, while we suffered no appreciable damage from a military point of view. the general government in belgium. berlin, th _march_ (official telegram, noon to-day).--enemy aviators dropped bombs on ostend, which killed three belgians. the general government in belgium. they therefore fully appreciate the advantage to be derived from retaining on the coast a population which serves as a living buckler. _belgians imprisoned in the lofts of the ministries._ at brussels they behaved in a similar fashion in order to prevent the allied aviators from bombarding the premises which they occupy in the ministries. inhabitants of brussels are sent to the _kommandantur_ on the most impossible pretexts. they first remain for several days shut up in the lofts of the ministries. then, after trial--and, obviously, sentence--they are again confined in the lofts until there is room for them in the ordinary prisons. every one in brussels knows this, and of course the allied aviators are aware of it. article . _the attack or bombardment, by any means whatever, of undefended towns, villages, dwellings, or buildings is forbidden._ _bombardment of open towns._ many violations of this article have been discovered by the commission of inquiry (_ th report_). here again clearly appears the contradiction between the fashion in which the germans make war and that which they require of their enemies. when their dirigibles drop bombs on open, undefended districts--as they did on the night of the th september, at deynze, when they wounded an old man in the hospital of the sisters of st. vincent de paule--their newspapers related this prowess exultingly (_düsseldorfer tageblatt_, th september; _düsseldorfer zeitung_, th september, ). they may do such things, but no one else. when the allied aviators bombarded freibourg in brisgau on the th december, , the germans denounced them amid universal indignation. one can only agree with the writer in the _times_ who said: "if we want to know what conduct we should observe in this war it is useless to consult the laws; we must simply ask the germans if our conduct is agreeable to them or not." article . _the officer in command of an attacking force must do all in his power to warn the authorities before commencing a bombardment, except in case of assault._ general von beseler followed the prescription of this article during the siege of antwerp; he announced on the th october that the bombardment of the city would commence at midnight (_k.z._, th october, first morning edition). everywhere else the germans have thrown their shells without previous warning. this was notably so in the attack upon antwerp by a dirigible on the night of th august; the bombs found twenty victims. it is true that herr bernstorff has declared that previous advice is not necessary. in this he is in agreement with the laws of warfare according to the germans. article . _in sieges and bombardments all necessary steps must be taken to spare, as far as possible, buildings dedicated to public worship, art, science, or charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospitals, and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not being used at the time for military purposes._ not content with setting fire to our monuments, as they did at louvain, dinant, termonde, and a host of villages, the germans never hesitate to bombard those they cannot otherwise reach. the most characteristic example is that of the cathedral of reims.[ ] on tuesday, the nd september, we learned of the bombardment from a placard. the telegram, dated monday, the st, asserted that the monument would as far as possible be spared. that was enough; we knew then that it was destroyed. and sure enough, the french newspapers smuggled through to us on the following day--wednesday--stated that the cathedral had been burning since saturday, the th. little by little the information received grew more precise. the french certified that they had not placed any military post of observation on the towers; neither were there batteries near the cathedral. moreover, they declared that the cathedral should have been doubly respected, since an ambulance had found asylum there--which, be it said in passing, is denounced as an infamy by the german newspapers (_k.z._, th january, morning edition; _niederrheinische volkszeitung_, th january). the wolff agency reported the bombardment of reims cathedral as quite a natural thing, a commonplace operation. but before the indignation of the entire civilized world (_n.r.c._, nd september, , evening edition) the germans were forced to display a hypocritical regret and to justify their aggression. then official telegrams were posted up the same day; two reflected german opinion, the third professed to express the opinion of a frenchman who had favoured the _times_ with his confidences (placard dated rd september, ).[ ] the conclusion, naturally, was that the germans had nothing to reproach themselves with: their conscience was clear as on the first day; they bombarded the cathedral of reims because they were forced to do so, despite their admiration for this marvel of gothic architecture ... but the presence of a military observation-post on the towers had left them no alternative. three weeks later, a fresh bombardment (placard dated th october). then, after two weeks' quiet, they once more began to throw shells on what still remained standing (placard of th october). on the following day they announced that they had protested to the roman curia. a few days later they applied themselves to the destruction of the cathedral of soissons, but once again because the french forced them to do so. what respect for the hague convention! how touching the solicitude displayed toward monuments of art and religion! only in the very last extremity do the germans resolve to smash them to bits; still protesting, of course, against the violence done to their æsthetic feelings! still more touching is their sincerity. on the th november they announce that the vicar-general of reims has admitted that the towers have been used for military operations, and that the chancellor has communicated this avowal to the vatican (_le réveil_, th november, ); on the th they are forced to note the vicar-general's denial, but they maintain their accusations. to estimate at their true value the german declarations concerning reims cathedral, it is enough to compare one of the three placards of the rd september with the "official communiqué" which they forced upon _l'ami de l'ordre_. here are these two documents: news published by the german general government. berlin, _ rd september_ (official telegram, yesterday evening).--in spite of these facts we have been able to verify the presence on the tower of a post of observation, which explains the excellent effect of the fire of the enemy's infantry opposing our infantry.... the german military government. military operations in france. (_official communiqué._) antwerp, _ th september_ (communicated by the french legation).--the french minister has received from m. delcassé the following telegrams.... ii. the german government having officially declared to various governments that the bombardment of the cathedral of reims was undertaken only because of the establishment of a post of observation on the basilica, general joffre asserts, in a telegram communicated by the ministry of war, that no french observation-post was placed on this building. p.s.--the german government did not invoke the presence of an observation-post on the cathedral, but the presence of pieces of artillery behind this church, so that it was impossible to reach these guns without firing in the direction of the cathedral and hitting the latter. this was necessary to dislodge the french artillery. (_l'ami de l'ordre_, th september, .) on the rd september they pretended that there was an observation-post on the tower. on the th they declared that they had never made any such statement. german sincerity! on the th july they placarded brussels with a document in which they made a display of their artistic feeling. we asked ourselves what fresh crime they were about to commit. next day our curiosity was satisfied; the newspapers informed us that the german army had set fire to the cathedral at arras. * * * * * _bombardment of the cathedral at malines._ let us now consider how they behaved in belgium. the commander of the army besieging antwerp three times bombarded malines without any strategical excuse, for the town was absolutely empty of belgian troops. he had informed the belgian authorities that his troops would not fire upon monuments so long as these latter were not serving any military purpose (_n.r.c._ th september, , evening edition). better still, he published, in the german newspapers, a statement that he could not bombard malines for fear of touching the cathedral of saint-rombaut, but that the belgians had not the same scruples. what truth was there in the last assertion? none, of course; if the belgians dropped shells on the outskirts of the town it was while the german troops were there, a fact which our enemies themselves recognized. for the rest, it is easy to discover whether the damage done to the cathedral was the work of germans or belgians. the belgians were to the north and west of the town; the germans to the south and east. now all the damage done to the cathedral is without exception on the south and east faces. the reader may draw his own conclusion. here we have a reappearance of the usual german system, which consists in blaming others for their own misdeeds. at dinant, too, they pretended that the collegiate church was destroyed not by them but by the french. _the pretended observation-post on notre-dame of antwerp._ of course they accused the belgians of using their belfries as observation-posts. the accusation is false. we may cite malines as an example (_n.r.c._, th november, evening edition), and courcelles (_die wochenschau_, no. , ); but the most typical case is that of antwerp. they reproduced in their illustrated journals (_die wochenschau_, no. , ; _kriegs-kurier_, no. ) a photograph--or properly speaking, a drawing--published by an american newspaper (new york _tribune_, nd october, ) representing a military observation-post on the tower of notre-dame. even if we grant the picture a documentary value which it does not possess, it proves nothing, for according to the american journalist (_n.r.c._, th november, evening edition), the military post existed on the tower at a period when antwerp was not besieged, nor even in danger of being so; the city had then to defend itself only against dirigibles, which on two occasions paid it nocturnal visits, with the accompaniment of bombs. it will be understood that the _wochenschau_ does not inform us of this; it pretends that the soldiers were on the tower to observe the german troops and their heavy artillery during the siege. _german observation-posts admitted by the germans._ let us now see whether our enemies have abstained from employing monuments for military operations. the _algemeen handelsblad_ (amsterdam) of the rd january states that machine-guns are placed on the belfry of bruges and on other towers of the city. this fact is confirmed by m. domela nieuwenhuys nyegaard, a pastor of gand, a convinced germanophile, who witnessed an attack by british aviators, upon whom the machine-guns installed on the tower of the halles opened a violent but ineffectual fire (_uit mijn oorlogsdagboek_, p. , in _de tijdspiegel_, st april, ). perhaps the germans will contest this statement. here is another. those who require of their adversaries so scrupulous a respect for article of the hague convention placed an observation-post on the tower of st. rombaut, during the siege of antwerp, in order to control their fire upon the waelhem fort. and this at least is indisputable, for in their cynicism or lack of conscience (let them choose whichever they please) they published a photograph of this infraction of the hague convention in the _berliner illustrierte zeitung_ (no. , , p. ). this is not the only case admitted by them. _zeit im bild_ (no. , ) reproduces on its cover a photograph of a "military post on the tower of an hôtel de ville." in this we see german soldiers armed with rifles, watching an imaginary enemy. this photograph was taken at the palais de justice in brussels, as is proved, without possibility of error, by the church of la chapelle, whose very characteristic tower rises in the distance. the germans were so delighted with this violation of the hague convention that they reproduced the photograph in the illustrated supplement of the _hamburger fremdensblatt_. and what is most curious in this affair is that they boasted of an offence which they knew they had not committed. for, firstly, the soldiers were not posted "on an hôtel de ville"; secondly, they were not even posted _on_ the palais de justice, but to one side of it, as may easily be determined on the spot; thirdly, german soldiers have never been placed there to overlook an enemy! since mid-october of it is in western flanders that the fighting has taken place. did the germans eventually, before the universal reprobation which greeted their exploits at louvain, reims, and so forth, determine to respect the international agreement to which they are parties? by no means. they are far too contemptuous of conventions, as is proved by the photographs of monuments bombarded in the region of the yser, which are published in the illustrated newspapers, notably in _panorama_, a dutch illustrated paper which surreptitiously enters belgium. ypres: _panorama_, _b_, _a_. dixmude: _panorama_, _a_, _b_; _berl. ill. zeit._, nos. and , ; _kriegs-echo_, nos. , ; _zeit. im bild_, no. , . pervyse: _panorama_, _a_, _b_, _a_. nieuport: _panorama_, _a_. ramscapelle: _panorama_, _b_. among the monuments destroyed artists especially deplore the marvellous halles of ypres, and the churches of nieuport, ypres, and dixmude. this last contained a very remarkable gothic rood-screen, of which herr stübben, one of the most eminent architects of modern germany, stated that its loss would be irreparable. it escaped the shells, but not the german soldiery, who destroyed it with the butts of their rifles, after the capture of the town. always _kultur_! _pillage._ article . _the giving over to pillage of a town or place, even when taken by assault, is forbidden._ article . _family honour and rights, individual life, and private property as well as religious convictions and worship, must be respected._ article _pillage is expressly forbidden._ "family honour and rights!" the cases of rape prove the respect of the german army for these prescriptions! "individual life!" by the end of september the germans had killed more civilians than soldiers. this simple statement says more than could a long exposition. "private property!" theft and pillage are phenomena so commonplace that the inhabitants no longer insist upon them; if they mention the subject it is to say: "the germans behaved well here; they only took all we had." we shall therefore confine ourselves to citing a few cases particularly typical of the german mentality. it is indisputable that the conflagrations started under the pretext of chastising "francs-tireurs" were in reality designed to conceal the pillage committed by the german army. this was certainly the case at aerschot (_ th report_) and at louvain. the officers who gave orders to start these fires were therefore accomplices of the pillaging soldiery. for that matter, how could they have disavowed the thefts of their men, seeing that they themselves largely took part in the scramble? whole trains left brussels, louvain, malines, and verviers for germany, loaded with "war booty for officers." during their journey to belgium, herren koester and noske, on the rd september, at hubesthal, saw numerous trains passing which were laden with war booty (_kriegsfahrten_, p. ); there were at that time no serious battles either in france or in belgium, so that there was no capture of war booty in the western sense of the term.[ ] the trains observed by the socialist authors could only have been carrying the fruits of pillage; they came probably from malines, which the germans at this time were scrupulously emptying, as well as the numerous châteaux of the neighbourhood. not a district has been visited by the germans that has not been totally despoiled. of course, the silver was taken first. one officer, after plundering the entire store of silver of a villa at francorchamps, confided to a neighbour that he was going to have it melted down in germany, with the exception of one spoon, which he would keep as a "souvenir." is it not typical and delightful, this german cult of the "souvenir" as a veneer of sentimentality on a basis of rapacity? according to the definition given by the kaiser, this officer displayed his civilization but not his _kultur_. another "requisition" of plate. in the railway station of mons, towards the middle of february , a merchant unloading a truck-load of merchandise had his attention attracted by a coffin which was being removed from a neighbouring van; suddenly he heard a metallic clink: the bottom of the coffin had given way, and an avalanche of spoons, forks, napkin-rings, and other articles of silver tumbled out! nothing is sacred to the huns. they smash the tabernacles, treasuries, and poor-boxes of the churches as readily as the coffers of the people's banks (_maisons du peuple_). at auvelois they seized upon , frs. in the maison du peuple, this being the entire capital of the socialist young guard, the freethinkers, the newspaper _en avant_, the miners' union (_syndicat_), and other mutual aid societies. at beyghem, near grimberghen, before setting fire to the church, they broke open the safe in the sacristy. being unable to perforate it, they demolished the wall dividing the church from the sacristy, in which it was imbedded, so that they were able to attack it from behind. in most of the churches which were burned in the north of brabant (p. ) the strong-box and the tabernacle were broken open. it was the same in the province of namur. as soon as the approach of the germans was signalled, many people hastened to pack up their furniture and valuables, in order more readily to transport them in case of evacuation. this foresight almost always failed in its object, owing to the impossibility of finding a horse and cart at the moment of departure. these packing-cases and hampers, all ready corded, presented an insurmountable temptation; the officers were never able to resist it, and the goods were sent straight to the railway station. we are informed that at the beginning of the german occupation officers were frequently mistaken as to the actual value of the articles which they removed; so that they sent their families worthless rubbish "made in germany." to avoid these unpleasant misconceptions, they made their inspections in the company of experts who directed their choice. need we add that the wine-cellars were always methodically exploited? the bottles which could not be drunk on the spot were packed for later consumption, or to be sent to germany. in a château near charleroi the officers had the doors--which were beautiful examples of joinery--taken off their hinges, and used to make packing-cases for the bottles. we must not forget that drunkenness has played an important part in the atrocities committed by the german army. the germans were not content with making a clean sweep of the private houses and châteaux; they also stripped the governmental offices which they occupied in brussels of their furniture. in the ministry of public works a portion of the maps of bridges, buildings, etc., was burned, and a portion sent to germany. _thefts of stamps._ as to those who despoiled the ministries, we will give them the credit of supposing that they acted by order and in the interest of their government; but we cannot thus excuse the conduct of one officer who, having possessed himself, goodness knows how, of a number of belgian stamps, attempted, in a stationer's shop, to pay for frs.' worth of goods by means of these stamps. meeting with a refusal from the shopkeeper, he had to content himself with paying for only a portion of his purchases in this manner. in a neighbouring watchmaker's he did better, for he was able to get rid of frs. in stamps; at a discount, of course.[ ] he informed the watchmaker that he possessed , frs.' worth of belgian stamps. the latter was not so indiscreet as to ask how he obtained them. better still: the germans do not conceal the fact that they are thieves. the _matin_ (paris, th june, ) reproduced the photograph of an announcement published by a swiss newspaper. "it informs us that a thief of the german army, desiring to realize the 'war booty' which he collected in antwerp, offers for sale unused stamps of values between centimes and frs. in his 'stock' of booty are different stamps of a total value of frs. (oh, that centimes of pillage!) which he offers for frs. .--all germany--philosophical, political, military, and commercial--is contained in this little advertisement." at tamines, having burned about houses, on the st and nd august, , and having forced the living to bury the unhappy people shot on the evening of the nd, they sent all the survivors to velaines-sur-sambre. there they were given their liberty, and told that they might go to namur or to düsseldorf, but not to tamines. why not to tamines? they understood a few days later, when they were bold enough to return despite the prohibition. the germans had completely emptied all the shops and all the private houses in the place. it is evident that this operation can be effected in a more methodical and comfortable manner when there are no children running between your legs, or women begging you to leave them some souvenir for which they have a particular affection. at louvain they acted in the same manner; they proceeded to wholesale pillage only after the th, when they had sent all the inhabitants away. sometimes the love of pillage got the better of discipline. at jumet, on the road from brussels to charleroi, on the nd august, , the troops were ordered to burn all the houses, because the french of the th infantry had dared to attack them with machine-guns. but some soldiers who had entered a tobacconist's amused themselves by stealing cigars and cigarettes, and were so absorbed that they forgot to set fire to the shop, so that it has remained intact in the midst of a long row of burned-out buildings. what disgusts us most in all this pillage is not that the german troops should have marked our unhappy country for pillage; it is the indisputable complicity of the leaders of the army. nothing more clearly proves the benevolent intervention of the military and civil authorities in the operations of brigandage than the regular transport of "war booty" into germany. the officers make no secret of sending to their homes such things as pianos, pictures, jewels, furniture, glass, etc. they do it openly, with the obvious complicity of the railway officials. the latter are entrusted with the organization of the rapid transportation to the fatherland of mountains of cases, containing the results of the methodical exploration of our houses and châteaux and shops and warehouses. it is a vast organization of brigandage, hierarchically regulated, in which every one steals without hiding the fact from his fellows. who knows whether the coffin full of silver-plate which burst in the mons railway station did not belong to some officer who had swindled his accomplices? we in belgium have witnessed the regular working of a system of "co-operative brigandage under the august protection of the authorities." let us note, finally, that theft and pillage are expressly forbidden by the german _usages of war_. articles , , , , and prohibit all destruction of private property. but we must suppose that their _usages of war_ are applicable only in times of peace, since from the very first days of the war the german army began to pillage the regions which it occupied. this spoliation has been pursued with the systematic spirit which characterizes _kultur_. _illegal taxation._ article . _the authority of the power of the state having passed de facto into the hands of the occupant, the latter shall do all in his power to restore, and shall ensure, as far as possible, public order and safety, respecting at the same time, unless absolutely prevented, the laws in force in the country._ article . _if, in the territory occupied, the occupant collects the taxes, dues, and tolls payable to the state, he shall do so, as far as is possible, in accordance with the legal basis and assessment in force at the time and shall in consequence be bound to defray the expenses of the administration of the occupied territory to the same extent as the national government had been so bound._ article . _if, in addition to the taxes mentioned in the above article, the occupant levies other money contributions in the occupied territory, they shall only be applied to the needs of the army or of the administration of the territory in question._ two placards exhibited in brussels on the evening of the th december (saturday) attracted general attention. they first convoked the provincial councils for the th december, and imposed upon them, not simply a general "order of the day," but an imperative mandate to vote a war-tax. the second gave details of this tax: , , frs. was to be paid in monthly instalments of , , (£ , , in twelve payments of £ , , ) (see _belg. allem._, p. ). baron von bissing thus advertised, seven days in advance, the decisions to be taken by the provincial councils. doubtless he was made to understand that the proceeding was a little extreme, and contrary both to the law and to common sense; for on the following morning the second placard was covered with a blank sheet of paper. better still, the "official bulletin of laws and decrees for the occupied belgian territory" gave in its issue of the th the text of the two decrees; but this number was suppressed, and in its place another placard, numbered , was distributed, which included only the first decree. on the th december our nine provincial councils assembled. they could not do otherwise than vote the crushing tax of millions; but several of them protested eloquently against the illegality of this proceeding. _speech delivered by m. françois andré at the meeting of the provincial council of hainaut, on the th december, , in the presence of the german governor and dr. daniest, president._ ... we have met by order of the german authorities to vote a war-tax; to make one word of many, we have met to furnish arms to the formidable invader of our country, to be used against our heroic little belgian army.... we are thus assembled to vote, _by order_, a war-tax. i wish to protest--against both the form and the substance of this tax. as to the form, i regard this extraordinary session as absolutely illegal; the provincial councillors are not qualified to vote war-taxes affecting the whole country; moreover, the councillors of the various provinces, in concerting as to the measures to be taken in common, so to speak, which are matters beyond the scope of their jurisdiction, are committing an offence in belgian law, which law no german decree has abrogated. as to the substance: admitting that the german authorities have the right to levy taxes on the whole country, while our , soldiers are still in occupation of our territory, it is very certain that according to the terms of the hague convention no tax may be levied except for the needs of the army of occupation. what is an army of occupation? it is that which, finding itself in a conquered territory, undertakes the policing and safeguards the security of that territory. this is why it may appear legitimate for the army to force the occupied territory to support it. but our country--as field-marshal von der goltz has declared, and as is perfectly obvious--our country has become the basis of military operations against the allies. according to the spirit of the hague convention, there is no army of occupation, properly speaking, in our country, and in any case the , men concentrated in namur and the artillery assembled at liége cannot in any respects be regarded as making part of an army of occupation. it is, therefore, contrary to law and contrary to reason that these , , frs. are demanded from the country. are we then going to vote this formidable war-tax? assuredly if we listened only to our hearts we should reply: no, no; , , times no. for our hearts would tell us: we were a small nation, happy to live by its labour; we were an honest little nation, having faith in treaties and believing in honour; we were a confident little nation, and unarmed, when suddenly, violently, germany hurled two million men upon our frontier, the greatest army that the world has ever seen, and she told us: "betray your given word; let our armies pass that i may crush france, and i will give you gold." but belgium replied: "keep your gold; i would rather die than live without honour." history will one day reveal the greatness of the action which forever magnifies us in the eyes of the future. for nothing in the annals of the past equals the sacrifice of this people, which, having nothing to gain and all to lose, preferred to lose all in order that honour should be saved, and deliberately cast herself into an abyss of distress, but also of glory. the german army thus invaded the country in violation of solemn treaties. "it is an injustice," said the chancellor of the empire; "the destinies of the empire forced us to commit it; but we shall repair the wrong done to belgium by the passage of our armies...." this, then, is how they mean to repair that wrong: germany will pay---- but no! belgium will pay germany , , frs.! vote this money! as a matter of penal legislation, the germans have systematically ignored article , as is proved by the eloquent protest of the president of the bar of brussels. yet another typical instance of the manner in which germany disregards our laws. at aerschot the germans provisionally invested a german, herr ronnewinkel, who had inhabited the district for several years, with the functions of burgomaster. on the th november, , they proclaimed him permanently burgomaster. here was a german appointed burgomaster by the will of the district commander, although by the terms of the law only a belgian appointed by the government could be burgomaster. moreover, they did the same at andenne. the communal autonomy of which belgium was so proud was thus trampled underfoot. we see, then, that in despite of articles and of the hague convention and article of their own _usages of war_ the germans have shown no respect whatever for the legislation in force. we cite here only the most flagrant of these illegalities, those which any person of common sense can understand and judge. article . _a belligerent is forbidden to compel the inhabitants of territory occupied by it to furnish information about the army of the other belligerent, or about its means of defence._ this article was not accepted by germany; she remains faithful to her _usages of war_: article , nd, rd, and th paragraphs, and applies their principles with extreme severity. nothing better illustrates the severity with which the germans act than the little manual of conversation which terminates the _tornisterwörterbuch_, published by the mentor publishing house in schöneberg, berlin. it is a small dictionary, costing pfennigs, and intended, as the title indicates, to be carried in the soldier's knapsack. the french dictionary and the english are conceived according to the same method; after information concerning the country in question they give a summary of the rules of grammar; then comes the dictionary properly so-called, with phonetic pronunciation; finally, a few common phrases, which to us are the most interesting part of the book, since their choice naturally reflects the requirements of those expected to employ them. here are a few passages from paragraph : _service of outposts and patrols_. in each passage we copy all the phrases without exception, so as to avoid misrepresenting the spirit of the work; and this spirit, as will be seen, is ferocious. the volume is not dated; but the nd edition, from which we quote, describes (p. ) the french campaigning uniform of . these phrases were therefore printed at least five years after the second hague conference ( th october, ). they show clearly that the acts of cruelty committed by the patrols against those who refused to betray their country were not improvised by the cavalry taking part in these reconnaissances, but were systematically premeditated. p. -- silence! speak only when i question you! you seem to me a suspicious person. where is your pocket-book? i must search it. remain here for the moment. at the first attempt at flight you will be shot. sir, where does this road lead? p. -- is this village occupied by the french? when did the troops arrive there? what is roughly their composition? roughly? two or three companies? how many officers, roughly speaking? have they any artillery? how many guns? have you seen cavalry too? tell us the truth. the least lie might cost you your life! p. -- has the village been placed in a state of defence? are there no cross-roads leading to the windmill? remain by my horse. on the first attempt at flight, or if you try to mislead me, i shall send a bullet after you. stop here! i will call the miller myself. hey! miller! have any french troops passed this way? you lie! here are visible traces, and quite fresh ones. a little manual of conversation costing pfennigs--_deutsch-französischer-soldaten-sprachführer_, by captain s. th. hoasmann, is conceived on the same lines. here are a few examples. the soldier, making a reconnaissance, declares: "speak the truth or you will be killed!" in the chapter on "posts and telegraphs" we find the phrase: "it is forbidden (on pain of death) to send telegrams." and the sentinel should be able to say: "if you lie you will be shot," etc. article . _no collective penalty, pecuniary or otherwise, shall be inflicted upon the population on account of the acts of individuals for which it cannot be regarded as collectively responsible._ this article proclaims the principle that in no case must the innocent suffer with the guilty, nor in their place. we have already seen that our enemies oppose this idea; they maintain that the innocent should suffer with the guilty, and even that if one cannot lay hands on the guilty one may punish the innocent in their place (p. ). it was by the application of this german principle of collective punishment that louvain, dinant, termonde, and other towns were burned. the placard of st october, , clearly displays the german mentality; it states that villages will be punished without mercy, whether guilty or not. notice. on the evening of the th september the railway and telegraph lines were destroyed between lovenjoul and vestryck. in consequence of which the two localities mentioned were, on the morning of the th september, called to account and forced to supply hostages. in future the localities nearest the spot at which such acts have been committed--no matter whether they are guilty of complicity or not--will be punished without pity. to this end hostages have been taken from all localities adjacent to railway lines threatened by such attacks, and at the first attempt to destroy the railway lines, or telegraph or telephone wires, they will immediately be shot. moreover, all troops charged with the protection of railways have received orders to shoot any person approaching railway lines or telephone or telegraph wires in a suspicious manner. the governor-general in belgium, baron von der goltz, _general field-marshal_. brussels, _ st october, _. fully to appreciate the horrible nature of this placard we must recall the fact that during the siege of antwerp (which terminated only on the th) belgium patrols were penetrating into the midst of the german troops, venturing thirty-five miles and more from antwerp, their mission being to harass the enemy's communications and to destroy the railways and the telegraph and telephone line. it was one of these bodies of belgian cyclists which cut the railway and telegraph line between louvain and tirlemont on th september, . von der goltz was evidently aware that this destruction was a perfectly legitimate military operation, so that his placard was intended simply to embarrass our military authorities by showing them that in defiance of all justice germany intended to hold the belgian civilians responsible for the activity of our army. in short, instead of saying "no matter whether these localities are guilty of complicity or not," von der goltz would have given a greater proof of sincerity had he said, "although i know that these localities are in no way guilty of complicity." here are two other placards, printed in germany, which show plainly that it is according to a system that our oppressors hold the entire community responsible for the act committed by a single person; or rather, as we shall see, for the acts of the belgian army. placard printed in german, french, russian, and polish, surrounded by a border of the german colours. notice. any person who shall have damaged a military telephone or telegraph will be shot. any person removing this notice will also receive the severest punishment. if the guilty person is not found, the severest measures will be taken against the commune in which the damage has been caused or the present notice removed. the general commanding the army corps. (_posted at bieghem, copy made nd october, ._) notice. all damage done to the telegraph, telephone, or railway lines will be punished by the military court. according to the circumstances, the guilty person will be condemned to death. if the guilty person is not seized the severest measures will be taken against the commune in which the damage has been done, the general government. printed by h. a. heymann, berlin, s.w. (_posted at tervueren, copy made th april, ._) very frequently the penalties with which the community is threatened are not specified in these placards. one may suppose that it would consist of a fine; this is indeed the punishment most frequently applied, doubtless because it is the most productive. here are some examples, for cutting the telegraph wires, various localities in flanders were forced to pay fines in december . the military chest does not lack for money; for in a garrison command a fine may be inflicted more readily than elsewhere. here is an example. an officer was choosing some music in a shop; and found, amidst a heap of pieces of music, a copy of the _marseillaise_. now it has never been stated that one must not possess the _marseillaise_. result: the shopkeeper was condemned to pay a fine of marks or to twenty days' imprisonment. "i prefer the imprisonment," said the unfortunate man. "but, my good fellow, you can avoid going to prison! pay the fine!" "i know, but i have not got marks. i could only scrape together frs. at most." "all right, give them to me!" * * * * * _fines for telegraphic interruptions._ the military chest is also replenished by the fines paid because the telegraph and telephone do not work properly. now it has often happened during the last six weeks that communication has been obstructed in flanders. the smallest communes have been forced to pay fines. here is a brief list of such fines: gand , marks ledebourg , " destelbergen , " schellebelle , " sweveghem , " winckel sainte-croix , " wachtebeke , " _(n.r.c._, th january, , evening edition.) _fines for "attacks by francs-tireurs."_ we may observe, in passing, that in september the accusation--the accusation, we say, not the offence--of having allowed a telegraph wire to deteriorate was punished, in brussels, by a stoppage of the telephone service; but in december the germans preferred to fill their treasury. the same observation is true of mons and bilsen; the accusation of "francs-tireurs," which in september would have ended in a massacre of the inhabitants and the burning of the town, was in october the motive for a tax of , frs. at that time it no longer seemed essential to terrorize; the germans no longer required blood, but money. on behalf of the german military authorities. warning. the city of mons has been forced to pay a tax of , frs. because a private person fired upon a german soldier. (_posted at louvain._) and indeed it is money that is demanded everywhere-- , frs. from the commune of grenbergen, near termonde, because an inhabitant allowed his pigeons to fly. , , frs. was required of brussels because a police agent maltreated a german spy (p. ). it was with a money fine that mons was threatened should an englishman be discovered on its soil (placard posted at mons, th november, ), and the city of mons and the province of hainaut if any inhabitant retained for his own use any benzine or a motor-bicycle (placard posted at mons, th october, ). at seraing, in february , it was again money that was demanded, because a bomb had burst within the limits of the commune. the more surely to obtain the sum, a few hostages were imprisoned, with the promise that they would be sent to a fortress in germany if the communal treasury did not pay their ransom; but the hostages themselves advised the commune to refuse. the germans, fearing to be left in the lurch, reduced their demands by half; finally, having obtained nothing, they released the hostages. singular justice, to regulate its penalties not by the gravity of the offence, but according to the temper of the victims! we are waiting for the german newspapers to publish a schedule of penalties as affected by the docility of the victims and the season. here is an amusing instance of a penalty which was inflicted upon antwerp. when the germans posted up a statement that they had captured , russians and guns in eastern prussia, a playful citizen replaced the first letter of _russians_ in the flemish text by an m and concealed the two first letters of _canonen_. the new version announced that the germans had captured , sparrows and nuns. the germans were annoyed and imposed a fine of , frs. on the city. at tirlemont, where the same pleasantry was perpetrated, the germans contented themselves with making vague threats. the adventure of eppeghem also deserves to be told in a few words. in november a german soldier walking in the country fired at a hare or a pigeon. an officer turned up and questioned the soldier. as all sport is reserved for officers, the soldier, to avoid punishment, threw the blame on to the peasants. the matter was referred to brussels, and on the following day officers arrived with forty uhlans. a fine of , frs. was inflicted on the commune. some women living in a house which had by chance remained standing, near the field in which the soldier had fired, asserted that no inhabitant had fired a shot, but that they had seen the soldier fire. no one listened to them. "we must have , frs., and at once." but in this village, ruined from end to end, where scarcely a house was habitable, from which all the men had been deported into germany, there was no means of collecting such a sum of money. "since that is so, hostages will be taken," said the officers. the uhlans organized a hunt, and seized the curé and three laymen, the only ones they could find; and even of these one was an inhabitant of vilverde, who had obligingly been acting as a citizen policeman at eppeghem. they were taken to brussels, but on passing through vilverde the inhabitant of that place was released, owing to the protests of his fellow-citizens. after ten days' imprisonment baron von der goltz, finding that there was nothing to be extracted from the communal treasury of eppeghem, and that the curé and his two parishioners were being kept and fed at a loss, set them at liberty. _hostages_ the taking of hostages is also in flagrant opposition to the provisions of article , but in conformity with the german _usages of war_. the hostage guarantees with his own life that his fellow-citizens, with whom he has no influence, shall faithfully execute the orders of the german authorities. the first care of enemy troops arriving in any locality is always to demand the provision of hostages; these are usually the curé, the burgomaster, the notary, the schoolmaster, and a few other notables. we may recall liége, where the bishop, mgr. rutten, was taken hostage; spa, louvain, charleroi, gand, and mons. in brussels they demanded the delivery of hostages, but afterwards withdrew the demand. as to the fate which awaits the hostages if the german army is attacked, it is plainly stipulated in the proclamations: they will be shot, "without previous judicial formalities." thus, it would have been enough for a belgian patrol to renew its usual activities near forest, and two hostages would have immediately been shot "without previous judicial formalities." general government in belgium. to the people of forest. despite my repeated warnings attacks have again been made during the last few days by the civil population of the neighbourhood against german troops, and also upon the railway between brussels and mons. by the order of the military governor-general of brussels each locality must consequently provide hostages. thus at forest the following are arrested: ( ) m. vanderkindere, communal councillor. ( ) m. le curé françois. i proclaim that these hostages will immediately be shot without previous judicial formalities if any attack occurs on the part of the population upon our troops or the railway lines occupied by us, and that moreover the most severe reprisals will be carried out against the commune of forest. i request the population to keep calm and to refrain from all violence; in this case it will not suffer the slightest harm. the commandant of the landsturm, halberstadt battalion, von lessel. forest, _ th september, _. if hostages try to escape they will be hanged and their village burned. warning. as fresh attempts at assassination have been made upon persons forming part of the german army i have had persons from many localities arrested as hostages. these will guarantee with their lives that no inhabitant will again dare to commit a malevolent action against german soldiers or attempt to damage the railway, telegraph or telephone line, or other objects useful to the operations of our army. persons not belonging to the army surprised in committing such actions will be shot or hanged. the hostages of the surrounding localities will suffer the same fate. i shall then have the neighbourhood burned to the last house, even if important towns are in question. if the hostages attempt to escape the locality to which they belong will be burned, and if captured the hostages will be hanged. all inhabitants who give proof of their goodwill toward our troops are assured of the safety of their lives and property. the commandant entrusted with the protection of the railways, freiherr von malzahn. (_posted at spa, aywaille, châtelineau.... th august, ._) we do not know if hostages were shot or hanged in belgium. but in the north of france, according to a military correspondent of the _k.z._, at least one hostage was killed; this assassination was the more criminal in that it punished not a hostile act of the inhabitants, but a perfectly normal and regular operation of war: a bombardment. a war picture. ... a château stands beside the highway, at the back of a courtyard protected by a french spear-headed railing. it is intact, and shelters the staff of an infantry regiment. facing it is the ruined façade of an incredibly pretentious building on whose pediment sprawls in letters of gold the one word, "bank." beside it is a wholesale corn-chandler's and a wholesale wine-merchant's. all this belonged to a single man. it was necessary to shoot him as hostage, because the french were persisting, despite all warnings, in throwing shells into the neighbourhood. in the wine-cellars stores of unexpected importance were found; according to the estimates there are more than half a million litres of red and white wine of very good quality. a great part of the wine was pumped out of the tanks and received, like an old acquaintance, by the comrades far and near. the rich man of this quarter of the town had a companion who was more lucky, who in due time sought safety in flight. (_k.z._, st february, .) a very curious case of the punishment of innocent people in the case of "guilty" ones is the following: on the th october, , the germans posted statements that the militia-men of the occupied regions could not rejoin the belgian army, and that in case of disobedience the young men would expose themselves to the risk of being sent into germany as prisoners of war. so far, nothing illegal. but the placard then declared that in case of the departure of any militia-man his family would be held responsible. now, how are the parents guilty, if their son intends at all costs to fulfil his obligations to his native country? on the th december, , there was an aggravation of this measure: the burgomasters also were to be punished. on the th january, , a new notice appeared: all belgians between the ages of sixteen and forty years were to be regarded as capable of military service. so when a man of forty goes to join the belgian army the members of his family will be punished! truly the notice might have stated whether children would be punished for not preventing their father's departure! have there been cases of repression? the _n.r.c._ states that at hasselt the germans actually arrested the fathers and mothers of the young men who escaped. the _tijd_ learns from ruremonde: at hasselt and in the neighbourhood the germans have hunted down the fathers of those young men who, liable to be called to the colours, have been able, in spite of strict prohibition and active supervision, to enter holland, there to pass through england and france with the intention of eventually joining the army. but as soon as they heard that the fathers were being arrested, these latter also crossed the frontier, and the germans found that a great many birds had flown. they did not stop then: the mothers were arrested in their place. at the same time the germans made it known that all these people would be transferred to the well-known camp at münster, and warned the women to provide themselves with as much body-linen as possible. the whole of the little town was in consternation. later arrived a telegram from general von bissing, announcing that the departure for münster was postponed for a week, and the prisoners were taken to tongres. (_n.r.c._, rd february, .) a last example of punishment inflicted upon the innocent, when the "guilty" person had already suffered punishment. a belgian, having made signals to the enemy (that is, to the belgian army), was killed while being arrested. immediately the curé and the vicar were sent to germany as being responsible for the members of their parish. important notice. alidor vandamme, inhabitant of cortemarck, committed espionage by making signals to the enemy. resisting arrest, he was killed by a rifle-bullet. the german authority has taken the following measures of coercion in consequence of the crime committed by vandamme: . the curé blancke and the vicar barra, responsible for the members of their parish, will be deported as prisoners of war to germany. . the commune of cortemarck must pay a fine of five thousand marks ( , m.). (_posted at thielt_, _termonde_, _etc._) this iniquity was not enough for the german authorities: they advertised it all through flanders (we copied it at thielt and termonde), and forced _le bien public_ to give it publicity. through lack of conscience or insolence? _contributions and requisitions._ article . _no contribution shall be collected except under a written order, and on the responsibility of a general in command._ _the collection of the said contribution shall only be effected in accordance, as far as is possible, with the legal basis and assessment of taxes in force at the time._ _for every contribution a receipt shall be given to the contributories._ article . _requisitions in kind and services shall not be demanded from local authorities or inhabitants except for the needs of the army of occupation. they shall be in proportion to the resources of the country, and of such a nature as not to involve the inhabitants in the obligation of taking part in military operations against their own country. such requisitions and services shall only be demanded on the authority of the commander in the locality occupied._ _contributions in kind shall as far as possible be paid for in ready money: if not, a receipt shall be given and the payment of the amount due shall be made as soon as possible._ the last paragraph of article , already cited, in reality presupposes that passage in article which forbids the occupant to force the inhabitants to do work which would assist operations directed against their country (p. ). among the forms of contribution included in article we must give first place to that which fixes the value of the mark. the _düsseldorfer zeitung_ of the th september announces that the military commander of the occupied portion of belgium and france fixed the value of marks at frs. and indeed placards posted at charleroi, saint-trond, namur, and liége required the belgians to accept german marks at this exaggerated tariff, which has caused certain of our merchants to lose considerable sums. proclamation. the circulation of german money having given rise to perplexities, _the value of the german mark has been fixed at centimes_. the attention of the public is called to the fact that all german paper money must be accepted in financial transactions at the same rate as german coin. the governor. _the th august, ._ (_posted at liége._) the fraudulent intention in this measure was only too evident. a month later baron von der goltz made it known that until further notice the mark was to be valued at the lowest at fr. (placard of the rd october, ). in reality the mark was worth only fr. to fr. , so that the belgians naturally endeavoured to refuse german notes; whereupon fresh placards were exhibited, compelling their acceptance (placards of the th and th november, ). we must mention an unhappy phrase in a placard posted at mons; it states that the mark must be accepted _at the actual value of the coin_, and further on fixes this value at fr. , which is obviously incorrect. _contributions demanded from the cities._ let us now consider the pecuniary contributions demanded from the cities. the most important were: liége, million frs.; namur, millions; antwerp, millions; brussels, millions. the discussions excited by this last contribution are extremely instructive; they have been reported by the _n.r.c._ we learn how the germans violated, successively, all the different agreements which they concluded with the city; finally they imposed a fine of millions, which enabled them, in spite of everything, to complete the sum of millions which they had promised themselves they would extort from the capital. contribution imposed upon brussels. from one of our war correspondents ... in the course of this journey i once more heard people speaking of the reasons which resulted in the city of brussels being fined the sum of fifty millions of francs, as every one knows. what i relate here i had from one of the most eminent members of the magistracy:-- at the time of their entry here, the germans demanded fifty millions from the city, and--don't cry out at this-- millions from the province of brabant. the communal council of brussels tried to demonstrate that the city could not pay this tax, and that the tax imposed on the province was utterly exorbitant, seeing that brabant, which draws on the budget for an annual sum of five to six millions, employed this money before it was paid, and could not, therefore, pay a fine, since the province had first to provide for its expenditure.... having discussed the matter at great length, the germans finally released brabant from this war-tax, and at the same time gave the communal council a week to find the fifty millions, during which period they would suspend all other requisitions. burgomaster max then had posted the well-known placard announcing that for the coming week no requisitions whatever would be made by the german authorities. but on the following day the burgomaster was called upon to justify his action, and although he produced the written convention before the new governor of the city, the latter gave him to understand that his predecessor might possibly have granted such a delay, but that he, being of superior rank, did not recognize the clause at issue. fresh negotiations were commenced, and it was at last arranged that twenty millions should be paid in five instalments of four millions each. four of these instalments were punctually paid, and the fifth was about to be paid, when max was summoned by the governor, who asked him what his arrangements were concerning the remaining thirty millions. max did not conceal his extreme surprise, stating that he fully understood that the remainder of the tax had been remitted, and that the twenty millions constituted the whole amount. the german governor was by no means of this opinion, and demanded the remaining thirty millions. thereupon max immediately sent an order to the bank to suspend payment of the last four millions, which were ready for payment, until he was certain that the germans would accept them as the final instalment. there was then on either side an equal degree of obstinacy. the governor maintained that max was breaking his engagements; max, on the other hand, maintained that the germans had failed to keep their word. the result was that the burgomaster was arrested, and he is at the present moment imprisoned in a fortress at glatz in silesia. the communal council was then warned that it would be deprived of its functions, and that the germans would take over the administration of the city if the war-tax was not paid. there were again interminable negotiations, and it was arranged that in all forty-five millions should be paid. the sum was paid. still the germans wanted to get hold of the five remaining millions, so a police agent who had shown lack of respect for an officer was condemned to five years' imprisonment, while brussels was fined five million francs. one might ask whether, if the germans continue to act in this fashion, the city of brussels will be forced to pay a fine each time one of its functionaries is guilty of offence: for it is impossible that the city can control all its employés. in this case the german officer who was insulted was in civilian clothes. now to a complaint of the communal council the governor had replied, some time previously, that there were no secret agents at work in civilian clothing; so that the police agent could not have known that he was dealing with an officer, since the latter was not in uniform. it may be imagined that lively protests were made, but once more the germans threatened to assume the direction of the commune if the sum was not paid by the th november at latest; so, although the council presented a memorandum on the affair, it was nevertheless forced to pay in order to pursue its mission in peace. (_n.r.c._, th november, .) _exactions of a non-commissioned officer._ fines without rhyme and reason, and exorbitant war contributions have become so normal and so customary that the germans have finally learned to exploit the situation. the _n.r.c._ for the st may, , reported that the council of war in coblenz had condemned to eighteen months' imprisonment the non-commissioned officer garternich, who had demanded from several occupied belgian communes a war contribution of frs. per head, and had thus acquired, for his own personal profit, a sum of , frs. does not this simple fact reveal the habitual squeezing to which our poor country is subjected? eighteen months' imprisonment for having emptied the communal treasuries already officially despoiled by the authorities--that truly is not much; especially when we compare this sentence with those pronounced upon the communes when a telegraph wire breaks down: the threat of burning a whole neighbourhood or a formidable fine. _requisitions of raw materials and machinery._ _requisitions may only be demanded_, says article , _for the needs of the army of occupation_. now our enemies have removed from belgium enormous quantities of raw material, and machinery which evidently cannot be of use to the army of occupation (see _belg. allem._, pp. , , ). what can the army do with raw cotton, wools, spun cotton, nickel, jute, etc.? it can be of use only to the industries of germany, paralysed by the suppression of the mercantile marine. among these requisitions are included machine-tools for the manufacture of shells (notably those removed from the national arsenal at herstal and the royal cannon foundry at liége), and metals, such as copper, which are indispensable to the manufacture of munitions; so that the articles which have been taken from us, contrary to article of the hague convention, subscribed to by germany, are thus directly employed in fighting against us. the germans cannot pretend that these requisitions of machinery were made by over-zealous officers ignorant of the laws, for baron von bissing himself, in his quality of governor-general, signed the proclamation of the th february ordering the despatch of our machine-tools to germany. moreover, in berlin even people are perfectly aware of these requisitions, and of their destination (_n.r.c._, nd february, , morning edition). we must insist on the fact that all these raw materials of industry, all this machinery, etc., is not bought, but requisitioned. there is here no case of a commercial transaction, nor even an expropriation; for we have no redress against the decision arrived at in berlin as to the prices which will be paid after the war. it is a theft, to express the matter in a word. _requisitions in kind and in services ... shall be in proportion to the resources of the country_, says article ; which evidently means that requisitions must not exhaust the country to the point of jeopardizing the lives of the inhabitants. if this stipulation had been respected we should not have to deplore the famine which is ravaging our country, and to which we shall return later on. we shall confine ourselves--in order to give some idea of the excessive and inhuman manner in which requisitions have been made--to referring the reader to certain articles written by eye-witnesses, particularly those who have seen what has happened near the frontier, and at gand. it will at once be recognized that the requisitions made exceed that which the inhabitants can reasonably provide (see _n.r.c._, th january, , morning; rd january, , morning; th january, , evening; th january, , evening; th january, , morning; nd december, , evening). the germans have always taken good care to demand wine. they demanded enormous quantities in the little villages of the campine of limburg (_n.r.c._, th january, ). elsewhere they took for their own use all the cellars of the wine-merchants and the inhabitants, without allowing the latter to make use of them (see _belg. allem._, p. ). a last point as to requisitions. they shall _as far as possible be paid for in ready money; if not, a receipt shall be given_. very often no receipt has been given to the owners of property taken. elsewhere the receipts are fantastical and valueless. it is the truth that those who do receive vouchers are requested to satisfy themselves of their accuracy, but this prescription is obviously a dead letter. imagine, on the one hand, a peasant, fleming or walloon, terrorized into a condition of helplessness, and incapable of reading a voucher scrawled in german; and on the other, soldiers whose customary arguments are shooting and burning. article . _an army of occupation shall only take possession of cash, funds, and realizable securities which are strictly the property of the state, depôts of arms, means of transport, stores and supplies, and, generally, all movable property belonging to the state which may be used for military operations...._ from the very first days of the occupation the germans, in defiance of law and justice, seized upon the communal treasuries and the funds deposited in the branch establishments of the national bank, the post offices, etc. they were obliged to recognize the justice of the protests made by the belgian government; but their love of pillage is incorrigible; on entering gand, on monday, the th october, their first care was to lay hands on the , , (£ , ) contained in the communal treasury. according to article the germans had no right to remove the furniture of the ministries of brussels (p. ), since this property was not of a kind to be useful in military operations. article . _the occupying state shall be regarded only as administrator and usufructuary of public buildings, landed property, forests, and agricultural undertakings belonging to the hostile state, and situated in the occupied country. it must safeguard the capital of such properties and administer them in accordance with the rules of usufruct._ the german respect for legality did not restrain them from violating this article. from the very first days of the war they employed the churches which they consented to leave standing as stables; on reaching liége they took possession of the palais de justice and made a barracks of it. why did they expel justice? herren koester and noske tell us (p. ), it was simply because the position is central and easy to defend (see a photograph facing p. ). they did not take account of the fact that such employment of the building is doubly contrary to the hague convention, since they did not respect the nature of the monument, and exposed it to bombardment by allied aviators on the look-out for the german garrison. it was the same with the palais de justice of brussels, which also serves as a german barracks. to adapt it to its novel use, the soldiers have destroyed a great part of the magnificent furnishings which adorned the halls; the immediate surroundings have been fortified, and the cupola serves by night as a station for signalling to dirigibles. in short, all preparations have been made with a view to the bombardment of poelaert's masterpiece by the allies. it is obviously with the idea of preventing their adversaries from attacking them that they take up their quarters in our monuments; these are to serve them as artistic bucklers, just as our compatriots are employed as living bucklers. the violations of article are past counting. we will confine ourselves to mentioning a few in brussels; they will give us some idea of the diversity of the transformations which our property has suffered at german hands. the offices of the ministries are transformed into bedrooms for officers. the palais des académies has become a military hospital; god knows in what condition we shall find its libraries. in the parc royal of brussels, in the centre of the city, they have installed an automobile depôt, a riding-track, and a rifle range; on the th october a shot fired from this range wounded a lady through the windows of the schlobach _magasin_ in the rue royale. article . _the property of local authorities, as well as that of institutions dedicated to public worship, charity, education, and to science and art, even when state property, shall be treated as private property._ _any seizure or destruction of, or wilful damage to, institutions of this character, historic monuments and works of science and art, is forbidden, and should be made the subject of legal proceedings._ the first paragraph of this article has been scrupulously observed; the property of the communes, etc., has indeed been treated as private property has been treated: the latter has everywhere been sacked and looted, and the germans have done the same to collective property. as to the intentional character of these acts of vandalism, it is indubitable. how otherwise explain the fact that in numerous villages the church has been the prey of the flames, in many cases even when the surrounding houses have remained intact? a few examples will suffice. the village of haecht was occupied on the th and th august. on the th the belgians in antwerp made a sortie which was repulsed. the germans, infuriated, shot civilians and pillaged all the houses, particularly remembering the wine in the cellars. then the inhabitants were expelled. a fresh sortie of the belgians took place from the th to the th september; at noon on the last day our troops fell back; in the afternoon the germans set fire to the church and houses. the strong-box of the church was broken open after the fire. the destruction of the monument did not strike them as sufficient, and they dynamited the whole on the th (or th) september. in the neighbouring village of werchter, after the battle of the th and th august, they shot civilians and burned houses out of the which formed the village. after the second fight, on the th september, they burned the church. in both villages most of the houses round the churches were spared; it will therefore be difficult for the germans to pretend, as at louvain, that the burning of these churches was an accident (_brandunglück_) due to burning fragments carried by the wind (p. ). we have already (p. ) noted another more significant case, that of the chapel of the béguinage of termonde, which was alone burned, in the centre of the béguinage, not a dwelling of which was touched. _conclusions--the famine in belgium._ germany had need, in the conflict with france, of all the men who passed through belgium; also she could leave in belgium only weak garrisons of the landsturm. to safeguard them against possible attack on the part of the belgian population, it was necessary to terrorize the latter to such a point that it no longer dared to stir. such was the object of the carnage and incendiarism which marked the beginning of the campaign, as was frankly admitted by herr walter blöm, adjutant to the governor-general in belgium (p. ). no doubt the massacres of louvain, andenne, tamines, and dinant, committed to order between the th and the th august, appeared insufficient, for a new series was organized between the th and th september. at the news of this butchery a resounding cry of horror and indignation went up from all the nations of the earth. that the belgian army, on the field of battle, should have paid large tribute to the war unloosed upon us by germany--that was to be expected, but no one would have dared to suppose that germany, after participating in the second hague conference, would display towards our civil population such an implacable cruelty, such exterminating fury, as history has never recorded since the thirty years' war. but facts are facts; one must needs submit to the evidence; the german army has destroyed our treasures of art and science, has shot down in cold blood, often by machine-gun fire, hosts of men, women, even old people and children; it has ordered the burning of thousands of houses; it has turned whole districts into deserts. still, some semblance of motive was necessary; with a mathematical regularity the pretext of "francs-tireurs" was alleged. "_man hat geschossen_"--that was enough; immediately the neighbourhood was given over to massacre, pillage, and fire. never was any inquiry made, no matter how summary. yet when it was desired to show a foreigner of note--for example, dr. sven hedin--how they proceeded in the matter of punishing "francs-tireurs," a regular council of war was constituted ... which brought in a verdict of _non-lieu_ (p. ). we defy the germans to cite a single case in which a tribunal of this kind has sat _before_ reprisals. in the few rare cases when witnesses, etc., have been questioned the examination has taken place _after_ the firing of houses and the shooting of inhabitants. this is why we declare without the slightest reservation that _not one single attack by civilians_ has been established by any kind of proof. _the flight of the belgians._ the inhabitants of our towns and our countryside soon realized to what they were exposing themselves if they awaited the arrival of the germans in their own homes. so, as the germans advanced, a void appeared before them. after the taking of antwerp, the majority of the peasants of the "campine" of antwerp fled in all haste toward holland. if to them we add the people of antwerp, who had been driven out by the bombardment, and above all the innumerable villages of brabant, limburg, and the provinces of liége and antwerp, whose homes had been pillaged and reduced to ashes, we shall not be astonished to find that in october there were more than a million belgian refugees in holland.[ ] to our northern neighbours we owe our profoundest gratitude for the fraternal manner in which they welcomed our unfortunate compatriots. _the causes of the famine._ the horror provoked by the butchery at dinant, aerschot, etc., relegated to the background the purely material crimes. but these--the pillage, methodically conducted, of our towns, villages, farms, and châteaux--the outrageous requisitions of provisions and of the raw material of industries--the formidable taxes which drain us of coin--the fines which rain upon the communal administrations and on private persons--and many other infractions of the hague convention--have exercised on our economical life an extremely depressing effect, but have produced no echo abroad: doubtless because only those can understand the whole extent of our misery who daily rub shoulders with the thousands of starving and unemployed people who drag themselves from one end of the town to the other in quest of work that is not to be found, or who mingle with the interminable files of women who go in search of rations of bread and soup for their families. let us briefly consider the principal causes of famine which prevails in belgium. . exaggerated requisitions, out of all proportion to the resources of the country. they are of two kinds:-- firstly, those which have emptied the country of grain, cattle, forage, and other foodstuffs. then the requisitions of the raw materials intended for the factories, which have completely paralysed industry, especially in the flanders. one example will suffice. all the workshops of termonde were burned save one--the escaut-dendre establishment, which makes boots and shoes. but the germans sent into germany both the leather and the shoes which were in the warehouse. the factory is thus condemned to stand idle for lack of raw material, and also for lack of funds. those industries of which the machinery has been removed are also, of course, doomed to paralysis. the german authorities threaten to despoil our factories of all the copper forming part of the machinery, which would reduce them one and all to impotence. it is an ironical fact that this measure was announced by a propagandist leaflet addressed to the belgians. . having made a clean sweep of the greater portion of all that was indispensable to us, the germans have been careful to take our money from us. under every imaginable pretext, and often without any pretext at all, they have imposed crushing taxes upon us. the regular payment of these taxes showing that the public coffers were not yet quite empty, the germans hastened to impose fines upon us, which vary from frs. to millions. the private banks, too, are threatened every moment with the removal of a portion of their funds. . it is needless to insist on a third cause, which reduces our working-class families to idleness and poverty: the destruction of an enormous number of factories--some bombarded, but most of them burned of set purpose. . we have already seen that many factories which remained intact are condemned to inactivity by the lack of raw material, or because they have been deprived of their machinery. the others are equally paralysed. the stoppage of traffic on the railway lines, the impediments of all kinds placed in the way of inland navigation, the absence of maritime navigation, are causes more than sufficient to prevent the importation of raw materials and the exportation of manufactured products. of all these obstacles the most important is assuredly the suppression of goods traffic on the railways. "why," say the germans, "do not belgian employés return to their work, since our military trains would in any case be run by our own men?" hypocrites! the slowness and irregularity of the trains is highly inconvenient to the german army, and it would much like to see them resume their normal speed; but for this it requires the assistance of the belgian staff. is it not obvious that if our railway-men resumed their labours they would at the same time facilitate the transport of german troops and munitions? let us again cite the prohibition of "circulation" between or o'clock and o'clock, which is an obstacle to night work, which is quite indispensable to the large industries; and the suppression of the special trains by which the workers travelled. . commerce has suffered no less than industry. there is no telegraph, no telephone, no posting of closed letters; that is, no means of sending or receiving orders. no railway, no horses, no motor-cars to deliver goods or to supply customers. and, to cap all, the slightest journey necessitates all sorts of exaggerated expenses: there is the acquisition of a passport, the train journey at the rate of cm. per kilometre, hotel expenses, etc. the expenditure might be a minor matter, but what of the waste of time? before st july, , any one going from liége to brussels for business purposes had first of all to waste one or two days in procuring his passport; the journey occupied at least half a day; and after interviewing his client he would find that there was no train back to liége on the same day. in short, he would have to allow four days for a journey which in normal times took half a day. * * * * * other causes of famine are: the scarcity and high cost of provisions. the financial difficulties in which the public powers are involved. the paralysis of industry and commerce, resulting in unemployment--that is, in suppression of wages. in short, a diminution of resources, accompanied by an increase of expenditure; so that the public coffers are almost powerless to come to the aid of private distress. that is how we stand in belgium. it is not our intention to depict the poignant distress which has overwhelmed our country. we shall merely explain briefly how we try to cope with it; this will suffice to give some idea of it. _creation of temporary shelters._ let us first of all consider the country districts. even when a few houses only of a village have escaped incendiarism the inhabitants have returned thither and have resumed their customary labours. must they not plough and sow, under penalty of preparing for themselves another year of wretchedness? where houses exist no longer they live in a cellar, or an outhouse to which some kind of roof has been improvised; families passed the winter of - in a potato-silo,[ ] under the shelter of a few mats of straw. in the ruined villages the first anxiety of the public powers and the relief committees was therefore to provide provisional shelter. in the towns and industrial districts the most urgent necessities are of another kind. what is lacking most particularly is employment. the administrations have therefore set themselves to provide the unemployed with paid occupations which do not demand apprenticeship--the clearing of ruins, the levelling of soil, the digging of reservoirs, etc. the communal coffers being empty, communal vouchers are issued. _l'Événement illustré_, in its fourth issue, gives reproductions of some of these vouchers, of which, it states, there are more than . in the communes near louvain, where the poverty is particularly poignant, it has been necessary to create vouchers for centimes (at wilsele) and centimes (at herent). from the outset stringent measures were taken to make up for the insufficiency of provisions and to prevent speculators from obtaining possession of existing stocks. the most important of these regulations are the following:-- (_a_) fixing of maximum prices. (_b_) prohibition of the exportation of provisions from the commune. (_c_) it is forbidden to give animals provisions intended for human beings. (_d_) collective exploitation. many communes have set up in business as bakers, butchers, restaurant-keepers, coal merchants, dealers in colonial produce, etc. they prepare bread and soup daily, and these are provided gratuitously to the poorest, or sold at a low price to those who still have a few savings. in the brussels district there had been distributed by the st january, , to adults, , , rations, comprising soup and bread, and to the children , rations, consisting chiefly of milk, phosphatine, and powdered milk. certain communes also sell meat; others have installed communal stores for the sale of all kinds of provisions, especially preserved foods, dried vegetables, salt, potatoes, etc.; almost everywhere coal is sold retail; petroleum was sold as long as it could be obtained. moreover, the collectivities are distributing enormous quantities of clothes; in the brussels district alone by the end of january , frs. worth of clothing and footwear had been given to the necessitous. abuses have as far as possible been guarded against, ( ) by the "household card," the _carte de ménage_, which indicates the number of persons composing each family; and ( ) by the limitation of the quantity of each kind of goods which the household can obtain during the week. the basis of alimentation is bread. therefore particularly draconian rules have been elaborated for the bakeries. _the national relief committee._ many problems presented themselves simultaneously, and with an extreme urgency. in all communes local committees have been set up, entrusted with the equitable distribution of provisions among all the inhabitants. we say "all the inhabitants," for the reader must not form any illusions as to our condition: there is not a single belgian family which, if left to itself, could obtain its daily bread; the general rationing to which the whole population is subjected makes rich and poor equally dependent on the national committee of relief and alimentation. to organize the feeding of the public would have been a task above our strength if belgium, in her present distress, had been abandoned to her own resources. but the misfortunes which have come upon us because we could not consent to comply with the orders of a tyrannical and perjured neighbour--the poverty which cripples us more completely day by day, as requisitions, pillage, taxes, and fines deprive us of our last resources--the massacres and the incendiarism which have turned into deserts the most fertile and most densely peopled provinces of europe--the molestations and annoyances which have reduced to unemployment a working population whose activity is proverbial--in short, the unmerited misfortune which _kultur_ has inflicted upon us--all this has awakened, in all the civilized nations, a current of sympathy and solidarity with poor belgium. by germany our country was condemned to perish of starvation. the miracle which alone could save us has been effected by the charity of spain, scandinavia, holland, italy, switzerland, new zealand, australia, canada, the argentine republic, brazil, and, above all, the united states. since the month of november vessels laden with provisions have been regularly leaving the american ports for rotterdam, whence the food is despatched, principally by means of barges, into belgium, and distributed, in the smallest villages even, by the care of the national committee of relief and alimentation. this committee is an extension throughout the whole country of a commission which was formed early in september to succour the brussels district; it is under the patronage of their excellencies the marquis of villalobar, the spanish minister, and mr. brand whitlock, the united states minister. in january and february the committee was induced to concern itself also with the country round maubeuge, and the givet--furnay--sedan district. the mission of the national committee is equitably to distribute relief and provisions. but it does not itself collect these resources; as they derive more particularly from the united states it is an american committee, the "commission for relief in belgium," which undertakes to collect and administer funds. it is the american committee which despatches to rotterdam, from american ports, the steamers carrying food and clothing. in each province the american commission has a delegate who supervises the distribution of provisions and relief; he assures himself that nothing is diverted to the use of the german army. the commission for relief in belgium sits in london, its chairman being mr. herbert hoover. * * * * * a serious difficulty cropped up immediately. foreign beneficence was eager to aid the belgians, but not, obviously, the butchers who occupy our country. it was therefore necessary at all costs to prevent the german army from seizing the provisions and subsidies despatched by america. on the th october, , the german authorities undertook to exempt from all requisitions the provisions imported by the national committee. but this promise was promptly violated. the germans, it is true, did not requisition the wheat, but they did requisition the bread made from that wheat. moreover, they pretended that their engagement of the th october, , general as it was, did not affect flanders, a _territoire d'étape_ not subject to the governor-general. this is the effect of their letter of the st november, . up to the present it has been impossible to get them to keep the engagements to which they subscribed on the th october; for although they have extended to cattle-foods the promise that nothing should be requisitioned by the troops placed under the orders of the governor-general--the _territoire d'étape_ being thus excluded--they have, on the other hand, forced the communes of flanders to open grain markets, in which they make purchases, thus continuing to impoverish the food-stores of the country. while they exclude flanders from the region exempted from requisitions, they take care not to breathe a word of this exemption in their own newspapers. the _k.z._, on the th january, and _der volksfreund_ on the th declared that requisitions of foodstuffs were suspended throughout belgium. despite the difficulties raised by the germans, the national committee of relief and alimentation has rendered our country inestimable services, which only those who have visited our towns and rural districts and have seen the work of the local committees can form any conception. we borrow from the report of the executive committee for the month of january (published in brussels th february, ) a few figures (_see_ table, p. ) as to the distribution of relief during the month of january. but the national committee extends its beneficent action over many departments which are not mentioned in this table. here, according to the same report, is the list of these departments:-- i. department of alimentation (foodstuffs). ii. agricultural section of the national committee. iii. relief department: . subsidies to provincial committees. . construction of refuges ( , frs. for luxemburg) . organizations patronized: a. central refugee committee. b. assistance and support of families of officers and under-officers deprived of their means of sustenance by the war (first subvention , frs.). c. assistance and support of belgian physicians and druggists ruined by the war (first subsidy of , frs.). d. assistance and support of artists (first subsidy , frs.). e. assistance and support of infantile charities. f. assistance and support of destitute persons. g. assistance and support of the homeless (accommodation section). h. assistance and support of destitute churches (two subsidies of , frs. each). i. assistance and protection of the unemployed. j. assistance and protection of lace-makers (subsidy of , frs.). k. union of belgian towns and communes. l. belgian intelligence agency for prisoners of war and persons interned (monthly subvention of , frs.). . co-operative society for loans and advances. . advances to provinces and communes. . clothing. distribution of foodstuffs, clothing, and subsidies in money, in the provinces nature of merchandise. _quantities in tons._ ----------+------+------+----+-----+-----+----+---+-----+----+-------+--------- despatched|wheat | flour|rice|peas | salt|po- |ba-|maize|sun-|cloth- |subsi- or | | | |and | |ta- |con| |dry | ing | dies to remitted | | | |beans| |toes| | | | (value|provin to-- | | | | | | | | | | in | cial | | | | | | | | | |francs)|commit- | | | | | | | | | | | tees (in | | | | | | | | | | | france) ----------+------+------+----+-----+-----+----+---+-----+----+-------+--------- province | | | | | | | | | | | of | | | | | | | | | | | antwerp | , | , | --| | --| | --| | --| , | , brussels | | | | | | | | | | | and | | | | | | | | | | | district | , | , | | | | --| --| | | , | , brabant | , | , | --| | | | | | | , | -- western | | | | | | | | | | | flanders | | | | | | --| --| --| | , | , eastern | | | | | | | | | | | flanders | , | , | | | | --| | , | | --| , hainaut | , | , | | | --| | --| | | , | , liége | , | , | --| | --| --| --| | | , | , limburg | , | , | | --| --| | --| | | , | , luxemburg | | | | | --| --| --| --| --| , | , namur | , | | --| | --| --| --| | | , | , general | | | | | | | | | | | stock, | | | | | | | | | | | brussels | | | --| | , | | --| --| | --| -- various | | | | | | | | | | | charities| --| --| --| --| --| --| --| --| --| , | -- ----------+------+------+----+-----+-----+----+---+-----+----+-------+--------- totals | , | , | | | , | | | , | | , | , , ----------+------+------+----+-----+-----+----+---+-----+----+-------+--------- since the month of january the national committee has not ceased to extend its activities. but it is impossible to give more precise data. the german authorities no longer permit the committee to publish its reports. in their dry, official manner they show us only too clearly what we are to think of the present "prosperity" of belgium and the "normal state of the situation." * * * * * it will be seen that the activities of the national committee are fruitful and extensive. but more and more money is required, as savings are exhausted and as the public coffers are emptied by the germans. in january the sovereign pontiff surrendered the belgian contribution to peter's pence. as million frs. per month (£ , , ) is being paid to the germans, poverty is rapidly increasing. the number of belgians deprived of all resources and obliged to live entirely on charity had risen by february to , , . it was estimated that by june it would be , , , or more than one-third of the total population. in february the nourishment of this famishing host already demanded million frs. (£ , ) per month; soon it will demand to millions. in this conjuncture mr. hoover, the president of the american commission, went begging to the british government, which promised £ , per month provided germany would cease to make requisitions in flanders and levy the tax of millions. germany refused. how will it end? _belgium's gratitude to america._ belgium knows that she owes her relief to the united states. without american charity our country would perish in the distress into which the german exactions have plunged her. no one in belgium will ever forget this, and it is in the name of the whole nation that king albert has publicly thanked america. it was in sign of homage, and also of gratitude, that on the nd february, , on the anniversary of american independence, the belgians wore in their buttonholes a medallion of the stars and stripes, while thousands of the citizens of brussels left their cards at the hotel of his excellency mr. brand h. whitlock. baron von bissing spoke of this as childishness; at liége german officers even snatched the american colours from women and young girls. massacre and arson are more familiar to _kultur_ than gratitude. footnotes: [ ] and also justified by the laws of warfare as affecting invasion. moreover: "the rules which affect a _levée en masse_ (a general rising of the people to repel invaders, without organization) should be generously interpreted. the first duty of a citizen is to defend his country, and provided he does so loyally he should not be treated as a marauder or criminal." the germans could not at the outset know that there was no _levée en masse_.--(trans.) [ ] the germans have tried to persuade rome that these priests were not assassinated but killed in battle. [ ] to give an idea of these accusations, it was said that in the cellars of a louvain convent the corpses of fifty german soldiers were discovered, murdered by the monks. [ ] if organized and disciplined, the civic guards and francs-tireurs would have formed part of the belgian forces, provided they wore a recognizable sign and bore arms openly.--(trans.) [ ] we shall see later (p. ) that at louvain dr. hedin was shamefully deceived by the military authorities who were guiding him through the city. it is this which makes us fear that there may also have been deceit in the case of the villagers tried as "francs-tireurs." [ ] _kriegsbrauch im landkriege._ professor j. h. morgan has published a translation, with an introduction (john murray). for a comparison between german, french, and english usages see _frightfulness in theory and practice_, by charles andler, ed. bernard miall (t. fisher unwin). [ ] they are all, with a truly german lack of originality, with the genuine intellectual slavishness of the "blonde beast," simply repeating the words of clausewitz, as all german military philosophers have done for the best part of a century.--(trans.) [ ] a perusal of clausewitz, von hartmann, and the _kriegsbrauch_ would have dispelled all doubt. none of these theories is new: how often does a german develop a _new_ theory? this peculiarly bloodless, mechanically ferocious barbarism is nearly a century old. the french had seen it in action before.--(trans.) [ ] the germans even accuse the belgian government of paying its "francs-tireurs" "by the piece"; that is, so much per german killed. [ ] if it had _openly_ encouraged the civil population it would merely have ordered the _levée en masse_, which it had a perfect right to do: as germany did in . but it is interesting to note that in the german francs-tireurs were required _not_ to wear distinctive uniforms or badges, and were allowed to use any weapons and any means of injuring the enemy. germany invented the franc-tireur, and now expects belgium to do what she would do in a like case. _the bogy so feared by the german soldier is, indeed, his own shadow._ actually, of course, the belgian government called upon civilians to keep quiet and to surrender arms.--(trans.) [ ] thus _der grosse krieg_, pp. and , published a wolff telegram on the rd august, , saying that many spies had already been shot in germany, but that the public should none the less be careful to report suspects, particularly those who spoke a foreign language. [ ] _Étape_ (_etappen_, germ.), stores, rations, or a halting-place.--(trans.) [ ] if we mention reims it is because the germans have on eight occasions posted placards in belgium bearing declarations relating to this crime against civilization. [ ] we have not been able to verify the authenticity of the quotation from the _times_. [ ] in germany the phrase has a meaning _sui generis_. [ ] names will be published later. [ ] see photographs in _panorama_, b ( th august, ), a ( th october, ), a ( th october, ). [ ] a pit for storing potatoes in good condition. chapter iii the german mind, self-depicted in those chapters in which we have dealt with the violations of international treaties, and of the hague convention, we have often been led to comment on the mode of thought displayed by those who committed these crimes. but hitherto we have touched upon the subject of german mentality only in an incidental fashion; it will doubtless be interesting to consider it more closely. we shall utilize, by preference, documents of german origin. in cases where these are lacking, for example, in the case of the cruelties committed, we shall have recourse to observations which we ourselves have collected, and whose authenticity is indisputable. in place of passing in review all the peculiarities of the modern german mind, which would occupy too much space, we shall confine ourselves to those from which belgium has suffered most cruelly; but we shall not speak--it would be superfluous--of the obscene spirit of rape, and rapacity, and drunkenness. the three psychological elements which we shall consider are pride, duplicity, and spitefulness. a.--pride. _some manifestations of pride and the spirit of boasting._ "the german nation is the chosen people, and god is with us." that is the prevailing idea of the speeches and proclamations of the kaiser. in his speech from the throne on the th august, , he declared: "it is not the spirit of conquest which urges us forward; but we are animated by the inflexible determination to retain the position in which god has set us, for ourselves and for all the generations to come." in her pride germany is unanimous. no german is permitted to doubt the indisputable superiority of his nation over all other nations. as soon as he learns to lisp his first words, his brain is steeped in the conviction that no people is comparable to his own, even remotely. this longing to exalt his own country is accompanied by a corresponding desire to abase all others. hardly is a discovery of any kind made in a neighbouring country than a german appropriates it in order to give it a new trade-mark. one example will suffice. all the world knows that louis pasteur was the founder of the science of bacteriology, a science whose consequences, in the spheres of hygiene and medicine, are incalculable. germany ignores pasteur and has heard only of koch. a belgian, who attended the berlin celebrations in honour of koch, returned disgusted with the fact that the name of pasteur was systematically suppressed throughout the ceremonies. in an obituary notice devoted to koch a belgian bacteriologist, m. jules bordet, remarked with great justice, in speaking of the german biographies of the scientist who had just died:-- "they made koch the absolute creator of modern medicine: all other glory pales before his; he is the founder of bacteriology. their obituary articles, emanating, for the most part, from disciples of the master, and which are, one feels, steeped in pious gratitude, and also, perhaps, to a certain extent, in a somewhat exclusive patriotism, attribute to him the honour of having shown the organic origin of contagious diseases." "it would be," said herr pfeiffer, the distinguished breslau bacteriologist, "a real act of justice were posterity to divide the history of medicine into two periods, one before koch and the other after him." reading such notices it would almost seem as though pasteur had never lived! we think m. bordet shows himself far too indulgent toward the german biographers when he says, in conclusion: "and one could not take it amiss of these disciples if, in their filial solicitude, they left on the tomb of their master a few leaves from the laurels of pasteur." here is another example of boasting, interesting principally by reason of the _charlatanesque_ manner in which it was published. every one has heard of the cooper-hewitt mercury-vapour lamp, with its strange blue-violet light, so rich in ultra-violet rays. the most summary treatises on physics explain that quartz will allow the ultra-violet rays to pass, and that the cooper-hewitt quartz lamp is in constant employment in the laboratories. but if you read the communication which the germans imposed upon _l'ami de l'ordre_ on the th december, , you will see that the germans invented the whole affair. if you want to be initiated into the perfections of the german, herr momme nissen, in _der krieg und die deutsche kunst_, will enumerate them for you. "the qualities of the german," he says, "integrity and courage, profundity of mind and fidelity, insight and the sense of inwardness, modesty and piety, are also the ornaments of our art." _the germans compare themselves with their allies._ here is a last point to be considered. the germans do not merely consider themselves to be superior to their adversaries; they are equally modest on behalf of their allies. to their minds, and in their writings, the present war is "the german war." the most complete chronological compilation which has appeared hitherto is entitled _chronik des deutschen krieges_. the official publications deliberately ignore the austrians, hungarians, czechs, croats, turks, etc. the first of the pamphlets of propaganda distributed by the germans (_journal de la guerre_) begins thus: "the name this war will one day bear in history is already determined; it can only be the _german war_, for it is a war destined to establish the position of the german nation in the world." by what name shall we call the german's sense of superiority over all other nations: is it pride, presumption, or impudence? herr paul rohrbach, who is generally more moderate in his expressions, has written a pamphlet entitled _warum es der deutsche krieg ist_ ("why this is the german war"). it would be useless to insist on the general aspects of the question. let us consider only a few of the immediate consequences of this frame of mind: militarism, disdain for others, cynicism, and absence of the critical spirit. . militarism. _might comes before right._ bismarck has given us a precise formula of the cult of brute force, "might comes before right!" nietzsche has gone further, "might creates right." "you say that a good cause sanctifies even war? i tell you that a good war sanctifies any cause!" (_thus spake zarathustra_). herr maximilian harden, the well-known polemical writer, expressed the same idea in a lecture delivered at duisbourg and reproduced in _k.z._ ( th december, ). it is expressed with equal lucidity in an article published in _zeit im bild_ ( th november, ), and signed _vitus bug_; the author, after inquiring into the reasons which make germany hated, adds: "let us be victorious, and people will immediately discover that we were in the right!" it is, consequently, towards the army that the essential aspirations of the german nation converge; everything must give way to the military interest; the moment this is in question there is no longer any room for morality, says professor rein, of the university of jena (_n.r.c._, nd january, , morning), nor for humanity, says herr erzberger (_n.r.c._, th february, , evening), nor even for the law of nations, declares professor beer, of the university of leipzig (_völkerrecht und krieg_). in other countries people have remained simple enough to believe that it is precisely in time of war that the prescriptions of international law should be most strictly respected. nothing of the sort, say the germans; the moment war breaks out everyday justice can only efface itself. on the slightest accusation, the least pretext, or even without any, they begin to shoot and to burn. if by accident those put to death are innocent, or if there was in truth no complaint to be made against the inhabitants of the houses burned to ashes, it is obviously regrettable; but such commonplace considerations will not prevent the german army from inflicting on the nearest village a punishment any less exemplary. _es ist krieg_: in this phrase is contained the whole psychology of the german soldier in war-time. "do you suppose," said a german at louvain, "that we've got time to make inquiries?" (_n.r.c._, th september, , morning). "you understand clearly," said an officer at francorchamps, "that we cannot stop the german army to inquire if this man has really fired on us; he was accused of doing so; isn't that sufficient reason for shooting him?" * * * * * before leaving the subject of militarism, we will cite one insignificant fact which, however trifling, clearly reveals the importance which the military idea has assumed in the conceptions of the german people. according to the _n.r.c._ of the th february, (evening), _vorwärts_ has protested against the following measure: the german wife whose husband is under arms cannot be expelled from her dwelling for non-payment of rent; but if her husband should be killed in the war the landlord immediately recovers the right to turn her out. . disdain of others. we have seen that the germans are seeking by all possible means to accentuate their superiority over their neighbours. an elementary procedure for increasing the vertical distance between them and their rivals consists in depreciating the latter. germany has so often, in every tone of voice, proclaimed the irremediable inferiority of all the other peoples inhabiting our planet, that she has at last come to believe it herself, and has begun to act in conformity with her belief. _some inept proclamations, etc._ thus, to speak only of our own experience, they assuredly under-estimated our national integrity when they believed us capable of becoming accomplices in the violation of an international treaty. they also greatly under-estimated our army's powers of resistance, or they would have taken good care not to lose a fortnight in belgium, a delay which spoiled their sudden attack upon france. finally, they show us every day, by their placards, that they do not think much of our intelligence. some of those entitled "news published by the german general government" are really inimitable. imagine our laughter when the authorities to whom we are forced to submit officially announced that a german squadron had captured fifteen fishing-boats; or that the serbians had taken semlin in order to obtain food; or that the star of paschitsch was growing pale; or that the austrians had evacuated lemberg for strategic and humanitarian reasons; or that the british army is so ill-equipped that the soldiers are without writing-paper and shoelaces; or that the river of the "gifts of love" continues to flow; or that general joffre (in a french that could only have come from a german pen) informs his troops that "the moment is come to profit by the weakness which offers itself to us, after we have reinforced ourselves in men and material." in the last days of september , when a citizen of brussels met a fair-haired comrade, he hastened to measure him, to make sure that he was not charles-alice yate, "being about ft. in. in height." here are some of these placards:-- news published by the german government. berlin, _ th september, _.--the austria-hungarian ambassador publishes the following dispatch which has been forwarded to him by the minister of foreign affairs in vienna:-- "the russian news on the subject of the battle of lemberg and the triumphant capture of the city is a lie. the open town of lemberg was evacuated by us without a battle for strategical and humanitarian reasons." the general german government. london, _ th september, _ (reuter's agency).--a german squadron, composed of two cruisers and four torpedo-boats, has captured fifteen english fishing-boats in the north sea, and has brought numerous prisoners to wilhelmshaven. the german general government. berlin, _ nd september, _.--on the night of the th september major charles-alice yate, of the regiment of the yorkshire light infantry, escaped from torgau, where he was prisoner of war. yate is that english officer of superior rank concerning whom it was announced the other day that he did not deny, upon inquiry, that the english troops have been supplied with dum-dum bullets; in the course of this interrogatory he declared that the soldier must obviously use the ammunition which is furnished to him by the government. the fugitive is about ft. in. in height; he is slender, fair-haired, and speaks german well. the german general government. vienna, _ th september, _.--the _reichspost_ announces from sofia: the correspondent of the _volja_, the organ of ghenadjev, writes from nish: the austrian offensive has serious consequences for serbia; rebellion is muttering in the country and the army, and every day may see the outbreak of the revolution. during the last few days several regiments of artillery have revolted. a certain number of guns have been demolished.... king peter has returned; he is completely apathetic, and the crown prince alexander does not know what to do. the star of paschitsch is paling, and it is feared there may soon be victims in his entourage. the german general government. l ondon, _ th october, _.--the _daily chronicle_ announces that at aldershot, in round figures, , militia belonging to all arms should be prepared to depart for the army as soon as they are ready. however, the training, despite the most brilliant efforts, could not give satisfactory results, the troops being insufficiently equipped. the newspaper appeals for the assistance of the public, and remarks that, for example, no officer of lord kitchener's first army possesses field-glasses. they also lack socks, handkerchiefs, shoelaces, writing-paper and materials, and drums and fifes for the scottish regiments. the german general government. what is even more strange than their insistence in offering us their sophisticated views, is their virtuous indignation when they discover that we are not receptive of this kind of truth. thus the people of liége, who would not believe the german placards and preferred their secret newspapers, were warned by lieut.-general von kolewe that they were in danger of appearing ridiculous in the eyes of intelligent people. to the population of liÉge and neighbourhood. considering the continual successes of the german troops, it is impossible to understand why the people of liége are still so credulous as to believe the absurd and frivolous news spread by the manufactories of falsehoods installed in liége. those who busy themselves in propagating such news are risking severe punishment. they are playing a dangerous game in abusing the credulity of their fellow-citizens and in inciting them to reckless actions. the reasonable population of liége will resist all temptations of the kind. otherwise it is exposing itself not merely to the gravest disappointment, but also to appearing ridiculous in the eyes of intelligent people. kolewe, _lieut.-general and german governor of the fortress of liége_. _it is forbidden to tear down this placard or to paste another over it._ _lies concerning the situation in belgium._ before other placards the shrugging of shoulders gave way to disgust. baron von der goltz, at sofia, boasted of having rendered "the situation in belgium entirely normal." what of it? we were so glad to be rid of him that we were ready to overlook any ineptitudes. but when his successor, baron von bissing, after levying a contribution of million frs. (£ , , ), had the audacity to declare that he hoped "to do much for the economic situation," and would especially apply himself "to doing everything to assist the weak in belgium, and to encourage them," he passed the bounds of cynicism and presumption. however, two months later, on the th february, , after having despoiled us of million francs, he found occasion to go still farther, affirming his "solicitude for the welfare and prosperity of the population." _lies concerning "francs-tireurs."_ what shall we say of the accusations made against belgian civilians? from august, at the time of the first sortie of our troops from antwerp, the germans posted up statements in brussels that the belgian population was again taking part in the conflict. official statement by the commandant of the german army. brussels, _ th august, _.--on the th and th august several belgian divisions made a sortie from antwerp in order to attack our lines of communication, but they were repulsed by those of our troops left behind to invest the city. five belgian guns fell into our hands.... the belgian population almost everywhere took part in the fighting. it became necessary to take the most drastic measures to repress the bands of francs-tireurs.... now certain of these battles took place at a distance of only six miles from brussels; peasants were shot at houtem (a hamlet of vilvorde) and at eppeghem: that is, in villages whence people went into the city every morning with vegetables, milk, etc., so that the inhabitants of the capital were perfectly informed as to the behaviour of the german troops toward the belgian civilians. they knew, too, that these pretended attacks of "francs-tireurs" had been delivered by detachments of the belgian army (_see_ e. waxweiler in _la belgique neutre et loyale_, p. ). the keen indignation against the german liars was still further aggravated when, three weeks later, the kaiser repeated these calumnies. the fact of their having placarded the walls of brussels with these obviously false accusations shows once more in what low esteem the germans hold the mental faculties of their victims. news published by the german government. brussels, _ th october_.--from the leader of a troop of cyclists near hennuyères written instructions were taken, intended for the leaders of the so-called "destructive detachment," in which they are told, among other things: "spread false news: landing of the english at antwerp, russians at calais." that the germans should seek to deceive their own compatriots as to the situation is natural enough--they are quite content with official news. but in belgium we still, in spite of all obstacles, continue to receive foreign newspapers, which keep us informed of the military operations. why, then, did the germans try to impose on us over the battle of the marne, when nothing was easier than to learn the truth from the _times_ and the french press? a still more curious case was that of the battle of ypres. during a whole fortnight the official placards daily informed the belgians of the latest german success ... and at the end of three weeks the army was still as far from ypres. the whole of this yser campaign is interesting as throwing a light upon the german mentality. from the outset the germans tried to establish a confusion between the "canalized" yser and the "canalized" yperlée, that is, the canal running from ypres to the yser. what they call "the canal of the yser" in their placard of the nd october is the canalized yser between dixmude and nieuport. in the placard of the nd november they spoke of the "canal from the yser to ypres, near nieuport," an absolutely fantastic description. finally, on the th april, when they claimed to have crossed "the yser canal" to occupy driegrachten, it was really the yperlée that was in question, and not the yser at all. this is, as will be seen, on a par with the intentional confusion which they sought to create between the city of liége and its forts (pp. , ). such confusions may deceive the germans, but the belgians, familiar with the geography of their country, naturally laugh at them. another point relating to this astonishing campaign on the yser: on the nd november the germans announced that operations were rendered difficult by the inundation. on the following day, having expressed their pity for the belgians "whose fields were devastated for a long time to come," they added that the water was in parts deeper than a man's height, but that they had lost neither man, nor horse, nor gun. how can they impose such idle stuff on people who know the _polders_ of the coast region, with their innumerable canals and ditches, and who know, moreover, than an inundation there renders all retreat impossible? . cynicism. they must require a good stock of effrontery to put before us such assertions as that of the kaiser, whose falsity is obvious at sight. they cannot be ignorant of the fact that these impostures are instantly exposed. but this consideration does not give them pause; german superiority appears to them so indisputable that they have no need to trouble about the opinion of other people; if they occasionally indicate the reasons for their actions, it is to reassure their own conscience, not to justify themselves to their victims. they are, in short, in the situation of the sportsman who brings down the game passing within gunshot, but is not required to render an account of it to the rabbits and partridges. to the sportsman's way of thinking there is no cynicism in so acting: between the hunter and the game there is too great a difference to make such a justification necessary. similarly, the germans occupy, in the scale of _kultur_, so exalted a position as compared with the belgians, that they believe in good faith that all is permitted to them in dealing with this horde, and that they need not justify their actions. they behave toward us as the conquistadores toward the aztecs. more, they actually advertise their contempt for the rules of justice. we have already mentioned the placard posted at gand, according to which they openly placed themselves in conflict with the hague convention. they have gone yet farther in this direction. what are we to say, for example, of the placard posted at menin, in july , by order of commandant schmidt, in which it is ordained that the families of those "who do not work regularly on the military works" shall be allowed to die of starvation? order. from to-day the town can no longer grant relief--of whatever kind, even for families, women and children--save only to those workmen who are working regularly on the military works and on other works prescribed. all other workmen and their families cannot henceforth be assisted in any way whatever. and this is not the gem of the collection. at roubaix and the vicinity (in french flanders, close against the belgian frontier) they advertised their decision to prevent all sales of comestibles if work were not resumed by the th july, and they even threatened completely to suppress "circulation," which would have resulted in the lingering death of the whole population. and this is not the worst. in a neighbouring town, halluin, commandant schranck caused a declaration to be read to the assembled notables which stated that he denied their right to invoke the hague convention, since the german military authorities had determined to enforce the fulfilment of all their demands, "even if a city of , inhabitants had to perish." (_read at halluin, on the th june, at . p.m., to the municipal council and notables of the town of halluin._) gentlemen, what is happening is known to all these gentlemen. it is the conception and interpretation of article of the hague convention which has created difficulties between you and the german military authority. on which side is the right? it is not for us to discuss that, for we are not competent, and we shall never arrive at an understanding on this point. it will be the business of the diplomatists and the representatives of the various states after the war. to-day it is exclusively the interpretation of german military authority which is valid, and for that reason we intend that all that we shall need for the maintenance of our troops shall be made by the workers of the territory occupied. i can assure you that the german authority will not under any circumstances desist from demanding its rights, even if a town of , inhabitants should have to perish. the measures introduced up to the present are only a beginning, and every day severe measures will be taken until our object is obtained. this is the last word, and it is good advice i give you to-night. return to reason, and arrange for the workers to resume work without delay; otherwise you will expose your town, your families, and your persons to the greatest misfortunes. to-day, and perhaps for a long time yet, there is for halluin neither a prefecture nor a french government. there is only one will, and that is the will of german authority. the commandant of the town, schranck. do you not agree that a cynicism so shameless is a sign of perplexity and an admission of impotence? the germans realize that they are driven to the worst expedients! a host of similar facts might be cited, but it would mean useless repetition. let us rather examine some examples of graphic cynicisms. _photographs and picture postcards._ the germans have published, in their newspapers, photographs representing the population of a village, consisting principally of women, being driven away as prisoners (_berl. ill. zeit._, no. , th september, ); a military observation-post installed by them on the tower of malines cathedral during the siege of antwerp (_berl. ill. zeit_., no. , st november, ); doctors detained as prisoners in germany, contrary to the geneva convention (_berl. ill. zeit._, no. , th april, ); soldiers taken prisoners, whom they are forcing, despite article of the hague convention, to do work directed against their country (_die wochenschau_, no. , ). we find the same effrontery in respect of the conflagrations started by their troops: scharr and dathe, of trèves, have edited and placed on sale, in belgium itself, a series of fifty picture postcards, representing localities which the german army has destroyed by fire. we may mention dinant, namur, louvain, aerschot, termonde; and in belgium, luxemburg, barranzy, etalles, Èthe, izel, jamoigne, musson, eossignol, tintigny. let us add that these photographs commonly show german soldiers and officers striking triumphant attitudes amid the ruins. the most instructive card of this kind which we have seen is one representing general beeger amid the ruins of dinant. to understand the full significance of this card, one must remember that it was this officer who ordered , of the houses of dinant to be burned and of the inhabitants to be massacred. it is surprising that he did not have a few corpses of "francs-tireurs" arranged about him when the photograph was taken--preferably selected from the old men, women, and children at the breast. after the torpedoing of the _lusitania_ they sold in belgium a series of cards entitled _kriegs-errinerungs-karte_, edited by dr. trenkler & co., of leipzig, which pictured the operations of submarines. card no. , of series xxxiii, represents--very inaccurately, by the way--a german submarine stopping the _lusitania_. it is as well to recall the fact that in this disaster more than , non-combatants perished, among them mme. antoine depage, the wife of the well-known belgian surgeon. nothing ought to surprise us on the part of those who prove that every means is good provided it is efficacious. here is what a newspaper, much respected in germany, the _hamburger fremdenblatt_, has to say in its weekly illustrated supplement for the th may, :-- "in the situation in which germany now finds herself, attacked on three sides at once with all the means that cruelty and perfidy can invent, we must not ask ourselves whether a means of defence is permitted or prohibited; but whether it is effectual. all that facilitates the defence must be employed; this is especially true of the submarine war, and consequently of the destruction of the _lusitania_." _alfred heymel on the battle of charleroi._ we have already spoken of the articles of alfred heymel and walter blöm. here are some extracts from an article by the former:-- the battle of charleroi. one regiment of cavalry was detrained near the enemy frontier. for a little while it halted on a manoeuvring ground where the division to which we were to be attached as scouts was to assemble. already many of us were impatient at having to wait longer before marching to the front; we heard the growling thunder of the howitzers of the great fortress near the frontier, around which there had been violent fighting these last few days; we were told of cruelties that made our hair stand on end, committed, in its fury, by a people which had for years been excited against us deeds of cruelty committed against our compatriots, soldiers, civilians, women and children, because of our violation of a neutrality which it had itself violated a thousand times over in advance. on our side we were boiling inwardly to avenge these infamies.... we breathed more freely only when, in our march beyond the frontier, we saw the first houses burned in reprisal; a curé, who had revolted, was hanging from a tree in a neighbouring thicket, swinging at the will of the wind, when at last the noise of battle grew plainer.... (they arrive near charleroi.) the head of one regiment, led by my friend lieutenant s----, trotted forward again, and seized as hostages what civilians it could catch; some to persons, old and young, fat and thin, had to march before or between the lancers; more, this portion of the regiment had received the order from its comrades not to ride too far ahead. something that alarmed me quite particularly, giving me a presentiment of misfortune, was the fact that the wives of these civilians burst into weeping: one red-headed woman, frantic, threw herself down in the road and gave vent to wild screams; others, behind us, their emaciated arms stretched in the air, threatened us, although they were several times assured that so long as nothing was done to us nothing would happen to their husbands, sons, friends, and lovers. all these significant scenes took place in the side streets.... (a volley is fired from a barricade--or a railway crossing the street; it is not clear which.) i saw two or three cavalrymen fall back in front, and with them the hostages fell to the ground; my friend was standing, near his horse. a violent and rapid fire alternated with volleys; we could not escape on either side; naturally we immediately faced about and returned in the direction whence we had come; there was a furious pursuit along the uneven road, with the balls whistling at our backs. the horses fell, one after another.... thus from the advance-guard we had become the rear-guard. we had to consider how we could regain the main body of the troop. in the first place hostages were taken, some curés among them; the cavalry and artillery were no longer marching alone and unprotected, but flanked by the infantry and pioneers; one soon learns when once one has been caught. with great difficulty we again penetrated the streets in the smoke and heat, in the midst of the flames we ourselves had lit; now we continually heard the popping of cartridges, bursting harmlessly, piled up in the houses, and betraying the friendly intention of the ex-inmates![ ]... we learned later, when we had found the uniforms, that two battalions of crack french infantry were distributed everywhere, in order to organize and discipline the fire of the belgian civic guard and the francs-tireurs. the rumour (of marksmen on the neighbouring heights) spread.... i thought i perceived--this chilled my heart, and i still hope i was mistaken--that my cavalrymen, otherwise so brave, did not really feel inclined to go forward; their gait became slower and slower; they continually observed more minutiæ and took a longer time in seizing civilians; in short, i saw the necessity of intervening, at need, against my own troops, the most heart-breaking thing that can happen to you in war. in any case i prepared myself, with a heart full of pain, to face even the abyss of this prospect.... _kunst und künstler_, january (amm. xiii, part ). we must not overlook an article by captain walter blöm, adjutant to general von bissing. herr blöm, who is greatly admired in germany, and whose novels may be seen at this moment on the shelves of the travellers' libraries installed in our railway stations, does not hesitate to declare that the conflagrations at battice and dinant were not intended to punish the population, but to terrorize them (p. ). the article already mentioned, which incidentally describes the shooting of a french hostage, is highly typical. one sees that the death of this man--shot because the french army does not consent to cease its bombardment--does not in the least affect the writer, who finds the conduct of his countrymen quite natural. referring to the systematic pillage effected by the german army, we have already mentioned (p. ) the fact that "war booty" was despatched openly. in this respect, effrontery and impudence have surely nowhere been carried to greater lengths than in the valley of the meuse. all the villas were as a matter of course emptied by the officers; when they were situated close to the banks of the river the furniture, etc., was transported on a little steamer, one of those tourist boats which in summer run between namur and dinant. the boat would stop before each villa, and--without the least attempt to conceal the nature of the proceedings--the pianos, beautiful pieces of furniture, clocks, pictures, etc., were piled on the deck. to cite one case among hundreds, it was thus that the villa of mme. wodon, at davos, was emptied. cynicism and impudence often lend one another mutual support. let us recall, for example, the question of asphyxiating gases. article of the hague convention forbids the employment of poisons. even in the siege of liége our enemies were making use of shells which discharged poisonous gases at the moment of explosion; it was one of them that all but poisoned general leman. it might, however, be supposed that these toxic vapours were the inevitable result of the detonation of the explosives with which the shells were loaded. but in april the germans suddenly began to accuse their adversaries of the use of asphyxiating shells (see the german official communiqués of the th, th, th, and st april). at the same time they made it known that their chemists, far abler than those of france or england, were about to combine substances whose detonation would liberate products far more toxic than those of the enemy's shells. and on the nd april they preceded their attack on the trenches to the north of ypres by a cloud of smoke of a yellowish-green colour, which asphyxiated the french and canadians (see _n.r.c._, th april, , morning). now the falsity of their bragging allegations is obvious. they will not persuade any one to believe that between the th of april and the nd may they had had time to invent the combination of substances capable of giving off toxic vapours, to manufacture them in sufficient quantities, and finally to forward the cylinders to the field of battle. let us add, moreover, that we knew before the end of march--that is, before the accusations made against the french--that the germans were making experiments on a large scale in the aviation camp at kiewit, near hasselt. they were asphyxiating dogs. it may be supposed that they presently realized that they had gone a little too far in their cynicism, for in its issue of the rd may, , _die wochenschau_, commenting on the affair of the nd april, stated that the attack had been "ably seconded by technical means." still, the palm for cynicism goes to the high authorities. what are we to think of baron von der goltz, whose proclamations state that the innocent and guilty will be punished without distinction? (p. ). here we begin to see into the mentality of the germans; swollen with pride, they consider that all things are permitted to them as against a people so uncivilized as the belgians. well, incredible as it may seem, the germans have surpassed themselves in this department. the same action, accordingly as it is performed by them or against them, is denounced as a crime or highly approved. we have already seen this in connection with the bombardment of towns by aeroplanes and dirigibles. what shall we say of the action of the german cavalryman, who, surprised by superior forces, surrendered; but, as he was giving up his arms thought better of it, broke the head of one of his adversaries, and fled. if a belgian or a frenchman had been guilty of such treachery the germans could not have found sufficient terms of abuse to heap upon his head; but as he was a german his action became _ein kühnes reiterstückchen_ (a "bold exploit of a cavalryman"). more--this incident is reported in the first number of the pamphlets of propaganda distributed by order of the german authorities--the _journal de la guerre_. not only do they find no cause for blame in a soldier who has committed so vile an action; they are proud of him, and take pains to celebrate his glory in neutral countries. here are two other examples, bearing on matters of much greater importance. on the th august, , the very day on which they were violating the neutrality of belgium, and were commencing to punish us, at visé, for having dared to resist them, they expressed their satisfaction in the fact that switzerland was scrupulously remaining neutral. m. waxweiler (p. ) calls our attention to this contradiction in their attitude toward the two neutral countries--belgium and switzerland. moreover, they had the impudence to placard their satisfaction in the neutrality of switzerland about the streets of brussels. news published by the german general government. berne, _ th february_.--the representative of the bund has been received in berlin by herr von jagow, secretary of state for foreign affairs, who spoke of switzerland in the most friendly manner. herr von jagow says: the strictly neutral attitude of switzerland has produced the most favourable impression in germany. we take a very keen interest in a neutral, independent, and powerful switzerland. the general government in belgium. while in belgium they burn houses and torture civilians, on the pretext that the latter have fired on them, they congratulate the hungarian peasants who took up arms to defend their country against the russian invader. the contrast here is so obvious that it even struck one german--herr maximilian harden. in an article in _jingoism, a disease of the mind_, he reproaches his compatriots with having two weights and two measures (published in _vorwärts_, august ). they push their effrontery to the point of photographing their own francs-tireurs, so that no doubt may be left in our minds. the _berl. ill. zeit._ of the th march, (p. ), gives a photograph "from the theatre of the war in the carpathians"--"ruthenian peasant employed in the austro-hungarian army to guard roads and telegraph-lines." the peasant, without uniform, carries a rifle. lastly, let us cite a case in which cynicism is allied to pedantry. on the calcined walls of the hôtel de ville of dinant (burned on the rd and th august, ) is a chronogram. the letters are cut in a slab of marble let into the wall facing the meuse. the fire had rendered the inscription illegible, but the commandant of the town, in march , had the slab re-painted black and the letters re-gilt. this is the inscription:-- pax et salvs nevtra litatem servant ibvs detvr. ("may peace and security be granted to those who preserve neutrality.") ( .) herr otto eduard schmidt, returning from the french front by way of dinant, was struck by this inscription. "i could not learn for certain," he says, "by questioning passing soldiers of the landsturm, whether the inscription had lately been placed there or had merely been re-gilt. but in any case, i should regard it an insult to german authority, and i am astonished that this insult should be tolerated" (o. e. schmidt, _eine fahrt zu den sachsen an die front_, p. ). what would herr schmidt say if he knew that it was his own countrymen who, in a fit of shameless cynicism, caused this inscription to be renovated? _surrender of the critical spirit. refusal to examine the accusations of cruelty._ painfully moved by the horrors committed in belgium, m. charles magnet, the national grand master of belgian freemasonry, wrote on the th september to nine german lodges, requesting them to institute, by common consent, an inquiry into the facts. since the germans denied the atrocities of which their troops were accused, and, on the other hand, were accusing the belgians of maltreating the wounded, such an inquiry could only have a happy result. two lodges only replied. "the request is superfluous; this inquiry would be an insult to our army," replied the darmstadt lodge. "our troops are not ill-conducted; it would even be dangerous to recommend them to display sensibility and kindness," replied the bayreuth lodge. the argument may be summarized thus: "we know, as germans, that we possess the truth; it is useless, therefore, to go in search of it with the help of an impartial commission." in a second letter m. magnet commented on these evasions, as contrary to the spirit of brotherhood as to the scientific spirit. let it not be supposed that the refusal to examine, objectively and impartially, the german and the belgian accusations, is peculiar to freemasonry. on the th january, , cardinal mercier requested the german authorities in belgium to set up a commission comprising both germans and belgians, under the presidency of a representative of a neutral country. his request was accorded no reply. thus the germans refuse to allow any light to be thrown on their actions and those of the belgians. why this opposition to a faithful search for the truth? they fear, perhaps, that the truth will be unfavourable to them. that is undoubtedly one of their reasons; but we do not think it can be the only reason; and the principal reason for their refusal is without doubt the voluntary blindness to which they have one and all subjected themselves since the outbreak of the war. they have decided, one would imagine, to accept, without any discussion, whatever is decreed by authority, which they invest with the absolute truth; every german calmly receives that portion of the truth which the government thinks fit to dispense to its faithful, and no german permits himself to ask for more. _magister dixit_: the staff has spoken! since the month of august a strict censorship has been exercised over the press. _vorwärts_ and other socialist sheets have several times been suspended. the _kölnischer volkszeitung_ was suspended on the th september, , for having published articles disposing of at least a part of the so-called belgian atrocities.... and then, apparently, it proceeded to take them for granted; for afterwards it even aggravated the accusations brought against the belgians. the _vossische zeitung_ itself, official as it is, had its issue of the st december, , seized on account of an article on a commission of the reichstag (_n.r.c._, rd december, , evening). at the same time the government was careful to stop all foreign books and newspapers. this prohibition is so strict that dutch working-men going to work in germany are not allowed to wrap their sandwiches in newspaper (_n.r.c._, th december, , evening). in germany even people are beginning to find the censorship a little too strict. before the budget commission of the reichstag herr scheidemann, the socialist deputy, complained that in the district of rüstringen certain of the german official communiqués even were prohibited. the newspapers may not leave blank the spaces caused by the censorship, as the latter must not appear. at strasburg the censorship prohibited the publication of articles dealing with the increased price of milk. at dortmund the socialist newspapers were subjected to a preventive censorship for having inserted an article by the sociologist lujo brentano, one of the "ninety-three," professor at the university of münich (_n.r.c._, th may, , morning). does the german public, knowing that the newspapers publish none but articles inspired by authority, or at least controlled thereby, accept this sophisticated mental pabulum in good part? or does it make an effort to procure foreign publications? one must believe that it does not, for in that case the "intellectuals," better informed, would cease to blindly accept the official declarations. "but," it will perhaps be said, "since the government forbids the introduction of foreign newspapers, it is radically impossible to obtain them." we do not know just how the germans could obtain pamphlets and newspapers, but we do know that in belgium we read prohibited literature every day--french, dutch, and english. any one who does not intend to resign himself to living in an oubliette will succeed, in spite of everything, in opening some chink that the light may shine through; and this light, when we have received it, we hasten to share. it is forbidden, under the severest penalties, including the capital, to introduce newspapers into belgium; it is forbidden, under the same penalties, to publish and distribute "false news," as our masters call it. it makes little difference to us; not an article or book of importance appears abroad but it reaches us, and two days later it is secretly distributed in thousands of copies. there will be a curious book for some one to write when the war is over, on the subject of the strange and ingenious means employed by the belgians, prisoners in their own country since august , to obtain and distribute prohibited letterpress. there is accordingly no doubt that if the germans really wished it they could without great difficulty obtain reliable "documentation." but they do not wish it. they, of late so proud of their critical spirit, who made it their rule, so they professed--and their glory, as was thought--to accept only that which their reason commanded them to believe! they have abdicated their critical faculty; they have sacrificed it to the militarist moloch. and to-day, with eyes closed, they swallow all that the government and its reptile press presents to them. _the abolition of free discussion in germany._ what am i saying? not only are they ready to swallow all the lies offered to them; they have even abolished liberty of speech among themselves. a striking example of this fact was given by the _n.r.c._ (of the th november, , morning edition). dr. wekberg, one of the three editors of a german periodical, the _revue des volksrechts_, retired from his editorship because his colleagues refused to insert an article in which he declared that germany's attitude towards belgium was perhaps disputable. it would be difficult to push intolerance of criticism much farther. in the same connection we may recall the sessions of the reichstag of the th august, , the nd december, , and the th march, . at the first session not a voice protested against the war. at the second, the socialist deputy, dr. karl liebknecht, asked leave to present some objections, which indeed were timid enough; he was at once disowned by his party. on the th march the deputy ledebour permitted himself to criticize the proclamation of marshal von hindenburg, prescribing the burning of three russian villages for any german village burned by the russians. both these deputies expressed the opinion that it is iniquitous to punish the innocent in the place of the guilty. immediately the whole assembly, socialists included, copiously abused and insulted the two speakers. we may remark that herr ledebour was discussing not a strategical measure, but a prescription that was merely inhuman (see _k.z._, th march, , evening). these few examples are enough to show that the socialists lend themselves to militarist domestication with the same docility as the "bourgeois" parties. as for the catholic remnant in the reichstag, its docility surpasses even that of the socialists. in short, all the political parties, without exception, have abdicated their liberty of thought, to accept, obsequiously and without the slightest attempt at discussion, the ready-made opinions provided by authority. such, in germany, is the power of discipline, that all have submitted without protest--one might almost say wantonly--to the voluntary extirpation of the critical spirit. but the inevitable results of this servility were not long in showing themselves; having renounced the employment of reason, the germans now accept the most extravagant lies. _german credulity._ we have remarked that one day a curious book may be written as to the expedients invented by the belgians to obtain news from abroad and to distribute it throughout the country. equally interesting--but how discouraging, from the standpoint of the progressive evolution of the human mind--will be the book containing the amazing examples of credulity afforded by the germans during this war. when speaking of the german accusations against the belgians we cited the case of the rifles collected in the hôtel de ville, which were exhibited to the german soldiers as the irrefutable proof of the official premeditation of the "franc-tireur" campaign (p. ). not only were the soldiers thus deluded. a well-known novelist, herr fedor von zobeltitz, visiting in antwerp a museum of arms, which contained war weapons of the middle ages, cried: "see how belgium made ready for the war!" was he sincere? it is difficult to say, for artists often allow their sensibility to run away with them. one may say the same of the kaiser, who also declared that belgium had long been preparing for the "war of francs-tireurs"; and even, perhaps, of herr bethmann-hollweg, who spoke, in his manifesto to the american newspapers, of gouged-out eyes and other atrocities whose falsity he could very easily have ascertained. news published by the german government. berlin, _ th september_.--the _norddeutsche allgemeine zeitung_ publishes the following telegram addressed by the emperor to president wilson of the united states:-- "i consider it my duty, mr. president, to inform you, in your quality of a most distinguished representative of humanitarian principles, of the fact that my troops discovered, after the capture of the french fortress of longwy, in that fortress, thousands of dum-dum bullets made in special workshops by the government. bullets of the same kind have been found on dead soldiers, or wounded or prisoners, of english nationality. you know what horrible wounds and sufferings are caused by these balls, and that their employment is forbidden by the recognized principles of international law. i therefore raise a solemn protest against such a mode of making war, which has become, thanks to the methods of our adversaries, one of the most barbarous of history. "not only have they themselves employed this cruel weapon, but the belgian government has openly encouraged the civil population to take part in this war, which it had carefully for a long time prepared. the cruelties inflicted, in the course of this guerilla war, by women and even by priests, upon wounded soldiers, doctors, and hospital nurses (doctors have been killed and hospitals fired on) have been such that my generals have finally found themselves obliged to resort to the most rigorous means to chastise the guilty and to prevent the bloodthirsty population from continuing these abominable, criminal, and hateful acts. many villages, and even the city of louvain, have had to be demolished (except the very beautiful hôtel de ville) in the interest of our defence and the protection of our troops. my heart bleeds when i see that such measures have been rendered inevitable, and when i think of the innumerable innocent persons who have lost their homes and their belongings as a result of the deeds of the criminals in question. "wilhelm i.r." the german military government. declaration of the chancellor of the empire to the associated and united press, new york. ... in this way england will tell your compatriots that the german troops have burned and sacked belgian towns and villages, but she will carefully conceal the fact that young belgian girls have gouged out the eyes of wounded men stretched defenceless on the field of battle, that the functionaries of belgian towns have invited german officers to dinner and have treacherously shot them dead at table. contrary to international law, the whole civil population of belgium has been called to arms[ ] and has treacherously risen against our troops with concealed arms and a perfidy incredible after having first of all feigned a friendly welcome. belgian women have cut the throats of german soldiers quartered on them while they slept.... _journal de la guerre_ (an organ of german propaganda). we will suppose, for the time being--to be extremely generous to the kaiser and his chancellor--that they accepted, in good faith, the accusations of cruelty brought against the belgians, and that they carefully refrained from investigating them, so that they should not be forced to recognize their imbecility. _voluntary blindness of the "intellectual._" perhaps it will be objected that the examples hitherto cited emanate chiefly from politicians and literary men, who are not accustomed to exercise their judgment. but there are also the manifestoes of the professorial body, that is, those whose essential mission consists in passing facts and ideas through the sieve of criticism, to isolate the true from the false, and to extract from error the fragment of truth which may have fallen into it. for what is the effect of teaching, of whatever degree, if it is not the constant alertness of the critical spirit, which seeks, in all things and at every moment, to separate that which is true and which should therefore be communicated to the disciple from the medley of false and useless things which may with impunity be abandoned to oblivion? and when the teacher is also a seeker, has he not once more unceasingly to exercise his critical spirit, that he may recognize in the host of ideas which present themselves to him those which may lead him to the desired end--and, once this is attained, those which he may use as a touchstone to test experimentally the validity of these deductions? in short, for the professor and the scientific worker there is no intellectual faculty more indispensable than the critical spirit. now among those who have dashed into the lists to champion, with their pens, the rights of germany, and to crush her adversaries, we must make a quite special mention of the professors and schoolmasters. let us begin with the latter. their principal argument in denial of the barbarous conduct of which the german troops have been accused, is that it would be incompatible with the flourishing condition of the educational institutions of germany. as though elementary education was capable of eliminating from humanity the profound imprints of its intimate mentality! instruction may hide them, as under a veneer, but it can never cause their disappearance. the germans, after sadowa and the war of - , declared that the whole honour of their victories was due to their primary education. "the french campaign is the triumph of the german schoolmaster." those who in belgium have seen the villages devastated by fire and the graves of the civilians shot, and above all the pillaged homes, with furniture and crockery broken into small fragments, and the filthy beds, will carry away the impression that "the belgian campaign is the bankruptcy of the german schoolmaster." _the manifesto of the "ninety-three."_ the famous manifesto of the "ninety-three intellectuals" to the civilized world is only too well known, and has already been so universally execrated, that there is no need to discuss it at length. the reading of this document, which ought to be carefully preserved for the edification of future generations, might almost make us doubt the sanity of the signatories. how could they have imagined that "the civilized world" would accept their affirmations and their denials? both are equally devoid of proof. to cite only one proposition--what are we to think of the amazing declaration that not a single belgian citizen has lost his life or his property--except in the case of the bitterest necessity? have they never seen the train-loads of "war-booty" entering germany? it would certainly be interesting to hear them explain what is the "bitter necessity," under whose empire pianos and pictures have to be carried off from belgium, or that which compels the germans to force the collecting-boxes in the churches, or that which made them shoot father dupierreux for writing in his diary impressions unfavourable to the germans! it would be cruel to insist. the "ninety-three" have already earned, as the first penalty of their evil action, the disgust of the whole world. further dissection of their libel inevitably leads us to the conclusion that the signatories display therein either their lack of intelligence or their servility; and that their only plausible excuse is that they allowed themselves to be carried away by their german pride, the most incommensurable, intolerant, and insupportable which the world has ever known. we will confine ourselves to referring the reader to the principal replies which were made to the manifesto of the "ninety-three." they are those of m. seippel, mr. church, the portuguese academy of sciences, the french academy of inscriptions and belles lettres, the french academy of medicine, the french universities, the zoological society of france, the english "intellectuals," m. ruyssen, m. vandervelde, and _simplicissimus_. there is yet one point to be mentioned. the declaration of the german "intellectuals" was first made known to us by an article in the _kriegs echo_ of the th october, , entitled _es ist nicht wahr_, and giving the whole manifesto, excepting the signatures and the paragraph referring to louvain. well! when we had read this tissue of flagrant lies we attributed it to some journalist who dared not even sign his name to his lucubrations. and when, later, we were told that the authors--or more exactly the signatories--comprised some of the most celebrated writers in germany, we believed the whole thing must be a hoax. but we had to admit the evidence. it was for many of us a very painful moment when our illusions as to the stability of science in germany were thus dispelled. _the manifesto of the , professors._ did the government consider that the representatives of science and art were not yet sufficiently compromised, and that they had not yet sufficiently involved the fate of the universities with that of militarism? in any case, only a few days after the publication of the manifesto of the "ninety-three" a fresh declaration appeared, devoted entirely to the promotion of the solidarity of superior education with the army, and signed by , names, or those of almost all the professors of germany. the mentality of the masters pales before that of the disciples. the brussels correspondent of the _n.r.c._ relates (_n.r.c._, th november, , morning), that of the innumerable soldiers whom he has seen passing, the only ones whose attitude was insolent were young university students of berlin. moreover, the german socialists who visited our _maison du peuple_ avowed that the troops who burned louvain were principally composed of "intellectuals"! besides the intellectuals of the teaching profession and the arts, those "barbarian scholars," as m. emile boutroux calls them, there is another category, which has likewise been mobilized to defend the militarist spirit and the hohenzollern dynasty. this is the clergy: protestant pastors, catholic priests, israelitish rabbis; all without distinction have been touched by the militarist grace and have entered the campaign for the good cause. _the protestant pastors._ honour where honour is due! herr o. dryander, first preacher to the court of berlin, published a collective letter, drafted by himself, herr lahusen, and herr axenfeld, in reply to m. babut's appeal for a declaration from the christians of the belligerent countries, demanding that the war should be conducted conformably with christian principles and the laws of humanity.[ ] herr dryander and his acolytes refuse to entertain the idea that "a step of this nature could be necessary in germany in order that the war shall be conducted conformably with christian ideas and the claims of the most elementary humanity." without cross-examination, without any sort of discussion, they adopt the accusations made against the armies of the allies, and they deny the actions of which the germans are accused. this is, as will be seen, the same method as that of the german freemasons in an analogous case. then they naturally sing the old refrain: "the war has been forced upon germany" (they do not say "by belgium"). in short, there is no need to throw any light on the subject, as there is already light within their minds, and the german mind is of course the only mind one must take into account. the same theologian has published several pamphlets of sermons; _evangelische reden in schwerer zeit_. the general theme remains the same. "we have been compelled to accept war" ( , p. ); "we are fighting for our _kultur_ against the absence of _kultur_--for german morality against barbarism--for the free german personality, attached to god, against the instincts of the disorderly masses" ( , p. ). "if god be for us, who can be against us?"[ ] "now if ever there was a just cause assuredly it is ours" ( , p. ). "war is a duty only when it is undertaken for legitimate defence.... let us thank god that in the present war our state of legitimate defence is so secure and so evident, and that it is almost every day stayed up by fresh proofs; also we have unshakable confidence in our right and in the purity of our conscience" ( , pp. - ). here is a sermon of a somewhat peculiar kind. herr busch, having explained that germany is like a peaceful stroller who suddenly finds himself attacked by two assassins, and then by a third (p. ), declares that "in spite of all the german soldiers love their enemies." "god be thanked," he says, "we have already read of most touching examples in the newspapers. a german sergeant-major, who had been obliged to have a man and woman shot, in belgium, after a council of war, adopted their only child, a little girl of two or three years; for he was himself without children; as his regiment soon afterwards left for eastern prussia, and was passing through his own town, he took the child to give it to his wife" (p. ). pray god--we might add, whose civilization is only belgian--that there are not too many married men without children among the soldiers of the kaiser, for they have a way of making orphans in order to adopt them which would cost our country dear. herr correvon, pastor of the reformed church (french-speaking) in frankfort-on-main, preached a sermon on the th august, , on the text: "if god be for us, who can be against us?" his arguments amount to this: germany, having the right on her side, will have god on her side also. he naturally speaks of "the firm and admirable speech of the chancellor, a man whom i can only compare with a duplessis-mornay, the minister of henri iv" (p. ). then, having summarized the emperor's speech, he cried: "to solve the alarming problem of these social questions ... it needed only the potent gesture with which the god who is always the strong city, the '_feste burg_' of germany, the god of luther, the god of paul gerhard and sebastian bach, has pronounced the terrible and perhaps the liberating word: 'you wish for war, you shall have it'!" we see that from the very first days of the war, before any one could have verified the statements of the chancellor, the protestant pastors of germany, even those of foreign origin, unhesitatingly accepted the official assertions. is it as pastors that they stand forth as the stern defenders of the rights of truth? are they not rather spiritless courtiers, we might almost say like the sheep of panurge? _the catholic priests and rabbis._ the catholic priests have given proofs of equal docility. mgr. the cardinal felix von hartmann, archbishop of cologne, says in _the divine providence_, a pastoral letter read on the th of january, :-- "our warriors have gone forth to the bloody conflict, with god, for king and country! with god, in the conflict which has been forced upon us, the fight for the salvation and the liberty of our dear german land; with god, in the war for the sacred possessions of christianity and its beneficent civilization. and what exploits have not our warriors accomplished, under the protection of god, under the leadership of their wonderful chiefs, the emperor and the german princes, exploits whose glory shall shine in times to come! and more, what precious treasures of devotion, of love for one's neighbour, and of nobility, has not this war revealed, in our country as on the field of battle!" the curate august ritzl, however, falls into the sin of pride. "kultur has received an unheard-of impulse in germany; the human spirit has subjected the most diverse forces of nature.... a glance at the map shows us the german empire as the centre of europe. on all sides, near and far, enemies are intent on the ruin of our country. to the east the giant empire of russia threatens us--to the west, violent france, still strong despite her moral decay--allied with english perfidy and belgian cruelty; japan, serbia, and egypt have also declared war upon us" (pp. - ). well, reverend sir, before proclaiming the cruelty of the belgians, before asserting, from the vantage of the pulpit of truth, that serbia and egypt have declared war on germany, a little circumspection and critical sense would not have been out of place! let us also cite the sermon preached on the th august, in the synagogue of schwerin, by dr. s. silberstein, rabbi of the grand duchy of mecklenburg-schwerin. "they have forced us to put our hand to the sword; we execrate the perfidy with which our enemies are fighting us; we wish to ward off the danger that threatens us in honourable combat." so the jewish rabbis knew as early as the th august that it was germany that had been attacked, and that the other nations were forgers! useless to prolong the series.... we should be only repeating ourselves; for all the preachers, of whatever confession, repeat the same lesson, almost in the same words: "the war which has been forced upon us ... our treacherous enemies ... our loyal allies ... the cruel belgians ... our excellent soldiers, allying goodness to bravery ... our heroic leaders...." b.--untruthfulness. to describe frankly and completely the attitude of the germans in belgium during the present war, without speaking of their duplicity, would be an impossible task; so that the reader must not be surprised that on every page of our record we have pinned down at least one lie. we must not forget that modern germany follows the examples of bismarck, and that bismarck himself proclaimed that he had caused the outbreak of the war of by a skilful falsification of a government despatch. at the time of the centenary of the iron chancellor's birth--the st april, --the german newspapers gave their lyric enthusiasm a loose rein; but none of the endless dithyrambics consecrated to the glorification of the great man contained a single word of blame for the forgery itself--abominable as it was--nor for the ostentatious impudence with which its author confessed it. what honesty can we expect in a people which praises to the skies a forger because he was a forger, and a forger proud of his skill! . a few lies. number of _die wochenschau_ ( , p. ) contains a photograph in which we see sailors loading a gun installed among sand-hills. the inscription underneath (translated from the german) reads: "belgian gun, captured and served by german sailors on the coast of the channel." the channel! the germans have never been there: they did set out, full of enthusiasm, for calais, and then the shore of the channel, and then london. but in that direction they never got farther than lombartzyde, on the right bank of the yser. but they prefer to let it be believed that they command the channel, so they have chosen the channel coast for the site of their gun--on paper. then this "belgian gun" is of a curious type for a piece of belgian artillery; our guns have a rectangular shield, while the shield of the german guns is round--just like that in the photograph! finally, one may ask what the gunners are aiming at on this seashore, with their small gun? certainly not one of the english vessels bombarding the belgian coast, for these lie much too far out to sea; perhaps the germans are amusing themselves by firing shells at the shrimpers, to repeat their memorable exploit of the th september, ? well, that makes three flagrant lies to one single photograph! number of _die wochenschau_ ( ) gives on page a view of the interior of the palais de justice in brussels. here is the description--a french translation is given: "german soldiers in the hall of the assize court in the palais de justice of brussels. brussels having become the seat of the german general government for belgium, has naturally a strong garrison and a very animated military life. the famous palais de justice on the place poelaert also houses a great number of soldiers. nothing is more singular than the picture presented by this imposing and luxurious building with the new inmates in 'campaigning grey' who are installed there. a thousand precautions are taken so that nothing shall be spoiled; and while wherever the enemy has trodden on german soil it will be necessary to work for a long time rebuilding the buildings he has destroyed, no one will perceive, who sees the superb halls of the palais de justice in brussels, that the german soldiers are billeted there." to understand the full beauty of this pleasantry one has only to look at the picture. one sees there the linen which these soldiers are drying on clotheslines stretched across the "luxurious hall"; this, apparently, is one of the "thousand precautions" taken in order that nothing may be spoiled. it was desired to prove that england had already been forced to send marines into france. no. of the _illustrierte kriegs-kurier_, a semi-official, subsidized organ, represents "president poincaré visiting the british forces in france. one sees him reviewing the artillery of the royal marines." and we do see president poincaré passing in front of two ranks of british soldiers armed with rifles. but was it in france that this review took place, during the present war? consult the july number of the french illustrated periodical, _lectures pour tous_, for . on page you will find a photograph entitled "the consecration of the entente cordiale. m. poincaré, accompanied by the prince of wales, reviewing his guard of honour on his arrival at portsmouth ( th june, )." now the same personages and the same soldiers figure in the two photographs; and the surroundings are the same. the only difference is that one photograph was taken a moment later than the other. it seems that trickery of this kind is believed not to be a german speciality. our neighbours accuse the russians and the english of the same fault. but a kind of lie of which germany may boldly claim the paternity and the exclusive monopoly is that which consists in denying, or at least in considerably diminishing, the extent of their acts of vandalism. on the other hand, they try to deceive their readers as to the causes of the destruction of belgian towns. thus they are now trying to make people believe that louvain was not intentionally burned, but that the town suffered a bombardment. this is the legend which they related to dr. sven hedin, while calling his attention to the accuracy of their fire:-- "eleven miles to louvain. once in the town one goes a good way before coming to the first ruins. by no means all louvain has been destroyed by the bombardment, as is imagined. hardly a fifth of the town is destroyed. it is true that this fifth included many precious buildings, which cannot be replaced; particularly regrettable is the loss of the library. in the midst of this destruction, however, like a rock in the midst of the sea, rises the hôtel de ville, the proud jewel of the period of , with its six slender open towers. i went right round the hôtel de ville, and i could not with the best will in the world discover a scratch on these walls, with their prodigal richness of ornamentation. perhaps there may somewhere be a scratch from a shell-splinter which escaped my eyes. thanks to the excellence of the german fire not a single moulding of the six towers has been damaged. the reason for the bombardment of louvain is known. the civil population fired from the windows on the german troops at the time of their entering the town, and as this crime could not be punished otherwise, the houses were burned by bombardment. when the german soldiers sought to extinguish the flames in the houses adjacent to the hôtel de ville the francs-tireurs again fired on them with their carbines. _any other army in the world would have done the same_, and the germans have themselves profoundly regretted that they were forced against their will to resort to such means." (sven hedin, _ein volk in waffen_, p. .) they told the same story at termonde to herren koester and noske: "it is certain," say these gentlemen, "that termonde was not intentionally burned." on the other hand, the germans try to dissemble the extent of the damage inflicted. in the october issue of the official and propagandist _journal de la guerre_ they give a plan of louvain on which the parts destroyed are shown by shading. now this plan is falsified in two ways. in the first place, no distinction is made between the portion built on and that occupied by market gardeners, which is considerable; so that the ratio of the part destroyed to the part left intact is distorted. secondly, this portion is absolutely diminished; many quarters burned are shown as intact; to mention only one example, the old market, where only the college of the josephites and a few adjacent houses have been left standing, is marked as untouched by fire. there is yet another kind of graphic lie which is peculiar to the germans. they are experts at displaying sentimentality to order; a sentimentality, by the way, which goes ill with their incontestable cruelty. thus they have several times published photographs representing german soldiers sharing their bread or soup with french and belgian women or children. one is particularly inclined to let oneself be touched by the kindliness of these german warriors, who, after having been so treacherously attacked by the terrible "francs-tireurs," now take the bread from their own mouths to feed the starving population.... what these public demonstrations of german generosity and magnanimity are worth one may judge from the photograph published in no. of the _illustrierte kriegs-kurier_. (it is interesting to note that it is always the _kurier_, semi-official and subsidized, which bears the palm for sincerity.) the illustration shows that "the soldiers of the german landsturm share their bread with french children." now, this little scene, otherwise very convincing, is not laid in france but in belgium, in the railway station at buysinghen, near hal. it is wholly "faked." this is not the only instance in which the germans have built up scenes to be photographed or cinematographed. here is another. on the th october, , a military band had been playing on the terrace of the botanical gardens of brussels, and some german officers were strolling round the musicians. at the same time a cinematographic camera was set up in the rue royale. it was naturally hoped that large numbers of the public would gather near the band, so that a nice film could be obtained, showing a crowd of belgian citizens present at a military concert, and fraternizing with the german officers. alas, the germans had counted without the hatred which the people of brussels entertain for anything which concerns our oppressors! at the first thumps of the big drum the promenaders rapidly melted away, and the disappointed officers were left alone. the scheme had failed! a fresh attempt was made on the th, on the boulevard anspach, near the bourse; that is, at the busiest spot in brussels. the number of passers-by there is always so great that it is easy to give the impression of a crowd. yet those who had occasion to preside over the unwinding of the film discovered that not a few people were ostentatiously turning their backs upon the musicians. this, by the way, is the favourite attitude of the people of brussels when, at about eleven o'clock each morning, the military band--a true barbarian orchestra--passes down the rue royale and along the park. no. of this semi-official journal shows "the band of the german marines which plays every sunday at zeebrugge." now a street like that represented, with tall contiguous houses and large shops, does not exist in zeebrugge. no. of the same paper (it must certainly justify the government subsidy) shows us, in these photographs, the entry of the german marines into antwerp. only the photographs were taken in brussels, at the corner of the rue de la loi and the rue ducale. the same number contains two photographs of the hôtel de ville, louvain: "before and after the bombardment"(!) naturally our washingtonian enemies do not miss their opportunities of falsifying picture postcards. in january they were selling in belgium a card entitled _kriegsoperationskarte als feld-postbrief_ (published by forkel, stuttgart), according to which they were occupying, in flanders, a region considerably to the west of the yser; their front reaching to oost-dunkerke and poperinghe. another card, showing the country round verdun, is even more flagrantly untruthful. _written lies._ let us pass on to the written lies. the reader will remember the innumerable lies told by the german press respecting the attitude of the belgian population toward the german residents in our towns (p. ), the german wounded (p. ), and the german troops passing through or billeted in them. we shall not return to these again, save to refer to other inventions which the germans employed to excite their troops against ours. not content with accusing us of the most unspeakable crimes against their army, the germans have even accused us of odious crimes against our own countrymen. in this way they seek to prove the bestially ferocious character of the belgians. in the booklet entitled _sturmnacht in loewen_ (a night of alarm in louvain) herr robert heymann, after reminding his readers of the cruelties of which the belgians were guilty in antwerp, brussels, etc., adds that these savage deeds were by no means surprising on the part of a people which does not even respect its own fellow-citizens. then (p. ) he relates the "brutalities committed against a convent." this is too interesting an effort to suffer a word of suppression. brutal attack on a convent. let us hear one of those concerned relate his tribulations. the story constitutes an important document, testifying to the high level of germany as regards morality and _kultur_: germany, who has something better to do in this war than to commit any bloodthirsty action. a great mission has fallen to germany, and the day is no longer distant when all the neutral nations will realize this. this is the "story of the brothers of silence." the convent of the jesuits is situated quite close to liége, on a hill about yards from the southern fort (_a_). i had been a brother of the convent for two years. we brothers do not read the newspapers, and by reason of our vow of silence (_b_) we do not speak either, so that we knew nothing about the war. on tuesday, the th august, i, simultaneously with seven other brothers, took the watch from noon to midnight. in the night, at . , i suddenly heard a sound completely unknown to me. i went out into the courtyard, whence, to one side, i could see liége and its forts. i saw, at some distance, in the sky, a little light; this told me that the thing was in the air. i intended to pursue my rounds, but the snoring sound which was approaching, although the life of the world has no interest for me, made me halt. the light came nearer and nearer; the noise had ceased. the idea occurred to me that this might be a dirigible; but no, all of a sudden a blinding light illumined the earth. it is the star of the magi, announcing something, i thought; i will follow it with my eyes. in the radiance down below i saw everything plainly--portions of the fortress and other things. then, lit up by reflection from the illuminated earth, i saw that there really was a powerful dirigible there (_c_). i felt inclined to shout for joy; i had never yet seen a dirigible. the light lasted only a few seconds, but to me it seemed a long time. my eyes were not yet accustomed to the darkness of the night, when i heard a crash. i looked up to the sky; i saw nothing; the little light was quietly moving away; but down below there was plenty to see--fire, and smoke! in the light i could easily see everything. i also heard the echo. i had not had time to recover from my great alarm when a second light appeared on the earth, rather close to me. this time i could see still more clearly that it was a dirigible. it seemed to me that at the end of a long cable was suspended, very low down, a metal car, in which stood a man. i saw him distinctly with his two hands throwing an object into the illumined part. immediately afterwards the light on the ground disappeared. i continued, however, to gaze at the same spot. a mighty sheaf of fire gushed up, while great blocks were thrown into the air on every side. what a terrible crash! my ear-drums seemed broken; i was as though deaf. the earth trembled so violently underfoot that i staggered. greatly alarmed, i still watched the same place. the blinding sheaf of fire had turned into a dense mass of smoke, which was rising slowly into the air. little by little it grew lighter, like a white vapour. finally the vicinity lit up as though on fire. i tried to note whether the fire was spreading, when i was shaken by a fresh crash. this terrible spectacle repeated itself continually, but was gradually moving away. from . to midnight bombs were thrown on the forts. in the interval of the explosions one heard the snoring of the motors. after the last explosion the dirigible rose, moved off, and disappeared. i remained with my eyes fixed in the same direction; the clock of the convent struck midnight. the seven brothers who had been keeping the watch and i myself remained in the courtyard with those who came to relieve us. no one could think of sleep. the other brothers and the fathers (we were ) remained indoors, watching the burning fortress from the windows. as i was no longer on guard i went to seek a ladder, and in order to see better i climbed a wall situated a little farther down, and some feet high. i remained there until four o'clock. about two o'clock there began, down below in the city, a sound of isolated rifle-shots, and shouts which soon grew louder and louder. at last an infernal uproar reached my ears, and numerous fires broke out in that part of the city neighbouring on the convent. at four o'clock the bell called us to the church. it was an extraordinary thing: despite our alarm we all remained obedient to our vow of silence. we must not speak! but it became a real torment, for our devotions lasted for two long hours. by the shock of the explosions the beautiful stained-glass windows were bent inwards like sails swollen by the wind. the walls of stone, nearly feet in thickness, which surrounded the courtyard, showed long, deep fissures. when at a.m. we left the church the shots and the shouting were still more terrible, and the fires more numerous and farther towards the interior of the town. as usual, the porter opened the gate at six. how alarming! hundreds of belgians from the neighbourhood rushed into the courtyard. as we feared the convent might be sacked (_f_), the porter attempted at first to drive them back. a brother said: "go! you shall have all you want!" the misguided populace immediately seized knives and killed of our brothers and one father. i myself rushed to the bell in the courtyard and rang the alarm. armed with pitchforks and manure-forks and spades (_g_), the brothers rushed into the courtyard and drove out the mob. two brothers, who during the fight were carried away in the crowd, were discovered hacked to pieces, mangled as though by wild beasts. their bodies were a dreadful sight. a belgian brother, hearing the alarm, seized a fork, and so armed he rushed towards the gate, thinking to fight german soldiers. when he saw that his assailants were his compatriots he turned his arms against us, his brothers, shouting like a madman: "you are mad, you are mad!" after a brief struggle the fork was torn away from him. he was seized and thrown over the wall. he had turned his arms against his brothers; but above all he had broken his vow of silence. the fight had lasted barely a quarter of an hour. after the gate was closed--at . , our usual breakfast hour--we assembled in the refectory for our meal. despite these extraordinary events i was extremely hungry. we now felt safe. but when, after the twenty minutes which our meal lasted, we returned to the courtyard, we saw that the belgian brutes had in two places set fire to the convent. they had dragged our corn and hay under the wood-shed which stood not far from the convent; they had also pushed carts loaded with corn in the shock against the buildings and outhouses (_g_), and had set fire to the whole. the flames were already reaching the gable. it was no use dreaming of saving anything, for all the buildings were connected with one another. this was a sore trial. but it could not break our vow of silence, and, doubly mute, we watched the flames. our sorrow found vent in tears when we saw our superior burst into sobs. he came into our midst; as all the fathers may speak, he said aloud: "go and save what you can!" and we carried out his orders. rapidly we telephoned to the belgian authorities at liége to obtain help and protection. but to our great alarm _german soldiers_ appeared at this moment. as germany does not allow us jesuits within her frontiers, we were extremely anxious. on account of the presence of the german troops we wanted to carry back into the convent the precious treasures already brought into the court; but the leader of the german troops explained to our superior that this portion of liége was already in the hands of the germans. we therefore placed ourselves under their protection. we had no reason to regret it. the german escort came with eight automobiles, which bore our inestimable treasures into germany; paintings, which in our haste we cut from their frames and rolled like paper; our sacred golden vessels, and our fathers (_h_). in great haste we had dug a huge ditch, in which, without religious ceremony and without words, we buried our assassinated brothers and the father who was killed. while the fire continued to burn the hundreds of brothers remaining ran hither and thither in unspeakable disorder, seeking their clothes and shoes. i had wooden shoes on and could not find shoes to fit me; but i saw, to my great amazement, four pairs of shoes in my box. everything was stuffed into the boxes and forced down with the feet, in all haste. so, on saturday (_i_), at dawn, brothers left the still smoking convent to cross the german frontier. for three hours each painfully dragged along what modest belongings he had saved. one old brother of eighty years remained behind; he declared, when abandoned: "i wish to die here." although the german soldiers protected us as we proceeded, the belgian people still attacked us frequently. i received violent kicks, blows on the legs, and all over my body. for two nights none of us slept, and in addition we were greatly perturbed and in terrible trouble. when, after unheard-of exertions, we dragged ourselves across the frontier, we let ourselves fall exhausted in a meadow, where we slept, a leaden slumber, protected and watched by the germans, from morning to sunset. (robert heymann, _sturmnacht in loewen_, pp. - .) as will be seen, this is a story to make the flesh creep. still, it seems to us to present certain difficulties. (_a_) there is no convent of jesuits near liége about yards from one of the southern forts (boncelles, embourg, and chaudfontaine). (_b_) the jesuit brothers are _not_ compelled to keep silence. no doubt the author chose the jesuits because the order is excluded from germany, so that he would expect his compatriots to know nothing of the rule of the jesuit communities. (_c_) how did these brothers, who read no newspapers and never spoke, know of the existence of dirigibles? but apart from all this, the facts are incorrect. at no time did a dirigible fly over liége during the siege. the people of liége saw a german dirigible for the first time on the st september, , at p.m. on the following day, at p.m., they saw another. (_d_) therefore fires could not have been lit by the bombs from these dirigibles. (_e_) where have stained-glass windows ever been seen to bulge like sails under the shock of an explosion capable of cracking walls over inches in thickness? (_f_) nothing had happened so far to give any one the idea that the convent was about to be pillaged. (_g_) since when have the jesuit convents owned farms, etc., or been equipped with hay-forks, manure-forks, spades, hay-carts, etc.? (_h_) it is delightful to note that in enumerating the precious possessions of the convent the jesuit fathers occupy the very last place, after the pictures and the gold plate! but this impertinence is more apparent than real; for the narrator has just stated that the jesuit fathers were packed, together with the pictures and the sacred vessels, in _eight_ motor-cars! evidently they were very tiny jesuits. it must have been their minuteness that saved them; for the author has reminded us that jesuits (of ordinary size) are not admitted into germany; but these, happily, passed unperceived. (_i_) it was not saturday, but friday. it is by such inventions--presented as the narratives of eye-witnesses, and not as romances--that the germans excite against us both their troops and their home population. the method has given excellent results; nothing gives better proof of its efficiency than the first paragraph of the story of _the battle of charleroi_, in which we read that at the beginning of august many trucks passed through belgium which bore the inscription:-- _gegen frankreich mit mut, gegen belgiën mit wut._ (against france with courage; against belgium with rage.) which shows to what a pitch the minds of the german troops had been excited against us. _a "french dirigible" captured by the germans._ other inscriptions on the railway carriages and vans are not uninteresting to the student of _kultur_. on the th march, , we learned from ocular witnesses that a german dirigible was lost, on the th, at overhespen, near tirlemont. _la belgique_ of the th march contained a few details. brussels, _ th march_ (official).--the zeppelin dirigible l , returning yesterday from a fruitful voyage of exploration, came to earth in the darkness near tirlemont, and, during the process of landing, struck against some trees. it was rather seriously damaged, so that it seemed preferable to dismantle it. the operation was completed very rapidly by the soldiers of the aviation department of brussels, who were despatched to the spot. the dismantled parts will be transported to germany, there to be rebuilt. in reality the "rather serious damage" meant that the balloon was completely destroyed, and that twenty of the twenty-eight occupants of the cars were killed. so far we would not describe the report as a lie, as it does not exceed the habitual limits of our enemies' official telegrams. but this goes a little too far: at tirlemont the report was spread that the dirigible in question was french, and that it was skilfully captured by german troops; and on the trucks which bore the metallic remains of the zeppelin to germany was written, in large letters: _erobertes französisches luftschiff_ (captured french airship). this is no longer a manipulated truth, but a downright lie. _the transportation of the german dead._ here is another fraud of the same kind. when the number of the german dead is too great for burial on the field of battle they evacuate the surplus into other districts. the bodies are usually transported in closed vans. but sometimes these are lacking, and the bodies have to be packed into goods wagons. nothing outside indicates the contents of these wagons; it may be supposed that the authorities have no desire to publish the extent of their losses. for this reason the corpses are always hidden under something else; one sees passing, for example, what appears to be a trainload of sugar-beet, but in reality the bodies of soldiers are being transported. a biologist might call this an interesting case of protective mimicry. _some lying placards._ the german authorities have no scruples about posting up false news. for several weeks one might read, on the walls of the hôtel de ville at vilvorde, the following placard:-- notice. antwerp surrendered to-day with its army. the district commandant. (signature illegible.) vilvorde, _ th october, _. with its army! when the germans were all crestfallen at having laid hands on an empty nest! this is merely grotesque; but here are three placards which belong to the system of intimidation _à outrance_. we have already stated (p. ) that placards exhibited in louvain stated that the town of mons was forced to pay a fine because a civilian had fired on the german army. now the fact was wholly imaginary; never did any civilian of mons fire on the germans; never did they accuse one of having done so; so that they never had occasion to fine the town on that account. all is false here, from the first word to the last. while at louvain they were posting up the placard relating to mons, they were exhibiting at mons a notice according to which certain inhabitants of soignies had fired on the german troops. this also was a sheer falsehood. no such action was imputed to any inhabitant of soignies. at charleroi they advertised the statement that they had inflicted a penalty on anderlues for a similar offence. here, once more, both accusation and penalty were pure inventions. here is an equally untruthful placard. it was posted up at cugnon (luxemburg) early in october, , between the fall of the first forts at antwerp and the taking of the city. it announces the destruction of the line of forts between verdun and toul, and the march on paris (a month after the battle of the marne!). its principal interest lies in the signature: the burgomaster did not know of the placard until it was posted; the military authorities had simply forged his name. this did not prevent them from forcing the commune of cugnon to pay for the printing of these lies. _m. max's denial._ the most interesting example of lying by placard is undoubtedly that which was revealed by the burgomaster of brussels. on the th august one might read, on the walls of the capital, a notice in which m. max gave the lie to a placard posted at liége. this is it:-- city of brussels. the german governor of the city of liége, lieutenant-general von kolewe, yesterday had the following notice exposed:-- _to the inhabitants of the city of liége._ "the burgomaster of brussels has informed the german commandant that the french government has declared to the belgian government the impossibility of assisting it offensively in any way, as it is itself forced to assume the defensive." _to this assertion i oppose the most positive denial._ the burgomaster, adolphe max. brussels, _ th august, _. since their burgomaster declared the assertion to be false, no doubt could remain in the minds of the people of brussels. but, curiously enough, beside m. max's placard there remained a german placard, which had been posted two days earlier, and in which it was stated:-- on the th inst. the official french newspapers published a communication from the french government stating that the french armies being forced to assume the defensive would no longer be in a position to assist belgium in the matter of a military offensive. brussels, _ rd august, _. the only serious difference between the two texts was that at liége the burgomaster of brussels guaranteed the truth of the _communiqué_. so the impression was given that it was herr von kolewe who had the idea of bringing m. max's name into this ridiculous statement, in the hope of giving it some weight. but no! von kolewe was innocent of the forgery; it was the work of the german general staff, and was distributed by the wolff agency, as we learned a little later. the liége _communiqué_ is precisely the official german telegram as published everywhere--for example, in _les nouvelles_, "published by the authorization of the german military authority," at spa, on the th august, ; by the _n.r.c._, on the th august; by the _k.z._ (see _kriegs-depeschen_, p. ); and by the _frankfurter zeitung_ (see _der grosse krieg_, p. ). what, then, is the meaning of the first telegram posted in brussels--that of the th august, in which no mention of the burgomaster occurs? simply this: the german government was announcing to the whole world an item of "news" whose improbability required to be supported by the word of an honest man, such as the burgomaster of brussels. a lie so gross and flagrant might be published at liége, but not in brussels itself. unfortunately the germans had not succeeded in cutting off communication between liége and brussels; on the day after its appearance the liége placard had reached m. max, and he was able to issue his famous denial. the effect was tremendous. from that moment the people of brussels no longer believed any "official news."[ ] did the germans make any attempt to reply to the denial? none: why attempt the impossible? but they prohibited, with their usual heaviness, the publication of any placards, even by the municipality. important notice. the publication of placards, unless they have received my special permission, is strictly prohibited, those of the municipality of the city being included. (_signed_) von lÜttwitz, _general_. translated into the vulgar tongue this means: "when we germans lie we do not wish attention called to the fact." _how the officers lie to their men._ hitherto we have considered only those german lies which were addressed to the belgians. but there are better lies than these: they lie to their own troops. at the outset of the invasion of belgium the german soldiers were led to believe that they were already in france, quite close to paris, even in october and november . germans in cantonments near roulers, in flanders, believed that they were only eight miles from paris, and they used to ask the correspondent of the _nieuwe rotterdamsche courant_ to show them "a place they could see the eiffel tower from." this, it may be said, proves that in all armies there are soldiers of small intelligence, even in the german army. no: it proves that in this latter army the officers lie with method. you may judge. the soldiers tended in the hospital of the palais de justice in brussels used to date their letters "paris"; and it was by order of their superior officers that they deceived their families. the official journal, _deutsche soldatenpost_, in its issue for the th october, , contains a little poem entitled "hindenburg," whose third stanza commences: _vor paris aber steht das deutsche heer..._ (but the german host stands before paris.) this, be it noted, on the th october, more than a month after the battle of the marne. about the same time a soldier in antwerp learned from his officers that if the german army had not yet entered paris it was merely to avoid the plague, which was raging there (_n.r.c._, th october, , morning). after that, who can doubt that systematic lying forms part of the duties of an officer towards his men? . perseverance in falsehood. nothing is left to chance in the campaign of lies any more than in the military campaign proper. the great general staff organizes everything with the same care--the attacks of "francs-tireurs," the benzine syringes, the pastilles of fulminating cotton employed in the rapid starting of conflagrations--just as it organizes the manoeuvres of the press intended to direct the mentality of the troops towards a policy of pitiless repression. they even try to educate (which means, to pervert the minds of) the prisoners of war in their concentration camps. thus in no. of _la guerre_, a journal especially intended for prisoners of war (published the th march, ), a passage is reproduced from the "records of the war," by houston stewart chamberlain. here is an extract: "finally, one should read the notices on the detestable attitude of the civil population of belgium, of both sexes, in the present war: notices officially confirmed and attested in writing by several priests: according to which the populace, behaving a hundred times worse than ferocious beasts, have horribly mutilated and gouged out the eyes of poor wounded german soldiers, afterwards slowly stifling them by pouring sawdust into their nose and mouth." it will perhaps be objected that those who write of such things are blinded by the militarist spirit; that they have, like everybody in germany, abolished in themselves the critical faculty; and that they do not even dream of disputing the statements of the official journals; in short, that they do not, properly speaking, lie, because they are sincere. but can they really be sincere? could they, on the th march, pretend that they still believed that the belgians gouge out the eyes of wounded men and choke them to death with sawdust when _vorwärts_ had succeeded in getting at the truth, and had been protesting against these lies since the month of january? besides, the germans know their own "reptile" press, and they ought to realize that their newspapers do not merit credence, least of all in time of war. but even if we absolve these writers of the crime of lying, to accuse them of nothing worse than inconceivable credulity, we cannot on any pretext extend the same indulgence to those who are incontestably in a position to know the truth. to cite only one example--is it not shameful that baron von bissing the younger should publish _in april _, in the _süddeutsche monatshefte_, an article on belgium in which he repeats the accusations against the "francs-tireurs," and the tales of belgians mutilating the german wounded? and what are we to say of the reply made by the german minister of war to mlle. leman according to which the german troops have never ill-treated priests (p. ), nor touched the property of the church? a visit to bueken (near louvain) gives the reply to this twofold assertion. in may one could still see, in the sacristy, the muniment chest which had contained the sacred vessels; it had been broken open by the germans with the aid of a bell-clapper. as for the curé, m. de clerck, we know what he suffered; he was shot after his ears and nose were cut off. with the curé his assistant was killed: father vincentius sombroek, a conventual, born at zaandam, in holland.[ ] the picture-postcard has, of course, not been forgotten. the germans had on sale in brussels, for their soldiers, a coloured card of _the uhlans_ _before paris_. it shows groups of german cavalrymen contemplating paris and the eiffel tower. this card is published by r. and k., and bears the number . this same firm fabricated some remarkable cards relating to the military operations in belgium. no. represents the bombardment of antwerp. it shows the city in flames, seen from the tête de flandre, and it also shows guns installed in the same locality. now the germans never had guns on the left bank of the scheldt. no. shows the bombardment of namur by means of guns firing from jambes, which again is incorrect. these cards, it should be noted, were still being sold in june ; that is, when every one knew that these pictures were "faked." _the germans' treatment of mgr. mercier._ there are other examples of continuity of falsehood than those relating to violations of the hague convention and the treaty of london ( ). for example, a long series of lies was directed against one single individual--mgr. mercier, cardinal-archbishop of malines, primate of belgium. the facts are so well known that there is no need of lengthy comment. . mgr. mercier went to rome for the conclave. we learned in belgium, by a placard dated the th september, that the cardinal was returning to his country "with a safe-conduct, passing through the german lines." _a lie._--the cardinal never had any german safe-conduct. he returned to belgium by way of lyons, paris, havre (where he delivered a speech), london, and holland. . during his stay in rome the cardinal made declarations very unfavourable to the germans. a placard of the th september, , assured us that he protested against the interview in the _corriere della sera_. _a lie._--the _corriere della sera_ is a neutral journal (in the sense that the belgian _le soir_ is neutral), and the germans wished to produce the impression that the cardinal had been interviewed by a correspondent of this newspaper. now he was interviewed by the editor of the catholic journal, the _corriere d'italia_. this is merely one of the "errors" of cardinal von hartmann's rectification. the whole is in keeping with this; but it is too long to consider in detail. . baron von der goltz, at the moment of leaving belgium, of which he had been governor-general, thought fit to assert that he had come to an agreement with mgr. mercier as to the reopening of the courses in the university of louvain (_le réveil_, st december, ). _a lie._--there was never any question of resuming these courses. . the cardinal published his famous pastoral letter, which was sent to all the churches of his diocese, to be read from the pulpit. it recalled the present sufferings of the country, and adjured belgians to "remain faithful to their king and their laws." directly the germans, informed by their spies, knew of the existence of this pastoral letter they withdrew cardinal mercier's authorization to visit the other bishops in his motor-car. at the same time they forbade the curés to make the letter known to their parishioners; they even proceeded to seize the pamphlet in the presbyteries. naturally the priests refused to obey the german injunctions, and the beginning of the _mandamus_ was read from the pulpit on sunday, the rd january, . the germans were furious, and forbade the curés to continue the reading of the letter; and, the more readily to obtain their submission, showed them a german declaration, signed by von bissing, of which this is the translation:-- brussels, _ th january, _. to the clergy of the diocese of malines. as a result of my remarks, cardinal mercier of malines has declared to me verbally and in writing that he had no intention of exciting or alarming the population by his pastoral letter, and he had not expected any such effect. that he had particularly insisted on the necessity of obedience on the part of the population towards the occupier, even if a patriot should inwardly feel in a state of opposition. in case i should nevertheless fear an exciting effect, the cardinal did not insist on requiring of his clergy the repeated reading of the pastoral letter on the succeeding sundays, provided for in the conclusion of the letter, nor the distribution of the letter. my hypothesis has proved correct. i therefore repeat my prohibition of the nd january of this year, concerning the reading and the diffusion of the pastoral letter. i draw the attention of the clergy to this point--that they will be acting in contradiction to the written declaration of their cardinal in disobeying his prohibition. baron von bissing, _colonel-general_. _governor-general in belgium._ _a lie._--this declaration is false. mgr. evrard, dean of st. gudule in brussels, went to see mgr. mercier at malines, and obtained proof of the falsehood. he at once warned all the curés of brussels and the district of the manoeuvre, and on sunday, the th january, the reading of the letter was resumed. brussels, _ th january, _. monsieur le curÉ,-- i have returned from malines. despite the written prohibition received yesterday, his eminence the cardinal wishes his letter to be read. this written prohibition is cunning and spurious. "neither verbally, nor in writing, have i withdrawn anything, nor do i now withdraw anything of my previous instructions, and i protest against the violence done against the liberty of my pastoral ministry." that is what the cardinal dictated to me. he added: "they have done everything to make me sign mitigations of my letter; i have not signed them. now they seek to separate my clergy from me, by forbidding them to read it. "i have done my duty; my clergy know if they will do theirs." accept, m. le curé, the homage of all my respect. (_signed_) e. evrard, _dean_. . baron von bissing published in the newspapers a _communiqué_ stating "that no hindrance of any kind had been put in the way of the exercise of the pastoral duties of the cardinal-archbishop." _a lie._--the cardinal contradicted this assertion in a latin letter addressed to his clergy. mechliniae, _dominica infra octavam epiphaniae_. reverendi admodum domini et cooperatores dilectissimi,-- habuistis, ut puto, prae oculis nuntium a gubernio generali bruxellensi publicis ephemeridibus propalatum, quo declarabatur "cardinalem archiepiscopum mechliniensem a munere suo ecclesiastico libere adimplendo nullatenus fuisse impeditum." quod quam a veritate alienum sit, e factis elucet. milites enim, vespere diei primae januarii necnon per totam noctem insequentem, domus presbyterales invaserunt, litteras pastorales e manibus parochorum vel arripuerunt vel arripere conati sunt frustra, easque ne populo fideli praelegeratis, etiam sub poenis gravissimis, vobis metipsis aut parochiae vestrae infligendis, auctoritate episcopali despecta, prohibuerunt. nec dignitati nostrae pepercere, die namque secunda januarii orto nondum sole, hora scilicet sexta, jusserunt me, die eadem matutina, coram gubernatore generali, epistolae meae ad clerum et populum rationem reddere; die autem postero, laudibus vespertinis in ecclesia cathedrali antverpiensi praeesse me vetuerunt; tandem, ne alios belgii episcopos libere adeam, prohibent. jura vestra, cooperatores dilectissimi, et mea, violata fuisse, civis, animarum pastor et sacri cardinalium collegii sodalis, protestor. quidquid praedixerint alii, experientia nunc compertum est nullum ex epistola illa pastorali enatum esse seditionis periculum, sed eam potius animarum paci et publicae tranquillitati haud parum adjumento fuisse. vobis de officio fortiter et suaviter impleto gratulor, cui animo virili et pacifico, fideles estote memores verborum illorum quibus mentem meam plane et integre jam expressi: "soyes à la fois et les meilleurs gardiens du patriotisme, et les soutiens de l'ordre public." caeterum, "spiritu sitis ferventes, domino servientes, spe gaudentes, in tribulatione patientes, orationi instantes, necessitatibus sanctorum communicantes."[ ] ne mei, quaeso, obliviscamini in observationibus vestris, nec vestrum obliviscar; arcto fraternitatis vinculo conjuncti, unanimes antistitem, clerum et populum fidelem commendemus domino, "ut et quae agenda sunt, videant, et ad implenda quae viderint, convalescant."[ ] vobis in christo addictissimus, d. j. card. mercier, _archiepisc. mechl._ expostulatur à r^{do} admodum d^o decano relatio de iis quae in parochiis decanatus evenerunt. n.b.--non desunt in dioecesi clerici qui vestibus laïcis ad tempus usi sunt. jam nunc habitum clericalem resumant omnes. (_s._) d. j. [_translation._] malines, _the sunday of the octave of the epiphany_. very reverend gentlemen and well-beloved colleagues,-- you have, i think, had sight of the message from the general government of brussels, published in the newspapers, in which it is declared that "the cardinal archbishop of malines has in no manner been prevented in the free performance of his ecclesiastical office." the facts will show that this assertion is contrary to the truth. as a matter of fact, on the evening of the st january, and during the whole of the night, soldiers entered the presbyteries and took from the priests, or vainly endeavoured to take, the pastoral letter, and, in contempt of episcopal authority, forbade you to read it to the assembled faithful, under the threat of extremely severe punishment which would be inflicted on yourselves or on your parish. even our dignity was not respected. for on the nd of january, before sunrise even, that is, at six o'clock, i was ordered to present myself on the morning of that same day before the governor-general, to justify my letter to the clergy and the people; on the following day i was forbidden to preside at benediction in the cathedral of antwerp; lastly, i was forbidden to visit the other belgian bishops. as a citizen, a pastor of souls, and a member of the sacred college of cardinals i protest that your rights, well-beloved brothers, and my own, have been infringed. whatever has been pretended, experience has proved that no danger of sedition has resulted from this pastoral letter, but rather that it contributed greatly to the peace and tranquillity of the public. i congratulate you with having accomplished your duty firmly and harmoniously. remain devoted to it with a manly and peaceable heart, recalling those words in which i have already fully and entirely expressed my thought: "be at once the best guardians of patriotism and the supporters of public order." moreover: "be fervent in spirit; serving the lord; rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; distributing to the necessities of the saints."[ ] do not forget me, i beg you, in your supplications; neither will i forget you. all together, closely united by the bond of brotherhood, let us recommend the bishop, the clergy, and the faithful "that they may behold their duty and be strong to fulfil it."[ ] yours very faithfully in christ, d. j. cardinal mercier, _archbishop of malines_. the very rev. the deans are begged to report what has happened in the parishes of their deanery. n.b.--members of the clergy have for a time worn civil clothing. let all now resume their ecclesiastical clothing. . on sunday, the rd january, , the cardinal did not go to antwerp, as he had intended. the germans announced in the newspapers--in _l'avenir_ (antwerp), for example--that the cardinal's absence was voluntary. _a lie._--they had forbidden mgr. mercier to leave malines. * * * * * we have mentioned that while these things were happening the clergy continued to make the pastoral letter known in all the churches, except in those cases where the germans had succeeded in subtracting the copies of the letter. but even there the reading of the letter was resumed after a brief interval, when fresh impressions of the letter had been printed and distributed all over the country. this propaganda was, of course, secret; an official _communiqué_ published at namur, on the th january, , leaves no doubt as to that. it threatens the infliction of severe punishment on those who should distribute this document. to give some idea of the activity with which the pastoral letter was distributed throughout belgium, we may mention that we know of twelve different editions in french and two in flemish; there are, moreover, at least two typewritten editions. each impression numbered thousands of copies; of one single edition the germans seized , copies! we may add that a german translation also has appeared, but this is _ad usum germanorum_. the interesting passages are suppressed. the pastoral letter was not without results in rome. the belgian colony there organized a mass for the priests put to death in belgium, a list of whom was given by the cardinal. the organ of the vatican, the _osservatore romano_, translated "put to death" by _caduti_, "fallen." this vague term might allow it to be supposed that the priests had fallen on the field of battle, not that they were assassinated by the german troops. the german newspapers were jubilant. the _kölnische volkszeitung_, one of the leading catholic organs in germany, edited by herr julius bachem, published an article to show that the holy see had not been duped by the tricks of the belgians, and refused to credit the tale of priests put to death by the germans (see _het vaderland_, st march, , nd sheet, evening). the _düsseldorfer anzeiger_ also contained a long and far-fetched article in its issue of the th january. . the organization of propaganda. with the methodical spirit which they boast of possessing, the germans have from the outset of the war created bureaux for the propagation of the "german idea" throughout the world. some of these organizations of propaganda have for their province the neutral countries, among which, in the first rank, are the united states, the scandinavian countries, italy, holland, and switzerland. others deal with the occupied countries, or enemy countries, through the intermediary of prisoners of war and civil prisoners. finally, there are those that deal with germany and her allies. if we add to the bureaux of propaganda situated in germany, and operating thence, those established and operating in foreign countries, we shall begin to understand the power of expansion and penetration possessed by such instruments in the hands of unscrupulous people. again, we must reckon not only with the official or semi-official propaganda, devoid of the mercenary spirit, whose only object is the triumph of germany. there are a number of publishing concerns which pursue the same objects. besides her printed propaganda, germany makes use of other means, apparently accessory and occasional, but whose effects may become very appreciable; visits of german scholars and german politicians, especially socialist politicians; letters written by germans to friends or relations abroad; inquiries addressed to the scholars of neutral countries; promises made to notable persons, in the hope of obtaining their co-operation. one word before examining the working of these organizations. should we really classify them under the heading of "falsehoods"? after what we have said of the methods of the german press, and the mentality of the german rulers, no one will hesitate, we fancy, as to the place which falsehood must be accorded in this propaganda. but so that no doubt shall remain in the reader's mind, we will give a few quotations from the propagandist literature relating to belgium. (_a_) _propagandist bureaux operating in germany._ the most important of the propagandist pamphlets appearing in germany is a monthly publication. it is known, in french, as the _journal de la guerre_. we know it also in german and in dutch; probably it is translated into yet other languages. each number consists of to pages, and contains general information, a chronicle of the war, photographs and drawings, tales of the battles, etc. ... in short, everything that can influence the public opinion of neutral countries. in almost every number is an article tending to prove that germany was forced, for reasons of self-defence, to invade belgium; that belgium, moreover, had violated her own neutrality in advance; that the belgians amply deserve their fate, on account of their wicked treatment of wounded men (gouging out their eyes, etc.). we have already mentioned the _journal de la guerre_ with reference to a "faked" map of louvain. * * * * * the _journal de la guerre_ published an article by herr helfferich on a journey through belgium, undertaken in september . it is teeming with inaccuracies, but it would be waste of time to refute them all. we will confine ourselves to the first sentence, which states that the burgomaster of battice has been shot. now, this is untrue: the burgomaster of battice, m. rosette, who has filled his office for many years, is in excellent health, and is still living in battice. another publication--_la guerre--journal périodique paraissant durant la guerre de - _--is intended for prisoners of war. the best method of impressing the prisoners is assuredly to show them that in their own country people are already beginning to realize the indisputable superiority of germany. so _la guerre_ frequently publishes articles reprinted from _la gazette des ardennes_; only it forgets to mention that _la gazette des ardennes_ is a newspaper established, edited, and printed exclusively by germans, since the occupation. shall we take another example of duplicity? for the belgians, naturally, what their priests tell them has great weight with them. no. of _la guerre_ reproduces a passage from an article (which is mentioned on p. ) originally published by "the priest domela nieuwenhuis, of gand." here is a falsehood: m. domela nieuwenhuis is not a priest; he is a protestant pastor in gand. in the quotation m. nieuwenhuis says: "if we flemings had been properly informed...." (_la guerre_, no. , p. ). "we flemings," m. nieuwenhuis is supposed to have said ... and he is a dutchman. this is curious. let us compare this with the original text in _de tijdspiegel_, p. , st april, . there we find: "_indien wij hier in vlaanderen ... zouden zign voorgelicht...._" ("if we, here in flanders, had been informed....") the german forgers have been at work, and by a little tinkering at the text, they have made a dutch pastor pass for a flemish priest! to what are they not reduced! * * * * * the pamphlet _die wahrheit über den krieg_ speaks on p. of an international propagandist organisation established in berlin: the _commission for the publication of impartial news abroad_ (we translate from the dutch version). this commission publishes _correspondence for neutrals_, which aims solely at "distributing positive news concerning the working of social, juridicial, economic, and moral institutions and general culture in germany." its articles are especially intended for use by the press. it appears two or three times a week, in ten different languages, and will continue to do so during the war. it asserts that its expenses are covered entirely by private subscriptions. at the superior technical college of stuttgart is established the _süddeutsche nachrichtenstelle für die neutralen_ (south german news bureau for the neutrals). it publishes propagandist leaflets at irregular intervals and of various dimensions, which are intended to furnish "the verifiable truth as to the origin, course, and results of the war." the professors of the university of leipzig sent abroad a special number of the _leipziger neueste nachrichte_ of the th august, , which gave, in chronological order, "the truth about the causes of the war and the german successes." the truth! its capital falsehoods are too numerous for examination here. at düsseldorf is the _büro zur verbreitung deutscher nachrichten im auslande_ (the german bureau for distributing german news abroad). the french version of this title is _bureau allemand pour la publication de nouvelles authentiques à l'etranger_. observe, in passing, that _deutsche nachrichten_ is translated as "authentic news," which will not fail to surprise the reader. this bureau used to publish _le réveil_, a remarkable journal sold in belgium and the occupied parts of france. the _deutscher Überseedienst_ (german overseas service) busies itself particularly with the falsification of public opinion abroad. its publications are usually distributed gratis. for americans living in europe, germany provides _the continental times, special war edition and journal for americans in europe_, edited at the hôtel adon in berlin. to judge of the veracity of this journal, it is enough to read, in the issue for the th february, the article by herr j. e. noegerath, devoted to his journey through belgium. in this we learn that "malines was bombarded simultaneously by the belgians and the germans; the cathedral, somewhat seriously damaged, is about to be repaired by the germans." st. rombaut repaired by the germans! this exceeds even the german limits! well, the americans in europe have a chance of obtaining positive information. _the league of german scientists and artists for the defence of civilization_ (in french they make it _la ligue pour la défense de la civilisation_--for the _prevention_--which is just what it is!) is installed in the palace of the academy of science in berlin, unter den linden, . it publishes pamphlets; for example, that of herr riesser, on _the success of the german war loan_. as far as we know it has published nothing about belgium. * * * * * a very interesting method of propaganda is that which consists in attaching to business letters leaflets printed on very thin paper, giving "authentic" news in the language of the recipient. _the hamburger fremdenblatt_ has published many of these, at pfennigs for copies. they include, notably, _appeals to christians_; _an appeal to the catholic missions_, in german, english, spanish, portuguese, french, and italian; _an appeal to the protestant missions_, in german, english, and portuguese. another series of leaflets to be inserted in letters is published by the _bureau des deutschen handelstages, berlin_ (bureau of the german commercial conference of berlin). nine different leaflets appeared. no. and the succeeding leaflets are of different origin; these leaflets are now published by the _kriegs-auschuss der deutschen industrie, berlin_ (military commission of german industry). no. reproduces a proclamation by dr. schroedter, threatening to strip the belgians of all their copper, "down to the last door-handle." in germany also are published leaflets bearing no indication of their origin. one of these, entitled _what is the cause of the severity of the war?_ is curious for more reasons than one. (_b_) _propagandist matter issued by the publishing houses._ there are, to begin with, the numerous low-priced pamphlets which carry the gospel to the soldiers in the trenches, and enlighten the home population. the most voluminous and the most perfidious of these books is that of major viktor von strantz: _die eroberung belgiëns_. several publishing houses issue series of booklets, under some general title. we may mention:-- _krieg und sieg, , nach berichten der zeitgenossen_ (war and victory, , according to the accounts of eye-witnesses). _der deutschen volkes kriegstagebuch_ (the german people's diary of the war). _der weltkrieg, _ (the world-war of ), at pfennigs. besides these works, which are intended rather for the masses, we must mention others, intended for a more intellectual public. such are:-- _reden aus der kriegzeit_; _deutsche vortrage hamburgischer professoren_; _zwischen krieg und frieden_; _der deutsche krieg_; _kriegsberichte aus den grossen hauptquartier._ to these we may add works appearing in small isolated volumes at a low price, containing more especially diplomatic documents:-- _deutschland in der notwehr_ (carl schüsemann, bremen); _das volkerringen, _, f. m. kireheisen (universal bibliothek, leipzig). _urkunden, depeschen und berichte der frankfurter zeitung. der grosse krieg. eine chronich von tag zu tag_ (frankfurt, - ). we must not overlook the numerous illustrated publications, among which we may mention the _album de la grande guerre_, published by the _deutscher Überseedienst_, with explanations in german, english, spanish, french, italian, and portuguese. this collection contains a number of illustrations relating to belgium: for example, in no. we have "a zeppelin bombarding liége," which never happened (p. ): and no. gives us a view of the place des bailles at malines, "a quarter where the houses were destroyed by belgian artillery" (whereas the belgian artillery destroyed nothing in malines, and the place des bailles was not bombarded but burned). (_c_) _propangandist bureaux operating abroad._ not content with flooding neutrals with literature fabricated in germany itself, to such an extent that the former complained of the german importunity, the germans have also set up bureaux of propaganda in foreign countries. the most important of these, without doubt, is that which has been operating in the united states, under the direction of herr bernhard dernburg, ex-minister of the empire. herr dernburg has neglected no means of action, and has not feared to mount into the breach himself in his efforts to ensure the triumph of his cause. in belgium the propaganda was of a multiple nature. in the first place, the germans were careful to inform us, daily, by means of placards, as to the "actual" results of the military operations, and they distributed tens of thousands of copies of circulars relating to the "anglo-belgian conventions" (p. ), the griendl report (p. ), the retirement of italy from the triple alliance, etc. as these might not have enlightened us sufficiently, the german authorities took the press in hand, the result being such journals as _le réveil_ and the _deutsche soldatenpost_. they then censored the belgian papers in various manners. ( ) the germans wished to compel various papers to appear under their control. all those in the capital refused; but in the provinces certain newspapers, such as _l'ami de l'ordre_ (at namur) and _le bien public_ (at gand), accepted the german conditions. _l'ami de l'ordre_ was really and truly forced to appear; as it admitted, in a covert fashion, in its issues of the th and th august, and explicitly in those of the th october and the th november. ( ) the german authorities forced these journals, and others which have since been established, to publish propagandist articles, imposing penalties in case of failure. thus _l'ami de l'ordre_ (it was suggested that it might be called _l'ami de par ordre!_) was obliged to publish stories of "francs-tireurs" which it knew were inventions; and after the burning of the grand' place at namur (concerning which it knew very well what to think) it published, in large letters, on the th august, , a protest against francs-tireurs. on the st september followed an article describing the punishment of louvain after an attack by civilians. on the following day was further mention of the "leaders" who brought such terrible reprisals on their fellow-citizens. in order to make these flagrant lies "go down," the journal is compelled from time to time to repeat that it prints nothing but the truth (for example, on the th september). incontestably imposed, also, are the articles which basely flatter the germans; notably its excuses after its suspension ( th and th december) and its thanks to the military government of namur when the latter ceased to take hostages (on the th september). in this last issue is an equally characteristic article on the subject of the cathedral of reims; in this the german government pretends that it did not allege the presence of an observation-post on the cathedral. but one has only to read the official communiqués of the rd september in order to prove that _l'ami de l'ordre_ has been forced to lie to its readers. of course the germans deny that they demand the insertion of these articles (see _le bien public_, st november, ); otherwise their readers would cease to give any credence to these "belgian" papers. ( ) the principal mission of the censorship consists in suppressing all that displeases it and all that it regards as compromising. thus, for two months _l'ami de l'ordre_ did not publish a single communiqué from the armies of the allies, although it pretended the contrary in its issue of the th october. it was only on the th that it began to publish them; but it then borrowed them from the german papers, which was not perhaps a guarantee of exactitude. at the same time _le bruxellois_ stated that there were scarcely any french communiqués. as for _le bien public_, it was suspended during the whole of may , because the censorship would no longer allow it to publish the communiqués of the allies. the censorship had promised the journals whose publication it permitted (or demanded) that it would not mutilate articles, but would suppress them entirely (_le bien public_, st november, ). of course, it did not keep its engagements; for what engagement did our enemies ever keep? to realize how the censorship mutilates, curtails, and falsifies one has only to compare the official telegrams contained in the french newspapers with those which are vouchsafed us by the expurgated journals. here are a few examples; it will be seen that the censorship suppresses not only sentences and parts of sentences, but single words, and even parts of words. we will confess that this last procedure was totally unexpected, even on the part of germany, although her scholars have certainly acquired a habit of splitting hairs. the words in italics are those suppressed by the censorship:-- _la belgique_, tuesday, th january, ,--petrograd, _ rd january_. (official telegram from the great general staff).... german attempts to pass to the offensive in various places have been _easily_ defeated _by our artillery_.... on the st january enemy troops, in strength about a division of infantry, and supported by artillery, attacked our front in the kirlibaba region, _but they were repulsed_. up to the morning of the st january our troops had maintained themselves in their positions. _we have made prisoners._ _la belgique_, monday, st february, .--paris, _ th january_. (official, p.m.)--in belgium, in the nieuport sector, our infantry has gained a footing on the great dune which was mentioned on the th. _a german aeroplane was brought down by our guns._ in the sectors of ypres and lens, as in the sector of arras, there have been, intermittently, artillery duels of some violence, and some attacks of infantry were attempted but immediately _thrown back by our fire_. nothing fresh to report in the soissons, craonne, or reims districts. _it is confirmed that the attack repulsed by us at fontaine-madame on the night of the th cost the germans dearly...._ paris, _the th january_ (_official, p.m._).... _this morning, the th, a german aeroplane was forced to the ground east of gerbeviller. its passengers, an officer and an under-officer, are prisoners._ _la belgique_, thursday, th february, .--paris, _ st february_. (official telegram, p.m.).... to the south-east of ypres the germans have attempted an attack upon our trenches to the north of the canal, an attack which was _immediately_ checked by our artillery fire.... in the argonne, _where the germans appear to have suffered greatly in the recent fighting_, the day has been comparatively quiet.... paris, _ st february_. (official telegram, p.m.).... on the morning of the st february the enemy violently attacked our trenches to the north, béthune--la bassée. he was thrown back _and left numerous dead on the ground_. at beaumont-hamel, to the north of arras, the german infantry attempted to carry one of our trenches by surprise, but was forced to retreat, _abandoning on the spot the explosives with which it was provided_.... _la belgique_, friday, th february, .--paris, _ th february_. (official telegram, p.m.).... along the road from béthune to la bassée we have reoccupied a windmill in which the enemy had succeeded in establishing himself. soissons was bombarded _with incendiary shells_. _la belgique_, saturday, th february, .--paris, _ th february_. (official, p.m.).... in lorraine our outposts _easily_ repulsed a german attack on the eastern edge and to the north of the forest of purvy. _la patrie_ (brussels).--copenhagen, _ nd march_.--according to a communication from london in the _berlingske tidende_ the swedish painter, johnson, who was arrested as a spy, because he was making pretended luminous signals to german ships of war, is _said to have been_ acquitted for lack of evidence. to appreciate at its full value the mutilation of the official communiqués by the german censorship, it must be recalled ( ) that it had undertaken to leave the official communiqués untouched, and ( ) that the subservient portion of the press continued to call them "official telegrams." _sincerity of the censored newspapers._ at the outset the censorship used to allow newspapers to leave a blank space in the place of an article, phrase, or words deleted. but this procedure was too frank for the germans, and the readers were aware of it; so the german authorities forced the newspapers to fill up the blanks; and in order to facilitate their task they published a special typewritten journal, appearing in french and in flemish, _le courrier belge_, in which "all the articles had passed the censorship." editors, therefore, had only to select an article of the desired length in order to fill the gaps left by the official scissors. we may add that by the terms of a decision given in the court of first instance in brussels, the journals at present appearing in germany under the german censorship may not claim the title of belgian newspapers. it may readily be imagined what the censored journals have become under this delightful system. but a story which is told in belgium will perhaps give the reader a better idea of their vicissitudes. the soul of a soldier presents itself at the gate of paradise. "who are you?" says st. peter. after a long hesitating pause (for no one cares to make such a painful confession) the soul replies: "i am the soul of a german soldier." "you are an impudent liar!" cries st. peter. "i read the belgian newspapers with the greatest care, and they have not yet announced the death of a single german soldier!" on the th june, , the germans had a unique opportunity of proving that the german journals in belgian clothes, such as _l'ami de l'ordre_, _la belgique_, _le bien public_, etc., were still capable on occasion of speaking the truth. but they allowed the opportunity to slip. however, here are the facts:-- on the night of sunday, the th june, , towards . a.m., we were awakened by a furious cannonade and the explosion of bombs: allied aviators were bombarding the shed of the dirigible at evere, to which they set fire, destroying both shed and balloon. on the same day we learned that a second german dirigible had just been destroyed at mont st.-amand, near gand, by a british aviator. we awaited the next day's papers with curiosity. would they report the two incidents, making as little of them as possible, or would they keep silence? they merely stated that the german air-fleet had raided the english coast on the night of the th. of what happened on its return, not a word. in the _kölnische zeitung_, again, there was nothing said as to the disasters at evere and mont st.-amand. so the muzzled press of belgium and germany may speak of german successes (we are supposing, of course, that the bombardment of open towns _is_ a success), but as to the failures they are dumb. these are two facts which are known to hundreds of thousands of persons, and are therefore impossible of concealment. to keep silence, therefore, could have only one result, namely, to prove that the german communiqués are "faked," and that the belgian journals are muzzled: in short, that all news which comes from germany is adulterated. if our oppressors had published a short paragraph dealing with these two "accidents," then a few belgians, more credulous than their fellows, might have continued to believe that the word "german" can still on occasion be spoken in the same breath as the word "sincerity." but in their incomparable stupidity the censors (who are doubtless diplomatists out of a job) failed to realize that by preserving silence as to the raids of the british aviators they were for ever destroying the value of their newspapers. they rendered us a similar service, on this occasion, to that which they rendered when they forbade m. max to publish the statement that they were liars (p. ). we were well aware that the german was a shocking psychologist, but we hardly realized how shocking!... the incident is, as will be seen, the pendant of the story of the liége zeppelin. this dirigible raided liége on the night of the th august, and the raid was described in the german newspapers and even illustrated. unfortunately the raid never took place! a few days later the germans plunged even deeper into the mire. on the night of the th june the people of brussels once again heard the sound of guns, this time from berchem; but no one saw an aeroplane. next day the papers contained a paragraph stating that an attack by enemy aviators had been repulsed. did the raid really take place? it is doubtful; and in any case it does not matter. the essential point is that on this occasion the newspapers were allowed to speak. the governor-general, who has a keen sense of the fitting opportunity, chose this moment to inform us that a mischievous press was circulating in belgium (see _la belgique_, th january, ). nothing could be truer, as the reader has just seen. _persecution of uncensored newspapers._ naturally, the desire to obtain foreign newspapers became keener than ever in belgium as the untruthfulness of the censored journals became more apparent. to the notices published by the germans forbidding the distribution of "false news" (p. ) we may add an official communiqué which was reproduced in _l'ami de l'ordre_ on the th october:-- "any person who shall spread similar false reports, or cause them to be distributed, will be shot without mercy." (_d_) _various propaganda._ lastly, let us mention--without insistence, as they are already sufficiently familiar--various methods of propaganda which are individual, and apparently spontaneous, but from which the germans expect very happy results. all those belgians who have friends or relations in germany, and all those who are themselves of german origin, have incessantly been receiving, since correspondence between the two countries has been permitted, letters in which they are told that germany is sure of victory, that the belgians have been deceived by england and by their king, that the germans do no harm to any one, etc. these assertions are repeated with such regularity and monotony that they produce the impression of a lesson that has been learned; so, to avoid this unfortunate impression, the correspondents are careful to declare that they are only expressing their personal opinion. next, we may mention the foreign visits of german scholars; for example, that of herr ostwald (one of the ninety-three) to sweden, and that of herr lamprecht (another of the ninety-three) to belgium. herr ostwald's lectures have evoked a great sensation, but it was perhaps hardly the sensation germany had hoped for; moreover, the university of leipzig declared that it did not subscribe to the ideas of its sometime professor. the effort of herr lamprecht was more discreet; it was preceded by a written effort, but letter and visit had the same negative result. more insidious are the visits made to belgium by prominent german socialists: wendel, liebknecht, noske, koester, etc. they, too, hoped easily to convince us of the rights and, above all, of the superiority of germany. they went back with an empty bag; one may even venture to assert that they were rather shaken, since herr liebknecht complains, in a conversation with an editor of the _social-demokraten_, a norwegian organ, of the part which the socialist missionaries were made to play (_n.r.c._, th december, , evening). the _vossische zeitung_ has discovered another means of propaganda. this journal sent a paper of questions to dutch and scandinavian scholars, asking them what their science owes to germany. a shallow trick, this; every nation has naturally produced men of mark, to whom science has cause for gratitude. . the violation of engagements. the war began by the violation of a solemn treaty, to which germany subscribed in . the entire conduct of the war has been, as far as germany is concerned, a long series of violations of the hague convention of . germany alleges, in her own defence, that circumstances have altered since the period when these pacts were signed; that she was obliged to forestall france; that in case of absolute necessity, such as that in which she stood, she has the right to use all means of injuring the enemy, permitted or not (p. ); and moreover, that the torpedoing of the _lusitania_ (p. ), the employment of living shields (p. ), the use of toxic gases (p. ), and terrorization by fire and assassination (p. ), having proved efficacious, it is in her interests not to neglect them out of mere humanity, or a simple and childish respect for her own signature. it is hopeless to discuss the matter; it would be wasted pains, germany having decided to let her conduct be shaped by the impulse of the moment, without hampering herself with any anterior promises. she is fighting for her life, her publicists and statesmen never cease repeating, and she is free to throw all her engagements to the wind. "_not kennt kein gebot_," declared the chancellor, on the th august, and this convenient maxim has lost nothing of its popularity. but there are other engagements, engagements which germany has entered into with belgium since the beginning of the war, and which she has broken with the same ease: a promise to restore belgium's independence; a promise to respect our patriotism, a promise to pay cash for all requisitions once the tribute of millions frs. was paid, etc. our enemies can invoke no extenuating circumstances to mitigate these breaches of faith, for no change had occurred between the dates of making these engagements and their violation. _the independence of belgium._ on the th august, , the very day on which our country was invaded, the imperial government made one last effort to extort from england a promise of neutrality. it gave an assurance that even in the case of an armed conflict with belgium, germany would not on any pretext annex her territory (_livre bleu_, no. ). on that very day the kaiser and the chancellor made similar declarations: "we shall repair the injustice which we are committing towards belgium," said the chancellor. directly they had a newspaper at their disposal in belgium our invaders published an article assuring the belgians of their respect for whatever engagements they had entered into (see _l'ami de l'ordre_, th and th august, ). words, idle words! hardly were the germans, in boasting mood, able to style themselves conquerors, than they hastened to trample their promises underfoot. are the engagements of the berlin government anything more than so many scraps of paper, which may with impunity be declared null and void? such men as erzberger, losch, dernburg, maximilian harden, etc., all partaking in the public life of their country, found nothing was more urgent than to disregard whatever the emperor and the chancellor might have said, no matter how solemn the circumstances, and to make plans for the future in which belgium would remain wholly or in part annexed. _the promise to respect the patriotism of the belgians._ "i ask no one to renounce his patriotic sentiments," said baron von der goltz in the first of the somewhat extraordinary declarations with which he gratified us during his stay in our midst in his quality of governor-general (placard of nd september, ). _the forced striking of the flag._ every one was anxiously asking himself what was really the thought at the back of the baron's head; for we already knew the germans sufficiently to realize that so honeyed a phrase concealed some peril. but what? two weeks later the riddle was solved; it meant that the belgian national flag was "regarded as a provocation by the german troops" (placard of th september, ). a provocation of what or whom? of their national sentiment? well, and what of ours, which the governor-general was not asking us to renounce? it is true that after the appearance of this placard the military governor announced that he had "by no means the intention of wounding the dignity or the feelings of the inhabitants by this measure; its sole purpose is to preserve the citizens from any annoyance." in short, it was for our good that we were forced to haul down our flag. what was to be done? to resist would be to give the scoundrels who were oppressing us an occasion for exercising their murderous and incendiary talents on brussels. by a very dignified and very moderate notice, m. max, the burgomaster, counselled his fellow-citizens to yield. this placard, which was not subjected to the censorship, despite the order given by the germans, displeased them to the point of having it immediately covered with blank sheets of paper. but these were torn away by the people of brussels, or else they were rendered transparent by means of petroleum: in a word, every one could read the burgomaster's protest. but as it was expected, with a good show of reason, that the germans would soon cause it to disappear completely, many persons copied the placard, or even photographed it; and for a long time numbers of the inhabitants of brussels carried upon their persons, like a precious relic, a copy or a photograph of m. max's famous placard. _the belgian colours forbidden in the provinces._ while the withdrawal of the belgian flag was demanded, in the provinces a hunt was conducted for the belgian colours used in the decoration of shop-windows. the german police would enter the shops and demand the immediate removal of all tricolour ribbons decorating the windows. military court. henry dargette, of namur, place arthur borlée, , was punished with a fine of marks, or days' subsidiary detention, in accordance with § of the imperial decree of the th december, , for having disregarded the communiqué of the imperial government of namur of the nd april, . he had exposed in his shop-window boxes of tin-plate with the french, british, russian, and belgian colours. (_l'ami de l'ordre_, - july, .) in brussels it was a long time before they decided to take measures against the wearing of the tricolour rosettes which so many people carried in their buttonholes; in the streets, at least two persons in three displayed our colours. this persistence on the part of the belgians in publicly displaying their patriotic sentiments is extremely annoying to the germans. for proof we need only turn to the letter from brussels published in the weekly illustrated supplement of the _hamburger fremdenblatt_ for the th april, : "one does not see a schoolboy, not a schoolgirl, not a lady, not a gentleman, who does not wear, in an obvious fashion, the belgian cockade." in certain towns--for example lessines, gand, and dinant--this kind of manifestation is prohibited. at namur the fine may amount to frs.; the placard which threatens this penalty is conceived in the involved and nauseating style which we encounter every time the germans inflict on us a particularly disgusting piece of hypocrisy. in particular it is stated that it is forbidden "_publicly_ to display the belgian colours." no doubt it is permissible to have them floating about in one's pocket, or to decorate the interior of one's chest of drawers with them. this is how the teuton tartuffe "asks no one to renounce his patriotic sentiments":-- government communiquÉs. one may observe, of late, in a great proportion of the inhabitants of the town, as well as in the young school-children, a tendency to manifest their patriotic feelings by wearing, in an open manner, the belgian colours, under different forms. i am far from wishing to offend their feelings; on the contrary, i esteem and respect them. but, on the other hand, i cannot but perceive, in this form [of display], that it is desired thereby publicly to express a demonstration against the present state of affairs and against the german authority, which i expressly forbid. i consequently direct: it is strictly forbidden to place in view, publicly, the belgian colours, either on oneself, or on any objects whatever, in no matter what circumstances. contraventions will be punished by a fine which may amount to frs., unless, according to the gravity of the case, the contravention is punished by imprisonment. this regulation does not at any time prevent the wearing of official decorations by those who have the right to do so. lieutenant-general baron von hirschberg, _military governor of the fortified position of namur_. (_l'ami de l'ordre_, th november, .) _prohibition of the belgian colours in brussels._ suddenly, without any pretext, the sight of the little tricolour decorations worn by the people of brussels began to offend the germans, and the national emblem was prohibited from the st july, . the prohibition was posted only on the th of june. it made a distinction between the belgian colours, the wearing of which was tolerated if it was not provocative, and the colours of our allies, the display of which, even if not provocative, was absolutely prohibited. how were our german bumpkins going to make this much too subtle distinction between provocative and non-provocative display? this evidently left the door open to all sorts of arbitrary actions. so the people of brussels judged it prudent to renounce their badges entirely. a few, however, replaced the rosette by an ivy-leaf, the emblem of fidelity in the language of flowers. what were the germans to do now? prohibit the wearing of the ivy-leaf, perhaps, for by the th july they had forbidden the manufacture and sale of artificial ivy-leaves, whether of cloth or paper. but they did not persist in this course. for the first time since we had been subject to them they conceived a witty idea. they themselves began to display the ivy-leaf; from that moment this emblem could not decently be worn by any of us. it would be interesting to know who inspired them with this ingenious idea. _the "te deum" on the patron saint's day of the king._ let us note the date of _l'ami de l'ordre_ which contained baron von hirschberg's announcement: the th november, the patron saint's day of the king. the same copy of the paper reproduced an article from _düsseldorfer general anzeiger_, which doubtless had escaped the censor, doing homage to the valour of the king and queen. on the following day _l'ami de l'ordre_ had to announce that the usual _te deum_ would not be performed. why was the ceremony suppressed? the paper did not say; but we can easily guess; the superior german authorities had decided otherwise. in brussels also the _te deum_ of the th november was prohibited. it was decided to replace it by a mass which would be sung at o'clock in the church of st. gudule. by . the church was overflowing with people; but towards . a priest passed quietly through the ranks of the faithful, announcing that the singing of the mass had been prohibited by the germans, and that it would be replaced by a low mass. after this some hundreds of persons repaired to the palais royal, to the gate in the rue bréderode; they expected that a book would be there, as usual, to receive their signatures. the register had been there, but the german authorities had removed it. the callers then decided merely to leave their cards; but a palace servant came to inform them that the germans, after removing the register, had also forbidden the formation of assemblies near the palace, and had even made some arrests; he therefore begged the public to disperse. more respect for patriotic sentiments! _the portraits of the royal family._ since then it has been forbidden to sell portraits of the royal family published since the outbreak of the war. in particular those picture-postcards are prohibited which represent the king as a soldier, the king with his staff, the king in the trenches, the king on the dunes, the king with general joffre, the king at furnes, the queen as a nurse, prince leopold as a trooper, etc. the prohibition is applied with an incoherence which accords ill with the wonderful spirit of organization with which our persecutors are credited. in certain parts of brussels the vendors have never been disturbed; in others, they may sell the cards in the shops, but may not expose them in the windows; elsewhere it is a crime even to have the cards in stock. in short, all is left to the caprice of the police. these make the round of the stationers' shops, seizing all prohibited cards, and very often, too, seizing other cards on their own initiative and for their own use. to a stationer who was privily selling us some prohibited cards, we put the question, whether the police did not often enter his shop, in order to seize whatever displeased them. "what displeases them?" he replied. "no, no; they seize more particularly whatever pleases them!" another merchant, who was summoned to attend at the german police bureau in the rue de l'hôtel des monnaies, was assured by the commissioner that the police had the right to take "everything that might excite the patriotism of the belgians." this official put his own interpretation on baron von der goltz's regulations with regard to patriotism. not far away, at st. gilles, on sunday the th february, an under-officer brutally snatched away the national flag which covered the coffin of a belgian soldier. here is another example of individual ideas as to the respect to be paid to patriotism and piety. while in brussels the germans prohibited only the more recent royal portraits, at gand, in february , the commandant of the magazine,[ ] in order to show his zeal, forbade the sale of any portraits of the royal family, of whatever date or nature. the burgomaster of gand has received the following letter, the communal administration sending us a translation of the same:-- . mob. etappen kommandantur. reference no. . gand, _ th february, _. to the burgomaster of the city,-- i beg you again to draw the attention of all the booksellers, stationers' shops, etc., by hand-bill or by means of the newspapers, that they are forbidden under any circumstances to display the portraits of the royal family of belgium, either in the windows or in the interior of the shops. those who act otherwise will be severely punished. the commandant of the magazine, p.o. (_signed_) henz. (_le bien public_, th february, .) the german persecutions were resumed with renewed vigour on the approach of the th april, the king's birthday. at antwerp the germans took care to forbid, in advance, anything that might have passed for a royalist manifestation; but the inhabitants succeeded, none the less, under their enemies' noses, in celebrating their sovereign's anniversary. elsewhere the germans, in their incorrigible meanness, had a different inspiration. they suddenly had an intuition that the communal administrations of brabant were going to dismiss the schools in honour of the king. immediately circulars were distributed, forbidding the closing of the schools on that day. but these ineffable blunderers had forgotten one thing: namely, that the th of april fell in the middle of the easter holidays! certain communes permitted themselves the malicious delight of inquiring of the germans whether they must recall the pupils for the th of april? the germans, of course, missed the irony of the situation, and replied that it would not be necessary to resume the classes. their second letter contains a particularly delightful sentence: "my will is merely that instruction shall not be specially interrupted in honour of the anniversary of h.m. the king of the belgians." another example of the unshakable determination to respect the belgians' patriotism! _obligation to employ the german language._ these letters are written in german. for that matter, it has become a rule with our enemies to write only in their own tongue, and often even in german characters. better still: at liége and namur (_l'ami de l'ordre_, st august, ) they required the belgians also to write in german. yet another way of respecting our patriotism! _the belgian army is our enemy!_ far from making an effort to respect our feelings, one would even imagine that they must make it a point of honour (german honour) to wound our loyalty. thus, when they punish any one for rendering service to the belgians, instead of expressing the matter simply, as we have done, they announce that the belgian is convicted of relations with the enemy. they are speaking of their enemies. but "the enemy" implies that the belgian government or the belgian army is the enemy of the belgian people. better still: they inform us, by means of placards, that to aid the belgian army is "treason." the belgian becomes a traitor by rendering a service to his country! what a singular conception of honour! warning. the military tribunals have lately been compelled to condemn to hard labour for attempted treason a large number of belgians, who had assisted their compatriots subject to military service in their attempt to join the enemy army. i again warn [the public] against committing such crimes against the german troops, in view of the severe penalties which they will incur. the governor-general in belgium, general von bissing, _colonel-general_. brussels, _ rd march, _. _the "brabançonne" prohibited._ at namur the _brabançonne_ was declared seditious on the rd march, . but a month later the execution of the _first four verses_ was declared to be permissible. what did the germans mean by that? let us remember that none of the known versions of our national song (the two versions of jenneval and that of rogier) consists of more than four verses. which, then, are those that our persecutors forbid? in their rage for prohibition they have prohibited something that does not exist!--unless they were speaking of the verse invented by _la libre belgique_, and published in its tenth issue. it would be amusing if the german authorities had fallen into a snare set by a prohibited newspaper! in brussels the germans had not dared openly to interdict the _brabançonne_, as they did another national anthem which had, so to speak, the freedom of the city of brussels: we mean the _marseillaise_ (placard of the th march, ). never did one hear the _marseillaise_ so often as after the germans forbade us to sing or play it; only it was now whistled. so, as might have been expected, whistling the _marseillaise_ was made a crime. as for the _brabançonne_, it was prohibited in an underhand sort of way. it used to be sung every day in a school in brussels; but two german soldiers of the landsturm, who were guarding a neighbouring railway, heard it, and felt offended. hence a letter to the communal authorities, demanding that the national anthem should be sung or played with more discretion. it is now seldom played save in the churches: at high mass on sunday and the funeral services for soldiers. _the national anniversary of july st._ in july the people of brussels hit on a new method of celebrating the national anniversary of the st july. since our tyrants would obviously forbid us to fly our flag at half-mast, in token of our being for the time in mourning for our country, a number of shopkeepers announced, by means of a small printed notice, that "the shop would be closed on wednesday, the st july." the germans were displeased; moreover, they issued a decree forbidding all demonstrations. st july. _order of the governor of brussels dated th july, ._ i warn the public that on the st july, , demonstrations of all kinds are expressly and severely prohibited. meetings, processions, and the decoration of public and private buildings also come under the application of the above prohibition. offenders will be punished by a term of imprisonment not exceeding three months and a fine which may amount to as much as , marks, or by one of these penalties to the exclusion of the other. they also announced, by means of the newspapers in their pay, _le bruxellois_ and _la belgique_, that the closing of the shops might be regarded as a demonstration. their pains were wasted. on the morning of the st the shops and cafés remained closed; in private houses the shutters were not opened. in all brussels only a few taverns were open--taverns frequented by the germans, which a belgian would never compromise himself by entering. all that day it was a comforting and impressive spectacle to see the crowd, in its sunday clothes, grave and deeply affected, with never one uplifted voice, passing along the streets of closed houses. never had the like been seen in brussels. no one would have dared to hope for such unanimity of feeling after eleven months of occupation. the germans were raging. they brought out troops, who, with bayonet and cannon, occupied the principal public squares; they ran an armoured motor-car up and down the most frequented streets; they dragged artillery along the avenues surrounding the city. but they did not succeed in fomenting the slightest disturbance; the brussels public was too firmly determined to preserve its dignity and its tranquillity. in all the churches the _te deum_ was replaced by a high mass, followed by the playing of the _brabançonne_; the latter was sung in chorus by the congregation, who were moved to tears. the comic note was struck by the germans. suddenly, in the afternoon, motor-cars began to hustle the crowds that had gathered; they bore red placards, which were immediately pasted up, announcing that the cafés, cinema-halls, etc., were to be closed at p.m. now all these establishments had been closed since the morning. the germans must have lost their heads to make so grotesque an exhibition of themselves. as a sort of reprisal, the authorities suspended the two newspapers which had not appeared on the st july: _le quotidien_ and _l'Écho de la presse_. immediately _la belgique_, which had appeared, suspended itself, in order to produce a belief that it was not german! as for the _bruxellois_, it said not a word of the striking demonstration of the st. in other belgian towns the shops were closed. in antwerp more than the shops were closed; the bureau of german passports, in the place verte, announced, by means of two written notices, in german and flemish, that it was closed for the st july. the germans were trying to repeat the trick of the ivy-leaf. in vain, however, since the st was to occur only once! at gand the germans forbade the closing of the shops. and the latter were all open. but in many windows one saw, instead of the usual display of goods, a group of articles which comprised a bucket of water, a scrubbing-brush, and a chamois leather, with an inscription: "cleaning to-day." _the anniversary of the th august._ we must suppose that the unanimity with which the houses of brussels were kept shut up touched the germans in a sore place, for they prohibited the repetition of their manifestation on the th august, the anniversary of their entrance into belgium. notice. i warn the population of the brussels district that on the th august any demonstration, including the decoration of houses by means of flags and the wearing of emblems as a demonstration is strictly prohibited. all gatherings will be dispersed regardless by the armed forces. also i order that on the th august all the shops, as well as cafés, restaurants, taverns, theatres, cinemas, and other establishments of the same kind shall be closed after o'clock in the evening (german time). after o'clock in the evening (german time) only persons having a special written authorization emanating from a german authority may remain in or enter the streets. persons contravening these orders will be punished by a maximum imprisonment of five years and a fine which may amount to , marks, or one of these penalties to the exclusion of the other. the shops and establishments beforementioned which, as a demonstration, shall close during the day of the th august will remain closed for a considerable period of time. the military government, von kraewel. _ st august, ._ the placard announcing these prohibitions forbade us to deck our houses with flags! flags, good god! who then would have dreamed of flying flags in commemoration of the rupture of an international pact! at the most the people of brussels had intended to wear in the buttonhole a little "scrap of paper." but the wearing of emblems was forbidden. what the germans did not think of forbidding was the little demonstration of sympathy which they received on the evening of the th. in conformity with the order, all doors were closed at hours ( o'clock german time). but in several of the popular quarters of brussels the inhabitants were no sooner indoors than the upper windows were thrown open, and a deafening concert issued forth, in which phonographs, alarm clocks, and saucepan-lids were predominant. the patrols demanded the closing of the windows; but the people climbed on the roofs to continue their _charivari_ there. the military commandant was not pleased. it took him only five days to think of an appropriate punishment. official communication. m. maurice lemonnier, acting burgomaster of the city of brussels, has just had posted the following communication:-- "_to the inhabitants of the rue de l'escalier and the rue du dam_: "i place before you the translation of an extract from a letter which i have just received from the german authorities. "i call your attention to the penalties announced against those who shall contravene the measures ordained by the german military government." brussels, _ th august, _. _at the sheriff's college, brussels._ ... even if i am willing to recognize that the administration of the city endeavoured, by means of its organs, to obtain the application of the prescribed measures on the th of this month, there yet remains the fact that in two streets isolated individuals were guilty, in a demonstrative manner, of gross misconduct toward the german patrols. it is to be regretted that it has not been possible to discover the persons individually guilty; consequently nothing is left me to do but to take measures against the streets in which the offences were committed. consequently i order the following as regards the two streets, rue de l'escalier and rue du dam: from monday, the th of this month, and for the space of fourteen days, that is to say, until the rd of this month inclusively: a. all business houses and cafés will be closed after o'clock in the evening (german time). b. after o'clock in the evening (german time) no one must be found out of doors, in the street. after that time all windows giving on the street must be closed. it is incumbent on the city to communicate the foregoing to the inhabitants of these streets, to apply the aforementioned measures, and to exercise a strict supervision in order that they may be observed. also i beg you to see that these streets are sufficiently lighted, until o'clock at night (german time). moreover, i shall have these streets inspected by german patrols. if on this occasion fresh offences are committed against the german patrols, these latter will make use of their weapons. with my utmost consideration (avec haute considération distingué), (_signed_) von kraewel, _governor of brussels_. our tyrants appeared greatly to fear popular demonstrations. the people of liége had planned to honour, on the th august, in the cemetery, the soldiers who died for their country during the defence of the city in august . immediately the germans made public their restrictive measures. city of liÉge. _to the population._ colonel von soden, commandant of the fortress of liége, has just addressed to me the following letter (in translation):-- "in the course of the morning of friday, the th august, commemorative ceremonies will take place at the tombs of the soldiers killed in combat. "i beg you to bring the foregoing to the notice of the population. "i particularly insist that, during the visit to the tombs, or in case of participation in the military ceremonies, no demonstrative manifestation of any kind must occur." liÉge, _the nd august, _. the burgomaster, g. kleyer. (_posted at liége._) the people of liége retorted by putting their shops in mourning, and on the th august it was an impressive spectacle to see the shop-windows throughout the centre of liége hung with deep violet. _school inspection by the germans._ in the schools the children were for a long time able to sing _la brabançonne_ on the sly; but this was not to last. the german authorities passed a decree against germanophobe demonstrations in the schools. order. _article first._ the members of the teaching staff, school managers and inspectors, who, during the occupation, tolerate, favour, provoke, or organize germanophobe manifestations or secret practices will be punished by imprisonment for a maximum term of one year. _article second._ the german authorities have the right to enter all classes and rooms of all schools existing in belgium, and to supervise the teaching and all the manifestations of school life with a view to preventing secret practices and intrigues directed against germany. _article third._ whosoever shall seek to oppose or prevent verifications and inquiries relating to infractions mentioned in article , or the measures of supervision ordained by article , is liable to a fine of to , marks or to a maximum imprisonment of six months. _article fourth._ the infractions provided against in articles and shall be tried by the military courts. brussels, _ th june, _. der general gouverneur in belgiËn, freiherr von bissing, _generaloberst_. our children will have to unlearn the national anthem, which, in the present circumstances, is evidently germanophobe; and the teachers of history, too, must keep a watch upon their words. during the french lesson there must be no more recitations of andrieux' _le meunier de sans-souci_. it may even be necessary to make deletions in the latin classics; for one can see the military tribunals inflicting severe penalties on tacitus, for even in his days _gallos certare pro libertate, batavos, pro gloria, germanos ad prædam_ (the gauls fight for liberty, the batavians for glory, the germans for pillage). another latin author who would certainly be proscribed is velleius paterculus; he states in his roman history: _at illi_ (_germani_), _quod nisi expertus vix credat, in summa feritate versutissimi natumque mendacio genus_ (the germans ally an extreme ferocity to the greatest knavery; they are a race born to lie; and one must have mingled with them to believe this). velleius paterculus was a good observer. * * * * * the morality--or immorality--of this long series of broken engagements, which might be indefinitely prolonged, has had the result that no one can any longer put his trust in germany. none the less does germany continue to make promises, and is even annoyed and irritated when one doubts her word. thus the chancellor said, in a speech delivered to the reichstag on the rd may, , at the time of the negotiations with italy:-- "germany had given her word that the concessions offered [by germany] should be actually accorded [by austria][ ]; consequently there could no longer be any reason for distrust." italy, strong in the experience acquired by belgium, decided, on the other hand, that there was reason for distrust from the moment germany pledged her word; and accordingly she broke off negotiations in order to declare war. c.--incitements to disunion. _divide et impera_ ("divide in order to rule") is a maxim which has largely inspired the germans in their relations with the belgians. they therefore do their utmost to divide the nation from its king, to excite the belgians one against another, and finally to kindle discord between our allies and ourselves. we have just seen by what unjustifiable methods, after promising to respect our patriotism, they proceeded systematically (as they do all things) to thwart our sentiments of fidelity to our king and our nationality. not content with opposing--sometimes openly, sometimes with hypocrisy--all our loyalist manifestations, they endeavour to embroil us with our sovereigns. _incitements to disloyalty._ while they accuse the belgian nation of having sold itself to the triple entente, they hold the king personally responsible for this "conspiracy." having become the "valet" or the "slave" of england, the sovereign could not accept the friendly hand which the kaiser tendered him on two occasions--the nd and the th of august, . at antwerp the germans alone appear to have heard the absurd declaration, that he vowed to "die in the city with his last soldiers." then he betrays his army and "takes to flight, amid the maledictions of his subjects," deserting them for those that seduced him. then we have him on the yser, the melancholy king "abandoned by god." he would ask nothing better than to conclude peace. but england holds him still in her toils, and prevents him from accomplishing this wise project. it is _le réveil_, that peculiarly truthful newspaper of düsseldorf, which reveals this sinister exploit of albion. the _hamburger nachrichten_ receives the same report from brussels. king albert wishes to make peace. hamburg, _ th november, _. from brussels the _hamburger nachrichten_ hears from a very reliable source that the report is confirmed which states that serious differences exist between belgium and england--that is, that all personal relations are interrupted between king albert and the british staff. the king desires an understanding with germany, which great britain is endeavouring by all means to prevent. (_vossische zeitung_, th november, .) the propagandist pamphlet _lüttich_ is less severe to our sovereign, since it invokes, as an extenuating circumstance, his "blindness, which verges on stupidity." incommensurable pride or imbecility--such are the characteristics of king albert! do these paladins of tact and delicacy show any greater respect for our queen? be sure they do not! an article on king albert and the triple entente, in the _deutsche soldatenpost_ of the th october, , a newspaper intended both for the troops and the belgian public, states: "from the outset the queen was initiated into the king's plans. she has not uttered a single word of reproach for the horrible brutalities of which the principal victims were innocent young german girls in brussels and antwerp." well, we know that none of these "proofs" have shaken our fidelity. despite all prohibitions, despite all the fines imposed, thousands of copies of the portraits of the king in the midst of his troops, and of the queen, our dear little queen, tending the wounded, are sold every day of the year. the patriotism of the belgians is certainly incurable! _the walloons incited against the flemings._ so the germans sought a new device. as they could not cause disunion between the people and the sovereign, they tried to sow dissension between the citizens themselves, by envenoming the problem of language and reviving political rancour. at first they exploited, in the most virulent manner, the flemish-walloon conflict. as in all countries in which several tongues are spoken, there is naturally in belgium a struggle between the flemings, who speak a germanic language, and occupy the northern portion of the country, and the walloons, who speak a latin tongue, and occupy the southern provinces. but this conflict, however lively it may have been, has never touched the foundations of our national conscience, and we have always felt ourselves belgians before everything. at the outset, confesses herr kurd von strantz, the germans did not realize what profit they might derive from the antagonism of races in belgium: an antagonism which they believed to be profound, but which was only skin-deep. since the month of august, however, they have been trying to make up for lost time; they no longer lose a single occasion to excite the flemings against the walloons, and in particular they seek to make the latter believe that the flemings already entertain feelings of sympathy towards their executioners. only two months after the occupation of the capital the germans, organizing their conquest, attempted to win over the flemings by feigning to espouse their grievances and by exploiting their racial relationship, in order to divide them from their walloon fellow-citizens. suddenly, in the official communiqués, flemish took the place until then occupied by french, and the german newspapers began to display a touching sympathy for their "flemish brothers," and for their country and their art. we did not even need to read the article published by the _nieuwe rotterdamsche courant_ on the th december (which was seen by m. paul hymans), in order to divine, at the root of these sudden and simultaneous manifestations, the orders issued by the german official circles. for it was not thus during the first weeks of the occupation. then correspondence was permissible only in french and german: flemish was not tolerated. the official notices were printed in french and german only. then, on the th august, the government placards appeared in german, french, and flemish. finally, on the st october, flemish had the advantage of french. although from the standpoint of belgian law the latter measure was legal in the brussels district, the by-law ordering the cinema-houses to publish their programmes in flemish as well as french was not so; very often the manager is innocent of flemish, and the flemish programme is spelt in the most fantastic manner. absolutely illegal, too, is the by-law compelling shopkeepers in bruges and ostend to replace their french shop-signs by signs written in flemish. still more galling was the outcome of a certain trial at tongres. some young men, flemings and walloons, were accused of the same offence. they were inscribed on separate lists, according to their origin. the walloons were condemned to severer penalties than those inflicted on the flemings. one sees the double object here: to mollify the flemings and to make the walloons suspicious of them. we may compare this with the fact that the majority of the flemish civil prisoners have been repatriated, while the walloons are still in germany. however, the daily task of insinuation and persuasion is undertaken by the german press. in the first place it lays stress on the great affinity of character, historical past, origin, and language between the germans and the flemings (_düss. gen. anz._, th december, ). the germans must humour the flemings and make friends with them. one reason why it would not do to treat belgium more harshly (as had been demanded) is that there is a racial relationship between a portion of the population and that of germany. there is no belgian people (_voss. zeit._, st march, ). much is made of the distant echoes of the linguistic quarrel (_voss. zeit._, st march, ; _k.z._, th march, ; _frankf. zeit._, th march, ; osswald, _zur belgischen frage_).--the ill-feeling of the flemings toward the "purely walloon" belgian government must be fomented (_frankf. zeit._, th march, ), and also their dislike of the belgian press printed in the french tongue, both government and press having been long ago won over to france and the hatred of germany (_k.z._, th november, ). _la croix rouge_ is published in three languages, flemish preceding even german, and the french occupying only the extreme right of the sheet; each number contains only one _feuilleton_, and that is a novel in flemish. a little flemish conversation manual--_vlamischer sprachführer_--is published in düsseldorf for the use of germans, and of soldiers in particular. in order to compromise the flemish, the germans pretend that well-known flemings are already working hand-in-hand with the german administration. it is even stated that a pro-german group of young flemings exists (_k.z._, th march, ). in verse translations, the _dietsch_ or _duitsch_ of the flemish poets is rendered by "german," whereas these words signify simply the flemish or dutch language (_lüttich_, p. ; _köln. volksz._, th january, ). herr karl lamprecht, the well-known historian, who knew that his translation was dishonest, was one of those who translated _dietsch_ by "german" (_die woche_, no. , ). better still, in the same article herr lamprecht feigns to believe that by the expression _noord en zuid_ emmanuel hiel intended to denote the germans and the flemings; whereas he is speaking--and no confusion is possible--of the dutch (noord-nederlanders), and the flemings (zuid-nederlanders). a short story by m. maurice sabbe was published in the _berliner tageblatt_ on the th december, , with an introduction which was peculiarly compromising to the author's patriotic sentiments. his extremely plain reply was as follows:-- how frÄulein dÄmchen was buried. (_reproduction prohibited._) by maurice sabbe, professor of germanic languages at the malines athenæum. (the sketch was preceded by a brief introduction, which we quote.) the sketch we publish here deserves particular attention. maurice sabbe is a scholar and a flemish writer of repute, who, during the bombardment of malines, fled into holland. sabbe knows germany, thanks to a long residence at weimar, and the military situation has not succeeded in destroying his feeling, which is exempt from prejudice, for germany and germanism. he expresses his opinion with sympathy in the lectures which he is delivering in holland, and, in the same spirit, he has addressed, through his translator, to a german journal, the _berliner tageblatt_, this short story of life in malines, which describes an episode of the war: the first contribution which, coming from belgium and written by a belgian during the war, has been destined to find publication in germany. the editor. (_berliner tageblatt_, th december, .) bussum, _ th december, _. sir, i beg your hospitality for the following lines:-- in the november number ( ) of the review _onze eeuw_ i published a literary version of an episode of the bombardment of malines. a dutch writer, m. e. meier, requested my permission for the publication of a translation of this sketch in a german newspaper. i granted it him without hesitation and even with a certain pleasure. my narrative emphasized the kindness and magnanimity of my countrymen towards their enemies, and, at a moment when the german press was accusing every belgian of being a franc-tireur, i thought myself fortunate to be able to place a contrary example beneath the eyes of the german public. i left the choice of newspaper to my translator, and the translation appeared in the christmas number of the _berliner tageblatt_. but here the plot thickens. unknown to me, the editors of the _berliner tageblatt_ prefaced my story with a notice highly compromising to me. it asserts, in short, that i have german sympathies which the war has not succeeded in shaking, that i am giving lectures in holland in order to express these feelings, and that i wrote my short story especially to be published in germany! the last assertion is already contradicted by the fact that the sketch in question is a translation of the text which appeared in a french review two months ago. as for my sentiments, they are what they have always been, those of a belgian unshakably attached to his unhappy country and his noble king. these, and no others, are the feelings i have expressed in my lectures in holland. my numerous auditors can testify to this. you will give me a sensible pleasure, sir, by inserting this letter, thus assisting me to avoid any misunderstanding. accept, etc., maurice sabbe. this is only a detail in the conflict we are sustaining against invading germany, but it is a very instructive detail, because it shows that before accepting any assertion on the part of our oppressors we must always ask ourselves how much of it is a lie. the same question arises _à propos_ of a letter written by a fleming living at liége and speaking "in the name of the flemish population of liége," which aspires to live under the german domination. by the singularities of his syntax and his orthography this fleming from liége can only be of german origin (_düss. gen. anz._, th february, ). once there was even a kind word spoken for the walloons, vindicating the dignity of their dialects, which are by no means dependent on the french. (it is true this bold assertion comes from herr kurd von strantz.) _inciting the people against the belgian government._ on the other hand, they hope to detach the belgian people from its government. especially during the siege of antwerp did they heap effort on effort of this kind. it was then greatly to their interest to send as many troops as possible to the western front (so says lieutenant-general imhoff, in his introduction to delbrück's _der deutsche krieg in feldpostbriefen_, pp. to ). now hundreds of thousands of their men were delayed in belgium by the siege of antwerp. at all costs these had to be liberated in order to lengthen the battle-front towards the north-west and the sea. towards the middle of september they did not hesitate for the third time to make peace proposals to the government--proposals which were rejected with disdain, as were the previous ones (pp. - ). after this repeated diplomatic failure they attempted trickery, a speciality in which they shine to more advantage. as they could not succeed in directly influencing the leaders of belgian politics, they endeavoured to act on them indirectly through the people. a newspaper was established, _l'Écho de bruxelles_, "for the general welfare," to which a certain "aristide" contributed. he professed to be an occasional correspondent, although his articles were really the pretext for issuing the paper. in the first number he published a detestable letter in which he called upon the belgian government at all costs to make peace with germany. this proceeding was so improper that the _n.r.c._ even, while reprinting the letter, could not refrain from criticizing it harshly. in no. , which appeared on the th october, , and which was entirely devoted to an attempt to cause mental anxiety in the people of brussels, he condemned as unpatriotic "the man who does not rise up to cry to the people of antwerp that they must cease from this sanguinary, disastrous, and useless struggle for a cause which is not ours." the same accusation was made against "those divisional generals whom the laurels of general leman will not allow to sleep." "the laurels of general leman, great god!" he adds, and thereupon he moves heaven and earth to prove the notorious insufficiency of the valiant defender of liége. no, he says, "the true and only heroes of this melancholy war in belgium are those who ... have proposed to treat with germany. these, ministers and generals, have given proof of courage and wisdom, exposing themselves to the vengeance of a mob over-excited by a system of lies and delusions.... and the public will kick out these french journalists and these hawkers of french journals who for years have whispered hatred of neighbour against neighbour, the latter being the best customer belgium possessed." we have cited only the more scandalous portions of this article, ignoring the merely ignoble passages. while "aristide" was endeavouring to influence the civil population, aeroplanes were distributing to the belgian troops in antwerp circulars, printed in french, and in another language which had a certain resemblance to flemish; and these strange handbills informed the belgian soldiers that they had been deceived by their officers and by the authorities; that the belgian army was fighting for the british and the russians, etc. declaration. brussels, _ st october, _. belgian soldiers, your blood and your whole salvation, you are not giving them at all to your beloved country; you are only serving the interest of russia, a country which desires only to increase its already enormous power, and, above all, the interest of england, whose perfidious avarice has given birth to this cruel and unheard-of war. from the commencement your newspapers, paid from french and english sources, have never ceased to deceive you, telling you nothing but lies as to the causes of the war and the battles which have followed, and this is still done every day. consider one of your army orders which affords fresh proof of this. this is what it contains: "you have been told that your comrades who are prisoners in germany have been forced to march against russia beside our soldiers." yet your common sense must tell you that this would be a measure quite impossible to execute. when the day comes when your comrades who are prisoners return from our country and tell you with how much benevolence they have been treated, their words will make you blush for what your newspapers, and your officers, have dared to tell you, in order to deceive you in so incredible a manner. every day of resistance makes you sustain irreparable losses, while with the capitulation of antwerp you will be free from all anxiety. belgian soldiers, you have fought enough for the interests of the princes of russia, for those of the capitalists of perfidious albion. your situation is one to despair of. germany, who is fighting only for her life, has destroyed two russian armies. to-day no russian is to be found in our country. in france our troops are about to overcome the last resistance. if you wish to rejoin your wives and children, if you wish to return to your work, in a word, if you wish for peace, put an end to this useless struggle, which is ending only in your ruin. then you will quickly enjoy all the benefits of a favourable and perfect peace. von beseler, _commander-in-chief of the besieging army_. when examples of this circular were brought to us in brabant, we at first thought it was a hoax. but we had to submit to the evidence; the idea of this proclamation had really been conceived and executed by the germans. after the fall of antwerp the campaign continued. was it not necessary to prevent the belgians from going to join the allies in the direction of flanders? with this end in view, the germans attempted to throw suspicion on the conduct of the belgian military authorities at the time of the taking of antwerp. it was again the _Écho de bruxelles_ which was entrusted with the publication of the first false news. shortly after the accomplishment of this pleasant task, the _Écho de bruxelles_ disappeared for ever: doubtless it was no longer required. as for the defamatory libels which were uttered in november and december, in order to incriminate the conduct of the civil authorities of antwerp, it is not yet known by whom they were instigated, worded, and distributed; but we have a reasonable conviction that the germans were not unaware of them. in any case they did what they could to profit by this disagreement, and they also did their best--in vain--to revive the question when the belgians, by common accord, had settled their differences. but the germans had not yet given up the idea of fomenting conflicts among us. in an article entitled _belgische umstimmigkeiten_ (change of temper in belgium) the _kölnische zeitung_ of the nd november, ( nd morning edition) referred to a telegram from berlin which stated that news received from breda (according to the _berliner lokal-anzeiger_) asserted that seven belgian officers had deserted and had there been interned. to verify this was very difficult, the more so as in november no postal or telegraphic communication was permitted between belgium and holland. the rest of the article informed us that on the th november--a fortnight before their desertion--these officers had received from king albert the cross of the order of leopold: they had thus waited to desert until they had been made the object of special distinction, which is at least peculiar. and then, setting out from the yser, they crossed the german lines to be interned at breda, in northern brabant. strange! strange! and all this in order to inform us that these officers, disheartened by the servile and treacherous attitude of the king, refused again to send their men into battle, for the sake of the english. _inciting the belgians against the english._ it will be remarked that the english always receive a good share of the venomous slime which the germans, as m. spitteler says, spit upon the king, the government, and the belgian authorities. "england--there is the enemy!" says the _hassgesang gegen england_--i.e. _song of hatred of england_, the work of herr ernst lissauer. _we love but with a single love, we hate but with a single hate; we have one foe, and one alone-- england!_ it would be tedious to mention all the innumerable articles intended to arouse in us a hatred of england. we may mention the opinion of dr. hedin, reproduced on the placard of the th november, ; the proclamation of prince rupprecht of bavaria, inserted, for our edification, in _le réveil_ ( th october), as well as the declaration imputed to the flemish "poet" cyrid buysse (placard of th december, ). but these lovers of truth forgot to announce, a few days later, that m. buysse denied the truth of the german declaration. a mere instance of forgetfulness, no doubt, unless the amsterdam-copenhagen-berlin-brussels route, which was covered by the so-called declaration, had suddenly grown too long for truth to travel by. d.--a few details of the administration of belgium. the preceding chapter has informed us how the germans bore themselves towards the inhabitants of the territory occupied in conformity with--or rather in contravention of--articles - of the hague convention. treachery and untruthfulness are the chief weapons employed by our enemies. we need not return to the subject. we desire now merely to refer to some details relating to the administration. details, we said; and in truth we shall consider neither the financial administration of the country, nor its judicial administration, nor its political administration, nor any of the other great cog-wheels essential to the life of a nation. we shall confine ourselves to very simple facts which any one can remark and understand. (_a_) _present prosperity in belgium._ there is nothing of which the germans are more proud than their talent--real or illusory--for organization. accordingly they professed their intention of re-establishing the normal state of affairs in belgium, in spite of the war, and they are always informing the whole world that everything has resumed its regular course in our country. _assertions of the german authorities._ even in his inaugural proclamation ( nd september, ), von der goltz took the trouble of informing us that work was to be resumed. but the germans had placed such impediments in the way of inter-urban relations that all activities were necessarily suspended. in october he accorded "facilities of communication," as we were informed by the announcement of the th, which meant that "circulation" was no longer absolutely prohibited, and that he who had the means to obtain a passport, and could spend a day or two in procuring it, would thereafter be authorized to travel from louvain to malines, or from namur to liége. as these measures, though so full of solicitude for the general welfare, did not produce all the results that were expected of them, the communal authorities were advised to refuse relief to the unemployed ( th november, ). nothing came of that advice! to the numerous obstacles already mentioned we must add one other: the railway-workers and the artisans employed in many of the foundries and workshops of belgium were perfectly well aware that their labours would principally benefit the germans, so that by returning to their workshops they would be committing an unpatriotic action. to overcome this passive resistance the germans multiplied their proclamations in the industrial centres. it was wasted effort. in the meantime the governor-general, in the vain hope of galvanizing the labour organizations, sent to germany for well-known socialists, who, under the pretext of having a chat with the leaders of the trades unions, were really to inculcate the idea that it was their duty to urge a resumption of work. the visits of the german socialists have been described by m. dewinne, of brussels, a militant worker, in the parisian journal _l'humanité_. infatuated as the germans might be, they could hardly delude themselves as to the failure of their attempts at subornation. this did not prevent baron von bissing from issuing declarations dealing with the situation which were truly touching in their sincerity. news published by the german general government. normal situation in belgium. vienna, _ th december_.--the sofia correspondent of the _neue freie presse_ has had an interview with field-marshal von der goltz, who declared: "the situation in belgium is entirely normal. the belgian population is acquiring the conviction that the germans are anything but cruel." the general government in belgium. berlin, _ th december_.--to the correspondent of the _hamburger korrespondent_, the new governor-general in belgium, general baron von bissing, has made the following declarations: i wish to maintain order and tranquillity in this country, which has become the base of operations for our troops. our army must know that order prevails behind it, so that it may always give its attention freely only to what lies before it. i hope also that i shall succeed, hand in hand with the civil administration, in doing a great deal for the economic situation. when the emperor appointed me governor-general he charged me, with particular insistence, to do everything to assist the weak in belgium, and to encourage them. the general government in belgium. _the parasitical exploitation of belgium admitted by germany._ but, you may ask, had not germany other than military reasons for wishing to revive the economic life of belgium? a semi-official article in the _norddeutsche allgemeine zeitung_, which was brought to our cognizance by the _düsseldorfer general-anzeiger_ of the th december, , informs us upon this point. the article emanates from governmental circles in brussels, probably from the immediate _entourage_ of the governor-general. its object is to reply to the complaints formulated in germany, according to which the authorities deal too gently with the belgians. instead of trying to revive belgian industry, it would be better, say the critics, to crush it completely, in order to suppress future competition: on the other hand, it is claimed that the contribution of million frs. is insufficient to reduce us to impotence, and that we ought to have been more severely "squeezed." the german government in belgium defends itself briskly against the reproach of sentimentality; it asserts that it has never allowed itself to be guided by an exaggerated mildness (and we are ready to declare that on this point at least its assertions maybe credited!). it would surely not be very intelligent, it protests, to strangle outright a country so ill-directed. would it not be preferable to exploit belgium scientifically, so as to make her yield as much as possible? the argument amounts to this: do not let us kill the goose that lays the golden eggs; but of course it is understood, although one need not express it explicitly, that when it is no longer in condition to lay, we shall not hesitate to cut its throat. _the tenfold tax on absentees._ many belgians have left the country. that is easily understood. those who were present at the massacres of visé, louvain, dinant, termonde ... hastened, in their terror, to abandon those haunts of horror. those who lived in the towns left intact, such as brussels and gand, but who heard people talk of the massacres and the burnings, had also only one idea: to fly before the arrival of the germans. even those belgians who did not leave at the outset eventually grew weary of the insupportable vexations inflicted on us by the authorities. others took flight because they knew themselves to be threatened with imprisonment. moreover, many of those who had means had prudently retired to foreign countries, to the great fury of the germans; there was no way of getting at these "bad patriots," as it seems a german-swiss journal called them (_k.z._, th february, ); no way of forcing them to pay war-taxes. moreover, it was these _émigrés_ who should have kept alive the industries _de luxe_; finally, they were conspiring together abroad, and rendering services to the belgian government at havre. if only they could be forced to return! our enemies accepted with enthusiasm an unlucky proposal--made by certain communal administrations and immediately withdrawn by them--that the absent persons should be subjected to a special tax, equal to ten times the personal tax. the communal councils which conceived the idea of this tax immediately realized its illegality, but baron von bissing seized the occasion which this afforded him of persecuting the _émigrés_. he published, on the th january, a special decree on the subject of the "additional extraordinary tax upon absentees" (_belg. all._). it may be remarked that the tax touches only those who possess a certain competence. here are two facts which show how far life was normal in belgium in the spring of , and how far the belgian workers were delighted to place themselves at the service of germany. _railway traffic in belgium._ (_a_) an article in the _düsseldorfer general-anzeiger_ of the th april, (morning), asserts that the traffic on the belgian railways is beginning to revive; indeed, says the writer, there are thirty-eight trains daily leaving the gare du nord in brussels. he exaggerates slightly. six weeks later, when traffic had become more active, a table, dated the th may, , which appeared in the "belgian" newspaper _l'information_, gave the movements of trains in the gare du nord and gare du midi of brussels for the month of june. we find that only thirty-four departures are given for the two stations. thirty-four trains in june --and in june there were . compare the figures. _trouble with the artisans of luttre._ (_b_) the insufficiency of the number of trains is in reality one of the things that most embarrasses the german authorities (see _frank. zeit._, th january, , first morning edition). in and about the railway workshops, for example, on the sidings at luttre, there are hundreds of locomotives out of repair and waiting for attention. but the workers employed in these shops do not intend to work for the germans. in vain do the latter protest that engines repaired by the belgians shall be employed only for belgian traffic. what guarantee have they that the locomotives will not serve to transport german troops, or munitions intended to kill our brothers? is it not a matter of public notoriety that a contract is merely a scrap of paper? to enable the workers to resist the solicitations of the germans the necessary relief has been distributed for the maintenance of their families. the germans know very well that it is this money which prevents them from subduing the workers to their will. they therefore proceed with the utmost severity against the persons whose duty it is to distribute the relief. early in april they imprisoned thirty of the notables of luttre, nivelles, and the neighbourhood, whom they accused of assisting the working staff of the luttre workshops. a german official declared that the prisoners had been arrested neither by the civil authority nor the military, and that they would not proceed to trial. at the same time the administrations of the communes neighbouring upon luttre were forced to display a proclamation requiring the men to resume work. among the promises made to those who should resume work was one that the prisoners should be liberated. so thirty notables were thrown into prison, and kept there, in order to force belgian artisans to work for the germans! when it was found that in spite of everything the men would not return to the shops, the prisoners were sentenced to undergo various punishments, the maximum term of imprisonment being three months. as for the recalcitrant workers, many were sent to germany, where they were treated in the most inhuman fashion. _traffic suppressed at malines._ at the construction shops of malines the germans went a different way to work. there again workers were needed to repair railway material. three hundred were called for. as they did not present themselves their addresses were obtained, and one fine morning soldiers called at their houses and _manu militari_ led them to the shops. but there the men folded their arms and persisted in doing nothing. the germans had to let them go. how to obtain their submission? the germans threatened to suppress all traffic in malines. a singular fashion of punishing workless men who refuse to betray their country, especially after declaring that the only "guilty" persons were those who had organized the collective refusal to work! (_la belgique_, th june, ). but, in accordance with the juridical principle that "the innocent must suffer with the guilty," our enemies punished the market-gardeners of the malines district and prevented them from sending their cabbages and rhubarb and peas and asparagus to market. after the lapse of some days the governor-general removed the prohibition. but he did not wish it to seem that he had repented of his decision, however unreasonable the latter might be, so to keep himself in countenance he posted up a statement that a sufficient number of workers had resumed work (placard of th june, ). however, the baron von bissing cannot have been ignorant of the fact that none of the strikers of the malines workshops had returned; the only workers whom the germans had been able to recruit were some unemployed persons from lierre, boom, and duffel, who had never set foot in the shops before. as they could not be employed in the manufacture of railway material, they were made to dig trenches in the direction of wavre-ste catherine and duffel. the workers whom the soldiers led to the shops by force related that their escort begged them not to resume work, because they would then be obliged to leave malines and to go to the yser, a prospect which inspired them with the keenest terror. (_b_) _the germans' talent for organization._ "the industrial and commercial prosperity" which belgium is at present enjoying is, of course, due to the germans' incontestable spirit of organization. "this sense of discipline and order, which the foreigner calls militarism" (_voss. zeit._, th february, , morning), has enabled the officers of the reserve to accomplish such wonderful things that herr oswald f. schütte, correspondent of the _chicago daily news_ (see _k.z._, th may, , first morning edition) can scarcely find the words to describe them. "we understand," adds the same journalist, "that the government at havre does not look with a favourable eye upon the success with which the german administration has once more made life worth living in belgium." they are certainly something to be wondered at, the officers who are administering our country. would you have proof? the belgian officials of the bridges and highways department refused to obey the germans, so that the latter appointed their engineer officers to direct the work of repairing roads. but the work was naturally carried out by belgian contractors. on macadamized roads the breaking of stones, which formerly cost from to centimes per square metre (about d. per square yard), now costs to centimes. good business, you will say, for the contractors and their men. but no!--the difference goes into the pockets of the officers. _conflict between authorities._ this method of procedure naturally results in conflicts between the various administrations. we have already related (p. ) that the city of brussels was condemned to pay a fine of half a million francs because the civilians and the soldiers were in disagreement. muddles of this kind testify to something quite different from a brilliant talent for organization, which the germans would have us believe is the distinguishing mark of their administration. _suppression of the bureau of free assessment._ in order to give the impression that they alone are capable of re-starting the economic machine in belgium, the germans begin by dislocating the existing machinery. thus, a group of advocates and surveyors created a bureau for the gratuitous assessment of the damage caused by the war to real estate. this body was working to the general satisfaction, when suddenly, in march , the germans decided to take its place. now observe their methods. the applicant who wishes the damage suffered by his property to be estimated has to begin by paying a provisional deposit, after which he finds that the costs of the assessment have to be paid out of his own pocket. what this really comes to is this: the germans, having burned a house and reduced its owner to poverty, demand that the latter shall pay in advance for the evaluation of the damage done. _the belgian red cross committee suppressed._ another example of the suppression of a body working in a normal manner. as soon as they occupied brussels the germans began to meddle in the doings of the directing committee of the red cross society, and appointed a delegate to the society. they then tried to force the red cross to exceed its duties, which were clearly specified by the international convention known as the _convention for the amelioration of the condition of the wounded and sick in armies in the field_. neither in the text of the convention of , nor in that of the convention of , is there any question of other patients than soldiers wounded during hostilities. doubtless it is a matter for praise if the red cross of each country should extend its action to needs existing in time of peace; in belgium, for example, the red cross has organized ambulances in the international exhibitions. but it is none the less true that its essential mission, and the only mission foreseen by the international convention, is to ameliorate the condition of soldiers who are victims of warfare. it was therefore an abuse of the red cross to impose other aims upon it; to compel it, for example, to organize "the relief and support of women by means of labour." the red cross of belgium decided, with abundant reason, that it could not in time of war assume novel functions, nor, above all, could it set apart for the same sums of money which were largely derived from private subscriptions entrusted to it for the succour of the wounded; it therefore refused to involve itself. after lengthy negotiations the governor-general suspended the belgian managing committee from its functions, and seized the funds. we should mention that the central administration of the red cross, sitting in geneva, decided that the brussels committee was in the right. attempting to justify their illegal attitude, the german authorities established a special journal, _la croix rouge, bulletin officiel de la croix rouge de belgique_, printed in flemish, french, and german. this journal continues to pretend that the belgian committee was legally dissolved, as it would not "assist the people in the present melancholy situation." in vain did the germans endeavour to put the world off the scent as to their intentions. they knew perfectly well that the national committee of relief and alimentation patronized and subsidized without distinction all the benevolent undertakings which applied to it (p. ). the real aim of our enemies is to supplant the national committee. this committee is a private institution in which they have no voice, which greatly annoys them; at most they can endeavour to make it believed that the revictualling of belgium is effected with their assistance. but this, as may be supposed, is not enough for them; their real aim, their unavowed object, is to obtain entire control of the national committee, in order to exercise there also their talent for organization--or, more precisely, their talent for peculation. the , , frs. per month does not sate their appetite. what an indefinite perspective of fleshpots could they only lay hands on the revictualling of belgium! the whole affair of the red cross was conducted with annoying duplicity--annoying even to us, who nevertheless were beginning to grow accustomed to their campaign of lies. for months there were negotiations between the belgium managing committee and the german authorities, represented by the graf von hatzfeld-trachenberg. at each interview the latter brought forth fresh demands on the part of the governor-general, but he always added that he was acting reluctantly, and that in his opinion the demands were unjustified; only, of course, he had to obey. (this is, by the way, the classic procedure. whenever a german commits a dirty action he entrenches himself behind discipline.) these lame discussions lasted until the th april, ; upon a final refusal on the part of the belgian committee to exceed its proper functions, graf von hatzfeld-trachenberg gave orders for the decree of dissolution to be read. (_c_) _the belgian attitude toward the germans._ our enemies spread the report that the relations between occupants and inhabitants were greatly improving, and that the belgians had abandoned their provocative attitude, which was so unpleasant at the outset of the war. they also asserted that by the end of october the people at antwerp had ceased to display any antipathy towards them (_köln. volksz._, th october, , morning edition).[ ] but, in truth, they flattered themselves when they stated that the belgium people regarded them with glances full of hatred. hatred? no; merely glances full of disdain, when by chance one could not do otherwise than gaze at them; but, as a rule, the belgians turn their eyes away, as they turn their backs upon german music. at liége, in brussels and antwerp, and at malines, when an officer addresses a belgian the latter pretends not to hear (_n.r.c._, th october, , morning edition), or simply states that he has not time to speak to the other; or he replies in flemish; or else, having affected to listen to him with all the marks of the most exquisite politeness, he leaves the german standing still without replying a word. the ladies more often reply, but it is only to beg the germans not to speak to them. the officer who asks his way is almost certain to be sent in a contrary direction; while he who climbs on the platform of a tram finds that all the passengers immediately turn their backs upon him; and this rotation is executed with the regularity and precision of a reflex movement. the officer who begs a a passer-by to lend him his cigar that he may obtain a light, sees the other disgustedly throw away the cigar which an enemy has touched. the child whom an officer condescends to caress pushes away his hand with an indignant expression, and makes the ugliest grimace he knows of. in short, they are the objects of universal detestation. perhaps it will be said that this attitude is peculiar to the towns which have been little or not at all affected by the war. but no! in localities which were largely burned down, such as aerschot, eppeghem, dinant, and louvain, the population behaves in a manner even more characteristic. at dinant the children sing at the tops of their voices a _marseillaise_ with new words, expressly anti-german, in which a good deal is said about pigs. at louvain some officers who used to amuse themselves with a phonograph which reproduced the record of the song _gloria, vittoria_, had to give up using it in june , because the passers-by accompanied the refrains with other words: _gloria, italia_. at eppeghem and aerschot the children play at soldiers, with belgian police bonnets on their heads, yelling _la brabançonne_. one would say the sight of those calcined ruins, far from intimidating the belgians, as the butchers had hoped, only whets their rebellious spirits, and that the certainty of final success has completely effaced, in the soul of the people, the memory of the terrors experienced at the time of the burnings and killings. not only is the belgian population far from fraternizing with them, as they try to make the world believe, but it neglects no opportunity of proving that it is animated by very different feelings. it must be confessed that when we openly wear the belgian or american colours it is with a double object: to advertise our attachment to our country, or our gratitude to america, and also to make the germans furious. the little celluloid portraits of the king and queen which one wears in the buttonhole serve the same purposes. after the germans had imprisoned m. max in a german prison many people displayed his portrait. this was extremely disagreeable to our enemies (_köln. volksz._, th september, , morning edition); but precisely for that reason people persisted in wearing the little medallion until the german police demanded its forcible removal. when the governor-general, in the interviews which he granted the correspondents of the _n.a.z._ and the _berliner tageblatt_, pretended to regard the wearing of the belgian or american colours as a piece of childish mischief, he was simply trying to put them off the scent, for he of all people had no illusions as to the significance of the ribbons which the belgians are wearing in their buttonholes. this significance was as follows: the germans pretend ( ) that their armies are victorious and will remain so; ( ) that they will be able to dictate their terms, and will annex belgium; ( ) that this will be easy, as the belgians are already abandoning their provocative attitude, and are beginning to fraternize with their persecutors. for the moment we cannot reply publicly to lies and ; as to , any belgian who wears a little rosette tacitly proclaims that he does not wish to be taken for a craven, and that his anti-german feelings have lost none of their keenness. other germans try to deceive their compatriots as to the feeling of the belgians for their oppressors. here is what herr walter nissen says, the bruxelles correspondent of the _düss. gen.-anz._ ( rd july, ): "opinion in belgium is daily becoming more conciliatory. belgium may, for the moment, be compared with a woman who is beginning to love despite herself, and who, through pride and vexation, says 'no!' as loudly as possible, for fear anyone should see what is happening to her. but one does see it, despite the ribbons of the national colours--indeed precisely on that account." is this incurable blindness? is it an ineradicable spirit of falsehood? does herr nissen really doubt the sincerity of our anti-german manifestations? during the months he has lived in our midst he must have discovered that we do, systematically, everything we can to displease the germans, until they issue decrees of prohibition. here is a last trait which can leave no one in doubt as to the feelings of the belgians. in march the german authorities organized a concert in the théâtre de la monnaie in brussels. there were only three known belgians present, among them a professor of the university of brussels. the university showed its disapproval by sending him to coventry. (_d_) _behaviour of the german administration._ the preceding pages have already informed the reader that the germans have not accustomed us to look for either gentleness or sincerity. but hitherto we have not insisted on their administrative procedure, which nevertheless deserves examination. but first let us picture to ourselves the mental condition of the belgians since august . cut off from all intellectual relations with foreign countries, we receive independent newspapers only in secret, at the peril of our liberty, or even of our lives. every day, on the other hand, the newspapers, mutilated by the censorship, printing only the news--often false--which is favourable to the germans, are instilling their slow poison into our brains. no matter: the people still repulse all attempts to foment disunion and demoralization; they pull their belts a little tighter rather than go to work for the enemy; they continue, to the last, to display our colours; in short, they have retained, unshaken and unshakable, their faith in our just cause and the final victory. the german newspapers are full of admiring articles describing the firmness of mind evinced by the german people, for they, too, consent to certain privations to ensure the success of their arms. wonderful! the german people are unfailingly encouraged by their newspapers, their pastors and priests, their schoolmasters and professors, and by lectures and innumerable pamphlets. everything that might cause their resolution to falter is carefully concealed from them. they are, moreover, accustomed to hold no other opinions than those which are officially presented to them. to falter, under these circumstances, would be almost incomprehensible. but in our country, on the other hand, everything is done to exhaust us, to dishearten us. the least success of the german arms becomes the "final crushing" of the enemy; the executions of belgians who have aided their country are immediately advertised on every hand; and, finally, we are prevented, by every imaginable means, from spreading good news or preaching confidence. that in spite of all the belgian should retain his tranquillity of mind and even his good humour is almost unbelievable, but it is true. here, then, is a population which is systematically refused the least item of comforting information, but which, on the other hand, is treated prodigally to everything of a nature to demoralize it; a population which, in order not to sink into despair, has to make an effort every moment of the day; a country in which it is strictly forbidden to do anything to encourage those who may suffer from a temporary depression, or to sustain and reassure those who feel themselves threatened. is it not obvious that such pitiful psychologists as the germans will resort to intimidation to reduce this population to their mercy? everything is magnified into an offence, and all offences are punished by the heaviest penalties; the germans even going so far as to threaten with death him who spreads "false news"--that is to say, who communicates news to his fellow-citizens which is displeasing to the germans. _the appeal to informers._ the placards already cited show amply the diversity of the offences which may be committed, and the punishments which may be inflicted. but we must not forget those notices which order the inhabitants, often on pain of death, to inform against those persons who possess arms; to denounce those who are _believed_ to be strangers to the commune; and those _suspected_ of acting in a manner contrary to the orders of the german authorities. here are some of these notices: detention of arms. the communal administration forwards the following document:-- _important warning._ it has come to my knowledge that the inhabitants of the country are still hiding arms and munitions in their houses. those who still have arms in their possession (whether firearms, bows, cross-bows, arquebuses, or knives and swords of any description) will not be punished in any way if the arms and munitions are deposited by the th december (noon precisely german time) at the house of the burgomaster of the commune, to be handed over to the military commandant. after the date indicated all persons found in possession of arms or munitions will be shot. an account also will be demanded of the burgomasters concerned, and also of all the inhabitants of the houses or farms in which arms or munitions are found, as well as the neighbours of the guilty persons. the death penalty will be imposed on all who learn of the existence of arms or munitions without warning the burgomaster of their commune, who must warn the military commandant. the present decree forms the last appeal to the population to surrender their arms, and once the th december is past the severest action will be taken. the burgomasters are personally responsible for ensuring that this warning receives the widest publication. they are required to deposit with the nearest military authority not later than the th december (at six o'clock in the evening, german time) the arms and munitions that shall be delivered to them. the commander-in-chief. thielt, /xii/ . (_le bien public, th december, ._) by order of the military authority. the inhabitants of dieghem are strictly forbidden to assemble in groups. moreover, the inhabitants are required to bring to the secretariat, chaussée d'haecht , those persons whom they believe to be strangers to the commune, in order to verify their identity. the burgomaster, g. de connick. (_posted at dieghem, october ._) on the order of the german military authority. the commissary of the arrondissement of verviers calls the attention of the communal administrations and the inhabitants of his jurisdiction to the following regulations:-- the severest penalties will be inflicted upon offenders: whosoever shall damage the roads, telephones, or telegraphs will be hanged. the same penalty will be inflicted on every person in whose house arms, ammunitions, and explosives shall be found. the house in which these objects are discovered will be destroyed by fire, and all the men encountered on the premises will be hanged. rigorous penalties will be inflicted on localities in which roads, telephones, and telegraphs shall be damaged. for their own safety the inhabitants of communes are invited to make known to the commandants of _étapes_ those persons suspected of disobeying the present order or of opposing the measures taken. on the other hand, those communes which remain tranquil, and in which this order is strictly obeyed, will enjoy the full protection of the german government. von rosenberg, _colonel commanding the th brigade_. verviers, _ nd august, _. those who are _believed_ to be strangers; those who are _suspected_ of acting contrary to orders ... it is a régime of organized suspicion, a reign of terror, informing erected into a governmental process. the most abominable thing which the germans have conceived in this respect is that they encourage the denunciation of militia-men by their fathers, mothers, wives, or sisters. it is a principle admitted by all civilized nations--and also, no doubt, by germany--that the courts definitely abstain from evoking a conflict between the paternal and maternal instinct and the duty owed to justice. it is considered that it would be revoltingly inhuman to force a father or mother to bear witness against a son. sophocles, in the _antigone_, ranks this prejudice among "the immutable laws, unwritten, which are from all eternity." now, in belgium, when a young man leaves his family to rejoin the belgian army, the german authorities enjoin upon his parents, his brother, or his sister, the duty of denouncing the absent man; in other words, his father or his mother--yes, we said his mother--must deliver up the son because he is doing his duty toward his country (notice of the th april, ). and the germans are not content with threats. if the germans forget their promises, at least they scrupulously carry their threats into execution. at hasselt they imprisoned a woman whose son had rejoined the belgian army (p. ). at namur they have on many occasions punished the parents of soldiers who had not committed the crime of denouncing them. and not content with inflicting these disgraceful penalties--disgraceful to those who impose them--they have forced _l'ami de l'ordre_ to give publicity to these sentences, to the number of ten or more. here are the details of one sentence: according to § , no. , of the imperial decree of the th december, , concerning the extraordinary proceedings of the council of war for foreigners, the governor of the fortified position and the province of namur has pronounced a deprivation of liberty against the following belgian subjects: the farmer, félix duquet, of jemeppe, two months; his wife, victoire duquet, _née_ swain, one month. they had harboured their son, clement duquet, belgian soldier, who had lost his regiment, for several months, instead of notifying him to the german authority; by so doing they acted in contravention of the proclamation of the government of namur, dated th september, . (_l'ami de l'ordre_, - th july, .) assuredly for the germans the word "humanity" is void of meaning; they have replaced it by "germanity." no doubt they regard maternal love among the belgians as being of an essence so inferior that they need not take it into account. yet in order not to wound the sensibilities of their own soldiers, nor those of their "brothers by race," the flemings, they omitted any mention of mothers in the german and flemish texts of their notice of the th april. as we have already stated, they feel that they need not observe towards the feelings of the belgians--and above all of the walloons--the same consideration as is shown towards those of the germans. _german espionage._ informing cannot exist without espionage. now we know that the germans are past masters in this art. every one of our towns has been favoured by a swarm of spies, male and female. in the streets, on the promenades, in the cafés, in the trams[ ]--everywhere one is conscious of the invisible inspection of secret agents. woe to him who utters aloud an opinion unfavourable to germany, or complains of a too outrageous placard or announcement, or criticizes a passing officer or any one connected with germany, or abuses the german army: immediately a lady or gentleman hails a german soldier, and the offender is taken to the _kommandantur_. and when a belgian enters the _kommandantur_ he does not know when he will come out again; there he awaits, sometimes for several days, his turn to be interrogated; and after that imprisonment is certain. not, of course, that he is always condemned; it sometimes happens that the offence has not been proved; but even so, "his hash is settled," for while he has been waiting his turn his house has been searched, and where is the house that does not contain some letter from a son or a brother who is a soldier? prohibited correspondence! sentenced! _agents-provocateurs or "traps."_ a close espionage surrounds those who undertake the carrying of letters or the introduction of newspapers. in this case the spies work principally by means of "traps"--_agents-provocateurs_. a spy introduces himself to the person suspected of dealing with correspondence; he pretends he has a letter to send or receive. if the suspect listens to him, a picket of soldiers and policemen arrives on the following day to make a search. other spies will speak in the street to a seller of newspapers; they will ask for a french or english journal, and scarcely has the vendor taken the forbidden journal from his pocket than a hand falls upon his collar. it is also by means of "traps" that the germans catch those who enable our militia to escape from the country. a young man, of the proper age, goes in search of the suspected person, and by means of false papers passes himself off for a patriot who wants to take his place at the front. arrangements being made, the spy departs; but a skilfully set trap enables him to catch a whole group of young fellows. it matters little to our cause, however, since for every one arrested hundreds cross into holland every week. many belgians devote themselves to this patriotic task, though they well know that in case of failure they will be sent into germany or shot. it should be said that their most active helpers are the soldiers of the landsturm, the guardians of the frontiers, who, according to an established tariff, for the sake of alcohol or money, close their eyes as our militia-men cross the frontier. one step further along the path of the informer, the spy, and the "trap," and we come to means whose ignominy is such that even the germans themselves are forced to admit their dishonesty. thus, at liége most of the letter-boxes on the house-doors are closed by means of nails. why? at the end of many citizens of liége used to receive _le courrier de la meuse_, a newspaper edited and printed at maestricht by belgian refugees. there was no great mystery about its distribution; the paper was simply slipped into the letter-box. but the german agents spied on the vendors, and having done so, searched the houses at which the newspaper was delivered. the subscriber, of course, was condemned to pay a fine. did part of this go to the spy? it is probable; in any case it was not long before the spies were importing _le courrier de la meuse_ in order themselves to place it in the letter-boxes of well-to-do houses. a search conducted immediately revealed the prohibited article, and, in spite of the indignant denials of the victim, the fine was inflicted. at ferrières, near jemelle, worse than this was done. a german priest pretended that the curé of ferrières had repeated, before a witness, a private conversation held some hours earlier. moreover, he wanted to garble the conversation. the abbé's action was repugnant in such a degree that even baron von bissing himself was a little uneasy about the matter, and revoked the punishment awarded to the belgian. while the mission of the spies and _agents-provocateurs_--including the _abbés-provocateurs_ or ecclesiastical "traps"--was to procure the condemnation to various penalties of as many belgians as possible, other "agents" in the pay of germany commenced a vast inquiry, in order to prove, in the face of the evidence itself, the crimes of the "francs-tireurs." well!--in spite of all the manoeuvres of spies and _provocateurs_ and the inquirers themselves, in spite of the personal rancour which impelled a few rare belgians to become the accomplices of the germans, and to denounce, in a spirit of vengeance, certain of their fellow-citizens, never did the germans succeed in mentioning a single name, not one single name, of a belgian civilian accused of having fired upon the german troops. we say expressly "accused," and not "convicted," to show that nowhere, in village or provincial town, although petty rivalry is so acute, and although informers, even though anonymous, would have been welcomed with joy by the germans, nowhere was any one found to assert that a belgian civilian had fired on the german troops. no, it was so improbable, so manifestly false, that not even the most miserable of wretches would have dreamed of formulating such a calumny. the germans wanted to make us believe that anonymous letters were pouring in upon them, but that they, as upright administrators, refused to follow up these accusations (declaration, th may, ). obviously a lie. we know them capable of themselves fabricating these anonymous accusations, simply to cause the belgians mental uneasiness, and to give rise to mutual suspicion. this is yet another attempt to cause dissension. for the rest, they have since then admitted that they have invited denunciation. worse than this: denunciation is enough to procure condemnation; it is not necessary for the offence to be proved. notice. cases are increasingly frequent in which letters are sent to belgian soldiers at the front by means of intermediaries. i remind the public that this is strictly prohibited. any person denounced to the german authorities for such action will be subjected to a severe penalty. the governor of the fortified position and the province of namur. (_l'ami de l'ordre_, th june, .) we should never come to an end were we to mention all the tricks and shifts that enter into their methods of administration. we will confine ourselves to relating one or two more. according to the hague convention, the functionaries of an occupied territory who remain at their posts must declare that they will undertake nothing, and will refrain from everything, that may be contrary to the interests of the occupier. note two essential points: it is only the _officials_ who are required to sign this agreement, and they undertake to _refrain_ from anything that may be hurtful to the occupier. now in january the german administration of namur wished to force the entire male population of the canton of Éghezée between the ages of eighteen and forty to sign the following declaration:-- "i the undersigned promise, conformably with the hague convention of the th october, , to continue scrupulously and loyally the fulfilment of my functions, to undertake nothing against the interests of the german empire, and i promise to prevent all that might be injurious thereto." in certain communes the inhabitants, meaning well and imperfectly informed as to their rights and duties, signed this declaration, which is an improper one, as it was required of all the inhabitants, and not only of the officials; moreover, it made the signatories promise to _prevent_ what was injurious to the germans, not merely to _refrain_ from it. up to a certain point, therefore, all the inhabitants were obliged to place themselves at the service of the german authorities. some burgomasters refused to allow the document to be signed as it stood. they added, on their own authority, the following sentence:-- "with the reservation of being able to respond freely to the appeal of the belgian government if the latter comes to resume possession of the country at present occupied by the german armies." the germans did not accept this addition; they proposed a new form of words:-- "i the undersigned promise, conformably with the provisions of the hague convention of th october, , to continue scrupulously and faithfully in the performance of my functions, to undertake nothing against the interests of the german empire, to refrain from all that might injure it." in many villages the people again refused to sign. men between and years of age cannot promise to continue in the performance of functions which they have never fulfilled. what did the germans do? they forced all the male inhabitants of the recalcitrant communes to present themselves daily at Éghezée, the chief town of the canton. but eventually they realized that it was iniquitous to make these men lose half their day every day simply because they, the germans, were demanding an absolutely illegal thing. so the daily muster at Éghezée was abandoned. the german administration falsely invoked the hague convention of in addressing the peasants, who doubtless did not even know the convention by name, and it tried twice over to take advantage of their good faith. it is not surprising that the inhabitants of the province of namur should have become suspicious, so that they would not willingly put their names to any paper presented by the germans. in may it was only after long negotiations and threats that the young men of rhisnes and emines signed their identification cards, which, according to the germans, "imposed no engagement on the signatory." we have not ourselves seen the wording of this card, so we cannot speak as to its tenor; but it is curious that the germans should be so insistent upon the signing of a card having so little significance. they also wished to impose, on the civic guard of rhisnes and emines, the engagement that they would no longer bear arms against germany. more than half the men refused, and were sent as prisoners of war to germany. monday, rd may, in the morning, sixty-nine belgian militia-men of the communes of rhisnes and emines were arrested because they refused to sign their identification cards, which contained nothing else than the information as to their persons necessary to complete such a document. they were taken to the prison of the fortress. on th may they were questioned a second time, and, having all without exception signed, they were immediately released. tuesday, th may, members of the civic guard at rhisnes were arrested because they refused to sign the declaration that they would not bear arms against germany and her allies during this war. in the course of the same day forty-nine signed the declaration and were released. the other fifty-eight maintained their refusal, and were transported to germany as prisoners of war on tuesday evening. wednesday, the th may, eighty members of the civic guard of emines and warisoulx were arrested for the same reason; forty signed the declaration and were released. the rest were transported to germany on the evening of the th may as prisoners of war. similarly on the th may, in the afternoon, men, part being members of the civic guard and part militia-men of the communes of taviers, dhuy, st.-germain, hemptinne, villers-lez-heest, and bovesse, were arrested because they refused to sign their identification cards. the government hopes that these men will reflect and hear reason, and that they will submit spontaneously to this measure, which serves only for purposes of registration, so that they may be released. it is expressly added that the signature of the identification cards imposes no engagement on the signatory; these cards contain only information as to identity, and all the belgian militia-men, as well as the members of the civic guard, have been several times informed upon this point. (_communicated._) (_l'ami de l'ordre_, th and th may, .) let us look into this case. in the first place, there never was a civic guard at rhisnes nor at emines, so that it is absolutely fraudulent to give this title to all the male adult inhabitants; and since they have not been civic guards they have never borne arms against germany, and cannot therefore engage to cease doing so. here again appears the german duplicity in all its beauty. the men of rhisnes and emines assure us that the paper said "no longer bear arms against germany." the germans have imposed a communiqué upon _l'ami de l'ordre_ which gives another version--"not to bear arms." but in the communiqué provided by the german authorities and published in _la belgique_ on the th june, our enemies recognize that the document said "no longer bear arms." however, a german communiqué is never entirely truthful; and this one forms no exception to the rule. conforming to the truth in this respect, it departs from it in another. it says, in effect, that the men of rhisnes "regarded themselves as still belonging to the belgian army." what absurdity! they refused to sign precisely because the germans wished to make them say that they did belong to the army! in august and september the germans were sending belgians into germany as civil prisoners; in may they were sending them as prisoners of war. the difference is important, since the hague convention states that the cost of maintenance of war prisoners falls upon their country of origin, but that it is not speaking of civil prisoners. this is why the civilians of rhisnes and emines went to germany as prisoners of war, as did the curé and the vicar of cortemarck (p. ). we have already cited (p. ) one case of premeditated abuse of a signature. here is another: in october the german authorities of mont st.-guibert (between ottignies and trembloux) had the following placard posted:-- notice. . all the male inhabitants of the commune aged from to years, rich or poor, must present themselves to-morrow, tuesday, morning, the th october, at o'clock in the morning (belgium time) at the railway booking-office. . these inhabitants can no longer change their place of residence; their names have been given to the military authorities. those who do not carry out this order, who seek to escape, will be made prisoners and will render themselves liable to be shot. the families of offenders will be taken as prisoners and their property destroyed. . english, french, or russians who are in the locality must be delivered to the military authorities. the same with belgians having belonged to the army who are deserters or have been prisoners. offenders will be punished by death. . fire-arms of all kinds which are still in possession of the inhabitants must be deposited immediately with the commandant of the railway-station. those who are discovered to be still in possession of these arms, after the publication of this notice, will be shot. . assemblies for roll-call will be held from time to time. the day and hour will be given in advance. . umbrellas and sticks are forbidden at the station. men must not present themselves in a state of drunkenness. mont st.-guibert, th october, . the burgomaster, e. wautier. the commandant of the railway-station, hamich, _sergeant_. this placard threatens penalties, even shooting, for the failure to attend at the railway-station; moreover, the offender's family is of course held responsible. so far it is commonplace enough. we will say nothing as to the grade of officer who thus disposes of the lives of citizens--he is a sergeant; but we know that the humblest german soldier possesses every right. what does rather surpass the usual level german administrative procedure is the fact that the burgomaster, whose name figures at the bottom of the placard, knew nothing of the latter until it was posted. the sergeant had used his name without deigning to consult him. to give a complete idea of the administrative methods employed by the germans against our country, it will be as well rapidly to describe how they behaved in a certain locality immediately after proceeding against the "francs-tireurs." hitherto we have dealt only with places where they did not have to carry out "reprisals." we will now select andenne, on account of the particularly savage character of the "repression" which drenched this unhappy town with blood and fire. here are the facts in their tragic sequence:-- the german patrol which penetrated into the town on the th august, , went straight to the house of the communal receiver and seized the funds: , frs. on the following day the bulk of the troops arrived. that evening, between and p.m., a very sharp fusillade broke out. immediately the civilians were accused of having fired, and the troops began to shoot down the inhabitants and burn the houses. on the following morning--the st august--all the inhabitants not yet shot were driven into the place des tilleuls. the men were herded on one side, the women on the other. from time to time major scheunemann, who commanded the operations, had a few men shot, sometimes before the whole population, sometimes a little apart. during the morning the soldiers dragged the corpse of the burgomaster, dr. camus, into the place. as soon as major scheunemann learned of the death of the first magistrate, he appointed as burgomaster m. de jaer, who was one of the group of persons waiting their turn to be shot. from that moment the order was given to kill no more; they contented themselves with sack and pillage. there were then houses burned at andenne and at seilles, and inhabitants were shot (_ th report_). we will confine ourselves, as regards the events which followed the burning and the massacre, to reprinting the placard posted at andenne during the first ten days of the occupation:-- inhabitants of andenne. by order of the german military authority occupying the town of andenne:-- all the men are held as hostages. per shot fired on the german troops, there will be _at least_ two hostages shot. the hostages will be fed by the women, who will carry them the necessaries close to the bridge at in the evening and in the morning. women are strictly forbidden to converse with the hostages. all the streets and public places will immediately be cleaned by all the women of the town, on pain of immediate arrest. it is strictly forbidden to move about the town after in the evening and before in the morning, on pain of severe repression. the dead will immediately be buried without any formality. young people over and the women must give their assistance in every case of requisition. it is strictly forbidden to show oneself at the windows. by order of the german military authority, the burgomaster designate, e. de jaer. the secretary, monrique. _andenne, the st august, ._ proclamation.[ ] on the th august of this year there was firing from numerous houses of the town of andenne on the german troops who were passing through the town; bombs also were thrown. it is certain that the first outbreak of firing occurred, according to a certain plan, at precisely the same time in several streets: in the rue brun, the rue de l'hôtel de ville, the place des tilleuls, and several other streets. a number of soldiers have been killed or wounded and war material damaged. after denying the first attacks, there was again firing from many houses for several hours, and again on the st august, at two o'clock in the afternoon, an under-officer was killed by a shot from one of the houses in the rue de l'hôtel de ville. those guilty inhabitants who have hitherto been found have been shot by the council of war, but it was not possible to find the persons who arranged the plot. we appeal, however, to the honour of the city of andenne, which appears in the eyes of the civilized world as a nest of murderers and bandits. perhaps it is possible to restore the honour of this town; this is why the inhabitants are invited, in their own interest, to communicate to the military authority all that may make it possible to make progress in revealing the plot and its authors. he who delivers proofs capable [of revealing, etc.] receives according to their value a reward of - frs. the measures which have been taken will or might be sooner mitigated as soon as inquiry shall have made progress to make known the guilty. the commandant of the city. _andenne, the nd august, ._ _andenne, sunday, rd august, ._ official notice. between saarburg and metz there has been a great battle. the german troops have made , french prisoners. long live his majesty the emperor of germany, king of prussia and margrave of brandenburg! scheunemann, major and chief of department. official notice. the revictualling of the population will be effected by the efforts of the military administration, assisted by the civil administration of andenne constituted by the german government, as far as possible. . in this connection, the sale of provisions and commodities is strictly forbidden. . householders are advised to report at once the quantity of their provisions. commodities will be taken for cash or redeemable voucher. . it would be in the interest of the population to announce exactly the quantity of their provisions. . provisions not exceeding two days for the family need not be reported. . all the available forces of the commune are in the care of the administration for the harvest. properties abandoned will be harvested as the rest. the commandant of the town of andenne. _ th august, ._ proclamation. i have confidence in the administration and in the population, that now each will be careful to obey as strictly as possible the orders of the kommandantur in order to soften as far as possible the misfortune caused by the criminal deeds of a few inhabitants. this is why i object to all that prevents the free circulation of the inhabitants. i trust that none of the inhabitants of andenne and seilles will make use of their liberty save for the prosperity of the commune. the administrations of andenne and seilles are working with me day and night to bring about a settled state of affairs. all questions of revictualling and welfare must be addressed directly to the administrations of andenne and seilles, which have also the power to require the inhabitants to work. the german army displays the greatest severity and energy if it is perfidiously attacked by the inhabitants, but it sincerely desires to use justice and humanity towards the people, if the conduct of the inhabitants permit. der kommandant, schultze, hauptmann. _andenne, th august, ._ to the inhabitants of andenne. we call the attention of the population to the proclamation which the military commandant has just handed to us on leaving. i am leaving this town in the expectation that it will perform, as during the last few days, and also in the future, all that may ensure orderly conduct towards the german army. i hand over the new bridge to the town for its use, and require it to be responsible for its safety and to maintain it in good condition. for the present a small garrison will remain here, which will be fed and lodged by the town. if all energies are permanently directed upon the prosperity of the town of andenne and seilles these localities will soon be cured of the grave wounds which the war has inflicted upon these communes, by their own fault. schultze, hauptmann. _andenne, th august, ._ we are profiting by this occasion to congratulate and to thank the inhabitants of andenne for the admirable manner in which they have behaved, during these latter days, and we urge them strongly to assist the communal administration to repair as far possible the great misfortunes which we have experienced. the burgomaster delegated by the military authority, e. de jaer. the secretary, monrique. _andenne, th august, ._ proclamation.[ ] . from _saturday, th august, _, midday, all the clocks must be set to the german time (one hour earlier). . assemblies of more than three persons are strictly forbidden _under penalty of fines_. . to move about after p.m. the authorization of m. le commandant is required. . arms must be deposited with the guard _at the casino, by noon on the th inst_. where arms are still found in the houses after this date, the householder will be hanged. . the german troops requiring absolute tranquillity, workmen can return to work at once. tho least revolt on the part of the inhabitants will result in the complete burning of the town, and the men will be hanged. simons, lieut.-col. and commander-in-chief. _becker_, _captain and commander-in-chief._ dear fellow-citizens, we are happy to announce to you that the military authority will show the greatest goodwill towards us if, as we doubt not, the worthy population of andenne continues to remain perfectly quiet, to labour with courage, and to obey authority with docility, _as it has done_ up to the present, for which we thank it. at a military fête, at which the military authority expressly invited us to be present, all the troops, including the officers--in our presence, and before many of the notables of andenne, and dean cartiaux in particular--repeatedly shouted "hurrah for andenne!" in the name of all of you, much affected, we expressed our thanks. dear friends, have confidence in us; we are working with all our souls for the safety of andenne. we have assured the military authority that the soldiers might be perfectly at ease in our midst, that none of us would wish to commit the least aggression--that, on the contrary, we shall all treat the germany army with _complete loyalty_. we have been responsible for you. in return, we ask you only one thing: it is, to continue to do what you have done until to-day, and, if, by some impossible chance, there should be among us an ill-conditioned person who might be capable of compromising honest people, point him out to us; for our worthy fellow-citizens must not be responsible for the crimes of a scoundrel. let the german army be sure that the communal administration will with the utmost promptness hand over to it any one guilty of an act of ill-will, whoever he may be. dear fellow-citizens, patience and courage to support privation. be easy in your minds; we are with you. the burgomaster delegated by the military authority, dr. ledoyen, e. de jaer, councillor lahaye. the secretary, monrique, _andenne, th august, _. proclamation. i am under the impression that the greater portion of the inhabitants desire tranquillity, therefore i invite them not to leave the town. before employing violent means, i shall make a strict inquiry to discover the guilty persons in case a revolt should break out. i therefore expect of the population of andenne that it will do everything to ensure that no german soldier shall be molested otherwise i shall be forced to act in accordance with the measures of my first proclamation. becker, captain, l.i.r. , and commandant-in-chief. one word as to these placards. _placard of the st august._--the men are all regarded as hostages; the women have to feed them; they also have to clean up the town. _placard of the nd august._--the military authorities declare, on the nd of august, that andenne, where the "attacks of francs-tireurs" were repressed during the night of the th and the morning of the st, is already regarded by the whole civilized world as "a nest of murderers and bandits." it offers a reward of to frs. to any one who will denounce the author of the plot. it also promises, to excite the zeal of the informers, that the severe measures in force will be mitigated as soon as the leaders are discovered. (no one was denounced.) _ st placard of the rd august._--this announces the great victory between sarrebourg and metz: , french prisoners were taken. (an attempt to demoralize the population.) note that the wolff agency reported only , prisoners; where did major scheunemann find the other , ? _ nd placard of the rd august._--the germans are attending to the revictualling of andenne. (in reality the people of andenne were starving.) _placard of the th august._--the german administration is strict, but just. (the people of andenne had noticed the severity.) _ st placard of the th august._--once again the inhabitants are urged to remain calm, and are congratulated on their good conduct. (the burgomaster was forced to countersign this proclamation. had he seen it first?) _ nd placard of the th august._--the german time is made compulsory. assemblies of more than three persons are prohibited. if arms are found in a house their owner will be hanged. at the least disturbance, the complete burning of the town and the hanging of the men. _ st placard of the th august._--the german troops, having pillaged andenne and shot down its inhabitants, now shout "hurrah for andenne!" then a fresh appeal to informers. _ nd placard of the th august._--the german authorities now promise to make an inquiry if there is another revolt. (this inquiry would have been a novelty.) e.--ferocity. we may be brief, for the cruel character of _kultur_ is so obvious, and appears so plainly from the documents cited, that it would be idle to insist upon it. if it were necessary to justify our aversion, we need only remark that the cruelties recorded were systematically premeditated. do not the _kriegsbrauch im landkriege_ (_usages of war on land according to the great general staff_) state that the observation of these usages is not "guaranteed by any sanction other than the fear of reprisals," and that the officer, the child of his age, carried away by the moral tendencies which affect his country, must protect himself "against exaggerated humanitarian ideas," and must realize that "the only true humanity often resides in the unmitigated employment of these severities?" if such principles are professed by the highest authorities, the german soldier will not shrink from any degree of violence; for he knows that wickedness will not merely provide him with amusement; it will also help to achieve the final aim of warfare. so that the officer shall be in no danger of forgetting the spirit in which he should conceive his relations with the enemy population, he carries some such aid to memory as the _tornister-wörterbuch_. if he has letters or proclamations to draft, he has recourse to _l'interprète militaire_ of captain von scharfenort, professor and librarian at the academy of war in berlin. m. waxweiler (in _la belgique neutre et loyale_, p. ) has already drawn attention to the cruel and odious character of this _vade-mecum_, so we will not enlarge upon it. it was after consulting _l'interprète militaire_ that a certain placard posted in belgium in the august of was drafted. it gives no details as to the "lugubrious cruelties"; it applies both to towns and villages; it speaks of the "mayor" instead of the "burgomaster"; it is neither dated nor signed; in short, it presents all the characteristics of an "emergency placard," drafted beforehand. proclamation. we are not making war upon citizens, but only on the enemy army. in spite of this, the german troops have been attacked in great number by persons who do not belong to the army. they have committed _acts of the most lugubrious cruelty_ not only against combatants, but also against our wounded and our doctors who are under the protection of the red cross. to prevent these brutalities i order that which follows: . any person who does not belong to the army and who is found arms in hand, will be shot instantly. he will be regarded as outside the laws of nations. . all arms, rifles, pistols, brownings, sabres, daggers, etc., and all explosive material, must be delivered immediately by the mayors of every village or town to the commander of the german troops; if a single weapon is found, no matter in what house, or if any act has been committed against our troops, our transports, our telegraph lines, our railways, etc., or if any one gives asylum to _francs-tireurs_; the guilty persons and the hostages who will be taken in each village will be shot without pity. besides this, the inhabitants of the villages, etc., in question will be driven out. the villages and towns even will be demolished and burned. if this happens on the road of communication between two villages or two towns, the inhabitants of the two villages will be treated in the same manner. i expect the mayors and populations will be able, by their prudent supervision and conduct, to ensure the safety of our troops as well as their own. in the contrary case, the measures indicated above will come into force. signed: the general commanding-in-chief. (no name.) the appeal to brutality comes from above. in the whole world shuddered at the advice which wilhelm ii gave the expeditionary corps setting out for china. "follow the example of the huns," cried the kaiser. why, then, do the germans profess to be annoyed when compared to-day with the soldiers of attila--or when their motto is spelt _gott mit huns_? a german lieutenant, whose military note-book we have had before us, does full justice to his companions. after the massacre and burning of ottignies on the th august, , he wrote as follows (we translate):-- the inhabitants were in the square, under a guard of soldiers. several men were condemned by the council of war and at once put to death. the women, dressed in black, as in a solemn procession, then departed. among those who had just fallen, how many innocent were shot! the village has been literally sacked: the "blond brute" has shown himself for what he is. the huns and the freebooters of the middle ages could not have done better. the houses are burning now, and when the action of the fire is not enough we raze what remains standing. very suggestive too is the placard of the th april, , in which baron von bissing informs us that according to mr. fox, an american journalist, the germans have committed no useless "cruelties." then there are useful cruelties? really the governor-general, who seems to know his subject, ought to publish a table differentiating the various qualities of cruelty. but a thing that does surprise us is that the virus of cruelty should already have contaminated civilians--i mean the catholic members of the reichstag. herr erzberger, the same who asserted, and who perhaps is asserting still, that the belgians invaded germany on the nd august, wrote what are perhaps the most coldly ferocious words imaginable: "_above all, no sentimentality!_" (_n.r.c._, th february, , evening edition). such advice bore fruit, as we shall discover when we come to examine, in succession, the physical and moral tortures in which our executioners delight. but first let us cite a few examples of _aggravations_. by that we mean acts of malice which do not endanger the life or reason of the victims, but which reveal, perhaps the more clearly for that, the desire to torment. . aggravations. a general remark occurs to us at once: it is that the germans have failed in their object. for instead of exasperating us to the point of forcing us to commit some imprudence, which they would have been obliged to repress, they simply made sure of our profound contempt. to tell the truth, each fresh persecution makes us furious for a day; but the sense of irony soon regains the upper hand, and then we have only one anxiety: to make their latest form of vexation ridiculous by all the means in our power. nothing better shows the contrast between the german mentality and the belgian than the manner in which we have obeyed the decree concerning the german time. after only a week's occupation the inhabitants of andenne were obliged to set their clocks to the german time. at namur, too, this was required from the st august. elsewhere the german time was enforced only at a much later date, and only in respect of the clocks in cafés. many cabaret-keepers merely stopped their clocks; others had fitted a second small hand, an hour in retard of the first; others wrote beneath the clock "german time," or even "this clock is an hour fast." in the window of a brussels watchmaker, in the midst of many clocks which indicated more or less precisely the german time, was one which was specially labelled "correct time"--and that one told, of course, the belgian time. in short, every one did what he could to avoid letting his customers regard the german time as the true time. and really, if one has adopted, as is the case in germany and in belgium, the system of hourly segments, it is obvious that belgium ought to form part of the segment of western europe, not part of that of eastern europe. it is, therefore, solely in a spirit of aggravation that germany forces her time upon us; and she is fully aware of this, as her public notices are always careful to speak of "german time," not of "central european time." _treatment inflicted upon belgian ladies._ what do you think of the additional suffering inflicted on ladies condemned to several weeks' imprisonment for having conveyed letters from belgian soldiers to the parents of those soldiers, or for speaking a little too boldly before an officer, or for some other crime of a like nature? it is a delicate idea to shut them up in common with half a score of other prisoners, in a room containing no convenience but a pail furnished with a cover. they are lucky if the company does not include some very dubious characters. * * * * * we need not insist: these are aggravations, not serious at bottom, but their irritating nature can only be fully appreciated when one suffers them daily, or hears them described by friends or relatives who have been their victims. after the examples of collective and impersonal malfeasance dictated by some high officer desirous of justifying the fair fame of _kultur_, we will take those cases in which the personality of the author clearly reveals itself, and, let us say at once, in which this personality instantly excites the disgust and indignation of all merely civilized persons. the germans reached capelle-au-bois on the th august. but on the st they were repulsed by belgian troops. on the th september they returned in force and forced back the belgians; not without difficulty, however, for they had many killed, of whom nineteen were buried at capelle-au-bois. with the belgian troops as they withdrew went all the inhabitants of the village, leaving behind them only a few helpless old people. in this all but empty village, where no one was left to offer them the least resistance, the germans hastened to kill several inhabitants--four, it is believed. then, under the orders of captain von puttkammer, the strong-boxes were broken open, the objects of value packed and sent to germany, and the wines carried to the bank of the canal and into the houses occupied by the officers. on the evening of the th september the troops set fire to the village. thanks to incendiary pastilles and benzine pumps, the fire spread rapidly; houses were burned of the three hundred which formed the heart of the village. so far all was as usual; but here is the characteristic fact. the better to enjoy the spectacle the troops spent the evening on the bank of the canal; there they organized a little orgie, over eight hundred empty bottles being afterwards discovered. at the same period the germans established a few miles further to the west, at londerzeel, pillaged and then burned the house of the notary, m. van hover. they had tried in vain to open the safe, so, furious at their failure, they poured benzine into it and set fire to it, procuring at least the satisfaction of knowing that all the papers would be reduced to ashes. what are we to think of the officer who, lodging in the house of a curé in the province of antwerp, found it amusing to tear pages from the books which formed his host's library, or to gum them together, so that in seeking to separate them the owner himself would tear them? note that it was no clown who devised this kindly pastime, for he took care to choose, in the latin books, the pages bearing the most important passages.[ ] _filthy amusements._ others preferred to defile things. when in august and september we were told that the germans were amusing themselves by depositing ordure in their beds we refused to believe in such perversion. but a walk through eppeghem, sempst, and weerde was enough to enlighten us. not only had they emptied all the houses, rich or poor; not only had they taken the trouble to smash into quite small pieces all the glass and crockery they could not carry away; not only, in the grocers' shops, had they delighted themselves by mixing snuff with the butter, and tacks with the cloves, and pepper with the flour, but all the bedding bore the malodorous traces of their visit. let it not be imagined that this mania of beastliness is peculiar to the common soldiers. the officers who spent the night of the th august, , at cortenburg, between louvain and brussels, were infected by the same _kultur_. in a certain house they carefully laid the table in the dining-room, without forgetting the serviettes, and then deposited a souvenir on every plate. in another house in cortenburg they chose, as a receptacle, the tall hat of the householder. in the château of malderen (brabant), having taken all that pleased them and broken the rest into small pieces, they opened a card-table, deposited their excrement there, and carefully closed it again. another manifestation of the scatological mania: many hundreds of german army surgeons met in congress during the easter holidays of , in brussels. on the last day of the congress, wednesday, the th april, a banquet was held, on the premises of the palais de justice. on the thursday morning it was discovered that the surgeons had left souvenirs behind them; they had evacuated the surplus of food and liquor consumed by the three natural orifices, and had chosen for their purpose the most beautiful halls of the palais. frankly, we should not have expected this from the doctors; it is true, however, that they were german military doctors. a man amuses himself as he can--or, to put it more plainly, according to his mentality. after all, these beastly habits, disgusting as they are, are not those whose results are most disagreeable. there are others who seek violent contrasts. thus, at houtem, while the church was burning, on the th september, , a military band was playing its liveliest selections at a few yards' distance. at monceau-sur-sambre, on the nd august, officers were playing the piano in the château of the demoiselles bourriez, on the trazegnies road, when the soldiers had already lit the upper floors. at louvain, on the th august, , in a café near the railway-station, soldiers set fire to the upper floor without warning the proprietor, and remained below, where they kept a mechanical piano going. they were thus able to enjoy the despairing expressions of the inmates when they discovered that they could no longer hope to save anything. . physical tortures. we shall not here refer to the innumerable cases of torture cited in the reports of the commission of inquiry, nor those reported in nothomb's _la belgique martyre_. we will confine ourselves to facts of which we have personal knowledge. the germans will, of course, seek to deny them. so it is as well to begin by a declaration of their own. _vorwärts_, on the rd august, (the very day on which the chief atrocities were committed in the dinant district), protested against the proposal made by a german officer, not to kill francs-tireurs outright, but to wound them mortally and leave them to die slowly in agony, while forbidding any one to go to their assistance. what to our mind is even graver than the proposition itself is the fact that the _deutsches offizierblatt_ accepted it as quite a natural thing. it is clear that where they are proved, the cruelties committed by our enemies must be denounced, and that everything must be done to prevent their repetition. however, we must not allow the recital of these cruelties to force us to resort to a sort of policy of retaliation, or lead us to wash out what others have done with innocent blood. what are we to say when we find an organ like the _deutsches offizierblatt_ expressing its sympathy for the following proposition: the "brutes" captured as francs-tireurs should not be shot outright, but should be fired upon and left to their fate, all succour being prevented? what again are we to say when it is added that the destruction, in reprisal, of whole localities even does not represent "a sufficient vengeance for the bones of a single pomeranian grenadier assassinated"? these are the imaginings of bloodthirsty fanatics, and we are ashamed to perceive that men capable of speaking thus exist in our nation. such expressions, even if they are not carried into action, are truly of a nature to place our struggle in an unfavourable light all the world over. (_vorwärts_, rd august, .) _the fate of the valkenaers family._ one of the most horrible tragedies of this war was the massacre of the valkenaers family, at thildonck, on the th august, , while louvain was burning. because they had not prevented the belgian soldiers from utilizing their farms as points of support, the members of the two valkenaers households were shot down in cold blood. of these fourteen unfortunate people three were grievously wounded and seven killed. the better to amuse themselves, the germans forced the elder of the young girls to wave a sort of flag. during the preceding night (that of the th august), in louvain, they had savagely mangled the corpse of a young woman. on the afternoon of the th, being still in the immediate neighbourhood, at bueken, they had seized the curé and cut off his nose and ears before giving him the _coup de grâce_ (p. ). at the same time began the torture of the curé of pont-brûlé, to end only on the th. at elewijt, on the th, they amused themselves by amputating the hands of four men--the three brothers van der aa and françois salu. a little further to the east the first german troops who had passed through schaffen, near diest, on the th or th august, had there tortured the blacksmith broeden. all day long he had laboured, shoeing the horses of the enemy's cavalry. early in the evening he repaired to the church, with the sacristan, with the object of saving some precious articles which had not been placed in security. he was surprised by the soldiery and seized. successively the germans broke his wrists, his arms, and his legs; perhaps he suffered yet other tortures. when he was practically lifeless the soldiers asked him whether he thought that he would in future be capable of undertaking any kind of labour. on his replying, in an almost inaudible voice, that he did not, they declared that in that case he ought not to continue to live. immediately they threw him, head first, into a ditch dug for the purpose; then the ditch was filled, leaving his feet protruding. * * * * * in other parts of the country also the most varied tortures. at spontin, near dinant, on the rd august, , they pierced the curé and the burgomaster with bayonet-wounds until death ensued; but first they had bound each man with a strong cord, drawn violently tight round the waist by the combined efforts of two soldiers. it must be supposed that the officer who presided over the "severities" at spontin had quite a special affection for cords, for having taken alive some inhabitants of the place (the rest were killed, shot down while they were trying to escape), he had them all tied together by the wrists and conveyed them towards dorinn; but many were shot before reaching that village. on the same day, in dinant prison, a soldier strangled a baby in the arms of its mother because it was crying too loud. at sorinnes, still in the dinant district, and on the same day, jules and albert houzieaux were burned alive. at aiseau, on the st august, the germans shut two men into a house, to which they set fire. but the unexpected arrival of a shell prevented them from enjoying the sufferings of their victims. at hofstade chance favoured them better; they threw victor de coster, whom they had just stripped, into the furnace provided by his own house; his servant shared his fate. we must suppose that the germans take great pleasure in the contortions of the hanged. herr heymel had to content himself with admiring the corpse of a priest swinging in a tree; and his friend, herr klemm, was careful to devote, to the memory of this comforting spectacle, a drawing, published in _kunst und künstler_ (january ). herr heymel expresses his great satisfaction before this spectacle; but what pleasure he would have experienced could he have witnessed the hanging of the men whom the germans boast of having hanged to the trees of the herve district; or could he have assisted to hang that inhabitant of Èvelette, whom the soldiers put to death at andenne, on the th; or the cabaret-keeper who was strung up to a lantern before the louvain railway-station, on the night of the th; but our fastidious _littérateur_ would have tasted the keenest delight at arlon, when an old man was put to death; he remained hanging for hours, with his feet just grazing the soil (p. ). the germans, perhaps, will say--supposing they think they ought to excuse themselves--that these executions were carried out as a result of the attacks of francs-tireurs, or after the mutilation of the german wounded by belgian civilians. but it will be impossible for them to allege these lies as circumstances extenuating the inhuman treatment which they inflicted upon belgian soldiers at the time of their first attacks on the forts of liége, on the night of the th august; that is, a few hours after the commencement of hostilities. not only did they maltreat in every imaginable manner their belgian prisoners, but certain german soldiers pushed _kultur_ so far as to refuse water to poor wounded fellows dying of thirst; more, they even gave themselves the atrocious pleasure of spilling on the ground the water contained in the wounded men's own flasks, and this before their eyes. . moral tortures. the physical tortures which the germans have inflicted upon us cannot rival their methods of moral torture. in these they have achieved refinements worthy of the inventive genius of an edgar allan poë. _moral torture before execution._ to force those about to be shot to dig their own graves, as they did at tavigny,[ ] is quite a commonplace method. in the fonds de leffe, on the rd august, (p. ), they perfected their mode of operation. they had called up eight men of dinant to bury the victims as they were shot (there was so much work to do that it had to be entrusted to experienced hands). in the evening each of the gravediggers dug his own grave; four were shot, and buried by their colleagues; just as these were about to suffer the same fate an officer "pardoned" them: not out of humanity (that would have been too decent), but simply because their services would be required during the following days. at dinant, during the bloody days of the rd and th august, they invented many other moral tortures. on the morning of the rd they shot, in a meadow of the fonds de leffe, a group of thirteen men. but instead of leading them all together before the firing platoon, they cunningly prolonged their pleasure; the thirteen unfortunates were tied, in succession, to the same tree, and shot down one by one. the whole of the rd was consecrated, in the fonds de leffe, to killing the men in small batches of half a dozen; these were shot either before their wives and children, or at a short distance, but within earshot, so that the family should lose none of the groans of the dying. when, later on, the women and children were shut up in a windmill, having first been marched in front of the corpses, the germans allowed themselves the distraction of lighting fires before the windows from time to time, in order to make the women believe that they were about to be burned alive with their children, and to delight in their anguish. while men were being shot in the fonds de leffe, horrible massacres were being committed at leffe and at dinant, at only a few minutes' distance. here, too, men were shot before their families--for example, victor poncelet and charles naus--and the survivors were forced to pass through the midst of the corpses. the officers, too, devised more complicated diversions; for instance, allowing a group of women and children to escape into the mountains, in order to shoot them down from a distance. a moral torture commonly employed is that which consists in making people believe that they are going to be killed. all the inhabitants of sorinnes were placed before machine-guns, and a german chaplain, speaking french, ceremoniously shook each man by the hand. at dinant two or three hundred persons were lined up against a wall; then a pastor recited the prayers for the dead (perhaps the chaplain of sorinnes had found another opportunity for his pleasantry), and an empty machine-gun was pointed at them. an officer laughed as though his sides would split while he threatened, with his revolver, some fifteen women shut up in the convent of prémontré, at leffe. pretended executions and threats of execution were everywhere in common usage. at wépion, near namur, on the rd august, (the day of the dinant horrors), the germans packed the women into boats, and told them to row into the middle of the meuse. they took aim at them several times; then, having sufficiently amused themselves, they allowed them to return to the bank. on the th september, , a group of civil prisoners from the north of brabant were going towards the railway-station, whence they left for germany. the procession was preceded by a military band, which played funeral marches, so that they were convinced that they were being led to execution. two citizens of brussels, taking a walk on sunday, the th august, ventured as far as koningsloo, in the suburbs. they were seized by german sentinels, and imprisoned at the post. from time to time an under-officer approached them, held his revolver under their noses, and grimaced at them: "ah, ah, walk's over, walk's done!" (_fini, promenade!_). one of the prisoners asked the guard if they were really going to be shot; in which case they would wish to make certain arrangements. but the soldier reassured them: "don't be afraid," he said, "it's only a game of our officer's; he does it every day to amuse himself." and sure enough, towards evening the two prisoners were set free without further ceremony. sectional execution--execution by small groups--under the eyes of those awaiting their fate, was applied on a large scale at arlon. on the th august, (or , or ) inhabitants of rossignol and neighbouring localities were taken thither, and were killed in groups of ten or twelve. madame hurieaux was reserved for the last; she saw her husband and all her companions in misfortune perish first; and she died crying "vive la belgique! vive la france!" it will be of interest to reproduce here the narrative of a medical student who was present at the executions which took place at arlon. it may be taken as a sample, so to speak, of the german procedure: massacre and incendiarism, with no previous inquiry; the most varied moral and physical tortures; capricious condemnation or liberation of prisoners; pillage of the communal funds, etc. at the beginning of august i left y----, where my parents live, to go to the village of x----, lying to the north of my native town. two days later the french arrived, making towards the north of luxemburg. there were movements of troops in different directions, and soon one could see that battles would be fought in the neighbourhood. i thought i could make myself useful by opening a small ambulance, which i did. i was lodging with one of my aunts, who has a son of my own age. one day an engagement took place between the french and the german troops, and a wounded german soldier was brought into my little ambulance; his name was kohn. i gave him first aid; i apologized for not being able to do more, and i told him that towards evening it might be possible to carry him to arlon, where he would receive all necessary care. i returned to my aunt's house; i found her in tears; they had just taken away her son, my cousin jules, on the pretext that he had fired on them. it was a piece of stupidity, for there was nothing in the whole house but one revolver, and i was carrying that on me. i had had it on me all the time i was at the ambulance. i hastened to hide it under a chest, and i decided to go and demand my cousin of the germans. i speak their language a little, and i was so convinced of my cousin's innocence that i imagined a few words of explanation would make them give him up. i soon found him, tied to a tree, beside other prisoners. i began to parley with a german officer. he replied that there was nothing to do for the moment, that the prisoners would be sent to arlon, and that he was convinced that if i followed them i should be able, at arlon, to obtain justice for my cousin. we set out for arlon; i was beside the prisoners. at a determined spot we were handed over to other soldiers. i was greatly astonished, at a given moment, to see that i had become a prisoner myself; i was no longer accompanying my cousin, to save him; i was sharing his fate. we arrived at arlon; we were lined up against a wall. there were with us, notably, a woman, with two young children of nine and ten, an old villager with his son, and other people whom i did not know. an officer on horseback approached us. he was, it seemed a judge. he turned to the soldiers and asked, pointing to each of us: "did that one fire?" and the soldiers always replied in the affirmative. now it should be noted that these soldiers had seen nothing, and could have seen nothing, for they were not those who seized the prisoners in the village in which they were arrested. the head-dress of the troops was entirely different; the first had helmets, and the second caps. when the officer had finished pointing at us, we were informed that we were all condemned to death. an old man was seized; i myself was seized; and we were pushed to one side, to be shot. the old man's son rushed towards him and tried to drag him away from the soldiers. the result was that the son was seized, to be shot with the father. this is how things happened: the two were put against a wall; a platoon of soldiers commanded by an officer took up their position in front of them. the officer commanded all their movements with a deliberation calculated to increase the torture of the victims. "load!"... then a pause. "take aim!"... then a pause. "fire!"... the two unhappy men fell to the ground, groaning. the officer went up to them, recognized that they were not dead, and again gave orders to fire, with the same deliberation and the same method. this time the father ceased to move; it took a third volley to finish the son. we were then all led to a guard-house. there we remained for three days. we were given nothing to eat. we fasted from the morning we were taken; it was only on the following day, or the day after that, that we received a little water. in that room we were literally tortured. we were forced to stand upright; an old man was groaning he was so thirsty that his tongue protruded from his lips and the flies settled on it. as he could not stand any longer, the germans passed a cord round his neck and attached it to a ring-bolt in the wall, so that he was supported only on his toes. the cord stretched and the wretched man fell now to this side, now to that. the soldiers made him stand upright again by striking his face with the butts of their rifles. at one time his trousers fell down and we saw he was wounded in the thigh, by bayonet-thrusts. later he became insane. in his delirium he cried: "prepare food for the cows."[ ] it was a horrible scene. at another time the woman was taken out, with her two little children, and all three were shot against the wall of the palais de justice at arlon. the soldiers asserted that they had "found a german soldier's purse" in this woman's house. the time passed in the most atrocious moral anguish and physical suffering. we had lost all notion of time. the soldiers insulted us, spat upon us, made signs that our throats would be cut, that we were going to be shot. they took a pleasure in drinking in front of us. at a certain moment an officer of superior rank entered the room. he came up to me and asked: "why are you here?" i replied: "they accuse us of having fired on the troops." immediately he turned his back upon me, but i cried, with energy: "yes, and far from having fired on them, i looked after them. if you want the proof of this, ask the soldier called kohn who must be in the hospital here at arlon." i then told him of kohn. he went to the hospital, and returned some time later; he had found the soldier kohn, who confirmed my story. an officer on horseback (the judge) came to the door of the guard-room: we were sent out, my cousin and i, and without even questioning us he said, "you are acquitted." i protested, saying: "there are still five or six people there of my village who are no more guilty than we are." they were sent out, and the judge told them, as he told me, without any further inquiry, "you are acquitted." as for the unhappy old man, i will tell you later how he escaped. he returned to his village; he is crippled. * * * * * i remained at arlon until the end of august, at the house of one of my relatives, whose business brought him daily into contact with the belgian authorities and the german army. i was thus able to obtain a good deal of precise information. * * * * * the germans entered arlon on the th august. they came from mersch, in the grand-duchy. several days earlier, all the weapons the inhabitants possessed had been deposited at the hôtel de ville. the people of arlon knew from the newspapers what atrocities the germans had committed in the neighbourhood of liége, at visé, herve, battice, warsage, etc., and they were far from meditating any disturbance. on entering the town the uhlans began to break in the doors with the butts of their rifles. on the following day commandant von der esch, commandant of the town, had a notice posted up, which i have copied _verbatim_. proclamation. luminous signals have been made to-night between freylange and the lower part of this town; one of our patrols has been attacked; our telephone wires have been cut. to punish the population guilty of these acts of ill-will, i order for to-day at o'clock the burning of the village of freylange and the sack of houses in the west of arlon. i also condemn the town to pay a war contribution of , frs., which must be paid over before p.m., or i shall have the hostages shot. von der esch. * * * * * while the communal administration of arlon was deliberating on the subject of the war contribution, the burning of freylange and the sack of houses of arlon was carried out according to the programme. after the , frs. had been paid to the germans, they summoned to the general headquarters, established in the hôtel de ville of the northern portion of arlon, a police agent, named lempreur, and instructed him to proceed to arrest those who had fired on the german troops. he came back to say that he had found no one. "ah!" they told him, "you are going about it unwillingly! very good; you shall pay for the others." and without listening to his pleading, without allowing him to see his wife or children again, he was placed with his back to a door and a firing platoon shot him down. i saw the door at the hôtel de ville; it was riddled with bullets. a few days later another army division replaced the first. immediately the town was condemned to pay a fresh war contribution: a million francs. the town could get together only , frs. it was let off the remainder. * * * * * from the day when i was set at liberty we used almost daily to hear of executions in arlon; they were of prisoners, brought just as we were, from the neighbouring villages, notably from rossignol and tintigny, who were shot in small parties. one of these executions took place in the courtyard of the church of st. donat. the dean succeeded in obtaining pardon for two of the condemned. the most important execution was that of (others say ) inhabitants of rossignol and its immediate surroundings, who were shot on th august. they were taken near the viaduct which passes over the arlon railway-station (towards the connecting station). they were killed in small groups of ten or twelve. those who were not dead were finished with the bayonet. each group had to climb over the surrounding corpses. they kept to the last a lady of rossignol, mme. hurieaux, who thus had to see her husband and the greater part of the inhabitants of her village killed before her eyes. she died crying "vive la belgique! vive la france!" here is one little detail which i was able to verify. when the receiver and examiner of customs of arlon learned of the approaching arrival of the germans they removed all the money from the safe, leaving only copper coin to the value of about a franc. the germans immediately proceeded to break open the safe, but succeeded only after two days' work. infuriated by this discomfiture, they used the safe as a commode. but whatever the moral sufferings inflicted on those who were executed, the tortures which the germans applied to those against whom no accusation was brought were a hundred times more atrocious. think of the martyrdom of mme. cambier, of nimy, who was forced to tread on her son's brains; and the sufferings of the innumerable men and women of whom the germans made a living shield, at anseremme, mons, tournai, and charleroi (p. ). as to charleroi, here is a detail not recorded by herr heymel. the prisoners collected at jumet and odelissert were tied in couples by the wrists, to prevent them from trying to escape when the french should fire on them. moreover, they had to walk with their hands raised. when, by reason of fatigue, they dropped their arms, the soldiers struck them with the butts of their rifles. we know a man who was thus placed before the german troops, who saw one of his relatives killed at his side, and two of the latter's sons. he himself received three bullets, one in the right wrist, one in the left arm, and the third under the chin. he escaped, but is lamed for life. imagine also the tortures suffered by the civil prisoners who, in defiance of all justice, were sent to germany. hunger, thirst, threats, and insults; packed into cattle-trucks, they had no room to lie down, or even to sit. above all, they had no news of their families. on the th september, , more than inhabitants of lebbeke, near termonde, were placed as a screen in front of the german troops marching against termonde. in the evening, those who had not been shot were added to others just captured, and all together, in all some , were sent into germany. at the moment when these unhappy folk were leaving lebbeke the germans set fire to some of the houses, and kindly informed the prisoners that the whole village was about to be burned. moreover, they said, the women and children would in part be killed, and the rest driven off in the direction of termonde and gand. imagine, if you can, the sufferings endured by these unfortunate people for the two months during which they remained without news of their homes, in the conviction that their families were massacred or wandering wretchedly across the devastated country. while by means of these cruel lies, whose horrible effect was systematically calculated, they filled with despair the hearts of those who were departing, the soldiers amused themselves also by wringing the hearts of the poor women--mothers, wives, sisters, daughters--who remained in the village. for they, too, were for long weeks without news from the prisoners, and the abominable manner in which the german troops, drunk with carnage, had assassinated, on the day of exodus, twelve of their fellow-citizens (_ th report_), permitted them to entertain the most frightful suppositions. make no mistake: the case of lebbeke is far from being exceptional. all the civil prisoners were treated with the same barbarity, a barbarity utterly unjustified, since, in the judgment of baron von bissing, no complaint had been formulated against the civil prisoners who have been sent back to their homes. but all have not returned. in june , for example, most of the prisoners from visé were still in germany. as for those taken from rossignol and so many other localities in luxemburg, they will never return, alas! they have been shot without pretext. another horrible torture consists in the suppression of communications between the belgian soldiers and their parents. since mid-october all connections have been severed between the belgian army which is fighting on the yser and the belgians remaining in belgium. those who seek to establish communication between the belgian soldiers and their relatives are spied out and sentenced. against jules-arthur de cuypere, bachelor, domiciled in the last instance at liége, a deprivation of liberty of five months has been pronounced, because, contrary to the known regulations, he took charge, during a number of journeys to the dutch frontier and into holland, of a large number of letters from belgian soldiers in france and interned belgian prisoners in holland; and delivered these letters, addressed to different members of families of namur and the environs, at their addresses, by carrying them thither. at the same time he rendered himself guilty by crossing the frontier. (_l'ami de l'ordre_, - th july, .) since the spring of the posts have been operating between belgium and holland, so that those few privileged persons who have a correspondent in holland might thus indirectly obtain news if the germans had authorized correspondence through an intermediary. but they have strictly forbidden it (pp. - ). they could easily organize a service enabling soldiers to write to their relations: "i am going on all right ... i am wounded ..." and enabling the relations to reply, so that the soldiers' families would be reassured; while now the only news arrives by precarious methods, and often goes astray. but what our enemies desire is to make the poor relatives suffer as much as possible. we do not believe that such a form of torture has ever in any previous war been inflicted on a whole population. it is untrue, it seems, that bismarck was the first to use the words which have been attributed to him: "in territories occupied by our victorious troops the inhabitants must be left nothing but eyes to weep with." but he quoted them with an approval that made them his own. now they have come true. here is quite another kind of moral torture. the germans are fond of leading small groups of belgian prisoners through the streets of brussels at moments when the latter are as busy as possible: for instance, on sunday afternoons. one can imagine the humiliation of the poor soldiers exposed to the curiosity of the crowd; but it delights their guardians. it was evidently the desire to enjoy, simultaneously, the misery of the prisoners and the impotent anger of the spectators which led the germans, at the time of their entry into louvain on the th august, and into brussels on the th, to place a few belgian countrymen, with their hands tied behind their backs, at the head of their columns. in ancient rome captives used to walk before the triumphal car of the conqueror. do not the germans realize how utterly this practice is contrary to the humane principles enjoined by article of the hague convention? we must suppose that they do not; for not only do they not abandon the practice, but they make use of it to coin money. condemnation of the town of roulers. amsterdam, _ th may_ (havre agency).--the town of roulers is condemned to pay a fresh fine of ½ millions, because the population cheered belgian prisoners passing through the town. (_l'ami de l'ordre._) impossible, it will be said, to invent tortures yet more diabolic. but no, when it is a question of doing evil, _kultur_ can surpass itself. imagine the mentality of the person who sent to m. brostens, of antwerp, the identity-disc of his son, who was taken prisoner. and imagine the inward joy of the sender in picturing the parents' despair on receiving the medal! refined cruelty. when they make prisoners they sometimes detach the identification-discs from the men and send them, unaccompanied by comment, to the parents, to make them believe that their son is dead. this is what has just happened to m. brostens, lieutenant of customs, of antwerp. having received, a few days ago, his son's regimental number, he went into mourning. so yesterday morning, what was not his amazement to see his son return, who, having been made prisoner at the beginning of the war, had succeeded in escaping. (_le matin_, antwerp, th september, .) here, perhaps, the culprit was an uncultivated soldier. but what are we to think of the mentality of baron von der goltz, when he informs us by placard that a record is kept in a register of all aggressions against the german army, and that the localities in which such attacks have taken place may expect to receive their punishment? general government of belgium. it has recently happened, in the regions which are not at present occupied by the german troops in more or less force, that convoys of wagons or patrols have been attacked, by surprise, by the inhabitants. i draw the attention of the public to the fact that a register is kept of the towns and communes in whose vicinity such attacks have occurred, and that they may expect their punishment as soon as the troops are passing through their neighbourhood. the governor-general in belgium, baron von der goltz, _general-field-marshal_. when one learns on what ultra-trivial hints the german troops have based their condemnation of the inhabitants, one may conclude that not a commune will escape repression. it was evidently this generalized terror which the governor wished to inspire. he, too, wished to have the pleasure of inflicting moral torture. * * * * * to give point to the contrast between the mentality of our oppressors and our own, between their _kultur_ and our civilization, we should like to reproduce a letter in which a young girl, living in gand, invited belgian women to enter the hospitals for the purpose of assisting the wounded, germans as well as our own, to write to their families. committees of this kind were immediately constituted, notably in brussels. belgian compassion. m. paul fredericq, professor at the university of gand, writes to the _soir_:-- "a young girl of gand has had a touching inspiration. "she wished belgian women who can write english and german, forgetting international hatred, and listening only to the voice of compassion, to attend at the ambulances and hospitals, in order to place themselves at the disposal of wounded foreigners, without distinction, and to write, at their dictation, letters intended to reassure their relatives. "this truly christian work of charity would put an end to the anguish of so many mothers, who know that their sons are engaged on the belgian battlefields. "i am certain that this appeal to the good hearts of our girls and women will not have been made in vain." while the germans are butchering our sons and wives, this is what belgian hearts are thinking of. (_le peuple_, th august, .) finally, to close with, here is a numerical example which, better than any reasoning, gives you the _kultur_ of the german army to the life:-- on the morning of sunday, the rd august, , the population of fonds de leffe (a suburb of dinant) comprised men and boys, including some fifteen inhabitants of neighbouring communes whom the germans had dragged away with them. by the evening of the following day had been put to death: none of those taken was spared; the eight who escaped the massacre had succeeded in fleeing. "happily"--we were told by a woman whose father, husband, and four brothers-in-law were massacred--"happily many of the men had left for the army and were fighting on the yser. a strange war, in which the soldiers are less exposed than the children, the old folks, and the sick who are left at home!" footnotes: [ ] apparently our author had never heard timber burn before.--(trans.) [ ] as the chancellor must have known, if the civil population _had_ been called to arms it would have been a perfectly legal measure. but the germans, who claim the right to do what is forbidden to others, would forbid others to do even those things that are lawful.--(trans.) [ ] see the _tägliche rundschau_ supplement, th september, ; and _hamburger fremdenblatt_, weekly supplement, th october, . [ ] epistle to romans viii. . [ ] the bill-stickers of brussels take a malign pleasure in refraining from pasting other matter over the burgomaster's denial. in july , eleven months after it was posted, one could still read the famous denial in several parts of brussels. [ ] nothing was known of the torture inflicted on the curé of bueken until, at the request of the dutch government, the body of father vincentius sombroek was exhumed, at the end of september (_n.r.c._, st october, evening). the body of m. de clerck was found at the same time, and it was then seen that he had been mutilated. this was known to his parishioners, but they had never dared to speak of it. what other horrors shall we learn of when tongues are again unloosed? [ ] rom. xii. , . [ ] oratio in dominica infra octavam epiphaniae. [ ] rom. xii. , . [ ] prayer for the sunday in the octave of epiphany. [ ] _etappen_, a provisioned halting-place for troops.--(trans.) [ ] the words in brackets are ours. [ ] other witnesses, however, more sincere, admitted in may that the attitude of the people of antwerp had remained just as hostile as at the outset (see the article by dr. julius burghold, in _k.z._ for the th may, , p.m. edition). [ ] in brussels the tramways had issued, up to the th july, , , gratuitous permits to german spies. [ ] the french of this proclamation is so bad that literal translation is impossible, but i have kept as close to the original as is consistent with intelligibility.--(trans.) [ ] the passages italicized were underlined in pencil on the placard posted at andenne. [ ] we shall give names at a later date. [ ] at least, they boast of having done so. [ ] i was told later that this old man was a sand merchant of chatillon, and was in a state of senile dementia. he was well known to the people of arlon. index absentees, tenfold tax on, - accusations, german, of belgian cruelty, why made, ; absurdity of, - ; progress of, - ; against the belgian government, - administration, german, of belgium, - aerschot, return of prisoners to, ; german burgomaster of, - ; massacre at, agadir crisis, agents-provocateurs, - aggravations, - agreements, attempt to enforce illegal, - air raids, german, - , - , _see_ dirigibles albert, king, ; his patron saint's day, - ; portraits of, - ; his birthday, ; german abuse of, - america, germany desires to influence, ; sends help, ; belgium's gratitude towards, andenne, massacre at, , - andré, m. françois, speech by, - anseremme, men sent to germany, ; germans hide behind women at, - antwerp, siege of, , ; bombardment of, - , - ; the city fired, ; sorties from, ; flight from, arlon, massacre at, ; narrative of an eye-witness, - arms, surrender of, , army, belgian, the "enemy," - ; 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germany attempts to obtain promise of neutrality from, ; belgium incited against, - eppeghem, fined, - , _eroberung belgiëns, die_, propagandist publication, - erzberger, herr, objects to sentimentality, escaille, m. de l', - espionage, german, - , - evere, air-raid at, executions, insufficiency of inquiry before, - factories, destruction of, falsifications, german, of documents, - famine in belgium, causes of, - , ferocity, instances of german, filthy tricks and amusements, - fines, illegal and absurd, - , flag, belgian, prohibited, - , flemish tongue, favoured, - fleming-walloon problem exploited, - flight of belgians before invasion, fonds de leffe, massacre at, forest, hostages taken at, france, germany accuses, - ; were her suspicions genuine? ; pacific mood of, ; accused of entering belgium in july, - ; sudden attack on checked, francorchamps, atrocities at, ; plundering of, "francs-tireurs," the german pretence of ( - ); were there any? - ; an obsession, - ; germany's invention of, ; method of "repression," - ; the great general staff prepares the army for, - ; fines for attacks by, - ; pretext for massacre and pillage, ; german lies concerning, - , , ; organization of "attacks," ; proposal to torture, frankenberg, pretended murder of, - freemasons appealed to, gand, coercion at, ; belgian girl's proposal, - gas, poisonous, use of, - , - german administration in belgium, - german character, classical authors on, german language, attempt to enforce, german mentality, - , , - german prisoners, letters of, - germans, belgian antipathy to undiminished, - germany, belgian distrust of, - ; gerard, mr., godet, m. philippe, goltz, baron von der, , , , , , - , , gottberg, herr, narrative of, graphic lies, - great general staff, the german, murderous tactics of, - ; methodical care of, - greindl report, falsification of, - haecht, massacre at, hague convention, violations of the, , - hainaut, incendiarism in, ; provincial council convened, hate, hymn of, harden, maximilian, , hedin, dr. sven, deluded by germans, - , , herve, massacre at, heymann, robert, lying narrative of attack on jesuits, - heymel, alfred, on the battle of charleroi, - , hindenburg, , holland, refugees in, honour, belgian, german price of, , hoover, mr. herbert, , hostages, taking of, - , - , hostilities, precede declaration of war, houtem, atrocities at, humanitarian sentiments, claimed by german army, huns, the kaiser invokes the, huy, atrocities at, , identification cards, - incendiarism, methods of, - ; a cover to pillage, ; organization of, incendiary material, - information, extraction of, - informers, appeal to, - innocent, to suffer with or in place of guilty, , - , inscriptions, protection, - insults, german, reason of, intellectual life in belgium, intellectuals, german, wilful blindness of, - ; the "ninety-three," - international law, suppressed by war, _interprète militaire, l'_, invasion, of belgium, reasons for the, - ; danger of recognized, - ; the greindl report, - , ; reason for, ivy leaf, wearing of, jagow, herr von, sends ultimatum, , jesuit convent, lying tale of, - _journal de la guerre_, german propagandist journal, - jungbluth report, the, - king of belgium, the, _see_ albert, king kitchener's army, german account of, koch, the apotheosis of, - koester and noske, authors of _kriegsfahrten_, , , , , _kölnische volkszeitung_, suspended, _kriegsbrauch im landkriege_, , , , _la guerre_, german propagandist journal, - ladies, treatment of, laeken, orgies at, _l'ami de l'ordre_, propagandist journal, - latin authors, on german race, law of nations, violation of the, _le bien public_, propagandist journal, - leaflets, propagandist, - league of german scientists and artists, lebbeke, atrocities at, , , - leffe, massacre at, leffe, fonds de, massacre at, - , legation, british, documents found in the, - leman, general, , liége, german lies concerning forts of, ; occupation of, lies concerning, - ; warned against belgian news, ; marvellous tale of jesuit convent near, - ; keeps anniversary of august th, - lies, concerning the situation in belgium, ; concerning "francs-tireurs," - , - ; photographic, - , - ; written, - lissauer, ernst, author of the "hymn of hate," living shields, belgians used as, - , , - lloyd george, speaks at city temple, loot, _see_ pillage louvain, atrocities in, ; protective inscriptions, ; return of prisoners to, - ; massacre in, ; lies concerning, - _lügenfeldzug_, luttre, strike at, - _lusitania_, sinking of the, machinery, requisitioned, - magnet, m. charles, appeals to freemasons for inquiry, - malines, bombardment of cathedral, - ; traffic in suppressed, - manuals, military, _marseillaise_, the, shopkeepers fined for selling, , - max, m., imprisoned and released, ; and the governor of belgium, - ; his denial of a lying placard, - , ; portrait worn, massacre, the two great periods of, - , , - ; _see_ atrocities, reprisals, etc. massacres, pretended, of german civilians, - mentality, german, - mentality of a german officer, - mercier, cardinal, , - meuse, pillage on the banks of the, - middelkerke, belgians detained at, - might before right, - militarism, - military employment of belgians, - militia, belgian, escape of, - mons, pillage at, monuments, destruction of, - , - murders, german, - music, censored, , , - national anniversary, the - national committee of relief, - ; food, etc., distributed by, - neutral opinion, necessity of influencing, , , - neutrality, belgian, violation of, , - ; justification of, - ; germany accuses france of violating, - ; england guarantees, - news published by the german government, news, secret propagation of, - , - newspapers forced to appear by the german government, ; censored, ; authorized german newspapers, ; official, ; dutch, - ; introduced surreptitiously, - ; secret, _nieuwe rotterdamsche courant_, correspondence in, - "ninety-three intellectuals," the, , - nissen, herr momme, on german virtues, ; pretends the belgian attitude conciliatory, _norddeutsche allgemeine zeitung_, observation-posts, pretended, - , officers, german, lie to their men, - organization, peculiarities of german, ostend, belgians detained in, - ottignies, account of atrocities at, by german officer, - pasteur, ignored by germans, - pastoral letter, mgr. mercier's, - pastors, protestant, servility of, - photographs and picture-postcards, - ; "faked" photographs, etc., - ; showing germans before paris, etc., - pillage, ; officers join in, - ; methodical nature of, - ; prohibited by _kriegsbrauch_, , ; systematic, ; on the meuse, - placards, german, plague, lying report of, in paris, poison-gas, _see_ gas poincaré, president, pope, the, surrenders peter's pence, portraits of royal family, - , postcards, _see_ photographs preventive measures, _see_ reprisals, terrorization pride, german, priests, _see_ clergy prisoners, civil, treatment of, - ; return of, - ; admittedly innocent, - , ; torture of, - prisoners, german, letters of, - , - proclamations, some absurd, - professors, manifesto of the, , , - propaganda, perfection of german, ; organization of, - ; bureaux in germany, - ; abroad, - provincial councils convened, queen of belgium, the, ; german abuse of, - railway journeys, railways, stoppage of, - , rape, raw material, requisitioned, - , - red cross, belgian, suppressed, - , - refugees, belgian, reims, bombardment of cathedral, - relief, measures of, ; food, etc., distributed, - relief, national and american committees, - repression, measures of, - ; at andenne, - "reprisals," against "francs-tireurs," - ; excuse for, ; frivolity of, ; _see_ atrocities requisitions, illegal, - ; in kind and service, - , ; of forage, ; of provisions intended for relief, royal family, portraits of, - ruysbroeck, coercion at, sabbe, m. maurice, denies german libel, - sacrilege, school inspection, - "scrap of paper," the, shelters, temporary, sibret, atrocities at, socialists, german, docility of, - ; visit belgium, , sorel, e., sorinnes, atrocities at, - spontin, torture and murder of priest and burgomaster at, spitteler, herr karl, stamps, theft of, state property, treatment of, - submarine campaign, - sweveghem, coercion at, - tamines, atrocities at, - , tavigny, atrocities at, - taxation, illegal, - , , ; of absentees, - telegraph and telephone wires, fines, etc., for damages to, - termonde, incendiarism at, , , , , terrorization, ; uses of, ; blöm on theory of, ; the theory of the german staff, - ; in practice, tervueren, prisoners from, theft, _see_ pillage time, aggravation in respect of, - _tornisterwörterbuch_, - , torture, inflicted on priest, ; recommended, ; another priest tortured, ; other cases, - ; moral and physical, - trade, stagnation of, - traffic, suppression of, - treaty of london, ultimatum, the, uncensored newspapers, - unemployment, - ; patriotic reasons for, untruthfulness, german, - useful cruelties, villalobar, marquis of, violation of belgian neutrality, _see_ neutrality, belgium, invasion violence, claimed as legitimate, , visé, massacre at, _vorwärts_, protests against german lies, - , ; suspended, , ; protests against incitement to torture, war, _see_ ultimatum, invasion, etc. war booty, , , , - war tax, monstrous, - waxweiler, m. emile, , , , , weber, pretended murder of, - wépion, atrocities at, werchter, atrocities at, white flag, abuse of, whitlock, mr. brand, , - , , wiart, m. carton de, - wilhelm ii, his "well-intentioned proposal," ; his three successive proposals, - ; his telegram to president wilson, , ; tacitly admits innocence of civilians, , , , , ; text of his telegram, , , wilson, president, kaiser's telegram to, , wounded, german, letters from, - ; houston chamberlain on belgian treatment of, ; _see_ atrocities, pretended belgian zobeltitz, refers to museum specimens as proving belgium's preparation for war, _printed in great britain by_ unwin brothers, limited, the gresham press, woking and london * * * * * * transcriber's note: obvious errors of punctuation and diacritical markings were corrected. inconsistent hyphenation was made consistent. p. : contributions and requsitions -> contributions and requisitions. p. : german troops entered belguim -> german troops entered belgium. p. : sacrified on the altar of kultur -> sacrificed on the altar of kultur. p. : pepetrates this trickery -> perpetrates this trickery. p. : it would be impossible as this moment -> it would be impossible at this moment. p. : degree of obstinancy -> degree of obstinacy. latin letter on pp. - : militess onim -> milites enim. dignitate nestrae -> dignitati nostrae. di eadem matutina -> die eadem matutina. aminarum pastor -> animarum pastor. potius aminarum -> potius animarum. decenatus evenerunt -> decanatus evenerunt. p. : german goverment -> german government. p. : proceded to break open -> proceeded to break open. index entry for propaganda, bureaux in germany changed from - to - . internet archive (https://archive.org) note: project gutenberg also has an html version of this file which includes the original illustrations. see -h.htm or -h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/ / -h/ -h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/ / -h.zip) images of the original pages are available through internet archive. see https://archive.org/details/myownaffairs louirich transcriber's note: text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). my own affairs [illustration] my own affairs by the princess louise of belgium with photogravure frontispiece and eight plates translated by maude m. c. ffoulkes cassell and company, limited london, new york, toronto and melbourne i dedicate this book to the great man, to the great king, who was my father contents chapter page . why i write this book . my beloved belgium; my family and myself; myself--as i know myself . the queen . the king . my country and days of my youth . my marriage and the austrian court--the day after my marriage . married . my hosts at the hofburg--the emperor francis joseph and the empress elizabeth . my sister stéphanie marries the archduke rudolph, who died at meyerling . ferdinand of coburg and the court of sofia . william ii and the court of berlin--the emperor of illusion . the holsteins . the courts of munich and old germany . queen victoria . the drama of my captivity, and my life as a prisoner--the commencement of torture . lindenhof . how i regained my liberty and at the same time was declared sane . the death of the king--intrigues and legal proceedings . my sufferings during the war . in the hope of rest index list of plates the princess louise of belgium (_photogravure_) _frontispiece_ facing page queen marie henriette of belgium king leopold ii of belgium the countess lonyay (princess stéphanie of belgium) prince philip of saxe-coburg princess victor napoleon (princess clémentine of belgium) the archduke rudolph duke gunther of schleswig-holstein the duchess gunther of schleswig-holstein my own affairs chapter i why i write this book as the eldest daughter of a great man and a great king, whose magnificent intelligence has enriched his people, i owe nothing but misfortune to my royal origin. ever since i was born i have suffered and been deceived. i have idealized life too much. in the evening of my days i do not wish to remain under the cloud of the false impression which is now prevalent concerning me. without desiring to allude too much to the past, and to retrace the road of my calvary, i should like at least to borrow a few pages from my memories and reflections, inspired by events which have destroyed thrones in whose proximity i once lived. the emperor of austria, the german emperor, the tsar of bulgaria were all familiar figures to me. driven to munich by the war, then to budapest, taken prisoner for a brief space by hungarian bolshevists, i have survived the european tempest, and i have seen all those who disowned and crushed me, beaten and punished. and i trembled every day for my poor belgium, so strong in her courage and her travail, but so unjust to me--oh no, not the _people_--the good people are naturally heroic and indefatigable. i refer to certain of their leaders, who have been misled on my account, and who are also, perhaps, too fond of money. unjust themselves, they all equally violated justice by illicit interests which had the appearance of legality, as well as by the false attitude which appeared merely to be forgetfulness, but which was actually ingratitude. my father has not yet had a monument erected to him in the country which he esteemed so highly; his government has remembered the follies of his old age rather than its privileges, and his memory has suffered accordingly. but what is past is past. my memory remains faithfully and affectionately attached to my native land; my sole thought is to love and honour her. it is of belgium that i wish to speak before passing on to the courts of vienna, berlin, munich and sofia, and to the many doings which these names recall, certain of which deserve better knowledge and consideration. i have never entertained any feelings for belgium other than those of imperishable affection. the most painful of my reflections during the horrible war was that she was more to be pitied than i was. on the day when i was being searched by hungarian bolshevists at budapest i heard one of them say to another--having proved for himself the simplicity to which i was reduced: "here is a king's daughter who is poorer than i am." i have thought of the unhappy women of ypres, of dixmude, of france, poland, servia, and elsewhere--unfortunate creatures without fire or bread through the crime of war, and i have wept for them and not for myself. more than one of them, perhaps, envied my position before ; little did they realize that i should have preferred theirs! married at seventeen, i expected to find in marriage the joys that a husband and children can give. i have had bitter proof to the contrary. rupture was inevitable where my own intimate feelings were concerned and those who surrounded me. i was too independent to make use of what was offensive to me. honours are often without honour, however high they may seem to be. save for rare exceptions, fortune and power only develop in us the appetite for pleasure and urge us to depravity. those whom la bruyère calls "the great" easily lose the knowledge of human conditions. life is to them no longer the mysterious proof of the existence of a soul which will be eventually rewarded or punished according to its deserts. religion seems to them only a mask or an instrument. led to judge their fellow-creatures through the flatteries, calculations, ambitions and treacheries by which they are surrounded, they arrive, through mistrust of human nature, at a state of indifference to god, and they accommodate his laws to their needs in the assurance of adjusting themselves with the creator as they adjust their doings with their ministers. when i review the past, and when i am reminded of the various phases of my unhappy existence, i never despair of ultimately finding a justice which i have not yet come across in this world; i have always believed that it exists _somewhere_. if it were not so, things would be inconceivable. i owe this spirit of confidence to the lessons i learnt in my infancy, chiefly from those taught me by the queen, my mother. "always endeavour to be a christian," she used to say. i could not understand the import of these words when i was a child, but the misfortunes of my life have helped to explain them. stirred into revolt by humanity in so many ways, i have now submitted myself to a superior will, and i know the happiness of not hating my enemies. pardon has always followed my rebellion. i have never doubted that those who wronged me would be punished sooner or later on earth or elsewhere, and i have been sorry for my persecutors. i have pitied them for their dislike of my frankness, because i am an enemy of all family and court hypocrisy--i have pitied them for having censured my fidelity to one affection, and, above all, i have pitied their exaggeration of my disregard for that ancient idol--money! convinced as i was, and not without foundation, that immense wealth was to come, not only to myself but to my sisters, i maintained that our duty was to make full use of our resources. was it not better to circulate money and assist trade? this opinion, however, was not shared either by a husband who was inclined to hoard or by a family who were afraid of any fresh ideas or customs, and who only saw in the aspirations of the masses an inevitable and horrible catastrophe against which they ought to protect themselves by saving as much as possible. at the same time, when i have been engaged in a struggle i have never met with anything save cruel treatment on the part of my enemies (first and foremost by the slanders intended to ruin me in the eyes of the world), but i have hurled myself at the onset against all the obstacles which violence and enmity have conceived against me. being unable to live and act normally, and compelled by force and privations to treat what i held as despicable with obedience and respect, i lacked the means of existence to which i was entitled. the trouble i took in order to assure myself of my liberty on my native soil, in the order and dignity for which i had hoped, was nullified by those who were themselves morally responsible for it. i was compelled to become a prisoner or a fugitive, taken away and kept away from my rightful position by difficulties of every description. by these methods my enemies imagined that i should be more easily deprived of all to which i had clung. what would have become of me had i not found a man who devoted himself to saving me from all kinds of snares and dangers, and who found devoted beings to second him--many of whom have sprung from the humbler ranks of life--i am unable to conjecture. if i have known the wickedness of an aristocracy devoid of nobility, i have also benefited by the most chivalrous delicacy which has been extended to me by the populace, and my recognition of this is chiefly what i wish to write about to-day. but deep in my heart i have the impelling desire not to allow the legend which has been created around me and my name to exist any longer. chapter ii my beloved belgium; my family and myself; myself--as i know myself if in an official procession the principal personage comes last, then belgium should come last in my pages, for it is about myself that i must begin. i decide to do so not without apprehension, for i remember the descriptions of themselves which celebrated writers of autobiography--saint simon, for instance--have given at the commencement of their memoirs. far be it from me to wish to paint myself in glowing colours. that would be a pretension from which the great writers who possessed the talent necessary to describe themselves preserve me. i only hope, if possible, to describe myself as i believe myself to be. i often examine my heart. the older i grow the stronger this tendency to self-analysis becomes. formerly i used to like to know my fellow-creatures; now i have discovered that one should always know oneself before attempting to decipher other human enigmas. the ancient precept of delphes, which the king my father used to quote, comes back to my memory, but i will not give it here. i do not understand modern greek, unlike queen sophie, that charming woman, who was so misguided as to learn it; she lost her throne, so they say, through trying to outwit the subtlety of ulysses! my predominant quality is a horror of all that is insincere, inaccurate, formal and commonplace. my taste for simplicity in thought and actions branded me long ago as a revolutionary in the eyes of my family. this was when i rebelled in vienna against the routine and what they called the _esprit_ of the court. my passion for sincerity has brought me unity of thought. i am a woman faithful to one vow which my heart admits freely. i have known and loved few individuals well enough to allow myself to approach them and know them thoroughly, but when once my confidence and liking have been given and found to be justified, i have become deeply attached to those on whom they were bestowed. many people would have liked to have seen me deprived of happiness, but i possess at least this one jewel--faithfulness, and i have known the sweetness thereof; not only the banal and material fidelity--always more or less a passing phase as one generally understands it--but the pure and noble fidelity which accompanies a vigilant and chivalrous mind; the ideal of noble hearts, which is revolted by injustice and attracted by misfortune. diverse fidelities, although sisters, are marvellous treasures in which one must be rich oneself to be enabled further to enrich the future with precious gifts. firm in upholding my rights, and true to my convictions when i believe them to be in accordance with honour and truth--which spring from a divine essence--and are not inspired by hypocritical conventions, i am afraid of nothing, and nothing can convince me against my will. i have inherited these traits from my father and my mother; from my mother i get the spiritual side, and from my father i get the material side of my character. it is useless, therefore, to believe that i should ever act against the dictates of my conscience. if i am compelled to give way for a moment, i do so as one would yield at the point of the bayonet. wickedness and compulsion do not create equity, they only create its reservations, and redress to justice is from god alone and not from man. this strength of resistance against evil and contempt of etiquette are, so to speak, the salient characteristics of my life. but in spite of my decided opinions i show marked nervousness in the presence of strangers. when they are introduced to me i can hardly speak to them, even though their personality appeals to me. my beloved compatriots in brussels, the friends who are always present in my thoughts, used to say, "princess louise is proud!" what a mistake! on the contrary, i should have much liked to respond to the affection they offered me, and to have entered those belgian homes that i knew to be so hospitable. ah! what happiness not to have been born a king's daughter! one could then speak freely to fellow-creatures who merited sympathy; but a princess cannot do as she pleases. with my entourage i am sometimes as open and expansive as i am silent and reserved with strangers. i mistrust fresh faces, and in no circumstances do i ever indulge in gossip. i much prefer the conversation of men who know something, to that of women who know nothing. i detest all that is unnatural in conversation; affectation is insupportable to me. idle remarks which annoy me easily suggest some repartee or sarcastic comment such as the king knew so well how to use, which always touched to the quick the person to whom it was addressed. but the influence of the queen's memory sometimes restrains me and keeps me silent out of christian charity. immovable in the convictions of my conscience and outwardly reserved, i am, nevertheless, a woman of contradictions. when i am forced to act i invariably rush to extremes. soul extremes always result from contrasts, just as the thunder of heaven results from the meeting of two storm clouds. in me the storm is suppressed. i surprise people more than anything else by my customary attitude of not being able to foresee the decision which carries me away. i do not regard existence from the ordinary standpoint; i regard it from a much higher one. this is not due to any feeling of pride. i am carried away by something within me past certain barriers and certain frontiers; i live in a world of my own in which i can take refuge. many, many times during the implacable persecution which i have endured for so long, i have stood in front of a mirror and tried to read the soul within my eyes. i was a prisoner; i was "mad" for reasons of state. i asked myself in cold blood, was i not really becoming mad--was i still mistress of my reason? "yes," replied an inner voice, "you are mistress of your reason so long as you are mistress of yourself, and you are mistress of yourself so long as you remain faithful to your ideal of honour." i will speak of this ideal later. honest women will understand. but my nature did not find in the conjugal abode the good, the pure and the true, which it had dreamed of, hoped for, and desired. as the years passed the atmosphere of my home changed, the growing children became less of a safeguard. help came in a day of chaos under an aspect which the world condemns. nothing stopped me then, and, henceforth, nothing shall separate me from my ideal. i have done away with the gilded splendour which to me is shameful. i live now with that which speaks to me in a language i can understand, something which is morally beautiful. this act of my inner self is now realized. i have not repented. i never shall. dramas, plots, intrigues, treason follow each other--i struggle against them without triumphing. it is the work of my outward self. i may appear to fail, but my inner self turns away disgusted from the mud. i was not made to conquer in the fray of human conflicts in a sphere which is, perhaps, that of creatures predestined to show that the real condition of man is not here below. the society that he extols, the civilization that he admires, are but the poor and fragile conceptions of his illusion of earthly sovereignty, and they will only bring misfortune to him if he lives for them alone. god was always present in my thoughts even when i believed myself forgotten by man. i have had, like every creature who has been crushed by false witness, my hours of doubt and despair. the grievance against me at the coburg palace and in vienna was that i would not conform to the outward practice of religion after i had seen all its double-facedness and mock devotion. i often refused to go to the chapel and accept as fitting the outward piety which to me was sacrilege. i went to seek god and the holy virgin in some solitary and humble church far from the hofburg and my palace. i have also known the time when at the bidding of my rebellious soul i turned from heaven. suffering, experience and meditation have led me back to the divine master whose love was taught me by my beloved mother. i believe i shall reach his presence by a road which resembles calvary. it is an uphill road, but he raises me; and so rugged is it, that at every turning i forget the world a little more and i stretch out my arms towards the love and justice of god. * * * * * they have said that i was beautiful. i inherit from my father my upright figure, and i have also something of his features and his expression. i inherit from my mother a certain capacity for dreaming, which enables me to take refuge in myself, and when a conversation does not interest me, or if anyone or anything troubles me, i instantly seek sanctuary in the secret chamber of my soul. but my eyes betray me, and the effort i make to return to everyday life gives me the expression of a fugitive--this is a great peculiarity of mine. the colour of my eyes is a clear brown, which reflects those of the queen and the king, but more particularly those of the king. like him, i am able to change my voice from softness to a certain hard brilliance. the golden ears of corn are not more golden than was once my golden hair; to-day it is silver. i speak like the king, but somewhat slower than he did, in the two languages i chiefly employ--which are equally familiar to me--french and german. like him i think in french or german, but when i write, i prefer to do so in french. so enamoured am i of simplicity and truth in relation to every condition of life, that i think a woman, wherever she may be, should always keep her position as a woman. of course there must be degrees in everything, and the differences among men are the outcome of their education and the rules of social life. although i am utterly indifferent to false courtesy and hollow praise, and the methods of the crafty and the claims of intriguers, i respect merit, and when it is recognized and rewarded i esteem the honour which is accorded to it. let us not look for outside honours but let us respect our own personal honour. i do not forget, i have never forgotten, even in my worst hours of misfortune, what i owe to my birth, to my dear departed ones and to the ideas which were born in me. i love art, and, like the queen, i have a preference for music. i also inherit her love of horses. sport seems to me a secondary thing in comparison with the interest of horsemanship in all its varieties. in paris i was always to be seen in the bois; in vienna i was an _habituée_ of the prater. i still take great pleasure in picking out carriages that are carriages and horsemen who are horsemen; they are both rarer than one thinks. i am a great reader and i make notes of my impressions. i read with pleasure all the newspapers worth reading, and all the reviews that make me think. politics never bore me, but to-day they astonish me and rend my heart; the frightful upheaval in europe, the universal trouble, fill me with concern for the future. hostile to any excess of monarchical power which incites its favourites to depravity, i think, nevertheless, that democrats will find it difficult to conduct matters and govern to the betterment of general interests. the etiquette of power, the name of president, consul, emperor or king signifies but one thing, and besides this the principle of authority is always regulated by the influence of woman. this influence, supreme in the history of the world, is only paramount in democracies when it exercises itself in secret, and it is generally unlucky. in monarchies it is beneficial to the development of aristocracy, except in the classic case of a drunken or perverse favourite who by taking sensual possession of the prince also takes possession of his authority. in some instances it is not wise to lead men to good fortune. those of our epoch seem to be very far from attaining it through hatred, ignorance and confusion, which the ruin of ancient europe can only aggravate. with regard to books, i re-read more than i read. but i am attracted by anything new which i hear spoken about--in which, by the way, i am so often disappointed. i have read books on the war; i commiserate with the men who cut each others throats--but i wish they would cease writing on this barbarous subject. goethe is my favourite author; he is the friend and companion whom i love at all times. i am familiar with the great french authors, but none of them, in my opinion, attains the mental serenity of goethe or gives me so much repose of mind. i have a penchant for the works of chateaubriand which dates from my youth. the character of rené will always appeal to the hearts of women. with regard to modern books.... but in speaking of literary men and artists it is always necessary to exclude those who are living, so i will say nothing about modern authors. i will only say that of all theatrical plays (shakespeare, like god in heaven, alone excepted) the french repertory, in my opinion, is the most varied and the most interesting, and through the facilities which i have had of hearing plays in the principal european languages, i think i am able to judge. i am speaking now of the dramatic theatre. the works and the representations of the lyric theatre appear generally more remarkable, and the companies are more conscientious in germany and austria and even in italy, than in france. outside paris and monte carlo it is difficult to find, even in the most charming countries, what all unimportant german towns possess--a comfortable theatre, good music, good singers. how strange are different temperaments: this one is more musical, that one is more learned, this one is more philosophical, that one is more imaginative; it seems as though providence, in creating diversities in races and characters, had wished to instil into men's hearts the necessity of amalgamating their different talents, in order to be happy in this world. but providence, whilst endowing men with genius, has neglected to make them less foolish and less wicked. chapter iii the queen the queen was the daughter of joseph antoine jean, prince royal of hungary and bohemia, archduke of austria (the last palatin, greatly venerated by the hungarians), and his third wife, marie dorothée guillemine caroline, princess of wurtemburg. affianced to prince leopold, duke of brabant, heir to the throne of belgium, marie henriette of austria married him by proxy at schönbrunn on august , , and in person, according to the _almanach de gotha_, in brussels on the nd of the same month. by this marriage the royal house of belgium, already connected with those of france, spain, england and prussia, became allied to the reigning families of austria-hungary, bavaria, wurtemburg, etc. the young queen was the daughter of a good and simple mother, herself a model of virtue. her brothers were the archduke joseph, a gallant soldier who had three horses killed under him at sadowa, and the archduke stephen, the idol of my childhood, who was banished from the court of vienna because he was too popular. he ended his days in exile at the château of schaumbourg in germany. king leopold the first, my grandfather, having died on november , , king leopold ii and queen henrietta ascended the throne. i can still see the queen as i saw her when i lay in her arms as a child, so long has my adoration for her survived, so long has my belief in another world remained sacred to her memory. the queen was of medium height and of slender build. her beauty and grace were unrivalled. the purity of her lines and her shoulders merited the expression "royal." her supple carriage was that of a sportswoman. her voice was of such pure timbre that it awakened echoes in one's soul. her eyes, a darker brown than those of the king, were not so keenly luminous, but they were far more tender; they almost spoke. but how much less her physical perfections counted in comparison with her moral qualities. a true christian, her idea of religion was to follow it rigorously in every detail, without being in the least narrow-minded. she had a philosophical and an assured conception of god, and the mysteries of the infinite. this faith enlightened her doctrine and strengthened her piety. people who cannot, or who will not, study the problem of religion, easily persuade themselves that it is absurd to subject themselves to the laws of confession and to its signs and ceremonies. the sincere christian is the woman who is _par excellence_ a wife and a mother, but to some bigots she is merely an inferior being, who has fallen into the hands of priests--but they would doubtless be very pleased all the same to have her as the guardian angel of their own home. religion did not in the least deter the queen from her obligations to the state, or from her taste for art, or from indulging in her favourite pursuit of sport. she received her guests, she presided over her circle, she attended fêtes with a natural charm peculiar to her, which i passionately admired from the moment when i was old enough to follow in her wake. the queen dressed with an inborn art which was always in harmony with her surroundings. a woman in her position has to set out to please and win the hearts of people, and she is therefore obliged more than anyone else to study her toilette. the queen excelled in this to such perfection that she was always held up as an example by the arbiters of parisian fashion. at any time fashion is peculiar, or at least it seems to be; if it were not so there would be no fashion; but _la mode_ is not so varied as one thinks. considered as novelties, her innovations are nothing more or less than little discoveries and arrangements with which the serpent, if not eve, was already familiar in the garden of eden. the queen followed _la mode_ without innovating fashions--that is the affair of other queens--queens of fashion, for which they have reasons, not dictated by reason. but the queen adopted and perfected fashions. it was miraculous to see how she wore the fairy-like lace which is the glory and charm of belgium. i have always remembered one of her gowns, a certain cerise-coloured silk, the corsage draped with a fichu of chantilly--one of the most beautiful things i have ever seen in my life. the queen would often adorn the gowns worn by her at her receptions with garlands of fresh flowers. she knew how to wear them, and what a delight it was to my sisters and myself when we were told to go into the conservatories and prepare the garlands of roses, dahlias, or asters which our beloved sovereign was going to wear. a perfect musician, the queen was equally brilliant in her execution of a _czarda_, an italian melody or an air from an opera, which she interpreted in a soprano voice, the possession of which many a professional singer would have envied her. one of her great pleasures was to sing duets with faure, the illustrious baritone, a well-bred artist who never presumed on his position. the queen and faure were wonderful in the famous duets from _hamlet_ and _rigoletto_.... i think of her singing even now with emotion. but all this belongs to the past; it is far away. the queen received the best artistic society on the same footing as the best belgian society at her private receptions. she closely followed all the doings at the théâtre de la monnaie and the théâtre du parc. she interested herself in deserving talent. she was not ignorant of the anxieties and difficulties of a career of which four hours, so to speak, are lived in the realms of illusion, and the remaining twenty face to face with reality. she frequently showed her solicitude for artists in the most delicate and opportune manner. the memory of her kindness lives in many hearts. in the theatrical world gratitude is less rare than elsewhere. one can never speak too highly of the good that exists in the souls of these people, who appear so frivolous and easy-going on the surface. corneille always had a good word for them. the queen loved horses with the appreciation of a born horsewoman; she liked to drive high-spirited animals, and i have inherited her taste. she knew how to control the wild hungarian horses which were only safe with her. refreshed with champagne, or bread dipped in red wine, they flew like the wind; one might have said that she guided them by a thread, but in reality she made them obedient to the sound of her voice. she groomed her horses herself and taught them wonderful circus tricks. i have seen one of them ascend the grand staircase of laeken, enter the queen's room and come down again as though nothing had happened. what amused her most was to drive two or four different animals at once who had never been harnessed, and who were so high-spirited that no one dared to drive them. by dint of patience and the magnetic charm of her voice the most restive animal eventually became docile. her life was so ordered that she found time for everything--maternal cares were first and foremost with her; she looked upon these as sweet duties, of which i was her first burden. i was a year old when my brother leopold was born, who, alas! only lived a few years. i was six years old when my sister stéphanie was born, and when clémentine came into the world i was already twelve years old. i was therefore the eldest bird in the queen's nest--the big sister who was taught to assist her mother equally well on the steps of the throne as in a cottage. it was i who was expected to set a good example to the brothers and sisters who might come after me; it was i who was expected to benefit the most from maternal teachings. i certainly had the priority, but i was not the favourite, though owing to my age i was, in some ways, the most privileged. our mother brought us up after the english fashion; our rooms were more like those in a convent than the rooms of the princesses one reads about in the novels of m. bourget. when i was no longer under the daily and nightly supervision of a governess or nurse, i was expected to look after myself, and when i got out of bed in the morning i had to fetch the jug of cold water from outside the door which was intended (in all seasons) for my ablutions, for neither in the palace at brussels nor at the château of laeken had the "last word" in comfort attained perfection. the queen taught me from my earliest youth how to manage servants; i learned from her very early in life that it was possible to be on a throne one day and the next to find one's self in the streets. how many of my relations or friends can contradict this to-day? but at that time my mother's cold reasoning would have disgusted the courts and the chancellors. [illustration: queen marie henriette of belgium] my mother made me think deeply. thought was my first revelation of a real existence. i began to look further than the throne and a title for the means of moral and intellectual superiority, i became a definite personality; i wished to form my own ideas so that in after life i could always be myself. the queen helped to mould my character by abundant reading, chiefly in french and english--principally memoirs. i was never, or very rarely, allowed to read a novel. the queen read deliciously, giving the smallest phrase its full value; the manner in which she read aloud was not only that of a woman who knew _how_ to read, but it also displayed a penetrating intelligence--in fact, it was more like speaking than reading, and it seemed to come from a heart which understood everything. the queen was gay and entrancingly charming with her intimate friends. she was always like this, in her excursions in the country, at croquet parties, at her own receptions, and in her box at the theatre. her good humour was in accordance with the promptings of a generous and expansive nature. on my birthday, august , , which i celebrated with her at spa, she wished to mark the auspicious occasion by improvising a small dance after _déjeuner_, which she had specially ordered to be served, not in her villa, but in a room reserved for her in an hotel, thus making _déjeuner_ a more agreeable and homely affair. there were present myself and my sisters, stéphanie's daughter, and my own, and all of us wore our smartest gowns. the queen insisted on clémentine, who was an accomplished musician, playing the piano, and having sent for gerard, her _maître d'hôtel_, who had accompanied us to supervise the service (he was one of those servants who believed in their duty towards their employers, and who knew the meaning of the name of servant), the queen said to him: "gerard, in honour of the princess's birthday you are going to waltz with us." "oh, your majesty!" "yes, yes, you are going to waltz once with me, and once with the princess." "oh, your majesty!" "what? do you not know how to waltz?" "yes, your majesty, a little." "_eh bien_, gerard, waltz! now, clémentine, play a waltz." the faithful gerard could but obey, blushing, and shy and hardly daring to glance at his royal partner. the queen then said laughingly: "don't be afraid, gerard, i am not a sylphide." gerard then waltzed with my mother and also with me, and he waltzed well! the next day he was once more the model servant--such as are loved and esteemed by their masters, whom they love and esteem in return, if those they serve only know how to merit their devotion. the queen took no part in politics except to discharge her duties as a sovereign. on a man like the king, feminine influence could not be exercised by a wife and mother. it was impossible for the queen to find in her husband the perfect union of thought, the intimacy of action and the entire confidence which, in no matter what household, are the only possible conditions for happiness, and the first deception which she experienced was followed by others which became more and more cruel. the trial which caused the queen to be inconsolable and which had such painful consequences, was the death of her son leopold. my mother could never be comforted for the loss of the heir to the throne, this child of so much promise, who had been given and retaken by heaven. this was the sorrow of her life. she even alluded to it in her admirable will. from the day of his death, her health, always so robust, gradually changed little by little. her soul began to break away from earthly things and lose itself more and more in prayer and contemplation. she lived only in the ardent hope of meeting her son in heaven. the queen was always a saint--and she soon became a martyr. she suffered immensely through the aloof greatness of the king, who existed solely for his royal duties, although he would occasionally suddenly indulge in some unbridled pleasure after his arduous work. his was a nature of extremes which a tender soul could not understand, and hence arose misunderstandings and their tragic consequences. against such a fate, which could only become more and more unhappy, there was nothing to be done. earthly life is doomed to know implacable disillusions. but however much the queen suffered she never diminished her heaven-inspired kindness. she would sometimes give way to her sorrow and allow the cries of her wounded soul to be heard! she would even attempt to defend herself by some action of which the public was cognizant but which it failed to understand. but she always returned to the feet of christ the consoler. it is there that i shall find her, and there i shall offer my veneration and love to this sublime mother who instilled in me the passion to fulfil my duties, as i define them. my idea of duty, face to face with myself, is, firstly, a rightful and complete liberty of action; that is to say, freedom of body and soul; from this comes the seeking after god here below and the ascension to him through human errors and human weaknesses. oh! well-beloved mother, i have passed through life without at all understanding the mysteries which surround us, but, following your simple faith, i have believed, _i now_ believe, in the presence of a creator. chapter iv the king my father was not only a great king--he was a great man. a king may achieve greatness through possessing the art of surrounding himself with the right entourage, and thus taking advantage of the importance which it is then so easy for him to gain. he must be superior, at least at heart, to have a taste for superiority. when he came into power leopold ii did not aim at gathering round him those wonderful intellects who would have inspired him to greatness. he had not the same chances as louis xiv, neither had he those men whom his own example later developed. belgium was still an adolescent state, the government of which required very careful and exclusive handling. she had sprung into being from twin countries, widely different in character, but united by the same laws. her national policy is like a web whose mission it is to hold them together, but such a form of constitution is not without its inconveniences. for a long time the king's secret conviction was, that in order to be able to endure and strengthen herself, belgium had urgent need of some great scheme which would produce in her an amalgamation of effort and intelligence, and allow her to take one of the highest places among the nations of the world. he had carefully studied the map of the world, and his observations resulted in the unheard-of project of endowing his little kingdom with immense colonial possessions. he had at the time neither the money nor the army; he only had the idea, but the idea obsessed him and he lived for it alone. the man whom i recall to my mind in thinking of the king is one whose silence always frightened me when i was a child. here is an instance of his taciturn character. the queen is seated, holding in her hand a book which she is no longer reading. she is folding me close to her heart, whilst her eyes follow the king. the doors of the drawing-room leading to the other rooms are open, and the sovereign paces backwards and forwards, his hands behind his back, almost like an automaton, without glancing at us and without breaking his interminable train of thought. silence lies over the palace; nobody dares enter, for the king has forbidden access to the royal apartments. the queen and i are involuntary prisoners of this prisoner of his own thoughts. the king was a fine and strong figure. his imposing personality and his characteristic physiognomy are familiar even to the new generation, who have only seen the popular pictures of him; but photographs never did justice to his expression of sceptical shrewdness. his eyes, as i have already said, were light brown; at the least opposition they assumed a fixed expression, and when it rested on my sisters and myself when we were in fault, the king's glance terrified us more than any reproaches or punishment. the king's voice was deep and somewhat muffled in _timbre_, sometimes it grew nasal; when he was angry it became, like his eyes, as hard as a stone, but if he wished to please it became soft and emotional. people still speak of the manner in which he delivered his speech from the throne after the death of leopold i, and his touching opening words: "gentlemen, belgium, like myself, has lost a father." when he was in a happy mood he became animated, although his humour, when he was pleased to show it, was always bitter and satirical--and he possessed it in abundance. i have never forgotten certain of his opinions touching his ministers and contemporaries. some of those who are still living would be very flattered to know them. others would not! the king paid little attention to me or my sisters; his fatherly caresses were rare and brief. we were always awed in his presence; he was ever to us more the king than the father. with regard to his attitude towards the queen, as far back as i can remember i always see him as the same self-centred and taciturn man in his relations with her. he was constantly away from home, so we little ones were rarely with both our parents. i alone, on account of my age and the advantage which it gave me over my sisters, enjoyed a little family life with my father and my mother before the differences between them arose. but i cannot recall a single act of kindness or tenderness on his part towards my mother that i especially noticed in my youth. i only know that at a certain epoch, when i was about eleven years old, the king, who like my mother adored flowers, never missed bringing her some every week which he had gathered himself in the royal gardens. he would arrive in my mother's apartment laden with his fragrant harvest and would say to her abruptly, "here you are, my good wife." stéphanie and i would at once begin to refill the vases--i especially, for i had been taught by the queen to love and arrange flowers, those discreet companions of our thoughts, which bring into the home perfume, colour, caresses and rest, and which are verily the quintessence of earth and heaven! one day at laeken my father offered me a gardenia. i was simply stupefied. i was then about thirteen. i hoped for a long time for a repetition of this paternal graciousness, but in vain! this prince of genius, whose political conceptions and manner of conducting negotiations useful to belgium won the admiration, if not of those to whom they were advantageous, of at least the high intelligences of other countries, was singularly thorough in small things. he clung to his ideas and his personal concerns in a most obstinate manner. i have seen him look into the management of the gardens at laeken with the greatest attention to every detail. large, juicy peaches grew on the walls of the gardens, and the king was very proud of them. i had a passion for peaches, and one day i dared eat one which was hidden away among the leaves. and that year peaches were plentiful. but the following day the king discovered the theft--what a dramatic moment! at once suspected, i confessed my crime and i was promptly punished. i did not realize that the king counted his peaches! this great realist had a realistic mind, and materialism carried him on to idealism. i will not allow myself for a moment to suppose that he did not believe in god, but certainly he had a different conception of the creator from that of the queen. she suffered greatly through this attitude of her husband, but he persisted in his way of thinking. on sundays he used to attend mass; he considered it was an example which he owed to the court and the people. sometimes he escorted the queen to divine service, taking with him "squib," a tiny terrier of which the queen was very fond and which the king always spoke of as one refers to a person. he called it "the squib." it was a sight to see the big man holding the tiny dog under his arm--the little animal too terrified to move. thus, one supporting the other, they both heard mass seated beside the queen, who assuredly did not think this a very religious procedure. when mass was over, the king, still carrying squib, would cross the reception rooms until he reached the dining-room, when he would gravely deposit the little dog on the queen's knee. with regard to the king's policy, i only knew and understood that related to the congo. i knew the alternate hopes and fears which passed through the mind of the author of this gigantic enterprise. it was the one topic of conversation around me, and it was always mentioned with bated breath; but the things which are spoken of in this way are, i think, those one hears of most. i know that the royal fortune and that of my aunt the empress charlotte, which was administered by the king, were employed at one time, not without some risk, in the acquisition and organization of the possessions that the great powers afterwards disputed with belgium. those were anxious days for the king. he manoeuvred cleverly between the powers. history knows the value of his work; she realizes what a profound politician he was. official belgium does not remember, but the people have never forgotten. i have confidence in the soul of belgium, the belgium who has shown her greatness in the years - . king leopold ii will one day receive the recognition he merits in the country which he enriched, and which he always wished to fortify against the dangers of war. the private failings of the man only harmed himself and his family; his people never suffered by reason of them. they have even benefited by the immense wealth which it pleased the king to assign to his country, regardless of the justice of reserving that portion which belonged to his daughters, who were excluded by him from the belgian family. [illustration: _photo: numa blanc_ king leopold ii of belgium] here we touch on a side of the king's character which is looked upon by psychologists as unnatural, and is similar to the legislation of which the belgian government availed itself in similar circumstances, a legislation contrary to the moral laws of justice and equity. belgium's excuse--if there can be an excuse for this illegality--was that the king himself had exceeded his rights. i have read, over the signature of a journalist, that even before his marriage the king declared that he would never accept any benefit from the royal purse, and that his income, from whatever source it was derived, should not accrue for the benefit of his descendants. this is an astounding story and is a pure invention. a king is a man like other men; the value of his position rests upon his qualifications. the king could have either ruined or enriched himself. he was a genius, and for this reason his daughters were able to be--and indeed were--deprived of a fortune which was partly theirs by right, and which was used for the development of a commercial enterprise by the colossal audacity of their father! but why should the king have wished to disinherit his daughters and deprive them of his immense accumulation of wealth? the reason must be definitely stated. the king had long wished that our fortunes (those of my sisters and myself) should be reduced to the minimum of what he considered convenient to assign to us, that is to say, much less than our needs required, because, after the death of our brother leopold, he only saw in us impediments to his own ambition and he was tortured by the fact that he had no male descendant. i alone noticed, during the years that followed the death of his son, that the king on various occasions behaved in a different manner towards the queen; he was more amiable and was more frequently in her company. having now become a woman i can understand the real reason for this! clémentine came into the world; her birth was preceded by many vain hopes, but when the longed-for child arrived it was once more a girl! the king was furious and thenceforth refused to have anything to do with his admirable wife to whom god had refused a son. what a mystery of human tribulation! as for the daughters born of the royal union, they were merely accepted and tolerated, but the king's heart never softened towards them. at the same time we were not altogether excluded from his thoughts. the feelings of our father, so far as we were concerned, varied according to circumstances, and, notably in my own case, according to the various calumnies and intrigues. my sister stéphanie also suffered in this way. both of us were married at an early age and, living as we did at a distance, we were deprived of the opportunity of constantly seeing the king, so naturally we could not pretend to be the subject of his constant remembrance. we therefore ran the risk of being easily maligned by the unscrupulous courtesans who had influence with the king and were in the pay of our enemies. clémentine was in a far better position. she received all the tenderness the king was inclined to bestow on the only one of his children who remained with him, one who showered on him a daughter's affection and who also upheld the traditions of the royal house, a duty which, in the absence of the queen, the daughter of such a mother was alone able to fulfil. chapter v my country and the days of my youth it is more than forty-five years that, since my marriage, fate has exiled me from my native country. i have never revisited belgium, except in passing through it, and then often under very painful circumstances. well! i will close my eyes and return in imagination to the château of laeken, and to a certain pathway in the park; i will go, in like manner, to one particular footpath in the forest of soignies; there are trees, stones and roofs there, which seem to me to be those which i once knew. an oak tree was planted at laeken to commemorate the birth of my brother and the birth of each of my sisters and myself. i had not seen these trees thus dedicated to us for a long time, until i happened to be in belgium for a few days after the king's death. accompanied by that old friend of my childhood, my brother's tutor, general donny, i made an excursion to laeken, and i saw once more, with what bitter-sweet memories, the little garden formerly tended by my brother and myself, which had been piously preserved in its original state. was this a mute evidence of the king's remembrance, or the fidelity of some old servants? in my grief i did not question to whom the little garden owed its preservation. my tears alone spoke. when i stood before our "birthday" oak trees i only saw three! i was told that by some extraordinary coincidence the one which marked the birth of my brother had died, like him, when it was quite young. of the others, mine was strong and vigorous; stéphanie's had had the misfortune to grow a little crooked, but the one belonging to clémentine was quite normal. i venture to say that the three oak trees are emblems of our destiny so far as our inner lives are concerned, which have been ignored and misunderstood by men, but which like nature remain confident in god. these three oak trees, and the fourth which is now dead, have always troubled me since the day when i beheld them again. whatever they may be now i envy them! they have grown, they have lived, they still flourish on the soil sacred to my lost ones, except one, whose absence is so expressive. i should love to see them again and to live, if not near them, at least under the shadow of other oak trees growing in my beloved country. would that i could end my days there, and once more find my adored mother and my vivid youth in the forests, the countryside, or the villages through which we passed so often together. she it was who taught me the secrets of nature, and it was thus that the life of nature and the life of belgium, the wonders of the universe, and the life of society were revealed to me. the queen loved and taught me to love our heroic country, whose defence of her liberty in past ages constitutes one of the most touching episodes in history. and i have inherited an ardent wish that my country should never become enslaved. i know that the good people of belgium have reproached me, as if it had been my fault, for deserting our country. those who knew me in my youth have believed that i was transplanted to a strange and brilliant world where i forgot my native land. then the dramas and scandals into which i was dragged on the hurdle of misunderstanding and calumny, have for some transformed me into a sinner, for whom it was not enough punishment to forbid her to see her dying mother by keeping her as a sane prisoner in a madhouse. such a woman deserved to be wiped off the face of the earth! ah, poor miserable humanity, so full of evil yourself that you see nothing but evil in others, what was my crime? i would not, i could not live under the conjugal roof. i endured my life, sacrificed myself, as long as i could, because i knew that i owed a duty towards my children, but after they grew up the horror of my life increased every day. my crime has consisted in listening to a unique man, the ideal knight who kept me from committing errors which i resolved to forget, and to do as many others have done. in my palace, or elsewhere, i could have been the heroine of discreet and multiple adventures. this behaviour would have conformed to the code of high propriety, and god knows that opportunities abounded. but i was not a hypocrite and very soon i found myself up against hypocrites--innumerable legions of them. i was also the recipient of their irritating and deceitful confidences. thus slander did its detestable work. an implacable persecution, masking itself behind the simulated indignation of a false morality, began to assail me. to me one of the most cruel acts was the violent attack made by my detractors on the king and queen, and on public opinion in belgium. could such a thing be possible? i found myself an exile from my country, imprisoned and branded as mad, for everyone was determined that i should become so. it is to you, my mother, martyr and saint, and to some sublime moral strength that i owe my resistance. you armed me for the struggle by never letting me forget the essential duties of life which you had taught me. i have remained faithful to them. but i have suffered horribly since the day when even you could not understand my rebellion. i was suppressed by the world. cleverly exploited, all appearances were against me. my enemies told you: "she is lost; she is mad; the doctors have said so." what doctors, _mon dieu_? the truth about these doctors came out afterwards. ah! some people envy princesses. they should rather pity them. i know of one for whom there has been no justice in this world. ordinary rights were denied her. the law of the world was not a law for her, except when it could be used against her. yes, a victim of an abominable plot of such surpassing cruelty that reason can scarcely conceive possible; i was not allowed to return to my beloved belgium at the moment when i learnt, in spite of my persecutors, that my mother was dying at spa; i could not receive her last blessing, i was not even allowed to follow her coffin ... to the tomb! if i did not become mad in my asylum it was because i was not meant to do so; i could not become mad. but i still tremble when i think of it. later, when the king was dying, i recovered my liberty, and my freedom was brought about by my friend--a friend without equal, who, having on one occasion saved me from myself, now saved me from prison and madness, after having nearly succumbed himself beneath the blows of hate and persecution. but my freedom constituted a new crime; my fidelity to an incarnate ideal in a whole-hearted devotion constituted an additional sin. when i attended my father's funeral i was kept under constant observation. i was restricted to a certain area of my native country. the eldest daughter of the great king whom belgium had just lost was received with polite formality by a police official in court attire! ah, no! i incriminate no one--not even the servants whose civility i had once known. i am aware how tempting and profitable it is to mislead princes, and what power exists in wicked advice when it is given with an air of devotion. i am only explaining how it came about that i did not remain in my much-loved country. at last the frightful war broke out, following the debates regarding the king's inheritance, and i was at once even more definitely suppressed by the belgian nation because, to my other abominations, i had added the unpardonable sin of believing that justice existed in belgium. i was a prisoner in munich, where i could do nothing. i was surprised in bavaria by hostilities and treated like a belgian princess--that is to say, very badly, as will be seen later. in brussels i became an enemy princess, and from the date of the armistice i was proclaimed a foreigner in my native country in the interests of which i had been sacrificed at the age of seventeen, and i also saw myself deprived of the inheritance which would have become mine at the death of my aunt, the empress charlotte of mexico. but it is a matter of history that my marriage with the prince of coburg was annulled in by the decision of the special tribunal of gotha, judging according to the "rights of princes," and that this annulment was transmitted to the court of vienna. the divorce was ratified by all the minute forms of the law of courts and the ancient statutes of austria. the king officially gave me back my title of princess of belgium. that meant nothing; in brussels no notice was taken of it. it is a fact that the law of hungary does not recognize the "rights of princes" and the procedure of gotha; in consequence of the possessions of the coburg family in hungary i am still a princess of coburg. i lose myself in this web in which i have been entangled, but common sense tells me that the disappearance of the austro-hungarian monarchy, and the separation of austria from hungary has put an end to the "mixed state" and the position of "mixed subject" which was that of the prince of coburg. through his ancestors, this "austrian" prince, duke philip of saxe-coburg and gotha, is of franco-german and not of hungarian origin. the princely union cancelled, the civil union dissolved, i feel i have been delivered, and that i have regained my belgian nationality, thanks to the good will of the king himself. they have wished to ignore this at brussels. they have branded me as a hungarian because the prince of coburg has entailed estates in hungary. could they not just as well have proclaimed me a turk or a chinese had he possessed estates in turkey or china? i question this; i make no reproaches whatever, especially against the principle of superior authority, for the good reason that this happened in a state whose king and queen had retreated before the invader in order to defend their country (one knows with what courage and self-denial) from the extreme frontier left them by a conquering enemy. they returned in triumph flushed with the joy of victory. they had only time to deal with general and momentous questions. i should like to think that the attitude adopted towards myself has been merely the outcome of a destiny which wills that i should become a stranger in my own country. i wept over this country, so dear to my heart, in . i believe that her errors towards me have added to her misfortunes. i know that the judgment of brussels in denying me my share of my father's property aroused bitter indignation in berlin. my son-in-law, the duke of schleswig-holstein, brother-in-law of the emperor william ii, relied on succeeding to the inheritance of his wife's grandfather. i can only say that the anger of the german sovereign against the resistance of belgium was increased by the remembrance of the deception of one of his relations, on whom he was rather severe, and this may have decided him to crush the little nation which dared oppose the violation of its neutrality. but this did not help to recall the irritable william ii back to reason and humanity, because this miserable man, whom i have known since my childhood, was absolutely convinced of his rôle as the appointed scourge of god and the invincible redresser of justice on the field of battle. * * * * * let us for a moment forget these miseries and sufferings and talk of the time when i was happy in my happy country--the days when i went for excursions with the queen and "discovered" my parents' kingdom. what joy when i could drive like my mother! i was then barely fourteen and i was her pupil. we frequently went for excursions through our dear belgium from early morning till late in the evening. two or three of the royal carriages followed. the first was driven by the queen, the second by myself, and the third by an officer, one of the ladies-in-waiting, or, later, by my sister clémentine. doctor wiemmer, a compatriot and a devoted friend of the queen who accompanied her to the belgian court, often went with us, also good general donny and general van den smissin, and certain maids-of-honour and other trusted members of our entourage. we halted as fancy dictated. the forest of soignies, the environs of spa, and the ardennes have many a time witnessed the sight of the queen sitting on the grass in some delightful glade, munching one of the famous _pistolets_ for which brussels is famous, and which came out of the royal bakeries (what delicious cakes were made there! i can taste them even yet). how beautiful belgium was then, and what pure air refreshed us. how eagerly i awaited the future. on these long excursions the queen carried a map and made out the itinerary herself with the skill of a staff officer; she also taught me and my sisters how to take our bearings. at this time the automobile had not yet ravaged the world. i have come across this stupefying remark of a frenchman, "speed is the aristocracy of movement." one might as well say, "thoughtlessness is the aristocracy of thought." the automobile is doubtless of occasional individual benefit, but i look upon it as a general scourge. side by side with the satisfaction which it procures, it upsets existence by precipitating it. at the time when horse-drawn vehicles were in constant use, we had different impressions of a day's excursion than those which we have after the end of three weeks' feverish motoring--when we halt at various palaces, drive between interminable rows of poplars, interspersed with fleeting visions of fields, houses and poultry-yards, and when we are tortured by the dread of being made untidy by the wind and splashed by the mud. it is nearly half a century since the horse was the ornament and comfort of the best european society. the example of the queen of belgium then counted for something. in france, the orleans family--which is related to ours--and the duc and duchesse de chartres led the fashion not only in cannes, but in normandy and in the delicious region of chantilly. the duchess always rode in an admirable riding habit. i well remember her black eyes, her pure features and her dazzling personality which were a mixture of natural charm and inborn distinction. the prince de joinville, so artistic, so witty, was endowed with the most exquisite and gallant spirit. he paid me marked attention, as did his brother the duc de montpensier. we were a very gay trio, and the graver members of the family were wont to cast severe glances in our direction. the mention of the orleans family recalls to me the most indulgent, the greatest nobleman of all--the duc d'aumale, a faithful friend of belgium and often our host. oh! what a loyal and noble character the french republic refused to recognize in him. his revenge was to overwhelm his ungrateful country with kindness. i have lived under his roof and i think of him with the greatest tenderness. i still see myself in a room on the ground floor overlooking the moat at chantilly, where this princely host surrounded himself with everything that counted for anything in france, and where he held wonderful receptions, frequently numbering among his guests the magnificent-looking prince de condé, whom he honoured and had almost brought back to life. the queen and the duc d'aumale were greatly attached to one another. when the bitterness of a difficult situation rendered her life first difficult, and then impossible, owing to the king's forgetfulness of what was due from the man to the prince, the duc d'aumale was one of those invaluable friends whose delicate understanding and faithful thoughts consoled her helplessness. although devoted to the duc d'aumale, i also knew the comtesse de paris intimately, with whom i have stayed at the château d'eu. she was an eccentric woman, rather odd-looking in appearance, but she possessed a joyous and lively disposition. another lady of the orleans family who became familiar to me in early life was the princess clémentine of respected memory, a daughter of king louis philippe, and the wife of prince auguste of coburg. i became her daughter-in-law by my marriage with her eldest son, and my ardent hope was that she would be a second mother to me. it did not occur to either of us that her age and my youth could not agree. gratitude also recalls to my mind my near relations the comte and comtesse de flandre, and their many kindnesses which i have not forgotten. their noble lives have known the awful sadness of the destruction of a tenderly nurtured future. but god has granted them reserves of hope and affection. i was nearly forgetting one of the chief recollections of my earliest childhood--queen marie amélie, the widow of king louis philippe. this royal lady, who bore her loss and her exile with so much dignity, was my great-grandmother and my godmother. she lived in retirement at claremont, near esher. when the queen received the news of my birth her first question was: "has she small ears?" she expressed the wish for me to be named louise marie, in memory of her daughter, my venerated grandmother, the first queen of the belgians. i can still picture my sweet old relation, with her white curls showing underneath a wide-brimmed lace cap. i can again see the early breakfast placed at the side of the deep arm-chair, and i remember the "pain à la grecque" which she gave me when i had been good. then the pony was brought round, and my cousin blanche de nemours and myself were installed in the double panniers, and taken for our daily ride in the shady avenues of the great park. the queen had as reader miss müser, a german, who was the faithful friend and constant companion of her old age. i was very young at this time, certainly not more than four, but i have religiously treasured in my remembrance the face, the voice, and the tenderness of my great-grandmother, marie amélie, queen of france. as everyone knows, my two sisters, whom i always remember in those happy times when we still ignored what is called life, are both married. stéphanie, like myself, married very early, and clémentine much later in life. stéphanie as a child, a young girl and a young woman was the more beautiful. clémentine, who was also beautiful, possessed the most charm. destiny has smiled upon her. her life with the king gave her the insight and guidance which we never enjoyed. every life has its favours and its chances in the human lottery. clémentine married prince victor napoleon and the widely varied possibilities attached to such a name. stéphanie's marriage seemed brilliant, not with eventualities but with certainties. i refer to her first husband, for she married twice. the first time she had the good luck to marry an intelligent, handsome and chivalrous man, who was perhaps the most remarkable personality of his time. he shared with her the crown of charles-quint and the thrones of austria-hungary ... crown and thrones have disappeared, as though banished by the wand of some infernal magician, and my sister remains known to history as the widow of the archduke rudolph. she was only twenty-five years of age when he died. [illustration: the countess lonyay (princess stéphanie of belgium) (her first husband was the archduke rudolph of austria)] i have said nothing about the _mise en scène_ in the midst of which the various personages moved who appealed to my intelligence and to my heart at an age when my heart and mind were alike expanding. there is nothing to tell but what is already well known. the most interesting place of all others to me in my childhood was the château of laeken. i have no agreeable memories of the palace at brussels, although i have not forgotten the gallery and the reception rooms, where the many beautiful pictures always interested me, above all that of charles i, by van dyck, dressed in black, in whose pale and noble face i seemed to read the melancholy fate which overshadows some doomed monarchs. i have seen many princely and many royal abodes. they all resemble museums, and they are equally fatiguing. better to have a cottage and a small teniers than own ten _salons_ and five hundred linen tablecloths which belong to everybody. i was happy at laeken because work became less absorbing. we had more liberty, more space. i never hesitated to run or jump in the gardens and the park from the earliest age, and i always took the lead instead of my brother, who seemed to be the girl. i was strong, lively and full of devilment. i was eager and willing to learn. my habit of asking questions gave me the name of "madame pourquoi." i always loved truth and logic. my instinctive passion for truth made me attack my governess tooth and nail one day because she wished to punish me undeservedly. i was in such a state of mind that dr. wiemmer, who was called in, decided to get to the bottom of the cause of my fury. he concluded that i was right in fact, if not in action, and he saw that my character was one that could only be led by kindness, frankness and justice. the governess was sent away. the queen recalled this incident and the doctor's words many times. this medical man who was so devoted to my family, and who disappeared all too soon, once saved my sister stéphanie's life when she was stricken with typhoid, and when she was better the king and queen took us to biarritz--a change of air being necessary for our convalescent. my sister and i shared the same room facing the sea at the villa eugénie. i was thirteen years old, stéphanie was seven. i was entrusted with the care of her, and to see that she did not catch cold. one night a tempestuous wind arose which, incidentally, produced a terrible waterspout. waking up, i rushed to the window, which was open, in my nightgown. the system of closing the window would not act, or perhaps i was clumsy; anyhow, i could not manage to shut the window. the wind now rose to such fury that every moment i was blown back into the room. i began to tremble as i feared for stéphanie. but i still continued to struggle against the force of the storm. how long this lasted i do not know. i only remember that they found me frozen, soaked and shivering, and that i was put into a warm bed. my eyes closed. i heard dr. wiemmer say to the queen: "what a child! any other would have called out or rung the bell! she did not wish for help to protect her sister, and the storm did not frighten her. she only listened to the voice of duty, and she did not flinch." alas! each of us is made according to his or her destiny. the first blow which made me realize the cruel severity of fate was the death of my brother leopold. i had for him the feelings of a devoted and "motherly" sister. he was my property, my chattel, my child. we grew up together. i had considerable authority over him as i was twelve months older than he was, and he always obeyed me. leopold, duke of brabant and comte de hainaut, loved to play with dolls. i much preferred playing with him. nevertheless my uncle, the archduke etienne, my mother's brother, one of the best and most distinguished men that the earth has produced, gave us two hungarian dolls. these were works of art of their kind. mine was christened "figaro," a souvenir of beaumarchais, the enemy of courts, who thus named it; why, and wherefore, i cannot say. my brother's doll received the much more modest and romantic name of "irma." there came a time when figaro and irma enlivened the château of laeken. they even made the king laugh. i organized performances with leopold, irma and figaro which would have made bartholo jealous. my brother and i were happy and light-hearted--as happy as it is possible to be at our age. then came death, which lacerated my whole being, and the passing of my beloved brother in his ninth year. i remember then that i dared curse god and disown him.... leopold, handsome, sweet, sincere, tender and intelligent, embodied for me, after our mother, all that was most precious in the world--i could no more conceive existence without him than the day without light. but he could not stay ... and i still weep for him, although it is more than fifty years since he left me. if he had lived how different things would have been! our house, thus struck down in the male descent of its eldest branch, never recovered from this misfortune. belgium will remember in the great works accomplished by her, that my grandfather and my father made her what she is. she will not forget that angel on earth, my grandmother, the immortal queen louise. many, many tears were shed at her death, and have still left their traces in belgium. of my grandfather, i will repeat what m. delehaye, president of the chamber of representatives, said in his address to the king during the magnificent fêtes of july - , , to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of his succession to the throne. "on july , , confidence and joy burst forth at your coronation, and sire, although you were then alone on your throne with your eminent qualities and the prospect of splendid political alliances, you are not alone to-day. you present yourself to the country supported by your two sons and the remembrance of the queen beloved and regretted as a mother, you are surrounded by the royal family, by illustrious alliances, by confidence and sympathy, you are supported by foreign governments, your fame has grown greater, and you possess the love of belgium which has grown still greater than any fame. sire, we can have confidence in the future...." cannot i, must i not, also, have faith in the future? i appeal to my illustrious ancestors; i appeal to the memory of the queen; i appeal to the memory of the king, by whom, alas! i was too often denied and betrayed. i appeal to that world where everything is illuminated for the soul liberated from earth, which will alone see clearly for me. chapter vi my marriage and the austrian court--the day after my marriage i was barely fifteen when it was first decided that i was to be married. on march , , i was officially betrothed to prince philip of saxe-coburg; on february i entered my sixteenth year. my fiancé certainly showed perseverance. he had already made two proposals for me. his first was repeated after an interval of two years. the king replied to it by advising him to travel. the prince then made a tour round the world; this completed he renewed his request. again he was asked to wait. to marry me had become a fixed idea with philip of coburg. what sort of love inspired him? was he attracted by the elusive charm of my virginal youth, or did the definite knowledge of the king's position and the belief in the future of his enterprises fan the flame in the heart of a man who was absolutely engrossed with material things? the engagement being arranged, the two families interested (mine especially), the queen on the one hand, and the princess clémentine on the other, decided that my marriage was not to be celebrated until twelve months later. i was so young! my fiancé was fourteen years older than i. fourteen years' difference is not perhaps of much account between a young woman of twenty-five and a man of thirty-nine; it is a great deal, however, between an innocent girl of seventeen and a lover of thirty-one. i had only occasional glimpses of my fiancé during his rapid visits to brussels. our conversations were of no account; they were merely such as a man of his age would hold with a girl of mine. but i thought i knew him well. we were cousins. this constituted the first difficulty, as the sanction of the church of rome was necessary to the marriage. it was asked for and obtained. this is the custom in such cases. my fiancé left me to complete the studies necessary for my successful début in a strange world. and what a world! the most courtly of courts in the universe. a court haunted by the shades of charles v and maria theresa! a court in which spanish etiquette was allied to german discipline. an emperor whose greatness had been increased rather than diminished by his military reverses, so well did he bear his misfortunes. an empress who was a queen of queens owing to her undisputed perfections. and around them a host of archdukes and archduchesses, princes, dukes and gentlemen bearing the highest titles in the land. all this was very impressive for a belgian princess who did not regret her short dresses, because one never regrets them when it is the fashion to wear long gowns, but who was nevertheless very astonished to find herself dressed like a grown-up girl. however, i was not embarrassed, nor was i nervous; i looked at everything with the eyes of a girl who is only interested in her engagement and her lover. i would have married the prince, had i been asked to do so, on the same day that i received his first ring. i would have gone before the burgomaster and the cardinal with just the same eagerness as i did a year later. healthy in body and pure in spirit, brought up in an atmosphere of sincerity and morality under the care of an incomparable mother, but deprived, owing to my rank, of more or less enlightened friends who would have reposed certain womanly confidences in me, i gave my whole soul to my approaching marriage without troubling myself what marriage might mean. i was no longer a creature of this earth. i created a star where my fiancé and i would live together in a divine atmosphere of happiness. the man who was to be my companion on the enchanted road of life, seemed to me the embodiment of all that was beautiful, loyal, generous, and i deemed him as innocent as myself. my hours of martyrdom and the distressing quarrels were to come later when the inmost recesses of my heart were disclosed by the barbarians of the police court, who made scandalous use of my letters written after my engagement. these letters expressed my love. i had written to the man who was my parents' choice as i would have written to an archangel destined to marry me. i adorned him with the beauty of my most beautiful desires. i transfigured him. the savages had the effrontery to deduce from these expressions of affection that i was an unstable and deceitful creature. i put this question to women. between love as we conceive it and love as we experience it, is there not very often an abyss? i have been culpable, criminal and infamous to fall into this abyss. such is the real truth. why did my mother--who was so good--and why did the king--who was so experienced in human nature--wish for this marriage, in spite of the disproportion of our ages, and the few claims to universal admiration which my intended husband possessed, apart from his claims to worldly position? in the first place his mother, who, rightly, loved and respected him, pleaded for him. she credited him with possessing some of her own good qualities. in the second place, prince frederick of hohenzollern had expressed a wish to ask me in marriage. the king and queen, who were told of this, did not want, for various reasons, to become closer allied to the house of berlin. other suitors, more or less desirable, might also appear on the scene. therefore, to put an end to this particular scheme and any future uncertainties, i was plighted to philip of coburg. in addition to this the queen congratulated herself on sending her eldest daughter to the viennese court where she herself had shone. she still possessed influence there, and she thought that i would benefit from it. she was still more satisfied to think that owing to the entailed estates of the coburgs in hungary, i should possess material advantages in the country dear to her memory, and where she could often rejoin me, perhaps where she might even retire herself, since she foresaw a future which was gradually to become more and more difficult. my fiancé again appeared on my horizon. a year passes quickly. the date of my marriage was approaching. i knew all the flowers of rhetoric and the hot-house flowers of a daily courtship. but i asked myself, why did the queen never leave the archangel and me alone? my fiancé told me about his travels. he had, he said, brought back some wonderful collections of souvenirs. but i only knew how wonderful these were later. he also told me about his plans for the future, the numerous properties of the coburgs, etc. i gave myself up to delightful hopes, and described the magnificence of my trousseau, which was enriched with fairy-like gifts of belgian lace and intricate embroideries. finally i tried on the symbolical white robe, under a heavenly veil, a _chef d'oeuvre_ of brussels lace, and i was acknowledged fit to manage my long train and to make my curtsies equally as well as the most graceful of the famous young ladies of saint cyr. loaded with jewels, i soared higher and higher, flattered by homage, congratulations and good wishes, without perceiving that, although my fiancé was so much older than myself, i had now become a certain personality in his dreams and in his thoughts. i was praised on all sides in verse and in prose, with or without music, and it seemed that i was a "flower of radiant beauty." i was quite taken with this phrase. as for my husband--his bearing, his nobility and his prestige were also praised. i remember that he wore his hungarian military uniform when we received the burgomaster of brussels, the celebrated m. ausbach, who came on february , , to marry us by the civil code. then with great pomp we appeared before the cardinal primate of belgium. an altar was erected in the large drawing-room next the ballroom. i will say nothing about the decorations. the chants and the prayers carried me to heaven, although i by no means forgot the ritual of my marriage and that i was the cynosure of all eyes. it was not a public of kings, but of princes. in the place of sovereigns, whose greatness kept them away, their next of kin were present; the prince of wales, the crown prince frederick, the archduke joseph, the duc d'aumale, the duke of saxe-coburg, and, finally, a large crowd of those notables who figure in the pages of the _almanach de gotha_. if i once began to describe the details of a ceremony of this magnitude i should never finish. personally i was not much attracted by it. i am always surprised when, on opening a modern novel, i notice the pains which clever people take to describe the sumptuous ritual of modern marriage. i only know one appropriate description of this nature: that of the "sleeping beauty." fortunate beauty, whose court and herself were put to sleep just at the crucial moment of a marriage which might not have been a happy one. but where are the fairies now and where are the beasts who know how to talk? alas! the fairies have vanished and the beasts speak no more, except the hidden beasts in our souls, and they do not relate pretty fables and stories. they indulge rather in unpleasant realities. i have taken a long time in coming to the point, but no matter at what cost, it is necessary for me to speak about things which have as yet never been told, but which will explain how the foundations were laid for the drama of my life. there were hints as to this drama in former days, but i will not refer to the vague tittle-tattle which amused rather than saddened brussels and its court. i am not, i am sure, the first woman who after having lived in the clouds during her engagement, has been as suddenly hurled to the ground on her marriage night, and who, bruised and mangled in her soul, has fled from humanity in tears. i am not the first woman who has been the victim of false modesty and excessive reserve, attributable perhaps to the hope that the delicacy of a husband, combined with natural instincts, would arrange all for her, but who was told nothing by her mother of what happens when the lover's hour has struck. however, the fact remains that on the evening of my marriage at the château of laeken, whilst all brussels was dancing amid a blaze of lights and illuminations, i fell from my heaven of love to what was for me a bed of rock and a mattress of thorns. psyche, who was more to blame, was better treated than myself. the day was scarcely breaking when, taking advantage of a moment when i was alone in the nuptial chamber, i fled across the park with my bare feet thrust into slippers, and, wrapped in a cloak thrown over my nightgown, i went--to hide my shame in the orangery. i found sanctuary in the midst of the camellias, and i whispered my grief, my despair, and my torture, to their whiteness, their freshness, their perfume and their purity, to all that they represented of sweetness and affection, as they flowered in the greenhouse, and lit up the winter's dawn with a warmth, silence and beauty which gave me back a little of my lost paradise. a sentry had noticed a grey form scurrying past him in the direction of the orangery. he approached, and listening, recognized my voice. he hastened to the château. no one knew what had become of me. already the alarm had been discreetly raised. a messenger galloped to brussels. the telephone was not then invented. the queen came to me without any delay. my god! what a state i was in when i regained my apartment; i would not let anyone approach me except my maids. i was more dead than alive. my mother stayed with me for a long time; she was as motherly as she alone could be. there was no grief which her arms and voice could not assuage. i listened to her scolding me, coaxing me and telling me of duties which it was imperative for me to understand. i dared not object to these on the ground that they were totally different from those which i had been led to expect. i finished by promising to try and conquer my fears, to be wiser and less childish. i was scarcely seventeen years old; my husband had completed his thirty-first year. i had become of his "goods and chattels." one can see, alas! how he has treated me. chapter vii married on the morrow of such a painful episode in the life of two newly married people i witnessed with bitter grief the preparations for my departure to austria. never was belgium so dear to me; never had she appeared more beautiful. concealing my tears, i said good-bye to all those who had known me as a child and a young girl, and who had loved and served me, and to all the familiar objects in the château of laeken, where everything appealed to my affection. little did i foresee that i should be looked upon one day as a stranger there. what do i say--a stranger? no, as an "enemy," rather! we departed, according to the expression sacred to custom, on our honeymoon. but there are honeymoons and honeymoons. i should have liked to have taken certain personal maids with me. i was not allowed even to dream of such a thing. the coburg palace had its own servants. it was explained to me that the introduction of a strange element would break the domestic harmony of this high-toned abode. i had therefore to content myself with a hungarian maid, quite a proficient person, but who was not like one of my own faithful servants. and everything was the same. my tastes, my preferences only passed muster after having been approved by a family council. unfortunately the austerity which prevailed in this family council chamber did not reign in the palace at all hours and in all the rooms. this i soon discovered. but before arriving at the coburg palace we stayed at gotha, where duke ernest of saxe-coburg, the prince regent, and his wife, princess alexandrine, gave their niece a warm welcome. the duke was a true gentleman, one of the personalities of his time, who became one of my favourite uncles. he spoke, with affection, of his friend count bismarck, and then touched on less serious topics, as i was curious to know about the people and things belonging to this germany to which i found myself so closely related by marriage. i have already said that it was as natural for me to speak german as it was for me to speak french, since it was the general rule to do so at the court of brussels. has not belgium everything to gain by being bi-lingual and by serving as an intermediary between the latin and the german countries? less than alsace and luxembourg but nevertheless a little like them, should she not benefit by the two diverse cultures? on leaving gotha we went to dresden, thence to prague, and finally to budapest and glowing vienna. let us pass, however, from these princely visits and the sameness of their receptions to more intimate things. the interest in speaking of these consists in the necessity for me to lay bare my slandered life, and to relate how, having fallen from heaven, i rose to a belief in better things. but years and years were destined to pass before my existence was again embellished by a glimpse of the ideal, apart from the joys of maternity. my first recollection of something amiss in my rôle of princess of coburg is, that every evening at our formal banquets my husband took care that i should be served abundantly with good wines. i ultimately became capable of distinguishing a volney from a chambertin, a voslaver from a villanyi, and one champagne from another. the body thus trained to the practice of something more or less akin to gluttony, the soul of necessity followed its example. i extended my range of literature, and i became familiar with books which the queen and the princess clémentine would not have believed could have been given me by the person by whom they were put into my hands. in the days of my open rebellion people were scandalized by certain liberties of speech and manner which i wilfully exaggerated. but who first taught me them? and, once again, where should i have gone and what would have become of me if god had not put in my way the incomparable man who alone had the courage to say to me: "madame, you are a king's daughter. you are about to go astray. a christian woman revenges herself on infamy by rising above it and not by descending to its level." and so, stunned and intoxicated in every way, i reviewed the family of coburg and their various palaces and castles. finally i found the palace in vienna which was destined to be my principal residence. i positively turned cold on entering it. the palace certainly looks imposing from the outside, but the interior is most gloomy, especially the staircase. i only like the _salon_ in "point de beauvais" originally intended for marie antoinette and her ladies-in-waiting. my room made me shudder. what? was this really the setting which had been prepared to receive the freshness of my seventeen years! a student of bonn, where the prince had graduated, might have liked it, but a girl, who had only recently become a young woman!... impossible. try, then, to imagine a fairly large room, the walls fitted half-way up with small cupboards of dark wood with glass doors, and blue curtains behind which i never wished to look! certain pieces of furniture were gothic in style. in the centre of this paradise stood an immense glass case full of souvenirs of the prince's travels; stuffed birds with long beaks, armour, bronzes, ivories, buddhas and pagodas; my heart sickened at the sight. and, worse than all, there was no private entrance or annexe, only a narrow dark corridor, which was used by the servants. to get to my room i had to pass through that of the prince, which was approached through a kind of salon; all the rooms communicated and showed not a vestige of taste. massive old furniture upholstered in rep a century old was offered to the eyes of youth! all was old, ordinary, sombre. hardly a flower, nothing comfortable, nothing matching. as to a bathroom, there was not a sign of one. there were only two baths in the whole palace; they were far away from each other, and of positively archaic construction. and, as for the rest--it is better left unsaid! my first active objection was to this anti-hygienic organization, and the lack of necessities for my immediate use. this state of things almost broke my heart. i was told, however, that the illustrious grandparents were quite content with what had been given me. one knows that use is a second nature. princess clémentine did not notice the things which troubled me, and even the glass case with the stuffed birds charmed her. she admired her son's collection, fortunately without knowing or understanding all that it contained, as in our palace of budapest i saw some very unique pieces; souvenirs of yoshivara which a young woman could not look at without blushing, even after an expert hand had lifted the veil from her inexperienced eyes. what a school! however, thanks to the bacchic régime organized by my husband, things went on indifferently well after the storm of our début in domesticity. our fundamental incompatibility first appeared at the coburg palace in the presence of the princess clémentine, over a cup of café-au-lait. on our honeymoon the prince had told me that a well-born person should never drink black coffee. such is the german conviction. germany can no more imagine coffee without milk than she can imagine the sun without the moon. however, ever since i ceased to take nature's nourishment i have never been able to drink milk, i have never drunk it, and i never do. my husband took it into his head that he would make me drink milk, especially in coffee, as, if he failed, the traditions, the constitutions, and the foundations of all that was german would be shattered. the discussion took place before the princess clémentine, who always drank milk in her coffee. but her affectionate kindness could not overcome the stubbornness of my stomach. i could see that i was offending her. her son became furious to the extent of saying most painful and unpleasant things, and i answered him in like manner. the princess, although deaf, felt that something was the matter, and we restrained ourselves on her account, but the blow had fallen; henceforth we both had café-au-lait on the brain! i relate little episodes like this because life is a mosaic of small things which cement great desires or high sentiments, and which of themselves express the daily necessities to which we are slaves. human existence is a tragedy or a comedy in two acts which take place in the drawing-room and the bedroom. the rest is only accessory. what a bungle nearly all people of exalted rank make in fulfilling the obligations of appearing to live! we forget the words of franklin: "time is the material of which life is made." i reproach myself bitterly to-day for having led such an empty life, for having lived such an existence of anguish of mind. i have not sufficiently known the true life, which is that of the soul; if i had realized this, with what distinguished personages i might have associated, with what authors, scholars and artists have surrounded myself! but could i really have done so? my highest desires were criticized, contradicted and repulsed. the prince, my husband, from the standpoint of his superior age, instructed me in everything. people were afterwards astonished at my expenditure--at my numerous gowns.... oh, god! i nearly became mad through the force of this continual restraint. one fine day i burst my bonds! oh! this palace of coburg, this residence where the slightest frivolous fancy, the smallest evidence of parisian taste imported from brussels, provoked harsh words; this soupçon of a _décolletage_ which caused jealousy; this desire to live a little for myself, without being submissive to the rigorous routine of a barracks which aroused such storms. mon dieu! when i think of all this--the stuffed birds, the unhealthy books, the dirty jokes, and the daily miseries of my life--i am at a loss to know how i endured it. i ask myself how i could have resisted so long? it was worse in the long run than being shut up in the madhouse. the crime is sometimes less horrible than the criminal. there are moral deformities which constitute an offence at every turn, and in the end one becomes exasperated with them. i do not know to what extremes i should have gone if this life had continued. i have always looked upon the strength which permitted me, at the age of twenty, to break away from my princely cage as a direct help from heaven. even had i been able to foresee to what excess hatred and fury would reach, i would still have broken away. a palace can become a hell, and the worst hell is that where one suffocates behind gilded windows. titles count for nothing--a bad household is a bad household. two people are united, the same chain holds them irrevocably together. certain couples manage to get on, others cannot. it is a question of temper and conditions. neither the prince nor i could accustom ourselves to the differences which separated us. this permanent conflict, which was at first latent and which afterwards became open war, daily widened the abyss between us into which so much finally disappeared. but amidst all this bitterness my days had their golden hours. everything was not disagreeable. storms sometimes have a ray of sunshine. but those i experienced were of the most devastating nature! i have said that i respected princess clémentine and that i was attracted to her, but her deafness, which sadly aggravated her natural dignity, and her spirit of another age which made her always appear to be living in state and etiquette, often repulsed my natural outbursts of affection. every time when the prince and i arrived at irreparable differences, and my mother-in-law, because of her great age, submitted to the influence of her son, i still could not help feeling towards her the same sentiment of gratitude which i had for her former kindness and her superiority of mind. [illustration: prince philip of saxe-coburg] besides my husband, princess clémentine had two sons and two daughters. one of her sons, auguste of saxe-coburg, was to me what rudolph of habsburg would have been, a brother-in-law who was a brother. until his death, which took place, if i remember rightly, in at paris, where, under the name of count helpa, he lived a life of pleasure and mixed in the best society, he retained the same affection for me that i had for him. the three other coburgs, philip, auguste and ferdinand, did not resemble one another either physically or morally. auguste was like the orleans family. in him the blood of france triumphed over the blood of germany. in the veins of ferdinand, who became the adventurous tsar of bulgaria, i do not know what blood flowed. let us pass on quickly. i shall have occasion to return to him and his throne of surprises when i speak of the court of sofia. of the two daughters, clotilde and amélie, the latter lives always in my memory. a gentle victim of love for an excellent husband, she died after losing him. united to maximilian of bavaria, the cousin of louis ii, amélie was a lily of france that strayed into germany. she had the good luck to meet a being worthy of herself in the patriarchal court of munich, which prussian folly has rendered so unhappy. they loved each other and they lived for love, concealing their happiness as much as possible. maximilian died suddenly--thrown from his horse whilst riding. amélie was inconsolable and did not long survive him. the idea never struck her brother philip, her brother ferdinand, or above all her sister clotilde, that one could die--or live--for love! our double connexion with the house of france brought me a happy diversion from my troubles at the coburg palace, as well as in the country, in the shape of visits of members of the royal family whom i had more or less known in my youth. the springtime of my life was full of their marks of affection. i have seen the birth of the hopes of my niece dorothée, the daughter of the archduchess clotilde, my sister-in-law, when she became engaged to duke philip of orleans. i confess i had no faith in the future, being sceptical as to royalist france, and doubtless it was an effect of the general surroundings, but i fancied that the gold lilies embroidered on the robe of the beautiful bride would have vanished from her train long before she reached the elysée, the tuileries or the louvre. i could not, however, see without emotion the closed crown which adorned the "queen" on the day of her wedding. ah! this dream of a crown; how many heads it turns, or rather how many heads it has turned! for now one is obliged to reflect on things in general, and although i am a stranger to french politics i owe as much recognition as consideration to the republic, where i have found, together with the security of just laws, the respect due to misfortune, and the courtesy which republicans know how to extend, even to princesses. still i cannot help following the career of the "king, in anticipation"--my nephew the prince of orleans, with some degree of curiosity. for him everything happens on the banks of the seine, the garonne, the rhone, and the other watercourses of the most beautiful country on the face of the earth; but the worst that i wish philip of orleans is that he should never have to exchange his yachting cap, which becomes him so well, for the crown of saint louis. he is certainly handicapped in life. more than ever to-day when it is advisable for a king to have a queen. but fate has willed that the great marriage of philip of orleans and marie dorothée of habsburg, which was one of the joys of the coburg palace, and the occasion of the most gorgeous receptions, should turn out contrary to what it promised. on one occasion i counted the royal or princely houses wherein the wind of discontent already whispered. i arrived at a startling total. taking it all round in every kind of society, the average number of happily married people is not very high. but the nearer one gets to the people, and to their good sense and work, the better does family life become, because they tolerate each other's failings much more wisely and agree to help each other, until they finish by knowing a kind of happiness, which is only achieved by the knowledge of common imperfections. my life at coburg would have been still more painful if from time to time it had not been varied by changes of residence and travel. in order not to digress from the family circle, i will only say a few words about three towns where i had relations, and where i stayed with them, or near them, as princess of coburg--cannes, bologna and budapest. first, i will mention budapest, which was one of the most attractive cities of the world, and will be again when the reign of bolshevism is over. in the old buda the ancient east has left its traces; in pest, the modernity of the west has become apparent. i knew something of it in . i loved budapest, and i preferred the small coburg palace in the hungarian capital and its charming receptions to our home and our entertainments in the capital of austria. the atmosphere was different from that of vienna, and i was pleased to find myself in the neighbourhood of the good archduke joseph, my mother's brother, who was so warm-hearted and so dear to me. his palace was at buda, and his château was some hours' distance from the town. they had no disadvantages except as dwellings of my aunt and my sister-in-law princess clotilde, who were very different from the affectionate and sincere amélie. the archduke was a kind man who did not misjudge or censure my extravagant fancies. in the first year of our marriage my husband and i spent the anniversary of my birthday, february , with the archduke at alauth. there had been a heavy fall of snow the day before, and i said, "i do not want any presents, but please let me drive a sledge to-morrow; i have such a wild wish to drive one; it will be my first experience!" the archduchess clotilde was usually an open-hearted person, but she was nevertheless endowed with certain straight-laced characteristics, and she frowned severely. it was no use to beg or to implore. the prince forbade the sledge drive. they metaphorically relegated me to a dark cupboard with dry bread to eat; they kept me under such close observation that i could not go out at all, either on foot, on horseback, or in a sledge. the archduke arrived on the scene. i was still furious.... oh! certainly, it is evident that i did not look on the bright side of things; my character has always been one which resented foolishness and wickedness. the archduke questioned me. i told him the whole story. "louise," he cried, "you are right a hundred times; first of all because at your age and when one is pretty, as you are, one is always right. we will go out at once for a drive in the snow." he rang, and ordered two hungarian horses to be harnessed to a large sledge fit for the chariot of apollo, in which he seated me, wrapped in my furs. he took the reins and we drove off at great speed, accompanied by a confidential servant. i felt myself akin to the angels. my puritanical sister-in-law and my puritanical husband dared not say a word. society at budapest was less submissive to court ceremonial than that of vienna, and it was in consequence natural and more audacious. i remember a certain ball on the ile marguerite, the pearl of the casket of the danube, when the prince was angry and did not wish me to waltz. i was inundated with invitations, to which my husband replied by saying that at the court of brussels i had only learned to dance the quadrille and the minuet! the quadrille! the minuet! people were quite worried. they understood what it means to waltz in hungary, and a waltz on the banks of the danube to the strains of gipsy violins is a thing which cannot be surpassed. and now--now--they import from america dreary stuff, dull and epileptic in movement, and they call it by all sorts of names after trotting or galloping animals out of noah's ark. the waltz will always remain as the incomparable queen of dances to those who know how to dance. one of those who asked me to dance was bolder than the rest, and, taking no notice of the prince's excuse, he said: "but surely her highness knows how to waltz," and at these words i was swept away from the domain of authority by my audacious partner, a magyar, who thus hurled me into the whirlpool of the dance. i confess i never stopped dancing for the remainder of the night. the prince was furious, but as he was overwhelmed with compliments on my beauty and my success, he was obliged, _nolens volens_, to smile! i recall the scene which took place at our departure. fortunately we were asked to embark on a wonderfully illuminated boat which took us along the beautiful river to the nearest point to our palace, and this delightful journey was made to the sounds of the music, sometimes wild and sometimes languorous, which can only be heard to perfection in this country. had it the effect of orpheus's lute? i was not condemned to die at sunrise like poor scheherazade. but why did she not dance instead of relating stories? at bologna and cannes i saw a section of society which has now disappeared. this was to be met with at the residence of the duchesse de chartres, and at the duc de montpensier's at the caprara palace. in italy certain of the greatest italian aristocrats were surrounded by the noblest names of france; on the côte d'azur it was more of a butterfly world, in which shone some of the most resplendent parisian beauties. where should i be if i allowed myself to evoke the shades of many of those whom i have known during my lifetime? already all is silent, already forgetfulness has begun. oh, vanity of vanities! but at least i will say how much i was enchanted by cannes, and by the refined taste of french elegance. the war has transformed this town, once sought after by the élite of society. i have read that, overrun and noisy, it has lost the discreet _cachet_ which was once its particular character and charm. what a pity! there is everything and yet nothing to say about the life of worldly people who are merely worldly people and nothing more. true, i could fill a library were i to describe in detail the fashionable records of my past. but of what interest would that be? i should but pander to the social curiosity that is satisfied by the reports of the doings of society, which, knowing the necessity of polishing its lustre daily in order to retain its brightness, provides the newspapers with the names of the people it receives, and the details of the receptions it gives--merely to satisfy that commonplace curiosity which is, unhappily, the foundation of human nature, and its desires and self-esteem. it will be better perhaps for me to terminate this rough sketch of my life as princess of coburg, before coming to the events which led to the final _dénouement_, by a few facts concerning my children. i have been, i believe, a good mother. i have wished to be, and i have, at least, the feeling that i was a good mother for a very long time. i lavished much care and tenderness upon my children. this will only appear natural to women whom maternity makes true women, and to whom it represents honour and glory. they must, however, allow me to say that maternity is sometimes more difficult than one thinks, when one has to consider the difficulties which are often raised by the father of the child--there are situations when being a mother is a constant trial. happy are those whom a peaceful and normal life allows leisure to watch beside a cradle. nevertheless, i knew happiness with my first-born son leopold, who saw the light in at our château of saint antoine, in hungary. the queen was present, very delighted at being a grandmother. the arrival of this child, a boy, heir to the titles, appendages and functions of the family, temporarily appeased the quarrels between the prince and myself. there was a lull in the storm, which lasted for some little time. the influence of the queen had its effect upon my husband. i myself, absorbed by my maternal duties, made great resolutions to be patient and wise in the future. i dreamt wonderful dreams beside the cradle of my son.... oh, cruel fate, against which i was destined to be powerless. when he grew up, and as the influence of environment exerted itself, leopold became less and less my child. i wished him to be loyal and courageous. was he not to carry a sword? what a knightly soul did i not wish to forge in him! but his father claimed the right to guide him. very soon he belonged to me no longer. leopold reached the age of reason just when i had thrown off the shackles of an existence which had become atrocious. he believed that, having refused to continue to be the princess of coburg, i had thereby appropriated the hundreds of millions which one day should have come to him from his grandfather, and which i should throw to the winds by my folly. so i have known the hatred which nature cannot conceive--the hatred of a son for his mother. i have shed the tears which are shed by mothers who are struck down by their own flesh and blood. but god knows that each time my children, infatuated with the greed for money, which is indeed the root of all evils, have made me suffer, i have always forgiven them. when leopold died in such a frightful way that i cannot even mention it, he had not belonged, in my belief, for a long time to this world; but it was not i who was affected by this terrible punishment which terminated the lineage of the eldest scion of the house of saxe-coburg. he who was stricken was the father who had formed this misguided son in his own likeness! i think he has survived in order that he may have time for repentance. when my daughter dora was about to be born in , i had such a dread of the presence of her father that i did all i could to hide the imminent hour of my deliverance. i did not wish the prince to be near me at this painful moment; i wanted him to go out, in ignorance that i was in the throes of travail. it happened in this way. the birth took place in our palace at vienna, and i quite succeeded in astonishing my world. i evaded, during the time of my suffering, a presence which could only have aggravated it. the midwife who was with me had not even time to go and fetch the royal accoucheur, who arrived after it was all over. dora was my second and my last child. she promised to be a pretty girl; she was taller than myself, very fair and rather shortsighted. she had the misfortune to marry duke gunther of schleswig-holstein, brother of the empress augusta, the wife of william ii. "misfortune?" my readers will say; "that is the usual opinion of a mother-in-law." they will see later that the word misfortune is conformable to the facts which touch contemporary history. i will say nothing more. my daughter has no children. if she had, they would have been told that their grandmother was the most wicked of women, if not the maddest, because she often said to her son-in-law, as well as to the prince of coburg and certain dignitaries of vienna and elsewhere, who were the accomplices and agents of the persecution by which she was overwhelmed: "you have only one end in view, and that is to take away all that remains to me--my liberty. but there is justice and you will be punished!" they have been. ah! if instead of making me suffer martyrdom, or allowing me to be made a martyr, some of my own relations had dared come to me, openly or in secret!... i am a woman, i am a mother. i do not affirm that i was not guilty of wrong. i only affirm this: they always lied to me. they always talked to me of the honour and virtue of the family, but, above it all, i heard the cry of "_money! money! money!_" chapter viii my hosts at the hofburg--the emperor francis joseph and the empress elizabeth since defeat has overthrown in one day thrones which were the foundation of the world of germany, i sometimes pass from the ring towards the graben by the hofburg, the ancient imperial palace of this city of vienna where i am now writing. i can see from the fransenplatz (the large inner court) the windows of the rooms which formerly saw me received by the guards and chamberlains with the honours due to my rank. these windows are now closed, empty and silent. in vienna everything seems dead. the old hofburg has ceased to exist. the new hofburg, an outward symbol of vanished hopes, is an unfinished building. it bears witness to the downfall of an empire. of all the princesses and archduchesses belonging to the vanished court, i am the only one remaining in vienna, loved, i believe, by the people, and respected by those in authority. there is one city in the world in which i have lived for a long time. it has been the scene of my "crimes." this city, after it abandoned all pretence of honour, truth and virtue, has now reserved for me my right to speak, and, whilst abolishing titles, has left me mine. i stand alone in the ruins of a power which was cruel to me. i have known the "justice" of the court and that of the emperor francis joseph. i have learned that a princess has not the same legal rights as the rest of the world. for her, secret arrangements exist which are applied without the judges having anything to say, or, if they do, they only carry out certain orders. they disguise these with all kinds of pretexts. in my case the excuse was that of madness. it would be impossible to-day to tax a rebellious conscience with insanity. it would be impossible to accuse a victim of causing impossible scandals if she dared appeal for help. no one can be thrown by force into a madhouse, where the superintendent says that you are not mad and yet is obliged to keep a guard over you. he had his orders! they called these "_une affaire de cour_!" i do not think it would require many criminal attempts of this nature to obtain a sentence from a divine justice which no hypocrisy of words or deeds and no machinery of human power can deceive. but why should not those who were guilty of an immoral and cowardly policy be the only ones to expiate their faults? a whole nation is at this moment expiating the decadence and the downfall of the court of vienna. yes, the poor people, who are so good, so duped, so resigned, so industrious and so much to be pitied, are now expiating the crimes of their rulers! when i arrived at the austrian court in francis joseph was forty-five years old. he was always distinguishable at a distance by his gallant bearing in uniform. at close quarters he gave one the impression of possessing a certain amount of good humour, which was contradicted by the severity of his glance. he was a narrow-minded man, full of false and preconceived ideas, but he possessed from his upbringing and from the traditions of austrian politics certain formulas and mannerisms, which enabled him to keep afloat for a long time before he was finally engulfed in the sea of blood in which the imperial galley ultimately foundered. but, stripped of his rank and ceremonial, devoid of routine or receptions, audiences and speeches, he was nothing but a fool. at his birth, nature deprived him of a heart. he was an emperor but he was not a man. he is best described as an automaton dressed as a soldier. the emperor at first made a great impression on me when my husband presented me to him as the new princess of coburg. i listened to his amiable and polished phrases, which i found difficult to answer becomingly. they were usually so banal that almost before leaving his presence i had already forgotten what he had said. it was almost always like this, except on one memorable occasion which i will describe later. i do not know anyone who remembers a single word uttered by francis joseph that was worth repeating. his conversation in the imperial circle was disconcertingly cold and poor. he never became animated except when talking scandal, but that was generally in the apartment of madame schratt, who constituted alike his refuge and his relaxation, where he was really "at home" and where he was simply "franz" or "joseph." i have seen madame schratt at the burg theatre. her influence (if she ever had any, other than that of permitting the emperor to escape from the insufficiencies which constituted the fatalities of his life) was not injurious to any living soul. an actress at the comédie française of vienna, pretty, and honest by nature, katti schratt was a "brohan," and her gaiety of heart at least pleased the sovereign. he first gave her a peaceful and an assured position, and then one fine evening he quietly introduced her to the court, where the empress resigned herself admirably to this imperial audacity. she was quite satisfied in knowing that francis joseph was now methodical in his passions, had curtailed his excesses and had chosen a confidante who did not pretend to be anything more than a recreation for him. there was a great difference between madame schratt and madame de maintenon. there was a still greater difference between francis joseph and louis xiv. but so far as actual looks went, the emperor might easily have been taken for his _maître d'hôtel_ had it not been for his uniform and his surroundings. seen at close quarters he was a very ordinary person. two bad habits, however, were noticeable in him: at the least perplexity he pulled and massaged his side-whiskers, and at dinner he frequently looked at his reflection in the blade of his knife. as for the rest of his actions, he ate, he drank, he slept, he walked, he hunted, he spoke according to the accepted ritual laid down by the circumstances of the hour, the day, and the calendar. these mannerisms were hardly disturbed by revolutions, wars or misfortunes. he greeted his calamities with the same expression with which he noticed if it were raining when he was about to leave for ischl. when his son killed himself, when his wife was assassinated, he did not lose one ounce of flesh; his step was as firm as ever, and his hair just as faultlessly dressed. the funeral ceremonies over, nothing changed in austria. francis joseph still continued to speak in just the same tones of the love of his people towards himself, and of his love for them. and that same evening he was with madame schratt. to this man devoid of brilliance, without courage, and without justice, i owe the misfortunes of my life. at the time when he should have filled his place as sovereign and head of the house where i was concerned, he did not do so because he was afraid. on two occasions only he behaved differently _à propos_ of what concerned me; these circumstances were not, however, decisive. a man is not judged by the way he helps you out of a carriage, but by his behaviour in a big fire; he does not draw back before the flames in his effort to save you! [illustration: _photo: boute_ princess victor napoleon (princess clémentine of belgium)] francis joseph was incapable of throwing himself into the fire in order to save anyone. he could not be depended upon for any help in danger. he would have been afraid of spoiling his uniform, or of disarranging his whiskers! ah! i can easily understand the despair of his son and his wife, whose only thought in life was to escape from this nonentity. the emperor's brother, the archduke louis victor, was the instigator of the hatred of which i was the victim. this man was later to know the tortures of a dishonourable exile, and he died dishonoured. god has punished him. i have seen his might strike this guilty man, who started the persecutions from which i had to suffer. for many years he laid his devotion at my feet. all vienna knew it; the emperor included, and he better than most people, because scandal was his daily bread. to him it was almost an affair of state to know whether the archduke louis victor would succeed in vanquishing the citadel of my virtue. nevertheless, the prince could be pleasing when he chose; his was an ardent nature, the excessive inquisitiveness of which dragged him eventually into the scandal of public punishment. i resigned myself to receive his compliments and his flowers with patience. we all know the exigencies of the world. i had to endure the assiduity of an archduke, the brother of the emperor, with a smile. but the smile has been especially given by nature to woman in order to enable her occasionally to conceal her thoughts! unfortunately louis victor, jealous of the worthy sentiments with which another, who was not a "prince," had inspired me, lost his patience, and from being the object of his love i became the object of his hatred. i own that i had a taste for satirical repartee which i had inherited from the king and which made me many enemies. was the archduke offended at a little plain speaking? wounded vanity is prompt to avenge itself. i had henceforth in him an open enemy. he swore that he would force me to leave the court. i had inspired jealousy. what woman has not? my rivals ensconced themselves around my former admirer. the usual intrigues began. my freedom of life was attacked by some charitable souls whose only thought was to destroy it, aided by a rejected don juan. the archduke was not long in arranging the necessary details. people commenced to talk of the notice which i took of that honourable man, the only person who has filled my life. i have always given him my whole confidence and esteem. the archduke louis victor went to his brother and told him that he had seen me with his own eyes in a popular restaurant at night, _tête-à-tête_ with a uhlan officer. carried away by indignation at such forgetfulness of my rank, three noble furies, whom i will not mention, and who possessed exclusive rights to represent virtue on earth, made it known to his majesty that if i were allowed to attend the coming state ball they would turn their backs upon me in the presence of the imperial circle. my sister, who was told of this uproar, questioned me and warned me. i had no difficulty in discovering whence the plot emanated, and i protested my innocence to stéphanie. on the evening when the archduke louis victor had told his brother he had seen me at the restaurant, i had not quitted the palace. i may add that i have _never, never, never_ sat in a restaurant _tête-à-tête_ with anyone. when i have had occasion to appear at a dinner or supper in public i have always been accompanied by one or more persons of my entourage. and what was more, at the identical hour mentioned by my calumniator i was with the prince my husband, and we were having one of those discussions which constituted the daily storms of our existence. the prince was there to witness this, besides which, the servants could attest that i had not given any orders for my carriage and that i had not left the palace. so nothing would have been easier than to have contradicted the archduke and his virtuous friends. my sister was quite convinced, but, not wishing to place herself between the devil and the deep sea, she said that she thought it would be as well if i appealed to the emperor in person. the cabal, however, acted quickly. francis joseph forestalled my request by summoning _me_. i saw him in stéphanie's room. i was in such a state of righteous rage that, alas! i was unable to control myself in the presence of this infamous man. first of all i thanked the sovereign for his audience, and i said (mastering my temper with difficulty) that he ought to defend me and take my part; that i was the butt of the attacks of a miserable cabal, and he ought to put an end to it by punishing the slanderer. i asked him to make an inquiry, as i had a perfect right to one. the rest of my words may be left to the imagination. as the emperor knew what defence i should probably put forward, he had prepared his answer according to the formula of one of the heads of the imperial chancellery who had trained him in his youth. this is what he said: "madam, all that has nothing to do with me; you have a husband; it is his affair. i think, however, that for the present you had better take a trip somewhere, and not appear at the next state ball." "but, sire, i am a victim; you make me out a criminal." "madam, i have listened to my brother, and when victor has spoken..." he finished with a sign which was imperial and definite. i was not the kind of woman to suffer such iniquity in silence. but i managed to conceal my contempt, and replied: "the future will reveal, sire, which of us has lied, the archduke or i." i then made my regulation curtsy, and the emperor left the room. on my return to the coburg palace i went to my husband and told him that i trusted to his honour to destroy the abominable plot in which i was involved, and that he must send his seconds to the archduke victor. the prince of coburg coldly answered that if i had lost the imperial favour _he_ had no wish to lose it by fighting a duel with an archduke who was the brother of the sovereign. after the chivalrous emperor i had indeed encountered another galahad; i was furious, but i could do nothing. my fury, however, brought about unlooked-for results. the prince did not wish to remember that i was at the palace on this particular evening. he declared that he would not contradict the assertion made by my slanderer. this was the last straw. from that hour my mind was made up. i would not remain any longer with a husband who had abandoned me in this disgraceful manner. i would listen to the voice that said: "madam, you are lost in the world where you live; it is cowardly and perverse." but my family feeling proved stronger than my anger. i said to the prince: "we must separate and regain our liberty. but we have children. let us avoid a scene. let us travel for a year, and if at the end of that time we have not found a better way of living together we will part; you must go your way and i will go mine." to the mind of a man such as the prince of coburg these words were the most awful imaginable. the prospect of a separation or a divorce would be known to millions of people, to the king and others, and not only to the father of my children; such a thing was impossible. he said i should hear more about this. and i did. since i am telling the whole story from the beginning i must give the other reasons for francis joseph's inconceivable attitude towards me. these were more or less political, and i do not wish to dwell on politics, and still less on any affecting him. but at the same time i am writing for the purpose of adding a few fresh facts to the history of this time, as well as for the purpose of defending myself from false accusations. francis joseph refused to help me, and he abandoned me from the first moment because he was obliged to be cautious; he therefore left my husband complete liberty to do as he pleased. the prince of coburg knew the secret of meyerling and the termination of rudolph's despair. moreover, the prince had a brother ferdinand who was quartered at the outpost of nach oste in bulgaria. the coburgs were a power in themselves. francis joseph bowed down to them. he chose the lesser of two evils and sacrificed me. i only knew him to adopt a chivalrous attitude on two occasions. once when i asked him to change a gentleman-in-waiting attached to my person and that of my husband who made common cause with the archduke victor, he immediately granted me my request. again, when i had entered upon a new life, and was living up to a higher ideal and disregarding the most sinister proofs of an atrocious calumny, it happened that the prince of coburg found himself face to face with a man of honour who was ready to give him satisfaction. my husband put on an air of supreme disdain. the emperor then reminded him that the uniform of a soldier was intended for more than purposes of show. he advised the prince of coburg to fight; he fought. i believe this was the only military victory that francis joseph gained over anyone; and as for the prince, an austrian general, it was the only battle in which he was personally engaged. * * * * * i often think that providence was very merciful to the empress in not letting her attain old age, riveted as she was to the chain which dragged the empire into the abyss of human foolishness and ferocity. shall i say that my thoughts go out to her in prayer? she, too, was a martyr; she is only second to the queen in my daily meditations. the difference in my age and rank kept me, to my great grief, farther apart from her than i should have liked. at the time when i could have drawn nearer to her, i was torn between my yearning for the ideal, and the vanities of the world. if she was a serene empress i was a distressed princess! but i had, however, something in common with her; the love of nature and freedom and the taste for heinrich heine. without putting this writer on the same pedestal as goethe, the mind by which i have tried to vivify my own, i have enjoyed many happy hours reading heine, and the older i have grown the more i have learned to know and admire the poet who was both an inspired humorist and a philosopher. he was the de musset of prussia and judea, the wit _par excellence_ of europe--heine had taken from france and given her a unity of gifts, the blending of which promises a race of men, freed from race barriers, moved by the same love of eternal beauty. an indication of the reconciliation which the future will perhaps see. it is possible that he _was_ a jew; the apostles were also jews. but i understand and appreciate the sentiments of the empress in going to see him at hamburg, continuing to be on friendly relations with his sister after his death, and lastly in erecting a monument to him at corfu. rudolph once said of his mother: "she is a philosopher on a throne." she had truly a great mind. the day on which i had the honour of being received privately by the empress was an exciting one for me. i knew that she only wore black, white, grey or violet, so i arranged my toilette without invoking the help of a dressmaker, and if i am to believe the flattery of the rue de la paix, i knew how to dress myself; but i confess that, confident as i had now become in matters of dress, i took my time in deciding what to wear on this occasion. in the end i chose a violet gown most tastefully trimmed with grebe and a little velvet toque. i can say without boasting that my toilette was remarked upon and generally admired. the empress was delightful. she spoke of the queen in well chosen, simple terms, as of a friend dear to her. this was her way of speaking about almost everything. her conversation was of a high order, but at the same time it was absolutely natural. she scarcely ever spoke harshly, and always in low and pure tones. she possessed a soulful voice--muffled crystal, but crystal all the same. i have never seen a smile like hers; it was like a smile from heaven; it enchanted me and it affected me, it was at the same time both sweet and grave. she was beautiful, a celestial beauty with something ethereal in the purity of her features and the lines of her figure. no one walked like elizabeth of austria; the movement of her limbs was imperceptible, she glided; she seemed to float on the ground. i have often read that some celebrated and adored woman was endowed with "inimitable grace." the empress elizabeth truly possessed this inimitable grace. and her large eyes seemed to speak and express a noble language peculiarly their own, which embodied the three virtues, faith, hope and charity. bavaria, her birthplace, has retained throughout the ages the essential elements of the celtic race established as far as the danube. south germany also has this ancient european blood in abundance. the empress represented the most refined characteristics of celtic beauty. she was not a german type--at least not a type of central germany--she expressed to perfection, both morally and physically, all that separated and will continue to separate munich and vienna from berlin. * * * * * recollections crowd upon me when i return in thought to the hofburg. i must record some of the most striking. thus, i will think of the archduke john, who was afterwards known as john orth, the name of one of maria theresa's castles on the danube, the spot preferred of all others by this strange being. like rudolph, with whom he was on terms of great friendship and certain understanding, the archduke john could not breathe the air of courts. he once said to me: "you and i, louise, in many respects are not made to live here." he interested me, but i did not like his sarcastic spirit. he had none of rudolph's high ideals. when he disappeared i believed him to be living somewhere in secret, and that there was a possibility of his reappearance. i read in the papers not long ago that a person who might easily have been the archduke john had just died in rome, where he had lived for twenty years in seclusion. rome attracts the solitary and disillusioned souls of the world. if this unknown man was really john orth, he was indeed able to meditate on the grandeur and decadence of empires. i will leave this mysterious shadow and speak of two others who have passed, whose existence touches us more closely and constitutes a problem of state to minds interested in this subject. i see in imagination the ball where francis ferdinand d'este showed by his attachment to the countess chotek what would eventually come to pass between them. he loved her and she loved him; they were married. this was a great event. the countess was clever and intelligent, and she was not personally displeasing to the emperor. she knew better than to offend this narrow-minded being. but her rôle in the political events of central europe, from the day when the death of rudolph allowed her to dream of a throne (even though it was only that of hungary), was more important than one imagined. it has occurred to me more than once, that if france had known and would have put up with an austrian policy, she would have found that the countess chotek, raised to the rank of duchess of hohenberg, had far different ideas from those of berlin. unfortunately france committed the fault (and she will forgive me for daring to say so, _en passant_) of separating politics from religion, and of forgetting that religion is the first of all politics. she bound her own hands, bandaged her own eyes, and advanced on europe. there was very little chance for her to reach the danube, the most important of all the european routes. i knew how much the king of the belgians deplored the blindness of france, and what he said on this subject to more than one distinguished frenchman. it was to the effect that the disadvantage of democratic governments was that they were obliged to provide numerous schools of thought before they possessed the small number of principles which constitute the foundation and the whole secret of government. the religious principle is not the least of these. in a country in which statesmen formerly abounded, and which has ended politically through corrupt foolishness, that destroyer of characters and convictions, countess chotek, the woman of solid beliefs, came into prominence through the possession of a political brain. she made ferdinand d'este a man capable of action and energy. her chief fault and that of her husband was that through fear of showing weakness, they did not know how to show kindness. the hereditary archduke and his wife were strict in maintaining their landed possessions, and they taxed the people with great severity. it needed little to aggravate the latent hatred against the heir to the thrones in a state divided against itself, and, added to this rivalry, jealousy and general restlessness existed, and certain trifling matters due to the severity of francis ferdinand and the duchess of hohenberg were perfidiously exploited against them. the day of their death was decided, the way was prepared, and the instruments selected. but i must pass over the terrible events of yesterday, the result of which does not justify me to speak. the hereditary archduke and his wife had a powerful camarilla against them. they were not in need of partisans and they could have opposed cabal after cabal, but their adversaries, who were nearly all hidden, had plans outside the monarchy. this is not the place or the moment to discuss the conflict of influences of which vienna was the battlefield. it will be the work of some penetrating and impartial genius who will perhaps be in a position to enlighten the world as to the general worthlessness of the court of austria during the ten or fifteen years before . he will then make known to the world the history of one of the most formidable conflicts of self-interest and vanity which the world has ever known. at the court of vienna there was a camarilla consisting of a group of men, more or less filled with ambition, who gathered around the sovereign, guarding every approach to him, and they exploited the prince to the best of their hatred and avidity. as the emperor became more and more of a figure-head the old favourites saw themselves confronted with the coming power. this power, for the less important reasons which are known, and for others greater than these, recognized the morganatic marriage of francis ferdinand, and the ardent catholicism of the duchess of hohenberg, who, owing to her character and her ambitious dreams for her children, possessed both interior and exterior enemies. there resulted, therefore, a third camarilla, the most secret and the most redoubtable, for the simple reason that, in a court where individuals fight amongst themselves, they indirectly fight the whole world. they do not betray merely this one and that one--they betray their whole country. chapter ix my sister stéphanie marries the archduke rudolph, who died at meyerling my younger sister spent a happy girlhood at brussels. at the age of nineteen she was a radiant beauty. without knowing whom she was eventually to marry, she had been encouraged to look forward to making a more advantageous marriage than her eldest sister. the king had never been very enthusiastic over my marriage with the prince of coburg. he had higher ambitions for me. my mother, however, desired the marriage. i have already given her reasons. to avenge himself for his disappointed hopes, the king intended stéphanie to marry an heir to a throne. he had thought of rudolph of habsburg as a possible husband for her, and the queen agreed with him. what a daring idea! for however honourable the royal house of belgium might be, it did not rank so high as that of austria. i was not in ignorance, as i shall shortly relate, of the project of this marriage which began under the most dazzling auspices, and terminated in the most appalling tragedy. history has been more interested in the final catastrophe than in the story of the early days of the married life of rudolph of habsburg and stéphanie of belgium. i, too, will discuss the finale and describe rudolph as i knew him on the eve of his death. rudolph was then thirty years old. he might easily have called himself "the beloved of the gods." a great court was at his feet; the most beautiful town in the world, after paris, was an abode where all might have belonged to him. the people of the monarchy placed their hopes of the future in him. he had a wife whom everyone envied; a daughter whom he overwhelmed with caresses; a noble and good mother whom he worshipped; and lastly, a father whose great empire would revert to him; but rudolph, the ill-fated and unhappy, preferred to die. let us, once for all, finish with the legends of meyerling, and as far as it is possible have done with the lies connected with it. rudolph of habsburg committed suicide! it is said that there is no proof of this. this is wrong; the proof exists. i am able to give it. the history of the liaison which led rudolph of habsburg and mary vetsera to the grave has often been told. i will therefore confine myself to relating a few points which are but little known. there was in the love of the hereditary archduke for mary vetsera either a lurid fatality or a sinister influence.... when i was in vienna shortly before i decided to write these pages, i was sorting some private papers which recalled me to the period when i was the confidante and friend of rudolph. having finished my task, i went for a drive. at the turning of a crowded street my attention was attracted by the sight of a melancholy looking old woman dressed in a dark costume. my carriage was going slowly at the time, so i could not fail to notice that she seemed crushed by numerous calamities, bent to the ground under the weight of a heavy burden, and she walked close to the buildings, almost touching the walls as she passed. her face showed utter dejection and horror, and it was seared with innumerable tragic wrinkles. in this funereal apparition i recognized the mother of mary vetsera. what had happened to the smart woman of the world whom i had been accustomed to meet chaperoning her daughter, then in the full bloom of her bewitching youth? i have only to close my eyes in order to see mary vetsera--superb and glowing as she appeared at an evening entertainment given by the prince of reuss, the german ambassador--the last sensational appearance in viennese society of the girl who was about to become the heroine of the "bloody enigma" of meyerling. but the enigma is very simple. [illustration: the archduke rudolph] nevertheless, one must be behind the scenes in order to see all and know all. and this will always be difficult for journalists, who concoct distorted versions of "facts" which are the enemies of "history." every journalist continues to rely on his imagination or on his observations, which vary according to his point of view. if the truth, therefore, is long in coming to light it is not very extraordinary. the astonishing thing about the press is not so much that it abounds in lies as that it sometimes states the truth. i had just arrived at the embassy. the prince of reuss left me in order to precede my sister and her husband who were making an official entry. rudolph noticed me, and leaving stéphanie came straight up to me. "she is there," he said without any preamble; "ah, if somebody would only deliver me from her!" "she" was mary vetsera, his mistress of the ardent face. i, too, glanced at the seductress. two brilliant eyes met mine. one word will describe her: mary was an imperial sultana, one who feared no other favourite, so sure was she of the power of her full and triumphant beauty, her deep black eyes, her cameo-like profile, her throat of a goddess, and her arresting sensual grace. she had altogether taken possession of rudolph, and she longed for him to be able to marry her. their liaison had lasted for three years. mary vetsera was a member of a bourgeois family of greek origin with some pretensions to nobility. the family, which was numerous and impoverished, hoped much from the favour of the heir apparent. perhaps the only one who did not concern herself in worldly matters was a sister of the idol who, unlike her, had not the gift of beauty. her merit was of a less perishable order. when the drama of meyerling engulfed rudolph and his love, this sister of the dead mary disappeared in a convent. at the soirée i was struck by my brother-in-law's state of nervous exhaustion (this soirée took place, i may mention, during the second fortnight of january, ), but i thought it well to try and calm him by saying a word or two about mary which would please him, so i remarked quite simply: "she is very beautiful." then i looked at my perfectly gowned sister, beautiful, too, in another way, who was making a tour of the room.... my heart contracted. all three, stéphanie, rudolph and mary were unfortunate. rudolph left me without replying. an instant later he returned and murmured: "i simply cannot tear myself away from her." "leave vienna," i said; "go to egypt, to india, to australia. travel. if you are lovesick that will cure you." he shrugged his shoulders imperceptibly and spoke no more during the evening. it was not a pleasant soirée. an atmosphere of uneasiness hung over the brilliant assembly. for my own part, i was so depressed that on my return home i could not sleep. i had followed, so to speak, all the gradual developments of rudolph's passion. upon my arrival at the court of vienna i instantly liked the archduke, and he gave me his friendship. we were almost the same age. i venture to say that we resembled each other in many points. our ideas on certain matters were identical. rudolph confided in me, and i soon placed my confidence in him. it often happened that after my arrival in vienna i was not always on my guard. god knows, then, that it was praiseworthy of me to say to the prince, in the intimate manner adopted by those royal and princely families who had imbibed the patriarchal german spirit: "get married. i have a sister who is like me. marry her." he at once changed the subject by replying: "i like middzi better." middzi was a pretty girl, a perfect viennese type, a parisian of eastern europe. he had two children by her. but at last wisdom prevailed with me, perhaps my will also, and the finding in maternity the courage to support many things which later grew worse and were no longer bearable. i was not then either "mad, extravagant," or "capable of every kind of deceit," as my persecutors said later. on the contrary. for a long time my good qualities and virtues were praised by people who later covered me with opprobrium. at this period my younger sister was said to be a charming happy replica of myself, and therefore rudolph took the train for brussels. stéphanie thus became the second highest personage in austria-hungary--the future empress of the dual monarchy. the archduke had no trouble in finding favour in her eyes. he was more than handsome; he was fascinating. he had a slight figure, but it was well proportioned. notwithstanding his delicate appearance, he possessed a strong constitution. he always made me think of a thoroughbred; he had the shape, the light build and the temper of one. his nervous force equalled his sensitiveness. his pale face reflected his thoughts. his eye, the iris of which was brown and brilliant, assumed varying shades and changed in shape with his expression. he passed rapidly from love to anger, and from anger to love. he was a disconcerting individual, with a captivating, changeful and refined soul. rudolph's smile perhaps made a still greater impression. it was the smile of an angelic sphinx, a smile peculiar to the empress; he had also her manner of speaking; and these traits, added to his winning and mysterious personality, charmed all with whom rudolph came in contact. well read and always ready to welcome new ideas, he sought the society of artists and savants. he was happy in the company of such men as the distinguished painters canon and angeli, and billroth, the eminent professor. my readers must not expect a pen portrait of my sister. it would be difficult for me to write about her in laudatory phrases since i have said that she resembled me. i will only say that she was better-looking. rudolph and stéphanie made a well-matched pair. a daughter was born to them--elizabeth--now princess of windisgretz. she owes her material independence to the fortune which she inherited from her grandfather, the emperor francis joseph, and this fact added to her independence of soul has made her a very noticeable personality. after the birth of her daughter, my sister, almost on the day following her churching, decided to travel. she said that she wanted to go to the seaside and recover from the effects of her confinement. she therefore went to jersey, where she stayed some considerable time. rudolph was opposed to her going away. he negatived the idea by saying that she ought to stay with him, as he was unable to accompany her owing to his duties as heir apparent. but we are a family who, having once decided upon doing anything, are very difficult to persuade to the contrary. stéphanie was obstinate. she never thought that a young wife's duty was to remain as long as possible near her husband, especially when he happened to be the man most exposed to the temptations of the court of vienna. rudolph was greatly vexed at the length of an absence which really could only have been excused on the grounds that it was not so long as it might have been. the crown princess fell ill. when she escaped from the hands of the doctors who had lavished their attentions upon her, rudolph was told that he would have little chance in the future of again becoming the father of legitimate children. the blow was severe. from that day he tried to forget his troubles. he strove to banish them by drink, by hunting and other kinds of amusements. this desire for forgetfulness increased. at this critical moment he met mary vetsera. the first time that her beauty was brought to my notice i nearly betrayed myself, having been placed in an unexpected and awkward position, which served to show me the height which passion can attain in a nature such as rudolph's. one evening we gave a dinner at the coburg palace. the crown prince, according to his rank, sat on my right, and my sister sat opposite me. there was naturally much gossip current in vienna about the liaison which existed between rudolph and mary vetsera. stéphanie, thanks to her dignity of character, was silent, but i know that she suffered. i was not afraid of mentioning this delicate subject to rudolph, and i had expressed my hopes that the gossip was exaggerated. i wished to believe that he was merely the victim of a passing caprice. yet at my own table, with the servants present, the guests watching (especially my sister's and her husband's) our slightest movements, rudolph took it into his head to show me, sheltered by the tablecloth and the usual table decorations, the miniature of a woman, hidden in something which appeared to be a cigarette-case. "this is mary," said he; "what do you think of her?" the only thing i could do was to pretend neither to see nor to hear him, and i began to talk to my sister across the table. but after this, of what follies would rudolph not be guilty? we were not long in finding out! my brother-in-law died on january , , between a.m. and a.m. three or four days previously my sister came to see me one morning--a rare thing for her to do. i was still in bed, as i was tired. stéphanie seemed anxious and disturbed. "rudolph," said she, "is going to meyerling, and intends staying there some days. _he will not be alone._ what can we do?" i raised myself on my pillows. i felt a strange and sinister foreboding. i remembered rudolph's words at the prince of reuss's soirée. "for the love of god," i cried, "go with him!" but was this possible? alas! no. i next saw my sister when she was a widow and my brother-in-law was dead, lying in state, with his bloodless face swathed in a white bandage.... on the afternoon of january i was driving in the prater accompanied by a lady-in-waiting. it was a fine winter's day, and the sunshine was still lingering over vienna. the horses were proceeding at a walking pace in order that i could enjoy the beauty of the day, and enable me to notice the carriages and the equestrians and acknowledge their salutes. in the hauptallee i noticed with astonishment rudolph, unattended and on foot, chatting in a lively manner with countess l., who has been so much talked about and who has published so much, but whose rôle in connexion with rudolph was such that it was not agreeable for me to know her. the archduke saw my carriage. he made a sign to me to stop, and came up to me. he was then speaking to me for the last time. i have often asked myself why his trivial words caused me such indefinable anxiety. i still remember the sound of his voice, and i have not forgotten the peculiar look which accompanied his words. rudolph was pale and feverish; he seemed on the verge of a nervous breakdown. "i am going to meyerling this afternoon," he announced. "tell 'fatty' not to come to-night, but the day after to-morrow." "fatty," to speak with all due respect, was my husband. the prince of coburg was always included amongst the boon companions of rudolph's hunting and other pleasure parties. i tried to keep my brother-in-law by my side for a moment or two longer, and induce him to say something more. i asked him: "when will you come and see me? it is a long time since you have been." he replied, looking at me most strangely: "what would be the use of coming to see you?" * * * * * rudolph stayed at meyerling from the evening of january until the morning of the th, alone with his mistress. when his guests arrived for the hunt, the gathering was exactly like one of those pagan feasts in the days of nero and tiberius, when death was bidden to the banquet. but the guest condemned to die was the prince himself, and he dragged with him into the abyss the imperious mistress who had first brought him to its brink. they were found dead in their bedroom. it was a frightful sight, and it was first witnessed by count hoyoz, and then by the prince of coburg. if mary vetsera was indeed the dominating force, and as venus would not relinquish her prize, rudolph, in an access of despair and rage, did not forgive her for placing him in an impossible position; but neither did he pardon himself. on the morning after a nerve-racking orgy both lovers perished. it all happened with lightning-like rapidity. it was impossible for rudolph to continue keeping two households. impetuous but enslaved, he could not endure a liaison which paralysed his energies, but which he lacked the strength to break, so great was the hold which mary had obtained over him. novelists have often depicted the frightful situation of the thraldom of the body, and the desperate protests of the spirit which can only escape by death. rudolph at thirty years of age was utterly out of love with life. he was worn out from living in the atmosphere of a court which suffocated him. his death by his own hand was due to several causes, of which the following are the principal: first, his bitter regret of a marriage which did not give him what he expected, after his disappointment in knowing he could not have a son; the impossibility of realizing the wish to dissolve it--an impious wish in the eyes of his relatives, the holy see and the catholic church; and, finally, the certainty he had as to the chances of the longevity of the emperor, that heartless being, that living mummy, who had embalmed himself with selfish and petty cares. rudolph often remarked: "i shall never reign; he will not allow me to reign." and if he had reigned? ah, if he had reigned! i knew all his plans and his ideas. of these, i will only say, modernity did not frighten him. the most daring modern idea would have been acceptable to him. he had already destroyed, in imagination, the worn-out machinery of the austro-hungarian monarchy. but, like pieces of invisible armour held together by expanding links, the constraints, the formulas, the archaic ideas, the ignorance and the disillusions from which he was always wishing to escape, closed in on him. his life was a perpetual struggle against a feeble, worn-out, blind and corrupt court, the routine of which enslaved his body without shackling his intelligence. he was compelled either to go under or to reign for a time and then to conquer, and throw off the burning garment of nessus, open the windows, overthrow the great wall of china and chase away the camarilla. but the austro-hungarian monarchy would perish rather than change. it went to its death with a courier in advance! the sad news of rudolph's death reached vienna on the morning of january . general consternation prevailed. in the afternoon one of the emperor's aides-de-camp came to see if he could obtain more news from me. i was scarcely able to speak. i had been told that the prince of coburg had assassinated my brother-in-law! there were some charitable souls in vienna and at court who did not admit that rudolph's affection for me was merely fraternal. ah, if one only realized to what jealousy and wickedness the highest are exposed! after the death of the crown prince all kinds of stories and scandalous gossip were rife! i told the aide-de-camp that i knew nothing beyond the tragic news of the death of rudolph and mary vetsera, and that my husband, who had left that very morning at six o'clock to shoot at meyerling, had not returned. in the meantime i had seen one of stéphanie's ladies-in-waiting, who had told me about the catastrophe. mastering my emotions, i went to see my sister at the hofburg. i found her pale and silent, holding in her hand a letter whose secret must now be given to history. this letter, which had just been discovered addressed to stéphanie in rudolph's private desk, announced his death. he had already resolved on this course when he spoke to me in the prater. the letter commenced as follows: "i take leave of life." it was too much for me to read that. the words were blurred by my tears. "be happy in your own way," he said to his wife. and his last thought was of his child. "take great care of your daughter. she is most dear to me. i leave you this duty." unhappy child, who has had no father. i have often pitied her, and i pity her more than ever. she does not know what she has lost. the prince of coburg did not return to the palace until the night of the st, after having passed many hours alone with the emperor. he came at once to my room. his disturbed condition and his wild words showed how distraught he was. i pressed him to give me some of the details of the tragedy. "it is horrible, horrible," he said. "but i cannot, i must not say anything except that they are both dead." he had sworn to the emperor to keep silent, as had rudolph's other friends who had gone to shoot at meyerling. the secret was well kept. the servants who might have spoken have, for very good reasons, disclosed nothing. when i went to see the empress, at her request, i found myself in the presence of a marble statue covered with a black veil. i was so agitated that i could hardly stand. i passionately kissed the hand she extended, and in a voice broken like that of the mother at calvary she murmured: "you weep with me! yes, i know that you too loved him." oh, unfortunate mother! she adored her son. he helped her to bear that life smothered in ashes which his malicious father led beside one who was so noble. after rudolph had been snatched from her and from his imperial future, the empress fled from this court which henceforth held nothing for her, and she met death alone. it is known by what a sudden and cruel blow she died--the innocent victim of the penalty of her rank. i saw, i see in the successive dramas of the house of austria a punishment sent by heaven. a chain of bloody fatalities which recalls the tragedies of sophocles or euripides is not simply a game of chance. the justice of the gods is always that of god. the court of vienna was destined to perish horribly. it had betrayed everything; first of all its traditions, for nothing noble remained--even its intrigues were base. it was only a servants' hall for the valets from berlin. and after francis joseph appeared at the famous eucharistic congress on the eve of the war, and stood before the altar as prince of the faith, he went to finish the dull day at the house of madame schratt, and listen to the backstairs gossip of vienna and the unsavoury reports of the police news! rudolph died of sheer disgust! chapter x ferdinand of coburg and the court of sofia the glory of the coburg family reached its zenith at the time of leopold i and the prince consort. they gave to the world a series of princes who were veritably made to rule. their direct influence on belgium, and indirectly on england, created a period of peace and an "entente," of which the beneficial results are so well known. later, when my father continued the brilliant work bequeathed to him by king leopold, duke ernest, prince regent of the duchy of saxe-coburg-gotha, proved himself no less inferior to his cousin at brussels. in vienna prince auguste, who was so good and with whom unfortunately i had very little to do as a father-in-law, also proved that he was a man of valour. of the various coburgs, those of vienna who were my husband's brothers represented with him the male descendants left to carry on the name of the race. i will chiefly mention ferdinand, the ex-tsar of bulgaria. i will not expatiate again on the branch of my family to which he belonged. its rôle in contemporary history is sufficiently well known. ferdinand of coburg, who is still alive as i write this, is one of the most curious beings it is possible to imagine. to describe him adequately needs the pen of a barbey d'aurevilly or a balzac. the clearer my mind becomes as i get older, and the more i try to understand this strange person, the less i comprehend him when i consider him from the ordinary point of view of human psychology. i have read that woman is an enigma. i believe there are men who are more puzzling enigmas than any woman. one can only wonder whether this man has not created for himself, even more so than william ii, an artificial world of his own in which he wished to live. i will presently say _which_ world i think appealed to ferdinand of coburg. i realize that any princely education which tends to encourage the self-esteem of princes by outward respect and flattery must of necessity accentuate their peculiarities, unless some wholesome influence restrains the promptings of worldly vanity. a really superior mother was unable to regulate the undisputed mental gifts of ferdinand. he was born in the autumn of princess clémentine's days. he was her benjamin. she was weak as water where he was concerned. this strength, greater than all strengths--namely, a mother's love--has also its weaknesses. bad sons abuse these, and, according to the laws of that justice whose workings are often unseen, but whose judgments and punishments are sometimes visible, this son deserves a severe sentence. he was sixteen years old when i arrived at the palace of coburg. he was slight and elegant; his countenance, lit up by azure eyes, possessed all the beauty of youth allied to something of the bourbon type. the fire of intelligence and the wish to read the book of life animated him. he promised to be different in every way from his eldest brother. in his moral character he appeared to possess the good qualities of his second brother, the charming auguste of coburg, but they were only useful in helping to form the distinguished bearing which later became natural to him, and which concealed beneath a brilliant appearance a complex and stormy nature. i was a year older than he. we were the life and soul of the old palace, and at times i was able to forget its dullness and my own troubles. i was the confidante of ferdinand, and i did not hesitate to make him mine. although ferdinand later displayed hostility towards me, he devoted himself at this period to pleasing his sister-in-law and surrounded her with flowers, attentions and kindness. but it so chanced (and it remained so for a long period) that the eldest and the youngest of the coburg brothers were at enmity on my account, although this feeling was not outwardly apparent. i must relate these incidents, otherwise it would be difficult to explain the presence of the many enemies who one day overwhelmed me. this enmity proceeded from the same miserable cause which will eternally be at the bottom of so many human dramas--namely, man's jealousy and his lustful appetites thwarted by rules of morality. ferdinand of coburg, idolized by his mother, accepted as a spoiled child by society, initiated early in the most refined pleasures, allowed himself to be transported by his exalted imagination into a world of his own. i have seen, i still see in him a kind of modern necromancer, a _fin de siècle_ magician. he was a cabbalist in the same way that m. peladan was a wise man of the east, and from these adventures always proceeds something which influences destiny. if at first i only saw him making what appeared to me to be strange gestures, without explaining what these signified, i have now arrived, through my experience of men and things, at understanding why he was then so incomprehensible. he must have been possessed by a power beyond this earth. but he did not believe in god; he believed in the devil. i am only going to relate that of which i am sure. i am only going to say what i have seen. i do not wish to be more superstitious about certain things, or more troubled in soul than ferdinand of coburg. i ask myself to what fantastical sect, to what satanic brotherhood he belonged in his early days, doubtless with the idea of furthering his ambitions and his extraordinary dreams of the future. i remember that in our palace at vienna, ferdinand would sometimes ask me to play to him when we were alone in the evening. he insisted upon the room being only dimly lit. he would then come near to the piano and listen in silence. at midnight he would stand up solemnly, his features drawn and contracted. he then looked at the clock and listened for the first of the twelve strokes, and when they were nearing the end he would say: "play the march from _aida_." then, withdrawing to the middle of the room, he would strike a ceremonial attitude, and repeat incomprehensible words which frightened me. ferdinand used to articulate cabbalistic formulas, stretching out his arms with his body bent and his head thrown backwards. amongst the mysterious phrases a word which sounded like _koptor_, _kofte_ or _cophte_ was often repeated. one day i asked him to write it down. he traced letters of which i could make nothing, excepting that i seemed to recognize some kind of greek characters. after these séances i questioned him, because while they were proceeding i had to be silent and play the march from _aida_. he invariably answered: "the devil exists. i call on him and he comes!" i did not believe this; i mean to say i did not believe in the devil's actual visit, but i was nevertheless a little frightened, and when my brother-in-law once again began his incantations i would look round to see if there was anything extraordinary in the room. but there was nothing unusual excepting ferdinand and my own curiosity--and, perhaps, the unrevealed vision of both our futures! full of eccentricities, he would bury gloves and ties which he had worn. there was quite a ceremonial attached to this, at which i was sometimes obliged to assist. ferdinand dug the hole himself, and repeated strange sentences with a mysterious air. his mouth would then assume that bitter expression which age has accentuated. did he indeed juggle with the prince of evil, and did he acquire thereby the dominating spirit which became so strong in him? did he seek some kind of brain stimulant in these practices, under the action of which, i believe, auto-suggestion becomes dangerous? i leave it to physicians, to occultists and to casuists to diagnose this case. i am simply a witness, nothing more. ferdinand was not yet prince of bulgaria. he was only known as a charming lieutenant in the austrian chasseurs, who had exchanged from the hussars because he was not in sympathy with the animal from which it is possible to fall, and which is generally supposed to be the most noble conquest of man. i wish to say plainly that ferdinand of coburg was a wretched horseman. who would have thought that this officer of noble descent who had exchanged into an infantry regiment would later possess a throne, and would dream of becoming emperor of byzantium? he designed his crown and arranged his state entry and his coronation, just as did the miserable emperor william who wished to crown himself _welt kaiser_ in nôtre dame de paris, and i do not hesitate to say that he dreamed of a ceremony to which the pope would come, willing or unwilling, and that all confessions should be reconcilable in his imperial, august and sacred person. it is really impossible to-day for a man to be a king according to the ancient formula of absolute power. this kind of wine is too strong; it goes to the head. formerly, a prince, even an autocrat, did not see or understand that a small number of faithful persons guarded and restrained him equally as much as they served him. he was usually at war for three-quarters of his reign, and he shared the rough life and privations of a soldier. now he listens to a thousand voices, a thousand people and the calls of a thousand duties. he no longer fights in person, and there are, besides, long periods of peace. comfort surrounds and enervates him; wonderful inventions and discoveries have changed everything around him. but although the values and aspects of society and individuals are totally modified, everything is still at his feet. there is something in losing the knowledge of realities as the unfortunate tsar nicolas lost it, as william ii lost it, and as ferdinand of bulgaria lost it. for ferdinand grasped power and guarded it like an autocrat, and i am convinced that he will be grateful to me for not enlarging on his policy and the methods which his policy employed. he had obtained the throne through the help of princess clémentine, who was ambitious for her beloved son. what a pity she did not live longer! the more so because, in his passion for authority, ferdinand tried to overrule his mother, to whom he would sometimes say, in his domineering manner, words that fortunately owing to her deafness she did not hear. if she could have remained on earth to advise him, he might have led a better life. whether or no he would have listened to her is another matter. at the same time, it was she who procured the crown of sofia for him, and she maintained him during his perilous début of sovereignty. she gave millions to the prince's establishment and the principality. the accession of ferdinand as a prince was first opposed, and afterwards recognized; finally he adopted the title of tsar. he might have said like fouquet: "quo non ascendam?" everything succeeded with him. soon he became so self-confident that he was actually seen on horseback. i can truthfully affirm this, as i chose one of his favourite mounts; this especial one came from our stables in hungary, and was a tall, steady and strong-backed bay mare. ferdinand was a big powerful man, who needed a stolid-tempered animal that would not shy at guns, cheering, or military music. i tried the mare myself on the prater in the presence of the prince's envoy. we had really found the very thing for ferdinand, but i would have been more than sorry to have had it myself as it was altogether too dull, no noise startled it; and it was sent to sofia, where ferdinand showed off, mounted on this fine animal, on which he probably dreamt of entering constantinople. his war against the turks is not forgotten. he thought himself already at the gates of byzantium.... but i do not wish to relate what everyone knows. i prefer to show in a new light the secret drama which his diabolical contempt for god and the moral laws of christian civilization provoked, when he baptized and brought up his sons in the "orthodox" religion whence bolshevism originated--just as the european war has sprung from lutherism, and just as the more terrible trials of england will arise from her religious disputes. ferdinand of bulgaria, born in the catholic faith, first married marie louise of parma, daughter of the duke of parma, the faithful servant of the roman and apostolic faith. this marriage, celebrated when he was prince of bulgaria, had not been agreed upon without the express condition that the children should be baptized and brought up in the religion of their mother and their ancestors. this constituted a formal article of the contract. ferdinand solemnly consented to it. but when he thought that the support of russia might be useful to him in his plans regarding constantinople, he did not hesitate to break his vows; he gave his two sons to russian schism. marie louise of parma, mother of the souls of her children, betrayed, repulsed and broken in her belief in her husband, immediately fled from the konak of sofia, and came to vienna to hide her sorrow and her fear in the sympathetic arms of her mother-in-law, who was equally tortured by the blasphemy of her son. people who have some ideas on the question of conscience, especially when it touches religious convictions, will easily understand the intensity of this drama. i was then at the coburg palace. i saw the princess of bulgaria arrive there after having fled from the palace, where, in the opinion of this pious mother, her innocent children had lost their hope of salvation. it was no doubt much to endure. god is far greater than we imagine him to be. our interpretations of his justice, although inspired by revelation, will always underestimate his compassion, for we have not the words to express, still less to explain, the survival of souls. the poor princess was naturally extremely unhappy. i well remember her agonized pale face, her indignation and her desire to annul her marriage at the court of rome. fearing that ferdinand would come and take her back to sofia by force, she insisted upon remaining near princess clémentine, who had a camp bed put in a little room adjoining her own. the princess of bulgaria did not feel safe except in this refuge. reasons of state and the impossibility of living without seeing her children, who were retained as prisoners of their father's throne, proved after all stronger than the princess's rebellion and despair. some months later she consented to return to sofia. the house of parma was, like herself, astounded. the holy see had excommunicated ferdinand. this malediction threw the entire family of parma into mourning; they had been so trustful and so proud of ferdinand's love, in which they had shown their confidence by giving him one of their daughters. i next saw the poor princess of bulgaria at sofia. she had heroically returned to her conjugal duties; she had just recovered from her confinement. who knows--who will ever know--what actually passed in her mind? consumed by inward griefs, she perhaps died as a result. she was one of those sensitive souls who actually die of a broken heart. i have often thought of her. she was a martyr to the love of her children. one visit to sofia in remains indelibly impressed in my mind. my husband accompanied me, but there was always something indefinable and indefinite between himself and his brother, probably the subconscious enmity which i have previously mentioned. we could not, however, have been welcomed more warmly. the life of the sovereign was wonderfully well organized in this country which was still primitive. nothing was wanting at the palace. there east and west were happily united. ferdinand gave me as a personal guard an honest brigand of sorts, picturesquely garbed after an oriental fashion. from the time that this man was ordered to watch over me and only to obey my orders, he took up his stand before my door, and day and night he never moved therefrom. my husband himself could not have come in without my permission. i have never understood how this ferocious sentinel managed to be always on the spot. my brother-in-law showed me a most delicate and refined attention. he constituted me the queen of these days of festivity. i was overwhelmed by the homage of his entourage. each meal was a decorative and culinary marvel. sybarites would have appreciated the cuisine at the palace of sofia. i have always appreciated meals which are meals. it costs no more to eat a good dinner than to eat a bad one; it is a weakness of the body and mind, a crime against the creator, to disdain food when it is prepared with care. if we have been given the gift of taste, and if good things exist on earth, they are equally for one as for another. ferdinand at any rate held this epicurean belief. every night after supper there was a dance at the palace. the bulgarian officers were most enterprising dancers. educated at vienna or paris, they understood the art of conversation. they were distinguished by an instinctive air of nobility, as are all the sons of a virile and essentially agricultural race with a wholesome and wide outlook. during the day the prince did the honours of his capital and his kingdom. we recalled the memories of the coburg palace, and our former excursions and parties. we returned in spirit to that forest of elenthal so dear to our youth. we drove, accompanied by an escort which i have never ceased to admire. i am unaware whether the bulgarian roads have improved, but at the time of which i write they were few, and they were maintained at the expense of providence. a short distance from the capital they became tracks. but the escort followed without flinching, utterly indifferent to obstacles of every description which encumbered an already too narrow road. i have rarely seen the equal of either man or beast in crossing ridges, walls and ditches. it was witchcraft on horseback. ferdinand was superbly indifferent to everything unconnected with his sister-in-law. i gazed at him, and i thought of the devil-worship of our youth. he was always strange. i saw now, as i had seen long ago, the amulet in his buttonhole, disguised as a decoration, a button fashioned in the shape of a yellow marguerite beautifully executed in metal of the same shade as that of the heart of the flower. each time i asked him about this "gri-gri" he assumed a serious manner, and gave me to understand that it was something which he could not discuss. he had earnestly begged us to spend a short time with him. had he the same idea which he had once explained to me openly at dinner, and which he emphasized privately in another way? i cannot believe it. i think that, carried away by his thoughts, he was no longer master of himself. i do not know whether i was ever mad, as his elder brother so much wished to believe, but i am absolutely sure that ferdinand of coburg was not always in possession of his senses. yes, this spiritual scholar, this lover of art, this lover of flowers, this delightful friend of the birds in his aviary to whom he told nursery tales and charmed like a professional bird-charmer, this accomplished man of the world, this son of princess clémentine, and this grandson of queen marie often assumed a kind of demoniacal personality and gave himself up to the evil delights of sorcery. at one dinner, which i remember as if it were yesterday, he said in low tones so that my husband could not hear (my husband being opposite to me in the seat of the princess, who was absent owing to indisposition): "you see everything here. ah, well! all is my kingdom; i lay it, myself included, at your feet." i could only welcome this romantic declaration as fantastic gallantry rather than a literal statement. i tried to reply as if i treated the remark as a joke. but apart from his expression, which gave the lie to the level tone of his voice, i had more than one reason to distrust ferdinand, now that his imagination was mastered by desire. in fact, the same evening he came to me, and, taking me away from the dancers, led me to another room where a french window was open to the oriental night and the stillness of the little park, and inquired if i had understood what he had said. his tone was harsh and his look stern. there was something imperious and fascinating about him. i was much disturbed. he insisted brusquely: "it is the last time that i shall offer what i have offered. do you understand?" my eyes wandered to the salon. i saw beside me the prince of bulgaria so different from his brother, still young, handsome and full of power. but the image of princess marie louise passed before my eyes, and also the vision of the queen.... i shook my head, and murmured a frightened "no." i must have looked as pale as wax. ferdinand's countenance changed. his features took on a sinister expression; he, too, turned pale, and in a hoarse voice he threatened me, saying sneeringly: "take care. you will repent this. by 'kophte' (?)." he added those incomprehensible words which he always used when he asked me to play the march from _aida_ in the darkened salon at midnight. that evening i felt something dangerous was in store for me. it was so; from that moment ferdinand of coburg joined his brother in his enmity towards me. and his enmity was no small matter. i am quite aware that these facts will appear incredible to most people. they seem more like an old romance by anne radcliffe! but everything, both in the public and private life of ferdinand of coburg, _was_ incredible. i do not wish to refer to the judgment already meted out to him by history. my desire is not to gloat over his downfall, but to show in what inconceivable surroundings i lived. i was a member of a family where everything was perfect and at the same time execrable. unfortunately i was not then in a position to love good and shun evil. it took me twenty years to escape. ferdinand of coburg has commenced his punishment on earth. knowing him as i do, i am certain that he suffers intensely, even though he may sometimes receive consolation from the devil! i think he believes himself a superman. that fool nietzsche--in reviving a theory as old as the hills, when supermen called themselves cavaliers, warriors, heroes and demi-gods--has turned a considerable number of heads in german countries. he did them the more harm in that their superhumanity, infested by the morbid materialism of the century, became separated from the ideal which once animated these mighty persons, and elevated them to honour instead of luring them to crime. it is certain that despicable motives and methods can only end in a terrible material and moral defeat. ferdinand of coburg, who has been ambitious from his youth upwards, was a student of nietzsche at the time when his theories achieved notoriety. so nietzsche obtained as his disciple a being who is now one of the most notable victims of zarathustra. chapter xi william ii and the court of berlin--the emperor of illusion i wish to speak of william ii as of one dead. he does not belong to this world; he belongs to another. i must be excused if i am sparing of anecdotes. it would be painful to me to recall to life and movement one who has passed. my desire is to limit myself to explaining effects of which i know the cause. it was puerile to wish under high-sounding vain words such a petty thing as the arrest and trial of a government sunk in shame. society cannot recognize any divine law in crimes against civilization, since they place man below the level of the beast. william ii fell from the throne and was arrested by a more powerful hand than that of earthly justice. he has known the severest prison of all--exile; the most frightful regime--fear; the most terrible sentence--that of conscience. who will know the secret of the nights of this fugitive traitor to his people whom he fed with deceptions and lies, and whom he has led to ruin, civil war and dishonour? for not only did he dishonour himself, but he dishonoured germany in dishonouring her arms. where is the honest german who has recovered from the intoxication of war who can hear the name of louvain, of the _lusitania_, of poison gas and other horrors without shuddering? but the responsibility of all these crimes must rest on william ii. the passing of centuries will be necessary to wipe out the stain of his murderous folly. this constitutes the shadow over the unfortunate empire which makes it appear monstrous to the nations of the entente. but i wish to say at once, because i am certain of it, germany is what imperial prussia has made her, and would again make of her. the victim of her confidence and candour, she accepted as gospel all that her sovereign, the heir of victorious ancestors, declared, professed and taught her. it is harder to inherit a kingdom than people think, and i say this without irony. william ii was not human like his grandfather, who cried out when he saw the sacrifice of the cuirassiers of reisdroffen: "ah, my brave men!" william ii possessed nothing of his father, who earned the name of frederick the noble, and who died of two maladies, that of his throat and that of his feverish impatience to reign. william ii was charming as a boy. as a child he was an amiable playfellow. we have plundered the strawberry beds of laeken together--a sacrilege which was pardoned solely on his account. i have followed his career as far as it was possible. i believed him to be great. i have heard much of his power not only from his own people, but from all people. he had a wonderful part to play. he did not know how to play it; he could not; he lacked the means to do so, and perhaps, first of all, a clever and good wife. he had no depth of soul. a different wife might perhaps have supplied him with this quality. francis joseph at the beginning of his active career as an emperor was almost brilliant; he certainly appeared distinguished. thirty years after, his face assumed an expression of vulgarity of which his first portraits gave no forecast, although at a distance he still gave the impression of being "somebody." but the high _morale_ of the empress was somewhat reflected in him. less blessed in a wife, the longer william ii has lived the worse his looks, his speech and his bearing have become. two men--the late king edward vii and my father, the king of the belgians--took his exact measure and augured nothing good for his future. the intimate opinion of him expressed by my father has often recurred to me, but this would entail a separate chapter and it would lead us far. i will confine myself to stating that the king had always foreseen that germany, intoxicated with the warlike perorations of william ii, who was a preacher of the old prussian regime, would end by throwing herself upon belgium, upon france and upon the whole world. the defences of the meuse were a convincing indication of the king's forethought. but we shall never know all that the king said, what he did, and what he desired to do in this matter. unfortunately certain parties and certain influential men in belgium wrongly countered his plans instead of acting upon them. the country has suffered cruelly for this mistake. by what means did william ii arrive at those false conclusions which swept away the thrones of central europe and which have caused so many calamities? it was not, as has been thought by the entente, the result of a fatal environment created alike by the ambitions of germany and her barbaric instincts. the german emperor wielded immense power. he was in truth an absolute monarch, and in consequence the reichstag, the bundesrath, or the various state parliaments never interfered with him. the emperor's cabinet ruled the army, which in its turn ruled the nation. thus everything was centred in the person of the emperor, this magnificent fruit of prussian discipline and force. but in this fruit which made such an impression when seen on its wall, there was a hidden worm. william ii was a liar; he lied to others and to himself without knowing that he was a liar. he lived continually in a world of fiction. in short, he was an actor. but he was the worst of actors; he was the amateur, the man of the world who plays comedy--and drama--who is so taken up with his own small talent that he becomes more of an actor than an actor, and in consequence is always acting in everything and everywhere. this passion for the theatre is alike william ii's excuse and his condemnation. it is his excuse because he entered so well into the "skin" of the various characters which he played, that in each of them he was sincere. it is his condemnation, because a king and an emperor should be a reality, a will, a wisdom; but he was none of these. personally he was hollow and sonorous. he did not know much. he did not at close quarters, like francis joseph, give one the impression of being the concièrge at an embassy, but he always gave one the impression that is best illustrated by a saying which i remember having seen in the _figaro_: "have you seen me in the part of charlemagne, or as a lutheran bishop?"--(for he was _summus episcopus_)--"or as an admiral, or as the leader of an orchestra?" his many talents have been recounted. they may all be reduced to one--the art of self-deception in order to deceive others. under this veneer of self-deception there existed an empty soul, without a standard of honour, without poise, at the mercy of any kind of flattery, impressions, or circumstances. no sooner did he hear a speech than he gave his opinion, and assumed an attitude according to the rôle of the character to be represented. he may be described as the best son in the world, for he was not wicked; he was worse--he was weak. it was chamfort, if my memory serve me rightly, who wrote: "the weak are the advance guard of the army of the wicked." william ii was the scout of the advance guard; his staff was the army. he who was so afraid of thunder usurped the place of jupiter, the thunderer, but this amateur soldier was far too nervous to endure even the noise of battle. when his officers for their own advancement persuaded him that he possessed military and naval talent, he dreamt of the rôle of "welt kaiser," and prepared for the conquest of the earth. caught in their own trap, his faithful adherents were intoxicated by the intoxication which they had provoked. the emperor's cabinet was the theatre of a continuous orgy of gigantic schemes. at vienna men's imaginations were inflamed. the berlin-bagdad railway of central europe revived the earlier near-east scheme. and a whole camarilla interested in the advantages to be derived from these splendid enterprises praised them extravagantly. if in the emperor francis joseph had possessed any glimmer of reason and good sense, he would have taken notice of the formidable uncertainties of the berlin problems, and maintained peace while refusing to die at the cries of the victims of a war. left to himself, william ii let loose the worst and most barbarous powers on the nations who were dragged into the horrors of war. i have said that he lacked depth. he was in reality inconsistent. although playing a thousand parts, he had no personality. a man is only "someone" by reason of his personality. many fools and dishonest men reach their goals in life through intrigue, chance, favouritism and human folly. but they are none the less foolish and dishonest for all that, and this is why the world is so evil. william ii assumed chivalrous airs, but he still remained coarse in his outlook. this was often apparent in his jokes with the officers of the guards. he had no tact or judgment. his lack of tact was due to his bad prussian education; to his student days at bonn, which were given up to drinking bouts; and as a young man, to his taste for frequenting the berlin casinos. as for his lack of judgment, this was the result of inherent vanity, which everything tended to develop to his own injury and that of germany. the vain man is the being who is deceived by everyone, because he has begun by deceiving himself. and he is usually a hopeless idiot. william ii once said to me, under the impression that he was paying me a compliment: "you would make a fine prussian grenadier." the compliment seemed to me "pomeranian." if william ii had possessed tact and judgment he would have known how to adopt a policy other than threats and violence, and a diplomacy utterly opposed to the trickery with which germany was so affected during his reign. incapable of judging the times in which he lived, weighed down by prussian tradition, and full of zeal as titular chief of the house of prussia, descended from a suabian family which had emigrated to brandenburg, he persuaded the upper classes of germany that he had consolidated his prestige. the middle ages have had a disastrous effect on him and, through him, on all germany. in addition to battlemented railway stations and post offices fortified by machiolated galleries, the influence of mediævalism led the emperor-king and his people back to the old hates, the old struggles and the old ideas, just as if the world had not changed with the passing of centuries. the result was that science, inventions, and discoveries were first made to serve the industry of war, the continuation of conquests, the mailed fist, and all the follies which soldiers, writers and military journalists applied themselves to serve, finding therein their daily bread. however, those nations brought into closer contact by means of intercommunication and by exchange of ideas have commenced to find solutions of difficulties in pacific ways--solutions which until now have only been dragged from the path of war. by this i mean the preservation and the development of the human species, its better distribution on the earth, and its rights to greater happiness and justice. william ii lacked depth (i again mention the fact) because he lacked moral strength. not that he was immoral. without being a saint, he admirably fulfilled the rôle of husband and father. he was in everything a zealous amateur. yet he lacked moral strength because his lutheran attitude, which allowed him to play the part of a protestant preacher, was not a religious rôle. his sermons as head of the church did not teach him to be humble, charitable and just before god. contrary to what is generally believed, especially if the religious problem has not been studied, neither lutheranism nor calvinism is a religion. the beautiful souls one meets who have held, and who hold these religious beliefs would be beautiful no matter what belief they held, or even in the absence of any belief. they possess an innate beauty which touches the divine. but a phase of religious belief cannot be a religion. schisms are the accidents of the life of the church. a tear in a costume is not a costume--on the contrary! lutheranism was not originally a form of worship; it was a revolt, and this species of revolt will always make more rebels than believers. a revolt against rome--_los von rome!_ impious cry! this is not only a case of "deliver us from rome," it is also a case of "deliver us from the christian religion, from the unity of the catholic church, otherwise called the universal church, which is our only chance of peace on earth." it is a denial of latinity and of hellenism; it is the retrogression of central europe to the scandinavian valhalla; it is not a world which expands, it is a world which confines. it does not represent the free harmony of the actions and the thoughts of men; it is the enforced uniformity of the parade step, and the silence on parade, in the ranks of the prussian guard. if william ii, who is responsible for the violation of the neutrality of belgium, the burning of louvain, the massacres of dinant and so many other atrocities, were not, so far as i am concerned, dead, and if i were to see him again, i would say to him: "you miserable man! have you read goethe? can you imagine what he who wrote 'man is only great according to the heaven which is within himself' would think of you? you do not possess heaven. you have driven away god with the luther of hate and negation which was your god; you are a mere nullity." chapter xii the holsteins i first knew augusta of schleswig-holstein shortly after her marriage with prince william of prussia. i saw her later as german empress at the court of berlin. it was not easy to find favour in her sight; not that she was a malicious woman, but her narrowness of mind and her pretensions to the perfections of german virtues made her no friendly judge of women. a pessimist and a martinet, she was wholly given up to her domestic duties and her worship of the god of luther, whom she served with a zeal inimical to other gods, and with such piety that she edified germany. but she had no conception of the immense pity and the infinite splendour of the true god. always a sentimental country, germany thoroughly admired this wife and mother, her husband and their children, who, when seen at a distance, really constituted a magnificent family. but let us judge the tree by its fruits. there were in this royal ménage no intimate dramas, no moral conflicts; everything seemed to proceed decently and in order. but none of the children born of the union of william ii and augusta of schleswig-holstein has deserved any consideration at the hands of men. and in pity for them i will say no more. i was familiar with the old court of berlin, that of william i. i have often seen the old and infirm empress augusta, who always appeared to be very tightly corseted, installed on a sofa in the imperial salon close to a curtain which was drawn aside, and the court circle then formed round her. she was invariably kind to me, and spoke to me in excellent french. the emperor, william i, wandered simply and affably from one person to another. the crown prince frederick gave me the impression of being good, well read, noble and spiritual, and his wife, the daughter of queen victoria, was attractive owing to her candid and pleasant demeanour and her remarkable intelligence. count von bismarck and marshal von moltke were the two lions of this unceremonial court. being young, i examined both curiously. count bismarck was noisy; he spoke loudly, and often indulged in a certain coarse gaiety. marshal von moltke said nothing; he seemed embarrassed with it all. but his piercing eyes made up for his lack of words, and for my part i had no desire to offend this sphinx-like person. with the accession of william ii, the patriarchal court of william i and the anglo-german but ephemeral court of frederick the noble gave place to a court of another kind. the ceremonial of official presentations was increased and became more frequent. the new emperor wished to surround himself with warlike pomp, but the presence of augusta of schleswig-holstein always reduced the most solemn ceremonies of the last court of berlin to commonplace grandeur. at this period the empress had much trouble to gown herself and to dress her hair with taste. her presence on the throne sufficed to transform it into a bourgeois sofa. later, her taste in chiffons improved. when william ii came to vienna he was received with the honours due to his rank. i took especial pains with my toilette in order to do him honour. accustomed as i was to his ponderous sallies, i did not expect to hear him say to me in french, which he spoke excellently, even in its boldest gallicisms: "do you get the style of your coiffure and your gowns in paris?" "sometimes in paris, but generally in vienna," i answered. "i represent the fashion, and i design my own dresses." "you ought to choose augusta's hats and help her with her gowns. the poor dear always looks shabby." so this is the reason why the german empress patronized the same shops which i patronized, and bought dresses which i helped design. the question of hats bristled with difficulties, because she has one of those big heads which are so hard to suit. but i succeeded, it appears, in fulfilling the wish of her husband by rendering this small service to his wife. he thanked me amiably, although he was one of those who never forgive us for benefits received. the holsteins, from whom the empress was descended, had, as one knows, lost their duchy, which was in former times danish, and which had fallen into the hands of the prussians. as a wife for the prince who one day would be william ii, count von bismarck suggested augusta of schleswig-holstein, who possessed an equable temperament, and whom he judged would balance the flights of fancy peculiar to a young and ardent husband. this marriage had the merit of uniting the holsteins to the house of berlin by other means than by the sword. it regularized, in the eyes of europe, the somewhat brusque method by which prussia had annexed the duchy. the political value of this marriage was well worth the dowry which augusta certainly lacked. the tall and fair future empress was neither pretty nor ugly, but pretty rather than ugly. her piety was well advertised, but there are pieties which had better be dispensed with if they spring from a false foundation. this was the case as regards the religious zeal of augusta of holstein, who when she became empress began to regard her husband as the head of the protestant church--a man who, lacking eclecticism, talked nonsense about the roman church, the christian religion and latinity. but he should have been restrained and made to observe the outcome of his lutheran ramblings, which were mixed with invocations to wotan and the god thor. another point no less grave was that the holsteins, who were ruined or nearly so, were obliged to try and replenish their fortunes. augusta was forced to think of this, and primarily to establish her brother gunther, who led the life of a german officer of a noble family without having the means to do so. william ii arranged matters from time to time, but he did not display much enthusiasm. in no case does money play a greater part than with people who are attached to a court. without money nothing is of value, because this class of people are only measured by the money which they spend. this was not the case with gunther of schleswig-holstein. he possessed intelligence and culture. it has also been said that he was well posted in business matters. he has taken the chair at congresses in the capacity of a man of knowledge, and if during the war he did not particularly distinguish himself as a soldier, he has nevertheless shone as a financier. as a young officer these practical qualities were not apparent. it was necessary for him to make a good marriage. he failed in many attempts at matrimony. presentable enough as a young man, he did not improve with age. when i saw him at various shooting parties in thuringia, at the beginning of his career at court, he was not bad-looking. when gunther of schleswig-holstein asked for my daughter dora in marriage, and we had given our consent, he asked me to fix the date. i could not help saying: "what!... do you seriously contemplate leading my daughter to the altar without having that dreadful nose of yours attended to?" as a matter of fact he had a red nose of a many-sided, uncertain shape. everyone is not like the prince of condé or cyrano. a misshapen nose is certainly inconvenient. his sister pressed for his marriage with my daughter. the same idea had struck her at berlin as that which twenty years earlier had brought the prince of coburg to brussels. the immense fortune of the king of the belgians was by now undisputed. calculations were made as to his income, and people talked of a thousand million francs to be divided one day between three heiresses. this aroused ardent speculative ideas, because even in those days one thousand million francs counted as something. the duke of holstein, having improved the appearance of his nose, again spoke of his marriage with my daughter. dora was still young. at this time my husband and i had reached the tragic point of an almost definite rupture. i hoped that it would take place quietly. it was not i who let loose all the scandals. it so happened that we had decided to stay away from vienna for a year. we therefore left for the riviera. gunther of holstein went with us. thence we went to paris, where i brought my household. this was looked upon as a crime. people seemed to forget that my husband formed part of my household. his company, rare as it was, was only irksome to me, and doubtless mine was no more agreeable to him. when difficulties arose between us i found constant consolation in the society of my daughter. her mother was everything to her; my child was everything to me. at least dora was mine. her brother had long left me, so i kept my hold on her. i protected her; i made as much of her as i could. but having now reached the point of the story of my daughter's marriage with a relation of the hohenzollerns, and the influence which the court of berlin was destined to have on dora's future and on my own, i cannot deny myself the pleasure of portraying in these pages the ideal man of my devotion, who, having secured my moral safety, also gave me a new lease of life. i will not deny it. according to the ordinary laws of the world, his presence at that time on the riviera and afterwards in paris offended all the traditions of ordinary respectable conventions. certain situations can only be judged in a manner suitable to them. if it is true that owing to my entreaties--the entreaties of a desperate woman who found herself isolated, and at the mercy of the man who was still her husband--the count of geza mattachich was at the côte-d'azur at the same time as myself, and mixed with my entourage on the footing of a man of honour (as is the custom in the households of princesses), then i beg my readers to agree that my future son-in-law had no fault to find. this statement i think suffices. gunther of holstein showed the count both respect and friendship, and further to prove this he asked him to act as his second in an affair of honour which he was able to arrange. but what was still more unfortunate, dora, who had apparently some kind of instinct as to the troublesome times in store for her at berlin, returned her ring to her fiancé and released him from his engagement. gunther of holstein begged count mattachich to intercede with me to prevent the rupture, and i consented. for this kindness i was destined to be basely repaid. i did not wish to be separated from my daughter before her marriage, and especially to leave her in vienna at the coburg palace. when we were leaving for the riviera, i had told the assembled servants with tears in my eyes that i should never return there again, and the prince had listened without saying a word to contradict my assertion. i was afraid of the influence of vienna, where my unfortunate son finally perished, and where owing to his misconduct he was destined to end his days in a horrible manner. a fearful punishment for his faults, and the moral parricide which he committed in disowning his mother. no! at all costs dora must remain with me. however, the duke of holstein insisted that dora ought to be introduced to his family and to the hohenzollerns. he gave me his word of honour to bring her back if i would allow her to go to berlin for a few days accompanied by her governess. i made this soldier of berlin swear this, but "vanquished is he who pushes the wheel of the conqueror's chariot," and i let her go. she did not return. she was kept far away from me. this was the open avowal of the plot of which the melancholy vicissitudes were about to be precipitated. i only learnt of the marriage of my daughter to gunther of schleswig-holstein from the newspapers, when i was incarcerated in the doebling asylum at vienna. i had just been taken there. this plot--have i mentioned it?--was one of the vilest of plots--it was a plot which concerned money. i was not mad, but my enemies thought that i should most certainly become mad in the midst of lunatics. madness is contagious. my destruction had been determined. for as insane, or passing as such, i should be incapable of managing my own affairs. i should possess no civil rights, and my representatives could do as they pleased with my property. the king was old, and doubtless it would not be long before he "passed over." it was then certain that each of his children would inherit about three thousand millions. was i to be allowed to inherit such a fortune, which i was sure to surrender into inimical hands, and which would then be squandered? it is not to be wondered that my son, my daughter's husband, perhaps even my daughter herself, who was then a prisoner where william ii and his wife ruled, agreed with the wishes of the prince of coburg, who was anxious to revenge himself for the bitter feelings which he had inspired in my heart. [illustration: _photo: e. bieber_ duke gunther of schleswig-holstein] besides, his vengeance would not fall on me alone. it would overtake and crush the count, whom he hated for his presumed influence over me. and this influence, how could they possibly understand it? people see only what they want to see. it is beyond their miserable comprehension to understand superior beings with lofty souls and aspirations, and they describe as infamy what in reality is sacrifice. i will pass rapidly over the shame and the sorrow, and i will only relate as much as is necessary to make known to the world the high and pure character of the count, who, a bayard without fear and without reproach, dauntlessly confronted a military tribunal. i will confine myself to stating that in the unprecedented drama of incessant persecutions which i was forced to endure from the year until the victory of the entente, the imperial houses of berlin and vienna were the prop and support of the different attacks, pressure, outrages, defamations and calumnies which would assuredly have overwhelmed me if public opinion had not instinctively revolted thereat. and the public knew nothing of the rights and wrongs of the case. strengthened by public sympathy, i have been able to resist oppression. justice is slow but sure. the principal austrian mental specialists refused to certify me as insane, and an asylum in germany was found where i was destined to serve a life sentence. i then said to william ii: "as an accomplice of this crime, you will be eventually punished." i reflected at this time that the man who was a party to the crime of thrusting a sane being into the abyss of madness was capable of other abominations. i did not believe that god would permit him to go unpunished. he has been punished. the same blow has struck the companion of his life, the wife who was so intolerant of the faults of others, so uncompromising from the height of her unchristian-like virtue. as the enemy of her neighbour, her influence would have been enough to bring about the war, since the worst of warlike tendencies is the spirit of intolerance. it is not sufficiently well known, but it is a fact, that the awful conflict of - was simply the result of the pitiless and inhuman hate of lutheran prussia, which was devoured by the wish to dominate, to govern and to oppress. disbelief caused the war. belief only will bring about lasting peace. belgium and france must understand that, although prussia held and enriched germany, germany never liked prussia. germany can only be won by confidence and by affection. the catholic section, who are no less generous than the socialists, who although the greater part are sincere, are indifferent to divine will, should show an example of reconciliation. the bishops would then have a great rôle to perform. religious conferences and pilgrimages might afford occasions of meeting on a better footing, and before i die i should like to see germans, belgians and french united in the presence of the god of love, in the same faith and in the same hope, and through the love of his law they would then exchange the kiss of peace. chapter xiii the courts of munich and old germany each time i have stayed at the court of vienna i have regretted that i did not know louis ii personally. when i first saw him he had already taken refuge in his dreams and his dreamlike castles. like rudolph, he had been seized with a great mistrust, not of humanity, but of those who directed human affairs. he did not, like rudolph, find a way of escape in suicide. louis ii created for himself a paradise of art and beauty, where he endeavoured to lose himself, away from his people, whom he loved, and by whom he was loved in return. i once caught sight of him in the park at munich sitting alone in his state carriage, escorted by rather theatrical outriders. behind the bevelled plate-glass windows framed in gold, he sat imposing and motionless. he was an astonishing apparition, one which the crowd saluted without his seeming to take any notice. after his extravagances the court, forced to economize, easily adopted a more or less bourgeois existence. i rejoiced to see the patriarchal customs of the regent, prince luitpold. i had not then much experience of politics, and only saw the surface of things. the impatient insubordination of bavaria to prussia, from which a more intelligent and less divided europe might have derived so much advantage, escaped me. i only saw in the regent a character out of one of topfer's stories. he devoted the greater part of his time, even in his old age, to physical exercises. shooting and swimming were his favourite pastimes. he bathed every day all the year round in one of the large ponds on his estate in nymphenburg. and when he was not shooting he was walking. his outward appearance gave no indication of his rank. i met him one autumn day in vienna in one of the little streets off the prater behind the lusthaus; he was in his shirt sleeves; his coat and top hat were hanging on the point of the walking-stick which he carried over his shoulder. he seemed happier than a king. his inseparable companion, a poodle no less shaggy and hairy than his master, accompanied him. they looked exactly like one another. at a distance a nearsighted person might easily have mistaken the dog for the regent and the regent for the dog. louis iii, his son and successor, inherited his father's simple tastes, which he believed he could simplify still more. but excess in anything is a mistake. his abuse of simplicity was practically his only way of making a mark in contemporaneous history. history will not preserve the memory of this mediocre king of bavaria, but it will remember his unfashionable clothes, his concertina trousers, his square boots with rubber heels and his wrinkled socks, by which he wished to demonstrate his democratic tastes. he would have done better to have recollected that the duty of a king is to raise the man in the street to the level of the throne, and not to let the king descend to the level of the man in the street. he was not popular, owing to his bad taste. in vain he paraded his love of beer, coarse jokes, sausages and skittles. the bavarians remembered louis ii as a good king, and at the same time as a grandly spectacular king. people are flattered when a king who is a king unbends to them, but if he looks like a carter they experience no pride in seeing him drive the chariot of state as if it were a cart. the court of bavaria, which had slightly retrieved its former position before , fell between scylla and charybdis when the crown prince of bavaria and the man of berlin played with the thunderbolts of war. the wittelsbachs vanished like smoke in the defeat of prussian ambitions. they might still have been at munich if they had furthered legitimate bavarian ambitions, and judged them from the exclusive point of view of the political and religious needs of their country. it must be recollected, however, that the german thrones were threatened. neither the rigid discipline of berlin, the go-as-you-please rule of munich, nor the mixed systems which existed between these two extremes could have kept up the anachronism of worn-out forms which the people instinctively rejected by paying more attention year by year to socialism and republicanism. the german kings have vanished. it is not impossible that they may return; if not the same, others, perhaps better qualified to rule. nations are restricted in their choice as to the methods of government. monarchy is the form which pleases them, or rather which they tolerate, more often than any other. monarchy originates from the family principle, which is an eternal principle. the true king is a father. monarchy may be reborn in germany and elsewhere, but its powers will be modified and restricted by the times. as it existed in germany it has been condemned to extinction by reason of its archaism. the church alone has the privilege of not becoming obsolete, by the constant return of mankind to an immutable doctrine. monarchies become obsolete owing to men of the same blood, the same name and the same race who aspire to exist uninfluenced by the constant changes of the conditions of life. when they fall exhausted, then comes the time of the republic. but because the family principle is the foundation of social existence, and because a republic favours the individual rather than the family, the republic in its turn disappears and monarchy reappears. such is the way of the world. germany would be the first to admit this if she possessed any philosophical sense whatever. it is a popular legend that germany possesses the philosophical spirit, and nothing is more invincible than a legend. but, as a matter of fact, there is no nation on earth at once more metaphysical and less philosophical than the german nation. metaphysics alone help her people to dream and to accept these dreams for realities. in no way does it lead them to a condition of wise clear-sightedness. the german nation has fallen into the pit dug for it by imperial prussia. every court, important or otherwise, was convinced that berlin and the hohenzollerns would be masters of the hour. certain showy monarchies, feeling the pressure of a rather frock-coated socialism, have tried to accommodate themselves to social democracy as social democracy adapts itself to them. nevertheless, one saw some maintaining their traditional ceremonial undisturbed. such a monarchy was the little court of thurn and taxis at regensburg, the most picturesque and most amusing court which i have known. i have often played skittles at regensburg; but what a spectacle we presented! we played skittles wearing our tiaras and our long-trained gowns. there was etiquette in handling and bowling a large ball. more than one tiara became insecure, and more than one player groaned in her jewels, silks and embroideries, not to mention her corsets. luckily clothes were then capable of more resistance. if this had occurred nowadays, when women dress in transparencies which are as scanty as possible, what would not one have seen? it must not be thought that this was a chance game of skittles which i played dressed in full court toilette. it was the fashion. you did everything at regensburg in a procession, preceded by a master of the ceremonies. and because and for all that, as victor hugo says somewhere, it was very droll. life at regensburg was agreeable. the prince and princess entertained magnificently. the palace lent itself admirably to entertaining, as it was a superb residence, royally furnished and surrounded by gardens which were tended with love. the cooking equalled that of the cuisine dear to the heart of ferdinand of bulgaria. the charming part about it was that the antiquated ceremonial was so well ordered that certain exaggerations were quickly forgotten in the beauty of rhythm and arrangement, which recalled the dignity of bygone days. we went to the races in splendid state barouches, preceded by equally well turned out outriders. the count of stanfferberg, master of the horse, an old austrian officer, rode at the side of the prince's carriage, and the gentlemen-in-waiting were so attentive that, had there been no step to the carriage, every one of them would have supplied the place with their persons. if we went to the theatre we went in full dress, preceded by torch-bearers to the princely box. an etiquette of this description compelled one to maintain the dignity of one's station. but the prince and his wife liked this ceremonial; they only lived to prolong the pomp of past centuries. it had been said that princess marguerite of thurn and taxis somewhat resembled marie antoinette. the prince, who believed in the said resemblance, wished to give his wife a set of diamonds which had once belonged to the unfortunate queen of france. he bought them and the princess wore them. i was afraid that there might be some fatality in this, but there were no superstitions at the court of thurn and taxis. the future was seen through rose-coloured glasses, and in order to make the appearance of the princess suit the historical diamonds the famous lentheric was once sent for from paris on the occasion of a court ball, to arrange the princess's hair "à la frigate," and transform her into a quasi marie antoinette, whom one would have been very sorry to have seen starting for the scaffold. when the wind of revolution swept over germany the dethroned princes were spared this punishment. they departed for foreign countries, and not for the scaffold. germany, left to herself and no longer intoxicated by berlin, has not massacred a single one of her sovereigns of yesterday. and this fact alone should rightly afford food for reflection to all those who speak of germany without really knowing her. * * * * * in the little duchy of saxe-coburg-gotha life was quite different from that at the court of thurn and taxis. here nature and art joined hands. there were no showy processions, no studied etiquette; only a charming and distinguished simplicity which exemplified the taste of this german prince of high and human culture--my uncle, the reigning duke ernest ii, whose kindness to me i have already mentioned. he never tired of spoiling me, and he wished me to feel that whenever i was at the palace i was a queen. his affection never changed. in his society and that of my aunt the duchess, who was also very affectionate and kind to me, i have often forgotten the misery of my marriage. his stag-hunts in the beautiful country of thuringia, through forests of firs and beeches, were for me an intoxicating pleasure. i followed the duke's lead; he was a good shot and a good horseman; his years did not trouble him. often, in the mountains, i rode a white mule, and the duke remarked on the touch of colour which my mount and i made in that rustic countryside. in the evening, when the weather was fine, we dined under the big trees, which were lit up by well-arranged lanterns. i usually wore a light dress to please the duke, who also liked me to adorn myself with a garland of flowers which he himself made up every day, as an act of delicate homage from the most courteous of uncles. when i stayed with the duchess marie at rosenau, i also passed many happy hours. her daughters were lovely girls. what a radiant apparition was princess marie, now queen of rumania! once seen--she was never forgotten! coburg, the cradle of a family which has given to europe so many kings and queens, princes and princesses, royal and imperial, has witnessed numerous gatherings of the present generation. a marriage, an engagement, or a holiday invariably brought the members of the coburg family to their native country. young and old were happy to return and forget some of the duties which their position demanded; others were glad to forget the burden of their studies. each tried to be himself and to behave as an ordinary human being. the delights of a normal existence are very attractive to those who are deprived thereof by their position and their duties. the general public has a false idea of royalty. it believes them to be different from what they are, while, as a matter of fact, they really wish to be the same as anyone else. no doubt princes, like william ii, are to be met with who think that they are composed of a different clay from the rest of mankind. they have lost their heads by posing before the looking-glass and by inhaling the incense of flattery. they are merely accidents. any man who suffered similarly would be just as bad, no matter to what class he belonged. it is true that the disease would not then have the same social consequences. again, monarchism has become more and more under control and is practically limited to a symbolic function, since it depended more on one man than another. it could have been both efficacious and influential if the prince had possessed personality; but if he possessed mediocre qualities without serious influence of any sort he was merely a nonentity. after him would perhaps come a better ruler. but everything is a lottery, and universal suffrage and the elections of parliaments are no less blind than fate. at coburg i was brought into close association with the empress frederick, who died with her ambitions unfulfilled, great in her isolation. she saw with an eye which knew no illusions the royal and imperial crown of prussia and germany pass swiftly from her husband to her son. the egotism and the vanity of the "personage" aroused in her more fear than hope. and with what an expression of pity did her eyes rest on the mediocrity of her daughter-in-law! the romanoffs and their relations also remained faithful to coburg. the grand dukes the brothers of the duchess marie, her sisters-in-law the grand duchesses vladimir and serge, who were both beautiful in a different style, brought with them echoes of the stately and complex court of russia, that asiatic court which i always felt was a thousand miles and a thousand years beyond the comprehension of the present century. amongst other memorable ceremonies which i have witnessed at the cradle of the family, i have retained the remembrance of the marriage of the grand duke of hesse with princess melita, who became later the grand duchess cyril. happiness seemed to preside at the fête. love had been invited--a rare guest at princely unions. i will not say much about the betrothal of poor "nick" with alice of hesse, which was also celebrated at hesse. he who was to become the tsar nicholas ii, appeared a sad, timid, nervous and insignificant man, at any rate from a worldly point of view. his fiancée was distant in manner, absorbed and self-centred. already her entourage was concerned about her visionary and rather eccentric tendencies. she had replaced princess beatrice (who had married henry of battenberg) as queen victoria's reader and favourite companion. the queen desired the throne of russia for her granddaughter, and she brought about the marriage of which i witnessed the betrothal ceremonies. the old queen presided. but everything lacked gaiety. if joy appeared to reign for a moment it seemed nevertheless to be forced. one felt depressed by the weight of some unknown calamity. perhaps destiny wished to warn alice of hesse and nicholas of russia of their impending fate. chapter xiv queen victoria is it possible for me to mention the name of queen victoria without remembering that the prince of coburg and myself were often the guests of our aunt and cousin? one of the most hospitable of women, she revelled in the joys of domesticity, and liked nothing better than to gather her relatives around her, preferably the coburgs, the family of which the prince consort was a member. although the queen was extremely short, afflicted with a corpulency that was almost a deformity, and an excessively red face, she nevertheless possessed an air of great distinction when she entered the room, supported by one of the magnificent indian servants who were her personal attendants. she usually carried a white handkerchief so arranged that the lace border showed, and she favoured a black silk gown with a small train, the corsage cut in v shape. she wore round her neck a locket containing a miniature of prince albert, her never-to-be-forgotten husband, on her head a widow's cap of white crêpe; she very rarely wore gloves. on special occasions the koh-i-noor, that wonderful diamond, the treasure of treasures of india, sparkled with a thousand fires in the folds of the crêpe cap. the queen did not leave much impression of her personality, although she was most impressive in her movements, her tones and her look. her nose had a curious way of trembling, which was almost an index of her thoughts. and how shall i describe that amazingly cold glance which she was wont to cast over the family circle? the slightest error in dress, the slightest breach of etiquette was instantly noticed. a hint or a reprimand followed in a voice that brooked no reply. then her nose wrinkled, her lips became compressed, her face flushed a deeper scarlet, and the whole of the royal person appeared to be swept by the storm of anger. but once the storm had passed, the queen smiled her charming smile, as if she wished to efface the memory of her previous ill-humour. in arriving or departing she always bowed to those around her with a curious little protective movement. on one occasion i had the misfortune to displease her. the queen detested the curled fringes which hid the forehead and were then fashionable. this rather unbecoming mode is within the recollection of many. i admit i adopted it. fashion is fashion. this style of coiffure greatly annoyed the queen, who said to me one day: "you must dress your hair differently, and in a manner more suitable to a princess." she was right. unfortunately the prince of coburg, who equally disliked this curled coiffure, was present when our aunt made this remark. if she had given him the koh-i-noor he could not have been better pleased. i was therefore treated to a sound scolding from my husband, which resulted in making me decide not to take any notice of the queen's censure. my hair still remained in curls on my forehead. at windsor, as in the isle of wight, the queen drove out every evening about o'clock--no matter what the weather might be. we were usually honoured by accompanying her. occasionally we were obliged to wait quite a long time for the queen to make her appearance. at last, preceding the queen, a plaid on his arm, a flask of whisky slung over his shoulder, came john brown, the faithful scotsman whose doings occupied such a prominent position in the _court circular_, and who, like many others of his kind, represents an unpublished feuilleton in the history of courts. he led the way, ensconced himself in the brake drawn by two grey horses, and the drive--which lasted about two hours--began. evening fell. john brown moved about in his seat. he frequently turned his head, hopeful to receive the queen's orders to return. was this anxiety on account of his fear of rheumatism, or of some chill, which, notwithstanding the comforting properties of whisky, would have affected his health and prevented him fulfilling his duties to the queen? i really cannot say. all i know is that john brown detested twilight drives on a damp evening. they always affected his temper, and he did not attempt to conceal his feelings--but, for that matter, he never attempted to do anything contrary to his inclination. even the queen's children experienced john brown's autocracy. it happened that the prince of wales, afterwards the great king edward vii, once wanted to see his mother on urgent and unexpected business. but john brown opened the door of the queen's room and said decisively: "you cannot see the queen, sir." if in the intimacy of her daily life queen victoria allowed herself some moments of relaxation, she was, nevertheless, a great sovereign and an imposing figure. her jubilee, celebrated with a splendour which my contemporaries will easily remember, showed her real status in the world. the procession through london in the midst of a delirious and cheering populace, the cavalcade of kings, princes, rajahs, and other representatives of the dominions, resplendent in their magnificent uniforms and blazing with precious stones, was a spectacle worthy of the "arabian nights." we shall never look upon the like again. men will never honour temporal power as they did when they thus exalted a woman who so nobly represented the past, the present and the future of the united kingdom, the empire of india, and the colonies. do not say "vanity of vanities." pomp and circumstance have their reasons for existence. a society which does not possess a theocracy, an aristocracy and a pomp in proportion to its institutions is a moribund society. it will always be necessary to return to the equivalents of sovereignty, the court and divinity, without which the discrowned social edifice will be a barn or a ruin. it was on the occasion of one of the great jubilee entertainments that, owing to my annoying and incorrigible habit of unpunctuality, i arrived late to take my place in the royal cortège. i will admit that i was often purposely late, because i knew that this enraged the prince of coburg beyond anything else, and he always began the day by saying that he knew beforehand i should not be punctual. women who read this book will understand how difficult it is to be quite punctual for an engagement when one is wearing a special gown for the first time. men will never understand these feminine difficulties! i frankly acknowledge that on this occasion i ought to have arranged matters differently; i did not wish to be in fault. state ceremonial exacted that nobody should be absent at the formation of the cortège. and, as owing to my marriage, my rank and position relegated me towards the end, quite a number of kings and queens had been obliged to wait until i made my appearance. when i entered i was, naturally, in a state of extreme confusion. but at this period i was in the heyday of my beauty. i knew that i was beautiful and admired. i saw most eyes turned unsympathetically in my direction. the women looked cross, but happily the men, who at first seemed severe, were not long in softening towards me. i was dazzled by the light of these earthly suns! but to hesitate was to be lost! it behoved me to derive instant advantage from the situation. silence and impassiveness greeted the apparition of the culprit who had dared hold up the progress of the queen of england and her illustrious suite. i realized that my entrance must be of the kind which succeeds only once in a lifetime. i took my time--and i put all the grace imaginable into my curtsy to the queen, and my bow to the assembled court. i approached to kiss my mother's hand, who, overjoyed to hear the flattering murmur which followed my method of asking pardon, drew me towards her, saying as she did so: "you were made to be a queen." even now a tear rises from my heart to my eyes. what a strange nature we possess! but when one has been metaphorically born on the steps of a throne, one feels the need for success, homage and ovations. one not only preserves their memory, but one also retains the wish for them and the regret when they no longer exist. chapter xv the drama of my captivity and my life as a prisoner--the commencement of torture my misfortunes, alas! are known to the public all over the world. but it is not on me that they weigh most heavily. if calumny and persecution, assisted by the most powerful influences, have continually added blow upon blow, one truth, at least, is patent: _i was not_--_i am not_--_mad_, and those who endeavoured to affirm that i was insane, did so to their shame, and, i also hope, to their sorrow. "nevertheless," it was said, "the princess is peculiar." others, better informed, declared emphatically, "she is weak-minded." not that, thank heaven! my "expenditure," my "prodigality," my "debts," and "my relinquishing my interests and my will to my entourage" have all been objected to. let us briefly discuss these "peculiarities" and these "weaknesses." it is perfectly true that at times i have been extravagant. i have said, and i still repeat, that this extravagance was a way of revenging myself for the constraints and pettiness of an oppressive avarice. it is true, as i have also admitted, that, as in the natural order of events i thought i should inherit a considerable fortune, i have been weak in some things and i have not resisted certain temptations. people talk of the fantastic sums of money which i have spent. i calculate that i have not disbursed ten millions of francs since , the year when i made a bid for freedom. higher figures have been given, but these are represented by the exaggerations of speculators and usurers sent by my enemies to help their case, and to bear witness of "follies" after having palmed off their worthless securities on me. everyone knows the edifying story of the german creditor who appeared before the court at brussels deputed to pay my debts out of the funds accruing to me from the inheritance of the king, and put in a claim for seven million marks, which was reduced to nothing after due inquiry and verification of what he had really advanced and received. if i were to lower myself to write the story of the various manoeuvres against my independence, all with one object of placing me in such a position that i could neither live nor act, my readers would say: "it is impossible, she is romancing." but the most unlikely romances are not those which are published. life alone reveals them. reflect; i had to choose between slavery, imprisonment in a madhouse, or flight and, in consequence, an active defence of my personal rights. i fled, and i have defended myself. but, in order to capture and break me, my allowance was reduced to a mere pittance, and, later, even the means of getting my daily bread were cut off. i had lost the best of mothers; the king, deceived and irritated, but more politic than i in all that concerned me, placed appearances above the obligations of his conscience, and took no further interest in the cruel fate of his eldest daughter. from the time of my incarceration my sisters and the rest of my family sided with the king. i saw myself forgotten by my relatives, who for years never came near me in the asylum. _i was either mad or i was not mad._ to abandon me thus showed that i was not. the press at last became indignant at this neglect. then my relatives came, but oh, very rarely! it was so painful, so embarrassing for them--but it was not embarrassing for me. when i escaped, their pretended pity gave way to open anger.... it was necessary, however, for me to live and to make as much return as i could for services which had been rendered me. at last i was compelled to go to law--a new crime! my crime did not consist in my rebellion against a husband and a marriage of convenience that had become impossible.... have i been the first woman to be forced into matrimony?... my crime consisted in showing that deplorable spirit which the world rarely pardons--the fighting spirit, the spirit of resistance. the world dislikes a woman who defends herself, and i admit the mystery of procedure and the devious ways of the law have always been beyond me, but a woman who defends herself resolutely, for the sake of principle, honour and right, this woman is detestable.... she wishes to prove herself in the right against established authority; she creates a scandal; she cries: "i am not mad!" she cries: "i have been robbed!" why, such a woman is a public nuisance. as a rule, well-bred people who are imprisoned and robbed do not make much noise about it. but in the case of the daughter of a king and the wife of a prince who objects to being thought either demented or a dupe, it is unforgivable of her to create a scandal. had she done the right thing she would not have been talked about. she would still be in the shadow of the lime trees of the court; and, as she wants to dabble in literature, she could have written a book about the glory of human justice in belgium and elsewhere. many thanks! my conscience is still my own. i will not yield it up. i will die misunderstood, slandered and robbed, my last word will be a word of protest. that for which i have been reproached must be vindicated; i will make good. i have nothing to be ashamed of as regards my past "extravagances." god be thanked that my "victims" have always been paid in full, and always to their own advantage. i should consider myself dishonoured had i caused anyone to lose anything due to him, no matter how small the sum. i would rather have settled with the cheats than have disputed with them. having written so fully about my expenditure, let me now turn to the so-called surrender of my fortune and my will to my entourage. let none be deceived! touching this, slander has always attacked one person alone, he to whom i have consecrated my life as he has vowed his life to me. his enemies have credited him with their own base motives. they did not want to see, and they denied that he was, by his greatness of soul, far above all miserable calculations of self-interest. in vain he threw into the abyss all that he had, all that he was likely to possess. what sublime abnegation, stifled by hate beneath its hideous inventions! oh, noble friend, what has not the howling and monstrous beast of hatred said of you? no doubt you, like myself, were unable to struggle against fraudulent financiers, deceitful men of law and treacherous friends. but to dare to insinuate that you have ever subjugated my will, misled my steps, falsified my acts--ah! it is more absurd than infamous. i have, i always have had, a power of resistance capable of sacrificing everything to an ideal of honour and liberty, otherwise i should have been a mere doll, or a weathercock responsive to every breath. full of consciousness as regards the essentials of human dignity, i should then be unconsciousness personified for things of secondary importance. is not that foolish? but let us leave this topic and throw a new light on the subject of the incredible attempts of a hatred which nothing could disarm up to that day when another justice, not that of man, overthrew thrones so unworthily occupied and delivered me from the persecutions of which i was the object. on the eve of their fall the german and austro-hungarian monarchs still believed they could do as they liked with me. the wrongs i suffered are only one example of what they dared do. what crimes have they not committed which still lie hidden! and what corruption clings even to their memory! the commencement of the intrigues which brought about my fall is known to the world. i was at nice with my daughter. dora, who represented alike my hope and my consolation, was taken from me by her fiancé, who was in league with the prince of coburg, and who broke the solemn promise he had given me. the prince instinctively felt that i intended to make my escape, and he knew that with me would also vanish his hopes of possessing my inheritance from the king of the belgians. "she might get a divorce," he thought to himself. "she might marry again." i had thought of divorce. this might well have to come much later. but if i could not help freeing myself from a promise to a man who had destroyed the reasons which were the basis of the spoken vow, i hesitated about freeing myself from my vows to an invisible and silent god, who does not corrupt, deceive or persecute. the indissolubility of marriage is one thing; the severance of the ties of the flesh is another. the longer i live the more i have become convinced that divorce is a scourge. we must have courage to admit that individual cases ought to be considered of no account, the interest of the community must alone be considered. the higher the value that is set on marriage the better will society become. the marriage tie has become something excessively fragile, and as a result society possesses no solidity. the church is right. but who among us does not stumble, and which of us does not disregard the fact that divine law is essentially a human law? the count received at nice the seconds of the prince of coburg, to whom the court of francis joseph had relegated this duty. the duel brought the two adversaries face to face in the cavalry riding school at vienna in february, . the lieutenant fired twice in the air, and twice the general fired at the lieutenant. they were then handed swords. the lieutenant continued to treat the general with respect and touched him lightly on the right hand. he thus added to the feelings of hatred which the prince already had towards him. three weeks later he was implicated in that abominable story of the forged bills of exchange which was entirely an invention, and to which, later, the reichsrath accorded full justice. the impossible judgment which pretended to dishonour one of the most noble of men would never have been pronounced if i had been called as a witness. but my enemies hastened to have me incarcerated. my evidence was suppressed and the count was condemned. a man still lives, silent and hidden, who, if i reckon rightly, must be seventy-five years old. i write these lines hoping that he will be able to read them before he disappears finally from the world. now, when my memory invokes him, i see him standing at the threshold of the madhouse into which his hatred had caused me to be thrown, and i see him at the gate of the prison where he had caused count geza mattachich to be confined. but i should like him to know that his victims have pardoned him. they could, to-day, demand satisfaction from austrian justice, now freed from the constraints of former years. his victims will spare him. let him who will judge us all, judge this old man. i do not even know who were the instruments of his vengeance. not long since in vienna a poor creature three-parts blind and with one foot in the grave was pointed out to me, and i heard the name of the jewish lawyer, now repudiated by all that is estimable in jewry in austria, who was the agent, the instigator, and the counsellor of the implacable hatred which determined on my destruction. i looked back at him thinking that this same personage, so stubborn in his system of police severity, and in his service of the abuse of power, had also armed the hand of the woman who killed my son.... and greatly moved, i asked myself: "have they understood?" yes, perhaps. doubtless they are no longer what they were. life must also have changed them. can they, without pain, remember yesterday? to speak candidly, we fled in order to escape these enemies; i did not stop to think, and i believed that they could have ordered our arrest. i also believed the word of emissaries in the pay of the prince. we were then in france where i ran no risk. i wished to leave for england and implore the help and protection of queen victoria who had given me so many evidences of her affection. my faithful lady-in-waiting, comtesse fugger, shared my fears and accompanied me in my hasty flight. we had scarcely reached london when we received all sorts of mysterious hints from pretended friends. we must go back at once or the count and i would be lost. we therefore left london without any attempt on my part to rejoin the queen, whom we had passed on our journey, as she had just left england for the south of france. we were not of the stuff of which criminals are made. they are more callous. hemmed in by our own too-credulous imagination, we then thought of taking refuge with the count's mother at the château de lobor. no one has ever understood why, and how, i brought myself to go to croatia, to the house of countess keglevich. her second husband, the stepfather of count geza mattachich, was a member of the chamber of the hungarian magnates, a deputy and friend of the vassals of croatia. i felt convinced that nobody would dare to carry me off whilst under his roof. our adventure was by this time a public topic. the papers of every country referred to it. the duel was the culminating point of this terrible publicity. and, since calumny and its manoeuvres had not, as yet, had any effect, we were looked upon as romantic persons whose sincerity disarmed criticism and called forth feelings of sympathy. when i think that since then i have been taxed with duplicity, i cannot help smiling. few cases can be quoted of a more open existence than mine. i have never concealed from my friends what an exaction my life with my husband was to me, and when i was powerless, i never made any mystery of the help which i found in a chivalrous deliverer most providentially placed in my path. but the world does not forgive those who will not wear a mask of duplicity, and who refuse to conceal the feelings of their heart. so many people are compelled to hide their feelings. but we, but i ... truly, where is the crime? i am quite prepared to die; i have no fear of the justice of god. strong in our common loyalty we were foolishly persuaded that in france, england, germany and elsewhere we should be in danger; we had been warned that my husband's intention was to put me in an asylum--gunther of holstein had told me this, and had spoken of having me protected by his all-powerful brother-in-law.... what an unforgettable comedy! we arrived in croatia feeling sure that under the keglevich roof i should be safe. the count confided me to his relatives for so long as it would take to obtain a separation from the prince of coburg. the talk died down. public opinion was on my side, chiefly in agram where the count and his family were regarded with affection. at vienna even the inimical camarilla was disarmed. we were now only two creatures like so many others; the one bruised by her broken chains, the other willing to assist her. and this devotion perhaps, one day, would be sanctified by time. oh dreams! oh hopes! we are your playthings. the awful reality rises up and rends us. we had not foreseen the plot against us and what odious accusations would be levelled at the count. suddenly his stepfather, who was well known at court and had influence in other directions, was separated from us. apparently he had been told, in confidence, of the crime imputed to his stepson, and the accusation did its work. this explanation of his change of manner is the most indulgent i can give. the support of count keglevich thus failing us, the countess, torn between love of her son and her husband, was placed in a very delicate position, and our enemies had therefore a free field at agram. however, there were two parties; on our side were the students and the peasants, and against us were the police and the authorities. directly the count thought that we had the support of the students and the country people, he was afraid, and delivered us up. the prince's lawyer--this man whom i cannot name--was given full power. the emperor consented to let him act as he thought best, and he had a pocket full of warrants. i ought to say, on behalf of francis joseph, that he had been assured that the count wished to kill me. to which the sovereign is said to have replied: "i don't want a second meyerling. do what is necessary." the prince and his hirelings were not lacking in inventive skill. their measures were well taken and their plans well laid. a special train was kept in readiness at the station at agram for the woman who was to be declared mad for reasons of state, and a cell in the military prison was prepared for the man who was to be _made_ a criminal in the eyes of the world. all austria knew this, as well as many other things. a doctor (an official whom i had never seen), with my certificate of lunacy in readiness, was waiting for me at agram by order of the police, together with a nurse from the doebling lunatic asylum. these people and a _posse_ of detectives lay in wait for a whole week. all depended on getting us to go into the town. they would not have dared to have arrested us at the château of lobor in the open country, where our defenders would have hastened to our succour in the twinkling of an eye. the military authorities ordered the count to proceed to agram, and being an officer on leave he was forced to obey. we had a presentiment of some "coup." but our situation at the château had become awkward owing to the change of attitude of its owner, who had now left, taking countess keglevich with him. it seemed to us that nothing could be worse than this cruel estrangement. however, the count had to obey orders, so i, too, resolved to go to agram. it was impossible for me to shun any danger that threatened him. so we left. i went, with my devoted countess fugger, to the hôtel pruckner. the count went to the rooms retained for him, and i to mine. we arrived late at night. in the morning, towards nine o'clock, when i was still in bed, the door of my room was forced open. the prince's lawyer entered, followed by men dressed and gloved in black--police officers in full dress. the doctor and the nurse from doebling formed the background. the special train was waiting with steam up in the station. some hours later, without having a chance to collect myself, i was suddenly snatched from normal society and found myself in a cell at the doebling asylum on the outskirts of vienna. by means of a grating in the door i could be constantly watched. the window was barred on the outside. i heard shouts and howls in the distance. they had placed me in the part of the asylum reserved for those who were raving mad. i saw one patient who had been released for an airing running round a little sanded court, the walls of which were padded with mattresses. he was jumping and throwing himself about, uttering piercing shrieks. i started back, horrified, covering my eyes and ears. i threw myself on my narrow bed and, sobbing bitterly, i tried to hide my head under the pillow and the bedclothes so as neither to hear nor see. what might i not have become without the memory of the queen and without the help of god? my faith sustained me and gave me the courage of martyrs. meanwhile at agram, the count, also under arrest, was being told that by virtue of the austrian military code of he was accused--by whom will soon appear--of having negotiated bills bearing the signatures of princess louise of saxe-coburg and the archduchess stéphanie. i was to be declared mad, and he was to be proclaimed a forger! the worst they did to me was nothing compared with what they brought against him. ah! this justice of the court which revolution has since swept away! ah! this code of an army, a slave to a throne and not the guardian of the country! what defiance of good sense at the dawn of the twentieth century! and then we are astonished when the people rise! the count was put in prison on the accusation of the same nameless individual who had interested himself as a police agent in my affairs. the governor of agram was under his orders. he believed the word--or appeared to do so--of this petty lawyer who stated that count geza mattachich had forged my signature, and that of my sister stéphanie, on bills which had already been nine months in the hands of the bill discounters of vienna, who had suddenly (!) discovered the signatures to be forgeries. my signature was in my own writing. this was why it was not advisable to allow me to speak. my sister's signature was a forgery and added afterwards, but by whom and why? it would have been most inadvisable to have allowed me to ask this. the count knew nothing about these bills and the use of the funds which they represented. it would have been most inadvisable for me to have been on the scene. i was thoroughly well guarded. the count, according to austrian military justice, found himself in the presence of an _auditor_, a magistrate who was _accuser, defender and judge combined_. all this may be deemed incredible. but there was worse to come. on december , , the count was condemned to forfeit his rank and his title of nobility, and to undergo six years' cellular detention for having "swindled" about , florins from a "third person." but on the preceding june , when the forged bills became due, the third person mentioned ... had been wholly reimbursed by the prince of coburg, who was entitled to act for me from the day i arrived at doebling, and the count was lost. yes, lost and for ever--at least so thought his executioner. but, although, thanks to zealous friends, the count had been able to obtain a declaration signed by the bill discounters attesting that they had no claims and that no harm had been done them by count geza mattachich, this evidence was refused and held up by the _auditor_. it was not even on the register. and the abominable judgment pretended to make the count, this gentleman amongst gentlemen, a forger and a thief, although he was innocent and everyone knew his innocence. but i am dwelling on infamies which it is superfluous to recall. it is well known that the judgment was quashed four years later by the reichsrath, thanks to the indignant socialist party.[ ] the count has been avenged from the height of the parliamentary tribunal, and the sort of justice that dishonoured the austrian army has ceased to exist, and has been swallowed up in the ruins of a monarchy and a court which was too long a criminal one. [ ]: extract from the proceedings of the sitting of the reichsrath, held on april , . speech by the deputy daszynski: "gentlemen, the second judgment which has been pronounced following the demand for the revision of the first trial has admitted that monsieur mattachich has not forged any one of the signatures! "this verdict of the superior military tribunal is of great importance in the whole of this affair. for, gentlemen, if the superior military court had simply rejected the appeal we might still believe that geza mattachich had forged the two signatures. but, since mattachich has wronged no one, since the usurers have recovered the money together with a high rate of interest, totalling several hundreds of thousands of florins, on the very day the bills fell due, since out of all this money not a farthing has found its way into the pocket of mattachich, a matter which, in fact, has not been raised against him, we have the right to ask ourselves what interest mattachich-keglevich would have--apart from admitting a singular taste for perversity on his part--to corroborate by a forged signature the bills of the princess of coburg which were recognized as good? "and now, gentlemen, if we put the question _qui prodest_? we will reply certainly not mattachich-keglevich, for that would have no other result than that of sending him to the penitentiary of moellersdorf--but good for moneylenders. it was of the greatest advantage to them that a forged signature should be added to a real one, for it is a fact well known to usurers that a forged signature is worth more than an authentic one, and i will tell you why. "with an authentic signature the husband who is obliged to honour this sort of debt can say: 'i consent to pay the principal but not the excessive interest.' it is thus that the prince of coburg has paid in many instances. but this time the usurers replied: 'no; thanks to the forgery, we are in a position to cause a scene--to threaten: we have in our hands a weapon directed against the prince of coburg and against the court circles.' "gentlemen, i have sufficiently proved to you that the second judgment put the affair on a different footing, and threw quite a new light on the subject. taking advantage of this fact, mattachich appealed to the court of sovereign appeal, and that tribunal has decided, that after the examination of the procedure they had cause to confirm the second judgment and to reject the appeal of the condemned man. "at the same time, gentlemen, numerous facts have accumulated which clearly prove the innocence of mattachich. notably, a letter has been produced which was equally forged, and which indicated to the judges the line to follow. "this document was a letter written in german addressed to leopold ii, king of the belgians. it has been superabundantly proved to be fictitious. it had not been written in the interests of mattachich but in those of the moneylenders. and those who had committed this forgery were much more in the company of usurers than in that of mattachich. "for the question is not one, gentlemen, of simple moneylenders. our business is not with 'directors of a house of commission,' as they call them in the judgments, but with artful business men who lend money to various persons of the court at a totally usurious rate of interest, and to whom the signatures of these persons, notably of the widowed hereditary princess stéphanie, are perfectly well known. "very well! i tell you, gentlemen, if i cannot put before you all the elements of the _procès_, i rely here, not only on vague presumptions but on the depositions of witnesses, on absolutely incontestable affirmations which prove that mattachich-keglevich, who languished for four years in a penitentiary, is an innocent man. "eight days before his arrest they consented to recognize, by notarial deed, that they had given him every 'opportunity to flee' ('hear, hear!') on condition that he should abandon the princess louise. "gentlemen, one does not propose to assure a man like mattachich-keglevich by notarial deed of his freedom to depart to a foreign land. these people simply wished to rid themselves of him, they wished to glut the vengeance of the husband prince, and it is on this account that judicial military murder has been accomplished. and, if that did not suffice, by order of the count thun, then president of the council, princess louise was banished, like an unfortunate stranger, from the territory of kingdoms and of countries represented in the reichsrath, despite the fact that she was the wife of an austrian general. ('hear, hear!') yes, gentlemen, we are now going to make this fact public; read to-morrow in the report of the sitting, my interpellation on this subject, and you will then find the dates and all the relative details. yes, gentlemen, in the interest of certain exalted personages who possess much wealth, certain things take place that could never happen if we were a truly constitutional state. ('very true!') "and now, gentlemen, i ask you: who should be held responsible for having thrown these persons into prison solely in order that the wealthy prince of coburg might glut his vengeance? were they, by chance, officers? no, i tell you quite frankly, the officers were guiltless. they would never have pronounced such a sentence if mattachich and the witnesses had appeared before them, and if the accused had been allowed to question the witnesses, if the press had been able to give a report of the debates, if the gifted lieutenant had had liberty of speech in a public audience, if he had been able to have a lawyer to represent him. is it not truly malignant to throw people into prison and cause them to be condemned by an auditor and by judges who know nothing of the affair! gentlemen, i wish to accuse no one of forgery, i wish to charge no one. my aim is not to denounce an institution which is the fatal source of all faults and mistakes. "and, seeing that we have here the occasion of debating on such doings in open parliament, i address myself to m. the minister of national defence: does he wish, he who is a man of honour, does he wish, not only as an old man with white hair, but also as a soldier whose conscience is pure and tranquil, to take on his shoulders the responsibility of the anguish and tortures inflicted on an innocent person? will he keep silent, or will he speak? "if he is not, perhaps, in a position to make a decision to-day, he has no right to hesitate any longer to throw light on this mysterious affair." chapter xvi lindenhof can anyone adequately realize the sufferings of a woman who sees herself erased from the world and taken to a madhouse--the conscious prisoner of an odious abuse of power? at doebling, and afterwards at purkesdorf, my tortures would have been beyond human endurance if i alone had been obliged to suffer. but with the hope of divine justice, the knowledge that another was submitting to a worse punishment solely on my account gave me strength to endure. the loss of honour is as terrible as the loss of reason. i could not abandon myself to utter despair whilst the count heroically resisted his persecutors with a dignity which was afterwards admitted when the debates in the reichsrath threw a new light on my affairs. but what terrible hours i have passed! what nights of agony! what horrible nightmares! what tears, what sobs! i tried in vain to control myself. fortunately my attendants pitied me. that was some consolation. i even felt that the doctors, embarrassed by the responsibility of my case, looked at me kindly. with the exception of two or three miserable creatures, bought over by my enemies through greed or stupidity, i have hardly found any physicians who were not disgusted at the injustice meted out to me, and who asked nothing better than to shift the responsibility of keeping me in a madhouse on to someone else's shoulders. public opinion in austria being extremely hostile, my executioner and his accomplices found it advisable to transfer me to a quiet and charming asylum in saxony. i was therefore taken to lindenhof, near the little town of koswig in the midst of the forests, less than an hour's journey by rail from dresden. lindenhof! the actual meaning signifies "the lime trees of the court." calming lime trees! charming lime trees! the name recalled to me "unter den linden" (under the lime trees) at berlin, and the obligations which i owed to my son-in-law and his family, who were now reassured by the knowledge of my captivity in saxony. the inheritance of the king would not fall into my wasteful hands! no member of my entourage dear to me was allowed to remain with me. my good countess fugger was forced to leave me from morning till night to the care of my jailers. by way of compensation those at lindenhof were supposed to treat me with all the deference due to my rank. fear of public opinion is the beginning of wisdom where princes are concerned. it was impossible for anyone now to say, as in the case of my former experiences, that i was not treated as a princess and a king's daughter. i had a separate house, a carriage, maids, and a companion! i was allowed to go out when dr. pierson, the medical superintendent, thought it advisable. but my house was surrounded by the walls of a madhouse; the coachman and footman were policemen; the companion only occupied that position in order to keep me a prisoner and make voluminous reports about all that i said or did. my cage was certainly gilded, and it possessed various outlets on the country and the adjacent town. but, all the same, it was a tomb, and i realized that i was dead to all those who had once known me, beginning with the members of my own family. i have said that, ashamed of the crime to which they had tacitly consented, my relations allowed years to pass before they came to see the "invalid." it was only when public opinion censured their heartless behaviour that they decided to visit me. the indignation against the wickedness of the punishment meted out to count mattachich had become stronger than the power that desired to crush him. in mentioning him, the press remembered my existence. it was then that my daughter and my aunt, the comtesse de flandre, came to see me, and my sister stéphanie gave some sign of life. i had lost my beloved mother without seeing her again. her letters--although at the same time good and cruel--were my most cherished relics. but whenever i read them my heart was torn, as i felt that my mother had been convinced that i was really insane. as for the king--alas!--he sent me no word. doubtless his mind, like that of the queen, had been poisoned--was he, too, not certain of the count's guilt? what guile had not been employed in his case! in order to play my husband's and my son-in-law's game it was necessary to make my father believe absolutely in our "crimes." what could i do, alone in my madhouse, deprived of help and liberty? but i guessed the plots which were hatched at brussels, and what support my enemies had obtained in order to triumph over a poor tortured woman. i saw my only chance of salvation by the side of the unfortunate man who was enduring martyrdom in the penitentiary of moellersdorf, for having endeavoured to save me from an earthly hell and its dishonouring abysses. perhaps our mutual fidelity may astonish some people. few really understand that, for certain natures, suffering constitutes a common bond. our joys had been ephemeral, our sorrows had been prolonged. we had been misunderstood, misjudged, defamed and tortured. but we had reposed our trust and our hope elsewhere than in men. often the best have neither the time nor the possibility of knowing and understanding, and thus they condemn the innocent on the strength of appearances, which hatred and duplicity know so well how to exploit to their own advantage. i had been certified "insane" for four years, when the court of vienna, terrified by public outcry, was obliged to abandon one of its victims. the count was pardoned. no sooner did he regain his freedom than, fearless of consequences, he began to plan my deliverance! it was indeed a perilous enterprise, as the austrian and german police, in default of a justice which fear of the press and parliaments kept somewhat in restraint, were nevertheless at the orders of my enemies. i have said, and i again repeat, that it seems incredible that we still live. to begin with, my chivalrous defender found himself entangled in the meshes of the police net, and could not take a single step without being followed by spies of all descriptions. as for myself, i beheld koswig in a state of siege. lindenhof was surrounded by gendarmes; even the fir trees afforded them a screen! fortified by prayer and hope, i had now become if not accustomed to my chains at least able to support their weight. always a lover of nature, i revelled in the sylvan solitudes where i was allowed to walk with my sorrow, of course under the observation of my suite of jailers of both sexes. i had only one friend--my dog! shall i ever see that loyal fine face again, and those clear eyes, in which alone in a world of corruption i have seen the disinterested light of welcome? however, i did not despair. what would happen to innocent prisoners if they were deprived of the pleasures of hope? ah, i well remember that autumn day when i first saw the sun of liberty appear on my horizon, and with its advent those chances of truth, reparation and happiness which my imagination pictured all too quickly! it was delightful weather. the splendour of the sun illumined the saxon countryside. it touched with gold the sombre forests that covered the hill near which i loved to walk. this sandy desert planted with fir trees was enlivened by a little hotel called "the mill on the crest of the hill," and it was one of my favourite drives. on this particular day i was driving myself, accompanied by my companion and a groom. suddenly a cyclist appeared coming in the opposite direction, and who actually grazed the wheels of my carriage as he passed. he looked at me. i knew who he was--it was the count!... i had the presence of mind not to betray myself. he was, then, free! i believed that i, too, should regain my liberty on the morrow. three years were destined to pass before i escaped. the alarm had been raised in the enemy camp! it was known that the count had left vienna. a search for him was at once instituted at koswig. my companion, who, influenced by some kindly feelings or by some hope of gain, had allowed the count and myself to have two brief interviews in her presence, securely hidden in the forest, was not long in changing her mind and repenting her leniency. the count was obliged to desist from any further attempts to see me. the countryside swarmed with police. i was not allowed to leave lindenhof. my saviour went some distance away in order not to prevent my taking those drives which allowed me a few hours' freedom and comparative happiness away from the horrors of the madhouse. there now remained only one way to free me. this was first to proclaim, and then to establish my sanity, and to appeal to public sympathy and public meetings in order to achieve my liberation. a book appeared in which the count demonstrated his own innocence and described the cruelty of which i was the victim. the entire press re-echoed his indignant outcry. and the hoped-for help came at last from that generous land of france where my misfortunes were so keenly felt. a french journalist, a writer equally well known and respected (whose name i should like to mention with gratitude, but whose reserve and dislike of publicity i am forced to respect), had gone to germany in order to prepare some political work. at dresden he was told about my sufferings. he went at once to see the head of the police, who, greatly embarrassed, acknowledged that i was the victim of court intrigue. in order to see me personally, this gentleman visited lindenhof in the character of a neurasthenic. but either from mistrust, or the impossibility of tampering with the diagnosis, he was not accepted as a patient. he returned to paris, and through his influence _le journal_, the powerful daily paper whose independence is so well known, took up my cause. from this moment the count found the support which this paper has extended to so many other deserving cases. he was still unable to return to lindenhof. the french journalist, however, came there, and the first news which rekindled my hope came in a letter from my then unknown friend, which--together with one from the count--was thrown into my carriage by a little boy. this letter was stolen from me by my companion. the other missive remained in my possession, and in vain did my police-woman attempt to dispossess me of it. when i read it with a throbbing heart i only found one word, written in a language which i never heard in my captivity--the language of my native land. my eyes filled with tears, i read and re-read this word: "hope." chapter xvii how i regained my liberty and at the same time was declared sane as i had not been in good health it seemed advisable for me to take the waters at some cure. i really needed treatment, and as small thermal establishments abound in germany it was not difficult to find a place suitable to my state of health, where my keepers would have no fear of a cosmopolitan crowd, and where they could still guard me as an isolated prisoner. however, soon after the incident of the letters which had been thrown into my carriage, i was told that i was to stay at lindenhof. the promised cure was abandoned. fortunately the doctor who was called in consultation sided with me, and promised to intervene on my behalf. in the meantime my daily walks ceased. i even decided not to go out at all, as i was completely misled by all the stories which were told me, especially by dr. pierson. he rigorously guarded me, although he always treated me with respect. he knew perfectly well that i was not mad, but he also knew that i was a very remunerative patient; the idea of losing me was extremely unpleasant to him. he continued to watch me, but he also tried to humour me, and he easily persuaded himself that lindenhof was a really enchanting place. had it not been for his position of doctor in lunacy and my jailer, his visits would not have been disagreeable to me, as they were not lacking in courtesy. dr. pierson adopted an air of kindness and devotion. he told me, in tones of real alarm, about certain information which he declared came from a reliable source, and which he advised me to take into consideration if i did not wish to grieve him. he said he had heard that bandits had resolved to attack me suddenly in the forest and rob me of the jewels which i usually wore. dr. pierson did not deny that the count might have written to me. but he said that the letter which had been seized by my "lady-in-waiting" was not what i imagined it to be. it was spurious and very mysterious. it could not be shown me because it belonged first of all to the law. i should be well advised to give up the letter i had kept. it evidently emanated from the gang who had planned to rob and assassinate me. frightened into listening to him and being utterly depressed by my existence i allowed myself to be convinced. i did not want to go out. for several days i lived in anguish, oppression and uncertainty. i could not sleep. when i reflected, i did not know what to think and what to believe. suffering upon suffering overwhelmed me. nobody can conceive the will-power necessary to preserve a certain amount of lucidity when one lives for years among lunatics. the haunting terror is such that if you have not the strength to detach yourself from your surroundings you must inevitably succumb. but god permitted me to escape in spirit and to rejoin my hoped-for rescuer. i ended by pulling myself together and i again asked to go out. they dared not refuse. however, i was still somewhat impressed by what i had heard, and i dared not go as far into the forest as formerly. and if i saw one or more cyclists i was afraid, although i said nothing. had they come to attack me? i wondered. had they, perhaps, come to rescue me? what a power is imagination! the cyclists were only harmless people quietly going about their business. my doctor-professor had not forgotten his promise. his intervention obtained the desired effect, and it was decreed that i should go to bad-elster in bavaria. this place is in the mountains about a quarter of an hour's drive from the german frontier. if i escaped charybdis i should encounter scylla! the country is wild and the spa deserves to attract a cosmopolitan _clientèle_. but its fame, which is purely german, reassured my jailers. no one would look for me in this modest bavarian wiesbaden. and if, peradventure, my defender should arrive, he would find all the avenues to escape well guarded. in fact, the hotel at which i arrived with my suite of police officials, male and female, was immediately surrounded, according to the rules of the profession, by a cordon of sentries and inspectors. if any unknown or suspicious person approached he was followed, observed, and promptly identified. the count took care not to show himself, although, through information which he had procured at koswig, he was not slow to learn that i had left for bad-elster. the police notified nothing out of the way to my keepers. personally i was, as usual, neither impatient nor excited. my "lady-in-waiting" could not deny my affability. but within myself i felt that deliverance was at hand. this intuition was promptly confirmed. one day, when i was playing tennis, i noticed a fat man whose gait, hat and clothes pronounced him to be an austrian. his eyes met mine in a very curious manner, but he saluted me respectfully. i could have sworn that his look heralded the coming of the count. i was not deceived. a little later, when i was coming out of the dining-room of the hotel, preceded by the doctor attached to my person, and followed by my "lady-in-waiting," a fair man brushed past me and whispered: "listen! someone is working for you." i was obliged to lean against the door; i was suddenly incapable of movement. fortunately i recovered myself. my two watch-dogs noticed nothing. the following day i came down to dinner escorted by the doctor and my companion. the waiter who usually attended on us was a little late and was finishing laying the table. ordinarily he hardly dared look at me, but i now saw that his eyes were speaking to me. at the same time he passed and re-passed his hand over the tablecloth. he first made a fold, and afterwards he arranged and rearranged the linen. i seated myself and, at the same moment, i carelessly touched the spot the waiter had seemed to indicate. i heard a crackling of paper underneath the cloth.... my two keepers were discussing wagner; they talked on ordinary topics. they could see me approving their banalities with a gracious smile, and they redoubled their eloquence. i profited by this to seize and hide the letter so cleverly placed within my reach between the tablecloth and the table. i read the letter--i devoured its contents--as soon as i was alone in my room. it was from whom i guessed! it announced my approaching liberty. it gave me explanations of what had been done and what still had to be done in order to effect my escape from my long torture. i was to answer in the same way. i could rely on the waiter. this is how a daily correspondence began between the count and myself. i very soon knew what measures i should have to take, what attitude to adopt, what necessary preparations to make, whom to fear and whom to trust. the night watchman had been gained over on our side. this brave man, like the waiter, ran a grave risk. no one will ever know the extent of the devotion which the frightful persecution to which i was a victim has evoked and still evokes! at last i received the eagerly awaited note, which said: "_it will be to-morrow_." to-morrow! to-morrow! i had only another day to wait, and then i should be free.... this was in august, . for seven years i had been in captivity; i had lived among lunatics, and i had been treated as a lunatic. one thought alone froze my blood: the count would, no doubt, make his appearance. and i remembered that quite recently my "lady-in-waiting" had shown me a revolver, and coldly warned me that she had orders--from whom?--to shoot any would-be rescuer. never were my prayers more ardent. then, recovering my serenity and my confidence, i made all my preparations. i needed a few hours in which to arrange my papers, destroy letters, and to sort what i intended to take with me. how was i to do all this without arousing suspicion? i decided to say that instead of going out in the afternoon i would wash my hair. this proceeding, which i often did myself, afforded me the opportunity of being alone, without the "lady-in-waiting," that indefatigable spy, being alarmed. the chambermaid arranged everything that was necessary, and i made a great show of splashing with the water. but i took good care to keep my hair dry for fear of contracting rheumatism or neuralgia, which would have considerably diminished the good condition of health in which it was so necessary for me to be. i rolled a towel round my head, and i took the necessary measures without being disturbed. when evening came, rested and refreshed by the opportune "washing," i went to the theatre with my usual escort. of all the plays i have ever seen, none has left me with so slight remembrance as that with which the little theatre of bad-elster regaled its honest audience that evening. i was lost in thought concerning what was to follow, and i said to myself: "come what may, if life is a game let us play it to the end." when the performance was over, i returned to my hotel, without letting my secret agitation be noticed. the doctor and the other follower were amiably dismissed on the threshold of my room, and my last words added to their tranquillity: "we arranged to go to tennis a little earlier to-morrow morning," i said, "but i feel that i shall have a good night--so let us put off our party until an hour later." how could they doubt but that i was wisely going to try and have a long sleep? moreover, every evening my clothes and my shoes were taken from me, and although i was not locked in my room (they had intended this at first, as on my arrival all the locks had been renewed), the night watchman had orders not to lose sight of my room, and a cordon of sentries surrounded the hotel. but, as i have said, the watchman had been won over to my cause, and as to the sentries, i should soon see what was going to happen. i was much more afraid of my "lady-in-waiting," who slept in the room next mine. she had a keen sense of hearing, and she was always on the alert. i had in my room my favourite dog, the good and faithful kiki. what was i to do with him? how would he take my flight? he barked at a fly! the hour had indeed arrived, but i saw many harassing obstacles in the way. i ruminated on all this while the chambermaid finished her duties. at last i was alone.... i promptly dressed myself in a costume and put on a pair of boots which i had succeeded in concealing in anticipation of my flight. my packing was soon completed. all lights were extinguished, and, hardly daring to breathe, i awaited the signal. but what signal? i knew nothing. i must listen.... by degrees complete silence reigned in this tranquil corner of bavaria after the theatre, as is usual in germany, closed at o'clock. those who partook of late suppers were few. the calm night enveloped bad-elster--a beautiful night with a full moon--one more danger. but i had no choice, and my vigil was soon about to end. the twelve strokes of midnight sounded, then the half-hour, then one o'clock struck, and almost immediately i heard a scratching at my door like that of a mouse. kiki raised himself ... but with a sign i quieted him, and he understood. i opened the door softly. the shadow of the watchman could be dimly seen in the corridor. "here i am," i said, in a low whisper. "silence!... hold yourself in readiness. i will return when it is time." he went away. i remained for two hours absolutely glued to my door, my valise beside me. at last i saw a glimmer of light. it was the watchman. i turned to my dog, who was watching me uneasily. he pricked up his ears, and, sitting on the corner of a cushion in a chair, he understood that i was going away without him. i caressed him, saying as i did so: "kiki, don't make a noise. if you do, i am lost!" he did not move, he did not bark, he did not even whine. i was now beside the watchman at the threshold of the door. "you must take off your boots," he whispered. "you will be heard." he stooped down and removed my boots; then, taking charge of my small baggage, he conducted me forth, leaning on his arm. with one last look i said good-bye to the familiar things which i had left in my room, and i again enjoined my good little dog to silence. i went along the corridor into which the rooms of my "lady-in-waiting" and the doctor opened. thank god, the doors remained closed! another corridor took us to a staircase by which we gained the ground floor. there, in almost total obscurity, i perceived a shadow, with one finger on its lips. it was the count.... the night watchman would not allow us to delay; he gave me back my boots and guided us, sheltered from the light of the moon by the hotel building, as far as a small conservatory, and then to a terrace which adjoined the road. there two sentries had met and were talking peacefully in the moonlight, which, unfortunately for us, now illuminated the road to safety. we waited anxiously. luckily they soon separated, and walked away in opposite directions.... the count, taking his chance, made me cross the road in a few light bounds. he held my valise; the night watchman remained hidden on the terrace. we were now under the trees on the other side of the road. the sentries had seen and heard nothing! we had still to reach the carriage, which was waiting a little distance away. this was a landau with two horses, a local equipage, which would pass unnoticed. any other, unknown to the district, would have been signalled and reported. but a catastrophe occurred. the carriage was not where it should have been. we had a moment of despair. what a night! what suspense! all this agony of mind occurred under the trees pierced by the moon-rays, which seemed peopled with fearful phantoms. at last some of our friends who knew of my escape joined us and conducted us to the carriage. it started, but the tired horses went slowly. suddenly, in the middle of the wood the vehicle came to a standstill; the driver confessed that he had lost his way. we had reached a place known as "the three stones," the boundaries of three kingdoms, where bavaria, saxony and austria join. the driver turned his back on the right direction and returned towards bad-elster, where we hoped to get to the little station and catch a train for berlin. we had the good luck to be rescued from our anxiety by two of our partisans, who, worried by our non-arrival, came upon us unexpectedly and opportunely. we arrived at the hof without further incident, and a few hours later we were in the capital of prussia. when the news of my escape reached my son-in-law and his imperial brother-in-law they did not believe it. the fuss was tremendous. but matters had been well arranged at bad-elster. the brave people there took my part so thoroughly that the german and austrian police had actually to go to the expense of making inquiries. i had vanished into thin air like a spirit, and they could not find a trace of the count. in berlin the secret agents of the socialist deputy, doctor sudekum, who generously defended my cause, awaited us and sheltered us until a lull in the tempest enabled us to gain a hospitable soil. everything considered, we resolved to go by automobile to the station where the orient express stopped, and then to depart for france across belgium by this train _de luxe_. let us pass over an alarm at the hotel at magdeburg, where i should have been recognised and denounced had i not called doctor sudekum my husband! we seemed very devoted, and it was quite evident that a celebrated socialist could not have a king's daughter for his wife. at last i was able to get into a sleeping compartment, and luckily i had it to myself. the train rushed across germany. the count watched over me and remained outside in the corridor as much as possible. the hours rolled by. at last i heard cries of "herbesthal"! i was just entering belgium. i was about to see my country once more. without, however, daring to stop there! alas! the king was on the side of the prince of coburg! i hardly dared approach the window. i trembled. the belgian customs officials passed through the carriages. there was a knock at the door of my compartment, and the customs officials appeared behind the conductor. but i had been vouched for, and they retired unsuspiciously. oh, the irony of the banal question: "have you anything to declare?" on the contrary, what had i _not_ to declare? i was the eldest daughter of the great king of these good people who did not recognize me. i wanted to cry out, so as to be heard as far as the château of laeken, and denounce the injustice of fate, which made me a victim and an exile. i was thinking thus when an old superintendent of the belgian railways passed. he did not glance carelessly at me as the customs officials had done; he scrutinized me gravely, and i saw that he knew at once who i was. the count was watching in the corridor, and he was also certain that i had been recognized. he followed the superintendent. the man looked at him, read the anxiety in his face, and identifying him, doubtless by the photographs in the newspapers, stopped and said kindly: "it is our princess, is it not?... do not be afraid. nobody here will betray her." i never knew the name of this good and faithful compatriot. if he is still alive i hope he will learn through these lines that my gratitude has often gone out and will always go out to him. i arrived at last, safe and sound in paris. i had nothing more to fear. i was in a hospitable country, protected by just laws. it is common knowledge that shortly afterwards the most eminent french physicians recognized, after long interviews, when i was minutely interrogated and examined, the inanity of the pseudo-medical statements which had kept me in a lunatic asylum for seven years and caused me to be treated as a minor, incapable of managing my own affairs. my civil rights were restored to me; together with my liberty i had miraculously recovered my reason! but i found again, alas! during the dreadful war, evidences of the implacable hatred from which i had suffered so much. this time my enemies thought me in their power, and behaved in an odiously grasping manner. it was not now covetousness for the millions of my inheritance from my father the king, but it was greed for another fortune, that of the empress charlotte, my unfortunate aunt, whose old age is sheltered by the château of boucottes. this fresh possibility of wealth aroused the same covetousness, and, as of old, it produced the same line of conduct. but once again i was providentially saved. chapter xviii the death of the king--intrigues and legal proceedings a certain book exists of which only copies have been printed, and these have been carefully distributed among those who were unlikely to mislay them. this book, of which i deplore the fact that a greater number of copies were not printed, contains all the evidence concerning niederfullbach, and the various judgments against my claims. such as it is, and for the sake of what it contains and does not contain, i should be glad to see this book in the colleges and schools of law throughout the world. it would be both useful and suggestive. also if it were under the eyes of the general public it would doubtless be consulted with great interest. what reflections would it not inspire, not only amongst jurists, but still more amongst deep thinkers, historians and writers, to see documents which throw new light on a century, a people and a man. what would not be found hidden in high-sounding words and enormous figures! what a prodigious part is played in this book by a gifted spirit surrounded by collaborators devoted to his greatness so long as he lived, but who, enriched and satisfied, forgot his work and his name when once he was dead. "gratitude," said jules sandeau, "is like those perfumes of the east which retain their strength when kept in vessels of gold, but lose it when placed in vessels of lead." there are few golden vessels amongst men. there are vases which seem to glow with this precious metal, but which are really made of the worst kind of lead. appearances are mostly deceitful. the book which i should like to see more widely circulated, is a large volume bound in green cardboard, printed at brussels under the title, "the account of the inheritance of his majesty leopold ii--documents published by the belgian state." one of the best-known french lawyers wrote to me concerning this work: "it is a great treasure, an inexhaustible mine. some day lovers of right, the young and old of every country, will publish essays and works inspired by the documents concerning the estate of king leopold ii. they are priceless. here are to be found a glowing romance of business, of magnificent conceptions, of astonishing forms of contracts, of statutes and entails, and finally a marvellous judicial discussion where morality and immorality are at variance. the whole terminates in a fantastic judgment, preceded and followed by stupefying transactions. "it was thought that this lawsuit was finished. it will recommence and perhaps continue for a hundred years, under various forms and under certain conditions which cannot be foretold. it is impossible that the menace by belgian justice against natural rights will be accepted and remain unchallenged." if, as will be seen presently, it is indisputable that the king freely made over the congo to belgium, a possession which originally was secured by his money and under his direct superintendence, reason must admit that such a gift could not have been accepted without belgium, on her side, incurring some indebtedness to the family of the sovereign, principally to his children. that the donor may have wished to exclude his daughters from his real estate is not to be disputed, but that he could do so in justice is not presumable, and this action will never be admitted. to agree to such an iniquity would mean a conflict with that sacred principle which forms the basis of the continuity of the family. i will now quote the opinion of a lawyer. his brother lawyers who read these lines will know him. i could quote a thousand opinions. but one will suffice: that of a belgian lawyer, who was powerful enough to obtain "in the name of the state" what can only be called a sacrilegious judgment. on the evening before the judgment which settled in my person the defeat of law and justice, one of my principal lawyers at brussels was so sure of success that he telegraphed to one of my counsel, whose advice had been of great value: "congratulations in anticipation." how could this be doubted? the public prosecutor, a real lawyer, had summed up in my favour. he was an honest man. he saved the honour of belgian justice on this eventful day. my leading belgian counsel was so convinced of not being beaten that he was opposed to a compromise, which was then perhaps possible, and i agreed. for i (who had appeared so many times before the courts) had a horror of legal proceedings. here, as elsewhere, i have been seized and crushed in a fatal cogwheel. it would be easy to prove it. but the interest does not lie there; it lies in the extraordinary struggle which i have had to sustain, almost alone, in the lawsuit concerning the king's estate. my sister clémentine, who perhaps had not read hippolyte taine, yielded to dynastic illusions, and unhesitatingly sacrificed her claims. she accepted from the belgian government that which the state was pleased to offer her. she did not take into consideration the fact that she ought to join forces with her sisters. the belgian motto is "union is strength." this motto is not applicable to all belgian families! my sister stéphanie at first sided with me, then she backed out, then she came in with me, and again she backed out.... i remained firm in my mistake--if it be thought a mistake. i knew at least what i wanted. my younger sister was not so sure. that is her affair. it cannot be counted against me that my cause, being that of the right, was not always hers. i trust that i may be believed; i only struggled for justice. nobody can possibly say what i should have done had i won. as regards the congo, it was never my intention to pretend that my sisters and i could possibly dispute the wishes of the king and the laws passed in belgium for taking over the colony. but, between the conflict of certain points at issue and the acceptance of a disinheritance against nature and against legality, a space existed which could have been, and should have been, bridged by an honourable settlement. the belgian state had one proposition to make, which it timidly outlined. my leading counsel did not consider this sufficient. the belgian people, left to themselves, would have known better how to act, and how to honour the memory of leopold ii, but this duty was delegated to those who, to this day, have wilfully and lamentably failed. let us consider belgium as a human being, endowed with honour and reason, and jealous of the judgment of history and the esteem of the world; mistress of millions of congolese and of other millions of colonial treasure. as a reasoning being, would she have considered herself free from all obligations towards the unfortunate children of the giver of these gifts? most assuredly not. if she thought otherwise she would be without honour, without reason, a cruel cynic, justly mistrusted by all right-minded people. all the decrees in the world would never make her otherwise. i have reasoned this out, and i still adhere to my view i was not alone in this opinion. my belgian lawyers had other opinions besides mine, and believed them to be conclusive. if i have not succeeded in proving my case i have had, at least, the satisfaction of knowing that my lawyers have lost nothing. my case brought them luck. they eventually became ministers, men to be envied in every way, who are proud of having defended me. but let us turn to the written words; they are more eloquent than any of mine. i only wish to be sincere. here, as elsewhere, i say exactly what i think. i do not gloss over or twist things round. i only restrain myself from being too vehement. you see me as i am. i express myself as if i were standing in the presence of the king. i wish to reach my father's spirit, commune with his soul, and convince him in the invisible world that my claims were just. at the commencement of these pages i have placed his name, which has remained dear to my respect as a daughter. i was never able, and i never dared discuss matters with this father who was so deceived and misinformed about me. * * * * * on december , , the _moniteur_ published the following statement: "the belgian nation has lost its king! "the son of an illustrious sovereign, whose memory will remain for ever as a venerated symbol of constitutional monarchy, leopold ii, after a reign of forty-five years, has died in harness, having, up to his last hour, devoted the best of his life and strength to the aggrandizement and prosperity of the country. "on december , , before the reunited chambers, the king pronounced these memorable words, which since then have often been recalled: "'if i do not promise belgium either a great reign like that of the king who founded her independence, or to be a noble king like him whom we now lament, i promise at least that i will prove myself a king whose whole life will be devoted to the service of belgium.' "we know with what powerful energy he has kept and even exceeded this solemn promise. "the creation of the african state which to-day forms the belgian colony of the congo was the personal work of the king, and constitutes a unique achievement in the annals of history. "posterity will say that his was a great reign, and that he was a great king. "the country now mourning his loss must worthily honour one who has died leaving such a splendid record behind him. "the country places all its hopes in the loyal co-operation, already so happily manifested, of the prince who has been called to preside over the destiny of belgium. "he will be inspired by the illustrious examples of those who became, by the help of providence, the benefactors of the belgian people. "the council of ministers: f. schollaert, _minister of the interior and of agriculture_. leon de lantsheere, _minister of justice_. j. davignon, _minister of foreign affairs_. j. liebaert, _minister of finance_. bon descamps, _minister of science and art_. arm. hubert, _minister of industry and labour_. m. delbeke, _minister of public works_. g. hellepute,_ minister of railways, posts and telegraphs_. j. hellepute, _minister of war_. j. renkin, _colonial minister_." of the signatories of this moving proclamation some are dead, others are still living. to those who are no more, and to those who are still alive, i say: "you have written and attested that the creation of the african state was the _personal_ work of the king. in his _person_, then, you have recognized _the man_, _the head of the family_--and _therefore the family itself_; otherwise the word _personal_ is without meaning.... and, as a matter of fact, it has suddenly lost its meaning. the king, now an entity without terrestrial chains, has enriched belgium to the exclusion of his children, who are declared non-existent. "and how, with or without you, has he been honoured? "in continuing the endowment of niederfullbach and other creations of this gifted benefactor? "ah! in no way whatever! "you have liquidated, realized, destroyed and abandoned all that he conceived and ordered. i do not wish to describe in detail all that has passed, and i have no desire to touch on the sadness connected with the secrets of niederfullbach and other works of the king, from the day when they ceased to be under his direction. i will take my stand on the ground of the sin against morality which most concerns me. "eleven years have passed since the death of the 'great king.' where is the monument erected to his memory? "the people of ostend, who owe to him the prosperity and beauty of their town, have not even dared to show an example of their gratitude. they are afraid of vexing the ungrateful people of brussels, who prefer silence." his wishes with respect to the congo and his heirs are in three documents, which i append below: first: (i) an explanatory letter of the king, dated june , , in testamentary form. (attached to exhibit no. in the collection published by the belgian government.) "i undertook, more than twenty years ago, the work of the congo in the interests of civilization and for the benefit of belgium. it was in the realization of this double aim that i annexed the congo to my country in . "cognizant with all the ideas which governed the foundation of the independent state, and which inspired the act of berlin, i am anxious to specify, in the interests of the nation, the wishes expressed in my will. "the title of belgium to the possession of the congo is due to my double initiative, namely the rights which i acquired in africa, and the uses which i have made of these rights in favour of my country. "this situation imposed on me the obligation of ensuring, in accordance with my initial and dominant idea, that my legacy should prove useful in the future to civilization and to belgium. "in consequence thereof i wish to make the following points clear--points which are in perfect harmony with my immutable wish to assure to my beloved country the fruits of the work which i have pursued for long years in the continent of africa, with the general consent of most of my subjects: "upon taking possession of the sovereignty of the congo, with all the benefits, rights and advantages attached thereto, my legatee will assume, as is only just and necessary, the obligation of respecting all the engagements of the state assigned to third parties, and likewise to respect all acts which i have established touching the privileges of the natives for donations for land, for the endowment of philanthropic or religious works, for the foundation of the domain of the crown, for the establishment of the natural domain, as well as the obligation not to lessen by any measure the rights of the revenues of these various institutions without giving at the same time an equivalent compensation. i consider the observation of these rules as essential to assure to the sovereignty of the congo the resources and the power indispensable for the accomplishment of the task. "in voluntarily surrendering the congo and the benefits derived therefrom in favour of belgium, i must, without adding to the national obligation, strive to ensure to belgium the perpetuity of the benefits which i bequeath her. "i wish to state definitely that the legacy of the congo to belgium should always be maintained by her in its integrity. in consequence, the territory bequeathed will be inalienable under the same conditions as belgian territory. "i do not hesitate to specify this inalienability, for i know how great is the value of the congo, and i have, in consequence, the conviction that this possession will never cost the belgian nation any lasting sacrifice. "(signed) leopold. "_brussels, june , ._" having read this, no really right-minded person can deny that the king speaks of the congo as private property which he surrenders voluntarily to belgium, which he was quite at liberty to do, and which belgium was equally at liberty to accept as a royal gift. but there is no right without duty. i ask whether it was right of the belgian government to ruin me, an exile and a prisoner, calumniated and mistrusted; to deny me my belgian nationality, and to sequestrate the little money left me in belgium? this, i have said before, was, i believe, the fatal result of a general measure, misinterpreted perhaps by an inexpert official. but let it go!! i only ask whether the belgian government can assert to-day that it has fulfilled the conditions imposed on it by its benefactor, and especially "the obligation to respect the integrity of the revenues of the various institutions" established by the king in favour of the congo. i await an answer. i now come to the question of the will. will of the king. (document no. .) "this is my will. "i inherited from my parents fifteen millions. these fifteen millions i have scrupulously kept intact, in spite of many vicissitudes. "i possess nothing else. "after my death these fifteen millions become the property of my heirs and must be made over to them by the executor of my will, to be divided between them. "i die in the catholic religion, to which i belong; i wish no post-mortem to be made; i wish to be buried without pomp in the early morning. "except my nephew albert and the members of my household, no person is to follow my remains. "may god protect belgium, and may he in his goodness be merciful to me. "(sgd.) leopold. "_brussels, november , ._" a great deal has been written about this will. the statement "i possess nothing" except the declared fifteen millions caused the ink to flow. the statement itself was proved untrue on the death of the king, since in the abundance of wealth of all sorts which was found, the belgian government was obliged to specify as "litigious" certain shares and moneys which it could not take over, and which it left to my sisters and to myself. these shares and moneys have nearly doubled the fortune bequeathed us by our father. let no one say: "the fortune was considerable." as a statement it is true. but it must not be forgotten that everything is comparative, and that if i explain a point of succession which is unique in history it is not because i am avaricious. it is because i must insist, as a question of principle, to defend what i consider right, and to enlighten the public on a hitherto entangled and obscure discussion. the second will, reproduced below, merely states precisely the intention of the first: the other will of the king. (document no. .) "i have inherited from my mother and my father fifteen millions. "i leave those to be divided amongst my children. "owing to my position and the confidence of various people, large sums have at certain times passed through my hands without belonging to me. "i do not possess more than the fifteen millions mentioned above. "(sgd.) leopold. "_laeken, october , ._" in this document the king said no more about having "scrupulously" saved the fifteen millions. a great deal has been written about this, because elsewhere the king often declared in his most formal manner that not only had he used his own fortune, but also that of my aunt, the empress charlotte, in the congo enterprise. he might have lost all. if this had been the case, would belgium have indemnified his children at his death? certainly not! fortunately belgium has been the gainer. is it logical that the king's children should be objects of indifference to him? to finish with the question of the fifteen millions, one fact remains which i cannot pass over, and which will suffice to invalidate the characteristic declaration of the king, if the discovery had not already been made at his death. about this well-known fact everyone will guess beforehand what i could say.... it is not wise to enlarge on this subject. age is excusable in its errors, and the disposal of sixty millions will find many willing helpers. but, truly, whom does one deceive, and by whom is one deceived? virtuous airs are strangely a matter of circumstance with certain people who lend themselves to an astonishing favouritism, to the detriment of the natural heirs of the king. however, let us forget this. let us only remember the material point, which was that the king _wished_ to disinherit his daughters. was it right and moral of belgium to associate herself with this inhuman error and this illegality? ought she not to have assumed another line of conduct on behalf of myself and my sisters? i ask it of the king as if he were alive and in the entire possession of his faculties; i ask this of the king who is now enlightened by death. i ask it of my brave compatriots. i ask it of the jurists of the entire world. i ask it of history. let us put aside the millions of future generations and the hundreds of millions of the past. i have renounced expectations and the promises of fairy tales more easily than most people. i would have liked to have made many people happy, to have helped beautiful works, to have created useful institutions. god knows all my dreams. he has decided that they should not be fulfilled, and i am resigned. i have only wished to defend a principle and to obtain for myself a minimum of the possibilities of a free and honourable existence in accordance with my rank. was my action then unjustifiable? what do certain documents--which it is easy to consult--establish, but which i cannot reproduce here without giving to these pages a different character from that i wish to give? these documents prove that the _personal_ fortune of the king had attained a minimum of twenty millions at the time of his last illness. on the decease of the sovereign this fortune, or the greater portion of it, had disappeared. my sisters and i had a round figure of twelve millions. but what of the rest? it has been said to us, and to me especially: "what? you are complaining? by the terms of your father's will you should only have five millions. you have twelve millions, and you are not satisfied. you argue, you accuse, you incriminate! you are always at war with someone." i am not at war with any particular person in this affair. i have simply upheld the right, and i believe it to be my duty. the government, the judge and the party opponents have told me, in fine-sounding sentences, that i was wrong. would they agree to submit their judgments to the final verdict of a tribunal composed of jurists from countries friendly to belgium? i renounce in advance the benefit of their decision if it should be in my favour. would they agree to accept an inquiry into the subject of the _real and personal_ fortune of the king at the time of his death and what has become of it? i know beforehand. these indiscreet questions will only meet with profound silence. what consoles me in my misfortunes is the knowledge that the men in the confidence of the king have become wonderfully enriched. if my father could only leave fifteen millions i am confident that they, at any rate, will be able to leave much more. i am very pleased to think that this is so, as i find it only natural that merit, valour, conscientiousness and fidelity should be recompensed on earth. i only regret one thing, which is common to human nature. money, alas! does not tend to improve it. instead it seems to harden the hearts of those who possess it. how can the king's faithful servants and those of my family be at ease in palaces, where everything breathes comfort and luxury, when i am reduced to living as i am now obliged to live, practically from hand to mouth, uncertain to-day where to look to-morrow for sustenance, although within the grasp of two fortunes: one already mine by right of inheritance, and the other which i have every anticipation of inheriting? people may say that instead of complaining i could continue to defend my rights, and it avails nothing to abuse the injustice of men. i do not ignore the fact that i have only to attack the société des sites, and the french property which the king has given to belgium, for french justice, which is worthy of the name of justice, to condemn a fictitious society, whose so-called existence is not unwelcome to a parisian lawyer and the servants of my family who have lent their name as circumstances required. law is law for everyone in france, and when the société des sites was founded in paris, it was done with the most flagrant disregard of french legality. i do not forget that the german law would equally condemn what transpired between belgium and the administrators of niederfullbach, if i were to attack these persons before the justice of germany, as i could easily do. the two germans who are included in the list of administrators have sensed danger so strongly, owing to their properties and positions being in germany, that, in face of possible dangerous retaliations, they have sheltered themselves behind the belgium state by the "arrangement" which they have accepted, and which has robbed my sisters and myself of considerable sums. i also know that the royal gift of is open to an attack in belgium, based on the material error committed over the question of the disposable share of the king's property. but, really, it is too painful for me to think about this and to go into these details. i only give certain of them in order to show that i have resisted, and i shall still resist, assuring myself that if i have not found justice in belgium i shall find it elsewhere. to speak with perfect frankness, i have suffered cruelly, and i still suffer on account of the strife in which i have been involved. when i occasionally re-read the pleadings of the talented lawyers who defended or attacked me over the question of the king's inheritance, a sort of faintness overcomes me. before so many words, in the face of so many reasons for and against, i feel that all things except equity can be expected of mankind. it is positively stupefying for me to realize that three of my lawyers are ministers, or are on the point of becoming ministers, as i write these pages. i have only to take up their "pleadings" to hear the voice of their conscience proclaiming the justice of my cause, and accusing the state in which they are embodied to-day of collusion and fraud--in one word, of unqualified actions. do they not remember what they said, wrote and published? i listen in vain for some words from them.... nothing ... never a word. i am dead, so far as they are concerned. i am unhappy. they know it, and they keep silence. never a thought, a memory for one who confided in them. they are in power--and i am in misery; they are living in their own country--i am an exile. they are _men_, and i am a _woman_. oh, pettiness of the human soul! i think again of all that has been said and written against me in the land of my birth for which i was sacrificed. what errors, what exaggerations, what passions, what ignorance concerning my real self! nevertheless, taken as individuals, those who attack me and defame me are really good and brave men at heart. but they rend one's soul. do they not understand what they do? has belgium no conscience? she ranks so high to-day in the opinion of the world, that it seems impossible for her to expose herself to the diminution of her moral glory which will inevitably follow when history goes into the vexed question of the king's inheritance, and its results in my own case. can she rightly and peacefully enjoy that which has been unjustly obtained, or more or less greedily seized by her? history will find, as i find, certain ineffaceable words in the address to the sénat by m. de lantsheere, minister of state, touching the royal gift of , which all that was best in the belgian soul then found inacceptable. i reproduce these words for the contemplation and consideration of all honest men. m. de lantsheere spoke as follows in the belgian sénat on december , , to contest the acceptance by the chambre des représentants of the king's gift, and all that had privately enriched the king: "i intend to remain faithful to a principle which king leopold i always upheld and from which he never departed, one which i also upheld twenty-six years ago with m. malou, m. beernaert, and m. delcour, members of the cabinet of which i had the honour to be a member--which mm. hubert dolez, d'anethan and notcomb, chief of those preceding me, who, like others after me, have equally upheld. this principle, which it has been reserved for the law to abandon for the first time, can be summed up in few words. _the common law is an indispensable support of the royal patrimony._ the present project offends justice.... two of the royal princesses are married. from these marriages children have been born. therefore families have been founded. these children have married in their turn, and have founded new families. these families may very reasonably have expected that nothing detrimental could happen to the hereditary rights which the code declares unalienable from the descendants.... if, owing to some aberration of which you will give the first example ... you do not respect the laws by which families are founded, ... _one universal voice will be heard in belgium which will curse the dominions which have enriched the nation at the expense of the king's children_.... "do you not think that it will look very disgraceful for royalty to be exposed to the suspicion of wishing (under the cloak of liberality towards a country) to reserve the means, if not of disinheriting its descendants, at least of depriving them of that to which they are legally and morally entitled? i venture to believe that those persons will serve the interests of the state much more faithfully who insist that she must remain firm in her acceptance of the rights of common law, than those persons who uphold the acceptance of the disastrous gift of an unlimited authority. i wish to ignore the possibility of any of these ulterior motives having entered the mind of his majesty; you must ignore them if they have not already occurred to you; but i know that man's will is variable and certain laws are made in order to prevent possible injustice. "if at the time of the king's death a point had been made of encroaching on the disposable funds, you would not have had the courage to lay the hand upon this patrimony. why, then, do you forge weapons which, when the moment is ripe, you will blush to use? "therefore, sirs, the uselessness of the project again reveals itself, as well as its equally odious and dangerous character ... it is a juridical monstrosity.... it must never be said that in the kingdom of belgium any poor girl possesses more legal rights in her father's inheritance than the king's daughters now possess in the inheritance of their father."... chapter xix my sufferings during the war i was at vienna when war was declared, and until actual hostilities commenced i could hardly believe such a thing was possible. the idea that the emperor francis joseph, already with one foot in the grave, contemplated appearing as a combatant, after invariably suffering defeat, seemed sheer madness to me. it is true that a camarilla, acting under orders from berlin, used the weakly old man as a tool. but that berlin really wished to embark on a war which could not fail to cause a universal conflagration was incredible. it was worse than madness--it was a crime. but the desire to kill carried away those in power at berlin. i had a presentiment of a mysterious fatality which had laid its spell on berlin and vienna. i wondered what would become of me. and each possible solution became more and more difficult. if, according to the views of my belgian countrymen, i am unfortunate enough not to have regained my nationality in spite of the good sense and approval of the king my father, and once more denied the rights of justice and humanity, an action against which i protest most strongly, i was regarded from the first day of the war as an "enemy subject" by the court of vienna, which was doubtless pleased to be able to hurt me in some new way. i was asked to leave the dual monarchy as soon as possible. the chief of the police came in person to notify me of this decision. this distinguished functionary was in many respects courteous, but the order was extremely precise and formal. i left for belgium. but certain events detained me at munich. the german army barred the road, and my devoted country was soon to know the horrors of which the first responsibility rests with prussia. until august , , i was able to live in the capital of bavaria, as a belgian princess, without having to experience many of the inconveniences to which my position exposed me. the bavarian government was certainly indulgent. i was even allowed to retain a french maid who had been long in my service. the count--that devoted knight, whose proximity in my sad life had brought me consolation and unfailing support--was also allowed to be a member of my entourage. but the german victories convinced my pitiless enemies that i should soon be at their mercy. they at once arranged their new plan of campaign! i am proud to write this--proud to admit that the sufferings of belgium were my own. she was oppressed. i was also the victim of oppression. she had lost all. i had also lost everything. from day to day my resources became straitened, and the atmosphere, at first compassionate, became hostile. i tried to efface myself as much as possible, and to submit myself patiently to the exigencies of my delicate situation. it was well known with whom my heart was in sympathy! worries and harshness soon assailed me. my son-in-law, duke gunther of schleswig-holstein, did not ignore--and with good reason--the difficulties i had to overcome. he lost no time in letting it be known that he considered i ought to agree to be placed under his guardianship, and forced to receive my last morsel of bread at his hands. i do not wish to enlarge on the actions of this gentleman. if i were to publish the documents and the legal papers which i have kept, i should only add to the remorse and confusion which i should like to think have overcome my unhappy daughter. but, in duty to myself, i must relate a little of what transpired. nothing else will suffice to show the drama which has enveloped me since the day when i represented the possible loss of a fortune to my family. duke gunther of schleswig-holstein, from the very moment when germany thought herself mistress of belgium, occupied himself in ascertaining what might accrue to me from the inheritance of my father. rather more than four and a half millions had been deposited in the bank, assigned for the benefit of my creditors, by arbitration of the tribunal which had been formed on the eve of hostilities. this sum of money was the object of the touching solicitude of my son-in-law. i leave it to others to relate his efforts to obtain possession of it and divert it into a different channel from the one for which it was intended. nevertheless, these four and a half millions were only a drop in the ocean compared with the promise of the past. my dear country can therefore rejoice, and i rejoice with her, that, by the victory of the entente, she has escaped a revision of the lawsuit touching the royal inheritance, one which would have been in direct opposition to the divine and human right, at least as soon as the decree had been issued. what crime would not then have been committed in my name in favour of the final triumph of german arms if, threatened with the pangs of starvation, i had signed certain renunciations which were extorted from me at munich, and had thereby lost my personality and abandoned my rights to my children in consideration of a miserable pittance? they now saw themselves likely to be compensated in some measure for all that had previously prevented them from acquiring the king's inheritance. they had also the certainty of possessing the thirty millions which represent my share of the fortune of her majesty the empress charlotte, when my unfortunate aunt succumbs beneath the burden of her advanced age. my children--from the hour when they became aware of the frightful state of destitution to which i was reduced during the war--have only pursued one end: _without troubling to see me or to approach me directly_, they have endeavoured by the mediation of paid agents to force me to sign a renunciation of my expectations. [illustration: the duchess gunther of schleswig-holstein] in direct defiance of the law i was ordered to sign my name to a document by which i relinquished my future inheritance from the empress to my children. at last, worn out with sufferings, i was on the point of consenting for a consideration of an annual payment of a sum of _six thousand marks_, in exchange for which i was to be reduced to isolation and slavery, and to be further plundered of all that might belong to me. i will say nothing here to the duke of holstein, this soldier financier; but to my daughter dora, the fruit of my body, whom i have fed at my breast, and whom i have brought up, i say this: "you may possess all the outward appearances of respectability. you may enjoy the benefits of a fortune of which i know the source, you may experience neither shame nor remorse, you may even dare to pray. but god can never be deceived. no wickedness, no guilty complicity, no action contrary to nature will escape his justice. sooner or later he will judge all men according to their works." before i conclude my account of the machinations of these human vultures who attempted to assail my liberty and my rights, when once i had been unfortunate enough to ask help from my children, i must not forget to mention that later, when i regained the captaincy of my soul, i appealed to justice at munich. the courts there declared the renunciations extracted from me in my misery and frenzy when i was starving and homeless to be invalid. during the war i have often actually not known where i should sleep, or of what my next meal would consist. i write this frankly, without a particle of false shame--firm in the approval of my own conscience. i have never willingly injured anyone. i have suffered in silence. i am speaking to-day in my own defence, bringing as evidence a family drama which touches contemporary history. i speak with candour, but i am not actuated by feelings of hatred. wickedness has diminished. but my personal sufferings have in nowise lessened. i was born a king's daughter, i shall die a king's daughter. i have certainly pleaded for assistance, but more on behalf of my attendants than for myself. i could not bear to see these devoted creatures, my comfort and support in my misery, weep and grow pale during these dark days. the count had been obliged to leave munich. on the morning of august , , his room was suddenly invaded by the police. he was put in prison, then taken to hungary, and afterwards interned near budapest. he was by birth a croatian and therefore regarded as a subject of the entente, even before the defeat which united croatia and servia. human justice is really only a word! on the same day olga, my principal attendant, an austrian who had always shown me an invaluable and long-standing devotion, was also arrested. she was afterwards released. but i understood the significance of this--the order had come from the highest authority to alienate everyone who cared for me. i will describe what followed. my french maid, whose care of me was so disinterested, was interned. if my faithful olga had not come out of prison, and if i had not had the means to keep her, i should have been completely isolated. but, shortly after this, i really did not know how to supply my daily needs. my last jewels had been sold. i was now as poor as the poor souls who implored my charity. what should i decide to do, what should i attempt? if i appealed to my daughter i knew that i should be up against the duke of holstein. he was absolutely pitiless. all this happened in july, . providence now threw in my way an honourable man, a swiss professor, who was terribly distressed at my fate. he generously offered to help me to reach silesia, where my daughter was in residence at one of her castles. this castle is not far from breslau. i therefore left munich, with olga, in the hope of seeing my child and obtaining from her some temporary shelter. but when i reached my journey's end i tried in vain to be received, listened to, and assisted by dora. i was therefore stranded in a little village in the silesian mountains, where my last few marks soon disappeared. the count had tried to send me the wherewithal to exist. without any warning, the german postal authorities retained the money and returned his letters. the little inn where i had taken refuge was kept by kindly folk who were, however, unable to let me stop unless i could pay. i saw myself faced with the most extreme misery. the innkeeper seemed frightened of me. he told me that he had been ordered to render an account of my doings to the police, and that i was kept well under observation, although i might not be aware that this was the case. he was mistaken. i and olga had both noticed that our slightest movements were watched. even in our walks in the open country we continually met some peasant or some pedestrian who appeared not to notice us, but who actually spied on us more or less unsuccessfully. i felt the influence of an implacable force that wished to immure me in some new gaol, madhouse or prison, or which would perhaps even make me contemplate self-destruction. in this extremity heaven once again came to my rescue. on the very day which i thought would be the last i should be allowed to stay at the inn, i sat down, miserably, on a bench in front of the house. i asked myself in despair what was to become of me. suddenly a carriage appeared--a rare sight in that unfrequented region. the coachman signalled to me, and i saw, sitting in the carriage, a large, important-looking person who seemed looking for something or somebody. he was looking for me! i was soon acquainted with the fact that this gentleman had come from budapest on behalf of the count, and wished to speak to me. at these words i felt myself lifted out of the abyss of despair. but my trials were not over. the count's confidential agent had been charged with the mission of helping me to leave germany. in order to do this, it would be necessary to cross austria into hungary, where i could rely upon active sympathy being shown me. things and people had already changed in the austro-hungarian monarchy! but, what possibilities such a journey presented! first, i had no official papers. the revelation of my name and title would alone suffice to impede my progress; i should be instantly detained. but although, thanks to the count's messenger, my bill at the inn was settled, i had only very limited means at my disposal. austria, it is true, was not far away. we could go there across the mountains by way of bohemia, but the envoy declared that, owing to his shortness of breath and his troublesome legs, he could not possibly follow me over the goat tracks which we should most assuredly have to pass. he decided that our best plan was to make for dresden, and from there to choose the easiest route. when evening fell our host metaphorically closed his eyes to my departure. he waited until the next day to notify my disappearance to the authorities. by the time he did so i was in saxony. but here again it was too dangerous to go near lindenhof in a kingdom where my misfortunes had been the subject of so much publicity. at last we remembered a little village close to the frontier, on the side nearest munich, where the regime was less rigorous than in the vicinity of dresden, and we arrived there without anything untoward happening. the present difficulty was not so much in crossing germany. it chiefly consisted in solving the question of the possibility of my being able to stay in some retired spot without my identity being discovered and notified, and afterwards to cross the frontier without a passport and gain safety at budapest. this odyssey alone would make a volume. it terminated in a bavarian village where i breathed freely once more. a good woman extended the kindest hospitality towards me and my faithful olga. the count's messenger still continued to watch over my welfare, and found accommodation for himself in the vicinity. from my window i could see the church steeple of the austrian village through which i must pass in order to reach salzburg, vienna and hungary. i was now on the borders of the promised land. a little wood separated me from it, at the extremity of which flowed a brook well known to the contrabandists, since it separated bavaria from austria, and served them by night as a means of transit. i dared not risk it! it would be necessary for me to cross a bridge constantly guarded by a sentry. but once over the bridge i should have left germany behind me! when i happened to be near munich, i had regained possession of two favourite dogs. my love of dogs is well known. i did not wish to be separated from these, and i had an intuition that they would be of use to me in my flight. i thought tenderly of the clever kiki, now a prisoner at bad-elster. his successors, like himself, would surely bring me luck! one was a big sheep-dog, the other a little griffon. at first i hesitated to go near the bridge for fear lest i should be recognized. then i reflected that it would seem suspicious to a sentry on duty if i always remained some distance away. my best method would be not to hide from the sentries, but to walk constantly with my dogs in their proximity. the soldiers (the same ones were always on duty) would soon get accustomed to seeing me, and in their eyes i should only represent an inoffensive inhabitant of the village. the count's envoy begged me to hasten my departure. i refused. he advised a nocturnal flight. i did not agree with him. i said: "i shall go when i see fit, at my own time, when i _feel_ that the propitious moment has arrived." it is curious, but it is nevertheless true, that i always experience a weird kind of intuition under difficulties. it is exactly as if some inner voice advised me what course to pursue. and whenever i have obeyed this intuition i have always been right. one morning i awakened under the domination of my unseen guide. "you must leave at noon to-day." i sent at once to the count's messenger. thanks to his official papers he was able to cross the frontier with olga without any difficulty. they therefore went on in advance. i arranged to meet them at the foot of the belfry in the austrian village--so near and yet so far. if the sentry stopped me and questioned me, i should be a prisoner!... towards noon i strolled along by the side of the brook, my big dog jumping round me, the tiny griffon in my arms. the autumnal sun was quite fierce, and the sentry was standing in the shade a little distance from the bridge. i sauntered across the bridge, as if it were a matter of course. the soldier took no notice. i walked away unconcernedly, but my heart was beating furiously! i was in austria at last! upon reaching the village i rejoined my "suite." a carriage was waiting. i drove to salzburg, and put up at a small hotel where i knew i should be in temporary security. i waited three days for the arrival of my viennese counsel, m. stimmer, who had been secretly advised of my return to austria, and of my wish to proceed to budapest under his protection. m. stimmer responded to my appeal. he waived all the legal difficulties which might arise from the situation. the voice of humanity spoke more strongly than the voice of obedience to the order which had banished me from austria, and given me over to the power of germany, where i should inevitably have succumbed to misery and persecution. but in hungary i should stand a chance of knowing happier days. m. stimmer decided to accompany me thither. i had reached the limit of my endurance when my wanderings came to an end at budapest, and i found myself in a comfortable first-class hotel. the authorities saw nothing compromising in my presence. at my urgent request the count was allowed to leave the small town where he was interned, and remain near me for several days in order to discuss my affairs. unfortunately the war was hopelessly prolonged. life gradually became more and more difficult. austria and hungary were no longer the victims of illusion. enlightened by the knowledge of defeat, they cursed berlin as the author of their misfortunes. budapest was in a state of ferment. all at once everything collapsed. the wind of bolshevism swept furiously over the dual monarchy. i now became familiar with the commissaries and soldiers of the revolution. i experienced visits of inspection, perquisitions, interrogations. but suddenly my misfortunes disarmed even the savage leaders of hungarian communism. i have already mentioned how one of these men remarked when he saw to what poverty i was reduced: "here is a king's daughter who is poorer than i am." if i were to live for centuries, i should still experience in thought those poignant emotions which i underwent during the time of torment which overthrew thrones and threw crowns to the four winds of heaven. past ages have never witnessed such an upheaval. on the banks of the danube, between the east and the west, the downfall of prussian power and the prestige of monarchy was felt perhaps more keenly than elsewhere. i often wondered whether i was actually alive in the world i had formerly known, or if i was not the victim of a long-drawn-out nightmare. our troubles, our worries, our own individuality are as naught in the whirlpool of human passions. i felt myself carried away with everything which surrounded me into the unknown country of a new era. chapter xx in the hope of rest and now that i have said all that i think is indispensable, perhaps my readers will make excuses for me if i have expressed myself badly in narrating the story of my sufferings. they will, perhaps, also make excuses for my having broken the silence which i have hitherto maintained. there has been endless discussion concerning me and my affairs. i have not wished it, i have not inspired it. it has arisen solely through force of circumstances. we are powerless against circumstances. our lives seem to be influenced more by others than by ourselves, and the fatality which often orders our actions and our days is not our choice. a moment's folly can wreck a whole life. this has been my personal experience. but i think that at first i was the person deceived, because i was not old enough to judge rightly and to see clearly. can i grow old without obeying the duty to defend the truth, which has been so outraged by my enemies? can i go down to the grave, misunderstood and slandered? my life represents a succession of fatalities of which i was powerless to avert the final _dénouement_. i have already said, and i repeat, i do not hold myself guiltless of errors, faults and wrongdoings. but one must, in justice, seek their primary cause in my disastrous marriage. my parents--particularly the queen--saw nothing wrong in giving me to the prince of coburg when i was hardly more than a child. the king saw in this marriage the possibility of certain influences and a political union which would be useful to himself and to belgium. the queen was overjoyed at the thought that i was to make my home in austria and hungary, whence she had herself come, and where i should remember her, and at the same time further my country's glory and the king's ambitions. i have been sacrificed for the good of belgium, and belgium now includes belgians who reproach me for the gift of my youth and happiness essentially destined for their benefit! belgians to-day regard me as a german, a hungarian--a foreigner--and worse even than that! alas for human gratitude! be that as it may, am i guilty of having voluntarily abandoned my country or of ceasing to love it? the whole of my being protests against this vile accusation. of what then am i guilty? of having left my husband and my children? i lived for twenty years at the most corrupt court of europe. i never yielded to its temptations or its follies. i gave birth to a son and a daughter, i suckled them at my breast, and i reposed all my hopes of a mother in my children. my son's fate and how he left me is common knowledge. it is also well known how my daughter, influenced by her husband and her environment, has treated me. of what was i actually guilty? it is true that finding myself at the end of my courage, and suffocating in the atmosphere of a home which for me was detestable, i was about to succumb.... i was rescued at this crisis, and i dedicated my life to my deliverer. and, in consequence, my saviour was branded as a forger, and by dint of monetary persecutions and fines it was sought to annihilate him. both of us have escaped from the murderers who desired our destruction. am i guilty of having struggled, of having remained faithful to fidelity, and of having resisted the efforts to overthrow me? the judgments of error and hatred matter little to me. i have remained the woman that i promised my sainted mother i would become--the idealist, who has lived on the heights. am i guilty in the real meaning of morality and freedom? many women who consider themselves in a position to cast the first stone at me have far more with which to reproach themselves! what remains to be said? this.... i believed, i believed in common with the greatest legal minds, that in the ordinary course of events i should inherit a fortune from my father. my inheritance was considerably encumbered and reduced owing to fraudulent schemes and wrongful judgments, which have been universally condemned. am i guilty for having been deceived and plundered? again it is said that my family was not united. is this my fault? i always loved my flesh and blood more than myself. have i been found wanting in affection and respect towards my parents? was i not to my sisters the adoring eldest sister who loved and cherished them? am i guilty of the errors of the king and the queen, the latter convinced by my persecutors of the gravity of my "illness," the former irritated--not by my independence, but by the scandal that it created? am i guilty of the selfishness of my sisters--one the victim of narrow-mindedness, the other the victim of political schemes? i freely admit this: i have certainly rebelled against disloyalty and restraint. but for what motives? for what ends? my real crime has consisted in my effort to get my own property, in waiting for a fortune which i have not handled. the world only admires the victorious, no matter by what means they achieve victory. i have been a victim ever since my girlish feet were led into devious paths; i have always suffered defeat. when the battle was over i did not ask pardon of untruth, injury, theft, or persecution. i might have been alone, i might have fallen under the burden of infamy and violence. but i would not yield because i was not fighting for myself alone. god has visibly sustained me, by animating my heart with feelings of esteem and gratitude for a chivalrous soul whom i have never heard utter a word of complaint, no matter how atrocious the intrigues and the cruelties which encompassed him. a base world has judged his devotion and my constancy from the lowest standpoint. let such a world now realize that beings exist who are far above the sordid instincts to which humanity abandons itself, beings who, in a common aspiration to a lofty ideal, rise superior to all earthly weaknesses. the last lines of this short sketch of a life, the details of which would fill many volumes, must be a recognition of my gratitude towards count geza mattachich. i have not said a great deal about him, because he will think that even a little is too much. this silent man only appreciates silence. "silence alone is strong, all the rest is weakness." thus wrote alfred de vigny, and this line is the motto of the strong. but you know, count, that unlike you i cannot force myself to be silent. i wish to invoke the vision of the hour when you first spoke those words which penetrated my conscience and cleansed and illumined it. from that hour, this light has been my guide. i have sought in suffering the road towards spiritual beauty. but you preceded me thither, and in the dark depths of the madhouse i looked towards your prison cell, and in so doing i escaped the horrors of insanity. we have had to submit to the assaults of covetousness and hypocrisy. we have struggled in the mire; we have been separated in wild lands. the world has only seen the splashes of mud and the tattered banner of our combat. it has ignored the cause, and its malevolence has never pardoned us for emerging from the fight as victims. all this was very bitter at the time, but i never regret! my sufferings are dear to me because you, count, have shared them, after having tried so ardently to spare me. there is always a certain joy in bearing unmerited afflictions in the spirit of sacrifice. this spirit of sacrifice is peculiarly your own. i never possessed it. but you have endowed me with it. no gift has ever been so precious to my soul, and i shall be grateful to you on this side of the tomb and beyond it! i, who alone know you as you really are, and know the adoration that has given you a reason for living, i thank you, count, in the twilight of my days for the nobility which you have always shown in this adoration. shall i ever know, will you ever know, the meaning of rest otherwise than the last rest which is the lot of mankind? will earthly justice ever render unto us the hoped-for reparations? will it be possible for us to remain outlawed from the truth, and crushed by the abuse of power and human wickedness? let it be as god wills! index agram, princess louise at, , albert, king of the belgians, albert, prince consort, influence of, queen victoria and, alexandrine, princess, of saxe-coburg, alice, princess, of hesse, betrothal of, to nicholas ii, character of, amélie, princess, of saxe-coburg, marriage with maximilian of bavaria, ardennes, royal picnics in, augusta (of schleswig-holstein), german empress, , bad taste in dress of, character of, _et seq._ duke gunther's marriage and, influence on outbreak of war of, mediocrity of, princess louise and, augusta (wife of william i), german empress, princess louise and, auguste, prince, of saxe-coburg, , , as count helpa, ausbach, m., burgomaster of brussels, austria, princess louise ordered from, return of princess louise to, automobiles, princess louise on, , bad-elster, escape of princess louise from, _et seq._ princess louise taken to, beatrice, princess (of battenberg), belgian government, will of leopold ii and, _et seq._ belgium, constitution of, fortitude of, indignation in berlin against, king leopold's fortune and, , leopold's anti-german policy and, princess louise and, , , princess louise's escape through, , princess louise's loss of nationality in, "sacrifice" of princess louise to, belgium, royal house of, and its connexions, berlin-bagdad railway, berlin, court of, under william i, under william ii, , biarritz, belgian royal family at, birthday oaks at laeken, bismarck, count von, , blanche de nemours, bologna, princess louise at, , bolshevism at budapest, , boucottes, château of, empress charlotte at, brown, john, and queen victoria, , brussels, plots against princess louise in, princess louise an "enemy princess" in, , brussels, palace at, inconveniences of, portrait of charles i by van dyck, in, budapest, bolshevism at, , count mattachich interned at, princess louise at, , society at, war experiences in, cannes, princess louise at, , chantilly, princess louise at, charlotte, empress of mexico, fortune of, , , , , chartres, duc de, chartres, duchesse de, , chateaubriand, princess louise and, château d'eu, princess louise at, chotek, countess, camarilla against, , created duchess of hohenberg, influence in austrian politics of, marriage with francis ferdinand d'este, , claremont, queen marie amélie at, clémentine, princess, of belgium, accepts belgian government's offer, as horsewoman, as musician, birth of, , birthday oak at laeken of, leopold ii's attitude to, marriage of, clémentine, princess (of orleans), at coburg palace, , ferdinand of bulgaria and, , - ferdinand's wife and, princess louise and, clotilde, archduchess, of saxe-coburg, at budapest, character of, coburg, family of, coburg, prince of (_see_ philip of saxe-coburg and gotha) coburg, royal gatherings at, - coburg estates in hungary, coburg palace, princess louise at, , _et seq._ condé, prince de, congo, king leopold's policy for, , king leopold's will and, _et seq._ cyril, grand duchess (_see_ melita, princess) daszynski, deputy, on count mattachich, , d'aumale, duc, as friend of belgium, at princess louise's wedding, friendship of, with queen of belgium, delehaye, m., on king leopold i, , d'este, francis ferdinand, camarilla against, , influence of duchess of hohenberg on, marriage with countess chotek of, , doebling asylum, princess louise in, , , , , donny, general, , dora, daughter of princess louise, birth of, leaves her mother, , marriage with duke gunther of schleswig-holstein, , , , , princess louise's fruitless appeal to, "wickedness" of, towards mother, dresden, princess louise at, edward vii at princess louise's wedding, german emperor and, john brown and, elizabeth, daughter of archduke rudolph, elizabeth, empress of austria, after death of archduke rudolph, , and heinrich heine, as "martyr," as "queen of queens," character of, death of, meeting between princess louise and, , emperor of austria (_see_ francis joseph) empress frederick, character of, , empress of austria (_see_ elizabeth, empress of austria) ernest, duke, of saxe-coburg, , princess louise and, , etienne, archduke, eucharistic congress ( ), emperor francis joseph at, faure, m., duets with queen henriette, ferdinand of bulgaria, adopts title of tsar, as "emperor of byzantium," character of, , , _et seq._ downfall of, enmity of, to princess louise, excommunication of, marriage of, mother's influence on, princess louise and, - , - sons of, baptized into greek church, flandre, comte and comtesse of, visit princess louise at lindenhof, france, politics and religion in, francis joseph, emperor of austria, and princess louise's scandals, , , at eucharistic congress ( ), berlin and, character of, , death of archduke rudolph and, greatness of, "justice" of, madame schratt and, , , "madness" of, regarding war, personal appearance of, , refuses help to princess louise, frederick, crown prince, at princess louise's wedding, frederick, emperor, character of, , fugger, countess, fidelity of, , , gerard, queen henriette's _maître-d' hôtel_, german emperor (_see_ william ii) germany, evil influence of prussia on, , , legendary philosophy of, treatment of ex-kings by, william ii responsible for crimes of, , goethe, as princess louise's favourite author, gotha, princess louise at, gunther, duke of schleswig-holstein, character of, coerces princess louise at munich, count mattachich and, fortune of leopold ii and, gunther, duke of schleswig-holstein, marriage of, with princess dora, , , warns princess louise, heine, heinrich, empress elizabeth and, princess louise's estimate of, helpa, count (_see_ auguste of saxe-coburg) henriette, queen of belgium, and death of prince leopold, , as horsewoman, , beauty and character of, , , , , death of, at spa, friendship of, with duc d'aumale, influence at vienna of, influence on princess louise, , , , king leopold and, , , , , letters of, to princess louise at lindenhof, marriage of, parents of, prince louise's marriage and, , , hesse, grand duke of, marriage of, with princess melita, hofburg palace, vienna, princess louise at, hohenberg, duchess of (_see_ chotek, countess) hoyoz, count, at meyerling, hungary, coburg estates in, john, archduke (john orth), disappearance of, joinville, prince de, joseph, archduke, at princess louise's wedding, at sadowa, palace of, at buda, keglevich, count, and count mattachich, , keglevich, countess, princess louise and count mattachich take refuge with, laeken, château of, childhood of princess louise at, , , commemoration oak trees at, inconveniences of, king leopold and gardens at, , marriage of princess louise at, queen henrietta's feat of horsemanship at, royal children's gardens at, lantsheere, m. de, address to the senate by, , _le journal_, princess louise and, leopold i, death of, , , influence of, leopold ii of belgium, , accession of, administration of empress charlotte's fortune by, attitude towards daughters of, , belgian government on, , belgium and fortune of, , , _et seq._ character of, , _et seq._ colonial policy of, , death of, forethought against germany of, fortune of, , , , , , , , gardens at laeken and, , influence of death of son on, lawsuit concerning fortune of, _et seq._ love of flowers of, marriage of, marriage of princess louise and, , marriage of princess stéphanie and, on "blindness" of france, on william ii, personality of, , princess louise at funeral of, , , sarcasm of, will of, , leopold, prince, of belgium, birth of, birthday oak at laeken of, character of, childhood of, , death of, , , , leopold, son of princess louise, death of, relations of, with mother, lindenhof, princess louise in asylum of, _et seq._ lobor, château of, princess louise and count mattachich take refuge at, louis ii of bavaria, character of , louis iii of bavaria, character of, , louis philippe, king, , louis victor, archduke, as instigator of persecution of princess louise, , , , louise, princess, alleged madness of, , , , , , , appeal to munich courts by, archduke louis victor and, archduke rudolph and, - , , , arrest of, as eldest daughter, as horsewoman, as mother, , as princess of coburg, , at agram, , at biarritz, , at bologna, , at budapest, , at cannes, , at chantilly, at château d'eu, at coburg palace, , _et seq._ at father's funeral, at queen victoria's jubilee celebrations, at regensburg, , attitude of king and queen towards, , , belgium's treatment of, betrothal of, birth of daughter to, birthday oak at laeken of, bolshevists and, , , , childhood of, , , coercion of, by duke gunther, , comtesse de flandre's visit to, at lindenhof, conjugal life of, count mattachich, at nice with, , , , ; attempts release of, _et seq._ court of vienna and, daughter's desertion of, declared sane by french doctors, departure for austria of, differences with husband of, , , , , divorce of, dr. sudekum's assistance to, emperor william and, , empress augusta and, , enemies of, , enmity of ferdinand of bulgaria to, escape of, from bad-elster, _et seq._ exile of, extravagance of, , favourite authors of, feelings for belgium of, ferdinand of bulgaria and, - , - flight from silesia of, - flight with count mattachich of, heinrich heine and, hereditary qualities of, , , , ideals of, in asylum at lindenhof and purkesdorf, _et seq._ incident on wedding night of, , infancy of, , king leopold and marriage of, king leopold's fortune and, lawsuit of, concerning the king's fortune, _et seq._ _le journal_ and, life in asylums of, , , , , , , _et seq._ marriage of, , , meeting of empress elizabeth and, , misfortunes of, , mother's influence on, , , , , mother's letters to, at lindenhof, m. stimmer's assistance to, , on motor-cars, on shakespeare, , on the theatre, "peculiarities" and "weaknesses" of, predominant quality of, presentation to emperor francis joseph of, princess clémentine of coburg and, , queen marie amélie and, queen victoria and, _et seq._ receives , , francs under king's will, relations with son of, , religion and, , renunciation of rights signed by, restoration of belgian nationality to, , return to austria of, "sacrifice" to belgium of, sufferings during the war of, _et seq._ taken to bad-elster, takes refuge with count mattachich at countess keglevich's château, , vienna scandals and, - visit to duke ernest of, , visit to rosenau of, visit to sofia of, _et seq._ visit to spa of, war experiences at munich of, , _et seq._ louise, queen of belgium, luitpold, prince, regent of bavaria, lutheranism, princess louise on, - , marguerite, princess, of thurn and taxis, marie, duchess, of saxe-coburg-gotha, marie, princess, of saxe-coburg (queen of rumania), beauty of, marie amélie, queen, marie dorothée of habsburg, marriage with duke philip of orleans, , marie louise of parma, flight to vienna of, , marriage of, with ferdinand of bulgaria, return to sofia of, marriage, disillusionment of, , , , marriage, reflections on, mattachich, count geza, , ability of, arrest of, at agram, ; at munich, assists princess louise to escape from germany, , character of, charge of forgery against, , , count keglevich and, discussion in reichsrath of, , duel with prince philip and, , duke gunther and, efforts of, to release princess louise, _et seq._ emperor william and, , flight with princess louise of, follows princess louise to bad-elster, imprisonment of, internment at budapest of, "pardon" of, public indignation at treatment of, takes refuge with princess louise at château lobor, with princess louise at nice, , , , maximilian, of bavaria, marriage and death of, , melita, princess, marriage with grand duke of hesse, meyerling, tragedy at, , , , - moellersdorf penitentiary, count mattachich in, moltke, marshal von, monarchy, principles of, - _moniteur_ on king leopold, montpensier, duc de, palace of, at cannes, munich, court of, _et seq._ insubordination to prussia of, munich, princess louise's appeal to courts of, war experiences of princess louise at, , _et seq._ nice, count mattachich and princess louise at, , nicholas ii, betrothal to princess alice of hesse, character of, , niederfullbach, report of, _et seq._ nietzsche, "that fool," nymphenburg, prince luitpold at, orleans family, , , orleans, prince of (_see_ philip, duke of orleans) orth, john (_see_ john, archduke) paris, comtesse de, parma, house of, and excommunication of ferdinand, philip, duke of orleans, marriage of, , philip of saxe-coburg and gotha, as austrian prince, at meyerling, , , betrothal of, , differences with princess louise, , , divorce of, duel with count mattachich, , "madness" of princess louise and, marriage of, pierson, dr., medical superintendent at lindenhof, , , prague, princess louise at, prussia, evil influence on germany of, , , responsibility for war of, prussian royal house, descent of, purkesdorf, princess louise in asylum at, queen of belgium (_see_ henriette, queen of belgium) queen of greece (_see_ sophie, queen of greece) queen of rumania (_see_ marie, princess, of saxe-coburg) regensburg, court life at, , reichsrath, discussion on count mattachich in, , religion, princess louise on, , republic, principles of, reuss, prince of, , , right of princes, , romanoff, house of, relations with coburg of, rosenau, princess louise at, rudolph, archduke, archduke john and, characteristics of, , , , death of, , , , empress elizabeth and, marriage of, , , , mary vetsera and, , , , princess louise and, - , , , russia, court of, saint antoine, château of, saxe-coburg, duke of, at princess louise's wedding, saxe-coburg-gotha, court life of, schaumbourg, château of, archduke stephen at, schratt, madame, emperor francis joseph and, , , serge, grand duchess, shakespeare, princess louise and, , social democracy, socialists and count mattachich, , société des sites, sofia, flight of marie louise from, princess louise at, _et seq._ soignies, forest of, , sophie, queen of greece, spa, death of queen of belgium at, visit of princess louise to, stanfferberg, count of, stéphanie, princess, of belgium, birth of, birthday oak at laeken of, childhood of, , count mattachich's alleged forgery of signature of, , king leopold and marriage of, , king leopold's attitude towards, last letter of rudolph to, , lawsuit over king's fortune and, marriage of, , , , serious illness of, vienna scandals and, stephen, archduke, exile of, stimmer, m., assists princess louise on return to austria, , sudekum, dr., escape of princess louise and, , "the account of the inheritance of his majesty leopold ii," _et seq._ theatre, queen henriette on, , thoughts on, thurn and taxis, court of, , tsar of bulgaria (_see_ ferdinand of bulgaria) van den smissin, van dyck, portrait of charles i by, vetsera, mary, archduke rudolph and, , description of, vienna, after the war in, vienna, court of, camarilla against francis ferdinand at, decadence and downfall of, , etiquette at, ferdinand at, princess louise declared enemy subject by, - victor napoleon, prince, marriage of, with princess clémentine, victoria, queen, _et seq._ character of, jubilee celebrations of, , princess alice and princess beatrice as readers to, princess louise seeks aid of, villa eugénie, biarritz, belgian royal family at, , vladimir, grand duchess, wales, prince of (edward vii), at princess louise's wedding, waltz, the, as "incomparable queen of dances," wiemmer, dr., , , william i, william ii, german emperor, as "scourge of god," as _welt kaiser_, , character of, _et seq._, , count mattachich and, , duchess gunther and, empress frederick and, princess louise and, , , responsibility of, for war and german war crimes, , , visit to vienna of, windisgretz, princess of, windsor, queen victoria's life at, wittelsbach, family of, woman, influence of, in governments, , women and the war, printed by cassell & company, limited, la belle sauvage, london, e.c. f. . https://archive.org/details/belgium omoniala belgium * * * * * * this book is also published in three separate parts +-----------------------------------------------+ | bruges | | and west flanders | | | |containing full-page illustrations in colour| | | | price /- net | +-----------------------------------------------+ | brabant | | and east flanders | | | |containing full-page illustrations in colour| | | | price / net | +-----------------------------------------------+ | liÉge | | and the ardennes | | | |containing full-page illustrations in colour| | | | price / net | +-----------------------------------------------+ a. and c. black, soho square, london, w. * * * * * * belgium * * * * * * agents america the macmillan company & fifth avenue, new york canada the macmillan company of canada, ltd. richmond street west, toronto india macmillan & company, ltd. macmillan building, bombay bow bazaar street, calcutta australasia oxford university press, melbourne * * * * * * [illustration: brussels the hôtel de ville, a corner of the grande place, showing la maison des brasseurs, la maison du cygne, and la maison de l'Étoile.] belgium painted by amÉdÉe forestier text by george w. t. omond published by a. & c. black · soho square london · w · mcmviii [illustration] contents chapter page i. the market-place and belfry of bruges--early history ii. baldwin bras-de-fer--the place du bourg--murder of charles the good iii. the bÉguinage--churches--the relic of the holy blood iv. the bruges matins--battle of the golden spurs v. damme--the sea-fight at sluis--splendour of bruges in the middle ages--the fall and loss of trade vi. 'bruges la morte' vii. the plain of west flanders--ypres viii. furnes--the procession of penitents ix. nieuport--the battle of the dunes x. the coast of flanders xi. coxyde--the scenery of the dunes xii. ghent xiii. the dukes of brabant--the joyeuse entrÉe--end of the sixteenth century xiv. the bombardment of --the grande place--church of ste. gudule --charles of lorraine xv. joseph ii and the revolution of brabant xvi. the jacobins of brussels--visit of napoleon--the hundred days xvii. the dutch government--the revolution of xviii. the vicissitudes of antwerp xix. the principality of liÉge xx. early history of liÉge--bishop notger--the court of peace xxi. the dukes of burgundy--destruction of liÉge by charles the bold xxii. the wild boar of ardennes xxiii. Érard de la marck--the principality in the sixteenth century xxiv. the chiroux and the grignoux--the tragic banquet of warfusÉe xxv. the gaming-tables at spa--the french revolution-- annexation of the principality xxvi. liÉge and the valley of the meuse in modern times--bouillon index list of illustrations . hôtel de ville, brussels (showing la maison des brasseurs, la maison du cygne, and la maison de l'Étoile) _frontispiece_ facing page . a corner of the market on the grande place, bruges . bell-ringer playing a chime . porte d'ostende, bruges . rue de l'Âne aveugle (showing end of town hall and bridge connecting it with palais de justice), bruges . quai du rosaire, bruges . the béguinage, bruges . quai des marbriers, bruges . a flemish young woman . a flemish burgher . quai du miroir, bruges . view of the palais du franc, bruges . maison du pélican (almshouse), bruges . vegetable market, bruges . the flemish plain . a flemish country girl . interior of a farmhouse, duinhoek . at the kermesse, adinkerque . a farmsteading . place du musée (showing the top part of the belfry), ypres . arcade under the nieuwerk, ypres . grande place and belfry, furnes . peristyle of town hall and palais de justice, furnes . interior of church, nieuport . tower of st. nicholas, furnes . in ste. walburge's church, furnes . a fair parishioner, nieuport . hall and vicarage, nieuport . the quay, with eel-boats and landing-stages, nieuport . the town hall, nieuport . church porch (evensong), nieuport . a stormy evening: the dunes . an old farmer . interior of a flemish inn, la panne . a flemish inn--playing skittles, la panne . a shrimper on horseback, coxyde . a shrimper, coxyde . village and canal, adinkerque . an old lace-maker, ghent . the banquet hall, château des comtes, ghent . béguinage de mont st. amand, ghent . the arrière faucille (achter sikkel), ghent . the ruins of the cloisters of the abbey of st. bavon, ghent . place de brouckére, brussels . entrance to the old church of the carmelites, brussels . the cathedral of ste. gudule, brussels . old house in the grande place, brussels . rue de namur, brussels . the farm of la belle alliance, and the mound surmounted by the belgian lion, waterloo . the cathedral chapel of st. joseph, antwerp . the vieille boucherie, antwerp . old houses in the rue de l'empereur, antwerp . archway under the vieille boucherie, antwerp . the concierge of the musée plantin-moretus, antwerp . the place verte, antwerp . the musée plantin-moretus (the arrière boutique), antwe . the roadstead from the tête de flandre, antwerp . the château de waulsort on the meuse . château de walzin, in the lesse valley . the episcopal palace--outer court, liége . pont des arches, liége . escalier de la fontaine, liége . the hospital, dinant . la maison curtius, liége . le rocher bayard, dinant . old house of the quai de la goffe, liége . a peasant woman of the ardennes . the river sambre seen from the pont de sambre, namur . la gleize, a village in the ardennes . general view of dinant . the romanesque church, hastière . le perron liégeois, liége . la vieille boucherie, liége . the episcopal palace--inner court, liége . pont du prophète, promenade meyerbeer, spa woods . pont de jambes et citadelle, namur . château de bouillon, in the semois valley _sketch-map at the end of volume._ bruges and west flanders bruges and west flanders chapter i the market-place and belfry--early history of bruges every visitor to 'the quaint old flemish city' goes first to the market-place. on saturday mornings the wide space beneath the mighty belfry is full of stalls, with white canvas awnings, and heaped up with a curious assortment of goods. clothing of every description, sabots and leathern shoes and boots, huge earthenware jars, pots and pans, kettles, cups and saucers, baskets, tawdry-coloured prints--chiefly of a religious character--lamps and candlesticks, the cheaper kinds of flemish pottery, knives and forks, carpenters' tools, and such small articles as reels of thread, hatpins, tape, and even bottles of coarse scent, are piled on the stalls or spread out on the rough stones wherever there is a vacant space. round the stalls, in the narrow spaces between them, the people move about, talking, laughing, and bargaining. their native flemish is the tongue they use amongst themselves; but many of them speak what passes for french at bruges, or even a few words of broken english, if some unwary stranger from across the channel is rash enough to venture on doing business with these sharp-witted, plausible folk. at first sight this market-place, so famed in song, is a disappointment. the north side is occupied by a row of seventeenth-century houses turned into shops and third-rate cafés. on the east is a modern post-office, dirty and badly ventilated, and some half-finished government buildings. on the west are two houses which were once of some note--the cranenburg, from the windows of which, in olden times, the counts of flanders, with the lords and ladies of their court, used to watch the tournaments and pageants for which bruges was celebrated, and in which maximilian was imprisoned by the burghers in ; and the hôtel de bouchoute, a narrow, square building of dark red brick, with a gilded lion over the doorway. but the cranenburg, once the 'most magnificent private residence in the market-place,' many years ago lost every trace of its original splendour, and is now an unattractive hostelry, the headquarters of a smoking club; while the hôtel de bouchoute, turned into a clothier's shop, has little to distinguish it from its commonplace neighbours. nevertheless, 'in the market-place of bruges stands the belfry old and brown; thrice consumed and thrice rebuilded, still it watches o'er the town.' it redeems the market-place from mediocrity. how long ago the first belfry tower of bruges was built is unknown, but this at least is certain, that in the year a fire, in which the ancient archives of the town perished, destroyed the greater part of an old belfry, which some suppose may have been erected in the ninth century. on two subsequent occasions, in the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, the present belfry, erected on the ruins of the former structure, was damaged by fire: and now it stands on the south side of the market-place, rising feet above the halles, a massive building of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, solemn, weather-beaten, and majestic. 'for six hundred years,' it has been said, 'this belfry has watched over the city of bruges. it has beheld her triumphs and her failures, her glory and her shame, her prosperity and her gradual decay, and, in spite of so many vicissitudes, it is still standing to bear witness to the genius of our forefathers, to awaken memories of old times and admiration for one of the most splendid monuments of civic architecture which the middle ages has produced.'[ ] in olden times watchmen were always on duty on the belfry to give warning if enemies approached or fire broke out in any part of the town, a constant source of danger when most of the houses were built of wood. even in these more prosaic days the custom of keeping watch and ward unceasingly is still maintained, and if there is a fire, the alarum-bell clangs over the city. all day, from year's end to year's end, the chimes ring every quarter of an hour; and all night, too, during the wildest storms of winter, when the wind shrieks round the tower; and in summer, when the old town lies slumbering in the moonlight. [illustration: bruges a corner of the market on the grand' place.] from the top of the belfry one looks down onwhat is practically a medieval city. the market-place seems to lose its modern aspect when seen from above; and all round there is nothing visible but houses with high-pointed gables and red roofs, intersected by canals, and streets so narrow that they appear to be mere lanes. above these rise, sometimes from trees and gardens, churches, convents, venerable buildings, the lofty spire of notre dame, the tower of st. sauveur, the turrets of the gruthuise, the hospital of st. john, famous for its paintings by memlinc, the church of ste. elizabeth in the grove of the béguinage, the pinnacles of the palais du franc, the steep roof of the hôtel de ville, the dome of the convent des dames anglaises, and beyond that to the east the slender tower which rises above the guildhouse of the archers of st. sebastian. the walls which guarded bruges in troublous times have disappeared, though five of the old gateways remain; but the town is still contained within the limits which it had reached at the close of the thirteenth century. behind the large square of the halles, from which the belfry rises, is the rue du vieux bourg, the street of the ouden burg, or old fort; and to this street the student of history must first go if he wishes to understand what tradition, more or less authentic, has to say about the earliest phases in the strange, eventful past of bruges. the wide plain of flanders, the northern portion of the country which we now call belgium, was in ancient times a dreary fenland, the haunt of wild beasts and savage men; thick, impenetrable forests, tracts of barren sand, sodden marshes, covered it; and sluggish streams, some whose waters never found their way to the sea, ran through it. one of these rivulets, called the roya, was crossed by a bridge, to defend which, according to early tradition, a fort, or 'burg,' was erected in the fourth century. this fort stood on an islet formed by the meeting of the roya with another stream, called the boterbeke, and a moat which joined the two. we may suppose that near the fort, which was probably a small building of rough stones, or perhaps merely a wooden stockade, a few huts were put up by people who came there for protection, and as time went on the settlement increased. 'john of ypres, abbot of st. bertin,' says mr. robinson, 'who wrote in the fourteenth century, describes how bruges was born and christened: "very soon pedlars began to settle down under the walls of the fort to supply the wants of its inmates. next came merchants, with their valuable wares. innkeepers followed, who began to build houses, where those who could not find lodging in the fort found food and shelter. those who thus turned away from the fort would say, 'let us go to the bridge.' and when the houses near the bridge became so numerous as to form a town, it kept as its proper name the flemish word _brugge_." [illustration: bell-ringer playing a chime] the small island on which this primitive township stood was bounded on the south and east by the roya, on the north by the boterbeke, and on the west by the moat joining these two streams. the roya still flows along between the site of the old burg and an avenue of lime-trees called the dyver till it reaches the end of the quai du rosaire, when it turns to the north. a short distance beyond this point it is vaulted over, and runs on beneath the streets and houses of the town. the rue du vieux bourg is built over the course of the boterbeke, which now runs under it and under the belfry (erected on foundations sunk deep into the bed of the stream), until it joins the subterranean channel of the roya at the south-east corner of the market-place. the moat which joined these two streams and guarded the west side of the island was filled up long ago, and its bed is now covered by the rue neuve, which connects the rue du vieux bourg with the dyver. thus the boundaries of early bruges can easily be traced; but nothing remains of the ancient buildings, though we read of a warehouse, booths, and a prison besides the dwelling-houses of the townsfolk. the elements, at least, of civic life were there; and tradition says that in or near the village, for it was nothing more, some altars of the christian faith were set up during the seventh and eighth centuries. trade, too, soon began to flourish, and grew rapidly as the population of the place increased. the roya, flowing eastwards, fell into the zwijn, an arm of the sea, which then ran up close to the town, and on which stood damme, now a small inland village, but once a busy port crowded with shipping. the commercial life of bruges depended on the zwijn; and that much business was done before the close of the ninth century is shown by the fact that bruges had then a coinage of its own.[ ] it was from such small beginnings that this famous 'venice of the north' arose. [illustration: bruges porte d'ostende.] footnotes. [footnote : gilliat-smith, _the story of bruges_, p. (dent and co., london, ). mr. gilliat-smith's book is a picturesque account of bruges in the middle ages. of the english works relating to bruges, there is nothing better than mr. wilfrid robinson's _bruges, an historical sketch_, a short and clear history, coming down to modern times (louis de plancke, bruges, ).] [footnote : gilliodts van severen, _bruges ancienne et moderne_, pp. , , .] chapter ii baldwin bras-de-fer--the place du bourg--murder of charles the good towards the end of the ninth and at the beginning of the tenth century great changes took place on the banks of the roya, and the foundations of bruges as we know it now were laid. just as in the memorable years and the empire of napoleon fell into fragments, and princes and statesmen hastened to readjust the map of europe in their own interests, so in the ninth century the empire of charlemagne was crumbling away; and in the scramble for the spoils, the normans carried fire and sword into flanders. charles the bald, king of the franks, at this crisis called to his aid the strong arm of baldwin, a flemish chief of whose ancestry we know little, but who soon became famous as baldwin bras-de-fer--baldwin of the iron arm, so called because, in peace or war, he was never seen without his coat of mail. this grim warrior had fallen in love with the daughter of charles the bald, judith, who had been already twice married, first to the saxon king ethelwulf (after the death of his first wife osberga, mother of alfred the great) and secondly to ethelbald, on whose death she left england and went to live at senlis. baldwin persuaded the princess to run away with him; and they were married without the knowledge of her father, to escape whose vengeance the culprits fled to rome. pope nicholas i. brought about a reconciliation; and charles not only pardoned his son-in-law, but appointed him ruler of flanders under the title of marquis, which was afterwards changed into that of count. it is to the steel-clad baldwin bras-de-fer that the counts of flanders trace the origin of their title; and he was, moreover, the real founder of that bruges which rose to such glory in the middle ages, and is still, though fallen from its high estate, the picturesque capital of west flanders, whither artists flock to wander about amidst the canals and bridges, the dismantled ramparts, the narrow streets with their curious houses, and the old buildings which bear such eloquent testimony to the ruin which long ago overtook what was once an opulent and powerful city. when the wrath of his father-in-law had been appeased, baldwin, now responsible for the defence of flanders, came to bruges with his wife, and there established his court. but the old burg, it seems, was not thought capable of holding out against the normans, who could easily land on the banks of the zwijn; and baldwin, therefore, set about building a new stronghold on the east side of the old burg, and close to it. it was surrounded partly by the main stream of the roya, and partly by backwaters flowing from it. here he built a fortress for himself and his household, a church dedicated to st. donatian, a prison, and a 'ghiselhuis,' or house for the safe keeping of hostages. the whole was enclosed by walls, built close to the edge of the surrounding waters. the roya is now vaulted over where it ran along the west side of baldwin's stronghold, separating it from the original burg, and the watercourses which defended it on the north and east are filled up; but the stream on the south still remains in the shape of the canal which skirts the quai des marbriers, from which a bridge leads by a narrow lane, called the rue de l'Âne aveugle, under an arch of gilded stonework, into the open space now known as the place du bourg. here we are at the very heart of bruges, on the ground where baldwin's stronghold stood, with its four gates and drawbridges, and the high walls frowning above the homes of the townsmen clustering round them. the aspect of the place is completely changed since those early days. a grove of chestnut-trees covers the site of the church of st. donatian; not a stone remains of bras-de-fer's rude palace; and instead of the prison and the hostage-house, there are the hôtel de ville, now more than five hundred years old, from whose windows the counts of flanders swore obedience to the statutes and privileges of the town, the palais de justice, and the dark crypt beneath the chapel which shelters the mysterious relic of the holy blood. [illustration: bruges rue de l'Âne aveugle (showing end of town hall and bridge connecting it with palais de justice).] in summer it is a warm, quiet, pleasant spot. under the shade of the trees, near the statue of van eyck, women selling flowers sit beside rows of geraniums, roses, lilies, pansies, which give a touch of bright colour to the scene. artists from all parts of europe set up their easels and paint. young girls are gravely busy with their water-colours. black-robed nuns and bare-footed carmelites pass silently along. perhaps some traveller from america opens his guide-book to study the map of a city which had risen to greatness long before columbus crossed the seas. a few english people hurry across, and pass under the archway of the rue de l'Âne aveugle on the way to their tennis-ground beyond the porte de gand. the sunshine glitters on the gilded façade of the palais de justice, and lights up the statues in their niches on the front of the hôtel de ville. there is no traffic, no noise. everything is still and peaceful. the chimes, ever and anon ringing out from the huge belfry, which rises high above the housetops to the west, alone break the silence. this is bruges sleeping peacefully in old age, lulled to rest by the sound of its own carillon. but it is easy, standing there, to recall the past, and to fancy the scenes which took place from time to time throughout the long period of foreign danger and internal strife. we can imagine the bourg, now so peaceful, full of armed men, rushing to the church of st. donatian on the morning when charles the good was slain; how, in later times, the turbulent burghers, fiery partisans of rival factions, clauwerts shouting for the flemish lion, and leliarts marshalled under the lily of france, raged and threatened; how the stones were splashed with blood on the day of the bruges matins, when so many frenchmen perished; or what shouts were raised when the flemish host came back victorious from the battle of the golden spurs. though every part of bruges--not only the bourg, but the great market-place, and the whole maze of streets and lanes and canals of which it consists--has a story of its own, some of these stories stand out by themselves; and amongst these one of the most dramatic is the story of the death of charles the good. more than two hundred and fifty years had passed away since the coming of baldwin bras-de-fer; bruges had spread far beyond the walls of the bourg; and charles, who had succeeded his cousin baldwin vii., was count of flanders. he was called 'the good' because of his just rule and simple life, and still more, perhaps, because he clothed and fed the poor--not only in bruges, but throughout all flanders. the common people loved him, but his charities gave offence to the rich. he had, moreover, incurred the special enmity of the erembalds, a powerful family, who, though not of noble origin themselves, were connected by marriage with many noble houses. they had supported his claim to the throne of flanders, which had been disputed, and he had rewarded their services by heaping favours on them. but, after a time, they began to oppose the methods of government which charles applied to flanders. they resented most of all one of his decrees which made it unlawful for persons not in his service to carry arms in time of peace. this decree, which was pronounced in order to prevent the daily scenes of violence which charles abhorred, was declared by the erembalds to be an interference with flemish liberty. it did not affect them personally, for they held office under the count; but they none the less opposed it vehemently. while charles was thus on bad terms with the erembalds, a deadly feud existed between them and the straetens, another notable family, which grew to such a height that the rival clans made open war upon each other, pillaging, burning, and slaying after the manner of these times. charles called the leaders of both sides before him, and made them swear to keep the peace; but when he was at ypres in the autumn of , a complaint was laid before him that bertulf, head of the erembalds, who was also provost of st. donatian's, had sent one of his nephews, burchard by name, on a raid into the lands of the straetens, whose cattle he had carried off. on hearing of this outrage, charles gave orders that burchard's house should be pulled down, and that he should compensate the straetens for their losses. the erembalds were powerless to resist this order, and burchard's house was razed to the ground. it has been said that this was only the beginning of strong measures which charles was about to take against the erembalds; but there is no certainty as to what his intentions really were. he then lived in the loove, a mansion which he had built in the bourg at bruges, on the site now occupied by the palais de justice; and there, on his return from ypres, he had a meeting with some of the erembalds, who had been sent to plead on behalf of burchard. as to what took place at this interview there is some doubt. according to one account, charles drank wine with the delegates, and granted a free pardon to burchard, on condition that he kept the peace. according to another account, his demeanour was so unbending that the erembalds left his presence full of angry suspicions, which they communicated to their friends. whatever may have happened, they were bent on mischief. burchard was sent for, and a secret consultation was held, after which burchard and a chosen few assembled in a house on the bourg and arranged their plans. this was on the night of march , . [illustration: bruges quai du rosaire.] at break of day next morning a cold, heavy mist hung low over bruges, and in the bourg everything was shrouded in darkness. but already some poor men were waiting in the courtyard of the loove, to whom charles gave alms on his way to early mass in the church of st. donatian. then he went along a private passage which led into the church, and knelt in prayer before the lady altar. it was his custom to give help to the needy when in church, and he had just put some money into the hands of a poor woman, when suddenly she called out: 'beware, sir count!' he turned quickly round, and there, sword in hand, was burchard, who had stolen up the dim aisle to where charles was kneeling. the next moment burchard struck, and charles fell dead upon the steps of the altar. then followed a scene of wild confusion. the woman ran out into the bourg, calling loudly that the count was slain. in the midst of the uproar some of the royal household fled in terror, while others who entered the church were butchered by the erembalds, who next attacked the loove, and, having pillaged it, rushed over bruges, slaughtering without mercy all who dared to oppose them. after some time one of the count's servants ventured to cover the dead body with a winding-sheet, and to surround it with lighted tapers; and there it remained lying on the pavement, until at last the erembalds, who were afraid to bury it in bruges lest the sight of the tomb of charles the good should one day rouse the townsmen to avenge his death, sent a message to ghent, begging the abbot of st. peter's to take it away and bury it in his own church. the abbot came to bruges, and before dawn the body of the murdered count was being stealthily carried along the aisles of st. donatian's, when a great crowd rushed in, declaring that the bones of charles must be allowed to rest in peace at bruges. the arches rang with cries, chairs were overturned, stools and candlesticks were thrown about, as the people, pressing and struggling round the abbot and his servants, told bertulf, with many an oath, that he must yield to their wishes. at last the provost submitted, and on the morrow, just two days after the murder, the body of charles was buried before the lady altar, on the very spot, it is said, where the statue of van eyck now stands under the trees in the bourg. the triumph of the erembalds was short, for the death of charles the good was terribly avenged by his friends, who came to bruges at the head of a large force. a fierce struggle took place at the rue de l'Âne aveugle, where many were slain. the erembalds were driven into the bourg, the gates of which they shut; but an entrance was forced, and, after desperate fighting, some thirty of them, all who remained alive, were compelled to take refuge, first in the nave and then in the tower of the church of st. donatian, where, defending themselves with the courage of despair, they made a last stand, until, worn out by fatigue and hunger, they surrendered and came down. bertulf the provost, burchard, and a few of the other ringleaders had fled some days before, and so escaped, for a time at least, the fate of their companions, who, having been imprisoned in a dungeon, were taken to the top of the church tower and flung down one by one on to the stones of the bourg. 'their bodies,' says mr. gilliat-smith, 'were thrown into a marsh beyond the village of st. andré, and for years afterwards no man after nightfall would willingly pass that way.' in the church of st. sauveur there is a costly shrine containing what are said to be the bones of charles the good, taken from their first resting-place, at which twice every year a festival is held in commemoration of his virtues. chapter iii the bÉguinage--churches--the relic of the holy blood bruges is one of the most catholic towns in catholic flanders. convents and religious houses of all sorts have always flourished there, and at present there are no less than forty-five of these establishments. probably one of the most interesting to english people is the couvent des dames anglaises, which was founded in by the english augustinian nuns of ste. monica's convent at louvain. its chapel, with a fine dome of the eighteenth century, contains a beautiful altar built of marbles brought from egypt, greece, and persia; and amongst its possessions is the rosary of catherine of braganza (queen of charles ii. of england), who died at bruges. and then there is the béguinage. there are béguinages at amsterdam and breda, but with this exception of holland, belgium is now the only country in europe where these societies, the origin of whose name is uncertain, are to be found. they consist of spinsters or widows, who, though bound by a few conventual oaths during their connection with the society, may return to the world. on entering each sister pays a sum of money to the general funds, and at first lives for a time along with other novices. at the end of this term of probation they are at liberty to occupy one of the small dwellings within the precincts of the béguinage, and keep house for themselves. they spend their time in sewing, making lace, educating poor children, visiting the sick, or any form of good works for which they may have a taste. they are under a mother superior, the 'grande dame,' appointed by the bishop of the diocese, and must attend the services in the church of their béguinage. thus the béguine, living generally in a house of her own, and free to reenter the world, occupies a different position from the nuns of the better-known orders, though so long as she remains a member of her society she is bound by the vows of chastity and obedience to her ecclesiastical superiors. [illustration: bruges the béguinage.] the béguinage at bruges, founded in the thirteenth century, is situated near the minnewater, or lac d'amour, which every visitor is taken to see. this sheet of placid water, bordered by trees, which was a harbour in the busy times, is one of the prettiest bits of bruges; and they say that if you go there at midnight, and stand upon the bridge which crosses it on the south, any wish which you may form will certainly come to pass. it is better to go alone, for strict silence is necessary to insure the working of this charm. a bridge over the water which runs from the lac d'amour leads through a gateway into the béguinage, where a circle of small houses--whitewashed, with stepped gables, and green woodwork on the windows--surrounds a lawn planted with tall trees. there is a view of the spire of notre dame beyond the roofs, a favourite subject for the painters who come here in numbers on summer afternoons. the church of ste. elizabeth, an unpretentious building, stands on one side of the lawn; and within it, many times a day, the sisters may be seen on their knees repeating the offices of the church. when the service is finished they rise, remove their white head-coverings, and return demurely to their quaint little homes. bruges has, needless to say, many churches, but nothing which can be compared to the magnificent cathedral of antwerp, to the imposing front of ste. gudule at brussels, or to the huge mass which forms such a conspicuous landmark for several leagues round malines. still, some of the churches are not without interest: the cathedral of st. sauveur, where the stalls of the knights of the order of the golden fleece, which was founded at bruges, are to be seen in the choir, and over one of them the arms of edward iv. of england; the curious little church of jerusalem, with its 'holy sepulchre,' an exact copy of the traditionary grave in palestine--a dark vault, entered by a passage so low that one must crawl through it, and where a light burns before a figure which lies there wrapped in a linen cloth; and the church of notre dame, which contains some treasures, such as a lovely white marble statue of the virgin and child, from the chisel of michael angelo; the tombs of charles the bold of burgundy and his daughter--the 'gentle mary,' whose untimely death at bruges in , after a short married life, saved her from witnessing the misfortunes which clouded the last years of her husband, the archduke maximilian; and a portion of the holy cross, which came to bruges in the fifteenth century. the story goes that a rich merchant, a dutchman from dordrecht, schoutteeten by name, who lived at bruges, was travelling through syria in the year . one day, when journeying with a caravan, he saw a man hiding something in a wood, and, following him, discovered that it was a box, which he suspected might contain something valuable. mijnheer schoutteeten appropriated the box, and carried it home from syria to dordrecht, where a series of miracles began to occur of such a nature as to make it practically certain that the box (or some wood which it contained, for on this point the legend is vague) was a part of the true cross! in course of time schoutteeten died in the odour of sanctity, having on his death-bed expressed a wish that the wood which he had brought from the east should be given to the church of notre dame at bruges. his widow consoled herself by taking a second husband, who, uutenhove by name, fulfilled the pious request of his predecessor, and thus another relic was added to the large collection which is preserved in the various churches and religious houses of bruges. it was brought to flanders in the year , and must have been a source of considerable revenue to the church since then. the buildings of notre dame, with the well-known gruthuise mansion which adjoins them, and the singularly graceful spire, higher than the belfry tower, rising from the exquisite portico called 'het paradijs,' form a very beautiful group; but, with this exception, there is nothing remarkable about the churches of bruges. one of them, however, has a peculiar interest--the chapelle du saint-sang, which stands in the place du bourg in the corner next to the hôtel de ville. it is built in two stories. the lower, a dark, solemn chapel, like a crypt, was dedicated to st. basil at an early period, and is one of the oldest buildings in bruges. the greater part of the upper story does not date further back than the fifteenth century. but it is not the fabric itself, venerable though that is, but what it contains, that makes this place the holy of holies in the religious life of bruges; for here, in a costly shrine of gold and silver adorned with precious stones, they guard the wonderful relic which was brought from palestine in the time of the crusaders by thierry d'alsace, count of flanders, and which is still worshipped by thousands of devout believers every year. thierry d'alsace, the old chroniclers tell us, visited the holy land four times, and was the leader of the flemish warriors who, roused by the eloquence of st. bernard of clairvaux, joined the second crusade in the summer of . he had married sybilla, sister of baldwin, king of jerusalem; and when the time came for his return to europe, his brother-in-law and the patriarch of jerusalem resolved to reward his services by giving him a part of the most valuable relic which the church in palestine possessed, which was a small quantity of a red liquid, said to be blood and water, which, according to immemorial tradition, joseph of arimathæa had preserved after he had washed the dead body of jesus. the earlier history of this relic is unknown, and is as obscure as that of the other 'relics of the holy blood' which are to be found in various places. but there can be no doubt whatever that in the twelfth century the christians at jerusalem believed that it had been in existence since the day of the crucifixion. it was, therefore, presented to thierry with great solemnity in the church of the holy sepulchre during the christmas festivals of . the patriarch, having displayed the vessel which contained it to the people, divided the contents into two portions, one of which he poured into a small vial, the mouth of which was carefully sealed up and secured with gold wire. this vessel was next enclosed in a crystal tube, shut at the ends with golden stoppers, to which a chain of silver was attached. then the patriarch gave the tube to baldwin, from whose hands thierry, kneeling on the steps of the altar, received it with profound emotion.[ ] the count, however, did not think his hands, which had shed so much human blood, worthy to convey the relic home; and he entrusted it to leonius, chaplain of the flemish army, who hung it round his neck, and so carried it to bruges, where he arrived in may, , along with thierry, who, mounted on a white horse led by two bare-footed monks, and holding the relic in his hand, was conducted in state to the bourg, where he deposited the precious object in the chapel of st. basil, which is commonly known as the chapel of the holy blood. after some time the relic was found to be dry, but, strange to say, it became liquid, we are told upon the authority of pope clement v., every friday, 'usually at six o'clock.' this weekly miracle continued till about the year . since then it has never taken place except once, in , when the vial containing the relic was being transferred to a new crystal tube; and on this occasion william, bishop of ancona, was astonished to see the relic turning redder than usual, and some drops, as of newly-shed blood, flowing within the vial, which he was holding in his hand. many notable persons who were present, one of them the bishop of lincoln, testified to this event! other miracles wrought through the agency of this relic are recorded. a child which had been born dead was taken to the shrine, and came to life after three days. a young girl who had suffered for twenty months from an issue of blood, and for whom the doctors could do nothing, was cured by the application of a piece of cloth which had been used to cover the relic. another girl who had been paralyzed for a long time, being carried into the chapel of st. basil, was restored to complete strength the moment she kissed the crystal tube. in december, , a fire broke out in the bourg, and threatened to destroy the hôtel de ville; but a priest brought forth the tube containing the relic, and held it up before the flames, which were instantly extinguished. these and many other similar miracles, confirmed by the oath of witnesses and received by the church at the present day as authentic, make the relic an object of profound devotion to the people of bruges and the peasants of the surrounding country, who go in crowds to bow before it twice every friday, when it is exhibited for public worship. it was nearly lost on several occasions in the days of almost constant war, and during the french revolution it was concealed for some years in the house of a private citizen. the chapel of st. basil suffered from the disturbed condition of the country, and when napoleon came to bruges in it was such a complete wreck that the magistrates were on the point of sweeping it away altogether. but napoleon saved it, declaring that when he looked on the ruins he fancied himself once more amongst the antiquities of egypt, and that to destroy them would be a crime. four years after the battle of waterloo the relic was brought out from its hiding-place, and in the chapel was restored from the designs of two english architects, william brangwyn and thomas harper king.[ ] on the first monday after the nd of may every year the town of bruges is full of strangers, who have come to witness the celebrated 'procession of the holy blood,' which there is good reason to believe has taken place annually (except during the french revolution) for the last years. very early in the day a mass is celebrated in the upper chapel of the holy blood, which is crowded to the doors. in the crypt, or lower chapel, where many people are kneeling before the sacred images, the gloom, the silence, the bent figures dimly seen in the faint yellow light of a few tapers, make up a weird scene all the morning till about nine o'clock, when the relic, in its 'châsse,' or tabernacle, is carried to the cathedral of st. sauveur, and placed on the high altar, while a pontifical mass is celebrated by one of the bishops. when that is done, the procession starts on its march along the chief thoroughfares of the town. the houses are decorated with flags, and candles burn in almost every window. through the narrow streets, between crowds of people standing on the pavements or looking down from the windows, while the church bells ring and wreaths of incense fill the air, bands of music, squadrons of cavalry, crucifixes, shrines, images, the banners of the parishes and the guilds, heralds in their varied dresses, bareheaded pilgrims from england, france, and other countries, pages, maidens in white, bearing palms, or crowns of thorn, or garlands, priests with relics, acolytes and chanting choristers, pass slowly along. the buffoonery of the middle ages, when giants, ballet-dancers, and mythological characters figured in the scene, has been abandoned; but abraham and isaac, king david and king solomon, joseph and the virgin mary, the magi, and many saints and martyrs, walk in the long procession, which is closed by the bishops and clergy accompanying the gorgeous shrine containing the small tube of something red like blood, before which all the people sink to the ground, and remain kneeling till it has passed. the proceedings of the day end with a benediction at an altar erected in front of the hôtel de ville. the bourg is filled from side to side with those who have taken part in the procession, and by thousands of spectators who have followed them from all parts of the town to witness the closing scene. the crowd gathers under the trees and along the sides of the square, the centre of which, occupied by the processionists, is a mass of colour, above which the standards and images which have been carried through the streets rise against the dark background of the hôtel de ville and the chapel of the holy blood. the relic is taken out of the châsse, and a priest, standing on the steps of the altar high above the crowd, holds it up to be worshipped. everyone bows low, and then, in dead silence, the mysterious object is carried into the chapel, and with this the chief religious ceremony of the year at bruges is brought to a close. there are sights in bruges that night, within a stone's-throw of the chapel of the holy blood, which are worth seeing, they contrast so strangely with all this fervour of religion. the curtain has fallen upon the drama of the day. the flags are furled and put aside. the vestments are in the sacristy. shrines, canopies, censers, all the objects carried in the procession, have disappeared into the churches. the church doors are locked, and the images are left to stand all night without so much as one solitary worshipper kneeling before them. the bourg is empty and dark, steeped in black shadows at the door of the chapel where the relic has been laid to rest. it is all quiet there, but a stroll through the rue de l'Âne aveugle and across the canal by the bridge which leads to the purlieus of the fish-markets brings one upon another scene. every second house, if not every house, is a café, 'herberg,' or 'estaminet,' with a bar and sanded floor and some rough chairs and tables; and on the night of the procession of the holy blood they are crowded to the doors. peasants from the country are there in great force. for some days before and after the sacred festival the villagers are in the habit of coming into bruges--whole families of them, father and mother, sons and daughters, all in their best finery. they walk through the streets, following the route by which the holy blood is carried, telling their beads and saying their prayers, crossing themselves, and kneeling at any image of christ, or madonna, or saint, which they may notice at the street corners. it is curious to watch their sunburnt faces and uncouth ways as they slouch along, their hands busy with their beads, and their lips never ceasing for a moment to mutter prayer after prayer. they follow in the wake of the procession of the holy blood, or wait to fall upon their knees when it passes and receive the blessing of the bishop, who walks with fingers raised, scattering benedictions from side to side. in the evening, before starting for home, they go to the cafés. as evening passes into night the sounds of music and dancing are heard. at the doors people sit drinking round tables placed on the pavement or in the rank, poisonous gutter. the hot air is heavy with the smell of decayed fish. inside the cafés men and women, old and young, are dancing in the fetid atmosphere to jingling pianos or accordions. the heat, the close, sour fumes of musty clothing, tobacco, beer, gin, fried fish, and unwashed humanity, are overpowering. there are disgusting sights in all directions. fat women, with red, perspiring faces and dirty fingers, still clutching their rosaries; tawdry girls, field-workers, with flushed faces, dancing with country lads, most of whom are more than half tipsy; ribald jokes and laughter and leering eyes; reeling, drunken men; maudlin affection in one corner, and jealous disputing in another; crying babies; beer and gin spilt on the tables; and all sorts of indecency and hideous details which swift might have gloated over or hogarth painted. this is how the day of the holy blood procession is finished by many of the countryfolk. the brutal cabaret comes after the prayers and adoration of the morning! it is a world of contrasts. but soon the lights are out, the shutters are put up, the last customer goes staggering homewards, and the belfry speaks again, as it spoke when the sweet singer lay dreaming at the fleur-de-blé: 'in the ancient town of bruges, in the quaint old flemish city, as the evening shades descended, low and loud and sweetly blended, low at times and loud at times, and changing like a poet's rhymes, rang the beautiful wild chimes from the belfry in the market of the ancient town of bruges. then, with deep sonorous clangour, calmly answering their sweet anger, when the wrangling bells had ended, slowly struck the clock eleven, and, from out the silent heaven, silence on the town descended. silence, silence everywhere, on the earth and in the air, save that footsteps here and there of some burgher home returning, by the street lamps faintly burning, for a moment woke the echoes of the ancient town of bruges.' [illustration: bruges quai des marbriers.] footnotes [footnote : canon van haecke, _le précieux sang à bruges_ (fourth edition), pp. , .] [footnote : gilliat-smith, _the story of bruges_, p. .] chapter iv the bruges matins--battle of the golden spurs the visitor to bruges is reminded, wherever he goes, of the stirring events which fill the chronicles of the town for several centuries. opposite the belfry, in the middle of the market-place, is the monument to peter de coninck and john breidel, on which garlands of flowers are laid every summer, in memory of what they did when the burghers rose against the french in may, ; and amongst the modern frescoes which cover the walls of the grande salle des Échevins in the hôtel de ville, with its roof of fourteenth-century woodwork, is one which represents the return from the battle of the golden spurs, that famous fight in which the hardy peasantry of flanders overthrew the knights of france whom philip the fair had sent to avenge the blood of the frenchmen who had died on the terrible morning of the 'bruges matins.' the fourteenth century had opened. the town had now reached the limits which have contained it ever since--an irregular oval with a circumference of between four and five miles, surrounded by double ditches, and a strong wall pierced by nine fortified gateways; and as the town had grown, the privileges and liberties of the townsmen had grown likewise. sturdy, independent, and resolved to keep the management of their own affairs in their own hands, the burghers of bruges, like those of the other flemish towns, had succeeded in establishing a system of self-government so complete that it roused the opposition of guy de dampierre, count of flanders, whose efforts to diminish the power of these communities at length brought about a crisis which gave philip the fair of france an excuse for interfering. the count, having to contend both against his own subjects and against the ambitions of the king of france, fell from power, and in the end flanders was annexed to france. soon after this rich province had been added to his domains, philip came with his wife, joanna of navarre, on a visit to bruges. already there were two factions in the town--the leliarts, or french party, consisting chiefly of the upper classes, and the clauwerts, or flemish party, to which the mass of the people belonged. by the former philip was received in royal fashion, and so magnificent were the dresses and jewels worn by the wives and daughters of the nobles and rich burgesses, who sat in the windows and balconies as the royal procession passed along, that the queen was moved to jealousy. 'i thought,' she said, 'that i alone was queen; but here in this place i have six hundred rivals.' but in the streets below there were sullen looks and murmurs of discontent, which grew louder and louder every day, when, after the departure of the court, the magistrates, who belonged to the french party, proposed that the merchant guilds should find money to defray some of the expenses which had been incurred on this occasion. at this time peter de coninck was dean of the guild of weavers, a man of substance, popular and eloquent. there was a tumultuous gathering in the market-place, when, standing in front of the belfry, with the leaders of five-and-twenty guilds around him, he declaimed on liberty, and attacked the magistrates, calling on his fellow-townsmen to resist the taxes. the city officers, on the order of the magistrates, arrested de coninck and his chief supporters, and hurried them to the prison in the bourg. but in a few hours the mob forced an entrance and released them. the signal for revolt had been given, and for some months bruges, like the rest of flanders, was in disorder. de coninck, who had been joined by john breidel, dean of the guild of butchers, was busy rousing the people in all parts of the country. he visited ghent, amongst other places, and tried to persuade the magistrates that if ghent and bruges united their forces the whole flemish people would rise, crush the leliarts, and expel the french. but the men of ghent would not listen to him, and he returned to bruges. here, too, he met with a rebuff, for the magistrates, having heard that jacques de châtillon, whom philip had made governor of flanders, was marching on the town, would not allow him to remain amongst them. he went to damme, and with him went, not only breidel, but , burghers of the national party, stout clauwerts, who had devoted themselves to regaining the liberty of their country. [illustration: a flemish young woman] when châtillon rode up to the walls of bruges and demanded entrance the magistrates agreed to open the gates, on condition that he brought with him only men-at-arms. but he broke his word, and the town was entered by , knights, whose haughty looks and threatening language convinced the people that treachery was intended. it was whispered in the market-place that the waggons which rumbled over the drawbridges carried ropes with which the clauwerts who had remained in the town were to be hanged; that there was to be a general massacre, in which not even the women and children would be spared; and that the frenchmen never unbuckled their swords or took off their armour, but were ready to begin the slaughter at any moment. it was a day of terror in bruges, and when evening came some of the burghers slipped out, made their way to damme, and told de coninck what was passing in the town. that night châtillon gave a feast to his chief officers, and amongst his guests was pierre flotte, chancellor of france, perhaps the ablest of those jurists by whose evil councils philip the fair was encouraged in the ideas of autocracy which led him to make the setting up of a despotism the policy of his whole life. with flotte--'that belial,' as pope boniface viii. once called him--and the rest, châtillon sat revelling till a late hour. the night wore on; de châtillon's party broke up, and went to rest; the weary sentinels were half asleep at their posts; and soon all bruges was buried in silence. here and there lights twinkled in some of the guild-houses, where a few of the burghers sat anxiously waiting for what the morrow might bring forth, while others went to the ramparts on the north, and strained their eyes to see if help was coming from damme. at early dawn--it was friday, may , --the watchers on the ramparts saw a host of armed men rapidly approaching the town. they were divided into two parties, one of which, led by de coninck, made for the porte ste. croix, while the other, under breidel, marched to the porte de damme, a gateway which no longer exists, but which was then one of the most important entrances, being that by which travellers came from damme and sluis. messengers from the ramparts ran swiftly through the streets, in which daylight was now beginning to appear, and spread the news from house to house. silently the burghers took their swords and pikes, left their homes, and gathered in the market-place and near the houses in which the french were sleeping. the french slept on till, all of a sudden, they were wakened by the tramp of feet, the clash of arms, and shouts of 'flanders for the lion!' breidel had led his men into the town, and they were rushing through the streets to where châtillon had taken up his quarters, while de coninck, having passed through the porte ste. croix, was marching to the bourg. the frenchmen, bewildered, surprised, and only half awake, ran out into the streets. the flemings were shouting 'schilt ende vriendt! schilt ende vriendt!'[ ] and every man who could not pronounce these words was known to be a frenchman, and slain upon the spot. some fled to the gates; but at every gate they found a band of guards, who called out 'schilt ende vriendt!' and put them to the sword. all that summer's morning, and on throughout the day, the massacre continued. old men, women, and children hurled stones from the roofs and windows down upon the enemy. breidel, a man of great strength, killed many with his own hand, and those whom he wounded were beaten to death where they fell by the apprentices with their iron clubs. in the market-place, close to where the monument to de coninck and breidel stands, a party of soldiers, under a gallant french knight, gauthier de sapignies, made a stand; but they were overpowered and slaughtered to the last man. châtillon tried to rally his forces, but the surprise had been too complete, and, disguising himself in the cassock of a priest, he hid, in company with chancellor flotte, till it was dark, when they managed to escape from the town. by this time the carnage had ceased; the walls of the houses and the gutters ran with blood; and the burghers of bruges had done their work so thoroughly that , frenchmen lay dead upon the streets. but the final reckoning with france was yet to come. when châtillon reached paris and told his master the direful story of the bruges matins, philip swore revenge; and a few weeks later an army , strong invaded flanders, under the comte d'artois, with whom rode also châtillon, flotte, and many nobles of france. the flemings went to meet them--not only the burghers of bruges, led by de coninck and breidel, marching under the banners of their guilds, but men from every part of flanders--and on july , near courtrai, the battle of the golden spurs was fought. [illustration: a flemish burgher] the ground was marshy, with a stream and pools of water between the two armies; and just as the scots at bannockburn, twelve years afterwards, prepared pitfalls for the heavy cavalry of england, so the flemings laid a trap for the french knights by cutting down brushwood and covering the water. the horsemen, clad in cumbrous armour, charged, the brushwood gave way, and most of them sank into the water. the comte d'artois got clear, but was beaten to the ground and killed. the chancellor flotte, who had boasted that he would bring the people of bruges to their knees, was trampled to death. châtillon died too; and when, at last, a long day's fighting came to an end, the flemings had gained a complete victory. by this battle, which took its name from the thousands of golden spurs which were torn from the french knights who fell, the victors secured--for a time, at least--the liberty of their country, and the memory of it was for many a day to flanders what the memory of bannockburn was to scotland or of morgarten to switzerland. footnotes. [footnote : 'shield and friend!'] chapter v damme--the sea-fight at sluis--splendour of bruges in the middle ages--the fall and loss of trade damme, where the patriots mustered on the eve of the bruges matins, is within a short hour's stroll from the east end of the town. the roya, which disappears from view, as we have already seen, opposite the quai du rosaire, emerges from its hidden course at the west end of the quai du miroir, where the statue of jan van eyck stands near the door of the building now used as a public library. this building was once the customs house of bruges, conveniently situated in the neighbourhood of the market-place, and on the side of the roya, which thence stretches eastwards between the quai du miroir and the quai spinola for a few hundred yards, and then turns sharply to the north, and continues between the quai long and the quai de la potterie, which are built in rambling fashion on either side of the water. some of the houses are old, others of no earlier date, apparently, than the seventeenth or eighteenth centuries; some large and well preserved, and some mere cottages, half ruinous, with low gables and faded yellow fronts, huddled together on the rough causeway, alongside of which are moored canal-boats with brown hulls and deck-houses gay with white and green paint. at the end of the quai de la potterie is the modern bassin de commerce, in which the roya loses itself, the harbour for the barges and small steamers which come by the canal connecting ostend with bruges and ghent; and near this was, in ancient days, the porte de damme, through which breidel and his followers burst on that fateful morning in may years ago. to the right of the bassin a broad canal, constructed by napoleon in , extends in a straight line eastwards, contained within dykes which raise it above a wide expanse of level meadow-lands intersected by ditches, and dotted here and there by the white-walled cottages with red roofs and green outside shutters which are so typical of flemish scenery. about two miles out of bruges one comes in sight of a windmill perched on a slope at the side of the canal, a square church-tower, a few houses, and some grassy mounds, which were once strong fortifications. even the historical imagination, which everyone who walks round bruges must carry with him, is hardly equal to realizing that this was once a bustling seaport, with a harbour in which more than a hundred merchant ships, laden with produce from all parts of the world, were sometimes lying at the same time. in those busy times damme, they say, contained , inhabitants; now there are only about , . beyond damme the canal winds on through the same flat landscape, low-lying, water-logged, with small farm-houses and scanty trees, and in the distance, on the few patches of higher ground, the churches of oostkerke and westcapelle. at last, soon after passing the dutch frontier, the canal ends in a little dock with gray, lichen-covered sides; and this is sluis, a dull place, with a few narrow streets, a market-place, two churches, and a belfry of the fourteenth century. it is quite inland now, miles from the salt water; and from the high ramparts which still surround it the view extends to the north across broad green fields, covering what was once the bed of the sea, in the days when the tide ebbed and flowed in the channel of the zwijn, over which ships passed sailing on their way to bruges. but any english traveller who, having gone a little way out of the beaten track of summer tourists, may chance to mount the ramparts, and look down upon the fields which stretch away to the shores of the north sea and the estuary of the scheldt, and inland beyond damme to the belfry and the spires of bruges, is gazing on the scene of a great event in the naval history of england. here, on what is now dry land, on the morning of june , , ships of war, full of armed men-- , of them--were drawn up in line of battle; and further out to sea, beyond the entrance of the zwijn, the newly-risen sun was shining on the sails of another fleet which was manoeuvring in the offing. [illustration: bruges quai du miroir.] 'in the cities of flanders,' says dr. gardiner, 'had arisen manufacturing populations which supplied the countries round with the products of the loom. to the ghent and bruges of the middle ages england stood in the same relation as that which the australian colonies hold to the leeds and bradford of our own day. the sheep which grazed over the wide, unenclosed pasture-lands of our island formed a great part of the wealth of england, and that wealth depended entirely on the flourishing trade with the flemish towns in which english wool was converted into cloth.' when, therefore, edward iii. claimed the throne of france, and the hundred years' war began, it was of vital importance to the trade of flanders and england that the merchants of the two countries should maintain friendly relations with each other. but philip of valois had persuaded the count of flanders, louis de nevers, to order the arrest of all the english in flanders, and edward had retaliated by arresting all the flemings who were in england, and forbidding the export of english wool to flanders. the result was that the weavers of bruges and the other manufacturing towns of flanders found themselves on the road to ruin; and, having no interest in the question at issue between the kings of france and england, apart from its effect on their commercial prosperity, the burghers of bruges, ghent, and ypres, under the leadership of the famous jacob van artevelde (anticipating, as one of the modern historians of bruges has noticed, what the great powers did for belgium in [ ]), succeeded in securing, with the assent of philip, the neutrality of flanders. the french king, however, did not keep faith with the flemings, but proceeded to acts of aggression against them, and a league against france was formed between england and flanders. in june, , edward, who was then in england, hearing that an immense number of french ships of war were at anchor in the zwijn, set sail to give them battle with a squadron of vessels. the english fleet anchored off the coast between blankenberghe and heyst on the evening of june , and from the top of the dunes the english scouts saw in the distance the masts of the french ships in the zwijn. as soon as there was light next morning, the english weighed anchor and sailed along the coast to the east; past lonely yellow sands, which have swarmed during recent years with workmen toiling at the construction of the immense harbour of see-brugge, which is to be the future port of bruges; past what was then the small fishing hamlet of heyst; past a range of barren dunes, amongst which to-day duinbergen, the latest of the flemish watering-places, with its spacious hotel and trim villas, is being laid out; past a waste of storm-swept sand and rushes, on which are now the digue of knocke, a cluster of hotels and crowded lodging-houses, and a golf-course; and so onwards till they opened the mouth of the zwijn, and saw the french ships crowding the entrance, 'their masts appearing to be like a great wood,' and beyond them the walls of sluis rising from the wet sands left by the receding tide. it was low-water, and while waiting for the turn of the tide the english fleet stood out to sea for some time, so that nicholas béhuchet, the french admiral, began to flatter himself that king edward, finding himself so completely outnumbered, would not dare to risk fighting against such odds. the odds, indeed, were nearly three to one against the english seamen; but as soon as the tide began to flow they steered straight into the channel, and, edward leading the van, came to close quarters, ship to ship. the famous archers of england, who six years later were to do such execution at crécy, lined the bulwarks, and poured in a tempest of arrows so thick that men fell from the tops of the french ships like leaves before a storm. the first of the four lines in which béhuchet had drawn up his fleet was speedily broken, and the english, brandishing their swords and pikes, boarded the french ships, drove their crews overboard, and hoisted the flag of england. king edward was wounded, and the issue may have been doubtful, when suddenly more ships, coming from the north of england, appeared in sight, and hordes of flemings from all parts of flanders, from the coast, and even from inland towns so far away as ypres,[ ] came swarming in boats to join in the attack. this decided the fate of the great battle, which continued till sunset. when it ended, the french fleet had ceased to exist, with the exception of a few ships which escaped when it was dark. the flemings captured béhuchet, and hung him then and there. nearly , of his men perished, many of whom were drowned while attempting to swim ashore, or were clubbed to death by the flemings who lined the beach, waiting to take vengeance on the invaders for having burned their homesteads and carried off their flocks. the english lost two ships and , men; but the victory was so complete that no courtier was bold enough to carry the news to king philip, who did not know what had befallen his great fleet till the court jester went to him, and said, 'oh! the english cowards! the english cowards! they had not the courage to jump into the sea as our noble frenchmen did at sluis.' it is strange to think that flemish peasants work, and cattle feed, and holiday visitors from knocke, or sluis, or kadzand ramble about dry-shod where the waves were rolling in on that midsummer's morning, and that far beneath the grass the timbers of so many stout ships and the bones of so many valiant seamen have long since mouldered away. and it is also strange to think, when wandering along the canals of bruges, where now the swans glide silently about in the almost stagnant water which laps the basements of the old houses, how in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries ships of every nation carried in great bales of merchandise, and that rich traders stored them in warehouses and strong vaults, which are now mere coal-cellars, or the dark and empty haunts of the rats which swarm in the canals. 'there is,' says mr. robinson, 'in the national library at paris a list of the kingdoms and cities which sent their produce to bruges at that time. england sent wool, lead, tin, coal, and cheese; ireland and scotland, chiefly hides and wool; denmark, pigs; russia, hungary, and bohemia, large quantities of wax; poland, gold and silver; germany, wine; liége, copper kettles; and bulgaria, furs.' after naming many parts of europe, asia, and africa, that sent goods, the manuscript adds: 'and all the aforesaid realms and regions send their merchants with wares to flanders, besides those who come from france, poitou, and gascony, and from the three islands of which we know not the names of their kingdoms.' the trade of bruges was enormous. people flocked there from all quarters. 'lombard and venetian merchants with deep-laden argosies; ministers from twenty nations; more than royal pomp and ease.' we read of ships entering in one day, and of german merchants buying , pieces of cloth, made by flemish weavers, in a morning's marketing. a citizen of bruges was always at the head of the hanseatic league, and maintained the rights of that vast commercial society under the title of 'comte de la hanse.' merchant princes, members of the hanse, lived here in palaces. money-changers grew rich. edward iii. borrowed from the bardi at bruges on the security of the crown jewels of england. contracts of insurance against maritime risks were entered into from an early period, and the merchant shipping code which regulated traffic by sea was known as the 'röles de damme.'[ ] there were twenty consulates at one time in bruges, and the population of the town is said, though it is difficult to believe that this is not an exaggeration, to have been more than , before the middle of the fourteenth century. six years after the battle of sluis, louis of nevers was killed at crecy, and his son, louis of maele, reigned in his stead as count of flanders. he was a leliart to the core, and his reign of nearly forty years, one long struggle against the liberties of his people, witnessed the capture of bruges by philip van artevelde, the invasion of flanders by the french, the defeat of the nationalists, and the death of van artevelde on the field of roosebeke. nevertheless, during this period and after it bruges grew in beauty and in wealth. the hôtel de ville, without the grandeur of the hôtel de ville at brussels, but still a gem of mediæval architecture, was built on the site of the old 'ghiselhuis' of baldwin bras-de-fer. other noble buildings, rich in design and beautiful in all their outlines, and great mansions, with marble halls and ceilings of exquisitely carved woodwork, rose on every side; towers and pinnacles, shapely windows and graceful arches, overhung the waterways; luxury increased; in the homes of the nobles and wealthy merchants were stores of precious stones, tapestries, silk, fine linen, cloth of gold; the churches and many buildings gleamed with gilded stone and tinted glass and brilliant frescoes. art flourished as the town grew richer. the elder and the younger van eyck, gerard david, and memlinc, with many others before and after them, were attracted by its splendour, as modern painters have been attracted by its decay; and though the 'adoration of the immaculate lamb' hangs in the choir of st. bavon at ghent, the genius which coloured that matchless altar-piece found its inspiration within the walls of bruges. the history of bruges for many long years, especially under the rule of the house of burgundy, was, in the midst of war, turmoil, and rebellion, the history of continuous progress. but all this prosperity depended on the sea. so long as the zwijn remained open, neither war nor faction, not even the last great rising against the archduke maximilian, which drove away the foreign merchants, most of whom went to antwerp, and so impoverished the town that no less than , houses were standing empty in the year ,[ ] could have entirely ruined bruges. these disasters might have been retrieved if the channel of communication with damme and sluis had not been lost; but for a long time the condition of this important waterway had been the cause of grave anxiety to the people of bruges. the heavy volume of water which poured with every ebbing tide down the scheldt between flushing and breskens swept past the island of walcheren, and spread out into the north sea and down the english channel, leaving the mud it carried with it on the sands round the mouth of the zwijn, which itself did not discharge a current strong enough to prevent the slow but sure formation of a bank across its entrance. charters, moreover, had been granted to various persons, under which they drained the adjoining lands, and gradually reclaimed large portions from the sea. the channel, at no time very deep, became shallower, narrower, and more difficult of access, until at last, during the second half of the fifteenth century, the passage between sluis and damme was navigable only by small ships. soon the harbour at damme was nearly choked up with sand. many schemes were tried in the hope of preserving the zwijn, but the sea-trade of bruges dwindled away to a mere nothing, and finally disappeared before the middle of the sixteenth century. and so bruges fell from greatness. there are still some traces of the ancient bed of the zwijn amongst the fields near coolkerke, a village a short distance to the north of bruges--a broad ditch with broken banks, and large pools of slimy water lying desolate and forlorn in a wilderness of tangled bushes. these are now the only remains of the highway by which the 'deep-laden argosies' used to enter in the days of old. footnotes. [footnote : robinson, _bruges, an historical sketch_, p. .] [footnote : vereecke, _histoire militaire de la ville d'ypres_, p. .] [footnote : gilliodts van severen, _bruges ancienne et moderne_, p. .] [footnote : gilliodts van severen, p. .] chapter vi 'bruges la morte' they call it 'bruges la morte,' and at every turn there is something to remind us of the deadly blight which fell upon the city when its trade was lost. the faded colours, the timeworn brickwork, the indescribable look of decay which, even on the brightest morning, throws a shade of melancholy over the whole place, lead one to think of some aged dame, who has 'come down in the world,' wearing out the finery of better days. it is all very sad and pathetic, but strangely beautiful, and the painter never lived who could put on canvas the mellow tints with which time has clothed these old walls, and thus veiled with tender hand the havoc it has made. to stand on the bridge which crosses the canal at the corner of the quai des marbriers and the quai vert, where the pinnacles of the palais du franc and the roof of the hôtel de ville, with the belfry just showing above them, and dull red walls rising from the water, make up a unique picture of still-life, is to read a sermon in stones, an impressive lesson in history. the loss of trade brought bruges face to face with the 'question of the unemployed' in a very aggravated form. how to provide for the poor became a most serious problem, and so many of the people were reduced to living on charity that almshouses sprang up all over the town. god's houses ('godshuisen') they called them, and call them still. they are to be found in all directions--quaint little places, planted down here and there, each with a small chapel of its own, with moss-grown roofs and dingy walls, and doors that open on to the uneven cobbles. every stone of them spells pauperism. the church does much towards maintaining these shelters for the poor--perhaps too much, if it is true that there are , paupers in bruges out of a population of about , . there is a great deal of begging in the streets, and a sad lack of sturdy self-respect amongst the lower class, which many think is caused by the system of doles, for which the church is chiefly responsible. bruges might not have been so picturesque to-day if her commerce had survived; but the beauty of a town is dearly purchased at the cost of such degradation and loss of personal independence. [illustration: bruges view of the palais du franc.] it was not only the working class which suffered. many rich families sank into poverty, and their homes, some of which were more like palaces than private houses, had to be dismantled. the fate of one of these lordly mansions is connected with an episode which carries us back into the social life of bruges in the middle of the seventeenth century. on the right side of the rue haute, as one goes from the place du bourg, there is a high block containing two large houses, nos. and , of that street. it is now a big, plain building without a trace of architectural distinction; but in the seventeenth century it was a single mansion, built about the year , and was one of the many houses with towers which gave the bruges of that time almost the appearance of an oriental city. it was called the house of the seven towers, from the seven pinnacles which surmounted it; and at the back there was a large garden, which extended to the canal and quai des marbriers. in april, , the 'tall man above two yards high, with dark brown hair, scarcely to be distinguished from black,' for whom the roundheads had searched all england after the battle of worcester, found his way to bruges, with his brother henry, duke of gloucester, and the train of royalists who formed their court. for nearly three years after worcester, charles ii. had lived in france; but in july, , the alliance between cromwell and mazarin drove him to germany, where he remained till don john of austria became governor of the spanish netherlands. thereupon the prospect of recovering the english throne by the assistance of spain led him to remove his court, which had been established for some time at cologne, to flanders. he arrived at bruges on april , . his brother james, duke of york, and afterwards king of england, held a commission in the french army, and mazarin offered him a command in italy. charles, however, requested him to leave the french army, and enter the service of spain. at first james refused; but by the mediation of their sister, the princess of orange, he was persuaded to do as his brother wished, and join the court at bruges. the irish viscount tarah received charles, when he first arrived, in his house in the rue du vieux bourg, and there gave him, we read in local history, 'une brillante hospitalité.' but in the beginning of june the court took up its quarters in the house of the seven towers. during his sojourn in flanders, charles was carefully watched by the secret service officers of the commonwealth government, who sent home reports of all he did. these reports, many of which are in the thurloe state papers and other collections, contain some curious details about the exiled court. there never was a more interesting 'english colony' at bruges than at that time. hyde, who received the great seal at bruges, was there with ormonde and the earls of bristol, norwich, and rochester. sir edward nicholas was secretary of state; and we read of colonel sydenham, sir robert murray, and 'mr. cairless', who sat on the tree with charles stewart after worcester fight. another of the exiles at bruges was sir james turner, the soldier of fortune, who served under gustavus adolphus, persecuted the covenanters in scotland, and is usually supposed to have been the original of dugald dalgetty in sir walter scott's _legend of montrose_. a list of the royal household is still preserved at bruges. it was prepared in order that the town council might fix the daily allowance of wine and beer which was to be given to the court, and contains the names of about sixty persons, with a note of the supply granted to each family. a 'letter of intelligence' (the report of a spy), dated from bruges on september , , mentions that lilly, the astrologer of london, had written to say that the king would be restored to the throne next year, and that all the english at bruges were delighted. but in the meantime they were very hard up for ready money. ever since leaving england charles and his followers had suffered from the most direful impecuniosity. we find hyde declaring that he has 'neither shoes nor shirt.' the king himself was constantly running into debt for his meals, and his friends spent many a hungry day at bruges. if by good luck they chanced to be in funds, one meal a day sufficed for a party of half a dozen courtiers. if it was cold they could not afford to purchase firewood. the earl of norwich writes, saying that he has to move about so as to get lodgings on credit, and avoid people to whom he owes money. colonel borthwick, who claims to have served the king most faithfully, complains that he is in prison at bruges on suspicion of disloyalty, has not changed his clothes for three years, and is compelled by lack of cash to go without a fire in winter. sir james hamilton, a gentleman-in-waiting, gets drunk one day, and threatens to kill the lord chancellor. he is starving, and declares it is hyde's fault that the king gives him no money. he will put on a clean shirt to be hanged in, and not run away, being without so much as a penny. then we have the petition of a poor fencing-master. 'heaven,' he writes piteously, 'hears the groans of the lowest creatures, and therefore i trust that you, being a terrestrial deity, will not disdain my supplication.' he had come from cologne to bruges to teach the royal household, and wanted his wages, for he and his family were starving. [illustration: bruges maison du pélican (almshouse).] don john of austria visited charles at bruges, and an allowance from the king of spain was promised, so that men might be levied for the operations against cromwell; but the payments were few and irregular. 'the english court,' says a letter of february, , 'remains still at bridges [bruges], never in greater want, nor greater expectations of money, without which all their levies are like to be at a stand; for englishmen cannot live on bread alone.' a 'letter of intelligence' sent from sluis says that charles is 'much loocked upon, but littell respeckted.' and this is not wonderful if the reports sent home by the commonwealth agents are to be trusted. one of the spies who haunted the neighbourhood of bruges was a mr. butler, who writes in the winter of - : 'this last week one of the richest churches in bruges was plundered in the night. the people of bruges are fully persuaded that charles stewart's followers have done it. they spare no pains to find out the guilty, and if it happen to light upon any of charles stewart's train, it will mightily incense that people against them.... there is now a company of french comedians at bruges, who are very punctually attended by charles stewart and his court, and all the ladies there. their most solemn day of acting is the lord's day. i think i may truly say that greater abominations were never practised among people than at this day at charles stewart's court. fornication, drunkenness, and adultery are esteemed no sins amongst them; so i persuade myself god will never prosper any of their attempts.'[ ] in another letter we read that once, after a hunting expedition, charles and a gentleman of the bedchamber were the only two who came back sober. sir james turner was mad when drunk, 'and that was pretty often,' says bishop burnet. but, of course, it was the business of the spies to blacken the character of charles; and there can be little doubt that, in spite of his poverty and loose morals, he was well liked by the citizens of bruges, who, notwithstanding a great deal of outward decorum, have at no time been very strait-laced. 'charles,' we learn from a local history, 'sut se rendre populaire en prenant part aux amusements de la population et en se pliant, sans effort comme sans affectation, aux usages du pays.' during his whole period of exile he contrived to amuse himself. affairs of gallantry, dancing, tennis, billiards, and other frivolous pursuits, occupied as much of his attention as the grave affairs of state over which hyde and ormonde spent so many anxious hours. when on a visit to brussels in the spring of , he employed, we are told, most of his time with don john dancing, or at 'long paume, a spanish play with balls filled with wire.' and, again: 'he passes his time with shooting at bruges, and such other obscure pastimes.' this 'shooting' was the favourite flemish sport of shooting with bow and arrows at an artificial bird fixed on a high pole, the prize being, on great occasions, a golden bird, which was hung by a chain of gold round the winner's neck. in the records of the guilds of st. george and st. sebastian at bruges there are notices relating to charles. the former was a society of cross-bowmen, the latter of archers. on june , , charles and the duke of gloucester were at the festival of the society of st. george. charles was the first to try his skill, and managed to hit the mark. after the duke and many others had shot, peter pruyssenaere, a wine merchant in the rue du vieux bourg, brought down the bird, and charles hung the golden 'bird of honour' round his neck. on june charles visited the society of st. sebastian, when michael noé, a gardener, was the winner. the king and gloucester both became members of the st. sebastian, which is still a flourishing society. going along the rue des carmes, the traveller passes the english convent on the left, and on the right, at the end of the street, comes to the guildhouse of st. sebastian, with its slender tower and quiet garden, one of the pleasantest spots in bruges. there the names of charles and his brother are to be seen inscribed in a small volume bound in red morocco, the 'bird of honour' with its chain of gold, a silver arrow presented by the duke of gloucester, and some other interesting relics. on september , , queen victoria, prince albert, king leopold i., and the queen of the belgians, went to the rue des carmes and signed their names as members of this society, which now possesses two silver cups, presented by the queen of england in and . the duke of york seems to have been successful as an archer, for in the hôtel de ville at bruges there is a picture by john van meuninxhove, in which charles is seen hanging the 'bird of honour' round his brother's neck. in april, , the english government was informed that the court of charles was preparing to leave bruges. 'yesterday' (april ) 'some of his servants went before to brussels to make ready lodgings for charles stewart, the duke of york, and the duke of gloucester. all that have or can compass so much money go along with charles stewart on monday morning. i do admire how people live here for want of money. our number is not increased since my last. the most of them are begging again for want of money; and when any straggling persons come, we have not so much money as will take a single man to the quarters; yet we promise ourselves great matters.' they were hampered in all their movements by this want of hard cash, for charles was in debt at bruges, and could not remove his goods until he paid his creditors. it was sadly humiliating. 'the king,' we read, 'will hardly live at bruges any more, but he cannot remove his family and goods till we get money.' the dilemma seems to have been settled by charles, his brothers, and most of the court going off to brussels, leaving their possessions behind them. the final move did not take place till february, , and clarendon says that charles never lived at bruges after that date. he may, however, have returned on a short visit, for jesse, in his _memoirs of the court of england under the stuarts_, states that the king was playing tennis at bruges when sir stephen fox came to him with the great news, 'the devil is dead!' this would be in september, , cromwell having died on the third of that month. after the restoration charles sent to the citizens of bruges a letter of thanks for the way in which they had received him. nor did he forget, amidst the pleasures of the court at whitehall, the simple pastimes of the honest burghers, but presented to the archers of the society of st. sebastian the sum of , florins, which were expended on their hall of meeting. more than a hundred years later, when the stuart dynasty was a thing of the past and george iii. was seated on the throne of england, the rue haute saw the arrival of some travellers who were very different from the roystering cavaliers and frail beauties who had made it gay in the days of the merry monarch. the english jesuits of st. omer, when expelled from their college, came to bruges in august, , and took up their abode in the house of the seven towers, where they found 'nothing but naked walls and empty chambers.' a miserable place it must have been. 'in one room a rough table of planks had been set up, and the famished travellers were rejoiced at the sight of three roast legs of mutton set on the primitive table. knives, forks, and plates there were none. a flemish servant divided the food with his pocket-knife. a farthing candle gave a rembrandt-like effect to the scene. the boys slept that night on mattresses laid on the floor of one of the big empty rooms of the house. the first days at bruges were cheerless enough.'[ ] the religious houses, however, came to the rescue. flemish monks and the nuns of the english convent helped the pilgrims, and the jesuits soon established themselves at bruges, where they remained in peace for a few years, till the austrian government drove them out. the same fate overtook the inmates of many monasteries and convents at bruges in the reign of joseph ii., whose reforming zeal led to that revolt of the austrian netherlands which was the prelude to the invasion of flanders by the army of the french revolution. after the conquest of belgium by the french it looked as if all the churches in bruges were doomed. the chapel of st. basil was laid in ruins. the church of st. donatian, which had stood since the days of baldwin bras-de-fer, was pulled down and disappeared entirely. notre dame, st. sauveur, and other places of worship, narrowly escaped destruction; and it was not till the middle of the nineteenth century that the town recovered, in some measure, from these disasters. bruges has doubtless shared in the general prosperity which has spread over the country since belgium became an independent kingdom after the revolution of , but its progress has been slow. it has never lost its old-world associations; and the names of the streets and squares, and the traditions connected with numberless houses which a stranger might pass without notice, are all so many links with the past. there is the rue espagnole, for example, where a vegetable market is held every wednesday. this was the quarter where the spanish merchants lived and did their business. there used to be a tall, dark, and, in fact, very dirty-looking old house in this street known by the spanish name of the 'casa negra.' it was pulled down a few years ago; but lower down, at the foot of the street, the great cellars in which the spaniards stored their goods remain; and on the quai espagnol was the spanish consulate, now a large dwelling-house. a few steps from the quai espagnol is the place des orientaux (oosterlingen plaats), where a minaret of tawny brick rises above the gables of what was once the consulate of smyrna, and on the north side of which, in the brave days of old, stood the splendid maison des orientaux, the headquarters of the hanseatic league in bruges, the finest house in flanders, with turrets and soaring spire, and marvellous façade, and rooms inside all ablaze with gilding. the glory has departed; two modern dwelling-houses have taken the place of this commercial palace; but it must surely be a very dull imagination on which the sight of this spot, now so tranquil and commonplace, but once the centre of such important transactions, makes no impression. from the place des orientaux it is only a few minutes stroll to the rue cour de gand and the dark brown wooden front of the small house, now a lace shop, which tradition says was one of memlinc's homes in bruges, where we can fancy him, laboriously and with loving care, putting the last minute touches to some immortal painting. then there is the rue anglaise, off the quai spinola, where the english merchant adventurers met to discuss their affairs in houses with such names as 'old england' or 'the tower of london.' the head of the colony, 'governor of the english nation beyond the seas' they called him, was a very busy man years ago.[ ] the scottish merchants were settled in the same district, close to the church of ste. walburge. they called their house 'scotland,' and doubtless made as good bargains as the 'auld enemy' in the next street. there is a building called the parijssche halle, or halle de paris, hidden away among the houses to the west of the market-place, with a cafe and a theatre where flemish plays are acted now, which was formerly the consulate of france; and subscription balls and amateur theatricals are given by the english residents of to-day in the fourteenth-century house of the genoese merchants in the rue flamande. the list of streets and houses with old-time associations like these might be extended indefinitely, for in bruges the past is ever present. [illustration: bruges vegetable market.] even the flat-fronted, plain houses with which poverty or the bad taste of the last century replaced many of the older buildings do not spoil the picturesque appearance of the town as a whole, because it is no larger now than it was years ago, and these modern structures are quite lost amongst their venerable neighbours. thus bruges retains its mediæval character. in the midst, however, of all this wealth of architectural beauty and historical interest, the atmosphere of common everyday life seems to be so very dull and depressing that people living there are apt to be driven, by sheer boredom, into spending their lives in a round of small excitements and incessant, wearisome gossip, and into taking far more interest in the paltry squabbles of their neighbours over some storm in a teacup than in the more important topics which invigorate the minds of men and women in healthier and broader societies. long before rodenbach's romance was written this peculiarity of bruges was proverbial throughout belgium. but it is possible that a change is at hand, and that bruges may once again become, not the venice of the north--the time for that is past--but an important town, for the spirit of commercial enterprise which has done so much for other parts of belgium during the last seventy-five years is now invading even this quiet place, whose citizens have begun to dream of recovering some portion of their former prosperity. in the belgian parliament passed a law providing for the construction, between blankenberghe and heyst, of a harbour connected with bruges by a canal of large dimensions, and of an inner port at the town. the works at see-brugge, as the outer port is called, are nearly completed, and will allow vessels drawing - / feet of water to float at any state of the tide. the jetty describes a large curve, and the bend is such that its extremity is parallel to the coast, and yards distant from the low-water mark. the sheltered roadstead is about acres in extent, and communication is made with the canal by a lock feet wide and yards in length. from this point the canal, which has a depth of - / feet and is fed by seawater, runs in a straight line to bruges, and ends at the inner port, which is within a few hundred yards of where the roya used to meet the zwijn. it is capable of affording a minimum capacity of , , tons per annum, and the whole equipment has been fitted up necessary for dealing with this amount of traffic. the first ship, an english steamer, entered the new port at bruges on the morning of may in the present year ( ). the carillon rung from the belfry, guns were fired, and a ceremony in honour of the event took place in the hôtel de ville. it now remains to be seen whether any part of the trade which was lost years ago can be recovered by the skill of modern engineers and the resources of modern capital. footnotes. [footnote : letter from mr. j. butler, flushing, december , , thurloe state papers, v., .] [footnote : robinson, _bruges, an historical sketch_, p. .] [footnote : in the _flandria illustrata_ of sanderus, vol. i., p. , there is a picture of the 'domus anglorum.'] chapter vii the plain of west flanders--ypres to the west of bruges the wide plain of flanders extends to the french frontier. church spires and windmills are the most prominent objects in the landscape; but though the flatness of the scenery is monotonous, there is something pleasing to the eye in the endless succession of well-cultivated fields, interrupted at intervals by patches of rough bushland, canals, or slow-moving streams winding between rows of pollards, country houses embowered in woods and pleasure-grounds, cottages with fruitful gardens, orchards, small villages, and compact little towns, in most of which the diligent antiquary will find something of interest--a modest belfry, perhaps, with a romance of its own; a parish church, whose foundations were laid long ago in ground dedicated, in the distant past, to the worship of thor or woden; or the remains, it may be, of a medieval castle, from which some worthy knight, whose name is forgotten except in local traditions, rode away to the crusades. this part of west flanders, which lies wedged in between the coast, with its populous bathing stations, and the better-known district immediately to the south of it, where ghent, tournai, courtrai, and other important centres draw many travellers every year, is seldom visited by strangers, who are almost as much stared at in some of the villages as they would be in the streets of pekin. it is, however, very accessible. the roads are certainly far from good, and anything in the shape of a walking tour is out of the question, for the strongest pedestrian would have all his pleasure spoilt by the hard-going of the long, straight causeway. the ideal way to see the netherlands and study the life of the people is to travel on the canals; but these are not so numerous here as in other parts of the country, and, besides, it is not very easy to arrange for a passage on the barges. but, in addition to the main lines of the state railway, there are the 'chemins-de-fer vicinaux,' or light district railways, which run through all parts of belgium. the fares on these are very low, and there are so many stoppages that the traveller can see a great many places in the course of a single day. there are cycle tracks, too, alongside most of the roads, the cost of keeping them in order being paid out of the yearly tax paid by the owners of bicycles.[ ] [illustration: the flemish plain] this is the most purely flemish part of flanders. one very seldom notices that spanish type of face which is so common elsewhere--at antwerp, for instance. here the race is almost unmixed, and the peasants speak nothing but flemish to each other. many of them do not understand a word of french, though in belgium french is, as everyone knows, the language of public life and of literature. the newspapers published in flemish are small, and do not contain much beyond local news. the result is that the country people in west flanders know very little of what is going on in the world beyond their own parishes. the standard of education is low, being to a great extent in the hands of the clergy, who have hitherto succeeded in defeating all proposals for making it universal and compulsory. but, steeped as most of them are in ignorance and superstition, the agricultural labourers of west flanders are, to all appearance, quite contented with their lot. living is cheap, and their wants are few. coffee, black bread, potatoes, and salted pork, are the chief articles of diet, and in some households even the pork is a treat for special occasions. they seldom taste butter, using lard instead; and the 'margarine' which is sold in the towns does not find its way into the cottages of the outlying country districts. sugar has for many years been much dearer than in england, and the price is steadily rising, but with this exception the food of the people is cheap. tea enters belgium duty free, but the peasants never use it. many villagers smoke coarse tobacco grown in their own gardens, and a -centimes cigar is the height of luxury. tobacco being a state monopoly in france, the high price in that country makes smuggling common, and there is a good deal of contraband trading carried on in a quiet way on the frontiers of west flanders. the average wage paid for field labour is from franc centimes to francs a day for married men--that is to say, from about s. d. to s. d. of english money. bachelors generally receive franc ( d.) a day and their food. the working hours are long, often from five in the morning till eight in the evening in summer, and in winter from sunrise till sunset, with one break at twelve o'clock for dinner, consisting of bread with pork and black coffee, and another about four in the afternoon, when what remains of the mid-day meal is consumed. [illustration: a flemish country girl] the flemish farmhouse is generally a substantial building, with two large living-rooms, in which valuable old pieces of furniture are still occasionally to be found, though the curiosity dealers have, during the last quarter of a century, carried most of them away, polished them up, and sold them at a high profit. carved chests, bearing the arms of ancient families, have been discovered lying full of rubbish in barns or stables, and handsome cabinets, with fine mouldings and brass fittings, have frequently been picked up for a few francs. the heavy beams of the ceilings, black with age, the long flemish stoves, and the quaint window-seats deeply sunk in the thick walls, still remain, and make the interiors of many of these houses very picturesque; but the 'finds' of old furniture, curious brass or pewter dishes, and even stray bits of valuable tapestry, which used to rouse the cupidity of strangers, are now very rare. almost all the brass work which is so eagerly bought by credulous tourists at bruges in summer is bran-new stuff cleverly manufactured for sale--and sold it is at five or six times its real market value! there are no bargains to be picked up on the dyver or in the shops of bruges. [illustration: duinhoek interior of a farmhouse.] the country life is simple. a good deal of hard drinking goes on in most villages. more beer, probably, is consumed in belgium per head of the population than in any other european country, germany not excepted, and the system of swallowing 'little glasses' of fiery spirit on the top of beer brings forth its natural fruits. the drunken ways of the people are encouraged by the excessive number of public-houses. practically anyone who can pay the government fee and obtain a barrel of beer and a few tumblers may open a drinking-shop. it is not uncommon in a small country village with about inhabitants to see the words 'herberg' or 'estaminet' over the doors of a dozen houses, in which beer is sold at a penny (or less) for a large glass, and where various throat-burning liquors of the _petit verre_ species can be had at the same price; and the result is that very often a great portion of the scanty wage paid on saturday evening is melted into beer or gin on sunday and monday. as a rule, the flemish labourer, being a merry, light-hearted soul, is merely noisy and jovial in a brutal sort of way in his cups; but let a quarrel arise, out come the knives, and before the rural policeman saunters along there are nasty rows, ending in wounds and sometimes in murder. when the lots are drawn for military service, and crowds of country lads with their friends flock into the towns, the public-houses do good business. those who have drawn lucky numbers, and so escaped the conscription, get drunk out of joy; while those who find they must serve in the army drown their sorrow, or celebrate the occasion if they are of a martial turn, by reeling about the streets arm in arm with their companions, shouting and singing. whole families, old and young alike, often join in these performances, and they must be very drunk and very disorderly before the police think of making even the mildest remonstrance. the gay character of the flemings is best seen at the 'kermesse,' or fair, which is held in almost every village during summer. at bruges, ypres, and furnes, and still more in such large cities as brussels or antwerp, the kermesse has ceased to be typical of the country, and is supplanted by fairs such as may be seen in england or in almost any other country. 'merry-go-rounds' driven by steam, elaborate circuses, menageries, waxwork exhibitions, movable theatres, and modern 'shows' of every kind travel about, and settle for a few days, perhaps even for a few weeks, in various towns. the countryfolk of the surrounding district are delighted, and the showmen reap a goodly harvest of francs and centimes; but these fairs are tiresome and commonplace, much less amusing and lively than, for example, st. giles's fair at oxford, though very nearly as noisy. but the kermesse proper, which still survives in some places, shows the flemings amusing themselves in something more like the old fashion than anything which can be seen in the market-place of bruges or on the boulevards of brussels or antwerp. indeed, some of the village scenes, when the young people are dancing or shooting with bows and arrows at the mark, while the elders sit, with their mugs of beer and long pipes, watching and gossiping, are very like what took place in the times of the old painters who were so fond of producing pictures of the kermesses. the dress of the people, of course, is different, but the spirit of the scene, with its homely festivities, is wonderfully little changed. about twenty miles from the french frontier is the town of ypres, once the capital of flanders, and which in the time of louis of nevers was one of the three 'bonnes villes,' bruges and ghent being the others, which appointed deputies to defend the rights and privileges of the whole flemish people. as bruges grew out of the rude fortress on the banks of the roya, so ypres developed from a stronghold built, probably about the year , on a small island in the river yperlee. it was triangular in shape, with a tower at each corner, and was at first known by the inhabitants of the surrounding plain as the 'castle of the three towers.' in course of time houses began to appear on the banks of the river near the island. a rampart of earth with a ditch defended these, and as the place grew, the outworks became more extensive. owing to its strategic position, near france and in a part of flanders which was constantly the scene of war, it was of great importance; and probably no other flemish town has seen its defences so frequently altered and enlarged as ypres has between the primitive days when the crusading thierry d'alsace planted hedges of live thorns to strengthen the towers, and the reign of louis xiv., when a vast and elaborate system of fortifications was constructed on scientific principles, under the direction of vauban. the citizens of ypres took a prominent part in most of the great events which distinguished the heroic period of flemish history. in july, , a contingent of , chosen men, ' of them clothed in scarlet and the rest in black,' were set to watch the town and castle of courtrai during the battle of the golden spurs, and in the following year the victory was celebrated by the institution of the confraternity of the archers of st. sebastian, which still exists at ypres, the last survivor of the armed societies which flourished there during the middle ages. seven hundred burghers of ypres marched to sluis, embarked in the flemish boats which harassed the french fleet during the naval fight of june, , and at the close of the campaign formed themselves into the confraternity of st. michael, which lasted till the french invasion of . forty years later we find no fewer than , of the men of ypres, who had now changed their politics, on the french side at the battle of roosebeke, fighting in the thick mist upon the plain between ypres and roulers on that fatal day which saw the death of philip van artevelde and the triumph of the leliarts. [illustration: adinkerque at the kermesse.] next year, so unceasingly did the tide of war flow over the plain of flanders, an english army, commanded by henry spencer, bishop of norwich, landed at calais under the pretext of supporting the partisans of pope urban vi., who then occupied the holy see, against the adherents of pope clement vii., who had established himself at avignon. the burghers of ghent flocked to the english standard, and the allies laid siege to ypres, which was defended by the french and the leliarts, who followed louis of maele, count of flanders, and maintained the cause of clement. at that time the gateways were the only part of the fortifications made of stone. the ramparts were of earth, planted on the exterior slope with a thick mass of thorn-bushes, interlaced and strengthened by posts. outside there were more defences of wooden stockades, and beyond them two ditches, divided by a dyke, on which was a palisade of pointed stakes. the town, thus fortified, was defended by about , men, and on june , , the siege was begun by a force consisting of , english and , flemings of the national party, most of whom came from bruges and ghent. the english had been told that the town would not offer a strong resistance, and on the first day of the siege , of them tried to carry it at once by assault. they were repulsed; and after that assaults by the besiegers and sorties by the garrison continued day after day, the loss of life on both sides being very great. at last the besiegers, finding that they could not, in the face of the shower of arrows, javelins, and stones which met them, break through the palisades and the sharp thorn fences (those predecessors of the barbed-wire entanglements of to-day), force the gates, or carry the ramparts, built three wooden towers mounted on wheels, and pushed them full of soldiers up to the gates. but the garrison made a sortie, seized the towers, destroyed them, and killed or captured the soldiers who manned them. spencer on several occasions demanded the surrender of the town, but all his proposals were rejected. the english pressed closer and closer, but were repulsed with heavy losses whenever they delivered an assault. the hopes of the garrison rose high on august , the sixty-first day of the siege, when news arrived that a french army, , strong, accompanied by the forces of the count of flanders, was marching to the relief of ypres. early next morning the english made a fresh attempt to force their way into the town, but they were once more driven back. a little later in the day they twice advanced with the utmost bravery. again they were beaten back. so were the burghers of ghent, whom the english reproached for having deceived them by saying that ypres would fall in three days, and whose answer to this accusation was a furious attack on one of the gates, in which many of them fell. in the afternoon the english again advanced, and succeeded in forcing their way through part of the formidable thorn hedge; but it was of no avail, and once more they had to retire, leaving heaps of dead behind them. after a rest of some hours, another attack was made on seven different parts of the town at the same time. this assault was the most furious and bloody of the siege, but it was the last. spencer saw that, in spite of the splendid courage of his soldiers and of the flemish burghers, it would be impossible to take the town before the french army arrived, and during the night the english, with their allies from ghent and bruges, retired from before ypres. the failure of this campaign left flanders at the mercy of france; but the death of count louis of maele, which took place in january, , brought in the house of burgundy, under whose rule the flemings enjoyed a long period of prosperity and almost complete independence. it was believed in ypres that the town had been saved by the intercession of the virgin mary, its patron saint. in the cathedral church of st. martin the citizens set up an image of notre dame-de-thuine, that is, our lady of the enclosures, an allusion to the strong barrier of thorns which had kept the enemy at bay; and a kermesse, appointed to be held on the first sunday of august every year in commemoration of the siege, received the name of the 'thuindag,' or day of the enclosures.[ ] the people of ypres, though they fought on the french side, had good reason to be proud of the way in which they defended their homes; but the consequences of the siege were disastrous, for the commerce of the town never recovered the loss of the large working-class population which left it at that time. [illustration: a farmsteading] the religious troubles of the sixteenth century left their mark on ypres as well as on the rest of flanders. everyone has read the glowing sentences in which the historian of the dutch republic describes the cathedral of antwerp, and tells how it was wrecked by the reformers during the image-breaking in the summer of . what happened on the banks of the scheldt appeals most to the imagination; but all over flanders the statues and the shrines, the pictures and the stores of ecclesiastical wealth, with which piety, or superstition, or penitence had enriched so many churches and religious houses, became the objects of popular fury. there had been field-preaching near ypres as early as .[ ] other parts of west flanders had been visited by the apostles of the new learning, and on august , , the reformers swept down upon ypres and sacked the churches. in the awful tragedy which soon followed, when parma came upon the scene, that 'spectacle of human energy, human suffering, and human strength to suffer, such as has not often been displayed upon the stage of the world's events', the town had its share of the persecutions and exactions which followed the march of the spanish soldiery; but for more than ten years a majority of the burghers adhered to the cause of philip. in july, , however, ypres fell into the hands of the protestants, and became their headquarters in west flanders. five years later alexander of parma besieged it. the siege lasted until april of the following year, when the protestants, worn out by famine, capitulated, and the town was occupied by the spaniards, who 'resorted to instant measures for cleansing a place which had been so long in the hands of the infidels, and, as the first step towards this purification, the bodies of many heretics who had been buried for years were taken from their graves and publicly hanged in their coffins. all living adherents to the reformed religion were instantly expelled from the place.'[ ] by this time the population was reduced to , souls, and the fortifications were a heap of ruins. a grim memorial of those troublous times is still preserved at ypres. the place du musée is a quiet corner of the town, where a gothic house with double gables contains a collection of old paintings, medals, instruments of torture, and some other curiosities. it was the bishop of ypres who, at midnight on june , , announced to count egmont, in his prison at brussels, that his hour had come; and the cross-hilted sword, with its long straight blade, which hangs on the wall of the museum is the sword with which the executioner 'severed his head from his shoulders at a single blow' on the following morning. the same weapon, a few minutes later, was used for the despatch of egmont's friend, count horn. [illustration: ypres place du musée (showing top part of the belfry).] before the end of that dismal sixteenth century flanders regained some of the liberties for which so much blood had been shed; but while the protestant dutch republic rose in the north, the 'catholic' or 'spanish' netherlands in the south remained in the possession of spain until the marriage of philip's daughter isabella to the archduke albert, when these provinces were given as a marriage portion to the bride. this was in . though happier times followed under the moderate rule of albert and isabella, war continued to be the incessant scourge of flanders, and during the marching and countermarching of armies across this battlefield of europe, ypres scarcely ever knew what peace meant. four times besieged and four times taken by the french in the wars of louis xiv., the town had no rest; and for miles all round it the fields were scarred by the new system of attacking strong places which vauban had introduced into the art of war. louis, accompanied by schomberg and luxembourg, was himself present at the siege of ; and ypres, having been ceded to france by the treaty of nimeguen in that year, was afterwards strengthened by fortifications constructed from plans furnished by the great french engineer.[ ] in the year vauban speaks of ypres as a place 'formerly great, populous, and busy, but much reduced by the frequent sedition and revolts of its inhabitants, and by the great wars which it has endured.' and in this condition it has remained ever since. though the period which followed the treaty of rastadt in , when flanders passed into the possession of the emperor charles vi., and became a part of the 'austrian netherlands,' was a period of considerable improvement, ypres never recovered its position, not even during the peaceful reign of the empress maria theresa. the revolution against joseph ii. disturbed everything, and in june, , the town yielded, after a short siege, to the army of the french republic. the name of flanders disappeared from the map of europe. the whole of belgium was divided, like france, with which it was now incorporated, into _départements_, ypres being in the department of the lys. for twenty years, during the wars of the republic, the consulate, and the empire, though the conscription was a constant drain upon the youth of flanders, who went away to leave their bones on foreign soil, nothing happened to disturb the quiet of the town, and the fortifications were falling into decay when the return of napoleon from elba set europe in a blaze. during the hundred days guns and war material were hurried over from england, the old defences were restored, and new works constructed by the english engineers; but the battle of waterloo rendered these preparations unnecessary, and the military history of ypres came to an end when the short-lived kingdom of the netherlands was established by the congress of vienna, though it was nominally a place of arms till , when the fortifications were destroyed. nowadays everything is very quiet and unwarlike. the bastions and lunettes, the casemates and moats, which spread in every direction round the town, have almost entirely disappeared, and those parts of the fortifications which remain have been turned into ornamental walks.[ ] but while so little remains of the works which were constructed, at such a cost and with so much labour, for the purposes of war, the arts of peace, which once flourished at ypres, have left a more enduring monument. there is nothing in bruges or any other flemish town which can compare for massive grandeur with the pile of buildings at the west end of the grand' place of ypres. during two centuries the merchants of flanders, whose towns were the chief centres of western commerce and civilization, grew to be the richest in europe, and a great portion of the wealth which industry and public spirit had accumulated was spent in erecting those noble civic and commercial buildings which are still the glory of flanders. the foundation-stone of the halle des drapiers, or cloth hall, of ypres was laid by baldwin of constantinople, then count of flanders, at the beginning of the thirteenth century, but more than years had passed away before it was completed. though the name of the architect who began it is unknown, the unity of design which characterizes the work makes it probable that the original plans were adhered to till the whole was finished. nothing could be simpler than the general idea; but the effect is very fine. the ground-floor of the façade, about yards long, is pierced by a number of rectangular doors, over which are two rows of pointed windows, each exactly above the other, and all of the same style. in the upper row every second window is filled up, and contains the statue of some historical character. at each end there is a turret; and the belfry, a square with towers at the corners, rises from the centre of the building. various additions have been made from time to time to the original halle des drapiers since it was finished in the year , and of these the 'nieuwerck' is the most interesting. the east end of the halle was for a long time hidden by a number of wooden erections, which, having been put up for various purposes after the main building was finished, were known as the 'nieuwe wercken,' or new works. they were pulled down in the beginning of the seventeenth century, and replaced by the stone edifice, in the style of the spanish renaissance, which now goes by the name of the nieuwerck, with its ten shapely arches supported by slender pillars, above whose sculptured capitals rise tiers of narrow windows and the steeply-pitched roof with gables of curiously carved stone. ypres had ceased to be a great commercial city long before the nieuwerck was built; but the cloth hall was a busy place during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, when ypres shared with bruges the responsibility of managing the flemish branch of the hanseatic league. the extensive system of monopolies which the league maintained was, as a matter of course, the cause of much jealousy and bad feeling. in flanders, ghent, bruges, and ypres defended their own privileges against other towns, and quarrelled amongst themselves. the merchants of ypres had a monopoly which forbade all weaving for three leagues round the town, under a penalty of fifty livres and confiscation of the looms and linen woven; but the weavers in the neighbouring communes infringed this monopoly, and sold imitations of ypres linen cloth on all hands. there was constant trouble between the people of ypres and their neighbours at poperinghe. sometimes the weavers of ypres, to enforce their exclusive privileges, marched in arms against poperinghe, and sometimes the men of poperinghe retaliated by attacking their powerful rivals. houses were burnt, looms were broken up, and lives were lost in these struggles, which were so frequent that for a long time something like a chronic state of war existed between the two places. [illustration: ypres arcade under the nieuwerck.] besides the troubles caused by the jealousy of other towns, intestine disputes arising out of the perpetual contest between labour and capital went on from year to year within the walls of ypres. there, as in the other flemish towns, a sharp line was drawn between the working man, by whose hands the linen was actually woven, and the merchants, members of the guilds, by whom it was sold. in these towns, which maintained armies and made treaties of peace, and whose friendship was sought by princes and statesmen, the artisans, whose industry contributed so much to the importance of the community, resented any infringement of their legal rights. by law the magistrates of ypres were elected annually, and because this had not been done in the people rose in revolt against the authorities. the mob invaded the hôtel de ville, where the magistrates were assembled. the baillie, jean deprysenaere, trusting to his influence as the local representative of the count of flanders, left the council chamber, and tried to appease the rioters. he was set upon and killed. then the crowd rushed into the council chamber, seized the other magistrates, and locked them up in the belfry, where they remained prisoners for some days. the leaders of the revolt met, and resolved to kill their prisoners, and this sentence was executed on the burgomaster and two of the sheriffs, who were beheaded in front of the halle in the presence of their colleagues.[ ] it was by such stern deeds that the fierce democracy of the flemish communes preserved their rights. each town, however, stood for itself alone. the idea of government by the populace on the market-place was common to them all, but they were kept apart by the exclusive spirit of commercial jealousy. the thirst for material prosperity consumed them; but they had no bond of union, and each was ready to advance its own interests at the expense of its rivals. therefore, either in the face of foreign invasion, or when the policy of some count led to revolt and civil war, it was seldom that the people of flanders were united. 'l'union fait la force' is the motto of modern belgium, but in the middle ages there was no powerful central authority round which the communes rallied. hence the spectacle of ghent helping an english army to storm the ramparts of ypres, or of the guildsmen of bruges girding on their swords to strike a blow for count louis of maele against the white hoods who marched from ghent. hence the permanent unrest of these flemish towns, the bickerings and the sheddings of blood, the jealousy of trade pitted against trade or of harbour against harbour, the insolence in the hour of triumph and the abject submission in the hour of defeat, and all the evils which discord brought upon the country. no town suffered more than ypres from the distracted state of flanders, which, combined with the ravages of war and the religious dissensions of the sixteenth century, reduced it from the first rank amongst the cities of the netherlands to something very like the condition of a quiet country town in an out-of-the-way corner of england. that is what the ypres of to-day is like--a sleepy country town, with clean, well-kept streets, dull and uninteresting save for the stately cloth hall, which stands there a silent memorial of the past. footnotes. [footnote : bicycles entering belgium pay an _ad valorem_ duty of per cent.] [footnote : thuin,' or 'tuin,' in flemish means an enclosed space, such as a garden plot.] [footnote : motley, _rise of the dutch republic_, part ii., chapter vi.] [footnote : motley, _rise of the dutch republic_, part ii., chapter vi.] [footnote : letter from vauban to louvois on the fortifications of ypres, ; vereecke, pp. - .] [footnote : the evolution of ypres from a feudal tower on an island until it became a great fortress can be traced in a very interesting volume of maps and plans published by m. vereecke in , as a supplement to his _histoire militaire d'ypres_. it shows the first defensive works, those erected by vauban, the state of the fortifications between and , and what the english engineers did in .] [footnote : vereecke, p. .] chapter viii furnes--the procession of penitents the traveller wandering amongst the towns and villages in this corner of west flanders is apt to feel that he is on a kind of sentimental journey as he moves from place to place, and finds himself everywhere surrounded by things which belong to the past rather than to the present. the very guidebooks are eloquent if we read between the lines. this place 'was formerly of much greater importance.' that 'was formerly celebrated for its tapestries.' from this hôtel de ville 'the numerous statuettes with which the building was once embellished have all disappeared.' the tower of that church has been left unfinished for the last years. 'fuimus' might be written on them all. and so, some twenty miles north of ypres, on a plain which in the seventeenth century was so studded with earthen redoubts and serrated by long lines of field-works and ditches that the whole countryside between ypres and dunkirk was virtually one vast entrenched camp, we come to the town of furnes, another of the places on which time has laid its heavy hand. the early history of furnes is obscure, though it is generally supposed to have grown up round a fortress erected by baldwin bras-de-fer to check the inroads of the normans. it suffered much, like its neighbours, from wars and revolutions,[ ] and is now one of the quietest of the flemish towns. the market-place is a small square, quaintly picturesque, surrounded by clusters of little brick houses with red and blue tiled roofs, low-stepped gables, and deep mouldings round the windows. behind these dwelling-places the bold flying buttresses of the church of ste. walburge, whose relics were brought to furnes by judith, wife of baldwin bras-de-fer, and the tower of st. nicholas, lift themselves on the north and east; and close together in a corner to the west are the dark gray hôtel de ville and palais de justice, in a room of which the judges of the inquisition used to sit. [illustration: furnes grande place and belfry.] though some features are common to nearly all the flemish towns--the market-place, the belfry, the hôtel de ville, the old gateways, and the churches, with their cherished paintings--yet each of them has generally some association of its own. in bruges we think of how the merchants bought and sold, how the gorgeous city rose, clothed itself in all the colours of the rainbow, glittered for a time, and sank in darkness. in the crowded streets of modern ghent, the busy capital of east flanders, we seem to catch a glimpse of bold jacques van artevelde shouldering his way up to the friday market, or of turbulent burghers gathering there to set pope, or count of flanders, or king of spain at defiance. ypres and its flat meadows suggest one of the innumerable paintings of the flemish wars, the 'battle-pieces' in which the court artists took such pride: the town walls with ditch and glacis before them, and within them the narrow-fronted houses, and the flag flying from steeple or belfry; the clumsy cannon puffing out clouds of smoke; the king of france capering on a fat horse and holding up his baton in an attitude of command in the foreground; and in the distance the tents of the camp, where the travelling theatre was set up, and the musicians fiddled, and an army of servingmen waited on the rouged and powdered ladies who had followed the army into flanders. furnes, somehow, always recalls the spanish period. the hôtel de ville, a very beautiful example of the renaissance style, with its rare hangings of cordovan leather and its portraits of the archduke albert and his bride, the infanta isabella, is scarcely changed since it was built soon after the death of philip ii. the corps de garde espagnol and the pavilion des officiers espagnols in the market-place, once the headquarters of the whiskered bravos who wrought such ills to flanders, are now used by the municipal council of the town as a museum and a public library; but the stones of this little square were often trodden by the persecutors, with their guards and satellites, in the years when peter titelmann the inquisitor stalked through the fields of flanders, torturing and burning in the name of the catholic church and by authority of the holy office. the spacious room in which the tribunal of the inquisition sat is nowadays remarkable only for its fine proportions and venerable appearance; but, though it was not erected until after the spanish fury had spent its force, and at a time when wiser methods of government had been introduced, it reminds us of the days when the maxims of torquemada were put in force amongst the flemings by priests more wicked and merciless than any who could be found in spain. and in the market-place the people must often have seen the dreadful procession by means of which the church sought to strike terror into the souls of men. those public orgies of clerical intolerance were the suitable consummation of the crimes which had been previously committed in the private conclave of the inquisitors. the burning or strangling of a heretic was not accompanied by so much pomp and circumstance in small towns like furnes as in the great centres, where multitudes, led by the highest in the land, were present to enjoy the spectacle; but the inquisition of the netherlands, under which flanders groaned for so many years, was, as philip himself once boasted, 'much more pitiless than that of spain.' [illustration: furnes peristyle of town hall and palais de justice.] the groans of the victims will never more be heard in the torture-chamber, nor will crowds assemble in the market-place to watch the cortège of the _auto-da-fé_; but every year the famous procession of penitents, which takes place on the last sunday of july, draws many strangers to furnes. it is said in bruges that the ghost of a spanish soldier, condemned to expiate eternally a foul crime done at the bidding of the holy office, walks at midnight on the quai vert, like hamlet's father on the terrace at elsinore; and superstitious people might well fancy that a spectre appears in the market-place of furnes on the summer's night when the town is preparing for the annual ceremony. the origin of the procession was this: in the year a soldier named mannaert, only twenty-two years old, being in garrison at furnes, went to confession and communion in the chapel of the capucins. after he had received the consecrated wafer, he was persuaded by one of his comrades, mathurin lejeusne, to take it out of his mouth, wrap it in a cloth, and, on returning to his lodging, fry it over a fire, under the delusion that by reducing it to powder he would make himself invulnerable. the young man was arrested, confessed his guilt, and himself asked for punishment. condemned to be strangled, he heard the sentence without a murmur, and went to his death singing the penitential psalms. soon afterwards mathurin lejeusne, the instigator of the sacrilege, was shot for some breach of military duty. this was regarded as a proof of divine justice, and the citizens resolved that something must be done to appease the wrath of god, which they feared would fall upon their town because of the outrage done, as they believed, to the body of his son. a society calling itself the 'confrèrie de la sodalité du sauveur crucifié et de la sainte mère marie, se trouvant en douleur dessous la croix, sur mont calvaire,' had been formed a few years before at furnes, and the members now decided that a procession of penitents should walk through the streets every summer and represent to the people the story of the passion. [illustration: nieuport interior of church.] though the procession at furnes is a thing of yesterday compared to the procession of the holy blood at bruges, it is far more suggestive of mediævalism. the hooded faces of the penitents, the quaint wooden figures representing biblical characters, the coarse dresses, the tawdry colours, the strangely weird arrangement of the whole business, take us back into the monkish superstitions of the dark ages, with their mystery plays. it is best seen from one of the windows of the spanish house, or from the balcony of the hôtel de ville, on a sultry day, when the sky is heavy with black clouds, and thunder growls over the plain of flanders, and hot raindrops fall now and then into the muddy streets. the first figure which appears is a veiled penitent bearing the standard of the sodality. then come, one after another, groups of persons representing various scenes in the bible story, each group preceded by a penitent carrying an inscription to explain what follows. abraham with his sword conducts isaac to the sacrifice on mount moriah. a penitent holding the serpent and the cross walks before moses. two penitents wearily drag a ear on which joseph and mary are seen seated in the stable at bethlehem. the four shepherds and the three magi follow. then comes the flight into egypt, with mary on an ass led by joseph, the infant christ in her arms. later we see the doctors of the temple walking in two rows, disputing with the young jesus in their midst. the triumphal entry into jerusalem is represented by a crowd of schoolchildren waving palm-branches and singing hosannahs round jesus mounted on an ass. the agony in the garden, peter denying his lord and weeping bitterly, jesus crowned with thorns, pilate in his judgment-hall, the saviour staggering beneath the cross, the crucifixion itself, the resurrection and the ascension, are all shown with the crude realism of the middle ages. there are penitents bearing ponderous crosses on their shoulders, or carrying in their hands the whips, the nails, the thorns, the veil of the temple rent in twain, a picture of the darkened sun, and other symbols of the passion. at the end, amidst torches and incense and solemn chanting, the host is exhibited for the adoration of the crowd. [illustration: furnes tower of st. nicholas.] much of this spectacle is grotesque, and even ludicrous; but there is also a great deal that is terribly real, for the penitents are not actors playing a part, but are all persons who have come to furnes for the purpose of doing penance. they are disguised by the dark brown robes which cover them from head to foot, so that they can see their way only through the eyeholes in the hoods which hide their faces; but as they pass silently along, bending under the heavy crosses, or holding out before them scrolls bearing such words as, 'all they that see me laugh me to scorn,' 'they pierced my hands and my feet,' or, 'see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow,' there are glimpses of delicate white hands grasping the hard wood of the crosses, and of small, shapely feet bare in the mud. what sighs, what tears and vain regrets, what secret tragedies of passion, guilt, remorse, may not be concealed amongst the doleful company who tread their own via dolorosa on that pilgrimage of sorrow through the streets of furnes! [illustration: furnes in st. walburge's church.] footnotes. [footnote : 'furnes était devenue un _oppidium_, aux termes d'une charte de , qui avait à se défendre à la fois contre les incursions des étrangers et les attaques d'une population "indocile et cruelle," comme l'appelle l'abbé de saint riquier hariulf, toujours déchirée par les factions et toujours prête à la révolte.'--gilliodts van severen: _recueil des anciennes coutumes de la belgique_; _quartier de furnes_, vol. i., p. .] chapter ix nieuport--the battle of the dunes on the morning of july , in the year , two armies--spaniards, under the archduke albert, and dutchmen, under prince maurice of nassau--stood face to face amongst the dunes near nieuport, where the river yser falls into the sea about ten miles west from ostend. in a field to the east of nieuport there is a high, square tower, part of a monastery and church erected by the templars in the middle of the twelfth century, which, though it escaped complete destruction, was set on fire and nearly consumed when the town was attacked and laid in ruins by the english and the burghers of ghent in , the year of their famous siege of ypres. it is now in a half-ruinous condition, but in july, , it was an important part of the fortifications, and from the top the watchmen of the spanish garrison could see the country all round to a great distance beyond the broad moat which then surrounded the strong walls of nieuport. a few miles inland, to the south-west, in the middle of the plain of flanders, were the houses of furnes, grouped round the church tower of st. nicholas. to the north a wide belt of sandhills (the 'dunes'), with the sea beyond them, extended far past ostend on the east, and to the harbour of dunkirk on the west. nearer, on the landward side of the dunes to the east, and within less than a mile of each other, were the villages of westende and lombaerdzyde. close at hand, all round nieuport, there were numerous small lakes and watercourses connected with the channel of the yser, which, flowing past the town, widened out until it joined the sea, and became a harbour, which on that morning was full of shipping. a new chapter had just begun in the history of west flanders when the dutchmen and the spaniards thus met to slaughter each other amongst the sand and rushes of the dunes. philip ii. had offered to cede the spanish netherlands to his daughter, the infanta isabella, on condition that a marriage was arranged between her and the archduke albert of austria. after the death of philip ii. this offer was confirmed by his successor, philip iii., and the wedding took place in april, . [illustration: nieuport a fair parishioner.] albert and isabella were both entering on the prime of life, the archduke being forty and the infanta thirty-two at the time of their marriage, and were both of a character admirably fitted for the lofty station to which they had been called. in their portraits, which hang, very often frayed and tarnished, on the walls of the hôtel de ville of many a flemish town, there is nothing very royal or very attractive; but, even after making every allowance for the flattery of contemporary historians, there can be little doubt that their popularity was well deserved--well deserved if even a part of what has been said about them is true. the archduke is always said to have taken philip ii. as a model of demeanour, but he had none of the worst faults of the sullen, powerful despot, with that small mind, that 'incredibly small' mind of his, and cold heart, cold alike to human suffering and human love, who had held the flemings, whom he hated, for so many years in the hollow of his hand. his grave mien and reserved habits, probably acquired during his sojourn at the court of spain, were distasteful to the gay and pleasure-loving people of flanders, who would have preferred a prince more like charles v., whose versatility enabled him to adapt himself to the customs of each amongst the various races over whom he ruled. nevertheless, if they did not love him they respected him, and were grateful for the moderation and good feeling which distinguished his reign, and gave their distracted country, after thirty years of civil war, a period of comparative tranquillity. the infanta isabella, _débonnaire_, affable, tolerant, and noble-hearted, as she is described, gained the hearts of the flemings as her husband never did. 'one could not find any court more truly royal or more brilliant in its public fêtes, which sometimes recall the splendid epoch of the house of burgundy. isabella loves a country life. she is often to be seen on horseback, attending the tournaments, leading the chase, flying the hawk, taking part in the sports of the bourgeoise, shooting with the crossbow, and carrying off the prize.' above all things, her works of charity endeared her to the people. in time of war she established hospitals for the wounded, for friends and enemies alike, where she visited them, nursed them, and dressed their wounds with her own hands, with heroic courage and tenderness.[ ] even on their first coming into flanders, before their characters were known except by hearsay, they were received with extraordinary enthusiasm. travelling by way of luxembourg, they came to namur, where their first visit was made the occasion of a military fête, conducted under the personal supervision of comte florent de berlaimont. at nivelles the duc d'arschot paid out of his own purse the cost of the brilliant festivities to which the people of brabant flocked in order to bid their new rulers welcome, and himself led the procession, accompanied by the archbishop of malines and the bishop of antwerp. so they journeyed on amidst scenes of public rejoicing until they came to brussels, where they established their court in accordance with the customs and ceremonies which had been usual under the dukes of burgundy and the kings of spain. [illustration: nieuport hall and vicarage.] but when the archdukes, as they were called, passed from town to town on this royal progress, the phantoms of war, pestilence, and famine hung over the land. the great cities of flanders had been deserted by thousands of their inhabitants. the sea trade of the country had been destroyed by the vigorous blockade which the dutch ships of war maintained along the coast. religious intolerance had driven the most industrious of the working classes to find a refuge in holland or england. villages lay in ruins, surrounded by untilled fields and gardens run to seed. silent looms and empty warehouses were seen on every side. to such a pass had the disastrous policy of the escurial brought this fair province of the spanish empire! from all parts of flanders the cry for peace went up, but the time for peace was not yet come.[ ] the new reign had just begun when maurice of nassau suddenly invaded flanders with a great force, and laid siege to nieuport, the garrison of which, reinforced by an army, at the head of which the archduke albert had hurried across flanders, was under the command of the archduke himself, and many spanish generals of great experience in the wars. though the court at brussels had been taken by surprise, the dutch army was in a position of great danger. part of it lay on the west side of the yser, and part to the east, amongst the dunes near lombaerdzyde and westende, with a bridge of boats thrown across the river as their only connection. their ships were at anchor close to the shore; but prince maurice frankly told his men that it was useless to think of embarking in case of defeat, and that, therefore, they must either win the day or perish there, for the spaniards were before them under the protection of nieuport, the river divided them, the sea was behind them, and it would be impossible for a beaten army to escape by retreating through the dunes in the direction of ostend. [illustration: nieuport the quay, with eel-boats and landing-stages.] such was the position of affairs beneath the walls of nieuport at sunrise on july , . the morning was spent by the dutch in preparing for battle. towards noon the spanish leaders held a council of war, at which it was decided to attack the enemy as soon as possible, and about three o'clock the battle began. a stiff breeze from the west, blowing up the english channel, drove clouds of sand into the eyes of the spaniards, and the bright rays of the afternoon sun, shining in their faces as they advanced to the attack, dazzled and confused them. but, in spite of these disadvantages, it seemed at first as if the fortunes of the day were to go in their favour. the bridge of boats across the yser was broken, and some of the dutch regiments, seized by a sudden panic, began to retreat towards the sea; but, finding it impossible to reach the ships, they rallied, and began once more to fight with all the dogged courage of their race. for some hours the battle was continued with equal bravery on both sides, the spaniards storming a battery which the dutch had entrenched amongst the dunes, and the dutch defending it so desperately that the dead and wounded lay piled in heaps around it. but at last the spanish infantry were thrown into confusion by a charge of horsemen; the archduke albert was wounded, and had to retire from the front to have his injuries attended to. prince maurice ordered a general advance of all his army, and in a few minutes the enemy were fleeing from the battlefield, leaving behind them , dead, prisoners, and more than standards. the loss on the dutch side was about , . the archduke albert, who had narrowly escaped being himself taken prisoner, succeeded in entering nieuport safely with what remained of his army. the town remained in the hands of the spaniards, for prince maurice, after spending some days in vain attempts to capture it, marched with his whole force to ostend, where soon afterwards began the celebrated siege, which was to last for three long years, and about which all europe never tired of talking.[ ] [illustration: nieuport the town hall.] the history of nieuport since those days has been the history of a gradual fall. its sea trade disappeared slowly but surely; the fishing industry languished; the population decreased year by year; and it has not shared to any appreciable extent in the prosperity which has enriched other parts of flanders since the revolution of . it is now a quiet, sleepy spot, with humble streets, which remind one of some fishing village on the east coast of scotland. men and women sit at the doors mending nets or preparing bait. the boats, with their black hulls and dark brown sails, move lazily up to the landing-stages, where a few small craft, trading along the coast, lie moored. barges heavily laden with wood are pulled laboriously through the locks of the canals which connect the yser with ostend and furnes. the ancient fortifications have long since disappeared, with the exception of a few grass-grown mounds; and only the grim tower of the templars, standing by itself in a field on the outskirts of the town, remains to show that this insignificant place was once a mighty stronghold. in those old flemish towns, however, it is always possible to find something picturesque; and here we have the cloth hall, with its low arches opening on the market-place, and the gothic church, one of the largest in flanders, with its porch and tower, where the bell-ringers play the chimes and the people pass devoutly to the services of the church. but that is all. nieuport has few attractions nowadays, and is chiefly memorable in flemish history because under its walls they fought that bloody 'battle of the dunes,' in which the stubborn strength and obstinacy of the dutch overcame the fiery valour of the spaniards. they are all well-nigh forgotten now, obstinate dutchman and valiant spaniard alike. amongst the dunes not a vestige remains of the field-works for which they fought. bones, broken weapons and shattered breastplates, and all the débris of the fight, were long ago buried fathoms deep beneath mounds of drifting sand. old nieuport--nieuport ville, as they call it now--for which so much blood was shed, is desolate and dreary with its small industries and meagre commerce; but a short walk to the north brings us to nieuport-bains, and to the gay summer life which pulsates all along the flemish coast, from la panne on the west to the frontiers of holland. [illustration: nieuport church porch (evensong).] footnotes. [footnote : de gerlache, i. .] [footnote : _l'abbé nameche_, xxi. - .] [footnote : 'le siège d'ostende fut, pendant ces trois ans, la fable et la nouvelle de l'europe; on ne se lassait pas d'en parler. des princes, des étrangers de toutes les nations venaient y assister.'--_l'abbé nameche_, xxi. .] chapter x the coast of flanders to walk from nieuport ville to the digue de mer at nieuport-bains is to pass in a few minutes from the old flanders, the home of so much romance, the scene of so many stirring deeds, from the market-places with the narrow gables heaped up in piles around them, from the belfries soaring to the sky, from the winding streets and the narrow lanes, in which the houses almost touch each other, from the tumble-down old hostelries, from the solemn aisles where the candles glimmer and the dim red light glows before the altar, from the land of bras-de-fer, and thierry d'alsace, and memlinc, and van eyck, and rubens, the land which was at once the temple and the golgotha of europe, into the clear, broad light of modern days. the flemish coast, from the frontiers of france to the frontiers of holland, is throughout the same in appearance. the sea rolls in and breaks upon the yellow beach, which extends from east to west for some seventy kilometres in an irregular line, unbroken by rocks or cliffs. above the beach are the dunes, a long range of sandhills, tossed into all sorts of queer shapes by the wind, on which nothing grows but rushes or stunted lombardy poplars, and which reach their highest point, the hoogen-blekker, about feet above the sea, near coxyde, a fishing village four or five miles from nieuport. behind the dunes a strip of undulating ground ('ter streep'), seldom more than a bare mile in width, covered with scanty vegetation, moss, and bushes, connects the barren sandhills with the cultivated farms, green fields, and woodlands of the flemish plain. on the other side of the channel the chalk cliffs and rocky coast of england have kept the waves in check; but the dunes were, for many long years, the only barrier against the encroachments of the sea on flanders. they are, however, a very weak defence against the storms of autumn and winter. the sand drifts like snow before the wind, and the outlines of these miniature mountain ranges change often in a single night. at one time, centuries ago, this part of flanders, which is now so bare, was, it is pretty clear, covered by forests, the remains of which are still sometimes found beneath the subsoil inland and under the sea. when the great change came is unknown, but the process was probably gradual. at an early period, here, as in holland, the fight against the invasions of the sea began, and the first dykes are said to have been constructed in the tenth century. the first was known as the evendyck, and ran from heyst to wenduyne. others followed, but they were swept away, and now only a few traces of them are to be found, buried beneath the sand and moss.[ ] [illustration: the dunes a stormy evening.] the wild storms of the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries changed the aspect of the coast of flanders. nieuport rose in consequence of one of these convulsions of nature, when the inhabitants of lombaerdzyde, which was then a seaport, were driven by the tempests to the inland village of santhoven, the name of which they changed to 'neoportus'--the new harbour. this was in the beginning of the twelfth century, and thenceforth the struggle against the waves went on incessantly. lands were granted by thierry d'alsace on condition that the owner should construct dykes, and baldwin of constantinople appointed guardians of the shore, charged with the duty of watching the sea and constructing defensive works. but the struggle was carried on under the utmost difficulties. in the twelfth century the sea burst in with resistless force upon the low-lying ground, washing away the dunes and swallowing up whole towns. the inroads of the waves, the heavy rains, and the earthquakes, made life so unendurable that there were thousands who left their homes and emigrated to germany. later, in the thirteenth century, there was a catastrophe of appalling dimensions, long known as the 'great storm,' when , flemish men and women perished. this was the same tempest which overran the dutch coast, and formed the zuyder zee, those , square miles of water which the dutch are about to reclaim and form again into dry land. in the following century the town of scarphout, in west flanders, was overwhelmed, and the inhabitants built a new town for themselves on higher ground, and called it blankenberghe, which is now one of the most important watering-places on the coast. ever since those days this constant warfare against the storms has continued, and the sea appears to be bridled; but anyone who has watched the north sea at high tide on a stormy day beating on the shores of flanders, and observed how the dunes yield to the pressure of the wind and waves, and crumble away before his eyes, must come to the conclusion that the peril of the ocean is not yet averted, and can understand the meaning of the great modern works, the _digues de mer_, or sea-fronts, as they would be called in england, which are being gradually constructed at such immense cost all along the coast. a most interesting and, indeed, wonderful thing in the recent history of the netherlands is the rapid development of the flemish littoral from a waste of sand, with here and there a paltry fishing hamlet and two or three small towns, into a great cosmopolitan pleasure resort. seventy-five years ago, when belgium became an independent country, and king leopold i. ascended the throne, ostend and nieuport were the only towns upon the coast which were of any size; but ostend was then a small fortified place, with a harbour wholly unsuited for modern commerce, and nieuport, in a state of decadence, though it possessed a harbour, was a place of no importance. to-day the whole coast is studded with busy watering-places, about twenty of them, most of which have come into existence within the last fifteen years, with a resident population of about , , which is raised by visitors in summer to, it is said, nearly , . the dunes, which the old counts of flanders fought so hard to preserve from the waves, and which were at the beginning of the present century mere wastes of sand, a sort of 'no man's land', of little or no use except for rabbit-shooting, are now valuable properties, the price of which is rising every year. the work of turning the sand into gold, for that is what the development of the flemish coast comes to, has been carried out partly by the state and partly by private persons. in early times this belt of land upon the margin of the sea was held by the counts of flanders, who treated the ridge of sandhills above high-water mark as a natural rampart against the waves, and granted large tracts of the flat ground which lay behind to various religious houses. at the french revolution these lands were sold as church property at a very low figure, and were afterwards allowed, in many cases, to fall out of cultivation by the purchasers. so great a portion of the district was sold that at the present time only a small portion of the dune land is the property of the state--the narrow strip between mariakerke and middelkerke on the west of ostend, and that which lies between ostend and blankenberghe on the east. the larger portions, which are possessed by private owners, are partly the property of the descendants of those who bought them at the revolution, and partly of building societies, incorporated for the purpose of developing what mr. hall caine once termed the 'visiting industry'--that is to say, the trade in tourists and seaside visitors.[ ] [illustration: an old farmer] plage de westende, le coq, and duinbergen--three charming summer resorts--have been created by building societies. nieuport-bains and la panne have been developed by the owners of the adjoining lands, the families of crombez and calmeyn. wenduyne, on the other hand, which lies between le coq and blankenberghe, has been made by the state, while the management of blankenberghe, heyst, and middelkerke, as bathing stations, is in the hands of their communal councils. on the coast of flanders, ostend--'la reine des plages'--is, it need hardly be said, the most important place, and its rise has been very remarkable. less than fifty years ago the population was in all about , . during the last fifteen years it has increased by nearly , , and now amounts to about , in round numbers. the increase in the number of summer visitors has been equally remarkable. in the year the list of strangers contained , names; three years ago it contained no less than , . this floating population of foreign visitors who come to ostend is cosmopolitan to an extent unknown at any watering-place in england. in , english, , french, , germans, and , americans helped to swell the crowds who walked on the sea-front, frequented the luxurious and expensive hotels, or left their money on the gaming-tables at the kursaal. on one day--august , -- , persons bathed.[ ] blankenberghe, with its , summer visitors, comes next in importance to ostend, while both heyst and middelkerke are crowded during the season. but the life at these towns is not so agreeable as at the smaller watering-places. the hotels are too full, and have, as a rule, very little except their cheapness to recommend them. there is usually a body calling itself the _comité des fêtes_, the members of which devote themselves for two months every summer to devising amusements, sports, and competitions of various kinds, instead of leaving people to amuse themselves in their own way, so that hardly a day passes on which the strains of a second-rate band are not heard in the local kursaal, or a night which is not made hideous by a barrel-organ, to which the crowd is dancing on the _digue_. at the smaller places, however, though these also have their _comités des fêtes_, one escapes to a great extent from these disagreeable surroundings. may, june, and september are the pleasantest months upon the coast of flanders, for the visitors are not so numerous, and even in mid-winter the dunes are worth a visit. then the hotels and villas fronting the sea are closed, and their windows boarded up. the bathing-machines are removed from the beach, and stand in rows in some sheltered spot. the _digue_, a broad extent of level brickwork, is deserted, and the wind sweeps along it, scattering foam and covering it with sand and sprays of tangled seaweed. the mossy surface of the dunes is frozen hard as iron, and often the hailstones rush in furious blasts before the wind. for league after league there is not a sign of life, except the seabirds flying low near the shore, or the ships rising and falling in the waves far out to sea. in the winter months the coast of flanders is bleak and stormy, but the air in these solitudes is as health-giving as in any other part of europe. of late years the government, represented by comte de smet de naeyer, has bestowed much attention on the development of the littoral, and king leopold ii. has applied his great business talents to the subject. large sums of money have been voted by the belgian parliament for the construction of public works and the extension of the means of communication from place to place. there is a light railway, the 'vicinal,' which runs along the whole coast, at a short distance from the shore, from knocke, on the east, to la panne in the extreme west, and which is connected with the system of state railways at various points. from ostend, through middelkerke, to plage de westende, an electric railway has been constructed, close to the beach and parallel to the vicinal (which is about a mile inland), on which trains run every ten minutes during the summer season. as an instance of the speed and energy with which these works for the convenience of the public are carried out, when once they have been decided upon, it may be mentioned that the contract for the portion of the electric line between middelkerke and plage de westende, a distance of about a mile and a half, was signed on may , that five days later workmen began to cut through the dunes, embank and lay the permanent way, and that on june , in spite of several interruptions owing to drifting sand and heavy rains, the first train of the regular service arrived at plage de westende. [illustration: la panne interior of a flemish inn.] a large sum, amounting to several millions of francs, is voted every year for the protection of the shores of flanders against the encroachments of the sea, by the construction of these solid embankments of brickwork and masonry, which will, in the course of a few years, extend in an unbroken line along the whole coast from end to end. the building of these massive sea-walls is a work of great labour and expense, for what seems to be an impregnable embankment, perhaps feet high and feet broad, solid and strong enough to resist the most violent breakers, will be undermined and fall to pieces in a few hours, if not made in the proper way. a _digue_, no matter how thick, which rests on the sand alone will not last. a thick bed of green branches bound together must first be laid down as a foundation: this is strengthened by posts driven through it into the sand. heavy timbers, resting on bundles of branches lashed together, are wedged into the foundations, and slope inwards and upwards to within a few feet of the height to which it is intended to carry the _digue_. on the top another solid bed of branches is laid down, and the whole is first covered with concrete, and then with bricks or tiles, while the edge of the _digue_, at the top of the seaward slope, is composed of heavy blocks of stone cemented together and bound by iron rivets. _digues_ made in this solid fashion, all of them higher above the shore than the thames embankment is above the river, and some of them broader than the embankment, will, before very many years have passed, stretch along the whole coast of flanders without a break, and will form not only a defence against the tides, but a huge level promenade, with the dunes on one side and the sea on the other. this is a gigantic undertaking, but it will be completed during the lifetime of the present generation. [illustration: la panne a flemish inn--playing skittles.] another grandiose idea, which is actually being carried into effect, is to connect all the seaside resorts on the coast of flanders by a great boulevard, yards wide, with a road for carriages and pedestrians, a track for motor-cars and bicycles, and an electric railway, all side by side. large portions of this magnificent roadway, which is to be known as the 'route royale,' have already been completed between blankenberghe and ostend, and from ostend to plage de westende. from westende it will be continued to nieuport-bains, crossing the yser by movable bridges, and thence to la panne, and so onwards, winding through the dunes, over the french borders, and perhaps as far as paris! a single day's journey through the district which this 'route royale' is to traverse will lead the traveller through the most interesting part of the dunes, and introduce him to most of the favourite _plages_ on the coast of flanders, and thus give him an insight into many characteristic flemish scenes. la panne, for instance, and adinkerque, in the west and on the confines of france, are villages inhabited by fishermen who have built their dwellings in sheltered places amongst the dunes. the low white cottages of la panne, with the strings of dried fish hanging on the walls, nestle in the little valley from which the place takes its name (for _panne_ in flemish means 'a hollow'), surrounded by trees and hedges, gay with wild roses in the summer-time. each cottage stands in its small plot of garden ground, and most of the families own fishing-boats of their own, and farm a holding which supplies them with potatoes and other vegetables. for a long time these cottages were the only houses at la panne, which was seldom visited, except by a few artists; but about fifteen years ago the surveyors and the architects made their appearance, paths and roads were laid out, and, as if by magic, cottages and villas and the inevitable _digue de mer_ have sprung up on the dunes near the sea, and not very far from the original village. the chief feature of the new la panne is that the houses are, except those on the sea-front, built on the natural levels of the ground, some perched on the tops of the dunes, and others in the hollows which separate them. the effect is extremely picturesque, and the example of the builders of la panne is being followed at other places, notably at duinbergen, one of the very latest bathing stations, which has risen during the last three years about a mile to the east of heyst. another very interesting place is the plage de westende, the present terminus of the electric railway from ostend. the old village of westende lies a mile inland on the highway between nieuport and ostend, close to the scene of the battle of the dunes. this plage is, indeed, a model seaside resort, with a _digue_ which looks down upon a shore of the finest sand, and from which, of an evening, one sees the lights of ostend in the east, and the revolving beacon at dunkirk shining far away to the west. the houses which front the sea, all different from each other, are in singularly good taste; and behind them are a number of detached cottages and villas, large and small, in every variety of design. ten years ago the site of this little town was a rabbit warren; now everything is up to date: electric light in every house, perfect drainage, a good water-supply, tennis courts, and an admirable hotel, where even the passing stranger feels at home. though only three-quarters of an hour from noisy, crowded, bustling ostend by the railway, it is one of the quietest and most comfortable places on the coast of flanders, and can be reached by travellers from england in a few hours. some years hence the lovely, peaceful plage de westende may have grown too big, but when the sand has all been turned into gold, and when the contractors and builders have grown rich, those who have known westende in its earlier days will think of it as the quiet spot about which at one time only a few people used to stroll; where perhaps the poet verhaeren found something to inspire him; where many a long summer's evening was spent in pleasant talk on history, and painting, and music by a little society of men and women who spoke french, or german, or english, as the fancy took them, and laughed, and quoted, and exchanged ideas on every subject under the sun; where the professor of music once argued, and sprang up to prove his point by playing--but that is an allusion, or, as mr. kipling would say, 'another story.' the district in which westende lies, with lombaerdzyde, nieuport, furnes, and coxyde close together, is the most interesting on the coast of flanders. le coq, on the other hand, is in that part of the dune country which has least historical interest, and is chiefly known as the place where the royal golf club de belgique has its course. it is only twenty minutes from ostend on the vicinal railway, which has a special station for golfers near the club house. there is no _digue_, and the houses are dotted about in a valley behind the dunes. this place has a curious resemblance to a swiss village. a few years ago the owners of lands upon the flemish littoral began to grasp the fact that there was a sport called golf, on which englishmen were in the habit of spending money, and that it would be an addition to the attractions of ostend if, beside the racecourse, there was a golf-course. king leopold, who is said to contemplate using all the land between the outskirts of ostend and le coq for sporting purposes, paid a large sum, very many thousands of francs, out of his own pocket, and the golf-links at le coq were laid out. the club house is handsome and commodious, but, unfortunately, the course itself, which is the main thing, is not very satisfactory, being far too artificial. the natural 'bunkers' were filled up, and replaced by ramparts and ditches like those on some inland courses in england. on the putting greens the natural undulations of the ground have been levelled, and the greens are all as flat and smooth as billiard-tables. there are clumps of ornamental wood, flower-beds, and artificial ponds with goldfish swimming in them. it is all very pretty, but it is hardly golf. what with the 'grand prix d'ostende,' the 'prix des roses,' the 'prix des ombrelles, handicap libre, réservé aux dames,' the 'grand prix des dames,' and a number of other _objets d'art_, which are offered for competition on almost every day from the beginning of june to the end of september, this is a perfect paradise for the pot-hunter and his familiar friend colonel bogey. real golf, the strenuous game, which demands patience and steady nerves, perhaps, more than any other outdoor game, is not yet quite understood by many belgians; but the bag of clubs is every year becoming more common on the dover mail-boats. most of these golf-bags find their way to knocke, where many of the english colony at bruges spend the summer, and which, as the coast of flanders becomes better known, is visited every year by increasing numbers of travellers from the other side of the channel. knocke is in itself one of the least attractive places on the flemish littoral. the old village, a nondescript collection of houses, lies on the vicinal railway about a mile from the sea, which is reached by a straight roadway, and where there is a _digue_, numerous hotels, pensions, and villas, all of which are filled to overflowing in the season. the air, indeed, is perfect, and there are fine views from the _digue_ and the dunes of the island of walcheren, flushing, and the estuary of the scheldt; but the place was evidently begun with no definite plan: the dunes were ruthlessly levelled, and the result is a few unlovely streets, and a number of detached houses standing in disorder amidst surroundings from which everything that was picturesque has long since departed. but the dunes to the east are wide, and enclose a large space of undulating ground; and here the bruges golf and sports club has its links, which present a very complete contrast to the belgian course at le coq. the links at knocke, if somewhat rough and ready, are certainly sporting in the highest degree. some of the holes, those in what is known as the green valley, are rather featureless; but in the other parts of the course there are numerous natural hazards, bunkers, and hillocks thick with sand and rushes. it has no pretentions to be a 'first-class' course (for one thing, it is too short), but in laying out the eighteen holes the ground has been utilized to the best advantage, and the royal and ancient game flourishes more at knocke than at any other place in belgium. the owners of the soil and the hotel-keepers, with a keen eye to business, and knowing that the golfing alone brings the english, from whom they reap a golden harvest, to knocke, do all in their power to encourage the game, and it is quite possible that before long other links may be established along the coast. the soil of the strip behind the dunes is not so suitable for golf as the close turf of st. andrews, north berwick, or prestwick, for in many places it consists of sand with a slight covering of moss; but with proper treatment it could probably be improved and hardened. it is merely a question of money, and money will certainly be forthcoming if the government, the communes, and the private owners once see that this form of amusement will add to the popularity of the littoral. a short mile's walk to the west of knocke brings us to duinbergen, one of the newest of the flemish _plages_, founded in the year by the société anonyme de duinbergen, a company in which some members of the royal family are said to hold shares. at knocke and others of the older watering-places everything was sacrificed to the purpose of making money speedily out of every available square inch of sand, and the first thing done was to destroy the dunes. but at duinbergen the good example set by the founders of la panne has been followed and improved upon, and nothing could be more _chic_ than this charming little place, which was planned by herr stübben, of cologne, an architect often employed by the king of the belgians, whose idea was to create a small garden city among the dunes. the dunes have been carefully preserved; the roads and pathways wind round them; most of the villas and cottages have been erected in places from which a view of the sea can be obtained; and even the _digue_ has been built in a curve in order to avoid the straight line, which is apt to give an air of monotony to the rows of villas, however picturesque they may be in themselves, which face the sea at other places. so artistic is the appearance of the houses that the term 'style duinbergen' is used by architects to describe it. electric lighting, a copious supply of water rising by gravitation to the highest houses, and a complete system of drainage, add to the luxuries and comforts of this _plage_, which is one of the best illustrations of the wonders which have been wrought among the dunes by that spirit of enterprise which has done so much for modern flanders during the last few years. footnotes. [footnote : bortier, _le littoral de la flandre au ix^e et au xix^e siècles_.] [footnote : letter to the manx reform league, november, .] [footnote : i give these figures on the authority of m. paul otlet, advocate, of brussels, to whom i am indebted for much information regarding the development of the coast of flanders. see also an article by m. otlet in _le cottage_, may to june , .] chapter xi coxyde--the scenery of the dunes the whole of the coast-line is within the province of west flanders, and its development in recent years is the most striking fact in the modern history of the part of belgium with which this volume deals. the change which has taken place on the littoral during the last fifteen or twenty years is extraordinary, and the contrast between the old flanders and the new, between the flanders which lingers in the past and the flanders which marches with the times, is brought vividly before us by the difference between such mediæval towns as bruges, furnes, or nieuport, and the bright new places which glitter on the sandy shores of the flemish coast. but in almost every corner of the dunes, close to these signs of modern progress, there is something to remind us of that past history which is, after all, the great charm of flanders. one of the most characteristic spots in the land of the dunes is the village of coxyde, which lies low amongst the sandhills, about five miles west from nieuport, out of sight of the sea, but inhabited by a race of fisherfolk who, curiously enough, pursue their calling on horseback. mounted on their little horses, and carrying baskets and nets fastened to long poles, they go into the sea to catch small fish and shrimps. it is strange to see them riding about in the water, sometimes in bands, but more frequently alone or in pairs; and this curious custom, which has been handed down from father to son for generations, is peculiar to the part of the coast which lies between la panne and the borders of france. near coxyde, and at the corner where the road from furnes turns in the direction of la panne, is a piece of waste ground which travellers on the vicinal railway pass without notice. but here once stood the famous abbey of the dunes. [illustration: coxyde a shrimper on horseback.] in the first years of the twelfth century a pious hermit named lyger took up his abode in these solitary regions, built a dwelling for himself, and settled down to spend his life in doing good works and in the practice of religion. soon, as others gathered round him, his dwelling grew into a monastery, and at last, in the year , the abbey of the dunes was founded. it was nearly half a century before the great building, which is said to have been the first structure of such a size built of brick in flanders, was completed; but when at last the work was done the abbey was, by all accounts, one of the most magnificent religious houses in flanders, consisting of a group of buildings with no less than windows, a rich and splendid church, so famous for its ornamental woodwork that the carvings of the stalls were reproduced in the distant abbey of melrose in scotland, and a library which, as time went on, became a storehouse of precious manuscripts and hundreds of those wonderfully illustrated missals on which the monks of the middle ages spent so many laborious hours. we can imagine them in the cells of coxyde copying and copying for hours together, or bending over the exquisitely coloured drawings which are still preserved in the museums of flanders. but their most useful work was done on the lands which lay round the abbey. there were at coxyde in the thirteenth century no fewer than monks and converts engaged at one time in cultivating the soil.[ ] they drained the marshes, and planted seeds where seeds would grow, until, after years of hard labour on the barren ground, the abbey of the dunes was surrounded by wide fields which had been reclaimed and turned into a fertile oasis in the midst of that savage and inhospitable desert. when st. bernard was preaching the crusade in flanders he came to coxyde. on his advice the monks adopted the order of the cistercians, and their first abbot under the new rule afterwards sat in the chair of st. bernard himself as abbot of clairvaux. thereafter the cistercian abbey of the dunes grew in fame, especially under the rule of st. idesbaldus, who had come there from furnes, where he had been a canon of the church of ste. walburge. 'it has also a special interest for english folk. it long held lands in the isle of sheppey, as well as the advowson of the church of eastchurch, in the same island. these were bestowed on it by richard the lion-hearted. the legend says that these gifts were made to reward its sixth abbot, elias, for the help he gave in releasing richard from captivity. anyhow, royal charters, and dues from the archbishop of canterbury, and a bull of pope celestine iii., confirmed the abbey in its english possessions and privileges. the abbey seems to have derived little benefit from these, and finally, by decision of a general congregation of the cistercian order, handed them over to the abbot and chapter of bexley, to recoup the latter for the cost of entertaining monks of the order going abroad, or returning from the continent, on business of the order.'[ ] [illustration: coxyde a shrimper.] the english invasion of the fifteenth century destroyed the work of the monks in their fields and gardens, but the abbey itself was spared; and the great disaster did not come until a century later, when the image-breakers, who had begun their work amongst the gothic arches of antwerp, spread over west flanders, and descended upon coxyde. the abbey was attacked, and the monks fled to bruges, carrying with them many of their treasures, which are still to be seen in the collection on the quai de la poterie, beyond the bridge which is called the pont des dunes. the noble building, so long the home of so much piety and learning, and from which so many generations of apostles had gone forth to toil in the fields and minister to the poor, was abandoned, and allowed to fall into ruins, until at last it gradually sunk into complete decay, and was buried beneath the sands. not a trace of it now remains. history has few more piteous sermons to preach on the vanity of all the works of men. the fishermen on the coast of flanders have, from remote times, paid their vows in the hour of danger to notre dame de lombaerdzyde. if they escape from some wild storm they go on a pilgrimage of thanksgiving. they walk in perfect silence along the road to the shrine, for not a word must be spoken till they reach it; and these hardy seafaring men may be seen kneeling at the altar of the old, weather-beaten church which stands on the south side of the highway through the village, and in which are wooden models of ships hung up as votive offerings before an image of the virgin, which is the object of peculiar veneration. the madonna of lombaerdzyde did not prevail to keep the sea from invading the village at the time when the inhabitants were driven to nieuport, but the belief in her miraculous power is as strong to-day as it was in the dark ages. [illustration: adinkerque village and canal.] there is a view of lombaerdzyde which no one strolling on the dunes near nieuport should fail to see--a perfect picture, as typical of the scenery in these parts as any landscape chosen by hobbema or ruysdael. a causeway running straight between two lofty dunes of bare sand, and bordered by stunted trees, forms a long vista at the end of which lombaerdzyde appears--a group of red-roofed houses, with narrow gables and white walls, and in the middle the pointed spire of the church, beyond which the level plain of flanders, dotted with other villages and churches and trees in formal rows, stretches away into the distance until it merges in the horizon. adinkerque, a picturesque village beyond furnes, is another place which calls to mind many a picture of the flemish artists in the musée of antwerp and the mauritshuis at the hague; and the recesses of the dune country in which these places are hidden has a wonderful fascination about it--the irregular outlines of the dunes, some high and some low, sinking here into deep hollows of firm sand, and rising there into strange fantastic shapes, sometimes with sides like small precipices on which nothing can grow, and sometimes sloping gently downwards and covered with trembling poplars, spread in confusion on every side. often near the shore the sandy barrier has been broken down by the wind or by the waves, and a long gulley formed, which cuts deep into the dunes, and through which the sand drifts inland till it reaches a steep bank clothed with rushes, against which it heaps itself, and so, rising higher with the storms of each winter, forms another dune. this process has been going on for ages. the sands are for ever shifting, but moss begins to grow in sheltered spots; such wild flowers as can flourish there bloom and decay; the poplars shed their leaves, and nourish by imperceptible degrees the fibres of the moss; some hardy grasses take root; and at length a scanty greensward appears. by such means slowly, in the microcosm of the dunes, have been evolved out of the changing sands places fit for men to live in, until now along the strip which guards the coast of flanders there are green glades gay with flowers, and shady dells, and gardens sheltered from the wind, plots of pasture-land, cottages and churches which seem to grow out of the landscape, their colouring so harmonizes with the colouring which surrounds them. and ever, close at hand, the sea is rolling in and falling on the shore. 'come unto these yellow sands,' and when the sun is going down, casting a long bar of burnished gold across the water, against which, perhaps, the sail of some boat looms dark for a moment and then passes on, the sky glows in such a lovely, tender light that those who watch it must needs linger till the twilight is fading away before they turn their faces inland. there are few evenings for beauty like a summer evening on the shores of flanders. footnotes. [footnote : derode, _histoire religieuse de la flandre maritime_, p. .] [footnote : robinson, _bruges, an historical sketch_, p. .] east flanders and brabant east flanders and brabant chapter xii ghent from bruges, the capital of west flanders, to ghent, the capital of east flanders, it is only half an hour's journey by rail; but the contrast between them is remarkable. bruges is a city of the dead, of still life, of stagnant waters, of mouldering walls and melancholy streets, long since fallen from its high estate into utter decay. ghent, on the other hand, is active, bustling, prosperous. the narrow lanes and gloomy courts of mediæval times have, in many parts, been swept away to make room for broad, well-lighted streets and squares, through which electric trams, crowded with busy people, run incessantly all day long. bruges is known as 'la morte.' ghent is often called 'la ville de flore,' from the numerous gardens and hot-houses which supply plants to the markets of france, germany, america, and other countries. other branches of industry thrive. the trade in flax, linen, leather goods, engines, and lace, is large and flourishing. there are warehouses packed full of articles of commerce waiting to be sent off by canal or railway, and yards piled high with wood from north america, or bags of portland cement from england. two great canals, one connecting the town with the estuary of the scheldt near the sea, and the other leading, through bruges, to ostend, admit merchant vessels and huge barges to a commodious harbour, where steam cranes and all the appliances of a busy seaport are in full swing. there never is a crowd in bruges, except during the yearly procession of the holy blood; but every day in ghent, if by chance a drawbridge over one of the canals is raised, a crowd of working people gathers to wait impatiently while some deeply-laden barge passes slowly through, and, the moment the passage is free, rushes over in haste. these are flemings in a hurry. one never sees them in bruges. ghent, then, is a modern commercial town; but, in spite of all the changes which time and progress have brought about, it is, like most of the other flemish towns, full of sights which carry us back in a moment to the distant past. [illustration: ghent an old lace-maker.] the lys and the scheldt, winding through belgium from west to east, meet almost in the centre of the province of east flanders; and at the point where they join a number of islands have been formed by numerous channels, pools, and backwaters which are connected with the two rivers. in early times, no doubt, the spot was nothing but a morass, and on one of the pieces of drier ground the first wooden houses of ghent were erected. after that, during the course of centuries, the town spread from island to island, and as each island was occupied a bridge was built, so that by degrees between twenty and thirty islands, joined by a number of bridges, were covered with dwelling-houses and public buildings, and the whole surrounded by a wall and moat. but long before buildings of brick or stone replaced the dark wooden houses, of which only one now remains, the people of ghent had acquired the character of being the most intractable of all the flemings; and when philip of alsace, count of flanders, came back from the holy land, towards the end of the twelfth century, he erected, on the site of an old fortress which baldwin bras-de-fer had built years before, a strong castle for the purpose of overawing the townsmen. on the left bank of the lys, which, passing through the middle of the town, threads its way close under the basements of the houses, is the place ste. pharailde, with its picturesque buildings of the middle ages; and on the north side of this place stand the massive remains of the old stronghold. it is a grim, forbidding place, now known as the château des comtes. on three sides high black walls rise straight out of the water, and on the fourth side a deep archway leads into a large courtyard, in the middle of which is the donjon, said to date from the ninth century. there is a vast, dim banquet-hall, with an immense chimney-piece, and small windows with stone seats sunk deep in the walls, where king edward iii. of england and queen philippa feasted with jacques van artevelde in the year , during the war with france. dark, narrow staircases lead from story to story within the thickness of the walls, or wind up through turrets pierced with small windows a few inches square. far down in the foundations are dismal oubliettes and torture-chambers; and in one corner of what is supposed to have been a prison is an iron-bound chest full of the skeletons of persons who suffered in the religious troubles of the sixteenth century. this gloomy place, once the abode of so much cruelty, is one of the most interesting sights in ghent. [illustration: ghent the banquet hall, château des comtes.] charles v. was born at ghent in the cour des princes, a magnificent palace, of which nothing but a single gateway now remains. john of gaunt (or ghent) was born here, too. here took place the marriage of the archduke maximilian to mary of burgundy, which gave the netherlands to the house of austria. and here, in the carthusian monastery in the rue des chartreux, in a room which is now one of the refectories, lord gambier, as ambassador for george iii., signed, on christmas eve, , the articles of peace which put an end to the war between great britain and the united states of america. everywhere, however, in flanders the chief connecting-link between the past and the present is to be found at the hôtel de ville, the centre of the civic life; and it would be hard to find in all the netherlands, except at brussels, a more splendid example of gothic architecture than the north side of the hôtel de ville at ghent. within, on the walls of a great hall, the salle des États, is a tablet in memory of the famous 'pacification of ghent,' signed there in , when the leaders of the dutch and catholic netherlands united for the purpose of securing civil and religious liberty and the downfall of the spanish oppression. opposite this tablet is a window, through which one steps on to a small balcony where proclamations were made of war, or peace, or royal marriages, and laws were promulgated, in olden times. in another part of the building the twelve catholics, thirteen liberals, and fourteen socialists, who ( ) make up the council of to-day, meet and debate, in a gothic hall of the fifteenth century, with the burgomaster in the chair. the civil marriages, which by the belgian constitution of must always precede the religious ceremony in church, take place in an old chapel of , where there is a large picture by wauters of mary of burgundy asking the burghers of ghent to pardon one of her ministers. just outside the door of this salle des mariages a painting of the last moments of count egmont and count horn hangs in a passage, with a roof years old, leading to the offices of the tramway company. thus the everyday business of the town is conducted in the midst of the memorials of the past. [illustration: ghent bÉguinage de mont st. amand.] in front of the balcony of the hôtel de ville there used to be a wide, open space, in which the burghers assembled; but now the ground is occupied by a row of houses (the rue haut-port), intersected by narrow streets, one of which leads to the marché de vendredi, the scene of the greatest events in the history of ghent. this is a large square, surrounded by a double row of trees, in the middle of which is a statue of jacques van artevelde, the 'brewer of ghent,' who stands with arm up-raised, pointing to the west, as if to show his fellow-citizens that help was coming from england, or that the enemy was on the march from france. not far from the hôtel de ville the compact tower of st. nicholas rises above the housetops; and the churches of st. pierre, st. michael, and st. jacques are worth a visit. there is also the béguinage de ste. Élisabeth, a group of houses of dark red brick with tiled roofs, trim grass paddocks, and winding streets, clustering round a church--the quietest spot in ghent, where five or six hundred beguines, in their blue robes and white head-dresses, spend their days in making lace or attending the services of the catholic church. but the antiquary and student of history will find more to interest him if he makes his way to the abbey of st. bavon (birthplace of john of gaunt), the ruins of which lie on the east side of the town, near the porte d'anvers. the tradition is that this abbey was founded, early in the seventh century, by st. amandus, the 'apostle of flanders,' and enlarged, some twenty years later, by st. bavon. in the middle of the ninth century it was almost entirely destroyed by the normans, but rose once more at a later period, only to be demolished by charles v., who erected a castle there about the year . a quarter of a century later, on september , , egmont and horn were brought here by the orders of alva, and kept in prison until they were carried, 'guarded by two companies of infantry and one of cavalry,' to brussels, where the execution took place, in the grande place, on june , . [illustration: ghent the arrière faucille (achter sikkel).] when the congress of ghent assembled in , the castle was occupied by a spanish garrison, who refused to capitulate. it was accordingly besieged by william of orange, and 'the deliberations of the congress were opened under the incessant roar of cannon.' the siege ended, by the surrender of the spaniards, on the very day on which the sittings of the congress were finished by the conclusion of the treaty known as the 'pacification,' which was signed at ghent on november , . 'the pacification, as soon as published, was received with a shout of joy. proclaimed in the market-place of every city and village, it was ratified, not by votes, but by hymns of thanksgiving, by triumphal music, by thundering of cannon, and by the blaze of beacons throughout the netherlands.'[ ] the castle, a monument of the spanish tyranny, was pulled down; but many fragments still remain of the ancient abbey of st. bavon. [illustration: ghent the ruins of the cloisters of the abbey of st. bavon.] in the first quarter of the fifteenth century hubert van eyck and his brother jan were living at ghent. here hubert began to paint the celebrated altar-piece, 'the adoration of the immaculate lamb,' which his brother finished after his death. this great painting, having survived the greed of philip ii., the fanaticism of the puritan iconoclasts, and the rapacity of the french revolutionary army, now hangs in the cathedral of st. bavon; and every year hundreds of travellers visit ghent in order to see what is, beyond doubt, the finest production of the early flemish school. in the choir, too, of the cathedral are four huge candlesticks of copper, which were originally made as ornaments for the grave of henry viii. at windsor, but were sold during the commonwealth. in the infant who afterwards became the emperor charles v. was carried from the cour des princes to the cathedral. 'his baptism,' we read in local history, 'was celebrated with right royal pomp in the church of st. bavon. great rejoicings signalized the event. the fountains lavishly sent up streams of purple wine from their fantastic jets, "mysteries" and mummeries, masks and merry-makings, usurped for a time the place of commerce and earnest speculation. the brave and steady citizens of ghent ran riot from the house, and never was venice herself more wild in the days of her maddest carnival. we are told that a magic gallery, feet long, which was maintained during this temporary jubilee in a state of sufficient security to insure the safety of the thousands who thronged it, was erected at a giddy height across the streets, connecting the tower of the great belfry with that of the church of st. nicholas. this was, for three consecutive nights, profusely illuminated, and threw a brilliant glow over the gay scene, in which all ghent was revelling below.' in the time of charles v., ghent was not only the most powerful city in the rich netherlands, but one of the most opulent in all europe. and what the belfry, whose chimes ring out with such sweet melody by night and day, was to bruges, that was to the more warlike men of ghent the 'iron tongue' of roland, the mighty bell which hung in the lofty watch-tower. it called them to arms. it sent them forth to battle. it welcomed them home victorious, or bade them meet and defend their privileges in the market-place. 'it seemed, as it were, a living historical personage, endowed with the human powers and passions which it had so long directed and inflamed.' the belfry of ghent, black with age, still towers above the cloth hall. but when, in , the emperor went there for the purpose of humbling the town, and punishing the burghers for their disobedience, he made a decree that roland, whose voice had so often given the signal for revolt, should be taken down. no greater insult could have been offered to the proud city. bruges fell into the decay from which she has never yet recovered chiefly because, at a time when the whole commerce of flanders and brabant was beginning to languish, she lost her communications with the sea; and ypres was ruined by years of internal discord and constant war. but ghent, the third of the three 'bonnes villes' of flanders, though the industrial depression which spread over the netherlands and the long struggle against spain combined to ruin her, has come triumphant through all vicissitudes. in the old days the men of ghent were famous for their turbulent spirit and love of independence. it was no easy task to rule them, as counts of flanders, or dukes of burgundy, or kings of spain often found to their cost. and now it seems as if the robust character of the burghers who fought so hard, in mediæval times, to maintain their liberties, had been merely turned into another channel, and transmitted to their descendants in the shape of that keen activity in commerce which makes this town so prosperous at the present day. footnotes. [footnote : motley's _rise of the dutch republic_, part iv., chap. v.] chapter xiii the dukes of brabant--the joyeuse entrÉe--end of the sixteenth century a few miles to the south-west of alost, on the borders of east flanders, the river dendre, on its way to join the scheldt, forms the boundary of brabant. from denderleeuw, the frontier station, to brussels is about fifteen miles by train, through a district which gradually loses the bare flatness of the plains of flanders, and becomes wooded, undulating, and hilly as we approach the city. and brussels is quite different from the fallen towns of flanders. there are no mouldering ramparts here, and very few uneven causeways, but broad boulevards, shaded by trees; handsome modern houses; wooden pavements in some parts; a bourse; arcades and bazaars; tempting shops, their windows decked with parisian art; theatres and music-halls; glittering restaurants and expensive hotels. it is all modern, spacious, full of movement. while bruges and ypres live chiefly in the past, brussels lives chiefly in the present and the future. but in the middle of the city is the famous grande place; and the tall houses, so gloriously picturesque with pointed gables and gilded cornices; and the exquisite hôtel de ville with its curiously carved façade and steep roof pierced by innumerable little windows, above which the graceful spire, that 'miracle of needlework in stone,' has towered for years. here, as everywhere in the netherlands, the traditions of the past are imperishable; and we may look back and see how this bright, gay, pleasant city--the 'petit paris,' as its people love to call it--rose and grew. old brabant extended from beyond tournai on the west to what is now the dutch frontier beyond turnhout on the east, and from the neighbourhood of ghent nearly to liége. just north of the forest of soignies a ridge of undulating hills overlooked the little river senne, which wound along eastwards through sandbanks and brushwood. on an island in this stream, according to tradition, a chapel was built by st. gery, bishop of cambrai; a watch-tower, afterwards named the tower of st. nicholas, was erected on a hillock near the island; wooden houses, with thatched roofs, began to appear on the banks and here and there on the steep hillside up which pathways, afterwards to become streets, clambered towards a promontory called the coudenberg, or cold mountain; a market was established; and the village became known as bruxelles, or (at least so it is said) 'the house in the swamp,' from _bruc_, swamp, and _celle_, house. [illustration: brussels place de brouckére.] from a long time, in the early tales about brabant, there are the usual legends of warriors and saints; but when we reach the period of authentic history there are four chief towns, louvain, brussels, antwerp, and bois-le-duc. of these the most important was louvain. in the counts of louvain became dukes of brabant. they built a castle on the coudenberg, and for the next years the court of brabant was celebrated for its power and splendour. lying in the midst of a fertile district, and on the trade-route from flanders to germany, brussels was a convenient stopping-place for travellers. but in the middle ages, when bruges, ghent, ypres, and other places were so prosperous, the history of brussels is less eventful; and it was only when the famous flemish cities were about to fall that the town on the senne became an important centre of industry. its population, too, increased rapidly, owing to the numbers of workmen who came from louvain in consequence of commercial troubles there. so trade flourished, and brussels grew rich; but the continual wars which desolated france, the chief market for the manufactures of the netherlands, did harm to the linen trade, which suffered also from the keen competition of english merchants. the raw material came from england, and by prohibiting the exportation of wool england was able to well-nigh ruin this branch of the trade of flanders and brabant. fortunately, however, for brussels, the introduction of new industries at this critical time made the damage to the linen trade less fatal, and with the growth of flax-weaving, the art of tapestry-making, dye-works, and the production of valuable armour, the town more than held its own. luxury and display followed, as usual, in the train of wealth, and brussels became a city of pleasure, of fêtes, and gorgeous festivals. the court of brabant was one of the most luxurious and dissolute in europe. the dukes set an example of extravagance which was followed by the barons who surrounded them, and also by the rich bourgeois. 'the people alone,' we are told, 'that is to say, the men without leisure, the artisans, remained apart from excesses.' there was luxury in dress, in armour, in furniture. the rich went about clad in gold brocades and other costly stuffs, attended by servants in fine liveries. their horses were richly caparisoned, and their wives and daughters spent large sums on magnificent robes, and decked themselves with jewels, and garlands from the rose-gardens for which brussels was already famous. every occasion for a fête was eagerly welcomed. not only was there the yearly 'ommegang,' that time-honoured procession through the streets of triumphal cars, bands of music, and giants, which delighted the people of brabant and flanders, but each separate guild and confraternity had its own festival. in private life every event--a birth, a baptism, a marriage, or a death--was an excuse for spending money on display. to such an extent, indeed, was this carried, that rules were made forbidding invitations being sent except to near relatives, to prevent people going to fêtes without being asked, and at length even to put some limit on the value of the presents which it was customary to give to guests. the licentious and wasteful habits of the _jeunesse dorée_ became so notorious, that there was a lock-up at each of the city gates for the benefit of young men who were living too fast. in such a state of society the money-lender saw his chance; but a law was passed making it illegal for anyone to sign a promissory note, or anticipate his inheritance, before reaching the age of twenty-eight. brussels was full of taverns, and there were parts of the town where every house was occupied by women of easy virtue. fortunes were recklessly squandered, and most of the nobles are said to have been insolvent, and to have left heavy debts behind them. not a vestige remains of the wall which surrounded this mediæval brussels except the porte de hal, at the corner where the modern boulevard de waterloo meets the boulevard du midi; and the hôtel de ville and the guild-houses in the grande place have undergone many changes since the fourteenth century. a great part of the church of ste. gudule, however--the choir and transept, part of the nave, and the south aisle--was built in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries; and during that period notre dame de la chapelle and notre dame du sablon rose on the foundations of more ancient churches. the houses, even of the rich, were still of wood, with sometimes a tower of stone, built irregularly on the hillside which rose from the valley of the senne, each house standing by itself, with its thatched roof, from which in winter the rain or melted snow poured (there were, of course, no gutters then), and found its way down to the lower ground, which was thus little better than a swamp, even long after brussels had become an important city. it was in the midst of this mixture of discomfort and luxury, so characteristic of the middle ages, that the people of brussels, and of brabant generally, passed their lives--gay, joyous, dissolute, but always with an eye to the main chance, and growing richer and richer. and in one thing brabant differed greatly from flanders. while in flanders the towns were generally at deadly feud with each other--bruges fighting with ghent, and ghent at enmity with ypres, with each town divided into hostile factions, such as the leliarts and clauwerts, within its own walls, the people of brabant seem to have lived at peace with each other, and, as a rule, to have made it their first business always to combine for the defence of their common interests. and in the middle of the fourteenth century came a time which called for mutual reliance. the last duke of brabant in the male line of the house of louvain was jean iii. he died in , leaving no heir male; and thus the succession fell to his daughter jeanne,[ ] who had married wencelas, brother of charles iv. of luxembourg. from time immemorial the rulers of brabant, on succeeding to the throne, had taken an oath to maintain the liberty of their subjects; and many charters confirming ancient rights and privileges had been drawn up for the towns and communes. before recognising the duchess jeanne and her husband, the towns of brabant addressed to them a series of demands, which they requested the new rulers to accept. these took the form of a charter enumerating and confirming all the points which constituted public liberty in brabant; and this charter received the name of the joyeuse entrée (or blyde incompste), because it was hailed with such applause by the representatives of the people. the inauguration of the duchess jeanne and wencelas took place at louvain on january , , when they swore to maintain all the ancient privileges of the country. thereafter the act of inauguration of each ruler of brabant was known as his joyeuse entrée, and each joyeuse entrée was a development of acts declaring public rights which had previously existed, just as magna charta was founded on the older liberties of england. each duke had his joyeuse entrée, which he accepted sometimes with as little goodwill as king john felt at runnymede. thus, this famous constitution, the best known and the most liberal of all the free charters in the netherlands, was not a parchment drawn up at one time, but a declaration of public rights which gradually developed.[ ] 'the inauguration of a duke of brabant was a splendid and imposing ceremony. the prince, who was lord of the noble duchy, went to make himself known to his subjects, and to confirm the relations which secured both his and their happiness. he arrived, with his courtiers, at the ancient capital of brabant, louvain. as he descended the brussels road he saw from afar the cradle of his ancestors, with its steeples, towers, and majestic walls, in the rich valley of the dyle. before entering, the heir of the old counts of louvain stopped for a little at the gates of the city, in the monastery of terbanck, where, in the midst of an immense crowd, the clergy, the officers of the university, and the magistrates, came to greet him. the brilliant assemblage then went into the chapel, where the abbess of terbanck, at the altar, took the crucifix and gave it to the highest dignitary of the church who was present, and he, approaching the duke, gave it him to kiss. the rector of the university made an oration in the name of the university and the clergy. the mayor placed in the duke's hands the red staff of justice, emblem of his office. the burgomaster gave him the keys of the city; and the pensionary of louvain welcomed him on behalf of all the local magistrates. then the procession, to the sound of trumpets, went forth on horseback through the gates, the duke and his councillors, the states of brabant, and the magistrates of louvain, to the church of st. pierre, where they all dismounted and entered the choir; and there, after prayers had been said, the prince swore to maintain the liberties and privileges of the church in brabant. thence they went to the market-place, which was between the church and the hôtel de ville. the duke took his stand on a platform with the representatives of the people of brabant, and the chancellor announced that he was about to swear his joyeuse entrée. the act of inauguration was read, first in flemish and then in french, and the duke repeated it word for word, and took an oath to the barons, nobles, towns, and franchises of the duchy, that he would be their good and loyal seigneur, and that he would not treat them otherwise than justly, and in accordance with all their rights. they clothed the duke in a robe of crimson trimmed with ermine, and put the ducal coronet of brabant upon his head. the states swore fidelity to him. the trumpets sounded. the air was filled with acclamations; and the heralds' voices crying, "long live the duke of brabant!" told the duchy that another ruler had taken possession of his heritage in accordance with ancient custom.'[ ] the 'states' of brabant grew out of the primitive method of government by an assembly of the people in the market-place, where each vassal voted in person. later, chosen representatives alone voted; and at the end of the fourteenth century the clergy began to attend as a separate order in the assembly. the name of 'États' was not used in brabant till , when the nobles, clergy, and commons called themselves the states of brabant.[ ] side by side with the states grew up the council of brabant, which was originally a consulting body, a judicial council to assist the duke in administering the law, but which gradually came to concern itself with the management of local affairs, while the states conducted the public business of the duchy. soon after the inauguration of jeanne and wencelas, the jealous and ambitious louis of maele, count of flanders, who had married jeanne's sister marguerite, made war upon brabant, and the struggle continued for years. wencelas, whom froissart describes as a wise and gallant man, was at last quite worn out by the troubles which beset him. he spent the winter and summer of - at brussels with his wife, and tried to forget his sorrows in hunting, and in a round of balls and tournaments. but his health was ruined, and, having gone to breathe his native air in luxembourg, he died there on december , . the duchess jeanne, who survived her husband for thirteen years, years of constant trouble, died on december , , at the age of eighty, after a reign of fifty years, and was buried in the old church of the carmelites at brussels. on her death the duchy of brabant passed, by a family arrangement, to the house of burgundy.[ ] under the house of burgundy, during the fifteenth century brussels became more than ever a city of pomp, gaiety, and pleasure. for nearly half a century of this period the history of brabant is full of the names of philip the good and charles the bold. philip lived generally at brussels, and this brought to the town so many frenchmen that french became the language of the court and the fashionable tongue amongst the noblesse. the old castle or palace of the dukes of brabant on the coudenberg was enlarged, and beautified by the addition of the great hall, where the knights of the golden fleece, whose order philip founded, used to hold their chapters, and which in later days was to witness the imposing spectacle of the abdication of charles v. the boundaries of the park were extended, walls were built round it, and it was stocked with game. bishops and nobles built themselves great mansions. the first stone of the magnificent hôtel de ville had been carved at the beginning of the century, and in charles the bold, then only ten years old, laid the foundations of the lofty spire, on the summit of which ten years later was placed that gilded statue of st. michael which is there to this day. the burgundian library still remains, with its wealth of illuminated manuscripts and rare books; and the paintings of roger van der weyden and his cotemporaries show how art flourished at brussels in the fifteenth century. unlike philip, charles the bold detested the people of brussels. his father, he said, had increased their riches and their pride beyond measure. he attacked the states of brabant, and threatened to pull down the walls and gates of brussels. and when, after sweeping like a tempest over europe, he died before the walls of nancy in , and the male line of the house of burgundy came to an end, it was seen that the wide domain over which his family had reigned so proudly, and which he left to his daughter marie, was torn by internal dissensions, and that the people of brabant and flanders were smarting under the inroads which had been made upon their ancient privileges. [illustration: brussels entrance to the old church of the carmelites.] the duchess marie succeeded to a splendid inheritance, but her position was full of difficulty. her treasury was empty. she had no army at her command. popular discontent was growing. her father had made the haughty burghers of ghent bow before him, but as soon as he was dead they rose again. ghent, bruges, brussels, all brabant, were seething with disaffection. payment of the taxes was refused and the officers of the government were ill-treated. and, moreover, hannibal was at the gates, in the person of louis xi., who had rejoiced on hearing of the fate of charles the bold. the inauguration of marie took place at the end of may, , five months after her father's death; and her joyeuse entrée not only renewed the public rights which philip and charles had infringed, but placed fresh restrictions on the power of the future rulers of brabant. the marriage of the young duchess to some husband who could defend her rights was seen to be the only means of preserving the peace of the country. her distrust of louis xi. led her to refuse an alliance with a french prince. she chose the archduke maximilian of austria, and thus the fortunes of brabant and flanders were united with the fortunes of the house of hapsburg, and the opportunity of peacefully absorbing belgium was lost to france. the marriage was celebrated in august, . five years later marie died, leaving a son--the boy, then four years of age, who was afterwards known as philip the fair. he in turn married joanna, daughter of ferdinand and isabella of spain; and the offspring of this marriage was the great emperor charles v., during whose reign the capital of brabant was more brilliant than ever. no story is better known than the story of how in the evil days, when philip ii. ruled the 'spanish netherlands' in the interests of the church, bréderode and his friends, hearing of berlaimont's scornful words, assumed the name of 'beggars,' by which their party was afterwards known. but how typical it is! how full their doings are of the gay spirit of brabant! it is springtime, fresh and bright, when the confederate nobles leave the mansion of count kuilemburg,[ ] a brilliant company of handsome, hot-blooded men of fashion and high birth, bearded all, and dressed in the elaborate finery of that time, and walk to the palace, where margaret of parma awaits them. they pass along the roadway which crowns the ridge, overlooking the multitude of pointed roofs below them to the left, with the spire of the hôtel de ville rising from where an opening among the housetops marks the situation of the grande place, where so many of them are afterwards to lay down their lives. the majestic towers of ste. gudule stand out above the houses which cluster round them on the plateau of st. michael. in front of them is the palace, and beyond it the green glades and pleasure-grounds of the park. a crowd of people, who have climbed up from the lower town by the long steep way known as la chausée and the montagne de la cour, greet them with cheers at the entrance of the palace. the doors of that magnificent dwelling receive the glittering band, who go with gay insouciance to their momentous interview, and come out from it in the same spirit. they walk about the streets, and pass berlaimont, who is talking to arenberg. 'look at our fine beggars!' says berlaimont. 'how they ruffle it before us!' they sup at kuilemburg's. bréderode repeats berlaimont's jest against them. they take it up. they toast 'the beggars.' they dress themselves up as beggars, with leathern wallets and wooden bowls. they laugh, and spill their wine about, drain more bumpers to the beggars' health, dance on the tables, and shout 'vivent les gueux!'[ ] not even the grave face of orange, who comes in, can stop the revel. and next day they lay aside their fine clothes, dress themselves, their families, and their servants as beggars, shave off their beards, and go about with wallets and bowls. this was the spirit of the masquerade, of the carnival, the kermesse; and thirty years later, when for a whole generation the country had suffered unexampled miseries, and most of the beggars of had perished by a violent death, the arrival of the archduke ernest as governor of brabant was made the occasion for a grotesque display--'a stately procession of knights and burghers in historical and mythological costumes, followed by ships, dromedaries, elephants, whales, giants, dragons.' a strange people. the dutch had fought with all the courage of the nervii, and gained their freedom. the belgians, descendants of the nervii, had been slaughtered, defeated, tortured, and made slaves, had seen their country laid waste, and their cherished liberties taken from them wholesale; and yet, when all was lost and the heel of the oppressor was planted firmly on their necks, they were made happy by a circus procession. footnotes. [footnote : born at brussels, june , .] [footnote : the text of the joyeuse entrée of jeanne and wencelas is given by abbé nameche, vol. iv., pp. - , and the latest form which it took will be found in poullet's _histoire de la joyeuse entrée de brabant_, pp. - .] [footnote : poullet, p. .] [footnote : 'mais bientôt les intérêts communs formèrent des associations particulières dans le seins même de l'assemblée. les nobles étaient unis par le droit de la féodalité; au treizième et au quatorzième siècle, les villes brabançonnes conclurent entre elles des traités d'alliance, et de là l'origine des ordres. on sentit alors l'inconvénient du vote individuel, et l'on admit que les individualités particulières seraient liées par la majorité des suffrages dans le même ordre': (poullet, p. ).] [footnote : wencelas and jeanne had no children. jeanne made a will leaving the duchy of brabant to her niece marguerite (daughter of louis of maele and her sister), who had married philip the bold, duke of burgundy. philip the bold and marguerite of maele had two sons--jean, who became duke of burgundy and count of flanders on the death of his father; and antoine, who became duke of brabant on the death of his mother.] [footnote : in what is now the rue des petits carmes.] [footnote : 'then for the first time, from the lips of those reckless nobles, rose the famous cry, which was so often to ring over land and sea, amid blazing cities, on blood-stained decks, through the smoke and carnage of many a stricken field.'--motley: _rise of the dutch republic_.] chapter xiv the bombardment of --the grande place--church of ste. gudule--charles of lorraine the sixteenth century closes with the cession by philip ii. of the spanish netherlands to his daughter isabella, as a dowry on her marriage to the archduke albert of austria. the king died on september , , and a year later the infanta and her husband entered brabant. when they rode through brussels in the state procession, the infanta's saddle was studded with diamonds and rubies to the value of , florins. the magistrates presented them with a magnificent service of silver plate. there were fêtes, fireworks, and illuminations, which lasted for three days. on a medal struck to commemorate this occasion, we see them seated in a triumphal chair, surrounded by sunbeams, and with olive branches in their hands. the condition of the country was deplorable, but the evils of the time seemed all forgotten in the midst of a round of festivities. the private virtues of isabella and her husband made them popular, but, needless to say, belgium was the battlefield of europe during most of the seventeenth century. these almost incessant wars culminated, so far as brussels was concerned, in the bombardment of august, . for twenty years the city had been menaced with destruction. it is said that antoinette bourignon, a noted adventuress and soothsayer, who died in , had foretold that the capital of brabant would perish by fire, and this was remembered when, in the summer of , villeroi, failing to relieve namur, which william iii. was then besieging, marched on brussels with an army , strong. in the first week of august it became known that an immense store of bombs had been prepared at mons, and that villeroi was at enghien. the french left that place on the th, and next day encamped at anderlecht, close to brussels. preparations were made for defence. the guilds furnished men; the avenues between the porte de namur and the porte de hal were fortified; and the low-lying grounds were inundated. but the french came nearer; and on the th villeroi sent in a message saying that the most christian king had ordered him to bombard the town in retaliation for the way in which the english and dutch fleets had treated the seaports of france; that, as vengeance was repugnant to the goodness of his master, he had been commanded to say that if the allies would in future refrain from such modes of warfare, he would do the same by them, and retire from before the city if, within six hours, he received a definite answer of such a nature that he could accept it. on receiving this ultimatum, the magistrates asked for time to communicate with the elector and the king of england. an hour and a half was granted, but as no answer had been sent when that time expired, some bombs were thrown, and one man was killed on the montagne de la cour. presently a message arrived from the elector asking for a delay of twenty-four hours, so that he might send for the opinion of king william. villeroi's reply was to commence the bombardment at once, and forthwith bomb-shells and red-hot shot came pouring on the town. the cannonade began at seven in the evening, and continued all night and during part of next morning. the whole city was in wild confusion, the people flying for refuge, as their dwellings took fire. there was a strong wind blowing from the west, and the flames spread from one house to another along the narrow streets, especially in the centre of the town, which was soon blazing like a vast furnace. it is said that nearly , houses were burned to the ground, and many damaged beyond repair. in the grande place, the hôtel de ville, the brodhuis, and other old buildings were almost totally destroyed. the church of st. nicholas, the tower of which was the belfry of brussels, sank in ruins. many sick persons perished in burning hospitals. convents and churches were shattered, and their ornaments, paintings, and archives disappeared. the old church of the carmelites was entirely destroyed, and of the tomb of jeanne, the last duchess of brabant, who was buried in the choir, not a trace remained. when the work of destruction was finished, and the french retired, it was seen that a great part of the city was lying in ruins. before the bombardment, the hôtel de ville was nearly in its original condition; but now the west side was demolished by the bomb-shells, the roof had been consumed by the flames, and the whole building, with the exception of the spire and the west front, was almost entirely destroyed. so that the hôtel de ville of brussels, as we see it now, is, except the spire and the façade towards the grande place, much changed from what it was previously to .[ ] so are the guild-houses--l'Étoile, the first house next to the hôtel de ville, looking from the grande place, in the fourteenth century the headquarters of the amman, or head of the trades, and once a tavern surrounded by a garden; le cygne, next to l'Étoile, which had been rebuilt in with a façade of wood; the maison des brasseurs, in the seventeenth century the guild-house of the brewers, and now a café, surmounted by a modern statue of charles of lorraine. these houses, and many more, suffered from the french shot, and had to be practically rebuilt. the most interesting building in the grande place, with the exception of the hôtel de ville, is that in the north-east corner, opposite the hôtel de ville. it is now called the 'maison du roi,' but is known to history as the 'brodhuis,' because a list of the current prices for bread used to be put up there, when it was a _dépendance_ of the hôtel de ville. it was so much damaged by the bombardment that it had to be entirely pulled down, but was rebuilt exactly on the original place in every detail. it was in the original brodhuis that egmont and horn were imprisoned, and led forth to execution in the grande place on june , . the large chamber on the third story, now the communal museum, is on the site of the room in which egmont passed his last night, and is exactly the same, except that the present roof is higher. so well was the restoration of this beautiful building done, that no great effort of imagination is needed to picture the last scenes of that dismal tragedy. [illustration: brussels the cathedral of ste. gudule.] nothing remains of the first church of ste. gudule, which is said to have stood on the spot now occupied by the nave, and to have been erected there early in the eleventh century, on the site of a still older church. the present building dates from the thirteenth century. it suffered at the hands of the reformers during the religious troubles of the sixteenth century, having been sacked and pillaged on june , . the clergy had the foresight to carry away most of their treasures before the storm burst; but many tombs and monuments were ruthlessly destroyed. the vault of the dukes of brabant was violated; but in , after the return of the spaniards, the remains which had been torn from their coffins and scattered about were collected and placed in a large wooden chest. in may, , when the vault was opened for the burial of the prince royal, son of leopold i., and brother of the present king of the belgians, a number of bones were found lying on the ground--the bones of the dukes and princes of the lordly house of brabant, the chest which contained them having mouldered away. during the french occupation, ste. gudule, which had passed uninjured through villeroi's bombardment, was closed for two years, from to , and there was a proposal to pull it down to make way for a theatre. by that time, however, brussels had several theatres; and of these the best known was the théâtre de la monnaie. until the works of the great french dramatists were introduced, the only spectacles of the nature of stage-plays known in brussels were long, dull pieces in the form generally of mystery plays. for instance, in the sixteenth century they acted, at the convent of the carmelites, the 'tragedy of the passion.' in this piece, which was in three acts, there was a chorus of children dressed as angels. news was brought to the wife of malchus that st. peter had cut off her husband's ear, on which the angels sang: 'quand pierrot coupit À malchus l'oreille le seigneur lui dit, turelututu renguaine, renguaine, turelututu renguaine, renguaine ton coutiau, dans son fouriau.' it was a great change from monkish doggerel like this to the french dramas, which, after being first played privately at the houses of some of the nobility, soon reached the general public, and created the demand for a theatre. in the old mint house, which stood in the place de la monnaie, at that time a narrow thoroughfare blocked up by wooden buildings, was bought by an architect, jean paul bombarda. he obtained leave to erect a 'hôtel des spectacles,' and was granted a monopoly of playing operas and comedies, and giving balls, for thirty years from january, . but one manager after another failed, and it seemed as if the theatre must close its doors, when the actors themselves formed in a company on the model of the comédie française, which afterwards received a subsidy from the city. from that time the fortunes of the théâtre de la monnaie, now so well known, began to mend. the present building dates from . it was during the peaceable reign of maria theresa--peaceable, at least, so far as the soil of belgium was concerned--that the theatre became so popular in brussels. brabant was then free from the troubles which had so often interfered with progress in more important things than the stage; and the people of the capital were kept in good-humour by the popularity of duke charles of lorraine, who became governor of the austrian netherlands in . in march, , he came to live permanently in brussels, accompanied by his wife, the archduchess marie, sister of maria theresa. they entered by the allée verte, then and for a long time after the fashionable promenade of brussels. a battalion of the english horse guards was drawn up on the meadows at the side of the avenue. the duke reviewed these troops; and then the cavalcade started along that green way from the palace of laeken, which so many joyful bands have trodden. the horse guards led the procession. then came charles of lorraine in a carriage, followed by ministers of state, and the lords and gentlemen of the court, attended by some squadrons of english cavalry. at the porte de laeken, the burgomaster, kneeling reverently, presented the keys of the city in a silver basin. thence they went through the streets to the hôtel de ville, and up the rue de la montagne to the church of ste. gudule, where they were received by the cardinal archbishop of malines and his clergy, who said mass. in the evening every street and square in brussels blazed with illuminations. that day was the beginning of a long period of gaiety for the pleasure-loving city. no ruler could have suited the people of brussels better than charles of lorraine. the annals of his time are full of merrymaking, the accounts of which enable us, perhaps better than graver histories do, to understand the court of the austrian netherlands in the long reign of maria theresa. in february, , we find the duke giving a 'venetian fête' in the palace of the duc d'arenberg, at which all the gay people in brussels were present. there were four quadrilles, the first consisting of eight ladies and gentlemen dressed as gardeners, the second of pilgrims, the third and fourth of peasants and sailors. a masked supper followed the dancing, and at midnight all the company, still in their masks, drove in open carriages through the streets. the coachmen were masked, as were the grooms who rode beside each carriage with torches, and so were the musicians who played before and after them on their way to the théâtre de la monnaie, where they danced and feasted and gambled till morning. charles of lorraine lived generally at the château of tervueren, where he spent large sums on stocking the woods and lakes with game and fish. 'what i must put in my park at tervueren,' he notes in his private diary--' roe bucks, hares, pheasants, wood cocks, grey hens, guinea fowls, partridges, red partridges, wild ducks. of fish-- tortoises, crabs, trout, sturgeons.' every day he jotted down in his diary all his doings, all his petty cash payments, what the members of his court did, and even the names of their mistresses. the duc d'arenberg gives jewels to la nogentelle, a danseuse at the monnaie. the dutch minister is ruining himself for la cintray, another dancer; and the english minister has lost his head over mademoiselle durancy. the prince de ligne and m. androuins spent much time and money in company with the sisters eugénie and angélique d'hannetaire. m. d'hannetaire, the father of these young women, had begun life as a comedian in brussels, and was now manager of the monnaie. he had three daughters, who went in the _demi-monde_ by the name of the three graces, and used their father's house as a place of assignation for gentlemen of quality. d'hannetaire is said to have been luckier than most managers, and to have made a large fortune, much of it by the faro-table in the foyer of his theatre, where at that time heavy gambling went on every night. duke charles was a great gourmet, and gave famous dinners, and, of course, makes a note of the wines. burgundy was evidently his own favourite tipple. he drank at least a bottle at every meal; but there was rhine wine, champagne, bordeaux, and tokay for his guests, not to speak of cognac, maraschino, and other liqueurs, all of the very best. he had red partridges sent from the tyrol; and his cash-book records ' livres paid to an express from venice with a barrel of tunny-fish in oil, and for another express from hamburg with a barrel of english oysters and black mussels.' in the official calendar of this jovial prince the names of all who worked in his kitchen are given, from the head chef down to the turnspits. the name of the chef rôtisseur, curiously enough, was rognon. the comte de sart held the important office of grand maître des cuisines. he was the darling of brussels, and so much loved that in the year , when he was very ill, the churches were never empty all day long, so many pious people went to pray for his recovery. when his health was restored there were all sorts of festivities: the fountains spouted wine; half the town got drunk; the prince de ligne had an ox roasted whole on the street in front of his mansion and given to the poor; and the first time the duke appeared at the theatre there was so much applause that the performance was stopped, and his doctor, who was seen in a box, was cheered again and again for having cured his patient. three years later, on the twenty-fifth anniversary of his coming to brabant, there were fêtes which continued for days. the hôtel de ville, the brodhuis, and all the grande place glittered with coloured lights. the comte de sart illuminated his house with , red and yellow lanterns. there was a great banquet in the hôtel de ville, where , guests, the ladies seated and the gentlemen standing, were waited on by grenadiers, and a free performance at the theatre, where two glasses of punch were given to each spectator. medals were struck to commemorate the event. the town of brussels presented the duke with , florins, and the states of brabant voted him a statue and , florins. there never was a prince so popular or so respected in brussels before or after him, and he had thirty-six long years of it. but the revels came to an end in july, , when he died at his château at tervueren, and was buried in the church of ste. gudule, in the vault of albert and isabella. five months later the news reached brussels that the empress maria theresa had died at vienna; and on the evening of december a funeral service was held in ste. gudule. mass being ended, the heralds, standing at the high altar, proclaimed the titles of the late empress. then one of them said in solemn tones: 'she is dead; may god have mercy on her soul.' and as the clergy intoned the _de profundis_, sobs were heard in every corner of the dark, vast building, amidst which toison d'or, king-at-arms, took up the sword of state, and, holding it high above his head, cried with a loud voice: 'long live joseph the second, our sovereign!' footnotes. [footnote : there is an engraving showing the ruins of the grande place in in wauters' _histoire de la ville de bruxelles_, vol. ii., p. .] chapter xv joseph ii. and the revolution of brabant it was difficult to follow an empress like maria theresa, or to find a successor to charles of lorraine in the government of the austrian netherlands. but if ever a sovereign came to a throne full of good intentions it was joseph ii.; and yet, while the easy-going charles had pleased the people of brussels for thirty-six years, the reforming joseph had in less than ten caused the revolution of brabant. it was evident that many reforms were urgent. for a long time the spirit at least of the constitution of brabant had suffered from the encroachment of the imperial government, and the country was losing its moral fibre. nor had the peaceful and happy times of the empress maria theresa rescued the people from the utter demoralization which long wars and their own submission to spain had brought about. every sphere of social life and every department of the government required to be overhauled and invigorated. moreover, the austrian netherlands were as catholic as ever. the new light of the eighteenth century had not reached the clergy, who were still groping about in mediæval darkness; and some fresh system of educating the priesthood was clearly needed. joseph ii. might thus have found his task comparatively easy if he had gone about it in the right way, and taken counsel with the representatives of the people before introducing the reforms on which he was bent. unfortunately he took a different line, asserted his personal authority, and tried to play the double rôle of an autocrat and a reformer, with disastrous results. the church was speedily offended, for in november, , the emperor issued an edict granting civil liberty to the protestants, and allowing them to build churches, to enjoy the privileges of citizenship, to take university degrees, and hold public offices. the bishops protested against all this, but they were not listened to; and another edict allowed protestants to open schools in any place where there were a hundred families of their religion, and to bury their dead according to their own rites. these measures of toleration were followed by a decree compelling the religious associations to register all their property in a new office, called the caisse de religion. the appeal to the pope was abolished; and the settlement of disputes connected with marriages was taken from the bishops, who saw their judgments submitted to the approval or disapproval of the civil powers. convents were suppressed and turned into barracks or hospitals. the emperor did his best to alter the catholic liturgy. he drew up a philosophical catechism of his own invention. he ordered the use of new vestments. marriage was to be regarded as a civil contract, and divorce was to be allowed. the most fervent adherents of the church acknowledged that new schools for the training of young priests were needed; but the emperor tried to set up a system of his own in defiance of the views of the clergy. the chief bone of contention on this point was the establishment of the séminaire générale for the education of youths who were intended for the priesthood. the university of louvain, the old capital of brabant, had been one of the most celebrated seats of learning in europe; and there the new seminary was planted by an edict of october, , which declared that the existing episcopal schools were to be abolished, and the clergy of the future to be educated at the seminary of louvain. the purpose of the emperor, it was announced in an official proclamation, was to bring back the clergy of the netherlands to 'primitive christianity,' and to substitute for the monkish system of education 'enthusiasm for their native land and attachment to the austrian monarchy,' to destroy the 'ultramontane hydra,' to teach them science and philosophy, art and letters, and reveal to them the lessons and the benefits of modern thought and progress; in a word, to make them useful citizens and give them a liberal education. but the church would have none of these things, and in the catholic netherlands the influence of the church was overwhelming. at brussels, certainly, the people were not greatly moved by these attacks on the privileges of the clergy, nor disturbed at the prospect of having a cultured priesthood, and only began to grumble when an attempt was made to interfere with the kermesses and national fêtes, in which they so much delighted; but the emperor went on to irritate the states and council of brabant, which the citizens revered as the guardians of their liberty, and from that moment his enterprise was doomed to failure. the states declared that the church reforms were illegal; but the emperor ignored their opinion. the council declared that its privileges were invaded by the establishment of a new court of appeal at brussels. and both the states and the council protested against other changes in the system of government on which the emperor had set his heart. the council continued to sit in defiance of his wishes; and the states met, and refused to vote supplies until their grievances were redressed. the joyeuse entrée had been infringed, they said; and soon, not only in brabant, but in every part of belgium, people were talking about their rights.[ ] brabant would not have been brabant if some comedy had not been acted on the political stage at such a time. 'it was at this juncture,' we read, 'that there appeared upon the scene a woman who played a great rôle in the revolution. the dame de bellem, called la pinaud, after having been a lady of fashion at brussels, began to mix herself up in political discussions with all the impetuosity of an ardent and passionate heart. her intimate relations with the advocate van der noot much contributed, no doubt, to lead her into this path, where she was followed by her daughter marianne, the muse of this period with little poetry. both of them helped the enemies of austria with their pens and their influence over the numerous young men who attended their soirées; and the smiles of these two ladies, who are said to have been very pretty, doubtless gained more partisans to the revolutionary cause than the pamphlets of the mother or the verses of the daughter.'[ ] henri nicolas van der noot, advocate and standing counsel for the trades before the council of brabant, and lover of the dame de bellem, was made president of a revolutionary committee at brussels, and put his eloquence, which was that of a mob orator, at the service of the bishops, who came forward as the defenders of the constitution. in vain joseph ii. protested that he had no wish to infringe the joyeuse entrée. van der noot thundered, la pinaud wrote, her daughter canvassed, the bishops preached against him. a service was held in ste. gudule to invoke the aid of heaven against the séminaire générale and all the new ways, and on behalf of the joyeuse entrée. on leaving the church, some young people put on tricolor cockades, and this badge was soon common in the streets. things went from bad to worse, and on may , , brussels was on the brink of revolution. an immense crowd filled the grande place, where the states were sitting in the hôtel de ville to consider an ultimatum which had come from vienna, demanding supplies and the suppression of the council of brabant. the states refused the supplies, and directed the council to sit _en permanence_. the emperor's minister, count trauttmansdorff, by turns implored and threatened. 'your resistance,' he told them, 'will ruin you.' 'the emperor,' they replied, 'may destroy us, but he cannot coerce our consciences or our honour.' troops were then marched into the grande place. a squadron of dragoons were drawn up between the brodhuis and the hôtel de ville, and the states were informed that the joyeuse entrée of brabant was suppressed. on this the marquis de prud'homme d'aillay rose, and said to the minister: 'since there is nothing more for us to do here, i am, sir, your very humble servant,' and left the hôtel de ville, followed by all the members of the states. the news from paris, where the clouds were gathering dark round the head of his sister marie antoinette, might have made joseph ii. pause; but, far away in vienna, he made up his mind to go on as he had begun. so the revolution of brabant gained force, and van der noot was the popular idol, with all brussels at his feet. on his return from a tour of agitation in the provinces he was received with royal honours: the hôtel de ville flung out its red hangings; and at the doors of ste. gudule he was met by the canons, who waved incense before him, and placed him on the emperor's _prie-dieu_. he went to the monnaie, where 'la mort de césar' was performed, and the actor who played brutus declaimed-- 'sur les débris du trône et de la tyranie, du belge indépendant s'élève le génie,' on which all the spectators rose, waving their hats and shouting 'vive la liberté! vive van der noot!' and the players crowned the demagogue with laurels, and hailed him as 'the lafayette of belgium.' [illustration: brussels old houses in the grande place.] the revolution seemed complete when the provincial states throughout the austrian netherlands proclaimed their independence, and summoned a congress of the united states of belgium. but they needed men of sterner stuff than any who could be found in the flanders and brabant of that time; and the end was not long in coming. the extreme clericals, led by van der noot, were opposed by the followers of the advocate vonck. van der noot had always relied on the hope of foreign intervention. vonck wished the belgians to work out their own salvation. van der noot and the church party were obstinately conservative. vonck and his party wished to see the expulsion of the hapsburgs followed by measures of reform. the vonckists had the worst of the quarrel, for the masses were against them, and showed their sentiments in a way which those who know brussels will understand.[ ] but the leaders of the other party lacked the ability to make head against the austrian troops which marched into brabant. the volunteer army of the catholic netherlands, deserted by its prussian commander, general schönfeldt, was disbanded; and so the brabant revolution came to naught. joseph ii. died before the end, and in the midst of all his troubles. he had yielded much. the seminary at louvain was closed, and the joyeuse entrée was restored. but these concessions came too late, and, on february , , this sovereign of good intentions passed away, while whispering in the ear of the prince de ligne, 'your country has been my death.' his brother leopold reigned in his stead. the austrians entered brussels on december , ; and a week later the ministers of austria, great britain, russia, and holland signed the convention of the hague, which confirmed to the people of the catholic netherlands all the rights and privileges which they had enjoyed under the empress maria theresa. but now the curtain was about to rise on a new scene in the history of brabant and flanders. footnotes. [footnote : 'on se mit à exhumer et à méditer les textes de nos anciens priviléges. nobles, clergé, savants, femmes, gens du peuple, tout le monde parla _joyeuse-entrée_' (de gerlache, i. ).] [footnote : wauters, ii. .] [footnote : 'on donnait au manneken'--the curious little statue in the rue du chêne--'un uniforme de volontaire, et chaque quartier de la ville avait son arbre de la liberté chargé d'allégories patriotiques ou anti-vonckistes' (wauters, ii. ).] chapter xvi the jacobins of brussels--visit of napoleon--the hundred days 'c'est la belgique,' said danton, 'qui comblera le déficit de la révolution.' the convention at paris saw in the riches of the austrian netherlands a means of filling its treasury, and supporting the failing credit of france; and its emissaries knew how to work upon the people of brabant and flanders. 'nous avons évangélisé partout,' was the report sent to paris by one of them, 'in the streets, in the clubs, in the drinking-shops, in the theatres.... we have covered the walls with placards, and made the highways resound with our hymns of liberty. we have dallied with their fanaticism, and tried to stir up the lower ranks of the clergy against the higher, and so kill priestcraft by priestcraft.' meantime the army of the republic had been at work, and on the field of fleurus jourdan completed the conquest which dumouriez had begun at jemappes. dumouriez, who understood the character of the people he was dealing with, was all for conciliation. he did not wish to bring the jacobins of paris to brussels, and raise up men like chabot and marat. he proclaimed that the french came as friends and brothers, and promised to secure the independence of the country. above all things, he wanted to conciliate the church. but most of the revolutionists sneered at the catholicism of the austrian netherlands. 'what a pity,' said camille desmoulins, 'that the priests spoil the belgians so much. one cannot but wonder at the way in which these people, while wishing to preserve their liberty, try also to preserve the cowls of their monks;' and marat, who had no patience with the moderation of dumouriez, declared that nothing would come of the war 'till a true _sans-culotte_ commands our army.' so after fleurus the austrian netherlands were made part of france. the moderate democrats of brabant had been swamped in the early days of the french revolution by the extreme men who corresponded with the jacobins at paris; and some strange scenes had taken place in the venerable grande place of brussels. a tree of liberty was set up there, round which men, women, and children danced the carmagnole; and a mob went up to the place royale chanting the '_Ça ira_' and roaring out the 'marseillaise,' fastened ropes to the statue of charles of lorraine and pulled it down. and it must have been a curious sight when dumouriez gave receptions of an evening, and artisans rubbed shoulders with men like the duc d'ursel and the duc d'arenberg, who at first, like others of the noblesse, mingled with the red-caps and joined the jacobin clubs, which seem to have been quite the fashion. ridiculous things were done at the meetings of the jacobin clubs. the advocate charles burns his diploma, and says he wants no title but _sans-culotte_, and then goes on to propose that the names of all the squares and streets of brussels be changed. there should, he told his friends, be places d'athènes, de rome, de france, and rues de jean-jacques rousseau, de brutus, de voltaire, de l'opinion, de la philosophie, du divorce. one wiseacre demands that the ancient constitution of brabant be burned on the following sunday during the ceremony of 'the benediction of the flag of the _sans-culottes_.' 'let the bust of van der noot be also burned,' he added; on which another statesman rises, and exclaims: 'je demande, moi, qu'on promène le manneken de van der noot avec celui de la pinaud, sa bonne amie.' clearly the _sans-culotte_ of brussels was a mere tinsel imitation of the genuine article at paris. at paris all was tragedy; brussels amused itself with a burlesque. but as time went on, and it dawned upon these would-be jacobins and _sans-culottes_ that the revolution meant fighting in the armies of france, and that everything in church and state was to be turned upside-down, they began to lose their tempers, and long before october, , when the formal incorporation with france took place, they were quite tired of masquerading as jacobins. five years later they were as weary of the directory as they had been of the convention; but when, in , napoleon came to brussels, he was well received. there was, however, a good deal of sham enthusiasm on that occasion, and his most successful visit was in , when he brought the empress marie louise with him. brussels then showed that, in spite of the brabant revolution, the house of austria had a strong hold on the affections of the citizens. 'voilà marie louise d'autriche!' was heard in the streets. the town gave fêtes in her honour; and one evening, when the empress was at the monnaie, and had brought with her a bouquet of tulips from harlem, which fell over the edge of her box, gentlemen ran from all parts of the theatre and picked up the fragments, which they made into button-holes. 'l'impératrice parut charmée de cette galanterie bruxelloise,' says the local account of this incident. napoleon was at laeken with marie louise when the campaign in russia was resolved on. the story goes that on receiving the news that the tsar refused to carry out the continental system, he began at once to whistle the air of 'marlborough s'en va-t-en guerre,' and ran out into the grounds of the palace in such a rage that he nearly knocked the empress down. it was at laeken that the fatal declaration of war was signed. as soon as the allies entered the netherlands after the french reverses of and , they were made welcome. between four and five o'clock on the evening of february , , the french rearguard left brussels; and about an hour later the first cossacks, a party of half a dozen, rode in by the porte de louvain, passed quickly through the city, and went on after the french army. these scouts were followed by a large force of cavalry and infantry. the prussian infantry found billets, and the cossacks lay down and slept beside their horses on the snow in the rue des fripiers,[ ] the townsfolk standing near, and wondering at their strange dress and language. soon the town was full of soldiers, some of whom remained there, while others pressed on to france. the news that paris had capitulated reached brussels on march . the bells were rung, cannon were fired, and the houses were illuminated. then, one after another, the towns which still held out surrendered. carnot alone, who was in command of antwerp, gave no sign of yielding; but in the middle of april, while the last arrangements were being made for the departure of napoleon to elba, he pulled down the tricolor, and the great stronghold on the scheldt fell, with the rest of belgium, into the hands of the allies. it was almost a fixed rule of international politics in europe, when some great war was finished and some treaty of peace was on the boards, that people should ask each other what was to be done next with the catholic netherlands. the rich inheritance of the house of burgundy was passed from hand to hand by austrians, spaniards, and frenchmen, without any statesman ever considering what might be the wishes of the inhabitants; and now, in , the great powers, at first in secret, resolved to set up a new state, consisting of holland and belgium united, and call it the kingdom of the netherlands, with william of orange-nassau on the throne. he came to brussels in july, , not yet as king, for the congress of vienna was to settle the map of europe and parcel out the spoils, but as governor on behalf of the allies; and at the end of the year his son, the prince royal, took command of the allied army in belgium. they had a gay time in brussels during that winter of - , as everyone knows. but on march the great man landed in france; and a fortnight later the orange flag was hoisted in brussels, and the new king announced that he had not intended to assume the royal authority till the work of the congress at vienna was finished, and all their decisions could be executed together, but that the recent event in france had made him resolve to wait no longer. on april the duke of wellington came post-haste from vienna, and went to live in a house next door to the hôtel de france, at the corner of the rue de la montagne du pare and the rue royale. and now during these wonderful hundred days, about which so much has been written, the eyes of all europe were fixed on paris and brussels. but there were some good folk living at ghent, who considered themselves as the most important people in the world, as well they might, considering what pains were being taken, and what oceans of blood were to be shed, in order to make it safe for them to depart from east flanders and go back again to france, whence they had lately fled in a great hurry. louis xviii. was lying on a sofa at the tuileries, suffering excruciating agonies from the gout, when a despatch was brought to him with the news that napoleon had been in france for the last five days, and was at that moment on the road to paris. instantly preparations were made for flight, with as much secrecy as they had been made for that terrible trip in the _berline_ on which another bourbon had set out so many years before. everything was kept quiet, and no one whom it was possible to hoodwink was trusted. on the night fixed for the departure one of the ministers was at the palace. the king gave him no hint; but as he was leaving the captain of the guard whispered: 'we're off in an hour; the relays are ordered; meet us at lille.' they started, and had a most uncomfortable journey. it was pouring rain. the roads were deep in mud. the royal portmanteau was stolen with all the royal wardrobe. the royal gout was most painful; and at lille the garrison was sullen. there were tricolor badges on all sides. eagles were pulled out of knapsacks, and the fleur-de-lis was nowhere to be seen. this was evidently no place to stay at long; and so the king crossed the frontier and made for ghent, where he had been offered a home in the splendid mansion of the comte d'hane-steenhuyse.[ ] he remained there comfortably until after the battle of waterloo. people who came to brussels in the first week of june were surprised to find how peaceful the town was, and how gay. everyone has read the narratives of what went on, and the story has been told over and over again, and nowhere better than in _vanity fair_, which is history in disguise in the chapters where amelia invades the low countries. on june napoleon, having crossed the frontier, was at charleroi, on the road to brussels, and all brussels was talking about the dance which the duke and duchess of richmond were giving next day at their house in the rue de la blanchisserie, in the ballroom with the paper of 'a trellis pattern with roses.'[ ] it was a strange night in brussels, that night of june , . by eight o'clock the duke has given orders for the troops to march at daybreak, for he knows that napoleon has crossed the frontier. then he goes to the ball to wait for another despatch. at eleven o'clock, when the dancing is in full swing, the message reaches him. he hastens the march by two hours, and the bugles begin to sound all over the town. 'one could hear,' says general brialmont, 'in the ballroom the rolling of cannon and the steady tramp of the regiments marching towards the forest of soignies.' the duke is in bed and asleep by two o'clock; but many of his officers dance on till it is time to rush off to their regiments. it would be useless to repeat the story of the next three days. it has been told a hundred times. the clear, refreshing dawn; the soldiers gathering from their billets; the partings; the regiments marching off, the black watch and the nd highlanders with the bagpipes playing before them, through the park and the place royale, and passing away up the rue de namur and along the road beyond, to where the soft light of early morning is beginning to shine among the glades of soignies; the sound of heavy firing on the th; the silence on the th, with the news that blucher has lost the day at ligny, and that wellington is falling back from quatre bras; the carts and material of the army moving slowly up the rue de namur all day long; the awful suspense of the th, when no one can rest. 'we walked about nearly all the morning,' says lady de ros, 'being unable to sit still, hearing the firing, and not knowing what was happening.' about three o'clock the observant mr. creevy went for a stroll beyond the ramparts. 'i walked about two miles out of the town,' he writes, 'towards the army, and a most curious, busy scene it was, with every kind of thing upon the road, the sunday population of brussels being all out in the suburbs of the porte namur, sitting about tables drinking beer and making merry, as if races or other sports were going on, instead of the great pitched battle which was then fighting.' it was an hour or so after this that the cumberland hussars came galloping through the porte de namur, down the street and across the place royale, shouting that the french were coming, and raised such a panic. it was not till late at night that the truth was known. and at ghent? they had got on there very well on the whole. the gout was troublesome, but louis xviii. had the enormous appetite of the bourbons, and ate a great deal. the comte d'hane gave a big dinner one day, at which the king managed to consume a hundred oysters for dessert. some of the courtiers used to go to a tavern in the suburbs and eat a small white fish, a dainty much esteemed at ghent, which was caught in the river there. chateaubriand, who was one of this court in exile, was at a dinner where they sat at table from one o'clock till eight. 'they began,' he says, 'with sweets and finished with cutlets. the french alone know how to dine with method.' they played whist, and went to the theatre. catalani sang for them at concerts, and also in private to please the king. when the royal gout allowed it, the king went to mass at the church of st. bavon. but during the last three days his majesty was very nervous, and kept his carriage secretly ready for another flight. [illustration: brussels rue de namur.] on the th, chateaubriand was taking a walk outside the town near the brussels gate, when a courier from alost rode up with a despatch from the duc de berri. 'bonaparte,' it said, 'entered brussels yesterday, june, after a bloody battle. the battle was to begin again to-day. the allies are said to have been completely defeated, and the order for retreat given.' all ghent was in dismay. the comte d'artois arrived and confirmed the bad news. many belgians who had been in the french army immediately started to take service once more under napoleon. preparations were made for starting at once; but at one o'clock next morning a despatch came with the news of the victory. on june the king left ghent, to mount once more the throne which had been retained for him at such a cost. the scene of the great battle is wonderfully little changed since then. the level of the ground at the centre of the ridge occupied by the allies has been lowered by the removal of earth to make the mound of the belgian lion; the tree under which the duke of wellington and his staff stood at intervals during the day is gone long since; a tramway runs past the farm of la haye sainte towards quatre bras and charleroi; and a number of houses have been built on the road between waterloo and mont st. jean. but the general aspect of the fields on which the fight took place remains the same. down to the right, looking from mont st. jean, the château of hougoumont, half destroyed by shot and fire, still remains as it was left after the battle, with its orchard walls and tall, dark trees. the farmhouse of la haye sainte, that scene of carnage, is still where it was, at the side of the road which leads down the incline, and then up from the narrow valley to la belle alliance, near which is now the monument of the wounded eagle, a memorial to the last combatants of the army which fought and lost with such matchless valour. every yard of the ground is sacred. there is, in all the world, no spot where a briton and a frenchman can meet with more profound emotions of mutual respect than on the slopes near mont st. jean. [illustration: waterloo the farm of la belle alliance and the mound surmounted by the belgian lion.] footnotes. [footnote : the street which leads from the place de la monnaie towards the bourse.] [footnote : this fine house is now no. , rue des champs, the residence of the comte de bouisies, who married the daughter of madame borluut, a direct descendant of the comte d'hane of .] [footnote : _reminiscences of lady de ros_ (lady georgina lennox).] chapter xvii the dutch government--the revolution of one day, soon after the battle of waterloo, the tsar alexander was at la belle alliance with william, king of the netherlands, and his son the prince of orange. he asked for a glass of wine, and drank to '_la belle alliance_, not only of nations, but of families.' the marriage of the grand duchess anna paulowna to the prince of orange had just been settled; and all the courts of europe believed that the troublesome question of the low countries was at last finally solved by the union of holland and belgium under the dynasty of nassau, now to be allied by marriage with one of the great powers which had placed it on the throne of the new kingdom. the english government had arranged that the prince of orange, heir to the kingdom of the netherlands, should marry the princess charlotte, heiress to the throne of england; and their engagement had been announced to the states-general at the hague in march, . but this plan had fallen through from the causes with which everyone is familiar--the objections of the princess charlotte, who did not wish to leave england, and liked the prince less the more she saw of him; her fancy for the impecunious prince leopold of saxe-coburg, whom she afterwards married; and the intrigues of the grand duchess of oldenburgh to break off the match, in order to bring about a marriage between her sister, the grand duchess anna paulowna and the prince of orange. the prince was accordingly married to the grand duchess. his character--careless, pleasure-loving, and extravagant--made him very popular in brussels, and he spent as much as possible of his time in his palace there, or at the château of tervueren. he preferred the belgians to his countrymen the dutch, whose grave ways did not suit him. soon after his marriage he sent a secret message to the duke of wellington, under whom he had served in the peninsular war and during the hundred days, asking for the duke's influence to obtain leave to fix his court at brussels. wellington refused to interfere in a domestic question, and, in reply to the prince's suggestion that his presence in brussels might help to check discontent amongst the belgians, said that he doubted the statements as to belgian disaffection, _as many persons, and even nations, were interested in breaking the union of holland and belgium_. the king and queen of the netherlands had the greatest difficulty in persuading the prince to visit them in holland. the communal council of brussels waited on them at the hague with an address of congratulation on their accession. 'i don't know,' said the queen, 'what you do to keep my son at brussels; but he is so fond of you that we hardly ever see him here.' it would have been better for the stability of his throne if the king had spent more of his own time in brussels, for signs of that discontent about which the prince had written to wellington soon began to appear, and he might, perhaps, have taken warning before it was too late, if he had known the truth. like joseph ii., william came to the throne full of good intentions; like him, he alienated the clergy at the outset; and, like him, he tried to give the catholic netherlands a liberal constitution on his own terms. his aim was to make them free and happy, but 'alone i did it' must be written over all. his character was a combination of sage ideas and dutch obstinacy; and one great root of bitterness between him and the clergy was that never-ending question of education, over which parties are fighting in belgium at the present day. it was not that he wished to make the southern provinces protestant. but he was bent on raising the intellectual standard of the country; and for this purpose he founded, amongst other institutions, the collège philosophique at louvain, where the young priests were to receive a thorough education in accordance with the spirit of the time--a scheme which the church resisted as it had resisted the séminaire générale of joseph ii., and with equal success. in a variety of ways the king alienated the people as well as the priests. though the states-general met alternately at the hague and at brussels, all the great departments of the executive were in holland. they would, indeed, have been safest there in the event of a war; but it was made a grievance that some of them were not at brussels, antwerp, or ghent. most of the officials were dutch, which was said to prove a wish for hollander supremacy, though the dutch were a minority of the population of the united kingdom. the press attacked the government, and was severely punished under a system of decrees emanating from the personal authority of the king. the use of dutch as the official language was enforced against the wishes of the majority. dutch methods of taxation were extended to belgium, and trouble was caused by the fact that holland was for free trade and belgium for protection. and of course the southern provinces were catholic and the northern protestant, which more than anything else kept them on bad terms. at last the impression became universal that the king's policy was to sacrifice the interests of the belgian provinces to those of holland; and the result was that the two great parties, or schools of thought, which had always bitterly opposed each other, the catholics and the liberals, united to oppose the government.[ ] this was in . next year the paris revolt of july, which drove out charles x., and put louis philippe on the throne of france, taught the belgians how easy it might be to get rid of a ruler with whom they were discontented; and when the news from paris came to brussels, the streets and cafés were full of men reading the papers, and saying to each other, 'that's the way to revolt! long live the barricades! long live the people!' the days passed on in brussels, with the restlessness of the population increasing. the king's birthday was august , and preparations had been made for celebrating it with unusual brilliancy. the park was to be illuminated, and there were to be fireworks at the porte de namur. but the people of brussels, in that summer of , were not to be pacified by fêtes. placards were found posted on the walls with the ominous words: 'le , feu d'artifice; le , illuminations; le , révolution.' warnings, too, reached the procureur du roi that mischief was brewing; and the festivities were abandoned, the reason being given that bad weather was expected! on the evening of the th auber's 'muette de portici' was to be played at the monnaie. this opera had been more than once forbidden lest it should cause disturbances; but now permission had been granted to perform it, and the theatre was full. every song of revolt was cheered, and the climax came with the words of the duet in act : 'amour sacré de la patrié, rends-nous l'audace et la fierté?' the audience rose and rushed out into the place de la monnaie, inflamed by the songs they had just heard, and shouting, 'liberty! liberty!' then the mob gathered and rioting began. the old flag of brabant was hoisted on the hôtel de ville, and the town was in an uproar for the next two days. orders were sent from the hague to put down the 'rising' by force, and dutch troops under the command of prince frederick, the king's second son, marched on brussels. for nearly a month threats, promises, negotiations were tried. but the insurgents refused to yield. paid agitators went about among the people; men of high standing took the lead in organizing the revolt; barricades were erected; volunteers came in from all parts; the bishops pulled the strings behind the scenes, and the country clergymen instigated their parishioners to rebellion; the whole of flanders and brabant was soon up in arms, and on september the dutch advanced to attack brussels. three days of desperate fighting in the streets followed. the dutch held the park in force, but could not penetrate into the place royale, which was defended by a strong barricade. every house in the rue royale was full of insurgents, who fired from the windows on the dutch. in other parts of the city there was the same stubborn resistance. for three days the struggle continued. at sunset the firing ceased, and the working men in their blouses sat drinking and boasting of their exploits in the cafés, while their leaders met at the hôtel de ville and took counsel for the morrow, and the dutch bivouacked in the park and on the boulevards. each morning at dawn the tocsin sounded from ste. gudule, and the people rushed to the barricades. at daybreak on september all was quiet when a small party of the insurgents stole into the park, and went forward under cover of the trees. they found it empty. the night had been very dark, and in the small hours the dutch had left in silence, and were now marching away from brussels. it was a day of brilliant sunshine, and while the bourdon was sounding from the towers of ste. gudule, and horsemen were riding out into the country with the news, the populace flocked to the palace. the men of the blouse, their hands and faces black with gunpowder, merchants, priests, lawyers, well-dressed ladies and ragged harridans, boys and girls, young and old, went in, pushing, laughing, singing. they did little damage, but hacked and cut the portraits of the king--the poor king who had meant so well by his kingdom. the queen's private rooms were examined, and her wardrobes opened. one lad found a rich dress, 'a magnificent robe of ceremony--white velvet embroidered with gold.' he pulled it out, put it on, and over it a mantle of orange colour. with a hat '_a là_ marie stuart' on his head, he sallied out. the mob, crying, 'the queen is prisoner!' surrounded him with shouts of laughter, and then tore off the finery and trailed it in the dust. a marble bust of the king was brought out. they put a crown of dutch cheese upon it, and carried it about with cries of 'down with the first and last king of the netherlands!' many lives had been lost during the fighting; but this was brussels. it was all very different from paris and the downfall of louis and marie antoinette. the chief work of the congress of vienna was undone; and king william instructed baron falck, his ambassador at the court of st. james's, to ask for intervention on his behalf. the british government replied that troops could not be sent; that the five great powers were to meet in london; and that the policy of great britain would be to prevent the troubles in the netherlands leading to a breach of the peace in europe. how the plenipotentiaries of great britain, france, russia, austria, and prussia met in conclave on the weary question of the low countries; how this conference of london recognized the independence of the catholic netherlands, defined their boundaries, and made them neutral; how at the same time a national congress at brussels declared that the house of nassau had forfeited the throne, chose as the first king of independent belgium prince leopold of saxe-coburg, and framed, under the influence of lamennais and his disciples, a constitution whose democratic principles breathe the spirit of the joyeuse entrée of brabant, are events which form a part of the general history of modern europe. footnotes. [footnote : the question of tariffs was one bond of union. at a political dinner on july , , when the toast of the union of catholics and liberals was given, one of several maxims on the walls was: 'notre industrie, agricole et manufacturière, a besoin d'un système de protection sagement pondéré; sans cette protection, le travail étranger viendrait prendre bientôt sur notre marchéla place du travail national' (c. rodenbach: _Épisodes de la révolution dans les flandres_, p. ).] chapter xviii the vicissitudes of antwerp when napoleon was at antwerp in , he spoke to the communal council about the miserable condition of the place. 'it is little better,' he said, 'than a heap of ruins. it is scarcely like a european city. i could almost have believed myself this morning in some african township. everything needs to be made--harbours, quays, docks; and everything shall be made, for antwerp must avail itself of the immense advantages of its central position between the north and the south, and of its magnificent and deep river.' antwerp was indeed a pitiable sight. its trade had sunk to nothing. rows of squalid houses, with wooden gables years old, looked down upon canals choked up with slime and filth. the wharves on the banks of the noble river scheldt were mere heaps of rotten timber. half the churches, from which the stained glass and rich ornaments of former days had long since departed, were closed. grass was growing in the deserted streets; and the walls of this desolate city contained a population which numbered only some , souls. such in the beginning of the nineteenth century was the state of antwerp, which had once been the centre of european commerce and the greatest seaport in the world. [illustration: antwerp the cathedral--chapel of st. joseph.] the position of antwerp, close to the estuary of the mighty stream which brought it within reach of the markets, not only of flanders, but of every part of the world which could be reached by water, had made it from an early period one of the chief cities of brabant. but for a long time bruges and ghent, after their formidable rival ypres had sunk into insignificance, absorbed most of the commerce of the netherlands. these splendid cities fell; the commerce which had made them great found its way to antwerp; and by the middle of the sixteenth century, when the waters of zwijn, which had carried so many costly bales to bruges, were drying up, the broad expanse of the scheldt was covered by innumerable ships threading their way up to where the merchant princes of italy, germany, and england had established themselves, in a city which was now greater than even venice or genoa. every week , waggons heavily laden entered antwerp. silk, satin, velvet, and tapestry; gold, silver, and precious stones; spices and sugar from portugal and spain, now enriched by their conquest of the indies; wines from france and germany--all found their way to antwerp. the manufactures of the flemish towns were sent down the highway of the scheldt to the most distant parts of the world; but england, spain, and portugal were the countries to which most of the cargoes were exported, and these were so rich that on one occasion the contents of thirteen ships taken by pirates were valued at , _écus d'or_.[ ] already, under the dukes of brabant and burgundy, the city had grown far beyond its original limits; but the wealth, the magnificence, and the vastly increased population which the remarkable prosperity of the sixteenth century brought with it, led charles v. to issue a decree that the walls must be extended, and the boundaries now became those which enclosed it until recent times. the cathedral church of notre dame, still the glory of antwerp, was the largest and the richest ecclesiastical building in the netherlands. not far from the cathedral was the vleechhuis, now known as the vieille boucherie, a solid building of red brick relieved by courses of white stone, with five hexagonal turrets, erected by the guild of butchers, the interior of which was in those days ornamented with elaborate carvings, paintings, and marble statues. it is now surrounded by mean houses in the most squalid part of the town; but its massive appearance, even in decay, gives an idea of the power and wealth of what was not the most powerful nor the wealthiest of the guilds. in the grande place, as in the grande place of brussels, were other guild houses, distinguished by their quaint gables and towering façades, each the home of some great corporation. there, too, was the hôtel de ville, built of marble, and called 'the wonder of the world,' lately erected to take the place of an earlier structure which was no longer considered worthy of the antwerp which, having dethroned her rival bruges, was now called by her proud inhabitants the 'queen of the north.' in all parts of this opulent city bankers and merchants--fuggers, greshams, stettens, spinolas, and many more--had built for themselves luxurious houses, and met daily at the bourse, where more business was done than anywhere else in europe. [illustration: antwerp the vieille boucherie.] but within a period of ten years two events took place, the first of which destroyed the internal beauty of the cathedral, and the second of which began the downfall of the commercial prosperity of the city. in the yearly ommegang was fixed for sunday, august . those who have seen the crowds which, in our own time, gather in the towns of belgium when the streets are perambulated by the processions which still are so attractive to the people of the catholic netherlands, may form some conception of the intense hostility which was excited in the hearts of the reformers by the superstitious reverence paid to the jewelled image of the virgin, which was that day carried through the streets of antwerp. for the inquisition had already been at work for fifteen years, and thousands had already gone to the scaffold or perished at the stake, and no man's life was safe who did not bow the knee at the bidding of the gloomy despot who was persecuting the country in the name of the catholic church. the image of the virgin, the gorgeous vestments of the priests, the ornaments of the churches, the banners of the religious societies, the incense which filled the air, nay, the very host itself, were all so many symbols of oppression. no wonder, then, that after the procession had returned to the cathedral the battle-cry of 'long live the beggars!' was like a match applied to gunpowder, and that the fury of the common people broke out. seventy marble altars, among them an altar of the holy sacrament which had been forty years in building, were destroyed. three organs, the finest in christendom, were shattered into splinters. the woodwork of the church, stalls, confessionals, pulpits, carved chairs, were broken up. the statues of the saints were cast down. the magnificent vessels of gold and silver, the richly embroidered robes and banners, were trampled under foot. the beautifully tinted windows were demolished. the image of the virgin was torn to pieces. when the work of vandalism came to an end, it was wonderful that the building itself had escaped destruction. no blood was shed by the protestants when they wrecked the cathedral of antwerp, not even that of a single priest; no woman was insulted, nor was any plunder carried away by the rioters.[ ] but in ten years came the orgy of robbery, murder, and rape known as 'the spanish fury.' [illustration: antwerp old houses in the rue de l'empereur.] the citadel, built by alva to overawe the town, was occupied in by a garrison of spaniards whose pay was in arrears, and who cast longing eyes on the el dorado lying ready to their hands. the defenders were a body of germans and walloons who had just come from brussels. these were mercenaries and not to be depended on, and the burghers themselves were not so hardy as of old. on the morning of november the spaniards, reinforced by a troop of mutineers from alost, rushed through a thick mist which hung over the marshes of the scheldt, and burst into the city. for three long days the streets ran blood. men, women, and children were put to the sword without mercy. public buildings and private dwellings were plundered. the whole town was set on fire. women were violated; there were cruel torturings; and every possible crime was committed. many were drowned in the river while trying to escape. piles of dead lay in the grande place. of the hôtel de ville, where the burgomaster and most of the magistrates met their death, nothing remained but the bare walls. the archives of the city perished in the flames. eight thousand corpses lay among the smouldering ruins--for this massacre was more deadly than the massacre of st. bartholomew's day. 'the city, which had been a world of wealth and splendour, was changed into a charnel-house, and from that time its commercial supremacy was blasted.'[ ] within four years of the spanish fury almost the whole trade of antwerp had been transferred to amsterdam, and the time of the final catastrophe was at hand. the pacification of ghent, which bound all the provinces of the netherlands in a league against spain, followed hard on the spanish fury of antwerp; but the northern and the southern provinces quickly drifted apart, and in three years were rent in twain. the diplomacy of the prince of parma was as fatal to the cause of freedom as the fires of alva. holland stood firm and was saved in the long, weary struggle. belgium halted between two opinions, and was lost. brussels, the political capital, held out until it was starved into surrender; bruges capitulated; and most towns of note sooner or later were taken, or made their peace humbly with spain. but to obtain possession of antwerp was a matter of far greater importance than the fate of any other town, and the siege, which parma conducted with so much energy and skill, was the most serious military operation during the contest in the netherlands. for antwerp, though doomed to destruction by the spanish fury and sinking rapidly, was still the commercial capital of the netherlands. 'antwerp was the hinge on which the fate of the whole country, perhaps of all christendom, was to turn. "if we get antwerp," said the spanish soldiers--so frequently that the expression passed into a proverb--"you shall go to mass with us; if you save antwerp, we will all go to conventicle with you."'[ ] the population was large, about one hundred thousand. the hôtel de ville, the centre of the civic life, had already been rebuilt; the city, in spite of its frightful loss of trade, had not yet abandoned all hope of recovering its position; and william the silent, before his death in , had pointed out the means of defence--to destroy the dykes which kept the scheldt within its bed, and flood all the meadows round the city, so as to prevent the spaniards blockading the river by erecting a bridge, which would bar the passage of the ships on which the city would--in the event of a siege--depend for supplies of food. this advice was not taken. the guild of butchers, whose flocks fed on the meadows which it was proposed to flood, objected, met in the vleechhuis, and sent a deputation to the magistrates, who quailed before them. other guilds, together with most of the citizens, refused to believe that the scheldt could be bridged, and the magistrates decided not to follow the plan of the prince of orange. parma, therefore, was able to occupy the banks of the river, and to build forts which threatened the town and protected the army of workmen who were soon busily engaged in constructing the bridge which was to close the channel. at the same time, while his own position remained dry, the dykes at some distance had been opened, and the plains for miles around were turned into a waste of shallow water. [illustration: antwerp archway under the vieille boucherie.] the siege lasted for seven months. for some time food reached the city in ships which succeeded in forcing their way up from flushing and past the spaniards; but blockade-runners expect a big return for their risks, and when the magistrates were so foolish as to put a limit on the price of wheat, the supplies from outside came to an end. the building of the bridge went on, slowly but surely. the weather was cold and stormy. the river, in winter flood, made the task almost impossible; but the spaniards toiled on with wonderful patience and courage, and at last, on february , , their work was finished, and the scheldt was closed. the garrison made desperate efforts by sallies, fire-ships--everything they could think of--to destroy parma's work, but all in vain. the citizens trembled at the prospect of a famine. england and holland were sending help; but stout hearts like those which, a century later, maintained the defence of londonderry till the boom was broken, were not to be found in antwerp. negotiations were opened, and, after a long time spent in discussing terms, the capitulation was signed on august , . the terms of the surrender were not hard. an amnesty was granted, and the garrison received the honours of war; but on one point philip was inexorable--there must be no liberty of conscience, no religion but that of rome. what this meant to antwerp was soon apparent. the reformation had many disciples there.[ ] they were called upon to choose between giving up their religion or leaving the country. a period of two years was fixed, during which the protestant merchants and the protestant workmen of antwerp, on whose business capacity and labour the prosperity of the city depended, might leave their places of business and abandon their homes; and in order that the rising generation should breathe, from their earliest days, a purely orthodox atmosphere, parma was instructed to see that the selection of teachers was left in the hands of the jesuits, so that no protestants should have a voice in the education of the young. antwerp suffered from this policy of intolerance in the same way as, exactly one hundred years afterwards, france suffered from the revocation of the edict of nantes. the flower of the population left, carrying with them what remained of their wealth and, a greater loss, their skill and habits of industry. 'the poor city is most forlorn and poverty-stricken, the heretics having all left it,' were parma's own words.[ ] [illustration: antwerp the concierge of the musée plantin-moretus.] the people of antwerp might well have applied to themselves the words used by gerard truchses of cologne, when lamenting the supineness of the german princes during the death struggle against rome and the escurial: 'we shall find our destruction in our immoderate desire for peace.' peace they had obtained, but a peace which brought them no relief, and left them face to face with starvation; for sidney--that sidney of whom tradition tells the well-known story of his cup of water given to the wounded soldier--saw to it that not one bushel of wheat was carried up the scheldt past flushing, which he held as governor for the queen of england, to what was now a spanish town.[ ] for twenty-four years the scheldt was rigorously blocked by the fleets of holland; and the commerce of antwerp, which parma would fain have restored, disappeared altogether. a gleam of hope came when, in , the twelve years' truce was signed at antwerp by the representatives of the archdukes albert and isabella and the states-general of holland. but the city had fallen so low that many years would scarcely have sufficed to raise it; and whatever progress followed the truce came to an end with the treaty of münster. the closing of the scheldt had become a political dogma with the dutch; and the fourteenth article of the treaty kept it closed against the trade of brabant and flanders, to the great benefit of the seaports of holland.[ ] about the year , amongst the pupils at one of the schools established by the jesuits at antwerp after the great siege, was a boy whose parents had given him the apostolic name of peter paul. his father was joannes rubens, a distinguished lawyer, who had been a magistrate of antwerp at the time of the image-breaking in the cathedral, and whose name was in the list of persons suspected of calvinism. the burgomaster and magistrates solemnly assured the government that he was above suspicion; but rubens, who undoubtedly was a calvinist, fearing the inquisition, left the city and went to germany with his wife. there he was involved in an intrigue with anna, daughter of the elector maurice, and second wife of william the silent. rubens was sent to prison, and thereafter banished to siegen, where his wife joined him. the princess, after being kept in close confinement for some years, died in . in that year, the year before the spanish fury, and on june , being the eve of the festival of st. peter and st. paul, was born the boy who afterwards became the famous painter. ten years after the birth of his son joannes rubens died at cologne, and his widow, returning to antwerp, took up her abode in the house where she had formerly lived with her husband, in the place de meir. there young rubens passed his schooldays. if the cupboards were bare at antwerp at that time, the confessionals were full, and the widow, having abjured the errors of calvinism, sent her son to the schools which, ever since the surrender to parma, had been in the hands of the catholic clergy. when his education was finished he went to learn painting from venius, whose studio was then in a street called the rue sale,[ ] because, it is said, of its extreme dirtiness, and also from van noort, who taught in the rue du jardin. thereafter he travelled for eight years in italy and spain, gaining friends and painting, always painting, and studying art. news reached him that his mother was ill, and he hurried back to antwerp, but found on his arrival that she was already dead. having no longer any home ties, he was on the point of returning to italy, and antwerp nearly lost him, when the archdukes albert and isabella persuaded him to remain. this was in . next year he married isabelle, daughter of jean brant, town clerk of antwerp, and set up house in the rue du couvent, where many of his best-known works were painted. he soon, however, built the mansion in which he lived for the rest of his life, in what is now called the rue rubens,[ ] to the south of the place de meir. he drew the plans himself on the model of some palace he had known in italy, painted frescoes on the walls, and filled it with curios he had collected during his travels. in his large garden he put up a domed 'pantheon,' where he arranged the paintings, antique statues and busts, cameos, medals, vases of porphyry, and other treasures which his friends in italy sent him. his studio was a vast room, from which the largest canvases were easily brought down by a staircase which one of his biographers describes as like that of a royal palace. we know a great deal about his mode of life at antwerp, and how he was sent journeying on diplomatic errands by the court of albert and isabella to france, spain, holland, england, and everywhere received with honour. at home, early in the morning (he rose at four in summer), having already been to mass, he is at work in his studio, and loves to listen as he paints to some friend who will read to him from cicero or plutarch, or, brush in hand, talks with endless vivacity to the guests who have come to call on him. after a walk in his garden he dines frugally and very soberly, for he dreads, we are told by van hasselt, the effect of wine on his imagination; and then he works on in his studio till late in the afternoon, when he mounts one of his fine horses and rides till after sunset. in the evening he sups as frugally as he dined, and finishes the day at home in a circle of his most intimate friends, the only society for which he cared. this busy, happy life of antwerp's greatest citizen closed on may , . the statue in the place verte[ ] was erected to commemorate the two-hundredth anniversary of his death; but the fruit of his laborious days is the best monument of his fame. close to the place verte is the marché du vendredi, where, in , christopher plantin, 'the rubens of the printing-press,' set up his works. the story of plantin's life is a romance of labour. he was born at tours in , of a wealthy family called tercelain; but, his father having lost his fortune, he changed his name to plantin, and found employment at caen as a bookbinder. having married there, he went to antwerp, and opened a small shop, in which he worked at his own trade while his wife sold cloth. the story goes that one night during the carnival he was wounded by some masqueraders, who mistook him for another person. to hush up the affair they paid him a sum of money, with which he bought a press and types, began to print almanacs and books for children, and did this so well that he soon had a flourishing business. [illustration: antwerp the place verte.] the first important work produced at the plantin press was 'l'instruction d'une fille de noble maison,' a translation from the italian, which appeared in . his reputation grew, and in thirteen years he was able to purchase the site at the marché du vendredi. his name, like that of joannes rubens, was on the list of suspected calvinists after the image-breaking, and his printing-house was searched. but nothing was found to support the charge of heresy, and his orthodoxy must have been established beyond doubt, for philip not only employed him to produce the famous polyglot bible, but gave him the monopoly of printing missals and breviaries for the whole of the spanish empire. after his death in , the business, which now had branches in paris, leyden, and frankfort, was carried on by his son-in-law, jean mourentorff, whose family afterwards changed their name, in accordance with the pedantic fashion of the day, to moretus. the musée plantin-moretus, with the dwelling-rooms and their renaissance furniture; the type and presses of the sixteenth century; the old proof-sheets, looking as if the printer's reader had just left them; the tapestry and paintings; and the quaint courtyard with the aged vine-tree, which traditions say was put there by plantin himself--is the place of all others where some idea may be formed of the family life and surroundings of a wealthy business man in the netherlands years ago. [illustration: antwerp the musée plantin-moretus (the arrière boutique).] but though rubens had painted and the firm of plantin had printed and grown rich, the scheldt was all the time rolling down to the sea with scarcely one sail upon it; and the shipping trade of antwerp was still at the mercy of the dutch when the eighteenth century came in. the treaty of utrecht gave the catholic netherlands to austria, but did not free the scheldt. on the contrary, the stipulations of the treaty of münster were confirmed; and when in , a century since parma took antwerp, joseph ii. demanded the opening of the great river, this same treaty of münster was unrolled as a reply. thus, when the french revolution came, and the army of the republic took possession of the austrian netherlands, the scheldt had been blocked and the shipping trade of antwerp ruined for more than years. in november, , the convention declared the scheldt a free river, and ordered its generals to carry out this declaration by force of arms against the dutch. mr. pitt was ready to remain neutral in the war between france and austria; but to this infringement of the treaties of münster and utrecht, which had given the exclusive navigation of the scheldt to the dutch, he would not agree. apart from the question of treaty rights, that the coast-line from the scheldt westwards, with antwerp at one end and dunkirk at the other, and from the scheldt northwards to the texel, should be in the hands of france suggested a constant danger of invasion; to say nothing of possible injury to the commerce of england from the restrictions which an unfriendly power might place on english trade with antwerp, if antwerp, as was certain, became once more a great seaport when the scheldt was free. england was about to recognize the republic when this question of holland and the scheldt made war inevitable. thus once more antwerp was the hinge on which the peace of europe turned. though the scheldt became a french river in , after the treaty of campo formio, and though the convention of the hague had already abolished the shipping dues, antwerp had made no progress towards recovery when napoleon went there in . he deepened the harbour, strengthened the fortifications, expended immense sums on improving the communications with amsterdam and other places in the netherlands, and purposed making the great seaport opposite the mouth of the thames his chief naval station. he even planned the building of a new city. england was equally aware of the value of antwerp. the walcheren expedition, that costly failure,[ ] was undertaken to strike a blow at this vital spot; and the conference of chatillon, in , broke down because napoleon would not relinquish antwerp. he could not make up his mind to let it go. long afterwards he said: 'antwerp was to me a province in itself. it was the principal cause of my exile to st. helena; for it was the required cession of that fortress which made me refuse the terms offered at chatillon. if they would have left it to me, peace would have been concluded.' and it was still in his possession when the end came. carnot was there--'iron carnot, far-planning, imperturbable'--and held the fortress till the emperor abdicated. trade revived with the creation of the kingdom of the netherlands. by the population had increased to between , and , . there was a strong orange party in the city during the belgian revolution, for the scheldt is to antwerp what the nile is to egypt--its life; and the union with holland insured the freedom of the river. antwerp, however, suffered more at that time from the dutch than brussels. general chassé, an old soldier of the empire, who had lived there for some years, was in command of the troops in the citadel.[ ] he had under him between , and , men. the forts and ramparts were armed with nearly heavy guns, and in the scheldt, close to the town, were nine ships of war. an exchange of shots between some of the belgian insurgents and the dutch was followed by a furious bombardment. for seven hours the citadel, the forts on the other side of the river, and the ships continued their fire. the houses shook with the noise of the big guns and the rattle of musketry. the terror and confusion were indescribable in the streets, which were lighted up, after darkness fell, by the flames roaring from the church of st. michael, which was burned to the ground. a great deal of damage was done, but fortunately the ships were so close to the shore that their shot passed over the housetops, otherwise the whole of antwerp might have been destroyed. the spire of the cathedral was a conspicuous object, rising high above the place verte in the most crowded part of the town. the shells flew past it and over it, but only three did any harm, one bringing down a turret, and two crashing through the roof and bursting in the nave. the wind carried the sound of the cannonade to brussels, where, after sunset, the people saw the sky glowing red in the east; and some members of the revolutionary government were sent to antwerp, who arranged an armistice. the dutch remained in possession of the citadel; but this bombardment, which took place on october , , put an end to the last lingering hopes of a reconciliation between the belgian provinces and the house of orange-nassau. [illustration: antwerp the roadstead from the tête de flandre.] since the trade of antwerp has increased enormously, and not very long ago the scheldt was so congested with shipping that no vessels were allowed up unless they were regular liners, as there were no free berths in the docks. this fact speaks for itself. antwerp is now the greatest port on the continent of europe. in the world london stands first, with new york second, but antwerp comes third; and to meet this huge trade three miles of additional quays are to be constructed within the next few years. last year the burgomaster of the city said that the mercantile marine of great britain was so pre-eminent there that antwerp was, 'from a commercial point of view, one of the most important british ports in the world.' germany and england, however, are engaged in a struggle for supremacy. they are ahead of all rivals; but the shipping companies of hamburg and bremen are the most powerful in the city, and, although during the last twenty years british trade has steadily increased at antwerp, german trade has increased still more, and seems to be rapidly overtaking that of england. the presence in force of the german element on the banks of the scheldt is the most striking feature of modern antwerp. an extraordinary hold on its commerce and industries has been secured, as well as on the social life of the city. the chamber of commerce is full of german members. there is a german colony many thousands strong. there are german clubs and schools, and numberless clerks from all parts of germany are to be found in business houses. these facts give some colour to the prediction, so often heard, that the time is approaching when antwerp will be under the german zollverein, and that this will be the first step towards the realization of those ambitions which, beginning with a commercial alliance with holland and belgium, are to find their victory in the absorption of those countries, or, at least, of holland and antwerp, in the german empire. it is well known that the netherlands believe their independence to be in danger. the belgian government purposes spending millions in extending the fortifications of antwerp. on all hands the durability of the settlement made by the conference of london in - is called in question. great interests are involved; and it is within the possibilities of the future that antwerp may be, yet once again, the hinge on which the peace of europe turns. the mouth of the scheldt is still where it was in the days of napoleon--opposite the mouth of the thames. footnotes. [footnote : moke, p. ( rd edition).] [footnote : see motley, _rise of the dutch republic_, part ii., chap. ii., for the evidence as to this.] [footnote : motley, _rise of the dutch republic_, part iv., chap. vi.] [footnote : motley, _history of the united netherlands_, chap. v.] [footnote : 'nulle part en belgique les nouvelles croyances n'avaient jeté des racines aussi profondes' (moke, ). the rue de tournai was the quarter where most calvinists were to be found. from the list of suspected persons, drawn up in , it would appear that barely half a dozen families living there were free from the charge of heresy.--thys: _historique des rues et places publiques de la ville d'anvers_, p. .] [footnote : 'in a very few years after the subjugation of antwerp, it appeared by statistical documents that nearly all the manufactures of linen, coarse and fine cloths, serges, fustians, tapestry, gold embroidery, arras-work, silks and velvets, had been transplanted to the towns of holland and zeeland, which were flourishing and thriving, while the flemish and brabantine cities were mere dens of thieves and beggars.'--motley: _history of the united netherlands_, appendix to chap. v.] [footnote : the battle of zutphen, at which sir philip sidney received the wound from which he died, was fought on october , , thirteen months after the surrender of antwerp.] [footnote : the proper reading of article xiv. of the treaty of münster was disputed. see de gerlache, i. . however, 'quoi qu'il en soit,' says baron de gerlache, 'l'escant demeura fermé; les hollandais en tenaient les deux rives; le commerce d'anvers et de la belgique fut ruiné par la faiblesse et la lâcheté de l'espagne, et par la connivence égoïste des autres puissances.'] [footnote : now the rue otto-venius.] [footnote : then the rue de la bascule, or 'wapper,' a broad street with a canal in the middle, filling up, apparently, the space between the east side of the modern rue rubens and the west side of the modern rue wappers. in , when rubens built his house, the canal which used to run down the middle of the place de meir had been vaulted over for some time.] [footnote : the churchyard of the cathedral till .] [footnote : napoleon thought that the expedition was wisely conceived, and that, if it had not been so foolishly executed, antwerp might have been taken by a _coup de main_. as to the tactics of the english generals, 'c'était le comble de la bêtise et de l'inhumanité,' he said (o'meara, _napoleon at st. helena_, i., ).] [footnote : 'il commandait depuis quelques anneés à anvers, où ses aventures amoureuses lui avaient donné une terrible réputation. c'était une sorte de lovelace en cheveux blancs, forte redouté des mères de famille.'--de leutre, ii. .] liÉge and the ardennes liÉge and the ardennes chapter xix the principality of liÉge the map of belgium during the middle ages, and down to the period of the french revolution, shows the outlines of a large territory lying to the south of brabant. on the west it extends to the french dominions; on the east are germany and the duchy of limbourg; the duchy of luxembourg bounds it on the south. this territory was known as the principality of liége. the aspect of this part of belgium is entirely different from that of the other provinces. the river semois, rising near arlon, the capital of belgian luxembourg, flows through quiet meadows, a slow and placid streamlet, bordered by rushes and willow-trees, till it reaches the western extremity of the mountainous forests of ardennes. there it enters a narrow winding valley, thickly wooded, with rocky dells, and banks so precipitous that in some places there is not even a footpath, and travellers must pass from side to side in boats when making their way along the margin of the stream. emerging from this defile, it crosses the french frontier, and joins the meuse near monthermé. from thence the meuse flows to the north till it enters belgium a short distance beyond the town of givet. the romantic valley of the meuse stretches on for miles, past hastière, with its abbey of the eleventh century, peaceful waulsort, in former times a benedictine settlement, but now a favourite summer resort, and the picturesque château of freyr, with its well-ordered gardens. on either side are steep slopes clothed with trees, and broken here and there by bold, outstanding pinnacles of rock. the sweet village of anseremme straggles along the road beside the river; and near it the lesse rushes down, between overhanging trees and towering cliffs, to meet the meuse. then comes dinant, nestling on the right bank of the river, below the fortress which rises on the steep hillside. from dinant the meuse winds on to where the sambre joins it at namur, and so onwards to liége and maestricht. [illustration: the chÂteau de waulsort on the meuse] to the south of this valley of the meuse, for mile after mile, a broad, undulating tableland is covered by thick forests, where deer and wild boars abound, or opens out into a wide rolling country, dotted with villages, farm-houses, church spires, modern châteaux, and the ruins of feudal strongholds perched on inaccessible rocks. the appearance of this region has thus nothing in common with any other part of belgium, with the flat, densely populated plain which extends southwards from the coast of flanders. the people, too, are different--of quite another type, and speaking, most of them, another tongue. for this is the country of the walloons, that hard-working race whose aptitude for strenuous labour distinguishes them from the light-hearted, easy-going people of flanders and brabant, and whose language is a form of old french mingled with words derived from german roots. while, moreover, the old-time history of northern belgium is the history of great commercial cities, rolling in wealth and trading to all parts of the world, with the merchant princes and the members of the guilds for their great men, the history of these southern provinces is the long story of how the principality of liége was evolved out of the chaos of small lordships which existed in the sixth century, and was governed, not by laymen, but by a dynasty of priests, who made war and concluded alliances on equal terms with the surrounding princes. it is a story of feudal barons, of the romance of chivalry, of terrible deeds, of ferocious bandits, of bishops who led armies into the field and shed blood like water, often for very trifling causes. when, at the end of the fifteenth century, belgium was the most opulent country in europe, the valley of the meuse and the wide forest of ardennes remained a waste. when, under the house of burgundy, flanders and brabant flourished and grew rich, the principality of liége was impoverished and steeped in misery. it remained separate and independent, and has, therefore, a history of its own--the history of a state governed by the clergy, the nobles, and the people; where taxes could not be levied without the assent of these three estates; where no man could be condemned except by the judges, and in accordance with the laws; where such a thing as arbitrary arrest was unknown, at least in theory; where the home of the poorest subject was inviolable; but where, in spite of all these privileges, year after year saw one revolution follow another, all the horrors of foreign and domestic war, and innumerable acts of cruelty, oppression, and treachery. [illustration: chÂteau de walzin, in the lesse valley] this state of things continued, with scarcely a pause, till the close of the seventeenth century, after which the country, though exhausted, prolonged its independence for another hundred years, till, with the rest of belgium, it was annexed to france, and broken up into several departments. in later days, from the fall of napoleon and the congress of vienna down to the present time, it has shared the fortunes of the modern kingdom of belgium. the whole story cannot be told within the compass of a few pages; but enough may be set down to excite, perhaps, the interest of those who may chance to travel in this part of europe. chapter xx early history of liÉge--bishop notger--the court of peace as to the town of liége in early times, the story goes that one day st. monulphe, bishop of tongres, being on a journey from maestricht to dinant, came to a rising ground, from which he saw a few wooden houses nestling beneath a mountain which overlooked the meuse. descending, he came to a streamlet which flowed into the river. he asked its name, and was told that it was called the legia. then the bishop said to his companions that a great city, famous in the annals of the christian church, would arise on that spot. he built a small chapel there, which was replaced, in later years, by a splendid cathedral dedicated to st. lambert, and laid the foundations of the temporal power of the bishops of liége by endowing the church in the valley of the meuse with lands which he possessed in the neighbourhood of dinant. but at that time, and for many years to come, liége was an unimportant village inhabited by a few people; and it was not till the close of the seventh century that it became the seat of a bishopric, which was established there by st. hubert about the year . st. hubert was a son of the duke of aquitaine. leaving his native country for political reasons, he took refuge at the court of pepin d'herstal, father of charles martel, and grandfather of charlemagne. pepin's palace was then at jupille, now a little town on the right bank of the meuse, some three miles from modern liége, but in those days the seat of a court, and the favourite home of pepin, who held royal sway over all the surrounding country. [illustration: the episcopal palace--outer court, liÉge] the legend is well known of how hubert was so devoted to the chase that he used to hunt even on the festivals of the church, and how his conversion was brought about by seeing a stag one good friday with a shining cross between its horns. more sober history attributes the change of life which turned the mighty hunter into a priest to the pious counsels of st. lambert, bishop of maestricht, who persuaded him to go on a pilgrimage to rome, where he finally resolved to devote himself to the cause of religion. he was at rome when the news came that lambert had been murdered in revenge for having publicly censured the evil life of pepin's mistress alpaïde. on hearing of this tragedy the pope made hubert bishop of maestricht, and he removed the bishopric to liége, which grew, under his rule, from a mere village into a large town surrounded by walls built on land given by charles martel, afterwards famous as the great champion of christendom at the battle of tours, and son of that alpaïde who was responsible for the death of lambert. municipal laws and courts for the administration of justice were established, and a regular system of government soon followed. bishop hubert spent much of his time among the woods and mountains, no longer as a hunter, but as a missionary; and the relics of the patron saint of huntsmen, who died in may, , are still preserved in a chapel at the town of st. hubert, which lies in the midst of a wide forest on the southern tableland of the ardennes. liége prospered under the emperor charlemagne, who conferred important privileges on the town, and enriched the bishops, who gradually acquired that temporal power which they wielded for so long a time, after the vast empire of charlemagne had fallen to pieces during the ninth century. the real founder of the temporal power of the bishop princes of the principality of liége seems to have been notger, who was made bishop by otho the great in the year . he strengthened the walls of the town, and made it known that law and order must be maintained within the diocese. but the great nobles had their feudal castles, from which they sallied forth to plunder and oppress their weaker neighbours, and close to liége was the castle of chèvremont. this stronghold stood on a hill near the site of the modern watering-place of chaudfontaine, and was surrounded by the cottages of the baron's vassals, and by several chapels and religious houses founded by fugitives who had taken refuge there during the years of the norman invasion, when liége, maestricht, tongres, and the rich abbeys of malmedy and stavelot, had been laid waste. when notger came to the see of liége, immon, the châtelain of chèvremont, was the terror of the whole country for miles around. he raided the villages, carried away the crops from the few cultivated fields, and sometimes rode into the suburbs of liége, made prisoners of the inhabitants, and held them to ransom. the people implored notger to protect them, but for a long time he could find no means of subduing, or making terms with, his formidable neighbour. at last, however, he saw an opportunity. the lady of chèvremont having given birth to a son, her husband, being resolved that only some high dignitary of the church should have the honour of baptizing his heir, requested the bishop of liége to perform the ceremony. notger hesitated, but in the end sent a message that he would do what was required of him. on the appointed day the seigneur of chèvremont from his watch-tower saw the bishop approaching the castle at the head of a long procession of priests clothed in gorgeous vestments, and chanting psalms. praising the zeal of the prelate who had come to baptize his son with such unusual pomp, he ordered the drawbridge to be lowered and the gates of the castle to be opened. the procession entered, and, when all were assembled in the courtyard, bishop notger addressed immon. 'seigneur,' he said, 'this castle is no longer yours, but mine.' 'what do you mean?' asked immon. 'i say,' replied the bishop, 'that this place belongs to me, the only lord of the country. immon, yield to necessity, and depart. i promise to give you full compensation.' 'it is fortunate for you,' exclaimed the châtelain, in a fury, 'that you entered my castle under a promise of safety, for otherwise you leave it torn in pieces! scoundrel! miserable priest! fly, lest some evil befall you!' instantly notger gave a signal to his followers, who, throwing off the surplices, albs, and other ecclesiastical vestments which had covered their armour, and drawing the swords which had been concealed about them, rushed upon the inhabitants of the castle, and slaughtered them without mercy. it is said that immon threw himself in despair over the walls, and that his wife perished miserably with her infant son. the castle was razed to the ground; the religious houses which clustered round it were destroyed; and the revenue of the chapels, which were also laid in ruins, served to enrich the churches of liége and aix-la-chapelle. [illustration: pont des arches, liÉge] whatever may now be thought of this episode in church history, it made bishop notger more popular than ever. otho the great and his successors added to the gifts by which charlemagne had enriched the bishopric; and in , two years before the death of notger, the emperor henry ii. confirmed all these donations by a charter, in which namur, dinant, tongres, maestricht, malines, gembloux, st. hubert, and other important places are named as pertaining to the diocese of liége. thus, at the beginning of the eleventh century, the bishop of the principality was already possessed of extraordinary power. a few years later the countess of hainaut, being then at war with flanders, sought an alliance with the bishop of liége, and, in return for his help, accepted him as her feudal superior; and the counts of hainaut, themselves amongst the proudest nobles of that day, were vassals of liége until the times of charles the bold. the frightful anarchy of the feudal period was nowhere worse than in this part of europe. murders, acts of revenge, robberies, took place without end. a state of war was the normal condition of society in the valley of the meuse and throughout the ardennes. noble fought against noble, and vassal against vassal. by the law or custom of these days, the feudal barons had the right of settling their disputes by force of arms; and their prince could not forbid them. but, though he could not interfere in his secular character, he could do so as bishop; and the influence of the church, though the bishops themselves were often arrogant and ambitious, had been used to promote the cause of peace by proclaiming a truce of forty days, during which prayers were offered up for the souls of those who had fallen in battle. a 'quarantaine,' as it was called, being appointed for the death of each knight, there was sometimes a whole year of peace, during which enemies met on outwardly friendly terms, visited each other's châteaux, and went together to tournaments or village fêtes. sometimes, during these periods of repose, families which had been at deadly feud intermarried, and ladies who had been made widows, or daughters who had become orphans, married the very warriors who had slain their husbands or fathers. but more frequently, as soon as the 'quarantaine' was over, every one set to work again, burning houses and killing each other as before. at last henri de verdun, who became bishop of liége in , resolved to stop, if possible, the private wars which were the scourge of society. he assembled the nobles of the principality and the surrounding districts, and urged upon them the necessity of at least making an effort to put an end to the ceaseless strife in which they lived. 'the only means i can think of,' he said, 'is to choose a supreme judge, with power to punish those who are guilty of excesses.' the nobles consented to this proposal. he himself was appointed to the new office, and his successors in the bishopric of liége were declared, for all time coming, judges of the 'court of peace.' [illustration: escalier de la fontaine, liÉge] the rules of the 'tribunal de paix de liége' decreed that on certain days it was unlawful to carry arms, and that any freeman who committed murder or acts of violence should be deprived of his estate and expelled from the principality, while a slave was to be punished by the loss of whatever he might possess, and have his right hand cut off. from wednesday to monday, during the festivals of the church, the _trève de dieu_ was to be strictly observed. the peace tribunal was to decide cases of assassination, rape, incendiarism, robbery, and other offences which might lead to a breach of the public peace. anyone who did not appear before the court, after being duly cited, was to be declared infamous, and was liable to a sentence of excommunication. but the accused could--such was the warlike spirit of the times--always claim to have his case decided by judicial combat. the dukes of bouillon and limbourg, together with the counts of luxembourg, louvain, namur, hainaut, montaigu, clermont, and la roche, signed the act which established the 'tribunal de paix '; and they all swore to obey its decisions, except the count of la roche, who refused to take any oath whatever. on this the other barons made war upon him, and defeated him in a pitched battle. he fled to his castle and stood a siege of seven months, till, his provisions being exhausted, he saw nothing before him but surrender or starvation. suddenly he thought of a stratagem. he fed a sow, the only animal which remained alive in the castle, with his last measure of wheat, and let it escape. the besiegers killed it, and, finding that it had just had a full meal, came to the conclusion that it was useless to continue the siege, as the garrison seemed well supplied with food. they therefore made peace with the count of la roche, who thus remained free from the jurisdiction of the tribunal de paix. the other barons also excused themselves; so did the clergy; and, in the end, the burghers of liége refused to accept the decisions of the court, when, at the beginning of the thirteenth century, they obtained a great extension of their privileges under a charter granted by albert de cuyck, who had come to the episcopal throne in . whenever there was a vacancy in the see of liége, all the princes of belgium, and often those of other countries, tried to obtain the nomination for one of their relatives. in the year albert de louvain, who had been chosen against the wish of the emperor henry iv., was murdered at rheims by a band of german knights, probably under secret orders from the emperor, who forthwith put forward simon de limbourg, then only sixteen years of age, as bishop of the principality. simon de limbourg was supported by the duke of brabant; but the counts of flanders, of namur, and of hainaut, refused to accept him. the pope suspended his election, and albert de cuyck, backed up by the count of hainaut, took possession of the bishopric, and went to rome to prosecute his claim against that of simon de limbourg, which was still maintained before the holy see. simon de limbourg died, or was made away with, at rome, and de cuyck became bishop. he was now deeply in debt, having borrowed a large sum from the count of flanders, and spent it at rome in bribery to secure his election as bishop. this debt he got rid of by the sale of civil offices and ecclesiastical benefices; but more money was needed at liége in order to repair the walls of the town. for this purpose a tax was laid, by decree of the bishop and the civil magistrates, on the people and the clergy. the latter refused to pay, on the ground that they had not been consulted. the magistrates and the laity insisted that the clergy must bear their share of the common burden. the bishop took the side of the people against the clergy, and in order to make himself popular granted a charter, which was confirmed by the emperor philip ii. in . this charter of albert de cuyck is an important landmark in the constitutional history of the principality of liége. it declared that the people might not be taxed without their own consent. it relieved them from the burden of lodging and feeding armed men, a constant source of discontent at that time; and it freed them from being compelled to follow the bishop into battle, unless he was making war in defence of the principality, and even then not till fifteen days after he had assembled his own immediate vassals. it provided that no officer of the law might enter a house to search for a thief or for stolen property without leave from the owner of the house. no freeman could be arrested or imprisoned except under a legal warrant. the justices of the town were to be the only judges in a trial for any crime committed within the walls. no stranger might challenge a burgher of liége to trial by combat, but must prosecute him before the judges. during eight days before christmas and easter no arrest for debt was allowed, though at other times a debtor, against whom judgment had been given, must either pay at once, find security before sunset, or go to prison. these, and other provisions of a similar nature, were the regulations set forth in the charter of albert de cuyck, the principles of which were afterwards embodied, from time to time, in other public acts. it was, like the joyeuse entrée of brabant, merely a declaration of rights, many of which had previously existed; but it gave these rights the sanction and authority of written law. thenceforth the people began to assert themselves, and for many long years to come the history of liége is a record of revolutions and intestine wars, the populace rebelling either against the bishops or the barons, and of feuds between the bishops and the barons, in which the populace took part, sometimes on one side and sometimes on the other. the people of the principality, as soon as they had obtained the charter, refused to accept the jurisdiction of the peace tribunal. disputes were not settled, and one private war followed another. the most trifling incident was often the cause of a sanguinary struggle; but perhaps the most foolish of all was that known as the _guerre de la vache de ciney_. [illustration: the hospital, dinant] a peasant of the province of namur, named jallet, went to a fair at ciney, the chief town in the district of condroz, in the forest of ardennes, and there stole a cow belonging to one of the townsmen. he took the animal to andenne, on the meuse between liége and huy, where the duke of brabant and the counts of namur and luxembourg, with many knights and ladies, had met for a tournament. one of the company was jean de halloy, the baillie of condroz, and to him the owner of the cow, who had followed the thief, complained. the baillie promised pardon to jallet on condition that he would take the cow back to ciney. jallet started, driving the wretched beast before him, but as soon as he entered the district of condroz, the baillie had him arrested and hanged. on this jean de beaufort, feudal lord of goesnes, the village in which jallet had lived, assembled his friends, and proceeded to attack condroz. then the people of huy flew to arms, and burned the château of goesnes. forthwith the duke of brabant, with the counts of flanders, namur, and luxembourg, joined in the fray, burned the town of ciney, and threatened to devastate all the country round liége. next the people of dinant came on the scene, invaded namur and luxembourg, burned many villages in the ardennes, and slaughtered the villagers. for three years the war continued, until at last, when, it is said, no fewer than , people had been killed, and the whole country of the ardennes, from luxembourg to the meuse, had been laid waste, the combatants came to their senses. it was resolved to end the struggle by arbitration. philip the hardy, king of france, agreed to act as peacemaker, and, being of opinion that both parties were equally to blame, decided that each must bear its own losses! history says nothing about what became of the cow. chapter xxi the dukes of burgundy--destruction of liÉge by charles the bold the whole story of liége and the ardennes is full of episodes, like the war of the cow of ciney. it would be easy to fill volumes with tales of adventures in the valley of the meuse, and under the walls of liége--how castles were taken by strategy or by open assault; how ladies were carried off, and rescued by some daring feat of arms; how desperate encounters were fought out in the depths of the forest; how bandits roamed about, killing and robbing as they pleased; how almost the only place where a woman felt safe was a convent; how the peasants were oppressed; and how the common people of the towns lived in a state of chronic mutiny. all these things make up the story of how men and women lived in what is now one of the most peaceful regions in europe. the glamour of chivalry does not conceal the fierce and revengeful spirit of every class. a history of this part of belgium, written as sir walter scott wrote the history of scotland, would be as entertaining as the 'tales of a grandfather.' nowhere could a richer field be found for the plots of historical fiction; and it is not strange that the author of 'ivanhoe' should have chosen it as the scene of a romance. in 'quentin durward' history is, of course, subordinate to fiction. the murder of the bishop of liége is represented as taking place fifteen years before its real date. the description of the tragedy has no resemblance to what actually happened. the people of the principality are made to speak flemish instead of french or their native walloon. but such dry-as-dust criticisms would be absurd, and the 'true king of the romantics' has reproduced, with inimitable skill, the spirit of the long, bloody drama in which louis of france and charles of burgundy were the chief actors. [illustration: la maison curtius, liÉge] about the middle of the fifteenth century the house of burgundy was at the summit of its power, and held sway over flanders and brabant, hainaut, namur, and luxembourg. but the ecclesiastical principality of liége, though wedged in between brabant, luxembourg, and namur, remained a separate state. ever since the charter of albert de cuyck the power of the commons had grown, and with it their determination to maintain their liberty and independence. nor were the nobles more inclined to exchange the bishops for other rulers, especially if these were to be the dukes of burgundy. for the house of burgundy had been detested in liége since the winter of , when bishop john of bavaria--_jean sans pitie_, as he was called by his subjects--had crushed a revolution, which his tyranny had produced, by calling to his aid the duke of burgundy and the counts of hainaut and namur. on november , , in a battle at othée, near tongres, the revolutionary army of liége, , strong, had been defeated, and a massacre followed, the horrors of which had never been forgotten. the triumph of john of bavaria and his merciless oppressions were due to the support which he received from the arms of burgundy, and the result was that afterwards, during the struggle between philip the good, duke of burgundy, and france, the sympathies of liége were always on the side of france. in , when jean de heinsberg was bishop of liége, the burgundian governor of namur forbade the town of dinant to repair its walls. the men of liége marched towards dinant, burning castles and villages on their way. another war seemed inevitable; but the bishop, who had accompanied the army, apparently against his will, prevented this calamity by going on his knees to philip and humbly asking pardon for the excesses which his vassals had committed. the people of liége, however, indignant at this humiliation, became so turbulent that the bishop was several times on the point of resigning. it appears, nevertheless, that his resignation was forced upon him by the duke of burgundy. heinsberg had promised a certain benefice to louis de bourbon, the duke's nephew, but gave it to another claimant. philip having sent an envoy to demand an explanation, the bishop said: 'let his highness have patience. i intend him for a better benefice than that.' 'which?' he was asked. 'the one i hold myself,' he replied. he soon repented of this rash promise, and was about to journey into france and ask protection from the king, when philip invited him to the hague. there he was treated with all honour till the day of his departure, when the duke suddenly asked him if he intended to fulfil his promise about the bishopric. heinsberg declared that he would certainly keep his word, but was, in spite of what he had said, taken into a dark room, where he found a franciscan and an executioner, clothed in black and armed with a naked sword, awaiting him. 'most reverend seigneur,' said the franciscan, 'you have twice broken faith with the duke. resign at once, or prepare to die.' at these words, so the story goes, bishop heinsberg was so terrified that he signed his resignation on the spot in favour of louis de bourbon, who was not yet in holy orders, and was, indeed, a mere youth of eighteen, a student at the university of louvain, whither his uncle had sent him to be educated. the chapter of st. lambert, by whom the bishops had always been chosen, complained; but the appointment was confirmed by the holy see, and the whole spiritual and secular administration of the principality passed into the hands of the young prelate. this was a triumph for the house of burgundy, which had long aimed at extending its influence to the principality of liége; but in it few years the clergy, the nobility, and the people united against the duke's nephew, and combined to drive him from the management of their affairs. in order to protect themselves against philip, who might interfere on behalf of his nephew, they appointed as regent mark of baden, brother-in-law of the emperor frederick iii., who came to liége attended by a body of german troops. the prospect of a war in the belgian provinces, which would compel the duke of burgundy to withdraw a part of his army from france, was hailed with joy by louis xi. he promised help, both in men and money, to the people of liége, who forthwith assembled in arms. charles the bold, philip's son, at that time known as the comte de charolais, was then fighting in france; but a force of burgundians, sent by his father, had no difficulty in defeating the raw army of liége, which, left to its own resources by the germans, was cut to pieces on the field of montenac in the autumn of . louis xi., instead of coming to the assistance of the liégeois, sent a letter advising them to make peace with philip before the redoubtable comte de charolais made his appearance in their territory; and a convention was signed which laid the liégeois at the feet of the duke of burgundy, who became regent of the principality. peace was duly proclaimed at the perron in the market-place of liége. but the ruling party at dinant were so foolhardy as to declare war against namur. on this charles the bold besieged dinant. messengers sent from the burgundian camp with a summons to surrender were murdered by the townsmen, who in a short time saw their walls breached by heavy guns brought from the arsenals of brabant. then they offered to negotiate for a capitulation, but the offer was refused. dinant was taken, sacked, and burned. the hôtel de ville was blown up by an explosion of gunpowder. the cathedral was almost entirely destroyed. a number of wealthy citizens who had been made prisoners and confined in a building adjoining the cathedral were burned alive. eight hundred persons, tied together in pairs, were thrown into the meuse and drowned. the work of vengeance was not finished until every house had been demolished; for charles of burgundy had declared that a day would come when travellers, passing up the valley of the meuse, would ask where it was that dinant had once stood. philip the good died at bruges in june, , and charles the bold became duke of burgundy. the new reign began with troubles in flanders and brabant, and these had scarcely been overcome when there was a fresh rising at liége, so dissatisfied were the people with the terms of peace, which, arranged after the terrible battle of montenac, left them subject to the house of burgundy. frenchmen, sent by the king on the pretext of mediating between louis de bourbon and his vassals, encouraged the popular discontent, which rose to such a height that the town of huy, where the bishop lived, was attacked and plundered. the bishop fled to namur, but some of his servants and some partisans of burgundy were slain. charles, exasperated beyond all bounds, marched against liége. on his arrival, of the burghers came forth, imploring mercy and offering him the keys of the town. he spared their lives, but only on the condition that he was to enter the town and there dictate his own terms. this condition was accepted, and charles rode in. the bishop of liége and cardinal la balue, the ambassador of louis xi., were with him. on one side of the street stood the burghers, and on the other the priests, all as penitents, with heads uncovered and torches in their hands. charles dismounted at the bishop's palace, where, a few days later, in the presence of a vast assemblage of people, he pronounced sentence on the town and principality of liége. most of the privileges which had been granted from time to time since the charter of albert de cuyck were abolished. an appeal from the civil judges to the bishop and his council was established. the seat of the bishopric was removed from liége, and it was ordained that the spiritual court was to sit at maestricht, louvain, or namur. the bishop was forbidden to levy taxes on produce carried up or down the meuse without leave from the duke of brabant, and the counts of hainaut and namur. it was decreed that the people of the principality must never take arms against burgundy, go to war, or make alliances without the duke's permission. the walls and gates of liége, and of all other towns in the principality, were to be destroyed; the manufacture of arms was forbidden; the perron was to be removed, and the duke was to do with it as he pleased. [illustration: le rocher bayard, dinant] these articles, and many more, all of them framed for the purpose of curbing the spirit of the liégeois, were embodied in the deed which was read aloud in the bishop's palace on november , . the bishop and all the notables having sworn to obey it, charles told them that if they kept true to their oath he, in return, would protect them. the sentence which was thus pronounced was rigorously executed. many of the popular faction fled to france; others took refuge among the ardennes; some were executed. the perron was carried away to bruges, and there engraved with an inscription full of insults to the people of liége; the walls of the town were thrown down; spies went about the country districts watching the villagers and gathering information. so universal was the feeling of suspicion and fear, and so heavy were the taxes levied on the wealthy, that many families abandoned all their possessions and went into exile. these doings had been watched at rome; and presently a papal legate, the bishop of tricaria, came to liége, and advised louis de bourbon to resist the violence of the duke's agents, and recall by degrees those who had fled or been banished from the country. but the youthful bishop preferred to live at brussels, where the brilliant and luxurious life of the burgundian court was in full swing. he took such delight in the fêtes for which the gay capital of brabant was famous that he actually attempted to reproduce them in his own desolate principality, and on one occasion came sailing up the meuse from maestricht in a barge painted with all the colours of the rainbow, and made his appearance before the ruined walls of liége surrounded by musicians and buffoons. meanwhile, in the dark recesses of the ardennes a band of the exiles had been wandering about, sleeping on the bare ground in the open air, clothed in rags, starving, and ready for mischief. these men, under the leadership of jean de ville, hearing that liége was unguarded, and that war was likely to break out once more between burgundy and france, marched from the forest to liége, and complained to the pope's legate. he went to the bishop, who was then at maestricht, and laid before him the miserable condition of the country. the bishop promised that he would return to liége; but charles the bold, from whom nothing was hid, wrote and told him that, as soon as he had settled his affairs with the king of france, he was coming to the principality to punish these new rebels against his authority. on this the bishop, instead of going to liége, went with the legate to tongres. this desertion drove jean de ville and his followers to despair. they made a night march to tongres, surprised the bishop's guards, some of whom they killed, and persuaded, or, rather, compelled, louis and the pope's legate to come with them to liége. the war on which the insurgents counted when they thus captured the bishop did not break out. on the contrary, negotiations had commenced, and ambassadors from france were discussing terms of peace with charles at the very time of the raid on tongres. the summer of was a time of splendour at the court of burgundy. on june margaret of york, attended by a brilliant company of english lords and ladies, sailed into the harbour of sluis, where she was met by charles the bold. a week later they journeyed by the canal to the ancient town of damme, where their marriage was celebrated at five o'clock on the morning of july . on that same day they entered bruges in state, followed by a train of sixty ladies of the greatest families of england and burgundy, and surrounded by nobles and princes who wore the order of the golden fleece. the famous tournament of the tree of gold was held, after the marriage feast, in the market-place, and the revels continued for eight days longer. all was bright and gay in flanders; but far away among the ardennes dark clouds were gathering over the valley of the meuse. in the beginning of october the headquarters of the burgundian army were at peronne on the somme. louis xi. went thither with only a small escort, and sought an interview with charles. whatever his motive may have been for putting himself in the power of his rival, he had soon good reason to repent of his rashness. a party of burgundians from liége arrived at peronne, accused the rebels of gross cruelty to the bishop and to the duke's friends, and asserted that some frenchmen had taken part in the affair at tongres. charles, on hearing their statements, burst into one of his fits of uncontrollable anger. 'i know,' he cried, 'who is at the bottom of all this,' and forthwith locked up the king of france in the citadel of peronne. after three days, during which louis went in fear of his life, and charles meditated all sorts of vengeance, the king was set free, and swore a solemn oath that he would assist charles to punish the liégeois. then the allied forces of france and burgundy marched into the principality. when they approached liége the bishop and the papal legate met them, and endeavoured to make terms for the people, throwing themselves on their knees before charles, and beseeching him not to punish the innocent and the guilty alike. the bishop, it was pointed out, had pardoned the affront which he had received; but the duke forbade them to speak of pardon. he was master, he said, of the lives and property of these incorrigible rebels, and he would do with them as he pleased. after this there was nothing more to be said. the doom of liége had been spoken. a sally, made during the night by jean de ville and his men, though it threw the burgundian outposts into confusion, had no effect but to increase the duke's anger; and on sunday, october , he entered the town at the head of his army, passing over the ruins of the old walls. there was no resistance. the streets were empty. the wealthier inhabitants, and all who had made themselves prominent in the recent disturbances, had fled to the ardennes with their families, taking away as many of their possessions as they could carry. a great multitude of poor people, women, children, and old men, had concealed themselves in the cellars of their houses. charles and the king rode through a deserted town till they came to the hôtel de ville. here the duke waved his sword on high, and shouted, 'vive bourgoyne!' the king of france drew his, and shouted likewise, 'vive bourgoyne!' and at this signal , soldiers were let loose. [illustration: old house of the quai de la goffe, liÉge] the people were dragged from their places of concealment and slain. many who escaped immediate death ran to the churches for shelter. the priests, with crucifixes in their hands, came to the doors and implored the soldiers not to enter. they were cut down, and those whom they had tried to protect were killed, even on the steps of the altars. old men and children were trampled underfoot. young girls were outraged before their mothers' eyes, or put to death, shrieking and imploring mercy. churches, convents, private houses were alike pillaged. tombs were broken open in the search for plunder, and the bones of the dead were thrown out. those who were suspected of possessing valuables were tortured to make them confess where their treasures were hidden. as the day went on every street in liége ran with blood like a slaughter-house, till at last the soldiers grew tired of killing their victims one by one, and, tying them together in bundles of a dozen or more persons, threw them into the meuse, where men and women, old and young, perished in one struggling mass. it is said that nearly , died, most of them in the town or by drowning in the river, but many from cold and famine among the ardennes. the horrors of the sacking of dinant had been surpassed. charles, however, was not yet satisfied. his real wish was to wipe liége from the face of the earth--to destroy it utterly; but before doing so, he made a pretence of consulting louis of france. the king, who understood him thoroughly, replied: 'opposite my father's bedroom there was a tree, in which some troublesome birds had built their nest, and made such a noise that he could not sleep. he destroyed the nest three times, but they always returned. at last, on the advice of a friend, he cut down the tree, and after that he was able to repose in peace.' charles took this hint as it was meant, and gave orders that liége was to be set on fire, and every building of stone, except the churches and the houses of the clergy, pulled down. these orders were carried out to the letter. the flames consumed row after row of houses, and any edifice not made of wood was undermined by the pickaxes of an army of workmen who laboured for seven weeks, till at last nothing remained of liége but churches and the dwellings of the priests standing forlorn amidst a heap of smoking ruins. while the work of destruction was in progress charles embarked for maestricht, sent the pope's legate back to rome with the news of what had befallen the bishopric of liége, and, having ravaged all the country for miles around, departed for his own dominions. the years passed on, and at last there came a time when the voice which shouted 'vive bourgoyne!' in liége was silent, the sword fallen from the hand which had waved it as a signal for the massacre, and the proud head of the conqueror brought very low. on tuesday, january , , two days after the fight at nancy, in which duke rené of lorraine had defeated the burgundian army, a young page, jean baptiste colonna, son of a noble roman house, was guiding a party who were searching for the body of charles the bold to where he thought he had seen his master fall during the battle. not far from the town, near the chapel of st. jean de l'atre, they found a heap of dead men lying naked among snow and ice and frozen blood in the bed of a small stream. one of the searchers, a poor washerwoman who had served in the duke's household, saw a ring which she recognized on a finger of one of the corpses, and exclaimed: 'ah! mon prince!' when they raised the head from the ice to which it was frozen the skin of one cheek peeled off. wolves or dogs had been gnawing the other. a stroke from some battle-axe had split the head down to the chin. but when the blood had been washed from the disfigured face it was known, beyond all doubt, for that of charles the bold. they buried him before the altar of st. sebastian in the church of st. george at nancy, where the body of the great warrior remained till . when, in the reign of charles v., it was carried into flanders, and laid beside that of his daughter marie in the choir of notre dame at bruges. chapter xxii the wild boar of ardennes though the churches and the houses of the clergy had been left standing, in accordance with the orders given by charles the bold in , the town of liége was ruined. after a time, however, those who had escaped with their lives began to return, and by degrees a new liége arose. the principality also recovered to some extent; but its prestige was so much diminished in the eyes of europe that an alliance with the bishops was no longer, as of old, an object of ambition to other states. on the death of charles the bold louis de bourbon, who was still bishop, made up his mind to devote himself in future to the government of his principality. as uncle of the young duchess marie, who was the only daughter of charles by his second wife, isabelle de bourbon, he had sufficient influence at the court of burgundy to obtain important concessions in favour of liége. a yearly tribute of , florins, which the late duke had exacted, was remitted, and the liégeois were promised the restoration of their ancient charters and privileges. the perron, to the possession of which the people attached great importance, was sent back from bruges, and the townsmen showed their gratitude to the bishop by voting him a substantial sum of money. when he came to liége, among the first to greet him was william de la marck, head of the ancient house of arenberg. two of his ancestors had been bishops of liége, and the family was one of the greatest in the principality. this william de la marck had been a warrior from his youth. he was one of the handsomest men of his time, but to make himself an object of fear to his enemies he wore a long shaggy beard, and imitated the ferocious manners of the brigands who had from time immemorial haunted the most inaccessible part of the ardennes. on his coat of arms there was the head of a wild boar, and, either for that reason or because of his fierce character, he was nicknamed the wild boar of ardennes. [illustration: a peasant woman of the ardennes] after the destruction of liége louis xi., anxious to raise fresh troubles in the principality in order to embarrass charles of burgundy and the bishop, had employed as his agent de la marck, who, for the purpose of picking a quarrel with the bishop, caused one of the vicars, against whom he had no cause of complaint, to be murdered in cold blood. his favourite haunt was the castle of aigremont, a fortalice perched on a hill above the left bank of the meuse, to the west of liége. this place the bishop destroyed. thereupon de la marck, who let it be understood that he was acting in concert with the king of france, and by this means obtained a numerous following among the outlaws whom charles of burgundy had banished, declared open war against both louis de bourbon and the duke. but when the bishop returned to liége, on the death of charles and the accession of the duchess marie, de la marck hastened to make peace. the bishop granted him a pardon, made him captain of the guard and governor of franchimont, rebuilt the castle of aigremont, and loaded him with favours. but it was soon apparent that the wild boar was untamed. he set the rules of the church at defiance, refused to go to mass or confession, insisted on eating what he pleased in lent, ruled all who were under his authority with a rod of iron, made himself universally hated by the nobles, and at last, taking offence at the remonstrances of the bishop, resigned his appointments, and left the court. it having been discovered that he was in correspondence with louis xi., who was plotting the annexation of the principality, a sentence of banishment was pronounced against him as a traitor. he retired into the ardennes, where, assisted by gifts of arms and gold from france, he gathered a strong band of french, german, and swiss adventurers. suddenly, in august, , news came to liége that the wild boar was on the march at the head of , horse and foot. the bishop went forth to give him battle on the slopes of the chartreuse, on the right bank of the river opposite the town. de la marck, hearing from his spies that the bishop was coming on in front of his main body, and attended only by a feeble escort, lay in wait for him at a difficult part of the ascent. the surprise was complete, and the escort was cut to pieces. the bishop, alone in the hands of his enemy, cried out: 'grâce! grâce! seigneur d'arenberg, je suis votre prisonnier!' but one of de la marck's followers struck him on the face. de la marck himself drew his sword, and wounded him in the neck, and, turning to his men, told them to make an end of it. in an instant the bishop fell from his horse a dead man. they stripped his body, and left it lying in the mud for hours; and it was with difficulty that the clergy obtained permission to bury him with the honours due to his station.[ ] de la marck, now master of the situation, called together the clergy of the diocese, and pressed them to choose a new bishop, suggesting his own son, jean d'arenberg, a young man who was not yet a priest, as the most suitable person. some of the canons, with whom the election lay, left liége to escape voting. those who remained were terrified into obedience, and the wild boar's son was declared bishop. de la marck, at the same time, appointed himself governor of the principality. the murder of the bishop, and the election of the murderer's son to succeed him, led to new commotions. a meeting of the canons who had fled from liége, and their brethren who had been coerced into voting, was held at namur. in that town, out of the wild boar's 'sphere of influence,' having declared the election of jean d'arenberg null and void, they proceeded to vote again. on this occasion they were divided into two parties. some supported jacques de le roy, the count of chimay's brother, while others were in favour of jean de home, a great noble who had been made prisoner at the chartreuse, but had afterwards escaped. there were thus three bishops-elect, and another civil war broke out. the archduke maximilian[ ] sent an army from brabant into the principality, under philip of clèves, to avenge the death of louis de bourbon. de la marck laid waste the lands of jean de horne, seized tongres and other towns, and marched, at the head of , liégeois and a number of mercenaries, against philip of clèves. but his troops were no match for the trained veterans of brabant. the mercenaries were driven back upon the liégeois, who broke and ran. this defeat did not quell the spirit of de la marck; but louis xi., on whom he relied, died next year, and the pope declared in favour of jean de horne. de la marck then saw that his wisest course was to make peace, and in june, , a convention was signed at st. trond, the terms of which show that the boar of the ardennes was no mere bandit chief, but an astute diplomatist, and a man of great influence in the principality. an indemnity of , livres was to be paid him by the town of liége, in security for which an assignment was made in his favour of the lands of franchimont and the duchy of bouillon. if he should be attacked by any who felt aggrieved by his recent proceedings, the bishop was to help him at all costs. excesses committed by either side were to be pardoned, and those whose property had been damaged were to have no claim for compensation. [illustration: the river sambre seen from the pont de sambre, namur] when jean de horne, now duly accepted as bishop, made his state entry into liége de la marck rode beside him, and the two soon became inseparable. they usually dined together at the bishop's table. they gave each other presents. if there was a fête, they attended it in company. they are said to have even slept in the same bed, at that time a favourite sign of friendship among the great. but, though it seemed as if they were bent on setting the people an example of mutual forgiveness and brotherly love, there were some who shook their heads, and hinted that the friendships of great men who have been estranged are seldom sincere. next year there was a fête at st. trond in honour of the bishop of liége, at which all the nobles of the principality, with their wives and daughters, had assembled. de la marck, of course, was there. feasting and dancing went on till late in the afternoon, when the bishop's brothers, jacques de horne and fréderic de montigny, called for their horses, saying they must start for louvain. the bishop proposed to de la marck that they should ride part of the way in company, and to this he agreed. so the bishop, his two brothers, and de la marck rode together till they reached a level plain, where de montigny challenged de la marck to race him to a wood which was some distance before them. they started, and left the others behind. de la marck, who was mounted on a very swift horse, was soon in front, and galloped on till he reached the wood. the moment he drew rein a band of soldiers, who had been lying in ambush, rushed out and surrounded him. then de montigny rode up and said: 'you are my prisoner.' de la marck, who was not armed, asked what he meant, on which de montigny produced an order for his arrest signed by the archduke maximilian, and told him they must now go to maestricht. 'then,' said de la marck at once, 'it is to my death.' they reached maestricht in the evening, and soon de la marck was told that he had only a few hours to live. during the night he was visited by the prior of the dominicans, from whom, having made confession, he received absolution. early next morning they brought him to the scaffold in the market-place. a prodigious crowd had gathered round it, and in a window close at hand, openly rejoicing at the scene, was the bishop of liége. de la marck called to him in a loud voice, reproaching him for his treachery, and uttered a solemn warning that the wild boar's head, then about to fall, would 'bleed for many a day.' he asked the nearest of the spectators to carry his last farewells to his wife and children. to his brothers and friends he left the work of avenging his death. he took off his cloak himself, and threw it to the crowd. then, lifting his long beard so that it covered his face, he bent down, and the executioner struck off his head with one blow. the archduke maximilian had ordered the arrest of de la marck on the ground that he was engaged in some fresh plot with france; but the conduct of the bishop and his brothers was loudly condemned even in that age of perfidy. the family of de la marck swore vengeance, and the principality of liége was once more bathed in blood. calling to his aid the common people, who had always loved the wild boar, and assisted behind the scenes by the king of france, who wished to excite the liégeois against the archduke maximilian, everard de la marck, william's brother, made war against jean de horne. a sanguinary struggle, in which no mercy was shown on either side, went on for seven years, but at last the bishop and his friends made up their minds to sue for pardon. a conference was agreed to, which took place on a meadow near haccourt, on the meuse between liége and maestricht. on the appointed day the bishop-prince, attended by his nobles, but himself unarmed, met the brother of the man whom he had so treacherously ensnared. dismounting from his horse, he approached everard de la marck, and said: 'i ask you to pardon me for the death of your brother william.' everard looked on him coldly, and said nothing, whereupon the bishop burst into tears, and sobbed: 'seigneur everard, pardon me. pardon me, i implore you by the death and passion of our lord jesus christ!' then everard, weeping also, answered: 'you ask pardon for the death of my brother in the name of god, who died for us all? well, i pardon you.' so saying, he gave his hand to the bishop, and they swore to live at peace with each other. [illustration: la gleize, a village in the ardennes] this strange reconciliation, which took place in , was soon confirmed by the marriage of the bishop's niece to everard de la marck's son, and thereafter there were no more feuds between the families of de horne and arenberg. three years later, in , the diet of worms established the imperial chamber, and put an end to the system of private wars. footnotes. [footnote : bishop louis de bourbon was only forty-five at the date of the murder.] [footnote : the duchess marie of burgundy, who married the archduke maximilian of austria, afterwards emperor, had died at bruges in march, ; and maximilian then became regent of the austrian netherlands during the minority of his children.] chapter xxiii Érard de la marck--the principality in the sixteenth century jean de horne was bishop of liége for twenty-three years, during which the diocese was seldom free from party warfare. at the time of his death, in , the family of arenberg was so strong and popular that the chapter of st. lambert chose Érard de la marck, the wild boar's nephew, as bishop.[ ] he came to the episcopal throne resolved to end the strife of factions and the family feuds which had been the sources of such misery. he forbade his subjects, under pain of banishment, to rake up the old causes of dispute. he declined to hear those who came to him bearing tales against their neighbours. he chose the officers of his court without enquiring into their political opinions, and let it be seen that, so long as the law was obeyed and public order maintained, no one was to be called in question for anything which might have happened in the past. his foreign policy was equally wise. the principality of liége lay between two mighty neighbours, and at first the bishop's aim was to remain neutral in any disputes which might arise between the emperor and the king of france. but when, on the death of maximilian, charles v. and francis i. were rivals for the imperial crown, he went to the diet at frankfort, and supported the claims of charles. from that time the principality, though independent of the rest of belgium, which formed part of the dominions of charles v., was in as close relations with the german empire as the electorate of cologne and other ecclesiastical fiefs.[ ] the bishops, chosen by the chapter of liége, and confirmed by the pope, were invested by the emperor with the secular power, and belonged to the westphalian circle of the german confederation. in the strong hands of bishop Érard the principality had one of its rare intervals of peace. he found the city of liége in debt, and the public service disordered by want of money. many plans for raising funds were laid before him. he examined them all, and then said to his council: 'if you will leave everything to me for four years, i promise to meet all your debts, and put your finances in order without oppressing anyone, and without imposing new taxes.' this offer was accepted, and, so great was his talent for business, in two years liége was free from all liabilities. during his reign almost every trace of the destruction wrought by charles the bold disappeared. the citadel of dinant was restored. huy and other places rose from their ashes, and the bishops' palace, which stands in the place st. lambert at liége (the _palais de justice_ of to-day), was built. he died in , having kept the turbulent community of liége quiet for thirty years. when the religious troubles of the sixteenth century first began the reformed doctrines made rapid progress, and the persecutors were busy in hainaut, artois, and other walloon districts in the south-west of belgium and along the french border. almost the whole population of tournai in hainaut was calvinist. but the principality of liége, governed by the bishop-princes, and independent of spain, did not suffer like the rest of the netherlands during the struggle. nevertheless, before the death of Érard de la marck the spirit of revolt against the church of rome had touched the valley of the meuse; and, in , jean camolet, a carmelite father, came to liége empowered by the pope to conduct an inquisition. the claim of the holy see to interfere with civil government was known to the people; and the magistrates published a declaration that the judges of the land were the only persons who had the right to deal with offences of any kind committed by the citizens. the bishop told them that the inquisitor was sent by the pope only to make enquiry into the beliefs of those who were suspected of heresy, not to interfere with the ordinary courts of law, and that there was no intention of setting up the spanish inquisition in the diocese. but the magistrates replied: 'we have our own laws. our own judges can deal with civil and criminal cases. in matters of religion our own ecclesiastical courts are the only competent tribunals, and we will not permit any infringement of our ancient privileges.' Érard de la marck, who was far too wise a man to risk the dangers of a revolution, took upon himself the responsibility of enquiry into cases of heresy, and thus saved the principality from civil war. [illustration: general view of dinant] but, at a later period, when the netherlands were in revolt from end to end, and william of orange was engaged in his stupendous contest with philip ii., gérard de groisbeck, who was bishop from to , found himself in a position of peculiar difficulty. the principality was at the mercy of both parties. the reformers pillaged the abbeys of hastière and st. hubert, and held a great meeting at st. trond, where the famous battle-cry of 'vivent les gueux!' was shouted, and defiance hurled at philip and at rome by a tumultuous assemblage under the leadership of brederode. the prince of orange himself, driven out of brabant, demanded a free passage for his army, and endeavoured to obtain possession of liége. in this he failed, but a garrison of spanish troops was sent to occupy the town, and the bishop had to risk the enmity of alva by refusing to admit them. at the pacification of ghent, in , the principality of liége was invited to join the united provinces of the netherlands; but the people were, like the walloons in the other parts of belgium, intensely catholic, and the invitation was refused. bishop de groisbeck was resolved to maintain the neutrality of his domains. liége, he announced with consent of the three estates, was to remain a neutral state, and take no part in the quarrels of its neighbours. by this means he hoped to protect it from the ravages of war, and, on the whole, he succeeded, though there was fighting from time to time in the valley of the meuse, and the siege of maestricht, with all the horrors which followed the capture of that town, took place almost at his own door. his ideas of neutrality, however, may be gathered from the fact that he sent , miners from his coal-mines to help the besiegers of maestricht. but the walloons were, at that time, catholic beyond any other of the belgian races, and if the 'cry of agony which was distinctly heard at the distance of a league,' which arose from the heroic defenders as the spaniards rushed in, could have reached liége, it probably would not have touched the hearts of many among the liégeois. at all events, the bishop's policy was rewarded by a comparatively tranquil reign, disturbed only by a series of petty squabbles with the magistrates of liége, who claimed the right of holding the keys of the town, a right which the bishop maintained belonged to him. gérard de groisbeck died in . there had often been a question whether it would not be better for the people of liége if the bishops were chosen without regard to their family connections. men of high position, it was said, born in palaces, and accustomed from their birth to flattery and the deference paid to social rank, were more likely to be overbearing and ambitious than persons of humbler station. on the other hand, it was argued that a small, turbulent state, surrounded by powerful neighbours, required a ruler who could both secure useful alliances against foreign aggressors, and command the respect and obedience of his own subjects. de groisbeck had always thought that the bishop of liége should be chosen from some royal family; and on his death-bed he recommended as his successor prince ernest of bavaria, grandson of the emperor ferdinand. when the time came for the election of a new bishop the states-general of the united netherlands, and the courts of spain and france, each brought forward a candidate, but the chapter of liége, wishing to remain neutral between these rival interests, decided in favour of prince ernest of bavaria. a description of his coming to liége may give some idea of the ceremonies which attended the installation of the bishop-princes. on june , the day of his arrival, the magistrates went to meet him on the outskirts of the town, and placed in his hands a copy of the oath which his predecessors had always sworn: that he would maintain all the privileges of the townsmen and their municipal laws, and would never encroach on their liberties, nor allow them to be encroached on by others. the prince having taken this oath, the keys of the town were presented to him. he returned them to the burgomasters with the words: 'hitherto you have guarded them faithfully, and i leave them in your hands.' then the bishop's horse was led forward to the gate, but as he drew near one of the company of crossbow-men stepped forward and closed it. the attendants shouted, 'open for the prince!' but the gate remained closed till a town servant had three times demanded in name of the burgomasters that it should be opened, when this quaint formality came to an end, and the prince rode under the archway. within the walls he was met by the guild of crossbow-men, to whom he promised the preservation of all their rights, privileges, and liberties, after which the procession marched on, led by a member of the equestrian order bearing the sword of state. next came a band of mounted halberdiers, riding before the governors of the chief towns, who were clothed in mantles of embroidered silk. these were followed by the lords and gentry of the principality. philip de croy, prince of chimay, was there at the head of horsemen, together with the prince of arenberg, the duke of juliers, the duke of bavaria, and a long calvacade of nobles from other parts of belgium, and from foreign lands, each with a numerous retinue of cavaliers. the bishop-prince himself came last, riding between the burgomasters of liége, and attended by gentlemen-at-arms. a triumphal arch had been erected in the street, on which stood a number of gaily dressed maidens. when the prince reached it the procession stopped, and from the top of the arch a large wooden pineapple, representing the arms of the town, was lowered into the roadway to the sound of music. it opened, and a beautiful young girl came out, who recited some verses in honour of the day, and presented the prince with a gilded basket full of jewelled ornaments and silver cups. in the market-place there were three stages. on the first were four boys, representing the ecclesiastical estate, who presented a golden statue as a symbol of the christian faith. at the second a sword of honour, decorated with gold and precious stones, was given by the estate of nobles. a golden heart was the offering of the third estate. close at hand there was a platform, on which a man of the common people knelt before a judge, holding in his hands a scroll, on which were the words, 'let both sides be heard.' at the door of the cathedral of st. lambert the leader of the choir laid his hand on the prince's saddle to signify that, by ancient custom, he claimed the horse and its trappings as the perquisites of his office. when the procession had entered the building the canons welcomed the bishop in the name of the chapter, clothed him in a rich cassock, and conducted him to the high altar, where, the bishop kneeling and the whole assemblage of nobles and churchmen standing round, the oath sworn by every bishop of liége was read aloud. by this oath he bound himself to maintain unaltered all the rights of the diocese. if he became a cardinal, he must defend these rights before the holy see at rome, and, above all, the right of the chapter to elect the bishops of liége. he must not alienate any portion of the principality without the consent of the chapter, nor suffer the country to become tributary to any foreign state. his usual place of residence must be within the principality, and if he had to leave it for a time he must return when his presence was deemed necessary in the interests of the people. he must impose no taxes without the consent of the three estates. he must not abandon any of the national strongholds, and the commanders at such places as the castles of bouillon, huy, and dinant must be natives of the country. no foreigner might hold any office of state; and the privy council must be composed of canons and other persons who had taken the oath of fidelity to the chapter. no alliances must be made, no war declared, and no engagements of any kind entered into with foreign princes without leave from the chapter. these are only a few of the many obligations which were imposed upon the princes of liége. ernest of bavaria swore to them all, but it was soon apparent that it was impossible for the principality to hold aloof from all connection with external politics. by this time the reformation had triumphed in the greater part of germany; but the house of bavaria remained firmly attached to the catholic church, and when gérard truchses, archbishop of cologne, and william de meurs, bishop of münster, abandoned the old faith, the vacant sees were conferred on prince ernest, who thus not only held three bishoprics at the same time, but had to defend his position by force of arms against the protestant princes. he spent most of his time in germany, while the principality of liége was entered by spanish and dutch troops, who behaved with equal harshness to the inhabitants. a small party of dutchmen surprised the castle of huy and took it, though without any lives being lost on either side. prince ernest complained on the ground that the principality was neutral, but the dutch replied, and with perfect truth, that the neutrality of liége was a mere pretence, as the bishop was an active partisan on the side of their enemies. he, therefore, asked help from the spaniards, by whom huy was stormed and recaptured after a stout resistance. but, on the whole, it appears that, in spite of the strict orthodoxy of the liégeois, the catholics were even more unpopular than the protestants, for the archduke albert having complained that the countryfolk showed more animosity against his soldiers than against the dutch, he was told that people generally hated those most who did them most harm. prince ernest himself spoke bitterly of the way in which money was extorted for the support of the spanish garrisons in the ardennes. [illustration: the romanesque church, hastiÈre] it was not till the twelve years' truce was concluded between the 'archdukes' albert and isabella and the states-general that the principality was freed from the incursions of foreign troops. this was in . three years later ernest of bavaria died, and was succeeded in the episcopal thrones of liége and cologne by his nephew ferdinand. footnotes. [footnote : Érard's father was robert, prince of sedan, count of arenberg, la marck, and cleves, and brother of william de la marck, the boar of ardennes.] [footnote : it may be convenient to remind some readers that charles v.'s father was philip, son of maximilian and the duchess marie, daughter of charles the bold, and that his mother was joanna, daughter of ferdinand of spain. on the death of philip he succeeded to the netherlands, on the death of ferdinand to spain, and on the death of maximilian the electors of germany made him emperor.] chapter xxiv the chiroux and the grignoux--the tragic banquet of warfusÉe ferdinand of bavaria's reign was one long quarrel with the magistrates of liége. he soon found that during his uncle's frequent absences in germany the burgomasters had usurped many powers which had hitherto belonged to the bishop. they issued their own decrees without his authority, and sometimes cancelled his orders without consulting him. they took upon themselves to appoint officers, to call the citizens to arms, and to send representatives to foreign courts. their pretensions, in short, had risen so high as to make it evident that they aimed at nothing less than supreme power. at last a time came when matters were brought to a crisis by the election as burgomasters of two popular candidates, william beeckmann and sébastien la ruelle, whom the people insisted on choosing against the wishes of ferdinand, who had irritated the liégeois by bringing german and spanish troops into the principality to support his rights. beeckmann died suddenly. a rumour that he had been poisoned by the bishop's friends inflamed the passions of the mob, who listened eagerly to la ruelle when he told them that the intimate relations of their prince with austria and spain were dangerous to the independence of the country. there were at this time two factions in liége--the 'chiroux' and the 'grignoux.' it appears that some young men of rank had returned from a visit to paris dressed in the latest fashion, with white stockings and boots falling over their calves, which made the wits of the town say that they were like a breed of swallows known as 'chiroux.' one day, at the church of st. lambert, some of the populace, seeing a party of these dandies, called out, 'chiroux! chiroux!' the others answered back with cries of 'grignoux'--that is, _grognards_, or malcontents. hence the nicknames. the chiroux supported the bishop, while the grignoux opposed him. the former were, like ferdinand, for maintaining close relations with germany, while the latter were supposed to court a friendship with the king of france. at this juncture we come across one of the most curious episodes in the story of liége. [illustration: le perron liÉgeois, liÉge] a baron de pesche, who lived in the district between the sambre and the meuse, having a lawsuit before the judges at liége, requested one of his kinsmen, the abbé de mouzon, a frenchman, to manage the case. de mouzon, an acute man with a talent for political intrigue, made full use of his opportunities, and soon knew all about the feud between the chiroux and the grignoux, the existence of german and french factions, and everything that was going on in liége. he informed the ministers of louis xiii. that the people of liége were at heart favourable to france, and that the ties which bound them to germany could easily be broken, as the bishop was very seldom in the principality, and had no real influence with his subjects. he had, he told the french government, made friends with the most important men in the city, and was in a position to render great services to france, provided he was furnished with proper credentials. the result was that he received a commission as french resident, or envoy, at liége. he then paid attentions to la ruelle and his party, for the purpose of persuading them to further the interests of france and break with germany, and played his part so well that the chiroux leaders, becoming alarmed, sent a message to the bishop, advising him to be on his guard against the intrigues of the french envoy and the grignoux. ferdinand, on receiving this warning, despatched count louis of nassau to liége with a letter to the magistrates, in which he reprimanded them severely, and accused them of a treasonable correspondence with france. la ruelle answered in acrimonious terms, declaring that the country was being ruined by german soldiers sent there by the bishop. to this ferdinand replied that, as the liégeois would not do their duty as loyal subjects willingly, he would find means to compel them; and presently an army of imperial troops marched into the principality, and encamped near liége. and now a new actor comes upon the scene. the count of warfusée, who had been employed in turn by spain and holland, and betrayed them both, was at this time living in banishment at liége. posing as an adherent of the french side, he secured the confidence of la ruelle and the abbé de mouzon, for both of whom he professed a warm friendship; but, in reality, he was in correspondence with the court at brussels, and had promised that, if a few soldiers were placed at his disposal, he would crush the french party in liége. on april , , he gave a dinner-party, to which la ruelle, abbé de mouzon, and other guests were invited. when la ruelle arrived, accompanied by a young manservant named jaspar, warfusée gave him a jovial greeting. then, noticing jaspar, he exclaimed, 'ah! there's my good friend; i know him well,' and showed the way to the kitchen, saying: 'you must enjoy yourself to-day, and drink to the health of burgomaster la ruelle.' the company sat down to dinner in a room on the ground floor, the windows of which had iron bars across them, and opened on a courtyard in the middle of the building. count warfusée sat next the door, with m. marchand, an advocate, beside him. la ruelle and the abbé were on the other side of the table. baron de saizan, a frenchman, and several other gentlemen were present, and also some ladies, among whom were the baroness de saizan and count warfusée's four daughters. every one was in the highest spirits. the count declared he felt so happy that he intended to get drunk, and invited all the rest to follow his example. calling for big glasses, he challenged de mouzon to a revel. the abbé proposed the health of the most christian king; and this toast was duly drunk, the gentlemen rising, and uncovering their heads. during the first course the merriment of the party increased; but suddenly the count's manner changed, and one of the company was bantering him about his gravity, when, as the servants were bringing in the second course, his _valet de chambre_ came and whispered in his ear. warfusée nodded, and immediately twenty soldiers, each holding a drawn sword in one hand and a firelock in the other, entered the room, bowed, and surrounded the table. the guests supposed that this was some pleasantry devised for their amusement; and la ruelle asked his host what it meant. 'nothing,' answered warfusée--'do not move;' but as he spoke a band of spaniards appeared at the windows, and levelled their muskets through the bars. warfusée, pointing to jaspar, who was waiting on his master, ordered the soldiers to remove him. he was seized and turned out of the room. the count then shouted, 'arrest the burgomaster!' 'what? arrest me?' exclaimed la ruelle, rising and throwing his napkin on the table. 'yes, you,' replied warfusée, 'and abbé de mouzon, and baron de saizan also.' the soldiers took la ruelle, and dragged him out; and warfusée, shouting at the top of his voice, declared that he was acting under the orders of the emperor, and of his royal highness the bishop. they had, he said, borne long enough with the intrigues of the french, and the authority of the prince must be re-established. a scene of the wildest confusion followed. warfusée rushed into the courtyard, and loaded la ruelle with insults. 'ropes, ropes for the burgomaster!' he shouted. 'ah! you traitor! your heart is in my hands to-day. see, here are the orders of the prince'; and he pulled some papers out of his pocket. 'make your peace with god, for you must die.' jaspar, the servant, who was standing near, already bound, is said to have exclaimed, when he heard these words, 'oh, master, have i not always said what would happen?' all in vain la ruelle begged for mercy. two dominicans, sent for to shrive the victim, implored the count to pause; but 'kill him, kill him! make haste. lose no more time,' was his answer to their entreaties, and to those of his own daughters, who besought him, with tears, to spare the unfortunate man's life. some of the soldiers refused to touch the burgomaster, and told warfusée to his face that they were not assassins. but at last three spaniards drew their daggers, and stabbed la ruelle repeatedly till he was dead. his cries were heard in the room where de mouzon, fearing that his own last hour had come, was waiting with the other guests under guard of the soldiers. the dominicans entered; and all were crowding round them, pouring out confessions and clamouring for absolution, when warfusée came to the door, and told them that the burgomaster was dead, and that he had died repenting of his misdeeds, and seeking forgiveness from god, the emperor, and the bishop. having said this, he went away again. in the meantime a report had spread through the town that something unusual was happening. it was said that a band of spanish soldiers had been seen to cross the meuse, and go to the count of warfusée's house, where the burgomaster was known to be dining that day; and every one suspected that they had been sent to arrest la ruelle, de mouzon, warfusée, and their friends. so a cousin of the burgomaster's went to find out if this was the case. when he reached the door of the house he found a crowd of people, who told him they had heard cries from within and the clash of arms, and that there was a rumour that the burgo master had been murdered. on hearing this, he knocked at the door, which was opened by the count, who let him enter with a few of his friends. [illustration: la vieille boucherie, liÉge] 'tell me, gentlemen,' said warfusée, 'do you wish to be spanish, or french, or dutch?' 'no,' they replied, 'we wish to remain what we are--neutrals and true liégeois.' 'what would you think,' the count asked them, 'if you heard that la ruelle has sold your country to france?' 'we would not believe it,' they all replied. 'do you know his signature?' warfusée inquired, showing them some documents. 'these are forgeries,' they told him. 'no matter!' exclaimed the count; 'i had orders to kill la ruelle. he is already dead, and i hold abbé de mouzon and baron de saizan prisoners. would you like to see la ruelle's body?' to this they replied 'no,' and asked permission to leave the house. by this time the news of the burgomaster's death was known in the town, and a vast crowd had gathered in front of the house, shouting 'to arms!' and demanding admission. the count ventured to open the door, and allow the burgomaster's cousin and his friends to escape. the noise increased, as the people knocked loudly at the door, and uttered threats of vengeance upon the count. warfusée, now trembling in every limb, pale and terror-stricken, ran hither and thither between the courtyard and the garden, and at last hid himself in a room on the upper story, just as an armed crowd of townsmen burst in, and forced their way to where the soldiers were guarding abbé de mouzon and the other prisoners. baron de saizan at once called on the spaniards to give up their weapons, and promised them quarter. they allowed themselves to be disarmed; but the townsmen instantly attacked them. there was a short, but desperate, struggle, during which the ladies, cowering on the floor, protected themselves as best they could from the musket-balls which flew about, and the sword-cuts which the infuriated townsmen dealt in all directions. in a few minutes the spaniards were slain to the last man; and then some of the burghers, moved by pity, led the daughters of warfusée from the blood-stained house to the hôtel de ville, where they obtained shelter. their father at this time was lying on a bed upstairs, where he was soon discovered by la ruelle's cousin, who had returned, and some of the burghers, who dragged him down to the door of the house and threw him out into the street. the mob rushed upon him, stabbed him, and beat him to death with bludgeons, tore off his clothes, pulled him by the feet to the market-place, hung him head downwards on the gallows, and finally tore the dead body to pieces. a fire was lighted, his remains were burned, and the ashes thrown into the meuse. even this revenge did not quench the thirst for blood which consumed the people of liége. the advocate marchand, who had been one of warfusée's guests, and another eminent citizen, théodore fléron, fell under suspicion, and were slaughtered. it is said that one of those who slew fléron was so mad with rage that he flung himself on the dead man's corpse, tore it with his teeth like a wild beast, and sucked the blood. the church of the carmelites, who were also suspected of some guilty knowledge of warfusée's plot, was sacked. the rector of the jesuits was murdered, and the members of that society were driven from the town. the mob went through the streets shouting, 'death to the chiroux! death to the priests!' a list was drawn up of suspected persons, who were condemned, without trial, on a charge of having conspired against the state; and many of the chiroux faction were hung on the gallows. such is the horrible story of the 'tragic banquet of warfusée,' as it is called in local history. the motive for the crime, as foolish as it was brutal, was obviously the wish of warfusée to gain, at any cost, some credit with the emperor, though there seems to be no proof that either the emperor or ferdinand had really authorized the murder of the burgomaster. nor is there evidence to show that la ruelle had plotted to hand over the principality to france. the only explanation of warfusée's extraordinary folly seems to be that he had entirely misunderstood the sentiments of the liégeois, and had under-estimated the popularity of la ruelle and the strength of the grignoux faction. otherwise, desperate villain though he was, he would scarcely have ventured to commit such a crime with no support save that of a few soldiers. [illustration: the episcopal palace--inner court, liÉge] a semblance of peace followed; but soon the feud between the chiroux and the grignoux broke out again. once more the grignoux obtained the upper hand. the episcopal palace was taken by the mob. two hundred citizens of the upper class were ordered into banishment; and when the bishop was on his way to liége, hoping to restore order by peaceful means, he was met by the news that the gates were closed against him. he therefore sent his nephew, prince henry maximilian of bavaria, with an army to reduce the town. in a skirmish near jupille one of the burgomasters was killed. the grignoux lost heart, and opened the gates. then came a wholesale arrest of the popular leaders, four of whom were executed. the mode of electing magistrates was altered, the bishop reserving to himself the right of nominating half of them. the loyalists who had been banished were recalled. to overawe the people, a citadel was built upon the high ridge above the town; and when ferdinand died, in , the principality was more at rest than it had been for many years. chapter xxv the gaming-tables at spa--the french revolution--annexation of the principality already two princes of bavaria had been bishops of liége, and now a third succeeded, prince maximilian henry, who filled this uneasy throne from to . during most of that time the armies of almost every nation in europe swept like a flood over the principality; but the most important transaction of maximilian's reign was the establishment of a new system for the election of magistrates. this system, which came into force in november, , and was known as the 'réglement de maximilien de bavière,' deprived the lower classes of that direct power of election which they had so long abused, and divided it between the bishops and the middle class. the result of this measure was that there was quiet, if not harmony, within the walls of liége for the next hundred years. during that period, from to , the valley of the meuse was frequently the seat of war in the various campaigns of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. more tranquil times came with the peace of aix-la-chapelle, in , when the austrian netherlands were restored to the empress maria theresa. it was, indeed, only a calm between two storms. but for some years the arts of peace flourished in the valley of the meuse; and side by side with a remarkable progress of industry and commerce the intellectual activity of the people increased. an association, called the 'société d'emulation,' was formed, chiefly for the study of french literature; and soon the works of voltaire, of diderot, and of d'alembert were read by all classes. the clergy tried to forbid the purchase of such books, but in vain. amongst the working class the favourite authors were those who attacked the clergy; and the writings of voltaire became so popular that secret meetings were held in many of the country villages for the purpose of hearing them read aloud. thus, beneath the surface, the spirit of inquiry and free thought was fostered. already in france the first murmurs of the coming storm were heard; and in liége people began to speak about the 'rights of man,' to question the dogmas of the church, and to ridicule the priests at whose feet their forefathers had knelt for so many hundred years. while these new forces were gathering strength, césar de hoensbroeck, one of the canons of st. lambert, became bishop, on july , . a trifling dispute with which his reign began was the prelude to very serious events. for many years a company called the 'société deleau' had enjoyed a monopoly of the gaming-tables at spa, under a grant from the bishops of liége, to whom a third of the profits were paid. in one levoz, a citizen of liége, opened a new gambling-house, which he called the 'club.' the société deleau protested against this infringement of its monopoly. levoz and his friends replied that by law the bishops had no right to grant a monopoly without the sanction of the estates; and at last the case was laid before the imperial chamber of the german empire. this petty quarrel, so trivial in its origin, had run its course for more than two years, when suddenly it was raised into a grave controversy by one of the partisans of levoz, nicolas bassenge, who published a series of letters in which he declared that the liberties of the country were at stake. 'it is not,' he said, 'a mere question about a game of hazard.' which is to be supreme, he asked, the prince or the people? who has the right to make laws or grant monopolies? the chief of the state is not its master, but merely the instrument of the national will. others followed bassenge in the same strain; and more letters, fresh recriminations, hot words and angry answers, added fuel to the fire. levoz, tired of waiting for a decision from the imperial chamber, leased his club to a manager, paul redouté, who opened it with dancing added to the attractions of dice and cards. the bishop sent soldiers to spa, who closed the club tables, and forbade all gaming except in the rooms to which he had granted the monopoly. a warrant was issued for the arrest of redouté and m. ransonnet, who had fought in the american war of independence, and was now a leader among the disaffected party in liége. the latter fled to brussels, where the brabant revolution against joseph ii. was approaching its climax, and sent letters to liége, in which he said that a plan was on foot to establish a republic consisting of brabant and the principality of liége. would it not, he asked, be a glorious work to confine the bishops to their apostolic mission, as in the days of st. hubert? words like these made a deep impression at a time when the old influences of tradition and custom were beginning to lose their force. [illustration: pont du prophÈte, promenade meyerbeer, spa woods] in the spring and summer of there was much suffering among the poor, owing to a bad season; and the bishop arranged to celebrate july , the anniversary of his election, by a distribution of bread among the destitute. but before july came, horsemen had galloped up the valley of the meuse with tidings of the wonderful things which had been done in france. 'workers of iniquity,' bassenge wrote, 'behold paris, and tremble!' the bastille had fallen on july , and a month later almost to a day, on august , the revolution in liége began. for two days the people did nothing but march about the streets; but very early on the morning of tuesday the th the tocsin was sounding over the town, and soon the market-place was filled by an immense crowd, all wearing cockades of red and yellow, the national colours. baron de chestret marched at the head of armed men into the hôtel de ville, and expelled the burgomasters. this was followed by the election, at the famous perron, of new burgomasters, one of them being baron de chestret, who, later in the day, went with a number of the insurgents to the bishop's palace at seraing, and demanded his presence in the city, and his written approval of what had been done. the bishop, adorned with a red and yellow cockade, was hurried to liége by the mob, who crowded round his carriage, shouting, blowing trumpets, and beating drums. the horses were taken out, and the rioters drew him to the hôtel de ville, and brought him into a room where the light of a single candle showed a number of men waiting for him sword in hand. a threatening voice came from the darkness, saying, 'the nation demands your signature. make haste!' and the bishop forthwith signed a number of documents which were placed before him, without waiting to read the contents. on the morrow he returned to seraing; but a few days later he departed secretly for tréves. for nearly two years the imperial chamber was occupied with the question of liége; but at last, when the revolution in brabant had been suppressed, an austrian army entered the principality. everything which the revolutionary party had done since august , , was declared null and void. the burgomasters who had been expelled were restored to office. those canons of st. lambert who had fled were brought back, and the bishop himself returned. the société d'emulation, which had done so much to encourage the study of voltaire, was suppressed. sentences of banishment, and even of death, were pronounced against some of those who had led the revolt; and there can be little doubt that bishop hoensbroeck earned the title of 'prêtre sanguinaire,' which was given him at the courts of berlin and vienna. he died in june, ; and in august of that year his nephew, the comte de méan, was elected by the chapter. but before the new bishop's inauguration the army of the french republic, fresh from its victory at jemappes, having driven the austrians beyond the meuse, took possession of liége. this was on november , . * * * * * dumouriez, who had entered brussels without opposition, received a hearty welcome at liége, where the popular sentiment was in favour of an union with france; and in every part of the principality resolutions were passed for incorporating the country with the republic. it is said that, shortly before august , , mirabeau dined at liége with bassenge and some of the revolutionary leaders, when the conversation turned on the affair of spa. the constitution of liége was explained to him. 'and you are not contented with that?' he said. 'gentlemen, let me tell you that if in france we had enjoyed half your privileges, we would have thought ourselves happy.' but there had always been a charm in the word 'republic' for the people of liége. 'men of liége,' said nicolas bassenge, when the national convention at paris decreed the annexation of the netherlands, 'our lot is fixed: we are french. to live or die frenchmen is the wish of our hearts, and no wish was ever so pure, so earnest, or so unanimous.' thomas bassenge, brother of nicolas, was at this time a member of the municipal council of liége; and in february, , he persuaded the magistrates to celebrate the revolution by destroying the cathedral of st. lambert, which stood near the episcopal palace of Érard de la marck. the front of this church, the finest ecclesiastical building in the principality, was a mass of elaborate carving. statues of angels and archangels, of patriarchs and prophets, of martyrs and of saints, rose one above the other, and over them innumerable pinnacles were interlaced by a maze of slender arches, crossing each other with tracery so delicate as almost to resemble lace. beneath this profusion of stonework the great doorway was adorned with marble statues of the benefactors of the church from the chisel of lambert zoutman, a sculptor of liége; and in the interior of the building, with its marble columns and windows of old stained glass, were many paintings, the tombs of the bishops, rich tapestries, a jewelled bust of lambert, and many objects of value, amongst which were two golden statues sent by charles the bold to the shrine of the patron saint, as an act of expiation after he had destroyed the town. this building, which had survived the great disaster of the fifteenth century, was now completely wrecked. the statues and the monuments were cast down. the mausoleum of Érard de la marck was sold and broken up. the graves were opened, the bones thrown out, and the lead of the coffins used for bullets. the clocks were sent up the meuse in barges to france, and there turned into copper money. everything valuable was removed, and soon nothing remained but the bare walls, which in a few years crumbled into ruins. thus the long line of the bishop-princes of liége, and the place in which for centuries they had been inaugurated, fell together. chapter xxvi liÉge and the valley of the meuse in modern times--bouillon the territory which the bishops had governed was now merged in four of the nine departments into which the national convention divided the annexed austrian netherlands. the department of 'forêts,' with luxembourg for its capital, included the ardennes. the western portion of the old diocese was sunk in 'sambre et meuse,' of which namur was the chief town. 'ourthe' was the name given to the district in which liége was situated. to the east lay the department of 'meuse inférieure,' with maestricht for its capital. thus the old boundaries of the principality were entirely obliterated. the convention conferred the rights of french citizens on the people of these districts, and commissioners were sent from paris to divide the country into cantons, and establish a new system of local administration on the french model. the departments of forêts, sambre et meuse, ourthe, and meuse inférieure were in the same condition as the rest of belgium during the closing years of the eighteenth century and down to the fall of napoleon. after that they formed part of the 'kingdom of the netherlands,' under the house of orange-nassau, and were called the provinces of luxembourg, namur, liége, and limbourg. when the kingdom of the netherlands, the chief constructive work accomplished by the congress of vienna, fell to pieces in , the liégeois went with the rest of belgium in the revolution against william i. as soon as they heard of the insurrection at brussels, the townsmen of liége met, as of old, in the market-place, put on the national colours, and helped themselves to weapons from the armourers' shops. a company of volunteers, with two pieces of cannon, marched across brabant into brussels, and took a prominent part in the street fighting, which ended in the retreat of the dutch troops, and the triumph of the revolution which led to the separation of the catholic netherlands from holland, and the election of leopold i. as king of belgium. [illustration: pont de jambes et citadelle, namur] long ago, in the days of prince maximilian of bavaria, a fortress was built on the only bridge which at that time crossed the meuse at liége. this fortress, armed with cannon which could sweep both sides of the river, left only one narrow waterway, nicknamed 'the dardanelles,' by which boats could pass up and down the stream. it has long since disappeared, and the present pont des arches now occupies the sight of the old bridge. the irregular outline of the houses on the bank of the meuse, with their fronts of grey, white, and red, the church towers appearing over the roofs of the town behind, and the ridge of the citadel rising high in the background, are best seen from the pont des arches, from which the modern rue leopold leads straight into the very heart of liége, to the place on which the cathedral of st. lambert stood. it is just a century since the last stones of the old church were carted away; and now the place st. lambert, like the place verte, which opens on it from the west, and the market-place, which is a few yards to the east, has a bright look of business and prosperity, with its shops and cafés. the episcopal palace, now the palais de justice, the erection of which took thirty years during the commencement of the sixteenth century, has undergone many alterations since the days of Érard de la marck. two hundred years after it was finished a fire destroyed the original front, which had to be rebuilt, and the rest of the vast structure was restored in the nineteenth century. the primitive façade has been replaced by one moulded on severely classic lines; but the inner squares, with their picturesque cloisters, are strangely rich in types of every style, a medley of gothic, renaissance, moorish, as if symbolic of the vicissitudes undergone by the bishop-princes who inhabited this immense building. most of the grotesque carvings, the demons in stone, and the fantastic figures which surround these courts, were conceived by the luxuriant imagination of francis borset, a sculptor of liége. close to the episcopal palace is the market-place, where so many of the scenes described in these pages took place, and where now stands the modern perron, designed by delcour at the end of the seventeenth century to replace the old column, at the foot of which the laws of the principality, peace, or war used to be proclaimed. there is nothing about it to recall the history of the stormy times when charles the bold carried it off into flanders; but the tradition of the ancient perron still survives. at brussels, ghent, bruges, louvain, the hôtels de ville retain their aspect of the middle ages, when they were the centres of that passionate civic life which throbs through all the history of the netherlands. but the hôtel de ville of liége is modern, of the eighteenth century. it would make a commodious private mansion, but has nothing in common with the architectural gems which adorn the great cities of flanders and brabant. this lack of architectural distinction is characteristic of modern liége. the hammers of the french revolution, in destroying the cathedral of st. lambert, completed what the fires of charles the bold began, and of the really old liége almost nothing remains. but the fiery spirit which once led to so many wars and revolutions now finds an outlet in useful work. the industrious character of the walloons is perhaps most highly developed in other walloon parts of belgium--among the carpet factories of tournai, the iron-works of charleroi, the flax-works of courtrai, and in the coal-mines of the borinage, which blacken the landscape for miles round mons. but the people of liége have always been famous for their skill in working steel and iron. in the old days they forged the weapons of war which they used so often; and at the present time there are in the town many flourishing companies who turn out large quantities of guns, engines, and machinery, while up the meuse there are coal-mines, furnaces, and factories, where the walloons toil as laboriously as in hainaut. in the year after waterloo william i. and john cockerill, an englishman, established iron-works at seraing, within a few miles of liége. in , when the kingdom of the netherlands was broken up, cockerill became owner of the business, which has grown since then, until it is now one of the largest iron manufactories in europe, with some twelve thousand workmen constantly employed in its coal-mines and engine-works. the palace at seraing, from which bishop hoensbroeck was carried by the revolutionary mob to the hôtel de ville at liége in the summer of , is now the office of the well-known firm of john cockerill and company. [illustration: chÂteau de bouillon, in the semois valley] beyond seraing the valley of the meuse winds up through the centre of what was once the principality of liége, and at every turn there is something which recalls the olden time. the white château of aigremont, where the wild boar of ardennes used to live, stands boldly on its hilltop on the left bank of the river. a little farther, and we come to the condroz country, with its capital ciney, notorious for the insane 'war of the cow,' and huy, with the grave of peter the hermit, and its long history of suffering. the whole valley is so peaceful now, full of quiet villages, gardens, hay-fields, and well-cultivated land, that it is difficult to realize that for centuries it was nothing but a battlefield, and that in these regions the people suffered almost as much from the depredations of their friends as from the enemy, even long after the barbarism of the burgundian period was a thing of the past. 'we have,' says field-marshal de merode, during the campaigns of louis xiv., 'eighteen miserable regiments of infantry, and fourteen of cavalry and dragoons, who are just six thousand beggars or thieves, for they have neither money nor clothing, and live by plunder on the highways, stopping public and private coaches, robbing travellers, or, pistol in hand, demanding at least a _pour boire_. nobody can go from one place to another without meeting them, which ruins business and the whole country.' the situation of namur, at the junction of the sambre and the meuse, made it a place of great importance in every war, not only in the middle ages, but also in later times. when the grand alliance was formed against france, it was in brabant that the main body of the allies gathered; but before long the tide of war rolled into the valley of the meuse. liége was bombarded for five days by marshal boufflers, and the bishop, from his place of refuge in the citadel, saw the hôtel de ville and half the town set on fire by the shells which flew over the river from the french batteries on the chartreuse. as the struggle went on, huy was destroyed by marshal villeroi, namur fell into the hands of louis xiv., and farther afield it seemed as if no city, however strong, could stand a siege against the genius of vauban, while the victories at steinkirk and landen made the arms of france appear invincible. but at last, in , came the siege and capture of namur by william iii. the taking of namur was the turning-point of that war, and led to the treaty of ryswick, by which spain recovered luxembourg, and all the conquests which the king of france had made in the netherlands. again, when the war of the spanish succession began, the english army, on its way to germany, marched into the principality of liége, took the town and citadel of liége, drove the french over the meuse, and carried the war to blenheim on the danube. but though the first of marlborough's chief victories was thus gained in bavaria, the second of his four great battles was fought to obtain command of the way to namur. marshal villeroi's object in giving battle at ramillies was to protect that town, which he regarded as the key to the valley of the meuse; but fortune had deserted france, and the combat of may , , decided the fate not only of the principality of liége, but of all belgium, though the war continued through the carnage of oudenarde and malplaquet, till the peace of utrecht. even now the shadow of a possible war overhangs this part of europe; and if those who think that, sooner or later, the neutrality of belgium will be violated are right, it is very likely that the line of the meuse, with its navigable stream, its railway, and its roads, so well adapted for military purposes, will be used. it is in view of this danger that the fortifications along the valley are maintained. within a radius of six miles round liége there are twelve forts. the citadel of huy, planned by william i. soon after the campaign of waterloo, was enlarged and made stronger so lately as . namur is surrounded by nine forts at a distance of about six miles from the town; and the citadel of dinant forms an outpost to the south-west. the last occasion on which any part of belgium, so long the 'cockpit of europe,' had a glimpse of war was in the autumn of . the battle of sedan had been fought within a few miles from the southern slopes of the ardennes, and during september thousands of wounded men and prisoners from the beaten army were crowded in bouillon, a little town which lies in the gorge of the semois, just over the belgian frontier. this place was once the capital of a duchy. on a lofty rock, almost surrounded by the dark, brown waters of the many-winding semois, stands the ruined castle of the dukes of bouillon, a large pile of grey walls and towers, which gives some idea of the immense strength of the fortresses which, even in the remote forest-land of ardennes, the feudal lords built for themselves. the age of this stronghold is unknown, but there seems reason to believe that a fort was erected on this rock by the princes of ardennes so early as the seventh century. in the eleventh century it was ceded to the principality of liége by the famous crusader godfrey of bouillon; but this part of the ardennes, on the borders of france and luxembourg, was a kind of 'debatable land,' and there were frequent struggles for the duchy between the bishops of liége and the family of de la marck. the wild boar of ardennes obtained possession of it, and his son usurped the title of duke of bouillon; but one of his descendants having incurred the wrath of charles v., the castle was taken, the town sacked, and the duchy restored to the bishops of liége. they retained it till it fell into the hands of louis xiv., by whom it was given to the family of la tour d'auvergne, the representatives of the de la marcks. it became a small republic after the french revolution, but was included in the kingdom of the netherlands from to . since then it has formed part of belgian luxembourg. bouillon, with its mountains and woods, and its romantic ruin, being one of the loveliest spots in the ardennes, soon became a favourite place for holiday-makers, and had for many years a peaceful existence before the storm burst so near it in that eventful year . 'i was there,' m. camille lemonnier says, 'in the midst of the _débâcle_, and, sick at heart, and in the horror of those days, wrote these words: "a furious coming and going filled the streets. we found the _place_ crowded with townspeople, peasants, lancers, prisoners, and wounded men struggling among the horses' hoofs, the wheels of wagons, and the feet of the stretcher-bearers. a horrible noise rose in the darkness of the evening from this tumultuous crowd, who moved aimlessly about, with staring eyes, lost in agony, and scarcely knowing what they did. a stupor seemed to weigh on every brain; and all round, looking down on the seething mass, lights twinkled in the windows of the houses. behind the white blinds of one house, the hôtel de la poste, at the corner to the left of the bridge, a restless shadow moved about all night long. it was the shadow of the last bonaparte, watching, and a prisoner, while near him the frantic cries wrung by defeat from the wreckage of the french army died away in sobs and spasms."' next morning napoleon iii., who had spent the night in the hôtel de la poste, left with a guard of prussian officers, climbed up the road, through the woods which lie between the valleys of the semois and the lesse, to libramont, whence he journeyed by train to wilhelmshoe. since then bouillon has returned to the quiet times which preceded the franco-german war; but that student of history must have a very dull imagination who does not find much to think of in this narrow valley, on the frontiers of belgium and france, where the past and the present meet, the day when duke godfrey rode off to plant his standard on the walls of jerusalem, and the day when his castle looked down on the humiliation of the ruler who began his reign by making war about the holy places of palestine. index abbé de mouzon, , , , abbey of the dunes, - ; of melrose, abbey of st. bavon, , adinkerque, , 'adoration of the immaculate lamb,' , aigremont, castle of, , aix-la-chapelle, churches of, enriched, ; peace of, albert, archduke, , albert, archduke, portrait at furnes, ; at the battle of the dunes, , , ; marries the infanta isabella, ; character of, , ; wounded, albert de cuyck made bishop of liége, ; grants a charter to liége, , , , albert de louvain, albert, prince, at bruges, alexander, emperor of russia, allée verte, alost, alpaïde, alva, , , amandus, st., amsterdam, anoona, bishop of, anderlecht, andré, st., village of, androuins, m., ane aveugle. rue de l', , , angelo, michael, anglaises, couvent des dames, anna paulowna, grand duchess, , anna, wife of william the silent, anseremme, antoine, duke of brabant, antwerp: in the sixteenth century, , ; cathedral sacked, , ; the spanish fury, , ; besieged in , _et seq._; reformers at, ; trade goes to amsterdam, ; fall of, ; napoleon at, in , ; orange party in , ; bombarded in , , ; state of, in , ; surrendered by carnot, ; proposal to strengthen fortifications of, ; cathedral, , ; church of st. michael, ; grande place, , ; hôtel de ville, , ; marché du vendredi, , ; rue de la bascule, ; rue du couvent, ; place verte, , ; place de meir, , ; rue rubens, ; rue sale, ; rue de tournai, ; statue of rubens, ; vleechhuis, or vieille boucherie, ; walls of, ; wappers, ; cathedral of, , , aquitaine, duke of, archduke maximilian, archdukes albert and isabella, , , ardennes, state of, in the feudal period, , arenberg, duc d', , arenberg, family of, , arlon, arschot, duc d', artevelde, jacques van, , , , artevelde, philip van, , artois, comte d', , , auber, augustinian nuns, austrian netherlands restored to the empress maria theresa, ; annexed to france, baldwin, bras-de-fer, real founder of bruges, ; defends flanders, ; marries judith, ; builds church of st. donatian, , baldwin, king of jerusalem, baldwin of constantinople, baldwin vii., bannockburn, bardi, money-changers at bruges, bassenge, nicolas, , , , bassenge, thomas, bassin de commerce at bruges, bastille, fall of, in , battle of the dunes, _et seq._ battle of the golden spurs, _et seq._, beaufort, jean de, beeckmann, william, , beggars, the, , béguinage at bruges, ; grove of, béguinage at ghent, béhuchet, nicholas, , , belfry of bruges, , , , , ; of ghent, ; of brussels, belgian parliament passes law for harbour near heyst, berlaimont, , berlaimont, comte florent de, bernard, st., of clairvaux, berri, duc de, bertulf, provost of st. donatian, bexley, bicycles, import duty on, 'bird of honour,' , black watch, blankenberghe, new harbour near, ; english fleet at, in , , , blenheim, blyde incompste, bois-le-duc, bombarda, jean paul, boniface viii., 'bonnes villes' of flanders, borluut, madame, borset, francis, borthwick, colonel, boterbeke, , bouchoute, hôtel de, bouillon, , , , , bouisies, comte de, bourg, place du, at bruges, , , bourignon, antoinette, brabant, duke of, supports simon de limbourg, ; joins in the war of the cow, , ; joyeuse entrée of, ; revolution of, , brabant: present boundary, ; frontiers in ancient times, ; four chief towns of, ; spirit of union, ; joyeuse entrée, _et seq._; states of, ; council of, ; dukes of, their tomb violated, , ; revolution of, _et seq._ brangwyn, william, brant, jean, ; isabelle, bréderode, , , breidel, john, , , , breskens, brialmont, general, bristol, earl of, at bruges, brodhuis, the, , , bruges, , , , , , , bruges, described by john of ypres, , ; origin of name, ; primitive township of, ; boundaries in early times, ; market-place, , , ; halles, ; early trade, ; the loove at, ; growth of, ; capital of west flanders, ; baldwin bras-de-fer its real founder, ; place du bourg, ; murder of charles the good, ; joanna of navarre at, ; death of marie, wife of maximilian, ; hôtel de ville, ; customs house, ; oriental appearance in middle ages, ; produce sent to, in middle ages, ; hanseatic league at, ; consulates at, ; splendour of, in middle ages, , ; under the house of burgundy, ; loss of trade, , ; pauperism, ; charles ii. at, _et seq._; list of charles ii.'s household at, ; death of catherine of braganza at, ; fate of church at french revolution, ; napoleon at, ; state of, since revolution of , ; english jesuits at, ; queen victoria at, ; relic of holy blood at, _et seq._; procession of the holy blood, _et seq._; relic of the holy cross, ; tournament at, ; charles the bold buried at, bruges matins, , brussels, contrast to flemish towns, ; in the middle ages, , ; increase of wealth and luxury, ; wencelas at, ; under the house of burgundy, ; during the reign of charles v., ; executions of egmont and horn, , ; entry of the infanta isabella and archduke albert, ; bombardment of , _et seq._; charles of lorraine at, _et seq._; scene in the grande place in , ; entered by the austrians in , , by the allies in , ; jacobin clubs, ; napoleon at, , ; during the winter of - , ; in june , _et seq._; revolution of , _et seq._; allée verte, ; boulevard du midi, , de waterloo, ; brodhuis, , , ; burgundian library, ; coudenberg, ; church of the carmelites, , ; communal museum, ; grande place, , ; hôtel de france, ; hôtel de ville, , , , , ; la chaussée, ; l'etoile, ; le cygne, ; manneken, , ; maison des brasseurs, ; mint house, ; montagne de la cour, , ; notre dame de la chapelle, ; notre dame du sablon, ; place de la monnaie, , , ; porte de louvain, ; porte de hal, , ; porte de laeken, ; porto de namur, , ; rue de la blanchisserie, ; rue des fripiers, ; rue de la montagne du parc, ; rue de namur, ; rue des petits cannes, ; rue royale, , ; ste. gudule, , , ; st. nicholas, , ; théatre de la monnaie, , , , ; charles ii. at, ; church of ste. gudule, burchard, , , burgundian library, burgundy, charles, duke of, burgundy, house of, , , ; in the fifteenth century, ; hated by the liégeois, burnet, bishop, butler, mr. j., , caen, caine, mr. hall, 'cairless,' mr., caisse de religion, cambrai, camolet, jean, campo formio, capucins, chapel of, at furnes, carmelites, church of, at liége, sacked, carnot, , carthusian monastery at ghent, casa negra, catalani, cathedral of antwerp, cathedral of st. martin at ypres, cathedral of st. sauveur at bruges, , , catherine of braganza, catholics unpopular at liége, celestine iii., chabot, chapel of the capucins at furnes, chapelle du saint-sang (st. basil's) at bruges, , , , charlemagne, , charleroi, , charles ii. of england at bruges, _et seq._ charles the bald, charles the bold, , , , ; destroys dinant, ; becomes duke of burgundy, ; enters liége and issues a decree, , ; marries margaret of york, ; imprisons louis xi. at peronne, ; marches with louis xi. to liége and destroys the town, , , ; his death, ; burial at nancy, ; final burial at bruges, charles the good, - charles iv. of luxembourg, charles v., , , , , ; is chosen emperor, ; takes bouillon, charles vi., charles of lorraine, , _et seq._, charles x., charles, m., advocate, charlotte, princess, charter of albert de cuyck, , chartreuse, at liége, chassé, general, chateaubriand, , château des comtes at ghent, chatillon, conference of, , châtillon, jacques de, , , - chaudfontaine, chemins-de-fer vicinaux, chester, baron de, chèvremont, chiroux and grignoux factions, church of jerusalem at bruges, church of notre dame at bruges, church of st. donatian at bruges, church of ste. walburge, , ciney, , , , cistercians, , citadel of liége built, ; taken by the english, clairvaux, clauwerts, , , clement v., clement vii., clermont, count of, cloth hall of ghent, cockerill and co., collège philosophique, cologne, , , colonna, jean baptiste, comte de charolais (charles the bold), comte de la hanse, condroz, , conference of chatillon, , ; of london, , congress of ghent, congress of vienna, , , , coninck, peter de, , , , , constitution of belgium, , consulate of france, ; of spain, ; of smyrna, convention (french), , , ; of the hague, coolkerke, cossacks in brussels, coudenburg, , cour des princes at ghent, court of peace, , _et seq._ courtrai, , couvent des dames anglaises, , , coxyde, - cranenberg, crecy, battle of, creevy, mr., at brussels in , cromwell, , , cumberland hussars, customs house at bruges, cuyck, albert de, , , , , dalgetty, dugald, dame de bellem, damme, , , , , _et seq._, ; population of, ; röles de, ; harbour blocked up, dampierre, guy de, danton, dardanelles (at liége), david, gerard, denderleeuw, dendre, the river, deprysenaere, jean, of ypres, desmoulins, camille, diderot, diet of frankfort ( ), diet of worms ( ), _digues de mer_, construction of, , dinant, situation of, ; people of, invade namur and luxembourg, ; declares war against namur, ; destroyed by charles the bold, ; citadel rebuilt, ; now part of fortifications on the meuse, donatian, church of st., built by baldwin bras-de-fer, ; bertulf, provost of, ; site of, ; murder of charles the good in, ; destroyed, don john of austria, , dordrecht, , duinbergen, , , dumouriez, ; welcomed at liége, dunes, battle of the, ; scenery of, _et seq._ durancy, mademoiselle, dyle, the river, dyver, the, at bruges, , edward iii., - , ; at ghent, edward iv., egmont, count, , , , elba, elias, sixth abbot of coxyde, enghien, english competition with flemish trade, ; with german, english merchant adventurers, erard de la marck, _et seq._ erembalds, _et seq._; feud with straetens, ; destruction of, ernest, archduke, ernest of bavaria, _et seq._ ethelbald, ethelwulf, husband of judith, daughter of charles the bald, evendyck, everard de la mark, , eyck, van, elder and younger, , , , , , ferdinand of bavaria, , ferdinand of spain, flanders, count of, opposes simon de limbourg, ; joins in the war of the cow, flanders, state of, in early times, , ; invaded by normans, , ; origin of title 'count of,' ; defended by baldwin bras-de-fer, ; allied to england, ; neutrality of, in and , ; invaded by french, ; plain of, _et seq._; ignorance of country people in, ; smuggling between france and, ; annexed to france, , ; invaded by english, ; causes of disunion in, , ; ceded to the infanta isabella, ; contrast between different parts of, , ; coast of, _et seq._ fléron, théodore, fleurus, battle of, , flotte, pierre, chancellor of france, , flushing, , , foréts, department of, fox, sir stephen, france, flanders annexed to, , france, palais du, , franchimont, frankfort, diet of ( ), frederic de montigny, frederick iii., frederick, prince, attacks brussels, _et seq._ french consulate at bruges, french literature studied at liége, french revolution, freyr, furnes, - ; procession of penitents at, ; church of ste. walburge, ; hôtel de ville and palais de justice, ; church of st. nicholas, ; corps de garde espagnol and pavillon des officiers espagnols, gambia, lord, at ghent, gand, porte de, gardiner, dr., quoted, gauthier de sapignies, gembloux, genoese merchants, house of, at bruges, george iii., germans at antwerp, , germany, emigrations from flanders to, ghent, , , ; trade of, , ; early history, ; edward iii. and queen philippa at, ; birth of john of gaunt, ; of charles v., ; fêtes at, ; disaffection during reign of charles the bold, ; congress of, and pacification, , , , ; marriage of mary of burgundy, ; catalini, ; louis xviii. in, , , , , ; hôtel de ville, , , ; roland, the bell of ghent, ; rue des champs, ; rue haut-port, ; abbey of st. bavon, , ; béguinage, ; cathedral of st. bavon, , ; church of st. jacques, , of st. michael, , of st. nicholas, , of st. pierre, ; marché du vendredi, ; carthusian monastery, ; cloth hall, ; picture of mary of burgundy, ; place ste. pharailde, ghiselhuis, gilliat-smith, author of _the story of bruges_, gloucester, henry, duke of, _et seq._ godfrey of bouillon, , godshuisen, golden fleece, order of the, golden spurs, battle of the, , golf in belgium, - 'governor of the english colony beyond the seas,' grand alliance, grande dame of béguinage, grande salle des Échevins at bruges, great storm of thirteenth century, grignoux and chiroux factions, groisbeck, gérard de, , gruthuise, , guerre de la vache de ciney, , guildhouse of st. sebastian at bruges, , gustavus adolphus, guy de dampierre, haccourt, haecke, canon van, hague, the, convention of, , hainaut, counts of, vassals of liége, ; count of, opposes simon de limbourg, halle de drapiers at ypres, halle de paris at bruges, halles at bruges, halloy, jean de, hamilton, sir james, hane-steenhuyse, comte d', , hannetaire, monsieur d', hanseatic league, hapsburg, house of, hastière, , heinsberg, jean de, henry ii., emperor, grants a charter to liége, , henry iv., henry viii., het paradijs, heyst, , , , hobbema, hoensbroeck, césar de, hogarth, holland, béguinages in, holy blood, relic and chapel of, at bruges, , ; procession of the, holy cross, relic of, holy sepulchre, church of, at jerusalem, hoogenblekker, horn, count, , , , hôtel de bouchoute at bruges, hôtel de ville at bruges, , , , , ; at furnes, hougoumont, house of the seven towers, , , hundred days, - huy, tournament at, ; rebuilt, ; taken by the dutch, ; destroyed by villeroi, ; citadel of, enlarged in , hyde (lord clarendon), , , idesbaldus, st., immon of chévremont, _et seq._ imperial chamber, , , , inquisition in flanders, inquisition at liége, installation of the bishops of liége, isabella, daughter of philip ii., isabella, wife of ferdinand of spain, isabella, the infanta, , , isabelle de bourbon, _ivanhoe_, jacobins at brussels, _et seq._ jacques de horne, jacques de le roy, jallet, jasper, la ruelle's servant, , , jean iii., count of louvain and duke of brabant, jean d'arenberg, jean de beaufort, jean de horne, , jean de ville, , , jean sans pitie, jean, son of philip the bold, jeanne, duchess of brabant, , , jemappes, , jerusalem, baldwin, king of, jerusalem, church of, at bruges, jesse, _memoirs of the court of england_, jesuits at bruges, jesuits, rector of, at liége, murdered, joanna of navarre, joanna, wife of philip the fair, john, king of england, john of bavaria, john of gaunt, john of ypres, , joseph ii., , , ; succeeds maria theresa, ; his policy in the austrian netherlands, _et seq._; demands opening of scheldt, ; his death, joseph of arimathæa, jourdan, joyeuse entrée of brabant: origin, ; variations of, ; mary of burgundy's joyeuse entrée, ; alleged infringement by joseph ii., ; restored, judith, wife of baldwin bras-de-fer, , juliers, duke of, jupille, , justice, palais du, at bruges, ; at furnes, , kadzand, kermesse, , king, thomas harper, kingdom of the netherlands, , _et seq._, knights of the golden fleece, knocke, , , , , kuilemburg, count, , la baule, cardinal, la belle alliance, , la cintray, lac d'amour, , laeken, lamden, lamennais, la nogentelle, la panne, , , , la pinaud, , la roche, count of, la ruelle, burgomaster of liége, ; is murdered, , la tour d'auvergne, la haye sainte, le coq, , - _legend of montrose_, legia, the, lejeusne, mathurin, leliarts, , , lemonnier, m. camille, leonius, leopold i., , , leopold ii., leopold of saxe-coburg, , leroz, , lesse, the, libramont, liége, ; boundaries of the principality, ; early history, ; churches of, enriched by plunder of chèvremone, ; court of peace, ; charter of albert de cuyck, _et seq._; sympathy with france in the fifteenth century; army of, defeated at montenac, ; rules imposed by charles the bold, ; his oppressions, , ; destroyed, , , ; recovery of, ; concessions granted by mary of burgundy, , ; relations with germany, ; episcopal palace built, ; objections to a papal inquisition, ; spanish garrison at, ; magistrates claim right to hold the keys, ; they usurp the powers of the bishop, ; chiroux and grignoux factions, ; mob take the episcopal palace, ; a citadel built, ; state of, from to , , ; study of french literature, ; revolution of , ; taken by the french in , ; welcome to dumouriez, ; in favour of union with french republic, ; mirabeau's visit, ; cathedral of st. lambert destroyed, , ; revolution of , ; place verte, ; place st. lambert, ; rue leopold, ; pont des arches, ; episcopal palace (palais de justice), , ; hôtel de ville, ; steel and iron works, , ; bombarded by marshal boufflers, ; taken by the english, ; modern fortifications, lille, lilly the astrologer, limbourg, simon de, lincoln, bishop of, lombaerdzyde, , , , londonderry, longfellow, quoted, , , loove, the, at bruges, louis de bourbon becomes bishop of liége, , ; lives at brussels, ; is surprised at tongres by the liégeois, ; obtains concessions in favour of the town, ; is murdered, louis of maele, count of flanders, , , , , louis of nassau, louis of nevers, , louis xi., ; encourages the liégeois to revolt, ; instigates charles the bold against liége, ; marches with him to liége, ; employs william de la marck, louis xiii., louis xiv., , ; takes bouillon, louis xviii., , , , louvain, ; albert de, ; capital of old brabant, ; inauguration of dukes of brabant, _et seq._; university, ; séminaire générale, ; collège philosophique, luxembourg, luxembourg, count of, joins in the war of the cow, , lyger, lys, the river, , maele, louis of, , , maestricht, abbey of, laid waste, ; siege of, magna charta, maison des orientaux, malines, malmedy, malplaquet, mannaert, manneken of brussels, , marat, marbriers, quai des, marchand, m., , marché du vendredi at ghent, margaret of parma, margaret of york, marguerite of maele, , mariakerke, marianne, daughter of dame de bellem, maria theresa, , , , , , marie antoinette, marie of burgundy, , marie louise, empress, , marie, wife of charles of lorraine, mark of baden, market-place of bruges, , , , , , marlborough, martel, charles, , mary of burgundy, daughter of charles the bold, , , , mary, 'the gentle,' matins of bruges, , maurice, elector, maurice of nassau, , , mauritshuis at the hague, maximilian, archduke, , maximilian, archduke (afterwards emperor), , , , maximilian, henry, bishop of liége, _et seq._ maximilian, husband of mary of burgundy, , mazarin, méan, comte de, melrose abbey, memlinc, , , merode, field-marshal de, meuninxhove, john van, meurs, william de, meuse inférieure, michael angelo, middelkerke, , minnewater, , mirabeau at liége, , miracles wrought by the holy blood at bruges, mons, monthermé, mont st. jean, morgarten, mother superior of béguinage, mourentorff, jean, muette de portici, performance of, münster, treaty of, , , murray, sir robert, musée plantin-moretus, namur, ; situation of, ; taken by louis xiv., ; by william iii., ; strategic importance of, , , ; fortifications round, nancy, ; battle of, napoleon: at antwerp, , ; on the importance of antwerp, , ; at brussels, , ; departure to elba, ; lands in france, ; at charleroi, ; reported victory of, on june , , ; at bruges, ; return from elba, ; canal to sluis constructed by, napoleon iii. at bouillon in , navarre, joanna of, neutrality of flanders in and , nevers, louis of, , nicholas i., pope, nicholas, sir edward, nieuport, - ; origin of, ; besieged by prince maurice, ; fallen state of, nieuport-bains, , , , 'nieuwerck,' at ypres, nimeguen, treaty of, nivelles, noé, michael, normans in flanders, norwich, earl of, , notger, bishop, _et seq._ notre dame, choir of, at bruges, notre dame, church of, at bruges, , , notre dame de lombaerdzyde, notre dame de thuine, oldenburgh, grand duchess of, 'old england,' at bruges, oosterlingen plaats, oostkerke, orange, william of, king of the netherlands, , , _et seq._ orange, william of (the silent), orange, prince of, , , , orientaux, maison des, ; place des, ormonde, , osburga, ostend, canal from ghent to, ostend, growth of, , , , othée, battle of, otho the great, , otlet, m. paul, _note_ oudenarde, ouden burg, ourthe, pacification of ghent, , , , palais de justice, at bruges, , , ; at furnes, palais de justice at liége, , , palais du franc, paradijs, het, parijssche halle, paris, paris, capitulation of, , ; revolution of july, , parma, duke of, in flanders, parma, prince of, , , , pauperism of bruges, peace of aix-la-chapelle, peace of utrecht, pepin d'herstal, , peronne, louis xi. at, , perron of liége, , , , , pesche, baron de, peter the hermit, philip de croy, prince of chimay, philip of alsace, philip ii., , , , , ; cedes spanish netherlands to his daughter, philip iii., philip of valois, , philip the bold, philip the fair, , , , , , philip the good, , , , philip the hardy, philippa, queen, at ghent, pitt, william, policy in the netherlands, place des orientaux, place du bourg, , , plantin, christopher, _et seq._ polyglot bible, pont des arches, pont des dunes, pope clement v., ; vii., ; boniface viii., ; celestine iii., ; urban vi., poperinghe, porte de damme, , porte de gand, porte ste. croix, , principality of liége, boundaries, ; state of, under burgundy, ; relations with germany, ; during the sixteenth century, ; refuses to join the united netherlands, ; neutrality proclaimed, ; proposal for union with brabant, ; austrian army enters, ; annexed to the french republic, , ; boundaries obliterated, ; included in the kingdom of the netherlands, procession of the holy blood at bruges, _et seq._; of penitents, at furnes, prud'homme d'aillay, marquis, pruyssenaere, peter, quai espagnol, ; long, ; des marbriers, , , ; du miroir, ; de la potterie, , , ; du rosaire, , ; spinola, , ; vert, , 'quarantaines,' quatre bras, , _quentin durward_, ramillies, ramsonnet, m., rastadt, treaty of, redouté, paul, réglement de maximilien de bavière, rené, duke of lorraine, rheims, richard i., richmond, duke and duchess of, robinson, mr. wilfrid, author of _bruges, an historical sketch_, rochester, earl of, rodenbach, rognon, m., roland, the bell of ghent, röles de damme, rome, flight of baldwin and judith to, roosebeke, battle of, , rosaire, quai du, roulers, route royale, roya, , , , , , rubens, joannes, , , rubens, peter paul, _et seq._ rue anglaise, in bruges, ; de l'ane aveugle, , , ; des carmes, ; cour de gand, ; espagnole, ; flamande, ; haute, ; neuve, ; du vieux bourg, , , , runnymede, ruysdael, ryswick, treaty of, saizan, baron de, , , sambre et meuse, santhoven, sart, comte de, scarphout, scheldt, the river, , , , , , , , , , , , , 'schielt ende vriendt,' schomberg, schönfeldt, general, schoutteeten, , 'scotland,' at bruges, scottish merchants at bruges, scott, sir walter, , sedan, see-brugge, semois, , , senlis, senne, the river, , seraing, , sheppey, isle of, sidney, sir philip, simon de limbourg, sluis, , , , , , smet de naeyer, comte, smith, gilliat-, , , , smyrna, consulate of, at bruges, société deleau, société d'emulation, , soignies, forest of, , spa, gaming tables at, , spaniards, at bruges, ; at furnes, , spanish fury of antwerp, , , spanish inquisition, spencer, henry, bishop of norwich, st. andré, village of, stavelot, st. bartholomew's day, st. basil, church of, , st. bavon, st. bernard of clairvaux, , st. donatian, church of, ste. elizabeth, church of, , ste. gudule, church of, steinkirk, ste. monica, church of, ste. walburge, church of, at bruges, ; at furnes, , st. george, society of, , st. hubert, , ; town and abbey of, , , st. idesbaldus, st. jean de l'atre, st. john, hospital of, st. lambert, ; cathedral of, , , , st. martin, church of, at furnes, st. monulphe, st. nicholas, church of, at furnes, st. omer, jesuits of, st. peter's, at ghent, straetens, , st. sauveur, church of, , , , , st. sebastian, altar of, at nancy, st. sebastian, society of, at bruges, , , ; at ypres, st. trond, stübben, herr, swift, dean, sybilla, wife of thierry d'alsace, sydenham, colonel, syria, _tales of a grandfather_, tarah, viscount, tariff question in belgium, , terbanck, monastery of, tercelain, family name of plantin, 'ter streep,' tervueren, , , théâtre de la monnaie, , , thierry d'alsace, _et seq._, 'thuindag,' thurloe state papers, titelman the inquisitor, tongres, torquemada, tournai, , , , , tours, battle of, 'tower of london,' at bruges, tragedy of the passion, trauttmansdorff, treaty of campo formio, ; of münster of utrecht, , treaty of ryswick, trève de dieu, trèves, tribunal de paix, , , tricaria, bishop of, truchses, gérard, , turner, sir james, , turnhout, twelve years' truce, , urban vi., ursol, duc d', utrecht, peace of, ; treaty of, , valois, philip of, van der noot, _et seq._, van eyck, , , , , vanity fair, vauban, ; fortifies ypres, , , verdun, henri de, verhaeren, m., belgian poet, victoria, queen, at bruges, vienna, congress of, , vieux bourg, rue du, , , villeroi, attacks brussels, _et seq._ virgin and child, statue of, at bruges, voltaire, vonck, , walburge, ste., church of, at bruges, ; at furnes, , walcheren, walcheren expedition, walloons, industrious character of, , warfusée, count of, , _et seq._ war of the cow, , , , war of the spanish succession, waterloo, , ; battle of, , waulsort, weavers, guild of, wellington, duke of, , , , wencelas, , wenduyne, , westcapelle, westende, village, , ; plage, , , , - weyden, roger van der, wild boar of ardennes, - , wilhelmshöhe, william, bishop of ancona, william iii., , william of orange, worms, diet of ( ), wounded eagle monument at waterloo, york, duke of, at bruges, _et seq._ ypres, - ; field preaching near, ; churches sacked, ; taken by parma, ; by the protestants, ; place du musée, ; besieged by louis xiv., ; fortified by vauban, , - ; ceded to france, ; described by vauban in , ; taken by the french in , ; during the hundred days, ; end of military history, ; grand place and cloth hall, ; monopoly of weaving linen, ; manages with bruges the hanseatic league in flanders, ; the nieuwerck, ; riots at, , ; siege of, by english, _et seq._; john of ypres describes early bruges, , ypres, , , , yser, , zoutman, lambert, zutphen, battle of, zuyder zee, zwijn, , , , , billing and sons, ltd., printers, guildford [illustration: _sketch map of belgium and part of holland_ accompanying 'belgium,' by a. forestier and g. w. t. omond. 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[illustration] list of sketches by joseph pike. the belfry and grand place (title page) cathedrale st. sauveur from place simon stevin st. john's hospital hotel gruuthuse and pont st boniface notre dame notre dame tower from rue puits aux oies quai du rosaire rue de l'ane aveugle pont du cheval the quai vert hotel de ville and chapelle du st. sang pont des augustins porte de marechaux tour st. sebastian and the english convent the entrance to the beguinage the minnewater. joseph pike _published spring, _ [illustration: the belfry and grand place (title page)] [illustration: cathedrale st. sauveur from place simon stevin] [illustration: st. john's hospital] [illustration: hotel gruuthuse and pont st boniface] [illustration: notre dame] [illustration: notre dame tower from rue puits aux oies] [illustration: quai du rosaire] [illustration: rue de l'ane aveugle] [illustration: pont du cheval] [illustration: the quai vert] [illustration: hotel de ville and chapelle du st. sang] [illustration: pont des augustins] [illustration: porte de marechaux] [illustration: tour st. sebastian and the english convent] [illustration: the entrance to the beguinage] [illustration: the minnewater.] [illustration: price one shilling. chatto & windus, piccadilly.] [illustration] a day's tour a journey through france and belgium by _calais, tournay, orchies, douai, arras, bethune, lille, comines, ypres, hazebrouck, bergues, and st. omer_ with a few sketches by percy fitzgerald [illustration] london chatto and windus, piccadilly preface. this trifle is intended as an illustration of the little story in 'evenings at home' called 'eyes and no eyes,' where the prudent boy saw so much during his walk, and his companion nothing at all. travelling has become so serious a business from its labours and accompaniments, that the result often seems to fall short of what was expected, and the means seem to overpower the end. on the other hand, a visit to unpretending places in an unpretending way often produces unexpected entertainment for the contemplative man. some such experiment was the following, where everything was a surprise because little was expected. the epicurean tourist will be facetious on the loss of sleep and comfort, money, etc.; but to a person in good health and spirits these are but trifling inconveniences. athenÆum club, _august, _. contents. i. in town ii. dover iii. the packet iv. calais v. tournay vi. douai vii. arras viii. lille ix. ypres x. bergues xi. st. omer xii. st. pierre les calais a day's tour. i. _in town._ it is london, of a bright sultry august day, when the flags seem scorching to the feet, and the sun beats down fiercely. it has yet a certain inviting attraction. there is a general air of bustle, and the provincial, trundled along in his cab, his trunks over his head, looks out with a certain awe and sense of delight, noting, as he skirts the park, the gay colours glistening among the dusty trees, the figures flitting past, the riders, the carriages, all suggesting a foreign capital. the great city never looks so brilliant or so stately as on one of these 'broiling' days. one calls up with a sort of wistfulness the great and picturesque cities abroad, with their grand streets and palaces, ever a delightful novelty. we long to be away, to be crossing over that night--enjoying a cool fresh passage, all troubles and monotony left behind. on one such day this year--a wednesday--these mixed impressions and longings presented themselves with unwonted force and iteration. so wistful and sudden a craving for snapping all ties and hurrying away was after all spasmodic, perhaps whimsical; but it was quickened by that sultry, melting air of the parks and the tropical look of the streets. the pavements seemed to glare fiercely like furnaces; there was an air of languid eastern enjoyment. the very dogs 'snoozed' pleasantly in shady corners, and all seemed happy as if enjoying a holiday. how delightful and enviable those families--the father, mother, and fair daughters, now setting off gaily with their huge boxes--who to-morrow would be beside the ever-delightful rhine, posting on to cologne and coblentz. what a welcome ring in those names! stale, hackneyed as it is, there comes a thrill as we get the first glimpse of the silvery placid waters and their majestic windings. even the hotels, the bustle, and the people, holiday and festive, all seem novel and gay. with some people this fairy look of things foreign never 'stales,' even with repetition. it is as with the illusions of the stage, which in some natures will triumph over the rudest, coarsest shocks. well, that sweltering day stole by. the very cabmen on their 'stands' nodded in blissful dreams. the motley colours in the park--a stray cardinal-coloured parasol or two added to the effect--glinted behind the trees. the image of the happy tourists in the foreign streets grew more vivid. the restlessness increased every hour, and was not to be 'laid.' living within a stone's-throw of victoria station, i find a strange and ever new sensation in seeing the night express and its passengers starting for foreign lands--some wistful and anxious, others supremely happy. it is next in interest to the play. the carriages are marked 'calais,' 'paris,' etc. it is even curious to think that, within three hours or so, they will be on foreign soil, among the french spires, sabots, blouses, gendarmes, etc. these are trivial and fanciful notions, but help to fortify what one has of the little faiths of life, and what one wise man, at least, has said: that it is the smaller unpretending things of life that make up its pleasures, particularly those that come unexpectedly, and from which we hope but little. when all these thoughts were thus tumultuously busy, an odd _bizarre_ idea presented itself. by an unusual concatenation, there was before me but a strictly-tightened space of leisure that could not be expanded. friday must be spent at home. this was wednesday, already three-quarters spent; but there was the coming night and the whole of thursday. but friday morning imperatively required that the traveller should be found back at home again. the whole span, the _irreducible maximum_, not to be stretched by any contrivance beyond about thirty hours. something could be done, but not much. as i thought of the strict and narrow limits, it seemed that these were some precious golden hours, and never to recur again; the opportunity must be seized, or lost for ever! as i walked the sunshiny streets, images rose of the bright streets abroad, their quaint old towers, and town-halls, and marketplaces, and churches, red-capped fisherwomen--all this scenery was 'set,'--properties and decorations--and the foreign play seemed to open before my eyes and invite me. there is an eastern story of a man who dipped his head into a tub of water, and who there and then mysteriously passed through a long series of events: was married, had children, saw them grow up, was taken prisoner by barbarians, confined long in gaol, was finally tried, sentenced, and led out to execution, with the scimitar about to descend, when of a sudden--he drew his head out of the water. and lo! all these marvels had passed in a second! what if there were to be magically crowded into those few hours all that could possibly be seen--sea and land, old towns in different countries, strange people, cathedrals, town-halls, streets, etc.? it would be like some wild, fitful dream. and on the friday i would draw my head, as it were, out of the tub. but it would need the nicest balancing and calculation, not a minute to be lost, everything to be measured and jointed together beforehand. there was something piquant in this notion. was not life short? and precious hours were too often wasted carelessly and dawdled away. it might even be worth while to see how much could be seen in these few hours. in a few moments the resolution was taken, and i was walking down to victoria, and in two hours was in snargate street, dover. ii. _dover._ dover has an old-fashioned dignity of its own; the town, harbour, ports, and people seem, as it were, consecrated to packets. there is an antique and reverend grayness in its old inns, old streets, old houses, all clustered and huddled into the little sheltered amphitheatre, as if trying to get down close by their pride, the packets. for centuries it has been the threshold, the _hall-door_, of england. it is the last inn, as it were, from which we depart to see foreign lands. history, too, comes back on us: we think of 'expresses' in fast sloops or fishing-boats; of landings at dover, and taking post for london in war-time; how kings have embarked, princesses disembarked--all in that awkward, yet snug harbour. a most curious element in this feeling is the faint french flavour reaching across--by day the white hills yonder, by night the glimmering lights on the opposite coast. the inns, too, have a nautical, seaport air, running along the beach, as they should do, and some of the older ones having a bulging stern-post look about their lower windows. even the frowning, fortress-like coloured pile, the lord warden, thrusts its shoulders forward on the right, and advances well out into the sea, as if to be the first to attract the arrivals. there is a quaint relish, too, in the dingy, old-fashioned marine terrace of dirty tawny brick, its green verandas and _jalousies_, which lend quite a tropical air. behind them, in shelter, are little dark squares, of a darker stone, with glimpses of the sea and packets just at the corners. indeed, at every point wherever there is a slit or crevice, a mast or some cordage is sure to show itself, reminding us how much we are of the packet, packety. ports of this kind, with all their people and incidents, seem to be devised for travellers; with their flaring lights, _up-all-night_ hotels, the railway winding through the narrow streets, the piers, the stormy waters, the packets lying by all the piers and filling every convenient space. the old dover of turner's well-known picture, or indeed of twenty years ago, with its 'dumpy' steamers, its little harbour, and rude appliances for travel, was a very different dover from what it is now. there was then no rolling down in luxurious trains to an admiralty pier. the stoutest heart might shrink, or at least feel dismally uncomfortable, as he found himself discharged from the station near midnight of a blowy, tempestuous night, and saw his effects shouldered by a porter, whom he was invited to follow down to the pier, where the funnel of the 'horsetend' or calais boat is moaning dismally. few lights were twinkling in the winding old-fashioned streets; but the near vicinity of ocean was felt uncomfortably in harsh blasts and whistling sounds. the little old harbour, like that of some fishing-place, offered scarcely any room. the much-buffeted steamer lay bobbing and springing at its moorings, while a dingy oil-lamp marked the gangway. a comforting welcome awaited us from some old salt, who uttered the cheering announcement that it was 'agoin' to be a roughish night.' on this night there was an entertainment announced at the 'rooms,' and to pass away the time i looked in. it was an elocutionist one, entitled 'merry-making moments, or, spanker's wallet of varieties,' with a portrait of spanker on the bills opening the wallet with an expression of delight or surprise. this was his 'grand competition night,' when a 'magnificent goblet' was competed for by all comers, which i had already seen in a shop window, a blue ribbon reposing in _dégagé_ fashion across it. if a tumbler of the precious metal could be called a magnificent goblet--it was scarcely bigger--it deserved the title. the poor operator was declaiming as i entered, in unmistakable scotch, the history of 'little breeches,' and giving it with due pathos. i am bound to say that a sort of balcony which hung out at the end was well filled by the unwashed takers, or at least donees, of sixpenny tickets. there was a purpose in this, as will be seen. after being taken through 'the raven,' and 'the dying burglar,' the competition began. this was certainly the most diverting portion of the entertainment, from its genuineness, the eagerness of the competitors, and their ill-disguised jealousy. there were four candidates. a doctor-looking man with a beard, and who had the air either of reading familiar prayers to his household with good parsonic effect, or of having tried the stage, uttered his lines with a very superior air, as though the thing were not in doubt. better than he, however, was one, probably a draper's assistant, who competed with a wild and panting fashion, tossing his arms, now raising, now dropping his voice, and every _h_, too. but a shabby man, who looked as if he had once practised tailoring, next stepped on the platform, and at once revealed himself as the local poet. encouraged by the generous applause, he announced that he would recite some lines 'he 'ad wrote on the great storm which committed such 'avoc on hour pier.' there were local descriptions, and local names, which always touched the true chord. notably an allusion to a virtuous magnate then, i believe, at rest: 'amongst the var'ous noble works, it should be widely known, 'twas william brown' _(applause)_ 'that gave _this_ town the dover's sailors' 'ome!' _(applause)_. need i say that when the votes came to be taken, this poet received the cup? his joy and mantling smiles i shall not forget, though the donor gave it to him with unconcealed disgust; it showed what universal suffrage led to. the doctor and the other defeated candidates, who had been asked to retire to a private room during the process of decision, were now obliged to emerge in mortified procession, there being no other mode of egress. the doctor's face was a study. the second part was to follow. but it was now growing late, and time and mail-packets wait for no man. iii. _the packet._ as i come forth from the elocution contest, i find that night has closed in. not a ripple is on the far-stretching blue waste. from the high cliffs that overhang the town and its amphitheatre can be seen the faintly outlined harbour, where the white-chimneyed packet snoozes as it were, the smoke curling upwards, almost straight. the sea-air blows fresh and welcome, though it does not beat on a 'fevered brow.' there is a busy hum and clatter in the streets, filled with soldiers and sailors and chattering sojourners. now do the lamps begin to twinkle lazily. there is hardly a breath stirring, and the great chalk-cliffs gleam out in a ghostly fashion, like mammoth wave-crests. as it draws on to ten o'clock, the path to the admiralty pier begins to darken with flitting figures hurrying down past the fortress-like lord warden, now ablaze and getting ready its hospice for the night; the town shows itself an amphitheatre of dotted lights--while down below white vapours issue walrus-like from the sonorous 'scrannel-pipes' of the steamer. gradually the bustle increases, and more shadowy figures come hurrying down, walking behind their baggage trundled before them. now a faint scream, from afar off inland, behind the cliffs, gives token that the trains, which have been tearing headlong down from town since eight o'clock, are nearing us; while the railway-gates fast closed, and porters on the watch with green lamps, show that the expresses are due. it is a rather impressive sight to wait at the closed gates of the pier and watch these two outward-bound expresses arrive. after a shriek, prolonged and sustained, the great trains from victoria and ludgate, which met on the way and became one, come thundering on, the enormous and powerful engine glaring fiercely, flashing its lamps, and making the pier tremble. compartment after compartment of first-class carriages flit by, each lit up so refulgently as to show the crowded passengers, with their rugs and bundles dispersed about them. it is a curious change to see the solitary pier, jutting out into the waves, all of a sudden thus populated with grand company, flashing lights, and saloon-like splendour--ambassadors, it may be, generals for the seat of war, great merchants like the rothschilds, great singers or actors, princes, dukes, millionnaires, orators, writers, 'beauties,' brides and bridegrooms, all ranged side by side in those cells, or _vis-à-vis_. that face under the old-fashioned travelling-cap may be that of a prime minister, and that other gentlemanly person a swindling bank-director flying from justice. during the more crowded time of the travelling season it is not undramatic, and certainly entertaining, to stand on the deck of the little boat, looking up at the vast pier and platform some twenty or thirty feet above one's head, and see the flood of passengers descending in ceaseless procession; and more wonderful still, the baggage being hurled down the 'shoots.' on nights of pressure this may take nearly an hour, and yet not a second appears to be lost. one gazes in wonder at the vast brass-bound chests swooping down and caught so deftly by the nimble mariners; the great black-domed ladies' dress-baskets and boxes; american and french trunks, each with its national mark on it. every instant the pile is growing. it seems like building a mansion with vast blocks of stone piled up on each other. hat-boxes and light leather cases are sent bounding down like footballs, gradually and by slow degrees forming the mountain. what secrets in these chests! what tales associated with them! bridal trousseaux, jewels, letters, relics of those loved and gone; here the stately paraphernalia of a family assumed to be rich and prosperous, who in truth are in flight, hurrying away with their goods. here, again, the newly bought 'box' of the bride, with her initials gaudily emblazoned; and the showy, glittering chests of the americans. there is a physiognomy in luggage, distinct as in clothes; and a strange variety, not uninteresting. how significant, for instance, of the owner is the weather-beaten, battered old portmanteau of the travelling bachelor, embrowned with age, out of shape, yet still strong and serviceable!--a business-like receptacle, which, like him, has travelled thousands of miles, been rudely knocked about, weighed, carried hither and thither, encrusted with the badges of hotels as an old vessel is with barnacles, grim and reserved like its master, and never lost or gone astray. now the engines and their trains glide away home. the shadowy figures stand round in crowds. to the reflecting mind there is something bewildering and even mournful in the survey of this huge agglomeration and of its owners, the muffled, shadowy figures, some three hundred in number, grouped together, and who will be dispersed again in a few hours. a yacht-voyage could not be more tranquilly delightful than this pleasant moonlight transit. we are scarcely clear of the twinkling lights of the dover amphitheatre, grown more and more distant, when those of the opposite coast appear to draw near and yet nearer. often as one has crossed, the sense of a new and strange impression is never wanting. the sense of calm and silence, the great waste of sea, the monotonous 'plash' of the paddle-wheels, the sort of solitude in the midst of such a crowd, the gradually lengthening distance behind, with the lessening, as gradual, in front, and the always novel feeling of approach to a new country--these elements impart a sort of dreamy, poetical feeling to the scene. even the calm resignation of the wrapped-up shadows seated in a sort of retreat, and devoted to their own thoughts or slumbers, add to this effect. with which comes the thought of the brave little vessels, which through day and night, year after year, dance over these uncertain waters in 'all weathers,' as it is termed. when the night is black as erebus, and the sea in its fury boiling and raging over the pier, the lord warden with its storm-shutters up, and timid guests removed to more sheltered quarters, the very stones of the pier shaken from their places by the violence of the monster outside--the little craft, wrapping its mantle about its head, goes out fearlessly, and, emerging from the harbour to be flung about, battered with wild fury, forces her way on through the night, which its gallant sailors call, with truth, 'an awful one.' while busy with these thoughts i take note of a little scene of comedy, or perhaps of a farcical kind, which is going on near me, in which two 'harrys' of the purest kind were engaged, and whose oddities lightened the tediousness of the passage. one had seen foreign parts, and was therefore regarded with reverence by his companion. they were promenading the deck, and the following dialogue was borne to me in snatches: first harry (interrogatively, and astonished): 'eh? no! now, really?' second harry: 'oh, lord bless yer, yes! it comes quite easy, you know' (or 'yer know'). 'a little trouble at first; but, lord bless yer' (this benediction was imparted many times during the conversation), 'it ain't such a difficult thing at all.' i now found they were speaking of acquiring the french language--a matter the difficulty of which they thought had been absurdly overrated. then the second harry: 'of course it is! suppose you're in a caffy, and want some wine; you just call to the waiter, and you say--' first harry (who seems to think that the secret has already been communicated): 'dear me; yes, to be sure--to be sure! i never thought of that. a caffy?' second harry: 'oh, lor' bless yer, it comes as easy as--that! well, you go say to the fellow--just as you would say to an english waiter--"_don-ny maw_"--(pause)--"_dee vinne_."' first harry (amazed): 'so _that's_ the way! dear, dear me! vinne!' second harry: 'o' course it is the way! suppose you want yer way to the railway, you just go ask for the "_sheemin--dee--fur_." _fur_, you know, means "rail" in french--_sheemin_ is "the road," you know.' again lost in wonder at the simplicity of what is popularly supposed to be so thorny, the other harry could only repeat: 'so that's it! what is it, again? _sheemin_--' _'sheemin dee fur.'_ later, in the fuss and bustle of the 'eating hall,' this 'harry,' more obstreperous than ever by contact with the foreigners, again attracted my attention. everywhere i heard his voice; he was rampant. 'when the chap laid hold of my bag, "halloo," says i; "hands off, old boy," says i. "'eel fo!" says he. '"eel-pie!" says i. "blow your _fo_," says i, and didn't he grin like an ape? i declare i thought i'd have split when he came again with his "_eel fo_!"' he was then in his element. everything new to him was 'a guy,' or 'so rum,' or 'the queerest go you ever.' one of the two declared that, 'in all his experience and in all his life he had never heard sich a lingo as french;' and further, that 'one of their light porters at bucklersbury would eat half a dozen of them frenchmen for a bender.' this strange, grotesque dialogue i repeat textually almost; and, it may be conceived, it was entertaining in a high degree. _'sheemin dee fur'_ was the exact phonetic pronunciation, and the whole scene lingers pleasantly in the memory. iv. _calais._ but it is now close on midnight, and we are drawing near land; the eye of the french _phare_ grows fiercer and more glaring, until, close on midnight, the traveller finds the blinding light flashed full on him, as the vessel rushes past the wickerwork pier-head. one or two beings, whose unhappy constitution it is to be miserable and wretched at the very whisper of the word 'sea,' drag themselves up from below, rejoicing that here is calais. beyond rises the clustered town confined within its walls. as we glide in between the friendly arms of the openwork pier, the shadowy outlines of the low-lying town take shape and enlarge, dotted with lamps as though pricked over with pin-holes. the fiery clock of the station, that sits up all night from year's end to year's end; the dark figures with tumbrils, and a stray coach waiting; the yellow gateway and drawbridge of the fortress just beyond, and the chiming of _carillons_ in a wheezy fashion from the old watch-tower within, make up a picture. [illustration: hogarth's gate (calais)] [illustration: hall of the staple, (calais)] such, indeed, it used to be--not without its poetry, too; but the old calais days are gone. now the travellers land far away down the pier, at the new-fangled 'calais maritime,' forsooth! and do not even approach the old town. the fishing-boats, laid up side by side along the piers, are shadowy. it seems a scene in a play. the great sea is behind us and all round. it is a curious feeling, thinking of the nervous unrest of the place, that has gone on for a century, and that will probably go on for centuries more. certainly, to a person who has never been abroad, this midnight scene would be a picture not without a flavour of romance. but such glimpses of poetry are held intrusive in these matter-of-fact days. there is more than an hour to wait, whilst the passengers gorge in the huge _salle_, and the baggage is got ashore. so i wander away up to the town. how picturesque that stroll! not wholly levelled are the old yellow walls; the railway-station with its one eye, and clock that never sleeps, opens its jaws with a cheerful bright light, like an inn fire; dark figures in cowls, soldiers, sailors, flit about; curiously-shaped tumbrils for the baggage lie up in ordinary. here is the old arched gate, ditch, and drawbridge; hogarth's old bridge and archway, where he drew the 'roast beef of old england.' passing over the bridge into the town unchallenged, i find a narrow street with yellow houses--the white shutters, the porches, the first glance of which affects one so curiously and reveals france. here is the place of arms in the centre, whence all streets radiate. what more picturesque scene!--the moon above, the irregular houses straggling round, the quaint old town-hall, with its elegant tower, and rather wheezy but most musical chimes; its neighbour, the black, solemn watch-tower, rising rude and abrupt, seven centuries old, whence there used to be strict look-out for the english. down one of these side streets is a tall building, with its long rows of windows and shutters and closed door (quillacq's, now dessein's), once a favourite house--the 'silver lion,' mentioned in the old memoirs, visited by hogarth, and where, twenty years ago, there used to be a crowd of guests. standing in the centre, i note a stray roysterer issuing from some long-closed _café_, hurrying home, while the _carillons_ in their airy _rococo_-looking tower play their melodious tunes in a wheezy jangle that is interesting and novel. this chime has a celebrity in this quarter of france. i stayed long in the centre of that solitary _place_, listening to that midnight music. it is a curious, not unromantic feeling, that of wandering about a strange town at midnight, and the effect increases as, leaving the _place_, i turn down a little by-street--the rue de guise--closed at the end by a beautiful building or fragment, unmistakably english in character. behind it spreads the veil of blue sky, illuminated by the moon, with drifting white clouds passing lazily across. this is the entrance to the hôtel de guise--a gate-tower and archway, pure tudor-english in character, and, like many an old house in the english counties, elegant and almost piquant in its design. the arch is flanked by slight hexagonal _tourelles_, each capped by a pinnacle decorated with niches in front. within is a little courtyard, and fragments of the building running round in the same tudor style, but given up to squalor and decay, evidently let out to poor lodgers. this charming fragment excites a deep melancholy, as it is a neglected survival, and may disappear at any moment--the french having little interest in these english monuments, indeed, being eager to efface them when they can. it is always striking to see this on some tranquil night, as i do now--and calais is oftenest seen at midnight--and think of the earl of warwick, the 'deputy,' and of the english wool-staple merchants who traded here. here lodged henry viii. in ; and twelve years later francis i., when on a visit to henry, took up his abode in this palace. [illustration: belfry, calais.] crossing the _place_ again, i come on the grim old church, built by the english, where were married our own king richard ii. and isabelle of valois--a curious memory to recur as we listen to the 'high mass' of a calais sunday. but the author of 'modern painters' has furnished the old church with its best poetical interpretation. 'i cannot find words,' he says in a noble passage,' to express the intense pleasure i have always felt at first finding myself, after some prolonged stay in england, at the foot of the tower of calais church. the large neglect, the noble unsightliness of it, the record of its years, written so vividly, yet without sign of weakness or decay; its stern vastness and gloom, eaten away by the channel winds, and overgrown with bitter sea-grass. i cannot tell half the strange pleasures and thoughts that come about me at the sight of the old tower.' most interesting of all is the grim, rusted, and gaunt watch-tower, before alluded to, which rises out of a block of modern houses in the _place_ itself. it can be seen afar off from the approaching vessel, and until comparatively late times this venerable servant had done the charity of lighthouse work for a couple of centuries at least. but one of the pleasantest associations connected with the town was the old dessein's hotel, which had somehow an inexpressibly old-fashioned charm, for it had a grace like some disused château. some of the prettiest passages in sterne's writings are associated with this place. we see the figures of the monk, the well-known host, the lady and the _petit-maître_: to say nothing of the old _désobligeante_. even of late years it was impossible to look at the old building, which remained unchanged, without calling up the image of mr. sterne, and the curious airy conversation--sprinkled with what execrable french both in grammar and spelling!--that took place at the gate. an air of the old times pervaded it strongly: it was like opening an old _garde de vin_. you passed out of the _place_ and found yourself in the rue royale--newly named rue leveux--and there, dessein's stood before you, with its long yellow wall, archway and spacious courts, on each side a number of quaint gables or _mansardes_, sharp-roofed. over the wall was seen the foliage of tall and handsome trees. there is a coloured print representing this entrance, with the meeting of the 'little master' and the lady--painted by leslie--and which gives a good idea of the place. in the last century the courtyard used to be filled with posting-carriages, and the well-known _remise_ lay here in a corner. behind the house stretched large, well-stocked gardens, with which the guests at the hotel used to be recreated; while at the bottom of the garden, but opening into another street, was the theatre, built by the original dessein, belonging to the hotel, and still used. this garden was wild and luxuriant, the birds singing, while the courtyard was dusty and weed-grown. this charming picture has ever been a captivating one for the traveller. it seemed like an old country-house transferred to town. there was something indescribable in the tranquil flavour of the place, its yellow gamboge tint alternated with green vineries, its spacious courtyard and handsome chambers. it was bound up with innumerable old associations. thackeray describes, with an almost poetical affection and sympathy, the night he spent there. he called up the image of sterne in his 'black satin smalls,' and talked with him. they used to show his room, regularly marked, as i have seen it, 'sternes's room, no. ,' with its mezzotint, after sir joshua, hung over the chimney-piece. but this tradition received a shock some sixty years since. an inquisitive and sceptical traveller fancied he saw an inscription or date lurking behind the vine-leaves that so luxuriantly covered the old house, and sent up a man on a ladder to clear away the foliage. this operation led to the discovery of a tablet, dated two years too late for the authenticity of the building in which 'sterne's room' was. the waiter, however, in nowise disconcerted, said the matter could be easily 'arranged' by selecting another room in an unquestioned portion of the building! to make up, however, there was a room labelled 'sir walter scott's room,' with his portrait; and of this there could be no reasonable question. +------+ | ad | | | +------+ in later years it did not flourish much, but gently decayed. everything seemed in a state of mild sleepy abandonment and decay till about the year , when the desseins gave over business. the town, much straitened for room, and cramped within its fortifications, had long been casting hungry eyes on this spacious area. strange to say, even in the prosaic pages of our own 'bradshaw,' the epitaph of 'old dessein's' is to be read among its advertisements: 'calais. 'hÔtel dessein.--l. dessein, the proprietor, has the honour to inform his numerous patrons, and travellers in general, that after the st of january his establishment will be transferred to the hôtel quillacq, which has been entirely done up, and will take the name of hÔtel dessein. the premises of the old hôtel dessein having been purchased by the town of calais, it ceases to be an hôtel for travellers.' still, in this new function it was 'old dessein's,' and you were shown 'sterne's room,' etc. i recall wandering through it of a holiday, surveying the usual museum specimens--the old stones, invariable spear-heads, stuffed animals; in short, the usual rather heterogeneous collection, made up of 'voluntary contributions,' prompted half by the vanity of the donor and half by his indifference to the objects presented. we had not, indeed, the 'old pump' or the parish stocks, as at little pedlington, but there were things as interesting. here were a few old pictures given by the government, and labelled in writing; the car of blanchard's balloon, and a cutting from a newspaper describing his arrival; portraits of the 'citizen king' in his white trousers; ditto of napoleon iii., name pasted over; the flagstone, with an inscription, celebrating the landing of louis xviii., removed from the pier--in deference to republican sensitiveness--no doubt to be restored again in deference to monarchical feelings; and, of course, a number of the usual uninteresting cases containing white cards, and much cotton, pins, and insects, stuffed birds, and symmetrically-arranged dried specimens, the invariable indian gourds, and arrows, and moccasins, which 'no gentlemanly collection should be without.' never, during many a visit, did i omit wandering up to see this pleasing, old, but ghostly memorial. it may be conceived what a shock it was when, on a recent visit, i found it gone--razed--carted away. i searched and searched--fancied i had mistaken the street; but no! it was gone for ever. during m. jules ferry's last administration, when the rage for 'communal schools' set in, this tempting site had been seized upon, the interesting old place levelled, and a factory-like red-brick pile rapidly erected in its place. it was impossible not to feel a pang at this discovery; i felt that calais without its dessein's had lost its charm. madame dessein, a grand-niece or nearly-related descendant of _le grand dessein_, still directs at quillacq's--a pleasing old lady. there is still a half hour before me, while the gorgers in 'maritime calais' are busy feeding against time; and while i stand in the _place_, listening to the wheezy old chimes, i recall a pleasant excursion, and a holiday that was spent there, at the time when the annual _fêtes_ were being celebrated. never was there a brighter day: all seemed to be new, and the very quintessence of what was foreign--the gay houses of different heights and patterns were decked with streamers, their parti-coloured blinds, devices, and balconies running round the _place_, and furnishing gaudy detail. here there used to be plenty of movement, when the lafitte diligences went clattering by, starting for paris, before the voracious railway marched victoriously in and swallowed diligence, horses, postilions--bells, boots and all! the gay crowd passing across the _place_ was making for the huge iron-gray cathedral, quite ponderous and fortress-like in its character. here is the grand _messe_ going on, the swiss being seen afar off, standing with his halbert under the great arch, while between, down to the door, are the crowded congregation and the convenient chairs. overhead the ancient organ is pealing out with rich sound, while the sun streams in through the dim-painted glass on the old-fashioned costumes of the fish-women, just falling on their gold earrings _en passant_. there is a dreamy air about this function, which associated itself, in some strange way, with bygone days of childhood, and it is hard to think that about two or three hours before the spectator was in all the prose of london. for those who love novel and picturesque memories or scenes, there are few things more effective or pleasant to think of than one of these sunday mornings in a strange unfamiliar french town, when every corner, and every house and figure--welcome novelty!--are gay as the costumes and colours in an opera. the night before it was, perhaps, the horrors of the packet, the cribbing in the cabin, the unutterable squalor and roughness of all things, the lowest depth of hard, ugly prose, together with the rudest buffeting and agitation, and poignant suffering; but, in a few hours, what a 'blessed' change! now there is the softness of a dream in the bright cathedral church crowded to the door, the rites and figures seen afar off, the fuming incense, the music, the architecture! during these musings the fiercely glaring clock warns me that time is running out; but a more singular monitor is the great lighthouse which rises at the entrance of the town, and goes through its extraordinary, almost fiendish, performance all the night long. this is truly a phenomenon. lighthouses are usually relegated to some pier-end, and display their gyrations to the congenial ocean. but conceive a monster of this sort almost _in_ the town itself, revolving ceaselessly, flashing and flaring into every street and corner of a street, like some patagonian policeman with a giant 'bull's-eye.' a more singular, unearthly effect cannot be conceived. wherever i stand, in shadow or out of it, this sudden flashing pursues me. it might be called the 'demon lighthouse.' for a moment, in picturesque gloom, watching the shadows cast by the hogarthian gateway, i may be thinking of our great english painter sitting sketching the lean frenchwomen, noting, too, the portal where the english arms used to be, when suddenly the 'demon lighthouse' directs his glare full on me, describes a sweep, is gone, and all is dark again. it suggests the policeman going his rounds. how the exile forced to sojourn here must detest this obtrusive beacon of the first class! it must become maddening in time for the eyes. even in bed it has the effect of mild sheet-lightning. municipality of calais! move it away at once to a rational spot--to the end of the pier, where a lighthouse ought to be. v. _tournay._ but now back to 'maritime calais,' down to the pier, where a strange busy contrast awaits us. all is now bustle. in the great 'hall' hundreds are finishing their 'gorging,' paying bills, etc., while on the platform the last boxes and chests are being tumbled into the waggons with the peculiar tumbling, crashing sound which is so foreign. guards and officials in cloaks and hoods pace up and down, and are beginning to chant their favourite '_en voiture, messieurs_!' soon all are packed into their carriages, which in france always present an old-fashioned mail-coach air with their protuberant bodies and panels. by one o'clock the signal is given, the lights flash slowly by, and we are rolling away, off into the black night. 'maritime calais' is left to well-earned repose; but for an hour or so only, until the returning mail arrives, when it will wake up again--a troubled and troublous nightmare sort of existence. now for a plunge into cimmerian night, with that dull, sustained buzz outside, as of some gigantic machinery whirling round, which seems a sort of lullaby, contrived mercifully to make the traveller drowsy and enwrap him in gentle sleep. railway sleeping is, after all, a not unrefreshing form of slumber. there is the grateful 'nod, nod, nodding,' with the sudden jerk of an awakening; until the nodding becomes more overpowering, and one settles into a deep and profound sleep. ugh! how chilly it gets! and the machinery--or is it the sea?--still roaring in one's ear. what, stopping! and by the roadside, it seems; the day breaking, the atmosphere cold, steel-blue, and misty. rubbing the pane, a few surviving lights are seen twinkling--a picture surely something moslem. for there, separated by low-lying fields, rise clustered byzantine towers and belfries, with strangely-quaint german-looking spires of the nuremberg pattern, but all dimly outlined and mysterious in their grayness. there was an extraordinary and original feeling in this approach: the old fortifications, or what remained of them, rising before me; the gloom, the mystery, the widening streak of day, and perfect solitariness. as i admired the shadowy belfry which rose so supreme and asserted itself among the spires, there broke out of a sudden a perfect _charivari_ of bells--jangling, chiming, rioting, from various churches, while amid all was conspicuous the deep, solemn boom! boom! like the slow baying of a hound. it is five o'clock, but it might be the middle of the night, so dark is it. this magic city, which seems like one of those in albert dürer's cuts, rises at a distance as if within walls. i stand in the roadside alone, deserted, the sole traveller set down. the train has flown on into the night with a shriek. the sleepy porter wonders, and looks at me askance. as i take my way from the station and gradually approach the city--for there is a broad stretch between it and the railway unfilled by houses--i see the striking and impressive picture growing and enlarging. the jangling and the solemn occasional boom still go on: meant to give note that the day is opening. nothing more awe-inspiring or poetical can be conceived than this 'cock-crow' promenade. here are little portals suddenly opening on the stage, with muffled figures darting out, and worthy belgians tripping from their houses--betimes, indeed--and hurrying away to mass. thus to make the acquaintance of that grandest and most astonishing of old cathedrals, is to do so under the best and most suitable conditions: very different from the guide and cicerone business, which belongs to later hours of the day. i stand in the open _place_, under its shadow, and lift my eyes with wonder to the amazing and crowded cluster of spires and towers: its antique air, and even look of shattered dilapidation showing that the restorer has not been at his work. there was no smugness or trimness, or spick-and-spanness, but an awful and reverent austerity. and with an antique appropriateness to its functions the flemish women, crones and maidens, all in their becoming cashmere hoods, and cloaks, and neat frills, still hurry on to the old dom. near me rose the antique _beffroi_, from whose jaws still kept booming the old bell, with a fine clang, the same that had often pealed out to rouse the burghers to discord and tumult. it pealed on, hoarse and even cracked, but persistently melodious, disregarding the contending clamours of its neighbours, just as some old baritone of the opera, reduced and broken down, will exhibit his 'phrasing'--all that is left to him. quaint old burgher city, indeed, with the true flavour, though beshrew them for meddling with the fortifications! that little scene in this _place_ of tournay is always a pleasant, picturesque memory. i entered with the others. within the cathedral was the side chapel, with its black oak screen, and a tawny-cheeked belgian priest at the altar beginning the mass. scattered round and picturesquely grouped were the crones and maidens aforesaid, on their wicker-chairs. a few surviving lamps twinkled fitfully, and shadowy figures crossed as if on the stage. but aloft, what an overpowering immensity, all vaulted shadows, the huge pillars soaring upward to be lost in a cimmerian gloom! around me i saw grouped picturesquely in scattered order, and kneeling on their _prie-dieux_, the honest burghers, women and men, the former arrayed in the comfortable and not unpicturesque black flemish cloaks with the silk hoods--handsome and effective garments, and almost universal. the devotional rite of the mass, deeply impressive, was over in twenty minutes, and all trooped away to their daily work. there was a suggestion here, in this modest, unpretending exercise, in contrast to the great fane itself, of the undeveloped power to expand, as it were, on sundays and feast-days, when the cathedral would display all its resources, and its huge area be crowded to the doors with worshippers, and the great rites celebrated in all their full magnificence. behind the great altar i came upon an imposing monument, conceived after an original and comprehensive idea. it was to the memory of _all the bishops and canons_ of the cathedral! this wholesale idea may be commended to our chapters at home. it might save the too monotonous repetition of recumbent bishops, who, after being exhibited at the academy, finally encumber valuable space in their own cathedrals. the suggestiveness of the great bell-tower, owing to the peculiar emphasis and purpose given to it, is constantly felt in the old belgian cities. it still conveys its old antique purpose--the defence of the burghers, a watchful sentinel who, on the alarm, clanged out danger, the sound piercing from that eyry to the remotest lane, and bringing the valiant citizens rushing to the great central square. it is impossible to look up at one of these monuments, grim and solitary, without feeling the whole spirit of the belgian history, and calling up philip van artevelde and the ghentish troubles. in the smaller cities the presence of this significant landmark is almost invariable. there is ever the lone and lorn tower, belfry, or spire painted in dark sad colours, seen from afar off, rising from the decayed little town below; often of some antique, original shape that pleases, and yet with a gloomy misanthropical air, as of total abandonment. they are rusted and abrased. from their ancient jaws we hear the husky, jangling chimes, musical and melancholy, the disorderly rambling notes and tunes of a gigantic musical box. towards the close of some summer evening, as the train flies on, we see the sun setting on the grim walls of some dead city, and on the clustered houses. within the walls are the formal rows of trees planted in regimental order which fringe and shelter them; while rises the dark, copper-coloured tower, often unfinished and ragged, but solemn and funereal, or else capped by some quaint lantern, from whose jaws presently issue the muffled tones of the chimes, halting and broken, and hoarse and wheezy with centuries of work. often we pass on; sometimes we descend, and walk up to the little town and wander through its deserted streets. we are struck with wonder at some vast and noble church, cathedral-like in its proportions, and nearly always original--such variety is there in these antique belgian fanes--and facing it some rustic mouldering town-hall of surprising beauty. there are a few little shops, a few old houses, but the generality have their doors closed. there is hardly a soul to be seen, certainly not a cart. there are innumerable dead cities of this pattern. coming out, i find it broad day. a few natives with their baskets are hurrying to the train. i note, rising above the houses, two or three other solemn spires and grim churches, which have an inexpressibly sad and abandoned air, from their dark grimed tones which contrast with the bright gay hues of the modern houses that crowd upon them. there is one grave, imposing tower, with a hood like a monk's. then i wander to the handsome triangle-shaped _place_, with its statue to margaret of parma--erst governor of the netherlands, and whose memory is regarded with affection. here is the old belfry, which has been so clamorous, standing apart, like those of ghent, dunkirk, and a few other towns; an effective structure, though fitted by modern restorers with an entirely new 'head'--not, however, ineffective of its kind. the day is now fairly opened. there is a goodly muster of market-women and labourers at the handsome station, which, like every station of the first rank in belgium, bears its name 'writ large.' it is just striking five as we hurry away, and in some half an hour we arrive at orchies--one of those new spick-and-span little towns, useful after their kind, but disagreeable to the æsthetic eye. everything here is of that meanest kind of brick, 'pointed,' as it is called, with staring white, such as it is seen in the smaller belgian stations. feeling somewhat degraded by this contact, i was glad to be hurried away, and within an hour find we are approaching one of the greater french cities. vi. _douai._ now begin to flit past us signs unmistakable of an approaching fortified town. here are significant green banks and mounds cut to angles and geometrical patterns, soft and enticing, enriched with luxuriant trees, but treacherous--smiling on the confiding houses and gardens which one day may be levelled at a few hours' notice. next come compact masses of vauban brick, ripe and ruddy, of beautiful, smooth workmanship; stately military gateways and drawbridges, with a patch of red trousering--a soldier on his fat normandy 'punch' ambling lazily over; and the peaceful cart with its flemish horses. the brick-work is sliced through, as with a cheese-knife, to admit the railway, giving a complete section of the work. we are, in short, at one of the great _places fortes_ of france, douai, where the curious traveller had best avoid sketching, or taking notes--a serious offence. here i lingered pleasantly for nearly three hours, and, having duly breakfasted, noted its air of snug comfort and prosperity. there is here a famous arsenal--ever busy--one of the most important in france, and it has besides some welcome bits of artistic architecture. it was when wandering down a darkish street, that i came on a most original building, the old _mairie_, enriched with a belfry of delightfully graceful pattern. it might be a problem how to combine a bell-tower with offices for municipal work, and we know in our land how such a 'job' would be carried out by 'the architect to the board.' but all over flemish france and belgium proper we find an inexhaustible fancy and fertility in such designs. it is always difficult to describe architectural beauties. this had its tower in the centre, flanked by two short wings. everything was original--the disposition of the windows, the air of space and largeness. yet the whole was small, i note that in all these flemish bell-towers, the topmost portion invariably develops into something charmingly fantastic, into cupolas and short, little galleries and lanterns superimposed, the mixture of solidity and airiness being astonishing. it is appropriate and fitting that this grace should attend on what are the sweetest musical instruments conceivable. mr. haweis, who is the poet of flemish bells, has let us into the secret. 'the fragment of aërial music,' he tells us, 'which floats like a heavenly sigh over the belgian city and dies away every few minutes, seems to set all life and time to celestial music. it is full of sweet harmonies, and can be played in pianoforte score, treble and bass. after a week in a belgian town, time seems dull without the music in the air that mingled so sweetly with all waking moods without disturbing them, and stole into our dreams without troubling our sleep. i do not say that such carillons would be a success in london. in belgium the towers are high above the towns--antwerp, mechlin, bruges--and partially isolated. the sound falls softly, and the population is not so dense as in london. their habit and taste have accustomed the citizens to accept this music for ever floating in the upper air as part of the city's life--the most spiritual, poetical, and recreative part of it. nothing of the kind has ever been tried in london. the crashing peals of a dozen large bells banged violently with clapper instead of softly struck with hammer, the exasperating dong, or ding, dong, of the ritualist temple over the way, or the hoarse, gong-like roar of big ben--that is all we know about bells in london, and no form of church discipline could be more ferocious. bell noise and bell music are two different things.' this fanciful tower had its four corner towerlets, suggesting the old burly scotch pattern, which indeed came from france; while the vane on the top still characteristically flourishes the national flemish lion. most bizarre, not to say extravagant, was the great cathedral, which was laid out on strange 'lines,' having a huge circular chapel or pavilion of immense height in front, whose round roof was capped by a vast bulbous spire, in shape something after the pattern of a gigantic mangel-wurzel! this astonishing decoration had a quaint and extraordinary effect, seen, as it was, from any part of the city. next came the nave, whilst the transepts straggled about wildly, and a gigantic fortress-like tower reared itself from the middle. correct judges will tell us that all this is debased work, and 'corrupt style;' but, nevertheless, i confess to being both astonished and pleased. this was the great festival of the _corpus domini_, and, indeed, already all available bells in the place had been jangling noisily. it was now barely seven o'clock, yet on entering the vast nave i found that the 'grand mass' had begun, and the whole was full to the door, while in the great choir were ranged about a hundred young girls waiting to make their first communion. a vast number of gala carriages were waiting at the doors to take the candidates home, and for the rest of the day they would promenade the city in their veils and flowers, receiving congratulations. there was a pleasant provincial simplicity in all this and in all that followed, which brought back certain old sundays of a childhood spent on a hill overlooking havre. i liked to see the stout red-cheeked choristers perspiring with their work, and singing with a rough stentoriousness, just as i had seen them in the village church of sanvic. and there was the organist playing away at his raised seat in the body of the church, as if in a pew, visible to the naked eye of all; while two cantors in copes clapped pieces of wood together as a signal for the congregation to kneel or rise. most quaint of all were the surpliced instrumentalists with their braying bassoon and ophicleide: not to forget the double-bass player who 'sawed' away for the bare life of him. the ever visible organist voluntarized ravishingly and in really fine style. i should like to have heard him at his own proper instrument, aloft, in the gallery yonder, quite an enormous structure of florid pipes in stories and groups, with angels blowing trumpets and flying saints. it seemed like the stern of one of the armada vessels. how he would have made the pillars quiver! how the ripe old notes would have _twanged_ and brayed into the darkest recesses! the mass being over, the swiss, a tall, fierce fellow, arrayed in a feathered cocked-hat, rich _scarlet_ regimentals and boots, now showed an extra restlessness. the bishop of douai, a smooth, polished prelate, began his sermon, which he delivered from a chair, in clear tones and good elocution. when the ceremonies were over, the whole congregation gathered at the door to see the young ladies taken away by their friends. then i resumed my exploring. on a cheerful-looking _place_, which, with its trees and kiosque, recalled the _place verte_ at antwerp, i noticed a large building of the pattern so common in france for colleges and convents--a vast expanse of whiteness or blankness, and a yet vaster array of long windows. it appeared to be a cavalry barrack for soldiers. the bugles sounded through the archway, and orderlies were riding in and out. this monotonous building, i found, had once been the english college for priests, where the celebrated douai or douay bible had been translated. this rare book--a joy for the bibliophile--was published about , and, as is well known, was the first catholic version in english of the scriptures. here, then, was the cradle of millions of copies distributed over the face of the earth. it was a curious sensation to pass by this homely-looking edifice, with the adjoining chapel, as it appeared to be--now apparently a riding-school. i also came upon many a fine old spanish house, and toiled down in the sun to the rue des foulons, where there were some elaborate specimens. short as had been my term of residence, i somehow seemed to know douai very well. i had gathered what is called 'an idea of the place.' its ways, manners, and customs seemed familiar to me. so i took my way from the old town with a sort of regret, having seen a great deal. vii. _arras._ it is just eleven o'clock, and here we are coming to a charming town, which few travellers have probably visited, and of which that genial and experienced traveller, charles dickens, wrote in astonished delight, and where in he spent his birthday. 'here i find,' he says, 'a grand _place_, so very remarkable and picturesque, that it is astonishing how people miss it.' this is old arras; and i confess it alone seems worth a long day's, not to say night's, journey, to see. it is fortified, and, as in such towns, we have to make our way to it from the station by an umbrageous country road; for it is fenced, as a gentleman's country seat might be, and strictly enclosed by the usual mounds, ditches, and walls, but all so picturesquely disguised in rich greenery as to be positively inviting. even low down in the deep ditches grew symmetrical avenues of straight trees, abundant in their leaves and branches, which filled them quite up. the gates seem monumental works of art, and picturesque to a degree; while over the walls--and what noble specimens of brickwork, or tiling rather, are these old vauban walls!--peep with curious mystery the upper stories and roofs of houses with an air of smiling security. i catch a glimpse of the elegant belfry, the embroidered spires, and mosque-like cupolas, all a little rusted, yet cheerful-looking. dickens's _place_, or two _places_ rather--for there is the greater and the less--display to us a really lovely town-hall in the centre, the roof dotted over with rows of windows, while an airy lace-work spire, with a ducal crown as the finish, rises lightly. on to its sides are encrusted other buildings of renaissance order, while behind is a mansion still more astonishingly embroidered in sculptured stone, with a colonnade of vast extent. around the _place_ itself stretches a vast number of spanish mansions, with the usual charmingly 'escalloped' roof, all resting on a prolonged colonnade or piazza, strange, old-fashioned, and original, running round to a vast extent, which the sensible town has decreed is never to be interfered with. a more pleasing, refreshing, and novel collection of objects for the ordinary traveller of artistic taste to see without trouble or expense, it would be impossible to conceive. yet everyone hurries by to see the somewhat stale glories of ghent and brussels. [illustration: arras.] there was a general fat contented air of _bourgeois_ comfort about the sleepy old-fashioned, handsome prefecture--in short, a capital background for the old provincial life as described by balzac. but the _place_, with its inimitable spanish houses and colonnades--under which you can shop--and that most elegant of spires, sister to that of antwerp, which it recalls, will never pass from the memory. a beautiful object of this kind, thus seen, is surely a present, and a valuable one too. a spire is often the expression of the whole town. how much is suggested by the well-known, familiar cathedral spire at antwerp, as, of some fresh morning, we come winding up the tortuous scheldt, the sad, low-lying plains and boulders lying on either hand, monotonous and dispiriting, yet novel in their way; the cream-coloured, lace-worked spire rising ever before us in all its elegant grace, pointing the way, growing by degrees, never for an instant out of sight. it seems a fitting introduction to the noble, historical, and poetical city to which it belongs. it _is_ surely antwerp! we see charles v., and philip, and the exciting troubles of the gueux, the dutch, the flemings, the argosies from all countries in the great days of its trade. such is the mysterious power of association, which it ever exerts on the 'reminiscent.' how different, and how much more profitable, too, is this mode of approaching the place, than the other more vulgar one of the railway terminus, with the cabs and omnibuses waiting, and the convenient journey to the hotel. these old cities--lille, douai, and valenciennes--all boast their gateways, usually named after the city to which the road leads. thus we have 'porte de paris,' 'porte de lille,' etc. i confess to a deep interest in all gateways of this kind; they have a sort of poetry or romance associated with them; they are grim, yet hospitable, at times and seasons having a mysterious suggestion. there are towns where the traveller finds the gate obdurately closed between ten o'clock at night and six in the morning. these old gates have a state and flamboyant majesty about them, as, in lille, the porte de paris is associated with the glories of louis xiv.; while in douai there is one of an old pattern--it is said of the thirteenth century--with curious towers and spires. even at calais there is a fine and majestic structure, 'porte de richelieu,' on the town side, through which every market cart and carriage used to trundle. there are florid devices inscribed on it; but now that the walls on each side are levelled, this patriarchal monument has but a ludicrous effect, for it is left standing alone, unsupported and purposeless. the carts and tramcars find their way round by new and more convenient roads made on each side. how pleasant is that careless wandering up through some strange and unfamiliar place, led by a sort of instinct which habit soon furnishes! in some of the french 'guides,' minute directions are given for the explorer, who is bidden to take the street to right or to left, after leaving the station, etc. but there is a piquancy in this uncertainty as compared with the odious guidance of the _laquais de place_. i loathe the tribe. here was to be clearly noted the languid, lazy french town where nothing seemed to be doing, but everyone appeared to be comfortable--'the fat, contented, stubble goose'--another type of town altogether from your thriving lilles and rouens. the pleasure in surveying this extraordinary combination of beautiful objects, the richness and variety of the work, the long lines broken by the charming and, as they are called, 'escalloped' gables, the spanish balconies, the pillars, light and shade, and shops, made it almost incredible that such a thing was to be found in a poor obscure french town, visited by but few travellers. on market-day, when the whole is filled up with country folks, their wares and their stalls sheltered from the sun by gaily-tinted awnings, the bustle and glinting colours, and general _va et vient_, impart a fitting dramatic air. then are the old spanish houses set off becomingly. this old town has other curious things to exhibit, such as the enormous old abbey of st. vaast--with its huge expansive roof, which somehow seems to dominate the place, and thrusts forward some fragment or other--where a regiment might lodge. its spacious gardens are converted to secular uses. then i find myself at the old-new cathedral, begun about a century ago, and finished about fifty years since--a 'poorish' heartless edifice in the bald italian manner, and quite unsuited to these old flemish cities. i come out on a terrace with a huge flight of steps which leads to a lower portion of the city. this, indeed, leads down from the _haute_ to the _basse ville_; and it is stated that a great portion of this upper town is supported upon catacombs or caves from which the white stone of the belfry and town-hall was quarried. it is a curious feeling to be shown the house in which robespierre was born, which, for the benefit of the curious it may be stated, is to be found in the rue des rapporteurs, close to the theatre. arras was a famous jacobin centre, and from the balcony of this theatre, lebon, one of the jacobins, directed the executions, which took place abundantly on the pretty _place_. [illustration: bethune.] thus much, then, for arras, where one would have liked to linger, nay, to stay a week or a few days. but this wishing to stay a week at a picturesque place is often a dangerous pitfall, as the amiable charles collins has shown in his own quaint style. has anyone, he asks, ever, 'on arriving at some place he has never visited before, taken a sudden fancy to it, committed himself to apartments for a month certain, gone on praising the locality and all that belongs to it, ferreting out concealed attractions, attaching undue importance to them, undervaluing obvious defects: has he gone on in this way for three weeks,' or rather three days, 'out of his month, then suddenly broken down, found out his mistake, and pined in secret for deliverance?' so it would be, as i conceive, at bruges, or perhaps at st. omer. there you indeed appreciate the dead-alive city 'in all its quiddity.' but a few days in a 'dead-alive' city, were it the most picturesque in the world, would be intolerable. by noon, when the sun has grown oppressively hot, i find myself set down at a sort of rural town, once flourishing, and of some importance--bethune. a mile's walk on a parched road led up the hill to this languishing, decayed little place. it had its forlorn omnibus, and altogether suggested the general desolation of, say, peterborough. had it remained in flemish hands, it would now have been flourishing. i doubt if any english visitor ever troubles its stagnant repose. yet it boasts its 'grand' _place_, imposing enough as a memorial of departed greatness, and, as usual, a flemish relic, in the shape of a charming belfry and town-hall combined. it was really truly 'fantastical' from the airiness of its little cupolas and galleries, and was in tolerable order. like the old calais watch-tower, it was caked round by, and embedded in, old houses, and had its four curious gargoyles still doing work. on this 'grand' _place_ i noticed an old house bearing date ' ,' and some wonderful feats in the way of red-tiled roofing, of which there were enormous stretches, all narrow, sinuous, and suggesting nuremberg. i confess to having spent a rather weary hour here, and sped away by the next train. viii. _lille._ two o'clock. we are on the road again; the sun is shining, and we are speeding on rapidly--changing from flanders to france--which is but an hour or so away. here the bright day is well forward. now the welcome fat flemish country takes military shape, for here comes the scarp, the angled ditch, the endless brick walling and embankment--a genuine fortified town of the first class--lille. here, too, many travellers give but a glance from the window and hurry on. yet an interesting place in its way. its bright main streets seem as gay and glittering as those of paris, with the additional air of snug provincial comfort. to one accustomed for months to the solemn sobriety of our english capital, with its work-a-day, not to say dingy look, nothing is more exhilarating or gay than one of these first-class french provincial towns, such as marseilles, bordeaux, or this lille. there is a glittering air of substantial opulence, with an attempt--and a successful one--at fine boulevards and fine trees. the approach to lille recalled the protracted approach to some great english manufacturing town, the tall chimneys flying by the carriage-windows a good quarter of an hour before the town was reached. a handsome, rich, and imposing city, though content to accept a cast-off station from paris, as a poor relative would accept a cast-off suit of clothes. the fine façade was actually transported here stone by stone, and a much more imposing one erected in its place. the prevailing one-horse tram-cars seem to suit the flemish associations. the belgians have taken kindly and universally to them, and find them to be 'exactly in their way.' the fat flemish horse ambles along lazily, his bells jingling. no matter how narrow or winding the street, the car threads its way. the old burgher of the middle ages might have relished it. the old disused town-hall is quaint enough with its elaborately-carved _façade_, with a high double roof and dormers, and a lantern surmounting all. a bit of true 'low-countries' work; but one often forgets that we are in french flanders. entertaining hours could be spent here with profit, simply in wandering from spot to spot, eschewing the 'town valet' and professional picture guide. it is an extraordinary craze, by the way, that our countrymen will want always 'to see the pictures,' as though that were the object of travelling. [illustration: bourse. lille.] one gazes with pleasure and some surprise at its handsome streets, where everyone seems to live and thrive. there is a general air of opulence. the new streets, built under the last empire on the paris model, offer the same rich and effective detail of gilded inscriptions running across the houses, balconies and flowers, with the luxurious _cafés_ below, and languid _flaneurs_ sitting down to their _absinthe_ or coffee among the orange-trees. these imposing mansions, built with judicious loans--the 'obligations of the city of lille' are quoted on the exchanges--are already dark and rusted, and harmonize with the older portions. at every turn there is a suggestion of brussels, and nowhere so much as on the fine _place_, where the embroidered old spanish houses aforesaid are abundant. the old cathedral, imposing with its clustered apses and great length and loftiness, and restored façade, would be the show of any english town. the lillois scarcely appreciate it, as a few years ago they ordered a brand-new one from 'messrs. clutton and burgess, of london,' not yet complete, and not very striking in its modern effects and decorations. these vast old churches of the fourth or fifth class are always imposing from their size and pretensions and elaborateness of work, and are found in france and belgium almost by the hundred. and so i wander on through the showy streets, thinking what stirring scenes this complacent old city has witnessed, what tale of siege and battle--spaniard, frenchman, and fleming, louis the great, the refuge of louis xviii. after his flight. all the time there is the pleasant musical jangle going on of tramcars below and bell-chimes aloft. but of all things in lille, or indeed elsewhere, there is nothing more striking than the old bourse--the great square venerable block, blackened all over with age, its innumerable windows, high roof, and cornices, all elaborately and floridly wrought in decayed carvings. with this dark and venerable mass is piquantly contrasted the garish row of glittering shops filled with gaudy wares which forms the lowest story. within is the noble court with a colonnade of pillars and arches in the florid spanish style; in the centre a splendid bronze statue of the first napoleon in his robes, which is so wrought as to harmonize admirably with the rest. in the same congenial spirit--a note of belgian art which is quite unfamiliar to us--the walls of the colonnade are decorated with memorials of famous 'stock exchange' worthies and merchants, and nothing could be more skilful than the enrichment of these conventional records, which are made to harmonize by florid rococo decorations with the spanish _genre_ and encrusted with bronzes and marbles. this admirable and original monument is in itself worth a journey to see. who has been at commines? though we are all familiar enough with the name of philip of 'that ilk.' i saw how patriarchal life must be at commines from a family repairing thither, who filled the whole compartment. this was a lady arrayed in as much jet-work as she could well carry, and who must have been an admirable _femme de ménage_, for she brought with her three little girls, and two obstreperous boys who kept saying every minute 'maman!' in a sort of whine or expostulation, and two _aides-de-camp_ maids in spotless fly-away caps. with these assistants she was on perfect terms, and the maids conversed with her and dissented from her opinions on the happiest terms of equality. when taking my ticket i was asked to say would i go to commines in france or to commines in belgium, for it seems that, by an odd arrangement, half the town is in one country and half in the other! each has a station of its own. this curious partition i did not quite comprehend at first, and i shall not forget the indignant style in which, on my asking 'was this the french commines,' i was answered that '_of course_ it was commines in belgium.' here was yet another piquant bell-tower seen rising above trees and houses, long before we even came near to it. i was pursued by these pretty monuments, and i could hear this one jangling away musically yet wheezily. it is past noon now as we hurry by unfamiliar stations, where the invariable _abbé_ waits with his bundle or breviary in hand, or peasant women with baskets stand waiting for other trains. there is a sense of melancholy in noting these strange faces and figures--whom you thus pass by, to whom you are unknown, whom you will never see again, and who care not if you were dead and buried. (and why should they?) then we hurry away northwards. ix. _ypres._ as the fierce heat of the sun began to relax and the evening drew on--it was close on half-past six o'clock--we found ourselves in belgium once more. suddenly, on the right, i noted, with some trees interposed, a sort of clustered town with whitened buildings, which suggested forcibly the view of an english cathedral town seen from the railway. the most important of the group was a great tower with its four spires. i knew instinctively that this was the famous old town-hall, the most astonishing and overpowering of all belgian monuments. here we halted half an hour. the sun was going down; the air was cool; and there was that strange tinge of sadness abroad, with which the air seems to be charged towards eventide, as we, strangers and pilgrims in a foreign country, look from afar off at some such unfamiliar objects. there were a number of flemings here returning from some meeting where they had been contending at their national game--shooting at the popinjay. near to every small town and village i passed, i had noted an enormously tall white post with iron rods projecting at the top. this was the target, and it was highly amusing and characteristic to watch these burghers gathered round and firing at the bird or some other object on the top. now they were all returning carrying their bows, and in high good-humour. a young and rubicund priest was of the party, regarded evidently with affection and pride by his companions; for all that he seemed to say and do was applauded, and greeted with obstreperous flemish laughter. when an old woman came to offer cakes from her basket for sale, he convulsed his friends by facetious remarks as he made his selection from the basket, depreciating or criticizing their quality with sham disgust, delighting none so much as the venerable vendor herself. every one wore a curious black silk cap, as a gala headpiece. when they had gone their way, i set off on mine up to the old town. the approach was encouraging. a grand sweep faced me of old walls, rusted, but stout and vigorous, with corner towers rising out of a moat; then came a spacious bridge leading into a wide, encouraging-looking street of sound handsome houses. but, strange! not a single cab, restaurant, or hotel--nay, hardly a soul to be seen, save a few rustics in their blouses! it was all dead! i walked on, and at an abrupt turn emerged on the huge expanse of the _place_, and was literally dumbfoundered. now, of all the sights that i have ever seen, it must be confessed that this offered the greatest surprise and astonishment. it was bewildering. on the left spread away, almost a city itself, the vast, enormous town-hall--a vista of countless arches and windows, its roof dotted with windows, and so deep, expansive, and capacious that it alone seemed as though it might have lodged an army. in the centre rose the enormous square tower--massive--rock-like--launching itself aloft into gothic spires and towers. all along the sides ran a perspective of statues and carvings. this astonishing work would take some minutes of brisk motion to walk down from end to end. it is really a wonder of the world, and, in the phrase applied to more ordinary things, 'seemed to take your breath away.' it is the largest, longest, most massive, solid, and enduring thing that can be conceived. it has been restored with wonderful care and delicacy. by one of the bizarre arrangements--not uncommon in flanders--a building of another kind, half italian, with a round arched arcade, has been added on at the corner, and the effect is odd and yet pleasing. behind rises a grim crag of a cathedral--solemn and mysterious--adding to the effect of this imposing combination, a sort of gloomy shadow overhanging all. the church, on entering, is found overpowering and original of its kind, with its vast arches and massive roof of groined stone. truly an astonishing monument! the worst of such visits is that only a faint impression is left: and to gather the full import of such a monument one should stay for a few days at least, and grow familiar with it. at first all is strange. every portion claims attention at once; but after a few visits the grim old monument seems to relax and become accessible; he lets you see his good points and treasures by degrees. but who could live in a dead city, even for a day? having seen these two wonders, i tried to explore the place, which took some walking, but nothing else was to be found. its streets were wide, the houses handsome--a few necessary shops; but no cabs--no tramway--no carts even, and hardly any people. it was dead--all dead from end to end. the strangest sign of mortality, however, was that not a single restaurant or house of refection was to be found, not even on the spacious and justly called _grande place_! one might have starved or famished without relief. nay, there was hardly a public-house or drinking-shop. [illustration: ypres] however, the great monument itself more than supplied this absence of vitality. one could never be weary of surveying its overpowering proportions, its nobility, its unshaken strength, its vast length, and flourishing air. yet how curious to think that it was now quite purposeless, had no meaning or use! over four hundred feet long, it was once the seat of bustle and thriving business, for which the building itself was not too large. the hall on the ground seems to stretch from end to end. here was the great mart for linens--the _toiles flamandes_--once celebrated over europe. now, desolate is the dwelling of morna! a few little local offices transact the stunted shrunken local business of the place; the post, the municipal offices, each filling up two or three of the arches, in ludicrous contrast to the unemployed vastness of the rest. it has been fancifully supposed that the name diaper, as applied to linens, was supplied by this town, which was the seat of the trade, and _toile d'ypres_ might be supposed, speciously enough, to have some connection with the place. x. _bergues._ but _en route_ again, for the sands are fast running out. old fortified towns, particularly such as have been protected by 'the great vauban,' are found to be a serious nuisance to the inhabitants, however picturesque they may seem to the tourist; for the place, constricted and wrapped in bandages, as it were, cannot expand its lungs. many of the old fortressed towns, such as ostend, courtrai, calais, have recently demolished their fortifications at great cost and with much benefit to themselves. there is something picturesque and original in the first sight of a place like arras, or st. omer, with the rich and lavish greenery, luxuriant trees, banks of grass by which the 'fosse' and grim walls are masked. others are of a grim and hostile character, and show their teeth, as it were. dunkirk, a fortress of the 'first class,' fortified on the modern system, and therefore to the careless spectator scarcely appearing to be fortified at all--is a place of such extreme platitude, that the belated wayfarer longs to escape almost as soon as he arrives. there is literally nothing to be seen. but a few miles away, there is to be found a place which will indemnify the disgusted traveller, viz., bergues. as the train slackens speed i begin to take note of rich green banks with abundant trees planted in files, such as uncle toby would have relished in his garden. there is the sound as of passing over a military bridge, with other tokens of the fortified town. there it lies--close to the station, while the invariable belfry and heavy church rise from the centre, in friendly companionship. i have noted the air of sadness in these lone, lorn monuments, which perhaps arises from the sense of their vast age and all they have looked down upon. men and women, and houses, dynasties and invaders, and burgomasters, have all passed away in endless succession; but _they_ remain, and have borne the buffetings of storms and gales and wars and tumults. as we turn out of the station, a small avenue lined with trees leads straight to the entrance. the bright snowy-looking _place_ basks in the setting sun, while the tops of the red-tiled roofs seem to peep at us over the walls. at the end of the avenue the sturdy gateway greets us cheerfully, labelled 'porte de biene,' flanked by two short and burly towers that rise out of the water; while right and left, the old brick walls, red and rusted, stretch away, flanked by corner towers. the moat runs round the whole, filled with the usual stagnant water. i enter, and then see what a tiny compact little place it is--a perfect miniature town with many streets, one running round the walls; all the houses sound and compact and no higher than two stories, so as to keep snug and sheltered under the walls, and not draw the enemy's fire. the whole seems to be about the size of the green park at home, and you can walk right across, from gate to gate, in about three minutes. it is bright, and clean 'as a new pin,' and there are red-legged soldiers drumming and otherwise employed. almost at once we come on the _place_, and here we are rewarded with something that is worth travelling even from dover to see. there stands the old church, grim, rusted, and weather-beaten, rising in gloomy pride, huge enough to serve a great town; while facing it is the belfry before alluded to, one of the most elegant, coquettish, and original of these always interesting structures. the amateur of flemish architecture is ever prepared for something pleasing in this direction, for the variety of the belfries is infinite; but this specimen fills one with special delight. it rises to a great height in the usual square tower-shape, but at each corner is flanked by a quaint, old-fashioned _tourelle_ or towerlet, while in the centre is an airy elegant lantern of wood, where a musical peal of bells, hung in rows, chimes all day long in a most melodious way. each of these towerlets is capped by a long, graceful peak or minaret. this elegant structure has always been justly admired by the architect, and in the wonderful folio of etchings by coney, done more than fifty years ago, will be found a picturesque and accurate sketch. [illustration: bergues.] it seemed a city of the dead. now rang out the husky tinkling of the chimes which never flag, as in all flemish cities, day or night. it supplies the lack of company, and has a comforting effect for the solitary man. from afar off comes occasionally the sound of the drum or the bugle, fit accompaniment for such surroundings. at the foot of the belfry was an antique building in another style, with a small open colonnade, which, though out of harmony, was still not inappropriate. the only thing jarring was a pretentious modern town-hall, in the style of one of our own vestry buildings, 'erected out of the rates,' and which must have cost a huge sum. it was of a genteel italian aspect, so it is plain that french local administrators are, in matters of taste, pretty much as such folk are with us. one could have lingered long here, looking at this charming and graceful work, which its surroundings became quite as much as it did its surroundings. while thus engaged it was curious to find that not a soul crossed the _place_. indeed, during my whole sojourn in the town, a period of about half an hour, i did not see above a dozen people. there were but few shops; yet all was bright, sound, in good condition. there was no sign of decay or decaying; but all seemed to sleep. it was a french 'dead city.' but it surely lives and will live, by its remarkable bell tower, which at this moment is chiming away, with a melodious huskiness, its gay tunes, repeated every quarter of an hour, while as the hour comes round there breaks out a general and clamorous _charivari_. xi. _st. omer._ after leaving this wonderful place, i was now speeding on once more back into france. in all these shifts and changes the _douanier_ farce was carefully gone through. i was regularly invited to descend, even though baggageless, and to pass through the searching-room, making heroic protest as i did so that '_i had nothing to declare_.' it was easy to distinguish the two nations in their fashion of performing this function, the french taking it _au sérieux_, and going through it histrionically, as it were; the belgian being more careless and good-natured. there lingers still the habit of 'leading' or _plombé_-ing a clumsy, troublesome relic of old times. such small articles as hat-cases, hand-bags, etc., are subjected to it; an officer devoted to the duty comes with a huge pair of 'pincers' with some neat little leaden discs, which he squeezes on the strings which have tied up the article. now we fly past the flourishing poperinghe--a bustling, thriving place, out of which lift themselves with sad solemnity a few tall iron-gray churches, and another--yet one more--elegant belfry. there seems something quaint in the name of poperinghe, though it is hardly so grotesque as that of another town i passed by, 'bully greny.' as this long day was at last closing in, i noticed from the window a bright-looking town nestling, as it were, in rich green velvet and dark plantation, with a bright, snug-looking gate, drawbridge, etc. one of these gates was piquant enough, having a sort of pavilion perched on the top. here there was a quaint sort of 'surprise' in a clock, the hours of which are struck by a mechanical figure known to the town as 'mathurin.' there was something very tempting in the look of the place, betokening plenty of flowers and shaded walks and umbrageous groves. most conspicuous, however, was the magnificent abbey ruin, suggesting fountains abbey, with its tall, striking, and wholly perfect tower. this is the abbey of st. bertin, one of the most striking and almost bewildering monuments that could be conceived. i look up at the superb tower, sharp in its details, and wonder at its fine proportions; then turn to the ruined aisles, and with a sort of grief recall that this, one of the wonders of france, had been in perfect condition not a hundred years ago, and at the time of the revolution had been stripped, unroofed, and purposely reduced to its present condition! this disgrace reflects upon the jacobins--goths and vandals indeed. the streets of this old town, as it is remarked by one of the guide books, 'want animation'--an amiable circumlocution. nothing so deserted or lonely can be conceived, and the phenomenon of 'grass literally growing in the streets' is here to be seen in perfection. there appeared to be no vehicles, and the few shops carry on but a mild business. a few english families are said to repair hither for economy. i recognise a peculiar shabby shooting-coat which betokens the exile, accounted for by the pathetic fact that he clings to his superannuated garment, long after it is worn out, for the reason that it 'was made in london.' there is a rich and beautiful church here--notre dame--with a deeply embayed porch full of lavish detail. here, too, rises the image of john kemble, who actually studied for the priesthood at the english college. by this time the day has gone, and darkness has set in. it is time to think of journeying home. yet on the way to calais there are still some objects to be seen _en passant_. most travellers are familiar with hazebrouck, the place of 'bifurcation,' a frontier between france and belgium. yet this is known for a church with a most elegant spire rising from a tower, but of this we can only have a glimpse. and, on the road to bergues, i had noted that strange, german-named little town--cassel--perched on an umbrageous hill, which has its quaint mediæval town-hall. but i may not pause to study it. the hours are shrinking; but little margin is left. by midnight i am back in calais once more, listening to its old wheezy chimes. it seems like an old friend, to which i have returned after a long, long absence, so many events have been crowded into the day. it still wants some interval to the hour past midnight, when the packet sails. xii. _st. pierre les calais._ as i wandered down to the end of the long pier, which stretched out its long arm, bent like an elbow, looking, like all french piers, as if made of frail wickerwork, i thought of a day, some years ago, when that eminent inventor, bessemer, conceived the captivating idea of constructing a steamboat that should abolish sea-sickness for ever! the principle was that of a huge swinging saloon, moved by hydraulic power, while a man directed the movement by a sort of spirit-level. previously the inventor had set up a model in his garden, where a number of scientists saw the section of a ship rocking violently by steam. i recall that pleasant day down at denmark hill, with all the engineers assembled, who were thus going to sea in a garden. a small steam-engine worked the apparatus--a kind of a section of a boat--which was tossed up and down violently; while in the centre was balanced a small platform, on which we experimenters stood. on large tables were laid out the working plans of the grand bessemer steamship, to be brought out presently by a company. a year and more passed away, the new vessel was completed, and nearly the same party again invited to see the result, and make trial of it. i repaired with the rest. nothing more generous or hospitable could be conceived. there was to be a banquet at calais, with a free ticket on to paris. it was a gloomy iron-gray morning. the strange outlandish vessel, which had an engine at each end, was crowded with _connoisseurs_. but i was struck with the figure of the amiable and brilliant inventor, who was depressed, and received the premature congratulations of his friends somewhat ruefully. we could see the curious 'swinging saloon' fitted into the vessel, with the ingenious hydraulic leverage by which it could be kept nicely balanced. but it was to be noted that the saloon was braced firmly to the sides of its containing vessel; in fact, it was given out that, owing to some defect in its mechanism, the thing could not be worked that day. nothing could be handsomer than this saloon, with its fittings and decorations. but, strange to say, it was at once seen that the principle was faulty, and the whole impracticable. it was obvious that the centre of gravity of so enormous a weight being brought to the side would imperil the stability of the vessel. the bulk to be moved was so vast, that it was likely to get out of control, and scarcely likely to obey the slight lever which worked it. there were many shakings of the engineering heads, and some smiles, with many an '_i told you so_.' even to the outsiders it seemed utopian. however, the gloomy voyage was duly made. one of the most experienced captains known on the route, captain pittock, had been chosen to pilot the venture. he had plainly a distrust of his charge and the new-fangled notion. soon we were nearing calais. here was the lighthouse, and here the two embracing arms of the wickerwork pier. i was standing at the bows, and could see the crowds on the shore waiting. suddenly, as the word was given to starboard or 'port,' the malignant thing, instead of obeying, took the reverse direction, and bore straight _into_ the pier on the left! down crashed the huge flag-staff of our vessel in fragments, falling among us--and there were some narrow escapes. she calmly forced her way down the pier for nearly a hundred yards, literally crunching and smashing it up into fragments, and sweeping the whole away. i looked back on the disastrous course, and saw the whole clear behind us! as we gazed on this sudden wreck, i am ashamed to say there was a roar of laughter, for never was a _surprise_ of so bewildering a character sprung upon human nature. the faces of the poor captain and his sailors, who could scarcely restrain their maledictions on the ill-conditioned 'brute,' betrayed mortification and vexation in the most poignant fashion. the confusion was extraordinary. she was now with difficulty brought over to the other pier. this, though done ever so gently, brought fresh damage, as the mere contact crunched and dislocated most of the timbers. the ill-assured party defiled ashore, and we made for the banqueting-room between rows of half-jeering, half-sympathizing spectators. the speakers at the symposium required all their tact to deal with the disheartening subject. the only thing to be done was to 'have confidence' in the invention--much as a gladstonian in difficulty invites the world to 'leave all to the skill of our great chief.' but, alas! this would not do just now. the vessel was, in fact, unsteerable; the enormous weight of the engines at the bows prevented her obeying the helm. the party set off to paris--such as were in spirits to do so--and the shareholders in the company must have had aching hearts enough. some years later, walking by the thames bank, not far from woolwich, i came upon some masses of rusted metal, long lying there. there were the huge cranks of paddle-wheels, a cylinder, and some boiler metal. these, i was informed, were the fragments of the unlucky steamship that was to abolish sea-sickness! as i now walked to the end of the solitary pier--the very one i had seen swept away so unceremoniously--the recollection of this day came back to me. there was an element of grim comedy in the transaction when i recalled that the calais harbour officials sent in--and reasonably--a huge claim for the mischief done to the pier; but the company soon satisfied _that_ by speedily going 'into liquidation.' there was no resource, so the frenchmen had to rebuild their pier at their own cost. close to calais is a notable place enough, flourishing, too, founded after the great war by one webster, an english laceman. it has grown up, with broad stately streets, in which, it is said, some four or five thousand britons live and thrive. as you walk along you see the familiar names, 'smith and co.,' 'brown and co.,' etc., displayed on huge brass plates at the doors in true native style. indeed, the whole air of the place offers a suggestion of belfast, these downright colonists having stamped their ways and manners in solid style on the place. poor old original calais had long made protest against the constriction she was suffering; the wall and ditch, and the single gate of issue towards the country, named after richelieu, seeming to check all hope of improvement. reasons of state were urged. but a few years ago government gave way, the walls towards the country-side were thrown down, the ditch filled up, and some tremendous 'navigator' work was carried out. the place can now draw its breath. on my last visit i had attended the theatre, a music-hall adaptable to plays, concerts, or to 'les meetings.' it was a new, raw place, very different from the little old theatre in the garden of dessein's, where the famous duchess of kingston attended a performance over a hundred and twenty years ago. this place bore the dignified title of the 'hippodrome theatre,' and a grand 'national' drama was going on, entitled 'the cuirassier of reichshofen.' here we had the grand tale of french heroism and real victory, which an ungenerous foe persisted in calling defeat. a gallant frenchman, who played the hero, had nearly run his daring course, having done prodigies of valour on that fateful and fatal day. the crisis of the drama was reached almost as i entered, the cuirassier coming in with his head bound up in a bloody towel! after relating the horrors of that awful charge in an impassioned strain, he wound up by declaring that _'he and death'_ were the only two left upon the field! it need not be said there were abundant groans for the germans and cheers for the glorious frenchmen. now at last down to the vessel, as the wheezy chimes give out that it is close on two o'clock a.m. all seems dozing at 'maritime calais.' the fishing-boats lie close together, interlaced in black network, snoozing, as it were, after their labours. afar off the little town still maintains its fortress-like air and its picturesque aspect, the dark central spires rising like shadows, the few lights twinkling. the whole scene is deliciously tranquil. the plashing of the water seems to invite slumber, or at least a temporary doze, to which the traveller, after his long day and night, is justly entitled. how strange those old days, when the exiles for debt abounded here! they were in multitudes then, and had a sort of society among themselves in this alsatia. that gentleman in a high stock and a short-waisted coat--the late mr. brummell surely, walking in this direction? is he pursued by this agitated crowd, hurrying after him with a low roaring, like the sound of the waves?... * * * * * i am roused up with a start. what a change! the whole is alive and bustling, black shadowy figures are hurrying by. the white-funnelled steamer has come up, and is moaning dismally, eager to get away. behind is the long international train of illuminated chambers, fresh from paris and just come in, pouring out its men and women, who have arrived from all quarters of the world. they stream on board in a shadowy procession, laden with their bundles. lower down, i hear the _crashing_ of trunks discharged upon the earth! i go on board with the rest, sit down in a corner, and recall nothing till i find myself on the chill platform of victoria station--time, six o'clock a.m. it was surely a dream, or like a dream!--a dream a little over thirty hours long. and what strange objects, all blended and confused together!--towers, towns, gateways, drawbridges, religious rites and processions, pealing organs and jangling chimes, long dusty roads lined with regimental trees, blouses, fishwomen's caps, _sabots_, savoury and unsavoury smells, france dissolving into belgium, belgium into france, france into belgium again; in short, one bewildering kaleidoscope! a day and two nights had gone, during all which time i had been on my legs, and had travelled nigh six hundred miles! dream or no dream, it had been a very welcome show or panorama, new ideas and sights appearing at every turn. and here is my little _'orario'_: o'clock. . victoria, depart . . dover, arrive . " depart . . calais, arrive . " depart . . tournay, arrive . " depart . . orchies, arrive . " depart . . douai, arrive . " depart . . arras, arrive . " depart . . bethune, arrive . " depart . . lille, arrive . " depart . . comines, arrive . " depart . . ypres . . hazebrouck . . cassel . . bergues, arrive . " depart . . st. omer . . calais . . dover . . victoria . time on journey hours this, of course, is more than a day, but it will be seen that eight hours were spent on english soil, and certainly nearly twelve in inaction. the end. billing and sons, printers, guildford. [illustration: pears' soap a specialty for children] _the story of bruges_ 'i do love these ancient ruins; we never tread upon them but we set our foot upon some reverend history.' _duchess of malfi._ _all rights reserved._ [illustration] _the story of_ bruges _by ernest gilliat-smith illustrated by edith calvert and herbert railton_ [illustration] _london: j. m. dent & sons, ltd. aldine house, and bedford street covent garden w.c._ _ _ _first edition, july . second edition, october . third edition, december . fourth edition, november ._ preface few great mediæval towns possess so many memorials of the past, alike in masonry and on parchment, as does 'the ancient town of bruges.' they have been indited by the patience of the scribe in breviary and in charter-roll; they have been perpetuated by the art of the painter, in gold and glowing tones, in portrait and in altar-piece; they have been graven with an iron pen in wood and metal and stone; they have been handed down by word of mouth through countless generations. the municipal rolls go back to the year , and included amongst them are the annual accounts of the city from to , almost complete; those of the collegiate church of _notre dame_ to early in the eleven hundreds; and there are, too, the rolls of _st. sauveur_, of the old cathedral of st. donatian, of the great abbey of dunes, and of many other time-honoured corporations; whilst the municipal library and the library of the diocesan seminary contain together, no less than seven hundred and thirty-four manuscripts, not a few of which were written in the city itself or in its immediate neighbourhood. there are buildings in bruges which carry us back to the days of baldwin bras de fer, perhaps to a still more remote period; four of the seven parish churches date from the twelve hundreds; the oldest of the civic monuments to at latest , and from this epoch until the close of the middle age almost every year is marked by the erection of stately edifices, of which very many have come down to us. lack of material will not hamper the future historian of bruges, for the history of bruges has yet to be written. the present work lays no claim to such title. it is but a bare outline, a mere sketch, and in this it resembles, in some degree, the beautiful map at the end of the volume, and many of the illustrations by which the book is adorned. the artists who designed these fascinating pictures have succeeded by means of a few skilful touches in laying before us a faithful reflection of the beauty of bruges, and, following in their footsteps, i, too, have essayed to render my story of the men who created it alike faithful and picturesque. if my efforts have not been crowned with the same measure of success, the fault lies not in the material, but rather in the manner in which it has been handled; for the life's story of the builders of bruges is no less marvellous and no less alluring than are the monuments which they reared. e. g.-s. bruges, _june _. contents chapter i page _the first flemings_ chapter ii _earliest bruges_ chapter iii _arnulph the great_ chapter iv _progress of the city_ chapter v _the murder of charles the good_ chapter vi _vengeance_ chapter vii _bruges in the days of charles the good_ chapter viii _william cliton_ chapter ix _dierick of alsace and the precious blood_ chapter x _philip of alsace and the charter of the franc_ chapter xi _baldwin of constantinople_ chapter xii _the love story of bourchard d'avesnes_ chapter xiii _the french annexation_ chapter xiv _peter de coninck_ chapter xv _the battle of the golden spurs_ chapter xvi _the great charter_ chapter xvii _louis of nevers_ chapter xviii _louis of maele_ chapter xix _bruges under the princes of the house of burgundy_ chapter xx _the great humiliation_ chapter xxi _the terrible duke and his gentle daughter_ chapter xxii _the final catastrophe_ chapter xxiii _the architects and architecture of bruges in the fifteenth century_ chapter xxiv _the painters and the pictures of bruges in the fifteenth century_ chapter xxv _modern bruges_ index genealogical tables page _i. table of the counts of flanders from baldwin i. to baldwin v. facing_ _ii. table of the counts of flanders from baldwin v. to baldwin vii. facing_ _iii. table of the counts of flanders from baldwin viii. to guy de dampierre facing_ _iv. table of the counts of flanders from guy de dampierre to marguerite of maele facing_ _v. table of the counts of flanders from philippe le hardi to philippe le beau facing_ illustrations page _the belfry of bruges (photogravure) frontispiece_ _godshuis on the quai vert_ _view of the quai vert_ _palais du franc and the hôtel de ville from river_ _the crypt of st. basil's_ _the church of notre dame_ _charles the good (from an old bruges print)_ _angle of the rue de l'ane aveugle_ _the porch of notre dame_ _a renaissance gable_ _hôtel de ville and chapel of the holy blood_ _the minne water bridge and round tower_ _baptistry chapel in the crypt of st. basil's_ _porch of the chapel of st. basil_ _godshuis in the rue du marécage_ _the palais du franc_ _interior of notre dame_ _hospital of st. john and south aisle of notre dame_ _the beguinage, with tower of notre dame_ _old houses on the roya_ _a fourteenth century chimney_ _thirteenth-century iron gates in belfry_ _madonna and niche_ _maele castle_ _the hôtel de ville_ _porte de gand_ _old houses at damme_ _the church of st. sauveur_ _the lepers' hospital, marché au fil_ _old roofs below the belfry_ _the belfry from the quai vert_ _porte des baudets_ _hôtel gruthuise_ _kitchen in gruthuise_ _chimney-piece in the gruthuise palace_ _the 'paradise' of notre dame and gruthuise_ _hooded fire-place in the gruthuise_ _tribune of the gruthuise in notre dame_ _the hôtel bladelin_ _the ghistelhof_ _courtyard of the hôtel adornes_ _tomb of anselm adornes_ _van oudvelde's window by the pont flamand_ _quai du rosaire_ _guild hall of archers of st. sebastian_ _portrait of george van der pale_ _gerard david's 'baptism of christ'_ _memlinc's 'adoration of the magi'_ _memlinc's 'st. john the baptist'_ _memlinc's 'st. veronica'_ _bruges from the river yperlet_ _godshuis, quai des marbriers_ _lancelot blondeel's chimney-piece in the palais du franc_ _the vlissinghe tavern, frequented by rubens_ _quai des ménétriers_ _pont st. augustin_ _plan of bruges facing_ [illustration: bruges] the story of bruges chapter i _the first flemings_ it is not to the stalwart celtic tribes which cæsar found scattered about the low-lying sandy plain which stretches along the coast from the mouth of the rhine to the canche that this part of europe owes either its name or its greatness. the menapii and the morini, the bravest of them all and the last to withstand the roman legions, were at length compelled to bend their necks beneath the yoke of rome's enervating and effete civilization, and when, four centuries later, a whirlwind of northern barbarism had swept the land, only a handful of them, sparsely scattered, abject, cringing, hidden away in forest and marsh, were left to tell the tale. the civilization of rome had been clean wiped out in that quarter of europe. silence unbroken settled down on the land, and for two hundred years the latin-celts of the netherlands slipped out of the world's memory. it was not until the middle of the six hundreds that men began once more to think of them. the cause of their reappearance upon the stage of european history is chronicled for us in a contemporary life of st. amand, bishop of bourges.[ ] it happened in this wise. towards the close of the year , amand, who had journeyed to rome, was one day praying before the tomb of the apostles, when suddenly he heard the voice of st. peter bidding him be up and return to gaul, where he must preach the gospel. so impressed was he with the reality of the warning, that he at once set out for the northern province, and presently reached sens. here he was told that there was a country beyond the scheldt called gand, where dwelt a wild people who had forgotten god, and who worshipped trees, and that so rude was this land, and so fierce were its inhabitants, that no missionary had hitherto ventured there. this must be the field, said amand, which st. peter would have me till, and with a small band of companions he landed on the further bank of the scheldt. the reception the new comers met with was not one calculated to inspire confidence. the natives, men and women alike, showed unmistakable signs of hostility, and at length, in a wild outburst, seized upon amand himself and plunged him into the stream. this so terrified his companions that they, all of them, drew back in fear of their lives. but amand, nothing daunted, went on with the work he had undertaken, and in course of time won the confidence of the natives, many of whom he baptized. for thirty years he wandered up and down this forlorn district, enduring all manner of hardships, preaching and teaching wherever he went. presently he was joined by other missionaries. here and there churches and monasteries were built. the land around soon began once more to be brought under cultivation, and, beneath the shelter of their walls, villages and little towns gradually sprung up. bruges, st. omer, thorhout, tronchienne, each of them claims as its founder one or other of the missionaries who at this time were evangelizing the country; and at bruges they still show the rude chapel on the banks of the roya in which st. amand baptized his first neophytes. it was not, however, to this remnant of resuscitated celts that the netherlands owed the important part they played later on in the civilization of europe. a race ignorant alike of the refinement and the corruption of roman civilization, and which, because it was barbarous itself, had never had its spirit crushed beneath the heel of barbarism, a race which hailed from the same fatherland from whence came our own ancestors, akin to them in habit of thought and speech and blood, animated by the same intense passion for liberty and hatred of servitude, by the same reverence for woman and love of home, by the same keen admiration for the brave and the true, was destined to build up that marvellous stronghold of mediæval freedom, culture and commercial enterprise called fleanderland, the land that is of the fleming, of the exile, the land whose hospitable shore had given to the victorious viking a haven for his ships and a foot or two of solid earth on which to pitch his tent. how or when the first flemings came here are subjects wrapt in mystery. perhaps the same upheaval which, in the middle of the four hundreds, drove our own saxon forefathers from their old homes in jutland and friesland and sleswicke-holstein to seek new homes in britain, impelled also the saxon flemings to the northern shore of gaul. be this as it may, all along the coast line of the netherlands were scattered, at a very early date, settlements of men of saxon origin, of this there can be no doubt, who possessed in a very marked degree the qualities and characteristics of their race. they were chaste, proud, daring, avaricious, given to plunder. mutual responsibility was the basis of their social system; the karl, or free land-holder, the pivot on which hinged their entire political organization. like all saxons, they had a horror of slavery. courage for them was the queen of virtues; freedom dearer than life; vengeance but the cultus of filial piety, and family ties the most sacred of all. these were the dominant tones which coloured all their institutions. at the uproarious banquets at which in fleanderland, as elsewhere, the karls assembled to deliberate on public affairs, to choose their leaders, and deposit in a common hoard the _gulden_ destined for an insurance fund in case of shipwreck, fire or storm, the first goblet drained was in honour of woden, for victory, and the last to the memory of those heroes who had fallen on the battlefield. when, after the carnage of _fontanet_ (a.d. ) all europe was overrun by robber bands, who killed, burnt and harried at will, in those rude days when 'not to be slain,' as stendhal says, 'and to have in winter a good leathern jerkin, and,' in the case of a woman, not to be violated by a whole squadron, was, for very many, the supreme sum of human happiness, and all the world were seeking in feudalism a refuge from anarchy such as this, and patiently accepting even the right of _marquette_ as something less horrible than the horrors which they would otherwise have to endure,[ ] these hardy sons of the north, almost alone among the peoples of europe, retained their independence. again and again the feudal lords endeavoured to reduce them to serfdom, and again and again their endeavour proved abortive. in fleanderland at least they preserved their liberty, living under their own laws and their own elected chiefs; a nation of free men, practically independent of the sovereigns who nominally ruled over them, until, at all events, the advent of the house of burgundy. of this stock was the real founder of bruges--baldwin of the iron hand--first count of flanders. his coming was in this wise. it was the time of the break up of charlemagne's artificial empire--a.d. --and strong men on all sides were gathering up the fragments and laying the foundations of great houses, sometimes of kingdoms. the danes were everywhere harrying neustria, and the old frank king, charles the bald, unable to purchase peace by the strength of his own arm, was buying it at the best markets he could, with gold and concessions. guntfried and gosfried, two northern chieftains, had lately sworn him fealty, and for the moment were exercising paramount influence over the feeble will of their lord, whilst rotbert, surnamed _le fort_, an adventurer of obscure origin whom people had lately begun to talk about, was at this time the strongest man along loire, a freebooter, as some said, from the forests of germany, in whose veins ran the blood of charlemagne himself, according to others, the son of a butcher from the shambles of paris, matter of little moment. in days when a mighty hand and an outstretched arm alone could lead to fortune, his reputation for strength of will and thew was of far greater importance. this man, then, it were politic to bind to the crumbling fortunes of the royal house, so thought guntfried and gosfried, in all singleness of heart, and at their instigation king charles the bald consented to receive his homage, little thinking that he was thereby laying the foundations of a house which would one day wreck his dynasty. but the new vassal was something more than a strong man, he was a man, too, of tact and address, and his influence soon became so great, and the favours showered on him so large, that guntfried and gosfried, jealous of the rival whom they themselves had set up, determined to compass his overthrow. to this end, supported by louis, son of charles the bald, and by judith, his beautiful and accomplished daughter, they called to their assistance the flemish chief, baldwin, son of odoaker, a man of whose antecedents we know nothing. judith was at this time one of the most remarkable women in europe. her career had been a strange and a stormy one. first married, in his old age and as his second wife, to our own king ethelwolf of wessex, it was to judith, his step-mother, that alfred the great was indebted for his earliest training. when ethelwolf died she had contracted an alliance with ethelbald, a son of the old king by a former marriage, and upon his death in she retired to senlis, where she was living in queenly state under the sovereign protection of its bishops when baldwin saw her, became enamoured of her beauty, and it would seem, with her own connivance, carried her off for his bride. king charles was holding his court at soissons when the news of the abduction and of his son's confederacy with guntfried and gosfried reached his ears, and furious at the disregard shown to his parental authority, he acted, for once, with energy and decision. summoning the nobles of his court to his presence forthwith, he pronounced judgment against the culprits in accordance with civil law, next obtained from his complaisant bishops their excommunication, and marching in person against the two conspiring vassals, surprised them at meaux, and forced them to lay down their arms. the plot then had for the moment failed. baldwin and judith fled to the court of lothaire, and from thence to rome, where they sought the aid of that sturdy old pontiff, nicholas ii. nor did they seek in vain. 'your liegeman baldwin,' he wrote to the king of france, 'has taken refuge at the sacred threshold of the blessed apostles peter and paul, and with earnest prayers has approached our pontifical throne. 'we therefore, from the summit of our apostolic power, beseech you for the love of our lord jesus christ and of his apostles peter and paul, whose support baldwin has preferred to that of earthly princes, vouchsafe to grant him your pardon and to completely overlook his offence, in order that, supported by your goodness, he may live in peace along with your other faithful subjects; moreover, when we ask your sublimity to forgive him, we are not only moved thereto by reason of the charity we owe to all those who implore the pity and protection of the apostolic see, but we are impelled likewise by fear lest your anger should drive baldwin to ally himself with the danes, the enemies of holy church, and thus prepare new evils for the people of god.' this effusion, however, does not seem to have made much impression on charles, and the following year pope nicholas wrote again, and with vigour. '"consider the times," says the apostle, "for evil days are at hand," and i say unto you that the danger which he announces is already at your door. see to it, then, that you do not bring down upon your head disasters yet more terrible. have sufficient good sense to master your spleen, and be not for ever deaf to baldwin.' at length, not without reluctance, and less from love of his daughter than from fear of his redoubtable son-in-law and the danes, charles yielded to the pope's request. on the th of october , he received judith at his palace at verberie, and shortly afterwards her union with baldwin was celebrated with great splendour at auxerre. but though charles had consented to acknowledge the marriage, no argument could induce him to be present at the ceremony by which it was made legal. 'i could not persuade the king,' runs the letter in which archbishop hincmar of rheims recounts to pope nicholas the whole affair, and hincmar had probably at this time more influence with charles than anyone else, 'i could not persuade the king to go in person to the wedding, but he sent his ministers and officers of state, and in compliance with your request has conferred the highest honours on baldwin.' thanks, then, to the intervention of the pope, the main object which guntfried and gosfried had in view was at length obtained. whilst rotbert, who had been successively created count of anjou and abbot of tours, was consolidating his power on the banks of the loire, baldwin was being invested with still greater authority over the northern 'marches,' in the vicinity of the lys and the scheldt. the first was the founder of the royal house of france, the second the ancestor to whom all the counts of flanders traced their descent. chapter ii _earliest bruges_ from a very early date, perhaps since the time of the romans, there had stood some nine leagues west of ghent, on a small, oblong-shaped island, formed by the confluence of the boterbeke with an elbow of the roya, and a deep, broad moat which united the two streams, a fortified camp or castle surrounded by a handful of cottages. hard-by on the mainland, near the spot where the rivers met, stood a small, ancient sanctuary, which tradition said st. amand had built, and further up stream, on the banks of the boterbeke, a larger church dedicated to the saviour, and said to be the handiwork of st. eloi. this place, perhaps from the _brugge_ or heather which surrounded it, perhaps from the _brigge_ or bridge by which it was approached, was called brugge or bruggestock or bruggeswelle--a lonely, desolate place hemmed in by forest and marsh, and, from the nature of its site, well calculated to form a stronghold against the danes. moved by this consideration, hither came baldwin and judith when they had made their peace with the irascible king charles, determined to make brugge the headquarters of their government and their principal abode. a felicitous choice of residence destined to be fruitful in results. thanks to it, we shall see the tumbled-down ruins of bruggestock develop later on into that wondrous conglomeration of picturesque civic splendour--rival, in its heyday, of venice, alike in commerce and in treasures of art, and in glory of piled-up brick, which later generations called bruges, the queen of the north. before going further, let us linger awhile over the brugge of baldwin's day. the old fortress which he found there was built on an oblong-shaped island. the river roya, which enclosed it on two sides (those facing s.e. and n.e.), still runs in its ancient bed; it flows alongside of that pleasant lime grove, which some old burgomaster of a hundred years ago planted in front of that unlovely terrace of substantial, comfortable-looking eighteenth-century _bourgeois_ homes which goes by the name of the dyver. soon, however, after the bend of the stream, the roya now burrows underground, vaulted over in the seventeenth century, and wends its subterranean course along the south-west side of the _place du bourg_, under government house, and at the back of the houses which line the east side of the _rue flamande_, and comes once more into daylight just opposite the old academy in the _place des biscayens_. as to the boterbeke--the stream which formed the north-west boundary of the old bourg, its course has long since been diverted, and it now only skirts the city. it formerly entered bruges beyond the station, near the spot where the old bouverie gate stood forty years ago, crept along near the cathedral, down the _rue du vieux bourg_, beneath the belfry, built on piles thrust into its bed, and finally mingled its waters with those of the roya at the corner of the _rue breidal_. the moat which formed the south-western boundary of the old bourg has also been filled in, and the present _rue neuve_ is built over its ancient bed. of the actual buildings which baldwin found at brugge, it is doubtful whether any remain. possibly the baptistry chapel, in the rear of the chapel of st. basil, is of the date which tradition claims for it, and, if so, it may perhaps be identified with st. amand's chapel on the banks of the roya, but recent expert investigation makes it almost certain that this portion of the chapel of st. basil dates from the same epoch as the rest of the building, and that baldwin, bras de fer, was himself its founder. st. eloi's church of our lady occupied the site of the present cathedral, but of the original structure no vestige remains, save perhaps the lower portion of the tower, and even this is doubtful. the old bourg itself had fallen into such a state of decay when baldwin first came to bruges, that he did not dare deposit there the relics of st. donatian which had been given to him by archbishop ebber of rheims, but sent them for safe keeping to his castle at thorhout, about three leagues south of bruges, until the new bourg which he was building should be ready to receive them. the old fortress was never restored, but its stones were used later on during the reign of baldwin ii. for the construction of a wall round the city, and of this wall no vestige remains. baldwin's new bourg was built on an island formed by a backwater of the roya--an irregular-shaped strip of land of considerably smaller dimensions than the island of the old bourg. the backwater in question branched off at right angles to the main stream, and running for a short distance straight on, presently turned sharp round to the left, at a little beyond the site of the present fish market; and then gradually curved round till it again met the river at the corner of the _grand' place_, and of the _rue philipstock_. [illustration: view of the quai vert] the course of this backwater has long since been entirely changed. running on in a straight line past the fish market, it now empties itself into the _grand coupure_, and is one of the most picturesque waterways in bruges. along the right bank of this beautiful stream, going towards the great canal, runs a towing-path, well shaded with poplar trees and limes, and fringed on the side with some delightful old gabled houses, and by [illustration: palais du franc and the hôtel de ville from river] others less interesting and of more recent date. but it is the left bank which gives the stream its greatest charm, for here, at the angle where the backwater turns off from the main stream, stand certain phlegmatic municipal offices of the last century, laving their feet in the water--comfortable-looking, old-fashioned red-brick buildings which, somehow or other, 'the golden stain of time' has managed to make beautiful. behind them soar the high-pitched roofs and dormer windows of an old city hall, whose pinnacles and turrets and spires give play to light and shade, and break up the sky line. hard-by, at the end of a narrow street which runs back from the water, behold a rival of the bridge of sighs, and in a gilded gatehouse without gates, the marriage of the middle age and the renaissance, and to the right, quaint, venerable and picturesque in weather-beaten brick, the palace of the liberty of bruges, and further still, a vista of old homes, and shady lawns, and overhanging trees and bridges, hunch-backed and of ancient date. but to return to baldwin's bourg, the castle itself--a spacious and strongly-fortified building, which stood on ground now occupied by the palais de justice, the hotel de ville, and the unsightly modern erections on the east side of the square--included within its precincts not only baldwin's own residence, but the residence of the châtelains or viscounts of bruges, the _ghistelhaus_ where hostages were lodged, the court chapel and the court prison; opposite this group of buildings on the north side, that is, of the bourg, stood a sanctuary dedicated to our lady, which baldwin had founded to receive the relics of st. donatian, and further on the cloisters of the priests who served it. the whole island was encircled by a strong and lofty wall, pierced by four great gateways, each one protected by a portcullis and a drawbridge, which were the only means of communication with the outer world. such was the citadel reared on the banks of the roya by the father and founder of bruges. of his handiwork only a fragment has come down to us, but a fragment so perfect, that as one enters the gloomy crypt beneath the chapel of the precious blood, the mind is involuntarily carried back to the time when baldwin and his family worshipped there, a thousand years ago. [illustration: the crypt of st. basil's] clustering around baldwin's great fortress were the houses and huts and hovels of such members of the sovereign's household as were unable to find lodgings within the bourg, of the purveyors who catered for his daily needs, and of a handful of traders and country folk who sought and found safety beneath the shadow of its walls. even at this early date bruges must have been a place of some commercial note, for the coins which from time to time have been found in the neighbourhood show that a mint had been already established there in the days of the first baldwin ( - ), and before the close of his son's reign, so greatly had the settlement increased, that it was deemed necessary to surround the whole with a moat and a great wall, built up of the _veltsteen_ (field stone) and rubble, which had once been the old bourg (a.d. ). baldwin, bras de fer, that redoubtable warrior whom no man had ever seen in the day-time without his coat-of-mail, and who in time of war was said to have not even doffed it at night, had received the county, or, as it was called in those days, marquisate of flanders, on terms of defending that quarter of neustria from the ravages of the danes, and though with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, he managed to keep the sea-dogs at bay, his reign of fourteen years was one unbroken hurricane of effort and strife, until he saw the shadow of death on the horizon, and then at last the old soldier sheathed his sword and withdrew to the abbey of st. bertin, there in the quiet of its cloister to gather up his strength for the last great battle. so, too, was it during the days of the second baldwin, but the mantle of the old marquis had not fallen on his son. the hard head and iron will and iron hand of baldwin, bras de fer, was not the heritage of baldwin the bald, and the wild courage of the karls of the seaboard, who had to bear the brunt of the battle whilst their panic-stricken chief was safely entrenched in his fortress at bruges, could do little more than stem the tide. why dwell on the woes of neustria, laments adroald, a monk of fleury, why dwell on the woes of neustria? from the shore of the ocean right away to auvergne there is no country which has preserved its freedom, no city, no village but has been overwhelmed by the devastating fury of these pagans, and this has been going on for thirty years. such was the state of affairs at the close of the eight hundreds, and no land on the continent of europe had suffered more than flanders, but though the rural population had been all but wiped out, though hamlet and abbey had gone up in flames, though cities like courtrai and arras and ghent had been pillaged or razed to the ground, somehow or other bruges had escaped, nay, in spite of the surrounding devastation, perhaps by reason of it, she had prospered, had increased her population, had enlarged her borders, had girded herself, as we have seen, with ramparts, and added to her crown of sanctuaries a new gem. in the year , on the left bank of the roya, a little higher up stream than the old bourg, the citizens of bruges built for themselves a chapel, and dedicated it to st. mary and st. hilarius--a sufficiently humble structure, knit together like so many churches in the eight hundreds, of rudely-hewn beams and rough planks. from this grain of mustard seed in after ages there sprang up a tree that is still the glory of bruges--a stately shrine, adorned by a steeple, than which, in its grand simplicity, there is not one perhaps more lovely in the world. baldwin ii., who died in the year , was buried in the abbey church at blandinium. the circumstances which led to his interment there are sufficiently curious. they had at first laid him alongside his father at st. omer, but when his widow alfrida, who wished to share her lord's grave, was informed by the abbot of that monastery that his rule forbade him to admit even a dead woman within the precincts of his cloister, she gave orders that baldwin's remains should be translated to blandinium, where they buried him with much solemnity _in ædicula parentis virginis_, and where she herself was laid to rest eleven years later. [illustration: the church of notre dame] chapter iii _arnulph the great_ some six years before the death of baldwin calvus, his suzerain, charles the mild, had endeavoured to buy off rolf the ganger, a pirate chief who about this time had carved out for himself 'a sphere of influence' along seine, with an offer of baldwin's fief. but baldwin meanwhile had got wind of the plot, had set his house in order, had strengthened his border towns. rolf refused to exchange the land which his sword had won for a less advantageous holding, which perhaps he might never obtain, and the famous treaty of claire-sur-epte was the outcome of his common sense. by it he became the french king's vassal for the province we now call normandy, received the hand of his daughter in marriage, and embraced the christian faith. and though to the cynical norman chief his oath of fealty may have been little more than an empty form, and his change of religion but a move in the game, the signing of the treaty of claire-sur-epte was, for neustria, the first streak of dawn. then it was that the storm which had been so long whirling its fury on the land at last began to lull, and when, in , baldwin calvus was gathered to his fathers, and arnulph his son reigned in his stead, the times were sufficiently tranquil to enable him to gather up the slackened reins of government, and to set about a work much needed after the long years of bloodshed and anarchy--a work of healing, and restoration, and reform. it was chiefly in the reorganization of the church in flanders, and, in the first place, of the great religious houses, that arnulph sought to accomplish the object he had in view. matter of no little moment in days when the lay aristocracy knew no trade but war, and the peasant was still his lord's chattel, when the monastery was not only the last shelter of learning and the arts, but the only agricultural college and the only technical school, when the monk was the one physician, and the one intelligent artisan, and the clerk, alike legislator, notary, scribe, was almost the only man who knew how to sign his name. though the church had suffered much at the hands of the danes, monasticism was not, at this time, at such a low ebb in flanders as it was in england in the days of alfred. in england it was practically extinct, in flanders it had only languished. nevertheless, and strange as it may seem, it was chiefly owing to the efforts of count baldwin's english wife, alfrida,[ ] the daughter of our own king alfred, that monasticism became once more in flanders a burning and a shining light. she it was who first tended the dying flame. the good work was completed by her son arnulph, who, in this matter, played much the same part in his own dominions as that played in england by king edred, his first cousin. he was the builder or restorer of eighteen great monasteries. the famous chapter of st. donatian at bruges was founded and munificently endowed by him. the collegiate church of st. mary at ardenburg, and the collegiate church of st. peter at thorhout, were each of them his handiwork, and a host of minor foundations bear witness to his untiring energy and zeal. he himself acted as abbot, or chief officer, of the great abbey of st. bertin at st. omer. he was the friend and patron of st. gerard, the thaumaturgus of brogne, and through him he reformed more than one religious house. he had received st. dunstan with hospitality when he fled before the fury of Æthelgifu, and in after years, when the storm had passed and dunstan had returned to his own land, we find the margrave of flanders among his correspondents. a letter still extant--_epistola arnulfi ad dunstanum archiepiscopum_ (ms. cotton, tiberius a. , fo. b)--bears witness to their mutual esteem and affection. dunstan's own munificence to the monasteries of flanders, which, after those of his own country, as dr. stubbs[ ] points out, were, in a special manner, the object of his solicitude, was doubtless prompted by gratitude for the kindness which he had received from the flemish monks and their great count abbot arnulph, and it was probably owing to dunstan's laudatory stories concerning the flemish count, that 'the fame of his charity and good works was spread abroad throughout all the land of albion.' this last fact we learn from a curious letter addressed to arnulph himself by an english ecclesiastic of high position, whose identity, as dr. stubbs observes, it is almost impossible to establish. he was certainly the head of a monastery, perhaps a bishop. dr. stubbs conjectures ethelwold of winchester, or may be elfege, ethelwold's predecessor in the same see, and dunstan's near relative. whoever its author may have been, the letter is an interesting one, and sufficiently characteristic of the age in which it was written. after expressing his best wishes, and enlarging on arnulph's fame and good works, the writer of the epistle in question goes on to say that he was sending a messenger who would explain to arnulph by word of mouth that he had in his possession a book of the gospels which had been purloined from his--the writer's--church by 'two clerks waxen old in wickedness, and who, a fact much to be marvelled at in such men, had afterwards confessed what they had done, and acknowledged that, journeying to flanders to recover a little girl who had been carried off by his--count arnulph's--danes, they had visited the count in one of his country houses, perhaps winendaele or maele, and there sold to him the volume in question for the sum of three marks.' the writer concludes by begging arnulph to restore the book, 'for the love of god and all his saints.'[ ] it would seem, then, from the above letter, that a certain number of danes were at this time settled in flanders, and that they had not yet entirely relinquished their predatory habits. 'ego arnulphus dictus magnus'--i, arnulph, whom men call the great. thus did the count of flanders style himself in the year . in a grant of fresh privileges to the great benedictine house at blandinium, indited perhaps when the hand of death was upon him, count arnulph writes in lowlier strain, 'ego cognosco,' he says, 'ego cognosco me reum et peccatorem.' he knew himself better perhaps than did his people, and yet the surname which they gave him was one which he justly deserved. if any man merited to be called great,, that man was arnulph of flanders. consider what he did. in spite of almost insurmountable difficulties, in spite of a body eaten up by disease, and often racked and torn by pain, whilst with one hand he kept his garden gate, no child's play, with the other he went on patiently sowing and dressing, and watering the tender seeds of that plant which we call civilization, and this continued for forty years. there is another side to the picture. the age of arnulph was an age of blood, and some said his hands too were stained with it. perhaps they were, but if this were so, at least he never sinned for mean or sordid or selfish ends. if the guilt of murder encumbered his soul, it was burthened for the sake of his people. of the greatest crime with which his enemies charged him, he denied all knowledge, and even that black crime found its sanction in the approval of the nation. flanders had so long been a prey to cruel and treacherous foes, that she had at length come to believe that perjury, treason, cool-blooded murder were legitimate means of defence, and the death of wilhelm the norman, lured to destruction with fair speech and false promises, covered baldwin baldzo[ ] with glory, for if arnulph had inspired the deed, it was baldwin who struck the blow. it gained for him more credit in flanders than if he had taken ten cities, and when he returned to his native land, still reeking with his victim's blood, he was everywhere received with frenzied ovations, and proclaimed the saviour of his country. perhaps he merited the title. wilhelm was the mightiest man of his day, and he had always shown himself an implacable enemy to flanders. chapter iv _progress of the city_ the story of the long chain of discords and disasters which make up the reign of the grandson and successor of count arnulph the great is not graven in the stones of bruges. arnulph ii. was the founder of no monastery, the builder of no church. no city hall nor hospital owes its origin to him. so far as bruges is concerned, his reign is a blank. it could hardly have been otherwise. the days of arnulph were very evil. on all sides brute force had usurped the place of justice. wars and rumours of wars were making the whole world shudder. flood, famine and pestilence had filled europe with an exceeding bitter cry. the thousand years which were to elapse between christ's first and second coming had well-nigh run out. surely his sign would soon appear in the heavens. surely the advent of the great king was drawing very near. so thought all the world, and in an agony of hope and apprehension the whole world was waiting with bated breath. presently a streak of light appeared on the horizon, but it was not the light which the world expected. with the ten hundreds a new era had opened in europe. scourged by the hand of misfortune, afflicted humanity seems to have at last realized the need of drawing closer together, and a very general revival of commerce, of literature, of art and of religion was the outcome. not least among the great leaders under whose auspices these things were taking place, was count baldwin iv. of flanders. baldwin of the long beard, as men called him. he took up the work of civilization where arnulph the great had left it, and his one ambition was to bring it to a successful issue. 'he was noble and brave,' we read in the flemish chronicle, 'a man of good report, and one who feared god. his riches were immense, he marched at the head of his armies and sowed terror among his foes, and his sword was no less keen than his mother wit. he honoured righteousness, was a zealous promoter of reform, protected the fatherland and defended the church. stern to law breakers and men puffed up by pride, to the meek and gentle he ever showed himself gentle and meek.' perhaps the picture is too highly coloured, but flanders certainly prospered under baldwin's government. the outcome of his dispute with the emperor henry ii. was the island of walcheren and the city of valenciennes. the marriage of his son with ethel of france added corbie to the paternal inheritance, whilst his own marriage with norman eleanor, if it brought him no increase of territory, at least healed the old feud between flanders and her powerful neighbour. but this was not all. under the fostering care of this prince, and thanks to the very large charter of liberties which he granted, the trade of flanders increased by leaps and bounds. 'in these days,' we read, 'the ports of montreuil and boulogne were full of shipping, and traders from all sides crowded to bruges, already famous by reason of the rich merchandise they brought there.' nor did the national prosperity diminish when, in , the old count was gathered to his fathers. so greatly had bruges increased, that his son baldwin of lille found it necessary, during the third year of his reign, to rebuild and extend its walls. it was about this time that flanders first began to consider herself the common fatherland of all foreigners who chose to reside within her borders. indeed, baldwin of lille seems to have kept open house at bruges for all the political refugees of the period. hither, in , came emma of england, widow of canute the great, driven into exile by the machinations of godwin, and the accession of her step-son harold i. here she was joined later on by her own son harthacnut, and here that prince received the english envoys when, upon the death of harold in , they waited on him with an offer of the english throne. queen emma was a daughter of duke richard the fearless of normandy, and consequently the first cousin of baldwin of the long beard. she did not prolong her stay at bruges after harthacnut's acceptance of the throne of england, but four years later count baldwin had an opportunity of receiving another english connection, the princess gunhilda, a niece of canute the great. she was accused of having opposed the election of king edward the confessor, and forthwith fled to bruges. when, in , godwin's son swegen was outlawed, he too found shelter at bruges, and when, four years later, the great english earl himself had to flee his native land, he directed his steps to the same retreat. it was, doubtless, at his palace in the bourg that baldwin entertained his guests, and most likely the crypt of st. basil--sole relic of bruges as godwin saw it--was the place where they went to pray. here earl godwin remained all the winter, busy with many things, anon negotiating a marriage for tostig with baldwin's daughter judith, anon constructing a great fleet with which he would presently conquer the right to live in peace on his native soil. shortly before baldwin's death, another great englishman came to flanders, perhaps to bruges. hereward, son of leofric, the last man who defied the right of the conqueror's sword. here he found for himself a wife, and here he would have ended his days in peace had not the insults heaped on his mother called him back to england. with him there went a band of karls, and with him they laid down their lives at thorney. if there had been in england three men like him, runs an old rhymed chronicle, the french would have never landed, and if he had only lived, he would have driven them back to france. about this time, too, there came to bruges two other victims of the conqueror's ambition. githa, earl godwin's widow, and his daughter, gunhilda. of githa's subsequent career we are ignorant, but gunhilda made bruges her principal residence for nearly twenty years. here she died on the th august , and by way of acknowledgment for the kindness she had received at the hands of the burghers, she bequeathed her jewels to their collegiate church--jewels so precious that, when they were sold a century later, a sufficient sum was realized to pay for its restoration. they laid her to rest in the cloister of st. donatian, and when, in , her tomb was opened, they found therein a leaden tablet, still preserved in the cathedral of bruges, on which was graved the story of her virtues and her sorrows. baldwin of lille was succeeded by his second son, baldwin the good. the tumultuous days of his immediate successors and the harshness and violence of nearly all the sovereigns who followed them, have enhanced perhaps the glory of his good fame. be this as it may, the old flemish chroniclers delight to dwell on the story of this gentle youth, but his name is not linked with bruges. he was a prince, they tell us, of wondrous dignity, and yet of a disposition so sweet that all men were drawn to him. he alone of the counts of flanders never once unsheathed his sword, and so great was his love of peace that he would never suffer his subjects to do so. 'his officers carried white wands, long and straight, symbols of justice and mercy,' and they maintained such good order throughout his domains, that no man was fain at night to bar his doors against thieves, and when the husbandman went home in the evening, he did not fear to leave his ploughshare in the fields, and this is the reason, they add, why all men called him 'the good count of flanders.' in order to accurately appreciate the causes of the almost perennial struggles between the sovereigns of flanders and their subjects throughout the middle ages, it is important to know something of the men, and of their position in the body politic who formed the backbone of the people's resistance; of the men from whose primitive institutions were gradually evolved the complicated municipal machinery by which all the great cities of flanders were eventually governed, and in defence of which almost all the struggles in question were originally undertaken. these men were the flemings or karls of the seaboard, saxons of pure blood, distinct in race, though not in speech, from the inhabitants of the towns, for in the veins of the townsman there often flowed a strain of celtic blood, and at bruges especially, where, as we know, at an early date there was settled a colony of foreign merchants, the population must soon have become one of mixed race. the karls then formed a class apart, a vast middle class of free landholders, distinct alike from the court nobility--the comrades of the count, his bodyguard, the great feudal lords who knew no trade but war--from the _vilains_ or serfs who were their retainers; and from the inhabitants of the towns. but the karl was not only a farmer, he was sometimes also a fisherman, often a merchant, and always, and above all things, a soldier. if it had been otherwise, he could never have preserved either his own personal freedom or the freedom of the soil he tilled. to him toil was no disgrace. the greatest of their chiefs, even those among them in whose veins ran noble blood, were not ashamed to dig. herred krangrok, who dwelt along with his wife ethel, a niece of the bishop of térouane, in the impregnable castle of salvesse in the midst of the marshy forest land, which in those days stretched away beyond furnes, was a typical karl of high degree. this man seems to have been a brewer by trade, and they gave him the surname _krangrok_ from a habit he had of throwing his cloak back over his shoulder when he was driving his own plough. the home of the karls was a long strip of territory stretching along the coast from the great abbey of muenickereede to the marshes of wasconingawala in the county of guines--a strip of territory of unequal width, of which the northern boundary would now be difficult to trace, but which certainly included within its borders the townships of ardres, of alveringhem and furnes--the vast forest of thorout, and all that district which was later on submitted to the jurisdiction of the liberty of bruges. this land was divided up into a number of districts called circles or guilds, which the inhabitants themselves administered by means of their own elected chiefs, who were at the same time their magistrates and their legislators. the ties which bound them to the sovereign were of the loosest nature, amounting to little more than this--personal service for the protection of the fatherland, and the payment of a voluntary tribute which they themselves assessed. certainly up to the end of the tenth century, and perhaps for a century later, the karls were still a fierce, wild race, much given to hereditary feuds and private warfare, still infected with pagan superstitions, and still occasionally practising pagan rites. the vast majority of them were poor, but a certain number, especially after the triumph of robert the frisian, succeeded in amassing wealth, and of these not a few filled high positions alike in church and state. under the sovereignty of the early flemish counts the karls had little to complain of, and though doubtless the feudal tendencies of their rulers were fostered by the _rapprochement_ with normandy under baldwin le barbu and baldwin of lille, the karls were still so independent of their princes, that whilst baldwin, for a consideration, was helping william in his projects against england, the karls were straining every nerve in behalf of their saxon kinsmen on the other side of the water, and it was not till the regency of richilde of hainault, the widow of baldwin the good, that any systematic attempt was made to bring them under subjection. in the neighbouring states of guines and normandy, northern freedom and northern notions of liberty had long ago given place to a feudal _régime_ of the sternest type, under which the freehold farmer of olden days had rapidly sunk into the _vilain_. the untimely death of baldwin the good, in , afforded the flemish barons, as they thought, a fitting opportunity for reducing the karls of flanders to a similar condition. arnulph, the heir to the throne, was a youth of fifteen years, and richilde of hainault, the countess dowager, had assumed the reins of government and taken for her chief councillor albéric de coucy, a man who, on account of his tyrannical tendencies, had experienced the wrath of baldwin of lille. the first measure of her reign showed the spirit by which she was animated--the imposition of a tax, an _inaudita et indebita tributa_, as lambert of ardres describes it, the proceeds of which were intended to defray the cost of maintaining town ramparts. since these had hitherto been kept in repair by means of forced labour, and the _böelfart_ was only to be levied on the karls of the seaboard, they naturally regarded the measure in question as a direct attack on their liberty. that the men now called on to pay for the work were henceforth to be considered as of like condition with the slaves who had formerly toiled at it, this for the karls was the meaning of richilde's decree--in the bitter words of lambert of ardres, it was the outcome of the hatred she bore them, 'and they murmured to one another and to god, and they bethought them of the valiant deeds of robert, the good count's brother.' flanders was in a state of ferment, but the widow of baldwin was in no way daunted at the tokens of the coming storm. she had inflamed the heart of a mighty champion, who had had experience in the taming of karls--william fitzosberne, earl of hereford, the conqueror's right hand at senlac, but lately his viceroy in england, and the bravest and the craftiest of all his knights. she had conciliated the good will of baldwin's kinsman, eustace, count of boulogne, and for livres she had purchased the help of philip i. of france. confident in this added pillar of strength, richilde made light of her subjects' complaints, and answered their appeal to robert the frisian by cutting off three-score heads and by invading his county of alost. but richilde had reckoned without her host. robert was away in holland at the time, but he was not a man to tamely suffer an insult, nor to despise the prayer of those who asked his help. he had inherited from his saxon forebears the courage, the daring, the generosity and the violence of their race, and he no sooner learned what had happened, than he set out for alost, drove out richilde, and made haste to occupy cassel, an old roman camp on the top of a solitary hill a thousand feet high, some three leagues south of dunkirk. cassel was in the heart of the karl country, and the karls from all sides flocked to his standard. the towns, too, sent their contingents. from bruges, from thorhout, from furnes, from courtrai, from oudenburg, from ypres, burghers came in by the thousand, and soon robert the frisian was at the head of a mighty host. but richilde and her allies had not been idle. fitzosberne had summoned his cohorts from normandy. eustace had set his fighting men in battle array, all the chivalry of france was enrolled under philip's banner, and presently, from the height of his stronghold, count robert saw a huge, disorderly rabble, knee-deep in snow and sand, slowly wending its way through the plain stretched out before him. men of a hundred races were there, and may be as many motives had armed them, but the task they had sworn to accomplish was one--to stamp out for ever the last torch of northern freedom. on the evening of the st of february, shrivelled with cold and worn out with bad roads and hard marching, these men at length reached bavichove and there made camp. from the heights of mount cassel, count robert saw them. in the small hours of the morning he swooped down from his eyrie, and when the sun rose the great confederate host had melted away; all that was left of it at bavichove was a mire of red slush and a heap of mangled corpses. richilde herself had escaped, and the swiftness of his heels had saved philip, her hired champion, by a hair's breadth, but william fitzosberne, the husband who had fought for love, was among the slain, and--cruellest blow of all--young arnulph, too, had fallen, cut down when he thought the bitterness of death had passed. thus much had richilde gained by mixing herself up in the conspiracy against the karls, but she had not yet reaped the full harvest of her arrogance. the hour of their final triumph had not yet come. immediately after the death of arnulph, philip of france had received the homage of his younger brother baldwin, and it took five long years of fighting and diplomacy to establish robert on the throne of flanders. at length, in , richilde yielded to the inevitable, acknowledged the pretensions of the rival of her son, and accepted from him as dower the châtelaincy of audenarde. here she remained till the end of her days, occupying herself with prayer and good works in expiation for the bloody war which her disastrous policy had entailed. the life of the châtelaine of audenarde was one long act of contrition for the sins of the countess of flanders. the conquest of robert meant the conquest of the karls, and the effect of their triumph was immediately observable in the changed policy of the government, not only at home but abroad. their rights as free men were now acknowledged throughout the country, and their chiefs were received at court on an equality with the feudal lords, henceforth we find them occupying high positions alike in church and state. erembald, a simple karl of furnes, was appointed châtelain of bruges--the highest civil appointment in flanders. one of his sons received the provostship of the collegiate church of st. donatian (bruges), the first ecclesiastical preferment in the county--not a few of their daughters were wedded to the proudest of the feudal lords, and robert's own son, philip, viscount of ypres, did not think it beneath his dignity to take a karline for his wife. the same policy was pursued during the reign of the frisian's successor. amongst the knights who followed count robert ii. to jerusalem were not a few saxon chiefs. the names of some of them have come down to us--siger of ghistelles, walter of oudenburg, engelram of lillers, erembald of bruges, the mightiest of them all, and erembald's son robert, count robert's intimate friend and his most trusted servant. the influence of the karls is distinctly traceable in the changed attitude of flanders with regard to england. baldwin had done all he could to strengthen william, robert strained every nerve to oppose him. he would have brought back the line of alfred, or restored the english throne to the house of the great canute, had not the conqueror been wily enough to circumvent him. raised to supreme authority by the aid of saxon karls, robert the frisian could hardly have done otherwise than show himself friendly to the cause of their compatriots. although, as we have seen, the victory of bavichove, , or rather the peace of mayence five years later, had for the moment settled the question of karlish freedom, there were still not wanting among the feudal lords men who envied the power and prosperity to which the karls had attained, and who wished to reduce them to slavery. their plans had been foiled by robert i. and kept in check by robert ii., but when that prince fell at the siege of meaux (thrown from his horse in a narrow lane and trampled i.--genealogical table of the counts of flanders from baldwin i. to baldwin v. osburga=ethelwolf, king of wessex ( )[ ]=judith d. of emperor charles the bald=( ) =baldwin i.= (bras de fer) | _d._ | _d._ +--------+---------------+ | alfred the great ethelbald of wessex ( )=judith d. of emperor | |_d._ _d._ charles the bald | +----------------------+-------------------------+ +-----------------------+-----------+ edward alfrida==baldwin ii.= (calvus) rodulph, count of cambrai _d._ | _d._ | edred =arnulph i.= (the great) = adela of baldwin baldzo, regent _d._ _d._ | vermandois of flanders during minority | of arnulph ii. | =baldwin iii.= (reigned during = matilda of burgundy the life of his father from | to ) _d._ | +----------------------------------------+ =arnulph ii.==susanna _d._ | of italy =baldwin iv.= (longbeard)=eleanor of normandy _d._ | =baldwin v.= (of lille)=ethel of france _d._ to death by his own knights as they were pressing on to victory), the rights of the karls of flanders were once more called in question. his son and successor, baldwin hapkin, a youth of eighteen years, was entirely under the influence of the stern preceptor, whose iron will had trained him, his father's nephew, charles of denmark. in this man's veins flowed the blood of canute the great; the violence and the virtues of that redoubtable monarch were all his. added to this, his whole being was tinged by the ghastly tragedy which had deprived him of a royal heritage and driven his trembling mother to flee with her infant boy to bruges. he had always before his eyes the murder, or, as he himself deemed it, the glorious martyrdom of his father, who was literally hacked to pieces as he was praying before the altar in the church of st. alban at odensee ( ) by a band of rioters lashed to fury by his rigorous method of exacting tithe. such being the man, and such his antecedents, it would have been surprising indeed if he had shown any sympathy for such bloodthirsty folk as the karls. but if he hated the lawlessness of these men, he hated no less the lawlessness of the barons, and throughout the fifteen years during which he governed flanders, first as baldwin's minister and afterwards, when at that prince's death he himself succeeded to his inheritance, he never ceased to combat each of these elements of disorder, and in so doing he hurled himself with such violence against the rock of liberty, that at length he was dashed to pieces. [illustration] chapter v _the murder of charles the good_ among the tragedies enacted at bruges--and their number is legion--not one is so weird, so mysterious, so repulsive, and at the same time so enthralling, as the blood-stained legend of charles the good. it is the theme, as we all know, of hendrick conscience's _de kerels van vlaanderen_, a romance which approaches nearer to the original legend than almost any modern historical account that has come under our notice. for although for his details conscience has drawn to a certain extent on imagination, the main outlines of his story coincide exactly with the main outlines of the legend handed down to us by writers contemporary with charles himself. of these contemporary lives of the murdered count we still possess at least three. the first is by walbert, court notary, or, as we should say, registrar of bruges. he was a personal friend and staunch adherent of count charles, and, as he himself avers, an eye-witness of much that he relates. his evidence cannot, however, be regarded as altogether trustworthy. he was naturally animated with the bitterest feelings against the great house which compassed his patron's overthrow, and against bertulph, one of the chiefs of that house, he seems to have nourished a personal grudge. on more than one occasion he contradicts himself flatly, and he is an inveterate backbiter and gossip. from his direst enemy to his dearest friend there is hardly a man in his crowded canvas whose character he does not directly or indirectly asperse. indeed, in the case of his enemies, when he can find nothing to say against them, he not unfrequently hints that, in his opinion, their good actions were inspired by unworthy motives. for the rest, the story of this twelfth-century saint-simon is replete with the most interesting details, rich in local colour, and almost as thrilling to read as one of wilkie collins's novels. the second life is by walter, archdeacon of tournai. it was written at the request of 'blessed' john, who ruled the united churches of noyon and tournai from to , and is dedicated to him. walter, like walbert, was personally acquainted with charles. he was with him at ypres three days before his death, but was not at bruges when that event took place, and his narrative is based on information furnished by certain trustworthy clerks and citizens of bruges who vouched for the truth of what they told him. in some respects walter's narrative is a work superior to walbert's. the whole story hangs together, his language is often dignified, and generally temperate, nor are the judgments which he forms, on the face of them, inaccurate. the third life is contained in the acta of louis the fat, compiled by suger, abbot of st. denis, who died in . it must have been written, therefore, not later than this date, and not earlier than , the year in which louis died, from ten to fifteen years, that is to say, after the death of charles. as for this account, there is only one thing to be said about it. suger held a brief for charles's avenger, louis the fat, and he did the best he could for his client. in compiling the following narrative we have made use of these three lives, of the danish life by wegener, of the bollandist's life, and of the notes and contemporary documents collected by vredius in his _flandrica ethnica_. we have also consulted gaillard, gheldorf, kervyn de lettenhove, and various other modern flemish historians. when count charles assumed the government of flanders the erembalds were a power to be reckoned with. their political influence was unrivalled, the number of their retainers was legion, their wealth was immense, by their marriages they had allied themselves with the first families in the county. desiderius hacket, the head of this house, was châtelain of bruges, and, as such, second man in the realm; bertulph, his brother, as provost of st. donatian's, was the greatest churchman in flanders, and, as hereditary chancellor, chief of the count's household, whilst other members of the family held honourable and lucrative appointments about their sovereign's person. notwithstanding, however, their great position, the erembalds were never included in the ranks of the feudal nobility. they were originally simple freeholders or karls, perhaps hereditary chiefs of some circle or guild, who by commerce, and may be also by plunder, for the karls were lawless folk, had amassed vast wealth, and thereby been enabled to climb to the high places they now held. that they could by the same means, if they had been so minded, have also been ennobled, there can be no doubt, but the erembalds, like all karls, despised feudalism and all its works and all its pomps; in their eyes the title of freeman was a nobler one than any which princes could bestow. tancmar, the head of the great feudal house of straten, was the owner of the lordship of straten, in the neighbourhood of bruges, where he had built himself an impregnable fortress, a wealthy devotee who had gained no little renown for piety and good works, the great abbey of st. andrew, hard-by his own domain, was the especial object of his munificence. he held high office in the count's household, was a member of his privy council, and, what was worth more to him than anything else, his sovereign's confidential and devoted friend. tancmar himself had no children, but he had adopted two nephews, sons, perhaps, of his brother; giselbert, or, as we should say gilbert, and walter, whom men called the winged lie. between the families of erembald and straten there had gradually grown up a deadly feud. as to the first cause of it both walter and walbert are silent, but the former writer tells us that, like many other great quarrels before and since, it arose out of a very small matter. wegener, indeed, comes to the conclusion that the primary quarrel was between charles himself and bertulph, that it sprang from the count's hatred of the erembalds, whose pride and lawlessness were marring his projects of reform, and that the stratens on the one side, and bertulph's kinsfolk on the other, were mere tools in the hands of these two wire-pullers, who themselves at first remained in the background. certainly all the facts of the case, taken together, go to show that if charles himself was not its first instigator, he at all events exploited the quarrel for his own political ends. in the early years of his reign, he had issued an edict by which he forbade all men save his own officers to go armed in time of peace--an edict particularly galling to the karls, who regarded the bearing of arms as the inherent right of a freeman, and to deprive them of it was, in their estimation, and perhaps also in the estimation of the count, to deprive them of their personal liberty. the karls, it is true, were a cruel and a quarrelsome race. the territory in which they dwelt was often drenched with blood. scenes of rapine and murder were with them matters of everyday occurrence; their hereditary feuds and petty wars were a constant menace to the state. charles was determined to put an end to all this, and he knew of but one way of doing so--to submit the territory of the karls to the tender mercies of feudalism, for, in his estimation, law and order were matters of far greater moment than mere personal freedom. this, however, was not the opinion of the erembalds. although they themselves, as officers of the count, were in no way touched by the edict in question, they opposed it with all their might, and from that moment charles determined to crush them. to attack his old friends openly was an undertaking too hazardous. it was to the erembalds, as bertulph used to boast, that charles owed his crown, and he had repaid the debt with gold and favours. their power was now as great as his own, and their popularity perhaps greater. moreover, to strike at them was to strike at the church, for bertulph, their chief, was chief also of the clergy of flanders. it behoved charles, then, to be very wary. he determined therefore for the moment to keep himself in the background, to bide his time, and when the plot was ripe to act through trusty agents. he had not long to wait, the crisis came early in . it happened thus. richard of raeske, one of the many barons allied by marriage to the house of erembald, and a man of no little repute in flanders, fell out about this time with walter of straten and defied him in the count's presence to mortal combat. to the surprise of every one the challenge was refused, and the ground of the refusal was still more astounding. "i will never measure my sword," hissed 'the winged lie,' "with any but a free man, and the lord of raeske, by wedding a serf, has forfeited his right to that title." he was alluding to one of charles's own edicts, perhaps made in anticipation of the quarrel, by which it was decreed that 'the freeman (_liber_) who married a slave (_ancillam_) should, after a year's wedlock, cease to be free, and sink to his wife's condition.' the calumny, as archdeacon walter calls it, came like a bolt from the blue. the erembalds had been châtelains of bruges for well-nigh a hundred years, and no man heretofore had ever ventured even to hint at the possibility of a flaw in their escutcheon. walter had aimed his shaft well, it had flown far and pierced deep. by it was threatened not only the honour and the liberty and the purse of every man in whose veins flowed the blood of an erembald, but alike the honour and the liberty and the purse of each one of the score or more of proud barons allied by marriage to the dishonoured race. the erembalds were cut to the quick, and the words of defiance which bertulph himself hurled back, words which in the light of after events seem almost prophetic, voiced the indignation of the whole clan. 'i am a free man,' he thundered out; 'my forefathers were free men, and no one shall be found mighty enough to take away my freedom.' strange as it may seem, the aristocracy, almost to a man, rallied round the attainted house, whilst almost alone at the side of his friend stood the count. he still hesitated, however, to show his true colours; he would himself, he said, in no way interfere, but leave the matter in the hands of his judges--a commission should be appointed to examine the affair, and he would abide by their decision. but bertulph was not to be hoodwinked, and spread it abroad that the count was plotting his ruin:--'this charles of denmark, whom i made, would fain through his judges reduce me to slavery. let him try.' nor did he hesitate to fling back in charles's teeth the retort that he himself was illegitimate, aye and a bastard, too, base born. 'this charles of denmark!' he contemptuously cried--bertulph, who was a true fleming, could never forget or forgive his master's foreign extraction--'this charles of denmark, who boasts that he is a king's son! in good sooth, a scullion begat him! by what right doth he torment us?' truly provost bertulph had a bitter tongue. but neither scorn nor threats nor bitter speech could turn the count from his purpose. the promised commission was duly appointed, and after a lengthy inquiry made its award:--let the lady of raeske swear that she is of free birth in the presence of twelve nobles who shall confirm her oath with their own; but with no little inconsistency a proviso was added that this decision concerned only the case of the lady of raeske personally, and in no way derogated from the count's right, if he would, to proceed against any other member of the erembald family. this compromise charles accepted, and, partially laying aside the cloak of neutrality which hitherto prudence had bade him assume, lost no time in claiming the erembalds for his serfs, nor until the day of his death, more than a year later, did he cease so to regard them. they no less persistently repudiated the claim, and charles either could not or would not enforce it, and for the moment was fain to content himself with slighting words and half-veiled threats. meanwhile the erembalds and the stratens were flying at one another's throats. cattle were being looted, boundaries were being razed, and blood was flowing in torrents. a hurricane of strife had been let loose on the land, and all the efforts of the sower of the wind, now thoroughly afraid at his own handiwork, and clumsily playing the double _rôle_ of peacemaker and partisan, were powerless to quell it. suddenly, when the turmoil was at its height, charles was called to france. an intermittent warfare had for years been carried on between the count of auvergne and the bishop of clermont, and things had at length come to a crisis. the former had made appeal to his liege lord, duke william of aquitaine, and the latter, by their united efforts, driven from his see, had now invoked, not vainly, the aid of louis the fat, who forthwith summoned his vassals (amongst whom of course was charles) and set out for clermont. the count of flanders was undoubtedly placed in a very awkward predicament. to leave his realm at the present juncture was to risk revolution, and by staying at home he would certainly estrange his one reliable friend. the civil war at the beginning of his reign, and the famine and pestilence which followed, had sown broadcast misery and discontent, whilst the well-meant but arbitrary measures which charles had taken for the relief of the poor, especially his edict as to the price of wheat, had alienated the rich, who openly accused him of showing favour to the people at their expense. 'if it be so,' he was wont to reply, 'it is because i know the misery of the poor and the pride of the upper classes,' but, unfortunately for charles, in his day the classes alone counted, and the classes were in a high fever of suspicion and unrest. the great purveyors of bread-stuffs had been touched in their pockets, the free landholders of the sea-board thought themselves already slaves, the honour of the first family in flanders had been trampled in the dust. no one was sure that it would not be his turn next. others besides bertulph were questioning charles's right to torment them. the whole land was sick of foreign rule, and men were beginning to whisper in corners of william of löo. it was probably this last consideration which prompted charles to obey. if he had failed to do so, his powerful kinsman might have veered round to the side of the legitimate heir, and in that case he would in all probability have lost his county. charles must have taken a heavy heart with him to clermont, but his biographers do not inform us that he was in any way disquieted. before starting, however, he seems to have summoned the erembalds and the stratens to his presence and to have made them swear to a truce, but to swear to a truce under existing circumstances was little better than a farce. such was the hatred of the belligerents for one another, that even a temporary suspension of hostilities had become impossible, and during the whole period of charles's absence the land was a prey to their mutual depredations. it was not till the fall of the year that charles came back to his domains. at ypres he was met by a deputation of peasants, retainers seemingly of the stratens, who made complaint that the erembalds, headed by the provost's nephew burchard, had plundered their dwellings, laid waste their land and driven off their cattle. charles promised them justice, and having taken counsel with his barons, decreed that burchard's house at straten should be razed to the ground. the sentence was promptly carried out, and walter adds that the count in person superintended its execution. that this was only a prelude there can be no doubt. charles had returned to flanders crowned with the laurels of victory. his successes at clermont had earned for him the gratitude of louis the fat, who had most likely promised him help. the time had come when he felt himself strong enough to carry out his plan against the erembalds. nor were these last ignorant of his intentions. at length, driven to bay, they were determined to make one desperate stand for liberty. they would save their honour, even if the price paid for it should be their sovereign's life. charles had arrived at bruges late on the evening of th february, and towards the close of the next day a deputation waited on him on behalf of the threatened clan. there seems to have been little hope of bringing about a reconciliation, but bertulph had most likely insisted that no effort should be left untried before having recourse to violence. the accounts which the contemporary lives give of this interview do not tally, but they are at one as to its issue--charles was adamant. the die was cast. that night the erembalds met in secret conclave. early next morning charles rose, feverish and ill at ease, from a couch overshadowed by the wraith of his coming doom. his servants would have had him remain indoors. some rumour of the midnight meeting had leaked out, and they suspected foul play, but charles refused to listen, and notwithstanding that the day had dawned so thick, 'that a man could see no further than a spear's length before him,' betook himself almost unattended to st. donatian's, there to hear mass.[ ] hardly had the service begun than burchard, accompanied by a crowd of retainers, entered the church by a side door, and sheltering himself behind the great columns of the northern aisle, stealthily crept up to the place where charles was kneeling before the lady altar, and touched him on the shoulder. the count turned his head to see who was there, and for a moment their eyes met, and then, quick as thought, a blow from burchard's sword felled him dead on the pavement. 'if this dane should be cut down,' burchard was reported to have said a few days before the murder--'if this dane should be cut down, who will rise up to avenge him?' and now that the blow had been struck and charles was dead, it at first seemed that burchard had accurately gauged the situation. thémard, châtelain of brudburch, who was kneeling by charles's side when the fatal blow was struck, indeed made some show at defending him, but he was quickly overpowered by numbers, and fell, mortally wounded, beside the body of his master. as to the other members of the count's household, those of them who were not privy to the conspiracy were too terrified to think of anything but their own safety. the stratens and their adherents had fled the county. william of löo, the next heir to the throne, sent letters of salutation and promises of help. even the clergy were silent, and the burghers, amongst whom the erembalds had always been popular, so far from showing signs of disapproval of the crime, were working night and day at the fortifications of the town, in order to enable it to withstand a possible attack. for the moment the erembalds had triumphed. the death of their sovereign had brought them life. after the long months of shame and suspense, during which wealth, honour, liberty, all that makes life dear, were trembling in the balance, it must have been no little consolation to these fierce, proud karls to know that their enemy, the man who had persecuted them, had himself been brought low. but there was one thing which was a cause of anxiety and of reproach--that thing which to many another murderer before and after has been the source of no little embarrassment--the body. there it lay, in the place where the deed had been done, set out in ghastly state amid flaming torches, a silent witness to their broken troth. what should they do with it? bertulph and hacket had indeed from the first disclaimed all knowledge of the murder, and though perhaps their ignorance was wilful, in doing so they probably spoke the truth; but the guilt of burchard and of several other members of the family was notorious and undenied, and so strong were ties of blood in the eyes of the karl, that when one of them had sinned all his kindred deemed themselves not only responsible for, but, in a certain measure, also participators in the crime. the ghastly trophy, then, in the choir of st. donatian's, was as dire a reproach to bertulph and his brother as to the blood-stained burchard himself. time pressed. every moment that the mutilated corpse remained above ground was increasing the risk that pity would goad men to rebellion. what should they do with it? this was the problem which the erembalds assembled in bertulph's house[ ] had now to solve, and, if their new-born hope was not to be stifled, to solve quickly. there were several weighty reasons why the interment should not take place at bruges. to bury charles in the capital, where the circumstances of his death were notorious, were to indelibly grave their own ignominy in the hearts of future generations. perhaps, too, the presence of the body would entail also the presence of an avenging shade. moreover, there was no precedent for a royal interment at bruges, and the only church in the city where such a function could be fittingly celebrated had been defiled by blood, none but the bishop of tournai had the right to reconsecrate it, and even if there were time to communicate with him, it was in the highest degree improbable that old simon of tournai, charles's own brother-in-law, would consent to smooth the path of his kinsman's murderers. on the other hand, there was a strong feeling amongst the people in favour of bruges, and bertulph was sufficiently acquainted with the temper of his fellow-townsmen to know that any attempt to run counter to their wishes would be hazardous. after much confabulation, it was at length decided to request arnulph, abbot of blandinium, a man whom bertulph could trust, to secretly convey the body of charles to his cloister and there give it christian burial. nor did arnulph belie the confidence placed in him. although it was the hour of compline when bertulph's messenger reached ghent, on learning of his old friend's dilemma, he at once made ready to start, and pushing on through the darkness, in spite of bad roads and bad weather, made such expedition that he reached bruges before cock-crow. all was in readiness, the body had been prepared for burial--the trusty abbot had secured a conveyance which was now drawn up in a secluded corner hard by the cathedral, before daybreak he would again be free of the town, and once in the open country there was little fear of hindrance or detection. all that remained of charles had been placed on the bearers' shoulders, and under the direction of bertulph and the abbot, the weird _cortège_ was slowly wending its way down the nave of st. donatian's, had indeed almost reached the great western portal, when suddenly the stillness of the early morning became a whirl of angry voices and tramping feet. there could be no mistake as to its import. somehow or other the project had become known, and all bruges had turned out to oppose it. in order to understand the cause of this seemingly sudden revulsion of feeling, a word of explanation is perhaps necessary. the whole life of charles of denmark is wrapped and swathed from beginning to end in mystery and contradiction. half soldier, half saint, with his bible in one hand, and charlemagne's sword 'joyeuse' in the other, he flits across the stage of european history like some pale, crimson-robed phantom from another world.[ ] was he a cunning schemer--a layer of deep plots which he never lived to carry out, or was he only a dreamer of dreams, tossed about by wayward impulses and passing fancies, this incomprehensible dane, king's son or scullion's son, as the case may be, who almost accomplished so much and in reality achieved so little--this tissue of inconsistencies who usurped for himself a petty principality and despised an imperial diadem, who crushed his proud lords with a lion's fierceness, and went barefoot to kiss the hands of beggars, this most marvellous devotee who showed himself on occasions so generous and at times appears so mean, who deprived himself of meat and raiment that he might have the more to succour the needy, and spat on his best friends and trampled them in the dust? this friend and father of churches, who all his life long lavished on them wealth, honour, obedience, and whose end, by a strange irony of fate, was at length destined to be the outcome of an unjust quarrel which he himself had forced on his own ecclesiastical chief. questions difficult to answer these, with the evidence at present at our disposal. dr. wegener thinks (p. ) there is ground for believing that the dream of charles's life was to win his paternal heritage--the crown of denmark, and that if he had lived longer he might perhaps have realized it. may be his hopes flew higher still, and that the ultimate goal of his ambition was to carry out his father's darling project and establish once more, in all its glory, the kingdom of canute the great. but, however this may be, and whatever may have been charles's failings and his foibles and his faults, one thing is certain: his good deeds alone followed him. the hospitals and asylums which he founded, the churches and monasteries which he built, his courtesy and sweetness to the poor and the simple, the sympathy and protection which he showed to the oppressed, the lordly feasts which he made in his palace at bruges for the blind and the halt and the maimed--these are the things which lived after him, and friend and foe alike agreed to forget the rest. prayers and masses were everywhere offered for the repose of his soul, perhaps even in his honour. bertulph himself sang 'requiem' for the foe who had once been his friend, and when all was over and the poor had returned to their houses enriched by his alms, his servants found him weeping over the grave. even burchard sought reconciliation. despite the ban of the church, pagan practices died hard with the flemish karls of the seaboard, and burchard, who was a true karl, would make his peace with charles after the manner of his forefathers. accompanied by a band of wild retainers from the forest of thor, he entered at midnight the choir of st. donatian's, where lay the body, and there, by the light of flaming torches, celebrated the weird _dodsisas_, or banquet of the dead. libations of wine and libations of ale were poured over the grave, and as the loving-cup passed from hand to hand each man muttered, 'we drink to thee, count charles,' and then burchard alone knelt down on the pavement and with his lips touched the marble slab which covered his victim's remains, saying, as he did so, 'accept, o shade, this kiss of peace and reconciliation, and, appeased by these our offerings, vouchsafe to lay aside all thought of enmity and vengeance.' in a word, owing to the tragic circumstances of his death, the memory of 'this charles of denmark' was clean wiped out. the citizens of bruges were only mindful, and to this day they are only mindful, of 'blessed charles the good.' such being the case, it is not to be wondered at that, in an age when relics were prized above rubies, the burghers should be loth to part with so precious a thing as the body of their martyred count. at all hazards they would keep it, thus they averred, and with much clamour and a mighty rush they burst into the cathedral. in the midst of the uproar rumour passed from mouth to mouth that a hunchback had been actually healed, in the twinkling of an eye, there, in the midst of them all, by simply touching the holy thing they were fighting for--fresh confirmation, were any needed, of charles's sanctity. bertulph indeed only laughed at the tale; that poor charles should be able to work miracles after his death seemed to him so very improbable. but bertulph was a sceptic, so it was said, and nobody minded him. five hundred unimpeachable burghers could vouch for the truth of the story, and the tumult increased tenfold. the clergy themselves, either from fear or conviction, now threw in their lot with the mob, and seizing on chairs, stools, thuribles, candlesticks, anything that came to hand, laid about them manfully. what did the provost mean by taking this step without consulting their wishes? was not st. donatian's as great as blandinium, and were not the canons of bruges as good men and true as the monks of ghent? by god and his saints the body of charles should never quit their cathedral! they would die first! in face of the opposition of his own clergy and the increasing fury of the mob, resistance was impossible, and bertulph gave way, whilst abbot arnulph, giving thanks to god that he had escaped with a whole skin, was glad to go back to his monastery without the much-coveted treasure. this satisfied the people for the moment and they returned quietly to their homes, but in public estimation the crime of endeavouring to give charles decent burial outside bruges was as great a one as that of his murder, and in the sequel bertulph had to pay dearly for it. on the following morning (friday, march ), after a solemn requiem mass had been chanted for him in the chapel of st. peter outside the bourg, charles was laid to rest in the place where he fell in front of the lady altar in st. donatian's. [illustration: angle of the rue de l'ane aveugle] chapter vi _vengeance_ meanwhile charles's friends had been scouring the country far and wide, and wherever they went crying vengeance, and that not vainly. a bevy of thirty knights at once took up arms and swore they would not lay them down until they had washed them in the blood of the assassins, and--ominous note of warning--these men were all of them, or nearly all of them, partisans of the erembalds. by common consent they chose gervais van praet for their chief, and at once began to lay waste and plunder the lands and property of those who would not join them. thus, gaining fresh recruits wherever they went, the little band rapidly grew into a vast army. soon the town and fortress of ravenschoot--a mighty stronghold of the karls which, through some unaccountable blunder, had been left ungarrisoned--went up in flames; by the end of the week the smouldering embers of his brother wulfric's palace, not a stone's throw from bruges, warned bertulph that the enemy was at his gates, and there was no sign of the reinforcements which william of löo, who was perhaps in daily communication with the provost, had promised to send from ypres. next morning, therefore, his nephews made a sortie beyond the ramparts, in the hope of putting the insurgents to flight, but after no little hard fighting they were smitten hip and thigh and forced to lead their shattered troops back to the city. the burghers, however, still loyal to the cause of their châtelain, had been hard at work night and day strengthening the fortifications--old men, women and children, even the clergy themselves, had lent a willing hand--and the town was said to be impregnable. perhaps it was, but for all that, on wednesday the th of march, the enemy walked in at the sablon gate. there was a traitor within the camp. may be one of the provost's own household. it was the hour of the evening meal, and so confident were the townsfolk in the strength of their walls that they remained quietly seated at table whilst the isegrins[ ] were marching through their streets, and the insurgents were already in the heart of the city before the news of their advent had reached bertulph's palace. the erembalds then were had at an advantage, and though they fought bravely--they always fought bravely--after a long and bloody conflict, the chief shock of which was on the _pont de l'ane aveugle_, they were at last forced to retire to the bourg, hoping against hope that they would be able to hold out until william of löo should arrive. as for the burghers, when they saw how the land lay, and that the insurgents would probably prove victorious, they either joined hands with them or endeavoured to maintain a neutral attitude, awaiting the issue of events--a prudent policy which their descendants have not unfrequently followed. some ten days after the night of the great betrayal, the isegrins approached their opponents with overtures of peace--offers of life and liberty for all within the beleaguered fortress who averred their innocence, if only they would come forth and prove it. in the turmoil and confusion incident on the flight to the bourg not a few of the attacking party were still within the fortress when the gates were shut, and many plain citizens, who perhaps had little sympathy with either side, but certainly had had no part in charles's death, were in like predicament. it was on behalf of these men that the isegrins now approached their foes. still there is no reason to doubt that the offer was made in good faith. 'many who were innocent availed themselves of it, and many also,' says galbert, 'whose conduct was suspected. of their ultimate fate we know nothing, nor what proportion the out-goers bore to those who remained behind. the number of these last, however, must have been considerable, and among them were bertulph, hacket and a nephew whom the contemporary chroniclers invariably describe as robert the child. not that these three acknowledged themselves guilty--on the contrary, they stoutly maintained their innocence, nor had they any sympathy with the murder--but for them the bonds of kinship were indissoluble, and the guilt of burchard and some other members of the family was notorious and avowed. 'not one among ye,' cried hacket, who was spokesman for the rest, 'not one among ye bewails this bloody deed more bitterly than do we. send into exile, if ye will, all those who acknowledge their guilt. impose on them what penalty our judges and our bishops shall deem fit, provided that life and liberty be respected, and that ye do them no bodily harm. give us some assurance of this, and that we, who declare our innocence, shall be offered opportunity of proving it, each man as befitteth his state--clerk according to church law, knight in accordance with the laws of chivalry--and we surrender, but if these conditions do not seem good to ye, then will we remain here and defend this fortress. it is better to live with our guilty kinsmen than to come forth and meet a dishonourable death at your hands.' this extraordinary speech is given by walbert, who was at bruges during the whole of this troublous period, and avers that he noted down on his tablets each night the events that had occurred during the day, but he adds that owing to the excitement and turmoil that prevailed in the city it is not unlikely that some of his statements are inaccurate. needless to say that the isegrins turned a deaf ear to hacket's proposals. in the deliverance of their friends they had obtained all that they wanted; the only answer they vouchsafed was from the mouth of the 'winged lie' and the 'winged lie' breathed out threatening, and slaughter, and curses into the bargain. all hope of conciliation was at an end, and, says walbert, 'the belligerents went their several ways full of headiness and gall.' all that day the fight continued without any marked success on either side, but towards sunset the attacking party were beaten back with great loss, and the erembalds were left, as they fondly believed, at peace for the night. worn out with hard fighting, and filled with an overweening sense of security, inspired by their unlooked-for success, the whole of the little garrison had retired to rest, save only a handful of sentinels wearily straining their eyes over the dark city. all through the night these men were content to freeze on the ramparts, chilled to the bone by a cutting east wind, but towards the small hours of morning the icy breath of coming day drove them into the great hall of charles's palace, where some one had kindled a fire. there they sat before the glowing logs, dozing and drinking and chatting together in a fool's paradise, and clean forgot the little western door by which their friends were wont to come and go, and that a rusty lock and half-a-dozen nails alone secured it. 'this one weak spot, when we were freezing on the battlements, some prowling isegrin smelt out, and whilst we are rubbing a little life into our poor numbed limbs before charles's fire, a host of them swarm round it. some one suggests an axe, it yields at a blow, and the rabid pack rush in so swiftly and so suddenly, and with so little noise, that their cruel fangs are at our throats almost before we are awake. the whole bourg is alive with men--they seem to spring up from the earth, every crevice and every corner bristles with them, and so dark is it that we cannot distinguish friends from foes. panic lays hold of us, we lose our heads, turn cowards and sue for mercy, or leap in despair over ramparts as doth poor giselbert, whose bruised and bleeding body they tie to a horse's tail and drag all round the market-place. the bravest of us take to our heels, and trampling one another down, crush through the narrow bridgeway which leads from charles's palace into st. donatian's church, determined there to make our last stand, and then, o wonderment! the howling pack draw off and leave us for a little space at peace.' such was the scene in the bourg on this momentous night. all that was left of the erembald host was huddled up in the cathedral, too much shattered in mind and body to be a cause of present disquietude; their opponents were free to do what they would, and they were more eager for plunder than revenge. they had come to a conglomeration of palaces, to a region abounding in treasure, to a place where much corn and wine and oil were stored up; their mouths watered for these things, and the word was given to plunder, and like a flock of locusts they carried off everything. charles's palace, containing also hacket's apartments; the provost's palace, and the palace of the canons of bruges, all of them were stripped; from the bed and the underlinen in bertulph's sleeping apartment to the gridirons and saucepans in his kitchen, and from the mead and ale in his cellar to the leaden gutters of his roof. nor had they any greater respect for the property which had once belonged to charles. they carried off even the meat hanging up in his larder, and the bed on which he had slept. disappointed at not discovering the much-coveted treasure in his strong-room, they consoled themselves by wrenching off the wrought-iron doors, and bearing them away on their shoulders, nor did they despise the chains and manacles and other instruments of torture that they found in the dungeons under the palace, though the rich hangings and tapestry which they tore from the walls of his state-room, and the great store of wheat heaped up in his granary were doubtless objects more to their taste. the canons' dormitories in the cloister contained great treasure. so well stocked were they with rich and costly apparel, most likely ecclesiastical vestments, that though the marauders began to carry them off early in the morning, it was not until nightfall that the task was complete. galbert, who gives a detailed account of all this, concludes his observations with this quaint remark: 'our citizens,' he says, 'in acting thus, were fully convinced they were doing no wrong.' meanwhile the men of ghent were secretly negotiating for charles's body; it was arranged that it should be handed out to them through one of the windows in the choir, and early next morning they proceeded to put the plan in execution. 'our burghers, however, got wind of it, and they being as keen to retain the relics as the ghenters were to carry them away, infinite tumult ensued, which was only quenched by the stones and arrows and boiling pitch which the erembalds, who had by this time shaken themselves together, were hurling down from the battlements. thus rudely brought to their senses, the contending factions came to terms, joined forces, took the church, and drove their opponents into the tower. fortune had once more almost smiled on the karls, and again that day the cup of hope was destined to be dashed from their lips. it happened thus:-- when the bourg was taken, bertulph's palace had been allotted to the stratens as their share of the plunder, or rather they had allotted it to themselves, and that very morning had 'insolently and vauntingly and vaingloriously' run up their standard over the roof, at sight of which all were filled with disgust, for the provost and his household, before the betrayal, were in sooth devout and courteous men, held in high esteem by the whole city. 'the hearts of our burghers swell against them and we lust for their blood, the more so as they are actually carrying off corn and wine which is our property, for it was we who bore the brunt of the battle whilst these men were snoring in bed. at all costs this pilfering must be stopped. we break into the courtyard, and one of us with his sword staves in a cask of wine--signal for infinite uproar. the stratens take to their heels. our men outrun them, and slam the gates of the city so that none shall escape. hacket rushes out on his tower and frenziedly exhorts the mob to slay his foes--calumniators for whose sake count charles was slain. the market-place bristles with armed men, a waving forest of spears. all flanders is in town to-day. greed, vengeance, lust for relics, itching ears--a hundred wayward impulses have drawn them here, but one are they, at least, in this one sentiment--old tancmar and his nephews merit hemp. of all the blood and all the tears which have been shed these scandalmongers are the cause, these backbiters, these intriguers, these liars, who, with false, foul tongues, for sordid ends, moved charles to spurn our noblest men and stung them on to slay him. thus we murmur, thus we declaim, and the whole town roars with the thunder of our indignation, until pressing onward to the bourg, where rumour says young walter lies concealed, for we would fain have him out and hang him, there at the very gates, upon the bridge which spans the boterbeke,[ ] we meet our new-made châtelain gervais praet, who with his ready tongue doth still the storm. 'yon vaunting ensign shall be furled--see, friends, it is even now furled--nor shall this tancmar lord it in your provost's house; he and his kith and kin shall forthwith quit the town. i pass my word, and as for the liquor and the grain, the men who took the citadel shall have the eating and the drinking of it.' so we disperse, and whilst old bertulph's choicest wine is gurgling down our parched-up throats or we are hurrying on to grab what share we may of his great store of wheat--in this pinched time of dearth no little boon--the trembling tancmar and his nephews skulk away, each one of them empillioned behind a stalwart knight, so timorous are they of the men of bruges; and darkness falls upon the town, shrill with the blaring trumpets of the erembalds, who all night long sound signals of distress, for this day arrows winged with lying script have brought to them assurances of help. the day before the bourg was taken bertulph managed to effect his escape. he was let down by a cord from the battlements, and safely conducted by a friend in the isegrin camp, whom he had heavily bribed, out of the town and three leagues further into the open country beyond. here left to his own devices, walking by night and sleeping where he could by day, he at length reached the manor of alard van woesten, who had married one of his nieces, and was lord of the little town of woesten on the french frontier in the neighbourhood of ypres. in this stronghold he lay in hiding for about three weeks, after which time, the rumour of his arrival having somehow or other leaked out, it presently reached the ears of william of löo, who was keeping his easter in the city hard-by. upon receipt of this important news william at once took horse, and with 'much noise and great expedition' began to make inquiries concerning the provost's whereabouts. having searched alard's house, and the house of his daughter hard-by, and not finding the object of his quest, he was beside himself with rage, fired both houses, seized the girl, swore that he would put her to torture if bertulph were not produced before the morrow, and rode off. alard, therefore, having to choose between his daughter and his uncle, revealed the place where bertulph was concealed, and he was at once taken prisoner by william's officers. well knowing that his days were numbered, and that he had nothing to hope from the gratitude of the man for whose sake he had risked so much, and at whose hands he had received so little, the aged prelate prepared himself to face death with what courage he could. he was a dying man, he said, and he wished to see a priest. his captors granted the request, 'and there, in the sight of all men, he confessed his sins, and prostrate on the ground smote his breast and prayed god to have pity on him.' next morning they would have taken him on horseback to ypres, but he refused to ride, and though it was freezing hard persisted in walking there barefoot. 'this soft, luxurious prelate,' comments walbert, 'who in the days when fortune smiled on him used to shrink from a flea bite as from a dagger thrust!' a certain priest from whose lips walter learned the details here noted down, walked by bertulph's side and, as they went, they intoned alternately verse by verse the lady office and the _te deum_. thus, martyr-like, with a song of triumph on his lips, this staunch old man went forth to die. 'as they drew near to the gates of the city a great multitude came forth to meet them, crying aloud and clapping their hands and leaping for joy, and they struck the provost with their fists, and beat him with staves and pelted him with the heads of sea-fish (of which very many are taken in these parts), and heaped every kind of insult upon him, all of which he bore with patience, speaking never a word.' this was all the more remarkable, says walter, because the provost was naturally a proud man who could ill brook ridicule or insult of any kind; and he adds:--_apropos_ of this, i remember a story which was told me by one of his own servants. upon a certain occasion when the provost was seated before the fire in his great hall, with his household around him, the discourse turned to the passion of our lord, and of the insults which he suffered with so much meekness in the house of caiaphas. 'for my part,' quoth the provost, 'i can never understand that portion of scripture. if low fellows of that kind had struck me i would at least have spat in their face.' the remaining portion of the story of bertulph's execution is told for us by walbert. it reads like some breviary legend of a martyr's death. there he stood in the midst of the market-place, surrounded by a ribald, jeering throng, with countenance unmoved and eyes turned heavenward as though invoking god's pity. then one of those who were standing by struck him on the head, saying, 'o thou proud man, why dost thou not deign to sue for mercy, seeing that thy life is in our hands?' but the provost opened not his mouth. and for his greater ignominy they stripped him of his clothes and hanged him naked on a cross in the midst of the market-place, as if he had been a thief or a robber. then drew nigh unto him william of löo, and thus addressed him, 'tell me, o provost, i conjure thee, on the salvation of thy soul, in addition to those whose names we already know, who are they who are implicated in count charles's death,' and bertulph made answer, and said before all those present, 'thou knowest, o burgrave, as well as i.' william, hearing those words, was transported with fury, and commanded stones and mud to be cast at the provost and that he should be put to death. then those who were assembled in the market-place to sell fish, tore his flesh with their iron hooks and beat him with rods, and thus they put an end to his days. 'william at once sent a herald to bruges to inform the isegrins of what he had done, and we in our turn,' says walbert, 'handed on the news to the erembalds in their tower, whereat terror and despair pressed them closer than the generals of our army, and naught was heard but the sound of their lamentations.' thus walbert. nevertheless, they held out bravely until the th of april, and that, notwithstanding that they were besieged by louis the fat and a great army of french knights; by william cliton, the newly-elected count, and a horde of normans; by almost all the chivalry of flanders, and a host of burghers from ghent, who still hoped that they would be able to obtain charles's body for blandinium. the great army, which six weeks before had taken refuge in the bourg, was now reduced to a mere handful. of the rest not a few must have died in battle, others perhaps of wounds and wretchedness and want, but in all probability the vast majority had made their escape, hoping perhaps that they would be able to raise a sufficient force to effectually succour those of their comrades who remained in bruges, and afterwards place on the throne a sovereign who would respect their liberties. be this as it may, by the th of april but thirty worn-out men remained in st. donatian's, who continually straining their eyes over the vast expanse of flat country surrounding them, descried there no token of hope. moreover, the isegrins were battering in the tower--at each thrust of the ram it trembled to its base. instant surrender or instant death was the only alternative, the karls chose the first, and young robert cried out, in the name of the rest, that if his personal liberty were guaranteed they would lay down their arms. louis accepted the condition and they prepared to descend. one brave fellow indeed, preferring death to disgrace, would have leapt over the ramparts had not his comrades held him back. 'at sight of which,' says walbert, 'our burghers shed tears,' but their sympathy led them no further. one by one the little band of heroes came forth, the lean men through a narrow aperture giving on the stairs, those who were too corpulent through a larger window near the summit of the tower, and these men let themselves down by ropes. 'pale they were,' says walbert, 'and livid and ugly with hunger, and they bore on their faces the stigma of their crimes; but our citizens wept when they saw those who had once been their leaders led away to prison.' no wonder; the dark fetid hole into which they were huddled was of such narrow dimensions that the inmates were not even able to sit down, and after a few days' detention there, only three or four of them had strength to stand. from this wretched fate young robert alone was exempted, but louis thought that his promise not to cast him into prison was sufficiently respected by giving him into the custody of a citizen of bruges. of robert's entire innocence there can be no doubt. even walbert, the enemy of his race, bears testimony to his noble qualities. he was most popular, not only in bruges, but throughout flanders. again and again the burghers had petitioned louis in his favour. even some of the isegrin leaders had followed their example, but for all of them the french king had one answer. he had sworn to take no step without the consent of his council, and robert remained in custody. as to the other prisoners, their captivity lasted only a fortnight. it was then ( th may) determined that they should be thrown from the tower which they had so bravely defended, and the same day the sentence was carried out. the soldiers entrusted with this odious task had received strict orders to complete it with as little noise as possible, and with brutal levity they told their victims that the king was about to give them proof of his mercy. the prisoners were then led one by one to the scene of execution, not by way of the _place du bourg_, which then, as now, was open to the public, but secretly through the loove and across the covered bridge uniting it to the cathedral. on more than one occasion the townsfolk had shown marked sympathy for the erembalds, and louis feared that if his project was generally known, or if the victims were afforded an opportunity of appealing to them, an attempt at rescue might be made, which would perhaps end in revolution. the first to suffer was wulfric cnopp, the brother of bertulph and hacket. until a few moments before his death he was ignorant of the fate in store for him. he had just time to take one last look at his beloved city, and then with a mighty effort, for wulfric was a man of gigantic stature, the executioners threw him over the ramparts. there is reason to believe that this man was really guilty of the crime imputed to him. then came young walter, the son of the châtelain of ardenburg, a noble and a comely youth. 'for the love of god,' he cried, when he reached the summit of the tower and the executioners were about to complete their task, 'for the love of god let me say a prayer first.' they granted him a moment's respite, and then like a flash of lightning he fell down headlong and dashed all the life out of his beautiful body. the next to die was one eric, a knight of noble birth. though he had been hurled from so great a height, and though in the fall his body had crashed against a wooden staircase with such violence that a step secured by five nails had been thereby wrenched off, he was still breathing when he reached the ground--had strength even to make the sign of the cross. some women of the people would have staunched his wounds, but one of the king's household heaved a great stone and drove them away. better so--'the little life that was left in him was but a lingering and a cruel death.' the rest suffered in like manner. some were innocent, some were guilty, seven-and-twenty of them all told. their names are not recorded--this only we know of them. they faced death without flinching, and died like christian men. his saviour's name was the last word which passed the lips of each of them, and each of them made the sign of the cross before he fell. by a refinement of barbarity they were not permitted to receive the consolations of religion under pretext that they were excommunicated. this was in direct contravention of charles's own ordinance concerning criminals. their bodies were denied christian burial. they were thrown into a marsh beyond the village of st. andré, and for years afterwards no man after nightfall would willingly pass that way. 'on friday, may , king louis resolved to go back to france, and the same day he left bruges, carrying away robert with him.' great was the lamentation of our citizens when they saw him depart, for this noble youth was beloved by all of them, and they knew he would never return. "good friends," said he, on seeing their grief, "my life is not in your hands. pray god to have pity on my soul." louis did not dare to execute his victim at bruges, nor indeed here offer him any indignity, but no sooner had they quitted the outskirts of the town than he gave orders that his legs should be tied under his saddle, and when they reached mont cassel he cut off his head. burchard too had paid the penalty of his crime. the karls said that, having quarrelled with robert, he had been slain by him in a duel, during the time when they were besieged in the tower, but walter and walbert affirm that in this they lied, and that in reality he had made his escape, and that he was afterwards captured and executed; and there is also a tradition that he succeeded in escaping altogether from his native land, and after many wanderings at length found refuge in the south of ireland. be this as it may, he had disappeared from flanders, and thus the great house of erembald was all but wiped out. of those who traced their descent in the direct male line to its mighty founder, only hacket and his little son robert, a child of tender years, remained alive. the châtelain made his escape from the tower a few days before the surrender. whether he purchased the good will of one or other of the isegrin leaders, or whether he had succeeded in hoodwinking them, is uncertain. all we know is that he escaped from bruges, and, wandering alone across the great salt marsh at the north of the city, presently reached the impregnable stronghold of his son-in-law, walter cromlin, the mighty lord of lisseweghe, a mere village now, but in those days an important sea-coast town. here he lay concealed until dierick of alsace, more than a year later, brought peace once more to flanders. hacket was shortly afterwards placed on trial, and the fact that he succeeded in clearing his character is proof presumptive that bertulph, who like his brother hacket had all along protested his innocence and his capability of proving it, would have likewise been able to make his words good.[ ] immediately after the trial hacket was restored to his former rank and possessions, we hear nothing more of the charge of serfdom, and for many generations his descendants were mighty men in flanders. amongst them note the magnificent louis of gruthuise, peer of flanders, france and england to boot--edward iv. created him earl of winchester--who in the fourteen hundreds lived in royal state in the beautiful palace on the banks of the roya, which still goes by his name. of hacket's subsequent history little is certainly known, but if the conjectures of olivier de wree are well founded--and the evidence which he adduces in their support is surely worthy of consideration--the life and career of desiderius hacket was indeed a strange and chequered one. briefly the facts are as follows. in rodolphe of nesle, a scion of the house of erembald, was appointed châtelain of bruges; the name of hacket does not cease to appear at the foot of official documents until nearly fifty years later, but whereas previous to the writer of this signature invariably describes himself as châtelain, subsequent to that date he signs as canon of st. donatian's, later on as dean of the same church, and later still as abbot of dunes. bearing in mind the uncommonness of the name, and the fact that we lose all trace of hacket the layman when hacket the churchman appears, it would seem in the highest degree probable that the signatures before and after were the handiwork of one man. that this was certainly the case after that date the testimony of the monastic chroniclers clearly shows. they also tell us something more. the ecclesiastic in question, before he was appointed abbot of dunes, for a short time governed a branch house which he himself seems to have founded at lisseweghe.[ ] he was reputed in his day a famous preacher; he was living and signing documents in , and died at an advanced age and in the odour of sanctity. it would seem then that the bellicose châtelain of bruges ended his days as a monk. strangely enough hacket's sworn enemy and rival, the man to whose enmity was due all the misfortune that befell his house, the treacherous tancmar of straten himself, towards the close of his life also donned the cowl. he became a monk in the great benedictine house of st. andrew hard-by his own estate, and tradition says that he too died a saint. surely it is not a little significant that three of the chief actors in this bloody drama should have been numbered by their contemporaries in the ranks of the blessed. charles, that hero of blood and sentiment, of violence and delicate emotions, who firmly believed that he was dying for justice sake; straten, the devotee, who for his own ends fanned the flame of his master's wrath--and poor hacket, who was accused of murder, escaped by the skin of his teeth, and at length proved his innocence, most probably by the rite of ordeal. the age in which these men lived was an age of contrasts, an age of clashing tones and inharmonious tints. in those days it was the fashion to be devout, and the shibboleth of the fine gentleman was the fervent expression of his unwavering faith. chapter vii _bruges in the days of charles the good, etc._ of the actual buildings of charles's day only a few fragments remain: the chapel of st. basil, the lower part of the tower of the present cathedral, and perhaps some portion of the church of notre dame; of those associated with his tragic end or the bloody scenes which followed, in all probability no stone is left. his palace, called the loove, which he himself had built, has long since been swept away; its site is now occupied by the palais de justice. the old church of st. peter, where his funeral mass was celebrated, was pulled down at the close of the seventeen hundreds, of the church which took its place only the chancel now remains, and even this no longer serves its original purpose. some years ago it was converted into a tavern, and it is now a warehouse. st. donatian's, the scene of charles's death, and of the erembalds' last stand for life and liberty, was destroyed at the revolution. it stood just opposite the hôtel de ville, on the site where now, under the shade of spreading sycamore and chestnut trees, the flower market is held, and the statue of van eyck in the centre of this square marks the spot where charles is said to have fallen. the débris of the cathedral was carried all over flanders. a portion of it is said to have been used for the construction of a château which stands some little way off the high road on the right-hand side between steenbrugge and lophem, about three miles from bruges. it is a pleasant enough place to look at in its beautiful wooded grounds, but the country folk will tell you that ill fortune has always followed those who have dwelt there. charles's name is also associated with the beautiful church of notre dame. here, in , a chapter of secular priests was installed, charles provided for the endowment of half the canonicates, and when, in , the building was destroyed by fire, it was he who restored it. tradition says that the main portion of the present church was constructed in or thereabouts by gertrude of alsace, the widow of rodolphe de nesle, châtelain of bruges, and curiously enough a scion of the house of erembald, but as charles's church was only completed in , and it is not likely that a comparatively new and probably magnificent structure would have been deliberately pulled down--and there is no record of its having been accidentally destroyed by fire or otherwise--it may well be that charles in reality only built a portion of the new church, perhaps the nave and the adjoining aisles, and that what gertrude did, sixty years later, was to complete his unfinished work. if this be so, the greater part of the present building owes its origin to charles the good. in the church of notre dame we perhaps also get a glimpse of the magnificent bertulph himself. of its chapter a certain germanus was the first provost, who in all probability at the time of his appointment was quite a youth, for shortly afterwards he went to reside at louvain, in order to complete his theological studies, and one bertulph was appointed to act as superior during his absence. what we are told of the character and disposition of this ecclesiastic coincides so nearly with the character and disposition ascribed to the redoubtable provost of bruges, that, bearing in mind the identity of their name, not a common one in those days in flanders, and the intimate connection which we shall see each of them had with eeckhout abbey,[ ] it is difficult to believe that the bertulph of notre dame and the bertulph of st. donatian's were different persons. in each of them we find the same fiery temper, the same overweening pride, and the same indomitable will, the same exaggerated devotion and the same harshness in their dealings with their fellow-men. walbert has left us a graphic picture of the receptions this 'proud prelate' held in the great oak-roofed hall of his sumptuous palace on the bourg. swelling with pride, there he used to sit on a stately throne placed underneath the huge beam which broke and fell with a mighty crash on the throne itself three weeks before his death--portent of coming ill, had he but taken it to heart, but bertulph was too stiff-necked for that, says walbert. there a crowd of knights and clerks and burghers were daily wont to jostle one another in their quest to pay homage to, or perchance seek favour from, the great man who was all-powerful alike in church and state. when any one approached whom this proud prelate knew quite well but did not wish to recognise, he made pretence that he had never seen him before. 'who is this person?' he used to ask of one of his attendants, and then, when he had been informed of the name and rank of his would-be interlocutor, if he were in the humour to do so, he would vouchsafe to salute him. and, blurts out walbert with much feeling and inappositeness, 'he was very hard on his clergy.' walbert was one of them, and he, if any one, should have known. the canons of notre dame would certainly have given their bertulph the same character. hardly had he been installed provost than he sent them all about their business and filled their places with monks. the irregularity of their lives, he alleged, was scandalous. irregular lives in those days, if we may trust walter, were far from uncommon alike amongst layfolk and clerics, and that was one reason why men thought so highly of charles. amidst so much wood, hay and stubble, charles appeared pure gold. it is not unlikely then that bertulph's accusations were well founded. radbode, bishop of tournai, presumedly thought so, for he had authorised what had been done. not so germanus. immediately on his return to bruges, he petitioned bishop baldwin, who meanwhile had succeeded radbode in the see of tournai, to revoke his predecessor's decision, alleging that the changes at notre dame had been made without consulting him, the lawful superior, and in opposition to the wishes of the secular canons, and thereupon the bishop gave orders for their reinstatement. this was on march , . bertulph was furious and appealed in vain to rome. by letters, dated april , pope pascal ii. confirmed baldwin's decision, and presently bertulph's monks were forced to quit the canons' cloister. after several peregrinations they at last built themselves a habitation hard-by the church of notre dame in the great oak wood which at that time fringed the left bank of the roya and stretched far away into the country beyond. this was the origin of the abbey of eeckhout (oak wood) famous in the annals of bruges. this abbey was destroyed during the french revolution, and only the gateway now remains--no. _rue eeckhout_. part of the grounds are included in the gardens of the convent of st. andré in the same street; part in a lovely old kitchen garden and orchard at the back of the houses on the dyver. as eeckhout abbey was associated at its birth with notre dame, so was it at its death. [illustration: the porch of notre dame] at the time of the revolution notre dame was dismantled--the pavement was torn up, the stained-glass windows were broken, and every kind of havoc was made, but the bare walls were left standing, and presently, when more tranquil times came, the old church was restored to public worship. as the beautiful flamboyant stalls which had once lined the choir had ere this been sold and carried away, it is said to england, it became necessary to procure new ones. it so happened that just before the french came, the monks of eeckhout had ordered a new set of stalls for their abbey church. these, owing to the fact that they had not yet been erected, had escaped destruction, and by napoleon's orders they were set up in notre dame. the wood-carver, however, who had made them, had not received payment, and protested that the stalls were his, and by way of asserting his right, every sunday and feast day, at high mass and vespers, until the day of his death some years after, he persisted in seating himself in the choir stalls at notre dame. matter of little moment; after the revolution there were no canons to occupy them. from an artistic point of view there is nothing very remarkable about the stalls in question. they are sufficiently mediocre work of the period, but the hand of time has mellowed them, and their associations make them interesting. the carving of some of the _miserere_ seats is very quaint, and is certainly ancient. whether these formed part of the lost stalls of notre dame, or whether the redoubtable wood-carver employed some of the old eeckhout work for his new stalls, it would be difficult to say. chapter viii _william cliton_ william of löo, as we have seen, was the legitimate heir to the throne of flanders, and if, when charles fell, he had acted with energy and determination, there can be no doubt that he would have been able to grasp the prize he so much coveted, and retain it in spite of his enemies. fortune had been singularly kind to him. he was the only representative in the direct male line of the dynasty of robert the frisian, he was the favoured candidate of the great house of erembald; his aunt, the countess dowager, was his staunch adherent. he had the goodwill of her second husband, his next-door neighbour, the powerful duke of brabant, who had given him his daughter in marriage. in henry beauclerc, who had married his wife's sister, and whose norman duchy adjoined the realm to which he laid claim, he had a friend who knew how to back fair promises with english gold; and lastly, when charles was slain, he was within a stone's throw of the capital. but 'william saw a meteor on the horizon: the sword of gervais van praet,' and he was too dazzled by it to summon up courage to help his nearest friends, and when the erembalds fell, the grandsons and great-grandsons of baldwin the devout took heart to dispute his claim. the number of them was legion. there was charles's nephew, arnulph of denmark, and his first cousin dierick of alsace; baldwin of mons, the representative of the dynasty of baldwin the good; william cliton; stephen of blois, and perhaps too henry of england himself.[ ] the burgrave of löo had sat with folded hands when the tide was at the flood, and in doing so he lost his one opportunity. in vain he now posed as charles's avenger. all the world knew of his intrigues with the erembalds, and it was more than suspected that his own hands were red with charles's blood. his treachery gained for him no new friends, and disgusted the remnant which in spite of all still clung to him. on the very day when he was busy hanging poor isaac of reninghe[ ] whom, in spite of a monk's cowl, a long face and a book of psalms, his blood-hounds had smelt out the day before in the abbey of terouane, louis the fat disowned him. 'have nothing to do with william of ypres,' ran the french king's letter to the barons and burghers of bruges; 'have nothing to do with william of ypres, because he is a bastard, born of a noble father and a mother of vile birth, who all her life was a weaver of thread' (it was the same charge that had stung the erembalds to revolt; william's mother was a karline), 'but come forthwith to arras, and there choose in my presence a prince worthy of flanders.' ii.--genealogical table of the counts of flanders from baldwin v. to baldwin vii. =baldwin v.= = ethel, d. of robert (of lille) | le fort, king of france _d._ | | | +----------+---------------+----------------------+---+ | | | | =robert i.= = gertrude baldwin vi. = richilde | judith = tostig, son of (the | of saxony, (the good) | of | earl godwin frisian) | widow of _d._ | hainault | _d._ | florence, | matilda = william | count of | | the conqueror | holland | +-------------------+ | and +------------------------------------+ | | friesland | | +--------+------------+-----------------+---------------+ | | | | | | | | robert ii. = clémence philip = the lady adela = canute, gertrude = dierick,| | _d._ | of of | of loo | king | count | | | burgundy ypres | | of | of | | | _d._ | | denmark | alsace | | | | +----------+ | | | | +----------+ | +-------+ | | +------+ | +----+--+ | | | | | | | | | | baldwin vii. *william cecilia charles = marguerite--*dierick--sybil | | (hapkin) of loo _m._ | (the of | of alsace| of | | _d._ a daughter | good) clermont | _d._ | anjou | | of godfrey | _d._ | | | | of brabant | | | | | | | | | | +--------------------------+ | | | | | +---------------------------------------------------+ | | | | | +------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ | | | | | | | | | +----+--------+ +----------+-----------------+------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | =arnulph iii.= baldwin i. robert, *henry i. adele = stephen | | | _d._ of duke of of england, _d._ | of | | | hainault normandy _m._ adelicia | blois | | | _d._ | of brabant | _d._ | | | | | | | | | | +----+ | | | | | | | | | | *baldwin ii. *=william cliton= *stephen | | | _d._ _d._ of england | | | | _d._ | | | | | | | baldwin iii.-------------------------------------+ | | | _d._ | | | +------------------------------+ | | | | | | +------------------+ +---+----------------+ | | | | | | *arnulph lauretta = ivan, =philip= = elizabeth =marguerite= = =baldwin iv.= of count _d._ of of =hainault= denmark of vermandois and =vii.= of alost =flanders= [*] claimants to the county of flanders on the death of charles the good. louis had already determined who should be the new count, but he was wise enough to gild the bitter pill, and when the barons reached arras he adroitly persuaded them to elect william cliton, and to secure also the acquiescence of the burghers. william was only fourth in the order of succession, but he and louis had married two sisters, and the french queen naturally enough desired to befriend a kinsman on whom fortune had never yet smiled. besides, the arrangement fitted in exactly with louis's own views. the friendship of flanders was to him a matter of far greater moment than the law of primogeniture, he had known william all his life, and he felt that he could trust him. his young favourite would doubtless, too, prove a dangerous rival to henry beauclerc, the one man whom louis feared; with the aid of his flemish vassals he would be able to wrest his norman inheritance from the english king, and perhaps also the crown of england itself. when the burghers of bruges learned what had happened, they were cut to the quick. that louis should have offered the communes of flanders a voice in the election of their count, and then presumed to foist on them the man of his own choice, was something more than injury--it was an insult. but the french king was backed by a great army; the burghers were shrewd enough to see that it was more politic to obey, and thus preserve the outward form of liberty, than to refuse to do so at a time when opposition was certain to be barren of profitable results, and on the evening of tuesday (easter tuesday), the th of april, louis and his nominee were permitted to enter bruges. next day, says walbert, the king and the count, with their knights and ours, our burghers and the karls of the seaboard, assembled in the sablon field, and there the cliton solemnly swore to respect the privileges of the city and of the church of st. donatian, and to abolish the house tax and market dues, so that the citizens of bruges should be for ever free. at the same time he acknowledged their right to modify and correct according to circumstances their own laws and customs. then the vassals of charles paid their homage to william, the mightiest putting their hands in his, and receiving in return the kiss of investiture, those of less degree simply bending while the count touched them with his sceptre. all the great officers were confirmed in their rights and privileges, save only the erembalds, who were declared incapable of holding office or property in the county. although william cliton was thus legally invested with the sovereignty of flanders, his right to govern that province was far from being generally recognised, and the whole land was rent by factions. william of löo was still count for the men of ypres; st. omer acknowledged arnulph of denmark; audenarde, baldwin of mons, to whose standard had rallied dierick of alsace, who for the time being seems to have relinquished his own claim, whilst the erembalds, as we know, were still holding out in their tower at bruges and still receiving from the great freeholders of the seaboard assurances of support and help. nevertheless, if william could have given his subjects good government, if he had known how to exercise his new functions with a little tact and discretion, above all, if only he had been true to his word anent the abolition of taxes, in all probability things would have gradually settled down, and little by little men would have acquiesced in his rule. but william was a norman, and the normans had now become more french and more feudal than the french themselves. a man of this stamp was little likely to find favour with the flemish people, who still retained, along with their rude northern speech, their ancestors' love of freedom and justice, and the first incident of his reign was to them like salt on an open sore. it happened thus. shortly after the count's arrival at bruges, a certain citizen, who had married a sister of one of the erembalds, crept up secretly, as he thought, to the tower of st. donatian's, with a view to a little business talk with his brother-in-law, who owed him a considerable sum of money. one of praet's men saw him, and, as all communication with the besieged had been strictly forbidden, the fellow was arrested and brought before the count. the news of what had happened spread like wildfire, the burghers flew to arms, and crying out that they would suffer tyranny at the hands of no man, that the prisoner was a free citizen of bruges, and that it was for them to judge him, made a rush for the loove. fortunately for william the doors and windows were barricaded before the mob had time to reach the palace, and all their efforts to batter them in were fruitless. at length, when the burghers had expended something of their energy in red-hot threats and curses, that crafty old knight, gervais praet, went down amongst them, made them a speech, called them friends and fellow-citizens, bade them bear in mind that it was at their own request that the count had appointed him châtelain, averred that in the matter which had called forth their wrath he had only acted in accordance with the law, but if they were not satisfied with what he had done, he had no wish to exercise authority over them, and was quite ready to resign his châtelaincy. in a word, the oil of his eloquence soothed the burghers for the moment, and they dispersed to their several homes. similar disturbances, arising out of incidents as trivial, occurred shortly afterwards at lille and at st. omer, and in each case they were with difficulty suppressed after much blood had been spilt, whilst the heavy fines in which william by way of punishment mulcted those towns altogether alienated the goodwill of the citizens. but this was only a beginning. after the conquest of the erembalds and the capture of william of ypres, the cliton grew bolder. on september , one hundred and twenty-five burghers of bruges and thirty-seven of ardenburgh were condemned as burchard's accomplices. in vain they protested their innocence and demanded a legal trial before their own judges. william, in spite of his oath, refused to listen, and all who were suspected of having given assistance to charles's murderers were treated in like manner. stronghold after stronghold was razed to the ground, and the karls of the country-side and the free burghers of the flemish cities went forth from the land in thousands. william's empty purse could not satisfy his rapacious followers. this was probably the cause of the violent measures he took to discover charles's treasure, and of his attempt to re-impose the house tax and the market tolls. from time immemorial these dues had been granted in fief to sundry great nobles, who were now clamouring for compensation; and hence the oath, which he had too inconsiderately taken when first he undertook the government of the country, only gained for him the ill-will alike of the knight and the burgher. thus was he set betwixt two foes, without the means or the ability to withstand them. at ghent the citizens and nobles joined hands, and with stinging words the great imperial vassal, ivan of alost, voiced their common indignation. 'sir count,' he cried, 'if you had intended to deal righteously by this city and by us who are your friends, instead of authorizing the most odious exactions, you would have treated us justly and defended us against our enemies. but, on the contrary, you have violated all your promises and broken all your oaths, and every obligation arising from our common plighted troth is thereby cancelled. we know how you have treated lille and we know how you have treated bruges, and we know, too, in what manner you would like to treat ghent. 'let the barons and the burghers and the clergy of flanders judge betwixt us, and if it be found, as we allege, that you are without faith and without loyalty, a perfidious and a perjured man, then renounce the office you now hold, and we will choose a worthier count to govern us.' cut to the quick, the cliton sprang forward. 'hold,' he cried, 'i free you, ivan, from the homage which you have sworn to me, and with my sword i am ready now to prove to you, my peer, that in all that appertaineth to the government of this realm i have acted righteously.' but the voice of ivan was the voice of the people, he refused the challenge, and it was at length decided that a great council should be held at ypres on the eighth day of the ensuing month, for the purpose of deliberating on the affairs of the country; and that all delegates should come unarmed. meanwhile, determined to rid himself of his turbulent subjects by stratagem, william, before the appointed day, betook himself to ypres accompanied by a large band of armed retainers, and an armed rabble of the lowest class, so that the town was filled with soldiers, purposing, when the delegates arrived, to take them all prisoners. but these last getting wind of the plot, halted at roulers, and presently two heralds rode into the market-place at ypres, and thus made proclamation:-- 'be it known to you, sir count, that ivan of alost and the men of ghent by our lips proclaim that henceforth they renounce that homage which hitherto they have faithfully kept to you, because they are well aware that you have come hither to destroy them by ruse and naughtiness.' from that moment william's cause was lost. on the th of march, dierick of alsace entered flanders. the great imperial vassals, daniel of termonde and ivan of alost, at once rallied to his standard, ghent received him with open arms; a little later (march ), when he reached bruges, gervais of praet declared in his favour, and three days afterwards the nobles and burghers assembled in the champ de sablon solemnly deposed william cliton, and declared dierick his successor, and he in his turn solemnly confirmed and increased the rights and privileges of the city, and made proclamation that henceforth no man should be condemned on suspicion and without trial for complicity in charles's murder. by this just and politic proceeding he gained the goodwill of the karls, and thus supported alike by the nobles, the burghers, and what we should call the yeomen farmers of the sea coast, nothing could arrest his progress. neither the threats of the french king, nor the spiritual thunder of archbishop simon of tournai, not even the victory which william and his normans gained at axpoel heath, where so great was the slaughter that on dierick's return to bruges the whole city was filled with lamentation. nothing shows more clearly the unpopularity of william than the barren results of this victory. not a single city opened its doors to him. presently, when he was laying siege to alost, he received a mortal wound, and his death on august , , left dierick master of flanders. the night that william died, says ordericus vitalis, duke robert (his father), who was in prison at devizes, and had been there twenty-two years, felt in a dream his own right arm pierced with a lance, whereupon he seemed to lose the use of it, and when he awoke in the morning, he said to those about him, 'alas! my son is dead.' walbert, though he enlarges at considerable length on the iniquity of 'our burghers' in rebelling against their lawful sovereign, gives william but a poor character. in my opinion, he says, the almighty removed this man by death from the county, because he had laid waste all the land, provoked the inhabitants thereof to civil war, and set at naught alike the laws of god and of man. nor did god suffer him to go the way of all flesh until he had first endured the chastisement due to his misdeeds. for in sooth count william will confess amongst the shades whom he sent before him to the infernal regions that, of all those things he possessed in life, this alone now remains to him--his military reputation. ordericus vitalis, who represents the cliton in much more favourable light, bears witness also to his prowess in battle. 'ad militare facinus,' he says, 'damnabiliter promptus.' [illustration: a renaissance gable] chapter ix _dierick of alsace and the precious blood_ it was to the cities and to the people of flanders that dierick of alsace owed his crown. when ivan of alost and daniel of termonde renounced their homage to william cliton, they did so in the name of the burghers of ghent. when louis interposed on behalf of his kinsman, it was the burghers of bruges who hurled back the proud reply,--'be it known to the king and to all princes and peoples, and to their posterity throughout all time, that the king of france hath no part in the election of a count of flanders.' when william persuaded archbishop simon to lay ghent and bruges under interdict, it was owing to the fear inspired by the people that 'no clerk was found hardy enough to proclaim it,' and when dierick repaid him in his own coin by sentence of excommunication, the bolt was hurled by all the clergy of bruges, assembled together in the church of notre dame, in the presence of all the burghers. the triumph of dierick then meant the triumph of the people, the triumph of liberty, the triumph of nationalism as opposed to the centralizing and imperialist ideals of france. in a word, the triumph of all that was good in the great cause for which bertulph and his comrades had died. the new count was a fleming of the flemings. he had been brought up amongst them; their habits and customs were familiar to him, his speech was their speech, his thoughts were their thoughts, and his ways were their ways. 'men called him wise,' says an ancient chronicler, 'and he was all his life kindly, upright, loyal, brave, and great withal in the art of governing men.' indeed, his whole career shows what skill and tact he possessed alike in conciliating the goodwill of his own opponents and in settling the disputes of others. as early as may , arnulph of denmark resigned his claims in his favour (_see_ wegener, note on p. ), later on he purchased the acquiescence of another rival, baldwin of mons, by giving him his daughter to wife. even william of ypres in the end acknowledged his right to the throne, and was content to end his days obscurely as simple lord of löo. his first act as prince was to bring about peace between the isegrins and the free landholders of the seaboard, and by his reconciliation with hacket, whom he again reinstated in the châtelaincy of bruges, the legal right of the karls under his jurisdiction to the title of freemen was publicly acknowledged. henceforth, until the revolution, they were the _francq hostes_ or _francons_ of the liberty of bruges. at his coronation, dierick had solemnly sworn to respect the lawful rights and liberties of all his subjects, and he loyally kept his word. throughout his long reign of forty years he always showed himself a good friend to commerce, a staunch upholder of popular institutions, and a generous supporter of the down-trodden and the oppressed. to him, says a flemish writer, the greater number of the communes of flanders are indebted alike for their origin and their development. during his reign were inscribed in the charters of the flemish cities the germs of those rights and liberties which are to-day guaranteed by the belgian constitution. like all good and wise men of his day, dierick was profoundly impressed with the truths of christianity, and after the manner of his age, he on more than one occasion took up the sword of the crusader. on his return from one of these expeditions, he brought back with him to bruges a treasure which has had no little influence on the architectural, and artistic, and religious development of the city; a vial of dark, ruby-coloured fluid, which tradition said was some of the water in which joseph of arimathea had once washed the blood-stained body of christ. the early history of this precious memorial of our lord's passion is veiled in mystery, but from the day when dierick of alsace brought the famous relic to bruges the thread of its story is unbroken. the circumstances which led to his possession of it are well known. it was the time of the second crusade. dierick, roused perhaps by the preaching of st. bernard at furnes, or possibly moved thereto by reason of his kinship with baldwin, king of jerusalem--they had married two sisters--resolved to serve under the banner of the cross, and in the month of june , along with the emperor conrad and louis vii. of france, set out for palestine; but the campaign was almost barren of results. what with the perfidy of the greeks, and the pettiness and jealousy of the european leaders, it could hardly have been otherwise. the little that had been accomplished, however, was due to the courage and perseverance of dierick, and by way of recompense king baldwin bestowed on him the relic in question. it was enclosed in a tube of crystal, with chains of silver and stoppers of gold, and dierick received the gift on his knees from the hands of the patriarch of [illustration: hôtel de ville and the chapel of the holy blood] jerusalem, but he said that a rough soldier like himself was not fit to be the bearer of so holy a thing, and hung it round the neck of his chaplain, leo of st. omer, who never parted with it, night or day, until on the evening of april , , he returned with the count to bruges. then, with much solemn pomp, the relic was consigned to the court chaplains, who placed it in the old chapel which baldwin of the iron hand had built, adjoining his palace in the bourg, where it still remains, and is still preserved in the same crystal vial in which dierick of alsace received it. the burghers of bruges have on more than one occasion been near losing their much-prized treasure, but somehow or other it has always come back to them. during the troubles with ghent in the days of van artevelde, the relic was one may morning being carried in solemn procession round the ramparts. presently the band of monks and friars encountered a band of soldiers; the two processions became entangled, and during the confusion some one cried out, 'the ghenters are upon us.' panic followed, and when the panic was over the relic had disappeared. three days later some nuns from the beguinage saw something shining at the bottom of the stream which runs through their cloister. it was the reliquary of the holy blood. then again, during the troublous times which closed the fifteen hundreds, when calvinism triumphant held the town, and churches and monasteries were sacked, it was only through the prudence of juan de malvenda that the precious treasure was saved. malvenda, who was one of the church-wardens of st. basil's, secretly conveyed the relic to his own house--an old-fashioned, red-brick turreted mansion, still standing in the rue _aux laines_ (no. ), where he concealed it in the cellar till the storm had passed. again, for over twenty years, from october , , till april , , the relic was hidden in the houses of various citizens, in order to preserve it from the fanaticism of the jacobins. for the same reason the annual procession on the feast of the precious blood had to be discontinued, and it was only resumed in . this procession was first instituted in , in memory of the deliverance of the town from the french by breidel and de coninck. at first it was of a grave and solemn character, the faithful of both sexes following chanting litanies and psalms. little by little it grew spectacular. in the apostles and evangelists were introduced, the next year king herod and his court, in the nativity, the tree of jesse, and so forth. at length, in the fifteen hundreds, the profane and the sacred were mingled together, giants, clowns, jugglers followed, the corporation of bruges thinking by this means to give the procession a popular character, and thus to draw visitors to their town. the great procession of the holy blood has long since resumed its decorum, and thousands of strangers from all parts of europe annually throng the town to witness it. like the sainte chapelle at paris, and the old city church of st. etheldreda (holborn), the sanctuary of the precious blood at bruges consists in reality of two distinct churches, one set over the other. the lower storey, dedicated to st. basil, was founded, as we have seen, by baldwin, bras de fer, and is in all probability the most ancient building in the city. there can be little doubt that this chapel was originally the private oratory of the counts of flanders, adjoining their primitive palace. the four great columns which support the vault, the western and southern walls, and the annex, erroneously called the baptistry chapel, with the adjoining buildings, [illustration: the minne water bridge and round tower] none of which were originally included in the chapel but formed part of the count's palace--these are the oldest portions of this most interesting structure. in count robert of jerusalem, on his return from the holy land, placed here the relics of st. basil which he had brought with him from cæsarea in cappadocia; hence the dedication. later on, his nephew, dierick of alsace, in gratitude for some marvellous answer to prayer obtained through the intercession of the saint, restored and embellished the church; hence the erroneous tradition which makes him its founder. such as dierick left st. basil's in , so it is to-day. it has recently been carefully and conscientiously restored, and it is perhaps the most beautiful and perfect specimen of romanesque architecture in flanders. during the work of restoration, when the pavement was renewed, an interesting discovery was made:--the vault in which had lain, since , the mortal remains of ian van oudenaerde, the architect who restored the belfry in or thereabouts, and who added the four beautiful turrets at the angles of its second storey. the _porte de ste. croix_ and the _porte de gand_ are also his work, as well as the massive round tower at the head of the minne water. the nave of st. basil's has from time immemorial been known as the masons' chapel. here, until the revolution, the members of the guild of masons were wont to perform their devotions and to celebrate annually, with great pomp, the feasts of their patron saints, and it was doubtless on this account that ian van oudenaerde, that great master mason, was laid to rest in st. basil's. the upper chapel, which is probably the place where dierick enshrined his priceless relic, was almost entirely rebuilt towards the close of the fourteen hundreds, and of the original romanesque structure little now remains save the two round-headed bays which separate the naves. the work of reconstruction was not yet finished in , but as during the following year the first stained window was put in, it would seem that it was at this time approaching completion. both the upper and lower chapel suffered much during the religious troubles under philip ii., and again at the time of the french revolution. indeed, when the _septembriseurs_ had sated their fury on the old building, there was little left but the bare walls, and into such a state of decay had it fallen that when napoleon visited bruges in , the civic authorities were thinking of pulling it down. [illustration: crypt of the chapel du saint sang] 'that,' said the emperor, 'shall never be,' when the question was mooted in his presence. 'when i look at those graceful minarets, i fancy myself in egypt. to destroy a monument like that would be a sin crying for vengeance.' thus the old church was saved. presently it was restored to public worship, for from the time of the riots until the lower chapel had been used by the police as a prison for drunken and disorderly persons, and a place in which to confine stray [illustration: porch of the chapel of st. basil] dogs, and during the same period the upper chapel, roofless, windowless, a veritable wreck, had served no purpose whatever. the present elaborate scheme of decoration was carried out in from the designs of two english architects, william brangwyn and thomas harper king, and the old church is now gorgeous with colour and gold. but though the general effect is on the whole pleasing, the details are not happy. thanks to the late baron béthune's _lucas schoolen_, native artists could by this time do something better, and it is much to be desired that the wealthy confraternity of the holy blood would undertake the redecoration of their chapel. the lower sanctuary was restored only two years ago and, as we have already noted, most successfully. _la noble confrérie du précieux sang_ consists of a provost and thirty titular members, all of whom must be flemings of noble, or, as we should say, gentle birth, in memory of count dierick and the thirty flemish knights who in brought the precious relic to bruges. in addition to these there are a certain number of honorary members of other nationalities, for the most part great ecclesiastics, amongst them pope leo xiii., whose name was enrolled in the 'golden register' on may , , at which time he was nuncio to the court at brussels. in addition to these, some thousands of persons of every nationality and of all classes are united to the confraternity under the title of affiliated members. the management of the confraternity, the churches, and all that appertains thereto, is entirely in the hands of the provost and titular members, who are laymen, but other members, of whatsoever degree, participate equally in the masses and devotions which are celebrated in the chapel of the precious blood. we are indebted for the above details to the kindness of canon louis van haecke, chaplain-in-chief of _la noble confrérie_. if any of our readers should desire to know something more concerning this subject we would refer them to his interesting work--_le précieux sang à bruges_. [illustration: godshuis near the pont des lions] chapter x _philip of alsace and the charter of the franc_ philip of alsace reigned over flanders from till , and notwithstanding his frequent wars the land prospered under his rule. in his method of government he followed the policy of dierick his father. like him he was a builder of cities--nieuport and damme, at least, owe their origin to philip of alsace--and like him he was a promoter of popular liberties and popular institutions. it seems to have been the mission of the princes of the house of alsace, as kervyn justly observes, to proclaim the rights of the communes of flanders, and their fulfilment of it is their greatest glory. bruges, ghent, ypres, furnes, gravelines, nieuport, dunkirk, damme, are among the famous cities to which one or other of them granted municipal charters. but the charter which will interest the reader most was conceded to neither city nor town, but to the inhabitants of that vast irregular-shaped tract of country in the neighbourhood of bruges which went by the name of its franc, or, as we should perhaps say, its liberty, and comprised within its borders no less than ninety-one parishes, and the towns of ostend, blankenberghe, eccloo, dixmude, lisseweghe, ardenburgh and sluys--all of them in these days centres of no little importance. though from time immemorial, as we have seen, the yeomen who inhabited this district had been to all intents and purposes a free and independent people, who elected their own chiefs and lived under their own laws, it was count philip of alsace who first gave legal sanction to their political constitution, and the instrument by which he did so was the famous _keurbrief_ of . as with the first flemings, with our own saxon forefathers, and probably also with the ancestors of all nationalities of teutonic origin, the wehrgeld, or, as green calls it, 'the blood-wite,' or compensation in money for personal wrong, and mutual responsibility were the mainspring and corner-stone of the judicial code which philip's charter sanctioned. eye for eye, limb for limb, life for life, or for each its equivalent in current coin, this is the rough-and-ready theory which runs through the whole of this remarkable piece of legislation. but it was not only for personal injury that punishment in kind or an allotted fine was exacted; it was the penalty also attached to other offences. thus the man who had been convicted of breaking down a dyke was condemned to suffer the loss of the hand with which he had broken it, and probably, by way of compensation for the damage which he had thereby entailed, to forfeit all his goods; and it was a penal offence in the liberty of bruges to marry an infant without the consent of her heirs-at-law. 'whosoever,' runs this curious enactment, 'shall be convicted of wedding a girl who has not yet arrived at years of discretion, without the consent of those of her relations who are her heirs presumptive, shall be liable to forfeit all his goods, and if such an one shall have carried his infant bride out of the realm, her heirs may lawfully take possession of her goods; but if the aforesaid girl, repenting, shall presently return home, and be willing to quit her unlawful spouse, her property shall be restored to her; but if, on the contrary, she will not leave him, then shall she in no wise recover it.' the life of each man had its allotted value, which varied according to rank and station, and curiously enough, in days, when throughout europe the priesthood was held in high esteem, the clerk's life was valued at only one half the price of the life of the karl. just as the salic law fixes the composition for the murder of a roman proprietor at the half of that payable for the murder of a frank, so the law of the liberty of bruges valued the life of a clerk, who was considered as a roman, at only half of the value of the life of a karl. as to the fines imposed, the _keurbrief_ ordained that they should be levied in the first place on the property of the offending party, and if this were too inconsiderable to realise the required sum, that his fellow guildsmen should make up the deficiency. bearing all this in mind, hacket's demand that the limbs and lives of charles's murderers should be spared becomes intelligible. it simply meant that the usual fine should be imposed in lieu of the death penalty, which, under the circumstances, was not unreasonable. some of the enactments contained in this remarkable code are sufficiently curious. take, for example, the following: 'whosoever shall harbour a _scurra_[ ] for more than one night, may lawfully duck such an one on the morrow if he or she refuse to quit his abode.' others are no less remarkable for their practical common sense. for example the prudent regulation anent weights and measures. 'all weights and measures,' runs the article in question, 'shall be the same in the villages as in the towns. any headman convicted of falsifying weights and measures shall pay a fine for each offence of three livres, any one found in possession of false weights shall forfeit a like sum, and double the damage caused thereby.' the game laws of the liberty of bruges were singularly oppressive. perhaps philip stipulated for their insertion in the _keurbrief_ as the price of the large concessions he had made. in a country well-stocked with stags and boars, to say nothing of ground game, the following enactment must have been an intolerable burthen:--whosoever shall be prosecuted for fencing in his property against game, if he refuse to undergo judgment by red-hot iron, shall submit to an inquiry by the count, and if he be found guilty, all his goods shall be at the disposition of the count and the châtelain, but his life and liberty shall be safe. the flemish did not obtain complete redress of this iniquitous law until . if the reader should wish to know something more of this interesting document we would refer him to gheldorf's _histoire constitutionelle de la ville de bruges_, where the original text is given, together with a french translation and explanatory notes, p. . the magistrates of the franc administered justice to those submitted to their jurisdiction in their _landhuus_ on the west side of the bourg. the building of philip's day has long since disappeared. it was replaced in the early fifteen hundreds by van den poël's sumptuous _palais du franc_, of which a remnant is still standing, and still forms one of the most picturesque groups in the city of bruges. the most charming view of its quaint turrets and gables is from the great fish market along the quai vert. count philip of alsace was not only a builder of cities, a promoter of democratic institutions, the friend [illustration: the palais du franc] of the manufacturer and the merchant, he ever showed himself a generous patron of letters and of art. so, too, his countess, elizabeth of vermandois. she delighted in the company of minstrels and troubadours, and herself presided over a court of love. to bruges, in the days of philip and elizabeth, flocked half the literary men in europe. grave theologians like andreas silvius, or philip of harveng; historians like lambert of ardres, or hugh of st. victor; poets like chrétien de troyes, or colin muset, and a host of the most famous authors of the day. here, in the loove palace, or in the pleasaunce of winendael hard-by, they were wont to read aloud to the assembled court the romances of chivalry then in vogue. _erec_, _enide_, _clegès_, _le chevalier au lion_, _yseult_, _tristan de léonnois_, and the rest. the nameless authors of these two last dedicated their works to philip himself, and chrétien de troyes wrote his famous _saint graal_--'the church's counterblast,' as green calls it, 'to the whirlpool of arthurian romance'-- por le plus preud homme qui soit en l'empire de rome c'est le quens philippe de flandres. that the count himself was a man of some literary attainment, the following interesting letter seems to indicate: 'knowledge is not the exclusive privilege of clerks,' writes philip of harveng to his friend and patron, philip of flanders. 'it is well to be able to lay aside strife and politics, and go and study in some book, as in a mirror. the lessons that illustrious men find in books, add to their nobility, increase their courage, soften their manners, sharpen their wit, and make them to love virtue. the prince who possesses a soul as lofty as his dignity loves to hear wise counsel. how thankful you ought to be to your parents that from your childhood they had you instructed in letters' (epist. xvi., p. ). there is another circumstance in connection with philip which it will be interesting to note. when st. thomas à becket fled before the fury of henry ii. he for a time found shelter at the flemish court. the memory of his sojourn there still lingers at bruges. the chapel which he consecrated in philip's château at maele is still standing, and the well at tilleghem, where legend says he once slaked his thirst, is still called by the country folk st. thomas's well. chapter xi _baldwin of constantinople_ upon philip's death in , without children, the country finally devolved on his sister marguerite, who, as we have seen, had married baldwin of mons, the representative of the dynasty of baldwin the good. she only reigned three years, and was succeeded by her son baldwin of constantinople, who thus united the rival dynasties in his person. the old flemish chroniclers linger lovingly over the story of baldwin of constantinople, the last representative in the direct male line of the house of baldwin of the iron hand, and the last fleming who ruled over flanders. they like to represent him as a prince of unblemished character, devout, austere, and adorned with all the virtues befitting his state. his figure is undoubtedly a picturesque and an interesting one. he was a man of brilliant parts--shrewd, quick-witted, eager, possessed of no ordinary mental activity and of a wonderful aptitude for business. during the short period of his reign he found time to reform the criminal procedure of his own patrimony--hainault; to readjust the tolls and custom tariffs of ghent and of bruges; to abrogate in the latter city the iniquitous law '_de vino comitis_,' which ordained that the town should furnish wine for the count's household at a fixed price, often below the market value; to concede to bruges, on august , , the right to annually hold, during the month of may, a fair--a greater boon in those days than it is now; to busy himself with compiling sundry histories--really the chronicles of his native land--which afterwards went by the name of _histoires de baudouin_; to abolish many abuses; to cut the claws of usurers, and to purge, alas! by fire, his domain of heresy. he was not only a lover of learning and of learned men, but a ready writer himself, as witness the letters he addressed from constantinople to the king of france and to the pope--letters replete with valuable information concerning the latin conquest of that city. his career as a soldier, too, was not inglorious. he made successful war on the french king and wrested from him the greater part of the province of artois, and his brilliant action in the east led to the fall of constantinople and to his own election to the throne of the greek empire; but the glory of his purple robe, and the glory of his sword, and the glory of his achievements as a citizen and a prince, pale before the weird legend of love and crime and nemesis which chronicles his latter days. it reads like a fairy tale and comes to us on the authority of the last and greatest of our monastic historians: matthew paris, the famous scribe of st. alban's. on the morrow of ash wednesday, , a great multitude thronged the church of st. donatian's at bruges. count baldwin was to take the cross. the scene in the old church, old even in those days, was a solemn and a striking one. within those walls which had witnessed so many tragedies and stirring deeds was gathered the _élite_ of flanders--the flower of flemish chivalry was there, the household of the sovereign and of his consort, marie of champagne, and a host of wealthy citizens in holiday attire. ranged on each side of the altar stood the famous canons of bruges, in their long white linen rochets and purple veils, in front of them two choirs of singing boys from st. donatian's school. the great bell tolled as if for a funeral, perhaps that same great bell which five centuries later fell from its lofty tower, and for fifty years lay buried beneath the débris of the cathedral, and now sends forth its melodious voice from the steeple of notre dame. 'o god, the heathen are come into thine heritage, thy holy temple have they defiled. jerusalem is an heap of stones.... help us, o god of our salvation and for the glory of thy name deliver us, lest haply they should say among the gentiles, where is now their god.' thus plaintively the first choir, and then with a shout of triumph the men and boys on the opposite side of the chancel made response:-- 'let god arise, and let his enemies be scattered, and let them that hate him flee before his face. like as smoke vanisheth, so let them vanish away, and as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of god.' 'receive this symbol,' murmured the archbishop of tournai as he fastened to baldwin's breast a white linen cross embroidered with threads of gold, 'receive this symbol in memory of the passion of jesus christ, and of the cross on which he died.' when marie of champagne besought the aged prelate to place also on her breast the crusaders' sign, a shout of admiration, and perhaps too of dismay, burst from the crowd. marie was so tender and so beautiful, and the way of the cross was so hard--pray god that her end be not like that of the ill-fated countess sybil. baldwin set out for the east in the spring of , marie, who was then laid by in childbed, followed towards the close of the month, but she never saw her husband again. it happened thus. that shrewd old fox, dandolo of venice, taking advantage of the poverty of the crusaders, compelled them to undertake for him a campaign against zara, by way of payment for their transport to palestine. then came the conquest of constantinople and the founding of the latin empire, and the elevation of baldwin himself to the imperial throne (april , ). meanwhile marie had gone on to syria and was there awaiting her lord. presently, with the summer heat, plague swept the land, and marie herself fell sick. when she was lying at death's door, the news of baldwin's good fortune reached the town, and it was perhaps in reply to some inquiry of hers as to the cause of his long tarrying, that her attendants informed her that the erst count of flanders was now emperor of rome, and then the end came. baldwin was now at the zenith of his glory. from a petty tributary chief of a tribe of semi-barbarians, he had been raised to the throne of a great and civilized empire; but the tide of fortune was soon to turn, and marie's death was the first drop in the bitter chalice that fate was mingling for him. in less than a year the discontent of the greeks broke out in open rebellion. joannice of bulgaria had promised them help, and with a huge army, reinforced by a horde of tartars, he laid siege to adrianople. baldwin marched to relieve the town, and fell wounded, perhaps slain, before its walls. of what had actually befallen the emperor nothing was certainly known. some of his comrades were sure they had seen his dead body, others were equally sure that he had been taken alive. the bishop of soissons set out for france to gather funds for ransom. henry of flanders had recourse to the good offices of the pope, who at once sent an embassy to joannice to treat for baldwin's release. vain request. 'the emperor,' averred the king of the bulgarians, 'had paid nature's debt--_debitum carnis exsoluerat_.' twenty years later some wood-cutters of plancques, a village in the heart of the great forest which in those days stretched from tournai to valenciennes, discovered in an unfrequented glade, by the banks of a stream, a rude hut of osiers, thatched with turf, which they were sure they had not seen there before. it was the home of a long-bearded, white-haired old man, with a face covered with scars. of his antecedents they could learn nothing. 'i am but a poor christian,' he said, 'doing penance for my sins,' but there was something in his voice and bearing which belied his words. not a few of the crusaders, on their return from the east, had put on the black robe of st. benedict or the brown frock of the poor man of assisi--some of them were known to have chosen a solitary life, and to have hidden themselves in forests or caves, and the village gossips, over their ale, whispered to one another that of these the mysterious hermit was surely one. the peasant folk from the neighbouring villages flocked out to visit him; some of them had in their youth set eyes on the hero of constantinople, and these men were convinced that, in the garb of a poor recluse, they now beheld him again, and presently it was noised abroad that baldwin had come back to flanders. at length the rumour reached the ears of a former comrade-in-arms, a friend who had known him well, everard de montagne, the powerful lord of glançon. he at once set out for the hermit's cell, saw the old man, and was convinced of his identity--so too sohier of enghien, arnulph of gavre, bourchard d'avesnes (the ill-fated husband of baldwin's daughter, the future countess marguerite), and a hundred others who had been intimate with him. but the hermit would vouchsafe no answer, and when they pressed him, returned only evasive replies. 'are ye, then, like the breton folk,' he said, 'who still look for the coming of arthur?' presently a deputation of citizens went out to the hermitage from valenciennes; they greeted him with shouts of acclamation. 'thou art our count, thou art our count!' they cried, and, in spite of the old man's protest, they carried him back with them to the city. then at last baldwin declared himself. they had rightly divined his secret; he was indeed the count of flanders. the story of his adventures is a strange one. wounded at the siege of adrianople and sick almost to death, he had been taken prisoner by the bulgarians. during the early days of his captivity a lady of the court chanced to see him, perhaps the king's daughter herself. she was interested in his story, he was still young and handsome, and she gave him her heart. the emperor feigned to reciprocate her passion, and her devotion knew no bounds; to save him, and, for his sake too, his comrades, she was ready to risk her life. a plan of escape was devised. by her aid it was successfully carried out and they all fled together. baldwin, however, did not marry the bulgarian princess. the heroine who had rescued him was a pagan woman, he was a disciple of christ; but before they fled they had mutually plighted their troth--she to receive baptism at the first opportune moment, he, when this had been accomplished, to make her his wife. when the time for fulfilling their pledges came, it found the infidel true to her vow, the christian eager to be quit of his. was there no loophole? he took counsel with his flemish friends. the emperor was bound, they said, by his oath, but there was a gleam of hope; haply this gentile woman would go the way of all flesh before she had accomplished hers. baldwin took the hint. on the eve of her intended baptism the hapless princess died. retribution quickly followed. the murderer was presently entrapped by barbarians, who carried him off for a slave. seven times he was sold from hand to hand, kicks and blows were his portion and indignities of every kind. one day, when he was harnessed to a cart like some beast of burthen, he fell in with a company of german merchants who, learning his tale, had pity on him, and purchased his release. filled with remorse at what he had done, he at once set out for rome and confessed his sins to the pope, who imposed on him a life-long penance. he then made his way back to his native land, and went and hid himself in the forest of glançon. strange as it may seem, the knights and burghers of valenciennes believed the old man's tale, and stranger still, in their pity for his great misfortune, they forgot his great crime. they put on him a purple robe and thrust a sceptre into his hand, and called him father and chief. for them he was the hero of constantinople, the sovereign who had showered blessings on them all, the christian who had suffered long years of anguish at the hands of heathen men. in their eyes, the red aureole of martyrdom already glowed about his head, and they begged locks of his hair for relics, and treasured up the water in which he had bathed. it was the same throughout the realm. the men of flanders everywhere remembered that they had loved baldwin and they all knew that they hated jeanne, and now baldwin the beloved was in the midst of them again. the evil days of his daughter had become as a tale that was told. wherever he went he was greeted with wild demonstrations of joy. the great towns of flanders received him with open arms. his journey from city to city was one long triumphal progress. presently he reached bruges, and here at pentecost he held his court, and, clad in imperial robes, with his own hands armed ten knights. but this was not all. the neighbouring sovereigns acknowledged his claim. the ambassadors of the duke of limbourg and the duke of brabant waited on him in the capital, and henry iii. of england (april , ) sent to 'his very dear friend baldwin' letters of greeting, of congratulation, and of sage advice. 'remember,' he said, 'that the king of france hath despoiled both the one and the other of us; let us therefore make a league together against him.' if baldwin had taken up the thread of his old policy, and allied himself with england, his course of action would probably have been crowned with the success of former days, but he was now a broken-down old man, cowed with long years of servitude and the memory of a great crime, he had neither the courage nor the energy to do so, but fatuously threw himself into the arms of the very man against whom henry had warned him. in the midst of the unlooked-for good fortune which had up to now attended the enterprise which the hermit of plancques had been so loth to undertake, one circumstance was a cause of no little grief and disquietude; his daughter had refused to recognize him, and had fled to france, and though the cloud on the horizon was no bigger than a man's hand, it presaged, he foresaw, a deluge which would perhaps sweep him away. in his trouble and confusion he turned a willing ear to the false counsel of his sister the lady of beaujeu,[ ] who urged him to take the wind out of jeanne's sails by himself confiding in the french king, who, thanks to her good offices, was disposed in his favour. baldwin fell into the trap. louis sent him a safe conduct, and towards the close of june he set out for péronne, where louis was at that time holding his court. his entry into the city on the evening of july was a vision of eastern splendour. all glorious in purple and gold, with his crown on his head, and a white wand in his hand, they bore him aloft on men's shoulders in a comely litter. before him was carried the imperial cross, and a retinue of over a hundred gorgeously-attired knights followed in his train. at the palace gates louis himself came out to greet him. 'welcome, sire,' said the french king, 'if thou art indeed mine uncle baldwin, count of flanders.' 'fair nephew,' quavered the old man, 'such in sooth am i, but my daughter doth not know me, and would fain take away mine heritage; prithee help me to keep it.' louis had already decided on the course he would pursue, and already agreed with jeanne as to the price of his championship, but he deemed it prudent for the moment to disguise his intentions, and the emperor was soon entertained at a sumptuous banquet, during which he again recited the story of his adventures, and with such good effect that many of those who heard him were moved to tears. presently the royal council was summoned, and baldwin was invited to plead his cause. he consented to do so, and it became clear that the solemn reception accorded him had been from the first a solemn farce. in inviting baldwin to péronne, the french king had but one object in view--to separate him from his friends--and in now affecting the appearance of a serious examination of his claim, his only desire was to discredit it. at last, after having endured much brow-beating and hectoring speech, the emperor refused to answer any more questions; the hour was late, he said, and he had that day been greatly fatigued; on the morrow he would be ready to converse again. but the wary old man had no intention of keeping his word; he now fully realized the danger of his position. in coming to péronne he had made a false move; his liberty, perhaps his life, was in peril, and he cast about him for some means of escape. fortune was once more kind to him, and that very night he took horse and fled the city. when he reached his own dominions he was greeted with the same wild demonstrations of joy which had at first hailed his coming. but if the great heart of the people still throbbed for baldwin, the classes were no longer with him. he soon learnt that the sheriffs of bruges and of other great towns had accepted jeanne's amnesty, and that even the picked knights who had accompanied him to péronne had played him false, and he lost heart. there was no peace for him in this world save in a life of penance. he had slain the woman who loved him, the woman who had risked her life for his sake, and her shade would assuredly drive him back to his hermitage or to the gallows. the cause of this sudden _volte-face_ in favour of jeanne is difficult to surmise, but corruption had not unlikely something to do with it, for we find in a treaty concluded, at bapaume a few days later the countess of flanders acknowledging that louis, whose soldiers had not once drawn their swords in her behalf, had expended ten thousand livres in reinstating her in her dominions. meanwhile baldwin had disappeared. some of the few who still clung to him affirmed that he had fled to germany and had been received with hospitality by archbishop engelbert of cologne, who, they averred, had counselled him to go to rome and lay his case before the common father of the faithful. be this as it may, baldwin was presently arrested by baron erard de chastenay, at rougemont in burgundy, who sold him to jeanne for four hundred silver marks, and she, filled with savage joy, hanged him in chains on a gibbet at lille between two hounds. 'many of those who knew his story,' comments matthew paris, in his delightful, gossiping way, 'were convinced that this lot befell the emperor in consequence of his sin.' 'and all those who had promoted it by their advice,' he adds, 'in like manner came to a terrible end.' 'one of these men, when he returned home to his wife, and had been recognized by her, was cast headlong into a well. she privily procuring the same because in her lord's absence she had wedded another man, and had borne him children.' 'so too of the rest. by some mishap or other they all of them perished miserably, for the wrath of god, who willeth not that evil should be rendered for good, was fiercely enkindled against them.' chapter xii _the love story of bourchard d'avesnes_ before proceeding further with the story of bruges, it will be necessary to go back to the time when baldwin first disappeared from men's view ( ), blotted out by the thick mist of conjecture which clung round the bastions of adrianople, and to note the course of events in flanders from that date until the day of his unlooked-for home-coming twenty years later ( ). the mysterious exit of the emperor had left his patrimony in hazardous plight. jeanne, his heiress and eldest daughter, was not yet fifteen years old; her sister marguerite was still in her cradle; philip, marquis of namur, whom baldwin before setting out for the east had appointed their guardian, was a man unworthy of trust, and the redoubtable philip augustus was shaping the destiny of france. too shrewd to let slip so favourable a moment for strengthening his hold on flanders, the french king at once laid claim as suzerain to the wardship of the infant princesses, and the marquis of namur,[ ] bribed by the promise of a royal alliance, fell in with his kinsman's designs, and presently dispatched them to france. in face of the storm of indignation aroused by so flagrant a breach of trust, philip was constrained to hand over the reins of government to his co-trustee, bourchard d'avesnes, the son of the illustrious friend of richard coeur de lion, and the chief of the nationalist or anti-french party. but it was only after five years' negotiation, and a threat to throw himself into the arms of england, that at length bourchard was enabled to obtain his wards' release, and before king philip would suffer their return to flanders, he took care to bestow jeanne's hand on his kinsman ferdinand of portugal, a prince whom he deemed would be wax in his hands. perhaps the french king was from the first mistaken in his man. certain it is that when immediately after the marriage he seized st. omer and aire, and under pretext of hospitality forcibly detained the newly-married couple, _en route_ for flanders, at péronne, until they acquiesced in this act of spoliation, ferdinand showed no disposition to submit to the outrage tamely. he went forth from his prison at péronne filled with projects of vengeance, and having concluded a secret treaty with john of england, he waited to see what would happen. for two years he was fain to possess his soul in patience, but everything comes to the man who knows how to wait, and at the expiration of this time ferdinand's opportunity came. philip augustus was now gathering up his strength for a crusade against john, whom the pope had declared to have forfeited his crown, and he had summoned his vassals to meet him at soissons. ferdinand alone refused help. st. omer and aire, he averred, must first be restored to flanders. philip offered a money equivalent; ferdinand would not accept it. nothing but the restitution of the ceded cities would content him. by taking possession of them philip had violated his duty as lord, and henceforth he (ferdinand) was in no way bound by his oath of allegiance. 'one of two things must needs come to pass,' king philip had swore when he learned that ferdinand had renounced his overlordship; 'france must be flemish, or flanders french,' and presently he led into the netherlands the great army which he had assembled to fight king john, who had now made his peace with the pope. on may cassel fell, later on ghent was invested, by the close of the summer the french were at the gates of bruges. soon tottering walls and smouldering embers were all that remained of 'its famous seaport called damme,' and the vast wealth of merchandise stored there, and thousands of homes had been reduced to ashes. the fertile country round was white to harvest, and philip reaped it with sickles of flame. from bruges to the seashore all the country-side was one great field of black stubble. all through the autumn the french king harried flanders; lille, cassel, courtrai, and a host of smaller towns had shared the fate of damme before the snows of winter drove him back again to his native land. about this time too ferdinand set out on a journey that he had long had in contemplation--took shipping for dover, and in due course reached canterbury and his friend john, nor is it unlikely that during this interview the allies broached for the first time the famous project for the partition of france between england, flanders, limburg, holland, namur and the empire, and which, if fate had been kind, would have assured to ferdinand the provinces of artois, picardie and the ile-de-france, including that paris where, in days of yore, he had been so diverted by '_les folles filles et les jongleurs_.' be this as it may, the flemish count was the moving spirit and instigator of the whole plot. the outcome of it was the battle of bouvines, and the outcome of the battle of bouvines was twelve years' captivity for ferdinand, the french yoke more firmly riveted to her neck than ever for flanders, and for england, as we all know, the great charter. this, then, was the plight of flanders at the close of the year . for sovereign she had a young and tearful wife, casting about her for some means to obtain her husband's release, and ready, for the moment, to make any sacrifice to deliver him. on this weak, helpless girl philip augustus had imposed as chief counsellor a creature of his own, a degenerate scion of the house of erembald--one rodolphe de nesle, châtelain of bruges. added to this, fortresses had been dismantled, strongholds had been razed, and two-thirds of the chivalry of flanders were languishing in french prisons. but there was a gleam of hope on the horizon; there was still one man left in flanders, mighty enough, as every one believed, to save the fatherland from sinking into a mere french province--that same man who, in the days of philip's treachery, had taken the reins of government into his own strong hands and forced the french king to release his master's daughters. so thought all flanders, and all flanders was doomed to disappointment. for, despite his noble qualities and his great parts--a brilliant knight, a ripe scholar, an accomplished diplomatist, and withal a shrewd, hard-headed man of business--bourchard d'avesnes was not able to work out his own salvation much less the salvation of flanders. when in the year the flemish princesses returned to their native land, king philip augustus had reluctantly confided the younger of them, marguerite, then a child of some eleven years, to his care until such time as she should have attained marriageable age, and bourchard had since prolonged the term of his guardianship to one of life-long duration, as he fondly hoped, by espousing her himself: a proceeding which in no little measure enhanced his prestige and influence for the moment. bourchard had announced his marriage to his sister-in-law, who, at least, had shown no open disapprobation, and after the battle of bouvines, and the capture of ferdinand, his star was still in the ascendant. if aught should befall the childless jeanne, now cut off from all hope of offspring, his wife would be countess of flanders, and, in accordance with the usage of the day, he himself would share her throne. if this were matter of no little rejoicing for the inhabitants of that country, it was no less a source of consternation to the french king, who foresaw in bourchard, count of flanders, an emulator of robert the frisian, and from that moment he determined to crush him. it was owing to his influence that the countess jeanne first showed herself bourchard's foe, and if philip himself was not the fabricator of the rumours which blasted his after career, fortune had placed in his hands a deadly poison which he did not scruple to employ. it was in the gossiping ante-chambers of the lateran palace that these rumours first took shape, and whatever of truth or falsehood there may have been in them, they were credited by innocent iii., who on th january sent letters to the archbishop of rheims, bidding him proclaim bourchard d'avesnes excommunicated 'until such time as he shall set marguerite of flanders at liberty, and humbly return to the manner of life becoming his ecclesiastical state. the testimony of several prelates and other trustworthy persons had convinced him that bourchard was a sub-deacon and that he had been at one time a canon of laon.' of the circumstances of the marriage, which had been celebrated after the banns had been regularly published in the presence of all the great nobles of hainault, innocent was probably ignorant. indeed, he seems to have been doubtful whether any marriage had taken place at all. 'bourchard has not feared,' he says, 'to perfidiously conduct marguerite, the sister of the countess of flanders, to one of the castles confided to his care, and there to retain her, averring that she is united to him in wedlock.' great then was the surprise of the papal legates when they presently approached the château de quesnoy, and marguerite herself came forth to meet them with her beautiful face radiant with youth and happiness--she was only fifteen years old--nor did her words of greeting in any way lessen their amazement. 'learn from mine own lips,' she said, 'that bourchard is my lawful spouse, and know too that i have for husband a better man and a better knight than hath my sister jeanne.' the sentence of excommunication was not pronounced. bourchard had lodged an appeal to the pope, but for all that, jeanne, entirely under the influence of her french counsellors, laid siege to the castle of quesnoy. the lord of avesnes, so far from being in a position to fight for his fatherland, was hard pressed to defend his wife, and during two years an intermittent warfare continued between his vassals and the vassals of the countess of flanders. at the end of this period he seems to have been taken captive, and there is a tradition that he was at one time imprisoned at ghent. what became of marguerite during her husband's captivity does not appear, but certain it is that when he had obtained his release and had withdrawn to the château de houffalize, on the banks of the meuse, she found means to join him, and that here she later on bore him two sons--baldwin and jean. the birth of these children but increased the fury of their father's enemies. jeanne's french counsellors were well aware that unless bourchard's marriage could be shown to be null and void, one or other of his sons would in all probability succeed to the throne, and they feared that in that case vengeance would be meted out to the men who had persecuted him. philip augustus too was more than ever convinced of the necessity of annulling the marriage, which guaranteed the legitimacy of his offspring, and by making jeanne believe that she could obtain the release of her own husband at the cost of her sister's shame, prevailed on her to re-open the case at rome, and the outcome was a fresh sentence of excommunication which set under the church's ban not only the lord of avesnes himself, but his brother guy and the friend who had given him hospitality, thierri of houffalize. in vain bourchard journeyed to rome, there to plead his cause in person. the pope, instead of granting the dispensation he asked, imposed on him, by way of penance, a pilgrimage to jerusalem. it was about this time that baldwin of constantinople again returned to flanders. chief amongst those who rallied to his standard were the friends and supporters of bourchard d'avesnes (no small number), and so long as baldwin prospered, bourchard's hope rose high. by what means the emperor of constantinople fell a victim to his daughter and to louis of france (philip augustus had died two years before) we have already seen, and when louis crushed baldwin, he at the same time crushed bourchard. the last hopes of the lord of avesnes were buried in the grave of baldwin of constantinople. but bourchard had not yet drained the cup of his humiliation. during the year he was destined to taste all its bitterness. enraged at the support which he had given to the hermit of glançon, louis forced the princess marguerite to come forth from the retreat where she had remained since her separation from her husband, break her plighted troth, and take a new spouse in the person of william of dampierre. in vain pope honorius charged the bishop of soissons 'to make diligent inquiry, lest haply there should be some impediment by reason of kinship.' in vain rumour said that william, like bourchard, was a sub-deacon; the marriage was celebrated without delay, and it was not until four years later that a papal dispensation was obtained from the impediment of consanguinity. how louis induced marguerite to take the step in question we are ignorant, but about this time ferdinand obtained his liberty, and it may well be that the french king made his release conditional on jeanne's bringing her influence to bear on her sister, and we know by the testimony of marguerite's own sons that it was 'chiefly through the evil counsel of her sister jeanne that she at last consented to the marriage. the same witnesses inform us that marguerite handed them over to the tender mercies of her new husband, who imprisoned them 'for ten years or thereabouts _et multa mala eis fecit cum non haberent custodem sen defensorem_.' for the rest--when william died, the sons of the lord of avesnes at length obtained their liberty and returned to flanders, and the last days of their much-tried father, now an old man tottering to the grave, were in all probability cheered and consoled by the presence of those sons for whose sake he had sacrificed so much. [illustration: interior of notre dame] as for marguerite herself, she never again saw the man who had served her so devotedly, and whom she had so deeply wronged. the child love of earlier and happier days had given place to hatred so unrelenting, so cruel, that when bourchard himself had passed away she did not hesitate to visit it on his children. indeed, after marguerite had become countess of flanders, the one object in her life seems to have been to exclude them from all part in their inheritance. if she could have had her way, the issue of william of dampierre would have been declared the only legal heirs, alike of hainault and of flanders. again and again at marguerite's instance the facts of this antiquated matrimonial suit, every one of which had happened fifty years before, were discussed by grave divines. again and again the countess of flanders dragged her honour in the dust, and besmirched the memory of her dead husband, in the hope of proving the illegitimacy of the children she had borne him. the case was heard in the ecclesiastical courts of france; it was food for the delectation of imperial judges, and its merits were considered by the lawyers of the roman curia over and over again, but in spite of the pains which marguerite had taken to blacken her own character, in each case she was declared innocent--the children of bourchard d'avesnes had been certainly born in wedlock. marguerite, however, refused to acquiesce, and it was not until the land had been drenched with blood by the supporters of the rival claimants, and guy and william of dampierre had both fallen into the hands of their opponents, that at length this implacable old woman and all other parties concerned agreed to refer the matters in dispute to the arbitration of that marvellous peacemaker, st. louis of france, who awarded hainault to the heirs of bourchard d'avesnes, and to the dampierres, flanders. a decision to which each party was constrained to submit, and when marguerite died, guy de dampierre became count of flanders, and jean d'avesnes count of hainault. [illustration: hospital of st. john and south aisle of notre dame] but how, it will be asked, does all this concern the city on the roya? what has the love story of bourchard d' avesnes to do with the story of bruges? this much. bruges, as the chief place of residence of the sovereigns of flanders, was intimately associated with the court of flanders and all that appertained thereto. moreover, it was during this period that bruges began to assume its present aspect. if old provost bertulph, or dierick of alsace, or even his son philip, could again re-visit the scene of their sorrows and their triumphs, they would hardly recognize in the city of bruges aught save the chapel of st. basil; but if marguerite, or jeanne, or poor bourchard, were to come back again, they would find there much that was familiar to them--the great nave and choir and transepts of notre dame, in spite of whitewash and rococo ornament, and the scars of their conflict with time, would be easily recognizable. so too the cathedral of st. sauveur, part of it, the nave and choir of the church of st. gilles, and the northern aisle and the tower of the church of st. jacques. if the ghost of jeanne could come forth into the _rue ste. cathérine_, there too she would recognize in the old brown hospital tottering into the water, in spite of mutilated statues, blind windows, bricked-up doorways and an abundant crop of golden wallflowers which have found a congenial home in the chinks and crevices of its crumbling façade, the stately building which she herself had founded six hundred years ago, the withered fruit of that grand design over which, along with the master mason who conceived it, she had no doubt often pored, and which, perhaps even, she had herself modified. whilst if the beguinage hard-by with its renaissance church, its renaissance porch, and its white-washed cottages of the seventeen hundreds; if the hospital of our lady of the pottery at the other end of the town, with its flamboyant windows, its recently-restored out-buildings, and its modern gateway; if the romanesque hospital of st. john at damme, pitilessly scraped as to its stones, and with its time-honoured brickwork degraded by red paint, appeared at first sight unfamiliar to her, an arch here, a gateway there, a piece of rude carving a little further on, would soon convince her that she was in the presence of old friends whom she and her sister marguerite had known six centuries before. and so too of others of the bricks and stones, and perhaps also even of the trees of bruges or its neighbourhood, though, alas! it is too seldom the manner of the fleming to cherish his timber after it has attained marketable value. he is indeed an indefatigable planter, but he plants for profit, and he is a no less indefatigable wielder of the pruning-hook and the axe. [illustration: the beguinage, with tower of notre dame] nevertheless, here and there some stalwart stripling has escaped notice long enough to have attained such huge dimensions as to evoke even the respect of this hard-headed, matter-of-fact saxon--such a one is still standing in a wood not far from maele castle, the former country residence of the counts of flanders. maybe it was already a great tree when marguerite and jeanne were still children living under the guardianship of philip of namur and bourchard d'avesnes, and that when they went out from the sultry town in summer-time to the cool of maele woods they played beneath its branches. there is a still more famous tree a little further off, but within measurable distance of bruges. the time-honoured yew tree of löo is said to be more than two thousand years old. it stands beside an ancient gateway in the main street of this picturesque little town--once the home of bertulph's murderer, the perfidious william of löo, and is associated with the name of no less remote a personage than julius cæsar. the country folk will tell you he once tied his horse to it. a fragment too of the primeval forest in which robert the frisian built winendael is still standing, and here also there is some old timber. let the visitor to bruges, when he has fatigued his eyes with the glory of man's handiwork in the city, consider awhile the handiwork of god in the flat country surrounding it. let him go forth into the forest of winendael, or the woods of tilleghem or maele, and he will see what he will see. chapter xiii _the french annexation_ descended from a poor but illustrious family of the best nobility of champagne, and nearly allied to the royal house of france--a man of great natural abilities, no less courageous than capable, and withal an ardent lover and lavish patron of literature and the arts--it was no mere vulgar flattery when jacques bretex, the troubadour of arras, averred that count guy de dampierre was the most polished and learned and generous prince of his day. his court was one of the most brilliant in christendom; thither flocked musicians, artists, men of letters, from all parts of europe. his chief delight was to while away his leisure hours with them--in summer-time in the woody glades of winendael, and in winter in the halls of his sumptuous palace at bruges. it was thanks to his generous patronage that in days when every french town boasted a poet, in an age that was the age _par excellence_ of french minstrelsy, this gentle art shone with the greatest _éclat_ in flanders and in artois. but if french songsters like adenez leroy and jacques bretex enchanted the ears of guy's court with pæans of his virtue and his glory, plain citizens relished more the rude flemish verse of the poets of the people--verse bitter, caustic, passionate, instinct alike with their hopes and their aversions, verse which, scorning the art of flattery, did not hesitate to discover the source of all this magnificence;--burthensome taxes and forced loans wrung from a long-suffering people by a prince who contemned their liberties. the bitter irony, for example, with which william uuitenhove in his _reinæert de vos_ (reynard the fox) bewails the progress which master reynard has made in science, and the haste shown by men hungry for riches to follow no other rule than that which he preached in his den, or the no less bitter and energetic hymns in which jacob van maerlant bewails the lot 'of the sheep wandering among the ravening wolves who have become their shepherds now that pride and avarice have given to every man who possesses gold the right to speak in the council chamber of princes.' bred in the traditions of feudalism, guy mistrusted flanders, the land of all others where freedom had made most headway, and the flemish in their turn hated him because his dynasty had been forced on them by france. these two circumstances hampered him at every turn, and there was yet another which indirectly aggravated all his difficulties: he was the impecunious father of seventeen children.[ ] sons had to be settled in life and daughters portioned and married, hence the arbitrary taxation, the fines and forced loans with which he so often vexed his subjects. this too was the fruitful source of foreign complications. guy, considering above all things how to obtain rich partners for his numerous offspring, did not always take into consideration the political opportuneness of their alliances. from every circumstance he must needs draw some pecuniary advantage, and that without regard to his real and permanent interests. every town and abbey in his domains lent him money, he had recourse too to the usurers of lombardy and of arras, and he was always ready to sell privileges to whomsoever could afford to pay for them. the money thus raised was in great part expended in endowing his progeny. thus it was that he purchased the lordships and manorial rights of dunkirk, of baitlleul, of cambrai, of st. omer and peteghem. his endeavours to affiance his daughter phillippine, and when this failed, his youngest daughter isabelle, to the heir to the english throne, were in great measure the cause of his troubles with france. with what tenacity guy clung to this project, and that it was not altogether inspired by mercenary motives, the memorial presented by his two sons robert of bethune and john of namur to pope boniface, bears witness. the princess phillippine was at this time a prisoner at paris, and one object of the memorial was to interest boniface in her behalf. 'holy father,' runs the passage in question, 'your devoted son guy, count of flanders, is grievously afflicted that the union of his daughter with the prince of wales, a matter which had been guaranteed by solemn oaths, is not yet accomplished. it were a fine thing for him to have for his friend and son-in-law the heir to the english throne, and his daughter one day queen, which was what, with god's blessing, he had ardently hoped would come to pass,--nay, what a grand thing it would be for his subjects that england and flanders, countries which hitherto have been so often at loggerheads with no little detriment to persons and property, should at length be united in bonds of peace. for the inhabitants of these lands are neighbours and they are wont to have much commercial intercourse the one with the other, chiefly for the transport of wool from england, and cloth from flanders, but also anent many other products found in one country or the other.' a fourth circumstance hampered guy. his nephew jean ii. of avesnes never forgot that he was the eldest son of the eldest son of marguerite of constantinople, that the highest ecclesiastical tribunal in christendom had pronounced in favour of his father's legitimacy, and that thus, according to the law of primogeniture, he was rightful count of flanders; hence he lost no opportunity of injuring his uncle, and was continually plotting against him. moreover, guy was at daggers drawn with several of his great vassals, such as the lords of audenarde and gavre, and he was not beloved by the higher clergy, at all events by these of west flanders. thus it came to pass, in spite of his brilliant qualities, in spite of his all-round capability, in spite of his courage, his perseverance and his _finesse_, he failed in the noble task which it was his ambition to fulfil--to break from off the neck of flanders the galling yoke of france--that his most cherished personal hopes were never accomplished; that he had to stand by with folded hands whilst poor little phillippine, the child of his old age, the apple of his eye, was slowly done to death by philippe le bel, and that he himself, an old man broken down by insults and tears, at length died miserably in a french prison. it must not be supposed from what has been noted above that guy was animated by the instincts of a tyrant; he had no wish to establish a despotism in flanders--nay, he undoubtedly had the welfare of his country at heart, but self came first. when he was not blinded by his own personal interests, he showed himself a just and a benevolent prince, following in his methods of government the example of his predecessors, jeanne and marguerite. like them he favoured industry and commerce, and to a certain extent the freedom of the towns, but he viewed with an evil eye the extreme independence of the great communes, the like of which existed nowhere else in northern europe, and he would have reduced their liberties to the same level as those obtaining in france. the jealousy with which the upper classes viewed the increasing well-being of the people was another item in the political situation of the day, and guy endeavoured to exploit it for his own ends. the quarrel was not, as has so often been represented, a duel between burgher and noble, it was rather a tug-of-war between men of wealth and men of moderate means. on the one side were doubtless a certain number of rich feudal lords, but there were also allied to them almost all the great merchants and traders of the greater communes, and nearly all the higher clergy--in a word, the _majores et potentiores_, as monachus gandavensis calls them. on the other, the small traders, the lower clergy, and perhaps a sprinkling of the court nobility. the former class alone monopolised all municipal authority, every post of profit and advancement was reserved for them, and the latter viewed this state of things with great disfavour; and guy, with a view to crushing the oligarchy which governed the towns, fomented and increased the quarrel, backing up the small men who were not strong enough to disquiet him. the flemish as a nation have never been renowned for loyalty to the princes who governed them, and the sturdy patriotism of this hard-headed race will most frequently be found to have been inspired less by motives of sentiment than by motives of self-interest. this was certainly the case with the '_majores et potentiores_' of bruges and ypres and ghent in the days of count guy. so long as their rights and privileges and monopolies were respected, so long as all political and municipal power was in their hands, it mattered little to them whether they were called frenchmen or flemings, whether their nominal chief styled himself count of flanders or king of france. thus it came to pass that when guy, in order to curtail their power, threw his weight on the side of the little men, the governing oligarchy appealed from their count to the parliament of his liege lord, the king of france, and that when, thanks to their aid, that monarch had made flanders a french province, and had then thrown off the mask, and attempted to deprive them of all they held most dear, they veered round to the side of their rightful government, united with the little men, and finally chased the french from flanders. 'philippe le bel,' says kervyn, 'represents in the thirteenth century the worst tendencies of absolute monarchy.' he was firmly resolved to gather up all power into his own hands, that he alone should rule france, and that in the domains of his vassals nothing should take place without his consent. and note this. he was the first french sovereign who used the formula--_par le plenitude de notre puissance royal_, and the first too who styled himself _metuendissimus_. flanders was the first province to which he directed his attention. her princes were amongst the mightiest and the most independent of his vassals, and behind them was the strength of their free cities. united, these two forces would have been invincible; in hurling himself against the bed rock of their omnipotence philippe would have only dashed himself to pieces, but, unhappily, at the time of which we are treating, guy and his burghers were at daggers drawn, and their mutual animosities--animosities which he made it his business to foment--afforded philippe a favourable opportunity for crushing both. from the commencement of his reign the french king had persistently worried the count of flanders with a policy of exasperation which culminated, in , in the decoying and detention of his favourite daughter phillippine. this it was which at length drove guy to openly break with his suzerain, and on the th of january , after signing on the previous day at winendael an offensive and defensive alliance with edward of england, he despatched the abbots of gembloux and of florceffe to paris to inform the french king that on account of his evil deeds and his perfidy, count guy of flanders henceforth held himself to be quit, delivered and absolved from all bonds, alliances, conventions, obediences, and services by which he might hitherto have been bound to him. philippe replied by invading flanders at the head of , men. the greater communes, of whose rights and liberties he posed as the champion, received him with open arms, and so hard pressed were count guy and his allies that early in october ( ) they were glad to consent to an armistice which was afterwards prolonged to a truce of three years. having thus for the moment discarded the trade of war, philippe busied himself with diplomacy; purchased the defection of albert of nassau; concluded a secret treaty with the english king, affiancing his daughter isabelle to the prince of wales, and his sister marguerite to edward himself. thus on the very day when the truce expired he was enabled to pour his troops into flanders with every anticipation of a successful and speedy issue. nor was he doomed to disappointment. what could guy do? betrayed by his burghers, without friends and without cash, by the end of april he had lost all heart, and presently he was on his knees at ardenburg before charles of valois, the french commander, humbly suing for peace. absolute submission to the king's mercy, total abandonment of the remnant of territory which he still held, and a journey to paris along with two of his sons and fifty of his barons, there to treat face to face with the king--these were the only terms upon which valois would consent to relinquish hostilities, but he guaranteed to guy, in the king's name, that if he failed to obtain peace in the course of the year, he should be free to return to flanders. stern as the conditions were, guy and his little following forthwith set out for paris, but only on their arrival there to be thrown into prison. philippe was not bound, he said, by a treaty to which he had never assented, and presently, having obtained judgment from his lawyers that guy had forfeited his dominions by reason of felony, he took possession of the entire county, and declared it annexed to the french crown. this was early in the year . 'the burghers of the flemish cities,' says a german historian, 'had been all corrupted by the gold or the promises of the french king, who would never have dared to cross their frontiers if they had been true to their count.'[ ] the rest of this story is more intimately connected with bruges, and it must be told at greater length. chapter xiv _peter de coninck_ although the city on the roya had been in great measure responsible for the success of the french arms--at the very commencement of the war she had opened her gates to philippe le bel--she was destined to be the chief factor in the great movement which ended by chasing the french from flanders. early in the spring of philippe le bel had resolved to make a triumphal progress through his new domains, and on the th of may, accompanied by his queen, he arrived at douai--having visited courtrai, audenarde, peteghem, ghent--where he was received with the greatest magnificence. towards the close of the month he reached bruges, and bruges would fain have surpassed her rival in the cordiality and gorgeousness of her welcome. all the palaces and public buildings were hung with precious stuffs; on platforms draped with taffeta stood the wives and daughters of the burghers, arrayed in glorious apparel, and tradition tells us how the shimmer of their gems and the lustre of their silks aroused the envy of isabelle of france. 'i thought,' quoth she, 'that i alone was queen, but here i see six hundred.' but if the _majores et potentiores_ were exuberant in their manifestations of loyalty, the people were dumb. in vain philippe called the sheriffs to him, and bade them proclaim public games; no man would take part in them. indeed, these very games were destined to be the source of the ill-fortune which afterwards befell the french. the sheriffs essayed to place to the cost of the city companies the price of the gala uniforms expressly manufactured for the occasion. the latter refused to acknowledge the debt, and riots ensued which presently culminated in successful rebellion. in those days there dwelt in the city of bruges a little wizened, one-eyed man who loved the people. speaking no language but his own rude mother-tongue, he knew how to infuse so much fire into it, and to mould it into such pithy sayings, and there was so much shrewdness in his speech, and so much sense in his ugly head that, in spite of his physical infirmities and in spite of his uncouth form, his influence with them was unbounded. this man was the dean of the great guild of weavers, petrus de coninck, or, in plain english, peter king. what his original station in life may have been, and what public offices, if any, he may have filled, are questions, perhaps, which will never be determined. may be, as gheldorf thinks, he was a man of noble birth who had formerly occupied some position of trust at guy's court--it was by no means an unusual occurrence for flemish noblemen in those days to become members of city companies. may be kervyn is right in asserting that he was a son of the people; nor, if this were so, does it follow that de coninck had not been attached to his sovereign's household; men of doubtful origin, before and since, have sometimes been esteemed by princes, and guy is known to have favoured his lesser folk. perhaps he was a flemish karl of the liberty of bruges, one of those sturdy yeomen whose ancestors for generations back had, each of them, cultivated his own plot of land and held it by the strength of his own right arm. be this as it may, neither the baseness nor the brilliancy of de coninck's origin diminished or increased the esteem in which he was held by the people. they loved him for what he was, and not for what his forebears had been; and when, supported by the deans of five-and-twenty guilds, in the market-place of bruges, beneath the shadow of the great bell tower which had just arisen from its ashes more beautiful than it was before, he thundered at the corruption and ambition of the city fathers and called them sycophants and knaves, the vast crowd which thronged the market-place rallied round him to a man, and swore to refuse the obnoxious tax--that not one groat of their hard-earned coin should find its way into the coffers of so corrupt a municipality. in vain the outraged sheriffs caused de coninck and his comrades to be put under arrest; that very night the people burst open their prison and set them free, and when john of ghistelle, the chief of the leliaerts,[ ] concerted with them a plot to fall on the clauwaerts[ ] unawares and cut down all their chiefs, the bell which should have signalled the work of destruction was for more than one of the plotters his own passing knell. somehow or other the clauwaerts had got wind of the storm that was brewing, and as the first shrill cry of the tocsin clanged over the city, they flew to arms. panic laid hold of the leliaert host, and though the swiftness of their heels saved some, not a few of the leaders were reckoned amongst the slain, and others before nightfall were safely lodged in the prison which had so lately held de coninck and his friends; but the measure of the great tribune's vengeance was not filled up yet. jacques de châtillon, the king's lieutenant, had for days been encamped outside the city walls, but he deemed the force at his disposal too small to risk a conflict. each day, however, was bringing him fresh recruits, and a bloody encounter was at hand, when certain men in whom each side trusted offered their mediation. thanks to their good offices an arrangement was effected, and next day de châtillon and his knights rode into the city at the same moment that de coninck and his friends left it. that a man of de coninck's stamp should have consented to act thus is at first sight incomprehensible, but after events show that this seemingly cowardly and vacillating conduct was inspired by no mean or unworthy motive. so great were the odds against him that, if he had then hazarded an engagement, nothing short of a miracle could have saved his little band from being cut to pieces. he was well aware that if he surrendered unconditionally the best thing he could hope for would be a halter, and that with his life was linked at that juncture the liberty of flanders. he knew, too, the man he had to deal with, and that if he gave him sufficient rope he would certainly end by hanging himself. in a word, châtillon's narrow, arbitrary and exasperating policy would soon drive not a few of the lily's staunchest supporters--for the greater number of them were only leliaerts from self-interest--to throw in their lot with the lion, and that then, with a united flanders at his back, he might hope to accomplish something. these events occurred in the month of july . all this actually came to pass. no sooner had châtillon entered bruges and re-established his authority than he declared all its privileges forfeited on account of the late rebellion, and exacted, moreover, by way of further punishment, the fourth penny of every workman's wages, and to overawe the discontented, he began the construction of a great citadel on the banks of the minne water. in vain the burghers sent envoys to paris to plead their cause before the king. châtillon's henchman, the comte de st. pol, had preceded them, and their prayer and humiliation only added to his triumph; and when on their return to bruges they told the astonished burghers how during their visit to paris the bishop of pamiers had arrived there, charged by the pope to demand the release of count guy and of phillippine, and how the king had received him with insults and cast him into prison, these men knew they had nothing to hope from the tender mercies of philippe le bel. meanwhile the discontent at bruges was increasing day by day. so great was the indignation aroused by the governor's arbitrary conduct that numbers of those who had formerly supported philippe had now returned to their allegiance to guy, and by the month of november the clauwaerts had grown so strong that when de coninck, taking advantage of châtillon's absence at ghent, appeared once more in the market-place 'no man dared lay hold of him.' indeed, so terrified were the leliaert magistrates at his unlooked-for arrival that they fled the city, and, for the moment, de coninck was master of bruges. but the people are ever a timorous and vacillating herd, and when de coninck failed in an attempt to win over the ghenters to the national side, and news came that châtillon, at the head of a vast host, was on his way to bruges, so great was their terror that they forced him to quit the town. indeed, if he had refused to do so he would have fallen a victim to their fury--and two days later châtillon marched in. de coninck was in no way disheartened. he knew that the burghers would soon call him again to their aid. moreover, during the period which had elapsed between his first and second exodus, the prospects of the little band of patriots had vastly improved. william of juliers,[ ] provost of maestricht, a grandson of count guy, aroused by the woes of his native land, had exchanged the cassock for the cuirass, and placed himself at their head; john breidel, dean of the butchers' guild, one of the richest men in bruges, and perhaps, like de coninck himself, in brighter days a noble of guy's court, had thrown in his lot with them, and by the united efforts of de coninck and these men the standard of the lion now waved over damme, and oostburg, and ardenburg, and the castles of sysseele and maele, and if bruges in her wild panic had thrust the great tribune from her doors, he was not doomed to wander shelterless and alone. five thousand of her bravest sons were found ready to share exile with him, and all the country round was still staunch to the cause of freedom. and yet so unequally matched were the combatants that the final issue could hardly be doubtful. on the one side was philippe le bel, the mightiest king of his day, with all the chivalry of navarre, and all the chivalry of france, and whatever knights he had been able to recruit throughout the continent of europe; and on the other, the tradesmen of flanders, headed by an exiled priest and a handful of outlawed nobles who had been driven from their native land. but de coninck regarded the matter from another point of view. on the one side he saw tyranny and injustice, and on the other liberty and right, and he knew that though sometimes these champions have the air of feeble folk, in the long run they are bound to conquer; and perchance too william, calling to mind the words which in the old church at maestricht he had so often chanted at vespers:--_deposuit potentes de sede et exaltavit humiles_, felt confident with a confidence not of earth that that god who chooses the feeble things of this world to confound the strong would surely fight their battle for them. be this as it may, on may , châtillon marched into the city, but instead of bringing, as he had promised the burghers, only a small escort, two thousand well-armed knights marched in with him. forthwith all kinds of rumours filled the air--châtillon had brought great coils of rope to hang the chief citizens, there was to be a general massacre of clauwaerts not even the women and children were to be spared. one french knight had been so sickened at his leader's wholesale project of vengeance that, rather than have a hand in it, he had made good his escape from the city. next day the kennels of bruges were red with blood, but it was not the blood of her burghers. in their fear and their misery these weaklings bethought them of the man whom they had turned from their doors. 'if you have any pity for your fellow-citizens, if the bowels of your compassion are not shut up against our women and our little ones, come over and help us.' thus they sent word to de coninck at damme, and before daybreak he was at ste. croix, and with him was john breidel and a host of stalwart flemings. a handful of burghers went out to confer with them, and presently with a great cry the exiles burst into the city. '_schilt end vriendt_, for the lion of flanders,' re-echoed through the narrow streets, and all those who could not pronounce this shibboleth, impossible of articulation for gallic lips, were forthwith put to death. so stunned and confused were they by the suddenness of the attack, and the darkness of the night and the uncouth words of greeting which burst from the lips of their foes, that the frenchmen hardly showed fight at all, but considered only how best they might quit the city, a matter not easy of [illustration: old houses on the roya] accomplishment, for a strong guard of flemings was posted outside each gate. all day long the work of destruction continued, and when at last, worn out with slaying, the flemish sheathed their swords, the streets and lanes of the city were red with blood and filled with dead men, and so great was the number of corpses that it took three whole days to cast them into the adjoining fields, and there give them burial. and yet fortune had been kind to some of them; the lives of forty knights had been spared, and perhaps of three-score soldiers. these men had been cast into prison; others more fortunate still had saved alike their lives and their liberty. amongst them note the authors of all the mischief, jacques de châtillon and chancellor flotte. the former, who, with all his faults, was no coward, at first essayed to stem the tide, but when his horse had been slain under him, seeing that resistance was hopeless, he endeavoured to slip away unobserved, and in the darkness and confusion succeeded in doing so. presently, wandering about the mazy byways in search of some refuge, he fell in with pierre flotte in like predicament with himself. at last they discovered the place they were seeking, perhaps the garret or the cellar of some warehouse giving on one of the canals. here these two friends, the one a prince of the blood royal and the other the bastard of a courtezan, each of them men of wealth and might, without victuals and without drink, lay huddled up in a frowsy corner, expecting each moment would be their last, until once more the shades of night fell on the town. then slinking forth, not without trepidation, châtillon in the garb of a clerk, flotte disguised in some other fashion, each of them presently made good his escape, and found an interval of breathing time, the first at courtrai, the second at lille, during which to recruit themselves for the great contest so soon to follow. truly the fourteenth century was a century of noise and adventure, and yet somehow or other in those days, so we are told, men had no nerves. chapter xv _the battle of the golden spurs_ the victory was not yet won, flanders was not yet free, but the massacre which took place at bruges on friday, may , , and which the burghers for centuries after with brutal irony delighted to call their 'good friday,' was the beginning of the end. a few days before that event, william of juliers had sought out the lord of moerseke and demanded of him the sword which guy had entrusted to his keeping when he set out for france. at first the knight refused, but the war-like prelate seized it roughly from his hands, saying, as he did so, 'this is now my pastoral staff; henceforth the battlefield shall be my school, and soon philippe le bel shall rue his treachery to guy of dampierre'; and william kept his word. remaining at bruges for a few days to recruit his forces, he sallied forth into the country round, and soon ghent alone of all the towns of flanders was in the hands of the french; and early in june guy of namur, a younger son of guy of flanders, reached the capital, where he was welcomed with costly presents and garlands and clashing bells, and appointed commander-in-chief of the flemish host and regent of the county. meanwhile châtillon had brought to paris the news of the bruges massacre, and by the end of june philippe had gathered together an army to be wondered at. 'so great was the number of chariots and horsemen,' says matthew of westminster, 'that the surface of the earth was hid by them.' every baron in france who could take the field was there, and mercenaries from spain and italy, and hainault and brabant. their leader was the count of artois. presently they set out for the netherlands, and towards the close of june they reached lille. nor was the army of resistance which the regent had assembled one worthy of contempt. in addition to his own german auxiliaries and a handful of volunteers from zealand, he had collected recruits from every commune and châtelaincy in flanders. even from ghent, the only town which still held to france, came seven hundred men headed by two sheriffs. in the foremost rank were the burghers of bruges, each man ranged under the banner of the guild to which he belonged and gorgeous in its rich livery--purple, blue, gold, or white embroidered with crimson crosses. their leaders were breidel and de coninck and the redoubtable provost of maestricht. hard-by, under eustace sporkin, one of the last of the old saxon chiefs, stood the yeomen of the liberty of bruges; half naked, bare headed, sinewy of limb, carrying no weapon but the rude _scharmsax_ of their ancestors, but for all that a force not to be contemned. from time immemorial the fathers of these men had borne the brunt of every foreign invasion and of every native tyranny. 'so far as they are concerned,' as kervyn notes, 'the history of the fourteenth century is the history of every century which had preceded it.' jacques de châtillon, like so many tyrants before him, would fain have reduced them to slavery, and they had sworn to prevent it. the count of artois set out from lille during the early days of july, and, leaving behind him a long red streak, for in order to terrorize the peasant folk he had spared neither women nor children, he presently pitched his silken tents on a knoll of rising ground about two leagues from courtrai. before that time this hill had been called _mossenberg_ (the mossy mount), but on account of the revelry which then took place it has since been known as the _berg van weelden_, or the mount of feasting. it took two days for the french force to assemble, and meanwhile the scouts, whom artois had sent out to ascertain the position of the flemish, brought back word that they were spread out in a single phalanx in the plain before the abbey of groeninghe, to the east of the town on the road to ghent; that the river lys on the north covered their rear; that on the west they were protected by the entrenchments of courtrai, and on the south and east by the river groeninghe, and that their position was impregnable; that, so far from showing fear at the approach of the enemy, as artois had confidently expected, 'they were drawn up man to man with their arms raised above their heads like valiant huntsmen awaiting the charge of the wild boar.' those of the french knights who best knew flanders besought their chief to put off the battle till the morrow. the flemish, they urged, were not accustomed to remain long in camp, and want of supplies would soon disperse them; but artois rejected the counsel with disdain. 'what!' he cried. 'we outnumber these men by half as many again; we are on horseback, they on foot; we are well armed and they are without weapons; shall we remain, before such a foe as this, rooted to the ground in terror?' the decisive contest took place on wednesday the th of july. the flemish began the day with fasting and prayer. 'behold before ye,' cried that militant prelate william of juliers, 'behold before ye men armed for your destruction! our hope is in the name of the lord, invoke his aid.' then, when a priest had raised the sacred host high above the kneeling throng, william of renesse made known the battle cry--'flanders for the lion,' and then each man took up a handful of earth and pressed it to his lips, by way perhaps of spiritual communion, perhaps to testify their love for the soil of flanders and that they were sworn to defend it. before the battle commenced, a frugal repast was served out to the men. the town archives of bruges have preserved for us the bill of fare--fish, eggs, mustard and sorrel. nor were omens lacking which presaged the fortune of the coming fray. a flock of doves hovered about the heads of the flemish host, whilst over the french squadrons there wheeled ravens. rumour said too that the count of artois had risen from his bed full of evil forebodings, that his favourite hound had attacked him and almost fastened to his throat, and that when he sprang into his saddle, his charger had reared three times before he would start. a more certain augury of misfortune was the impatient ardour which fretted his soul, and some grey-headed knights called to mind that fifty-three years before his father's impetuous temper had, at the battle of mansourah, wrecked another french host. amongst the mercenaries whose assistance the french king had bought was a band of famous archers recruited in genoa. these men at the opening of the conflict, stealthily advancing along the road to sweveghem, presently espied on the other side of a thick hedge which skirted the banks of a stream a company of flemish bowmen, and in less than the twinkling of an eye the arrows of the italians were playing havoc with them. but if the foreigners' sharpshooting discomfited their opponents, it afforded no consolation to their french paymasters, and one of them appealed to artois. 'sire,' he burst out in the bitterness of his soul, 'sire, if these villains do so much, the day will be theirs, and what share will the nobles have in the glory?' 'then let them charge,' was the reply. in vain that shrewd old fox flotte pointed out that when once the italian archers had broken the flemish ranks and constrained them to quit their entrenchment, the nobles alone would have the glory of putting the enemy to flight. artois refused to hear him. 'by the devil,' he cried, 'pierre, you have still the wolf's skin,' and the knights rushed forward, trampling under their horses' hoofs the italian archers, and even cutting their bow-strings with their swords. there is some consolation in the thought that the littleness of these fine gentlemen was the cause of their overthrow. the marshy land--the _bloed meersch_, as it was afterwards called--in the foreground of the flemish camp was everywhere intersected by streams, and deep and broad dykes, with hedges on their banks thick and high. (such is still the character of the landscape in many parts of flanders). these the flemings had cut down, and with the felled brushwood they had concealed the water. the frenchmen, unacquainted with the nature of the country, failed to perceive the trap which had been laid for them, and in an instant hundreds of men and horses were struggling in a watery grave, and the few who succeeded in reaching land were received by their opponents on the points of their spears. then followed a hardly-fought contest, for though the knights who had first charged had been nearly all slain those behind them were legion, and the streams, now choked up with dead bodies, no longer barred the way. for a moment the flemish were driven back and for a moment panic was imminent, but guy of namur, turning round to the great abbey church of st. mary which towered behind him, cried out with a voice which echoed over the battlefield, 'great queen of heaven, help us,' and with that cry he so heartened his wavering forces that they returned with renewed courage to battle. during the _mêlée_ which followed, rudolphe of nesle was struck down--a three-fold traitor this man; a traitor to his country, for he was a fleming of pure blood; a traitor to the traditions of his own house, for in his veins flowed the blood of dierick of alsace, and the nobler blood of erembald; and a traitor to his wife, for she was a daughter of the count of flanders. but in spite of it all he was a brave knight; he had gone farther that day than any frenchman, and he preferred to die rather than to yield up his sword. by a strange coincidence, jacques de châtillon, who had been rudolphe's successor in the government of bruges, was fighting by his side when rudolphe fell, and he too was cut down by the flemish pikes. not far off an old man was seen to throw himself on his knees. he had that day put on mail for the first time, thinking when he did so, not to take part in the conflict, but to have his share in the triumph which every frenchman believed that morning would be its issue. somehow or other he had been drawn, in spite of himself, into the thick of battle, and now loudly cried to his friends to carry him out, but no man had pity on him, and he was presently trampled to death by his own comrades. thus perished chancellor flotte, the foremost of philippe's law lords, of that new _noblesse de robe_ which he had raised up to counterbalance the might of the old _noblesse d'épée_, of that band of _chevaliers ès lois_, as they loved to style themselves, by whose astute aid he was gradually changing monarchy into despotism, and who, as kervyn notes, 'under the grandson of st. louis, became the tyrants of france.' philippe had found him on the dunghill, and he made him to sit among the princes of his people. he was a shrewd, hard-headed man of business, and of good qualities, at least, he possessed these: fidelity to the cause he served, and loyalty to the man who made him. he had sworn not to return to france until he had wiped out the indignity which had been put on him by bruges, and, as we have seen, he kept his word. on the other side it had gone hard with the provost of maestricht, who was carried out of the battle with his temples streaming with blood. if it had not been for the presence of mind of his esquire, this circumstance would perhaps have caused a panic. he, swiftly buckling on his master's armour and galloping into the thick of the fight, cried out, 'it is i, william of juliers, come back to do battle,' and so saved the situation. it was not yet noon when the count of artois dashed to the front, crying out as he did so, 'let those who are faithful follow.' presently he came to a great dyke. digging his spurs into his horse's flanks, he cleared it at a bound, and was alone in the midst of the flemings. in an instant he had seized the banner of flanders and torn it to shreds, but in bending forward to grasp it, his foot slipped out of his stirrup, and william van sæftingen, a monk of hacket's abbey at lisseweghe, who had fled from his cell to join the fight, dragged him from his saddle, and at the same moment someone wrenched away his sword. 'i surrender, i surrender,' he cried, but with brutal irony his assailants feigned not to understand, and before guy of namur could interfere to save him, the count of artois was dead. although deprived of their leaders, the french knights fought with their wonted valour, but amid the slime and dykes of the _bloed-meersch_ cavalry was worse than useless, and before nightfall the first and second lines of the great army of invasion were cut to pieces. the third battalion--the reserve force--had taken no part in the engagement, and a handful of the men who formed it succeeded in making their escape, but they fled in the greatest disorder, and their retreat was nothing less than a rout. for the rest, seventy-five noblemen, a thousand knights and three thousand esquires were among the slain, and the sum-total of the french losses are said to have amounted to twenty thousand, whilst the flemish estimated theirs at a hundred all told. so great was the number of the golden spurs which the conquerors wrenched from the heels of the french knights who had fallen that they measured them by the bushel, and be it noted that the cavaliers of the period in question wore but one spur. some of these trophies william of juliers sent to his church at maestricht, and the rest were hung up in the church of st. mary at courtrai. this brilliant victory which the tradesmen of flanders had gained over the flower of french chivalry made such an impression on the hearts of the people that to this day there is hardly a fleming who is ignorant of the battle of the golden spurs. nay, at the news of the victory of courtrai, on all sides hope was re-born in the breast of the people, and the cry of liberty resounded throughout europe. in france, at toulouse and bordeaux, the citizens took heart and drove out philippe's officers. in italy, while florence showed signs of restiveness, bologna, mantua, parma and verona made solemn treaty together to defend their rights. in switzerland the echoes of morgarten responded to the shout of triumph which had gone up from the battlefield of groeninghe. in hainault, at liège, in brabant, in holland, a like enthusiasm was shown, and it was the same elsewhere. thus kervyn poetically,[ ] and it is worthy of note that at rome pope boniface viii., who seems to have held the flemish in no little esteem, caused public rejoicing to be made in honour of this triumph of democracy. breidel and de coninck are said to have been knighted on the field of battle--a tradition which hardly supports that other tradition which makes them men of noble birth. be this as it may, the men of bruges have not forgotten them, and some ten years since they were sufficiently ill-advised to set up beneath the shadow of their historic belfry a statue in honour of these heroes, which in no way harmonizes with its surroundings, and every year since its erection it has been their wont to deck it with garlands, and, grouped around its base, to sing hymns in honour of the men who rescued their city from tyranny and drove the french out of flanders. notwithstanding her enormous losses at the battle of courtrai, france had not yet disarmed, nor was it until july that philippe le bel, in order to save courtrai, which was at that time being threatened by the flemish, at last consented to liberate their count as a preliminary to negotiations for peace, but on condition that if terms were not agreed on by the following spring, he would again yield himself prisoner. great was the joy of the men of bruges when, towards the close of october, their sovereign returned to winendael. they had forgotten the evil things which they themselves had endured at his hands in the days of his prosperity, and were mindful only of his own suffering during his long imprisonment, and many of them, says the friar of ghent, when they saw him once more amongst them, were affected to tears. guy's sojourn at bruges was not destined to be a long one. the negotiations with france fell through, and he scorned to break his word. when in the month of june ( ) the appointed day arrived, he quietly went back to his prison at compiègne, and philippe once more led his troops into flanders, and with some measure of success. but the french king was in reality weary of the conflict. if the campaign should be prolonged, experience told him that in all probability fortune would favour the flemish, and he again consented to treat with guy and his burghers. early in the new year terms had been practically agreed upon, and a treaty of peace was on the point of being signed when, on the th march ( ), the old count died. the negotiations, however, were not broken off. robert of bethune was at once released from prison, philippe acknowledged his right to the county of flanders, by may he had reached his dominions, and early in june a definite treaty of peace was at length signed. robert, however, was now an old man enfeebled in health and broken in spirit by the hard captivity he had so long endured, and the treaty to which he had set his hand, behind, it would seem, the backs of his burghers, was presently found to contain conditions to which they had never assented--conditions so disastrous to the interests of flanders that they refused to ratify it. then followed fresh negotiations iii.--genealogical table of the counts of flanders from baldwin viii. to guy de dampierre. =baldwin viii.= _d._ = =marguerite= _d._ +--------------------------+----------+--------+----------------+ =baldwin ix.= = marie philip = marie elizabeth = philip sybil = guichard, (of constan- | of of of | augustus, lord of tinople) | champa- namur france | king of beaujeu _d._ | gne | france or | | _d._ | +---------------------+ +----+--------------------------------------+ | =jeanne=, countess = ferdinand bourchard = =marguerite= = william louis viii. of flanders and of portugal d'avesnes | countess of | of _d._ hainault | flanders and | dampierre | _d._ | hainault | | | _d._ | | +---------------------------------+--+ +-----+--+ | john i., count = alix daughter and baldwin william guy, louis ix. of hainault | heiress of florence, _d._ count of (st louis) _d._ | countess of holland flanders _d_ | _d._ | john ii. of philip iii. hainault _d._ and holland | _d._ | philip iv. (le bel) _d._ which dragged on for fifteen years, during which time philippe himself was gathered to his fathers, nor was it until may , , that terms of peace were at length agreed upon. [illustration: a th century chimney] chapter xvi _the great charter--the belfry and the tower of notre dame_ strange as it may seem, not only during the civil conflicts in the early days of guy's reign, but during the turmoil and warfare which succeeded them, bruges increased alike in prosperity, and comeliness, and might. true, she lost her charters when the belfry was burned down in . some said that the count himself had fired it with a view to their destruction, and the new law which guy had promulgated on may , , as the burghers bitterly complained to the french king, was not worthy of the name of law, 'seeing that amongst other errors it ordained that criminals, in certain cases, should not be served with notice of trial nor suffered to state their defence, and that all the ancient rights and liberties of the city were either abrogated or curtailed.' nevertheless, when guy was hard pressed by philippe le bel, in order to conciliate the burghers he had re-established the ancient charter, and when in philippe annexed flanders, he, in his turn, confirmed it. finally, after the expulsion of the french in , one of guy's sons, philip of thielt, who was at that time carrying on the government in the name of his captive father, filled with gratitude at the part which bruges had taken, granted her a new and most liberal charter, in which all her old liberties were confirmed and even extended. this charter was probably drawn up by the sheriffs of bruges themselves. when robert of bethune ascended the throne, in , he at once confirmed it. every succeeding count, when he first entered the city, solemnly swore to maintain it intact, and it remained the fundamental basis of the civil and criminal law of bruges until . the charter in question contains seventy articles, forty-eight of which deal with criminal law, and the remainder with civil law. many of them express a breadth of view and liberality of spirit which, considering the epoch at which they were drawn up, is not a little surprising. gheldorf in his _ville de bruges_ (p. , etc.) gives the whole document in the original flemish. note, amongst not a few prudent enactments, article . it is so interesting, and denotes so clearly what progress bruges had now made in the paths of law and order, that we cannot pass it over in silence. by it the citizen of bruges was entirely set free from the superstitious and barbarous obligation of trial by battle. henceforth, any man convicted of sending a challenge to a burgher was liable to a fine of sixty livres, in these days no small sum. if such challenge had been accepted, half of the fine went to the count, and half to the town, and the challenged burgher was also mulcted in a similar sum; if, however, he had refused the challenge he himself received a quarter of the fine, and, in that case, the count received his full thirty livres, and the town only fifteen. any man amenable to the city magistrates, who had lived for a year and a day within the limits of the city franchise and paid his taxes, was considered a citizen. there were, no doubt, a number of persons living in bruges who were not amenable to the city magistrates. the feudal lords, for example, though it was open to them, if they would, to enrol themselves as citizens, and not a few availed themselves of the privilege; persons submitted to the jurisdiction of the franc; perhaps also the members of the count's household, and the members of religious communities; and we know that from time immemorial there had been a large colony of foreign merchants in bruges. the municipal machinery by which the city was governed seems to have been, at this time, at all events, of a somewhat complicated nature. there were two distinct corporations, each presided over by its burgomaster. the first consisted of the _écoutète_, or representative of the count, the burgomaster and thirteen _echevins_, who, according to gheldorf, were the sole judges in bruges. the manner of their appointment is uncertain; but we know that, save in the case of their having been convicted of felony or of having falsely administered justice, they were irremovable during the single year which they held office, and that convicted criminals, artisans who had not abstained from manual labour for a year and a day, and the _echevins_ of the preceding year, were ineligible. the second corporation consisted of its burgomaster and thirteen town councillors. it is doubtful what were the functions performed respectively by these corporations. perhaps the first, in addition to its judicial functions, was a legislative assembly, and the second administered the affairs of the town. curiously enough the original flemish version of the charter of is mute as to the method of election alike of the college of _echevins_ and the town council, but gheldorf has discovered among the archives of bruges another version containing an article which gives minute directions on this head. it was evidently drawn up in the interest of the members of the great city guilds, and awards to them the lion's share of all the appointments in question, viz.: the right to name absolutely all the town councillors and five of the thirteen _echevins_, as well as a voice indirectly in the election of four others and in the nomination of each of the burgomasters. it allots to the burghers generally the right only to present eight persons to the count in order that he may select from among them four more _echevins_, and ordains that the members of the city council, and the nine _echevins_ thus appointed, shall elect the remaining four, and furthermore that the _echevins_ shall elect their own burgomaster, and the _echevins_ and councillors together, the burgomaster of the city council. gheldorf conjectures that the charter which he discovered among the archives of bruges was only a rough draft of the charter of ; that for some reason or other the clause anent elections was omitted from the fair copy, but that the method of procedure therein ordained was later on sanctioned by philip of thiette in a separate charter. if this be so, the document in question would seem to have disappeared. it has been conjectured above that the _echevins_ of bruges were not only magistrates, but also legislators, but even if this were so, the power which they wielded was less than it at first sight appears, for overshadowing the might of the _echevins_ was the might of the colossus which appointed them, and the trade guilds had a practical veto over all their acts. these to be legal and valid must first have been stamped with the city seal, and the city seal was stored up along with the city archives in a strong chamber in the thickness of the belfry walls, secured by four wrought-iron doors with ten locks and ten keys, eight of which were in the hands of the guildsmen. butchers, bakers, shoemakers, tailors, weavers, brokers, carpenters, smiths, the deans of each of these companies possessed a key without which it was impossible to open the doors of the municipal treasury, and these were the men who in reality governed bruges when she was at the zenith of her power, and who continued to do so until her glory had faded away and she [illustration: thirteenth-century iron gates in belfry] was rapidly sinking to the position of a second-rate provincial town. to-day the old archive chamber is without its rolls, and without its great seal, but it is still closed by the wrought-iron gates which once secured them, though they are now seldom locked, and whosoever will may come and go at pleasure. it will be interesting to note anent these gates that the town accounts for the year has the following entry: _item, erembaldo fabro, pro januis ferreis ad thesaurarium in halla, lxxxi. lb._ the name then of the smith who forged them was erembald, and he received for his labour the sum of eighty-one livres, not on the whole an exorbitant fee. the mention of the archive chamber brings us naturally enough to the great tower which contains it, to that belfry of bruges which had just risen from its ashes more beautiful than of yore, the belfry of bruges as it is now, without indeed its crowning glory, the octagonal lantern of the later fourteen hundreds, but without also the sorry disfigurements inflicted by the hand of the restorer a hundred years after. the original structure was built in the days of the first counts of flanders, perhaps before the close of the eight hundreds, not of wood, as was formerly supposed, but probably of rough _velt_ stone, the material employed for nearly all the buildings of that period. whether any portion of the first belfry was left standing after the great fire of is a moot point, but maybe the foundations of the lower portion of the walls were spared, and that these were incorporated into the new building. monsieur gilliodts, who at present holds the office of city archivist, and probably knows more about his native town than anyone else, is of this opinion. whether or no it be well founded is a question for experts to decide, if they can. in any case there can be no doubt as to the appositeness of the learned archivist's remark anent the present building. 'for six hundred years,' he says, 'this belfry has watched over the city of bruges. it has beheld her triumphs and her failures, her glory and her shame, her prosperity and her gradual decay, and, in spite of so many vicissitudes, it is still standing to bear witness to the genius of our forefathers, to awaken alike memories of old times and admiration for one of the most splendid monuments of civic architecture which the middle age has produced.' the other great tower of bruges dates also from this period. it equals the first in comeliness and, calmly rising into the heavens some hundred feet above the highest point of the bell-tower, surpasses it in the unadorned majesty of its grand proportions, for the sublime steeple of notre dame is in itself beautiful, and neither possesses nor requires embellishment. it is the first object which meets the eye of the ostend fisherman as he nears his native coast, and seems more completely to dominate the old flemish city, and the fair emerald landscape which surrounds it, than does the belfry itself. it took the men of bruges, it is said, a hundred years to pile up this huge mass of tawny stone and golden-hued and blushing brick, and so marshy and unstable was the site on which they placed it, that as much material was needed for the foundations as is contained in that portion of the structure which rises above the soil, and the tower of notre dame, be it noted, measures from base to weathercock no less than four hundred and eleven english feet. it is said to be slightly out of the perpendicular, and a story is told--it is probably only a story--that the architect, on its completion, perceiving this defect, in despair threw himself from the summit and so was dashed to pieces; but for all that they buried him in consecrated ground, and his mausoleum was the splendid monument which he himself had erected. the church of notre dame was without the city boundary until the year . up to that date it formed part of the domain of the lords of sysseele. this ancient manor was submitted to the jurisdiction of bruges towards the close of guy's reign. the great square tower which was formerly the home of the lords of sysseele is still standing, pleasantly situated on the outskirts of maele woods. with its gothic gateway, its corner turrets, and its high-pitched roof it still forms a sufficiently picturesque group, but alas! it has recently been restored, and has thereby lost all trace of its conflict with time. bruges obtained also during the reign of guy of dampierre recognition of her disputed right to exercise jurisdiction over sluys and damme, and in a concession of less moment, but nevertheless one not to be despised. at the instance of his countess, isabelle of namur, and 'in consideration for services rendered,' guy made over, at this time, to the city for ever his right to succeed to the property of bastards dying without issue. [illustration] chapter xvii _louis of nevers_ louis of nevers, the eldest son of count robert of bethune, inheriting from his grandfather guy alike his brilliant qualities and his grave defects, was destined, like him, to be crushed by the weight of two overweening passions: love of gold, and love of self. at first an ardent patriot, he had set himself at the head of the communes of flanders in their struggle against his father's misgovernment--a misgovernment brought about first by fear of france, and later on, in his old age, by the spectre continually before his eyes of the fortress in which he had been so long immured at compiègne; but what threats and force and a french prison could not accomplish in louis of nevers, was afterwards effected by hard cash, and presently prince louis the patriot, his pockets well lined with french gold, so played on the terrors of his old father, a dotard of eighty-two, that he compelled him to acquiesce in a treaty with france, which his better judgment told him would be disastrous for the future of his realm (may , ). perhaps louis would have gone further still, perhaps he was plotting even now the immediate destruction of flanders. towards the close of the year when robert, after signing at paris the treaty in question, once more returned to his native land, thinking to obtain some little breathing time before he set out on the last dread journey, his chamberlain introduced to his presence a young man, who, in a voice broken with tears, avowed that he had been commissioned to poison him. 'and wherefore didst thou think to commit this crime?' said the old count. 'sir,' replied the youth, 'i was driven to it by the prince of nevers, who bade me follow the instructions of brother walter the hermit'--a monk whom robert loved well--and little by little he learned that his death was to have been the signal for an outbreak which was to hand over all flanders to the king of france. whatever may have been the truth of the mysterious youth's story; robert believed it, presently prince louis was arrested and thrust into prison, and it was probably owing to the intervention of the burghers, who either did not credit the charge against him, or were still influenced by feelings of regard for their old champion, that his life was spared. be this as it may, the count of nevers was shortly afterwards set at liberty on his undertaking to leave flanders within eight days. this was on the th of april. no sooner was louis a free man than he set out for the french capital, where, three months later, on july , , his inglorious career came to an end, and only two months afterwards count robert himself paid the debt of nature. rumour said that both robert and louis had been poisoned by robert of cassel--a younger son of robert of bethune--and that he had driven his elder brother out of flanders with a view to his own succession. certain it is that the lord of cassel at once set claim to the throne, and at first it seemed probable that he would obtain it. he had for a long time past been mustering his forces, and now he had at his disposal a considerable army; all the stronghold in flanders were in his hands, his father's ministers were his staunch and devoted friends, and so redoubtable did he seem that the french king refused to accept the homage of louis of nevers' eldest son, who also claimed the throne, and was now in paris, alleging that it was for the court of peers to decide who was the rightful heir to the county of flanders. if robert had been able to gain the support of the burghers, his triumph would have been assured, but they knew him to be a proud and ambitious man; the crime of parricide was associated with his name, and in spite of his professed devotion to the popular cause they profoundly distrusted him. more than a year before, bruges and ghent had made a solemn league and covenant together to defend their rights and liberties against any man who should attempt to infringe them, and had appointed a committee of ten burghers to watch over their common interests. these men, convinced that the feeble hands of a youth would lightly hold the reins of government, without waiting for the decision of the peers, invited the count of nevers to flanders, proffered him their homage, and shortly afterwards informed the french king that if he should any longer delay to acknowledge louis's right to the throne, they would themselves undertake the administration of the county. king charles submitted the more easily because he too saw in the youth of the burghers' candidate a guarantee of his own influence, but before he would consent to receive louis's homage he exacted from him a secret promise that as soon as he should have consolidated his power, he would choose for his advisers the men whom he (charles) should select. louis's first act upon taking possession of his dominions was one calculated to cause profound irritation to the citizens of bruges. his uncle, count john of namur, had thrown in his lot with robert of cassel, and in order to purchase his support, louis appointed him warden of sluys, an office which had hitherto been held by the burghers of bruges and damme. whereupon the committee of ten began to tremble for their commerce. soon a mob of angry citizens, headed by louis himself, who hoped by his presence to keep them in hand, were on the road to sluys, and presently they returned to bruges with the count of namur in chains. louis had just succeeded in saving his life (july ). in vain his wife besought the intervention of charles le bel. the time-honoured rights of the citizens of bruges must be maintained--thus the committee of ten, and louis retired in dudgeon to france, and his uncle into the burghers' prison. although john grumbled not a little at the restraint, and especially that his gaolers would not suffer him to hear mass at st. donatian's, his life in the steen was not without compensations. the beds there were good, prisoners were permitted to receive their friends, on festivals his rooms were decked with flowers, and the burghers supplied him with good cheer in abundance. singing and music beguiled the day, cards and dice the night, and it was owing to the disorder consequent upon these revels that he presently made his escape. when, at length, the news leaked out, bruges was in consternation. in the midst of it, count louis returned, and not alone. the burghers noted with indignation that he had brought with him as chief minister a frenchman, and a frenchman who bore a name of evil repute--chancellor flotte's son william, the lordly abbot of vezelay--and worse still, that he shunned the counsel of those of his own race. for the moment, however, bruges had nothing to fear. her rights over the port of sluys were acknowledged, and john of namur publicly forgave the burghers for his arrest and imprisonment. but louis of nevers was no longer the ingenuous orphan who in days of yore had sought the protection of his faithful commons. if he were lacking in strength of will, it was not the committee of ten, but the king of france who knew how to manipulate him. but in reality he was no weakling. true he was the tool of charles le bel, but in favouring his interests he was playing at the same time his own game. he was a voluptuary, if you will, and a voluptuary who found pleasure in low company and unrefined vice. he delighted in the buffoonery of dwarfs and jesters, whom he enriched at his subjects' cost. his chief favourite was one john gheylinc, a groom whom he calls in his charters his counsellor and his friend, and if he had had his way he would have given him his daughter to wife. added to this he was proud and revengeful, devoid of pity, and not only an unfaithful husband, but a cruel one into the bargain. but for all that louis was no fool; he had inherited alike the perverse humour and the brilliant intellect of his father and his great-grandfather. with consummate skill he played ghent against bruges, and bruges against ghent, and edward of england against charles of france; and though the chief object of his life was the gratification of his wayward impulses, in his efforts to attain it he showed no little ability. such was the prince whom the communes of flanders had set over them, but louis rarely honoured the netherlands with his presence. the dissipation of his court at nevers was more to his taste than the humdrum respectability of his burgher nobles, and his vicious life was there less _en evidence_ and less criticised than in the democratic towns of flanders. his absence, however, was a greater cause of embarrassment to his flemish subjects than his presence in their midst would have been, for his lieutenant, the lord of aspremont, vexed them with oppressive taxes to enrich foreign favourites, and though in the great towns the influence of the burghers was powerful enough to hold him in check, in the country he had a free hand. here dominated great leliaert lords who had been for years past in the pay of france: the moerkerkes, the praets, the ghistelles, and the rest, men who had fought, or whose fathers had fought, at courtrai, and mindful how many of their kinsmen had fallen beneath the rude battle-axes of the saxon karls, thought only of vengeance. these men were wont to sally forth from their castles to take fines from those whom they feared most, and if their victims resisted, they put them to death. 'intolerable are the manners of the karls: with dishevelled beards, garments in tatters, and shoes in shreds, they would fain tame knights. with their knotted clubs and their long knives thrust into their girdles they are as proud as lords, and think that all the universe is theirs--god blast them! but we shall know how to chastise these men. they shall be drawn on hurdles and hanged on gibbets. the karls must bend before us.'[ ] thus the leliaert nobles; but they reckoned without their hosts. the spirit which animated the saxons of flanders in the fourteenth century was the same which had hurled their ancestors against the tyranny of richilde in the twelfth; which had driven the erembalds to dash themselves to pieces rather than submit to charles the dane; which had inspired the blauvoets in the eleven hundreds to resist the exactions of mathilde, and which only yesterday had nerved their fathers to withstand and conquer the armies of france. and, as in those days, there was no lack of leaders--a bertulph, a wulfringhen, a sporkin was always at hand when he was wanted--so now, in the time of their extremity, captains were found. these men led their ragged hosts against the castles of their oppressors, and soon the land was filled with smouldering ruins. aspremont, unable to quell the storm, summoned the count from nevers, who entered flanders early in ; but louis had no army to curb his turbulent subjects and was thus compelled to treat with them. philip of axel, a citizen of ghent, was appointed governor of flanders in place of the lord of aspremont. fines were imposed, promises of amendment were made, but the armed bands were not dissolved, and no sooner had louis turned his back than the trouble began again, whilst the efforts made to extinguish the conflagration only increased it. here and there a homestead razed, some stray farmer kidnapped and perhaps hanged or broken on the wheel; these things but nerved the karls to greater efforts, for every man believed that his turn would come next. their chief leader was one nicholas zannekin, the richest and the mightiest of them all, a man of the same class as bertulph, who, like him, despised the nobles of the court, and, like him, was regarded as a slave. during the temporary lull of hostilities at the opening of the year, he had deemed it prudent to seek refuge in bruges, the only town in flanders where a man obnoxious to the authorities had some chance of saving his head, and there he soon obtained as much influence with the burghers as he had hitherto exercised over the country-folk of his own race (the men of furnes). nor did he cease to remind them, ground down as they were by odious and illegal taxes, of their rights as free citizens and the duties which their station imposed, and when sohier janssone (another popular leader) who had taken possession of ghistelle castle, presently appeared before the city walls with booty and captives, bruges flew to arms. zannekin soon rallied to his banner all the neighbouring communes. thorhout, roulers, poperinghe, nieuport, dunkirk, cassel, bailleul, furnes, threw open their gates at his approach, and wherever he went he was hailed as his country's saviour. 'the men of furnes,' says the flemish chronicle, 'received him as the angel of the lord, and showed more submission to him than to any other man, and gave him greater honour than if he had been count or king.'[ ] robert of cassel, who had gathered together a small band to oppose him, withdrew when he saw how matters stood, but zannekin, backed as he was by the communes, had little fear of him, and it was, moreover, bruited abroad that robert himself was not hostile to the insurrection. louis was now in flanders; sometimes at courtrai, sometimes at ypres, often at ghent, lavish in flattering promises to the burghers, holding out to them bright hopes of new liberties and larger privileges than any yet accorded to flemish towns. presently the french king sent them gold, and passed his word that no treaty should be made with the insurgents without first taking the advice of the burghers of ghent. from all which politic proceedings came this result--the ghenters forgot their compact with bruges of , at first posed as mediators, and then openly went over to louis's side and aided him with cash and men. at this juncture louis attempted to treat with the insurgents. let the points at issue be submitted to the arbitration of robert of cassel and the sheriffs of ypres and of ghent, and no sentence of death (this he guaranteed), or banishment, or mutilation, should be pronounced on any of the rebels. bruges and her allies consented, and the arbiters made it known that they would receive a deputation of the insurgents on the th of june ensuing, at the great abbey of dunes. but meanwhile a karl of furnes was slain by a knight. this incident sufficed to throw the whole country round into uproar, and when, on the appointed day, zannekin and his friends, all armed to the teeth, reached the abbey, not one of the judges was there to meet them--fear had kept them away--and the flame of rebellion waxed fiercer than before. louis, at his wit's end, grew doubtful of his uncle's good faith. the lord of cassel, he thought, was secretly allied with his enemies to wrest from him his crown. why not make away with him? and soon letters were dispatched to the bailiff of warneton to keep a watch on robert's movements, and when an opportunity offered, to cut off his head. this sentence was never executed. louis's own chancellor warned robert of his danger, and himself informed louis of the motive which had impelled him to do so. 'i wished,' he said, 'to save the honour of the count of flanders in the eyes of men, and his soul from the vengeance of god.' more hated than ever by reason of this odious attempt, and filled with fear at the news that bruges had already garrisoned all the principal towns of west flanders, louis, at the head of four hundred knights, marched into courtrai, prepared to renew hostilities in good earnest. it so happened that six burghers of bruges arrived there at the same moment, and louis forthwith put them under arrest. thereupon bruges made ready for battle, and sent messages to courtrai that five thousand staunch men and true were on their way to rescue the imprisoned burghers. louis, filled with consternation, broke down the bridges over the lys and fired the _faubourgs_ along its banks. there had been no rain for weeks, and the thatched roofs on the opposite side of the stream had been baked by a blazing sun. a strong wind was blowing in the direction of the city, and soon courtrai itself was in flames. meanwhile louis was stationed in the market-place, and with him were the six merchants from bruges. perhaps he had intended to cut off their heads, perhaps to carry them with him to lille, but the sight of their prince standing there surrounded by the leliaert counsellors, by whose advice he had fired the town, and now preparing to seek safety in flight, so worked on the men of courtrai that they forgot their burning homes and thought only of vengeance. the very women took part in the combat which ensued, and their sobs and cries excited their husbands yet more than the tocsin which all this time was shrieking over the city. presently louis was left alone. some of his knights had fled, some had been taken prisoners, not a few had been slain, and when next day the men of bruges reached courtrai, her citizens delivered him bound into their hands. they placed the count of flanders on a sorry steed, and loaded his counsellors with chains, and thus conducted them all to the capital, where the sheriffs at once proceeded to try them, for they had murdered, it was alleged, the peasants of furnes, and reduced courtrai to ashes--with this result: louis was retained a prisoner in the halles, and his counsellors were hurled from the windows of the steen. never had the citizens of bruges been so mighty as they were now. on the th of june her sheriffs had met in the halles, and, in union with the franc, the city of ypres, of which town zannekin was now governor, and of the other confederates, had appointed robert regent of flanders. louis from his prison had issued a charter approving what had been done, and the ambassadors of the french king, who on the th of july had reached bruges with offers that the charges against louis should be submitted to his judgment, were present to witness their triumph. true, ghent was still loyal to the captive at bruges, but ghent had been humbled in battle, and even ghent was not united. three thousand of her weavers had fled for refuge to the camp of robert of cassel, and bruges replied to the french ambassadors that louis could not be set free until ghent had renounced her treaty with him, and had frankly joined hands with her. the ambassadors were disposed to agree to these terms, even though they knew that this meant all sovereignty in the hands of bruges, but ghent was too proud to submit. though louis had oppressed and misgoverned the rest of flanders he had showered blessings on ghent, and now that the worm had turned and conquered, and louis was in prison, she would never consent to enter into an alliance with her hated rival. far better that all the karls should perish, far better that flanders should become france. in face of this opposition the french king cited robert to paris to justify his conduct in supporting rebels. the citizens of bruges received the bearers of the summons 'with horns raised and dire threats,' and robert refused to comply. then came interdict and excommunication (the french kings claimed the right to direct these ecclesiastical thunders); a few days later, in their conflict with ghent, a check; presently, in consequence of the rigour of winter, the forced raising of the siege of that town; and lastly, rumours of a french invasion. to retain louis longer in prison were to risk, thought many, all that had been gained. better release him now of their own free will, and when they were in a position to make terms, than be compelled to do so six months hence unconditionally at the point of the sword, which, seeing the trend and conjunction of events, would probably be the case. thus argued bruges, and presently louis went forth from the halles to the chapel of st. basil, where he swore on the holy blood that he nourished no resentment against his captors, and that he would do his utmost to ward off the threatened invasion. this done he was once more a free man, and forthwith, after a hurried visit to faithful ghent, hastened to paris, where his patron assured him that as long as he followed his counsel, he could count on his friendship (this was in the month of march ), but that he was not in a position to help him for the moment, as he had other business in hand. then once more louis returned to flanders, and after much confabulation, terms were agreed upon. the burghers were to build a monastery, and to send some hundreds of pilgrims to sundry shrines, to rebuild the churches destroyed during the recent tumult, to pay their just debts to the king and to the count, and to swear fealty to the latter. louis, on his part, undertook to respect their liberties, the king to re-establish free trade betwixt france and flanders and to silence the thunder of the church. towards the close of april this convention was ratified, though, in all probability, none of the parties signing it had any intention of observing its terms. the burghers retained their former leaders, louis refused to enter the town where he had lived eight months a captive, but neither party was at present in a position to recommence hostilities; for two years matters dragged on, and then the storm broke. on february , , king charles le bel had died, leaving an only daughter, a child of tender years, and a widow who was expecting some two months hence the hour of her delivery. france at this time was divided into two great parties. on the one side were the feudal lords, who, since the days of philippe le bel, had seen their power gradually passing from them into the hands of the king, and on the other, the citizens, who, during the same period, had witnessed their privileges daily contemned, their rights trampled on, and their trade threatened by the avidity of royal harpies. each of these parties, then, was equally discontented with the present state of affairs, and each of them found the present moment a propitious one for changing it. the barons turned their eyes to philippe of valois, the next heir in the direct male line to the throne of st. louis. the burghers hoped when the old king died that his queen would give birth to a son, and failing this, they wished that the crown should devolve on his eldest daughter. their hopes, as we know, were dashed to the ground by the birth of a second princess and the succession of philippe of valois. but they saw the finger of god in the extinction of the house of philippe le bel; they felt that the time had come to strike a blow for freedom, and they were only waiting for the flemish burghers, who during thirty years had lavished blood and treasure in behalf of this sacred cause, to raise the standard of revolt. 'if once these flemings cross our borders,' the barons had warned the new king, 'all france will join them.' philippe determined to take the bull by the horns, and at rheims on the day of his coronation he made his purpose known. on the count of flanders devolved the duty of bearing the king's sword, but although he was present, with four-score knights, when the royal heralds called on him to perform his duty, he made no sign. thrice they summoned him, and still he was silent. all men were filled with wonder, and the king demanded an explanation. 'sire,' he replied, 'they 'summoned the count of flanders; i am louis of nevers.' 'what,' said philippe, in feigned astonishment, 'art thou not also count of flanders?' 'such men call me,' was the reply, 'but i hold not this office in fact. in no flemish city save ghent do i dare show my face.' 'fair cousin,' replied the king, 'by the holy unction which hath this day flowed on our head, we will not go back to paris until we have established thee in the peaceful possession of thy realm.' some of his counsellors would have persuaded him to defer the expedition. france, they said, was unprepared, and to invade flanders in the autumn was to risk disaster; but the king, who saw the importance of himself beginning the campaign, refused to hear them. he consulted gauthier de châtillon, who had served seven kings in their wars in the netherlands. 'for the man who has a stout heart,' he answered, 'this is no inopportune season for battle.' 'good,' replied the delighted king, as he embraced the old soldier. 'let those who love me follow.' with all speed he set about his preparations, and the great army which two months later (august ) assembled at arras, collected from all parts of europe, was such that the like of it had been never seen there before, and arras had beheld the armies of philippe iv. and louis x. nicholas zannekin, with ten thousand karls, occupied cassel, a fortified town some six miles inland from dunkirk, perched on the top of a hill which rises well-nigh a thousand feet above the level of the sea, and stands solitary in the midst of the low land which surrounds it. sohier jansonne had brought him reinforcements to the number of six thousand men, and though messengers had been despatched to bruges, to warn them of the french invasion, these men believed themselves strong enough to alone save flanders. during three days the french king sat down before cassel awaiting the retreat of his foes. his knights' heavy chargers, weighted as they were with their own trappings, and the armour of the men who bestrode them, were unable to climb the steep sides of the mountain, and thus the cavalry were forced to remain idle spectators of the skirmishes which succeeded one another without ceasing. in vain the footmen multiplied their efforts; they were in each case driven back, till at length philippe in despair gave the word to burn the surrounding country, and presently the fertile plain was filled with flames and desolation, and all the land re-echoed with the wailing of old men and women and the shrieks of frightened children; but the karls in their lofty fortress were as stable as the hill on which they stood, and at last, weary with slaughter, the french returned to camp, took off their heavy armour, and gave themselves over to revelry. whilst these things were going on at the foot of mount cassel, the karls at its summit were holding council of war. the wisest of them would have waited until the bruges burghers had had time to bring them help, others would have gone down under cover of night, and surprised the french in their tents, but zannekin dismissed their words with disdain. 'what,' he cried, 'with the french king before us, not fight! shall we, then, who know not what fear is, tremble at this man's fierce looks? let us rather thank god that the foes we have so long waited for are now here, and profit by their confusion to slay them forthwith.' 'ay, ay,' answered a thousand voices, and the karls made ready for battle. 'they were brave men and free,' notes villani, 'and they feared not to assail this most redoubtable host.' the long summer's day was mingling with night when the karls went down into the french camp, and before any one was aware of their presence they were in the midst of the barons, who, 'without armour and arrayed in gorgeous apparel, were going from tent to tent to gossip together of the day's doings.'[ ] presently a knight, one rénaud of loire, came forth to upbraid them for thus 'presuming to disturb the privacy of gentlemen.' he had taken the intruders for a company of his own troops returning late to camp. in less than the twinkling of an eye rénaud was a dead man. some of his comrades had essayed to defend him, but they shared his fate, and the flemings marched on, not far now from the object of their quest--the royal pavilion. philippe, like his knights, had lately dined, and now, replete with rich dishes and strong drink, he was dozing in his tent. suddenly his chaplain plucked his sleeve. 'mark ye, sir,' he whispered, as he peeped through the curtains, 'the flemings are upon us.' 'a monk's nightmare,' muttered philippe, and he was turning again to sleep when miles of noyers rushed in and confirmed the chaplain's fears. in a moment philippe had buckled on his mail, and almost alone, for the greater number of his attendants had fled, went out to face the foe. the first man he met was zannekin. his battle-axe was raised to strike, and in another moment it would have split open the king's skull had not miles dexterously drawn philippe aside. then the tide of fortune turned, and soon all that was left of the saxon host were three great heaps of corpses. zannekin was the last to fall, 'and his death cry was mingled with the voices of the royal chaplains intoning the antiphon of st. denis.' of the sixteen thousand flemings slain not one had attempted flight, not one of them had budged an inch. each man fell where he had stood at the beginning of the conflict. if courage could have given the karls victory, the day would have been theirs, but so great were the odds against them, that from the first they had but one ground for hope--that panic inspired by the suddenness of their coming would fight for them. on this poor chance zannekin had ventured his all, and he paid the price of his temerity. if the townsmen of flanders had been made of the stuff of their country cousins disaster might have yet been averted, but these latter were full-blooded saxons, and in all the cities, save haply furnes, the burghers' power of resistance was in some measure rendered nugatory by their grandams' celtic nerves. so was it at ypres. when the news of the disaster reached them the burghers were for instant submission if only philippe could be prevailed on to guarantee their lives and their limbs. one man alone kept cool, and strangely enough that man was a clerk. from the pulpit of his own church (he was parish priest of st. michael's) this sturdy representative of the church militant implored his fellow-citizens, 'for god's sake and the sake of the fatherland,' to show fight. but it was too late. that very day miles noyers entered the town with an overwhelming force, and the handful of labouring men who had been moved by their priest's appeal were cut to pieces. so too was it at bruges. when the news of the disaster reached them, the women went into hysterics and the men lost their heads, and in less than the twinkling of an eye, the lilies of france, run up by their own hands, were proudly floating over the belfry. in spite of their pusillanimity, the reckoning which the burghers had to pay was a sufficiently onerous one: humiliation unspeakable, the city fathers on their knees suing for mercy in the dust of the maele road, and worse--the charter of their liberties cancelled, their ramparts broken down, and a fine so heavy that they were never able to pay it; and worse still--not a few of their leading citizens, men of substance and renown, tortured to death, and all their wealth confiscated. amongst these note lambert bowine, captain of the franc, and willem de deken, town burgomaster. his fate was the cruellest of all. he had fled to brabant in the hope that the burghers there would protect him, but they showed themselves as craven as their fellows in flanders. they handed him over to the french king, and poor deken was carried to paris, where he was mutilated, pilloried, put on the wheel, taken off again for fear he should die too soon, and bleeding, broken, in pitiable plight, but still alive, set in gaol till the morrow, when he was torn to pieces by wild horses. they gathered up the fragments of his poor mangled body and hung them on the great gibbet of mont faucen, by way of object lesson for the citizens of the capital. these items made up the sum-total of the burghers' bill of costs, and it was the same all over the country. not a town save ghent preserved its liberties intact, and even beloved ghent saw not a few of her burghers driven into exile. in less than three months ten thousand flemings were done to death. the abbot of st. martin's at tournai explains how this came about. 'louis's keen appetite for gold,' he says, 'increased in a marvellous manner his suspicions, and consequently the number of his victims. and the most galling part of it was that all this untarnished gold was squandered on harlots and on favourites, men too of mean estate some of them. his lackeys, his grooms, and even his barber were at bruges installed in palaces which had once been the homes of honourable burghers.' the city archives bear witness to it. at last, after long years of waiting, salvation came from england, at first indirectly, and afterwards through the active co-operation of edward iii. with the communes of flanders. of course england acted from self-interest. she had no more love for the down-trodden burghers of flanders than they had for the comfortable yeomen on the other side of the channel; and even if her sympathy had been ever so great, she could not have raised a finger to help them unless she had been likewise impelled by some less ephemeral motive. individuals may sometimes indulge in the luxury of pure benevolence; trustees, in justice to their clients, can rarely afford to do so. occasionally the interests of the latter may go hand in hand with their own charitable inclinations, and then they may pose as philanthropists, and if the pit applaud their seeming generosity, so much the better. in the case before us, however, no such protestations were made. the freedom of the flemish communes was vital to the prosperity of england, and the motives which inspired the respective parties were avowedly motives of mutual accommodation. in those days the wool growers of the island kingdom had but one customer, the mammoth guilds of flemish weavers, and they, in their turn, could nowhere find such famous wool as in the english market. 'so fine was the breed of english sheep at this period,' notes green, 'that the exportation of live rams for the improvement of foreign wool was forbidden by law, though a flock is said to have been smuggled out of the realm shortly after, and to have become the source of the famous merinos of spain,' and the magnitude of the wool trade between england and flanders may be estimated from this fact. in a single year edward received more than eighty thousand pounds from duties levied on wool alone.[ ] when, therefore, in the autumn of , hostilities broke out between edward iii. and philip of france, and louis of nevers, at the instigation of the latter, caused every englishman in flanders to be put under arrest, and edward by way of reprisal forbade the exportation of english wool, all flemish looms ceased work, and the towns were filled with misery. but the sheep-farmers of england suffered equally with the weavers of bruges, and soon the english king was forced in the interests of his own subjects to attempt negotiations, first with louis of nevers, and when this failed, directly with the burghers. it was in consequence of edward's efforts to attach the communes to his interest that the count of flanders about this time entirely reversed his home policy, essaying by the largeness of his promises and concessions to induce the communes to side with france, and among the cities which most benefited by his changed humour bruges stood first. she was permitted to deepen and widen her moats, to reconstruct her ramparts, and by a charter, dated april , , all her ancient rights and liberties were re-established and confirmed. this then was the first boon which bruges received from england's intervention--a boon, in truth, conferred indirectly, but no small one for all that. ghent was the only city which did not participate in louis's favours. of the cause of this, of louis's relentless persecution of the town he had once held dear, of her heroic resistance and ultimate triumph, thanks to the patriot van artevelde and the support of edward iii., it is not here the place to treat in detail. these things belong to the story of ghent. suffice it to say that bruges, which for a time had supported philippe and louis in a half-hearted way, at last, seeing how matters stood, and that ghent was conquering all along the line, joined hands with her; that at a solemn assembly of the representatives of the city and the liberty of bruges, and the cities of ypres and ghent, held under the presidency of van artevelde at the abbey of eeckhout early in the spring of , and only a few days after louis's re-establishment of the bruges charter of rights, their alliance was solemnly proclaimed; that at this assembly it was furthermore enacted that each of the three _bonnes villes_--ghent, ypres and bruges--should choose three deputies to watch over their interests and administer the country; that on the th of april a deputation from all the towns and communes of flanders, headed by jacob van artevelde, waited on louis at maele, and there recounted to him all that had taken place; and that he, finding submission the only course open to him, consecrated the acts of the burghers with the seal of his approval, and, once more burthening his soul with perjury, solemnly swore to maintain intact all their rights and liberties. from that moment until his death van artevelde was ruler of flanders. essentially a man of peace, in face of the great conflict raging between england and france the main object of his policy was to keep flanders out of the fray, and for some time his efforts were successful. so much so that he even accomplished the difficult task of negotiating treaties of commerce with each of the belligerents. it was only the perfidy of the french king which at length drove him to take sides with england. philippe and louis had broken their most solemn engagement before he determined to seek out edward iii. at bruxelles and in the name of the communes of flanders solemnly recognize him as the successor of st. louis. during the nine years of van artevelde's government flanders prospered exceedingly, and during all that time, thanks to his consummate abilities and edward's generous support, she held her own. at length, when the fear of her enemies was taken away by too much prosperity and an overweening confidence, the besetting sin of the flemish people wrecked all. the country-side had grown jealous of the city, the lesser communes of the three _bonnes villes_. the canker had spread further still; town suspected town, guild was at loggerheads with guild, and even individual citizens began to cast evil eyes on one another; and, added to this, there was the hatred of rivals jealous of artevelde's great position; and louis, who was now residing in france, through his agents blowing the fire. presently the crisis came. early in july the representatives of the communes had met at bruges for the purpose of electing a regent, and sohier of courtrai, artevelde's brother-in-law, with king edward's consent, had been chosen to fill the office. on his return to ghent after this conference the great tribune was besieged in his house by a mob of small tradesmen and street roughs in the pay of his rivals and of louis of nevers. he had been plotting, they said, to hand over ghent to the tender mercies of the english, who were going to pillage the town; he would make the prince of wales count; he had taken advantage of his position to heap up a vast fortune, and had sent his treasure to london. in vain van artevelde tried to appease them; the sound of his voice but increased their fury, and his servants, who knew the risk he was running, dragged him from the window and would have had him seek refuge by a back way in a neighbouring church. too late; the mob had by this time broken into the house, and a cobbler felled him dead on his own threshold. thus perished the noblest man of his century, and with him too fell the grand edifice he had reared. the besetting sin of his people had once more shattered the mansion of freedom. [illustration: madonna & niche] the count of flanders did not long survive his illustrious victim. when the english victory of cressy gave feudalism its death-blow, he fell fighting for the french king, and note this fact--philippe of valois was the one man to whom louis had ever been faithful. chapter xviii _louis of maele_ louis of maele, the eldest son of louis of nevers, so called from the place of his birth, was a beautiful stripling of sixteen years when the old count died. he too had fought at cressy, had received honourable wounds there, and had been knighted on the battlefield. but if he possessed his father's courage, he was heir also to his inclination to crooked ways, as the communes of flanders soon learnt to their cost. immediately after the great defeat he had set out for paris, where he did homage to philippe of valois, and from thence sent envoys to halwyn to negotiate with the flemish burghers, who, strangely enough, consented to accept him for their prince. perhaps they thought that louis's youth would render him manageable, perhaps inherent jealousy prevented them from agreeing on anyone else, but for all that, the long-headed flemings deemed it expedient to make their own conditions--conditions which, whatever they may have been, louis seems to have had no hesitation in accepting, for, by the end of november, we find him installed at bruges, and--presage of his future policy--surrounded by the leliaert nobles who had been his father's friends. presently he publicly proclaimed the first part of his programme, and vehemently urged the communes to renounce their allegiance to edward iii. from this moment men had little doubt that the ultimate goal of his ambition was to crush the strength [illustration: maele castle] of the towns. for generations the kings of france had endeavoured to enslave them, and philippe of valois himself had broken his most solemn pledges, whilst the english monarchs, from time immemorial, had shown themselves their friends, and for fifteen years king edward iii. had backed fair promises with blood and sterling gold. interest and inclination alike, then, resolved the burghers to stand by him, nay more, to draw the bonds of union closer by marrying his daughter to their count. louis, when the matter was first broached to him, refused to listen. he would never wed, he plainly told them, the daughter of his father's murderer, but when the burghers persisted, no less dogged than they, he resolved to cut the knot in true flemish fashion. not strong enough to risk a contest at bruges, the chief centre, for the moment, of nationalism, he feigned acquiescence, and presently, along with the city fathers, set out for bergue, where edward was holding his court. the meeting took place towards the middle of february, at the abbey of st. winoc, and edward received the flemish count with every token of affection, solemnly assuring him, as he took him by the hand, that he was a stranger to his father's death, and presently isabelle of england and louis of flanders mutually plighted their troth. it had been arranged that the marriage should take place in the middle of april, and a fortnight previous to the appointed date edward's ambassadors waited on louis, who had meanwhile returned to bruges, and besought him to take command of the english forces. next day he planned for their entertainment a great hunting party in maele woods. no sooner had the hawks been loosed than, feigning great zest for the sport, he set off at full speed and was soon out of sight of his companions, nor did he rein in his horse until he had crossed the french frontier and reached lille. edward was furious when he learned what had happened, and isabelle cut to the quick. she was in sooth, she said, countess of flanders, and until the day of her death she continued to wear the flemish arms embroidered on her gown. as to the burghers, they at once took up arms, and it was only the mutual jealousy of ghent and bruges that saved the truant count. his policy was to favour the latter town, in order that he might thereby hold in check alike her great rival and the other cities of flanders. throughout his long and tumultuous reign of well-nigh forty years, by his lying, his meanness and his chicanery, louis of maele showed himself the worthy son of louis of nevers. he made bruges the seat of his government and his chief place of residence, and here he squandered in riotous living the gold which he everywhere extorted throughout the rest of his domains. embellished by splendid monuments, enriched by the presence of a lavish and luxurious court, her trade fostered by privileges innumerable and concessions without end, the city on the roya prospered marvellously during the reign of louis of maele. advancing from day to day in comeliness and wealth and renown, she, during this period, attained the acme of her greatness. merchants from every country in europe bought and sold in her markets, ships from all parts of the world brought rich cargoes to her wharves. no less than twenty foreign consuls occupied palaces within her bounds, and her population is said to have numbered two hundred and fifty thousand souls. but if bruges now shone resplendent in a golden halo of magnificence, the moral squalor of her citizens equalled only the meanness of spirit of the man who had done such great things for her. fickle, selfish, cowardly they had ever been, and they now only showed themselves grateful to their benefactor so long as it was in his power to help them, and, when they had gone over to the national party, only supported their new friends whilst their star was in the ascendant. in louis of maele had granted them permission to construct a canal for the purpose of bringing the waters of the lys to bruges, doubtless with the object of preventing, by means of a greater flow of water, the silting up of the zwyn, which even at this early period had already commenced. during four months, from the th of march to the rd of july, the men of bruges were busy at this undertaking, and then a great army of ghenters, fearing for their own commerce, went out and put them to flight. louis was unable to afford protection, and the burghers threw open their gates and made common cause with his enemies. presently they prepared a sumptuous banquet in honour of their new friends. among the guests who sat down to it was the ghent leader, jean yoens, dean of the great guild of watermen. that night he died mysteriously of a malady which no physician could diagnose, and the gossips on 'change shrugged their shoulders and whispered poison. but though bruges had allied herself to the city on the lys, and a great army of ghenters was, with her consent, encamped in her midst, her soul was rent with envy, and on may , , her citizens surprised and slew no small number of them in the friday market, and then these sturdy burghers, still smoking with the blood of their guests, went and sought out louis of maele, and demanded from him fresh privileges by way of recompense for their devotion. just two years later, on may , , retribution followed. for years past louis had oppressed and persecuted the men of ghent 'even as pharaoh of old had persecuted the children of israel'; of late fortune had singularly favoured his efforts; he had cut off all their supplies, and the town was sick with hunger. such was the misery of the people that for a fortnight--we have it on the testimony of philip van artevelde--thirty thousand of them had not tasted bread. at length, driven to it by wretchedness, they determined to go forth and beard the lion in his den, and presently philip van artevelde and a handful of half-starved burghers set out for bruges. he had called to his standard all men who were able to take the field, but a bare five thousand of them had answered his summons--to such pitiable plight had famine reduced the strength of the city of ghent, one of the most populous towns in europe. when they reached oedelem, in the neighbourhood of maele castle, philippe sent envoys to bruges to make one last effort to negotiate an honourable peace, but the guildsmen remembered their bloody triumph of two years ago, and boasted that in less than an hour they could easily cut to pieces this puny band of ghenters; and presently louis, at the head of eight hundred knights and forty thousand tradesmen--tailors, butchers, fishmongers and the like--unarmed and half drunk, in spite of his better judgment was compelled to go forth to battle. with such an auxiliary force behind him the issue was a foregone conclusion. at the first discharge of their opponents' artillery, the drunken rabble made for bruges. the ghenters gave chase, and ran so swiftly that they reached the city gates almost at the same moment as the men they were pursuing; one of the foremost of them was in time to thrust his pike between the doors at the moment the bruges men were closing them, and soon van artevelde and his comrades were thronging into the city. louis, who had been unhorsed at the commencement of the stampede, had somehow or other managed to remount, and along with some thirty or forty knights had the good fortune to reach his palace in safety. from thence he sent out heralds to summon all his burghers under pain of death to assemble in the market-place. hardly had he done so when robert maerschalck, the husband of one of his natural daughters, came in hot haste to the palace with tidings that van artevelde was now in the heart of the city. night had already set in, and his counsellors, trembling for the safety of his person, would have had him remain indoors, but louis refused, and accompanied by a handful of serving men, and crying, _'flandre au comte au lion_,' rushed out into the darkness. when he reached the grande place he knew that his cause was lost. it was filled indeed with armed men, but it was not the burghers of bruges who had assembled there. flaunting over the seething throng, he could distinguish the banner of ghent. 'put out your lights,' hissed the count to his lackeys, 'and let each man think of himself.' alone, under cover of the darkness and a buttress of st. amand's church--long since demolished--he unbuckled his coat of mail and put on the clothes of one of his serving-men. about midnight he summoned up courage to knock at the door of a wretched hovel hard-by, and recognizing in the person who opened it a poor widow to whom he had often given alms, appealed to her generosity. 'woman,' he whispered, 'save me; i am the count of flanders.' she pointed to a rickety ladder, and bade him go up to the garret. there, under a heap of straw, he lay all that night and all the next day. when darkness had again set in he made his way out of the city, and, after a host of hairbreadth adventures, presently reached lille. 'now mark,' comments wise old froissart, 'all ye who hear this tale, consider what marvellous changes of fortune god in his good pleasure bringeth about. in the morning the count of flanders had thought himself one of the mightiest princes in christendom, and in the evening he found it convenient to hide himself in the mean home of a poverty-stricken woman.' as for van artevelde, he treated the conquered town with no little generosity. by the small hours of the morning he had completely gained the upper hand, and his first act was to forbid further slaughter, and all looting, and every kind of outrage under penalty of death. he next summoned the burghers of bruges to a conference in the grande place. hardly had they assembled than a member of van artevelde's own family was led bound into his presence. he had been taken red-handed in some act of violence. 'what,' exclaimed the great tribune, 'you, who should have been a pattern of obedience, the first to break my commands!' and he ordered that he should be flung headlong from one of the windows of the belfry. as he fell some men-at-arms caught him on the points of their spears, and a cruel shout of approbation welled from the throats of the bruges men--'behold a just judge, a man cut out for captain of flanders!' and they swore that henceforth the burghers of bruges would live in brotherly love with the burghers of ghent. but van artevelde, knowing the men he had to deal with, required something more tangible than their bare word, and the burghers were compelled to deliver into his hands a goodly number of hostages; to witness the destruction of three city gates:--the _porte ste. croix_, the _porte ste. cathérine_ and the _porte de gand_, and thirty feet of wall around each of them; and lastly, to submit themselves to the two ghent captains, peter van den bossche and peter de wintere, whom artevelde appointed governors of the town. for the rest he contented himself with requisitioning an ample supply of provisions for the famine-stricken town of ghent, and for three whole days the high road from bruges to that city was crowded with carts and waggons groaning under the weight of food stuffs. at the expiration of that time, thanks to the energy and prudence of van artevelde, the markets were peacefully re-opened, and the town assumed its wonted aspect. during his short rule--it only lasted six months--trade revived, justice was rigorously administered, and peace reigned throughout flanders. then came the french invasion, the flemish defeat at rosebeke, and the great tribune's untimely death (november , ). the conquerors found his mangled body on the battlefield amongst a heap of slain, and they hung it in chains on a lofty tree, and the birds of the air devoured it. never had flanders suffered a defeat so disastrous. 'sixty thousand of her sons had perished,[ ] the land was deluged with blood.'[ ] a blow had been hurled at communal government from which it never really recovered. thanks to the intervention of louis of maele, and his son-in-law the duke of burgundy, backed by the support of certain great nobles whose goodwill the burghers had purchased with heavy bribes, bruges suffered less at the hands of the french than the other communes of flanders. she was not handed over to pillage, but the breton mercenaries, disappointed of the rich booty which they thought to have obtained there, scoured the country round with fire and sword. 'the french,' says the monk of st. denis, 'cut the throats of all whom they met, sparing neither rank, nor age, nor sex, and thus it may be truly said of them that they slew the widow and the orphan, the youth and the maid, the old man and the suckling at its mother's breast.' as for louis of maele, he approved what he could not prevent. 'some people ask, most redoubtable lord,' said he to king charles vi., 'how may best be crushed the turbulent spirit of this race--by sparing the land or by reducing it to a desert. as for me, i can only say: deal with the county of flanders according to thy good pleasure, and whatsoever thou shalt deem fit to ordain i shall be contented.' in truth louis's influence in the counsels of the french king was almost a thing of the past, and what little influence he still possessed was diminishing day by day. the campaign against flanders had, indeed, been undertaken ostensibly for his behoof, but its real object was to deal a blow at england and to shatter the forlorn hope--the flemish communes--of the restive communes of france; and when two years later (january , ) a truce was concluded between richard ii. and charles vi., what louis deemed his interests were wholly disregarded. in spite of his opposition--on this king richard had insisted--the communes of flanders, who had not even laid down their arms, were included in the truce of lelinghem. an exile from the rich land which he had once tyrannized over and exploited--for louis no longer dared show his face in flanders--without influence and without means, literally a homeless, impotent, poverty-stricken old man, dependent for his daily bread on alms which france begrudged him, so mean a creature did the once magnificent louis appear in the eyes of the duke of berri that during the discussion of the terms of truce he had not hesitated to answer his vehement protest with insolent and contemptuous speech. _cousin_, he said, _si votre imprudence vous a couvert de maux et de honte, il est temps de renoncer à vos fureurs et de suivre de meilleurs conseils_. cut to the quick by the insult, and powerless to resent it, louis did not wait for the negotiations to be terminated, but withdrew in dudgeon to st. omer, and here it was that he presently learned that the treaty in question had been signed. it was the last straw. the hand of death was upon him, and he knew it. louis was lodging in the great benedictine abbey where lay the bones of the founder of his house, baldwin, bras de fer. thither he summoned his companions in misfortune--the dean of st. donatian's, the lord of gruthuise--founder of the gruthuise palace--john of heusden, his physician, who was also provost of notre dame, and robert, his natural son, and in their presence he dictated his last will and testament. 'be it known to all,' said the dying count, 'that i, mindful of the great honours, wealth and possessions, which jesus christ of his pure grace hath bestowed on me, unworthy, in this world, the which i have not used in his service and honour but for mine own vain glory, commend my poor sinful soul, as humbly as i may, to him, to the blessed virgin, fount of mercy, and to all the saints in paradise, whom i humbly beg to obtain for me forgiveness of my many and great sins.' then, with his own hands, he wrote to the duke of burgundy, conjuring him to repair the wrong which he had done to flanders. he was sore grieved, he said, at the destruction of his people, who had been punished at his request. on the night of the th of january a mighty hurricane swept over the land of flanders. it was as though the four winds were blowing together, and yet neither tree nor steeple was touched by it, but the skeletons of louis's victims swayed to and fro on their gibbets and trembled in their chains. the spirits of darkness, said the people, were whirling his soul to hell.[ ] '_ce dont plusieurs gens disoient ce que bon leur semblait_,' comments shrewd juvenal des ursins, which is as much as to say the wish was father to the thought. a splendid specimen of civic architecture, perhaps the most perfect building of its kind in northern europe, still bears witness to poor louis's generosity to his beloved city bruges. the present _hôtel de ville_ [illustration: the hÔtel de ville] was his gift. he laid the foundation stone during the heyday of his magnificence, on january , . in may the building must have been nearly completed, for about this time we find one gilles de man, a name still common in bruges, busy gilding and colouring the statuary and niches of the façade, and the municipal accounts inform us that he received seven _livres_ and fourteen _escalins_ for his labour. early in the following year the work was suspended on account of the trouble with ghent, in all probability it was not resumed during louis's lifetime, and it was perhaps only completed in . who the original architect may have been is a matter of conjecture. monsieur verschelde, the founder of the archæological society of bruges, and for many years city architect, suggests jean de valenciennes, the artist whom we know designed and in great measure himself executed the sculpture which adorns the edifice. if this conjecture be warranted, jean was, indeed, a creator of no ordinary talent, but of his story no vestige has come down to us, save only this: a man of the same name, perhaps his father, perhaps jean himself, was _vinder_ of the bruges guild of painters in . it will be interesting to note that the façade of the hôtel de ville is the earliest structure in which appears an architectural arrangement which seems to have originated at bruges, and which is perhaps the most distinguishing feature of its civic architecture. we allude to the long panels or arcades in which windows placed one over the other are frequently enclosed in such a manner as to give them the appearance of a series of long single windows ascending from the basement to the topmost storey. amongst the other remarkable structures of this period, note the nave and aisles and the upper portion of the transepts of the present cathedral, which replace work of an earlier date destroyed by fire on april , , and were probably completed some two years later. if we can judge from the remnant still standing:--the choir ambulatory and the lower portion of the transepts, the old church of st. sauveur was far superior, both as regards design and execution, to the present edifice. the great northern outer nave to the church of notre dame dates also from this epoch (probably ). here we have a striking example of the persistence of a feature rarely if ever met with in gothic architecture either in england or in france, and which is, perhaps, so far as northern europe is concerned, at all events during the period in question, peculiar to flanders--the semi-circular arch. the architects of bruges seem never to have entirely abandoned it, and hence in that city its presence does not necessarily indicate that the building in which it is found is of romanesque origin. thus we find it in the tower of notre dame, which, as we have seen, dates from the close of the thirteenth century; in the northern transept of the cathedral of the same date; in the windows of the _porte de gand_, and of the _porte ste. croix_ of a century later; in the great porch of the hospital of st. john, and in the western façade of the church of notre dame, and in domestic architecture of every period, over and over again. sometimes it is used alone, sometimes in conjunction with the pointed arch. in the case of the northern nave of notre dame, it is employed for the vaulting, for the huge doorway at the western end, now bricked up, and for the five small bays of the outer arcade which connect it with the main building, whilst for the windows, for the bays of the inner arcade, and for the great opening at the east end which gives access to the tower, pointed arches are used. for the rest, the building in question is characterised by its great height, the magnificent span of its vault, the grandeur of its proportions and the general simplicity iv.--genealogical table of the counts of flanders from guy de dampierre to marguerite of maele. matilda of = =guy de dampierre= = isabel of bethune | _d._ | namur | +-------+----------+------+------+--------+ | john of = marie of | philippine | other | namur | artois | | children | _d._ | guy isabel | john ii. | of namur | _d._ +------+------------------+-----------+-----------------+---------+ =robert iii.= = yolonde william, marie = william philip other ( of bethune) | of mar. adela | of married children _d._ | nevers daughter of | juliers matilda | rodulph of | of | nesle | thiette +---------+-----------------------+ +-----+ louis, count = jeanne, daughter robert william of of nevers | and heiress of of juliers, _d._ | hugo iv., count cassel provost of | of rethel maestricht | _d._ louis i. = marguerite, daughter _d._ | of philip (the long | of france) =louis ii.= = marguerite (of maele) | of brabant _d._ | marguerite = philippe of maele le hardi, _d._ duke of burgundy _d._ of its design. there is an unusual dearth of sculptured ornament, but what little there is, is happily conceived and delicately carried out. as the building now stands, with its once glowing frescoes blotted out with white-wash, with its windows bereft of their painted glass and even of their tracery (this is now being replaced), with its cold, dismantled altars, and its chilling eighteenth-century pavement of marble, black and white, its general appearance is sufficiently bleak, and we were going to say sufficiently uninteresting, but that, no part of notre dame can ever be. the old church is too irregular, too picturesque, too mysterious. the incense of a thousand sweet memories still clings to its columns, the music of a thousand noble deeds still re-echoes in its vaulted roof, and in weird nooks and corners the red lamp of tragedy still burns. something of its glory we have already noted, and we shall tell something more in its proper place. reader, make a pilgrimage to notre dame in the gloaming, and if thou art one of the initiated thou shalt haply learn the rest. chapter xix _bruges under the princes of the house of burgundy--philip le hardi and john sans peur-- - _ the advent of the house of burgundy found the communes of flanders crippled and humbled by the disasters which had recently befallen them--disasters which, as we have seen, were but the natural outcome of their own domestic feuds. but though the battle of rosebeke, and the events which followed, left flanders bleeding, exhausted, almost dead, the dire calamity which had befallen her had in it this element of strength--it had brought about a reconciliation between bruges and ghent; the feuds which had so long neutralized their endeavours were for the moment laid aside, and when in december the new sovereign deemed it politic to come to terms with the latter city, it was doubtless this consideration which prompted him to concede to the rebel ghenters, whom he had defeated again and again, terms hardly less advantageous than they themselves would have exacted had they been in a position to dictate the conditions of peace. by this treaty philip confirmed all the time-honoured rights and privileges and franchises of ghent and of her allies; granted a general amnesty to all who had taken part in the recent rebellion; guaranteed the release of all prisoners of war, and the restitution of all confiscated property. had the communes remained united they would probably have been able to successfully withstand the craft and perseverance of their burgundian chiefs, whose policy, no less than that of their predecessors, was to convert their limited rights over flanders into a complete and absolute sovereignty. but if strife weakened the resisting power of the burghers, the terrific and magnificent princes who were striving to enslave them were deprived of one element of strength which was never lacking to the puny lords of nevers--the assistance and support of france. harassed by england, rent by internal factions and with a lunatic for king, france was in no position to help anyone during the first half of the period we are now considering; and when, later on, under louis xi., she had at last recruited her strength, the ambitious designs of the dukes of burgundy had forced her to become their bitterest foe. for not only would these men have welded into one vast independent state the conglomeration of fiefs in france and in germany, which, by inheritance, by marriage, by conquest, by haggling they had gradually gathered into their maw, but their insatiable lust for dominion prompted them to meddle also with the private concerns of france--to essay to direct alike her domestic and foreign policy. hence the memorable quarrel between the dukes of burgundy and the french princes--a quarrel which, notwithstanding the disasters it brought on their chiefs, was no little advantage to the flemish race. but there was another circumstance which in no small degree favoured the cause of freedom. to carry out their vast enterprises the dukes of burgundy were constantly in need of the sinews of war. they wanted men to do battle for them, and they wanted money to further their political schemes. in each of these commodities flanders was rich, and in spite of her recent enfeeblement, and in spite of internal divisions, she was still strong enough, and shrewd enough, to withhold her aid on each occasion that it was asked until she had first some substantial _quid pro quo_. the necessity then of their sovereigns was the burgher's opportunity, and whenever they implored their assistance the answer, whether from ypres or bruges or ghent, was invariably one--they were prepared to sell at a reasonable price, provided prepayment were made. some grievance must first be redressed; some large charter of liberties granted; some obnoxious tax abolished, or some new treaty of commerce signed. but for all that the burghers knew very well that when their lords made concessions it was in spite of themselves, and when they curtailed their liberties, which they invariably did whenever they could safely do so, it was with a view later on to their total annihilation. at the close of the reign of that magnificent ruffian, john the fearless, the communes had thus achieved no small measure of success, whilst the progress which their rulers had made towards the goal of their ambition, at least so far as flanders was concerned, was _nil_. for every two steps forward the exigencies of circumstances had forced them three steps back, so that, when john the fearless died, flanders was freer than she had ever been before. this is all the more remarkable from the fact that ghent, the mightiest of the flemish cities, had of late shown herself but half hearted in support of the popular cause. it was the old story. jealousy of her great rival, bruges, and the national inability to withstand corruption. philip the rash and his morose son had alike favoured ghent. the vicissitudes of bruges during the whole of this season were marvellous in the extreme--a continual alternation of peace and warfare, of merry-making and tumultuous frays, of luxury and pinching need, of honeyed speech and dire threats, for philippe and john alike carried two faces under their hoods. when they wanted anything they could smile sweetly enough, and when they felt themselves independent they were wont to terrorize with fierce looks, and bloody deeds too, for the matter of that. hardly had the echo of the _carillon_ died away, which had swung out the joy of the burghers at the great pacification at the opening of duke philip's rule, when hostilities broke out again. philip was in no way sincere in signing that treaty which ghent had so proudly negotiated with him, more like an independent sovereign state than a conquered rebel city, and presently he conceived a diabolical plot to slay all her burghers by means of breton mercenaries whom he would secretly have brought into their midst. this fell design having been happily discovered, the agents who were to have accomplished it, disappointed of the rich booty they thought to have obtained at ghent, turned their attention to bruges, and soon began to break into the houses of sundry honourable burghers there, and to insult and molest their women. whereupon tumult unspeakable, and in the midst of it all the duke of berri was descried riding towards the _pont des carmes_. this man was the most hated of all the french knights, for his hands were red, every burgher believed, with the blood of their favourite louis of maele. in a moment he was surrounded by the howling mob, unhorsed, wounded almost to death, and 'if it had not been for the intervention of the sire de ghistelle--a man of weight, at bruges--he would not have escaped with his life.' thus froissart; and he adds, 'nor would a single knight or squire of france have been left alive in the town.' meanwhile philip's affairs had prospered in france. he was now practically regent of the kingdom. his wife, '_une creuse et haute dame_,' was installed at paris, and had undertaken the administration of the queen's household. the king's counsellors were in exile; the bishop of laon was dead--poisoned, it was thought by many--and others would have probably shared his fate had not philip's hand been restrained by a passing fear that the king's reason was returning. things then were going well with the duke of burgundy. he had time to turn his attention to the taming of the flemish burghers, and amongst other regulations and proceedings, in direct contravention of the treaty of tournai, he began to fight against the popular conscience. it was the time of the great schism. from rome and avignon rival claimants to the papal throne were hurling anathemas at one another. all europe was divided as to who was the rightful pope, and since it suited philip to support clement, of course his burghers felt bound in conscience to acknowledge urban. thanks to a gift of sixty thousand francs, the ghenters had obtained permission to remain neutral, but hardly had three months expired when the bishop of teruanne went over to the side of avignon, and at the same time all antwerp followed his example. a favourable moment, thought philip, to commence proselytism, by corruption, by violence, by any means at hand; and presently he formally forbade any of his subjects to obey the pope of rome. then throughout flanders all public worship ceased. here and there, in the chapel of some great castle protected by high walls and a double moat, a clementine priest would occasionally say mass, but the boldest of them would not celebrate in public. if they had ventured to do so, the people would have dragged them from the altar. bruges was beside herself. from the pulpit of st. walburge the curate proclaimed the curse of heaven on all who should recognize the pope of avignon, and forthwith fled the country. so too the abbot of st. peter's and the abbot of bandeloo, and a host of monks and burghers, not a few of whom took refuge in england, where they obeyed the pope of rome. one of these last was not so fortunate. petrus van roesclare, a civic dignitary of great wealth. he was arrested and carried to lille, and there they cut off his head. john van der capelle, the patriot whom philip had appointed high steward of flanders, after the pacification of tournai, was for the same motive deprived of his office. so too john of heyle, whose good offices had greatly contributed to the settlement of tournai. he was loaded with chains and cast into prison, where shortly afterwards he died. 'men called him a martyr, for during the two months previous to his death he had tasted no solid food, and all that time he had passed in prayer.' philip, who was not ignorant of the rebellious spirit which his religious policy had aroused, about this time came to bruges, hoping that his presence would frighten the burghers into submission. he had brought with him the clementine bishop of tournai. on the following sunday an ordination took place at st. sauveur's, and the next day at sluys, but on neither occasion was a single burgher present, nor would any of them avail themselves of the ministrations of the newly-ordained clergy. but though the bruges men grumbled and stayed away from mass, their religious convictions were not sufficiently strong, or they were too much awed by the presence of philip, to attempt any overt act of opposition. not so the men of ghent. as soon as the obnoxious edict had been published, a riot ensued which was only with difficulty calmed by the urbanist clergy themselves. whereupon philip, perceiving that the burghers had made up their minds, permitted them to follow the dictates of conscience, and ghent then became a place of pilgrimage throughout flanders. it was the only town in the country where men could worship as they would, and all bruges went out there at easter-time to receive holy communion ( ). the death of duke philip, ten years later, afforded no little consolation to his subjects, but the advent of a yet sterner ruler soon taught them to regret the old man's decease, for if philip had beaten the flemings with rods, his son john scourged them with scorpions. as is the wont of most men when first they are invested with authority, during the early days of his reign he had been all smiles and condescension. at ghent he had sworn on the true cross to 'respect the rights and liberties of the communes and to do by them all that a righteous lord and count of flanders should do.' when a deputation of huffy burghers from bruges and the other _bonnes villes_ came out to greet him at menin and showed themselves more eager to make known their grievances than to bid him welcome, he smoothed their ruffled feathers with soft words. he was ready, he said, to do anything they wanted; and when, a few days later, a second deputation waited on him at ghent to complain of the commercial depression caused by the war between england and france, his answer was all that could be desired. he had already done his utmost to effect a reconciliation, but was prepared to try again, for no one, he added, with a touch of humour, was more interested in the prosperity of flanders than he, for the richer she was the more she could afford to give him. it was not until john had been thwarted that he showed of what stuff he was made. opposition first came from the burghers of bruges, and the burghers of bruges were the first to experience the sting of his lash. it happened thus. when in an english fleet of a hundred vessels sailed up the zwyn and was threatening the fortress of sluys--evil reminiscence of the conquest of charles vi.--the burghers of bruges refused to defend it, notwithstanding their sovereign's earnest entreaties. 'it did not behove them,' they said by the mouth of their burgomaster, lievin van schotclaere, 'to protect a citadel which threatened the english less than their own liberties,' nor was it until the invaders had taken sluys and burnt the castle that, at last, the bruges men consented to arm, and perhaps even then there was some secret understanding between them, for the english retired at the approach of the burghers, 'slowly and without any sign of disquietude, rather after the manner of friends and allies than foes.' as for john, he withdrew to ghent disgusted; made it known that henceforth he would reside in that city; with a lavish hand scattered gold there; succeeded in corrupting not a few of the leading burghers, and at length conciliated the goodwill of the whole town by concluding a commercial truce with england, which by putting an end to the mutual piracy of the belligerents was intended to pave the way for a regular commercial treaty. being thus in a position to act without hindrance, he turned his attention to the truculent burghers of bruges, and presently the watchers on the belfry--for then, as now, night and day, there were watchers on the belfry--descried slowly winding its way through the woods of maele, like some huge silver snake, and drawing nearer and nearer to the city, a troop of armed men. in an instant the tocsin was swinging, but the signal had been given too late, and when the breathless citizens reached the market-place, they found it filled with the duke's guard, and there on the halles balcony was john himself with a rod in his hand--symbol of coming chastisement. sixteen great city officers were deprived of their appointments and condemned to exile or mulcted in heavy fines, and their places were given to certain obscure citizens on whose subservience john could rely. it was gall and wormwood to the burghers, but they bent their heads to the storm, nor did they refuse to set their seal of acceptance to the humiliating _kalfvel_ which the duke imposed on them in place of their time-honoured charter, nor to thank him for it into the bargain, and that, though it wounded alike their pride and their pockets, curtailed their liberty, and imperilled their necks, by putting burthensome restrictions on the use of guild banners, by utterly suppressing the _maenghelt_, or monthly subsidy, which from time immemorial the corporation had granted to each of the trade guilds, and by making all kinds of vexatious enactments which were sanctioned by pain of death. note amongst the banished, nicholas barbesaen, erst burgomaster and city treasurer, who had been in former days a devoted adherent of louis of maele, and on more than one occasion, as he himself recounts in a memoir still extant amongst the archives of lille, had risked his life to save him. he was also a man of much public spirit, and at his own cost had rebuilt the town gates which had been destroyed by the ghenters in . two of them, the _porte ste. croix_ and the _porte de gand_, are still standing. 'i showed great diligence,' he says, in the document above referred to, 'anent the public buildings of the town, such as bridges, fountains, gates, towers and the like, the greater number of which were rebuilt during the time that i was burgomaster and treasurer of this city.' [illustration: the porte de gand] but the meed of john's vengeance was not yet complete. emboldened by the ease with which he had obtained the burghers' acceptance of the _kalfvel_, he imposed by means of the new corporation a host of onerous taxes which had never been heard of before, notably a heavy duty on wheat, and obtained from his subservient magistrates a legal decision that the seventh _denier_ in all town revenues belonged by right to the sovereign. to every honest burgher submission meant sorrow and bitterness of heart, but with their town in the hands of foreign mercenaries, ghent bound hand and foot with golden fetters, sycophants and traitors in their own camp, they could but lie low and wait, and they waited for four years, and then their hour of triumph came. it was the fall of the year . the strife between the burgundians and the armagnacs was at its height. john was encamped in the plain of montdidier waiting for orléans to give battle. with him was an army of flemings recruited from all the towns in the county. their services, for a limited period, had been purchased by means of concessions--according to one account at the cost of a commercial union with england consecrated by an acknowledgment of the suzerainty of henry iv. each city was to fight under its own banner and be commanded by its own elected chiefs; on these conditions only had the burghers consented to leave their homes, and so eager was john for their services that he had made no protest even in the case of the bruges men who had chosen lieven van schotclaere the burgomaster, whom he himself had deposed in . presently the allotted term expired, the french had made no sign, and john could only prevail on the burghers to remain with him one week more by granting them fresh favours 'on account of the good, agreeable and notable services which they have rendered us, do render us, and will, we hope, continue to render us.' but when the week had passed and still orléans tarried, neither prayers nor promises could induce them to further prolong their soldiering. at daybreak a mighty roar went up from the flemish camp--_go go, wapens wapers, te vlaendren waert_, and they went. john rode out to confront them, and, with his hat off and his hands clasped, very humbly begged them to remain only four days longer; they were his brothers, he said, his comrades, the dearest friends he had; he was ready to renounce in their favour all the taxes of flanders. but they were deaf to all his prayers; their only answer was to show the letter which limited the duration of the expedition, and to point to the ducal seal with which it was stamped. perceiving that it was useless to insist further, john the fearless accompanied the flemings as far as péronne, where, having thanked them for their services and commissioned the duke of brabant to conduct them to the frontier, he bade them farewell, and almost alone set out for paris. thus ended the famous expedition to montdidier, and thus did bruges obtain her first instalment of vengeance. she had wrung from john undoubted favours, refused the only boon he asked, and received from him into the bargain a sufficiently humble acknowledgment for the 'good, agreeable and notable services which she had daily rendered,' but the hated _kalfvel_ was still in force; she was still governed by the creatures of the man who had wronged her, and of both the one and the other she was determined to be rid. on the evening of the th of october, , the bruges men with schotclaere at their head, and accompanied by the soldiery of eleven other towns, reached the great plain of ten belle, three leagues from home. here they encamped for the night, here too they took counsel together, and next morning when baldwin de voss came out to greet them and to learn the hour of their arrival at bruges, they replied that the _kalfvel_ must first be cancelled, and all grievances redressed. whereupon the wily burgomaster with much plausible speech essayed negotiation. he would make known their wishes to the duke, who would doubtless give favourable ear to them, but meanwhile they must lay down their arms and return peaceably to their homes. _sils ne veulent perdre, he added, la bonne grâce de mon dit seigneur, en lequelle ils estoient sur tous autres qui l'avoient suivi de son pays de flandres._ these specious words deceived no man, and de voss tried again. there were three points which it was beyond his power to concede. the duke alone could repeal the _gabelle_, and the edicts anent confiscation, and the use of guild banners; for the rest, he was prepared to do all they wanted, but the burghers were adamant; they would never disarm, they averred, until they had obtained full satisfaction. at last, after much parleying, messengers were dispatched to the duke, who by the advice of his council conceded every point. the obnoxious taxes were repealed, the _kalfvel_ was torn up, and the officers appointed in were thrust out of the city. thus after four years' servitude bruges was once more free. the causes of the enmity between john the fearless and his cousin philippe of orléans are intricate and multiple and do not come within the scope of this book, nor would the tragedy in which it culminated be here alluded to were it not that some of the chief actors were either bruges men, or intimately connected with bruges, notably john gerson, the famous theologian of the council of pisa, and perhaps the most brilliant scholar of his day. the following are the main outlines of the story. towards the fall of the year the duke of burgundy set out for paris, determined to rid himself forever of his powerful enemy and rival the duke of orléans. when, however, he reached the french capital, to the surprise of all men, for all men were well aware of his morose and sullen temper, he gave favourable ear to the words of king charles, consented to a reconciliation, had an interview with orléans at his house, the _château de beauté_, and on the following sunday (november ), by way of sealing their friendship, received holy communion with him at the chapel of the augustinian friars. three days after, when orléans was at the queen's palace, a messenger arrived from the king to summon him to his presence. attended by two esquires and four or five lackeys bearing torches, for the night was dark, he mounted his mule and set out for the royal abode. hardly had the little cavalcade left the palace gates when a band of armed men sprang out at them, crying, 'death, death!' 'hold,' shouted the prince, '_je suis le duc d'orléans.' 'c'est ce que nous voulons_', was the reply, and they slashed him to death with their axes. at that moment a tall man, with his face concealed by a red slouch hat turned down over his eyes, rushed out from burgundy's house and cut off the dead duke's hand, and with a club smashed in his skull. the only one of his attendants who had made any show at resistance was a flemish page called jacques de mene. this youth interposed his own body to receive the blows intended for his master until he fell dead by his side. the rest took flight. when the orléanists heard what had happened next morning, they were filled with consternation, and all kinds of rumours were abroad as to the identity of the murderer, but strangely enough no one suspected the duke of burgundy. he had attended the funeral, which took place in due course, attired in deep mourning, and had there exhibited every outward manifestation of grief, but it was afterwards remembered that during the ceremony he had laid his hand on the coffin, and that, as he did so, blood had spurted out from his victim's wounds. be this as it may, when, after the completion of the funeral ceremonies, the provost of paris entered the royal chamber and demanded permission to extend his inquiries 'even into the palaces of princes,' the duke, who was present, turned pale, and drawing the duke of berri aside, avowed to him that he was the author of the crime. 'the devil,' he said, 'had beguiled him.'[ ] berri for the moment held his tongue, but next day at the house of the lord of nesle, the duke of burgundy made public confession of his guilt. 'in order that no man may be wrongfully accused of the death of the duke of orléans, i avow that i myself and no other am the author of that which has taken place.' immediately afterwards he fled the city, never halting until at half-past twelve in the afternoon he reached bapaume. the number of his confederates must have been considerable, for relays of horses were awaiting him at successive stages, and the admiral of france and a handful of knights, who almost immediately gave chase, found all the bridges over which he had passed entirely demolished. in memory of the peril which john had so successfully evaded, he gave orders that henceforth the great town bell should be daily rung at half-past twelve, and for years afterwards the duke's angelus, as the citizens called it, kept alive the memory of his escape. presently john was at ghent, endeavouring by the mouth of chancellor saulk to justify his conduct in the eyes of the communes, for he had convoked the estates of flanders to meet him there. presently he was at amiens, guarded by three thousand men-at-arms, making conditions with the royal envoys whom charles had sent to dissuade him from joining hands with england; closeted with friar petit, whom he had summoned from paris 'to advise him anent certain secret matters greatly touching his honour'; doing anything and everything to safeguard his person and his interests, and to further his ambitious schemes. at last he deemed it safe to return to the french capital. the sudden death of the duke of orléans had sown terror and confusion in the ranks of his supporters, whilst so mighty was the name of burgundy that his friends among the roughs of paris had feared not to insult the remains of his victim as they were being solemnly carried to the place of burial. true the king had promised the duchess of orléans vengeance, but it was a promise beyond his power to keep; the influence of jean sans peur was increasing day by day, and when early in march he once more returned to the french capital, he was hailed as the saviour of the realm. the duke of berri made a banquet in his honour in the very house in which he had first avowed his guilt. 'maître' jean petit, who was not only a _persona grata_ at court, but a divinity professor at the sorbonne, whose opinions were not without weight in the world of the learned, did not hesitate to avow in the presence of the dauphin and the royal princes that it was lawful to slay tyrants, and that those who did so deserved no punishment, but ought rather to receive reward. in a solemn assembly, at which were present the king of sicily, and the dukes of guienne, of berri, of lorraine and bretagne, not a few counts and several bishops, john ratified all that master petit had said anent the laudable motives which had inspired his action, and soon his speech, reproduced by a host of scribes, was echoing all over france, 'like a triumphal pæan in the midst of the stupefied silence of the orléanists,' and to crown all, the king himself published letters of approval. 'seeing that our very dear and well-beloved cousin has explained that it was with a view to our own safety and the preservation of our line, for the utility and welfare of our realm, and to keep with us that faith and loyalty by which he is bound, that he has caused to be put out of the world our very dear and well-beloved brother the duke of orléans, whom god forgive, we make known, and will, that the aforesaid duke of burgundy is, and remains, in our singular love even as he was before.' thus ended the first scene of the tragedy, and twelve years passed by, replete with strife and turmoil, which concerns not these pages; then came the grand finale. 'joab,' had thundered john petit in his famous glorification of the duke of burgundy, '_joab a répandu le sang de la guerre au milieu de la paix: sa viellesse ne descendra pas paisiblement dans la tombe_,' and in the light of after events the words of the notorious friar seem almost prophetic. on the th of september , some twelve years after the murder of the duke of orléans, john the fearless was himself slain on french soil. it happened thus. about a month previous to this date, john had requested an interview with the dauphin, who was now chief of the orléanist party, with a view to concluding peace. after some hesitation, the latter had consented, and on the th of august, on the bridge of montereau-faut-yonne, the meeting took place. during the discussion which ensued, words ran high, and presently the spectators on either bank of the seine observed that the men on the bridge were struggling. for a moment they suspected foul play, and a cry went up that the dauphin had been slain, but it was not the dauphin but john himself whom the crowd had seen hurled to the ground, and the figure bending over him, and perhaps essaying to staunch his wounds, was no other than that of guillaume le bouteille, once servant to philippe d'orléans. 'as thou didst serve my master,' muttered the old man, as he hacked off the dead duke's hand, 'as thou didst serve my master even so do i now serve thee.' but the crowd on the banks heard not his words, and wist not what he was doing. was john the victim of his cousin's treachery, or had he at length been taken in his own net? in a word, was he slain by the dauphin in self-defence? such the latter averred to be the case, and there is this much in favour of his assertion--juvenal des ursins, the most reliable and impartial historian of his century, gives credence to it. so too olivier of dixmude, who relates the following anecdote:-- one night, towards the hour of matins, about a month after philippe's murder, whilst the duke of burgundy was staying at ypres, a strange and lurid light appeared in the air over the cloister of st. martin, where he was lodged. thither ran a host of citizens from all quarters of the town, thinking that the place was on fire, but they soon perceived the true cause thereof--a dragon hovering over the duke's chamber, which suddenly turned his flaming dart on himself and so disappeared, and, olivier adds, even thus did john the fearless die--in a plot of his own hatching. when in the year duke john the fearless, glorying in the crime he had committed, and vaunting it as an act of virtue, was heaping wealth and favours on the shameless friar who, as he cynically avowed, for gold and the hope of more gold had made himself his apologist, there was one man who ventured to lift up his voice in protest; this man was jean de gerson, erst chaplain to philip the hardy, and since dean of the great collegiate church of st. donatian's at bruges. burning with indignation at the bloody deed and at the sophistry of the priest who had dared to defend it, he publicly proclaimed petit's doctrine anent tyrannicide to be false, scandalous and heretical, and never rested until he had prevailed on the bishop of paris to condemn it as such. the duke of burgundy was furious, and gave orders for gerson's arrest, but the dean had received timely warning, and when the _pursuivants_ came to seize him they found their quarry flown. he had eluded pursuit by concealing himself among the rafters between the vault and the roof of notre dame. presently he succeeded in leaving paris, and in due course, after many hairbreadth adventures, reached german soil. whereupon john declared him legitimately dispossessed of his deanery (may , ), and appealed to pope john xxiii., one of the three claimants to the papal throne, who, after having appointed a commission to examine the case, quashed the paris decision. but the intrepid dean of bruges would not suffer the matter to rest here; he, in his turn, appealed to the council of constance, and with such good effect that 'master' petit's theories were unanimously condemned, and though the duke of burgundy had sufficient credit with the assembled fathers to prevent the name of his favourite from appearing in the condemnation, all those who obstinately maintained his opinions were declared to be heretics, and ordered to be dealt with as such in accordance with canon law. as long as john lived, gerson remained in germany, but when at length his enemy was called to his account, he took up his abode at lyons, where the chief delight of his declining years was to teach little children. he died in , and the men of lyons called him a saint. be this as it may, he feared not to withstand, for justice sake, the fiercest tyrant in christendom. it was chiefly owing to his efforts that the schism which for so many years had rent christ's seamless garment was at length healed; he was a brilliant scholar, a kindly, gentle, god-fearing man, perhaps the author of _the imitation_, and unquestionably the greatest divine of the age in which he lived. the life of john de gerson was not then spent in vain, and flemings may well be proud of the frenchman whom philip the hardy set over the time-honoured church of bruges. [illustration] chapter xx _the great humiliation_ the great struggle with the communes of flanders was continued by philippe l'asseuré, who ascended the throne upon the death of his father, john the fearless, in , but from this time forth, slowly but surely, the cities lost ground, and ere philippe was gathered to his fathers, in , the stubbornest of them had made their submission. it was not until that serious trouble began at bruges. its ostensible cause was the old dispute anent her jurisdiction over sluys, but in reality it was the outcome of the people's discontent at philippe's centralizing policy, and at the ignoble means by which he pursued it; by stirring up strife betwixt class and class, and town and town, and man and man; by corrupting magistrates, in order that they might lend themselves to the falsification of money, and the increase of taxation; by undermining the authority of city officers by modifying the basis on which it reposed, and by exciting the lower classes against them. the treaty of arras, by which philippe concluded, on july , , a formal alliance with france, was profoundly unpopular with the flemish burghers, and the war with england, in which it involved them, was still less to their liking. they knew very well that it was not to their interest to quarrel with their former ally, and if in those days there had been in england an edward iii., or an artevelde in flanders, they would have had no hesitation in joining hands with the english against the tyrant who was oppressing them, as they had done in the days of louis of maele. as it was, it needed all philippe's tact and sophistry, and no inconsiderable expenditure of cash in bribes, to induce them to render him assistance, and perhaps even then there was some secret understanding with the enemy. the force which the burghers had given him only remained under arms some two months, from june to august , ( ). when the burgundian fleet under de horne fled before the english admiral, a great cry went up from the flemings encamped before calais--_'go, go wy zyn all vermanden_,' and they forthwith packed up their traps, staved in the casks of wine that they were unable to carry with them and returned to their homes. in consequence of this defection philippe was compelled to raise the siege of calais, and soon the english were overrunning the greater part of west flanders. henry vi., as soon as he had learned what had happened, sent letters to all the towns which acknowledged his authority, bitterly complaining of 'the disloyal conduct of that most faithless philippe, commonly called duke of burgundy,' who, having acknowledged his suzerainty from his (henry's) youth upwards, had at length ventured to renounce it. in doing so, the letter continued, philippe had rendered himself guilty of _lèse-majesté_ and had thereby forfeited all claim to the county of flanders, which, as its suzerain, henry now awarded to his own uncle, humphrey, duke of gloucester. this letter was dated august , . soon all the towns in the neighbourhood of calais were in gloucester's hands; at poperinghe he was solemnly recognized as count, and presently the english fleet was seen slowly coasting along towards the waters of the zwyn where de horne was anchored off sluys, but dared not go out to engage it. indeed the news of its approach filled him with such consternation that he fled to shore. his fate is not without significance. wandering about amongst the sandhills, he presently fell in with a band of karls, who recognizing in the woe-begone stranger the admiral of their count's fleet, used him so ill that he died from the effects, at ostend, a fortnight later. about this time the burghers of bruges sent an armed force to sluys, demanding that the fleet and the town should be handed over to them, on the ground that from time immemorial sluys had been subject to their jurisdiction. but sluys was a hot-bed of leliaerts, or burgundians as they were now called, as it had been since the days of louis of maele, and though the bruges men brought with them an order, signed by the duchess of burgundy, and had come ostensibly to defend the port against the english, the governor, roland van uutkerk, refused to permit more than forty of them on board ship, and the rest were forced to spend the night in the open, in torrents of rain, save some half-dozen, who perhaps had friends in the city, and somehow or other managed to find a lodging there. these men, however, next morning incurred an inconvenience greater than a wetting. when their comrades remonstrated on the treatment which they had received, the men who had lodged in the city were forthwith thrown out of window. every other citizen of bruges, who happened to be in sluys, was ordered to at once quit the town under penalty of losing his head, and van uutkerk, declaring that the whole gang of them were traitors and mutineers, bade them go back to the place from whence they came. what was the true cause of this extraordinary reception accorded by the sluysers to men who were supposed to be their allies, and had come forth ostensibly to fight for the duke? was it simply the outcome of the national jealous temperament, or did the sluysers suspect, or had they, perhaps, been secretly informed, that some great act of treachery was in contemplation by the men of bruges, that if the fleet and the citadel had been given into their keeping, they would have handed them over to the english? it is hard to say. 'the influence of the dukes of burgundy,' notes kervyn, 'has so deeply penetrated the historical sources of this period that it is almost impossible to throw light on questions relative to the movements of the flemish burghers.' certain it is that bruges was profoundly mortified and disappointed, and that a riot ensued, during which the duke's representative, _Écoutète_ eustace buch, fell a victim to the people's anger. but this was not all. the charter of , which placed sluys under the jurisdiction of bruges, having been solemnly read from the halles gallery, the city magistrates were called upon to explain why and how they had connived at its infraction, and their answers not appearing satisfactory, so great was the feeling of the people, that the houses of several of them were sacked. so terrified was the duchess of burgundy at the threatening attitude of the mob that in the midst of it all she set out for ghent, where philippe was at present stationed, and though no attempt was made to offer isabelle violence, or to restrict her personal liberty of action, the burghers deemed it prudent to retain as hostages two of her women, the widow of jean de hornes, and the wife of his successor, roland van uutkerk, who were actually snatched from the ducal litter. in all this we may see the handiwork of the guildsmen, and likewise in the events which followed. the city of bruges was not left to fight her battle alone. the franc gave her assistance--a circumstance not a little remarkable, as the men of the franc and the men of the city had already begun to grow jealous of one another--and, more remarkable still, all the neighbouring communes, including ghent, rallied round her. philippe, unable to resist the united pressure thus brought to bear on him, acknowledged the rights of bruges over sluys, consented to the banishment of roland van uutkerk for a hundred years and a day, and intimated that he would shortly come to damme with a view to redressing grievances. thus far fortune had favoured the men of bruges, but she was not destined to show herself their friend much longer. when philippe reached damme, on the th of october, he at once made it known that before anything else could be done, the burghers must lay down their arms; but that, if within three days a general disarmament were effected, he would at once re-establish and confirm all the ancient rights and privileges of the city. the guildsmen seem to have been satisfied of philippe's good faith, for by the th of october the disarmament was completed, but when four days had gone by, and philippe made no sign of fulfilling his part of the contract, they began to grow suspicious; and when presently information was brought them that the duke had only named damme as the place of conference in order to obtain possession of that important vantage post, and that since his arrival there he had been secretly reinforced by troops from lille and from holland, they knew that they had been duped, and at once made ready for battle. soon the market-place was again filled with armed guildsmen, and auxiliaries from sixty-two neighbouring communes to boot. [illustration: old houses at damme] far from precipitating hostilities, these war-like preparations had the effect of deferring them. philippe had not sufficient soldiers to risk an engagement, and when three days later the foreign merchants resident in bruges volunteered their good offices, he consented to resume negotiations. by the end of the month terms were agreed upon. the burghers once more disarmed, philippe confirmed their rights and privileges, and when he had done this, they in their turn sent deputies to damme to make humble apology for the disturbances which had recently taken place in their city. but so little confidence did they place in the duke's good faith that they detained his ambassadors at bruges until their own had returned from damme. thus was peace for the moment established. neither party was satisfied at the issue of the negotiations, but neither party was at present strong enough to re-open the contest, and the winter passed on amid much grumbling and no little display of sulkiness on each side. meanwhile, philippe was watching the course of events. early in the spring (february , ), with a view to weakening the three _bonnes villes_, he granted a charter to the franc, by which he recognized that corporation as fourth member of the estates of flanders, and forbade any freeholder submitted to its jurisdiction to become a burgher of the city. whereat riot ensued, and blood again flowed in the streets. burgomaster maurice van varsenare who endeavoured to quell the tumult, was slain for his pains in front of the belfry, and beside him too fell his brother jacob, who essayed to defend him. presently the storm ceased, and the burghers began to tremble for the consequences of their hot-headedness. they sent an embassy to philippe with excuses and explanations, and philippe gave them a curt reply. business in holland demanded his attention, but on his way there he would pass through bruges. three months later, on may , he reached _st. michel_, a stone's throw from the city. with him was a numerous retinue of knights, and four thousand picard footmen--men hated of flemings--but in order to disarm public opinion, he had sent word to burgomaster van de walle that he alone would enter bruges with a handful of attendants, and that the soldiers should camp at maele. great then was the astonishment of that magistrate when next morning he went out to welcome the duke, and found all his picards with him, and recrimination and confabulation ensued, which lasted two hours, during which time, unperceived by the angry burgomaster, the soldiers were preparing to march. at length, turning to his men-at-arms, and at the same time pointing to the city, philippe dropped the mask. 'that,' he cried, 'is the holland that we have come to conquer,' and, without waiting for further parley, made for the city. some of the foremost knights had already reached the market-place ere the tocsin gave the alarm, but hardly had it sounded than armed burghers seemed to spring up from the pavement; they were swarming through the crooked streets and narrow lanes like angry ants whose home had been disturbed, and so threatening was their attitude that philippe, when he reached the church of st. sauveur, bade his men withdraw by the way they had entered. covering their retreat with arrows, they made for the bouverie gate, but only to find it shut; and thus philippe, cut off from the bulk of his army, was at length in the power of the guildsmen, who, raging about him like rabid hounds, had already struck down not a few of his bodyguard. in another instant the duke himself would have been slain and flanders saved from long years of misery. if it had not been for the tenderness of heart and misplaced loyalty of burgomaster van de [illustration: the church of st. sauveur] walle, the whole course of european history would have been altered, less blood and fewer tears would have been shed, and perhaps to this day bruges would have remained a great and flourishing city. this intrepid old man, when he found that all his efforts to calm the mob were unavailing, somehow or other procured a smith, and at the risk of his life stood over him whilst he broke open the lock of the bouverie gate. philippe rushed out, and with a handful of knights escaped to courtrai. as for his picards, they fled in dismay. twenty of them were taken prisoners, and they paid the penalty of their would-be depredation with their heads. a hundred and sixty of the duke's own retainers likewise fell into the hands of the guildsmen, but at the intercession of the clergy and the foreign merchants their lives were spared, and they even received honourable treatment. then followed nine months of dire warfare, and at each successive step the men of bruges suffered themselves to be hoodwinked. at the very outset, as we have seen, they had lost a grand opportunity by allowing philippe to slip through their fingers. then came the raising of the siege of sluys, almost in the hour of victory (one of the town gates had been actually demolished) at the instigation of the ghenters, who averred that the duke was prepared to treat for peace, a matter of the highest moment, as foreign merchants were on all sides fleeing the country. the accomplishment of the task in hand was a matter of life and death to bruges, for with sluys in the hands of the burgundians, the way of the zwyn was barred, and bruges cut off from the sea, and yet the burghers had not sufficient backbone to withstand the entreaties of their so-called friends, and presently they regretted their pusillanimity. no sooner was the siege raised than the burgundians poured out of sluys, and harried all the country round, and a band of a hundred and thirty of them ventured even to the very walls of bruges, and were on the point of driving off a large herd of cattle intended for the provisionment of the city when a thousand guildsmen swooped down on the marauders, took not a few of them prisoners, and put the rest to flight. the final catastrophe was brought about by the open defection of ghent. for some time past she had been halting between two opinions, but the success which the men of bruges had obtained over the marauding knights, at the gates of their city, had emboldened her to make a definite engagement to fight shoulder to shoulder with bruges until peace were established in flanders, and even to despatch to her assistance a small band of fighting men; but presently one of her leaders, rasse onredene, a man who passed for an ardent patriot, but was in reality in philippe's pay, pointed out that it would be more to the advantage of ghent to act the part of peacemaker, with a view to arranging honourable terms than to openly side with either of the belligerents; and when a deputation of bruges men went out, as they thought, to confer with their allies at eecloo, they found them posing as neutral mediators. soon they discovered that they were not even neutral, but open supporters of the duke, and that they would compel them even by threats to absolute submission. bruges refused the terms offered with disdain, ghent retaliated by declaring her an enemy of the state, and if it had not been for the inclemency of the season--it was now december--she would have forthwith commenced a campaign against her rival. bruges was thus left alone to brave philippe's fury, and in what plight! cold, starving, plague-stricken, eaten up with leprosy. the absence of supplies from foreign ports--she had long been cut off from the sea--and the devastation of the surrounding country had produced famine; then came that other handmaid of war, pestilence, and on her heels, winter, before his time. added to this, the prevailing misery had favoured the spread of a disease always lurking in the insanitary cities of the period, and the weird cry of the lazar and the clang of his doleful bell were now heard in every street. [illustration: the lepers' hospital, marché au fil] 'from the wretched hovel of the working man writhing in the clutches of famine, from the burning couch of the plague-stricken, and from the barred cell of the leper, there rose up one cry, poignant as the necessity which dictated it: peace, peace.' thus kervyn, in his usual high-flown way.[ ] in face of evils such as these, and with the entire population clamouring for peace at any price, what could a handful of burghers do, however brave and resolute? there was but one course open to them, and early in february ( ) bruges threw herself on the duke's mercy; but philippe was deaf to the prayers of her representatives, prostrate and trembling before him, nor was it until isabelle of portugal had thrown herself at his feet that he at length vouchsafed to hear them, and even then the declaration which he made on march , , breathed a spirit of cynicism, in which generosity had no part. he was mighty enough, he said, to destroy the town of bruges _et le mettre à toute misère et povreté_, but, at the same time, it did not suit his convenience to utterly crush the chief purveyor of food stuffs in his domains. for the rest, the conditions which philippe exacted were sufficiently burthensome. bare-headed and bare-footed the burgomaster, sheriffs and other officials must meet him a league from the city upon the next occasion he should come there, and after having sued on their knees for mercy, and made him an offering of their persons and their goods, present to him the keys of the city, which he should be free to keep or return according to his good pleasure. all this, though sufficiently galling to the burghers, inflicted on them no real or, at all events, no material injury, but the remaining conditions threatened alike their pride, their persons and their pockets--a fine of two hundred thousand golden philippes (afterwards reduced to thirty thousand), the re-establishment of the hated _kalfvel_ of , and forty-two noble citizens, whom philippe mentioned by name, excluded from the general amnesty which, if these terms were accepted, he professed himself ready to accord. needless to say that bruges acquiesced, and soon the headsman was plying his bloody trade in the market-place. note amongst those who were condemned to death the chivalrous burgomaster, louis van de walle, who had saved the duke's life at the risk of his own, during the riot of , and likewise his wife and his son. philippe showed his gratitude by commuting the death sentences of the two former to one of life-long imprisonment in winendael castle. but the son was executed before his parents' eyes, and louis himself, ere he was reprieved, was put to torture. did he wish that he had let the guildsmen have their way on that memorable occasion before the bouverie gate? the standard-bearer of oostcamp was another of philippe's victims. his bloody head, adorned with that wreath of roses which bruges had awarded to his commune for having been the first to come to her assistance when philippe was plotting against her in , was impaled on an iron spike, and set up on the parapets of the halles. to the franc, too, was meted out punishment--twenty-two of her freemen excluded from amnesty, and a fine so heavy--twenty thousand golden philippes--that many of her most opulent landowners were reduced to want. this was not the kind of peace which bruges in her misery had prayed for. all kinds of rumours were afloat, a general spirit of disquietude was abroad, men on all sides were expecting some fresh and terrible act of vengeance. not a few resolved to emigrate, and in order to hide their purpose from the duke alleged that they were going on pilgrimages to our lady of walsingham, to the three kings of cologne, to st. martin of tours--to any popular shrine that was not within reach of his long fingers. but philippe got wind of their real design, succeeded in arresting not a few of them ere they had crossed the frontier, and all who fell into his clutches he put to death. whereupon the foreign merchants waxed wroth. how could trade flourish in face of the _espionage_, the persecution, the bloodshed with which philippe had been so long harassing flanders? and then, too, there was the war with england, which in itself was fatal to their interests. unless peace were forthwith made, commercial intercourse with that country re-established, and flanders tranquillised, they would in a body quit the realm, and indeed not a few of them packed up their chattels and went. thereupon philippe took fright, set bounds to his evil humour, opened negotiations with england, concluded a truce for three years, prolonged it next year to five, and thus little by little confidence was restored and peace once more established, and when two years later philippe triumphantly entered bruges amid flaming torches, and clashing bells, and the blare of silver trumpets, the people received the tyrant who had crushed them with enthusiastic ovations and every outward manifestation of goodwill. not content with performing the stipulated humiliation, the burghers did more than philippe had prescribed. they erected triumphal arches, adorned their houses and their public buildings with rich drapery, and strewed flowers along his path; nor was this all--at intervals they set up allegorical groups, typical of repentance and submission. thus, hard by the _porte de ste. croix_ stood st. john the baptist, bearing in his hands a scroll on which was written: _ego vox clamantis in deserto: parate viam domini_. further on stood four prophets, each with his parchment scroll, after the manner of the figures in the painted windows of the period. on the first was inscribed--'thy people shall rejoice in thee'; on the second--'the prince of god is in the midst of us'; on the third--'come let us return to the lord,' and on the fourth--'let us do all that the lord saith to us.' thus did these worthy merchants cringe--an edifying sight--before the blood-stained tyrant who twelve months before had tortured and slain their noblest fellows. for them he had become as the saviour of the gospel, aye and as the god of abraham, for they chose the sacrifice of isaac to typify the absolute obedience which they owed to him. and who shall blame them? the craven cur who licks the hand which has struck him is after all a more sagacious beast that the mettlesome hound who resents an unjust blow by springing at his master's throat. the former is sometimes received back into favour, the latter is not unfrequently hanged. in the present case, as we shall see, the burghers had their reward. till the close of philippe's reign bruges was at peace. during ten years a great calm reigned throughout flanders. 'remember bruges,' philippe had said to the citizens of ypres, who for a moment showed signs of being restive, and the warning was enough. but the men of ghent were made of sterner fibre, and when in philippe would have taxed their salt, they broke out in open rebellion. for three years the burghers did battle for liberty with heroism and fortitude, but with so redoubtable an opponent there could be but one issue to the conflict, and in , the year of the fall of constantinople, the saddest year of the fifteenth century, kervyn calls it, ghent too was conquered. all this time the prosperity of bruges was seemingly increasing by leaps and bounds, but it was but the glow of the sunset which presaged eternal night, though the pomp and splendour of the ducal court--the most splendid court of the richest sovereign in europe--made the sunset a golden one. magnificent _fêtes_ and gorgeous tournaments were following one another in rapid succession, sumptuous palaces were springing up on all sides, sanctuaries were being everywhere enlarged and adorned with a countless array of art treasures. but there was another side to the picture. in spite of lotteries and the sale of annuities, in spite of direct taxation--a means of producing revenue hitherto unknown in bruges--there was now a constantly recurring and constantly increasing deficit in the annual city budget, and the list of persons constrained to accept public relief, including as it now did not only obscure names, but alongside of them the names of clergymen, of merchants, and of men of honourable and ancient lineage, was each year growing longer and longer. intrigue, and riot, and suppression, and the silting up of the zwyn were driving trade from bruges. a host of merchants had left for antwerp, a city less subject to internal commotions; not a few, as we have seen, had emigrated to england, to germany, to the south of france, whilst the shipping, which could no longer find its way into the harbours of sluys and damme, now sought shelter in other ports. this was the state of affairs at bruges during the time which elapsed between her humiliation in and the death of philippe l'asseuré in --a time of peace and quietude after the long years of strife; a time of _fêtes_ and royal pageants; a time of much intellectual activity; a time of music, and poetry and art; but a time also of gradual commercial wane, and in the midst of it the stupendous intellect of the man who had accomplished all this became clouded, like the city which he had beautified and destroyed, by premature decay. the astute tyrant, who had been able to tame the burghers of flanders, and, in spite of bloody deeds, to make himself beloved; the cultured patron of art who had known how to appreciate the works of the van eycks, and of roger van der weyden; the clear-headed man of business who had received a heritage encumbered with debt, and, before his decease, was the richest prince in europe, now passed all his time in a little workshop dyeing old fragments of cloth, fitting together pieces of broken glass, and sharpening needles. early in he was struck down with apoplexy; though he rallied from the attack, his physicians knew that his days were numbered, and on monday, the th of june, , the end came. they buried him at bruges in the church of st. donatian, and so great was the throng at the funeral, and the heat engendered by thousands of candles, that they shattered the gorgeous stained windows to let in the air. [illustration] chapter xxi _the terrible duke and his gentle daughter_ during the short reign of that sombre and fantastical hero charles the terrible, or, as he is generally called, charles the bold, things went on at bruges in something of the same fashion as they had done in the days of his predecessor. there was much surface glory, a vast amount of rottenness within, and, added to this, a very general feeling of disquietude and a continuous undercurrent of grumbling, which, as time progressed, grew louder and louder, at the hazardous policy of the duke, whose dream it was to restore the old burgundian kingdom, or, at least, to free himself from the vassalage of france, and who used to ask with indignation whether it was a seemly thing for a lineal descendant of charlemagne to acknowledge the suzerainty of hugh capet's heirs. there were gorgeous jousts and tournaments, when amid shouts of noël, on palm sunday , charles made his solemn entry into bruges, swore to maintain her rights and privileges, and held his first chapter of the golden fleece in the church of notre dame, where, by the way, the escutcheons of his knights are still hanging, and amongst them that of edward iv. there was much feasting and merriment, too, when three months later he brought home his third bride, edward's sister, margaret of york; but it was presently turned into tears and ashes by a sudden and virulent outbreak of plague, made more terrible by wild rumours that the nurses, impatient to grow rich on the spoils of their patients, had infected the wells and even the holy water stoops in the churches in order to spread the disease. there was much real distress when warwick the king-maker, angered with charles, because he had urged the citizens of london to oppose the restoration of henry vi., surprised some flemish vessels charged with wine from saintonge, and blockaded the port of sluys; great rejoicings when, two months later, the lord of ter-vere encountered warwick's fleet and, after a terrible conflict, dispersed it, but which, in its turn, gave place to dismay at the fact, made manifest by the recent naval battles, that the zwyn was shallower than ever. whereupon the estates of flanders conferred as to remedial measures, and after much confabulation, and strenuous opposition on the ground of expense on the part of ypres and ghent, manufacturing towns, whose interests were not at stake, and the men of the franc, pastoral folk, whom the matter in no way concerned, thanks to the support of charles, a plan was at length adopted which its advocates averred would restore the harbour of sluys to its former depth--to wit, the cutting of a dyke which closed an ancient channel by which the sea formerly ran into the port of sluys, and towards the close of july it was put into execution. many there were who believed this scheme would be inefficacious, and after events justified them. eighteen years later the _echevins_ of bruges decided to re-make the dyke, seeing that the 'haven of zwyn was closing up yet faster than of yore.' meanwhile charles's schemes of conquest were pressing harder and harder on his unfortunate subjects. in the carthusian nuns of the convent of st. anne were forced to part with a portion of their property in order to pay their taxes, and the burghers grumbled louder than ever. the obstinate canons of st. donatian went a step further; they absolutely refused payment, and were, in consequence, dragged to prison. in charles made fresh demands, and the deputies of the estates of flanders waited on him at bruges to remonstrate, but after much haggling and many bitter words, granted a subsidy--a hundred thousand _ridders_ and the pay of four thousand sergeants. presently fresh defeat constrained him to ask for more, and this time the communes refused. the people, they said, were overwhelmed with taxes, no further succour of men or money would they afford him for any of his foreign wars, but if he should haply find himself in peril from either swiss or germans, they would risk their lives and goods to bring him back safely to flanders. traitors and rebels! thundered charles, they should soon learn how terrible was his vengeance. vain threat; on the th of january the defeat of nancy put an end to all his dreams of conquest. in the first shock of battle the burgundians were dashed to pieces, and in the dismay and confusion which followed the duke had disappeared. no one knew what had become of him. some said they had seen him streaming with blood, but still defending himself like a man. others averred that at the moment of defeat he had turned tail and fled. three days later they discovered in a frozen pond the remains of a naked human body, scarred with wounds and half-devoured by beasts of prey. on one finger was a ring which a humble member of the duke's household--the woman who washed his linen--fancied she recognized as having once been the property of her master. on this testimony the shattered fragments were said to be the body of charles, and as such they were honourably buried in the church of st. george at nancy. they were not, however, suffered to rest there. more than fifty years later the emperor charles v. caused them to be brought to bruges, and laid them up in the church of st. donatian. five years afterwards his son, philip ii., translated them to a marvellous shrine in the church of notre dame. here they remained in peace till the close of the last century, when the iconoclasts of the revolution scattered them, on the ground that they were the bones of a tyrant. may be they were, but it is equally likely that they were the relics of some humble toiler. but to return to the epoch of charles's death, or, at all events, of his disappearance. 'the people, the masses'--we are quoting from kervyn--'who had lately been astounded at the pomp and wealth of the great burgundian duke, and who had so long been accustomed to bend to his iron will, utterly failed to understand how so great a prince, the sovereign of so many realms, a man so redoubtable throughout all the west, could have been suddenly swallowed up with all his glory in a pit which his own foolhardiness had digged for him. at the siege, too, of a petty town in lorraine, by a troop of rhenish boors and a handful of swiss shepherds. it altogether passed their comprehension, and they persuaded themselves that he had escaped, and would one day come back again, as his great ancestor baldwin of constantinople had done two centuries before. some of the vanquished had succeeded in crossing the meurthe, and were known to have escaped by concealing themselves in woods and so forth; perhaps he was among this number. as late as january margaret of york still cherished this hope. 'from news which we have received from divers quarters,' she wrote at this date, 'we expect and hope that by god's mercy the duke is still alive and well,' and on the rd his daughter mary wrote that she was not yet sure that her father was dead. five years later a report was set abroad that he was leading the life of a hermit at bruchsal in suabia--_genus vitæ super humanum morem horridum atque asperum_. an old servant who had fought beside him at nancy, and had there been made prisoner by the swiss, went to see, but he failed to recognize his master. the figure, voice, beard, hands, scars of the recluse were not those of charles the terrible. but others there were who believed in the marvellous stories of the hermit of bruchsal, and loaded him with presents, thinking to receive them back tenfold when he returned to his estates. others swore they had seen charles at rome, at jerusalem, at lisbon, at london. others again whispered that he had been spirited away by the machinations of louis xi.[ ] upon the mysterious disappearance of charles the terrible after the defeat of nancy, his dominions devolved on his only daughter, a girl of nineteen years of age, without army, without treasure, without any rock of defence save those flemish communes which her ancestors throughout seven generations had never ceased to persecute. they did not refuse to help her, but they demanded that their grievances should first be redressed. flanders, they urged, was not a fertile land, its prosperity depended wholly on commerce. commerce could only flourish where freedom was respected, and hence it was of paramount importance that the time-honoured rights and liberties and privileges of the flemish people should be once more restored to them. nor did the new sovereign turn a deaf ear to their reclamations. the whole land was seething with misery and discontent bred of a hundred years' oppression, and her ministers were wise enough and patriotic enough to see that only one policy was possible--a policy of general appeasement. on february , , she signed a charter, by which was established a representative council for the government of all her states, and note the concluding clause, which is not a little significant--the duchess declares that if any of the enactments herein contained be at any time violated, either wholly or in part, her subjects and vassals shall be thereby absolved from their allegiance until such time as they have obtained redress. nor was this all; to each of the cities and towns of flanders a special charter of liberties was granted. bruges, by the mouth of louis of gruthuise, had demanded the revocation of the edict by which philippe l'asseuré, thirty years before, had taken away her independence, and by the th of april the lord of gruthuise was able to ascend the balcony over the great door of the hôtel de ville and declare, amid the cheers of the assembled multitude, that marie had granted their request. next day the list of the privileges of the town was solemnly read in the market-place, as well as a new and more liberal charter than any hitherto granted, which gave back to the city of bruges all her communal liberties and commercial monopolies, as well as her lordship over the franc and over the town of sluys. if the communes of flanders had been at one with themselves, and if their burghers had been agreed together, the timely concessions of their new sovereign would perhaps have enabled the flemish people to withstand the machinations of the feeble tyrant whom we shall presently see compassing their destruction. but the feuds which had so long hampered them in their conflicts with former rulers had not one whit abated; the little men still envied the big men, the petty towns the _bonnes villes_, the franc bruges, bruges ghent, and, added to this, there was a fresh source of disunion, a burning thirst for vengeance which could only be slaked by blood. the men who, under philippe and charles, had bartered liberty for pelf must pay on the scaffold the penalty of their offences, aye and if need be (for according to the law of flanders no citizen could be put to death unless he had previously acknowledged the justice of the sentence which doomed him), if need be torture must wring from them the avowal of their guilt. the pleading of the greatest lady in the land was powerless to save them. pale with anguish, alone and on foot, attired in deep mourning and with no headgear but a simple veil, marie had made her way to the _hooghuis_ and from a window there had addressed the vast throng of angry guildsmen assembled in the marché au vendredi. 'o men of ghent,' she had besought them, 'remember that i forgave you, and for my sake forgive your enemies.' but the burghers refused to listen. it was the first duty of a sovereign to administer justice with an even hand, and it should never be said that in flanders there was one law for the rich and another for the poor. whereupon, says philippe de commines, '_retourna cette pauvre demoiselle, bien dolente et descomfortée_.' in other towns besides ghent the burghers were as firmly resolved to have their pound of flesh, and in exacting it they incurred the enmity of men no less cruel than themselves, as later on they learned to their cost. at bruges the burning question for the moment was the question of the franc. would the bond after all be dishonoured, and would the _franchosts_ submit? and when, on the th of april, marie was receiving the homage of the burghers in the church of st. donatian, the mob burst into the cathedral with cries of 'what of the franc?' in vain the duchess once more proclaimed the overlordship of the city, in vain louis of gruthuise assured them that their apprehensions were unfounded; the guildsmen refused to disarm, nor was it until the th of april, when the men of the franc sent in their submission, that peace was once more restored. [illustration: old roofs below the belfry] three days afterwards, on april , , ambassadors arrived at bruges from the emperor frederick iii. to demand for his son maximilian the hand of the girl duchess. louis of gruthuise and philip of hornes received them solemnly with lighted torches and led them to the princenhof. 'i understand,' was marie's reply, 'that my father approved this match, and as for me i desire no other.' the proposed marriage was no less pleasing to the flemish people, for though maximilian was so short of funds that flanders was obliged to defray his travelling expenses, 'he brought to the communes menaced by france the august support of imperial blood and the contested traditions of the suzerainty of the germanic cæsars.'[ ] three days later the duke of bavaria solemnly plighted his troth to the duchess marie in the name of maximilian. the reader will call to mind how one summer's morning, at daybreak, longfellow from the summit of the belfry witnessed this quaint betrothal, along with many other scenes in the history of bruges. 'i beheld proud maximilian kneeling humbly on the ground; i beheld the gentle marie hunting with her hawk and hound; and her lighted bridal chamber where a duke slept with the queen, and the armed guard around them and the sword unsheathed between.' the poet's account of the proceedings is not quite accurate. there was no question of sleeping. the duchess of burgundy and the duke of bavaria placed themselves on the nuptial couch for an instant only, and, moreover, marie was never a queen. she died before her husband was elected king of the romans. four months after the betrothal, at eleven o'clock on the night of august ( ), the youthful bridegroom--he was only eighteen years of age--reached ghent, and at once waited on marie at the hôtel de ten walle, where a sumptuous banquet had been prepared for him. when he met his _fiancée_, note the flemish chroniclers of the day, both she and he bowed down to the ground, and they each turned deathly pale. sign of their cordial love said some, presage of coming woe croaked others. next day the marriage was celebrated very quietly (august , ) in the chapel of the hôtel de ten walle, at six o'clock in the morning, in the presence of louis of gruthuise and jean of dadizeele, of whom later on. the same day maximilian swore to respect the liberties of ghent, and shortly afterwards he took a similar oath at bruges, where the burghers had adorned their streets in his honour with bunting and greenery and flowers, and had everywhere traced this one device, significant alike of present misery and the expectation of brighter days: _gloriosissime princeps defende nos ne pereamus_. alas! their hopes were doomed to disappointment. it could hardly have been otherwise. with such a feeble pilot at the helm a prosperous voyage was out of the question. maximilian's faculties had developed so slowly that at the age of twelve years he had not yet learned to articulate, and it seemed probable that he would remain all his life with the intellect of a child. it was doubtless owing to the hopelessness of the task that up to this time no attempt was made to instruct him, and indeed, if his poor feeble brain had been early pestered with facts and figures, it is not unlikely that it would have altogether broken down under the strain. that he was able, however, later on not only to entirely overcome the difficulty which he had in speaking, but also to acquire an accurate knowledge of latin, french and italian, shows that there was no radical brain malady, though he remained, till the day of his death, unusually lacking in will power, morbid, vacillating, vain, and so given to day-dreaming that his waking visions sometimes almost amounted to hallucination. it would seem, then, that his good qualities--his kindliness of heart, his generosity, the ease with which he forgave injuries--were but the outcome of inclination, and that his shortcomings--his overweening ambition, his transparency, even whilst essaying to be most secret, his utter inability to keep his word, even when sanctioned by the most solemn oaths--were, after all, rather mental than moral defects. such was the man into whose keeping the honour and the freedom of flanders were now entrusted, nor were the burghers long in discovering that the stalwart champion from whom they had hoped such great things was after all but a broken reed, and soon their enthusiastic loyalty was turned to bitter resentment. as the war with france dragged on, and maximilian, by his hesitancy and vacillation, continued to frustrate the plans of his generals, and render his own undoubted courage of no avail, his unpopularity increased from day to day. his lavish prodigality too was no small cause of annoyance to the thrifty burghers. notwithstanding the hard times, they had contributed generously and without complaint to the cost of the war, and it was bad enough that the feebleness of their sovereign should render their sacrifices unavailing, but not to be borne that he should lavish on foreign favourites those funds which they of their penury had contributed for the defence of the fatherland. but this was not all: maximilian was rapidly exhausting his wife's treasure. in he had already sold to the great house of medici no small portion of the famous burgundian plate. jewels of incalculable value had found their way into the hands of foulques portinari, who was now threatening to put them into the smelting pot if the cash for which they had been pledged were not immediately forthcoming. he had borrowed large sums from spanish merchants at usurious rates of interest, paying sometimes as much as thirty or even forty per cent., whilst a syndicate of bruges merchants, amongst whom was hendrieck nieulandt, of whom we shall again hear later on, had advanced him no less than four thousand _livres de gros_, and, worst of all, by the end of , the famous library of the dukes of burgundy, 'the richest and noblest library in the world,' had been in great measure dispersed. no wonder that discontent was rampant in the land, and that maximilian, or rather the men on whose advice he acted, was daily more and more hated. presently the deputies of the communes met to consider the situation. on one point they had made up their minds: in these hard times, with trade paralysed, industry at a standstill, and the country ravaged by war, no more of their money should find its way into the pockets of foreign favourites. it was the beginning of the great struggle which ended, so far as bruges was concerned, in the cancelling of all her liberties, the total destruction of her commerce, and the utter and irreparable loss of her influence and her prestige. there was one man who, had he lived, might perhaps have rescued flanders--john of dadizeele, the leader of the popular party. himself the scion of an old and noble house, after making his studies at arras and at lille, he had entered the service of simon de lalainy, when that warrior was defending audenarde against the men of ghent, and had remained with him till his death in . about this time he married catherine breidel, a descendant of the great patriot, and returned to his ancestral home, where it was his delight to give hospitality to the numerous pilgrims who came to offer their vows at the famous shrine of our lady of dadizeele, amongst them philippe l'asseuré, charles the terrible, the english earl of scales (edward iv.'s brother-in-law), marie of burgundy, and maximilian himself. from this moment two varied occupations divided his time--the trade of war and the paternal administration of his estate. at one time we find him establishing a fair in the little town subject to his sway; at another, busying himself with the erection of new and more commodious dwellings for the poor; often leading his vassals to battle, as was the case at the great triumph of guinegate, the yeomen mounted on horses which had lately drawn the plough, and the farm labourers armed with pitchforks. he had shown himself a loyal and a devoted friend to charles the terrible, and when that prince disappeared after the defeat of nancy he became the counsellor and defender of marie of burgundy. he had received maximilian on the flemish frontier, and along with louis of gruthuise, as we have seen, was present at the marriage which took place next day. later on, called by his victories to the supreme command of the flemish host, on more than one occasion he succeeded in foiling the projects of louis xi.; presently created grand bailiff of ghent, and anon high steward of flanders, again and again by his moderate counsel he was able to quell the rising tide of sedition amongst the craftsmen of bruges and of ghent. respected alike by the court and the communes, he was the one man capable of defending the fatherland, threatened as she was by intrigue and conquest abroad, and by anarchy and treason at home. it was destined to be otherwise. in the dusk of the evening of october , , as john of dadizeele was passing along an unfrequented lane in antwerp, he was attacked by a band of armed ruffians, and so grievously wounded that he died three days afterwards. the authors of this dastardly crime were never discovered, and perhaps there was no wish to discover them; but rumour pointed to the lord of montigny and the bastard of gaesbeke, the first the father-in-law, and the second an illegitimate son of philip of hornes, a man known to be one of the chief foes of the victim and high in the favour of maximilian. had john of dadizeele lived, he might perhaps have moderated the passions of his friends, and protected even those who hated him. 'his death was the bursting of the last _digue_ which opposed itself to the flood of civil discord which had so long been threatening the country. it was fatal alike to the men who had compassed it and to the burghers, who celebrated his funeral in a manner befitting a prince; it was the mourning of all flanders, condemned as she now was to see the extinction alike of her domestic peace and of the last faint ebullitions of her power and liberty.' hardly had poor dadizeele's mangled body been put under the sod than the first clap of thunder rolled in the lowering heavens and the first flash of lightning glittered across the sky. it happened thus. maximilian, as usual without cash and at his wit's end to know how to replenish his empty treasury, ventured on a course of action which, had dadizeele been still alive, he would never have attempted. under various flimsy pretexts he caused to be put under arrest five of the principal magistrates of bruges, men of standing and unblemished character, universally respected in the town and, to their cost, well known to be the possessors of great wealth--one of them, martin lem, had from his own purse lavished thousands on the war with france--hence the prosecution. maximilian hungered for their gold, and presently for a consideration of two hundred thousand _louis d'or_, paid by way of a fine, he consented to release them. though the _echevins_ of bruges were so terrified at the arrest of their colleagues that they not only made no protest, but in order to propitiate maximilian granted him a very considerable subsidy, the _echevins_ of ghent retaliated by pronouncing a sentence of exile for fifty years against philip of hornes, who immediately after dadizeele's murder had fled to marie's court at bruges, where, under shelter of her popularity, he knew that no man would dare lay hands on him, for the sweet and comely daughter of the terrible duke of burgundy was very dear to the flemish people. as philippe de commines quaintly has it, '_elle estoit très honneste dame et bien aimée de ses sujets, et lui portoient plus de révérence et de crainte qu'à son mary_.' keeping herself entirely apart from the intrigues and machinations of her husband, and leaving the reins of government entirely in his hands, her delight was to mix with her people like the wife of some plain citizen. when before the victory of guinegate all the women of bruges walked through the streets in procession barefoot and with candles in their hands to implore god's blessing on the flemish hosts, marie was among the rest. when in winter time the minne water was frozen and the lads and lasses of the city disported themselves on skates, many a happy burgher was as pleased and as proud at the skill and the grace of his beautiful girl-sovereign as if she had been his own daughter. so too was it when marie, along with her ladies, went out to hunt. as she rode down the _rue des pierre_, across the _grande place_, and along the _rue aux laines_ towards the _porte de gand_ on her way to the marshes of oostcamp or to the woods of maele the people cheered her to the echo. one morning early in the spring of , about [illustration: the belfry from the quai vert] six months after dadizeele's death, marie went out by the _porte des maréchaux_ to hunt in the forest of winendael, preceded by bands of music, joyous, radiant, in festive attire. in the evening they carried her home on a litter, pale, insensible, half dead. her steed had suddenly reared, overbalanced himself, and rolled on her. marie was expecting the hour of her delivery. from the first there was no hope of saving her life. she lingered on for three weeks, and on the th of march, , passed quietly away. though the greater part of the stately princenhof has been pulled down, and the fragment which still remains has been irreparably disfigured and spoiled, at least so far as the exterior is concerned, by stucco and plaster, and the addition of three new storeys, the room in which marie died is still standing, and has been little changed, so it is said, since the days when that hapless princess occupied it. it is an oblong-shaped, comfortable-looking apartment of not very large dimensions, with a beautiful panelled ceiling moulded all over with flowers and foliage, and it gives on a pleasant garden. the fair young duchess was laid to rest in the church of notre dame, and if her wraith is not among the many ghosts who wander about that mysterious fane, the memory of her beauty and her gentleness still lingers there, kept green by the cunning workmanship of pierre de becker, erst artist, sculptor, setter of gems, and skilled craftsman in metal work at brussels. this man conceived, and with his own hands carried out, patiently toiling at it for seven years, from to , and thereby expending health, strength, fortune, and receiving in return no adequate reward, a masterpiece the like of which is rarely seen. an altar tomb of black marble, enriched with statues of saints and angels of the most delicate workmanship, and with creeping plants and scrolls and heraldic shields in bronze and gold and enamel, which now stands in a side chapel off the southern ambulatory of notre dame. on it reposes the form of a beautiful girl with her crowned head resting on a cushion and at her feet two hounds. a quaint epitaph in old french proclaims her name and rank, and begs also those who read it not to forget her soul. sepulcre de très illustre princesse dame marie de bourgoigne.... laquelle dame trèspassa de ce siecle. en l'age de vintcinq ans le e jour de mars, l'an .... regrettee plainte et ploree fut de ses subjets et de tous autres qui la cognoissoient. autant que fut onques princesse. priez dieu pour son ame. amen. but what of her once beautiful body? all that remains of it lies in a vault beneath the choir, and here too are the bones of the terrible duke and the dried-up heart of the son who erected to the memory of his mother the glorious monument described above. they are all scattered about pell-mell amongst the débris of the casket and the coffins which once contained them. thus: until the spring of , the monument of marie of burgundy, as well as the monument of her father, stood side by side in the chancel of notre dame just over the vault which still contains their ashes. at this time the french revolutionists were playing havoc with the churches of bruges, and in order to preserve these treasures from their fury, peter de zitter, who was then parish beadle, with the assistance of stephen of sierzac, a stone mason, dismounted them and secretly carried away the fragments to a house hard by the church. the republicans, thus baulked of a rich booty, vented their spleen on the ducal sepulchre, broke it open, wrenched off the lids of the coffins, carried away all the iron and lead they could lay hands on, and scattered the bones of charles and of marie on the bare stone pavement. ten years after, in , the monuments were brought forth from their hiding-place and erected in the chapel where they now stand. [illustration: a renaisance gable] chapter xxii _the final catastrophe_ upon the death of marie of burgundy the storm for a moment lulled. philip of hornes had fled the country; the estates-general had assembled at bruges to provide for the administration of the realm during the minority of the legal heir to all marie's domains, her son philip, now an infant of three years of age; and maximilian, who knew very well that, in accordance with the marriage treaty of , his authority over the netherlands should now come to an end, and who hoped, nevertheless, to prevail on the communes to appoint him regent of flanders and guardian of his infant son, was showing himself as conciliatory as possible. he consented to the perpetual banishment of his favourite philip of hornes, suffered the burghers to open negotiations with louis xi., with a view to the instant termination of the war with france, and did not hesitate to confirm a treaty of peace, which they concluded at arras on december , , and that, notwithstanding that the king of france was thereby acknowledged suzerain of flanders, and that as such louis xi. had confirmed and renewed all the rights and privileges granted by marie at the commencement of her reign. meanwhile little philip had sworn to respect the liberties of flanders, and the deputies of the estates-general had quietly appointed a council of regency to act in his name, viz., adolphe of clèves,[ ] lord of ravestein, a kinsman of maximilian's, erst his competitor for marie's hand, and the most popular man in flanders; philip of beveren;[ a] adrien of rasseghem; and louis of bruges, lord of oostcamp and lord of gruthuise, knight of the golden fleece, peer of flanders, france and england--edward iv. had created him earl of winchester in gratitude for the kindness which he had shown him in the days of his exile at bruges--and, what he prized most of all, a burgher of his native town. the patron and friend of caxton and of colard mansion, he was a marvellous lover of books, and had gathered together in the fascinating palace which he built for himself on the banks of the roya--not his least glory, and which still bears witness to his love of the beautiful, and to the distinction and refinement of his taste--so rich a collection of choice manuscripts that the gruthuise library was said to equal, if not to surpass, the world-renowned library of the dukes of burgundy. in a word, he was a worthy scion of the house of erembald, a patriot true to the core, the richest and the mightiest and the most beloved of the burgher-nobles of bruges. as for maximilian, he was as meek as a lamb. a rebellion had broken out in holland, and perhaps he was unusually short of cash. certain it is that on the eve of his departure for that country, on june , , he confirmed at hoogstraeten, for an annual pension of twenty-four thousand _écus_, the authority of the council of regency appointed by the estates-general. before the end of the year, however, the conjunction of events had changed the duke's dispositions. the man he most feared, the royal burgher of ghent, that most incomprehensible of devotees, who stopped before no crime, and never undertook any matter of moment without first commending it to god, king louis xi. of france, had at length set out on that inevitable journey which all his life long he had looked forward to with apprehension and dismay. for years past the old man had been ailing. some said that he was a leper; he had certainly had a paralytic stroke in the spring of , and the sands of his life were fast running out when the flemish ambassadors waited on him at the château du plessis, at the beginning of the year , to obtain his ratification of the treaty of arras. it was evening when they reached the palace. they found the old king huddled up in the corner of a room purposely ill-lighted so as to hide the disfigurement which disease had wrought in his countenance, and so weak that he was unable to rise to receive them. his right hand was completely paralysed, and when they brought the book of the gospels, on which he was to swear to observe peace, he just managed to raise his arm sufficiently to touch it with his elbow. louis knew that his end was near. he had summoned françois the thaumaturgus of paula from the depths of calabria to beseech him on bended knees for a few days' respite, and the saint had given him no hope. 'set thy house in order,' he had said, 'for thou wilt die and not live.' presently, towards the close of the year, it became clear to the king's physicians that there was no hope of further prolonging his life. louis had strictly forbidden that any one should pronounce in his presence _le cruel mot de la mort_, his approaching end must be euphoniously announced to him by the sentence, '_parlez peu_;' but olivier le dain, erst barber of thielt, now count of meulan, who had for thirty years past been in the king's service--ever since the days when louis was in exile at bruges--with brutal levity hurled these words at his dying benefactor: '_c'est fait de vous pensez à votre conscience_,' and a few hours afterwards the old king passed quietly away. the news of louis's death found maximilian elated by an easy and unexpected triumph over his dutch rebels. men wiser and more wicked than he had little difficulty in persuading the weak and vacillating prince that fortune herself had cancelled the bond of hoogstraeten, and he lost no time in revoking the powers therein granted anent the government of flanders. nor were the regents slow to reply. on the th of october they sent in a long memorial: in virtue of the marriage treaty of , the right of _mainbournie_ did not appertain to the duke of austria, his assumption of the arms of the county of flanders was altogether illegal, he had overwhelmed the land with taxes, pledged the sovereign's domain, sold the crown jewels and given ear to the perfidious counsel of strangers--let france, the suzerain, judge betwixt them. to all of which maximilian replied with reproaches and insult: he in no way recognized the right of the regents to speak in the name of the country--men of little weight, headstrong, proud, who desired more their own profit than the welfare of the realm. gruthuise and his comrades responded no less warmly: adrien villain, william rym and the rest were men of as great weight as by far the larger number of the duke's friends, some of whom, alike germans and burgundians, were in a very small way before they came to flanders; for the rest, they had in no wise usurped the government of the county, no prince had ever been acknowledged in flanders save by the consent of the 'three members,' and in the absence of the sovereign, or during his minority, it was for the estates to provide for the government of the county, and after all, justice was better administered in flanders than in brabant, where maximilian still retained about his person the murderers of myn heer van dadizeele. further declaration from maximilian: whilst he in no way recognized the right of tradesmen to put themselves on a par with the gentlemen of his court, he begged leave to observe that the treaty of was invalid; the duchess of burgundy had affixed her signature to a document the contents of which she did not understand; and he ended up by summoning the lords of gruthuise, and ravestein, and borsselle, and beveren, who were knights of the golden fleece, to brussels, on the feast of st. andrew, november , there to submit their conduct to the judgment of their fellow knights. no further correspondence between maximilian and the council was carried on for the moment. the states sent a mission to charles viii. to appeal for his arbitration; as suzerain, they said, and affianced spouse of the heiress-apparent, he was doubly interested in the matter, they would abide by his decision; and maximilian, on his side, prepared to make war on his subjects, hoping to prevent by his victories the mediation of the french king. with this object in view he advanced on bruges with the army which had lately been victorious in holland,--this was in the beginning of february --with much trumpeting drew up his men in order of battle in front of the bouverie gate, and sent a herald to the city fathers demanding that it should be opened. but sheriff van bassevelde, who was their mouthpiece, would have none of it. 'go tell your master,' he said, 'that if he desires to speak with the magistrates of bruges they are ready to give him audience in the council chamber of the _hôtel de ville_, where they are now assembled, provided his escort do not exceed ten or at most twelve persons.' maximilian had reckoned on a rising in his favour. a plot to assist him there certainly had been, but his friends, who were numerous, made no sign, and he retired to oudenburg in dudgeon, thereby leaving them at the mercy of their foes. active inquiries were at once set on foot as to the number of conspirators, and not a few leading citizens were found to be compromised. note amongst them ex-burgomaster john breidel, a descendant of the great patriot; this man, along with many others, was put to death, and peter lanchals, of whom we shall hear again, condemned to banishment. for sixteen weary months the war dragged on. backed, as they were, by a large french army, under the command of crévcoeur, the greatest captain of the fourteen hundreds, it seemed at first almost certain that the flemings would presently succeed in driving maximilian back again to germany; but crévcoeur was not a _persona grata_ to the burghers, they could never forget that he had fought against them in the days of louis xi., and when the palm of victory was almost within their grasp, it was snatched from them by the frenzied hand of suspicion. in the month of june , crévcoeur encamped at ghent--here too was little philip--nor were quarrels slow to arise between the burghers and the men who had come to defend them--matter for no great wonderment; the hosts were flemish merchants, and the guests french soldiers. one morning crévcoeur set philip on horseback, and made him ride through the city, in order to show him to the people. forthwith a report was spread abroad that the french were going to carry the young prince off to paris, and so threatening was the attitude of the mob that crévcoeur deemed it prudent to quit flanders and take up his headquarters at tournai. this was on june , . meanwhile maximilian, profiting by these quarrels, for it was not only at ghent, but throughout flanders, that opinion was divided, had been scattering gold broadcast amongst those burghers who were known to be wavering in their allegiance to france, and by this means had succeeded in raising up a party in his favour at ghent and at bruges. on june , when the people of the latter city were making solemn procession round the _place du bourg_, with relics, and incense, and torches, to implore the protection of heaven for the armies of flanders, news came that the town gates had been treacherously opened to maximilian's mercenaries, and immediately afterwards a great troop of knights and german horsemen galloped into the market. so sudden and so unexpected was the calamity which had befallen them that the burghers, who seem to have lost their heads, made no show at resistance, and when john of houthem, the german commander, made them a speech, and asked the vast throng assembled before him whether they wished for peace or war, a great cry went up: peace! peace! 'then will you accept the archduke for regent,' demanded houthem, 'and acknowledge his right to the guardianship of his son?' and, with one mouth, the people answered, 'we will.' so too was it at ghent. the funds expended in corruption there proved an equally satisfactory investment. hardly had the burghers hounded their french friends out of the city than, just chastisement, maximilian's germans took possession of it. presently the archduke of austria himself arrived at bruges, and, before the end of the month, a treaty of peace was signed, in virtue of which he obtained the regency he had so long coveted, and the guardianship of his son. he in return granted an amnesty to all who had taken arms against him, save only certain of the ringleaders. amongst them note jan van keyt, erst burgomaster of bruges, and franz van bassevelde, famous for the boldness with which he had opposed maximilian's threats two years before. these men suffered death in the market-place, and their heads were set up on the turrets of the halles. note also among the excluded, louis of gruthuise, and that, notwithstanding that he had claims on maximilian's gratitude, for no man had done more than he to strengthen the tottering throne of marie of burgundy. as a knight of the golden fleece, louis of gruthuise had the right to be tried by the brethren of his order, but he refused to exercise it. he was a burgher, he said, of the city of bruges, and desired no other judges than the magistrates of his native town. maximilian, however, did not dare go to extremities, gruthuise was too popular and too powerful; he sent him prisoner to the château of vilvorde, and made him pay a fine of three hundred thousand _écus_. by the end of the year the archduke of austria had not only re-established his authority in flanders, but also throughout the whole of his son's domains. maximilian was one of those men whose appetites grow larger with eating. conciliation increased his exigencies. yield to him but an inch, and he asked for an ell, and when he got his ell he wanted a furlong. fortune was singularly kind to him for a time; she gave him so much rope that he did not know what to do with it, and presently essayed to hang himself. the first use which he made of his re-established authority was to break the oath which he had solemnly sworn at bruges, and carry his son philip out of the county; the second to further irritate the three _bonnes villes_ by appointing the franc fourth member of flanders. the charter by which he committed this piece of folly was signed at frankfort on february , , immediately after he had been elected king of the romans. the acquisition of this new and pompous title seems to have completely turned his head, and he gave himself over to the wildest dreams of ambition, fatuously believing that his would be the glorious destiny which the crowd of soothsayers and astrologers who frequented his court had predicted for him. the kingdom of hungary, the duchy of milan were already his by right of conquest, and by the same right also the crown of naples, and at the sword's point he had demanded, and led back from france, his daughter marguerite, whom the treaty of arras had made the bride of charles viii., that direst foe who had stirred up trouble for him at liège, equipped fourteen great ships in support of his rebellious dutch subjects, and, worst of all, by promises and deeds had aided and abetted the hated burghers of flanders, and would, but for their suspicions, have brought their affairs to a successful issue. presently the time arrived when maximilian believed that he was going to realize this vision. on the th of august , at the head of a great army, he set out for france. at bruges the day before he had listened to an harangue by hermolao barbaro, the venetian ambassador, who told him that all his successes had been his own handiwork, and his reverses the work of destiny. puffed up by this flattery, he started fully convinced that he would soon be reckoned amongst the greatest conquerors the world had ever seen, and so sure was he of his approaching success that he dated his letters from lens, '_première ville de notre conqueste_.' never was man doomed to be more bitterly disappointed. disaster followed disaster; the treasure which he had squandered in corruption brought in no return; the princes whose support he had purchased failed him in the hour of need; his mercenaries threw down their arms for lack of pay, and presently he was constrained, with his cap in his hand, to humbly ask the help of the men he most despised, and withal to endure the shame of a curt refusal. the burghers of flanders, the three _bonnes villes_ made answer, in no way approved of the war with france, and were perfectly content with the treaty of arras; and when maximilian threatened to collect taxes himself, they not only laughed at his threats but clamoured for redress of grievances. whereupon maximilian, in desperation, led the remnant of his army against his own subjects; but his efforts in flanders were no more successful than they had been in france, and he was constrained to fall back on bruges, the one town which had not yet openly broken with him. great was the consternation of the burghers when on december , , maximilian entered their city. his german mercenaries, it was well known, had for months past received no pay, and were now living on plunder. this in itself was no small cause of alarm. moreover, the burghers profoundly distrusted him. his shameless disavowal of the treaty of arras had shattered their dearest hopes and overwhelmed them, to boot, with taxes, and it was now more than suspected that the real object of his visit was to wring from them fresh supplies--nay, that the city was to be deprived of its franchise and handed over to plunder. there were some garrulous old men still living who remembered the horrors of fifty years ago under philippe l'asseuré, and a new exodus to antwerp was the outcome of their harrowing stories. whereat maximilian sought to re-establish confidence with fair speech:--he desired nothing better than peace with france, had, in fact, demanded and received a safe conduct from the french king, with a view to a meeting anent this very object. meanwhile the ghenters had taken courtrai, and the duke, in consequence, had sent an embassy to them to treat for peace, but the victors proudly refused to deal with any but flemish, and maximilian, at his wit's end, besought the good offices of bruges. the burghers did not refuse, but they made their conditions:--the dismissal of the german guards, whose insolence and insubordination were intolerable in a commercial community, and until this was accomplished they would themselves take charge of the city gates. after some hesitation the duke deemed it prudent to yield: philip of hornes would soon be at bruges with reinforcements and then he would be in a position to reassert his authority. presently (january , ) the deputies returned from ghent with news that they had failed in the object of their mission. maximilian, who received them in the hall of his palace, was bitterly disappointed, and though at his urgent request the burghers promised to try again, from that moment he again resumed his machinations against them, and mistrust and suspicion and evil foreboding were once more rife in the city. that very night his conduct at a banquet given in his honour at the _hôtel de richebourg_ by the widow of martin lem (burgomaster in the time of charles the terrible) was not a little disquieting. he had suddenly left the table to make a tour of the ramparts, carefully examining the number of guards at the gates, distributing money amongst them, and so forth. on january he left the city, ostensibly for the purpose of hawking, but no one believed that sport alone was his object. so too on the th, and on the st he received two pieces of news:--philip of hornes was close to bruges, and the second deputation to ghent had been as unsuccessful as the first. the die was cast. maximilian drew up his german guard in the courtyard of the palace and sent messengers to hornes to enter the town at once by the _porte des maréchaux_. the same evening, accompanied by burgomaster van nieuwenhove, one of his creatures, and a small band of attendants, to this gate he came, and demanded that it should be opened; but the gatekeepers, who suspected foul play, flatly refused. no power on earth, they said, should make them open their gates. there was no time to waste in parleying, the main object being to quietly admit hornes and his reinforcements; but the burghers were aware of what was doing, and the regent hastened with like result to the _porte de gand_ and the _porte ste. croix_. more fortunate at the _porte ste. catherine_, by this exit he went forth--may be its guardians believed he was bent on some further excursion--dispatched messengers to hornes to bid him enter at this spot and not to attempt to do so by the _porte des maréchaux_, once more returned to the city and endeavoured by force to keep the way open for him. but the guardians, crying 'treason, treason,' had meanwhile aroused the neighbours, and before hornes could effect an entry they had lowered the portcullis. whereupon maximilian fled to the princenhof and [illustration: porte des baudets] summoning _Écoutète_ peter lanchals bade him take measures to obtain possession of the city gates. it was too late. what had occurred at the _porte ste. catherine_ was now known throughout bruges, and all the gates were strongly guarded by armed guildsmen. almost in despair, the regent gave orders to fire the town, hoping that in the confusion hornes would somehow or other be able to effect an entrance--vain hope; the fires were no sooner kindled than extinguished. maximilian, however, was not yet at the end of his tether. the _porte de gand_ had been entrusted to mathew denys, dean of carpenters, who was said to be favourably disposed towards him. again he sallied forth with a handful of faithful germans, and again he was disappointed. with rude speech and violent gestures mathew disdained his addresses. 'deliver your dean into my hands,' cried maximilian, furious at his refusal, 'and i will load you with benefits.' this, to the soldiers under mathew's command. 'while there is a drop of blood in our veins,' was the reply, 'we will never abandon him.' 'then at least let me leave the town,' cried maximilian, but neither would they grant this request; they felt sure he would be off to damme to summon the little garrison there to join the army of hornes. whereupon council of war, and assembly in the _place du bourg_ of all the duke's forces, strenuous exertions on the part of peter lanchals to rouse the burghers of his party to rally round maximilian, much reluctance on their part to do so, great curiosity on the part of the multitude to learn what was going on, and no little anxiety on the part of the germans to maintain order. _stact! stact!_ they shouted, making a hedge with their halberds as the crowd pressed them closer and closer, which, in plain english, means 'keep back,' but in the excitement and turmoil of the moment, the people thought the soldiers cried _slact, slact_, that is 'strike, strike,' and fled helter-skelter, cry-out as they went that the germans were going to slay them. whereat panic unspeakable, and whilst the tocsin shrieks over the city, a host of armed guildsmen file into the market-place, bringing with them forty-nine cannons and fifty-two standards; and a crowd of trembling priests secrete in the crypt of st. donatian's, in the secret chambers in the thickness of the walls, in the vast _grenier_ above the vaults, in holes and crannies, wherever they can, their relics and their art treasures, and frantically call on clerk and sacrist to save them from the germans; messengers are sent off in hot haste to summon help from ypres and ghent; maximilian, trembling for his life, withdraws to his palace, but not by way of the market-place; the whole town thrills with excitement and a burning desire for vengeance, increased tenfold when news comes of the arrest of the incendiaries, two moors in the service of count van zollern. not a burgher but was convinced that bruges had escaped disaster by the skin of her teeth. meanwhile lanchals's house had been searched; it was found to be full of weapons, but lanchals himself was not there--fresh proof of his nefarious designs--and in the market-place a reward of fifty _livres de gros_ was publicly offered for his arrest. though the patriots van keyt and van bassevelde had been dead three years, their skulls were still impaled above the halles--one on each of the turrets which flank its façade. to suffer them to remain there, now that the city was in their power, were an insult to the dead, and the burghers determined to remove them, were actually engaged in doing so, when suddenly the regent's ministers appeared on the scene, conciliatory, quaking. he was ready, they said, to pardon the people's sedition. 'pardon us!' roared a thousand throats, and a thousand fingers pointed to the ghastly relics of maximilian's vengeance. 'pardon us! the miscreant who offers us pardon is ten times more guilty than we.' 'what then would you have?' faltered paul de baenst. 'a new burgomaster and a new _écoutète_,' replied the guildsmen, 'instead of peter lanchals and jan van nieuwenhove, who merit death.' so terrified was maximilian that he dared not refuse the demand, and josse de decker was named burgomaster, and peter metteneye _écoutète_. for two days maximilian remained shut up in his palace; on the th of february he ventured out, and from the balcony of the halles endeavoured to explain, but the people refused to hear him. 'wait,' they shouted, 'wait until the deputies of ypres and ghent come'; nor was this all. he was forced to listen in silence to a long letter from the sheriffs of ghent, which must have been gall and wormwood to him, a letter promising help, announcing the defeat and death at courtrai of his favourite hornes, and offering congratulations that bruges was now out of danger. nor until he had heard the command given to make diligent search for his counsellors, in order to bring them to justice, was he at length suffered to return to his palace. on the morrow fresh news came from ghent. adrien of rasseghem had just torn up the _kalfvel_ of . 'for god's sake do not disarm. be not deceived by maximilian's specious promises, but keep good watch over him until the meeting of the estates-general, and make sure of the persons of his counsellors.' great was the enthusiasm of the burghers, and they set about pitching tents in the _grande place_, for the weather was bitterly cold, and they were determined to remain under arms until all danger was past. in the midst came news that maximilian had fled, news which turned out to be false, but in order to calm the people the burghers invited him to show himself among them, and presently he appeared in the market-place, gorgeously arrayed in cloth of gold and seated on a magnificent charger. nor did he meet with a lukewarm reception; the people cheered him to the echo. their hatred was for the moment transferred to the members of his council. whereat maximilian, no doubt relieved, made them a speech: he had no thought of leaving bruges; if they doubted his word, let them set a watch at the palace. the burghers, who were practical men, replied that they would consider his proposal, and at the end of half an hour informed him that the deputies of the three _bonnes villes_ were just about to meet, and that while they were discussing matters it would be well for him to take up his abode in the craenenburg. the craenenburg was at this time the property of hendrieck nieulandt, a merchant of great wealth, to whom maximilian was heavily indebted. it was situated at the corner of the _rue st. amand_, and was the most magnificent private residence in the market-place. from its balcony the counts of flanders were wont to witness the public games and festivities which so frequently delighted the citizens of bruges, and there maximilian had himself been diverted, some three weeks before, by the squeaks and grunts and ungainly bounds of a herd of frantic swine, and the no less uncouth shouts and falls of the blind sportsmen who were pursuing them. not a very edifying spectacle, one would think, for a prince who longed for and afterwards grasped an imperial diadem, and who would, if he could, have put on his finger the ring of the fisherman. but, other times other manners, and let us never forget, as a recent writer aptly and pithily has it, 'notre ancêtre du moyen âge est un grand enfant, il s'amuse aux choses extraordinaires pullulant aux pays lointains, et par dessous tout ... il est grossièrement joyeux.' he was all that certainly in bruges at the close of the fourteen hundreds, and perhaps his descendants in the same city are all that to-day. the king of the romans, attended by a numerous suite, took up his abode in nieulandt's palace on the evening of the th february . shortly afterwards, perhaps the next day, the deputies from ghent and ypres arrived, the ghenters bringing with them two thousand armed men. all the trades guilds of bruges were assembled in the _grande place_ to welcome them, and their advent was greeted with cheers and the thunder of cannon. after solemnly attending mass in st. donatian's the general assembly of the three _bonnes villes_ was declared open, and presently business commenced. there were some who were sanguine enough to believe that peace would be the outcome, but for the burghers to come to an understanding with maximilian was in reality a task almost impossible of accomplishment. the prince was so shifty and the people were so exacting. the chief point at issue was the guardianship of young philip. maximilian had shown himself in forty several ways, the men of ghent alleged, unworthy to exercise the rights of a father, and he must never again be permitted to do so. had he not sworn to educate his son in flanders, and then taken him out of the county? before any terms of peace were arranged they must have some solid guarantee that philip would be brought back again. then there was the question of the treaty of arras, and the alleged plot to ruin bruges, a matter which called for instant investigation, and if their suspicions--they were more than suspicions--should prove correct, justice must be meted out to the men who had instigated it, and there were a hundred other grievances to be redressed before any lasting peace could be established. meanwhile charles viii. was doing all in his power to help the flemish people. divesting, as suzerain, of their legal authority all those officers who continued to act for and in the name of maximilian, 'who,' he averred, 'had usurped the regency, violated sworn treaties and minted base coin in his own name,' authorizing the burghers to themselves appoint magistrates who should 'act in the name of the child philip, now held prisoner by the king's enemies,' and to coin their own cash, signing charters innumerable, confirming ancient privileges, conferring new rights, granting full liberty to the merchants of flanders to travel without let or hindrance throughout the kingdom of france--in a word, showing himself generally the friend and staunch supporter of democracy, the last barrier, as it seemed to him, to the germanisation of the netherlands. on the th february all these charters were solemnly read in the market-place at bruges, as well as the text of the treaty of arras, and a long report on the attempted destruction of the city, whereat the guildsmen wax furious, break into maximilian's palace--the princenhof--find there four hundred barrels of gunpowder, scaling ladders innumerable, and something more ominous still, coils upon coils of stout rope. what was this for? not a man of them but believed that the duke had meant to hang him. next day, in consequence, arrest of fourteen privy councillors, flemings, burgundians, germans, four of them in maximilian's own chamber. all of these men had fancied themselves safe because they were attached to the royal person. the same evening a deputation of burghers pay maximilian a visit of condolence, bid him take heart, and assure him that they bear _him_ no enmity; that his person is perfectly safe in their hands, and that they are ready to do anything in their power to make him comfortable. maximilian, nevertheless, unconvinced and exceedingly depressed. february , commencement of trial of jan van nieuwenhove and sundry others arrested the day before. great deliberation on the part of the judges who, sitting with closed doors, have already spun out the proceedings for two days, when the mob outside, losing all patience and frantically shouting that the judges have gone [illustration: hôtel gruthuise] to sleep and it is time to awaken them, break into the court house, drag the accused forth into the market-place, and presently bring hither the rack. on the evening of february , carnival. hell let loose:--a weird farrago of gibbering masks, and wailing ghosts, and gorgeous dresses; a veritable pandemonium of obscene songs and lecherous yells and hysterical laughter; a drunken whirlwind of mad furies shrieking vengeance, whilst, to the strains of delirious music, they wildly dance around the headsman's block and bloody axe, and, a still ghastlier thing, a rack of new and improved fashion, which has never yet been used, but soon will be, set out in grim array before the halles. suddenly the air grows thick with smoke, the belfry gleams out roseate against the black sky, and great tongues of flame dart up to heaven. somehow or other the venders of fruit and fried fish and cheap finery have managed to fire their booths, and thus, during the small hours of ash-wednesday morning, the fierce orgies are fittingly brought to a close with a fiercer conflagration. the tumult of monday night seems to have had the desired effect. when the court re-assembled on ash-wednesday morning the judges were wide awake, and one after another in rapid succession the accused were found guilty and condemned to death. before, however, the sentences which had been passed were carried out, it was deemed prudent to change the place of maximilian's imprisonment. on more than one occasion he had almost effected his escape, and the craenenburg was not thought to be sufficiently secure. moreover, it was not roomy enough to accommodate the numerous retinue of gaolers with which, under the guise of attendants, it was deemed necessary to surround him. perhaps too the burghers wished to spare maximilian the pain of seeing his friends die. during the whole period of his captivity they seem to have treated him with the utmost consideration, regarding him not so much as a criminal as an amiable but dangerous lunatic, whom, indeed, for the sake of the public weal, they were bound to put under restraint, but whom, at the same time, they were no less bound to make as comfortable as possible. when he passed through the _grande place_ on his way to his new prison and in trembling accents besought the people to see that no harm befell him, 'have no fear,' they cried, 'we bear you no grudge, your counsellors alone are to blame,' and the palace to which they led him, in the _rue st. jacques_--it had recently been occupied by jean gros, chancellor of the golden fleece--was in all probability hardly less spacious and no less luxuriously furnished than the princenhof itself. [illustration: kitchen in gruthuise] some idea may be gathered of the stately homes of the burgher-nobles of bruges during this period from the recently-restored habitation of the lords of gruthuise, the most perfect and the best preserved of the few mediæval palaces still left to the city; and be it noted that the _hôtel gruthuise_[ ] of to-day is only a fragment of the original building; there was another great wing on the further bank of the river connected with it by a bridge, nor is it likely that the mansion of the chancellor of the golden fleece was in any way less magnificent. here, then, we may picture to ourselves the same beautiful pavements of glistening white tiles relieved by delicately-designed patterns in red and blue and green and gold; the same wealth of carved oak in door and shutter and ceiling; the same huge chimney-pieces of carved stone, brilliant with colour, jutting out over hearths not deeply set in the thickness of the wall, as in england, but shallow and broad and high and all lined with fair ceramic tiles of russet and sage green, and glowing now, for it is winter-time, in the light of flaming timber placed on dogs richly wrought in brass or iron. we know that costly tapestry was hung on the walls and that curtains of silk and velvet draped the windows; of their delicate texture and marvellous design a visit to the museum beneath the belfry will show something, and here, too, are treasured up not a few specimens of the beautiful carved oak furniture, as well as of the glassware and pottery, which was used at bruges when maximilian was a prisoner there; whilst the pictures of the van eycks of memlinc and of other artists of the period bear witness to the glorious colouring of the woven fabrics and the embroidery of those days. nor was the king of the romans without companions or means of distraction. twelve members of his household were permitted to share his prison. _tir à l'oiseau_ was inaugurated in the courtyard. from time to time the trade guilds with flaunting banners marched past his windows, 'in order to occupy his leisure and to drive away his melancholy.' his table too was sumptuously served. the burghers had even got his plate out of pawn for him, and every evening some of the most stately of them were wont to pay him visits, in order, as they said, to cheer him with conversation friendly and loving--_vriendelic end mimusamelic_. [illustration: chimney-piece in the gruthuise palace] nor was this all. _Écoutète_ peter metteneye was in constant attendance, as he was in duty bound to be, and at his beck and call were thirty-six servants, who, like their chief, never left the house. but maximilian knew very well that all this solicitude on the part of myn heer peter was not the outcome of a keen desire to exactly fulfil the obligations of his office, but was rather prompted by fear lest his victim should escape; that his thirty-six servants were in reality thirty-six turnkeys, and that the _Écoutète_ himself was gaoler-in-chief. what wonder that when antoine de fontaine came to visit maximilian in master jean gros's mansion he found him '_fort amaigry et pâle_.'[ ] in consenting to quit the craenenburg maximilian had removed the last obstacle which might perhaps have prevented or at all events retarded the execution of those of his friends who were prisoners like himself. the day after he left a great scaffold draped in black was erected in the _grande place_. gilbert du homme, a norman, erst burgomaster of the franc, died first, then came jan van nieuwenhove; so battered and weak was he with the torture which he had undergone that they had to give him an armchair in which to await his turn for death. perhaps the sight of his misery had unnerved the executioner; he struck three times before he succeeded in severing the head from the body. another man who had been burgomaster of bruges perished the same day, jacob van dudzeele, lord of ghistelle. he had been arrested in the craenenburg under the very eyes of maximilian, and to the last he protested his innocence. 'for fifty years,' he said, 'i have served the princes who have succeeded one another in the government of this county, and i have never played the traitor. if any man affirm the contrary, i am ready to do battle with him, no matter who he may be, and to do all that behoveth a good and loyal knight, a nobleman, and a burgher of this town.' note that ghistelle here esteems his citizenship no less highly than his knighthood or his nobility. such was the wont of the burgher-nobles of bruges. in vain the lady of ghistelle besought the guildsmen to spare her lord. in vain his children, the provost of st. donatian's, the dean of notre dame and the foreign merchants, joined their supplication to hers. jacob's head rolled on the scaffold. on the th march peter lanchals, long sought for, was at last found, betrayed by one of his friends for a hundred _livres de gros_ and to save his own head, for death had been decreed against any man who should shelter him. he was arrested the same day by burgomaster jan van haman, who conducted him to the steen, and the howls of contempt and hatred which greeted his passage through the city were kept up around his prison all night. the men of bruges were beside themselves with a delirium of fierce gladness. volleys of cannon were fired off, bands of music paraded the town, and they danced and drank in the streets till morning, for had not this man been maximilian's head and heart and right hand in all his infernal machinations? had he not intended to deliver bruges over to be pillaged by the germans? had not the whole devilish plot been of his hatching? that cruel instrument of torture which he had invented, more cruel than any known hitherto in flanders, should persuade him to own it. and it did, whatever we may think of an assertion made under such circumstances. by a strange irony of fate lanchals was the first to test the efficacy of his own invention. tortured as he had been, and in pitiable plight, peter still clung to dear life. 'put me in some black hole and there let me eat out my heart,' he vainly pleaded, 'but for god's sake let me live!' when at length he saw that the people had no pity, he suffered the executioner to strip him of his clothes. one of the guild deans touched the gold chain which he wore round his neck. 'sir dean,' said the dying man, 'you know well that no burgher of bruges can be condemned to forfeit his life and his goods,' and he handed the chain to his confessor and begged him to give it to his wife; then he besought the people that his body might receive honourable burial, and having commended his soul to god, he bade the executioner do his duty. in addition to his tomb and the chantry erected by his widow in the church of notre dame--the same chantry in which now stand the tombs of charles the terrible and marie of burgundy--there is yet another souvenir at bruges, and a more pleasing one, of poor peter lanchals:--the graceful, long-necked birds which disport themselves in great flocks, sometimes as many as thirty or forty of them together, on the canals and streams of the city. these birds belong to the corporation, and they are the descendants, tradition says, of the swans which maximilian, when he regained his liberty, bade bruges maintain for ever as a perpetual memorial of his favourite's death. lanchals, it should be noted, signifies in flemish, long neck, and the swan is a prominent figure in the lanchals family arms. the news of these executions and of others, which, like them, were the outcome, it was said, of 'the justice of the people,' made maximilian tremble in his prison. perhaps he had cause to do so. the men of venice had written to the men of bruges to urge them to cut off his head: _homo mortuus non fecit guerram_. and there were others who trembled for him--his father, the emperor frederick iii., who wrote to the magistrates of bruges warning them that he should hold them personally responsible for any evil which might befall the king of the romans; the pope, who threatened interdict; several german princes, who were making ready, it was said, for invasion; and his son philip, who summoned the estates of hainault and of brabant with a view to obtaining their good offices. they invited the communes of ghent and bruges to meet them in conference at malines. louis of gruthuise, now set at liberty, threw in his weight on the side of conciliation, and early in the spring of the estates-general of all the provinces of the netherlands met in solemn conclave at ghent. two great measures were the outcome of their deliberations--a treaty of confederation by which the various provinces mutually bound themselves to defend their rights and privileges, and a treaty of peace with maximilian of which the conditions are sufficiently curious. the communes on their part promised to set their prince at liberty without further delay, on condition that he should undertake to dismiss his foreign _gens de guerre_ within four days. in order to facilitate their departure the three _bonnes villes_ undertook to pay maximilian within a month twenty-five thousand _livres_ flemish upon the understanding 'that if the aforesaid _gens de guerre_' had not departed within the stipulated period, the money should be expended in the payment of '_autres gens de guerre_ who by force should expulse them.' for the rest, it was agreed that maximilian should at once bring back his son to flanders, and that during his minority the county should be administered by the three estates in philip's name, that maximilian should strictly adhere to the treaty of arras, cease to quarter the arms of flanders on his escutcheon and promise to protect flemish merchants all the world over, and that the communes should pay him by way of _solatium_ an annual pension of a thousand _livres_. there was some difficulty at first as to sureties. maximilian had named the duke of saxony and the marquis of baden, but these princes hesitated to guarantee his good faith; it were an undertaking, they averred, too risky. the knot was at length cut by philip of cleves, who, on learning of the difficulty, wrote to maximilian offering to do anything in his power to help him. philip was the son of the lord of ravestein, one of the four regents whom maximilian had accepted at the commencement of his son's reign. he was a man deservedly popular amongst the burghers, his influence with them had contributed in great measure to the successful issue of the negotiations, and in due course his name appeared at the head of the list of guarantors. the communes, however, were not yet satisfied, and that, though maximilian, in order to further reassure them, had renounced philip's homage so that he might be free to take up arms against him in the event of his breaking his troth, and philip, at his request, had bound himself by oath to do so. the treaty of peace, they said, must be ratified by the pope, the emperor and the imperial electors, and before maximilian was set free he must undertake to obtain such ratification. he seems to have had no hesitation in doing so, for the same day he left jean gros's palace and, preceded by priests with relics, and guildsmen with banners and torches, betook himself to the market-place, where, on the very spot on which the scaffold had lately stood, a magnificent throne had been erected, surmounted by a richly-embroidered canopy. hard-by there stood an altar, and on it was set a book of the gospels and amid flaming torches the host. before these sacred objects maximilian presently knelt down and 'with much seeming fear and reverence took the appointed oath. "of our free will we promise," he said, in a voice so sweet'--we are quoting the words of one who heard him--'that it would have melted a heart of stone, "of our free will we promise and swear in good faith on the sacred host here present, on the cross, on the book of the gospels, on the precious body of st. donatian and on the canon of the mass to carry out wholly and entirely the treaty of peace and alliance which we have concluded with our well-beloved estates ... and on our princely and royal word, on our honour, and on our faith we hereby promise never to do anything to violate it."' maximilian having thus pledged himself, the bishop of tournai solemnly blessed all those who should keep inviolate, and afterwards solemnly cursed all those who should presume to infringe, the treaty agreed to that day (may , ). then followed a sumptuous banquet, then, at st. donatian's a _te deum_, after which philip of cleves, who had only just reached bruges, took oath 'to aid them of flanders against all infractors of the said peace, union and alliance.' at length, after an imprisonment of eleven weeks, maximilian was once more free. towards sundown he set out for his château at maele, the deputies of the estates of flanders accompanied him part of the way, and before he bade them farewell he again confirmed his promises. 'monseigneur,' philip had said, 'you are now a free man, tell me frankly your intentions.' 'fair cousin of cleves,' replied maximilian, 'believe me i shall keep my word,' and thus they parted. great was the joy of the city of bruges, and the people determined to make a night of it in the _grande place_, as is still their wont upon festive occasions, with malt liquor and music and dancing, without which accompaniments no flemish festival ever has been, or probably ever will be, complete. suddenly the band of musicians who had stationed themselves on the summit of the belfry ceased playing. they had descried a hundred tongues of flame rising up from the woods of maele. maximilian's foreign _gens de guerre_ were celebrating their master's return by firing the peasants' homesteads, and though next day maximilian sent word to bruges that the incendiaries had not acted under his instructions, and perhaps he spoke the truth, what had happened was far from reassuring, and men began to doubt whether the peace which had just been signed would after all be one of long duration; nor were their fears ill founded. from the first the king of the romans had been playing a double part. even whilst the negotiations with his burghers were pending he was secretly pressing the imperial electors to send their armies against them; four days after the peace of may had been publicly proclaimed in the cities of flanders he felt himself strong enough to drop the mask. maximilian had now taken up his abode in the impregnable fortress of hulse, and from thence he issued a proclamation to all the communes of flanders informing them that he did not intend to observe the treaty he had sworn to. an oath, he said, taken under obligation had no binding force. it was enough. maximilian had once more shown the cloven hoof, the flemings had once more been deceived, and soon in every city and in every hamlet in flanders the tocsin was shrieking war. in an age when treason and suspicion of treason were rampant throughout the realm, when on all sides men were plotting against their neighbours and at the same time were surely convinced that their neighbours were plotting against them, philip of cleves affords us a bright and shining example of loyalty and good faith. an honest, straightforward, generous man, conscious of the cleanness of his own heart and his own hands, he found it difficult to convince himself that even those whom he felt it his duty to oppose were inspired in any sort by motives less conscientious than his own. as soon as he had learned of maximilian's treachery he thus wrote to him:-- 'prince monseigneur,--in fulfilment of my oath, and for fear of offending god our creator, i have promised to aid and assist the three members of flanders. this with very great regret of heart i now signify to you, for, inasmuch as it toucheth your noble person, as your very humble kinsman i would fain do you all service and honour, but inasmuch as it toucheth the observance of my oath i am bound to god, the sovereign king of kings.' they made him captain of the flemish army, and all that was noblest and all that was best in flanders rallied to the side of the communes; men like louis of gruthuise and philip of burgundy, and even the lord of chantraine, who from the walls of sluys had threatened the frantic guildsmen during the reign of terror at bruges. nor under philip's leadership do we find the burghers guilty of the excesses--the bloodshed, the violence, the illegal confiscations--which had rendered their government so evilly notorious at the time of maximilian's captivity. their chief object for the moment was to quell the german mercenaries who were scouring the whole country, pitiless in face of submission, craven when their victims showed fight. thus, on the night of the th of june these marauders had surprised deynze; before morning it had gone up in flames, and of its people but a handful were left to tell the tale; so too courtrai, where the citizens and their wives and their children perished along with the churches in which they had sought refuge; but when they appeared before the walls of ypres and found there the burghers of bruges under louis of gruthuise standing beside their cannons, they halted and cried out for a truce. 'what god can your master invoke to witness his oaths?' were the scornful words hurled back to them. it does not lie within the scope of this handbook to give any detailed account of the incidents of the campaign which followed. save the abortive attempt to take sluys, and maximilian's equally futile endeavour to obtain possession of damme, they only concern indirectly the city of bruges. suffice it to say that though during the first few weeks of the struggle the communes held their own, after twelve months' hard fighting they were compelled to submit. under the circumstances no other issue was to be expected. maximilian had behind him the strength and resources of the empire, and he was actively supported by henry of england, who for political reasons had now become his staunch friend, whilst the flemish mistrusted their only ally the french, and by their jealousy and suspicion foiled all their efforts to save them. on october , , a treaty of peace was signed. by it the communes undertook to acknowledge maximilian as regent of flanders, to pay him a fine of five hundred thousand livres, of which two-thirds was to be forthcoming before christmas, and to send deputies to beg his pardon and perform in their name the usual childish humiliations; whilst the king of the romans agreed to dismiss his german garrison, to grant a full and complete amnesty, to confirm all the administrative acts of philip of cleves and his council, and to swear to observe all the rights and privileges of the county of flanders. when first the treaty was signed the joy at bruges was unbounded, but when it became a question of the first instalment of the indemnity, and of assessing the amount for which each commune was liable, trouble again broke out. the three _bonnes villes_ complained that they had been assessed unfairly and appealed to philip of cleves, who, foreseeing at the time that the treaty was signed that the trouble was not yet in reality over, had retired to the great fortress at sluys, and from that vantage post was watching events. about this time adrien van rasseghem, a citizen of ghent, who had hitherto been taken for an honest man and a staunch patriot, having been corrupted by maximilian, turned traitor and opened the city gates to the germans. some four nights afterwards, as he was returning home, he was attacked by a band of armed men and slain, and next day philip of cleves publicly avowed that he was responsible for what had happened; whereupon the count of nassau, maximilian's lieutenant in flanders, threatened bruges with fire and sword unless she should instantly submit and break her alliance with philip. the burghers refused. the city and the whole country round was seething with misery. the land, long untilled, and almost bereft of inhabitants, was so infested by wolves that the peasants dared not lead out their flocks to pasture. the dikes, altogether neglected, because no man in these troublous times had leisure to repair them, had at last given way, and great part of the country-side was flooded. but this was not all. the peasants had to contend with a foe more to be dreaded than wolves and fiercer than rushing waters: english and spanish and german adventurers were ravishing and slaying and burning everywhere. the historic castle of maele, save the basement and one great tower, which is still standing, had been reduced to ashes, and every night the watchers on the belfry saw the sky grow suddenly red with some new fire. in the town matters were worse. so great was the expense of the war, that from august to october ( ) it had cost the burghers ten thousand six hundred _livres de gros_, and the city treasury was empty. trade was altogether at a standstill, for months past no vessel had entered the harbour, the foreign merchants had migrated to antwerp, the land supplies were all intercepted by the count of nassau, and even rich men were starving. so real and so great was the distress, that among the crowd of famished wretches who daily waited outside the bakers' shops to obtain a meagre pittance of bread, not a few dropped dead in the streets. yet, notwithstanding all this, bruges was resolute. in the hour of his necessity she would not break with the man who had risked his all to save her. nor did philip of cleves show himself less generous. as soon as he knew that he alone was the obstacle to the re-establishment of peace, he wrote to the _echevins_ of bruges, begging them to make the best terms they could, leaving his interests out of the question. at last, after several abortive negotiations, a treaty was signed at damme on november , . bruges agreed to pay eighty thousand _couronnes d'or_ as her share of the fine fixed by the treaty of tours, to make humble apology to the count of nassau, and to hand over to him sixty persons to be dealt with according to his pleasure; but for all that she did not escape pillage. a house-to-house visitation was made, and all the gold and silver and precious objects that they could discover the germans laid hands on. nassau reserved no small part of the booty for himself. it is said that the famous hôtel de nassau at brussels was built with the funds thus raised, and a hundred years later, during the troubles under philip ii., his descendant william of orange was reproached with it: _le comte inghelbert vouloit que l'on vous hachât tous en pièces, et la maison du comte henri de nassau fust faicte des amends de ceux de bruges_. thus disappeared amid riot and terror the last remnant of that prosperity which had so long made bruges glorious. as for philip of cleves, he held his ground manfully at sluys for two years longer. at length, owing to an accidental explosion by which he lost all his ammunition, he was compelled to surrender to maximilian's english allies under sir edward poynings. nevertheless, such was the esteem in which he was held, even by his enemies, that he obtained an honourable peace. true he swore fidelity to maximilian and resigned to him the town of sluys with the small fortress. but he was permitted to hold the great castle until such time as maximilian should pay him a sum of forty thousand florins, for which he was in his debt. further, he was assured an annual pension of six thousand florins, and all his property, which had previously been confiscated, was assured to him. later on we find him fighting under the banner of the cross, and presently, when he visited rome, pope alexander vi. averred that to him, along with gonzalves, was due the honour of having kept the infidel out of italy. v.--genealogical table of the counts of flanders from philippe le hardi to philippe le beau. =marguerite= = =philippe= (le hardi), duke (of maele) | of burgundy, son of john _d._ | ii. of france, _d._ =john= (the = marguerite, daughter of fearless) | albert, count of _d._ | hainault and holland +-----------------+------+-----------------------+ iola prellæa, = =philippe= = isabel of agnes = charles of marie = adolph i a portuguese | (l'asseuré) | portugal | bourbon | of lady. perhaps | _d._ | | | cleves one of the | +--------+ +------+ | ladies of | | | +--+ isabel of | ( ) catherine = =charles= (the = ( ) isabel | portugal | daughter of terrible) | adolph ii | charles vii. _d._ | = ( ) margaret of of cleves | of france | york (sister lord of | | of edward iv. ravestein | | of england) | anthony | _d._ | lord of beveren | | (le grand bâtard | | of bourgogne) +----------+ philip of | | ravestein philip of =marie= = maximilian of beveren _d._ | austria, son of | the emperor | frederick iii. +-----------+--------------+ =philippe= (le beau) marguerite, betrothed to _d._ charles viii. of france philip ended his days in the forest of winendael, hard-by bruges, clad in a hair shirt and leading a life of no little austerity, perhaps by way of penance for the murder of adrien van rasseghem, the one blot on his character. chapter xxiii _the architects and architecture of bruges in the fifteenth century_ from the commencement of the fourteen hundreds until the dawn of the struggle with maximilian, which ended in the final catastrophe of , the city of bruges was growing almost daily more picturesque and more beautiful. most of her public and private buildings date from this period, and those of them which were erected earlier were now enlarged and adorned with sculpture and painting. we have seen poor louis of maele laying the foundation stone of the _hôtel de ville_ at the close of the previous century, but it was certainly not completed until the opening years of the fourteen hundreds. the documents are still in existence which prove a fact not generally known that at this time no less an artist than john van eyck was gilding and colouring the façade. the stately octagonal lantern, the crowning glory of the belfry, was erected some sixty years later, in , when the signing of the treaty of arras had re-kindled hope; the same year the chevet of the cathedral was commenced and the church of st. jacques completed, whilst the southern aisle of notre dame and the beautiful paradise porch at the foot of the tower date from the middle of the century. about this time too the present aisles and transepts and choir were added to the church of st. gilles, the jerusalem church was finished, the church of [illustration: the "paradise" of notre dame and gruthuise.] the beguins and the hospital church of st. john rebuilt, and a host of convent chapels and chantries and shrines were springing up all over the city. in the beautiful building in the _place des biscayens_, which is now the municipal library, was erected for a custom house; the architectural gem which adjoins it, the guild-hall of the porters, dates from seven years earlier, and all over the town the great city companies--there were no less than forty-seven of them--were building for themselves chapels and courts, a few of which exist to the present day, notably the shoemakers' hall in the _rue des pierres_ and in the same street the hall of the great guild of masons; the beautiful shrine which the painters erected in the _rue d'argent_ (it is now the chapel of the josephite nuns) and dedicated to their patron st. luke; and the smiths' chapel in the _rue des maréchaux_, in front of which every year, on the feast of st. eligius, the horses of bruges were blessed. strangely enough the building in question now serves as a stable. the foreign merchants, too, were vying with one another in the erection of sumptuous palaces, where the traders of each nationality dwelt together in almost monastic seclusion. note amongst those still standing the black house, as it is called, a grim, weird-looking building behind the theatre. it is erroneously said to have been used later on as the court house of the inquisition, and of course is in consequence haunted. a most interesting habitation this, with mullioned windows in which much of the beautiful old green glass is still remaining, protected on the outside by wrought-iron grills. it contains a spacious hall with a timber roof, vast chambers with low ceilings moulded all over with fruit and flowers and foliage, and a suite of apartments panelled in cedar, the whole fast falling to decay. then there is the paris hall, where french merchants formerly congregated, now degraded into a pot-house called _charles le bon_. the façade has been spoiled with whitewash and plaster, but the old gables at the back are still brown and beautiful, and have endured nothing worse than the caresses of time. at the corner of the _rue des pelletiers_ at its junction with the _rue flamande_, stands an old mansion of beautiful grey stone, embellished with sculpture and gothic windows rich in geometrical tracery. unspoiled and unrestored, it is still a fair and stately building. it was once the hall of the merchants of genoa. looking on to the canal at the end of the _rue espagnole_ stands a spacious habitation which has evidently seen better days. here dwelt the merchants of spain. a little further down on the banks of the same canal was the loveliest palace of all, the _maison des orientaux_, the home of the great traders of the hanseatic league ( ). the builders were already at work at it in the month of august ,[ ] and when it was completed three years later, it was one of the most beautiful edifices in brick in the city of bruges. zegher van maele, who lived early enough to behold it in all its glory, affirms of the tower that in his day there was not its equal in all flanders, and guiccaiardini, who wrote in the early sixteen hundreds, informs us that all the iron work in the interior was gilded. mark gheeraert's plan of bruges, published in , furnishes an illustration of this wondrous mansion. it was a large, oblong-shaped, crenelated building, four storeys high, with slender turrets at each corner corbelled out from the walls at the second storey, and terminating in iron finials surmounted with metal flags. the façade giving on the _place des orientaux_ was divided into five vertical panels or bays with round-headed arches. in these the windows were placed, and the spaces between each storey were filled with flamboyant tracery. adjoining the main building, but slightly in the rear, there was a turreted annex of smaller dimensions, though conceived in the same style. this, perhaps, was the refectory, for all the inhabitants dined at a common board. in front of this building was a spacious courtyard, two sides of which were formed by the façade of the refectory and the eastern façade of the main building, and the other two by beautiful crenelated walls with a slender and very graceful turret at their angle. the tower and spire which called forth the admiration of van maele sprang from the side of the main building, which gave on the courtyard, and for the rest, towers, turrets, chimneys were everywhere adorned with graceful panelling or dainty gothic tracery in moulded brick. all this splendour is among the things which have been. only a fragment of the old palace now remains: the main building, shorn of its tower, its pinnacles, and its upper storeys, and there is now nothing left to indicate its glory of former days. this piece of vandalism was committed about a hundred years ago, when the prosperity of the city of bruges was at its lowest ebb. the proprietor at that time was without the means of keeping so extensive and costly a mansion in repair, and the city fathers either could not or would not come to his assistance. it was not only, however, by these public or semi-public buildings that bruges was enriched during the period we are now considering. at this time, and more especially during the long peace of over thirty years which followed the great humiliation of , there appears to have been a veritable mania for construction. from duke philip himself to the meanest householder in bruges, every man seems to have been afflicted with it. [illustration: hooded fire place in the gruthuise] those of the great burgher-nobles who already possessed palaces enlarged and embellished them; the new men who had recently amassed fortunes vied with the old aristocracy in the magnificence and luxury of the mansions which they now built; plain, well-to-do merchants were everywhere constructing those roomy, comfortable abodes, which, with their high stepped gables and their façades enriched with stately panelling and gothic tracery, still render the streets and squares and waterways of bruges the most picturesque in europe. even working men, humble members of the great guilds of smiths, or masons, or carpenters, were making their homes beautiful with the fruit of their handicraft; constructing canopied niches at street corners, or over the doorways of the hovels in which they lived, and placing in them graven images of our lady or of some favourite saint; hammering out exquisite lanterns, which it was their delight to hang before them, from brackets of no less dainty fashion; fabricating, of wrought-iron, those quaintly beautiful trade signs by which it was their wont to call attention to their avocations; making door, and lintel, and chimney, and rafter comely with fruit and foliage, fascinating with heraldic devices, and grotesque and leering heads, and the images of devils and of saints. much of this work has of course disappeared, but some of it still remains to bear witness to the skill and the energy and the devotion of these poor toilers. amongst the nobles who about this time enlarged their palaces note louis of gruthuise, whose grandfather john had erected, probably during the closing years of the previous century, that portion of the _hôtel de gruthuise_ which skirts the left bank of the river. the stupendous kitchen, of which we give a sketch, dates from this period. not content with this magnificent pile, louis added thereto, in or thereabouts, the great wing at right angles to it, and thus made the home of his ancestors the most magnificent mansion in the city. here it was that he stored his famous library, and here he entertained, in , king edward iv. and richard crookback. even the upper chambers in this sumptuous abode are paved with encaustic tiles, and it is no less than three storeys high, and when it was restored some few years since, it was found that the spaces between the timber ceilings and the flooring in the rooms above were in each case filled with earth. thus all noise is effectually confined to the floor in which it is produced. the palace is connected by a covered way with the church of notre dame, and here louis erected, in , a very beautiful tribune of sculptured stone and carved oak. it is an exquisite piece of workmanship, in the flamboyant style of the period, adorned with rich tabernacle-work and fruit and flowers, and with louis's initials and his family arms, and his proud device, _plus est en nous_, which last appears over and over again throughout the whole palace. it is in a wonderful state of preservation, and, strangely enough, seems to have entirely escaped alike the hand of the iconoclast and the restorer. indeed, the gruthuise tribune in the church of notre dame has probably been little changed since the days when its founder and his family worshipped there more than four hundred years ago. [illustration: tribune of the gruthuise in notre dame] there are two other points of interest about this fascinating mansion. during the process of restoration there was recently discovered a secret chamber in the great kitchen chimney, and in it the skeleton of a man. behind the same chimney there was also discovered a secret staircase leading to two underground passages branching off in opposite directions. neither has yet been explored, but it is supposed, and probably rightly, that one of them communicates with the vaults beneath notre dame. as for the other, the _concierge_ avers that it leads to the château of maele some four miles out of the town, a most unlikely conjecture. true there is a tradition that an underground passage exists between the chapel of st. basil and the château in question, and this is sufficiently conceivable. subterranean ways and subterranean chambers are not unknown in bruges, and they have sometimes been discovered in strange places. only recently, when a heavily-laden waggon was entering the _rue flamande_ from the _grande place_, the ground sank beneath its weight, and one of the wheels was embedded in a deep hole. some bricks in the vault of an unsuspected cavern had suddenly given way, and the vast chamber thus disclosed was afterwards found to extend for a considerable distance along the street and beneath several houses on each side of it. moreover, st. basil's was originally the court chapel, and maele, as we have seen, had from time immemorial been a favourite residence of the sovereigns of flanders. but why should the lords of gruthuise have secretly connected their town house with one of the ducal castles? it is much more likely that the passage in question communicated with their own manor at oostcamp. chief among the _parvenus_ who at this time laid out vast sums in bricks and mortar note peter bladelin, son of peter de leestmaker, by trade himself dyer of buckram, and who, in his youth entering the service of philippe l'asseuré, presently rose to the important position of controller-general of finance. not content with erecting a palace at bruges and a _château fort_ in the open country beyond maele, around the walls of his castle he built a whole town ( ), which he endowed with a church ( ) in honour of st. peter, and surrounded with fortifications. this place he called middelburg, and though it has now dwindled down to a mere village, it was at one time a centre of no small importance. here, after the sack and burning of dinant by charles the terrible in , a colony of brassworkers found refuge. bladelin obtained for them from edward iv. the same privileges and exemption from english custom dues as they had enjoyed in their native city, and to this day a street in middelburg is called _la rue des dinantais_. in the great quarrel with maximilian, middelburg took the side of that shifty prince, and the men of bruges repaid them in by razing their fortifications and destroying their castle. we first get a glimpse of the founder of middelburg in the spring of the year , when we find him, in company with louis of gruthuise, shutting the gates of bruges in the face of a deputation of ghenters who had come to beg that city to give them her support in their struggle with philippe l'asseuré, and afterwards, along with gruthuise, going out to parley with them and trickily making them believe that they had attained the object of their mission. 'he was a man,' says the flemish chronicler chastelain, 'of much wealth and of much sense, and the most trustworthy person in the county of flanders, although his honesty was not to the taste of all, and many, alike gentle and simple, grieved thereat.... he was, moreover, controller of the duke's household, one of the four treasurers of the order of the golden fleece and but a plain citizen of bruges. one excellent quality he had--he managed the duke's affairs marvellously well; there, where there was rent or wound, he always found means to heal or mend, and he paid cash for all goods delivered at the palace. all this the duke was well aware of, and on this account and for other reasons he gave him the high position he held. for in sooth he was a wise man, and one to be relied on, comely alike in person and in morals, and none more industrious and diligent than he could well be found.' [illustration: the hÔtel bladelin] in the _rue des aiguilles_ at bruges there still stands a fragment of this worthy's town house. it is a spacious, picturesque gabled construction of tawny brick, with a bold octagonal tower of the same material crowned with a balustrade of sculptured stone and a beautiful crocheted steeple. beneath a canopy of delicately-carved tabernacle work, which, in its turn, is sheltered by a more substantial canopy of lead and wrought-iron and oak, note, over the doorway, a statue of the madonna and child, with bladelin himself kneeling in adoration, and, in a carved niche below, a shield displaying the arms which philippe l'asseuré granted him. this is a restoration of some five or six years since. the original work, save some fragments of the stone canopy, had totally disappeared, but drawings fortunately existed from which it was possible to construct a facsimile. sir peter bladelin was treasurer of the golden fleece, and the emblems of this order appear over and over again carved on the great oak beams in the interior of his mansion. all that is most interesting in bruges is, somehow or other, associated with the church of notre dame, and here, though his palace was in the parish of st. jacques, bladelin founded a chantry, which he dedicated to st. margaret, the patron saint of his wife. it is the second chapel off the northern ambulatory, but is now completely shut off from the rest of the church and converted into a chamber for the _marguilliers_. together with some interesting old pictures, and a few quaint pieces of furniture, it contains the only ancient stained-glass window in the church of notre dame. this relic, however, is in no way connected with the lord of middelburg, and dates only from the year . peter bladelin died on the th of april , and was buried in the parish church of the town which he had founded. there is still in existence in the museum at berlin a portrait of the worthy peter. it was painted by roger van der weyden, or, as he is sometimes called, roger of bruges, the most famous of the pupils of john van eyck ( - ) and is one of the master's last and most perfect works. it is in the form of a triptych, and was undoubtedly painted for the church at middelburg, where it most probably remained until the opening years of the sixteen hundreds, for a copy on canvas of about this date is still in possession of the church. it was discovered in by canon andries, at that time parish priest, behind a panel in the wall of the presbytery kitchen. he had it restored and placed it in the chancel over bladelin's tomb. the subject is the nativity of our lord, and the artist's method of treating it is a curious and unusual one. _lumen ad revelationem gentium: et gloriam plebis tuæ israël_; this must have been the text which inspired him. in the central panel the divine infant is lying on the ground, adored by his blessed mother, st. joseph and angels. on the left the cumæan sibyl is showing the emperor augustus, through the open lattice window of a typical flemish apartment, an apparition of the 'light to enlighten the gentiles.' the emperor, arrayed in the richly-embroidered garments of the fourteen hundreds, is in a kneeling posture, and holds his cap in one hand, whilst with the other he offers incense from a gothic thurible. on the right-hand panel are the magi presenting their gifts, and along with them bladelin himself kneeling in adoration, whilst, in the background, is a view of the town of middelburg. the mansion called de zeven torens (the seven towers) in the _rue haute_ (nos. and ) was also erected during this period. who was its builder is uncertain, nor has its early history come down to us, but we know that charles ii. of england dwelt there two hundred years later, from june to february , and when mark gheeraerts made his famous plan of bruges in it was still a magnificent building, with four graceful towers springing from the façade which gives on the _rue haute_, and three on the opposite side of the house. these have long since disappeared. the whole building was remodelled, probably during the course of the eighteenth century, and it is now, alas! no longer beautiful. the ghistelhof, in the _rue des aiguilles_, so called from its having been at one time the home of the powerful lords of ghistelle, has fared better. erected in the year , with its mullioned windows and high pitched roofs, and far above them its beautiful brown cylindrical tower crowned with a steeple of red tiles, it still forms a most picturesque group, though there can be no doubt that, in the heydey of its glory, it was a much more spacious and magnificent building than it is at present. then there is the hôtel d'adornes,[ ] of which the jerusalem church was at one time the private chapel. these buildings were erected by two brothers, anselm and john adornes, the former in the year , and the latter in . the courtyard of the ancient palace, with its gables and gothic windows, and beautiful wrought-iron, is a quaint and comely corner, and the little old-world sanctuary, though it has suffered much from the ravages of time, and more from the devastations of man, is no less pleasing. the plan is sufficiently uncommon, perhaps unique: a nave without aisles, and, at the east end, a huge tower of which an upper storey forms the sanctuary. this is approached from the nave by two [illustration: the ghistelhof] staircases with balustrades of wrought-iron, and separated from it by a sculptured rood screen. the general effect is very curious, the high altar being thus [illustration: courtyard of the hÔtel adornes.] raised some ten or twelve feet above the rest of the church. the building is lighted by eight windows, six of which are filled with ancient stained glass ( - ), with portraits of the founders and other members of the family, along with their wives and their patron saints. in the centre of the nave is an altar-tomb on which repose the effigies, carved in stone, of anselm adornes, the son of one of the founders, who died in scotland in , and his wife, margaret van der banck. beneath the choir, and slightly below the level of the nave, is a dark and gloomy crypt, the atrium to the holy sepulchre. this is approached by a passage so low that it can only be traversed by going on hands and knees, and so narrow that but one person can enter at a time. the sepulchre itself, which is behind an iron grill, is said to be a facsimile of the holy tomb in the garden of joseph of arimathæa. one of the founders of the jerusalem church is known to have visited palestine. when philippe l'asseuré was contemplating a new crusade, he applied to this man for information as to the holy places, and there is still in existence an account of the pilgrimage which his son anselm made to jerusalem. within the sepulchre, covered with a veil of richly-worked point lace, lies the effigy of the dead christ, so realistically modelled that, in the dim light of the single taper which illumines the vault, it is difficult not to believe that one is in the presence of a corpse. note yet another glorious mansion--a stately pile of red brick at the end of the _rue du vieux bourg_. it is still a building of vast proportions, and in former times it was considerably larger. when mark gheeraerts made his map it was adorned with a beautiful steeple, and to this day it possesses a stupendous gothic doorway through which there would be no difficulty in driving a coach and four. a house with marked features this, and a face full of expression--a house which one instinctively feels must have a story. perhaps peter lanchals dwelt here; certainly in later and calmer days it was the home of mark laurin, lord of watevliet and canon of st. donatian's, and a staunch supporter of the new learning, who numbered among his guests and intimate friends erasmus, and perhaps too sir thomas more and cuthbert tunstall. presently tenants of another sort inhabited its hospitable walls. here for three weeks dwelt the merry monarch before he went to the _zeven toren._ [illustration: tomb of anselm adornes] for the rest, the craenenburg in the grande place, of which we have already spoken; the great brown brick house with a tower and a grey stone gable by the _pont st. jean nepomucene_, and where later on perez malvenda hid the relic of the precious blood; and, most famous of all the palaces of bruges, the princenhof of philippe l'asseuré; these too were erected during the period we are now considering, and there are others no less magnificent, all trace of which has long since disappeared; amongst them the mansion of jean de gros, where maximilian was imprisoned. but if this sumptuous residence has been swept away, bruges still possesses a sample, sadly mutilated indeed and shorn of all its splendour, of its founder's handiwork--the aisle which he built in off the southern side of the choir of st. jacques. and what of the architects who designed, and the masons and carpenters and other craftsmen who together produced all these glorious buildings? the names of some of them have come down to us--nicholas willemszuene, for example, who was master mason of the city of bruges from to , and dean of the guild of masons from to ; he constructed the southern turrets of the hôtel de ville, and probably also the beautiful house of the florentine consuls ( ); george weylaert, dean of masons in and and ; he was the architect and builder of the church of st. jacques, all his work is perfectly executed, and the brick moulding of the windows is especially excellent; vincent de roode, master mason of the hospital of st. john, and probably the author of the beautiful chapel, now sadly defaced, erected in ; and, greatest of them all, jan van de poele, member of the guild of masons from to . the most beautiful monuments erected in bruges during this period are from his designs. he was not only an architect and a builder but a sculptor of no mean order. the stately octagonal tower of the belfry is perhaps his work; the beautiful façade of the palais du franc, of which we shall have something to say later on, is certainly so, and it was he who designed the chevet of the cathedral of st. sauveur, with the ambulatory and the seven bays of the apse, and also the _maison des orientaux_, whilst we find him furnishing five statues for the adornment of the chantry of peter lanchals. van de poele's work in the cathedral is not only in itself exceedingly beautiful, but it bears witness also to his skill as an engineer. he conceived and successfully carried out the daring scheme of converting the seven huge windows of the apse into arcades, whilst at the same time retaining the ancient triforium and clerestory above them. thus the cathedral of bruges affords a perhaps unique example of a structure of the thirteenth century supported by piers and arches of the fifteenth. van de poele did not live to complete the chevet; he died in , and the work was carried on and at last completed in by ambrose roelandts and john beyts, each of them master masons and perhaps his pupils. until the end of the thirteen hundreds the houses of bruges were all constructed of wood, and the designs of the buildings of brick which at this time began to take their place, with their lofty gabled façades, adorned, as they generally were, with a vast gothic arch, were perhaps inspired by the reminiscence of the wooden edifices which preceded them. this is the opinion of the learned architect and archæologist verschelde, who, for years, had made the ancient buildings of his native town his especial study, and mr. weale and canon duclos are of like opinion; but the most casual observer cannot fail to be struck with the resemblance which these great arches bear to the huge windows so common in the gables of churches of the thirteen and fourteen hundreds, and it may well be that it was from these that the architects of the brick dwellings of the period we are considering and of the similarly adorned timber façades of the century which preceded it alike drew their inspirations. so too the series of panels or bays which presently superseded the single arch. these formed a frame for the windows of the various stages, and terminated at the summit, sometimes in pointed, more frequently in round-headed arches, which were at first filled with geometrical tracery. so like are they to the long, narrow windows usual in the public buildings of the period that a mansion thus adorned might easily be mistaken for some old gothic church or hall with its windows bricked up converted into a dwelling-house. later on, towards the close of the century, the geometrical tracery above the highest storey became flamboyant, and the spaces in the panels between the various stages were similarly enriched. jan van de poele was probably the first to introduce this innovation, witness the _hôtel des orientaux_. one of the most beautiful specimens of this kind of ornament is to be found in the façade of an old red brick mansion, now divided into three houses, nos. , and in the _rue de jerusalem_, which dates from the opening years of the fifteen hundreds. in the _rue pré aux moulins_ there is a smaller but yet more beautiful example of the same date; in the _rue queue de vache_, a whole series of houses on either side of the way, and, most beautiful of all, the charming bay window which herman van oudvelde, in his day dean of goldsmiths, added to his house at the foot of the _pont flamand_ in . this system of ornamentation, which gradually grew more and more elaborate as time progressed, continued to be employed until the middle of the sixteen hundreds, or perhaps even later. there is hardly a street in the city which does not contain one or more, often a long, unbroken series of façades thus adorned. [illustration: van oudvelde's window by the pont flamand] the tower, too, was a very ordinary feature, not [illustration: quai du rosaire] only in public buildings and palaces, but in the ordinary domestic architecture of mediæval bruges. indeed, at the opening of the fifteen hundreds, as mark gheeraert's map bears witness, bruges was a city of steeples. they have, however, for the most part disappeared, and those that have come down to us can be almost counted on the fingers. the old mansion in the _rue aux laines_, to which we have just called attention, possesses, as we have seen, one. it is at the back of the house, and the summit alone is visible from the street. a stone's throw from it, on the further bank of the roya, hard-by the _quai du rosaire_, there is another--a beautiful, red brick, dilapidated structure, crowned with a silvery steeple, the last tower erected in mediæval bruges. those in the _rue des aiguilles_ we have already noted. there is a fifth in the _place memlinc_, very tall and very slender, octagonal in shape and wholly devoid of ornament. when the smyrna consuls, who dwelt in the house to which it is an adjunct, first erected it, it was not so comely as it is to-day. the waxing and waning of four hundred summers and the rude embraces of wind and weather have marvellously beautified it, and the blushing brick of which it is constructed is now all shot with gold. close by, in the _place des biscayens_, there is another and a more stately tower of grey stone. it stands alongside of the _poorters logie_, a sort of mediæval club-house where the burghers in days gone by were wont to hold convivial meetings. there is a seventh and very beautiful tower on the ramparts at the end of the _rue des carmes_. it adorns the home of the great military guild of st. sebastian. there is an eighth by the _École normale_, a mere ruin, the last remnant of the habitation of a kindred society--the crossbowmen of st. george and st. denis. it is a great square tower of red brick, which originally was considerably higher than it is at present, and it contains a very curious stone staircase with a beautiful groined ceiling. this building is the property of the town, and the corporation intend to restore it and convert it into a clock-tower for the _École normale_ and furnish it with a _carillon_. the list of ancient turreted mansions in bruges is completed by the _hôtel gruthuise_. here are two octagonal towers, one of them of considerable dimensions and no less curious than pleasing. [illustration: guild hall of the archers of st. sebastian] it will be interesting to note that the taste for towers has recently revived in the city of bruges. at least five new buildings are provided with them, nor do they compare unfavourably with some of the work of the builders of former days. notably the red brick tower of the _académie_ in the _rue ste. cathérine_, from the designs of monsieur de wolf, who at present occupies the position of city architect, and the station clock-tower, of which the steeple is a reproduction in miniature of the glorious steeple which once crowned the belfry. as for the material employed by the ancient architects of bruges, it was chiefly brick, not the smooth, fine grained, sharp edged kiln brick beloved of the modern english builder, but beautiful, rough surfaced, clamp brick, for the most part small in dimensions, in hue sometimes red, sometimes what is technically called white, more often parti-coloured, always fair to look on, exceedingly durable, and in some cases carved like stone. no less pleasing were the tiles and slates with which they roofed their buildings, the former flat, oblong, ruddy, of slender dimensions, the latter of similar shape but not quite so small, and their colour! grey, purple, green, and, when the sun shines on them, silver shot with gold. go up into the belfry on some glad summer's morning, look down on the ancient roofs of bruges, and thou shalt not regret it. chapter xxiv _the painters and the pictures of bruges in the fifteenth century_ from time immemorial the culture of the arts, and notably of the art of painting, has largely entered into the lives alike of the people of flanders and of the kindred folk of the neighbouring provinces. thanks to the influence and the fostering care of the great monastic houses, which were everywhere scattered about these lands, the races which inhabited them had at a very early period attained no little proficiency, not only in the science of construction, but in the art of adorning their buildings with sculpture and pictorial representations, and it may be justly said that the monks of flanders--her first artists and her first artisans--made possible that glorious page in the history of flemish painting which begins with the divine harmonies of hubert van eyck and ends with the colossal splendour of rubens. the chronicles which these cloistered toilers compiled, the books which they made beautiful with gold and colour and fantastic devices, the frescoes which of late years have been brought to light in all parts of the country, these things bear witness to it. adelard ii., abbot of st. trond, who died in , was renowned in his day as a painter. at liège there were frescoes in the church of st. martin dating from the close of the nine hundreds, the cathedral of st. lambert in the same city was similarly adorned years before the fire which destroyed it at the end of the twelfth century, and at this epoch the artist-monks of the abbeys of lobbes and of stavelot were famous throughout europe. the great abbey of st. bavon at ghent as early as the eleventh century possessed a school of artists. some of their illuminated manuscripts have actually come down to us, and are at present in the ghent university library. at the little town of maeseyck in holland they still preserve an eighth-century manuscript adorned by harlinde and rilinde, two of the abbesses who ruled the convent which in those days flourished there. among the seven hundred and thirty-four manuscripts in the municipal library at bruges, and in the library of the bruges diocesan seminary, there are some which date from the thirteenth century, a few from the twelfth. many of them are of rare beauty. notably, at the city library, a thirteenth-century missal embellished with exquisite miniatures (no. ), and, at the seminary, a cistercian missal and a cistercian breviary of the fourteen hundreds, and a splendid valerius maximus in four volumes, with paintings which are perhaps by john van eyck. the greater number of these books were written and illustrated in the famous cistercian abbey which once stood on the dunes at coxyde, between furnes and ostend, or by the monks of the affiliated house, called ter doest (all saints), which hacket founded at lisseweghe. bruges in the thirteen and in the fourteen hundreds was famed for her miniaturists and her illuminators. the _bibliothèque royale_ at brussels contains a whole series of manuscripts which once formed part of the sumptuous libraries of the last flemish counts--of robert of bethune, of louis of maele, of philip the rash, and which one and all bear witness to the marvellous skill and untiring patience of the men who wrote and adorned them; these assuredly were not all monks, many of them, doubtless, were laymen, members of that great artist-guild of st. luke, of which we shall have something to say later on. some of them basked in the smiles of princes, like john van eyck, whom philippe l'asseuré enriched and to whose son he stood godfather, and who enjoyed too the patronage of the regent bedford; or simon marmion, who received from charles the terrible a sum equal to no less than three hundred and sixty pounds for a single book of hours; or jean fouquet, the friend and confidential adviser of louis xi. others there were content with the position of sleek upper servant in the household of some lesser mæcenas, and others again, who longed to hold such a post, but were unable to obtain it; men like poor jehan gillemer, for example, who, on the tramp in search of a patron, was presently arrested as a spy by the agents of louis xi. and handed over to the tender mercies of tristam l'hermite, a circumstance, notes m. lecoy de la marche,[ ] not too deplorable, since to it we are indebted for the details of his life which have come down to us, and are thereby enabled to lift a corner of the veil which covers the manners and customs of one of the most interesting corporations of the middle ages. a poor, weak-spirited credulous creature was this obscure miniature painter, but for all that he seems to have had the soul of an artist and no little skill in his calling. sometimes, indeed, he worked for princes, but he by no means despised the custom of their menials, was not above mere penmanship, and did not think it beneath him to alter or complete, even for a humble client, the unfinished work of a _confrère_. he journeyed half over europe to dispose of his productions, to obtain new orders, to have his works bound in the most artistic fashion, to seek inspiration from the best models and to perfect himself generally in his art; and he used to collect wherever he went and from whomsoever he came in contact--from churches, from monasteries, from the private libraries of the nobles whose houses he frequented, from the menials whose acquaintance he made in the servants' hall, from courtiers, from begging friars, from the chance companions whom he drank with at inns, sometimes, perhaps, new receipts for mixing his colours and for laying on and burnishing gold, more often strange forms of devotion and talismans warranted to cure every imaginable ill, from love-philtres and charms to soothe toothache and settle disputes, to astrological formulæ to drive away the devil, and, above all, to enable him to keep in order 'those five great hulking apprentices' at home who always would idle away their time, and whenever he ventured to say a word to them ill-used him. amongst the illuminators enrolled in the guild of st. luke were all sorts and conditions of men; from polished courtiers like john van eyck to men doubtless of as questionable character as the obscure individual, half artist, half perhaps fortune teller, though, for the matter of that, he swore on the damnation of his soul he had had no dealings with familiar spirits, whose vagabond life the rack of tristam has revealed to us. but whatever their social rank may have been, like the monks who worked alongside of them, the cloister was the rock from which they were hewn, and 'the exquisite work which some of them produced is sufficient to alone explain the origin of flemish panel painting.' thus, monsieur fiérens-gevaert recently,[ ] and lübke and wauters and jules helbig, before him, though these experts tell us that sculpture and wall painting had likewise some measure of influence, and traces of frescoes almost as old as the buildings they once adorned have of late years been found all over flanders. at bruges, for example, we have the frescoes which mr. weale discovered at notre dame in the chapel of st. victor at the entrance to the tower. here the lower portion of the wall was diapered in crimson and gold, and above were depicted five angels playing on instruments of music. mr. weale describes these paintings as exceedingly beautiful and in a sufficiently good state of preservation; alas! they have been again covered with whitewash. others were found behind the woodwork of the churchwarden's pew at the west end of the nave, and yet another in the southern ambulatory near the sacristy door--a beautiful figure of st. louis, dating apparently from the middle of the fourteen hundreds, and there can be no doubt whatever that, if the whitewash were carefully removed, it would be found that the whole building is similarly adorned. so too the cathedral of st. sauveur and the church of st. jacques, and, just outside the city, the churches of notre dame at lisseweghe and at damme, in all of which there are, or rather there were mural paintings. indeed, those in the last church extended round the whole building. unfortunately they were much damaged in removing the whitewash, and they have again been hidden from view. other vestiges of wall painting have been found in various parts of the city, and we know from documentary evidence that in jan van jabbeke was commissioned to paint a series of frescoes in the justice chamber of the old hôtel de ville. even the vaults and brick graves in the churchyards were thus adorned, though in ruder fashion. several discovered at varssenaere, in the cemetery of notre dame, and in the _place st. jean_, where an old church dedicated to that saint once stood, have been bodily removed and are now in the museum beneath the belfry. they suffered very little injury in the process and are in a marvellous state of preservation. but this was not all; even the very stonework at bruges, and this was no doubt also the case in other flemish cities, glowed with gold and colour; sculpture, statuary, tracery, the mouldings of doors and arches and windows were not unfrequently thus embellished; we have seen van eyck and other artists engaged in illuminating the niches and the carved figures on the façade of the hôtel de ville; there is an ancient picture of the interior of notre dame which represents the capitals of the nave radiant with gold and vermilion; vestiges of polychromy within and without, on woodwork, on plaster, on iron, on stone, have been discovered all over the city. it is no exaggeration to say that bruges at the opening of the fourteen hundreds, the richest, the mightiest and the loveliest city of northern europe, was at this time steeped in harmonious tints. she had already entered upon the autumn of her existence, but, like nature, she had arrayed herself in a vesture of gold wrought about with divers colours, and the cunning workers who had woven and embroidered it--the painters of frescoes and the stainers of glass, the illuminators of vellum and the illuminators of stone--were the precursors and fathers and founders of the most glorious school of painting which the world has yet produced. the van eycks, the memlincs, the van der weydens, all the flemish primitives, whose marvellous pictures still fill us with admiration, lived and moved and had their being in the beauty which these men created. the statues, the miniatures, the mural painting of these poor craftsmen were the models which inspired their first work, and there is reason to believe that the insatiate thirst for colour which their predecessors had experienced led indirectly to the famous discovery which rendered its execution possible. in a country like the netherlands, devoid of precious marbles, there was only one way of satisfying it--to find some artificial means of colouring the material at hand, and in that damp, changeable climate the pigment applied must needs be of a nature to withstand the vagaries of weather. the monk theophilus, a writer often quoted in the twelfth century, gives exact formulæ for mingling colour and oil, but the pigment thus obtained was far from being satisfactory; a second coat could not be applied until the first was completely dry, and the length of time which it took in drying rendered it practically useless, at all events for the painting of pictures. for centuries artists all over europe were vainly endeavouring to remedy this defect, and it was not until the opening of the fourteen hundreds that the problem was at last solved, but long before that period oil paint had been successfully employed for decorative purposes. we know that the sculptor wuillaume du gardin made use of it for his statues as early as , and when hubert van eyck first came to bruges at the close of the fourteenth or at the opening of the fifteenth century the practice seems to have been generally adopted. it has long been known that john van eyck was an _enlumineur des statues_, and a document recently discovered in the archives of ghent makes it quite certain that his elder brother hubert followed the same calling; what more likely then, than that the idea should have struck him of painting his pictures with the same pigment with which he had been in the habit of decorating stone? but whatever may have led to his great discovery, certain it is, that the day on which he made it was the birthday of modern art. the invention of oil painting has until recently been generally assigned to the year or thereabouts, but if mr. weale is right in his calculations, and be it borne in mind he has devoted a lifetime to the study of the flemish primitives, and has done more to elucidate their history than any living man, hubert van eyck's great oil-painting, the only picture which can as yet be certainly assigned to him, 'the adoration of the lamb,' at ghent, cannot have been commenced later than , probably even earlier. it follows then that the new process must have been invented prior to that date. hubert van eyck hubert van eyck, the first and the greatest of the flemish masters, was born at the little market town of maeseyck in limbourg, somewhere about the year . he seems to have been of an old painter family, as not only hubert himself but his brothers john and lambert and his sister marguerite all followed this calling. of his life's story we know little, of his early years hardly anything. an illuminator of missals and an illuminator of statues, as well as a painter of pictures, perhaps, as mr. weale has recently suggested, he made his first studies at maestricht or at cologne and afterwards travelled in spain and in italy. by the opening of the fifteenth century he must certainly have been an artist of some reputation, for in john de visch, lord of axel and capelle, bequeathed to his daughter mary, who was later on abbess of bourbourg near gravelines, a picture which hubert had painted. what was its subject or what has become of it is not known.[ ] he seems to have passed his middle life at bruges,[ ] and there are still in existence two pictures attributed with reason to him, which must have been painted during his sojourn there. the first represents our lady, st. anne and herman steenken, who was vicar of the chartreuse of st. anne at woestine near bruges, from to , and from till his death on april , . this picture is at present in the possession of baron rothschild at paris; the second is now in the berlin gallery; it depicts the same monk, but apparently some ten years older, our lady and st. barbara. the last years of hubert's life were spent at ghent. in the year we find him receiving from the aldermen of that city s. gr. for the sketches of two pictures which they had commissioned him to paint for them but were apparently never executed. perhaps he had not leisure to do so. about this time hubert must have been fully occupied. he had a triptych in hand which robert poortier had ordered for a chapel in honour of st. anthony, which he had founded in the church of st. sauveur, at ghent, and a statue of the same saint to gild and colour, also for robert poortier. for years he had been at work on 'the adoration of the lamb,' and we know that he had not completed it when death struck him down on the th of september . these facts, if they be facts, represent all, or very nearly all, that is known of the story of hubert van eyck. perhaps we have his portrait. amongst the crowd of figures displayed on his marvellous triptych at ghent, note in the foreground of the outer left wing a citizen riding on a white horse. tradition tells us that this man is no other than hubert himself, and that the rider behind him on the brown horse is his younger brother john. but if we know little or next to nothing of the home life and surroundings of hubert van eyck, his merits, says lübke, as the founder of an entirely new mode of painting are established beyond doubt. 'not only by reason of the improvement which he effected in the process of mingling colour with oil, and his successful adaptation of the new method to the painting of pictures, does he justly deserve the title of father of northern art.' he was the first to bring back the cultus of beauty, and the first to bend before nature's shrine. he was set in the midst of a plain full of dry bones, and by the might of his genius he made them live, and whilst he gave largeness and depth and reality to the conventional art of the middle ages he lost not one whit of its old ideal grandeur. utterly discarding the golden backgrounds of former days, he bathed his creations in the glow of nature's aureole as he saw it in the green fields and fair woodlands of his native land, and whilst he set on them the impress of his own epoch and his own race, he at the same time invested his sacred figures with sublime grandeur and dignity and a certain ineffable sweetness which is altogether peculiar to himself. in this respect his painting has been rarely equalled and never yet surpassed. no vestige of hubert's work remains in the city on the roya, but hard by in the old cathedral of st. bavon at ghent is his masterpiece, 'the adoration of the lamb'--a picture, indeed, not painted at bruges, but for all that instinct with the ethos of bruges, which still preserves the memory of her magnificence, still keeps alive one quivering ray of her aureole, and is perhaps the most perfect reflection we have of the beauty which enshrined her at the epoch when she was fairest. nay, it is something grander and nobler and holier than this. it is a sublime transcription in gold and colour of the poetry of the mass, an inspiration incomparable and altogether unique. 'like dante's divine comedy and bach's passion music it stands, in its sphere, alone.' make a journey to ghent and gaze upon this marvellous picture, and perchance its splendour shall enlighten thy soul, and then go down into the crypt and kneel before the tomb of the man who created it. john van eyck we know something more of the life of john van eyck than of the life of his master and elder brother hubert. his junior by twenty years, like him he was born at maeseyck, and though his pictures have little in common with the primitives of maestricht or cologne he seems to have made his first studies in his own neighbourhood, and later on to have accompanied hubert to bruges. a man of many parts and many achievements, painter of pictures, stainer of glass, illuminator of parchments, illuminator of stone--no uncommon circumstance at a time when every artist was an artisan, and every craftsman an artist--he added yet to his varied talents no little skill in diplomacy, was entrusted by his sovereign with sundry private and delicate missions, and travelled for him frequently and far, sometimes in order to paint pictures, sometimes on matters of state. whilst still a young man john van eyck parted company for a time with his brother. in the autumn of he was appointed _peintre et varlet de chambre_ to duke john of bavaria, the famous jean sans pitié, prince-bishop of liège. when that militant prelate was gathered to his fathers some two years afterwards, philippe l'asseuré received his heritage, and upon the recommendation of '_plusieurs de ses gens_' he confirmed van eyck in his office and in all the customary honours and profits appertaining thereto,' granting to him, over and above, an annual stipend of a hundred _livres_, a sum equal in current coin to about one hundred and sixty pounds. after a short sojourn at bruges the young painter journeyed to lille, probably to execute some work there for his new master, for during his entire stay in that city, nearly three years, philippe paid his house rent. in the summer of he set out on _certains lointains voyages secrez_ which the duke had commanded him to make, _en certains lieux dont il ne voulut autre déclaration être faite_. probably spain was the place of his destination, and the object of his journey to find philippe a wife. if so, his sojourn there must have been of short duration, for before the end of the year we find him in portugal busy painting 'a most life-like portrait of the infanta' isabella, who shortly afterwards became philippe's affianced bride. by he was again at bruges, and in the course of the year he purchased a house in the _rue de la main d'or_, which he henceforth made his headquarters. often from home, sometimes at hesdin, sometimes at lille to visit his friend and patron and to obtain from him instructions as to work which he wished him to execute, once at least, in , _en certains voyages lointains et étranges marches_, no doubt anent matters of state, here it was that he seems to have painted most of his pictures which have come down to us, and there are a whole series of signed and dated panels for each year from to , save only , the year of his secret journey. he must have been residing in this house when he illuminated the statues, six of them, of the hôtel de ville, and received for his labour, as the town archives bear witness, _livres_ _escalins de gros_, a sum representing in purchasing value to-day from fifty to sixty pounds. here he entertained the burgomaster and aldermen of bruges, who, on july , , repaired in a body to his studio to inspect a picture which he had just completed, and which no doubt they had commissioned, perhaps a madonna and child at present at ince bloundel hall, near liverpool, for this picture, one of the few that are dated, bears the following inscription: _complendum anno domini , als ich kan_. it will be interesting to note that upon this occasion john's two apprentices made merry, for the city fathers presented them with five _escalins_ by way of _gratification_. here was born his only child, or at all events the only child of whom there is any record; we know that duke philippe was the godfather, and it may well be that he was present at the christening feast. here too he painted for the guild of st. luke that portrait of his pale, sad-faced, patient wife, which at present hangs in the academy at bruges. though she looks considerably older, the quaintly-worded legend on the frame informs us that at this time she was only thirty-three years of age--_conjunx meus johannes me complevit anno º º junii, etas mea triginta annorum, als ich kan_; and lastly, here, not much more than twelve months afterwards, on july , , the great painter died. they laid him to rest in the cloister of st. donatian's, and it would seem that his obsequies were celebrated with some circumstance, for the city archives inform us that three bells were tolled:--donatian, leonard and bernard. it is still the custom at bruges to toll several bells at solemn funerals. they are rung one after the other at intervals of perhaps half a minute, beginning with the highest bell, and ending with the _bourdon_. the effect produced is very solemn and very striking and somewhat uncanny. some two years after john's death his bones were translated to the baptistry chapel in the interior of st donatian's. his widow continued to hold, and no doubt to inhabit the house in the _rue de la main d'or_ until . on june , in that year, she paid the ground rent for the last time. in all that concerns _technique_ john was the equal, perhaps the superior of his great brother. his _mise en scène_ is perfect. he arranged his figures in symmetrical groups, clad them in glorious apparel, and set them in the midst of fair courts, or stately shrines, rich in sculpture and polished marble and costly hangings. he delighted in the _clair-obscur_, in the lustre of gold, in the shimmer of silk, in the scintillation of gems. in the wealth and variety of his palette and in the richness and depth and harmony of his mellow colouring he is unsurpassed. in spite of his realism and his love of detail his pictures are full of poetry, and if, as mr. weale says, he only saw with his eyes, he has somehow or other managed to make us see the souls of the figures he painted, but they lack the seriousness, the grandeur, the simple dignity of hubert's sublime creations. all this is exemplified in a marked degree in the st. donatian's altar-piece in the academy at bruges. the scene is laid in the apse of an old byzantine church, glowing with gold and colour--perhaps st. donatian's. the columns are of shining porphyry--red, purple, green; the pavement is of encaustic tiles of the colour of amber, the brown walls are of stone, in the background beyond the choir pale green light streams through arched windows set with little circular panes of bottle glass. our lady with her divine child on her knee forms the central figure of the picture. she is seated beneath a canopy on a sculptured throne, her outer garment is silken and of the colour called indian red, her kirtle is dark blue, a mediæval carpet is spread beneath her feet. on her right hand stands st. donatian, a noble figure, but with a face too stern for a saint's. in one hand he holds his pastoral cross and in the other his traditional wheel with five lighted tapers. he is attired in a cope of indigo and gold brocade lined with crimson silk and edged with sable. on the left kneels the donor, george van der pale, canon of st. donatian's--thick-necked, asthmatic, kindly, obese, a devout old flemish gentleman. in one fat trembling hand he holds his half-open breviary, in the other his reading glass; he is robed in a white surplice, his spectacle-case hangs at his side. the portrait is full of detail, very life-like and evidently unflattered. behind him stands a youth in polished mail, who naïvely raises his helmet as, with his left hand on the canon's shoulder, he presents him to our lady--his patron, st. george; a very loyal, large-hearted, human, joyous saint, who, one feels quite sure, will regard with a lenient eye the shortcomings of his clients and do his best to help them, but for all that he seems to have the air of being not quite at ease, not quite sure perhaps whether the poor old canon is worthy of an introduction. may be this strangely fascinating figure is also a portrait. as for the scheme of colour, it is simply glorious. gold gleams everywhere. we see it in the blue brocade of the canopy and in the blue brocade of st. donatian's cope; there are threads of it in the intricately-embroidered borders of our lady's robe; it glisters round her neck and on her fingers and in her hair. st. george's armour is all golden, and on the other side of the picture there stands st. donatian arrayed in a vesture of gold wrought about with divers colours; even [illustration: portrait of george van der pale _from the st. donatian's altar-piece of john van eyck, in the municipal gallery, bruges_] the sculptured capitals of the columns are gilded, and wherever there is gold there are precious stones. diamonds and carbuncles and pearls glisten in st. george's breastplate and in st. donatian's crosier and in the orphreys of his cope, his gleaming mitre is all sewn with amethysts and pearls; there are pearls, too, round our lady's mantle and on her breast and in her yellow hair, and all this splendour is so delicately manipulated and so minutely and carefully portrayed that it bears looking at through a magnifying glass, and it is arranged with such exquisite taste, and the figures which it adorns are so calm, and about the whole scene there is an atmosphere of such profound peace, that the picture is in no way tawdry or garish or vulgar. this is the largest panel which john van eyck is known to have painted; the figures are about half life size. it was placed originally over the high altar in st. donatian's, and we know from an inscription on the frame that it was completed in . at that time bruges was straining every nerve to free herself from the tyranny of philippe l'asseuré. john, indeed, was on the winning side, but the battle had not yet been fought out to the bitter end, and in it was as likely as not that his patron would be worsted, and yet he went on quietly painting, and the calm saints of the st. donatian's picture bear no trace of the storm amid which they were created. gerard david half a century later, when bruges was once more in the throes of rebellion, and the burghers, for the moment triumphant, had the weakling who would have enslaved them under lock and key and were exacting the uttermost farthing from the instigators and instruments of his crimes, a painter less famous than john van eyck, but for all that well skilled in his art, and one whose hand, in spite of the turmoil around him, had not lost its cunning, was at work on two panels which now hang in the gallery at bruges hard by van eyck's picture. similar in colour, hardly less delicate in design, adorned like it with jewels and gold, these pictures form the very antithesis to the calm altar-piece of st. donatian's. it is instinct with serene splendour, they are quick with gruesome motion; it is the portrayal of god's mercy, they depict man's vengeance. van eyck was inspired by the spirit of love, david by the frenzy of delirium. it was but a passing phase. as in the days of the french terror men who before had been peaceful citizens, carried away by the fury around them, committed all kinds of excesses, and when the blizzard had passed stepped quietly back into the old humdrum groove of former days as if nothing had happened, so david, under similar circumstances, defiled his brush by painting one loathsome picture, and presently, when the storm had spent itself, clothed and in his right mind, again resumed his old themes and his old methods: busied himself in adorning altars with fair virgins and sweet-faced angels, and by making breviaries beautiful with the legends of the saints. from the little that is recorded of him he seems to have been a devout and charitable man, and the placid scenes he delighted to paint indicate that he was naturally of a humane and gentle disposition. we know that in he joined the brotherhood of our lady of the dry tree, a famous religious guild affiliated to the franciscan order. the following year he presented to the carmelite nuns of bruges one of his most exquisite pictures, an altar-piece representing our lady surrounded by virgin saints, at present in the gallery at rouen; and later on, when the same nuns were in straitened circumstances, he advanced them a very considerable sum free of interest, only stipulating that the money should be returned when he asked for it. this he did during his last illness, several years afterwards, and it is pleasing to find that the nuns at once complied with his request. but to return to the days of his aberration. shortly after the execution of peter lanchals and other members of the magistracy of bruges, who like him had been accused of corruption and of conspiring with maximilian to deprive the town of its liberty, the new magistrates whom the people had chosen to fill their place commissioned gerard david to paint for the court of justice in the hôtel de ville two pictures which should remind the judges that if they should at any time fail in their duty punishment would assuredly follow. gerard was a native of oudewater in holland, who some four years previously had taken up his abode in bruges. on the th of january he was enrolled among the members of the guild of st. luke. he was probably an ardent patriot, at all events was in touch with the popular leaders, for we know from documentary evidence that they employed him to paint the iron gratings which were placed before the windows of jean de gros's mansion when maximilian was imprisoned there, and, as we have seen, it was he whom they commissioned to paint the panels for the town hall. the theme selected for his pictures is a horrible one--the conviction and the flaying alive of sisamnes, an egyptian judge who had been accused of receiving bribes. the story is first told by herodotus, but david had probably culled it from the pages of valerius maximus, and there can be no doubt that the subject was suggested to him by the tragedy which had just taken place beneath the shadow of the belfry. he has represented himself in the first panel calmly surveying the arrest of sisamnes, and it may well be that he actually witnessed the execution of lanchals, perhaps expressly with a view to these paintings. in each case the scene is laid at bruges, the figures, the faces, the attitudes, the costumes, are all essentially flemish, and it is in the highest degree probable that he introduced other portraits besides his own. mark the expression of sisamnes in the flaying scene. see how his features twitch, how he clenches his hands and his teeth, and draws back his lips in agony. did peter lanchals look like that when he was being racked in the infernal machine which he himself had invented? there are only seven other pictures which can at present be certainly attributed to gerard david. they are all of a sacred character, and four of them were painted for churches in bruges. of these the most beautiful is the triptych presented to the carmelite nuns in , and which adorned the high altar of their chapel until the community was suppressed by joseph ii. in . two years later, when their property was sold at brussels, david's picture was purchased by a dealer named berthels for fifty-one florins. he sold it to a french collector, monsieur miliotti, in whose possession it remained until his estate was confiscated by the revolutionary government some years later. presently it was hung in the municipal gallery at rouen, where it still remains. this is the most decorative, and perhaps the most charming of david's pictures. the subject is our lady surrounded by angels and virgin saints. the grouping is sufficiently symmetrical and altogether excellent, the scheme of colour is rich and harmonious, and though the sacred figures almost entirely cover the panel, owing to the lack of detail in the background, a mass of deep, sombre green, almost black, they appear in no way crowded. the faces are for the most part somewhat heavy, and decidedly flemish, but there is an air of calm repose about them which is very restful, and the fair-haired, white-robed angels which stand on each side of our lady's throne are of another type. david must have drawn them from peasant models. this picture is all the more interesting from the fact that the artist has introduced his own portrait, and also that of his wife cornelia,[ ] the daughter of a bruges goldsmith, one jacob cnoop, a native of middelburg in holland. unless david flattered his wife, she must have been a woman of singularly prepossessing appearance, with bright eyes and an intelligent face. she stands with her hands clasped in prayer, the last figure but one on the left-hand side of our lady, beyond her stands st. lucy, a child saint who suffered martyrdom at fourteen. she is here represented as a woman of forty, gorgeously arrayed in two shades of crimson, fat and not fair. david himself balances his wife on the opposite side of the picture. a sufficiently artistic face this, but upon the whole not a pleasing one. his eyes are too prominent, his lips are too thick, and he has a weak, receding chin. gerard david painted two pictures for the church of st. donatian:--an altar-piece representing the mystic marriage of st. catherine, and two panels which formed the shutters of a triptych. these, together with the wings of several other triptychs, were sold by the cathedral chapter in at the request of the sacristan, a lazy, clumsy fellow who, objecting to the trouble of opening and closing them, averred that he invariably broke the altar candles in doing so. one of david's shutters has disappeared, the other, after passing through several hands, was purchased in , for five hundred and twenty-five guineas, by mr. benoni white, who, at his death in , bequeathed it to the national gallery. here we have a portrait of the donor bernardin salviati, canon of st. donatian's and the son of a wealthy florentine merchant who had married a flemish lady and settled at bruges. the kneeling canon is attired in a surplice of fine linen and is accompanied by three saints--st. donatian resplendent in black brocade glistering with jewels and gold, st. martin in a crimson velvet cope, with richly-embroidered orphreys, and his patron, the franciscan saint, bernardin, in the rough grey frock of the poor man of assisi. the heads are very fine, full of expression and more italian than flemish in type, but the figures are not gracefully posed; there is too much landscape, and the picture is hardly decorative enough for an altar-piece. the st. donatian's 'marriage of st. catherine' is also at present in the national gallery. it seems to have been taken to paris when the old cathedral was destroyed. it eventually became the property of m. de beurnoville; when his collection was sold in , the late mrs lyne stephens purchased it for , frs. (£ ), and it was bequeathed by her to the nation. this panel is far superior to the salviati picture. the colouring is very rich and mellow, the composition is perfect, the faces are admirably painted and, though somewhat heavy and flemish in character, are on the whole pleasing; the background, with its vine-clad walls and lovely garden of roses, and lilies, and trees beyond, and picturesque buildings, is altogether beautiful and in no way obtrusive. the whole picture is admirably adapted to the purpose for which it was designed. the only one of david's sacred pictures which remains in bruges is the triptych known as 'the baptism of christ.' the history of this picture is a strange one. it was painted early in the fifteen hundreds for john des trompes, who at that time was city treasurer, probably for his private oratory; later on, in , it was presented by his heirs to the guild of advocates, and placed over the altar of their chantry in the crypt of st. basil in the bourg. a coat of black distemper inscribed with the ten commandments saved it from the fury of the calvinists in . carried off by the french in , it remained in paris until , when it was at last sent back to bruges and placed in the city gallery, where it still remains. it hangs alongside of david's other pictures, is in striking contrast to them, and as a work of art their inferior. the grouping is not happy. two of the three principal figures in the central panel are decidedly weak, and those in the distance are for the most part stumpy and graceless. on the other hand, the figure of the kneeling angel who holds our lord's garments is singularly beautiful. his sweet, placid face might have been drawn by memlinc and his glorious vesture by john van eyck. the landscape setting is the most interesting portion of this panel, and in all probability it is not david's work. mr. weale thinks that joachim patenier may have painted it, and jules helbig is of the same opinion. 'nothing,' says mr. weale, 'can well be finer than this portion of the picture; the trees, vigorously painted and finished with wonderful minuteness, have evidently been studied individually from nature.... between their trunks we get glimpses of real distant landscape. the herbage, lilies, mallows, violets, and other flowers in the immediate front have never been more admirably reproduced by the art of the painter.... the transparency of the water, the reflection of surrounding objects and the shadows on its surface are faithfully rendered. the bedding of the rocks too is imitated with perfect truth. the colouring of all this portion is so remarkably bright and lovely that the faults of the composition are not at first noticed.' all this is no exaggeration. bearing in mind the age in which it was produced, this piece of landscape painting is in truth a marvellous achievement. considered in itself it is worthy of the highest admiration. but instead of being a mere accessory, as was the case in the pictures of the van eycks, of memlinc, of van der weyden, of all the earlier masters, the landscape here forms, so to speak, the dominant note of the picture. the beauty of these fair fields and woods and mountains is the first thing which attracts the spectator's attention. the sacred figures are overwhelmed and belittled and cast into the shade by the splendour of their setting, and, after all, the sacred figures should form the principal feature of a picture like this, intended for an altar-piece. on the whole we cannot help regretting that gerard david called in the aid of joachim patenier. the left wing shows the donor and his little son philip, and his patron, st. john the evangelist; the right, the donor's first wife, her four daughters and her patroness, st. elizabeth of hungary. each of these panels has a landscape background, no less beautiful and no less obtrusive than the landscape in the central panel. the triptych when [illustration: gerard david's 'baptism of christ' _municipal gallery, bruges_] shut displays five figures--our lady seated beneath a canopy, with the divine infant on her knee, and facing them the donor's second wife, her little daughter and her patroness, st. mary magdalene. here there is an architectural background of open arcades, with a view beyond, perhaps of bruges. this is perhaps the least satisfactory of the nine pictures which, to quote the words of mr. weale, 'can at present with certainty be assigned to gerard david.' in the museum of the holy blood there is a triptych representing the deposition, which, according to documents preserved in the confraternity archives, was painted by david in . the authenticity of this picture is, however, contested, and it is certainly far inferior to any of his known paintings. gerard david married probably during the year . his wife, as we have seen, was cornelia cnoop. they had issue one daughter, who was christened barbara, and was already married at the time of her father's death. during forty years he held a foremost place among the painters of bruges. he was elected a councillor of the guild of st. luke in , and again in and in . he was gathered to his fathers on the th of august . they buried him in notre dame, beneath the tower, but no stone marks the place of his sepulture. when the church was repaired at the beginning of the last century it disappeared. many of the old notre dame tombstones have been put to ignoble purposes, serve as doorsteps for houses in the neighbourhood, or to pave kitchens, or are stowed away in cellars and back-yards. perhaps david's monument is among the number. it was engraved with his arms, which are known, and those of his wife, and the memorial inscription has been preserved. hence in all probability it would be easy of identification. great painter as he undoubtedly was, the fame of gerard david hardly survived him, even in the city in which he had so long dwelt. van mander, writing as early as , was obliged to avow that he had no information concerning him, save only this, that peter pourbus, who died in , considered him to be an excellent artist, and van mander had long inhabited bruges. by the close of the sixteen hundreds even those of his pictures which still adorned the city of his adoption were attributed to other painters, and for more than two hundred and fifty years his name was buried in oblivion. less than half a century ago mr. weale brought it back to men's memory. to his diligent research the world is indebted for all that is now known of the life and labours of this great artist. from his writings in the _beffroi de bruges_, the _gazette des beaux arts_, and elsewhere, we have culled the notes here set down on the history of gerard david and the histories of the pictures he painted. to return for a moment to john van eyck. there are two other pictures at bruges which are possibly his. the first is a small panel in the municipal gallery representing the head of christ. mr. weale refuses to acknowledge this as an authentic picture, and says that the only part which is well painted is the embroidered collar of the tunic. lübke, on the other hand, speaks of it as a genuine van eyck, and ascribes the date to , the year of john's death, but he adds, 'like the head of christ in the berlin museum, painted two years previously, it exhibits a certain want of expression, seeming to intimate to us the limits of john's genius.' m. de copman, the curator of the bruges gallery, has no doubt that it is authentic, and describes it as such on the frame. one thing is certain. if this picture was indeed painted by john van eyck it is not worthy of him. the second picture, a finely-painted mater dolorosa, is in the cathedral. from the fact that it is signed with the initials _j. e._ it was formerly attributed to john, but it is now generally acknowledged to be the work of some other artist. among the crowd of artists who in the course of the fourteen hundreds flocked to bruges, and whose method of painting was inspired either directly or indirectly by the brothers van eyck, note pieter christus, a native of baarle near tilburg, who died at bruges in , the only pupil of john van eyck whose name has come down to us; gerhard van der meire, dierick boudts, roger van der weyden, all of them perhaps pupils of hubert's; roger's pupil, hans memlinc, the greatest of all the bruges painters after the brothers van eyck, and, towards the close of the century, quentin metsys, albert cornelis and jerome bosch. strangely enough, of these men only one, albert cornelis, was a native of bruges, and though they all of them spent a considerable portion of their lives there, the sum of their united labours is at present represented in the city by hardly a score of pictures. of the work of pieter christus nothing remains; quentin metsys, hugo van der goes and roger van der weyden are likewise unrepresented, though several of the masterpieces of the last two were in the church of st. jacques at the close of the seventeen hundreds. when they disappeared, or what has become of them, is unknown. one picture remains in bruges which was perhaps painted by gerhard van der meire, four which are probably the work of dierick boudts; jerome bosch and albert cornelis are each represented by one picture, gerard david, as we have seen, by three or perhaps four, and hans memlinc by six which are certainly his work, and by some half-dozen others which are attributed to him with more or less probability, whilst scattered about the town there are many pictures, some of them very beautiful, which were no doubt painted at bruges during the period we are now considering, but by artists who have not as yet been identified. of the lives and surroundings of these great masters little has come down to us. all that is certainly known concerning most of them is the place of their birth and death, and the date of those events--even these meagre details are in the case of some of them lacking--and that of the multitude of pictures of the flemish school of this period scattered throughout the churches and galleries of europe, not a few can be positively traced to one or other of the bruges masters. roger van der weyden. roger van der weyden, the greatest of the immediate disciples of john van eyck, was born at tournai early in the fourteen hundreds. in he was appointed painter to the city of brussels, and it was probably during this time that he adorned with gold and colour the statuary of the tomb of jeanne of brabant, which philippe l'asseuré erected in the carmelite church there. in he made a pilgrimage to rome for the great jubilee which was celebrated during that year. we know something of the details of this journey. _en route_ he sojourned at ferrara, at milan and at florence, and in all of these towns he received the most cordial welcome, not only from his brother artists, but from the ruling princes. at ferrara he must have worked for lionel d'este, for on his return to brussels we find him receiving from that prince the sum of twenty golden ducats in part payment for _certe depicture_ executed in his palace at ferrara. at milan he painted for francesco sforza a calvary, with the portraits of francesco himself, his wife, blanche visconti, and their young son, galéas. this splendid picture is now in the _musée des beaux arts_ at brussels. at florence he was employed by cosmo de' medici. the fruit of his labours in that city is at present in the stadel museum at frankfort--a glorious triptych which represents the madonna and child, with st. peter and st. john the baptist, patrons of the city, on the right, and on the left the mighty cosmo himself and one of his brothers, perhaps lorenzo, in the guise of the patrons of the medici family--saints cosmas and damian. he does not seem to have practised his art in rome. perhaps his stay there was a short one, and that his time was fully occupied by sight-seeing and devotion. that he fully appreciated the art treasures of the eternal city there can be no doubt, and we know that he was enraptured with the lateran pictures of gentile da fabriano, whom he pronounced to be the first painter in italy. during the later part of his life roger seems to have resided at bruges, and here perhaps he painted the middelburg triptych now in the berlin gallery, and the missing triptych which formerly adorned the church of st. jacques. this picture excited the admiration of albert dürer when he visited bruges in . its theme was the life of st. john the baptist. the same subject is portrayed in a painting attributed to roger, at present in the berlin gallery. have we here the bruges picture? the exact date of roger's death is known--june , ; we also know the name of his wife, elizabeth goffart, and that he was the father of four children, corneille, margaret, peter and john, of whom peter followed his father's calling. he seems, like his master john van eyck, to have been a man of many parts; we have already seen him colouring statues, he was also an illuminator of manuscripts. a miniature of exceptional beauty, attributed with reason to him, is in the possession of m. gielen of maeseyck (see _rev. de l'art chrétien_, , p. ). a reproduction of it is published in the _annales de l'académie d'archéologie de belgique_, vol. xxiv. perhaps, too, he was a wood engraver. waagen is of opinion (_see_ sotheby's _principia typographica_) that the woodcuts of the _biblia pauperum_ were designed by him. roger van der weyden was, in his way, even more of a realist than john van eyck, and he possessed all john's love of elaborate detail; but whereas the latter was pleased with serene immobility roger delighted in tragic action, and his tall, wan, emaciated figures are often convulsed with weeping. he could, however, depict tranquillity when he liked, and his portraits are as calm and collected as any of van eyck's. his heads are invariably finely painted and full of expression, but they are almost always ascetic looking, and very often sad. take for example the portrait of bladelin in the middelburg picture. he seems, indeed, to have been unable to appreciate the beauty of health and gladness, and to corpulence he had a rooted objection. if that fat, flabby-faced old canon, george van der pale, had commissioned roger to paint his portrait, he would somehow or other have managed, without losing the likeness, to make him look fragile and refined. of the flemish painters of the fourteen hundreds m. fiérens-gevaert remarks: '_la morbidesse que bruges dissimule si richement, se prolonge dans leur art. ils créent des figures minces, élancées, splendidement vêtues._' the assertion is too sweeping, but it is certainly true in the case of roger van der weyden. dierick boudts. of roger's contemporary dierick boudts we know little save that he was born at harlem, towards the close of the thirteen hundreds, that he passed a portion of his life in bruges, and that in he settled at louvain, where he continued to reside until his death in . two of his most famous works are still in the church of st. peter in that city--an altar panel representing the martyrdom of st. erasmus, and the central panel of a polyptych, of which the subject is the last supper. this picture has been broken up, and the side shutters are now in the berlin gallery. there is a contemporary copy of the entire painting, perhaps a replica by dierick himself, in the seminary at bruges. the church of st. jacques in the same city contains another of his works, or rather a work attributed, probably correctly, to him, a retable in three compartments, wherein is depicted the legend of st. lucy. the soft, mellow colouring of this picture is perfect, and all the details, the rich brocades and velvets, the embroidery and precious stones, the flowers and fruit in the foreground, are quite admirable, but the figures are stiff and ill-proportioned. in the background is a view of the city of bruges with the belfry as it appeared before the lantern was added, and the church of notre dame. this picture is dated .[ ] there is a triptych in bruges cathedral, in the first chapel on the northern side of the chevet, which is attributed to memlinc. the painting on the left shutter is quite in his style and is in all probability his work. here are shown portraits of the donors, hippolytus de berthoz and elizabeth van keverwick, his affianced bride. this panel has been much spoiled by restoration, and the removal of the _glacis_ has chilled the tone of the colouring. the other panels are evidently the work of another painter, and there is little doubt that that painter was dierick boudts. the ill-proportioned figures, the finely-drawn heads, and the rich, mellow colouring are all his. the scene depicted on the central panel is the martyrdom of st. hippolytus, who is being torn to pieces by four horses; in the further panel he confesses himself a christian and is condemned to death. there is a fourth picture in bruges, which perhaps may have been painted by dierick boudts. it is in the chapel of the soeurs noires in the _place memlinc_, and represents eight episodes in the legend of st. ursula. it probably dates from an earlier period than the famous shrine of st. ursula in the hospital of st. john, and it is not unlikely that we have here the prototype of that marvellous production. the picture attributed to gerhard van der meire hangs in the southern aisle of the cathedral. therein are depicted three passion scenes--the carrying of the cross, the crucifixion and the deposition. the treatment is coarse and realistic in the extreme. the picture is not a pleasing one. alike in colour, in sentiment, in design it is far inferior to any of gerhard's authentic works. in the municipal gallery there is an 'adoration of the magi' (no. ), which formerly belonged to the monks of the great cistercian abbey of our lady on the dunes at coxyde. much spoiled by restoration, somewhat quaint and naïve in design, it is still a beautiful picture. there is no extrinsic evidence to show who painted it, but the style is the style of jerome bosch. in the church of st. jacques, about half-way up the southern aisle, hangs the picture of albert cornelis--the central panel of a triptych on which is portrayed the coronation of our lady in the presence of the nine choirs of angels. this is in every respect a most remarkable and a most interesting picture. painted in , at a time when the artists of bruges had already begun to adopt the methods of the renaissance, it is instinct with the spirit which animated the old illuminators of the beginning of the previous century. of a delicate, miniature-like style, beautiful alike in sentiment, in design, in colour and in execution, it is the only known work of the master-hand that produced it. hans memlinc. hans memlinc, the greatest painter in christendom, as a writer of his own day calls him, seems to have been born somewhere about the year . he was in all probability a native of mayence, or of some locality within the electorate. m. wauters, in his _sept Études pour servir à l'histoire de hans memlinc_, published at brussels in , inclines to memlingen, a village about forty miles from the city. m. jules helbig suggests aschaffenburg, near which place flows a stream called the mumling. be this as it may, the jesuit father henri dursart's discovery in of romboudt de doppere's journal ( to ) at least puts an end to the dispute as to memlinc's nationality. there can no longer be any doubt that the great bruges painter was, at all events, of german extraction, and the same document informs us that he died at bruges on august , , and that he was buried in the church of st. gilles--_die. xi. augusti ( ), brugis obiit joannes memmelinc, quem prædicabant peritissimum fuisse et excellentissimum pictorem totius tunc orbis christiani oriundus erat magunciaco, sepultus brugis ad Ægidii_. a note at the beginning of his journal informs us that doppere was a priest, a notary of bruges and registrar to the chapter of st. donatian, and he himself tells us that in he had been attached to the church of st. donatian for over forty-six years--_ego romboldus de doppere, presbyter, versatus sum hic in ecclesia s. donatiani ultra annos xlvi._ ... we find him acting as notary from to , and in that capacity he witnessed, on october , , the translation of the relics of st. ursula to memlinc's new shrine. doppere was then personally acquainted with memlinc, perhaps his friend. in the later years of his life he seems to have been a canon of notre dame. he died, according to meyer, in , and was buried in the church he had so long served. as long ago as mr. weale proved by documentary evidence, published for the first time in the _gazette des beaux arts_, that memlinc had obtained the freedom of the city of bruges in , that two years later he was in the enjoyment of a considerable fortune, a portion of which was invested in house property, and that the dwelling which he himself inhabited was in the _rue st. george_ on a site now occupied by the garden of the house no. , that his wife's christian name was anne, that she bore him three children, john, corneile and nicolas, and that she died in . this is all that is at present certainly known concerning the story of hans memlinc. according to a legend long current in the city, memlinc was a poor soldier who, having escaped with his life from the battlefield of nancy (january , ), somehow or other succeeded in making his way to bruges, sought shelter in the hospital of st. john, and was there healed of his wounds. having no money wherewith to requite the brethren for the kindness they had shown him, he painted them a picture, or rather a whole series of pictures--the famous shrine of st. ursula. there is no documentary evidence in support of this story. the first writer to mention it is the abbé jean baptiste descamps in his _vie des peintres flamands_, which appeared in , some two hundred and forty years after memlinc's death, and since mr. weale's discoveries in it has been generally and perhaps too lightly regarded as devoid of all foundation. the documents which have of late years been brought to light do not, however, touch the main outlines of the hospital story, though they certainly prove that some of the incidents could not have taken place as the abbé descamps relates them. perhaps, as mr. weale suggests, memlinc learned the first elements of his art at cologne. there is a tradition that he was at one time the pupil of van der weyden. may be he first conceived his love of that delicate, miniature-like style which he afterwards brought to such perfection from 'master simon marmion of valenciennes, who,' louis de la fontaine tells us, 'had such skill in the noble science of painting that he surpassed not only all the other artists resident in the said town, but likewise those of all the neighbouring cities,' that 'prince of illuminators,' whom jean lemain, the poet-secretary of marguerite of austria, in his _couronne margaritique_ enumerates among the most famous painters of his day. 'et marmion, prince d'enlumineure dont le nom croit comme paste en levain par les effets de son noble tournure.' we know that a young brussels painter, whose christian name was hans, was sojourning at valenciennes from to ,[ ] and this same hans seems later on to have returned to brussels and entered the service of roger van der weyden. of course hans was a sufficiently ordinary name in germany, but it was not a common one in the netherlands, and there is another circumstance which makes it probable that the hans in question was hans memlinc. no picture of marmion has come down to us which can be identified as certainly his, but there are several which may be his handiwork. amongst them four panels on which is depicted the life of st. bertin. they once formed the wings of the sculptured retable of silver gilt, adorned with enamel and precious stones, which for more than three hundred years glistered behind the high altar in the abbey church of st. bertin at st. omer, the last resting-place of so many of the early counts of flanders. exquisite alike in colour and design, in days when gothic art was least esteemed these marvellous paintings excited universal admiration, and rubens himself is said to have been so enamoured of their beauty that he offered to cover them with _louis d'or_ if only the monks would consent to sell. presently came the evil days of the french revolution. the old church was pillaged and razed to the ground, and the triptych disappeared. fortunately the shutters were saved. somehow or other they came into the hands of a baker of st. omer, who later on sold them to an art collector in the neighbourhood. in they were put up for sale at the hôtel bullion in paris and purchased for francs (£ ) by monsieur nieuwenhuys for william i., king of the netherlands. only the larger shutters, however, were placed in the king's collection. the smaller ones were re-sold to m. beaucousin, and when he died in they were purchased along with his other pictures for the national gallery. in days gone by these exquisite pictures were unhesitatingly attributed to memlinc. there was an unbroken tradition at st. bertin's that he had painted them. 'never,' says m. de laplane in his _abbés de st. bertin_ ( ), 'had there existed a doubt at the abbey as to their authorship.' the abbé descamps, who visited st. omer in , was quite sure that they were memlinc's, and for over a hundred years historians, artists and archæologists alike were unanimous in adjudging them his. even as recently as the well-known dutch art critic victor de stuers expressed the same opinion. it was probably the comte de laborde who first expressed doubt as to their authorship. writing in of the larger panels he says, 'to whom must we attribute these two delicious pages--to memlinc in a peculiar phase of his talent, painting in a different and in some respects a less precise style than he painted at bruges? or have we here the work of a disciple or, may be, of a rival? if so the artist who produced them must be reckoned among the most eminent.... i shall have no peace until i have discovered the date, the price, and the author of these pictures.[ ] crowe and cavalcaselle are no less undecided:--if memlinc painted the shutters in question, he must have been aided by his pupils. others shared their uncertainty, others again unhesitatingly averred that the triptych could not be memlinc's. the comte de laborde was never able, perhaps he had never time, to solve the riddle he had propounded, but of late years a no less capable and patient investigator has, at least in part, succeeded in doing so. mgr. dehaisnes, like the author of _les ducs de bourgogne_, was unable to affirm that the paintings on the st. bertin's triptych were the handiwork of memlinc. if now and again an angel for example resembled his angels, there were other figures reminiscent of the style of dierick boudts or of roger van der weyden. the scheme of colour too recalled rather the rich, mellow, sunny tints of the 'adoration of the lamb' than the clearer tones of the shrine of st. ursula, and in point of vigour and precision the unknown artist fell short of the great masters of the bruges school and especially of the greatest of them all. the long and careful investigation which mgr. dehaisnes undertook resulted in the identification of the donor of the precious triptych, viz., william fillustre, bishop of toul, who ruled the abbey of st. bertin from to ; in the discovery of the price he paid for it, _livres_ _sous_, a sum equivalent in current coin to at least £ , not including the value of the gold, silver and precious stones, all of which were furnished by the abbey treasury; and in the discovery of the approximate date of its completion, between and , probably in the june of the latter year. and although mgr. dehaisnes has not been able to establish the identity of the author of the pictures, he has shown that it is in the highest degree probable than simon marmion painted them. if what mgr. dehaisnes modestly calls his '_conjectures vraisemblables_' should prove to be correct, and if memlinc was indeed marmion's pupil, it may well be that he aided his master in painting the marvellous shutters, and in that case the st. bertin's tradition that he was their author may perhaps be thus accounted for. the pictures which memlinc executed at bruges represent the work of his middle life and of his declining years. in former days they were sufficiently numerous, but now there are only six or at most seven of his authentic pictures within the limits of the city, and they are all of them save one, at present in the old chapter house of the hospital of st. john. of these the first in order of date is the great triptych which formerly adorned the high altar of the hospital chapel, and was painted in . the subject of the central panel is the 'mystic marriage of st. catherine.' here our lady is seated in a cloister, on a rich throne backed with cloth of gold; above her head two hovering angels hold a crown. on her knee is the divine infant who, leaning forward, places a ring on st. catherine's finger. behind his mystic bride stands an angel playing on an instrument of music, and beyond st. john the baptist with his lamb beside him. on the other side of our lady a kneeling angel holds a book of which she appears to be turning one of the leaves; hard-by is st. barbara reading, and in the background st. john the divine. beyond the cloister in the background is a fair landscape in which are depicted scenes from the life of the baptist and from the life of the beloved disciple. the principal theme of the left-hand panel is the martyrdom of st. john the baptist, that of the panel on the right the vision at patmos of the other st. john. painted, most probably at the suggestion of john floreins, who at that time was hospital treasurer, by an artist bearing the same christian name, for a church dedicated to st. john the baptist and st. john the divine, at the cost of devout men and women who divided their time between labour and prayer, this triptych is in the first place the glorification of the precursor and the beloved disciple, and in the second of st. catherine and st. barbara, who typify respectively in mediæval art the contemplative and the active life. in this picture we have the portrait of john memlinc over and over again, for it was his wont, at least so it is said, to make himself his own model when he painted st. john the baptist. here too john floreins appears twice. once in the habit of his order--a small black-robed figure in the left-hand corner of the central panel, and again in the background of the same panel, between a marble column and our lady's throne. this time he is represented in his secular capacity as public gauger of wine, near a huge crane in the _rue flamande_, with the old church of st. john, long since demolished, in the distance. such are the main outlines of the hospital triptych, the largest of memlinc's uncontested works, and the most beautiful in colour, at all events of his pictures in bruges. its prototype is in england--perhaps it was painted there--and is at present in the possession of the duke of devonshire. executed for sir john donne, who [illustration: memlinc's 'adoration of the magi' _in st. john's hospital at bruges_] was slain at the battle of edgecote near banbury on july , , this picture must be among the earliest, perhaps indeed it is the most ancient of memlinc's uncontested works. most of the figures herein portrayed are identical, or almost identical, with the figures in the bruges triptych. not only are they manifestly the same individuals, but their faces have the same expression and they are dressed in the same costumes. the colouring of this triptych is less rich than the colouring of the hospital picture, and perhaps the execution is less sure, but the grouping is more simple and more symmetrical, and there is an atmosphere of repose about it which one does not find to the same extent in the bruges picture. the attention of the spectator is not distracted by a multiplicity of scenes in the background. here there are no fluttering angels above our lady's head, and the calm, dignified figure of the evangelist on the left-hand shutter is decoratively far more effective than the ecstatic evangelist in the corresponding wing of the bruges triptych. in the same year that memlinc painted the 'mystic marriage of st. catherine,' he painted also the picture which hangs opposite to it. this work is likewise a triptych, but of much smaller dimensions than the first. it probably adorned the private oratory of john floreins, as an inscription in flemish on the frame informs us that it was painted for him: _dit werk dede maken broeder jan floreins alias vander rüst broeder proffes vanden hospitale van sint jans in brygghe anno opus johanis memlinc_. if there is any truth in the abbé descamps's legend it was probably this picture, and not the shrine of st. ursula, that memlinc painted as a thank-offering to john floreins, who, if he was not superior of the hospital when memlinc is said to have been a patient there, certainly occupied a responsible position and was doubtless able to dispense favours. to the right of the central panel there is the figure of a man wearing a yellow cap, a form of headgear used until recently by convalescents in the hospital. tradition says that we have here the portrait of memlinc, and if memlinc, indeed, portrayed his own features when he painted st. john the baptist, tradition speaks the truth. these heads bear a striking resemblance to the head of the man in the nightcap. the central panel represents the adoration of the magi, that on the right the nativity, and the other panel the presentation. the triptych when closed shows two figures, st. john the baptist--this, according to jacques van oost is the veritable portrait of the painter--and st. veronica. on the frame are representations of the fall and the expulsion from paradise painted in _grisaille_. these are also undoubtedly memlinc's handiwork. '_ici_,' notes canon duclos, '_nous avons tout un poème: celui de la chute, de la rédemption et des manifestations du rédempteur_.' the picture is certainly a glorious one, alike in design and in execution, and the scheme of colour is magnificent. it is esteemed by some to be memlinc's masterpiece, and it is without doubt the best of his bruges pictures. the third picture is a portrait of exquisite delicacy and finish, representing marie, the second daughter of willem moreel, a master grocer of considerable wealth and standing in the city, and one of memlinc's chief patrons. an inscription on the frame, which in mr. weale's opinion is certainly authentic, informs us that this picture was painted in . the same year another bruges tradesman, master tanner peter bultencke, commissioned memlinc to paint a triptych for notre dame with scenes from the life of [illustration: st. john the baptist _from memlinc's 'adoration of the magi' in st. john's hospital, bruges_] [illustration: st. veronica _from memlinc's 'adoration of the magi' in st. john's hospital, bruges_] christ. alas! it has long since left the city and is now in the gallery at munich. the fourth picture is a beautiful diptych painted in for martin van nieuwenhove, and presented by him to the hospice of st. julian, a half-secular, half-religious house of entertainment for poor pilgrims, of which he was one of the two patrons appointed by the town. the left panel shows our lady with her divine infant, to whom she is offering a golden apple; the right has a portrait of the donor with his hands clasped in prayer, and an open breviary before him. this is one of memlinc's finest portraits. the date of the paintings on the shrine of st. ursula is not certainly known, but since the relic for which it was constructed was placed in the new shrine on october , , it is probable that they were completed before that date. in this dainty casket we have a striking example of the imperfections and excellencies of the age which produced it. it stands in the centre of the chapter house and is in the form of a gothic chapel. bristling with heavy and superfluous ornament, with even the flat surface of the roof painted so as to simulate relief, the pictorial representations which adorn it are exquisite alike in design, in colour and in execution. each side is divided into three round-headed arcades of equal dimensions; within them memlinc has painted the pictures which tell the story of st. ursula as it was current in his day. these six panels contain the arrival of the saint and her companions at cologne, their arrival at basle and then at rome, their homeward journey, in which they are accompanied by the pope and his cardinals, their return to cologne, and their martyrdom in the camp of the huns. of the six scenes the third is the most beautiful, both in colour and composition. at the gable ends of the shrine are two other pictures. one of them represents our lady with her divine son in her arms, and two of the hospital sisters kneeling at her feet; the other st. ursula sheltering beneath her mantle ten of her companions. the high-pitched roof is adorned on each side with a large medallion set between two smaller ones; these contain angels playing on instruments of music, and ursula receiving the crown of martyrdom, and the same saint surrounded by her companions in heaven. all these pictures are executed in a delicate, miniature-like style, and with great care and finish. there is one other picture in the hospital museum attributed to memlinc--a triptych of which the subject of the central panel is the deposition. it is perhaps the rough design of a picture which was never carried out. there is also a triptych by memlinc in the municipal gallery. it once adorned the chantry of the moreel family in the church of st. jacques, and was the gift of william moreel, the father of marie moreel, whose portrait we have already seen in st. john's hospital. this picture was painted in in honour of st. christopher. in the central panel the gigantic form of the saint is seen wading through a river with the infant jesus on his shoulders, and leaning on the trunk of a young tree which he uses as a staff. he cannot understand how it is that so small a burthen should weigh so heavily, and, wondering, turns his head to behold the child, who, with a smile on his face, lifts one hand to bless him, whilst with the other he steadies himself by grasping a white linen bandage which is wound round the saint's head. on his right stands the benedictine saint, maurus, in his monk's habit. one of moreel's daughters was a benedictine nun, and it was doubtless on this account that memlinc introduced his portrait. on the other side st. gilles caressing the doe whose life he saved by receiving an arrow, which a huntsman had aimed at her, in his own arm. the figure of the saint is very fine, his face is the most beautiful in the whole composition. the reason why he is here introduced is not apparent. the left wing shows the donor with his five sons and his patron, st. william; the right, his wife, her patroness, st. barbara, and their eleven daughters. the figures of st. george and st. john the baptist are painted in grisaille on the outer side of the shutters. these last are probably not memlinc's work. mr. weale thinks that they may have been added in by order of john and george moreel, two of the sons of the donor. this picture is one of the most beautiful of memlinc's later works. unfortunately it has suffered much from the ravages of time and restorers. the lower portion of the face of one of the donor's sons has been clumsily repainted, and the removal of the _glacis_ has chilled, and to a certain extent spoiled, the harmony of the scheme of colour. we have said that hans memlinc was the greatest of all the flemish masters of the fourteenth century save only the brothers van eyck. mr. weale places him on a higher pinnacle. in his estimation hubert alone surpassed him. john van eyck, he says, saw with his eyes, memlinc beheld with his soul, and he adds--we are quoting from memory--that memlinc was the most poetical and the most musical of all the bruges painters. if this be so we can only say that john was more apt to portray what he saw than hans what he imagined, that if memlinc idealised the flemish type he at the same time denaturalised it, that if his figures are more refined they are also less human. that memlinc was inspired by the true spirit of poetry no one can deny, but his imagination sometimes runs away with him and his verses are not wholly devoid of false quantities. in other words, by reason of the multitude of scenes which he not unfrequently introduces in single panels, his pictures sometimes lack the beauty and the dignity of simplicity; and though he at first composed in symmetrical groups, after the manner of his predecessors, in his later work he sacrifices too much to his love of the picturesque. hans memlinc was a man of lofty ideals, and his creations are sometimes sublime, but not always. john van eyck was cast in a different mould. he was content to portray nature as he saw her. give me beautiful models, we can imagine him saying, and i will paint you beautiful pictures. give me ill-favoured models, and your pictures shall be beautiful still. yet do i scorn to flatter; i will be true to life. if i must needs paint flemings, my portraits shall be the portraits of flemings. i will neither make a fat man thin nor a coarse woman refined. i will portray every blemish and every wrinkle, but i will place my figures to the best advantage. their surroundings shall be magnificent; i will set them in the midst of fair courts and lovely temples; i will array them in the most becoming garments; i will bathe them in an aureole of glorious tones. your eye shall be enchanted by the symmetry of my grouping and the graceful flow of my drapery; i will shower jewels with a lavish hand, and i will harmonize everything with my magic gold. thus will i compel you to fall down and adore the splendour of the true. chapter xxv _modern bruges_ we have said that bruges never recovered from the blow which maximilian had dealt her. she had no chance of doing so. misfortune followed misfortune. most of her foreign merchants had migrated to antwerp, and once settled there they were loth to return. the discovery of america, and of a new route to the indies, added to her discomfiture by forcing commerce to forsake its old paths and its old havens; the river, the source of her wealth, was rapidly filling with sand. as early as the navigation of the zwyn, even as far as sluys, had become exceedingly difficult; by the close of the century no great vessel could reach damme, and before another fifty years had elapsed bruges was altogether cut off from the sea. if a ship canal had been made, as lancelot blondeel suggested, from the city to heyst, where there is deep water quite close to the shore, she might perchance have yet found salvation. but still poor, and weary from her conflict with maximilian, she had neither the means nor the heart to carry out so vast a project. then, too, there were the troubles bred of the religious revolution and the tyranny of spanish rule; the cruelty of philip, and the cruelty of alva, and the no less cruel retaliation of 'the beggars of the sea,' who on march , , captured the city, and by the aid of colonel henry balfour, a scotch adventurer in the service of william of orange, held it for six years. during this period catholic worship was strictly prohibited, many of the leading citizens were thrust into prison, amongst them the bishop, a large-minded and liberal man, who had done his utmost to stay alva's hand, and most of the clergy were driven into exile. some of them fared worse still--were tortured, scourged, burnt at the stake in front of the cathedral. nor was this all. sanctuaries were pillaged, altars cast down, art treasures innumerable were wantonly destroyed, the church of st. anne was razed to the ground, and notre dame was turned into a stable. two years later balfour received his reward. it happened thus. about this time the spaniards were threatening the city, and the scotch colonel led out his troops to oppose them. wounded in the conflict which followed, but apparently not grievously, for he was still able to keep his saddle, he turned his horse's head towards bruges. presently his comrades saw him reel, and then, without a cry or any other sign, he fell back dead. they carried him home to the city, and buried him in the churchyard of st. sauveur. during these troublous times hundreds of the best and wealthiest families left the city, and when peace was at length restored in , the population hardly numbered thirty thousand souls. if it had not been for the church, bruges would in all probability have gradually dwindled down to a mere village like sluys or damme, or even little middelburg. the action of pope pius iv., who, at the instance of philip ii. in , had made bruges an episcopal see, saved her from this fate. bitterly opposed as the measure had been by all classes of society--by the higher clergy, who feared that the presence of a bishop amongst them would lessen their prestige; by the monks, who knew that they would be shorn of revenue for the endowment of the new see; by the nobles, who regarded the great abbeys as the appanage of their younger sons; by the people, who believed that this step was the prelude to the installation of the spanish inquisition--it proved in the outcome the town's salvation. and bruges owed something more to the church:--towards the close of the fifteen hundreds and during the opening years of the succeeding century, a vast immigration of wealthy families, who brought with them gold, and, better still, treasures of literature and treasures of art. many of the religious houses in the outlying country had been destroyed by the ghent calvinists, not a few in the immediate neighbourhood of bruges by the burghers themselves, who, when the gueux were threatening them in , had caused all buildings within a mile of their walls to be razed to the ground, in order that the enemy might find no place for shelter. for fifty years after the settlement of , even when the religious troubles were over, flanders was the scene of continual warfare. amid the coming and going of troops there was no guarantee of security outside the walls of the towns, and, as might be expected, the monks and nuns of the country-side flocked into the episcopal city. amongst them were representatives of almost all the great religious orders--benedictines, carthusians, dominicans, augustinians, carmelites, capuchins, jesuits, and, most noteworthy of all, cistercians from the famous abbey of st. mary on the dunes at coxyde, and from the affiliated house called ter doest, at lisseweghe. of all the religious communities to which bruges now offered an asylum, this was the mightiest and the most renowned. it was unsurpassed alike in wealth, in learning, in numbers, in dignity of life, in dignity of tradition, in spiritual and temporal achievements. st. bernard was its founder. some of the holiest and wisest men of the middle ages had been numbered among its members; the abbey at coxyde was magnificent; its church was, perhaps, the most beautiful in the land; thanks to the patient toil of its monks, as one of their abbots used to boast, the barren dunes which surrounded it had become a fertile garden. [illustration: bruges from the river yperlet] a whirlwind of fanaticism swept them away, and now their vast domain is what it was before the white-robed brethren settled there--a wilderness of shifting sand. bruges during the opening years of the sixteen hundreds was seething in misery. war had brought forth famine and pestilence, and the flight of commerce had left thousands of working men without any means of gaining their bread; but there was still gold in the city. the fortunes which had been made in trade, or at all events a certain proportion of them, remained after trade had departed, and the monastic immigrants, as we have seen, were not without resources, nor did the possessors of the mammon of unrighteousness suffer it to remain idle. they made to themselves friends with it. churches and monasteries were restored; the monks and nuns from the country built for themselves new habitations; hospices and almshouses, _godshuisen_ (god's houses), as they are at bruges picturesquely termed, were founded all over the city. thus was work provided for those who were able to do it, and a permanent provision made for the aged and the infirm. the buildings now erected in no way resembled the sumptuous palaces and stately guild halls of bygone days, but some of them are sufficiently picturesque. take, for instance, the carthusian convent in the _rue du vieux bourg_, with its seven gables, and mullioned windows, and beautiful gothic doorway surmounted by three niches, with statues of saints in the style of the renaissance--it has recently been restored, and is now the _local_ of a workmen's club, the _gilde van ambachten_; or the leper hospital, at the end of the _marché au fil_; or the pest house on the grand canal adjoining the thirteenth-century hospice of _notre dame de la poterie_ and there are a host of others equally interesting, and above all and everywhere the little _godshuisen_ with their quaint gables, and blinking windows, and picturesque doorways, often with a niche above them and the image of a saint. they are not the least beautiful feature in the architecture of this beautiful city, and the number of them is legion. some are large enough to afford accommodation for thirty or forty inmates. these are generally built round a courtyard laid out as a garden. in others again there is only room for six or seven persons. some are for women only, some for men, some for married couples; each _godshuis_ has its little oratory; all of them are comfortable and clean, and all are picturesque. [illustration: godshuis, quai des marbriers] the inmates are left very much to themselves, the oldest inhabitant generally acting as superior. each inmate or married couple, as the case may be, in addition to his or their apartment, receives a monthly pension varying in amount from house to house, but in no case very large. many of the inhabitants, however, are able to do a little work, others, perhaps, have children who are in a position to contribute to their support. your true fleming is rarely lacking in filial piety--it is one of the most pleasing characteristics of the race--and thus these old people are able to rub along, not perhaps in affluence, but for all that with a good roof over their heads, without enduring the pangs of hunger, and, no small boon, in the enjoyment of their liberty. thus was bruges transformed in the seventeenth century, thus did she become what she still is--a vast conglomeration of religious houses and charitable institutions, a city of nuns and friars. the _évêché_ had taken the place of the court, the monk of the merchant; commerce had fled, and charity was doing what she could to supply its place. thus, thanks in great measure to the initiative of the church, the evil days were tided over. when, later on, in the following century, the wars and rumours of wars had passed away, and the 'pastoral folk' of the franc were enabled to obtain some profit from their former avocations, bruges to a certain extent participated in their prosperity; but though she on more than one occasion essayed to revive her commerce--notably in by the canalization of the river yperlet, with a view to putting herself in communication with ostend--her efforts in each case proved abortive. flanders had become, to quote the words of a seventeenth-century historian, _famosum antiquitatis sepulchrum_, and her capital was constrained to live on the reputation of its former glory. let us not, however, shed too many tears over the commercial decay of bruges. if her prosperity had continued she would hardly have remained what she still is--the fairest city in northern europe. we know indeed that her private palaces were suffered to fall into decay because their owners were too poor to maintain them, but if they had been never so rich the old buildings would have disappeared just the same. the art of the middle ages was abhorrent to the eighteenth century, and the gothic palaces of bruges would surely have given place to rococo mansions. moreover, that same poverty which destroyed so much of her splendour not only endowed her, as we have seen, with a multitude of picturesque buildings, but has preserved for us what remains of her ancient domestic architecture. on the nd of october the members of the confraternity of the blessed sacrament established in the church of st. sauveur--now the cathedral--decreed that the three fifteenth-century stained-glass windows in their chantry--the central chapel of the ambulatory, immediately behind the high altar--should be forthwith destroyed, in order that the public might the better appreciate the new altar they had erected, which 'was such an admirable imitation of marble.' in a like act of vandalism, but on a larger scale, was perpetrated in the same church. the ancient stained-glass windows were at this time removed from the clerestory of the choir and replaced by white glass, and there were no less than thirteen of them. similar outrages were committed in all the churches and public buildings of bruges, and if only her private citizens had been rich enough to pull down and rebuild their dwellings there would have been little left by this time of the mediæval city. it is only fair to add that bruges has long since learned to appreciate her old buildings. many of them have been carefully restored, others are in course of restoration, the work has for the most part been accomplished with no little skill and taste, and, for the rest, it may be safely said that no other great mediæval city has preserved so much of its old-world character. how long this will continue to be true is another question. lancelot blondeel's scheme, or one no less nefarious, is at length being carried out; much havoc has already been wrought in the northern outskirts of the city; old houses have been pulled down, old timber has been felled; in despite of strenuous opposition, the course of one of the loveliest canals has been diverted, and its former bed filled in for the convenience of the jerry builder. if the projected sea canal should fulfil the expectation of its promoters there can be no doubt that bruges will lose much of her charm. she will no longer be a city of sleepy streets and of picturesque canals unfrequented save by swans, choked up with water lilies, and fringed with trees and flowering shrubs and dreamy old houses blinking at the water. she will become a second ghent, a second antwerp, and the knowing ones aver that all the profit will find its way into the pockets of jews and germans. the modern fleming, it would seem, has little aptitude for commerce. there is some consolation in this thought, and there is more in this--the scheme is a vast one, and bruges moves slowly. it took her twenty years to restore the hôtel gruthuise. twenty-five years ago she decided to restore the western façade of notre dame. between that time and this the architect who was commissioned to undertake the work has submitted no less than twenty-five different plans. when the façade has actually fallen, and it is said that it cannot last much longer, perhaps those who are responsible for the delay will select one of them. we may take it then that mediæval bruges will at all events last our day. the following notes will perhaps be of service to those who wish to see the most beautiful and interesting spots in bruges, and to examine its art treasures. let such an one, coming forth from his inn, which, if he be a wise man, will be either _le flandre_ or _le commerce_--there are others cheaper but none so comfortable--unaccompanied by a guide, who would only irritate and confuse him, and keeping his eyes always open, for there is much to see, make his way as best he can to the _grande place_, and there let him feast his eyes on the majestic splendour of the belfry, and fill his ears with the weird music which every quarter of an hour proceeds from it-- low and loud and sweetly blended, low at times and loud at times, and changing like a poet's rhymes _ring_ the beautiful wild chimes from the belfry in the market of the ancient town of bruges. next let him turn off into the street called philipstock, proceeding along which he will presently descry, beyond the houses on the left-hand side, all that remains of the old church of st. peter, where bertulph once celebrated the obsequies of charles the good. the first turning on the right leads, through a grove of sycamore and chestnut trees planted on the site of st. donatian's, to the _place du bourg_, one of the loveliest squares in europe. the great gothic building opposite is the _hôtel de ville_; the two-storeyed church of tawny brick hard-by, with a portal at right angles to it of dark grey stone carved into flamboyant panelling and enriched with statues of bronze, the sanctuary of the holy blood; in the gabled edifice on the left, half gothic and half renaissance in style, glorious with colour and gold, and altogether beautiful, we have the last architectural effort of the waning prosperity of bruges--the _maison de l'ancien greffe_, built in . it now serves as a court of justice, has been carefully restored, and is well worth a visit. the justice-room, with its old oak and old brass, its stained-glass windows and its glorious chimney-piece, is perfect; so too the inner chamber, which serves as the magistrates' private apartment. the _hôtel de ville_ has also been well restored; the entrance hall is particularly fine, and the great hall above, with its ancient timber roof, and its excellent modern frescoes, not yet completed, is no less charming. in this building there are several interesting pictures of bruges in days gone by and of the surrounding country. of the beauty of the two churches we have already spoken. in the upper church there are some interesting pictures, there are more in the adjoining museum, and here too there are some fragments of ancient stained glass, the original designs of the windows in the upper chapel, some beautiful antique lace and embroidery, and the silver-gilt [illustration: lancelot blondell's chimney-piece in the palais du franc] reliquary studded with jewels--amongst them a splendid black diamond which once belonged to marie, queen of scots--in which the holy blood is annually carried in procession through the streets in the month of may. this reliquary was the gift of the burghers of bruges in ; the original reliquary was destroyed by the protestants in . the relic is exposed for the veneration of the faithful every friday in the upper chapel from eight till eleven thirty, and the ceremony of benediction which then takes place is singularly impressive. the beautiful groined archway which pierces the _maison de l'ancien greffe_ leads to a region where there are exquisite views: from the centre of the great fishmarket, the backs of the buildings of which we have just been speaking--they are no less fascinating than their façades; and from the _pont de l'âne aveugle_ the loveliness of the roya, and the façade of the _palais du franc_ where, in the great council chamber, is lancelot blondeel's famous chimney-piece. the approach to this building is through the _palais de justice_ in the _place du bourg_. bearing to the right through the little fishmarket, most picturesque, we presently reach the _marché aux herbes_, the _quai de rosaire_ and the _dyver_, where the scenery is no less charming. the great red house on the further bank of the roya is the house where malvenda hid the holy blood, and the majestic spire in the distance the spire of _notre dame_. almost at the end of the _dyver_ there is a little street called the _rue de groeninghe_, which branches off the main thoroughfare between two walled gardens. that on the left is the site of the ancient abbey of eeckhout, a very peaceful place, where in summer-time there are roses in abundance and old-world herbs and flowers, and, on a crumbling wall, snap-dragon. the gabled house hard-by, with a little gothic window, was formerly the residence of the provosts of notre dame; the picturesque group of buildings in the distance, which, amid thick foliage, cluster round its spire, is the old palace of louis of gruthuise; the garden beyond the narrow stream, the garden of the nuns of st. andré. let the traveller linger awhile in this tranquil spot and, if he will, for twopence half-penny, refresh himself with a beautiful bunch of roses. continuing his walk along the _rue de groeninghe_ the tourist will presently see a wrought-iron grill at the end of an _impasse_ which gives on the river. let him approach it and look through the railings. here there is a nook which strangers rarely find; many who have lived in the city for years do not know of it, and yet it is perhaps the most beautiful of all the beautiful spots in bruges. to discover this priceless jewel is the main object of our journey. here the roya is often a rushing torrent. on one side of the stream, rising clean out of the water, is the oldest wing of the _gruthuise_; on the other a walled garden with lofty trees spreading their branches over the river which, to the right, disappears beneath an archway piercing an old house, once part of the palace; in the near background, immediately facing the grill, is the choir of notre dame with its grove of flying buttresses, and beyond, towering high above all, the majesty of its steeple--the grandest and the fairest thing in brick or stone which the genius of man has yet created. it was from this lovely spot, or rather a few yards higher up stream, that mr. railton took the beautiful sketch of the _hôtel gruthuise_ which appears on p. . hard-by, on the bank of this same river, a little higher up stream, stands the beguinage (_see_ map), that most picturesque cloister where the quaint dwellings of the nuns--for each beguin has her own home, her own purse and her own household--fringe a fair and spacious green planted with lofty elms, a very tranquil spot where the ghost of the thirteenth century still lingers. the convent church dates from the year , but it has been so changed and spoiled by repeated restorations that little of the original building remains, and it can no longer, perhaps, be called beautiful. but, notwithstanding, it has a certain charm which is quite its own. it is so picturesque and so clean and so quiet and so comfortable, and with it all there is such a quaint, old-world atmosphere about the place that many a much more beautiful church is far less attractive. and the worshippers who frequent it!--the very precise and deliberate and ceremonious old ladies who totter across the green to church at intervals throughout the day--from _angelus_ to _angelus_, and there let down their long black trains and put on their white choir veils, and presently, with much curtseying to one another and many genuflections before the high altar, together chant their breviary in feeble, quavering tones, whilst the old caretaker, in a secluded corner, calmly tells her beads or knits stockings. the entrance to the beguinage is by the _place de la vigne_, over a bridge which spans the roya, whence there are beautiful views of that stream, of the beguins' little gardens, of their church, of the old lockhouse at the head of the minne water, of the lake itself beyond, and, in the far background, of those lovely wooded ramparts, where all night long in summer-time the nightingale intones _his_ psalmody. the canals of bruges are all of them exceedingly beautiful. the great canal, which enters the city on the eastern side between the _porte de gand_ and the infantry barracks, and divides it into two unequal parts, is interesting from end to end, and as there are roads on each side, and it is spanned by five bridges, there is no difficulty in exploring it. the most picturesque route is from the bourg by the _rue de l'âne aveugle_ and the terrace which skirts the backwater of the roya--the _quai des marbriers_, as it is called, and the _quai vert_. hard-by the spot where the main stream of the roya--a vista here of ancient gables with the _poorters logie_ and its charming tower in the distance--empties itself into the canal is the old tavern which rubens is said to have frequented. it stands in the _rue des blanchisseurs_, a narrow lane off the road which skirts the right-hand bank of the canal, and is called the _vlissinghe_. a most interesting old place this, the tourist should not fail to visit it. the accompanying sketch is of the back of the house. [illustration: the vlissinghe tavern, frequented by rubens] the ghent canal skirts the whole of the eastern side of the town, from the minne water bridge, that is, to the old _porte de damme_; on its banks stand the _porte de gand_ and the _porte ste. croix_. from the high ramparts beyond the latter gate there is a beautiful panoramic view of the city and of the open country on the other side of the water. there is also a canal which branches off from the ghent canal by the minne water bridge in the opposite direction; it runs alongside of the ramparts as far as the _porte des baudets_, where it turns off into the open country. its banks are for the most part well wooded, beyond the picturesque _porte des maréchaux_ they are high and steep, and from this spot too there is a beautiful view of the city. hard-by the hospital for incurable women, a vast and splendid modern building which stands on the banks of the minne water, a fourth canal enters the town. this is perhaps the fairest of all the bruges waterways. the best points of view are from its bridges, which are all save one beautiful and all save one ancient. there are no less than six of them:--the _pont de la clef_, which separates the _rue des bouchers_ from the _rue fossé aux loups_--mr. railton has given us a sketch of it; the _pont aux lions_, hard by the _rue du marécage_ and the church of st. jacques; the _pont des baudets_ in the _rue d'ostende_; the _pont flamand_, which connects the _rue flamande_ with the _rue st. georges_;--this is the oldest bridge in bruges, originally constructed by the augustinian friars in , it was rebuilt by the town in --the _pont des augustins_ at the end of the _rue espagnole_, and the _pont de la tour_ by the _place des orientaux_. the tourist will do well to visit all these bridges and also to follow the road which skirts the canal from the last bridge to its junction with the great canal, about five hundred yards further on. the gardens and houses on the opposite side of the stream are most picturesque. it was here that john van eyck lived, though, alas! his dwelling has been swept away. [illustration: quai des ménétriers] of the roya and of the beautiful backwater which connects it with the great canal, at the end of the _rue des dominicains_, we have already spoken in a previous chapter. there are other streams too which wend their way through the city. it is impossible within the limits of this manual even to indicate their whereabouts, so numerous are they and so intricate is their meandering. the tourist will come upon them, in the course of his rambles, in the most unexpected places, and he will find them on that account none the less beautiful. bruges possesses seven parish churches--_notre dame_, which claims precedence of all the rest; _st. sauveur_, which is also the cathedral--a finer but less picturesque and less interesting building; _st. jacques_, a noble structure spoiled by calvinist fury and seventeenth century restoration; _st. gilles_, which suffered more than all, and has now renewed its youth and splendour; _ste. anne_, which dates from the opening years of the sixteen hundreds and which, with its carved oak, its old brass, its pictures, its stained glass and its polished marble, is a very pleasing specimen of the work of the period; _ste. walburge_, erected about the same date from the design of the jesuit peter huyssens, a native of bruges, who died in that city in ; and _ste. marie madeleine_, a modern building which, if it were in london, would be called 'handsome.' all of these churches, save the last, are worth visiting, not only because of their intrinsic beauty, but on account of the beautiful and interesting objects which they contain. pictures, wood carving, wrought-iron, brass, all these things shall here delight the eye--aye, and gold too and silver and precious stones, tapestry, embroidery, lace, if only the custodians can be persuaded to discover their hidden treasures. of the other sanctuaries of bruges, the traveller should at least visit the chapel of the hospital of st. john ( ), which is rich in _objets d'art_, and possesses, amongst other treasures, a set of embroidered mass vestments which date from , and are all sewn with pearls, no less than seventy-three thousand of them, so it is said; the chapel and hospice of _notre dame de la poterie_ ( ), beautifully restored, [illustration: pont st. augustin] where there is a small collection of early flemish pictures, some charming old oak furniture and sculpture, and several pieces of fifteenth-century tapestry; the carmelite church in the _rue d'ostende_, built in from the designs of frère patrice de saint-hubert; here the dancing angels over the altar are spindle-shanked and ill-proportioned, the cupids which flutter about them have the faces of demons, and seem bursting with evil passions, the sacred figures carved on the confessionals are caricatures, the whole scheme of ornament is in the worst possible taste, but somehow or other, in spite of it all, this church is a very fascinating and a very devotional one; the proportions are good, it is rich in carved oak and sculptured marble, the colouring is harmonious, and the windows, amber-hued and pale green, with beautiful patterns traced in lead, are simply perfect; and of course there is the jerusalem chapel and the chapels of the precious blood, of all of which we have already spoken, and, if the tourist would go further afield, the stately thirteenth-century church of our lady at damme, and the no less beautiful shrine of our lady at lisseweghe, which dates from the same period. damme is about three miles out of the city. it is situated on the banks of the sluys canal. there is a very good steamboat service, and the pleasantest way to reach it is by water. the damme town hall dates from the end of the fourteenth century, and is a charming old building. here, too, is a convent and hospital which dates from the thirteenth century, and there are some quaint old houses. when bruges was at its heyday the population of damme amounted to sixty thousand souls. the number of its inhabitants is now probably less than one thousand. lisseweghe is some five miles from bruges. the pleasantest way to reach it is by walking or driving. about a mile short of the village, a little off the high road on the left-hand side, are the ruins of _ter doest abbey_, well worth visiting. the great gothic grange or barn dates from the close of the thirteenth century (about ), and is still intact, a stupendous building, feet by feet or thereabouts, and nearly feet high from the ground to the ridge of the roof. lisseweghe can also be reached by rail. of the other famous buildings of bruges we have already spoken. by the aid of the map and the directions previously given, the reader will have no difficulty in ascertaining their whereabouts. bruges is a city of considerable size; its ramparts measure nearly five miles round, and it is hardly an exaggeration to say there is no spot within this magic circle devoid of interest. the stranger who, having hurried through its churches and picture galleries in the morning, and whiled away an hour or so in its streets in the afternoon, fancies that he knows bruges is vastly mistaken. for our own part, we have dwelt in this enchanted city for many years, and the sum of its loveliness, we feel very sure, has not yet been revealed to us. [illustration: plan of brvges] index a abbey of st. bavon at ghent, . abbey of st. bertin at st. omer, to which arnulph acted as abbot, . acta of louis the fat, the, compiled by suger, abbot of st. denis, and containing a life of charles the good, . adelard ii., abbot of st. trond, . adornes, hôtel d', erected by anselm and john adornes, - . alliance, the, of bruges, ghent and ypres, . amand, st., bishop of bourges, . arnulph, son of baldwin calvus, ; his work in the reformation and re-organisation of the church in flanders, - . arnulph ii., his reign, . arnulph, abbot of blandinium, requested to bury the body of charles secretly, . arras, the treaty of, . artois, count of, his part in the invasion of flanders in conjunction with philippe le bel, , , ; his death, . aspremont, the lord of, lieutenant to louis ii. of nevers, ; rebellion of the karls against his tyranny, and his dismissal from office, . austria, the archduke of, his regency over flanders, , . b backwater of the roya, upon which baldwin's new bourg was built, , . baldwin the bald, ; his death in , and burial at st. omer and blandinium, . baldwin of constantinople, his character, , ; his receipt of the symbol of the cross, ; revolt of the greeks against his rule, ; his reported death and discovery twenty years after, , ; the story of his adventures, - ; the attempt by his daughter and the king of france to discredit his story, ; his arrest by the baron erard de chastenay, and execution by his daughter jeanne, . baldwin the good, ; his disposition, ; his death, . baldwin hapkin, the influence exercised over him by charles of denmark, . baldwin of the iron hand, the real founder of bruges, his coming, ; his abduction of judith, daughter of charles the bald, ; his flight to rome, ; and subsequent rise to power, ; his death, . baldwin of lille, forced to rebuild and extend the walls of bruges, , . baldwin of the long beard, his continuation of the work of arnulph, and the increased prosperity of flanders, . baptistry chapel, . barbesaen, nicholas, banished from bruges, his work, . bavichove, the battle at which count robert signally defeated richilde, , . becket, thomas à, his shelter at the flemish court, . belfry of bruges, the, . berri, the duke of, hated by the burghers, wounded almost to death, ; the confession of john the fearless to him, . bertulph, his charge against charles of denmark, ; his sorrow at the death of charles the good, ; his escape from bruges, ; concealment at the manor of alard of woesten, and capture by william of löo, ; his death, ; story of his life, - . beuterbeke, the, . _bibliothèque royale_ at brussels, . black house, the, . bladelin, sir peter, treasurer of the golden fleece, ; foundation of a chantry, _ibid._; his portrait at berlin, . bourchard d'avesnes, ; flanders's universal belief in, ; his marriage with margaret, daughter of baldwin of constantinople, her declaration of the marriage, ; birth of two children, ; the effect of the crushing of baldwin of constantinople upon him, ; his imprisonment, and the breaking by margaret of her plighted troth, ; his death, ; the connection of bruges with his love story, . boudts, dierick, - . breidel, john, dean of the butchers' guild, throws in his lot with those rebelling against philippe le bel, . brugge, the residence of baldwin and judith, after their reconciliation with charles the bald, , . burchard, his leadership of the erembalds against the stratens, ; his house burned as a punishment, _ibid._; his murder of charles the good, ; his attempt to make his peace with the dead man, ; his death, . burgundy, the dukes of, their constant enmity with the french princes, . c carmelite church, the, . carthusian convent, the, . chapel of st. basil, . chapter of st. donatian's, founded by arnulph, . charles viii. of france, his help to the flemings, ; and the reading of his charters, . charles the bald, king of the franks, ; his action against those who rebelled against him, ; the reconciliation, . charles le bel, his submission to the reign of louis of nevers in flanders, ; his death, . charles the bold, his reign in flanders, - ; his schemes, and defeat at nancy, , ; his further demands, ; his disappearance, _ibid._ charles the good, his influence over baldwin hapkin; his reign as count of flanders, ; provost bertulph's charge against him, ; called away to france, ; forced erembalds and stratens to swear a truce to hostilities during his absence, ; his punishment of burchard, ; his murder by burchard, ; and his hurried secret burial, ; his character considered, , . charter, the great, - . châtillon, jacques de, ; his policy, ; and its results, ; his arrival at bruges with knights, their defeat, ; and his escape, . cnopp, wulfric, the first prisoner executed after the surrender of bruges to the isegrins, . coins, their evidence that bruges was a commercial town of some note, . commines, philippe de, quoted, . confraternity of the blessed sacrament, . coninck, petrus de (_see_ peter king). coucy, albéric de, chief councillor to richilde of hainault, . courtrai, the battle of, and its results, - . craenenburg, the, , , . crévcoeur, his command of the flemings during their revolt against maximilian, . d damme, . danes, their constant warfare with baldwin of the iron hand, and their fierce pillage of flanders, . david, gerard, - . deken, willem de, his horrible fate, . dierick of alsace, proclaimed count of flanders, ; his confirmation and increase of the rights and privileges of bruges, ; his triumph over william cliton, ; the bringing to bruges of a religious relic, ; his part in the second crusade, _ibid._ doest, ter, , , . duclos, canon, his opinion of gothic architecture, . dunstan, st., his munificence to the monasteries of flanders, . e edward iii. of england, his active co-operation with the communes of flanders, ; hostilities between england, france, and louis of nevers, ; negotiations with louis and with flemish burghers, _ibid._; his generous support to flanders, . eeckhout, the abbey, its story, , . eligius, the feast of st., . england, the changed attitude of flanders with regard to, ; the taking of sluys, and orderly retreat therefrom, . erembald, his appointment as châtelain of bruges, . erembald family, the, ; its feud with the house of straten, , . etheldritha, wife of baldwin the bald. baldwin's body re-buried by her command, . exiles, their flight to bruges, . eyck, hubert van, - . eyck, john van, , , , , - . f feast of the precious blood (_see_ also relic), . ferdinand of portugal, ; his marriage to jeanne, daughter of baldwin of constantinople, and renunciation of philip's overlordship, ; his capture at the battle of bouvines, . fiérens-gevaert, . fitzosberne, william, earl of hereford, his assistance of richilde of hainault, . flotte, pierre, his escape, along with de châtillon, from bruges, ; his death, . fouquet, jean, . froissart quoted, , . g gachard quoted, . galbert quoted, (_see_ walbert). gardin, wuillaume du, . gerson, jean de, his denunciation of petit's doctrine, ; his residence in lyons, . gheldorf, - . ghent, ; the secret negotiations of the ghenters for the body of charles the good, ; their renunciation of homage to william cliton, ; the playing of bruges against ghent by louis of nevers, ; its loyalty and pride, ; the preservation of its liberties after the invasion of philip of valois, ; its omission from the favours of louis of valois, ; alliance with bruges and ypres, ; charges against sohier, the regent, ; complications with bruges, ; capture of bruges, ; conciliation between the two towns, ; defection of burghers fighting against philippe, ; their fight for liberty defeated, ; sentence of exile against philip of hornes, ; possession taken by maximilian, . ghistelhof, . gillemer, . gilliodts, monsieur, his opinion on the belfry, . godshuisen, - . godwin, earl, the outlawry of his son, and his negotiation for a marriage between tostig and baldwin of lille's daughter, . gosfried, a northern chieftain, . green's _short history of the english people_ quoted, . gruthuise, hôtel, - ; connected with the church of notre dame, , , ; its restoration, , . gunhilda, residence with her mother at bruges, her gift to the collegiate church, and her death, . guntfried, a northern chieftain, . guy de dampierre, count, his brilliant court, , ; his mistrust of flanders, ; the difficulties of his reign, - ; his imprisonment, treaty with philip, and death, , . guy of namur, son of guy of flanders, his welcome in flanders, ; his battle cry, and its effect, . h hacket, desiderius, head of the house of erembald, ; his speech to the isegrins, ; escape from bruges, and journey across the great salt marsh to the stronghold of his son-in-law, ; his life and descendants, - . helbig, jules, . henry vi. of england, his complaint at philippe l'asseuré's disloyalty, . holy sepulchre, the, . hospital of st. john, the chapel of, . humphrey, duke of gloucester, to whom the county of flanders was awarded by henry vi., ; his recognition as count, . i inns, . isaac of reninghe, nephew to bertulph, hanged by william of löo, . ivan of alost, his speech to william cliton at ghent, ; and the proclamation that he renounced his homage to william, . j jabbeke, jan van, . john of dadizeele, his character, , ; attacked by ruffians, ; and killed, . john the fearless, reign in flanders, ; character, ; disappointment at the retreat of english before burghers of bruges, ; vengeance on bruges, - ; use of flemings to fight against france, their refusal to fight beyond a stated time, , ; compelled to yield at all points to the burghers, ; murder of the duc d'orléans, ; confession and flight, ; increased power, ; death, , . john of namur, appointment as warden at sluys, and imprisonment, . judith, daughter of charles the bald, her marriage to king ethelwolf of wessex, and abduction by baldwin, . jurisdiction, the right of bruges to exercise it over sluys and damme, . k karls of the seaboard, constant feud with sovereigns of flanders, ; home and manners, ; independence, , ; leliart nobles' opinion of, ; rebellion, - ; preparations to resist philip of valois, ; descent on the french camp, ; defeat, . _de kerels van vlaanderen_, by hendrick conscience, , . kervyn quoted, , , , , . king, peter, consideration of his original station and position, ; leadership of bruges, ; retreat from bruges, ; failure to win over the ghenters, and the consequent terror of his followers, ; wisdom, ; recall to bruges, and defeat of de châtillon, . krangrok, herred, a typical karl, . l lanchals, peter, his flight, ; betrayal, ; and death, . _la noble confrérie du précieux sang_, . laws of bruges, the, - . lisseweghe, , . lisseweghe, the monastery, . longfellow quoted, . louis xi. of france, , . louis the fat, - , ; his message to the people of flanders, and nomination of william cliton as count, ; plan to wrest normandy from henry beauclerc, . louis of maele, son of louis of nevers, policy, ; attempt to make burghers renounce allegiance to edward iii., , ; means for avoiding marriage with isabella of england, ; oppression of ghent, and rising of ghenters, ; defeat of louis, ; flight and escape, ; his wife, ; generosity to bruges, _ibid._ louis of nevers, ; imprisonment by his father, ; death, _ibid._ louis ii. of nevers, accession to throne of flanders, ; appointment of his uncle, john of namur, as warden of sluys, and anger of the citizens of bruges, ; his life at the court of nevers, ; action of his lieutenant in flanders, ; rebellion of flemings against him, ; fear of treachery, ; and violent measures to crush the rebels, ; his defeat and capture, _ibid._; charter issued from prison, ; his release and oath to respect the liberties of the flemings, ; his changed mood, ; death, . louis, son of charles the bald, conspiracy with guntfried, gosfried, and baldwin, ; their defeat, . lübke, . m maison de l'ancient greffe, , . marche, m. lecoy de la, _note_, . marché aux herbes, . margaret, daughter of baldwin of constantinople, wife of bourchard d'avesnes, ; birth of her two sons, ; breaking of her troth to bourchard, ; hatred for him, ; and her attempt to prove the illegitimacy of her children, . marie, daughter of charles the bold, accession to throne of flanders, ; betrothal, ; marriage, ; death, ; monument erected to her memory, . marmion, simon, . maximilian, of austria, betrothal to marie of flanders, ; marriage, ; weakness of intellect, ; vacillation, ; expenditure of his wife's money, , ; arrest of bruges' magistrates, ; release of same on payment of a heavy fine, ; departure for holland and confirmation of the authority of the council of regency, ; victory over dutch rebels, and insults to regents, ; declaration regarding his treaty, and preparations for war, ; triumph by treachery over bruges and ghent, ; foolish disdain for the flemings, and ambitious attempt to invade france, ; defeat, ; attempt to re-establish confidence in burghers, ; further trouble, , ; his speech to burghers, , ; visit of condolence from burghers, ; new prison, ; terms of his release, , ; residence in hulse, and declaration therefrom, ; peace treaty, . memlinc, hans, , - . middelburg, near bruges, . moerseke, lord of, surrender of guy of dampierre's sword to william of juliers, . mural paintings, . n nancy, the battle of, its effect on charles the bold, . napoleon, visit to bruges, and preservation of st. basil's, . nassau, count of, maximilian's lieutenant, in flanders, ; interception of food supplies, ; terms offered by bruges, _ibid._ nicholas ii., pontiff of rome, intercession for baldwin and judith, . notre dame, the church of, , - , , , ; connected with the hôtel de gruthuise, ; restoration of western façade, , , . notre dame de la poterie, . o orientaux, maison des, , . orléans, duc d', his death, . oudewater, the birthplace of gerard david, . p palace of the liberty of bruges, . palais du franc, . paris hall, the, . petit, john, ; quoted, ; his doctrine denounced, . philip of alsace, his reign, . philip augustus of france, his action regarding the throne of flanders, - ; invasion of flanders, . philippe l'asseuré, accession to the throne of flanders, ; treaty of arras, ; defection of his army, ; acknowledgment of rights of bruges over sluys, and attempt to dupe bruges, ; terms agreed upon, ; philippe's march upon bruges, ; defeat, and escape, ; return to power, and conditions, ; his victims, , ; triumphant entry of bruges, ; quiet in flanders during the concluding years of reign, ; death, . philip of cleves, oath, ; letter to maximilian, ; upholding of oath, ; his end, . philip the rash, ; character and popularity, ; policy, ; death, . philip, son of marie, accession, ; return to bruges, . philip of thielt, connection with the great charter, . philip of valois, king of france, accession, ; invasion of flanders, . philippe le bel, hatred of guy de dampierre, - ; affiancing of sister and daughter to edward i. of england and his son, ; visit to flanders, ; and resultant rebellion, ; invasion of flanders, , ; battle of courtrai, defeat, and subsequent negotiations, - ; death, . place du bourg, , . place de la vigne, . poele, jan van de, ; work and successors, . pont aux lions, . " de l'âne aveugle, . " des augustins, . " des baudets, . " de la clef, . " de la tour, . " flamand, . poorters logie, . porte des baudets, . " de damme, . " de gand, , . " des maréchaux, . " ste. croix, . praet, gervais, speech to the men of bruges, ; pacification of burghers, ; declaration in favour of dierick of alsace, . q quai de rosaire, . r rasseghem, adrien van, treachery of, . relic. the water in which joseph of arimathea was supposed to have washed the blood-stained body of christ, brought to bruges by dierick, ; its adventures, , . religious persecution, , . richard of raeske, his challenge to walter of straten, 'the winged lie,' . richilde of hainault, countess dowager, assumption of the reins of government during the minority of arnulph, , ; action against the karls, assisted by william fitzosberne, earl of hereford, and others, ; defeat by robert the frisian, , ; acknowledgment of robert as count, . robert of bethune, ; influenced by his son, louis of nevers, ; confession of an attempt to poison him, and imprisonment of louis, ; his death, _ibid._ robert of cassel, his claim to the throne of flanders, ; opposition to rebellious karls withdrawn, . robert the child, ; popularity, ; execution, . robert the frisian, richilde's defiance of, ; his preparations for revenge, ; and defeat of richilde, , . rolf the ganger, benefited by the treaty of claire-sur-epte, . roode, vincent de, . rotbert, ; his vassalage to charles the bald, ; his position and influence, . roya, the river, ; its course, . rudolphe of nesle, his death, . s st. amand's chapel, . ste. anne, . st. basil, , . st. bertin, the abbey of, at st. omer, to which arnulph acted as abbot, . st. donatian, the cathedral of, . st. eloi's church of our lady, . st. gilles, additions to the church of, , . st. jacques, the church of, , . ste. marie madeleine, . st. mary at ardenburg, its foundation by arnulph, . st. peter at thorhout, its foundation by arnulph, . st. peter, the church of, . ste. walburge, . sanctuary of the precious blood, the, ; its foundation by count robert of jerusalem, . shoemakers' hall, . sluys, bombardment and capture by english, ; demand made by bruges for the surrender of its fleet and town, ; expulsion of bruges' burghers from the town, , ; siege raised, . smiths' chapel, . sohier of courtrai, his election as regent, ; his siege, . steeples, . straten, the house of, its feud with the house of erembald, ; their flight from flanders after the murder of charles the good, ; seizure of bertulph's palace, . stubbs, dr., his theory regarding a letter addressed from england to arnulph, . suger, abbot of st. denis, his life of charles the good, contained in his work on the acta of louis the fat, . t tancmar, head of the house of erembald, . thémard, châtelain of brudburch, his attempt to avenge his master, charles the good, and resultant death, . theophilus, the monk, . thorhout, baldwin's castle there, used to store the relics of st. donatian, . trees, the, in and near bruges, , . v van artevelde, ; prosperity of flanders under his rule, and agreement with edward iii. of england, ; his setting out for bruges from ghent, ; triumph over a drunken rabble from bruges, ; generous treatment of the conquered town, ; conditions, ; and government, , ; death, . van bassevelde, sheriff, spokesman of the city fathers of bruges, . van der weyden, , - . van oudenaerde, ian, his architecture, . verschelde, his opinion of gothic architecture, . ville, hôtel de, - , , . vredius, his _flandrica ethnica_, . w walbert's life of charles the good, . walbert quoted, , , , , , . walter quoted, , . walter of straten, his refusal to fight richard of raeske, . walter, archdeacon of tournai, his life of charles the good, . walter, the son of the châtelain of ardenburg, his execution, . wauters, . weale, mr., his opinion of gothic architecture, ; discovery of frescoes at bruges, . wegener, dr., his opinion regarding charles the good, . wegener, his life of charles the good in danish, ; theory about straten-erembald feud, . wehrgeld, the, . willemszuene, nicholas, . william cliton, reign in flanders, - ; mode of government and its effect on bruges, ; poverty and attempted taxation, ; cause lost, ; victory at axpoel heath, and death, . william of juliers, provost of maestricht, his leadership of flemish patriots, ; demand that the sword of guy of dampierre should be surrendered, ; exhortation to his burghers, ; trophies sent to the church of st. mary to commemorate the victory of courtrai, . william of löo, , , ; his denunciation, and loss of flemish throne, . william the norman, lured to destruction and murdered by baldwin bladzo, . 'winged lie,' the (_see_ walter of straten). y ypres, panic of the burghers at the news of the karls' defeat, ; alliance with bruges and ghent, . z zannekin, nicholas, leader of the karls against the misrule of louis ii. of nevers, ; hailed as the saviour of his country, ; governorship of ypres, ; leadership of the karls, ; death, . zeven torens, de, , . zitter, peter de, . zwyn, its silting up, , , , . edinburgh colstons limited printers * * * * * footnotes: [ ] _see_ boll. acta ss., vi. feb. _vita s. amandi auctore baudemundo ejus discipulo_. [ ] _see_ taine, _l'ancien régime_, livre er, ch. i., § ii. [ ] _see_ genealogical table i. [ ] _memorials of st. dunstan._ rolls series. introduction. [ ] _epistola ad arnulfum comitem_ (ms. cotton, tiberius a. , fo. b). [ ] _see_ genealogical table i. [ ] the marriage of king ethelwolf with judith was not consummated. [ ] charles's palace occupied the site of the present palais de justice. [ ] bertulph's house occupied the site of that portion of government house which gives on the _rue breidel_. [ ] charles is always depicted in red. [ ] a name given by the karls to the feudal lords. [ ] in the _rue breidel_. the boterbeke has been vaulted over for centuries, and of course the bridge no longer exists; the gates too have disappeared, but the holes into which the bolts were slipped are still to be seen in the facade of a house on the left-hand side at the further end of the street, which once formed part of the ancient gateway. [ ] immediately after the murder, bertulph had sent letters to the bishop of tournai containing evidence which he deemed sufficient to prove his innocence. these letters never reached their destination. bertulph's messenger, a monk of eeckhout abbey, had hardly left bruges when he fell into the hands of the isegrins. _see_ also p. . [ ] the ruins of this monastery, most picturesquely situated, are well worth a visit. the huge brick barn with magnificent timber roof, a splendid specimen of thirteenth-century architecture, and some other out-buildings are still intact and still fulfil their original purpose. [ ] _see_ p. , footnote. [ ] _see_ genealogical table ii. [ ] a nephew of bertulph's. [ ] a vagabond of any description. [ ] _see_ genealogical table iii. [ ] _see_ genealogical table iii. [ ] _see_ genealogical table iv. [ ] gesta trevir. _arch. ap. martène, coll. ampliss._, iv., p. . _see_ kervyn de lettenhove, _histoire de la flandre_, p. , vol. ii. [ ] the french party--supporters of the lily. [ ] the nationalists--supporters of the lion of flanders. [ ] _see_ genealogical table iv. [ ] _see_ kervyn de lettenhove. _histoire de flandre_, livre e, tome ii., p. . [ ] see _oud. vlaemsche liederen_, published by abbé carton, p. . [ ] _corp. chr. fl._ i., p. . [ ] _see_ kervyn, vol. ii., p. . [ ] _see_ green's _short history of the english people_, chap, v., sec. i., p. . [ ] chronicles of boucecault. [ ] monk of st. denis. [ ] _rel. de st. denis_, iv. . [ ] see _rel. de st. denis_, xxviii. , monstrelet i. [ ] kervyn de lettenhove. _histoire de flandre_, livre me, tom. iii., p. . [ ] ann. nov., ap. martène, ampliss. coll., v. col. ; lettre ms. de rodolphe agricola, nov. . [ ] kervyn. livre e, vol. iv., p. . [ ] _see_ genealogical table v. [ ] see p. . [ ] gachard. _lettres inédites de maximilian_, i., p. . [ ] _chronique de despars_, vol. iv., p. . [ ] the freehold of this property is still held by a descendant of the adornes family. [ ] see _revue de l'art chrétien_, , p. . [ ] see _revue des deux mondes_, june , . _de van eyck à van dyck._ [ ] _revue de l'art chrétien_, , me livr. _les frères van eyck_, james weale. [ ] _see_ lÜbke. _history of art_, vol. ii., p. . [ ] this lady followed her husband's calling. mr. henry willett of brighton is the possessor of three beautiful miniatures in the form of a triptych, which are certainly her work. the central panel shows the madonna and child, and in the background the old manor house at oostcamp of louis of gruthuise. [ ] this date has every appearance of being authentic, but it may have been added later. [ ] _see_ de laborde. _les ducs de bourgogne. memoriaux de jean robert, abbé de saint-aubert._ [ ] _les ducs de bourgogne. etude sur les lettres, les arts et l'industrie pendant le quinzième siècle_, vol. ii., preface, p. xliv. * * * * * typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber: chatelaincy=> châtelaincy {pg } first ecclesastical preferment=> first ecclesiastical preferment {pg } nothwithstanding=> notwithstanding {pg } the indentity of their name=> the identity of their name {pg } lady of dadizeelle=> lady of dadizeele {pg } franctically shouting=> frantically shouting {pg } nothwithstanding all this=> notwithstanding all this {pg } series of mauuscripts=> series of manuscripts {pg } execucution by his daughter jeanne=> execution by his daughter jeanne {pg }